Aussie PM Tells States to Set a Date for Opening Borders

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged state premiers to set a July date to open their borders to give airlines and the tourism industry some certainty to restart interstate travel and associated jobs.

I would be hoping that, at the earliest possible opportunity, states will be able to indicate the date in July that interstate travel will be open again, Morrison told Parliament on June 10.

At this stage, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania are keeping borders shut, and Queensland is still committed to a September reopening.

Morrison insisted as he has before, that it was imperative to open up borders to give the tourism industry clarity.

It is in Virgins interest, it is in Qantass interest and it is in the aviation sectors interest that we move to opening up travel within Australia as soon as possible, Morrison said.

Related Coverage South Australia Looks to Travel Bubbles to Open Borders

With borders potentially closed for months, Deloitte, the administrators of Virgin Australia, has warned that there will be difficult conditions even with a successful sale to one of the two remaining bidders, Bain Capital or Cyrus Capital Partners.

The Transport Workers Union has also appealed for borders to reopen, saying that jobs in the industry have ground to a halt with airports shut.

They appealed to the federal government to urgently put in place an aviation keeper support package that will last beyond September when the current JobKeeper relief program is set to end.

The treasury is due to release in July a review of the JobKeeper, where changes are likely to be announced.
Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah

11.06.2020 LISTEN

The Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah says governments of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have demonstrated that they are better managers of the economy than any other political party in Ghana.

To that end, he said President Akufo-Addo should be voted for in this years elections to enable him and his government continue the good work being done to benefit all Ghanaians.

Dr Assibey-Yeboah, who is contesting in the NPPs parliamentary primaries for New Juabeng South Constituency, said since the NPP came into office after the 2016 elections, the economy has seen a major facelift.

The banking sector, for instance, has been strengthened, he pointed out, adding that: The economy is now investor-friendly, the private sector is booming.

Speaking on an Accra 100.5FM on Thursday, 11 June, he added, Clearly, the NPP are better managers of the economy than any other party, so, Ghanaians should vote for President Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party in this years elections. Give four to Nana, give four to Assibey for elections 2020.

---classfmonline
Delia's Tamales is eyeing a late July opening for its first San Antonio location.

Delia's Tamales at 13527 Hausman Pass, near Loop 1604, should be open the week of July 27, barring any delays in construction or staff training, the company told mySA.com. Before the coronavirus pandemic took a hold, the team was hoping to open in April.

RELATED: Longtime San Antonio business Bombay Bicycle Club opening second location at Hemisfair

A spokesperson for the restaurant said the hiring process is underway and training will start soon.

Photos shared with mySA on Monday show brick is being installed on the building's exterior.

The upcoming San Antonio restaurant will be the first Delia's Tamales location outside of the Rio Grande Valley.

Madalyn Mendoza covers news and puro pop culture for MySA.com | mmendoza@mysa.com | @maddyskye
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A decade has passed since ethnic violence tore through towns and cities in southern Kyrgyzstan, killing 470 people according to an international report. RFE/RL talked with ethnic Uzbek and Kyrgyz people in Osh, the city where the violence started, to get a sense of how people feel about life today and about the events of June 2010.
More than two weeks after the death of George Floyd, progress is being made across the nation regarding racial injustices suffered by African Americans.

On Wednesday, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its races and all its venues.

The issue was pushed to the forefront this week by Bubba Wallace, NASCARs lone black driver and an Alabama native who called for the banishment of the Confederate flag and said there was no place for it in the sport.

The ban was announced before Wednesday nights race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, where Wallace drove Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Chevrolet with a #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme. Wallace, wearing an American flag mask, clapped his hands when asked about the decision before the start of the race.

Its been a stressful couple of weeks, Wallace said on FS1. This is no doubt the biggest race of my career tonight. Im excited about tonight. Theres a lot of emotions on the race track. Wallace wore a black I Cant Breathe T-shirt but did not kneel during the national anthem.

His Chevy had Compassion, Love, Understanding emblazoned on the hood. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., tweeted #NASCAR, family after the announcement, and scores of athletes followed the race on social media. The NAACP applauded NASCAR for taking the necessary step to remove symbols of hate, racism, and discrimination from their events.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James is leading a collection of black athletes and entertainers in a drive to get out the African American vote in the 2020 presidential election. Per ESPN:

The nonprofit organization -- named More Than a Vote, echoing James more than an athlete mantra -- has a two-pronged mission to not only encourage African Americans to register and vote in November but also expose voter suppression tactics, such as misinformation spread through social media. Because of everything thats going on, people are finally starting to listen to us -- we feel like were finally getting a foot in the door, James told The New York Times, which reported on the initiative earlier Wednesday. How long is up to us. We dont know. But we feel like were getting some ears and some attention, and this is the time for us to finally make a difference.

Buy coronavirus face coverings: MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA

Also Wednesday, the Carolina Panthers moved the statue of former owner Jerry Richardson.

In 2017, Richardson was accused of making sexually suggestive comments to women and a racial slur directed at a black team scout, was lifted from its pedestal outside the teams stadium and taken away Wednesday.

We were aware of the most recent conversation surrounding the Jerry Richardson statue and are concerned there may be attempts to take it down," a team statement said. "We are moving the statue in the interest of public safety.

The statement did not elaborate on the information that prompted the removal of the 13-foot (nearly 4-meter) statue, which was originally placed outside the north gate of Bank of America Stadium in 2016 as a gift from team minority partners honoring Richardsons 80th birthday.

A team spokesman would not say if the statue was coming down for good.

The 46-year-old Floyd died on Monday, May 25 while in the custody of the Minneapolis police department. The four officers involved have been fired and face criminal charges, including Derek Chauvin, whos accused of second-degree murder after pressing his knee into Floyds neck for almost nine minutes.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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Linkedin Martin Abbugao and Haeril Halim in Jakarta (Agence France-Presse) Singapore  Thu, June 11, 2020 12:36 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdddd96b 2 News Airlines,travel,coronavirus,COVID-19,air-travel Free

Cabin crew in protective suits, health certifications for passengers, mandatory face masks, and longer check-in times.

This is the new reality of mass air travel.

As people dream of taking to the skies once more, they face the prospect that changes to curb the spread of coronavirus will be even more challenging than those brought in after the 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

In addition to the strict security measures commonplace around the world since then, passengers will now encounter a barrage of checks for COVID-19.

"Before the pandemic, we were told to arrive two hours before the flight. This time we had to be at the airport at least four hours before flying," said Indonesian Suyanto after taking a domestic route in late May.

There were multiple queues and screenings before he could even check in at the airport, he added.

Passengers in the country must declare a reason for flying, provide documentation proving they are virus-free, undergo multiple screenings, and offer details of their movements on arrival.

"It was more tiring and expensive. With these kinds of strict rules, I think people will think twice before travelling," said the 40-year-old, who had to pay double the usual fare for his short flight as some seats were left empty for social distancing.

As the aviation industry attempts to find a way forward, experts warn the impact of the pandemic will be far-reaching.

"9/11 created a new environment for the entire travel industry in terms of security," explained Shukor Yusof from Malaysia-based Endau Analytics.

While the fallout from the 2001 attacks could be used as an "indicator" of what to expect, the COVID-19 challenge was a "far more serious... global event", he said.

Read also: AirAsia introduces red-hot PPE suits for cabin crews

Defiant passengers

The United Nations' civil aviation agency has drawn up a set of guidelines for safe flying in the wake of the pandemic, from mandatory wearing of masks to the disinfection of areas people come in contact with.

In addition, industry body the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has suggested governments collect passenger data -- including health information -- ahead of travel, and that access to airports be restricted to staff and same-day travelers.

Other measures outlined in their guidelines include the redesign of gate areas to reduce congestion, faster and smoother boarding and baggage collection procedures, and even "prohibiting queues for the washrooms" to limit passenger interaction.

"The COVID-19 crisis is the biggest disruption in the history of the aviation industry. The recovery is going to be long and slow," Albert Tjoeng, regional spokesman for IATA, told AFP.

Implementing new regulations is already proving challenging -- and chaotic.

While some US airlines require masks be worn in-flight, it has proven difficult to enforce this rule if passengers are defiant.

In India, which resumed domestic flights last week, some cabin crew wore protective suits with masks, plastic visors and blue rubber gloves, but, according to media reports, had no idea if they were supposed to quarantine post-flight.

Mumbai airport put in place social distancing rules but these quickly fell apart when angry travelers harangued staff after flights were cancelled last-minute.

The most hotly debated measure in the industry has been whether to leave middle seats empty.

Japan Airlines and Delta are among carriers doing so but Michael O'Leary, the boss of Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, has said the idea is "idiotic" and would stop his firm making money.

'Travel bubbles'

The emergence of COVID-19, which was first reported in China last year and has since infected more than seven million people worldwide, brought air travel to an almost complete halt with entire fleets grounded and mass layoffs.

IATA forecasts international carriers are in line to make a combined net loss of more than $84 billion this year.

"We don't know exactly how the trajectory of this recovery will look," Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong said, after the carrier reported the first full-year loss in its 48-year history.

There are some signs of recovery as major economies ease lockdowns -- with IATA pointing to a growth in flight numbers from April to May -- but flying looks set to struggle to return to pre-virus levels.

A confusing patchwork of rules imposed by countries at different stages in tackling their outbreaks makes it tricky for consumers to plan holidays or visit family abroad.

Some nations are maintaining bans on travelers from hard-hit nations or requiring people to enter quarantine on arrival, typically for a 14-day period.

Countries that have kept the virus in check are looking at creating "travel bubbles", or reciprocal agreements with other places on similar outbreak curves, but these can have onerous requirements.

A "fast lane" for essential business and official travel between some parts of China and Singapore has been launched, but travellers need sponsorship and have to take a virus test before departure and on arrival.

Many who previously flew frequently may simply choose not to for the time being.

Fazal Bahardeen, chief executive of Singapore-based Islamic travel specialist HalalTrip, told AFP: "If I have to go through all the hassle, I might as well not travel unless I really have to."
The governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, attended a late-night session with the screening committee.

This is coming after the governors spokesperson, Crusoe Osagie, alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) deliberately exempted his boss, Mr Obaseki, from the screening process, thereby failing to screen him.

Mr Osagie had issued a press statement to this effect around 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The partys seven-member screening committee was reported to have engaged the embattled governor in a screening session which lasted not less than two hours Wednesday night at the APCs secretariat in Abuja.

Sources at the secretariat said the governor barely spent up to 15 minutes at the secretariat where he requested for their permission to attend Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) meeting but promised to come afterwards.

Speaking to journalists after his screening, which started around 8 p.m., Mr Obaseki expressed scepticism in the outcome of the process since his predecessor in office, Adams Oshiomhole, who now leads the ruling APC, is the judge and the jury in this matter.

Mr Obaseki spoke with journalists around 10 p.m. after his session with the committee. Probably alluding to his brief appearance before the screening committee earlier on Wednesday or the one before that, the governor emphasised the need to exempt his mentee-turned-rival, Mr Oshiomhole, from presiding over the process so as to ensure fairness.

The last time I came here, I asked that Oshiomhole recuse himself from the process in the interest of peace and justice. But as a party man, I have had to go through the screening like everybody else.

Since he is the judge and the jury in this matter, I will just wait for the outcome of the screening. I have given them all the information they need; the controversial certificate from the University of Ibadan has been tendered.

But I do not believe that I will get justice because Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is an interested party in the Edo process.

One of the questions that was asked was why did I issue a gazette that will prevent the party from performing direct elections in Edo?

I just felt that if we put politics above the lives of the people of Edo State, we may be missing the point, he said to journalists Wednesday night.

Asides Mr Obaseki, four other governorship aspirants screened by the committee include Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Chris Ogiemwonyi, Osaro Obaze and Pius Odubu.

The party had slated June 22 for its direct mode of primary in the state while Nigerias electoral body, INEC, had fixed September 19 for the Edo 2020 Governorship election.
A Northern Ireland man who petrol bombed his ex-girlfriend's family home in "a premeditated act of revenge" was handed a four-and-half-year jail sentence yesterday.

Ordering 39-year-old Kenneth Houston to spend half his sentence in jail and half under licence, Craigavon Crown Court Judge Patrick Lynch QC said that with a six-month-old baby in the house at the time of the revenge attack "it need not be emphasised by the court the possible appalling consequences".

"It is within the experience of this court, and no doubt many members of the court, that appalling injuries and indeed death have resulted from such attacks," he said.

At the end of his trial earlier this year Houston, whose address was given as c/o Maghaberry Prison, was convicted of attempted arson being reckless whether the lives of the six people inside, three generations of a family including a six-month-old baby, would be endangered.

Jailing Houston yesterday, Judge Lynch summarised the facts of the case as heard by the jury in that about 20 minutes after the home owner went to bed on October 31, 2018, he saw a "streak of light" at the bedroom window followed by a "crash" at the property on the Ballymacash Road in Lisburn.

"He thought it was a firework but he realised in fact there were flames licking up the outside," said the judge, adding that he "told everyone to get out" before tackling the fire himself.

Having dealt with it, the home owner "got in his car and followed in the direction of a shadow, which he thought was the person who threw the petrol bomb".

Houston, the court heard, was arrested at his home and clothing seized from his washing machine at 2am was found to contain traces of a combination of accelerants used in the petrol bomb.

Although Houston denied involvement both during police interviews and when giving evidence to the trial jury, claiming that while he had been "out and about" in the area at the time of the incident but had nothing to do with it, Judge Lynch said it was clear that by their conviction "the jury rejected that".

It was the Crown case that Houston carries out his potentially lethal attack because of grievances he held about the way the family had treated him while he was in a relationship with one of them.

"It's clear they thought little of the defendant," said Judge Lynch who, highlighting his 34 previous convictions for drugs, assaults, dishonesty and driving offences, commented that "one can hardly wonder at that given his record and the circumstances of the present case".

The judge said he accepted defence submissions that it was a single device being "lobbed" at the house and that it was attempted arson rather than a "completed offence", but in jailing Houston he continued that it was clearly a "premeditated act of revenge" committed in circumstances where he had "prepared a petrol bomb and walked around with it at night".
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 18:27:27|Editor: huaxia

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Workers disinfect and decorate a wedding hall in Gaza City, June 8, 2020. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

by Sanaa Kamal

GAZA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- After two months of anxious waiting, Mohammed Abu Ghalyoun from Gaza city finally celebrated his wedding, which had been postponed for many times due to the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 29-year-old groom said that he once was worried about losing the money invested in the ceremony if the clockdown continued.

Under the Palestinian tradition, the groom is supposed to pay for the wedding party and other related expenses, such as renting wedding hall and cars, as well as holding banquet.

"It is too expensive. I forked out about 5,000 U.S. dollars for my party," Abu Ghalyoun told Xinhua.

Samar Ibrahim, from the central Gaza Strip city of Dir al-Balah, refused to ditch the traditional wedding party and have a more modest event in April as pressured by her fiance and his family.

"I had prepared everything to celebrate my wedding," the 24-year-old bride said. "If I ditch my wedding party, I would feel remorse for the rest of my life."

Now, the enthusiastic bride is busy preparing for her wedding party with her family, friends and relatives, which will be held in the coming days.

"The happiness is more important than any other thing," she said.

Spring and summer months usually see an increase in the number of weddings in the Gaza Strip.

After the long halt due to the outbreak of COVID-19, wedding celebrations seem to be coming back in the Palestinian coastal enclave as the coronavirus pandemic is retreating.

Earlier in June, the Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, began easing the precautionary and preventive measures that were imposed in mid-March, opening local mosques, restaurants and wedding halls.

At the same time, people attending such events are asked to take precautionary measures, such as wearing masks and gloves, and maintaining social distancing.

Ramiz Idris, a wedding planner in Gaza city, is one of those who breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that Hamas decided to ease the strict measures imposed on the wedding halls.

Idris, the only breadwinner of his family of six, complained about the economic crisis that he suffered from the lockdown.

"Coronavirus negatively affected our economic condition. We stayed home for 66 days with no jobs or any resource of income," he said, while arranging tables in the wedding hall

Salah Abu Hasira, head of the Palestinian Corporation for Restaurants, Hotels and Tourism Services, told Xinhua that around 2,500 out of 6,000 employees in the tourism industry had returned to their jobs recently.

He noted that the employees in the local tourism sector were severely affected by the lockdown, adding the decision to ease the restrictions "would save the sector of tourism which includes 500 tourism establishments."

In the past, the tourism industry in Palestine suffered from several crises, but the coronavirus pandemic affected all the players in the sector, Abu Hasira said.

He hoped that the coming months would be able to compensate them for the loss of income due to the coronavirus lockdown.

However, not everyone was optimistic. Ghazal Handouqa, the owner of Gloria's wedding hall in the Gaza city, told Xinhua that she doubted she would be able to recover from the abyss she went into following the outbreak of the pandemic.

"It is difficult to compensate us for the losses. We hope we can make profits during the summer season, but that is also tough because we have already lost two months," said Handouqa, a 37-year-old mother of four.

The young woman explained that around 60 of 65 originally booked wedding parties were canceled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. On March 22, the Hamas-run government declared a state of emergency, imposing a series of precautionary restrictions.

Since then, all mosques, universities, schools and restaurants were temporarily shut down, and public gatherings were prohibited, especially in the marketplaces.
The death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in May was a "staged event," a Facebook post falsely asserted.

Such action was taken to provoke objection to US President Trump.

Another Facebook post displayed a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. next to a banana, which is a long-running racist trope.

A leader from Otero County, Colorado, Republican Party was dubious regarding the George Floyd footage in November, believing it might have been executed as a framed attempt as resistance to Trump.

On May 28, according to Stephanie Garbo in a Facebook post, "Interesting perspective. I've been suspicious from the get-go, because it's in the main media." She was alluding to an essay she shared on Facebook.

The essay still indicated in Garbo's public Facebook page stated, "I think there is at the very least the 'possibility', that this was a filmed public execution of a black man by a white cop, with the purpose of creating racial tensions and driving a wedge in the growing group of anti deep state sentiment from common people, that have already been psychologically traumatized by Covid 19 fears."

Also on Facebook, GOP chairwoman for Shackelford County Lynne Teinert defended a Black Lives Matter protests conspiracy theory meme, KTXS 12 ABC reported.

The chairwoman posted a picture of George Soros along with a message, "The pandemic isn't working. Start the racial wars."

Another chairperson alleged that liberal billionaire George Soros paid white cops to kill black people and for black people to be in a frenzy because race battles keep the sheep in line.

After the advent of Republican leaders in 5 Texas counties posting racist messages on the social media platform, with some spreading conspiracy theories, Governor Greg Abbott called for two of those to resign.

Also Read: George Floyd Controversial Comments Result to Suspension of Candace Owens GoFundMe Account

Other leading Texas Republicans also demanded the resignation of the GOP chairs in Nueces and Bexar counties.

A 5th chairman, Harris County GOP chairperson Keith Nielsen, declared on Saturday that he will not take office as anticipated. This was following being under fire for posting a quote from Martin Luther King Jr., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" on a background with a banana.

Similar posts were specified from 7 more GOP leaders in Texas under control.

The proposal that Soros is engineering political scenarios behind closed doors has been consistently presented by conservatives. Soros is known for having spent billions of dollars holding up liberal and pro-democracy causes globally and on the ideological right, has been a focal point of conspiracy theorists.

Evidence is yet to be discovered in support of the allegation, according to Texas Tribune.

Last week, George Floyd is an African-American from Minnesota who was murdered after a white police officer forced his knee towards his neck for almost 9 minutes.

GOP county chairpersons are elected to the Republican Party to participate in holding county-level meetings and events, and overseeing local elections.

"This is a disgusting level of ignorance that's hard to hear from anyone, much less an elected official," according to State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin.

Related Article: Fact Check: Did 'The Simpsons' Foretell George Floyd's Death?

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:

UzAuto Motors JSC and Samarkand Automobile Factory LLC plan to open a plant for assembly of vehicles in Azerbaijan, representative of Uzavtosanoat told Trend.

According to representative, Uzavtosanoat JSC and AzerMash OJSC signed a memorandum of intent on organization of assembly production of motor vehicles of UzAuto Motors JSC and Samarkand Automobile Factory LLC at production facilities in Azerbaijan on October 21, 2019.

Within this memorandum, in January 2020 in the course of negotiations in Azerbaijan it was defined such areas of cooperation as organization of large-unit assembly of cars of UzAuto Motors JSC and buses produced by Samarkand Automobile Factory LLC in the territory of AzerMash OJSC, supply of spare parts and component parts, said representative.

Besides, it was planned to establish cooperation between Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent and Azerbaijan Technical University.

Opening of the motor vehicle assembly plant of UzAuto Motors JSC and Samarkand Automobile Factory LLC, previously planned for May 2020, has been postponed indefinitely due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, stated the representative.

Uzavtosanoat is the Uzbek holding company controlling automotive manufacturing enterprises of the large-unit assembly (SKD), UzAuto Motor (former GM Uzbekistan), Samarkand Automobile Plant and MAN Auto-Uzbekistan.

---

Follow author on Twitter: @seyfaddini
By PTI

NEW DELHI: A 36-year-old Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) official succumbed to coronavirus, taking the total number of fatalities in the force due to the pandemic to two, a senior official said on Thursday.

This is the 15th COVID-19 death among the paramilitary force or the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).

The head constable rank official was under treatment for the last few months with a serious head injury at a hospital here.

He passed away on Wednesday due to coronavirus infection, official said.

The official also suffered a heart attack, he said.

He was posted at the headquarters of the force in Delhi, officials said.

The SSB has reported 106 COVID-19 cases till now, out of which 55 personnel, have recovered. Earlier, a 55-year-old head constable of the force had succumbed to the pandemic.

The about 80,000 personnel strong force is primarily tasked to guard open Indian borders with Nepal and Bhutan.

With the latest death, there have been 15 casualties among CAPFs like the Central Industrial Security Force (5), Central Reserve Police Force (4), Border Security Force (3) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (1).

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) also reported 36 new cases on Thursday that include 28 personnel from its unit based in Kashmir. Among the fresh cases is a chief medical officer of the force who has been admitted to an isolation facility in Delhi.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) also reported a fresh case of coronavirus infection. It has 17 active cases, while 194 personnel have recovered from the disease.

As per data accessed by PTI, the five CAPFs and two other central forces- the National Security Guard and the National Disaster Response Force- have reported over 1,880 coronavirus cases.

While over 1,220 troops have been cured or recovered, more than 645 are under treatment, the data said.

The first case in these forces, functioning under the Union home ministry, was detected on March 28.

These central forces, with a combined strength of about 10 lakh personnel, render a variety of security duties, law and order management, border guarding, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations and disaster rescue and relief.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong leaves the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, south of Seoul, after a court denied the issuance of an arrest warrant for him, Tuesday. Yonhap



By Bahk Eun-ji



An outside experts group will review the validity of an ongoing investigation by the prosecution into Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, involving a controversial merger and alleged accounting fraud, it was announced Thursday.



Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol accepted a request for this made earlier by South Korea's largest conglomerate after a panel made up of ordinary citizens  including a taxi driver, homemaker, retired civil servant and a teacher  overseeing operations by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office voted in favor of an independent examination into the case.



The prosecutor-general must organize an experts group such a decision is made.



The citizens' panel said it reviewed 120 pages of written opinions  30 from the prosecution and 90 from Lee and Samsung's lawyers  before reaching its decision within a day. It said it was necessary to give an experts committee enough time to review the validity of the investigation in light of the seriousness of the case and the public interest.



When the committee is formed, it will have two weeks to determine whether the investigation into, and possible indictment of, Lee has merit.



Earlier this week, the Seoul Central District Court turned down a prosecution request to arrest and detain Lee in the ongoing investigation in to the possible illicit merger of two Samsung affiliates and alleged accounting fraud at Samsung Biologics in 2015.



The court cited insufficient probable cause for the arrest. Lee is accused of playing a role in the merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T, which the prosecutors suspect was designed to help him take over the managerial rights to Samsung Group from his father, Lee Kun-hee.



Last week, Samsung's lawyers requested a public assessment of the investigation. The prosecution service introduced the outside review system in 2018 to enhance neutrality and fairness of its probes into cases that were deemed to be in the public interest.


[June 10, 2020]

SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS BBBY, BIDU, GRPN, IQ INVESTORS of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuits

NEW ORLEANS, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors of pending deadlines in the following securities class action lawsuits:

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY)

Class Period: 10/2/2019 - 2/11/2020

Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: June 15, 2020

SECURITIES FRAUD

To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-bed-bath-amp-beyond-inc-securities-litigation

iQIYI, Inc. (IQ)

Class Period: 3/29/2018 - 4/7/2020 or securities issued either in or after the March 2018 Initial Public Offering.

Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: June 15, 2020

SECURITIES FRAUD, MISLEADING PROSPECTUS

To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-iqiyi-inc-american-depositary-shares-securities-litigation







Baidu, Inc. (BIDU)

Class Period: 3/16/2019 - 4/7/2020

Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: June 22, 2020

SECURITIES FRAUD

To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-baidu-inc-securities-litigation

Groupon, Inc. (GRPN)

Class Period: 11/4/2019 - 2/18/2020

Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: June 29, 2020

SECURITIES FRAUD

To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-groupon-inc-securities-litigation-3

If you purchased shares of the above companies and would like to discuss your legal rights and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact us toll-free (844) 367-9658 or visit the case links above.

If you wish to serve as a Lead Plaintiff in the class action, you must petition the Court on or before the Lead Plaintiff Motion deadline.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com
The Jewish Monopoly on Tragedy

By Dr. Zvi Bar'el

June 11, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Its a tragedy. This is a person with disabilities, autism, who was suspected  as we now know, wrongly  of being a terrorist in a very sensitive place. We all share in the grief of the family. This encompasses the entire Israeli public and the entire Israeli government too.

The speaker is the prime minister and the tragedy in question is the killing of Eyad Hallaq, who ran from Border Police officers in fear and posed no danger to them.

What a jaw-dropping statement. Benjamin Netanyahu defining the killing of a Palestinian as a tragedy. Who knows, tomorrow he might even offer compensation. This is how the slide down the slippery slope begins. The prime minister could have just stuck to an aloof and formal position, like Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, who said, The incident is being reviewed as required by law, and we will take action in accordance with the findings in order to prevent similar occurrences. Until the review is completed, we wont pass judgment on the officers. Or he could have pulled out of the freezer the chilly formulation chosen by Benny Gantz: We deeply regret the incident. I am confident the matter will be investigated quickly and lessons will be drawn from it. Just the sort of laconic statement one might expect from someone who falsely claimed he was responsible for the killing of 1,364 terrorists in the 2014 Gaza war  some tragedy.

According to the Israel Defense Forces breakdown of those killed in that war, in a report published in 2015, 761, or 36 percent, were civilians. According to a Btselem report, from 2009-2020, 3,524 Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli security forces, including 797 minors and 342 women. The killing of any civilian or child is worthy of the title tragedy, but of course none of their families received any condolence message, and certainly not any grand expression of condolences by the Israeli government. Why was Hallaqs family the one to receive the maximum bit of compassion and sorrow that Netanyahu could squeeze from himself?

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The answer lies in the three cumulative principles that Netanyahu has defined as criteria that justify an expression of condolences: Its not enough for a Palestinian to be wrongly suspected of intending to commit a terror attack. He must also be autistic and disabled. These are very strict conditions that only a few Palestinians meet.

Mohammed Habali, who was shot in the back and killed in December 2018 in the Tul Karm refugee camp, did not meet the required conditions. He was wrongly suspected of participating in disturbances and was mentally impaired, but apparently did not also prove that he was autistic, and therefore did not qualify for an expression of regret or an apology. According to these criteria, the Abu al-Kiyan family, whose son Yakub was killed by a policeman in January 2017 during the evacuation of the Bedouin settlement of Umm al-Hiran, is also ineligible for condolences. An internal police investigation and review by the Shin Bet security agency did clear him of any suspicion of intent to carry out an attack, but unfortunately he was neither disabled nor autistic.

A particularly interesting case is that of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, the terrorist from Hebron who lay on the ground wounded when he was shot and killed by soldier Elor Azaria. For a moment it seemed like that tough criteria had cracked and the consensus was about to implode. In March 2016, Netanyahu explained that what happened in Hebron does not represent the IDFs values. The IDF expects its soldiers to conduct themselves in a coolheaded manner and in accordance with the rules of engagement.

But this was a false alarm. In January 2017, he clarified that the IDF is a moral army that does not execute anyone. This is a hard and painful day for all of us  first and foremost for Elor and his family I support the granting of a pardon to Elor Azaria. The hard day was the day the military court convicted Azaria.

Netanyahu exaggerated when he said the sorrow over Hallaqs killing encompasses the entire government and the entire public. Some of the posts in online comments sections tell a different story, as do the reactions of the government ministers, most of whom were struck mute. Tragedies are a Jewish monopoly. Palestinians just die.

Zvi Bar'el is the Middle Eastern affairs analyst for Haaretz Newspaper. He is a columnist and a member of the editorial board. Previously he has been the managing editor of the newspaper, the correspondent in Washington and has also covered the Occupied Territories. - " Source "

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Last week, before heading out to report on New York Citys intensifying protests over the death of George Floyd, I cut a patch out of a white T-shirt, scribbled press on it with a black Sharpie, and pinned it to my backpack. A few days later, feeling the need for an added measure of security, I painted press in white-out across my bike helmet.

The labels made me more visible, but its unlikely they actually protected me much. After reporting on the protests night after night and repeatedly getting cornered by police, Im certain the only thing thats kept me out of jail is the three-by-five-inch plastic rectangle hanging from my neck: my NYPD-issued press pass.

Ive been arrested before for not carrying press credentials. In 2014, an NYPD officer plucked me from the crowd during a Black Lives Matter march in Times Square and handcuffed me. I spent hours in lockup. I had, in fact, applied for a pass weeks earlier, but the department told me to wait until the following month; I was being punished for doing my job while in bureaucratic limbo. (The Manhattan district attorneys office eventually dropped the disorderly-conduct charge against me, and I received the pass a few months later.)

ICYMI: Investigating the harsh realities of Cops

The application process for NYPD credentials is a classic catch-22: to get a press pass, you need to submit four clips to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information (DCPI) showing that you write stories that require a press pass, whether covering pressers at NYPD headquarters or reporting from crime scenes. Plenty of journalists, from early-career freelancers to established reporters, are unable to meet the criteria. (New York is not alone in this; other major cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago, have faced similar criticism for the way their police departments handle press credentials.)

Now, as ongoing protests course through the streets, reporters covering the unrest risk arrest and harassment by police. Those without NYPD credentials are especially vulnerable.

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A citywide curfew instituted by New York mayor Bill de Blasio from June 1 to 7 was improperly enforced against journalists. Under the curfew, anyone on the streets past 8 pm was subject to arrest on a Class B misdemeanor charge, punishable by up to three months in jail or a fine of up to five hundred dollars. So-called essential workers, a category that includes members of the presswith or without NYPD credentialswere supposed to be exempt. But the memo didnt reach the cops on the street. Nearly every night last week I was shoved, threatened, or otherwise hassled by cops, and my colleagues across the city endured similar harassment.

Beyond that, the DCPI and mayors office gave out conflicting information as to whether reporters without credentials could work past the curfew. In some cases, police let credentialed reporters go while arresting those without passes. (The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment.)

I spoke to more than a dozen New York City reporters who didnt have a press pass and who said the combination of curfew and the lack of a pass limited their coverage of the marches. Gaby del Valle, a freelancer, live-tweeted two marches the weekend of May 29. Once the curfew was instituted, however, she stopped going out at night.

I dont want to be arrested and thrown in a cell without air circulation, she told me over the phone. Theyre doing that even to people who have credentials or who work at places with legal departments, but I dont have anything. Im just a freelancer.

Reporters are decrying the credentials system on social media, leading to renewed scrutiny of the process. Why should the NYPD be in charge of deciding who is and is not a journalist? Why should the NYPD be allowed to affect a reporters ability to do their job? Should the same agency be able to issue press passes and also enforce a curfew that only journalists with passes can safely flout?

The system as it stands is a threat to press freedom. The NYPD regularly denies passes to independent journalists and small publications. The news blog Gothamist, for instance, spent years trying to get its reporters accredited.

As if the difficulty of obtaining a press pass werent frustrating enough, the NYPD often doesnt respect the passes it has already issued. The department grants itself authority and broad discretion to confiscate press passes. Over the years, numerous reporters have had their credentials yanked for pissing off a cop. It is common to hear officers and NYPD commanders threatening reporters to obey orders or lose their press pass.

On June 2, I witnessed officers threaten to revoke reporters passes if they got too close to them or stood where they werent supposed to. On June 3, an officer asked Alejandra OConnell, a reporter for AM New York, why she was still on the street at 10 pm, underscoring his question by tapping her camera with his baton. On June 4, an officer in Williamsburg threatened to confiscate the press pass of Ben Verde, a reporter for the Brooklyn Paper. On June 5, an officer shoved Sydney Pereira, a reporter for Gothamist. When Perreira held up her credentials, the officer shouted, I dont care!

These threats extend beyond the immediate protests: for breaking-news reporters and photographers, losing their press pass could mean losing access to their daily beats. It is critical that journalists be free to exercise our rights without the constant threat of interference from the NYPD. The best way to ensure that is to take the responsibility for issuing press passes out of their hands.

City officials seem to finally be coming around. On Saturday, Comptroller Scott Stringer released a statement demanding that the responsibility for issuing press passes be taken away from the NYPD and reassigned to the Office of the Mayor. He called for new standards to ensure more equal access for freelancers and smaller news outlets.

Our democracy depends on a free, unfettered press, Stringer wrote on Twitter. We cannot entrust that essential principle to the sole discretion of law enforcement.

If the city follows through on Stringers demand, Id welcome it, though Im also wary of the responsibility falling to the mayors office, or to any city agency with political motivations. The best solution is a transparent application process overseen by a neutral bureaucracy.

For now, though, you wont catch me outside without my press pass.

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Noah Hurowitz is a journalist based in New York City. His work has appeared in CJR, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, DNAinfo, and other outlets. His debut book, El Chapo: The Untold Story of the Worlds Most Infamous Drug Lord, will be published by Atria Books in December.
Aussie PM Calls Chinas Racism Claims Rubbish and Labels Its Actions as Coercion for First Time

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called claims of racism against Chinese students in Australia rubbish saying Australia would not submit to coercion from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It marks the first time Morrison has used the word coercion to describe the Chinese regime-instigated trade dispute with Australia.

Morrisons comments were in response to the Chinese Ministry of Educations warning to Chinese international students that multiple incidents of racial discrimination were occurring in Australia.

It followed a travel alert announced on June 5 from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture warning Chinese travellers of a supposed significant increase in racial discrimination against people of Asian descent in Australia.

During an interview on 3AW radio on June 11, the prime minister responded to the accusation: Thats rubbish. Its a ridiculous assertion.

One thing Australia will always do is act in our national interests and never be intimidated by threats from wherever they come, he said.

Were an open trading nation, but Im never going to trade our values in response to coercion, Morrison said.

Australian exports to China last year were worth $16.8 billion (US$11.6 billion), doubling since 2014.

Pedestrians walk through the Chinatown district on March 04, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Since the trade dispute began in April, ministers and members of Parliament have preferred to address each issue on its merits and avoid engaging in tit for tat politics.

Ministers have also avoided saying the Chinese regime is retaliating against Australias actions deemed detrimental to Beijings interests including calls for an inquiry into the origins of the CCP virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, and the recently announced foreign investment laws.

However, the Chinese state-owned media group Global Times, a vocal commentator on regime-related issues, has been outspoken in saying Beijings actions are in fact retaliatory in nature.

On June 9, the Global Times editorial board wrote: From its push for a U.S.-led inquiry into COVID-19, to its interference in the Hong Kong affair, and the upcoming overhaul of its foreign investment rules that are expected to tighten scrutiny over foreign investment, Australian politicians are demonstrating their antipathy toward China.

If Australia wants to retain the gain from its economic ties with China, it must make a real change to its current stance on China, or it will completely lose the benefits of Chinese consumers, the Global Times wrote. The tourism loss may be just a tip of iceberg in its loss of Chinese interest.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials met industry leaders on June 11 to discuss expanding into alternative markets.

Catherine Ross from DFATs China Economic and Engagement Branch said officials had advised the agriculture sector to maintain composure.

Its really important that we have to stay calm and disciplined in our public statements, she told a parliamentary inquiry.

Otherwise, quite frankly, were playing into Chinas hands on these matters. But we are very cleared eyed about whats going on.
Tripoli government forces say they are close to entering Sirte but LNA vows to keep fighting until ceasefire accepted.

Eastern-based forces allied with Libyan renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar have slowed down an advance by the countrys internationally recognised government into the strategic city of Sirte, military officials told Al Jazeera.

The Government of National Accords (GNA) campaign into central Libya follows the recent capture of the last major stronghold of Haftars Libyan National Army (LNA) in Tarhuna, where multiple mass grave sites were found southeast of the capital, Tripoli, on Wednesday.

Bolstered by recent battlefield gains and a withdrawal by the LNA from around Tripoli, the GNAs military launched the operation dubbed Paths to Victory to take Sirte and al-Jufra on Saturday.

We will enter Sirte. This isnt a battle for cities like Tripoli or Sirte. It is a fight for Libya, for freedom and democracy, Abdelmenaam al-Draa, a military spokesman, told Al Jazeera. We will continue east until we liberate all of Libya from the war criminal Haftar.





Supported by Turkey, the GNAs forces gained the upper hand last week after retaking Tripoli airport, all main entrance and exit points to the city, and a string of key towns, forcing Haftars fighters to withdraw  defeats their command painted as a tactical measure to give the UN-backed peace process a chance.

GNA military sources, speaking anonymously due to the confidentiality of the information, told Al Jazeera they received air defence systems from Turkey and were working on building up air capabilities in central Libya.

Al Jazeeras Malik Traina, reporting from Abu Grein outside Sirte, said for the moment the LNA, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Egypt, enjoys air superiority but that is expected to change soon.

It appears the LNA have been able to slow the GNAs advance into Sirte because, at the moment, they enjoy the upper hand in air power in central Libya, he quoted military sources on the ground as saying.

Multiple mass graves

Meanwhile, multiple mass graves have been discovered in Tarhuna and other areas recently retaken from Haftars forces.

The Libyan National Commission for the Identification of Missing Persons announced the discovery of 15 bodies out of a hundred reported in Tarhuna, 65km (40 miles) south of Tripoli.

The GNA said the graves contain the remains of imprisoned government soldiers.

The exact number of bodies has not been made public but officials said the bodies are badly decomposed and cannot be identified.

So far, two bodies have been exhumed. The region is full of corpses, Lutfi Tevfik Misrati, head of an office investigating disappeared people in the country, told Anadolu news agency.

We think that there are 10 to 12 bodies in another grave in the field. Graves were found at five or more different points, Misrati said.

Liberate Libya

Libya, a major oil producer, has been mired in turmoil since 2011 when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising.

On Wednesday, the United Nations said the two warring sides were fully engaged in military talks aimed at ending the fighting in the country, calling the separate virtual meetings productive.

The latest round of talks came after the collapse of a 14-month offensive by the LNA to capture Tripoli and its retreat from most of its territory in northwest Libya following a series of military setbacks.

A unilateral ceasefire offer over the weekend by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was rejected by the GNA and Turkey.

The call for ceasefire or the joint declaration, to us, is stillborn. Its not realistic, its not sincere, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told NTV on Thursday.

He criticised the countries backing Haftar and said that without their support, the strongman was zero, adding that Turkey would support a binding ceasefire under the auspices of the UN.

Where were they?

Ahmed al-Mesmari, a spokesman for Haftars forces, said they would continue operations until the ceasefire offer was accepted by the GNA.

Although the international community is increasing their pressure on the GNA to begin peace talks, fighters on the ground, military and political officials say they will carry on their advances, Al Jazeeras Traina said.

They feel let down by the international community for allowing Haftar to continue his campaign for over a year.

Abdelhamid Abuzayan, a field commander for the GNA forces, told Al Jazeera: Where were they when Haftar was shelling our families in Tripoli? When our men were dying defending their land?

Haftar came from 1,000km away, they could have stopped him. Now when we start to have the upper hand they want peace? No, we will continue until we liberate all of Libya from the war criminal, Haftar.
Shantell Phillips is not sure whether she and her two children will return to Humble ISD schools next year.

Phillips, an IT aide in middle and high schools, said her 17-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son learn better in actual classrooms  which closed in mid-March to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Alexis misses her friends, and Jayden wants to return to normalcy.

Is normalcy worth the risk? Phillips wonders.

My kids really need to be in school, Phillips said. But for me as a parent, Id rather them be safe than to be exposed.

Education leaders across Houston say they are working to welcome students like Alexis and Jayden back in the fall, but if guidelines released by the Texas Education Agency for in-person summer school are any indication of what's to come, little will feel familiar.

Strict limits on class sizes and the number of students on school buses could mean children come to campus in shifts, with some days dedicated to online-only learning from home. Students may start their days in school with temperature checks and handwashing. Lunch may have to be eaten in classrooms instead of cafeterias to maintain physical distancing.

The full contours of safety mandates could become clearer Tuesday, when Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath is expected to unveil state guidance to superintendents for the 2020-21 school year.

The new rules likely will look different than those issued for hosting in-person summer school, which initially included a mandate of no more than 11 students in a typical classroom and a recommendation that districts consider the use of face masks for students and staff. TEA officials relaxed the classroom size limit this week to allow 22 people in a classroom, provided each person has 45 square feet of space and desks remain 6 feet apart.

Still, many questions remain unanswered: What will daily and weekly schedules look like? What happens if a teacher or a student tests positive? What will it take for restrictions to ease? How will districts afford some potentially costly changes to meet the new safety rules.

In Spring ISD, Superintendent Rodney Watson is planning four scenarios for the upcoming school year: campuses reopening with minimal social distancing; in-person classes resuming with stringent social distancing; returning to school with rolling closures in the event of an outbreak; and hosting all learning remotely.

Spring officials overhauled their academic calendar for 2020-21 to help accommodate the potential for campus closures  an option also employed by Alief ISD and under consideration in Houston ISD. Students in Spring are scheduled to return to school on Aug. 17 and end the year on June 25, but seniors last day will be May 28.

The revised calendar will have four week-long intersession breaks, which Watson said will give the district options to make up in-person instructional time if COVID-19 forces new closures.

Its a safety issue, Watson said. What we can do with the possibility of the pandemic again in fall or next year? Its a risk for the safety and security of students and staff.

If classrooms reopen in August, school schedules also could look much different.

Amid the push for social distancing, many districts are considering a hybrid model, in which some students attend in-person classes for part of the week while remaining home for the rest.

In Spring Branch ISD, district officials are considering three hybrid scenarios: bringing in the youngest students in each school daily while limiting face-to-face instruction to one or two days for other students; hosting in-person classes for half of the students two days per week, with the other half attending two different days; and bringing half the students into school for four consecutive days, with the other half rotating in for four days the following week.

Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Charles Dupre also is examining how to provide as much in-person instruction as possible to students transitioning to new campuses, who he said need a solid foundation before they move on to higher grades. Under one scenario, those students would be on campus every day, while older students would go to campuses only two or three times a week.

Still, some in Fort Bend are worried about coming back, especially students and staff who have underlying health problems, Dupre said. Those concerns led Fort Bend to offer full-time remote instruction for those uncomfortable returning, with administrators fearful some students might never come back.

We had a lot of talk about homeschooling, and we understand, but we can keep your child at home and still serve them, which maybe more productive than many trying to do home school for first time, Dupre said. No one I know is expecting that were going to be back to full time.

While Houston-area districts appear likely to begin 20-21 with a hybrid model, school leaders also should be planning for shutdowns of all campuses as well as the return of all students at various points throughout the year, said Duncan Klussmann, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Houstons College of Education.

I think the reality has sunk in that this isnt just going to be a fall issue, said Klussmann, who served as Spring Branch ISDs superintendent from 2004 to 2015. This could be a 2021 issue  and maybe even beyond that.

shelby.webb@chron.com

jacob.carpenter@chron.com
Public health funding in the U.S. has been on the decline for 20 years. During the decade following the 2008 recession, federal, state and local budget cuts forced local public health departments to eliminate nearly 57,000 jobs. Budgets in some states tilted slightly upward in 2019, and then the pandemic and recession hit.

We're already hearing from state and local health departments that there are both hiring freezes and job cuts on the table as states begin to remodel their budgets, says Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. We also know that we start with a baseline of insufficiency.

The CDC is providing nearly $900 million from CARES Act funds to state and local jurisdictions to help with surveillance, testing, contact tracing and other functions, but these funds dont address pre-existing needs.

Were about $4.5 billion short, says Benjamin, referencing a white paper from the Public Health Leadership Forum . That is just the bare minimum that would allow us to respond to public emergencies like these.

Its possible that the shock of the shutdown, and the central role of testing and monitoring in recovery plans, will provoke willingness to fund public health at this level.

Until then, new and evolving IT tools, including powerful resources donated by major tech companies, are helping those who are still on the job attack unprecedented challenges. But the lack of funding and the loss of workers presents public health with a formidable long-term challenge.

The First Pandemic of the Information Age

recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about half of all Americans have a high degree of trust in coronavirus information from state and local government. In response to this degree of public confidence, public health websites have greatly expanded the Web-based tools they use to fill the information gap about COVID-19.

New Jersey has been a hot spot for the virus, with more deaths per capita than any state except New York. The states COVID-19 hub includes continually updated information on questions people might have on all aspects of COVID-19 issues and the states response, and also corrects rumors and misinformation, says Nancy Kearney, communications manager for the New Jersey Department of Health.

A contact tracing registration hub has yielded 48,000 responses from persons interested in joining this effort. Retired health professionals can sign up to help in the response, and citizens can donate PPE for those on the front lines.

In addition to aggregating data on cases, locations and hospitalization, the site includes a symptom checker , and a dashboard that maps cases and trends, demographics and other data. The dashboard was built using software from Esri , which develops mapping and spatial analytics software.

Crowd Control

casesEsri is making this technology available at no cost to public and private organizations to help update reporting with map-based dashboards, forecast capacity needs with spatial analytic tools and select locations for new and augmented services like testing sites and food distribution locations, according to Esris chief medical officer and health solutions director, Dr. Este Geraghty.One of the most sobering research findings about the outbreak came from a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The researchers concluded that implementing social distancing guidelines on March 8 rather than March 15 would have prevented 36,000 COVID-19 deaths.

These findings come as c

ities and states reopen and citizens return to work, shop and play. If distancing is known to reduce coronavirus transmission, data about where people are congregating can help public officials understand how relaxed distancing guidelines are affecting new case trends.

To help health officials monitor changes in crowd behavior, Google has developed a Community Mobility Reports tool that uses anonymized, aggregated data to track changes in the number of visits to places such as retail stores, grocery stores, parks and transit stations.

Knowing the general pattern of how a community moves can play a critical role in responding to the novel coronavirus and preventing future pandemics, says Dr. Sara Cody, health officer and director of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. This information can help us understand how seriously people are taking the shelter at home order and what additional steps might be needed to slow the spread.

Another step in controlling the pandemic is to follow the movements of people who are infected with COVID-19. It is critically important for public health officials to be able to scale up and mobilize a well-trained contact tracing workforce with enough personnel to fulfill this important protective measure without overburdening or burning out the individuals doing the work, noted Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in announcing a new tool that can help public health officials estimate the number of contact tracers they will need.

Google and Apple have collaborated on a tool that could add to contact tracing efforts, even if states manage to recruit and train the nearly 200,000 that NACCHO believes are needed. They have developed an application programming interface (API) that local agencies can use to build their own contact tracing apps.

The apps wont replace the hands-on efforts of tracers who interview COVID patients and track down those with whom they have been in close contact, but they could give public health officials additional insight into when, or even where, transmission might occur.

Contract tracing is a complex endeavor that does require human resources, said Dr. Karen DeSalvo, chief health officer for Google and former health commissioner for New Orleans, in a May TED interview . On the other hand, theres an opportunity to better inform the contact investigators.

The API, which is interoperable between Apple and Android devices, helps public health agencies to create apps that use Bluetooth to create an anonymized log showing when other devices are near enough, for sufficient time, to constitute close contact. This data can be used to help an infected person better remember where he might have been and who was nearby.

In some cases, apps could allow users to receive notification if they have been near a confirmed case. It remains to be seen whether privacy concerns or hiccups with app development keep citizens from installing these apps, but phone-based technology has played a role in successful containment efforts in other countries.

Tech Helps, But Not a Substitute

The full range of IT resources for public health also includes chatbots, AI, remote monitoring and data visualization. But given the ground that needs to be covered to make up for years of underfunding, local public health departments may not be ready for all of them.

The optimal tools for local health departments are ones that integrate text, mobile, and Web interfaces for patient engagement and improvement of reporting, says Dr. Oscar Alleyne, NACCHOs chief of programs and services.

We should remember that these technologies don't replace people, says the APHAs Benjamin. For those health departments that are still doing contact tracing and sharing information by pen and paper, by Excel spreadsheets being faxed or emailed from one place to another, good technological tools that allow them to do their work are important.

Investment in both people and technology are vital, not just for pandemic response, but to address critical public health issues that are being neglected as scant resources are reallocated to contain the coronavirus.

I'm just looking at what we spent having to shut down our economy, says Benjamin. If we had been able to be more efficient and faster, at least 36,000 lives and billions of dollars would have been saved.
(Natural News) One major pharmaceutical company has finally put an end to the highly controversial use of cell lines from aborted babies in some of its vaccines.

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has announced that its vaccinations division, Sanofi Pasteur, will no longer produce the Poliovax vaccine, which used the aborted fetal cell line MRC-5. They have also stopped using the cell line for the polio vaccines Pentacel and Quadracel.

The MRC-5 cell line descends from cells that came from the lungs of a 14-week-old white male who was aborted in England in 1966 for psychological reasons.

Moving forward, the company will be using Vero cells derived from monkeys to make the vaccines.

Ethical medicine campaign group Children of God for Life said: This means that for the first time in decades, Sanofi Pasteur will no longer have an aborted fetal version of polio vaccine.

However, that doesnt mean the practice isnt still being used elsewhere. For example, there is another cell line in wide use that comes from an aborted baby, in this case a 12-week-old female, known as WI-38. It was first developed in July of 1962 and is commercially available.

These cell lines from aborted babies have been used for growing the viruses needed to make vaccines against illnesses such as rubella, rabies, chicken pox, polio, and measles, and experts say its impossible for all of the human cells to be removed from vaccines before they are administered.

Some of the ethical alternatives that can be effective for developing vaccines include placental cells, umbilical cells, adult stem cells and even cells from insects. In fact, it was reported last month that pharmaceutical company GSK was partnering with Sanofi Pasteur to come up with a vaccine against COVID-19 that used an insect-based platform. The Sf9 cell line theyre using is derived from the fall armyworm and is very effective as a medium for rapid growth; its been used to produce flu vaccines for many years.

Religious leaders speaking out against aborted fetal cell lines in vaccines

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has stated that he will refuse any coronavirus vaccine that is made with tissue from aborted babies. He said in tweet on April 8: So sad even with Covid-19 we are still debating the use of aborted fetal tissue for medical researchlet me go on recordif a vaccine for this virus is only attainable if we use body parts of aborted children then I will refuse the vaccineI will not kill children to live. According to Children of God for Life, several leading COVID-19 vaccines that are under development use aborted fetal cells.

A protein being used by Moderna to develop their coronavirus vaccine comes from HEK 293 aborted fetal cells, while a vaccine developer that is owned by Johnson & Johnson has been using PER C6 Ad5 technology, which comes from the retinal tissue of an aborted baby.

Of course, traces of unborn human fetuses arent the only thing you are injecting into your body or those of your children when you get a vaccine. They also typically contain toxic adjuvants like mercury and aluminum. The aluminum adjuvants in vaccines have been linked in studies to a higher risk of autism. Its long been known that aluminum is a neurotoxin that can cause Alzheimers disease in adults, so why would anyone want to inject it into their bodies?

It is incredibly positive to see the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world devoted exclusively to vaccine manufacture and research making such a move, and one can only hope that others will soon follow suit. Although there are still plenty of other reasons to avoid vaccines, its still a positive move in an industry where relatively good news is extremely rare.

Sources for this article include:

LifeSiteNews.com 1

LifeSiteNews.com 2

NaturalNews.com
Agent 47 will take on one of his most important contracts to date when Hitman 3 arrives next January. As ever, youll take control of him to meticulously plan and execute assassinations (or try to kill your targets in a completely unsubtle way). IOI suggests that you'll have new ways to explore the six locations, and you can interact with them in ways that'll reward you in future playthroughs. Intriguing.

You'll be able to carry over locations from the previous two games and your progression from Hitman 2 into the upcoming sequel, which will tie the World of Assassination trilogy together. "Were very proud to have the entire trilogy all playable from within Hitman 3 and to make it the ultimate place to play any game from the trilogy," IOI's Travis Barbour wrote in a blog post.

The game was announced during Sonys first big PS5 event. As well as that console, itll be available on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The decisions by Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton and Gov. Mike DeWine to stem the spread of the coronavirus drew national attention. The two worked closely to shut down Ohio quickly, setting a precedent for the rest of the country.

But the same actions that earned Acton a fan club and a bobblehead also drew ire from legislators and those pushing for Ohio to stay open. Acton, director since February 2019, resigned on Thursday, leaving the departments general counsel to step in as interim director. She will stay on as a health adviser to DeWine.

Acton said that as the state repositioned itself for reopening, it was time for her to shift away from the intense, unsustainable role shes taken on the past few months. Acton has been a staple in the governors briefings on the coronavirus since before the state shut down.

She noted that any human being would be affected by the backlash from the states decisions, but it wasnt her focus in the role.

Immediately after Acton resigned, social media began to explode with fan comments claiming Actons resignation was a result of continued political pressure and threats. The Ohio Democrats, who had shortly before the announcement posted a piece on Medium criticizing the states Republicans for their attacks on Acton, posted that they had no knowledge of the resignation when it published.

DeWine posted a series of messages on Twitter heaping praise upon Acton after the announcement.

Let me say how very grateful I am for Dr. Actons selfless and tireless service to the people of #Ohio as our Department of Health Director. No one is more passionate about public health than Dr. Amy Acton. She always puts the health and safety of Ohioans first and foremost.  Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) June 11, 2020

Take a look at some of the praise, criticism and pivotal moments from Actons time as health director during the coronavirus crisis:

March 22: Acton signs a stay-at-home order for all Ohioans, shutting down non-essential businesses and limiting mass gatherings. Ohio was among the first states in the country to issue such an order, though many followed close behind.

March 25: By the end of March, a Facebook fan page for Acton had garnered more than 50,000 members, praising her calm demeanor and quick action during the shutdown.

April 5: Ohio apparel company Homage releases Not All Heroes Wear Capes T-shirt to honor Acton and health professionals.

April 17: A bridal shop owner and libertarian law firm sues Acton over the stay-at-home order because there was no requirement in the order that the state provide hearings for owners who felt their businesses were essential. The lawsuit was filed in federal court.

April 22: State Sen. Andrew Brenner responds to a Facebook post by his wife criticizing coronavirus restrictions and pledged he would not allow Ohio to turn into Nazi Germany. Acton is Jewish.

Brenner later apologized, the Cleveland Jewish News reported.

April 28: The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum releases an Acton bobblehead, with all proceeds going to the Protect the Heroes fund to support health care workers.

May 2: A group of about 25 protests Ohios coronavirus restrictions outside Actons house. Signs outside protests at Ohios Statehouse also frequently vilified Acton.

May 4: The Ohio-based Physicians Action Network stages a Statehouse demonstration in support of Acton.

May 5: The New York Times runs an opinion piece praising Actons leadership. The Washington Post would later publish a piece highlighting the admiration and backlash that came with her strong role in the states decisions.

May 7: Ohio House Republicans move to limit Actons authority, attempting to limit health department orders to 14 days unless extended by a legislative committee.

The proposed changes would have given anybody the ability to sue to rescind a health order without having to show they were harmed by the health order. The bill passed out of the House with 58 in favor and 37 against.

May 12: More than 30 gyms sue to challenge the states coronavirus closures, accusing Acton of grossly abusing the lawful powers of her office by issuing impermissibly vague and arbitrary orders.

May 20: The Ohio Senate unanimously rejects the House plan to limit Actons authority. The bill was sent to a conference committee between members of the House and Senate.

Lake County Common Pleas Judge Eugene A. Lucci rules in favor of the gyms, writing that Acton overstepped, less than a week before the states reopening date.

June 5: Cedar Point, Kalahari Resort and Kings Island sue Acton, claiming the state did not have the authority to keep the amusement parks closed. The state later announced parks would be able to open June 19.

June 8: Eight Ohio bars and restaurants sue to try to prevent the state from enforcing social-distancing rules imposed on them. The lawsuit claimed the rules were unconstitutionally vague, arbitrary, and potentially open them up to lawsuits from patrons.
The recent phone call to Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care was unexpected.

The caller wanted to know about Maria Ortiz, an indigent patient at Porthaven Healthcare Center in Portland with no known relatives and one last request.

Ortiz, dying of metastatic breast cancer, wanted to do something she never had done: gaze upon the ocean.

The Oregonian/OregonLive wrote in early May about the way Seasons Hospice scrambled, working around coronavirus restrictions and closed beach access points to get Ortiz to Sunset Beach in Clatsop County.

Once there, Ortiz stood on the beach, smile on her face, staring out at the horizon.

The caller had not seen the story but had been told about it. He wondered if he could be Ortizs brother, said Allyson Snider, Seasons executive director. He had been separated from his sister when they were teenagers. He had been looking for her ever since.

Seasons sent him a copy. After reading it, he was sure Maria Ortiz was his sister.

He said he just got super emotional, Snider said. He was crying, and so happy about what we were able to do for her.

He wished to make contact with his sister, Snider said, but couldnt travel from his home near Seattle because of his own health complications.

Maria barely could communicate at that point because of her brain medications, Snider said. But a nurse was able to tell her with a letter board what had happened. She was able to say she did want to get in touch with him.

So, brother and sister reunited, if only by video conference.

They video-chatted a couple of times, Snider said. Maria has had a really, sharp decline in the last week. She cant really communicate at all anymore, sadly.

But her life journey has lasted long enough she knows she isnt alone.

Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter

Since the Oregonian/OregonLive story, Seasons has been swamped by calls and offers to help. Ortiz has received cards and letters, donations of clothing.

The family of an artist who also is a hospice patient gave permission for Seasons to make use of a beach landscape he had painted.

We used his art to make cards we can send to Maria and other patients, Snider said. We had people who saw the story and signed up to volunteer to help patients, even though they know Maria is in a lockdown facility and they cant have access to her.

Its just been one thing after another. This really has been one of the most amazing experiences Ive ever had in hospice.

In The Oregonian/Oregon Live story, hospice workers and Ortiz had agreed for her ashes to be spread on Sunset Beach when the time came.

After seeing that, one caller reached out from a company that arranges free air travel for people with serious medical conditions. He offered use of a plane to spread the ashes.

She agreed, Snider said. Its what she wanted.

More in The Oregonian/OregonLive:

-- Coronavirus crisis has pushed the limits for working parents with school-age children.

-- Hillsboro womans simple idea to feed hospital workers turns into a grassroots movement.

-- Gresham Highs student body president rallies her classmates after the schools coronavirus shut down.

-- Free food boxes available throughout Oregon and Washington as Pacific Coast Fruit delivers.

-- How to donate a flower with that Meal on Wheels.

-- Ken Goe

kgoe@oregonian.com | @KenGoe

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
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For the first two years Ella Kuang lived in Melbourne, she was sure she would go back home to Shanghai as soon as she had gained her master's degree in international business.

Australian society felt closed to her, its people impossible to connect with.

"At the time I just say, I want to study and after study I'll just go back to China," the Monash University student said.

Jeremy, a law student at the University of Sydney, said he is against the idea of Chinese education agents threatening to divert international students away from Australia to the UK.. Credit:Janie Barrett

But the cultural barriers began to crack after she got a job at a telecommunications company and made some non-Chinese friends.
Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast, Charles Gabriel Palmer-Bucker, has urged Ghanaians to love their country in order to make the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda achievable.

He says there was the need for Ghanaians to be patriotic and to develop values that seek to advance their nation.

We need a paradigm shift from our present mindset, he said as he delivered a statement at a forum on Ghana Beyond Aid and coronavirus.

Speaking at the forum held at the Information Ministry on Thursday, June 11, under the theme: 'Covid19 and our march towards Ghana Beyond Aid: Turning adversity into opportunity,' he expressed concerns that

Ghanaians are losing sight of values creation.

He stated that Ghanaians seem to lack appreciation for their country.

According to him, it is pathetic to hear some people say Ghana is not worth dying for.

---Daily Guide
Delayed BOT projects threaten to disrupt future power supply

A build-operate-transfer (BOT) power developer who declined to be named told VIR that his venture is facing delays of more than six months due to supply chain disruptions, unavailability of manpower, and issues in obtaining project financing due to the coronavirus.

Our project is under negotiation and has not started construction. The recent lockdown and movement restrictions imposed to control the spread of COVID-19 have contributed to our delay, the developer said. The longer the project is delayed, the harder it is for our project as lenders have started to restrict or phase out financial support, even though we committed to using the most advanced technology.

Meanwhile, South Korean national power company Korea Electric Power Corporations (KEPCO) poor track record was noted by the director of Energy Finance Studies Asia and author of the report Question Time for KEPCOs Board as it witnessed poor performance, also due to the pandemic. Its share price shot down 22.8 per cent year-to-date, creating questions for their overseas investment and BOT power activities in Vietnam, including the 1,200MW Nghi Son and the potential 1,200MW Vung Ang 2.

Over the past few decades, there has been a craving for public-private partnership in the development of large-scale energy and infrastructure ventures across Vietnam. However, along with the revised Power Development Plan VII (PDP7) that has not been implemented as expected, the BOT power sector has moved slowly, with long preparation times. There are currently 15 BOT power projects, including three projects on track (in particular, Vinh Tan 1 started power generation six months earlier than planned) and others being delayed or are unidentified due to certain obstacles in negotiation (see chart).

For instance, the 1,200MW Hai Duong BOT power plant in the northern province of Hai Duong, licensed in 2011, remains under construction through a joint-venture between Malaysias Jaks Resources and China Power Engineering Consulting Group. As per the initial plan, this power project was expected to start commercial operations in 2016 with the first turbine and in 2017 for the second.

Hai Duong, where the project is located, has already requested the prime minister and relevant authorities several times to urge the foreign investors to implement construction on schedule as previously committed. The province also asked the prime minister to issue measures for the continuous delay for many times.

Industry insiders said that financial arrangements are not a straightforward assignment for power projects that require huge capital and must take environmental concerns into account. Looking back on the progress since the release of BOT bidding documents of Nghi Son 2 in the central province of Thanh Hoa, it took about 10 years for the thermal power initiative to complete all procedures in order to reach financial closure. BOT Nghi Son 2 is invested by a consortium consisting of Japans Marubeni Corporation and KEPCO. The $2.79 billion project started construction in 2018 and was expected to be completed next month.

Some other BOT schemes under negotiation include Indias Tata Power for Long Phu 2, Thailands EGAT Quang Tri 1, and Toyo Inks Song Hau 2.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) admitted in a document, The negotiation of BOT contracts and investment licence issuance take time due to the complex involvement of many related ministries. Obstacles have been mainly incentive policies, foreign exchange, early termination of contract, and more. It usually takes a long time for other authorised agencies to review and provide comments. The MoIT is not able to take control of contract negotiation and signing. BOT plants such as Vung Ang 2, Vinh Tan 3, Long Phu 2, and Song Hau 2 are facing such problems.

Last year, a representative of the BOT Van Phong 1 thermal power investor told VIR that the delay in the implementation of BOT projects in the industry is due to the terms of related contracts, electricity trading, land lease, and government guarantee, adding that it takes time to negotiate to ensure the ability to arrange financing from foreign credit institutions.

Earlier this year, the MoIT released its latest report on the implementation of power projects in the revised PDP7. Some 47 of the 62 approved plants are behind schedule to various degrees, ranging from a few months to as long as five years. Delays in many power projects in particular threaten shortages in the coming time.

The total capacity of all power sources likely to be operationalised over the course of 15 years (2016-2030) is expected to reach about 80,500MW, over 15,200MW less than the figure forecast in the revised PDP7 for 2011-2020 with a vision towards 2030.

Vietnam is currently reviewing and building an eighth PDP. The prime minister also urged the MoIT and related agencies to take measures to promote key power projects and recommend solutions for power projects that are falling behind schedule.

The MoIT also reported that relevant agencies have to prepare carefully to minimise power outages across the country, especially in the southern region. In some cases, it is required to mobilise electricity that is generated by oil and diesel as well as raise the awareness of energy conservation among residents. Many solar power plants, meanwhile, are also expected to be soon put into operation, which will also contribute to address the shortages.
Two additional Atlanta police officers were fired Wednesday over a dramatic incident involving two college students who were yanked from a car stuck in traffic during a large protest against racial inequality and police brutality, according to CBS Atlanta affiliate WGCL-TV. Two other officers were previously relieved of duty less than 24 hours after the May 30 encounter.

WGCL-TV identified the newly fired officers as Sergeant Lonnie Hood and officer Armon Jones. The four fired officers and two others still on the force all face criminal charges stemming from the encounter.

The May 30 incident unfolded live on CBS affiliate WGCL-TV. The officers used a stun gun on driver Messiah Young, 22, and passenger Teniyah Pilgrim, 20.

Video shows an officer tell Young, who was driving, to keep moving but then the officer opens the door and tries to pull Young out of the car. Young manages to drive off but is stopped down the road by traffic. Officers then swarm the car. One officer opens the passenger-side door as another attempts to break the driver-side window.

The officer on the passenger side then uses his Taser on Pilgrim, who could be heard screaming throughout the encounter. Young can also be seen being tased before officers pull him from the car. Young also said he was punched at least 10 times while he was being subdued on the pavement.

atlanta-cops.png

Atlanta police officers seen using stun guns on Taniyah Pilgrim and Messiah Young. Young and Pilgrim were leaving a George Floyd protest at Centennial Olympic Park on Saturday, May 30 when they were assaulted by several police officers. Two officers were fired for their role in the incident. CBS News

Hood, Mark Gardner and Ivory Streeter are charged with aggravated assault for using their Tasers on the students. Hood is also charged with simple battery for violently pulling Pilgrim from the car and throwing her to the ground, according to The Associated Press. Jones is charged with aggravated battery for hurting Young's left arm when he dragged him from the car and slammed him on the street; in addition, he is charged with pointing a gun at Young, according to a warrant.

Story continues

Attorneys for Young and Pilgrim praised Wednesday's decision to fire more officers."These college students were simply sitting in their car, stuck in traffic when they were pulled from their car, beaten and tased for no reason," they said. "It is encouraging that Mayor Lance-Bottoms is making every effort to right a wrong that was obvious to all when watching the officers' body cameras. We can't continue to allow members of law enforcement to recklessly abuse the citizens they are sworn to protect."

On Monday, Streeter and Gardner filed a lawsuit against the city's mayor and police chief, alleging that they were let go without a proper investigation.

The suit claims they have "suffered irreparable injury to their personal and professional reputations as a result of their unlawful dismissal." It goes on to say the officers "were involved in a use of force incident that arose within the scope and course of their duties." They also allege they "have rights to procedural due process prior to and following any disciplinary action pursuant to the charter, ordinances, and policies of the City of Atlanta."

The police union in Atlanta claims there was a failure of due process.

"Way too quick. They had no due process," Vince Champion, southeast director of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, told WGCL-TV. "Knee-jerk-reaction that the mayor and the chief made for their own political reasons."

Paul Howard, the Fulton County district attorney, said this was the third time the DA's office has brought charges against police officers before they were indicted. He also noted that Young and Pilgrim were "extremely innocent."

All of the charged officers are black, except for one, according to AP. The Atlanta Police Department said its sworn personnel is about 61% black, according to 2019 data.

Jordan Freiman contributed to this report.

Christian Cooper on Amy Cooper's phone call to police: "Pulled the pin on the race grenade"

"Justice for All"  full CBS News special

Santa Cruz resident pins down Air Force sergeant accused of killing Northern California deputy
THE COURT OF MIRACLES by Kester Grant (Harper Voyager 12.99, 464pp)

THE COURT OF MIRACLES

by Kester Grant

(Harper Voyager 12.99, 464pp)

It may be Paris, but gay it aint. The revolution has failed, the aristocrats flounce safely in their grandes maisons while the poor must flounder in the merde.

In this twisty, turny and fiercely-told tale of revenge and redemption, the underworld has organised itself into guilds and follows an inverted code of honour.

Enter Nina, a cat burglar with claws, whose life is turned upside down when her sister is sold into prostitution.

Its hard not to love a girl who can negotiate with thief lords, burgle the Dauphins bedroom and organise a jailbreak, but what sets this brilliant debut apart is her sense of passionate outrage and honour.

THE CITY OF A THOUSAND FACES by Walker Dryden (Orion 16.99, 560 pp)

THE CITY OF A THOUSAND FACES

by Walker Dryden

(Orion 16.99, 560 pp)

As a radio series, this epic was as widescreen as the spoken word can get. As a book, it repeats the trick.

Tumanbay, a Baghdad-y, desert megapolis, is stinking rich, deliciously decadent, terrifically teeming and undeniably unfair with its slave markets, arranged marriages and executions galore.

But theres insurrection on the edge of the empire, a secret cult within the city walls and stirrings in a very literal underworld.

Linking multiple plot strands together is a pair of mysterious, blue-eyed slaves, a spymaster, a wayward prince and a curiously sympathetic slave-trader. Together they create a complex, gorgeous and compelling tapestry of love, death, trust and betrayal.

THE GIRL AND THE STARS by Mark Lawrence (Harper Voyager 14.99, 480pp)

THE GIRL AND THE STARS

by Mark Lawrence

(Harper Voyager 14.99, 480pp)

Yazs tribe, the Ictha, live in the most northerly north of a frozen planet. They never give up and do whatever it takes to survive.

But  spoiler alert  when Yazs brother falls foul of the priesthood and is ritually chucked into a pit of doom, she does what plucky girls do: jumps in after him. Only she enters a perilous underworld where a battle is raging between earlier survivors of the drop and children infected with evil spirits.

In this cave-world where she must survive giant cannibals, killer robots and tribal power struggles, Yaz discovers she has powers that mark her out as unique  and as a target for her numerous enemies.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - The government of Tanzania is currently holding talks with various international financial institutions to secure funds to enable it mitigate the challenges of the effects of Covid-19 pandemic
Gratiot County Sheriffs Office reports that were no injuries as a result of the semi trucks that fell over due to winds caused by Wednesdays storm.

Both semi trucks fell over due to straight line winds around 1 p.m. and were called in to the Gratiot County Sheriffs Office within minutes of each other.

The first vehicle was closest to Buchanan Road and was completely stopped as it was raining hard and the driver couldnt see, Gratiot County Sheriff Mike Morris said.

One semi went down between Buchanan and Pierce Roads and the other went down between Buchanan and Johnson Roads near Ithaca.

The Sheriffs Office, Ithaca Fire Department, Gratiot Towing, and Michigan Department of Transportation assisted with both vehicle. A crane was brought in to help pull the vehicles up right.

Southbound US-127 was closed off as this was going on and was opened around 5:30 p.m.

We were busier than busy because we were out until 7:30 p.m., Sheriff Morris said.

Both vehicles suffered mainly cosmetic damages though neither is currently drive-able.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Jerussalem  Thu, June 11, 2020 07:00 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc00ee 2 World Germany,Israel,Israel-Palestine-conflict,Israel-annexation,Palestine,West-Bank Free

Germany and its European partners have "serious concerns" over Israel's plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in Jerusalem Wednesday.

The first high-level European visitor to Israel since the coronavirus pandemic hit, Maas brought a message of disquiet to Israel which he later reiterated in neighboring Jordan.

Speaking in Jerusalem, Maas expressed "our honest and serious concerns... about the possible consequences of such a step".

Israel has signaled it intends to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as proposed by US President Donald Trump, with initial steps slated to begin from July 1, the same day Germany takes the rotating EU presidency.

"Together with the European Union, we believe that annexation would not be compatible with international law," Maas told a joint press conference alongside his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi, calling instead for the resumption of talks towards a two-state solution.

The bloc has yet to agree on how to react if Israel presses ahead with annexation or whether to impose sanctions on Israel.

"I don't think much of the politics of issuing threats at a stage when no decision has been taken yet" by Israel, Maas said.

Ashkenazi called Trump's initiative "an important milestone" and a "significant opportunity".

"The plan will be pursued responsibly, in full coordination with the United States" while maintaining Israel's existing and future "peace agreements ... and strategic interests", he said.

International pressure'

Following talks with Ashkenazi, Germany's top diplomat met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who forged a new unity government last month.

Israeli annexation forms part of the US peace plan Trump unveiled in January, which paves the way for the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

A statement from Netanyahu's office cited him telling his German guest that "any realistic plan would have to recognise the reality of Israeli settlements, and not feed the illusion of uprooting people from their homes."

Trump's proposals exclude core Palestinian demands such as a capital in east Jerusalem and have been rejected by the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinians have sent a counter-proposal envisaging a "sovereign Palestinian state, independent and demilitarized" to the Quartet, made up of the UN, US, EU and Russia, Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said Tuesday.

"We want Israel to feel international pressure," Shtayyeh said.

Maas then travelled on to Amman, where he held a video conference with Shtayyeh and met his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

Last month, Jordan's King Abdullah II told German magazine Der Spiegel that Israeli annexation risked sparking a "conflict" with his country.

Maas said that "as a direct neighbor, Jordan is more directly affected than any other country by any developments" in the coming weeks pertaining to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

He warned that "unilateral steps by either side will not bring us any closer" to a negotiated two-state solution, would impact regional stability and bear "great, great potential for escalation".

Safadi warned it was "imperative ...to stop annexation because ultimately it is a path to institutionalize apartheid of Palestine and that is not a recipe for peace".

Speaking in Arabic, he added that annexation would "not be without a response from Jordan".

EU weighs response

While Berlin shares Amman's opposition to annexation, the EU has not yet announced any retaliatory measures.

Europe holds significant financial clout in Israel as the country's top business partner, with trade totaling 30 billion euros ($34 billion) last year, according to EU figures.

Sanctions would need the approval of all 27 member states.

Some European countries could formally recognize a Palestinian state but, according to an Israeli official, Germany would not be one of them.

"Germany even with annexation would not recognize a Palestinian state and is not going to support sanctions against Israel," he told AFP.

The French foreign ministry on Wednesday reiterated its support for a two-state solution as "the only way to reach just and lasting peace, and regional stability".

While in Jerusalem, Maas also discussed Israeli foe Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Berlin was one European party to a landmark 2015 accord to curb Iran's nuclear activities from which Trump has since withdrawn.

Maas also condemned Iran's "incitement or glorification" of militancy in the region and its calls for the destruction of Israel, stressing that "Israel's right to exist is not negotiable".
Oppo Find X2 is also the first non-Google device that is confirmed to support Android 11 Beta 1. For now, it is available on Pixel 2 and later devices only.

Google just unveiled Android 11s first beta version and Oppo seems to be on top of it as it announced Android 11-based ColourOS beta version. The software will be made available later this month on the Oppo Find X2, the smartphone that is being teased for the India launch by the company.

Oppo Find X2 is also the first non-Google device that is confirmed to support Android 11 Beta 1. For now, it is available on Pixel 2 and later devices only.

With a user base of over 350 million, ColorOS is one of the key partners for Google globally. Our consumer insights reveal that users find the ColorOS experience closer to stock Android while welcoming additions we customize for ColorOS specifically, said Manoj Kumar, Senior Principal Engineer, ColorOS, Oppo. We work jointly with Google across OPPO devices at the software system level to enrich and empower user experience on Android. A perfect case in example is the CameraX project that we are working with Google on, to enhance camera capabilities and functionality of third party apps such as Instagram, Snapchat and others.

Also read: Android 11 may integrate GPay, IoT in Power Menu

Googles Android 11 beta 1 focuses on three key themes  People, Controls, and Privacy. The OS version includes new conversation notifications, chat bubbles, and improved keyboard experience. For the Controls part, Google has introduced new ways to manage connected device and media. It has many new privacy features as well. One of the highlights is giving more granular access to an application.

We are yet to see how Oppo plans to implement these in its ColourOS.
The RBI also said no withdrawal of amount of a depositor will be allowed from the co-operative bank. "As from the close of business on June 10, 2020, the bank shall not, without prior approval of RBI in writing grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits, disburse or agree to disburse any ...

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Ho Chi Minh City authorities lifted a ban on discos and karaoke lounges on Thursday afternoon, allowing them to reopen following a three-month closedown over COVID-19.

The operators of these services are required to take preventative measures like fumigating surfaces and providing sanitizers for customers to wash their hands when they resume operations, the municipal Peoples Committee said in a document issued on Thursday afternoon.

The commitee also asked that police crack down on any illegal activity, such as drug use, that may happen in places that offer the services.

The citys chairman was quoted as ordering in the document that local administrations strictly follow Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs instructions on COVID-19 prevention and control, keeping a close watch on the novel coronavirus.

The chairman required the Department of Health to cooperate with relevant agencies in continuing quarantining those entering Vietnam from foreign countries in order to stem the community spread of the virus.

On May 7, PM Phuc signed a decision to allow non-essential businesses like cinemas and performing arts venues to reopen after the country had implemented enhanced social distancing measures to curb COVID-19 from April 1 to 22.

However, discos and karaoke parlors were not included in the list of businesses permitted to come back on stream then, at a time when the virus might resurge any time at these venues.

Ho Chi Minh City ordered a series of businesses, including discos and karaoke parlors, to close down from March 15, when Vietnam was at the peak of the pandemic, so as to curb COVID-19.

The committee gave the green light for most businesses to reopen on May 9, except for discos and karaoke lounges.

Vietnam has recorded 332 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday night, with 321 having recovered and no death, according to the Ministry of Health.

The Southeast Asian nation has documented no community-based infections for nearly two months.

The government is considering the resumption of commercial flights between Vietnam and safe regions where there have been no new cases of COVID-19 for at least 30 days.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Sani Aliyu, national coordinator of the presidential task force on COVID-19, says so far, N169 million has been spent on Nigerians who...





Sani Aliyu, national coordinator of the presidential task force on COVID-19, says so far, N169 million has been spent on Nigerians who were evacuated from different countries as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.





Speaking when he featured on a Channels Television programme on Tuesday, Aliyu said the PTF has been judicious in spending funds meant for tackling coronavirus pandemic.





He said N22 billion has been released to the PTF but the fund is still with the accountant-general of the federation.





At the PTF, we have a multisectoral responsibility. We have a host of ministries and departments that are part of the PTF and people are given responsibility in terms of their budget line. They then make report and provide us with evidence in terms of whether they have procured or they have spent money, he said.

And that level of evidence needs to be the same level of evidence which they need to pay and we would then give recommendation to the accountant general to pay the money.





At the moment as far as I know, only N169 million or so was spent by the ministry of foreign affairs on evacuation of Nigerians mainly on air accommodation.





We have got about N22 billion that was released to the PTF and just to make it clear, the PTF is not a procuring body.





At the moment, that is like 0.002% and the reason why we havent spent so much is because of the need for prudence in the first place. A lot of MDAs are yet to do their procurement and a lot of MDAs are still using their 2020 budgets for their activities and as far as I am concerned, there is no problem here.





We are in a pandemic situation so we are making sure that the resources we have are being used appropriately.





The N22 billion we talked about us still with the account general and as far as we are concerned in the PTF, we would make sure that whatever funds we are provided with for the purpose of the coronavirus pandemic are used judiciously. But more importantly, we would see if there is evidence and if the right thing has been done.





On May 8, about 300 Nigerian evacuees from UK arrived at the airport in Lagos on a British Airways flight.





About two weeks later, the federal government evacuated 292 Nigerians from Saudi Arabia.





A total of 268 Nigerians evacuated from China also landed in the federal capital territory (FCT) on May 30.








COVID-19 pandemic, much like recent natural disasters, has created a dichotomy

June 11,2020 | Source: Norfolk Daily News

It was June 2010 and a devastating flood had wreaked havoc on parts of Norfolk overnight.



Farm fields were ruined. Businesses near the river in southern Norfolk were uninhabitable. Roads and bridges were closed or ruined. A life was lost because of the flooding.



But on this particular Saturday morning under clear skies, in the northern parts of the city, husbands and wives were walking their dogs. Others were getting in their morning run. Some were sipping coffee while on their decks or patios.



For some, it was as if it was just another summer weekend morning. For others, just the opposite.



A similar picture could be painted last summer when the historic flooding wreaked havoc on parts of Northeast Nebraska and spared others. Norfolk was largely fortunate; Niobrara and Verdigre, among others, were not.



We bring up those two disaster-related examples in light of this springs COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has had on this corner of the state  as well as much of the world.



Once again, a situation basically out of anyones control has created  for lack of better terms  a world of haves and have-nots.



The have-nots have contracted the coronavirus and been hospitalized with severe health problems. Some have even died. Other have-nots have lost their jobs. Or they are business owners who face an uncertain future.



In contrast, the haves are those who have been fortunate enough to have jobs or careers that havent been affected by the pandemic. Theyve continued to receive their regular paychecks and been covered by health insurance. Or theyre owners of businesses that have easily survived  perhaps even thrived  during the past few months. Theyre individuals who havent been sick and perhaps dont even know anyone who has been.



Robert Graboyes, who is the author of Fortress and Frontier in American Health Care and has taught health economics at five universities, recently wrote about the dichotomy that has taken place.



My wife and I have found silver linings in the COVID lockdown. Weve baked bread, ordered gourmet foods online, watched movies, taken walks and shared socially distant drinks with neighbors, he wrote. For me, if I would have three months without pay, it would mean belt-tightening. For a business owner, it means bankruptcy and ruination. The business is likely gone forever, and the former employees will probably hunt through an economic wasteland for ways to feed their families.



So, as Northeast and North Central Nebraska continue to adapt to the implications of the coronavirus, its important for all  but especially the haves  to recognize the divide that has been created. And then to do what everyone can to help the have- nots whenever possible.

 norfolkdailynews.com

Theme(s): Others.
Pakistan Zindabad slogan: Bail plea of student activist rejected,court says she may abscond

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Bengaluru, June 11: A court here has rejected the bail plea of a college student accused of sedition after she chanted Pakistan Zindabad on stage.

The incident occurred on February 20 in the city during a rally which was held to protest against the amended citizenship law. While rejecting the plea, the court observed that if bail is granted to Amulya Leona Noronha, she may involve herself in similar offences which would affect peace at large.

Amulya was booked under charges of sedition and promoting enmity between groups. Her friends however said that she was trying to convey a message of universal humanity by chanting zindabad in the name of all nations, including Pakistan and India.

Sedition case: Amulya Leona judicial custody extended till March 5

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

Judge, Vidhyadhar Shirahatti in his order said that if the petitioner is granted bail she may abscond and hence her petition is rejected.

Video clips of the event showed her changing, " Hindustan Zindabad," soon after she said "Pakistan Zindabad," She says that she was trying to tell the audience that her microphone was snatched by then and she could not complete the speech, which she delivered at the Freedom Park in Bengaluru.

The prosecution argued that Amulya was trying to incite the people and create a law and order problem. The prosecutor said that she had been earlier been accused of causing hatred and disaffection towards religion and the government established by law in India by holding a placard that stated F##K Hindutva during a protest. Since there were cases already registered against her, she would try and commit similar offences, if released on bail, the prosecution also argued.
ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / Findit, Inc. a Nevada Corporation (OTC PINK:FDIT) owner of Findit.com, a full service social networking management platform that provides online marketing services that enables members to post content rich right now status updates with various content verticals that help improve overall indexing in search engines, has entered into an agreement with Empire Associates which owns the website OTC Tip Reporter to assist Findit in business finance, corporate investor/public relation, media and marketing and advertising services.

This agreement is a 1 Year-outreach program designed to bring more corporate and individual awareness of Findit, Inc. and its properties, specifically Findit.com, and the Findit App, which is currently available for IOS and Android devices through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIIP4h8BOrQ

Findit is in the process of revamping its current App that is available now in both Apple and Google for download for smart devices. The updates to the App will include new features that will give members the option of including a variety of content features in each post. Each post can have all of the content features or only words; it is up to the member doing the posting. Non-members can also download the app the same way they can go on the website without creating an account or logging in to view all the content posted. Non-members and members will be able to share posts without signing into Findit to other social networking sites that include but are not limited to: Facebook, LinkedIN, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter and DM on Instagram.

Every piece of public content posted through a Findit account can be crawled by search engines and be indexed in organic search results. Findit members have already seen many of their posts and pictures indexing in Google, Yahoo and Bing.

The media marketing campaign according to Empire Associates will be prepared in accordance with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's (hereafter "SEC") rules and amendments, Oct 23, 2000, regarding 17 CFR Parts, 240, 243 and 249, (Selective Disclosure and Insider Trading), Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure), 10b5-1, 10b5-2, NASD Rules 2250, 2420, 2710 and 2711, the Can-Spam Act of 2003 and any amendments thereto and all other relevant SEC regulations. All media marketing will include a Disclaimer as provided for in Article 1 above.

Empire Associates as an independent contractor during the length of this agreement may choose to, at its discretion, engage or hire third party contractors to perform certain services called for in the agreement.

About Findit, Inc.

Findit.com which is a Social Media Content Management Platform that provides an interactive search engine for all content posted in Findit to appear in Findit search. The site is an open platform that provides access to Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines access to its content posted to Findit so it can be indexed in these search engines as well. Findit provides Members the ability to post, share and manage their content. Once they have posted in Findit, we ensure the content gets indexed in Findit Search results. Findit provides an option for anyone to submit URLs that they want indexed in Findit search result, along with posting status updates through Findit Right Now. Status Updates posted in Findit can be crawled by outside search engines which can result in additional organic indexing. All posts on Findit can be shared to other social and bookmarking sites by members and non-members. Findit provides Real Estate Agents the ability to create their own Findit Site where they can pull in their listing and others through their IDX account. Findit, Inc., is focused on the development of monetized Internet-based web products that can provide an increase in brand awareness of our members. Findit, Inc., trades under the stock symbol FDIT on the OTC Pinksheets.

Safe Harbor:

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), including statements regarding potential sales, the success of the company's business, as well as statements that include the word believe or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Findit, Inc. to differ materially from those implied or expressed.

CONTACT:

Findit, Inc.

www.findit.com

Clark St. Amant

404-443-3224

Empire Associates Inc.

www.otctipreporter.com

1-800-850-9305

SOURCE: Findit, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593579/Findit-Inc-Enters-into-Agreement-with-Empire-Associates-Inc-Owner-of-OTC-Tip-Reporter-for-Financial-and-Public-Relations-Media-Marketing-Advertising-Services
The Principal of Jackson College of Education (JCE) Theodosia Jackson has heavily descended on the various Media houses in Ghana, blaming them for creating tension ahead of 2020 elections.

According to the Principal of JCE, the media has become a catalyst in the creation of tension whenever Ghana is preparing for its general elections.

In an interview with Kwame Tutu on Anopa Nkomo on Accra based Kingdom FM 107.7, she stressed that sometimes you find it difficult to understand the kind of content and information Presenters of some media houses deliver to their listeners and viewers whiles addressing political issues in the country.

Our Media has to educate the public and not to create tension. Why do the Media have to create tension whenever the country is heading towards its general elections? Must Ghanaians always pray for peace during every election year? she quizzed.

Expressing worry, she further described as disgraceful, shameful and disgusting the conduct and actions of Journalists and other Media Practitioners have been for escalating tension, fear and panic in the country every election year.

She therefore encouraged journalists and other media practitioners to act as catalysts for development rather than creating chaos and unnecessary tension in the country.

Theodosia Jackson further urged media practitioners to criticize constructively and also provide government with ideas and proposals that could be used in harnessing the countrys development.

The countrys democratic growth would be achieved with the support of the media, adding that, the media should put forth strategies to help reduce the escalation of violence and tension, which could blunt some of the effect that the incidence of electoral violence has overall, if those strategies are well organized and widely disseminated.

---kingdomfmonline
TikTok clone Zynn has now officially been removed from the Google Play Store for plagiarism amid other issues. Thats according to reports citing a Zynn spokesperson, who admitted that the company has had lapses on that front. The take-down follows reports from popular TikTok users, claiming that Zynn allowed uploads of their content without permission. But it isnt just content thats being copied either.

In at least some cases, top TikTok users have reported that their entire account has been plagiarised. That has included profile pictures, names, and the above-mentioned content, sometimes going back months. Additionally, some of the stolen content was taken well before Zynn launched in the US.

Problems with Zynn dont stop at the Play Store or plagiarism

Aside from plagiarism reports, Zynn has additionally been labeled a pyramid scheme by Common Sense Media. The non-profit applies the label on the basis that Zynn offers to pay users for accessing the app. Summarily, users can earn money for signing up and for recommending the app to others. Thats on top of promised payments for watching or posting videos.

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As is often the case with apps that promise a rewards payout, some users have claimed to have been paid, others have not. Some claim to have earned enough rewards to cash in on their earnings but that theyve been unable to.

Zynn claims that the app can only have value while a large number of users are active. The payouts are intended as a way to get users active and the money thats paid out, it says, takes the place of spending money on ads.

Will Zynn be back?

Spokespersons for Zynn have indicated that the company is looking into the problem. And it is reportedly in active talks with Google with fix the problem as soon as possible. But the rivalry between Zynn and TikTok stretches back much further. Zynn is a subsidiary of Kuaishou, while TikTok is the product of ByteDance. The former app was, until recently, relatively unknown in the West. At least compared to TikTok and its rampant rise in popularity outside of China back in early 2019.

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TikTok has steadily added new features such as a family safety tool and Digital Wellbeing management features in the meantime, in a bid to hold onto its position. Zynn, conversely, has been called out by Senator Josh Hawley, among others, for investigation. The senator has expressed concerns that the app and others like it will allow Chinese government to pry into the private affairs of Americans.

Within its home region, TikToks parent company isnt quite so popular. WeChat creator Tencent, for instance, provided $2 billion in funds to Kuaishou in December. That money was expressly designated as a way to help stop ByteDance from growing too large to manage.

The two companies have been embroiled in lawsuits in the interim as well  highlighting the fierce level of competition between the two and their parent companies.

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For Googles part, at the very least, its still unclear if the search giant will ultimately allow Zynn to return to the Play Store. The company has reportedly not responded to inquiries about the removal.
Steve Bullock never got to square off against President Donald Trump before dropping out of the Democratic presidential primary last year, but the two-term governor is getting another chance on his home turf by trying to oust a strong Trump ally in Montana's U.S. Senate race.

The balance of the closely divided Senate is in play in November's election and tens of millions of dollars are expected to be dumped into Big Sky Country as Bullock challenges first-term Republican Sen. Steve Daines.

The contest presents a challenge Bullock has not previously faced: A well-financed incumbent closely aligned with a president who compels attention and has pledged to campaign in Montana on Daines' behalf.

To win, Bullock will have to carry out the same feat Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is attempting at the national level and sway moderate voters who helped propel Trump to a 20-percentage point victory in Montana in 2016.

That same year, Bullock won his second term as governor with a 4 percentage point margin.

To hear Bullock tell it, he doesn't see the Senate race as an extension of his presidential run or Daines as a proxy of Trump.

"This isn't about a referendum on Trump. This election is about leadership and who will fight for Montana every day in Washington," Bullock said in his first interview since the two candidates cruised to victory in last week's primary over lesser-known opponents.

It's also a question of whether voters will boot one popular elected office holder to replace him with another. Daines won the seat by a huge margin in 2014 and has delivered legislative victories on issues ranging from land conservation to relief for businesses and workers impacted by the pandemic.

Daines so far is sticking with Trump in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, a faltering economy and civil unrest stirred by police killings of minorities.

"This is going to be a jobs and economy election," Daines said. "Elections are always about the future and the question will be who is best equipped to rebuild this economy working with President Trump."

But those upheavals could test Daines' close alliance with Trump, said University of Montana political analyst Sara Rinfret, as voters look for unifying leaders amid criticism of the president's divisive response to the public health and race crises.

"Having Trump in your corner or being a unifier, that's going to be the true test in November," Rinfret said. "How does Steve Daines reconcile those two? He's going to have to demonstrate he is able to bring people together."

Until March, Bullock was adamantly rejecting a Senate run and a second term for Daines looked assured. Under pressure from Democratic party leaders including former President Barack Obama, Bullock, 54, threw his hat in the ring on March 9, sticking with the themes that drove his presidential bid: expanded health care access and a pledge to bring a Montana ethos of practical problem solving to Washington.

Within a week of his entering the Senate race, the arrival of the coronavirus upended the state and Bullock was in the limelight as he issued orders closing schools and restaurants followed by a general stay-at-home directive.

His quick response was credited with helping keep infection and death rates in Montana low. Daines said the low rates of sickness were welcome but the efforts to restart the economy have been too slow, including the opening of Montana's entrances to Yellowstone National Park two weeks after the park's Wyoming entrances opened.

"It was unfortunate that so many of our gateway communities missed the Memorial Day weekend," Daines said.

Daines, 57, was a former business executive and first-term congressmen when longtime Democratic Sen. Max Baucus resigned in 2014 to become ambassador to China. That opened the Senate seat for the first time since 1978. Bullock appointed his then-lieutenant governor, John Walsh to fill it, a ploy Democrats hoped would give Walsh an advantage in the 2014 election until he dropped out late in the race amid a plagiarism scandal.

Daines rolled to victory over the Democrat's last-minute nominee and in the Senate has sought to establish himself as willing to work across the aisle. Arguably his biggest victory is unfolding this week with the advancement of a sweeping, bipartisan land conservation bill, the Great American Outdoors Act, that Daines and Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner convinced President Donald Trump to support.

The success neutralizes a favorite line of attack by Democrats in many Western states in recent elections -- depicting Republicans as hostile to public lands.

But even as he's carved out bipartisan credentials, Daines has stuck to Republican talking points, including criticism of China's role in the coronavirus pandemic and support for Trump's decision to bring in federal law officers to eject peaceful demonstrators from a park near the White House.

The loyalty has earned Trump's praise, while Democrats have attacked Daines as a hypocrite after he was previously a outspoken China booster. Devolving relations between the two countries could doom a Montana beef export deal that Daines painstakingly cultivated.

"Here's what happened: They lied," he said about China's initial downplaying of the virus' severity. "First and foremost, we've got to hold China accountable for what happened and then look at what's best for our national interest."

Republicans hope to call out Bullock for catering to the left during his presidential bid, including support for a ban on some assault weapons, and later for caving to party pressure when he decided to run.

Bullock said his change of heart was driven by frustrations over the Senate's party-line divisions.

"Let's get beyond the partisan food fights of the day and get things done," he said.

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The Nigerian government has begun plans to reopen its airports for domestic and international travels.

Against this background, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it held a skype meeting with Munich Airport International to share experiences and compare notes on the effects of the COVID19 lockdown on the airports.

The meeting which was at the instance of the Managing Director of FAAN, Rabiu Yadudu, had in attendance the Munich Airport Expert Team, Herbert Keffel, Georgios Elkolids and Julian Duerdoth.

It was also coordinated by Fortune Idu, Managing Director of FCI International Ltd, with Nike Aboderin, the Director of Finance as the team lead on the Nigerian side of 30 FAAN participants.

A statement by Henrietta Yakubu, FAAN spokesperson, noted that the aim was to assess the readiness of FAAN to gradually begin operations, following the Federal Governments directive for reopening of the four regional airports.

Earlier in May, the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Musa Nuhu, had said only four or five airports may be opened for domestic flight operations when the ban on the flight is eventually lifted by the federal government

They included Lagos, Abuja, Kano, and Port Harcourt airports.

Preparations

In initiating the meeting, Mr Yadudu had commented that while FAAN is responding to the guidelines set by NCAA for gradual airport reopening and POST COVID 19 operations, it is important also to compare notes with other airports in the world to make sure they are on the right track and join the global industry in building back travel confidence.

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The FAAN MD noted that Munich airport has successfully reopened its airport and has recommenced domestic and international flights, so it is worth sharing their experience with them. Furthermore, FAAN intends to begin involving itself in route development and therefore, collaborative efforts between Munich and FAAN can help in that direction, he added.

The presentation via skype simulated from Germany and England was tagged Rapid Aviation Plan by Georgios Elkolids. Herbert Keffel highlighted the steps and considerations which Munich Airport International adopted towards the successful reopening of the airport.

Though there are guidelines issued by ICAO and ACI for the purpose of the reopening, the guidelines become more successful if they are adapted based on the peculiarities of the airport environment which Munich has successfully done.

In response to a question raised on the issue of orderly management of human traffic in a relatively small airport space, the Munich airport team compared notes on how they had carried out flow management and social distancing orders with the FAAN team.

They also showed a willingness to continue the backend co-operation and information sharing to help build traffic, passenger confidence and also improve operational efficiency, non-aeronautical services and route development.

Mr Idu the coordinator of the meeting proposed a development partnership between the two organisations for the betterment of the industry and to enable FAANs airports learn and aspire to operate high standards of airport services like Munich Airport. He noted that this will put some of Nigerias airports at the top of the region.
Protocol analyzers and exercisers are key tools to help driver and firmware developers understand serial data communication between their devices and systems. The Summit Z58 features a unified single application that incorporates traffic generation and protocol analysis. A protocol exerciser provides realistic traffic to devices under test and can also emulate complex host- or device-side traffic while the protocol analyzer acquires, records, decodes, analyzes and displays complex high-speed PCI Express I/O streams. Users will have access to analysis and reporting capabilities that are highly utilized in the PCIe industry. When analyzers and exercisers are used together developers can create powerful script level traffic and monitor the results of all tests. The Protocol Exerciser uses the new PXP-500A Test platform that feature both CEM and SFF-TA-1002 connectors to allow wider support of different PCI Express add-in-cards.

"Teledyne LeCroy continues to lead the industry in protocol test support for the PCI Express architecture, and our long engagement in the PCIe protocol tool market has allowed us to develop and provide the most useful solutions that help shorten development and testing," said Michael Romm, General Manager, Protocol Solutions Group, Teledyne LeCroy. "Users who are moving to PCIe 5.0 with Teledyne LeCroy test solutions can appreciate the rich library of decodes and analysis capabilities that are available on all of Teledyne LeCroy's PCIe test tools."

"The PCIe 5.0 Protocol Exerciser/ Analyzer is the latest development in support of helping the industry make the technology transition to 32.0 GT/s," said Dr. Debendra Das Sharma, Intel Fellow, Director of I/O Technologies and Standards, Intel Corporation. "Development of new test solutions from companies like Teledyne LeCroy will help fuel the growth of the PCIe 5.0 ecosystem."

"Synopsys and Teledyne LeCroy have achieved successful interoperability testing through many generations of the PCI Express protocol, including PCI Express 5.0 at 32 GT/s," said Scott Knowlton, director of Strategy and Solution Marketing at Synopsys. "The Synopsys complete, silicon-proven DesignWare IP solution for PCI Express 5.0, combined with Teledyne's new Summit Z58 exerciser/analyzer, allows efficient migration to PCI Express 5.0 designs, while enabling the required functionality and thorough testing of data-intensive SoCs."

Teledyne LeCroy protocol analyzers and exercisers have been at the forefront of PCI Express development working closely with the computer industry over the last decade to provide the analysis features companies have needed for PCIe storage and IoT technology development. All Teledyne LeCroy protocol analysis and test products feature a hierarchical display, real-time statistics, protocol traffic summaries, detailed error reports, powerful scripting, and the ability to create user-defined test reports, which allow developers to troubleshoot intricate problems and finish their projects on time. Users of Teledyne LeCroy systems appreciate the rich library of decodes and analysis capabilities that are available on all of Teledyne LeCroy's PCIe test tools.

The Summit Z58 PCIe 5.0 Protocol Exerciser/Analyzer is currently available to order. For additional information, contact Teledyne LeCroy at 1-800-5LeCroy (1-800-553-2769) or visit Teledyne LeCroy's web site at teledynelecroy.com.

About Teledyne LeCroy

Teledyne LeCroy is a leading manufacturer of advanced oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, and other test instruments that verify performance, validate compliance, and debug complex electronic systems quickly and thoroughly. Since its founding in 1964, the Company has focused on incorporating powerful tools into innovative products that enhance "Time-to-Insight". Faster time to insight enables users to rapidly find and fix defects in complex electronic systems, dramatically improving time-to-market for a wide variety of applications and end markets. Teledyne LeCroy is based in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. For more information, visit Teledyne LeCroy's website at teledynelecroy.com .

 2020 by Teledyne LeCroy. All rights reserved. Specifications are subject to change without notice.

PCI-SIG, PCI Express and PCIe are registered trademarks of PCI-SIG. Summit and CATC Trace are trademarks of Teledyne LeCroy.

Technical Contact: John Wiedemeier, Sr. Product Marketing Manager (408) 486-7211 Customer Contact: Teledyne LeCroy PSG Customer Care Center (800) 553-2769 Website: teledynelecroy.com



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Ross Kemp has revealed that Dame Barbara Windsor failed to recognise him as she continues her battle with dementia.

The TV hardman, 55, spoke about the emotional toll of the disease while filming for his latest two-part documentary series.

Ross, who played Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, worked alongside Barbara for more than 25 years before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's six years ago.

Heartache: Ross Kemp, 55, has revealed that Dame Barbara Windsor failed to recognise him as she continues her battle with dementia

The 82-year-old soap legend is now cared for by her husband Scott Mitchell, 56, who acts as her primary carer.

Speaking in the documentary, titled Ross Kemp: Living With Dementia, Ross recalled: '"WHO are you? What are you doing here?"

'I've been in Barbara Windsor's house for just a few minutes. I'm sitting down with a cup of tea and a biscuit with my friend of three decades. I'm taken aback, but I can't show it.

On-screen family: Ross, who played Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, worked alongside Barbara for more than 25 years before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's six years ago (pictured perviously on set)

'When I arrived, she greeted me with a hug, as one of her closest friends.

'Barbara was my "TV mum" on EastEnders and is hilariously funny and vivacious, with a rapier wit  we've always had a giggle, on and off set. But now she clearly has no idea who I am.'

Ross said his motivation for the new ITV series was to gain a greater understanding of how families cope with the disease.

He added that he was spurred on by Barbara's story as well as that of his own grandmother being diagnosed during the later stages of her life.

Friends: Ross said that he was spurred on by Barbara's story as well as that of his own grandmother being diagnosed during the later stages of her life

Scott spoke candidly during filming and admitted that her changes in personality meant that it was not the Barbara he knew.

It comes after Barbara Windsor was reportedly struggling with the coronavirus lockdown because she can't understand why nobody is visiting her.

The EastEnders icon is accustomed to close friends and family constantly checking in on her but her close friend Christopher Biggins, 71, told The Sun: 'She's a little confused as to what's going on because no one can visit her.

Lockdown struggles: It comes after Barbara Windsor (pictured with Christopher Biggins) was reportedly struggling with the coronavirus lockdown because she can't understand why nobody is visiting her

'It's not because she thinks ''they don't like me'' because her husband Scott explains to her but she just forgets the explanation and she asks all the time.'

Barbara, who is best known for her role as Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders and for starring in nine Carry On films, first revealed she was suffering from the disease, for which there is currently no cure, in May 2018, after being diagnosed in 2014.

Scott has since said that her condition worsened at the beginning of the year and that the legendary actress often gets confused as to where she is.

Family fun: The EastEnders icon is accustomed to close friends and family constantly checking in on her

He told the Sunday Mirror: 'Constantly, she does not realise where we are, even in the house. She will ask me, "When are we going home?"

'Sometimes she will ask me about people who have already passed away, as if they are still here. That is something she does regularly about her own parents. It is a very difficult one.'

Scott said the situation was 'heartbreaking', adding that she forgets short-term things like if she's had dinner, but remembers things about her childhood and early career.

Biggins went on to discuss the future of theatres and pantomime season, usually around Christmastime, and thinks it will be a 'miracle' if it goes ahead.

Tough time: Her close friend Christopher Biggins, 71, told The Sun: 'She's a little confused as to what's going on because no one can visit her'

He added that he thinks the shows should be postponed for the rest of the year even though it will likely lead to dire consequences for national theatres.

The theatre legend, who is due to star in Jack and the Beanstalk in Dartford, Kent, added: 'As a performer of my age standing on the stage in front of 1,500 people sneezing and coughing and doing all sorts of things at me, I worry.'

He went on to wonder aloud about how audience members would be allowed to enter theatres in accordance with social distancing measures.

Biggins noted that audience members wouldn't be able to sit two metres apart and watching with face masks would interfere with laughter.

He added that he believes the reason that theatres have been able to stay afloat until now is due to money that comes in from pantomime season so worries what will happen as a result of lockdown.

Ross Kemp: Living With Dementia starts on ITV on Thursday at 7.30pm

Heartbreaking: Her husband Scott said her condition worsened at the beginning of the year, and that the legendary actress often gets confused as to where she is
She wore a mask and sat across the nursing home patio from her elderly mother, but Marcie Abramsons emotions were on full display as the two connected in person for the first time in nearly three months.

Like many states, Massachusetts in mid-March limited visits to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to protect those most vulnerable to the coronavirus, which has exacted a heavy toll among older Americans. More than 60% of the states nearly 7,500 COVID-19 deaths have involved nursing home residents.

Nationally, over 35,500 people have died from coronavirus outbreaks at nursing homes and long-term care facilities, about a third of the national toll, according to a running tally by The Associated Press.

But in Massachusetts, in-person visits resumed Wednesday with masks, social distancing  and plenty of tears and laughter.

You wanna give me a kiss?" Abramson called out to her 89-year-old mother, Cynthia Abramson, at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Boston in the pair's first encounter since the pandemic began.

Kisses were strictly off-limits, so the pair exchanged an air hug.

Oh, Ma! I love you so much! I really, really missed you, the daughter gushed, choking back tears. The day finally came. The day is here. I get to visit you."

Under strict Massachusetts guidelines aimed at avoiding a spike in coronavirus cases, visits must be scheduled and take place in designated outdoor areas, with the exception of end-of-life situations.

Nursing home residents are allowed only two visitors at a time, and everyone must wear a mask and stay at least 6 feet (2 meters) apart. Residents with confirmed or possible cases of the disease cannot have visitors, although those who have recovered can.

Abramson and her husband, Jeffrey Hunt, had their temperature taken and were screened for symptoms  additional steps that all visitors must take. Facilities also are taking care to disinfect chairs and other objects that visitors have used or touched.

I have to say that I was nervous to see my mom today," she said. I was really, really nervous. I didnt sleep because she had been thinking that today may never come, that no one would ever be able to visit again and thats where she would end up. ... The emotional and mental toll on people has been extremely difficult.

Hunt said his mother-in-law developed some major health challenges just as the pandemic began.

So her ability to just process information and understand whats happening to her, whats going on around her, was significantly compromised. And that just made the whole quarantine situation exponentially more difficult for her," he said.

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In less than a year, Chelsea Phaire has assembled more than 2,500 art kits to deliver to children who have been through traumatic life events, from mass shootings to adjusting to the foster care system.

Chelsea's mom, Candace Phaire, says her 10-year-old daughter has been asking to start some type of charity to help others since she was five years old. But, as Chelsea's tenth birthday approached in August 2019, Phaire and her husband decided their daughter was finally old enough to handle the responsibility.

In less than a year, Chelsea Phaire has donated over 2,500 art supply kits to kids in need. (Chelsea's Charity)

Instead of bringing gifts to her birthday party, Chelsea asked friends and family to donate art supplies, which she planned to use to create art kits to deliver to kids who were living in a homeless shelter near their Danbury, Connecticut home. Two weeks after her birthday, Chelsea took 40 kits containing art supplies like crayons, paint and paper to the facility.

After seeing the joy their donations helped provide, friends and family wanted to give more. Phaire helped Chelsea create an Amazon wish list with products she needed to create more kits and started a website to keep followers updated about their work. Chelsea's Charity was born.

"Chelsea picked out all the things she likes to use," Phaire recalled of the wish list. "Crayola crayons and certain types of paints  she felt like kids should have the same type of materials she was using. There's a deficiency in the art world for kids in situations like these, so this was a perfect way for Chelsea to get involved."

Facilities and individuals can request kits from Chelsea's Charity through their website. (Chelsea's Charity)

As donations poured in, Chelsea and her family traveled to El Paso, Texas and Jersey City, New Jersey to deliver art kits to kids who had been affected by mass shootings in their communities. Since her tenth birthday party, Chelsea has also made donations to veterans at a local community center, in addition to donations to kids in homeless shelters, hospitals and foster care homes: More than 2,500 kits have been dispersed to children in over 17 different states.

Story continues

"She really gets a big charge out of helping the kids with their art materials," Phaire told TODAY Parents, adding that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, planned trips to Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, D.C. to deliver kits had to be postponed and Chelsea has not been able to visit with the children at nearby facilities where she's made recent supply drop-offs. "We've made videos of her giving little art lessons for the kids to see instead of her getting to talk to kids in person."

While the Amazon wish list on the Chelsea's Charity website is currently completely fulfilled, Phaire says they'll be adding a new list this summer. Individuals or facilities who would like to receive a kit from Chelsea can complete a request form on the website.

In a recent appearance on NBC News' Nightly News: Kids Edition, Chelsea showed how she assembles her kits and explained that she wants to inspire other kids to make a difference in the world.

So why did Chelsea choose art as a way to help other kids?

"I love art because it has the ability to open doors to a new world for everyone," the 10-year-old said. "It's like we can escape in the arts, and I wanted to share it with others because everyone should be able to escape like that if they want."

"I just know how much art has helped me when I was really sad, so I wanted to see if it could possibly help other kids, too."
Unilever, the maker of a host of brands including Marmite and Ben & Jerrys, is to combine its Dutch and UK businesses in one company based in London after U-turning on a previous decision to move its headquarters to Holland.

The consumer goods giant announced on Thursday it would scrap its dual Anglo-Dutch structure, which has been in place for 90 years.

Unilever said that it will maintain its presence in both the Netherlands and the UK, with no plans to cut jobs. Headquarters in both countries will not be affected but the companys legal base will switch to London.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma tweeted that the decision was a clear vote of confidence in the UK.

Unilever was forced into an embarrassing U-turn in 2018 after announcing plans to move its headquarters from London to Rotterdam and ditch its listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Some shareholders objected to the proposals which were later ditched, with former chief executive, Paul Polman, and previous chair, Marijn Dekkers, both quitting soon after.

After the new legal entity is established in the UK, Unilever plans to keep its main stock market listing in London with secondary listings in Amsterdam and New York.

The company revealed it had not consulted Dutch shareholders about the plan, meaning there is a possibility they could block it, as British shareholders did in 2018.

Its unusual dual structure emerged in 1930 after British soap manufacturer Lever Brothers merged with Dutch firm Margarine Unie to create Unilever.

Establishing the new setup will simplify the business, with board members meeting in London rather than alternating between two headquarters in different countries.

Unilever said it is clear that the Covid-19 pandemic will create a business environment in which having as much flexibility and responsiveness as possible will be critically important.

Unilever employs around 6,000 people in the UK and 2,500 in the Netherlands.

Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: Any move that contributes to Unilever becoming a more agile machine is a step in the right direction  particularly as coronavirus has accelerated the challenges being seen by a lot of the big brands.

Chairman Nils Andersen said: We remain committed to the Netherlands and the UK and there will be no change to Unilevers footprint in either country as a result of the proposed change to Unilevers legal parent structure.
John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union

The traditional large and smallmouth bass season starts on June 20 and ends on Nov. 20, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced this week.

There also is a catch and release season in many waters starting on Dec. 1, and continuing until the start of the regular season, during which anglers can fish for bass using artificial lures.
Americans who are eager for more help from the government could be waiting awhile.

Additional stimulus legislation is coming, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said this week. But those talks likely won't get serious until late July.

"I definitely think we are going to need another bipartisan legislation to put more money into the economy," Mnuchin told the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on Wednesday.

"We don't want to rush into that because we want to be both careful at this point in seeing how the money is in the economy," Mnuchin said. "A lot of the money is still not in it."

More from Personal Finance:

Stimulus proposals that could put more money in your wallet

Dems, GOP spar over extension of extra $600 in unemployment

Fed holds rates near zero  here's what that means for your wallet

Specifically, that includes $130 billion in unclaimed Paycheck Protection Program funds.

And other types of federal support are still winding their way into the economy, too. That includes economic impact payments, or stimulus checks of up to $1,200 per individual. The government has sent out about 159 million of those payments. Meanwhile, up to 35 million checks have yet to reach people.

In addition, many individuals are still waiting to get unemployment benefits, due to the unprecedented surge in claims.
In a webinar titled Investing in Asia: Obstacles & Opportunities in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines held last week, Savills experts explained that the trend of investing into Southeast Asia is pointing towards new foreign direct investment (FDI) prospects for the three nations in particular.

According to Neil MacGregor, managing director of Savills Vietnam, COVID-19 is accelerating relocation wave from other destinations to Vietnam and this has been increasing the demand of industrial property in the country. Multinationals that produce these will be under pressure to cut costs, prompting a shift in production to Vietnam, MacGregor said.

He explained that previously companies were reluctant to set up operations in Vietnam due to supply chains lacking depth. Today foreign-invested companies are not only establishing new factories in Vietnam, but have a greater incentive to foster development of local supply chains. All of these factors are pushing up the demand for industrial and housing property, he said.

According to Savills, Vietnam has an average occupancy rate of 75 per cent in operational industrial zones nationwide. In some key zones in the south such as Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, this occupancy has reached more than 90 per cent already with the appearance of Vietnam Singapore Induastrial Parks and Thailand AMATA. In the north, Haiphong and Bac Ninh are hot spots with the presence of VinFast and DEEP C Industrial Zones.

Despite Indonesia boasting many advantages as the biggest economy in the region, and with a rising middle class and resilient and stable economy, it has received less interest from international financiers for many years. However, that situation has been changing. Interest is also increasing from foreign investors for modem logistics development and efficient distribution centres, said Savills Indonesia general manager Anton Sitorus. The Indonesian government in the last five years has focused much on infrastructure projects to meet the growing demand for transit-oriented development in the countrys major cities. In Jakarta, a capital city with more than 30 million in population, there remains room for growth of foreign investment, based on the number of around 270,000 units of Grade A being in stock in the market. The figure remains small if compared to other major cities in the region such as Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, and even in Vietnam.

Meanwhile KMC Savills managing director Michael McCullough said that in the Philippines, industrial, logistics, and business process outsourcing (BPO) projects would be faster in recovery compared to other sectors. Industrial and BPO will bounce back within 2-3 months and will become stronger than before, while residential ranks at a mixed outlook, said McCullough.

Manufacturing companies will look for alternative sources and invest in automation. Many manufacturing facilities have had to shut down over recent months but there will be newcomers on the way, added McCullough. In the Philippines, high uncertainly is spreading to parts of retail and offices, which will be impacted for 6-12 months at least.

In the residential segment, Vietnam meanwhile retains room for increasing mid-range and affordable apartments because the slow approval from competent bodies has brought limited supply while demand is increasing. The high-end segment, meanwhile, has seen challenges in the short term given foreigners cannot visit Vietnam due to the pandemic; but the segment still yields potential for FDI in the long term based on the policy from the government to permit foreigners to grab home ownership in Vietnam since 2015, along with the quota of 30 per cent in every project being allowed to be sold to foreigners. Apart from that, the percentage of higher-income earners is also increasing in the country. There is pessimism in hospitality sector across the board, which will be greatly affected and will endure long-lasting impacts which may lead to recession. The pandemic has inevitably put the sector under financial distress which will compel some owners to liquidate assets.
She's firmly cemented her position as one of MasterChef's biggest assets on Channel Ten's ratings juggernaut.

And it's crystal clear judge Melissa Leong, 38, also has a wicked sense of humour when it comes to her sartorial choices.

During Thursday's episode of Back to Win, one fan cheekily compared her beige polka dot frock to fictional character David Rose from TV series Schitt's Creek and bubble tea - and Melissa was overjoyed.

Thrilled! On Thursday, MasterChef judge Melissa Leong happily drew comparisons between her beige polka dot frock and bubble tea

The always-fashionable food critic-turned-loveable TV star volleyed back on social media, with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek.

'It was pointed out to me that I look like boba tea tonight,' she quipped.

Before adding, 'As an Asian, this thrills me to no end.'

The hilarious comparison began when one fan tweeted, praising her style and look.

'Melissa, I don't know if you're a Schitts Creek fan, but the first thing I thought of seeing you in this dress was David Rose and Melissa Leong - two fashion icons wearing their love of boba tea on their sleeves.'

They then shared a side by side of Melissa from the episode alongside her fictional counterpart. The comparison thrilled the stylish judge's followers to no end.

Fashion icons: Meanwhile on Twitter, one fan cheekily compared her fashion look to fictional character David Rose, played by Dan Levy, from TV series Schitt's Creek

Style statement: Melissa shared the post on her Instagram and Twitter. She wrote in the caption, 'It was pointed out to me that I look like boba tea tonight' before adding, 'as an Asian, this thrills me to no end'

Since her debut on MasterChef, Melissa has attracted a cult following, and is routinely praised on social media for her warmth and all-round likeability.

'Melissa is the best thing to happen to prime time television,' one fan boldly wrote during one episode.

While another gushed previously: 'I could listen to Melissa critique dishes all day!'

Hit! It's not unusual for fans to flood Melissa with praise during MasterChef

MasterChef's saving grace appears to be its new mix of judges, which include Melissa, season four winner Andy Allen and restaurateur Jock Zonfrillo.

The MasterChef franchise looked to be on its knees before the show's revamp this season, plummeting to a ratings low of 366,000 last year.

MasterChef: Back to Win has routinely pulled in audiences of more than one million viewers a number of times during the current season.

MasterChef continues Sunday at 7.30pm on Channel Ten
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 18:53:25|Editor: huaxia

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CAPE TOWN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Parliament's Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation on Thursday approved a cooperation treaty with Southeast Asia in a bid to expand South Africa's strategic economic ambit and find new markets.

The committee unanimously recommended that the National Assembly approve South Africa's accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Committee Chairperson Tandi Mahambehlala said in a statement emailed to Xinhua.

The treaty will contribute to the elimination of tariffs between member states, which will in turn lead to reduced prices and more investment opportunities.

"Politically speaking, we welcome the initiative to formalize relations with the ASEAN grouping," Mahambehlala said.

Four ASEAN members established diplomatic relations with Pretoria before South Africa became a democratic state in 1994, while six other nations established full diplomatic relations with South Africa after 1994, according to Mahambehlala.

She said the committee is of the view that by building diplomatic engagement with ASEAN, South Africa will enhance its ability to create strategic relations for social and economic benefit domestically, which can be transferred to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and Africa as a whole, as per the tenets of South Africa's foreign policy.

Given rising tensions in global trade, coupled with shrinking global markets, the committee resolved that accessing more economic partners and markets is in South Africa's national interest, Mahambehlala said.

She cautioned that the global economic landscape is shifting and South Africa needs to open up access to other market opportunities, not only in the West.

"We are mindful that relations with the U.S. and the European Union (EU) remain strong, but in my view, we need to open up different locomotives of our economy," the chairperson said.

She said the ASEAN countries may present important economic opportunities and development lessons.

"If South Africa has a commodity the ASEAN needs and if that offers us an opportunity to beneficiate through manufacturing the commodities needed, then by all means we must follow our national interest and promote trade relations and economic cooperation with the ASEAN," she said. Enditem
NEW MILFORD  Loved ones of the two men who were reported missing Wednesday while swimming in the Housatonic River gathered outside the Gaylordsville firehouse in New Miford on Thursday as search efforts continued for a second day.

After hours of searching the day before, dive teams and first responders were back out scouring the river Thursday for the 21- and 24-year-old New York men, who reported to have disappeared near the Kent line Wednesday.

Thursdays search began at 8 a.m. and continued until 3 p.m., when it was halted due to heavy reain and possibility of lightning, New Milford Police Chief Spencer Cerruto said Thursday night.

Cerruto said the search will continued Friday morning with help from the Brookfield Police Departments Dive Team.

The men had been with family and friends off the east bank of the Housatonic River, adjacent to the Bulls Bridge Power Plant, around 4:50 p.m. Wednesday when they were observed going under water, police said.

Emergency personnel from New Milford, Sherman, Kent, Woodbury, Bantam, Danbury and Connecticut State Police responded to Wednesdays call about two possible drowning victims.

The New Milford police helicopter and dive team  along with state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officers, Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue, RSAR, and underwater search and rescue personnel from Goshen  spent hours searching for the swimmers.

Crews halted Wednesdays search around 10:45 p.m. and resumed in the morning.

The identities of both victims are not being released until search, rescue or recovery activities are completed, Lt. Earl Wheeler said.

Mayor Pete Bass said the search has been challenging because of the current in that part of the river.

Its a really dangerous area, even for the most proficient swimmer, he said.

The town has been looking for ways to make the river safer, especially for people who might not be familiar with it and first responders who might have to enter the waters for a search and rescue mission.

We want to make sure another incident like this doesnt happen again, Bass said.

Last August, a 25-year-old woman from Bronx, N.Y., drowned in the river near the Bulls Bridge Power Plant.

Swimming concerns

Bass said last month he was concerned the closure of beaches at inland state parks due to the coronavirus would cause people to swim in the Housatonic River in unsafe areas.

Two Sundays ago, he went up in a helicopter with fire and police chiefs to scout out areas where people might congregate along the river and potential problem sites.

This is definitely a big concern, especially for people who dont know how to swim, Bass said. It becomes extra dangerous when you dont know the area, especially if you dont know the topography and current.

The town already placed jersey barriers at the bridge in Gaylordsville by the Bittersweet Shop to prevent people from congregating and swimming at the river, but still allows first responders to get through if needed.

Bass said there were times last summer when more than 100 people were gathering at the spot, including children. When he spoke with them, he found many there didnt know how to swim and people werent wearing life jackets.

He hasnt seen that influx this summer, largely due to the weather, but Bass said they wanted to prevent people from gathering there for water safety reasons and to meet social distancing guidelines currently in place.

Additional safety measures will be rolled out and announced in the coming days, including adding signs.
Update: Eight counties will move to green next. Click here to see them.

Original story:

Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf has spent the last handful of Fridays moving counties from one phase to another within his color-coded coronavirus reopening plan.

Will more areas of the state be designated tomorrow to move forward to the least restrictive zone, the green one, as soon as next week?

If the trend continues, the answer is yes, as a number of counties have been in the yellow phase for 14 days, which is the minimum amount of time a location must spend there before it is eligible to move on to green.

Two weeks is hardly a maximum, though, as Erie and Perry counties, for example, have been in it for over and almost a month, respectively.

Pa. officials are using a number of models to determine who moves where and when. Weve reviewed a couple of them to try and determine which counties Wolf could declare as ready to move to green as soon as next Friday, June 19, assuming he sticks to the plan of announcing the counties that can move forward one week before they actually do so.

For example, 12 counties, including Cumberland and York, entered the green phase at 12:01 a.m. today, June 12, after Wolf gave them the go-ahead to do so last Friday, June 5.

With that background out of the way, there are two other things to know about our predictions

First, they are based on two publically available documents. One is the states county-by-county dashboard, referred to often as dashboard in our analysis below, which was last updated June 5 and scores counties on four metrics:

Stable, decreasing, or low confirmed case count over the last two weeks compared to the two previous weeks;

How contacts of confirmed cases are being modeled;

Having 10 percent or less of the patients tested come back as positive over a 14-day period, and;

Hospital beds being no more than 90 percent full

It must be noted that this information could change once the dashboard is updated again, but we have just it combined with the daily numbers released by the Department of Health to go off of in addition to the Carnegie Melon University county scorecard, which was last updated June 10. It grades counties on a sliding numerical scale that corresponds to colors: Green is good, white is neutral, orange is not so good, and red is bad. The six risk factors it assesses are 14-day case count, commuting, ICU capacity, re-opening contact, population density, and population age.

Keep the above two qualifiers in mind when reading the below breakdown of each county. We included only those that have been yellow for at least 14 days as of 12:01 a.m. on Friday, June 11 in our analysis, which rules out Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery, Philadelphia.

Green-phase candidates

Dauphin saw nearby Cumberland and York counties graduate to the green phase today, but its far from a slam dunk that it will be next in line. Dauphin missed the mark on cases declining or stabilizing over a 14-day period in last weeks dashboard, and had too many patients testing positive compared to the number of tests being done, as well. The latest CMU scorecard still shows concern in that area and also the risks related to population density and commuting. Case numbers continue to ping pong back and forth, too; some days, the number goes down, but others see it rise. You have about 35-to-1 odds of hitting the green zero in roulette. Dauphin has a slightly better chance of being among the latest green wave counties, but not much.

Erie was specifically flagged as a place of concern by Wolf and Levine last week because of a rising case count in the western Pa. county. It was the only metric not met in the county scorecard, but the numbers bounced up and down over recent days. Will that be enough for Wolf to give the green light? Its a toss-up.

Franklin passed all four metrics in the states county dashboard last week, and only re-opening risk appears to be a problem, though perhaps not of grave concern, on the CMU scorecard. Residents of this county can feel good about their chances to go green in a week.

Huntingdon was a perfect four-for-four on last weeks dashboard, and on the CMU scorecard, it performed well in every category but re-opening contact risk, for which it had a value in the orange, or mild, range. This county has a good shot to be among the next counties going green.

Lebanon passed three of four metrics on the county dashboard as of last Friday, but on the most up-to-date CMU scorecard, it was flagged for nearly every risk category, with three red dots tied to 14-day case count, commuting risk, and ICU capacity risk. Its hard to see this county moving to green next week.

Luzerne, which turned yellow on May 29 like many of the counties listed here, passed all four county dashboard metrics last week and its lone major concern on the CMU card is related to ICU capacity. Its a good bet to go green next.

Monroe hit on the four metrics last week, but had concerns on the CMU scorecard about ICU capacity (red), plus reopening contact and population density risks (orange). We like Monroes chances to advance to green, but not as much as some of its counterparts listed here.

Perry met three of four metrics on June 5, but had rising case counts then. In the latest CMU scorecard, Perry only has a red score for the risk related to ICU capacity. Otherwise, the county received a neutral or green score. It has a strong chance to be among the green candidates this week, as long as the case counts have declined.

Pike has concerns related to ICU capacity, but otherwise, its metrics look strong to advance into the green.

Schuylkill passed the four-metric test last week, and its lone red dot on the CMU scorecard relates to the ICU capacity risk. It should be in this weeks list of counties moving to the green next.

Susquehanna only hit on three of four metrics last week, as it was flagged for not having a decreasing or stabilized number of new COVID-19 cases. On the CMU sheet, it had issues in that category, too, along with ICU capacity and re-opening contact risk, although that one was to a lesser degree. Its seen improving numbers. A toss-up, but leaning toward the green.

Final word

These forecasts have been far from perfect (we had Cumberland staying yellow last week and were wrong), so if you dont care for what you read above about where you live, theres nothing wrong with holding out hope until an announcement is made.

That said, in our estimation, the most-likely counties to make the cut for green next include Franklin, Huntingdon, Luzerne, Perry, Pike, and Schuylkill. The second-tier would include Erie, Monroe, and Susquehanna, and the rest are longshots.

See the county dashboard here, and the CMU report here.

More coverage:
All Hoyts movie theatres in New Zealand are reopening this weekend along with one of Event Cinemas' flagship venues and Rialto Newmarket.

These multiplexes join several smaller independent cinemas that started reopening over recent weeks as COVID-19 restrictions eased in Aotearoa.

While the pandemic has seen a dramatic slowdown in the rollout of major movies this year with many delayed indefinitely, Kiwi film fans have been given more of an idea this week of when they can expect to see new releases back in cinemas.

Universal Pictures announced it's releasing family film Trolls World Tour and musical romantic dramedy The High Note on July 2.

But with cinemas open before those big new releases arrive on our shores, a diverse array of independent films, recent releases and cult favourite classics from the '80s and '90s are on offer in the meantime.



What's on at the movies this weekend?

Event's iconic The Embassy in Wellington reopens on Thursday and in addition to a selection of recent releases, it'll be playing classics Blade Runner and Wayne's World over the weekend.

Rialto Newmarket in Auckland is also opening its doors on Thursday, with a line-up including independent new releases Burden, Resistance, Bait and The Trip to Greece.

Event told Newshub it will stagger the reopening of its cinemas nationwide with all of them open by June 25. The chain plans on playing other retro films like Die Hard, Gremlins, The Matrix, Alien and Aliens along with the Harry Potter franchise in the coming weeks.



The website for Hoyts says it will continue to undertake extra hygiene measures during COVID-19 alert level 1, but all its cinemas will be open from Friday, June 12.

Hoyts lists the following films as 'now showing':

1917

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

The Assistant

Bad Boys for Life

The Big Trip

Birds of Prey

Bloodshot

Bombshell

The Call of the Wild

The Current War

Dark Waters

Emma

Fisherman's Friends

Ford v Ferrari

The Invisible Man

Jojo Rabbit

Jumanji: The Next Level

Just Mercy

Knives Out

Love Sarah

Midway

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Parasite

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Playing with Fire

Richard Jewell

Sonic the Hedgehog

Spies in Disguise

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The Trip to Greece

Session times are available on the Event, Hoyts and Rialto websites.

Source: Newshub.
TORONTO, June 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Food For The Poor Canada (FFPC) calls upon Canadians to join in the effort to raise $1M in a campaign to feed an additional 50,000 people in the Caribbean and Latin America during COVID-19. This is a matter of survival.



What we are witnessing in Haiti right now is a deadly combination of COVID-19 and a shortage of food, explained Bishop Oge of FFP Haiti. He praised Canadians who are also suffering but who continue to support communities that are in far more vulnerable positions. The need for food has already exceeded the regular shipments from FFP (USA), who feeds 800,000 people daily.

Countries like Haiti that were already facing incredible challenges around access to and affordability of food are now pushed to the brink in the struggle individuals face feeding their families. Millions have lost work and have been confined to their homes. Without the ability to work, parents are unable to feed their children.

We have changed our focus from development and sustainability to aid, announced Samantha Mahfood, FFPC Executive Director, during the first virtual AGM reception on April 27th, 2020. In response to the global pandemic, FFPC has paused school and housing construction in Haiti and Jamaica until it is safe to resume such projects; instead, they have pivoted to address the urgent and growing need for food.

Thanks to the generosity of FFPC lead donors Grant Burton, Margaret McCain, and The Raymond Chang Foundation, Canadian gifts will be matched up to $185,000 to help towards the $1M goal.

Generous Canadians help FFPC tackle crises through steadfast logistics and strong, long-term networks of partners on the ground; these local partners distribute the goods and ensure they reach the people who need them most. Canadian donors have responded quickly; in May, FFPC sent 1.1 million meals to Haiti in the form of soup mix. On June 9th another container of soup, beans and vegetables leaves for Haiti, followed by 8 containers destined for Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana and Honduras later in the month. Despite all this, even more needs to be done.

There isnt a country that we serve that isnt asking us for whatever we can send, says Ed Raine, CEO and President of FFP US, noting that this is a critical time to help people survive. "We don't get to do anything without the generosity of the donors."

About Food For The Poor Canada

Food For The Poor Canada (FFPC) empowers communities in the Caribbean and Latin America through five areas of programming: food, housing, education, health and livelihood. FFPC responds to urgent needs while building community and social infrastructure. FFPC utilizes the pre-existing infrastructure of local affiliated organizations to better sustain and grow the communities they serve and responds effectively to emergencies and natural disasters when they occur. Over the last 12 years, FFPC and its Canadian donors have built 124 homes and 32 schools, as well as shipped and distributed $32 million worth of food, educational and medical supplies.

FFPC is part of the Food For The Poor family of charities; the founding organization in the USA is Food For The Poor, an interdenominational Christian organization that works in 18 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.

For interviews or more information, contact:

Samantha Mahfood

Executive Director

(416) 921-4008

Samantham@foodforthepoor.ca

www.foodforthepoor.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/356859b7-bc67-40ca-8199-644a76b57455
By Online Desk

The daily tally of COVID-19 cases in India crossed 10,000 mark for the first time on Friday morning as 10, 956 new cases of infection were detected within a day.

This takes countrys total confirmed infection figure to 2,97,535.

More worryingly, the daily death count has now reached close to 400 with 396 new deaths registered within a day. A total of 8,498 infected patients have succumbed to the disease across India so far.

The country has now overtaken the UK in terms of total confirmed Covid 19 cases and is the fourth-worst affected nation in the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia, according to the global dashboard maintained by the US's John Hopkins University.
The recent move of schools to remote learning has been a decidedly mixed success. Since the beginning of the pandemic, districts across the country have gone to great lengths to provide their students with digital devices so they can continue their schooling from home. And teachers have quickly and impressively advanced their remote teaching skills. But one formidable barrier remains: More than 9 million students still dont have the high-speed home Internet required for online learning.With the prospect of schools having to continue with remote learning in some fashion for the 2020-21 school year, these students lack of high-speed connectivity will continue to be a major issue, and it must be addressed quickly and systemically. A failure to do so means those students, many of whom have already fallen behind academically over the past several months, will only further trail their better-connected classmates.Schools have scrambled to offer workaround Internet solutions to students  portable take-home Wi-Fi hot spots, extending school Wi-Fi into surrounding parking lots, parking Wi-Fi-enabled school buses in neighborhoods, and promoting reduced-rate high-speed Internet plans through local Internet service providers (ISPs). But some of these solutions are less-than-adequate for remote learning, and others may be unsustainable for schools to provide in the long term.One hopes the recent attention on the home Internet digital divide will be a call to action for our government and society that results in real change. But given that we cant look to the telecom industry to solve this problem, what can be done?The current Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has emergency power options it can deploy for using the federal E-rate funds it oversees to help meet students remote learning needs. But whether it will choose to do so is currently an open question.Additionally,Emergency Educational Connections Act legislation has been introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate to provide an additional $2 billion (House version) or $4 billion (Senate version) to E-rate qualifying schools and libraries to ensure students Internet connectivity for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, though these funds channeled through E-rate would certainly help address an immediate need, they are only stopgap answers to a problem that needs long-term solutions.Prior to the pandemic, over 750 U.S. cities had been offering free or low-cost high-speed Internet to their residents. Chattanooga, Tenn., and Fort Collins, Colo., are two cities that have made this investment, and others would do well to follow their lead.A recent Washington Post article describes how many states  including Virginia, the focus of thes reporting  are handcuffed in providing home Internet access to their residents by state laws that prevent them from doing so. Though Virginias non-compete broadband legislation is recognized as being one of the most restrictive, 22 other states , at the behest of the telecom lobby, have enacted similar laws that prevent well-intentioned municipalities from offering free or low-cost broadband to their residents.Rural areas of the country are the most underserved for high-speed Internet as they offer few profitable incentives for ISPs to install their networks. So it will take a concerted governmental intervention to get these areas connected. And this is especially true for tribal lands in the Western U.S. The technology required to provide wireless, satellite or radio wave Internet to residents in these far-flung regions continues to be expensive or inadequate for the 25 megabits per second high-speed bandwidth required for video conferencing and remote learning. And given that some of these tribal areas are still without electricity and running water, the gravity of their needs goes well beyond Internet bandwidth.. Just as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal programs led the fight to ensure electricity reached all parts of the country  both urban and rural  so must our government do the same with high-speed Internet. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed many of the frayed threads in the fabric of American society. And it has further underscored how we must recognize high-speed Internet as a public utility, like electricity, thats required for everyones work, education and communication needs. So we have to get this right, and right away. Because a new school year looms and a lot is at stake.
Under cover of COVID-19, Doug Ford is slowly suffocating our system of justice as our most vulnerable gasp for breath.

At his news conferences, the premier bites his lip and eats his words on racial injustice. But they are empty words and hollow gestures for public consumption.

Behind the scenes, behind the bench, the untold story of systemic racism and injustice is of a Progressive Conservative government that is systematically undermining accountability  by dismantling the judicial tribunals that safeguard us against racial discrimination, environmental degradation, social privation and tenants rights.

These pillars of our justice system have been demolished by Fords Tories since they took power two years ago  with key tribunals now operating at half-strength or less, in some cases, after a steady and stealthy purge of their ranks.

The premier who preaches law and order has wrought disorder in our system of laws. Ford defends police against defunding but is defenestrating our judicial system.

Now, after watching this unprecedented unravelling of justice, a group of lawyers and former adjudicators have come together to raise the alarm: Tribunal Watch Ontario, formed in recent weeks, approached me recently as they prepared to launch their own public appeal to save the justice system from a government that can no longer be trusted to safeguard accountability when so much is shrouded in mystery.

This isnt a partisan issue  it should concern everyone, especially during the COVID-19 crisis, said Ron Ellis, a legal scholar who is widely considered the father of Ontarios modern adjudication system and co-founded Tribunal Watch. The law courts are frequently for the most privileged, while Ontarios tribunals ensure the rule of law for the most vulnerable, he argues.

Ellis and his fellow lawyers, retired adjudicators and academics are especially alarmed by the sudden departure of the head of Tribunals Ontario, Linda Lamoureux, earlier this year over what they believe to be a power struggle as Fords Tories plotted how to stack a merit-based judicial system with patronage appointments. Lamoureux declined to be interviewed, and the government offered no explanation when I first asked about her replacement to the post overseeing 19 separate tribunals across the province.

Only when I prodded the Attorney-Generals ministry did a spokesperson confirm last week that a failed Conservative candidate, Sean Weir, has quietly taken over this pivotal, non-partisan position without any outside competition. With a background in corporate and commercial law, and no apparent expertise in adjudicative or administrative law, he now presides as interim executive chair.

Our government is proud that Mr. Weir has agreed to serve, said spokesperson Jenessa Crognali, adding: We are reviewing the ministrys adjudicative tribunals to ensure that they are operating effectively, improving accountability, and serving people as efficiently as possible.

When the government spouts its press lines about sparing no expense to fix a broken system, consider how it has transgressed our last line of defence against arbitrary power. Unlike our costly and inaccessible court system, Ontarios judicial tribunals are often the only option for people who cannot afford the last resort of hiring fancy lawyers.

When Ford promises to combat the daily humiliations of racism, give a thought to the Human Rights Tribunal that deals with discrimination complaints but is slowly being dissolved. Two years ago, it relied on 22 full-time adjudicators but that fell to only 10 (and its roster of 35 who worked part-time has been slashed by two-thirds to a mere 12), according to Tribunal Watch.

When Ford keeps appealing to landlords against evicting tenants in mid-pandemic, consider how he has eviscerated the vital Landlord and Tenant Board that is their last defence against avarice, caprice and malice. Its 44 full-time adjudicators have been cut to 31 when residential tenants are desperate for protection.

When Ford proclaims allegiance to Ontarios pristine parkland, do not forget the Environmental Review Tribunal that he has turned into an endangered species. From six full-time adjudicators, it went down to just one, with its part-time roster halved.

When Ford speaks of his soft spot for people devastated by the economics of COVID-19, remember the Social Benefits Tribunal that has been cut in half under his rule, with its full-time complement of adjudicators going down from 22 to 11.

Taken together, these four key tribunals have been roughly halved of their adjudicators (both full-time and part-time) from a pre-Ford total of 160 to a mere 87, according to a detailed tally carried out by Tribunal Watch.

The Attorney Generals ministry disputed the numbers from Tribunal Watch, but did not provide a detailed response at the outset. Only when pressed did they provide a further response, but without breakdowns of full-time versus part-time appointments allowing for comparative analysis.

But at the Human Rights Tribunal, even the governments tally of 30 appointments suggests it is operating at approximately half-strength, compared to 57 before the Tories took power  with a similar shortfall at the Environmental Review and Social Benefits tribunals.

Today, at a time when the entire judicial system is coping with COVID-19 by experimenting with virtual hearings and conference calls, the entire edifice of quasi-judicial tribunals is crumbling.

Tenants need help now. Welfare recipients are desperate for relief now. Childrens aid interventions cannot wait. Youth custody appeals are urgent.

Racialized people want justice when facing systemic discrimination, not the systematic dismantling of our justice system.

At the very moment Ontarians need more breathing room, Fords Tories are starving the tribunals of staff, depriving them of the oxygen of expertise and experience that the judicial system requires. It is not unlike the arbitrary exercise of power by President Donald Trump, who has fired one inspector general after another in government departments to prevent oversight.

Its a dangerous thing to allow it to fall into disarray, warns Naomi Overend, a former counsel at Ontarios Human Rights Commission (now facing its own turmoil) and vice-chair of the Human Rights Tribunal. At a time when society is more preoccupied than ever about racial and sexual discrimination, the government risks blowback if it introduces partisanship and tardiness to tribunals where justice must be both blind and timely.

Never mind Fords previous boasts that you can just text him to get justice by cellphone, and count on him to sort it all out. In the real world, in mid-pandemic, you dont call the premier to complain about mistreatment  especially by his own government.

You call for accountability.

Read more about:
NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pioneering medical supply company iRemedy sourced Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including masks (both K95 and Surgical), and gloves to Arizona this week. It could not have come at a more critical time. As COVID-19 case counts, hospitalizations and deaths continue to climb in Arizona at record rates each day, hospitals are preparing for an influx of patients and are struggling to replenish stocks of lifesaving PPE.



The Arizona National Guard began distributing the supplies to hospitals and health organizations across the state on behalf of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association (AzHHA). More than a half million surgical masks have already been transported to AzHHA member hospitals.

The timely arrival of essential personal protective equipment comes at a time when COVID-19 positive cases are spiking in our state, said Ann-Marie Alameddin, President & CEO of AzHHA. As we managed supply shortages throughout Arizona during the pandemic response, many of our member hospitals donated their share to healthcare providers in short supply. Todays shipment will help shore up those reserves and ensure the safety of our frontline healthcare workers. It will reach almost every corner of our state, including areas in dire need of PPE.

The healthcare delivery came together in partnership with the Arizona PPE Initiative, a private-sector philanthropic effort designed to provide urgently needed PPE to health care professionals, first responders and tribal communities during the pandemic and beyond.

Like many states, Arizona faces a shortage of PPE due to shortfalls in the fractured medical goods supply chain. Seeing the challenges in obtaining lifesaving PPE and the rise of profiteers dealing in counterfeit and expired healthcare supplies, Arizona business leaders sought to ensure a safe, reliable resource to supply PPE to frontline providers. iRemedy partnered with logistics experts Emirates Specialized Trading Agencies (ESTA) to provide inspection and quality control checks before the PPE was flown to Arizona. Sheikh Al Maktoum has been personally supportive of the initiative and was instrumental in helping it come to fruition.

iRemedy is proud to provide PPE to Arizona healthcare providers at a crucial time. Unfortunately, the pandemic has forced states and health systems to fend for themselves and try to source supplies directly from international manufacturers, Tony Paquin, iRemedy Founder and CEO, says. But purchasing from these suppliers involves complex transactions, vetting and logistics. Our established network allows iRemedy to clear bureaucratic hurdles and quickly get essential supplies in the hands of those who need them most.

About iRemedy

With 15 years in healthcare supply, iRemedy ( The iRemedy Healthcare Companies, Inc ) is a trusted and reliable partner for acquiring medical supplies and Personal Protective Equipment. We guarantee access to verified supplies by sourcing directly from established manufacturers and distributors around the world. We bypass supply-chain bottlenecks and offer the widest selection of products and urgently-needed PPE by working with multiple vendors. Our industry-leading IP and group purchasing power enable transparency and competition, driving consistently low pricing for our customers every day. We navigate the complex logistics of international purchasing and shipping to ensure on-time delivery and satisfaction. Led by experienced pioneers in health tech and e-commerce, iRemedy simplifies healthcare to heal the world. https://iremedy.com/

About Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association

AzHHA is the association giving Arizona hospitals a voice to collectively build better healthcare and health for Arizonans. As the champion for healthcare leadership in Arizona, AzHHA and its member hospitals explore ideas and take collaborative action at the state capitol, in hospitals and at home to attain the best healthcare outcomes for Arizonans. With a mission of sustaining and improving the health of Arizonans, AZHHA supports its members by providing advocacy, education and services, such as critically-needed supplies. https://www.azhha.org/

About ESTA

ESTA is the UAE liaison for supplying Arizona with PPE in partnership with iRemedy . ESTA handles the complex logistics of acquiring PPE, ensuring providence of product of all supplies, overseeing packaging and quality control checks, and clearing export-import customs from origin to destination. Sheikh Al Maktoum has been personally supportive of the initiative and has been instrumental in helping it come to fruition.
POTTSTOWN  The federal government is going to help cover the cost of converting the former Mercury newspaper building into a boutique hotel.

Andrew Wheeler, the top administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was in town Wednesday to announce a $227,000 loan from the agencys brownfields program.

Often associated with former industrial sites, the brownfields program applies to the cleanup and re-use of any building with environmental problems, Wheeler explained.

They money for the Mercury building will be used to remove asbestos tiles from the three floors of the building.

Im a big fan of older buildings, said Wheeler, who said he grew up in Ohio and watched his hometown, a former industrial powerhouse, fall into disrepair and older buildings torn down and replaced with used car lots.

I see so much new industry going up in agricultural fields and we have to get away from abandoning our cities and towns, which is why Im so proud of our brownfields program, Wheeler said.

Begun in 1995, the brownfields program has spent $1.6 billion and is responsible for the creation of 160,000 jobs across the country, said Wheeler, adding its an incredible success story.

So I get a big thrill when I see a building like this thats going to be re-used, he said.

What Pottstown is doing now, my old hometown should have done 20 years ago, Wheeler said.

April Barkasi is the woman who founded and is the CEO of Cedarville Engineering Group, LLC  which renovated and owns the BB&T Bank building at High and Hanover streets.

She is also the new owner of The Mercury building and the project is an indication of Pottstowns continued momentum.

Pottstown is on its way to being more than it was before, said Barkasi, who added that the renovation and re-use of The Mercury building nevertheless required federal funding.

To do a project like this, the numbers have to work, she said.

The $227,000 will come from a revolving loan fund, which means Barkasi will have to pay the money back, and it will then be used to help fund a different brownfields project.

That kind of activity can attract investment from the private sector, said Wheeler.

President Trumps tax law created opportunity zones, said Wheeler. Pottstown has two.

Montgomery County has 56 brownfields and 21 opportunity zones, so there is incredible room for investment, said Wheeler.

Jerry Nugent, the executive director of the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority, said EPA funding is often used to do environmental assessments of former industrial and urban sites to determine if there is environmental contamination, a cost many developers cannot factor into their budgets.

The EPA helped with the redevelopment of the top floors of the bank building Barkasis engineering firm now occupies.

It was also a factor in the redevelopment of the former PECO sub-station in Riverfront Park into the new home of the Schuylkill River Heritage Area, as well as the clean-up of a former chemical warehouse that is now home to the North Hall of Montgomery County community Colleges Pottstown campus, said Peggy Lee-Clark, executive director of Pottstown Area Industrial Development.

The EPA will also help pay for the environmental testing and clean-up of the former Pottstown Plating Works at the corner of South Washington Street and Industrial Highway, said Nugent.

So were going to be very busy in Pottstown for a long time, said Nugent.

Aside from removing the asbestos tiles, there is still plenty of money to be spent renovating the former newspaper building.

Although a new roof was put on The Mercury building before she bought it, Barkasi said it was left full of refuse.

Its like everyone just put their pencils down and walked away, she said of the buildings interior, which was filled with desks, old computers and newspaper files.

A non-profit firm, Cedars and Sprouts, took on the clean-out of the building, trying to recycle as much of the equipment as possible, she said.

Additionally, some carpet and paneling, unique in color and texture to 1970s building standards will be removed.

But the building has good bones, Barkasi told Wheeler.

She said it will take 18 to 24 months for the redevelopment of the building to be complete.

The building was shuttered two years ago when MediaNews Group moved all news, advertising and business operations to the company printing plant in Exton.

Other newspapers owned by MediaNews Group  like the Daily Local News in West Chester and The Times-Herald in Norristown  have also seen their buildings closed and operations consolidated at the plant.

MediaNews Group is controlled by a New York hedge fund named Alden Global Capital.

When an Alden shell company, 24 North Hanover St. LLC, bought the Mercury building in 2013, it paid nearly $1.2 million, according to Montgomery County property records.

The building was sold on Oct. 22, 2019 for $440,000 to a company controlled by Barkasi.

The building was constructed in 1925 for a different newspaper, but became the home for The Mercury in 1937.

Thats when William Heister and the papers legendary first editor, Shandy Hill, moved the paper they had founded six years earlier, into the building.
Louis Hari, 76 of Swan Point, Maryland passed away at University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center in La Plata, Maryland on Friday, June 5, 2020 due to complications from cancer.



A native of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Lou was a 1966 graduate of the Newark College of Engineering where he received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering. Following graduation, he joined the U.S. Air Force and was sent to Undergraduate Pilot Training at Webb Air Force Base, Big Spring, Texas, graduating with class 68A in July 1967.



Lou served as an active duty officer for 11 years flying transport aircraft to various assignments at McGuire, Langley, and Charleston Air Force Bases. Lou was one of the first pilots to fly the newly acquired C-5 aircraft while assigned to Charleston. While stationed in Charleston, Lou was awarded a Masters in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University in 1973.



His overseas assignment to Taiwan during the Vietnam war found him flying numerous missions into Vietnam. Most of these were potentially dangerous; however, on several occasions Lou had the distinct pleasure of flying Bob Hope, Ann Margaret, and Raquel Welch to the air shows Bob Hope put on for the troops of servicemen stationed in Vietnam. Not bad duty for the then 24-year-old pilot!



Upon leaving active duty, Lou accepted a civilian position as an Engineer working for the Department of the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. In 1975, he was awarded a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson.



After a few years living in the Dayton, Ohio area, Lou joined the Air Force Reserve serving at Rickenbacker Air Force Base near Columbus, Ohio while continuing his civilian position at Wright-Patterson. In 1992, he was selected to serve as the Vice Wing Commander at the 459th Airlift Wing Reserve Unit at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Lou held that position until July 1996 when he retired from the Air Force Reserve as a Colonel with 30 years of service.



In 2000, Lou retired from Federal service and subsequently accepted employment with KBR Wyle in Lexington Park, Maryland where he was currently employed. As a contractor, Lou worked in various capacities with the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. He served as the Senior Acquisition Program Manager for the PMA-231 E-2/C-2 Program Office. He managed the acquisition process for the purchase of U.S. Navy aircraft.



Lou is survived and cherished by his wife, Courtney Dempsey Hari with whom he traveled extensively enjoying cruises in the Baltic, Australia, Italy, Hawaii, Germany, and land tours in the British Isles and U.S. National Parks; his brother, Alan Hari of Rock Hill, South Carolina; his dear daughters, Catherine (Mike) MacDonald and Kimberly Osborne-Fry and her husband Chris Fry of Miamisburg, Ohio; and his loving grandchildren, Emily and Sarah MacDonald and Elizabeth and Ethan Osborne. Also left to cherish Lou's life and memory are his wife's sons, Michael Dempsey of La Plata, Maryland and Ryan (Stephanie) Dempsey and his children, Andrew and Meghan of Pasadena, Maryland. Lou also enjoyed a special bond with seven-year-old Aubree Waugh of La Plata. She drew pictures for him, invited him to tea parties, and was infatuated with him.



As busy as he was, Lou was also a collector and restorer of antique radios and served for many years as a docent at the National Capital Radio and Television Museum in Bowie, Maryland. Those wishing to do so may make donations in his name to the museum in Bowie or to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Pres. Trump holds roundtable with black leaders on race, police reforms

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Conservative black leaders met with President Donald Trump at the White House Wednesday, where they urged the administration to support policing reforms and shared ideas about other initiatives to benefit black communities.

The meeting was held ahead of Trump's visit to Dallas, Texas, Thursday where he held a similar meeting with black leaders to discuss racial issues as the administration works out the final details of its own police reform proposal in the wake of nationwide protests following the officer-involved death of George Floyd.

"A lot of these things are systemic," said Ja'Ron Smith, assistant to the president on domestic policy at Wednesday's meeting. "We need to break down that system and fight back."

"You know, opportunity zones, [historically black colleges and universities], criminal justice reform, those are reversing some systemic issues," Smith said, highlighting some of the administration's previous achievements.

He also stressed that the administration is looking at other layers of systemic issues.

"We just saw what COVID shined a spotlight on, on access to capital; it shined a light on health disparities. Recently, with the protests, how can we create better policing and community relations?" Smith asked.

"One thing we have done over the last couple of weeks is listening to individuals, and now we have some solutions, and those are things we are going to continue to work through as an administration."

Wednesday's White House meeting was also attended by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson, Pastor Darrell Scott, conservative radio host Wayne Dupree, Republican political consultant Raynard Jackson, and radio host Sonnie Johnson, among others.

Kareem Lanier of the Urban Revitalization Coalition said the president has been "nothing short of historic for black America," citing the criminal justice reform and Opportunity Zones Initiative. But Lanier added that the "current issue that we're having right now is police reform."

He stressed that police reform is "so much needed."

"We did criminal justice reform, but police reform is the gateway to what we see as an unjust criminal justice system sometimes," Lanier said. "Meaning, if a crooked cop doesn't do a terrible corrupt thing with an individual, we never get into that bad system."

Lanier added that the administration itself has been "marked by crooked cops," naming former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017 amid the Russia investigation.

"I tell people this all the time, this whole situation with this policing, it's not new to black people," Lanier said. "We've been used to it. As a kid, I got harassed by the police all the time and  I think I was a good kid. But it's a part of our community. And so we do need some things to happen on the police reform side, which will connect with the great things we've already done historically with criminal justice reform. And we know that you're the president to get it done."

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced that the White House is finishing a legislative proposal on policing reform. She stressed, however, that the president will not support reducing legal immunity for police officers.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats reportedly pulled a pro-police bill that had the support of over 200 members last year as lawmakers look to create more accountability for officers. The bill would have allowed public safety workers to collectively bargain with the government over hours, wages, and terms and conditions of employment.

On Monday, Democrats introduced a new police reform bill that bans chokeholds and creates a National Police Misconduct Registry "to prevent problem officers from changing jurisdictions to avoid accountability," according to a summary of the legislation obtained by CNN.

In addition to policing reforms, Lanier stressed that banking reforms are also needed to improve access to capital for the black community.

"We do also understand that we need some holistic approaches to create this ecosystem," Lanier said. "Voting rights, blacks have to go to get voting rights every 25 years or so now. These are things that are historic and we believe that you are the president to get these things done for the black community."

Other speakers at the roundtable did not hold back when it came to criticizing the policies of the Democratic Party and what they perceive to be the media's partisanship when it comes to Trump's policies in the black community.

"Think about the black community that has been under Democratic rule, progressive rule for 60 years," Johnson, a radio host and Tea Party activist, said. "How many rules, how many regulations, how many different forms of taxation are on the books in those areas that are preventing our communities from actually being able to see sustainable growth that we can keep and get ourselves out of this trend of generational poverty."

She also voiced concerns that even through Opportunity Zone Initiatives, it can be difficult to get funding if people don't follow the agenda of the Democrat local officials.

"If the Opportunity Zones pass from a federal level, they then go down to the state and then are allocated on a local level. So for us, as black people to actually access the Opportunity Zones, I have to go talk to Democrats and I have to be willing to do what they want to do under their agenda, how they want it done for me to be able to have access to the Opportunity Zone funds," she said.

"So that's where, when you see in our communities, instead of getting young blacks to invest and become entrepreneurs and become owners, you're getting gentrification."

Carson stressed that the administration is in the process of working to fix that issue.

"The community development, financial institutions, the credit unions, the local banks have been excluded from a lot of the dissemination of the funds previously," Carson said. "That's been recognized, it's in the process of being corrected right now."

Jackson, who served on the presidential campaigns of George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, also didn't hold back.

"What I like to say to you, Mr. president, is kind of off the beaten path. I'd like to say to all the media assembled here, I wish they would quit lying about what you've done, specifically for the black community," he said, noting that commentators like CNN's Don Lemon or MSNBC's Joy Reid are "putting more poison into the black community than any drug dealer."
Hyderabad: The Covid-19 crisis in Telangana has taken an unexpected and serious turn with as many as 300 doctors and 150 house surgeons at Gandhi Hospital, the nodal centre and the primary Covid-19 care facility in Telangana, striking work following Tuesdays attack on some of their colleagues by relatives of a deceased patient.

The doctors, who sat on a dharna all day long on Wednesday on the main road outside Gandhi Hospital, refused to call off their strike, demanding strict action against the attackers, and an immediate change in the government policy of pooling all Covid-19 patients at the hospital. The patients at Gandhi Hospital are now at risk as there are only 350 senior doctors and heads of department who have to provide care to them.

Efforts to mediate by Health Minister Etala Rajendar late on Wednesday evening, and his call to the doctors to return to work, failed, raising prospects of patient services being affected in the hospital with 450 doctors declaring that they have no intention of giving up on the strike. Mr Rajendar had called on the doctors to meet him in his office earlier, but the doctors refused to do so, forcing him to visit the hospital and hold talks with them.

In an hour-long meeting with junior doctors in the auditorium of Gandhi Hospital, the health minister listened to all the problems and demands and promised to take the issues discussed to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

The unified response from the doctors was: You take us to KCR, we will explain the situation in Gandhi Hospital to him.

The striking doctors were very unhappy that despite explaining in detail their problems of being overworked, overburdened and also not having sufficient staff to share the work load, the health minister was unable to take a call.

Dr Lohith Reddy, president of Telangana Junior Doctors Association at Gandhi Hospital explained: We have worked from March onwards with full dedication and supported all the steps of the government. We cannot continue anymore and there is a need to decentralise the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

The state government is not being given the right picture of what is actually happening at Gandhi Hospital. We need our representative to be there to tell the government our problems, he said, referring to the demand of seeking direct talks with the Chief Minister.

Angry doctors spent the night protesting and they also marched in the morning outside Gandhi Hospital on the main road and sat on dharna to let the people of the state know their problems. We were forced to do this as the administration is not conveying our problems to the state government, said a junior doctor.
Non-OPEC oil producer Oman has been talking to other countries in the Gulf about potentially receiving financial aid to help its economy and fiscal position which are hit by the low oil prices and the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, quoting officials from the region and a U.S. official with knowledge of the matter.

Oman, the top oil exporter from the Gulf that is not a member of OPEC, had already suffered economically even before the oil price crash in early March. A day before oil collapsed, Moody's downgraded its rating for Oman due to rising government debt and lower fiscal buffers. The rating agency put the rating under review for downgrade in late March because of Oman's heightened vulnerability to oil price shocks.

According to Moody's, the most vulnerable oil producers in terms of credit profiles are led by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Oman and Bahrain. Fitch Ratings also placed Oman among the oil producers "where weaker balance sheets and policy buffers will limit governments' capacity to respond to the oil price slump without putting pressure on their ratings."

Oman's break-even price--the oil price required to balance the government budget, all else being equal--is $82 per barrel for Brent Crude, according to Fitch Ratings.



Related: Oil Infrastructure Operators Grapple With A New Energy Reality

Fitch also downgraded Oman in March to "reflect the continued erosion of Oman's fiscal and external balance sheets, which could accelerate in an environment of lower oil prices despite prospects for faster implementation of fiscal consolidation measures."

According to Bloomberg, it is vital for other Gulf countries to see Oman's economy and political climate stable because of Oman's role as a regional mediator between the rival states in the region.

The ongoing OPEC+ cuts, in which Oman participates as part of the non-OPEC group of nations, will deepen the deficits in the GCC and stall growth, Fitch Ratings said last month. Oman's non-oil sector is set to slip into a recession of 5 percent this year, Fitch said, noting that "In lower-rated Oman and Bahrain, (further) support from the rest of the GCC may be necessary for the sustainability of their currencies and debt levels."

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
San Antonio police found four credit card skimmers in May and April, according to records obtained by mySA.com.

Records show authorities reported two skimming devices in May and another pair in April. Out of the four skimmers reported, three were located at three separate Valero gas stations.

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So far, the total number of skimmers found in 2020 is 25, records show. Police found seven in January, eight in February and six in March. In those three months, the gas stations that were targeted the most were Valero with 10 and Exxon with eight.

Skimmers are devices that attach to a gas pump's ATM's card-reading fixture. They gather customers' credit card information, which thieves can usually retrieve via a Bluetooth connection in order to commit fraud.

To avoid becoming a victim of skimmers, San Antonio police suggest motorists go to gas stations with updated pumps. that have chip-enabled card readers that help keep sensitive credit card information encrypted.

The following are where SAPD found credit card skimmers in May and April.
Mumbai, June 11 : The audience has given thumbs-up to "Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain 3", but helming the new season was not easy, confesses director Abhijit Das.

"There was a lot of pressure. I had to do the maximum amount of homework for this (season). It is one of Ekta Kapoor's biggest franchises and it has a legacy I had to live up to. The challenge is always greater when you are handling such a franchise. To keep the interest alive, to do justice to the characters, and make it edgier keeping with the new age -- everyone in the team is looking at you to deliver better than the earlier seasons," Abhijit told IANS, about directing the third season of the show.

He describes the lead cast of Ronit Roy, Mona Singh and Gurdip Punjj as his "dream" team.

"They are my dream come true. This is my third venture with Gurdip. We worked together in 'Sanjivani' and a short film on the Lock down. She is fun to work with. It's effortless doing a scene with her," he said.

"Mona is a delight as an actor. She surrenders completely. I have seen very few actors who can give different minute nuances of emotions just by expressing," he added.

Speaking of Ronit, Abhijit shared that he is no less than a surprise package.

"Ronit was a surprise every time I did a scene with him. He created a new dark and debauched Rohit Mehra. It was good on paper. Jaya Misra's creation of the twisted Rohit Mehra was a far cry from (what the character was in) the first two seasons. But what Rohit brought to the table was something else. His voice. The stubble. The way he walked. It was all him. We would work on scenes and remove dialogues, for he would deliver all the words without saying anything. He is one of the most intelligent actors I have worked with," Abhijit said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
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Walmart will end its practice of locking up African-American beauty care products in glass cases, the retail giant said on Wednesday after a fresh round of criticism that the policy was a form of racial discrimination.

Hair care and beauty products sold predominantly to black people could be accessed at certain stores only by getting a Walmart employee to unlock the cases, some of which featured additional anti-theft measures.

At some stores, the cases were across the aisle from shelves of generic beauty products that were not locked up and that included shampoo and conditioner.

Critics of the practice, which had been the subject of a federal discrimination lawsuit that was dropped last year, said that it implied that black people were more likely to shoplift. Walmart had previously said that certain products were locked up because they were more likely to be stolen.
Amazon is temporarily halting the use of its controversial facial recognition technology in the wake of widespread protests against police violence and discrimination. The internet giant is starting a year-long moratorium on police use of Rekognition. The pause should give Congress time to pass appropriate rules for facial recognition, Amazon said, noting that it had called for stronger ethics regulations.

The company will still allow use of facial recognition for organizations like Thorn, Marinus Analytics and the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help them rescue human trafficking victims and find missing kids.

Weve asked Amazon for comment. At present, its not clear if police refers to all law enforcement or standard police forces.

The move comes just days after Congressional Democrats introduced a police reform bill that, among other things, would forbid the use of real-time facial recognition for body and dashboard cameras without a judges approval. If the bill is eventually signed into law, it theoretically prevents agencies from abusing Rekognition to profile people or otherwise tread on their privacy.

At the same time, theres little doubt that Rekognition represents a sore point for Amazon in the current climate. In addition to concerns about privacy, people have raised alarms about racial bias and basic accuracy in Amazons platform  Rekognition is bound to face heightened scrutiny and opposition when theres an uproar over racism among the police. A moratorium gets Rekognition out of the spotlight and gives Amazon a chance to rethink how (or if) it shares the system with police going forward.
Lee University will continue its gradual reopening by offering a third session of summer school in a "hybrid format" in which all classes will be offered both in-person and via online Zoom teaching.

Lee president Dr. Paul Conn has earlier announced that the university plans to welcome students back to campus in mid-August. He said that the game plan for our fall semester reopening will be announced to the public the week of June 15-19.

Lee's July session will begin July 6 and include four weeks of classes, according to an announcement by Dr. Debbie Murray, provost. Classes will be adapted to meet safety standards in accordance with newly revised Tennessee guidelines, Dr. Murray said.

Our first priority is the safety and health of our students and faculty, Dr. Murray said. As we plan for a full reopening in August, we will use the small enrollments and limited number of classes in the July session to move gradually toward the fall."

We believe we can make our classrooms into safe environments, but during the July session, we also will provide each class through Zoom for students who prefer not to come physically to the campus."

Dr. Murray is chair of a Coronavirus Task Force which has been working since March to plan and execute Lee's institutional response to the virus crisis. Dr. Conn is a member of the task force, along with president-elect Dr. Mark Walker, all the school's vice presidents, and numerous other campus leaders.

Dr. Murray said safety measures will be in place for the July session, including reduced class sizes to provide social distancing, the use of face coverings, a screening application for all students coming to class each day, and daily temperature checks. In addition, the school has implemented an enhanced program of extra cleaning, disinfectant, and sanitizing for each classroom.

Graduate classes in education, nursing, and business are already being offered in this "hybrid format" for the June summer school session, according to Dr. Murray.

In a related development, Dr. Mike Hayes, vice president for student development, announced that the school's Recreation Center reopened Monday on a limited, reservation-only basis, in compliance with the latest Tennessee Governor's Order and CDC guidelines.

According to Dr. Murray, many Lee employees continue to work from home during June, and others are returning to campus, most on staggered shifts. The university's admissions staff has resumed in-person campus tours, on a reservation basis, and a few "day camps" will resume this month as well.

The university's popular Summer Honors Semester, which is led by Dr. Hayes, was postponed from early June, but will operate with smaller numbers in late July. Dr. Hayes said the Summer Honors Semester will be Lee's first experience with reopening its dormitories and dining venues since the coronavirus lockdown began in March.

Dr. Murray encouraged anyone seeking more information about the July session to call her office directly at 614-8118.
An ambitious affordable housing plan has languished at the NSW Department of Planning for almost three years despite the state government's renewed welfare agenda prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The draft affordable housing policy for all major developments and rezonings in the City of Ryde, believed to be the first of its kind in NSW, was submitted to the department in September 2017. But it is yet to be reviewed after nearly 1000 days.

Affordable housing at Green Square in the city's inner-east. Credit:Paul Patterson

The policy aims to have 5 per cent of all new developments in Ryde allocated to affordable housing by 2031.

Known as "inclusionary zoning", the plan would allow the council to require residential developers to set aside 2 per cent of the total floor area of medium and high density projects for affordable housing, and 7 per cent of total floor areas for developments requiring land to be rezoned.
To combat the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic calls for well-coordinated prevention, control and treatment.

Chinas epidemic response is universally recognized as an example, as it has ensured that all those in need have been tested, quarantined, hospitalized or treated, and effectively blocked the transmission routes of the virus.

Chinas State Council Information Office recently published a white paper titled Fighting COVID-19: China in Action. The document, systematically summarizes and analyzes Chinas experiences and practices, said that the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government have always put peoples lives and health first, acted swiftly to fight the virus and provide medical treatment for patients, and adopted the most thorough, rigorous and comprehensive prevention and control measures.

Chinas selfless sharing of experiences is also hailed by foreigners, who said the countrys practice will help the world better cope with the epidemic.

Chinas well-coordinated prevention, control and treatment came from its centralized and efficient command. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core, China has put in place an efficient system under which the central authorities exercise overall command, while local authorities and all sectors follow the leadership and instructions of the central authorities, perform their respective duties, and cooperate with each other. This highly efficient system has made it possible for China to win its all-out peoples war against the virus. General Secretary Xi Jinping takes charge of Covid-19 response, while government departments have made well-coordinated control efforts and local authorities and other stakeholders have lived up to their responsibilities.

Adjusting response measures in view of the evolving Covid-19 dynamics, China has not only ensured domestic prevention and control, but also actively launched international cooperation to combat the virus. It established a strict system of information release, released information in an open and transparent manner as required by law, effectively responded to public concern and built public consensus. Its experience is something other countries can draw on in their fight against the virus. Foreigners hailed that Chinas strong system and effective measures are rare in the world.

Chinas well-coordinated prevention, control and treatment came from its people who played a role as the mainstay in the COVID-19 response. The country established a tight prevention and control system involving all sectors of society and governments at all levels. By strictly observing the principle of early detection, reporting, quarantine and treatment, and ensuring the patients were hospitalized, treated, tested or quarantined as appropriate, Wuhan carried out two rounds of community-based mass screening of its 4.21 million households, enforced the strictest closure and traffic restrictions on all outbound routes from Wuhan and Hubei, turning communities and villages into strongholds. The World Health Organization believes that China has rolled out the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history, saying the experience of China is worth learning from for other countries.

Chinas well-coordinated prevention, control and treatment came from logical and effective measures and resource integration. China pooled premium resources to treat severe cases, exerted early intervention for patients with mild symptoms, reviewed diagnostic and therapeutic plans and applied effective ones on a broad scale. Besides, it also leveraged the unique strength of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), provided free treatment for patients, and strengthened infection control at medical institutions and ensured personal protection for health workers.

Two hospitals were newly built for treating infectious diseases, and a number of designated and general hospitals were expanded or remodeled. In addition, China repurposed stadiums and exhibition centers into 16 temporary treatment centers. The country enforced quarantine and isolation on a scale never seen before, and mobilized medical resources across the country, and finally achieved an initial victory in the critical battle to secure Wuhan and Hubei.

As of May 31, 2020, 94.3 percent of the confirmed cases had been cured, surpassing the average recovery rate of viral pneumonia. Chinas high patient admission and cure rates, as well as the low infection and fatality rates are achieved through arduous efforts and have won respect from the international society. Evidence suggests that the colossal public health efforts of the Chinese government have saved thousands of lives, said The Lancet in an editorial, adding that there are important lessons that presidents and prime ministers can learn from China's experience.

Chinas well-coordinated prevention, control and treatment came from the underpinning role of science and technology. Confronted by COVID-19, a previously unknown virus, China has exploited the pioneering role of science and technology and fully applied the results of scientific and technical innovation in recent years. Top scientific research resources have gathered from around the nation to support virus control. Focusing on the main battlefield of Wuhan and coordinating efforts in the most severely-affected areas and across the rest of the country, China pinpointed key R&D areas for different stages of virus control. The promotion of health QR codes and digital travel records made it easier for the public to guard against infection.

Virologist James Le Duc with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remarked that Chinas pandemic response indicated that the country has kept its promise in safeguarding public health security and information transparency, as well as showcased the countrys strength in frontier science. China proved with its practice that science and technology are the sharp blade that humanity wields in the battle against disease, and such battles could not have been won without scientific advances and technological innovation.

At present, the COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading around the world, with over 7.1 million confirmed cases, posing severe threats against mankinds lives and health. Chinas sharing of experiences and practices with the world through the white paper will set a reference for and inspire other countries. The insightful of the world have come to realize that as long as they observe Chinas pandemic response in an objective and just manner, they will be able to understand that the countrys contribution indeed safeguards the health and wellbeing of the people around the world.

Acting with a keen sense of responsibility to humanity, its people, posterity, and the international community, China composed a paean to the principle of putting peoples lives first. China will always uphold the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind and work with other countries to make unremitted efforts for an early victory over the global COVID-19 fight.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by Peoples Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
For the first time in history, a black pastor may soon hold one of the most powerful positions in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Rolland Slade, a 62-year-old California preacher, will be nominated next week to be chairman of the SBCs executive committee, which acts on behalf of the faith groups 47,000 churches in between the SBCs annual meeting. That meeting was canceled this year because of COVID-19.

Slade is currently the committees vice chairman and no other candidates have been announced to replace current chair, Mike Stone. The committee will vote on that and a few other positions on Tuesday.

In an interview with the Chronicle Thursday, Slade said it would be humbling to be the first African American to hold the position. His tenure would come at a time of increased conversations about racism and inequality both nationally and within evangelicalism.

The SBC has become increasingly diverse in recent years, and two prominent Southern Baptist leaders have faced criticism for comments they have made in the past about African Americans.

Earlier this week, current SBC President J.D. Greear made national headlines for stating that black lives matter while repudiating the policy positions taken by the organization of the same name.

Slade said he was proud of Greears comments.

If we believe people are created in the image of God, then if we do something against a person were doing it against God.

Jared Wellman, the executive committee member who nominated Slade, said the idea had been in the works for roughly 10 months. He called Slade the most qualified candidate based on his work with the executive committe and his years of local, regional and national service prior to that.

If elected, this will be a good thing for the SBC for those reasons alone, Wellman said. The fact that the most qualified person for the job is African American should encourage the SBC in our pursuit of an ethnic diversity that represents the coming kingdom of God and the people God has called us to reach.

Slade also noted his prior work as a missionary, which he said has helped shape his views of impoverished and other disadvantaged communities.

Slade also said he supports the creation of a database of pastors whove faced sexual abuse allegations, a proposal that activists and abuse victims have sought for years as a way to prevent sexual predators from moving from church to church.

The idea has gained more support  including from other prominent leaders  in the wake of Abuse of Faith, an ongoing Houston Chronicle investigation that detailed years of sexual abuses by hundreds of SBC church leaders and volunteers.

When we allow that person that perpetrates sexual abuse to come back into leadership, how do we then face the survivor and tell them We love you and we care for you, (but) were not going to protect you in the long-run because were going to put this person back? Slade said.

Slade also said hed like to improve communication between members of the executive committee, which has recently been plagued by infighting and internal disagreements that have spilled out publicly.

I know that there are few and far times when we get to be absolutely on the same page, he said. And it is my hope that when we look at what page we should be on, we should look to Gods word to find that page and not the page of public opinion, news reports or political parties.

robert.downen@chron.com
The dryness in the southwestern corner of Montana near Dillon is "a bit disturbing" to Michael DeGrosky, Fire Protection Bureau chief for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. He noted in a presentation to the Environmental Quality Council on May 28 that the state's firefighting resources have been deployed strategically around Montana to ensure a quick response to any blaze. That helped on Jan. 31 when a fire broke out in north-central Montana, he said, an early start to the fire season.
Saudi blockade of Yemen 'a new crisis' amid pandemic: Minister

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 1:48 AM

Yemen's health minister says the ongoing blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia against the war-torn country has created a "new crisis" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Taha al-Mutawakel said on Tuesday that Yemen holds the United Nations responsible for the deteriorating conditions in the impoverished country, and that the world body has failed to take action to alleviate the problem.

Supported militarily by the US, the UK, and other Western countries, Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in order to bring former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, back to power and crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The invaders have also enforced an all-out aerial, naval, and land blockade on the impoverished country.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past five years.

More than half of Yemen's hospitals and clinics have been destroyed or closed during the war by the Saudi-led coalition at a time when Yemenis are in desperate need of medical supplies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

At least 80 percent of the 28 million-strong population is also reliant on aid to survive in what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations has warned that Yemen could suffer one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world.

Yemeni authorities have reported 486 reported coronavirus cases and 113 deaths, however, the World Health Organization believes numbers are much higher.

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- An angry Yoweri Museveni said he would not continue begging people to live when he had already sensitized them on the dangers of COVID-19

- Museveni said those who wanted a rise in the death toll would get exactly that if they continued to flout COVID-19 containment measures

- The Ugandan leader said there was no need to use the police but the people should willingly adhere to protocols

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has lashed out at Ugandans who are flouting COVID-19 containment measures.

Museveni said he was saddened when he saw some citizens in Kampala walking carelessly with total disregard of the health protocols laid out to scuttle the spread of the deadly virus.

READ ALSO: Mercy Cherono: 3 police officers arrested for dragging Nakuru woman using motorbike

Museveni said he would not continue to beg people to live. Photo: Yoweri Museveni.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Speaker Ken Lusaka assures Senate shall debate Waiguru's impeachment justly

Addressing MPs on Thursday, June 11, during budget reading, the Ugandan leader said he had ceased begging people to live and if they wanted more dead bodies as was the case in other countries, then they would get them.

"If you are disappointed that we don't have enough dead bodies, you will get them if you don't listen. We shall have people putting you in white and burying people as you have seen in other countries," Museveni said.

READ ALSO: Woman lights up internet with screenshots of messages showing how she was dumped

Ssebo said there was no need to use police to enforce the measures because mature people should have already understood that the virus posed immense danger in their lives.

"All of us should enforce this by ourselves. We do not have to bother the police," he said.

The head of state said truck drivers were being monitored at the border points but noted the surge of cases in Elegu, Amuria and Rakai.

Museveni said there was no need to use police to enforce the containment measures. Photo: Yoweri Museveni.

Source: Getty Images

He said the virus was spreading in those three areas because the locals were not obeying COVID-19 protocols and their leaders were also not alert.

"This virus does not move by its own but through people," he said.

The number of cases of Uganda stands at 665 as at Wednesday, June 10, 119 recoveries and no coronavirus-related death.

This unfolded a day after 16 Kenyan truck drivers tested positive for COVID-19 in the Museveni-led territory.

The 16 drivers were among 31 foreign truckers diagnosed with respiratory disease in Uganda.

The patients were drawn from 2,423 people who were tested by medics out of which eight Ugandans returned positive results.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

24 patients discharged as Kenya's Recoveries rise to 873 | Tuko TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Oxford High's class of 2020 has been through the wringer. Eastern equine encephalitis, Australian wildfires, COVID19, virtual learning and now the rallies for equality were just some of the obstacles thrown at this year's students.

But on Tuesday night, 132 Oxford High seniors celebrated the first of the area's pandemic graduations. While they missed spring sports, senior nights and the annual prom, they were treated to a police-led parade of cars through town taking them past their middle school and to their high school.

WATCH: Oxford High School graduation day 2020

"I think this is going to be a lot more memorable for us," said Melissa Cabezos, who will be attending the University of Connecticut in the fall for pre-med. "This afternoon started with a parade and people were lined on the sidewalks."
HONG KONG, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / The Hyper Summit by HyperTech Group was successfully conducted via a livestream that was broadcasted to a worldwide audience. The event was graced by a number of industry experts and KOLs in the blockchain space for the official launch of HyperFund and The Ogilvy Project. Event attendees included Ryan Xu, early bitcoin investor, Founder of Collinstar Capital and Founder of HyperTech Group, Sam Lee, Chairman of HyperTech Group and Founder of BGL and Blockchain Centre, CEO of HyperTech Group Jayden Wei as well as HCASH CEO Adam Geri and CMO Andrew Wasylewicz.

New Challenges, New Opportunities

Guests gathered from all over to world to witness the upgrade of HyperCapital to HyperFund that sets to strengthen the Hyper Ecosystem with the combine efforts from HyperTech Group's institutional partners. Newly onboarded partners include several MNCs and traditional institutions such as PALcapital, Block Ledger, Horman Capital and INP.

As HyperTech Group's Chairman Sam explained, the upgrade was a necessity due to the change in strategic focus and development plans of the company. Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain space are not just about price action and disruptions. Innovations are important, and regulations must be at the forefront so that the entire industry can develop and grow at a sustainable and secure rate. On this note, HyperTech Group will continue to work with governments around the world to ensure that technical innovations can provide real applications for society.

With the upgrade, HyperFund will also be more streamlined and better equipped to handle the challenges and opportunities in the traditional finance and cryptocurrency market. It will have 3 key focus: Tech Incubation, Investment and Funding, and Community Building.

The Ogilvy Project

At the same time, CEO Jayden also revealed the launch of a brand-new program - HyperFund's Ogilvy Project. The Ogilvy Project will reward members in the blockchain space for their efforts and contributions towards the holistic development of the industry. Jayden explained that inclusion is an important mission since the inception of HyperTech Group, and the Ogilvy Project is a great way to draw more people into the cryptocurrency industry.

Plans For The Next Decade

HyperFund's Marketing Director Alfred Qiu shared the roadmap for the next few years, with plans for HyperTech Group to be listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by 2022. Moving forward, the company will tread boldly into new territory, with the launch of exciting products including blockchain based social networking platforms - HyperNews, HyperTalk and HyperShow.

HyperTech Group remains committed to changing the world through blockchain technology, and HyperFund will be crucial to this commitment. Blockchain will dominate the future, and HyperTech Group will be there to support the genesis of a new era.

About HyperTech Group

HyperTech Group, a comprehensive and diversified blockchain technology conglomerate group, is committed to promoting the development of blockchain technology globally and creating a comprehensive digital supply chain. The Group's vision is to support the breakthrough and development of blockchain technology and empower our future.

Contact:

HyperTech Group

SAM LEE

0061 433 844 199

info@globalnewsonline.info

SOURCE: HyperTech Group

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593547/HyperTech-Group-Announces-Launch-of-HyperFund-And-The-Ogilvy-Project
Around half of Chile's 50-member senate and four ministers have been placed in quarantine after coming into contact with at least three colleagues infected with the novel coronavirus, officials said Monday, as jobless protesters in a poor area of Santiago clashed with police to demand food aid.

Finance Minister Ignacio Briones and Chief of Staff Felipe Ward both wrote on Twitter that they had tested negative for the virus but were in quarantine until a second test is conducted.

Briones said he was tested on Friday, due to his "regular contact with" infected senator Jorge Pizarro on the Senate finance committee, and has since begun "preventative quarantine."

The ministers of the interior and social development are also in isolation.

At the end of last week, around 20 legislators began isolation after meeting with Pizarro and another infected senator.

Last Wednesday, Chile recorded a 60 percent spike in daily coronavirus cases despite a month and a half of preventative measures, including a selective lockdown.

Last week, the government imposed a total lockdown on the capital Santiago, which has recorded more than 80 percent of the country's 46,000 cases. There had also been 478 deaths as of Monday.

Violence broke out Monday in El Bosque, a crowded, poor area on the outskirts of Santiago, as angry people wielding sticks erected barricades and threw rocks at riot police, who fought back with tear gas and water cannon.

"It is not because of the quarantine. It is aid, food, what people are asking for right now," Veronica Abarca, who lives in El Bosque, told AFP.

The protests came one day after the government of President Sebastian Pinera said it would distribute 2.5 million packages of food to the poorest people in Chile.

Last month, the government said it would hand out vouchers worth around $300 each to some 4.5 million low-income people, but the money was never distributed.
Haldimand-Norfolk added nine lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 406.

The region holds the dubious distinction of having Ontarios highest per capita rate of the disease at 346.2 per 100,000 residents.

Clusters at Anson Place Care Centre in Hagersville and Scotlynn Group, a farm in Vittoria, account for approximately two-thirds of local cases.

The outbreak at Anson Place infected 72 residents and at least 30 staff members. The virus was the official cause of death for 27 residents, while the health unit said several more had COVID-19 but died of other medical causes.

In total, 31 residents in Haldimand-Norfolk have died of COVID-19, while 140 patients have recovered.

More than 200 migrant workers at Scotlynn are currently in self-isolation after the virus quickly spread through the farm late last month. The health unit said 164 migrant workers tested positive, along with four other residents tested through contact tracing.

The province cited the outbreak at Scotlynn as the reason Haldimand-Norfolk was held back from advancing to the second stage of reopening this Friday.

Ten migrant workers were hospitalized, with three spending time in the intensive care unit, said Norfolk General Hospital (NGH) interim CEO Tom Thomson.

One patient was still at NGH as of Thursday morning, though Thomson expected him to be discharged shortly. Another was transferred to a hospital in London because they required a higher level of care, Thomson said.

Citing privacy concerns, Thomson did not say if any of the patients required ventilation. The advocacy group Migrant Worker Alliance for Change said one Scotlynn worker was reportedly intubated in preparation to go on a ventilator.

According to the hospitals website, NGH has treated less than 15 COVID-19 patients since the pandemic began.

Taking out the two clusters, the health unit says Simcoe, Caledonia and Dunnville are the only communities to see caseloads in the double digits. Most towns have fewer than 10 lab-confirmed cases among their residents.

Working together, I remain optimistic that we will be able to return to a new level of normalcy in the near future, said chief medical officer of health Dr. Shanker Nesathurai.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) United Nations, United States  Thu, June 11, 2020 08:53 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc5ae7 2 World ICC,war-crime,suspect,Darfur,Sudan,genocide Free

The International Criminal Court called on Wednesday for Sudanese war crimes suspects to turn themselves in, just a day after longtime fugitive militiaman Ali Kushayb surrendered to The Hague.

ICC lawyer Fatou Bensouda said during a United Nations Security Council videoconference that Kushayb -- who is suspected of crimes against humanity in Darfur -- "was transferred to the court following his surrender" in the Central African Republic.

Bensouda congratulated Chad, France, the Netherlands and the UN mission in the Central African Republic but did not offer any other details about Kushayb's arrest.

"There should be no escape from justice for perpetrators of the world's most serious crimes under international law," she said, calling on others to surrender themselves.

"I take this opportunity to call Abdallah Banda and all the ICC suspects to surrender to the ICC and answer the charges against them through a fair, objective and independent judicial process."

Kushayb has been wanted by international law enforcement since 2007 for his role as head of the Janjaweed militia.

He is also a former close ally of ousted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, himself wanted by the ICC and currently detained in Khartoum.

Abdallah Banda has been wanted for war crimes since 2019 by the ICC, which is also searching for two other individuals related to the case.

The Security Council members who helped found the ICC (Belgium, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Nigeria, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Tunisia and Britain) in a joint statement underlined their commitment to fighting against impunity from war crimes.

"We reiterate our commitment to uphold and defend the principles and values enshrined in the Rome Statute and to preserve its integrity undeterred by any threats against the Court, its officials and those cooperating with it," the statement said.

The United States is not a member of the ICC and Russia resigned from the group in 2016.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, during the seven way RTE leaders debate at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) campus in Galway, Ireland.

The leader of Irelands Green Party has apologised for any hurt caused after he mentioned the n-word during a debate in the Dail.

Eamon Ryan made the comments during a Dail speech as TDs were discussing the death of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement and racism.

He tweeted: I made a speech in the Dail today about the scourge of racism in our society. In quoting from an article I read this morning, I repeated a racial slur, and I was completely wrong to do so. I want to apologise for any hurt caused. I know this particular word should never be used.

I made a speech in the Dail today about the scourge of racism in our society. In quoting from an article I read this morning, I repeated a racial slur, and I was completely wrong to do so. I want to apologise for any hurt caused. I know this particular word should never be used.  Eamon Ryan (@EamonRyan) June 11, 2020

Mr Ryan said the word while quoting a newspaper article about a young mans experience of growing up black in Ireland.

I read an article in a newspaper today about a young Irishman called Sean Gillane giving his experience of being othered and how from the age of six he was given that name  you n*****.

It explained that sense of how that name completely undermines people.

I know people, friends and relations of colour in this country and Travellers and other minorities they speak of the same experience. It is real.

Green Party councillor Daniel Whooley says Mr Ryans apology is not good enough, and described his use of the n-word as morally reprehensible.

He said: No person should use such words of hate regardless of the context, especially in Dail Eireann. The language used was most un-parliamentary and beneath the house of the Oireachtas.

I do not believe that any parliamentarian who invokes such words, be it mistaken or on purpose, should lead an Irish political party.

I have the same privilege as Eamon, so I dont want to take space from Black voices or to speak on their behalf - but, this passively worded non apology isnt good enough in my opinion. It is not acceptable to use this language in any context, nevermind in our national parliament https://t.co/RJipWGdlD1  Lorna Bogue (@LornaBogue) June 11, 2020

Party colleague Lorna Bogue said she agrees with Mr Whooley.

She tweeted: I have the same privilege as Eamon, so I dont want to take space from Black voices or to speak on their behalf  but, this passively worded non apology isnt good enough in my opinion.

It is not acceptable to use this language in any context, never-mind in our national parliament.

Rise TD Paul Murphy tweeted that no-one should use the n-word.

Don't use the N-word. It's a word rooted in brutality, violence and slavery.  Paul Murphy (@paulmurphy_TD) June 11, 2020

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar did not react to Mr Ryan saying the word but said young Irish people of colour need more role models.

One thing I strongly agree with the deputy on is the need to set a target on the number of minorities in the public service.

We have a health service that is very diverse although less so as you reach senior levels.

There is not very many people from a minority background in the gardai, defence forces and education sector and not at all in the civil service which is very white, that needs to change.

We need a generation of young people growing up in Ireland who are people of colour to see black and brown school principals visibility and opportunity is really important.
An Aboriginal man has recorded the moment a police officer threatened to smash his mobile phone out of his hand during a dispute about a $2.40 bus fare.

Jock Norris shot the video in Drouin in West Gippsland, Victoria in 2017 after a bus driver denied him from getting on a bus before he topped up his Myki card.

The 26-year-old Aboriginal man told Daily Mail Australia the bus driver called the police who got out of the car and approached him to ask if he needed help.

'I said 'no I don't need their help',' he said.

'The bus driver called (police on me). I reckon he was a racist himself.'

Jock Norris filmed a policeman (pictured) threatening to smash his phone out of his hand in Drouin in West Gippsland, Victoria in 2017

Mr Norris said he was worried when police arrived so grabbed his phone to video the encounter.

'I was kind of nervous for what was going to happen,' he said. 'I didn't want to get arrested. That's why I started recording, for my own safety.'

In the video, the officer says: 'If you record it, I'm going to smash it out of your hand.'

When Mr Norris asks why, the officer responds 'because I want to.'

The footage shows Mr Norris leaving the scene in fear after the officer's threat.

'I started running,' he said.

'I live close... I ran and and started screaming out to my Mum.'

Mr Norris said he was known to police in the area.

'They intimidate me and follow me around town all because of who I am and my race,' he said.

Following the incident, Mr Norris received a fine and other allegations in the mail from police for using abusive language in a public place.

Mr Norris said he ran away screaming from the bus stop in fear after the officer made his threat

'Police subsequently charged him with a number of criminal charges that were not reflected in the video, including allegations he called the policeman a 'white dog',' Mr Norris' lawyer Andrew Papadimitropoulos told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Norris was found guilty in the Magistrates Court, before making an appeal for in County Court.

All charges against him were withdrawn before his scheduled appearance in County Court, where Mr Norris intended to use his video recording as evidence.

Mr Papadimitropoulos said the prosecution withdrew their charges on the basis of no application for costs.

'My opinion is that they should have been dropped from the start,' he said. 'The allegations were not supported by the video.

'It would have been difficult for a young Aboriginal man to defend the allegations, but for the fact they were captured on video.'

Police made allegations that Mr Norris called the policeman a 'white dog' in their encounter

Barrister Leonard Hartnett said the whole case was 'outrageous'.

'We thought it was a worthy appeal. My memory is that the DPP got in touch and said they would withdraw the charges, which on the record would be a victory for us but they wouldn't pay our costs,' he said.

'I remember my jaw dropping. It was quite unusual they would withdraw charges and then bargain over costs in a criminal matter.'

A Victoria Police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia officers attended the scene following reports a verbally abusive man.

'It is believed the man did not have a valid Myki and was denied entry to the bus before making abusive comments,' the spokesperson said.

'The man also made abusive comments to police on arrival.

'He was issued with a penalty infringement notice for use insulting words in public place.

'The penalty infringement notice was later withdrawn on appeal.'

Mr Norris re-posted the video online on Tuesday in response to global protests and demonstrations through the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions for comment.
One terrorist was arrested after an encounterbetween security forces and terrorists in Pathanpora village of Budgam district in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday (June 11).

Security forces recovered one Chinese pistol, one grenade and six AK magazines and 147 rounds of bullets. Joint search operation is in progress.

A join team of Jammu and Kashmir police and security forces launched a cordon and search operation after receiving credible inputs about the presence of terrorists in the central Kashmir district. As soon as the security forces reach the spot, the terrorists fired upon them. The fire was retaliated by the joint team, triggering off an encounter. Police confirmed that exchange of fire between the joint team and the terrorists happened for sometime. But after the brief exchange of fire, the firing stopped

This is the fourth encounter in Kashmir since Sunday. The last three encounters took place in Shopian district, which is in South Kashmir. Fourteen terrorists were killed in these encounters.

On Wednesday (June 10), the security forces killed five terrorists in south Kashmir`s Shopian district. Confirming the news, Jammu and Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said, the encounter began at Sugoo village on Wednesday morning after security forces came under fire from hiding terrorists. Three terrorists were killed earlier.

The Sugoo village, where the encounter took place, was earlier cordoned off by a joint team of Army and the J&K Police after receiving a specific intelligence input about the presence of terrorists in the area.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 20:46:22|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China will work with all relevant parties to safeguard the authority of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, and the effectiveness of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iranian nuclear issue, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a report which said that the United States has called on the UN to review the importance of renewing the Security Council's arms embargo against Iran. "We have noticed the report," she said.

In a recent letter to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the UN Security Council, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a clear standpoint on the Iranian nuclear issue, Hua told the briefing. "Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed his stand in a letter on this issue too, as we know," she added.

"We urge the U.S. to get back on the right track in terms of fulfilling the JCPOA and the UN Security Council's resolution, and cooperate with all sides to safeguard the international nuclear non-proliferation system, and regional peace and stability," Hua added. Enditem
Mendez also has been riding the train regularly, first to his janitor job at a hospital and then on job searches after he was laid off. He noted that while the trains are mostly empty, buses are often crowded, which he attributed to the CTAs practice during the pandemic of rear-door boarding. Since most CTA buses do not have a Ventra reader at the rear door, the practice has meant free rides.
Malaysia on Thursday pulled out of the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca over coronavirus fears days after neighbouring Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation, also withdrew. Millions travel from around the world to Saudi Arabia every year to perform the hajj, a ritual that every Muslim must do once in their lives if able. The virus pandemic, which has killed more than 400,000 people worldwide, has thrown the end-of-July celebration into doubt, although Riyadh is yet to announce a decision on whether it will proceed. Religious Affairs Minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri said it was not safe for the 31,600 pilgrims from Malaysia who had been due to go this year to take part due to the virus. "This was a heavy decision to make," he said, adding that those affected would be able to go on the hajj next year instead. In Malaysia, a country of 32 million where about 60 percent are Muslims, the devout typically wait for years for the opportunity to perform the hajj. Jakarta's decision last week to withdraw removed the largest contingent of pilgrims -- more than 220,000 Indonesians had been due to take part. Malaysia's virus outbreak has been relatively mild, with authorities reporting more than 8,000 cases and 118 deaths. In contrast, Saudi Arabia has seen over 112,000 infections and 819 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. It has already suspended the year-round "umrah" pilgrimage to Islam's holiest cities, Mecca and Medina.
Since taking office, Trump has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and two arms control treaties with Russia. Read more

WASHINGTON  In a broadside against the International Criminal Court, President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions against court workers investigating American troops and intelligence officials and those of allied nations, including Israel, for possible war crimes in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Trump's executive order was his administration's latest attack against international organizations, treaties and agreements that don't hew to U.S. policies. The order would block the financial assets of court employees and bar them and their immediate relatives from entering the United States.

While Israel welcomed the move, there were expressions of concern and condemnation from the United Nations, the European Union and human rights groups.

The Hague-based court was created in 2002 to prosecute war crimes and crimes of humanity and genocide in places where perpetrators might not otherwise face justice. The court has 123 state parties that recognize its jurisdiction. The U.S. has never been an ICC member.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced the tribunal as a "kangaroo court" that has been unsuccessful and inefficient in its mandate to prosecute war crimes. He said that the U.S. would punish the ICC employees for any investigation or prosecution of Americans in Afghanistan and added that they could also be banned for prosecuting Israelis for alleged abuses against Palestinians.

"It gives us no joy to punish them," Pompeo said. "But we cannot allow ICC officials and their families to come to the United States to shop and travel and otherwise enjoy American freedoms as these same officials seek to prosecute the defender of those very freedoms."

Pompeo's comments were echoed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Attorney General Wiliiam Barr and national security adviser Robert O'Brien, who spoke at a State Department announcement of the new measures. Barr announced that the U.S. would investigate possible corruption within the ICC hierarchy that he said raised suspicions that Russia and other adversaries could be interfering in the investigatory process.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the court of fabricating "outlandish charges" against his country, and praised the U.S. for standing up for what he called truth and justice.

Thursday's announcement was the latest action putting the administration at odds with allies in Europe and elsewhere. Since taking office, Trump has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and two arms control treaties with Russia. He has pulled the U.S. out of the U.N. Human Rights Council and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, threatened to leave the International Postal Union and announced an end to cooperation with the World Health Organization.

Unlike those treaties and agreements, though, the U.S. has never been an ICC member. Administrations of both parties have been concerned about the potential for political prosecutions of American troops and officials for alleged war crimes and other atrocities.

Senior U.N. and EU officials spoke out against the decision.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Trump's order "is a matter of serious concern" and he described EU members as "steadfast supporters" of the tribunal." Borrell said "it is a key factor in bringing justice and peace," and that "it must be respected and supported by all nations."

The United Nations has "taken note with concern" about reports of Trump's order, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The American Civil Liberties Union suggested it might seek legal recourse and said the order was "a dangerous display of his contempt for human rights and those working to uphold them,."

Human Rights Watch said it "demonstrates contempt for the global rule of law." "This assault on the ICC is an effort to block victims of serious crimes whether in Afghanistan, Israel or Palestine from seeing justice," it said.

The executive order authorizes the blocking of assets within U.S. jurisdiction of court personnel who directly engage in investigating, harassing or detaining U.S. personnel. It authorizes visa bans on court officials and their family members involved in the investigations. Those restrictions go beyond what the State Department issued last year.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that despite repeated calls by the United States and its allies, the ICC has not embraced change. She alleged the court continues to pursue politically motivated investigations against the U.S. and its partners, including Israel.

"We are concerned that adversary nations are manipulating the International Criminal Court by encouraging these allegations against United States personnel," she said. "Further, we have strong reason to believe there is corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the International Criminal Court office of the prosecutor, calling into question the integrity of its investigation into American service members."

The U.S. has extracted pledges from most of the court's members that they will not seek such prosecutions and risk losing U.S. military and other assistance.

But ICC prosecutors have shown a willingness to press ahead with investigations into U.S. service members and earlier this year launched one that drew swift U.S. condemnation.

Last year, Pompeo revoked the visa of the court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, after she asked ICC judges to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The judges initially rejected the request, she appealed and the the court authorized the investigation in March.

That ruling marked the first time the court's prosecutor has been cleared to investigate U.S. forces. The case involves allegations of war crimes committed by Afghan national security forces, Taliban and Haqqani network militants, as well as U.S. forces and intelligence officials in Afghanistan since May 2003.

Bensouda say there's information that members of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies "committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence."

Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Washington, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Joe Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
China, World's Biggest Creditor, Delays Debt Repayments for 77 Nations

By Lu Xu June 10, 2020

China's announcement this week to suspend debt repayments for 77 low-income countries as part of the G-20's debt relief program gives Beijing a political boost with foreign allies at a time when China is under scrutiny for its role in the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Exactly how much of a political boost remains unclear. When Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu told reporters in Beijing on Monday that Beijing is implementing a moratorium on debt payments to 77 developing countries and regions, he did not offer details, including the beneficiaries, the amount of money involved or terms of the repayment suspension.

China is currently the largest single creditor in the world, with outstanding loans to other countries in excess of 6% of global GDP. A recent study published by the Harvard Business Review found that among the 50 developing countries with the highest levels of debt, about 15% of total obligations were owed to China.

The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a huge blow to the global economy, and China's own finances have not been spared. In late May, at the country's National People's Congress, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned that governments at all levels must tighten budgets and the central government should take the lead.

China's official unemployment rate in April was 6%, slightly higher than that in March. However, economists estimate China's real unemployment rate to be 20.5% in April, with at least 70 million unemployed.

Li Keqiang said in response to a reporter's question at the two sessions on May 28 that the average annual income in China is around $4,250 (30,000 yuan) but 600 million people earn only $140 (1,000 yuan) a month. He also said that in a medium-sized city, it might be difficult to find rent on that salary.

Notably, officials appear so uncertain about the economy that for the first time since 1990, Beijing did not set a growth target for this year's economy.

While recent data suggest that China is emerging from an economic slowdown, the recovery won't be easy. And on China's tightly controlled internet, some users are questioning whether the government should prioritize other countries' interests over its own.

How long will repayments be suspended?

In the short term, creditors suspending debt repayments would help to avoid bad debts, according to Weiping Qin, an economist in the United States.

Qin told VOA : "On the debtor side, if their economies are in great trouble, if they have no way to repay the debts now, and if they do not reach an agreement with their creditors, it will easily cause bad debts to have a negative impact on both sides. Moreover, the deterioration will lead to a greater crisis. I believe that the creditors and debtors can reach an understanding and delay for, let's say, about half a year, for both sides to find a practical solution, to at least temporarily avoid further deterioration of the situation."

Qin pointed out that debt repayment suspension can only be a short-term arrangement, with the purpose being to give debtor countries a period of time to get out of economic difficulties. If such short-term arrangements do not help the domestic economies of debtor countries improve, that could signal danger for Beijing's balance sheets.

Specifically in China's case, he believes that the Chinese government is now in a very bad financial position because of its foreign lending. In the event of a debt default in which debtor countries are unable to meet the debt repayment, China would bear huge financial losses as well as pressure from its own public.

Analysts say the suspension of debt repayments is a needed move to avoid a pile of bad debt. In light of heightened tensions with the West, China must maintain its relations with countries in Africa and Latin America.

According to the Associated Press's interview with Ghana's finance minister in April, Africa's debt to China is over $145 billion. About $8 billion in payments are required this year.

Dajun Zhong, an economic observer in Beijing, sees the payment suspension as China's helpless option.

He told VOA: "[China] can't get the debt payment, some countries are too poor to pay back, what can you do otherwise? The Chinese government is just giving it a name, but they are actually bad debts."

Zhong said he believes that the payment suspension is for diplomatic benefits. He said China will have to pay a heavy price if it wants to win as many political allies as possible internationally, even if they are the poor countries, while the heavy cost will eventually be passed on to the Chinese people.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

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The authorities in Seattle have surrendered a part of the city to Antifa thugs and louts. Christopher Rufo reports for City Journal:

Seattles hard-Left secessionist movement has claimed its first territory: six blocks in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. For the past week, Black Lives Matter and Antifa-affiliated activists have engaged in a pitched battle with Seattle police officers and National Guard soldiers in the neighborhood, with the heaviest conflict occurring at the intersection of 11th and Pike, where law enforcement had constructed a barricade to defend the Seattle Police East Precinct building. Hoping to break through the barricade, protesters attacked officers with bricks, bottles, rocks, and improvised explosive devices, sending some officers to the hospital. At the same time, activists circulated videos of the conflict and accused the police of brutality, demanding that the city cease using teargas and other anti-riot techniques. Then, in a stunning turn of events, the City of Seattle made the decision to abandon the East Precinct and surrender the neighborhood to the protesters. This is an exercise in trust and de-escalation, explained Chief Carmen Best. Officers and National Guardsmen emptied out the facility, boarded it up, and retreated. Immediately afterward, Black Lives Matter protesters, Antifa black shirts, and armed members of the hard-Left John Brown Gun Club seized control of the neighborhood, moved the barricades into a defensive position, and declared it the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zoneeven putting up a cardboard sign at the barricades declaring you are now leaving the USA.

Whole thing here. Next up, the Seattle Commune!

STEVE adds: Id like to think that whats happening here with the police abandoning the area is a wildcat strike, that is, the police giving the people of Seattle a dose of what life will be like if the police are abolished or defunded. And you know how sequels are seldom as good as the first movie? Think of this as Occupy Wall Street 2, with a bigger budget and more special effects.
Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan has chastised the Concerned University Lecturers, Ghana, (CULG) over their letter to EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa.



The group comprising of over 100 public University lecturers, in an open letter to the EC Boss, challenged the EC's decision to compile a new voters' register claiming there the Commission's argument that the current register cannot be used for the 2020 elections is flawed.



The concerned University lecturers also noted that given that the country's Presidential and Parliamentary elections are six months away, it is wise for the EC to update the existing register rather than compiling a new one.



So far, we have not seen any evidence to suggest that an updated version of the existing register cannot perform the same role in the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, as the outcomes of these elections have been described by your office and other stakeholders as some of the most credible elections in our countrys history," the group argues in the letter signed by 101 lecturers.



We are worried about the international image of our country and wish to draw your attention to the negative effects of your decision to compile a new voters register, as that conduct will violate Section II Article 2 (1) of Protocol A/SP1/12/01 on Democracy and Good Governance Supplementary to the Protocol relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security, which forbids ECOWAS nations from making any extensive changes to electoral regimes in the last six (6) months before elections.''



Making his submissions on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Kwamena Duncan asked the group to stop hiding behind the name ''concerned University lecturers'' and let Ghanaians know they're doing the bidding of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).



He noted that the group has been charged by the NDC and helping to push the party's agenda.



Kwamena Duncan however expected the concerned lecturers to elevate their discourse saying their letter didn't establish any new thing that the NDC leadership and members haven't said about the Electoral Commission and its new voters' registration exercise.



''I thought I was going to see a certain superior argument...Concerned lecturers, we were looking for superior argument to show that what you're saying is deep but you bring the same old rehash...Clearly, it's a show of dishonesty because these are known NDC people. So, I would have loved to see that these are NDC lecturers sympathizers of the party," he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Two soldiers with the South Carolina National Guard discovered glass baked into a pizza they ordered while deployed to Washington D.C. during protests.

The unidentified soldiers were reportedly staying at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, located minutes away from the White House, during their stay in the nation's capitol.

They were sent by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to support President Trump's push to use militarized units to quell protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

They ordered pizza from a nearby restaurant with Uber Eats, but later discovered shards of glass baked into the dough and cheese, according to The Post and Courier.

The soldiers did not eat the pizza and no one was injured during the incident. No other Guardsman have experienced a similar issue.

Two soldiers with the South Carolina National Guard found pieces of glass baked into apizza they ordered while deployed to Washington D.C. Pictured: Soldiers with the South Carolina National Guard arrive on buses as demonstrators continue to protest the death of George Floyd

'The command says that the soldiers are OK, and that this was the only incident to their knowledge,' Capt. Jessica Donnelly, a spokeswoman for the S.C. National Guard, said.

Donnelly said the soldiers were told to file a police report about the incident, but a spokesperson from the D.C. Metro Police Department said there was no such report on file.

A report from the Department of Defense noted that there has been an increase in threats, but added that there have been no specific threats made against soldiers.

The 500 National Guardsmen deployed to Washington D.C. have begun returning home after being called to assist the federal government with demonstrations.

Their presence was heavily criticized by democrats and protesters who called the move a instance of government overreach.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster deployed 500 Guardsmen to Washington D.C. in support of President Trump and his desire to stop protests

More than 30 states have activated around 32,000 National Guard members to enhance local law enforcement during protests

There was also concern over the fact a United States military resource was being turned against its own citizens.

After several days of push back, the National Guard was ordered to not carry guns or other weapons at protests.

President Trump previously said he wanted to 'dominate' the streets with law enforcement in response to protests, which has become another notch on the growing list missteps in his handling.

Trump threatened more than once to deploy the National Guard to cities that he deemed volatile and referred to protesters as 'thugs' in a controversial tweet/

'These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen, he wrote on Twitter.

'Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control, but when the looting starts, the shooting starts.'

In another tweet, he threatened to send the National Guard to Minneapolis because of Mayor Jacob Frey's 'total lack of leadership.'

'Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done.

More than 30 states have activated around 32,000 National Guard members to enhance local law enforcement during protests, according to PBS.

The soldiers made appearance cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Maryland and Ohio.

Trump threatened to send them to New York, where protests erupted in New York City and in upstate communities, but Attorney General Letitia James vowed to fight the suggestion.

Pictured: Members of the DC National Guard gear-up after a short rest from standing guard at the Lincoln Memorial

In a new turn of events, it was revealed that members of the National Guard deployed to Washington D.C., who were among thousands of protesters, have tested positive for COVID-19.

Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Brooke Davis said the Guard would not release the exact total, but U.S. officials said they believe it is not a large number, at least so far.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information publicly, according to McClatchy news.

While some Guard troops responding to the protests wore protective equipment, most were not wearing masks and it was largely impossible to maintain any social distancing.

An unspecified number of National Guard members have tested positive for the coronavirus. Most members attending the protests were seen without face masks and it was difficult to maintain social distancing

troops adhered to guidelines calling for Guard members to wear protective equipment and maintain social distancing where practical.

She said personnel were medically screened for the coronavirus prior to their arrival, and will be screened before they leave.

According to officials, about 5,000 Guard members were in D.C. for the civil unrest, including as many as 1,200 from the D.C. Guard.

The remainder came from 11 states: Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

Aaron Covington of St. Louis, greets National Guard soldiers and DEA police as they protest on Saturday, in Chinatown, Washington

According to officials, Guard members returning to their home states may remain on duty status and continue to be paid for two additional weeks so that they can be in quarantine if they were at risk for coronavirus infections.

The federal Bureau of Prisons, which dispatched dozens of officers from its riot teams to the streets of Washington, is now offering coronavirus tests for those officers in Washington, an agency spokesman said Tuesday.

The agency has also been making arrangements for officers to be tested when they return to the community where they regularly work, if they don't want to be tested in Washington, the spokesman, Justin Long, said. The agency can't compel its employees to be tested.

A spokeswoman for the FBI - which has had agents questioning people arrested at protests across the U.S. and also deployed its elite Hostage Rescue Team in Washington - would not answer questions about whether the agents would be tested or whether they were instructed to wear masks while working in the field.

The agency would only say it was working with other officials to "continue to ensure measures are in place to protect the FBI workforce," but did not provide any specific information.
Cybereason, a leader in endpoint protection, today published findings from its newest honeypot that was created to analyze the tactics, techniques, and procedures used by hackers to target critical infrastructure providers.

This project has shown hackers have adopted multistage ransomware attacks as part of hacking operations against industrial control systems (ICS).

The honeypot IT and OT (operational technology) environment was built to look like a large electricity company with operations in North America and Europe. Cybereason successfully launched a similar honeypot two years ago looking at the same industry.

The report titled Cybereasons Newest Honeypot Shows How Multistage Ransomware Attacks Should Have Critical Infrastructure Providers on High Alert is based on attacks to a network architecture masquerading as part of an electricity generation and transmission providers network, including an IT and OT environment and HMI (human machine interface) management systems. The environment employed customary security controls including segmentation between the different environments.

Once the honeypot went live, hackers compromised the network within three days by brute forcing the admin password, which had medium complexity. Attackers placed ransomware on every compromised machine early in the process but didnt detonate it immediately. After the other stages of the attack were completed (including data theft, user password stealing and propagation across the network), the attacker detonated the ransomware across all compromised endpoints simultaneously. This is a common trait to multistage ransomware campaigns, that is intended to amplify the impact of the attack on the victim.

Ransomware threats to critical infrastructure providers should be a top concern for security teams. In the ICS industry, we are seeing fewer strains of ransomware yet the existing strains rake in more gains. Hackers do this by better targeting and making more money from each target. We can expect to see an increase in multistage ransomware embedded into hacking operations in the foreseeable future, said Israel Barak, Chief Information Security Officer, Cybereason.

Additional Honeypot Highlights:



In this new research, the Cybereason team identified multiple attackers executing ransomware operations involving data theft, the stealing of user credentials, and lateral movement across the victims network to compromise as many endpoints as possible. This includes critical assets like the domain controllers, which could take between several minutes to several hours to properly infiltrate.

Ransomware capabilities were deployed early on in the hacking operation, but it was not immediately detonated. The ransomware was designed to detonate only after preliminary stages of the attack finished across all compromised endpoints in order to achieve maximum impact on the victim.

This operational attack pattern attempts to impact as many victim assets as possible, representing a higher risk to organizations compared to ransomware attacks that impact the single machine they initially access. However, this operational pattern also represents an opportunity for defenders with a rapid detection and response process to detect the attack at its early stages and respond effectively before ransomware is able to impact the environment.

Attackers are succeeding in hacking operations against ICS operators by breaking in and debilitating the business and demanding huge ransoms. Because many organizations now purchase cyber insurance, we are seeing an increase in the number of ransoms being paid as opposed to patching the holes in the network that enabled the hackers to gain access in the first place. These brazen intrusions will continue until the cost of the insurance becomes comparable to the cost of fixing the problem, added Barak.

About Cybereason

Cybereason, creators of the leading Cyber Defense Platform, gives the advantage back to the defender through a completely new approach to cybersecurity. Cybereason offers endpoint prevention, detection and response and active monitoring. The solution delivers multi-layered endpoint prevention by leveraging signature and signatureless techniques to prevent known and unknown threats in conjunction with behavioral and deception techniques to prevent ransomware and fileless attacks. Cybereason is a privately held, international company, headquartered in Boston with customers in more than 30 countries.

Learn more: https://www.cybereason.com/

Follow us: Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Media Contact:

Bill Keeler

Senior Director, Global Public Relations

Cybereason

bill.keeler@cybereason.com

(929) 259-3261
Legislature again passes bill to reopen bars and gyms

RALEIGH  A bill reopening gyms and bars and expanding seating in restaurants has cleared the General Assembly. Again.





The N.C. House on voted 69-50 on Wednesday to send a rewritten House Bill 594 to Gov. Roy Cooper, who vetoed an earlier version of the legislation because he worries lawmakers are trying to usurp his power. The Senate on Tuesday passed H.B. 594, 36-13. Both votes fell mostly along party lines.



The measure includes what Sen. Rick Gunn, R-Alamance, called a fail-safe, giving the governor flexibility in again closing the businesses should covid-19 surge enough to overwhelm hospitals. A majority of the 10-member Council of State would have to agree with such a move. Six members on the council are Republicans.



H.B. 594, which incorporates H.B. 536 and other bills loosening restrictions on bars, requires at least a basic check on Coopers power in the states 100 diverse counties.



The governor on Friday vetoed H.B. 536. Cooper, a Democrat, signaled all along he would veto the measure because it gave lawmakers authority to remove some of his power.



H.B. 536 didnt include the Council of State caveat. Lawmakers need 60% of those present and voting to override Cooper, should the governor veto this version, too.



State and local government leaders must be able to act quickly during the COVID-19 emergency to prevent a surge in cases that could overwhelm hospitals and harm the public, Cooper said in a news release after the veto.



Lawmakers decided Wednesday against trying to override Coopers veto of H.B. 536 and turned their attention to H.B. 594.



Critics of the governor say hes using his statewide suppressions to pick winners while leaving other businesses, such as gyms and bars, by the wayside.



H.B. 594 limits gyms to 50% capacity, with myriad cleaning and safety precautions, and effectively doubles seating in restaurants by expanding outdoor dining.



Numerous businesses have filed lawsuits against Cooper. On Wednesday, Senior Business Court Judge James Gale issued a decision against three plaintiffs trying to seek a temporary restraining order allowing them to open. Gale said the plaintiffs failed to provide enough evidence to issue an immediate order, although he may consider a preliminary injunction if plaintiffs file additional evidence.



The Senate on May 28 passed the earlier bill by a wide margin, 42-5, and sent it to the House, which concurred along largely partisan lines, 65-53, after an hour-long debate. Cooper used his veto power.



Gunn said the latest version of the bill, H.B. 594, should allay Coopers concerns. Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, echoed that message during House debate Wednesday.



Council of State concurrence has been in an emergency authority statute for decades, Gunn said in a news conference Monday, June 8. It is nothing new and should not be controversial at all. Its a standard operating procedure.



The number of people applying for unemployment in North Carolina has reached 1 million, Gunn said. Every state bordering North Carolina has reopened gyms, bars, and restaurants.



Im simply tired of wasting time and watching these businesses flounder, Gunn said Monday.



The Cooper administration hasnt explained how the science, and facts, and the data make it OK for thousands of people, including the governor himself, to gather in the streets without social distancing or mask, but one person cant sit outside a pub and sip a drink.



During earlier debate, some Democratic senators said they are worried about opening private bars and clubs amid a pandemic, which may surge in the fall. Natasha Marcus, D-Mecklenburg, for instance, said the move opens a gateway into dangerous, unknown territory.



Sen. Wiley Nickel, D-Wake, said what probably many of his fellow Democrats were thinking. Were taking power away from the governor, and I dont trust this body to give it back, Nickel has said. Because it takes power away from the governor, I do not support it.



Rep. Darren Jackson, D-Wake, in a House debate Wednesday made similar points. Jackson said he doesnt support the bill. He cited the rising number of hospitalizations and deaths in North Carolina and intimated that the restrictive lockdowns should continue. Jackson, parroting the governor, failed to bring up any potential problems with COVID-19 resulting from the mass protests. Jackson, in a bit of irony, asked lawmakers to choose science over politics.



Legislation isnt the best way to open these businesses, Cooper has said. The governor is considering a Phase 2.5 reopening, but enacting something in state law would inhibit local control and would limit how quickly the state could act in again closing businesses, he says.



The science behind Coopers decisions, says Gunn, is inconsistent.



Cooper has allowed businesses such as hair salons and tattoo parlors to reopen while keeping others, namely gyms and bars, closed. Gunn said its time to give business owners some certainty.



This is about being equal to businesses, Gunn said. This is about a level playing field. This is about fairness to all businesses.



Every state bordering North Carolina has reopened restaurants, bars and gyms, Gunn said. He includes Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia.



Is the science, the facts, and the data different when crossing state lines? Gunn asks.
Independent record shops were still a thing, albeit a thing in creeping decline, when we migrated from Dublin to Wexford 16 years ago.

There were three of them in Enniscorthy, all gone now and replaced by places selling stuff that fills shopping bags but not the soul.

One was excellent, one was hit-and-miss  the stock of The Beatles, Bowie, Bruce and Dylan was spotty, yet you were guaranteed to find every single karaoke abomination by Westlife  and the third appealed mostly to people who regard Country & Irish as music.

What they had in common (apart from the obvious) was that each of them seemed to hold at least one copy of David Grays White Ladder at all times. It was the same story everywhere. A friend who worked in Tower Records in Dublin during the long-ago days of the late Nineties and early Noughties tells me the store couldnt reorder the album quick enough, such was the voracious public demand.

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White Ladder, 20 years old this year, went platinum eight times over in Ireland and remains the top-selling album of all time in this country. The much-loved and much-missed Tony Fenton famously remarked: Every household in Ireland has a picture of the Pope and a copy of White Ladder.

Tonys quip, along with a brief clip of the man himself at the desk of his 2FM show The Hotline, turns up tonight in Donal Scannells engaging, if sometimes a little meandering, RTE1 documentary David Gray: Irelands Greatest Hit.

The film, rich in interviews, archive performances and evocative snapshots of the Ireland of the giddy Celtic Tiger period, is stronger on the how and when rather than the why. It never entirely nails down possible reasons for a large chunk of the Irish publics adoration of Gray, long before his native Britain, let alone anywhere else, paid him a blind bit of notice.

Grey himself muses fuzzily that his songs possibly connected with Irish peoples love of heart-on-sleeve ballads. Whatever about that, near-weekly exposure on Donal Dineens RTE television show No Disco surely played a major part.

In the end, maybe the reasons are less important than the story. You dont have to be a fan of Grays music  and Im not, frankly  to appreciate that its an extraordinary one, as remarkable as those never-to-be-repeated record sales.

Video of the Day

Before White Ladder, which he recorded in his bedroom, Gray had made three albums, none of which did much, and been dropped by two record labels. His career was on life support. Except in this country.

He could go to Ireland, never lose money, said Rob Holden of IHT Records, the first label to release White Ladder.

Gray visits Whelans and recalls turning up for his first ever gig there. Used to playing to barely-there audiences in Britain, he initially assumed the packed-house was for some other artist. Of Grays performance that night, Glen Hansard says: It was Dylanesque.

Within 18 months of that gig, says PR man Martin Byrne, Gray was filling the Point Depot, now the 3Arena. Hed soon be filling arenas everywhere, appearing on Top of the Pops and playing the main stage at Glastonbury (theres a great Bowie story here).

But even as Gray was doing a 13-date Irish tour off the back of the albums massive sales, Britain remained cold. The documentary is sharp on our nearest neighbours perception of us.

We swallow the myth that Ireland leapt like a salmon out of its little backwater once U2 conquered the world.

Holden says the fact that Gray was selling a huge number of albums in Ireland was regarded as "irrelevant by UK record executives. They only took notice when White Ladder went to number one.

They love to be very dismissive about what Ireland is, adds Gray.

Obviously, there are some records that never change.

David Gray: Ireland's Greatest Hit is on RTE1 tonight at 10.15pm.
LYNCHBURG, Tenn., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jack Daniel Distillery and the Nearest Green Distillery announced today the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative to further diversity within the American whiskey industry. Both companies are supporting it equally with an initial combined pledge of $5 million to help create the Nearest Green School of Distilling, develop the Leadership Acceleration Program (LAP) for apprenticeships and establish the Business Incubation Program (BIP), focused on providing expertise and resources to African Americans entering the spirits industry as entrepreneurs. This joint initiative will be guided by an advisory board with members from both organizations.

Motlow State College, the fastest growing college in Tennessee, has worked with leaders from both companies for the past year to develop a curriculum for the Nearest Green School of Distilling. The STEM based and employable skills focused program has passed Motlow State requirements and is now awaiting approval from the Tennessee Board of Regents to begin moving toward accreditation by the institutions accrediting body SACSCOC. The certificate program may be offered as early as Fall 2021.

The Leadership Acceleration Program (LAP) will offer apprenticeships specifically to African Americans already in the whiskey industry, who are wanting to become a head distiller, head of maturation or production manager. The inaugural apprentices have already been identified and will begin shadowing at top distilleries throughout the country.

The third arm of the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative is the Business Incubation Program (BIP) that will offer African American entrepreneurs mentorship in all areas of the distilling business, including access to top marketing firms, branding executives, expanded distribution networks and other assets and opportunities to grow their spirits businesses.

"Generally, when companies talk about the need to improve diversity, few immediate action steps follow," said Fawn Weaver, CEO, Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. "Our group is different. We are doers, and we all agreed to work together to improve diversity in our industry, and specifically, a way to get African Americans into top positions within our industry. Nearest Green taught Jack Daniel how to make Tennessee whiskey and we're incredibly proud our companies are joining forces to further their legacies of excellence, and to make distilling and the whiskey industry we love more diverse."

"Given our deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, I am thrilled we are coming together in this way today," said Lawson Whiting, President and Chief Executive Officer, Brown-Forman Corporation, the parent company of Jack Daniel's. "This collaboration allows the extraordinary friendship of Nearest and Jack, and the hope they embodied during racially divided times in our country's history, to help us advance the next generation of African American leaders in our industry."

About Uncle Nearest

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, independently owned by CEO Fawn Weaver, honors the first known African American master distiller, Nathan "Nearest" Green. It is the most awarded American whiskey of 2019 and 2020 to-date, garnering more than 65 awards in the past 16 months, including Double Gold at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirit Competition and back-to-back honors of "World's Best" at Whisky Magazine's 2019 and 2020 World Whiskies Awards in New York and London. Uncle Nearest has also earned more than 20 Best in Class honors, including Cigar & Spirits Magazine naming Uncle Nearest one of the "Top 5 Whiskies in the World."

The whiskey is currently available in all 50 states and 12 countries (while shipping into a total of 148 countries), in more than 12,000 stores, bars, and restaurants, and at its 270-acre distillery in Shelbyville, Tenn., dubbed by a member of the press as "Malt Disney World." For more information please visit the Uncle Nearest website, and follow on Instagram and Facebook @unclenearest.

About Jack Daniel's

Officially registered by the U.S. Government in 1866 and based in Lynchburg, Tenn., the Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, proprietor, is the first registered distillery in the United States and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Jack Daniel's is the maker of the world-famous Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey, Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire, Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select and Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails. Today, Jack Daniel's is a true global icon found in more than 170 countries around the world and is the most valuable spirits brand in the world as recognized by Interbrand.

About Brown-Forman

For over 150 years, Brown-Forman Corporation has enriched the experience of life by responsibly building fine quality beverage alcohol brands, including Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel's & Cola, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire, Gentleman Jack, Jack Daniel's Single Barrel, Finlandia, Korbel, el Jimador, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, Canadian Mist, Herradura, New Mix, Sonoma-Cutrer, Early Times, Chambord, BenRiach, GlenDronach, Slane, and Fords Gin. Brown-Forman's brands are supported by over 4,800 employees and sold in more than 170 countries worldwide. For more information about the company, please visit www.brown-forman.com.

UNCLE NEAREST and NEAREST GREEN are registered trademarks. 2020 Uncle Nearest, Inc. Nearest Green Distillery, Shelbyville, Tennessee. UncleNearest.com

JACK DANIEL'S is a registered trademark. 2020 Jack Daniel's. Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee. JackDaniels.com

Please Drink Responsibly.

SOURCE Nearest Green Distillery and Jack Daniel Distillery

Related Links

https://www.unclenearest.com

https://www.jackdaniels.com


A refugee rights protest planned to be held in Sydney this weekend has been blocked by the Supreme Court after organisers were accused of playing 'Russian roulette' amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

Justice Michael Walton on Thursday night granted a NSW Police application for the protest to be declared a prohibited public gathering.

The rally, which was being organised by the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), was scheduled to take place at Sydney's Town Hall on Saturday afternoon.

RAC organiser James Supple told the court they were expecting a modest crowd of about 150 to 200 and that it could be held while observing social distancing rules.

A refugee rights protest planned to be held in Sydney this weekend has been blocked by the Supreme Court. Pictured: Demonstrators march through Sydney's CBD during a rally calling for refugee rights in Sydney, September 14, 2019

But Justice Walton accepted arguments put forward by Lachlan Gyles SC, acting for NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, who cited health concerns.

It comes after a protester who attended Melbourne's Black Lives Matter rally on Saturday tested positive for coronavirus.

The non-indigenous man in his 30s wore a mask, was not symptomatic at Saturday's protest and is unlikely to have contracted the virus at the event, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters.

But he developed symptoms on Sunday.

'They were potentially infectious, so the lesson about warning people not to attend applies,' Prof Sutton said on Thursday.

Thousands gathered in the CBD on Saturday for the rally against Aboriginal deaths in custody and in solidarity with protests in the US following the death of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of police.

A Black Lives Matter protester has tested positive for coronavirus after attending a rally in Melbourne. Pictured: The protest

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for people attending future anti-racism protests to be arrested and charged, warning rallies are blocking eased coronavirus restrictions.

Mr Morrison said the 'double standard' displayed by protesters had offended many Australians.

The potential health fallout is impeding decisions around interstate travel, funeral numbers and places of worship.

'It just puts a massive spanner in the works and that's why it's so frustrating,' he told 2GB radio on Thursday.

'They have put the whole track back to recovery at risk and certainly any further action on this front would be absolutely unacceptable.'

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee firmed up its health advice warning against mass gatherings at a meeting on Thursday.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said the large crowds struggled to maintain social distancing.

'If we had had a person or a number of people with COVID-19 amongst those crowds, then there would have been the risk of significant transmission,' he told the ABC.

The prime minister said protesters should be charged if they attend further Black Lives Matter rallies.
Regulatory News:

Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) ("PSH") today announced that it has purchased, through PSH's agent, Jefferies International Limited ("Jefferies"), the following number of PSH's Public Shares of no par value (ISIN Code: GG00BPFJTF46) (the "Shares"):

Trading Venue: London Stock Exchange Ticker: PSH Date of Purchase: 11 June 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 37,655 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 1,860 pence 23.58 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 1,852 pence 23.48 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 1,859 pence 23.57 USD Ticker: PSHD Date of Purchase: 11 June 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 22,938 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 23.45 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 23.45 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 23.45 USD Trading Venue: Euronext Amsterdam Ticker: PSH Date of Purchase: 11 June 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 51,776 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 23.60 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 23.35 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 23.44 USD

PSH will hold these Public Shares in Treasury. The net asset value per Public Share related to this buyback is 35.74 USD 28.08 GBP which was calculated as of 9 June 2020 (the "Relevant NAV"). After giving effect to the above buyback, PSH has 196,526,155 Public Shares outstanding, or 202,481,574 Public Shares calculated on a fully diluted basis (assuming that all Management Shares had been converted into Public Shares at the Relevant NAV). Excluded from the shares outstanding are 14,430,595 Public Shares held in Treasury. The prices per Public Share were calculated by Jefferies.

The number of PSH Management Shares and the one special voting share (held by PS Holdings Independent Voting Company Limited) have not been affected.

About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.

Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005826/en/

Contacts:

Camarco

Ed Gascoigne-Pees Hazel Stevenson +44 020 3757 4989, media-pershingsquareholdings@camarco.co.uk
SEATTLE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- HeadLight , the nation's leading photo-based inspection technology, is announcing it has secured $25.6M in Series B funding from Viking Global Investors, an investment firm managing over $30 billion of capital. Customers such as the State of Louisiana , the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, and Jacobs Engineering rely on HeadLight to easily capture, interpret and act on data in the field, saving them time and money through more accurate photo-based inspections. With this investment, HeadLight, formerly named Pavia Systems, will continue to expand its product and scale its operations to meet the growing demand for highly accurate and modern inspection capabilities from infrastructure construction professionals.

"Each year literally billions of dollars are wasted during infrastructure construction due to unnecessary rework, delays, and claims disputes relying on an antiquated inspection process that largely is still based on pen and paper. HeadLight is modernizing the inspection process - by providing photo-based data and insights from the field in real-time," said co-founder and CEO George White . "We see this as something that should become industry-standard."

HeadLight replaces the time-old tradition of hand-written notes and manual data entry with a data-rich visual window into projects. A study by a consortium of the California, Washington, Texas, and Minnesota Departments of Transportation found that each field inspector could repurpose almost 38 hours of administrative work per month into time spent in the field. Engineers and managers acknowledged increased confidence in preventing issues before they impacted project delivery goals through greater visibility across multiple jobs at the same time.

"In an industry where you often need to 'see the issue' to truly understand the issue - pictures are worth 1,000 words. From the beginning, HeadLight was built with visual data at the center," said Si Katara, co-founder, and HeadLight President. "By focusing on how we can increase the accessibility and quality of data coming from the field, we're helping our partners realize the significant financial impact in both the short and long term."

HeadLight has captured over 2 million inspection observations on over $20B of infrastructure projects

Since its launch, HeadLight has become a trusted partner to state and municipal infrastructure owners, engineering firms, contractors, and suppliers across the United States. With over 2 million observations captured and shared across these projects in real-time, customers value how HeadLight's method of event-driven data capture allows users to see more about their project and catch issues as they arise. This fact-based recreation of the entire construction process helps mitigate risk and build trust amongst project stakeholders.

"HeadLight has made our data capture much stronger, allowing us to lead with photos that document our work. It's enabled us to use that data to see a bigger picture of what's happening across the state which allows us to document better, work smarter, and collectively work better," said Mike Vosburg, P.E. Director of Construction and Materials for the Louisiana Department of Transportation.

"HeadLight has had a significant positive impact on our transportation construction projects. The technology has helped us increase both the quantity and quality of data from the field, and often see potential issues before they arise in ways we couldn't before," said Randy Iwasaki, Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA). "HeadLight is part of our paperless construction initiative - enabling us to be more effective with taxpayer dollars committed to transportation."

While HeadLight has been deployed predominantly on infrastructure projects on our nation's roads, bridges, and railways, the company has recently expanded into water/wastewater, energy, resilience, and utility projects -- signaling the product's range of application. HeadLight expects to cement additional statewide transportation partnerships in the near future.

About HeadLight

Founded in 2005, HeadLight is a photo-based inspection technology that provides a visual source of truth about infrastructure projects. Originally designed through collaboration efforts with infrastructure owners and their field inspection teams, HeadLight increases the accountability and effectiveness of construction projects by allowing teams to capture, interpret, and act on data from the job site in real-time. Their current clients include departments of transportation, engineering firms, contractors, and industry-related materials companies. For more information, please visit www.headlight.com .

SOURCE HeadLight

Related Links

http://www.headlight.com


Photo credit: 'Sapling' clay paint, 43 for 2.5 litres, Earthborn. (earthbornpaints.co.uk)

From ELLE Decoration

What dangers do regular paints pose to the environment? Many conventional paints (as well as many household substances) contain harmful chemicals, such as formaldehyde and plastics, which are released into the home environment. These carbon-based chemicals, called Volatile Organic Compounds, aka VOCs, are measured by the amount  or levels  emitted into the air, and the lower they are they better. High levels of VOCs are bad news as they can cause all sorts of issues, such as triggering asthma, nausea and other allergic reactions, explains Phil Robinson from Paint the Town Green. They can also continue to be emitted for up to five years after the paint has long dried.

In 2010, the EU put stricter limits on VOCs in decorative paints, so brands now highlight their low percentage levels. Zero VOCs, however, are impossible, says Robinson. This isnt technically possible as all substances emit a small amount of VOCs. What they mean is that they register so low on the scale that according to some criteria somewhere this qualifies as zero. Its not zero, its just very low, he explains. Its important to recognise that a paint will always release something into the air, so study the ingredients to discover just how much.

So what determines an eco-friendly paint? There is no clear and consistent definition of what constitutes eco or natural paint. Some brands with a low level of VOCs will then muddy their environmentally-friendly claims by adding acrylic, vinyl and PVA to bind the ingredients together, or to achieve a certain finish. Even those that have strong eco credentials may use synthetic pigments to create certain colours  again, its important to read the small print. Eco paint pioneer Edward Bulmer, founder of Edward Bulmer Natural Paint, defines eco-friendly paints as such: It should mean that a product has no detrimental effect on the environment or society. Modern paints are stretching credulity claiming this when they are derived in large part from petrochemicals. They are not water-based so much as they have water added  and it may not be in large amounts. Natural paints are products driven by ethical principles that ensure responsible sourcing, controlled processing, no hazardous waste and carbon neutrality in their manufacture.

Story continues

What else is there to consider? The carbon footprint of your paint. Smaller brands produce smaller batches, therefore, they generate less waste. One example is March and Son in Lewes, which uses locally sourced ingredients. Founder Simon March explains, We make a variety of paints but our most sustainable is our linseed paint, which is made using local linseed oil from pressed flax seed together with local Sussex chalk and alabaster. The pigments come from a variety of places in Europe, including ochres from France and Italy and oxides from here in the UK and the Netherlands. These paints are sold from a tap to reduce waste. Customers are then encouraged to return the used containers for the next person.

How do I find out more information? For those interested in learning more about eco paints, the Ethical Consumer carries in-depth guides and articles on its website.

Photo credit: Photopia Photography

What are the alternatives? The range of eco-friendly paints is growing, heres a breakdown of what to look out for..

Limewash paint Made from slaked lime (generated from limestone), it is cured for almost a year to thicken, with a small amount of linseed oil added to help with wall application. Francescas Paint specialises in limewash paint made in Italy with organic and mineral colour pigments added in London.

Clay paint A water-based solution with natural clay pigments, it has naturally low VOCs. Its proven to be very effective on porous walls in older properties that are susceptible to damp. Earthborn was the first paint company in the UK to gain the EU Ecolabel licence. It produces acrylic- and oil-free clay paint and varnishes.

Casein paint Made using milk proteins rather than toxic petrochemicals. Emery & Cie, a Belgium brand, offers paint that contains up to 40 per cent casein plus organic binders, organic or non-organic pigments (depending on the colour) and 15-25 per cent water.

Plant-based paint This is produced using pigments found in nature and solvent made from water and plant oil. Edward Bulmer Natural Paint was founded by the interior decorator when he struggled to source good-quality paints using natural ingredients for his projects.

Mineral paint Made using natural colour pigments that are taken from the earth, rather than synthetic alternatives. Paint the Town Green offers a decorating service within London and the surrounding counties and stocks a paint collection created by interior designer Nicky Haslam.

Photo credit: Nordfarg

Are there any other brands I should know about? The numbers of paint brands with green credentials are growing. Heres a small selection of other notable names

Nordfarg Awarded the Nordic Swan (eco label for Nordic countries) and EU Ecolabel, it uses Swedens renewable power and Icelands geothermal heat to produce its paints. nordfarg.com

Eico Plant-based paint manufactured in Iceland and Sweden using geothermal and hydropower energy. Its shipped to the UK using spare space in shipping containers. eico.co.uk

Lakeland paints Paint for walls, floors, wood and metal surfaces and varnishes that are non-toxic, odourless, solvent-free and contain no animal products. lakelandpaints.co.uk

This article appeared in ELLE Decoration June issue

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COVID-19: Infosys unveils solutions to help clients offer safe workplaces to employees

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 11: IT major Infosys on Thursday unveiled a new suite of 'Return to Workplace' solutions to help clients ensure safety and wellness of their employees as staff returns to workplace amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cloud and edge-based solutions offer a comprehensive framework that enables enterprises to put in place elevated body temperature (EBT) screening, check for mask compliance and undertake analytics around occupancy of workspaces, Infosys SVP and Head- Engineering Services Nitesh Bansal told PTI.

Coronavirus crisis: Uttarakhand govt freezes new recruitment, no increment for employees

He added that these solutions do not collect any personally identifiable information (PII) and instead use the power of AI, Internet of Things, Vision Analytics, Edge Computing, 5G, RFID, biometrics and gesture controls to reduce the need for human intervention and enable data-driven decision making.

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"The underlying platform ensures ease of maintenance and compliance reporting as required in various geographies," he said. These solutions adhere to data privacy standards and practices with FDA, FCC, ISO, and IEC compliance.

"The future of work will demand innovative solutions that enterprises can deploy rapidly, and at scale to ensure safety of their workforce while at the same time nurture collaboration and productivity. These solutions are aimed at helping clients as they re-open workspace," Bansal said.

Some of these solutions, starting with EBT checks, have been implemented across Bengaluru and Pune offices as it prepares for its employees to return to workplaces in a phased manner, he added. "We are confident that these solutions will reassure enterprises and employees that their workplaces are safe, collaborative, yet non-intrusive," he said.

While the solutions have use cases across sectors, these can be especially helpful for clients in sectors like retail, banking and financial services, and manufacturing, Bansal said. EBT screening leverages automation and AI on Edge to help enterprises screen their workforce or visitors in real-time for possible infection to isolate them and prevent them from entering the establishment, while contact tracing solution uses technologies like GPS and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to provide voluntary and opt-in based traceability.

Similarly, the solutions also check for mask and social distancing compliance at workplace using video analytics algorithms to provide alerts when masks are not detected, or the distance between people walking together or gathering at a place is not sufficient. Infosys will also offer an AI-powered digital assistant solution to help answer employee queries related to return to work scenarios.

Occupancy and workspace analytics can help teams track metrics on floor occupancy, density and automate sanitation routines in common areas. In a separate statement, UST Global also announced its 'Return to Work Readiness Model' to help companies manage the essential steps for returning employees to the workplace.

Fake: Central Govt employees not to face pay cut of 30 per cent

The solutions will help companies assess worker risk, monitor the workplace and track issues, allowing visibility and rapid mitigation.

"With 'Return to Work digital solutions, UST Global is helping other companies to keep their employees healthy and workplaces safer. These solutions are engineered to make the employees feel safe as well as to encourage the staff to return to offices by ensuring infection-free workspaces," UST Global CEO Krishna Sudheendra said.
In this episode, Europe correspondent Bevan Shields and national editor Tory Maguire discuss why statues of controversial historical figures are being vandalised, toppled, and beheaded following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Our supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the sustainability of news coverage.

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G oldman Sachs, the totemic City investment bank, today declared it would be reopening its vast London HQ on 15 June.

Chief Richard Gnodde told staff in an email seen by the Evening Standard his team had been preparing the glittering 1 billion offices for "a safe and effective transition back to office when the time is right."

With the rate of infection in the UK continuing to decline in the UK, that time is next Monday.

Goldman's move will be closely watched across the City as chief executives balance the needs of teams to work together again with the health implications and personal family circumstances of staff.

Gnodde said of the plan: "This follows many of our offices in continental Europe safely opening over the last few weeks for our people, including Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Warsaw.

"Our approach continues to be firmly guided by our people-first principle - your health and safety and that of your families remain our priority above all else."

The banking giant has for weeks been organising how it will enable staff to return to the huge building, which it only moved into last year. A small, skeleton staff has been operating there for some time.

Gnodde stressed the return to work was voluntary and would be phased, with "split team rotation" in and out of the office. This was the approach many banks took before lockdown forced workers to go home.

"Everyone is encouraged to adopt an approach that works for them and their own personal circumstances which might make a return to office challenging at this time," he said.

Divisional leaders would coordinate staffing patterns to ensure overall occupancy levels increase only gradually over time "in a controlled way".

Staff will first have to complete an occupational health survey and be approved by the hospital's occupational health team before being allowed back into the building.

It is not clear how many staff Goldman now expects eventually to return. Last month it was reported that it envisaged only half of them returning wtih the rest working from home. Daniel Pinto of JPMorgan has reportedly said he expects staff to rotate between work and home, with the company reducing its office space accordingly. Morgan Stanley's James Gordon has talked of having "much less real estate" for the same reasons.

Running offices where people have to distance at 2 metres will be far more costly for companiesy, adding to the driver to encourage people to work from home where possible.
To find out, John teamed with Phillip Adams and Southern Cross Films (financed by tyre mogul Bob Jane) to make The Naked Bunyip (1970), a feature documentary about sexual attitudes in Australia. They showcased it themselves, packing out the Palais in St Kilda for weeks and extensively touring the countryside, sometimes with projectionist John Lamond, who became a successful producer-director. Lamond said: John was a pioneer; he dragged Australian audiences back into a theatre for the first time in years to look at an Australian film. John had also taken on the Australian film censors by superimposing a drawing of a bunyip over banned shots so audiences could sense what was missing. Kim Williams, chief executive of the Australian Film Commission and later News Limited, said: His remarkable work in self-distributing The Naked Bunyip around the country showed courage and persistence and was instrumental in starting the move for serious change in censorship. John was active in the industry as part of the Victorian chapter of The Producers & Directors Guild of Australia. He and Christopher Muir produced the portmanteau Libido (1973) and John directed one of the episodes (The Husband); David Baker, Tim Burstall and Fred Schepisi were the others.

Schepisi said: John will be missed. He did a lot for a lot of us early on in the so-called new wave when it was hardest. I am most grateful for his efforts and encouragement. He was always warm and friendly even when he was standing his ground on his opinions of our work and the world. After divorcing Gillian in 1972 but always remaining friends, John moved to Sydney as the inaugural executive director of the Film, Radio & Television Board of the Australian Council for the Arts, a precursor of the Australian Film Commission (now Screen Australia). Adams was its chairman. John and Phillip teamed up again later at Adams Packer Film Productions on major Australian productions. One was a project John had been developing with director Paul Cox, Lonely Hearts (1982). In post-production, John and Paul fell out and, despite winning best film at the AFI Awards, they did not work together again. John was a man of unbending principle, who could treat any matter as a defining moment in human civilisation. After a disagreement with Phillip over the production of Igor Auzins We of the Never (1982), John left Adams Packer. He often spoke about his falling-out with Phillip, but I have never for a second doubted how much they respected and cared for each other. Phillip was a major figure in Johns life, as well as a kind influence on me and my sister Sue (a producer on such films as Ten Canoes and Mystify).

Adams said: John was irascible, eccentric and impossible, but I loved him. John never recoiled from any challenge, most notably when the French distributor of my Devil in the Flesh (1986), which John had produced and I had directed, recut the film before its major launch in Paris. As the original version had already been selected for the Cannes Film Festival in critics week, I suggested John let the matter drop. Instead, he flew to Paris, attained the support of the French Directors' Guild, took the distributor to court and won. It was a first, even for the auteur-based French industry. John would later lobby hard for moral rights legislation in Australia to protect the rights of artists, which was successfully passed in 2001. In between film projects, John spent as much time as possible in his beloved India, first as a cultural attache to the Australian embassy in New Delhi in 1975 and later in quiet reflection in the village of Wellington in Indias Nilgiri Hills. It was there he met his second wife, Annie Mancha.

After marrying, they moved to Melbourne, where, in 1981, they had a daughter, Shahaan. Today, she is a human rights lawyer leading an elder-abuse initiative in Melbourne. Annie died in December 2013. Johns final film was The Plight of Tibet and the Dalai Lama (2000), a harrowing account of the nations battle for independence from China and the genocide of Tibetans. Recently, John began the digital restoration of his films, including Its Rice: Australian, Yoga and the Individual and Devil in the Flesh, which he kindly called his proudest collaboration. Not many children have the privilege of working with a parent on a feature film. I will always be grateful for this experience (which was repeated on the official short film for the Australian Centenary of Cinema). John was intelligent, resourceful and unrelenting in his pursuit of what he believed to be right, while also being (increasingly) kind, charming and funny.
This is a story that marries European and American history with modern-day financiers and historians, beginning with the rise of Hitler in Germany and ending with the protection of an entire civilizations work.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

The year was 1935, and times were unstable. Hitler was rising in power, and tragically, we know what that led to for many Jews and other minorities, including a 32-year-old rare book curator who was fired from his job in Germany based purely on his heritage. With nothing more than two steamer trunks in his possession, Otto Bettmann fled to the United States.

The cargo he deemed important enough to haul across the ocean was not personal belongings, but rather photographs and negatives he felt compelled to preserve for future generations. That ocean crossing marked the beginning of a long journey for these images, an assemblage that, by the end of the century, grew into one of the largest collections of iconic photography in the world.

Otto Bettmann, European immigrant and founder of the now-iconic Bettmann photo collection.

Bettmann did much more than preserve the images he had taken on his trek across the Atlantic. He also turned photo collecting into a business, first advertising for photos and then later licensing images to major publications such as LIFE and Time. The collection first took shape with Bettmann and staff photographers capturing iconic images of economic downturns, political events, concerts, and wars.

Fast forward to 1995 when Bill Gates bought the Bettmann collection, to which Bettmann remarked three years before passing, he now owns the history of everything.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

Over the next six years, the fluctuations in New York temperature were beginning to take their toll on the pictures. In order to preserve them, Gates had the vast collection moved into a 220-foot deep limestone mine located one-and-a-half hours outside Pittsburgh. At the same time, Gates also put up a digital paywall to further protect the work.

To complete the journey, the collection was sold to Visual China, who promptly gave photo licensing rights to Getty, a widely recognized video, image, and music archive. Of course, this transfer of ownership had no physical effect on the 11 million images nestled beneath the surface of the Earth, where they remain temperature controlled and protected by armed guards.

Story continues

The underground Bettmann Photo Archive, located in a former limestone mine in rural Pennsylvania.

Originally a mine that supplied Pittsburghs steel mills, the limestone structure where the collection is held is part of a labyrinth of corridors referred to as Iron Mountain. The cool environment creates ideal storage for the sensitive photographs, many of which date back to the origin of photography itself. Some of the most delicate examples are even stored in a special refrigerated section of the mine.

There is a 5,000-square-foot space consisting of what we call classic library finding aids, such as card catalogs and microfilm readers, as well as modern archival technology, including scanning equipment and state-of-the-art software, says archivist Stauffer. We also have a 5,000-square-foot cold-storage archive containing all of the multimedia content.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

In addition to natural preservation, the mine also offers natural protection from human damage. In fact, the secure location even houses confidential government and private records. Two archivists, Leslie Stauffer and Sarah Kubiak, actively maintain the collection, donning winter wear to stay warm in the frigid environment.

Since we maintain the temperature inside the cold-storage archive at a constant 37 degrees [Fahrenheit], we often wear hats, coats, and gloves year-round, says Kubiak. While the cold temperature can be physically challenging for us as archivists, it is of the utmost importance to preserve the visual history of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

Iconic photos from the Bettmann collection, the physical copies of which are hidden safely underground in a limestone lime.

Although not every image in the Bettmann collection has been uploaded to the digital world, many are instantly recognizable. Countless others continue to be cared for but may not ever see the actual light of day, despite being lovingly cataloged for prosperity.
CHICAGO and WESTCHESTER, Ill., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RedShelf and Follett Higher Education Group today announced an expanded partnership to improve the digital learning experience for college students and faculty. In addition to delivering a best-in-class eBook experience, RedShelf will now be the primary delivery platform for all digital course materials for Follett campus locations nationwide.

Through the expanded partnership, Follett-managed stores in the USA and Canada will have access to a catalog of more than a million digital titles from hundreds of leading publishers. RedShelf's integrations with Learning Management Systems and publisher courseware environments will give millions of students convenient, direct access to their required digital course materials.

"While eBook usage has been growing, digital courseware adoptions have climbed at an even faster rate, now representing nearly 40% of all teaching materials," said Roe J. McFarlane, President of Follett Higher Education Group.

The expanded partnership, to be fully implemented over the course of the next academic year, will focus on providing more frictionless access to both eBooks and courseware through digital access codes sold in-store and through direct delivery via the Follett ACCESS Program. "In 2012, Follett was first to market and created the now popular Inclusive Access models through the introduction of Follett ACCESS. By leveraging RedShelf's leading-edge technology to support the program, Follett will continue to help campuses attract, retain, and drive better educational outcomes through state of the art digital learning experiences," McFarlane added.

"RedShelf's mission has always been about improving education through technology," said Greg Fenton, RedShelf CEO and co-founder. "Now more than ever, the industry is feeling the impact that digital learning resources have on student accessibility and affordability, business and learning continuity, and operational efficiency."

As colleges and universities have been forced to move online at scale, digital delivery programs such as Follett ACCESS have helped ensure uninterrupted learning for all students. Digital course materials also ensure learning experiences are accessible to all students, while enhancing teaching and learning through built-in analytics and study tools such as highlighting, flashcards, real-time collaboration, study guides, and more  advantages not possible with print.

For more information about the RedShelf and Follett partnership, visit about.redshelf.com/follett.

About RedShelf

RedShelf is a Chicago-based EdTech company helping to make education both more affordable and more effective by replacing yesterday's print publications with today's more dynamic and less expensive digital content. RedShelf distributes nearly a million digital titles from 400+ publishers and offers an end-to-end Content Delivery System (CDS) to help campuses more efficiently manage their course materials distribution processes. For more information, visit www.about.redshelf.com or follow on Twitter , LinkedIn , or Facebook.

Contact:

Dina Schenk, VP of Marketing

708.937.3408

[email protected]

About Follett Higher Education Group (FHEG):

FHEG is a prominent and historic omni-channel retailer and educational service provider that operates over 1,200 campus store locations and 1,800 eCommerce websites, providing emblematic and non-emblematic general merchandise and course materials within the higher education marketplace. FHEG serves both two-year and four-year colleges through long-term contracts with approximately 800 campus partners. FHEG manages the institution's online and in-store channels to assort and sell a wide array of merchandise and services that support students, faculty, campus administration, alumni, and the surrounding community.

Contact:

Tom Kline, VP Communications

708.200.8610

[email protected]

SOURCE RedShelf

Related Links

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The Daily Beast

Reuters/Arnd WiegmannTheatrical rock superstar Meat Loaf, whose Bat Out of Hell is one of the bestselling albums of all time, has died at the age of 74. Reports say the singer and actor had recently fallen sick with COVID-19.In an emotional statement posted to Facebook early Friday, the performers family said he was with his wife when he died and had said his final goodbyes to his two daughters in the past 24 hours. The star sold 100 million albums in his five-decade career and starred in movie
New research, examining how parents choose secondary schools, questions England's 'success rate' for admissions and suggests the 'good news' revealed today may not tell the full story. Researchers believe the system could easily be improved.

New research, examining how parents choose secondary schools, questions England's 'success rate' for admissions and suggests the 'good news' revealed today may not tell the full story. Researchers believe the system could, easily and cheaply, be made to work better.

A new report entitled 'School Choice, Admission and Equity of Access', published today by Lancaster University Management School and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, suggests that while allowing fewer choices enables local authorities to show that high proportions of children will be attending their first choice school, this is a hollow achievement if first choices are not a good reflection of true preferences. Currently, around half of local authorities in England allow parents to rank no more than three schools which, authors say, forces parents to think strategically when listing their choices. London families can list up to six schools.

Using 2014 National School Preferences (NSP) data and detailed records on pupil and school characteristics from the National Pupil Database (NPD), the researchers are the first to take a close look at how parents list rank schools - to investigate the importance of school quality, school proximity, and the probability of getting admitted. They investigate how different types of family, differentiated by ethnicity, income, and their child's ability, choose the schools they apply to - and the resulting admission decisions.

In the 2014 data studied, 35% of parents listed only one choice; only 27% made as many choices as they could and 39% put their local school at the top of their list. The authors say that some parents are playing very safe and second guessing other parents' decisions due to the limited schools they can list, whereas some simply are safe because they live near to the school they really want to attend. Interestingly, the data also reveals just 55% of parents included their local school as one of their choices - suggesting widespread dissatisfaction with neighbourhood schools.

The research also highlights important inequalities in access to chosen schools in England. Minority ethnic families are 17% less likely to achieve their first choice school - and the data suggests this is more of an issue for Black families, than Asian or other minority groups. Interrogation of the data suggests this is driven by ethnic minority parents putting greater weight on school quality than British white parents. Minority ethnic groups are, on average, willing to travel 21% further for a school that performs 10 % better (in terms of their 5+ GCSE pass rate) than white parents who are only prepared to travel an average of 11% further.

Parents of brighter pupils (those in the top third of the year 6 Key Stage 2 tests) also place a (50%) greater weight on school quality, than the families of children in the bottom third. However, minority ethnic children who are high performers at Key Stage 2 are less likely to be admitted to the secondary schools on their rank order lists than the children of white British parents. Living in areas with limited numbers of good schools, and the nature of school admission criteria at the most in-demand schools, such as faith schools, could be contributing factors.

The study also found that:

Minority ethnic families use a considerably larger number of the preference choices open to them, on average. If minority ethnic parents rank higher-quality and therefore more popular schools, this is part of the explanation of why they are the least likely to get their first choice of school.

White families who do not qualify for free-school meals make more cautious (i.e. closer) choices, and are less likely to choose high quality schools if the chance of admission is low.

Families living in London are less likely to get into their top choice school than non-London families - but because they get to list six choices they may look for longshots that may be further afield.

Professor Ian Walker, an education economist from Lancaster University Management School, said:"By disentangling parental choices from admission criteria, we find that the system is a lottery for many. Parents, faced with a limit on the number of schools that they can list, have to think strategically and take into account the behaviour of other parents. As a result, many act conservatively. Failing to be conservative might result in attending a school that has capacity - because its unpopular with other parents too.

"Our analysis suggests that some groups of parents would have a greater chance of achieving a good school for their children if they were allowed to rank more schools. Extending the length of lists that parents are able to specify is a simple and cheap intervention for local authorities to implement. Our results found that this would also bring the most benefit to minority ethnic families who are currently faring worse."

The findings of the research could, the authors suggest, be used by local authorities to create an algorithm that helps parents make the best choices from the surrounding schools, whatever their quality.

"Parents need easier access to more detailed information to make more informed school choice decisions," Professor Walker said. "When we choose a flight or a hotel, we expect to be presented with clear information on the cost and benefits of our options to help us make informed choices. But, when it comes to school choices, local authority websites are bereft of information. By better using technology to inform and guide, they could easily and cheaply empower parents to make better choices. It's a good time to do this - it would be a very cheap way of levelling up at a time when school capacity is getting tighter."

Ruth Maisey, Education Programme Head at the Nuffield Foundation said:

"We welcome this research which shows that the secondary school admissions system can be improved relatively easily and cheaply by local authorities to reduce inequalities faced by minority ethnic groups. Allowing parents to list more schools and providing them with better information can make the system fairer and more transparent. By encouraging parents to list their 'true' preferences, local authorities would have more accurate data on the real popularity of schools, which could lead to better local decision-making regarding capacity and school improvement."

###

Notes

For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact Lara Cowperthwaite: l.cowperthwaite@lancaster.ac.uk

The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social well-being. It funds research that informs social policy, primarily in Education, Welfare, and Justice. It also funds student programmes that provide opportunities for young people to develop skills in quantitative and scientific methods. The Nuffield Foundation is the founder and co-funder of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Ada Lovelace Institute. The Foundation has funded this project, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation. Visit http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org
Mexicos oil major Pemex has begun suspending oilfield service contracts, effectively eliminating several thousand jobs, unnamed sources from the industry told Bloomberg.

The move, which aims to cut Pemexs costs, has so far involved at least eight Mexican and international oilfield service providers and suppliers, according to the Bloomberg sources. Most of these were involved in offshore field servicing.

Like oil producers around the world, Pemex has been grappling with low demand and lower sales. On top of that, it has a debt pile of $105 billion, and last month, it reported a quarterly loss of $23.6 billionone of the worst quarterly results in its history.

The company has been getting strong financial support from the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador but even with it, it has been finding it hard to keep going. Earlier this year it even said it was looking for joint venture opportunities, despite President Lopez Obradors decision to suspend all new bidding rounds and review all contracts with foreign oil companies signed by the previous government.

According to the head of Mexicos National Hydrocarbons Commission, Rogelio Hernandez, Pemex has a portfolio of more than 350 projects, and of these, some 100 could be farmed out to partners; if Pemex does not start developing them, the assets will revert to the state.

Now, however, is probably not a good time for anyone to enter into any new joint ventures that seek to increase production, as uncertainty remains about when or even if oil demand will rebound to pre-crisis levels.

Pemex has been battling declining oil production for years, but now this has worked to the advantage of OPEC+, which Mexico joined in its production cut efforts. In May, the country inadvertently overcomplied with its production quota, but now Mexico has decided to leave the club. Possibly, this means it has plans to try and boost production, but the news of contract suspension suggests otherwise.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The funeral for George Floyd in Houston, Texas on Tuesday came after two weeks of powerful protests against police violence, which erupted after the release of the video of his murder at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers.

Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in every state in the US, and in dozens of cities internationally. These spontaneous demonstrations, unifying protesters of every race and ethnicity, have been motivated not only by an overwhelming sense of outrage and disgust over the cops murder of an unarmed black man, but also broader anger over the brutality, injustice and inequality that pervade American society.

It is the mass experience of millions of youth and ordinary working people with the brutal American reality that underlies the explosive response to Floyds final agony.

Protesters gather at a memorial for George Floyd where he died outside Cup Foods on East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, Monday, June 1, 2020, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The demonstrations have given expression to a powerful desire for fundamental change. Within this movement there are growing numbers of people who recognize that police brutality is a manifestation of deeper social ills, rooted in the economic structure of society and the extreme concentration of wealth within a small segment of the population. This growing awareness, which trends inevitably toward socialism and the explicit rejection of capitalism, frightens the ruling class. It is therefore doing everything it can to divert the mass movement toward politically manageable channels. This is the function of the racial narrative that dominates all official discussion of police brutality and the murder of George Floyd.

It is worth reviewing the different stages of the ruling classs response to the killing.

The initial response to Floyds killing was the typical cover-up of every police murder. None of the officers involved were charged or arrested. The video of his death, which went viral on social media, broke through the narrative that this was just another death in police custody and sparked an eruption of anger that had been building just beneath the surface.

After the political establishments initial shock over the response to Floyds murder, with night after night of protests, first on the streets of Minneapolis and then across the country, the ruling class responded with the full force of the state. The police beat and maimed protesters, fired volley after volley of tear gas, smoke grenades, rubber bullets, bean bags and pepper spray. Peaceful protesters were slandered as rioters and looters, and journalists were targeted for assault and arrest. More than ten thousand were arrestedmost for violating curfews set by Democratic mayorshundreds were wounded, and many killed in the course of the onslaught. The National Guard was deployed in dozens of states to aid in the repression.

The apex of the repression occurred in Washington, DC, where President Donald Trump attempted to set into motion a military coup detat. This plan failed, at least for the time being, not because of opposition from Congress (there was none), but because sections of the military feared that its premature intervention could trigger violent resistance and a civil war for which the Pentagon is not yet adequately prepared.

In this unstable situation, the Democratic Party, mainstream media and large corporations have shifted gears to the co-optation stage, seeking to reframe the issues that motivated young people and workers to turn to the streets in a manner that is more suitable to the ruling class. The role that racism plays in police violence has been amplified to drown out all other social issues.

While Floyds funeral allowed for genuine expressions of grief by his family and the public who rallied to their side, this was cynically manipulated by that section of the political establishment and black bourgeoisie that specializes in misdirecting and disarming aroused public opinion.

The Democrats presumptive presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, and political huckster Al Sharpton were both given prominent billing at the ceremony to frame police violence as fundamentally a racial issue, which can be resolved with mild reforms. Neither had anything to say about the fact that President Trump and a significant section of the state had seized on the protests to prepare a coup to overthrow the Constitution.

Sharpton dishonestly claimed that if the victim in Minneapolis had been white and the cops black, there would have been no hesitation to arrest the cops and bring charges. Biden declared that Floyds murder was the outcome of systemic abuse.

If anyone represents systemic abuse, it is Biden, whose political career over a period of nearly 50 years is marked by criminality, indifference and reaction. He has operated as a major figure in the Democratic Party power structure, writing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which escalated the mass incarceration of primarily African American men and expanded the death penalty. As Barack Obamas vice president for eight years, Biden was part of an administration that funneled billions of dollars worth of military equipment to the police and whitewashed one police killing after the next.

Rejecting calls to defund the police, Biden is instead proposing to provide $300 million in additional federal funding to reinvigorate the police and help implement limited changes such as more body cameras, a national standard for the use of force and the hiring of more minority cops. He also calls for embedding social service providers with the police when they respond to emergency calls relating to mental health, drug use or the homeless, thereby compelling social workers to operate as an arm of law enforcement.

Bidens former opponent in the Democratic Party primaries, Bernie Sanders, has taken the same position. In an interview published in the New Yorker on Tuesday, Sanders opposed calls to abolish or defund the police, instead calling for more funding and more training. In his long interview, Sanders avoided any mention of political revolution (his former campaign slogan) or the billionaire class. His positions are now indistinguishable from those of Biden.

Left out in all the commentary in the mainstream media and from the political establishment is any reference to the reality that underlies both the brutality of the police and the massive eruption of popular protests.

There is no mention of the fact that more than 1,000 people are killed by the police every year, an average of three killings every day, the majority of whom are not African American. There is no mention of the plight of Hispanic workers and others who are being rounded up by the thousands as part of Trumps fascistic war on immigrants. There is no mention of the historic level of unemployment that has gripped the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic nor of the 114,000 dead due to the murderous policies pursued by the Trump administration and state governments.

Americas endless wars and the relationship between the wars overseas and militarized police violence at home are also pushed aside. A fact that was widely understood in the 1960sthat the violence of American imperialism abroad was tied to the violence of the state at homeis ignored, along with the well documented relationship between the police, the military and the preparations for mass repression.

While it is easy for phrases such as white supremacy and systemic racism to pass through the lips of these bourgeois politicians, one word is unmentionable: capitalism. There must not be an examination of the deeper social and economic processes, the immense levels of social inequality built up over decades that have created the conditions for the death of Floyd and so many other workers like him. Instead, there are once again calls for empty reforms, which have been heard repeatedly over the last 50 years.

The aim of the Democrats and their adjuncts in the media, the pseudo-left and academia is to chloroform public opinion with platitudes about confronting white fragility and ensure that the relationship of police violence to the broader social and economic system is not raised in any significant manner. The purpose of the sophistic arguments developed by middle-class academics and now deployed by the Democrats is to absolve the capitalist system of any fault and present police violence as the outcome of an irredeemably racist societyembodied in particular in white workers.

The demonstrations of the last two weeks, which have been multiracial and multiethnic and swept through every section of the country, have blown apart the arguments that the United States is a fundamentally racist society.

Testifying before Congress yesterday, Philonise Floyd, George Floyds brother, eloquently called attention to the united and international movement that has emerged in the wake of his death: George called for help and he was ignored. Please listen to the call Im making to you now, to the calls of our family, and the calls ringing out in the streets across the world. People of all backgrounds, genders and races have come together to demand change.

Workers and young people must recognize that the racial narrative deployed by the ruling class does not explain anything about the fundamental problems confronting the working class in the United States and around the world.

The Socialist Equality Party seeks to connect the fight against police violence and the defense of democratic rights with an independent political movement of the entire working class against inequality, poverty, war and the capitalist system. There is a tremendous potential now for the building of a socialist movement. But the political radicalization of masses of workers and youth must be turned into a conscious revolutionary struggle for socialism.

Support the SEP presidential election campaign at socialism2020.org. Click here to join the SEP.
CARBONDALE  Courtlin Jabrae is having a moment.

Jabrae has spent a lot of time reflecting on the world he lives in and his role in it, both as a person and as an artist.

Jabrae, who has been making music since he went to Carbondale Community High School more than a decade ago, has enjoyed success throughout his career. He has received attention from BET as well as Vibe Magazine for his work.

Hundreds march in Carbondale to 'demand justice for all black lives' This was the second demonstration in Carbondale since Floyds death and saw nearly 800 people gather at the Civic Center, and then march to the citys police department.

Its not just about me when I write lyrics, Jabrae told The Southern in an interview Tuesday, a day after he released his remix of Kendrick Lamars Alright, which became a protest anthem in the wake of Michael Browns 2014 death in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown, an unarmed black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer, which led to months of protests against police brutality, especially against African Americans.

Jabrae's remix comes in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who was black, on Memorial Day in Minneapolis police custody. Floyd died after a white officer knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes while he was prone and handcuffed. Floyd's death has spawned protests around the world and in several Southern Illinois towns, including Carbondale, Anna, Benton and Carterville.

In his take on Lamars song, Jabrae repeats the refrain: Its hard being black, but I love being black.

Jabrae has been releasing new songs and videos every week as part of his Jabrae Monday series. He described them as weekly check-ins with whats been on his mind. Recently, that has been the trauma shaking the black community.

Jabrae said he didnt see anyone making the kinds of comments that he thought the moment needed, so he decided to speak up through song.

In wake of Floyd death, rural, white Southern Illinois towns are reckoning with racist past What seems to distinguish this moments push for racial justice in Southern Illinois is the number of gatherings that are taking place beyond the borders of Carbondale, a liberal-leaning university town.

Its not about me no more in my music, Jabrae said. Instead, he said, hes switched the focus to being about us. He said this doesnt mean hes gone full conscious rapper, though  theres still plenty of time to talk about beautiful women and parties  but he said hes not afraid anymore to talk about the issues his community faces, and most recently, that is police brutality and the trend of unarmed black men being killed at the hands of white police officers.

Part of the video for Jabraes take on Alright was filmed during a protest this past Friday in Carbondale. While waiting for a train to cross, Jabrae took the moment to blast his new track and film himself and the crowd moving to the song. He said few had even heard it, but it didnt take long for them to start singing along. Jabrae said this was deeply moving for him.

I felt one with everybody, he said.

This was preceded the week before by Jabraes take on the Eminem single Stan. But, instead of the narrative following a fan writing to his favorite rapper, its Jabrae writing letters to the police.

In the video, the perspective shifts from Jabrae writing from a basement to him on the ground with a knee on his neck, mimicking the video of Floyd's final moments, in which he can be heard saying "I can't breathe" as the officer holds his knee to Floyd's neck.

Is the chief getting this? Is anybody seeing this? Does the mayor even read this s---, Jabrae says in his opening verse. He quickly redirects his message to falling into the role society has told him to be in.

Scratch that. Dont want to seem like that angry black man.

Jabrae said words and marches are only one part of the equation  there needs to be action behind them. For him, that means doing more for his city.

I need to get more involved in my community, Jabrae said. Lets do more for Carbondale.

When asked what moving forward looks like to him, Jabrae offered some clear ideas. He said he would like to be able to breathe a sigh of relief when a cop car pulls up to a challenging situation.

Ive never ever in my life felt like that, he said before adding that when police officers get involved, things usually dont get better, they get worse.

Jabrae said there needs to be a better system for policing the police. He, like many others, wants laws put in place that have teeth for officers who overstep. But, beyond that, Jabrae said there needs to be a mental shift for officers, too.

Treat people like you would treat your mother, Jabrae said.

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The mother of a black Oklahoma man who died in police custody last year has called for the cops involved to be charged after her son was seen telling officers 'I can't breathe' - in a case strikingly similar to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.

Derrick Elliot Scott was seen pleading with Oklahoma City police officers in body-cam footage of his May 2019 arrest released on Monday.

The 42-year-old, who was armed, was heard telling three cops, 'Please, help me. I can't breathe,' after they placed him in handcuffs and pinned him to the ground for 13 minutes.

He eventually lost consciousness and was pronounced dead in the hospital an hour later.

Police released the footage of his arrest this week under pressure from Black Lives Matter and media outlets, but authorities maintain the cops 'didn't do anything wrong at all.'

Scroll down for video

Vickey Scott has called for three Oklahoma City cops to be charged over her son's death and for the entire police department to review its training and use of force policies

Derrick Elliot Scott is pinned down in Oklahoma City last year in newly released bodycam footage which foreshadows the George Floyd video. The officers involved in this footage have been cleared of any wrongdoing

Scott's mother, Vickey Scott is now demanding the cops be charged with murder and for the entire police department to review its training and use of force policies.

'I want the officers to be convicted of killing my son. I want something to be done about police officers being more compassionate when people tell them they can't breathe,' she told The Oklahoman.

'Even if you had him apprehended and in handcuffs let him be able to fight his case. Give him a chance.'

She expressed her pain in watching the video of her son's final moments saying 'it's almost unbearable to know he took his last breath trying to get people to hear him.'

'It's like reliving the whole thing over but now I really know the truth as to how he died, so now it's a lot more painful.'

She added: 'I want every mother to watch that ... and imagine that's your son's last so many minutes of life and he's dying and they're saying that he's faking.'

As Scott lay on the ground saying he is struggling to breathe, an officer is heard replying 'I don't care' while another says he is 'acting like he's unconscious'.

Pursuit: The footage from May 2019 shows cops pursuing Scott after they identified him as the man 'brandishing a firearm' whom they had come to confront

Scott was tackled by police on a patch of grass - as seen here from another officer's body camera - and struggled with officers as they tried to handcuff him

Police captain Larry Withrow said police had 'located a loaded firearm' in Scott's pants pocket when they searched him, but claimed they had 'immediately' called for medical help when he appeared to lose consciousness (the paramedics are seen in wearing orange)

In a press conference on Tuesday, Police Captain Larry Withrow insisted the arresting officers acted appropriately and said most people 'frequently' say they struggle to breathe during an altercation.

'It's not uncommon for people, when you're struggling with them, when you're trying to get him under control, to say, "I can't breathe",' Withrow said.

'If they're still struggling and they're still fighting with you and they're talking with you, it makes you wonder, are they really having difficulty breathing? Or are they just trying to get away?'

Based on the footage, Withrow said officers had employed academy-taught techniques and had rolled Scott over into a 'recovery position' after he was having trouble breathing.

'I don't know that there's any more they could have done to monitor the suspect or ensure his health,' he said.

Scott told the local news outlet the entire police department is in need of reform and officers should no longer use those methods of restraint.

'I think [during their] training they should teach them that when a man or woman says "I can't breathe", you should not apply pressure.

'I think the whole Oklahoma City Police Department should be reformed so we can heal. I think we need to rebuild it from the ground up.

'As long as things like this keep happening, we're not gonna heal. I want to feel like a human being again.'

The footage from May 2019 shows cops pursuing Scott after they identified him as the man 'brandishing a firearm' whom they had come to confront.

Scott tried to flee but was tackled to the ground on a patch of grass where police tried to handcuff him.

As he struggled with the cops and one officer threatened to tase him, Scott said several times that 'I can't breathe'.

After the suspect is finally handcuffed and another officer arrives, one is heard saying that Scott is 'acting like he's unconscious'.

Police captain Larry Withrow said police had 'located a loaded firearm' in his pants pocket when they searched him, but claimed they had 'immediately' called for medical help when he appeared to lose consciousness.

Scott later regained consciousness and became 'combative' by 'jumping and kicking at the officers' as paramedics tried to move him to a gurney, Withrow said.

The phrase 'I can't breathe' has become a global rallying cry since footage of George Floyd's arrest in Minneapolis (pictured) ignited a blaze of protests against racism and police brutality

Withrow said police and paramedics had performed CPR on Scott in the ambulance but that the suspect had later died in the hospital.

Before the footage was released publicly, it was shown to Scott's family. His son Derrick Ollie said it was 'very troubling to watch'.

'They stood by and did nothing and acted as if he was OK, when he told them plenty of times that he couldn't breathe,' he said.

'They're laughing and joking like something is funny, when this man was struggling for his life.'

An autopsy report listed the probable cause of death as a collapsed lung and noted several conditions that likely contributed to his death, including physical restraint, recent methamphetamine use, asthma, emphysema and heart disease.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater cleared all of the officers involved last year after receiving a copy of the autopsy report.

'This guy runs from the police. He's got a 90 per cent occluded major artery in his heart,' Prater said.

'I mean, he's just a perfect candidate to die when you've got meth in your system and those kinds of physical ailments and then you fight with police.

'They didn't do anything wrong at all,' he said of the officers, who have since returned to regular duties.

George Floyd, who was unarmed and handcuffed, similarly pleaded for air as a white officer pressed a knee on his neck in Minneapolis on May 25. He later died.

The four officers in the Floyd case have all been fired and charged, with Derek Chauvin facing a second-degree murder charge.

Floyd's death has set off a wave of protests against racism and police brutality, including in Europe and around the world.
The government, however, said that it is not fair to compare India with other countries that have lesser population.

New Delhi: With 2,97,001 lakh cases so far (as per worldometers.info), India on Thursday surpassed United Kingdom in total coronavirus cases to become the fourth worst-hit country in the world.

The government, however, said that it is not fair to compare India with other countries that have lesser population. Officials said the situation is very much under control and fewer deaths are being reported in India compared to other nations. The government asserted that the virus is definitely not in the community transmission stage in the country. As per the data on worldometers.info, India till Thursday evening had 9,846 deaths.

With 357 fatalities in the last 24 hours, India recorded biggest jump in COVID-19 related deaths, taking the total toll to 8102 as per union ministry of health and family welfare. The total number of cases as per government is 2,86,579 till Thursday morning after 9,996 new cases were detected.

Quoting a sero-survey conducted by ICMR that covered 26,400 people in the most affected areas of the country, to check the prevalence of the virus among population, ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava said only 0.73 per cent of the population in the selected 83 districts had evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19.

He added that lockdown and containment has been successful in preventing rapid spread of the virus. He, however, added that a large proportion of the population is still susceptible and risk is higher in urban (1.09 times) and urban slums (1.89 times) than rural areas. He said that the infection fatality rate is very low in the country with 0.08 per cent.

This is the first sero-survey on COVID-19 spread conducted by the ICMR. The sero-survey has two parts -- first to estimate fraction of population that has been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and second to estimate fraction of population that has been infected with the COVID-19 in containment zones of hotspot cities. The first part of the survey was completed in May while the second is ongoing.

Bhargava underlined that urban slums are highly vulnerable for the spread of the infection and local lockdown measures need to continue as already advised by the government. Similarly, elderly, persons with chronic morbidities, pregnant women and children less 10 years of age need to be protected as they fall in the high-risk category.

Union health ministry officials said the recovery rate in India is improving and is 49.21per cent now. During the last 24 hours, a total of 5,823 COVID-19 patients have been cured among the total 1,41,028 so far. India currently has 1,37,448 active cases under medical supervision and the number of patients recovered exceeds the number of active patients.
Evaluating the protests is one thing. Then theres the question of where to go from here. Defund the police has become a call to arms, admittedly one that is often misunderstood. It is certainly not a call to turn a blind eye to serious crime, though it would involve reducing police budgets. The idea is to redirect some money to social-service agencies that can handle certain issues better than the police  such as responding to calls involving mental health or interacting with homeless people. Still, cutting police budgets is deeply unpopular outside of Twitter, according to a recent Yahoo News-YouGov poll: Among Democrats, Republicans and independents alike, support for such a move languishes under 20 percent.
Paint a tile and help create an outdoor sculpture for Brunswick! Frederick County and Brunswick Main Street have hired artist Parran Collery to make a sculpture and the Brunswick community can participate. The finished sculpture will be made of brightly glazed mosaic tiles and will sit near the Brunswick Train Station.

People of all ages are invited to paint their own 5 clay tile. Kits that include the tile, paints, and tools will be handed out this Saturday, June 13, from 2-4 p.m., at the gazebo in Square Corner Park in Brunswick, corner of Potomac and Maple (please wear a face mask). Painted tiles should be returned to the same location the following Saturday, June 20, at the same time, or make other arrangements during pick-up.

No special skills are needed to do this  only creativity and a desire to see your very own design on public display. Instructions are included with the kits. A You Tube instructional video can be seen at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A5MAv4nLFvU&t=18s.

There is a limit of one tile per person, although one person can pick up more for others in their family or group. It is important that at least 60 tiles from Brunswick are returned to make this project a success. Questions about the project may be emailed to Design@brunswickmainstreet.org.

Brunswick Main Street is part of Main Street America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that supports communities in their efforts to revitalize struggling downtowns while retaining their unique, historic characters. Dedicated to the economic success of its downtown, Brunswick Main Street, created in 2004, works to revitalize the charm and history and show residents and visitors why Downtown Brunswick is a great place to live, work, shop and play. To learn more about Brunswick Main Street and how you can get involved, please visit brunswickmainstreet.org.
Ron Okarski stands by the checkout register at Millers Greenhouses of Wallingford last month with a reminder to wear a mask. Read more

If you look at state and regional charts marking the course of the coronavirus in this region, as well as throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, you see lovely downward slopes that are a sign that weeks of social isolation and careful behavior have paid off. As a result, public health officials say its OK to go out a little more.

But that doesnt mean its time to get back to our old normal. For the foreseeable future, normal means taking care to avoid a virus that can spread more stealthily than most and still sees almost all of us  the ones who havent gotten sick yet  as easy pickings.

Having no previous experience with the coronavirus, our bodies are defenseless. Doctors are still experimenting with treatments, and there is no vaccine. Even though numbers of new cases have fallen, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health still says theres a high risk of community spread.

 READ MORE: Your mask questions, answered

Asked what he would tell the public about the coronavirus now, P.J. Brennan, chief medical officer for Penn Medicine, said, I would tell them to continue to take it seriously. I would tell them to continue to do the things that have helped us. Those measures include social distancing, frequent hand washing, and mask wearing.

Tony Reed, chief medical officer of Temple University Hospital, said coronavirus cases at his hospital are way down, but he remains wary. Its still out there looming, he said.

 READ MORE: These are the numbers behind the coronavirus pandemic in Greater Philadelphia

National focus turns to some western and southern states

The Philadelphia region was never as overwhelmed with coronavirus cases as were parts of New York and New Jersey, but it still has had thousands of cases. These mid-Atlantic states are now loosening restrictions while public health experts at Johns Hopkins University are seeing strong upward trends in new cases in states like Michigan, Arizona, Arkansas, and South Carolina. The Washington Post reported a spike in hospitalizations after Memorial Day in Texas, North and South Carolina, California, Oregon, Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah, and Arizona.

Brennan and Reed said their hospitals did not see increases in patients after Mothers Day or Memorial Day.

Brennan wasnt sure he could say Philadelphia is no longer a hot spot, but said, Its certainly a lot cooler than it was a month or six weeks ago. He said the number of patients with COVID-19 at Penn hospitals is now 130, and it hasnt been that low since the last week of March. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who survive often require long hospitalizations. Brennan said one patient has been in the hospital for more than 90 days. From 70 to 80 have been hospitalized for more than two weeks.

Temple took in 14 new COVID-19 patients in the last 24 hours, Reed said Wednesday. At peak, around the week after Easter, the hospital admitted 45 in one day. Temple now has about 50 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, Reed said.

Cases and deaths, including among nursing home residents, have been falling in the Philadelphia area and throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. An exception is Chester County, where case rates havent been so encouraging. Philadelphia is still seeing 100 to 150 new cases per day. At peak, on April 15, there were 608.

 READ MORE: Chester County coronavirus case numbers could delay move to green reopening phase

So, its OK to party, right?

Not really. The Philadelphia health department says youre still safer at home and suggests you leave only for essential activities. Were in the yellow phase now, and it doesnt include some things a lot of us would like to do, like get a haircut or go to the gym. The state says gatherings are allowed but discouraged.

Brennan said he still wouldnt go to a dinner party indoors. I might invite a friend to sit across the patio from me, he said. Reed let his 11-year-old son see some friends outside recently because numbers are very low in Gloucester County, where he lives. His mother-in-law, who lives in a separate suite in the house, is staying away from her grandson until danger of infection has passed.

Reed thinks older people, who are at higher risk for serious illness and death, should be especially cautious, but everyone needs to be careful, because young people can spread the disease to elders.

You still need to wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth in public. You should be wearing a mask whenever youre around people who do not live in your household, said James Garrow, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. This should be the new normal.

 READ MORE: What are the first symptoms of the coronavirus?

The impact of the protests is a huge question mark

Protests responding to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis brought thousands of people together outside in Philadelphia and the suburbs. Its still too soon to know how well those crowds spread coronavirus, but public health officials are worried.

Philadelphia has asked protesters to get coronavirus tests seven days after the last day they were in a crowd. They dont have to say they were protesting, they can just say they think they were exposed to the virus. The city also asks that protesters keep an eye out for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days and stay away from other people.

Garrow said about 1,900 new tests were reported in Philadelphia on Wednesday, up from 1,500 to 1,700 earlier in the month.

Reed said it may take longer than two weeks to see whether the virus is on the upswing again because it could take a while for younger protesters to spread the virus to older friends and relatives, who are more likely to get serious symptoms. Its the second- and third-order infections we worry about, he said.

He hopes that precautions kept the virus from running rampant. As I was looking at [the protests] on television, the first thing I was looking for was masks and, by and large, people had masks on, he said. I think they did what they could to protect themselves during it. I think that we will see some growth in COVID-19 numbers.

He is carefully watching the flow of patients in and out of his hospital. On Tuesday, there were more admissions than discharges. On Wednesday, it was the reverse.

Brennan said Penn has started returning to more non-COVID-19 care, but will have to keep an eye on the post-protest numbers. Its necessitated that we pay very careful attention to our census and ICU capacity, he said.

Patient volume is not yet back to normal. We have to coexist with this for a while, he said.
A neighbor's tip about large bonfires on Chad Daybell's property may have led police to discover the bodies of 'cult' mom Lori Vallow's children in the backyard.

Family members on Wednesday confirmed that the remains found buried outside Chad's home had been identified as seven-year-old Joshua 'JJ' Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, who disappeared in September.

Neighbor Matt Price, who has lived next door to the Daybells in Salem, Idaho, for about five years, said he recently informed detectives about having seen several bonfires at the property over the past nine months since the children were last seen.

'This year they had two really big fires that we noticed,' Price told the Deseret News. 'Probably less than a month ago.'

Price claimed that the detectives told him his information, among other details, was used to secure the search warrant that eventually led to this week's discovery of the bodies.

It comes as police face mounting questions over why it took so long to find the children in a location that they had already searched six months prior in January.

A neighbor's tip about large bonfires on Chad Daybell's property may have led police to discover the bodies of 'cult' mom Lori Vallow's children in the backyard. Aerial images from the excavation on Tuesday showed a fire bit and charred patches of earth near where the kids, Joshua 'JJ' Vallow and Tylee Ryan, were buried

Price said the first time he noticed a large fire on the property was soon after Chad's wife, Tammy Daybell, died at the home in October 2019.

'We had never noticed a lot of big fires, as far as the Daybells having big fires like that,' he said.

'They had a big bonfire in the fall... not long after Tammy had died... It was 10 feet high, pretty wide, pretty big.'

Other neighbors noticed the blazes as well, but Price believes he was the only one to notify police about them.

He said he was told that the fire information and some other details he offered helped police come up with enough probable cause for the search warrant.

Aerial images from the excavation on Tuesday showed a fire bit and charred patches of earth near where the kids were buried.

'The information I gave them was nothing significant,' Price said.

'It was just little things that I had observed or knew about Chad and Tammy. And they told me that helped them.'

He claimed investigators said they were disappointed that more neighbors hadn't come forward to help with the search.

Family members on Wednesday confirmed that the remains found buried outside Chad's home had been identified as seven-year-old JJ and 17-year-old Tylee, who disappeared in September

Chad Daybell, 51, is facing two felony charges in the disappearance of his wife Lori's children. Lori is currently behind bars on charges of neglect and desertion

Price described the allegations against Lori and Chad as 'really disturbing'.

He said of Chad: 'He seemed like a humble good man. At least, that's what he presented as. So this is all very disturbing.'

Chad was arrested on Tuesday, the same day the remains were discovered.

He appeared at a court hearing from Fremont County Jail on Wednesday to face two counts of destruction or concealment of evidence.

During the hearing prosecutor Rob Wood noted that one of the bodies had been concealed in a 'particularly egregious' manner, but did not elaborate.

Fremont County Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins set Chad's bail at $1million.

Timeline of JJ and Tylee's disappearance July 11, 2019: Lori Vallow's husband, Charles Vallow, is killed by her brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona. August: Lori moves children JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho, where Chad Daybell lives with his wife Tammy. September 8: The last time Tylee is seen during a trip to Yellowstone National Park with Lori, JJ and Alex. September 23: The last time JJ is seen at his school in Rexburg. October 19: Chad's wife Tammy, 49, dies at their Idaho home. October 25: A friend of Tylee receives a vague 'miss you' text from her phone but says that it didn't sound like the teen. November 5: Lori and Chad tie the knot on a beach in Kauai. November 26: Out-of-state relatives ask Idaho police to perform a welfare check on JJ and learn both he and Tylee have not been seen for months. November 27: Police execute a search warrant related to the children at Lori's home and discover that she and Chad have fled Idaho. December 11: Tammy's body is exhumed from a Utah cemetery and her death is reclassified as suspicious. December 12: Lori's brother, Alex Cox, is found unresponsive in Arizona and dies. December 21: Rexburg police issue the first press release about JJ and Tylee, revealing they believe their disappearance could be linked to Tammy's death. December 24: Lori and Chad issue a statement through an attorney saying they love their son and daughter and look forward to addressing 'allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor'. December 30: Police accuse Lori and Chad of lying to investigators and say they believe the couple know where the kids are or what happened to them. January 3, 2020: Police search Chad's home in Salem and remove 43 items. They also comb over sections of the snow-covered yard with rakes and metal detectors. January 26: Lori and Chad are seen for the first time in months as police serve them with a court order to produce the children to authorities in Idaho in five days. January 30: Lori misses the court deadline to produce the children to Idaho authorities. February 20: Lori is arrested in Kauai. March 5: Lori is extradited to Idaho, where she is held on $1million bond at Madison County Jail. April 9: Authorities reveal they are investigating Lori and Chad for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in connection with Tammy's death. June 9: Police search Chad's home in Salem for the second time and discover human remains in the backyard. Chad is taken into police custody and charged with destruction or concealment of evidence. Advertisement

Lori has spent the past four months behind bars at the neighboring Madison County Jail on five charges related to the children's disappearance: two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of children and one misdemeanor count each for obstructing an investigation, criminal solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court.

Prosecutors have not said whether they plan to add additional charges in light of the body discovery.

Authorities began searching for the children in late November after performing a welfare check ordered by concerned relatives who said they hadn't spoken to seven-year-old JJ, who is autistic, in months.

When officers first went to Lori's home in Idaho on November 26, she told them that JJ was visiting relatives in Arizona - which investigators say was a lie.

Officers returned the following day and found that Lori and the man she married weeks earlier, Chad Daybell, had fled from the home.

Authorities say the couple have repeatedly lied about where JJ and Tylee are and refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Lori and Chad were named persons of interest in the children's disappearance after investigators said they believe the mother knew where her children were or what happened to them.

The case captured nationwide attention with the revelations that police are also investigating three mysterious deaths linked to Lori and Chad, as well as family members' claims that the couple are members of a dangerous doomsday cult.

The first death is that of Lori's estranged husband Charles Vallow, who was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in Arizona on July 10.

Charles and Lori had gotten into an argument when the father came to pick up JJ at the mother's home in Chandler.

Lori's brother intervened and fatally shot Charles.

Police initially determined that he acted in self defense - but the case was reopened amid the multi-state search for JJ and Tylee, who had moved to Idaho, where Chad lived, with their mother in August.

The second mysterious death was Tammy Daybell, who was found dead at the home she shared with Chad on October 19.

An obituary stated that Tammy passed away in her sleep and her cause of death was ruled as natural after Chad reportedly declined an autopsy.

Investigators reopened the case after learning that JJ and Tylee were missing, as their mother had married Chad just two weeks after Tammy died.

They believe the two cases could be linked.

Tammy's body was exhumed on December 11 and the autopsy results have not yet been released.

On December 12, Lori's brother, Alex Cox, was found dead in Gilbert, Arizona.

An autopsy determined that the 51-year-old's died of natural causes but noted that he had the overdose drug Narcan in his system at the time.

Police tracked Lori and Chad down in Princeville, Hawaii, in late January and served the mother with a court order requiring her to physically produce the children to authorities in Idaho by January 30.

Lori failed to meet the deadline, prompting her arrest and extradition to Idaho, where she is currently being held at Madison County Jail in lieu of $1million bond.

Chad's wife Tammy Daybell (pictured together left) was found dead under suspicious circumstances at their home in Idaho in October. Chad married Lori less than two months after her children vanished. The couple are seen right during their wedding on the beach in Kauai

What took them so long? Police searched Chad's home back in JANUARY but found nothing

The house where Lori's missing children's remains were found this week was searched by police in January but cops found nothing, which adds to the questions over why it has taken so long for the kids to be found and their mother and stepfather charged.

JJ and Tylee were last seen alive in Idaho in September but they weren't reported missing until November and their mother fled to Hawaii the first time she was questioned by police.

She married Chad, a former grave digger and doomsday fanatic, and the pair evaded police, refusing to answer questions on where the children were, for months. Lori was finally arrested in December on charges of neglect.

The case stalled again then until this week, when the Rexburg Police Department in Idaho suddenly carried out a search warrant on Daybell's property in Salem that allowed them to bring cadaver dogs for the first time.

The police department is refusing to answer questions on why it took so long to arrest Lori and find the children's remains.

The search warrant has been sealed, which shrouds the case in further mystery.

In January, police seized several items from Chad's home after executing a search warrant but it was believed to have been in connection with his ex-wife's death and not the children's disappearance.

Legal experts say they must have some form of new evidence which led them to believe the children's bodies were buried there, and that the force did not want to put a foot wrong in the complex investigation because it could jeopardize a future trial.

Chad's home in Salem is seen in January, when police executed an earlier search warrant

FBI agents removed 43 items from Chad's home during their initial raid in January. Officers were also seen combing sections of the yard with rakes and metal detectors

'I don't have any idea why it took that amount of time. There are so many legal issues that have to be dealt with prior,' Jennifer Shen, former cop and crime lab manager, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.

'I don't know when it was the police would have gotten the information from that there were bodies on that property but they can't do any of that without probable cause.

'It's called fruit of the poisonous tree. If you wind up finding evidence but not legally, that evidence can be thrown out, all the evidence could be no longer useful they have to do it the right way. It could have catastrophic consequences.'

Shen added that the case was 'tragic' but 'really complicated'.

'[It is] one of the most bizarre cases from start to finish.

'This case has got dead bodies everywhere - you have to do things the right way,' she said.

Frank Montoya Jr, who retired from the FBI in 2016 after serving since 1991, previously explained to DailyMail.com that the authorities in Idaho had been forced to hold off until there was any evidence of a crime which was more difficult to produce than before.

He gave an interview in February - before the kids bodies were found - and said it 'wasn't enough' at the time that Lori simply was not cooperating with the authorities.

'When the parent herself is not cooperating.. it isn't enough to arrest them.

'What's the charge? If it's just child endangerment and she refuses to talk, how do you prove the children have been harmed or more tragically if they're dead? You can't.

'A judge and jury have no choice but to say there's no evidence to hold her in cases like this you'll hugely dependent,' he said.
For many, and for the most part, the clenched fist is a symbol about combatting human rights violations and confronting other inhumane issues around the world. The clenched fist symbol has been used around the world and in countries on every continent from China to protest human rights violation to Africa, Europe, South America and North America for the same reason.

The symbol is not one necessarily advocating for rioting and violence.
On June 3, the seventh day of the investigation, detectives learned Orellana wanted to speak with them more from the jail, according to court records. He said he had been told by other gang members to monitor the comings and goings of Medrano-Campos so that he could be killed, detectives alleged in court papers. Additionally, he sent photos of the victim and his work vans back and forth with other gang members, so they knew which cars he drove . . . He was told by other gang members to be by the victims residence early in the morning and give the signal when he came out.
AUSTIN, TX  The number of cases of the coronavirus grew by 133 in Travis County on Wednesday, bringing the total count to 4,109. The number of fatalities remained the same from the previous day, remaining at 99 after a new death reported on Tuesday.

While Austin Public Health officials note on a statistical dashboard the number of recoveries has reached 3,248, the triple-digit growth in respiratory illness has sparked concern. As a result, health officials have scheduled a briefing on Thursday in light of the recent spikes.

"Over the past few days, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported per day in Austin-Travis County has jumped into the triple digits," health officials wrote in an emailed invitation for Patch to participate in the press briefing. "As more businesses reopen, Austin-Travis County leaders want to remind the public to continue to be vigilant and practice proper hygiene to prevent the disease from spreading."

Don't miss the latest coronavirus updates from health and government officials in the Austin area. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters for what you need to know daily



Members of the public are able to view the briefing via livestream. Scheduled to be in attendance are Mayor Steve Adler; Sarah Eckhardt, the former Travis County judge who is now special assistant to Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe; and Dr. Mark Escott, the interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority.

Related story: Coronavirus: Texas Hospitalization Rates Reach Record Highs

The briefing is schedule at 9 a.m. on Thursday (June 11). Given a 10 a.m. Austin City Council meeting the same day, the abbreviated briefing is set to end by 9:45 a.m., officials said. Here are the ways to access the video feed:

Note: The news conference will not be streamed on ATXN 2

The triple-digit increase in new cases comes one day after 161 additional cases were reported on Tuesday  the highest level on record, supplanting a record achieved the previous day  as the illness count grew to 3,976. On Monday, the 118 new cases reported had represented the biggest increase to date.

Story continues

Such increases prompted Austin Steve Adler to hop in his car as he drove to a testing site in encouraging others to have themselves screened for illness. "It's important that anyone in our community feeling symptoms, or has been recently exposed to a positive case or in a large crowd, like protests, get tested," Adler wrote on Twitter as he approached a drive-through testing site.

Its important that anyone in our community feeling symptoms, or has been recently exposed to a positive case or in a large crowd, like protests, get tested. The Citys tests are free. No insurance information is required. Heres what a drive through test looks like. pic.twitter.com/3SKYRqv4Zt

 Mayor Adler (@MayorAdler) June 10, 2020

The scourge of illness continues to impact the Hispanic population at disproportionate rates. According to the statistics-laden dashboard, Hispanics represent 59 percent of all cases despite comprising 34 percent of the population per the U.S. Census Bureau. Such disproportionate impact prompted Travis County officials and Gov. Greg Abbott to expand testing sites in recent days.

Growing rates of illness come as Gov. Greg Abbott directs further expansion of the state economy, including allowing restaurants to operate at near full capacity this week. Citing advice from "doctors and data," Abbott first started to reopen the state economy on May 1 by allowing operators of restaurants, malls and movie theaters to reopen at limited occupancy levels. In subsequent phases of economic re-ignition, he allowed myriad more businesses  from bars and bowling alleys to tanning salons and water parks  to also open their doors to business again.

At the height of the pandemic, Abbott also declared worship services and construction activities as "essential services," making them all but immune to safety protocol meant to help blunt the spread of illness. He also made the wearing of protective face coverings as optional, warning local officials not to implement punitive measures on those choosing not to wear masks given his superseding executive order.

Resulting spikes in illness have made Texas something of a cautionary tale against premature economic expansion. In adherence to physical distancing guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease and Prevention, an untold number of businesses have closed their doors until the spread of illness subsides. The governor-led reopening that began May 1 is now being viewed by many as having occurred too early.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has taken to using Texas as an example of what could happen by jump-starting an economy too early as he prepares to reignite commerce there amid flattening illness curves. Media outlets such as Newsweek and CNN have reported on the Texas spikes as they assess the reckoning of early reopening.

Meanwhile, some residents in Austin seem to sense a second wave of illness is imminent as illustrated by empty shelves at some stores devoid of antiseptic gel and other provisions. Retailers were beset by such shortages in the initial onset of illness, prompting some businesses to limit the number of items each customer could buy to dissuade hoarding.

The Hancock Center HEB store had emptied of disinfectant wipes on Wednesday afternoon amid spikes in coronavirus illness. Photo by Tony Cantu/Patch staff.



The photo above shows what the household cleaner aisle at the Hancock Center HEB store, 1000 E 41st St., looked like late Wednesday afternoon. And, in a literal sign of the times, it appears purchase limits are back on.

This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch
Police, community members and others meet near the Columbia Heights Metro Station to discuss recent shootings and other crime in the area on Jan. 20. (Matt McClain/The Post)

Residents, who on Thursday toured the area with D.C. police and city leaders, say shootings have made them feel unsafe in their neighborhood.
When you need to warm up, what's your favorite winter comfort food?
Park Sang-hak, fifth from left, head of the Fighters for Free North, a North Korean defectors' group in the South, shows propaganda leaflets the group recently sent to the North, during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, June 8. Fourth from left is Rep. Ji Seong-ho, a defector-turned lawmaker with the main opposition United Future Party. Yonhap



By Jung Da-min



While South Korea wants to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first-ever inter-Korean summit on June 15 which it believes helped "thaw" inter-Korean relations, North Korea is increasing its vitriol toward the South over the sending of propaganda leaflets across the border by a defectors' group.



On May 31, members of the Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, flew balloons carrying propaganda leaflets from the border city of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province. They accused North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un of being a hypocrite in the leaflets, and also sent USB storage devices containing news and information about prosperous South Korea.



Four days later, Kim Yo-jong, a top North Korean official and the sister of the country's leader Kim Jong-un, strongly warned that Seoul would "pay a dear price" if it keeps allowing such hostile activities.



The South was quick to respond to the North's call: The Ministry of Unification the same day issued a statement calling on anti-North Korea groups to refrain from sending such leaflets. Local governors of the border cities also submitted a request to the government to ban such activities for the safety of their residents. The government also filed a complaint against FFNK and another group led by Park's brother for "violating inter-Korean exchange laws" and launched a process to cancel their licenses.



But the tension between the Koreas was further escalated when the North severed all inter-Korean communication lines starting noon Tuesday. The North has not replied to calls from the South since then.



In a recent article carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North continued to accuse the South of not having a "proper attitude," saying the leaflet sending is in violation of inter-Korean peace agreements like the Panmunjeom Declaration announced on April 27, 2018 and the Comprehensive Military Agreement signed on Sept. 19 the same year, in which the Koreas agreed to stop "all hostile activities" toward each other.



The article said that "leaflet scattering is the most undisguised psychological warfare conducted for the purpose of neutralizing the other warring partner and it is, in actuality, an act of a preemptive attack that precedes a war."



Propaganda leaflets as symbol of hostility



In fact, the sending of propaganda leaflets has long been a thorny issue between the Koreas, with both engaged in a "paper war" after the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, sending such leaflets back and forth on a regular basis.



Among South Koreans, such leaflets have often been called "ppira," the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "bill," due to Japan's influence during its 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.



"Ppira" have been a symbol of hostilities between the Koreas over the past decades, while being used by both sides to promote the "superiority" of each's system over the other's  the socialist regime of the North and the capitalism of the South.





Suzanne Scholte, second from left, an American human rights activist, together with members of the Fighters for aFree North Korea, holds a balloon containing anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets before letting it loose at Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in this April 29, 2016, photo. Korea Times file





Copies of images of propaganda leaflets sent to South Korea from North Korea, shared on social network platforms, are shown in this November, 2017 photo. Korea Times file



For those in their 50s or 60s in the South, ppiras often recall their school days when they were rewarded with school items such as notebooks, for collecting those sent by the North and handing them in to schools or police stations.









Kim, 57, recalling when she was working as a teacher at a high school in the border city of Gimpo in 1980s, said that she used to give notebooks to her students who brought in such propaganda leaflets.



"I remember that I used to head to nearby mountains with my students to collect such propaganda leaflets," Kim told The Korea Times.



Although North Korea is now strongly condemning propaganda leaflets coming from the South Korean side, it has only been just a couple of years since the North Koreans "stopped"  as they argue  sending their own propaganda leaflets after inter-Korean "peace agreements" were made in 2018.



Before inter-Korean relations started to thaw after President Moon Jae-in took power in May 2017, ppiras from North Korea were often found here under the conservative governments of former President Lee Myung-bak from 2008 to 2013 and former President Park Geun-hye from 2013 to 2017.





Propaganda leaflets promoting North Korea's socialist regime that were found in Seoul's Gangnam area in January 2017 / Yonhap
There have been many unusual occurrences in the case of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images/The Epoch Times)

Flynn Case: 85 Lies, Contradictions, Oddities, and Unusual Occurrences

News Analysis

The case of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is inevitably heading toward its conclusion. While the presiding district judge, Emmet Sullivan, is trying to keep it going, theres only so much he can do, chiefly because theres nobody left to prosecute the case after the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped it last month.

In the latest developments, the District of Columbia appeals court set a hearing in the case on June 12, while the DOJs solicitor general himself, as well as five of his deputies, urged the court to order the lower-court judge to accept the case dismissal.

I cannot overstate how big of a deal this is, commented appellate attorney John Reeves, former assistant Missouri attorney general, in a series of tweets on June 1.

Personal involvement of the solicitor general is highly unusual and rare, he said.

Unusual seems a fitting euphemism for the Flynn case, which has been filled with contradictions, falsehoods, apparent blunders, extraordinary moves, and strange coincidences.

The Epoch Times has so far counted 85 such instances.

Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency during the Obama administration and former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to one count of lying to FBI agents during a Jan. 24, 2017, interview.

The FBI officially opened an investigation on Flynn on Aug. 16, 2016, based on a suspicion that he may wittingly or unwittingly be involved in activity on behalf of the Russian Federation which may constitute a federal crime or threat to the national security.

What activity? The case was opened under a broader investigation into whether the Trump 2016 presidential campaign conspired with Russia to steal emails from the Democratic National Committee and release them through Wikileaks.

Flynn was an adviser to the campaign at the time.

By its own admission, the FBI had little reason to suspect the campaign.

The bureau learned from the Australian government that its then-ambassador to the UK, Alexander Downer, spoke with Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who suggested that the campaign received some kind of suggestion that Russia could help it by anonymously releasing some information damaging to Trumps opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The FBI didnt know what Papadopoulos actually said or what he was talking about.

Officially, this information was used by the FBI to comb through its databases for information on people associated with the Trump campaign and open investigations on four individuals supposedly linked to Russia.

Because Flynns paid speaking engagements in years past included some for Russian companiesone for Kaspersky Lab and one for RT television in Moscowthe FBI decided to open a counterintelligence investigation on the retired three-star general.

But the FBI seemed to have trouble getting its story straight.

1. Comey Contradiction

The FBI officially opened the four individual cases in mid-August 2016.

But former FBI Director James Comey testified to Congress that he was briefed already at the end of July that the FBI had opened counterintelligence investigations of four individuals to see if there was a connection between any of those four and the Russian effort.

2. Unlikely Target

Suspecting a man with patriotic bona fides of Flynns caliber of having colluded with Russia based on two speaking engagements seemed particularly unusual.

Flynns command of military intelligence to aid American troops in combat has earned him great praise.

Mike Flynns impact on the nations War on Terror probably trumps any other single person, wrote then-Brig. Gen. John Mulholland in Flynns 2007 performance review.

Mulholland went as far as calling Flynn easily the best intelligence professional of any service serving today.

Flynn was driven out of his post in 2014 after he repeatedly embarrassed President Barack Obama by insisting, contrary to the administrations official stance, that a resurgence of Islamic terrorism in the Middle East was imminent.

Two months after his resignation, the rise of ISIS proved him right.

3. A Name for the Spotlight

The Russia probe was titled Crossfire Hurricane (CH), and Flynn was given the code name Crossfire Razor.

This was unusual, according to Marc Ruskin, a 27-year veteran of the FBI and an Epoch Times contributor.

Rank-and-file agents would never pick a name like this, he told The Epoch Times in a previous interview.

They would mock it as being overly dramatic, he said.

4. Snooping During Briefing

The day after opening the Flynn case, the FBI participated in a strategic intelligence briefing given to Donald Trump and two of his advisers by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Because Flynn was to be present, the FBI took the extraordinary step of sending in supervisory special agent Joe Pientka to collect intel on Flynn for the investigation. Pientka was to assess Flynns overall mannerisms and listen for any kind of admission that could be used by the bureau, the DOJs inspector general (IG) said in a Dec. 9 report on the CH investigation (pdf).

The IG raised the question of whether snooping on officials the FBI is supposed to brief could have a chilling effect on any such intelligence briefings in the future.

5. Dossier Coincidence

The FBI directly targeted four Trump campaign aides, opening cases on three of themPapadopoulos, Carter Page, and Paul Manaforton Aug. 10, 2016. The IG never received an explanation for why the Flynn case was opened later. Incidentally, Page and Manafort had already been mentioned in the infamous Steele dossier since July 28, 2016. Flynns name, however, was only mentioned in the dossier report dated Aug. 10, 2016.

The dossier, which drummed up unsubstantiated allegations of a TrumpRussia conspiracy, was being spread to the media, the FBI, the State Department, the DOJ, and Congress by operatives funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

The CH investigation team members at the FBI told the IG they only received the dossier in September 2016, but there are indications they may have been aware of it earlier.

6. Halper Coincidence

One of the CH case agents, Stephen Somma, happened to have a longstanding relationship with Stephan Halper, a Cambridge professor who was also a longtime political operative and FBI informant.

Somma and another agent met with Halper on Aug. 11, 2016, and learned that, in a stunning coincidence, Halper was already in contact with Page, had known Manafort for years, and had been previously acquainted with Michael Flynn, the IG report said

The CH team couldnt believe [their] luck, Somma told the IG.

7. Halpers Story

Halper was accused of spreading rumors, starting in late 2016, that Flynn had an affair with a Russian woman while visiting the UK in 2014 for a dinner hosted by the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar co-convened at the time by Halper.

An established FBI informant told the CH team that the woman jumped in a cab with Flynn after the dinner and joined him for a train ride to London (pdf).

The woman in question was Svetlana Lokhova, a Cambridge historian of Russian descent. She has denied the rumor, saying that she was picked up after the dinner by her husband.

She said Halper was the one spreading the rumor to the media and the FBI, even though he didnt actually attend the event. She unsuccessfully sued Halper for defamation in May 2019.

Somehow, Steele also became privy to the rumor and shared it with Adam Kramer, an aide to the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Kramer testified to Congress that he was in regular contact with Steele between Nov. 28, 2016, and early March 2017.

8. Unmasking

The names of Americans are normally maskedthat is, replaced with generic namesin foreign intelligence reports. Many senior government officials have the authority to ask for names to be unmasked for various reasons, such as to understand the intelligence. There were dozens of unmasking requests for reports related to Flynn, between Nov. 8, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017 (pdf). The number of unmasking requests has been described as alarming by some commentators, while others described it as routine.

9. Non-masking

There are also indications that Flynns name was never masked in summaries or transcripts of his calls with then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak on Dec. 29, 2016, and in the following days. FBI leaders were distributing the documents to top Obama officials. Even President Barack Obama himself was briefed on them on or before Jan. 5, 2017.

10. Who Briefed Obama?

Comey testified to Congress that it was then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper who briefed Obama on the FlynnKislyak calls (pdf). Clapper, however, denied this to Congress.

11. Unusual

Obamas national security adviser, Susan Rice, memorialized a Jan. 5, 2017, meeting with Obama, Comey, and then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. Rice wrote in an email to herself that Obama asked Comey whether he should withhold any Russia-related information from the incoming administration and from Flynn in particular.

Potentially, Comey replied, adding that the level of communication between Flynn and Kislyak was unusual, she wrote. Theres no indication Flynn was talking to Kislyak unusually often. He was at the time responsible for laying the groundwork for Trumps foreign relations as president and was frequently on the phone with foreign dignitaries.

12. Late Memo

Rices memo itself is unusual. She emailed it to herself more than two weeks after the meeting took place, on the day of Trumps inauguration.

13. Strzok Intervention

On Jan. 4, the FBI was already in the process of closing Flynns case. But the bureaus counterintelligence operations head at the time, Peter Strzok, scrambled to keep it open, noting that the 7th floor, meaning the FBIs top leadership, was involved.

14. McCabeComey Contradiction

Comey testified that he authorized the Flynn case to be closed at the  end of December, beginning of January.

But his then-deputy, Andrew McCabe, told Congress that they werent in the closing planning phase at the time.

I dont think a closure would have been soon, he said.

15. Shaky Theory

FBI documents and Comeys testimony indicate that the bureau kept the Flynn case open solely based on a legal theory that he may have violated the Logan Act, even though the DOJ made clear that such charges wouldnt pass muster in courtnobody has ever been successfully prosecuted for a Logan Act violation and the government last tried in 1852.

The law prohibits private citizens from engaging in diplomacy on their own with countries the United States is in dispute with. Not only have questions been raised as to whether the law would pass todays constitutional scrutiny, which places greater emphasis on First Amendment protections, but also theres no indication the law was conceived to apply to a president-elects incoming top adviser.

16. Call Leaks

In early January, information about Flynns calls with Kislyak was leaked to then-Washington Post reporter Adam Entous. He said there was a discussion at the paper about what to do with the information, as it would have been expected of Flynn, given his position, to talk to Kislyak (pdf). In the end, the paper ran a column on Jan. 12 by David Ignatius speculating that Flynn may have violated the Logan Act if he discussed fresh sanctions imposed on Russia during the calls.

Obama imposed the sanctions on Russian entities, including its intelligence services, on Dec. 29, 2016. At the same time, he also expelled 35 Russian intelligence officers.

17. Denial

The calls had nothing whatsoever to do with the sanctions, incoming Vice President Mike Pence told CBS News on Jan. 15, 2017, in an interview the network almost wholly dedicated to questions about Russia.

This wasnt completely true.

Kislyak did bring up the issue of sanctions during the call, though Flynn didnt engage him in a conversation on the topic.

Flynn raised the issue of the expulsions, which is technically a separate issue from sanctions, though both were announced at the same time. He asked for cool heads to prevail and for Russia to only respond reciprocally, as further escalation into a tit for tat could lead to the countries shutting down each others embassies, complicating future diplomacy.

18. Blackmailable

Yates said she wanted to inform Trumps White House about the Kislyak calls as Russia would know that what Pence said wasnt true and could thus blackmail Flynn with the information, according to an Aug. 15, 2017, FBI report from her interview with the Mueller team.

According to Ruskin, this was hardly a blackmail situation, which ordinarily involves serious compromising information, such as evidence of bribery or sexual misconduct.

Comey acknowledged to Congress in March 2017 that the idea that Flynn was compromised struck him as a bit of a reach.

19. Comey Blocked Information

Despite issues with Yatess argument, informing the White House may have indeed cleared up the situation. However, Comey blocked it, saying it could have interfered with the investigation of Flynndespite that it appears there was nothing for the bureau to investigate. At that point, the DOJ already had disapproved of the Logan Act idea. In any case, the probe was supposed to be about Russian collusion. The bureau could have closed it and opened a new one on the Logan Act, if it indeed had had sufficient predication. But it never opened such an investigation, the DOJ noted in its motion to dismiss Flynns case.

20. Another ComeyMcCabe Contradiction

In the days before Jan. 24, 2017, top FBI officials were discussing plans to interview Flynn. Comey said the point of the interview was to find out why Flynn didnt tell Pence that sanctions were discussed during the call (even though Flynn wasnt actually the one talking about sanctions).

My judgment was we could not close the investigation of Mr. Flynn without asking him what is the deal here. That was the purpose, Comey testified.

McCabe, however, told a different story when then-Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) asked him, Was [Flynn] interviewed because the Vice President relied upon information from him in a national interview?

No. I dont remember that being a motivating factor behind the interview, McCabe said.

21. No Mention of Pence

During the interview, the agents didnt ask Flynn about what he did or didnt tell Pencean unusual approach if the point, as Comey said, was to find out why Flynn hadnt been candid with Pence. The FBI, in fact, had no idea what Flynn did or didnt tell Pence.

22. Slipped-In Warning

Agents regularly warn interviewees that lying to federal officers is a crime. Before the Flynn interview, however, McCabes special counsel Lisa Page emailed another FBI lawyer asking how the warning should be given and whether there was a way to just casually slip that in.

23. No Warning

In the end, the agents never gave Flynn any such warning.

24. Get Him to Lie  Get Him Fired?

The FBI officials agreed that the agents wouldnt show Flynn the transcripts of the calls. If he said something that diverged from them, they would ask again, slipping in some words from the transcript. If that didnt jog his memory, they were not to confront him about it.

On the day of the interview, then-FBI head of counterintelligence Bill Priestap wrote a note saying he told other officials to rethink the approach.

Whats our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired? he wrote, noting, We regularly show subjects evidence.

Apparently, his concerns were ignored.

25. Discouraging Having a Lawyer Present

On the day of the interview, McCabe spoke with Flynn on the phone to ask him for the interview. McCabe said he told Flynn he wanted the interview done as quickly, quietly, and discreetly as possible. If Flynn wanted anybody to sit in, such as one of the White House lawyers, the DOJ would have to be involved, McCabe told him.

According to Ruskin, that was egregious behavior akin to discouraging a subject of an investigation from having a lawyer present for an interview.

26. No White House Notice

An FBI interview of a presidents national security adviser is a big deal. Normally, it would warrant a back-and-forth between the White House and the bureau on the scope, content, purpose, and other parameters. Most likely, multiple White House lawyers would sit in.

Comey, however, said in a public forum that he just sent the agents in, taking advantage of the fact that it was early enoughonly four days after the inauguration.

27. No Notice Given to DOJ

According to Yates, Comey didnt consult the DOJ about his intention to interview Flynn, even though the department would usually be involved in such decisions.

28. Not Quite a Denial From Flynn

After the interview, in which Strzok and supervisory special agent Pientka extensively questioned Flynn about his conversations with Kislyak, Comey said that Flynn denied talking to the ambassador about the sanctions. But the agents notes indicate that though Flynn denied it at first, he seemed unsure when the agents asked again.

Not really. I dont remember. It wasnt, Dont do anything, he said, according to the notes.

Flynn said in a Jan. 29 declaration to the court that he still doesnt remember talking to Kislyak about sanctions.

I told the agents that tit-for-tat is a phrase I use, which suggests that the topic of sanctions could have been raised, he said.

29. UN Vote Denial

Based on the agents notes, Flynn did deny asking for Russia to delay a U.N. vote on Israeli settlements. One of the call transcripts indicates he in fact made such a request.

Flynn told the agents he was calling multiple countries regarding the vote, but it was more an exercise of how quickly he could get foreign officials on the phone since there was no way the transition team could convince enough countries to actually change the outcome. Indeed, the vote passed with only the United States abstaining.

30. No Indication of Deception

The agents came back with the impression that Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying, according to Strzok.

Comey seemed on the fence.

I dont know. I think there is an argument to be made that he lied. It is a close one, he testified.

31. Flynn Knew They Knew

According to McCabe, Flynn expressed awareness before the interview that the FBI knew exactly what he said during the Kislyak calls.

You listen to everything they [Russian representatives] say, Flynn told him, according to McCabes notes from that day.

32. Belated Report

The FBI interview summary, form FD-302, is required to be completed within five days of the interview. Flynns, however, took more than two weeks.

33. Rewritten 302

Strzok texted Page on Feb. 10, 2017, he was trying to not completely rewrite the 302 so as to save [redacted] voice. The redacted name was most likely Pientkas.

34. Missing Original

Flynn was ultimately provided two draft versions of the 302one from Feb. 10, 2016, and one from the day after. But based on Strzoks texts, there should have been at least two draft versions produced on Feb. 10, 2016, or before.

In fact, Judge Sullivan said in a Dec. 17, 2018, minute order that the 302 was drafted immediately after Mr. Flynns FBI interview. Its not clear what the judge was basing this assertion on or what happened to the early draft.

Flynns current attorney, former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, later said shed found a witness who saw an earlier draft and that it said that Flynn was honest with the agents and did not lie.

35. No Reinterview

It is common that when the FBI has questions after an interview about the candor of the subject, it would question the person again. But in this case, the FBI showed no interest in doing so.

36. Still Investigating What?

After the interview, Comey promptly agreed to Yates informing the White House about the call transcripts. Flynn was fired two weeks later. But, somehow, the investigation was still not over.

Comey said in his March 2, 2017, testimony that the bureau wasnt investigating any possible Logan Act violation by Flynn and wouldnt do so unless the DOJ directed it.

But he said the investigation was obviously still ongoing and criminal in nature.

McCabe said that even following the interview on the 24th, we had a lot of work left to do in that investigation.

By mid-February, the status of the probe wouldnt have changed materially in his belief, he said.

Like we were pursuing phone records and toll records at that time, he said. There were all kinds of really very basic foundational investigative activity that had to take place and we were committed to getting that done.

Its unclear what the point of the investigation was.

37. FARA Papers

Around Christmas 2016, Flynn found in the office of his defunct consultancy, Flynn Intel Group (FIG), a letter from the DOJ telling him he may need to file foreign lobbying disclosures under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

The DOJs National Security Division (NSD) wanted to know about a job FIG did earlier that year for Turkish businessman Kamil Ekim Alptekin.

It should have been a routine procedure. Washington lobbyists commonly flunk FARA rules and the NSD usually just asks them to register retrospectively because FARA cases are difficult to prosecute. Flynn hired a team from Covington and Burling led by Robert Kelner, a never-Trumper and an expert on FARA, to prepare the paperwork.

This time, the NSD was unusually eager. Heather Hunt, then-FARA unit chief herself, was repeatedly prompting the lawyers to expeditiously file the papers.

Weve never seen her this engaged in any matter (ever), Kelner noted in an email to his colleagues.

Even the DOJs then-counterintelligence chief, David Laufman, got involved and personally questioned Covington on the FARA filings.

38. Comey Memo

Comey wrote in a personal memo that Trump told him in private in February 2017 that he hoped Comey could let Flynn go. Trump denied saying that. Trumps lawyers have argued that the president didnt know at the time that Flynn was still under investigation.

Comeys leaking the content of this and other memos to the media served as a catalyst for then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointing former FBI head Robert Mueller as a special counsel to take over the CH probe.

39. Rosensteins Scope Memo Still Alludes to Logan Act

Even though Comey said in March 2017 that the FBI wasnt investigating Flynn for a Logan Act violation, Mueller received in August 2017 a mandate from Rosenstein (pdf) to probe whether Flynn committed a crime or crimes by engaging in conversations with Russian government officials during the period of the Trump transition. That appears to be an allusion to the Logan Act.

Rosenstein testified to Congress that he simply put in the scope of Muellers mandate whatever the CH team was investigating at the time.

The scope memo also tasked Mueller with probing whether Flynn lied to the FBI during the interview, whether he failed to report foreign contacts or income on his national security disclosure forms, and whether the Turkey job by his firm meant that he committed a crime or crimes by acting as an unregistered agent for the government of Turkey.

40. Lawyers Delay Informing Flynn?

By mid-August 2017, Covington learned that prosecutors were looking at Flynns FARA filings. But the lawyers didnt inform Flynn until weeks later, according to his current lawyer, Powell.

41. Conflict of Interest

Convington faced a conflict of interest in Flynns case, because it was in their interest to say any problems with the FARA papers were Flynns fault, while it was in Flynns interest to say the lawyers were responsible.

Covington and the Mueller team agreed the firm can continue to represent Flynn if they tell him about the conflict and he consents to it. Powell said the conflict was so serious bar rules required the lawyers to withdraw.

42. Lawyers Dont Take Responsibility

In Flynns situation, it would have been the ethical thing to do for the lawyers to take responsibility for any problems with the FARA papers, according to Powell. But they didnt do that.

43. Lawyers Express Apprehension About Being Targeted Themselves

The Covington lawyers on several occasions expressed concern that Mueller may target them with a crime-fraud order, a measure that allows prosecutors to break through the attorney-client privilege if they get a judge to agree that the client was conferring with lawyers to further a crime or some misconduct. The lawyers were aware Muellers team had already used the order against Manafort.

Facing a crime-fraud order would cause bad publicity for Covington, Powell noted. Leading Flynn into the plea allowed the firm to avoid it.

44. Perilous Interviews

In early November 2016, Mueller prosecutors, led by Brandon Van Grack, told Covington that Flynn was facing charges for lying to the FBI and lying on the FARA papers. They asked for Flynns cooperation with the broader Russia probe, particularly regarding any communications he or other Trump people had with foreign officials.

Van Grack wanted Flynn to sit down for a series of interviews. He offered Flynn limited immunity, but acknowledged that Flynn could still be charged for lying during the interviews.

The lawyers noted that this could have been dangerous for Flynn, even if he was completely honest.

To ask someone about meetings and calls during an incredibly busy period of his life as an evaluation of candor is not a particularly attractive option, Kelner told the prosecutors during a conference call (pdf).

Yet ultimately the Covington lawyers agreed to make Flynn available for the questioning.

45. Belated Consent

Covington only asked Flynn for consent with their conflict of interest in writing on Nov. 19, 2017, after Flynn had already been through two days of interviews with the prosecutors.

46. Wrong Standard

The consent request, sent via email, cited the wrong bar rule for handling of conflicts. The correct rule creates a much lower threshold at which a lawyer must bow out, Powell said in a court filing.

47. Innocent but Guilty

The Covington lawyers repeatedly told the prosecutors that they didnt think Flynn was guilty of a felony. They were also told that Strzok and Pientka saw no indication of deception on Flynns part and had the impression after the interview that he wasnt lying or didnt think he was lying. But the lawyers still convinced Flynn that he should plead guilty to the felony charge.

48. Threat to Son

According to Flynns declaration, the Covington lawyers told him that if he didnt plead, the prosecutors would charge his son (who had a four-month-old baby at the time) with a FARA violation, because the son worked for Flynns firm and was involved in the Turkey project. If he did plead, however, his son would be left in peace, Flynn said.

The pressure campaign, it seems, was also reflected in media leaks.

If the elder Flynn is willing to cooperate with investigators in order to help his son  it could also change his own fate, potentially limiting any legal consequences, NBC News reported on Nov. 5, 2017, referring to sources familiar with the investigation.

To twist the fathers arm with regard to his child is a pretty low thing to do, Ruskin commented.

49. 302 Not Shared

The prosecutors refused to share with Flynn the 302 from his January interview until shortly before he agreed to plead. Also, they only shared the final version of the report, which was significantly different from its previous drafts, Flynn later learned.

50. Strzok Texts Understatement

Shortly before Flynn signed his plea, the prosecutors disclosed to his lawyers that one of the agents who interviewed Flynn (Strzok) was being investigated by the IG for potential misconduct. They also disclosed that the agent expressed in electronic communications a preference for one of the candidates for President.

This was far from covering the bombshell the Strzok texts actually were, Powell noted.

Strzok not only voiced preference for Clinton, but cursed at and repeatedly derided Trump. In one 2016 text, he argued that the FBI needed to take action akin to an insurance policy in case Trump won. Strzok later said he was referring to proceeding in the CH probe more aggressively out of a worry that Trump may interfere with it if elected.

51. Lawyers Never Told Flynn?

Flynn said the Convington lawyers never told him that the FBI agents didnt think he lied. Even after he specifically asked about the agents impression, the lawyers didnt disclose the information and instead told him that the agents stood by their statement.

I then understood them to be telling me that the FBI agents believed that I had lied, Flynn said, explaining that had he known, he wouldnt have signed the plea.

52. Statement of Offense Inaccurate

As part of his statement of offense, Flynn affirmed that FIGs FARA papers contained three false statements and one omission. Yet, on all four points the statement of offense was inaccurate, Powell demonstrated (pdf).

The prosecutors concocted the alleged false statements by their own misrepresentations, deceit, and omissions, she said in a court filing (pdf).

The FARA papers were substantially correct and any deficiencies were the fault of Covington, she said.

53. Lawyers Knew

In an internal email three days before Flynn signed his plea, one of the Covington lawyers pointed out that some of the false statements attributed to Flynn in the statement of offense regarding the FARA filings were contradicted by the caveats or qualifications in the filing.

It seems the lawyers failed to correct the issue, since the statement of offense remained inaccurate. They also never informed Flynn of the issue, according to Powell.

54. Judge Recusal

Flynn entered his plea on Dec. 1, 2017. Shortly after, the judge who accepted the plea, Rudolph Contreras, recused himself from the case. The apparent but undisclosed reason was likely his personal relationship with Strzok.

55. Strzok Texts Media Coincidence

While the IG had found Strzoks texts already in June 2017, their first disclosure in the media came from The Washington Post the day after Flynn entered his guilty plea. Powell noted how convenient the timing was for the prosecutors.

56. Side Deal

The prosecutors conveyed to Covington an unofficial understanding that they were unlikely to charge Flynns son in light of Flynns agreement to continue to cooperate with the Mueller probe, one of the lawyers said in an internal email.

Such an under-the-table deal is unethical, Ruskin said.

57. Avoiding Giglio Disclosure

Another internal Covington email suggests the prosecutors intentionally kept the deal regarding Flynns son unofficial to make future prosecutions easier.

The government took pains not to give a promise to MTF [Michael T. Flynn] regarding Michael [Flynn] Jr., so as to limit how much of a benefit it would have to disclose as part of its Giglio disclosures to any defendant against whom MTF may one day testify, the email reads.

Giglio refers to a 1972 Supreme Court opinion that requires prosecutors to disclose to the defense that a witness used by the prosecutors has been promised an escape from prosecution in exchange for cooperation.

58. Questionable Disclosures

After the case was assigned to Judge Sullivan, he entered an order for the DOJ to give Flynn all exculpatory information it had, as the judge does in all cases.

The prosecutors, however, werent prompt in revealing the information. The Strzok texts, for instance, were only provided to Flynn after they were released publicly.

59. Business Partner Coincidence

One day before Flynns sentencing hearing, his former business partner, Bijan Rafiekian, was charged with a failure to register as a foreign agent in relation to FIGs Turkey job.

Powell called it a shot across the bow which the Mueller team wanted to leverage against Flynn.

Mr. Van Grack used the possibility of indicting Flynn in the Rafiekian case at the sentencing hearing to raise the specter of all the threats he had made to secure the plea a year earlierincluding the indictment of Mr. Flynns son, she said in a court filing (pdf).

60. Judge Makes False Accusations, Backtracks

During a Dec. 18, 2018, sentencing hearing, Sullivan questioned the prosecutors about whether they considered charging Flynn with treason.

Arguably, you sold your country out, he told Flynn, saying that he acted as an agent of Turkey while in the White House.

That was wrong on multiple levels. Not only does treason not apply to unregistered lobbying, but the Turkey job had virtually no impact on American interests. It prepared a plan to lobby for the extradition of an Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the United States, and whom Ankara blamed for instigating a coup attempt in 2016. Almost none of the plan materialized. Most importantly, Flynn shuttered his firm shortly after the election to comply with Trumps promise of no lobbyists in his administration.

Sullivan corrected himself later in the hearing, but many media outlets still put his original remarks in headlines.

61. MSNBC Coincidence

While Sullivans question about treason and his gaffe about the Turkey job seemed to come out of left field, they mirrored MSNBC talking points from days prior.

The day before Flynns sentencing hearing, MSNBCs Rachel Maddow claimed Flynn and Rafiekian disguised the origins of payments for the Turkey job so they could secretly work in the interest of a foreign country without anybody knowing it while they were also working high-level jobs in intelligence inside the U.S. government.

Flynn really thought he could be a national security adviser, the national security adviser in the White House, and a secret foreign agent at the same time, Maddow said.

Three days before Flynns sentencing hearing, Malcolm Nance, a counterterrorism commentator, said on MSNBC that Flynn may have been one step away from treason and pulled back by cooperating with Mueller.

62. Judge Fails to Satisfy Plea Rules

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure state in Rule 11 that before entering judgment on a guilty plea, the court must determine that there is a factual basis for the plea.

As such, Sullivan was required to check that Flynns alleged lies to the FBI were material, meaning relevant enough to potentially affect an FBI investigation.

But the judge acknowledged during the sentencing hearing that he hadnt done so.

It probably wont surprise you that I had many, many, many more questions.  such as, you know, how the governments investigation was impeded? What was the material impact of the criminality? Things like that, he said at the conclusion of the hearing.

Theres no indication Sullivan has asked those questions since.

63. Unacceptable Plea

Not only could Sullivan not have accepted Flynns plea before determining materiality, theres evidence he was in fact required to refuse it.

Rule 11 requires the court to determine that the plea is voluntary and did not result from force, threats, or promises (other than promises in a plea agreement).

In Flynns case, there actually was a threat and a promise left out of the dealthe unofficial understanding that his son was unlikely to be charged if Flynn cooperated.

64. Lawyers Insisted Flynn Stay on the Path

Before the sentencing hearing, the Covington lawyers told Flynn to stay on the path and to refuse if Sullivan offered him to take his plea back, Flynn said in his court declaration.

If the judge offers you a chance to withdraw your plea, he is giving you the rope to hang yourself. Dont do it, the lawyers said, according to Powell.

65. Unprepared

Flynn said the lawyers only prepared him for a simple hearing and not for the extended questioning Sullivan engaged in.

I was not prepared for this courts plea colloquy, much less to decide, on the spot, whether I should withdraw my plea, consult with independent counsel, or continue to follow my existing lawyers advice, he said.

In the end, he affirmed his plea during the hearing.

66. Prosecutors Asked for False Testimony?

Flynn was expected to testify against Rafiekian in 2019, but when the moment was to come, prosecutors asked him to say that he signed FIGs FARA papers knowing there were lies in them. Flynn, who had already fired Convington and hired Powell by that point, refused. He said he only acknowledged in hindsight that the FARA papers were inaccurate, but didnt know it at the time.

67. Prosecutors Knew?

Powell has argued that the prosecutors knew they were asking for a false testimony. She filed with the court a draft of Flynns statement of offense, which shows that the words FLYNN then and there knew (pertaining to the FARA registration) were cut from the final version.

Moreover, Powell submitted emails that indicate the words were cut by the prosecutors themselves after the Covington lawyers raised some objections to the draft.

68. Retaliation?

Flynns refusal to say what prosecutors wanted angered Van Grack, contemporaneous notes show (pdf). Shortly after, prosecutors tried to label Flynn as a co-conspirator in the Rafiekian case and put Flynns son on the list of witnesses for the prosecution. According to Powell, this was retaliation for Flynns refusal to lie.

69. Rafiekian Case Collapses

Prosecutors in the Rafiekian case tried to argue that anybody who does something political at the request of a foreign official and fails to disclose it to the DOJ is an agent of a foreign government and can be put in prison for up to 10 years.

The presiding judge, Anthony Trenga, rejected the theory, ruling that an agentas used in that contextneeds to have a tighter relationship with the foreign government, a relationship that includes the power of the principal to give directions and the duty of the agent to obey those directions.

Trenga ultimately tossed the case for a lack of evidence.

70. No Exculpatory Evidence?

Starting in August, Powell started to bombard the prosecutors with demands for exculpatory evidence she was convinced the DOJ possessed. But the prosecutors repeatedly claimed the government already provided all it had and had no more.

The main issue was, Powell noted, that the DOJ had a very narrow view of what is exculpatory.

If something appears on its face to be favorable to the defense  the government will claim it was said with a wink and a nod, and therefore it showed the defendants guilt after all, she complained in an Aug. 30, 2019, filing (pdf).

As it later turned out, the FBI was sitting on a number of documents favorable to the defense.

71. Contradicting Notes

When Flynn finally obtained the hand-written notes Strzok and Pientka took during the interview, it turned out they didnt quite match the final 302.

The 302, for instance, says that Flynn remembered making four to five phone calls to Kislyak on Dec. 29, 2016. Both sets of notes indicate that Flynn didnt remember that.

Also, the 302 says that Flynn denied that Kislyak got back to him with the Russian response a few days later. Theres no mention of a Russian response in the notes.

72. Notes Mixup

It took the prosecutors until November 2019 to find out and tell Flynn that the notes they said belonged to Strzok were actually Pientkas and vice versa.

73. No Date, Name

The notes mixup wasnt that easy to spot because neither set of notes was signed or dated, even though they should have been, according to Powell.

74. Harsher Sentence

Since his sentencing hearing, Flynn was expected to receive a light sentence, possibly probation. In January 2020, however, the prosecutors indicated that Flynn should be treated more harshly because he reneged on his promise to cooperate on the Rafiekian case.

This was part of the retaliation for Flynns refusal to lie for the prosecutors, according to Powell.

Shortly after that, Flynn asked the court to let him withdraw his plea.

75. Hint at Perjury

In February 2020, prosecutors asked for Sullivan to give them access to Flynns communications with Covington.

Any limitation the court puts on how the attorney-client information can be used shouldnt preclude the government from prosecuting the defendant for perjury if any information that he provided to counsel were proof of perjury in this proceeding, they said.

Its not clear what specifically they were referring to.

76. Thousands More Documents

In April, Covington told Flynn they found thousands more documents related to his case that they failed to give to Powell due to an unintentional miscommunication involving the firms information technology personnel.

77. Van Grack Out

On May 7, 2020, Van Grack withdrew from Flynns case as well as others. The reason is not clear.

The same day, the DOJ moved to withdraw the Flynn case.

78. Judge Delays

A government motion to withdraw a case usually marks the end of the case. The court still needs to accept the motion, but theres not much it can do, since theres nobody left to prosecute the case.

Sullivan, however, didnt accept it.

79. Appointing Amicus

On May 13, 2020, Sullivan appointed former federal Judge John Gleeson as an amicus curiae (friend of court) to present arguments in opposition to the governments Motion to Dismiss as well as to address whether the court should make the defense explain why Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt for perjury.

This was an unusual move. Amici are normally only appointed in civil or higher court cases. Powell has said Sullivan doesnt have authority to do so.

80. Another Washington Post Coincidence

Just two days earlier, Gleeson co-authored an op-ed in The Washington Post where he accused the DOJ of impropriety, corruption, and improper political influence for dropping the Flynn case.

81. More Delays

On May 19, 2020, Sullivan issued a scheduling order that set an oral argument for July 16, when third parties invited by the judge would get a chance to voice their opinions. As such, the judge set to prolong the case for about two more months and possibly beyond.

Meanwhile, Flynn sent a petition to the District of Columbia appeals court, asking it to order Sullivan to accept the case dismissal.

82. Order for Response

In a rare move, the appeals court ordered Sullivan to respond to Flynns petition within 10 days. Usually, the court would appoint an amicus curiae to argue the case on behalf of the judge. Sometimes, the court would invite the judge to respond. Ordering a response is very rare, Reeves commented.

83. Sullivan Lawyers Up

In another unusual turn of events, Sullivan hired highly-connected D.C. attorney Beth Wilkinson to respond to the appeals court on his behalf.

Wilkinson has in the past represented major corporations such as Pfizer, Microsoft, and Phillip Morris, as well as Hillary Clinton aides during the FBIs investigation of Clintons use of a private email server. She also assisted then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in preparing his 2018 defense against a sexual assault allegation.

Wilkinson is married to CNN analyst David Gregory, the former host of the NBC News Meet the Press.

84. DOJ Brings Big Guns

In another unusual move, the DOJs Solicitor General and five of his deputies responded to the appeals court in support of Flynns petition. The Solicitor General usually argues cases on behalf of the DOJ before the Supreme Court. His personal involvement in an appeals court petition is highly unusual and rare, Reeves said.

85. Short Notice

On June 2, 2020, the appeals court set a hearing in the case on June 12, giving unusually short notice, Reeves noted.

For non-lawyers, a ten day notice for oral argument may seem like a long time, but it isnt. Its an increidibly [sic] short amount of time, he said, noting that a call for a hearing shows that the DC Circuit is gravely concerned about this matter.
The interaction of COVID-19 with co-existing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a perfect storm, particularly for communities of poverty, according to a new opinion piece published by Columbia Mailman School of Public Health researchers in the journal British Medical Journal.

While primarily targeting the elderly, NCDs and underlying metabolic conditions- obesity, hypertension, kidney disease, and diabetes in younger people, are all associated with higher risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Of particular concern, note the authors, is the association with obesity -- a disease of poverty. In the U.S. and Mexico, more than one third of people 15 years and older are obese. South Africa, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Hungary, and Chile report rates of more than 20 percent.

The global response has been to treat COVID-19 as a vertical disease rather than addressing the full ecosystem of the COVID-19 response or its interaction with the NCD pandemic or poverty," Nina Schwalbe, Adjunct Professor, Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

"This is particularly urgent given that poverty is now both a driver of COVID-mortality and an outcome of the response. Rather than relying on a vertical approach, it is time to switch gears -- assess risks, target prevention, and engage community in the response and to build synergies across care platforms."

Lockdown and social distancing have caused health service disruptions resulting in an overall worsening of health outcomes, noted Juan Pablo Gutierrez, professor at the Center for Policy, Population Health and Research at the National Automous Unviersity of Mexico School of Medicine

"For the poor, in particular, these measures further exacerbated food insecurity and reduced access to social services. Instead of applying blunt tools such as lockdowns to the entire population, we must urgently target those at risk."

"With nearly half a billion people projected to fall into extreme poverty due to the COVID-response, loss of income, high out-of-pocket costs for health care, food insecurity, increased unemployment levels, and lower educational attainment will all have a direct effect on morbidity and mortality worldwide." noted Schwalbe, who is also visiting fellow at the United Nations University - International Institute for Global Health.

To address the interaction between COVID-19 mortality and the NCD pandemic will require adhering to the tenets of "precision public health," and the authors recommend the following:

Use data and better data sharing to focus interventions on risk reduction for those most susceptible.

Move from a vertical approach to build synergies across care platforms, in particular between NCDs and infectious diseases.

Provide the socioeconomically vulnerable with the means to mitigate the pandemic response effects on poverty. An example of such a strategy is underway in Pakistan, where the government has provided over 80 million people with emergency cash transfers.

"In the global response to COVID to date, we have witnessed mass fear and confusion as well as a tremendous misallocation of resources as a result of targeting the entire population rather than those most at risk." said Schwalbe.

"However, as COVID-19 continues to spread and there is talk of a second wave, it is not too late to apply the tools of precision, evidence-based public health to address the underlying drivers of morbidity and mortality - and this means focusing prevention efforts on people suffering from NCDs."
Imagine if, in 2018, someone had fully predicted the arrival of COVID-19. They explained the scale of the coming pandemic  and gave policymakers time to prepare.

Its almost impossible to imagine such a scenario. And its human nature to doubt such bad news predictions.

However, we might be on the cusp of a similar moment. In 2018, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warned that the ongoing retirement of Americas coal and nuclear power plants could lead to a national tipping point of insufficient electricity generation.

That may sound far-fetched. After all, the U.S. has added plenty of natural gas plants in recent years. And communities are proudly building new renewable systems, including wind turbines and solar panels.

But NERC oversees the reliability of the North American electric grid. And what theyre watching is whether the retirement of more and more coal and nuclear power plants is being matched by replacement baseload power capacity. Essentially, NERC warned in 2018 that if these retirements happen faster than the system can respond, significant reliability problems could occur.

That may sound theoretical, but conditions have actually worsened in the 18 months since NERC issued its warning. NERC based its predictions on expected U.S. coal retirements of 18,000 megawatts from 2017 through 2022. However, industry veterans now see coal retirements totaling a far greater 49,700 megawatts in that time.

According to Energy Ventures Analysis (EVA), the situation looks even more serious. They estimate that between 38,500 and 83,000 megawatts of coal-fired generating capacity could be retired between 2020 and 2022.

This is far worse than NERCs initial assessment. And the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated things as well. Before the coronavirus arrived, considerable amounts of coal and nuclear generating capacity were already in danger of early retirement. But reductions in power demand during quarantine have squeezed margins even further  and increased the chances that long-standing baseload capacity will be pushed off the grid.

No one disputes that the retirement of baseload coal and nuclear power is happening. And coals share of U.S. electricity generation fell to 24% in 2019, while natural gas jumped to 38%. But this increased dependence on natural gas and renewables has led to vulnerabilities  like the emergency conditions experienced during the 2014 Polar Vortex and the 2017-18 Bomb Cyclone. In both instances, peak demand led to fuel shortages at natural gas plants. Coal stations were forced to cover the load; they supplied 55% of the increased demand during the Bomb Cyclone alone.

The backstop of the U.S. electricity grid is now slipping away at an accelerating pace. Despite warnings from reliability experts, theres no plan to address the situation. Affordable, reliable power is too important for the nation to be left to chance. Before its too late, action must be taken by regulators to ensure that the fuel security and reliability provided by baseload coal and nuclear plants isnt lost for good.

Terry Jarrett is an energy attorney and consultant who has served on both the board of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Missouri Public Service Commission. He contributes regularly to LeadingLightEnergy.com.

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EUGENE  University of Oregon president Michael Schill has recommended to the schools board of trustees to dename Deady Hall, the oldest building on UOs campus.

In a letter addressing the issue, which Schill did not support in 2017, he outlines his change of course on the matter, which was reignited following nationwide protests in the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.

In my January 25, 2017, decision not to recommend the denaming of Deady Hall I reasoned that, although Deady held racist views which I find abhorrent and contrary to the principles of our university,' historians found he had undergone a 'metamorphosis as evidenced by his support of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments after the Civil War and acts to protect the rights of Chinese immigrants, Schill wrote. "Ultimately, I determined that despite the heinous nature of Deadys views on race, his other positive acts and his noteworthy historical importance to the nation, state, and university were of such distinction that it did not merit overturning the presumption against taking his name off the building.

What has changed since then to cause me to reverse my original decision? Everything and, unfortunately, very little. The repeated and senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Laquan McDonald  just to name a few  have pushed us over a tipping point. In addition, the accelerating level of racial inequality in our society, and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, met with indifference by some of our nations leaders, have all raised the cost of silence. As our own Trustee Andrew Colas so eloquently stated, if Deady were alive today, then he would surely understand the need to step aside and let somebody elses name be on that building for the sake of our university.

Colas called for the denaming of Deady Hall during last weeks meeting of UOs board of trustees. The board is having a special session to address the matter on June 24 at 1 p.m.

I cannot accept a person that would see me and believe that I am as good as a horse, cattle or a piece of land. That wrecks me inside, Colas said. Even if we want to give him the credit that he changed throughout the course of his life  which he may have and I think a lot of people can, I truly do believe that  I think that if he changed enough he would understand today why if he really cares about this university he would need to step aside and allow somebody elses name be on that building or the sake of our university.

A number of current and former Oregon Ducks athletes have publicly supported the denaming of Deady Hall, including Jevon Holland, Verone McKinley III and Cherish Burks.

Schill also called for UOs Committee on Recognizing our Diverse History to take input and provide recommendations as to whether any statues or monuments should be removed from the campus.

It is now apparent to me that, as long as Matthew Deadys name remains in a place of honor on our campus, our students of color will feel that they are not valued; that this institution is not their institution, Schill wrote. Trustee action to remove Matthew Deadys name from our oldest and arguably most prominent building will send a clear message to our black students as well as our entire community that racism has no place in our academic community and that their welfare, inclusion, and success is central to our mission.
Addressing the 95th Annual Plenary Session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that every citizen of the country should aim for a self reliant India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged Indian industry leaders to set up globally-competitive domestic supply chains and turn the coronavirus crisis into an opportunity to become a self-reliant nation.This is not the time for a conservative approach. It is time for bold decisions and bold investments, he said while addressing the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC) in Kolkata through video conferencing.

We have to take the Indian economy out of command and control and take it towards plug and play mode. The coronavirus crisis has given us a pressing reason to turn the corners and become self-reliant. Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission is the reflection of that reason, the Prime Minister said.

While the world is battling coronavirus, India is fighting that too. But there are other issues also. Flood, locusts, hailstorm, fire in an oil well, small earthquakes, two cyclones  we are fighting all of these together, he said.

Also Read: Kasturba Hospitals resident doctors threaten mass resignation over salary issue

Also Read: 1,567 new COVID-19 cases in Mumbai, 435 in Pune on Wednesday

The Prime Minister said he gets a sense that every citizen of the country has resolved to face adversity with determination. This will be a turning point in our history as we become self-reliant. Atmanirbhar Bharat is the manifestation of the dream every Indian has seen for all these years.

He said the country must exercise restraint on imports to strengthen micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Some of the areas where India can take a lead include medical equipment, defence production, solar panels, batteries, chip manufacturing and aviation.

The government will work on setting up relevant industrial clusters close by for specific local produce of all regions, he said. These moves will surely turn farmers into producers and their crops into products for the larger market, the Prime Minister said.

At the same time, North-East India can become a major hub for organic farming by creating bamboo and organic product clusters in the region. India is experiencing another major mission at present  to reduce the use of single-use plastic. This again, said the Prime Minister, is great for all three elements  people, planet and profit.

Five years ago, an LED bulb would cost Rs 350. But the same bulb is now available for as little as Rs 50. Modi said this has been a relief on the pockets of people. It is good for the environment. So, the planet has also benefitted. And, of course, with mainstreaming of LED bulbs, manufacturers profits have also increased, he said.

Earlier on June 2, the Prime Minister had addressed a meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) where he said that Indian industries should take advantage of the trust developed towards India as the world is looking for a trusted and reliable partner.

Also Read: Pakistan violates ceasefire in J-Ks Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua districts

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Canada continues to advocate for a full investigation into all the circumstances of a UIA plane crash in Iran, Transport Canada has reported.

The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Marc Garneau, joined the virtual meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council on June 10 to discuss progress on ICAOs work related to Flight PS752.

"Canada continues to advocate for transparency, accountability, justice, compensation and a full investigation to bring closure to the families of the victims of the PS752 tragedy," reads the statement.

In addition, Canada continues to call on Iran to allow the black boxes to be downloaded and analyzed in a facility with the capability to do so as soon as possibleas stipulated by Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and as Iran has committed to doing.

"The Government of Canada continues to work with its international partners to improve global aviation safety and prevent tragedies like Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 from ever happening again," Transport Canada added.

On January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down near Tehran by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, killing 176 people, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.  A Colorado sheriff said on social media that demonstrations around the country were not about race but were incited to create chaos during an election year.

This nonsense our country is experiencing has nothing to do with race, wrote Routt County Sheriff Garrett Wiggins, who is also the president of the County Sheriffs of Colorado. It is totally political, fueled by extreme ideology and haters of America.

The comments appeared Tuesday on his private Facebook page but the post was public, the Steamboat Pilot & Today reported.

Wiggins remarks followed a peaceful demonstration in Steamboat Springs over the death of George Floyd, a black man pinned down by a white Minneapolis police officer who pressed a knee on Floyds neck for several minutes. His May 25 death prompted global protests against police brutality and racial injustice.

Wiggins told the newspaper in an interview Wednesday that he bases his opinions on thorough research and data, some of which he says is from the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

The data does not support this protest movement where cops are targeting blacks, and blacks are overwhelmingly killed by police more than whites, he said. The leaders of these violent protests use race as an excuse to riot and commit all sorts of crimes against innocent people in the name of justice.

Wiggins, who has been sheriff for about 10 years, also said race relations have come a long way in the U.S. and weve made a lot of progress and reduced the amount of racial disturbances that were present many years ago.

He also said he was disgusted after watching the video of Floyds death, adding that if theres factual information that supports that there is racial profiling or something that is actually occurring, absolutely then there should be some action taken to correct that philosophical belief or that protocol.

The sheriff is an independent elected official. The Routt County Board of Commissioners oversees his offices budget. The board has yet to take an official position on Wiggins recent comments.

(Wiggins) is entitled to his own opinions, Commissioner Beth Melton said, adding that its clear the protests are about racism. I stand in solidarity with the concerns that the protesters are bringing forward, and I think its a really important moment in this countrys history to shed light on the racism that is such a part of the fabric of this country.

The executive director of the Colorado Association of Sheriffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Wiggins post.

In other developments:

 The head of Denver polices watchdog agency announced it would investigate the departments response to protests, including use of force and tear gas and how it handled allegations of misconduct during the demonstrations. The Denver City Council requested the investigation.
CALGARYThe Crown says an Alberta judge showed bias against a medical expert last year when he acquitted a couple on trial in the death of their ill son, but the defence says the court process was fair.

Prosecutors asked the Alberta Court of Appeal on Thursday to overturn the not-guilty verdict in the case of David and Collet Stephan.

The parents were accused of not seeking medical attention sooner for 19-month-old Ezekiel, who died in 2012. The Stephans testified they thought their son had croup and that they used herbal remedies to treat him.

Last September, a Court of Queens Bench judge acquitted them of failing to provide the necessaries of life in their second trial on the charge.

Justice Terry Clackson accepted the testimony of a defence expert, who said the toddler died of a lack of oxygen, not bacterial meningitis as reported by Dr. Bamidele Adeagbo, the original medical examiner.

Crown prosecutor Rajbir Dhillon said Clackson showed bias for a number of insulting and improper comments throughout the trial about the verbal skills of Adeagbo, who was born in Nigeria.

This ground is about whether the way a witness speaks should influence the weight of their evidence or their ability to participate in our court system, Dhillon said Thursday.

The trial judges comments suggest that it should have an influence. But a witness should not be judged on their elocution and they should not have their evidence prejudged based on the way they speak.

There is a reasonable apprehension that the trial judge did both of these things with regard to the evidence of Dr. Bamidele Adeagbo.

Dhillon said Clackson made it clear that he would give less weight to the evidence because he had difficulty understanding Adeagbos testimony.

In his decision last September, Clackson noted that Adeagbo spoke with an accent and was difficult to understand.

His ability to articulate his thoughts in an understandable fashion was severely compromised by: his garbled enunciation; his failure to use appropriate endings for plurals and past tenses; his failure to use the appropriate definite and indefinite articles; his repeated emphasis of the wrong syllables; dropping his Hs; mispronouncing his vowels; and the speed of his responses, Clackson wrote.

The judge also called out Adeagbo for body language and physical antics ... not the behaviours usually associated with a rational, impartial professional imparting opinion evidence.

Dhillon said those comments would lead a regular observer to think that the judge consciously or unconsciously didnt treat Adeagbos evidence fairly.

Jason Demers, one of the lawyers representing the Stephans, told the Appeal Court that criticism of Clackson and his comments are far-reaching and could potentially damage the judge, the judicial system and the multicultural community.

Justice Clackson ran a completely fair trial. His comments, in our submission, were appropriate, they were proper, Demers said.

To advance an argument in support of bias or an apprehension of bias with the sparse amount of evidence currently before this court is inflammatory and improper.

But Alberta Chief Justice Catherine Fraser questioned some of Clacksons comments.

My question is what relevance does communication style, enunciation, language, syntax, mispronouncing vowels ... what relevance does any of that have to the question of admissibility of evidence? Fraser said.

A jury convicted the Stephans in 2016, but the Supreme Court of Canada overturned that verdict and ordered a second trial.

After Clacksons acquittal, dozens of medical and legal experts filed a complaint with the Canadian Judicial Council, alleging he made comments about Adeagbo that could be perceived as racist.

The Crown also argued Thursday that the judge erred in forcing it to prove whether timely medical treatment would have saved Ezekiels life.

The Appeal Court reserved its decision.

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UN agrees on definition of Holocaust denial

Lavrov and Blinken talks kick off in Geneva

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Secret graves of alleged protesters discovered in Almaty

Armenian side members to Armenian-American Intergovernmental Commission confirmed

WHO advises countries to lift or ease international travel restrictions

US sanctions against Vladimir Putin, Ruben Vardanian and members of the Russian government

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President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order authorizing US sanctions against International Criminal Court employees involved in an investigation into whether American forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

In announcing the action, Trump administration officials said the Hague-based tribunal threatens to infringe on US national sovereignty and accused Russia of manipulating it to serve Moscow's ends.

"We cannot, we will not stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in announcing the move and warned other nations.

"I have a message to many close allies in the world. Your people could be next, especially those from NATO countries who fight terrorism in Afghanistan right alongside us," he said.

Neither Pompeo nor any of the top officials who were present at the announcement - Defense Secretary Mark Esper, national security adviser Robert O'Brien and Attorney General William Barr - took questions from the press.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants to investigate possible crimes committed between 2003 and 2014, including alleged mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by US forces and the CIA. The ICC investigation was given the go-ahead in March.

Rights activists assailed Trump's move. Andrea Prasow, the Washington director for Human Rights Watch, said the action "demonstrates contempt for the global rule of law" and represents a "blatant attempt at obstruction."

The Republican president's order authorizes Pompeo, in consultation with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to block assets in the United States of ICC employees involved in the probe, according to a letter sent by Trump to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi accompanying the order.

It also authorizes Pompeo to block entry into the United States of these individuals as well as their family members.

'Low Point'

The ICC was established in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It has jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself. The United States has never been a member of the court.

The US action is the latest under Trump taking aim at an international body. Trump, who has promoted an "America First" policy during his presidency, last month said he would end the US relationship with the World Health Organization.

Afghanistan is a member of the ICC, though Kabul has argued that any war crimes should be prosecuted locally.

"The Department of Justice has received substantial credible information that raises serious concerns about a long history of financial corruption and malfeasance at the highest levels in the office of the prosecutor," said Attorney General William Barr, who did not offer evidence.

He also said the court was being manipulated by Russia, but did not elaborate on how. He hinted there could be more actions against the ICC. "The measures announced today are an important first step in holding the ICC accountable for exceeding its mandate and violating the sovereignty of the United States."

John Bellinger, the State Department's former top lawyer under Republican former President George W. Bush, said the two sides could have avoided the conflict but chose not to.

"It's unfortunate that the long-running US dispute with the ICC has reached this new low point. ... It's not surprising that the Trump administration has reacted forcefully with threatened sanctions, especially in an election year," he said.

The Trump administration imposed travel restrictions and other sanctions against ICC employees a year ago.

The ICC decided to investigate after a preliminary examination by prosecutors in 2017 found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes were committed in Afghanistan and that the court has jurisdiction.

A senior Trump administration official, describing the order to reporters on a conference call, said the directive authorizes sanctions against any individual directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate American personnel without US consent.

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Health care professionals who die by suicide are more likely to be older and nearing the end of their careers, or be of Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry, or confronting physical, mental health or medical malpractice issues, according to a new study from Massachusetts General Hospital.

In a study published in JAMA Surgery, researchers identified modifiable and behavioral risk factors that can lead to burnout and suicide among three groups of health care providers (surgeons, nonsurgeon physicians and dentists) as a way of informing hospitals and residency training programs of potential areas for intervention through increased screening and treatment.

Our study highlights the fact we have to be concerned about a larger physician population than we originally thought, including individuals facing civil legal, marital and cultural risk factors, as well as those receiving treatment for mental illness. Providers are comfortable advising patients when to seek help but are often reluctant to do so themselves. Part of that is the perceived stigma of being a health care professional with a mental health problem, as well as concern it could adversely affect their medical licensure." Yisi Daisy Ji, DMD, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and lead author of the study

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic raises the importance of physician mental health and suicide prevention. "With physicians across the country facing uncharted challenges in working conditions, redeployment and physical and emotional stress, we must be more vigilant than ever," emphasizes Faith Robertson, MD, with the Department of Neurosurgery, and co-author of the study. "We are calling on all physicians to recognize the signs of mental health difficulties in their colleagues, as well as in themselves, and take early action."

To determine which physicians are most at risk, researchers examined data from the National Violent Death Reporting System from 2003 though 2016. Of the more than 170,000 individuals who died of suicide, 767 were health care professionals.

The Mass General study is the first national evaluation of suicide risk factors and outcomes in the health care provider sub-groups of surgeons, nonsurgeon physicians and dentists.

Some unexpected findings

Among the surprising findings of the retrospective study was that physicians who died of suicide were substantially older (mean age, 59.6 years) compared to the general population of suicide victims (mean age, 46.8) years. "This is a previously unrecognized demographic to be at risk," notes Ji.

"Our hypothesis is that the transition into a senior career position or retirement introduces new and often unsettling challenges of purpose, finances and restructuring of routine and family dynamics."

Another unexpected finding by the team was that physicians of Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry were at higher risk of suicide than those of white ancestry. Researchers theorized that the cultural stigma of experiencing mental health problems among this health care population may contribute to low rates of diagnosis and treatment.

Civil legal problems were also found to be a significant risk factor for suicide in physicians compared to the general population, and more so in the nonsurgeon than the surgeon cohort.

The reason, the study suggested, is that physicians in specialties where malpractice litigation is less common (such as nonsurgical) may experience more emotional distress when claims occur, compounded by the duration and uncertainty of each case.

The researchers propose that hospitals would benefit from offering additional psychological as well as legal and human resource support to physicians during times of litigation-induced stress.

With reported cases of physician burnout on the rise nationwide, the study emphases the need for more intense screening and support of health care professionals across all high risk groups.

The paper cited a model educational program at the University of California, San Diego focused on destigmatizing mental health issues and promoting help-seeking behavior and treatment, including an anonymous, interactive online screening program for all medical students and faculty.

Harvard Medical School, too, maintains a robust program that allows physicians under stress to confidentially seek and receive treatment.

"Our study underscores the need for more targeted intervention and support to fit the risk factors of health care professionals," says Ji. "And that support, including mental health screenings and more open conversations among colleagues about warning signs, needs to continue throughout the physician's career if we're going to mitigate burnout and decrease the rate of suicides in the field of medicine."
A cyclist pases Odeonsplatz in the city of Munich, southern Germany, on March 21, 2020. - The public life in the city is very limited due to the coronavirus COVID-19. (Photo by Christof STACHE / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images) - CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP

One of Germanys most prominent virologists has said the countrys lockdown was unnecessary to defeat the coronavirus.

We went into lockdown too quickly because the prevailing concern was that there might not be enough intensive care beds and that there was pressure from the public, Prof Hendrik Streeck said.

We are seeing a lot of asymptomatic cases, that is infections with no consequences. This means we can assess the danger from the virus better. I still don't believe that at the end of the year we will have had more deaths in Germany than in other years.

Prof Streeck led the first comprehensive study into the effects of the coronavirus on an entire community in the German town of Gangelt.

The controversial study found the fatality rate for the virus was much lower than at first thought, at just 0.37 per cent.

It also found that ten times more people than previously thought may have acquired immunity to the virus.

My position has always been that the virus should not be trivialized, but that it shouldnt be overdramatised either, Prof Streeck told Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung newspaper.

I agreed with the initial restrictions and the ban on major events. After they were imposed, the infection process already started to decrease. I would have made further measures, such as contact restrictions, dependent on the actual course of the outbreak, in order to see how effective restrictions are and whether additional steps are really necessary.

A full high Street as shoppers are out and about in Berlin as the German economy moves out of partial lockdown from the Corona Virus. Wlimersdorfer Strasse, Charlottenburg. - Craig Stennett for the Telegraph

Prof Streeck said he did not expect a second wave of infections. I don't think we'll see a big surge in Covid 19 infections again, but if we do we should be careful not to take such strong measures as we did in the spring, he said.

There will always be further outbreaks. So far, they have been rather harmless. Of course that requires coordinated and continuous monitoring.

Prof Streecks intervention comes with no sign of a second wave in Germany more than seven weeks after the country began lifting its lockdown.

Story continues

But his claims are likely to stir controversy. The Gangelt study he headed came under sustained attack from rival scientists who claimed it underplays the risk from the virus.

They claim it was commissioned for political purposes by the regional government of North Rhine-Westphalia, whose leader Armin Laschet opposed the lockdown  allegations Prof Streeck denies.

He spoke out in support of schools reopening. Children are not major carriers for this virus. This is known virologically. The decision now has to be made politically, he said.

In any case, teachers have no higher risk of infection than other professional groups that work with people, such as nurses or sales staff.

And he was critical of the requirement to wear facemasks in shops and on public transport in Germany.

At the beginning of the pandemic, masks were specifically warned against. The reasons for this still apply, even if, strangely enough, they no longer seem to matter to anyone.

People shuffle the masks in their pockets, hold them constantly and strap them over their mouths for two weeks, probably unwashed. This is a wonderful breeding ground for bacteria and fungi.
Explainer: Why The U.S.-NATO Exercises In Eastern Europe Are Important

By Rikard Jozwiak June 10, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended several military exercises, but now that restrictive measures have been eased some are going forward, albeit in a scaled-down form.

Two kicked off in early June in Poland and the Baltic Sea, drawing particular interest around the world, and not just because of the logistics of holding them amid an ongoing pandemic. The proximity of the training to Russian territory is seen by many as a possible signal that the U.S. military is shifting its interest in Europe eastward.

What Are The Exercises?

The first exercise involves 4,000 U.S. soldiers and 2,000 Polish troops in northwestern Poland. The bilateral training features a Polish airborne exercise and division-size river crossing from June 5 to June 19.

Dubbed Allied Spirit, the exercise was supposed be linked to a much larger U.S.-led multinational exercise in Europe, including NATO members, called Defender Europe 20, which had to be significantly scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second one, Baltops 20, runs from June 7 to June 16 in the Baltic Sea region. The maritime-focused exercise, which has been held annually since 1972, involves 28 maritime units, 28 aircraft, and up to 3,000 personnel from 19 countries, with Finland and Sweden being the only non-NATO participants.

Both exercises are designed to show international resolve against any potential threat and improve the "interoperability" of national armies' land, sea, and air assets.

How Has COVID-19 Affected The Exercises?

The pandemic has forced military commanders to modify and reduce the scale of Defender Europe 20. The exercise was originally planned to be the largest deployment of U.S.-based forces to Europe in more than 25 years, involving 20,000 soldiers and nine NATO allies practicing military maneuvers in several European countries.

Before the pandemic shut down most of the continent, more than 6,000 U.S. soldiers and 3,000 pieces of equipment had already arrived in Europe. Most of the original plans were scrapped but the U.S.-Polish exercise received a green light in mid-May.

Baltops 20 has also been modified. There will be no land element to complement the air and sea operations to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. This means normally standard features of naval exercises such as amphibious landings, exchanging personnel between ships, and merchant vessel boarding will not take place.

Are The Exercises Directed At Russia?

The U.S. military and NATO have been quick to point out that all exercises are "defensive in nature." Lisa Franchetti, the commander of the Naples-based U.S. 6th Fleet, told journalists that Baltops 20 should not be interpreted as a threat to any specific country and exercises are held in international waters and international airspace. Franchetti encouraged the Russian military to behave professionally.

However, many observers expect the Russian Navy to make close approaches to the exercises and that Russian jets may "buzz" allied planes, meaning that they will fly so close as to create "wake turbulence."

A NATO official recently told RFE/RL that, in 2019 alone, allied aircraft took to the skies 290 times to escort or shadow Russian military aircraft across Europe. Even though the alliance doesn't reveal numbers for specific regions, it is believed most of the incidents occurred around the Baltic Sea.

The Allied Shield exercise takes place in Drawsko Pomorskie, some 350 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. When Defender Europe 20 was announced, Russia planned its own war games in direct response but called off its exercise as the coronavirus pandemic hit. Moscow has called on NATO to scale down military activity and move them away from Eastern Europe to reduce tensions.

Will The Russian Military Officially Observe The Exercises?

No. U.S. military officials told RFE/RL that they "were not aware of any Russian notification to inspect exercise Allied Spirit in Poland." The threshold for required observation in accordance with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Vienna document on the transparency of military exercises is 13,000 troops -- twice as many as will be present in Poland in June. Naval exercises such as Baltops 20 are not subject to notification and observation requirements enshrined in the Vienna Document.

Why Is The Presence Of U.S. Troops In Poland Politically Significant?

Because of what is happening in Poland's western neighbor, Germany. U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized a plan to reduce the U.S. permanent troop presence in Germany by 9,500 from the 34,500 service members who are currently there. The move will also cap the number of American soldiers in Germany at 25,000. More than 1,000 of the troops leaving Germany may be redeployed to Poland, adding to the 4,500 already there on a rotational basis.

Poland, whose government enjoys close ties with the Trump administration, is pushing for an even bigger American presence on its soil and hopes to capitalize on its special relationship with the United States in the future. The very fact that a joint exercise has been resuscitated despite the pandemic can be seen in this light.

It can also be viewed against the backdrop of tensions between Washington and Berlin over everything from Germany wanting to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring Russian gas directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea, Germany failing to meet its NATO military-spending target, trade tensions, and a host of other disputes including the Iran nuclear deal and climate change.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer-why -the-u-s--nato-exercises-in-eastern- europe-are-important/30663259.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Ankara, June 11 : Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said Ankara is trying to solve the problem with Greece over the Mediterranean via dialogues.

"We work with Greece in the Aegean and the Mediterranean with the determination to overcome problems by fulfilling our responsibilities as much as possible. At this point, we are making some progress," Akar said speaking to A Haber broadcaster on Wednesday.

"I want to underline ... that the Greeks would not stage a war with Turkey," he added.

Turkey wants good neighbourly relations with Greece, and believes the problems will be resolved by peaceful and political means based on the international laws, the minister said, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We had three rounds of talks with our Greek partners. Two in Athens and one in Ankara. We are renewing our calls for holding the fourth meeting in Ankara," he stated.

Akar called on Athens to abide by the demilitarized status of the islands in the Aegean.

Last week, Greek Defence Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos said that Greece was ready for a military conflict with Turkey to defend its sovereign rights in the Mediterranean.

Turkey and Greece experienced serious tensions in the past over disputed zones in the Aegean Sea.
The US is caught up in the twin tsunamis of the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic, each impacting the other in unknown ways, in an election year.

Eight minutes, 46 seconds. That is the length of time it took for a second tsunami to hit the US three months after the first one landed on its shores. It began with the COVID-19 virus, which infected more than 1,900,000 people and killed over 110,000. The resulting lockdown dealt a body blow to the economy. Businesses collapsed, unemployment soared, all forms of social contact were shut down. Even the definition of a normal life changed.

The second one started just when the country was gradually reopening and there was a new sense of hope despite the increasing vulnerability. With strong restrictions in place, people could do simple things like shop, visit a dentist, buy a car or property, attend a religious service or get a haircut. Even New York City, the worst hit in the country, began the first phase of reopening. It seemed to be onward and upward from this point on as restaurants and hotels were next, followed by schools, colleges, concerts and shows.

Then an alternate, unexpected and powerful reality surfaced in Minneapolis: a double-edged sword which could undo the hard-won gains made so far against the virus, while also providing a glimmer of hope that the broken criminal justice system could be reformed. On 25 May, an unarmed, handcuffed, 49-year old black man, George Floyd, was killed by a white policeman, Derek Chauvin, for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyds neck, abetted by three of his fellow officers, while ignoring his repeated cries of I cant breathe. Even when there was no pulse, the knee wasnt removed for an additional, gut-wrenching two minutes. The graphic video unleashed a tidal wave of violence and protests against police brutality and racism. It also ended social distancing, key to keeping the virus in check.

The roots of racism go deep here  159 years ago, a civil war had to be fought to end slavery. Racism has resulted in systemic injustice and lack of equality in education, housing, jobs and health care. Twenty-three percent of blacks accounted for COVID-19 fatalities, even though they make up 13 percent of the population. The relationship between the mainly white police and the black community has always been fraught  the list of black people killed by the police is long.

After Floyds death, there were peaceful protests in the daytime and widespread rioting and looting in the night throughout the country. In Minneapolis, a police station and businesses close by were set on fire. Some places in big areas like New York City looked like war zones with broken glass everywhere, police cars burned down and shops and banks looted in wealthy and poor neighborhoods. Many big cities introduced curfews, including New York City, which hasnt had one since World War II. More than 2,500 people have been arrested in the city alone since the end of May and crammed into detention centers.

The lack of leadership from the top worsened the situation. Unlike President George Bush, who became a healer after 9/11, Donald Trump has consistently widened the rift between the races. He did not acknowledge the murder, calling the protestors thugs and terrorists and threatened to call in the military. There was pushback when his security forces used tear gas to clear out peaceful protestors in front of the White House so that he could walk to a recently damaged church close by for a photo op.

Despite this, after many days of curfew, the looting and rioting were brought under control by the states, allowing the marches to continue. Tens of thousands have protested peacefully in 700 cities and small towns all over the nation and it has spread globally as well. Black Lives Matter is the rallying call, with many holding up signs saying, I cant breathe. On 6 June, over 10,000 people congregated peacefully in Washington, with music, dancing and ice cream thrown into the mix. People of all ages and races, black, white and brown, are putting their lives at risk by marching cheek by jowl with others, to make their voices heard, demanding reform. Many, including some police officers, took the knee as a sign of respect for Floyd whose death has triggered the most important civil rights movement in the last 50 years.

And the protests show no signs of slowing down as it goes from strength to strength. In the past, after a black death there would be protests, riots and violence. It would soon peter out because the powerful police unions provide legal immunity to its members, with no transparency and no accountability. Besides, each city, state and county controls its own police force with differing policies  a true patchwork of rules. Congress had no will to buck the unions and to enact legislation at the national level. No longer.

The rallying cry of the protestors to defund the police has led to national soul searching and discussion on the very role of the police in maintaining law and order. There is a wide spectrum of opinions as to what this means or how to implement it. Minneapolis went to the extreme by planning to disband the entire police department without thinking through what would replace it. Others are more moderate. Reduce the responsibilities of the police and bring in other resources for situations that require different skill sets, such as social workers. Some want more financial resources allocated to community needs like housing and education, which would either come out of the collective police budget, $115 billion in 2017, or not, based on the viewpoint.

There is encouraging news. The four policemen involved in Floyds murder were fired and charged with murder. Individual cities and states have also made piecemeal efforts to change the system such as banning chokeholds and putting in place more transparency.

Best of all, Democrats in Congress have recently introduced sweeping legislation at the federal level for massive police reform to address the problems of glaring injustices, racist practices and excessive use of violence, and to hold police accountable for misconduct, while keeping police budgets intact.

Under normal circumstances, it would have little chance of passing in this highly bipartisan climate during election year, with Republicans controlling the Senate and a president who tweets constantly about supporting law and order. The US Attorney General William Barr has even said, I dont think that the law enforcement system is systemically racist.

And yet, Republicans in both the House and the Senate are hurriedly scrambling now to come up with their own version of police reform legislation and are surprisingly not attacking the Democrats for being soft on crime. There seems to be bipartisan support, something not seen in Washington for close to four years.

This is because there has been a sea change in public perceptions. Nearly 70 percent of the people, including whites, believe that Floyds death is not a random incident and reveals systemic problems. They are saying enough is enough and want reform. Still, there is no assurance that any bill will be passed, although there is a much better chance now than at any other time in the past.

It is not clear why Floyds murder became the tipping point for this global movement. Maybe the combination of the pressure cooker environment created by the pandemic and the gut-wrenching video created the perfect storm.

Meanwhile, against this backdrop of social unrest and absence of social distancing, the virus lurks insidiously in the shadows. Talking spews droplets into the air, tear gas causes coughing and sneezing, super spreaders are in the crowd, all of which will play a role in spreading the virus. If the pandemic worsens, it may put a damper on the protests.

Ultimately, both the tsunamis are intertwined, each impacting the other in unknowable and dangerous ways. How this will play out in an election year and what the future holds only time will tell in this historic period.
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Linkedin Mardika Parama (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 08:32 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc42db 1 Business food-estate,Public-Works-and-Public-Housing-Ministry,Basuki-Hadimuljono,Central-Kalimantan,farmland,food-security,rice-production Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has instructed the Public Works and Housing Ministry to expand the governments food-estate program by developing 165,000 hectares of land in Pulang Pisau regency, Central Kalimantan, into farmland, a senior official has said.

Minister Basuki Hadimulyono said a total of 85,500 ha of land in the area already functioned as farmland so the ministry only needed to clear 79,500 ha of scrubland for the development. The project aims to boost productivity by 2 tons of rice for each ha of land.

We will start developing the land this year until 2022. This project is our second-highest priority after the development of the National Strategic Tourist Areas [KSPN], he said during an online video conference on Tuesday.

He further said the land designated for the project was alluvial and not peatland, even though it was previously used in the governments Peatland Development Project (PLG).

The ministry will require Rp1.05 trillion (US$74.5 million) to build the projects irrigation system, according to Basuki, and the development project will be carried out in conjunction with the State-Owned Enterprise Ministry through an investment scheme.

We will handle the irrigation system rehabilitation program on this former PLG land, he said.

Government data presented by President Joko Jokowi Widodo on April 28 showed that over 20 provinces faced shortages of staple foods, such as garlic, sugar, chilis and eggs, making food security one of his administrations priorities.

However, Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) secretary-general Dewi Kartika said the governments botched agrarian reform program was to blame for the shortages as vast plots of farmland were constantly being encroached on by mining concessions and corporate plantations.

Agrarian reform was among the National Priority Programs pushed by Jokowis first-term administration in an effort to better distribute development and improve the quality of peoples lives.

It includes programs that are expected to alleviate poverty in villages, improve the countrys food security and land production, acknowledge ownership rights over land owned by individuals, the state and the general public, including land utilization in the popular interest.

According to National Land Agency data, our farmland shrank by 650,000 ha in 2018. Much of this was converted to be used by other business sectors such as palm oil, natural resources extraction and infrastructure, Dwi said in May.

She added that she feared the governments plan to clear 600,000 ha of peatland in Central Kalimantan would yield the same result as a similar measure taken under former president Soeharto, which ended up leading to crop failures and subsequent food shortages.
New Delhi, June 11 : Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday once again targeted the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government over the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of 69,000 teachers, saying that it was going on under the nose of the government and it took them a year to notice it.

She said that the government has to answer to the lakhs of aspirants who appeared for the examination. "Lakhs of youth took the exam and hoped for jobs. They all waited for a year for the results. The mega scam went unnoticed under the nose of the BJP government with the connivance of the people sitting in the system. They kept it under the covers for a year. Now the government will have to answer to the hard working students and the successful people who have appeared in the exam," she said in a tweet in Hindi attaching a news report.

Her remarks came at a time when Congress leader Rajeev Shukla has demanded a probe monitored by a Supreme Court judge into the alleged irregularities in the teachers' recruitment. Priyanka Gandhi, who is also the party in-charge for eastern Uttar Pradesh, has been raising the issue of the teachers recruitment and has also spoken to the aspirants in the state through video conferencing.

The UP government has ordered a Special Task Force (STF) probe into the issue and a few people have been arrested in the last few days.
Plymouth, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2020) - Plymouth Rock Technologies Inc. (CSE: PRT) (OTCQB: PLRTF) (FSE: 4XA) (WKN# A2N8RH) ("Plymouth Rock", "PRT", or the "Company") a leader in the development of cutting-edge threat detection technologies, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with SDS Group Australia Pty Ltd ("SDS"), a leading provider of best of breed products and equipment to the Australian security and defense industries.

PRT and SDS have signed an LOI to work together to position PRT's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for procurement-focused evaluations following initial consultation with members of the Australian Government. The focus of the partnership is primarily centered around the need for the early detection and identification of remote wildfires. Fire departments have typically used consumer drones that can only deliver imagery in a small area with the pilot in close proximity. To date there has not been a commercial UAS that can combine large area surveillance, deliver stable flight operations in extreme thermal or damp conditions. The X1 delivers these capabilities. Along with its flight characteristics, the combined sensor capabilities of the X1 delivers heightened situational awareness and comprehensive actionable intelligence of a wildfire to fire and rescue crews from an elevated position. The X1's thermal spectrum capabilities can distinguish between mass area fire, hotspots, as well as people or wildlife that may have become trapped by the blaze.

This initial effort will contribute to defining strategy for the development of business across law enforcement and the Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) for PRT's UAS platforms. As part of the partnership process, SDS has now registered with the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

"Having worked with the engineers and founders of PRT over the past several years on other initiatives, we knew that their venture into aviation related technologies would be to develop systems that are both state-of-the-art and mission focused," stated Craig Seckerson, Managing Director of SDS. "The X1 and upcoming XV platform are unparalleled in their overall capabilities and have clearly been built around this mission. Last year was infamously named the Black Summer here in Australia - the sad reality is that bushfires will return this year, however we believe by giving local fire crews and central government a real-time operational overview of the situation and placement of assets, timely interventions and relevant resources can be applied much quicker here on in," concluded Seckerson.

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"We're extremely proud that PRT UAS technologies are being tasked for their designed role as a heavy-duty, state-of-the-art asset for operational intelligence. Using artificial intelligence and cutting-edge avionic tech to potentially save both life and billions of dollars in loss is truly worthwhile," stated Dana Wheeler, CEO of PRT. "The X1 specifications and capabilities are focused on delivering critical operational capabilities unseen on small UAS anywhere in the world. Our sensor and payload capabilities put the X1 on the forefront of safe, reliable aerial capability that is far beyond that of typical commercial drones. This step forward with SDS is a significant move in our commercialization phase, The X1 being a multi-mission capable sensory powerhouse will greatly aid fire and rescue services in their upcoming missions," concluded Wheeler.

About Plymouth Rock Technologies Inc.

We are on a mission to bring engineering-driven answers to the most critical problems that threaten our safety. We work with government, law enforcement and military to innovate solutions for national security, defense and space systems.

The Company is developing the next generation of threat detection solutions, The PRT X1 is a purpose built multirotor Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The unit contains an integrated sensor package that combines Thermal detection with 4K HD real-time air-to-ground streaming. Our advanced threat detection methods fuse artificial intelligence with augmented reality interfaces to eliminate human operating error. Plymouth Rock products, both airborne and land-based, will scan for threat items at greater "stand-off" distances than current existing technologies. Our unique radar imaging and signal processing technology creates new opportunities for remotely operated, none intrusive screening of crowds in real time.

Plymouth Rock's other core technologies include: (1) A Millimeter Remote Imaging from Airborne Drone ("MIRIAD"); (2) A compact microwave radar system for scanning shoe's ("Shoe-Scanner").

www.plyrotech.com

About SDS Group Australia

SDS Group Australia is driven to offer the best of breed products into the Australian security and defence industry, all SDS equipment is required to perform in critical situations often in the most harsh and inhospitable environments.

SDS Group Australia strives to work with manufacturers at the pinnacle of our industry to offer both new innovative technology and products with a proven deployment history. One of SDS's key features is to listen and understand the end user requirements and find the ideal equipment best suited to meet or exceed client expectation, there really is no requirement too big or too small.

https://www.sdsgroupaustralia.com.au/

About the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is a government body that regulates Australian aviation safety. We license pilots, register aircraft, oversee and promote safety.

We were established as an independent statutory authority in July 1995 and work together with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications and Air services Australia to achieve our vision of safe skies for all.

www.casa.gov.au

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dana Wheeler

President and CEO

+1-603-300-7933

info@plyrotech.com

Investor Information:

Tasso Baras

+1-778-477-6990

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward - looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57555
(Newser)  A New Jersey mayor perhaps thought his words would smooth things over at an anti-discrimination rally over the weekend, but his speech just ended up earning him backlash. Mayor Sal Bonaccorso showed up at a gathering of between 50 to 100 people in Clark Township on Saturday, where he wasn't scheduled to speak. "He was just supposed to be there to listen to the stories and then have open dialogue for future action in the town," Hanif Denny, one of the rally's organizers, tells NBC News. But speak Bonaccorso did, and his words prompted "audible displeasure" from the crowd, per NBC. It started when attendees noticed the mayor joking with a friend, cigar in hand, while people were sharing their tales of negative racial interactions. "It's not enough to say, 'I'm not racist,'" one woman who confronted Bonaccorso said, as seen here. "You have to be anti-racist. OK? Pro-black."

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The mayor's response: "I am pro-black, for all the good black people that I know in my life." The crowd reacted with groans, and the woman who started the conversation with Bonaccorso replied, "What does that mean?!" Bonaccorso tried to dig himself out by saying he was for all "good people," regardless of race, and that he wasn't racist, but the group wasn't having it. "I thought the mayor said whatever he could to avoid committing to that statement, being pro-black," Denny tells NJ Advance Media. In a Facebook statement Wednesday, Bonaccorso said that "my remarks may not have accurately represented how I feel" and that he wanted to clear things up. "An attendee asked me, 'Are you pro black?'" he wrote. "The answer is of course, and unequivocally, yes. I also truly believe that Black Lives Matter." He also noted that even though he's been mayor for decades, "I am still learning." (Read more New Jersey stories.)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark the end of what turned out to be an untraditional school year, four students from across the country are sharing in the same joy after each being named a 2020 CollegeBound Scholarship recipient.

The four eighth-grade students, attending four different National Heritage Academies (NHA) schools from Michigan and North Carolina, were selected out of hundreds of applicants to receive the organization's annual CollegeBound Scholarship, a one-time $5,000 scholarship to go towards their college education.

This year's winning students are:



 Spencer Wingate, Peak Charter Academy

 Anthony Byrd, Queen's Grant Community School

 Kenyae Brown, River City Scholars Charter Academy

 Alondra Pedroza, Walton Charter Academy

"It is my pleasure to recognize each of these outstanding students as recipients of the 2020 CollegeBound Scholarship," said NHA CEO Brian Britton. "Each winner is an excellent example of what we hope for all NHA students. With strong academics, commendable character, and a passion for giving back to their communities, I wish them all the best of luck in their upcoming ventures."

This year's celebrations included socially-distanced drive-by parades, announcing the news and providing a giant three-foot check to each student, and honorary recognition at the students' virtual eighth-grade graduation ceremonies with a special video from the CollegeBound Scholarship Committee.

Students from 89 schools applied for the scholarship. To be considered, academic performance, community involvement, and a written essay are taken into account by an independent professional selection group, which selects the final winners.

Each applicant was required to write an essay on one of four topics related to the school's Moral Focus curriculum, which teaches students to be well-rounded individuals by highlighting monthly virtues such as gratitude and encouragement.

The majority of CollegeBound Scholarship funds come directly from NHA employee donations. Many NHA employees see the scholarship fund as an opportunity to further support students and help them on the path toward college.

Photos from the celebrations are available here.

About National Heritage Academies:

National Heritage Academies is a network of 89 tuition-free, public charter schools across nine states, serving more than 60,000 students in kindergarten through eighth-grade. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.

SOURCE National Heritage Academies

Related Links

www.heritageacademies.com


What Its Like to Come Out of the Closet, As Told by 13 Proud Gay Men

LGBTQ+ Community Members Share Their Personal Coming Out Stories

Theres a lot of weight behind an individuals decision to come out.

No two experiences are alike, with varying reasons to their approach and decision to embrace their sexuality at that specific point in their life. Coming out isnt an easy process either, and not all members of the LGBTQ+ community have a support system on the other end that accepts them for who they are, ultimately deciding to disregard what they have to say.

And even if youve come out once to your family and friends, those whove been out of the closet for years and years are still tasked with repeatedly explaining their sexuality to strangers, co-workers, and other various acquaintances.

RELATED: Best Gay and LGBTQ+ Dating Sites

Im gay. Oh, Im actually gay. Nope, not straight  Im gay.

Quite frankly, theres no right or wrong time as to when you should come out. When you do, however, that feeling of freedom is a feeling like no other.

With June being a month that highlights the LGBTQ+ community in all its glitter and glory, we had 13 different gay men speak upon how it was for them to come out, what their experience was like, and how it framed who they are today. Here are their stories:

Sal, 26

My coming out story was a JOURNEY, albeit pretty positive. I came out completely when I was 23 years old back in 2017. Prior to that, my plan was to start this process once I graduated from college in 2015. I had a double life for a good chunk of 2015-2016 of seeing both men and women. I started telling people who I wasn't as close with the truth about me being gay. It was always so emotional (I am very sensitive and cry at everything). I felt like it was harder to tell people who I was closer with because they knew so much about me, yet, I was hiding this huge part of my life. I had been wanting to tell my family about this, but one morning when I was visiting them, my mom straight out asked me if I was gay over breakfast. All I had to do was respond and say yes which I followed through with. It led to a very emotional day of me telling each family member one at a time. Let me add that this was all done during Father's Day weekend ... fast forward a year from then, I became more comfortable with myself and started to post more "gay" content on social media. My family eventually gave me the okay to let everyone know about this secret, especially since other family members were starting to question my sexuality to my parents. I made one big Facebook post, so that I covered all grounds. I was one of the lucky ones since I received a tremendous amount of support from both family and friends from all over the world. I also want to note this very important detail: I was dating someone during most of this coming out process, and I couldn't have done any of this without him. I am forever grateful.

Javier, 29

Looking back at my coming out journey, it feels anticlimactic. Rumors of my sexuality had always plagued me, but I managed to make it to college without ever actually coming out to anyone. Growing up a military brat, the constant moving allowed me to keep my friendships at surface level. My secret was safe. Many years growing up in church youth groups and Sunday School further solidified the shame. I was never really ready to come out, but alcohol has a funny way of lowering our defenses. After pulling aside one of my best friends the summer before junior year of undergrad, I finally said those 2 words that had scared me for so long: I'm gay. I don't know if I expected my life to immediately do a 180 or for some internal switch to go off and I would finally be free, but that didn't happen. Admitting my queerness didn't mean I was comfortable with it. In reality, it was several years of relearning how to be honest with myself and others, slowly shedding all the defenses I had l put up my entire life. It all culminated with my immediate family finding out from a rogue instagram post 8 years later. Not how I envisioned coming out to them, but there are worst ways. I guess it feels anticlimactic because it's still ongoing. While out and proud, I think I'm always going to carry some part of the scared closeted kid around with me.

Brandon, 28

My coming out was such a mixed bag. I started telling friends when I was 15 and the news spread fast. Overall no negative reactions from friends, except for one: A female friend of mine thought we were on the verge of dating, and I thought she already assumed I was gay. When I told her, she threw up. My parents were less than pleased, I got sent to Christian therapy for several months to straighten me out, and had a lot of restrictions on where I could be, and what friends I was allowed to hang out with. Eventually they came around and are very supportive now, but it took years! I'm so thankful for having my supportive friends and my sister back then.

Alan, 29

I was going on a trip down to Tampa to visit my boyfriend at the time for a week. It was 2 a.m. the day before my flight, and I was watching re-runs of "Real Housewives" at my parents house. My dad woke up and passed by the living room, asking me why I was watching such trash TV (GASP). At that moment, I thought ... this is it. This is my moment to say it out loud as a 20-year old. Dad. Im gay. He looked at me in shock. The only words that could come from him were I love you. He went out for a walk, and I proceeded to wake up my mom and share the same news. She said, I love you, my son. Never had I felt so free. It felt amazing not to hide something so big in my life. From that moment on, I didnt feel the need to make it a big statement to everyone I met along the way. It was just simply who I am.

Anonymous, 27

Coming out was a gradual process for me. The first person I came out to was my best friend when I was drunk in a Taco Bell parking lot. I felt a slight sense of relief, but knew that it would be a long process for me. It took me another full year to tell the next person, which was my sister. After that, I gradually began telling more people. Overall, nobody was surprised and nobody rejected me, so I'd say it was a fairly smooth experience.

Billy, 31

The first time I came out to my parents I was 16. I figured the most direct way would be to casually slip it into a conversation. We always ate dinner as a family, all 7 of us. My parents went around the table asking how everyones day went; my older brother talked about wrestling practice, my sister told them she failed a test, and I took that opening to blurt it out, Im gay. My siblings knew  hell, everyone knew  but it was just something no one ever brought up. My brothers and sister snickered at the awkward silence that followed, and in typical Walsh woman fashion of burying their heads to anything they dont want to talk about, my mother, Susan, says, Pass the salt. Pass. The. Salt. At that moment I knew this was something we werent going to delve deeper into, so I just left it alone. Flash forward 4 years. My parents would be hosting a New Years Eve party and I asked if a few of my friends could come over. One of my oldest and closest girlfriends, Melissa, whom my mother has had a lady boner for since we were kids, was there. Ever since middle school, she pushed for us to date, and that wasnt happening for obvious reasons. Later in the night, my mom gets to talking with Melissa about school, and since Susan has had a few drinks, presses the dating issue again. You know, you and Billy would make a great couple. Melissa replies, Yeah, well if we end up still single at 35, maybe well give it a shot. Susan follows with, But why wait, youre beautiful and would have gorgeous babies together. Melissa agrees, saying We would, and if he ever wants children, Id be happy to donate my eggs. Mom, still not getting the picture, goes I dont understand why you wouldnt both want to give it a shot. So poor Melissa had to deliver the final blow, Because hes not interested in me, or women, hes gay, he likes penis. And in a perfect cinematic moment, a song was changing, and the entire party heard, He likes penis echo through the house before some Flo Rida song started. Thats all she needed to hear, the poor things face losing all its color before she excused herself to bed. She then proceeded to call all of my aunts and cousins asking if they knew to which everyone replied with some variation of yeah, duh. In the morning, I went to her room, and she swiveled around from her computer chair, robe on, hair a mess, and her coke bottle sized glasses on (very John Roberts in My Son is Gay  educate yourselves if youve never seen), and says, Anything you want to tell me? Our conversation was super emotional because she felt like a bad mother being the last to know. I had to remind her of all the things I did growing up that were clearly signs, and that she always knew but just didnt know how to approach it. She was worried for me because the world was a scary place in her eyes for a gay man, and she didnt want to lose me from someone being hateful. I then look over at her computer screen and she was searching My son is gay, what do I say to support? What a gem. Shes always been my biggest supporter, and she never stopped. Shes my ride or die, even when she asks me to pass the salt.

Ken, 31

Coming out for me was similar to many other queer Asian Americans, where the notion of saving face is prevalent within our immigrant families. Due to the needs for cultural assimilation and frankly, survival, our parents likely taught us to avoid anything that could be controversial, for the sake of putting our families first. This can manifest in suppressing many personal things, which result in us delaying the process or avoiding it altogether. For me, I knew I was different at a young age, but didnt fully address those facets of my identity until decades later. In 2012, after a series of personal challenges and unfortunate events, I decided to let my immediate family know about me being gay. Thankfully, the initial talk with my dad and brother was an easy one with both being incredibly supportive. The one with my mom, however, was another story. Being the first out member of both sides of my family carries a lot of weight, and I realize that her concerns stem from what other members of the extended family may think of me. In these moments, I refer back to Janet Mocks book Redefining Realness, and how she stated that coming out is also a process for those we come out to, especially for our loved ones. We need to give them the time to process it, as thats an important part of our coming out. Giving my mom the space to ask questions is a step forward. In addition, having my extended family members be supportive of my coming out and meet my boyfriend has helped her get to a place of acceptance. My sexuality is still not something we talk about too often, but I know that my mom does care a lot for me. What she cant express comfortably in words, I have been able to feel through her actions.

Thomas, 28

My whole life I struggled with my sexuality and figuring out who I was. I buried myself in school and work, and never felt comfortable opening up when it came to conversations around my dating life. My mindset was that if I excelled in other areas, I could hide behind them. My aha moment came while watching a show that ended up saving me. Dan Levy created a brilliant town named Schitts Creek where I met David Rose. He was a character I had never seen represented before, and one that spoke to me so much. I never understood that I didnt have to fit in a box sexually, and that there was a spectrum between straight and gay. David opened my eyes and made me begin to have a conversation with myself about who I was. Things started to spiral shortly after and I found myself in a really dark place. I reached out to the LGBT Center of NYC who set me up in a coming out program through Identity House. I met weekly with an amazing mental health counselor who broke me free from the weight I constantly put on myself. I first came out to my best friends on my 27th birthday. It was just the three of us at my apartment for dinner, and they let me tell my story and made me feel safe during a tumultuous time. Shortly after, I told my parents who are the most loving and supportive people. They marched alongside me and my friends during World Pride in 2019. I know I am privileged with such a positive experience, and I know everyones story is not like mine, but I hope for a change in the world. I hope that my friends and family continue to push to be that change in the future, and I am so thankful for organizations like the LGBT Center of NYC who save lives and help people discover who they are.

Ben, 28

I was 27, out to all my friends and most of my extended family at the time ,but always had this unspoken #DontAskDontTell policy with my parents. I mean, I have no idea how they never outright asked me after I was caught multiple times making up my own choreo to Janet Jackson at the age of 6 ,or the multiple times I had guys stay the night after college, but who's to say. I always told myself It was only important to have the conversation with them if I was seriously seeing a guy, and that wasn't until June 2018 when my ex and I finally made it official. I was bringing him to a 4th of July Provincetown party with me, and there was a strong chance we would arrange to see my family who would also be in the area. I called my mom up the night before we were leaving for Cape Cod  the conversation went as follows: Me: Hey, just wanted to let you know I have been seeing this guy for a few months and will be bringing him to Cape Cod with me.

Mom: (Long pause) Hmm, what do you mean by "seeing" someone?

Me: Mom, I mean dating. I have been dating a guy for 3 months.

Mom: Yeah, but like, I thought you always dated girls?

Me: Mmmm no, not really.

Mom: But what about Danielle, Kelly, Steph ... not even Mary?

Me: Mom, they have all been my friends since middle school, only friends.

Mom: Alright, f*ck it, as long as he keeps you happy.

Vadim, 28

Part of me had always known I was gay since I was at least 13. However, it would ultimately take me another 13 years to acknowledge that. It started out as it does with many gay guys - sparks of sexual interest in men at a young age, denial of those feelings, pretending to be straight, and compartmentalizing. After graduating from college in 2014 and going into the professional world, it began to weigh on me. It was harder to keep up the facade. At 26 years old, I met a guy who I had my first quasi-real relationship with; one that outlasted all the previous flings. It's hard to explain why or how it became that way, but it felt different. We went on dates, cooked, and watched movies  it felt good. Even after it ended, a seed in mind was planted. Could this be a real thing? Watching Love, Simon for the first time changed my life. Never have I ever felt so seen by a teenage coming-of-age movie. I saw a lot of myself in Simon and his coming-of-age-while-being-gay story. I cried my eyes out. I was emotionally impacted by this gay movie, increasingly open to the idea of a relationship for the first time in my life, and right around the corner from Pride. It was like coming out shouldve been no-brainer, but I feared how Id be judged. What would people say? The first time I came out was the hardest. I had dinner plans with my two best friends, and failed at least five different times to say something over the course of the night. My heart was beating through my chest. As they went to drop me off at my apartment, I told myself, "I am not getting out of this car until I tell them." After an awkward pause and a stumble, I told them. It was uncomfortable and strange to tell someone I was gay, but it was one of the biggest reliefs of my life when they responded with nothing but unconditional love and support. The largest weight of my back evaporated, and it felt like I had the momentum to tell everyone else I cared for. The day after, I told my brother and the rest of my close friends. Everyone's responses were supportive and loving in their own ways. About a week later, with the support of my brother, I told my parents. Their response was miles better than I anticipated, even if it took them some time to get acclimated to that idea. By the end of that month, I celebrated my first Pride as an out, gay man. Life has only gotten better since.

Torrean, 27

The day I came out to my family was totally unplanned, and I actually wasnt the one to initiate the conversation. I am very fortunate to be born into a family already containing LGBTQ+ members of varying degrees, so I was certainly not breaking any new ground by coming out. Even with that dynamic, something held me back from fully owning my truth with my loved ones. My initial plan was to tell my family before heading off to college, but of course, I backed out due to fear of rejection. Flash forward to the Christmas holiday season of my freshman year, I hadn't told anyone outside of a few college friends and had been secretly dating a guy for almost 2 months. While visiting home for the holidays, my sister caught a glimpse of one of my texts saying, I miss you to the guy I was dating at the time. I was sitting in the front seat of the car while she sat in the back, so I had not realized she could see my screen. Immediately, I tried to write off the relationship as a really close friend from college. Luckily, not much time was spent on the text. A few days later as I was prepping my suitcase to head back to NYC the next morning, my mom called me into her room and immediately shut the door behind her. As she closed the door, she said, You know I love you more than anything in this world, and you know I dont give a damn about who you love  man, woman, or otherwise. You are my son no matter what and nothing you could ever do would change that. You are not leaving again until I hear the truth from you. I immediately broke down in tears. Though I was 99.9% sure I would get a positive response from my mom, it was hard for me to initiate that conversation myself. We talked for hours about my hesitation in telling her, and how she had always known but was waiting for me to realize for myself. She explained that she took it upon herself to finally initiate the conversation because she did not want to me to get the idea that I needed to lead a separate life from her. She had already felt the physical distance between us since I had just moved to NYC while she resided in Mississippi. She refused let me leave knowing there was something else that could eventually lead me away from her due to fear on my part. My mom helped me share my entire life with the rest of the family. I am extremely lucky that this was the experience I had. For many others, especially in the black community, their experiences are far from positive. While we wait for the day when coming out is no longer necessary due to education, visibility, and acceptance, I hope other LGBTQ+ members can find similar support systems through their journeys, whether it be from blood or chosen family.

Myles, 27

I started my coming out process during the summer going into sophomore year of college. At the beginning of the semester, I went to Tulane University in New Orleans to tell one of my best friends. After I told her, we went out to a bar on campus called The Palm where I met a guy there visiting from a college in a different state. We went to some apartment on top of the bar where he was staying on some sorority girls couch. We were up all night playing tummy sticks  if you get what I mean. When I woke up, I realized it looked like I was strangled. My neck was completely black and blue, covered in hickies. It was a lovely first hookup experience, thank you Tinder. When I went back to school, I still hadn't come out to my friends. Right when I arrived, my whole house looked at me, asking who left the marks on the neck. My response: His name was Zackary. My roommate responded with, Wasnt expecting that to start my Monday morning, but good for you. Looks like you like it rough. It was pretty seamless after that with the rest of my college friends. Everyone knew within the next day or so, and I started hooking up later that week with our rival fraternitys president. Those frat parties after that were hella fun.

Sean, 28

My first sexual experience with a guy wasnt until I was 21, a college junior who had no idea what the hell it was like to be with anyone, really. After labeling myself as bisexual for 2 years, it wasnt until post-graduation that I finally bit the bullet, coming out as a full blown homosexual to the world. The inspiration came from my first steady hookup with a college friend that was a year younger. After going up to visit school and somehow ending up in his bed (I hadnt known he was gay until his penis was in my hand), I made recurring trips at least once a month. It was when my mother began to question those excursions that I took the opportunity to explain why. Its because Ive been going to see someone, I said. His name is Richie. My mom immediately asked if I was gay, which  hello, in retrospect, wasnt that obvious? If the Britney Spears cassette and binge watching of Charmed wasnt a dead giveaway, this was. She claimed she knew the whole time, wondered why I hadnt come out earlier, and made sure to tell me that I was her son who she loved no matter what. Despite me saying Id tell the rest of my immediate family, she did it for me (something I took issue with initially), but it ended up saving me the trouble. Coming out to my friends was seamless for the most part, even my incredibly straight wrestling team roommates. I know that many LGTBQ+ people cant say that, and I know I should be thankful for being so lucky in my situation. I couldnt be more grateful for the support system I have, and I am so, so incredibly proud to be a member of this community.

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The filmmaker, who helmed The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum and 2016s Jason Bourne, told Empire that 007 has responded well to the challenge posed by the Bourne films.

Read more: Real spy debunks movie myths

Greengrass was asked by the magazine about previous comments in which he had referred to the Bond character as an imperialist right-wing f***face.

He said: I was obviously quite young and brash in those days.

The 64-year-old director said he believed the Bourne movies had a huge influence on Bond, which went from the invisible cars of Die Another Day to the more grounded grit of Casino Royale after Bourne arrived.

James Bond (Daniel Craig) prepares to shoot in NO TIME TO DIE. (Credit: Nicola Dove.  2019 DANJAQ, LLC AND MGM)

Greengrass added: Its interesting that when Jason Bourne came on the scene, I think it was a bit of a wake-up call for James Bond.

But my word, how well theyve responded since. So fair play to them  they shoved my comments down my throat.

Read more: Casino Royale voted best Bond film

While James Bond is set to continue with No Time to Die later this year, marking Daniel Craigs final adventure as Ian Flemings spy, Bournes future is uncertain.

Producer Ben Smith has suggested that another Bourne movie is being developed, with ties to the spin-off TV series Treadstone, which aired on the USA Network last year and was subsequently cancelled after just one season.

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in 'The Bourne Supremacy'. (Credit: Universal)

Greengrass, meanwhile, has several projects in the pipeline, including Tom Hanks western News of the World  which will be released in December  and an adaptation of George Orwells 1984.

Read more: Frank Marshall on future of Bourne franchise

The four movies in the Bourne franchise, starring Matt Damon and adapted from Robert Ludlums novels, have grossed more than $1.5bn (1.2bn) worldwide and had a noticeable influence on the action genre.

Particular praise has been given to Greengrasss gritty approach to stunts and his use of shaky cam during intense close combat scenes.
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Apple may launch an augmented reality line of smart glasses in the spring of 2021, according to Jon Prosser, host of the video blog Front Page Tech.

The new peepers will be called Apple Glass and sell for US$499, with prescription lenses costing more, Prosser claimed.

Both lenses are displays that support gesture interaction.

The glasses will work in conjunction with an iPhone.

Early prototypes supported the LiDAR sensor for 3D scanning and wireless charging, said Prosser.

Apple originally planned to unveil the specs at its fall event, but it may postpone the announcement until March 2021, with release planned for late 2021 or early 2022, he added.

These rumors have been building up for quite some time, but this is the most cohesive information weve had on this so far, said George Jijiashvili, senior analyst at Omdia, a research and consulting firm in London.

I think Apple has been working on AR glasses behind closed doors, and they will release them because they have all the right pieces to make it work, he told TechNewsWorld.

Phone Dependency

Incorporating gesture control into the glasses is a good move, observed San Jose, California-based Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research, a high-tech research and advisory firm.

Gesture control allows the Apple Glass to be controlled without resorting to using a controller that is easily lost, he told TechNewsWorld.

Gesture control is a key control method in Microsofts HoloLens today, Krewell added.

At this stage of smart glasses development, pairing them with a smartphone is an important design choice, noted David MacQueen, executive director for the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics, a research, advisory and analytics firmbased in Newton, Massachusetts.

The only way to get the price point down to a consumer-friendly level is to offload as much of the processing power, sensors and such to a paired phone, he told TechNewsWorld.

Nreal and Samsung teased similar smartphone paired AR glasses at CE earlier this year, MacQueen added.

Most smart devices depend on a smartphone, at least for initial setup, said Julie Ask, principal analyst at Forrester Research, a market research company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A smartphone dependency will permit the glasses to be wireless like AirPods or similar devices, she told TechNewsWorld.

No Content Worries

Content long has been a major hangup for devices taking consumers to virtual realms, but that doesnt seem to be the case with Apple.

If you asked me about anybody but Apple, Id say content would be an issue, but because its Apple, its going to be less of an issue, said Tuong Nguyen, senior principal analyst at Gartner, a research and advisory company based in Stamford, Connecticut.

Apple isnt going to be launching only a piece of hardware, he told TechNewsWorld. Theyll launch a piece of hardware that extends their overall ecosystem and ties into any existing services that they have.

Apple doesnt launch a single product. They provide ecosystems of experience, Nguyen added.

Content will not be an issue for the glasses by the time theyre released, predicted Eleftheria Kouri, research analyst at ABI Research, a technology advisory company based in Oyster Bay, New York.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

I am expecting that initially Apple will rely on available AR applications before developers familiarize themselves with the device and build new applications, she told TechNewsWorld.

Apples ARKit developers kit already supports numerous AR applications, including gaming, product visualization, educational content and more, which will be available for the AR smart glasses, too.

It is anticipated that Apple will leverage Apple TV and Apple Music, allowing users to broadcast content in the AR device, Kouri said.

Similarly, users will be able to play AR games from Apple Arcade, she added. Also, it is expected that the integration of the LiDAR sensor in the latest iPad Pro and upcoming iPhone 12 Pro will enrich the available AR applications and better prepare consumers for the AR smart glasses.

Surprising Price

Among the first wave of apps for the glasses would be room modeling apps  how this piece of furniture will look in that corner of the room; information on outdoor objects like buildings and monuments; navigation apps; and how to apps, Forresters Ask said.

What weve seen on the phone is a lot of Pokmon GO clones, marketing, and AR used as a gimmick. To make these devices take off, we really need to see AR applications move beyond that, to give consumers a real reason to use the glasses, Strategy Analytics MacQueen said.

It doesnt surprise me that one of the most popular iPhone apps is a simple measuring tape, he noted. Thats something that offers genuine utility to an end user.

The pricing of Apples AR glasses  assuming Prossers information is correct  surprised many Apple watchers.

Everyone expected the price to be higher, Omdias Jijiashvili said. If you look at similar devices, theyre selling from $1,500 to three grand. $499 is a very attractive price, but it depends on how much capability the smart glasses have.

Quest Killer?

The $499 model of the glasses will be a basic edition, ABIs Kouri said.

The basic edition will be an assistive reality device with monocular vision that will not support embedded cameras and spatial understanding, she predicted.

An assistive reality device without embedded cameras will be a socially acceptable one which will allow users to familiarize themselves with AR smartglasses and not be concerned about privacy issues and video recording in public places, Kouri explained.

Apple also is working on a virtual reality headset along the lines of Facebooks Occulus Quest, according to Prosser.

Apple wouldnt compete with a headset, Gartners Nguyen said. Theyre competing with an experience.

Theres also an opportunity to resonate with a business audience, he added. With Oculus, Facebook has focused on games and movies. Theres still an opportunity for Apple, as well as anyone else in the market, because its still in its early days.

Although some reports have maintained that Apple will release its VR headset ahead of its AR glasses, Jijiashvili doubts that will be the case.

I think Apple will focus on AR in the near term, he predicted, and VR is something further in the future.
In May 2019, a headless jaguar carcass turned up at a garbage dump in southern Belize. The killing, one in a series of similar incidents, added to local outrage and inspired authorities, private citizens and companies to offer a combined $8,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the jaguar killer.

More than just a national issue, the graphic killing in Belize seemed indicative of a rise in jaguar poaching across the species range, from Mexico to Argentina.

I suspect for a long time it went unnoticed as authorities simply were not paying attention, said Pauline Verheij, an independent wildlife crime specialist who has investigated the jaguar trade in Suriname and Bolivia in recent years. Tackling wildlife crime in most if not all Latin American countries has had zero priority until only very recently.

For several years, Ms. Verheij and others have warned that the jaguar trade appears to be on the rise, at the same time that the big cats are already threatened with extinction, primarily because of habitat loss and revenge killings for livestock predation. Experts in wildlife trafficking also saw that many of the jaguar cases were linked to Chinese citizens or destinations in China. In Bolivia, for example, authorities intercepted China-bound packages containing hundreds of jaguar canines, which are fashioned into jewelry. But evidence tying these observations together has been scattered and largely anecdotal.
A lower hydro rate class created by the Public Utilities Board specifically to assist First Nations residential customers has been struck down by the provinces highest court.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A lower hydro rate class created by the Public Utilities Board specifically to assist First Nations residential customers has been struck down by the provinces highest court.

The rate class  which was created in 2018, freezing electricity rates for customers living on the provinces reserves at 2017 rates  was unanimously tossed out by the Manitoba Court of Appeal in a 35-page written decision released Wednesday.

"I am of the opinion that the PUB exceeded its jurisdiction," Madam Justice Diana Cameron wrote.

Cameron said while the PUB  an independent quasi-judicial administrative tribunal  has the power to consider social policy and bill affordability in its decisions, it doesnt have the authority "to direct the creation of customer classifications implementing broader social policy aimed at poverty reduction and which have the effect of redistributing Manitoba Hydros funds and reserves to alleviate such conditions."

"The directive constitutes a realm that is reserved for the federal and provincial governments," she wrote.

Cameron also noted the on-reserve class rate freeze meant all other Hydro ratepayers would have to pay more for their electricity to cover the reduction, while adding the federal government already pays the hydro costs of people living on reserve who receive employment income assistance.

"Thus, the directive may actually, in some cases, amount to a subsidy to the federal government and not provide relief to ratepayers in the on-reserve class."

In a statement, Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs expressed disappointment.

"This decision by the court not only goes against the letter and principle of substantive equality, it also goes against the spirit and intent of this legal and social concept as it relates to First Nations," Dumas said.

"This decision of the court represents an impoverished view of substantive equality and does not take into consideration historic disadvantage and discrimination experienced to different degrees by all First Nations," he said.

"The AMC maintains the view that the PUB was within its mandate to attempt to achieve equality and fairness for First Nations on-reserve residential Hydro customers, given the exceptional histories and circumstances of First Nations within this province and in keeping with the principles set out in the Path to Reconciliation Act."

Dumas said he will be speaking to the AMC executive council for direction on pursuing the action further.

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When the PUB created the new rate class in 2018, while First Nations customers had their rates frozen at 2017 levels, most residential customers saw a 4.04 per cent increase  instead of a 3.92 per cent increase without the freeze.

It was estimated at the time the new rate class would save First Nations residents about $2 million a year.

Then-Hydro president and chief executive officer Kelvin Shepherd said the PUB had not only exceeded its jurisdictional authority but also contravened the utilitys legislative requirement to have uniform rates for all residential customers no matter where they lived in the province.

Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen said Wednesday the utility now considers the matter closed.

"The financial implications and impact on customers will be determined in the next few days," Owen said.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
The coronavirus is spiking in more than a dozen states and intensive care beds are filling again, but several governors have no plans to reimpose shutdown measures or pause reopenings, a sign that the political will to take drastic measures has dissipated even as the virus is still raging.

In Texas, where total cases have shot up by one-third in the last two weeks, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is moving ahead with plans to let virtually all businesses keep expanding capacity by the end of this week.

Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who insists recent surges in infections and hospitalizations arent tied to his lifting restrictions, on Wednesday announced the state's reopening will move forward as planned next week. In North Carolina, which is reporting its highest-ever levels of new infections and hospitalizations, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said reimposing restrictions would be a last resort. Just one state, Utah, has paused the next phase in its reopening plan amid a two-week spike in new cases.

We want to avoid going backwards if we possibly can, said Cooper, who resisted President Donald Trumps demands to guarantee a packed GOP convention in Charlotte in August.

The governors attitudes mark a shift in the national view of the best way to respond to the virus that is still infecting more than 20,000 people in the U.S every day. State officials hesitant to pause gradually reawakening economies contend they are better equipped to identify and stamp out outbreaks than when Covid-19 emerged just a few months ago. They point out theyve been stocking up on protective gear for health care workers, expanding the capacity to test for and track the virus, and monitoring outbreaks in meatpacking plants, nursing homes, prisons and other facilities that have been hot spots. They also bluntly acknowledge that the public has quarantine fatigue.

I dont know that anyone has the appetite for massive shutdowns again, said Lisa Piercey, health secretary of Tennessee, which is among the states seeing reported cases and hospitalizations spike in the past two weeks. Should the state ultimately decide to reimpose restrictions, they would likely have a more laser focus, she said.

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Without the political desire or public pressure to reimpose shutdown measures, public health experts worry these recent spikes could signal a steady burn of coronavirus infections through the summer, even as previously hard-hit areas like New York and New Jersey have gotten their outbreaks under control. They warn states could ultimately be forced to impose even harsher mitigation measures  like delaying school reopenings or implementing broader shutdowns  should infections spiral out of control.

We always knew that once we returned back to the community, we had to do it carefully and that there would have to be a pause when we saw increases, said Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association. That should always have been understood.

In this Sunday, April 12, 2020 photo, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, right, helps Arkansas National Guardsmen unload a truckload of personal protective equipment at the Federal Surplus Warehouse in Little Rock, Ark. (Tommy Metthe/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

Most states began reopening their economies before meeting the White Houses nonbinding guidelines, which recommended a sustained decrease in cases and adequate testing, among other metrics. When the guidelines were released in April, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci suggested some states may need to reimpose restrictions if the virus rebounded.

Hutchinson of Arkansas told reporters Wednesday that he doesnt believe the White House guidelines are sacrosanct, and he contends more expansive testing  and not lifted restrictions on churches and businesses  is responsible for higher case counts. But many public health experts say more testing cant fully explain rising infection numbers, since hospitalizations are also increasing and a higher percentage of people are testing positive in many of those places.

Its too soon to know if nationwide protests over police brutality in recent weeks will send case counts even higher, as public health officials fear. Though there already have been some reported cases among protesters, officials expect any increases from these demonstrations would begin appearing in the next week or two, since it can take up to two weeks before virus symptoms appear.

Still, some public health experts say they haven't been as worried by spiking case counts. Ali Mokdad, a health metrics expert at the University of Washington, said its fine for governors to continue reopening as long as their states can do the testing, tracing and quarantining of infected patients.

In general, we are heading in the right direction, he said.

In Arkansas, infections jumped by one third in a week and hospitalizations have gone up nearly 90 percent since Memorial Day. Democratic state Sen. Greg Leding argues the states early reopening sent the message to residents that the worst of the pandemic had passed.

People started taking fewer precautions and not being as careful  whether they were going to a restaurant or just hanging out with friends, he said. There was such a lack of clear messaging around the reopening and a lot of people took it to mean that everything was back to normal, when that was absolutely not the case.

Though Hutchinson said earlier this week that his administration was wrestling with whether to delay the next phase of reopening, he announced Wednesday it would move ahead.

Americans are on the move, he said. They cant be tied down and they cant be restrained. They dont want the government telling them what to do.

Some governors have expressed frustration that constituents arent following public health recommendations on physical distancing and masks, but they remain insistent they arent looking to shut down their states.

If people would use their head and follow advice thats been given to them repeatedly, we would not be having the hot spots and the rise we see here, said South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. His state, among the last to shut down and the first to reopen, has seen average daily infection rates since late May double to over 400.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he doesnt have second thoughts about opening campgrounds on Thursday, even as daily new cases have also doubled in his state. The Democratic governor said he feels the state can keep moving forward as long as ICU beds remain available. There were 68 coronavirus patients in ICU beds as of Tuesday, less than half of the states previous high in earlier stages of the pandemic.

If that ICU number does significantly go up thats when we really have to look at things, Beshear said, without specifying what number would trigger alarm.

In Arizona, where coronavirus patients are landing in the ICU in record numbers and a growing percentage of tests are coming back positive, the state health department over the weekend instructed hospitals to "fully activate" emergency plans for the first time since March. There are no discussions about shutting down parts of the state, state health director Cara Christ told a local Fox station.

In Texas, which is reporting record coronavirus hospitalizations this week, Abbott said the spike in cases is expected and largely the result of isolated hot spots in nursing homes, jails, and meat packing plants. But local health officials disagree and said theres a clear link between the states early reopening and the surge in cases, even if there are other contributing factors.

We dont know how much, but we do know people are mixing together and putting themselves at risk, said Umair Shah, executive director of Harris Countys public health department. Were watching a number of metrics and they are all going in the wrong direction. It feels like were going back to where we were several months ago.

Gary Herbert of Utah, the lone governor to slow down his states reopening amid surging infections, went against the advice of a state commission by extending current restrictions for at least another week.

Common sense requires keeping our current health risk guidance in place, he said in a statement. A marked increase in disease incidence and in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 give us pause."
The Home Office has been pressing ahead with deportation flights despite warnings from the UN that they risk spreading coronavirus.

The Independent has learned that a charter flight is set to depart the UK for Lithuania on Friday despite calls by the UN Network on Migration for all governments to suspend forced returns during the pandemic. The group warned the practice posed a risk to both deportees and the countries receiving them.

Twenty-four removals from the UK took place between 20 March and 3 April alone, returning individuals from Bulgaria, Romania, Hong Kong, Poland and the USA. The Home Office has declined to reveal the total number of deportations that have taken place during the lockdown.

The flight to Lithuania is due to depart with just one individual on board, prompting concern that the Home Office is acting against public health and at a cost of thousands of pounds in taxpayers money. A previous freedom of information request revealed almost 12,000 per person was spent on charter flights last year.

The number of people in the UKs immigration detention estate has fallen considerably since the lockdown started in March, but about 254 people are still being held. To place someone in detention, the Home Office must have a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable timescale.

In a statement published last month, the UN Network on Migration said: Forced returns can intensify serious public health risks for everyone  migrants, public officials, health workers, social workers and both host and origin communities. Forced returns place additional strain on countries of return.

It warned that deportees may be at risk of experiencing extreme financial hardship and potentially human trafficking on return to their country of origin, due to already high levels of unemployment as a result of the pandemic.

They may also face additional risks such as lack of access to adequate health care and poor water and sanitation systems, the UN said, adding that many health systems were already stretched and lacking capacity to protect returnees and their communities, including through testing upon arrival and quarantine and self-isolation measures.

Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, which has legally challenged the Home Offices continued detention and deportation of migrants during the pandemic, said: Despite guidance from the UN and the governments own public health advice against all but essential travel, the Home Office is desperately seeking to operate a forced removals policy throughout this pandemic regardless of the clear dangers.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 20 January 2022 A jet skier jumps the waves off the coast at Blyth in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 19 January 2022 Britains Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, participate in a therapy session with individuals who have experienced the care system, during a visit to the Foundling Museum in London REUTERS UK news in pictures 18 January 2022 Surfers enter the sea as the sun rises over Tynemouth on the North East coast PA UK news in pictures 17 January 2022 Bonhams Danny McIlwraith holds a Nigerian polycrome carved wood mask during a photocall for the sale of the Jim Lennon Collection at Bonhams in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 16 January 2022 The moon rises above the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, Hampshire PA UK news in pictures 15 January 2022 Demonstrators outside Downing Street during a Kill The Bill protest against The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in London PA UK news in pictures 14 January 2022 Ecologist Emma Smart (left) and retired GP Dr Diana Warner outside HMP Bronzefield, in Surrey, following their release from the prison where Emma undertook a 26-day hunger strike during her incarceration. Ms Smart was sentenced in November, along with other members of Insulate Britain, to serve four months for breaking a High Court injunction by taking part in a blockade at junction 25 of the M25 motorway during the morning rush hour on 8 October last year PA UK news in pictures 13 January 2022 A TV presenter holds a copy of a newspaper outside 10 Downing Streetafter the Prime Minister apologised for attending a gathering of colleagues in the Number Ten garden in May 2020, while the UK was in strict lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic Getty UK news in pictures 12 January 2022 Fitness guru Derrick Evans after receiving an MBE during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 11 January 2022 A couple walk underneath an umbrella during wet weather on Westminster Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 10 January 2022 A jogger passes the Covid Memorial Wall in London AP UK news in pictures 9 January 2021 The sun rises over horses at Seaton Sluice in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 8 January 2022 Riders compete during the Veterans Men's race at the UK Cyclo-Cross National Championships 2022 in Ardingly, south of London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 7 January 2022 A dog looks out of a car window at the wintry conditions in Killeshin, Co. Laois PA UK news in pictures 6 January 2022 People walk through frost and mist alongside a frozen lake during sunrise in Bushy Park, London REUTERS UK news in pictures 5 January 2022 A skier jumps on the slopes at Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 4 January 2022 Freshly-fallen snow covers houses in Corbridge, near Hexham in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 3 January 2022 Dean Morrison, 13, receives his Covid-19 vaccine from student nurse Anthony McLaughlin during a vaccination clinic at the Glasgow Central Mosque PA UK news in pictures 2 January 2022 Konastantinos Tsimikas of Liverpool with Chelseas Mason Mount during the Premier League match at Stamfrod Bridge Liverpool FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 January 2022 New Years Eve Lasers, drones and fireworks illuminate the sky in front of the Royal Naval College in Greenwich shortly after midnight in London EPA UK news in pictures 31 December 2021 Competitors in fancy dress run across the Pennine tops near Haworth, West Yorkshire, in the annual Auld Lang Syne Fell race which attracts hundreds of runners every year PA UK news in pictures 30 December 2021 Sunrise at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 29 December 2021 The Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, looks at Becket, a six month old red-billed chough as he visits Wildwood Wildlife Park in Kent on the anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket PA UK news in pictures 28 December 2021 Troops of the Household Cavalry are seen reflected in a puddle during the changing of the Queens Life Guard, on Horse Guards Parade, in central London PA UK news in pictures 27 December 2021 A pedestrian walks past a winter sale sign outside a John Lewis store on Oxford street in London Getty UK news in pictures 26 December 2021 Riders take their bikes through the snow near Castleside, County Durham PA UK news in pictures 25 December 2021 Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him at Forty Foot near Dublin during a Christmas Day dip PA UK news in pictures 24 December 2021 People stand inside Kings Cross Station on Christmas Eve in London Reuters UK news in pictures 23 December 2021 Christmas shoppers fill the car park at Fosse Shopping Park in Leicester PA UK news in pictures 22 December 2021 The sun rises behind the stones as people gather for the winter solstice at Stonehenge. Getty UK news in pictures 21 December 2021 People take part in a winter solstice swim at Portobello Beach in Edinburgh to mark the solstice and to witness the dawn after the longest night of the year PA UK news in pictures 20 December 2021 An auction employee displays poultry to buyers and sellers attending the Christmas Poultry Sale at York Auction Centre in Murton PA UK news in pictures 19 December 2021 Joao Moutinho of Wolverhampton Wanderers looks on during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea at Molineux Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 December 2021 Freight lorries queuing at the port of Dover in Kent PA UK news in pictures 17 December 2021 Newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, bursts 'Boris' bubble' held by colleague Tim Farron, as she celebrates following her victory in the North Shropshire by-election PA UK news in pictures 16 December 2021 Brussels sprouts are harvested by workers as they prepare for the busy Christmas period near Boston in Lincolnshire PA UK news in pictures 15 December 2021 Lewis Hamilton is made a Knight Bachelor by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 14 December 2021 The Royal Liver Buildings surrounded by early morning fog in Liverpool PA UK news in pictures 13 December 2021 People queue outside a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centre at St Thomas's Hospital in Westminster Getty Images UK news in pictures 12 December 2021 People take part in the Big Leeds Santa Dash in Roundhay Park, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 11 December 2021 People arrive at a Covid-19 vaccination centre at Elland Road in Leeds, PA UK news in pictures 10 December 2021 Stella Moris speaks to the media after the US Government won its High Court bid to overturn a judges decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange PA UK news in pictures 9 December 2021 Camels are lead around Salisbury Cathedral during a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve Service PA UK news in pictures 8 December 2021 Margaret Keenan and Nurse May Parsons, a year after Margaret was the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer vaccine PA UK news in pictures 7 December 2021 Snowfall in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire as Storm Barra hits the UK with disruptive winds, heavy rain and snow PA UK news in pictures 6 December 2021 A person tries to avoid sea spray on New Brighton promenade in Wallasey as the UK readies for the arrival of Storm Barra Getty UK news in pictures 5 December 2021 People release balloons during a tribute to six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes outside Emma Tustin's former address in Solihull, West Midlands, where he was murdered by his stepmother PA UK news in pictures 4 December 2021 People walk through a Christmas market in Trafalgar Square Reuters UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 2 December 2021 Duchess of Cambridge inspects a Faberge egg at the Victoria and Albert Museum Getty

Tomorrow Priti Patel has chartered a private plane to remove just one person to Lithuania, sacrificing common sense, public health and thousands of pounds of taxpayers money. The humane and responsible response is to suspend all removals and release people safely from detention until this emergency has passed.

A Home Office spokesperson said: We make no apology for protecting the public by removing serious, violent and persistent foreign national offenders from the UK. On all removal flights public health guidance is adhered to, those on the flight are seen by a healthcare professional before they are returned and anyone who is exhibiting symptoms would be removed from the flight and placed into protective isolation.
Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi, says 15 persons who tested positive for COVID-19 in the state came from Calabar, capital of Cross Riv...

Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi, says 15 persons who tested positive for COVID-19 in the state came from Calabar, capital of Cross River, according to Channels Television.





Cross River is the only state where any case of COVID-19 has not been confirmed in the country.





According to the situation report of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for May 18, 2020, the south-south state had only tested seven samples out of its almost four million population, while neighbouring states have recorded cases and are battling community transmission.





But the state government has repeatedly said the measures it put in place worked in making Cross River free of the disease.









At a press briefing on Wednesday, the governor of Bauchi said the increase in the number of cases is as a result of people flouting the guidelines on containing the spread of the coronavirus, such as use of face masks and regular washing of hands.





In a veiled reference to Ben Ayade, his Cross River counterpart, he said: I dont want to join issues with anybody. But I want to tell Nigerians that they are going to be accountable to God.





There is no need pretending that this thing is not there. We, as leaders, must come out and face the challenges. We in Bauchi, we are not pretending.





Mohammed also advised the people to comply with safety protocols, saying he would not hesitate to lock down the state if the need arises.





Some of our places of worship, especially the mosques, they are the epicentre of infections, and nobody is doing anything, he said.





I am pleading with the people of Bauchi, if this thing continues to happen  we are bordered by seven states, some of them are worse  in order to secure the common people of Bauchi, I might have to lock up Bauchi.





Bauchi had a major spike in its number of infections on Tuesday, recording 69 new cases. The state currently has a total of 364 confirmed cases.





Mohammed and Baba Tela, his deputy, contracted the disease and both recovered.




FAIRFAX, VA  More than 50 vehicles drove around George Mason Universitys Fairfax campus Thursday to demand the university replace LT Services Inc. as its janitorial contractor in response to cleaning subcontractors' alleged misclassification of workers. The subcontractors' alleged practices are preventing their cleaning workers from getting access to benefits that are especially important in the age of coronavirus, according to the protesters.

The janitors, together with members of 32BJ SEIU, the nation's largest labor union for property service workers, contend LT Services may have subcontracted cleaning responsibilities to other entities that are classifying them as independent contractors, a practice that denies the workers the protection of workplace laws.

The protesters drove around GMU's campus, in the middle of a rainstorm, honking their horns, holding signs and waving flags, calling for janitors at the university to be granted fair pay, health and safety, workers comp, and unemployment insurance.



Essential property services workers and those close to them are getting sick and dying just by showing up to work and keeping us safe during this pandemic, Jaime Contreras, 32BJ SEIU vice president, said Thursday in a statement. GMU should have the humanity to replace LT Services with a more responsible contractor.



A GMU spokesman said the university is aware of the concerns but did not have any comment at this time on the protest or the calls to end the contract. LT Services Inc. had not responded to a request for comment from Patch at the time this article was published.

According to 32BJ SEIU, many of the custodial workers are immigrants and people of color who are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. Most workers who perform property service functions also live in low-income neighborhoods and must commute to commercial centers, airports, or more affluent neighborhoods to get to work, further risking exposure to the coronavirus on public transportation.



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More than 50 vehicles drove around George Mason Universitys campus Thursday to demand that the university replace its janitorial contractor. (Courtesy of 32BJ SEIU)

Consuelo Granados, an LT Services janitor at GMU, has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to 32BJ SEIU. But without a salary or unemployment benefits, she is struggling to pay for food, rent, health insurance and medical bills, the union said.



The University of California Berkeley Labor Center identified janitorial services as one of the industries where misclassification is disproportionately high. In the janitorial services industry, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center, subcontracting is a common practice. By misclassifying workers as independent contractors, employers can avoid paying workers compensation, social security, unemployment overtime and other payroll taxes.

Workers that have spoken with Local 32BJ representatives said they do not get taxes deducted from their wages, and the paychecks shown to the union do not indicate any payroll deductions. The workers also have said that they receive 1099 forms for tax purposes.

"We believe that this indicates they are being paid as independent contractors, since 1099 forms are generally given to independent contractors instead of W-2 forms, which are given by employers to their employees," 32BJ SEIU said in a news release.

This article originally appeared on the Fairfax City Patch
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 07:45:08|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government will fund and conduct key studies on three experimental coronavirus vaccines, said the nation's top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Wednesday.

"The coronavirus vaccine effort is progressing very well and we expect more than one candidate vaccine to be in advanced clinical testing by early summer," Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN. "This is good news for the overall coronavirus vaccine effort."

Phase 3 trials, which typically involve tens of thousands of people and measure whether a vaccine is safe and effective, will begin with one by Moderna in July, then an Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in August and one by Johnson & Johnson in September, according to the CNN report.

Fauci said the funding decision came from the Department of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the National Institutes of Health and other agencies.

He said that the testing plans still track with the timeline that he has suggested in the past: a vaccine at scale by the end of the year or early next year. Enditem
This change of ownership takes the ViVentor peer to peer (P2P) loan investment platform, established in 2015, clearly past the status of start-up. For 5 years, they have now proven to be a reliable partner in the still growing FinTech industry. Despite all current turbulences in the financial markets, ViVentor remained stable and even managed to create solid opportunities for sustainable growth. The new owner is convinced their investment will pay off: "We already knew ViVentor as a trusted Partner within our Group of FinTech companies and therefore decided to purchase ViVentor in order to support this scale-up to the next level. The ViVentor team has proven to us to be great adapters in rapidly changing environments. We are impressed how the management, led by CEO Andrius Bolsaitis, manages to defend the interest of both the Investors and Loan Originators on the ViVentor platform during these turbulent times. We are also convinced that this will not go unnoticed by the Latvian Regulator and ViVentor will soon be one of the first fully licensed P2P platforms in Europe," says Sabrina Nathoe, CEO of Lotus 597.

The ViVentor team is proud their dedication to ViVentor has paid off: "At ViVentor, we believe we can move now even faster to implement our ambitious business growth strategy. We aim to become one of the leading platforms in the P2P investment market and one of the most trusted partners to both, our Loan Originators and our Investors," according to Andrius Bolsaitis, CEO of ViVentor.

About Lotus 597 and Atlantis Financiers:

Lotus 597 belongs to the Gielen Group from the Netherlands and is responsible for investing in promising FinTech start-ups and scale-ups. Among other ventures, the Gielen Group already owns the successful lending platform Atlantis Financiers, the credit scoring platform Paylex and the recently launched mortgage backed lending platform, Capilex. Atlantis Financiers is one of the biggest alternative finance and full-service factoring providers on the Dutch and Belgian market. Since its inception in 2013, the company has serviced over 3000 Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME's) in the region. From the start, Atlantis is specialized in financing SME's in difficult or special times, when traditional banks are often not able to support them. The majority of Atlantis customers are active in the service or logistics sectors. They provide loans from EUR 5 thousand to EUR 1 million, always secured by collateral. Since 2017 they have been present on the ViVentor platform as Loan Originator, offering great returns and guarantees to investors on the platform.

About ViVentor P2P Investment Platform

ViVentor was established in 2015. During the five years of operation, ViVentor has refinanced over EUR 130 million worth of loans, offering returns to investors of up to 15%. ViVentor now has more than 7,500 registered investors with 70% of the invested funds coming from Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Benelux countries. As a result of the significant growth of the platform, revenue more than tripled in 2019, allowing ViVentor to increase its capital from EUR 2,800 to EUR 1,530,000. Loans funded on the platform during the last year totaled over EUR 53.5 million. Out of these loans, more than 71% were consumer loans, 18% invoice financing and around 8% business loans.

SOURCE Viventor

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MEDIA COURTHOUSE  Four out-of-state men have been sentenced for their roles in an attempted robbery of a Brookhaven Walgreens last June.

Derek L. Stevens, 20, of the 800 block of Oglethorpe Street NE in Washington, D.C., was the only one of the defendants to have previously pleaded guilty to robbery and conspiracy charges in early March, shortly before courts were closed.

The other three defendants  Derrick Ross, 36, of Virginia, Lorenzo Ross, 26, and Jonathan E. Jones, 25, both of Washington, D.C.  all entered identical guilty pleas before Common Pleas Court Judge George Pagano June 1.

Assistant District Attorney Sandra Urban had recommended identical sentences of 24 to 60 months for the robbery and 12 to 60 months for the conspiracy charge with five years of probation in each of the cases.

All of the defendants had a plan that day; all of them are equally culpable, she said. They all had on disguises, gloves, so they could successfully pull off this robbery.

Brookhaven police were dispatched to the 24-hour Walgreens at 4098 Edgmont Avenue at about 4:24 a.m. June 6, 2019, for a report of a robbery in progress. Video surveillance and eyewitness accounts indicated the four men entered the store wearing masks and one was armed with a knife.

Jones, Lorenzo Ross and Derrick Ross made their way to the pharmacy area of the store, where they jumped over the counter and forced an employee to open a safe containing narcotics. Stevens meanwhile went to the front of the store and jumped over the counter before ordering an employee there to open two registers. Stevens grabbed the money from the registers, then forced two witnesses to the rear of the store.

It was at that point that officers, who had been alerted to the robbery by patrons and employees inside, arrived to find the defendants still inside. When police ordered them to the ground, the men ran to the rear with officers in pursuit.

Jones grabbed an employee and turned toward officers, apparently using the employee as a human shield. A borough officer shot Jones in the arm and his hostage was freed. The four men then attempted to run from the rear of the store but were captured by patrol officers. Jones was treated at Crozer Chester Medical Center for the gunshot wound.

Defense attorneys representing the men argued that their actions were fueled by drug addictions and sought reduced sentences with drug treatment and lengthy probationary periods.

Urban argued one Brookhaven police officer suffered an ankle injury and has still not been able to return to work, and one of the employees suffered significant emotional distress and also hasnt been back to work at the pharmacy since.

Stevens and Lorenzo Ross were each sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day with three years of consecutive probation. Jones and Derrick Ross were each sentenced to 24 to 60 months in a state prison. Jones additionally must serve three years of probation and Derrick Ross must serve four. All were given credit for time served.
The college decided to offer the course after seeing a few other community colleges roll out offerings as a local option, college spokeswoman Lindsey Nemcek said. The college also wanted to make sure the course was something students could complete in a day and, at $49, was lower in cost than some other alternatives.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  Turning down pleas from Gov. Mike DeWine to stay on the job, Dr. Amy Acton unexpectedly resigned Thursday as director of the Ohio Department of Health amid the coronavirus pandemic.

DeWine said Actons resignation was effective Thursday, although she now will become his chief health adviser.

It is difficult for me to put in words how grateful I am for Dr. Actons service to the state, he said.

The governor said he has asked Acton, who was appointed health director Feb. 26, 2019, to take a big picture look at improving public health while still working to address the pandemic.

Ohio Department of Health director Dr. Amy Acton at a coronavirus news conference Saturday, March 14, 2020 at the Ohio Statehouse. Behind her is Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (left) and Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

Acton became both a beloved and polarizing figure to Ohioans for her candid, personal assessments at televised news briefings and for orders closing down parts of the states economy, some of which some Ohioans found excessive.

On Thursday, Acton quickly recounted her tenure, praising local health officials, members of her team and those on the front lines battling the pandemic. She also thanked her family, the governor  and the highway patrol protective detail assigned to her after threats.

It is my honor to continue to work for you, Acton said. I am more determined than ever."

Her knowledge, compassion, and determination have set an example for all of us, and Dr. Actons extraordinary bedside manner and wise counsel have helped us all get through this pandemic, DeWine said. He praised her extraordinary bedside manner.

Arizona's COVID-19 spread is 'alarming': Action is needed, experts warn

Stocks on track for biggest drop since March: Concern about economic recovery, coronavirus spikes

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine makes a point, as State Health Director Dr. Amy Acton looks on, at a mid-March coronavirus briefing.

Asked what made her resign, Actons audio feed went silent for several seconds. The audio returned with Acton saying that she now will have time to spend with her family, whose home has attracted protesters.

Asked whether pressure from protests against her health orders and attempts by lawmakers to strip her powers prompted her to walk away, Acton said, A lot of that was not my focus.

Story continues

Few have been as wise, brave, and compassionate throughout this pandemic than Ohio's own Dr. Amy Acton.



Without a doubt, her leadership saved countless lives in Ohio.



On behalf of a grateful state - thank you for your service, Dr. Acton.https://t.co/4R4uALvn3J  Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) June 11, 2020

Acton said she had been struggling with offering her resignation over the past couple of months, suggesting it took a personal toll. She talked of kind of a shift as the pandemic eases, making it a good time to leave.

State Rep. Nino Vitale, R-Urbana, an opponent of closing down Ohio during the pandemic, was gleeful over Actons departure.

I am hearing she is still on the tax payer dime but Actin Acton has resigned as Health Director. I say NOT good enough! 1 down, 2 to go of the Terrible Tyrannical Trio! he wrote on his Facebook page.

Lance Himes, chief lawyer for the Ohio Department of Health, will become interim health director, DeWine said. Himes once held the same role under then-Gov. John Kasich.

Numbers improving in Ohio

Meanwhile, despite fears of outbreaks as Ohio has reopened for business over the past several weeks, cases of the potentially deadly infection have fallen by one-third from early May.

Ohio averaged 605 new cases a day from May 1-10, a figure that fell 33% to 407 new daily infections over the first 10 days of June, according to a Dispatch analysis of state health department figures.

The number of confirmed and probable cases decreased even as COVID-19 testing increased  although far short of the level state officials had planned as key to helping check the spread of the virus.

Testing for the virus increased 58% from an average of 7,002 a day in early May to 11,098 a day this month, through June 10.

DeWine said Thursday that after previously prioritizing virus tests for first responders, health care workers and those with symptoms, anyone who wants a test in the state of Ohio now can get a test.

We are still working to expand testing, DeWine said, adding that tests are available at pharmacies, community health centers and a number of other locations to anyone, with symptoms or not.

Were making progress. DeWine said, pointing out that free testing was being made available in minority neighborhoods, including in Columbus. The state is posting testing locations online.

After stay-at-home orders closed nonessential businesses and isolated Ohioans beginning March 23, DeWine and Acton began lifting restrictions May 4.

General offices and other businesses were allowed to reopen that day with 6-foot social distancing and other virus precautions, followed by retail stores May 12 and other businesses and venues as the month went on.

Both DeWine and Acton expressed fears of a rebound of infections as more people interacted. But the reopening has not been accompanied  to this point  by a spike in cases.

A caveat: Virus symptoms in some people do not appear for up to two weeks after infection. DeWine also is concerned that the mass protests against police brutality and racism could spread coronavirus.

Ohios economy has safety and gradually reopened ... we have some good momentum going. People are going back to work, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said.

Ohioans have filed an unprecedented 1.3 million unemployment benefits applications, but many are returning to work, Husted said.

Reach reporter Randy Ludlow via email (rludlow@dispatch.com) or on Twitter (@RandyLudlow)

More: US coronavirus survivor receives double lung transplant after virus leaves holes in lungs

Coronavirus news and updates: 2 million cases confirmed in the US; COVID-19 spreading in several states; the pandemic and your retirement

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Amy Acton: Ohio health director resigns amid coronavirus pandemic
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[June 11, 2020] Mphasis Opens Hi-tech Wireless Chamber in Bangalore to Test Next-Generation Wireless Applications

NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mphasis (BSE: 526299; NSE: MPHASIS), an Information Technology (IT) solutions provider specializing in cloud and cognitive services, today announced the opening of a state-of-the-art Hi-Tech Wireless Chamber in Bangalore. The chamber is equipped with Radio Frequency (RF) Shielding for IoT, 5G and Wi-Fi, thereby enabling Mphasis to deliver advanced testing and certification services for these technologies. Designed and installed in collaboration with ETS-Lindgren India, the world leader for wireless over-the-air (OTA) test and measurement technology, the chamber can be used in various application testing and certification processes including Wireless products, Metrology Labs, Medical equipment and instrumentation. In an effort to drive capability improvements and help clients meet their technology requirements in the Wireless industry, Mphasis' Wireless Lab offers capabilities for testing and certification of Wi-Fi Devices while reducing cost and ensuring quality control. Equipped with a fully anechoic chamber that measures performance of cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth transceivers, the system offers the flexibility to provide a variety of test configurations, from small RFShielded rooms to large chambers. The 800 sq. feet (74 sq. meters) Hi-Tech Wireless Chamber lab enables testing of a wide range of industrial and consumer products including printers, mobile phones, wearables, IoT devices and gateways, among others. The chamber also supports Cellular (3G/4G/5G), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee protocols and wireless bands. The new lab is designed to help enhance Mphasis' capability in the Hi-Tech space by reducing time-to-market and accelerating product releases of existing and new clients. The facilit addresses the growing demand for wireless testing and certification services, offering partnered clients with state-of-the-art technology and a comprehensive service solution, including certifications for global market access, all under one roof.



"We continue to see a significant uptick in the deployment of next generation wireless technology applications, and ensuring products are well tested and interoperable with the existing ecosystem is a top priority for all players in this growing market," said Elango R, President  DXC & Hi-tech BU, Mphasis. "With the opening of Mphasis' first wireless testing chamber, we will further provide significant innovation in the critical area of testing and look forward to assisting our partners in delivering high quality and differentiated products in a cost-effective manner." Commenting on the Wireless chamber opening, Adarsh Singh, Regional Sales Manager with ETS-Lindgren India, said, "ETS-Lindgren is happy to collaborate with Mphasis in establishing a test lab in India. We consulted with their capable team to learn more about their advanced requirements and goals for testing wireless products. While meeting with the highly skilled departments at Mphasis, we were able to share our expertise on the nuances of Wi-Fi test lab requirements and collectively create a solution to optimize the flexibility of the test chamber. ETS-Lindgren designed the wireless chamber to meet Mphasis' test requirements and management goals - now and in the future."

About Mphasis

Mphasis (BSE: 526299; NSE: MPHASIS) applies next-generation technology to help enterprises transform businesses globally. Customer centricity is foundational to Mphasis and is reflected in the Mphasis' Front2Back  Transformation approach. Front2Back uses the exponential power of cloud and cognitive to provide hyper-personalized (C= X2C2 TM =1) digital experience to clients and their end customers. Mphasis' Service Transformation approach helps 'shrink the core' through the application of digital technologies across legacy environments within an enterprise, enabling businesses to stay ahead in a changing world. Mphasis' core reference architectures and tools, speed and innovation with domain expertise and specialization are key to building strong relationships with marquee clients. Click here to know more. About ETS-Lindgren

ETS-Lindgren is an international manufacturer of components and systems that measure, shield, and control electromagnetic and acoustic energy. The company's products are used for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), microwave and wireless testing, electromagnetic field (EMF) measurement, radio frequency (RF) personal safety monitoring, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and control of acoustic environments. Headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas, ETS-Lindgren has manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of ESCO Technologies, a leading supplier of engineered products for growing industrial and commercial markets. ESCO is a New York Stock Exchange listed company (symbol ESE) with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Additional information about ETS-Lindgren is available at www.ets-lindgren.com . Additional information about ESCO and its subsidiaries is available at www.escotechnologies.com . View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mphasis-opens-hi-tech-wireless-chamber-in-bangalore-to-test-next-generation-wireless-applications-301074247.html SOURCE Mphasis

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A California elementary school teacher has issued an apology after a viral video showed her threatening to kill a mother and her young daughter as they were leaving a Back Lives Matter protest.

Carrie Maxwell, a second-grade teacher at Wayside Elementary School, was filmed screaming profanities into the face of Erika Baze and her eight-year-old girl, Kimberly, after a protest in Bakersfield last Friday.

Baze, who is white, said Maxwell jumped out of nowhere and began shouting at them, telling them they werent welcome in the area and that she was going to call police.

The startled mother began recording Maxwell when she started to become violent.

I will f***ing kill you, Maxwell can be heard saying in the footage. The teacher had to be physically dragged away from Baze by her shirtless husband.

Scroll down for video

Carrie Maxwell, a second-grade teacher at Wayside Elementary School, was filmed screaming profanities in the face of a mother and her eight-year-old daughter last week

Erika Baze, who is white, said Maxwell jumped out of nowhere and began shouting at them, telling them they werent welcome in the area and that she was going to call police.

Kimberley can be heard crying throughout the ordeal in fear, telling her mother on a number of occasions that shes scared.

Do you see what you did to a child? Good job, Baze yells out to Maxwell as shes being pulled away. You just traumatized a child for walking. Look at this! Are you proud?

The footage of their encounter, posted by Baze onto Twitter, has since been viewed more than three million times.

Users later identified Maxwell as the woman depicted and began emailing the principal of Wayside Elementary. Police also announced they were investigating the incident.

Bakersfield City School District Superintendent Doc Ervin has since said the district is investigating the incident involving the teacher.

'We do not condone nor endorse the action and behavior captured on the video,' he said.

In response, on Monday, Maxwell issued a statement through her attorney, Kyle J. Humphrey, apologizing for her actions and calling them a by-product of anxiety, frustration and panic, caused in-part by over caring for an elderly mother vulnerable to health complications and an autistic son.

I had seen news coverage of the protest turning into riots across the country and was aware that the protests near my home had turned to confrontations the day before, Maxwell said.

When I heard protesters gathering near my home, loudly chanting profanities, I became overwhelmed with anxiety and fear.

The footage of their encounter, posted by Baze onto Twitter, has since been viewed more than three million times

Users later identified Maxwell as the woman depicted and began emailing the principal of Wayside Elementary. Police then announced they were investigating the incident

Bakersfield City School District Superintendent Doc Ervin has since said the district is investigating the incident involving the teacher (Wayside Elementary shown above)

Maxwell said she called police but was allegedly told there was nothing they could do about the gathering crowd, so she claims she went outside to ask the protestors to move away.

There was a woman who became confrontational and I responded in an inappropriate manner, Maxwell said in her statement. I never spoke to or threatened this womans daughter. I have never been in a physical altercation in my life.

Maxwell added that she is humiliated by her actions, and also apologized to anyone hurt by her behavior in the video and for distracting from the point of the protest.

The teacher said she too, like much of the world, was horrified by the video of George Floyds death, which showed him pinned to the ground by his neck, under the knee of Derek Chauvin, desperately gasping for air before losing consciousness.

Every man, woman and child deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion and equality, regardless of the color of their skin, and every person deserves to live a life free of fear, Maxwell said.

I am heartbroken to think that any of my students or their parents might see that video and believe that it is in any way reflective of my values or views regarding race or inclusivity.

Maxwell added that she is humiliated by her actions, and also apologized to anyone hurt by her behavior in the video and for distracting from the point of the protest. But reacting to the statement, Baze said she rejects Maxwells apology saying she didnt see it as legitimate

Humphrey, meanwhile, claimed the video is not reflective of who Maxwell is as a person. He said shes been a dedicated teacher for a dozen years.

She clearly made a bad choice, Humphrey said. But there was no fear or perceived threat as a result of what she said.

But reacting to the statement, Baze said she rejects Maxwells apology saying she didnt see it as legitimate.

In a counter-statement, Baze told KGET the apology was for those who were outraged by the video, and Maxwell was only sorry because she was caught by the public.

This is a press release from a lawyer that Ms. Maxwell has secured, full of excuses for Ms. Maxwells behaviour, she said.

Baze asks Maxwell to release the video she recorded because Baze knows the truth on how it began.

In the statement, Baze said she does not see any other way Maxwells threats could be interpreted. Whether her threats were directed toward Baze or her 8-year-old daughter, she said any child who sees their parents threatened will feel threatened as well.
Hospitalizations for the novel coronavirus are on the rise in at least eight states, in what experts and officials said was in part an expected consequence of states reopening their economies, but also made worse by some people who have begun to disregard social distancing guidelines and aren't appropriately wearing masks.

The states in which the hospitalization numbers are increasing are Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, according to a new analysis by ABC News of public data from the past two weeks.

In a few cases, the increases are stark, and hospitals are beginning to once again see signs of the surges that overwhelmed them during the height of the pandemic.

Arkansas, for instance, has experienced a 74% increase in average hospitalizations since after the Memorial Day weekend, and one official in the state told ABC News some hospitals there are "nervous." Arizona has seen a 49% increase in the same time frame, and an official there said hospitals are "definitely strained."

ABC News' analysis of state data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer project launched by The Atlantic, further showed that five states had mostly flat hospitalization rates, while the majority of states, 37, saw a downward trend.

Dr. John Brownstein, a Harvard Medical School professor, said there are "many reasons" why some states might see a rise in hospitalizations when others do not, but he singled out social distancing practices for potentially contributing to the increases.

"While reopening is happening everywhere, social distancing practices are highly variable," he said. "Memorial Day events looked quite different from state to state."

(MORE: Bringing America Back: A guide to COVID-19 vaccines, reopening schools safely and more to know)

Brownstein, an ABC News contributor, said that "unfortunately," it's not surprising some states would see an increase in hospitalizations as people intermingle more and more.

Story continues

"If places with active transmission open up too fast, our forecasts for mortality will, unfortunately, have to go up as well," he said.

Increases in the raw number of positive cases are also occurring in at least 21 states plus Puerto Rico, ABC News has previously reported, but many experts consider hospitalization rate to be a more accurate measure of disease spread, as new case counts can be artificially driven up by an increase in testing, creating a false perception of increase.

And while some states are seeing more significant increases in hospitalizations than others, public health officials or local experts in each of the eight states with increased hospitalizations told ABC News they consider the rises to be related to a reopening of the economy or a disregard of social distancing guidelines, including rejecting wearing masks.

Some top government officials have expressed concern that the ongoing nationwide protests could also contribute to the spread of the virus, but experts told ABC News it's too early to gauge whether that has been the case.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, addressed some of the reopening concerns on Wednesday, urging states to recognize that "when you open, that doesn't mean that everything is okay."

"You still have to practice a degree of caution and carefully go through the process of trying to normalize. That means you still should be wearing a mask. You still should be trying as best as possible to have that physical distancing," Fauci told Robin Roberts on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday. "We know everyone wants to approach normality and get things back to normal including the economy, but that doesn't mean that all bets are off. And that's the reason why we say be careful and do it prudently."

But local experts say in many cases they are seeing the opposite. As states and cities continue to open up, social distancing norms followed during strict lockdowns are falling by the wayside. Dr. Brannon Traxler, the physician consultant for the South Carolina state health department, on Monday warned of the serious disregard for social distancing and masking in the state that is driving the spread of the disease.

MORE: Dr. Fauci voices concerns about coronavirus spreading amid nationwide protests

"We are starting to notice a lot of people across South Carolina are not doing the social distancing or not avoiding group gatherings and wearing masks in public the way, especially, that they were earlier on," Traxler said.

And those states whose hospitalization numbers aren't necessarily increasing are keeping a close watch. California, for instance, has relatively stable hospitalization rates, while the number of infections continue to rise in some parts of the state.

"But more importantly, the numbers aren't really dropping," said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, an epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist at Stanford Medicine. She said small upticks in hospitalizations "could possibly be related to opening up the economy. I mean, truly, we just started."

ABC News spoke to public health officials, local experts, and hospital representatives in each state to better understand each state's increase.

PHOTO: Medical staff discuss a patient's symptoms inside a Covid-19 testing center at the Navajo Nation town of Monument Valley in Arizona, May 21, 2020. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

Arizona: 'We weren't ready to reopen'

Arizona has seen a 49% increase in hospitalizations in the state since May 26, according to ABC News analysis of state data collected by the COVID Tracking Project. Matthew G. Heinz, an internist at Tucson Medical Center, attributed the increase directly to a premature reopening.

"We werent ready to reopen. We hadn't met the criteria set down by the WHO [World Health Organization] or the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] to even begin to look at reopening the state, but political leadership pushed us in that direction," Heinz told ABC News.

On the ground, Heinz said he could clearly see the increase manifesting.

"Starting June 3, I was admitting three, then four, then five cases per day and its just gone up since then. One thing is to see the numbers on a graph, but Im seeing these patients in my waiting room," Heinz said. "After the loosening of some restrictions, we are now seeing a surge in hospitalizations, a surge in ICU usage and of course, unfortunately, a surge in the death rate."

Heinz also noted a worrying trend: rideshare drivers getting sick. I had a 26-year-olds with COVID, who is an Uber and Lyft driver. Hes picking up and driving around 25 to 35 people per day and so its not surprising he got infected," Heinz said. "And hes not the only ride-sharing driver Ive seen.

Ann-Marie Alameddin, CEO of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, also said she noticed the increase and said hospitals are "definitely strained" in metropolitan areas.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey acknowledged the increase in cases in the state, but said denied the state had reopened too soon.

"What we wanted to do was be prepared for this," he said at a press conference last week. "Arizona is prepared."

Arkansas: Some hospitals getting 'nervous'

On May 25, there were a little over 80 hospitalizations in Arkansas, but as of June 7, there are 173 people hospitalized.

Jodiane Tritt, Executive Vice President of the Arkansas Hospital Association, said some hospitals are starting to get "nervous."

So we are starting to see some hospitals being nervous about capacity, but we feel pretty confident that the collegiality and the collaboration among the hospitals around the state can meet the demands of patients.

North Carolina: 20% hospitalization increase in 2 weeks

North Carolina has seen a more than 20% increase in hospitalizations in the state since May 26, according to ABC News analysis -- an increase that appears to coincides with the state's Phase 1 and Phase 2 opening.

Cynthia Charles, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Hospital Association, which represents 135 hospitals and healthcare systems, said its members "feel the increase in hospitalizations coincides with North Carolina reopening for business."

"We initially saw an increase after opening in Phase 1, now they are seeing another one that comes from Phase 2," Charles said. "They're also concerned about people not using face coverings. They think it would help if more people would do that."

North Carolina announced on Saturday that hospitalizations had exceeded 700 for the past five days, according to the state's health department.

In a statement on Tuesday, Duke Health said it's seeing a "steady increase" in hospitalizations and positive cases. Their own patients have nearly doubled since May 15.

(MORE: North Carolina racetrack ordered to close for defying executive order)

The increase in hospitalizations began 10 days after the state entered the first phase of relaxing restrictions on travel, business operations and mass gatherings," the statement said.

Kelly Haight, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, told ABC News, "These trends are concerning and [the health department] is taking them very seriously." She also acknowledged the increases are tied to the reopening.

"It takes about two weeks to see the impact of a change in policy or an outbreak from an event, because the incubation period of the virus is up to 14 days," Haight said. "This is important to note because about two weeks ago, on May 22, North Carolina moved to Phase 2."

South Carolina: More hospitalizations, but 'we have quite a bit of capacity'

South Carolina has experienced a 10% increase in hospitalizations, but it hit a new record high in the state on Monday. The state reported 507 hospitalizations, the highest number since previous total of 502 occupied beds on May 8, according to the state health department.

Dr. Brannon Traxler, the physician consultant for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), said the increase in hospitalizations correlated with the increase in overall cases -- ultimately, the virus is still spreading in the community, she said.

"There is disease continuing to spread, and increasing in that spread, especially compared to several weeks ago," she said.

PHOTO:Healthcare workers collect COVID-19 test samples collected from Duke Energy workers who voluntarily get the test at the Civic Center of Anderson, S.C., April 27, 2020. (Ken Ruinard/Anderson Independent Mai via USA TODAY NETWORK)

Traxler also noted that people are not social distancing.

"We are starting to notice a lot of people across South Carolina are not doing the social distancing or not avoiding group gatherings and wearing masks in public the way, especially, that they were earlier on," she said.

Dr. Chris Carr, a Senior Clinical Advisor for the South Carolina Hospital Association, said she believes the increase in hospitalizations "reflects the opening of the economy."

Nick Davidson, the health department's incident commander for COVID-19, said that because they still have overall capacity to handle the increase, they are not yet concerned.

"Occupancy rates are still actually somewhat below that which we would expect during a non-pandemic time," Davidson said. "The capacities we're seeing that are in the 60 to 70% range, even though that's a bit higher than it was, say, a month ago in the 50s to 60s, typical bed occupancy rates around this day are in the, you know, a five percentile range.

"So, we're still actually, we have quite a bit of capacity so we feel good," he said.

Utah: Seeing a 'statewide spike'

Utah has experienced a 17% increase in hospitalizations in the past two weeks. Charla Haley, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Health, called it "statewide spike."

"There are only a small handful of counties in Utah that haven't seen growth and we are looking at a statewide spike," Haley said. She added there "isn't a single reason" for the increase, but the reopening contributed.

"As restrictions were loosened, we expected to see an increase in cases and are reinforcing our prevention messages of wearing masks when in public, social distance when possible, limit large gatherings, and stay home when you're sick," Hayley said.

Texas: Hospitalization rates increase, but slower than new positive cases

There has been an increase in the number of new cases in Texas in the past couple weeks, data released by the states health department show, while hospitalizations have grown at a slower rate. Hospitalization statewide increased by 10% in the last two weeks.

Hospitals in the greater Houston area reported a 3.5% average growth in the daily hospitalization trend and a 1.9% growth in the daily COVID ICU occupancy trend in the past week, according to data collected by the Texas Medical Center (TMC). And the average of daily new cases at those hospitals increased 57% from last week.

The occupancy rates for ICU beds at Houston-area hospitals also currently stands at 71%, according to TMC's data, and TMC on Monday projected that if the upward trend continues, the ICU capacity could be exceeded in two weeks. On Tuesday, the center took down the warning a notch saying that the ICU capacity could be exceeded in five weeks.

(MORE: Texas sees record uptick in COVID-19 cases as protests continue)

This upward trend emerged a little less than three weeks into Phase 1 of the reopening on May 1, and accelerated in late May and early June following the Memorial Day weekend. Before, hospitalization was on a gradual decline.

CEO of Houston Methodist Dr. Marc Boom told ABC News there is "no question the trend line is going up."

A spokesperson for the Texas governor's office, however, pointed to some other figures for reassurance.

Since Texas opened on May 1, testing has increased by 210 percent, the doubling time has gone from 20 days to 36 days, and the state continues to have one of the lowest death rates in the nation. Every Texan who needs access to a hospital bed will have access to a hospital bed," Gov. Greg Abbott's Communications Director John Wittman told ABC News. "Current hospital capacity includes 15,402 available beds, 1,723 ICU beds and 5,911 ventilators, with the ability to surge capacity in regions across the state if necessary.

PHOTO: Beds are readied as Texas Army National Guardsmen set up a field hospital in response to the coronavirus pandemic at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, March 31, 2020, in Dallas, Texas. (Smiley N. Pool/Pool photo via Getty Images)

Dr. James McDeavitt, senior vice president of clinical operations at Baylor College of Medicine, pointed out that while the growth rate is slower now than it was back in mid-April, the daily case rate and daily hospitalization rate is back up to the same level.

McDeavitt said that hospitalization is growing at a slower rate than positive cases because back in March and April, the state was only testing those that were already seeking hospitalization, not those with light or no symptoms.

Both McDeavitt and Boom said the growth in cases and hospitalization could somewhat be attributed to reopening as well as personal behavior and relaxing social distancing efforts.

Texas has seen large demonstrations related to the death of Houston-native George Floyd in Minneapolis, but McDeavitte and Boom said its too soon to see any effects of the mass protests in the past week. But they said they expect an increase in numbers in the coming days.

Mississippi: 'Biggest issue is becoming complacent with social distancing'

In Mississippi, the statewide hospitalization trend has increased by about 3.5% over the past couple weeks, daily state-released data shows.

Tim Moore, president and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association, told ABC News that hospitalization is growing at a higher rate -- about 5% to 8% -- in more highly populated areas, and said the hospitals are monitoring a surge cases and hospitalization regionally.

He said hospitals in the Jackson metro area and the Wayne County near the Alabama border are feeling strained with an influx of hospitalization, while hospitals in the rural Grenada County are bracing for an influx as the county sees a 23% increase in cases. He said Madison County has recently had an uptick in cases due to an outbreak in poultry plants, but +++[he said]+++that that's mostly been mitigated.

"Opening up could have had some impact," Moore said, "but the biggest issue is becoming complacent with social distancing."

Moore said while the public in general has been doing what they need to be doing, he's seen various large gatherings in the past few weeks, including graduation events and funerals, play a role in spreading the virus in the community.

"I know we had a situation in south Mississippi -- we had an elderly gentleman that was having a birthday party," Moore said. "You know, if they want to do that and the family wants to do that, and when you say you can't do that, everybody gets upset. So maybe you don't say you can't, but you don't need to do that."

Moore said he's also monitoring the recent opening up of recreational parks in the state.

"You always just have to have concern about this," Moore said. "We can't ignore it, but we have to re-approach life and learn to live with it until we learn to live around it, until we can come up with a vaccine."

Tennessee: Expected a slight rise

Tennessee reported a total of 1,974 cumulative hospitalized patients on June 9. The average daily increase of hospitalization in the state rose nearly 64% on average from two weeks ago.

A spokesperson for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lees COVID-19 Unified Command Team Dean Flener told ABC News in a statement Tuesday that the state "expected to see a slight rise in cases as more businesses reopened and more individuals left their homes more frequently."

"Thus far, the rise is manageable and the rates of transmission and positivity have been relatively stable with hospitalizations increasing gradually. We continue to watch the data closely to make the best decisions to maintain the health and well-being of Tennesseans," Flener said.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesperson Craig Boerner also told ABC News on Tuesday that the hospital, which is the only Level One Trauma Center in Nashville, has not seen much of a difference in their patient count from two weeks ago.

Currently, the hospital has 22 patients they're treating with COVID-19. Eight of those patients are in the ICU, and five of those patients are on ventilators. "But the number [of COVID-19 patients in the hospital] last week and week before was more, at one point, up to 26," Boerner said.

It's unclear why Vanderbilt University Medical Center has not seen an uptick in patients, but according to a county-level analysis by the New York Times, Davidson County, where Nashville is, is among several counties where cases are on the rise, though some other counties, such as Lake County and Macon County are seeing a higher rate of increase.

In some states coronavirus hospitalizations on the rise, experts point to lack of social distancing originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:18:58|Editor: huaxia

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ANKARA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Turkey, Russia and Iran plan to hold a trilateral summit of the leaders on the issue of Syria via a video conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.

Speaking to NTV broadcaster, the minister said it was Iran's turn to host the next Astana summit, but they are mulling a trilateral meeting via videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ankara and Moscow have agreed on the leaders' videoconference, and they are waiting for Iran's response about the date, Cavusoglu said.

The minister underline the importance of the political process in Syria, stressing that it is important to include the Syrian government in the process.

"The regime needs to approach the process sincerely. It is important that the cease-fire continues and we are working for it," he said.

The Astana process was launched by Russia, Turkey and Iran in January 2017 in an effort to bring all warring parties in Syria to the negotiating table as a complementary part of the UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva. Enditem
Russia is taking all possible steps at any site to legalize its aggression against Ukraine and the temporary occupation of the Crimean peninsula.

"The situation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation is not the best now. Many initiatives and projects are not implemented due to the temporary occupation of Crimea after 2014. It is no secret that Russia is making every effort to legalize its aggression against Ukraine and the temporary occupation of the Crimean peninsula. Due to these attempts, many former projects simply cannot be implemented," Consul General of Ukraine in Istanbul Oleksandr Gaman said in an interview with Ukrinform.

He clarified that, in particular, he meant Russias attempts to include its representatives in various commissions, to encourage business to work with Crimea, to hold various cultural and business events.

"They pursue one goal: to legalize their illegal actions. We have another goal: to inform the BSEC Secretariat and the member countries about the real situation in Crimea. At the same time, we consider the BSEC an important platform for defending the interests of our state in the Black Sea region and the development of economic relations with the member states of the organization," the Consul General of Ukraine in Istanbul said.

He also pointed out that last year Russia had tried to take various measures aimed at legalizing its illegal actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

"Russia uses all means But we have a good ally  Turkey, its leadership. That is why it is possible to counteract the actions of the Russian side," the diplomat stressed.

As reported, Ukraine emphasized that respect for international law and the rule of law should be the basis of such a structure as the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). In particular, it was said that Russia must respect international law, including orders of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

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An explosion hit the vehicle of a Manbij military council's spokesman, causing slight injuries, with the culprits unknown writes Smart News.

On Wednesday, a commander in the Manbij military council of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) survived an assassination attempt in the city of Manbij, 83 kilometers east of Aleppo.

The SDF is mainly comprised of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units in addition to Arab, Turkmen, and Assyrian/Syriac military factions. The SDF is supported by the United States-backed International Coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) and fought them in Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Aleppo, and Hassakeh in northeastern Syria.

A source from the internal security forces of the Manbij council reported to Smart News that an explosive device exploded in the car of the Manbij military councils spokesman, Shirfan al-Darwish, while he was driving near the mills south of the city. The explosion slightly injured Darwish.

On Jan. 27, 2020, unknown persons stabbed a young man to death in front of his house in the city of Manbij. Earlier in January, a person was also stabbed to death in the city.

Explosions and assassinations frequently take place in the SDF-controlled city of Manbij. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for some attacks, while the SDF announced arresting ISIS cells in the city.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
S chools will be closed over the summer break, dashing hopes of a "massive catch-up" for pupils who have missed months of lessons.

Downing Street ruled out calls for teachers to offer face-to-face catch-up lessons after schools officially break up in July amid a mounting backlash at how children are falling behind.

This is despite Boris Johnson promising a huge amount of catch-up for pupils over the summer months," saying more details would be announced next week.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said Education Secretary Gavin Williamson had told MPs they would close over the summer holiday months.

He confirmed this would apply to key workers children too, who have been among the few to stay in schools since they shut in March.

Schools will remain shuttered over the holidays, No10 said / Reuters

There would have been a reasonable expectation that parents would expect for schools not to be open over the course of the summer, the spokesman said.

The Government sparked fury on Wednesday by U-turning on its plan to give all primary pupils four weeks of teaching before the holidays.

The PM was lambasted by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday for flailing around, trying to blame others over his schools plan that lies in tatters.

Schools had stayed open during the Easter break to help parents keep working through the coronavirus crisis.

Schools had stayed open over the Easter holidays / Getty Images

This week former Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw called for teachers to provide summer schools for extra pay.

Summer schools have become the new battlefront for teaching unions, who insist online teaching will suffice - despite virtual lessons thus far being scarcely attended.

Two former Conservative education secretaries rounded on ministers on Wednesday, with Justine Greening accusing them of levelling down and Damian Hinds demanding creative thinking to plug the void in childrens learning.

Boris Johnson has vowed an extensive catch-up operation this summer / via REUTERS

Robert Halfon, the Tory Commons education committee chair, has called on the PM to build Nightingale schools.

He told the Standard: The Prime Minister should set out a national plan for the opening of schools, a summer catch-up programme for left-behind pupils, using every building available whether it be school buildings, village halls or unused office space.

If the NHS can have Nightingale hospitals, why cannot hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged children have Alan Turing Schools too.

Just half of primary schools in England reopened last week to pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 despite the PM urging them to do so.

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As part of its phased reopening of schools, No10 wants Year 10 and Year 12 to return from Monday to resume preparations for GCSE and A-level exams next year, which the Education Secretary has insisted will go ahead.
Say what you will about Chris Christie. At least he didnt go out of his way to make sure the media saw that career-ending photo of him lounging on a beach chair in a park closed to the public.

Our photographer Andy Mills had to charter a small plane to get that famous photo. Then he had to lean out the door to catch the governor lounging near his summer house at Island Beach State Park, which hed closed for the July 4th weekend due to a budget brawl.

That picture might as well have been captioned Let them eat cake. But unlike Marie Antoinette, Christie got to keep his head. It was his public image that went on the chopping block as that photo became an internet meme.

The same holds for that photo of the current governor marching in a protest parade in Hillside last weekend.

For almost three months now weve been listening to Phil Murphy nag us about the need to stay at least six feet away from our fellow New Jerseyans.

We also heard him label as knuckleheads and threaten to prosecute any state resident who failed to follow his order to engage in social distancing.

But The Star-Ledger didnt have to sneak a camera into that crowd as Murphy marched shoulder-to-shoulder with a crowd of demonstrators opposing police brutality. Murphy himself posted it on his website.

He then followed it up with explanations that just dug him in deeper.

I cant imagine what it would look like if we said to people, Actually, you have to stay in. You have to ignore systemic racism, Im sorry. Just ignore it. Just stay inside. Murphy said at one of his media briefings.

But thats exactly what the governor did when he issued that stay-at-home order. There were no exceptions for political activity and several organizers of peaceful protests against his lockdown were cited by police.

That led one member of the loyal opposition, Assemblyman Jay Webber of Morris County, to send a letter to the guy who sits next to the governor at those briefings, acting State Police Superintendent Pat Callahan. Webber asked Callahan to hand Murphy the same citation the police handed to organizers of those other protests.

That didnt happen. But it should have, said Webber.

I just want the law equally applied to everyone, said Webber. The governor refused to take responsibility for violating his own order.

Webber, who is an attorney by profession, said that both the anti-lockdown and the anti-police-brutality protests were based on the same principle.

Theyre essentially the same protests, he said. They just want equal protection under the law. The economic protesters were upset that the big box stores got to stay open while the small stores were shut.

That will make for an interesting legal fight if and when this issue goes to court.

But the governor made one gaffe after another in his response to the uproar. Perhaps the worst came when he said that he and his wife, Tammy, will get tested for coronavirus because they attended the rally. So should others, he said.

If theyve been in a big gathering like that with real proximity to others, I think getting tested is a smart move, Murphy said.

What the heck? Testing doesnt cure coronavirus. All it does is tell you whether you have it.

And if you thought attending a rally would increase your risk of contracting coronavirus, then perhaps you shouldnt have attended that rally.

On Tuesday the governor lifted his stay-at-home order. He denied it was in response to the controversy over the photo. But his imposition of these orders brings to mind another figure from French history.

Thats Louis the XIV, the king who famously said, Letat, cest moi.

That saying means I am the state and it is used in reference to someone who claims absolute power, without boundaries or rivalries, according to the Grammarist website.

Thats what Murphy has been doing since St. Patricks Day. He intends to keep doing it past July 4.

The governor has asserted all along that his actions are based on the data and the science. But if he believed in the data and the science, then he wouldnt have gone to that rally, said the state senator who represents the district in which the governor lives.

If you want credibility and consistency your orders and your laws have to all make sense and work together, said Republican Declan OScanlon. Either hes careless or he doesnt believe this is a threat.

Id vote for careless.

Say what you will about Christie, at least he made us rent a plane to get that embarrassing photograph.

With Murphy, we didnt even have to walk across the street.
The Latinos showed support to the 'Black Lives Matter' Movement recently as the two communities found common ground as victims of police abuse in the past, and the "stop-and-frisk" policy in New York City.

Latino and Black Communities the Usual Targets of "Stop-and-Frisk" Policy

The Latino community is no stranger to police violence, having experienced brutality in the hands of police in different forms across the country. One well-known policy that makes them the likely victims is the "Stop-and-Frisk" in New York City.

A published report by the Center for Constitutional Rights in 2011 revealed that there were around 350,743 such actions made towards blacks, 223,740 to Latinos, while only 61,805 were towards White Americans in New York City.

It was also presented in their report that Latinos and Blacks were disproportionately stopped. This simply means that out of around 685,724 who were stopped, 84 percent of whom were coming from the Black and Latino community.

Meanwhile, the latest data of the New York Civil Liberties Union showed that there was a decrease of stop-and-frisk. However, the Latino and Black communities remain to be the target. 13,459 stops were recorded by NYPD, 7,981 were Blacks while 3,869 were from Latinos.

Latino Community Remembers the Brutal Death of a Latino Man in El Paso, Texas

The police abuse experienced by Latinos and Blacks is not only happening in one city or state but this happens everyday across the country. On Monday, Latinos and Blacks join together in a protest in El Paso, Texas as they shout and call an end of police abuse against the minorities.

In a published report by USA Today in 2015, a Hispanic man named Erik Salas Sanchez was fatally shot and killed. It was found out that Salas Sanchez had a mental disorder issue and was alleged at that time lunging a gun towards a police officer.

However, the autopsy showed that the mentally ill person did not have a gun and was shoot at the back. The police officer who manslaughter Salas Sanchez was later on acquitted by a grand jury.

Latino and Black Communities Protest Together

What Latinos and Blacks protesting is not just a simple call, but a demand for justice and equality according to the Latino leaders of Border Network for Human Rights. Fernando Garcia, executive director of the group, said that it is not just Blacks who were murdered but as well as Hispanics.

He also added: "This system criminalizes all people of color who are poor. That is why it's important to connect."

In addition, Domingo Garcia, National President of League of United Latin American Citizens, is working shoulder to shoulder with the Black Lives Matter movement. He said: "The pain and sheer injustice that black communities experience day in and day out cannot be ignored any longer. It must stop now.

He also outlined the different instances Hispanics were being killed by Police Officers. One of the deaths he recounted was the questionable shooting incident committed by a White American Police Officer to Santos Rodriquez who was 12 years old at that time.

Today, the two biggest minority groups in the country are now protesting and demanding justice not only for George Floyd but also for all Hispanics and Blacks who were killed by police officers that until now remained questionable.

Check this ou!
A federal judge wants to hear arguments whether the rules for Wisconsin's next election should change between now and Election Day.

U.S. District Judge William Conley on Wednesday ordered a hearing on a lawsuit over voter ID requirements, absentee ballots, and the timeline for returning those ballots by the end of June.

Conley on Wednesday refused a request from both the Wisconsin Republican Party and the national Republican Party to dismiss the lawsuit.

The question before the federal court is whether voters need to show proof of ID when casting an absentee ballot, and how they can request those ballots in the mail or electronically. The lawsuit also wants to end the requirement that ballots have a witness signature.

There is also a question about how long local election managers should wait to count absentee ballots. Currently ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day. The lawsuit wants to allow local clerks to count ballots delivered up to 10 days after the election.

Democrats filed the lawsuit before the April election, citing the state's response to the coronavirus, but tweaked it afterwards. Democrats said the questions at the heart of the lawsuit are still unanswered.

Conley on Wednesday agreed.

As was amply demonstrated in the fire drill leading up to the April election, the longer this court delays, the less likely constitutional relief to voters is going to be effective and the more likely that relief may cause voter confusion and burden election officials charged with its administration, he wrote in his ruling.

Conley added to his order a requirement that the Wisconsin Election Commission weigh in on what it is doing to avoid problems with absentee voting in November, and whether WEC commissioners think the lawsuit would improve how things work on Election Day. Conley is giving the WEC just over two weeks to respond.
[June 11, 2020] Milken Institute Teams with First Person to Explain the Race to a COVID-19 Vaccine

The Milken Institute, the nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, and First Person, a San Francisco design and storytelling company, together tell the urgent story of the global race for a COVID-19 vaccine in a newly released interactive experience at: https://www.covid-19vaccinetracker.org/. Developed by First Person, the web-based tool is the culmination of a nearly three-month long effort tracking treatment and vaccines candidates for COVID-19 undertaken by FasterCures, a center of Milken Institute. When it first launched, FasterCures identified 38 vaccine candidates. As of today, there are 161 vaccines in development, with 10 in clinical trials. "Developing a safe vaccine that can be widely accessed is both necessary and extraordinarily complex," said Esther Krofah, Executive Director at FasterCures. "We are thrilled that First Person has been able to bring our comprehensive vaccine tracker to life in a way that educates the public and gives the medical research community a new tool to better understand the race toward a COVID-19 vaccine." The interactive platform is updated regularly and takes the viewer through a narrative including: An overview of the number of vaccine candidates currently in development

A timeline of vaccine development and how accines work

The steps for taking a vaccine from ideation to commercialization, and then to widespread use



Drew Fiero President and CEO of First Person. "The comprehensive, neutral, and consistently updated data from FasterCures allowed us to leverage our storytelling capabilities to do just that through a visually compelling, interactive experience." Compiled from more than 30 publicly available data sources, the COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Tracker is updated daily by FasterCures. The nonprofit welcomes input on new treatments and vaccines in development. Please email [email protected] with tips.

About FasterCures FasterCures, a center of the Milken Institute, is working to build a system that is effective, efficient, and driven by a clear vision: patient needs above all else. We believe that transformative and life-saving science should be fully realized and deliver better treatments to the people who need them. About the Milken Institute The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that helps people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities. For more information, visit www.milkeninstitute.org About First Person First Person is a San Francisco design and storytelling company. We combine brilliant ideas with business insight to develop stories that leverage design and technology to deliver lasting value. The result is engaging media that informs, surprises and delights. For more information, visit www.firstperson.is View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005541/en/

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President Donald Trump speaks on Friday after the release of a deceptively positive jobs report. (Associated Press )

There were several reasons why President Trump should have held off from the self-congratulation last week after government figures showed an unexpected increase of 2.5 million jobs in May.

One was that the increase was barely a blip in the big picture. More than 22 million jobs had been lost in March and April, largely due to the coronavirus lockdown; that's more than 14% of all nonfarm jobs that were in existence as of the end of February.

But the most important reason not to celebrate was hidden in the government report in plain sight. Employment by state and local governments has fallen off a cliff.

No state will escape the financial black hole created by this crisis.

Mark Zandi, Moody's Analytics

The employment report issued June 5 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that state and local government employment fell by 571,000 jobs in May. The month before, the loss was 964,000, for a two-month total of 1.535 million public sector jobs lost.

And the disaster may just be starting. Estimates of the size of the deficits faced by state and local governments through 2022 from the combination of heightened public health spending to combat the coronavirus and sinking revenues due to the economic shutdown and its continuing reverberations range from a catastrophic $500 billion through fiscal 2022 to a cataclysmic $959 billion through the end of next year.

(The first estimate is offered by Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics; the second by Timothy J. Bartik of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.)

"No state will escape the financial black hole created by this crisis," Zandi told CNN last month.

Some states, such as Texas and Oklahoma, suffered especially acutely because of the fall in oil prices, which help shore up their economies. But every state will have to confront a shortfall in personal income taxes stemming from layoffs and furloughs, and in sales taxes because people couldn't leave their homes to shop in stores, go to restaurants and stay in hotels.

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The situation demands congressional action. "They're facing massive shortfalls, and there are not too many ways they can make that up," economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research told me. "Their money mostly goes to hiring people. If Congress doesn't come through with a big pile of money, they're going to be hit really hard."

He's right. Unlike the federal government, states and localities can't print money to paper over deficits. They're generally required to maintain balanced budgets, so when deficits strike, their only option is to cut payrolls.

The relationship between state and local government fiscal health and the national economy is symbiotic. As a rule of thumb, every percentage point increase in the national unemployment rate costs state budgets about $45 billion, according to the Brookings Institution.

(The drop in the unemployment rate to 13.3% from 14.7% that the BLS reported on June 5 was based on a "misclassification" of temporarily furloughed workers as employed, when they should have been classified as temporarily unemployed. Factoring out that glitch, the unemployment rate was 16.3%.)

Job losses and job gains: The increase of 2.5 million jobs in May touted by President Trump can be seen as the uptick at the far right, tiny in relation to the huge losses in the previous two months. Gray bands signify recessions. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Looking at things from the opposite direction, history tells us that state and local government hiring is a key to keeping the current recession from turning into a depression.

The best evidence for how strapped state and local governments can become drags on growth comes from the 2008-09 recession, when they became relentlessly austere "anti-stimulus machines," observes Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute.

If state and local spending had matched the trajectory it followed during the recovery from the recession of the early 1980s, "pre-recession unemployment rates could have been achieved by early 2013 rather than 2017," Bivens calculates. "In short, this austerity delayed recovery by over four years."

Closing the revenue gap with federal aid will save as many as 6 million jobs by the end of 2021, Bivens adds, placing the U.S. back on the path to full employment it enjoyed before the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite all that, Republicans in Congress originally expressed opposition to giving states and localities a big dollop of aid. As we reported earlier, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) denigrated the idea of more money for state and local governments as "blue state bailouts," citing the public pension policies of big states.

This analysis pleased the peanut gallery of right-wing ideologues ever eager to take potshots at public employees. But it's wrong. The truth is that some of the biggest snouts in the federal trough have long been red states  including McConnell's own home state of Kentucky, which gets $2.35 back from the federal government for every dollar it sends to Washington, the best return in the country.

McConnell has since made more moderate noises about federal aid, as well he should. "This isn't partisan," Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and former chief economist to then-Vice President Joe Biden told me by email. Republican governors "are legitimately asking McConnell for help  but just what form and how much is to be seen."

That will be the next battle. If the assistance is allocated by population, Baker notes, that will hurt blue states with large populations but more COVID-19 cases even as a share of their population.

"I'm sure the Republican intention is to fill much of the gap," Baker said, but if Congress comes up with, say, only two-thirds of what's needed, that will leave deficits in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

What's really needed may be a multiyear program that assures state and local governments that help will still be available more than a year from now, when the impact of the pandemic is still likely to be felt.

But McConnell and Trump aren't known as long-term thinkers or planners. "From a political view, probably the best thing is to get every cent you can now and hope that you get a Democrat in the White House and come back in January with some long-range plans," Baker said.




Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has stated that the issue of restoring water supply through the North Crimean Canal is not on the agenda at the moment.

"Resumption of supply through the Crimean canal is not on the agenda now, and it is not a bargaining chip, so to speak," Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said at a press conference "100 Days of Government" on June 11, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Currently, water is not supplied to Crimea and "cannot be supplied there physically," he stressed.

At the same time, the Head of the Ukrainian Government stressed that Russia, as an occupying power, "does not always" comply with the requirements of the relevant international convention with regard to people living in the annexed Crimea.

As reported, Vice Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov said that Ukraine could resume water supplies to Crimea only after the peninsula is de-occupied.

At the same time, according to Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov, the issue of water supply to the occupied Crimea may be a pretext for Russian President Vladimir Putin to expand aggression.

Glen Howard, President of The Jamestown Foundation, noted that the dry summer in Crimea could encourage the Russian Federation to take active action in Kherson region to gain control of the North Crimean Canal.

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APNs and co-writers Dr Melanie Rogers and Annabella Gloster provided a chapter on the development of the role in the country which spotlighted the UK's failure to provide regulation and formal protection for the title Advanced Practice Nurse

AROUND the world, Advanced Practice Nurses (APN) - trained to take on a wide range of responsibilities, including diagnosis and treatment - are increasingly crucial in the expansion and provision of health care.

In the UK, the commonest roles are that of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist.

A new book examines APN leadership globally, and a University Teaching Fellow at the University of Huddersfield, which offers Master's degrees in the discipline, has provided a chapter on the development of the role in the UK and she spotlights some of the problems that must still be surmounted.

These include a failure so far to provide regulation and formal protection for the title Advanced Practice Nurse.

Dr Me lanie Rogers has been an APN for more than 20 years and in her contribution to the book she states: "Being an advanced nurse practitioner is the most rewarding, challenging and stimulating role I have ever had. Being able to provide patients with holistic care, which brings together the best of nursing and the best of medicine, is a privilege".

Dr Rogers has been an influential figure in the development of the APN role globally and in the UK. In her contribution to the newly-published 'Advanced Practice Nursing Leadership: A Global Perspective', she tells how she was involved in early discussions with the UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) about nurse practitioner regulation.

For 12 years she has worked with the International Council of Nurses, Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nurse Network (ICN NP/AP) to lobby for regulatory changes and support advanced practice developments globally.

She has chaired the ICN NP/AP Network for almost four years, and in the book she writes that she been fortunate to support many countries developing AP roles.

But Dr Rogers states she has been saddened and has struggled with the UK being one of only two countries globally with established nurse practitioner roles not to provide regulation.

"I have worked to support advanced practice globally through health policy, education, research and leadership. I have also consistently spoken about the need for the UK to address this problem."

Dr Rogers adds that "in order for nurses not to become overlooked as advanced practitioners, it is vital that they stand up and identify the value that advanced practice brings to patients and the healthcare system".

Advanced Practice Nurse Development in the United Kingdom

The chapter titled Advanced Practice Nurse Development in the United Kingdom was co-written by Dr Rogers with Annabella Gloster, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Salford. The authors provide an account of how the APN role developed in the UK and analyse the differences between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Their detailed data includes a lengthy list of the attainments that the Royal College of Nursing requires from APNs. These include the ability to make professionally-autonomous decisions and receive patients with undiagnosed problems and make an assessment of their health care needs, based on highly-developed nursing knowledge and skills, including physical examination.

Advanced nurse practitioners should also be able to screen patients for disease risk factors and early signs of illness and makes differential diagnoses. APNs also need to be able to develop with the patient a care plan for health, with an emphasis on preventative measures.

New book Advanced Practice Nursing Leadership: A Global Perspective is edited by the USA's Susan B. Hassmiller and Joyce Pulcini and has contributions by more than 40 authors from countries around the world.

In their introduction, the editors state that "this is an incredibly exciting time to be an APN, with an unprecedented opportunity to take on roles that expand access to care and more systematically address the root causes of poor health".

###

(The book 'Advanced Practice Nursing Leadership: A Global Perspective' can be purchased via the publisher's website: https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030205492)
IRVINE, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIASC) is celebrating the first anniversary of its highly successful New Homes Showcase . The online showcase has become a valuable and authoritative resource for the building industry by directly engaging consumers with the latest builder communities without the intermediation of third-party websites.

Since over 90% of homebuyers reportedly begin their search for a new home online, the showcase is intended to increase BIASC-member builders' share of that digital flow. Since its unveiling just a year ago, over 50 communities have been listed to participate in the showcase. In addition, it has generated some 86,000 click-throughs to builders from interested potential homebuyers.

With the highly user-friendly platform, prospective buyers select a community in which they are interested. They are then connected directly to the website of the builder for that community to obtain further details and begin an interaction. Furthermore, the service provides prospective homebuyers with peace of mind by engaging them with new-home builders that have longstanding credibility through their membership in the 90-year-old association.

"We were very excited when we debuted this innovative offering to the market," said BIASC EVP Craig Foster. "And we are extremely pleased with the response it has received by both the builders and the buyers through this powerful online resource."

The BIASC New Homes Showcase augments other strategic traffic generation programs such as the BIASC Sign Program and builder billboard campaigns. Moreover, this approach to linking buyers and builders results in better qualified traffic that is more likely to drive action and lead to a sale. Another significant advantage of the program is the exclusivity of leads and data that is shared with builder members while being protected from automated referrals to competitive communities.

The BIASC New Homes Showcase is powered by NewHomesDirectory.com , an innovative engine with proven performance through a non-traditional, "buyer direct to builder" and consumer-centric approach.

For more information on the BIASC New Homes Showcase and the Building Industry Association of Southern California, visit https://showcase.biasc.org/builders

About BIASC

Headquartered in Irvine, California, the Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIASC) is a leading advocate for thousands of building industry leaders who are committed to a better future for California by building communities, creating jobs and ensuring housing opportunities for everyone. The association has launched its New Homes Showcase, an important initiative designed to serve as a leading authoritative resource in the building industry by engaging consumers directly with builder communities without the intermediation of third-party websites. Learn more at BIASC.org .

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SOURCE Building Industry Association of Southern California, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.biasc.org


Sean Penn has said hes aware he can be difficult to like from afar in a new interview where he speaks candidly about his reputation in the film industry.

The actor has been involved in various public disputes over the years. In 2003, he sued producer Steve Bing, accusing him of bringing back Hollywood blacklisting by firing him from a film for his anti-war views. During his wedding to Madonna in 1985, he reportedly fired a gun at press helicopters. He also once told a journalist he hoped his critics would "die screaming of rectal cancer".

When Penn accepted the best actor award for Milk at the 2009 Academy Awards, he alluded to his difficult reputation, saying: I did not expect this and I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often.

In a new interview with SiriusXM DJ Howard Stern, he said: Thereve been several times Ive worked with directors who I felt might have found a different job description, and perhaps werent the storytellers that their initial meetings with each of us actors might have indicated.

Actors are kind of canaries in the coalmine emotionally, and you have to go to whatever place is necessary inside yourself. If you dont have somebody there who at least respects that  most of what I was referring to is that the arrogance goes further than charm.

I am aware that I can be a difficult person to like from afar, often. I sometimes think I have a great love affair with humanity but not too good with humans.

Penn can next be seen in the thriller Flag Day alongside Katheryn Winnick and Josh Brolin, which he also directed.
Why Payments Stopped

A 'Uniquely Poor Response

(TNS)  With no apparent notice, the state of Florida has reverted to a system of paying benefits to the unemployed every other week, at a time when thousands of people have also seen their federal benefits come to a halt.State Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, said the change from weekly payments took most people by surprise because it was not announced in advance.Its ridiculous, he said. They didnt give us a heads up that they were going biweekly. ... People thought they were being cut off when they werent being cut off.A spokeswoman for the Department of Employment Opportunity said the agency has traditionally paid benefits biweekly but had gone to a weekly system to help cope with the pandemic emergency.In an effort to get Floridians paid as quickly as possible, DEO has pushed out payments as quickly as possible and many claimants have received benefit payments weekly and at different times, said the spokeswoman, Paige Landrum. Moving forward and in an effort to streamline payments for Floridians, DEO is transitioning benefit payments back to a biweekly schedule.In the meantime, Landrum acknowledged that a number of people had not received their $600 weekly payouts from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program. That money is paid on top of Floridas benefits, which are capped at $275 a week, one of the lowest payouts in the country.Thousands of out-of-work Floridians had been receiving their $600 checks for weeks, but they halted around Memorial Day week.State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, compiled a list of almost 8,500 people who were affected. And there are likely many more.These are folks that are eligible, have been claiming their weeks and getting their benefits on a regular basis, and then the $600 suddenly stopped, Eskamani said. Meanwhile, folks have really suffered. Three weeks with no $600 payments is a big deal. That can be someones rent.Landrum blamed two technology concerns for the missing payments.Landrum said the first problem involved individuals who requested that their claims be backdated but were not included in recent payment files for those payments.We are working diligently to ensure these claimants are made whole as quickly as possible, Landrum said. At this time, claimants do not need to do anything but should continue to request benefits as long as they are unemployed or partially unemployed. The department anticipates having the issue resolved quickly and being able to provide these payments to eligible claimants.The second problem concerned those who were not paid their federal money for their so-called waiting week, which traditionally is a pause in payments covering the first week after an unemployed person initially files.The department has identified these individuals and should have them paid their $600 federal payment within five business days, Landrum said.The DEO warned that federal benefits could be interrupted when Florida launched its tool for residents to collect retroactive pay, money they had not been able to access when the CONNECT system broke down during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.Jonathan Satter, secretary of the Department of Management Services, said during a discussion on Facebook that workers who backdated their applications prior to March 29, the date federal benefits began, might lose a portion of their federal pay. Only workers who werent able to apply between March 9 and April 8 could request to backdate their applications.But its unclear if thats why some workers stopped getting the federal payments through the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, known as FPUC. Many residents who had never collected retroactive pay also saw their federal payments halted.These generic answers dont address nearly all of the problems and possibilities as to why we are not being paid. Neither of those apply to the thousands of people that have been active and eligible and paid like clockwork from the beginning and then poof it all stopped, one user commented on Eskamanis Facebook page.I did not backdate anything. It just stopped, another person wrote.Eskamani said its another instance in which Floridas unemployment system has failed workers.DEO has to ping the federal government for the FPUC payments. Its not that Florida has a separate trust fund for FPUC payments and they can easily tap into it. Their explanation seems to say that for some individuals, they forgot to do that, Eskamani said.Its the latest problem to plague Floridas broken unemployment system, which has struggled to keep up with the millions of residents out of work and filing claims because of the virus and government-ordered shutdowns. Gov. Ron DeSantis has blamed Deloitte Consulting, the company hired in 2010 to build the CONNECT system, for the backlog of unpaid claims, and blamed residents for making errors on their applications that have made them ineligible for benefits.DeSantis ordered a state investigation into the $77 million CONNECT system, and two top-ranking U.S. senators called early this week for a federal investigation into Floridas uniquely poor handling of unemployment and the DEOs failure to process unemployment claims and deliver benefits in a timely fashion."The lag in disbursing federal payments in Florida comes as Congress is debating whether to extend the program beyond the end of July, when the program, which was created under the coronavirus relief act, is set to expire. U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia told the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday that the Trump administration opposes an extension.We expect the economy to be deep into the process of reopening, with shutdown orders ended and millions of Americans freed to return to work, Scalia said.Republicans on the committee largely agreed and argued that continuing to offer $600 federal payments would discourage Americans from returning to work. Democrats shot down that argument and said with so many people still out of work  unemployment in Florida hit 12.9 percent in April  the federal benefits are invaluable.If we let this benefit expire at the end of July, Mr. Secretary, Id argue that were going to throw tens of millions of people who rely on them into a financial crisis family by family all across the United States of America, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, told Scalia.Rodriguez, the state senator, who spoke before the committee, said cutting off federal benefits could have devastating effects in Florida. He estimates Florida has distributed only half of the fedearl money owed to eligible workers.Florida entered this crisis with one of, if not the, least prepared unemployment systems, Rodriguez said. The CARES Act lifted my constituents when Floridas system alone would not have. ... CARES Act programs ought to remain in place until recovery has reached all sectors, otherwise communities like mine, I fear it will set us back in our path to recovery."
Description

GIS - 11 June, 2020: With the aim of consolidating food security and boost local agricultural activities, the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives is working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security, to establish a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the setting up of four market outlets to be run by the National Cooperatives Consumer Federation.

The Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives, Mr Soomilduth Bholah, made this announcement , yesterday, at the launching ceremony of the Online Training in Bio-organic Farming for Cooperatives (Level 2, Practical sessions) to be conducted by the National Cooperative College , at the Falcon Bio-organic Farm in Terre-Rouge.

The Minister underlined that the market outlets will be a platform whereby the Agricultural Marketing Board, small farmers and cooperatives will sell their products to small business owners and the public.

Mr Soomilduth Bholah stated that the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered individuals, institutions, entrepreneurs and the Government to ponder on the need to bring some changes around us. The focus during the Covid-19 lockdown centered around the fragile demand and supply of food and the countrys self-sufficiency in agricultural products, he said.

According to him, the pandemic has indeed highlighted the importance of reinforcing local production and consumption, which he emphasised , was already on the Ministrys agenda prior to the pandemic.

He stressed on the crucial need to promote local farming and maximise agricultural activities, which can be achieved by the optimum use of the land allocated to cooperative societies, and modern farming methods that require the use of less land but have higher yields.

Speaking about the drastic consequences of the use of pesticides in farming, the Minister observed that the future of agriculture lies in bio-farming that brings in greater productivity and safer food production.

Moreover, he reiterated his determination to provide the necessary support to the cooperative sector, so that their business activities flourish. He also announced that the Ministry is planning the reopening of cooperatives retails shops so that cooperatives are able to increase and market their products at a reasonable price.

As regards the training course, the Minister underlined that it is in line with Governments policy to drive agricultural innovation, promote green and sustainable agriculture and increase food production. The course is geared towards providing at level 1, theoretical aspects of Bio-Organic farming and at level 2, practical exposure and necessary skills and techniques to participants.

On that occasion, certificates and agricultural tools were remitted to some 46 participants who have successfully completed training in Level 1 Bio-Organic farming training which started on 05 February 2020 and had to be completed through online sessions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Online search trends in the United States could be used to map a possible rise in coronavirus infections.

Using such data to predict infections is notoriously difficult, but a range of different kinds of aggregated data  including information from Google Maps  has been used to try and understand the outbreak.

Google searches for terms like "Covid-19 symptoms" and "Covid-19 testing near me" have spiked in recent days.

The concerning trend comes as lockdown restrictions in the US begin to ease, despite infection rates not falling as significantly as other countries emerging from lockdown.

The surge in search terms related to the coronavirus also comes amid mass public protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.

The US already has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, officially passing 2 million on Thursday.

Looking more closely at Google trends in individual US states over the last seven days reveals where most of the searches are coming from.

This could potentially signal new and emerging hotspots of Covid-19.

The search data correlates with an increase in new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in states where most of the searches were taking place.

Both Arizona and South Carolina have seen the number of new cases rise over the last seven days, having previously avoided any significant outbreak.

Nationwide searches for other terms that might indicate a new wave of infections have also risen in recent days, including the term "coronavirus symptoms".

While new coronavirus cases in the US have risen slightly since the end of May, there is yet to be a notable surge in the number of new cases. This could be due to the delay between people experiencing symptoms and people being tested for Covid-19.

Google has previously attempted to predict such trends through its "nowcast" function, which launched in 2008. A paper published in the scientific journal Nature at the time explained how people's search patterns could estimate flu prevalence two weeks before it was registered by official bodies like the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As the world's most popular online search engine, the data from people's digital footprints offered potentially life-saving insights and it was the poster child of so-called 'Big Data'. But by 2015 it was shut down after it failed to foresee a massive flu outbreak in 2013.

It was described by some publications as an "epic failure" and a note on its landing page now states: "Google Flu Trends and Google Dengue Trends are no longer publishing current estimates of Flu and Dengue fever based on search patterns... It is still early days for nowcasting and similar tools for understanding the spread of diseases like flu and dengue  we're excited to see what comes next."

A blog post explaining the decision said that Google would work directly with academic institutions to make sense of the search data. More than 265 peer-reviewed papers have since drawn on aggregated data taken from Google searches, used to track epidemics like Ebola in 2014, Zika in 2016 and West Nile fever over several years in Italy.
What is it about Black Lives Matter that ticks you off? Yeah you. You know who you are. This is for you.

The first time I heard the name, I thought it was clever. It made sense. It hit home. The group was created right after a jury acquitted a Caucasian man of shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teen walking through a gated community on his way to his fathers house from the convenience store. The defence? He was a black kid walking through a gated community. Clearly he was up to no good.

In 2013, the jury found George Zimmerman, the shooter, not guilty and Black people across the United States decided they had enough. So Black Lives Matter was formed out of anger and pain in an effort to have their voices heard. Because no one was listening.

I am not Black. But discrimination is part of my life. Whats that you ask? Being treated like you dont matter as much as someone who is Caucasian. Judged, disrespected. Hushed when you stand up and ask for change.

I dont fear for my life, as Trayvon Martin did when he was approached by a man with a gun, or George Floyd when he was gasping for breath, but the sting of discrimination hurts. For years I fought it. I stood up and voiced my opinion. I lost jobs, I lost friends (never really friends). I was ostracized by those who didnt want to hear it. Why? Because they did not want to believe it exists. So I was hushed, discredited.

Its the same reason why the name All Lives Matter was created. To discredit. To undermine.

When I first heard the counter name, I laughed. Seriously? We all know that all lives matter  but not all lives are treated like they matter. Thats the point. How did people not understand this?

I rolled my eyes and chalked it up to racism. Just a small minority of people didnt get it I told myself.

But it wasnt the small minority I expected. I started hearing comments from those around me. Im usually the only brown woman in the room in most of my circles and Im told that I act white so when Im around, the politically correct mask comes off: What is the point of Black Lives Matter? Why do they need to be involved in policing anyway? Why dont they just let the police do their job? Why cant they stop being so radical? They are the ones who are racist.

If the group called themselves, Equal Rights For All, and handed out brochures, asking you to help stop racism, would you be more comfortable? Would you accept the literature and nod your head, agreeing that we all need to get along? That would fit into your comfort zone, right?

Most likely the literature would end up in your garbage bin and you would go back to your privileged lives and forget the conversation. Because it isnt your problem. You want to maintain the status quo, because its easy.

Perhaps if you lived in the 1960s and a Black youth boarded a bus and sat beside you, as part of the Freedom Riders movement, you would smile and nod. And accept that he had the right to sit beside you because he was a person. But you would feel uncomfortable, as his thigh brushed against yours and you wondered if your wallet was secured in the other side of your back pocket, furthest from his hand. You may get off the bus a stop early and walk home quickly, looking over your shoulder. Once you got home, you would spill the story to your spouse, and ask why they couldnt just sit at the back of the bus. Because you felt uncomfortable. Because it was change.

Racism is an ugly word. No one wants to say it, no one wants to admit it happens, and most of all, no one wants to experience it. So you pretend it doesnt exist and argue that the Black Lives Matter movement needs to stop what theyre doing. Because it makes you look at something you dont want to see. Yourself. Your unconscious biases. Your refusal to evolve. Its not pretty.
Move comes after US tech giant criticised for supporting the George Floyd protesters while promoting a tool that can lead to racial profiling of African Americans.

United States tech giant Amazon says it is temporarily suspending US police from being able to use its controversial facial recognition technology for a year.

The company has been criticised for supporting the George Floyd protesters while promoting a tool that can lead to racial profiling of African Americans.

Al Jazeeras Sara Khairat reports.
A man accused of hiring a hitman to kill a social worker has now filed a lawsuit against her.

David Culver II, 36, pleaded guilty to hiring a hitman to kill social worker Calista Garza in Bryan, Ohio.

He was initially set to be sentenced in March, but the date was pushed back until July 15 due to the coronavirus outbreak, court documents show.

David Culver II, 36, (pictured) pleaded guilty to hiring a hitman to kill social worker Calista Garza in Bryan, Ohio

Culver contacted a Michigan resident with a significant criminal history in May, 2019, saying that he 'needed a huge favor' and he wanted to get rid of someone 'ASAP,' according to court documents seen by The Blade.

An undercover police officer posing as a hitman met Culver at a restaurant in Bryan on May 18 last year.

Culver passed on details about the social worker and provided a $200 down payment for the assassination.

The 36-year-old was arrested upon leaving the restaurant.

According to records filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo on June 3, Culver has now launched a lawsuit claiming he was harassed and discriminated against by the social worker and her public employer, the Williams County Job and Public Services Agency.

The lawsuit claims Garza and her colleague turned up at his residence on April 16, 2019 to question his wife and search his residence.

Culver alleges that she then called him three days later while the family was traveling to Florida to a new homey, stating that he 'would never see his children again'.

The lawsuit accuses Garza of following him and making threats to take his children away. It alleges that she followed him around town from May 3, 2019, to May 10, 2019, and that she once called him 30 times in one day.

The lawsuit asks the court for at least $25,000 for physical and emotional distress, according to The Blade.

Court records show that Culver's children were relocated as police investigated a case of emotional mistreatment involving the 36-year-old.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 11, 2020 | 10:22 AM | PADUCAH

An organization that provides body armor for police dogs has donated a ballistic vest to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office.Protecting K9 Heroes says K9 Bobi has been given a vest. K9 Bobi is a two and a half-year-old German Shepherd Belgian Malinois mix, and is partnered with Deputy Latta.The gift of protection was made possible by donations to Protecting K9 Heroes and sponsored by Jill and Marcel Paillard of Pennsylvania and In Memory of Charlotte and Dennis.K9 Bobi previously received a Protecting K9 Heroes Trauma kit and Narcan Kit. Naloxone, also known as Narcan, blocks the effects of opioids and reverses overdoses within 2-5 minutes. Each kit includes one 4 Mg device as well as a Narcan Holster.Protecting K9 Heroes NFP Ltd is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that is operated on a 100% volunteer basis. If you are interested in making a tax-deductible donation or helping to protect a K9, you may donate through the organization's website at the link below, or checks can be mailed to: Protecting K9 Heroes P.O. Box 422 Glenwood, IL 60425. We can be reached at 708-480-2292.

On the Net:
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / Avidian Gold Corp. ("Avidian" or the "Company") (TSXV:AVG) is pleased to announce that it has engaged Relations Publiques Paradox Inc. ("Paradox") to provide investor relations services to Avidian. Paradox is a Montreal based investor relations consultancy firm that has been in business for over 15 years. Paradox has represented a number of public companies through its extensive network and experience in the capital markets.

Paradox will increase visibility in the financial community and assist in identifying potential investors through the use of Paradox's contacts and proprietary database. They will organize presentations with interested parties and handle incoming calls from shareholders and potential investors. Paradox's extensive experience and large network provides a full-service approach to investor relations and a creative, results-driven investor relations programs for Avidian.

Carl Desjardins, Principal with Paradox states; "We are extremely pleased to be working with the Avidian Gold team who have a long track record of discovery and value creation for their shareholders. This summer the Company will focus its exploration efforts on the Amanita and Fish Creek properties located in the Fairbanks Mining District and adjacent to Kinross Gold's Fort Knox Mine and Gil deposit. Amanita looks like a very exciting property with drilling planned to follow up on the 2019 surface trench results that included 3.04 g/t Au over 94.5m."

The agreement has a term of 36 months from the date of its signature and may be terminated at any time after the initial 6 months without charge by either party by giving 30 days' notice in writing. Paradox will be paid a monthly fee of $7,500 and will be granted an option to acquire 500,000 common shares of Avidian at a price of $0.13 per share for a period of three years, in accordance with the current stock option plan and Policy 3.4 of the TSX-V. The Investor Relations Agreement as well as the professional engagement fees and granting of stock options is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval,

About Avidian Gold Corp.

Avidian brings a disciplined and veteran team of project managers together with a regional scale advanced stage gold exploration portfolio in Alaska. Avidian's Golden Zone project hosts a NI 43-101 Indicated gold resource of 267,400 ounces (4,187,000 tonnes at 1.99 g/t Au) plus an Inferred gold resource of 35,900 ounces (1,353,000 tonnes at 0.83 g/t Au)*. Additional projects include the Fish Creek property and Amanita property which are adjacent to Kinross Gold's Fort Knox gold mine in Alaska and the Jungo gold/copper property in Nevada. For more information about 2019 trench results at Amanita please refer to the Press Release dated January 7, 2020. *Technical Report on the Golden Zone Property, August 17, 2017, L. McGarry P. Geo & I. Trinder P. Geo, A.C.A Howe International Ltd.

Avidian is the majority owner of High Tide Resources, a private company with an option on the Labrador West iron ore property and owns the base metal Strickland Property and the Black Raven gold property, all located in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Avidian is focused on and committed to the development of advanced stage mineral projects throughout first world mining friendly jurisdictions using industry best practices combined with a strong social license from local communities. Further details on the Corporation and the individual projects, including the NI 43-101 Technical report on the Golden Zone property, can be found on the Corporation's website at www.avidiangold.com.

For further information, please contact:

Steve Roebuck, President

E: sroebuck@avidiangold.com or +1(905) 741-5458

Or

Investor Relations:

Paradox

+1(514) 341-0408

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-looking information

This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities law.

SOURCE: Avidian Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593451/Avidian-Gold-Engages-Paradox-to-Provide-Investor-Relations-Services
Plastic shields and filtration system are placed to prevent the new coronavirus particles to travel in the air in the Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French celebrity chef Alain Ducasse on Thursday unveiled a novel air ventilation system in one of his smallest Parisian restaurants to try to overcome the distancing restrictions related to the coronavirus.

The system, which has cost 50,000 euros to install at the Allard, on Paris' chic left bank, aims to dramatically reduce the risk of airborne virus transmission using technology from hospitalswith a touch of Parisian style.

Ducasse unveiled the system ahead of a French government announcement later this week on the opening of restaurant interiors to diners,

"It's one of the smallest restaurants in Paris and that's why we decided to create this system here, as social distancing would make capacity here almost impossible," Ducasse told The Associated Press.

Using high-tech air filtration devices used in hospitals, a group of inventors conceived of a system of metal pipes, filters and diffusers to slow down the speed of air particles 20 times. That gives time for them to sucked away before they can spread to the next table.

"With this new system, the air in each table is as contained as in an operating theater," Ducasse said.

The system means that the restaurant can keep a capacity of 80%, with the aim of making it economically viable to reopen.

French chef Alain Ducasse speaks to Associated Press reporters during an interview, in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

"If you're a virus carrier, the people just beside you will be safe," said one of the air filtration designers, Arnaud Delloye.

The system was tested in a 12-hour experiment to show that air molecules did not pass between tables, as particles were slowed down and whisked away by a suction device from "ventilation mouths" above each diner.

Social distancing measures were seen as a death knell for many smaller restaurants over fears that capacity would be reduced by 50 or 60%.

Ducasse's Allard in the chic Left Bank has been closed since March, and like many eateries in Paris' narrow cobbled streets there is no outside seating area. Outside areas have been permitted to open since last week in Paris.

The technology is infused with art. Images of air divinities, as well as pigeons and cloudsemblematic of Parisdecorate the filters to prevent a sanitized feel.

Plastic shields and filtration system are placed to prevent the new coronavirus particles to travel in the air in the Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Filtration system is placed to prevent the new coronavirus particles to travel in the air, in the Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Plastic shields are placed on the table of the Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Waiters of Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard " wait for customers, in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Plastic shields are placed between tables in the Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A waiter of Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard " is seen through a glass, in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A waiter of Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard " wait for customers, in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Glasses and cutlery are placed on a table of Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Filtration system is placed to prevent the new coronavirus particles to travel in the air in the Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Filtration system is placed to prevent the new coronavirus particles to travel in the air in the Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French chef Alain Ducasse speaks to Associated Press reporters during an interview, in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A waiter and a kitchen assistant wait for customers in the Alain Ducasse's restaurant " Allard ", in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse unveils virus-protection measures as he prepares to reopen his restaurants, including a new filtration system that works to stop virus particles from the air traveling to neighboring tables. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

France's state health agency INRS has validated the system, saying it "allows a significant reduction in the risk of virus transmission in a restaurant," and France's Ecology Minister Brune Poirson attended the launch.

However, Julian W. Tang, of Leicester University Respiratory Sciences department, expressed some skepticism about such systems, saying they still wouldn't prevent transmission between people sitting at the same table.

"Generally, ceiling height indoor ventilation systems will not really affect the air flows between two people sitting at a table talking," he said.

Ducasse said he will wait to see the popularity of the system before he applies it to any other of his 40 restaurants worldwide.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
U.S. disappointed by DPRK cutting off inter-Korea communication

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:37, June 10, 2020

WASHINGTON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Tuesday said that it was disappointed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) latest move of cutting off all inter-Korean communication lines, urging Pyongyang to return to diplomacy.

"The United States has always supported progress in inter-Korean relations, and we are disappointed in the DPRK's recent actions. We urge the DPRK to return to diplomacy and cooperation," a Department of State spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement also said the United States would remain in close coordination with South Korea on efforts to engage the DPRK.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday morning local time that the DPRK will "completely cut off and shut down the liaison line between the authorities of the north and the south, which has been maintained through the north-south joint liaison office" starting from 12:00 (0300 GMT) on June 9.

Other hotlines will also be cut off, which include the East and West Seas communication lines between the military of the North and the South and the hotline between the office building of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and South Korean president office Blue House, according to the KCNA.

The development came in the DPRK's protest at anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets flown by a South Korean civic group, composed mostly of defectors from the DPRK, across the inter-Korean border.

Under the Panmunjom Declaration, the leaders of South Korea and the DPRK agreed to stop all hostile acts in areas near the military demarcation line (MDL), including the scattering of anti-DPRK leaflets.

The declaration was signed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un after their first summit in the border village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018.

On June 4, Kim Yo Jong, sister of the DPRK leader, issued a statement threatening to close the joint liaison office or even completely dismantle a now-shuttered joint industrial complex in the DPRK's border city of Kaesong unless Seoul stops defector groups from sending leaflets into the DPRK.

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Assicurazioni Generali SpA is exploring strategic options for its Swiss insurance operations, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Italian company is working with advisers to study alternatives including a potential sale of part or all of the business, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Generali Switzerland makes about 194 million Swiss francs ($205 million) of net income, according to its website. It has about 1 million customers and 2 billion Swiss francs in booked premiums.

The business, which employs about 1,800 people, operates in 53 locations in the country offering life, property and legal insurance, as well as pension products. Deliberations are at an early stage, and Generali could decide to keep the business, the people said.

A representative for Generali declined to comment.

Generali has been exiting some markets to free up capital for deployment in more promising areas. Over the last three years, it has raised $2.3 billion selling businesses in countries including Belgium, the Netherlands and Panama, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A review of its operations in Switzerland comes as Generali moves ahead with the disposal of a French life insurance portfolio. It has picked financial services specialist Fenchurch Advisory to help with the potential sale, which could involve between 1 billion and 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of assets, people familiar with the matter said in May.

Photograph: The Assicurazioni Generali logo is displayed in a window of a Generali office in Rome on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. Photo credit: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Generali Life Assurance (Thailand) Plc.
Jordan Peele is doing his part to help the black community, announcing a $1 million donation to black organizations.

The 41-year-old Get Out director retweeted a post from his production company Monkeypaw Productions on Wednesday, which announced the donations.

The funds will be split between five organizations Peele and his company singled out as being 'essential' to the black community.

Donating: Jordan Peele is doing his part to help the black community, announcing a $1 million donation to black organizations

'Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions are proud to donate $1 million across five organizations we see as essential to the health and lives of Black people,' the statement began.

'We are committed to continued action against a system rooted in the violence against and the oppression of the Black community,' they continued.

'Below are the organizations we are proud to support: Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective, Black Lives Matter, Equal Justice Initiative, Fair Fight and Transgender Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project,' the statement ended.

Proud: 'Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions are proud to donate $1 million across five organizations we see as essential to the health and lives of Black people,' the statement began

Peele's donation comes just days after he showed his support for Star Wars actor John Boyega, who spoke up at a London rally after George Floyd's death.

Boyega, who played Finn in the most recent Star Wars trilogy, said he wasn't sure if he was 'gonna have a career after this,' but dozens, if not hundreds, of actors, filmmakers and even LucasFilm itself stood by his side.

Peele showed his support by quote-retweeting photos of him at the rally, simply stating, 'We got you, John.'

Support: Peele's donation comes just days after he showed his support for Star Wars actor John Boyega, who spoke up at a London rally after George Floyd's death

Peele also took to Twitter last week to show his support for actress and The Talk co-host Keke Palmer, for speaking up to the National Guard at a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles.

Palmer was seen passionately trying to get members of the National Guard to march with them in a video that went viral.

Peele responded by quote-retweeting a tweet with the video footage, adding, 'Your move, Bone Spurs.'

More support: Peele also took to Twitter last week to show his support for actress and The Talk co-host Keke Palmer, for speaking up to the National Guard at a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles

Peele first started his career as an actor and comedian, but he made history with his blockbuster thriller Get Out.

He was the first black writer to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and its $176 million domestic gross made it the highest-grossing movie by a black director, though that record was later broken by F. Gary Gray's The Fate of the Furious.

Peele also developed and narrated CBS All Access' The Twilight Zone, wrote the script for the upcoming Candyman movie and co-created HBO's upcoming Lovecraft Country, which debuts in August.
US President Donald Trump has announced to resume his election rallies from Oklahoma, followed by a series of others in the States of Texas, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, he had suspended his election rallies for the past three months.

Trump, 77, is seeking his re-election in the November presidential elections. Former vice president Joe Biden is his main challenger from the opposition Democratic party. "We're going to start our rallies back up now. We've had a tremendous run at rallies," he told reporters at the White House.

"I don't think there has been an empty seat since we came down on the escalator," the President said on Wednesday, referring to his historic flight down the escalator along with First Lady Melania Trump at the Trump Towers in New York in 2015 announcing the launch of his 2016 presidential campaign.

"It's been an amazing thing to behold, and we're going to be starting our rallies. The first one, we believe will be probably -- we're just starting to call up -- will be in Oklahoma, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a beautiful new venue, brand-new," he said.

"We're going to be coming into Florida, do a big one in Florida, big one in Texas. They're all going to be big. We're going to Arizona. We're going to North Carolina at the appropriate time," Trump said. The 45th President of the United States has been the biggest crowd puller of his Republican Party and so far has drawn much larger crowd that his main rival Biden.

Biden, 77, the Democratic presidential nominee, is, however, leading the average of major national polls by more than eight percentage points, according to Real Clear Politics. Traditionally, Republican leaders and the Trump Campaign have doubted the reliability of major national polls, given that in 2016 presidential polls every major poll had written him off against his then main rival Hillary Clinton.

During his White House interaction with reporters, Trump was critical of the Democratic Governor from North Carolina, where the Republican Party is scheduled to hold the National Convention in August. The North Carolina Governor, he said, is slow in opening the State from coronavirus.

"The governor is a little backward there. He's a little bit behind, and unfortunately we're going to probably be having no choice but to move the Republican Convention to another location. That will be announced shortly, but we'll have no choice," he said. "We wanted to stay in North Carolina very badly. We love it. It's a great state, a state I won. Many, many friends, many relatives, frankly, that live there. And we'll see how it all works out, but the governor doesn't want to give an inch, and what he's doing is losing hundreds of millions of dollars for his state. But we'll probably have no other recourse but to move it to another state," he said.

Trump said several States want to host the convention, prominent among them include Texas, Georgia and Florida.

The President is scheduled to travel to Dallas in Texas on Thursday for a major fundraiser, his first in person campaign event. His last election rally was in Charlotte on March 2, after which he has more or less remained inside the White House, except for a few occasions.

Also read: Coronavirus effect: US Federal Reserve to keep providing aid, sees no rate hike through 2022
A labour peer who will this year become the first black head of an Oxford College has demanded that the statue of 'white supremacist' Cecil Rhodes is removed.

Baroness Valerie Amos, director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) in London, questioned why a statue of the imperialist was needed, adding 'we need to have a conversation about history'.

Her comments came after a large demonstration was held outside Oriel College at the University of Oxford as part of a long-running campaign to remove the statue.

It follows Black Lives Matter protesters tearing down the statue of slave holder Edward Colston in Bristol on Sunday, and a memorial to Robert Milligan being removed from London docklands on Tuesday.

Baroness Valerie Amos (left) has called for the statue of Cecil Rhodes (right) to be taken down

Asked about the movement, Baroness Amos, told BBC Breakfast: 'We shouldn't airbrush history but I don't think you need a statue of Cecil Rhodes to help you to have a conversation about that history. I would take it down.

'This is a man who was a white supremacist, an imperialist. He founded a company that made money through slave labour in the mines, and you're telling me that we have to put up a statue of this person, glorify their memory, to have a conversation about our history?'

Professor Louise Richardson (pictured) said universities should face questions about who they accept money from, but she described the issues as 'complex' and said they are likely to be debated for decades to come

Her comments came after the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford said she was 'delighted' to see students engage in debate around the Black Lives Matter movement.

Professor Louise Richardson said universities should face questions about who they accept money from, but she described the issues as 'complex' and said they are likely to be debated for decades to come.

Prof Richardson said the university has 'benefited enormously' from having the Rhodes scholarship - which is a programme, run by the Rhodes Trust, that allows graduates from around the world to study at Oxford.

Earlier this week, governors at Oriel College said the institution 'abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms' but that the college continues to 'debate and discuss' the presence of the Rhodes statue.

On Tuesday, demonstrators called for the college to remove the statue from the High Street entrance of the building, as well as protesting against racism following the death of George Floyd in the US.

The controversial statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes Where is his statue? A 4ft statue of Rhodes stands outside Oriel College at Oxford university Who was he? Cecil Rhodes (1853 - 1902) was the Former Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, the modern day South Africa. He was a British supremacist, imperialist, mining magnate, and politician in southern Africa who drove the annexation of vast swathes of Africa. What did he do? The bad  Colonised much of Southern Africa for Victorian Britain and established a vast new British territory in Rhodesia, today's Zimbabwe and Zambia  Rhodes believed that the British were 'the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race'  He secured control of Rhodesia by swindling the king of Matabeleland, and showed scant regard for his African employees, whom he dismissed as 'n***ers'  Founded De Beers mining company, trading diamonds mined with slave labour The good  Established Rhodes Scholarships, which paid for brilliant young students from former British possessions to study at Oxford, among them the former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott Advertisement

Speaking on the BBC, Baroness Amos, who will become Master of University College in Oxford in August, said: 'So many of those young people say they don't understand, have not been told about that history. They feel an affront, as I do, having to walk past those statues day after day after day.

'Why are we glorifying people who made their money from the slave trade? Why are we glorifying people whose brutality and violence contributed to them making money?

'Why are we not, as a country, talking about how the slave trade helped us to grow and develop and become an important world power? Why aren't we talking about that and how that past has informed our present and will inform our future?'

She added: 'The Rhodes Trust doesn't need a statue to do good work. A statue is a memorial. It is a symbol of something. And we say that our country is about values - those are not the values that we should be promoting.'

Yesterday, the chancellor of Oxford University hit out at the 'hypocrisy' around protests to remove the Cecil Rhodes statue.

Lord Chris Patten, who has no power to remove it, said a trust set up after the mining magnate's death pays for the education of more than a dozen African students at the prestigious university each year.

But he also called for a 'sensible discussion' over the removal of Rhodes' statue, which has become a focal point amid continuing anti-racism protests from the Black Lives Matter movement - who at the weekend toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.

It follows protesters from the revitalised 'Rhodes Must Fall' campaign gathering at the university last night and an invitation by Oxford City Council's leader for the college to apply for planning permission to have the statue removed.

Meanwhile, concern continues that Oriel College chiefs may be reluctant to remove the statue after furious donors threatened to withdraw funding worth more than 100million if it was taken down, as revealed by a leaked report in 2016.

Commenting on the protests, Lord Patten, who was the last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992, told BBC Radio Four's Today Programme: Firstly I am very pleased the demonstrations were peaceful and secondly I dont make the decision on whether the statue comes down.

I think there should be a proper and engaged argument and I hope its one about symbols and one which doesnt avoid an argument about more fundamental issues which touch on Black Lives Matter, like education, like public housing, like public health.

Rhodes Must Fall: A timeline of events March 2015: Students at University of Cape Town begin protest to remove statue. April 2015: After a vote by the university's council, the statue is removed May 2015: A vote is held at Rhodes University, South Africa, to change the name of the university. The vote is defeated. January 2016: Vote held by Oxford students in Oxford Union, not affiliate to Oxford University, vote to remove the statue. January 2016: Leaked report reveals the university faces huge funding loss if it removes the statue. June 2020: The Rhodes Must Fall campaign is thrown into the spotlight among growing anti-racism protests by the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of American George Floyd. It gains particular attention following the toppling of a statue to slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Advertisement

'So yes, we should have that discussions and its welcome that so many people in that decision are themselves Rhodes scholars.'

He also responded to calls by former Oxford student Doctor Rahul Rao, who was himself a Rhodes Scholar and is now a professor of politics at SOAS University in London, for the statue to be removed.

Lord Patten said: I am delighted he was able to have an education at Oxford and Im not holding that against him.

'But what I am saying is that for me there is a bit of hypocrisy, as Mary Beard said the last time round, in Oxford taking money for 100 scholars, 100 schools, one-fifth from Africa, and then saying we want to throw the Rhodes statue into the River Thames.

The Cecil Rhodes Trust was set up in 1902 in the will of Cecil Rhodes, a politician, businessman and mining magnate who founded the De Beers Consolidated Mining diamond firm - which mined using slave labour - in South Africa in 1888.

The trust is a global organisation which offers scholarships to non-British students at Oxford University.

But Rhodes, a British imperialist who wanted to continue British rule in South Africa, has been criticised by modern historians as a white-supremacist - having believed that the British were 'the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race'.

Lord Patten told Radio Four that he had previously publicly backed the Cecil Rhodes Trust following a meeting with anti-apartheid campaigner and South African Prime Minister Nelson Mandela.

He said he had been there when the late Mandela signed the agreement to set up the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, a leadership development programme for Africa, was established in 2003 by agreement between Mr Nelson Mandela and the Rhodes Trust.

A vocal but unsuccessful five-year movement for his removal  calling itself Rhodes Must Fall  has now found itself reborn and firing on rocket fuel after the death of George Floyd at the hands (and knee) of a Minneapolis police officer

Ndjodi Ndeunyema (pictured left), an Oxford University law student and a former Rhodes scholar, organised yesterday's Oxford rally. Doctor Rahul Rao (right), a former Oxford University student who is now a professor of politics at SOAS University in London, backed calls for the statue to be removed

He said Mr Mandela had said at the time 'Cecil Rhodes, you and I are going to have to work together now.'

But calls have continued to grow for the removal of the statue from the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, which originally started in 2015 at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where students successfully campaigned for his statue to be removed.

The campaign has spread across other areas where a statue of him stands, including at Oxford University's Oriel College.

But the college decided to keep the statue in 2016.

At the time Daily Telegraph reported that the statue had been kept in place after furious donors threatened to withdraw gifts and bequests worth more than 100 million if it was taken down.

The governing body of Oriel College, which owns the statue, ruled out its removal after being warned that 1.5m worth of donations had already been cancelled and others had threatened to remove the college from their will if the statue was removed, according to a leaked report.

But the Rhodes Must Fall campaign has been newly revived among continuing action by the Black Lives Matter movement, who are protesting the death of George Floyd in America.

Thousands of people have signed two new petitions calling for the statue of colonialist Rhodes at Oriel College to be taken down.

Meanwhile, Susan Brown, leader of Oxford City Council, has expressed her support for the movement, stating she has a 'great deal of sympathy' for the campaign.

At least 26 councillors in total have for the statue to be removed ahead of last night's protest.

In a statement published yesterday, Ms Brown said: 'I'm clear in my support for the Black Lives Matter movement and I have a great deal of sympathy with the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.

'The question of statues and their historical context is not a simple matter, but sometimes acts of symbolism are important.
Health experts are studying a Missouri hair salon after almost 150 people exposed to two stylists with coronavirus tested negative or showed no symptoms following the incubation period.

The Great Clips in Springfield, Missouri, was shut down in late May after it was revealed two workers tested positive for Covid-19 and "potentially directly exposed" seven staff and 140 clients to the infectious disease.

The Springfield-Green County Health Department confirmed this week that of the 147 exposed, 46 took tests that came back negative and 101 did not display any symptoms after 14 days of quarantine.

Director of Health, Clay Goddard, said the results showed the value of wearing masks to slow the spread of Covid-19.

"We are studying more closely the details of these exposures, including what types of face coverings were worn and what other precautions were taken to lead to this encouraging result," he said in a statement.

"We never want an exposure like this to happen, but this situation will greatly expand our understanding of how this novel coronavirus spreads."

Hair salons were allowed to reopen on 4 May when Missouri loosened restrictions on which businesses could operate during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Goddard said that in addition to masks for all staff and clients, the Great Clips had policies in place that likely prevented the spread of the disease, including distancing of chairs, staggering of appointments, and quarantine for all exposed, as well as records that made contract tracing possible.

As the US officially passed the 2 million cases milestone, according to date from John Hopkins University, there are fears that an uptick in cases and hospitalizations since Memorial Day could worsen following nationwide protests.

Doctors have warned that at the current rate, another 100,000 deaths could be added by Labor Day, increasing the current death toll of 113,163 to more than 200,000 by the end of summer.

The White House coronavirus task force is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the latest developments across the country.

In Texas, where Donald Trump is travelling today, there has been an uptick in hospitalisations, according to Covid Tracking Project data, while Florida is

In New York, the country's pandemic epicentre, 36 people died from coronavirus on Wednesday, 53 on Tuesday and 46 on Monday, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said 69 people were hospitalised in New York City on Tuesday, while 337 people remained in intensive care unit beds, below the reopening threshold of 375.

In Arizona, where Mr Trump announced would hold a campaign rally in within the next week, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said hospitals in the city and state were struggling after opening too early.

The president's economic adviser Larry Kudlow, meanwhile, downplayed the possibility of a second coronavirus wave during an interview with Fox Business, saying the uptick in cases was due to increased testing.

"Go talk to [White House coronavirus coordinator] Deborah Birx about that, she doesn't seem to think so," he said.
Inspectors are probing neglect at a Woodbridge nursing home as Premier Doug Fords government faces questions about an elderly resident who reportedly died from a lack of food before the troubled facility was taken over by the province.

The Ministry of Long-Term Care confirmed its investigators are at the Woodbridge Vista Care Community as a military medical team begins a mission of mercy  the second at a nursing home owned by parent company Sienna Senior Living.

The investigators are looking into critical incidents and complaints, as well as non-COVID deaths and neglect in the home, said Gillian Sloggett, a spokesperson for Minister Merrilee Fullerton.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath accused the province of waiting too long before issuing a takeover order last Thursday for the nursing home, which has had at least 21 residents die from the new coronavirus.

Its horrific. Its completely unacceptable, Horwath said of the May 29 death of 82-year-old Pietro Bruccoleri, who had tested negative for the virus.

The Ford government has been very slow overall to respond to the crisis in long-term care. They should have taken over all the homes in crisis from the very beginning of the pandemic.

Fullertons office did not explain why the Woodbridge Vista takeover was not ordered sooner, meaning a local hospital  in this case the William Osler Health System  takes charge for 90 days to stabilize care.

Right now at the Ministry of Long-Term Care, our sights are set solely on the deployment of resources and protection of our vulnerable residents and heroic staff, said Sloggett.

We are working day and night to limit the spread of this horrible virus, shore up staffing and meet the personal protective equipment and other urgent needs of our long-term care homes.

Bruccoleris death was first revealed Tuesday by CBC, which reported a coroner determined he died of inanition, defined as exhaustion caused by malnutrition.

The family said Bruccoleri, who had advanced dementia, was a good eater and they had no concerns about his health status or care before pandemic restrictions in March left them unable to visit.

His daughter, who could not be located by the Star on Wednesday, told CBC the nursing home had told the family he was fine before calling in late May to say that he was dying.

They rushed to his side and saw him reduced to skin and bone in a sweltering room with no air conditioning, Rino Di Salvo told CBC. We did not expect this neglect.

Di Salvo said her father had been moved from his own room because other residents had tested positive for COVID-19.

Sienna Senior Living, the for-profit owner of Woodbridge Vista Care, did not reply to a request for comment Wednesday from the Star but has previously said it cannot discuss individual cases and applauded the military teams arrival as good news.

Sienna owns two other nursing homes that have been the subject of provincial takeover orders. They are Altamont Care Community in Scarborough  which also had help from a military team  and Camilla Care Community of Mississauga. There have been more than 100 resident deaths at the two homes and Woodbridge Vista sent 18 residents to hospital two weeks ago.

Last week, the company fired its executive vice-president of operations, Joanne Dykeman, after she was overheard saying, Here comes another bloodsucking lawsuit, during a Zoom call with concerned family members of residents at the Woodbridge facility.

There is clearly something amiss with Sienna Senior Living, given that 14 of its 37 facilities in Ontario have declared outbreaks, said Green Leader Mike Schreiner.

The government should not hesitate to take over any Sienna home where elders are at risk because the company has demonstrated a chronic inability to keep many of its residents safe.

At least 1,738 nursing-home residents and seven staff across the province have died from COVID-19, with 312 outbreaks of the highly contagious virus in the provinces 626 long-term care facilities at the peak.

Those outbreaks have been declining, and the government reported them in 68 nursing homes Wednesday, down five from the previous day. About 1,400 residents and staff remain ill. More than 5,000 residents and 2,000 workers have contracted the virus, with staff illnesses leaving many homes drastically short of employees to provide care for residents.

Those dire conditions prompted Ford to request help from military medical teams of 50 Canadian Armed Forces members each for five homes, where the Ontario Long-Term Care Association said staff levels fell as low as 20 per cent.

A subsequent report from the military flagged disastrous conditions, such as residents not being adequately fed or forcefully fed to the point of choking, left in bed for days or weeks at a time to develop painful bedsores or sit in soiled diapers, crying for help.

NDP long-term care critic Teresa Armstrong called on the province to forward all information and documentation on Woodbridge Vista Care to York Regional Police for any possible investigation.

The cause of Mr. Bruccoleris death, caused by horrific neglect, should not just be chalked up to tragedy  especially not with what we know about the awful conditions in the for-profit Sienna-owned homes, said Armstrong, MPP for London-Fanshawe.

A death from neglect, malnutrition, exhaustion is an avoidable death, and we believe it warrants investigation.

Ford has promised an independent commission into the devastating effects of COVID-19 on nursing homes  for which he had pledged an iron ring of protection  will begin in July, but has not yet named a commissioner or terms of reference.

Provincial ombudsman Paul Dube, who operates independent of the government, has also announced an in-depth probe. The governments own office of the patient ombudsman, embedded in the Ministry of Health, has said it will look at specific impacts on nursing home residents and workers.
A federal judge in the United States has challenged the administration's efforts to deport immigrant children after blocking the deportation of a Honduran teenager.

On Tuesday, Judge Emmett Sullivan ordered that the 16-year-old boy, who was scheduled to be expelled on Wednesday, could not be deported, Aljazeera reported.

In a statement by the American Civil Liberties Union, the teenager-who goes by J.B.B.C.-fled to the United States because gang members threatened his life after seeing one member kill someone in his neighbourhood. He came to the country to see his father who also fled Honduras after falling victim to persecution.

New Border Rules

Under normal circumstances, the teenager would have been under the custody of the U.S. Health and Human Services until he and his father could be rejoined and proceed with his asylum hearing.

An anti-trafficking law, also known as the Flores agreement, was implemented in 2008 to prevent children from being mistreated or used by criminals. Under the law, immigrants from countries other than Canada and Mexico should be given access to legal counsel. They should also be released to family living in the United States or held in the least restrictive environment.

However, on March 21, the Trump administration imposed new border rules that allow U.S. officials to remove or deport asylum seekers without a hearing during the COVID-19 crisis.

The U.S. government claims the new rules were aimed at closing the border to asylum seekers to protect the health of the public, as reported by N.B.C. News.

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees believes there may have been more than 1,000 unaccompanied immigrants youths that were deported in late May before family members in their home countries received a notification to receive them.

According to Reuters, border officials have expelled over 7,000 migrants-377 of whom were minors-since the new bill took effect. Data from March 27 to April 2 showed about 120 of the children arrived at the border without a parent or a guardian. They were sent on planes back to their home countries.

Undocumented Immigrants

The number of migrants at the border has fallen since the new border rules were enacted. On March 27, nearly 1,400 immigrants were under C.B.P. custody; in late-April, it was down to 300 people.

With more children denied admission at the border, the number of unaccompanied minors taken into federal custody has also dropped. Border Patrol statistics said thousands of children from Mexico are apprehended monthly. In April, 166 children were processed as "unaccompanied minors" while 600 others were expelled.

The H.H.S. office, the agency responsible for caring for unaccompanied minors, said there were 2,800 children in custody on Monday from the 3,100 nearly a week earlier. Currently, they are receiving an average of one child each day.
HOLLAND, MI  A 48-year-old Holland man was arrested Wednesday afternoon for allegedly stabbing another man three times outside an apartment building near the corner of 48th Street and Central Avenue.

Officers responded to the apartment building at about 4:30 p.m. June 10 after receiving reports of a subject being stabbed, a news release from the Holland Department of Public Safety states.

Upon arrival, officers located the victim, a 45-year-old Holland man, outside the building with three minor stab wounds. The victim was transported to Holland Hospital where he was treated and released for his injuries, the release states.

According to the release, information from the victim, as well as witnesses, indicated the incident began as a verbal altercation outside the building and ended with the suspect stabbing the victim.

The suspect, the release states, had gone back into his apartment prior to the officers arriving on scene.

Eventually he was talked out of the apartment and surrendered to police at which time he was taken into custody without incident, the release states. His name is being withheld pending arraignment.

Anyone who has further information is asked to contact the Holland Department of Public Safety at 616-355-1150 or email investigators at policetips@cityofholland.com. Persons wishing to remain anonymous may contact Silent Observer by calling 877-887-4536, texting OCMTIP and your message to 274637 or may use the online form at www.mosotips.com.

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The owner of British Airways has been referred by trade union leaders to the European competition watchdog over its 1bn euro (890million) takeover of a Spanish airline.

In the latest escalation of a row over jobs and pay cuts, the Unite union is attempting to block BA parent company IAG from acquiring Air Europa.

It has informed EU Commissioner for Competition Magrethe Vestager that it intends to act as a third party to oppose the deal, which was struck between Spanish airline Iberia and Air Europa in November last year  before the coronavirus crisis hit. Like BA, Iberia is owned by IAG.

The Unite union is attempting to block BA parent company IAG from acquiring Air Europa

Unite added that it is now in talks with competition officials at the European Commission, who will be investigating.

Sharon Graham, executive officer at the union, said: 'Unite is questioning why IAG is seeking to fire and rehire the workforce at BA while parent IAG ploughs ahead with buying an airline for over 1bn euros.

There are a number of reasons why this merger of Iberia with Air Europa would appear to be anti-competitive.'

She added: 'We are confident that we have a strong case and we look forward to officially presenting all our evidence.'

Air Europa would be IAG's third Spanish airline, on top of Iberia and Vueling. The acquisition would boost its share of flights to Latin America and the Caribbean.

But Unite said it had identified a number of serious competition concerns about the Air Europa takeover, including that it would give the group a monopolistic hold over the Spanish domestic market, and increase its domination of the market for flights from Europe to South America. But Unite's real concern is BA's treatment of staff in the UK.

BA has announced plans to cut up to 12,000 staff in drastic bid to save money during the crisis, which it says has been costing it 20million a day.

It has served employees with section 188 notices, warning them that their pay and perks could be drastically cut even if they survive the cull. Veteran crew have complained of facing pay cuts of as much as 70 per cent.

This has sparked a backlash in Westminster, with the Conservative head of the House of Commons Transport Committee Huw Merriman attempting to whip up support to oppose BA's actions.

Aviation minister Kelly Tolhurst committed to a review of BA's lucrative landing slots at Heathrow following a Parliamentary question raised by Merriman.

IAG declined to comment last night, but chief executive Willie Walsh recently defended its acquisition of IAG.

He told Sky News that Iberia is separate from BA and 'not a single penny of British Airways money will go towards that acquisition', adding: 'If the Iberia/Air Europa merger goes ahead, it's not going to in any way impact on the people at British Airways.'
SITA sheds new light on how technology is helping airports and airlines safely resume operations and help implement new hygiene measures to restore passenger confidence after a lengthy shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking after the Aviation Week webinar event Sebastien Fabre, Vice-President Airline & Airport, SITA said, The past few weeks have seen airlines across the globe tentatively take to the skies. This is reflected in a resumption in activity across our network and improved baggage volumes, up 55% month-on-month in May where volumes were at a record low.

However, Fabre noted that recovery would be slow. Our industry must transform the passenger experience to increase traveler safety while balancing economic pressures from slow customer demand. To successfully walk this tightrope and navigate a return to the skies for viable volumes of passengers, airports and airlines need to assimilate new information from governments and health officials, adapt operations immediately and automate processes permanently.

SITA has introduced solutions that allow passengers to use their mobile device as a remote control for touchpoints such as self-bag drop and check-in kiosks, removing the need to touch any airport equipment. For example, at San Francisco Airport, we have SITA Flex which enables a full mobile and touchless passenger journey. This means travelers can print bag tags from their mobile phone on self-service bag points. Added Fabre.

He noted that technology would be fundamental helping airlines and airports to be compliant with new and fast-changing regulations to restore passengers confidence in flying. New preventive measures aimed at limiting risk in the airport and onboard will require a new approach to passenger management.

Fabre stated that SITA was rapidly rolling out new solutions that addressed the above challenges, complementing short term hygiene measures such as the use of masks and gloves. These solutions centered on three key areas:

Distancing: Using real-time monitoring technologies along with predictive analytics, SITA can ensure appropriate distancing between passengers at key points across the airport. Predictive analytics will also support more proactive planning. There is also an opportunity to extend the boundaries of the airport where key steps such as check-in and bag drop are managed before arriving at the terminal through a passengers mobile.

Hygiene and Sanitation: SITA is helping reduce the risk of infection by avoiding contact at key touchpoints. Using a combination of biometric and mobile solutions, passengers no longer have to touch a kiosk or surface, managing their journey from their phone.

Health checks: In addition to integrating health or thermal checks into key touchpoints such as check-in kiosks, governments will  by leveraging SITAs risk management solutions  be able to use pre-boarding check (Advance Passenger Processing) and perform analytics on passenger journey data to identify and mitigate potential health risks.

He noted for the airports that are not equipped with the native mobile platform, SITA uses technology to remotely control self-service devices such as kiosks with a mobile phone, removing the need to touch any airport equipment.

Speaking at the webinar, Jeremy Springall, Vice-President Border Management, SITA said, We are seeing specific regions wishing to allow limited movement within zones first, for example, the trans-Tasman bubble. For governments, this requires an information-driven approach based on real-time data and responsiveness to handle rapidly changing situations.

A critical element will be for governments to harmonize the approach to checking the validity of health status and sharing this information effectively. Many governments are taking a layered approach to border management, starting well in advance of travel, to identify high-risk passengers before arrival in the destination country, in turn easing the restrictions for low-risk travelers. Its crucial that health checks in terms of a health ETA or declaration are performed, perhaps up to 72 hours before departure. Were already starting to see this happen around the world in countries like Thailand and Singapore.

Springall noted that SITA has been supporting governments around the world to adapt their Advance Passenger Processing pre-clearance checks in support of COVID-19, for example with a South American airport during the early part of the pandemic SITA was able to support them stop passengers from high-risk countries check-in to their flights.

SITA believes a harmonized approach to data management between governments is crucial for mitigating the risk of resurgence.

Springall highlighted how SITA has helped airports identify passengers arriving from high-risk areas who would then be asked to self-isolate at home for 14 days to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Later SITA adapted operations to identify travelers who were sitting in the rows around these passengers during a flight so adequate protocols could be applied to those passengers as well
Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed efforts to secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicating poverty.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection tour in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Xi underscored fully implementing the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee, working hard to overcome the impact of COVID-19 and giving priority to ensuring stable employment and people's livelihood.

Efforts are needed to continue building a beautiful new Ningxia with economic prosperity, ethnic unity, beautiful environment and well-off residents, he said.

During his inspection trip from Monday to Wednesday, Xi visited places including the cities of Wuzhong and Yinchuan to learn about efforts to coordinate regular epidemic containment with economic and social development, consolidate achievements in poverty alleviation, strengthen ecological and environmental protection, and promote ethnic unity and progress.

Visiting a poverty relief workshop in the village of Hongde in Wuzhong Monday afternoon, Xi talked with villagers producing cartons.

Such workshops were set up for poverty alleviation, and they should lean toward needy people in terms of employment, Xi said.

Compared with migrating to cities to work, the villagers employed near their homes may not earn as much, but they can save on accommodation, food and transportation costs and are able to take care of their families, Xi added.

At the house of Liu Kerui, a villager of the Hui ethnic group, Xi took a good look at the courtyard, living room, bedrooms, kitchen and cowshed, and asked Liu and his wife if they had any difficulties and what they planned for the future.

Xi expressed his hope that the villagers could keep going and create better lives for themselves.

Visiting a section of the Yellow River, Xi learned about the river's ecological conservation.

He said the Yellow River is China's "mother river" and called on Ningxia to take good care of it.

Visiting the Jinhuayuan residential community, where people of several ethnic groups live together, Xi said no single ethnic minority group should be left behind in the country's building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

It represents the fine tradition of the Chinese nation and the great strength of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics to enable people of all ethnic groups to walk hand in hand into a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Xi added.

On Tuesday afternoon, Xi visited a rural ecotourism park in Yinchuan to learn about the development of modern agriculture in Ningxia and the operation of agricultural cooperatives to help farmers raise income.

He stressed upholding a people-centered philosophy of development and putting the interests of farmers first in developing modern agriculture and cultural tourism.

Xi required continuous efforts to fully implement the regular COVID-19 containment measures and accelerating the return of normal work and life order.

While visiting a vineyard in Yinchuan near the Helan Mountains, Xi said the mountains constitute crucial shields for ecological security in the northwestern part of China. He demanded resolute measures to strengthen the ecological conservation of the mountains.

Xi said the wine industry has promising prospects as the living standards of Chinese people continue to rise.

On Wednesday morning, Xi heard work reports of the Ningxia regional committee of the CPC and the regional government, and gave his acknowledgment of the progress Ningxia has achieved in various aspects of work.

Xi stressed unremitting efforts to push for high-quality development, accelerate the transformation of economic growth mode, speed up industrial transformation and upgrading, and expedite the replacement of old growth drivers with new ones.

Policies designed to reduce tax burdens on companies and measures aimed at expanding domestic demand should be implemented fully, he said.

Xi said innovation should be given full play to in driving growth and enabling industries to achieve high-end, green, smart and integrated growth.

He urged efforts to speed up the establishment of industrial system, production system and management system of modern agriculture, so that more signature farm produce of Ningxia will hit the market.

New breakthroughs in reform and opening-up should be achieved, Xi said, calling for targeted reforms and enhanced assessment of reform measures.

He called on Ningxia to seize the opportunities in the cooperation on Belt and Road Initiative, foster an open economic environment and promote higher-quality growth through greater openness.

Xi stressed resolutely winning the battle against poverty by addressing the prominent problems and weak links and sparing no effort to ensure poverty alleviation goals are accomplished on schedule.

Xi called for continuous efforts to make progress in the battle to keep skies blue, waters clear and land pollution-free and to push forward eco-environmental protection.

On protecting the Yellow River, Xi called for efforts to build a pilot zone for the ecological conservation and high-quality development of the river.

Stressing the people-centered philosophy of development, Xi demanded solid efforts in ensuring employment for key groups such as laid-off workers, college graduates, rural migrant workers and demobilized military personnel, and in promoting balanced development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas and improving the public health system.

Xi called on all Party members, especially leading officials at various levels, to stay true to the Party's founding mission, remain clear-headed and maintain the political orientation.

He asked them to unwaveringly uphold and strengthen the Party's leadership, uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive for the great goal of national rejuvenation.

"We must persevere in carrying forward the great cause that our revolutionary forefathers had fought for," Xi said.
Biking between Hoboken and Jersey City has long been overly complicated.

Since rolling out separate, incompatible bike-share programs in 2015, riders have been unable to travel seamlessly between the two neighboring cities.

That may change soon.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said Thursday they are working to merge their programs and launch a combined bike-share later this year.

Both Hoboken and Jersey City are leaders in advancing alternative transportation options, and we are thrilled to partner together to utilize the same regional bike share program for our cities, Bhalla and Fulop said in a joint statement.

While Jersey City uses Citi Bike and Hoboken has Jersey Bike, both cities have committed to selecting the same bike-share company and will release a request for proposal (RFP) from interested companies.

Jersey City was once in talks with creating a regional bike-share system with Hoboken and Weehawken, but Fulop opted to join the Citi Bike system instead. Jersey Bike currently has docking stations in West New York, Weehawken, North Bergen, Guttenberg and Bayonne.

With different bike-shares, residents who regularly commute to and from Hoboken and Jersey City have been unable to do so on two wheels.

A Citi Bike station was once planned for outside the Hoboken PATH station, but the proposal was nixed when officials from the two cities sparred briefly over Hoboken bikes showing up at Citi Bike racks in Jersey City.

Now, more than ever, a greater number of people are relying on shared transportation for essential services, employment, and more, and a regional approach will substantially improve the quality of life for all of our residents," the mayors said.

Citi Bike and Jersey Bike did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has been all over the news lately, and its now finally official. The company has announced its new fitness band in China, while its global launch should follow soon.

That being said, the leaks were spot on. The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is, once again, made out of plastic. Its strap is made out of silicone, and that was the case since the first Mi Band.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 comes with a 1.2-inch OLED display, new charging method & more

The Mi Band 5 features a larger display than its predecessor, a 1.2-inch panel. That is a color display, and it does support touch input. Xiaomi decided to utilize an OLED display once again, which is a good call.

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Xiaomi included over 100 new animated watch faces, and characters from popular animated series. Characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, Hatsune Miku, and so on. Though that is the case on the Chinese model, it remains to be seen what will happen with the global unit.

One of the biggest changes from the Mi Band 4 is the new charging method. Instead of having a piece of plastic in which you need to slide in the Mi Band 5, you can take advantage of magnetic charging.

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The device ships with a magnetic charging dock. The Mi Band 5 has two electrodes on the bottom, which will magnetize themselves to the charging dock when theyre close. This is a much simpler solution, without a doubt.

The charging cradle previous versions shipped with was adequate, but not as practical. It did not bother many people because Mi Band fitness trackers always had excellent battery life. This will make things easier, though, for sure.

The company also announced new, dual-tone straps with the device. The part wrapping the Mi Band 5 will be black, as the device itself, and the rest is colorful, well, depending on what color you get.

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This looks much better than a solid color for the straps, as it makes it look more like a watch. The device also contains 11 new fitness tracking modes, and it also has a menstrual cycle tracking feature now.

PAI is included, as is improved sleep tracking

Xiaomi has included PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) inside of this device as well. The device will also offer RED sleep information, in addition to deep and light sleep for better sleep tracking.

The tracker does contain an NFC chip (one of its versions does), and comes with a built-in barometer. The global variant is rumored to include Alexa support, but that is not available in the Chinese model. The Mi Band 5 is also 5ATM water resistant, as expected.

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A 125mAh battery is included, and it should offer 14 days of battery life with typical use. The device includes Bluetooth 5.0 LE, and a heart-rate sensor. The Mi Band 5 comes in a black color with straps in six different colors. Those colors are Blue, Brown, Olive Green, Pink, Red, and Yellow.

The device will go on sale in China on June 18. The non-NFC model is priced at CNY189 ($27), while the NFC model will set you back CNY229 ($32). Xiaomi is yet to release information on the devices global launch.
PLYMOUTH, Mich., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Plastipak Holdings, Inc. (the "Company") announced today that it will file its Form 10-Q Equivalent Report for its fiscal quarter ended May 2, 2020 electronically with Wells Fargo National Bank, as Trustee for the holders of its 6.250% Senior Notes due 2025 (the "Senior Notes"), by the close of business on Tuesday, June 16, 2020. The Company is not required by the Indenture for the Senior Notes to file annual, quarterly or periodic reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and therefore does not plan to file these reports with the SEC.

Holders, authorized prospective holders and securities analysts may obtain a copy of the Company's Form 10-Q Equivalent Report by contacting Investor Relations at (734) 455-3600 or by emailing [email protected].

The Company will host an investor teleconference call for holders, authorized prospective holders and securities analysts on June 18, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Details for the call are available to holders, authorized prospective holders and securities analysts by contacting Investor Relations.

Qualified bondholders and lenders may obtain copies of the Form 10-Q Equivalent Report and details of the investor teleconference call by logging on to the secure bondholder section of the Company's website (www.plastipak.com).

SOURCE Plastipak Packaging

Related Links

https://www.plastipak.com


San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Thursday unveiled a four-point blueprint for police reforms that would transform the day-to-day course of policing in a department largely occupied by calls about homelessness and mental health issues.

Breeds proposal would remove sworn officers from such calls for noncriminal activities, replacing them with trained and unarmed professionals who she said would be better equipped to handle situations like neighbor disputes, school discipline interventions or behavioral health crises. The reforms would additionally fortify accountability policies, ban the use of military-grade weapons and divert funding to communities of color.

San Francisco has made progress reforming our police department, but we know that we still have significant work to do, Breed said in a statement. We know that a lack of equity in our society overall leads to a lot of the problems that police are being asked to solve. We are going to keep going with these additional reforms and continuing to find ways to reinvest in communities that have historically been underserved and harmed by systemic racism.

Breeds reforms dont include a budget or details on how they should be carried out. The intent is to provide a road map for the citys Police Commission and city departments, which would hammer out the specific policies.

By ending police responses to noncriminal activity, San Francisco would follow models from other cities like the Cahoots program in Eugene, Ore. The nonprofit, crisis-intervention center acts as its own arm of the citys 911 response services.

The mayors plan would also codify a policy that explicitly bars the use of military-grade weapons against unarmed civilians, including the use of tear gas, bayonets and tanks.

The initiatives Mayor Breed is announcing today are consistent with our departments commitment to the Collaborative Reform Initiative and our aspiration to make the San Francisco Police Department a national model in 21st Century policing, Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement. We understand that its necessary for law enforcement to listen to African American communities and embrace courageous changes to address disparate policing practices, and we recognize it will take sacrifice on our part to fulfill the promise of reform.

Roma Guy, a former San Francisco health commissioner, called Breeds proposals an action plan.

The beginning has begun, she said. We are ready  lets get to work.

Lateefah Simon, a BART director and president of the Akonadi Foundation, a nonprofit focused on civil rights for young people of color, also praised the mayors plan.

Leaders across California must meet this moment and take bold steps to reimagine public safety, she said. Mayor Breed and San Francisco are committing to doing the hard work needed to ensure that Black communities  most impacted by state violence and disinvestment  have resources and support.

Broad support already exists for the idea to replace officers with social workers and behavioral health experts on service calls that dont involve criminal acts or threats to public safety  particularly in incidents involving the citys homeless population.

Some homelessness activists and other critics of Breeds administration have seized on the release of text messages among the mayor, Scott and other members of the citys top brass, saying the messages show her repeated calls to clean up tent encampments as evidence of the citys police-led response to homelessness.

Scott was one of multiple city leaders looped into those text conversations, along with public health and homelessness officials.

The reforms are separate from, but related to, Breed and Supervisor Shamann Waltons plan to reallocate a portion of the Police Departments budget to the black community as a reparation for decades of policymaking in San Francisco that led to the systemic disenfranchisement of the black community. The mayor and Walton committed to leading a collaborative process.

San Francisco Police Officers Association President Tony Montoya said he appreciated the mayors reasonable approach to the proposals. He added that the union is always open to engaging in collaborative discussions with the Mayor, and other stakeholders, to improve policing in our city.

While it does not yet include a firm timeline, Breeds proposed reforms will foist new mandates on a department already well behind schedule in implementing a range of recommendations handed down by the Justice Department in 2016.

Federal officials urged San Francisco police to adopt a host of reform initiatives after a six-month investigation into the department that was prompted by the killing of Mario Woods and other fatal police shootings. A subsequent report found major flaws in the way police tracked and investigated use-of-force incidents and other glaring deficiencies.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Scott was hired in 2017 in part to implement the Justice Departments reforms after his predecessor, Greg Suhr, resigned amid public upheaval in the wake of several high-profile police killings of African Americans and Latinos. Scott pledged to press on with the reform initiatives under the guidance of state officials after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions pulled resources away from efforts that assisted local jurisdictions with community policing efforts.

In March, state officials found that the Police Department had complied with less than 15% of the Justice Departments original 272 recommendations. However, significant progress was made around the departments use-of-force incidents, which dropped by 24% in 2019, contributing to a 47% decline since 2016, state officials said.

Still, force was deployed disproportionately against black and Latino people with 39% of total incidents involving black men and 22% involving Latino men in the last quarter of 2019. The citys black population stands at around 5%, and use-of-force incidents do not always occur against city residents.

The economic woes exacted by the coronavirus pandemic prompted Breed to mandate 10% across-the-board cuts for all departments that rely on the citys roughly $6 billion general fund. However, those cuts will not include spending mandated by the City Charter or voter-approved set-asides.

San Franciscos Police Commission unanimously rejected a proposal to cut $23 million from the departments general-fund budget at around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, following hours of public comment that mostly called for defunding the police.

San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju, who had called on the commissioners to vote down the budget, stressed in a statement that it would have left the same number of officers on the streets and maintained the same departmental structure.

A much smaller, much altered police department and policing model is what San Franciscans are calling for and the current moment demands nothing less, Raju said.

Correction: Supervisor Shamann Waltons name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.

Megan Cassidy and Dominic Fracassa are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy, @DominicFracassa
Manama

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, today met remotely with the newly appointed Ambassador of the Italian Republic to the Kingdom of Bahrain, HE Paola Amadi.

HRH the Crown Prince highlighted the importance of further bolstering relations between Bahrain and Italy, which continue to be supported by official visits and cooperation across all sectors, to the benefit of both countries and their people.

In this regard, HRH the Crown Prince recalled his recent official visit to Italy, which marked the opening of the Bahraini Embassy to the country and saw the signing of a number of agreements, as well as advancing mutually beneficial investment and trading opportunities.

HRH the Crown Prince welcomed the newly appointed Ambassador to the Kingdom, wishing her success in her diplomatic endeavours.

For her part, HE Amadi expressed her gratitude and appreciation for the continued support from HRH the Crown Prince towards further developing Italian-Bahraini bilateral ties, and wished the Kingdom of Bahrain further development and prosperity.
US Air Force Investigating Involuntary Deployment of Hypersonic DARPA Missile

Sputnik News

00:46 GMT 10.06.2020(updated 00:47 GMT 10.06.2020)

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Air Force (USAF) are searching for answers after an experimental missile reportedly managed to separate from a B-52 strategic bomber and explode during a recent captive-carry flight test.

US military sources informed Aviation Week that a scramjet-powered missile, still in development under the joint USAF-DARPA Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) program, exploded after becoming separated from a B-52 aircraft of the 419th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Additional details surrounding the hypersonic missile's deployment remain under wraps.

"Details of those flight demonstrations are classified," said a DARPA spokesperson to Aviation Week. The USAF directed any related questions to the research agency.

"The description could suggest the payload inadvertently detached from the B-52 in flight, rather than during ground tests or on the runway," the outlet noted, citing sources relevant to the matter.

It was also divulged that "pieces of the instrumented test article were recovered after the accident," which may have specifically landed at the Precision Impact Range Area of Edwards AFB, or perhaps at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake - a nearby installation.

USAF acquisition executive Will Roper expressed in late April that the service has increased its focus on hypersonic missile research and intends to set up a new prototyping program to possibly develop a hypersonic - or supersonic - cruise missile. The service has ordered a market research study on the matter.

"One of the reasons I'm excited about starting a hypersonic cruise missile program is that we will have different suppliers; it's a very different technology," Roper explained during the April 30 press briefing.

He highlighted that scramjet technology research related to the delayed HAWC program - originally slated to conduct its maiden flight in 2019 - "has come a long way" and has proven to be "much more mature and ready to go" than previously presumed.

Due to budget constraints, the USAF settled on Lockheed Martin's AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) hypersonic missile over the defense contractor's costlier Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon earlier this year, according to Roper.

It was announced by the Government Accountability Office earlier this month that the USAF will procure at least eight of the ARRW missiles ahead of live-fire flight testing slated to begin in 2021.

As of late, the ARRW program has seen a 40% cost increase and, like the HAWC program, is around a year behind schedule.

 Sputnik

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Stormzy and his company have pledged 10 million over the next 10 years to organisations fighting for racial equality and social justice.

The announcement comes after protests in the US and UK following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

The 26-year-old grime rapper, who took part in a recent Black Lives Matter rally in London, released a statement through his #Merky company on Thursday.

Inspirational: Stormzy, pictured at the Black Lives Matter protest in London on Sunday, has pledged to donate 10 million over 10 years to causes fighting racial injustice

It said: 'The uncomfortable truth that our country continuously fails to recognise and admit, is that black people in the UK have been at a constant disadvantage in every aspect of life - simply due to the colour of our skin.

'I'm lucky enough to be in the position I'm in and I've heard people often dismiss the idea of racism existing in Britain by saying 'If the country's so racist how have you become a success?!' and I reject that with this: I am not the UK's shining example of what supposedly happens when a black person works hard.

'There are millions of us. We are not far and few. We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us and designed for us to fail from before we are even born.

Powerful: The star and his company #Merky released a statement saying they hope to even the playing field with their generous donations

Speaking out: The Croydon rapper, 26, has frequently used his platform to raise awareness of racial issues

'Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.'

Stormzy's donation will support organisations, charities and movements involved in tackling racial inequality, justice reform and black empowerment in the UK.

He said further information on the pledge would be released in due course and urged others to also pledge to support similar causes.

The Vossi Bop star has frequently spoken out about racial injustice in his career, and previously made headlines when he said Britain was a racist country.

Making a difference: Stormzy's donation will support organisations, charities and movements involved in tackling racial inequality, justice reform and black empowerment in the UK

He has used his platform to criticise the Government's reaction to the Grenfell Tower fire, performing a freestyle rap at the Brits in 2018 in which he called out Theresa May.

He has also funded the 'Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK Students' at the University of Cambridge, which covers tuition costs and maintenance grants for students.

During his memorable headline set at Glastonbury in 2019, he played a speech by David Lammy discussing the black and minority ethnic people in the criminal justice system, and he also included a performance by dance group Black Ballet.

Stormzy, real name Michael Omari, launched his own publishing imprint, #Merky Books, a collaboration with Penguin Random House, in July 2018.

It is due to publish the autobiography of Malorie Blackman, the author of the Noughts And Crosses books, in 2022.
For students entering college, math placement and college level math courses can be a challenge and are among the contributing reasons that students fall behind or drop out. College math courses often have high failure rates, largely because many new college students lack the foundational math skills needed to be successful. For some, a trusted tutor is a proven model for learning math and reducing math anxiety, yet the high cost of tutoring and scheduling tutorial sessions are barriers. ALEKS MathReady is an affordable alternative for those who are looking for math support.

ALEKS MathReady is a self-paced, online math learning program that is rooted in research and analytics. ALEKS efficiently guides learning by identifying what topics students don't know and then focusing them on practicing topics they are ready to learn next. With this personalized learning approach, students learn and retain topics efficiently with real-time feedback to keep them motivated and engaged, while reaching their goals.

For more information about ALEKS MathReady or to sign up for access, visit: http://bit.ly/ALEKSMathReady

ALEKS MathReady is ideal for:

The COVID slide  For students whose learning has been disrupted and need to refresh their math skills before taking a math course or placement test in the fall.

 For students whose learning has been disrupted and need to refresh their math skills before taking a math course or placement test in the fall. Summer retention  For students that want to retain skills during the summer or between semesters without taking a formal math class.

 For students that want to retain skills during the summer or between semesters without taking a formal math class. Returning adult learners  For people retraining for a new career or returning to school who need to acquire foundational math skills or prep for a career, course or college.

 For people retraining for a new career or returning to school who need to acquire foundational math skills or prep for a career, course or college. Remediation  For students who failed a course and want to get help between semesters.

"By remediating during the summer or between terms, students and their parents can ensure their tuition investment has a strong return, avoid wasting money taking courses they don't need and complete their coursework with confidence," said Kathleen McMahon, VP of Portfolio Management for Science, Engineering & Mathematics at McGraw Hill. "With ALEKS MathReady, students will be better prepared to pass their college classes and stay on track to meet their career goals."

ALEKS MathReady is part of McGraw Hill's commitment to Affordability & Outcomes in higher education, ensuring students get affordable access to learning science-based programs that support successful outcomes for all learners, regardless of their prior knowledge or background.

"ALEKS saved me by helping me succeed in math," said Adrian Hernandez, a recent graduate of Triton College who will be starting at the University of Illinois, Chicago in the fall. "If I had access to ALEKS before starting college, my whole college math trajectory would have been different. Now that students can access ALEKS MathReady outside of their classes at a very reasonable price, that will really help them."

For over 20 years, ALEKS has served millions of K-12 and college-level math students, with more than 5.2 million unique student users in the last year alone. In 2019 and 2020, ALEKS won a total of five CODiE Awards for best-in-class online learning solutions in math and science, best summative and formative assessment and best college and career readiness programs. With ALEKS, students have an affordable option to unlock their math potential and ensure they are ready for a successful college experience.

McGraw Hill

McGraw Hill is a learning science company that delivers personalized learning experiences that drive results for students, parents, educators and professionals. We focus on educational equity, affordability and learning success to help learners build better lives. Headquartered in New York City, McGraw Hill has offices across North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and South America, and makes its learning solutions for PreK-12, higher education, professionals and others available in more than 75 languages. Visit us at mheducation.com or find us on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn or Twitter .

Contact:

Tyler Reed

McGraw Hill

(704) 408-6969

[email protected]

SOURCE McGraw Hill
Under the relaxations, the Maharashtra government has allowed shops, markets and market areas to function for full working hours

Mumbai: The coronavirus-induced lockdown in Maharashtra is likely to be enforced again strictly if the relaxations offered by the state government result in worsening the situation. If people continue to defy the lockdown norms, we will have no option but to implement it strictly, warned Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday.

After more than two months of rigorous lockdown, the state government has offered several relaxations to people under Mission Begin Again from June 8. However, large crowds at public places and the failure in maintaining social distance have threatened to nullify the benefits of the lockdown.

Expressing huge concern over this, Mr Thackeray said, We will have to be very careful as the coronavirus threat is not over yet. The state government is monitoring the situation closely. If the relaxations prove to be threatening the lives, the government may have to impose the lockdown sternly.

We now have to learn to live with the virus. The lockdown measures have been eased because economic activities need to resume. But the crowds on roads have increased substantially after the relaxations. People have been allowed to take a walk, but there was a tremendous rush for it. Outdoor physical activity has been allowed for your good health and not to spoil it. Safe distance should always be maintained, he added.

Under the relaxations, the Maharashtra government has allowed shops, markets and market areas to function for full working hours. In addition to this, private offices have been given permission to operate with 10 per cent of strength.

The Chief Minister reiterated his demand for resumption of suburban train services in Mumbai for movement of staff on essential services duty. We have been asking the Centre for resumption of local trains in Mumbai. The BEST services are also not running at full strength. Because of lack of transport, many people are not able to travel, he said.
Agra, June 11 : In a fresh spurt, two health workers among 13 in Firozabad have tested positive for the Coronavirus, even as the tally in neighbouring Agra reached 999 on Thursday, as authorities expressed concern over the growing crowds in streets and markets.

The toll increased to 54 after an 80-year-old succumbed to the virus in Kamla Nagar area of the Taj city. So far, a total of 825 people have recovered.

According to District Magistrate P.N. Singh the recovery rate in the district is 82.86 per cent, the number of active cases is 120, and a total of 15,714 samples have been collected for testing so far. Inmates in all the barracks in the Central and district jails were also being screened.

A large number of people complained on Wednesday that they were not being tested in the government hospitals, but were being referred to private laboratories that charge an exorbitant fee of Rs 4,500 per test.

Singh expressed concern over the huge crowd that has turned up in the market. Some videos on social media showed that people were not following social distancing norms.

SSP Bablu Kumar said, the increasing number of vehicles in the market was an issue but efforts of better policing have worked to sort out the problem.

In Firozabad district, 13 new cases were reported on Wednesday that have alarmed the Health Department. The district is followed by Mathura with nine cases and Mainpuri (7), till Wednesday evening.

The infected people in Firozabad include two health workers and the total number of cases have reached to 95. In Mathura, the total number of cases has gone upto 109.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
This isn't an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know it's time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.

For people who don't know: last December I tweeted my support for Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who'd lost her job for what were deemed 'transphobic' tweets. She took her case to an employment tribunal, asking the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected in law. Judge Tayler ruled that it wasn't.

My interest in trans issues pre-dated Maya's case by almost two years, during which I followed the debate around the concept of gender identity closely. I've met trans people, and read sundry books, blogs and articles by trans people, gender specialists, intersex people, psychologists, safeguarding experts, social workers and doctors, and followed the discourse online and in traditional media. On one level, my interest in this issue has been professional, because I'm writing a crime series, set in the present day, and my fictional female detective is of an age to be interested in, and affected by, these issues herself, but on another, it's intensely personal, as I'm about to explain.

All the time I've been researching and learning, accusations and threats from trans activists have been bubbling in my Twitter timeline. This was initially triggered by a 'like'. When I started taking an interest in gender identity and transgender matters, I began screenshotting comments that interested me, as a way of reminding myself what I might want to research later. On one occasion, I absent-mindedly 'liked' instead of screenshotting. That single 'like' was deemed evidence of wrongthink, and a persistent low level of harassment began.

Months later, I compounded my accidental 'like' crime by following Magdalen Burns on Twitter. Magdalen was an immensely brave young feminist and lesbian who was dying of an aggressive brain tumour. I followed her because I wanted to contact her directly, which I succeeded in doing. However, as Magdalen was a great believer in the importance of biological sex, and didn't believe lesbians should be called bigots for not dating trans women with penises, dots were joined in the heads of twitter trans activists, and the level of social media abuse increased.

I mention all this only to explain that I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called cunt and bitch and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me he'd composted them.

What I didn't expect in the aftermath of my cancellation was the avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive. They came from a cross-section of kind, empathetic and intelligent people, some of them working in fields dealing with gender dysphoria and trans people, who're all deeply concerned about the way a socio-political concept is influencing politics, medical practice and safeguarding. They're worried about the dangers to young people, gay people and about the erosion of women's and girl's rights. Above all, they're worried about a climate of fear that serves nobody  least of all trans youth  well.

I'd stepped back from Twitter for many months both before and after tweeting support for Maya, because I knew it was doing nothing good for my mental health. I only returned because I wanted to share a free children's book during the pandemic. Immediately, activists who clearly believe themselves to be good, kind and progressive people swarmed back into my timeline, assuming a right to police my speech, accuse me of hatred, call me misogynistic slurs and, above all  as every woman involved in this debate will know  TERF.

If you didn't already know  and why should you?  'TERF' is an acronym coined by trans activists, which stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. In practice, a huge and diverse cross-section of women are currently being called TERFs and the vast majority have never been radical feminists. Examples of so-called TERFs range from the mother of a gay child who was afraid their child wanted to transition to escape homophobic bullying, to a hitherto totally unfeminist older lady who's vowed never to visit Marks & Spencer again because they're allowing any man who says they identify as a woman into the women's changing rooms. Ironically, radical feminists aren't even trans-exclusionary  they include trans men in their feminism, because they were born women.

But accusations of TERFery have been sufficient to intimidate many people, institutions and organisations I once admired, who're cowering before the tactics of the playground. 'They'll call us transphobic!' 'They'll say I hate trans people!' What next, they'll say you've got fleas? Speaking as a biological woman, a lot of people in positions of power really need to grow a pair (which is doubtless literally possible, according to the kind of people who argue that clownfish prove humans aren't a dimorphic species).

So why am I doing this? Why speak up? Why not quietly do my research and keep my head down?

Well, I've got five reasons for being worried about the new trans activism, and deciding I need to speak up.

Firstly, I have a charitable trust that focuses on alleviating social deprivation in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on women and children. Among other things, my trust supports projects for female prisoners and for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. I also fund medical research into MS, a disease that behaves very differently in men and women. It's been clear to me for a while that the new trans activism is having (or is likely to have, if all its demands are met) a significant impact on many of the causes I support, because it's pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender.

The second reason is that I'm an ex-teacher and the founder of a children's charity, which gives me an interest in both education and safeguarding. Like many others, I have deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement is having on both.

The third is that, as a much-banned author, I'm interested in freedom of speech and have publicly defended it, even unto Donald Trump.

The fourth is where things start to get truly personal. I'm concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility. Some say they decided to transition after realising they were same-sex attracted, and that transitioning was partly driven by homophobia, either in society or in their families.

Most people probably aren't aware  I certainly wasn't, until I started researching this issue properly  that ten years ago, the majority of people wanting to transition to the opposite sex were male. That ratio has now reversed. The UK has experienced a 4400% increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.

The same phenomenon has been seen in the US. In 2018, American physician and researcher Lisa Littman set out to explore it. In an interview, she said:

'Parents online were describing a very unusual pattern of transgender-identification where multiple friends and even entire friend groups became transgender-identified at the same time. I would have been remiss had I not considered social contagion and peer influences as potential factors.'

Littman mentioned Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram and YouTube as contributing factors to Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, where she believes that in the realm of transgender identification 'youth have created particularly insular echo chambers.'

Her paper caused a furore. She was accused of bias and of spreading misinformation about transgender people, subjected to a tsunami of abuse and a concerted campaign to discredit both her and her work. The journal took the paper offline and re-reviewed it before republishing it. However, her career took a similar hit to that suffered by Maya Forstater. Lisa Littman had dared challenge one of the central tenets of trans activism, which is that a person's gender identity is innate, like sexual orientation. Nobody, the activists insisted, could ever be persuaded into being trans.

The argument of many current trans activists is that if you don't let a gender dysphoric teenager transition, they will kill themselves. In an article explaining why he resigned from the Tavistock (an NHS gender clinic in England) psychiatrist Marcus Evans stated that claims that children will kill themselves if not permitted to transition do not 'align substantially with any robust data or studies in this area. Nor do they align with the cases I have encountered over decades as a psychotherapist.'

The writings of young trans men reveal a group of notably sensitive and clever people. The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria I've read, with their insightful descriptions of anxiety, dissociation, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, the more I've wondered whether, if I'd been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. I struggled with severe OCD as a teenager. If I'd found community and sympathy online that I couldn't find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he'd have preferred.

When I read about the theory of gender identity, I remember how mentally sexless I felt in youth. I remember Colette's description of herself as a 'mental hermaphrodite' and Simone de Beauvoir's words: 'It is perfectly natural for the future woman to feel indignant at the limitations posed upon her by her sex. The real question is not why she should reject them: the problem is rather to understand why she accepts them.'

As I didn't have a realistic possibility of becoming a man back in the 1980s, it had to be books and music that got me through both my mental health issues and the sexualised scrutiny and judgement that sets so many girls to war against their bodies in their teens. Fortunately for me, I found my own sense of otherness, and my ambivalence about being a woman, reflected in the work of female writers and musicians who reassured me that, in spite of everything a sexist world tries to throw at the female-bodied, it's fine not to feel pink, frilly and compliant inside your own head; it's OK to feel confused, dark, both sexual and non-sexual, unsure of what or who you are.

I want to be very clear here: I know transition will be a solution for some gender dysphoric people, although I'm also aware through extensive research that studies have consistently shown that between 60-90% of gender dysphoric teens will grow out of their dysphoria. Again and again I've been told to 'just meet some trans people.' I have: in addition to a few younger people, who were all adorable, I happen to know a self-described transsexual woman who's older than I am and wonderful. Although she's open about her past as a gay man, I've always found it hard to think of her as anything other than a woman, and I believe (and certainly hope) she's completely happy to have transitioned. Being older, though, she went through a long and rigorous process of evaluation, psychotherapy and staged transformation. The current explosion of trans activism is urging a removal of almost all the robust systems through which candidates for sex reassignment were once required to pass. A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law. Many people aren't aware of this.

We're living through the most misogynistic period I've experienced. Back in the 80s, I imagined that my future daughters, should I have any, would have it far better than I ever did, but between the backlash against feminism and a porn-saturated online culture, I believe things have got significantly worse for girls. Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now. From the leader of the free world's long history of sexual assault accusations and his proud boast of 'grabbing them by the pussy', to the incel ('involuntarily celibate') movement that rages against women who won't give them sex, to the trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble. Everywhere, women are being told to shut up and sit down, or else.

I've read all the arguments about femaleness not residing in the sexed body, and the assertions that biological women don't have common experiences, and I find them, too, deeply misogynistic and regressive. It's also clear that one of the objectives of denying the importance of sex is to erode what some seem to see as the cruelly segregationist idea of women having their own biological realities or  just as threatening  unifying realities that make them a cohesive political class. The hundreds of emails I've received in the last few days prove this erosion concerns many others just as much. It isn't enough for women to be trans allies. Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves.

But, as many women have said before me, 'woman' is not a costume. 'Woman' is not an idea in a man's head. 'Woman' is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as progressive. Moreover, the 'inclusive' language that calls female people 'menstruators' and 'people with vulvas' strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning. I understand why trans activists consider this language to be appropriate and kind, but for those of us who've had degrading slurs spat at us by violent men, it's not neutral, it's hostile and alienating.

Which brings me to the fifth reason I'm deeply concerned about the consequences of the current trans activism.

I've been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor. This isn't because I'm ashamed those things happened to me, but because they're traumatic to revisit and remember. I also feel protective of my daughter from my first marriage. I didn't want to claim sole ownership of a story that belongs to her, too. However, a short while ago, I asked her how she'd feel if I were publicly honest about that part of my life, and she encouraged me to go ahead.

I'm mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who've been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces.

I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I'm now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be. However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don't disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you've made. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke  and even I know it's funny  but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven't heard them approaching.

If you could come inside my head and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, you'd find solidarity and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on earth, because I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker.

I believe the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable for all the reasons I've outlined. Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, they're most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of colour, are at particular risk. Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who've been abused by men.

So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman  and, as I've said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones  then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.

On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish government is proceeding with its controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to 'become a woman' is to say he's one. To use a very contemporary word, I was 'triggered'. Ground down by the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media, when I was only there to give children feedback about pictures they'd drawn for my book under lockdown, I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head, as memories of a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties recurred on a loop. That assault happened at a time and in a space where I was vulnerable, and a man capitalised on an opportunity. I couldn't shut out those memories and I was finding it hard to contain my anger and disappointment about the way I believe my government is playing fast and loose with womens and girls' safety.

Late on Saturday evening, scrolling through children's pictures before I went to bed, I forgot the first rule of Twitter  never, ever expect a nuanced conversation  and reacted to what I felt was degrading language about women. I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been paying the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a cunt, a bitch, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I'd understand.

It would be so much easier to tweet the approved hashtags  because of course trans rights are human rights and of course trans lives matter  scoop up the woke cookies and bask in a virtue-signalling afterglow. There's joy, relief and safety in conformity. As Simone de Beauvoir also wrote, ' without a doubt it is more comfortable to endure blind bondage than to work for one's liberation; the dead, too, are better suited to the earth than the living.'

Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists; I know this because so many have got in touch with me to tell their stories. They're afraid of doxxing, of losing their jobs or their livelihoods, and of violence.

But endlessly unpleasant as its constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode 'woman' as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it. I stand alongside the brave women and men, gay, straight and trans, who're standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the rights and safety of some of the most vulnerable in our society: young gay kids, fragile teenagers, and women who're reliant on and wish to retain their single sex spaces. Polls show those women are in the vast majority, and exclude only those privileged or lucky enough never to have come up against male violence or sexual assault, and who've never troubled to educate themselves on how prevalent it is.

The one thing that gives me hope is that the women who can protest and organise, are doing so, and they have some truly decent men and trans people alongside them. Political parties seeking to appease the loudest voices in this debate are ignoring women's concerns at their peril. In the UK, women are reaching out to each other across party lines, concerned about the erosion of their hard-won rights and widespread intimidation. None of the gender critical women I've talked to hates trans people; on the contrary. Many of them became interested in this issue in the first place out of concern for trans youth, and they're hugely sympathetic towards trans adults who simply want to live their lives, but who're facing a backlash for a brand of activism they don't endorse. The supreme irony is that the attempt to silence women with the word 'TERF' may have pushed more young women towards radical feminism than the movement's seen in decades.

The last thing I want to say is this. I haven't written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me, not even a teeny-weeny one. I'm extraordinarily fortunate; I'm a survivor, certainly not a victim. I've only mentioned my past because, like every other human being on this planet, I have a complex backstory, which shapes my fears, my interests and my opinions. I never forget that inner complexity when I'm creating a fictional character and I certainly never forget it when it comes to trans people.

All I'm asking  all I want  is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse.
The Kerala government on Thursday decided not to allow devotees at Sabarimala hill temple and dropped the annual festival after the temple tantri (supreme priest) expressed serious reservations.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said it was a right decision but the Bharatiya Janata Party termed it a victory of devotees. People who vociferously sought for temple opening backtracked after the government took a decision. Anyway, it is a good decision but many stand exposed in the process, the CM said without naming anyone.

The government had called a meeting after the temple board and the priest differed over the opening of the hill shrine. We have decided not to allow devotees in view of the fluid situation. There are no differences between the priest family and the Travancore Devaswom Board, said state devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran after the meeting.

The minister blamed cheap politics behind the confusion and the prolonged drama.

Tantri Kandararu Mohanararu also played down differences over the issue, saying it was ideal not to allow devotees at this juncture. He cited the increase in the coronavirus cases in Kerala and the neighbouring states behind his decision. However, all daily poojas will be held at the shrine as per tantric customs. The temple was planning to open on June 14 and a week-long festival was to follow from June 19.

The BJP termed the move a victory of the believers and said the government was forced to defer its decision. The state governments ploy to put the blame on the Centre was defeated. It always eyed temple income not the safety of devotees, said state president K Surendran.

Earlier, the government said it took the decision as per the directive of the Union home ministry.

The TDB, a government-appointed body, runs Sabarimala and other major temples in south and central Kerala.

Meanwhile the state has reported 83 fresh cases taking the total to 2244, said the CM adding that out of 84 cases 27 are expatriates, 37 came from other states and 14 infected from primary contacts.

Five health workers and four cleaning employees are among the infected, he said. The state has reported 18 deaths and more than 2 lakh people are under observation.
It's our first recession in three decades. (Source: Getty)

Its been confirmed: Australias in a recession.

Getting the economy back on track will be a long, tough road, and wont be straightforward either as debate rages over how workers will be supported after JobSeeker and JobKeeper taper off in September.

The government has brought out a fourth economic stimulus package, the $688 HomeBuilder scheme, but it has already come under fire for unfairly creating jobs for men but not for women and for being a floatie scheme rather than a life raft, leaving vulnerable Australians out in the cold.

So what should the government prioritise in order to set the economy right? Heres what some of Australias top economic experts said:

Fix up the tax system

According to AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver, Australia relies too much on taxes that distort economic decisions. This includes the taxation of income and profits, along with the states reliance on stamp duty and payroll taxes, he said.

The amount of tax revenue raised by taxes on income and profits is high when compared to other countries and this stifles work effort and investment.

Stamp duty worsens housing affordability, discourages downsizing and payroll tax potentially discourages employment, Oliver added.

At the same time Australias most efficient and least distortionary tax, ie the GST, is levied on a declining portion of consumer spending which in turn is putting more pressure on other taxes to raise revenue.

Ideally, personal and company tax rates should be cut, the GST should be broadened to cover all goods and services and its rate increased, stamp duty should be replaced with a land tax (to be phased in over several years) and payroll tax should be eliminated.

But to do this, people would have to rely on savings for living expenses to make up for the loss of purchasing power that would result from a hike in the GST, Oliver said.

Story continues

But the cost would be small compared to the economic benefit of making the tax system simpler and less distortionary of Australians decisions.

Echoing Olivers sentiments, BetaShares chief economist David Bassanese said income tax had to be radically reduced in order to encourage global talent which would in turn boost the economy.

The government needs to radically slash income taxes so as to encourage more skilled migration, he said.

I think given the troubles in Kong Kong, Australia has a golden opportunity to position itself as an Asian financial capital, rivalling Singapore. But we need the tax and other financial incentives in place to make it happen.

More stimulus needed

Getting cash into the bank accounts of householders and businesses will be critical to Australias recovery, said independent economist Stephen Koukoulas.

Tax breaks have some place but by themselves are unlikely to spark a surge in investment if underlying demand is weak. This is where further cash transfers to low and middle income earners will be important, he said.

This cohort of the economy has a high tendency to spend additional income and with wages growth weak, the government should look to boosting incomes.

For business, a ramp up of infrastructure spending remains an issue - this gives business a boost.

2022s tax cuts should be brought forward

Thanks to high levels of unemployment and economic uncertainty, consumer and business confidence is weak  and this will have to be turned around, CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman told Yahoo Finance.

To get consumers spending, the Government should bring forward personal tax cuts (legislated for July 2022), costing around $14 billion per year, he said.

It should also bring forward tax cuts for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with less than $50 million annual turnover (to 25 per cent, legislated from July 2021), costing around $3.2 billion per year.

Bring back consumer and business confidence

Part of the reason why were in a recession, according to property expert Michael Yardney, is because of a lack of consumer spending  and even though restrictions are easing, people may be more inclined to stash their cash instead of spend it.

There is still plenty of bad news to come and this will impact consumer sentiment, he said.

Business conditions remain poor and business confidence is deeply negative, putting a damper on employment growth.

We cant stimulate our economy any further  so now its up to the government to give incentives, relief and to boost confidence to grease the wheels of industry.

After September, when JobKeeper and JobSeeker ends, further support will be needed, Yardney said.

Home owners and property investors will also need reassurance given that rental and mortgage relief packages are scheduled end in September, too.

Then we need the type of stimulus that will encourage small and medium size businesses to take more risks, grow, employ more people and take on more inventory.

A great starting point would be to lower corporate tax rates to give business the extra cash flow necessary to grow as well as offering incentives to employ more people or buy new equipment.

Get everyone back to work

Australias downturn is because no one is able to work properly, realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee told Yahoo Finance. This needs to be addressed first in order to see a spike in consumer and business confidence.

While it was necessary, the most immediate impact was forcing people to stop working that were in industries such as hospitality, fitness and tourism. The second wave of impacts is now unemployment across a wider range of sectors.

The sooner everyone can work properly again, the sooner consumer and business confidence will return and this will drive economic growth, she said.

The second thing to do is to open up all borders but for now, it does seem sensible to keep international borders shut.

Become more family-friendly

According to Bell Direct market analyst Jessica Amir, Australia lags behind other OECD countries when it comes to family-friendly policies. A key first step to recovery would be addressing the accessibility of childcare, which will have a direct impact on employment and therefore the economy, she argued.

If childcare was made permanently more affordable, it would lift the workforce participating rate, encouraging mums to get back to work and also help children from disadvantaged backgrounds develop.

By incentivising Aussie mums to get back to work, the employment participation rate might rise and we might be closer to meeting the Reserve Banks unemployment target of 4.5 per cent.

According to Senate estimates, free childcare will cost the government $131 million a week, or $6.8 billion a year.

If that was doubled to pay centres 100 per cent of their pre-coronvirus fees, it would cost the government $13.6 billion a year. This would see skilled workers return to part or full time work, lifting the employment and participating rate, and boosting productivity, she said.

Paid parental leave should also be increased to boost financial security: research suggests there is a strong case for longer paid parental leave, as a means of retaining valued staff and keeping them engaged in returning to work, she added. It is also linked to increasing job satisfaction, employee productivity and loyalty.

If Australia increased its parental leave payment, this would decrease the burden on childcare, help families bond, and also bolster spending on goods and services and would stimulate economic growth.

Some families may feel the financial pinch by bringing children into the world.

Once the mums and dads return to the workforce, after paid parental leave, and put their kiddies in childcare, innovation and productivity would increase and employees would likely feel more loyal to their employers, thus bolstering the employment rate and keeping the longer-term unemployment rate closer toward the economic target.

Create a National Reconstruction Plan

The task of rebuilding Australia is so large it will require an ambitious, sustained, multi-dimensional plan for national economic reconstruction, said Australia Institute Centre for Future Work economist Jim Stanford, which should create jobs, incomes, and growth in the aftermath of the pandemic.

According to Stanford, Australia has had a huge national reconstruction plan before, in 1942 a few years before WWII ended, and well need something similar in this war against the pandemic.

The economy was already staggering long before the coronavirus landed on our shores, Stanford said.

Now private spending will be crippled by shocked confidence, lost incomes, and deep uncertainty about what lies ahead. Only [the] government possesses the economic and financial resources, the staying power, and the capacity to plan and act at a national level, to get the macroeconomic ball rolling again.

This is what a post-Covid-19 reconstruction plan should look like:

Sustained and massive investments in public physical infrastructure ;

Improvements and expansion of public services , including health facilities, aged care, education, disability services and more, to be ready for the next pandemic;

A suite of strategies to develop multiple sectors to build industries of tomorrow;

Rebuilding and expanding Australia's training system to prepare for new jobs and assist career transitions;

Outlining energy and climate transitions as fossil fuel developments cant lead to economic growth, Stanford said.

These are just some of the major elements required in a post-Covid-19 reconstruction plan for Australia. The common thread is a willingness to mobilise vast resources, under the active leadership of government, to undertake needed work and fill the economic void that will be left by a shattered private sector.

There is much work to do to rebuild the nation, and there is no shortage of workers. This plan will cost many tens of billions of dollars, but it will be worth it.

The cost of not doing this will be far higher. Until the economy gets back close to full potential, government has the responsibility to undertake these investments and expenditures, financed with large-scale borrowing, he said.

If we get sucked back into a knee-jerk austerity framework, where the top priority becomes balancing the budget and paying off debt, we will enter a multi-year Depression.

Join us for Episode 6 of the Yahoo Finance Breakfast Club: Live Online series at Thursday 18th June, 10am AEST.

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- Denise Nkurunziza, the widow of Burundis late president, returned home from receiving medical treatment in Kenya

- The First Lady landed at the Melchior Ndadaye International Airport in Bujumbura on Tuesday, June 9

- The Kenyan Ambassador to Burundi Ken Vitisia was reported to be among those who received her

- The government announced that President Pierre Nkurunziza had died aged 55 after suffering a cardiac arrest

Denise Nkurunziza, the widow of Burundis late president, returned home after receiving medical treatment in Kenya hours after the announcement of her husbands death.

Local media reported that the First Lady landed at the Melchior Ndadaye International Airport in Bujumbura on Tuesday, June 9, evening.

READ ALSO: Overflowing blessings: 34-year-old mother of 13 gives birth to quadruplets

Denise Nkurunziza, the widow of Burundis late president, returned home after receiving medical treatment in Kenya. Photo: BBC

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: This Is Us Writer Jas Waters Dies aged 39

Further reports indicate that the Kenyan Ambassador to Burundi Ken Vitisia was among those who received her at the airport.

Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza arrived on board a non-medicalised flight by the Kenyan private company Phoenix. It was a jet with the captain and the co-pilot only, SOS Media Burundi said.

The First Lady was evacuated to Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi on May 27 but Burundian authorities are yet to disclose what disease she was suffering from.

READ ALSO: Meet African teacher who has 4 Guinness World Records

On Tuesday afternoon, the government announced that President Pierre Nkurunziza had died aged 55 after suffering a cardiac arrest. Photo: BBC

Source: UGC

An official in the Burundian presidents office denied that Nkurunziza had been treated for coronavirus.

The mother of five and former immigration officer is known in Burundi for her philanthropic work through her foundation called Buntu.

A devout Christian, she and her husband regularly organised prayer gatherings.

READ ALSO: Kisumu: Patients left stranded as healthcare workers strike enters day 2

On Tuesday afternoon, the government announced that President Pierre Nkurunziza had died aged 55 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

After 15 years in power, Nkurunziza was due to step down in August 2020. His campaign for a third term in office in 2015 plunged the country into chaos.

The government has announced seven days of national mourning for the man who was to be known as Burundis supreme guide to patriotism after he stood down.

READ ALSO: I married a man every woman wanted - Pastor Joan Chege

According to the constitution, if the head of state dies in office then the president of the national assembly, currently Pascal Nyabenda, should succeed him.

Before his death, Nkurunziza had received global backlash for doing little to stop the spread of coronavirus in his country.

A top World Health Organization (WHO) representative and three other experts who were coordinating the response to the pandemic were ordered to leave the country earlier this month.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly

Source: TUKO.co.ke
A Turkish court has sentenced an employee of the US Consulate in Istanbul to nearly nine years in prison only days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed what he called a new era in US-Turkish relations.

Metin Topuz, a Turkish citizen who served as a liaison between the US Drug Enforcement Agency and the Turkish police for three decades, was convicted of aiding an armed terrorist organization. An appeals court is due to decide whether to uphold the sentence.

Topuz, who has remained in jail since his arrest in October 2017, is one of three US consulate employees targeted by the Turkish government since the failed July 2016 coup to overthrow Erdogan. The US government has called them political hostages and demanded their immediate release.

Hamza Ulucay, a Kurdish translator at the US consular mission in Adana, was arrested in February 2017 on charges of membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. Mete Canturk, another Istanbul consulate staffer who worked with the Turkish police, was placed under house arrest in January 2018. Both Canturk and Topuz are accused of links to the US-based Sunni cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey says engineered the abortive coup. All three have protested their innocence.

Ulucay was freed on the day of his January 2019 conviction of knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terror organization, though the time he had already served was less than his 4.5-year sentence. It was therefore expected the Topuz would be freed today as well. The US Embassy in Ankara aired its disappointment in a series of tweets, saying, We have seen no credible evidence to support this conviction and hope it will be swiftly overturned.

Several hours later, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a similarly measured statement calling the decision "deeply troubling" and the charges against Topuz "baseless." The conviction, he said, "undermines confidence in Turkey's institutions and the critical trust at the foundation of Turkish-American relations."

The reaction is markedly milder than the visa sanctions the United States had slapped on Turkey when Topuz was first arrested and speaks to the new balance that has emerged between the NATO allies. The sanctions were lifted in December following Turkeys apparent promise to free the man. But soon after, Canturk was arrested as well, despite US warnings that it would impose sanctions on Turkish officials deemed responsible for the employees detentions.

In what may be a measure of Erdogans conviction that President Donald Trump will continue to leave Turkey off the hook, he declared in a June 8 interview following a telephone call with Trump, To be honest, after our conversation tonight, a new era can begin between the United States and Turkey. He did not elaborate.

After another phone call between the pair in October last year, Trump ordered US troops to withdraw from northeast Syria, effectively greenlighting Turkeys assault against the Pentagons Syrian Kurdish allies. The move provoked congressional fury and calls for sanctions, forcing Trump to reverse his decision and keep around 500 US forces to protect oil fields in the northeast that help bankroll the Kurdish-led administration.

Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, believes Washingtons tepid response may be related to the consulate detainees not being Americans. Its quite remarkable to me despite the great friendship between Erdogan and Trump, the US administration has not secured Topuz release, unlike Brunson and Golge, Aydintasbas told Al-Monitor. She was referring to North Carolina pastor Andrew Brunson and the NASA scientist and dual US Turkish citizen Serkan Golge, who were also arrested for alleged roles in the coup. Brunson was freed after Trump threatened to wreck the Turkish economy via Twitter, sending the Turkish lira into a tailspin. Golge was freed in May 2019 after three years of imprisonment. Canturk, the Istanbul consulate worker, was freed from house arrest but is still being prosecuted.

The fact that Washington hasnt prioritized Topuz release in bilateral discussions may have to do with the fact that he isnt a US citizen, which sends a very chilling message to other Turkish employees at US diplomatic missions in Turkey, Aydintasbas observed.

Part of Erdogans self-assurance stems from Turkeys recent military gains in Libya, where its intervention on the side of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord resulted in a humiliating defeat of eastern warlord Khalifa Hifter. A former CIA asset who was being backed by Russia, the UAE, Egypt and France, Hifter was forced to call off a more than year-long campaign to capture Tripoli and retreat from a string of towns and bases after Turkey sent in drones, heavy weapons and its Syrian rebel proxies in a massive counterattack that began in April.

Howard Eissenstat, an associate professor at St. Lawrence University and a senior non-resident fellow at the Project on Middle East Democracy, said, Erdogan believes that a page is turning with the West in the sense that the West is finally coming to terms with a Turkey that can stand on its own two feet and aggressively defend its interest."

Eissenstat continued in emailed comments to Al-Monitor, In this sense he believes the improvement will result in a better relationship because the US and Europe will be less condescending in their response to Turkey. The fact that the United States backed off sanctions, is, in fact, a reflection of a new, more balanced relationship.

For a while it seemed like Turkey would not, however, manage to avert sanctions under the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that were finalized by Congress in December over Turkeys acquisition of Russian S-400 missiles. Turkey bought itself time by parking the Russian kit in a warehouse in April, an idea touted by Trump confidant Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, though Turkish officials insist that the measure was due to COVID-19 and that the system will be activated. Turkey has already been effectively sanctioned over the purchase, with Congress prohibiting the transfer of hundreds of state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets to Ankara and suspending it from the program. The Pentagon says the S-400s pose a direct threat to the F-35s.

Yet at the same time, the State Departments Syria envoy Jim Jeffrey, who has said its my job to make Syria a quagmire for the Russians, appears to believe that Turkey is serving as something of a counterweight to them in Syria after Turkish forces launched a series of attacks against Moscows Syrian regime allies in Idlib in March, killing hundreds of Syrian government forces and their Iranian-backed Shiite proxies. They were retaliating against an airstrike likely carried out by Russia that killed 33 Turkish forces.

Jeffrey told a panel at the Hudson Institute on May 15, I think that Turkey can be of great benefit to us in Syria. I think the latest round of fighting in Idlib, where the Turks killed a large number  I dont know the exact number  of Iranian and Hezbollah operatives, shows that Turkey can be a part of or at least be comfortable with a US counter-Iran strategy and counter-Russia strategy in the Middle East in general and particularly in Syria.

The facts suggest otherwise. Erdogan flew to Moscow soon after, where he agreed to a cease-fire in Idlib largely on President Vladimir Putins terms. Yet Ankara appears happy to encourage the belief that it can play with Washington against Moscow, and in doing so, help level the field with Moscow when seeking accommodation with it in Syria and now Libya.

It was in this vein that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called on the United States today to "play a more active role in Libya, both for achieving a cease-fire and in the political process."

The trick is that relations between Turkey and the United States and between Turkey and the European Union are unlikely to result in anything clean, said Eissenstat. The institutional framework of NATO assumes that we all are in fact on the same team. Erdogan has so far been able to manage that ambiguity very well and has maximized his independence. Eissenstat cautioned, however, But as the advertisements always say, past performance is not necessarily an indicator of future gains, and the S-400s will really test Erdogans strategy.

Update: June 11, 2020. This article has been updated to include a statement made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
BRECKSVILLE, Ohio -- Late Tuesday afternoon (June 9), nearly 1,000 demonstrators, many of them young people, took part in a pro-Black Lives Matter rally that started peacefully, but deteriorated into a verbal assault on police and a conflict among the protesters.

Demonstrators expressed anger that police -- at least some of them from the Southwest Enforcement Bureau, a SWAT-type organization that includes officers from 18 Cleveland suburbs -- were dressed in riot gear, including helmets and chest protectors.

Why are you in riot gear? I dont see no riot here! demonstrators, nearly all of them white, chanted at police.

At one point, police lined up and blocked Brecksville Road near the citys new police station. Demonstrators marched to within inches of officers. They yelled profanities at police, insulted them and made obscene gestures. None of them would identify themselves to cleveland.com.

Police didnt move, and remained silent for the most part. Some demonstrators said certain officers were smiling at them.

Why are you smiling? one demonstrator asked police. You want to say something? Say it.

Another demonstrator, staring down officers, said a certain percentage of police in general are wife-beaters. He said he was trying to figure out which of the officers at the demonstration fell into that category.

Two women -- one of whom later told cleveland.com that she was a Brecksville resident, but who wouldnt reveal her name -- squeezed between demonstrators and police. They told the younger demonstrators that they objected to their tactics and asked why they were in the faces of police.

Is that (police officer) your kid up there? a younger demonstrator yelled at the woman, using a profanity.

The rally, which was otherwise peaceful and nonviolent, extended about an hour past the time it was supposed to stop under the demonstration permit issued by the city.

A suburban march

The rally was organized by Samantha Barchet, a Brecksville resident who couldnt be reached for comment earlier in the day. It was promoted and supported by the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Democratic Club.

The event started on Brecksville Road just north of the citys fire station, with demonstrators lined along the east side of the street, chanting No justice, no peace and Black Lives Matter. They also shouted the name of George Floyd, the black man who was suffocated by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25.

Nearly all the demonstrators wore face coverings to guard against COVID-19. The crowd was mixed in terms of age. Some parents brought their young children.

Im not anti-police, Brecksville resident Peggy Vanrumppe said. They are our neighbors and friends, and they have a difficult job. But they need to be able to police us without violating peoples rights.

Vanrumppe said more effective training is needed to root out racial bias among police officers.

Although the city permit restricted the demonstration to one location, police allowed protesters to march north on Brecksville Road in the northbound lane, past Ohio 82 and Mill Road. Police led the way in an SUV with lights flashing. Every so often, a driver honked, causing demonstrators to cheer.

During the march, about 35 police officers walked on the opposite sidewalk. When they reached a strip of downtown businesses, they stopped, apparently to protect the storefronts.

Near the Oakes of Brecksville nursing home, demonstrators turned around and headed back to the fire station, taking up both the northbound and southbound lanes. Demonstrators then divided up, with some remaining near the fire station and others moving north again.

Lisa Stewart, owner of Solia Spa in downtown Brecksville, handed out cold towels and water to anyone needing relief from the 90-degree heat. She said she wasnt worried that rioting, which has occurred in larger cities during George Floyd-inspired demonstrations, would happen in Brecksville.

I believe there is a greater good in humanity, and we are seeing it now, Stewart said of the demonstration supporting the black community.

Stewart said the nation needs healing because hurting people hurt others.

We live in the United States, but there is nothing united about us, Stewart said.

After the first march, protesters lay face down on the street, imitating the way George Floyd was held down by Minneapolis police.

Demonstrator Ben Holobinko, 21, of Broadview Heights, said racial discrimination is nothing new.

Its been happening since America was founded, even before that, before people could record it, Holobinko said. We just waited too long to raise a fuss about it.

As white people, we have to listen to black Americans and hear what they have to say, Holobinko said.

It was at the end of the second march that demonstrators faced off against police. They asked, Where are your badges? and What are you scared of? with profanities sprinkled in.

When cleveland.com asked some of the rowdier demonstrators for their names, one of them warned others not to give their names to the press.

Keep your masks on, they are filming you, he said. Hide your identity.

Some protesters talked about heading to other demonstrations later this week in Lakewood and Beachwood. The Lakewood protest is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday (June 13) at Lakewood Park.

As people gradually left for the evening, some talked quietly with police, as if no harsh words had ever been spoken.

Thank you for being peaceful with us today, one young lady told police.

Read more from the Sun Star Courier.
Every hot Houston summer calls for the restorative powers of a cool swimming pool, but not everyone has access to a watering hole. That's especially true now, amid the pandemic and months-long quarantine.

Thankfully,a company called Swimply aims to connect homeowners with pools to eager swimmers. The business, which operates in the U.S., Canada and Australia, is an online marketplace that welcomes people to list their private pools for rent by the hour.

Homeowners can decide how many guests can be there at a time and the rate per hour. Hosts also decide whether or not children and alcoholic drinks are allowed, among any other rules they wish to add.

"Descriptions include everything you need for a pool day such as lounge chairs, bathroom access, grills and hot tubs," a spokesperson said. "All you have to do is back up the car with popsicles, hot dogs and sunscreen and you're set for a personal pool party."

Private pools are listed all around the Houston area, from Montrose to Cypress, Montgomery and Dickinson. The average pool is roughly $45 per hour with about 14 guests.

"Each pool is inspected for safety prior to listings and owners can utilize in-app purchases like pool cleanings and maintenance before and after usage," the representative said.

Will you be renting out a pool this summer?
Following the regional launch of the disinfection exercise yesterday in Sunyani, Zoomlion Ghana Limited disinfection exercise at 3 Battalion of Infantry, Major Yaw Oppong-Sarkodie, 3 Garrison Education Officer has advised the government to consider deploying some security personnel as education instructors to assist teachers to ensure effective teaching and learning in various schools.

Major Yaw Oppong-Sarkodie said the involvement of security personnel will help both students and teachers to comply with government directives in order to limit the spread of the virus.

He noted that precautionary measures should be put in place as institutions to observe social distancing protocols.

"We have ordered about 100 pieces of mono desks so that the social distancing in the classroom could be effective. We also have education instructors, I mean the other ranks who are also informed as trained teachers assigned to the schools here so as the children are coming, they will be available to ensure that they do not leave the classroom without permission", he said.

Major. Yaw Oppong Sarkodie expressed his utmost gratitude to Zoomlion and the government for counting the school among other schools which are to be disinfected in the region.

Other places like The Apostle Church - Ghana (Sunyani central), Christian Palace Chapel, The Apostles' Continuation Church International (Yawhima Sunyani) were also disinfected in the region.

Presiding Elder of Apostles' Continuation Church International, Michael Faraday Oppong lauded Zoomlion for the exercise and urged other churches to consider disinfection and adhere to government directives before reopening for services.
A group that has lobbied for better railway infrastructure west of the Bann has expressed shock after news of further days.

Rail campaign group Into The West said it is surprised and disappointed with the announcement that yet another feasibility study is now required before the third and final phase of work to modernise the Derry-Coleraine railway line can progress.

On June 10, Infrastructure Minister Nichola announced that she wants to get phase 3 of the project back on track.

SDLP MLA for Foyle Mark H Durkan welcomed news of a feasibility study.

However, Into the West believe another feasibility study to be unnecessary and have demanded answers from the Infrastructure minister.

The group said the return of Stormont in January gave renewed hope that this vital project for the north-west would be put back on track again.

The Phase 3 work will cost 30m  a relatively small sum in infrastructure terms - and expectations were raised that it would be included in this years DFI budget, Into The West Co-Chair Steve Bradley said.

It therefore came as a shock and disappointment to rail campaigners when todays budget announcement gave no indication of when the Phase 3 work would take place at all, and instead called for yet another feasibility study into it.

Phase 3 work involves replacing the track between Downhill and Eglinton, and installing a new passing loop for trains.

According to Into the West, once complete it will shave up to 10 minutes off the existing journey time - and more importantly double capacity on the line.

That would enable the introduction of a half-hourly service to Belfast, and the possibility of express trains to Belfast with journey times below 90mins.

The passing loop also creates the opportunity to locate it strategically to enable a new station at City of Derry Airport or Ballykelly  either now or in the future.

Into The West Co-Chair Steve Bradley commented: Phase 3 is the key to improving rail in the north-west, reversing decades of east-west transport disparity here, and equipping our region to tackle congestion and climate change.

The Minister has spoken repeatedly about improving public transport, enabling greener choices and addressing Northern Irelands regional imbalance  all of which gave us hope that this essential work would finally be funded. To be told instead that the only thing happening is yet another feasibility study is unacceptable.

What has changed regarding the scope of this project to warrant another study? And why has the need for one never been mentioned before now?

The conclusion to draw from this is that there is a risk Phase 3 may never happen at all now. Which would leave Derry with a lower standard of rail service than every town and village east of the Bann receives on the same line.

KICKING THE CAN

Into The West is grateful that Minister Mallon has mentioned Phase 3 in her budget and understands the tough choices she has to make with restricted resources.

But they also fear this is just another delaying tactic from DfI which declared its opposition to Phase 3 by cancelling the work when Stormont was suspended.

We had hoped a new Minister would appreciate the significance of this project to the north-west and stand up to Civil Service negativity about it. In the absence of a credible explanation for why a new study is required, we must conclude that it is just kicking the can down the road.

It feels like the rail equivalent of seeking endless business cases for Magee expansion, without ever actually delivering on it.

Prior to this announcement Into The West had a meeting scheduled with the Minster for next week to discuss a range of rail issues facing the north-west.

The organisation says it will use that opportunity to seek an explanation for the new feasibility study, and to continue to press the case for Phase 3 to happen as soon as possible.

The Derry-Belfast railway line is the busiest single track route in the UK and Ireland  carrying over three million passengers a year. It is unacceptable to leave such a popular route with life-expired track so degraded that it requires multiple speed restrictions and continual monitoring of its condition.

The entire North-west is united in support of the Phase 3 works. Derry and Strabane Council has policy demanding it, the cross-border North West Regional Development Group have endorsed it, and thousands of people have signed a petition calling for it. Because nothing can be improved for rail in the west until this work is completed.

We will therefore be demanding answers from the Minister as to why this long-delayed project now needs to jump through yet more hoops, and when it will finally take place.

It is not enough to simply talk about climate change, increasing public transport and addressing regional imbalance  you have to take the decisions that will actually deliver for it beyond Belfast, Mr Bradley concluded.
U.S. Representative Bobby Rush revealed Thursday that more than a dozen Chicago cops were caught on CCTV lounging in his campaign office and drinking coffee while nearby businesses were being looted.

Rush, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and police chiefs slammed the actions of the officers who were seen on their phones, making popcorn, and even napping after they were called to investigate a break-in at the office on June 1.

The congressman said the officers involved had 'unmitigated gall' to be taking a break there 'while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight and within their reach'.

Mayor Lightfoot said that the incident was 'a personal embarrassment' and the officers would be punished.

It comes as the mayor teased 'monumental reforms' for the city's police department in the wake of the recent protests against police brutality.

Chicago police officers napped in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush's office while nearby businesses were being looted, he announced at a stunning news conference alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot

CCTV stills from June 1 were shown in a press conference Thursday. They showed more than a dozen Chicago police officers making popcorn and coffee in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush's office

The bizarre episode was announced in a press conference on Thursday in which images of the officers and their actions were shared.

Rush said that he received a call nearly two weeks ago telling him that his office at 5401 S. Wentworth Ave. had been broken into.

Having reviewed the CCTV, he found that eight or more officers and their three supervisors had entered the office after the break in and made use of his facilities while looting continued nearby.

The cops are first shown entering at around 1am on June 1 and several officers make use of the office at differing times.

'One was asleep on my couch in my campaign office,' Rush said.

'They even had the unmitigated gall to go and make coffee for themselves and to pop popcorn, my popcorn, in my microwave while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight and within their reach.

'They took such a lackadaisical attitude, a non-caring attitude in my own personal space while looting was occurring all around them. They didn't care. But I stand here to salute our great mayor,' Rush added as he praised her rapid response.

The congressman had informed Mayor Lightfoot of the incident on Wednesday and she said that she would take immediate action.

'That's a personal embarrassment to me,' Lightfoot said.

'I'm sorry that you and your staff even had to deal with this incredible indignity.'

During the press conference, Lightfoot showed stills from the footage of the cops as she condemned their behavior.

'Not one of these officers will be allowed to hide behind the badge and go on and act like nothing ever happened,' she said.

Congressman Rush said the officers involved had 'unmitigated gall' to be taking a break there 'while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight and within their reach'

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday that the incident was 'a personal embarrassment'

'These individuals were lounging a congressman's office, having a little hangout for themselves while small businesses on the South Side were getting looted and burned.'

She said the officers would be punished but it is yet unclear how.

'I believe we should take the strongest possible action. Particularly with supervisors,' Lightfoot said.

'There will be a reckoning with the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) and that moment is now.'

The group was also condemned by police leaders.

'We had 120 officers injured that night that they sat there,' First Deputy Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department Anthony Riccio said, according the NBC Chicago.

'I'm not playing with you that I mean when I say we'll hold you accountable,' Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown added.

Police officers were shown lounging in the office and on their phones

At least eight officers were involved and three of their supervisors

The group had arrived to answer a call of a break-in at the office but stayed at different times to lounge, drink coffee and eat popcorn. Rep. Rush has slammed their behavior

'Move, get out of the way, but we are going to uphold the nobility of this profession. This conduct is not representative but if it's not let's do something about it.

'If you sleep during a riot what do you do during a regular shift when there's no riot?' Brown asked.

Congressman Rush co-founded the the Illinois Black Panther Party in 1968 in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr's death.

He has been in Congress since 1993, representing parts of the South Side, Cook and Will counties.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Rush previously said that that those voting for Lightfoot had 'the blood of the next young black man or black woman who is killed by the police' on their hands.

They joined forced on Thursday, however, to condemn the officers' actions.

'We haven't always agreed on every issue, but today, we are in total alignment in our righteous anger and our steadfast determination, and I want to make sure that's very clear,' Lightfoot said.

'What I know of Congressman Rush is this  he has committed his life to calling out and fighting against injustice and this presents exactly one of those moments.'

Police and protesters have clashed in cities across the country as demonstrations over the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd have swept the U.S. Several Chicago cops are now under investigation for misconduct. Pictured a protest in Chicago on June 6

It comes after string of incidents involving Chicago cops and their alleged misconduct during the recent civil unrest that are now under investigation.

Among them is an FBI investigation into allegations that a Chicago cop pulled a woman from a car by her hair and placed a knee on her neck.

Chicago Police Board President Ghian Foreman, who oversees the panel in charge of serious officer discipline, has also claimed that the city's cops hit him with batons during a clash with protesters.

And a Chicago cop who was called out by Lightfoot after being photographed making an obscene gesture at protesters last week has also now been stripped of his powers.

Mayor Lightfoot has suggested that there will be 'monumental reforms' made to the city's police department in the wake of the recent protests police brutality.

'Im hoping that we're going to announce soon some pretty monumental reforms that we pushed for and we've won, and to set the stage for what I know is going to be a long fight around police reform,' Lightfoot said Sunday on MSNBC.

'We've got to get unions to understand that they've got to be part of the solution, and not part of the problem,' she continued.

'First of all, we've got to speak our values through these contracts. We've got to lay out a very clear set of principles around reform and accountability and not allow the extraordinary due process that police officers get to be a road block to accountability,' Lightfoot added.

On Thursday she pushed forward a plan to require certification for police officers.

'I have directed my legal team to do the research and draft legislation,' she said
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - United Nations human rights experts on Wednesday called on the Zimbabwe government to immediately end a reported pattern of disappearances and torture that appear aimed at suppressing protests and dissent
Food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway is buying US-based rival Grubhub for 5.75billion in a deal that will create the largest online food delivery business outside China.

The two companies hope the deal will strengthen their competitiveness and enhance their presence in the North American market.

Grubhub had initially been in talks with ride-hailing firm Uber, which also has its own food delivery service, over a possible merger, but they broke down over possible scrutiny from competition regulators.

Amsterdam-headquartered Just Eat Takeaway has tens of millions of customers worldwide

For the 2019 financial year, the combined businesses received orders of almost 600 million, earned revenues of 2.7billion and had 71 million active customers between them.

An important term of the deal involves the purchase of all of Grubhub's shares by Just Eat Takeaway at an implied value of $75.15 per share.

Shareholders and regulators now have to approve the arrangement, which the two firms expect to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

In a joint statement, the two businesses stated: 'The combined group will be built around four of the world's largest profit pools in online food delivery: the U.S., the United Kingdom ('U.K.'), the Netherlands and Germany.'

Grubhub's founder and chief executive Matt Maloney will join the new company's management board and run its North American business from Chicago, where Grubhub is based, while the main headquarters would be in Amsterdam.

Maloney has known Just Eat Takeaway's billionaire Chief Executive Jitse Groen since 2007, and both companies have similar models based around being a marketplace for customers to find restaurants and order from them, Maloney said.

Grubhub had been in talks with Uber over a possible merger, but they broke down over competition concerns

The European firm presented an offer 'at a price that made the decision very easy,' Maloney remarked. The deal also provides Grubhub 'financial strength and flexibility.'

Groen meanwhile said that both of them 'are the two remaining food delivery veterans in the sector, having started our respective businesses at the turn of the century, albeit on two different continents.

'Both of us have a firm belief that only businesses with high-quality and profitable growth will sustain in our sector. I am excited that we can create the world's largest food delivery business outside China.'

Mainland China has a $46billion food delivery business, twice as large as the United States, with the two most significant players being Ele.me and Meituan-Dianping.

The latter is the largest takeaway firm in China, while Ele.me was acquired in 2018 by e-commerce behemoth Alibaba.

Mainland China has a $46billion food delivery business, twice as large as the United States, with the two largest players being Ele.me and Meituan-Dianping

Two months ago, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) approved the merger of British online food delivery firm Just Eat with Dutch rival Takeaway.com.

The new deal creates further consolidation in the online takeaway sector, which has grown very fast in the last decade, but has been beset with worries over competitiveness, profitability and scale.

Last month, a group of US senators, including Democratic presidential candidates Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker, voiced concerns over the proposed merger between Uber Eats and Grubhub.

They said the deal would 'raise serious competition issues in many markets around the country' and mean the top two app-based online food delivery firms would control 90 per cent of sales and 'intensely' affect competition at the local level.

'Even after Covid-19 is behind us, combining Uber Eats and Grubhub would create an effective duopoly that would likely threaten competition and consumer welfare. That could mean higher fees, reduced service quality, fewer choices and less innovation for consumers and the restaurants that serve them,' they added.

Shares in Just Eat Takeaway.com were down 4.6 per cent by midday to 57.2p.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Uttar Pradesh government has deferred the date of signing of a key pact for the Jewar airport with its developer to begin work on the Rs 29,560-crore project, according to an order.

The decision to defer the "concession agreement" was taken by the state cabinet during a meeting in Lucknow on Tuesday.

"The signing of the concession agreement with selected developer Zurich Airport International AG has been extended by 45 days from resumption of India-Malaysia and India-Switzerland flights plus mandatory quarantine days or by August 17, whichever is earlier," the order stated.

Officials said the Zurich airport has floated a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for implementing the project, which has three directors, one of whom lives in India while the other two are based in Malaysia and Switzerland, at its Asia office and headquarters respectively.

The state cabinet also authorised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take decisions from time to time regarding the international greenfield airport project, the order said.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

According to the officials, the decision was taken in view of the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The concession agreement, in normal conditions, would have been signed by July 2 between the Uttar Pradesh government and the Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL) -- an SPV floated by the Zurich airport for implementing the project, the officials said.

Shailendra Bhatia, Noida International Airport Limited's nodal officer for the Jewar airport, said the concession agreement was stipulated to be signed within 45 days of the security clearance for the project.

"The security clearance was received on May 18. Hence, the signing would have taken place maximum by July 2. However, due to the pandemic, the developer had requested the state government to extend the date of signing by 120 days. The signing has been deferred till August 17," he told PTI.

Bhatia said the YIAPL has three directors, one of whom lives in India, while the other two are based in Malaysia and Switzerland.

"The presence of at least two directors is required for the signing of the agreement," he said.

The officer added that in case the COVID-19 situation does not improve even in August, the state cabinet will review the circumstances and take an appropriate decision on the signing date of the agreement.

On November 29 last year, Swiss firm Zurich Airport International AG emerged as the highest bidder to develop the Jewar airport on the outskirts of Delhi in Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, outbidding competitors such as Adani Enterprises, DIAL and Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings Limited.

The entire project will be spread over 5,000 hectares and is estimated to cost Rs 29,560 crore, the officials said. Once completed, the airport, which will be the third in the National Capital Region (NCR) after Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and Ghaziabad's Hindon Airport, is touted to have six to eight runways, the highest in the country, they said.

The first phase of the airport would be spread over 1,334 hectares and is expected to be completed by 2023 at a cost of Rs 4,588 crore, the officials said.

Meanwhile, property consultant CBRE said the Jewar airport is amongst the largest planned infrastructure projects in India and also the largest airport development initiative in the country, which will not only strengthen regional, national and international connectivity, but also act as a catalyst for a well-rounded and comprehensive real estate development along the Yamuna Expressway and surrounding regions.

"From a real estate perspective, the proposed international airport (and other infrastructure initiatives planned alongside) and abundant land availability offer several opportunities for developers and investors -- residential projects, commercial complexes, industrial and warehousing facilities and manufacturing hubs," Anshuman Magazine, chairman and CEO - India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa, CBRE, said.

He said a new metro rail corridor, the Yamuna Expressway, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and the planned rapid rail network will also play a major role in improving the accessibility of this region from all parts of NCR.

"Last but not the least, it will also lead to rapid employment generation in and around Jewar and other nearby places. All these factors make it one of the most landmark planned infrastructure initiatives in India," he added.
The House of Representatives on Thursday, shortly before embarking on a two weeks holiday, met with Security Chiefs behind closed doors ...

The House of Representatives on Thursday, shortly before embarking on a two weeks holiday, met with Security Chiefs behind closed doors to discuss the security situation in the country.





At the executive session were the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu, Chief of Defense Staff, Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, Director of State Security Service, Yusuf Magaji Bichi and National Security Adviser, Mohammed Monguno.





It would be recalled that the green chamber last week, following the adoption of a motion moved by the Chief Whip, Muhammed Monguno resolved to invite the aforementioned heads of security outfits to brief the House on efforts being made to improve the security situation in the country and bring an end to incessant killings, kidnappings and armed banditry.





Following the closed-door session, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila also announced that the House will embark on a two weeks customary holiday to mark the 1st anniversary of the 9th House.





Meanwhile, the House also had DCP Abba Kyari, and his team on the floor, for a commendation session for the courage, determination, patriotism, exemplary crime-fighting and prevention records and general outstanding performance of the officers.




Multnomah County commissioners and public health staff said Wednesday that the county is in good shape to enter Phase 1 of reopening its economy on Friday, allowing seated service at restaurants and bars, reopening of salons, barber shops and other personal services, and increasing allowable gathering sizes to 25 people.

We are planning to move forward if the state gives us their approval, said County Chair Deborah Kafoury.

Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority will likely make that call tomorrow based on a review of the countys latest public health metrics, and its reported readiness to provide adequate contact tracing, testing, hospital surge capacity, personal protection equipment and isolation facilities.

Multnomah is the last of Oregons 36 counties to apply for the first phase of reopening. It is the states most populous, with the most COVID-19 cases, and has recently seen a surge in reported cases as well as an uptick in its hospitalization numbers.

Since reporting a low around May 26, the 7-day rolling average of new cases reported daily in the county has spiked and reached a new high of 24 on Wednesday. Infections have surged among people of color. And hospitalizations have gone from a low of nine in the same time frame to 14 last week.

Those are signs for concern, enough so that one advocacy group is urging the county to hold off on reopening. But county officials say the numbers are small relative to its population of more than 800,000 and their plan is adequate to respond. Some of the case increases, they said, are due to more testing and isolated outbreaks. They say its too early to tell if recent protests are contributing to community spread.

With thousands of people gathering shoulder-to-shoulder and in full-throated protest at nightly demonstrations around the city, thats also a risk. Last week, County Health Officer Jennifer Vines said those large gatherings were exactly what the county was trying to avoid to prevent transmission of the virus. But health officials arent advising residents against attending demonstrations, just to wear face masks and maintain appropriate distancing where possible.

Kim Toevs, the countys infectious diseases director, said she presumes there will be cases that link back to demonstrations as the coronavirus will inevitably show up in gatherings of the size seen recently. But she said the numbers of infections is still likely low. She said the county would inform the public if there was a large outbreak linked to a demonstration, but she didnt provide specific criteria for how that decision would be made.

The county has taken a more cautious reopening approach than others, adopting additional criteria to address equity issues and how the pandemic is disproportionately impacting communities of color. It says it can now or has a plan to soon meet state reopening criteria related to testing and hospital capacity, contact tracing, supplies of personal protection equipment, and the availability of isolation facilities.

Toevs said the county had hired 65 of the required 122 contact tracers and had identified another 35 to interview. It is still looking to hire more investigators who have the linguistic and cultural background to work with specific communities.

Right now we feel confident that the capacity we have is adequate to follow up on every single case she said. Hopefully we will have an overabundance of contact tracers.

County officials presented data for the first time showing the breakdown of testing across racial and ethnic groups. It showed a low percentage of total testing is taking place among communities of color. Combined with other data that shows a high case count among those communities compared to their share of the countys population - particularly among hispanics - it suggests that COVID impacts may be even more disparate than previously known. But the data included all tests conducted in the county, in all settings, since the beginning of the outbreak. And the percentage of tests where race or ethnic information was not collected was large enough - 31 percent - that county officials said it was tough to draw precise conclusions.

County testing data by race/ethnicity.

To reach more people of color and those without access to health care, the county has opened a testing facility at 600 N.E. Eighth St. in Gresham that is performing tests from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. It also plans to open two more, one in mid-county in the next three weeks and another in North/Northeast Portland. It is still picking locations for those testing sites.

Commissioner Sharon Meieran, an emergency room doctor, once again urged fellow commissioners to issue a public health directive or requirement mandating the use of face masks. She said there would never be a perfect time to reopen, but that it was the countys job to mitigate risks to residents and that face masks would save lives. She asked Kafoury to put the issue on the commissions agenda .

I personally feel its irresponsible of us to say were doing what we can to mitigate risk if we dont have a directive in place, she said.

She got little support.

Rachael Banks, the countys public health director, said that in conversations and town halls with community members, she had never heard anyone say the answer was to mandate the use of face masks, and that people of color perceive a safety risk, both perceptually and if the rules were enforced.

She was joined by Vines and Commissioner Lori Stegmann. Stegmann said people of color have to make a conscious decision about how they show up in the world and are perceived by other people and the police. Theyre less likely to be able to work from home. She said shed heard from constituents that it was a lose-lose situation if we require face coverings.

The advocacy group OSPIRG has been doing its own analysis of public health metrics related to COVID-19, and had asked the county to delay its phase 1 reopening to allow time for an independent and more thorough analysis of current trends, and until the county sees its number of new cases begin to fall again.

So far, the governor has only delayed two counties initial reopening plans, Marion and Polk, due to concerns about increasing case counts. For similar reasons, she also held back on approving phase 2 reopening for Deschutes, Jefferson and Umatilla counties, but only for a day after she approved another 26 counties to move forward with Phase 2.

- Ted Sickinger; tsickinger@oregonian.com; 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger

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Senate Panel Passes Amendment to Block Using Troops Against Protesters

A Senate panel on Wednesday morning passed an amendment to bar using active-duty military troops against protesters in the wake of riots, looting, and peaceful protests following George Floyds death.

The amendment was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and it was approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee in a voice vote on Wednesday, according to a statement from the senators office. The amendment was part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

My other priority was something I would never have thought I needed to do until last week: prevent the use of military force against peaceful protesters, Kaine said in a statement Thursday in confirming the amendment was passed. I was pleased my colleagues voted to include my amendment in the defense bill. This shouldnt be a partisan issue.

Kaine said last week that he would introduce the amendment after President Donald Trump said he might consider using the Insurrection Act, a seldom-used measure that was first introduced in 1807, following nights of violence, looting, riots, arson, and vandalism across the United States. Several officers and sheriffs officials were also shotsome fatallyin several cities, although protests across the country have mostly been peaceful.

Trump told governors that if police cannot contain the unrest, he would deploy troops to dominate the streets. It drew criticism from some members of Congress, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the Insurrection Act likely wont be used.

Protesters gather in front of a liquor store in flames near the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 28, 2020. (Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images)

Esper said that active military troops should only be used as a last resort to quell the violence.

The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act, he told reporters earlier this month.

It comes as some officials in several cities have called for defunding the police, including in Seattle and Minneapolis.

We are portrayed in the press and everywhere else as the enemy and we want people to know that we take our jobs seriously, were professional, and the vast, vast majority of the time we act appropriately and honorably and thats what we do and thats not being portrayed right now in the media and in the world, New York Police Benevolent Association President Mike OMeara told Fox News on Wednesday.

Our legislators in New Yorkwe have had a partnership with our legislators in New York for years and years and years. I know many of them personally. And they dropped us like a hot stove when this happened, the union leader said, adding that reform isnt just about saying that all police are bad.
That document also addresses how he would leave the prison system less prepared for life than when he entered it: Latson avers that he once showed promise of leading a relatively independent life in the least restrictive placement and maintaining employment, but it is now unlikely that he will achieve that level of independence in the foreseeable future. He relies on others to manage his heightened fear and reactivity in challenging interpersonal situations, and he is hypervigilant to signs of danger.
Arrest of three officers comes after video posted online sparks further outrage over police violence in Kenya.

Three Kenyan police officers have been arrested after a widely circulated video showed the men dragging a woman behind a motorcycle and whipping her.

The arrests on Thursday came after the video taken the previous day in Kuresoi South, west of the capital, Nairobi, sparked outrage among social media users, activists and others.

In the one-and-a-half minute clip, a police officer is seen riding a motorcycle, 21-year-old Mercy Cherono being pulled along behind it, while others beat her. The ordeal causes her trousers to slide off, leaving her naked from the waist down.

Three officers were yesterday arrested  following circulation of a video depicting a woman being whipped & dragged on a motorbike in Kuresoi South Sub-County, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said in a statement.

The suspects are in lawful custody helping with further investigations into the matter, it added.

THREE @PoliceKE officers were yesterday arrested by @DCI_Kenya Detectives following circulation of a video depicting a woman being whipped & dragged on a motorbike in Kuresoi South Sub-County. The suspects are in lawful custody helping with further investigations into the matter pic.twitter.com/yx4eXA8a9D  DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) June 11, 2020

The woman was reportedly accused of breaking into a police officers house.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) issued a statement saying it had launched an investigation into the matter.





The incident came amid an outcry over police brutality in Kenya, where law enforcement officers have often faced accusations by rights groups of using excessive force, especially in poor neighbourhoods.

On Monday, protesters poured onto the streets of Nairobi after the IPOA said police officers were involved in the killing of at least 15 people since the enforcement of a dusk-to-dawn curfew to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

I am here to protest for our youth who have died at the hands of the police without any wrongdoing, Rahma Wako, a demonstrator in the capitals Mathare settlement said. We are saying, Enough is enough. As mothers, many of our youth have been killed while being labelled as thieves.

[We are] telling them to stop killing our kids, added Beatrice Rongo, another protester. Mothers are crying, sisters, everybody  we are all hurt by this injustice of police brutality.

What about African lives?

In recent days, cities around the world have witnessed major protests against police violence and racism prompted by the police killing of George Floyd in the United States on May 25.

Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was pinned to the ground by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The officer, who has since been fired and charged for murder, knelt on Floyds neck for nearly nine minutes, as Floyd pleaded I cant breathe.

Activists in Kenya have taken to social media to draw parallels with the countrys own scourge of police brutality, which typically goes unpunished.

Prominent Kenyan commentator and cartoonist Patrick Gathara last week drew an image of a man representing African governments holding up a Black lives matter placard, while kneeling on the neck of a man asking: What about African lives?





In April, Human Right Watch (HRW) accused the police of imposing the curfew in a chaotic and violent manner from the start, sometimes whipping, kicking and tear-gassing people to force them off the streets.

It described the case of 13-year-old Yassin Hussein Moyo who died in Nairobi on March 31 after being shot while standing on his balcony as police forced people into their homes on the street below.

In others, a tomato seller died in western Kakamega after being hit by a tear gas canister, while four men were beaten to death in different parts of the country.

It is shocking that people are losing their lives and livelihoods while supposedly being protected from infection, Otsieno Namwaya, HRWs senior Africa researcher, said at the time.

In a February report detailing the killing of at least eight people in Nairobis low-income neighbourhoods, HRW said police continue to kill crime suspects and protesters in cold blood despite persistent calls to end the killings and the use of excessive force.

Minister of Interior Fred Matiangi on Friday criticised police excesses, but took exception to painting the entire service with the same brush, his office said in a statement.

It came after the IPOA announced six police officers would be arrested and prosecuted  one for Moyos death; another for shooting dead a secondary school teacher while responding to a burglary at a market in western Siaya; and four others for seriously assaulting a man during an arrest.
Siddhanta Mishra By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The number of fresh coronavirus cases among non-field staffers of the Delhi government offices continues to rise. The Delhi Development Agency office on Wednesday reported its first death of a government employee due to coronavirus.

One of the worst affected is the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). While the agency has registered 50 cases so far, 30 of these have been reported from the agency headquarter at Palika Kendra near Connaught Place. Three employees have succumbed to the disease so far since the lockdown began.

The civic body is has constituted a five-doctor-team to provide any medical assistance to patients required to overcome the infection.

We are concerned by the rising number of cases and are monitoring the situation round the clock. The three deaths are unfortunate. A team of doctors has been constituted to provide technical details and our committee is helping out our employees in every manner possible to overcome the disease, said R.P Gupta, Director (Welfare), who is also serving as the Nodal Officer of the NDMC Staff Welfare Cell.



The agency is also planning to extend the Delhi governments financial assistance of Rs 1 crore to the deceased.

The special cell was constituted by the civic body to coordinate the treatment of coronavirus among different departments and create awareness.

Similarly, at the land-owning agency, Delhi Development Authoritys (DDA) office is also seeing an increase in corona cases, with approximately 12 coronavirus cases being reported on Wednesday. One person also succumbed to the virus on the very same day, marking the first death in the agency due to corona.
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has various platforms for a regular dialogue with the European Union and is raising the problematic issues for its citizens connected with the implementation of the visa facilitation agreement, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said at the joint session of the parliamentary standing committees.

The visa facilitation agreement is the operating legal framework to fulfill the function of facilitating peoples movement. And this is also combined with another important document  the Readmission agreement. We have some issues with the implementation of the visa facilitation agreement because we are very sensitive to different issues which are regularly voiced by our citizens. We have a respective platform for regularly discussing these issues with the EU. We have a regular dialogue in all occasions and are raising all issues that are problematic for our citizens, the FM said.

The minister said at the same time Armenia always states very clearly that the government will in no way carry out a function which will create an impression that would promote illegal migration. This is ruled out, but the improvement of conditions for regular, legal movement remains a key goal. The Readmission agreement and the implementation quality by us enable to insist that we are fulfilling our commitments in a way that we can continue further deepening the framework, the opportunities over visa facilitation, in this case, in terms launching the dialogue for visa liberalization, the FM said.

Reporting by Anna Grigoryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Using the AbiprotTM antibody discovery platform, a team of researchers has identified a potentially important epitope in SARS-CoV-2 that may facilitate generation of neutralizing antibodies to treat Covid-19 patients. The epitope is part of the spike protein which mediates the virus entry into cells. It was identified in a pilot study using virus material from the nasal swab of a Covid-19 patient.

This early proof-of-concept result is very encouraging and has prompted Oblique Therapeutics and their collaborators to continue the work to map additional epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 virion surface. The company will make all results freely available for vaccine and antibody-developing Pharma and Biotech companies.

Dr. Sreesha P Srinivasa, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Translational R&D, Oblique Therapeutics, commented "As an innovation-driven biotechnology company and a responsible member of the scientific community, Oblique Therapeutic is committed to contribute towards a long lasting solution to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this effort, we decided to employ our unique AbiprotTM platform to interrogate the surface of SARS-CoV-2 virion for identification of novel epitopes that could potentially be accessible to antibodies. We are very encouraged by the results from a pilot experiment with limited virus material that has led to the identification of a potential epitope in the spike protein. We are motivated to continue this effort and identify more epitopes on the surface of the virion. We will make results from this collaborative project freely available to the scientific community upon request"

Collaboration

The research was conducted by Oblique Therapeutics AB in collaboration with scientists from the Department of Clinical Microbiology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and The Department of Infectious Diseases, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden with support from Nanoxis Consulting AB, Gothenburg, Sweden.

About Abiprot TM

Oblique Therapeutics has developed a unique, proprietary methodology to identify epitopes on protein targets that have previously proven difficult to address with antibodies. AbiprotTM can identify high-affinity antibody binding sites in any given protein with single amino acid resolution. It is based on using a tailored molecular reporter system and proteomics. The platform yields detailed sequence and structure information for epitope identification and development. Oblique is applying this technology for discovery of selective antibody therapeutics targeting, for example, KRAS for the treatment of cancers and several ion channel targets to treat pain.

About Oblique Therapeutics

Oblique Therapeutics is a privately held Swedish biotech developing innovative new medicines for severe diseases with a large unmet medical need focusing on pain and advanced cancer. The company uses AbiprotTM, an in-house-invented, next-generation antibody platform that can generate antibodies with programmed function against the full human proteome. The portfolio comprises three in-house programs - two antibody candidates: aKRAS in advanced cancer, aTRPA1 in pain; and the small molecule OT-1096 in triple-negative breast cancer. In addition, there are three antibodies programs in collaboration with pharma. Oblique Therapeutics makes medicines that matter to patients.https://obliquet.com/

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Sreesha P Srinivasa

Ph.D.

Senior Vice President

Translational R&D Oblique Therapeutics

Email: [email protected]

For more information in the Scandinavian countries, please contact:

Prof. Owe Orwar

CEO

Oblique Therapeutics

Email: [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/oblique-therapeutics-ab/r/press-release-june-11--2020,c3132564

SOURCE Oblique Therapeutics AB
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 02:16:37|Editor: huaxia

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TEHRAN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday said that the United States has no right to "abuse" the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to vilify Iran.

The United States has tried to "heighten tension with Iran and bully others to follow," Zarif tweeted on Thursday.

Zarif said that Washington has a record of "violating" international agreements, including Iran's 2015 landmark nuclear deal, also known as JCPOA.

Therefore, "it retains no right to abuse UN and IAEA to vilify Iran," he added.

Washington has said that it seeks to restore all the lifted sanctions against Iran if the UN Security Council fails to preserve a UN ban on selling conventional arms to Iran.

Under the Resolution 2231, which endorses Iran's nuclear deal, arms embargo on Iran will be lifted in October. Enditem
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 56-year-old man stored meth in his Great Kills home and also sold drugs to an undercover officer, authorities allege.

Police armed with a search warrant raided the residence of Kenneth Griffin, on the 500 block of Miles Avenue, on May 22 at about 4:10 p.m. and arrested the suspect, according to the criminal complaint.

Mr. Griffin is 56 years old, has no criminal record, and is innocent until proven guilty, said his attorney, Mallory Harwood.

Officers looking in Griffins bedroom on the second floor found two clear plastic bags of methamphetamine, a scale with residue of that drug, plus nine strips of addiction-treatment drugs buprenorphine and naloxone, the complaint alleges.

The quantities seized and the packaging indicated that the meth was intended for sale, according to the complaint.

Griffin allegedly exchanged cocaine for cash with an undercover officer.

The suspect was seen by police selling meth to a suspect on Clove Road in Concord one afternoon in May, according to the complaint. The buyer remains at large.

The suspect has been charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally using drug paraphernalia.

Griffin has been released on his own recognizance and is scheduled to appear in Criminal Court on July 30, according to public records.

He also had a drug-related arrest last Dec. 3 and that case is winding its way through Criminal Court, according to public records and a source with knowledge of the investigation.

An attorney for the defendant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
[June 11, 2020] Rosgosstrakh IT Architecture Transformation Continues with Further Guidewire Deployment

PJSC ROSGOSSTRAKH (RGS), the largest insurer in Russia, and Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE), provider of the industry platform general insurers rely upon, today announced that RGS is successfully deploying additional Guidewire Core and Digital applications to further modernize its infrastructure, boost operational efficiencies, and enhance user experience. All RGS sales offices are now using Guidewire PolicyCenter to sell and service casco (voluntary motor insurance) products, with further deployment planned to its agency network, comprising many thousands of agents. By the end of this summer, it is anticipated that all the sale of compulsory third party motor liability insurance (MTPL) will be transferred to the new policy platform; meaning the migration of all motor business. RGS, the oldest Russian insurer (celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2021), was Guidewire's first customer in Russia and has already successfully deployed Guidewire ClaimCenter for its large-scale claims settlement system. As part of that ongoing collaboration, RGS is now implementing Guidewire PolicyCenter, Guidewire BillingCenter, Guidewire Client Data Management, and Guidewire ProducerEngage. This deployment will support more efficient use of RGS's huge array of customer data, and provide customers and agents with a seamless, omnichannel digital experience. "We have selected PolicyCenter as our primary system for product management and policy administration after a thorough market analysis, due its flexibility and reliability," said Philipp Maizenberg, Member of the Management Board of PJSC IC RGS, responsible for IT. "Choosing Guidewire as a partner to support our current transformation programme, we also considered our previous experience in the successful implementation and operation of ClaimCenter." The increased utilisation of Guidewire is enabling RGS to provide its agents and office sales forces with the following enhanced business processes: Client centricity as standard - client first, conract second;

More active use of paperless processes;

Convenient and technology driven payment methods; and

Intuitive and modern user interfaces.



"Our Guidewire implementation represents a comprehensive business transformation programme," said Gennady Galperin, General Director of PJSC IC RGS. "I am sure that this is the right investment to prepare Rosgosstrakh for the next century in its successful development, because an innovative and flexible IT architecture is one of the key business structure elements an insurer must have in the 21st century market."

"We are grateful that Rosgosstrakh have put their trust in Guidewire to power their ongoing transformation," said Keith Stonell, managing director, EMEA, Guidewire Software. "We applaud RGS's leaders for their focus on achieving and maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage by delivering high quality insurance products to their millions of customers." About Rosgosstrakh PJSC IC Rosgosstrakh is the flagship of the Russian insurance market. There are more than 1,500 regional offices and 300 claim centres. The company employs about 50,000 employees and tied agents. Rosgosstrakh is part of the Otkritie Bank group. On 6 October 2020, Rosgosstrakh will celebrate 99 years from the date of its creation. www.RGS.ru. About Guidewire Software Guidewire delivers the industry platform that general insurers rely upon to adapt and succeed in a time of accelerating change. We provide the software, services, and partner ecosystem to enable our customers to run, differentiate, and grow their business. As of the end of our fiscal year 2019, we are privileged to serve more than 380 companies in 34 countries. For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com and follow us on twitter: @Guidewire_PandC. NOTE: For information about Guidewire's trademarks, visit https://www.guidewire.com/legal-notices. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005096/en/

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By Jacco Zwetsloot





The government and citizens of South Korea have performed admirably fighting the COVID-19 outbreak, or at least the first wave of it. What we must do now is resist the urge to blame those who seem to be spoiling this good record by getting caught up in secondary spikes.



Remember when delivery companies like Coupang and Market Kurly were the heroes of the pandemic? Their drivers were on the front line bringing groceries and other necessities to our houses which allowed us to avoid crowded markets and shopping centers. And now both companies have temporarily shut down some logistics centers as a result of new coronavirus cases and one, Coupang, is suffering a backlash.



Korea in the 21st century can tend towards blaming and shaming. This might seem appropriate in cases of overt criminal acts, such as the recent arrests of suspects in the Nth Room case, whose identities were revealed to the angry public. But it is harder to justify in cases of accidents and misadventure. And yet we often see, when something goes wrong, a desire within the public-media attention cycle to find someone responsible and punish them. Sometimes this leads to the creation of more victims.



The world has praised Korea for its handling of the virus. The country's strategy has become a global benchmark with its rapid tracking and contact tracing, high rates of testing and fast results, the use of new technology to alert people to possible intersections with the paths of people who have the virus, and the ability to flatten the curve without flattening the economy through its use of guidelines and suggestions, rather than forcing people to stay home under threat of criminal prosecution.



President Trump has even invited President Moon to attend an expanded G-7 meeting later this year, a move that some see as recognition of Korea's success in tamping down the pandemic domestically.



But we must be careful not to let this praise go to our head, precisely because it can make the backlash against sources and sites of further spikes of infection all the more savage.



Recall the public fury against Shincheonji Church members, already a controversial group for its heterodox doctrines and alleged practice of "sheep stealing" from other churches. Of course, it did itself no favors by initially being unhelpful, supplying incomplete lists of members and catechumens to government officials trying to track and trace the spread of the infection.



Then recall the Itaewon mini spike, centered around a number of gay-friendly nightclubs. This caused public anger because young people were deemed irresponsible for congregating in clubs when social distancing was still being advised; because many of the clubgoers scribbled down false, or illegible, phone numbers which meant public health officials were not able to contact them; and, frankly, because Korea still has a high level of prejudice against sexual minorities. There was also a touch of xenophobia, as Itaewon has long been a place where foreigners gather, and something about human nature wants to associate the spread of disease with aliens in our midst.



Of course, to a certain extent it's easy to justify the anger at the two clusters, because neither worshipping nor nightclubbing are considered "essential" activities.



But the backlash against Market Kurly and particularly Coupang is harder to understand. These two companies are startups that have seemingly grown to the size and status of mini chaebol in a few short years. Their rapid growth means they are still adjusting to newfound responsibilities. Market Kurly has gone public, but Coupang is still privately held, and not yet accustomed to communicating with the public about internal matters. It was taken by surprise by the suddenness of the spikes at its logistics centers in Bucheon and Goyang, and perhaps didn't react as swiftly as it should have in raising the alarm and taking measures.



But the level of anger and calls for retribution are surprising. There have even been calls for prosecutors to investigate. Is this reaction a consequence of having put them too high on the pedestal beforehand? And are we now doubly disappointed? If so, we should be criticizing ourselves. Or is it simply that a lot of people don't like business and look at any opportunity to pull them down?



Whatever the explanation, a more measured reaction is called for. Until a vaccine is readily available or a state of "herd immunity"  however that is defined  is reached, clusters and spikes of COVID-19 infection will continue to occur. Accidents will happen and mistakes will be made.



We all need to adjust to new habits of constant hand-washing, mask wearing (and that means over the nostrils too, not just the mouth) and keeping a safe distance from people, but at the same time we are social creatures. Humans cannot eradicate disease from our midst as long as we don't live in germ-free isolation bubbles. All we can do is try our hardest to minimize the spread, learn from mistakes, and avoid the punitive culture of blaming and shaming.





Jacco Zwetsloot hosts the weekly NK News Podcast and appears regularly on KBS World Radio's Korea24 program.




The Global Administrative Database: Accurate, open-source guide to subnational borders

For professionals only: The geoBoundaries team is one of four groups that make up the geoLab, a group of student-driven data-science initiatives mentored by Dan Runfola. Their Global Administrative Database is an open-source compilation of subnational borders. Screen capture Photo - of - Hide Caption

Analysts and researchers ask questions that require a better handle on the wheres in the world.

Who is allowed to vote in an election? Where are disease rates increasing the fastest? What school districts are improving? Falling behind?

If you want to answer any of these questions, you need to have a precise understanding of subnational borders  those boundaries that separate states, provinces and counties.

And gaining that understanding hasnt always been easy, or even possible. Until now.

Dan Runfola says no accurate, public, open-source database of the worlds states, provinces and counties exists. Its a condition that persists even in prosperous countries.

If you want to know exactly where the governorates in Saudi Arabia are, it can take months or years to figure out, as we just realized, Runfola said. That is, unless you have the money to buy the data from a for-profit company.

Runfola is an assistant professor in William & Marys Department of Applied Science. He is the faculty member of a group that just published a paper in the journal PLOS ONE announcing the goBoundaries Global Administrative Database. Its online, its free and the geoBoundaries team says its open  that is, every license for use is selected to be as permissive as possible.

But the geoBoundaries Global Administrative Database is not for everyone. The geoBoundaries database is not what you pull up on your phone at your cousin Brigids wedding to settle the argument between Uncle Sean and your mother about whether the ancestral home was in County Kildare or just over the border in Meath.

This is predominantly aimed at analysts and researchers, Runfola explained. This is not a product that is intended for someone with no training that wants to see a map (though you can look at maps on the website!). We release what are called GeoJSONs and shapefiles, which are the industry standards for delineating geographic spaces.

The database is the product of three years of work by a group that consisted substantially of William & Mary undergraduates and recent alumni. Co-authors on the PLOS ONE paper undertook a wide range of roles in the creation of the geoBoundaries product. Joshua Panganiban 20, Lauren Hobbs 19 and Leigh Seitz 17 all served as team leads, providing mentorship and leadership to team members.

The students on the team spent thousands of hours drawing the lines that define geographic boundaries, as well as reaching out to governments all across the world to get permission to use existing products. Student contributors included Austin Anderson 21, Heather Baier 20, Matt Crittenden 21, Elizabeth Dowker 20, Seth Goodman 21, Grace Grimsley 19, Lauren Hobbs 19, Rachel Layko 19, Graham Melville 19, Maddy Mulder 21, Rachel Oberman 19, Andrew Peck 21, Hannah Slevin 21 and Rebecca Youngerman 19.

Co-authors Sylvia Shea 21 and Sydney Fuhrig 21 will be taking on leadership roles next academic year to continue to update the geoBoundaries product.

The geoBoundaries team is one of four groups that make up the geoLab, a group of student-driven data-science initiatives mentored by Runfola. The other teams are geoData, geoParsing and geoDev.

Runfola said that governmental agencies  ranging from the Department of State to Intelligence Community  have expressed interest in the geoBoundaries project, alongside academic researchers and NGOs.

Were in discussions right now with a large NGO that is dedicated to environmental sustainability, Runfola said. And theyre asking questions like: What are the rates of deforestation in different states around the world? And in order to answer that question, you have to know the boundaries of states.

Increasingly, people and agencies with such questions are getting their answers from the database created and maintained by the geoBoundaries group. Runfola adds that the geoBoundaries database is especially important because more and more resource-allocation decisions are forced to be made at the subnational level.

Let me just give you a real example, Runfola said. Let's say that you want to allocate funding for schools. You know there are school districts, but don't have the information on where the districts are. All the information in the world about how well individual districts are doing doesnt matter unless you know where those districts are. Without that district data, you don't know what schools need help. You have to have more granular, district-level information to do the most meaningful things.

The need for more granular data is global, he said, adding that the challenges in collecting that data become more acute in countries that need the information most  countries that lack the infrastructure to collect and maintain their internal boundaries.

Joshua Panganiban, a three-year veteran of the geoBoundaries team, gave an example of how the necessity of having accurate, fine-grained border information becomes manifest in different ways around the world. Some countries, he said, have local government structures and traditions that require information of a finer grain than others.

In the Philippines, for example, the national government may pass the policy and give out a budget, but really the people making the real-time decisions on a local level are the barangays, or village, he said.

Panganiban explained that barangays are the smallest political unit in the country, operating at levels below the state, the province and even the municipality.

Policymakers or NGOs would like to identify which barangays may be the poorest. Which one needs more testing kits. Which one needs more education funding, he said. They don't know sometimes where exactly these barangays are. Thats something that we would be able to do with all these subnational boundaries  provide those researchers and policymakers with an understanding of where that very small unit is.

Runfola explained that the benefit of the geoBoundaries database is not in defining the legal boundaries themselves: The boundaries are what they are, he said. What weve done is put them all together so that any practitioner can get access to the information.

But precision was very much on the mind of the geoBoundaries team and Runfola said that compilers of subnational borders have to weigh size of the files versus accuracy.

Some organizations have decided to make their files relatively small, so that more people can use them. You can use them for web rendering or all sorts of other things, he explained. For our data, we have retained a tremendous amount of precision, but the cost of that is that its harder to use for purposes other than analysis.

But, he added, providing precise, open data for analysts was the goal of the geoBoundaries team all along. With open data comes a wide range of opportunity  from promoting research replication to ensuring anyone can openly share information in a meaningful way. 
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  The pandemic will slash remittances from overseas Filipinos by about $1.5 billion this year and will cut tourism money flows by more than half, latest estimates of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno released Thursday the Monetary Board's latest set of assumptions for the Philippine economy, showing huge declines and slowdowns in key industries which have traditionally supported the economy.

A 56.9 percent collapse in tourism receipts is expected for 2020, which will reverse a 19 percent surge a year ago. Travel restrictions have been in place since late January, which was eventually expanded to all foreign destinations in mid-March when the government imposed a lockdown on Metro Manila and select parts of the country to contain the spread of the disease.

Diokno said this could be easily the steepest dive for the travel industry. However, this is likely softer compared to the impact on economies of neighboring states like Thailand and Hong Kong, which are more dependent on foreign travel.

"Theres a high degree of uncertainty in ones forecast given what we dont know yet about the depth and duration of the pandemic and the behavior of consumers (travelers, tourists, businessmen) and firms moving forward," the central bank chief told reporters in a group message.

Cash remittances from Filipinos abroad will also drop by five percent this year to $28.6 billion (about 1.43 trillion), which would spell a $1.5-billion (about 75 billion) decline in money flows that typically support the needs and wants of their families back home. These funds, in turn, support domestic consumption and drive economic growth.

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the central bank thought remittances will pick up by three percent this year. "This is due mainly to large repatriation of workers and major economic disruptions in host countries," Diokno said.

The government expects up to 500,000 overseas Filipino workers to fly home after losing their jobs abroad due to the pandemic. However, the BSP said the recovery may be fast, as they expect a four percent rise in remittances to $29.8 billion (about 1.5 trillion) by 2021.

These contractions are expected to pull the country's overall balance of payment position to a $600-million surplus, a sharp drop compared to the $7.8-billion surplus for 2019. Still, both suggest that more funds entered the country than the amounts that went out.

Meanwhile, the BSP expects sustained but softer growth for the business process outsourcing sector, with profits seen to rise by just two percent compared to the previous five percent estimate.

Foreign direct investments are also seen to ease, raking in just $4.1 billion compared to $7.6 billion infused by investors a year ago.
Be greedy when others are fearful.

There cant be many investors who dont know that famous Warren Buffett quote, but the proportion that pay heed to it when the bad times come knocking is probably fairly low.

For some time Ive said that the next time markets fell 30 per cent, Id be buying as much as I could.

This was on the basis that while the stock market can continue to fall considerably beyond that, such a drop is usually followed sometime later by a strong bounce back.

Investing around the world is a simple as buying one fund and you can either choose an active manager who tries to pick the best companies or a passive fund that follows the market

My magic 30 per cent number was hit in March, but did I pile in? No, I was circumspect while others were fearful instead of greedy.

I stuck a chunk of cash into my Sipp and Isa around the new tax year, but missed the chance to really make hay while the sun shone on stock markets in lockdown.

I wonder whether some of those newer to investing did make some hefty profits, however.

As markets collapsed in early March, we had a number of questions from people saying they wanted to profit from the crash and buy in while shares were cheap.

Thats not a bad idea in theory, but when youre staring down the barrel of an unprecedented number of situations being described as unprecedented, you do feel the urge to warn people to play it cautious.

So, it was not without some trepidation that we published an article on 17 March headlined: Think the stock market will bounce back from the coronavirus panic? Here's how to take advantage

It included a large health warning: What investors must steel themselves for is more potential falls before any gains.

The good news is that while they will have had some nervy days, anyone who did invest back then didnt have to steel themselves for too much pain, yet.

The stock markets rebound from a brutally hard and fast crash has been equally astonishing. The FTSE 100 is up 27 per cent from its 23 March recent low, but Americas S&P 500 has rocketed 43 per cent.

The MSCI ACWI index includes large and medium-sized stock market listed companies from 23 developed and 26 emerging markets, weighted by the size of their stock market. It is dominated by the US and a handful of other countries, though.

Whether markets slump again or not  and they certainly could  this illustrates the benefits for British investors of not just investing in our home stock market.

Instead, the basic building block of any stock market investment portfolio should be a fund or trust that invests as broadly as possible. One that lets you own the world.

This disadvantage of this is that they can leave you very heavily exposed to the US, which is the worlds biggest stock market, and many would argue is over-valued.

On the flipside, the advantage probably doesnt need spelling out in light of the figures above.

However, even if you do think that the US market is too pricey and would prefer not to back it quite so heavily, you can either choose a global fund that holds less in America, or add a couple of other funds and trusts that invest elsewhere to rein your exposure in.

Investors in some of the big names in the world of global funds and investment trusts are likely to have been pleased with their returns over the past couple of months.

Terry Smith's Fundsmith fund backs a relatively small selection of what he thinks are the world's best companies. He looks for quality companies with enduring appeal and strong returns, which often have big brand name products. It has soared as it is heavily US-focussed

Fundsmith has almost 67% of the fund invested in the US and its next biggest country holding is the UK at 14.3%

Michael Lindsell, left, manages the popular Lindsell Train Global Equity Fund, which in contrast with its Fundsmith rival has its biggest holding in the UK at 35%, whereas the US is 32%

To varying degrees, dependent on their individual strategy and holdings, the likes of Fundsmith Equity, Lindsell Train Global Equity, Scottish Mortgage, Baillie Gifford Global Discovery, have reaped handsome profits from the rebound.

Some of the money I invested in my Sipp went into the up-and-coming Blue Whale Growth Fund in the middle of April and is up a bumper 20 per cent.

The actively managed global funds that will have done best in the rebound are those like Fundsmith and Blue Whale that have a heavy weighting to the US, while any substantial holdings in America's big technology stars will also have helped.

Before buying a global fund it is always worth drilling down into this information and looking not just at the countries it backs to the greatest degree, but also what companies make up its holdings.

There can be sizeable variations, for example, Fundsmith is 67 per cent invested in the US but does not include the world's biggest company Apple, while Lindsell Train Global Equity has its biggest country holding in the UK at 35 per cent and the US makes up just 32 per cent.

A clear investment philosophy and commitment to stick to that is also essential.

But before you sign up to one of those big global fund or trust beasts, you should also ask yourself if a cheap and simple tracker can do the job equally well.

Funds can be divided into two categories active and passive. The former has a manager who attempts to pick winning shares and beat the market, whereas the latter will simply replicate a given stock market or index's performance.

It's easy to think that investing with a manager who can beat the market is the obvious choice, but there's an important caveat: often those fund managers fall short.

By trying to pick winners they risk getting things wrong and falling behind the market instead of racing ahead of it.

The way to avoid this trap is to choose a passive or tracker fund. At their simplest level these follow a major stock market index or basket of investments and aim to track its performance as closely as possible.

A tracker won't beat the market, but nor will a decent one fall substantially behind.

The two things to watch out for with passive funds are tracking error and costs. Tracking error is a guide to how closely that fund manages to follow its benchmark index, while high costs will eat into your returns.

Global outlook: New investors can look outside to the UK to markets like Asia, which many think are set to fare better in a post-Covid world.

A good building block is a global tracker, for example HSBC's FTSE All-World Index fund, or Fidelity's Index World fund. These let you invest around the world at a knockdown price.

It is also possible to buy a tracker fund that builds an entire balanced portfolio in one place and invests in shares and bonds around the world, the most popular is Vanguard's LifeStrategy range, which holds varying degrees of these assets depending on how much risk you would like to take.

Active funds or trusts that do similar are also available, ranging from defensive trusts such as Ruffer and Personal Assets, to more growth-oriented options such as Baillie Giffords Managed Fund.

Whether you are an experienced or novice investor the gains markets have seen in the past couple of months offer some breathing space to check whether your portfolio is right for you.

For a crash course in building a balanced portfolio, read our guide to asset allocation here, and whatever you opt to do, remember theres every chance the market may take another tumble.
New legislation threatening fines and jail time for Canadians who fraudulently claim the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) could scare off legitimate claims, say legal and labour experts  and its unlikely that anyone will actually end up in prison.

They liken it to tax fraud: most of the penalties are financial, such as payback with interest. Only in rare, egregious cases does anyone go to jail.

But if the federal Liberal government wants to discourage people from claiming CERB  Ottawa has already paid out about $43.5 billion  the introduction of legislation threatening jail for benefit fraud could be successful, said Sarah Molyneaux, a Hamilton labour lawyer.

The government bill, which failed to receive unanimous consent in Parliament on Wednesday, threatened penalties of up to $5,000 and six months in jail, in addition to returning the benefits received by those making false claims.

The same bill would expand wage subsidies to some seasonal workers but deny CERB to workers who failed to report to their jobs in a reasonable time if called back by their employers.

That language could intimidate those disproportionately affected by the pandemic, newcomers with language barriers and less educated workers, Molyneaux said.

But if the government is looking to score political points with Conservatives and Canadians who say CERB is discouraging people from returning to work, Im not sure its going to do the job, she said.

Whenever you have a benefit going to poor and working class people there is a misperception that the rate of fraud is high, and there is something we should do about it and that should be punitive, she said.

We have a track record of taking what we consider fraud on the part of poor and working class people very seriously and the fraud perpetrated by rich people and corporations not seriously enough.

Peggy Nash, chair of the Centre for Labour Management Relations advisory committee at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University, agrees that the Liberal about-face is a mistake.

Originally the government said anyone could have the money and overpayments would be caught in income taxes. There are now reports of about 200,000 voluntary repayments.

To say that people who took it and didnt need it could go to jail would be terrifying to a lot of low-income people, said the former Toronto NDP MP.

Fraud is already against the law. I dont know why they need a special hammer in a new piece of legislation except for political communication, Nash said.

In most cases where theres an allegation of ineligibility for public benefits, the punishment is financial, usually just payback of the funds, said Toronto lawyer Andrew Langille, who has dealt with dozens of CERB inquiries, sometimes from people who were misinformed by the government.

He thinks the government is trying to get people to give CERB money back.

If people realize theyre not entitled and they proactively pay it back youre not going to be penalized, he said.

Langille said the government needs to be more concerned about what happens when the CERB program expires on Oct. 3.

Where are the benefits going to come from for the millions of Canadians that are still unemployed? Theyve pivoted to this get-tough approach when theres still this massive economic crisis and the country is still in recession, he said.

The proposed legislation also could pressure people to return to unsafe work environments, Langille said. He thinks the government is being influenced by Conservative and business lobby groups who say workers prefer to collect CERB rather than go back to work.

But in places like the GTA, the $2,000 monthly benefit barely covers rent for a lot of people.

Its important to distinguish between those who made an honest mistake claiming CERB and those who set out to defraud the government, and the majority of the more than eight million applicants would be in the first category, said employment lawyer Stuart Rudner.

Every program we have to help people, the vast majority who benefit are those who deserve it. But youve always got some who will take advantage. It makes perfect sense for there to be penalties. There should be consequences.

Ottawa did the right thing rolling out the benefit quickly, but there were mistakes, he said. Some people have received both Employment Insurance and CERB and there are instructions on the government website on how to repay the money.

Where the government got into trouble was the lack of a plan in the short term to review the applications.

The word got out that nothing was going to happen until the next tax season and that upset a lot of people, said Rudner.

Read more about:
Bob Blasts Roger Marshall Over Campaign Attack Advert Republican purity test slap-fight in the making . . . Via Mahoney Tweet: https://twitter.com/KCMikeMahoney/status/1270867760306966528

Credit to the plumber . . . His response to criticsm seems more genuine than the campaign consultant ploy.Meanwhile, Kansas Republicans have every reason to be concerned about losing this Senate seat.Checkit:
The words Black Lives Matter have featured prominently in the news over the last fortnight since the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It was a terrible way to die and three police officers have appeared in court.

That slogan 'Black Lives Matter' first appeared as a hashtag on social media in 2013 after George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch coordinator, was acquitted of the murder of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida.

Black Lives Matter then became a movement and it gained fresh impetus the following year after the deaths of two young men in police custody, one in St Louis and one in New York City.

Since then it has appeared in the news sporadically, including an intervention in the last US presidential election.

The man who shot Trayvon Martin in 2013 was not a police officer, but since the two deaths in 2014 Black Lives Matter has had a particular focus on the deaths of black Americans while in police custody or as a result of police actions.

According to the Black Lives Matter website: "People were hungry to galvanise their communities to end state-sanctioned violence against black people."

The focus of Black Lives Matter is on "state-sanctioned violence against black people", and that raises some important issues and questions.

The US police are more likely to use lethal force and people are more likely to die in police custody than in most other developed countries.

For example, the rate of in-custody deaths in the USA is six times that in the UK.

International comparisons are difficult because of the different ways the figures are collected and presented, but the overall picture is clear.

It is also clear that a disproportionate number of black Americans are killed in police custody.

According to a 2016 study, black men are nearly three times more likely than white men to be killed by police intervention.

But what about violence against black people that is not "state-sanctioned"?

As a starting-point we have to acknowledge that the USA is a more violent society than the UK.

There are cities in the USA where the murder rate per capita is 20 or 30 times that of the murder rate per capita in London.

However, the homocide rate for black men in America is 3.9 times the national average, and around half of all known murder victims are black.

That is a shocking figure, but it is only part of the picture because the perpetrators of those crimes were overwhelmingly black Americans.

In 2018, where the victim was black, the suspected perpetrator was also black in almost 90% of the cases and that has been the pattern year after year for decades.

Most of the black people who are killed in America are killed by other black people, just as most of the white people who are killed in America are killed by other white people.

Murder is much more likely to be intra-racial than inter-racial, and far more black Americans are killed by other black Americans than are killed by the police.

The focus of Black Lives Matter on "state-sanctioned violence", whether intentionally or unintentionally, takes the focus off the overall issue of crime in black communities and so perhaps a better message might be All Black Lives Matter, whoever the killer, whoever the perpetrator. The tears of a mother whose son has been killed in gang warfare or a drive-by shooting are just as important as the tears of a mother whose son has been killed by a policeman.

All Black Lives Matter. There should be no hierarchy of victims and no hierarchy of concern.

There are issues that need to be analysed and addressed, but when Black Lives Matter puts it all down to "white supremacy" their analysis is wrong.

Moreover, the situation is not helped by some of the things we have seen on this side of the Atlantic, where a genuine case has been hijacked by fringe radicals - and not just the tooled-up anarchists in Bristol.

People Before Profit councillors in Galway have actually demanded the removal of a memorial to Christopher Columbus because he was "genocidal" and the statue "glorifies slavery".

Unfortunately, in this - as in many other issues today - it is difficult to have the thoughtful conversation that it deserves.

And that is to the detriment of us all.
Scientists in Australia are worried a carnivorous species of frog spreading across Southern Australia could do lasting damage to the region's ecosystem with its insatiable eating habits.

Ecologists from the University of South Australia in Adelaide studied the spotted-thighed frog (Litoria cyclorhyncha), an insatiable tree frog that's quickly spread across the Nullarbor Plain on the country's southern coast.

The team analyzed the stomach contents of 76 spotted-thighed frogs taken from three different parts of the countryside around Adelaide, including an artificial wetland, a bushland region, and an urban environment.

The spotted-thighed tree frog is a carnivorous tree frog that's spread across Western Australia at a rate that worries some local ecologists, due to its voracious appetite and eating habits

The team found that on average the frog had at least six different kinds of prey in its stomach at any given time, and documented more than 200 different types of prey across all 76 frogs.

The prey included beetles, spiders, geckos, mice, insects, and even other young frogs.

'This frog is an indiscriminate eating machine that will devour just about anything it can fit into its mouth,' researcher Christine Taylor told the University of South Australia's news blog.

'Were talking about a relatively large, predatory tree frog that, as a species is alien to South Australia, and it could have devastating impact on invaded habitats.'

'As it eats away at local species, its impacting the natural ecosystem, which can displace or destroy local food webs, outcompete native birds, reptiles and mammals for resources, and potentially change natural biodiversity.'

Researchers studied the stomach contents of 76 spotted-thighed frogs and found an average of six different prey animals in its digestive tract at any one time, with more than 200 different types of prey

The spotted-thighed frog was first identified in 1882 and was mostly found in Western Australia near the Recerche Archipelago on the country's southern coast.

In recent years, locals have observed the frog migrating farther and farther eastward, with confirmed sightings as far as 1,200 miles away.

Researchers have also documented a colony of more than 1,000 spotted-thighed frogs in the seaside town of Streaky Bay, and worry the frogs' tolerance for water salinity and high temperatures could help it spread even further.

'Its vital that we continue to protect Australias biodiversity,' the University of South Australia's Gunnar Keppel said.

'Preventing further dispersal of the spotted-thighed frog is a high conservation priority.'
 Flash

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic must be a wake-up call for greater multilateral economic cooperation and health care solidarity.

"COVID-19 is exposing the fragility of our world. Despite the enormous scientific and technological advances of recent decades, a microscopic virus has brought us to our knees," Guterres said in his video message to the Forum of Small States.

"But the fragility exposed by the virus is not limited to our health systems. It affects all areas of our world and our institutions," he said.

"The fragility of coordinated global efforts is highlighted by our failed response to the climate crisis. The fragility of our nuclear disarmament regime is shown by the ever-increasing risk of proliferation. The fragility of our web protocols is laid bare by constant breaches in cybersecurity, as cyber warfare is also already happening -- in a lawless international environment," the UN chief added.

"COVID-19 must be a wake-up call," he said. "It is time for an end to this hubris. Our deep feelings of powerlessness must lead to greater humility."

Speaking of the global response to the pandemic, the secretary-general said that "we have seen such a widespread and damaging spread of the pandemic in large part because our multilateral system is not strong enough."

"In responding to COVID-19 and all our current global challenges -- from climate change to terrorism and disarmament -- we require unity and solidarity," Guterres said.

"Countries have adopted different strategies instead of a coherent international-led response. There is a real risk of a second wave," the secretary-general warned.

"That is why we must insist that no country is safe and healthy until all countries are safe and healthy," he said.

"And for that we need a strong, coordinated and coherent multilateral response based on solidarity. Unity can ensure that treatment and testing are universally available and that first responders and essential workers have adequate protection," the UN chief noted.

Guterres welcomed the debt relief initiatives by the Group of 20 (G20), while noting that the G20 debt moratorium "only covers the least developed countries."

"Debt relief must be extended to all developing and middle-income countries that request forbearance because they have no access to financial markets," he said.

"Solidarity is also needed for building back better," he said, while noting that "returning to the systems that created the fragility of our current world is out of the question."

He said that during recent weeks, he has been arguing strongly that "all our efforts must go towards building more equal, inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies and societies."

"Strengthened multilateral cooperation is also essential in supporting economic recovery around the world," he said.

The UN chief called on the international community to "reject the influence of nationalism, xenophobia and racism and fight attempts to weaken multilateral institutions."

"We need to reaffirm the importance of international law and a rules-based global order. And we need a united Security Council to fully assume its responsibility as a guarantor of international peace and security," said the secretary-general.
These and other mechanisms of moral disengagement protect our delicate psyches from the heavy emotional toll of living in cognitive dissonance, where our high-minded ideals collide with our low performance in meeting them. We say we care. And yet, we are willing to tolerate the intolerable.

Until a video captures the murder of George Floyd for all the world to see.

We see a man who told the police he couldnt breathe not once or twice, but 16 times. At the end, he cried for his mom. As mothers and fathers and daughters and sons, how can our hearts not break?

We see a police officer with his knee pressed on Floyds neck, his casual cruelty perfectly communicated by the hand in his pocket. He almost looks bored by the banality of it all. Onlookers tell the officer to check Floyds pulse. Hes not moving, they say. But the officer does nothing. And the three officers standing by do nothing. It is just another day.

This is shocking, infuriating, unjust and all too real. We cant bear to look and now, we also cant look away. Having seen profound injustice with our own eyes, we can no longer avert it. In-your-face reality has broken through our mechanisms of moral disengagement.
Fans of Walt Disney World and Disneyland want the theme of Splash Mountain changed because it relies on characters from the film 'Song of the South', considered one of the company's most racist movies.

A petition started at Change.org calls for re-theming the beloved flume ride because of its ties to the the 1946 film. While the movie isn't mentioned on the ride, its characters Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox are featured along with the movie's famed song, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah.

Critics have complained about the films portrayal of African Americans in the post-civil war south as racist and offensive.

The petitioners instead suggest the ride, which is also at Disneyland Tokyo, be based on Disney's 2010 animated film 'The Princess and the Frog, its first to feature a black princess.

Fans of Walt Disney World and Disneyland want the theme of Splash Mountain (pictured) changed because it relies on characters from the film 'Song of the South', considered among the company's most racist movies

While the move isn't mentioned on the ride, its characters Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox (pictured) are featured along with the movie's famed song, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

The petitioners instead suggest the ride, which is also at Disneyland Tokyo, be based on Disney's 2009 animated film 'The Princess and the Frog, its first to feature a black princess.

'While the ride is considered a beloved classic its history and storyline are steeped in extremely problematic and stereotypical racist tropes from the 1946 film Song of the South,' says the online petition started by a Change.org user named Alex O.

The petition claims there is a huge need for diversity in the parks and this could help fill that need.

Princess and the Frog is a beloved princess movie but has very little representation in the parks, explains the petition which has been signed by more than 3,400 people with of goal of reaching 5,000.

The Frog and the Princess tells the story of Tiana, a young black waitress in New Orleans.

The movie is set in 1926 and is about Tiana's dreams of owning her own restaurant. She kisses a frog, who is really a prince who had fallen victim to a voodoo spell, in hopes of making her dream come true.

Instead Tiana is changed into a frog herself and has to find a way of becoming human again.

By comparison, Song of the South, is based on Joel Chandler Harris Uncle Remus stories, and takes place during the Reconstruction Era that followed the civil war.

Pictured is the online petition started at Change.org calling for Splash Mountain's re-theming

The film stars James Baskett as Uncle Remus and won an Oscar for best original song in 1948.

'There are plenty of examples of pernicious racism in Song of the South', wrote Scott Tobias in a 2019 story in The Guardian's about the film's legacy and how it was never released on video in the US after becoming so controversial.

The minstrelsy of the animated characters, particularly Brer Fox; the slang in the dialogue; a wandering chorus singing traditional black songs; and, most notoriously of all, a fable where Brer Fox and Brer Bear use a tar baby to fool and ensnare Brer Rabbit, the writer explains.

That part didnt make Splash Mountain, he adds.

Song of the South, is based on Joel Chandler Harris Uncle Remus stories, and takes place during the Reconstruction Era that followed the civil war

'Song of the South' stars James Baskett as Uncle Remus (pictured) and won an Oscar for best original song in 1948.

The animated character Br'er Rabbit is seen with Uncle Remus, played by James Baskett in a scene from 'Song of the South'.

Br'er Rabbit, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, also is based on a folklore character known to slaves brought from Africa to the US.

As critics have denounced the movie over the years, it was not included in selections on Disney+ when the streaming service launched last year.

A Disney spokesperson was not immediately available when DailyMail.com reached out for comment.

Br'er Rabbit, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, also is based on a folklore character known to slaves brought from Africa to the US. The character's image is seen on a sign leading into the Splash Mountain

The online petition points out that Splash Mountain could easily be converted to tell the story of Tiana while not compromising too much of the ride/costing a fortune in remodeling for Disney.'

This change could kill two birds with one stone,' the petition add, 'Remove the offensive stereotypical theming the ride currently has and bring a much needed diversity to the parks.

'As well as a much bigger merchandising opportunity for Princess and the Frog.'
They were both left heartbroken after being dumped on national television.

But The Bachelor's Brittany Hockley and Bachelorette reject Timm Hanly will have a second chance at love in the upcoming series of Bachelor in Paradise.

A new trailer released by Channel 10 this week shows the couple flirting up a storm as they arrive at the Mango Bay Resort in Fiji.

Surprise couple: Brittany Hockley and Timm Hanly's romance has been revealed in a new trailer for Bachelor in Paradise

'That chick from Badger's season? She's so hot!' Timm said as he laid eyes on Brittany for the first time.

Brittany, who was brutally dumped by Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins in 2018, later said: 'Timm in no way is my type. Never ever have I dated anybody like him.'

Timm, who placed runner-up on Angie Kent's season of The Bachelorette last year, declared: 'Brittany is absolutely gorgeous! So well spoken, those piercing blue eyes.'

'I've never dated anybody like him': Brittany, who was dumped by Nick Cummins on The Bachelor in 2018, said she was attracted to Timm even though he wasn't her usual type

In the next scene, Timm was seen flirtatiously placing a kiss on Brittany's forehead as they cuddled up together on a daybed.

Things became even steamier later in the trailer when the couple were shown snogging in a bathtub.

'He really took me by surprise. [There's] something about him that I want to get to know more,' Brittany said afterwards.

Timm added: 'I'm going to be in trouble...'

Smitten: Timm, who placed runner-up on Angie Kent's season of The Bachelorette last year, said: 'Brittany is absolutely gorgeous! So well spoken, those piercing blue eyes'

Flirty: Timm placed a kiss on Brittany's forehead as they cuddled up together on a daybed

It seems Brittany could find herself in the middle of a love triangle with Timm and his former Bachelorette co-star Ciarran Stott.

In another trailer for Bachelor in Paradise, Brittany and Ciarran were seen passionately kissing while floating on a surfboard in the ocean.

'We just had the most perfect kiss in the most perfect setting,' Brittany said of the romantic moment.

Timm and Ciarran became fast friends on Angie's season of The Bachelorette and maintained a close bond outside the show.

'He really took me by surprise': Things became even steamier later in the trailer when the couple were shown snogging in a bathtub
TRONDHEIM, Norway, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aker BP and Equinor have entered into an agreement in principle on commercial terms for a coordinated development of the licenses Krafla, Fulla and North of Alvheim (NOAKA) on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and have started preparations for submitting Plans for Development and Operation (PDO) in 2022.

The NOAKA area is located between Oseberg and Alvheim in the Norwegian North Sea. The area holds several oil and gas discoveries with gross recoverable resources estimated at more than 500 million barrels of oil equivalents, with further exploration and appraisal potential. The partners in the licences are Aker BP ASA, Equinor ASA and LOTOS Exploration & Production Norge AS.

The contemplated development concept for the area consists of a processing platform in the South operated by Aker BP, an unmanned processing platform in the North operated by Equinor, and several satellite platforms and tiebacks to cover the various discoveries. The purpose of the commercial terms is to secure an optimal and fair allocation of cost and production between the discoveries and to align incentives and hence ensure good integration and synergies across facilities and licenses.

The partners share the ambition to develop the NOAKA area with a minimal carbon footprint. State-of-the-art technological solutions will be used to ensure high efficiency and low emissions. The facilities will be powered from shore and an extensive use of digital solutions is expected both in the development and operations phase.

The parties invite to a joint press conference at Equinor's Business Centre, Forus East, Stavanger today at 13.00 CEST.

Investor contact:

Kjetil Bakken, VP Investor Relations, tel.: +47 91 889 889

Lars Mattis Hanssen, Senior IR Professional, tel.: +47 99 459 460

Media contact:

Tore Langballe, VP Communications, tel.: +47 907 77 841

Ole-Johan Faret, Press Spokesman, tel.: +47 402 24 217

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/aker-bp-asa/r/agreement-on-way-forward-for-krafla--fulla-and-north-of-alvheim--noaka-,c3132205

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE Aker BP ASA
Chinese restaurants are now welcoming customers back as COVID-19 subsides.

By upgrading business models and improving service quality, they have strengthened epidemic prevention and control measures, advocated serving chopsticks and individual serving, launched promotions and enhanced online services.

A hotpot restaurant in Zhengzhou, Central Chinas Henan Province has changed the layout of the dining room, increased the distance between tables, and launched contactless food ordering, to make customers feel safe eating there.

Ive been craving for the food here for months. Its really delicious, said a citizen surnamed Li when dining at the restaurant with his family on May 24. The tables were all occupied on that Sunday noon.

Customers pay the most attention to prevention measures we take. In this regard, weve been constantly optimizing our services, said Liu Yongtao, an executive of the restaurant. To create a safe dining environment, the restaurant now offers serving chopsticks and the dishes are covered when served.

Between January and April, the sales revenue of Chinas catering industry decreased by 41.2 percent from a year ago to 833.3 billion yuan ($117 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said on May 15. However, the catering industry is gradually picking up.

In May, the non-manufacturing business activity index moved up 0.4 percentage points over the previous month to 53.6 percent, and the business activity index of the catering industry exceeded 55 percent.

As of May 31, more than 90 percent of the restaurants in Zhengzhou had reopened, with an occupancy rate of nearly 80 percent.

Local authorities across China have also unveiled measures to revitalize the catering industry to reduce and exempt taxes and fees, boost consumption and reinforce consumer confidence.

The sales of a music-themed restaurant in Shibei district of Qingdao, East Chinas Shandong Province finally bounced back recently. During the epidemic, the restaurant suffered a loss of nearly 200,000 yuan each month and struggled to maintain its cash flow, according to Yuan Ning, manager of the restaurant.

When it was stuck in difficulty, a working group was established by local authority to help entities resume work and production. After visiting restaurants door-to-door, the team tailored different strategies.

The local authority has not only given advice on our operation, but also helped us expand market, said Yuan, referring to the food delivery service his restaurant now offers to nearby companies. Nearly 1,000 meals are sold each month, he added.

We investigated and helped every restaurant that reopened. In doing so, we hope to get more restaurants out of difficulty, said Shao Junfeng with the market supervision bureau of Shibei district.

The provincial commerce department of Henan Province released a package of financial products in collaboration with catering industry associations and financial institutions in the province. Besides, by working with malls, wholesale agricultural markets and e-commerce platforms, it also offers fair-price foodstuffs, reduces or exempts rentals, and cuts commission fees for catering enterprises.

To help catering companies tide over the difficulties and help them lower operational cost, the catering industry and restaurant association of Zhengzhou called on relevant parties to reduce commission and fees for restaurants.

In Qingdao, companies that reduce or exempt rents during the epidemic will be listed as good landlords who can enjoy preferential policies in financial assistance and branding at the end of the year, introduced Lin Jun with the work office of private sector affairs in Shibei district.

According to him, the general office of Qingdao municipal government has issued a number of assistance policies, helping over 110 restaurants save 3.2 million yuan in rent cost.

To revitalize consumption in the catering sector, Qingdao has launched a large-scale campaign that encourages restaurants to carry out promotional activities. Relevant departments in Zhengzhou also issued 400 million yuan worth of coupons to stimulate consumption, especially in the catering sector.
The Defence Headquarters says 603 repentant Boko Haram fighters are billed to be reintegrated into their communities in July having completed the Deradicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DRR) programme.

The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations (DMO), John Enenche, disclosed this while giving update on Armed Forces of Nigeria operations at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Enenche, a major-general, said the DRR programme, which is defence Headquarters led multi-agency programme under Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC), had recorded tremendous success since inception in 2016.

He added that OPSC had admitted 893 ex-combatants for the programme out of which 280 including two Chadians had been successfully reintegrated back into the society through their respective national and state authorities.

Presently, there are 603 of them undergoing the DRR Programme and would be graduating by July 2020.

The Operation is a success story as feedbacks from those reintegrated are positive.

A particular one in Bama who learnt barbing as a vocation has successfully empowered four locals and is happily married with children, he said.

Enenche said that the concept of OPSC was that of a unique non-kinetic operation aimed at giving hope to ex-combatants who willingly give up their arms to embrace peace.

He emphasised that the operation was guided by among other provisions such as International Humanitarian and Human Rights Laws.

According to him, it is being administered by 468 staff drawn from 17 organisations including the armed orces, law enforcement and security agencies, other Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

He added that the scheme had also enjoyed widespread collaboration and support of local and international NGOs.

The coordinator explained that the concept was not a process of assembling raw repentant ex-combatants to inject back into the society by the Military.

He added that it was an international best practice for conflict management backed by relevant laws with the concurrence of key stakeholders such as international organisations and MDAs among others.

Enenche urged the public to disregard the misinformation about the programme, saying it was part of effort to end insurgency in the North East.

He also clarified that the ongoing operations in the North East and North West were aimed at curtailing the movement of terrorists and bandits across the country.

According to him, the military is proactive in dealing with the crisis in the country. (NAN)
DURHAM, N.C. - Engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a versatile microfluidic lab-on-a-chip that uses sound waves to create tunnels in oil to touchlessly manipulate and transport droplets. The technology could form the basis of a small-scale, programmable, rewritable biomedical chip that is completely reusable to enable on-site diagnostics or laboratory research.

The results appear online on June 10 in the journal Science Advances.

"Our new system achieves rewritable routing, sorting and gating of droplets with minimal external control, which are essential functions for the digital logic control of droplets," said Tony Jun Huang, the William Bevan Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke. "And we achieve it with less energy and a simpler setup that can control more droplets simultaneously than previous systems."

Automated fluid handling has driven the development of many scientific fields such as clinical diagnostics and large-scale compound screening. While ubiquitous in the modern biomedical research and pharmaceutical industries, these systems are bulky, expensive and do not handle small volumes of liquids well.

Lab-on-a-chip systems have been able to fill this space to some extent, but most are hindered by one major drawback--surface absorption. Because these devices rely on solid surfaces, the samples being transported inevitably leave traces of themselves behind that can lead to contamination.

The new lab-on-a-chip platform uses a thin layer of inert, immiscible oil to stop droplets from leaving behind any trace of themselves. Just below the oil, a grid of piezoelectric transducers vibrate when electricity is passed through them. Just like the surface of a subwoofer, these vibrations create sound waves in the thin layer of oil above them.

These sound waves form complex patterns when they bounce off the top and bottom of the chip as well as when they run into one another. By meticulously planning the design of the transducers and controlling the frequency and strength of the vibrations causing the waves, the researchers are able to create vortices that, when combined, form tunnels that can push and pull droplets in any direction along the surface of the device.

"The new system uses dual-mode transducers, which can transport droplets along x or y axis based on two different streaming patterns," said Huang. "This is a big step up from our previous system, which simply created a series of dimples in the oil to pass droplets along on a single axis."

Aiding Huang in the creation of this upgraded system was Krishnendu Chakrabarty, the John Cocke Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke, and his PhD student Zhanwei Zhong. The pair helped design the electronics at the heart of the new lab-on-a-chip demonstration, and greatly upgraded and miniaturized the wire connections, controllers and other hardware used in the system.

By using dual-mode transducers, the researchers were able to move droplets along two axes while simultaneously reducing the complexity of the electronics four-fold. They were also able to reduce the operating voltage of the transducers three-to-seven times lower than previous system, which allowed it to simultaneously control eight droplets. And by introducing a microcontroller to the setup, the researchers were able to program and automate much of the droplet movement.

The researchers show off the capabilities of their new device in a series of videos. In one, a droplet is quickly whisked around the exterior of a square. Others show droplets coming to a "T" intersection and turning right or left, and the creation of a "logic gate" that can either interrupt a droplet's movement along a corridor or allow it to pass through.

The ability to control droplets in a manner similar to the logic systems found on a computer chip is essential to a wide variety of clinical and research procedures.

"Our next step is to combine the miniaturized radio-frequency power-supply and control board designed by Professor Chakrabarty's team for large-scale integration and dynamic planning," said Huang. "We're also planning to integrate the ability to split droplets into two without having to touch them."

###

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01GM132603, UG3TR002978, R01HD086325, R33CA223908, R01GM127714), the United States Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (W81XWH-18-1-0242), and the National Science Foundation (ECCS-1807601).

CITATION: "Acoustic Streaming Vortices Enable Contactless, Digital Control of Droplets." Peiran Zhang, Chuyi Chen, Xingyu Su, John Mai, Yuyang Gu, Zhenhua Tian, Haodong Zhu, Zhanwei Zhong, Hai Fu, Shujie Yang, Krishnendu Chakrabarty, and Tony Jun Huang. Science Advances, 2020. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba0606
Five suspected rebels were killed Wednesday in a dawn firefight with hundreds of troops in Indian-administered Kashmir, officials said, as New Delhi escalates counter-insurgency efforts in the disputed territory.

The fatalities pushed the death toll during the current escalation -- which has ramped up since India's nationwide coronavirus lockdown started in late March -- to 14 alleged militants in four days.

The men, who were in an underground hideout at an apple orchard near Sugoo village south of the main city of Srinagar, were surrounded by the troops before daybreak, a local police officer told AFP.

"Five militants were killed in the firefight that ensued. Their bodies and five weapons were retrieved from the site," army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia told AFP.

Indian-administered Kashmir has been in turmoil since last August when New Delhi revoked its semi-autonomous status and imposed a communications blackout that has not been fully lifted.

At least 93 rebels, including six top commanders, have been killed by Indian forces since January.

The 14 deaths in three firefights have taken place in the picturesque southern Kashmir valley region, known for its vast apple orchards.

The shootouts have also sparked clashes between government forces and angry villagers who support the militants.

Two civilians have also been shot dead by unknown gunmen in recent days, including a village official from India's main opposition Congress party. Police blamed the killings on rebels.

Last month, Riyaz Naikoo, commander of the region's main militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, was killed.

Rebel groups have fought for decades for the region's independence or its merger with Pakistan and enjoy broad popular support. New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for fuelling the insurgency, which Pakistan has denied.

The fighting has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians, since 1989.

The latest clashes have come just over a week after two Pakistan embassy officials were expelled by New Delhi over spying allegations.
MINNEAPOLIS  One of four fired Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd posted cash bail and was released from jail Wednesday afternoon.

Thomas Lane, 37, who had been held in lieu of $750,000 bail, was freed shortly before 4:10 p.m. CDT from the Hennepin County jail, a Sheriffs Office spokesman said.

A fundraising website on Lanes behalf has since been taken down. The site solicited money through PayPal donations, while decrying the bail amount as unfairly high and also declaring that Lane did everything he could to save Floyds life.

This combination of photos provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, shows, from left, Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, all charged in connection to the death of George Floyd as they arrested him. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP)AP

Lanes attorney, Earl Gray, confirmed that the website was legitimate but did not know how much money it had raised on his clients behalf or who was behind the effort. The site did say that Lane and his family appreciate your support and prayers during this time.

Lane is one of three fired officers charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in connection with the pavement restraint of Floyd on May 25 before he died. Gray said Lane accepted the bail with conditions.

Lane is currently with his wife, although Gray would not disclose the location out of concern for the former officers safety. In the meantime, Lanes next hearing is scheduled for June 29, and Gray said he is planning to file a motion to dismiss the charges.

Now we can watch what happens next from outside, he said. We will bring a motion to dismiss and hopefully it will be granted.

The other co-defendants remained jailed as of Wednesday afternoon: Derek Chauvin, who is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter; and Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng, who face the same charges as Lane.

According to charges, Lane, who initially took Floyd into custody, held down the 46-year-old mans legs while Kueng held his back and Chauvin knelt on Floyds neck as he pleaded to breathe before he died.

Chauvins bail is $1.25 million, while the amount is $750,000 each for the other two.

By Paul Walsh, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (TNS)
Analysis by Army Recognition editorial about the new combat vehicles displayed for the first time during the Victory Day military parade 2020 of Russian armed forces. The rehearsal of the forthcoming Victory parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory against Nazi Germany in 1945 has taken place in Alabino, near Moscow. At this occasion, the Russian army involved a series of vehicles and pieces of equipment either so far unknown or participating for the first time.

Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link



New combat vehicles unveiled by the Russian army at Victory Day Military Parade 220. (Picture source: Russian MoD)

Because of the coronavirus crisis, the impressive annual Victory parade in Moscow has been delayed from May 9 to June 17, including the following night. The Great Patriotic War ended on May 9, 1945. The definitive text was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin, on the night of 8-9 May 1945. The 75th anniversary of this historical event will benefit from larger military participation involving both current and World War 2 vehicles, the latter splendidly restored in pristine condition, be it Soviet-made, US-made or British-made vehicles that were given to USSR in the framework of the Lend-Lease Act. Many of these historical vehicles are usually stored in Kubinka, whose museum is a well-known great place to visit at all costs.

As usual, numerous units will parade on foot, followed by a large mechanized column. This year, in full respect of President Putins will focusing on the patriotic feeling, the historical aspect of the parade will benefit from a spectacular World War 2 participation. Modern military and law enforcement units on foot will be represented by 11 formations. The mechanized column of the main Victory Parade will consist of 38 units of historical military equipment, as well as more than 190 modern and promising vehicle types, many of which will pass through Red Square for the first time.



Kamaz-53949 Typhoon-K 4x4 chassis with NSV 12.7mm machine and Arbalet-DM Remote Weapon Station. (Picture source Russian MoD)

Kamaz-53949 Typhoon-K 4x4 chassis

At the rehearsal of Russian Victory day military parade 2020, the Russian army showcase two versions of the KAMAZ-53949 Typhoon-K based on 4x4 chassis. One variant is fitted with one-man turret armed with one 12.7mm NSV 12.7mm heavy machine gun. The second variant is fitted with a remote weapon station Arbalet-DM armed with one 6P49 KORD 12.7mm caliber heavy machine gun.

The Kamaz-53949 Typhoon-K is a 44 mine-protected armored vehicle manufactured by Remdiesel, a subsidiary of KAMAZ. The design of the vehicle is standard of a 4x4 armored personnel carrier with engine at the front, driver and commander seats in the middle and troops compartment at the rear. The hull of the vehicle provides ballistic and mine protection STANAG 4569 Level against firing of small arms 14.5mm armour-piercing ammunition and explosion blast of 8kg TNT explosion under the floor and 10kg TNT explosion under the wheels.



K-4386 Typhoon-VDV light 4x4 armored vehicle personnel carrier (Picture source Army Recognition)

K-4386 Typhoon-VDV



The K-4386 Typhoon-VDV was developed and designed by the Russian Companies by JSC Plant of special vehicles and Kamaz. The vehicle is motorized with a KAMAZ 610.10-350 diesel engine developing 350 hp. It can run at a maximum road speed of 105 km/h with a maximum cruising range of 1,200 km.



The hull of the K-4386 is made with composite ceramic and steel armor that provides ballistic protection against firing of small arms 14.5mm armor-piercing bullets all-around the vehicle and mine blast protection of 8 kg TNT explosion under the wheels. It has a monocoque structure with an integrated V-shaped armor hull that protects occupants by deflecting mine blasts under the vehicle.



The K-4386 Typhoon-VDV at Victory day military parade 2020 is fitted with an unmanned turret BM-30-D armed with one 30 mm 2A42 automatic cannon, one 7.62 mm PKTM coaxial machinegun and six smoke grenade launchers. The optoelectronic suite installed above the main gun includes a day/night vision, infrared cameras and a laser rangefinder.



BMPT-72 fire support tracked armored vehicle (Picture source Russian MoD)

BMPT-72



The BMPT-72 (Terminator-2) fire support vehicle is based on the chassis of the T-72 MBT. According to the official catalogue of the UVZ corporation, it has a full weight of no more than 44 t (+2%), an overall length of 7.2 m, an overall width of 3.6 m and an overall height of 3.2 m. The vehicle has a crw of thre including a driver, commander and gunner. It has a maximum road speed of 60 km/h and a cruising range of 550 km (with external fuel tanks). The vehicle's armament suite incorporates two 30 mm 2A42 coaxial automatic cannons with an ammunition load of 850 rounds, a semi-automatic laser beam-guided missile system with four ready-to-launch ATAKA anti-tank guided missiles with a maximum firing range of 6 km and a 7.62 mm Kalashnikov PKTM machinegun with an ammunition load of 2,100 cartridges.

According to the manufacturer, the 2A42 30mm cannons have an effective range of 1,500 m against ground targets such as light armoured vehicles while soft-skinned targets can be engaged out to 4,000 m. Air targets can be engaged flying at low altitudes of up to 2,000 m at subsonic speeds and up to a slant range of 2,500 m.



T-80 BVM MBT Main Battle Tank (Picture source Russian MoD)

T-80BVM



The T-80BVM is an upgraded version of the T-80BV tank. It has a multi-channel sight, a 125mm 2A46M1 gun and 12.7mm NSVT antiaircraft and 7.62mm PKT coaxial machineguns. The ammunition load comprises 45 gun rounds, 300 12.7mm, and 1,250 7.62mm cartridges. It also has Refleks 9K119 missiles (NATO reporting name: AT-11 Sniper). The tank is equipped with a gun stabilizer and an observation device.



The T-80BVM has an upgraded GTD-1250TF gas-turbine engine with a capacity of 1,250 hp. The tank has a maximum speed of 70 km/h (43 mph) and a fuel range of 500 kilometers (311 miles). It has better maneuverability and mobility and is equipped with devices that increase its combat effectiveness, protection level and reliability in extreme conditions. The new engine improves the tanks running characteristics, especially in harsh Arctic conditions.



T-90M MBT Main Battle Tank (Picture source Russian MoD)

T-90M

The T-90M model 2017 also nicknamed Proryv-3 is an upgraded variant of the export version of the T-90MS Main Battle Tank (MBT) developed and designed by the Russian Company Uralvagonzavod. The T-90M Model 2017 is improved in terms of protection, mobility and firepower.



Main armament of the T-90M Model 2017 Proryv-3 consists of one 125 mm 2A46M-4 smoothbore gun able to fire standard ammunition but also anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) Refleks NATO Code AT-11 Sniper-B. The main 125 mm armament is stabilized and enables the T-90M to shoot on the move with a high probability of a first-round hit. The second armament includes one PKT 7.62mm coaxial machine mounted to the right of the main armament. at the rear of the commander hatch is mounted a remotely operated weapon station armed with an NSVT 12.7mm heavy machine gun.



The layout of the T-90M Model 2017 Proryv-3 is similar to all the family of Russian T-90 MBT with a driver at the front, turret in the center and the power pack at the rear. The T-90M features a new all-welded turret design protected by the Relikt ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) armour fitted at the front and on each side of the turret. It features higher protection performance and serviceability compared with the Kontakt-5 ERA suite.



BMP-2M Berezhok tracked armored IFV Infantry Fighting Vehicle (Picture source Russian Mod)

BMP-2M Berezhok



The BMP-2M "Berezhok" is an upgraded version of the Soviet-made BMP-2 tracked armored IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) with the same two-man turret as the standard BMP-2 armed with a stabilized 30 mm cannon 2A42 and a 7.62 mm PKT coaxial machine gun mounted to the left of the main armament, but new weapons is mounted on the turret as a 30mm AG-17 automatic grenade launcher and four launchers of 9M133 Kornet series anti-tank guided missiles.

Compared to the baseline BMP-2, the Berezhok is equipped with a far better sensor suite. The turret has received an automatic target tracker and a ballistic computer. According to KBP, the module fires up to two missiles in salvo mode in order to score higher hit probability.

The BMP-2M "Berezhok" keeps is based on the standard BMP-2 torsion bar suspension consisting of each side with six roadwheels with the drive sprocket at the front, idler at the rear and three track return rollers. The upper part of the suspension is protected by armour plates. The vehicle can carry a total of 9 military personnel including a driver, gunner, commander and 6 infantrymen.



2S38 57mm self-propelled anti-aircraft tracked armored (Picture source Russian MoD)

2S38



The 2S38 Derivaciya PVO is a new Russian Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun (SPAAG) based on the tracked chassis of the BMP-3 IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle). It is designed to engage low-flying aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, cruise missiles, air-to-ground missiles.

The 2S38 is fitted with a remotely-controlled weapon station armed with on 57mm automatic cannon. The second armament includes one 7.62mm machine gun mounted to the right side of the turret. The vehicle is fitted with a passive detection and tracking systems. It uses its thermal sight rather than radar to detect and track air targets. It can detect aerial targets at ranges of 12,300 m depending on detection mode and UAVs at a range of 4,900 m maximum. The 57mm cannon has a maximum firing range of 6,000 m.



T-15 57mm tracked armored IFV Infantry Fighting Vehicle (Picture source Russian Mod)

T-15 IFV with 57mm cannon

The T-15 is a new generation of Russian tracked armored IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle), previously the T-15 was armed with one 30 mm 2A42 automatic cannon as main armament, but at the Victory Day Military Parade, the T-15 is fitted with a remotely operated weapon station armed with one 57 mm automatic cannon.

The 57 mm cannon is also mounted on the 220M Baikal remotely operated weapon station. The new 57mm is based on a modified S-60 towed anti-aircraft cannon. It has a range of 14.5 km with a maximum rate of fire of 80 rounds per minute. The ammunition stock comprises 80 shells and includes 57mm projectiles including multirole ammunition with remote contact detonation, armor-piercing, and guided rounds able to destroy small drones, low-flying jets and helicopters, as well as light armor and field fortifications.

The second armament of the T-15 shown at Army-2018 also included one remotely operated weapon station armed with one 7.62mm machine mounted to the right side of the main armament as well as two Ataka anti-tank guided missiles. The Ataka is a powerful anti-tank missile with much-improved performance over the older AT-6 Spiral. It has a maximum firing range of 6 km and the tandem warhead could provide penetration of 800 mm armor.

The T-15 with 57mm cannon has the same level of protection as the T-14 Armata with a modular armor system made of steel, ceramics and composite materials. It offers up to STANAG 4569 Level 5 protection. Its forward portion is covered with reactive armor as well as on the sides of the hull. It can be also fitted with additional active and passive armor. The new Afganit hard-kill active protection system is also mounted on the T-15 57mm to defend the vehicle against incoming anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), rockets and RPGs.



Kurganets with Epokha turret tracked armored IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle (Picture source Russian Mod)

Kurganets with Epokha turret

The Kurganets is new tracked armored IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) developed by the Russian Defense industry, the first version was fitted with a turret armed with the 2A42 30mm automatic cannon. A 7.62mm coaxial PKT machine gun is mounted to the left side of the main armament.

The new version showcases at Victory Day Military parade 2020 is fitted with the Epokha turret, a remotely controlled weapon station armed with one 30mm automatic cannon, one 7.62mm coaxial machine and two launchers for Kornet anti-tank guided missiles mounted on each side of the turret.



2S33 152mm self-propelled tracked howitzer (Picture source Russian MoD)

2S33 2S19M2 MTSA-SM2



The 2S33 MSTA-SM is an improved version of the 2S19 MSTA-S 152mm tracked self-propelled howitzer armed with a new 2A79 152mm cannon which has a greater range of fire. The 2S33 artillery howitzer has a now range of more than 40 km, compared to the 2S19 which has a maximum firing range of 25 km.

The 2S19M2 is fitted with an upgraded aiming and fire-control system offering more accuracy and allows the crew to hit targets at a rate of fire of up to 10 rounds per minute.



BM-30 upgrade 300mm MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System (Picture source MoD)

BM-30 upgrade



The latest version of the BM-30 Smerch showcases at Victory Day Military parade 2020 is fitted with a Glonass antenna mounted on the crew cabin. As for the modernized version of the BM-21, the Tornado-G, the upgraded version of the BM-30 is equipped with a satellite guidance system. The weapons system is equipped with an automated laying and fire control system, along with autonomous satellite navigation and positioning system. It can fire rockets with a range from 25 to 70 km



The BM-30 Smerch 9K58 launcher vehicle is equipped with 12 launcher tubes. The 300 mm rocket tube arrangement is two separate banks of four with a connecting roof of the remaining four tubes overlying the inner tubes of the banks.



Pantsir-SM short-range cannon/missile air defense system (Picture source Russian MoD)

Pantsir-SM



The Pantsir-SM is a new gun/missile air defense system in the family of Russian-made Pantsir. The vehicle is base on a KamAZ-53958 Typhoon-K 8x8 chassis. The front of the truck chassis is fitted with a fully enclosed armor cabin offering protection against firing of small arms and artillery shell splinter. The weapon system is mounted at the rear of the truck chassis.



The Pantsir-SM is superior to the Pantsir-S1 by 1.5-2 times. It incorporates a multi-functional targeting radar station, increasing target detection range from 40 to 75 km and engagement range from 20 to 40 km, thus twice more efficient than the current Pantsir-S1. The weapon station is fitted on a new KamAZ K-53958 88 chassis with armored cab.



The new Pantsir-SM incorporates a multi-functional targeting radar station, increasing the target detection range from 40 to 75 km and the engagement range from 20 to 40 km. It is able to destroy aerial targets at a maximum range of 40km and at a 15km altitude, twice more than the current Pantsir-S1. The new radar is able to detect targets at a distance of 75 km. The weapon station is mounted on a new 8x8 Kamaz truck chassis with armored.



Bal anti-ship coastal missile defense system (Picture source Russian MoD)

BAL anti-ship coastal missile defense system



The Bal is a Russian-made coastal defense missile system which uses Kh-35 anti-ship cruise missiles. The launcher vehicle is based on an MZKT-7930 heavy high mobility chassis with 8x8 configuration and carries 8 cylindrical containers with Kh-35 anti-ship cruise missiles.



The maximum range of the Kh-35 missile is 120 km. The Kh-35 is a sea skimming missile that flies at Mach 0.8. Since the missile is dependent on radar data the range is limited to the effectiveness of the coastal radar systems. The 145 kg shaped charge high explosive warhead is effective against medium-size naval targets, such as frigates.



A Bal battery consists of a command vehicle, two missile launch vehicles, and two transloaders. A coastal defense unit usually consists of two batteries. All vehicles are based on the MZKT-7930 8x8 truck chassis.
11.06.2020 LISTEN

The Environmental Health Officers Alliance-Ghana (EHOA-GH) has advised the Government on the needed things to do in curbing the Community Spread of COVID-19 in Ghana but nothing has been done about it meanwhile cases are rising each and every day in our communities.

Now the cases are becoming greater day by day. The Health Professionals who have been hailed always as Frontline Health Workers are rather getting the infections simple because they don't adhere to the Hygiene Protocols.

They can't protect themselves because they only learned Shallow Basic Hygiene during their training at School.

The Three(3) Schools of Hygiene in Accra, Ho and Tamale that trains Hygiene Professionals or Environmental Health Officers (Public Health Law Enforcement Agents) to Educate and Enforce National and Local Authority Bylaws in all the 260 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been Sidelined Completely on COVID-19 Pandemic in Ghana.

NO INVOLVEMENT AT ALL!

Environmental Health Officers (Public Health Law Enforcement Agents) who are the Hygiene Professionals have been Sidelined Completely whilst the Curative Health Professionals are giving the needed praises and resources every day knowing very well the Curative Health Professionals work in the hospitals and other health facilities whilst the Preventive Health Professionals works in the Community.

Who amongst these Two Health Professionals must Government use in dealing with or curbing Community Spread of COVID-19 Pandemic in our dear country?

Who amongst these two(2) should be Adequately Resourced to Curbing Community Spread of COVID-19 Pandemic in Ghana through Education and Enforcement of the Hygiene Protocols set by Government?

GHANAIANS ARE JUST PLAYING WITH COVID-19 PANDEMIC WITH THE GREATEST RESPECT!

EHOA-GH has said and will continue to say that Ghana Is Playing With COVID-19 PANDEMIC For Failing To Use The Right Professionals In The Education and Enforcement of Hygiene Protocols In Our Dear Country.

GHANA IS SITTING ON A TIMING BOMB ON CASE RISE EXPONENTIALLY (MORE RAPIDLY) FEW DAYS AHEAD!

An Official Letter of some observations were submitted to Government but still no acknowledgment from where these letters were sent as a Registered Professional Association.

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana And Make Our Nation Great and Strong.

Source:

YAW AKWAA LARTEY

(NATIONAL PRESIDENT)

EHOA-GH
New Delhi, June 11 : Historian Ramchandra Guha has been snubbed by Congress leader Ahmed Patel for his comparison between Gujarat and Bengal on culture and economy which has created a major controversy.

Ramchandra Guha while quoting writer Philip Spratt had tweeted: "Gujarat, though economically advanced, is culturally a backward province... Bengal in contrast is economically backward but culturally advanced, Philip Spratt, writing in 1939." Ahmed Patel said, "This is an ill-informed statement." "From Kutch to Vapi & from Shyamlaji to Dwarka, Gujarat's culture is built on striking diversity but united through indomitable entrepreneurial spirit," added Patel.

Patel said that every culture has its unique greatness, backwardness is our failure. One must understand this fact.

Senior Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the party doesn't endorse the view.

Guha in another tweet said, "When I post quotes by others found in the course of my research, I do so because I find them arresting in some way. I may (or may not) endorse, in part or in whole, what I am quoting. Reserve your praise or your anger for the ghost of the person being quoted." "I have been trying without success for thirty years to make the writer Philip Spratt better known; thank you to the Troll Army for accomplishing this in a day," said Guha.
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For the past few years, I've traveled the globe talking with male executives about how to close the gender gap. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, men who never considered sexism to be "their" issue were suddenly eager to become male allies, to help solve the problem. There's a similar dynamic happening now, as white allies worldwide protest racism in the wake of the Minneapolis killing of George Floyd by a white police officer. Overwhelmingly white corporate America is loudly proclaiming its support for #BlackLivesMatter in ads and social media posts. As with #MeToo, high-profile executives have lost their jobs just in the past week, the editors in chief of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Bon Appetit, and Refinery29, and the CEO's of Crossfit and Ban.do. But will that activism translate into meaningful action? Will it move beyond the posting black squares on Instagram or the shaming of a business leader? As businesses grapple with the institutional racism built in to so many of our structures, history gives us some clues  and some warnings about what we may get wrong, yet again. Consider what's happened in the wake of the #MeToo movement. It's been almost three years since it became a global rallying cry, sparked by revelations about Harvey Weinstein and others. It broadened attention not just on sexual assault, but on the everyday indignities that women face: being marginalized, overlooked, and underpaid. There were plenty of firings then too, and plenty of talk from executives and politicians. But actual impact? Not so much. Sure, there have been some successes. Women in December made up more than half of the U.S. workforce. More companies are instituting family leave policies. Investment in diversity and inclusion programs has skyrocketed.

Joanne Lipman

Yet true advances are incremental at best. The overall gender wage gap remains stuck at about 81% - and just 75% for black and Hispanic women. Women account for just 7.4% of Fortune 500 CEO's, even though they have made up the majority of college graduates for decades. Coronavirus quarantines have exposed systemic inequities at home, with women doing the majority of home schooling and housework, and the nation's 11 million single parents  most of them women  finding it impossible to care for children while juggling a job.

Close the promotion gap

Executives often tell me that they want to bring more women and people of color into senior roles, but they simply can't find them. To them, I say: Look at your entry level. It doesn't take that long to grow junior staffers into senior leaders. Organizations have gotten better at recruiting diverse workforces  but they're failed miserably when it comes to promoting and retaining them. A 2019 McKinsey & Co. study found that for every 100 men promoted to the first rung of management, only 72 women are promoted, a figure that is substantially worse for women of color. While one in five C-suite executives overall is female, only one in twenty-five is a woman of color. If your organization is progressively less diverse at every level, the problem isn't with the employees  it's with the organization.

Diversify the interviewers, not just the applicants

In football, the "Rooney Rule" requires a diverse slate of applicants for coaching jobs. More companies are adopting a similar approach in hiring, requiring a diverse pool of candidates. But that isn't enough. We all gravitate toward people who remind us of ourselves, and if the interviewers or hiring managers are white men, they are less likely to see the merits of women or people of color. The solution is straightforward: ensure that the interviewers are a diverse lot, not just for external openings but also for considering internal promotion candidates.

Institute wage gap analyses

In the UK, companies are required to report gender wage gaps  leading to some truly horrifying and embarrassing statistics. In the U.S., few companies calculate wage gaps voluntarily, but for those that do, the impact can be profound. Salesforce assesses its wage gap by race and ethnicity as well as gender on an annual basis; it has spent more than $10 million since 2015 to correct inequities. Collecting the data on the wage gap by race and gender will go a long way toward pinpointing major problem areas.

Blind hiring

Symphony orchestras first popularized this practice, by having musicians audition behind a screen to mask gender and race  a change that transformed them from almost entirely male before the 1980s to almost equally gender balanced today. More companies have adopted the practice, too, by screening applicants with resumes scrubbed of identifying features like name, race, education and socioeconomic background. Firms including Bloomberg, Dolby Laboratories, and BBC Digital have experimented with blind hiring  as has comedian Samantha Bee, who uses a blind application process to fill the writers' room for her show, "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee."

Set quantifiable goals

Most organizations set targets for revenue, profit, earnings per share, sales and multiple other metrics. But how about diversity and inclusion? Too many companies say they prioritize it, without quantifying what that means. Set goals for what that looks like for your organization, whether it's gender or racial mix, or sales to underserved customers. What gets counted, gets fixed. Other measures can get results too, like tying executive compensation to diversity goals, and instituting formal mentorship programs, which Harvard researcher Frank Dobbin has shown are more effective for people of color than informal mentorships. Creating a diverse workforce isn't just the right thing to do; it's a business imperative. Decades of research have proven the financial benefits of diversity in terms of revenue, investment returns, earnings, and return on equity. It's way overdue for the white business community to join in the fight against racism. But talking about it isn't enough. It's time to act. By Joanne Lipman, a CNBC contributor. Lipman is a Distinguished Journalism Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and author of "That's What She Said: What Men and Women Need to Know About Working Together."
As protests over police brutality swept the country in recent weeks and major retailers posted messages of solidarity with black Americans on social media, Aurora James, a creative director in Brooklyn, asked herself if she actually felt like those brands were standing with her as a black woman and business owner.

"The answer was I didn't," James, 35, said in an interview. "I started thinking  black people do not feel supported. I do not feel supported."

Sephora's US business said that it would make the pledge and create an advisory group that would include leaders of brands owned by people of colour to help it make changes.

On May 29, she jotted down an idea for what could change that and posted it to Instagram: What if major retailers like Walmart, Sephora, Target and Whole Foods started devoting 15 per cent of their shelf space to products from black-owned businesses to align with the population of African Americans in the United States? It would fuel the growth of the brands and attract new investments that would ultimately extend to black communities, she wrote.

Her proposal, which quickly rocketed around social media, is now known as the '15% Pledge' and has caught the attention of its intended audience.
The State of Nevada asked us to provide our board staff and professionals with online access so they can work as easily from home as they can in the office. Certemy helps us meet their request with an affordable solution that will also speed processing times and reduce our administrative overhead.

Certemy, a leading provider of professional licensing management software for state licensing boards, announced today that the Nevada State Board of Examiners for Marriage and Family Therapists & Clinical Professional Counselors (NVMFT&CPC) has selected Certemy to automate professional licensing for 2,000 therapists and counselors statewide.

"The State of Nevada asked us to provide our board staff and professionals with online access so they can work as easily from home as they can in the office," said Lynne M. Smith, Executive Director of NVMFT&CPC. "Certemy allows us to meet their request with an affordable solution that will also speed processing times and reduce our administrative overhead."

WHAT PROBLEMS WILL CERTEMY SOLVE FOR THE NEVADA STATE BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS & CLINICAL PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS?



Allow staff and professionals to manage applications and renewals online.

Eliminate paper.

Lower postage costs.

Reduce phone calls and emails.

Speed processing times for license applications and renewals.

Streamline continuing education (CE) tracking.

Automate CE compliance audits.

Create a public registry of licensed therapists and counselors.

Enable licensure by endorsement  license reciprocity across state lines.

WHY DID THE NEVADA STATE BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS & CLINICAL PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS CHOOSE CERTEMY?

The Board selected Certemy  after testing several other licensing management software vendors  for the following reasons:



Certemy Team  Certemy provided the blend of licensing management functionality  coupled with the industry experience and implementation, training, and support infrastructure  that the Board was looking for in a technology partner.

Cost of Ownership  As a smaller board with a limited budget, the Board needed a solution that addressed their business needs at a reasonable and predictable price. Certemy offers affordable all-in-one annual pricing that includes implementation, training, support, and monthly platform updates. Also, because Certemys instant configuration features allow board staff to change application and renewal requirements without programming, the Board knew they would not have to worry about unexpected change fees down the line.

Industry Expertise  The Board wanted a technology partner that understood their world. Certemy is staffed by former regulators with first-hand experience of the challenges and opportunities facing regulatory boards. These industry experts help ensure that our software meets the unique and evolving demands of professional licensing management.

LEARN MORE

Learn more about Certemys professional licensing management solution at https://certemy.com/solutions/professional-licensing-management-software. To see a short video of Certemys licensing management software in action, visit https://certemy.com/l/licensing-management-product-tour-video.

ABOUT THE NEVADA STATE BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS & CLINICAL PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS

The Nevada State Board of Examiners for Marriage and Family Therapists & Clinical Professional Counselors (NVMFT&CPC) is Nevadas state regulatory body responsible for managing and enforcing the states licensing requirements for Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) and Clinical Professional Counselors (CPCs). NVMFT&CPC currently regulates 2,000 licensed MFTs and CPCs throughout the state.

ABOUT CERTEMY

Certemy is a leading provider of affordable, easy-to-use licensing management software for state licensing boards. Our platform streamlines and automates licensing application and renewal workflows to help licensing boards become more efficient, transparent, and agile while reducing IT costs and administrative burdens.

Certemy delivers the lowest cost of ownership for any comparable solution with predictable Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) pricing with no implementation, training, or change fees. We also provide the only licensing management solution that allows board staff to change application and renewal processes without IT help or programming. Our platform scales to support boards of every size  from those managing a few hundred professionals to those managing over 100,000.

An active member of the credentialing community, Certemy is a proud member of The Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR), the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE), and the Association of Test Publishers (ATP). Learn more about Certemy at https://certemy.com.
US Suspends Chinese Airlines from Entering the Country

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On June 3, the Trump administration announced a suspension on scheduled passenger flights of Chinese carriers to and from the United States as of June 16 in response to the failure of honoring the Air Transport Agreement between the two countries. The U.S. Department of Transportation indicated in the statement of the order that because the Chinese government failed to permit U.S. carriers to exercise their bilateral rights to conduct passenger air service to China, it is suspending the scheduled passenger flights of Chinese carriers to and from the United States, effective by June 16, 2020. The statement further indicated that this action may go into effect even before June 16.

The U.S. Department of Transportation had protested in writing to the Chinese Communist regime on May 22 in regards to this issue and asked four Chinese airlines to submit flight schedules to the U.S. government.

The United States has previously allowed Chinese commercial flights to and from the U.S. during the pandemic to facilitate the return of Chinese international students but the CCP still has not yet allowed American Airlines to fly to China. Delta Airlines and United Airlines have made their complaints to the White House, accusing the CCP of having double standards.

Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Transportation also indicated that the purpose of this order is to encourage the Chinese Communist Party to adjust its policies and improve the current situation. This suspension is not to be maintained permanently and the United States is prepared to adjust this order at any time.
Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski said reviewing the video of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd sickened every officer in the department.

Speaking before the Davenport City Council during Wednesdays council meeting, Sikorski said he has received many questions from council members and the community regarding use of force, which runs the gamut from grabbing someone by the hands or wrists, to deadly force.

Speaking of the video, Sikorski said he had never seen in almost 33 years of law enforcement teaching that kind of restraint.

In the video, he said, officers could be seen standing by. Davenports use of force policy states when other officers view excessive force, they have to intervene.

In Iowa, choke holds and all other forms of neck restraint are considered deadly force, Sikorski said. It can only be used in deadly force situations. We train that as part of our use of force training.

But use of force is rare, he said. In 2019, Davenport police responded to more than 107,000 calls for service. From those calls, less than half a percent had some reportable use of force.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded $7.2 million to a Cleveland Clinic-led research team to improve accuracy of multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnoses.

The grant will support a multi-center study to evaluate whether a new biomarker, known as the central vein sign (CVS), can serve as a reliable diagnostic marker for MS. The study is funded through the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke's Clinical Validation of a Candidate Biomarker for Neurological Disease Program Announcement.

Up to 20% of MS diagnoses turn out to be inaccurate. Our new multicenter study aims to reduce that number by evaluating if this new biomarker can improve diagnostic accuracy and simplify clinical decision-making." Daniel Ontaneda, M.D., Ph.D., study's co-principal investigator, Cleveland Clinic's Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis

The prospective study, referred to as CAVS-MS, will enroll 400 patients with typical or atypical presentations of MS at 11 participating centers in North America, with Cleveland Clinic serving as the coordinating center. The study is being conducted under the auspices of the North American Imaging in MS Cooperative and will be led by Dr. Ontaneda and Dr. Nancy Sicotte, at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

The CVS is an MRI-based biomarker identified in MS-associated white matter lesions. CVS criteria -- scoring of a brain MRI based on the presence of the CVS -- have been well validated as a sensitive and specific marker of MS in cross-sectional studies.

"We aim to show that the CVS is a simple and reliable diagnostic biomarker that can be immediately translated into clinical care," Dr. Ontaneda explains. "We are evaluating if this sign can improve sensitivity and specificity relative to current approaches and streamline the clinical decision-making process."

The need for improved diagnostic methods in MS is widely recognized. Although MRI is a longstanding tool for detecting MS lesions, diagnostic inaccuracies persist. Up to 1 in 5 people diagnosed with MS are later found not to have the disease, Dr. Ontaneda notes.

Currently the diagnosis of MS is based on criteria that are uninformative for the nearly half of MS patients with atypical presentations. Timeliness of diagnosis is also key, as diagnostic delay is common in relapsing-remitting MS and can carry severe and lifelong consequences.

The primary objective is to determine whether use of CVS criteria allows for an earlier accurate diagnosis of MS in patients who do not meet the McDonald criteria at baseline.

The researchers will also begin exploratory studies of optimal methods for integrating CVS findings into MS diagnostic criteria, along with any resulting healthcare-related cost savings.

"These initial exploratory analyses will be important to how readily positive findings about the utility of CVS criteria can impact clinical practice," says Dr. Ontaneda. "The ultimate goal is to have the CVS incorporated into the MS diagnostic criteria."
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said he's "deeply sorry" that some people are living in fear or have experienced domestic violence due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Mr Varadkar made the remarks in the Dail as he said he said work is being carried out to see if the country can be almost fully reopened from mid-July.

But the ban on mass-gatherings may have to stay in place.

He said that the Gardai have charged more than 100 men with domestic abuse offences in recent weeks.

"Unfortunately for some the message of stay at home meant they could not stay safe because their homes are not safe places.

"To all those living in fear because of domestic abuse or having experienced violence Im deeply sorry that the restrictions have made things more difficult for you," he said.

Mr Varadkar said help is available through the Gardai, by reaching out to family and friends and with government helplines.

Earlier he said the government is carrying out "extensive work" with the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) on a revised phase three and four of the plan for reopening Ireland.

He suggested that the government can be almost fully opened by the middle of July instead of the middle of August as originally planned.

Mr Varadkar said: "some measures, such as public health advice and ban on mass gatherings may need to continue for some time."

He said it's still too early to assess the impact of the latest phase of reopening but the "early indications are favourable".

"As a country we're optimistic but cautious, were hopeful, while avoiding unnecessary risk," he said.

Mr Varadkar said the government strategy is to suppress the virus to very low levels and zero if possible by keeping the R-number (reproductive number) below one.

He said no strategy utterly insulates us from the risk of the virus re-emerging.

Mr Varadkar pointed out that a land border is shared with Northern Ireland whch has unrestricted travel access to Great Britain. And he said Ireland is deeply integrated with the European Union.

"Closing ourselves off from the rest of the world is not an option for Ireland, in the medium to long-term.

"We need to be prepared for the risk of imported cases.

"As we reopen slowly to other countries, we need a testing and tracing system capable of identifying new cases, new clusters, and a resurgence of the virus quickly."

He said such outbreaks need to be contained so there's no need to return to a national lockdown and added: "I'm confident we can do that."

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said it is "long past time to require masks in various settings".

He said: "There is no evidence of masks causing harm and mounting evidence of them preventing the spread of the virus. This is because the masks both physically limit the virus and encourage greater awareness of proper behaviour."

He said that the messaging from the Government on facial coverings "hasn't been clear enough up to now".
How Books and Buckets program in Long Beach aims to keep kids away from gang violence
My daughters school district, like many other institutions, sent a letter this month addressing the protests following the killing of George Floyd, an African American man, at the knees of Derek Chauvin, a White police officer. However, nothing in the letter from our district superintendent was reassuring, transformative, or prescriptive to the traumatized psyche of Black parents who have to explain to our childrenyet againwhy the people who are sworn to protect and serve our communities must be approached cautiously.

While I am somewhat consoled the district addressed the issue at all, when many other institutions have been silent, I cant help but chafe at the words that come across as though they were part of a form letter created by a PR agency: Just insert the name of the next murdered Black person when this happens again.

I dont need to be told to contact the districts student-support services to deal with the social and emotional needs that [my] child might be facing due to these events. I need the district to change its practices and policies to root out the inequities and racial biases that permeate schools and spill over into our communities.

Im tired of the lip service toward racial injustice. I need my school district, and districts all over the country, to take the following actions if they are truly serious about combating racism and being a safe and supportive space for students of all races:

I need the district to change its practices and policies to root out the inequities and racial biases that permeate schools."

1. Examine policies, procedures, practices with an equity lens to root out biases that may be contributing to achievement gaps. I admit this recommendation is the toughest one, but districts should not shy away from doing the hard things when it comes to racial justice. The reality is that inequitable systems do not require deliberate discrimination. In most districts, inequities in student opportunities and performance result despite the best intentions of the school district community.

As posited in Amanda Lewis and John Diamonds 2015 book, Despite the Best Intentions: How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools, the daily interaction of systemic structural inequalities in social (who has the connections), political (who has the authority), and economic (who has the buying power) capital can create disparities without any active malice. The unconscious biases and cultural ideologies of even well-meaning educators and staff can further exacerbate these inequities. When this happens, the goals of policies and practiceseven those targeted to support historically marginalized populationsdiffer significantly from actual outcomes. This creates persistent gaps in opportunity and, ultimately, in achievement for historically marginalized student populations. Districts should conduct periodic equity audits to identify when their efforts and outcomes dont line up. These regular check-ins can prompt districts to examine the root causes of such gaps and allow schools and communities to design realistic and sustainable strategies to closing them.

2. Hire diverse professionals for schools and the central offices. My 4th grade daughter has never had a teacher of color, and I fear she never will. Even though our school district is in the top 20 of the most diverse districts in my home state of Massachusetts based on student demographics, White teachers make up 95 percent of the teaching staff. And the central-office staff is also disproportionately composed of White people.

Research shows that district staff, especially those who spend a majority of their time in front of students, need to reflect their communities as much as possible to set historically marginalized students up for success. The studies on the importance of representation in the teacher workforce are well known. When policies and practices are being developed, there should also be a diverse coalition in the central office to advocate the needs of those typically underrepresented.

3. Provide continuous training and support on becoming an anti-racist district. Conscious and unconscious biases of staff (educators, administrators, support staff, and operations) impact the implementation of district and school institutional practices (e.g., human resources, student programs, behavior policies) to create inequitable student opportunities. Continuous training and support for all district staff will help mitigate some of these biases and help create an environment where all staff feel responsible and empowered to act against racist behaviors and policies.

4. Create real partnerships with families and communities to help students succeed. Research going back to the 1970s demonstrates that when parents are involved in education, regardless of their race, ethnicity, language, or socioeconomic status, children succeed in school . Schools, families, and communities share the responsibility for student achievement. Equitable school and district leaders look beyond traditional definitions of parent involvement as a one-way street to a broader concept of parents as full decisionmaking partners in the education of their children.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing school closures have starkly exposed the need for strong school, family, and community partnerships that prioritize access and equity. In whatever form schools reopen in the fall, schools cannot go back to the surface-level engagement that characterized most family interactions.

5. Move beyond heroes and holiday curriculum to culturally relevant curriculum. Without looking at the calendar, I always know when its February, May, and September by the reading assignments my elementary school daughter has. That is when the heroes of African American, Asian American, and Latino histories are trotted out to the annual showcase.

According to the Stages of Multicultural Curriculum Transformation released by the equity education teams Equity Literacy Institute and EdChange, districts should instead work toward seamlessly weaving in diverse perspectives and explicitly addressing social issues as part of the curriculum. Moving from heroes and holidays to deeper curricular reform requires a thoughtful approach that includes the voices of teachers, parents, students, and other community members.

Black parents and students want their school communities to be in true solidarity with them against racial injustice. Words of platitude do not comfort or suffice. True solidarity is demonstrated in actions that root out systemic inequities and replace them with new policies and practices.
 Flash

On May 25, 2020, after being choked beneath the knees of white police officer Derek Chauvin for almost nine minutes, African American George Floyd died in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Chang Jian, a professor of human rights studies at China's Nankai University explained that Chauvin's actions severely violated Floyd's basic human rights according to a number of documents.

In line with Article Three of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."

Likewise, Article Six of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that "Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life."

Moreover, General Comment No. 36 (2018) of the aforementioned Article Six elaborates by saying that, "States parties are expected to take all necessary measures intended to prevent arbitrary deprivations of life by their law enforcement officials, including soldiers charged with law enforcement missions."

However, amid a spate of cases of heavy handed law enforcement in the United States, Floyd has not been the only victim.

On Nov. 12, 2018, Jemel Roberson, an armed African American security guard at a bar in Chicago was killed by police after he detained a suspected gunman.

Ten days later, on Thanksgiving night, Emantic "E.J." Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., a 21-year-old African American, was mistaken for a gunman and killed by police officers, while helping shoppers get to safety.

On March 1, 2019, six police officers shot 20-year-old aspiring rapper Willie McCoy about 25 times in the head, ear, neck, chest, arms, shoulders, hands and back, without giving him a chance to put his hands up.

In addition to manslaughter, rates of adult imprisonment, traffic interceptions and erroneous judgements toward African Americans are much higher than those for white people. In fact, when committing the same crime, an African American man will likely face a custodial term that is around 19% longer on average than a white male perpetrator.

However, judicial inequality is just the tip of the iceberg.

By May 13, despite constituting 12.5% of the entire population in the United States, African Americans have accounted for 22.4% of the death toll during the recent pandemic. This proportion is much higher than the mortality of European Americans, which indicates inequal access to healthcare resources between different races in the U.S.

Therefore, Floyd's death, which has embodied racial discrimination in the U.S., has triggered widespread and ongoing protests both at home and abroad where people from disadvantaged or marginalized groups are demonstrating their anger against racist brutality.

On May 29, 2020, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke during a press conference to say that the protests were a result of pent-up anger and sadness, which he said was "ingrained in our black community not just because of five minutes of horror, but 400 years."

A few days ago, former U.S. President George W. Bush made a statement, saying, "It is time for America to exam our tragic failures. And as we do, we will also see some of our redeeming strengths."

From the Declaration of Independence to Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and from Martin Luther King Jr.'s great dream to Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, racism lurks inside the American society as a blemish, yet to be erased, no matter how significant the efforts that have been made.

"Racism, demonstrated by the slaughter and eviction of indigenous people, the slave trade and apartheid, only came to an end in the middle of last century. It has featured consistently, systematically and holistically in American society," Chang said.

According to the professor, as a result of violent law enforcement, entrapment, job discrimination and separated residential blocks intentionally conceived by financial institutions and real estate agencies, minorities in the United States have inevitably faced discrimination in all aspects of their lives, including politically, economically, culturally and socially.

"The root cause of racism in the U.S. lies in its institutions," Chang explained. "White people, who form the majority in the country, still hold absolute control of state power which enables them to discriminate against minorities in a systematic way."

However, as the United States quells the protests over Floyd's death with military troops, it is impossible not to recall the words of one of its politicians who called the riots in China's Hong Kong "a beautiful sight to behold," Chang added.
A Winnipeg restaurant was vandalized this week after comments from the owners that many are condemning as racist were shared widely on social media.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg restaurant was vandalized this week after comments from the owners that many are condemning as racist were shared widely on social media.

Tuxedo Village Family Restaurant is owned by Dave Jones and Paulina Jojnowicz, who took over the establishment last year.

The owners closed the restaurant on Tuesday after they found graffiti on the exterior of the Corydon Avenue business. In a photo shared online, the words "F--- racism" and "BLM," which stands for Black Lives Matter, as well as an image of a hammer and sickle, were scrawled in red spray paint on the restaurants windows. Police confirmed that a report was filed by the owners on Tuesday and that an investigation is underway.

The incident appears related to a screengrab shared to Reddit on Monday of a post made on Jones' personal Facebook account.

"So now white people are going around and bowing down to and kissing the feet of black people to prove their (sic) not racist? You know what this really proves right?? You're an easily manipulated dumbsh--!" read the post, which Jones later said was a comment made in response to a video he'd watched online.

In response to online backlash, the owners made a post on the restaurants Facebook business page defending the statement and referring to commenters as trolls. The post has since been deleted.

During a phone conversation with the Free Press, Jojnowicz said the post was taken out of context and was not intended to be racist.

"There was no racism in the post," she said. "I think they are taking it as a literal meaning when its not meant that way."

"Anyone who is writing something on social media has to keep in mind that what were saying is being presented to the public, its not private communication, its public communication. Matthew Flisfeder

Matthew Flisfeder, an associate professor at the University of Winnipeg and social media researcher, says the argument that a viral post has been taken out of context doesnt hold much water.

"If you are commenting about an issue publicly you have to be very self-reflective about what youre saying and how its going to be perceived by the public," he said. "We have to speak in context and context always matters."

Flisfeder also adds that everything shared on social media, whether intended for personal followers or a wide audience, is public domain.

"Anyone, individuals, business owners, politicians, anyone who is writing something on social media has to keep in mind that what were saying is being presented to the public, its not private communication, its public communication."

Jones has deleted his personal Facebook account, but not before more offensive posts surfaced on social media  including one that called for looters during Black Lives Matter rallies to be shot.

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On Wednesday afternoon, Jones posted a lengthy statement to the Tuxedo Village Family Restaurant Facebook page defending his earlier posts and sharing his views that the coronavirus numbers have been manipulated by governments and the mainstream media.

Within hours, the post had garnered nearly 200 comments.

"You need to learn how to how to take a step back and learn why what you said was racist," wrote a user by the name of Calvin Mayer.

Robyn Maharaj wrote: "Stating what you have -- I wouldnt feel safe eating anything prepared in your kitchen given your lack of concern for your patrons and employees and the spread of a highly spreadable virus. Not the kind of local business owner I wish to support."

The restaurant appears to have reopened since the vandalism incident. The owners have not responded to further requests for comment from the Free Press.

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca
Former Bigg Boss contestant Benafsha Soonawalla decided to bare all and go nude for her "FaceTime photoshoot." The 24-year-old posed sensually in front of a mirror glass with her hair open.

The VJ-model captioned the picture as: "To the moon and never back. FaceTime photoshoot." Benafsha's boyfriend Priyank Sharma couldn't resist but comment on the picture. Priyanka wrote OKAY THEN, with a series of fire emojis. Responding to Priyanks comment, the Bigg Boss 11 contestant said, I love you. most strong beau on the planet.

Also Read | Fan Asks Hina Khan If She'll Work With Sidharth Shukla; Her Reply Gets Netizens Excited

Have a look at Benafshas picture below:

In a recent interview with Bombay Times, Priyank said that though he and Benafsha developed feelings for each other during their stint on Bigg Boss 11, they began dating only after spending a lot of time with each other outside the show.

Also Read | Hina Khan And Surbhi Chandna Are The New Leads In Ekta Kapoor's Naagin 5?

Priyank said, I had met Ben through common pals. We became good friends and I got to know her better during Bigg Boss. Both of us were single when we entered the house. We felt a strong connection, especially after I re-entered the house post my eviction. We developed feelings for each other, but didnt want to make any commitment without being sure. Once out in the real world, we spent a lot of time together and realised that we were in love. It has been exactly two-and-a-half years since Ben and I are together. She gives me a sense of completeness and we fit together like missing pieces of a puzzle.

Incidentally, Priyanks Splitsvilla 10 co-contestant and ex-girlfriend Divya Agarwal claimed that they were in a relationship when he got close to Benafsha during their stay inside the BB house. Benafsha was reportedly dating Varun Sood at the time. A hurt Divya even entered Bigg Boss 11 to break up with Priyank on national television. However, Priyank later claimed that they had already parted ways before the show. Varun, meanwhile, claimed that his relationship with Benafsha ended because of Priyank.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 02:55:02|Editor: huaxia

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TEHRAN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will travel to Turkey and Russia next week for talks on bilateral as well as on international issues, official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

Zarif will travel to Ankara on Sunday and will visit Moscow the following day to discuss the latest developments on the issues pertaining to the bilateral relations and the major regional and international issues, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, was quoted as saying.

The Iranian foreign minister's visit to Turkey and Russia would be his second diplomatic trip after a recent decline in the pace of COVID-19 increase.

Zarif visited Syria last month and discussed the topics of mutual cooperation amidst the impacts of novel coronavirus outburst and mounting western sanction pressures on Syria.

On Friday, Iran's Foreign Ministry slammed the renewal of European sanctions on Syria and condemned the recent introduction of new financial bans against the country as "unlawful and inhuman."

Iran and Russia have been major allies of the Syrian government against the armed rebels since 2011. Enditem
One of my earliest memories is of walking along a burned-out 14th Street in my hometown Washington, DC, in 1968, holding one parents hand as the other pushed my brother in a stroller; I was four years old. They took us to witness the destruction that arose from rage following Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination, and later to the Poor Peoples Campaign for economic justice encamped on a muddy National Mall.

My parents wanted to teach us that the America they loved harboured injustices and systemic racism, yet it was a union we had a duty to try to perfect.

Fifty-two years later, not nearly enough has changed. Entrenched bigotry and senseless violence against African-Americans persist. We still have much to do to make this a truly equal and just America  from eradicating police brutality and reforming the criminal justice system to ensuring access to affordable housing, quality healthcare and education, and decent jobs for all regardless of the colour of their skin.

An often overlooked piece of the justice agenda was cast into stark relief last week when President Trump ordered heavily armed federal forces into the District of Columbia against the will of Mayor Muriel Bowser. Largely because Washington lacks statehood, Trump had the authority to line city streets with military Humvees, to fly Black Hawk helicopters dangerously low to terrorise protesters, to fill the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with military personnel and to deploy thousands of federal forces, many unidentifiable with no discernible chain of command, like Russian Little Green Men, to intimidate residents.

Most shockingly, after threatening to federalise the Metropolitan Police, Attorney General William Barr unleashed federal forces who violently dispersed journalists and peaceful protesters using tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, horses, shields and batons. All for a presidential photo-op.

For one long week, Trump transformed my hometown into a war zone to burnish his law and order credentials. Without statehood, Washington was virtually powerless to prevent Trump from using the capital as a petri dish to intimidate protesters, divide Americans and goad activists into ugly street battles to galvanise elements of his base.

America, beware. Washington was the testing ground, but Trump could yet find a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act and send active-duty US military forces into any state over the objections of its governor. He reportedly came close, only to be deterred by Pentagon officials.

Fortunately, when taunted by Trumps abuse of power, the people of Washington refused to take the bait. The protests proceeded mostly peacefully, following some early, condemnable looting. Facing down federal forces, my hometown refused to give Trump any racially charged urban war scenes. So, he gave up and ordered troops home.

But not before his actions underscored the imperative that Washington must finally attain statehood.

Washington is the only national capital in the democratic world whose citizens lack equal voting rights. Its population exceeds 700,000, more than Wyomings and Vermonts, and comparable to Delawares and Alaskas. Washingtons citizens pay more per capita in federal income taxes than any state in the country and more in total federal income tax than 22 states. Our men and women in uniform fight and die for America.

Yet, we lack any senators or voting representative in the House of Representatives. Congress controls the citys budget and can override our laws and withhold funds. As our licence plate proclaims, we suffer taxation without representation, which violates our democratic rights and relegates residents to second-class citizenship.

Why does this injustice persist in the 21st century? Opponents of Washington statehood make specious legal arguments, claiming that the Constitution mandates complete federal authority over the district and thus precludes statehood. But the Constitution merely states that the federal enclave cannot exceed 10 square miles; it does not prohibit carving out a limited area for government buildings that remains under federal control, while making the rest of the district into a state.

The real reasons for opposition are more sinister: racism and political interest. Washington was long predominantly black, and efforts to deny its citizens their civil rights date back to Reconstruction. The black population is now just below 50%, and the city remains overwhelmingly Democratic.

Last month, Trump said the quiet part out loud. D.C. will never be a state, he told The New York Post: They want to do that so they pick up two automatic Democrat  you know its 100% Democrat, basically  so why would the Republicans ever do that?

Washington has fulfilled the prerequisites for statehood under the Tennessee Plan, the same formula that admitted seven states to the union. District residents have approved a statehood referendum (86% in favour), ratified a state constitution and delineated new state boundaries to preserve a federal enclave, among other steps. Now the 51st state can be established simply by both houses of Congress passing a bill that is signed by the president.

The House could approve a statehood bill, H.R. 51, as soon as this summer. It will certainly die in the Republican-controlled Senate. So, over 700,000 American citizens are doomed to remain abused and disenfranchised until Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress. That goal is within reach this November.

As masses of Americans call to fundamentally reform our criminal justice system, redress entrenched racism and fulfill the promise of equality for all people, lets not forget the enduring oppression of the citizens of the District of Columbia.

(The writer was National Security Adviser to the Barack Obama administration and a former US ambassador to the United Nations) (NYT)
Pakistan: Christian family shot by radical mob for buying house in Muslim neighborhood

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A Christian family in Pakistan was shot last week for buying a house in a Muslim neighborhood.

On Sunday, police in the city of Peshawar in the Khybar Pakhtunkhawa province arrested the sons of a man accused of shooting two members of the Christian family after they purchased a home in late May in the Sawati Phatak colony, Asia News reports.

The alleged perpetrator, Salman Khan, is still at large.

After Khan found out that his new neighbors were Christian, the Catholic press agency reports Khan told the family they had to leave the neighborhood immediately because Christians are seen as the enemy of Islam.

What followed was days of alleged harassment against Nadeem Joseph and his family.

The family was said to have been threatened with consequences if they did not leave their new home.

Khan is accused of giving the family a 24-hour ultimatum on Sunday. But Joseph refused to leave his home. He tried to call the police once he noticed that Khan and his sons had returned with weapons.

That's when Joseph was shot in the stomach by his attackers who also shot his mother-in-law in the shoulder.

Joseph and his mother-in-law were taken to a nearby hospital and their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

Joseph recorded a video message from his hospital bed, according to International Christian Concern, a U.S.-based Christian persecution watchdog group. From there, Joseph said that at one point, he was told that his new neighborhood was "meant for Muslim residents only" and that "Christians and Jews are the opponents of Muslims."

Christian activist Khalid Shahzad, who is in touch with the family, told Asia News that the shooting is an example of the religious intolerance found in Pakistan.

"The main offender is still at large," Shahzad was quoted as saying in an article Monday. "Law enforcement agencies must do everything possible to capture him and bring him to justice."

Open Doors USA ranks Pakistan as the fifth-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution and notes that Christians are generally "regarded as second-class citizens."

There are various forms of Christian persecution in Pakistan, including laws that criminalize blasphemy that are often abused by Muslims to take advantage of religious minorities.

Christians in Pakistan have been killed by societal mob violence ever since the country's founding. Additionally, there have been several occasions in which Muslim radicals have attacked churches in Pakistan.

In 2018, the U.S. State Department added Pakistan to its list of "countries of particular concern" that tolerate or engage in systemic and egregious violations of religious freedom.

At the time, U.S. Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, told reporters that Pakistan is home to half of the world's blasphemy law cases. Christians and other religious minorities have languished in Pakistani prisons for years after Muslims falsely accused them of insulting Islam or its prophet, Muhammad.

Christian couple Shagufta Kausar and her husband, Shafqat Emmanuel, have been on death row for over six years over false blasphemy charges of sending a text message insulting the Islamic prophet. Last week, their final hearing before the Lahore High Court was delayed.

Christian mother Asia Bibi spent nearly a decade languishing in a Pakistani prison after Muslim field workers accused her of insulting their prophet. She was acquitted by Pakistan's Supreme Court in October 2018, which sparked national unrest and protests by radical Muslims.
Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for the Trump campaign, described the former vice presidents comments as just another brainless conspiracy theory from Joe Biden as he continues to try to undermine confidence in our elections. He also criticized Biden for being part of the Obama administration, saying, Biden himself was part of the effort to sabotage the incoming Trump administration because they couldnt live with President Trumps victory.
Police officers and forensic technicians wearing face masks work at the scene of a reported assault on staff at a school in Vrutky, Slovakia, on June 11, 2020. (Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters)

Suspect, Vice-Principal Die in Slovak School Knife Attack

VRUTKY, SlovakiaSlovak police said they killed a 22-year-old man who attacked staff and pupils with a knife at a school on Thursday in an assault that left a vice-principal dead and four injured.

The police said two children and two adults were injured in the attack at an elementary school in the town of Vrutky, 140 miles northeast of the capital Bratislava.

The attacker was then shot by police after fleeing the school, which is in a residential neighborhood.

Slovakias Interior Minister Roman Mikulec reacts as he visits the scene of an assault on staff at a school in Vrutky, Slovakia, on June 11, 2020. (Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters)

Police President Milan Lucansky said the attacker was believed to be a former student.

He entered the school by smashing a glass door. Then some staff members tried to block and stop him, and he used a knife which he had brought with him, he said.

The attacker seriously injured a teacher and two students in one classroom before he ran from the school, Lucansky said.

Police used their weapons after he resisted arrest.

Slovak elementary schools began reopening on June 1 under an easing of CCP virus lockdown measures.

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report
LAS VEGAS, NV, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Hestia Insight Inc. (OTC: HSTA) today announced that it has entered the healthcare sector to explore emerging healthcare technologies, especially growth companies that own intellectual property. We will promote the selected companies for marketing and sales in the U.S. and global marketplace. We also look to make strategic acquisitions and mergers or joint ventures to enhance healthcare needs, said Edward C. Lee, Chairman and President of HSTA.



John Z. Lin, M.D., Vice President of Business Development for Hestia, will oversee the technology and commercialization evaluations for the new healthcare projects. Mr. Lin has more than 30 years experience in biomedical technologies and the healthcare field in the research lab and tech-based business development and management. He will work on the due diligence, analysis, and negotiations with the Hestia team.

According to McKinsey & Co. data, institutional investors have pumped more than $80 billion into healthcare in the last five years. Regulators are pushing interoperability, the integration of technology, and freeing up data to be used for the patient. Consumer-centric priorities will increase above 27% to 81% from offering of variety of options to improving customer experience in healthcare trend which have 3%-11% capability now, which means plenty of room for improvement. Many investment strategies could be utilized to win huge growth in healthcare industry.

Throughout years, we found healthcare companies with great products and technology that were not able to enter marketplace in an effective way, often with a lack of connections to healthcare industrys professionals. After COVID-19 we believe consumers are ready to adapt to a new healthcare ecosystem. It will bring more hope to consumers, said Mr. Lee.

The global healthcare market reached a value of nearly $8,452 billion in 2018, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.3% since 2014, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.9% to nearly $11,909 billion by 2022.

Hestia understands this opportunity and has begun to sign agreements and to expand our core healthcare business model into new dimensions. Please visit OTCmarkets.com, stock symbol HSTA, click news, to read about the Companys newest Memorandum of Understanding with a healthcare company in Taiwan.

ABOUT HESTIA INSIGHT INC.: (www.hestiainsight.com) provides strategic consulting services for selective micro, small and medium sized companies in the healthcare, biotech and fintech sectors. Hestia Insight Inc. and its representative offices in Taipei and Shanghai provide extensive, important connections and international insights which can be vital for pre-public and public emerging growth companies.

("Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains or may contain forward-looking statements such as statements regarding the Company's growth and profitability, growth strategy, liquidity and access to public markets, operating expense reduction, and trends in the industry in which the Company operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in the Company's filings. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in risks, uncertainties or assumptions underlying or affecting such statements, or for prospective events that may have a retroactive effect.)
DENVEREver since people across the United States began pouring into the streets to protest police violence, Dakota Patton has driven two hours each day to rally on the steps of the Colorado state capitol. He has given up his gig jobs delivering food and painting houses. He is exhausted. But he has no plans to leave.

This is bigger, Patton, 24, said. Im not worried about anything else I could be doing. I want to and need to be here. As long as I need.

Two full weeks since the first protest sparked by the killing of George Floyd, the massive gatherings for racial justice across the country and now the world had achieved a scale and level of momentum not seen in decades. And they appear unlikely to run out anytime soon.

Streets and public plazas are filled with people who have scrapped weekend plans, cancelled meetings, taken time off from work and hastily called babysitters. Many say the economic devastation of the coronavirus had already cleared their schedules. With jobs lost and colleges shuttered, they have nothing but time.

This feels like home to me, said Rebecca Agwu, 19, who lost her campus job in the pandemic. She spent five days at the Denver protests, and spent a recent afternoon chatting in the shade of the boarded-up capitol building with three other women who had been laid off from their mall jobs.

On Sunday, as protesters continued gathering around the country, their growing influence was apparent as local leaders vowed to curb the power of the police.

Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to cut the budget for the New York Police Department and spend more on social services in the city. In Minneapolis, nine city council members  a veto-proof majority  publicly promised to create a new system of public safety in a city where law enforcement has long been accused of racism.

De Blasio also cancelled the nightly curfew he imposed last week. And U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he had ordered National Guard troops to begin withdrawing from Washington.

Raids and arrests broke up protest encampments over an oil pipeline in North Dakota near the Standing Rock reservation and at the heart of Occupy Wall Street in years past. But protesters now say aggressive responses by the police are only reinforcing their commitment to return to the streets. After police last week used flash grenades and a chemical spray to clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square in front of the White House, even more people began showing up.

One recent afternoon in Washington, one person among hundreds of demonstrators shouted that they would all be coming back the following day. Another person added, and the next day. The phrase caught fire, and the crowd started chanting, And the next day! And the next day!

If Im the next hashtag, hopefully, people will be out here for me, too, said Andrew Jackson, a 25-year-old government contractor who has joined protesters in Washington.

Jackson said his own experiences of police abuse had compelled him to cut back on his work hours and join the rallies: an officer once pointed a gun at his head, and the son of a neighbour had been shot and killed by the police, he said.

Ill come out day after day after day, Jackson said.

Because the protests are not only about the death of Floyd but a broader system of racial inequality, officials cannot simply defuse concerns by pressing charges against police officers, as they did in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray.

In Minneapolis, activists said they did not believe the movement would lose oxygen simply because the officer who knelt on Floyds neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds and three others who were at the scene had now been charged.

Ive been attending protests as far back as I can remember, said Raeisha Williams, who brought her toddler son along to a protest she helped organize last week in downtown Minneapolis. And I plan to keep attending them until the system actually changes.

People around the world  in Australia, Britain, France, Germany and beyond  have defied cold weather and public health rules against mass gatherings to show solidarity with American protesters, who have now taken to the streets in more than 150 cities.

Activists and scholars who have studied the crest and fall of other upwellings over police killings, school shootings, womens rights and immigration detentions say the widespread outrage over economic and racial injustices may give the new movement a greater durability.

There was a wash, rinse, repeat cycle, a standard script, said Jody David Armour, a law professor at the University of Southern California who studies racial justice. Convene a commission, hold some hearings, have community members vent and testify and here come some policy-makers, saying, Heres a fix.

The result, he said: Look where we are.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, another organizer in Minneapolis, changed her life to be able to march on the streets. Armstrong, a civil-rights lawyer and former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, was an associate professor of law at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. But she quit in 2016 to be able to fully devote herself to the civil-rights movement and protesting. She even ran unsuccessfully for mayor.

My entire life has changed since taking to the streets, she said.

Shortly after charges against the four officers in the Floyd case were announced, she rallied more than 500 people, carrying placards with slogans like Black Lives Matter More Than Windows and 4 Killer Cops 4 Convictions. She said the officers could be tried by an all-white jury; they could be acquitted.

We have to continue to be vigilant. We cant rest, she told the crowd, her voice rising. She added: We got to keep marching. Keep demonstrating. Keep speaking the truth. Keep protesting.

The crowd, in front of the TV station where the wife of the head of the police union works as an anchor, erupted in cheers and applause.

Community organizers say some of the energy now coursing through the street will eventually ebb.

But they say the Floyd protests appear to be creating a new generation of activism out of deep, widespread anger. There is outrage: at police killings of Black men and women; at economic inequality when 13 per cent of Americans are out of work; at failed political leadership during a pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans.

Youre watching injustice take place in every sector of our society, said Wes Moore, who chronicles Grays death and its aftermath in the book, Five Days. Schools have been closed. Students are burdened and under debt. Theres a compounding to the pain.

Activists across the country say that while the news media may pay attention when buildings burn or another Black person is killed, their protests and calls for reforms have never ceased.

In Ferguson, Mo., where Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, was shot dead by a white police officer in 2014, residents and Black Lives Matter activists have spent nearly six years working to change the citys courts, police policies and political leadership. Last week, Ferguson elected its first African-American mayor, Ella Jones.

In Baltimore, the family of Tyrone West, who died after a struggle with the police in 2013, has gathered in the street every Wednesday to call for justice in his death and commemorate victims of police brutality.

In Los Angeles, Black Lives Matter activists have demonstrated downtown against police abuses every Wednesday for more than two years, often drawing just a couple of dozen people. But last week, thousands came, underscoring how the outrage at Floyds killing has catalyzed the work that local activists have been carrying out for years.

Valerie Rivera, whose son Eric was killed by police in 2017, said she was glad the others were joining her.

We have been waiting for these days to come, for these people to stream into these streets, she said.
Cranfield-led research has assessed the initial impact of COVID-19 on air transport and found that it is likely to lead to a smaller, consolidated sector in the future.

The research - involving a series of in-depth interviews with senior aviation industry executives along with analysis of flight and air freight data - provides an early assessment of the medium- and long-term impact of COVID-19 on air transport for both passenger and cargo traffic.

After a rapid geographical spread of the virus with initial manifestation in Asia and a lagged response in the rest of the world, most airlines tried to operate a normal schedule until they were prevented by mobility restrictions such as border closures and lockdowns, translating into sudden drops in flight numbers from mid-March.

Data showed that impact has been stronger in international than domestic markets. There was a partial recovery of Asia Pacific domestic markets during March, fueled by China's recovery, turning into a double-dip in April as other Asian countries experienced drops in domestic traffic in line with global trends.

Interviewees thought the crisis would lead to consolidation and a significantly smaller industry and were concerned about the possible differences in state aid and how that could affect the level playing field in a post-COVID-19 aviation market.

Dr Pere Suau-Sanchez, Senior Lecturer in Air Transport Management at Cranfield University, said: "Along with other sectors of the economy, air traffic is vulnerable to external factors, such as oil crises, natural disasters, armed conflicts, terrorist attacks, economic recessions and disease outbreaks. The findings of this paper represent an early assessment that can help the aviation industry and other related industries like tourism in the preparation for the recovery period.

"We focused on identifying aspects that can structurally redefine the aviation industry in the medium and long term for both passenger and cargo traffic, particularly around supply and demand, traffic resilience, passenger behaviour, health regulations and business ethics. Understanding these structural elements in an integrated way can provide more confidence in efforts to predict the future context. As the views of senior stakeholders might change as the crisis evolves, a record of their early assessments also represents a valuable reference for future analysis."

Other COVID-19 consequences highlighted by the interviewees included:

Full-service network carriers (FSNCs) are likely to be major losers since the recovery in international markets will be slower and they may face new competition with the potential entry of new airlines in their home hub markets.

Regional airlines were identified as possible short-term winners during the recovery period as they could potentially help FSNCs adjust their feeding capacity.

Low-cost carriers are expected to concentrate in primary markets with possible entry in hub airports, and a general reduction in frequencies at the route level.

Regional and secondary airports are likely to lose out as capacity is freed up in larger markets, attracting airlines and enabling larger hub airports to reinforce their positions.

Interviewees were concerned about the recovery of business travel, mainly due to the cancellation of meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) events, and the uneven lift of travel bans. Teleworking was seen as a serious threat to demand, with the current context of digital transformation and cloud apps offering better solutions for teleworking than the traditional videoconference.

The recuperation of the leisure passenger segment was expected to be quicker but reduced disposable incomes would curtail propensity to fly and require significant support, such as route subsidies. Fear and health concerns were identified as major issues for the leisure traveller, more so than for the business traveller.

In regulatory terms, all interviewees believed that new health screening controls would be imposed at airports, translating into higher costs for airports and passengers, but did not consider social distancing to be a viable commercial option for airlines.

The interviews also identified areas in which the industry could be transformed towards a more ethical business, for example around supply chains and more responsible consumption.

Interviews with 16 managers from across the airline and airport sectors (including major, low-cost and regional carriers, large hub, medium and regional airports, a pilots' union and an aviation insurance broker) were conducted between 19 March and 17 April. Global flight supply and air freight data, including origin and destination airport, time of departure and arrival, number of seats supplied, aircraft type, and day of operation was analysed for the first four months of 2020.

The full paper - An early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on air transport: Just another crisis or the end of aviation as we know it? - published in the Journal of Transport Geography, and co-authored with Augusto Voltes-Dorta, University of Edinburgh Business School, and Natalia Cuguero-Escofet, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

###
Researchers in B.C. are working on creating COVID-19 tests that detect the virus through saliva, as opposed to nasal swabbing, which has been the primary form of testing thus far.

Thanks to $300,000 in funding from the National Research Council of Canada's Industrial Research Assistance Program, Metabolic Insights, based in Kelowna, is looking at repurposing existing salivary insulin technology to detect COVID-19.

"The device uses a pair of antibodies to bind to the target protein, which in the particular case of insulin would be the insulin molecule," CEO David Turner told CBC's Brady Strachan.

"We're simply going to swap out the antibodies used for that with a pair of antibodies which specifically bind to the spiky protein of the COVID-19 virus. We're hoping that it's as simple a swap as that."

If their test works, it could provide test results in four to 10 minutes. Patients could take the test at home, or, as Turner suggested, it could be used by airlines to test travellers before they get on a plane.

He hopes to have the test ready by the end of the year, which is a quick turnaround for a project like this, but because the technology already exists, it helps reduce research time.

"We've got our fingers and toes crossed," he said. "We're reasonably optimistic."

Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada

ImmunoPrecise Antibodies, based in Victoria, is working with University of Victoria physical chemist Aleandre Brolo on a similar test; theirs would also detect COVID-19 in saliva, would provide results in minutes and could be read on a cellphone.

A sample of saliva would be placed on a thin strip coated in nanostructures made of gold, which interact with COVID-19 spiky proteins. If the virus is detected, it triggers a colour-change on the strip, which activates a cellphone application.

It's based on technology Brolo created to detect the Zika virus. He also hopes to have the test ready for market by the end of 2020.

The project is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Alliance COVID-19 grant.
A federal lawsuit filed on Monday alleged asylum-seekers were forced to clean an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Arizona where they were given rotten meat to eat.

A report by the Arizona Republic said at least 76 immigrants detained at the 3,060-bed La Palma Correctional Center have tested positive of the virus at the end of May, making it the sixth-largest outbreak at an ICE facility in the country.

The suit, which was filed in a federal court in Arizona, involves the collaborative effort by the Florence Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Perkins Coie.

Claims

The recently filed lawsuit said two of the migrants cleaned the trash from the infirmary's office where other sick detainees sought treatment. One was forced to clean feces from a cell without wearing gloves.

The migrants also claimed they were denied access to basic hygiene practices and products such as daily baths and toilet paper. Those who protested against the dire conditions and the lack of anti-virus measures received punishments, including verbal threats and indefinite lock-ins.

One instance cited in the lawsuit said the migrants were sent to solitary confinement when they refused to work in the kitchen due to coronavirus fears. After the kitchen closed in May, the migrants were given sandwiches with rotten ham and bread.

The recent lawsuit hasn't been the first filed against the ICE. In late-May, advocacy organizations filed complaints against detention facilities in Florida and California with claims migrants were suffering severe side effects from COVID-19 disinfectant sprays.

According to the testimonies the detainees sent to Freedom for Immigration, the ICE staffers would often spray the chemical within the facility, causing terrible skin reactions. One migrant said blood came out of her nose every time she blew it.

The complaints about the Adelanto detention center said the chemical was sprayed every thirty minutes throughout the poorly-ventilated housing unit. The complaint also said at least nine detainees had developed severe reactions from the spray-including breathing difficulties, headaches, stomachaches, and nausea.

Some of the detainees identified the chemical being sprayed as HDQ Neutral. Safety guidelines issued by Spartan Chemical, its manufacturer, warn that the product could cause severe skin burns and eye damage. The guidelines stated that the chemical should only be used in outdoors or well-ventilated areas. Those handling the chemical were also urged to wear protective gear.

In early-May, a Prairieland detention facility was the subject of a lawsuit after a coronavirus outbreak occurred. The federal court filing demanded that immigrants from other countries such as Mexico and Nicaragua be released from the center as they were medically vulnerable to the virus, a Dallas Morning News report said.

The complaint came after over two dozen immigrants from a coronavirus-infected Pennsylvania jail were transferred to the Prairieland detention center on April 20. Several of those immigrants were later found positive for COVID-19. As of May 19, 45 of the detention center's 500 asylum-seekers were infected with the virus.

Want to read more?
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine congratulates the recipient of the 2020 Trainee Investigator Award, Kent Werner, MD, PhD, and the two individuals who received the honorable mention designation. They will be recognized during the AASM annual membership meeting, which will be held as a webcast on Monday, June 15, at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

The award program is open to AASM members who are students, postdoctoral fellows and residents, and who present an abstract at the SLEEP annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS).

Each applicants abstract was reviewed by the AASM Education Committee, and the most exceptional abstracts with the highest scores were selected for recognition. The 2020 recipients were determined from among 85 applicants following three rounds of blind reviews.

The winner receives a $1,000 award, and an award of $500 is given to each of the honorable mention recipients. Their abstracts are available in the SLEEP 2020 abstract supplement. SLEEP 2020, the 34th annual meeting of the APSS, will be held as a virtual meeting Aug. 27-30.

Trainee Investigator Award Recipient

Kent Werner, MD, PhD

Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences

Poor Sleep Quality Predicts Serum Markers Of Neurodegeneration And Cognitive Deficits In Warriors With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

After deploying as a surface warfare officer onboard a Navy destroyer, LCDR J. Kent Werner, Jr., MD PhD, transferred to the Navy Medical Corps in 2003. He completed his medical degree, doctorate in neuroscience and molecular biology, and neurology residency at Johns Hopkins in 2016, and he currently serves as assistant professor in the department of neurology at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He treats patients with sleep and related neurological disorders at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he recently completed his sleep fellowship. His research focuses on the interaction of traumatic brain injury and sleep physiology with neurodegenerative disease.

Honorable Mentions

Michael R. Goldstein, PhD

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center  Harvard Medical School

Fatigue and Pain Responses Across Repeated Exposure to Experimentally Induced Sleep Disturbance and Intermittent Recovery Sleep: Sex Differences

Goldstein is a postdoctoral fellow in the Sleep and Inflammatory Systems Laboratory at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His research examines mechanisms of stress physiology across both wakefulness and sleep, along with effective intervention to enhance health and wellness both individually and more broadly as a society. He uses experimental paradigms of repeated sleep restriction and recovery with concurrent measurement of cardiovascular regulation (e.g., HRV), biochemical pathways (e.g., immune markers), electrophysiology (e.g., EEG spectral analysis and waveform morphology), and subjective experience (e.g., pain, fatigue, mood).

Samira Naime, MD

The George Washington University School of Medicine

Women Are Underrepresented In Major US Sleep Societies Recognition Awards

Naime is currently a pediatric sleep medicine fellow at The George Washington University School of Medicine/Childrens National Hospital. She previously completed her residency in pediatrics at Charleston Area Medical Center/West Virginia University and a pediatric pulmonology fellowship at Childrens National Hospital. She will be starting a position in pediatric pulmonology and sleep medicine at Childrens Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. Throughout her training, she has worked on a variety of research projects including clinical and basic science research. She is interested in diversity, inclusion and gender parity in medicine.

Learn more about SLEEP 2020 at www.sleepmeeting.org.

For more information or to arrange an interview with an award recipient or an AASM spokesperson, please contact the AASM at 630-737-9700 or media@aasm.org. Photos of the award recipients are available by request.

About the American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Established in 1975, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is advancing sleep care and enhancing sleep health to improve lives. The AASM has a combined membership of 11,000 accredited member sleep centers and individual members, including physicians, scientists and other health care professionals.
The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday said the Department of Telecommunications' (DoT) demand for Rs 4 lakh crore worth of AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues from the PSUs (public sector undertakings) was "totally impermissible". The apex court added that the DoT should consider withdrawing it.

Questioning the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on how the demand against PSUs (Public Sector Companies) to pay AGR dues has been raised, the top court said that its judgement never dealt with them (PSUs). Admitting differences in licences of PSUs and telcos, the SC added its ruling on the matter has been misinterpreted and could not have been made the basis of launching a demand against PSUs.

Amongst PSUs, Oil India's dues stand at Rs 48,489 crore, Power Grid at Rs 22,062.65 crore and GAIL at Rs 1.72 lakh crore.

Also read: Fresh AGR blow coming! Telcos' dues to go beyond Rs 1.47 lakh crore

The top court adjourned the AGR (adjusted gross revenue) matter for hearing on June 18 and directed telecom companies to file affidavits on how they will pay the rest of their dues.

The Justice Arun Mishra-led bench heard the argument of several telecom firms - Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone Idea - regarding the payment of mammoth AGR dues worth Rs 1.43 lakh crore. The last hearing was held on March 18, when the top court censured the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for letting telcos to estimate the payable dues themselves and for not complying with its order on dues and penalty payments.

"Exercise of self-assessment of AGR dues by telecom companies cannot be permitted even in wildest dreams. Withdraw forthwith any such orders that have been passed," it said, adding that "this is sheer fraud."

The DoT had moved the apex court to propose the phased payment of license fee and spectrum usage charges dues worth Rs 1.43 lakh crore by telecom firms spread over 20 years. The department was of the view that the immediate payment would cause likely bankruptcies and could possibly impact crores of customers.

Also Read: AGR issue: Vodafone Idea tells SC it can only pay Rs 2,500 crore; gets no relief

The SC noted that it was open to considering the matter of phased payments spread over 20 years, as proposed by DoT. However, no further hearings could take place due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

In October last year, the Supreme Court upheld DoT's position on calculating dues after including non-telecom revenues in AGR and had ordered payment of the full amount for the past 15 years within three months.

In its ruling, the apex court said statutory dues needed to be calculated by including non-telecom revenues in AGR of telecom companies. It upheld the AGR definition formulated by the DoT and termed "frivolous" the nature of objections raised by telecom service providers.

When the companies dithered and filed pleas, the court threatened to initiate contempt proceedings for non-compliance. Earlier this week, the government filed a plea seeking a 20-year payment scheme with a view to helping the telecom sector that is already saddled with huge debt and losses arising from cut-throat competition.

While Bharti Airtel has raised funds to meet the payment demand by way of rights issue of shares and bond sales, Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla in the past indicated that the company would fold up if it was forced to make the payments, as per DoT calculations. Expressing anguish at newspaper articles interpreting its order, the top court said all MDs of telecom companies would be personally responsible and held in contempt of court for any such future write-ups hiding the truth.

Also Read: Telecom crisis not limited to AGR, problem much deeper: Subhash Chandra Garg

Vodafone Idea has paid Rs 6,854 crore of its dues so far, as against DoT's demand of Rs 58,254 crore. But the company's self-evaluation pegged its dues at Rs 21,533 crore.

Simultaneously, Bharti Airtel has paid Rs 18,004 crore so far, whole the DoT's demand of the telco stands at Rs 43,980. The company has self-assessed its dues at Rs 13,004 crore.

As per the DoT's submission to the SC, the total due amount is Rs 119,292 crore, of which the telecom players have so far paid Rs 25,896 crore. Thus, the balance amount due is Rs 83,520 crore.

Reliance Jio is the only Telco that doesn't have any heavy dues. The new entrant in the telecom market is required to pay Rs 70.5 crore, as per the DoT.

Also Read: Vodafone share price slips 14% ahead of SC hearing on AGR dues
Professor Bjorn Brucher is a cancer surgeon/scientist and the Editor in Chief of the EDP Sciences journal 4open. With 34 colleagues from around the world, he has created a clear guidance document for surgeons and clinicians working in the time of COVID-19, whether they are in a large state-of-the art hospital or a small clinic in a developing country. The guidance was produced by collaborators who have come together in a totally unique and rapid fashion to ensure clear guidance is available for those working in these unprecedented conditions.The group shared a common vision, that the guidance be truly open access and available to all. Here Professor Brucher explains how and why the guidance was created, and what the next steps will be.

What was the reason for producing this guidance - why are different guidelines needed for surgery at this time?

Some societies produced many documents during the COVID-19 crisis, and some did not. We were receiving more and more messages stating that surgeons need much simpler and more practical guidance, with one document that underlines the key evidence. First, we observed and scrutinized the available documents and none of us were happy with them. Guidance has to be based on scientific evidence, but also needs to be very simple to make it comprehensible and practical. Our aim was to help surgeons worldwide, whether they are working in the UK, Spain or in a small village in a developing country.

What is the overall aim of the new guidance?

The new, compact Pandemic Surgery Guidance aims to serve as a practical guide during the exponential spread of COVID-19 throughout the world, and potentially as a base for guidance in future pathogen crises yet to come.

How have decisions around guidance been made given the short span of time in which evidence is being gathered?

We used new methods. For communication we used a social media channel to exchange ideas much more quickly around the globe. And we concentrated on the creation of the guidance as a short simple figure - the data and changes and modifications were done extremely quickly.

To achieve this, we invited many scientists to work with us and at first some wanted to work in the usual way - sending out the guidance document for discussion. Our argument was that in this case the usual way would be too slow. Therefore we made it a prerequisite that scientists accept our unconventional approach, and many scientists and surgeons from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Iran, Israel, Italy, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United States agreed. Those who did not agree and/or answered too late, were excluded. The results show that our approach was the right one: transparent but unbureaucratic.

What is the main guidance for clinicians versus patients? Patients will be undergoing different treatment protocols and testing, will clinicians also be tested?

The creation of interdisciplinary practical surgical guidance for hospitals worldwide was rapidly generated. As we stated within the guidance, patients, physicians, nurses, and non-medical health care workers need to be tested in hospitals - otherwise additional catastrophes occur, as we already experienced in Spain, Italy, Germany and many other countries. Our full suggestions are included within the guidance.

How do you plan on distributing the guideline information, and how can people access it?

Its acceptance is up to surgeons and surgical societies. We received and still receive plenty of messages from teaching hospitals, universities, and small hospitals from around the world, and each states that they are thankful they now have practical guidance, which was previously missing.

Any document such as this, during a situation like COVID-19, needs to be openaccess. I cannot understand how some publishers and societies demand that readers need to register etc., at least to us, this is not acceptable.

Will the guidance be regularly updated? Will these updates be based on research you are doing regarding outcomes of current treatment guidance?

Sure, as science is in flux. It is our duty to adapt, modify or change if additional scientific data emerges. We have already analyzed the most recent testing data from a German teaching hospital which underwent shutdown and quarantine. As this is of importance for all local German colleagues, the first paper will be in German and will be released through a different channel, to which German colleagues have access. Another paper, in English, will follow afterwards, but for now, we do not have a time frame.
CABI scientist Dr Arne Witt has led an international team of researchers who have confirmed for the first time the presence of the date pest red palm weevil on Socotra Island, Yemen, putting the livelihoods of residents at risk.

CABI scientist Dr Arne Witt has led an international team of researchers who have confirmed for the first time the presence of the date pest red palm weevil on Socotra Island, Yemen, putting the livelihoods of residents at risk.

The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) has already proved its ability to devastate date crops around the world where in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, for example, annual losses associated with the removal of severely infested palms at 1 and 5% infestation levels have been estimated to range from $5.18 to $25.92 million.

Dr Witt and scientists from Mendel University in the Czech Republic, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Germany and the Environmental Protection Agency in Socotra, fear that the red palm weevil - now well established on the island (a UNESCO World Heritage site) - is 'likely to have a significant negative impact on livelihoods as dates are the most important locally-produced food after milk and meat.'

The researchers, whose findings are outlined in a paper published in a Special Issue on Socotra in the journal Rendiconti Lincei, say more surveys are needed to determine the exact distribution of the palm pest on Socotra and what impact current invasions are having on date production.

However, their initial research and subsequent surveys confirm the presence of the pest in date palm plantations on the north-eastern coast, within 5km of the capital Hadiboh, as well as in at least 22 palm plantations on Socotra along the north coast, from west to east between Dihamd and Riy di Hamri, extending south in the Hadiboh Plain from Hadiboh to the mountain foothills towards the Qishn area. No infestations in the south (Noged area) and west (Qalansiyah area) of Socotra have been found.

They recommend that a specific strategy for the control of red palm weevil should be developed that may include cultural and sanitary methods, and the use of pheromone traps.

Dr Witt believes that the red palm weevil was accidentally introduced within the last few years as a contaminant of goods, including cuttings and potted plants, imported from mainland Yemen. "The red palm weevil is considered to be one of the most problematic pests of date palm in the world. There is a risk that reduced income from palms will result in additional pressure from communities on available natural resources contributing to further biodiversity loss."

"Poor management practices, such as the indiscriminate use of pesticides, will also impact negatively on endemic insects and other organisms."

Dr Witt outlines how the red palm weevil larvae bore into palm trees, and feed on the succulent plant material, especially in the main trunk or stem. Initial larval activity is very difficult to detect without specialized equipment. By the time the first symptoms are visible, it is most often too late, and so serious that any treatments are unlikely to be successful, resulting in the death of the affected plant.

Dr Witt added, "Surveys of incoming vessels at the port at Hadiboh, and local markets, have revealed that a large number of goods, especially fruits, vegetables, plant parts, and potted plants are imported from Yemen on a regular basis."

"However, we cannot exclude the possibility of the beetle being introduced from one of the other Arab States in the Persian Gulf that increasingly export goods, including live plants, to the island; date palm trees are known to be imported to Socotra frequently from other Gulf countries and this practice seems to have continued in recent years."

"One of the most vital issues is the much-needed establishment of quarantine facilities and phytosanitary measures for the island and adherence to these measures by different countries that deliver goods. This information will assist in the development and implementation of a management strategy, and determine if eradication is a possible viable option."

The scientists conclude that eradication of the beetle has been achieved on the Canary Islands, an indication of what can be done if management is well coordinated and it has the support of communities.

###

Full paper reference

Witt, A., Hula, V., Suleiman, A.S. et al. First record of the red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) on Socotra Island (Yemen), an exotic pest with high potential for adverse economic impacts. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-020-00918-6

The paper can be read here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12210-020-00918-6
Just over a year ago, US Section 232 tariffs against imports of aluminium from Canada were removed. Now there are calls to reintroduce them.

The American Primary Aluminum Association (APAA), which represents US producers Century Aluminum and Magnitude 7, says that Canadian imports have surged since the tariffs were removed and are threatening the viability of the US primary aluminium industry.



In a letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the APAA blamed an increase in Canadian imports for the collapse in aluminium prices and noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had demonstrated how essential the metal is to the US economy.



If US smelters continue to shutter, the United States will only become more dependent on offshore supply. While Canadian producers want the windfall of avoiding Section 232 duties, the Canadian surge is destroying what remains of the US industry, said the letter, signed by APAA chief executive Mark Duffy.



This situation will increase supply chain vulnerability at the very time the United States is seeking to preserve a threshold level of production at home, it added.



The Aluminum Association (AA), which represents more than 120 companies across the industry value chain, would strongly oppose a return to tariffs. According to AA president and chief executive officer Tom Dobbins, there are clear problems with the Section 232 program, but efforts to blame Canada miss the mark.



To the extent the industry has seen a surge in foreign imports in recent years, it has been in flat-rolled aluminium products from countries receiving Section 232 product exclusions. Many of these imports are the subject of ongoing anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases, Dobbins said.



Everyone is entitled to their opinion on this issue, but facts are facts. Imports of primary aluminium from Canada today are consistent with long-term trends long pre-dating the imposition of Section 232 tariffs, he added.



The surge

So what does the data show?



For sure, imports from Canada have increased since Section 232 tariffs have been removed.



According to the Aluminium Association of Canada, the United States has been importing an average of 186,369 tonnes of unwrought aluminium from Canada per month through 2020.



But imports are still down from pre-Section 232 levels.



In 2017, monthly imports averaged 209,587 tonnes. The Section 232 tariffs were imposed in March 2018.



Last year, imports averaged 174,440 tonnes per month, and in the second half of 2019 - after tariffs were removed - the monthly average was 204,638 tonnes.



Not such a surge after all, then.



Canada supplies about 45% of US primary aluminium needs, with about 70% of the countrys aluminium production destined for its neighbor. Its biggest supplier is Rio Tinto Aluminium, the largest producer of primary aluminium in North America, with about 75% of its material supplying more than 35 US states.



But its a two-way street: Three out of every four cars sold in America contain aluminium from Canada, while one out of every three car and truck wheels manufactured in the US contains aluminium that Rio Tinto produces in Canada. Parts cross the border sometimes more than half-a-dozen times before finishing in a vehicle that ends up in a sales lot in either the US or Canada.



Its an integrated supply chain that has been built over years and reflects decades of cooperation between the two nations  for example, Canada supplied half the aluminium used by allied forces in planes and other military assets during World War II.



Like it or not, Canada is a critical supplier to the US. The Covid-19 pandemic may have heightened the desire to nearshore supply chains, but that relationship had been in place for years and deepened further recently.



Last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump announced that their countries would develop a joint action plan on critical minerals collaboration. The goal of the plan, which was finalized in January, is to strengthen North American production capacity and reduce reliance on global value chains for the sourcing and production of these materials.



Electricity

So why doesn't the US just produce more aluminium?



A key problem is the high cost of electricity.



An unprecedented 15-fold increase in spot electricity prices in the US Pacific Northwest - after long-term power contracts expired - led to the curtailment of 10 aluminium smelters in the region in 2000 and 2001.



The US had 23 operating plants in 1998 but currently has eight, operated by Alcoa, Century Aluminum and Magnitude 7. Even if every domestic smelter were fully operational, the US could only meet around one-third of its demand for primary aluminium.



Thats not to say there should be more greenfield projects or restarts in the US - if anything, there will be more closures, with Alcoa already slated to temporarily shutter its Intalco operation in Ferndale, Washington, in the next few weeks as it reviews its smelting portfolio.



The energy-intensive nature of producing aluminium means that regions with low-cost hydroelectric power or natural gas have a natural advantage. The location of greenfield smelting capacity has shifted as a result, with low-cost producing regions such as the Middle East thriving along with Iceland, Norway, Russia and Canada.



Premiums and prices

What has pushed Century and Magnitude 7 to seek a reintroduction of Section 232 tariffs on Canada?



In its first-quarter results on April 30, Century said that aluminium prices had been badly hit by the demand destruction caused by Covid-19, but that prices of key inputs such as alumina and electricity had declined in its favor. It did not mention Canadian imports.



It also said it was moving away from value-added products and producing more commodity-grade material, lowering the average premium it receives as a result.



As customer order books worsen, other producers are starting to make this switch from billet to ingot.



Alcoa has moved around 20% of its sales from value-added castings to commodity-grade products. Rio Tinto has also reduced the proportion of primary metal being produced as value-added products.



And what is the US Midwest P1020 premium doing?



On January 22, 2018 - the day that US Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross delivered the Section 232 report on the impact of aluminium imports -Fastmarkets assessment of the aluminium P1020A premium, ddp Midwest US, was 10.25-10.75 cents per lb.



During March 2018, Section 232 import tariffs were formally imposed against aluminium and steel imports into the US at a rate of 10% and 25% respectively.



The premium more than doubled over the next several weeks, peaking at 22-23 cents per lb in April 2018. The current premium, assessed at 8-9.5 cents per lb on Tuesday June 9, has more than halved from 19-19.5 cents per lb on March 23, 2018, when Section 232 tariffs came into force.



So not only are aluminium prices lower, but producers have been forced to produce more ingot - and the premium for that product is lower too.



The desire for a return to tariffs on Canadian imports along with the higher premium that provided a buffer to producers during the Section 232 period is perhaps better understood in this context.
For the court found, a 2017 law that legalised West Bank settlements on private Palestinian land is unconstitutional. For Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom, the ruling is "common sense", and the right cannot do what it wants. He is disappointed by Gantz, who was supposed to be "an alternative" but has done nothing to change government policy.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews)  Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday has struck down a law that would have legalised many Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Jeremy Milgrom, an Israeli rabbi and a member of Rabbis for Human Rights, said that the Supreme Court "restored justice" with is frustrating for Israels right-wing.

The latter now realises that it cannot do "what it wants", but must look at things for the common good. In his view, private property cannot be taken away at a whim; the [courts] decision is common sense".

In its decision, Israels Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional a 2017 law that legalised Jewish settlements in the West Bank built on private Palestinian land. This comes at a time growing tensions and attacks "against the judges", as Jeremy Milgrom himself acknowledges.

According to the Court, the law "violates Palestinian property rights and equality" by privileging the "interests" of Israeli settlers. Up to 4,000 settler homes were retroactively legalised.

The nine-judge panel ruled eight to one that the law did not provide sufficient weight to the status of Palestinians as protected residents in an area under military occupation.

Following petitions submitted by several Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, the legislation had been put on hold.

The 2017 law would have legalised homes built on private land in the West Bank without government authorisation, provided that they had been established in good faith or had government support, and that the Palestinian owners receive 125 per cent financial compensation for the land.

The new Israeli government, agreed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz, plans to annex Palestinian territories and legalise settlements.

This worries Christian religious leaders in the Holy Land. For them, the plans are serious and catastrophic,backed by the United States through its controversial "deal of the century", a peace plan drafted by the Trump administration.

Israels ruling Likud party and the countrys right-wing camp have reacted negatively to the court ruling. For the Minister of Settlement Affairs Tzipi Hotoveli, the Supreme Court declared war on the rights of Jews to settle in the land of Israeli. In her view, "The best response to the court is annexation and continued construction.

By contrast, the decision was welcomed by Israels left. In a statement, the centrist Blue and White alliance said: We respect the High Court's ruling and (will) ensure it is implemented.

Jeremy Milgrom, who advocates interfaith dialogue, stresses that "the issue revolves around the right of Jews to return to their land", but this cannot be done "at the expense" of Palestinian rights.

For him, policies that "benefit everyone" must be promoted, and Minister Hotoveli s words are unacceptable because "they are not based on the principles of peace and coexistence.

Hopefully, this ruling, combined with the intervention of the international community, can stop the policies of Israels right, which are backed by Donald Trump.

We hope he [Trump] wont be re-elected, and that the next [US] president will reopen a real channel of communication, Milgrom said.

Finally, the leader of Rabbis for Human Rights notes that the steps taken so far by Benny Gantz, the former opposition leader, now partner in the national unity government, have created a certain malaise.

"Gantz was supposed to represent an alternative; in reality, it is the right that makes all the decision in the coalition government.

"Many people are upset and wonder whether he is intelligent or was serious about being a real alternative to the Prime Minister, Milgrom said.

Now Gantz is the defence minister, in charge of the Armed Forces, but he has done nothing so far to change policies, and this is a source of grave concern because the pressures on the Palestinians is growing."
ALBANY  Arrows instructing employees on the flow of foot traffic.

Socially distanced desks, mandatory face coverings and staggered shifts.

Signs everywhere indicating how many people can be in a bathroom and reminding the public to keep six feet from others and practice proper hygiene.

As the Capital Region gears up for the third phase of reopening next week, these are just some of the changes that thousands of state employees are seeing as staff slowly return to offices.

The return of "non-essential" workers to their offices has already begun at some agencies, including the Department of Taxation and Finance, where a limited number of employees have been allowed to return to their offices periodically to perform tasks they are unable to do at home. In those instances, the employees are being instructed to wear masks, keep distance from others and clean desks and other surfaces as needed.

State officials said employees began returning to offices June 1 in some regions, like the Southern Tier and the Mohawk Valley, as the communities hit phase two of reopening. In the Capital Region, that process began this week and varies by department based on the efficacy of working from home.

Employees at the Department of Motor Vehicles have also returned to offices, and union leaders are working with management to iron out how some jobs will be conducted while protecting the safety of both employees and customers, said Mark M. Kotzin, a spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Association, the states largest public employee union.

In general, we can say that the state, so far, has been very willing and cooperative to work with the union to make sure that the safety and security of our employees is being addressed to whatever extent that they can, he said. There is certainly the expectation that if the numbers start to go the wrong way, the state will look to going back to more social distancing and more telecommuting and other things to dial back operations to make sure people are protected.

In mid-May, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos office issued an 11-page document providing guidance to agencies and authorities on how to safely return to offices. The guidelines mirror those issued to private businesses during phase two of reopening, Cuomo spokesman Jason Conwall said.

More than 30% of the state's workforce have been doing their jobs from home during the coronavirus pandemic, including many with diminished workloads, as New York paused  restricting activity to essential businesses to slow the spread of the virus.

Agencies and departments also are developing their own protocols and guidelines based on the nature of the work and how offices may be laid out, Conwall said.

State employees must also complete return to work training as part of departments plans for reopening offices.

For motor vehicle employees, Kotzin said union leaders and management are working to figure out the best path forward in conducting road tests, including considerations for what kind of personal protective equipment employees will use and requirements for face masks and scheduled appointments for the public.

The state also provided general guidance on how to handle visitors at offices  including prohibiting non-essential visitors and designating areas for visitors to wait and packages to be unloaded.

Kotzin noted that the majority of CSEA-represented state employees were deemed essential and have been working all along.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Signs posted throughout the Swan Street building, which houses IT staff among other state departments, recommend limiting elevators to five people and having no more than three people in a bathroom.

Offices have to reorganize their seating plans. ... Offices are even rearranging people in cubicles because, I guess, even walls are no match for COVID, one IT employee said.

More than half of the states IT staff, which has helped with technical support for employees working remotely, at one point were also working from home. The state Department of Transportation also saw about half of its staff telecommuting, with 4,231 out of its 8,443 working from home. In the Office of General Services, 1,177 of its 1,832 employees worked from home.

State labor unions previously indicated that telecommuting was working well, and possibly could be a measure that prevents future layoffs. Kotzin said the state extended the telecommuting agreement for CSEA employees through mid-July. State officials also confirm the success of telecommuting for employees, and they continue to evaluate by department and agency the benefits of a more flexible work schedule on a more permanent basis.

State employees working from home initially were faced with issues logging into virtual private networks as capacity was tested as tens of thousands of employees telecommuted.

Budget spokesman Freeman Klopott said the state had to make investments in equipment and software in order to effectively have employees working from home, and doesn't expect to see savings from workers telecommuting.

These costs, amounting to approximately $27 million, are expected to be covered by federal funds and we dont expect significant savings as offices were generally kept open to support essential work," he said.
A police union in New York City has vowed that George Floyd protesters who become violent and assault officers will face lawsuits in civil court, even in prosecutors decline to press criminal charges.

'If you assault a New York City Detective and there are no consequences from the criminal justice system, we have to have other means to protect our detectives,' said Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, in an interview with Fox News.

DiGiacomo, who leads the union representing some 19,000 current and former detectives, said that prosecutors sympathetic to protesters were leaving officers out to dry.

'It's heart-wrenching because they are out there doing a job under very difficult circumstances, trying to protect the innocent people that are protesting while the criminal element is within that group, assaulting, looting and victimizing not only police officers and detectives out there, but also the people of the city,' he said.

Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, said George Floyd protesters who become violent and assault officers will face lawsuits in civil court

A woman in SoHo is detained after she became angry at officers who refused to kneel and punched the glass of a vehicle at a Black Lives Matter protest on June 2

One lawsuit has already been filed, against a 19-year-old looting suspect who is accused of attacking Detective Joseph Nicolosi while raiding a Manhattan pharmacy.

The detective claimed he was injured in the struggle when the suspect resisted arrest.

However, civil rights experts argue that police should have to give up the legal immunity that makes it difficult to sue them if they wish to sue suspects.

In the two weeks since protests began, more than 350 NYPD officers have been injured, NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker told the city council this week.

Several officers have been hospitalized for a range of injuries from being hit by a car to being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher during an arrest.

One officer was hit over the head with a brick so forcefully it cracked the cop's riot helmet.

In another case, an NYPD sergeant was hit on the head by a glass bottle someone threw near Fifth Avenue and 15th Street. That officer needed 10 stitches to close the gaping laceration on his head.

A NYPD police car is set on fire as protesters clash with police during a protest in Brooklyn

An NYPD police officer argues with protesters as they clash during a march in Brooklyn on May 30 against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd

In the most shocking case, one officer assigned to anti-looting patrol was stabbed in the neck, and two others were shot, in a random attack that is being investigated as possible terrorism. All three officers survived.

Earlier this week, DiGiacomo said that police officers in the city feel 'abandoned' by public officials in the light of Black Lives Matter protests that have erupted nationwide

'There is no one supporting the police, from the governor to the mayor to the DAs to the city council,' DiGiacomo said.

'Listen, when there is unrest and criminality out there, it never looks pretty,' DiGiacomo said

'Resisting arrest never looks pretty. They never show you the whole video. I challenge any elected officials who think they could do a better job with urine being thrown at them, bottles, and being shot at,' he said.

'If you put your hands on an NYC detective, we will pursue the highest criminal charges possible, but the DAs don't seem to want to, so we are going to pursue civil action,' DiGiacomo continued.

NYPD arrest two protesters in the Upper East Manhattan on June 2

NYPD officers move in to arrest protesters for violating curfew beside the iconic Plaza Hotel on 59th Street, Wednesday, June 3, 2020, in the Manhattan borough of New York

The protests, which call for criminal justice reform and greater accountability of police misconduct, began in New York two weeks ago. It has resulted in more than 700 complaints lodged against the force.

The NYPD is among one of 18,000 police departments across the country that are now under increased scrutiny following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody last month, but with 36,000 officers, it is the largest in the nation.

Videos have emerged showing NYPD officers in violent confrontations.

Some have been seen to use excessive force such as forcefully pushing people around or even using their patrol cars to break up crowds.

Two officers have been suspended after one video showed an officer pulling down a man's face mask and pepper spraying him.

In another incident, an officer was filmed appearing to deliberately push a woman to the ground.

Footage filmed by a witness showed an NYPD officer pushing a woman so hard she was thrown back onto the street. She could be seen cradling her head immediately afterwards

A frequent demand of protesters is for police departments to either be abolished or have their funding pulled but DiGiacomo says such a path would not be beneficial to the NYPD.

'The only people that will suffer will be the people of the city,' he added. 'The NYPD is stopping crime and doing our job protecting people. Shootings are up. Homicides are up.'

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio has suggested some police reforms and the possibility of moving funding away from the NYPD and toward social services.

New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea has also stressed that pulling resources would not be good solution.

'I think cooler heads need to sit around a table and find a way out of this,' he said to Fox.

'The usual thing I get hit at when I go to a community meeting is, 'we want more cops.' I think that is the general sentiment, but we are in a moment in time right now where we need all to come together.'
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San Francisco, 11 June 2020: The Report Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Operation (Gathering, Transmission, Distribution), By Application (Compressor, Metering), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2020 - 2027

The global gas pipeline infrastructure market size is expected to reach USD 3,228.3 billion by 2027, expanding at a revenue/volume based CAGR of 3.4% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising natural gas imports along with growing investments in infrastructure and network expansion are likely to strengthen the market demand.

The market is primarily driven by replacement of existing pipeline infrastructure owing to requirement for enhanced safety and emergency response planning. In addition, network expansion across several regions will further provide a major boost to the market growth. For instance, Gazprom invested RUB 5.9 billion on infrastructure expansion in the Sakhalin Region, constructing nine inter-settlement gas pipelines in between 2008-2018.

Technological advancements including smart pipeline pigs, advanced control systems, remotely operated automatic valves, and penetration of IoT integrated devices are likely to enhance the industry outlook. However, increasing gap between demand and supply of skilled manpower is expected to lead to cost overrun and project delays, thereby hampering the market growth.

The companies follow cost-of-service approach to charge transportation tariff from shippers utilizing their assets to transport gas and other liquids. The tolls are designed to allow the industry participants recover capital and operating costs, service debts, and provide a return to its investors. Higher return on investment is expected to positively influence the market growth. Industry participants are further adopting several strategic initiatives to enhance their foothold over the market. For instance, in December 2019, Pembina Pipeline Corporation announced acquisition of Kinder Morgan Canada Limited and U.S. portion of the Cochin pipeline.

Access Research Report of Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/gas-pipeline-infrastructure-market

Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Report Highlights

Gathering pipeline is the fastest growing segment, expanding at a revenue-based CAGR of 3.3% over the forecast period owing to the discovery of new reserves across several regions such as U.S. and China with gathering pipelines transporting gas from the production source to another facility for further refinement or transmission

Distribution pipeline accumulated the largest revenue share in the operation segment with USD 1,693.78 billion in 2019 owing to growing demand for natural gas in end-use sectors including residential/ commercial segment, gas power plants, and industrial/ manufacturing facilities

The transmission pipeline segment registered a revenue-based CAGR of 3.2% over the forecast period owing to rising gas pipeline imports and exports all across the world

The metering station segment is anticipated to attain a significant value of USD 1,856.61 billion by 2027 owing to the requirement for accurate measurements in fiscal metering and custody transfer transactions

Asia Pacific market is anticipated to witness fastest expansion with a revenue-based CAGR of 3.7% over the forecast period. Rising natural gas consumption in the emerging economies and growing reliance on imports from other regions is positively influencing the market growth in Asia Pacific

Some of the significant industry participants are Enbridge, Gazprom, TC Energy Corporation, Kinder Morgan, Pembina Pipeline Corporation, Saipem, Engas, Alliance Pipeline, National Oilwell Varco, ChelPipe, and Europipe GmBH.

Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/construction-and-utilities

Grand View Research has segmented the global gas pipeline infrastructure market on the basis of operation, application, and region:

Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Operation Outlook (Volume, 000 Kms; Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2027)

Gathering

Transmission

Distribution

Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2027)

Compressor Station

Metering Station

Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Regional Outlook (Volume, 000 Kms; Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2027)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Central & South America

Middle East and Africa

Access Press Release of Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-gas-pipeline-infrastructure-market

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

For More Information:www.grandviewresearch.com
By PTI

LOS ANGELES: Television writer Jas Waters, who worked on the hit NBC family drama "This Is Us", has died at the age of 39.

The news of her death was confirmed by the "This Is Us" writers on their official Twitter account Wednesday.

"The entire #ThisIsUs family was devastated to learn of Jas Waters passing. In our time together, Jas left her mark on us and ALL over the show.

"She was a brilliant storyteller and a force of nature. We send our deepest sympathies to her loved ones. She was one of us. RIP," the statement read.

No cause of death was mentioned.

"This Is Us" creator Dan Fogelman also paid his tributes to the "brilliant" writer, who worked on 18 episodes of the show.

"Jas was absolutely brilliant and had so many stories still to tell. She made an indelible mark on our show and my heart breaks for her loved ones," Fogelman tweeted.

This news took my breath away. Jas was absolutely brilliant and had so many stories still to tell. She made an indelible mark on our show and my heart breaks for her loved ones. RIP @JasFly https://t.co/fAZlIjhsIH  Dan Fogelman (@Dan_Fogelman) June 10, 2020

Waters' also worked on "Kidding", the Showtime comedy-drama series, starring Hollywood star Jim Carrey.

Dave Holstein, creator of "Kidding", said Waters was "a one of a kind voice" and "an integral part of our writing team".

"This is a devastating loss for those who knew her and lived in her light. One of my favorite lines of hers is resonating especially loud with me today: Our scars do not mean we are broken. They are proof we are healed," Holstein said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

Waters also worked on Comedy Central's "Hood Adjacent With James Davis", "Barbershop", "Barbershop 2: Back in Business", NBC's "ER" and Taraji P Henson's "What Men Want".

She was a former columnist at VIBE magazine.
Toronto City Councillor Michael Ford, who learned Tuesday he has COVID-19, is in Humber River Hospital undergoing tests, his office said Thursday.

Earlier this afternoon, Councillor Ford began experiencing some symptoms consistent with COVID-19, Nicolas Di Marco, an aide in Fords Ward 1 Etobicoke North office, told the Star in an email.

Based on advice from Toronto Public Health, he checked in to Humber River Hospital to have additional testing done.

The hospital continues to monitor his status, but overall, he is feeling well.

Councillor Ford would like to thank Humber River Hospital and Toronto Public Health staff for their hard work and care, and he appreciates all the kind words of support hes received over the past few days.

Ford, the 26-year-old nephew of Premier Doug Ford, is the first member of Toronto city council to become infected with the virus that has swept much of the world, triggering restrictions on businesses, individuals and city operations.

In a statement Tuesday revealing his positive test, Michael Ford said he would self-isolate for 14 days working from home, and that he was feeling well and would remain in contact with Toronto Public Health.

Ford has not said why he got tested or if he had close contact with anyone before being diagnosed. Doug Fords office has said the premier had not met with his nephew within 14 days of his diagnosis.

The youngest member of council, Michael Ford was elected in 2016 in then-Ward 2 to replace his late uncle Rob Ford, and re-elected in the new Ward 1 in 2018.

Two of Councillor Fords colleagues have self-isolated: Coun. Josh Matlow, after he had contact with a man who later tested positive, and Mayor John Tory, who followed public health advice after returning from a trip to England.

Toronto Public Health said Thursday there were 13,063 cases of COVID-19 in the city, an increase of 114 since Wednesday. In total, 10,558 Torontonians have recovered, an increase of 248 since Wednesday.

The virus had killed 965 Torontonians, a daily increase of nine.

David Rider is the Star's City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering city hall and municipal politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 22:24:42|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about efforts to advance poverty alleviation in Hongde Village of Wuzhong City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 8, 2020. Xi inspected Ningxia on Monday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- During his inspection trip in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region this week, President Xi Jinping said no single ethnic minority group should be left behind in the country's building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

The promise means a great deal for China, a country with 56 ethnic groups.

Over the years, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has paid close attention to the cause and made several visits to ethnic minority areas.

The following are the highlights of several such visits made by Xi over the past three years.





NINGXIA, June 2020

During the inspection in Ningxia, Xi visited a relocated village and a residential community in the city of Wuzhong to learn about efforts to advance poverty alleviation and promote ethnic unity.

At the house of Liu Kerui, a villager of the Hui ethnic group, Xi took a good look at the courtyard, living room, bedrooms, kitchen and cowshed, asking Liu and his wife if they had any difficulties and what they planned for the future.

Visiting the Jinhuayuan residential community, where people from several ethnic groups live together, Xi said no single ethnic minority group should be left behind in the country's building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

It represents the fine tradition of the Chinese nation and the great strength of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics to enable people of all ethnic groups to walk hand in hand into a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Xi added.





Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, beats a wooden drum of the Wa ethnic group three times to bless the coming year in Sanjia Village in the city of Tengchong, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Jan. 19, 2020. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

YUNNAN, January 2020

During a visit to Sanjia Village in the city of Tengchong, shortly before the Lunar New Year, Xi learned about poverty alleviation and called for efforts to speed up the development of ethnic minorities and those areas with large ethnic-minority populations.

Xi then walked into pig farmer Li Fashun's house in Simola Wa Village, asked about the price of pigs and the family's income, checked their kitchen, and then joined the family in making rice cakes, a traditional Wa way of ringing in the new year.

Talking to Li's fellow villagers, Xi said that, after China achieves building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, it must make all-out efforts to advance rural vitalization to further address issues such as the urban-rural imbalance.

He said rural industries will be boosted, as well as the rural economy, to allow more and more villagers to work near home, increase their incomes and lead a better life.

Xi Jinping visits Ma'anshan Village in Harqin Qi of Chifeng City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, July 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

INNER MONGOLIA, July 2019

During an inspection tour to north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xi visited the village of Ma'anshan, where people of several ethnic groups live together.

Xi said that the development of rural industries should focus on increasing the income of villagers and asked primary-level Party organizations in rural areas to be strengthened to better serve the rural people and agriculture.

At villager Zhang Guoli's home, Xi checked the courtyard, kitchen and toilet, and pledged to further improve the basic rural infrastructure and living environments.





Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with students at a primary school in Zhongyi Township of Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County, southwest China's Chongqing, April 15, 2019. From April 15 to 17, Xi made an inspection tour to Chongqing. He also presided over and delivered a speech at a symposium to address the problems concerning the basic living needs of rural poor populations and their access to compulsory education, basic medical services, and safe housing. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

CHONGQING, April 2019

During an inspection trip to southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Xi visited a mountainous village in Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County.

While visiting a primary school there, Xi promised to ensure children in poor mountainous regions go to school and have a happy childhood.

Stopping by the house of Tan Dengzhou, an impoverished villager, Xi learned that Tan and his wife were unable to work due to illness and thus faced financial difficulties.

People who still live below the poverty line or slip back into poverty due to illness should be the priority of poverty-alleviation projects, Xi said, adding that they should receive support, such as minimum-living allowances, medical insurance and medical aid.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, listens to the poverty-alleviation work about relocation of residents from poor areas as he visits Huopu Village of Jiefang Township in Zhaojue County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Feb. 11, 2018. Xi made an inspection tour in Sichuan Province on Feb. 11. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

SICHUAN, February 2018

Ahead of the Lunar New Year in 2018, Xi went to impoverished Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Xi went to two ethnic Yi villages to visit poor families and was happy to learn that villagers have increased their incomes through raising cattle and growing potatoes, peppers and walnuts.

"Not a single ethnic group, family or person should be left behind," Xi said, adding that to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the most difficult task lies in regions with extreme poverty.

"But we will fight and must win this war," he added. 
She's a busy mother to six children, so you'd think Antonia Kidman would've spent the June long weekend having a good rest.

But the 49-year-old revealed on Thursday that she actually spent it moving house - and not just to any old abode, but one which already has a special place in her heart.

'This long weekend has consisted of moving/unpacking boxes. It has been relentless but so worth it!' she captioned the post on Instagram.

Home sweet home: Antonia Kidman (pictured with her family) revealed she's moved back into her former Sydney home with her family after relocating from Singapore

She added: 'Feels great to be back in the kids' childhood home'.

Accompanying the post was a picture of the TV presenter, who is also the younger sister of Hollywood star Nicole Kidman, sitting at her dining table, which was full of glass and silverware.

Antonia appeared fresh-faced with little makeup in a casual ensemble, which included a purple collared shirt worn under a navy sweater.

'This long weekend has consisted of moving/unpacking boxes. It has been relentless but so worth it!' she wrote on Instagram

While she did not specify where they'd moved, Antonia and her former husband Angus Hawley purchased a five-bedroom Edwardian-era grand manor in Greenwhich in 2005.

Antonia lived in the home until she relocated to Singapore in 2009 with her current husband Craig Marran, while renting the property out.

The large family moved back to Sydney to be closer to Nicole and Antonia's ageing mother Janelle late last year.

Coming home: While she did not specify where they moved, Antonia and her former husband Angus Hawley purchased a five-bedroom Edwardian-era grand manor in Greenwhich (pictured) in 2005, which has been rented out since 2009

Antonia welcomed four children with her late ex-husband Angus, who she was married to until 2007.

Angus tragically died of a heart attack in 2015.

Antonia shares her youngest two children with current husband Craig Marran.
The University of North Georgia (UNG) is preparing for students to return to campus in August for face-to-face classes during the fall 2020 semester. Social distancing guidelines and other preventive measures will be applied to keep the university community safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is important to bring our students back to our campuses to engage in the full higher education experience," UNG President Bonita Jacobs said. "The goal is to restore as much of the face-to-face experience as possible while taking measures to prioritize the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff."

UNG and all University System of Georgia institutions are following guidance from Governor Kemp's COVID-19 Task Force, the Georgia Department of Public Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to inform plans for resuming campus-based instruction and activities this fall. Due to the fluidity of the COVID-19 pandemic, plans are subject to change, and UNG has developed contingency plans should it be necessary to shift back to remote delivery of instruction at any point during the semester.

Beginning June 15, UNG employees will begin a phased return to campus-based work to prepare for a full reopening this fall. These efforts focus on cleaning and preparing campus for the return of other employees over the summer and students in the fall. Facilities teams and others doing this work have been provided with extensive training, personal protective equipment and other measures to ensure their safety. UNG will continue to clean and disinfect classrooms, offices, bathrooms and other common areas throughout the fall as recommended by the CDC. More information about UNG's fall return plan is included on the website Nighthawks Together: UNG's Fall 2020 Reopening Plan.

Students, faculty and staff will be strongly encouraged to follow the best practices recommended by state public health officials and the CDC to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to include:

Practicing social distancing.

Using a cloth face-covering when around others and social distancing is not feasible.

Performing best practices in hygiene, cleaning and disinfection.

The new guidelines will affect nearly all areas of campus life, ranging from academics to social activities, and more details will be published soon on the UNG website.

"Social distancing will undoubtedly change the nature of events, activities and experiences that can be provided at UNG, but I hope that we will all do our part to keep our campus communities safe by following recommended guidelines," Jacobs said. "UNG will continue to focus on serving the best interests of our university community to ensure its continued health and safety."

For example, faculty and staff are devising ways to accommodate social distancing in courses.

"We will arrange classrooms to allow students to sit 6 feet away from each other or provide flexible schedules for students, including hybrid courses," said Dr. Chaudron Gille, provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs. "Though the look of our classrooms may change, our faculty members' commitment to student success remains steadfast."

Some courses that require a lab, clinical or practicum have developed customized plans to allow students to complete the courses. Faculty and academic advisors will continue to meet with students face-to-face or virtually.

Other daily campus centers and student services have modified their practices to allow for social distancing and face-to-face interaction. Examples include the dining hall and food courts, Student Counseling, Student Health Services, and Campus Recreation and Wellness, where new social distancing and cleaning protocols are essential. Also, the size of meetings and gatherings on campus will be limited to follow the most current public health guidance.

"While some of our programs and services may look different, we are grateful to welcome students back to campus for fall 2020 and excited for our new students to begin their journey at UNG with an on-campus experience," said Dr. James Conneely, vice president of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.

Students are also encouraged to follow preventive measures and assume some responsibility as part of this process. For students living in campus residence halls, social distancing will look different.

"Students living in the same room or suite will be considered as individuals living in the same household; however, they will be encouraged to practice social distancing while in other areas of campus," Treva Smith, director of residence life, said. "It is the responsibility of residential students to adhere to appropriate behaviors related to the prevention of COVID-19, including the cleaning of their room or suite."
Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick is campaigning for the government to knock back "tax dodging" companies from major projects, claiming corporations paying little tax are hurting a federal budget already battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The crossbench senator is leading the charge against companies he claims have not paid enough tax, saying they should not be given taxpayer-funded contracts for nation building projects as they are hindering the country's ability to bounce back from the pandemic.

Senator Rex Patrick has been using parliamentary privilege to criticise big corporates he claims are dodging their tax obligations. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"The government needs to ensure that it is not only dealing with people that are complying with the law but that are socially ethical," he said, adding in some cases the tax practices of big businesses were legal but he considered them morally dubious.

"If companies are not operating with a social licence ... those sorts of things should be resolved before granting more contracts," he said.
Photo: Johan Bos/Pexels

Missed the most recent top news in Seattle? Read on for everything you need to know.

Take back your city from protesters, Trump tells Seattle mayor

The president tweeted that Mayor Jenny Durkan and Gov. Jay Inslee were being taunted by protesters. Some demonstrators have used barricades to occupy several city blocks.

Read the full story on The New York Times.

Seattle bans police officers from schools

School leaders are booting officers off Seattle campuses for a year while the district reevaluates its partnership with the Police Department.

Read the full story on The Washington Times.

Seattle Mariners select Georgia RHP Emerson Hancock with 6th pick in 2020 MLB Draft

The Seattle Mariners on Wednesday selected right-handed pitcher Emerson Hancock out of the University of Georgia with the sixth overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.

Read the full story on SeattlePI .

Seattle considers replacing cracked bridge with tunnel

City leaders have discussed replacing the West Seattle Bridge with a tunnel or more traditional bridge options after engineers discovered growing infrastructure cracks in March.

Read the full story on MySanAntonio.

This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / Infinite Ore Corp. ("ILI" or the "Company") (ILI-TSX:V) (OTCQB:ARXRF) announces a clarification of its inaugural 1,250 metre diamond drill program news release dated earlier today. The phase one diamond drill program will commence within a week and aims to confirm and expand on the VMS mineralized zones, test for gold mineralization, and refine the Leapfrog 3D model.

Disclosure that is "non-NI 43-101 compliant" cannot be disclosed under Canadian securities law. The previously released disclosure should have been disclosed as a "historical estimate" providing all disclosure required by NI 43-101, 2.4(a) to (g) - Disclosure of Historical Estimates:

The Fredart property hosts the Copperlode/Fredart zone, with a historical mineral resource of 386,200 tonnes grading 1.56 per cent copper (% Cu) and 33.6 grams per tonne silver (g/t Ag) (completed by Phelps-Dodge Mining Co. in 1971 and included within a prospectus for Consolidated Copper Lode Developments Inc., Jan. 7, 1977, submitted to the Ontario Securities Commission). This historical mineral resource requires further drilling in order to verify and upgrade the resource to NI 43-101 standards. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current resources or mineral reserves and Infinite Ore is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves.

The Qualified Person has not verified the data disclosed, through sampling, analytical, nor test data. The information was obtained from assessment reports submitted to the Ontario government, and publicly available company reports. The Qualified Person has not completed sufficient work to verify the historic information on the Property, particularly in regards to the historical drill results and historical resource estimates. However, the Qualified Person believes that drilling and analytical results were completed to industry standard practices. The information provides an indication of the exploration potential of the Property but may not be representative of expected results.

Mr. Kelly Malcolm, P.Geo, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who has examined and reviewed the recent NI 43-101 report and geological information available from public sources related to the property, and is responsible for approving the technical contents of this press release.

About Infinite Ore Corp.

Infinite Ore is a junior mining exploration company focused on seeking and acquiring world-class mineral projects globally. The company's current focus is on properties with the potential for VMS mineralization in the Confederation mineral belt near Red Lake, Ont., as well as the Jackpot lithium property located near Nipigon, Ont.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Mike England"

Mike England, President and CEO

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Telephone: 1-604-683-3995

Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward -looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at WWW.SEDAR.COM).

SOURCE: Infinite Ore Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593621/Infinite-Ore-Clarifies-Inaugural-Drill-Program-on-Fredart-in-Red-Lake-Mining-District-Release
This week the electric vehicle world is abuzz with the news of a new million-mile battery in the works, but another, much less flashy innovation announced this week could have even more sweeping implications for the EV sector. It may not make the sexiest headlines, but a new form of EV credit-trading being tested out in Beijing could revolutionize the way electric vehicle markets function.

Tesla made about $354 million in Q1 2020 by selling regulatory credits, Electrek reported this week. Fiat Chrysler and General Motors, among others, buy billions of dollars in CO2 credits a year to avoid paying fines. Despite the fact that the Trump administration is in the process of rescinding fuel economy rules that include greenhouse gas credits, Tesla has seen plenty of demand for their credits at the federal level. Even without these greenhouse gas credit sales, Tesla has made over $2 billion from the sale of environmental credits over the years, but those have mostly consisted of ZEV credits from CARB states  mainly California, Electrek reported in a separate article last June.

China has clearly been paying a lot of attention to whats happening with high demand for environmental EV credits in Western markets, and this week the Beijing Environmental Exchange launched a similar credit system to get individuals to drive an electric car, or avoid driving altogether. As Electrek explains, carbon emissions allowances are usually traded by companies. But the Beijing exchanges mobile app allows individual car owners to create an account and accumulate credits.

Related: Indias Solar Power Industry Is Hurting From Covid-19

Xinhua Net, Chinas state-run news source, reported this week that this new carbon-neutral solution provides a market-based incentive to encourage car owners to reduce their driving frequency and allows enterprises to buy emission quotas saved by car owners. The article also referenced an interview with Wang Huijun, executive vice president of the exchange, who explained that the average daily carbon dioxide emissions for an electric vehicle is 0.83 kg, while a fuel-powered vehicle with an engine of no more than 1.2 liters discharges 2.58 kg of carbon dioxide on average daily.

Story continues

According to Xinhua, he went on to say that a driver can help cut carbon emissions by 1 tonne if he or she does not drive the car for about 200 days over a three-year period. The municipal authorities hope to bring 1 million car owners in the city to the one-tonne campaign with a target of reducing carbon emissions by 1 million tonnes within three years.

Essentially, the Chinese government will pay citizens to switch from traditional combustion engines to electric vehicles or not to drive at all. Beijings target to convert 1 million of the citys car owners to participate in the 1 tonne campaign is a lofty goal, but represents fewer than a third of the citys drivers, as Beijing was among the 11 cities in China that had over 3 million cars on road by the end of 2019.

Using the Beijing Environmental Exchanges Green Traveler Platform, individual drivers would install a smart device to track a users emission-reduction behavior, reports Electrek. Emissions would be tallied in an account, building up credits. Then, other individuals or companies (including banks and insurance companies) would buy credits for cash. Participants wont see a huge influx of cash--in fact theyll make less than a dollar per day on average. But over the course of the year, participants can make a few hundred dollars or more when these credits add up.

Its true that this program isnt completely novel. As Electrek points out,  Metro Mile and other insurance providers in the US offer similar programs that use connected devices to monitor driving and Beijing has already had parts of this system in place for a few years, like their auto insurance platform that is used to track driving behavior. But what Beijing launched this week is unique in that it not only reduces your insurance bill, it pays you not to drive at all or to get around in a zero-emissions vehicle.

Related: Should U.S. Shale Be Worried About A Chinese Takeover?

While Europe is often thought of as the EV headquarters of the world, and Tesla, the worlds most famous EV company, is located in the United States, China is taking over. Beijing has been on the cutting edge of the electric vehicles sector for a while now, and all but controls EV markets. Way back in 2018 Oilprice reported that China Indirectly Controls EV Markets because of its near-monopoly at various levels of the supply chain, most notably in the case of lithium ion batteries.

At that time Oilprice reported that China produces about two thirds of the whole worlds supply of lithium ion batteries, the most common battery type used in electric vehicles. Furthermore, these highly valuable batteries make up a staggering 40 percent of the cars value. As it stands, Europe is far from being able to compete with China when it comes to the production of lithium ion batteries. In fact, currently the entire continent is estimated to hold just 1 percent of the market. Because of this, EV companies around the world are moving their entire production to China.

This credit trading market innovation is just another way that Beijing is securing its place at the forefront of the EV sector.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

Read this article on OilPrice.com
As calls for US police reform gain traction, many point to a New Jersey city as an example, but results are mixed.

The killing of George Floyd, 46, while in the custody of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25 ignited protests across the United States and demands for police accountability and reform.

The initial rage over the death of Floyd, and many others, has settled into indignation and calls to gradually defund the police  using those funds to support job-training initiatives, public health, school counsellors and other aspects of public safety that critics said have been neglected.

For some, the eventual goal is abolishing the police and prisons. Many are left wondering how that reform would work.

Numerous reports have looked to Camden, New Jersey as a possible model for moderate reform, citing a successful drop in violent crime since it shut down its police force and the county took over half-way through 2013 in favour of an emphasis on community policing.

Policing was not abolished in the city. The Camden County Police Department took over after the police union and department, both run by the city, were dissolved. The county was able to roughly double its police force due to lower salaries.

How not to do policing

While violent crime dropped, some residents think thats not the best metric to judge success. There are still issues between the county police department, guided mostly by white leadership, and Camdens majority Black and Latino populace.

If theres anything other states should learn from Camden, Ayinde Merrill, a 25-year-old lifelong resident and organiser with grassroots group Camden Arts for Change told Al Jazeera, its how not to do policing.

Camden ended its police force partly because of corruption and partly to get more cops on the streets by ending generous union contracts. Cost has been a factor in the few other US communities that have dissolved police forces.

The city has roughly 74,000 residents, or about 17 percent of the population of Minneapolis. Before the police reform, the city saw between 37 and 67 homicides a year between 2010 and 2013, according to the New Jersey State Attorney General. It was widely considered one of the most dangerous cities in the country.

There were 67 murders in 2012, the final year for the Camden city police department. Homicides dropped to 57 in the first year of the new police force, decreasing to 23 by 2017. This was a 32 percent drop, according to local media.

But there are caveats to those numbers. While violent crime decreased overall, there were initial increases in summons for low-level offences, which rights groups have criticised.





The New Jersey branch of the American Civil Liberties Union found that summons for minor crimes increased significantly in the first year of the Camden County Police Department.

They are criticised for disproportionately affecting lower-income individuals who have to miss work or may not have transportation available.

Black residents are over three times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white residents, which is the case across the state, according to 2017 figures, even though studies show cannabis usage to be similar across ethnic groups, suggesting issues with race relations remain.

Their approach is Lets arrest everybody', Merrill said, noting the Camden model does not remedy the problem of mass incarceration.

Minneapolise Police officers stand in a line while facing protesters demonstrating against the death of George Floyd outside the 3rd Precinct Police Precinct, which was later burned. [Kerem Yucel/AFP]

Alexander Shalom, Senior Supervising Attorney at the ACLU-NJ, told Al Jazeera that Camden had made improvements, noting it was one of the most dangerous cities per capita in the US when changes to policing were made.

Community policing

Shalom said after being made aware of the summons issue, former Police Chief Scott Thomson took steps to lower the number of summons issued.

Camden County officials did not respond to Al Jazeeras request for comment. Local officials have credited their success to their community-focused policing, which Thomson also emphasised.

Thomson told Mary Louise Kelly on US radio show All Things Considered that his goal was to change how the community viewed police officers, going from warrior to guardian.

Former President Barack Obama speaks with Police Chief John Scott Thomson during a 2015 visit to emphasise trust-building between police and the communities they serve [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]

Theres lots of things to praise, Shalom said, citing reforms to use of force, which has seen a steep drop in excessive force complaints and an emphasis in de-escalation of potentially violent situations.

The departments openness to engagement with the community is another positive aspect, along with the leadership of former Chief Thomson, he continued.

But theres still much to critique  I dont think you could zoom out and say Camden is a model for what police forces should do', Shalom said.

Not good for all

Merrill noted that increases to police on the streets are good for certain sectors of the city, but not for others which still face a lack of funding for needed social programmes, such as job training or the arts.

One of the significant failings of the new police force is its lack of reflection of the community, Merrill said. Frankly, its a lot of white officers.

The city of Camden is overwhelmingly Black and Latino, 42 percent and more than 50 percent, respectively, according to data from the US Census. White people make up about 6 percent of the population.

The police chief is white, and only one of seven captains is Black, CNN reported.

Merrill observed that when the county took over law enforcement, it opened officer jobs to people across the county, which has a total population of more than 500,000. You see cops  from all these other communities who dont know Camden.

The most moving part of today was at the beginning of the demonstration. Local organizer, Ayinde Merrill, declared that he would be wearing a noose for the duration of the event. Today, were loosening this noose and were taking it off, Merrill said to a crowd of hundreds. pic.twitter.com/286gbrcX85  Lex Weaver (@lexwvr) June 7, 2020

Camden Arts for Change has presented a list of demands to local officals, including steps to make the police force mirror those it polices.

Merrill said Chief Joseph Wysocki is open to dialogue with the group and that the police is not the only public organisation that needs reform.

It was also a march to put city council and the mayor on notice  were fed up, and we need to let them know that, he concluded.
A 20-year-old man shot and killed near a Leaside skatepark is being described by his loved ones as their rock and mentor.

Maaz Jogiyat, of Toronto, was shot at around 7:30 p.m Tuesday near Leonard Linton Park at Vanderhoof Avenue and Research Road, in the Leslie Street and Eglinton Avenue East area.

The suspects approached a group of a people sitting in a parked car and started shooting, police said in a news release Wednesday.

Jogiyat was rushed to hospital before being pronounced dead. Another man taken to hospital suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The suspects were seen fleeing in a vehicle described as a dark-coloured four-door SUV heading north on Brentcliffe Road towards Eglinton Avenue East, police said.

Jogiyats loved ones have set up a fundraiser in his memory, hoping to raise money to build a mosque in Niger in his honour. Organizers describe him as a man of profound character.

He was our brother, he was our rock and he was our mentor, the page said. Respect and love were integral values that he instilled in all his peers, family and friends and his absence will always haunt us forever.

The fundraiser also hopes to raise funds to build a well in an underprivileged community.

You will forever be remembered in our hearts and will always be a prominent figure in our lives; we will ensure to literally leave your mark in the world as well, the fundraising page read.

TY Tom Yun is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @thetomyun
The New York Police Department is investigating claims a 16-year-old Bronx student was zapped in the face with a stun gun and taken to the hospital without his family being notified after being arrested for allegedly setting fires.

The family of Jahmel Leach wants answers about the boy's arrest for fifth-degree arson, a misdemeanor, during looting on East Fordham Road that ended with an officer allegedly using a stun gun on Leach's face and taking him to St. Barnabas Hospital.

Family members, who said the teen was merely watching, not partaking in vandalism or looting, around 9 p.m. of June 1, held a news conference outside the Bronx District Attorney's Office on Thursday.

"The police department is supposed to take an oath to protect and serve, not just us -- the youth," said Daisy Acevedo, Leach's mother, adding that she would "protect my child and I will do so to my last breath."

PHOTO: Jahmel Leach, 16, suffered injuries to his face allegedly by NYPD during an arrest for allegations of arson on June 1. (Courtesy Attorney Sandford Rubenstein)

Acevedo said she was not notified of the arrest until he arrived at the hospital, a violation of legislation passed in October 2018.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that Acevedo "was notified of his status by 11:30 p.m."

While District Attorney Darcel Clark's office is not prosecuting Leach's criminal case, it is investigating the allegations of misconduct, a spokeswoman confirmed to ABC News on Thursday. Leach's case is expected to be heard in family court.

MORE: Derek Chauvin was considering guilty plea but deal fell apart: Prosecutor's office

"It is clear after what happened to Jahmel Leach at the hands of the NYPD, in addition to legislation aimed at ending police brutality, what is also needed is a change in the mentality of police officers in this city who believe they can brutally treat victims like they did this 16-year-old and they will not be held accountable for their wrongful acts," said Sanford Rubenstein, an attorney for Leach.

PHOTO: NYPD officers look on as demonstrators denouncing systemic racism and the police killings of black Americans take to the streets, June 6, 2020 in New York City. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)

Officers initially spotted him leaving a vandalized T-Mobile store, but not in possession of any property, an NYPD official said.

Story continues

NYPD said body camera footage shows the teen lighting a pile of rubbish on the street as officers arrived on the scene in an unmarked vehicle.

According to surveillance video obtained by ABC News on Thursday, Leach also is seen standing next to an unidentified person before the unmarked car approached.

As an officer exits the vehicle, a stun gun appears to be deployed, striking Leach, who falls flat on his face, the video shows.

Officers are seen in the video rushing toward Leach as one officer strikes him twice with a baton -- once behind the knee, once on the back.

On the bodycam footage, the teen is heard telling police officers, "I didn't set the fire," before saying, "They made me do it," sources told ABC News.

"The matter is under internal review," an NYPD spokesperson told ABC News on Thursday morning.

PHOTO: A group of protesters take a knee while marching in lower Manhattan Saturday, June 6, 2020, in New York. (Craig Ruttle/AP Photo)

The family said an officer involved in the incident later told Acevedo, "I'm sorry, he is so tall I thought he was an adult when I took him down."

"I demand justice and won't stop until I get it," Acevedo added.

The teen and his family confronted Mayor Bill de Blasio at a memorial service in Brooklyn for George Floyd last Thursday.

Floyd's May 25 killing in Minneapolis was captured by a bystander's cellphone. Four terminated officers of the Minneapolis Police Department were charged in connection to his murder.

MORE: Thomas Lane, police officer involved in George Floyd's death, released from jail on bail

Almost a week later, de Blasio spoke out on Twitter about Leach's case and verified that the police are investigating the matter. "I'm really troubled by what they told me. We're going to get them answers," the mayor wrote.

I've spoken to Jahmel's family and I'm really troubled by what they told me. We're going to get them answers.

The NYPD has launched an investigation into what happened. https://t.co/nhEof7tMyP  Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) June 11, 2020

"The virus of police brutality has spread, and it doesn't seem like it will be cured. We will fight for justice for him," said Rev. Kevin McCall, a civil rights leader who has been on the front lines of protests with Terrence Floyd, the brother of George Floyd. "I'm calling on the police commissioner to meet with him regarding the NYPD using excessive force on an incident bystander."

Several NYPD officers have been disciplined for allegations of misconduct during the protests. So far, two have been suspended and a third was placed on modified duty. A precinct commander has been transferred.

"I took action the last couple weeks in suspending a number of officers," Commissioner Dermot Shea said during an internal pep talk he hosted on Twitter. "There will probably be more."

Police actions during the protests will come under review by the New York Attorney General's office. Former United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch has been brought on as an adviser.

The city's school chancellor, Richard Carranza, also spoke out about what happened to Leach.

"I am horrified. ... The New York City Department of Education condemns police brutality and any brutal acts by those whose duty is to serve and protect our communities. New Yorkers and Americans -- including our students -- are crying out for change. We must hear them, respect them and heed their calls. We are here for Jahmel and his family," Carranza wrote, in part.

Earlier this month, @NYCSchools student Jahmel Leach sustained significant injuriesan injured jaw, and cuts, bruises, and swelling all over his bodyallegedly in an incident with the NYPD. I am horrified. I know @NYPDNews is now investigating.  Chancellor Richard A. Carranza (@DOEChancellor) June 11, 2020

NYPD investigating claims officer zapped 16-year-old's face with stun gun originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
His character Ron Weasley was never flush with cash throughout the Harry Potter saga.

But Rupert Grint is now laughing all the way to Gringotts as his property empire totals 24 million.

The actor, 31, earned 40 million playing Harry's best friend in the hit film series and has since made a number of savvy investments.

Magic touch: Rupert Grint has grown an impressive portfolio which now totals 24 million after a number of shrewd investments

Rupert has recently added another 10.6 million of homes to his growing portfolio.

A source told The Sun: 'Rupert's become a real property magnate and has been working his magic on building his empire.

'His portfolio is worth around 24million now and he's growing it all the time.

Must be a Weasley: The actor, 31, earned 40 million playing Ron in the hit Harry Potter film series

'He has started three property businesses which are all bringing in a tidy sum.'

The source revealed that one of Rupert's companies, Clay 10, invested in more than 8 million worth of property in the most recent financial year.

Another of his successful firms, Oneonesix Development, has been buying properties outside London.

The shrewd actor has been buying high-spec rental properties, as well as luxury homes, with good transport links to the city.

He most recently bought a 500,000 house in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, as well as two neighbouring houses for 1.5 million in Luton.

Wise investor: Rupert has recently added another 10.6 million of homes to his growing portfolio

Rupert also owns Eevil Plan Properties and has forked out on three properties near his own home in Hertfordshire.

In 2014, it was revealed his property empire was worth 12.9 million and was spread over a 20-mile radius in Hertfordshire, at the heart of Londons commuter belt.

The actor bought three properties around his home village for a combined 9.2million.

Another three, worth 3.7million, were registered in the names of his mother Joanna, 46, and father Nigel, 49, a former racing car driver listed as a co-director of Eevil Plan.

Following the success of the Harry Potter films, Mr and Mrs Grint paid 975,000 for a Hertford townhouse, which they run as a boutique hotel charging up to 150 per night.

They also own two large farmhouses worth a combined 2.7million, both in their names.

It comes as the actor recently welcomed his first child with girlfriend Georgia Groome.

In a statement earlier this month, the couple announced that they were now proud parents to a baby girl, just a month after confirming they were expecting their first child.

Rupert and the Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging star announced their pregnancy in April after she stepped out with a noticeable baby bump.

The couple are yet to reveal the name of their baby daughter.
Netflix is removing four Chris Lilley comedies from its platform in Australia and New Zealand.

Angry Boys, Summer Heights High, We Can Be Heroes, and Jonah From Tonga, have been removed according to Deadline. They include characters Jonah Takalua and rapper S.mouse, for which Lilley wore brown makeup, or Chinese physics student Ricky Wong.

But Jamie Private School Girl and Netflix original Lunatics, will remain.

Producer Laura Waters of Princess Pictures has previously described Lunatics South African character Jana as not portraying a woman of colour.

We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High are arguably Lilleys most lauded work, including the former winning him the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent at the Logie Awards and a prestigious Rose DOr as Best Male Comedy Performance.

But in 2011 rapper S.mouse was criticised for being offensive with its blackface. By 2014 there were petitions to drop Jonah from Tonga from HBO.

The move follows the removal of Little Britain and Come Fly With Me from Netflix and Stan. The League Of Gentlemen was also removed from Stan.

While Netflix has kept its home pages for the removed Lilley comedies, Variety reports they will not return with disclaimers.

In the US HBO Max removed Gone with the Wind but will return it with a disclaimer.

Yesterday many subscribers took to social media to criticise moves as being too politically correct.

Netflix declined to comment.

Should old comedy titles be removed if they offend? Yes

Sometimes

No

Not sure View Results


LA FARGE, Wis., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the COVID-19 pandemic impacts communities across the country, Organic Valley has provided over 140,000 pounds of organic food to communities in need.

Through its connection with Grassroots Aid Partnership (GAP)  a non-profit that gives healthy food and aid to underserved and overlooked communities in crisis  Organic Valley has delivered thousands of pounds of organic food to New York and New Orleans, two of the cities hardest hit by COVID-19, and to communities in Southwestern Wisconsin, where the cooperative has its base of operations. Donated products included organic protein shakes, shelf-stable milk, butter, cream cheese, and more.

"As a cooperative, we believe in taking care of others," said Stacy Fahey, public affairs manager at Organic Valley. "We're proud to give back to our local communities in southwest Wisconsin and to work with our partners at Grassroots Aid Partnership to support food insecure communities across the nation. In these difficult times, no one should go hungry or struggle to access nutritious food."

In addition, Organic Valley continues to deliver healthy, organic products to grocery retailers nationwide, and the cooperative has not required its farmers to dump milk.

"We identified New Orleans early on as an area that would be hit hard by both the virus and by the resultant lack of tourism. They're now seeing unemployment levels at 25%," said Dave Anderson, GAP founding member and executive director. "Grassroots Aid Partnership and the patrons of Second Harvest Food Bank in New Orleans are grateful to Organic Valley for coming through with a whole truckload of products in this crucial time, and even shipping it down to the location!"

Donations include the following:

Food Bank for New York City

Location: Bronx, New York

Donation: Over 36,000 pounds, or over 47,000 bottles, of Organic Fuel protein shakes

Description: Organic Valley and GAP sent a truckload of Organic Fuel protein shakes to the Food Bank for New York City, located in the Bronx. The Food Bank reaches many, supporting Bronx, Kings, Queens, New York NY, and Richmond counties. Each year, the food bank distributes 65 million pounds of food to people struggling with hunger.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans

Location: New Orleans, Louisiana

Donation: Over 35,000 pounds of protein shakes, butter, half-and-half, cream cheese, and milk

Description: Organic Valley and GAP sent a combination of Coffee Organic Fuel, half-and-half and more. This donation was made possible by GAP's outreach and analysis of communities hit hardest by COVID-19 and in greatest need of support.

Southwest Wisconsin Food Banks, Pantries and Drives

Location: Southwest Wisconsin

Donation: Over 70,000 pounds of milk, half-and-half, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese and summer sausage snack kits, beef sticks, Organic Fuel protein shakes, and Stringles string cheese

Description: Organic Valley has prioritized ongoing donations to regional food banks in Wisconsin: Hunger Taskforce in La Crosse, Wisconsin, serves meal sites and food pantries throughout La Crosse, Vernon, Trempealeau, and Monroe counties; Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, a member of Feeding America, serves 16 counties, including Vernon and Monroe, where Organic Valley's Wisconsin operations are located. In addition to ongoing food bank support, Organic Valley provided products to a food drive near its Cashton campus in early May.

As the nation's largest cooperative of organic farms, Organic Valley continues to give locally and nationally whenever possible.

About Organic Valley

Organic Valley is America's largest cooperative of organic farmers and one of the nation's leading organic brands. Organized in 1988, it represents more than 1,800 farmers in 34 U.S. states, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Focused on its founding mission of saving family farms through organic farming, Organic Valley produces a wide range of organic dairy, egg, and produce products. With its regional model, milk is produced, bottled and distributed right in the region where it is farmed to ensure fewer miles from farm to table and to support our local economies. For further information visit www.organicvalley.coop. Organic Valley is also @OrganicValley on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Media Contact:

Elizabeth McMullen

[email protected]

608-632-6083

SOURCE Organic Valley

Related Links

http://www.organicvalley.coop


New Delhi, June 11 : Samsung is gearing up to launch a new Galaxy A Series smartphone A21s in India with 48MP quad camera as early as next week.

According to reliable sources, the device would be in Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 range and would be sold across Samsung's offline and online channels.

The device will feature a 6.5-inch Infinity O display, 48MP quad camera and a 5000mAh battery, sources told IANS on Thursday.

Galaxy A21 is likely to come in two variants - 4/64GB and 6/64GB.

Galaxy A21s will be Samsung's fourth Galaxy A Series smartphone to arrive in India this year.

Samsung earlier launched Galaxy A51, A71 and A31 in India, which did quite well. Galaxy A51 has emerged as a global best seller, according to Strategy Analytics.

Galaxy A21s will be Samsung's fourth smartphone to launch in India since the nationwide lockdown saw relaxation last month.

With the launch of Galaxy A21s, Samsung will have new smartphones across the value chain of smartphone ecosystem in the country.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
On May 29, Kuleba paid a visit to Budapest to meet with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Ukraine is seeking compromises in relations with Hungary, but will not betray own interests.

The minister noted the spread of "fake news" regarding his recent visit to Budapest, where he met with Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. He took on social networks to refute false statements and clarify facts.

"First fake: Ukraine creates the Berehove district in Hungary's interests. True: The Berehove district has long and finely existed, and has the right to continue to be in place. It's only about supplementing it with the Vynohradiv district within the reform. It was not the foreign ministry that made the decision to add this district. The foreign ministry has nothing to do with the administrative territorial reform," he wrote on Facebook.

"Another fake: Kuleba during his visit to Budapest made a commitment to create the Berehove district. True: I made no such commitments during my Budapest visit. The foreign ministry is conducting no negotiations with any country on creating 'ethnic' districts. Such negotiations would be contrary to the Constitution, legislation, and national interests of Ukraine," the minister said.

Read alsoExperts concerned over Ukraine's concessions to Hungary in Zakarpattia region

Kuleba also labeled as "fake" the allegation that diplomats had betrayed Ukrainian interests in bilateral relations with Hungary.

"True: diplomats are working to normalize relations with Hungary because this meets the strategic interests of Ukraine, including those of our Euro-Atlantic integration, and of Central Europe as a whole. In the foreign ministry, we are seeking compromises in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations, but we will never betray our interests, we will not cross the 'red lines' that would harm Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. By the way, we stand firmly on one of them, and I have repeatedly addressed this publicly: we reject the requirements for additional amendments to the education law," Kuleba said.

In addition, he said the principled and official position of the foreign ministry is that "no foreign country has the right to tell Ukraine how to arrange communities, districts or regions."

"To us, any interference by a foreign state in the internal affairs of Ukraine is absolutely unacceptable," Kuleba added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on May 29, Kuleba paid a visit to Budapest to meet with Szijjarto.

Following the meeting, he said that together with his Hungarian counterpart he would recommend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to hold a meeting in Kyiv in July.

Read alsoUkraine, Hungary move to settle differences over minority legislation

Kuleba said Ukraine offered that a document be signed with Hungary fixing that ethnic Hungarians represent "historical and cultural heritage" of Zakarpattia region, not its "problem".

In turn, Szijjarto said the three joint commissions of Ukraine and Hungary in June should agree on steps that will resolve disputed issues in relations between two countries.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The market for Emotion Detection and Recognition technology is growing rapidly to a projected 20.4 billion dollars in 2021. Jinglz, an emerging EDR tech startup that first began developing ad tech for mobile devices that utilizes facial detection to guarantee ad views, has just launched a new Online Public Offering to seek investors. This comes on the heels of rolling out their new EmotionTrac platform for measuring audience reaction to video content.



"When we first began development on our VeriView ad technology, it was all about using facial detection to verify when a user is truly engaging with mobile ad content," commented CEO Aaron Itzkowitz. "But we always knew that there was a next step, and that was to analyze a user's facial expressions to recognize their emotional response to what they're seeing."



Marketing agencies and advertisers have faced an uphill battle for viewers' attention as they compete with the growing amount of video content a viewer sees every day. For major brands, political groups, and massive advertising campaigns like those used to promote new Hollywood films, there is a growing risk of squandering budgets by distributing ineffective content. The EmotionTrac platform from Jinglz is the answer to this problem.



For decades, those markets have used traditional focus groups to try to gauge the response they'll get from their target audience. According to a recent Vox article, that model poses significant problems as respondents aren't always honest. What's more, in the age of COVID-19, getting large groups of strangers into a room raises significant health risks.



The EmotionTrac platform from Jinglz enables companies to build and deploy on-demand focus group tests that are delivered remotely online. It uses machine learning to recognize each viewer's emotional reaction to the video content they're shown, second-by-second, and provides quantitative data that can drive decisionmaking and help producers improve the effectiveness of their content.



Jinglz is seeking investment from accredited and non-accredited investors through the SEC-regulated offering they've just launched on the Netcapital funding portal. They'll use the funds raised to help expand their marketing and sales activities and begin pursuing revenue.



"Our offering is a chance to invest in a company at an early stage that is pursuing a market with massive potential," says Itzkowitz.



Since 2016, Jinglz has demonstrated progress in developing its technology and products as it raised money from private investors. Their last Online Public Offering closed in 2018, and since then, only accredited investors have been able to participate.



This new OPO offers both accredited and non-accredited investors a chance to invest as Jinglz prepares to generate revenue. Interested parties can invest by viewing the offering on Netcapital's funding portal at https://netcapital.com/companies/jinglz.



Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/12825970



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SOURCE Jinglz, Inc.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
China, Russia fighting off US 'snapback' threat against Iran at UN

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 6:53 AM

Veto powers China and Russia have written to the United Nations, arguing strongly against a US threat that it will try and bring about a return of all sanctions against Iran if the world body fails to extend an arms embargo against Tehran.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised the matter with Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council (UNSC) in letters submitted to them on June 7, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The United States has vowed to do all in its power to have the UN prolong the embargo on the sales of conventional weapons to Iran. The ban will expire this October under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six major world states.

Wang stressed in the letters that the US was legally prohibited from asking the Security Council to return the sanctions as it withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.

"The United States, no longer a participant to the JCPOA after walking away from it, has no right to demand the Security Council invoke a snapback," he wrote.

The US State Department's point man on Iran, Brian Hook, said at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation on Tuesday that the US would be prepared to raise the issue of the "snapback" of the sanctions against Iran if the arms embargo was not extended.

Similarly, Wang's Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov raised the same issue with the world body on May 27, invoking a 50-year-old international legal opinion.

Under the 1971 International Court of Justice opinion, "a party which disowns or does not fulfill its own obligations cannot be recognized as retaining the rights, which it claims to derive from the relationship," the Russian top diplomat reminded. The opinion has described the code as a fundamental principle governing international relationships.

Washington alleges that it can still trigger the so-called snapback because it is still "named" as a JCPOA participant in Security Council Resolution 2231 that has endorsed the nuclear deal.

Lavrov, however, wrote, "This is absolutely unacceptable and serves only to recall the famous English proverb about having one's cake and eating it."

On Friday, US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft announced that Washington had shared a draft resolution on the extension of Iran's arms embargo with Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Estonia which are all members of the Security Council.

Craft urged veto-wielders Moscow and Beijing to join what she claimed "a global consensus on Iran's conduct."

Reuters cited diplomats as saying that Washington was likely to face a "tough, messy" battle if it attempted to challenge the arms embargo's removal and try to force the snapback against all odds.

'US bid could trigger crisis at UNSC'

Lavrov's deputy Sergei Ryabkov, meanwhile, warned that the US's bid to reinstate the sanctions against Iran could lead to an inevitable "severe crisis situation at the Security Council," Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

Washington's campaign, he added, amounts to complete rejection of the views of others and even common sense, calling it "outrageous that the US administration now tries to freely pick and choose what serves its interests."

"It would be a huge blow to the sovereignty of the Security Council, and the US will bear responsibility for this," the official noted.

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Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  There was good news on tap Thursday for New Mexicos 90 or so breweries, as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said they will be allowed to reopen at limited capacity with the states coronavirus transmission rate falling.

However, the Democratic governor expressed concern about climbing COVID-19 case counts in neighboring Texas and Arizona, and said its still not safe to fully reopen New Mexicos economy.

Until theres a vaccine, we have to keep managing how we deal with the virus, she said during a news conference at the state Capitol that was broadcast online.

While new COVID-19 cases continue to pop up and the states death toll rose Thursday to 420, top state health officials have said the state passed its peak in new cases and hospitalizations last month.

With the state meeting its virus control criteria, Lujan Grishams administration has started to gradually relax some business restrictions.

Dine-in restaurants, gyms and salons were allowed to reopen at limited capacity on June 1, and breweries will now be next in line.

Specifically, Lujan Grisham said an existing public health order will be revised to allow breweries to reopen outdoor and patio seating areas at 50% capacity, starting Friday.

The revised order will then allow breweries to open indoor dining areas at 50% capacity, just like restaurants can currently do, starting Monday.

New Mexico Brewers Guild executive director Leah Black said breweries have been training their staff on COVID-safe practices during the closure that began in mid-March, shortly after the states first confirmed cases were announced.

We are just ecstatic and grateful, Black said after the governors announcement. We are so happy to have the chance to welcome everyone with open arms.

Under the soft reopening for breweries, bar and counter seating will be prohibited and tables will be required to be positioned at least six feet apart. In addition, no more than six customers will be allowed to sit at a single table.

New Mexico bars will still remain closed for now, as Lujan Grisham said Thursday its not yet safe to reopen them since patrons often sit in close proximity and  depending on the individual  tend to remain in a single establishment for longer time periods.

Breweries are more similar in many ways to restaurants, Lujan Grisham added, saying its easier to maintain social distancing guidelines in such settings.

Some New Mexico Republicans have criticized Lujan Grishams handling of the pandemic and pushed for parts of the state with few cases to be allowed to reopen more quickly.

Her decisions defy logic as New Mexicans continue to struggle and lose their livelihoods, state GOP chairman Steve Pearce said Thursday.

However, Lujan Grisham has defended her administrations approach to the COVID-19 outbreak, and said Thursday that New Mexicans should remain vigilant and wear masks when in public settings.

Complacency when it feels like everything is alright is what creates more risk, the governor said.

Death toll rises, testing up

New Mexicos coronavirus death toll has continued to increase, even as restrictions on business are gradually eased.

Ten additional deaths from COVID-19 were announced Thursday, and six of those who died lived in San Juan County, which has been hit hard by the disease.

Most of those six were elderly individuals and had underlying health conditions, and four of them lived in group-living facilities.

Meanwhile, two individuals also died in both McKinley County and in Dona Ana County.

The governor also announced an additional 121 new confirmed coronavirus cases, and said 189 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms around the state.

But Lujan Grisham also cited several positive trends, including a decrease in the states virus transmission rate that had dropped to 0.9 as of earlier this week. That means each individual infected with the virus transmits it to an average of 0.9 other people.

The states COVID-19 testing capacity has also increased, as a rolling average of nearly 5,100 tests per day were being conducted as of this week  or slightly more than the states established goal of 5,000 tests conducted daily.

We made tough decisions and it saved lives, Lujan Grisham said Thursday, referring to business closures, a ban on large public gatherings and other orders that were imposed shortly after the outbreak started.

Low-income areas, higher rates

While COVID-19 cases have declined in many parts of New Mexico, there have been trouble spots.

That includes a fast-spreading outbreak at the Otero County Prison Facility in Chaparral that has infected 222 inmates and killed two, state officials said Thursday.

In response, testing has been ramped up among corrections officers and inmates alike, and infected inmates are being quarantined and isolated in an attempt to slow the virus spread, Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel said.

The COVID-19 outbreak has also disproportionately affected New Mexicos Native American population, with outbreaks on the Navajo Nation and other tribal lands prompting curfews, road closures and other drastic measures in recent months.

As of Thursday, Native Americans made up 54.9% of the states total confirmed cases despite representing just 11% of the overall population.

Human Services Secretary David Scrase said data compiled by state epidemiologists show much higher coronavirus infection rates in low-income areas in New Mexico.

Specifically, the states lowest-income residents were more than three times likely to test positive than any other income group, according to state and U.S. Census data.

This really is a matter of our most disadvantaged individuals being most vulnerable, Scrase said, adding that a lack of running water and other basic necessities had put some New Mexicans at greater risk of contracting the virus.

Journal staff writer Rozanna Martinez contributed to this report.
Supervisors Aim to Retain Lower Jail Population Post COVID-19 Crisis

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously supported a proposal authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to maintain a lower jail population after the COVID-19 crisis is over.

The LA County jail system has been overcrowded for decades. While the system has capacity for 12,404 people, on any given day the seven facilities have a population of 17,000 people on average.

Jail overcrowding creates terrible conditions for everyone, said Supervisor Janice Hahn. Not only does overcrowding make it nearly impossible to control disease outbreaks, it creates terrible conditions for our inmates and deputies alike.

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However, since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the LA County Sheriffs Department, the courts, the Public Defender, and the District Attorney, have worked together to reduce the jail population by 5,000 people. On June 2, 2020, the total jail population was 12,026, and was as low as 11,765 on May 1, marking the first time in decades that the LA County jail systems population was lower than the capacity assigned by the Board of State and Community Corrections.

This pandemic has been devastating but it has also revealed that many of the bold ideas that so many people said were impossible were actually very possible, said Supervisor Janice Hahn. Our jails have been overcrowded for decades but the last two months have proven that many people have said for a long time  there are thousands of people in our jails who do not need to be there.

This week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas designed to retain this lower jail population long after the COVID-19 crisis is over.

The County must build on this unprecedented progress in keeping the population down in our jails  down from 17,000 to 12,000 individuals in less than two months  by rethinking how to safely serve thousands of individuals in a more cost-effective, rehabilitative and humane manner, said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. It took a pandemic to alleviate overcrowding and get us into compliance with the states requirements, which is a powerful statement about the criminal justice systems resistance to change. Yet, we remain undeterred. This is the right moment for the County to renew its commitment to ending over-incarceration, expanding alternatives to incarceration, scaling the work of the Office of Diversion and Reentry, and addressing racial inequity.

In response to the COVID pandemic, a group of justice partners came together and worked hard to reduce the population in the county jail by more than 30%, said Judge Peter Espinoza, Director of the Office of Diversion and Reentry. These decisions were made in a collaborative fashion with the intent of removing those most vulnerable to the virus while taking into account community safety. Its time for those same partners to come together and have a frank discussion about what we learned in that process and what actions we can take going forward, and what systems of care we can build, to keep the jail population down.

With the motion passed this week, the Board of Supervisors has requested that the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, the Office of Diversion and Reentry, and other stakeholders provide a report to the Board of Supervisors in 60 days on their plan post-COVID19 to maintain a reduced jail population beneath the Board of State and Community Corrections rated capacity while continuing to protect public safety and ensuring appropriate services for individuals released early or diverted from incarceration. This report back will include:

A protocol for warm hand-offs to post-release placements Additions and expansions needed to the Countys system of care that can provide alternative placements to incarceration  community-based whenever possible  including for individuals experiencing homelessness, individuals with serious mental illness, and individuals suffering from substance abuse Legislative changes that the County could pursue and advocate for to help maintain a reduced jail population Plans to reduce the number of inmates admitted on a daily basis

The Board also directed the Countys CEO, in consultation with the Sheriff and Auditor Controller, to report back in 60 days with an analysis of any cost savings that have or will be generated in the future through a reduced jail population.
Pelosi Wants 11 Confederate Statues Removed From US Capitol

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is calling the removal of 11 statues from the U.S. Capitols National Statuary Hall Collection, saying they pay homage to hate.

The statues represent soldiers and officers who served in the Confederate Army, which lost in the U.S. Civil War. They include statues of Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens, who were president and vice president of the Confederacy.

Pelosi, in a letter (pdf) to Joint Committee on the Library Chairman Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the committees vice chairwoman, says statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation.

Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed, she said.

While I believe it is imperative that we never forget our history, lest we repeat it, I also believe that there is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honor across the country.

The joint committee should direct Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton to immediately take steps to remove the statues, she said.

One hundred statues, two from each state, are in the National Statuary Hall Collection, displayed in the hall and throughout the Capitol.

A statue of Jefferson Davis (second from left), president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, is on display in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 24, 2015. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

Lofgren said in a statement that she agrees with Pelosi that the statues should be quickly removed, asserting that the Capitol belongs to the American people and cannot serve as a place of honor for the hatred and racism that tears at the fabric of our nation, the very poison that these statues embody.

Blunt said in a statement that its not up to the committee he heads or Blanton to decide which statues are in the Capitol.

Under the law, each state decides which two statues it will send to the Capitol. Several states have moved toward replacing statues, and others appear headed in the same direction, he said.

This process is ongoing and encouraging. As Speaker Pelosi is undoubtedly aware, the law does not permit the architect of the Capitol or the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove a statue from the Capitol once it has been received.

States have been allowed to replace statues donated to the collection since 2000 through a request in writing after a statue has been displayed for at least 10 years, according to Blantons office (pdf). The request must be approved by the Joint Committee, which can waive the time requirement if a state requests.

Subjects of statues must be a dead person who was a U.S. citizen and is illustrious for historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services.

Blunt told reporters in Washington that at least three or four new statues are being processed now, including one from Missouri, which is replacing a statue of Thomas Hart Benton, a slaveholder, with a statue of Harry Truman.

My view would be unless theres specific congressional action that voids the agreements with the states, that the states appear to be headed in this path anyway, and thats the better way to deal with it, he said.
The CMS data is incomplete, however, with some facilities including cases and deaths since the coronavirus outbreak began and others including data only since early May. Still others havent filed reports.

The data also has discrepancies, such as a few nursing homes in Wisconsin  including Sunrise  reporting more total deaths from COVID-19 than total confirmed cases.

CMS said in April it would require nursing homes to report COVID-19 cases and deaths. The data, released June 4, is the first to be made public. Nationwide, as of May 31, about 13,600 facilities reported more than 95,000 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 32,000 deaths.

This sort of national data for nursing homes is unprecedented and constitutes the backbone of a national COVID-19 virus surveillance system, Seema Verma, CMS administrator, said in a media call last week.

But Verma said the data had limitations and urged caution in interpreting it, saying some facilities are struggling to report, others are making honest errors and quality control is still evolving.

Homes defended
Chuck Lovell was sworn in Thursday morning as Portland police chief via a Zoom video conference.

Two and a half hours later, Lovell answered questions from the media via another video conference. Watch a replay in the video below.

He takes over as the City Council is preparing to eliminate the Police Bureaus Gun Violence Reduction Team and return officers who have been assigned to the Youth Services and Transit divisions back to patrol, while hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the streets each day calling for the defunding of police and protesting police violence.

Lovell was named the citys new chief Monday after Jami Resch made the unprecedented move of stepping down and asking him to fill the top job.

Resch said she considered the communitys needs and believed the change was necessary in the wake of the public outcry over George Floyd, an African American man who died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

Lovell, hired as a Portland officer in 2002, is the fourth African American to lead the citys police force of about 950 sworn officers. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Lovell served in the Air Force before joining the Police Bureau.

He served as a school resource officer from 2007 through 2011, was promoted to sergeant in July 2011 and lieutenant in July 2017. He served as former Chief Danielle Outlaws executive assistant when she came to Portland from Oakland and most recently oversaw a new community outreach division for Resch. The division includes the Behavioral Health Unit, a community engagement officer, a new homeless community liaison and a new civilian community engagement specialist.

He has been active with the community, serving as a mentor in a "Boys to Men'' program and on the board of Lines for Life, a nonprofit that operates a crisis call center.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

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Tim Scott doesnt regularly seek out the spotlight. Yet the spotlight has a way of finding him anyway.

And there might be no bigger moment so far for the South Carolina senator than this one. Scott has been tasked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to do the near-impossible: Assemble a set of reforms that responds to the national outrage over police killings of African Americans and also satisfies President Donald Trump, conservative Republicans and enough Democrats to become law.

As one of three black senators, and the only Republican, Scott is regularly confronted with the intersection of politics and race. He counseled Trump after the presidents much-criticized response to white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., delivered the finishing blow against Trump judicial nominees with controversial racial views and famously revealed that even as a senator hes still profiled by police.

And now Scott is what he calls the guy holding the paper  the person who will try to chart a course for the Senate Republican majority on police reform that meets the moment, with a conservative bent. Already hes facing skepticism from Democrats who fear he and his party wont go far enough. But he said that when it comes to the task at hand, it aint about me.

The thing that really anchors me, especially in these challenging times, is when you realize that its not about you. Its about you being a resource for hopefully greater good, Scott said in an interview. He grew increasingly introspective when asked whether he enjoys being the center of attention on issues of race and policing.

The purpose really cant be me at this moment. The purpose is that there are literally tens of millions of Americans whove lost confidence in institutions that have authority, Scott said. As a victim of that situation many times, including this year, how do I make sure that my experience and not myself becomes the focal point?

President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during a meeting on opportunity zones in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Monday, May 18, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Like all things Tim Scott, the answer is to generally keep his head down and plow ahead. One of the most laid-back people in official Washington, you wont hear him touting his status as one of just two black Republicans in Congress or throwing haymakers at Democrats who doubt his partys ability to pass meaningful legislation.

Story continues

Scott prefers to be under the radar and is so low-key that after he became a senator, he successfully spent several days undercover doing manual labor in South Carolina. He greets acquaintances with a twangy yessir in the hallways of the Senate, but rarely throws out headline chum to a press corps eager to hear his thoughts on race in the Trump era. He'll do TV appearances, but doesn't churn out tweetable soundbites.

He is probably too good for this job. I mean he really is, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a fellow South Carolina Republican. In this business where its about you? Its not really about Tim in Tims own mind.

Scott said on Thursday he doesnt read any of the news coverage about him, saying it would distract from what he needs to do. He said he asks his staff to send him only the most egregious comments on Twitter.

This week he pushed back at criticism from those who called him a token black politician thats being used by the GOP, questioning why people wouldnt want a Republican who has faced profiling to be the partys leader on police reform. In 2017 he responded to someone calling him a racial slur about working in a house by pointing out that he served in the Senate.

People want to look at him as the black senator, rather than just senator, said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a friend who is working on the GOPs police bill with Scott. He said the burden of being the GOPs racial conscience can make for an awkward position to be in.

In a moment when the nation is talking about race, theres a tendency to say somebody needs to be able to step up and take this. But my first thought on Tim is: Hes just a great senator and leader, period, Lankford added. And I dont find in him a sense of trying to lead with race first.

Scott is expected to release his police reform proposal later this month. So far, he envisions legislation far different than what Democrats have proposed, one aimed at getting local departments to behave better without implementing stern new regulations from Washington. Scott is a deeply conservative politician and his ideas may struggle to find support among Democrats seeking big changes amid the national reckoning sparked by George Floyds death in Minneapolis.

For now, hes not advocating a chokehold ban but instead looking to improve data collection and creating incentives for police to reduce their use of force. Hes also not trying to make it easier to sue police, a key Democratic ask. He says those provisions wont get across the finish line, arguing that its not about just writing a good bill, but writing a good bill that can pass.

I am simply a resource, Im not the source, I dont have the ability to get anything done. Im one person out of 100, he said. And we need the presidents signature and if the Good Lord doesnt bless it, its all in vain.

One could spend a whole day trying and failing to get anyone in the Senate to say a cross word about Scott. And even as they attack the GOPs plans on police reform, Democrats are careful not to doubt Scotts motivations.

Certainly Sen. Scott is working hard. But the forces that are the center of gravity in the Republican Party cause me to take a wait-and-see attitude, said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

Scotts allies on anti-lynching legislation that's likely to be included in the package, Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, are already criticizing the approach hes laid out on policing even as they count Scott as a personal friend. Booker said the GOPs tentative bill does nothing to allow officers to be held accountable in court, prevent fired officers from moving to another towns police department and ban no-knock warrants and chokeholds.

I havent yet read it. But the little I know about it, it does not meet the moment or the needs of the moment, Harris said Thursday. Its so far from being relevant to really the crisis at hand, and what we need to do to solve the problems that are obvious.

Scott is realistic about the challenge ahead of him. Its an election year, Congress is divided and law enforcement is the type of issue that forces each party into its corner.

But he hopes that even if people oppose him as a politician, they will see that he did his best to make policy rather than boost his profile.

Those folks who are protesting, there are more whites than blacks. That to me is good news for the country. We see the same problem from the same eyes with different experiences, he said. The goal is to make sure that all those people  see me not focusing on my own experiences or whats best for the party but whats best for them. Even if they dont like me, sooner or later they will respect that it was about them. And not me.
The Bombay High Court has observed that a woman in a live-in relationship has an indefeasible claim of natural guardianship for children born out of a live-in relationship.

The court made the observation on Tuesday while rejecting the plea of a Pune resident seeking custody of his minor son born out of relationship with a woman from New Zealand.

An indefeasible claim is one that isnt capable of being annulled or undone.

The 26-year-old divorcee, who has a son from his ex-wife, said he met the New Zealand citizen in 2008. Three years later, the acquaintance developed into a relationship and they were together till June 2012. A boy was born to the New Zealand woman about six months after they broke up.

The man had approached a family court in Pune for temporary custody of the minor, after he learnt his partner had decided to shift to New Zealand with the child. Claiming the woman was incapable of being a guardian on grounds of mental instability, he had sought an order restraining her from taking the boy out of India.

He then approached the high court after the family court rejected his plea. The high court too dismissed his claim.

Justice SC Gupte said the man had claimed the boy wasnt born out of wedlock but out of a romantic relationship. In other words, it is his own case that the child is an illegitimate child, and if that is so, it is difficult to see how he, as a putative biological father, can claim custody of the child over the woman, who admittedly is its biological mother, the judge said.

Gupte said under section 6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, the mother is the natural guardian of an illegitimate boy or an illegitimate unmarried girl, and the fathers claim of guardianship comes only after hers.

There are only two exceptions to this rule  either the woman ceases to be a Hindu or completely renounces the material world and becomes a hermit or an ascetic, the high court said. Thus, it added, the woman had an indefeasible claim to natural guardianship of her child.

There is no case in law for the petitioner to claim guardianship or custody of the child over her, it said.

The court rejected the mans claim that the woman was mentally and emotionally unstable, and wasnt entitled to custody of the seven-year-old boy because she was of a quarrelsome nature and tried to minimise the childs social interaction.

In this regard, the high court said, it wasnt even a formally stated case of unsoundness of mind. Any mental or emotional instability, by itself, is no ground to deny custody to a natural guardian, except insofar as it bears on the physical or mental security and welfare of the child, the court said while rejecting the mans claim.

It noted the material produced by the man didnt suggest any unsoundness of mind or even a case of mental or emotional instability and incapacity of the woman to look after her child.
Around the country, nursing homes trying to protect their residents from the coronavirus eagerly await boxes of masks, eyewear and gowns promised by the federal government. But all too often the packages deliver disappointment  if they arrive at all.

Some contain flimsy surgical masks or cloth face coverings that are explicitly not intended for medical use. Others are missing items or have far less than the full week's worth of protective equipment the government promised to send. Instead of proper medical gowns, many packages hold large blue plastic ponchos.

"It's like putting a trash bag on," said Pamela Black, the administrator of Enterprise Estates Nursing Center in Enterprise, Kansas. "There's no real place for your hands to come out."

As nursing homes remain the pandemic's epicenter, the federal government is failing to ensure they have all the personal protective equipment, or PPE, needed to prevent the spread of the virus, according to interviews with administrators and federal data.

Despite President Donald Trump's pledge April 30 to "deploy every resource and power that we have" to protect older Americans, a fifth of the nation's nursing homes  3,213 out of more than 15,000  reported during the last two weeks of May that they had less than a week's supply of masks, gowns, gloves, eye protectors or hand sanitizer, according to federal records. Of those, 946 reported they had at least one confirmed COVID infection since the pandemic began.

"The federal government's failure to nationalize the supply chain and take control of it contributed to the deaths in nursing homes," said Scott LaRue, president and CEO of ArchCare, the health care system of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, which operates five nursing homes.

Widespread equipment shortages continue in some places as the virus rages lethally through nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. More than 217,000 short-term patients and long-term residents in nursing homes have contracted COVID-19, and 43,000 have died.

Some homes still have not received the first of two batches of supplies the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would ship in May. Instead, some got only cloth masks that the Department of Health and Human Services commissioned through a contract with HanesBrands, the apparel company known for its underwear. An HHS webpage says the masks are not intended for caring for contagious patients but can be given to workers for their commutes or to residents when they leave their rooms.

As homes keep scrounging for supplies in a chaotic market with jacked-up prices and continued scarcity, 653 skilled nursing facilities informed the government they had completely run out of one or more types of protective supplies at some point in the last two weeks of May, according to records released last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS.

"The federal government has got to step up," said Lori Smetanka, executive director of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. "We're now  what?  three months into this pandemic, and these facilities still don't have enough PPE to protect themselves and their residents?"

A 'relentless commitment'

In April, Trump pledged his administration "will never waver in its relentless commitment to America's seniors." But FEMAs shipments of masks, gloves, gowns and eye protection have had a more modest goal: "to serve as a bridge between other PPE shipments."

In written comments, FEMA defended the quality of the poncho gowns but said that because of complaints, the contractor was creating a "short instructional video about proper use of the gowns" to share with homes. FEMA officials said that, as of June 4, the agency had shipped packages to 11,287 nursing homes, starting at "the soonest possible date in the COVID-19 global supply chain climate.

Yet 67 of the Good Samaritan Society's 147 nursing homes have not received a FEMA shipment, including homes that are fighting the biggest outbreaks in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Greeley, Colorado; and Omaha, Nebraska, according to Nate Schema, the Evangelical Lutheran society's vice president of operations. "We have not received a shipment in our six or seven hot spots," he said.

The supplies that did arrive tended to be in one size only, he said, and "the quality wasn't quite up to the same level we've been receiving" through the society's affiliation with Sanford Health, a large hospital and physician system.

The society has enough equipment, but small nursing home groups and independent homes are still struggling, particularly with obtaining N95 masks, which filter out tiny particles of the virus and are considered the best way to protect both nursing home employees and residents from transmitting it.

The CMS records show 711 nursing homes reported having run out of N95 masks, and 1,963 said they had less than a week's worth. But FEMA is not shipping any N95 masks, and nursing homes are having trouble obtaining them from other sources. Instead, it is sending surgical masks, but more than 1,000 homes have less than a week's supply of those.

Messiah Lifeways at Messiah Village in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, received a FEMA shipment this week that had face shields and gloves, but only three days' worth of surgical masks and "very low low-grade quality" gowns that lacked sleeves, said Katie Andreano, a Messiah communications specialist.

Only two of ArchCare's five nursing homes have received any FEMA shipments even though it is based in New York City, the site of the nation's biggest outbreak. The equipment for those two homes lasted less than a week. LaRue tried to procure equipment from abroad, but all of the potential suppliers turned out to be fraudulent. He said ArchCare has had to rely on sporadic supplies from the state and city emergency management offices.

"As we sit here today, I'm still not able to get more than a few days' supply of N95 masks, and I still struggle to a certain extent with gowns," LaRue said. "That doesn't make you sleep at night, because you're not sure when the next delivery comes."

'It's not going to work'

In addition to the supplies, the administration has dedicated $5 billion to nursing homes out of $175 billion in provider relief funds appropriated by Congress. Hospitals are getting much more. Administrators said money doesn't solve the broken private supply chains, where the availability of PPE is spotty and the equipment is vastly overpriced.

"Too often, the only signs of FEMA's much-hyped promise of PPE are scattershot delivery with varying amounts of ragtag supplies," said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit nursing homes and other service agencies for older people.

The cloth masks from HHS have been particularly perplexing to nursing home administrators, given the caveats that accompanied them. The instructions for the masks said they could be washed up to 15 times, according to Sondra Norder, president and CEO of St. Paul Elder Services in Kaukauna, Wisconsin.

"I don't know how we would possibly track how many times each mask has been washed," she said. The instructions also said the masks should not be washed with disinfectants, bleach or chemicals, which is how Norder said nursing homes clean their laundry.

Norder said she laundered about 100 masks and they shrank. "The ones that have been washed are tiny, and I certainly wouldn't want to put something on someone's face that hasn't been laundered," she said. "All my colleagues [at other nursing homes] received the same thing and were also baffled by it, wondering, 'How are we going to use these?'"

KHN senior correspondent Christina Jewett contributed to this report.
P8 Form 2019/2020  Submission Date Extended to 31st August 2020

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the Business Employee Assistance Terms (BEAT) measures announced by HM Government of Gibraltar, the Income Tax Office has updated the method for submitting P8 returns for 2019/2020.

Most should already have the 2019/2020 P8 Income Declaration Form. Please disregard this form since it does not cater for the BEAT scheme that was introduced as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to facilitate the reporting for 2019/2020, electronic and interactive versions of the P8 form will be made available via the govt website and can be downloaded via the following link - https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/new/employers

By using this facility, employers will be able to adequately report on all employees, irrespective if these have continued to be active or if they were made inactive, partly inactive or furloughed throughout any of the months in the period extending from 1 April to 30 June 2020. The Income Tax Office will exclusively accept P8 declarations in the new updated format. Consequently, any declarations made using the former P8 form will be rejected. Any employer which submits this form will be notified of this.

Additional guidance notes will be made available when these electronic and interactive forms are released. A service to upload completed forms directly and securely through an online platform available will be made available via the following link - https://tax.egov.gi/

Guidance notes and recommendations will be made available closer to the launch date.

To allow companies to adjust to the additional requirements resulting from these measures, the submission date for the P8, P10 & P12 forms will be deferred until 31st August 2020. This deferral is only applicable to this tax year (2019/2020). P10 & P12 forms will therefore be mailed out towards the end of June.

Payment of PAYE & Social Insurance 2020/2021

Employers will not be provided with remittance advice slips for the payment of PAYE & Social Insurance for the 2020/2021 tax year. Payments should now be made through the online facility available via the following link - https://tax.egov.gi/

Please refer to the guidance and instructional video within this landing page for e-services.

Update of Employer Mailing Address for PAYE Purposes

Please notify the PAYE Section of any change of address or if the company has changed your tax agents. This will allow the Income Tax Office to ensure receipt of any important information regarding company obligations. Any change of particulars should be sent to the Income Tax Office via email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please help the Income Tax Office to help you by ensuring that your records are up to date with this office.

Registration of PAYE Employees

The Income Tax Office understands that these requests are urgent and all attempts are made to process these as quickly as possible. Any employers seeking to register their employees with the Income Tax Office should direct their request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To register employees will need to provide the Income Tax Office with copies of the following:

 Employment contract issued by the Department of Employment

 ID Card or Passport

 An authority letter signed by the employee, allowing the company to receive the tax code on their behalf. Without this the Income Tax Office will be unable to supply tax codes to employers making this request.

Any individual employees wishing to register will need to provide a copy of their employment contract issued by the Department of Employment and a copy of their ID Card or passport.
The third Sunday of June is celebrated as Fathers Day in most parts of the world. Fathers Day is a celebration of fathers, honouring fatherhood, paternal bonds and the role fathers play in society. This day was first proposed in 1909 to complement Mothers Day celebrations.

Significance

On this day children acknowledge and appreciate their fathers and father figures, who play an important role in their lives, be it emotionally, mentally or even financially. On this day children understand the importance of the role of a father in ones life. This day acknowledges the contribution of fathers to their own families and society at large. Children buy or make presents for their father or father-like figure, write and draw cards, spend the day engaging in activities that can be enjoyed with ones father, be it hiking, fishing or just sitting around watching some television. In India especially, most kids have a closer bond with their mothers, so this day definitely helps forge a closer relation with ones dad.

ALSO READ: Happy Fathers Day 2020: Wishes, images, quotes, Facebook messages and WhatsApp status to share with dad

While India follows the US, and celebrates Fathers Day on the third Sunday of June every year, in other countries including Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Fathers Day is celebrated on March 19. And even though this is a Western tradition started in the United States of America, it has gained a lot of prominence in India in the past many years.

History

The day was founded in USA, where it is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, at the Spokane, Washington YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd. That year, Fathers Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910. Sonora heard about how Anna Jarvis had founded Mothers Day in honour of her mother and told the pastor of her Church that there should be something similar to celebrate fathers too. Sonoras father was Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, a single parent from Arkansas who raised six children. Sonora was hoping that Fathers Day celebrations would be held on June 5, which was her fathers birthday, but the Churchs time constraints ended up pushing this day and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June.

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Dyson makes global product debut in Shanghai for first time

By:Zheng Qian | From:english.eastday.com | 2020-06-11 14:17

Dyson released its latest Digital Slim cordless vacuum cleaner product in Shanghai on June 9. It is the first time the company has had a global premiere of a cordless cleaner in Shanghai.

Dysons latest Digital Slim cordless vacuum cleaner.[Photo/ xmwb.news.com]

The device, with a weight of only 1.5 kilograms with the cleaner head on, has been especially designed for Chinese families.

By optimizing components like the suction head and brush strips, the new product had its weight and size respectively reduced by 30% and 20%. In addition, the ergonomic improvement in the wand makes it slimmer and easier to hold.

Before the debut, the company conducted a survey of the cleaning needs of Chinese users which showed that people prefer to use fragments of time to quickly complete home cleaning and thus such a customized device has been designed.

It was due to the strong consumer power in the Chinese market that the company chose Shanghai as the place to make its global debut. Regarding this, Dysons senior quality engineer Ma Yuefeng said that China is one of Dyson's most important markets in the world and is expected to become Dyson's largest single market in the next one or two years.

Through continuous investment in talent, supply chains and retail channels and via the Dyson Shanghai Technology Laboratory which deepens our understanding of Chinese consumers, we will keep expanding our business in China,"said Ma.
Police in Melbourne shot and killed a 53-year-old mentally ill man on May 28. The incident occurred around 10 a.m. in the emergency lane of one of the citys major arterial motorways, in full view of passing traffic.

Police later explained that they had received a call that there was a distressed male parked in the emergency lane of the Monash Freeway. Four officers arrived soon after and confronted the man, who was holding a knife. Dash cam footage from a passing motorist showed the police standing behind their vehicles with their guns drawn, a few metres away from the man who was standing behind his cars driver door.

Assistant Police Commissioner Bob Hill insisted, We [the officers] tried to negotiate with him, we actually tried to calm him down. He described the event as a mental health episode, and a sad occasion.

According to the police account, the man began to move towards the police. Officers attempted to withdraw, according to Hill, but the man continued to advance. Police fired a non-lethal beanbag round, and after that one officer fired at least two shots from a semi-automatic weapon. The rounds hit the mans chest, killing him.

Much about the incident remains unclear, including why other non-lethal tactics were not used, such as capsicum spray. The officers were reportedly wearing body cameras, but the footage has not been released. Homicide detectives are reviewing what happened, overseen by the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC).

Little information has been released about the deceased man, other than his age, residence in the outer working class suburb of Narre Warren, and that he had no criminal record.

His death marks another incident where police have killed someone suffering a mental health crisis.

In 2013 the Australian Institute of Criminology released a report on fatal police shootings between 1989 and 2011. Over that period, 105 people were shot dead by the police. Some 42 percent of these victims had a mental illness at their time of death. From 1998 to 2018, 35 people in the state of New South Wales were shot dead by police. Of these, 54 percent had a mental illness.

There have been multiple instances of mentally ill people holding knives being fatally shot by police. Some of the examples include:

Only in the case of Joyce Clarkes death have any charges against the police officers involved been laid.

Routinely, when these fatal shootings occur, they are investigated by the Professional Standards Command, an agency of the police force itself. A coronial inquest is then held in which the coroner inevitably recommends that the police should receive more training in dealing with vulnerable young and or mentally ill people, and should be accompanied by trained mental health professionals. The purpose of such inquiries is to create the illusion that the capitalist state is responding to public outrage, while nothing changes and the police violence continues unabated.

Due to decades of austerity measures by Labor and Liberal governments alike, proper mental health services and facilities have been gutted. As a consequence, police are becoming the primary response for mental health call-outs, instead of trained mental health professionals.

The latest police killing in Australia occurs in the context of an escalating international movement of working people and youth, outraged by the brutal police murder of George Floyd in the United States. It points to the class issues involved in the political struggle against state repression, with working people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds at risk of being threatened with police violence.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 20:04:46|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, June 11 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 has continued to spread in south and southeastern Asia as India saw the largest single day spikes both in terms of COVID-19 deaths and new cases on Thursday.

Confirmed cases are mounting in the world's second-most populous country, as it on Thursday morning reported 357 new deaths, and 9,996 positive cases during the past 24 hours, taking the number of deaths to 8,102 and total cases to 286,579.

Bangladesh recorded 37 more deaths and 3,187 new cases, a senior health ministry official told a television media briefing.

The number of confirmed cases has risen to 78,052, and the death toll has reached 1,049.

The confirmed cases in Indonesia rose by 979 within one day to 35,295, with the death toll adding by 41 to 2,000, Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto said at a press conference.

He said 507 more people have been discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 12,636.

Malaysia's Health Ministry reported 31 new infections after three straight days of single-digit new cases, pushing the total number to 8,369.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said at a press briefing that of the new cases, 11 are imported and of the local transmissions, 19 are foreign nationals and one is a Malaysia citizen.

The number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines surged to 24,175 after the Department of Health reported 443 more infections on Thursday.

The number of recoveries further climbed to 5,165 after 270 more patients recovered, and the death toll also increased to 1,036 after nine more patients died.

Laos reported no new case for 60 consecutive days, and all 19 patients infected by the virus have been discharged from hospitals.

The leader of the opposition in Pakistan's National Assembly or the lower house of the parliament Shahbaz Sharif and several other politicians have tested positive, local media reported Thursday.

Shahbaz, who is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), went to self-quarantine after testing positive for the disease, the party's spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb said.

A total of 119,536 people have tested positive of the disease, and 2,356 have died.

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health confirmed 748 new cases, bringing to 22,890 the total number of patients in the country.

Twenty-one patients died within the period, taking the death toll to 426, and the total number of people recovered from the virus reached 3,326 after 313 patients were recovered since early Wednesday.

South Korea reported 45 more cases compared to 24 hours ago as of 0:00 a.m. Thursday local time, raising the total number of infections to 11,947.

The daily caseload moved between 30 and 60 for the past 11 days. Of the new cases, five were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 1,312.

No more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 276.
JD Greear endorses black lives matter as gospel issue, denounces organization

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President of the Southern Baptist Convention, J.D. Greear, endorsed the black lives matter movement as a Gospel issue to members of the world's largest Baptist denomination Wednesday, but denounced the Black Lives Matter organization that sparked the movement in 2013.

Greear made the endorsement during an SBC presidential address in which he told Southern Baptists that disagreeing with the worldview of the Black Lives Matter organization doesnt make the issue black lives matter untrue.

Black lives matter, Greear said after acknowledging the SBCs racist past and highlighting the denominations growing diversity, as well as the ongoing civil unrest over racial inequality in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day.

I realize that the movement and the website have been hijacked by some political operatives whose worldview and policy prescriptions would be deeply at odds with my own, but that doesnt mean that the sentiment behind it is untrue. I do not align myself with the Black Lives Matter organization, he said.

I think saying bold things like defund the police is unhelpful and deeply disrespectful to many public servants who bravely put themselves in harms way every day to protect us. But I know that we need to take a deep look at our police systems and structures and ask what were missing. Where are we missing the mark? And Ill say that we do that because black lives matter. We know that honoring Christ in this moment  means listening to those who hurt, lamenting with them, and bearing their burdens, he said.

Greear, who leads The Summit Church in the Raleigh-Durham area and has long been a champion of intentional diversity in the SBC, explained how the denomination started 175 years ago because founding members supported slavery. The denomination has, over the years since then, rejected and repented of its racist past to become one of the most ethnically diverse religious groups in the United States.

A lot of people dont know that, but nearly 20% of all Southern Baptist churches are majority non-white and the North America Mission Board tells us that more than 60% of new churches planted recently have been planted and led by people of color, Greear said.

Following Floyds death, which was caught on a video showing him handcuffed, lying face down, begging for his life and crying for his mother before he stopped breathing, Greear urged Southern Baptists to see racial injustice as a real issue that must be addressed.

We realize that especially in a moment like this one, we need our brothers and sisters of color. We need the wisdom of leadership that God has written in their community. We know that many in our country, particularly our brothers and sisters of color, right now are hurting, he said.

Pursuing justice means laboring for the protection of others as fiercely as we would our own children. A racially reconciled church requires more than just sentiments and hashtags and twitter posts. It requires the humility to listen to one another. The empathy to see things from anothers perspective, the charity to give their motives the benefit of the doubt that we would want them to give to us, he continued.

Southern Baptists, we need to say it clearly: As a Gospel issue, black lives matter. Of course, black lives matter. Our black brothers and sisters are made in the image of God. Black lives matter because Jesus died for them. Black lives are a beautiful part of Gods Creation and they make up an essential and beautiful part of this body, he said.

Reacting to Greears address, the Rev. Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church, a predominantly African American congregation in Arlington, Texas, told the Houston Chronicle that he was shocked but thankful beyond measure to hear Greears comments, which he praised as sensible, therapeutic and without qualification or equivocation.

Its almost surreal to me that it would come off the lips of a president of the Southern Baptist Convention, McKissic said. Its true, its right and it should have been said 50 years ago.

Kyle Howard, a preacher, theologian and Christian counselor, expressed concern that Greear seemingly had to use apologetics to exhort Southern Baptists to believe that black lives indeed matter.

This is absolutely no shade to JD Greear, I have no doubt whatsoever regarding hes sincere. BUT, if you have to do a video appealing to Southern Baptists to care abt black lives & are having to convince them to value black lives via apologetics, something is deeply wrong, he tweeted.

In a separate tweet, he rebuked white Christians for valuing "idols erected in worship to the god of white supremacy" over people.

The only idols White [Christian] America has a problem seeing torn down are idols erected in worship to the god of white supremacy. In scripture, God delights in seeing idols torn down, but many 'Christians' in America have become content w/ them, they even value them over people," he wrote in a Twitter thread.
Kristen Doute after being fired from Vanderpump Rules on Tuesday was featured shortly afterward in a reunion promo flipping off the camera and saying, 'I'm gone'.

The 37-year-old reality star was canned alongside Stassi Schroeder, 31, a week after former castmate Faith Stowers, 31, recalled how she was racially profiled by them.

Bravo also confirmed that show newcomers Max Boyens, 27, and Brett Caprioni, 31, would not be returning to Vanderpump Rules due to their past racist remarks on social media.

She's gone: Kristen Doute after being fired from Vanderpump Rules on Tuesday was featured shortly afterward in a reunion promo flipping off the camera and saying, 'I'm gone'.

The network's quasi-prescient promo that aired after Kristen was fired, but before Tuesday night's second reunion episode, was a lesson in the art of adumbration.

The clip actually previewed Kristen's discussion with Stassi and Katie Maloney-Schwartz, 33, over their crumbling friendship.

Kristen admitted that every time Stassi and Katie bashed her ex-boyfriend Brian Carter that it made her more protective of him and said she was 'not right' in her mind last summer.

'I was very selfishly like f*** filming, f*** you guys, f*** everyone. I'm gone,' Kristen said adding two middle fingers in the air for emphasis.

Crumbling friendship: The clip actually previewed Kristen's discussion with Stassi Schroeder, 31, and Katie Maloney-Schwartz, 33, over their crumbling friendship

Former friends: The second reunion episode featured Kristen and Stassi, who were fired Tuesday, and Katie Maloney-Schwartz discussing their relationship remotely

Show newcomers: Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni, who also were fired Tuesday, participated in the pre-taped reunion shows

The third and final Vanderpump Rules reunion episode will air next week on Bravo.

The show is a spin-off of The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills that formerly featured British restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump, 59.

Kristen was an original cast member along with Stassi when the reality show premiered on Bravo in January 2013.

Racially profiled: Faith Stowers, shown in March 2017 in Los Angeles, was racially profiled by Kristen and Stassi who reported her to police for a crime she did not commit

They were both fired after Faith last week on social media spoke up about her own experience with racism in the world of reality television amid widespread protests across the country in response to the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in Minnesota.

Faith in a candid interview with fellow reality star Candace Renee Rice on Instagram recalled the shocking incident in which Kristen and Stassi decided to pull a 'prank' by calling the cops to investigate her for allegedly drugging men and stealing watches.

'There was this article in the Daily Mail where there was an African American lady. It was a weird photo, so she looked very light-skinned and had these different, weird tattoos. I guess this woman was robbing people,' Faith told Candace.

Twitter post: Kristen took to Twitter and accused Faith of being a thief

'And they called the cops and said it was me. This is like, a true story. I heard this from, actually, Stassi during an interview,' added Faith, who appeared on the reality show between 2015 and 2018.

Stassi also had spoken brazenly about the incident herself during a 2018 interview on a podcast titled the 'Bitch Bible' where she confirmed that she and Kristen had contacted authorities because they saw a resemblance between Faith and a suspected criminal in a news story.

'We are like, we just solved a f***ing crime,' Stassi said that in the episode, which has since been deleted but was reported by People magazine. 'We start calling the police. The police don't give a f****', she added in the interview.

Series stars: Stassi and Kristen, shown in June 2018 in Hollywood, both were original cast members of Vanderpump Rules when it premiered in January 2013

The same year, Kristen went even further, by posting a comparison picture on social media, tweeting: 'hey tweeties, doesn't this ex #pumprules thief look familiar?'

Kristen and Stassi both took to social media expressing their remorse over the incident, but they were still fired.

Lisa and Bravo executive Andy Cohen, 52, both commented Wednesday on the firings and backed the decision.
NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP >> Newtown Township will be applying for federal funding to bolster its career firefighting force. And its crossing its fingers and hoping the third times a charm. At its Jan. 12 meeting, the board of supervisors voted unanimously to resubmit its SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to...
Controversy: The statue of Sean Russell in Fairview Park in Dublins northside has been vandalised on several occasions. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Dublin City Council will consider a request to remove the statue of former IRA chief of staff Sean Russell, who had links to the Nazis, from a Dublin park.

Fine Gael councillor Ray McAdam is writing to the council requesting that it explore the possibility of removing the statue, which is based in Fairview Park on Dublin's northside.

It comes after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar raised the possibility of it being removed in the context of the current debate around the tearing-down of statues commemorating slave traders in the US and the UK during recent Black Lives Matter protests.

Russell, a republican who fought in the Easter Rising, died aboard a German U-boat in August 1940 after he travelled to Nazi Germany seeking support for a plan to attack the North with help from Hitler's forces. Mr McAdam said: "The Nazis were the ultimate racists and we shouldn't be commemorating people who would be supportive of or operated hand in glove with them.

"In this day and age, Dublin City Council has the responsibility to consider whether it is appropriate whether we commemorate such individuals."

Another Fine Gael councillor, Naoise O'Muiri, said: "I think the time is opportune to look at it. I am not advocating somebody pull it down and put it in the Tolka."

Dublin City Council said it had not yet received the request but would consider it.

"The council considers all proposals regarding the removal and decommissioning of public art, including statues. These are considered on a case-by-case basis under the council's policy for decommissioning public art," a spokeswoman said.

The statue is owned by the National Graves Association, whose chairman Sean Whelan said it would strongly oppose its removal.

"The accusation of Sean Russell being pro-fascist is absolutely untrue," he said.

"The fascists in Ireland in the 1930s were the Blueshirts, not the IRA."

Mr Whelan pointed to evidence that Mr Russell sought help from the Soviet Union and the US, and said there was no evidence that he was sympathetic to the Nazi cause.

Mr Russell's legacy is defended by Sinn Fein, whose leader Mary Lou McDonald eulogised him at an event in 2003 and last month told the 'Sunday Independent': "He was a militarist, but he was not a Nazi collaborator."

Russell's statue was first erected in 1951 and replaced in 1965. It has been vandalised on numerous occasions, but in recent years security mechanisms including sensors have been put in place to prevent further acts of vandalism.

Speaking to RTE's 2fm, Mr Varadkar said: "We have a few of our own statues we may need to take down.

"There is a statue in Fairview Park in Dublin of an Irish republican man who was also a Nazi collaborator... I think any statues that come down should come down legally... let's not engage in violence."

Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin said he was open to the debate on removing the statue but defended Russell's legacy, saying he was someone who "made huge errors of judgment and was incredibly naive politically".

Mr O Broin claimed the Taoiseach "was a bit stung" after Fine Gael councillor Jim O'Leary defended a tweet where he expressed his "love" for a picture of Blueshirts performing a Nazi-style salute.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged campaigners to focus on what he called the genuine issue of the nation's high levels of incarceration of Indigenous Australians, and steer clear of tearing down statues of historical figures such as James Cook.

As historians recounted Australia's bleak record of forcing South Sea Islanders and Indigenous Australians in to slavery conditions, the Prime Minister reiterated the nation wasn't founded on the slave trade, which was rampant around the world when the first colonial fleet arrived in 1788.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants Australians to focus on reducing the very high rates of Indigenous incarceration. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"Australia when it was founded as a settlement, as New South Wales, was on the basis that there'd be no slavery," he told 2GB on Thursday morning.

"My forefathers and foremothers were on the First and Second Fleets. It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia."
The ongoing pandemic and the sudden lockdown in our country brought a halt in everyones careers. It has affected the film industry as well. Several film shoots and releases had stalled. But now that we have reached the stage of unlock 1.0, it looks like things are slowly returning to normalcy. As per reports, John Abraham starrer Mumbai Saga is all set to resume shooting from next month in Hyderabad.

According to the reports in a leading daily, the film was supposed to be shot in Mumbai but due to the current situation, the shooting is now moved to Hyderabad. Mumbai Saga which is helmed by Sanjay Gupta and stars John, Emraan Hashmi, Suniel Shetty, and Jackie Shroff is said to be a gritty drama about Mumbai underworld. Sanjay Gupta confirmed to a leading daily that they are going to shoot in Hyderabad, "Yes, we are planning to shoot in Ramoji Rao Film City as they have all the facilities and equipment required, including an in-house crew and technical staff, along with hotels for the team from Mumbai. It's all contained within the studio premises and that cuts down on the risk.

Sanjay Gupta further reveals that precautions will be taken and also permissions are in place with the Telangana Government for the shoot as new guidelines have to be followed. The director further adds, They have all worked really hard on the film and are happy to finish it on time so that we can present it to the audience.
Michael McCarter has been named managing editor of standards, ethics and inclusion at USA TODAY.

McCarter previously served as executive editor of Evansville Courier & Press of the USA TODAY Network, and also coordinated coverage with editors and reporters across Indiana and Kentucky.

Michael McCarter

In his new role, McCarter will work closely with USA TODAY journalists across the country focusing on five building blocks that include ethics, standards, mentoring, education and inclusion.

I look forward to working with the talented and dedicated journalists at USA TODAY to ensure our coverage is fair to all communities. McCarter said.

"I'm thrilled that Michael will join USA TODAY in this important role," said Nicole Carroll, USA TODAY editor in chief. "He has extensive experience upholding the highest standards and quality in journalism, including as a top editor. He will also help lead our critical efforts to make sure our staff and our content reflects the diverse communities we serve."

"Michael has been a strong advocate for his staff and for ensuring that his newsrooms' coverage reflects the voices of all, and not just a select few. The news organizations under his purview have benefited greatly from his leadership." said Katrice Hardy, Executive Editor of the Indianapolis Star and Midwest Regional Editor for Gannett.

Prior to his time in Evansville, where he has worked since October, 2018, McCarter worked for 10 years at the Cincinnati Enquirer, where he served as senior news director and director of photography before that.

A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, McCarter took an unconventional path into journalism through an elective photography class. Eventually, he scored a photo internship at the Pensacola (Florida) News Journal and began his career as a photographer at The Shreveport (Louisiana) Times while pursuing a master's in psychology at Louisiana State University-Shreveport.

Later, he moved to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he served as photo editor. He oversaw historic photo coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and a special section commemorating the life and death of Coretta Scott King.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: USA TODAY names Michael McCarter standards, ethics, inclusion editor
A Chinese man has been rushed to hospital after he was hacked on his head with a meat cleaver during a heated row, according to reports.

Viral images and footage show the unnamed patient covered in blood while the steel blade is stuck deep in his skull at an A&E department in Hubei province.

The man is gradually recovering in hospital after undergoing an operation to remove the cleaver. Police are investigating the incident, Chinese media report.

Viral images and footage show the unnamed patient's head covered in head while the steel blade is stuck deep at Chongyang Peoples Hospital in Xianning, Hubei province on June 8

The horrific scene occurred on Monday evening at Chongyang Peoples Hospital in Xianning city, Hubei province of central China.

The incident was revealed by Chinese media yesterday after the images and video became viral.

The patient is said to have been attacked after getting into a fight with someone, the county hospital told The Beijing News.

A doctor said that the man had a successful operation and was in stable condition.

Local police told the press Wednesday that they were investigating the incident. But the officers did not receive any report related to the mans injury.

MailOnline has contacted the authority for further updates.

A Chinese man from Nanning, Guangxi province of souther China walked into a hospital with a crossbow bolt in his chest after accidentally shooting himself while cocking the weapon

Earlier this week, another Chinese man walked into a hospital with a crossbow bolt in his chest after accidentally shooting himself while cocking the weapon.

The young man, known by his pseudonym Xiao Peng, miraculously dodged death after the arrow missed his heart by just 0.2 inches.

He has been recovering in the local hospital after receiving a successful operation.

Media reports did not specify the length of the quarrel, but a crossbow bolt is typically 20 inches long.

Footage shows the Chinese resident, Xiao Peng, with the bolt protruding from his body after the incident took place on Saturday in Nanning, Guangxi province of southern China

Footage shows Xiao Peng with the bolt protruding from his body after the incident took place Saturday in Nanning, Guangxi province of southern China.

A doctor from the Guangxi Peoples Hospital said that the weapon poked through the patients left lung and broke one of his ribs.

The injury was quite severe. [He was] very lucky despite all the unfortunates, the medic told the local media.
China will continue to divert all international flights bound for Beijing to designated airports as their first port of entry, said China's top aviation regulator. Shanghai, which used to handle international flights bound for the capital, will no longer serve as the first port of entry, with four provincial capitalsChengdu of Sichuan, Changsha of Hunan, Hefei of Anhui and Lanzhou of Gansuadded to the list, according to a notice issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China late on Monday. Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, will also become the first backup city to receive international arrivals, the administration said. The aviation authority said that all incoming international flights to Beijing will land at one of 15 designated airports, where passengers will be screened. Wuhan will serve as the backup for those cities. Passengers who are cleared will then be permitted to reboard the plane, which will take them on to Beijing. In terms of making Wuhan a backup city, Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital, said that the move shows that Wuhan, once hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak, is now very safe and capable of handling sporadic imported cases. The city revealed no new confirmed COVID-19 cases after testing almost its entire population recently, and the 300 asymptomatic carriers it identified are not infectious, he added. As the infection risks in Wuhan remain very low, and since Beijing lowered its emergency response to the epidemic from the second highest level to the third highest, flights between the two cities also resumed on Tuesday, with one round-trip flight operated by China Southern Airlines per day from Wuhan Tianhe Airport to Beijing Daxing International Airport, according to Wuhan's transportation bureau. Other companies including China Eastern Airlines and Air China are also working on resuming flights between the two cities, it added. Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and columnist at Carnoc, a Chinese civil aviation website, said that as the country eases coronavirus restrictions to allow more foreign carriers to fly to the country, Shanghai, also an aviation hub itself, will likely witness a surge in resumed international flights. Though it will not serve as the first point of entry for Beijing-bound flights, it will keep receiving international flights that have Shanghai as the final destination. With the increase of flights expected and the still-unfolding epidemic situation abroad, Shanghai will be overwhelmed by the anti-epidemic pressure if the city still needs to handle diverted flights that are supposed to land in Beijing, he added. The latest statistic from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission shows that a total of 337 imported cases had been reported in Shanghai as of Monday.


Shimla:

Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Saturday said the bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi had been fruitful and strengthened the relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Dil se baat hui khul ke baat Hui(we talked with open heart) and both the countries found new grounds to move forward, Dahal who is popularly known as Prachanda told reporters here.

He said Nepal would not allow its land to be used for activities against neighbouring countries.

Prachanda, who was at Jahakri in Shimla district, 145 km from here to inspect the 1500MW Nathpa-Jhakri Hydropower Project of SJVNL was responding a question regarding efforts of Pakistan to use Nepal for terrorist activities against India.

Nepal would not allow its land to be misused for activities against the neighbouring countries, he said adding that India is friendly country and we have good relations with it.

Prachanda who felt at home in serene hills said that the topography, geography, trees, jungles people and culture of India and Nepal is similar and I feel that I am not in India but in Nepal.

After visiting the Project, Prachanda also talked to a gathering of people of Nepali origin working in various projects.

The SJVNL engineers took the Nepalese Prime minister around and informed him about various features of the project in detail.

The SJVNL CMD R N Mishra gave a power point presentation about the Nathpa-Jhakri and 412 MW Rampur projects executed by SJVNL and also exhibited the model of Arun-3 (900) MW being executed in Nepal.

He said that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had already been signed with India in May, 2014 for commissioning of 900 MW Arun-3 hydro power project and expressed satisfaction over Nathpa-Jhakri project.

Union Minister for Power, Piyush Goyal said that Arun-3 hydro-electric project was a beginning of new chapter in strengthening bilateral relations between India and Nepal and the work on this project would be expedited.

He said that India and Nepal are working together on few more projects also and it was a matter of great satisfaction that the neighbouring nation had expressed faith in India to go ahead with these projects.

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President Donald Trump has authorised sanctions and visa restrictions on International Criminal Court (ICC) personnel, amid an investigation into alleged war crimes by US military and intelligence officials.

Earlier this year, the ICC launched an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by both US and Afghan forces, alongside a probe into crimes against humanity by the Taliban.

Mr Trumps executive order explains that anyone who has directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute any United States personnel without the consent of the United States, may be subject to the new sanctions.

In a statement on Thursday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that Mr Trump signed the executive order to protect the rights of the American people.

Ms McEnany said: The International Criminal Courts actions are an attack on the rights of the American people and threaten to infringe upon our national sovereignty.

Recommended Israel to be investigated for war crimes in Palestinian Territories

She added: As the Presidents Executive Order makes clear, the United States will continue to use any means necessary to protect our citizens and our allies from unjust prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

The Trump administration has argued for years that the US is not under the authority of the ICC, as it is not party to the Rome Statute, and last year revoked the visa of the organisations chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said that the sanctions will be decided on an individual basis, but confirmed that they could apply to family members of ICC officials, according to CNN.

He added: It gives us no joy to punish them, but we cannot allow ICC officials and their families to come to the United States to shop, travel, and otherwise enjoy American freedoms as these same officials seek to prosecute the defender of those very freedoms.

The sanctions have been coordinated with Israel, in a joint attack against the ICC, for separate investigations announced by the organisation.

Earlier this year, the ICC accepted Palestine as a state, which means the organisation is now able to investigate alleged war crimes perpetrated by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to the Israel Times.

The investigation is not limited to just Israel, and will explore alleged crimes committed by all sides, including by the militant group, Hamas.

Ms Bensouda has pushed for an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people, which Mr Pompeo has criticised.

Recommended War crimes investigation into US forces in Afghanistan can go ahead

In May, Mr Pompeo confirmed that the US does not recognise Palestine as a sovereign state, and called an ICC investigation into Israel illegitimate.

He added that if the ICC continued with its investigations, the US would retaliate.

Mr Pompeo said: The United States reiterates its longstanding objection to any illegitimate ICC investigations. If the ICC continues down its current course, we will exact consequences.
A man and a woman demonstrate dining under a plastic shield Wednesday, May 27, 2020 in a Paris restaurant. As restaurants in food-loving France prepare to reopen, some are investing in lampshade-like plastic shields to protect diners from the virus. The strange-looking contraptions are among experiments restaurants are trying around the world as they try to lure back clientele while keeping them virus-free. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
This recognizes the contributions of parents who have their children for a quarter of the time, which, is still a substantial figure. For instance, parents who have their child for two weekend nights, every week of the year, for 104 overnights, now qualify as having shared custody.

Child support laws in Maryland are set to change this fall, with a rollout scheduled for October 1st. The Law Offices of Brandon Bernstein, Maryland family law attorneys, advises clients on the new legislation and its impact on cases moving forward.

The new Maryland child support law is focused on how the state calculates child support payments, and specifically, the number of, or percentage of, overnight stays which qualifies for shared physical custody versus sole physical custody.

"The current law stipulates that a child must spend a minimum of 128 overnights with each parent, 35 percent of the year, in order to qualify for shared custody in child support calculations," says family law attorney Brandon Bernstein, a seven-time Super Lawyers Rising Star. "The new law offers a substantial reduction to that figure, dropping the qualifying bar to 25 percent of the time, or 92 overnight stays."

As the number of overnight stays is the key trigger between Maryland child support calculations for shared or sole custody, this represents a major change to existing legislation. "This recognizes the contributions of parents who have their children for a quarter of the time, which, is still a substantial figure," Bernstein says. "For instance, parents who have their child for two weekend nights, every week of the year, for 104 overnights, now qualify as having shared custody, and will have reduced payments for child support."

Further, the new legislation will set an incremental calculation difference when there is shared physical custody falling between 25 and 30 percent of the time, with different calculations at each percentage increase in that range.

While the change does not automatically alter prior cases or legal agreements, it can be applied towards filings to modify child support from that date forward. It's important to note that other factors are also used to determine child support calculations in Maryland, including, primarily, the income of each parent, in addition to certain qualifying expenses.

The Law Offices of Brandon Bernstein handles all aspects of family law cases in the state of Maryland. The office is currently meeting with clients virtually for their safety and convenience. More information is available at BrandonBernsteinLaw.com or by calling 240.395.1418.

Disclaimer: Attorney advertising

About the Law Offices of Brandon Bernstein, LLC

The Law Offices of Brandon Bernstein, LLC is located in downtown Bethesda, and serves clients throughout the state as a divorce attorney in Maryland, covering a broad range of family law matters, and aggressively protecting the best interests of his clients at all times. He has been named a Maryland Rising Star by Super Lawyers for seven consecutive years. The core pillars of his practice are Integrity, Experience, and Results. For a free attorney consultation, prospective clients can visit his website at BrandonBernsteinLaw.com, or call the office directly at 240.395.1418.
The vulnerability of the Indian economy exposed by COVID-19 emphasizes the need for an economic model that brings people at the bottom of the pyramid to the fore, according to a report released on Thursday.

India needs to reorient its economic structure to make it much more people-centric and inclusive, think tanks the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, and the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy said in a report titled Jobs, Growth and Sustainability: A New Social Contract for Indias Recovery.

It recommended that India should build models where its economy is more resilient to climatic, health and humanitarian risks that can have catastrophic consequences and choke the economy, imposing far greater costs than the investment needed to increase resilience.

The pandemic and the blow from a virtual shutdown of a nation of 1.3 billion people has pushed Asias third-largest economy toward its first full-year contraction in more than four decades  some say of as much as five per cent. The lockdown has left businesses broken and millions jobless. Migrant workers were left stranded without income, while millions more fled to their villages, reluctant to return to the cities.

The government has unveiled a support package worth $277 billion to help cushion the blow, including easing access to credit for small businesses and offering cheap loans to workers and farmers.

The report, unveiled Thursday, has sought protective measures for small businesses from predatory practices by some trading partners. This can prevent a collapse of domestic industries, especially those in ferrous and non-ferrous metals, textiles, pharmaceuticals, solar cells and modules, and heavy machinery.

Small businesses, referred to as micro, small and medium enterprises, represent 90 per cent of Indias industrial units and employ 40 per cent of its workforce.

It also recommended starting state-supported canteens for 30 million urban migrant workers. This would cost 265 billion rupees, but can create 1.2 million jobs and drive demand for diversification of food production.

India needs to launch an environment and health de-risking mission to focus on the threat posed by climate change, air pollution, chemicals, and antimicrobial resistance.

The biggest threats are no longer states, nor non-state terrorist groups, the report said. The gravest concerns are about tail-end risks, which have low probability but can be catastrophic.

Read more about:
Breakfast television show Sunrise will be sued for racial discrimination over a broadcast in March 2018 which featured a panellist saying of the Stolen Generations: "we need to do it again, perhaps".

Commentator Prue MacSween, host Samantha Armytage and radio presenter Ben Davis were taking part in a "hot topics" segment which included discussion of children being removed from Indigenous and non-Indigenous families.

Ms MacSween said a "fabricated PC outlook" was preventing white Australians from adopting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Sunrise host Samantha Armytage (centre) with Prue MacSween and Ben Davis. Credit:Seven

"Don't worry about the people that would cry and hand-wring and say this would be another Stolen Generation. Just like the first Stolen Generation where a lot of people were taken because it was for their well-being ... we need to do it again, perhaps," she said.
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San Francisco, 11 June 2020: The Report Lingerie Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Brassiere, Knickers), By Distribution Channel (Multi Brands Stores, Online), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025

The global lingerie market size is expected to reach USD 49.5 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 7.5% from 2019 to 2025. The growth is attributed to growing need to enhance the feminine lines and natural beauty, coupled with increasing availability of a wide range of lingerie products.

Companies, in an effort to tap the large customer base are focusing on offering products in trendy designs and shapes that are suitable for various purposes to help the customers choose the right lingerie. For instance, manufacturers have been expanding their product portfolio by including brassiers and knickers appropriate for everyday wear, bridal attire, sportswear, beach purpose, and seamless to name a few.

Brassiere held the largest market share of over 50.0% in 2018. Innovations such as leaser cut seamless, model, and full t-shirts brasserie are now easily accessible with precised sizes. Most of the companies are coming up with new product launches. For instance, Mesh Intimate provides brassiere with a little ruffle trims. Knickers are expected to be the fastest growing segment with a CAGR of 8.1% over the forecast period. Knickers in the form of jacquard and lace, high waist control, and with no VPL are introduced to cater to the continuously changing preference of the customers.

The online distribution channel segment is expected to register a CAGR of 7.8% over the forecast period. Companies are tying up with e-retailers as well as introducing their online websites such as Myntra, Ajio, Jabong, Flipkart, Amazon, Nykaa, Shyaway, and Elitify to reach out to the large customer base. Some companies sell their products through their own online platforms. For instance, Jockey, Zivame, and Clovia have their own online shopping platforms.

North America and Europe accounted for a share of more than 65.0% in 2018 and are expected to maintain their lead in the near future. Companies are engaging themselves in development and new launches of the product. Presence of prominent players and high demand in U.S., along with high preference for premium lingerie brands and limited editions in North America and Europe, have contributed to the significant growth of the global market. APAC is the fastest growing regional market with a CAGR of 7.8% over the forecast period. International companies are investing in countries like India due to increasing demand for branded lingerie. For instance, Italian luxury lingerie brand, La Perla opened its stores in India.

Key players in the market are Jockey International Inc.; Victorias Secret; Zivame, Gap, Inc.; Bare Necessities; Hanesbrands Inc.; Triumph International Ltd.; Hunkemoller; Calvin Klein; and MAS Holdings.

Access Research Report of Lingerie Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/lingerie-market

Further key findings from the study suggest:

Brassiere dominated the market and held a share of more than 50.0% in 2018

Europe dominated the global market in 2018 and generated a revenue of USD 11.4 billion

APAC is expected to witness the fastest growth and account for a share of about 19.0% by 2025

The online distribution channel is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.8% over the forecast period, driven by increasing popularity and penetration of e-retailers and company owned online websites

The market is highly competitive in nature with the main players including L Brands Inc.; Zivame; Clovia; Wolf Lingerie SA; and Hanesbrands Inc.

Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/clothing-footwear-and-accessories

Grand View Research has segmented the global lingerie market on the basis of type, distribution channel, and region:

LingerieType Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 - 2025)

Brassiere

Knickers

Shape Wear

Other

LingerieDistribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 - 2025)

Specialty Stores

Multi Brand Stores

Online

LingerieRegional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 - 2025)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Central & South America

Middle East & Africa

Access Press Release of Lingerie Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-lingerie-market

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

For More Information:www.grandviewresearch.com
New Delhi, June 11 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday formed a committee of doctors, including AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, to inspect two luxury hotels ordered to be turned into extended Covid-19 hospitals.

"I request Mr. Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS and Dr V.K. Paul, Member of the Niti Aayog, to visit the two hotels in question and give their report on the advisability/feasibility of using these hotels as extended Covid hospitals," said a single judge bench of Justice Navin Chawla.

The high court also said that the said hotels shall be entitled to depute one Officer each to highlight their concerns to this Committee.

"Equally, the respondents may also depute its Officers who may help the Committee and give their inputs to the said Committee," it said.

The order came on separate petitions by two five star hotels -- Hotel Surya (New Friends Colony) and Hotel Crown Plaza (Okhla) -- challenging the Delhi government's decision to use them as extended Covid hospitals.

The hotels contended that it is not advisable due to the presence of air conditioning, and lack of large lifts which are capable of being used for stretchers and other required measures.

"...the issues raised by the petitioners (hotels) would also have a bearing on whether it is advisable/feasible to use these hotels as Covid hospitals and may not lead to an adverse impact on the patients or the staff working therein," the court held.

It said the committee shall also be entitled to take the help of other persons as may be deemed necessary in this exercise. "The Committee is requested to submit its report on or before 14th June, 2020," Justice Chawla said.

The court will now hear the matter on June 15.

CHL Ltd-owned Hotel Surya and Hotel Crown Plaza had challenged the order of the Delhi government, saying that it is not advisable to use them as extended Covid hospitals.
A mural painting of US President Donald Trump on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank city of Bethlehem AFP/AHMAD GHARABLI

The first high-level European visitor to touch down in Israel since the coronavirus pandemic hit, Maas brought a message of disquiet from Berlin and elsewhere in the EU.

Speaking in Jerusalem, he expressed "our honest and serious concerns ... about the possible consequences of such a step".

Israel intends to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, with initial steps slated to begin from Jul 1, the same day Germany takes the rotating EU presidency.

"Together with the European Union, we believe that annexation would not be compatible with international law," said Maas, following talks with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi.

The EU instead supports the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian talks to negotiate a two-state solution, the German foreign minister said.

The bloc is yet to agree on how to react if Israel presses ahead with annexation, and Maas's visit had been seen by Israel as an opportunity to tone down the European response.

Following talks with Ashkenazi, Germany's top diplomat will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Benny Gantz.

Israeli annexation forms part of a US peace plan unveiled in January, which paves the way for the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

But it excludes core Palestinian demands such as a capital in east Jerusalem and has been rejected by the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinians have sent a counter-proposal for the creation of a "sovereign Palestinian state, independent and demilitarised" to the Quartet, made up of the UN, US, EU and Russia, Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said Tuesday.

"We want Israel to feel international pressure," Shtayyeh said.

Maas is due to travel on to Jordan, from where he will hold a video conference with Shtayyeh and meet with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

Last month Jordan's King Abdullah II warned that Israeli annexation risked sparking a "conflict" with his country, speaking to German magazine Der Spiegel.

EU WEIGHTS RESPONSE

While Berlin shares Amman's opposition to annexation, the EU is yet to outline retaliatory measures and sanctions would need the approval of all 27 member states.

Europe holds significant financial clout in Israel as the country's top business partner, with trade totalling 30 billion (US$34 billion) last year, according to EU figures.

Some European countries could formally recognise a Palestinian state but, according to an Israeli official, Germany would not be one of them.

"Germany even with annexation would not recognise a Palestinian state and is not going to support sanctions against Israel," he told AFP.

Looking beyond the West Bank, other matters on Maas's Jerusalem agenda include Israeli foe Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Berlin was one of the European parties to a landmark 2015 accord with Iran to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

But US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the deal and reimpose crippling economic penalties - a move praised by Israel - has led Tehran to suspend its compliance with some of the curbs.

Germany won praise from Israel in April for announcing a ban on all Hezbollah activities after previously tolerating the militant group's political wing.

Israel occupied a swathe of southern Lebanon from 1978 to 2000 and went on to fight a war with Hezbollah in 2006.
June 11, 2020

AkzoNobel weathering COVID-19 storm

As the complex situation regarding the global pandemic continues to evolve, AkzoNobel (AKZA; AKZOY) remains focused on ensuring employee health and safety and maintaining business continuity.

The various steps taken to continue serving customers and rapidly reduce costs are proving successful, while at the same time keeping the organization intact and able to respond quickly to changes in end market demand.

During the first quarter, COVID-19 adversely impacted revenue by around minus 5%. Asia was most affected throughout Q1, with other regions impacted only from the second half of March onwards.

In more recent months, end market demand has evolved in line with company planning assumptions. Market headwinds were strongest during April and resulted in revenue almost 30% lower versus last year. Demand improved as some lockdown measures started to ease, although revenue for May remained around 20% below 2019.

Distribution channels for Decorative Paints have mostly reopened in China and Europe, with demand returning towards previous levels. Varying degrees of market disruption persist in the rest of Asia and South America. Demand for Performance Coatings has also improved, although at a much slower pace than for Decorative Paints. Segments related to automotive and aerospace industries continue to be more significantly impacted than others. Market headwinds are expected to ease further throughout June, although continue to differ per region and segment.

Various cost-saving measures and strict margin management continue to be implemented throughout the organization to help compensate. AkzoNobel has also maintained a strong balance sheet due to rigorous cash management and robust working capital controls.

Commenting on the evolving situation, AkzoNobel CEO, Thierry Vanlancker, said: "We're weathering the COVID-19 storm, taking care of our employees while protecting our business. Thank you to everyone at AkzoNobel for working hard to continue serving our customers and provide many essential products for critical industries, while following all necessary health and safety measures.

"Although the pandemic situation forced us to pause key parts of our transformation, our teams have focused on minimizing all discretionary costs, as well as carefully managing cash and working capital. The actions we've taken, together with our strong balance sheet, provide a solid platform for AkzoNobel to perform as an industry frontrunner."

Financial results for the second quarter will be announced on July 22, 2020.

About AkzoNobel

AkzoNobel has a passion for paint. We're experts in the proud craft of making paints and coatings, setting the standard in color and protection since 1792. Our world class portfolio of brands - including Dulux, International, Sikkens and Interpon - is trusted by customers around the globe. Headquartered in the Netherlands, we are active in over 150 countries and employ around 33,500 talented people who are passionate about delivering the high-performance products and services our customers expect.





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Media Relations Investor Relations T +31 (0)88 - 969 7833 T +31 (0)88 - 969 7856 Contact: Joost Ruempol

Media.relations@akzonobel.com (mailto:Media.relations@akzonobel.com) Contact: Lloyd Midwinter

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Safe Harbor Statement

This media release contains statements which address such key issues as AkzoNobel's growth strategy, future financial results, market positions, product development, products in the pipeline and product approvals. Such statements should be carefully considered, and it should be under-stood that many factors could cause forecast and actual results to differ from these statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, price fluctuations, currency fluctuations, developments in raw material and personnel costs, pensions, physical and environmental risks, legal issues, and legislative, fiscal, and other regulatory measures, as well as significant market disruptions such as the impact of pandemics. Stated competitive positions are based on management estimates supported by information provided by specialized external agencies. For a more comprehensive discussion of the risk factors affecting our business, please see our latest annual report. www.akzonobel.com .

Attachment
The statue of Sean Russell in Fairview Park as previously been vandalised over his Nazi links

Dublin City Council will consider a request to remove the statue of former IRA chief of staff Sean Russell, who had links to the Nazis, from a Dublin park.

Fine Gael councillor Ray McAdam is writing to the council requesting that it explore the possibility of removing the statue, which is based in Fairview Park on Dublin's northside.

It comes after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar raised the possibility of it being removed in the context of the current debate around the tearing down of statues commemorating slave traders in the US and the UK during recent Black Lives Matter protests.

Russell, a republican who fought in the Easter Rising, died aboard a German U-boat in August 1940 after he travelled to Nazi Germany seeking support for a plan to attack the North with help from Hitler's forces.

Appropriate

"The Nazis were the ultimate racists and we shouldn't be commemorating people who would be supportive of or operated hand in glove with them," Mr McAdam said.

"In this day and age Dublin City Council has the responsibility to consider whether it is appropriate whether we commemorate such individuals."

Another Fine Gael councillor, Naoise O Muiri, said: "I think the time is opportune to look at it. I am not advocating somebody pull it down and put it in the Tolka."

Dublin City Council said it had not yet received the request but will consider it.

"The council considers all proposals regarding the removal and decommissioning of public art, including statues. These are considered on a case by case basis under the council's Policy for Decommissioning Public Art," a spokeswoman said.

The statue is owned by the National Graves Association, whose chairman Sean Whelan said it would strongly oppose its removal.

"The accusation of Sean Russell being pro-fascist is absolutely untrue. The fascists in Ireland in the 1930s were the Blueshirts, not the IRA," he said.

Mr Whelan pointed to evidence that Russell sought help from the Soviet Union and the US, and said there was no evidence that he was sympathetic to the Nazi cause.

Russell's legacy is defended by Sinn Fein, whose leader Mary Lou McDonald eulogised him at an event in 2003 and last month told the Sunday Independent: "He was a militarist, but he was not a Nazi collaborator."

Russell's statue was first erected in 1951 and replaced in 1965. It has been vandalised on numerous occasions, but in recent years security mechanisms including sensors have been put in place to prevent further acts of vandalism.

Speaking to RTE's 2fm yesterday, Mr Varadkar said: "We have a few of our own statues we may need to take down.

"There is a statue in Fairview Park in Dublin of an Irish republican man who was also a Nazi collaborator... I think any statues that come down should come down legally... let's not engage in violence."

Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin said he was open to the debate on removing the statue but defended Russell's legacy, saying he was someone who "made huge errors of judgment and was incredibly naive politically".

Mr O Broin claimed the Taoiseach "was a bit stung" after Fine Gael councillor Jim O'Leary defended a late-night tweet in which he expressed his "love" for a picture of Blueshirts performing a Nazi-style salute.

Mr O Broin added that as a former Belfast city councillor, he was familiar with the issues surrounding statues and emblems.

"In the first instance you need a proper conversation and it needs to be done in a mature way," he said.

"I think you always need to make sure where people have a controversial past they're made clear in any plaques or whatever."
Moscow, June 11 : Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation in Libya and Syria in a phone conversation, the Kremlin said in a statement.

The leaders on Wednesday discussed actual aspects of the response to the pandemic and emphasized the importance of phased lifting of restrictive measures and restoration of the full volume of bilateral trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian ties, it said, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a thorough discussion of the situation in Libya, Putin and Erdogan expressed deep concern about the ongoing large-scale clashes in the country, which led to numerous casualties and destruction, the statement said.

Putin noted the importance of an early ceasefire and the resumption of intra-Libyan dialogue based on the decisions of the Berlin International Conference on Jan. 19, 2020, and approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2510, as well as other initiatives aimed at a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict, it said.

While discussing the situation in Syria, the parties stressed the necessity of increasing efforts to implement the Russian-Turkish agreements on the Idlib de-escalation zone, including the additional protocol of March 5, 2020, to the Sochi memorandum of September 17, 2018, the Kremlin said.

Joint priority tasks include control over the ceasefire and neutralization of terrorist groups active in Idlib, it added.

Putin and Erdogan agreed to maintain regular contact in various formats, the Kremlin said.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Norways Equinor and Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR are discussing the project schedule for the newly-discovered Karabakh field, Equinor told Trend.

SOCAR and Norways Equinor have confirmed a discovery of Karabakh field located 120 kilometers offshore, east of Baku, in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Its oil reserves estimated more than 60 million tons.



"We are encouraged by this oil discovery. KPS-4 confirmed our prognozed well result. Our intention is to continue to mature the field development project towards investment decision. With our partner SOCAR, we intend to optimize the facility design based upon results of the appraisal well," said Equinor.

"The detailed project schedule is being discussed with our partner SOCAR. We will use the results from the appraisal well as the basis for our planning going forward."

Drilling of the first appraisal well at Karabakh oil field was started on December 23, 2019. The well was drilled in water depth of 180 meters by the Dada Gorgud semi-submersible drilling rig operated by SOCARs Caspian Drilling Company (CDC). The reservoir is at a depth of approximately 3.4 kilometers. Estimated size of the discovered volumes of oil and gas are satisfactory for pursuing commercial development of the Karabakh field.

The Karabakh prospective structure was identified in 1959 as a result of seismic surveys. It was specified in 1984 and its oil and gas reserves were confirmed in 1997-1998 through exploration drilling. The oilfield is located 120 km east of Baku, at a depth of 150-200 meters in the open sea.



The consortium operated by Caspian International Petroleum Company (CIPCO) drilled three exploration wells in the Karabagh PSA signed in 1995: two wells found gas in the southeast portion of the structure and the third well indicated presence of oil in the western part of the structure. In 1999, the PSA was terminated due to the non-commercial discovery.



In May 2018, SOCAR Karabagh and Equinor signed a Risk Service Agreement related to development of Karabagh Oil Field in the Azerbaijan Sector of Caspian Sea. According to the agreement, they hold equal shares.



Since 1994, SOCAR and Equinor have been cooperating in important joint projects, including the operating of the Azeri Chirag and Deep Water Gunashli (ACG) oil field.



---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 00:12:12|Editor: huaxia

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Rod Campbell, research director at the Australia Institute, a Canberra-based independent think tank, receives an interview with Xinhua in Canberra, Australia, June 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Yue Dongxing)

CANBERRA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Coordinated efforts to spread disinformation and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus should be stopped, an Australian researcher told Xinhua on Wednesday.

A report entitled Like a Virus: The Coordinated Spread of Coronavirus Disinformation, completed by the Center for Responsible Technology of the Australia Institute and the Digital Media Research Center of the Queensland University of Technology, revealed that there are accounts on social media spreading rumors that the coronavirus is a bioweapon created by China.

"What surprised me most is the prevalence of overtly right-wing accounts," said Rod Campbell, research director at the Australia Institute, a Canberra-based independent think tank.

"This kind of coordinated disinformation is almost entirely a right-wing phenomenon," he added.

Their research has analyzed more than 25.5 million retweets of 2.6 million tweets over a 10-day period in March, finding that many of the accounts are likely to be automated or "bot" accounts, controlled by computers rather than humans.

The report identified 30 clusters of Twitter accounts coordinating with each other to propagate disinformation, the majority of which identify themselves as supporters of conservative politicians.

"It's not genuine behavior of human users," Campbell said, adding that within 10 days, the rumors gained as many as 5 million views.

Noting that these allegations have made it easier for some politicians to make up conspiracy theories to attack China, he said, "It can't be good for coordinated efforts to fight coronavirus. It can't be good for public health or diplomatic relations."

"There will always be crazy people coming up with crazy ideas," he said. "We can't and shouldn't stop ideas, but we should be trying to stop coordinated disinformation efforts."

Better regulation is needed for social media, he said. "We also need to look at digital literacy in the population, and be running programs and government campaigns to help people to be able to spot a ridiculous theory and learn how to ignore it, and how to have more civilized online discussions."

Meanwhile, Campbell noted that celebrities should be responsible for what they say and share on social media, since people in powerful positions or with very large followings are able to influence public debates.

"We've seen how celebrities are the super spreaders of disinformation. When conspiracy theories start, you get a celebrity with 10 million followers to comment and share, suddenly this obscure disinformation becomes mainstream very quickly," he said.

However, he also noted that some platforms are taking efforts in responding to disinformation. "A lot of social media companies are now ensuring that their algorithms promote fact-based sites, official sites and sites that are providing good science-based information, rather than helping spread conspiracy theories." Enditem
A glamorous young woman with a drug addiction was coaxed into a life of crime after she met an overnight Bitcoin millionaire in rehab.

Kaori Celine Nakase, 23, moved to Queensland to start a fresh life and enrolled herself in a drug rehabilitation program where she met her boyfriend, who made $10million through Bitcoin.

The court heard he gave her $637,000 in October 2019 to buy a Lamborghini Huracan from a dealership in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast Daily reported.

The Huracan was registered in Nakase's name and was involved in a police pursuit where the male driver managed to run from police.

Kaori Celine Nakase, 23, appeared via video link at Maroochydore District Court, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, on Wednesday charged with a string of offences

They both swore in an affidavit the car was stolen but the boyfriend was later caught in the car speeding more than 200km/h on the Bruce Highway at Morayfield.

'About 10 days later, the defendant swore an affidavit stating that she allowed people to drive her car for cash,' Crown prosecutor Will Slack told the court.

Nakase later confessed that she had lied in the affidavits.

The 23-year-old was pulled over while driving the car on November 8 and tested positive to having meth in her system.

Nakase and her partner had also bought a house in Pimpama worth $745,000.

Mr Slack told the court it was believed both the Huracan and house the pair bought were purchased with the proceeds earned from dealing drugs.

Nakase appeared via video link at Maroochydore District Court, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, on Wednesday charged with a string of offences.

The court heard Nakase was given $637,000 from her boyfriend in October 2019 to buy a Lamborghini Huracan (pictured) from a dealership in Brisbane

She pleaded guilty to two counts of perverting the course of justice, two counts of possessing property suspected of being the proceeds of a drug offence and one count of driving with a drug in her system.

Defence barrister Martin Longhurst said his client had come from a 'difficult' upbringing after suffering abuse and homelessness during high school.

Following this she started abusing Ritalin but moved to methamphetamine because it was cheaper and became addicted.

Mr Longhurst said Nakase was influenced by her partner as he was overbearing.

'It is reasonable to suspect that the money actually put into Bitcoin in the first place probably came from drugs and it was just by sheer dumb luck,' Mr Longhurst told the court.

She plead guilty to two counts of perverting the course of justice, two counts of possessing property suspected of being the proceeds of a drug offence and one count of driving with a drug in her system at Maroochydore District Court (pictured)

'He was probably using Bitcoin to hide money. Bitcoin shot up by several thousand per cent in the stock market.'

Judge Gary Long acknowledged that Nakase's vulnerability had been taken advantage of and placed her on a three-year probation.

She has also been disqualified from driving for one month for driving with a drug in her system.

No conviction was recorded as it was noted it could prevent Nakase from becoming employed in medicine in her future.
The coronavirus pandemic hit the television industry hard, with shoots stalled for more than two months. Several actors and crew members, who have been put out of work due to the crisis, are facing financial struggles due to non-payment of dues by producers.

Erica Fernandes, who plays Prerna in the Kasautii Zindagii Kay reboot, weighed in on the issue and said that everyone was struggling initially. In an interview with Pinkvilla, she said, If you go to see, everyone was stuck in the initial few months. I did not receive payments so I could not do payments. So, that is the case with everyone else because nobody was receiving payments to give.

She added that her cheque was also stuck due to the unprecedented situation. I also had to make a few payments too but I was not able to because I had no funds. That was the same case with producers, they did not have it initially but once they had, they gave us, she said.

Also read: TV actor Nupur Alankar in financial distress, friend Renuka Shahane posts plea for help

Erica was shooting for Kasautii Zindagii Kay when the lockdown was enforced. She is currently in self-isolation with her family and hesitant to return on set.

Its not a simple question of yes or no. There is a lot to it. People have been out of work for a very long time. Some do not have the luxury of making a choice if they should get back to work or not. But, if you personally ask me, I am not up for it, not now at least, maybe a little later yes, and this is due to multiple reasons, she had told Pinkvilla.

The Maharashtra government recently allowed shoots to resume in the state, if the cast and crew members followed certain guidelines of social distancing and hygiene. However, Erica feels that there is still a high risk, especially for actors who cannot wear a mask and gloves while shooting.

Erica made her small screen debut in the popular show Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bhi in 2016. She currently plays the lead role in the Kasautii Zindagii Kay reboot, which also stars Parth Samthaan, Karan Singh Grover and Aamna Sharif.

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Using a computer model, scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Bombay have shown that a hotter and drier weather is linked to lower survival chances of the novel coronavirus on surfaces, a finding that may lead to better sanitisation guidelines for public spaces across the world.

The study, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, assessed how long the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, remains viable for infection after someone with COVID-19 coughs or sneezes.

In order to calculate this, the researchers, including Rajneesh Bhardwaj and Amit Agarwal from IIT-Bombay, examined the drying time of respiratory droplets from infected subjects on various surfaces in six cities around the world, including New York and Singapore.

These droplets, which are about the size of the width of a single human hair, are expelled from the mouth or nose when a person with COVID-19 coughs, sneezes, or even speaks moistly, the study noted.

Once the droplets carrying the virus evaporate, the scientists said the residual virus becomes inactive, so the survival and transmission of COVID-19 are directly impacted by how long the droplets remain intact.

Based on their analysis, the researchers said the growth rate of COVID-19 is weakly linked to the outdoor weather, adding that the chances of the survival of the virus "increases roughly by five times under a humid condition as compared to a dry condition."

In the study, the scientists used a mathematical model to assess the drying time for the droplets under different conditions and showed that ambient temperature, the type of surface, and humidity play critical roles.

Citing an example, they said higher ambient temperature helped to dry out the droplet faster, and drastically reduced the chances of virus survival.

The researchers added that in places with greater humidity, the droplet stayed on surfaces longer, and the virus survival chances improved.

They also determined the droplet drying time in different outdoor weather conditions and examined if this data connected to the growth rate of the COVID-19 pandemic in six cities across the world -- New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Sydney, and Singapore.

When the scientists plotted the growth rate of COVID-19 patients in these places with the drying time of a typical droplet, they found that in the cities with a larger growth rate of the pandemic, the drying time was longer.

"In a way, that could explain a slow or fast growth of the infection in a particular city. This may not be the sole factor, but definitely, the outdoor weather matters in the growth rate of the infection," said Rajneesh Bhardwaj, one of the co-authors of the study.

"Understanding virus survival in a drying droplet could be helpful for other transmissible diseases that spread through respiratory droplets, such as influenza A," said Amit Agrawal, another author of the study.

Citing the limitations of the study, the scientists said they assumed air to be stationary in their model along with the consideration that the evaporation time is expected to reduce in the presence of air currents.

"The value of the predicted evaporation times is on the conservative side, and the actual evaporation time will be smaller than that obtained here," the researchers noted in the study.

Despite these drawbacks in the model, they believe that surfaces like smartphone screens, cotton, and wood, should be cleaned more often than glass and steel surfaces since the latter are relatively hydrophilic, and the droplets evaporate faster on these materials.
A mother and daughter have made history becoming the first to graduate from medical school at the same time.

Dr Cynthia Kudji, 49, and her daughter, Dr Jasmine Kudji, 26, attended medical school at the same time, kilometres apart but found out they had been placed at the same hospital to complete their residency.

We were so excited, Jasmine told NBC.

Our life has never been planned, and you never know whats going to happen. It was one of the best moments of my life, she added.

Cynthia emigrated to the United States from Ghanna when she was two years old and it wasnt until a family trip back to her home country when she was 17 that she was inspired to work in the medical field.

Dr. Cynthia Kudji (Left) and her daughter Dr. Jasmine Kudji (Right) have become the first mother and daughter to graduate from medical school as the same time. Source: Facebook

She told NBC she saw how desperate people were for medical care when a stranger asked her to help treat her ill child.

It jolted me because her only form of health care was a complete stranger, said Cynthia.

I thought, You know what? What can I possibly do to change that, leave an impact, and make a difference? she added.

Her dreams of becoming a doctor were put on hold when she became pregnant with her daughter Jasmine as a senior in High School and raised her alone.

So instead Cynthia attended university for nursing school and worked as nurse for nearly a decade before she decided that she still wanted to become a physician.

A mother and daughter have made history becoming the first to graduate from medical school as the same time. Source: Power105

Cynthia went to the university of Medicine and Health Sciences in the Caribbean while her daughter, inspired by her mother, attended Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

The pair have now matched to complete their residencies at the same institution and they couldnt be happier.

I always tell people we laugh together, we study together, we cry together. I think medical school is one of those experiences that you dont truly understand until youre in it. Sometimes people struggle to find someone who relates to their struggles, so for that person to be my mum was extremely helpful, Jasmine told Power 1051.

Story continues

Ready to take on COVID-19

The two are keen to start their residency and arent phased by the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in New Orleans, I am still very excited to begin my residency. This is an extraordinary time in medical history, and I am proud I will soon be able to help and learn in any way possible, Jasmine said.

While Cynthia added her biggest concern during the COVID-19 crisis is making sure that my child is protected, as well as myself, but she is ready for the challenge.

I have learned, and I have shared this with Jasmine, that when there is adversity there is also opportunity. This is the perfect time for physicians to show their leadership. This is why Jasmine and I became physicians. We want to be a part of the front-line team that impacts the community that we live in.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

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MEMBERS of cause-oriented groups may be arrested if they stage protest rallies on Independence Day on Friday, June 12, 2020.

Police Regional Office-Central Visayas (PRO 7) Director Albert Ignatius Ferro issued the warning after receiving word that the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Central Visayas will hold a rally in front of the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu campus in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

Ferro told reporters he already tasked police personnel to arrest and disperse protesters.

The police official reminded the public that mass gathering is still prohibited while Cebu is on general community quarantine (GCQ).

Since we are at the level of GCQ, mass gathering and mass protests are still not allowed. So what they will do tomorrow (Friday) is not allowed, so we will be exercising maximum tolerance if they dont disperse. We will be forced to arrest them and file a case against them, Ferro said.

John Ruiz, Bayan Central Visayas coordinator, said they will not be deterred by the police warning and the Department of the Interior and Local Government directive against mass gathering.

Ruiz said it is their constitutional right to assemble peacefully and to air their opposition to government policies.

Ferro urged militant groups to encourage lawmakers to repeal laws that prohibit mass gathering during times of calamity.

Although the police will not prevent cause-oriented groups from voicing their opinions, they must comply with health guidelines, especially since the whole country is in the middle of a health crisis because of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

We are not preventing their freedom of expression. They could express it peacefully in their homes or (through) virtual (means) maybe or through cyber (means). Its up to them. But mass gathering is not allowed, Ferro said.

On Friday, June 5, police arrested seven persons protesting against the recently passed anti-terrorism bill and a bystander. (AYB, MMC)
Shamima Begum is set to appeal against a ruling that she cannot return to the UK to challenge the removal of her British citizenship.

Ms Begum was one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join so-called Islamic State (IS) in February 2015 and lived under IS rule for more than three years.

She was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February last year, prompting then home secretary Sajid Javid to revoke her British citizenship later that month.

Last year, Ms Begum took legal action against the Home Office at the High Court and the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), a specialist tribunal which hears challenges to decisions to remove someones British citizenship on national security grounds.

Expand Close (left to right) Kadiza Sultana, then 16, and Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both then 15, going through security at Gatwick airport in 2015 (Metropolitan Police/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp (left to right) Kadiza Sultana, then 16, and Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both then 15, going through security at Gatwick airport in 2015 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

In February 2019, SIAC ruled the decision to revoke Ms Begums British citizenship did not render her stateless and was therefore lawful, as she was a citizen of Bangladesh by descent at the time of the decision.

A decision to revoke someones British citizenship is lawful only if an individual is entitled to citizenship of another country.

SIAC also found Ms Begum cannot play any meaningful part in her appeal and that, to that extent, the appeal will not be fair and effective, but ruled that it does not follow that her appeal succeeds.

Ms Begums challenge to the Home Offices decision to refuse to allow her to enter the UK in order to effectively pursue her appeal was also rejected.

She is due to appeal against that ruling at the Court of Appeal on Thursday.

The two-day hearing before Lord Justice Flaux, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Singh will be livestreamed on the judiciarys YouTube channel.

At the hearing in October 2019, Ms Begums barrister Tom Hickman QC argued the decision to revoke her citizenship had the effect  and was designed  to prevent Ms Begum from returning to the UK, leaving her abandoned in a detention camp.

The tribunal accepted that in her current circumstances Ms Begum could not have a fair and effective appeal.

But it ruled: We cannot accept, without investigation, the assumption, apparently made by the appellants representatives, that if she cannot have a fair and effective appeal her appeal must succeed.

Expand Close L to R, then 15-year-old Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana, then 16, and Shamima Begum, then 15, at Gatwick Airport in February 2015 (Metropolitan Police/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp L to R, then 15-year-old Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana, then 16, and Shamima Begum, then 15, at Gatwick Airport in February 2015 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Ms Begums lawyers had also claimed that the wretched and squalid conditions in al-Roj  and in the al-Hawl camp from which Ms Begum was moved for her own safety  breached her human rights.

SIAC found that conditions in the al-Roj camp would breach the appellants rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment.

But it said the decision did not breach the Home Offices policy on the extraterritorial application of human rights.

Ms Begum, then aged 15, was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families to join IS, shortly after Sharmeena Begum  who is no relation  travelled to Syria in December 2014.

Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, then 16 and 15 respectively, and Ms Begum boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on February 17 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria.

Ms Begum claims she married Dutch convert Yago Riedijk 10 days after arriving in IS territory, with all three of her schoolfriends also reportedly marrying foreign IS fighters.

She told the Times last February that she left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a one-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy, had both since died.

Her third child died shortly after he was born.

The hearing is due to begin at 10.30am on Thursday and it is expected that the Court of Appeal will reserve its judgment to a later date.
A Woodlynne police officer was charged with assault for pepper-spraying a man and teenager without provocation in an incident captured on video last week, authorities said Wednesday.

Ryan Dubiel, 31, faces two counts of simple assault, the Camden County Prosecutors Office announced. The officer sprayed a 15-year-old and a man, according to court documents.

On June 4, at 1:30 p.m., video footage showed that at the time of the OC spray deployment, the individuals were not observed physically resisting or attempting to harm others or themselves, the prosecutors office said in a statement, using an abbreviation of oleoresin capsicum, an oily extract from pepper.

Footage of the incident shared on social media appeared to show Dubiel spraying one person in the eyes while the person remained sitting on a stoop. Someone can be heard apparently saying I live here as the video continues after sounds of coughing. The person does not leave the stoop or appear to approach the officer in the clip posted online.

It was unclear why the officer, who appeared in uniform, was at the residence.

The prosecutors office received a complaint about the incident Friday and launched a thorough investigation, according to Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer.

After careful review, it was clear Dubiels actions are not consistent with the State of New Jersey use-of-force policy, Mayer said.

Dubiel served as a Woodlynne officer for 10 months, marking the ninth police department where he worked, according to officials.

A complete list of his prior employers was not immediately available and officials did not say why he left his series of law enforcement posts. Disciplinary records of police officers in New Jersey are not public except in limited circumstances, including if the records become an exhibit at a trial or through civil service appeals.

State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal called the alleged assault an appalling and completely unjustified use of force, and credited the county prosecutor for handling the investigation. Grewal last week announced New Jersey would create a licensing system for police officers.

This officer, who has worked for nine different police departments, is a strong example of why we need a statewide licensing program for police officers a proposal that I initiated and that I will strongly support when it is presented later this month to the Police Training Commission, Grewal said in a statement.

Just as we license doctors, nurses, and lawyers, we must ensure that all officers meet baseline standards of professionalism, and that officers who fail to meet those standards cannot be passed from one police department to another while posing a threat to the public and other officers, he added.

New Jersey is among a handful of states that do not require police officers to obtain professional licenses. All officers in the state would be required to participate in the licensing program.

Dubiel is among nine officers in the Woodlynne department, which serves the boroughs roughly 2,900 residents. The small department was reinstated about a decade ago after being disbanded.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com.

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HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Erdene Resource Development Corporation (TSX:ERD | MSE:ERDN) (Erdene or the Company) is pleased to provide an update on current technical programs and an overview of Q2 field programs on the Companys exploration prospects at its 100%-owned Khundii Gold Project licenses.

As we are nearing delivery of the Bayan Khundii Gold Projects Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS), we are progressing construction and mining readiness activities, and refining our priority exploration targets, said Peter Akerley, Erdenes President and CEO. Fieldwork commenced in early June, including detailed engineering work for the mineral waste facility and water supply system, drilling in the Bayan Khundii deposit area and surface exploration at our new Khar Mori (Dark Horse) prospect. Results from these programs will support a seamless transition from the BFS, through project finance and onto construction, while further defining our pipeline of growth prospects.

Exploration results in the past half-year reinforce the potential for growth in the Khundii Gold district, continued Mr. Akerley. The expansion opportunities south of the Bayan Khundii open-pit reserve, the recent high-grade surface discovery at Dark Horse and the extension of the high-grade horizon within the Altan Nar Discovery Zone keep our pipeline full in this new gold district.

Mine Construction Readiness

Alongside the BFS, Erdene is undertaking mine construction readiness programs for the Bayan Khundii Gold Project (the Project). These programs are designed to accelerate the Projects first gold production in a phased, cost-efficient manner. Key construction readiness workstreams include:

Establishing Project-specific controls and systems,

Building the Project team,

Securing permits and enhancing stakeholder engagement,

Undertaking the detailed process plant design for construction,

Advancing procurement and tender processes, and

Developing logistics and support plans for the safe delivery of people, equipment, and supplies.

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The preliminary Project team structure has been developed during the BFS, through the engagement of Mongolian and international talent with construction and operations experience. Following the delivery of the BFS, the Project team will finalize the critical permits, stakeholder engagement, procurement, and logistics required for early works, site preparation, and initial facilities construction, including the permanent camp. The abovementioned efforts will fast-track construction beginning early in the 2021 construction season.

The current phase of fieldwork consists of on-site technical works, including condemnation drilling, data collection for detailed engineering and permitting of the mineral waste facility, geotechnical investigation to permit the water supply system, and the collection of building material samples for confirmatory testing.

Condemnation Drilling Bayan Khundii Gold Deposit :

A 25 hole, approximately 1,000-metre drill program commenced this week in near-surface areas of the Bayan Khundii deposit. This program will test for mineralization in zones otherwise classified as waste or low-grade stockpile material with the potential to add significant value at the earliest stages of mining.

During the final Pre-Feasibility resource drilling in 2019, a near-surface, high-grade zone was intersected in the southeast Midfield area with indications of continuity but with insufficient drilling density to confirm. At the southern perimeter of the Striker target area, very high-grade samples at surface and visual gold samples in trenches have not been fully replicated in drilling or reflected in the resource blocks defined. This close-spaced, shallow drill program, will further define these two areas to determine whether extensions of ore zones are present and factor into future mine plans prior to initial development.

Exploration Highlights & Plans

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/75601882-b9f0-4330-9f8e-e996ead1d42c

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a7975889-330e-40af-a041-4436e5252e88



https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/68e4f74c-3bd1-4cee-b7e0-be1087ac7e69

The Khundii Gold District provides a multitude of exploration and development opportunities beyond the current open-pit development at Bayan Khundii. These opportunities include the recent (2019) drilling successes within the Bayan Khundii extension zones, the new Dark Horse gold discovery and the identification of very high-grade gold associated with the boiling zone at Altan Nar, reported earlier in 2020. The following is a brief overview of the main target areas and planned programs.

Bayan Khundii  Extensions and Exploration Beyond Planned Pit

The Bayan Khundii Gold Resource1 includes 521,000 ounces of 3.16 g/t gold Measured and Indicated (M&I) and 103,000 ounces of Inferred resources at 3.68 g/t gold. Within the M&I resource, a proven and probable open-pit reserve totals 422,000 ounces at 3.7g/t (see the full press release here), providing significant potential growth of reserves with the development of the remaining M&I and Inferred resources.1

Several mineralized zones and exploration areas peripheral to the planned open-pit at Bayan Khundii host intervals of exceptionally high-grade (30 to 150 g/t gold intersections over 1 meter) gold-bearing veins. Limited drilling has been completed in these target areas, leaving the majority of these high-grade peripheral zones outside of the Bayan Khundii Reserves. Whereas some of these zones require infill drilling to define the extent and grade further, others highlight the prospective nature of the Bayan Khundii epithermal system to host extensions to the existing resource domains or new satellite deposit discoveries. Details on the key prospects at Bayan Khundii are further outlined below:

Striker West and Southern Extension: Located approximately 210 metres west of the planned Bayan Khundii open-pit, drilling completed in Q2 2019 confirmed and extended the Striker West target with the best intersection to date, 3 metres of 40 g/t gold at 136 metres vertical depth (BKD-2652). Results from this hole also broadened the mineralized domain at shallow depth and outside the defined resource boundary with a 16-metre interval of 1.1 g/t gold, including 5 meters of 2.7 g/t gold, beginning only 28 meters from surface. This area is open to the south, where BKD-2662 was drilled in Q2 2019, approximately 250 metres west-southwest of the planned open-pit, and outside the currently defined resource boundary. This hole intersected a high-grade, one metre interval of 51.9 g/t gold at a depth of 264 metres within a broad zone of silica-illite and magnetite altered volcanic tuff, suggesting a down-dip continuation of high-grade gold mineralization from the currently defined Bayan Khundii pit. Further highlighting the prospect of resource extension to the south of Bayan Khundii, a step-out exploration hole (BKD-268) drilled in Q3 2019 testing a buried geophysical anomaly, intersected a 100 metre thick sequence of altered volcanic tuff, similar to the Bayan Khundii deposit, at approximately 100-metres depth, with gold-bearing tuff units reporting up to a metre of 2.45 g/t gold. The 2019 drill programs provided new zones of expansion with potential for open-pit resources to the west and deeper resource opportunity moving to the south.

East Bayan Khundii: Located on the eastern flank of the planned open pit and below the proposed access ramp, drill hole BKD-1182 intersected 3 metres of 55 g/t gold at approximately 150 metres vertical depth. Minimal drilling has been completed east of this area, leaving a broad swath of untested ground between the planned open pit and the mining license boundary.

Northeast Bayan Khundii: Anomalous gold (greater than 1 g/t gold) has been identified in thick (over 150 metres) sequences of silica-illite altered volcanic tuff up to 400 metres north and northeast along trend of the proposed open-pit. The prospect area north of the planned pit boundary remains largely untested with only widely spaced drilling.

Geological, geophysical and structural modelling continues at Bayan Khundii in preparation for the next phase of drilling.

Dark Horse (Khar Mori)  High Grade Gold Surface Vein System Untested by Drilling

The Dark Horse prospect is located 3.5 kilometres northeast of the Bayan Khundii gold deposit on Erdenes 100% owned Khundii Mining License. The prospect was discovered in early Q4 2019 with the collection of a 32.9 g/t gold rock chip sample hosted by massive tourmaline cut by quartz stockwork veins. Follow-up surface exploration in late Q4 2019 samples multiple veins with grades greater than 5 g/t gold, including an 87.8 g/t gold rock chip sample hosted within comb quartz-adularia veins. The Q4 2019 program expanded the Dark Horse prospect westward to an approximately 1.5 by 2 kilometre area, connecting it with the adjacent Altan Arrow gold prospect to the northwest. Previous drilling along the subsidiary structures south of Altan Arrow (within 300 metres of the Dark Horse target area), have provided the highest grade intersections to date, including 24 g/t  70 g/t gold over 2 metres within 75 metres of surface.

During Q1 2020, Wave Geophysics completed an independent compilation, 3D modelling and interpretation of all geophysical datasets at Dark Horse. This comprehensive assessment provided a better understanding of geology, structure and supported evidence of a structural setting and expanding alteration zones at depth (magnetic low-magnetite destructive event) similar to the nearby Bayan Khundii deposit. In addition to the geophysical study, detailed soil and rock-chip geochemical surveys and mapping and trenching programs are now underway to determine the orientation and frequency of the Dark Horse gold mineralization in advance of future drilling of the prospect.

Although exploration is at an early stage, this is a priority discovery considering the very high-grade gold (up to 87 g/t gold) at surface, similarities to Bayan Khundii, greenfield exploration status and relative proximity to the Bayan Khundii mine development.

Altan NarConfirmation of Continuity of Very High Gold Grades in Q1 Drill Results Provides New Opportunity



At Altan Nar, approximately 16 km north of the Bayan Khundii gold deposit, a growing gold and polymetallic resource provides a significant opportunity for growth of the current high-grade resources. In late Q4 2019, the exploration team successfully tested a concept for a preferred gold mineralized horizon believed to represent an epithermal boiling zone in the Discovery Zone (DZ), one of 18 high-priority targets along the 5.6-kilometre mineralized trend on its 100% owned Altan Nar project. Results included 23 metres of 17 g/t gold, 44.7 g/t silver, 0.75% lead and 1.47% zinc within a black, sulphide-rich epithermal breccia (TND-135) which targeted a previously untested area of the DZ high-grade core. Additional drilling (TND-134 and TND-137) provided further support for the continuity of high grades within the target zone. This proof of concept opens up multiple areas for targeted testing along the Altan Nar trend. Only a small portion of the Altan Nar licence has been drill tested, and 90% of the NI 43-101 Mineral Resource prepared by RPM Global in 2018 is within 150 metres of surface and contained mainly within 2 of the 18 targets with all zones open along strike and at depth. The Q4 2019 results demonstrate continuity in size and grade within the high-grade DZ core, providing confidence in future expansion. Wave Geophysics has recently completed a compilation project for Altan Nar, and interpretation work is underway to develop the next round of drilling. The interpretation and recommendation phase of the desktop review of Altan Nar is currently being completed.



These three priority areas are set in a region of very high geologic prospectivity, limited exploration and are now being explored by a team with unparalleled knowledge and experience in the area. During Q3 2020, field program results and the current desktop studies will be delivered and plans for a significant drilling campaign finalized.

COVID-19 Precautions:

The Company has in place precautionary measures to protect against the spread of COVID-19. In the field, daily protocols are used to enhance hygiene and sanitation, including handwashing and more frequent cleaning. Revised daily briefing, induction and visitor reception procedures, including body temperature checks, have also been implemented. Isolation facilities and personal protective equipment have been prepared if circumstances should necessitate. Since late January, the Government of Mongolia has implemented a series of preventive measures in response to COVID-19, including limitations on public gatherings, suspension of in-person classroom learning, and international border controls. As of June 8, 2020, Mongolia has experienced no local transmission of COVID-19, with the countrys 194 confirmed COVID-19 cases all related to international travel, having been traced, quarantined, and, where required, treated.

Khundii Gold District

Erdenes deposits are located in the Edren Terrane, within the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, host to some of the worlds largest gold and copper-gold deposits. The Company has been the leader in exploration in southwest Mongolia over the past decade and is responsible for the discovery of the Khundii Gold District comprised of multiple high-grade gold and gold/base metal prospects, two of which are being considered for development: the 100%-owned Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar projects. Together, these deposits comprise the Khundii Gold Project.

In October of 2019, Erdene announced the results of an independent Technical Report for the Khundii Gold Project (press release here ), which included a Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) for the Bayan Khundii deposit and an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Altan Nar deposit. The PFS and the updated PEA results include an after-tax Net Present Value at a 5% discount rate and a US$1,300/oz gold price of US$97 million and US$24 million, Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 42% and 90% for Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar deposits, respectively. The PFS envisions an open-pit mine at Bayan Khundii from Years 0-7, producing an average of 61,000 oz gold per year at a head grade of 3.73 g/t gold, and an open-pit operation at Altan Nar during Years 7-10, for an average annual production of 48,000 oz gold at an average head grade of 3.46 g/t gold, utilizing a conventional carbon in pulp processing plant at the Bayan Khundii mine. Erdene has secured a mining license for the Bayan Khundii deposit in August of 2019 and plans to start producing gold at Bayan Khundii in late 2021. The Altan Nar PEA is by nature, a preliminary economic study, based in part on Inferred Resources. Inferred Resources are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, which is required for a pre-feasibility or feasibility study. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.



Erdene Resource Development Corp. is a Canada-based resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base metals in underexplored and highly prospective Mongolia. The Company has interests in three mining licenses and three exploration licenses in Southwest Mongolia, where exploration success has led to the discovery and definition of the Khundii Gold District. Erdene Resource Development Corp. is listed on the Toronto and the Mongolian stock exchanges. Further information is available at www.erdene.com . Important information may be disseminated exclusively via the website; investors should consult the site to access this information.

Qualified Person and Sample Protocol

Peter Dalton, P.Geo. (Nova Scotia), Senior Geologist for Erdene, is the Qualified Person as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. All samples have been assayed at SGS Laboratory in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. In addition to internal checks by SGS Laboratory, the Company incorporates a QA/QC sample protocol utilizing prepared standards and blanks. All samples undergo standard fire assay analysis for gold and ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy) analysis for 33 additional elements. For samples that initially return a grade greater than 5 g/t gold, additional screen-metallic gold analysis is carried out which provides a weighted average gold grade from fire assay analysis of the entire +75 micron fraction and three 30-gram samples of the -75 micron fraction from a 500 gram sample.

Erdenes drill core sampling protocol consisted of collection of samples over 1 or 2 metre intervals (depending on the lithology and style of mineralization) over the entire length of the drill hole, excluding minor post-mineral lithologies and un-mineralized granitoids. Sample intervals were based on meterage, not geological controls or mineralization. All drill core was cut in half with a diamond saw, with half of the core placed in sample bags and the remaining half securely retained in core boxes at Erdenes Bayan Khundii exploration camp. All samples were organized into batches of 30 including a commercially prepared standard, blank and either a field duplicate, consisting of two quarter-core intervals, or a laboratory duplicate. Sample batches were periodically shipped directly to SGS in Ulaanbaatar via Erdenes logistical contractor, Monrud Co. Ltd.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information regarding Erdene contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although Erdene believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Erdene cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what Erdene currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the ability to obtain required third party approvals, market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and is subject to change after that date. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE

Erdene Contact Information

Peter C. Akerley, President and CEO, or

Robert Jenkins, CFO





1 For details of the Mineral Resources see Khundii Gold Project NI 43-101 Technical Report, Tetra Tech December 4, 2019 - SEDAR



2 Reported intervals for these holes are apparent widths. Currently there is insufficient data and drill spacing to accurately define orientation of mineralization and subsequent true thicknesses.
Ireland and the EU are making no preparations for a hard border despite the prospect of a no-trade deal with the UK looking increasingly likely.

Helen McEntee, the EU affairs minister, told the Dail that now is the time for Britain to bring forward acceptable proposals for a trade deal with the EU over Brexit.

She said Ireland has spent years negotiating for no border and preparing for Brexit and that she and the Government expect Britain to fulfill its obligations.

The Government wants businesses to be ready for if Britain does not seek an extension to the Brexit transition period, amid a failure to agree new post-Brexit trade rules.

The Government is also disappointed that Britain is distancing itself from the original political declaration made last October. This set out a future partnership between the bloc and Britain.

Ms McEntee said in the Dail that preparations for a hard trade deal are not about admitting defeat but about risk management.

Ireland still supports the closest possible relationship between the EU and the UK, but we must be prepared.

Despite the standoff over trade, Ms McEntee also told Sinn Fein Louth TD, Ruairi O Murchu, that there are no plans in place for any border arrangements.

The Government nonetheless will continue to invest in controls for ports and airports for when the Brexit transition period finishes at the end of the year.

The Oireachtas will also be asked to consider a new Brexit omnibus bill to prepare sectors and departments for a possible crash-out trade scenario.

Earlier, Ms McEntee told RTE that as discussions continue on the withdrawal agreement and political declaration, that there is a level of frustration in the EU about the position being taken by Britain.

She warned that Britain doesnt seem to want to agree or fulfil what they have committed to and there is a level of frustration that is clearly seen in commentary from lead EU negotiator, Michel Barnier.
DENVER, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Community College of Denver (CCD) announced the launch of CCD Academy to help students who are no longer enrolled in college return and earn their degree. The new initiative is powered by StraighterLine, a developer of low-cost, competency-based courses to help students earn credits toward their degree.

"A college degree can offer an economic lifeline for displaced workers. But for a growing number of laid-off and furloughed workers, life's circumstances -- not a lack of aspiration -- got in the way of completing a degree," said Ruthanne K. Orihuela, Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs at CCD. "This new initiative will help students access low-cost, flexible and high-quality online courses that count fully for credit and give them a flexible option to return to their degree program  even if they have been away for a couple of years."

In addition to associate degrees, community colleges offer short term certificates that lead to higher wage jobs. With the economic impacts of COVID-19, these short certificates in high need industries can provide much needed opportunity to displaced workers. At Community College of Denver, short term certificates stack into longer certificates and associate degrees, allowing students to enter the workforce and continue learning to earn higher wages with each additional credential earned. A study earlier this year by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce found that specialized associate's degrees and certificates can often lead to higher-paying jobs than bachelor's degrees.

CCD Academy is priced at $150 per month and delivered through StraighterLine's pathway platform, which has demonstrated increased persistence and success rates for partner institutions. In addition to convenient access to online courses, the subscription price includes e-textbooks, online tutoring and access to support services seven days a week. CCD Academy is open for enrollment.

"Too often, students may just need a short break from higher education but lack the ability to take it," said Burck Smith, StraighterLine's founder and CEO. "CCD has recognized that by providing flexible, self-paced online courses, CCD Academy can offer stop-outs a way to start, pause as needed, and continue their education, helping students balance their lives while progressing toward their degree."

Students interested in learning more about CCD Academy can call 888.970.9316 or visit academy.ccd.edu.

About Community College of Denver

CCD's educational programs are designed to enrich the social, civic and economic fabric of our community, nation and world. Through innovation, open exploration of ideas and preparation of a well-trained workforce, CCD enriches our democracy and supports a vibrant local economy. Programs and strategies that promote access  as well as the academic and personal success for underserved students  are the foundation of CCD operations. Visit ccd.edu

About StraighterLine

StraighterLine is a student success company and the category creator for providing scalable solutions to deliver affordable, effective and accelerated learning pathways to formal degree programs and widely recognized industry credentials. The StraighterLine platform supports over 35,000 new students a year, including directly through the straighterline.com website as well as through the company's growing network of university and employer relationships. Visit https://www.straighterline.com or https://partners.straighterline.com for more information.

SOURCE StraighterLine
By PTI

MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to discuss the modalities of providing relief to the Konkan region, which bore the brunt of cyclonic storm 'Nisarga' last week.

The hour-long meeting took place at the city mayor's bungalow in central Mumbai.

Earlier this week, the NCP chief, whose party is a key constituent in the Thackeray-led government, visited Raigad and Ratnagiri districts to assess the damage caused by the cyclone.

Pawar had assured people from affected areas that the state government would soon provide relief and aid from the Centre would also be sought.

The state government has already declared Rs 100 crore relief to Raigad and Rs 75 crore to Ratnagiri.

Speaking to reporters, Raigad MP Sunil Tatkare said during the meeting Pawar briefed the chief minister about his visit to Konkan and apprised him about the damage suffered by horticulture and fisheries sectors, and also the tourism industry, which was already hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The NCP chief also suggested that the state government take a policy decision to provide relief to affected people at the earliest, he said.
Astronomers discover how long-lived Peter Pan discs evolve

New research from scientists at Queen Mary University of London has revealed how long-lived Peter Pan discs form, which could provide new insights into how planets arise.

Planet-forming, or protoplanetary, discs are giant discs of gas and dust found circling young stars. The recently discovered Peter Pan discs received their name as like their fictional counterpart they are thought to "never grow up", living around 5-10 times longer than other typical protoplanetary discs.

Whilst astronomers have been aware of the existence of Peter Pan discs since 2016, questions around how and why these discs live so long and the implications for how planets form, have been left unanswered.

In this study, the scientists used computer simulations to look at a range of possible starting configurations and ways in which the disc evolves to reveal the combination of conditions needed to form Peter Pan discs, which they termed 'Neverland's parameters'. They found these discs only form in lonely environments, away from other stars, and that they need to start out much larger than normal discs.

Dr Gavin Coleman, first author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at Queen Mary, said: "Most stars form in big groups containing around 100,000 stars however it seems that Peter Pan discs can't form in these environments. They need to be much more isolated from their stellar neighbours as the radiation from other stars would blow these discs away. They also need to start out massive, so they have more gas to lose and are therefore able to live for much longer."

Until the discovery of long-lived Peter Pan discs, scientists thought that all discs had a lifetime of a few million years and faded away by 10 million years, suggesting that the planets within them must form quickly.

Dr Thomas Haworth, a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow at Queen Mary, said: "The existence of these long-lived discs was really surprising, and finding out why these discs can survive longer than expected could be critical for helping us understand more about disc evolution and planet formation in general. A particularly interesting point is that Peter Pan discs have so far only been found around low mass stars, and these low mass stars are generally being found to host lots of planets. The large disc masses that we need to end up with Peter Pan discs could be an important ingredient that allows these planets to exist."

Due to the specific environment needed for the formation of these discs it is expected that they are very rare. So far, seven Peter Pan discs have been discovered as the result of a citizen science collaboration between NASA and Zooniverse, known as the Disk Detective project.

Dr Coleman, said: "It's great that the findings of a citizen science project are now fuelling novel scientific research into these unique discs, and could even help us to better understand planet formation, one of the key problems in astrophysics."

###

Notes to Editors

*Research publication: 'Peter Pan Discs: Finding Neverland's Parameters' Gavin A. L. Coleman and Thomas J. Haworth, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slaa098

*For more information or a copy of the paper, please contact:

Sophie McLachlan

Faculty Communications Manager (Science & Engineering)

Queen Mary University of London

sophie.mclachlan@qmul.ac.uk

Tel: 020 7882 3787

About Queen Mary

Queen Mary University of London is a research-intensive university that connects minds worldwide. A member of the prestigious Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our world-leading research. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework we were ranked 5th in the country for the proportion of research outputs that were world-leading or internationally excellent. We have over 25,000 students and offer more than 240 degree programmes. Our reputation for excellent teaching was rewarded with silver in the most recent Teaching Excellence Framework. Queen Mary has a proud and distinctive history built on four historic institutions stretching back to 1785 and beyond. Common to each of these institutions - the London Hospital Medical College, St Bartholomew's Medical College, Westfield College and Queen Mary College - was the vision to provide hope and opportunity for the less privileged or otherwise under-represented. Today, Queen Mary University of London remains true to that belief in opening the doors of opportunity for anyone with the potential to succeed and helping to build a future we can all be proud of.

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
BENGALURU, India , June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NYSE: INFY), the global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced the launch of its enterprise-grade 'Return to Workplace' solutions to help clients ensure safety and wellness of their employees as they adapt to new ways of working amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cloud and edge-based solutions offer a comprehensive framework that enables enterprises to implement:

Elevated Body Temperature (EBT) screening  Leverages automation and AI on Edge to help enterprises screen their workforce or visitors in real-time for possible infection to isolate them and prevent them from entering the establishment.

 Leverages automation and AI on Edge to help enterprises screen their workforce or visitors in real-time for possible infection to isolate them and prevent them from entering the establishment. Contact Tracing  Redefining the contact tracing category using proven technologies like GPS and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to provide completely voluntary and Opt-In basis for building traceability.

 Redefining the contact tracing category using proven technologies like GPS and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to provide completely voluntary and Opt-In basis for building traceability. Mask Compliance / Social Distancing Compliance - Video analytics algorithms to provide alerts when masks are not detected, or the distance between people walking together or gathering at a place is not sufficient. Smart wearables can also be incorporated based on the specific situations.

- Video analytics algorithms to provide alerts when masks are not detected, or the distance between people walking together or gathering at a place is not sufficient. Smart wearables can also be incorporated based on the specific situations. COVID-19 Chatbot  An AI-powered Digital Assistant solution to help answer employee queries related to return to work scenarios

 An AI-powered Digital Assistant solution to help answer employee queries related to return to work scenarios Contactless biometrics  Ensures employees and visitors enter workplaces in a safe manner

 Ensures employees and visitors enter workplaces in a safe manner Occupancy and workspace analytics  To help real estate teams track metrics on floor occupancy, density and automate sanitation routines in common areas. Contactless elevator workflows, HVAC refresh cycles and many more solutions towards ongoing workplace wellbeing.

These solutions do not collect any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and use the power of AI, IOTVision Analytics, Edge Computing, 5G, RFID, Biometrics and Gesture controls to reduce the need for human intervention and enable data-driven decision making. The underlying platform ensures ease of maintenance and compliance reporting as required in various geographies.

Nitesh Bansal, SVP and Head- Engineering Services, Infosys, said, "The future of work will demand innovative solutions that enterprises can deploy rapidly, and at scale to ensure safety of their workforce while at the same time nurture collaboration and productivity. We are pleased to launch our 'Return to Workplace' offering that is aimed at positively impacting the re-opening of workspaces in a seamless, automated, and systematic manner. We are implementing some of these solutions, starting with EBT checks, across five million sq. ft. of our own office spaces as we prepare for 20,000 Infosys employees to return to their workplaces in a phased manner. We are confident that these solutions will reassure enterprises and employees that their workplaces are safe, collaborative, yet non-intrusive."

These solutions adhere to data privacy standards and practices with FDA, FCC, ISO, and IEC compliance.

Mukesh Dialani, Program Director of Product Engineering and Operations Technology/Services, IDC, said, "Infosys' scalable and flexible 'Return to Workplace' solution is timely and well thought out. Adhering to data privacy standards and built on a foundation of digital engineering elements including computer vision, edge and AI, it will provide customers with processes and solutions to restart their operations in a safe and resilient manner."

To know more on how 'Return to Workplace' solutions came about, and watch Nitesh Bansal tell the story, click here: https://www.infosys.com/newsroom/infytv/making-our-way-back-to-workplace.html

About Infosys Ltd.

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With nearly four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. These filings are available at www.sec.gov . Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

SOURCE Infosys
A family street race has ended in tragedy, with a mother dead and her son arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.

Algetta Michelle Strother, 54, was killed instantly Monday night in San Bernardino, California when her car flipped over and struck a tree, a pipe, and a light pole.

Her son, Steven Kirk Strother Jr, 26, was arrested Wednesday in relation to the crash.

Police say the pair were racing one another in separate vehicles when the crash occurred.

Steven was behind the wheel of a Buick Century, while Algetta was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV with a 21-year-old passenger inside.

Algetta Michelle Strother, 54, was killed instantly Monday night in San Bernardino, California when her car flipped over and struck a tree, a pipe, and a light pole. Her son, Steven Kirk Strother Jr, 26, was arrested Wednesday in relation to the crash. Mourners are seen gathering at the crash site

As the two cars dragged along the street they came across a Toyota Camry, which police believe was driving at the designated speed limit.

Steven attempted to zoom past that car, but his Buick collided into the Camry.

At that point, Algetta reportedly lost control of her Chevrolet as she attempted to veer away from those two vehicles.

Her car flipped and hit multiple objects on the side of the road.

According to the San Bernardino Sun, Algetta was flung through the front window of her SUV and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her 21-year-old passenger was taken to hospital with injuries.

A tire imprint shows where Algetta's car skidded off the road before flipping and hitting a nearby pole

Steven escaped without injury. Miraculously, the driver of the Camry also came away unhurt.

Police believe both alcohol and speed were a factor in the fatal crash, but say they are still investigating.

Steven is now being held without bail, due to a parole violation. He is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.

On Wednesday, friends and relatives of Algetta gathered at the scene of the crash to pay respects to the woman known as 'Meme'.

Mourners left dozens of candles and balloons at the site.
(TNS)  Gov. Phil Murphy said the state should be ready to deploy the first group of new contact tracer hires next week, noting their efforts to reach out to people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus will only become more critical as the state relaxes restrictions on gatherings and business.As we begin Stage 2 of our restart on Monday, new contact tracers will be recruited and trained, Murphy said at his daily press briefing Wednesday. As more businesses come back online the following week, so, too, will more contact tracers. Each step of our restart will be accompanied by the on-boarding of new contact tracers.Contact tracing is a public health practice where health officials interview someone who is positive for an infectious disease, such as hepatitis A or HIV, and then reaches out to their close contacts to advise them to isolate, get tested or seek treatment, depending on the virus. In the case of the coronavirus, a close contact is considered to be a person who interacted with them at a distance of six feet or less for at least 10 minutes.The governor also sought to allay fears about contact tracing, assuring the public that their health data would be kept secure and confidential, and that there will be no app tracking their movements, as some other countries have used Its been a month since Murphy announced the plan to establish a Community Contact Tracing Corps to assist the states 94 local health departments, some of which struggled to keep up with the caseloads at times.Murphy said at least 1,600 new contact tracers should be on board this month, with the first group starting their 15-hour training Monday, when nonessential retail stores can fully reopen and outdoor dining will restart. Its possible the state could need as many as 4,000 if there is a resurgence of the virus, he said.New Jerseys plan for contact tracing, announced May 12, followed earlier efforts from other states like Massachusetts, Maryland and Michigan to bring on more contact tracers. In the meantime, New Jerseys local health departments have found ways to triple their own workforce of tracers from 300 to 900 by relying on volunteers, other health officials and public employees borrowed from their usual jobs.It hasnt been hard for New Jersey to find people willing to do contact tracing work. Since launching a portal where people could apply, the state received 50,000 submissions, Murphy said.However, the first ranks of recruits are likely to be Rutgers School of Public Health graduate students and alumni, followed by other New Jersey college students, according to Rutgers. The job will pay $25 an hour, Murphy previously said.The universitys Center for Public Health Workforce Development developed a training for the contact tracers, using a curriculum based on national training platforms that ensures confidentiality for all people interviewed, along with an understanding of New Jersey-specific cultural information, the university said.Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said the training will include cultural sensitivity, cultural bias and historical cultural awareness" to ensure interviewers are sensitive to the communities theyre contacting. Minority communities and vulnerable populations have been disproportionately impacted by the virus, she noted.In May, School of Public Health Dean Perry Halkitis said the school will be creating a kind of prototype for how to train tracers, so it can be scaled up and eventually managed by a third party, like a staffing company or nonprofit.The Department of Health has said it is soliciting proposals from vendors, organizations, and institutions to aid with recruitment, assessment, hiring, training and management of contact tracers, but they have not chosen a vendor yet.The second part of the states contact tracing plan is implementing a new contact tracing database platform by Dimagi called CommCare , which is intended to simplify the inputting and sharing of data as necessary between health departments, including those in Pennsylvania and New York.New Jersey is the first state to announce it will adopt the platform, which is already up and running in two California counties and in a handful of cities, according to Jonathan Jackson, Dimagis co-founder and CEO.Persichilli said several health departments are piloting the software and it should be rolled out statewide by the end of the month. The governors staff has not responded to questions about the cost of the platform.Dimagi and Murphy said the platform complies with federal health privacy law and all data will be encrypted for confidentiality.To be clear: CommCare is the database that allows us to do this work effectively, it is not a tracking app. And, there is a huge difference there. CommCare doesnt track your cell phone, know your GPS location, or use any geolocation data, Murphy said.The governor reminded the public of contact tracing scams, and said real tracers will never ask for social security numbers, financial information, immigration status or criminal history.He said he hopes people will understand that sharing their personal health information with contact tracers is important.I would just plead to folks, were doing this for your good and your family good and the greater community good, he said.
UK's Acting High Commissioner to India Jan Thompson on Thursday threw some light on the re-opening of the Visa Application Centres. Taking to Twitter, Thompson stated that they are taking a "measured approach" towards reopening as the health and safety of the staff is their top priority. She further added that the authorities are currently working on it, and will be releasing their plans shortly.

Know there is interest in when Visa Application Centres will reopen. Health and safety of staff and customers our top priority, so must take a measured approach to reopening. Please be assured we are working on this and will release further information on our plans shortly.  Jan Thompson (@JanThompsonFCO) June 11, 2020

Read: MHA relaxes visa regulations for foreign businessmen as India opens up post-lockdown

Meanwhile, as India started relaxing the lockdown guidelines, the MHA also relaxed visa regulations for foreign business-persons. The MHA had issued a memo stating that certain categories of foreign officials including foreign businessmen on business via, foreign healthcare officials, foreign engineering specialists, and foreign technical specialists on invitation from an Indian business entity have been permitted to come into India.

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that a 'good percentage' of international flights will begin operations by August-September. He had also said that the ministry is confident that a fair number of international flights will commence operation by August. Domestic flights were allowed to resume operations on May 25, with conditions.

Read: China slams US for visa restrictions on students, says 'backpedaling only brings harm'

The COVID-19 crisis

Currently, the United Kingdom who is on the fourth position on the Coronavirus list across the world has a total of 2,901,43 active cases. Out of the total cases, 41,128 people have been reported dead. Meanwhile, According to Union Health Ministry, India has recorded a total of 2,865,79 out of which 1,374,48 cases are active. While 1,410,28 people have been recovered, 8,102 people have succumbed to the infection.

Read: Allahabad HC grants bail to 6 B'deshis in case of 'misuse' of tourist visa

Read: US announces relief for H-1B visa holders, green card applicants amid Covid outbreak
Researchers have revealed the science behind the perfect hug. (Getty Images)

In these coronavirus-impacted times when social distancing rules are keeping so many of us apart, were all craving a good hug.

And while wed take just about any hug right now, science has been busy figuring out what actually makes the perfect hug.

The cuddle testing squad  in fact, a team of scientists from Japans Toho University  measured the calming effects on infants of hugs of varying pressures and those given by strangers compared with their parents.

By monitoring the infant heart rates and using pressure sensors on the adult's hand, the researchers assessed the babys reaction to being simply held, receiving a hug with medium pressure, and what they called a tight hug.

The results, published in the journal Cell, found that babies were soothed more easily by a hug with medium pressure, than they were when they were just being held.

But the calming effect decreased when they were given a tight hug.

Read more: Dad invents 'cuddle curtain' so his children can hug their grandparents during lockdown

When it comes to the effects of the different hug givers, unsurprisingly for infants older than 125 days, the calming effect was greater when receiving a hug from a parent than from a female stranger.

Therefore, researchers suggested the perfect cuddle requires medium pressure and should be given by a parent.

The researchers kept the length of the hug to 20 seconds as it was almost impossible to avoid infants bad mood during a one-minute or longer hold or hug, they shared in their paper.

Read more: Mum praised for relatable post about losing yourself in motherhood

Parents can feel the benefits of baby hugs too! (Getty Images)

Turns out we dont grow out of the benefits of comforting hugs either.

The research also revealed that parents also exhibited significant signs of calmness while hugging their child.

Both parents and infants both showed an increase during a hug in what's known as the R-R interval (RRI) on an electrocardiogram.

This is the time between a particular waveform that measures electrical activity of the heart and the increased time indicates a slowed heart rate.

Story continues

The infants older than four months old showed a high increase ratio of heartbeat intervals during hugging by their parents than by female strangers, explains first study author Sachine Yoshida, of Toho University, in a release.

Parents also showed a high increase ratio of heartbeats intervals by hugging their infants. We found that both infants and parents come to relax by hugging.

Read more: Dad invents world's first coronavirus pram to help prevent babies contracting COVID-19

Though hugs are thought to release a hormone called oxytocin, also sometimes referred to as the cuddle or love hormone, researchers believe the time period of their hug experiment was too short for this to play a role.

They therefore believe their research could be the first time the physiological impact of hugging infants has been measured.

They hope their work could help to improve knowledge of parent-child bonding and child psychology.

Even though infants cannot speak, they recognise their parents through various parenting methods, including hugging, after four months old at latest, Yoshida adds.

We hope that knowing how your baby feels while being hugged could help ease the physical and psychological workload of taking care of infants too young to speak.
Life is short, full of trouble, and a waste of time! Unless: a compelling account that encourages the individual to listen to the voice within and deeply contemplate about the truths of life and the purpose of existence. Life is short, full of trouble, and a waste of time! Unless is the creation of published author V.C. Chuck Wiley, a life-long Christian who has been blessed to have served both adults and children of all ages over many decades of his life. He proudly served four years in the United States Air Force and holds a bachelor of arts in sociology/ criminal justice.

Wiley shares, The whole idea of this little book is for the reader to come to grips with the idea that life really is short and that the world really is in a big mess without much hopeunless. The mess is described in Part 1 and the unless (which gives us hope) is described in Part 2.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, V.C. Chuck Wileys new book is an interesting manuscript that reminds the readers of how short life is and that one must come to terms with what he or she is here for in order to fulfill a life of purpose and meaning.

View a synopsis of Life is short, full of trouble, and a waste of time! Unless on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Life is short, full of trouble, and a waste of time! Unless at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Life is short, full of trouble, and a waste of time! Unless, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  The Japan Credit Rating Agency has upgraded its credit rating for the Philippines to "A-," the highest rating the country has ever received.

Better credit ratings help the Philippine government acquire cheaper loans abroad, as they attest to the state's ability to settle debts and the stability of the country's economy.

"At the moment, the Philippines economic growth is under downward pressure on the back of the impact of temporary reduction of economic activity due to the implementation of quarantine measures to contain the spread of COVID-19," read the Japanese debt watcher's statement on Thursday.

In May, economic managers projected that the Philippine economy will contract by around 2 to 3.4 percent this year with the coronavirus pandemic inflicting major damage on the country.

"However, JCR holds that a downturn will be limited given the countrys strengthened economic base, resilient external position and the governments economic stimulus package totaling more than 9% of GDP," it added. The debt watcher noted that that the Philippine economy has grown by an average annual rate of more than 6 percent since 2011, except in 2019 the growth slowed somewhat to 5.9 percent.

Our governments proactive response to the crisis, as embodied in its Four-Pillar Socioeconomic Strategy against COVID-19, will clear the way to an economic bounce-back that is strong, sustainable, and resilient," commented Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

The said strategy, which is worth 1.74 trillion, involves "(i) emergency support for vulnerable groups and individuals; (ii) marshalling of resources to fight COVID-19; (iii) fiscal and monetary actions to finance emergency initiatives and keep the economy afloat; and (iv) an economic recovery program focused on getting businesses back on their feet to sustain and create jobs," said the Investor Relations Office in a statement.

READ: House OKs on final reading bill providing for 1.3-trillion stimulus package as COVID-19 response

The debt watcher noted that that the Philippine economy has grown by an average annual rate of more than 6 percent since 2011, except in 2019 when growth slowed somewhat to 5.9 percent.

The institution also said "the government is aiming for an early recovery of the economy by continuing to put priority on the execution of infrastructure projects that will have particularly high economic impacts." With this, JCR expects the Philippine economy to return to a 6 to 7-percent annual growth rate in the medium term.

READ: 'Build, Build, Build' to fuel PH economy 'bounce back'  Dominguez

JCR added that the Duterte administration "keeps the momentum for reforms" through its tax reform program, now pushing for a bill that aims to trim corporate income taxes in the hopes of supporting enterprises heavily affected by the pandemic and attracting more investments.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno welcomed the improved rating from the debt watcher, saying [w]hile we have temporarily veered our attention away from the Road to A agenda because our focus at the moment is on saving lives, jobs, and livelihoods, we welcome positive assessments from international observers like JCR."

Meanwhile, Acting National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the upgraded credit rating "is an affirmation of the economys resilience."

He likewise noted that the Philippines has "sufficient fiscal space and economic resiliency to address the pandemic," as it "had continued to strengthen its macroeconomic fundamentals prior to the COVID-19 pandemic."

JCR likewise upgraded its outlook for the Philippine economy from positive to stable.

Earlier this year, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings affirmed their "BBB+" and "BBB" ratings respectively for the Philippines, with both grades espousing a stable outlook.
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I have been following with anguish Coun. Stephen Wrights error in judgment and the punishment meted out to him. I think the punishment was overly harsh. While in no way excusing his breaking the directive against interprovincial travel, it seems to me no real harm ensued, it was a poor error in judgment, not a criminal offence and he has been truly punished enough by public shaming.

I take at face value Wrights assertion that he was looking out for Peterboroughs economic well-being in going to investigate firsthand the way restaurants would be opening in New Brunswick given their excellent COVID record and consequent earlier opening than ours  and recognizing that Peterborough also has an excellent COVID record, he wanted to learn from their experience. As he himself puts it he was overzealous.

I think it is regrettable that council voted to remove Wright from so many of his responsibilities. At a time when Peterborough is planning to create downtown patio zones stripping him of his position as economic development vice-chair is robbing us of his energy and expertise for this work. Also, I believe it was Wrights initiative to ask council to endorse him for a seat on Federation of Canadian Municipalities. A councillor who has ambition to advance Peterboroughs national presence in such a forum is a man of action. We need people of vision and drive on council.

Its hard to see an African-Canadian elected official treated so harshly at a time when our country needs so badly to face racism and get behind the Black Lives Matter momentum. Agreed, a reprimand was in order to signal that no one is above the law, but I think council went too far. As council appointments are reviewed every December I hope the mayor will reinstate Wright. And I hope this unnecessarily harsh treatment will not deter his enthusiasm for the important work he obviously loves doing.

I was pleased to see Coun. Gary Baldwin, who was the initiator for councils long-delayed Code of Conduct a short time ago, voted against the oppressive sanctions. If Baldwin felt the consequences were too harsh I have faith in his judgment.
Activists in Goa have alleged a scam in the registration of beneficiaries under the Goa Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Scheme, and demanded an inquiry into how people who are clearly not construction labourers have registered their names to receive benefits under the scheme.

According to a complaint filed before the Panaji Police as well as before the Commissioner of Labour and Employment, a group of seven activists has alleged that at least a few of the around 15,000-odd beneficiaries who received funds under the scheme, were in fact people associated with political parties. They said that these people are elected representatives at the village level and have businesses not connected with construction labour.

Among these there are many panches and sarpanches who have registered. For now we have one name of one Mohini Tari who was a former sarpanch. We have heard that there are others as well who are candidates of political parties at the district panchayat elections, Kashinath Shetye, who filed the complaint along with six others, told mediapersons.

The money under the scheme is meant for labourers affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.

Tari approached the labour commissioner to return the money claiming that it was wrongfully credited to her. But activists claim that about a dozen other people have been identified as being wrongful recepients of the money meant for labourers.

The police are yet to register an FIR in connection with the case.

There are around 15,491 labourers registered under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Fund that is maintained by the Goa Labour Welfare Board.

A total of Rs 5.63 crore was released to the beneficiaries back in March this year as a one time grant under the scheme that was meant to help construction workers tide over the lockdown. Each beneficiary under the scheme was granted Rs 6,000.

We are demanding that this be checked and the money should be returned. And it shouldnt end there because they have falsified affidavits claiming that they are laborers. There should be action against them. I dont know how they are registered, Shetye alleged.

Under the scheme beneficiaries have to submit a certificate by a labour contractor stating that they have spent at least 90 days in a year working at a construction site in order to continue to receive benefits under the scheme.

The activists claim that they do not know the total number of bogus beneficiaries registered under the scheme but said that an inquiry into the matter would reveal the true extent of the scam.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, when asked to comment on the alleged bogus beneficiaries, said that the matter needed to be probed at the level of the Labour Commissioner. Let him look into it. Why should I say anything. These beneficiaries have been added over the last many years, Sawant said.

What piqued the interest of the activists was when, back in April, Sawant read out a list of beneficiaries of the scheme to make a point that most of them were Goan. Sawant was facing criticism that the Goa government was going out of its way to help migrant labourers while neglecting locals affected by the pandemic.

Realising the distress in the construction labour sector, the central government had issued directives to all states to release funds for Building and Construction cess for beneficiaries under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996.

Accordingly, each registered worker received Rs 6,000 in their bank accounts.
The judge presiding over the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy has approved an agreement among attorneys to extend an injunction halting child sex abuse lawsuits against the organizations 261 local councils until Nov. 16.

Under the agreement approved this Monday, local councils wanting continued protection from litigation must sign agreements by July 6 requiring them to provide information to the Boy Scouts about their finances, including real estate holdings, for sharing with creditor committees.

The local councils, which run day-to-day operations for local troops, are not listed as debtors in the bankruptcy and are considered by the Boy Scouts to be legally separate entities, even though they are related parties. Attorneys for abuse victims have made clear that they will try to go after campsites and other properties owned by the local councils to contribute to the fund for victims.

Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein will hear any objections to the extension of the injunction at a July 9 hearing.

The Nov. 16 extension date corresponds with the deadline for victims of child sex abuse to file claims in the bankruptcy case.

The Boy Scouts of America, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in February in an effort to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a huge compensation fund for men who were molested as youngsters decades ago by scoutmasters or other leaders.

More than 12,000 boys have been molested by 7,800 abusers since the 1920s, according to Boy Scout files revealed in court papers. Attorneys have indicated that there could be at least 7,000 claims filed in the bankruptcy case.

James Stang, an attorney for the official committee representing abuse survivors, said Monday that his committee and the official committee for unsecured creditors are anticipating a substantial data download from the Boy Scouts related to the local councils.

An ad hoc committee representing the local councils already has provided some information on a confidential basis, Stang said. Similarly, the information provided by local councils pursuant to the injunction extension will be subject to a protective order.

Stang told the judge that if the creditor committees dont get the information they need from the local councils, they will seek discovery through the normal court process.

Also Monday, Silverstein appointed a three-person mediation panel that will try to resolve certain issues in the bankruptcy case through voluntary mediation instead of costly litigation.

Silverstein appointed two of the three mediators proposed by the Boy Scouts and the official committees but chose former Delaware bankruptcy judge Kevin Carey for the third spot.

The other mediators are Paul Finn and Tim Gallagher. Finn runs a Massachusetts mediation firm and has significant experience in Catholic diocese and other cases involving child sex abuse claims. Gallagher is a California lawyer who specializes in mediation involving complex insurance disputes.

Attorneys for the Boy Scouts said issues ripe for initial mediation include disputes over whether certain Boy Scouts properties should not be made available to satisfy creditor claims. The Boy Scouts believe those properties include High Adventure bases such as the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, the Florida Sea Base aquatic facility, and the Northern Tier wilderness area in northern Minnesota and Canada.

The debtors should not be forced to monetize those assets to satisfy the claims of creditors, said Boy Scouts attorney Jessica Boelter.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation
Would-be protesters hoping to attend demonstrations in Sydney this weekend have been warned they face $1,000 fines or arrest, police said on Thursday.

Almost 1,000 people have expressed their interest in attending another Black Lives Matter protest on Friday evening, according to the event's Facebook page.

But Assistant Commissioner Mick Willing said the rally was unauthorised after a Melbourne protester tested positive for coronavirus following Saturday's rally.

'We all appreciate the sensitivities around [the BLM cause] and global events have left an impression on all of us, but I ask people not to attend tomorrow night's rally,' Mr Willing told reporters on Thursday.

He said the police have not been formally notified, and would deploy 'significant resources' to enforce the existing COVID-19 health order which bans mass gatherings.

People could be moved on and potentially arrested if they choose to attend Friday's event, the assistant commissioner said.

Critics said the protesters put Aboriginal people at risk because they are more vulnerable to the deadly virus

'We have shown a tempered and measured approach when it comes to the issuing of infringements in relation to the health orders to date. That won't change.'

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said people attending Friday's rally could be issued $1,000 fines.

'We know that the organisers can't control the numbers, we know they can't meet the health obligations that are in place for everyone else,' Mr Fuller told 2GB radio.

NSW Police are also heading to the Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon to stop a refugee rally planned for Saturday afternoon in Sydney's CBD.

Organisers have lodged a notification for that protest with police.

It comes as a man in his 30s marched with thousands through Melbourne on Saturday and developed symptoms 24 hours later.

The protester, who is not indigenous, wore a mask but health officials still fear he may have given the virus to others.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the case could be the start of a mass outbreak. 'This realises our worst fears,' he told Sydney radio 2GB.

A Black Lives Matter protester has tested positive for coronavirus after attending a rally in Melbourne. Pictured: The protest

'Now we could slip back into a second wave like other countries have.'

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it was unlikely the man caught the virus at the protest.

'This case is unlikely to have been acquired at the protest but we were all concerned about the possibility of transmission occurring at that protest,' he said.

'It's obviously helpful that the individual wore a mask but masks are not 100 per cent protection.'

Contact tracing is under way and anyone who came face to face with the infected protester for 15 minutes or more will be asked to quarantine as part of the normal process.

Dr Sutton, who warned people not to attend Saturday's rally, also urged people not to go to any future demonstrations.

'We don't want people gathering in groups larger than 20 in Victoria because of the risk to others. It is my strong recommendation not to go and it is the law,' he said.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Australian cities in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Pictured: A protest in Sydney on Tuesday

Mr Willing said there were usually 800 protests in Sydney each year but it simply wasn't safe to hold such gatherings during a pandemic.

About 20,000 people attended a Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney last Saturday after the Court of Appeal deemed it lawful less than 15 minutes before it began.

Doherty Institute epidemiology director Professor Jodie McVernon is concerned large crowds have taken to the streets

'Clearly there's a risk of transmission at gatherings of this kind,' Prof McVernon said in a statement on Thursday.

'We were pleased to see people taking individual risk mitigations and trying to keep distancing, but in a crowd of that size, that's very challenging. We are still a highly susceptible population.'

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also condemned the protesters, saying: 'People shouldn't have gathered in those numbers for those rallies. In doing so, they put the broader community's health at risk.

'That was the obvious message from the medical experts about those rallies. And it was very unfortunate that they proceeded in the way that that did.'

Black rights protests sprung up around the western world in response to American demonstrations following the death of black security guard George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Thousands of Aboriginal rights activists attended rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide on Saturday despite health officials warning they could cause COVID-19 outbreaks.

This morning Prime Minister Scott Morrison slammed the protesters and said he wanted anyone attending future rallies to be charged with breaking public health orders.

'I think they should. I mean, I really do think they should, because they'll be kind of a double standard here,' he told Melbourne radio 3AW.

'I think the issues of last weekend were very difficult, but I think people carrying it on now, it's not about that.

'It's about people pushing a whole bunch of other barrows now, and it puts others lives and livelihoods at risk.'

Mr Morrison added: 'I saw some people say, when they attended this rally, 'oh I knew the risk I was taking by attending'.

People hold up placards at a Black Lives Matter protest to express solidarity with US protesters in Melbourne on June 6

'They were talking about themselves, they weren't talking about the Australians who weren't there, you know, millions of quiet Australians who have done the right thing.'

The Prime Minister said protesters had prevented more restrictions being lifted as health officials wait two weeks to see if the demonstrations cause a spike in cases.

'By all means raise your issue. But by doing this, they have put the whole track to recovery at risk,' he told Sydney radio 2GB.

As state leaders face growing calls to lift more restrictions, Mr Morrison said: 'The rally last weekend is the only legitimate blocker.'

Deputy chief medical officer Professor Michael Kidd said it was too early to tell if the protests will cause a spike.

'The incubation period for COVID-19 is five to seven days, up to 14 days. So we will only start seeing new cases occurring if that transmission had occurred on the weekend over the days ahead,' he told ABC News this morning.

'We're continuing to be very cautious and obviously we need to see what happens over the next few days.'

In total Victoria reported eight new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, two in hotel quarantine and six from community transmission.

New South Wales reported zero new cases and Queensland reported one, a returned traveller.
People walk along Harbor Boulevard in downtown Fullerton on Thursday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Orange County residents no longer have to wear masks in public, officials announced Thursday  an abrupt shift in health orders following weeks of debate over the use of face coverings to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Masks will go from being required to being strongly recommended in public settings under a revised order from new Orange County Health Care Agency Director Dr. Clayton Chau.

Chau said at a news conference that he would issue the new order later Thursday.

"I want to be clear: This does not diminish the importance of face coverings," he said. "I stand with the public health experts and believe wearing cloth face coverings helps to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community and save lives. By being consistent with the state, this will give our business community and individuals the ability to make the most appropriate decision for them and their situation."

The county's goal is to make its mask rules consistent with the state's. Above, Harbor Boulevard in downtown Fullerton. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

The new order, he said, "will no longer require that most residents wear a face covering, but strongly recommends that they should when outside of their home and unable to physically distance themselves by six feet from others."

At several points on Thursday, Chau said the motivation was to make the county's mask rules consistent with the state's.

"This decision is not because of public pushback," he said.

County Supervisor Michelle Steel cautioned that if residents are feeling ill, they should stay home, but if they are out, "it is strongly recommended to wear a mask and social distance."

"Public health is at the utmost importance during this crisis," she said.

The mask dispute has unfolded as the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise in Orange County. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

The less-stringent recommendation had been in place until late May, when former county health officer Dr. Nichole Quick issued an order mandating that county residents and visitors wear cloth face coverings while in a public place, at work or visiting a business where they are unable to stay at least six feet apart.

The switch set off a firestorm of controversy as some residents and elected officials challenged the need for the widespread use of face coverings as more businesses in the region continued to reopen.

Story continues

Quick herself became a target for criticism during county Board of Supervisors meetings, with some residents castigating her for the order. During one meeting, public speakers displayed a poster showing Quicks photo with a Hitler mustache on her face and swastikas.

The Orange County Sheriffs Department provided a security detail for the doctor after she received what officials deemed to be a death threat during a meeting last month.

After several intense weeks defending her order, Quick resigned Monday. The county agreed to pay her $75,000 in severance in exchange for her decision to leave voluntarily, according to a signed settlement and release agreement.

On Tuesday, Chau stepped into Quick's role and was immediately peppered with questions from elected officials about the need for a mask order. Members of the public could be heard shouting in the background as Chau responded to questions from the board.

"There's always going to be community infection going on," Supervisor Don Wagner said. "There's always flu infection going on. Are you telling us masks, in your professional opinion, are going to be necessary until the end of time or until there's a vaccine or what?"

Chau later said he planned to look at the countys infection rate and hospitalization numbers over the next 21 days as more public spaces continue to reopen to determine whether those numbers show it is safe to amend the mask order.

The dispute over the requirement has unfolded as the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise in Orange County.

Health officials reported 260 new coronavirus infections Thursday, boosting the county's cumulative case count to 7,987. Of those, an estimated 3,726 people have already recovered.

Thursday saw the third-most new cases on any one day in the county since the pandemic began. The three largest single-day increases have all occurred within the past week.

The county also announced four new fatalities, raising the death toll to 202. Of those who have died, 94 were residents of skilled-nursing facilities, according to the county.

But Orange County officials said other data points  such as death and testing positivity rates  paint a more promising picture, as both compare favorably to neighboring counties.

"While we are not out of this completely yet, Orange County is in good position to continue moving forward, and we have reason to be positive about where we are," Steel said.

The move to alter the county's order also comes as the region prepares to reopen additional sectors of its economy. Chau's new health order will further relax restrictions on businesses to allow bars, wineries, movie theaters, gyms, community pools, zoos, hotels and other spaces to reopen, he said.

Many health officials say that face coverings are an integral tool in the fight against COVID-19  as they can block transmission of the respiratory droplets released by asymptomatic people when breathing or talking.

Research published by Cambridge University Press in 2013 found that homemade cloth masks significantly reduced the amount of potentially infectious droplets expelled by the wearer.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20% to 50% of infected people never show symptoms of illness yet may be just as contagious as those who are visibly sick.

Masks provide a hell of a lot of protection. And Im more comfortable relaxing things if everybody is wearing masks than if they werent, Dr. George Rutherford, a UC San Francisco epidemiologist and infectious-diseases expert, said recently.

But whether wearing masks should be recommended or mandated has become the subject of impassioned debate in Southern California. Some counties, including Los Angeles and San Diego, require residents to wear masks in public settings.

Doing so is only strongly recommended in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Like Orange County, both had mask requirements but later walked them back.

Dr. Geoffrey Leung, ambulatory medical director for the Riverside University Health System, said wearing masks not only helps prevent the unintentional sharing of respiratory droplets, but can keep people from touching their faces and provide a gentle social cue to remind people to maintain physical distancing.

Despite those benefits, he said the question of whether to require masks "is more complicated than most of us think."

"If you are taking a walk outside by yourself and theres no one nearby, or youre biking, does it make sense to be required to wear a mask?" he said Thursday. "I think what we're realizing is we really need to ask people to apply their best judgment and their common sense."

Even without a mandate, though, Riverside County officials stress that residents should wear masks, particularly as more businesses and public spaces reopen.

"I do think, as more and more evidence has come out, its been fairly consistent in showing that it looks like covering the face is beneficial and it does reduce the risk of transmission of coronavirus," Leung said.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer has routinely touted the health benefits of wearing face coverings in public. That, along with other practices like physical distancing and regular hand washing, can stave off a spike in coronavirus infections, she's said.

It remains so important for all of us, businesses and residents, to follow the directives and to do our part every day to keep ourselves and our friends, our loved ones and our families as safe as possible, she said Wednesday. This is really the only way for us to reopen without creating huge increases in cases, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19."

Leaders in Orange County, however, have noted that not everyone was adhering to the mask requirement and that law enforcement, including the Sheriff's Department, had said they would not enforce the mandate.

Over the past several days, county staff continued discussions with Chau about the mask order.

Dozens of residents pledged their support for the mask requirement publicly and in letters to the Board of Supervisors.

Shoppers at a newly reopened South Coast Plaza were split on the issue Thursday.

While waiting for his wife outside the Gap store in the Costa Mesa shopping center, Andrew de Guia, a 73-year-old Chino Hills resident, said he plans to continue wearing a face covering, likely until July.

As he spoke to a reporter, he was careful to keep his distance from other shoppers during the upscale mall's first day of business after a months-long closure amid the pandemic.

Im used to wearing a face mask, he said.

Nearby, 56-year-old Westminster resident Irene Bunya said she disagrees with the county's decision to lift the mask requirement.

My immune system is compromised, so I will likely keep wearing a mask for the next few months, Bunya said. I think the worst is over, but Im not sure about when flu season picks up.

On her way to what would be a long shift at Louis Vuitton, where nearly 30 customers were lined up out front, 40-year-old Irvine resident Janelle Aranda bemoaned having to wear a face mask during work.

Aranda said she feels masks are harmful because she will breathe in carbon dioxide for the six hours she has to wear one.

Pay Wykoff  a 65-year-old Irvine resident who waited weeks to come to South Coast Plaza to get a watch battery and find a Fathers Day present  wore a bright yellow hand-sewn mask but said she thought it was unnecessary.

Not everyone agrees that masks are helpful," Wykoff said. "I think masks are hurtful because youre breathing in your own germs.

Times staff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.
Chicago Police Union Head Threatens to Kick Out Officers Who Kneel

A police union boss in Chicago threatened to remove officers who take a knee with protesters during unrest following the death of George Floyd last month.

John Catanzara, head of the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7, sent a warning after officers around the country in uniform were seen kneeling to support calls to reform police departments.

I dont believe its the time or place to be doing that, Catanzara told Fox32 in Chicago. If you kneel, youll be risking being  thrown out of the lodge, he added.

Catanzara said hes taken up his stance because many of the protesters are calling to defund or even abolish police departments in the wake of Floyds death.

Specifically this weekend. This was about defunding and abolishing the police officers. And youre going to take a knee for that? Its ridiculous, Catanzara told the Fox affiliate station.

His remarks prompted a response from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has come under fire after she reportedly got into a spat with local officials over the citys response to violent unrest in recent days.

Protesters take to the streets of Chicago, Ill., on June 06, 2020. (Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)

I dont really think we should credit those kinds of really unfortunate comments, Lightfoot, who has long been a critic of the Chicago police union, told the news outlet, without elaborating. Im not going to dignify them with any further response, she added.

Catanzara, meanwhile, faced criticism several years ago after he posted a photo of himself in uniform supporting President Donald Trump, the Second Amendment, and standing during the national anthem.

Officers who take a knee, he said, are on the other side of the political spectrum and should also face criticism.

Well thats a political stance. I want to see what happens on the department level. Im going to guess nothing because the mayor supports this kind of stuff, Catanzara remarked.

In recent days, other police union officials have spoken out against a perceived growing antipathy towards officers following Floyds death in Minneapolis police custody. Former officer Derek Chauvin was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the case, and three other former officers also face charges in connection to Floyds death.

New York Police Benevolent Association President Mike OMeara said Wednesday that legacy news outlets are sowing discord.

We are portrayed in the press and everywhere else as the enemy and we want people to know that we take our jobs seriously, were professional, and the vast, vast majority of the time we act appropriately and honorably and thats what we do and thats not being portrayed right now in the media and in the world, he told Fox News.
US says it will punish court workers investigating alleged war crimes by US forces and their allies including Israel.

US President Donald Trump lobbed a broadside attack on Thursday against the International Criminal Court (ICC) by authorising economic and travel sanctions against court workers directly involved in investigating American troops and intelligence officials and those of allied nations, including Israel, for possible war crimes in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The United States has repeatedly rejected the International Criminal Courts assertions of jurisdiction over United States personnel, read a statement from the White House press secretary.

The order would block the financial assets of court employees and bar them and their immediate relatives from entering the United States.

The ICCs actions are an attack on the rights of the American people and threaten to infringe upon our national sovereignty, it said.

While Israel welcomed the move, there were expressions of concern and condemnation from the United Nations, the European Union and human rights groups.

The Hague-based court was created in 2002 to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity and genocide in areas where perpetrators might not otherwise face justice. It has 123 state parties that recognise its jurisdiction.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced the tribunal as a kangaroo court that has been unsuccessful and inefficient in its mandate to prosecute war crimes.

He said that the U.S. would punish the ICC employees for any investigation or prosecution of Americans in Afghanistan and added that they could also be banned for prosecuting Israelis for alleged abuses against Palestinians.

It gives us no joy to punish them, Pompeo said. But we cannot allow ICC officials and their families to come to the United States to shop and travel and otherwise enjoy American freedoms as these same officials seek to prosecute the defender of those very freedoms.

Russian interference

Pompeos comments were echoed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Attorney General Wiliiam Barr and national security adviser Robert OBrien, who spoke at a State Department announcement of the new measures. Barr announced that the U.S. would investigate possible corruption within the ICC hierarchy that he said raised suspicions that Russia and other adversaries could be interfering in the investigatory process.

Israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the court of fabricating outlandish charges against his country, and praised the US for standing up for what he called truth and justice.

The executive order signed by the US president marks his administrations latest attack against international organisations, treaties and agreements that do not hew to its policies. Since taking office, Trump has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and two arms control treaties with Russia.

He has pulled the US out of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, threatened to leave the International Postal Union and announced an end to cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO).

US President Donald Trump speaks to the troops during a surprise Thanksgiving day visit at Bagram Air Field, on November 28, 2019 in Afghanistan [Olivier Douliery/AFP]

Unlike those treaties and agreements, however, the US has never been a member of the ICC. Administrations of both parties have been concerned about the potential for political prosecutions of American troops and officials for alleged war crimes and other atrocities. The US has extracted pledges from most of the courts members that they will not seek such prosecutions and risk losing US military and other assistance.

However, ICC prosecutors have shown a willingness to press ahead with investigations into US service members and earlier this year launched one that drew swift US condemnation.

Serious concern

Senior UN and EU officials spoke out against the US decision to sanction ICC officials.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Trumps order is a matter of serious concern and he described EU members as steadfast supporters of the tribunal. Borrell said it is a key factor in bringing justice and peace, and that it must be respected and supported by all nations.

The United Nations has taken note with concern about reports of Trumps order, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The American Civil Liberties Union suggested it might seek legal recourse and said the order was a dangerous display of his contempt for human rights and those working to uphold them.

The Trump administration has sanctioned the court before.

Last year, after former national security adviser, John Bolton, threatened ICC employees with sanctions if they went forward with prosecutions of US or allied troops, including from Israel, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revoked the visa of the courts chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.

Bensouda had asked ICC judges to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan that could have involved Americans. The judges initially rejected the request, but the denial was overturned after Bensouda appealed the decision and the investigation was authorised in March.

The US does not recognise the international courts authority and has blocked its efforts to investigate US forces in Afghanistan [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

The appellate ruling marked the first time the courts prosecutor had been cleared to investigate US forces, and set the global tribunal on a collision course with the Trump administration. Bensouda pledged to carry out an independent and impartial investigation and called for full support and cooperation from all parties. Pompeo blasted the decision at the time, calling it a truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable political institution masquerading as a legal body.

The case involves allegations of war crimes committed by Afghan national security forces, Taliban and Haqqani Network fighters, as well as US forces and intelligence officials in Afghanistan since May 2003. Bensouda said there is information that members of the US military and intelligence agencies committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence against conflict-related detainees in Afghanistan and other locations, principally in the 2003-2004 period.

Bolton, and then Pompeo, said such steps are necessary to prevent The Hague-based court from infringing on US sovereignty by prosecuting American forces or allies for torture or other war crimes. Pompeo said in late May that the US is capable of punishing its own citizens for atrocities and should not be subjected to a foreign tribunal that is designed to be a court of last resort to prosecute war crimes cases when a countrys judiciary is not capable of doing so.

This court has become corrupted and is attempting to go after the young men and women of the United States of America who fought so hard, and they did so under the rule of law in the most civilized nation in the world, the United States of America, Pompeo said in a May 29 interview with a podcast hosted by the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

And theyre now suggesting somehow that our ability to, when we have someone does something wrong, our ability to police that up is inadequate and they think that the ICC ought to be able to haul these young men and women in.
The Schlatenkees Glacier in the Austrian Alps. Credit: Wiki Commons/SehLa

A new website dedicated to glacier education has launched. OGGM- Edu, as it's known, is geared towards educators and instructors. Fabien Maussion, a glaciologist at the University of Innsbruck, was inspired to create the site after working on the Open Global Glacier Model (the "OGGM" of the website's name), a tool created by the University of Innsbruck and the University of Bremen in Germany. According to Maussion, he "saw the learning potential" of the model, which inspired more than just the website name. OGGM-Edu, which is geared towards instructors and educators, offers a variety of educational tools and materials. These materials include interactive apps, graphics and images, adaptable notebooks, and tutorials on the use of the Open Global Glacier Model.

Although Maussion had the idea for the website, he said that he could not have completed the project without his graduate students, who assisted in building the website via a student employment opportunity. Last week GlacierHub attended a virtual seminar that introduced OGGM-Edu and provided an overview of the website. Maussion and his graduate students Zora Schirmeister and Patrick Schmitt presented each of their contributions to the website.

While introducing OGGM-Edu, Maussion acknowledged other glacier websites, saying he "did not want to recreate the wheel," but instead "complement existing online resources." One way he plans on doing this is by building a relationship with the website Antarctic Glaciers, which promotes scientific findings of Antarctic glaciology. A follow-up interview with Maussion revealed he was in touch with Bethan Davies, the main author of Antarctic Glaciers. Maussion hopes to encourage users to bounce back and forth between the two sites. He explained that Antarctic Glaciers provides more textbook-like content, while OGGM-Edu offers learners interactive tools and guides.

Glacier Simulator App. Credit: OGGM-Edu

One of OGGM-Edu's main interactive interfaces is a series of apps. The Glacier Gallery can be used as an introduction to the diversity of glacier types. World Glaciers Explorer dives deeper into information on individual glaciers around the world. In this app, users can select for a region of the world, and they will be given information regarding glaciers and the climate within that region. The Glacier Simulator is a modeling device, where users can adjust for factors such as sliding (the movement of a glacier over its bed), slope (steepness), and how many years into the future to model. Finally, the Future Evolution of Glaciers in the Alps allows users to graphically view how glaciers are expected to change in different locations.

Aside from its interactive apps, what makes OGGM-Edu stand out are its interactive notebooks. The notebooks provide details of existing glacier modelling experiments. They are also fully customizable. The notebooks can be downloaded and edited, translated, added to. OGGM-Edu also encourages users to publish their edited notebooks online. Users who share their edited notebooks must credit OGGM-Edu and are asked to make their content freely available.

Maussion described how Lizz Ultee, a glaciologist at MIT, had recently used the notebooks feature for a workshop she taught. Ultee used the OGGM-Edu notebooks as a template, translated them into Spanish and added additional material that was relevant for her workshop. Most of the OGGM-Edu website is available in English, but some content is also available in German and French. Maussion chose to write the website in English as "it's the language of science." He added German so that the content was easily available to students at the University of Innsbruck and French because he is fluent in that language.

The Glacier Gallery App. Credit: OGGM-Edu

GlacierHub spoke with Ultee about her experience using the new website. She said, "Fabien set up virtual infrastructure for my participants to run their own simulations without local installation, which was a big help in implementing the workshop." The website earned rave reviews from attendees of Ultee's workshop who "said that the format helped them perform and understand programming they didn't think they could do."

Maussion underscored the importance of the collaborative element of the OGGM-Edu. The website is available on GitHub with an open license that allows its materials to be reused. OGGM-Edu also encourages user engagement, with opportunities for users to submit ideas for improvements and add content. It does not, however, allow users to indiscriminately edit the site. For that, Maussion and his co-creators review contributions and choose which to include.

Maussion sees OGGM-Edu as a creative learning tool for students from high school on up. He has also used it in presenting his own research and sees workshop and presentation potential in it. Maussion told GlacierHub that the website is meant to be a "good entry point for people who want to learn about glaciers" in a fun and interesting way. From a user perspective, Ultee views the website as "a great tool for education and science outreach." She is also particularly glad material on OGGM-Edu is available in multiple languages as, "glacier change is happening in many countries where English is not the most commonly spoken language." Ultee has and will continue to use OGGM-Edu and is "looking forward to seeing how the community uses these tools."

On behalf of GlacierHub, welcome, OGGM-Edu, to the online glacier community!

Explore further Glacier mass loss passes the point of no return, researchers report

This story is republished courtesy of Earth Institute, Columbia University http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu.
By Express News Service

SRIKAKULAM: Over 60 per cent of Covid-19 infectees in Srikakulam district are those who returned from Chennai as they make up to 134 of 216 cases reported from the district. The remaining patients came back to the district from Hyderabad (22), Nellore (10), Vijayawada (7), Tirupati, Rajamahendravaram, Gujarat (11), Mumbai (5), Delhi (5) West Bengal (3), Warangal (2) and Qatar (1) and Abu Dhabi (1).

Of the 6,000 migrants who came back and are quarantined, 2,000 are from Chennai who took special buses and trains to Srikakulam, which has 30 quarantine and 81 rehabilitation centres to isolate the returnees.

Meanwhile, sample testing has been boosted in the district as nearly 2,500 samples are collected everyday. District Covid-19 nodal officer B Jagannadha Rao said 23 TrueNat equipment15 in GEMS Hospital, five in Patapatnam community health centre and three in Srikakulam GGHare being used to test around 750 samples daily, in addition to a virus research and diagnostic laboratory in Srikakulam testing 1,600 more samples.
Two Bethlehem City Council members want the police department to commit to eight policing reforms that proponents say can jointly decrease police violence by 72%.

And Council members J. William Reynolds and Grace Crampsie Smith dont want to stop there.

They also propose creating a community outreach initiative within the department that brings together a broad coalition to tackle racism, injustice and equity issues.

We want to make sure the philosophy of our police department matches our beliefs about what type of city we want to live in," Reynolds said.

Cities across the nation are examining their policing policies in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed a knee on his neck until he stopped breathing.

Floyds death sparked nationwide protests, including thousands who have marched peacefully across the Lehigh Valley in the last two weeks, forcing America to reckon with decades of systemic racism and police brutality.

Some cities like Minneapolis are joining the defund the police movement, with the city announcing June 7 it plans to dismantle its force and rebuild it from the ground up.

Other cities are committing to use of force reforms outlined in 8 Cant Wait from Campaign Zero, a police reform campaign that grew out of the Ferguson, Missouri, police protests. The campaign is designed so it can be rapidly implemented.

Now, Lehigh Valley leaders are looking into their own police forces and budgets to see if reforms are needed.

Bethlehems is expected to spend $21.5 million million on its police department, including pensions but not health insurance, this year. This is about 26% of the citys $80.1 million general budget.

I think we 100% need to look at how our resources are allocated within our police department, Reynolds said. It is my belief, we need to take a look at, how do we support the philosophy of community engagement more here and how do we invest our resources within our department into more community engagement. Its clear there are many people in our community who feel there needs to be an improved level of trust between our community and law enforcement.

Two Bethlehem City Council members want to know whether their police department operates in line with Campaign Zero's 8 Can't Wait police reform campaign initiatives. If it doesn't they want the department to commit to the use of force reforms.Courtesy Campaign Zero

Reynolds and Smith outlined their ideas in a memo to police Chief Mark DiLuzio this week and asked him how many of the 8 Cant Wait force directives the department is already following. They want the department to commit to enacting any procedure it isnt already following.

The platform urges cities to ban officers from using chokeholds and strangleholds and to require de-escalation training. It requires officers issue a warning before shooting and to exhaust all other alternatives before shooting. If enacted, officers would have a duty to intervene to stop a fellow officer from using excessive force and report such incidents to supervisors amongst other changes.

The Bethlehem Police Department underwent significant reforms, after a city SWAT team killed John Hirko Jr., 21, in April 1997 during a botched drug raid of his South Bethlehem home. Hirko was shot 11 times by a city officer, mostly in the back, and then police left his body in the home after a flash grenade ignited the house.

The city ended up reaching a $7.9 million excessive force civil settlement with Hirkos family, fiancee and landlord.

Reynolds said he believes the citys accredited police department likely already adheres to many of the 8 Cant Wait policies.

He looks forward to hearing from DiLuzio -- they requested a reply by Monday -- ahead of Tuesdays council meeting.

The proposals will be vetted at an upcoming council public safety meeting, which will be scheduled at Liberty High School.

The memo asks Diluzio

How many of these eight directives are currently included in our use of force guidelines? For the directives currently not in place, what is your stance on adding them to our current guidelines? What are our annual training requirements for our police department? What percentage of the training time is spent on de-escalation?

DiLuzio did not respond to a message seeking comment, but he did issue a message to the community in the wake of Floyds death.

In a recent interview with lehighvalleylive.com, DiLuzio said he was horrified when he first saw the video of Derek Chauvin with his knee of Floyds neck.

You know what I see there? DiLuzio said of the video. Four police officers with no direction or training."

It often happens in departments with financial constraints, he said. The first thing to get cut is training, he said.

Diluzio said the protests were a chance to listen.

Right now there is a message to be heard and its shouldnt be forgotten, he said. We need to update our systems, our training, the way police operate. Its something that hasnt been done across the country.

Bethlehem operates under a community policing philosophy with bike cops and a popular mounted unit that can often be spotted ambling down Main Street.

Officers work with elementary students, run a junior police academy and attend block watch meetings. They work in Bethlehem Area School District schools as resource officers.

(While SROs are coming under fire in some communities for funneling more juveniles into the criminal justice system, district Superintendent Joseph Roy said his principals know not to involve officers unless theyd call police into school for an incident.)

These programs are crucial as they provide trust-building opportunities for police and the community, Reynolds said.

Bethlehem needs to include more officers, more organizations, more citizens, and have more discussion on issues relating to race, justice, and trust, Smith and Reynolds wrote.

Councils push for more progressive policing through marijuana decriminalizations been a mixed bag. City officers have been reluctant to cite people caught with a small amount of marijuana as it stands in violation with state law, which disappointed council members.

City police only used the new law for 19 of the 289 total minor marijuana arrests made over the last 18 months.

When we passed the decriminalization ordinance, we were trying to send a message about what we really wanted our department to focus on, Reynolds said.

Smith and Reynolds are proposing creating a citywide coalition of residents, cops, school representatives, social justice organizations, businesses and other stakeholders.

The initiative would bring awareness and a louder voice to issues of injustice in our city, the council members wrote. It could also help to design and promote events and actions designed to build trust between our citizens and the police department. It could also be a place for people to talk, organize, and, most importantly, listen. The reality is we dont know exactly what the coalition would want to focus on. It is designed to be a group with an organic and flexible focus determined by our community.

Council isnt pretending to have the solutions. But they do want a more holistic approach that loops in social and human services providers into the conversation, Reynolds said.

We want a permanent structure to give groups a louder voice on these issues of systemic racism, equity and injustice, he said. Somebodys ability to have a voice on these issues shouldnt be if they can get a meeting with the police chief or the mayor. There should be a permanent space.

Too often in America trauma and mental illness lead to interactions with law enforcement, Reynolds said. Sending an armed police officer to deal with a mentally ill homeless person in crisis, who poses no harm to others, may not be the best approach.

We need to be able to educate and listen to more of those stories to do a better job in the city of Bethlehem, Reynolds said.

Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 18:06:05|Editor: huaxia

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BLANTYRE, Malawi, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Firms and individuals in Malawi are still waiting for the implementation of the Cannabis Regulation Act after the country passed a bill in February legalizing cannabis for medical and industrial use.

Ingrow Limited, a company that grows and processes industrial cannabis has expressed optimism that the crop can do well in Malawi, adding if the act will be implemented, Malawians growing it can benefit from the crop.

Ingrow Limited director, Nerbert Nyirenda told a local newspaper in the country that the act has to be gazetted and the responsible minister should gazette both the effective date of the Act and regulations to operationalize the act.

The passing of the bill brought a lot of debate from religious leaders and anti-smoking activists. Furthermore, it is believed that the majority could not differentiate the industrial hemp from the illegal Indian hemp.

Meanwhile, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture has said that the ministry is developing guidelines and regulations to facilitate the implementation of the new law.

For years, Malawi has been depending on tobacco as a main source of revenue and foreign currency in the country, however, due to the global anti-tobacco campaigns, the crop has been on the decline.

Economic experts have so far opted for the implementation of the Act citing that cannabis is economically viable because of its vast list of by-products in comparison with other commercial crops grown in Malawi. Enditem
Mobile apps are helping track the spread of COVID-19 to contain the outbreak, but the apps also raise concerns about personal privacy.

Information sciences professor Masooda Bashir and doctoral student Tanusree Sharma at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign analyzed 50 COVID-19-related apps available in the Google Play store for their access to users' personal data and their privacy protections. Bashir and Sharma found that most of the apps required access to users' personal data, but only a handful indicated the data would be anonymous, encrypted and secured.

They report their findings in the journal Nature Medicine.

"What is disconcerting is that these apps are continuously collecting and processing highly sensitive and personally identifiable information, such as health information, location and direct identifiers (e.g., name, age, email address and voter/national identification)," they wrote in the journal article. "Governments' use of such tracking technology -- and the possibilities for how they might use it after the pandemic -- is chilling to many. Notably, surveillance mapping through apps will allow governments to identify people's travel paths and their entire social networks."

The functionalities of the COVID-related apps developed around the world include live maps and updates of confirmed cases, real-time location-based alerts, systems for monitoring home isolation and quarantine, direct reporting to the government of symptoms and education about COVID-19. Some also offer monitoring of vital signs, virtual medical consultations and community-driven contact tracing.

Of the 50 apps the researchers evaluated, 30 require users' permission to access data from their mobile devices such as contacts, photos, media, files, location data, the camera, the device's ID, call information, Wi-Fi connection, microphone, network access, the Google service configuration and the ability to change network connectivity and audio settings. Some of the apps state they will collect users' age, email address, phone number and postal code; the device's location, unique identifiers, mobile IP address and operating system; and the types of browsers used on the device.

Only 16 of the apps indicated such data will be anonymous, encrypted, secured and reported only in aggregate form.

Of the apps sampled, 20 were issued by governments, health ministries and other such official sources. It is not clear if the data collected by the apps is protected by laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and the U.S. doesn't have a structured privacy framework in place as Europe does, the researchers wrote.

They acknowledged that mass surveillance measures may be necessary to contain the spread of the virus.

"Health care providers must absolutely use whatever means are available to save lives and confine the spread of the virus," they wrote. "But it is up to the rest, especially those in the field of information privacy and security, to ask the questions needed to protect the right to privacy."
Foreign couples who waited two months because of coronavirus-related border closures have finally collected their babies from surrogate mothers in Ukraine.



Ukraine's human rights ombudswoman, Lyudmila Denisova, said June 10 that 31 couples had arrived and been united with their infant children.



There were emotional scenes as new parents cried and held their babies after a long ordeal because of the pandemic.



It's a very good ending of the story, unbelievable, said Andrea Diez of Argentina, who held her baby for the first time.

The babies have been stranded in Ukraine since the country closed its borders because of the pandemic.



The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry finally allowed the families to enter, conditional on a two-week quarantine and negative COVID-19 test.



A total of 125 babies born to surrogates across Ukraine were awaiting parents from abroad.



The issue received wide attention when Biotexcom, the countrys largest surrogacy operation, posted a video showing more than 60 babies in cribs at a hotel where the clients usually stay.



Denisova said 88 more families have received permits to enter the country and will arrive in the coming weeks.



Ukraine is one of the few countries that allows foreigners to use surrogate birth services at about 50 clinics.

With reporting by AP and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has endorsed Mike Kowall for Oakland County Executive.

Kowall, a former Republican state senator and state representative, announced his candidacy in mid-April. He served as a state senator from 2011-2018 during Snyders tenure as governor.

Im honored to have the support of Governor Snyder, said Kowall. When I took office as a State Senator in 2011, Michigan was in rough shape after a lost decade. I worked closely with Governor Snyder and his team to rebuild Michigans economy, helping to streamline regulation, cut red tape, and prepare our young talent for the challenges of tomorrow.

Snyder told The Oakland Press on Thursday that hes proud to endorse Kowall for county executive because.

I had a wonderful working relationship with him when he was in a leadership position in the Senate, he said. We had the opportunity to work closely on many, many issues and I was always impressed with his thoughtful decision-making and I know he will bring that same skill-set to Oakland County.

Snyder said theres even less civility than when he served as governor from 2011-2018. Hes confident that Kowall can restore some of that civility as county executive.

Its a terrible thing, he said. We need more civility in our nation to keep us together. The lack of civility is truly scary. One of the things that got me excited about supporting Mike (Kowall) was that hes a person who believes in civility. From all the illustrations that I saw in getting to work with him, he represents someone who tries to work well with people.

Snyder joins over 80 community leaders and public servants including Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, and former Michigan Congressman Mike Bishop in endorsing Kowall for county executive.

Other Republicans running for county executive include Dave Ferris and Jeffrey Nutt. Democrats running include Oakland County Executive David Coulter and Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner.

The county executive position comes with a $205,217 a year salary.
The Kurdistan Region of Iraqs parliament is closing for two weeks after some members and staff tested positive for COVID-19.

The body in the autonomous part of northern Iraq said the outbreak began when a parliament staff member caught the novel coronavirus. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) health authorities then tested 197 parliamentarians and staff members Tuesday. The results indicated some tested positive for the virus and the parliament is now closed for two weeks, the Kurdistan parliament said in a tweet today.

There are 111 members of the Kurdistan Regions parliament and the body instructed any members or employees who were not tested to be tested immediately.

We ask everyone in Kurdistan to follow preventive measures, protect yourselves, the parliament said in the tweet.

Iraq is currently experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19. The country has been registering more than 1,000 cases a day, including 1,146 today, according to the Health Ministry. The Kurdistan Region city of Sulaimaniyah is one of the centers of the contagion and there were 113 cases registered there today. Erbil, where the Kurdistan Region parliament is located, had 60 cases today, according to the ministry.

The KRG has started having meetings online to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The Kurdistan Region has oscillated between reimposing strict movement measures and lifting them due to public pressure. Many people have been unable to earn money during the lockdowns and want to return to work.

Kurdish authorities are worried about the virus spread. KRG Health Minister Saman Barzanji said the recent spike in cases following the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday could be a health catastrophe.

He said that as new cases surge, "the number of recoveries has disproportionately decreased" compared to period before Eid al-Fitr, according to a report in the Iraqi Kurdish news outlet Rudaw.
California's Supreme Court has torpedoed maverick real estate tycoon Mohamed Hadid's last ditch bid to save his controversial Los Angeles mega mansion from the wrecking ball, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The state's highest court denied Hadid's motion to review his case and overturn the decision of a lower court - later backed up by the Court of Appeal - that his hilltop property in upscale Bel-Air should be torn down because it's a 'clear and present danger' to the homes of neighbors suing him.

The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case is a major victory for the neighbors who are hoping that demolition of the half-built 'monstrosity' will begin by next month.

Lawyers for the 71-year-old father of supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid had argued that the giant, illegally-built structure is worth $50 million and that the wealthy developer has been denied the 'process of law.'

LA Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan's injunction ordering the demolition of the huge building 'was done without trial without proof of an emergency, and without proof of the existence of a nuisance,' his lawyers blasted in documents obtained by DailyMail.com

California's Supreme Court has torpedoed maverick real estate tycoon Mohamed Hadid's last ditch bid to save his controversial Los Angeles mega mansion from the wrecking ball, DailyMail.com can reveal

The state's highest court denied Hadid's motion to review his case and overturn the decision of a lower court - later backed up by the Court of Appeal - that his hilltop property in upscale Bel-Air should be torn down because it's a 'clear and present danger' to the homes of neighbors suing him

The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case is a major victory for the neighbors who are hoping that demolition of the half-built 'monstrosity' will begin by next month

Lawyers for the 71-year-old father of supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid had argued that the giant, illegally-built structure is worth $50 million and that the wealthy developer has been denied the 'process of law.

'To prevent catastrophic and irreparable harm, the Supreme Court should grant Review (meaning that the case should be sent back to the lower court to be reconsidered)'.

Hadid's petition asked the Supreme Court judges to halt the demolition adding: 'The status quo is that (Hadid) developed and almost completed a building now worth more than $50 million, a building which still stands. (Hadid) has been trying to bring it into compliance with the building codes of the City of Los Angeles and has done so in large part.

'The petitioners (neighbors suing Hadid), without a jury trial or even a court trial, have sought to radically change the status quo and to have the building destroyed.

'A $50 million building should not be destroyed without process of law.'

The neighbors fiercely fought Hadid's motion, however, their attorneys filing a response to the Supreme Court saying: 'Hadid and his company, 901 Strada LLC, seek to avoid demolishing a massive hillside structure that they concede is un-permitted and constructed on a foundation that fails to comply with the building code, that they agree must be demolished eventually and which the trial court found constituted a danger to the public

'The trial court's finding was consistent with the fears of an architect who worked on the building that he was 'worried that building will slide down the hill and kill someone'.

'All parties agree that the house will have to be demolished at some point because it is built on a faulty foundation and lives are at risk if demolition is delayed.'

The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case is a major victory for the neighbors who are hoping that demolition of the half-built 'monstrosity' will begin by next month

Neighbors have been fighting for years for the demolition of the property because of all the alleged unapproved construction. The development of the home has also been an eyesore to nearby residents and now a danger due to heavy Los Angeles rain

Hadid has tried several court strategies to stop or delay the demolition. First he filed chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming that he 'couldn't afford' the $5 million cost of the demo. That was dismissed. Then he filed an appeal against Judge Karlan's order to tear down the mansion. That too was denied

The neighbors' lawyers strongly disputed Hadid's claim that his massive mansion - dubbed the Starship Enterprise because it's so big - is worth $50 million.

Instead, they said in court documents, the property is only worth $8 million - the value of the land, less the cost to completely demolish the structure.

Hadid has tried several court strategies to stop or delay the demolition.

First he filed chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming that he 'couldn't afford' the $5 million cost of the demo. That was dismissed.

Then he filed an appeal against Judge Karlan's order to tear down the mansion. That too was denied.

Now, with his 11th-hour plea to the Supreme Court falling flat, he has no more legal moves left to stop his beloved mansion from being reduced to rubble and dust.

Razing the gargantuan house to the ground is on track to happen by early to mid July, after Douglas Wilson - the receiver Judge Karlan appointed to oversee the demolition - submits his final demo plan, and Judge Karlan approves it.

Hadid's problems don't end there.

DailyMail.com reported exclusively in April that he owes almost $1.2 million in back taxes on the condemned property.

He's also facing a jury trial next month which could cost him millions if he loses.

Hadid blames his disgruntled 'nasty' neighbor Joe Horacek (pictured in front of his home with Hadid's home in the background) Horecek is the man who has spear-headed the campaign against him

The neighbors - John Bedrosian and his wife Judith and Joe Horacek and his wife Bibi - who lobbied to get rid of the massive building that looms over their homes, are suing him for cash damages for the eight-year 'nightmare' they claim he's put them through..

The neighbors have good reason to be optimistic about the outcome of the trial, since Judge Karlan has declared that they are likely to win their case against the purported multi-millionaire.

Hadid's notorious mansion - which he at one time hoped to sell for $100 million - was originally permitted for 15,000 square feet but the house grew to around 30,000 square feet with much of that additional construction illegal.

He ignored orders from Los Angeles City to stop building and in December 2015, in an almost-unprecedented move, the city decided to prosecute him criminally.

He pleaded no contest to three criminal charges involving illegal construction and in July 2017 he was told he would serve a 180-day jail sentence if he doesn't reduce the size of the house and bring it into compliance with city building codes - or demolish it - within the three years of probation the judge also imposed.

In addition, he was fined $3,000, ordered to pay $14,191 in fees to LA city, and serve 200 hours of community service.
Grab Philippines has inked partnership with the Manila City government targeted to provide livelihood opportunities to thousands of Manilenos affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to the partnership, Grab has launched its GrabBayanihan program with the aim of helping Filipinos respond and recover from the pandemic.

Around 20,000 displaced workers and tricycle drivers, and 5,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are expected to benefit from this initiative and to help all sectors to rebound from the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To start, at least 2,000 tricycle drivers and displaced workers will be trained and onboarded as GrabFood and GrabExpress delivery-partners

Grab Manila

Also, Grab will be providing market access to at least 500 of the greatly-affected MSMEs in the city so that they may continue operating their businesses digitally through the Grab app.

We have always placed our faith in the hard work, dedication, and determination of the people of Manila most especially during these trying times. With responsible use of technology as well as our enduring partnership with the City of Manila, we hope to continue helping our kababayans who have been greatly affected by the pandemic get back on their feet through the many livelihood opportunities available on our Grab platform, Grab Philippines President Brian Cu said.

GRAB

Meanwhile, Manila Mayor Francisco Isko Moreno Domagoso said that the Grab-Manila Socio-economic Recovery Initiative will be implemented to mitigate the severe economic impact caused by the pandemic on residents and businesses.

This is another day of opportunity delivered by Grab food for the people of Manila. Unti-unti pa lang nating nararamdaman ang epekto ng GCQ. Aside from health, pero also economic, Domagoso said.

Dalawa ang matutulungan nito: ang mga trabahante at saka yung mga negosyo. Dun naman sa mga natanggap na at matatanggap pa, pagbutihan po ninyo ang trabaho, he added.

Story continues

Under the GrabBayanihan Socio-economic recovery program, individuals who are interested in being part of Grabs Food or Express Delivery Fleet must be:

A resident of the City of Manila; At least eighteen (18) years up to fifty (50) years of age; Owns and knows how to operate a smartphone Owns and/or operates either of the following which can be used for delivery: a tricycle, a motorcycle, or a bicycle; In possession of a Drivers License issued by the Land Transportation Office, and is valid for at least 21 days before the expiration date. For motorcycle owners, they must present their registration documents such as:

Official Receipt and Certificate of Registration;

If the vehicle registration is not owned by the user, they must present any supporting documents as like Authorization Letter of the owner with Xerox Copy of valid ID with 3 specimen signatures; Notarized Deed of Sale and Reposition Certificate

Meanwhile, small business owners who wish to be part of the program must have the necessary business permits and other requirements issued by the City of Manila.

Interested parties are highly encouraged to prepare their documents and to visit their Public Employment Service Office (PESO) for an initial assessment.

Photos from Grab Philippines

Also read:

Grab PH Reactivates GrabBayanihan Amid ECQ

Grab PH launches GrabProtect as ride-hailing services resume

Grab Can Now Shop for You this ECQ
Conjoined twins Derman and Yigit Evrensel have finally been separated after treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital. (Getty Images)

The family of a pair of rare conjoined twins are celebrating their rebirth after they were separated successfully at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Yigit and Derman Evrensel were born in Antalya, Turkey, with their heads joined to each other.

The twins, who will turn two on 21 June, were brought to the UK last year where they have undergone a series of operations and were finally separated on 28 January.

They were flown back to Turkey on Wednesday with their parents in a special air ambulance.

The twins' family say their separation marks their 'rebirth'. (Getty Images)

The family have now flown back to Turkey from the UK. (Getty Images)

Their family are now celebrating what they see as the twins starting life again.

Their father Omer Evrensel said: 'When I saw them separated, I burst into tears. This was our only dream. Now they can play, do whatever they want like their peers.

They'll start life again, they're almost reborn. We'll start everything from scratch.

Read more: Conjoined twins reveal what it was like to be 'cut in half' aged four during life-threatening surgery

His wife Fatma described how overjoyed she was by the successful separation of the twins.

She said: I could never leave them for a second, but I also couldn't hug them or cradle them. I am overjoyed that their agony is over.

Craniopagus twins, those joined by the head, are incredibly rare. (Getty Images)

Twins joined by the head, known as craniopagus twins, are incredibly rare and most do not survive.

Conjoined twins are rare to begin with  occurring at a rate of about 1 in 2.5 million births worldwide  of those, only 5% are craniopagus and separations are notoriously difficult.

Evrensel reportedly said he and his wife had been asked to terminate the pregnancy once medics realised the twins were conjoined but they refused.

Fatma Evrensel said previously she could never hug or cradle her children. (Getty Images)

The family have now returned to Turkey. (Getty Images)

The family are said to have been helped to get to the UK by Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife, with reports also suggesting that a Turkish businessman and Turkish doctors in the UK had lent money to pay for the surgery.

Its not the first time Great Ormond Street has carried out rare surgery on craniopagus twins.

In July last year surgeons at the world-leading childrens hospital carried out surgery on two-year-old sisters Safa and Marwa Ullah, from Charsadda, Pakistan, when they were 19 months old.
What:

The DAAS students along with other local schools will lead a peaceful protest march down Jefferson Ave. downtown in support of victims of police brutality, racial injustices and inequality. The Detroit police and fire departments will also be marching alongside the youth during this historic event. The students will be taking the stage at Hart Plaza and will be speaking about the recent events taking place.
PETALUMA, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ygrene, the nation's leading PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) provider, today announced that it has surpassed $1 Billion in PACE investment in the state of California. PACE financing through Ygrene provides homeowners and businesses vital access to affordable, long-term financing for energy and water efficiency, renewable energy, and natural disaster resiliency improvements.

"Passing this historic, billion-dollar milestone in California demonstrates Ygrene's ability to deliver massive investment of private capital in support of an essential public policy that stimulates local economies and puts Americans back to work," said Jim Reinhart, Ygrene's Chief Executive Officer. "Now is the time to expand PACE programs like Ygrene's that protect homeowners with the strongest consumer protections in the industry, including built-in contractor oversight and leading customer satisfaction."

"Ygrene surpassing $1 billion in investment in California is a huge milestone for the PACE industry," said Colin Bishopp, Executive Director of PACENation. "PACE is a critical tool with the strongest consumer protections in the industry that property owners and public officials can use to save energy, reduce pollution and create local jobs. We look forward to the next billion in PACE investment in local communities to create a healthier, more resilient state."

"The popularity and success of the PACE program in Sonoma County and throughout the state shows that Californians are eager to make improvements on their homes that can work to counteract climate change," said James Gore, Sonoma County Supervisor and First Vice President of the CA State Association of Counties. "I'm grateful that we have partners such as Ygrene to implement this important program in support of homeowners and communities throughout the state."

"Smart policies, like PACE financing, combined with the entrepreneurship and innovation of companies like Ygrene, will allow California to develop an economy and infrastructure that are clean, affordable, resilient, equitable, and safe," says Ann Hancock, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of The Climate Center. "Ygrene is a great example of a speed and scale climate solution, demonstrating that we can create a climate-safe future while generating good jobs and stimulating the economy."

PACE is a proven solution to help combat the impacts and costs of climate change, while creating jobs and providing huge positive economic impact boosting local and state economies. In fact, PACE projects financed by Ygrene across California have created more than 11,600 jobs and created more than $1.8 Billion in local economic stimulus. Ygrene and PACE are also playing a crucial role protecting California's environment, conserving more than 3.6 billion gallons of water and reducing lifetime CO2 emissions by more than 1.3 million metric tons, equivalent to taking more than 280,000 cars off the road for a year.

PACE comes at no cost to local governments and provides a valuable option for families and businesses to invest in the efficiency, sustainability, and resiliency of their properties. Homes and businesses with fire resistant roofs and windows are better prepared to withstand and survive the devastating impact of wildfires, earthquakes and climate change. That means more businesses remaining open, more working families feeding the local economy, and more stable property and sales tax revenue which funds essential local government services.

PACE financing offers homeowners the strongest consumer protections and contractor oversight in the home improvement finance industry. Homeowners receive all of the program disclosures and participate in a verification call that confirms their understanding of the terms of the financing. Alternative forms of home improvement financing like credit cards and bank loans have far fewer consumer protections built into them, as well as higher terms and fees. PACE's consumer protections, underwriting standards, and overall customer service far exceed that of other financing products in the home improvement market.

About Ygrene Energy Fund

Ygrene's award-winning PACE program, with built-in consumer protections, is delivering greater choice for home and business owners by providing accessible and affordable financing for energy efficiency, resiliency, renewables, water conservation, storm protection and seismic upgrades. Recognized as one of the fastest growing asset classes in the country, PACE has proven to be a successful tool for supporting public policy initiatives, all without the use of public tax dollars or credits. By providing over $1.9 billion of private capital to more than 550 local communities, Ygrene has created tens of thousands of jobs and invested millions into local economies across the U.S. Learn more at ygrene.com.

SOURCE Ygrene Energy Fund

Related Links

http://ygrene.com/


Washington

Personal information of police officers in departments nationwide is being leaked online amid tense interactions at demonstrations across the U.S. over the police custody death of George Floyd and others, according to an unclassified intelligence document from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, obtained by The Associated Press.

The document warns that the effort, known as "doxxing," could lead to attacks by "violent opportunists or domestic violent extremists" or could prevent law enforcement officials from carrying out their duties.

Multiple high-ranking police officials in a number of cities, including Washington, Atlanta, Boston and New York have had their personal information shared on social media, including their home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, the report warns.

"At least one of the police commissioners was targeted for his alleged support of the use of tear gas to disperse protests," it says.

Police officials nationwide have spoken out lately saying they feel caught in the middle of trying to stop violent protests, and feel abandoned by lawmakers in the demand for police reform. Some have said they fear for their lives.

"Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect! We've been vilified. It's disgusting," New York State Police union official Mike O'Meara said as lawmakers in New York repealed a law known as Section 50-a that keeps police records secret.

But the demonstrations around the country have centered on the police use of excessive force in the killings of minorities. George Floyd, whose funeral was Tuesday, cried out that he couldn't breathe as a white officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into the man's neck.

Floyd's death, caught on video, sparked widespread demonstrations and the debate over force.

Federal officials also identified posts that include specific personal information of several law enforcement officers in Kentucky and their family members, and included a link to a website that contained their full names, the names of their family members, home addresses, specific information about the vehicles they drive and online account login information, the report says.

A 26-year-old EMT, Breonna Taylor was killed by police who had served a no-knock search warrant March 13 at her Kentucky home as part a of drug investigation. She was not the suspect they were seeking.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The personal information of another officer from San Jose, Calif., and his family was also posted online in a post that called for others to "do with this information what you will," the report said.

It is not illegal to post the personal information of law enforcement officers online, though many social media companies specifically prohibit its sharing as part of their terms of service.

The report warns that some of the information may be coming from officers' compromised email and other accounts, but some of the information may be from publicly available databases based on public records and social media sites.

Officers are being encouraged to increase their security settings on their accounts, like using multi-factor email authentication and strong passwords. The report also suggests avoid taking online quizzes or games that elicit personal information, to be wary of suspicious emails and not to post phone numbers online.
Revenue officers seized 93 kilos of herbal cannabis with an estimated value of 1.9 million and 62 kilos of cocaine with an estimated value of 4.3 million. Credit: Revenue

Drugs worth 6.2m have been seized at Dublin Port today, including 93kg of herbal cannabis and 62kg of cocaine.

The drugs, which were found after a curtain sided trailer travelling from Rotterdam into Dublin Port was searched, total over 6m, with the herbal cannabis estimated to be worth 1.9 million and cocaine believed to be worth 4.3m.

Revenue officers were assisted by a mobile x-ray scanner and detector dog Robbie and discovered the drugs hidden within a number of hot water cylinders.

A Northern Ireland based haulier was arrested at Dublin Port by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and a UK registered truck and trailer were also seized by Revenue officers.

Investigations are ongoing, according to Revenue.



"If businesses or members of the public have any information regarding smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on Confidential Phone Number 1800 295 295," said a spokeperson.
OAKLAND, Calif.  China has stepped up its effort to spread disinformation on Twitter, creating tens of thousands of fake accounts that discussed protests in Hong Kong and the Communist Partys response to the coronavirus, Twitter said on Thursday.

The company said it had discovered and removed 23,750 accounts that were highly engaged in a coordinated effort to spread disinformation. Twitter said it also took down about 150,000 accounts that were dedicated to boosting Chinas messages by retweeting and liking the content.

Twitters findings were consistent with a recent New York Times analysis of roughly 4,600 accounts that engaged with Chinese leaders on Twitter. The Times found hundreds of accounts with underdeveloped personas that appeared to operate solely to cheer on and amplify Chinas leading envoys and state-run news outlets.

While previous disinformation campaigns from China have focused on opposing and demeaning the Hong Kong protests, the exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, and Taiwan, Twitter said the recently discovered batch included new messages promoting the Chinese governments response to the coronavirus outbreak.
This is an opinion column.

You had me going there for a minute, Madison County. I fell for it.

I saw the headlines  Madison County Commission votes to move Confederate monument  and I thought, Buckle up, marble man, youre going for a ride!

But scratch a little further, and youll see the whole things a sham. What the commission pulled was a silly, shifty, stupid bit of political sleight of hand. And if they fooled anybody else, a few paragraphs down, Ill show how they pulled their little magic trick.

Like a lot of other places, Madison County has been under pressure to move its Confederate monument. Every one of these things is a signpost in their communities saying Black Lives Dont Matter Here and Huntsvilles monument isnt any different.

Last week, downtown Huntsville was the scene of a relatively peaceful Black Lives Matter protest that ended with a brutal crackdown. The police violence was embarrassing, unnecessary and, judging by how much outside help the local authorities had on hand, deliberate.

Every other major city in the state has managed to de-escalate protests without such a show of force, but not Huntsville. In one evening, the citys reputation for progress and modernity in Alabama got pepper-sprayed in the face along with all those people in the street.

Since then, civic groups and business leaders have looked for a way to burnish the citys image, and most have focused on the Confederate statue by the courthouse. Downtown Huntsville, Inc. and the Committee of 100 have said it should go, as have 35 local faith leaders in a joint statement.

On Wednesday morning, the Madison County Commission ostensibly voted to move it.

In truth, the commission didnt actually vote for any such thing. Rather, it voted to petition the Committee on Alabama Monument Protection for a waiver to move the monument.

And theres the rub.

Under the Memorial Preservation Act  the 2017 law passed by the Alabama Legislature to protect Confederate monuments  if a monument has been in place for less than 40 years, a city, county or other public agency can ask that state committee for permission to move it.

But if a monument is older than 40 years, it cant be moved. No exceptions under the law.

And thats the thing: The monument outside the Madison County Courthouse has been there since 1905  40 years plus 75 more. Those commissioners who voted unanimously for this resolution had to know that, and thats why this whole thing is just a show.

And if their understanding of the law was unclear, they had a county lawyer sitting right there in that meeting to clear it up for them. He didnt say anything. None of the commissioners asked for clarification in the meeting.

In short, the resolution guarantees the monument stays where it is, shifts blame to state officials and gives the commission an excuse. Were not the bad guys, here. We want to move it. Go take it up with those awful folks in Montgomery. Theyre the problem.

The commissioners asked permission, rather than forgiveness, knowing full well theyd never get it.

If they wanted, the commissioners could move the statue somewhere more appropriate and pay a $25,000 fine to the state, just like Birmingham did. However, in their resolution Wednesday, the commissioners dug in further, saying they were for moving the monument so long as it didnt cost any public funds.

How much someone is willing to pay for something is a fair measurement for how much they want it. The commission isnt willing to pay anything at all.

So dont be fooled. That monument isnt going anywhere any time soon, and those commissioners dont want it to. What they did Wednesday was a stalling tactic.

That resolution they passed was a monumental ruse.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group.

You can follow his work on his Facebook page, The War on Dumb. And on Twitter. And on Instagram.

More columns by Kyle Whitmire

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The Confederate monument is gone, but white supremacy still rules Alabama

When a Confederate monument wouldnt fall, rioters turned on Birmingham

Congrats, Twitter, youve been Jeff Session-ized

Alabamas Black Belt is in trouble, again

Remember when Alabama lawmakers said porn was a public health emergency? That was three months ago.

Alabamas secret prison plan puts public information into quarantine

And now we play American Roulette

Its not the Alabama State House that needs replacing
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (June 11, 2020) while hearing a clutch of petitions asking for quota for OBC candidates in Tamil Nadu's medical colleges observed that right to reservation is not a fundamental right.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao and comprising of Krishna Murari and S Ravindra Bhat categorically stated that nobody can claim their right to reservation as a fundamental right, and hence not giving quota benefits cannot be construed as a violation of so.

"Right to reservation is not a fundamental right. That's the law today," remarked Justice Rao while hearing the petitions.

The pleas was been filed by various political parties challenging the Centre's decision not to grant 50 per cent reservation to OBCs for undergraduate, postgraduate and dental courses in 2020-21 as per Tamil Nadu law in medical seats.

The bench asked the lawyers representing Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Vaiko, Anbumani Ramadoss, CPI (M), Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and CPI to approach the Madras High Court with their pleas, instead.

"You should withdraw this and go to the Madras High Court," the bench said, adding that the liberty was granted to the political parties to do that.

By a ruling in February, the top court had held there is no fundamental right to claim reservation in public jobs and no court can order a state government to provide for reservation to SC/STs.
Hundreds of mourners have farewelled an Indigenous teenager at a traditional ceremony after an exemption was granted from strict COVID-19 rules.

The tragic death of the 17-year-old at Bli Bli, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, in May meant his loved ones had to wait almost a month before approval was granted for the ceremony.

While most funerals across Queensland can only have 50 people in attendance, the Sunshine Coast Council granted his family permission to have the funeral in a park.

A large service was held in an outdoor park, while a smaller farewell took place in a nearby chapel.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered to farewell an Indigenous teenager at a traditional ceremony in Queensland, amid calls for limits on funeral attendances to be increased

A large service was held in an outdoor park, while a smaller one took place in a nearby chapel

The exemption allowing more than 50 mourners at the boy's farewell comes amid calls for more funeral restrictions to be lifted as local COVID-19 transmissions slow

The exemption is one of more than 100 granted across Queensland with the majority of those to Indigenous people.

But as the COVID-19 crisis eases - and the number of locally transmitted cases continuing to reduce - there are growing calls for all funerals to be opened up.

Funerals are considered a vitally important part of Indigenous culture, providing an opportunity for other families within their communities to attend and pay tribute.

At the service on Thursday morning, mourners performed traditional cultural dances and smoking ceremonies.

The commemoration ceremony was held at Muller Park, a traditional Indigenous site.

Police were in attendance at the funeral and hand sanitiser stations were available, something that is likely to be commonplace when all funerals return to normal.

Sunshine Coast Council provided shade shelters for those gathered, the majority of who appeared to be social distancing.

In a statement, the Sunshine Coast Council said: 'A commemoration ceremony was held today in Bli Bli for a Traditional Kabi Kabi Custodian who recently passed away.

'This followed a traditional service in a nearby chapel, where the coffin remained while the commemoration ceremony took place.

'Muller Park is a cultural site and registered under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003. The council permit related to holding this ceremony in a public park.

'Requests to hold a funeral service in a public park are rare and this is the only one council has received during COVID-19.

'A Queensland Police Service Liaison Officer and a Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships representative also attended.'

Two women - including one wearing a t-shirt in tribute to the youngster - stand together at the service on Thursday morning

The exemption is one of more than 100 granted across Queensland with the majority of those to Indigenous people as a result of the importance of funerals to their traditional culture

Police were in attendance at the funeral and hand sanitiser stations were available, something that is likely to be commonplace when all funerals return to normal

Queensland Health - which is the state's leading body on COVID-19 - said that where exemptions are not granted, but more than 50 people attend, fines can be issued.

Just hours before the service began, radio broadcaster Ray Hadley - who is pushing for funeral restrictions to be lifted - said he supported people being able to attend Thursday's service, but pointed out it was unfair for those who are not granted an exemption.

'This is causing divisions within the community. I think all these people should be allowed to attend this funeral today,' Hadley said.

'But while they are allowed to go with the help of the Sunshine Coast Council, there will be other funerals across this part of Australia with only 50 mourners.

'And I'm told from time to time police even do a run through, to make sure at the various chapels and cemeteries in New South Wales that no more than 50 can attend.

'It really isn't good enough, and while our condolences go to the gentleman who has passed, and I think people should be allowed to go to his funeral, we can't have different rules for different people.

Ray Hadley (pictured) - who is pushing for funeral restrictions to be lifted - said he supported people being able to attend Thursday's service, but pointed out it was one rule for some and another for others

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) said he hopes the restrictions of funerals will soon be lifted, but blamed last weekend's Black Lives Matter protests for slowing the ability to do so

'I think the rule should change and it should have changed by now.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison had moments earlier told Sydney radio station 2GB he hopes the restrictions of funerals will soon be lifted.

But he said last weekend's Black Lives Matter protests are slowing the government's ability to lift such restrictions.

'The rally last weekend is the only legitimate blocker to this at the moment,' Mr Morrison said.

'We actually don't know right now whether those rallies on the weekend may have caused outbreaks. And we won't know, my health advice is, for at least another week.

'It just puts a massive spanner in the works. By all means, raise your issue but by doing this they've put the whole track back to recovery at risks and, certainly, any further action on this front would be absolutely unacceptable.'
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released on Tuesday a report, Threats to US Networks: Oversight of Chinese Government-owned Carriers. The document slams the current government review process that oversees how Chinese telecom companies operate in the United States for not rigorously monitoring Chinese tech providers. It outlines a Senate investigation that began shortly after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in May 2019 denied a China Mobile USA application to provide international telecom services.

The subcommittee said it reviewed more than 6,400 pages of documents and conducted more than ten interviews, including interviews with representatives from the FCC, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, ComNet, AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink. The subcommittee also said it met with researchers who analyzed the Chinese governments use of telecommunications carriers to hijack communications.

The subcommittees investigation found that the FCC and Team Telecom, a formerly informal group composed of representatives from the DOJ, DHS and Department of Defense, have failed to adequately monitor three Chinese government-owned carriers, China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, and ComNet since they began operating in the United States in the early 2000s.

This bipartisan report demonstrates that federal agencies have done little to protect the integrity of US telecommunications networks and counter national security threats from China, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Chairman of the Subcommittee said in a statement. Tom Carper (D-DE), the ranking member of the subcommittee, echoed Porter, in saying Our bipartisan report reveals how little oversight has been done of Chinese telecommunications carriers that operate here in the United States.

Lack of cybersecurity authority in telecom oversight

Although the subcommittee offers a lengthy list of concerns, of particular importance is the lack of real authority that either the FCC or Team Telecom has had in overseeing what the subcommittee characterizes as a Chinese telecommunications market heavily controlled by the government in Beijing.

Among the Subcommittees, many findings were the following:

The FCC regulates foreign carriers seeking to provide international telecommunications services between the United States and overseas locations but has historically relied on Team Telecom to assess the national security and law enforcement risks associated with a foreign carriers proposed services. The FCC is not required to review a foreign carriers authorization once it is granted. Authorizations effectively exist in perpetuity despite any national security implications that might arise. Team Telecom was an informal group with no statutory authority. As a result, its review of foreign carriers applications was ad hoc, leading to delays and uncertainty. Team Telecom had insufficient resources and had fewer than five employees monitoring compliance with the more than 100 security agreements with the Chinese companies currently in effect. It had no statutory authority to conduct meaningful compliance.

Risk management strategy needed

Several experts disagree with this harsh assessment of how the federal oversight process has failed to rein in Chinese supply chain threats. Our problem is not the lack of adequate enforcement powers for the FCC, Dr. Peter Cowhey, the Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy and Dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California at San Diego, tells CSO. It has them. Our problem is the lack of a clear-eyed risk management strategy that considers network risks as a whole.

Choosing between an outright ban or enhanced safeguards on any Chinese telecom company or tech supplier requires a clearer risk management strategy, Cowhey argues. For example, You could remove Huawei network equipment from US networks, and you would not eliminate the cybersecurity problems posed by networks where intelligence and control of the network are moving steadily to the network edge in trillions of smart devices.

You could ban Chinese networks from operations in the US and thereby create a precedent for other countries to do the same to US networks, and you would not eliminate the risks incurred by global Internet traffic moving on global networks, Cowhey says.

Private sector lacks information on telecom supply chain risk

Other experts see valid reasons to ban Chinese technology suppliers but think the government could improve the steps to achieve that goal. The report suggests the US government needs to find better ways to communicate with the private sector earlier about security risks and geopolitics, Megan Brown, a partner at top communications law firm Wiley Rein and a specialist on matters relating to the FCC and Team Telecom, tells CSO.

Some companies got the message about Huawei many years ago, but many did not and could not have, she adds. Without ties to the national security community or having gone through a Team Telecom review, a smaller or rural provider would not have a way to know the US governments concerns. Nor frankly would your average IT company or innovator.

Asked whether the commission could be faulted for not being proactive during a time when few outside of the intelligence community were worried about Chinese supply chain threats, Brown says: The FCC is not a national security agency, and its comparative advantage will not be as a first-mover on security.

A lot has happened in the year following the launch of the subcommittees investigation. The Commerce Department put Huawei and other Chinese tech giants on an export ban list, blocking US tech suppliers from selling to them. That action followed a White House executive order that bars foreign Chinese providers such as Huawei from providing gear in the US

Last November, the FCC barred the use of its $8.5 billion universal service fund for the purchase of equipment from Chinese tech giants ZTE and Huawei. Shortly after that, the ban was codified in the Secure and Entrusted Communications Act, which prohibits federal subsidies from going toward the purchase of communications equipment or services that pose a national security risk.

In the spring, the DOJ sought to revoke and terminate the licenses of China Telecom. That action followed a surprise executive order that dissolved the informal Team Telecom arrangement to create the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector.

In late April, the FCC issued Orders to Show Cause against four Chinese companies -- China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks, and ComNet. The orders asked them to explain why the commission should not start the process of revoking their domestic and international section authorizations enabling them to operate in the United States.

Greater coordination needed to mitigate supply chain risk

Its no surprise, then, that Wiley Reins Brown sees the need for greater coordination across the federal government when it comes to supply chain actions against Chinese telecom providers. It illustrates the need for coordination across federal agencies, she says.

There is so much going on right now on ICT supply chains--possible regulation of emerging technology, export controls--it is hard to keep up. It raises serious risk of duplication of effort across Commerce, State, DHS, FCC, and DOJ. There is not a clear point of entry for the government, either for US companies or for overseas companies or investors. It is a challenge.

The FCC itself is staying mum during its legal proceeding and did not respond to a request for comment from CSO. The Senate subcommittee hopes that the needed coordination will emerge soon. Especially when dealing with state-owned telecommunications carriers, greater controls are needed, and the Administration and Congress must work together to ensure sufficient safeguards and oversight mechanisms are in place, the report concluded.
Facing the Facts About Problem Gambling During Covid Can Help Operators Adapt to the Results

Published June 11, 2020 by Lee R

Operator restrictions during Covid do not ensure safe gambling: understanding the real facts can.

We have heard the news and easily see the logic: covid shutdowns drove many players to gamble online, but what can we really learn from evidence-based information?

Online Casino Searches Peak

Google Trends reports search queries in online casinos reached an all-time high in the UK with the closures.

More Spent on Play

So-called engaged gamblers who played regularly before Covid are spending more time or money during lockdown.

Cry for Help

Problem gamblers themselves have recognised the lockdown as anathema to their recoverywith BBC-surveyed respondents calling the lockdown measures a "recipe for disaster."

Lenders and Charitables Cooperate

Credit provider HSBC UK worked with charitable organisation GamCare to train a team to help customers with gambling addictions, for a call centre receiving an average of 1,000 calls a month seeking support for problem gambling.

Lockdown Stressors

GamCare Chief Executive Anna Hemmings identified contributing factors contributing to gambling problems during Covid-19 as financial distress, isolation and boredom.

Mobile Access Dangerous

One married manager surveyed who maxed his credit cards out was carrying 14 concurrent payday loans before seeking gambling debt support:

"The access to online gambling on mobile phones during lockdown is a recipe for disaster.

More Tempting Offers

The respondent expressed concerns about lingering heightened temptations available online, even while advertising has been famously banned:

"I'm certain bonus offers with gambling companies are better than they have ever been.

Ease of Access

Lingering temptations facing players on the verge of problem gambling include the click of a mobile button launching the spin of an online roulette wheel.

Causes: Stress and Anxiety

The most telling takeaway from the survey is that the majority of the respondents knew people in recovery who habitually turned to gambling to improve their mood when they were stressed or anxious: the covid lockdowns have obviously clearly imposed stress and anxiety on all people locked down, whether they are gamblers or not.

Solutions Outlook

While a compulsive gambler is going to find a way to play no matter what, reducing the ease or convenience with which individuals can gamble seems the most ethical way forward once the restrictions are fully lifted and from thereon. Regular offers from operators to individual players onsite to self-exclude might be a way to keep all players focused on protecting themselves as well.
I can finally go for a walk in the park and do some exercises, said Cheng Huanhuan who teaches Chinese in Ukraine, referring to the end of the two-month COVID-19 restrictions in the European country.

Cheng came to teach at the Music Confucius Classroom jointly established by the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music and Chinas Central Conservatory of Music last September, together with other three teachers from China.

I majored in Russian in university, so apart from teaching Chinese, I also translate for the music teachers, Cheng said.

Cheng would be giving lectures to the students were it not for the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as classes of educational institutions were suspended as a result of the quarantine measures introduced by the Ukrainian government since March 12. Now I teach Chinese to students online, so I have more spare time, she said.

Staying at home during the quarantine, Cheng was eager to contribute her part as she saw in the news that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases kept increasing in Ukraine.

When China was at the hardest time battling the virus, many Ukrainians donated masks to China, and some of them sent us their wishes through videos. That was really heart-touching, she said, adding that it inspired her to lend a helping hand to the local people to tide over the difficulties together.

To donate masks was the first thing that popped up in her mind.

Many people, such as sanitation workers and salesclerks in the supermarkets, were still sticking to their jobs during the quarantine period. I felt sorry to see them working without masks, so I shared some of mine with them, Cheng noted.

She spoke of a sexagenarian employee of a supermarket that she frequently visits, saying the employee was very happy when receiving the masks from her. He was very hospitable the next time he saw me in the supermarket, and helped me pick the freshest fruits, Cheng said.

As masks became an increasingly scarce commodity and her stock was running out, Cheng didnt have many to donate. Therefore, she bought 100 pieces of chocolate, and attached a card on each one of them on which she wrote Hang in there, Everything is going to be fine and Take care in Russian. Every time she went shopping, she would send the chocolate to the people she met.

They were surprised when receiving the chocolate, she said, adding that she hoped the sweet chocolate would encourage the locals.

Besides, every time she went grocery shopping, she would buy extra vegetables and eggs and secretly leave them with her elderly neighbors and the security guards.

One good turn deserves another. By doing these trivial things, I just want to express the friendliness and kindness of a Chinese. I hope we can all join hands to prevail over the difficulties, she said.
For a brief few days, Americans were in agreement.

We all witnessed an 8 minute, 46 second tape of George Floyd, an African-American, being brutally killed  a dying man begging for mercy  with a cop who didnt care.

In the past, there were debates about similar incidents  not this time. For police critics, it brought up high profile cases like Laquan McDonalds 2014 death, where a white Chicago police officer was convicted of murder.

In the wake of George Floyds killing, Americans totally accepted demonstrations and protests. They accepted  and joined  these expressions of anger and hurt.

What Americans shouldnt  and dont  accept is unrelated looting, rioting, arson and mayhem. The violent scenes in over 30 cities were the worst in decades. The rioters looted shops and attacked police with impunity, threatening a total breakdown of public order.

Police officers have been shot and killed. Retired St. Louis Police Captain David Dorn, a 77-year-old African-American with 38 years in law enforcement, was killed by a looter with a felony record. Five other St. Louis officers were shot.

Las Vegas police officer Shay Mikalonis was shot in the head while handcuffing a protestor and is on life support.

There was no public outrage when another African-American male, Dave Patrick Underwood, was gunned down and died while standing guard outside the federal building in Oakland. A second federal officer was shot but survived.

Black Lives Matter and other activist groups like antifa promote their goal: Defund the Police. The plain language is stunningly radical nonsense  but amazingly its gaining adherents among progressive Democrats.

Some supporters of Defund the Police want to increase the budgets of other community organizations paid for out of money currently directed toward police budgets.

Others want to replace core police functions with social workers and community representatives. Still others describe it as restorative justice drawing on pre-modern conceptions of conflict resolution  such as peace circles  as an alternative to police and prisons.

The hapless progressive Democrat Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey did nothing for four days while the Twin Cities burned. In a meeting with anti-police activists, he was booed when saying he did not believe in abolishing the police department.

Now, nine members of Minneapoliss City Council  a veto-proof majority  have announced their intention to disband the citys police department, vowing to replace it with a new model of public safety, claiming the current policing system cant be reformed. The City Council president wants a police-free society.

Another progressive Democrat, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, has called for a $150 million budget cut defunding of the police in favor of financing social service programs in black neighborhoods.

Garcetti described police officers as killers in front of black community leaders.

That brought a sharp rebuke from the LAPD police union head, who also said the proposed cuts would increase 911 response time and make the community less safe.

With over 300 NYPD officers injured in widespread looting and attacks on police in New York City, Mayor Bill DeBlasio, an ardent progressive Democrat, proposes to cut the police budget and redistribute it to social programs.

The NYPDs 36,000 officers are in open revolt  calling for DeBlasios resignation.

Does anyone really believe that defunding the police will result in less crime or looting?

When neighborhoods are torched, storefronts smashed and graffiti sprayed, will people feel safer because there is a commitment to social justice?

Police reforms are needed.

Required use of body cams by police officers makes it harder to cover up abuses and may even deter some. They are also exculpatory to a falsely charged officer.

The National Black Police Association recommends requiring police officers to restrain or even arrest other officers who are using undue force against civilians.

We need more resources  not fewer  in support of our public safety officers.

Jim Hartman is an attorney residing in Genoa, Nevada. His email address is lawdocman1@aol.com.

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Kohl's Corp. (KSS) has agreed to pay $220,000 to settle the U.S. Federal Trade Commission claims that the department store chain failed to give identity theft victims their complete transaction records. In a complaint filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC, the Commission alleged that Kohl refused to provide information identifying the thieves to identity theft victims, despite the fact that the FCRA guarantees victims access to this information. The FTC also alleges that the company failed to provide the information within 30 days, as required by the FCRA. The information sought by identity theft victims included records of sales made by the identity thieves using stolen personal information, along with the perpetrator's name and contact information. 'If someone stole your identity, it's your right to get the records related to the theft - and that's a right the FTC takes seriously,' said Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. 'This case is a warning to other companies: We will hold you responsible if you fail to give identity theft victims the required business records.' The settlement marks the first time the FTC used its powers under that law's Section 609(e). Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Odette Ramos, 47, won the Democratic primary race for City Council District 14. Her victory sets her up to become the city's first Latina elected official should she secure a victory in the general elections.

The Latina candidate declared a win on Tuesday afternoon after Joseph Kane II conceded to her in the morning. Kane placed second with 15 percent of the votes.

In a statement, the Puerto Rican said she is ready to start working, with plans to continue her tele-townhall series, informational emails, and search for solutions to fundamental issues.

She thanked the volunteers who labeled envelopes and hosted meet and greet events across District 14, campaign donors, Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, and Delegate Maggie McIntosh, and her husband and their eight-year-old daughter. She also praised the other candidates who ran great campaigns and expressed important ideas aimed at improving the district.

If Ramos wins the general election in November, she will be sworn in on December 10th. Until then, She is expected to work with outgoing Councilwoman Clarke towards a successful transition.

Her years of experience in local advocacy, as well as fundraising efforts and a key endorsement from the outgoing councilwoman, strengthened her primary campaign. According to The Baltimore Sun, Ramos won over 65 percent of the vote. She is expected to run against Republican Charles Long in November.

Who is Odette Ramos?

The Puerto Rican Democratic candidate is a New Mexico native who moved to Baltimore in 1991 to pursue studies at Goucher College- serving as the student government president for three years. She graduated with honors majoring Social Justice.

She earned her Masters in Public Policy at Rutgers University and proceeded to work for Delegate Jim Cambell and U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski.

In 1997, she co-founded the Village Learning Place-a community-run library installed at the old St. Paul Street Library. She worked as the director for neighborhood programs for the Greater Homewood Community Corporation in 1998.

In 2005, Ramos founded her own consulting firm, Strategic Management Consulting, where she helped small businesses and nonprofits to become more efficient. As a consultant, she oversaw and developed a decade-long plan for the Hampden community.

In 2012, the new mom founded two playgroups in Charles Village and at the 29th Street Community Center.

The Latina candidate was elected to the Democratic State Central Committee in 2014. She represented District 43.

In 2013, she was hired as the Executive Director of the Community Development Network of Marylands. During her time with the organization, she implemented more affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization, and family stability policies. She still holds the position today.

Odette co-founded Baltimore Women United which aims to tackle issues around sexual harassment and assault. The volunteer women's group also aims to elect more women to public office, as well as activate women on topics such as family separation and violence.
The Minister for Housing Planning and Local Government was wrong in law to direct county councillors to reverse a rezoning in a local plan which would affect the location of more than 300 new houses in Kildare, the High Court heard.

McCarthy Meats, of Clane, Co Kildare, wants the court to quash the Minister's August 18, 2016, direction to members of Kildare Co Council to reverse their March 2016 decision to rezone 30 acres the company owns at Bodenstown, Sallins, for housing. Kildare Co Council is a notice party in the case.

The Minister required councillors to revert to a provision in the 2009 local area plan in which a different 30 acres, also owned by the meat firm, was zoned for housing and other uses.

The Minister argued the location of the housing in the councillors' decision was peripheral and breached the "core strategy" of the local plan.

The directive was issued under Section 31 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 which gives the Minister power to order change if a plan fails to set out an overall strategy for proper planning and sustainable development.

McCarthy Meats says the Minister was wrong in law and in fact in making the decision. It says the lands are not peripheral and are beside existing housing.

The Minister denies the claims and opposes the meat firm's judicial review proceedings.

It is also claimed there is strong local support for the councillors' chosen location amid concerns about the need for amenity/open space land in the area.

Today Jim O'Callaghan SC, for McCarthy Meats, argued the Minister's decision was not valid including on grounds there was no evidence before him that councillors ignored submissions made by the minister before they made their rezoning decision.

The minutes of the councillors' meeting showed it was fully considered and in no way could it be said they ignored it, counsel said.

The Minister's claim the decision was not in compliance with the local area plan did not stand up to scrutiny, he said.

The material before the Minister was clearly wrong because, in a briefing note, it was stated these were unzoned lands when they have in fact been previously zoned (residential/open space/educational and agricultural) in a pre-existing plan, he said. The Minister was also told this was a greenfield and peripheral site which the McCarthy Meats side say is incorrect.

"The information before the Minister was inadequate and led him to go down an unlawful route, " counsel said.

Conor Power SC, for the Minister, in his submissions, said current law is based on the 2010 Planning and Development Amendment Act which provides "plan-led" rather than "developer-led" planning. It arose out of concerns about unsustainable development throughout this country during the economic boom.

McCarthy Meats was entitled to make submissions to have a plan changed, but it had no right to obtain such a change unless it is in accordance with guidelines and standards, counsel said.

The case continues before Mr Justice Mark Heslin.
Spains cautious approach to reopening its borders to international visitors is coming under increasing pressure.

On Thursday, the European Commission issued a statement on travel restrictions in which it strongly encourages the remaining member states to finalise the process of lifting the internal border controls and restrictions to free movement within the EU by June 15, 2020.

The Spanish government is, for now, planning to reopen its borders on July 1, when it will also lift its requirement for a 14-day quarantine. But many other European nations will be allowing visitors from Schengen area countries by next Monday. Some, like Italy, are already doing so.

Spain is still preventing full mobility between its own regions

The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, insisted on the recommendation that internal borders must reopen as soon as possible. But she added that the main thing is for everyone to open internal borders completely before opening the EUs external ones to third-country travelers.

Spains deputy PM and economy minister Nadia Calvino said the Commissions proposal is duly noted, but insisted that all decisions will be based on health criteria.

Until recently, Brussels had accepted the June 30 deadline for restoring free movement of people within the Schengen space. But EU officials argue that coronavirus transmission in the EU is low enough to bring this date forward.

While Germany, France and Belgium have said that they will lift travel restrictions on Monday, Spain is still preventing full mobility between its own regions. This situation is due to end by June 22, when the state of alarm declared to fight the Covid-19 epidemic expires.

But the official date for reopening Spanish borders to foreign travelers is July 1, with the exception of a pilot program in the Balearic Islands that will bring German tourists to the Mediterranean archipelago next week.

The EU Commission said it is aware that coordination issues will not be easy. We understand that reopening on Monday for countries that have not yet decided to do so could be complicated, and that some might take an extra week or two, said Johansson.

English version by Susana Urra.
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. Former Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh Ashot Ghulyan has assumed the position of advisor to the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, ARMENPRESS reports Vahan Kostanyan, assistant of Ararat Mirzoyan, wrote on his Facebook page.

Ashot Ghulyan has assumed a position at the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly and will continue contributing to the process of forming a joint agenda of the legislative bodies of the two Armenian states in the position of advisor to the parliament Speaker.
North Korea criticised Donald Trump in a stinging denunciation of the United States on Friday, the second anniversary of a landmark summit in Singapore where the US president shook hands with leader Kim Jong Un.

It was the latest in a series of vitriolic statements from Pyongyang aimed at both Washington and Seoul, and came a day after the North implicitly threatened to disrupt November's election if the US did not stay out of inter-Korean affairs.

In recent days, Pyongyang has excoriated the South over defectors launching leaflets criticising Kim into the North and announced it was cutting all official communication links with Seoul.

Friday's broadside contained some of the harshest criticism Pyongyang has sent Washington's way in recent months, and casts doubt over the future of the two sides' long-stalled nuclear talks process.

In the onslaught, the North's foreign minister Ri Son Gwon accused Washington of hypocrisy and seeking regime change, saying that the hopes of 2018 had "faded away into a dark nightmare".

Trump and Kim were all smiles in front of the world's cameras in Singapore as a North Korean leader met a sitting US president for the first time, and afterwards Trump proclaimed on Twitter that "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea."

But a second meeting in Hanoi last year to put meat on the bones of the North's vaguely worded Singapore pledge to "work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" collapsed over what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.

- 'Hypocritical' -

US diplomats insist that they believe Kim promised in Singapore to give up its arsenal, something Pyongyang has taken no steps to do.

The North is under multiple international sanctions over its banned weapons programmes.

It believes it deserves to be rewarded for its moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and the disabling of its atomic test site, along with the return of jailed US citizens and remains of soldiers killed in the Korean War.

Story continues

"Nothing is more hypocritical than an empty promise," Ri said in his statement, carried by the official KCNA news agency.

Trump has made much of his connection with Kim -- at one point declaring that they had fallen "in love" through their exchanges of letters.

But Ri said Pyongyang now believed there was no hope for an improvement "simply by maintaining personal relations between our Supreme Leadership and the US President".

He stopped just short of criticising Trump by name, but referred to comments that "the master of the White House" had "reeled off time and time again as a boast".

"Never again will we provide the US chief executive with another package to be used... without receiving any returns."

Pyongyang's latest comments were not an empty threat, said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former North Korea analyst for the US government.

"North Koreans know they will not be getting what they want either from South Korea or the US," she told AFP. "Diplomacy no longer seems to be in the cards."

North Korea's chief diplomatic ally China urged Washington to acknowledge Pyongyang's "legitimate concerns", with foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying insisting the North had taken denuclearisation measures that merited a commensurate US response.

- Deadline passed -

Trump and Kim met a third time in June 2019 in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean peninsula, when Trump stepped onto North Korean soil -- a first for any American president.

But the meeting produced little in terms of tangible progress.

Subsequently, the North repeatedly demanded that the US offer it fresh concessions by December 31, but the deadline came and went.

Kim declared the North no longer considered itself bound by its unilateral testing moratoriums.

It has not yet carried out any such actions, but analysts believe it has continued to develop its arsenal throughout the discussions.

Ri accused Washington of seeking regime change and said the North had decided to bolster its nuclear deterrent "to cope with the US unabated threats of nuclear war".

Pyongyang has carried out a series of tests of shorter-range weapons in recent months -- often describing them as multiple launch rocket systems, although Japan and the United States have called them ballistic missiles.

The process leading to the Singapore summit was brokered by the South's President Moon Jae-in, but his office said Friday it had no comment to make on the anniversary.
The fallout from Oregons largest COVID-19 workplace outbreak is finding its way into every corner of Newport, a fishing town of a little more than 10,000 people on the central Oregon coast.

Newport prides itself on its Dungeness crab and shrimp exports, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium draws thousands of visitors every year. Already, its economy was reeling after tourism fell and businesses were ordered to shut down to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Vital industries had just started to return to normal under Phase 1 of Gov. Kate Browns reopening plans when state public health officials disclosed 125 coronavirus cases linked to a Pacific Seafood processing facility on Sunday.

Pacific Seafood ceased operations at all five of its Newport plants. The Oregon Health Authority said the outbreak is contained to Lincoln County and that risk to the public is low.

But Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer said most of those who tested positive are locals. The towns economy is hurting again without a major fish buyer and supplier. And businesses are shutting back down to try to slow the spread of the virus.

They live here, they work here, theyre community-based people, Sawyer said. And, of course, the problem with that is that people live and work with people that work in other industries.

Such far-reaching impacts could play out again and again in Oregon communities that rely on food manufacturing employers. Food manufacturers are tied to a majority of large COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in Oregon, according to state public health officials. And with peak harvest season approaching, cases could pick up.

Even in larger communities, food processing outbreaks have had major effects. In May, Clark Countys request to move into the next stage of reopening was put on hold due to a large outbreak at a Vancouver food processing plant.

Seafood processing is the biggest type of food manufacturing in Lincoln County, said Erik Knoder, a regional economist at the Oregon Employment Department. The state exported approximately $53.8 million worth of seafood and marine products last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Most of that seafood comes into Newport or at other two points along the coast. Other industries on the coast are linked to and dependent on seafood processing.

Sawyer said it isnt uncommon for those who work in processing plants to have a second job. When fishermen come to the processing plants to offload their catches, they interact with the workers there. Local restaurants buy from fishermen and processing plants like Pacific Seafood.

Taunette Dixon is a fisherman and president of Newport Fishermens Wives, a nonprofit group that helps the local fishing community. She sells fish directly to Pacific Seafood. Now that theyve closed their plants, business is harder to come by.

When a plant like Pacific Seafood closes down, which is the largest plant in our local area, there is no market for our fish, Dixon said. We are sitting at the docks.

Before the outbreak in Newport, the fishing industry was already struggling because business had dropped at local restaurants, Dixon said. Restaurants are big buyers of fish when tourists fill the tables.

You just look at any restaurant you go to, they all have fish on the menu, and a lot of it comes from right here, Sawyer said.

Many restaurants closed for months until Lincoln County started to gradually reopen. Now, after reopening, the same restaurants are closing again.

Stormee Wills co-owns Sorella, a local Italian restaurant that sits near Nye Beach in Newport. Less than a month after being approved to open her restaurant to dine-in customers, she decided to close it again Sunday.

Wills said the restaurant doesnt buy from Pacific Seafood. But because the community is so tight knit in Newport, she decided to close the restaurant to protect her employees and the community.

A lot of employees work in multiple different places, Wills said. Theres people who work at Pacific Seafood and work in different restaurants. Were such a small town  any one of us could have come in contact with anybody as this point.

She said she didnt realize the economic impact the first closure would have on the restaurant until after spring break, a popular time to visit Newport.

We rely on spring break, Wills said. We rely on tourists to be around. That was the first time I realized this is going to be bad.

Sorella reopened for takeout only Wednesday. But even after the restaurant opens for dine-in service again, Wills said she wont be able to hire half as many people as normal during the summer season, due to social distancing requirements that will limit the number of customers in the restaurant.

Lincoln County has not applied for Phase 2 of reopening, although every other county on the coast has received approval to move forward.

The economic toll of the outbreak on Newport wont surface until unemployment counts roll in later this month, Knoder said. The seafood processing industrys employment typically peaks in summer, which is also peak tourism season for the Oregon coast.

Knoder said the coronavirus pandemic hasnt caused a typical business recession  its more similar to one caused by a natural disaster.

As a small town, Newport doesnt have access to the same resources as bigger cities to respond to the outbreak, Dixon said. Community groups, such as Newport Fishermens Wives, are doing their best to get help to the people who need it.

We are lacking in donations, and yet, weve had more requests than weve ever had, Dixon said.

As the virus spreads, so does concern among residents, Dixon said.

Theres just a lot of fear thats spread around the community, Dixon said. It gets spread quickly.

Lincoln County officials confirmed Wednesday they are investigating more workplace outbreaks.

-- Celina Tebor

ctebor@oregonian.com

@CelinaTebor
Phoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - The Stock Day Podcast welcomed LexGene Holdings, Inc. (TSXV: LXG) (OTCQB: LXXGF) (the "Company"), a biotechnology company that develops genetic analyzers for rapid pathogen detection is pleased to provide the following update on the Company's development plans of its flagship pathogen detection platform for the human clinical, veterinary diagnostics, and food safety sectors. President of the Company, Daryl Rebeck, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly.

Rebeck began the interview by updating listeners on the Company's background and current projects. "Here at LexaGene, we're developing a very easy-to-use, low cost, sample-to-answer diagnostic test - meaning we're looking for pathogens," said Rebeck, noting the device's prevalence in the current pandemic. "It's really geared towards practitioners who want a better, faster, and more detailed test."

Jolly asked about the Company's clinical trials, as well as their pre-commercial placement in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Rebeck explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has created quicker processing times for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) applications. "The Dartmouth placement was very important for us to illustrate the fact that we can do it, we are doing it, and it's a market that we hope to enter," said Rebeck. "With the Dartmouth placement to show that we can, and the fact that we're submitting our EUA proposal, that changes things in an immense way," he continued.

Rebeck then expanded on the results of the Company's placement in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. "The idea there is that they're using it, they're collecting data, detecting COVID-19, and we're learning a lot about COVID-19," said Rebeck. "It's been a great learning process, it's a great validation point, and it's also something that paves the way for us into human clinicals."

Jolly then noted that the Company is currently pre-revenue, and asked about the potential of the next two to three quarters. Rebeck shared that the Company has primarily been an R&D company, but is now entering into sales. "As a shareholder, we're still relatively unknown; our market cap is very small considering what our competitors trade at, and sales will change all of that," said Rebeck.

The conversation then turned to the Company's sales strategy and timeline. "We're hiring sales people in the coming weeks, which is a big step," said Rebeck. "We will then move into sales and start delivering units at the end of September," he added. "If we get EUA clearance that is a huge deal," said Rebeck. "We're really moving towards that first quarter where you can say 'we have sales now, we've sold units' and this is what everyone wants to see, including us," said Rebeck.

To close the interview, Rebeck expressed the potential of the Company as they enter the market. "It's a very exciting time and I don't think it is reflected enough in the stock," said Rebeck. "We're finally at that finish line, even though the stock is not reflecting it. So, I think it's a great time for people to look at it and I urge them to spend some time online," closed Rebeck, encouraging shareholders to check out the Company's information and testimonials, which are available on their website.

To hear Daryl Rebeck's entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://audioboom.com/posts/7605048-lexagene-holdings-inc-discusses-the-sales-strategy-for-its-pathogen-detection-technology-with-t.

About LexaGene Holdings Inc.

LexaGene is a biotechnology company that develops genetic analyzers for pathogen detection and other molecular markers for on-site rapid testing in veterinary diagnostics, food safety and for use in open-access markets such as clinical research, agricultural testing and biodefense. End-users simply need to collect a sample, load it onto the instrument with a sample preparation cartridge, enter sample ID and press 'go'. The LX Analyzer delivers excellent sensitivity, specificity, and breadth of detection and can return results in about 1 hour. The unique open-access feature is designed for custom testing so that end-users can load their own real-time PCR assays onto the instrument to target any genetic target of interest.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Jay Adelaar

Vice President of Capital Markets, LexaGene

800.215.1824 ext 207

jadelaar@lexagene.com

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectation. Important factors -- including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts, the success of technology development efforts, the cost to procure critical parts, performance of the instrument, market acceptance of the technology, regulatory acceptance, and licensing issues -- that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations as disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on SEDAR (see www.sedar.com). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About The "Stock Day" Podcast

Founded in 2013, Stock Day is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Stock Day provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. The Stock Day Podcast is the number one radio show of its kind in America. Stock Day recently launched its Video Interview Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona.

SOURCE:

Stock Day Media

(602) 821-1102

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57706
BOSTON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Association of Neuroscience in Education (IANE) released plan for the 2nd International Technology and Education Conference. More information about ITEC2020 will be released soon on the IANE website.

On November 16th, 2019, the 1st ITEC achieved great success at Harvard University. Hosted by HGSE Brain Association, Harvard Graduate Business Club, Harvard Law school China Law Association, and HCSSA, ITEC became the first conference that brought together scholars and experts from China and US solely for the integration of technology and education.

Last year's line-up includes Stanley Buchesky, Interim CFO at U.S. Department of Education and Executive Chairman of Pi-top; Daniel A. Wagner, Chair in Learning and Literacy, UNESCO; Stacy Scott, senior lecturer at Boston University and Development Director of Practices Team at Imagining Integration Diversity and Equitable Schools in Harvard GSE; Yasmin Kafai, Professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania GSE; Yuquan Wang, Co-Founder and Founding Partner of Haiyin Capital. These top-notch scientists and educators inspired the audience through discussions about the cutting-edge scientific research and providing unique insights into this ever more prospering industry.

Despite the influence of COVID-19, the plan for ITEC 2020 is still promising. At these difficult times, ITEC will continue to challenge and contribute to the EdTech industry by eliciting conversations and bringing in new ideas.

For collaborations and participation, please visit https://www.neuroscienceeducation.org or email IANE Conference

International Association of Neuroscience in Education (IANE):

IANE aims to promote applications of research outputs in neuroscience and education in the real world in order to benefit all learners; to promote students' learning efficiency and experience by the application of neuroscience and biotechnology; to discover possible applications of neuroscience in special education and treating developmental disorders including ADHD and Autism; and to build a community of neuroscience and education by sharing latest information and discoveries through conferences and publications.

International Technology and Education Conference (ITEC):

ITEC is the first conference focusing on application of technology in education by students from Harvard and MIT. In augurated by the HGSE Brain Association, The Harvard GSAS Business Club, The China Law Association, The Harvard Chinese Students and Scholars Association, the 2019 conference has aimed to foster a deeper understanding of the importance of technology in education, and advance interdisciplinary communication and collaboration between educators and innovators.

SOURCE International Association of Neuroscience in Education

Related Links

https://www.neuroscienceeducation.org


11.06.2020 LISTEN

It will be recalled that sometime in November 2019, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to rid the Federal Government interventionist agency of the Niger Delta of the corruption allegations and financial impropriety that bedeviled it.

It is these allegations and mudslinging that led to series of court cases that stopped the inauguration of the board that was nominated by various leaders and stakeholders and cleared by the 9th National Assembly. No sooner had the reconstituted and enlarged Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Prof. Pondei which replaced that of the embattled Dr. Joi Nunieh's IMC settled down to work under the supervision of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio than the cries of financial impropriety started drifting from the National Assembly calling for the probe of the IMC over an allegation of fraud and misappropriation of N40 billion within a period of three months.

The call for probe of the six months old IMC is seen by many Niger Deltans as a diversionary ploy to frustrate the successful completion of the forensic audit which will cover the 19 year period of the existence of the NDDC.

In self defense, the IMC speaking through its Executive Director Projects, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh had denied the allegations of the National Assembly as baseless and a ploy to frustrate the efforts of the IMC and expose the complicity of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee Chairmen on NDDC.

The National Assembly has hinged its argument of the need to probe the IMC on the time tested legal maxim of "nemo judex in causa sua" which simply means that one cannot be a judge in his own case. The IMC on the other hand is relying on another legal maxim that he who comes to equity must have clean hands" and the position of the IMC seems to be the opinion of most stakeholders of the Niger Delta.

There is an allegation bordering on corruption and fraud on both the Senate and House Committee Chairmen of the National Assembly, rather than investigate the allegations by the IMC of the NDDC, the National Assembly are playing to the gallery by sweeping the weighty allegations of corruption under the carpet and going for the jugular of the IMC.

If the National Assembly is determined to probe the Six month old IMC, who then will probe the alleged wrong doings of the members of the NASS? It should have been more equitable for the National Assembly to investigate the allegations against its members, encourage and support the forensic audit under the management of the IMC and the supervision of the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, then in its response know if actually the IMC or the Senate and House of Representatives Committee Chairmen were complicit or not rather than the rat race probe the National Assembly has entangled itself in.

In the IMC's revelation through the Executive Director, Projects (EDP) Dr. Cairo Ojougboh did not at any time accused and/or indict the National Assembly as an institution rather it was the Chairman Senate Committee on NDDC and his House of Representatives counterpart that were mentioned, how come the National Assembly is taking it upon itself to respond to the allegations levelled against individual members of the National Assembly rather than allow the persons accused to answer to the allegations of the Commission?

Does the oversight function of the National Assembly also include protecting its erring members from questioning or it grants them immunity as provided in Section 308 of Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)? No! I don't think so, if that be the case, the "distinguished" senators of the federal republic and "honourable" members of the National Assembly should tow a path of honour by allowing by resting in their oars as far as the probe of the IMC is concerned till a time such as the forensic audit would have been concluded before the probe of the IMC is commenced whether it will be necessary or not. The National Assembly should not only do what is right and just but it must be seen to do what is just as that alone can build the confidence of the people of the Niger Delta about the genuineness of the intention of the APC led federal government to develop the Niger Delta region which had been neglected by series of government in the past and indeed the confidence of all Nigerians on government and governance.

The Niger Delta must be given the opportunity to develop at an accelerated pace to get its pride of place as the hen that lays the golden egg of the entity called Nigeria. Shielding people from investigation on allegations of wrongdoing whether true or false is surely not the way to go. The people being accused are not ghosts, they are Nigerians in high places with positions of authority and making laws for the smooth running of our country, it is therefore not right for the laws they make not to be tested, at least the National Assembly must at time live up to it's billing by rebuilding the peoples' confidence and support the anti-corruption campaign of Mr. President a trustworthy one that will make Nigeria stand tall among the comity of nations.

Written by Aghogho Badaseraye, Esq.

National Legal Adviser/Delta State Coordinator,

Citizens Quest for Truth Initiative
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 00:05:21|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The move by the United States to fabricate false information on the outbreak of COVID-19 in China's Wuhan should be condemned by the international community, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Thursday.

ABC News cited a new study from the Harvard Medical School as saying that satellite images of hospital parking lots in Wuhan, as well as internet search trends, suggest the epidemic might have been spreading as early as last August.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday in response that it should not over-interpret the change in the number of cars in parking lots of hospitals and associate it with the epidemic.

In responding to a query about the issue at a daily news briefing Thursday, spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the research had several obvious loopholes, apart from using the number of cars in the parking lots to infer the initial occurrence of the epidemic.

She said that, firstly, the DASH academic platform of Harvard University was just an open database for collecting and storing some research materials of teaching and research personnel, rather than it being peer-reviewed journals. She asked whether this study represented the formal views and standards of the Harvard Medical School.

Secondly, she said one of the authors of the study "happened" to be a contributor of ABC News that exclusively reported the study, and ABC News just "happened" to have covered it with a lot more data even before the study was pre-released.

Thirdly, a diagram in the ABC News report was marked "May 2019." "I'm not sure if it's an unintentional mistake or due to some other reason," Hua noted.

She said that, fourthly, this study believed that one of the key pieces of "evidence" was the retrieval volume of "coughs" and "diarrhea."

"I noticed that some Chinese media, after in-depth research, found that the increase in the search volume for the two keywords in September 2019 cited by the study is even less than that over the same period of time in 2017 and 2018. Does this mean that Wuhan had COVID-19 cases as early as 2017?" said Hua, who noted in disbelief that such a serious scientific issue should be taken so lightly.

This so-called research, which was full of loopholes and shoddy work, is widely circulated by some U.S. politicians and media as new "evidence" of China's concealment of the epidemic, she said.

"This is new proof that some in the U.S. are deliberately creating and disseminating disinformation against China, which should be unanimously condemned and rejected by the international community," Hua said. Enditem
The head of Conde Nasts fast-growing lifestyle programming group resigned Wednesday after accusations of bias from several employees, the second executive to depart the company in recent days after a staff-led uprising focused on the magazine giants difficulties with race.

Matt Duckor, a vice president in charge of programming, who oversees videos for Bon Appetit and other titles, confirmed in a brief interview that he had left the company.

I am no longer with Conde Nast, he said.

Mr. Duckor left the company, the home of Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, among other publications, two days after Adam Rapoport resigned as editor in chief of Bon Appetit. Mr. Rapoport stepped down soon after a 2004 photo showing him wearing a racially insensitive costume resurfaced on social media.

The online appearance of the photo sparked a revolt among Conde Nast employees, many of whom described an entrenched culture of racial insensitivity.
RTHK: Columbus statue beheaded amid anti-racism protests

A statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston has been beheaded, police said overnight on Wednesday, as calls to remove sculptures commemorating colonisers and slavers sweep America on the back of anti-racism protests.

A Columbus statue was also vandalised in downtown Miami, and another was dragged into a lake earlier in the week in Richmond, Virginia, according to local reports.

The incidents come as pressure builds in the United States to rid the country of monuments associated with racism following massive demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis last month.

Italian explorer Columbus, long hailed by school textbooks as the so-called discoverer of "The New World," is considered by many to have spurred years of genocide against indigenous groups in the Americas.

The Boston statue  which stands on a plinth in the heart of town  has been controversial for years, like other Columbus statues across the US, and has been vandalised in the past.

Boston police were alerted to the damage shortly after midnight on Tuesday, a spokesman said. An investigation is under way but no one has been arrested, he added.

A jogger running past the statue on Wednesday said she approved of the decapitation.

"Coming out of the Black Lives Matter protests, I think it's a good thing to capitalise on this momentum," she said, without giving her name.

"Just like black people in this country, indigenous people have also been wronged. I think this movement is pretty powerful and this is very symbolic," she added.

Protesters also defaced a Miami statue of Columbus at a waterfront park with red paint and messages that read "Our streets," "Black Lives Matter" and "George Floyd, before police made several arrests, according to the Miami Herald newspaper.

In Saint Paul, Minnesota a bronze statue of Columbus was pulled from its granite base by several dozen people led by Native American activist outside the state Capitol.

"It was the right thing to do and it was the right time to do it," said the activist, Mike Forcia.

Native American activists have long objected to honouring Columbus, saying that his expeditions to the Americas led to the colonisation and genocide of their ancestors.

In Virginia, protesters used ropes to pull down the 2.4-metre statue and then dumped it in a nearby lake on Tuesday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch said.

It echoed an incident in Bristol, England, on Sunday when demonstrators toppled a statue of a slave trader and dumped it in a harbour during anti-racism protests. (AFP, Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A woman who spent more than 30 years turning her rundown cottage into a life-size doll house says the property is now unsellable. (Mercury Press)

An artist who spent three decades decorating her rundown country cottage says it is now unsellable after turning it into a life size dolls house.

Mary Rose Young, 61, bought her countryside cottage in Lydney, Gloucester, for just 30,000 in 1987.

The property  consisting of two separate cottages  was occupied by squatters before she decided to take on the project of renovating the dilapidated home.

Young has spent the last 30 years decorating her home, which she lives in with her musician husband Phil Butcher, in vibrant colours, loud patterns and playful trinkets.

Potter Mary Rose Young has been painting the cottage in her eclectic style by hand since 1987. (Mercury Press)

The loud, colourful decoration has made the house, which has been on the market since 2014, unsellable. (Mercury Press)

Among the homes many features are striking yellow and green walls, black and white tiled floors, a zebra-patterned toilet seat and bright pink furnishings.

Read more: Couple's TV house transformation into 'B&Q warehouse' shocks viewers

The ceramic artist put the cottage on the market in 2014, after estate agents said the property could sell for 500,000.

But so far, the playhouse for adults has failed to drum up any serious interest.

The home features a zebra print toilet, green and yellow striped walls and floral painted tiles. (Mercury Press)

Mary Rose Young bought the house in 1987 for 30,000. (Mercury Press)

Agents have only been able to secure one viewing in six years due to her eccentric style, with the potential buyer choosing not to proceed.

Read more: Inside half-finished Grand Designs house that lost owner 5m and wrecked marriage

Despite the troubles in selling her kaleidoscopic home, Young refuses to paint over the decor - which she describes as a playhouse for adults.

Young said: I love my house and the house really works for me. Im a colourful person and I even have pink hair. I like it more and more as I get older.

Estate agents said the kaleidoscopic property should have been expected to fetch at 500,000 but added that only one person has viewed the house. (Mercury Press)

The ceramic artists spent over 30 years turning her rundown cottage into a life-size doll house. (Mercury Press)

I made this house around my own life and I wasnt thinking about it being sellable.

Read more: Disgruntled painter owed money daubs message on the side of pub he worked on

Were living like two children in a dolls house and in retrospect why would anybody else want to buy it?

I just thought it might go to a mad collector of my work who might want to buy it, but no one was interested."

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo News UK
By Stuart McDill WELLINGBOROUGH, England (Reuters) - Want to get back to work? Put your staff in a cardboard box

By Stuart McDill

WELLINGBOROUGH, England (Reuters) - Want to get back to work? Put your staff in a cardboard box.

That is the advice of a British company making social distancing screens from recycled cardboard to help businesses open up after lockdown while keeping staff safe.

"As people have started to come back to work we've switched to making a range of distancing-at-work products such as free-standing screens, counter screens and desk partitions," Iain Hulmes, Chief Executive at Pallite, told Reuters.

The company, 70 miles (112km) northwest of London, used to make recyclable cardboard pallets and boxes for industry but has now developed an entirely new range of products to cope with new workplace demands in the wake of the pandemic including wall screens, desk and table dividers with clear polyester film windows, free-standing signs and even pop-up desks for homeworkers.

"One of our workers at home found that she was struggling to work at home so we created a pop-up desk. That desk has sold over 5000 units in just five weeks with nothing but 5 star reviews," Hulmes said.

Three sizes of desks, all made from laminated honeycomb paper, can hold 50kg of weight and can be assembled in less than a minute. A desk for an adult costs 26 pounds.

Not far from Pallite's Wellingborough factory is Concept Conversions who sent all their staff home for the lockdown apart from four people all working in separate rooms.

Director, Ralph Allen, says he is trying to have some fun with themes and colours while using Pallite social distancing measures to keep his staff safe as they return to the office.

"It's pretty extreme to put your staff into cardboard boxes so the reason for cutting the windows and trimming them in those colours was because I've got a Manchester United supporter sitting at my desk and I support Liverpool. Well, that could become Liverpool again couldn't it?" he said referring to the red trim.

(Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
San Francisco: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's campaign published an open letter to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, calling for the company to police and fact-check politicians' ads and speech.

The Biden campaign asked supporters to sign a petition for Facebook to crack down on misinformation in ads, and it issued a list of demands including that the company should promptly remove false, viral information and that there should be clear rules that also apply to President Donald Trump to prohibit "threats and lies about how to participate in the election."

Democratic presidential candidate, former vice-president Joe Biden. Credit:AP

In a blog post, Facebook said it would continue to protect political speech.

"We live in a democracy, where the elected officials decide the rules around campaigns," the company responded.
Today's Federal Bureau of Investigation is "an intelligence-driven and threat-focused national security organization ... to protect the U.S. from terrorism, espionage, cyber attacks, and major criminal threats" (FBI website). So why isn't the FBI protecting Americans from Antifa, BLM, and the other terrorists who have taken over so many American cities today?

What are the priorities of the FBI? At the top of the FBI website is an alert to threats during the COVID-19 pandemic: online exploitation of kids, hacking and scamming, and hate crimes. In other words, while our cities burn and terrorists seek to overthrow our state and federal governments, the FBI is focused on keeping the internet safe.

Is this a joke?

What is the FBI doing? I counted 33 press releases on the FBI website for June 9. These included tax evasion, threatening communications, bank robbery, assault, heroin possession, and child pornography. You get the idea  minor threats to our nation and nothing about terrorists wreaking havoc in Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, and other cities.

Where is FBI director Wray? He has not made a single statement, held a press conference, or attended a news program in months, to my knowledge. Typing in his name on the FBI website brings up one reference from 2020 and one reference from 2019. The rest are older. This guy must be working at his job undercover.

As an American citizen, I demand that the FBI get off its lazy behind and start throwing the leaders of BLM and Antifa in federal prison. They are, after all, domestic terrorist organizations fomenting a Marxist revolution. Isn't that important enough for the FBI?

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Lloyds Banking Group said it was stopping people buying cryptocurrencies using credit cards.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority has fined Lloyds Bank 64 million ($81.26 million) for failures in handling hundreds of thousands of mortgage customers in difficulties or arrears.

Lloyds and its Bank of Scotland and The Mortgage Business units are set to pay around 300 million in redress to 526,000 customers, and the redress program is nearly complete, the FCA said in a statement on Thursday.

The fine is the largest imposed by the watchdog for mortgage related failures and would have been 91.5 million had Lloyds not agreed to accept the watchdog's findings early on.

"By not sufficiently understanding their customers' circumstances the banks risked treating unfairly more than a quarter of a million customers in mortgage arrears, over several years," said Mark Steward, the FCA's executive director of enforcement and market oversight.

The watchdog said that between April 2011 and December 2015, the banks were not consistently obtaining adequate information to assess what customers could afford to pay.

Lloyds said that all customers impacted have already been contacted and reimbursed and that customers need to take no action.

"We have since taken significant steps to enhance how we support mortgage customers experiencing financial difficulty, including investing in colleague training and procedures," Lloyds said in a statement.
Twitter was abuzz in Pakistan on Tuesday night with several users claiming that fighter jets belonging to the Indian Air Force (IAF) were seen flying near Karachi.

Dear @IndiainPakistan, rumors are rife about Indian Air Force incursions into Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the Sindh-Rajasthan sector. Recommend you put out a statement to clarify. Also recommend that everybody chill and enjoy the week, tweeted Waj Khan, a former reporter at NBC News.

I definitely saw jet planes, live near airport. Whats up, said Laraib Mohib from Karachi

There were a lot of fighter jets flying around in Karachi probably, added Ayesha Zafar, also from Karachi.

However, IAF sources have denied any such activity by its fighter aircraft over Pakistan.

Some social media users expressed concern over the reported activities along the India-Pakistan border. Its not #Indianairforce jets infact it were #PakistanAirForce jets violating #indian airspace near #Rajasthan border.#PAF jets went in2 Flag of India on reconnaissance mission and successfully came back, claimed another user.

A few also tried recollected the capture of IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman when he crossed the border. During a counter-attack to the Balakot strikes last year in February, Varthaman managed to let off a short-range R73 missile against an intruding F16, which brought it down.

During the engagement, his MiG21 crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to retain the lockin on the target and was shot down either by a surface-to-air missile or another Pakistani jet. However, the Pakistani jets had retreated without causing any damage in India.

Since you are (or were) too close with the Pak Army, your words can be taken as solid. Anyways, we are not worry. We have ready some more cups to tea to welcome our neighbours, tweeted Salaar Suleyman from Lahore.

Pakistan Air force is ready for Cool Surprise, said Rafi Khan from Layyah, Punjab.
Your browser does not support the audio element.

For the time being, this story has a happy ending.

As the saying goes; Life happens while youre making other plans. Last Tuesday night, about eight days ago, a little shadow slipped through my front gate at 10:00 pm just as I arrived home from a fairly boozy night out.

I hadnt yet switched on the front courtyard lights when I sensed something moving near my feet. Even my big dog didnt spot the little puppy at first.

Having lived in Vietnam for 14 years, I knew better than to jump around in surprise and I knew where the lights are in the dark. But I did get a shock when I saw the pup in the light.

Half exhausted, skinny as a rake, and sitting at my feet with baby eyes simply saying help me. I barely recognized him as a puppy for a moment as the mange covering his skin made him look more like a baby predator (like the monster from the movie) shaking in the half-darkness.

Having raised more than dozen dogs from pups to dog adults, Ive seen more than my fair share of horrible sights so the mange didnt frighten me that much.

Grabbing him quickly and getting him inside was the first instinct and then finding a towel to wrap him up. After some food and water, the little fella fell asleep almost instantly.

But I knew his road ahead wouldnt be easy.

A stray puppy found by the author outside his home in central Vietnam is seen on the first night in this supplied photo.

Mange is caused by tiny spider-like ticks that hide under the skin. It is very contagious between dogs and also from bedding and shared sleeping areas.

In rarer cases it can be passed from mother to pup. Although it can be transmitted to humans, the ticks cant complete their lifecycle in human skin.

Its relatively straight forward to treat with medicated baths, medical sprays and injections to clear up any internal infections.

Generally, it takes around 4 weeks of treatment to start to see improvements in skin and appearance. Fortunately, in Vietnam, all this is far cheaper than in western countries.

The next few days were a hurried run around for puppy food, meds and a vet to check him out and seeking help regarding his future.

I knew I couldnt keep him as my big dog, Puppa was already growling whenever the baby pup approached him. Im sure my dog could smell the skin problem and didnt want to be anywhere near him.

After looking after the tiny pup for about eight days, a good friend was able to help me find some people interested in fostering the pup.

Angelique, the foster parent for the puppy found by the author outside his home in central Vietnam, are seen with the animal in this supplied photo.

Fostering is usually only until a good home can be found for the dog; it can be long or short term. So, theres often the prospect that the foster parent might not be able to look after the dog  visa problems, unexpected end of job, urgent need to leave Vietnam are just a few of the problems.

The vet thought that a local either pushed the pup through my gate or abandoned the dog because they couldnt deal with the skin problem.

If the unfortunate puppy had made his own way to my house, as unlikely as that seems, that would him one tough pup! But abandonment is very common here.

Vietnam has a particular notoriety surrounding its dog population. Eating dog meat, unsupervised dogs roaming the streets, often violent dog theft and the lack of enforced regulation of the dog meat trade is well known.

Although authorities are now becoming stricter about dogs in public areas, requiring a leash and muzzles and the collection of strays and dogs with no identification, it still hasnt impacted much on the current situation.

While wealthier Vietnamese buy exotic dog breeds, most dogs are given away to neighbors and friends. Many of these breeds are totally unsuited to Vietnams harsh heat being mostly European animals for colder climates.

They look beautiful but often live uncomfortable over-heated lives in homes with no outside spaces  adding to a dogs stress and unhappiness.

Sadly, the doggy love affair is frequently short-lived with local dog catchers (the ones with the big cages on the motos) collecting unwanted or injured dogs.

Its a dark truth that many dogs dont live long once they are too big, too noisy or otherwise unloved.

A puppy sleeps at his foster home after being saved by the author in this supplied photo.

At the moment, pet charities and organizations are urging the local public to adopt rather than buy and to foster, which takes some of the strain and pressure off these organizations to meet the costs of looking after animals in their care.

This applies to cats and animals kept as pets. Regardless of whether you are a traveler, expat or local  there should be more thought taken before getting a pet here.

It can be the difference between a happy pet relationship and the well-being of the pet. Also, fostering is a good alternative to an uncertain commitment to having a pet forever  and an excellent way to test the water for future pet owners. It is life or death for animals.

I saved a little puppy for today. Hopefully we can all start saving the animals that share our world for all of our shared futures.
Netease.com's CEO William Ding Lei speaks during 2019 NetEase Future Conference at Hangzhou International Expo Center on November 23, 2019 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China.

NetEase shares closed higher on the first day of trading in Hong Kong on Thursday.

The Chinese internet giant, which has been listed on the Nasdaq since 2000, carried out a secondary listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, pricing its shares at 123 Hong Kong dollars ($15.87) each.

Those shares closed at 130 Hong Kong dollars each at the end of the trading day, up 5.6%. NetEase's stock pared some of the gains made earlier in the trading day when it was trading over 8% higher.

NetEase's Hong Kong listing comes amid rising U.S.-China tensions, which are threatening to affect Chinese companies listed on Wall Street. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington are pushing for greater scrutiny of Chinese firms through new proposed legislation that holds the threat of delisting some firms in the U.S.

A number of firms are now returning to Hong Kong. Alibaba carried out a massive secondary listing last year while rival e-commerce player JD.com is planning on doing the same later this year.

NetEase issued 171,480,000 new ordinary shares as part of its offering, which raised it $21.09 billion Hong Kong dollars.

While the company is known for its gaming business it is also looking to grow its education and music streaming products.

NetEase previously said the money would be used for "globalization strategies and opportunities, fueling continued pursuit of innovation, and general corporate purposes."

Neil Campling, head of technology, media and telecommunications research at London-based Mirabaud Securities, has a buy rating on the stock. He said that he expects NetEase to follow the path laid out by rival Tencent which has invested in a lot of gaming companies worldwide to expand its global footprint.

"The intention for capital raised from the list is to invest in partnerships, deal or investments in games studios outside of China. If you think of it  this is straight out of the playbook of larger rival Tencent, a strategy that has proven phenomenally successful," Campling said in a note.

NetEase said that 25 ordinary shares are worth one Nasdaq-listed American depositary share, or ADS. That means the $123 Hong Kong dollar offer price translates to around $397 per ADS.

China International Capital Corporation (or CICC), Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan are the joint sponsors and joint global coordinators for the listing.
The NASCAR driver who is allegedly quitting at the end of the 2020 season over NASCARs Confederate flag ban has completed as many laps in a NASCAR race in 2020 as you have.

Not long after NASCAR announced that it would be banning fans from displaying the Confederate flag at tracks on Wednesday, a post from Ray Ciccarellis Facebook account said the Truck Series driver wouldnt run any races after the end of the 2020 season and that his teams equipment was for sale.

The post was signed by his wife Sarah Ciccarelli. It has since been deleted. You can view a screenshot of the post here. It contained adult language.

Well its been a fun ride and dream come true but if that is the direction NASCAR is headed we will not participate after the 2020 season is over, the post said. I dont believe in kneeling during anthem nor taken [sic] ppl right to fly what ever flag they love. I could care less about the Confederate Flag but there are ppl that do and it doesnt make them a racist all you are doing is f------ one group to cater to another and I aint spend the money we are to participate in any political BS!! So everything is for SALE!! Sarah Ciccarelli.

NASCAR made the move to ban the Confederate flag after it spoke out against racial injustice and inequality before Sundays Cup Series race at Atlanta. NASCAR president Steve Phelps acknowledged that NASCAR must do better to help rectify systemic racism.

A ban of the Confederate flag was a logical step for NASCAR after Phelps remarks. The sanctioning body had previously said in 2015 that it would like fans to stop flying the flag at races.

The attention that Ciccarelli, 50, is getting for the post from his account has far outweighed anything he or his team has accomplished in NASCAR. Ciccarelli has made 18 Truck Series starts over four seasons and has finished on the lead lap just one time when he was ninth at Michigan in 2019. He has not made a start this season after failing to qualify at Daytona and raced in nine of the 23 Truck Series events in 2019.

Story continues

Ray Ciccarelli has raced 18 times in NASCAR's Truck Series. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Ciccarellis team is a backmarker

Its a bit curious why Ciccarelli and his wife wouldnt say they were quitting NASCAR immediately given that NASCARs ban is already in effect. But his team also has guaranteed starting spots in NASCAR races for the foreseeable future if they want them.

The teams main No. 49 truck failed to qualify with Ciccarelli at the wheel in Daytona and then with Bayley Currey driving at Las Vegas.

The team has made the last two races at Charlotte and Atlanta, but only because NASCAR expanded the Truck Series field from 32 to 40 so that small teams wouldnt be disproportionately hurt by the coronavirus pandemics effects on race procedures. Ciccarellis main No. 49 truck started 39th and 40th in each of those two races and has a best finish of 28th with Currey behind the wheel.

The team has run its part-time truck the No. 83 in three of the four races with a best finish of 29th. Both trucks were entered for Saturdays race at Homestead, but Ciccarelli withdrew himself and the No. 83 truck Thursday afternoon. Currey, the driver listed for his No. 49 truck, said he was no longer associated with the team.

The entry list for this weekends Truck race was updated at 3:30pm ET



Ray Ciccarelli has withdrawn from the event. @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/i6K5t1lbty  Alan Cavanna (@AlanCavanna) June 11, 2020

I am no longer associated with CMI motorsports.  Bayley Currey (@BayleyCurrey) June 11, 2020

As long as NASCAR continues to hold Truck Series races without qualifying because of the coronavirus and lets 40 trucks start the race, Ciccarellis team will be able to participate. If it so chooses, of course. But if NASCAR starts to hold qualifying again and cuts the starting field back to its normal 32, then both the teams trucks could be in trouble. They likely wont be fast enough if 35 or more trucks attempt to qualify.

      

Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

More from Yahoo Sports:
A 13-year-old boy killed in a horrific car crash in Co Westmeath in the early hours of yesterday has been named locally as Joseph Anderson.

He was due to start secondary school in September.

Joseph was killed, and another teenage boy critically injured, when the car they and three other young pals were travelling in hit a tree before falling into a roadside drain near Delvin at around 2.15am.

Gardai are investigating if one of the boys took his mother's car and went out driving with friends in the early hours of the morning.

It is understood that they came across a high-visibility 4x4 garda armed support vehicle carrying two members of the regional Armed Support Unit.

They were signalled to stop by the officers but the young driver turned the car around and drove away.

Patrols

The gardai, who were on anti-burglary and theft patrol targeting travelling criminals, did not go in pursuit but drove in the same direction.

There is no suggestion that the teenagers were engaged in any criminal activity.

The car, a Hyundai i10, turned down a side road, where the driver lost control and the vehicle hit a tree on a back road in the remote townland of Lisclougher.

The car crashed on a left-hand bend with a steep drop into a roadside drain. It crossed the drain and hit a tree before falling into it.

Members of the garda Armed Response Unit were on the scene quickly. Because they are trained paramedics they were able to treat the injured until the emergency services arrived.

It was not immediately clear who was driving the car due to the way it crashed.

The accident scene was around 1km from where the Hyundai had been seen by the garda. The unlit road is an area with no houses nearby, and is one of the many backroads between Athboy and Delvin.

Joseph, who was a passenger in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was removed to the mortuary at Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar.

The injured teenage boy was in a critical condition at the same hospital last night.

The three other boys in the car, all in their teens, received non-life threatening injuries but were said to be shaken and distressed.

Because the car had an interaction with gardai the matter was referred to An Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), which is also carrying out an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash.

A statement from the GSOC said the circumstances of the referral were on the basis that gardai had indicated for the vehicle to pull over, but it failed to stop and drove away from the officers.

Joseph was a pupil at Clonmellon primary school until it was closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and had been due to begin his secondary education at Athboy Community College in September.

Tarpaulin

All the boys in the car, aged between 13 and 16, were friends from the Delvin-Athboy area on the Westmeath-Meath border.

The scene was preserved overnight pending a technical and forensic examination by both gardai and the GSOC.

At around 9.30am yesterday the crashed Hyundai was taken from the drain and loaded onto the back of a truck before being covered in a blue tarpaulin and removed to a garage outside Mullingar, where further examinations were due to take place.

The garda Armed Support Unit's Audi SUV was also removed on a low-loader truck as part of the investigation.

At the crash scene, some debris from the Hyundai could be seen deep in the drain, and a large gash on the bark of a tree at the roadside indicated where the vehicle impacted after it had travelled along the ditch before crossing the drain and falling into it.

Gloves and wrappings from medical equipment used by emergency service personnel could also be seen at the roadside.

Local Fianna Fail councillor Paddy Hill said people living in the area around Delvin were "shocked".

"They are a very well-known family in the area, and the young person that was injured is from the area as well," he said.

"All we can do is offer our deepest sympathy to all of those involved and particularly the family of the boy who passed away, and we hope the other young man will make a recovery.

"The community around Delvin is very strong and caring and I'm sure that they will rally around them as best they can over the next few very difficult days."

Gardai are appealing to anyone with information, particularly any motorists who may have dashcam footage of the area between 1.45 and 2.30am, to contact them at Mullingar Garda Station on 044 938 4000 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
A statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston has been beheaded, police said Wednesday, as calls to remove sculptures commemorating colonizers and slavers sweep America on the back of anti-racism protests. A Columbus statue was also vandalized in downtown Miami, and another was dragged into a lake earlier in the week in Richmond, Virginia, according to local reports. The incidents come as pressure builds in the United States to rid the country of monuments associated with racism following massive demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis last month. Italian explorer Columbus, long hailed by school textbooks as the so-called discoverer of "The New World," is considered by many to have spurred years of genocide against indigenous groups in the Americas. He is regularly denounced in a similar way to Civil War generals of the pro-slavery South. The Boston statue -- which stands on a plinth in the heart of town -- has been controversial for years, like other Columbus statues across the US, and has been vandalized in the past. Boston police were alerted to the damage shortly after midnight on Tuesday, a spokesman told AFP. An investigation is under way but no one has been arrested, he added. A jogger running past the statue Wednesday said she approved of the decapitation. "Coming out of the Black Lives Matter protests, I think it's a good thing to capitalize on this momentum," she told AFP, without giving her name. "Just like black people in this country, indigenous people have also been wronged. I think this movement is pretty powerful and this is very symbolic," she added. Dozens of American cities have over the years replaced "Columbus Day" in October -- which became a federal holiday in 1937 -- with a day of tribute to indigenous peoples. But not Boston or New York, which have large Italian-origin communities. Boston's mayor Marty Walsh condemned the beheading but added that the statue would be removed on Wednesday pending a decision about its future, local media reported. Protesters also defaced a Miami statue of Columbus at a waterfront park with red paint and messages that read "Our streets," "Black Lives Matter" and "George Floyd," before police made several arrests, according to the Miami Herald newspaper. In Virginia, protesters used ropes to pull down the eight-foot (2.44-meter) statue and then dumped it in a nearby lake Tuesday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch said. It echoed an incident in Bristol, England, on Sunday when demonstrators toppled a statue of a slave trader and dumped it in a harbor during anti-racism protests. A decapitated statue of Columbus is seen at Christopher Columbus Park in Boston, Massachusetts on June 10 A woman poses in front of a decapitated statue of Columbus at Christopher Columbus Park in Boston, Massachusetts on June 10
At least 81 killed in Boko Haram attack in Nigeria; civilians shot, bodies run over

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Authorities in the Borno state of Nigeria said Wednesday that at least 81 people were killed in an attack on a nomadic community believed to have been carried out by militants aligned with the Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram or Islamic State West Africa Province.

The Borno government in northeast Nigeria released a statement Wednesday explaining that residents described how militants in armored tanks and trucks attacked the Faduma Kolomdi community in the Gubio local government area on Tuesday morning.

Along with killing dozens in the community, it's believed that the militants also abducted seven individuals, including the head of the village, and women and children.

A video posted on social media shows dead bodies scattered out across a dirt field.

These are not Animals, they are human being kills by Boko Haram insurgents in the village of Gubio local gov't of Borno state.



President @MBuhari, you were voted to protect the lives and properties of the electorates, these people need your attention, they too are human. pic.twitter.com/AngROLEIyh  Abubakar Sadiq Kurbe (@iamKurbe) June 10, 2020

The incident reportedly lasted hours. Borno State Gov. Babagana Umara Zulum traveled to the community on Wednesday in the wake of the attack.

According to the government's statement, a male witness told the governor that the armed men came to the village at around 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

They gathered us and said they wanted to deliver religious sermon to us, the unnamed resident was quoted as saying in the statement. They asked us to submit whatever arm we had. Some villagers gave up their dane guns, bow and arrows.

The survivor said the militants then began shooting at will.

Even children and women were not spared, many were shot at close range, the man said. Many started running.

Five people were evacuated to a hospital for treatment, according to the state.

We have buried 49 corpses here while another 32 corpses were taken away by families from the villages around us, the resident said. The insurgents abducted seven persons including our village head. They went away with 400 cattle.

A resident of a nearby village also verified what the survivor told Zulum, the government said.



Zulum described the attack as barbaric and unfortunate. He also noted that around the same number of individuals were killed in an attack last year in Gajiram.

The only solution to end this massacre is by dislodging the insurgents in the shores of Lake Chad, the governor said. Doing so will require collaborative regional efforts.

The Nigerian government has faced criticism over its inability to thwart attacks on civilians carried out by Islamic extremist groups, including Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province.

While the Borno governments statement placed blame on Boko Haram militants, other reports have implicated militants aligned with ISWAP. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Since its insurgency began over a decade ago, Boko Haram has killed and abducted thousands and displaced millions from their homes. The group has killed Muslims and Christians.

In 2016, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State but splintered soon after amid disagreements over leadership.

According to the government, the militants did not set the Gubio village on fire as often happens during their attacks. There are also fears that the death toll could be higher than 81.



"The bodies were strewn over a large area as the insurgents pursued their victims, shooting them and crushing them with their vehicles," Ibrahim Liman, a member of a government-backed anti-jihadist militia, told AFP on Wednesday. He said the death toll was around 69.

Gubio resident Modu Ajimi told The Washington Post that he lost four cousins in Tuesday's attack. He found their dead bodies in the dirt field.



Their bodies bore a bullet hole in almost every part, Ajimi said.

The coronavirus pandemic has not stopped Boko Haram or ISWAP from carrying out attacks against villages in both Borno and Adamawa in recent months.



The Nigerian government has also faced criticism from international activists for failing to thwart attacks in Middle Belt states where thousands have been displaced.

The most essential responsibility of any government is the protection of its own citizens, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Commissioner Johnnie Moore, an evangelical human rights advocate, wrote in a tweet. Nigerias government keeps failing at this. It is time for the U.S., U.K., [European Union] and others to evaluate every single area of cooperation until the Nigerians fix this.

According to The Washington Post, ISWAP has continued to stage attacks on Army bases and is collecting taxes from residents in villages where it's attempting to take control.

The International Crisis Group reported last year that ISWAPs approach to law and order is extraordinarily harsh and violent.

It metes out the full range of punishments it believes the Quran to mandate, including cutting off the hands of alleged thieves and killing adulterers, though some units are reportedly more lenient than others, a May 2019 report states. It meets perceived threats to its fiscal base (fishing without authorization, failure to pay requisite taxes) and security (using mobile phones in areas where they are forbidden, which is interpreted as spying) with brutal beatings, sometimes even executions.

Nigeria is listed on the U.S. State Department's watch list of countries that engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom. Advocates in the U.S. are calling for the appointment of a special envoy to assess the human rights crises in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, ISIS and Boko Haram continue to attack Muslims and Christians alike, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. ISIS beheaded 10 Christians in that country just this past December.
The lockdown occasioned by COVID-19 has caused a delay in the ongoing remediation project in Ogoniland, the Director General, National Oil Spill Detection Agency (NOSDRA), Idris Musa, had said.

Mr Musa, who disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday, added that land tussle in some communities was another reason for the delay.

He said the cleanup of Ogoni should not be seen as a political gimmick, assuring the people of the commitment of President Muhammadu Buharis commitment towards the remediation of the land.

The 35 sites that were supposed to have begun were unable to begin because just about the time they were mobilising to site was when the lockdown started and in Rivers state movement is highly restricted.

And the protocol of the COVID-19 will not allow such a thing. Even all over the world construction workers were asked to stay home.

So that was what has really slowed down the tempo of activities in Ogoniland. But I can assure you that 56 contracts have been issued under the cleanup of Ogoniland, so they are now working hard to get it done.

At least out of about $380 million that have been provided by the oil industry operators and out of this less than $50 million has been spent. So money is there, so if money is there where is the politics.

If contracts have been given to contracts, so what is the politics. Two things are just responsible, COVID-19 lockdown on one hand and there were a few sites where there were delays in commencement because of community tussle.

Hence, the tussle delayed those who are supposed to work in those particular areas. Those are just the thing happening there otherwise everything is moving.

Mr Musa said the communication group of the project coordination office on a daily basis embarked on sensitisation of the people in the communities, where there were land tussles and some cases had been resolved.

The D-G said there was a misconception as to how long the Ogoniland clean-up would take, adding that the clean up was for a five year period according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Report .

The cleanup itself is expected to be for a period of five years, hence the release of funds on a yearly basis at the rate of $200 million per year will make up $1 billion at the beginning of the fifth year so it will complete the exercise.

If you have cleaned up some of those mangrove areas that have been polluted and you put a seedling of mangrove, it will take up to 25 to 30 years before it can grow as tall as the one that withered.

That is where a number of people misplace the argument. Some people will say UNEP said it will take 25 to 30 years to clean-up the region.

No. It wont take that but restoration to its re-existing state will take up to that. So, we need to always correct that assumption.

NAN recalls that the Minister of Environment, Mohammad Abubakar, recently said while briefing state house correspondents that a total of 57 sites impacted with hydrocarbons were currently being cleaned up and more were being planned for remediation.

(NAN)
Freight forwarders at the Tema Port have reiterated their appeal to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to intervene in finding solutions to the challenges that have plagued the implementation of the Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICUMS).



They said the system was creating delays in the clearing processes at the port.



Addressing a press conference at the port yesterday, the National President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), Mr Edward Akrong, claimed that there are no administrative controls, as the systems log-in architecture stops the administrator from having any oversight control once a log-in credential has been created for the assigns (other users).



He also alleged that getting tax identification numbers (TINs) to automatically populate (load) onto the system for continual process of clearance was still fraught with challenges, as it had been since the inception of the system.



The mandatory roll out of the system last week, Mr Akrong further claimed, had led to increased cost for importers and agents because the system was not fully integrated with the systems of terminal operators, shipping lines, ground handlers and some courier stations.



This has led to the re-emergence of manual processes of release of consignments, to our chagrin, while declarations could also get locked up in the system for weeks, since there are no benchmarks for redress, he added.



Computations

Mr Akrong also alleged that there were challenges with the computation of figures by the ICUMS, particularly values related to vehicle declarations.



We have had to contend with so many issues with this change. Cost is escalating because all time-related fees, such as demurrage, terminal rent, state warehouse rent, ground handlers rent at the airport and truck demurrage at land frontiers, have not been held in check as we contend with massive delays as a result of the change in the processes, he said.



He, therefore, entreated the government to carefully appraise the situation, which he described as dire, and bring back the Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet) as a temporary measure to allow operators of the ICUMS to conduct a review of their operations for better output.



Technical team

At a separate press conference, the Technical Implementation Team of ICUMS maintained that challenges pertaining to TINs were remedied on the second day of the roll out of the system.



The Project Manager of ICUMS, Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Mr Emmanuel Ohene, said following an integration of the port community onto the platform, officials had enrolled in excess of 6,000 port community users onto the system.



He debunked suggestions that ICUMS had no security, saying the system had a clear isolation of data and data privacy which was strictly enforced.



Revenue payment, he added, was ongoing, which indicated that the integration of the system with the terminals and other operators was active.



According to him, most of the challenges that came about were as a result of the implementation teams inability to access historical data from the outgone system to serve as workable solutions for continuity of clearance, hence the resort to the manual approach as an alternative measure.



Transactions of one entity cannot be accessed by another agency. Also, there is clear control of work, such that even users in the same company are not able to see one anothers work unless assigned supervisor role, since the system allows administrators of a company to create, assign roles, suspend, revoke and delete a user, he said.



Mr Ohene further said ICUMS had registered about 1,452 transactions at land frontiers, of which 408 were direct imports for home use, 900 temporary vehicle imports (TVI), 34 on warehousing, 20 on transit and nine as free zones transactions.



I must admit that we certainly have challenges, but these are addressed as and when they occur, and our hope is that the continuous training which is underway will offer some solutions on user familiarity to reduce the challenges, he said.













Source: Daily Graphic









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The Andhra Pradesh cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to set up a 10,000 megawatt (MW) mega solar power project to ensure uninterrupted 9-hour power supply to farmers during the daytime, besides establishing an Integrated Renewable Energy Project (IREP).

In a statement, Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah said as part of the IREP, 550 MW of wind power, 1200 MW of hydropower and 1000MW of solar power would be generated. Under the Green Energy Development Charge, the State government would be earning a revenue of Rs 32 crores, it said.

Earlier during the TDP regime, the government had paid only Rs 2.5 lakh per acre for the project, but the current government has decided to award Rs 5 lakh per acre.

Besides, the state cabinet has cleared the detailed project report (DPR) of the Ramayapatnam port project, which would be completed in five phases with an estimated budget of Rs 3,736 crore in the first phase of works.

The cabinet also gave the green signal for the establishment of Andhra Pradesh State Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to monitor tax evasions by granting 55 posts. The Outsourcing Corporation would be strengthened to avoid middlemen in recruitments, the statement said.

In addition to these, the cabinet also gave approval for filling up vacant posts in nursing colleges across the state, reinstating 'Sannidhi Golla' in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams and setting up of Tribal engineering college under the Jawaharlal Nehru technological university Kakinada (JNTUK) at an estimated budget of Rs 153 crore.

The government also approved for providing 385 acres of land to the greyhounds training campus in Visakhapatnam.
US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting to consider authorization for subpoenas relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 11, 2020.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Thursday to authorize 53 subpoenas in connection with an investigation into the origins of former special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The afternoon vote along party lines grants the committee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the authority to issue the subpoenas, which will target a range of former government officials.

"We need to look long and hard how the Mueller investigation went off the rails," Graham, a close political ally of President Donald Trump, said at the hearing. Graham is up for reelection this year.

The 12-10 vote is an escalation of the GOP-led probe. It comes a month after Trump urged Graham to bring in former President Barack Obama to testify on what he called the "biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA."

trump tweet

"Do it @LindseyGrahamSC, just do it. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No more talk!" Trump wrote in the May 14 post on Twitter.

Graham pushed back on the idea at the time, saying "it'd be a bad precedent to compel a former president to come before the Congress."

"That would open up a can of worms and for a variety of reasons I don't think that's a good idea," Graham said.

The committee authorized Graham to subpoena a variety of former government officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA director John Brennan, and James Clapper, former director of national intelligence.

Subpoenas were also authorized for Obama's former chief of staff, Denis McDonough, Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign chair, John Podesta, and Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the former FBI employees whose texts disparaging Trump during his campaign drew scrutiny.

Democrats on the Judiciary Committee unsuccessfully sought to authorize subpoenas for former members of Trump's inner circle, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former attorney Michael Cohen.

Some of the individuals for whom subpoenas were authorized on Thursday were also targeted a week ago by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which is pursuing its own investigation into the origins of Mueller's probe. That committee authorized 35 subpoenas on June 4, NBC News reported.
T he government has said it will introduce support bubbles to combat loneliness of people most affected by coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

From June 13, people in England who live alone or with children under 18 but no other adults can meet up with one other household of any size.

The rules do not apply to other nations in the UK.

Boris Johnson announced these groups, called support bubbles at the daily coronavirus press conference yesterday where he outlined new measures to lift lockdown restrictions.

The government has announced people can meet in "support bubbles" from June 13 / via REUTERS

The government has described this as a targeted intervention for those cut off from family, friends and partners.

How exactly will the bubbles work?

If you are someone who lives with no other adults, you can choose one other household to meet up with.

This means a family could meet up with a grandparent if that grandparent lives alone, and you can meet up with your partner, as long as one of you lives alone. You are allowed to spend the night with someone if you are in an exclusive bubble. Parents who are separated with children under 18 are already allowed to operate as though they are in a bubble, and could still form a bubble with another household that consists of only one adult.

People who are especially at risk from Covid-19 and shielding cannot form bubbles, as they are more vulnerable to the virus. People at higher risk of being exposed to coronavirus, such as healthcare workers, should take particular care over deciding whether or not to form a bubble.

Once you choose your bubble, you cannot swap or expand it. You can travel as far as youd like to those in your bubble, but as usual, it is recommended that you avoid public transport. If someone in the bubble becomes infected with coronavirus, everyone in the bubble must isolate.

Bubbles can behave as though they live in the same house, sharing equipment and not maintainng a 2 metre distance.

However, good hygiene is still important, and the larger the bubble, the greater the risk of catching the disease.

If you are not eligible to form a bubble, you can still only see up to five people outdoors, keeping 2 metres apart. You can still be fined for breaking the new rules.
Assam Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary on Wednesday visited Baghjan in Tinsukia district where the fire continues to rage at the gas well of Oil India Ltd.

The Minister said that 7,000 people have been affected and damage will be compensated.

I had meeting with Oil India officials, ONGC and district Administration. 7,000 people affected. Damage will be assessed and compensation will be given, Patowary said.

On June 10, two people had died in the massive fire in Tinsukia.
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Priti Patel's allies have hit out at a BBC comedian's racially-charged jibe on Twitter about her not liking curry that incited a string of disgusting responses branding her a 'coconut' - as 31 Labour MPs claim she has not authority on racism.

Guz Khan, who appears on BBC3 show Man Like Mobeen, posted a photo of Ms Patel pulling a face with the message: 'Shall we have a curry for dinner tonight Priti?'

Followers piled in with vile offensive tweets calling her a 'coconut' and said 'shes more of a coconut curry type of girl to be honest....'

A coconut - white on the inside and brown on the outside - is a racial slur used to accuse someone of betraying their heritage by pandering to white views or opinions.

An ally of the Home Secretary said in response to the tweet: 'In the week where she spoke movingly about the racist abuse she has faced all her live to get this from another person of colour is beyond ironic.'

It comes on the same day the Home Secretary hit back after 31 Labour MPs accused her of 'gaslighting' BLM protesters by talking about her own experiences of racism.

The Home Secretary, who earlier this week revealed her own experiences of racist abuse, reacted furiously after Labour frontbenchers signed a letter criticising the way she spoke about her own background as the daughter of Gujarati refugees from Uganda.

Ms Patel said she would not be silenced by Labour MPs who dismiss 'the contributions of those who don't conform to their view of how ethnic minorities should behave.'

The divisive tweet was sent by Mr Khan this afternoon - who lives with his wife and three children in the Midlands - was met with fury from other social media users who leapt to the defence of the under-fire Home Secretary.

One user said: 'It's not racist when we do it Priti' and another said the tweet was yet another example of that the left is 'kind and tolerant'.

The tweet, posted by Guz Khan, who appears on BBC3 show Man Like Mobeen, has caused outrage on social media

A number of Twitter users made vile comments about the Home Secretary branding her a 'coconut', a racial slur

Guz Khan, who appears on BBC3 show Man Like Mobeen, posted a photo of Ms Patel pulling a face with the message: 'Shall we have a curry for dinner tonight Priti?'

Other Twitter users piled in to criticise the tweet, which is still up despite the backlash to it today. One user said: 'You're right, if anyone doubts that racism is alive and well in this country, some of these replies should show them how wrong they are.

Nikki Stix said: 'Wow so edgy. If this is the only way you can get attention, that's pretty desperate' and Beth Rosenberg said 'comedians are meant to be funny'.

While others criticised the oft-held notion the left-wing is more compassionate and understanding. A user called Mollie said: 'And they tell us the left is tolerant and kind'.

While Twitter user Liete of Alent said: 'Racism is fine if directed at conservatives.' And MP Lucy Allen said: 'Racism and misogyny is indeed alive and kicking in the UK. It was brilliant to see Home Secretary calling out racism in Parliament this week.'

The BBC were approached but declined to comment on the story.

The comedian has kept the tweet up despite the backlash, and has posted a tweet showing the abuse he has received for it and tagged in Priti Patel.

The follow up tweet says: If you thought my fans were bad...goddayum @pritipatel.' The 34-year-old will be familiar to viewers on BBC's popular Live at Apollo where he has appeared on a number of occasions.

He is perhaps best known for hit BBC3 show Man Like Mobeen, a comedy which follows the trials and tribulations of the titular character Mobeen and his friends in Small Heath, Birmingham.

Mr Khan was raised by his mother in the suburbs of Coventry and before he became a comedian was a teacher at a secondary school in the same area.

Twitter users reacted with fury at the joke from Gaz Khan this afternoon, describing it as 'unfunny' 'rude' and 'racist'

It comes dozens of MPs have put their name to a missive to Priti Patel expressing 'dismay at the way you used your heritage and experiences of racism to gaslight the very real racism faced by Black people and communities across the UK'.

In a stinging rebuke, they said: 'Being a person of colour does not automatically make you an authority on all forms of racism.'

However, an incensed Ms Patel shot back this afternoon: 'I will not be silenced by @UKLabour MPs who continue to dismiss the contributions of those who don't conform to their view of how ethnic minorities should behave.'

Cabinet ministers lined up behind their colleague this evening, with Matt Hancock swiping that critics seemed to 'think there is such a thing as the wrong type of BAME'. 'We think that people are equal,' he told the daily Downing Street briefing.

Home Secretary Priti Patel voiced fury after Labour frontbenchers signed a letter criticising the way she spoke about her own background

Labour sources stressed that the letter was organised by the MPs themselves rather than the party, and declined to say whether Sir Keir Starmer agreed with the content.

Dozens of Labour MPs have put their name to a letter to Priti Patel expressing 'dismay at the way you used your heritage and experiences of racism to gaslight the very real racism faced by Black people and communities across the UK'

The letter today was sent on a headed paper from Labour's Naz Shah - who in 2016 apologised for anti-Semitic social media posts including saying that Israel should be moved to the US

Cabinet ministers lined up behind their colleague this evening, with Matt Hancock swiping that critics seemed to 'think there is such a thing as the wrong type of BAME'. 'We think that people are equal,' he told the daily Downing Street briefing

Patel's searing retort to MPs who claimed she 'did not understand racial inequality' Priti Patel delivered a searing retort in the Commons on Monday to MPs suggesting she did not 'understand racial inequality'. 'On that basis, it must have been a very different Home Secretary who as a child was frequently called a Paki in the playground,' she said. 'A very different Home Secretary who was racially abused in the streets or even advised to drop her surname and use her husband's in order to advance her career. 'A different Home Secretary recently characterised, if madam deputy speaker I can say so, in The Guardian newspaper as a fat cow with a ring through its nose  something that was not only racist but offensive, both culturally and religiously. 'This is hardly an example of respect, equality, tolerance or fairness. So, when it comes to racism, sexism, tolerance for social justice, I will not take lectures from the other side of the House.' Advertisement

The spat came after Ms Patel responded to violence at BLM protests by telling the Commons earlier this week that attacks on police officers were never acceptable.

Answering barbs from Opposition politicians in the chamber, she insisted: 'When it comes to racism, sexism, tolerance for social justice, I will not take lectures from the other side of the House.'

The letter today was sent on a headed paper from Labour's Naz Shah - who in 2016 apologised for anti-Semitic social media posts including saying that Israel should be moved to the US.

It was signed by shadow Leader of the House Valerie Vaz, shadow rail minister Tan Dhesi and former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott among others. In total 32 MPs put their name to the message.

It said: 'We write to you as Black Asian and Ethnic Minority Labour MPs to highlight our dismay at the way you used your heritage and experiences of racism to gaslight the very real racism faced by Black people and communities across the UK...

'We all have our personal stories, of the racism that we have faced, whether it has been being defined by the colour of our skin or the faith we choose to believe in.

'Our shared experiences allow us to feel the pain that communities feel, when they face racism, they allow us to show solidarity towards a common cause; they do not allow us to define, silence or impede on the feelings that other minority groups may face.

'Being a person of colour does not automatically make you an authority on all forms of racism.

'Structures of racism, hatred and inequality have many layers and therefore, whilst it is true, there are some experiences of racism that we all face, there are also some experiences of racism that we all do not face.'

In the Commons on Monday, Ms Patel told MPs that at least 35 officers had been injured during BLM protests in London as she said she 'salutes their bravery'.

And she delivered a searing retort to criticism from the Opposition benches for suggesting she did not 'understand racial inequality'.

'On that basis, it must have been a very different Home Secretary who as a child was frequently called a Paki in the playground,' she said.

'A very different Home Secretary who was racially abused in the streets or even advised to drop her surname and use her husband's in order to advance her career.

Priti Patel is pictured as a baby with her mother, who came to the UK from Gujarat via Uganda. She picked up her Tory values and work ethic from her parents

A young Priti pictured with her father. Her parents, Sushil and Anjana, initially lodged in one small room in North London while her father completed his studies in engineering

Priti Patel allies hit back over comedian's racially-charged curry jibe Allies of Priti Patel have hit back after a comedian made a racially-charged jibe on twitter about her not liking curry. Guz Khan, who appears on BBC3 show Man Like Mobeen, posted a photo of Ms Patel pulling a face with the message: 'Shall we have a curry for dinner tonight Priti?' Followers piled in to describe her as the 'biggest coconut going', while another jibed that she 'eats daal with a knife and fork'. However, one reply said: ''''It's not racist when we do it to Priti'''. Some people in these comments need to think about their attitudes.' An ally of the Home Secretary said: 'In the week where she spoke movingly about the racist abuse she has faced all her live to get this from another person of colour is beyond ironic Advertisement

'A different Home Secretary recently characterised, if madam deputy speaker I can say so, in The Guardian newspaper as a fat cow with a ring through its nose  something that was not only racist but offensive, both culturally and religiously.

'This is hardly an example of respect, equality, tolerance or fairness. So, when it comes to racism, sexism, tolerance for social justice, I will not take lectures from the other side of the House.'

On the protests themselves, Ms Patel said: 'As the ugly tally of officer assaults shows some protesters regrettably turned to violence and abusive behaviour at the weekend.

'This hooliganism is utterly indefensible. There is no justification for it. There is no excuse for pelting flares at brave officers, throwing bikes at police horses, attempting to disrespect the Cenotaph or vandalising the statue of Winston Churchill, one of the greatest protectors of our freedoms who has ever lived.

'It is not for mobs to tear down statues and cause criminal damage in our streets and it is not acceptable for thugs to racially abuse black police officers for doing their jobs.

'The criminals responsible for these unlawful and reckless acts are betraying the very cause that they purport to serve.'

Ms Patel said in normal circumstances peaceful mass protests would be acceptable but that because of the coronavirus crisis 'these are not normal circumstances' as she reminded the nation that 'any large gatherings of people are currently unlawful'.

At the No10 briefing this evening, Mr Hancock said he 'abhorred the divisive identity politics' being used against Ms Patel.

He said he was proud to be part of the 'most diverse government in history'.

'We don't think that there is such a thing as the wrong type of BAME,' he said. 'I just hope that the debates that are rightly taking place are debates all about how we can promote true equality of opportunity.'

The full letter from Labour MPs to Home Secretary Priti Patel RE: Shared feelings allow us to show solidarity not gaslight other minority communities Dear Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, We write to you as Black Asian and Ethnic Minority Labour MPs to highlight our dismay at the way you used your heritage and experiences of racism to gaslight the very real racism faced by Black people and communities across the UK. In the chamber in response to one of our colleagues, you stated, 'When it comes to racism, sexism, tolerance for social justice, I will not take lectures from the other side of the House.' We all have our personal stories, of the racism that we have faced, whether it has been being defined by the colour of our skin or the faith we choose to believe in. Our shared experiences allow us to feel the pain that communities feel, when they face racism, they allow us to show solidarity towards a common cause; they do not allow us to define, silence or impede on the feelings that other minority groups may face. Being a person of colour does not automatically make you an authority on all forms of racism. Structures of racism, hatred and inequality have many layers and therefore, whilst it is true, there are some experiences of racism that we all face, there are also some experiences of racism that we all do not face. Some forms have become acceptable in our communities, others exist under the breaths and many are built on unconscious bias and systemic structures of power. The murder of George Floyd brought to light, the authentic experiences of Black men, women and children in the US and the UK from Police brutality, through to the structural and institutional racism that unjustly targets black communities in the UK. Those experiences can not be silenced by some shared feeling. In conclusion, we ask you to reflect on your words and to consider the impact it had towards black communities in the UK trying to highlight their voices against racism. Rest assured, that Asian and Ethnic Minority colleagues on this side of the house will not use their experiences to silence our Black colleagues, but will use our shared experiences to stand behind them and support their voices to lead us on standing up against the distinct form of racism black communities in the UK and across the globe face. #BlackLivesMatter Best wishes, Naz Shah MP Marsha De Cordova MP Diane Abbott MP Afzal Khan MP Mohammed Yasin MP Imran Hussain MP Shabana Mahmood MP Tan Dhesi MP Virendra Sharma MP Sir Mark Hendrick MP Nadia Whittome MP Rushanara Ali MP Khalid Mahmood MP Tulip Siddiq MP Zarah Sultana MP Preet Kaur Gill MP Kate Osamor MP Chi Onwurah MP Clive Lewis MP Rupa Huq MP Bell Ribeiro Addy MP Sarah Owen MP Rosena Allin-Khan MP Florence Eshalomi MP Claudia Webb MP Yasmin Qureshi MP Apsana Begum MP Feryal Clark MP Taiwo Owatemi MP Seema Malhotra MP Dawn Butler MP Valerie Vaz MP Advertisement
One hundred fifty-five years after the end of the Civil War, a sculpture of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, was toppled in the Virginia city that American secessionists called their capital. In Alabama, a statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's most honored general, was knocked over in front of a Montgomery high school that bears his name. In a blitz that burst out of the anti-police-brutality movement, protesters this month have vandalized and removed dozens of monuments to Confederate politicians and soldiers.

Across the South - from Virginia, where the Democratic governor embraced the removal of symbols that many whites once considered sacred, to Alabama, where Republicans lawmakers recently made it illegal to relocate or remove any Confederate memorials - dramatic scenes of destruction recalled the fall of the Soviet Union, when crowds tore down statues of Lenin, Stalin and other icons of totalitarianism.

This country's seemingly eternal conflict - born in slavery and kept alive through a century and a half of battles over race, civil rights and American identity - has flared once more, focusing yet again on the symbols of the only war ever fought in the United States, a war between brothers.

It took less than two weeks for the grass-roots response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who was asphyxiated when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck, to morph from peaceful protests, bouts of burning and looting and nationwide demands for change of police behavior into a concerted attack on symbols of the Confederacy. But that shift is now plain to see in places large and small, in numbers well beyond similar actions that followed the 2015 mass murder at a black church in Charleston, S.C., and the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

"It does look like there's critical mass now and maybe people are listening in a way they didn't before," said Karen Cox, a historian at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who is writing a book on Confederate monuments.

But advocates for removing the statues and for maintaining them agreed that the wave of attacks is unlikely to be the final battle over symbols of the Confederacy.

"This isn't the end," Cox said. "There's over 700 of these monuments left. And I can't say this is a unique situation. There's a long history since the civil rights movement of actions against the monuments, especially after the Charleston massacre and after Charlottesville. This is the same exact debate we've seen since the end of the Civil War, and we still have the same national divide over immigration and race and what kind of South we will have."

Even as this extraordinary wave of topplings and defacings of statues continues, more Confederate monuments are being built - more than 30 in the past two decades, Cox said - and at least seven Southern states have passed laws in recent years making it tougher to get rid of existing statues. Alabama's 2017 law, for example, prohibits "relocation, removal, alteration, renaming or disturbing" monuments that have been standing for more than 40 years.

The battle lines couldn't be more familiar.

In Portsmouth, Va., on Wednesday night, after the City Council delayed a decision to remove a Confederate monument, protesters used ropes and bricks, bolt cutters and hammers to behead and tear down four statues. A brass band played. One man was seriously injured when a piece of statuary fell on him.

"I'm so happy that I'm alive to see it come down and to see black people take it down - not the city, not your mayor, nobody important," said a black woman who was interviewed at the monument by Norfolk TV station WVEC. "Black people are taking down this hate."

But defenders of the monuments have not budged.

"You can't satisfy some people," said Samuel Mitcham, the heritage operations historian for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who wrote a book, "It Wasn't About Slavery," arguing that the South left the Union for strictly economic reasons. "These monuments belong to our history. The only way we can come together is with tolerance, but Black Lives Matters isn't very tolerant."

Mitcham, like many who believe the monuments should remain in honored places such as town squares, school entrances and state capitols, maintains that the artworks are "Southern heritage. We can't agree with some of the things that were done back then, but that's true of all history. They were put up because the widows and orphans of the Confederate veterans loved their husbands and fathers. It wasn't about hatred."

Most of the Confederate statues that dot the Southern landscape were erected, however, not in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, but half a century later. The Southern women's groups that paid for most of the statues in the early 20th century said they wanted a place to honor their fallen loved ones, but the groups that paid for the monuments sought to send a message at a time when they were pushing for - and winning - Jim Crow laws to codify racial segregation.

Many Southern towns bought cheap zinc statues from the Monumental Bronze Co. in Bridgeport, Conn. The company offered representations of Civil War soldiers, Union or Confederate, whichever the customer preferred, for $450. The United Daughters of the Confederacy raised the money to fund an unprecedented monument boom.

"The white Southerners will always say this is about heritage, and the black Southerners will always say that the monuments are an insult," said Cox, the historian, who has titled her forthcoming book on the subject "No Common Ground."

Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who went on write some of the most important narratives of American bondage, said in 1870 that tributes to Confederate warriors "will prove monuments of folly" amounting to "a needless record of stupidity and wrong."

But the presence of many whites in the crowds that attacked statues this week, and the decision by NASCAR to ban Confederate symbols from its races and property, has led some supporters of the protests to think that a corner has been turned, that a consensus is developing across racial lines that the icons must go.

In Jacksonville, Fla., Mayor Lenny Curry this week ordered the removal of all 11 Confederate monuments and markers in the city, and at the University of Alabama, the board of trustees approved removal of three plaques honoring students who served in the Confederate military.

And in Bentonville, Ark., the state division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy said it would move a monument of a Confederate soldier from the town square to a private park.

But even after his defense secretary said he'd consider renaming military bases that honor Confederate military leaders, and after the Marines announced a ban on Confederate symbols in public spaces at its facilities, President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out against such re-examinations of how history is told.

"My Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations," Trump tweeted. "Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!"

However thorough this wave of removals turns out to be, historians warned of a possible backlash in the coming months.

More than 100 Confederate memorials were taken down after the Charleston church attack, but in the years that followed, several Southern states tightened restrictions on such removals. South Carolina added a requirement that two-thirds of its legislators approve any removal of a Confederate monument. North Carolina gave its legislature control over "objects of remembrance."

And Virginia made it illegal to "disturb" war monuments. But later, after a Democratic majority won control of the state's legislature, Virginia passed a law that takes effect next month allowing localities to make their own decisions about memorials.

A judge in Richmond on Monday temporarily blocked Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, from relocating a prominent statue of Lee away from the city's landmark Monument Avenue. The judge made his decision in a lawsuit filed by the great-grandson of two men who signed an 1890 deed that required the state to keep the statue and its site "perpetually sacred" and to "affectionately protect it."

In the end, these battles are not as much about law as about who owns history. In Birmingham, despite Alabama's new law prohibiting removal of the monuments, protesters tried but failed to tear down a Confederate obelisk, but Mayor Randall Woodfin, a Democrat, stepped in and had city workers take down the 50-foot-high memorial. That led the state's attorney general to file suit against the mayor, saying that the city had violated the Alabama law.

Some battles over monuments will be resolved in courtrooms, some in state capitols, some at the ballot box. This week, they are being resolved on the streets.
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The Governing Council stands ready to adjust all its instruments as needed to support the euro area economy during the severe crisis triggered by the coronavirus, or Covid-19, pandemic, the European Central Bank Executive Board member and Chief Economist Philip Lane said. The central bank is ready to adjust its key policy rate, which is the deposit rate that is currently at -0.50 percent, Lane said in an interview to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. The interview text was published on the ECB website on Thursday. The previous change in the deposit rate was a reduction in September 2016. 'In the current environment of exceptional uncertainty and remaining stress in financial markets, asset purchases within the PEPP have proven a particularly effective tool, so we focused on these in our most recent decision,' Lane said. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Crime

By Ls Cohen Published: June 11 2020

Robert Roden, 33, of Mastic Beach, was arrested on Wednesday night at Stony Brook Hospital.

Suffolk County Police released images related to the case against Robert Roden, the man who was arrested on Wednesday night for bringing explosive devices into Stony Brook Hospitals ER.

The images included his mug shot and pictures of evidence seized during the investigation. The cache of weapons discovered include more explosive devices found in Roden's home. (Scroll down to see the new photos.)

So far, police have not released a motive or what Roden had planned to do in the ER.

Read the full report here.

Photo: Suffolk County Police Department.

Photo: Suffolk County Police Department.

Photo: Suffolk County Police Department.

Photo: Suffolk County Police Department.

Photo: Suffolk County Police Department.
" " Those endless reminders to install updates can be annoying but they're necessary. Microsoft

About a billion devices around the world run the Windows 10 operating system. Hundreds of millions more run older versions of this ubiquitous software. To keep these computers in order, every few weeks, Microsoft issues updates mean to fix malfunctioning bits of code, add features or perhaps most importantly, to protect computers against security vulnerabilities cracked by malicious hackers.

But do you really have to install all those updates? Or can you skip some of them?

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The short answer is yes, you should install them all.

According to an emailed statement from Microsoft, Windows updates ensure that your computer is continuously kept up to date with new innovations and security updates  this is, they say, the optimum way to ensure users are running the best version of Windows possible. Doing this, says the company, will also protect against loss of data and information theft, among countless other potential problems.

Well, you might expect Microsoft to say something like that. But computer experts also agree on the importance of doing these updates.

"[Are they] necessary for Windows to function? No, not usually. Necessary to prevent unauthorized users from exploiting flaws in Microsoft software to access your computer? Yes, usually," wrote Tim Fisher in Lifewire. "The updates that, on most computers, install automatically, oftentimes on Patch Tuesday, are security-related patches and are designed to plug recently discovered security holes. These should be installed if you want to keep your computer safe from intrusion."

The Windows operating system checks for updates once a day. Typically, there won't be any new ones. However, on the second Tuesday of every month ("Patch Tuesday"), the company rolls out a new cumulative update, which is a bundle of all the most recent fixes, or patches. These are substantial updates, and your computer will have to restart itself before the process is complete.

Microsoft is particularly fond of its automatic updates capability, which (in an ideal world) downloads and installs updates while you're not trying to get something done on deadline. But you can schedule these updates for a time that works for you.

Go to Settings and click Update & Security. You'll immediately see if you're due for updates, and you can view your update history, too. Click Advanced Options for the option that lets you control when updates are downloaded and installed.

" " A screenshot of a Windows update page. HowStuffWorks

When Updates Go Awry

It's understandable that you might be hesitant to install an update on your computer, especially if it seems to be work just fine as it is. Updates take time and bandwidth to download and install. Furthermore, sometimes they're worse than the problems they purportedly fix.

An April 2020 update, known as KB4541335, made many users' computers virtually unusable until they were able to roll back and uninstall the glitchy code. Another update, released in February 2020, wreaked havoc on countless systems before the company yanked it  permanently  from download sites.

Microsoft prioritizes updates according to their importance. If you see "critical" updates, it's vital that you install them as soon as possible.

For example, in March 2020, the company warned users to install an emergency update to protect against extreme security vulnerabilities. Without the update, they said, a hacker could potentially take control of your computer.

For those kinds of situations, install updates immediately. The same goes for other updates that Microsoft designates critical.

But for others, you can be a bit more deliberate. Start by creating a recovery drive as a backup of sorts, just in case a future update procedure goes awry.

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING With the introduction of Windows 10 in 2015, Microsoft said that it was the "last" version of Windows ever  the company indicated that it would never release Windows 11 or 12, ever. Instead, it plans to simply update Windows 10 for all of time. Every six months, the new "feature updates" are released, filled with new capabilities, tweaks, and fixes meant to improve your overall experience.
Leader thanks crew of oil tankers carrying fuel to Venezuela

Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei shows appreciation of the efforts of the oil tankers' crew that delivered Iranian fuel to Venezuela.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:

Turkmenistans Mary region should try to increase its production potential, as is noted in the recommendations given by countrys president, Trend reports with reference to Turkmenistans State News Agency.

The mentioned instructions were given during the working trip of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to Mary region, in order to get acquainted with carried out agricultural work.

The president visited one of the plots of land, where Gosant wheat variety is planted on 25 hectares of land. According to the tenant, it is planned to harvest 40 quintals of grain from each hectare. The aforesaid variety corresponds to the local soil and climate conditions, and also has a high yield, as well as able to overcome the diseases.

The head of state asked about all stages of work carried out in the fields. The farmer spoke about the process of growing wheat, emphasizing that the state provides regular support in the purchase of modern equipment and aggregates, providing mineral fertilizers, high-quality seeds and chemicals for combating agricultural pests at discounted prices, and conducting timely payments for the products delivered.

The president also visited other plot of land at the same region, which is mostly specializing at vineyards, fruit orchards and vegetable crops located on 300 hectares of land. The mentioned farm has apple orchard that was laid in 2017.

The forage crops are also grown at the above-mentioned farm. For the construction of a livestock field, 10 hectares of land were allocated, where 300 heads of cattle are kept. It is planned to increase the number of animals to 750 by the end of the year.

The president noted that all the countrys transformation programs are aimed at ensuring high standards of living, which requires a detailed, comprehensive approach to their implementation.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva


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According to a survey of 7,700 U.S. businesses by the employment agency ManpowerGroup, seasonally adjusted hiring plans for the third quarter are the weakest in a decade. And economists worry that as small businesses exhaust the funds they received through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, more layoffs could ensue.

These knockdown effects are starting to ripple through industries that initially seemed more secure, but are now facing a second wave of job losses, Ms. Bovino said.

Some companies let employees go recently after suddenly losing major contracts. Others laid off workers who were furloughed and had expected to return to their jobs.

The construction engineering firm in Boston where Christian Lecorps was an electrical engineering contractor spent much of the spring operating as if the pandemic would end quickly, even mulling whether to hand out bonuses and raises, he said.

But work slowed in recent weeks. On Friday, Mr. Lecorps, 29, was laid off over Skype. On Tuesday, he dropped off his laptop at the office and began preparing to file for unemployment benefits.

Hunkered down in his mothers home in Brockton, Mass., he hopes to use his spare time raising money for his start-up, which aims to bring renewable energy to developing countries. But investors do not appear to be in a spending mood. He fears that if he is unable to quickly replace his income, his credit may suffer.

The funds I have will only last me until the end of this month, he said. Repairing this situation is going to take a lot longer for people like me, who are trying to get back on their feet.
After concluding his winter campaign with a hard-earned win at London, Veyron ($6.00) looked every bit as sharp in his return to action, posting a 2:00.2 score in Wednesday's (June 10) $11,500 Preferred 2 and 3 Handicap Trot at Grand River Raceway.

The seven-year-old Muscles Yankee gelding and driver Brett MacDonald weree patient in the early stages, yielding from the pole to land in fourth behind Bastiano (Dave Boughton) through a contested :28.3 first quarter. Veyron began his first-over ascent with just over a circuit to go, engaging Bastiano nearing three-quarters in 1:29.3 and grinding into the lead with a furlong to go.

After duelling down Bastiano, Veyron showed an explosive turn of foot in the last sixteenth to draw clear at first asking by 2-3/4 lengths. Bastiano held second by a neck over the pair of Whiskey Tax (Scott Young) and Irish Thunder (Austin Sorrie), who rallied from off the front flight to finish in a dead heat for third.

Paul Cameron trains 10-time winner Veyron for the TJS Stable.

To view Wednesday's complete results, click the following link: Wednesday Results  Grand River Raceway.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After almost three months under quarantine, the idea of an outdoor, fall festival at bucolic Pouch Scout Camp might sound uber exciting. But wait, theres more -- thanks to the five Rotary Clubs of Staten Island which formed a partnership with Rolling Thunder Chapter 2 New York.

The fifth annual celebration is set for Saturday, Sept. 26, a fete to celebrate the memory of Bernard Del Rey, the late former president of the Mid-Island Rotary Club.

Del Rey, a CPA from New Dorp, organized the first Staten Island Oktoberfest with Christine DeHart of Salmon Real Estate.

The family friendly day will include kids games and activities with traditional German folk music in the backdrop. Food is for sale, including bratwurst, sauerkraut, pretzels and potato pancakes. There will be a collection of food trucks plus German and New York City-made beer.

Flashback to Oktoberfest 2019: Hundreds of residents flocked to Historic Richmond Town on Saturday, Oct. 12 for Staten Island Oktoberfest, hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Staten Island and Rolling Thunder. The all-day event featured live music, food, beer, games, vendors and more. All proceeds are donated to help veterans in need. (Staten Island Advance/Erik Bascome)

Pouch Camp Committee Chair Matt Gaor said, "The Boy Scouts of America of New York City are excited for the opportunity to host the upcoming Staten Island Oktoberfest. Pouch Scout Camp on Manor Road has a suite of fantastic facilities, including the 10-plus acre Camporee field, which are available for public rental.

Pouch Scout Camp is the largest piece of privately-owned property in New York City with approximately 120 acres of woodlands, a lake and network of streams.

An aerial view of Pouch Scout Camp on Staten Island, site of Oktoberfest in September, 2020.

We put this announcement off not knowing where we would be in the fall, said Frank Wilkinson of Rabs Country Lanes in Dongan Hills.

As one of the organizers of the event he added, We want to make sure all of our guests feel safe or have any concerns over attending this event. But fall events are here to stay and we want to offer a glimmer of hope with the announcement.

The Gateway, Mid-Island, North Shore, Staten Island, and South Shore Rotary Clubs, plus Rolling Thunder Chapter 2 New York, aim to support past members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Our community needs something to look forward to this fall, Staten Island has been hit hard by the Pandemic, and as always, our community came through together, said DeHart.

Pamela Silvestri is Advance Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

When Max Mitniks parents called Albuquerque police to their home in the gated Tanoan community last week, they said it was because he wanted officers to take him to a hospital to get help so he wouldnt hurt them.

Two field officers, trained in enhanced crisis intervention techniques, responded.

A short time later, Mitniks mother screamed for help because she was worried her son, alone in the bathroom, would stab himself with a paring knife. According to a search warrant filed in the 2nd Judicial District Court, officer J. Ruiz came running and thats when Mitnik advanced toward him, knife in hand. Ruiz opened fire, shooting the 26-year-old in the head, according to the warrant.

Mitnik was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital after the shooting on June 4 and is in stable condition. His attorney said he has since undergone surgery and has been moved out of the intensive care unit.

Attorney Ryan Villa said his client grew up in the area, went to Sandia Preparatory School and Colorado State University and was living with his parents while he decided on his next steps. He said Mitnik had been experiencing mental health problems since 2015, was getting treatment and had never had any negative encounters with police.

Mitnik doesnt have any criminal history, and an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman said he didnt have any previous encounters with the department.

Villa said that, due to Mitniks condition, he has not been able to talk to him personally, but the parents, Michael and Wanda Mitnik, told him how the events unfolded.

Theyre having a tough time, they called the police for help and they didnt expect it would result in Max getting hurt, Villa told the Journal. Max had not threatened anyone at the time his parents made the call, had not acted violently in any way and was trying to get help.

APD held a preliminary briefing for the media last Thursday in which officials released some information about the incident and said the Multi-Agency Task Force will investigate, which is standard when an officer shoots someone. A spokesman said Wednesday that the incident is still under investigation.

According to a search warrant, a little before 2 p.m. last Thursday, Michael Mitnik called police to the familys two-story stucco home in the 9800 block of Greenbrier NE to report his son, Max Mitnik, was making statements he wanted to hurt his parents. Michael Mitnik was at home with his wife, Wanda, and he reported his son kept stating he did not want to hurt his parents and wanted officers to transport him to the hospital. The warrant does not explain the contradiction between the two sentences.

Michael Mitnik told officers Max was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was not taking his medication.

About 10 minutes later, officer A. Eylicio and officer J. Ruiz arrived.

Villa said the Mitniks told him that the officers said they could take Max to the hospital, but if he got in their vehicle, he would have to be handcuffed. He said Max didnt want that and decided his parents could take him instead. Max went back inside the house.

Thats where everything kind of went haywire, Villa said. They accuse Max of having a knife and coming after the officer, and thats the basis for the shooting. I would like to see the video and determine whether thats what happened or not.

An investigator with the Multi-Agency Task Force wrote in the search warrant that he watched officer Ruizs lapel camera footage. He said that on the video he could hear a woman screaming from inside the house and saw officer Ruiz run toward the scream until he found Wanda Mitnik attempting to open a bathroom door.

Officer Ruiz told Mrs. Mitnik not to open the door, but Mrs. Mitnik stated Max had a knife and she gestured he was attempting to stab himself in the neck, the investigator wrote in the search warrant. Mrs. Mitnik opened the door and Max came out of the bathroom holding a knife in his right hand. Max approached Officer Ruiz in the narrow hallway and Officer Ruiz attempted to back up into a bedroom. Max continued toward Officer Ruiz with the knife still in his hand, and Officer Ruiz discharged his firearm.

Max dropped to the ground, and officer Ruiz picked up a black-and-silver paring knife and put it on the bathroom counter.

Villa said that although Wanda Mitnik was nearby when the shots were fired, she couldnt see around the officer.

When another officer arrived in response to the shooting, officer Eylicio and Wanda Mitnik were trying to help Max, who was bleeding from the head.

The shooting was the fourth this year involving Albuquerque police, two of which were fatal.

A little more than two months ago, an APD officer shot and killed 52-year-old Valente Acosta-Bustillos during a call that started as a welfare check. Acosta-Bustillos family had asked for help because he hadnt shown up for work or answered his phone for weeks. Police say Acosta-Bustillos had previously been known to suffer from meth-induced psychosis and swung a shovel at them when they tried to arrest him on a warrant.

In early January, APD officers shot and killed 28-year-old Orlando Abeyta, who they say was pointing what later turned out to be a BB gun at a bus on East Central and threatening people at the bus stop. And a couple of weeks later, they shot and injured 32-year-old Daniel Montoya, who was suspected of firing a gun at a strangers home and then pointing a gun at officers.
Tibetans seeking work as auxiliary police officers in Tibetan areas of China are being barred from employment over a wide range of concerns, with recruiters told to disqualify anyone engaging in separatist activities or having family members who have left Tibet to go into exile abroad, a Tibetan advocacy group said on Thursday.



To be considered now for employment, applicants must never have participated in protests against Chinese policies in Tibetan areas or spread rumors and false information that undermine social stability, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said in a June 11 report.



Other disqualifying conditions include having concealed or associated with illegal persons and having supported or funded ethnic separatist activities, according to guidelines issued on May 25 by eight government departments in Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) prefectures Lithang county, a part of eastern Tibets historical area of Kham.



The Chinese government often claims that any expression by Tibetans of their unique culture and religion is a separatist activity, ICT said, noting that the heavily Tibetan-populated county in western Chinas Sichuan province has in recent years seen vibrant expressions of Tibetan identity, religion and culture.



Lithang is also important to Tibetans as the birthplace of the 7th and 11th Dalai Lamas, Tibets exiled spiritual leader, and has seen repeated protests by Tibetans calling for the Dalai Lamas return from India and opposing Beijings rule over Tibetan areas.



Regarded by Chinese leaders as a dangerous separatist, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India in the midst of a failed 1959 national uprising against rule by China, which marched into the formerly independent Himalayan region in 1950.



Displays by Tibetans of the Dalai Lamas photo, public celebrations of his birthday, or the sharing of his teachings on mobile phones or other social media are often harshly punished.



Earlier job announcements in Kardzes Dabpa (Daocheng) county on May 2 and in Lhoka (Shannan) city in the Tibet Autonomous Region in December 2019 also exclude persons who have received funding from illegal overseas organizations or whose family members have illegally entered or exited the country."



Meanwhile, applicants for work as police officers in the TAR are generally called on by authorities to have a clear-cut understanding of the political principles against separatism, ICT said.



'Perfectly legitimate activities'



In all of the above-mentioned cases, the Chinese authorities characterize perfectly legitimate activities as punishable, including, for example, considering Tibet historically independent, revering the Dalai Lama and criticizing the current political system in Tibet, ICT said in its June 11 report.



All of this is protected by international law, and especially by the rights to freedom of expression, religion, or belief, the rights group said.



Tibetan college and university graduates meanwhile struggle to find work in Tibetan regions of China despite reports in state media of high rates of employment, Tibetan sources told RFA in earlier reports.



Employment for Tibetans in the coveted government sector has been placed largely out of reach, with more Chinese university graduates coming in to Tibetan areas of China to compete for jobs.



And requirements for proficiency in Mandarin Chinese in testing and consideration for employment have further disadvantaged Tibetan students, as China seeks to promote the dominance of Chinese culture and language in Tibetan areas, sources say.



Language rights have become a focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses typically deemed illegal associations, and teachers subject to detention and arrest.
U S gym Anytime Fitness has apologised for an online advert for a workout routine called I Cant Breathe.

The 35-minute routine advertised at the gym in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, sparked condemnation when it appeared online this week.

The phrase I cant breathe referenced the plea of George Floyd, a black man who died last month after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.

The workouts full title was I Cant Breathe... And dont you dare lay down,and was illustrated with a kneeling silhouette, appearing to mimic anti-racism protesters who have 'taken the knee'.

The intent was to create a workout to depict George Floyds final moments... and they thought this was a fitting tribute, wrote one critic on Twitter.

Anytime Fitness co-founders Chuck Runyon and Dave Mortensen said on Wednesday they were shocked and devastated to see the advert.

They said in a statement: No matter the intent, we absolutely do not condone the words, illustrations or actions this represents.

To our employees, owners and members, we are truly and profoundly sorry that this incident occurred.

This incident makes it clear that we have work to do in this space, they continued, adding that Anytime Fitness was committed to anti-racism work and training.

We are sharing this incident with our franchise owners worldwide as an example of what not to do, why it is offensive, and what locations should be doing instead, they said.

They also apologised for the insensitive move on a Facebook page for the Wauwatosa area on Wednesday.

We obviously have work to do within our own location, and we will work hard to earn back your trust and respect, the gym said. We stand with our black community, and again, we are so very sorry for this insensitive move.

Anytime Fitness told CBS News that the franchise owner of the Wauwatosa location has taken full responsibility for the actions of his location.

The trainer who created and promoted the I Cant Breathe workout has been placed on leave and his employment status is under review, the company said.

Additionally, the owner and his entire staff have volunteered to be the first ones to participate in the anti-racism training that we announced last week and are providing for all franchise owners across our portfolio of brands.

Three Wisconsin congresswomen, Lena Taylor, Robyn Vining, and LaKeshia Myers, issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the advert.

They wrote: The symbolism of the breath stolen from George Floyd as he begged for his life while pinned to the ground, is not something we take lightly and most definitely not something that should have been used to promote an exercise programme.

The congresswomen said the Anytime Fitness apology rang hollow.

It comes as the co-founder of CrossFit resigned on Tuesday after his incentive comments over George Floyds death were revealed.
Boeing is closing in on a key milestone toward returning its beleaguered 737 Max to the commercial market, targeting later this month for hosting US regulators on a flight to test the jet's upgraded systems.

The company separately is notifying airlines of an important fix to the grounded jetliner's wiring, said two people familiar with the planning who asked not to be named discussing sensitive matters. A draft of revised pilot training for the plane, which has been parked around the world since March 2019 as a result of two fatal crashes that killed 346 people, is also being shared with airlines, the people said.

The 737 Max has been grounded since March 2019 after a pair of fatal crashes. Credit:AP

The moves were strong indications that Boeing is finally nearing the end of the jet's 15-month grounding and controversy that has engulfed the company after the two fatal crashes.

"For Boeing, it could close a chapter that's gone on longer than they wanted and kill a lot of speculation in the marketplace that the plane will never fly again," said George Ferguson, analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.
Vietnamese migrant workers (Source: baomoi.com.vn)

ILO Director in Vietnam Dr Chang-Hee Lee said it is important that the law prohibits the application of recruitment fees and related expenses.

He suggested Vietnam promote the development potential of migration by ensuring the protection of the rights of migrant workers.

The ILO reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the Vietnamese Government in realising this important goal, he said.

The draft revised Law on Vietnamese employees working on overseas contracts (Law No. 72) was deliberated by legislators at the ongoing ninth session of the 14th National Assembly in Hanoi on June 10. It is expected to be passed by the legislature in October.

Vietnam sent more than 152,000 workers overseas last year, two-thirds of whom were men. Japan and Taiwan (China) have accepted more than 90 percent of legal Vietnamese migrant workers over the last three years.
The European Union on June 10 blamed China and Russia of running "targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns" globally and said that it is setting out a plan to tackle a 'huge wave" of false information about the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Guardian, while the EU has blamed Russia of running misinformation campaigns before, this is the first time that the bloc has criticised China and named the country publicly as a source of disinformation.

"I believe if we have evidence we should not shy away from naming and shaming," Vera Jourova, a European commission vice-president, said, adding that they had witnessed a "surge" in narratives "undermining our democracies and in effect our response to the crisis".

"... for example the claim there are secret US biological laboratories on former Soviet republics has been spread by both pro-Kremlin outlets, as well as Chinese officials and state media," Jourova said.

At the height of Europe's coronavirus outbreak, a Chinese embassy website had also reportedly claimed that care workers in France had abounded their jobs and had left patients to die. It was also claimed, falsely, that over 80 French lawmakers had used a racist slur against World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

This stance, according to the report, is a change in tone from the one adopted by the bloc in March vis-a-vis China. At that time, it had only described Chinese media reports in its own report. The British newspaper states that EU member states are currently grappling with a number of questions on tackling China and its increasingly aggressive government.
London:

Scotch whisky has gained huge popularity amongst Indians and the country has emerged as one of the world's fastest growing Scotch whisky import markets. Further, its value has witnessed an upsurge of 28 per cent to 43 million pounds, a trade body said on September 16.

Data released by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) displayed that the amount of Scotch whisky sold overseas increased for the first time since 2013. A major reason for the increase is being attributed to its massive demand in the Indian market. India has cemented its position as the third-biggest export market for Scotch at 41 million bottles, marking a 41 per cent increase in sales volumes, after France (90.9 million bottles) and the US (53.1 million bottles).

"The growth of exports to India stood out, with value up 28 per cent to 43 million pounds," the SWA said. The industry body also urged the UK government to take urgent actions and utilize the complete potential of the Indian market. The full potential of the Indian market would only be delivered through liberalisation of the exorbitant 150 per cent basic customs duty. We urge the UK government to prioritise discussions with India as it develops its post-Brexit priorities," it added.

Diageo, a leading UK-headquartered distilling company, recently took over Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya's United Spirits distribution network in India, which is being linked to the sale of 12 million more bottles than last year. Most of that was in bulk, for bottling in India, or mixing with Indian whiskies.

However, India also registered a good rise, by more than half, in the amount of single malt whisky shipped to India, adding nearly more than 700,000 bottles. Scotch, a patent of Scotland, overall had the equivalent of 533 million bottles shipped from the UK in the first six months of 2016, marking a 3.1 per cent increase. SWA attributes it to an "industry-wide emphasis on craftsmanship and provenance, backed by investment".

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Mukhtar Isa Hazo, deputy speaker of Kaduna state house of assembly, has been impeached after only four months in office.

The speaker was impeached by 24 members of the assembly during plenary session on Thursday.

According to reports, Hazo, who was elected in February, was accused of inability to discharge his duties.

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Read Also: 25% Salary Deduction: Go On Strike, Forfeit Your Job, El-rufai Threatens Kaduna Health Workers

He had come into office as deputy speaker with Yusuf Zailani, the speaker, after some principal officers resigned.

It has not been announced at the time of this report, who would replace him.
In the June 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a team of UCLA physicians and scientists describes the first case of immune modulation being used to cure a severe and often fatal fungal infection. The team "retuned" a 4-year-old's immune system so that it could fight off disseminated coccidioidomycosis.

The case, originally reported by UCLA in 2019, could pave the way for a new treatment for the infection, which affects hundreds of Americans each year, primarily in the Southwest, and kills approximately 40% of the people who contract it.

The technique described in the study could also suggest a new paradigm for treating other severe fungal infections, bacterial infections such as tuberculosis, and severe viral infections such as influenza and COVID-19.

"Immune modulation isn't currently part of the strategy with any of these severe infections," said Dr. Manish Butte, the report's senior author, who holds the E. Richard Stiehm Endowed Chair in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

"Our case suggests that rather than hoping to get the upper hand with more and more antibiotics or antifungals, we can have some success by combining these established approaches with the new idea of programming the patient's immune response to better fight the infection."

Each year, more than 100,000 people are infected with Coccidioides fungi, which reside in the soils of California, Arizona and West Texas. Most people who are infected are asymptomatic, and about 20,000 experience the minor respiratory illness commonly known as Valley fever.

The vast majority of people with Valley fever respond well to antifungal medications, but approximately 1% of the infections progress to disseminated coccidioidomycosis, in which the infection spreads rapidly throughout the body, leading to bone and tissue damage, and in many cases death.

Historically, severe infections have been seen as bad luck. Doctors haven't looked at how we can harness the immune systems of these patients to fight the infection." Dr Manish Butte, Study Senior Author, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Health Sciences

According to a 2019 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, California spends between $700 million and $900 million a year in direct and indirect costs related to the care of people infected by the cocci fungus, including more than $300 million to care for the approximately 200 people with disseminated coccidioidomycosis.

The boy who was treated by Butte and his team had previously been treated with high doses of multiple antifungal medicines, but by the time he arrived at UCLA, he could barely walk or talk and required a feeding tube to eat.

When UCLA physicians homed in on the patient's immune system, they concluded that his T cells -; the white blood cells that play a key role in the body's immune response -; were failing to properly recognize the invading fungus. The T cells were responding as though the infection was a parasitic infection rather than a fungal one.

That prompted the team to supplement the boy's antifungal medications with an immune stimulator called interferon-gamma. And Dr. Maria Garcia-Lloret, a pediatric allergist and immunologist, suggested adding yet another medication, dupilumab, which was developed as a medication for allergic diseases and had never before been used to treat infections.

Dupilumab is a prescription drug that has not been approved by the FDA as a treatment for disseminated coccidioidomycosis.

The combination of immune modulators restored the proper programming to the patient's T cells -; and the boy's infection went away in a month.

The UCLA research team cites that the immunomodulatory approach has the potential to enhance the ability of patients to clear other types of fungal, bacterial, and viral infections that are not responding to established therapies.

In partnership with the Bakersfield, California-based Valley Fever Institute and the drugs' manufacturers -; Horizon Therapeutics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi Genzyme -; the UCLA researchers are planning to test the two drugs on other people with disseminated coccidioidomycosis. They also plan to study the approach for treating other types of severe infections.
The private equity Oskare Fund is offering private investors the chance to put at least 100,000 into a portfolio based on the research, development and sale of cannabis-based products - but only for medicinal purposes. (stock photo)

An Irish-French venture has launched Irelands first alternative fund seeking long-term returns in the cannabis industry.

The private equity Oskare Fund is offering private investors the chance to put at least 100,000 into a portfolio based on the research, development and sale of cannabis-based products - but only for medicinal purposes.

Investors over the past year have plowed billions into such funds in North America in line with the growing legalisation there of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes. In January, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focussed on medical cannabis firms and managed by Canadas Purpose Investments listed on the Irish exchange.

But the Oskare Fund - being offered by Irish firm Crossroads Capital Management and France-based cannabis investment specialist Oskare Capital with advice from Eversheds Sutherland - has become the first such fund to be domiciled here. The Central Bank approved the scheme last month.

The Oskare prospectus describes the fund as a long-term, potentially high-risk investment which is suitable only for sophisticated institutional and high-net-worth investors which are able to bear the risk of losing the entirety of the value of their shares.

It specifies that the closed-end fund would seek 30m in its initial round and up to 120m more in successive rounds. Terms require investors to commit their money for at least four years.

The Oskare-Crossroads strategy is to invest primarily in unlisted cannabis-related companies with a broad global exposure to the cannabis industry.

These include, it said, firms that perform lawful research on the medical, technological and pharmaceutical applications of marijuana and cannabis extracts and those that produce and develop devices, goods and equipment related to the cannabis industry, including hemp and its legal derivatives.

The fund seeks stakes and boardroom representation on early stage firms in the medicinal cannabis space, but will not invest directly in any growers. Its planned investments will be weighted in favour of enterprises based in Europe.

Paris-based Oskare - named after the Mohawk term for cannabis - said Europe enjoys the best regulatory environment for innovation and for research and development in medical and therapeutic cannabinoids.

It said legal medical cannabis sales in 2018 reached 316m, are experiencing high double-digit growth - and could produce a continent-wide market by 2024 topping 2.6bn and 14bn by 2029.

Deborah Hutton, partner and head of the asset management and regulatory team at Eversheds Sutherland in Dublin, said the firm had established a cross-practice cannabis industry team primarily to help our clients navigate the regulatory uncertainty in this rapidly growing industry.

She said the Oskare Fund was currently unique here but was likely to face more local competition.

Dublin is one of the worlds largest venues for managed funds and particularly for the more unusual asset classes, she said. The potential for this kind of investment is massive.
Rohini resident Richa Guptas husband woke up with a mild fever on May 24 and the family decided to isolate him in one of the rooms of their two-bedroom flat. Two days later, they got themselves tested by a government-run mobile sample collection unit. Her husband and four-year-old son tested positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The family of Richa Gupta, 40, was concerned about her well-being because she suffers from hypertension and severe diabetes that can only be controlled with insulin shots. She is also obese.

I live with my husband, son, sister-in-law, and a full-time help and we have only one bathroom. Initially, we thought of getting admitted to the government facilities but then chose to stay at home as it was more comfortable, said Gupta. Her husband lives in one of the rooms, she is in another room with her son, and her sister-in-law and the help stay in the living room.

Her husband, Pankaj Kumar, 40, had mild fever, sore throat, and headaches. Her son, Vardhan, did not have any symptoms other than some ulcers in his mouth. And she had extreme body ache for a day.

One in three of every Covid-19 positive patient in Delhi is currently isolated at home. According to data released by the Delhi government, 13,012 people are under home isolation across the city currently. Home isolation becomes all the more important as the Delhi government works towards scaling up of hospitals beds in preparation for up to 550,000 lcases of Covid-19 it expects in the city by July-end.

Only those with mild symptoms  low grade fever, sore throat, headache  and no comorbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension, heart and kidney disease will be allowed to remain in home isolation. Comorbid conditions are known to increase the risk of a person developing severe symptoms of Covid-19.

Nobody from the governments health department visited Richa Guptas family to check their condition or their situation. Someone from the district office just put up the Home Isolation sticker on their home and left. But her husband receives a call from the government every other day checking in on his symptoms and psychological well-being.

Not only do they ask him about his fever and other symptoms, they also check how his mood is. We have also been given the number of a doctor who prescribes medicines when necessary, she said.

The family has not been given or prescribed any hydroxychloroquine, which the governments home isolation guidelines say should be given to the caregivers as prophylaxis to prevent the infection. Their home isolation will end on Saturday.

The family learnt how to make 1% hypochlorite solution  a chemical used to disinfect surfaces  on their own and have been using it to sanitise all the surface in each of the rooms twice a day and cleaning the bathroom after a visit by any of the family members.

My husband keeps all his toiletries and clothes with him. He calls out when he needs to use the bathroom, we open the door and switch on the light so that he does not touch the surfaces. After he is done, we spray the hypochlorite solution on all the surfaces and wipe it down with tissues an hour later. We spray the pot after anyone goes, she said.

With everyone in home quarantine, the family also faced problems in getting groceries. I have subscription with an online grocery store, but they refused to deliver. Even the local grocery stores refused. Initially many of the people in my society also did not help. So, I could not get anything for two days. Now, my neighbours understand my situation and they help me out. They get me everything I need and drop it outside my door, she said.

The civic body collects her garbage every other day. I sanitise my garbage with the hypochlorite solution and pack it in multiple layers of garbage bags, she said.

With increasing number of Covid-19 patients in home isolation, waste collection is a challenge. The corporation has been given a list of households where Covid-19 patients live, they collect their garbage separately in a yellow bio-medical waste disposal bag and take it to the proper facilities to be discarded as bio-medical waste, said one of the district officials on condition of anonymity.

The district teams and a private home-care company hired by the Delhi government regularly monitors the condition of the patients.

Only about 7% of those who have been put under home isolation need to be moved to a hospital. The rest can recover on their own at home, Meena Ganesh, chief executive officer of Portea, the company that has been hired by the Delhi government, told HT in a report published last week.

In case they have to be transferred, the district teams are on the ready.

In case the condition of anyone in home isolation deteriorates, we get a distress call immediately and our team rushes an ambulance to the house. However, because of the regular followup we also come to know before-hand whether someone is likely to deteriorate. In addition, in our district, we have created a WhatsApp group of all the people in home isolation and some of our doctors are also on it to answer any query the people might have, said BM Mishra, district magistrate of south Delhi.

Arvind Sehgal, 56, decided to get tested for Covid-19 after feeling breathless. He did not have any fever or other symptoms of Covid-19, but tested positive for the infection on May 29. He has hypertension. Instead of waiting for the government, he hired one of the home-care services  HDU Healthcare.

Once I tested positive, I started looking for such home care services. They have provided me with a nurse and even an oxygen machine. I got better within two days of using oxygen, he said. He is staying alone in one of the six rooms of his house.

He uses utensils that are not used by other members of his family. We assess every patient who calls us  some of them just need regular teleconsultation, others might need to be hospitalised. We refer them accordingly. However, some people who are not very sick and can recover at home with just oxygen support, we provide them with oxygen concentrator or oxygen cylinder as per their need, said Dr Dixit Kumar Thakur, consultant of pulmonary critical care with HDU Healthcare.

Several Delhi-National Capital Region hospitals such as Max Healthcare, Fortis and Medanta provide such home care to Covid-19 patients with mild to moderate disease.

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A top Russian diplomat says Russia, the United States, and Afghanistan will hold video consultations to try and jump-start intra-Afghan peace talks.

Zamir Kabulov, who is Russia's presidential envoy on issues related to Afghanistan and the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's second department of Asia, told Russian media on June 10 that the trilateral video talks will be held on June 15.

According to Kabulov, the talks will involve the U.S. special peace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Afghanistan's acting foreign minister, Mohammad Haneef Atmar.

Kabulov's announcement comes two days after Khalilzad held a new round of talks in Qatar with the political chief of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

In February, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement aimed at ending the 18-year war -- the longest military conflict in U.S. history.

The deal lays out a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in return for security commitments from the Taliban.

Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS
A fire broke out in a few shops at the Crawford Market in south Mumbai on Thursday evening, but nobody was reported injured, a fire brigade official said.

The fire brigade received a call about the blaze at the British-era market around 6.15 pm, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

"It is a level two fire and around eight fire engines have been rushed to the spot," the official said.

Personnel of the BMC ward office, police and ambulances have also reached the site.

"Firefighting is on and nobody was reported injured in the blaze," the fire brigade official said.

The cause of the fire is being ascertained, he said.
(Photo : REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson) Seattle Police officers stand near a police cruiser outside the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct in Seattle, Washington, U.S. June 10, 2020. (Photo : REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol) The logo of Amazon is seen in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, April 22, 2020.

Amazon announced on Wednesday, June 10, that it will not allow the police to use its facial recognition software for one year. This is in response to the increasing pressure on tech companies after the death of George Floyd last month.

"We've advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge," Amazon said a blog post.

Amazon hoped the moratorium will allow Congress to create and apply appropriate rules on the use of the technology. "[And] we stand ready to help if requested," said the tech company.

Meanwhile, organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics may continue using Amazon Rekognition in helping human trafficking victims and reuniting families with their missing children.

Rekognition was launched in 2016. In a blog post, it's described as a "service that makes it easy to add image analysis to your applications" and to "detect objects, scenes, and faces in images." Last year, Amazon announced that the technology can also tell whether a person is happy, sad, or terrified using his or her expressions.

Amazon Rekognition for law enforcement

Amazon Web Services sold Rekognition to police departments across the country. The company claims that Rekognition "provides highly accurate facial analysis and facial search capabilities."

It's used by police departments across the country "to detect, analyze, and compare faces for a wide variety of user verification, people counting, and public safety use cases."

However, numerous studies have found bias in the facial recognition software as Black people and those with darker skin have been targeted.

In 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union discovered that the software mistakenly matched 28 members of Congress with arrested criminals. These errors were found among people of color, including six Congressional Black Caucus members.

Also, MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini led a study last year that showed the software hardly identifies gender in faces with darker skin and female faces.

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform already held hearings to examine the use of facial recognition technology. However, Congress has not yet passed any bill regulating the technology.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Ca., told CNBC he is hopeful Congress will pass a bill this year. He also said Amazon's announcement is a "good first step," although it is still insufficient.

The congressman who serves on the committee said that while the company claims they have been asking Congress to put guardrails on the technology use, "every time we tried to get more and more data they stalled."

Gomez also claimed they have been trying to get more information about the technology and to whom the technology is sold.

The Washington County Sheriff Office in Oregon is the only police department written as a Rekognition customer on the AWS website. The company also did not divulge the total number of police departments using its facial recognition technology.

On Monday, June 8, IBM said it was dropping the facial recognition business. CEO Arvind Krishna asked Congress to enact reforms to advance racial justice and combat systemic racism. On the same day, Democratic lawmakers disclosed a police reform bill they passed.

Read also: Magic: The Gathering's 'Racist Cards' Now Banned From the Game; No More 'Gone with the Wind' on HBO, Here's Why

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Police in Londonderry have identified the gun used in the murder of Lyra McKee.

The gun was recovered by police during searches in the Ballymagroarty area of the city last Friday and Saturday.

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Following forensic testing police identified that the gun, a Hammerli X-Esse pistol, was the same one used in the killing of Ms McKee during rioting in the Creggan area on April 18, 2019.

Dissident republican group the New IRA admitted responsibility for her murder.

Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy, who is leading the investigation into Ms McKee's murder, said one line of inquiry was that the gun had been stolen "some time ago".

"I also know that that gun was used a number of times prior to Lyra's murder, but at this stage because those matters remain under investigation I cannot confirm any further details," he said.

Detective Superintendent Murphy said that "a number of New IRA figures were involved in producing the gun that night".

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"I know who they are and the public know who they are and also I know who the gunman is," he said.

Detective Superintendent Murphy said that further forensic testing was planned on the gun and that the investigation was far from over.

Lyra's partner Sara Canning and the rest of her family were informed of the identification of the gun on Thursday.

Detective Superintendent Murphy said they were "grateful and relieved" to hear the news.

He appealed for the public to continue to support the investigation.

"For the New IRA the net is tightening, one positive result will have significant consequences for the New IRA," Detective Superintendent Murphy said.

"If you know anything about the gun now is the time to talk to us."

Derry man Paul McIntyre, 52, who is currently in custody in Maghaberry Prison is charged with murdering Ms McKee.

He denies the charges.

SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP has welcomed progress in the police investigation.

The Foyle MP said:The recovery of the gun used in the murder is significant and I hope that it will lead to further developments.

Those responsible for taking the life of a young journalist in Derry need to understand that there was nothing patriotic about it. There is no honour to be found in the murder of someone with so much to contribute to our city and our island.

"They have set themselves against the people of Derry and the people of Ireland. They must face justice.

I am renewing my appeal to the people of our city. If you have any information about Lyras murder, no matter how small, and you havent come forward yet, now is the moment. We all have a part to play in ending the grip of violent men on our communities.
BEIJING, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE: STG) ("Sunlands" or the "Company"), a leader in China's online post-secondary and professional education, today commented on the May 2020 publication of the China Ministry of Education's National Statistical Report of Education Development in 2019 (the "Education Report"). The Education Report revealed strong growth in post-secondary enrollment in China, including the continuing multi-year recovery in adult continuing education, driven by various government policies to encourage and promote higher education.

According to the Education Report, in 2019, adult post-secondary enrollment in China exceeded 3 million for the first time, growing 10.6% year-over-year. Additionally, the number of registrations for Self-Taught Higher Education Examinations ("STE"), which are state-administered exams in China for learners pursuing associate diplomas or bachelor's degrees, grew 9.6% to almost 6 million, following strong growth in 2018 that reversed the trend of sharp declines in 2016 and 2017.

In general, due to busy work schedule and lack of an appropriate learning environment for many STE students, in addition to more than ten mandatory examinations required to graduate, the overall student pass rate for self-taught examinations is historically quite low. Between 2012 and 2016, the average passing rates for STE exams achieved by self-taught students and students enrolled in private schools were 43.4% and 35.6%, respectively[1]. In comparison, Sunlands' students' average pass rate for STE exams was significantly higher, achieving 61.1% in 2019, and demonstrating the effectiveness of the Company's online STE courses and teaching paradigm. Equipped with a deep understanding of effective techniques for adult learning and exam preparedness, especially as it relates to self-taught learners, the Company has been capturing opportunities in the field of self-examination, and becoming a leader in this market.

Also indicated in the Education Report was a 2019 rise in secondary vocational school enrollment for the first time in the past eight years, with enrollment reaching 6 million. Enrollment in post-secondary vocational school also grew significantly by 31% to 4.8 million, surpassing university enrollment by 12.1%. This was driven by the Chinese government's vigorous promotion of, and emphasis on, vocational education.

For students and graduates of vocational schools, Sunlands offers a series of vocational and professional certificate training courses covering various industries and professions, including accounting, human resources, teaching and finance. Sunlands' online one-to-many streaming model helps students learn anytime and anywhere, providing a perfect solution to vocational education's need for simultaneous learning and practicing. In addition, Sunlands' STE and master-degree oriented offerings are ideal for those vocational school graduates pursuing further degree advancement.

Another notable trend that we inferred from the Education Report was the growing number of people that have become increasingly dissatisfied with ending their educational pursuits once they have achieved their undergraduate degree. Of note, the size of postgraduate student enrollment has continued to increase over the past eight years. In 2019, the number of enrolled master's student reached over 800,000, growing 6.4% compared with 2018. In 2020, enrollment is expected to expand to over 1 million, as the Ministry of Education increases admission quotas in an effort to ease job vacancies and ensure better and applicable training for job openings in the market. At the same time, the number of students applying for postgraduate programs has also been recording historical highs, with the number expected to reach 3.4 million in 2020[2]. In order to capture this growth opportunity, Sunlands has launched numerous online training services for postgraduate entrance examinations, including domestic MBA training, part-time master's and international master's programs. In the first quarter of 2020, Sunlands' gross billings from its master's degree-oriented programs accounted for 22.5% of its total gross billings, increasing significantly from 12.1% in 2019.

Mr. Tongbo Liu, Chief Executive Officer of Sunlands, commented, "the Education Report further demonstrates the tremendous market opportunity when it comes to post-secondary and professional education in China. To support our students with the most effective education techniques as they navigate learning within their already busy schedules, we have developed a unique system combining teachers, mentors and artificial intelligence that offers not only community-based interactive online lectures, but also after-school supervision and student care that help our students better manage the balance between work and study. With a research and development team of nearly a thousand personnel and through the use of advanced technologies such as big data analytics and artificial intelligence, we are able to help our students improve both learning efficiencies and their examination pass rate. We are committed to continuing broadening our online course offerings by including additional content and subjects for STE, master's degree-oriented and professional certificates programs, in order to meet a diverse set of continuing educational needs, keep up with the latest trends and capture growth opportunities."

[1] according to a report prepared by iResearch [2] according to an educational industry information platform, China Education Online

About Sunlands

Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE: STG) ("Sunlands" or the "Company"), formerly known as Sunlands Online Education Group, is the leader in China's online post-secondary and professional education. With a one to many, live streaming platform, Sunlands offers various degree and diploma-oriented post-secondary courses as well as online professional courses and educational content, to help students prepare for professional certification exams and attain professional skills. Students can access its services either through PC or mobile applications. The Company's online platform cultivates a personalized, interactive learning environment by featuring a virtual learning community and a vast library of educational content offerings that adapt to the learning habits of its students. Sunlands offers a unique approach to education research and development that organizes subject content into Learning Outcome Trees, the Company's proprietary knowledge management system. Sunlands has a deep understanding of the educational needs of its prospective students and offers solutions that help them achieve their goals.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Sunlands may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Sunlands' beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: Sunlands' goals and strategies; its expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of its brand and services; its ability to retain and increase student enrollments; its ability to offer new courses and educational content; its ability to improve teaching quality and students' learning results; its ability to improve sales and marketing efficiency and effectiveness; its ability to engage, train and retain new faculty members; its future business development, results of operations and financial condition; its ability to maintain and improve technology infrastructure necessary to operate its business; competition in the online education industry in China; relevant government policies and regulations relating to Sunlands' corporate structure, business and industry; and general economic and business condition in China Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Sunlands' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Sunlands does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media enquiries, please contact:

Sunlands Technology Group

Head of Investor Relations

Daisy Wang

Email: [email protected]

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

Email: [email protected]

Ross Warner

Tel: +86-10-6508-0677

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Sunlands Technology Group

Related Links

www.sunlands.com


Channel Nine presenter David Campbell shared a troubling family update on Wednesday after his son Billy was rushed to hospital.

The Today Extra host, 46, told his Instagram followers that Billy, five, had fractured his arm while attempting a 'ninja kick off the couch'.

David thanked the Sydney Children's Hospital staff for their care and attention, and assured fans his son was doing fine.

Brave boy: David Campbell's five-year-old son, Billy, was rushed to hospital on Wednesday after fracturing his arm in a karate accident

'Thanks you to all at @SydneyChildrens for taking care of Bill today,' David wrote.

The Smooth FM announcer went on to explain: 'He has a fractured arm after a particularly spectacular jump from the sofa during karate.

'Only tiny but still uncomfortable for him. He is impressed with the cast. A simple ninja kick off the couch was the cause.'

Worried dad: The Today Extra host (pictured) shared the news on Instagram on Wednesday, but reassured fans his son was doing fine

Accident: David thanked the Sydney Children's Hospital staff for their care and attention, after Billy had fractured his arm while attempting a 'ninja kick off the couch'

He signed off by letting his followers know Billy was 'home safe and well'.

David, who is the son of Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes, revealed earlier this month how his rescue dog, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever called Scully, had made an impact on his family.

In his column for Stellar magazine, he wrote: 'We are so lucky to have Scully. We have been healed and made whole as a family in ways I never knew we needed.

'Scully has trained us. She has made us better humans in this world of dogs.'

Family: David is pictured with his wife, Lisa, and their children, Leo, Billy and Betty

David described how Scully had turned his wife, Lisa, from a cat lover to a dog lover, and how his son Leo, 10, was the 'first to take a shine to her'.

Twins Billy and Betty took longer to warm up to the cute canine, he said.

David and Lisa first announced they had adopted Scully in August last year, sharing adorable photos of the pup to their Instagram accounts.

The dog's name was inspired by Gillian Anderson's character Dana Scully in the sci-fi drama series The X-Files.
He said: When serious crimes like this are committed, we end up failing to identify the suspect(s) because villagers do not know much about them. Like in this case, the suspect had stayed with the deceased for a long period of time, but still remained a stranger to many in the community.


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In the latest development, two Katyusha rockets were fired at the heavily fortified Green Zone in Central Baghdad on Wednesday, sources from the Iraqi Interior Ministry informed international media. The armed green zone was attacked before midnight and the two rockets landed in the area where some of the Iraqi government's main offices and the US embassy are situated, international media reported.

READ | ISIS chief arrested? Iraqi intelligence announces arrest of possible al-Baghdadi successor

As per reports, there were no immediate reports about casualties, however, sirens were heard in the zone. This comes at the time when Iraqi officials are gearing up for a round of strategic dialogue with the US side on Thursday, June 11 to review the relations between Baghdad and Washington. The officials are also scheduled to discuss the future of US forces in Iraq.

As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

READ | Iraq military: Rocket hit Baghdad Green Zone, minor damages

Tension in Middle East

The two countries are witnessing tension since January 3 when a US drone struck a convoy at Baghdad airport, that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force for Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

In the wake of the heightened tension, the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in the country on January 5. So far over 5,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the Islamic State militants. These troops also provide training to the Iraqi forces and give them strategic advice.

READ | US military plane crashes into Iraqi base, no fatalities

READ | Iraq authorities continue to enforce virus lockdown

(With inputs from agency)
Life appears to be returning to normal in Bali, with popular beach club Old Man's reopening to partygoers on Wednesday night.

Dozens of tourists were seen eagerly queuing on the streets outside the Canggu nightclub.

The venue was packed with around 400 revellers who quickly forgot about social distancing measures.

Footage showed groups of patrons drinking in different seated areas of the club, with most packing the dance floor and bar area.

Life appears to be returning to normal in Bali, with popular beach club Old Man's reopening to partygoers on Wednesday night

Footage showed groups of patrons drinking in different sitting areas of the club, with most packing the dance floor and bar area

But there was concern that the re-opening could be premature, with around 800-900 new COVID-19 cases being reported on a daily basis in Indonesia this month.

Bali announced 12 new cases on Monday, taking its current total to 594.

More than 32,033 cases and 1883 deaths had been recorded for Indonesia since the pandemic began, but many more cases were thought to have gone unreported.

At least five people have died in Bali from COVID-19, including a British tourist and a French national.

The party island has been in lockdown for weeks, with all tourist attractions and beaches closed.

Formerly bustling tourist locations have been replaced by empty streets after visitor numbers diminished rapidly.

An estimated 2,000 Australian expats have chosen to stay in Bali rather than return home during the pandemic. Pictured: Old Man's club in Canggu before reopening

An estimated 2,000 Australian expats have chosen to stay in Bali rather than return home during the pandemic.

The country was looking at slowly reopen for Indonesian tourists only, not foreigners.

Governor Wayan Koster said less infection levels needed to drop further before Bali was safe to open its doors to tourists again.

'To reopen the tourism, Bali should be healthy. This means the percentage of recovered patients, and our ability to control the cases, must be really good,' Koster said.

'I have coordinated with the tourism agency head that tourism objects, including beaches, should not be open.'

Indonesian president Joko Widojo said there will be major changes to previous tourist freedoms when travel restrictions are eventually lifted.

'It needs to be extremely strict before we reopen, so that travelers, whether domestic or foreign, can travel safely and members of the public can return to a productive life,' Mr Widojo said.

Foreign tourist arrivals into Indonesia plunged more than 60 per cent in March, compared to the same month last year, with Chinese arrivals sliding more than 97 per cent.

Last year, 1.23million Australians visited Bali - a rise of 5.24 per cent on 2018 figures.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it has obtained court approval of settlements with eight defendants charged in connection with an international scheme to trade on hacked news releases.

In August 2015, the Commission filed a civil action and then an amended complaint in New Jersey federal court charging the eight settling defendants, Arkadiy Dubovoy, Igor Dubovoy, Southeastern Holding and Investment Company LLC, APD Developers, Inc., Leonid Momotok, Aleksandr Garkusha, Vladislav Khalupsky, and Memelland Investments Ltd., together with more than 20 others, with securities fraud. According to the amended complaint, Ukrainian hackers used advanced techniques to hack into newswire services and steal hundreds of corporate earnings releases before the newswires released them publicly. The complaint alleged that the hackers created a secret web-based location to transmit the stolen data to traders in the United States and abroad. The traders allegedly used this nonpublic information in a short window of opportunity to place illicit trades in stocks, options, and other securities, sometimes funneling a portion of their illegal profits to the hackers.

Previously, in parallel criminal actions in the District of New Jersey and the Eastern District of New York, defendants Momotok, Garkusha, and Khalupsky were convicted, sentenced, and ordered to pay restitution and to forfeit assets. Defendants Arkadiy Dubovoy and Igor Dubovoy have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

The court entered final judgments enjoining the settling defendants from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The final judgments order Arkadiy Dubovoy, Igor Dubovoy, Southeastern Holding, APD Developers, Momotok, Garkusha, and Khalupsky to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest, which is deemed satisfied by the restitution and forfeiture orders against the individual defendants in the parallel criminal actions. Memelland, which was not charged criminally, has agreed to pay disgorgement and a civil penalty. Collectively, the monetary liabilities imposed exceed $14 million.

The Commission also dismissed its claims against defendant Global Hedge Capital Fund Ltd., which has ceased operations.

Prior to these settlements, the SEC had recovered over $50 million and obtained full injunctive relief from 13 other defendants who previously agreed to settlements in this case.

The Commission's litigation continues against the remaining defendants charged in its case. For more information, see Press Release 2015-163 (Aug. 11, 2015) and Litigation Releases 23345 (Sep. 14, 2015), 23458 (Feb. 2, 2016), 23471 (Feb. 18, 2016), 23498 (Mar. 24, 2016), 23530 (May 4, 2016), 23682 (Nov. 2, 2016), and 24193 (July 10, 2018).
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 12:32:29|Editor: huaxia

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NICOSIA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China's aid to countries most in need during the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has been outstanding, President of Cyprus' House of Representatives Demetris Syllouris has said.

In an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday, Syllouris said he appreciates the invaluable advice and essential medical supplies that China has donated to his country over the past few months.

Cyprus shares China's vision of building a community with a shared future, and the two countries have proved once again that solidarity, support and cooperation among friendly nations is crucial when faced with such a crisis, he added.

"Safeguarding and restoring global public health (security) calls for coordinated and collective efforts on the international and regional levels. Cyprus stands ready to engage in practical cooperation to this end," he said.

Syllouris said that his "most productive and memorable" visit to China in November 2019 has offered an opportunity to explore new ways of reinforcing cooperation between the two countries, particularly in the fields of tourism, trade, education, technology, innovation and culture.

"As the pandemic is being largely contained, the Cypriot House of Representatives remains committed to further promoting the excellent relations between our two countries," he said. Enditem
Traders in the eastern Kenyan city of Kisumu were salvaging what was left of their stalls on Wednesday, after authorities used bulldozers to demolish their open-air market to curb the spread of the coronavirus. In a reference to global anti-racism protests, angry traders complained that their 'black lives' did not matter, accusing the goverment of imposing draconian measures to combat the virus. Sheila Francine was working as an English school teacher in Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city, but then the pandemic struck and her school had to be closed. Her employers sent her home on unpaid leave, so she decided to go into business.

At 24 years of age, Francine took out a small loan and together with her meagre savings she began sourcing second-hand clothes to sell them in the Kibuye market.

Her business thrived, even with the COVID-19 measures in place. Last month she made more money than she was earning as a school teacher, but it didn't last long.

On Monday, Francine woke to the news that police and county officials were levelling the market with a bulldozer and that some of the people involved in the demolitions were looting their stores.

But a dusk to dawn curfew because of COVID-19 meant that Francine couldn't go to her shop.

The next morning, Francine and the other traders finally emerged to find the market destroyed and set about salvaging what they could.

County officials declined to be interviewed on camera, but said they demolished the market to curb the spread of the pandemic.

They promised to build a new market for the traders next year.
Photograph: David Ryder/Getty Images

Donald Trump has blamed anarchists and domestic terrorists for a protest in Seattle overnight and threatened to intervene as anti-racism demonstrations again erupted across much of the US, in rage at the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis last month.

Following a week of nightly standoffs with police, who regularly used teargas to disperse crowds, protesters in Seattle have set up an autonomous zone in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood after police agreed to vacate the area and abandon their police precinct station.

The area, bordered by barricades, is thronged with people protesting against police brutality and systemic racism.

A barricade is seen at an entrance to the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone on Wednesday in Seattle, Washington. Photograph: David Ryder/Getty Images

On Wednesday night, Trump, who has repeatedly raised the specter of an armed crushing of the roiling protests coast to coast, tweeted that the mayor of Seattle and governor of Washington state need to take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped IMMEDIATELY. Trump followed this by tweeting, with no evidence, that Seattle had been taken over by domestic terrorists, abetted by Democrats.

Jenny Durkan, the mayor of Seattle who has faced calls for her resignation from the protesters at City Hall, tweeted in response that Trump should go back to your bunker, in reference to the secure area in the White House that the US president at one point withdrew to during fierce protests outside the presidential residence.

Protests again swept across the US, with a sizable demonstration in Portland, Oregon, for the 14th night in a row. The words Defund police were painted in block letters outside the headquarters of the Atlanta police in Georgia.

A march in Detroit took place amid bad weather. In Washington DC, Philonise Floyd, George Floyds brother, marched with protesters after testifying in Congress, calling on lawmakers to overhaul policing in the US.

On Wednesday night protesters toppled a statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States during the US civil war. Symbols of white supremacy are now being regularly targeted by the protests in the US and in Europe, where several statues associated with slavery have been removed or vandalized.

Story continues

Police stand near the toppled statue of Jefferson Davis Wednesday night in Richmond, Virginia. Photograph: @thicketoftrash/AP

The statue of Davis was torn and dragged away by a cheering crowd in Richmond, Virginia, videos posted on social media showed. Richmond was the capital of the short-lived Confederacy, with Daviss statue just one of several Confederate monuments on a major avenue in the city. Levar Stoney, Richmonds mayor, has vowed to remove all of the statues as Richmond is now filled with diversity and love for all.

Protesters beheaded and partially tore down four other Confederate statues in Portsmouth, Virginia, with one of the falling structures injuring one of the demonstrators. In Miami, police said seven people were arrested for defacing statues of explorer and colonialist Christopher Columbus and conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon.

The Confederate monument is covered in bags in Portsmouth, Virginia. Photograph: Kiahnna Patterson/AP

The outcry has regularly been met by an aggressive police response, with protesters complaining of being beaten, teargassed and held for long periods without water or toilet breaks. In Los Angeles, 56 claims of police misconduct during the protests are being investigated, with seven police officers already removed from their field duties for using excessive force.

One of the four former Minneapolis police officers who were charged over the death of Floyd was released on bail on Wednesday. Thomas Lane, 37, had been held on $750,000 bail and was freed from Hennepin county jail, sheriffs office records showed.

He was one of three officers charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the 46-year-old Floyds death on 25 May.

A fourth officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, was videotaped pressing his knee to Floyds neck as he gasped I cant breathe and called for his mother before he died. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. All four officers have been fired from the Minneapolis police department.
The fish supply was handed to the Secretary General of Tafea Province at the doorstep of the provincial headquarter. Photo: Supplied
VIPER is to spend about 100 days rolling around in search of water ice, which is believed to exist in permanently shadowed craters near the moons poles  among the coldest places in the solar system.

That water could provide an invaluable resource for future astronauts. It would provide water to drink, and the water molecules could also be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. That could yield oxygen for astronauts to breathe, as well as propellant for rockets traveling home to Earth or elsewhere in the solar system.

However, the exact location and nature of the water ice is not known. It could be at the surface as frost or buried underground. It might be pure water or bound up in minerals. VIPERs mission is to figure that out, and the information would help plan where astronauts would land on the moon, which NASA optimistically has scheduled for 2024.

VIPER is going to be the first robot to actually touch this water ice that weve detected, said Steven Clarke, who recently left his position as deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASAs science directorate for another role at the agency.

The rover will carry a suite of instruments, including a drill that will allow it to investigate what is below the surface.
After three months of home confinement on the back of the outbreak of the coronavirus, many local holidaymakers took off during the Eid holiday to Egypts seaside resorts and hotels.



Since mid-May, the government has enabled hotels around Egypt, especially those in the coastal governorates, to operate for domestic tourists, with 25 per cent occupancy rates extended to 50 per cent since the beginning of June.



The hotels and resorts first need to obtain a hygiene safety certificate issued by the ministries of tourism and antiquities and health and population and the Egyptian Hotels Association to meet health and safety requirements put in place by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to curb the spread of the coronavirus.



Over the past few weeks, up to 155 hotels and resorts in the governorates of South Sinai, the Red Sea, Alexandria, Suez, Greater Cairo, Qena and Luxor, Aswan and Marsa Matrouh have qualified for the certificates and received guests during the holidays.



The move has come as part of the countrys efforts to restore the tourism industry, one of Egypts key sources of hard currency, which has been significantly affected by the coronavirus outbreak.



Abdel-Fattah Al-Assi, assistant to the tourism and antiquities minister, told Al-Ahram Weekly that average occupancy rates during the Eid holiday at hotels in South Sinai had reached eight per cent. In Suezs Ain Sokhna, occupancy rates were at the maximum of 25 per cent and the same was true for Alexandria.



On the North Coast and in the Marsa Matrouh governorate, occupancy rates reached only four per cent, and in Greater Cairo they were at nine per cent.



Hossam Al-Shaer, chairman of the Egyptian Travel Agents Association, told the Weekly that local holidaymakers had accepted the health and hygiene regulations applied in hotels, seeing them as guaranteeing their safety during their stay.



He described the opening of hotels for domestic tourism as a very successful experience and an initial step towards reopening inbound tourism. The efficient implementation of the regulations in hotels will encourage foreign tourists to come to Egypt, Al-Shaer said.



Operating hotels with 25 per cent occupancy was a good start towards the gradual recovery of the tourism industry, although this will not recover the hotels operating costs, said Abdel-Hamid Abu Youssef, CEO of Orascom Development Egypt.



He added that it was necessary to begin with reduced occupancy rates in order to discover any problems that could arise during the application of the new regulations.



Abu Youssef described the experience as successful and the best solution to begin with. Our hotels have reached the maximum permitted occupancy rates, and we did not face any problems. All the guests respected the regulations and the staff operated perfectly, he said.



It is a warm-up for international tourism, Alaa Akel, CEO of the JAZ Hotel Group, told the Weekly, describing the reopening of hotels in coastal cities for domestic tourism. He said the regulations issued by the ministry of tourism and antiquities in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) had been a positive step and had helped to evaluate the experience.



Akel said that June was a low season for domestic tourism, but he was optimistic that it would improve and possibly peak in July and August.



He also hoped that with several international tourism companies having announced their willingness to operate trips to Egypt soon, the government could soon reopen the country to international tourism and remove the suspension of air traffic to Egypt after the imposition of hygiene and safety guidelines.



I am sure international tourism will recover gradually until we get to the winter season starting in November, Akel said. However, he said there was a danger that when Egypt reopens its inbound tourism, foreign vacationers will still not be able to travel because they could be suffering economically. Some of them may have lost their jobs or seen cuts to their salaries, for example.



Egypts first guests after the reopening may be retired people whose incomes have not been affected by the coronavirus. Inbound international tourism will not fully recuperate until the global economy recovers, but this will come gradually, Akel added.



He said the opening of hotels for local tourism was an opportunity to find out how best to operate within the new safety measures. For example, the suspension of open buffets and introducing pre-set menus was not very practical for hotels with an average of 400-room capacity.



It has been impossible to serve all the guests properly during breakfast and dinner times, Akel said. He suggested that open buffets could be organised with restrictions, such as serving pre-prepared dishes at tables, to solve such problems. Controlling the number of guests in and out of the buffet areas was another idea that could be introduced.



Several tourist resorts have confirmed that they will be submitting requests to the Egyptian Hotels Association to reinstate the buffet system for guests, while taking the necessary procedures for spacing in restaurants.



Mohamed Al-Shabouri, manager of the Coral Sea Imperial Sensatori in Sharm El-Sheikh, has decided to keep his hotel closed to tourists despite having received the health and hygiene certificate.



He explained that the operation of the hotel was very costly, and operating it at 25 or 50 per cent capacity would cost more than closing it down. He said that his hotel had met all the health requirements and was ready to welcome inbound international tourists or receive local guests when full capacity was permitted.



Ahmed Ali, a teacher who spent his holidays in Hurghada, said that he had felt as safe as if he had been at home. Guests were reminded when entering and leaving the restaurant, breakfast, or dining room to disinfect their hands with sanitisers located at the entrances.



Tables were arranged such that the distance from the back of one chair to the back of another was more than one metre and guests also faced each other from a distance of at least one metre. Family tables did not exceed six chairs, and single-use dining utensils were used.



The ministry is in the process of outlining new regulations for restaurants, cafes, museums, and archaeological sites as well as beaches and desert activities such as safaris and windsurfing in order to ready these for their reopening after the relevant cabinet decisions.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 11 June, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Mumbai, June 11 : The large number of Covid-19 victims' bodies - at least 10 times more than pre-Covid 19 times - is fast turning into a crisis for the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation health authorities as it battles the pandemic.

This has led to numerous other problems like dead bodies clogging up Covid-19 wards and corridors in the major public hospitals, morgues virtually overflowing, disappearance of bodies, relatives reluctant to claim bodies, disposal without family's consent and long queues at crematoria or cemeteries, officials said.

In response to reports alleging many bodies of Covid-19 victims lying unclaimed at the KEM Hospital, Mayor Kishori Pednekar informed media persons on Thursday that only seven bodies have not yet been handed over as the relatives are not traceable.

"Only one body is lying there for three weeks, the others are very recent. We have discussed in detail the situation likely to emerge in the near future and the measures to be taken in this regard," Pednekar said.

Besides Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal, the issue has also been flagged to Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh since all the authorities concerned are expected to adhere to the Covid-19 disposal guidelines, she added.

"It's a worrying scenario... If not managed properly, dead bodies could further complicate the war against the virus," said a civic health department official on the problem confronting the civic body.

Mumbai has a total 69 crematoria, comprising 49 run by BMC, including 11 electric, and 20 private ones, which are now handling loads every month which has surpassed their annual number of bodies in the pre-Covid 19 times.

For instance, before the Covid-19 pandemic, most crematoria handled around 30 bodies per month, now it has multiplied 10-12 times, creating massive handling problems, delays, crowding of relatives and other issues.

This is in addition to normal non-Covid 19 deaths, which are also handled by these same crematoria, multiplying the chaos.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party Vice President Kirit Somaiya has highlighted the issue of dead bodies and the long waiting time at crematoria or cemeteries.

"Cremation is taking 8-22 hours. I visited Marine Lines, Ghatkopar, Kandivali and Bhandup crematoria. The situation is the same everywhere," he claimed.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
By David Ljunggren and Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada and the United States are set to extend a ban on non-essential travel to late July as both countries seek to control the spread of the coronavirus, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Washington and Ottawa introduced month-long restrictions in March and renewed them in April and May. The ban, currently due to expire on June 21, does not affect trade.

Canadian and U.S. sources said although the governments had not yet taken a final decision, a further extension was highly likely.

"It's going to be a clean rollover" on June 21, said a U.S. source who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation. "We will want to look at it again in July."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was not immediately available for comment.

Data show that while the outbreak is slowing across the 10 Canadian provinces, new cases show little sign of abating in Toronto and Montreal, the country's two largest cities.

A majority of provinces have privately told Ottawa they are reluctant to resume non-essential travel, said a second source.

Several provinces have clamped down on travel within Canada, and a third Canadian source said these inter-provincial restrictions would make it hard to lift the ban on non-essential travel with the United States.

More than 110,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the United States, one of the world's worst-hit nations. Canada reported 7,835 deaths, and 96,244 coronavirus cases on June 9.

A spokeswoman for Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has overall responsibility for ties with the United States, said both sides agreed the ban had worked well.

Extending the measures would hurt Canadian airlines and the tourism industry.

Carriers, including Air Canada, have been among the worst hit as travel bans resulted in thousands of flight cancellations, forcing carriers to cut jobs and costs.

Story continues

"There is a push from some sectors for reopening (the border), like Air Canada," a Canadian government source said.

Asked about reopening the border, Air Canada said in a statement that governments around the world are relaxing restrictions and said it was working with tourism and industry groups to "streamline and clarify rules around travel".

(Additional reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Allison Lampert in Montreal)
The Trump administration announced plans on Wednesday for sweeping changes to the U.S. asylum system.

Why it matters: Per Axios' Stef Kight, the proposed new rules would make it much harder for migrants to gain humanitarian protection once the borders that have been closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic reopen  assuming the proposal makes it through the regulatory process.

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

This marks the toughest approach yet to U.S. immigration policy. It expands on a rule introduced by the Trump administration last July that forces migrants fleeing their home countries to apply for asylum in one of the first countries they pass through, or face ineligibility for asylum once they reach the southern border of the U.S.

Details: If implemented after a public comment period, the Rule on Procedures for Asylum and Withholding of Removal, proposed by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, would streamline the asylum application process but prevent most applicants from being entitled to a full court proceeding on their claims.

The proposal would enable lower-level asylum officers to rule if an application was "frivolous," therefore, denying the applicant protections in the U.S., a power that currently only resides with the DOJ's Board of Immigration Appeals and immigration judges.

Applicant claims of being under threat from terrorists, gangs or "rogue" government officials would be rejected.

Of note: Last month, the Trump administration expelled more than 20,000 people who crossed the border illegally using emergency powers provided by a CDC order, citing the public health threat presented by the coronavirus pandemic.

Those individuals include children and asylum-seekers who are usually protected by U.S. law, Axios' Fadel Allassan notes.

Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against the U.S. government over the policy on Tuesday night, on behalf of a 16-year-old boy from Honduras who's awaiting deportation from the United States.

What they're saying: The rule would streamline procedures, allowing for quicker decisions and "eliminate removal delays  that serve no purpose and eliminate the waste of adjudicatory resources currently expended in vain," Justice and Homeland Security officials said, per the Wall Street Journal.

Greg Chen, director of government relations for the advocacy group American Immigration Lawyers Association, told NBC News: "The proposed rule is literally the kitchen sink of asylum bans and will end any notion of asylum that still remains, recognizing that this administration has already issued so many previous bans.

"It will short circuit due process in countless ways to make it faster and easier to deport asylum seekers effectively denying them a fair day in court."
Da Ee had a spiritual experience in Malaysia in late February when he attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur. The four-day religious meeting of the Islamic missionary movement was in an affable setting, leaving Da Ee little time to think about the recent viral outbreak.



I knew about the novel coronavirus, but I thought it was in Wuhan. It was in China, Da Ee said, who requested his name changed for this story.



After returning from Malaysia in early March, the Cambodian Muslim man went back to living his life. But, two weeks later, health officials came knocking at his door wanting to test him for the respiratory disease.



In March, Cambodia began reporting an uptick in positive novel coronavirus cases, after a nearly month-long pause since its first case was reported in Sihanoukville on January 27. At the same time, Malaysian officials also reported a cluster of cases originating from the religious congregation, alerting other countries to test returnees from the meeting.

Da Ee tested positive for the viral disease, joining the global cohort of 167,000 people who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to statistics from John Hopkins Universitys Coronavirus Resource Center from mid-March.



The Battambang resident had returned from Malaysia with eight people, with half the group testing positive for the respiratory disease, he said. In all, 79 Cambodians had traveled to Kuala Lumpur for the congregation and 29 had tested positive, said government officials in March.

The Ministry of Health had just started issuing daily press releases to announce new cases. In the second week of March, the ministry reported a sudden increase in coronavirus cases, the spike coming from the Tablighi Jamaat cluster. The Health Ministry kept the identity of patients confidential, but chose to identify Cambodian Muslim cases with the term Khmer Islam, traditionally used for the Cham ethnic minority.



There was a quick religious backlash against Cambodian Muslims, who were blamed in their communities and online for being carriers of the coronavirus disease. VOA Khmer documented how Cambodian Muslims were getting into verbal altercations with ethnic Khmer Cambodians and, in some cases, were at the receiving end of hateful rhetoric.

Fearing similar treatment, Da Ee requested VOA Khmer to change his name for this story, having already experienced apprehensive looks from his neighbors in Battambang.

After testing positive, Da Ee said the only symptom he had was exhaustion. He did not have any of the other common COVID-19 symptoms, like a dry cough or a high fever.

Da Ee said he was given medication, good food, and access to the internet, the latter allowing him to pass time on YouTube.

In the room, I prayed, I surfed the internet, and watch some funny videos, he said. We could tell [health officials] what we wanted to eat.



Health officials in Battambang ensured Da Ee had a pleasant experience at the hospital, he said acknowledging that he was lucky to have mild symptoms.



Da Ee said the separation from his friends and family and having to deal with a respiratory disease that had, at the time, killed around 7,000 people globally, was frightening and hard.



I told my family not to visit me, he said. The room was surrounded by a barrier and we could only talk from a distance.



Some of my close friends who came to visit me were not allowed to get close to me. Seeing that situation, I felt sad for them when they visited me and it affected my feelings as well.

While other patients at the health facility were taking an average of two weeks to recover, Da Ee started to test negative for the virus within a week of treatment. He tested negative three times in a row and was sent home, but asked to remain in isolation for another 14 days.



After two weeks, he tested negative for the fourth time and the doctors said he had made a full recovery. This news even caused his neighbors to relax around him and the tensions he had experienced when he first tested positive had dissipated.

Voeun Bunreth, Battambangs provincial health director, said health officials were trying their best to provide COVID-19 patients with the best treatment to facilitate their recovery. This included providing WiFi connections, which Voeun Bunreth said helped distract people from the illness, even if only for a short period of time. He admitted that the facilities in Battambang were limited and that occasionally they had to make two patients share a single room, though always with adequate precautions.



Because we have limited facilities, we allowed two patients to stay [in the same room], he said. When the test showed one was COVID-19 negative, we would split them. The provincial health director said a major concern for recovered patients was mental health issues, given the high levels of stress they had endured during the recovery process. He said the province was providing therapy and counseling to patients who requested it.



Yim Sotheary is a psychologist who used to work with Kdei Karuna, which developed programs facilitating dialogue and education in post-conflict communities. She said there were a lot of unknowns with COVID-19, especially early on, which could potentially cause stress and anxiety among patients.



Its a pandemic, everyone is talking about it and they hear about many deaths from the disease, she said. So, they fear death and this causes mental stress.

Additionally, she echoed Da Ees sentiments when he could not interact with family or get their support during his treatment. She said the treatment of a highly-contagious disease can quickly turn into an almost isolated experience for the patient.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
How ARE you?

Are you, as I am, torn between sorrow and worry about America, and euphoria, when we see folks in Minneapolis clean up the streets, or a police chief take his hat off respectfully when speaking live with the bereaved family of George Floyd.

I watch with pain a video of African-American parents giving lessons on self-protection to their children: Be careful that your hands can be seen at all times. Say My name is  and I have nothing to hurt you.

But that didnt seem to help George Floyd. Submission can be fatal too.

What on earth is society to do with racist, rogue police? Swift action from police leaders and politicians, and from union leadership, I think. Public support for proper recruitment, testing and discipline.

Are we also ready to confront Canadian racism and prejudice? Here in Peterborough, an impressive, well-organized (with masks, distancing and sanitizer), Black Lives Matter rally took place at Millennium Park and on the main streets on June 2. The crowd was nearly 1,000.

Best of all, the speakers were all from the black community; the mood was respectful, and the crowd was almost entirely young. Peggy and Richard Abbott, Sheila Howlett and I felt like the token elders. Great feeling.

The Examiner featured a picture of our police leadership taking a knee. I walked over to thank Chief Scott Gilbert and Deputy Chief Tim Farquharson.

I had come across a remark which I put on my sign, drawn for me by my friend, Justin Laurie. It starts with recognition that a white person, even an ally, can never deeply know the feelings of a black person in a society that has racism lingering in it. It read: I understand that I can never fully understand. Nonetheless, I stand.

Events are happening quickly south of the border. It was stunning and shocking to see President Donald Trump and his enablers (how do they sleep at night?) march out of the White House, order troops to clear the street of protesters by using rubber bullets and tear gas, and then walk to the historic 200- year Episcopal church nearby, St Johns, where Trump posed with a bible. A crude photo op, said commentators. Was it in hopes of attracting his right- wing evangelical followers?

Quick and articulate, the Episcopal bishop, Rev. Mariann Budde, who administers that parish, went on TV to denounce this unscheduled visit and say that Trumps behaviour is inimical to the gospel we preach.

Not to leave the Catholics out of his outreach, Trump made an uninvited call next day to the museum of Pope John Paul II. It is run by the Knights of Columbus.

Washingtons first black Catholic archbishop, Wilton Gregory, told the press it was baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be misused and manipulated in such a fashion that violates our religious principles.

Take that, newly pious President. Theres more. Rev William Barber, a nationally known Protestant leader, said the bible stunt was shameful and heretical, an act of idolatry. When you see people in the streets, thats democracy trying to breathe.

There was the scene of our P.M. pausing for 21 seconds before not answering the reporters question, Will Canada denounce? It went round the world. And he took a knee at the Ottawa rally, June 5.

As the weeks wear on, we behave co-operatively when out and about, observing distance, wearing masks and so on. Though not sick, I got myself tested this week at the site at Kinsmen Centre. Good experience.

We are tired, tired, and lonely. We are sadly aware of the Canadian Forces report of conditions in our seniors homes, and the fact that 80 per cent of COVID 19 deaths have been among this group. So, our moods swing wildly.

Me, Im taking in another webinar on resilience tonight!
Thai crewmen in precautionary quarantine after disembarking Singapore cargo ship in Phuket

PHUKET: Thirteen Thai crewmen on board a Singporean cargo ship have been placed in 14-day quarantine as a precaution after disembarking in Phuket.

COVID-19healthmarinetransport

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 11 June 2020, 12:12PM

The crewmen ashore from the 50,000-tonne Thor Fortune at the Wisit Panwa pier in Wichit yesterday (June 10).

Present to oversee the screening of the crewmen coming ashore were Vice Admiral Cherngchai Chomcherngpat, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command.

Joining him were Anaphat Korwanit, Chief of the Phuket Sea Port Health Control Office, and Phuket Marine Office Chief Wiwat Chitchertwong.

Chief Anaphat confirmed that none of the crewmen had body temperatures higher than 37.5C or any signs of respiratory disease.

The crewmen were taken to the Grand Supicha City Hotel in Phuket Town to observe a 14-day quarantine.

Navy personnel have been assigned to watch over the men, V/Adm Cherngchai said.

Phiphob Phuraya, captain of the Thor Fortune, explained that the crewmen were disembarking in Phuket as a regular change of crew.

The Thor Fortune is carrying 49,600 tonnes of wheat from Singapore to Yemen, where it is scheduled to arrive in 13 days.

The ship has 23 crewmen on board, Capt Phiphob, also a Thai national, explained.

The company [that owns the ship] instructed me to change some crews, as everyone has been on the ship for around six months so far. We informed Phuket officials and received a very good response, he said.

We would like to say thank you to all the officers involved for allowing our crewmen to go back home, especially as it is quite hard to enter a country now, he added.

Chief Anaphat explained that 30 crewmen have come ashore to Phuket since June 1, and that about 10 more cargo ships have informed his office of their intent to enter Phuket waters.

Around 80 more crewmen will also be coming ashore soon. In total, we have been informed of 114 crewmen wanting to come ashore to Phuket as a regular change of crew, with 116 crewmen boarding ships from here, he said.

Chief Wiwat explained that Phuket ports were currently open only to local boats operating in the area.

For now, we have not opened to allow any tour cruises as the number of people infected with COVID-19 in foreign countries is still high, he said.

Only cargo ships are coming to Phuket [from international waters] so far, and we have a restriction in effect that allows only Thai crewmen to disembark. Those crewmen must be screened before coming ashore, he said.
When there are any kinds of attacks on our country, we do not expect some local city to defend themselves, Klobuchar said. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, we didnt say, Pearl Harbor, youre on your own. And when we have issues with the pandemic, that is not the fault of the counties that are having these elections right now. Basically thats what youre saying if you dont step in. Youve got to at least give people a fighting chance to be able to vote.
Parts of southern China have been cleaning up following floods that have left at least 20 people dead or missing.

Nearly three million people have been affected by the floods, with 228,000 forced to seek shelter and 1,300 homes destroyed, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

The area is forecast to be hit with more rain over the coming days.

Direct economic losses are estimated at more than 500 million US dollars, the ministry said.

The city in southern China was flooded, and the flood rushed the car away pic.twitter.com/Dwye90xMKJ   (@reallaoqiu) June 7, 2020

While damage has been concentrated in Hunan province and the Guangxi region, authorities were monitoring the situation in the city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic, which lies along the Yangtze River.

Guangxis crucial tourism sector, already hit hard by the pandemic, has suffered further losses from the floods.

In the picturesque town of Yangshuo, famed for its river scenery, streets flooded and tourists had to be evacuated on bamboo rafts.

Heavy rain in South #China has caused waterlogging in #Yangshuo County, #Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Sunday, damaging 37,650 households and causing 4.647 billion yuan in damage. The floods receded Monday and dredging work is in progress to restore traffic. pic.twitter.com/um2QLIKV7a  People's Daily app (@PeoplesDailyapp) June 10, 2020

The county government said more than 1,000 hotels and other accommodation, as well as 5,000 shops, suffered water damage.

Firefighters and other public workers helped to clear debris and spray disinfectant.

Thousands of houses swept away as rain triggers flash floods in Southern China's Guangdong and Hunan provinces, affecting nearly 2.6 million people. With more heavy rains expected, around 20,000 people have been evacuated so far. @Shobhit10Mittal gets you the details pic.twitter.com/IvgNyZQ7zg  WION (@WIONews) June 10, 2020

Seasonal flooding regularly strikes the lower regions of Chinas major river systems, particularly those of the Yangtze and the Pearl to the south.

Authorities have sought to mitigate the damage through the use of dams, particularly the massive Three Gorges structure on the Yangtze.

Chinas worst floods in recent years were in 1998, when more than 2,000 people died and almost three million homes were destroyed.
Education is a hot topic this Legislative session. Here's what bills we're watching.

Here are some of the hot-button education bills were tracking at the Argus Leader. Check back each day to see where they stand as we update.
Abuja, June 10, 2020  Nigerian authorities should immediately release journalist Saint Meinpamo Onitsha, drop all charges against him, and reform the countrys cybercrime act to ensure it is not used to prosecute the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On June 4, officers with Nigerias Department of State Services detained Onitsha, founder of the privately owned Naija Live TV news website, in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state, after he responded to a summons for questioning, his lawyers told CPJ by phone and messaging app.

Onitsha told CPJ on June 3 that he received the summons, and said it involved his May 2 reporting on the alleged collapse of a COVID-19 isolation center in Nigerias northern Kogi State. He said he believed it also may be connected to a December 2019 report published by Naija Live TV alleging that a court had ordered the arrest of Bayelsa Deputy Governor Lawrence Erwhudjakpo.

After he was detained, the Department of State Services charged Onitsha with violating Nigerias cybercrime act and arraigned him at a federal court, according to his lawyer Benjamin Ogbara, and a copy of the charge sheet, which CPJ reviewed.

Ogbara told CPJ that authorities set bail conditions that were too strict, and said that Onitsha is still in detention. The journalist is due to appear again in court on June 17 and 18, Ogbara and another of Onitshas lawyers, Wisdom Meni Adike, told CPJ. If convicted, Onitsha could face up to three years in jail and a fine of up to 7 million naira ($18,328) under the law, which CPJ reviewed.

Saint Mienpamo Onitsha should be released immediately and permitted to continue his work. Nigerias Department of State Services should be protecting the public, not arresting journalists for reporting on matters of public interest, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator, from New York. How many journalists need to be prosecuted under Nigerias cybercrime act before it is reformed by lawmakers? One is too many, and its repeated use in this way is an outrage.

According to the charge sheet, Onitsha is accused of violating section 21 (1) (b) of the 2015 cybercrime act for his reporting on the isolation center.

That section criminalizes sharing messages via a computer or network system which they know to be false for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another person.

CPJ has repeatedly documented the use of Nigerias cybercrime act to prosecute journalists for their work .

Ogbara told CPJ that authorities granted bail on June 5, but required a bond of 2 million naira ($5,163), a surety from a senior civil servant, and a surety from a land owner in Bayelsa state, and said Onitsha was unable to meet those requirements.

Previously, on May 9, masked Department of State Services took Onitsha from his home, drove him around for several hours, and then detained him for five days while they questioned him about the May 2 COVID-19 article and the December article about Erwhudjakpo, as CPJ documented at the time.

On May 12, officers released Onitsha without charge, after coercing him into apologizing for the articles, he told CPJ at the time.

Mohammed Onogwu, a media aide for the Kogi state governors office, declined to comment on Ontishas arrest in May when contacted at the time. When CPJ called him again on June 10, the call did not go through.

Doubra Atasi, a spokesperson for Erwhudjakpo, did not respond to CPJs calls and text messages regarding his detention. In May, Atasi told CPJ that Erwhudjakpo had not filed a case against Onitsha.

Department of State Services spokesperson Peter Afunaya did not respond to calls and text messages from CPJ seeking comment.
"The results speak for themselves, the tests met all requirements, both in performance and safety," the developers added. "It was delivered with precision accuracy; it worked, and it worked well."

In a press release Monday, Sandia National Laboratories announced, "We were able to test the B61-12 through all operational phases, and we have extremely high confidence the B61-12 is compatible with the F-15E Strike Eagle," a state-of-the-art fighter jet.

The bomb is said to be capable of hitting a target underground within a 30-60 m radius and has a yield of 0.3 to 50 kilotons and huge explosive power. The atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had a yield of only about 15 kilotons.

Flight tests at higher and lower altitudes already took place in March, with two F-15Es dropping the bombs without their nuclear warheads.

Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation, told Voice of America, "It is probably the preferred weapon that you would use against North Korea's nuclear underground facilities because it's not going to generate near as much fallout. If you want to make sure that you're taking out their nuclear weapon facilities, this should do it."

"And they're going to make hundreds of this weapon, so they would have enough to take out North Korean underground facilities," he added.


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A protester has been left critically injured after a Confederate statue that was being torn down during a demonstration Portsmouth, Virginia came crashing down on his head Wednesday night.

The man, believed to be in his thirties, had been part of a group of protesters attempting to topple the statue yesterday evening, WAVY News reported.

According to one witness, the group had attached ropes around the base of the statue and had been pulling away at it for some time, when the monument eventually gave way and fell forwards.

The man, who has not yet been identified, had been standing directly in front of the statue as it fell, striking him in the head, a witness said.

We could see that his skull was actually showing, he was convulsing on the ground  and he lost a great amount of blood, the president of Black Lives Matter 757 told the station. We ask everybody to pray for that man right now.

The Confederate military member statue was one of four beheaded before being pulled down at the Portsmouth Confederate Monument as police watched on Wednesday

The man, believed to be in his thirties, had been part of a group of protesters attempting to topple the statueyesterday evening

The man, believed to be in his thirties, had been part of a group of protesters attempting to topple the statue of the president of the Confederacy at around 11pm yesterday

The Portsmouth Police Department urged all citizens to avoid the area as they attempted to disperse demonstrators and investigate an incident that resulted in a citizen getting injured, the department said in a tweet.

Demonstrators stopped to commemorate the man with a moment of silence before acquiescing to police demands to leave the area.

The man was taken to the hospital, though his condition is not known at this time.

In total, four statues were beheaded and pulled down at the Portsmouth Confederate Monument as police watched on Wednesday.

Efforts to tear the first of the statues down began around 8:20 pm, but the rope they were using snapped.

The crowd was frustrated by the Portsmouth City Councils decision to put off moving the monument. They switched to throwing bricks from the post that held the plaque they had pulled down as they initially worked to bring down the statue.

The actions come amid national protests over the death of George Floyd who died on Memorial Day in Minneapolis after white officer Derek Chauvin kneeled down on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, ignoring his cries of I cant breathe.

NEW: At least one person is critically injured in Portsmouth, Virginia, when a confederate statue falls on a protester during its removal: https://t.co/ZNKquvWPkp  Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) June 11, 2020

Also Wednesday, 80 miles away, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was torn down along Richmonds famed Monument Avenue, above and below

A police officer stands near the toppled statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, as a person takes images of the statue along Monument Drive, Wednesday night

The Davis statue came as the third to be brought down by protesters in the area after the Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park and a Confederate general statue in Monroe Park were also torn down

Also Wednesday, 80 miles away, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was torn down along Richmonds famed Monument Avenue.

The statue in the former capital of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11 p.m. and was on the ground in the middle of an intersection, news outlets reported.

Richmond police were on the scene and videos on social media showed the monument being towed away as a crowd cheered.

A large crowd gathered around and sang as crews removed the statue from the road and drove away.

People take turns stomping the Christopher Columbus statue after it was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, June 10

Minnesota State Troopers surrounded the statue of Christopher Columbus after it was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capito

People stand around the fallen Christopher Columbus statue at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, June 10

A statue of Christopher Columbus, which was toppled to the ground by protesters, is loaded onto a truck on the grounds of the State Capitol on June 10

The Davis statue came as the third to be brought down by protesters in the area after the Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park and a Confederate general statue in Monroe Park were also torn down.

The statue of Christopher Columbus in Richmonds Bryd Park was torn down by protesters, set on fire and then submerged into a lake on Tuesday.

The sculpture was brought down less than two hours after protesters in the state's capital gathered and chanted for the statue to go.

The empty pedestal was spray-painted and covered with a sign saying 'Columbus Represents Genocide' after the statue was taken down.

Columbus's arrival in the Americas in 1492 unleashed centuries of European colonisation, making him a symbol of conquest and violence to Native Americans.

A @7News photographer was the first one to discover the head had been knocked off the Christopher Columbus statue along the waterfront in the North End. Boston Police were on scene investigating later overnight. pic.twitter.com/YIIHUiPua9  Korey O'Brien (@koreyobrienTV) June 10, 2020

Protesters gathered around in city's Byrd Park as drums were played before an American flag was burnt on the Christopher Columbus statue

A statue of Christopher Columbus was also decapitated Wednesday at the Christopher Columbus Park in Boston, Massachusetts

There was no police presence in the park, but a police helicopter was seen circling the area after the city-owned figure was torn down, local media said.

Activist Chelsea Higgs-Wise was among the protesters who spoke to a crowd in Byrd Park about the struggles of indigenous people and African-Americans.

'We have to start where it all began,' Higgs-Wise said during her speech. 'We have to start with the people who stood first on this land.'

Vanessa Bolin of the Richmond Indigenous Society told the crowd she had come to 'stand in solidarity' with those protesting against police brutality.

Another speaker, Joseph Rogers, declared the area 'Powhatan land,' saying that racism has impacted both African-Americans and Native Americans.

The statue of Christopher Columbus is seen on the ground after it was pulled down by protesters,Richmond, Virginia, U.S., June 9, 2020

Toppled: A Christopher Columbus statue was torn down and thrown in a lake in Richmond last night in the latest protest to tear down a symbol of racial oppression

The empty plinth had a poster placed on it saying: 'Columbus Represents Genocide'

Another poster left next to the toppled statue imagined a gravestone for racism with the message: 'You will not be missed'

The statue was dedicated in Richmond in December 1927, becoming the first Columbus statue in the South, reports said.

It comes several days after a statue of Confederate general Williams Carter Wickham was pulled from its pedestal in another Richmond park, Monroe Park.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam last week ordered the removal of an iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which is four blocks away from where the Davis statue stood.

'In Virginia, we no longer preach a false version of history. One that pretends the Civil War was about state rights and not the evils of slavery. No one believes that any longer,' Northam said.

'And in 2020, we can no longer honor a system that was based on the buying and selling of enslaved people.'

A judge on Monday issued an injunction preventing officials from removing the monuments for the next 10 days.

Pictured left: the Columbus statue in a file photo; right: a portrait of Columbus, who protesters say was responsible for unleashing genocide in the Americas

Also Wednesday, protesters in Portsmouth, Virginia, covered a Confederate monument in the city with trash bags and sheets, several hours after the city's council members had a meeting to figure out ways to relocate it.

A white sheet that read 'BLM' covered the fence in front of the monument hours after the Portsmouth city council met Tuesday to discuss who owns the figure, WVEC-TV reported. The question about who owns the monument has been the main roadblock in the city's years-long quest to remove it.

During the council's meeting Tuesday, Mayor John Rowe asked the city attorney if Portsmouth has the right to move the 127-year-old memorial. In 2018, a judge denied the citys claim to own the monument because no one else had tried to claim it.

Katelyn Burns joked that people could still remember Christopher Columbus without the statue as a whole district is named after him

While another Twitter user by the name of Ghosting Pie said he believed erasing the past would cause history to repeat itself

The local chapter of the NAACP and protesters have called for the 54-foot monument to be taken down, but some council members oppose removing the statue without a city wide vote, WAVY reported.

'Removing history is something I associate with bad government, communist government, fascist government,' Councilman Bill Moody said during the meeting. He said the monuments and museums exist 'to remind us to never let this happen again.'

A new law in Virginia that allows cities to move or alter Confederate monuments they own goes into effect July 1.

The Confederate monument is covered in shoots and bags in Downtown Portsmouth, Virginia, early Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Who was Jefferson Davis? Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was the president of the Confederate States of America throughout its existence during the American Civil War (186165). Before the Civil War, he operated a large cotton plantation in Mississippi, which his brother Joseph gave him, and owned as many as 113 slaves. Although Davis argued against secession in 1858,he believed that states had an unquestionable right to leave the Union. After the war he was imprisoned for two years and indicted for treason but was never tried. On Wednesday, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was torn down along Richmonds famed Monument Avenue. Advertisement

On Saturday a century-old statue commemorating women in the Confederacy was defaced in a Jacksonville park, Florida.

The Florida Times-Union reported that the 'Women of the Southland' statue in Jacksonville was splattered with red paint and tagged with the letters BLM, an abbreviation for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The statue is among others in the city's Confederate Park, a place activists have been pushing for removal of the monuments. The park and the women's statute have been there since 1915. It's not clear who defaced the statue.

Other statues to have been defaced in the last week include Mahatma Gandhi's statue at the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C.

A statue of former mayor of Philadelphia and police commissioner Frank Rizzo was also burned at the base on Saturday, causing authorities to remove the statue today.

Rizzo was accused of discriminating against minorities during his term as mayor, 1972 to 1980.

Demonstrators at Linn Park in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday attempted to remove a statue of Confederate sailor Charles Linn but were unsuccessful.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin told protesters he would 'finish the job for them', reports CNN.

In Nashville, Tennessee a statue of Edward Carnack, a former US senator and newspaper owner who was known for attacking civil rights advocates was pulled down on Sunday and has since been removed.

The statues are the latest to be targeted amid worldwide anti-racism protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis two weeks ago.

Along with monuments in the US, statues of slave traders and colonialists have come down in Britain and Belgium in recent days as the movement spreads worldwide.

An almost identical incident to the toppling in Byrd Park, Richmond, also took place in Bristol, UK, over the weekend as protesters pulled down a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into the city's harbor.

Protesters cheered as they forced the Edward Colston monument into the water at Bristol Harbor, UK

Native American groups have long asked for Columbus Day to be changed to Indigenous Peoples Day, arguing that Columbus unleashed centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.

Columbus Day marks the Italian explorer's arrival in the New World in 1492 but campaigners say it should commemorate the victims of European colonisation rather than the conquerors.

While Europe has long thought of Columbus as the 'discoverer' of America, Native Americans regard his arrival as an invasion.

Indigenous people were robbed of most of their land and 500 years later they are still among the poorest Americans.
Colorado Politics senior political reporter

Joey Bunch is the senior correspondent and deputy managing editor of Colorado Politics. His 32-year career includes the last 16 in Colorado. He was part of the Denver Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 and he is a two-time finalist.
Convener for pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), Mr David Asante has revealed that the alliance has evidence to prove persons faking the voters' Identification card in the country.

We are in possession of documents that prove the Electoral Commission has written a lot of letters to several institutions, notifying them that voter ID cards that were used by employees in gaining employment and in conducting transactions did not exist in their database.

Speaking on Asempa Fm Mr Asante said the ECs alert to some of those institutions emphatically mentioned names of such employees who do not exist in the voters' register.

The aspiring NPP Parliamentary candidate in the Nkawkaw constituency said the Alliance had evidence to prove that there are over 500,000 of such fake IDs.

We have discovered over 500,000 fake voters ID cards in possession of individuals in this country, Mr Asante Stressed.

He said the Alliance arrived at that number from several visits to banks to record the number of persons who had presented fake IDs in a week.

According to him, every bank reported an average of five to twenty of cases where the IDs that were presented for verification were rejected by the ECs central control database.

"We had confidential discussions with banks and they gave us the number of people whose IDs had been rejected by the ECs system as being fake. Every bank gave us an average of five to twenty, he intimated.

He added that there have been several reports of arrests of persons for presenting fake IDs during transactions.

Mr. Asante argued that it is on the basis of this and many others that warranted the calls for the old voters' ID card to be excluded as a requirement in the upcoming voters' registration exercise.

As a researcher, if you tell me that the old voter's register should be included in the requirements for the new register, I have every moral right to doubt the rationale behind that thinking knowing very well as a researcher that there are fake voter ID cards in circulation, he posited.

According to him, its findings and recommendations were presented to the EC culminating in its final decision to exclude the old voters' ID and compile a new register.
A protester is arrested by Los Angeles police after curfew on June 2. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Protesters arrested for curfew violations or failure to disperse during peaceful demonstrations over the death of George Floyd in police custody aren't facing criminal charges in Los Angeles, and now their lawyers want prosecutors and the LAPD to seal and destroy the related records.

Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey and prosecutors in a number of other local jurisdictions have already declared they won't seek criminal charges against about 3,000 people arrested during recent marches for misdemeanor curfew violations, unlawful assembly, failure to disperse, failure to follow a police order and similar low-level offenses, saying they support the exercise of 1st Amendment rights.

But attorneys with the National Lawyers Guild and Los Angeles County Public Defenders Union want prosecutors and the Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies to take it a step further.

"We now ask the city attorney and LAPD Chief Michel Moore to close this episode by sealing and destroying these protesters arrest records. Not just because arrestees are entitled to this relief by law, but because it would serve the interest of justice  for as we all know, arrest records can cause significant collateral consequences in the areas of housing, employment and immigration," the lawyers said Thursday in announcing the request.

While each person arrested could file a petition to have their record sealed, the lawyers said it would "heavily burden our overwhelmed courts and will needlessly drain resources from the Law Offices of the Los Angeles County Public Defender and the broader indigent defense community." Instead, prosecutors and the LAPD could do so with a simple directive, they said.

Feuer's office told The Times on Thursday that it was working on a response.

Similar requests are being made in communities with their local prosecutors.

Since Lacey confirmed Sunday that her office would not prosecute protesters arrested for breaking curfew or failing to disperse, other local prosecutors have followed.

Story continues

Feuer announced Monday that instead of seeking penalties, he would divert arrestees into a program of dialog discussion. But after receiving pushback from activists and local Black Lives Matter leaders, Feuer dropped the strings attached to dismissing the cases.

The decision by city law enforcement officials to not pursue punishment for protesters follows complaints by many of those arrested that they spent hours in plastic handcuffs crammed in buses without justification, leaving them with injuries and potentially exposing them to the coronavirus.

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Black Lives Matter L.A. claims the curfews used to justify many of the arrests illegally suppressed constitutionally protected protests and violated peoples right of freedom of movement. The organizations have also decried videos that show police officers responding with violence against protesters, including swinging batons and firing foam and sponge projectiles.
After making a name for themselves in their homeland, they decided to make their drama and/or film debut in China.

Here are fifteen Korean actors and actresses who have acted in Chinese dramas and movies, as well as the ones that put them on the Chinese industry map.

1. Kim Hee Sun

Kim Hee Sun acted in numerous Chinese dramas and movies, but her most famous role is in the 2005 movie "The Myth." In this film, she plays a Korean princess named Princess Ok-Soo, who was sent to China to marry the Qin Emperor but ends up falling in love with the general escorting her instead. Jackie Chan played the role of the general.

She is still remembered for this role to this day, with many adoring her soft and lovable character.

2. Jang Dong Gun

Jang Dong Gun starred in the movie "The Promise," where he portrayed a slave named Kunlun. He falls in love with the most beautiful woman in the world. However, that woman is cursed by a goddess who has a lavish life and beauty in exchange for never having love. If ever she does find love, she is destined to lose it.

3. Yoona

Girls' Generation's Yoona starred in the Chinese drama "God of War, Zhao Yun," a historical drama about a famous Chinese general, Zhao Zi Long. She plays the female lead of the story, Xiahou Qing Yi. Many people loved her character for her spunky and playful personality.

4. Jessica Jung

After she departed from Girls' Generation, Jessica decided to take a shot in the Chinese industry. One of her most famous Chinese films is the 2016 movie "I Love That Crazy Little Thing," in which she played Qianqia, the girlfriend of the main character, Jiang Yang, an editor who dreams of being a movie director.

5. Lee Joon Hyuk

Lee Joon Hyuk greeted his Chinese fans in the 2012 Chinese drama "Fairytale." The story follows estranged twins who must come together to stabilize the family business and protect it. He plays the role of Du Yu Feng, the fiance of the twin's older sister.

6. Park Min Young

Park Min Young made her Chinese drama debut with "Braveness of the Ming." The drama follows a man who, after witnessing the Jinyiwei brutality, decides to stand up for those who were unable to do so themselves. The man wants to help restore peace into the country. Park Min Young plays the role of Xie Yu Fei, the female lead and wife of Xia Xun, played by Hans Zhang. The drama is set to air this 2020.

7. Lee Da Hae

This drama, "Love Actually," is centered around the restaurant industry. Lee Da Hae plays Wang Xiao Xia, a woman who needs money to raise her nephew. After being discovered to have a talent in cooking, she hones her skills with the help of Chen Hao Feng (played by Joe Cheng), head chef at his family's restaurant. As they work together, they fall in love.

8. Kim Ki Bum

Many may know Kim Ki Bum as a former Super Junior member, but now, he is famous as an actor in both China and Korea. One of his most famous Chinese dramas is "The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils," which is based on the novel of the same name. He plays Duan Yu, one of the three male leads, a young prince with many female admirers.

9. Sung Hoon

Sung Hoon acted in the 2012 Chinese drama "Bodyguard." He played the main character Guo Xu, the young master of the Chang Feng security company, who must bring the twelve "Baby Jades" back to the Yun village.

10. Lee Jong Suk

Lee Jong Suk starred in the Chinese drama "Jade Lovers." The series is set in the 1930s and is a Republican drama about two rival families and the jewelry trading business. Lee Jong Suk plays Bai Luo Han, a man who is treading morally ambiguous territory as he works for both good and bad. The drama is set to air this year.

11. Kim Sung Joo

K-pop fans know Kim Sung Joo as a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy group UNIQ! He has made his acting debut in both Korea and China. His most popular Chinese drama, "Magical Space-time," follows Han Ruo Fei (played by Jerry Jia), who obtains a time-traveling polaroid that allows him to go back to ten years in the past for short periods. Kim Sung Joo plays the young version of Han Ruo Fei.

12. Lee Min Ho

Lee Min Ho starred in the Chinese film "Bounty Hunters," released in 2016. He played the role of San, a martial arts expert who has been working as a bodyguard-for-hire with little luck after his dismissal as Interpol officers a year ago. The story follows him and others as bounty hunters working across countries in Asia.

13. Rain

Rain played the rich CEO in the Chinese drama "Diamond Lover." The story follows Mi Duo, who, after losing a lot of weight, following an accident, Mi Duo begins a new life working for her secret crush, Xiao Liang (Rain), who is the CEO of a diamond company.

14. Song Hye Kyo

Song Hye Kyo acted in "The Queens," based on the novel of the same name. The film follows three cosmopolitan women who are all going through the up and downs of their romantic lives. Song Hye Kyo played one of the main characters, Annie.

15. Song Seung Hun

Song Seung Hun played Li Qi Zheng in the "The Third Way of Love." The film follows Lin Qi Zheng, the son of a wealthy family, and Zhou Yu, a smart, beautiful lawyer, and their tragic love story.

Have you seen any of these dramas/movies?
If sharp humour ever made you double up with honest laughter, the joke must have come from Chandler. He is known for his top-notch sarcasm in the iconic sitcom Friends, and although you find it amusing on most occasions, there is no escaping the burn his jokes can leave behind along with a few stray laughs.

Yet, even as the whole world cracked up at every joke he threw their way, Chandlers real-life host Matthew Perry struggled to find joy and laughter in his life.

At the peak of his career during the mid-90s, Perry was trying hard to survive an extreme case of alcoholism, which he admits made three years on the sets of Friends a complete blur.

 Reuters

Still at the top of his game as Chandler, Matthew Perry had it all - fame, money, the good life - and yet, when his addiction threatened to take it all away from him, Perry failed to fight back hard enough.

From an outsider's perspective, it would seem like I had it all. It was actually a very lonely time for me because I was suffering from alcoholism, Perry said in an interview.

 Reuters

This was until the fateful day when Perry was convinced of dropping dead the very next day if he didnt seek help right away. That was in 2001, seven years since Friends hit the tube, and around 5 years since he hit his first low as an alcoholic. Soon after, Perry set out on a long road to recovery and eventually, came out a winner after kicking his addiction to the curb despite multiple setbacks.



Here are 5 difficult things Matthew Perry did to get over his addiction and emerge as a strong individual:

1. Stayed True To His Trade

 Reuters

Perhaps his biggest saving grace through a tumultuous addiction was his loyalty towards his work and professionalism he maintained. In spite of being an alcoholic, Perry swore by never drinking on the set, and kept that promise.



Despite his heavy dependency on alcohol and its aftermath that Perry carried to the set in the form of hangovers and frequent naps, nobody could tell things were so off in real life when they saw his alter ego, Chandler dish out great performances on-screen.

2. Sought Help To Kick The Addiction

 Reuters

While he was already struggling to get a hold on his addiction for alcohol, an unfortunate jet ski accident made things worse in 1997.



That was when Perry picked up another addiction, this time, to a prescription drug Vicodin, which he had been taking as a painkiller to recover from the accident.

His craze for alcohol, combined with Vicodin got so bad, his physical well-being was compromised and Perry ended up losing 9 kgs in a very short period of time. Thats when he checked into rehab in 1997 for the very first time.

3. Failed But Refused To Give Up

 Reuters

Having spent 28 days in the first rehab centre didnt help Perrys situation much because he soon relapsed, with more physical ailments added to the list, specifically pancreatitis, arising from alcohol abuse.



And although all his Friends co-stars tried to help, nothing worked because I wasnt ready to hear it. You cant tell anyone to get sober. It has to come from you, Perry told People magazine. But things would soon change for Perry, because the next time it was his life on the line.

4. Realised The True Value Of His Life

 Reuters

It was the fateful day of 23rd February 2001 when Perry finally received the wake-up call that would change his life for good. Speaking to the New York Times, Perry confessed, I cant describe it, because bigger things were taking place that I cant put into words. I didn't get sober because I felt like it, I got sober because I was worried I was going to die the next day.



Thats when he decided to get better and called his parents for help. Back with his parents in LA, Perry was admitted to another rehab centre where Perry stayed for two and a half months. This time, he came out stronger, better and happier.

5. Helped Others To Get Better

 Reuters

In 2011, Perry checked into rehab once again, in order to stay on track and stay sober. Soon in 2013, he set up a 5,500 sq ft sober-living facility for men called the Perry House in Malibu. Although the facility was closed two years later, Perry continued to find ways of helping recovering addicts.



He also wrote a stage play based on his personal experience with addiction which he called The End of Longing and even won the 2015 Phoenix Rising Award for helping others struggling with addiction.

Despite a long and trying road to recovery, Matthew Perry has successfully managed to stay afloat and come out as a stronger version of himself in the end and for that, he has our respect.
But when Brian France took over the reins from his father in 2003 (he has since given way to his uncle, Jim France), his idea was to grow the sport well beyond its Southern borders. The dream was to be embraced by America without necessarily representing it. Yes, the California-born Jeff Gordon led a slew of non-Southern drivers to the tracks starting in the early 1990s, but the Confederate colors still flew there. A sport so white it makes the Oscars look diverse began a Drive for Diversity in 2004, bringing women and people of color into the mix  at the slow speed of a caution-flag run.
Galvanized by the reaction to the killing of George Floyd and continued reports that minority researchers feel marginalized and disrespected, almost 6,000 scientists and academicians said they would participate in a one-day strike Wednesday.

The event was organized by a loosely affiliated group of physicists and cosmologists operating under various hashtags, including #Strike4BlackLives, #ShutDownStem and #ShutDownAcademia.

Participants planned to cancel classes, lectures or committee meetings; hold off on reporting any breakthroughs; and forgo engaging with email and reading draft articles for peer review. Instead, they would devote the day to a close examination of how science does business.

Racism in science is enmeshed with the larger scheme of white supremacy in society, said Brian Nord, a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois and one of the organizers of the strike, repeating a phrase he attributed to his co-organizer, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a cosmologist at the University of New Hampshire. We need to rethink what scientific collaborations should look like. Black people need a seat at the table.

He added, The idea is to disrupt the system, at least for a day. As of Wednesday morning, some 5,700 scientists had signed a pledge to strike, and registration was closed. The petition reads, in part, We recognize that our academic institutions and research collaborations  despite big talk about diversity, equity and inclusion  have ultimately failed Black people.

Demands for justice have been met with gradualism and tokenism, the organizers said, and Black students still often feel unsupported and unwelcome at predominantly white college campuses and laboratories.

Many leading scientific journals  including Science, Physical Review Letters and arXiv, an online platform where physicists post their preprints  have all said that they will be silent Wednesday.

In a notice sent to reporters Tuesday, the prominent journal Nature, which publishes new research papers every Wednesday, said that it would hold off on doing so until Thursday, with the exception of breaking news about the coronavirus.

Nature condemns police prejudice and violence, we stand against all forms of racism, and we join others around the world in saying, unequivocally, Black Lives Matter, their statement read. We recognize that Nature is one of the white institutions that is responsible for bias in research and scholarship. The enterprise of science has been  and remains  complicit in systemic racism, and it must strive harder to correct those injustices and amplify marginalized voices.

The American Astronomical Association said that its offices in College Park, Md., would be closed Wednesday and that no news releases would be issued.

Nord said the idea for the strike arose a week ago in conversations with Prescod-Weinstein, a friend. Both scientists are Black with a capital B, as Nord put it.

We decided we needed to make a strike for Black physicists, Nord said in an interview.

Elsewhere, Brittany Kamai, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the California Institute of Technology, and Jedidah Isler, an astrophysics professor at Dartmouth, were also pondering how to shut down the digital highways of both science and academia.

There is no way that business as usual can continue while police and other agents of the state murder Black people and are not held accountable, Kamai said in an email.

Nord and Kamai and the other physicists have all known and supported one another for years, Kamai said.

From the beginning, the groups of Particles for Justice, ShutDownSTEM and VanguardSTEM  which Isler leads  were in close collaboration to develop what this would look like, she said.

Although the impetus for the daylong pause came from astronomers and physicists, the effort is aimed at all academia, not just science.

Nord, who received his doctorate in 2012, said that as far as he knew, he was only the third tenure track Black physicist at Fermilab. The first one had retired around the time that he joined the lab and another left.

Were being replaced once per generation, Nord said. In a personal statement on the Particles for Justice website, he wrote, When I was a child, I wanted to grow up to share the beauty and gifts of a scientific understanding of the universe with the world. Ive had the privilege to find and create knowledge for my fellow humans. Im one of the lucky ones. How many have shared my dream, but never got this close, because of the science communitys complicity through inaction?

Prescod-Weinstein had a similar story. When I was 17 and starting college, it was not my dream to balance doing dark matter research while also organizing against police and vigilante murders of Black people, she said in an email. Like all teen particle physics and cosmology nerds, I just wanted to be a theoretical physicist.

She and Nord said that they wanted more than just another seminar on diversity and inclusion. Rather, Nord said, the point was to do something, join a protest.

A notice posted on the Particles for Justice website suggested actions that scientists could undertake to educate themselves and advocate for change. The strike is not a day off for non-Black scientists, but a day to engage in academias core mission to build a better society for everyone, it reads, in part. Those of us who are Black academics should take the day to do whatever nourishes their hearts, whether thats protesting, organizing, or watching Astronomy Club.

On Wednesday morning the #ShutDownStem and #Strike4BlackLives Twitter feeds were full of announcements on the suspensions of classes and research while scientists engaged in introspection and education.

Daniel Holz, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago, said that the strike was being taken very seriously on campus and that there were plans for an afternoon march organized by the astronomy and physics department. The day will be full  and difficult, he said.

Speaking for myself, I see members of our community coalescing and really trying to engage. Things have been so bleak, but this feels hopeful.
A black American woman blinded by a rubber bullet when police opened fire during a protest told Good Morning Britain she had "no regrets".

Nia Love was participating in a Black Lives matter demonstration in Sacramento, California, when she was struck by the projectile.

It comes as the UK Government faces possible legal action over exports of riot control equipment to US authorities amid concerns about police brutality following a wave of protests sparked by George Floyds death.

Rubber bullets were first developed by British authorities to be used against protesters in Northern Ireland.

Nia Love was blinded at a protest in Sacramento, California / GMB

Speaking on GMB this morning, Ms Love said that the protest on May 29 had gone off peaceful for a number of hours before unrest broke out.

"Then there was something that happened that kind of agitated the crowd and so they sent more police out.

"They sent like, I would say, 20 more police officers out and then the crowd was actually saying 'hands up, don't shoot' and I was actually walking away, I was walking towards the sidewalk and I turned around to see where my brother was at and that's when it hit me."

She said she would have to change her entire life as a result of the injury.

Ms Love was asked whether she regretted attending the protest. She replied: "No, I don't regret it at all."

Meanwhile, British lawyers have sent a pre-action protocol letter, the first step in a potential High Court challenge, to International Trade Secretary Liz Truss in a bid to stop sales of equipment including CS gas, tear gas and rubber bullets.

The letter, sent on Tuesday, asks Ms Truss to confirm whether a decision has been made over the suspension of licences which allow firms to export such equipment to the US and, if not, to urgently suspend all licences.

It also sets out potential grounds for a legal challenge if the Government refuses to suspend export licences, stating that lawyers will argue such a decision would be unlawful.
Chinas Street Vendor Market in Chaos After Chinese Premiers Comments

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When Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered the 2020 Government Work Report on May 22, he specifically advocated for street trading to revive Chinas economy and announced the removal of five restrictions on street sales.

Chinas street vendors had mixed feelings upon hearing the news. The Urban Management team (Chengguan), thuggish law enforcers known for chasing clashing and beating street vendors, is a familiar scene for many Chinese citizens. These officers often smash street stalls and confiscate goods in the name of punishing unlicensed vendors and improving the aesthetic appeal of the city.

Videos released in the first week of June showed that Chinas street market sector was in a state of chaos after Premier Lis unusual speech to undo the overly strict regulation.

A Chengguan officer in Jiangxi Province invited a vendor to resume street sales. The vendor was shocked.

Caption: Deputy Urban Management Brigade Head Ke Wen

Vendor: What? You are asking me to set up street stalls?

Officer: Yeah, we have designated two spots for street stalls.

Vendor: Are you tricking me? 

Officer: No, I am the deputy brigade head Ke Wen.

Vendor: I dont trust you. Maybe the next time you are at the site, I will go find out if its true. 

Officer: I will put up signs there. You are allowed to set up your stall under any of those signs. 

Vendor: I cannot believe that there are such wonderful things for us vendors.

Officer: Certainly

Vendor: Do I need to pay the leasing fee for the spot?

Officer: No. 

Vendor: No leasing fee is required?

Officer: Right.

Vendor: Wow, there are even such wonderful things!

Vendor: Can I tell other vendors to come along as well?

Officer: Yes, invite them as well. 

Officer: Our Urban Management Brigade has designated two spots on Wenhua Road for street vendors. One is close to the elementary school in the new district, the other is at the north gate of Shengshi Community.

All of a sudden, over 100 vendors appeared on a street. However, there are very few customers.

Caption: We invite you to Xian to start a new career as a street vendor.

Video 4 content:

In Changchun City, Jilin Province, Urban Management Officers seem to have great difficulty getting out of the habit of bullying street vendors.

Vendor: So even the premiers speech has no effect?

Officer: You should

Vendor: Look at this (showing information displayed on his phone)

Officer: I suggest you talk to the Village Party Head on the phone. If you still have complaints, you may discuss with him.

Vendor: Ask them to come here. I dont know where to look for them.

Officer: No way. Put your equipment away.

Vendor: Look at you, you behave like the Kuomintang officials

The Chinese communist regime demonizes Kuomintang (KMT) in text books and history books, describing KMTs lower-level officials as bandits and higher-level officials as traitors who only cared about personal wealth and power.

The street vendor condemned the Urban Management Officer by saying he was like KMT officials.
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TORONTO - A lack of personal protective equipment and conflicting guidelines for COVID-19 practices between dentists and dental hygienists are delaying the reopening of many practices, the association representing dentists said as the province began the second stage of its reopening plan this week.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO - A lack of personal protective equipment and conflicting guidelines for COVID-19 practices between dentists and dental hygienists are delaying the reopening of many practices, the association representing dentists said as the province began the second stage of its reopening plan this week.

Dr. David Stevenson, a former president of the Ontario Dental Association who is now the head of the group's return to practice task force, said the resumption of services  permitted by the government in late May  has been slow.

Stevenson, who has been a dentist in the Ottawa-area for 35 years, said it has been difficult for dentists to find PPE, and many doctors gave away their supplies to hospitals early in the pandemic.

"We are getting access to a limited amount," he said, adding that hospitals and long-term care homes are still getting priority access, which is appropriate. "I'm not going to say it's a complete barrier to treatment, but it is still the major impact."

Conflicting guidelines for the resumption of practice from the colleges that regulate dentists and dental hygienists are also adding uncertainty to the reopening, he said.

"There's some confusion, there's no doubt about it," Stevenson said. "Are dentists up and running? Are hygienists up and running? The answer to that question is 'No, we're not.'"

In mid-March, the province ordered all non-essential and elective health services to close or reduce operations as COVID-19 cases increased.

Under a new directive issued last month, the province is asked all regulatory colleges to develop guidance to ensure safe clinical care could be provided during the pandemic.

But the restart guidelines from the College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario and Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario set different standards for each profession.

They take a different approaches to COVID-19 screening for patients and personal protective equipment use for dental hygienists and dentists, despite the fact that they work in the same offices and with the same patients.

The hygienist college standards include mandating N95s for aerosol generating procedures and mandatory wearing of gowns. The dentists' college guidelines only require that level of PPE use for COVID-positive patients.

Patients are to be screened before treatment, but with concern over asymptomatic transmission of the virus, some hygienists are worried the dental college's PPE requirements may not be stringent enough.

The executive director of the Ontario Dental Hygienists' Association said some of its members are anxious about their return to work because of the conflicting guidelines.

"I will acknowledge there is fear out there," Margaret Carter said. "I think it's a reasonable fear that is driven by an understanding of just how devastating this virus is."

Dental hygienists cannot physically distance from patients and their work makes them highly susceptible to the virus, she said.

"They are concerned about the potential for bringing things back into the home," she said. "I think there are a lot of rethinks around what am I doing as a practitioner that I can change to reduce the risk, but it's also incumbent on employers to ensure a safe workplace."

Whitney Foster, a dental hygienist in the Niagara Region, said the two regulatory colleges need to harmonize their guidelines so that everyone working in a dental office follows the same rules for patient screening and PPE use.

She has started an online petition calling on the government to work with the colleges to resolve the issue.

"I just want everyone to work together and collaborate for the patient safety," she said.

Foster said if a dental hygienist works for a dentist who is not following stringent infection control guidelines, they have little recourse.

"Some of my friends been threatened with job loss," she said.

Carter said she believes most dentists are stepping up their PPE use and infection control measures, but acknowledges she has heard complaints about some employers.

Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Stevenson said he believes the most important thing is for clear communication in each office and with patients.

"We've sat down and have a good long conversation and discussion with our, with our hygienists and assistants as well," he said. "We've risen to the challenge of infection control protocols before and this is no different."

The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario said Wednesday that it had met with the College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario to consider how they might align their guidelines.

Ontario's chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams said Thursday that the province will leave it to the regulators to iron out the differences.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott said the government relies on the colleges to govern their professions "in the public interest and ensure its members provide health care services in a professional, safe, and ethical manner."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2020.
Daily FT (Sri Lanka), 27 May 2020

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

aWeall leave behind an iron scrap And the hollow, mocking laugh of generations.a a Tadeusz Borowski (Wherever the earth)

While the world struggles with the Wuhan-born COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government has taken a great leap towards Hong Kong. Beijing has unveiled a new national security law enabling the use of Chinese security apparatus against dissent in Hong Kong. The law is to be included in Hong Kongas de facto constitution without the consent of either the cityas populace or its legislature. The road is being cleared for the Chinese army to stage a Tiananmen in Hong Kong.

Chinaas action is hardly unique. The world over, COVID-19 has become grist to the megalomaniac mill of national populist leaders. President Donald Trump might be more clown than menace, but democracy is facing evisceration in countries with less rooted institutions and robust oppositions, such as Sri Lanka.

When he nominated younger brother Gotabaya as the SLPPas presidential candidate, Mahinda Rajapaksa may have planned for a Putin-Medvedev type future, where he, as PM, continues to run the show. If so, that plan has gone sadly awry. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has emerged from his brotheras colossal shadow, claiming for himself the kind of unfettered power ancient kings enjoyed. He is impatient with any limitations on his right to rule, constitutional or legal, institutional or fraternal.

President Gotabayaas dreams of grandeur are not (yet) consonant with his actual strengths. The SLPP is still not his party. Basil Rajapaksa controls the party machinery while the base remains loyal to Mahinda Rajapaksa. This became evident during the nomination process. There was no secret that President Gotabaya wanted a slew of his loyalists to be given SLPP nominations. But only a handful actually received nominations, demonstrating that in the SLPP, Mahinda and Basil Rajapaksa still call the shots. Six months into his presidency, Gotabaya Rajapaksa remains a general in search of an army.

The state of limbo created by the pandemic has given the President invaluable time and space to build his own support base. The parliament is in abeyance. The cabinet exists only in a caretaker capacity. Even the prime minister is a caretaker prime minister. In this grey landscape, the President remains the sole figure of certainty.

Unsurprisingly, the military seems to be the mainstay of the power base the President is building for himself. A parallel hierarchy of authority is being created via the inserting of retired and serving military men into key civilian positions. President Gotabaya used his short speech at the War Heroes Commemoration to portray himself as the militaryas unconditional and sole champion. Immunity in return for loyalty was the subtext of his speech. He has already walked the talk by making generals out of brigadiers with questionable pasts and pardoning convicted killer Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa is also making a concerted effort to win the backing of the Buddhist clergy and the Sinhala-Buddhist electorate by acting as the prime protector of majoritarian interests. Cases in point include placing Muhudu Maha Viharaya under direct military protection and promising to appoint a defence-secretary headed presidential task force to protect (Buddhist) archaeological sites in the east.

In a move bristling with symbolism, the President has appointed a Buddhist Advisory Council scheduled to meet on the third Friday of every month. According to the statement issued by the Presidentas Office after the second such meeting (in May), aThe Maha Sangha further said that there are no words in the vocabulary to felicitate the speech made by the President at the National Ranawiru Commemoration Day... The Theros also pointed out that while the entire world appreciates (sic) the steps taken by the government to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, the behaviour of the opposition is disgusting. (https://www.presidentsoffice.gov.lk/index.php/2020/05/22/presidential-task-force-to-protect-archaeological-sites/?lang=en).a The tenor of the statement, taken together with the conspicuous absence of Mahinda Rajapaksa, sends an unmistakable message.

Sinhala-Buddhists have a new High King.

The double-edged sword of militarisation

On 18 February 1965, the Cambridge Union hosted a debate between two iconic American public intellectuals, the great African American writer James Baldwin and the high priest of conservatism, William Buckley. The topic was aThe American Dream is at the expense of the American Negroa.

In his presentation, Baldwin pointed out that the answer to the question depended on who you are, on what your sense and system of reality is, and on deeply ingrained assumptions. It is not only frothing-at-the-mouth racists who oppose moves towards racial equality; even respectable and agooda people do.

Buckley, in his response, proved the correctness of Baldwinas argument, enabling the latter to win the debate by gaining the backing of the absolute majority of the mostly white audience.

Fifty five years later, Baldwinas insight retains its validity in explaining the inexplicable a from the victory of Donald Trump to the triumph of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Rajapaksas rendered Sinhala-Buddhist extremism respectable and even honourable by conflating it with patriotism. That work, begun under Mahinda Rajapaksa, is being now taken to its logical conclusion by President Gotabaya. Having won the presidency handsomely with no minority support, he seems to be building his own power base not just sans the minorities but also against them. Extreme nationalism is an insecure animal, prone to see a foe in every passing shadow.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa seems to be more adroit than even brother Mahinda in mining and weaponising this inherent sense of insecurity. His ability to efface notional senses of equality and speak to deeply embedded and barely acknowledged fears seems outstanding. This was evident, for example, in the mastery way the pandemic was used to reignite anti-Muslim hysteria in the country.

A recent online incident is indicative of how far and how fast Sri Lanka has moved towards the nether regions of extremism. In a facebook post, a young professional by the name of Theshara Jayasinghe said he was a fan of Adolf Hitleras turgid and racist tome, Mein Kampf. When challenged, he defended his preference by praising the FAhreras patriotism.

Admirers of Hitler are not a rarity in the lunatic fringes of every country. What is different here is that this particular admirer of Hitler also happens to be the chairman and director general of the National Youth Service Council and a aStrategist at Government of Sri Lankaa (whatever that may mean). In the Gotabaya Rajapaksa era, the head of a state institution in charge of training the nationas youth can publicly praise Adolf Hitler a a worrying indication of how the regime is creating an enabling atmosphere for the most obscene forms of majoritarian extremism. After all, in a land where Hitler is passA, nothing is impermissible, including tyranny.

According to the dominant narrative, the constitution and democratic institutions are peripheral and even inimical to national security and public safety. Only a militarised state led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa (with the blessing of the Buddhist clergy) can save the motherland from the never-ending internal and external threats. The military in particular is being showcased as the epitome of efficiency and honesty, in contrast to venal politicians and ineffectual legislature.

These myths have found many a receptive mind. It is not rare to read on the internet, appeals to President Gotabaya to scrap the parliament, cancel elections, and rule with a set of military governors and administrators. (The continuing cluster of infection in the Navy demonstrates that militarisation of civilian functions leads not to efficiency but to confusion and even disaster.)

Sri Lanka experienced its first wave of militarisation under the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa. But there is a key difference between that first wave and the ongoing second wave. The first wave enabled the military to encroach into civilian spaces but it did not enable military oversight of key civilian institutions; the military remained subordinate to the ruling family and the ruling party. Generals had to take a backseat to ministers.

In the second wave, the military is being built up as a competitive power-wielder to the ruling party and even sections of the ruling family. For example, the army commander seems to be having more of a say than PM Mahinda in the anti-pandemic campaign. It is perhaps no accident that of the two retired military men appointed as permanent secretaries, one was to oversee the mega ministry headed by Chamal Rajapaksa.

The second wave of militarisation carries a greater danger since it can cause a transformation of the militaryas perception of itself and its role on the national stage. History is replete with incidents where the military decided to change its role from the saviouras enforcer to the saviour.

Will the main arm of the new trinity turn on its creator? Will President Gotabaya Rajapaksa end up like the Lady of the Riga who went for a ride on a tiger? Only time can tell.

Veiling the truth?

A government about to face an election would not have hiked the price of consumer essentials, unless it has other plans to win the election.

The first obvious path would be racism, an appeal to Sinhala-Buddhists to elect a government that can keep the minorities in their proper subordinate place. The second could be the abuse of quarantine regulations. The ongoing saga of Prof. Rathnajeevan Hooleas daughter demonstrates how racism and abuse of quarantine regulations can be combined to create deadly brew inimical to democratic dissent.

The facts are clear. Prof. Hooleas daughter returned from the UK on 4 May and went into paid quarantine at a hotel. Two weeks later, on 18 May she was duly discharged, after testing negative for COVID-19. She has a certificate to prove this, signed by Army Commander Shavendra Silva and Director General of Health Services Anil Jasinghe.

The certificate is available on the internet; it says that she aunderwent the necessary quarantining processa. No mention is made of any self-quarantining at home. Despite the evidence, Hoole is being accused of violating quarantine regulations even by mainstream media. For them, facts donat matter. Often in the reportage, there is an underline thread of racism; accusations of treachery hover in the air.

The persecution of Hoole is aimed not just at silencing her father but also at sending a message to every official, especially those in charge of elections. Former SLPP parliamentarian Shehan Semasingheas outburst against the chairman of the Election Commission, accusing of being a traitor, is another indication of how the government is hoping to steamroll the bureaucracy into compliance.

The assurance given by the health authorities to the Supreme Court about the possibility of an early election is cast into doubt by the horrific fate of Fathima Rinoza, the ninth Lankan to die of COVID-19, according to official reckoning. When Rinoza admitted herself to the hospital for a pre-existing condition, she was diagnosed via a PCR test as COVID-19 positive. Her family was rounded up and sent to Welikanda for quarantining. But the next day, the family was brought back to their home and told to self-quarantine. The results of their PCR tests were never given to them (https://www.bbc.com/sinhala/sri-lanka-52662991).

Rinoza passed away while her family was on their way to Welikanda and was cremated. A son, who was allowed to see his mother, has said that the body was not in the usual body bag.

All of this indicates that a mistake had been made in the testing, and that Rizona did not die of COVID-19. Yet her name remains on the COVID-19 death list. No apology has been rendered to her grieving family, perhaps because untrammelled power cannot be justified without the pretence of fallibility. This pretence has been enabled by the silence of most of the mainstream media which has abandoned the pursuit of facts in favour of parroting official truths.

Take another example. According to a chart issued by the Ministry of Health, up to 13 May, 91 COVID-19 patients were detected at the Ranagala Navy Camp a about 10% of the total number of infected (http://www.newswire.lk/2020/05/17/11075-area/). The Ranagala camp is nowhere in Welisara, but in the vicinity of the Colombo Port. Yet, the spokespersons for the government and the navy continue to talk about the Welisara cluster, omitting any mention of the cluster in the Ranagala camp. Most of the mainstream media do likewise. Given these lies and half-truths, the governmentas boast of containing the pandemic becomes questionable.

If Supreme Court allows an early election or clears the way for the President to rule beyond 2 June sans a parliament, Sri Lankaas vestigial democracy will be dead in the water.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Cordova, Spain  Thu, June 11, 2020 08:43 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc57b8 2 People Spain,Prince-Joachim,coronavirus,coronavirus-restrictions,COVID-19,COVID-19-lockdown Free

Belgian prince Joachim has been fined 10,400 euros ($11,800) in Spain for violating lockdown rules on a trip to the Andalusian city of Cordoba, a government official told AFP on Wednesday.

Joachim, who arrived at the end of May, admitted the offence after website El Confidencial broke the story.

The fine was "for breaking confinement, which he has recognized, he's been notified and 10,400 euros are required", the official said.

The website leaked a report from the regional health authority that "a person who had traveled from Belgium ... met a total of 27 friends and acquaintances on May 26 at a Cordoba residential building".

Gatherings of no more than 15 people were allowed in the southern area under measures imposed to fight the pandemic.

Two days after the party, the same person from Belgium tested positive for coronavirus, the report said.

The 28-year-old prince, a nephew of the Belgian king, has 15 days to appeal the fine.

Spain has suffered more than 27,000 coronavirus fatalities and imposed strict lockdown rules which are due to be fully lifted at the end of the month.
Dr. Tami Phan, an optometrist who operates Perfect Vision Associates in a Meyerland strip mall, temporarily closed her practice in late March after social distancing guidelines shut down non-essential services.

With her bank account dwindling as bills kept coming in, she waited anxiously for money from a federal stimulus program aimed at helping health care providers weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The check finally came April 10.

The amount: $312.

This is getting to the point where I can't stay calm, Phan said.

More from Gwendolyn Wu Traveling to Californias wine country? Dont skip out on supporting wineries affected by wildfires

Nearly 3,100 Houston-area health care providers received more than $470 million in funding from the CARES Act, according to federal government data, but the amounts range from almost nothing for small operations to millions for the regions biggest hospital systems. That is again raising questions of whether federal relief efforts are getting money to those who need it most. Other federal programs, notably the small business lending initiative known as the Paycheck Protection Program, came under fire when restaurant and hotel chains and some large publicly traded companies sucked up much of the money in the first round of funding.

In Houston, seven hospital systems each received at least $16 million in aid after splitting nearly $275 million. That was more than the combined amount received by the remaining 3,080 Houston area providers that applied for funding.

Of the 3,087 Houston-area practices granted federal aid, 2,477, or 80 percent, got $50,000 or less. Dr. Mintra Sattam, an optometrist in the EaDo neighborhood, received $10.

Disbursement by the numbers

In the Greater Houston region, 90 health care businesses that qualified for federal aid received $100 or less  some as little as $2  from the Provider Relief Fund. Another 381 received $1,000 or less. The paltry grants are nowhere near enough to offset huge declines in revenues and patient visits, raising the prospect that a deluge of providers closing this summer could leave thousands of patients scrambling for care.

The first $30 billion in funding went out to providers in April based on the share of Medicare patients they saw in 2019. Providers who saw Medicare patients also received a share of a $20 billion pot of funding based on 2018 revenue.

Dr. Debra Patt, chair of the Texas Medical Associations Council on Legislation and a breast cancer specialist at Texas Oncology in Austin, said basing the aid on Medicare proved an effective way to distribute the money in the middle of a crisis. It was fast and provided people help when they needed it, she said.

But it also created gaps in funding for pediatricians, primary care doctors and other specialists who see fewer Medicare patients, Patt said.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which oversaw the funding, said it was upfront that that providers seeing few or no Medicare patients would get less money. Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services, said in April that the agency would have additional funding rounds in coming months to help more providers.

This week, the department announced $25 billion in grants for Medicaid providers and safety net hospitals.

Specialty providers suffer

Many of the providers who received the least are specialty doctors such as optometrists and orthopedists. They have turned to the Paycheck Protection Program and other small business loans to keep the lights on.

Phan missed out on the first round of Paycheck Protection lending, finally receiving the loan on May 3  after her autopay for rent, utilities and other expenses overdrew her account at the beginning of the month. She remains concerned over how little she got from the Provider Relief Fund, which was barely enough to cover a month of utilities.

She estimated her practice needed about $75,000 to survive the summer. A lot of us small health care businesses dont need millions of dollars, Phan said.

Sattam opened up her optometry practice in EaDo a year ago, and employs just one other person, an office manager. When the pandemic began, she opened only to treat patients with vision emergencies. Her eyewear shop closed, and she moved her contact lens orders online.

We do not see many Medicare plans because the area is mostly young professionals, Sattam said.

She received a Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the Small Business Administration, which will help her cover the costs of paying her office manager and rent on her storefront on Navigation Boulevard.

Her landlord and eyewear vendors have agreed to deferred payments, but those bills will come due. And with few patients coming through the door, she worries about digging a deeper hole.

We still have a long road ahead to recovery, she said.

Big systems worries

Even providers that received large amounts said the federal funds dont make up for pandemic-induced economic hardship. Houstons largest hospital systems are losing an estimated $25 million per day from the steep decline in elective surgeries and visits from patients, who have stayed away out of fear of contracting COVID-19, according to UTHealth researchers.

Legacy Community Health received $3.2 million in CARES Act funding, which must be divided among their 36 locations, 20 of which closed during the pandemic. It also had to temporarily shut down its four dental practices and two eye clinics.

The clinic systems revenue plunged by about 50 percent in the first few months of the pandemic, but Legacy has only recovered about half the decline. The CARES Act money has been used to pay employees who lost wages when clinics were closed and set up telemedicine software, but it still has not covered all of the revenue losses, forcing the nonprofit to dip into reserves.

Reserves only last so long, said Katy Caldwell, the CEO.

At Memorial Hermann, which received $92.4 million in federal aid, the most among Houston providers, CEO David Callender said the funding was little compared to plunging revenue. The health system, which reported revenue of $5.5 billion in its 2019 fiscal year, declined to disclose how much money it lost because of the pandemic.

As we continue to care for patients with COVID-19, Callender said, the governments assistance through the CARES Act has also been helpful, but it has not covered the full financial impact we have incurred.

Larger health care networks noted they were not eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program that smaller practices could access. Caldwell said she hoped additional rounds of funding from Health and Human Services would provide more help to small practices.

The little guys

Small providers are upset that big hospital systems received most of the funding from the Provider Relief Fund when hundreds of smaller practices received little or nothing.

Approximately 63 percent of physicians surveyed by the Texas Medical Association said they have lost more than half their revenues during the pandemic. Solo practitioners said they are at highest risk of closing because they lack the backing of larger physician groups or hospital systems with greater resources.

Phan reopened her practice in mid-May, but shes afraid she wont turn a profit again. Some days, she sees just three patients  less than half of the number she saw before. She has no idea how long shell be able to hang on after her Paycheck Protection Program loan runs out at the beginning of July.

They're getting all this extra money, Phan said, and were tiny, small businesses that are the foundation of this nation. Were getting nothing.

Chronicle data reporter Stephanie Lamm contributed to this story.

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The Duchess of Cambridge has celebrated the amazing entries to her photographic project documenting life under lockdown.

Images of sleeping nurses, shielding elderly and chaotic family scenes showing the reality of working from home are featured in the pictures submitted to Kates Hold Still initiative.

In a video message to encourage more entries, the duchess said: There have been so many amazing entries to Hold Still over the last few weeks.

PA / Simon Murphy

From families up and down the country showing how they are adapting to life during lockdown, through to some of the most amazing NHS and social care staff who are putting their lives on the line to save the lives of others.

But it isnt too late to take part. So please take a moment to capture what life is like for you, because together I hope that we can build a lasting illustration of just how our country pulled together during the pandemic."

Hold Still Photography Project - In pictures 1 /10 Hold Still Photography Project - In pictures We are the Future by Daisy Valencia PA / Daisy Valencia Biba Behind Glass by Simon Murphy PA / Simon Murphy Working from home by Roseangela Borgese PA Glass Kisses by Steph James PA / Steph James 2 Sleeping Colleagues Unmasked by Jane Roe PA / Jane Roe VE Day Celebration during Lockdown by Vanita Bhuva PA Band practise at a distance by Becky Wickes PA Life Goes On by Matthew Williams PA

I cant wait to share the final 100 images with you. Some of the submitted images include one titled Sleeping Colleagues Unmasked by Jane Roe  showing two nurses, wearing intensive care branded uniforms, asleep on a sofa.

Another called Working From Home by Rosangela Borgese features a man with his back to the camera sitting at a computer while in the foreground a toddler lies sprawled on the ground surrounded by toys.

Additional reporting by PA
Gunmen on Wednesday morning killed two people and reportedly abducted several others along the Lokoja  Abuja expressway.

The incident occurred at about 7:00 a.m. between Acheni and Gegu villages in Kogi State.

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mohammed Onogwu, confirmed the incident.

According to the governor, a popular businessman in Lokoja, Nicholas Ofodile, and one other person were the casualties during a cross fire between the gunmen and officials of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS).

Sahara Reporters described those kidnapped as passengers travelling in a commercial bus.

Mr Ofodile was reportedly travelling to Abuja from Lokoja in his Lexus SUV with registration number LKJ 658 PU when he ran into a road block mounted by the gunmen.

The gunmen were said to have opened fire on his vehicle, killing him in the process.

At least eight vehicles were caught up in the process and several road users sustained gunshot wounds.

Kogi State police spokesperson, William Aya, did not respond to enquiries by this newspaper on Wednesday; however, he confirmed to Sahara Reporters that two persons were killed during the incident.

YAHAYA BELLO COMMISERATES WITH AFFECTED FAMILIES

Governor Bello in his statement vowed to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to book while condemning the attack.

He commiserated with the immediate family of the deceased and the entire Igbo community in the state over the sad incident.

The governor described late Nicholas Ofodile as a law-abiding successful entrepreneur who was known for his hard work and commitment

The governor while commending men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad for prompt response directed all the security agents in the state to immediately swing into action to apprehend those behind the dastardly acts.

He assured the people of the state that his administration would not relent in its efforts to provide adequate security within and around the state.
Most cannabis poisoning incidents involving children resulted from the intentional use of cannabis combined with alcohol, illicit drugs and/or medication, new research suggests.

Researchers studied incidents of cannabis poisonings among children and youth from BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver for the three-year-period prior to recreational cannabis legalization in Canada.

The findings, published today in Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada: Research, Policy and Practice, are important for informing cannabis safety guidelines and helping keep children safe.

We need to know how the legalization of recreational cannabis impacts children's health. This is especially important now that cookies, chocolates and gummies containing cannabis have been legalized in Canada. We need to do whatever we can to keep kids safe." Dr. Shelina Babul, study's senior author, investigator at BC Children's, clinical associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia (UBC), associate director of the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit (BCIRPU) and director of the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting & Prevention Program (CHIRPP)

Common signs of cannabis poisoning include vomiting, dizziness, slurred speech and an altered level of consciousness. Although cannabis poisoning does not often result in long-term harm, these symptoms can require emergency department care.

For the study, researchers from BC Children's and UBC extracted records from the CHIRPP database specific to cannabis poisonings treated in the emergency department at BC Children's between Jan. 1, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2018. Scientists studied medical reports and health records to review patients' characteristics and determine where and when the consumption of cannabis, and any other substances, had occurred.

They found that, of the 911 poisonings treated at BC Children's over three years, 12.5 per cent, or 114, were a result of cannabis consumed intentionally. The majority of cannabis-related poisonings resulted from the intentional use of cannabis combined with alcohol, illicit drugs and/or medication (71.1 per cent). The proportion of poisonings from intentional cannabis use only was 28.9 per cent. The median patient age was 15.

Cannabis poisonings were reported most often on weekdays. In most cases, youth smoked cannabis and drank alcohol in private residences with their friends. Nearly half of cannabis-only poisonings were reported by the patient's family or friends, whereas poisonings resulting from the ingestion of cannabis along with other psychoactive substances were most often reported by bystanders (39.5 per cent).

Fewer than 10 poisonings resulted from inadvertent ingestions by children with a median age of three. All inadvertent ingestions occurred at home and involved cannabis belonging to the patient's parents or siblings. Products inadvertently ingested by the patient included edibles, topicals and cannabis cigarettes. The researchers say these lower numbers should be taken seriously, as early research suggests that children of this age group are at greater risk of more serious side effects.

In Canada, the federal government legalized the use of recreational cannabis in October 2018 and edibles, topicals and extracts in October 2019.

The researchers are continuing to examine the incidence of cannabis poisoning now that recreational cannabis has been legallized. They will be using this study's findings as a baseline for future research.
Navy Mobilizing Reservists Under SurgeMain Program to Support Ship Maintenance

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS200610-11

Release Date: 6/10/2020 4:17:00 PM

From Naval Sea Systems Command Office of Corporate Communication Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy is mobilizing 1,629 Reservists to support aircraft carrier and submarine maintenance at its four public shipyards starting in July. This mobilization will help reduce the maintenance backlog that has developed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) authorized weather and safety leave for shipyard personnel who fell under the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) "high risk" category for extreme complications tied to the COVID-19 virus. With up to 25 percent of the production workforce unable to report to their duty location, the shipyards have not been able to execute all their work and have built a backlog of work that, if left unchecked, would result in delays in returning ships to the fleet.

The Reservists are all part of the Navy's Surge Maintenance, or SurgeMain, program. Established in 2005, SurgeMain has 2,200 enlisted Reserve Sailors and 240 Reserve officers across 75 units and was created to augment the Navy's organic civilian shipyard workforce in times of need.

SurgeMain Sailors have technical and trade backgrounds that allow them to have an immediate impact at the shipyards.

"Our Sailors are electricians, pipe fitters, sheet metal workers, plumbers, hydraulic technicians, mechanics, machinists, carpenters, welders and more," said Capt. Michael P. MacLellan, SurgeMain's national director. "Many of our people have prior experience at the shipyard where they're being sent, down to the specific shop where they will be working alongside the shipyard's organic civilian workforce."

This is the first time SurgeMain has activated this many Reservists at one time.

"We're excited to mobilize and execute the mission for which we've been training," said MacLellan. "This deployment presents a valuable opportunity for our Sailors to hone their skills, contribute to our national defense and allow us to gain valuable lessons you can only learn during mass mobilization."

SurgeMain Reservists will start arriving at their respective shipyards in phases starting in early July, with all 1,629 Sailors on-site by September 2020. They will be on one-year mobilization orders which may be extended or curtailed should circumstances change. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, will receive 267 Reservists; Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, will receive 486; Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington, will receive 676; and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, will receive 200.

"We have been methodical in how we planned this mobilization," said Vice Adm. Tom Moore, NAVSEA's commander. "We did not mobilize anyone who already works in the ship maintenance or construction field, and we worked to place people into shipyards where they have previously drilled so there was a built-in comfort factor for both the Reservist and the shipyard personnel."

Once mobilized, the Reservists will abide by all Department of Defense travel restrictions and protocols tied to minimizing the spread of COVID-19. Sailors are being assigned to their designated Reserve duty location, which is usually the shipyard closest to where they live.

Once at their designated shipyard, Sailors will abide by all COVID-19 specific policies. These include conducting a daily self-screening and undergoing a temperature check prior to accessing the shipyard, wearing all required personal protective equipment (PPE) and following the same social distancing measures as the rest of the shipyard workforce.

"We are laser-focused minimizing the spread while maximizing the mission," said MacLellan. "This mobilization will strengthen the partnership between the shipyard workforce and Reserve community and help deliver combat-ready ships back to the fleet."

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Dr. Michael Hirsh has become known for offering anecdotes and historical tales during the city of Worcesters coronavirus news briefings, often adding moments of positivity amid the pandemic.

On Thursday afternoon, Hirsh noted that it was the eve of what would have been the 91st birthday of Anne Frank, a victim of the Holocaust well known for her diary, which was published after her death and has been widely read around the world.

In recognizing the impact that Annes story and diary have had, Hirsh said that his mother met Anne when they were both in a concentration camp.

Anne was born June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany. She died in February 1945 at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

After the Frank family was discovered in hiding by Nazis, Anne was sent to a concentration camp in Holland in 1944, Hirsh said.

Thats where my mother met Anne Frank. My mother was a nurse in the infirmary in the hospital and all the people that came to the camp had to be checked out to make sure they didnt have lice or typhus or any of these other communicable diseases, Hirsh said.

Hirshs mother, Lisl Hirsh, recently turned 95. Just a few years older than Anne Frank, Hirsh said his mother was trained to be a nurse at the concentration camp.

My mom just described her as your typical kind of preteen girl. Very bouncy, Hirsh said.

Hirsh recalled that Anne believed that people were good at their root, displaying a quote on a screen: I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

I wanted to honor her and I wanted to also say that I think when times look at their bleakest, we can use a little bit of this sense of positivity that we will come through this, Hirsh said. Thats what Ive been trying to do at these conferences is try to instill what I have as I think an innate sense of optimism that we can do this.

Hirsh said he is proud of Worcester for everything residents have done to prove him right.

Paying special homage 2 my mom, Lisl Zuckerbacker Hirsh, turning 95 today. She weathered 7 years separated from her Viennese parents in Holland, the last 3 in Kamp Westerbork. Then 53 years married 2 my dad, now soldiering on alone for 14. She is wise, tough and a great mom! pic.twitter.com/WvkK3pqQOj  Michael Hirsh (@MichaelHirsh4) May 1, 2020

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A 29-year-old man allegedly stabbed a man from his neighbourhood to death using a glass bottle in New Delhis Mandir Marg on Wednesday night. The deadly attack was a fallout of an incident on Monday when the victim had objected to the suspect spitting at a public place, police said.

The murder suspect, identified as Paveen Kumar, has been arrested. Police said the incident had nothing to do with the fear of spreading the coronavirus.

According to the police, the quarrel was reported to them at around 8.30pm Wednesday from Shaheed Bhagat Singh complex. There, the police team found Kumar and the victim 26-year-old Ankit Singh injured and took them to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

A senior officer aware of the case said that Singh died during treatment, while Kumar was declared out of danger. Kumar is a network engineer while Singh was a driver with the Karnataka Sangeet Sabha.

From a preliminary enquiry we go to know that both Singh and Kumar were from the neighbourhood and knew each other. We were told that on Monday, both were sitting outside their houses when Singh saw Kumar spitting. On this, Singh objected but Kumar denied having spat. This sparked a quarrel between them and both threatened each other of dire consequences. However, local residents intervened and defused the matter, the officer said.

On Wednesday, they started an argument again. It soon turned violent and Singh attacked Kumar with a glass bottle. On this, Kumar also took a bottle and smashed it on Singh. He even stabbed him. Both men suffered injuries. Singh had suffered serious injuries to his left armpit and chest, and died of excessive bleeding. Kumar also sustained a few visible injuries, but is out of danger, the officer said.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Eish Singhal said a case of murder has been registered against Praveen Kumar and that a probe was on. Neither had previous criminal involvement, Singhal said. The DCP also said the incident had nothing to do with fear of spreading Covid-19. Enquiry so far has revealed that Singh had felt insulted by Kumars act and therefore they had the fight.
A group of vandals have spray painted a war memorial with racist graffiti just days after a Black Lives Matter protests in Australia.

The West Ulverstone War memorial in Tasmania, which honours men and women of the RAAF, Commonwealth and Allied Forces, was defaced with red spray paint on Wednesday.

On nearby concrete, the words 'f*** whites', 'f*** White Pride' and a symbol which is associated Antifa, an anti-fascist movement, were painted on the floor.

The West Ulverstone War memorial in Tasmania, which is dedicated to honour the men and women of the RAAF, Commonwealth and Allied Forces, was defaced with red spray paint on Wednesday

A Central Council worker was cleaning the racist graffiti and police were notified.

A Central Council worker was cleaning the racist graffiti and police were notified.

The malicious act comes just days after 60,000 Australians took to the streets in support of Black Lives Matter in Australia.

Images of the vandalised war memorial appeared on Ulverstone Memes with many locals expressing their anger at the graffiti.

'They should be ashamed of themselves,' one person wrote.

'Many who have served in the defence force are Aboriginal, you deface them too when you vandalise the memorial,' another commented.

'The biggest disrespect to people who fought for your freedom,' someone else wrote.
By Laman Ismayilova

Rashad Mehdiyev is one of artists whose stunning art works are admired throughout the world.

His breathtaking paintings brilliantly reflect the traditions of national and European art. Mehdiyev`s art works are distinguished by their individual and creative style, rich color of bright and vibrant colors taken from Azerbaijani miniatures.

He is the first Azerbaijani artist whose exhibition was held at the UN office in 2006. In 2012, he was presented Russian Public Fund Award.

Rashad Mehdiyev inherited his love for art from his father, a prominent artist Rafik Mehdiyev. He spent a lot of time watching his father`s works.

Mehdiyev graduated from the Baku Art College and Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Art. He also entered the Turkish University of Memar Sinan. In 2002, Rashad Mehdiyev won "Canaqqalanin gozyashlari" contest organized by TURKSOY in Turkey.

The artist's works are stored in private collections. His paintings have been successfully showcased in many European countries.

Now Rashad Mehdiyev shares his art secrets with young artists.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
India Meteorological Department (IMD) authorities on Thursday declared the onset of the southwest monsoon over parts of south Konkan and south-central Maharashtra, but Mumbai missed its date.

IMD said the monsoon onset line passes through Harnai in Ratnagiri district and Solapur district in southwest Maharashtra.

The conditions are favourable for further advancement of monsoon in some more parts of Maharashtra over the next 48 hours. A warning for heavy rainfall has been issued, said KS Hosalikar, deputy director-general, western region, IMD.

Independent meteorologists, however, said present weather conditions over southern Maharashtra were not conducive enough to declare the onset of monsoon.

Monsoon winds are yet to reach Konkan and south-central Maharashtra since the near-surface wind direction over these areas is from the north-west instead of required west or southwest. The wind pattern over a region needs to be seriously considered while declaring the monsoons progression, said Akshay Deoras, meteorologist and Ph.D. researcher at the department of meteorology, University of Reading, the United Kingdom (UK).

Earlier this week, the IMD authorities had predicted that the onset of monsoon is expected in Mumbai on Thursday (June 11).

But the progression of monsoon towards Mumbai has been delayed because of a slowdown in the weather system over the Bay of Bengal, said an IMD official.

Mumbai and its suburbs recorded light overnight showers between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

South Mumbai recorded 1.1 millimetres (mm) of rainfall, while the suburbs received 5.6 mm.

IMD has predicted heavy rainfall in south Konkan between Friday and Sunday, along with downpour at isolated places in Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar over the weekend.

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A paramilitary policeman stands guard at the entrance to the European Union embassy in Beijing on Dec. 13, 2011. (David Gray/Reuters)

EU Accuses China, Russia of Running COVID-19 Disinformation Campaigns

The European Union (EU) on June 10 accused China and Russia of spreading disinformation about the CCP virus pandemic.

In a report published Wednesday, Brussels said the nations ran disinformation campaigns inside the EU about COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly referred to as the novel coronavirus.

Foreign actors and certain third countries, in particular Russia and China, have engaged in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighborhood, and globally, the European Commission said in a statement.

The European Commissions comments underscore the blocs concerns about the prevalence of misleading news on COVID-19 and the attempts by foreign actors to influence Europe. It also marks the first time the EU has publicly named Beijing as a source of disinformation.

Such coordination [by third country actors] reveals an intention to use false or misleading information to cause harm, the new strategy paper read.

The blocs executive authority said in the report that the two nations sought to simultaneously enhance their own image and undermine democratic debate by running disinformation campaigns about the CCP virus.

The European Commissions Vice President for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova, said during a news conference in Brussels Wednesday that disinformation harms both the health of our democracies, and the health of our citizens.

A European Union flag flies in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on Dec. 3, 2019. (Aris Oikonomou/AFP via Getty Images)

It would be too dangerous not to act, Jourova said. It can negatively impact the economy and undermine the response of the public authorities and therefore weaken the health measures.

I believe if we have evidence we should not shy away from naming and shaming, she continued.

What we also witnessed is a surge in narratives undermining our democracies and in effect our response to the crisis, for example the claim there are secret U.S. biological laboratories on former Soviet republics has been spread by both pro-Kremlin outlets, as well as Chinese officials and state media.

I strongly believe that a geopolitically strong EU can only materialize if we are assertive, Jourova added.

She also urged online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google to provide monthly reports on their fight against disinformation, as part of wider measures to stem the spread of misleading content.

The report states that there has been an unprecedented infodemic that has fed on peoples most basic anxieties, as the CCP virus pandemic has meant more people have been socially confined, and used social media to obtain information.

Given the novelty of the virus, gaps in knowledge have proven to be an ideal breeding ground for false or misleading narratives to spread, the commission said.

Reuters contributed to this report.
The 19 finance ministers of the euro area are looking for a new president, at a time when the region is facing tough negotiations over a 750 billion euro ($851 billion) fiscal plan to help it recover from the coronavirus crisis.

The Eurogroup, which brings together the finance chiefs of countries that share the euro, will welcome applications from Thursday afternoon in a process that's due to be concluded by July 9.

It comes after Mario Centeno, the current Eurogroup president, resigned from the Portuguese government, where he had served as a finance minister since October 2015. Being a sitting finance minister is a precondition to serve as Eurogroup chief.

Even before the official process begins, there are three names being mentioned as potential candidates: Spain's finance minister Nadia Calvino, Luxembourg's finance chief Pierre Gramegna and, from Ireland, Paschal Donohoe.

Irrespective of who applies for the job, the decision comes at time of division within the region.

Some European countries are pushing for a bold and unprecedented fiscal stimulus, whereas other, more fiscally-conservative countries, are wary of taking on too much risk.

This split is evident in ongoing discussions about a 750 billion euro plan to prop up the wider European Union amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, proposed last month that the amount should be raised in financial markets and distributed to member states, so they can deal with the economic shock from the crisis. It plans to disburse 500 billion euros as grants and 250 billion euros as loans.
Australia under pressure from China, its largest trading partner, which has targeted education and agriculture.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government would not be intimidated or give into coercion when asked on Thursday about Chinas squeeze on Australian exports.

Diplomatic tensions between China and Australia have worsened after Australia called for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the coronavirus, angering Beijing.

The World Health Assembly last month voted to support an independent review into the pandemic after lobbying by Australia and the European Union.

On Tuesday, Chinas Ministry of Education said students should reconsider choosing to study in Australia, threatening Australias fourth-largest export industry, international education, worth 38 billion Australian dollars ($26 billion) annually.

We are an open-trading nation, mate, but Im never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes, Morrison told local radio station 2GB on Thursday.

China has, in recent weeks, banned Australian beef imports and imposed tariffs on Australian barley.

Ridiculous assertion

The warning for students followed a similar warning last week from Beijing for Chinese tourists to avoid Australia.

In both cases, officials in Beijing said the warnings were due to racist attacks against Asians during the pandemic.





Thats rubbish. Its a ridiculous assertion, and its rejected. Thats not a statement thats been made by the Chinese leadership, Morrison said in a separate interview on 3AW.

Australia lodged a protest with the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing, and the Chinese embassy in Canberra, about Chinas travel and student warnings, said a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The Australian government rejected the assertion it was unsafe to visit or study in Australia, a statement said.

Australia provides the best education and tourism products in the world, Morrison told 2GB. The ability for Chinese nationals to be able to choose to come to Australia (has) substantively been their decision. And Im very confident in the attractiveness of our product.

The coalition representing Australias elite universities, the G8, has said international education was being used as a political pawn.

China is Australias largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth 235 billion Australian dollars ($163 billion) a year.
The Turkish city of Istanbul has in recent months turned from a popular tourist hub into a hub for returning people from around the world. Ukraine also took advantage of this hub. In just one week, 2,500 citizens returned to Ukraine via Istanbul. Pictures from Istanbul airport in those days resembled the apocalyptic plots of a film about Armageddon. In a constantly changing situation, in the absence of normal transport services, Ukrainian diplomats in Turkey were able to provide the most necessary support for Ukrainians in the metropolis with a population of 15 million. We talked about this and much more with Ukraine's Consul General in Istanbul Oleksandr Gaman.

Question: On June 5, first Ukrainian citizens arrived in Istanbul after a 2.5-month break (from March 21) related to the suspension of flights due to the global coronavirus pandemic. You have previously talked about the process of preparing for this flight, obtaining permits. Please tell me how many people arrived, whether they will undergo 14-day quarantine, whether they were tested for COVID-19 at the airport.

Answer: A total of 81 people arrived. About half of them are patients, all the rest are accompanying persons. A little more people were to arrive, but unfortunately, some citizens who were going for treatment refused at the last moment on the recommendation of Ukrainian doctors due to deteriorating health.

Upon arrival, the coronavirus test material was taken from all people, both patients and accompanying persons. Some patients arrived with PCR tests from Ukraine. But they had tests taken again, free of charge. After that, all visitors were placed for seven-day observation in clinics or hotels with which clinics have an agreement. This is an unequivocal demand of the Turkish side. The observation period was reduced from 14 to 7 days. According to the results of tests, there were no Ukrainians infected with COVID-19.

This flight was originally intended only for the return of Ukrainians. But many of our citizens were already in the final stages of obtaining permits to enter Turkey for treatment at the beginning of May, so we contacted SkyUp and received a positive response. Moreover, the airline provided tickets to citizens traveling for treatment free of charge and to accompanying persons at a discount.

Question: Is treatment in Turkey limited to 90 days of visa-free stay?

Answer: Yes, at first it was 90 days of visa-free stay. But someone, for example, during a bone marrow transplant, needs to stay longer. These patients and persons accompanying them will apply for residence permits - Turkish law provides for this. We assist citizens in this and assist them in contacting the local migration service, although this is not the responsibility of the Consulate General.

Question: How many people returned to Ukraine on this flight?

Answer: A total of 151 people. These are both citizens of Ukraine and foreigners who had grounds for entry and stay. Ukrainian citizens are mostly tourists who are stranded here, Ukrainians who worked here but lost their jobs due to coronavirus.

Question: Turkey is one of the few countries with which transport services remained in place, say a ferry between the ports of Chornomorsk and Karasu. How actively did Ukrainians use the ferry service?

Answer: We have been actively using this type of transport since early April. The first trip took place on April 3, after an agreement was reached with Ukrferry that the company was ready to take passengers, as this ferry is focused on the transportation of goods and carriers. The Consulate General in Istanbul organized nine transfer trips with 20 to 35 passengers from Istanbul to Karasu (over 200 km). The transfer from Ankara was provided by the Embassy of Ukraine and the one from Antalya was provided by our consulate. Transportation was complicated by restrictions on movement between provinces and cities, as well as curfew, which was imposed in Turkey on weekends (ferry runs on Saturdays). Therefore, all Ukrainian diplomatic missions helped issue permits for trips to the port of Karasu.

Question: Before the complete closure of the air service, Istanbul has become a hub for returning citizens of many countries, including Ukraine, home. It was a hot time: citizens were sometimes forced to stay in the transit zone for several days, sometimes flights were postponed. How many Ukrainian citizens managed to return home in that period? What do you remember the most?

Answer: Istanbul then became, in fact, the only way back for Ukrainian citizens who were stranded in Turkey or third countries. From March 20 to 28, SkyUp made 12 such flights. In total, more than 2,500 Ukrainians flew out. Each flight was almost 100% full. The most memorable one was the last flight. It was to be carried out by midnight from March 27 to 28, because according to a decree of the President of Turkey, the air service was completely stopped after March 27. We and all the passengers were already at the airport. But the flight was delayed because the plane was late from the previous flight. The airline later reported that the Turkish side had canceled the flight because the plane did not have time to take off before the start of the ban. And we had more than 200 citizens waiting at the airport. We tried to reassure them, although we did not yet know if that flight would take place. We woke up the city and airport management in the middle of the night to get permission for the flight. The plane arrived at about three in the morning and took off at five. These four hours of waiting and excitement were the most memorable. We are very grateful to the Turkish side for assistance in resolving this issue.

Question: You combine the position of Ukraine's consul general in Istanbul and Ukraine's representative at the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. The BSEC's work slowed down after Russia's temporary occupation of the Crimean peninsula and the start of the war in the east. What is happening now at the BSEC?

Answer: The situation in the BSEC is not the best now as many initiatives and projects have not been implemented since 2014 due to the temporary occupation of Crimea. It is no secret that Russia is making every effort to legalize its aggression against Ukraine and the temporary occupation of the Crimean peninsula. Because of these attempts, many former projects simply cannot be implemented. For example, they try to include their representatives in various commissions, to encourage business to work with Crimea, to hold various cultural and business events. The only goal is to legalize their illegal actions. We have another goal - to inform the BSEC Secretariat and member countries about the real situation in Crimea. At the same time, we consider the BSEC an important platform for defending the interests of our state in the Black Sea region and the development of economic relations with member states.

Question: I remember that last year, thanks to the efforts of the embassy and the consulate general, we managed to prevent the holding of several such events

Answer: Russia uses all means But we have a good ally - Turkey, its leadership. Therefore, it is possible to counteract the actions of the Russian side. As for last year's quasi-forum, it is thanks to the support of the Turkish authorities as well as the Crimean Tatar community in Istanbul that we are able to prevent them from being held. As for the other so-called "forum," it was held in conditions of strict "conspiracy," even without a public announcement of the venue.

Question: Russia also opposed the independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in every possible way. The Consulate General has close ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Do you maintain the same active communication?

Answer: In fact, relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate are very good. The independent Ukrainian church has always been Ukraine's dream and need. Representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate are very experienced diplomats, it is always a pleasure to communicate with them, and we do this quite often.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate actively supports the Ukrainian community in Turkey. Several years ago, permission was granted to hold church services in the Ukrainian language, which became an extremely important event for local Ukrainians. Every year, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew personally holds a service commemorating the victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine. It has already become a good tradition to place a Ukrainian Easter egg tree, created by our community of Istanbul, on the territory of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on Easter. It is admired by people who visit the Patriarchate on holidays. And it remains in the memorable photos.

Question: Tell us about the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities. How many are there? How do you interact with them?

Answer: Five Ukrainian societies are officially registered in the consular district: two in Istanbul, two in Izmir and one in Bursa. With our assistance, six Ukrainian schools are operating under societies. There are two Saturday schools at the Ukrainian Mutual Aid Society in Istanbul: one each in the European and Asian parts of the city. The Taras Shevchenko International Ukrainian Lyceum operates at the Ukrainian Cultural Society on a daily basis, and there is also a Saturday school at each society in Bursa and Izmir. The number of children attending Saturday schools is growing over time. When they began to create them, there were more pessimists than optimists. I hope that the new school year will begin in the fall, and no coronavirus will interfere.

As for the Crimean Tatar communities in Turkey, they are quite active in cooperating with the Consulate General, as well as between themselves and Ukrainian societies. We all remember our joint campaign "United with a Flag" - #LiberateCrimea - which took place last June and was dedicated to the fifth anniversary of Russia's occupation of Crimea. At the initiative of the Crimean Tatars of Istanbul, several rallies took place in the city center, and their purpose is to draw attention to the issue of the occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine and Russia's armed aggression against our state. And we are infinitely grateful for this activity to our Crimean Tatar friends.

Question: You have been working in Turkey for almost three years. What is your general impression of the host country? How did Turkey impress or surprise you?

Answer: Turkey is unknown rather than known to Ukrainians. This is despite the large number of our fellow citizens who go on summer vacation. During such a "lazy" vacation, little can be learned. In fact, Turkey is a country with a unique history and monuments that you will not find anywhere else in the world. The country is very diverse and unique. And, of course, our countries have a lot in common.

I really like the friendliness of the Turks. I'm talking about all levels of communication. At first, when I learned to drive a car in Istanbul, I often wandered, asking for directions. Ordinary citizens, despite the language barrier, tried their best to help, explain, show the way.

If we talk about practical things, the local style of doing business, the ability to work quickly and efficiently is impressive. And the first thing that catches your eye is Turkish roads. High quality for a long time. As an experienced driver, I would like to see such roads in Ukraine. I am glad that we already have some experience of cooperation with Turkish road construction companies in Ukraine.

Question: As far as I know, you contribute to the creation of Ukrainian audio guides. We already have two  at Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Are you planning to create some more?

Answer: Now, together with volunteers from Guide-UA, we are completing work on the launch of an audio guide at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul. Ahead are other famous monuments of Turkey not only in Istanbul, but also in Izmir (Ephesus) and Canakkale (Troy).

Olga Budnyk, Ankara
STATEN ISLAND N.Y. -- Providing you with the latest headlines to start out your day.

Multimedia journalist, Alex Salmieri talks about the Department of Educations plans for reopening school in the fall, a blood type might boost immunity to COVID-19, and Flagship Brewerys way of handling the pandemic.

Watch A.M. with Alex to find out more about todays top headlines.

Are you on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak? If so we are looking to hear from you. Email asalmieri@siadvance.com
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- As industrialized economies start to see Covid-19 cases decline, the threat the coronavirus poses to much of Africa will soon become front and center. This is certainly not the first time a disease or virus has drawn attention to the vulnerabilities of health systems in the global south. However, the truly worldwide nature of the Covid-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to directly compare response capacities across all countries, and makes a strong case for massive investments in critical segments of human capital across Africa.

As an underprepared world grapples with the crisis, one thing is clear: A global pandemic requires a global response. Scientists in Geneva and Atlanta must work seamlessly with health officials in Gaborone and Addis Ababa, and they all need highly skilled experts running their responses. For this to happen, investments in heath and STEM training must transcend borders. Investing in human capital in African countries would increase local capacity to respond to crises and add to the worldwide talent pool, which would benefit all nations.

Africas overstretched health-care systems demonstrate the clear need for more STEM and health-care graduates and workers. The continent, for example, carries nearly a quarter of global disease burden, yet is home to only about 3% of the worlds health-care workers. In a country like Zambia, where there is one doctor for every 10,000 people, even a modest uptick in the number of domestically trained physicians would be a significant improvement. Similarly, the Africa CDC estimates that the continent will need 15 million test kits for Covid-19 in the next three months alone, yet there are not enough trained laboratory personnel to process that many tests. Investing in African STEM and heath-care education would enhance regional capacity to respond to the current crisis and better prepare the region and the world for future pandemics.

Of course, in the African context, human capital is one input in a system with many other important variables. Some African countries have fewer intensive-care beds than youd find in one Manhattan hospital. Once a Covid-19 vaccine is developed, distributing it might be hindered by problems with access to power and limits to cold supply chain logistics. However, a strong health-care and STEM workforce is an insurance policy without which all other investments are at risk. And it is well within the ability of African countries to achieve.

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Industrialized countries, which already draw on global STEM talent to staff their health system, would also benefit from such an expanded investment. Data show that 54% of STEM degrees issued at a masters-degree level in the U.S. are to foreign-born students. Approximately 20% of health-care workers in the U.S. are foreign-born, and some 12% of those are from African countries. These professionals are so critical that earlier in the pandemic, Boston-area hospitals called on the State Department to resume processing visas for international health-care workers. Simply put, the U.S. depends on a steady stream of health and STEM talent from low-income countries. Directing resources to science and technology studies in African countries  effectively expanding quality domestic education there  would be a welcome complement to this mobility to the U.S. and elsewhere.

While policymakers in low-income countries, understandably, see this global mobility as brain drain, Covid-19 has been a strong reminder that science is borderless, and that the world needs more brain circulation, not less. In efforts to develop a vaccine, U.S. companies are working in partnership with German firms, and Indian researchers are partnering with British researchers. In testing, a British company is producing a $1 at-home Covid-19 test in Dakar, Senegal, in partnership with a Senegalese subsidiary of a French research institute. This initiative will produce up to 4 million tests a year in Dakar. Increasing the number of globally trained and connected Africans in STEM and health would encourage similar cross-border collaborations, dramatically improving the capacity of African countries and bringing diversity to the global response.

More broadly, investments in STEM human capital throughout Africa can build the continents manufacturing sector while expanding its capacity to contribute to resilience in global supply chains. With the right industrial engineers, biotech investors and material scientists in place, there can be a future where African countries supply critical health products such as personal protective equipment and ventilators to the region and the world.

This is an appeal to bilateral and multilateral donors, philanthropists, impact investors and corporations to be intentional about human capital, which requires collaborating and unlocking private capital at the intersection of the silos of education, finance and health, and possibly financial inclusion and livelihoods. Innovations on pay-for-success models could, for example, incentivize a Johns Hopkins University graduate from Zambia to return to Lusaka, while respecting her autonomy and avoiding paternalism. Success is when Zambia-focused donor funds dont have to choose between training 500 community health workers and this one expert out of Johns Hopkins. Countries need both.

There is no shortage of places where resources should be directed. Former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has the mandate as the goodwill ambassador for the World Health Organization on health workforce issues. Across the African continent, STEM and health-care students are typically at the very top of their cohort, and the universities that train them, including Ghanas Ashesi University and Ivory Coasts International University of Grand-Bassam, are constrained by financing. The African Academy of Sciences could use more resources. So too could many global universities keen to enroll qualified African STEM students, but struggling with the dilemma of balancing their needs for revenue with the imperative of diversity. (This last challenge is the reason I founded 8B Education Investments, a financial technology company specialized in financing, connecting and mentoring African students in leading global universities.)

The Covid-19 pandemic can be the watershed moment for how collaboration among public and private stakeholders can put countries on track to recovery. In a crisis where one countrys preparedness and response directly affect health outcomes in another, we must be concerned with each others health-care systems. Investing in health-care and STEM human capital in Africa would not only directly benefit countries on the continent, but also add to the global capacity to fight the next pandemic.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Lydiah Kemunto Bosire is the founder and chief executive officer of 8B Education Investments, a financial technology company specializing in financing, connecting and mentoring African students in leading global universities. She was formerly at the United Nations and the World Bank.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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A leading Labor politician has come under fire after accusing Gladys Berejiklian of killing koalas and kangaroos through her response to the bushfire crisis.

New South Wales opposition leader Jodi McKay on Wednesday said the state's premier was responsible for the death of native animals during the unprecedented 2019/20 bushfire season.

'The situation with the bushfires was so distressing and it wasnt just koalas she killed, there were wallabies and kangaroos and wombats,' Ms McKay said in an interview with comedian Jordan Shanks for his YouTube channel Friendlyjordies.

Gladys Berejiklian has been on the receiving end of a bitter political barb by the state's opposition leader Jodi McKay - who accused the NSW Premier of killing animals with her response to the bushfire crisis

The comments drew condemnation from Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Sydney radio host Ben Fordham.

'To blame Gladys with the death of koalas or wildlife is desperate,' Mr Barilaro told 2GB.

'People can criticise me, Ive been a bit of a distraction at times for this government, but Gladys from the fires, she stood tall every day  right through the crisis, into the recovery, then into the COVID crisis and now into the recovery.

'Hasnt had a day off, mate. Ill defend her every day of the week and I wont accept that sort of narrative from someone like Jodi McKay.'

Ms McKay declined to comment to Daily Mail Australia on the backlash, but said she would not be apologising for her words.

Fordham meanwhile said the state Labor leader should be held accountable for her comments.

NEW SOUTH WALES OPPOSITION LEADER'S EXPLOSIVE ACCUSATIONS ABOUT STATE PREMIER Interviewer: The statistic that really sits in my mind as soon is as the Labor government was un-elected the amount of land clearing went 88-fold McKay: Yeah they changed the biodiversity laws - it's shocking. Interviewer: Would you be able to canvas between us the difference between Labor and their environmental protection policies and Liberal? McKay: Well I think you just have to look at what we value - we have always as a party valued the environment and focused on making sure biodiversity mattered in this state. Ms McKay has declined to comment to Daily Mail Australia on the backlash, but said she would not be apologising for the interview We can't just have wanton destruction and that's what we've seen under this government. They've put this under the guise of "we're gonna make this better for farmers" and that's how they've managed to get this through. But many people in rural New South Wales want a government that is responsive to the environment as well as rural communities. We should be valuing our biodiversity. The situation out of the bushfires was so distressing and it wasn't just koalas she killed - there were wallabies and kangaroos and wombats. There is $1million they [the state Liberal government] put up for wildlife carers after the fires - $400,000 has gone to create two bureaucrat positions and about $20,000 has actually gone to help wildlife carers. Advertisement

Addressing his listeners on Thursday morning, he called Ms McKay's words 'appalling' and 'completely out of line'.

'I know politics is a dirty game but I think NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay would regret her words,' he said.

'To suggest that Gladys Berejiklian has blood on her hands over the death of native animals is an appalling thing to say. Jodi, I dont know what you were thinking. It was a bushfire.'

Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Thursday morning she had 'nothing to add' to Ms McKay's comments.

'I'm used to those types of criticisms,' she said.
Senator Tom Cotton has returned to the pages of the New York Times, running an ad bashing Joe Biden a week after his op-ed calling for the military to crack down on riots caused newsroom uproar.

The new ad from Cotton's affiliated political action committee appeared on the politics section of the Times website this week, targeting Biden as 'too confused to lead.'

'While we were concerned that the woke mob would stifle debate, it's admirable that the New York Times will run these ads from Senator Cotton's PAC,' an adviser to the Arkansas Republican told the Washington Free Beacon.

The adviser added that that the senator and his team are 'grateful to the New York Times for sharing Cotton's message.

Senator Tom Cotton has returned to the pages of the New York Times, running an ad bashing Joe Biden after the publication was thrown into uproar by his op-ed

The new ad from Cotton's affiliated political action committee appeared on the politics section of the Times website this week

The ad campaign bashes Biden as 'too confused to lead'

On Sunday, James Bennet, the New York Times editorial page editor responsible for publishing Cotton's column advocating using the military to quell violence, resigned.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered a scathing criticism of the Times and its decision to apologize for publishing the op-ed after backlash from journalists in its own newsroom.

'One of our nation's most storied newspapers just had its intellectual independence challenged by an angry mob, and they folded like a house of cards,' McConnell said in a Senate floor speech on Wednesday.

The New York Times had come under fire after it published an Cotton's op-ed on June 3, titled 'Send in the Troops.'

Former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks about the unrest across the country from Philadelphia City Hall on June 2, 2020, in Philadelphia

'While we were concerned that the woke mob would stifle debate, it's admirable that the New York Times will run these ads from Senator Cotton's PAC,' an adviser to Cotton said

Cotton wrote that an 'overwhelming show of force' would restore order after protests spread across the country, some of which turned violent.

'It's past time to support local law enforcement with federal authority,' Cotton wrote.

Bennet and a representative for Cotton could not be reached for comment.

The column drew criticism from inside and outside the New York Times newsroom as some readers and journalists interpreted the column as advocating actions that would put protesters and reporters in danger.

Initially, New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger stood behind publishing the column.

'I believe in the principle of openness to a range of opinions, even those we may disagree with, and this piece was published in that spirit,' he said in an email to the staff on Thursday, according to a New York Times account.

The article was initially defended by publisher AG Sulzberger (left) who said the paper aimed to share 'views from across the spectrum'. The newspaper's opinion page editor James Bennet (right) also defended the decision to publish. 'To me, debating influential ideas openly, rather than letting them go unchallenged, is far more likely to help society reach the right answers,' he said

Tom Cotton's op-ed was eviscerated on Twitter by the New York Times staffers and many readers declared their intent to stop reading the publication altogether

By Sunday, Sulzberger said in a note sent to staff that was seen by Reuters: 'Last week we saw a significant breakdown in our editing processes, not the first weve experienced in recent years.'

The protests for racial justice first erupted 13 days ago after video footage emerged showing George Floyd, a 46-year old unarmed black man in handcuffs, lying face down on a Minneapolis street on May 25 as a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Bennet will be replaced by Katie Kingsbury. Bennet had been the editorial page editor since 2016. He had helped expand the range of voices the paper published and explore new formats, according to Sulzberger's note sent to staff.

Before joining the New York Times as an editor, Bennet was the editor-in-chief of news magazine The Atlantic. He was in the running for the top job at The New York Times when Executive Editor Dean Baquet steps down, according to newsroom sources.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 05:48:14|Editor: huaxia

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the launch of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019, at the UN headquarters in New York, on March 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Xie E)

"In responding to COVID-19 and all our current global challenges -- from climate change to terrorism and disarmament -- we require unity and solidarity," said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.



UNITED NATIONS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic must be a wake-up call for greater multilateral economic cooperation and health care solidarity.

"COVID-19 is exposing the fragility of our world. Despite the enormous scientific and technological advances of recent decades, a microscopic virus has brought us to our knees," Guterres said in his video message to the Forum of Small States.

"But the fragility exposed by the virus is not limited to our health systems. It affects all areas of our world and our institutions," he said.

"The fragility of coordinated global efforts is highlighted by our failed response to the climate crisis. The fragility of our nuclear disarmament regime is shown by the ever-increasing risk of proliferation. The fragility of our web protocols is laid bare by constant breaches in cybersecurity, as cyber warfare is also already happening -- in a lawless international environment," the UN chief added.

"COVID-19 must be a wake-up call," he said. "It is time for an end to this hubris. Our deep feelings of powerlessness must lead to greater humility."

Speaking of the global response to the pandemic, the secretary-general said that "we have seen such a widespread and damaging spread of the pandemic in large part because our multilateral system is not strong enough."

An airport authority worker pulls a consignment of medical equipment donation for COVID-19 that was donated by Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations to Kenya, at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, March 24, 2020. (Xinhua/John Okoyo)

"In responding to COVID-19 and all our current global challenges -- from climate change to terrorism and disarmament -- we require unity and solidarity," Guterres said.

"Countries have adopted different strategies instead of a coherent international-led response. There is a real risk of a second wave," the secretary-general warned.

"That is why we must insist that no country is safe and healthy until all countries are safe and healthy," he said.

"And for that we need a strong, coordinated and coherent multilateral response based on solidarity. Unity can ensure that treatment and testing are universally available and that first responders and essential workers have adequate protection," the UN chief noted.

Guterres welcomed the debt relief initiatives by the Group of 20 (G20), while noting that the G20 debt moratorium "only covers the least developed countries."

Municipal workers disinfect the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, May 28, 2020. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/Xinhua)

"Debt relief must be extended to all developing and middle-income countries that request forbearance because they have no access to financial markets," he said.

"Solidarity is also needed for building back better," he said, while noting that "returning to the systems that created the fragility of our current world is out of the question."

He said that during recent weeks, he has been arguing strongly that "all our efforts must go towards building more equal, inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies and societies."

"Strengthened multilateral cooperation is also essential in supporting economic recovery around the world," he said.

The UN chief called on the international community to "reject the influence of nationalism, xenophobia and racism and fight attempts to weaken multilateral institutions."

"We need to reaffirm the importance of international law and a rules-based global order. And we need a united Security Council to fully assume its responsibility as a guarantor of international peace and security," said the secretary-general. 
Massachusetts three casinos  MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park  are working to reopen with Encore using June 29 as its target with the understanding that the date could change.

Each operator also told state regulators Thursday that theyll need at least two weeks to reconfigure the gambling floor to spread out slot machines and ensure gamblers at table games are far enough away from each other to insure social distancing. Employees will also have to be brought back and retrained.

MGM Springfield stayed away from a specific target date, only saying it is working to welcome its guests.

And, as Massachusetts Gaming Commission Interim Executive Director Karen Wells said Thursday, two weeks from June 29 is just a few days from now, Monday June 15, giving the casinos just a few days to find out the specifics of how their operations will have to change in the COVID-19 environment. And Massachusetts Gaming Commissioners worked toward a reopening plan, but didnt finalize it Thursday.

The commissions focus is on social distancing, health, hygiene, safety and reporting measures for each casino.

Happening now: The MGC is holding a public meeting to discuss casino opening guidelines and procedures in anticipation of transitioning to Phase 3 of the Commonwealth's re-opening plan.



Review draft guidelines in today's commissioners' packet: https://t.co/WBBeCyvC1G  MA Gaming Commission (@MassGamingComm) June 11, 2020

The three casinos have been closed since March 15 with most employees furloughed.

Meanwhile casinos are opening up all over the country. In neighboring Connecticut, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe reopened Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun at the beginning of this month. Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode island is open by invitation only.Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, New York, is still closed.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission said Thursday it needs more guidance from the state about the need for six-foot distancing between slot machines and if thats dependent on on other barriers being in place or if that distance can be lessened of other barriers are not in place.

Commissioners reached a consensus on requiring Plexiglas barriers for blackjack and for similar games, but stopped short of requiring the shields for poker, craps and roulette because the shields  common in groceries and retail locations  might prove too cumbersome to use effectively.

There was also much discussion of mask requirements and if hand sanitizer should be mandatory or just available. Commissioners discussed the dangers of handling cards and passing them back and fort.. What about chips handled and lost by one gambler getting paid out as winnings to the next gambler almost immediately?

What we are trying to do is to layer as many provisions as are feasible in order to minimize the overall risk, said commissioner Enrique Zuniga. We are not going to bring down the risk to zero. Lets face it. Thats true for every other industry. What we are left with is the workability of each precaution.

Brian Gullbrants, president of Encore Boston Harbor, said said Encores already started making prepartions with plans to install barriers on all regular blackjack games but not on other games and not on the casino 's high roller games.

MGM Springfield executives said theyd planned to install Plexiglas at some, but no all games so it would be the patrons choice whether to play with or without a barrier.

Even under the most strict rules under consideration by the commission, slot gaming positions at MGM Springfield would be reduced to 589 out of 1,768 before the restrictions. That would allow for two disabled machines between each operating machine.

Allowing for only one disable machine, MGM Springfield would have room for 884 slot players out of 1,768.

Slot capacity at Encore goes to 935 out of 2,804 with two disabled machines between each operating machine. Its 1,402 out of 2,804 at Encore every other machine to be disabled.

Slot gaming positions at Plainridge are calculated at approx. 440 out of 1,320 allowing for two disabled machines between each operating machine. A six foot minimum distancing between slot machines allows for a total of approx. 385 slot positions. There is room for 660 out of 1,320, operating machines with which every other machine to be disabled, according to the gaming commission.

The commission is considering reducing the number of roulette players at MGM Springfield to 24 if there are three players maximum per roulette table but there could be as few as nine roulette players if there are just three allowed per row in order to keep them distanced.

There was also discussion about how how best to pay off winners. Should cash be counted into the hand? On to a table or surface?

Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Timothy Sheehan, the city;'s chief development officer, said theyve been kept up to date on MGM Springfields reopening plans.

Sheehan said MGM Springfield is working with an epidemiologist, making sure its precautions mesh with the latest science .
MILFORD  Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, referred to as a full-time Army of one in the fight against COVID-19 by host speaker Trish Pearson, stood alongside members of Connecticut Rotary clubs at a distribution of personal protective equipment at the Rotary Pavilion at Fowler Field.

To all the first responders, thank you for what you do and the risk you take to keep our community safe, Bysiewicz said.

You learn a lot about people when you see how they respond in a crisis. Ill tell you, that in Connecticut, we have just seen this incredible of outpouring of generosity, Bysiewicz said. Weve seen people donating whatever amounts of money they can to our two food banks and food pantries across our state.

However, Bysiewicz said, sadly, we didnt have a national stockpile, or a state stockpile of PPE.

But the good news is because we are a state of innovators and entrepreneurs, now we have a tremendous amount of companies that have stepped up to make all types of PPE. That has been amazing to see, she said.

Pearson, from the Orange Rotary Club, and a past district governor, was master of ceremonies.

We are here today to say thank you to the front-line health care workers, providers and first responders, also to all the essential workers in our state, said Pearson, who joked that she joined Rotary out of a sense of guilt because they just give and give.

We recognize a need, we react, respond and repeat. That is what Rotarians do, she said.

Pearson said that, throughout the state, Rotary Clubs mobilized to provide masks, gowns and face shields, as well as donating food to stock shelves at food pantries, soup kitchens and childrens food programs.

Rotarians are people of action, Pearson said. Today we are distributing our third round of PPE to first responders and essential workers. These are the folks that have kept us safe. They answer the 911 calls, and they deliver food and other essential items.

While the boxes totaling 23,000 masks were being given to Rotarians to bring to their towns for distribution, Bysiewicz said, Thank you for taking this important step making sure that everyone has the PPE that they need. We all have so much more appreciation for what our grocery store clerks, our health care workers, our postal and delivery workers, and our pharmacy workers go through every day. Im honored to witness this amazing generosity.

Stephanie Philips, a past president and current assistant governor of Stratford Rotary, spoke of one example of one hand helping another, with unlimited impact.

Four years ago, we donated as a club $5,000 to Access Independent Inc. in Stratford, a group that is dedicated to helping handicapped people have an independent life and to give them job changing skills so that they may live a life independently, Philips said.

With that money, Access Independent Inc. purchased several 3D printers to help it during budgetary cuts. Starting several months ago, the group used those printers to make 5,000 face shields.

Our first ambition was to produce enough face shields to provide for the smaller agencies, but it got bigger and bigger, said Bernie Richfield, board president of Access Independent Inc. The media picked it up and spread the word. We got inundated after that. Nurses kept calling us from hospitals, that were so tied up in red tape that they (other organizations) couldnt get equipment to them.

Access Independent Inc. was able to supply several hospitals with face shields, including the VA Medical Center in West Haven, Bridgeport Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Richfield said: In the height of COVID-19 in New York they were losing 500 people a day, and there was a valve on these oxygen machines at Mount Sinai that were being overused and starting to fall apart. They needed them replaced quickly. Companies told them it would take weeks to replace these valves. Somehow, they found out about us.

We redesigned it, made a sample, and they drove up and got the sample, tested it, and it worked, Richfield said. We were able to produce 80 for them over a three-day period and help that hospital save lives.

Richfield said there was a period of about 18 days where the virus was at its peak in the area and they worked 24/7 producing the shields. As quickly as we got them together, they went out. It was a great thing to do, Richfield said. We felt that we were contributing something at a time critical, particularly to the smaller agencies. It was a wonderful experience for us. It wasnt anything more than there was a need and we had to supply that need.

Philips said the Rotary donated another $3,500 and Access Independent purchased three more 3D printers and the plastic and material to increase their capacity to make face guards. They are now providing these face shields not only to first responders and hospitals, but have also expanded to giving to barber shops, salons, restaurants and small business owners.

Jack Solomon, District 7980 governor, pointed to the generosity of Ted Rossi of East Hampton.

Ted provided an amazing donation of 23,000 face masks for our clubs to distribute to organizations in their towns, said Solomon, the leader of the 57 Rotary Clubs and 2,000 Rotarians in the four southern counties of the state. The total amount that CT Rotary Clubs have raised and spent to combat the effects of the pandemic has now surpassed, in just three months, $500,000.

When Rotary understood the dangers of the coronavirus, each club and its members quickly identified needs, came up with solutions, and followed through, he said. Rotarians pride themselves on being people of action and Im proud to say that they have earned that title through this crisis.

Solomon said they also work to provide food for those who need it at food banks, food pantries and shelters and Rotary saw the problems facing front-line workers, so the club obtained and provided PPE to more than 50 nursing homes, 40 groups of first responders, nine visiting nursing associations, plus hospitals, libraries and child care facilities.

So to the 2,000 Rotarians in my district and to all 4,000 Rotarians in this state, I want to say thank you for all that you have done and for all that you are going to do to make our communities stronger and healthier during the pandemic and beyond.

Marc Glass, the governor-elect from District 7890, the states four northern counties, spoke about the call to arms.

We have 57 clubs in our district plus western Massachusetts, with about 1,775 members, Glass said Our members are doing food pantries, and virtual calls to our nursing home to see the people that cant receive visitors. We are going to continue to do what we do for Rotary and to battle COVID-19, which we hope will pass soon.

Jason Chiodo, vice president for business development for the Stratford Visiting Nurses Association, said they received both masks and face shields, through Rotary. I dont want to say we were on our last box, but we were running low and then we got the donation. It was timely. We are grateful to get the PPE we needed.

william.bloxsom@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @blox354
JEFFERSON CITY  State government is operating under a pandemic-induced hiring freeze, but that isnt shutting down the pipeline that has allowed more than a dozen lawmakers to move into higher paying jobs within Gov. Mike Parsons administration.

On Monday, Rep. David Wood, a term-limited Republican from Versailles, will take over as director of the Childrens Division of the Department of Social Services.

If he earns as much as his predecessor, the estimated $97,000-per-year job represents a handsome raise from the $35,000 Wood earned as a member of the House of Representatives and will provide a significant bump to his pension.

Wood is a former school teacher and has focused on social services in his role on the House Budget Committee.

Everything Ive done is centered around children or education, Wood said. Im very familiar with how the finances work.

I lobbied to get this job pretty hard. I want to protect children and make sure they are safe, Wood said.

The hiring comes as state revenues have been tanking due to the economic effects of the coronavirus. Parson has slashed the budget for education and other state programs. State transportation officials are taking pay cuts and paring back on road construction projects.

Missouri Gaming Commission Chairman Mike Leara told the Post-Dispatch Monday that his agency is abiding by the hiring freeze and not searching for a replacement to its recently departed executive director.

Administration spokesman Chris Moreland said the hiring freeze is not a total freeze.

Currently the state is still on a hiring freeze, but we are filling critical positions, Moreland said. All positions are evaluated case-by-case based on critical need to the operations of state agencies.

The Childrens Division administers child welfare services.

During the pandemic, there has been a sharp drop in the number of calls to the states child abuse hotline, triggering concern that with children at home, teachers and other mandated reporters are not seeing evidence of abuse.

After serving in the House and Senate before he was elected lieutenant governor in 2016, Parson has made it commonplace to populate his administration with ex-colleagues.

Hes named at least 14 former state lawmakers to key posts, including former Speaker Todd Richardson to run the states Medicaid program and former Rep. Lyndall Fraker to oversee the rollout of the states new medical marijuana program.

In November, former Rep. Kirk Mathews, R-Pacific, was named to a position within the states Medicaid program.

Parson also named former Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City to replace him in his old job as lieutenant governor. Former Sen. Eric Schmitt of Glendale was named attorney general in January after Josh Hawley vacated the position for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

And, former House Budget Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick is now the state treasurer, filling Schmitts vacancy.

It is not an uncommon practice for governors.

Former Gov. Eric Greitens, for example, named former Rep. Paul Fitzwater, R-Potosi, to the probation and parole board.

In 2011, former Gov. Jay Nixon denied accusations that he appointed former Rep. Dennis Fowler of Advance to the Board of Probation and Parole as a political reward for his vote against an income tax cut.

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SPRINGFIELD  Insurance provisions of Illinois reproductive health care law violates residents religious freedoms, a coalition of Baptist churches and two state businesses allege in a circuit court lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The Reproductive Health Act, signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker almost one year ago, overhauled Illinois health care law. It enshrines access to pregnancy care, contraception, birth control, abortion procedures and other related benefits as a fundamental right, meaning no level of government in the state can infringe upon a persons access to those services.

In its lawsuit, the Thomas More Society, a Chicago law firm that focuses on defending religious rights, took issue with the statutes insurance mandate  that private insurance companies regulated by Illinois must cover abortions if they also cover pregnancy-related benefits.

By enforcing that provision, the state Department of Insurance has refused to protect (Illinoisans) sincerely held religious beliefs, according to a news release.

Radical partisans have forced employers of faith in Illinois into a terrible choice: either pay for the intentional termination of unborn children, or leave your employees families and your own without health insurance, the law firms vice president and senior counsel Peter Breen said in a statement.

The Illinois Baptist State Association, dental office Southland Smiles Ltd. In Cook County, and trucking company Rock River Cartage Inc., in Whiteside County, are asking a judge to rule the Reproductive Health Act unlawful, invalid, unenforceable, null and void, according to the filing. They also want to be reimbursed for the cost of filing the case and attorney fees.

Those groups adhered with the law since Pritzker signed it and it became immediately effective on June 12, 2019. But, their attorney wrote, they did so against their will given the Reproductive Health Act creates government-imposed coercive pressure on (the parties) to change or violate their religious beliefs.

On Oct. 21, 2019, the Thomas More Society filed a complaint with the U.S. Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights challenging the same aspect of Illinois reproductive health care law.

At the time, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union pointed out that Illinois allows those who provide health insurance and have a religious objection to abortion procedures to opt out of that insurance mandate.

That avenue exists in the Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which specifies a health care payer cannot be discriminated against as long as its objections of conscience are documented in any of its governing documents.

A spokesperson representing the law firm said the federal government has not responded to the Thomas More Societys complaint.

The current lawsuit is pending in Sangamon Countys circuit court.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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Egypt said it would resume international flights and allow foreign tourists to some coastal cities that have been least affected by the coronavirus starting from the beginning of July, the cabinet said on Thursday.

Other regular international flights will, however, continue to remain suspended until further notice, cabinet media advisor Hany Younes told Ahram Online.

The tourist governorates with the least number of infections that will open to foreign tourists and international flights are South Sinai, the Red Sea and Marsa Matrouh, the cabinet said in a statement sent to Ahram Online.

Egypt has suspended international flights on 19 March in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus. It has since only allowed its airports to open to domestic, freight and special repatriation flights.

The government has so far allowed 155 hotels that have met safety protocols to reopen at a reduced occupancy rate to revive its key tourism sector, which has been hit hard by the virus restrictions.

The permitted occupancy rate of the reopened hotels was initially set at 25 percent, but was increased to 50 percent earlier this month.

Egypt has reported 38,284 coronavirus cases as of Wednesday, including 1,342 deaths.

On Wednesday, the government announced it would exempt tourists coming on direct flights to seaside resort cities from visa fees until the end of October, the end of the summer tourism season.

The civil aviation ministry had earlier decided to grant a 50 percent discount on landing and parking fees for planes flying to these cities.

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New Delhi, June 11 : Bharti Infratel has deferred its board meet scheduled for Thursday, to decide over its merger with Indus Towers.

The Board of the telecom infrastructure company was to take a final decision on the scheme of arrangement with Indus Towers. In a regulatory filing, the company said that it would "definitely" hold the board meet on or before the long stop date of June 24.

"Certain inputs that would have been required by the Board for it to deliberate and take a final decision have been delayed given the current environment. In view of the same, the said Board meeting has been rescheduled for a later date but definitely on or before the current long stop date of 24th June 2020," it said.

On June 4, Infratel had said that there can be no certainty whether the merger will get completed or not, with each party retaining the right to terminate and withdraw the scheme at any point.

This was the fourth postponement of the deadline for merger, which was initially expected to complete by March 2019.

Shares of the Bharti Infratel fell on Thursday. At 11.43 a.m., it was trading at Rs 226.15, lower by Rs 6.80 or 2.92 per cent from its previous close.
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Two separate teams of academic researchers on Wednesday published papers describing flaws in Intels Software Guard Extensions (SGX).

SGX, a set of instructions, enhances application security by letting developers partition sensitive information into enclaves  areas of execution in memory with hardware-assisted enhanced security protection. The aim is to protect application code and data from disclosure or modification.

Attestation services let users verify the identity of an application enclave before launching the application.

The recently uncovered flaws can prevent SGX from achieving its goal, the research teams showed. SGAxe: How SGX Fails in Practice describes compromises to long-term storage. CrossTalk: Speculative Data Leaks Across Cores Are Real describes cross-core attacks that could allow attackers to control data leakage.

Broken Trust, Broken Code

SGAxe effectively breaks the most appealing feature of SGX, which is the ability on an enclave to prove its trustworthiness over the network, wrote researchers Stephan van Schaik, Andrew Kwong and Daniel Genkin, all of the University of Michigan, and researcher Yuval Yarom of the University of Adelaide.

The researchers attacked SGX architectural enclaves that were provided and signed by Intel, and retrieved the secret attestation key used for cryptographically proving the enclaves are genuine over a network, which let them pass off fake enclaves as genuine.

The CrossTalk researchers found that some instructions read data from a staging buffer shared among all CPU cores involved. They presented the first cross-core attack using transient execution and showed it could be used to attack SGX enclaves running on a completely different core, letting an attacker control leakage using practical performance degradation attacks and discovering enclave private keys.

We have demonstrated that this is a realistic attack, wrote Hany Ragab, Alyssa Milburn, Herbert Bos and Cristiano Giuffrida of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in The Netherlands and Kaveh Razavi of ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

We have also seen that, yet again, it is almost trivial to apply these attacks to break code running in Intels secure SGX enclaves, they added.

The researchers built a profiler, dubbed CrossTalk, using performance counters, to examine the number and nature of complex microcoded instructions that perform offcore requests. When combined with transient execution vulnerabilities such as Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS), these operations can reveal the internal state of a CPU.

Even recent Intel CPUs  including those used by public cloud providers to support SGX enclaves  are vulnerable to these attacks, the researchers wrote.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Intel CPUs vulnerable to the latest attacks are listed here.

Flawed Design

In both cases, the research teams employedside-channel attacks to exploit the vulnerabilities.

SGX doesnt protect against microarchitectural side-channel attacks because doing so is a matter for the enclave developer, according to Intel.

Four CPU flaws, including Zombieload and Fallout, affected Intel core CPUs last year.

Its beginning to look like SGX was a flawed design, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Intel really needs to rethink its security methods, he told TechNewsWorld. The company has been putting more resources into security, but the work is not over.

Perhaps security should be offloaded onto a more secure coprocessor on die thats not in the critical application performance path, Krewell remarked.

On the other hand, an application that uses Intel SGX for added protection is always more secure than if it doesnt, noted Ambuj Kumar, CEO of Fortanix, the first company to bring an Intel SGX-based workload to production, in 2016.

Hardware-based security is new, and just as software codes can be buggy, hardware can be buggy too, Kumar told TechNewsWorld There is such a thing as a hardware zero-day exploit. Our goal should be to accelerate the cycle of finding these vulnerabilities and fixing them.

Further, side-channel is a general problem that affects both hardware and software systems, he noted. Some can only be mitigated at the application level and others at the CPU level, so there is not one solution.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Keeping a Tight Lid on Vulnerabilities

SGX is one of a number of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). ARM, AMD and Intel have proposed TEEs, but Intel SGX is currently the leader.

Intel SGX has gotten its fair share of researchers attention, which leads to several vulnerabilities having been discovered, Kumar said.

We should welcome these. Its only when a bug is found that it can be fixed, he noted.

Intel has been pretty collaborative in rolling out updates to fix vulnerabilities, and it works tightly with partners such as Fortanix to minimize the probability of attacks, Kumar noted. We have no reason to believe any of the Intel SGX vulnerabilities ever reported have ever been exploited.

Microsoft Azure, IBM and Alibaba are among the large organizations using Fortanixs Intel SGX-based solutions. IBM has at least 10 corporate customers on its Fortanix-powered IBM Cloud Data Shield depending on SGX for security.

No Harm, No Foul

The SGAxe team notified Intel of its findings in October and Intel indicated it would publish a fix June 9, which it did.

The delay likely was due to testing, Tirias Krewell suggested. Every fix could have its own problems and could introduce new vulnerabilities or software incompabiities.

Updated systems from Fortanix and others are not susceptible to these vulnerabilities, Kumar said.

Microsoft deployed the security update from Intel to our affected services prior to public disclosure, a spokesperson said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by company rep Emily Chounlamany.

Our cloud customers were not impacted by these vulnerabilities, the spokesperson added.

While CPU manufacturers focus on finding and fixing vulnerabilities, companies like Fortanix exist to mitigate them, said Kumar. Standard techniques such as defense in depth can go a long way to provide a more usable and secure system, even in the presence of zero-day vulnerabilities.

On the whole, hardware-based security is preferable to a software-based solution, Kumar observed. The unfortunate reality of software-only security is that even if your code is bug-free, your data may be stolen because of a vulnerability in someone elses code.
There is still time for China to reconsider, step back from the brink and respect Hong Kongs autonomy and respect its international obligations, the Boris Johnson government said on Thursday, referring to Beijings plan to extend a security law to the former British colony.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said he remained deeply concerned by Chinas intention to implement the security law on Hong Kong. According to him, this would undermine the One country, two systems framework agreed at the time of the former colonys 1997 handover.

Raab wrote in a foreword in the Foreign Offices latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong to parliament: As I announced to parliament on June 2, if China enacts this legislation we will amend the arrangements for those with British National Overseas status in Hong Kong.

If China follows through with its proposed legislation, we will put in place new arrangements to allow BN(O)s to come to the UK without the current 6 month limit, enabling them to live and apply to study and work for extendable periods of 12 months, providing a path to British citizenship, he added.

Beijing has rejected Londons criticism as interference in Chinas internal affairs. Prime Minister Johnson has also confirmed Londons intention to offer BNOs a path to British citizenship if Beijing implemented the security law in Hong Kong.

According to Raab, public trust in the Hong Kong police is allegedly at an all-time low. The UK, he wrote, will not look the other way when it comes to the people of Hong Kong, will stand by them and will live up to its responsibilities.

For the Chinese Government, rather than Hong Kongs own institutions, to directly impose national security legislation would lie in direct conflict with Article 23 of Hong Kongs Basic Law, and with Chinas obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Raab wrote.

At the time of writing, we have not seen the text of the legislation. However the law, as it has been described, raises the prospect of prosecution in Hong Kong for political crimes, which would undermine existing commitments to protect the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong, he added.
By Carrie Shi, Susan Zou

In the past two weeks, several European countries, including Germany and the United Kingdom, either announced schemes to encourage the adoption of EVs or said they were working on such measures.



Early this month, Germany doubled the incentive offered to buyers of EVs as part of a...
ATLANTA, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In the face of the current public health crisis, Church's Chicken has risen as a leader in supporting its restaurant-level teams and the communities they serve through its "People First" human resources strategy. The approach engages workers by rewarding their resilience and uniting teams towards a common purpose of authentic, caring, Texas-style hospitality. Their progressive attitude has caught the eye of many in the industry and is part of a multifaceted HR revolution presently taking place for the brand. Today, Church's outlined a series of innovations being implemented at the company's headquarters in Atlanta, GA. Based on a solid strategic plan, the new workplace advances are allowing the brand to effectively adjust and respond to an ever-changing restaurant business environment.

"The employment landscape is changing rapidly in America," said Karen Viera, Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer for Church's. Viera and her team has been working closely with Beyond CorpComm to create and execute a Transformation Journey to the brand's workplace and employment policies since late 2019. The most noteworthy new developments include:

People First. Safety Always.

Since the first days of the crisis, Church's has been committed to acting responsibly to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The brand quickly adopted elevated safety and social distancing precautions such as limiting the number of people in the office, advanced cleaning and sanitation protocols, and remote-office placement for those with vulnerable health care status as recognized by the CDC. Additionally, those with vulnerable family members within their households may request remote-office assignment with no decrease in benefits or salary. Further, Church's states it is prepared to continue these precautionary measures long term, fueled by the understanding that it may be quite some time before COVID-19 can be completely eliminated through a combination of vaccinations and effective treatments.

Unified Building Strategy

Until recently, the Church's corporate team occupied two separate buildings within the office complex where headquarters is located, and the brand's test kitchen, supply chain, and research and development teams occupied two floors. This often led to unnecessary delays in ad-hoc meetings and conversations necessary for immediate decision-making. Although the test kitchen and research and development team will remain in place to ensure uninterrupted operations, Church's is combining its offices to a single building to allow for more frequent exchange relationships, critical to planning and other business activities.

Expansion of Remote Office Model

To accommodate a transformation to a more efficient building, the majority of the Church's corporate team will be observing a new remote office schedule with some employees becoming 100% remote, and other remote-eligible employees working remotely up to three days a week. The innovative new, "Distributed Workforce" policy splits up on-site and remote days by team, ensuring that all staff members who work together in the same functional areas are together in the office on the same days. Groups will take alternating days on-site and off-site and all teams will observe Fridays as remote-office days. The aim of the policy  which goes into effect on June 15  is to allow for better social distancing and time for employees to watch over children and family members at home while communities adjust to the "new normal."

The company used research-based judgement and multi-dimensional considerations to determine work and roles that lent itself to a remote or split work model. This, in combination with analyzing their floorplan to ensure workspace, safety, organizational readiness, and preparedness, provides improved social distancing while also preserving the dynamics of in-personal team engagement, safely and responsibly.

The broader roll-out is being tested throughout the rest of the summer with the aim of evaluating its effectiveness throughout the fall and beyond. Church's will be assisting workers as needed to set up home offices with the appropriate tools and technology considerations at the company's expense. Remote employees will also be given an office supply budget.

Maximizing How and Where Work Takes Place

To stay ahead of the curve, the scope of their Transformation Journey also includes training and technology. A comprehensive "Business Health & Safety Guidelines" has become a required course on their learning management system, encouraging safety as a shared responsibility across among all team membersand across all levels of the organization. The brand is also growing their archive of content on their award-winning intranet site, Team Church's, which shares new workplace practice policies, regularly updated CDC guidelines, FAQs, and best practices, tools, and tips for making remote work more successful. Effective planning is also allowing for quick expansion of Church's business infrastructure, with high-level accessibility and security made possible through the selection of Microsoft Teams as the brand's go-to virtual conferencing solution for all team members on a global scale.

All these measures, layered together, are helping Church's prepare for the new norm with a People First, Safety Always philosophy to best ensure the continuity of their business, retain their workforce, and continue to serve new and repeat guests around the world.

"Our people are our most valuable asset at Church's," explained Viera about the new approach. "The tremendous gains of the past few years would have been impossible without our teams working at every level to make this brand one of the leaders in the industry. The needs of workers aren't the same as they were 20 years ago, or even two years ago. We don't have to limit ourselves with that kind of thinking. We absolutely can give employees more of what they want while still meeting and exceeding company goals. The technology and resources are there  and so is the personal commitment to make this new era work well for everyone."

Joe Christina, the company's CEO agreed. "We said 2020 was going to be the year that Church's Stakes Its Claim to be a leader in our category, in our industry, and in business in general. None of that happens without engaging employees in that journey. We've often said our aim is to be Global Franchisor of Choice, but we also hold an equally strong drive to be the Global Employer of Choice. I applaud the work of Ms. Viera, Beyond CorpComm, and all of the employees who have made  and will make  this transformation possible."

About Church's Chicken

Founded in San Antonio, Texas, in 1952 by George W. Church, Church's Chicken is one of the largest quick-service restaurant chicken chains in the world. Church's specializes in Original and Spicy Chicken freshly prepared throughout the day in small batches that are hand-battered and double-breaded, Tender Strips, Honey-Butter Biscuits made from scratch and freshly baked, and classic, homestyle sides all for a great value. Church's (along with its sister brand Texas Chicken outside the Americas) has more than 1,500 locations in 25 countries and international territories. With system-wide sales of more than $1 billion, the system had a recording-breaking year in 2019. During two national media windows the brand drove sales performance that outpaced the broader QSR category. For more information, visit www.churchs.com. Follow Church's on Facebook at www.facebook.com/churchschicken and Twitter at www.twitter.com/churchschicken.

Contact: Kim Miller

866.571.3449

[email protected]

SOURCE Church's Chicken

Related Links

http://www.churchs.com


The first writing about wine that I remember reading in any sort of thoughtful way was by Dorothy J. Gaiter and her husband, John Brecher, who co-wrote the Wall Street Journals wine column from 1998 to 2010. They  and their now-canonized ritual, Open that Bottle Night  were celebrities in my home when I was a teenager. My mother, who didnt even really drink wine at the time, adored their columns (You can just tell how in love they are with each other! shed say) and bequeathed that adoration to me.

The first book I ever bought about wine was theirs, Love by the Glass, purchased as an attempt to self-educate after Id gotten a job in a wine shop and figured Id better learn something about the subject. Id read it on my bus ride home from the shop in downtown Boston. At the time, Id never been to California, but Gaiter and Brechers descriptions of Napa Valley, the food at Chez Panisse and the mouthwatering descriptions of the 1974 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon  one of their favorite wines  made me desperate to go west.

Gaiter is still a prolific wine writer, the senior editor for Grape Collective. This week, she wrote a chilling piece in the industry publication SevenFifty Daily about what its like to be black in the very, very white world of wine. Im angry, exhausted, and hurting, she writes. The killing of George Floyd and the impact of COVID-19 on people of color have emphasized how little progress weve made toward justice and equality  both in our country and in the wine industry.

Please read that piece. But dont stop there. Gaiter has written eloquently about the experiences of being black in wine before, and shes also written eloquently about wine in ways that have nothing to do with race or equity. I love this story about Etude Pinot Gris, for example  and how it nearly caused a major problem in Gaiter and Brechers marriage. (My mother was right. Through their writing, you can feel their love.)

I owe a lot to Gaiter for helping me discover a love for wine. And there are many other writers I feel a debt to, too  for teaching me, inspiring me, challenging me.

This weeks newsletter is about their voices, not mine. Im sharing some stories I love about wine and drinking by writers of color.

Read them. Listen to them. Share them.

What Im reading

Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle 2019

 Dorothy J. Gaiter. Read the stories I recommended above, plus this article about Kalin Cellars unusual Chardonnay. Oh, and her and Brechers 2002 book, Love by the Glass.

 Sydney Love. Love, who works for Wine & Spirits magazine, has written some excellent wine stories for The Chronicle, including about a lost Santa Cruz Mountains vineyard, and about a collective of young natural winemakers.

 Julia Coney. A former beauty blogger, Coney has been an essential voice in the conversation around inclusion in the wine world over the last few years. I love that shes unapologetic about wearing perfume to wine tastings, too.

 Lou Bustamante. Our go-to cocktail and spirits correspondent, Bustamante has written some amazing articles for us over the years. Start with his thrilling history of the Bay Areas craft cocktail revolution and his examination of the concept of regionalism in bars.

 Joseph Hernandez. Hernandez is currently the research director at Bon Appetit (and if you want to hear how he feels about the current developments there, hes quoted in this New York Times article), and has written about drinks and food while working at the Chicago Tribune, Wine Enthusiast, Thrillist and more. Read what hes written about hip-hop wine, Lambrusco and the wines inspired by Hamilton.

Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle 2019

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

 Stephen Satterfield. This former sommelier is the founder of Whetstone, a terrific food and drink magazine made in the Bay Area. Subscribe to the magazine, but also watch Stephens beautiful short documentary about the wine traditions of the Republic of Georgia.

 Esther Tseng. Shes written about a winemaking renaissance in Los Angeles proper, mezcal and Tequilas sustainability dilemmas and this great, nostalgic look back at a beloved L.A. bar as it was closing.

 Michele Thomas. Find her at bedstuysomm.com, and read what she wrote about a bar opening in Brooklyn that was serving wine in 40-ounce bottles and advertising a wall with bullet holes. (Also: this very moving story about her mother and Christmas wreaths in the New Yorker.)

 Osayi Endolyn. I highly recommend Endolyns article about Shannon Mustipher, the tiki expert who was the first African American to write a cocktail book in more than a century (just let that sink in for a minute) and am amazed by the candid, raw writing in this story about the term plantation rum.

 Jeannie Cho Lee. Lee is a Master of Wine and a serious, rigorous wine critic. (Shes also an alumna of my alma mater, Smith College.) She writes for publications including Decanter and also for her own site, Asian Palate. Read her for in-depth analysis of classic wines, like Burgundy, and for insights into, for example, the preference for red wine over white wine in Asia.

Drinking with Esther is a weekly newsletter from The Chronicles wine critic. Follow along on Twitter: @Esther_Mobley and Instagram: @esthermob
Nonso Anozie, left, Lara McDonnell, Josh Gad and Ferdia Shaw in the movie "Artemis Fowl." (Nicola Dove / Disney)

When the teen fantasy novel Artemis Fowl was published in 2001, its Irish author, Eoin Colfer, reportedly described it as 'Die Hard' with fairies, a prepitched movie if there ever was one. Nearly 20 years later, after a delayed release from August 2019 to May 2020 and an additional coronavirus postponement, the film adaptation arrives Friday not in theaters but on Disney+, and its closer to the later (and lesser) Spy Kids movies than anything with Bruce Willis.

Marketed to pre- and younger teens, the eight-book series about a villainous prodigy doing battle with weaponized fairies made regular appearances on bestseller lists, with a reputation for being a tad naughty and slightly subversive. Its prolonged trek to screens has not been kind, as the property has clearly been reimagined for a younger audience, perhaps the offspring of its original readers.

Scrubbed, sanitized and neutered of its edgier elements, Artemis Fowl the movie likely will be unrecognizable to the books many fans. Gone are the hardboiled dialogue, anarchist wit and psychopathic avarice of the protagonist. Heck, hes not even a villain or antihero anymore, just another superkid trying to rescue his father.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the movie opens with a sweeping shot of the Irish coast before settling on sprawling Fowl Manor, home to the title character (played by Ferdia Shaw), his father, Artemis Fowl Sr. (Colin Farrell), and their imposing bodyguard Domovoi Butler (Nonsi Anozie, a Branagh regular).

The tale is largely told by one Mulch Diggums (Josh Gad), a fairly unreliable narrator who we come to learn is a giant dwarf (or at least thinks hes one). The script by playwright Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl mines the series first two books for plot points, and this narrative device feels like an ex post facto attempt to save a botched story.

In it, Artemis Sr. is a dealer in antiquities suspected of stealing valuable ancient artifacts from around the world, and his secretive behavior supports that notion. A scholar of Irish legends, particularly leprechauns, banshees, sprites and goblins, hes passed this lore along to his son, assiduously training him in the ways of that world, but at age 12, young Artemis has become a skeptic.

Story continues

That changes when Senior disappears from his giant yacht in the South China Sea. The phone at Fowl Manor rings and a raspy voice on the other end, belonging to a shadowy female fairy, demands that Junior locate the Aculos, a powerful and dangerous device, in exchange for his fathers safe return.

It seems that the tales Artemis Sr. has been spinning are true, and that fantasy world indeed exists in a city at the center of the Earth, its inhabitants driven underground by humans in a battle thousands of years earlier.

Colin Farrell, left, and Ferdia Shaw in the movie "Artemis Fowl." (Robert Youngson / Disney Enterprises)

With the help of Butler and his young niece, Juliet (Tamara Smart), Junior must understand the magical world to find the Aculos. Simultaneously, a feisty fairy named Holly Short (Lara McDonnell), an officer in the Lower Elements Police Recon (LEPRecon) force, has surfaced to track down a rogue troll.

In his intricate quest for the Aculous, Artemis Jr. kidnaps Holly, bringing all the locked-and-loaded might of the fairies, led by Commander Root (a game Judi Dench, sporting pointy ears and spiky hair), to the human world where they initiate a time freeze (to remain unseen by anyone but the inhabitants of Fowl Manor). When Dench bursts out of her armored vehicle and growls Top of the morning! you feel embarrassed for leprechauns.

Theres not a lot of originality here. In their black suits and sunglasses, blasting fairies out of the sky, Junior and Butler look like an intern edition of Men in Black. Gads Mulch could be a grimy relative of Hagrid from Harry Potter. The militarized fairies recall the tech-savvy elves in animated movies such as Arthur Christmas and Prep & Landing.

There is a been there, seen that feel to the whole enterprise. No knock on Shaw, who plays Artemis with measured intensity and seriousness, but the screen version of the character is pretty bland. He surfs, rides some type of hoverboard through the nearby woods and shows disdain for authority figures at school, but hes simply not that interesting, though the movie tries hard to convince us otherwise.

Were repeatedly told hes an off-the-charts genius, but the results play more as clever and resourceful. Granting someone a tragic backstory does not a character make. In one very on-brand Disney tweak, theyve killed off Artemis mother, Angeline (she merely suffered from debilitating mental illness in the books), and made her absence the point of his sullenness.

This is not a "but the book was better" argument. Its simply that by abandoning the original character and cobbling together broken story shards and spare parts, Branagh and company have produced something off an assembly line: safe, generic and utterly disposable.

For parents looking for something to occupy the young ones after their 400th viewing of Trolls World Tour, Artemis Fowl may feel like manna from heaven  and apart from a snippet of Foreigners I Want to Know What Love Is, an earworm-free safe space.

But anyone looking for entertaining young-adult fantasy adventure might as well move along. Theres nothing to see here. Like magic, storytelling seems a lot less enchanting when it becomes mechanical.
Business entities and individuals have been urged to go the extra mile to support each other to be able to overcome the adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic on businesses across the world.



"There are enormous challenges that business entities are facing in these extraordinary times," Madam Linda Yaa Ampah, the new President of Stanford Seed Transformation Network(STN)-Ghana, said during her official swearing-in ceremony in Accra.



She said in spite of the current difficulties caused by the pandemic, a strong commitment towards collaboration would help to mitigate the challenges and ensure success in the end.



"Holding each others hands and forging ahead, we would overcome in the end" Madam Ampah said.



She said although STN-Ghana was a volunteer group, members were expected to be committed to the guiding principles and work towards giving off their best to the network, and furthering the cause of business.



Madam Ampah said the overall mission of members of STN-Ghana, was to make a positive impact on global business in every way possible.



"Our contribution in that vein, would also be towards becoming the best STN in Africa and beyond, with the objective of creating a vibrant network for all members and engaging productively with different publics," she said.



Madam Ampah believed that her team and members of the network, would move STN-Ghana to the next level, and deliver on the network's mandate with transparency and accountability.



Madam Constance Swaniker, the out-going President, assured the incoming leadership of support.



"We are merely stepping aside as you assume your new roles," she said.



The Stanford Seed Transformation Network is a network of participants who have completed the Stanford Seed transformation programme.



Seed is a Stanford Graduate School of Business led initiative, established in 2016, the global communities of Seed transformation programme past participants, constitute the seed transformation network.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Donald Trump attacked Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, using a derisive nickname, over her amendment that prompted an Armed Services Committee agreement that all US military bases named after Confederate generals should be renamed in three years.

"Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth 'Pocahontas' Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars," the president tweeted from Air Force One en route to an event on race relations and other topics in Dallas.

"Hopefully our great Republican Senators won't fall for this!" he added, putting pressure on his party to block the compromise spawned by Ms Warren's initial amendment that would have required even faster name changes.

The Armed Services Committee's annual Pentagon policy bill, following committee work this week, could be further changed when it hits the chamber floor later this year.

Mr Trump's nickname is mocking. He is indirectly pointing out a falsehood Ms Warren herself told: That she had substantial Native American ancestry. She does not, and eventually apologised.

The president on Wednesday rejected calls to rename US military bases named after confederate generals in the midst of ongoing social unrest after the death of George Floyd while in police custody.

"The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations," the president tweeted a day after some military leaders said they were open to the idea.

"It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc.," Mr Trump wrote. "These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a......history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom."

His press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said Wednesday her boss "fervently" is against new names for the bases, saying it would be an "insult" to fallen troops to rename the bases.

One reason is because "the last piece" of US soil many fallen American military troops sa before dying in battle was at bases named after confederate generals.

The president's top spokeswoman took a shot at former Vice President Joe Biden, saying he supported pro-segregation figures during America's race-based school busing debates.

A day later, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California signalled she and her Democratic mates will seek to remove all statues of Confederate generals and leaders now on display in the US Capitol.

"You start with a feather" and try to get "a consensus," she said, indicating she wants to first try negotiating changes with congressional Republican leaders.

For decades, she said, new black members of Congress have come to Washington and wondered "what are these people (statues) doing here?"
This week, I received a community letter from my friend Lesley Scearce, director of United Way. I have known Lesley for many years. I have been a supporter of United Way for my entire adult life, and will continue to support this great organization - as long as it remains true to its mission.

Her letter was in part, about "the preventable deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery," two of whom died as a result of gross police negligence and, in the case of Arbery, his death was likely the result of racial profiling.

Lesley asserted: "Martin Luther King Jr. stated, 'In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.'" She continued, "Sadly, those words may have never carried more weight than they do today in 2020. ...I am sure of this: silence is not an option. We all have a responsibility to condemn hate, to stand for what's right, and to turn emotion into constructive action." stated, 'In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.'" She continued, "Sadly, those words may have never carried more weight than they do today in 2020. ...I am sure of this: silence is not an option. We all have a responsibility to condemn hate, to stand for what's right, and to turn emotion into constructive action."

Actually, I think MLK's words carried much more weight, both culturally and historically, when he said them in 1967 at the height of the civil rights movement. But Lesley is correct that we all have a responsibility every day to condemn hatred anywhere we cross it.

However, what concerned me about her letter was its "silence" about the fact that thousands of black Americans are murdered every year by other black people. Those black lives matter too, and that requires much more of us than virtue signaling slogans.

Regarding George Floyd, as a former uniformed police officer, I am very reluctant to accept without substantial review, mass media assumptions about racially charged cases. But, upon viewing the video of Mr. Floyds death, I didnt need to see any additional evidence to determine his death was unjust. He was handcuffed, there were three other officers present, and additional officers were on the way. Floyd appeared compliant, posed no further threat to the officers or bystanders, and indicated he was distressed and having trouble breathing.

However, in the 17 days since Floyd died, the unmitigated violence that followed in Minneapolis and then nationwide, organized in large part by white anarchists, has resulted in the unjust death of 17 more people. An estimated 12,000 protesters have been arrested for violent assaults and looting, resulting in thousands of injuries and hundreds of millions of dollars in damages - and forever closing many minority-owned and other businesses serving urban communities. Even Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Walz quickly declared, The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear, and disrupting our great cities.

MLK never burned and looted stores, or attacked anyone. He observed: "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

As for the focus on race, King's words at the Lincoln Memorial in August of 1963 apply: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Unfortunately, too many politicians disgracefully focus much more on race than character, because race is better political fodder. They defile King's legacy.

As for the "systemic racism" canard, that is a rhetorical caricature of the reality those in law enforcement experience in service to our communities and our nation today. There are people who hold racist views or racial predispositions on all sides, and there is no room for it anywhere. That is especially true among the ranks of those charged with upholding the law - bad cops need to be purged. But as Heather Mac Donald, a highly respected crime data researcher, has made clear, "There is no systemic racism in our system of justice and no epidemic of racist police shootings.

Ms. Mac Donald has thoroughly documented the racial disparity of interracial crimes. According to the latest Bureau of Justice Statistics criminal victimization data, she notes: There were 593,598 interracial violent victimizations ... between blacks and whites last year. Blacks committed 537,204 of those interracial felonies, or 90 percent, and whites committed 56,394 of them, or less than 10 percent. Note that black Americans represent 13% of our population but perpetrate 90% of violent interracial crimes.

Moreover, according to the most recent data on intra-racial murders, the disparity is overwhelming. Again, though black Americans represent 13% of citizens, there are substantially more black people murdered every year, than white people, and the vast majority of black victims were killed by black assailants.

To have a meaningful conversation about this disparity requires having a full conversation. Otherwise we will perpetuate for the next 50 years the policy failures of the so-called "Great Society" over the last 50 years - the systemic social policies which have institutionalized poverty. Those statist policies have created impoverished urban centers - almost all under generations of Democrat mayors. Thus, those policies are irrevocably linked to conflicts between citizens in those communities and law enforcement.

Finally, here is what I know to be true amid all the rancor, and what I hope Lesley Scearce understands. Perhaps her next letter will rise above the rhetoric and affirm that the vast majority of all Americans of all colors and creeds are good people trying to go about our day making ends meet. The 24/7 mass - and social-media sludge promoting urban protest and violence, and the unfortunate death of Mr. Floyd which sparked that, is not representative of who we are as a people.

We should all embrace Martin King's dream that one day ... the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This will be the day when all of Gods children will be able to sing with new meaning, My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims pride, From every mountainside, Let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring  we will be able to speed up that day when all of Gods children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, We are free at last!

Mark Caldwell

Caldwell Management Group
Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday claimed that 85 percent of the people tested positive for coronavirus in the country are those who returned from India.

Kathmandu: Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday claimed that 85 percent of the people tested positive for coronavirus in the country are those who returned from India.

His claim comes in midst of a raging boundary row between the two countries with India sternly asking Nepal not to resort to any "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims after Kathmandu released a new political map laying claim over Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.

Nepal has recorded 279 new cases of the coronavirus infection on Wednesday, taking the country's COVID-19 tally to 4,364. At least 15 people have died due to the disease, according to the health ministry. Province No. 2 situated in southern Nepal bordering India has the highest number of cases.

The Oli government is facing criticism from various quarters over its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to critics, despite the over two-month-long lockdown, the coronavirus infections and deaths are increasing in the country. Thousands of people are kept in quarantine facilities near Indo-Nepal border areas. However, those quarantine centres are becoming COVID-19 hotspots due to a lack of basic sanitation facilities.

"85 percent of the people who tested positive for coronavirus in Nepal are those who returned from India," Oli told Parliament while responding to questions by lawmakers.

Oli said that with the start of the movement of people from India, the number of coronavirus cases doubled in just one month in Nepal.

In AprilMay, only 7,400 Nepalese had come from India. However, in May-June, 222,000 people returned from India, he said, adding that now every day 7- 8,000 people are coming back from India.

"As a large number of people returned from India, which was beyond our expectation, we could not manage them well. Now the number of infected people has crossed 4,000," the prime minister said.

He said many people returned from India on jam packed trains and buses and several of them might have contracted the virus during their travel.

Oli said 14,454 Nepalese abroad have contracted the virus and 127 died in 13 countries due to the infection.

The ties between India and Nepal came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on 8 May.

Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.

Oli said the death toll from the coronavirus is very low in the country. He attributed it to Nepalese people's strong immunity system due to their food habits and the good treatment facility provided by his government. He said the government has taken "effective" measures to contain the spread of the deadly virus.

"We have increased our facility to 5,000 coronavirus tests per day. 1,06,000 tests have been conducted so far. Besides, the government has allocated 45 dedicated hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients. At the local level, 3,000 health workers have been deployed to collect swab and conduct coronavirus tests. As many as 3,200 health workers have been assigned for contract tracing across the country," he said.

The government has created 3,767 quarantine facilities with the capacity to accommodate 2,35,500 people. Over 11,000 health workers have been deployed in these facilities. A total of 53,000 women health volunteers have been deployed for generating awareness about coronavirus across the country, the prime minister noted.
Update: Next Generation Action Network changed the date of the protest to June 27 after this article was published.

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Dallas-based activism group Next Generation Action Network and its founder, Dominique Alexander, are planning a protest of the Tye Anders incident for later this month in Midland, according to a Facebook event page.

Anders was arrested on May 16 and charged with evading arrest after failing to immediately pull over when a Midland police officer initiated a traffic stop, according to his arrest affidavit. A widely shared bystander video of the incident showed Anders laying in the grass as several officers pointed guns at him.

The Facebook event page shows the protest will take place on June 20 at Midland City Hall. That date could have been chosen because its the weekend of Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, when the Emancipation Proclamation took effect in Texas.

More than 150 people indicated on Facebook they were interested in the event. The protest appears to be aimed at Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf, as the picture selected for the Facebook event includes the words Call to Action above Nodolfs name, phone number and email address.

Its unclear why Midland City Hall was chosen as the location of the protest; Nodolf is the county district attorney and does not work out of city hall.

RELATED: City releases footage of Tye Anders arrest

Nodolf informed county officials of the protest during a Commissioners Court meeting on Monday. She appeared rattled as she told the court shes been receiving death threats since Next Generation Action Network began sharing her phone number and email address online and encouraging their followers to contact her. The protest and posts are likely efforts to pressure Nodolf to drop the charge against Anders.

Alexander and members of Next Generation Action Network previously came to Midland on May 28, when city and county leaders hosted a town hall to discuss Anders arrest and relations between law enforcement and Midlands African American community.

Near the end of that discussion, Alexander began screaming at officials on the panel to drop the charge against Anders and terminate Midland Police Chief Seth Herman. The disruption created chaos as officials then directed attendees to exit the building.

RELATED: John Norman calls for new policing model

Alexander was indicted on a felony family violence charge in November after his girlfriend told police he had attempted to strangle her, according to a report from the Dallas Morning News. She later refuted her original statement to police, according to the report, but a Dallas County grand jury still decided there was enough evidence to indict Alexander on a charge of continuous violence against the family.

Anders lawyer, Dallas civil rights attorney Justin Moore, previously said in a statement that a protest would be planned in Midland as a show of support for Anders.

Nodolf said in an earlier statement that the charge against Anders would proceed as any other case. Although Moore alleged an officer struck Anders during his arrest, Nodolf said she did not find any evidence of police wrongdoing after reviewing body and dashboard camera footage of the incident.

The event titled National Call to Action  Justice for Tye Anders is scheduled for 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on June 27 at Washington Park, 1803 East Indiana Avenue, according to the Facebook page.
(Alliance News) - Anglo-Dutch meal delivery firm Just Eat Takeaway.com NV agreed to acquire US peer Grubhub Inc for USD7.3 billion to form the world's largest online food delivery company outside of China, they announced Wednesday.

The deal comes as both companies have experienced strong growth in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic from customers stuck at home who have boosted digital orders.

The combined company will have a major presence in four key markets a the US, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands a and position the enterprise for greater growth in the US, they said in a news release.

Grubhub has been effective in navigating the "fragmented" US market a but "the US remains an underpenetrated market" that is "nowhere near its end-state," the companies said.

"Just East Takeaway.com will prioritize sustainable growth over profits, as this has been a major driver of its strategy and success in Europe," the press release said.

Grubhub had held talks previously with ride-hailing giant Uber, but the discussions fell apart over price after Uber proposed USD6 billion, a banking source told AFP recently.

Under the Just Eat Takeaway.com deal, which must be approved by shareholders of both companies, investors in Grubhub will receive 0.6710 of Just Eat Takeaway shares for each Grubhub share.

That values Grubhub at USD75.15 a share, compared with a closing price Wednesday of USD59.05.

Shares of Grubhub surged 5.9% to USD62.50 in after-hours trading Wednesday.

Just East Takeaway, which had confirmed earlier its interest in the deal, suffered a 13% drop in shares to EUR85.88 in Wednesday's session in Amsterdam.

Its London shares closed 13% lower at 7,626.00 pence on Wednesday.

Both companies have prospered in the wake of the Covid-19 upheaval, with Just Eat Takeaway seeing orders bounce by 41% in April and May compared with the year-ago period.

At Grubhub, the increase during this period has been 28%.

source: AFP

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa  Collins Khosa was killed by law enforcement officers in a poor township in Johannesburg over a cup of beer left in his yard. The 40-year-old black man was choked, slammed against a wall, beaten, kicked and hit with the butt of a rifle by the soldiers as police watched, his family says.

Two months later, South Africans staged a march against police brutality. But it was mostly about the killing of George Floyd in the United States, with the case of Khosa, who died on April 10, raised only briefly.

We also lost our loved one. South Africa, where are you? Khosas partner, Nomsa Montsha, asked in a wrenching TV interview Friday, eight weeks after she held his hand as he died while waiting for an ambulance.

Her words, in a soft, steady voice, were a searing rebuke of the perceived apathy in South Africa over Khosas death. The army exonerated the soldiers in a report that concluded he died from a blunt force head injury that was no ones fault. His family is still seeking a criminal case.

Floyds death also emboldened a small number of people in Kenya to march and tell their own stories of injustice and brutality by police.

Despite racial reconciliation that emerged after the end of the apartheid system, poor and black South Africans still fall victim to security forces that now are mostly black. The country is plagued by violent crime, and police often are accused of resorting to heavy-handed tactics.

Journalist Daneel Knoetze, who looked into police brutality in South Africa between 2012 and 2019, found that there were more than 42,000 criminal complaints against police, which included more than 2,800 killings  more than one a day. There were more than 27,000 cases of alleged assault by police, many classified as torture, and victims were overwhelmingly poor and black, he said.

It is clear that in South Africa, 26 years of democracy have not as yet ensured that black lives matter as much as white lives, said a statement last week from the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which promotes the vision of the anti-apartheid leader and the countrys first black president.

Angelo Fick, who researches issues of human rights and equality, said white people are policed differently from blacks in South Africa in what he calls the echoes of apartheid.

Khosas family said his beating death followed accusations by the soldiers that he was drinking a beer in his yard, which was not illegal even though buying alcohol was prohibited at the time because of South Africas strict coronavirus lockdown.

The sale of tobacco also is illegal during the lockdown, and middle-class whites discovered buying cigarettes have gotten off with a warning from police.

Montsha described how the soldiers, while beating Khosa, struck her with sjamboks, the heavy whips wielded by security forces during the apartheid era. Police and soldiers still carry the notorious weapons.

The old house. You put new furniture in but its still the old house, Fick said of the security forces.

In Kenya, the police force has for two decades been ranked the countrys most corrupt institution. Its also Kenyas most deadly, killing far more people than criminals do, according to human rights groups.

In the last three months in Kenya, 15 people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been killed by police while they enforce a curfew, according to a watchdog group. Human rights activists put the figure at 18.

The boy, Yasin Hussein Moyo, was shot in the stomach by police in March as he stood on the balcony of his home. Police have blamed a stray bullet, but witnesses say the officers deliberately started shooting at the boys apartment building as they patrolled the neighborhood during the curfew.

Kenyas culture of an oppressive colonial police force is still intact, said Peter Kiama, the executive director of the Independent Medico Legal Unit, which tracks police abuse. There also is a security system that has sought to subdue opposition to the government and, in turn, has become corrupt.

There is a symbiotic relationship, Kiama said.

When Kenya created two organizations nearly a decade ago to monitor and hold police accountable, the members of one of them found a severed human head in their new offices on the first day of work. Just in case the message wasnt clear, there also was a piece of paper with the words: Tread carefully.

Kiamas organization says 980 people have been killed by police in Kenya since 2013, and 90 percent of those were execution-style slayings.

Despite the decades of injustice and brutality, activists say there is no groundswell of public support for change in South Africa and Kenya, two of the biggest economies in Africa.

I gave up on police violence being an issue around which one could get any kind of attention from politicians, or anyone, said David Bruce, an expert on South African law enforcement for 20 years.

In her interview on national TV, Montsha looked at the camera and asked South Africans why no one was standing up for Khosa.

We are crying out loud, she said.



Odula reported from Nairobi, Kenya.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday urged Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar to direct the Indian consulate in Dubai to extend help to around 20,000 Punjabi workers who were stranded without passports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), besides making arrangements to repatriate them back to India.

In a statement, the SAD chief said they had been ousted from various jobs by private companies in Dubai and wanted to return back to India, but could not do so because their passports had been impounded by their employers. Sukhbir said he had received messages from many youth that they were ready to pay for their air tickets, but there were thousands of workers who had spent their savings and were not in a position to afford return tickets. Such persons should be rescued and naval ships can be dispatched to bring them back home, he said.
Prime Minister Oli Accuses India of Putting Forces in Nepalese Territory Amid Raging Border Row

Sputnik News

12:04 GMT 10.06.2020

New Delhi (Sputnik): On Tuesday, the lower house of the Nepalese Parliament received cross-party support for a constitutional amendment concerning a new map showing the disputed Kalapani and Lipulekh region as part of its territory. India has undermined Nepal's sovereignty by building the Lipulekh link road in the area, said Nepali FM Gyawali.

India has put its forces in Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh-Kalapani which is Nepali territory, said the nation's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday while addressing the Parliament and proposing dialogue with India on the matter.

"We will seek a solution through diplomatic talks on the basis of historical facts and pieces of evidence. And that means our territory should be returned", Oli said while emphasising that India had built the Kali temple and created the artificial Kali River to prove its claim on Kalapani.

Nepal's House of Representatives has supported a constitutional amendment for a new political map that shows the disputed Kalapani region as part of the country's sovereign territory rather than India's which the Ministry of External Affairs says "lie completely within the territory of India".

On 8 May, India had inaugurated an 80-km road along the Lipulekh Pass, which goes up to the India-China border. India's November 2019 claim of over Kalapani had caused concern in Kathmandu, but the matter aggravated in May after the road was opened.

Nepal stated the Kali River to be the border between the two countries, but India refuted this claim.

Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali has said: "We are for starting dialogue soon. The problem will be resolved through diplomacy. We are not trying other alternatives. It is not necessary to make either".

The constitutional amendment process for the new map will be completed once the chief whips of the political parties agree that no amendment is required.

 Sputnik

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Imagine an American soldier, sailor, airman, Marine or an intelligence officer is on leave with his or her family, maybe on a beach in Europe, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a brief appearance with the others at the State Department. And over the course of two decades or more, this soldier honorably defended America in Anbar province, in Kandahar, taking down terrorists. Then, suddenly, that vacation turns into a nightmare.
The search continues for 20-year old Pfc. Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier from Houston last seen on April 22.

Her family is still holding out hope that they will find Guillen alive, they said on Wednesday.

"We still don't get answers as to who, what, where exactly, and why. We ask for the public's help to keep the word out. Her case won't remain silent," said Mayra Guillen, Vanessa's older sister in a press conference.

A&E CANCELS POLICE REALITY SERIES: A&E cancels 'Live P.D.' in wake of George Floyd protests and 2019 North Austin incident

"I know there's been a previous case in the same base, Gregory Wedel-Morales, he's been missing over six months now and we don't want the same thing to happen to my sister, we won't allow it," Mayra Guillen said.

According to a Fort Hood press release, "agents have had numerous weekly phone conversations with one or more family members."

Pfc. Vanessa Guillen is a highly valued member of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, said 3rd Cavalry Regiment commander Col. Ralph Overland.

We will maintain our resolve to locate Pfc. Vanessa Guillen and will continue our efforts until she is found, Overland said. We will never quit searching.

The family created a White House petition that garnered more than 144,000 signatures, and a dedicated website for Vanessa's case.

Also, a Facebook page, Find Vanessa Guillen, was created to help spread the word on Vanessa's case.

"I wish that the FBI would take over," Mayra Guillen said during the press conference. "I am currently working with U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia and Sen. Carol Alvarado and they are going to help me reach my goal to find Vanessa."

"From the bottom of my heart, I strongly believe my sister is alive. That whoever is keeping her hostage is doing it for a reason, because they know that at this point if we find her deceased, it's going to be much worse and I just hope that they are keeping her okay."

The reward money for credible information leading to the whereabouts of Pfc. Vanessa Guillen has been increased to $15,000.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact Army CID Special Agents at 254-495-7767 or the Military Police Desk at 254-287-4001.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

Trend:

Armenia undermines the very fundamentals of the Eastern Partnership, said Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov at the Video-Teleconference Meeting of Eastern Partnership Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

Our meeting takes place at a time when we are confronted with unprecedented challenges. I would like to extend my deep condolences to the families of those who passed away as a result of deadly pandemic. It is a very timely and extremely important meeting in the context of ongoing crises.



We are responding to the pandemic with decisive actions at domestic level. Strict quarantine measures have been coupled with channeling of significant public resources to strengthen the healthcare system, including commissioning 3 new hospitals in our 3 cities and building additional 7 modular-type hospitals. To mitigate economic and social impact of pandemic and the sharp drop in oil prices, the Government adopted the Extensive Package of Economic Assistance that equals to 4.3% of GDP. The basic-income support schemes covered more that 4.8 million citizens - nearly half of the population.



Private companies, NGOs and ordinary citizens joined hands with the Government by providing voluntary donations and this solidarity is heartwarming. These resources are directed to financing different activities ranging from awareness-raising to improving infrastructure and medical facilities. We also appreciate the EU assistance to Azerbaijan in supporting emergency response measures in the outbreak of pandemic.



The nature and scale of crisis is unparalleled. Economies, be it strong or weak, are intertwined and affected. This situation calls for all partners to come together, collaborate and support each other. With this in mind, Azerbaijan convened Extraordinary Summit of Turkic-speaking countries in order to exchange views on how to avoid supply chain disruptions and to ensure smooth movement of critical goods during the crisis. We are pleased to see that our partners in the EU recognize these measures, as they go hand-in-hand with the EU policy on facilitation of availability of goods and essential services.



For the first time ever, the EU was represented at a high level at the NAM Summit Contact Group convened upon the initiative of Azerbaijan. I thank Josep for joining us and for providing his valuable inputs to the Summit discussions. We have also proposed to convene a special session of the UN General Assembly and we invite everyone to support it.



Azerbaijan is also actively involved in response to the COVID crisis at a multilateral level and it has allocated 10 million USD to World Health Organization. Also, we have extended bilateral assistance to 14 countries upon their request. Today, Azerbaijan is in the top list of the countries providing humanitarian assistance in the fight against COVID-19 and this testifies to our commitment to solidarity and cooperation.



The EU Joint Communication on the future of EaP places a strong focus on bilateral cooperation. Tailor made approach is a very policy which Azerbaijan seeks in its relations with the EU. It is a partnership based on equality and mutual respect. The success of the negotiations on a new bilateral agreement will depend on the flexibility of negotiating sides to find mutually acceptable solutions to the remaining issues.



On good governance, we welcome the EUs support for resilient institutions, rule of law and fight against corruption through enhancing security dialogues with partner countries. After a successful 2nd Meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Security Dialogue held in Baku last December we look forward to continued fruitful exchanges on emerging regional and international security threats.



On energy, Southern Gas Corridor is nearing a completion and it will be the most tangible deliverable of strengthened interconnectivity in EAP. We appreciate the responsible behavior of our partners in TAP in supporting the COVID fight of affected local communities and ensuring timely execution of the project.



The significance of the transport-logistics system of Azerbaijan is increasingly recognized for its strategic importance. Azerbaijan is working on EaP and Central Asia flanks. Together with other EaP countries within GUAM we are working to develop a transport corridor which will provide alternative route to Central Asia and beyond. We collaborate with the Central Asian countries also within the OSCE project Promoting green ports and connectivity in the Caspian Sea region and welcome the EUs support to it. On the Eastern coast of Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan holds intensive dialogue with Turkmenistan and Afghanistan for materialization of the Lapis-Lazuli transport corridor. My country can play a critical role in implementation of the EU strategy and we are ready to assume this role. We do hope that extension of our strategic cooperation in the field of energy to the field of transport-logistics will be an important contribution to strengthening of EU-Azerbaijan partnership.



We believe that future EU-Azerbaijan cooperation will also contribute to the realization of the national development priorities. Azerbaijan continues to pursue the strategic development agenda aimed at accelerating economic diversification, fostering inclusive growth and supporting post-COVID economic recovery. Infrastructure is critical to meeting the needs of diversified economy and our investments are complemented by industrial parks, special economic zone, laws and regulations, financial services and IT. Promotion of innovation, IT and high technologies are our cross-cutting objectives. These all require renewed focus to human capital and quality education, training professionals, especially medical staff and we invite the EU to support our ongoing efforts.

The presence of Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan remains the biggest security threat in the region. Despite the UN Secretary-Generals and High Representative J. Borells appeal for global ceasefire, the Armenian armed forced continue to violate the ceasefire regime and makes every effort to escalate tension and derail the political settlement of the conflict. Armenia bills itself as democracy and yet continues to violate human rights of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis forcibly expelled from their homelands. While the entire world is mobilized to fight COVID, Armenia organized the so-called election and the so-called inauguration in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan. By refusing to negotiate and to comply with the demands of the UN Security Council Resolutions, Armenia obstructs the settlement of the process. Thus, Armenia undermines the very fundamentals of the Eastern Partnership, namely stability and prosperity.

As stated in the recent EU Council Conclusions the fundamentals of EaP are anchored in our shared commitment to a rule-based international order, international law, including territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of partner countries. We are in solidarity with the EU to promote these principles in our bilateral and multilateral cooperation, said Mammadyarov.
Shares of two telecom companies lost over 2% to 13% after the Supreme Court on Thursday (11 June) reportedly adjourned the hearing on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) issue till 18 June 2020.

Bharti Airtel fell 2.69% to Rs 552 while Vodafone Idea slumped 13.03% to Rs 9.41. Meanwhile, Grasim Industries, Vodafone's co-parent firm, lost 3.23% to Rs 594.85.

Reliance Industries, which owns Reliance Jio, fell 2.19% to 1537.50. Reliance Jio is the only telco that does not have any major dues.

The media reported that the Justice Arun Mishra-led bench heard the argument of several telecom firms - Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone Idea - regarding the payment of AGR dues worth Rs 1.43 lakh crore.

The SC reportedly asked telecom operators to file affidavits in five days regarding the roadmap they are proposing to clear the dues. Telecos are required to provide details with respect to timeline of payment, and security they can provide to guarantee payment.

Vodafone Idea owes Rs 53,000 crore in statutory dues. According to reports, Vodafone Idea submitted before the court that dues are huge and the firm would not be able to file the affidavit in 3-4 days. The company also expressed its inability to pay salaries to employees, meet expenses and to give any bank guarantee.

Meanwhile, SC said the Department of Telecommunications' (DoT) demand for Rs 4 lakh crore worth of AGR dues from the PSUs was "totally impermissible". The apex court added that the DoT should consider withdrawing it.

Following the news, shares of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers gained over 9% while GAIL India, Power Grid Corporation of India and Oil India added between 5% to 6%.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Akbar Mammadov

Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Zurab Pataradze has said that Azerbaijan is one of the largest investors in Georgia, adding that his country seeks to expand cooperation with Baku in various spheres in the future.

Pataradze made the remarks during the meeting with members of the Azerbaijani-Georgian working group on interparliamentary relations held on 11 June.

During the meeting, MP Arzu Naghiyev noted that Azerbaijans cooperation with Georgia on political, economic and humanitarian areas is developing, adding that mutual visits play an important role in this.

Touching upon the strategic partnership, Naghiyev noted that the current joint projects between the two countries have lifted the partnership into a new level.

Furthermore, Naghiyev spoke about the legislative process of the parliament and reforms implemented by the president in the country.

Reminding that around 20 per cent of Azerbaijans territories have been occupied by Armenia, he emphasized that Azerbaijan supports the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the international law.

During the meeting, the members of the Azerbaijani-Georgian working group on interparliamentary relations, Amina Aghazade, Mazahir Afandiyev, Nagif Hamzayev and Tural Ganjaliyev, exchanged the views on the development of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries with the Georgian envoy.

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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has produced not only sweeping nationwide protests over the deaths of African Americans at the hands of white police officers but also, increasingly, calls for "defunding" and disbanding police forces, a demand only amplified by the harsh responses by some police to peaceful, constitutionally protected protests. Now, a majority of the Minneapolis City Council is calling for dismantling the city's police force , pledging to create "a new, transformative model for cultivating safety."At the same time, looting and destruction of buildings have occurred in many cities, and police and their political leaders have been criticized for not stopping the chaos. Some have called for giving police more power rather than less.Should some reform or reorganization come out of the current wave of unrest, it would be beneficial to look at the history of municipal policing in America. I draw here mostly from the chapter on police and prisons in my 2012 book,These institutions of paid, uniformed, paramilitary men (and later women) are a relatively recent invention. They arose in the mid-19th century as part of the infrastructure of the modern city, along with water and sewer systems, paved streets and streetcar lines, gas and electrical service, and public schools. And just as riots and protests now accompany calls for reforming or even disbanding police forces, so did riots and protests spark their creation.Various cities in the United States vie for the title of having had this country's first municipal police force, but no one disputes that all were modeled on London's, which as the world's lead city in industrialization in the early 1800s, with more than a million inhabitants, created the institution. Sir Robert Peel formed the Metropolitan Police Force in 1829. His uniformed men, commonly and sometimes derisively called "bobbies" because of the first name of their founder, were common sights. It is telling that riots over unemployment and low wages sparked the act of Parliament that charged Peel to do something.Both Boston and New York City copied what London had done and created, in stops and starts, their own professional police forces in the 1840s and 1850s. It is again telling that riots and disturbances, often wrapped up with anti-immigrant fervor, were principal motivators.The idea was controversial from the start. As I wrote in the book of the effort in New York: "In 1836, city leaders specifically rejected a proposal to establish a London-style professional police force as a 'threat to democracy.' In a population that had within memory thrown off the paid occupation force of the English, there was a reluctance to let paid, uniformed men carrying weapons patrol among them. There was a fear that these servants would become masters."But in New York City the anti-abolition riots of 1834 (yes, the rioters were opposed to getting rid of slavery) and a riot over the price of flour in 1837 had a cumulative power, and the state in 1844 and then in 1857 passed legislation creating the present police force. Other cities followed. Soon, municipal police forces became part of and accepted as a legitimate part of government, although always accompanied by reformers and critics. There was something about a city stuffed with factories, with employees and employers as well as their poverty and wealth living in close and often tense proximity, that called for the constant presence of a uniformed man.The police forces were not cities' only attempts in the 19th and early 20th centuries at keeping public order. New York and other cities, with help from their states, created "armories": massive, solidly built structures large enough for militias to drill in and for weapons to be stored at the ready. When riots or protests occurred, men with guns could quickly flood the streets. In some cases, historians say, the militias were seen largely as forces for fighting unions and labor rights, since many disturbances were over this in an era of rapid industrialization.So what did cities do before the creation of their police forces? The answer is not much. Towns and cities were smaller and fewer. Some had constables or perhaps the legendary night watchman who called out "all is well" upon the hour. But most Americans still lived on farms or worked in related trades in rural America.The urbanization that began to accelerate after the Civil War changed all that, of course. By 1920, a majority of the nation's population was living in cities. Today, only 2 percent of Americans live on farms. As metropolitan areas surged in population, their police forces grew as well, but the Great Migration of African Americans from farms in the South to cities in the North and other regions was not accompanied by much racial diversity on the part of the forces that patrolled city streets. For decades now, tensions between minority communities and police have produced protests that in some cases have escalated into full-blown riots, protests that in recent years have mostly been set off by the deaths of unarmed blacks at the hands of white police.Now, with tumultuous demonstrations over the death of George Floyd continuing to convulse Minneapolis and dozens of other cities, most of the members of the Minneapolis City Council have pledged to "begin the process of ending" the city's police force. Without agreeing or disagreeing with this proposal, I will say that it is good that this institution be continually examined, evaluated and reformed.After all, Americans' attitudes toward police tend to reflect the times. When murder, robbery and other violent crimes are more common, there are calls for more police. These calls are often answered not only in city budgets but also at the state and federal level, as in the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which provided for 100,000 new police officers and funded a prison-building spree that set the stage for mass incarceration. As is often forgotten now, that now-controversial law was supported by a majority of the Congressional Black Caucus, many African American mayors and other black leaders whose communities were afflicted with crime.Now crime is near historic lows in most cities. Nationally, it's about half what it was in the early 1990s when Congress passed the crime law. And when crime is low, people begin to question why it is that we have so many of these armed, uniformed men and women walking among us. It is, it hit me, kind of like social distancing and COVID-19. When the disease retreats, or never makes an appearance in a community, people don't applaud the efficacy of social distancing; they wonder why they are being asked or required to wear uncomfortable masks, go months without a haircut and close their businesses down.Balance and re-evaluation are appropriate. Our institutions should serve us, not we the institutions. This is a maxim I would keep in mind as, once again, we evaluate the men and women in uniform and their role and mission.GoverningGoverning
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In a private meeting at the White House on June 13, 1968, Earl Warren told Lyndon Johnson that after 15 years the time had come for him to leave the Supreme Court.

For the Chief Justice the issue was not health -- at 77 he was as fit as a fiddle -- but politics. The assassination eight days earlier of Robert F. Kennedy had wrapped up the Democratic nomination for Hubert Humphrey, and Warren believed the vice-president did not have a snowballs chance of beating the Republican in the fall.

If he waited until the votes were counted in November, Richard Nixon would pick the next Chief Justice. To avoid that unpalatable possibility, Warren wanted to give President Johnson the opportunity to select his successor.

The unpopularity of the Vietnam War had forced LBJ to cancel his campaign for a second full term in a nationally televised announcement on March 31. To protect and preserve the domestic accomplishments of his Great Society programs, he needed to leave behind a sympathetic Supreme Court.

Johnson had just the men for the job. He would promote Associate Justice Abe Fortas and fill his vacated chair with Judge Homer Thornberry of Texas. Both were in their 50s and could be counted on for 20 or more years of loyal service.

LBJ and Fortas went way back. They had met in Washington in 1937, when Johnson was a first-term congressman from the Hill Country and Fortas was a Jewish lawyer from Memphis going to work for the Interior Department.

The two became fast friends and close political allies. Lyndon believed Fortas had the sharpest legal mind in the country and retained him as his personal attorney. As president he made room for him on the Supreme Court by persuading Justice Arthur Goldberg to take the post of United Nations ambassador after the death of Adlai Stevenson.

The Johnson-Thornberry friendship was even older, dating back to the 1920s when LBJs father was a member of the Texas house of representatives and young Homer was a page. Thornberry inherited Johnsons congressional seat after his election to the U.S. Senate in 1948 and was appointed by him to the federal bench in 1965.

Although aides doubted the wisdom of the Fortas and Thornberry nominations, which smacked of cronyism in some quarters, the president was confident that his influence in the senate would carry the day.

But by the middle of July, the Fortas nomination was in serious trouble. Sen. Russell had withdrawn his support in a fit of temper over alleged foot-dragging by the Johnson Administration in regard to his own candidate for a lower court. Far worse were newspaper reports of a conflict of interest with Fortas continuing to advise the president on everything under the sun after donning the black robe.

In an attempt to save his nomination, Fortas testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee -- something no prospective Chief Justice had ever done. Grilled by the senators for three grueling days, Fortas played fast and loose with the facts and even flat out lied according to one biographer.

He seemed to have survived the ordeal when the committee voted 11-6 to send the nomination onto the full senate. But as soon as the question came up for debate, the Republicans began a filibuster.

As Johnson and his crew scrambled for the necessary two-thirds vote to stop the talkathon, a scandalous bombshell blew Fortas out of the water. That very summer he had accepted $15,000 in cash from former clients to teach a seminar, a clear and inexcusable ethics violation.

We wont withdraw the nomination. I wont do that to Abe, a solemn Johnson said. To save face for Fortas and enable him to stay on the court with his head up, the disappointed president urged staffers to shoot for a majority on cloture.

But on Oct. 1, 1968, only 45 senators voted in favor of ending the filibuster. Later that day at Abe Fortas request, President Lyndon Johnson formally withdrew his nomination for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

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Temperature checks, teachers in lab coats and socially danced playtime greeted children as they returned to one London primary school today.

Pupils at the L'Ecole de Battersea bilingual school went back amid a raft of new health measures to stop the spread of coronavirus, including tape markings in the playground, staff wearing face masks and digital thermometers at the gates.

It comes as the head of Ofsted Amanda Spielman told teachers they need to adopt a more 'can do' and 'optimistic approach' to reopening schools.

And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today urged Boris Johnson to turn the nation's empty theatres, museums, libraries and leisure centres into classrooms to speed up pupils return to education.

Children at L'Ecole de Battersea were back at school today as they bid to return to normality

Upon arrival children had their temperatures checked as a precaution against coronavirus

Staff wore face masks and lab coats as another safety measure against the deadly disease

The Government has U-turned on its 'ambition' to get all primary school children back into lessons before the summer holidays, as ministers admitted social distancing rules and smaller class sizes made it impossible.

Upon arrival at the L'Ecole de Battersea, the children were greeted by members of staff who all wore the necessary safety precautions against the disease.

Staff were pictured in white lab coats and red face masks which covered their mouths and noses.

Children had their hands sanitised upon entry at the L'Ecole de Battersea on Thursday

The independent French bilingual school in Battersea teaches pupils between three and 11

At playtime, children were kept apart with social-distanced markers for them to have fun

Before the pupils could begin classes they had their temperatures checked with a scanning device pointed towards their foreheads.

To ensure hygiene was maintained too, the children had their hands individually sanitised.

Playtime was different for the kids as they were forced to keep their distance in line with the social distancing guidelines in affect.

The playground was cordoned off in different sections and within that there were markers for the children to stand within where they hula-hooped.

L'Ecole de Battersea's return comes the same day that Spielman has told teachers they need to adopt a more 'can do' and 'optimistic approach' to reopening schools.

Head teachers have said that without changes to the current two metre social distancing rule it will be 'impossible' for all children to return in September - something Spielman disagrees with.

Ofsted chief inspector of schools Amanda Spielman said teachers needed to adopt a more 'optimistic approach' to getting children back into classrooms

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I would like to hear a much more optimistic approach.

'I think it should be about what we can do, not about what we can't do.

'Many schools are already showing that within the public health guidance that sets the expectation for these bubbles of 15 children there's a great deal that can be done.

'It is also important to remember that within the bubbles social distancing is an aspiration, not an absolute expectation.

'The risk to children themselves is very low indeed and those in education should take some confidence from that.

'It's about starting from the position of seeing what can we create, how far we can go?'

Spielman's sentiments have been echoed by Starmer who said there is 'no doubt that the way children are educated needs to change' because of the coronavirus crisis and it is clear 'schools cannot reopen as normal'.

Sir Keir Starmer, pictured in London yesterday, has urged ministers to repurpose empty museums and libraries as classrooms to help children return to school

The two metre social distancing rule has made it impossible for schools to bring back all of their pupils. Pictured is a primary in Huddersfield

The need to adhere to the two metre social distancing restriction means schools need to find more space for teaching and disused public buildings could be the answer, the Labour leader argued.

Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Keir accused the Government of having a 'blind spot' on education which is harming the long term life chances of the current generation of school children.

He said there had been 'no plan, no consensus, no leadership' as he warned children must not be allowed to go six months without proper classroom learning.

Sir Keir called for the Government to do three things: Repurpose empty buildings to act as classrooms, develop a national plan with teachers to ensure a full September return and make efforts now to reverse gaps in attainment caused by the outbreak.

'There is no doubt that the way children are educated needs to change in light of the pandemic,' he said.

'Schools cannot reopen as normal. Adaptations need to be made so that teachers, children and parents can be kept safe.

'Introducing these changes must be a national effort using the creativity of the British people. Towns, villages and cities are full of empty buildings and spaces that can be repurposed.

'Theatres, museums, libraries and leisure centres could be used and opened up for children.'
All nine cities in Sonoma County have pledged to review police department policies and reform them if necessary amid a national outcry over police brutality against people of color.

Mayors and police chiefs of Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma and Windsor pledged their commitment to reviewing policies and creating changes that address structural racism in their communities, officials said during a Wednesday news briefing.

Mayors from each city signed a pledge to review police use-of-force policies, engage with residents who have diverse perspectives, publicly release the review and seek community input, said Dominic Foppoli, mayor of Windsor and chair of the Mayors and Councilmembers Association of Sonoma County.

Finally, when necessary, were all committed to reforming law enforcement policies, Foppoli said.

Now Playing: People march during a protest to Defund the Petaluma Police Department at Walnut Park in Petaluma, Calif., on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Video: Sarahbeth Maney / The Chronicle

Foppoli encouraged residents to reach out to their mayor and city councilmembers to discuss issues surrounding racial injustice in their community.

Were listening to you, we support you and we want to hear from you, he said.

Santa Rosa Police Chief Rainer Navarro said on Tuesday his department has banned the use of the carotid restraint, a controversial neck hold that cuts off a persons blood flow.

The citys Mayor Tom Schwedhelm said officials have also created a community empowerment plan and established a public safety subcommittee of the city council that will review issues and reports.

We need to make swift and thoughtful changes to our police policies and we need to create an environment for productive community dialogue, Schwedhelm said. We are all here today because we care.

The Petaluma Police Department is committed to reviewing its policies, listening to community members and making meaningful changes, said Police Chief Ken Savano.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

We stand here with you today frustrated, angry and heartbroken that our intended mission of peace and safety is not felt by everyone that we serve. I have not spoken to a single police officer that does not feel the same way, Savano said.

Susan Gorin, chair of the countys board of supervisors, said supervisors agreed to create an equity officer position to address discrimination in the county.

Congressman Mike Thompson said the last two weeks have shaken us all to the core, and that he supports peaceful protests against police violence.

Our fight is for full and fair opportunity for everyone  we must address systematic racism, discrimination in our country, Thompson said.

Anna Bauman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: anna.bauman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @abauman2
New Delhi: Twitter, especially fans of south superstar Chiranjeevi, are fuming in anger over novelist Shobhaa Des major tweet blunder. Earlier this week, after Kannada actor Chiranjeevi Sarja died, Shobhaa De took to Twitter to offer her condolence to his family, but the picture she posted along with the tweet was not of him, she shared megastar Chiranjeevis photo. Though she deleted her tweet soon, but it appeared that the damage was already done.

Netizens schooled the novelist for her goof-up and demanded an apology from her while a section of the internet slammed the entire Bollywood film fraternity and asked them "not to tweet if they dont know people down south."

A Twitter user said, Dear Bollywood Celebrities/WHATEVER, if you don't know our actors, then please don't tweet. Simple! A simple Google search goes a long way in covering your stupidity.

this post is regarding this tweet. pic.twitter.com/GlIaSrh9wq  Vamsi Kaka (@vamsikaka) June 7, 2020

Chiranjeevi Sarja, who died on June 7, was a Kannada star. He belonged to a prominent film family. He died of cardiac arrest in Bengaluru at the age of 39. Chiranjeevi Sarja had an illustrious career. He debuted 11 years ago and acted in over 22 movies.
The HSE has secured High Court orders preventing an IT worker from distributing highly confidential and sensitive information about hospital patients. 



It is alleged that Neill Bradley had distributed confidential information he obtained from the HSE's computer servers during the course of his now former employment with a third party contracted by the HSE to perform certain IT services.

The information includes patient's personal data and medical databases allegedly sent by Mr Bradley to Wikileaks the non-profit organisation that publishes news leaks provided by anonymous source founded by Australian internet activist Julian Assange.

The orders were granted last week by Mr Justice Tony O'Connor, who said he was satisfied that Mr Bradley had gained access to private and sensitive data through his former employment, which he threatened to facilitate the dissemination of patients details and private records.

The judge noted that the defendant in one post on social media had referred to information he obtained, which Mr Bradley knew should be kept secure, as being "stolen. "

The HSE launched proceedings against Mr Bradley following a probe it commenced after becoming aware of a potentially serious data breach from posts on social media of screenshots of the HSE's internal servers.

The HSE claims the posts appeared on three twitter accounts it says were set up and controlled by Mr Bradley.

Through those accounts Mr Bradley allegedly sent messages to a senior official at the HSE, as well as posting to the social media accounts of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ministers Simon Harris and Pascal Donohoe, media figures and Dr Tony Holohan.

In his communications, Mr Bradley made allegations of a cover-up and a scam by the HSE and said he would make public data from over a dozen Irish hospitals, it is claimed.

It is also claimed that he used various hashtags on his posts including #covid19 #lockdown ireland #notmytaoiseach #MAGA and #mediascum.

The HSE said during previous employment as a systems administration Mr Bradley was given access to its servers and patient databases to carry out tasks his previous employer was contracted to do.

That firm's role was to maintaining and servicing a 'smart' automated system used to dispense, record and manage medication given to patients at various hospitals called Omnicell.

The system is used in many hospitals throughout the state.

Since becoming aware of the situation the HSE, in co-operation with Mr Bradley's previous employer, who terminated his employment after learning of the HSE's concerns, have taken steps to secure the servers and prevent the information from being published.

These steps include having posts on the pastebin.com site and links to the confidential material removed.

The HSE also sought and obtained court orders, including in junctions to prevent him from attempting to post more links to confidential information.

The injunction is to remain in place pending the outcome of any full hearing of the matter.

The application for the injunctions was initially heard in camera, meaning that the proceedings were in private. The Judge subsequently lifted the in camera ruling allowing the media to report on the case. 

In its action the HSE, represented by Eoin McCullough SC, Joe Jeffers Bl instructed by Philip Lee solicitors sought the orders against Mr Bradley with an address at Carrigeen Hill, Conna, Co Cork. Mr Bradley had been informed of the application against him.

However he did not attend, nor was he represented during, the court hearings. 

Mr Justice O'Connor in making the orders said Mr Bradley would be given the chance to advance a defence to the HSE's claims at a full hearing of the action.

The injunction restrains Mr Bradley and any person to whom he has communicated or may communicate the confidential information from disseminating publishing, communicating by any means, or using any of said information through specific twitter handles and email addresses attributed to him.



The order also restrains the defendant, and anyone who received the confidential information from him, from destroying or deleting the information. 

He must also deliver up all documents, records and devices containing the confidential information to the HSE's solicitors for forensic analysis. 

The court further restrained Mr Bradley from leaving Ireland until he has complied with the order to deliver up the confidential information, and hand over his passport to An Garda Siochana, who will retain it until further order.

The HSE's solicitors were given permission to notify the Department of Foreign affairs, An Garda Siochana, authorities at all points of exit from the State about the court's orders. 

Mr Justice O Connor said that Mr Bradley had said in another tweet that he had sold his house and was moving about Europe in a camper van to "ply my skills elsewhere."

The judge also noted the HSE's lawyers undertaking to give the Data Protection Commissioner, the Minister for Health and the Attorney General copies of the order and the documents put before the court during the application if requested by those parties.
The relevant decree was signed on June 11.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Rear Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa as Ukraine's Navy Commander.

Relevant decree  217/2020 was signed by the president on June 11, the presidential press service said.

Neizhpapa was born in the city of Sevastopol, Crimea, in 1975. He graduated from Sevastopol Naval Institute in 1997, from the same Institute (operational and tactical level) in 2008, and from Ukraine's National Defense University in 2015.

Read alsoUkraine to demand compensation from Russia caused by aggression in Kerch Strait  FM official

In 2015-2019, he was deputy commander of the Navy for combat training and headed the combat training department of the Navy's Command.

Since April 2020, Neizhpapa has been serving as deputy commander of the Ukrainian Navy. He took part in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

He served on ships of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a lieutenant to a captain of the first rank inclusively (in positions from the commander of a group of frigates to the commander of a brigade of surface vessels).

He received military ranks twice as a ship commander and a brigade commander. He was repeatedly in charge of Ukrainian-U.S. Sea Breeze drills as commander on behalf of Ukraine.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rusal, the largest aluminium producer outside China, is negotiating alternative routes for the raw materials it needs for its Siberian Achinsk alumina plant, after damaged rail infrastructure interrupted supplies, it said on Wednesday.

The company said it was in talks with Russian Railways to quickly organise alternative routes to the plant, the largest in Russia, which supplies the Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter.

"As of today, the supply of raw materials to the (Achinsk) plant has completely stopped," it said in a statement adding stockpiles were close to a "critical minimum".

The stockpiles at the plant are enough for 5 to 7 days, Russian Railways, the state-owned railway monopoly, said in a separate statement.

Russian Railways organised the first supply to the plant via an alternative route on Tuesday, although it is unclear how long that will take to arrive. The rail company said it was in close contact with Rusal on the full resumption of supplies.

A section of the railway used by the plant was damaged by heavy rains on June 7, Rusal said. Russian Railways said the area received half a typical month's rainfall in 24 hours.

The aluminium industry relies on long and often complicated supply chains because aluminium is produced from alumina, which in turn requires bauxite and other raw materials.

Rusal has been hit by lower demand for aluminium during the coronavirus pandemic, but aluminium smelters require a stable supply of materials because production is hard to bring back online after stoppages.

(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova and Polina Devitt; writing by Alexander Marrow and Polina Devitt; editing by Barbara Lewis and David Goodman)
Tamil Nadus low mortality rate has come under scrutiny, with the state government setting up a committee to probe unaccounted Covid-19 deaths in Chennai. The Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine found that the death registry maintained by the Greater Chennai Corporation recorded 236 deaths that were not added to the states tally.

DPH has now formed a nine-member committee to reconcile Covid-19 related deaths for Chennai. We are yet to see the data from the corporation which will help us get to the bottom of the problem, says Dr P Vadivelan who is heading the committee which will soon discuss the matter with officials of corporation, public health and Directorate of Medical Education. We suspect that many of these deaths happened at home so they may have received tests late and reported late.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami told reporters on Thursday: We dont hide the number of deaths, we wont gain anything if we do that.

Newspapers on Thursday reported that some Covid deaths are not reflecting in the state tally as per the daily data released by DPH and department of the health and family welfare in Tamil Nadu. As of June 8, this bulletin reported that Chennai accounted for 224 out of the 286 deaths in Tamil Nadu. When DPH officials found an additional 236 more deaths in Chennais city corporation, a revision exercise was ordered to reconcile the data.

We are conducting an analysis of our line list of all the positive patients in the state which should give us a clear picture, says Greater Chennai Corporation commissioner G Prakash. Director of Public Health Dr TS Selvavinayagam has asked the civic body to share data from March and for all deaths to be reported on a daily basis. Reconciliation is an approved administrative mechanism. The aim is to rectify the registry by understanding why, when and how the numbers are reported as two-three departments are involved, says Selvavinayagam. A senior official of the corporation said on condition of anonymity that  the audit can go through these cases and if it is due to Covid-19, there is no shame in adding those figures.

On the same day that the mismatch came to light, a Chennai-based anti-corruption group, Arappor Iyakkam, sent a report to health secretary Beela Rajesh challenging underreporting of Covid-19 death cases. It released two mortuary cards from the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital in Chennai that were marked Covid-19 positive and complained the cases did not reflect in the state tally.

Whistleblowers have been sending us such cases to be exposed, said Jayaram Venkatesan, founder, Arappor Iyakkam. The argument that there is miscommunication falls flat because we have exposed cases in government hospitals which also needs to be investigated.

Officials say that hospitals must inform both the corporation and DPH of Covid-19 deaths but only few are reporting to the corporation (via local authorities such as sanitary inspectors and zonal officers) which, in turn, has not updated the DPH. In other districts in Tamil Nadu, we have a deputy director of health service who coordinates at the block or municipality level and reports to the DPH. That mechanism is missing in Chennai, said a former health official who asked not to be named.

The state health department said 1,875 persons tested positive, while 22 succumbed to the virus. The capital Chennai recorded more than 1,400 cases.
Colorado Springs, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Catalyst Accelerator (CA) announced its next cohort, Cyber for Space Applications, launching September 1, 2020. The goal of the CA is to increase Space Force awareness and rapid acquisition of commercial, dual-use space technology by providing relevant business development training to Accelerator companies and connecting these entrepreneurs with users, decision makers, and potential new customers in the DoD and commercial realms. Eight companies will be chosen to participate in the program held at Catalyst Campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado. How might we apply cyber technologies to secure the next generation of space operations and increase resiliency? the problem statement poses. Cyber-physical systems are becoming more integral than ever before, introducing new sets of unique problems in both public and private sectors. It is vital that we come together to identify, understand and limit areas where threats could arise before they are exploited. The Cyber for Space Applications Accelerator, powered by the Air Force Research Laboratorys Space Vehicles Directorate, will be a 12-week, semi-residential program. Participating companies will receive a $12K-grant through the Catalyst Accelerators Corporate Sponsor, Booz Allen Hamilton, with an additional $3K available at the end of the Accelerator program when all deliverables have been met. At the end of the program, all participating companies will have the opportunity to pitch to government stakeholders, industry leaders and commercial investors during a demonstration day. This enables cohort companies to raise awareness of their capabilities in order to solicit additional capital or follow-on government funding for further technological development. KiMar Gartman, the Catalyst Accelerator Program Director, states, We are excited to assist the Air Force and Space Force in finding companies with unique cyber solutions that will secure the next generation of space operations and increase resiliency. We look forward to collaborating with our dynamic space community to offer the very best program possible! Captain Keith Hudson, Government Lead for the Cyber for Space Applications cohort, stated, As we face increasing cyber resiliency challenges in space, the upcoming Accelerator provides an opportunity for the USSF and AFRL to connect with small businesses to develop the necessary solutions to those challenges. Applications for the Cyber for Space Applications Accelerator will be closing August 3. The Catalyst Accelerator will be holding Ask Me Anything sessions on June 18 and July 23 to address inquiries related to the current CA Problem Statement along with other general program questions potential applicants may have. For updates and other relevant announcements regarding the Cyber for Space Applications Accelerator, follow this cohort on social media with #CACSA. Interested applicants may learn more about the program and apply on the Catalyst Accelerators website, CatalystAccelerator.Space/Cyber-for-Space-Applications/. * About Catalyst Accelerator The Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorates Catalyst Accelerator is a NewSpace-focused defense and national security industry accelerator, headquartered on the Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation (CCTI) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. CCTI is a collaborative ecosystem where industry, small business, entrepreneurs, startups, government, academia, and investors intersect with Colorados aerospace and defense industry to create community, spark innovation and stimulate business growth. The Catalyst Accelerator is a collaborative program hosted by Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation (CCTI, a Colorado 501(c)3) in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory to provide a robust, mentor-driven curriculum for accelerator teams. For more information: Mrs. KiMar Gartman Catalyst Accelerator Program Director KiMar.Gartman@CatalystCampus.Org ###
MONTREAL - Bell is beginning to roll out a new 5G wireless network in five cities, joining the global race to deploy the high-speed technology.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL - Bell is beginning to roll out a new 5G wireless network in five cities, joining the global race to deploy the high-speed technology.

It is the second of Canadas Big Three telecom companies to launch its plan for fifth-generation deployment.

The new service is now available for customers in Montreal, the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, the company said.

Rival Rogers Communications Inc. activated its 5G network earlier this year in downtown Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

The new networks offer those with 5G-enabled smartphones faster data speeds and faster response times.

"It is the next generation of wireless technology and will have a fundamental shift in the future to how we interact in many parts of our life, whether its smart cities, whether its autonomous vehicles, whether its a mobile gaming experience, whether its virtual reality," Bell Mobility president Claire Gillies said.

The full potential of 5G technology won't be reached until Bell deploys higher-frequency bands called "millimetre-wave" spectrum, which requires installation of thousands of cereal box-sized "microcells" within hundreds of metres on each other on structures ranging from bus stops to billboards.

"Theres many things that will happen before we get to millimetre wave, but thats when you get some of the ultra-fast speeds that you often hear referred to," Gillies said.

Last week, Bell Canada announced that Sweden-based Ericsson will be its second supplier of the radio access network equipment  a major component in 5G networks  following its choice of Finland's Nokia in February.

Telus Corp., which uses Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. equipment extensively in its current network, announced hours later that it too had selected Ericsson and Nokia for its 5G network needs.

The announcements came as Ottawa continues its review of Huawei's role in Canada's 5G networks over security concerns due to suspicions about the company's relationship with China's government.

"Theres a significant amount of uncertainty as the government has yet to make a decision on Huaweis participation in 5G in the Canadian market," Gillies said.

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The United States has warned Canada, the United Kingdom and other allies that it will limit intelligence sharing with countries that have Huawei equipment in their 5G networks  citing its potential use for spying by China, an allegation Huawei denies.

On Thursday, Bell also announced partnership plans for a 5G research centre at Western University in London, Ont., that will include a campus-wide 5G network.

"As the world rapidly embraces the fifth generation of wireless, Bell is ready to ensure Canada remains at the forefront of 5G innovation and accessibility," said Mirko Bibic, chief executive of Bell Canada and parent company BCE.

"The COVID-19 crisis has clearly underscored the critical importance of high-quality networks to keeping consumers, businesses and governments connected and informed, and Bell remains committed to building the best as we take wireless into the next generation."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE, TSX:RCI.B)
Too little, too late?

Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman recently apologized for the lack of diversity on the long-running sitcom, explaining at the virtual 2020 ATX TV Festival, "I wish I knew then what I know today...We've always encouraged people of diversity in our company, but I didn't do enough." However, as E! hosts Morgan Stewart, Nina Parker and Scott Tweedie discussed on the latest Daily Pop, the acknowledgment seems to be, as Stewart put it, "a little too late."

Parker was in agreement with Stewart, saying, "I mean, Marta, welcome to the rest of the world, child. Like, what is she even talking about?"

She continued, "I'm sorry, you guys. But like, people have been talking about this since Friends' inception. The fact that, okay, sure, all white people hanging out together in New York? That happens. But everybody in the street is white?"

Parker asked Tweedie, who lives in New York, if the city looks "the way Friends depicted it," to which he replied, "It is definitely not like that."

Michael B. Jordan Asks Hollywood to Invest in Black Staff

Parker went on to express her frustration, especially since she said Kauffman has "been in this industry" for awhile now.

"Like, of course this has been something that should've been discussed," she noted. "And in fact, especially in black communities, there were people who specifically boycotted Friends and Seinfeld because they felt like they weren't represented on these mainstream shows that were based in cities where it's prominently people of color."

Parker continued, "So, you know, I'm glad people are coming to the party but damnit, I hope you brought me a bottle of wine because it's so late."

Stewart echoed Parker's sentiment, adding that these conversations about representation in general "have been happening for years and years and years."

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"And everybody now is just like, 'Oh my god,'" Stewart said. "And myself included! I don't want to pretend I'm not a part of that narrative as well. But it really is, like, the party has been going on."

How to Help Get Justice for George Floyd & Black Lives Matter

Tweedie pointed out that the entire situation "is a perfect example of the white privilege lifestyle."

"Because I was watching it when I grew up. I thought it was hilarious. I thought it was a brilliant show," he explained. "And never did I ever think, 'What if there's a black child out there watching this show and going, 'What sort of world is this?'"

Parker, however, said "that's specifically how I felt watching TV in general growing up," and "the fact that you guys didn't notice, and it was the first thing I noticed" is something that needs to be a part of the ongoing conversation about race and representation.

"Not only in TV, but let's talk about in work spaces. Let's talk about in social spacesyou know, in going to a restaurant or a bar in Los Angeles," Parker expressed. "There's diversity, but sometimes you walk into a place and you like, 'Nobody else in here looks like me.' And I think those are conversations that we have to have with each other, about how hard it is to feel like you're a part of a community that does not recognize you."

Watch the complete Daily Pop discussion in the above clip.
Demonstrators hold images of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos over their faces during a protest over the company's facial recognition system on Oct. 31, 2019. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

Answering widespread demands for new curbs on aggressive policing in the wake of George Floyd's killing, Amazon is halting law enforcement use of its facial recognition platform for one year, the company said Wednesday.

The company has marketed its software platform, called Rekognition, to law enforcement agencies for years, and its short blog post announcing the shift did not provide an explicit reason for the change of direction. The post did note that Amazon supports federal regulation of facial recognition technology and that the company hopes the one-year moratorium "might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules."

The move came two days after IBM announced that it was getting out of the facial recognition business entirely, citing ethical concerns over the powerful technology. In a letter to Congress, the company's chief executive, Arvind Krishna, wrote that "IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any [facial recognition] technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms," or any other purpose that goes against the company's core principles.

Cities around the country, including Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, have banned the technology's use by public agencies outright over fears that the software, which employs machine learning algorithms to automatically detect human faces in digital video and match them to names, presents too great a risk to privacy to be used responsibly.

A 2019 California law banned the use of facial recognition software  and any other biometric surveillance that can identify people by tattoo, gait or other individually distinguishable characteristics  on photos or video collected by law enforcement agencies.

The text of the law summarized the concerns about the use of the technology, calling its potential widespread application the functional equivalent of requiring every person to show a personal photo identification card at all times in violation of recognized constitutional rights, regardless of consent. It added that its use runs the risk of creating massive, unregulated databases about Californians never suspected of committing a crime, and may chill the exercise of free speech in public places as the identities of anyone in a crowd could be immediately discerned.

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Amazon has been one of the leading providers of facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies in recent years, a role that has drawn criticism. In June 2018, the Washington state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union called on the Seattle company to stop providing the technology to governments, including local law enforcement.

The Amazon executive who oversees Rekognition told reporters at PBS' "Frontline" in February that the company did not know how many police departments used the technology. "We have 165 services in our technology infrastructure platform," said Andrew Jassy, chief executive of Amazon Web Services, "and you can use them in any combination you want."

Fight for the Future, a digital rights group that has been leading a coalition calling for an outright ban on facial recognition technology in all applications, said a one-year pause is not enough.

This is nothing more than a public relations stunt from Amazon, Evan Greer, deputy director at Fight for the Future, said in a statement. Greer said the appeal for federal regulation is consistent with a strategy  familiar from the fight over Californias landmark privacy law passed last year  in which powerful tech companies lobby for broad federal regulation that is ultimately weaker than state or municipal-level regulation of their business.
By Saumya Joseph

(Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc <AZN.L> on Thursday picked Emergent BioSolutions Inc <EBS.N> to help produce the 300 million doses of the British drugmaker's potential COVID-19 vaccine pledged to the United States.

AstraZeneca has inked manufacturing deals globally to meet its target of making 2 billion doses of the vaccine, including with two Bill Gates-backed ventures and a $1.2 billion agreement with the U.S. government.

The company's vaccine is among the first to move into mid-stage trials and the first indication of its effectiveness would likely be available in June or July. There are no approved vaccines or treatments for COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Experts have cautioned that a safe and effective vaccine could take at least 12 to 18 months from the start of development.

There are more than 100 potential vaccines in development, and AstraZeneca's partnership with Oxford University is one of a handful to be backed so far by U.S. President Donald Trump's COVID-19 task force.

Emergent signed a $628 million contract with the U.S. government last week to help secure manufacturing capacity for a potential coronavirus vaccine through 2021.

The company, which helps produce vaccines and treatments, said https://reut.rs/2Yp6UD5 on Thursday it would provide AstraZeneca with development services, analytical testing and drug substance process under the agreement, valued at about $87 million.

Emergent is also working to boost manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines under development at Johnson & Johnson<JNJ.N>, Novavax Inc <NVAX.O> and Vaxart Inc <VXRT.O>.

The company said it would reserve large-scale manufacturing capacity for the AstraZeneca vaccine through 2020 at its Baltimore Bayview facility, which can produce up to hundreds of millions of doses annually.

AstraZeneca did not respond to Reuters request for further details.

(Reporting by Saumya Sibi Joseph in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Sriraj Kalluvila)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 12) - The University of the Philippines Visayas has temporarily taken down its webserver after its website was defaced by hackers.

The school administration assured that a technical team is addressing the problem.

We have temporarily taken down our webserver after receiving and verifying the information that there was a defacement of the UPV website, said UP Visayas in a statement.

The technical team is now doing a security audit of all our systems and is taking the necessary steps to ensure that no further harm will be done," it also said. "They are also proceeding to fix the affected system.

This is not the first time that a schools website endured a cyberattack. UP Cebu recently experienced a data breach in its Student Evaluation on Teaching (SET), while San Beda Universitys student portal was also hacked.
GLYFADA, Greece, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Globus Maritime Limited (Globus, the Company, we, or our), (GLBS), a dry bulk shipping company, announced today that it will release financial results for the threemonth period ended March 31, 2020, after the market closes in New York on Friday, June 12, 2020.



About Globus Maritime Limited

Globus is an integrated dry bulk shipping company that provides marine transportation services worldwide and presently owns, operates and manages a fleet of dry bulk vessels that transport iron ore, coal, grain, steel products, cement, alumina and other dry bulk cargoes internationally. Globuss subsidiaries own and operate 5 vessels with a total carrying capacity of 300,571 DWT and a weighted average age of 12.1 years as of March 31, 2020.
Global Femtech Market to Reach $3. 04 Billion by 2030. Market Report Coverage - Femtech. Market Segmentation  Component  Mobile Apps, Connected Devices, Services, Others.

New York, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Female Technology (Femtech) Market: Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05914197/?utm_source=GNW

 Application  Reproductive Health, Pregnancy and Nursing Care, Pelvic and Uterine Health, General Health and Wellness

 End Users- Individuals, Hospitals, Diagnostic Centers, and Fertility Clinics



Regional Segmentation



 North America  U.S., Canada

 Europe  Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium

 Asia-Pacific  China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Australia

 Rest-of-the-World  Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico



Growth Drivers



 Growing recognition of Women in the Domain of Technology

 Economic Burden of Womens health is more than $500 Billion

 Explosion of wearable devices and increasing smartphone penetration among women



Market Challenges



 Lack of women decision makers

 Societal taboos surrounding womens health issues

 Absence of awareness among women in rural areas

 Lack of scientific studies to back industrial claims



Market Opportunities



 Investment in product development for maternal, pre- and neo-natal care

 Investment in sub-Saharan Africa

 Product development for menopause management



Key Companies Profiled



ALYK, Inc., Aytu BioScience, Inc., Biowink GmbH, CORA, Flo Health, Inc., Bloomlife, Glow, Inc., Inne, Kasha, NaturalCycles Nordic AB, Plackal Tech, Ovia Health, Sustain Natural, The Flex Company, Thinx, Inc., Celmatix Inc., Conceivable Inc., Lia Diagnostics Inc., Lucina Health, Inc., Progny, Inc., Univfy Inc., among others



Key Questions Answered:

 How has the market evolved in the last five years, and what are the awaited technological advancements in the field of Femtech?

 What are the major market drivers, challenges, and opportunities in the global Femtech market?

 What are the underlying structures resulting in the emerging trends within the Femtech industry?

 What was the market value of the leading segments of the global Femtech market in 2019?

 What are the influencing factors that may affect the market positioning of the key players?

 How is industry expected to evolve during the forecast period 2019-2030?

 What are the key developmental strategies which are implemented by the key players to sustain in the competitive market?

 What are the key business models employed by the femtech companies to standout in the evolving market?

 What is the growth potential of Femtech in each region, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest-of-the-World?

 What are the key regulatory implications in developed and developing regions for Femtech?

 What was the funding trends for the Femtech companies in the last three years and how would the funding scenario change during the forecast period?



Market Overview



Despite having huge potential, the Femtech industry is still immensely underfunded accounting for only 1.4% aggregated capital that flows into healthcare. Also, a large number of healthcare venture capitalists are yet to invest in this sector. Indeed, the amount of investment received by the Femtech industry is on a rise but at a surprisingly slow pace considering the potential of the market.



However, the signs of future growth are also quite evident.Five years ago, the amount of funding received by this sector had barely reached about $100 million.



The Femtech industry witnessed more than $500 million funding (till 2019).The number of women centric start-ups have significantly multiplied in the recent years.



This surge is also primarily attributed to the launch of fertility tracking app by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin in 2013. The app also witnessed high profile VC funding from agencies such as Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund.



Today, a large number of start-ups could be seen in the market offering fertility tracking apps, as well as those focused on egg freezing and fertility treatments, women-centric clinical care and even subscription-based tampons.Some of the top-tier VCs have also entered this field.



For example, Kleiner Perkins, has backed a fertility platform called Progyny with a funding of $49 million, while NEA has backed a sexual wellness start-up called Nuelle offering a financial support of $23 million.



As of 2019, the global Femtech market was estimated to be $820.6 million and is anticipated to grow with a double digit CAGR of 12.65% during the forecast period. One of the major driving factor for the market is increasing incidence of infectious and chronic diseases among the female population leading to surge in demand for effective and more personalized treatment. Furthermore, womens health awareness has significantly increased in recent years. For an instance, it was not until 2004, the cardiovascular diseases were considered medically a threat to womens health. However, campaigns such as the American Heart Associations Go Red for Women campaign and the NHLBIs Heart Truth program have significantly boosted the awareness related to life threatening diseases such as CVD.



Another reason driving the growth of the market is growing prevalence of infectious disease among females in low to middle-income countries due to an unhygienic environment.For an instance, in 2013, 60% of new HIV infections in population younger than 25 years occurred in girls and young women.



Also, untreated syphilis in low- and middle-income countries still causes over 200?000 deaths every year.



However, some of the major challenges restraining the growth of the market are: creation of awareness among women, particularly in rural areas, unequal distribution of women as compared to men in investment community, and lack of understanding of women health issues by investors, among others.



Competitive Landscape



The Femtech market comprises over 200 start-ups worldwide, 92 percent of which are founded and led by women.Big names in these areas are developing entirely new solutions such as the Flex Disc, Thinx absorbent period underwear, or the Glow fertility and ovulation tracker.



While others focus on building tech platforms and subscription services to make existing products such as birth control and period products more easily accessible.



Although majority of Femtech firms are focusing on the millennials, there are also companies working for women at all ages.For example, Genneve, an online clinic aimed at aiding women entering menopause.



Also, other companies such as Madorra and MenoGeni are developing devices and pharmaceutical alternatives to aid in the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Companies are extensively entering new womens health spaces to stand out in the competition. Some of the emerging womens heath spaces are osteoporosis, breast cancer, autoimmune conditions, stroke, thyroid issues, chronic fatigue, anxiety, and depression.



Countries Covered

 North America

 U.S.

 Canada

 Europe

 Germany

 U.K.

 Sweden

 Spain

 France

 Netherlands

 Rest-of-Europe

 Asia-Pacific

 China

 Japan

 India

 South Korea

 Australia

 Rest-of-Asia-Pacific

 Middle East, South Africa, and Latin America

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05914197/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




Why this Seven Springs clip grabbed the attention of 1 million people

The tweet has been seen by more than 1 million people so far. Many commenters asked if the clip was planned or fake.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinas auto sales in May rose 14.5% from the same month a year earlier, industry data showed on Thursday, the second consecutive month of increase as the worlds biggest vehicle market recovers from lows hit during coronavirus lockdowns.

The result followed a 4.4% rise in April and a 43% drop in March, when the pandemic pummelled demand. Before April, sales had suffered an almost two-year slump.

For an interactive graphic on China auto sales, click tmsnrt.rs/3fhNaIB

Sales in May rose to 2.19 million vehicles, showed data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the countrys largest auto industry association.

Government support policies and improving consumer confidence contributed the May growth, said senior CAAM official Chen Shihua during an online briefing.

However, developments with the global pandemic might impact overseas demand for China-made vehicles, Chen said.

In May, sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) fell for an 11th month to 82,000 units, the data showed. NEVs include battery-powered electric, plug-in petrol-electric hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

Automakers including Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (0175.HK), Japans Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and the United States Ford Motor Co (F.N) reported positive China sales in May.

CAAM last month said annual auto sales could fall 15% to 25% due to, for instance, government restrictions on movement and business aimed at containing the novel coronavirus.

The outlook indicates challenges ahead as the industry works to emerge from the prolonged slump in demand, which was also exacerbated by a trade war with the United States.

Xu Haidong, another CAAM official, said the industry body now thinks Chinas full-year auto sales will be better than expectations for a 15% fall. He did not elaborate.
New York police reported similar deadly news.

Murders and shootings in the Big Apple skyrocketed last week compared to the same period last year, law enforcement sources said.

From last Monday to Sunday night, there were 13 murders in the city, compared to five killings during the same week last year, sources said.

The city reported 40 shootings last week  the most in a week since 2015. In the same time period in 2019, there were 24 shootings, sources said.

The increase in violence came as demonstrators marched city streets to protest the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington DC, St Louis and other cities all suffered similar murder and crime spikes. Most of the victims were...black. Most of the perpetrators were...black. Apparently that's ok then. Or something as, except for the families of the victims, the oh so peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters did not protest this loss of black lives. Or loss of black businesses or residences or property. Or the loss of such businesses as grocery stores and pharmacies in these neighborhoods, which not only had many black employees but conveniently sold such basic goods--food and medicine--to neighborhood residents. But now they've become barren food and medical deserts which the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/healthtopics/healthyfood/community_assessment.htm defines as "areas with limited healthy and fresh food access."
A drunk driver who ran over his stepmother three times in a hotel car park in England following a fight at a family wedding has been jailed for six years.

Ben Ashman drove his Vauxhall Grandland at guests at his stepbrothers wedding after he got into a row when his girlfriend said she did not like the way someone was looking at her.

The 37-year-old had originally faced an attempted murder charge for the injuries he caused to Kathryn Ashman, but the charge was reduced when the prosecution accepted that running her over was unintentional, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Ashman, of Sunderland Street, Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, was at the Bowburn Hotel in Durham last August to celebrate the wedding of his stepbrother Connor.

Around midnight, when several people were drunk, Ashman got into a fight after his girlfriend, Shea Redhead, told him she did not like the way someone had looked at her.

Jolyon Perks, prosecuting, said Ashman left the hotel after others broke up the fight, but he got into a further altercation with his stepbrother Kyle.

His girlfriend grappled with his stepmother, who had been disturbed by the commotion and came out of her hotel room in her nightgown.

A witness saw the defendant grab his stepmother and say: If you touch my lass again, Ill f****** kill you.

The defendant was also heard to threaten: Ill splat everyone here. When Kyle Ashman intervened, the defendant knocked him to the floor twice.

When a female friend of his girlfriend tried to calm her down, Ashman ran over and punched her, then got into his Vauxhall SUV.

The female friend tried to grab his keys and he slammed his car door on her arm.

The 37-year-old had originally faced an attempted murder charge for the injuries he caused to Kathryn Ashman, but the charge was reduced when the prosecution accepted that running her over was unintentional, Newcastle Crown Court heard. Pic: Durham Police/PA

Kyle Ashman then grabbed a rock and threw it at the windscreen, causing it to shatter but not break.

Ben Ashman drove round the car park dangerously, towards guests, and deliberately towards Kyle Ashman, stopping just as the bumper hit his shins.

The defendant drove his car into the female friends Nissan Juke, severely damaging it.

He then knocked over his stepmother, reversed over her, then pulled forward with her under the vehicle, before he sped off over grass and out of the car park, leaving her covered in blood.

He drove off down the A1 with his girlfriend, stopping his damaged vehicle on the hard shoulder around seven miles away, where a stranger stopped to help.

Mr Perks said Ashman told the driver: Cheers, mate, thanks for stopping.

I have just had a fight with nine people, they started pelting our lass with bricks so I ran three of the bastards over.

You would do it if it was your girlfriend. The witness described Ashman as being gone with the wind and 10 out of 10 drunk.

The emergency services were called to the hotel and Mrs Ashman was taken to hospital with a fractured eye socket, six broken ribs and cuts.

In a victim statement, she said she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, continued facial numbness and has suffered from panic attacks.

Ashman admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, common assault, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to his stepbrother, dangerous driving and criminal damage.

Lewis Kerr, defending, said Ashman felt remorse, anguish and sorrow at what he had done.

Since those events, his girlfriend has given birth to twins but he has not seen them because he has been held on remand without visitors due to the Covid-19 regulations.

Judge Robert Adams accepted that the defendants mental health issues made him impulsive and the medication he took reacted with the alcohol he had drunk.

He said the defendant could have killed his stepmother, saying: You were clearly suffering a loss of control, in a rage, unable to see what was around you.
Delegates of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been cautioned not to change the Parliamentary candidates that the party fielded for the 2016 elections.

As the adage goes, you don't change a winning team; you don't fix it when it is not broken. We call on the delegates of our great party to maintain the winning team that we used for the 2016 elections, our hardworking MP, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, has achieved a lot for Tema East and he is popular on the ground with he and Nana Addo's bill-boards, banners and T-shirts all over the place. How do you change such a mature and experienced MP? Mr. Daniel Kwame Annang, a grassroot member of Tema East NPP said.

Speaking at news conference, in Accra to pledge their support to their candidate, the members said the 2016 tickets were massive winning ones that would give the NPP an easy victory again in December 2020.

Mr Annang popularly called 'Atoogah' also called on the national leadership of the NPP to do everything possible to ensure that their winning team was presented for December 2020 polls.

The news conference was organized amidst complaints from many disqualified Parliamentary candidates who had accused the national leadership of the party of favouring sitting MPs over unknown underdogs.

However, according to Atoogah, the disqualifications had not even been far reaching enough.

Flanked by Mary Ayimo, another grassroot person, he said it was a necessary sifting process that the party needed to ensure the collective good.

Look, why have we retained President Akufo-Addo as our unopposed Presidential Candidate for 2020? Why is it that those people who want to run as MPs have not been ambitious enough to go and contest the President for the Flagbearership? It is because they know the President is our most winnable candidate. So the question is, why are they trying to replace the President's MPs, the same MPs that he won the 2016 elections with? Atoogah asked.

He explained that it was necessary to maintain the 2016 winning team because all the team members (sitting MPs) had already been well marketed. You just have to look around town and you will see that President Akufo-Addo's posters from 2016 bear the image of himself and the MPs that he contested with in 2016.

Atoogah pointed out that if the NPP elected new faces, the party would have to market them from scratch, and already, the 2020 elections were less than six months away.

He said that in many of the Constituencies, some of the people trying to unseat sitting MPs were simply not marketable.

He therefore urged the delegates to vote massively against all unknown candidates who were contesting against sitting MPs.

Atoogah also congratulated the leadership of the party in Constituencies such as Assin Central, where party bankroller, Kennedy Agyapong, was a longstanding MP, and Suame, where Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, is MP, for setting up the sitting MPs to go unopposed.

Meanwhile, the NPP grassroots members have proclaimed victory ahead of the 2020 elections, saying former President Mahama's announcement that the opposition NDC will not accept a flawed 2020 election results means the opposition was preparing the grounds to give up. I doff-off my hat for Ledzokuku and Ayawaso central constituencies for allowing Dr. Bernard Oko Boye and Mr Henry Quartey papa-fio to also go unopposed because of their hard work Atoogah said.

Mary Ayimo, who shared the high table with Atoogah at the news conference said the former President's statement which also implied that the Supreme Court would set the stage for a flawed election if it rules in favour of the EC's decision to compile a new register, means that the opposition party was chickening out of the election.

We are sure our Law Lords at the Supreme Court will rule in favour of the EC, so what this means for the NDC and Mahama is that, they are going to step out of the race.

Ms Ayimo also welcomed the rallying call of the NDC's National Chairman on its members not to participate in the upcoming compilation of the new voters' register by the Electoral Commission, saying this will mean an even easier victory for the NPP.

---GNA
(Newser)  Countries that plan to interfere in the elections of other nations don't normally inform the target of their intentionsbut North Korea likes to do things its own way. The country's Foreign Ministry warned Thursday that the US election in November could be in jeopardy if Washington doesn't stop interfering in Korean affairs, reports Reuters. "If the US pokes its nose into others' affairs with careless remarks, far from minding its internal affairs, at a time when its political situation is in the worst-ever confusion, it may encounter an unpleasant thing hard to deal with," said ministry spokesman Kwon Jong Gun, according to state media.

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The official warned that the US will experience a "hair raiser" if it doesn't "hold its tongue." American silence "would be good not only for the US interests but also for the easy holding of upcoming presidential election," he said. The warning came after the US State Department said it was "disappointed" that Pyongyang had cut off all communication with South Korea. This is the first time North Korea has threatened to interfere in this year's election, though Voice of America notes that the ministry has a history of issuing threats that are not carried out and is not believed to have much influence on Pyongyang's decision-making process. Analysts say that any signs of North Korean interference could help "rally the country" around President Trump. (Read more North Korea stories.)
I get up at 5.15am, make coffee and 25 minutes later I'm in the car - I live too far to take the bus. Before Covid I would meet around 10 to 15 of my colleagues at the petrol station near work to have a coffee and a laugh. That has been hard not being able to gather and talk in the mornings.

At 6.30am the working day begins and we get into the trucks. We would have maybe 100 places to call but these days we are finishing up much earlier, around 2pm or 3pm - mainly because the traffic is so light.

With pubs closed we are quiet there but residential waste has increased. We are calling at some apartment complexes now twice a week instead of once - everyone is painting and doing DIY. We would know the caretakers there so if they have problems they let us know.

We stop at a deli at the petrol station for 15 to 20 minutes around 8am or Burger King or McDonald's if in town. We stop for lunch between 1pm and 2pm; because we tip the rubbish in Covanta or Panda there is usually no need to return to Key Waste until we finish.

Pandemic worries

When I get home it's straight into the shower before I cuddle my baby Ryan Nikolas - he was born on March 27 so at first I was scared to come to work. From the start the company took all the measures and nobody got sick, but we were all nervous.

Baby Skip has been very busy in the lockdown period and I find people are throwing away good stuff like furniture and bikes that are reusable - they should give them to charity.

It is difficult for people who have lost jobs - I took a week off when my son was born but it would be harder for me to stay at home all day. We have craic and a bit of fun in the truck, the day passes faster this way.

Language advantage

I grew up in Motru, Oltenia, in the south of Romania, and at school I was above average at maths but without much knowledge I went to college over 300km away to study agriculture and environmental studies in Timisoara. Aged 16 and 17 I spent my high school summers in the UK, in Slough and another place beside Heathrow, picking fruit and vegetables.

My brother-in-law was working there and got me the job - we had fun, about 20 lads working together and we were laughing all the time. It was hard work but the pay was good - 1,200 per month so when I got back to Romania I bought a car.

My English was better than most of the lads so the boss would take me with him to do the papers - growing up my parents had always paid for me to have extra English lessons on Saturdays.

Big decisions

When I left college nine years ago my mother was working in the city hall for the mayor and I was offered a job in an environment area but it only paid 300 a month.

Even if I was living at home it would be hard for me to live on that. My sister had since moved to Ireland and my brother-in-law was working at Key Waste so again helped me find a job. They told me Ireland was a nice place to live so I thought why not for a few years? I was 21 and the plan was to save enough to buy a flat back in Timisoara. I worked for one-and-a-half years - the money was flying in. I was enjoying life; I made friends - people I met at work and when I went out at night in Bray.

My girlfriend was finishing university in Romania so after one-and-a-half years I moved back and we had a big wedding. On our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic we were talking one evening and decided there and then to return to Ireland. My wife Christina moved over and got a job as a caretaker in a company and two years ago we bought an apartment in Greystones.

Navigating

We have a lot of customers in the city centre and when I used to work nights I needed to take a lot of extra caution. In Temple Bar everybody is partying and you have to drive very slowly.

One night I remember an extremely smelly organic bin we picked up, which maybe had not been put out for a while, and it was so bad we had people shouting at us in the street. I had to go back and wash down the truck. I don't miss nights like that.

Luckily we have two bedrooms so Christina can sleep in the other room with Ryan when I am getting up for work the next day - he is not crying too much so it's not too bad.

Downtime

We often have a work barbecue on the weekends and management comes too - I miss seeing my friends recently and it is not enough talking on the phone.

We go for a walk by the sea on Saturday and Sunday and Christina goes every day with the baby. My sister lives in Shankill and has two children so we often meet. My brother-in-law works for Dublin Bus now.

My mother was planning to visit for a couple of months so that had to be put off which is a shame. We go back every year and are booked to go in August for three weeks.

I miss my parents and relatives but we prefer living in Ireland and we like our jobs. In Romania even if you have work you are working to survive; it is better here, we feel secure.
A woman has stood by her boyfriend after he allegedly raped her eight-year-old daughter.

The man, who is aged in his 50s, was charged on Friday over the alleged rape of the girl sometime between April 1 and 14 at their former Carseldine home, in Brisbane.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is also accused of molesting the girl on two other separate occasions - once in January and again in April, The Courier-Mail reported.

He faced court for a bail application this week and it was heard the man's partner - and alleged victim's mother - was standing by the accused.

A woman has stood by her boyfriend after he allegedly raped her eight-year-old daughter (stock image)

Defence lawyer Lex Wedell said the man moved out of the home he shared with his girlfriend and the girl and now lives on a sailboat on the Gold Coast.

Police prosecutor John Paratz, who opposed the man being granted bail due to the seriousness of the charges, argued sailboat's are 'inherently mobile'.

'He's still in a relationship with the mother of the victim child,' Mr Paratz said.

Magistrate Louise Shephard said there was a 'significant error' in the police case opposing bail.

In the sworn affidavit, they declared the accused made admissions - which matched the eight-year-old's statement - during a pretext phone call.

But Magistrate Shephard said this was false.

The case has been adjourned from Beenleigh Magistrates Court (pictured) and will return to Sandgate Magistrates Court on June 18

'Actually, the attempted pretext call came to nothing because he didn't pick up,' she said.

'And there's been no formal record of interview with the girl.'

The man was granted bail but is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16.

The case has been adjourned from Beenleigh Magistrates Court and will return to Sandgate Magistrates Court on June 18.
T his is the first picture of a young man gunned down as he walked home from his local shop in west London.

Alexander Kareem, 20, from Shepherd's Bush, died after a gunman opened fire at 12.40am on Monday .

He was walking home along Askew Road after a trip to a convenience store.

A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the chest and abdomen.

Murder squad detectives have appealed for information about a white Range Rover found burned out near the crime scene.

No arrests have been made.

Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley said: Alexander was just 20 years old when his life came to an end in such a tragic way.

We are determined to bring those responsible for this unnecessary and terrifying violence to justice. We continue to appeal for witnesses who may have seen or heard what happened to come forward.

The white Range Rover seen in the area and later found burned out is also a key part of the investigation.

We send our heartfelt condolences to Alexanders family at this time.

Any witnesses or anyone with any information should call 101 quoting CAD 224/08June, or tweet @MetCC.
Jessica Alba was seen Thursday in Beverly Hills, California with her family.

The Honest Company founder was preparing their car with colorful decorations to celebrate the graduation of her daughter Honor Marie Warren, 12, from elementary school.

The 39-year-old Sin City star was dressed festively for the occasion with cute pigtail braids peeking out from a blue bandanna on her head and bright ochre pants.

Time to celebrate: Jessica Alba was seen Thursday in Beverly Hills with her family, preparing their car with colorful decorations celebrating the graduation of her daughter Honor Marie

Jessica complemented her trousers with a summery baby blue button down top that was knotted at the waist and rolled up at the elbows.

The Fantastic Four star wore metallic silver sandals.

She completed her look with hoop earrings and a yellow-orange RESA face mask that hung from one ear.

Alba's daughter Honor, whom she shares with husband Cash Warren, twinned her mom, wearing a pleated yellow skirt, darker blue striped crop top with a white layer underneath, and a bright yellow hair band.

Mom and her girls: Alba was dressed festively for the occasion, with cute pigtail braids peeking out from a blue bandanna on her head, and bright ochre pants; seen here posing for photos with Honor, center, and younger daughter Haven, right

Group effort: The Alba-Warren family was seen outfitting their ride with a colorful patchwork banner that said 'Class Honor 2020' on the side; Alba seen with her husband Cash, left, and a female relative or friend

Jessica and Cash's younger daughter Haven Garner, eight, was also seen posing for family snaps, wearing similar colors and sandals that were yellow.

The Alba-Warren family was seen outfitting their ride with a colorful patchwork banner that said 'Class Honor 2020' on the side, along with banners at the back of the vehicle decorated with graduation caps along with the year '2020'.

Jessica and her film producer husband, 41, also share a young son, Hayes, who is two years old.

Happy momma: Jessica and her film producer husband also share a young son, Hayes, who is two years old; seen here on Instagram

Passionate: Jessica, founder of The Honest Company, has visibly taken an interest in teaching her children about what matters most to her; seen here on TikTok with daughter Haven

Jessica has visibly taken an interest in teaching her children about what matters most to her.

On her social media on Monday, the LA's Finest star marked Honor's 12th birthday with an incredible clip of drone video footage over a massive Black Lives Matter protest in Hollywood, courtesy of filmmaker Ron Kurokawa.

'Honor will never forget her 12th birthday,' Jessica captioned the clip. 'This historic event in time... in LA people coming together like this to support the Black Lives Matter movement  #BLM'
Pascal Soriot is on a mission. Not satisfied that in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic AstraZeneca has become Britain's most valuable company, he believes that his scientists  together with those of Oxford University  are well on the way to producing the first proven vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the pandemic.

Not only that, the Astra chief executive believes he is in a leading position to produce some of the most promising compounds to treat the disease.

Usually it takes many years, if not decades, to create safe and useable vaccines. But through sheer willpower, a can-do attitude and working 24/7, Soriot is hopeful that AZ will have a vaccine ready to be used in the NHS as soon as September of this year.

Astra boss Pascal Soriot believes that his scientists - together with those of Oxford University - are well on the way to producing the first proven vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

In his first newspaper interview since lockdown he told the Daily Mail: 'We are confident it will work. The challenges are will it work on everybody and will some people need two doses?

'As you get older your immune system doesn't work so well. So those over 75 years old might get two injections.'

If approvals can be won by September or October, he and his colleagues have put in place the manufacturing capacity across the world to produce up to 2billion doses almost immediately.

'The study in the UK is moving very rapidly,' he says, though the slowdown in the number of cases is an issue.

'If there is no disease how do you show efficacy?' he adds. AstraZeneca has started trials in Brazil, a hotspot for Covid-19.

The UK pharma group has the world at its feet, having moved so far ahead in producing a vaccine and developing palliative treatments using its own labs and science.

Before we hold our Zoom conversation, at 10am Soriot has already held separate calls with several unidentified health ministers from major Continental European countries seeking advice and assistance.

Soriot, a Frenchman who has Australian citizenship, is marshalling his war against coronavirus from London  a world away from his family home on a bay overlooking the Sydney landscape.

'I haven't seen my wife in three months,' he confides.

'Well, she's happy with the grandson in Australia. But I'm stuck here with the cat. There's a very friendly relationship with the cat. She comes and talks to me.'

An intense man with jet-black hair, the 61-year-old is something of a corporate maverick.

He is best known in the City as the French scientist who bravely fought off American pharma behemoth Pfizer when it launched a takeover bid in 2014.

Astrazeneca has the world at its feet, having moved so far ahead in producing a vaccine and developing palliative treatments using its own labs and science

At the time, much of the City and David Cameron's Conservative government were urging the company to accept the 90billion bid.

No one envisaged that six years later, amid the greatest health crisis of modern times, AZ would sit proudly at the top of the FTSE 100 with a market value of 110billion, something Soriot downplays.

'I didn't expect it would happen, if you had asked me a few years ago. I don't look at the share price every day.

My focus has been on building the pipeline and driving our return to growth and be the leader in oncology, the leader in respiratory diseases or cardiovascular disease. That's our goal.'

'I must say, I like the underdog position better than being at the top,' he adds. 'I'm more comfortable in adversity.'

So is it true that amid all the Covid-19 drama AstraZeneca flirted with the idea of a merger with cash-rich American rival Gilead? He won't comment on whether such conversations may have taken place.

But he is also anxious to point out why such a mega-merger might not be a good idea at this particular time. 'We are very busy restarting the company, like the Government is very busy restarting the economy.

'It is very complicated getting everybody back to work, especially the sales force.

'Restarting our trials, getting our labs restarted, and then we are busy working on this vaccine.

'It's enormous work internally scaling up this manufacturing capacity. Last night, for instance, I was talking to Speaker Pelosi for half an hour.'

He says such pressure, including those discussions with Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House Of Representatives, gives him little time for mergers, adding: 'Do you think I have collectively the bandwidth brain-wise and time-wise to conduct the biggest merger in the history of the industry via Zoom?

'The one thing which puzzles me is how gullible people can be in terms of believing this.'

The most remarkable aspect of AstraZeneca's pursuit of a Covid-19 vaccine is the speed with which the group has assembled manufacturing capacity.

'We have built three independent supply chains, one for the US, one for Europe and one for Asia and low and middle-income countries. It's a mixture of our own facilities and contract manufacturers.'

The UK will be first in line for the vaccine because it 'has made a decision quickly and because of the history with Oxford'.

He praises the US for moving incredibly fast, but he pledges poorer countries are not going to be left behind.

'Essentially, 1.4billion doses of the 2billion will be going to lower and middle-income countries. A lot of the funding for this comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,' Soriot says.

'Bill Gates is redeploying his wealth to good use by putting $1.6billion (1.3billion) into an accelerator so they can access the vaccines.'

In addition to the vaccine, Soriot is also hopeful that work AstraZeneca is doing in three other areas can assist in treating the disease.

The company is engineering antibodies that can be used to treat patients and could be used as a prophylactic.

Over in its UK labs and US facilities at Gaithersburg a respiratory treatment is showing 'tremendous results in phase two' and is now on to phase three, the final stage of trials before seeking the regulatory go-ahead.

He is hopeful that it will be in use by the third quarter of 2021. AZ also has a promising product called Calquence, which could inhibit Covid's deadly attacks on the lungs and other organs.

Having rebuilt AstraZeneca and moved it into the fast lane on vaccines, Soriot is not complacent.

'Now is the time to speed up and do more. I have seen so many cases where somebody's company is doing well, people relax, they go slow and then, boom, you go down. It's time to try and move even faster.'

Scientists, employees, investors and pharma rivals take note.
Consumer goods giant Unilever says it will end its Anglo-Dutch corporate structure and be based in London, backing away from a proposal two years ago to move to the Netherlands.

The group behind household names like Dove and Ben & Jerry's ice cream stressed that its presence in both countries would remain unchanged.

Unilever had been forced to change previous plans to switch its headquarters from London to Rotterdam in 2018 amid anger from shareholders. The former CEO Paul Polman, and previous chairman, Marijn Dekkers, both quit soon after.

Unilever will have its primary stock market listing in London.
Press conference Thursday June 11, 2020

Topic 1: How positive was the meeting of Chamber of Labor Unions with the Council of Ministers?

Topic 2: Protection of Registered Workers on Our Labor Market

Topic 3: Full implementation of human rights for all citizens

Topic 4: Maintaining the purchasing power of wages and salaries and the Cost of Living Adjustment

Topic 5: Kingdom Government and local government are co-authors of the Social pandemic

Topic 1: How positive was the meeting of Chamber of Labor Unions with the Council of Ministers?

Finally on Tuesday June 9th the Council of Ministers honored the request of the unified unions in the Windward Island Chamber of Labor Unions for a dialogue. To start this dialogue it took 2 months:

 2 letters had to be written (one of March 31 and another of May 28)

 a walk to the government administration building from union members in support of their leaders

The labor unions wanted to dialogue with the Council of Ministers on proposals and recommendations with regards to the status of the workers on St Maarten, especially considering the negative impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on workers and their families. Let us review with you what the WICLU recommended and what the Council of Ministers and the EOC did consultations with the unions. Then you will understand why the unified unions had to mobilize their members to be heard and to be respected!

The Prime Minister in yesterdays weekly Council of Ministers Press briefing said that she had a very positive impression of the first meeting the COM had with the seven WICLU unified unions.

 She recognized that all the meetings on the cost cutting measures she held was meetings with only two civil servants unions represented in the consultative body the Committee Civil Servants Unions, did not address the issues the seven unions have requested to dialogue about situations facing all workers and their families.

 The Prime Minister assured that the governing program to be published yet has a high regard to the Sustainable Development Goals with the input of all stakeholders.

 The prime minister looks forward to continue the dialogue with the unions as she said that the fight is not between government and the unions but the fight is to get the Kingdom partners to recognize our rights in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

 She promised to send responses to all the letters we have written

How positive we from the unions can be after a two hour meeting? Until now we do not have an agreement of what a dialogue is. The definition of dialogue is to take part in a conversation or discussion TO RESOLVE A PROBLEM. After two months of requesting for a conversation and discussion to resolve the many problems workers and their families are experiencing how many problems we could have discussed in two hours? In the following topics you will see that we still have not resolved any of the problems we requested to be discussed. When you dialogue you have to reach consensus on how to resolve the problem! We have not reached any solution yet!

Topic 2: Protection of Registered Workers on Our Labor Market

The protection of the existing jobs and the local labor market from the influx of foreign workers is of great concern for the unions. How much concern the government has? Recently MP Buncamper raised this issue indirectly based on a situation which came to the light on the dump, were workers in a patio were cut off water and electricity.

 Yesterday the Minister of Justice the honorable Anna Richardson announced in the framework on the law to increase control on the paperwork of foreign workers. Here we see another example of government taking unilateral decisions, without consulting the unions for instance.

 The problem in our labor market of undocumented foreign workers are the ones that hire and fire these workers without filing and paying for them the required work permits!

 Everyone could witness how parliamentarians of the United Peoples Party reacted on the Ministerial decree of former Minister of Labor Pamela Gordon-Carty to implement a labor market policy to guarantee local workers employment first.

 Now that the UP party has two ministers appointed in the Council of Ministers one as Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication and one as Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, how these UP-ministers are addressing these issues and protecting the existing jobs and the local labor market?

 In the SSRP, the St Maarten Support and Relief Plan also called the stimulus plan, there is a Payroll Support Program for businesses and a Lock down support program for those entrepreneurs who do not qualify for the payroll support program. The pretention was to keep the workers employed and for them to maintain their full monthly wages.

o With many examples the unions could illustrate the Council of Ministers that many workers were sent home without receiving their full monthly wages!

o We also made it clear to the Council of Ministers why workers do not trust the labor department and why the workers come to union leaders for assistance and protection!

SO as you can conclude there is no consensus yet with government on this issue

Topic 3: Full implementation of human rights for all citizens

Guaranteeing basic necessities like food, water, electricity, telecommunication and internet services, cooking gas based on the right to an adequate standard of living for everyone and their families is a concern of everyone in our society. How much of a concern this is for the government and this new council of Ministers?

 Everyone could experience and hear the people complaining about the food prices (for instance the prices of eggs), the last GEBE bill, etc. What is the complaint: no relief, but prices going up!

 What did the Council of Ministers, the EOC or the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication do to protect the workers and their families against these price hikes, apart from publishing a maximum price list for a certain amount of items, cost of living still going up!

 Government could not even provide sufficient food boxes for the more than 13.000 poor and needy households. In two month time only 3000 boxes were delivered and guess what the VSA department paid the same jacked up food prices! No wonder that they could not provide more food boxes to relief all those in need.

Living wages instead of minimum wages, social allowances and employment benefits based on equality in the Kingdom and the right to non-discrimination

 This was not addressed before COVID 19. Understandably also not during the pandemic!

 But when we will realize equal minimum wages, social allowances and employment benefits in the Kingdom?

 What exactly this NA-UP coalition will do?

The 1150 ANG poverty income amount of the stimulus plan for lock down support for all sole proprietors, taxi drivers, bus drivers, vendors, etc. again shows you that this government did not go for equality.

 This government even discriminated the self-employed worker. Employers with more than one employee could get a maximum of 80% payroll support, these self-employed workers all got one fixed amount of 1150 ANG or 639 USD. The same amount an unemployed worker who lost his job because of COVID 19 gets. You know how much that is per day? 21 USD a day. This is lesser than 80% of what these workers were making on an average day of work.

So here we have another topic where we have a fundamental difference of opinion with the Council of Ministers which is not resolved yet. In the meeting of yesterday this topic was not even discussed yet.

Topic 4: Maintaining the purchasing power of wages and salaries with a Cost of Living Adjustment

In 2012 was the last COLA for civil servants and in 2016 was the last one for minimum wage earners. If there is no cost of living adjustment the increase in the cost of living means that your purchasing power goes down.

 What this new governing coalition will do? We have not seen their governing program yet. So as government is continuity, they are still implementing the DP and UD policies of the past ten years: which were not to adjust wages to the cost of living, but allowing merchants (free enterprise) to manipulate and jack up prices as much as they want!

 Now what is this government imposing as cost cutting measures to get liquidity support from the Kingdom government? No Cost of Living Adjustment for civil servants. With government owing the civil servants more than 10% COLA since 2012, the 12.5% cut government wanted to implement is another example of a fundamental difference of opinion between government and the unions.

 Government is saying that they do not touch the salaries of the workers, but since 2012 by not adjusting the salaries to the cost of living increase, they are touching the purchasing power of the workers! And then they want the unions to accept another 12.5% cut in the secondary benefits which are based on the salary you get?

 Even for workers in government owned companies this condition was imposed to management of the companies!

How can the prime minister maintain that this difference of opinion with the unions is a positive dialogue? As long as we do not have an agreement how this issue will be resolved, that is not a positive result of the dialogue. Loosing purchasing power is discrimination of the workers income and is favoring the income of business owners!

Topic 5: Government is co-author of the Social COVID 19 pandemic

The unions suggested government to provide clear guidelines and laws to prevent workers and their families to become victims of a social pandemic. What is causing a social pandemic as contrast to the health pandemic? Problems of lack of income! Not being able to pay rent, mortgages and loans or even utility bills on a monthly basis or on a timely fashion!! Unemployment, underemployment and drastic cuts in working hours. This is affecting the income and the financial stability of the workers and their families. Did government provide an acceptable solution for these problems experienced by the workers and their families?

 Government presented a Stimulus plan the SSRP. Stimulus for whom? To stimulate the businesses to pay the workers 100% and to keep them employed. That is what they pretend. But with all the complaints we receive of workers who did not get their full salary paid or even who were sent home and lost their employment, who got stimulated, the workers and their families? No consultation took place with the unions who have already experienced what employers did with workers after receiving their business interruption money from the insurance! Employers had to be brought to court for workers to get 100% pay!!

 The unions wanted to see social and financial stimulus packages for every household. Nothing of that in the SSRP. Unions were not even consulted on what should be in such a social and financial stimulus plan for households.

 The Council of Ministers started an information campaign around the 26% cut in their remuneration, boasting that that was 1% more than what State Secretary Knops and the Kingdom Council of Ministers was demanding! They also want the workers of the (semi)public sector to accept a 12.5% cut in their remuneration!

o Both State Secretary Knops and the Kingdom government with these indecent proposals and decisions as the Prime Minister calls the 18 conditions are in violation of international labor conventions and international human rights treaties!

o The Parliament of St Maarten instructed the Council of Ministers in a motion of May 20th to approve liquidity support conditions only if these conditions were in compliance with international laws, Kingdom laws and local laws.

o The unions have been informing publicly which labor standards are being violated.

In yesterdays meeting the Prime Minister asked the WICLU to provide in writing, which International, Kingdom, or local legislation is being violated!

 In other words these paid appointed officials in the Council of Ministers and the paid advisors of the Council of Ministers they either did not do their homework from the moment they have received the demands from the Dutch politicians or they are not knowledgeable about all the legislation that according to article 81 of the Constitution of St Maarten they have to respect?

 What a thing? Do the unions have to teach them now? And then for them to teach the Kingdom Council of Ministers before July the 1st which human rights they are trampling on with their conditions?

Well according to the mandate received from the members of the seven unions, if the St Maarten government and the Kingdom government (of which the Sint Maarten government is a part) does not remove all the cost cutting measures in the remuneration of the workers of the table before June 15th, if they do not want to respect workers rights which are human rights, than they will be exposed by the unions as human rights violators and racial discriminators!

Tomorrow June 11nd the Kingdom Council of Ministers through its representative the governor will get a letter protesting the human rights violations and demanding immediate cancellation of the discriminatory COVID 19 cost cutting measures!

State Secretary Knops also will get a letter through the Dutch representative on the island to immediately stop the human rights violations and the apartheid conditions he has proposed to the Kingdom Council of Ministers!!

Since the Council of Ministers has no clue which workers rights, human rights, Kingdom laws and local laws are being violated they will also get a letter tomorrow to immediately stop the violations of our rights and to defend our rights in the Kingdom Council of Ministers!

Monday June 15th all members of the seven united unions are being invited again for the latest update in the realization of the mandate and of the next steps to be taken for us to get our rights! In Dutch they say: een goed verstaander heeft maar een half word nodig! The English equivalent is: A word to the wise is enough!!
Lockdowns were imposed in parts of Beijing on Saturday to try and prevent the spread of a new coronavirus cluster, highlighting the challenges that lie ahead even for places where outbreaks are under control. It has fuelled fears of a resurgence in local transmissions in China, where the outbreak curve has been months ahead of the rest of the world, and comes as many European nations move to further lift their own lockdowns. The pandemic is still surging elsewhere, particularly in Latin America, with Brazil claiming the unenviable position of having the second-highest virus death toll behind the United States. The respiratory disease was first detected in central China late last year, believed to have jumped from an animal to humans at a market that sold wildlife. China largely eliminated transmission within its borders through hyper-strict lockdowns that were emulated across the globe. But on Thursday Beijing announced its first infection in two months and went on to report 50 more cases linked to the large Xinfadi meat and vegetable market, which provides much of the capital's food supply. Authorities have raced to contain the outbreak, ordering residents in 11 nearby residential estates to stay home, announcing mass testing, establishing a "wartime mechanism" and deploying hundreds of police officers. "Everyone's very stressed right now," an elderly driver told AFP outside a fenced-off neighbourhood in Fengtai district of southwest Beijing. "There are cases living in there, it's real." - More than 426,000 dead - Worldwide, the pandemic has killed more than 426,000 people and infected more than 7.6 million, while wreaking large-scale economic devastation. The number of global infections has doubled in slightly over a month -- with one million cases recorded in just the last nine days -- and the virus is spreading most rapidly in Latin America. Mexico and Chile recorded their worst days yet during the pandemic on Friday, while Brazil reported 909 new deaths, putting its total at 41,828, surpassing Britain's toll. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who threatened last week to quit the WHO over "ideological bias", has dismissed the virus as a "little flu", and berated state officials for imposing lockdowns. But world health officials have warned that the virus is far from contained. The WHO said this week the pandemic is accelerating in Africa, and on Saturday Botswana's capital Gaborone locked down after new cases were detected. In the US, which has confirmed the most COVID-19 deaths with over 114,000, more than a dozen states, including two of the most populous, Texas and Florida, reported their highest-ever daily case totals this week. In Russia, which has the world's third highest number of cases, authorities more than doubled the official death toll for April after changing how the country classifies fatalities. There is still no treatment for COVID-19, but pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said it has agreed to supply an alliance of European countries with up to 400 million doses of a possible vaccine. The development of a vaccine could be completed by the end of the year, German government sources told AFP. - 'Ready to welcome tourists' - A number of European countries are preparing to reopen borders on Monday after the EU Commission urged a relaxation of restrictions. Poland reopened its borders to all fellow EU members on Saturday. France said it would gradually reopen its borders to non-Schengen countries from next month, and Germany said it would end land border checks on Monday. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis travelled to the picturesque island of Santorini on Saturday to open his country's tourism season. "Greece is ready to welcome tourists this summer by putting safety and health as our No.1 priority," he said in English. In several European countries, the focus has shifted to the courts and who might eventually be blamed for the pandemic. In hard-hit Italy, prosecutors grilled Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for three hours over his government's response. "I explained everything to prosecutors. I am totally calm," Conte said Saturday, adding he did not fear a judicial probe would be opened. Public anger is mounting in France, where some 60 complaints have been filed against members of the government. Elsewhere, British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair launched legal action against the British government over a 14-day coronavirus quarantine system introduced this week. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II meanwhile celebrated her official birthday on Saturday, the normally massive pomp and pageantry of the traditional "Trooping the Colour" ceremony vastly scaled back due to the pandemic. burs-dl/pvh
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 10, 2020 | 04:45 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY





On Wednesday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that McCracken County will be receiving a $58,008 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. The grant is part of the CARES Act.







The funds are being distributed by the Department of Justice's Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Program, and can go towards overtime pay for first responders and medical professionals, local jails, and to purchase additional personal protective equipment.







Leader McConnell, as a former local government leader (Jefferson County Judge Executive) recognizes the serious impact a pandemic has on a local community, said McCracken County Judge-Executive Craig Clymer. His swift action in providing relief to counties is a tremendous help to McCracken County government and all our residents.







As of Wednesday, organizations within McCracken County have received over $33 million because of the CARES Act. This includes $15 million for Baptist Health Paducah, $14.7 million for Mercy Health Lourdes, $2.4 million for West Kentucky Community and Technical College, nearly $1.09 million for Barkley Regional Airport, $328,255 for the Housing Authority of Paducah, and $41,580 for City of Paducah Section 8 Housing.







The Senate took bold action to support communities battling the coronavirus crisis, and Im proud my CARES Act continues to support strong local officials like Judge-Executive Craig Clymer who are helping lead the response in McCracken County, said Senator McConnell. Those on the frontlines of this crisis, including our first responders and healthcare heroes, deserve all the support we can provide. As Senate Majority Leader, Im constantly working to deliver the resources to overcome the coronavirus crisis in Kentucky.







Additionally, the CARES Act has had an $11 billion impact on the Commonwealth to date. The legislation has provided $3.6 billion in funds to various housing, transportation, healthcare, education, and economic development priorities. The legislation also led to the development of the Paycheck Protection Program, which has provided over 46,000 of Kentucky's small businesses with access to $5.2 billion in loans. To date, families across Kentucky have received over $3.2 billion in Economic Impact Payments from the U.S. Treasury.

McCracken County will be receiving federal funding for the county's COVID-19 response effort.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider taking away the investigation into the Palghar lynching case from the Maharashtra Police and handing it over to the CBI or NIA.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan shot down a request made by the Maharashtra government to let the Bombay High Court examine such a plea since matters are already pending there.

The bench admitted the petitions for an "independent" probe into the incident, and issued notices to Maharashtra government, Director General of Maharashtra Police, Centre, CBI and NIA.

The court also agreed to set down the next date of hearing after advocate Balaji Srinivasan, appearing for Mahant Swami Shraddhanand Saraswati and six other sadhus, pressed for urgent hearing of the matter.

Srinivasan contended that witnesses are getting killed or disappearing, warranting the top court to fix a specific date of hearing.

Representing the Maharashtra government, its standing counsel said there was no requirement for the apex court to entertain these petitions for transferring the probe as the Bombay High Court is already seized of the issue.

But the bench replied: "You (Maharashtra) say whatever you have to say on your affidavit. We are issuing notices and making this returnable in two weeks. You file your reply by the next date."

The bench will take up the matter next in the second week of July.

There are two petitions in the case, doubting the impartiality of the state government and the Maharashtra Police in probing the lynching of two sadhus and their driver on April 16.

The first petition represents sadhus of the Juna Akhara, alleging the CID probe is an eye wash only to protect the guilty policemen who stood silent when the three were lynched by a mob in Palghar.

It said the investigation is tainted right from the beginning and only an independent probe can sever the real purpose.

This petition has also asked for allotting the spot in Palghar to the Juna Akhara so that a memorial can be built for the deceased sadhus and their driver.

The second plea is by activist Ghanshyam Upadhyay, who has claimed the evidence are being destroyed, requiring a probe by the NIA.

The bench issued notices on both the petitions on Thursday.
Photo credit: lilireinhart - Instagram

From Seventeen

Lili Reinhart has been using her platform to bring more awareness to Black activists and change makers over the past few days. On her Instagram live, Lili has been interviewing a different person every single day to help spread their message to her followers and many other celebrities have also followed suit.

While speaking on Lili Reinhart's Instagram live on June 10, Little Miss Flint, Mari Copeny, got another big surprise while talking to the Riverdale star. Mari talked about her long standing efforts to help bring clean water to Flint, Michigan, which has been ongoing since about 2014.

Since she was 8-years-old, she has been fighting for clean water in her town and she wrote a letter to President Barack Obama to help bring more awareness to the cause. Thanks to his visit to the town after reading her letter and her continuous efforts to help her town and others similarly facing a water crisis, she has been able to help people across the country get the clean water they need.

Twelve-year-old Mari absolutely freaked out when she joined the chat, which is still available to watch on Lili's Instagram. She opened up about her fundraiser to get more bottled water and filters in Flint, as they continue to replace pipes in the town that have been causing lead poisoning, and her youth protest for Black Lives Matter.

"I feel powerful when I be at the protests. At the same time, it's like fun because like the whole community has come together and talks about what's going on. And they start chanting and doing stuff," Mari said.

At the end of the interview, Lili invited her over to the Riverdale set and Mari couldn't handle the exciting news. She even posted her reaction on Twitter.

Story continues

"We would love to have you. For real, girl! You're totally allowed to come," Lili told her on the livestream.

The moment when @lilireinhart invited to the set of Riverdale.  https://t.co/yERUyH637X  Mari Copeny (@LittleMissFlint) June 10, 2020

If you'd like to help support Mari and donate to her current fundraiser, check out her GoFundMe.



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Montgomery County gained 35 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing the total number of new cases since June to 231.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the county is now 1,197.

During the first 11 days of April and May, new cases added were 141 in April and 95 in May. The county announced its first case March 11 and on March 27 the county was put under a stay-at-home order that closed most businesses, canceled events and close public places like parks. That order was lifted April 17 locally but the county remained under the stay at home order per Gov. Greg Abbott through April 30.

Abbotts plan to reopen Texas was launched May 1.

As of Thursday, there were 431 active cases, up slightly from 425, with 420 of those in self-isolation with 11 still hospitalized, a small increase from 9. The number of recoveries increased to 734, up from 705.

According to the data provided by MCPHD, ZIP code 77301 has the highest active cases with 54. That number, according to health officials includes active cases from the Montgomery County Jail and the Joe Corley Detention Center. Next in active cases is ZIP code 77386 with 33, ZIP codes 77385 and 77365 with 31 each and ZIP code 77304 with 30.

ZIP code 77382 has logged the most deaths with six.

As of Wednesday, 20,850 people have been tested with 19, 653 (94.26 percent) negative for the virus.

In Montgomery County, of its COVID-19 cases, 639 (53 percent) are men. Of the countys 32 deaths, 19 have been men with 26 of the deaths being residents over the age of 60.

Residents can still participate in the countys COVID-19 voucher testing. Vouchers can be obtained by calling 936-523-5040 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., vouchers, if unused, expire in five days and the testing site is solely responsible for notifying patients of results.

For more information on COVID-19, visit https://mcphd-tx.org/coronavirus-covid-19/.

cdominguez@hcnonline.com
UAE-US-DIPLOMACY-POMPEO

U.S. special representative on Iran Brian Hook (L) listens as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to reporters before departing from al-Bateen Air Base in Abu Dhabi, September 19, 2019. MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty

The Trump administration's senior adviser on Iran has said the negotiations that secured the release of U.S. Navy veteran Michael White began months ago, and continue with the aim of getting three more American prisoners home. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook issued a staunch defense of the White House's "maximum pressure" policy of choking Tehran with economic sanctions over its nuclear program while continuing indirect negotiations focused on freeing prisoners.

"We have now won the release of two Americans, with no pallets of cash, no sanctions relief and no change in policy. Our maximum pressure campaign continues," Hook said in an interview with the Washington D.C.-based Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy think-tank. He was referring to the release of White, along with U.S. academic Xiyue Wang, who was freed by Iran in December in exchange for Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani.

"This is another example that our strategy is working," said Hook.

Bringing Americans home

The American envoy, who also serves as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said he personally negotiated for several months through the Swiss, who act as intermediaries for the U.S. in dealing with Iran, to secure White's release last week. Washington and Tehran have had no direct communications since 1980, after the Islamic Revolution toppled Iran's Western-allied government and brought the current cleric-led regime to power.

white-crop-img-2788.jpg

Iran has granted a medical furlough to Michael White, a U.S. Navy veteran who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year. Michael White's family

White was freed as part of a deal that saw the U.S. release Iranian scientist Majid Taheri from prison. Hook said earlier this week that Taheri was, "somebody that Iran had identified, and that's kind of how often these things start."

Story continues

"He was in jail for 16 months," added Hook, "so we were able to advance important law enforcement objectives."

Just days earlier, the U.S. government had freed another Iranian scientist from prison. Sirous Asgari was acquitted of charges accusing him of stealing U.S. trade secrets and was deported back to Iran. Following White's release, Hook said there was "never a connection" between Asgari and White's release.

On Monday, Hook said his focus was now on bringing three U.S.-Iranian dual nationals still held by Tehran, Siamak Namazi, his elderly father Baquer, and Morad Tahbaz back home, along with the remains of Bob Levinson.

U.S. officials and family members of Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing in Iran in 2007, said earlier this year that he was believed to have died in Iranian custody.

More "maximum pressure"

Those negotiations via the Swiss appear to be continuing in parallel with  or even despite  mounting tension between Washington and Tehran.

Hook said Monday that Washington was still working on getting an international arms embargo on Iran renewed. The current embargo, set to expire in October, was implemented as part of the 2015 nuclear deal agreed by Iran, the U.S. under President Obama, and four other world powers.

President Trump had long-criticized that deal as too generous to Iran, and in 2018 he unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of it, leaving the agreement in tatters. The move infuriated the Iranians and confounded America's allies, who tried for months in vain to keep the deal intact without U.S. participation.

Those efforts were thwarted in large part by the fact that the White House had begun implementing its "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.

Washington hit the already-cash-strapped nation with a series of harsh sanctions in a bid to draw the regime back into negotiations on a new agreement, aimed again at thwarting any Iranian ambitions of a nuclear weapons program, but broadening the remit, too. The Trump administration felt the restrictions imposed by the 2015 deal were too lax, given expiry dates and the fact that they didn't address Iran's other nefarious actions in the region or its conventional weapons program.

Thus far, the "maximum pressure" has failed to draw Iran, at least publicly, even one step back toward the nuclear negotiating table.

"Excellent results"

The European Union, one of the signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, has warned, meanwhile, that the U.S. cannot now expect to leverage that agreement for a new, United Nations-backed arms embargo on Iran after walking away from it.

"The United States has withdrawn from the JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal), and now, they cannot claim that they are still part of the JCPOA in order to deal with this issue from the JCPOA agreement. They withdraw. It's clear," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday.

Speaking the same day to The Heritage Foundation, Hook was adamant that the tough sanctions against Iran had already yielded "excellent results."

"We have deprived the Iranian regime of billions of dollars thanks to the sanctions," he said. "The Iranian regime is languishing under great pressure and the door is open to diplomacy... President Trump will continue to pressure and Iran must respond."

...to the UNITED STATES! We have now brought more than 40 American hostages and detainees back home since I took office. Thank you to Iran, it shows a deal is possible!

 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2020

Mr. Trump himself voiced optimism in the wake of White's release last week, saying, "it shows a deal is possible!"

On Wednesday, however, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi played down Washington's push for a new arms embargo, and he reiterated the stance that Tehran has taken all along to the "maximum pressure" campaign.

"Iran will not surrender with such sanctions and pressures," Mousavi told Iranian television.

CBS News State Department reporter Christina Ruffini and Khaled Wassef in London contributed to this report.

Christian Cooper on Amy Cooper's phone call to police: "Pulled the pin on the race grenade"

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Tuolumne County Jail View Photo

Sacramento, CA  A measure put in place to reduce the jail population across the state during the coronavirus pandemic is being rescinded.

The states judicial council set a temporary $0-bail for lower-level offenders this past April. Citing that Governor Gavin Newsom has issued variances for 51 counties to further reopen their economies, the judicial council voted 17-2 yesterday to repeal the $0-bail measure.

An estimated 20,000 inmates across the state have been released early ahead of trials over the past two months. The change back to normal will take effect on June 20, a day after (June 19) prisons will again allow the transfer of inmates from county jails to state institutions.
MALIBU, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Renowned actress Tracey Bregman (as seen in The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful) is suing her insurance company, Lloyd's of London, accusing them of underpaying insurance policy benefits after her Malibu, California home was completely destroyed by wildfire in November 2018. She is represented by attorney Derek Chaiken, Merlin Law Group.

Ms. Bregman's newly constructed home was destroyed by the devastating Woolsey Fire that burned through almost 100,000 acres of land and destroyed thousands of structures in Los Angeles County and Ventura County in late 2018.

After the fire, Ms. Bregman filed a claim for benefits under the homeowners' policy issued to her by Lloyds so she could rebuild her home. Despite having enough coverage to completely rebuild her home, the insurance company refuses to pay her the benefits she is entitled to. As a result, she has been unable to rebuild the property and has been living in temporary housing.

The lawsuit alleges that Lloyd's hired an unqualified and biased consultant to prepare an estimate for the cost to rebuild the property. Relying on that estimate, Lloyd's refused to pay Ms. Bregman any amounts beyond the unreliable estimate. In turn, Ms. Bregman submitted several bids from her own licensed contractors, who estimated the actual costs to rebuild would be millions of dollars more than the amount Lloyd's paid. The lawsuit also alleges that Lloyd's failed to consider the surge of construction costs in Southern California following the 2018 wildfire season.

Merlin Law Group aims to hold Lloyd's accountable for paying the full coverage benefits owed to Ms. Bregman as a result of their bad faith tactics. The lawsuit seeks an award of contractual, general and punitive damages against Lloyd's. This is another example of insurers not fulfilling their obligations to policyholders. An insurer is wrong and breaches its duty to its policyholders when it unreasonably refuses to pay policy benefits for a covered loss despite the insured having adequate coverage.

SOURCE Merlin Law Group, P.A.

Related Links

www.merlinlawgroup.com


With over 1 billion people and 500 million internet users in Africa, e-commerce has in the last 8 years improved the quality of lives on the continent by helping consumers to shop and pay for millions of products online at the best prices wherever they live. Thanks to the various players championing this cause, such as Jumia, Konga, Payporte, Mall for Africa; the list is endless. E-commerce is also creating new opportunities for SMEs to grow, and job opportunities for a new generation to thrive.

In 2019 more than 110,000 sellers, including local African companies and entrepreneurs partnered with Jumia, for instance, to sell their products on the platform which attracts millions of customers daily. This way, Jumia, with presence in 11 African countries, has bolstered the growth of micro, small, medium enterprises, online shopping, digital payment, logistics and supply value chain as well as the fintech ecosystem, thereby promoting not only cashless and digital economy but financial inclusion for the unbanked population across Africa and Nigeria in particular.

Trailing the successes achieved by e-commerce giants like Alibaba, Amazon, etc., Jumia has offered unparalleled innovative online shopping and retailing experience for Nigerian consumers, a good growth trajectory for MSMEs and large businesses operating in the essential sectors such as food and agriculture, pharmaceuticals, FMCGs, QSR, and non-essentials like electronics/electrical appliances.

Small businesses are not the only entities taking advantage of the e-commerce boom. For instance, during the recent movement restrictions occasioned by the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria, Jumia kept many MSMEs afloat by bridging the supply gap through partnership with international brands such as Reckitt Benckiser, Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble. It also ensured fair pricing while it waived commissions on products thereby helping consumers to get essentials at the lowest prices delivered to them.

The outbreak of COVID-19 brought to the fore the indispensable role of e-commerce as consumers across Africa relied on its delivery system to access essential products. There was never a time in the history of Africa - until now - that e-commerce has become extremely relevant to the everyday lives of Africans. Jumia did not disappoint its consumers in this regard. The company launched swiftly into action by launching various initiatives that will provide consumers access to essentials, guarantee safety of the delivery agents and the consumers and ensure the safety of its frontline workers.

A few of the initiatives included Contactless Delivery, Contactless Payment via JumiaPay, partnerships with many brands with essential products, heroes funds for frontline workers, donated 100,000 CE certified facemasks to the Federal Ministry of Health, provided free advert slots to the same Ministry for sensitization campaigns, and many more. During the 3 months lockdown in Nigeria, Jumia saw orders skyrocket, proving that it has become more relevant to the lives of the Nigerian consumers.

Restaurants were mostly affected by the restriction in movement, as customers couldnt dine in, thereby shrinking the revenue of many quick service restaurants and high profile intercontinental restaurants. Jumia Foods partnership kept over hundreds of Quick Service Restaurants and diners ongoing while delivering through Jumias contactless delivery channel, healthy meals to millions of families and employees, who were observing stay-at-home order and keeping social distancing, thereby eliminating physical contact and reducing person-to-person transmission of COVID-19.

In the same vein, JumiaPay, which is the fintech product of Jumia, has been offering consumers safe, convenient, and secure ways to pay for products on the platform, recharge airtime, and pay utility bills from the comfort of their homes. Customers are finding it more convenient to do financial transactions seamlessly. The relevance of digital payment has become extremely important since the outbreak of COVID-19, as the virus can be transmitted via cash exchange.

The growth of Nigerian MSMEs has always been one of the most important commitments for Jumia. Its yet again another anniversary for the company. It is not at all surprising that the theme of its anniversary this year is Stronger Together - a catchphrase that quickly underscores the symbiotic relationships among the various stakeholders of the company while taking a retrospective look at how far theyve come in building the engine of online commerce in Nigeria. It is indeed a fitting theme to underscore the unique relationship between Jumia and the sellers on the platform, between Jumia and millions of consumers in Nigeria, between Jumia and its over 5,000 employees in Africa, between Jumia and its host communities.

With a forecast that e-Commerce sales will reach 17.5 percent of retail sales worldwide by 2021 and the evolving new normal, analysts believe that the potential of e-Commerce platforms like Jumia serving as the powerhouse of the logistics value chain and fintech revolution in Nigeria, and indeed Africa, is limitless.
Miriam "Mimi" Boublik, Jericho Project Board President Dr. Elizabeth Garland, Andrew Moss and Peter Zheng each bring extraordinary professional accomplishments to our Board. Their expertise will guide our organization as we continue to forge innovative solutions to the complexities of homelessness. -- Miriam Boublik, Jericho Project Board President

Jericho Project, a nationally-acclaimed nonprofit ending homelessness at its roots, has announced the addition of three thought leaders in medicine, technology and public affairs to its Board of Directors.

Dr. Elizabeth Garland, Andrew Moss and Peter Zheng each bring extraordinary professional accomplishments and community contributions to our Board. Their expertise spanning healthcare, technology, economics and public policy will guide our organization as we continue to forge innovative solutions to the complexities of homelessness, said Miriam Boublik, Jericho Project Board President.

The broader and diverse Board of Directors will enable the 37-year-old nonprofit to address the deepening needs of the citys vulnerable residents hardest hit by the COVID health crisis. Among the 2,500 New Yorkers Jericho Project serves annually, its dedicated programs for veterans, young  largely LGBTQ  adults and families will be vital to the Citys ability to rebound.

Over the years, Jericho Projects residents have proven that they can attain housing stability, wellness and pursue fulfilling lives. By focusing on the specific circumstances contributing to our clients homelessness, we believe we can continue to see inspirational results. As our city seeks to reopen and rebuild, Dr. Elizabeth Garland, Andrew Moss and Peter Zheng will be instrumental in helping us to achieve these goals, said Tori Lyon, Jericho Project CEO.

With nine supportive housing residences and apartments across the five boroughs, Jericho Projects comprehensive counseling services, including employment, mental health and family reunification, have enabled 95% of residents to maintain stable housing, and 90% of those affected by substance abuse to maintain their sobriety.

The following bios detail the talents of Dr. Garland, Andrew Moss and Pete Zheng:

Elizabeth J. Garland, MD, MS, is Professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health (EMPH) and the Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She has served as Director of the EMPH Division of Preventive Medicine and Community Health since 2002 and as Director of the General Preventive Medicine Residency since 1995.

"I spent the last few decades studying the impact of a built environment and the home environment on health outcomes for families and children. I look forward to sharing my insights with Jericho Project and helping to move the dial for the vulnerable populations it serves, Dr. Garland said.

She is a core faculty member in the Mount Sinai Graduate Program in Public Health (MPH), serving as the MD/MPH and DPM/MPH Academic Advisor, and the Health Promotion Disease Prevention Track Leader. She mentors many resident and student community-based projects in East Harlem. Dr. Garlands current research interests center on pediatric health disparities in the built environment, active living design, and nutrition.

Dr. Garland is affiliated with the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx for clinical care and outcomes research.

Andrew Moss is a seasoned technology executive/entrepreneur who has spent his career innovating, launching and managing a range of technology-based businesses including within Microsoft.

I hope that my background will be helpful in building a bridge between under-resourced populations and the technology community. In these unsettling and challenging times, the work that Jericho does is so important to rebuilding our communities, Moss said.

After 17 years at Microsoft, he left to launch his own startup and consulted with various other new and existing ventures. In 2014, he joined the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence to advise and mentor aspiring entrepreneurs from within the NYU ecosystem. In 2015 he was named Director of Blackstone LaunchPad at NYU to implement and manage the initiative. In 2019, he joined the faculty at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering where he guides/facilitates/teaches Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Global Perspectives on Technology Management. He leads the development of a methodology for entrepreneurs and organizational leaders of all kinds to foster a desired Culture and Organizational Resolve (COR) grounded in clearly articulated principles shaping all aspects of the operation. In addition, he also serves on the Steering Committee for the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology and a contributor to the NYU Human Rights Innovation initiative. He serves on the Board of Trustees for Cheshire Academy, one of the oldest independent schools in the country. He is a mentor in Betaworks Ventures Circles program, part of the venture capital and accelerators mentorship program.

Peter Zheng is a Business Integrity Associate with Facebook. He brings to the Board an interdisciplinary knowledge of public affairs and technology. He is a 2020 graduate of Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs in New York City where he was a SIPA, Clinton, and Arete fellow and one of the youngest students accepted into the program, concentrating in Economic & Political Development and Urban & Social Policy and triple-specializing in East Asia; Management; Technology, Media, and Communication Studies. He was the 2020 Campbell Award recipient, which is the highest student honor designated to a graduating student at Columbia University.

I hope to bring to Jericho Projects Board a voice of advocacy for communities of color, and work towards a more equitable society, Zheng said.

Zheng graduated from the University of Pittsburgh Honors College with quadruple majors, Magna Cum Laude, in Economics, Political Science & Government, Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Philosophy, Summa Cum Laude, (masters-level degree) in Psychology within four years. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Bronx Arts Ensemble and is a member of the Professional Advisory Council for Literacy, INC, and an alumni board member for Pitt Honors College. His academic research is published in international journals and cited in early childhood education books. Hes a proud first-generation college student and son of hard-working Chinese immigrants. He hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For more information: jerichoproject.org | @jerichoproject1983
As part of the IREP, 550 MW of Wind Power, 1200 MW of Hydelpower and 1000MW of Solar power will be generated, said Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah.

The Andhra Pradesh government has approved the proposal to set up a 10000MW solar power project to have an uninterrupted nine-hour power supply to farmers during the daytime, besides setting up of an Integrated Renewable Energy Project (IREP).

Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting, Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah said that as part of the IREP, 550 MW of Wind Power, 1200 MW of Hydelpower and 1000MW of Solar power will be generated. Under the Green Energy Development Charge, the state government will be earning a revenue of Rs 32 crores. Earlier during the TDP regime, the government paid only Rs 2.5 lakh per acre for the project, but our Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy decided to award Rs 5 lakh per acre.

The state cabinet has cleared the lines for Ramayapatnam port works and the DPR was considered. It will be completed in five phases with an estimated budget of Rs 3736 Crore in the first phase of works and to seek funds from the Centre. For Bhogapuram Airport, the built area was reduced from the proposed 2700 acres to 2200 acres and the remaining 500 acres will be handed over to the state government as commercial space.

As for irrigation projects, the Veligonda Project has earmarked Rs 1411.56 Crores for land acquisition and compensation, while Rs 522.85 Cr for R&R package of Gandikota reservoir. The Cabinet also gave the green signal for the establishment of AP State Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to monitor tax evasions by granting 55 posts. The Outsourcing Corporation would be strengthened to avoid middlemen in recruitments.

In addition to these, the cabinet also gave a nod for filling up the vacant posts in nursing colleges across the State, reinstating Sannidhi Golla in TTD and setting up of Tribal engineering college under JNTU-K in Kurupam with an estimated budget of Rs 153 Crore. The government also approved for providing 385 acres of land to the greyhounds training campus in Visakhapatnam, he said.

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I am outraged at our state Legislature. In the midst of these very unsettling times which require true leadership, the General Assembly spent hours of floor debate on June 9 and passed a resolution to end Gov. Wolfs state of emergency for COVID-19. This has got to be the most irrelevant action lawmakers has taken since the session began.

Why is it irrelevant? 1) Wolf will veto it. 2) Most of the state is open for business. 3) The majority of Pennsylvanians support Wolf s handling of the coronavirus. 4) There is more pressing legislation that has been languishing in committees for months.

This week I and hundreds of Fair Districts PA volunteers throughout Pennsylvania emailed, called, and posted messages on social media directed to the Senate and House leadership demanding that redistricting reform legislation be given a vote. The General Assembly refuses to vote on HB 22, 23 and SB 1022, 1023  legislation that would end political gerrymandering and the practice of politicians picking their voters.

This legislation has bipartisan support in the House and Senate and support from two-thirds of Pennsylvanians.

Because we currently have a redistricting process that permits politicians to pick their voters, our elected representatives are not accountable to their constituents. Thus they can waste time passing meaningless bills and resolutions, ignore important legislation and face no repercussions. Shame on them.

Rochelle Kaplan

Fogelsville
The legislative response to the nationwide demonstrations calling for justice in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylors deaths by police is beginning to take shape.

Days after pledging to develop an agenda to address racial bias in policing, House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he planned to advance the policing reforms proposed by the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus in the form of an omnibus bill.

Gov. Charlie Baker, who also met with the members, asked Thomas Turco, secretary of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, to work with legislators and experts on implementing a Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, system for law enforcement in Massachusetts.

Senate President Karen Spilka announced the creation of a racial justice advisory group led by Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a BLLC member, and Senate President Pro Tempore William Brownsberger.

The announcement comes days after a group of senators, led by Sen. Jamie Eldridge, called for the reworking the governors $1 billion IT bond bill to re-allocate the funds for correction vehicles and facilities to local aid, including automating the sealing of criminal records.

Attorney General Maura Healy sent a letter to Congress asking them to empower state attorney generals to investigate and prosecute civil rights violations in law enforcement. She has also publicly backed Congresswoman Ayanna Pressleys resolution condemning police brutality.

These moves follow days of protests in Boston, Springfield, Worcester and other parts of the state after the death of George Floyd. The 46-year-old black man was filmed dying in Minneapolis police custody as an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.

The protests also come after the deaths of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was shot by Louisville police in her home and Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger who was shot while running through a Georgia neighborhood earlier this year.

Protesters are pushing for a series of policy reforms to address structural racism, including mounting calls to defund the police that have entered city budget discussions across Massachusetts.

The Black and Latino Legislative Caucus last week formed a 10-point plan after elected officials of color gathered outside the Massachusetts State House. The plan outlines federal, state and local policy changes, including implementing peace officer standards and training at the state level.

DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat who is in his sixth term as speaker, addressed the protests in an email to legislators last week. He pledged to take decisive action" to address structural inequalities that lead to racial bias  both implicit and explicit," according to an email obtained by MassLive.

Lizzy Guyton, the governors communication director, said the governors suggestion to Turco to implement a POST system has been underway for several months.

The Baker-Polito Administration is committed to enhancing transparency and oversight for law enforcement and looks forward to working with the caucus and the Legislature to implement reforms soon, she said in a statement to MassLive.

The promises to take action have spurred outrage from the right. Massachusetts GOP Chairman Jim Lyons criticized lawmakers supporting calls to defund the police" as another cause of the left.

The agenda of The Radical Left on Beacon Hill Defund Police , Safe injection Sites , Drivers licenses for illegal immigrants...and finally follow the lead of Ag Maura Healey .Yes America is burning. Thats how forests grow, he said, referring to Healeys previous tweet that appeared to condone protests that have at times involved violent clashes with police, fires and looting in the wake of Floyds killing.

The agenda of The Radical Left on Beacon Hill Defund Police , Safe injection Sites , Drivers licenses for illegal immigrants...and finally follow the lead of Ag Maura Healey .Yes America is burning. Thats how forests grow.

Have you had enough ?  Jim Lyons (@JimLyonsMA) June 10, 2020

Meanwhile, progressives expressed cautious hopefulness over the pledges to address structural racism from state leaders. They pointed to several bills that address racial inequities in criminal justice, housing, transportation and environmental justice that have died in committees or have otherwise failed to reach the governors desk in recent years.

DeLeo, who said he planned to incorporate policing reforms in an omnibus bill, met with caucus members Wednesday afternoon. In a joint statement, DeLeo and BLLC Chairman Carlos Gonzalez announced plans to pass legislation before July 31, the end of the two-year session, that incorporates parts of the plan.

Together, we are outlining short-term actions required to help address structural inequalities that lead to racial bias -- both implicit and explicit  while identifying ways to make continued progress on issues that require additional review," DeLeo and Gonzalez said. We are also focused on shared, overarching goals that will be part of future, separate discussions including education and income inequality.

They said the legislation would create an independent Office of Police Standards and Professional Conduct to provide statewide oversight of police conduct. The office would also review certifications and enhanced training for officers.

The bill also would impose a statewide ban on the use of chokeholds by law enforcement, require law enforcement to intervene in a situation where a colleague improperly uses force and creates a legislative commission to study and examine civil service law and recommend changes to recruit minority officers.

As with any difficult task, the first step is to dig in and begin working," they said. Today we took that first step.

Spilka, an Ashland Democrat, delivering remarks Tuesday during the Massachusetts Womens Political Caucus legislative breakfast, said she was angry and heartbroken" by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, but that as a white woman legislator, I also recognize that being angry and heartbroken are not enough if we truly wish to be allies in the fight for racial justice.

Some critics, including Jonathan Cohn of Progressive Massachusetts, quickly noted that Spilka had removed Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, who was the only woman of color in the Senate, from her post as co-chair of the Joint Committee of Education in 2019.

A day later, Spilka announced the creation of a racial justice advisory group led by Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat, and Sen. William Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat.

I believe we have reached a history-making moment in our Commonwealth and that it should not pass without taking action on policing and racial justice this session, Spilka said in a statement Wednesday.

The other members include Sen. Nick Collins, a Boston Democrat; Sen. Jo Comerford, a Northampton Democrat; Sen. Michael Moore, a Millbury Democrat; and Sen. Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican.

My hope is that this working group will help the Senate quickly digest the advocacy were receiving and advance serious police accountability legislation in the immediate term  and keep our eye on the ball of racial justice more broadly even after this initial spike in public attention has passed," Chang-Diaz said in a statement.

Progressive advocates said theyre skeptical of the promises made by Democratic leaders, but hope to swift changes.

Cohn, the chair of the Issues Committee for Progressive Mass, raised concerns about the Senates decision to launch an advisory group rather than move forward with legislation, as well as the addition of Moore, a former police officer.

Cohn said lawmakers should instead focus on re-allocating resources from police and prisons to investments in housing, health care and other priorities to support communities of color. He pointed to the recent letter from senators calling for changes to the governors IT bond bill as a recent example.

So many legislators will talk about their rhetorical commitment to racial justice, but if youre putting more money into the prison system, youre missing the point, he said.

Jamarhl Crawford, a community activist in Boston, who has previously pushed for lawmakers to create a commission on policing, said state officials seemed afraid to touch studies on policing before.

Im optimistic, and something is better than nothing, he said. "If all these people are now concerned and enthusiastic about pushing something, I cannot shun the new converts, but I hope that what we put together is something that actually has substance and teeth at the city levels, at the state levels and at the federal levels.

Tanisha Arena, executive director of Arise for Social Justice in Springfield, said lawmakers shouldnt be satisfied with advisory groups and conversations, but hopes to see action taken in the following weeks through changes to city and state budgets and legislation.

Weve been here before. I dont know that we ever left this place, so nows a time for doing, Arena said. Were beyond lip service, and its time.

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(Natural News) A grand jury indicted the former chair of the Harvard University department of chemistry Tuesday on charges of making false statements about funding he received from China.

On June 9, Lieber was indicted by a federal grand jury for two counts of making false statements to federal authorities. The Department of Justice (DOJ) had initially charged Charles Lieber with lying to government officials for lying about his participation in the China-backed Thousand Talents recruitment program back in January. However, actually indicting him took months as grand jury proceedings throughout the country had been stalled by the Wuhan coronavirus.

Lieber had ties with Wuhan university

The charging documents state that Lieber had a relationship with the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) while he was still chair of Harvards chemistry department.

Authorities have also alleged that Lieber lied when he was asked by Department of Defense (DOD) investigators about his relationship with WUT. In addition, he had also been accused of lying to Harvard, causing the university to share bad information with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) about his affiliation.

Both the DOD and the NIH had provided Lieber with funding. In both instances, he had denied being involved with Chinas Thousand Talents plan. Disclosure of foreign collaboration and funding is required when receiving federal funding.

The Thousand Talents program aims to draw top experts from around the world to work on projects in China. It has drawn scrutiny from U.S. officials who claim that it facilitates the transfer of American intellectual property to China.

The charging papers allege that Lieber, a specialist in nanoscience, had been participating in the plan for years while continuing to work on sensitive U.S. research.

Lieber lied about China funding even while working on US projects

According to court documents, Lieber began working with the WUT as a strategic scientist in 2011. From 2012 to 2018, he was involved with the Thousand Talents program as a contractual participant.

As part of his contract, the WUT paid Lieber a monthly salary of $50,000 on top of up to 1 million yuan ($158,000 at the time) in living expenses for up to three years. In exchange, Lieber would work for WUT for at least nine months per year by applying for patents and publishing research for WUT, conducting international cooperation projects as well as mentoring students and teachers.

Lieber signed an agreement for a five-year cooperative research program in 2013, supposedly in Harvards behalf, that would allow WUT researchers to visit his chemistry department for two months, the court documents state. The agreements objective was to foster advanced research on nanowire-based lithium-ion batteries for use in electric vehicles.

In addition, Lieber also received $1.5 million for establishing a joint research lab at WUT using Harvards name and logo  without the schools knowledge.

Harvard representatives stated that Lieber did not have the authority to enter into these agreements. In addition, they stated that Lieber had lied to them, and said that WUT acted without consent when they used the universitys logos. (Related: Serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had extensive ties to Harvard University, review notes.)

Lieber denied any engagement with the Thousand Talents program when DOD investigators question him about his foreign research disclosure in early 2018. Back then, he claimed he was never asked to join the program but said that wasnt sure how China categorized him. Later that year, he caused Harvard to tell NIH investigators that he had no formal association with WUT, and that he was not a participant in the Chinese recruitment program.

Should the accusations be proven, Lieber faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each count of making false statements.

Liebers case is part of DOJ initiative to catch Chinese espionage

Liebers case is one of the highest-profile cases in the Justice Departments nationwide China Initiative. This project is designed to counter Chinese efforts to spy on the U.S. and has homed in on academics who fail to disclose Chinese funding when applying for U.S. government grants.

Justice Department officials argue that the Chinese government co-opts these American academics to advance its own interests. However, some critics have stated that these investigations have turned professors into criminals for making clerical errors.

Earlier this year, Andrew Lelling  the U.S. Attorney supervising Liebers prosecution  said that his office was working to build closer relationships within the academic community. This has resulted in the universities themselves helping report possible cases.

You get leads sometimes from the universities themselves, if they have a good working relationship with us and with the FBI, he said in an interview with Politico. A big component of the China Initiative is outreach.

Lelling compared the departments efforts with the outreach it conducted to Muslim-American communities after the Sept. 11 attacks. He says that it lets academia know that people in the government arent jackbooted thugs and that they actually do try to take a nuanced approach. It also makes universities and other entities theyre talking to are a little more willing to pick up the phone next time and tell you if theyre aware of a problem.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

SCMP.com

Politico.com
North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (ASX: LLO) ("Lion One" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its #2 diamond drill has commenced drilling at a newly defined high-grade target called Biliwi within the new Navilawa tenement. In a news release dated February 19th, 2020, Lion One discussed discovery of high-grade surface samples at Biliwi that included 60.4 g/t Au over 0.40 m, 94.8 g/t Au over 0.40 m, 17.90 g/t Au over 0.75 m and 83.60 g/t Au over 0.45 m. The first hole has been planned to test the Biliwi lode at a depth of approximately 55 m below surface. Further step-out holes are planned at Biliwi subsequent to successful interception of the targeted lode.

Surface sampling has recommenced within the Navilawa tenement since beginning of the dry season a couple weeks ago with current effort focused around the Banana Creek prospect where surface samples collected earlier this year yielded 19.4 g/t Au over 0.85 m, 10.83 g/t Au over 1.00 m and 35.30 g/t Au over 0.45 m. Lion One believes Banana Creek is emerging as a very high priority greenfields target in need of near-term drill testing. Further work is planned at the Matanavatu prospect where earlier surface samples returned 32.30 g/t Au over 0.65 m, 35.88 g/t Au over 0.60 m, and 53.60 g/t Au over 0.13 m. Lion One anticipates testing multiple new high priority greenfields drill targets within the Navilawa tenement this dry season which continues until late-year.

At Tuvatu, the #1 diamond drill is currently drilling hole TUDDH497 at the same azimuth but 6 degrees steeper than recently completed hole TUDDH496. Both of these holes test the east-west trending Murau lodes, part of the Tuvatu West lode network. Stephen Mann, Managing Director of Lion One commented "We are very excited by the structures identified in the last few holes (TUDDH 494, 495, 496 and 497). We have clearly demonstrated that the structural corridors highlighted in the CSAMT geophysical survey are real and are the host of mineralising fluids. The intervals drilled into these structural corridors have intersected zones of very good alteration including pyrite, carbonate and alkaline feldspars, as well as traces of base metals which have proven to be good pathfinders. In addition, several very fine specks of visible gold have also been recognised. The lodes at Tuvatu West have returned previously reported very high grade intersections including TUDDH371 14.99m @14.28 g/t Au (see News Release 15th July 2013), TUDDH365 4.31m @ 14.95 g/t Au, and TUDDH364 6.43m @12.74 g/t Au (see News Release 15th May 2013), and it is expected that TUDDH496 and 497 will add significantly more geological information in the area." Assays from both of these holes will be reported to the market once they have been finalised.

Story continues

Upon completion of hole TUDDH497, the #1 rig will return to the same drill pad as deep drill holes TUDDH494 and TUDDH495. Following a review of the core in both TUDDH494 and 495 by the Lion One geologist and the Company's drilling team, it has been determined that re-entering those holes as planned was too high a risk for loss of equipment. Consequently, an adjacent hole will be completed to test the depth extent of TUDDH495 following the completion of TUDDH497. The Company now has received the smaller diameter NQ drill rods ensuring the target depth of around 1000m is attainable. Both TUDDH494 and TUDDH495 targeted deep parts of the main north-south trending Tuvatu lode system. Lion One believed these holes would begin to confirm the presence of deep-seated lodes and lode feeders in this area. Additional deep drill holes are planned under the Tuvatu resource area to further elucidate the lode system at depth.

In a news release dated April 30 th, 2020, Lion One announced it has purchase a third drill rig. The arrival of this drill rig into Fiji has been delayed overseas due to the current pandemic and is now expected to be shipped late July. The addition of this rig will enable Lion One to successfully complete its goal of drilling in excess of 20,000 m of diamond core across the entire Tuvatu gold project over the next 12 months.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed, prepared, and approved by Mr. Stephen Mann, P. Geo, Managing Director of Lion One, who is a qualified person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI-43-101).

About Tuvatu

The Tuvatu gold deposit is located in on the island of Viti Levu in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji. The mineral resource for Tuvatu as disclosed in the technical report "Tuvatu Gold Project PEA", dated June 1, 2015, and prepared by Mining Associates Pty Ltd of Brisbane Qld, comprises 1,120,000 tonnes indicated at 8.17 g/t Au (294,000 oz. Au) and 1,300,000 tonnes inferred at 10.60 g/t Au (445,000 oz. Au) at a cut-off grade of 3 g/t Au. The technical report is available on the Lion One website at www.liononemetals.com and on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

About Lion One Metals Limited

Lion One's flagship asset is 100% owned, fully permitted high grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project, located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Lion One envisions a low-cost high-grade underground gold mining operation at Tuvatu coupled with exciting exploration upside inside its tenements covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, an underexplored yet highly prospective 7km diameter alkaline gold system. Lion One's CEO Walter Berukoff leads an experienced team of explorers and mine builders and has owned or operated over 20 mines in 7 countries. As the founder and former CEO of Miramar Mines, Northern Orion, and La Mancha Resources, Walter is credited with building over $3 billion of value for shareholders.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of

Lion One Metals Limited

"Walter Berukoff"

Chairman and CEO

For further information

Contact Investor Relations

Toll Free (North America) Tel: 1-855-805-1250

Email: info@liononemetals.com

Website: www.liononemetals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release may contain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57644
Baghdad, June 11 : The Iraqi Health Ministry confirmed 1,146 new cases of COVID-19, raising the total number to 15,414 in the country.

It said on Wednesday that 34 more people died from the coronavirus during the day, bringing the death toll to 426, while 6,214 patients have recovered, Xinhua news agency reported.

The new cases were detected after 7,835 testing kits were used across the country during the past 24 hours, out of 330,526 tests carried out since the outbreak of the disease in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Sayf al-Badr, spokesman of the Health Ministry, said in a statement that Iraq is still within the danger zone and the number of infections with coronavirus may further increase.

"There are still social gatherings such as weddings and funerals being held in some neighbourhoods in Baghdad like Sadr City and al-Hurriyah despite the restriction measures," al-Badr said.

On June 6, the Higher Committee for Health and National Safety, headed by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, took several measures including the continuation of the full curfew until June 13, and then replacing it with a partial curfew on June 14.

The committee also announced to prevent the movement between provinces, except for the health, security and public service personnel, and ordered security forces to tighten the control of the implementation of health restrictions.

China has been helping Iraq with the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

From March 7 to April 26, a Chinese team of seven medical experts spent 50 days in Iraq to help contain the disease, during which they helped build a PCR lab and an advanced CT scanner in Baghdad.

China also sent three batches of medical aid to Iraq.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
The city of Alma will reopen all municipal buildings on Monday with some restrictions in place.

City hall and all other facilities have been closed to the public since March 19 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmers stay at home executive order.

Since that day staff has attempted to maintain a level of service to the community while working from home, telephone, email or the Zoom platform, City Manager Matt Schooley stated in a press release. Many of our services were reduced or stopped due to the virus.

Progress has been made and some of the restrictions have been lifted that allow the city to start conducting a level of in-person business again.

The citys transportation center reopened this past Monday and Dial-A-Ride buses are back in service, he noted.

The city formed a committee three weeks ago to plan for the reopening. The entire plan is available on the citys website at www.myalma.org

It is understood that there are many diverse opinions on how quickly, or how wide ranging the opening should be, especially to start, Schooley said. We will continue to monitor the process and assess the plans effectiveness on a weekly basis.

Staff at the municipal building will be available by appointment from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Their phone numbers are listed on the citys website.

The service counter will be open from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. daily for walk-in patrons.

Entry to the building, including the police department, will be through the west doors. Visitors will exit through the east doors.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Logic Analyzer Market size is expected to gain a significant growth in the forthcoming years as logic analyzers are used in the digital measurements that involve triggering numerous signals. Logic analyzers are used over traditional oscilloscopes for accuracy in measurements and are an excellent tool for authenticating and correcting the digital circuit. It captures and analyses multiple signals along with their timings. Logic analyzers can thus detect any glitches for software and hardware integration. Apart, it highly differs as compared with oscilloscope with major difference in inputting number of channels. Traditional oscilloscopes have four signal inputs and every channel differs in one digital signal. In case of complex system designs, it serves thousand input channels. Therefore, highly scaled analyzers cater to those systems as well. A logic analyzer features in timing display produced by a simulator that allows smooth triggering of data and translates the captured data into processor instructions to further correlate with the source code.

The logic analyzer market is driven by growing demand for test and measurement equipment devices. Moreover, investments in key products are contributing to the market development in the forthcoming period. Moreover, rising demand for efficient and high-performance electronic and semiconductor devices is significantly contributing to the market growth. High prevalence of digital circuits across sectors followed by digitalization is more likely to trigger market developments in the years to come. On contrary, fluctuation in standards and lack of technical awareness is more likely to prevent the market growth in the forthcoming period.

By application, the market can be segmented as automotive & transportation, industrial, healthcare and electronics. Automotive & transportation is much likely to gain a significant traction in forthcoming years attributing to the rise in innovation in automotive sector. Healthcare sector is more likely to develop an emerging growth attributing to the upcoming opportunities due to the role of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare.

By type, the market can be segmented as modular logic analyzers, portable logic analyzers and PC-based logic analyzers. The demand for portable logic analyzer is high owing to the rise in demand for consumer electronics. In addition, portable logic analyzers majorly serve in field services thereby resulting in a higher share.

Please click here to download the sample pdf and find more details on "Logic Analyzer Market" Report 2024.

By region, the market can be segmented as North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle-East and Africa. North America is driving the global market owing to increase in the demand for logic and digital circuits. The anticipated growth for regional market is high during the forecast span attributing to the growing presence of PC-based analyzer manufacturers in the U.S. countries. Moreover, rapid developments in the applicability of logic analyzers are most likely to enhance the growth of regional market. Presence of key players acts as a robust growth factor.

Some of the key players in the logic analyzer market include Rohde & Schwarz, Tektronix Inc., Keysight Technologies Inc., Zeroplus Technologies Inc., Cellebrite Mobile Synchronization, Good Will Instrument Co Ltd and Seleae Inc. Mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and partnerships are some of the identified growth strategies.

The analysts forecast the global logic analyzer market to exhibit a CAGR of 6.3% during the period 2019-2024. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global logic analyzer for 2019-2024. To calculate the market size, the report considers the logic analyzer sales volume and revenue.

The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: regional markets, and application.

Access 139 page research report with TOC on "Global Logic Analyzer Market" available with Radiant Insights, Inc. @: https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/logic-analyzer-market

Market Segmentation:

Geographically, the global logic analyzer market is segmented into North America , Asia Pacific , Europe , Middle East & Africa and South America . This report forecasts revenue growth at a global, regional & country level, and provides an analysis of the market trends in each of the sub-segments from 2019 to 2024.

North America (U.S., Canada , Mexico , etc.)

(U.S., , , etc.)

Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , Korea, Australia , Indonesia , Taiwan , Thailand , etc.)

( , , , Korea, , , , , etc.)

Europe ( Germany , UK, France , Italy , Russia , Spain , etc.)

( , UK, , , , , etc.)

Middle East & Africa ( Turkey , Saudi Arabia , Iran , Egypt , Nigeria , UAE, Israel , South Africa , etc.)

& ( , , , , , UAE, , , etc.)

South America ( Brazil , Argentina , Colombia , Chile , Venezuela , Peru , etc.)

( , , , , , , etc.) Based on application, the logic analyzer market is segmented into:

Electronics



Automotive & Transportation



Aerospace & Defense



Industrial



Healthcare

The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Some of the leading players in the global logic analyzer market are:

Keysight Technologies, Inc.



Tektronix, Inc



Teledyne LeCroy Corporation



Zeroplus Technology Co., Ltd.



Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co KG



Cellebrite Mobile Synchronization



Good Will Instrument Co., Ltd.



Saleae, Inc

Objective of the study:

To analyze and forecast the market size of global logic analyzer market.



To classify and forecast global logic analyzer market based on region, and application.



To identify drivers and challenges for global logic analyzer market.



To examine competitive developments such as expansions, mergers & acquisitions, etc., in global logic analyzer market.



To conduct pricing analysis for global logic analyzer market.



To identify and analyze the profile of leading players operating in global logic analyzer market.

The report is useful in providing answers to several critical questions that are important for the industry stakeholders such as manufacturers and partners, end users, etc., besides allowing them in strategizing investments and capitalizing on market opportunities. Key target audience is:

Manufacturers of logic analyzer



Raw material suppliers



Market research and consulting firms



Government bodies such as regulating authorities and policy makers



Organizations, forums and alliances related to logic analyzer

Browse reports of similar category available with Radiant Insights, Inc.:

About Radiant Insights, Inc.:

At Radiant Insights, we work with the aim to reach the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Our representatives strive to understand diverse client requirements and cater to the same with the most innovative and functional solutions.

Contact:

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Corporate Sales Specialist

Radiant Insights, Inc.

Phone: +1-415-349-0054

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SOURCE Radiant Insights, Inc.
Mumbai, June 11 : Casting director-turned-actor Abhishek Banerjee notes how, over past 12 years, there has been space in the mainstream film industry for everyone from Ranveer Singh to Nawazuddin Siddiqui to Deepak Dobriyal, and how the classification of 'usual' and 'unusual' looking actors has been overtaken by the need to find actors who can fit into characters.

Abhishek, who recently impressed with his role of Vishal 'Hathoda' Tyagi in the web series, "Paatal Lok", draws from his experience as a new-age casting director and tells IANS: "I have trained myself under Gautam Kishanchandani. I have observed an interesting change. Twelve years ago, it had all started with Gautam, Honey Trehan, Nandini Srikanth, Shaanu Sharma, the change started happening then." "So actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Deepak Dobriyal and at the same time a Ranveer Singh were also introduced to us. Freshness came in casting. Those lines between 'usual' and 'unusual' looking actors blurred. It took all of us a decade to notice the change," he added.

Starting his career as a casting director in the film "Knock Out" in 2010, Abhishek continued to cast actors in films like "No One Killed Jessica", "The Dirty Picture", "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha", and "Secret Superstar" among others before his first big acting break happened in the 2017 film, "Phillauri".

The actor shared how at times rejecting an audition becomes tough for him at a personal level.

"Being an actor, when I watch an audition, I naturally become empathetic towards the actor. But as a casting director, I am executing the vision of the film director, so I am following his vision, (which) might just differ from my own. At times it happens that the actor was good, the performance was great during the audition, but that was not the character that we, especially the director, imagined," he said.

"They want particular traits for the character that perhaps cannot be created externally, using makeup. Every individual is different. Every performer is different. So, the job of a casting director is to see the character in an actor or any individual," he mentioned.

In the resent past Abhishek appeared in films like films like "Stree", "Dream Girl", "Bala", and "Made In China" among others.

Asked about if his casting director hat helps him bag such interesting roles in big films and shows, Abhishek laughed.

"I have to stay it is a very risky zone! I can say that and put myself in through process of audition, but that way I would lose out on the importance of an actor and a casting director. Just because I have access if I always put myself out there, I am jeopardizing my position," the actor signed off.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
QuadReal Property Group Ltd., a real estate firm managing assets for the British Columbia public sector pension fund, is looking to sell debt on a regular basis both in loonies and in foreign currencies.

Vancouver-based QuadReal plans to raise between $500 million and $1 billion per year out of a new issuance entity known as BCI QuadReal Realty, chief financial officer Tamara Lawson said in an interview last week. A combination of Canadian dollars, U.S. dollars and euros are part of our plan, said Lawson. We do have requirements in Canadian dollars but at least 50 per cent of it is in the U.S. market.

The issuance vehicles inaugural debt offering  a $350 million senior note due 2025  was sold on May 28. Proceeds from the deal were used to pay down borrowings under its commercial paper program, Lawson said. BCI QuadReal is among at least seven real estate-related issuers that have tapped the Canadian dollar market over the past month amid an array of central bank backstops, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Ratings provider DBRS Morningstar last month assigned BCI QuadReals senior debentures an AA (low) grade, its fourth-highest investment-grade mark. As of Dec. 31, BCI QuadReals portfolio consisted of 291 properties valued at $19.6 billion, DBRS said.

BCI QuadReals largest two tenants, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Husky Energy Inc., accounted for 4.4 per cent and 3.7 per cent of its gross annual revenue last year, according to DBRS. There is some industry concentration as three of BQRs top 10 tenants are in Oil & Gas, collectively accounting for 6.4 per cent of gross revenue in 2019, the ratings provider said in its May 22 report.

The firm will also consider asset-based financing deals over the next three years as part of a partnership with British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and RBC Global Asset Management Inc., Lawson said. The initiative, announced last year, will create a portfolio of more than 40 real estate assets in Canada with a total value of over $7 billion, of which a first tranche of about $1.5 billion has been carried out, she said.

Read more about:
A decision on when hairdressers can reopen will be made by the Government next week.

Hairdressers say they are ready to safely reopen at the earlier date of June 29, rather than July 20.

Vice-president of the Irish Hairdressers Federation, Lisa Eccles, said hairdressers needed a date that they could work towards.

Hairdressers want to be open for business on Monday, June 29 when most of the country will be back at work, said Ms Eccles.

We would love a little bit of clarity from the Government around this, she said.

Health Minister, Simon Harris, said it was likely the Government would consider the reopening of hairdressers next week.

I am hoping by the end of next week we will have a direct answer to the question, Mr Harris told the Dail on Thursday.

The federation that represents more than 500 salon owners has published over 100 specific measures that will ensure salons and barbers are safe to reopen.

The measures include extensive use of personal protective equipment for stylists and customers, screening of customers when taking bookings and sanitising work stations after each customer.

Hair salons and barbers will record salon visits and customer phone numbers for contact tracing.

Fine Gael TD for Limerick City, Kieran O'Donnell, who

Read More:

Apart from the hair salons and barber shop owners there's a multitude of the public going around with hair down to their knees, said Mr O'Donnell.

Mr Harris said he knew that for a lot of people there was a mental health element to getting their hair done as well.

It was likely, he said, that the Government would consider advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team following their reassessment of the plan to reopen Ireland.

On Wednesday Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar said hairdressers could be allowed to reopen earlier than previously planned and described the initial reopening plan as too slow.

Ms Eccles said hair salons and barbers would be one of the safest and more controlled environments because of the extensive guidelines.

Where possible we are recommending that hairdressers stay behind the client. But, in any event, both the hairdresser and the client will be wearing a face mask to minimise the risk of infection.

Ms Eccles said hairdressers were conscious of keeping the salon hygienically clean before Covid-19.

Her salon, Zinc Hair and Beauty in Kilmainham, has hundreds of clients looking for appointments.

We want to start scheduling those appointments and implementing our screening process, she said.

Ms Eccles said hair salons were part of the community and some of her elderly clients suffered from arthritis and were unable to wash their hair.

Some people do not consider us an essential service but we do have clients who think we are. At the end of the day, we just love our clients and we miss them.
VRUTKY, Slovakia (Reuters) - Slovak police said they killed a 22-year-old man who attacked staff and pupils with a knife at a school on Thursday in an assault that left a vice-principal dead and four injured.

The police said two children and two adults were injured in the attack at an elementary school in the town of Vrutky, 220 km (140 miles) northeast of the capital Bratislava.

The attacker was then shot by police after fleeing the school, which is in a residential neighbourhood.

Police President Milan Lucansky said the attacker was believed to be a former student.

"He entered the school by smashing a glass door. Then some staff members tried to block and stop him, and he used a knife which he had brought with him," he said.

The attacker seriously injured a teacher and two students in one classroom before he ran from the school, Lucansky said.

Police used their weapons after he resisted arrest.

Slovak elementary schools began reopening on June 1 under an easing of coronavirus lockdown measures.

(Reporting by Radovan Stoklasa in Vrutky and Jason Hovet and Robert Muller in Prague; Editing by Catherine Evans, Andrew Cawthorne and Giles Elgood)
DERBY  Changing how the next police chief is chosen, doubling the length of elected terms and establishing qualifications for appointed jobs are among the suggestions made by residents to the Charter Revision Commission.

For two and a half hours Wednesday, the 10-member commission acknowledged the suggested changes during a digital public hearing joined by 23 people.

Digest the information we heard tonight, do your homework and consider what items we could move forward on and what we could put on the back burner, Rob Hyder, the commissions chairman and a third ward alderman, told his colleagues.

The committee needs to get its recommendations to the Board of Aldermen for their approval by Sept. 3 for placement on this Novembers ballot. The next session is scheduled for 8 p.m. June 23.

The commission will continue to meet after November to consider changes that need more input and study, Hyder said.

There are some big ticket items and some low hanging fruit. I think a combination of those items will be brought to the voters, but not so much as to overwhelm them, Hyder said. I feel that if we try for too much change at once, we will jeopardize our chances at any change.

Hyder said getting the charter revision questions on the ballot during a presidential election is important because voter turnout will be higher than normal.

Itll give us a truer idea of the change Derbys voters want, he said.

Among the suggestions for changing the charter is to change expand how a police chief is chosen. Currently, the deputy chief, should he meet all qualifications, slides into that position when a chief steps down.

But the Rev. Carl McCluster, senior pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Bridgeport and a commission member, said that process is problematic and reeks of nepotism. He said he wanted to see outsiders compete for the spot. He and other members also wanted future qualifications to include a bachelors degree.

Id want the most qualified person, he said. Make it competitive.

Corporation Counsel Vincent Marino said he would investigate whether such a change would need more than just a charter revision.

If the position is subject to a collective bargaining agreement ... you have to go to the union to make changes, Marino said. Otherwise you could be sued for engaging in a prohibitive practice.

Marino and Town/City Clerk Marc Garofalo, a former four-term mayor, said research may take more time than the Charter Revision has to get the referendum questions approved by the Board of Alderman.

Marino suggested they reconsider the matter after the deadline and get input from Police Chief Gerald Narowski.

Another suggestion, to increase elective terms to four years for all office holders, also was debated. Supporters said the change would eliminate an election in an odd year and save the city money.

Tara Hyder, the chairmans wife who sits on the citys Board of Education, suggested adding qualifications for certain elected and appointed positions. She said the treasurer, who is elected, and the public works director, who is appointed, should have work experience in those fields ... Derby deserves people with as much experience as possible.

Commission members also supported the idea that city residents should be awarded an extra five points on any competitive civil service test.

Commissioners Chris Larocque and Sam Pollastro were among those who supported making the mayor a full-time job but said they were opposed to adding use of a car to the salary increase.

I agree to everything but a city vehicle, said Pollastro, who also sits on the Board of Apportionment and Taxation. The mayor has access to our gasoline pumps.

Beyond that, he said, the city can no longer afford to have a person not committed full-time to the job.

The current mayor, Richard Dziekan, is a retired Hamden police officer who works as a constable in Bethany. His predecessor, Anita Dugatto, is a dentist downtown.
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By Akbar Mammadov

The European Parliament (EP) adopted a joint statement condemning the construction of a new highway between Armenia and Azerbaijans occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, the EP released on its website on June 10.

The joint statement has been made by the EP rapporteurs for Azerbaijan, Zhelena Zavko, for Armenia Traian Basescu and co-chair of the EP Parliamentary Cooperation Committee for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, Maria Kalyurand.

Commenting on the construction of a third highway connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh that will kick off soon, the EP rapporteurs said:

This new road infrastructure will connect Kapan, in Armenia, with Hadrut, in Nagorno- Karabakh, passing through the districts of Qubadli and Jabrayil, which are also occupied. As a matter of principle, we support projects that foster regional cooperation, connectivity and people-to-people contacts in the Eastern Neighbourhood, the statement reads.

That said, the decision to build this highway has been taken without the consent of the competent authorities of Azerbaijan in violation of international law. In addition, it could symbolically entrench the illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and of its surrounding districts.

Therefore, we very much deplore this initiative as it does not help to create conditions conducive to trust, peace and reconciliation. We reiterate our unwavering support to the efforts of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and their 2009 Basic Principles, the rapporteurs stated.

For this mediation to have a chance of success, we call on the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan to step up their commitment, in good faith, to the negotiation on the peaceful resolution of the conflict within the internationally recognised borders of Azerbaijan, the statement concludes.

It should be that it is the first joint document of officials of the European Parliament on illegal activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Groups efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

---

Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Rowling was linking to an article calling for more access to water and sanitation, education as well as cloths, pads and cups for the some 500 million of the 1.8 billion girls, women and "gender non-binary persons" who menstruate but have had their ability to practise good hygiene during their periods further compromised by the pandemic. One of the authors, Marni Sommer from Columbia University, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that the phrase was developed by the "menstrual community" comprising activists, NGOs, researchers, UN agencies and governments: "It emerged from some careful work that has been done in recent years in the menstrual community to be more inclusive of everyone who menstruates." In her essay, Rowling said the language that trans activists demand was "dehumanising and demeaning" to many women. "I understand why trans activists consider this language to be appropriate and kind, but for those of us whove had degrading slurs spat at us by violent men, its not neutral, its hostile and alienating." The post generated more than 30,000 responses on Twitter, most of which accused her of being a misogynist, transphobic and a TERF - the acronym widely used by trans activists that stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist.

"I decided not to kill myself because I wanted to know how Harry's story ended," a US-based account named Kate Beetle wrote in response, referring to Rowling's bestselling books. "For a long time, that was all that kept me alive. Until I met my husband who helped me learn to love myself and to want to live. You just insulted him to my face. "I hate you," she said. That response was liked by more than 50,000 Twitter accounts. On Wednesday, Rowling listed five reasons for why she had decided to keep speaking out despite being harassed for her "wrongthink".

Loading She said she had been researching trans issues and gender identity for two years, partly to help inform a character she is writing and also out of personal concern. She said when she returned to Twitter on the weekend to share a free children's book during the pandemic, she was "swarmed" by activists "who clearly believe themselves to be good, kind and progressive people assuming a right to police my speech". Since her charitable trust supports female prisoners and survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, as well as funding research into Multiple Sclerosis, which affects men and women differently, Rowling argued she was interested in preserving the definition of men and women based on their sex. She said also, that as an ex-teacher, she held "deep concerns" about the effect the trans rights movement is having on the education and safety of children.

She said a third reason for speaking up was that as a much-banned author, she would always promote free speech, even for US President Donald Trump, to whom she is politically opposed. Rowling, a mother of two, said her fourth reason was "truly personal" and centred on the "huge explosion" or 4400 per cent increase in young women being referred for transitioning treatment. Rowling said there were "increasing numbers" of people regretting their choice and wanting to return to their original sex, but in some cases after altering their bodies irreversibly and removing their fertility. "The more Ive wondered whether, if Id been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition," she said, revealed she struggled with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as a teenager. "If Id found community and sympathy online that I couldnt find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said hed have preferred."

Rowling said finally she was prompted by the violence and sexual assault she suffered during her first marriage. She said defending separate male and women toilet blocks for example, as opposed to gender-neutral facilities demanded by trans activists, was out of solidarity for other domestic violence victims who have been "slurred as bigots" for holding concerns around single-sex spaces. "When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels hes a woman  and, as Ive said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones  then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth." Rowling used a new Twitter function that disables replies aimed at preventing online pile-ons when posting her latest comments on the social media platform.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
More than 20 people have been killed or remain missing after torrential downpours unleashed floods and mudslides in south China, according to a count based on local official reports.

As of 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the rain-triggered floods had affected some 2.63 million people in 11 provincial-level regions, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

The heavy rain forced the relocation of about 228,000 people, destroyed over 1,300 houses and brought direct economic losses of over 4 billion yuan (about 566 million U.S. dollars), the ministry said.

In Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China, six people were killed and one is missing after days of downpours.

By 6 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 1.3 million people had been affected by the floods, including 195,800 who were relocated to safe areas, the Guangxi regional emergency management department said.

The extreme weather has dealt a hefty blow to the region's tourism sector, which is still reeling from the COVID-19 epidemic.

In Yangshuo, a popular tourist destination known for its karst mountains and river sights, streets were waterlogged after a sudden flood, forcing residents and tourists to be evacuated on bamboo rafts.

The county government of Yangshuo said more than 1,000 hotels and family inns and 5,000 shops have been flooded. Over 30 tourist sites were damaged.

"Our losses are estimated at 3 million yuan, but it's a relief that none of our guests were harmed," said Zhang Ting, owner of a family inn, whose rooms were submerged in 1 meter of rainwater on Sunday.

Reporters at the site said firefighters, police officers and other rescuers stayed after the floods subsided to help clean debris and disinfect public facilities.

In central Hunan Province, at least 13 people were killed in rain-triggered disasters as of Wednesday.

Six of the deaths were reported in Baojing County, where heavy rain unleashed landslides and floods, destroying several village houses early on Wednesday morning. The disastrous events also left one person missing and three others injured.

Authorities said the persistent rain had affected 321,000 people in 21 counties and cities of Hunan, while 11,000 residents were relocated and received assistance.

Since June 2, downpours have hit large parts of south China, resulting in dangerously high water levels in 110 rivers in eight provincial-level regions, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Massive relocations also occurred in the provinces of Guangdong, Guizhou and Jiangxi.

In south China's Guangdong Province, over 20,000 people were relocated following heavy rains, the local emergency management department said Tuesday, adding that hundreds of tents, as well as clothes, bottled water and food, have been delivered to the hard-hit cities of Zhaoqing and Qingyuan.

In Guizhou Province in southwest China, intense rain left eight people missing or dead, the local emergency-response department said, adding that 2,800 people were relocated.

The rain and flooding also damaged 10,700 hectares of crops and damaged more than 2,800 houses in the mountainous province, according to the department.

Chinese meteorological authorities on Wednesday said rainstorms and floods will continue to hit parts of the country for the next 24 hours.

Further heavy rain and rainstorms are expected from Wednesday night to Thursday night in some parts of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Chongqing, Guizhou, Guangxi and Heilongjiang, the National Meteorological Center said.
We drew attention to Professor Gary Saul Morsons essay How the great truth dawned. It led off the September 2019 issue of The New Criterion. Beginning and ending with Solzhenitsyn, Professor Morsons essay takes up the Gulag, Communism, mass murder, Russian literature, the turn to God and much more. It is a great essay.

The New Criterion invited Professor Morson back to deliver its inaugural Circle Lecture. It posted an edited version of this lecture under the title Leninthink. The lecture includes a small autobiographical component along with a penetrating explanation of the essence of Lenins thought.

Professor Morson discusses this ever more timely New Criterion lecture in the current Tikvah podcast posted at the Tikvah podcast site. I have embedded the podcast with Professor Morson at the bottom via Stitcher. It is also accessible here at Mosaic and here at Ricochet. This is the introduction:

Discussions about cancel culture, the practice of stigmatizing and ostracizing a person or institution deemed to have transgressed political correctness, have become ubiquitous in the United States. From the campus to the boardroom to the newsroom, the cost of having ever said or thought the wrong thing can now put ones reputation and livelihood at risk. And there is no path for the accused to enjoy ablution, to wash away the sin of wrongthink. Public figures of all kinds, from politics to journalism, have been accused and tried in the court of public opinion without the ability to defend themselves. American culture seems to be undergoing a kind of revolution, fomented in social media, that is reshaping the contours of our public life.

In this podcast, Jonathan Silver is joined by Professor Gary Saul Morson to discuss his 2019 New Criterion essay, Leninthink. Morsons essay is not about Lenin the man, nor is it about Lenins ideology. Leninthink is actually anti-ideological,. It is a cast of mind, and a political tactic that utilizes ideology to wage political revolution. At a time when cancel culture threatens to tear down the universities, the museums, and the press, Morsons study is more important than ever.
I am Samuel a new documentary by Peter Murimi and produced by Toni Kamau  a look at gay love in Africa

I am Samuel is such a simple documentary its almost (almost) like watching your friends friendsfriends home movie. Not because its poorly crafted because its not, it is because its so intimate and moving, that you want to reach out and have a conversation with Samuel and the love of his life, Alex all the way in Africa, to the countryside of Kenya where they live.

I am Samuel is Peter Murimis feature directorial debut, filmed a verite style for five years in his home country. Murimi is a multiple award-winning Kenyan TV documentarian, who focuses on hard-hitting social issues, from extra-judicial killings to prostitution. He recently won the 2019 Rory Peck award for a news feature about suicide. His first major win was the CNN Africa Journalist of the Year Award for his intimate documentary about Female Genital Mutilation among his Kuria community, Walk to Womanhood (2004).

Another ground-breaking project was the film Slum Survivors (2007), filmed in the Kenyan capital, which won an award at the Czech Tur Ostrava film festival. Peter was a producer/ director for Al Jazeeras Africa Investigates strand, which exposes crime and corruption, with credits including Spell of the Albino (2011) and Zimbabwes Child Exodus (2011). Another Al Jazeera film, Kenyas Enemy Within (2015), revealed the terror threat posed by homegrown al Shabaab Somali militants to Kenya.

What makes Murimis I am Samuel so beautiful? I think because it presents love with such raw honesty that you cant look away.

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Samuel is a country boy who grew up on a farm in the Kenyan countryside, where tradition is King and Queen and is valued above all else.

He relocates to Nairobi desperately in search of a new life, where he can be his authentic LGBTQ self and there he finds his place in a vibrant, courageous community of fellow queer men where he meets and falls in love with Alex.

Its important to bring to light that Kenyan laws criminalize anyone who identifies as LGBTQ, but Samuel and Alexs love thrives even though they face threats of violence, rejection, and death. The consistent resistance of acceptance by Christians is part of Samuels world, in fact, his father is a preacher at the local church and he doesnt understand why his son is not yet married.

Samuels life is a challenge. Hes constantly navigating the real risk that being honest, authentic and true to himself may cost him dearly, it may cost him his life and his familys acceptance.

Does love win in the face of such obstacles? I am Samuel was filmed over five years and its wonderfully intimate. Samuel is a proud, LGBTQ Kenyan man who balances the pressures of family loyalty, love, and safety like a Prince.

I Am Samuel is produced by We Are Not The Machine an independent Kenyan factual and fiction production company that tells stories of outsiders, rebels, and change-makers of African descent. They provide creative production, fundraising, and service production support and regularly collaborate on shorts, features, and series with content creators from across the world.

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Here is what Samuel and Alex featured in I am Samuel had to share about his life in 2020. There are certain things that the couple could not share because, sadly, because their lives in Kenya remain in tenterhooks.

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL: Thank you Samuel, for sharing your life and love in the documentary I am Samuel  which was shot over five years, amazing. Why did you take the risk to make this film?

SAMUEL: It will enlighten the community to understand who we are and what we want to be.

ALEX: We hope that by showing the life of two gay men trying to survive in a country that doesnt recognize or support their love that people can see the kind of challenges experienced by gay men in Kenya.

LAS: It took courage. Whats it like for LGBTQ people in Kenya today?

SAMUEL: Its getting worse.

ALEX: It has been half and half. Gay people have been fighting to be seen, recognized, and accepted. It has brought the community together and made it stronger. On the other hand, for a country governed by cultural and religious beliefs, that kind of exposure is dangerous for the community.

LAS: Im sorry to hear that. Is it safe for you and Alex there?

SAMUEL: Both of us accepting to be whom we are despite staying in a country that its not safe for us.

LAS: Samuel, I am getting chills going up and down my spine. Im sorry. How are you both staying strong, if I may ask? Is love the big motivation?

SAMUEL: Yes it was the biggest motivation and its strong. We live for each other.

ALEX: Yes it was. It was the foundation we used to build our entire relationship. We knew that no matter what happened, both of us could deal with it because we were together, and at the end of the day that was enough.

I am Samuel is part of the following virtual film festivals:

Hot Docs Online Film Festival (geoblocked to Toronto) (https://ff.hrw.org/venue/hrwfilmfestivalstreamorg);

Human Rights Watch Online Film Festival (geoblocked to USA)  June 11th to 20th

https://www.wearenotthemachine.com/

www.wearenotthemachine.com  for the outsiders

Twitter  @Iamsamuelfilm

Facebook  www.facebook.com/Iamsamuelfilmkenya
Classrooms. Hallways. Buses. Schedules. Extracurriculars. Every facet of the school day will have to be fundamentally altered when students eventually return to school.

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, school leaders must ensure social distancinglimiting group sizes, keeping students six feet apart, restricting non-essential visitors, and closing communal spaces. Those measures run counter to how schools usually operate, with teachers and students working together in close quarters, children socializing throughout the day, and the buildings serving as a community gathering space.

Anyone whos been to a school knows it will be difficult, if not impossible, to guarantee absolute compliance with any social distancing measure, said Mario Ramirez, the managing director of Opportunity Labs who was the acting director for pandemic and emerging threats in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Ebola epidemic.

The goal, he said, is to drive as much of the risk down as you can.

To help district and school leaders navigate decisions and planning, Education Week spoke to numerous experts, from public health officials to superintendents, about ways that schools can adjust their operations to allow for a safe return to in-person schooling as the pandemic continues.

In the first installment on how to go back to school, we take a detailed look at social distancing and safety protocols, the starting place for every decision that school leaders must make. We outline recommendations, present different strategies, and weigh some pros and cons.

There are no easy solutions. Many of the recommended changes will come with new, sometimes hefty, costs.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT First in a series of eight installments. These times are unprecedented. Through eight installments, Education Week explores the steps administrators need to take to ensure the safety of students and faculty. How We Go Back to School is supported in part by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.



SAFETY

The first step is protecting students and staff as much as possible from transmission of the coronavirus. That starts with deep cleaning buildings on a regular basis and making sure students and staff are frequently washing and sanitizing their hands.

Then, school and district leaders will have to make more complex decisions: Will teachers and staff be required to wear a mask? Will students? Should schools screen for fevers before letting people into the buildings? How will high-risk staff membersincluding those over the age of 65be protected? Education Week talked to experts about what school leaders need to do.

Deep Dive: Keeping Students and Staff Healthy and Safe When Schools Reopen

Video: How Two School Nurses Are Preparing for Reopenings

SCHEDULES

Maintaining six feet of social distancing in classrooms, buses, and common areas, such as hallways and cafeterias, will be nearly impossible if the entire student body is in the school building at once. District and school leaders will have to make significant adjustments to the schedule.

Planning for a hybrid approach of both in-person and remote instruction is necessary, but there are many ways that could work. Experts helped Education Week identify a list of a half-dozen potential models, some of which could be used simultaneously. They are: a phased reopening, a multi-track system, a staggered school day, a bubble method that keeps students in the same groups, a cyclical lockdown strategy, and converting to a year-round schedule.

Deep Dive: 6 Ways to Bring Students and Staff Back to Schools

STUDENTS

School buildings are typically set up to foster student collaboration, opportunities for socializing, and a sense of community. But now, students day-to-day experiences will be dictated by social distancing rules and recommendations from public health authorities.

That means school leaders will have to considerand adjustthe morning rush, classroom setups, school supplies, lunchtime, recess, and extracurriculars. They will also have to pay special attention to the most vulnerable students.

Deep Dive: The New Routines for Students When Schools Reopen

BUILDING LAYOUTS

Retrofitting schools to accommodate six feet of distance between students and staff and sanitizing them at the levels that health experts recommend to guard against transmission of COVID-19 will be a massive and costly challenge for education leaders. They will have to rethink every space inside and outside their buildings.

With help from the National Council on School Facilities and Cooperative Strategies, Education Week identified the major areas education leaders will have to address, as well as the estimated new costs.

Deep Dive: What Needs to Change Inside School Buildings Before They Reopen

Downloadable Guide: School Buildings and Social Distancing

TRANSPORTATION

Maintaining six feet of distance between students on a school bus may be the most complicated roadblock when reopening schools. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has suggested limiting ridership to one child per seat, every other row.

That would require significant modifications to the bus schedule. District leaders will have to consider how to put fewer students on the bus at once, as well as how to adequately sanitize the buses and protect the drivers.

Deep Dive: Managing Buses May Be the Hardest Part of Reopening Schools

Downloadable Guide: School Buses and Social Distancing

LESSONS FROM OVERSEAS

Schools around the world have already reopened, giving education leaders in the United States a sense of the challengesand opportunitiesahead.

Education Week spoke to educators in Australia, Denmark, and Taiwan to learn about the measures and precautions they are taking as students return to school. They range from reopening school buildings for just one day a week to requiring all students, even the youngest learners, to wear masks throughout the school day.

Deep Dive: How Schools in Other Countries Have Reopened

Photo Gallery: A School Play in a COVID World
TORONTO, June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Polaris Infrastructure Inc. (TSX: PIF) ("Polaris Infrastructure" or the "Company"), a Toronto-based company engaged in the operation, acquisition and development of renewable energy projects in Latin America, today provided an update regarding its annual and special meeting of shareholders to be held in a virtually-only format on June 17, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) (the "Meeting") and the voting procedures available to shareholders.

Virtual Only Meeting Format

As previously noted, as a result of the unprecedented public health impact of COVID-19 and to mitigate risks to health and safety of our communities, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders, this year the Company will be hosting the Meeting online through a live webcast. Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxyholders will be able to attend, participate and vote at the Meeting at https://web.lumiagm.com/184430233, password: polaris2020 (case sensitive).

If you have already voted your shares by sending in a proxy, you do not need to take any further action. However, please note that if you attend the Meeting and vote at the Meeting, you will be revoking any and all previously submitted proxies.

Available Voting Procedures

Your vote is important. If you do not plan to attend the Meeting online, please vote as soon as possible by one of the methods described below to ensure that your shares are represented and voted at the Meeting.

Registered shareholders can vote in advance of the Meeting no later than 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on June 15, 2020 through the following methods:

mail to AST Trust Company ( Canada ), Attention: Proxy Department, P.O. Box 721, Agincourt, Ontario M1S 0A1;

), Attention: Proxy Department, P.O. Box 721, Agincourt, M1S 0A1; facsimile to AST Trust Company ( Canada ) at toll-free in Canada and United States fax: 1-866-781-3111; or

) at toll-free in and fax: 1-866-781-3111; or e-mail to [email protected] .

Non-registered shareholders receiving Meeting materials through their broker or other intermediary should complete and return the voting instruction form provided to them by their broker or other intermediary in accordance with the instructions provided therein, or otherwise follow the instructions provided by their broker or other intermediary.

Questions

In the event that shareholders have not received the Company's Meeting materials necessary to register their vote due to mailing delays or other logistical issues as a result of COVID-19, the Company reminds shareholders that they can contact the Company's transfer agent, AST Investor Services, toll-free in Canada and the United States at 1-800-387-0825 or (416) 682-3860 if calling outside of North America or by e-mail at [email protected] to process their votes through alternative means.

Cautionary Statements

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, which may include, but is not limited to, the date and time of Meeting. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current geothermal energy production, development and/or exploration activities and the accuracy of probability simulations prepared to predict prospective geothermal resources; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; possible variations of production rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the geothermal industry; political instability or insurrection or war; labour force availability and turnover; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or in the completion of development or construction activities, or in the commencement of operations; the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern and general economic conditions, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2019 which is available on SEDAR. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers of this news release should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The information in this news release, including such forward-looking information, is made as of the date of this news release and, other than as required by applicable securities laws, Polaris Infrastructure assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances.

About Polaris Infrastructure

Polaris Infrastructure is a Toronto-based company engaged in the operation, acquisition and development of renewable energy projects in Latin America. Currently, the Company operates a 72MW geothermal project located in Nicaragua and three run-of-river hydroelectric projects in Peru, with approximately 20MW average (net), 8MW average (net), and 5MW average (net) of capacity.

SOURCE Polaris Infrastructure Inc.

Related Links

http://polarisinfrastructure.com/


The nationwide COVID-19 tally neared 2.9 lakh on Thursday with a record one-day increase of nearly 10,000 cases taking the count of infections detected this month to almost one lakh.

IMAGE: A worker adjusts a protective face mask on a mannequin at a garment shop after shops reopened as India eases lockdown restrictions that were imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

The government, however, said the virus infection has not entered the community transmission stage as the lockdown and containment measures prevented a rapid spread.

The death toll also saw a record single-day increase of over 350 fatalities to move closer to the 8,500-mark, more than one-third of which have been recorded in 11 days since June 1 -- the day that marked the beginning of a phased exit from most restrictions imposed under a nationwide lockdown with effect from March 25.

A few curbs were eased during the four-phase lockdown period itself, while some restrictions are still in force, including on functioning of metro rail, regular international flights and educational institutions, and are to be lifted in a graded manner.

In its morning update, the Union Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has risen to 2,86,579 after a record number of 9,996 cases were reported in 24 hours since Wednesday 8 am, while the death toll also saw its biggest single-day increase of 357 in this period to reach 8,102.

However, a PTI tally of figures announced by various states and union territories showed the total number of confirmed cases having risen further to nearly 2.89 lakh and the death toll to 8,485, as of 9.20 pm.

IMAGE: Large crowd of office-goers, not adhering to social distancing norms, wait to board buses to travel back home during ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, in Kolkata. Photograph: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Photo

The nationwide case count stood at about 1.9 lakh on morning of June 1, while the death toll at that time was less than 5,400.

While the case count has registered an increase of 9,500-10,000 cases for seven straight days, the one-day jump in the death toll crossed the 300-mark for the first time.

On the positive side, the number of recoveries exceeded the active cases for the second consecutive day.

The ministry said the number of active cases stood at 1,37,448 as of 8 am on Thursday, as against more than 1.4 lakh having recovered so far -- giving a recovery rate of over 49.2 per cent.

India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to data issued by Johns Hopkins University.

However, the gap is narrowing between India's case count and that of the UK, which has so far recorded more than 2.92 lakh confirmed cases to make it the fourth most affected nation.

Globally, more than 74 lakh people have tested positive for the dreaded virus infection ever since its emergence in China last December and nearly 4.2 lakh have lost their lives so far. However, close to 35 lakh people have recovered too.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) data, the countries that have seen community transmission of the virus infection include the US, the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, France, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Philippines.

Many of these countries have lower case count than India, but figure among the nations having witnessed 'community transmission' -- a term typically used when a clear-cut contact tracing cannot be established for a large number of confirmed cases of infection.

IMAGE: Passengers arrive from Jeddah via Air India flight at Kochi International Airport, as part of an evacuation operation due to closure of commercial air services amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, in Kochi. Photograph: PTI Photo

For India, the transmission classification used by the WHO is 'cluster of cases', which it describes as a stage where a country experiences cases 'clustered in time, geographic location and/or by common exposures'.

At a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, the government officials said India is definitely not in the community transmission stage of COVID-19 spread.

Officials also said at the briefing that India is doing 'pretty well' in its fight against the COVID-19 and will 'win this war'.

While asserting that India adopted the same principles that China did to contain the coronavirus spread, its experience was different as the disease came through travel and affected multiple points.

China reported a total of about 83,000 confirmed cases and 4,634 deaths, while only about 60 are now under treatment as more than 78,000 have recovered.

Citing results from the country's first sero-survey on the COVID-19 spread, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said the lockdown and various containment measures were successful in preventing a rapid rise in infections, but a large proportion of the population still remains susceptible.

He also said that the people living in urban areas face higher risks than those in the rural parts of the country, while the risk is even higher for those in the urban slums.

The survey also found a high infection rate within the containment zones, but the fatality rate was found to be very low overall at just 0.08 per cent.

Since a large proportion of the population is susceptible and infection can spread, non-pharmacological interventions such as physical distancing, use of face mask or cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette must be followed strictly, Bhargava said.

Urban slums are highly vulnerable for spread of the infection and local lockdown measures therefore need to continue, he said.

The elderly people, children below 10 years of age, people with chronic morbidities and pregnant women also fall in the high-risk category, he said.

In the meantime, several states stepped up their efforts to contain the spread and to enhance their healthcare infrastructure, though many experts have also warned against extending the lockdown curbs due to their high economic costs and a worsening job market scenario.

A survey by the Indian Society of Labour Economics showed that job loss is the most severe immediate impact of COVID-19 crisis while lower economic growth and rise in inequality would be the long-term effects.

Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Telangana have asked for Indian Railways' isolation coaches. The first such COVID-19 care centre has been deployed at Shakur Basti railway station, which consists of 10 coaches with a capacity of 160 beds.

The coaches can be used for very mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the coronavirus Care centres according to guidelines issued by the health ministry.

In Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the state government has succeeded in setting up an adequate number of healthcare facilities for treatment of COVID-19 patients in a short span.

The state saw the tally of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai's slum colony of Dharavi nearing the 2,000 mark with the addition of 20 new cases.

The death toll from the area also rose to 75.

Mumbai's COVID-19 tally rose by 1,540 to reach 53,985, while its death toll rose by 97 to 1,952. Overall, Maharashtra recorded 3,607 new cases to take its tally to 97,648, while its death toll rose to 3,590 with 152 fatalities recorded during the day.

In the neighbouring Gujarat, the tally rose to 22,067 with the addition of 513 new cases in the last 24 hours, while the toll increased to 1,385, the state health department said.

Delhi reported a record number of 1,877 new coronavirus cases, pushing its tally over 34,000, while the death mounted to 1,085, authorities said.

The historic Jama Masjid in the national capital was closed for devotees with immediate effect till June 30, the mosque's Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari said. His secretary Amanullah died due to COVID-19 on Tuesday night.

Two railway officials also tested positive for coronavirus at Rail Bhavan in the national capital, taking the total number of cases detected so far in the building to 18, officials said.

In Odisha, 136 more people, including 54 disaster response personnel who were engaged in cyclone Amphan relief work in West Bengal, tested positive, raising the state's tally to 3,386.

Uttar Pradesh reported 24 more coronavirus deaths and 478 new cases, the biggest single-day spike in both numbers so far for the state.

The death toll in the state now is 345 after three consecutive days of record highs, while the case count has reached 12,088.

Tamil Nadu reported 1,875 new cases and 23 deaths during the day, While Kerala reported 83 new fresh cases and one fatality.

Kerala government also issued new guidelines for COVID-19 related quarantine and redefined its rules for declaring fresh containment zones as more people are expected to come to the state in the coming days.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, quoting experts, said the virus would not disappear soon and it was difficult to predict when the intensity of its spread would decrease.

New cases also emerged in Puducherry, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Odisha, Assam, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur, among other states and UTs.

Three new cases also emerged in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which is seeing a new wave of the infection after remaining free of the infection for almost a month.

The new cases are family members of a person who returned from Chennai in a flight on June 7 and had subsequently tested positive. On that day, another returnee from Delhi had also tested positive.
PRETORIA (dpa-AFX) - South Africa's manufacturing output declined in March, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Thursday. Manufacturing output fell 5.4 percent year-on-year in March, following a 2.3 percent decline in February. This was the biggest fall in three months. The biggest negative contribution came mainly from basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery, petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products, motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment. On a month-on-month basis, manufacturing output fell 1.2 percent in March but slower than the 2.6 percent decline in the preceding month. For the three months period ended in March, manufacturing output fell 2.1 percent, following a 2.5 percent decrease in the previous three months. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Minority Spokesperson on Defence and Interior, James Agalga, has condemned the Rambo-style arrest of the self-acclaimed Prophet, Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei who allegedly threatened the life of Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.

National Security Operatives on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, arrested Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei during a live phone interview with Hot FM. The incident was also captured on video.

In the video, some men were seen entering the scene and announcing to Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei that they had a warrant to arrest him. They then whisked him into a vehicle.

In an interview on Eyewitness News, Mr James Agalga argued that the refusal or the failure of the arresting officers to allow the self-acclaimed prophet to read the warrant or understand why he was being arrested is unlawful.

Just as it is not acceptable in law to threaten somebody, it is equally unacceptable or unlawful to effect an unlawful arrest. So if the arresting officers at the point of effecting the arrest omit or refuse to allow the suspect to read the arrest warrant and proceed to arrest just merely by brandishing the arrest warrant, that would amount to an unlawful arrest. Article 19 requires that before you effect an arrest, you explain to the suspect, the reason for the arrest in a language that the suspect clearly understands. I watched a certain video footage of the arrest of Apostle Owusu Agyei, that was not done, he said.

The Builsa North legislator also described as unprofessional the decision of the arresting officers to share videos of Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei in possession of some substance suspected to be cannabis.

Moments after the arrest, I watched yet another footage which also showed the arresting officers clearly parading the suspect before the cameras with substances suspected to be wee (Cannabis) in his hands. Now the way and manner in which the exhibit was even handled was very unprofessional. That could only have been done by very incompetent arresting officers. So the procedure is as good as the substantive law. So I sought to fault the manner of arrest and the selective nature of those arrests that are now being effected.

Meanwhile, a Circuit Court in Accra presided over by His Honour Emmanuel Essandoh on Tuesday remanded the 56-year-old Apostle Kwabena Owusu Adjei into police custody.

Apostle Adjei pleaded not guilty to three charges to wit; threat of death, offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace and possession of narcotic drugs contrary to section 2 (1) of the PNDC Law 236/90.

He will reappear in court on June 23, 2020.

---citinewsroom
A young mixed race woman has penned a powerful spoken poem calling on people to 'fight for equality' - and argued there is 'no excuse for the lack of racial awareness taught in schools' after a teacher told her to 'stop feeling victimised'.

Evey Gordon, from Derriford, opened up about the shocking racism she has encountered during her lifetime, much of which happened while she was at secondary school.

Her comments follow the Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the UK following the murder of George Floyd by white police officers in Minneapolis. Activists are calling for the removal of 60 statues of slave owners and racists across Britain.

Speaking in a video shared by the BBC, Evey said she felt compelled to speak out 'with everything going on in the world at the moment', but 'couldn't find the words'.

Instead she penned a powerful 'spoken poem' entitled Where Do I Draw The Line? to summarise her experience of prejudice as a result of her race and explain what it's like growing up in her area.

She started by revealing people called her names like 'mushroom head' and asked if she could twerk, which 'drove her mad'.

Evey recalled how she was told by peers her hair looks 'so much better straight', and admitted she took chemicals to it and 'killed every last curl on my head'.

'That day I ensured every ounce of my blackness was dead,' she said.

Evey recalled how she was told by peers her hair looks 'so much better straight', and admitted she took chemicals to it and 'killed every last curl on my head'

'What about when I spilt my chocolate milkshake all over my skin, and one boy said, "That's OK 'cos it just blends in".

'Peers would sing N words in songs at parties with pride - it hurt, but I took it in my stride.'

Evey recalled being asked if her family smoked weed all the time, and while it was 'rude', it's 'not a hate crime'.

She claimed she was told by her teacher that she needs to 'stop feeling so victimised', to which she asked, 'where do you draw the line?'

Evey claimed she was told by her teacher that she needs to 'stop feeling so victimised', to which she asked, 'where do you draw the line?'

'What about the boy that called me the N word on Facebook? Or that time I got told to go back to where I came from?

'I mean I was born in Derriford, but by all means carry on. What about the words "You're black, I hate you".'

Evey recalled times she heard the phrase 'racism doesn't really exist in the UK' and was told 'you're not really that black' - and stressed there is 'no excuse' for the way she was treated.

She concluded her poem with a call to action; she said: 'There is no excuse for this abuse, so I will not be seated.

'There is no excuse for the lack of racial awareness that is taught in our schools, there is no excuse for this to carry on. There is no excuse for racism and I will not stop until it's gone.'

Evey concluded her poem with a call to action, stating there is 'no excuse' for the way she was treated

Evey added: 'And to my beautiful black brothers and sisters who grew up in a community which told them that they are not wanted, which told them that they are a novelty, that they are only a fascination, a curiosity; which told them that they are not good enough, that they are not equal, who were told to sit down and shut up when they rose to speak their truth, it's OK if these moments have shaped you.

'But don't you ever let them define you because I see you. I hear you and I stand with you.

'And finally to everyone. To those who are not aware of what happens in their own community, who contributed to our struggle, who caused disunity. To those who were aware but stayed silent, to those who have fought for us every step of the way, you now see us, fight for justice, fight for equality, stand with us, not just today.'
JACKSON COUNTY, MI -- A fast-moving storm Wednesday afternoon downed trees and power lines and damaged homes and other property.

The mid-afternoon storm on June 10 appeared to hit the western side of Jackson County, and especially Concord, the hardest.

Tim Hinkle arrived at his King Road home to find about a dozen trees down or damaged. Asked if hed seen anything like the damage before, Hinkle said, Not even close.

My back yard is full of this, he said.

Hinkles home was damaged, but he said he considers himself lucky. One corner of the house is caved in from a branch, but no windows were broken.

It looks like its horrible, but the only thing wrong is the hole you are looking at in the upstairs bedroom, Hinkle said.

Branches also punctured the roof of a carport attached to the home.

In Concord, fire crews blocked Main Street for a downed power line, and down the road a homeowner had a large tree fall and hit both the car and house. On Michigan Street, a commercial business had part of a roof blown across the street.

Fire department and Jackson County Department of Transportation crews worked to clear roads throughout the county. Officers from the Jackson County Sheriffs Office and Michigan State Police blocked roads where active power lines were down.

As of 8 p.m., the Consumers Energy outage map showed 10,444 customers without power, affecting 14 percent of customers.
Ernesto Yeboah, the convenor of the Economic Fighters League, has been granted a bail in the sum of GHS100,000.

He was arrested on June 6 at a Black Lives Matter vigil held in Accra last Saturday and has been charged for failing to notify the Police about the vigil and breaching restrictions imposed on public gatherings.

Mr. Yeboah pleaded not guilty and the court granted him the bail with three sureties; two of whom are to be public servants.

He has maintained his innocence in the matter and insisted in an interview on The Point of View on Citi TV that the gathering was lawful.

The charges were that I did not notify the Police which was a lie and that the E.I was also breached which was also false. Before anyone entered the space, we were hand sanitized, our ushers were there to do that and if you came without a mask, you will be given one.

He also criticised his treatment by police saying he sat for 14 hours throughout the night at the Police Station, following his arrest.

The Police officers tried as much as possible not to make things difficult for me. Nobody questioned me. It was in the morning that charges were pressed [against me].

Mr. Yeboah also said he has no regrets for holding the vigil because the group did nothing wrong.

All we did was to follow laid down procedure and it is not new to us. It is something we have been doing. If there is any dishonesty that we have been pointing at it is what you are seeing now, that the state and the Police all coming down to clamp down on good people.

This is not an Ernesto Yeboah versus the state case. It is the people versus the system, he stated.

---citinewsroom
[June 11, 2020] Cincinnati Bell Employees Will Join CWA Work Pause in Support of Racial Equality

Cincinnati Bell (News - Alert) is proud to support the request of our Communications Workers of America employees to pause work on Thursday, June 11, to show solidarity with the millions of Americans demanding racial equality. Leigh Fox, President and CEO of Cincinnati Bell, has asked that all 4,400 Cincinnati Bell employees across North America stop work on Thursday for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in honor of George Floyd. Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis after a police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly 9 minutes. Cincinnati Bell has approximately 660 employees who are members of the CWA (News - Alert). These employees install service every day to consumers and businesses in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Dayton, and make up the backend support of these services. "Our union employees, through their daily interactions with customers, consistently demonstrate what it means to treat all others with respect," said Fox. "Our CWA employees are once again showing their concern for the communities we serve by participating in this ork pause, and the entire company supports them."



Christi Cornette, Cincinnati Bell's Chief Culture Officer, said the company is focused on sustaining a culture of respect and equality at the workplace and in the community. "There is no better time than now to open the dialogue - a dialogue that must recognize the African-American community continues to be denied equality and justice," Cornette said. "The CWA is making an important contribution to this conversation through Thursday's action, and I believe these types of actions can and will have a large, positive impact as we move forward together."

About Cincinnati Bell Inc. With headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) delivers integrated communications solutions to residential and business customers over its fiber-optic and copper networks including high-speed internet, video, voice and data. Cincinnati Bell provides service in areas of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Hawaii. In addition, enterprise customers across the United States and Canada rely on CBTS and OnX, wholly-owned subsidiaries, for efficient, scalable office communications systems and end-to-end IT solutions. For more information, please visit www.cincinnatibell.com. The information on the Company's website is not incorporated by reference in this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005591/en/

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RCMP say British Columbia's police watchdog has been called to investigate a man's death after he had a conversation with Comox Valley officers.

A member of the public had expressed concern for the well-being of an acquaintance staying at a local hotel and Mounties say they were called to assist Emergency Health Services on Tuesday night.

They say the man initially came outside the hotel and assured police he wouldn't hurt himself, while officers attempted to de-escalate the situation.

But police say the man returned to the hotel room, came out with a firearm and harmed himself.

The Mounties say the man received first aid but he died of his injuries at the scene.

The Independent Investigations Office is now set to determine whether police actions or inactions were linked to the man's death.
WASHINGTON  The registration of new voters dropped dramatically in the USA amid the coronavirus pandemic, challenging efforts of both major political parties to enlist supporters in battleground states before the 2020 election.

The number of new voters registered across 11 states in April 2020 decreased by 70% compared with April 2016, according to a report from the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research released Thursday.

Voter registration was well ahead of the 2016 pace in most states through February. It started to decline in March, when states began enforcing stay-at-home orders and social distancing requirements to fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

By April, registration plummeted as the two most popular methods of signing up voters  third-party at schools and other public venues and "motor voter registration"  virtually halted. The latter refers to a federal law that requires states to give individuals the opportunity to register to vote when they apply for or renew a driver's license.

Are you registered? Check your status or register to vote

"Other efforts to register voters are going to be more important than ever," said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. "If we're completely opened up and no one is worried about the virus in September, we're probably going to be OK. But I don't know many people who are really banking on that. I think most public health experts think that we're going to need to be concerned about social distancing and large groups of people for a while."

States with at least a 50% voter registration reduction from April 2016 include the presidential swing states Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, which Democrats hope to put in play for presumptive nominee Joe Biden. Texas, another state where Democrats hope they can continue to make inroads, and California plummeted by an ever greater 75%.

Story continues

'Complete catastrophe': Georgia primary voting blasted for long lines, malfunctioning equipment

People wait in line to vote in Georgia's primary election June 9 in Atlanta.

Voter registration in Illinois, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia each dropped by more than 50%.

"This is not something that's Democratic or Republican," Becker said. "Both sides rely on the months leading up to a presidential election to engage with potential new voters and get them registered and hopefully voting. And it's really hard to engage with a voter if you can't get them registered."

More: Republicans, Democrats push ahead on absentee voting even as Trump blasts Michigan over it

The Texas Tribune reported Engage Texas, a Republican super PAC focused on voter registration in the Lone Star State, shut down because of challenges brought on by the pandemic. The organization launched with $12.7 million in funding, but leaders said they determined the "best use of supporter and donor energies" is to close and phase out person-to-person voter registration.

MOVE Texas, which seeks to register young voters, surpassed 2019 registration totals by more than 8,000 before the state's presidential primary March 3, according to Mother Jones magazine.

Then the pandemic hit.

"Weve gone from registering 2,000 people a week to registering maybe 100, Drew Galloway, executive director of Move Texas, told Mother Jones. Voter registration is decimated in Texas.

Voting rights activists and Democrats, including Biden, have made vote-by-mail expansion a national rallying cry to prepare for the possibility of a presidential election in November during a pandemic. President Donald Trump has opposed these efforts.

USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll: Americans overwhelmingly support vote-by-mail push, but Republicans more wary

Democrats are pushing to expand voting by mail.

Registering voters during the pandemic has received less attention  even though vote-by-mail depends on voters being registered far in advance of the election.

To boost registration, several of the states analyzed, including California, Georgia and Illinois, passed laws since 2016 to automatically register citizens to vote when they receive or renew their driver's licenses. But many states closed their departments of motor vehicles during the pandemic.

Among entities to help fill the registration gap, Becker pointed to the nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center, which works with 30 states to update voter rolls and increase access to registration. ERIC plans to contact 20 million eligible voters and encourage them to sign up.

Data for the new study came directly from the states and includes only new voter registration activity, not registered individuals who updated addresses or other information.

Becker said it's too early to tell whether the registration numbers will improve, but he said he viewed one state's data and "it did not look good." The center intends to regularly update the report through November.

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

Absentee vote plans: Republicans, Democrats push ahead even as Trump blasts Michigan over it

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: U.S. voter registration plummets during coronavirus pandemic
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A plan to invalidate most Kansas City protester arrests is now headed to the full city council. We're now learning more about how it would work. When protests on the Country Club Plaza started on Friday, May 29th in response to George Floyd's death, things were pretty peaceful.
Tony Abbott has claimed Black Lives Matter protesters are 'ignorant of the real history' while slamming the looting of statues across the world.

The former prime minister was questioned about 'revisionist history' as he arrived at his sister Christine Forster's book launch in Sydney on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Abbott said the vandalism - which saw the dumping of a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol Harbour - was 'dreadful'.

'I think that it's looting of our history and I absolutely condemn it,' he said.

Pictured: The statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston falls into the water in Bristol after protesters pulled it down

Mr Abbott said he doesn't pretend Australia's past is without 'blemish' but reiterated history cannot be recreated.

'I don't say the heroes of the past were without flaw but we should learn from their mistakes as well as appreciate their greatness,' he said.

'We can't rewrite history, we can't reinvent history. History is a bad master but it's certainly a very good teacher.

'Part of the problem is that so many people, who are now protesting are ignorant of the real history of these people.'

Mr Abbott's comments come after a series of Black Lives Matter protests across the globe, following the death of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott (pictured) was questioned about 'revisionist history' as he arrived at his sister Christine Forster's book launch in Sydney on Thursday afternoon

Pictured: A Captain Cook statue is seen in Sydney's Hyde Park

Black Lives Matter posters are seen around the plinth of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol

Thousands of Australians joined rallies in solidarity with the movement on Saturday and called for an end to Aboriginal deaths in country.

There are also demands for Australia to take down statues of their own historical figures, including British explorer Captain James Cook.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told people calling for the statues' removal to pull their heads in and 'get a grip'.

Asked whether he supported the removal of statues of Captain Cook, Mr Morrison said: 'Cook was no slave trader.

Who was Captain James Cook? James Cook was an 18th century explorer and captain of the Royal Navy. He was born on 27 October 1728 in a small village near Middlesbrough in Yorkshire. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1755. He fought in the Seven Years' War in North America between 1756  1763, where he mapped the waters during conflict. The explorer mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Royal Society. From there he was commissioned in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages. It was on these trips that he made detailed maps of the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia after becoming the first European to explore them. Cook's discoveries radically changed western perceptions of world geography. Advertisement

'He was one of the most enlightened persons on these issues you could imagine,' he told 3AW radio on Thursday.

'Australia when it was founded as a settlement, as NSW, was on the basis that there'd be no slavery.

'It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia.'

However, Australia does have a history of forced labour and stolen wages of Aboriginal people, which lasted until the 1970s.

The prime minister said Australian protesters raised fair issues about indigenous incarceration rates and deaths in custody, but said the movement was being hijacked by radical left-wingers to push other causes.

'This is not a licence for people to just go nuts on this stuff,' Mr Morrison told 2GB radio.

Mr Abbott also said Captain Cook was 'a very enlightened man by the standards of those days'.

He also referred to former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill.

'Winston Churchill, to take another example of a defaced statue, was in some respects a man of his time with the weaknesses, the prejudices, the instincts of people of those days,' Mr Abbott said.

'But he is also one of the greatest heroes of all time who saved civilization from the evils of Nazism.'

'Winston Churchill, to take another example of a defaced statue, was in some respects a man of his time with the weaknesses, the prejudices, the instincts of people of those days but he is also one of the greatest heroes of all time who saved civilization from the evils of Nazism.'
Charlevoix man denies wrongdoing despite signing illegitimate election document

Charlevoix resident John Haggard is among a group of Republicans who signed an Electoral College certificate attempting to award the states 16 votes to Donald Trump following the 2020 election  a document now under federal investigation.
BJP MLA T Raja Singh on Wednesday attacked Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao over the surging cases of Covid-19 in the state.

In a video message he said that the chief minister should come out and look how the virus is spreading in the state.

Junior doctors are striking today as there are about four crore population in Telangana but whoever have tested positive for coronavirus, they are being sent to Gandhi hospital and if any patient dies because of this virus, their families are attacking on doctors. These kind of incidents are majorly happening at Gandhi hospital. Chief Minister, are these all not visible to you? Singh asked.

Wherever you are, come out from there and look how the virus is spreading in Telangana. Check the government hospital and see how many patients are being treated, see how many doctors are being attacked and how many people are dying, added Singh.

Asking for the resignation of the Chief Minister, Singh said, If you are not able to handle all these, resign from your post else come out from your farmhouse immediately and check the government hospitals where the doctors are being attacked.

Meanwhile, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy has strongly condemned the attack on doctors and other medical staff allegedly by the relatives of a patient who died of Covid-19 and held TRS Government responsible for the same.

Narayana Reddy alleged that the KCR Government was not responding to the situation in an appropriate manner. He said that the government shouldve created huge health infrastructure to deal with the worst possible scenario. However, he said KCR has been trying to hush up the real statistics since beginning while expecting appreciation for his fake achievements.

For CM KCR and other TRS leaders, Covid-19 cases can be just numbers. But for those losing their loved ones due to Covid-19, it is a loss of entire world. The State Government should not merely look at arithmetic and it should exhibit some sympathy towards the families, he said

Telangana Junior Doctors Union President, Navyadeep, speaking to ANI said, The attack on dis not acceptable. We demand justice and the state government has centralized the Gandhi Hospital as the only Hospital to treat Coronavirus patients, we demand that the staff should be provided protection by assigning security. And the Gandhi Hospital should be decentralized as a Covid Hospital in the State.

Raja Rao, Superintendent Gandhi Hospital said, we have addressed the issues to the authorities and we are waiting for a response soon.
A Cork man accused of making Facebook death threats in a feud appeared at Cork District Court today.

Michael Stokes appeared in person in court. He recently secured High Court bail having been refused bail previously at the district court.

Sergeant Gearoid Davis said the Director of Public Prosecutions had not yet given directions in the case and he applied for a four-week adjournment.

Defence solicitor Frank Buttimer said there was consent to the case being put back for six weeks.

Judge Olann Kelleher put the matter back for that period today.

Michael Stokes, aged 24, with an address at St Anthonys Park, Knocknaheeny, Cork, is charged with making threats to kill or seriously injure James McCarthy on April 6.

Detective Garda Pat Barry said it was alleged that Michael Stokes, posted videos on his Facebook page specifically targeting James McCarthy, in which he allegedly said, ye got bate seven days a week and youll get bate seven days again.

Next time I see you, you are going underground.

Det Garda Barry said that there was an escalating feud between the families that had in recent weeks seen a pipe bomb thrown at a house and a gunshot fired at a house.

Earlier this week, James McCarthy, aged 33, of bay 8, halting site, Spring Lane, Cork, appeared in person in court and was remanded on bail until July 6.

He was represented by Thomas Coughlan, solicitor.

It was alleged at the initial application for bail made by McCarthy at the district court that he filed a video on his Facebook page showing him allegedly making a threat directed at Michael Stokes.

McCarthy is charged with making a threat to kill or seriously injure another man Michael Stokes on April 6.

Detective Garda John Gleeson said that it was alleged that McCarthy said on the video: I will get you. I will cut you from head to toe.

I will cut you in pieces. I will cut you in bits.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After saying the citys Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) would be canceled months ago, the mayor announced three summer youth programs to help those in hardest-hit neighborhoods across the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio along with Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives Phil Thompson announced the programs on Thursday.

This has been trauma after trauma for our young people; we need to help them make sense of the world and we need to figure out a way forward for our young people, de Blasio said.

The mayor spoke to the importance of SYEP, calling it a particularly important program, and said funding for it will be negotiated in the next two weeks.

SYEP typically provides 75,000 city-funded summer jobs to New York City youth ages 14 to 24.

All three summer programs will be implemented by NYC Young Mens Initiative and the Department of Probation Neighborhood Opportunity Network. The programs are expected to help nearly 3,000 youths citywide that have been hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic with the potential to earn up for $1,200.

[These programs] are about what we can do right now to ensure we can support our young people, he said.

NeON (Neighborhood Opportunity Network) Summer will offer youths between the ages of 14 and 24 with paid learning opportunities to gain workplace skills. The program will focus on recruiting youths who are on probation and will work with the family court system.

The program will cost $3.65 million and will be a six- to eight-week remote-learning summer immersion program.

NeON summer will provide participants with: employment readiness, career exploration and mentorship, social and civic leadership, arts and creative expression, virtual reality and financial literacy.

The North Shore of Staten Island is one of the locations highlighted by the mayor for the NeON program.

Each One Teach One will pay youths to design media messages and campaigns to promote social distancing surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and to promote public health information to city residents.

Youths will be connected with mentors and media experts for the Each One Teach One program, which will receive a $100,000 investment.

The third program, Community Crisis Response Initiative, will receive $220,00 to support at least 500 youths across 22 community-based organizations that are focused on crisis response.

Up to $10,000 will be available for each participating organization to help expand its youth programming, food and PPE distribution, public health education, as well as mental health and art therapy services.

YOUTH, POLICE TOWN HALL MEETINGS COMING TO EACH BOROUGH

De Blasio also announced a series of Youth Town Halls that will take place in each borough once gatherings are again permitted.

The North Shore of Staten Island is slated to hold one of the town hall meetings, he said.

NYPD officers will partner with the citys Cure Violence providers to listen to town hall participants discuss important topics.

I dont think theres ever been a generation that is as aware and as informed as the current generation, de Blasio said. We want honest conversation. Its not always going to be easy but the more we talk, the more we open up, the better off well be.

The first town hall will take place in Harlem with Street Corner Resources before expanding to the remaining four boroughs in areas with high police and youth interactions.

FOLLOW KRISTIN F. DALTON ON TWITTER.
The Karnataka government has decided to remove restrictions governing the purchase of farmland in the state through amendments to the Karnataka Land Reforms Act (KLRA) 1961 and section 109. The government has said that it would cement this far-reaching policy decision by soon bringing a legislation before the assembly.

Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting, minister of law, parliamentary affairs and legislation J C Madhuswamy said the proposed amendments to sections 5, 63, 79A, 79B and 80 of KLRA would enable anybody to directly purchase farmland in the state.

Till now, only farmers were allowed to directly purchase farmland. Even industry had to go through agencies like the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to acquire land. It was not possible for private businesses to acquire land even for corporate farming.

Also Read: Karnatakas Covid-19 tally surges to 6,041 with 120 new cases

The state government expects the amendments will bring in a reform giving industries easier access to farmland and better price discovery opportunities to farmers looking to sell their land without middlemen.

Explaining the rationale for the amendments, Madhuswamy said, Ever since the law was enforced in 1974 about 83171 cases have been registered with regard to farmland sale and acquisition disputes. The law has been used to just harass both sellers and buyers.

He claimed that the neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, TN, Kerala, Maharashtra and several other states across India didnt restrict the sale of farmland.

For Coronavirus Live Updates

This law was only being misused, so, to prevent that, we have brought in these amendments, Madhuswami said.

The minister also claimed that several citizens in the urban areas wanted to invest and take up farming. Why should we prevent them? Our people are going and buying land in neighbouring states, why cant they invest in their own state which will help both farm landowners who want to sell and the government hopefully will get some revenue, he reasoned.

He claimed that Karnataka had 98.95 lakh hectares of agricultural land including 22 lakh hectares that were not being used for farming. He said the amendments will help unlock farm land for better utilization. As per the proposed amendment, if the district deputy commissioner doesnt give permission within a month of an application being submitted, it will be deemed to have been granted automatically.

With these amendments, earlier barriers like ceiling on income, the quantum of landholding and non-leasing of agricultural land will be removed.

These measures are being seen as chief minister Yediyurappas continued push to attract investments to the state. A special task force to lure companies wanting to exit China and invest in the state is being headed by the Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar.
A woman auto driver, who volunteered to drop a recovered Covid-19 patient from Imphal to a hill town in Manipur undertaking an eight hours long journey covering over 140 kms, was given a cash reward of Rs 1,10,000 on Thursday.

Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh led a team of MLAs and other well wishers, who handed over the reward to the inspirational woman in Imphal, said officials from chief ministers secretariat. MLAs L Surindro (Yasikul), Th Satyabarta (Yaiskul) and H Dingo (Sekmai) were also present during the felicitation.

The cash reward was sponsored by some entrepreneurs from Manipur along with the Diaspora in US, UK, Canada and Singapore as an encouragement for her humane and heroic act and service, a statement from CMs secretariat said.

The woman auto-driver cum street vendor, Laibi Oinam, dropped a recovered Covid-19 patient--after her discharge from JNIMS hospital in Imphal-- to Kamjong district headquarters, around 140 km north east of Imphal in the intervening night of Mau 31 and June 1.

For Coronavirus Live Updates

Laibi Oinam, a resident of Pangei Bazaar in Manipurs Imphal East district, is mother of two sons and the sole breadwinner of the family.

A documentary film based on her life titled Auto Driver won many accolades including the award for best social issue film in the non-feature category at the 63rd National Film Awards in 2015 and the award for the best short documentary in the audience choice category at the 2017 Womens Voices Now Film Festival.

Meanwhile, the total number of Covid-19 positive cases in Manipur has increased to 366 including 293 active cases, officials said.

31 persons were confirmed positive at VRDL, RIMS (Regional Institute of Medical Sciences) last night, while 24 others were confirmed positive later at VRDLs of JNIMS (Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences) and RIMS on Thursday, according to the two press releases issued by the Covid 19 common control room of the state government.

The fresh positive cases are said to be returnees from other states.
NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Compression Therapy Market Research Report by Product (Bandage, Stocking, and Tape), by Technology (Dynamic Compression and Static Compression), by Application - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19







Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913918/?utm_source=PRN







The Global Compression Therapy Market is expected to grow from USD 2,952.91 Million in 2019 to USD 3,768.92 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.15%.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Compression Therapy to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



On the basis of Product, the Compression Therapy Market is studied across Bandage, Stocking, and Tape.



On the basis of Technology, the Compression Therapy Market is studied across Dynamic Compression and Static Compression.



On the basis of Application, the Compression Therapy Market is studied across Leg Ulcer Treatment and Varicose Vein Treatment.



On the basis of Geography, the Compression Therapy Market is studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Compression Therapy Market including Arjo Huntleigh Healthcare India Private Ltd, Bio Compression Systems, Inc., BSN medical Inc., Julius Zorn GmbH, Medi GmbH & Co., Medtronic plc, PAUL HARTMANN AG, Smith & Nephew PLC, and Thuasne SA.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Compression Therapy Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



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The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Compression Therapy Market?

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Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913918/?utm_source=PRN



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ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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A showdown over whether to rename 10 Army bases honoring Confederate leaders could leave the next defense policy bill, which includes a 3% pay bump for troops, facing the president's veto stamp.

The Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted to adopt an amendment in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that would require the Defense Department to strip the names of Confederate generals from bases and other military assets over the next three years.

Read next: Trump Sanctions International Court over Probe into US Troops' Alleged War Crimes

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration will "not even consider" the move, something an Army veteran in Congress is slamming since vetoing the bill could also leave troops' expected pay raise in flux.

"It would be shameful enough for the current occupant of the Oval Office to refuse to even consider having the U.S. military stop honoring traitors who took up arms against America to defend their ability to own, sell and kill Black Americans," Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said Thursday. "But for the Trump White House to threaten vetoing a pay raise for our troops over this is downright despicable."

The new amendment would create an eight-person commission -- including at least two Defense Department officials -- to study and provide recommendations on the removal of names, symbols, displays, monuments and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederacy. The group will address the plan, cost and criteria for making the changes.

But Trump has already hit back against the changes, specifically when it comes to renaming bases such as Forts Bragg, Hood, Lee and Benning.

"Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with," he tweeted this week. "Respect our Military!"

It was Trump's Army and defense secretaries who days earlier said they'd be open to renaming the bases if there was bipartisan support to do so.

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tim Kaine of Virginia introduced the amendment, which not only includes base names, but streets too, a Senate Armed Services Committee aide told reporters in a Thursday conference call. The changes would not affect headstones of Confederate soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery or elsewhere, according to the aide.

The committee will also consider how local communities near the installations feel about the changes.

"They'll decide which names to change, which names not to change," the official said. "We'll see how this all plays out. The intention is to have a healing process -- it can't just be the federal government coming in with a heavy hand."

The committee's amendment will require a full vote in the Senate and then will be subject to input from the House of Representatives.

Two veterans in the House -- one Republican and one Democrat -- also introduced legislation this week to create a commission that would rename installations named for Confederate leaders within a year.

Rep. Anthony Brown, a Maryland Democrat, and Rep. Dan Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, noted when introducing the bill that the Marine Corps recently banned Confederate flags on base and the Navy is moving to enact a similar policy. The pair spent a combined 59 years in uniform.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

-- Richard Sisk contributed to this story.

Related: Naval Academy Board Chief Calls to Remove Confederate Names
President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John's Church, with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, center, Joint Staffs chairman Mark Milley, right, and other officials, in Washington on June 1, 2020. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)

Milley Says He Shouldnt Have Walked With Trump to Church

Americas top military officer said Thursday that he made a mistake when he accompanied President Donald Trump on a walk from the White House to a nearby church that was damaged by rioters the night before.

I should not have been there, Army Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs chairman, said while speaking to graduates at the National Defense University in Washington.

As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched. And I am not immune, he said.

Milley, dressed in full uniform, walked with Trump, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and other officials to St. Johns Church through Lafayette Square on June 1. A photograph of him with Trump sparked a national debate, the chairman continued.

Milley said his being part of the group created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it, he added.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley addresses a news conference at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on April 14, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The White House didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Milleys statement came hours after Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, said in a television appearance that he was so damn proud of former military officers going public with criticism of Trump.

I promise you, Im absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House  with great dispatch, he said, when asked what would happen if he won and Trump refuses to leave office, an idea White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called a conspiracy theory during an appearance on Fox Newss Americas Newsroom.

The events surrounding the walk to St. Johns drew heavy media attention. Reporters claimed Trump directed authorities to clear the square of protesters so he could walk to the church and that officers used tear gas.

Attorney General William Barr, who was with Trump and Milley on the walk, said that Park Police initially decided to expand the security perimeter by one block late the previous day, a move that was approved by Barr and other officials earlier on June 1.

Barr said he personally witnessed protesters hurling projectiles like rocks at himself and law enforcement officers before the perimeter was expanded. Authorities, including Esper, have denied using tear gas.

We were reacting to three days of extremely violent demonstrations right across from the White House. A lot of injuries to police officers, arson, Barr said this week. Esper pushed back on what he described as inaccurate reporting on the matter, saying he was aware that he and others were joining Trump on a trip to the church.

President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he gestures, alongside Attorney General William Barr, left, national security adviser Robert OBrien, second from left, and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, right, outside of St Johns Episcopal Church across Lafayette Park in Washington, on June 1, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Several hours after officers pushed protesters back, Trump and the group moved through the now-empty square. They observed damage inflicted by rioters at the church, where presidents have traditionally attended, and spoke to reporters as pictures were taken. At one point, the president held a Bible in his hand.

Critics of the president described what happened as a photo op.

Barr told Fox News it was appropriate for a president to walk to the church.

The president of the United States should be able to walk one block from the White House to the church of the presidents. He should be able to do that, Barr said. This canard that this exercise was done to make that possible was totally false. I dont see anything wrong with the president walking over to the church.

Esper, meanwhile, told reporters recently when asked if he regretted walking with Trump: I do everything I can to stay apolitical and stay out of situations that may appear political. Sometimes Im successful in doing that, and sometimes Im not as successful. McEnany said officials have no regrets about what happened.
The warnings came from all sides in the months leading up to Georgia's disastrous primaries on Tuesday: local election officials, voting rights advocates and even the state's top election official.

The combination of limited training on new voting machines and reduced polling locations due to the novel coronavirus could produce crushingly long lines and severely hamper voting access, they cautioned.

Yet none of those in charge of Georgia's elections were able to head off what all agreed was a breakdown of the voting system. Residents waited for hours to cast ballots, some past midnight. Workers struggled to operate new touch-screen machines. Some polling places in suburban Atlanta opened with no equipment at all.

In the aftermath, as the nation reckoned with the possibility of a similar debacle in November, state and local officials blamed each other, but they could not explain why Tuesday's problems were so predictable - and yet not preventable.

"The cause of the problems is grave mismanagement of elections here in Georgia," said Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, a civil rights watchdog. "The state failed to heed the warnings of what could happen in this election."

As local and state officials vowed to investigate what went wrong, interviews with voters and election officials around the state pointed to a combination of factors, including the collision of a new voting system with the pandemic, which led to the cancellation of training sessions and diminished the corps of polling workers.

On top of that, overwhelmed county election offices struggled to handle a crush of absentee ballot requests, leading to thousands of voters never receiving theirs in the mail.

The widespread problems in Georgia were quickly seized upon by both political parties. President Donald Trump's campaign said it showed the risks of mail voting, a practice he has attacked without evidence as prone to fraud. Democrats and voting rights advocates seized on Georgia's chaotic primary as an intentional act of voter suppression, accusing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, of failing to prepare adequately.

"What happened in Georgia yesterday was by design," former secretary of state Hillary Clinton tweeted Wednesday.

Such charges are especially fraught in Georgia, which has a long history of racist election practices and saw a heated 2018 governor's race between Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is black, and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

Raffensperger disputed the idea that his office failed to prepare, saying that most of the problems stemmed from poor planning at the local level, pointing in particular to Fulton County, home of Atlanta, and DeKalb, to the city's east.

He promised Wednesday to work with the state legislature to give the state greater authority to "directly intervene and require management changes" at the local level.

"What is clear from yesterday is that while almost every county delivered successful elections, a couple did not," he said in a statement, adding: "We are here to protect every voter. Republicans, Democrats and Independents deserve well-run elections."

For their part, Fulton election officials acknowledged their difficulties keeping up with demand for mail-ballot requests, polling place staffing and worker training.

Adding to the challenge: The county's top two mail ballot officials came down with coronavirus at the height of election preparations. One of them, Beverly Walker, 62, died on April 15.

"We are going to look at everything that happened in this election and will make sure in November we serve the residents of this county with distinction," said Rick Barron, Fulton's elections chief. While Barron acknowledged that the county fell short, he also called on Raffensperger to take responsibility and contribute to the fix.

"He's the head election official in the state, and he can't wash his hands of all responsibility," Barron said.

Many said that what happened Tuesday reflects the need for structural change in the way elections are run in Georgia, with more funding and more uniform administration needed - something only the Republican-controlled state legislature, or Congress, can make happen.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has proposed $3.6 billion in additional election funding nationwide to help local governments contend with the effect of the pandemic on elections. She said Georgia's primaries dramatically demonstrated the need.

"When there are any kinds of attacks on our country, we do not expect some local city to defend themselves," Klobuchar said. "When Pearl Harbor was attacked, we didn't say, 'Pearl Harbor, you're on your own.' And when we have issues with the pandemic, that is not the fault of the counties that are having these elections right now. Basically that's what you're saying if you don't step in. You've got to at least give people a fighting chance to be able to vote."

Georgia was not the only state that struggled with long voting lines Tuesday. In Nevada's Clark County, which had just three in-person polling locations, the wait stretched as long as seven hours. In South Carolina, where some polling locations failed to open on time, voters were also forced to stand in line for hours.

Voters in Georgia confronted the first widespread use of new ballot-marking devices, which replaced a paperless electronic voting system that a federal judge had declared insecure. Even before the pandemic struck, election security experts had questioned whether officials had enough time to provide adequate training for their use in the primaries.

When Brittany Westveer, a 26-year-old public relations specialist in Atlanta, arrived at her polling place at 7:40 a.m., she was roughly 0.2 miles away from the entrance, she said. She ended up waiting five hours.

Once her turn came, she said poll workers failed to guide voters who were confused about using the machines or answer their questions.

"I would love to see some sort of change happen soon, especially with the November election coming up," Westveer said. "The governor's election left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, and this one especially did now. We're hoping to see change soon."

A spokeswoman for Dominion Voting Systems, the contractor that provided new voting machines, said the company received a relatively high number of calls from poll workers in DeKalb, Cobb and Fulton counties seeking help setting up equipment, checking in voters and activating voter cards.

"It points to the fact that the counties needed more training support going into Election Day," said Kay Stimson.

The company received relatively few calls to replace faulty components, she said, indicating that machine malfunction was not a widespread issue.

Under a state contract, Dominion provided training to county election officials who were then responsible for training poll workers. Stimson said the company's training was partially disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, leading to the cancellation of a second trial run.

Raffensperger's deputy, Jordan Fuchs, said the office has launched an investigation into what went wrong but emphasized that the issues were most pronounced in a small handful of counties. She said her office had sought to help counties hire substitute poll workers, worked with Dominion to produce training programs and encouraged all voters in Georgia to vote early or by mail to avoid a potential crush on Election Day.

"We spent the last three months telling people: 'Please, please, vote early. Please vote absentee,' " Fuchs said. "There are going to be long lines. There are going to be shortages."

They weren't the only ones.

DeKalb County officials were concerned ahead of the election about the "significant challenges" that the coronavirus outbreak would pose, according to county chief executive Michael Thurmond, a Democrat.

And in the two months leading up to Tuesday's election, officials on the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections expressed concerns about a range of issues that voters could face, including equipment failures, long lines and an increase in absentee ballot applications, according to meeting records.

Last month, officials raised alarms that voters were not receiving their absentee ballots despite submitting applications - and anticipated that those voters would show up in person. They warned of the potential for jammed scanners, an issue that surfaced during early voting and again on Tuesday.

In the end, the most severe of Tuesday's problems were in Fulton, where a mass exodus of poll workers fearing coronavirus exposure forced the closure of 34 polling places. One polling place in Atlanta served more than 16,000 voters - more than triple the usual amount.

Officials also struggled with overloaded circuits that caused voting machine power to flicker, a severe shortage of provisional ballots and astronomical demand for mailed ballots.

On top of that, county officials said at least 8,000 mail-ballot applications were lost, likely adding to the crush of voters waiting in line on Election Day.

Barron acknowledged that many poll workers never received in-person training for the new voting system launched statewide on Tuesday. Poll workers were so unused to the new touch-screen machines that they inserted magnetic voting cards upside down, delaying voting for hours trying to figure it out rather than moving quickly to allow voters to submit emergency paper ballots, Barron said.

"We would have lost more poll workers had we done in-person training, because people weren't comfortable with it," he said.

In Gwinnett County, a northeast suburb of Atlanta, officials took responsibility for the late delivery of voting machines to 16 out of 144 polling places, which they attributed to a miscalculation of the capacity of trucks.

In DeKalb, east of downtown, where long lines and training issues also surfaced, both the state and county were at fault, and any investigation into what went wrong needs to look at the role of both levels of government, Thurmond said.

Thurmond expressed frustration at Raffensperger's statement blaming DeKalb and Fulton officials, noting that the problems were not limited to those two counties.

"To somehow conclude that the problems were the result of an action taken or not taken by two counties, without any investigation, any review, without talking to anyone, without reviewing the technology and how it operated - to draw that conclusion, is stunning," Thurmond said Wednesday. "How do you know that that's true?"

The state knew, he added, that dozens of experienced poll workers decided not to work because of fear of the coronavirus, and those recruited to replace them were not properly trained. No training support was offered in response, he added.

Judges ordered at least 20 counties to stay open past 7 p.m. Tuesday due to various voting snarls. Long lines were reported in a scattering of communities outside of the Atlanta area, including Savannah and Columbus.

Eric Holder, who served as Barack Obama's attorney general and now leads a political committee focused on ending partisan gerrymandering, said voters are starting to recognize the need for widespread electoral reform, much as they have awakened in recent weeks to the need for reform of police agencies.

"We have to make sure people understand what's at stake. We can't have another Wisconsin. We can't have another Ohio. We can't have another Georgia," he said, referring to a string of states experiencing coronavirus-related election difficulties this year. "People are going to lose their faith in their ability to cast their vote."
Jammu, June 11 : A soldier was killed and a civilian wounded in firing and shelling across the Line of Control (LoC) by Pakistan Army in Jammu and Kashmirs's Rajouri district.

Police sources said Pakistan resorted to indiscriminate, unprovoked firing and shelling on the LoC around 10 p.m. on Wednesday in Tarkundi and Manjakote areas of Rajouri.

"An army soldier sustained injuries in Pakistan firing in Tarkundi area yesterday evening. He was shifted to hospital in Rajouri where he succumbed to injuries.

"A police constable on leave sustained a shoulder injury due to splinters in Manjakote area. He has been shifted to hospital for treatment," sources said.

Pakistan violated ceasefire on the LoC in both Poonch and Rajouri districts on Wednesday.

Reports also said some cattle had perished in Pakistan shelling in addition to damages caused to civilian homes in Poonch and Rajouri districts.
Press Release

11 June 2020

Phoenix, Arizona -- Best Western Hotels & Resorts (BWHR) announced today the launch of its latest campaign: Hit the Road with Best Western, which alleviates the strain of travel costs and helps guests hit the road for a much-needed summer break.

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Through the campaign, Best Western Rewards (BWR members are given the opportunity to put some money back in their pockets and rediscover the power of travel this summer. By tapping into three exciting rewards promotions, guests can get back out on the open road while enjoying a safe stay at Best Western-branded properties. The three Hit the Road with Best Western promotions include:

Purchase Best Western gift cards and receive a bonus. For every individual $100 Best Western gift card purchased, customers will receive a $20 bonus gift card. No registration is required and the offer can be accessed at the following link between June 1 and September 30, 2020: https://www.bestwestern.com/en_US/offers/travel-card.html

Travel by car and Best Western will cover your gas. Valid from June 15 to August 31, 2020, any member staying at a Best Western-branded hotel and visiting by car during the promotional period will receive a $25 Best Western Travel Card  (gift card). Registration will be required.

(gift card). Registration will be required. Stay with Best Western this summer and earn a $25 gift card. BWR members who stay one eligible night between June 22 and September 7, 2020 at any Best Western-branded hotel in the U.S. or Canada will earn a $25 Best Western gift card. Registration will be required.

"The world of travel has changed in 2020 and while there's no denying that our travel plans will look a little different in the months ahead, we believe people will always find a way to explore the world around them," said Dorothy Dowling, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for BWHR. "As the pent-up demand for travel begins to unleash, we know that many people will choose to hit the road this summer, opting for short-haul getaways, road trips and staycations. Hit the Road with Best Western is a powerful campaign that delivers tremendous value and instant gratification to our valued guests and we're proud to play a small part in helping them rekindle their love for travel this summer."

This announcement is the latest example of BWHR's commitment to supporting its guests through the COVID-19 health crisis. BWHR was the first in the industry to extend loyalty status to its BWR members whose travel plans have been greatly impacted by travel restrictions and cancellations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also implemented an updated cancellation policy offering enhanced flexibility to its travelers. Additionally, BWHR launched an industry-leading cleaning program, We Care Clean, which delivers an enhanced commitment to keeping guests safe and healthy when staying at Best Western-branded hotels across North America.

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For more information on BWR or to sign up, please visit BestWestern.com/Rewards. Visit travelcard.bestwestern.com for complete Best Western Travel Card terms and conditions.

About Best Western Hotels & Resorts

Best Western Hotels & Resorts headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is a privately held hotel brand within the BWH Hotel GroupSM global network. With 18 brands and approximately 4,700 hotels in over 100 countries and territories worldwide*, BWH Hotel Group suits the needs of developers and guests in every market. Brands include Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier, Executive Residency by Best Western, Vib, GLo, Aiden, Sadie, BW Premier Collection and BW Signature Collection. Through acquisition, WorldHotelsTM Luxury, WorldHotels Elite, WorldHotels Distinctive and WorldHotels Crafted collections are also offered. Completing the portfolio is SureStay, SureStay Plus, SureStay Collection and SureStay StudioSM franchises**. For more information visit bestwestern.com, bestwesterndevelopers.com, worldhotels.com and surestay.com.

* Numbers are approximate, may fluctuate, and include hotels currently in the development pipeline.

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T he leader of Irelands Green Party has apologised for any hurt caused after he repeated a racial slur during a debate in Dail.

Eamon Ryan made the comments during a Dail speech as TDs were discussing the death of George Floyd, an African American killed in the U.S state of Minneapolis, the Black Lives Matter movement and racism.

He tweeted: I made a speech in the Dail today about the scourge of racism in our society. In quoting from an article I read this morning, I repeated a racial slur, and I was completely wrong to do so.

"I want to apologise for any hurt caused. I know this particular word should never be used.

Mr Ryan said the word while quoting a newspaper article about a young mans experience of growing up black in Ireland.

I made a speech in the Dail today about the scourge of racism in our society. In quoting from an article I read this morning, I repeated a racial slur, and I was completely wrong to do so. I want to apologise for any hurt caused. I know this particular word should never be used.  Eamon Ryan (@EamonRyan) June 11, 2020

I read an article in a newspaper today about a young Irishman called Sean Gillane giving his experience of being othered and how from the age of six he was given that name  you n*****.

It explained that sense of how that name completely undermines people.

I know people, friends and relations of colour in this country and Travellers and other minorities they speak of the same experience. It is real.

Rise TD Paul Murphy tweeted that no one should use slur.

Don't use the N-word. It's a word rooted in brutality, violence and slavery.  Paul Murphy (@paulmurphy_TD) June 11, 2020

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar did not react to Mr Ryan saying the word but said young Irish people of colour need more role models.

One thing I strongly agree with the deputy on is the need to set a target on the number of minorities in the public service.

We have a health service that is very diverse although less so as you reach senior levels.

There is not very many people from a minority background in the gardai, defence forces and education sector and not at all in the civil service which is very white, that needs to change.

We need a generation of young people growing up in Ireland who are people of colour to see black and brown school principals visibility and opportunity is really important.

The apology comes after days of protests against police brutality and racism with people of all races and religions standing in solidarity with demonstrations in America.
[June 11, 2020] Workato Announces New Automation League Partner Program, Summit, and 2020 Award Winners

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Workato , the leading Enterprise Automation Platform, announced the new Automation League Partner Program at the second annual Workato Partner Summit. This was the largest virtual event for Workato to date, with over 600 registrants and partner groups from across 26 countries. The event included keynote speakers Dominique Levin from Winning by Design and Rick Vargas & Daniel Galt from Cognizant. The new Automation League Partner Program is designed for partners who are: passionate about Enterprise Automation; the domain experts of their field; true guides on what to build, not just how to build; and raising the bar of process excellence. The partners of Automation League are using Workato to fuel their sales, technical, and marketing engines, and opening up new customers through Workato's co-sell model. Workato has seen explosive growth in their Partner EcoSystem and has been investing accordingly, with the Workato Partner team tripling in size since November of 2019. "Partners are the lifeblood of the 'Workato Automation Movement'. We are energized not only by the amount of amazing companies that are joining the movement but also their desire to be able to provide those services," said Markus Zirn, VP of Business Development at Workato. "We know the hunger is there; Despite the global health crisis, we had our largest class ever in Q1, with over 20 new partners who joined the Automation League Partner Program." Workato also announced their second round of Workato Partner Award winners at the summit. Each winning partner expertly implemented Workato solutions that enabled their clients at a diverse range of companies, like the leading animation studio, a trendy direct-to-consumer food brand, a leading language-learning platform, the government treasury of a territory containing one of the most visited cities in the world, and more. These exemplary partners helped these organizations solve difficult business challenges and provide better experiences for their own customers. Winners were selected across 11 categories. Strategic Alliance: Deloitte Australia

Deloitte Australia provides audit, economics, financial advisory, human capital, tax and technology services with 8000+ employees located in 14 offices across the country. They are recognized for their innovation in enabling digital transformation through platform engineering.







Deloitte Australia provides audit, economics, financial advisory, human capital, tax and technology services with 8000+ employees located in 14 offices across the country. They are recognized for their innovation in enabling digital transformation through platform engineering. Public Sector: FlowBuilders

FlowBuilders are Salesforce experts located in Sydney, Australia . They are recognized for leading the Public Sector footprint in Australia .







FlowBuilders are Salesforce experts located in . They are recognized for leading the Public Sector footprint in . Implementations: iSteer

iSteer is an omni-channel integration consulting firm with offices in the USA , Canada , Singapore , Bangalore , and Japan . They are recognized for being the top delivery partner in the APJ region.







iSteer is an omni-channel integration consulting firm with offices in the , , , , and . They are recognized for being the top delivery partner in the APJ region. Implementations: NESIC

NESIC is a network and integrated systems design company located in Japan . They are rcognized for leading the way in adopting Workato for remote work innovation at NESIC and for their delivery excellence with Workato OEM partners and customers in Japan .











NESIC is a network and integrated systems design company located in . They are rcognized for leading the way in adopting Workato for remote work innovation at NESIC and for their delivery excellence with Workato OEM partners and customers in . Go-to-Market: eSystems

eSystems is a consulting firm of OutSystems consultants, architects, developers, designers, engineers, and trainers headquartered in Finland . They are recognized for their GTM strategy and innovation on Workato in the Nordics.









eSystems is a consulting firm of OutSystems consultants, architects, developers, designers, engineers, and trainers headquartered in . They are recognized for their GTM strategy and innovation on Workato in the Nordics. Go-to-Market: Ricksoft

Ricksoft is a leading Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner in Japan . They are recognized for their GTM strategy and innovation in IT automations in Japan .







Ricksoft is a leading Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner in . They are recognized for their GTM strategy and innovation in IT automations in . Innovation: Persistent System

Persistent Systems is a global solutions company delivering digital business acceleration and enterprise modernization for businesses with 11,000 employees around the world. They are recognized for innovation in using Workato with Snowflake, OutSystems, and in the Banking industry.







Persistent Systems is a global solutions company delivering digital business acceleration and enterprise modernization for businesses with 11,000 employees around the world. They are recognized for innovation in using Workato with Snowflake, OutSystems, and in the Banking industry. Innovation: Synaptek

Synaptek is a digital innovation consulting division of Spherica Business Solutions located in the United Kingdom . They are recognized for their innovation in intelligent automations and for leading the way in the fields of Logistics and Transportation in the EMEA region.







Synaptek is a digital innovation consulting division of Spherica Business Solutions located in the . They are recognized for their innovation in intelligent automations and for leading the way in the fields of Logistics and Transportation in the EMEA region. Automation Center of Excellence: iOPEX

iOPEX is a new-generation business services provider offering optimized IT management services with over 1,800 employees. They are recognized for their innovative work with Workato and RPA.







iOPEX is a new-generation business services provider offering optimized IT management services with over 1,800 employees. They are recognized for their innovative work with Workato and RPA. Process Automation: Dispatch Integration

Dispatch Integration is a professional services consulting firm with a focus on Systems Design & Architecture headquartered in Ontario, Canada . They are recognized for their work with Workato customers on process automation excellence.







Dispatch Integration is a professional services consulting firm with a focus on Systems Design & Architecture headquartered in . They are recognized for their work with Workato customers on process automation excellence. Automations: Venn Technology

Venn Technology is a professional services consulting firm located in Grapevine, Texas. They are recognized for achieving 2020's Top producer of Workato automations across all partners.







Venn Technology is a professional services consulting firm located in Grapevine, Texas. They are recognized for achieving 2020's Top producer of Workato automations across all partners. Sales Automations: ServiceWise

ServiceWise is a professional services consulting firm located in Israel . They are recognized for achieving the Top producer in CRM automations.







ServiceWise is a professional services consulting firm located in . They are recognized for achieving the Top producer in CRM automations. IT Automations: Praecipio Consulting

Praecipio Consulting is a leading Atlassian Platinum Solution partner located in Austin, Texas . They are recognized for their innovation in IT automations in North America.







Praecipio Consulting is a leading Atlassian Platinum Solution partner located in . They are recognized for their innovation in IT automations in North America. Financial Automations: Connor Group

Connor Group is a specialized professional services firm of Big 4 alumni and industry executives located in Santa Clara, California . They are recognized for achieving Top producer of financial automations. Join the automation movement and become a part of the Workato Automation Network. Prospective Partners can learn more at: https://www.workato.com/partners About Workato Workato is the operating system for today's fast-moving business. Recognized as a leader, Workato is the only enterprise automation platform that enables both business and IT to integrate their apps and automate even the most mission-critical workflows without compromising security and governance. Workato is trusted by over 6,000 of the world's top brands and fastest growing innovators. For more information, visit www.workato.com or connect with us on social media: Blog: https://www.workato.com/blog

Business Systems Community: https://systematic.workato.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/workato

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/workato View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/workato-announces-new-automation-league-partner-program-summit-and-2020-award-winners-301074354.html SOURCE Workato

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New June 11 : A team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday visited the LNJP Hospital to take stock of its functioning and make a spot inspection of the facilities in wake of allegations that there is mismanagement and Covid patients are being denied admission and treatment.

NHRC member Jyotika Kalra said: "We have come here to take stock of the situation on the complaints of the patients regarding discrepancies in availability of beds on Delhi corona app and in hospitals." The NHRC took suo moto cognizance of the matter.

Kalra enquired about the viral video of a dead body on the floor at the hospital but authorities said that it was due to malfunctioning of the lift.

The NHRC team inspected the wards and kitchen of the hospital.

The Commission has already issued notice to the Delhi government and Union Health & Family Welfare Ministry on Wednesday to submit a report, within ten days, on the healthcare facilities and related issues in the national capital.

The five member team, led by the NHRC Member, also comprised an Assistant Registrar (Law), a DSP, a Inspector and a Doctor on the panel of the Commission.
A trader, center, wears a Citigroup jacket while working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Here are the companies making headlines in midday trading.

Citigroup, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan  Bank stocks fell on Thursday as Treasury yields dipped and investors digested forecasts from the Federal Reserve. Shares of Citigroup fell 13.4%, while Wells Fargo dropped 9.8%. Goldman Sachs lost just over 9%, while JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley sank more than 8%.

United, American, Delta, Southwest  Airline stocks cratered on Thursday as investors shed riskier reopening plays on concerns about a second wave. United and American Airlines dropped 16.1% and 15.5%, respectively. Delta and Alaska Air Group fell 14%. Southwest lost 116%.

Boeing  Shares of the embattled aerospace manufacturer fell more than 16% amid concerns about a second wave of the coronavirus. The pandemic's potential long-term impact on travel demand has hurt the outlook for the company, and Boeing had to idle some of its plants during the more strict shutdown period to help slow the spread of the virus.

GrubHub  GrubHub rose more than 4% after the company announced merger plans with Just Eat Takeaway.com, a European food delivery company. The deal values GrubHub at $7.3 billion in equity, or $75.15 per share. The merger comes after earlier talks with Uber Technologies failed.

Starbucks  Shares of the coffee chain slid more than 8% after KeyBanc downgraded the stock to a sector weight rating. "Current sales trends remain challenged, and we believe [near term] upside is limited due to its elevated valuation and the prospect of a more gradual [same-store sales]/ EPS recovery than previously expected and relative to peers," the firm said. Longer term, however, KeyBanc said the company has a best-in-class digital platform as well as innovation competencies.

Macy's, Nordstrom, Gap  Retail stocks took a beating as investors backed away from their bets on the reopening of the economy. Shares of Macy's plunged more than 14%, while Gap and Nordstrom slumped 8.1% and 12.2%, respectively. Target, which announced that it was raising its dividend, saw its stock dip 1.7%.

Oneok  Shares of the natural gas name tumbled more than 15% after the company announced a public offering of 26 million shares. Elsewhere in the energy space, Halliburton and Occidental Petroleum shed 15% and 16%, respectively, on the back of oil prices moving lower, while integrated giants Exxon and Chevron slid more than 8%.

Tyson Foods  Tyson Food shares dropped more than 7% as traders weighed the company's potential legal troubles. On Wednesday, Tyson disclosed it was cooperating with the Justice Department's investigation into chicken price-fixing, adding it is seeking leniency from the department. Tyson was served with a grand jury subpoena as part of the investigation.

PulteGroup, Toll Brothers, D.R. Horton  Homebuilder stocks sank on Thursday amid growing concern that a rise in coronavirus cases would slow the economic recovery. Shares of Toll Brothers dropped 11.1%, while PulteGroup fell 9.4% and D.R. Horton lost 9.3%.

Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean  Shares of cruise operators plunged on Thursday and investors rotated away from reopening stocks. Shares of cruise line Carnival fell 15.3% and Norwegian fell more than 16%. Royal Caribbean Cruises dropped more than 14%.

Oxford Industries  Oxford Industries tanked more than 15% after reporting a wider-than-expected quarterly loss. The apparel maker said it lost $1.12 per share for its latest quarter, versus forecasts of a 27 cents per share loss, according to Refinitiv. Its revenue also came in below estimates as the company took a hit from the coronavirus shutdowns.

Keurig Dr Pepper  Shares of Keurig Dr Pepper fell less than 1% amid the broad market sell-off after Jefferies upgraded the soft drinks brand to buy from hold. The bank cited the stock's "compelling valuation" and said it's a "structural winner" from the coronavirus pandemic.

CNBC's Yun Li, Pippa Stevens, Fred Imbert and Maggie Fitzgerald contributed to this story.

Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world.
A congressionally appointed watchdog body said today that Turkey and its proxies are curtailing the rights of religious minorities in northern Syria and will continue to do so if the United States doesnt intervene to stop them.

The United States cannot look the other way as this disaster unfolds, said Nadine Maenza, vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

This situation directly endangers precious ethnic and religious diversity that has long marked the northeast, and it threatens the viability and stability of the autonomous administration, Maenza said, referring to a Kurdish-led region.

During a virtual panel today, the bipartisan group called on the Trump administration to put pressure on Turkey to withdraw from the northeast, parts of which it invaded in October after President Donald Trump announced the sudden withdrawal of US troops from the region. Turkeys stated goal was to push from its southern border the Kurdish fighters it considers as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party, a militant group that has carried out a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.

The commission also asked for the upcoming US sanctions on Syria to be implemented in a way that spares the autonomous administration, whose officials have expressed concerns they will be among the unintended victims of Washingtons pressure campaign on Damascus.

The same day the US watchdog called on the administration to dial up the pressure on Ankara, the State Department released its annual report on religious freedom, which noted many Syrians are reluctant to return to their homes since the Turkish incursion due to a pattern of intimidation by Syrian groups aligned with Turkey.

Amy Austin Holmes, a visiting scholar at Harvard University and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, said conditions in northeast Syria have dramatically worsened for Christians  including Assyrians, Syriacs, Chaldeans and Armenian denominations  as well as Yazidis, adherents of an ancient monotheistic religion.

They have been killed, disappeared, kidnapped, raped, detained, subjected to forced religious conversion and held for ransom until their families pay exorbitant sums of money to secure their release, Holmes said today. Their places of worship have been destroyed, defaced, and looted. Even their cemeteries have been demolished and vandalized.

Rights organizations and advocacy groups have also documented widespread abuses, including the kidnapping of Kurdish and Yazidi women, at the hands of Turkeys allied rebels, now known as the Syrian National Army.

Holmes warned that unless Turkey withdraws from the areas under its rule, which include Tell Abyad, Ras al-Ain and Afrin, its unlikely religious minorities will ever return.

They live in constant fear of being kidnapped again, said Holmes. This is a way to engage in ethnic cleansing and demographic change without actually killing.

Known as Rojava, the semi-autonomous territory inside Syria has in recent years become a safe haven for Kurds and other groups whose rights were long denied under the Assad familys Baath Party rule.

Members of ethnic and religious minorities live in relative peace, Hassan Hassan, program director for Non-State Actors and Geopolitics at the Center for Global Policy, said today.

This remains a work in progress, and recent trends  [from] the US withdrawal to the [IS] resurgence  threaten to disrupt this progress, he said.
China is offering employees of some large state-run companies the option of being inoculated with two coronavirus vaccines currently in development, showing how quickly the country is moving to test the viability of its homegrown shots.

Employees intending to travel overseas for work can volunteer to be administered vaccinations developed by China National Biotec Group Co. or CNBG, a subsidiary of Beijing-based Sinopharm Group Co., according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the offer hasnt been made public. The proposal was relayed to state-owned companies by the government body that oversees them, the people said.

CNBG is among the Chinese companies bidding to create a successful vaccine against the new coronavirus. There are currently five Chinese vaccine candidates in the human trial stage, competing with products being developed by global pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna Inc. that can bring an end to the pandemic and allow countries to reopen more fully after economically-punishing lockdowns and travel curbs.

Beijing has mobilized its health authorities, drug regulators and research institutes to work around the clock with local companies to come up with the worlds first effective vaccine for Covid-19. If China is successful in the race, it would wield immense geopolitical clout. President Xi Jinping has promised to share any vaccine globally.

CNBGs experimental shots have been tested on 2,000 people with no reported obvious adverse effects, Sinopharm Chairman Liu Jingzhen told local media last month. A CNBG spokeswoman said she was not aware of the vaccine offer and declined to comment further.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, or SASAC, which oversees Chinas government-run companies, didnt immediately respond to a Bloomberg query.

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If state-run company workers avail themselves of the vaccination, not only will they potentially be protected against the virus but their experience could help generate data on the shots efficacy in beating the pathogen that has sickened over 7.2 million people and killed more than 411,000 worldwide.

It isnt yet known whether CNBGs vaccines, which employ a dead strain of the novel coronavirus to elicit an immune response from the body, can prevent the infection.

The experimental vaccines are currently in Phase II trials and being evaluated for their safety on humans. Their ability to prevent infection of the virus will only be clear in Phase III trials -- the final hurdle to clear for securing marketing approval -- in which thousands of people take the shot to see how effective it is in an active outbreak environment.

With Chinas cases dwindling to only a handful a day, the vaccines will need to be tested overseas where infections are still growing.

Its uncertain how many employees of state-run firms have taken up the offer and whether they will be tracked for adverse reactions and their immune response. However, their exposure abroad may give an early view into the vaccines potential in places where the virus is not yet under control.

In addition to the ongoing clinical trial, Sinopharms Liu and hundreds of the companys senior managers and employees have voluntarily taken the shots, according to Chinese news reports. CNBG is building factories that will enable the vaccine maker to churn out more than 200 million doses annually, it has said.
Disneyland is the world's second-most visited theme park, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each day, but it closed in mid-March due to coronavirus concerns.

Disney is proposing to reopen its Southern California theme parks in mid-July after what will be a four-month closure due to the coronavirus, the company said on Wednesday.

(Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak)

Disney Parks, Experiences and Products said in a statement that the goal is to reopen Disneyland and Disney California Adventure on 17 July. A nearby Disney-themed shopping area would reopen on 9 July.

We are pleased to announce our proposed plans to begin a phased reopening of the @Disneyland Resort. We are looking forward to welcoming guests back to the Happiest Place on Earth! Learn more on the @DisneyParks Blog: https://t.co/jWtAONQdzP pic.twitter.com/e9vvkoeVUW  Disney Parks News (@DisneyParksNews) June 10, 2020

Advance reservations will be required for theme park visitors and capacity will be limited, the statement said. Events that draw large crowds, such as parades and nighttime spectaculars, wont return immediately and Disney characters will be in the parks but not available to meet with visitors, the statement said.

The plan to reopen the parks, which have been closed since 14 March is still pending government approval.

Disneyland fans normally can bank on the park being open regardless of whats going on in the world around it. The park closed only a handful of times in 65 years and never for more than a day, according to Jason Schultz, supervisory archivist at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum and unofficial Disneyland historian who wrote 'Jasons Disneyland Almanac'. The last closure was after the terror attacks on 11 September, 2001.

The proposed reopening date is 65 years after Disneyland first opened its gates in 1955.

California  which recently announced plans to let many of its counties reopen gyms, bars and museums  hasnt yet set a timeline for amusement parks to reopen. More than 4,700 people have died in the state from the virus, which causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, can cause pneumonia and death.

Mike Lyster, a spokesman for the city of Anaheim, welcomed news of the reopening after such a long closure, and said local officials are confident Disney can manage attendance and keep the surrounding community safe.

Next to saving lives, recovery is the most important part of any incident, he said. It will be a major morale boost as we all look to go into a period of recovery.
Bengaluru, June 11 : Reopening after 75 days of closure due to Covid-induced extended lockdown on June 8, thousands of Hindu temples across Karnataka are waiting for devotees in droves, an official said on Thursday.

"As the extended lockdown kept hundreds of devotees away from our temples, which remained shut from March 25 to June 7 to prevent the coronavirus spread, they are waiting for them to come in droves as before the Covid crisis gripped the country," state muzrai (endowment) department official C. Krishna told IANS.

As one of the popular religious states in the country, Karnataka has about 34,500 temples, which come under the aegis of the state Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department.

"In addition, there are about 500 major temples managed independently by their priests or trustees and don't depend on the government for funds or any support, as they have been there over hundreds of years and are able to sustain with contributions from devotees and charities," said Krishna.

Though all temples reopened across cities, towns and villages on Monday, only 40-50 per cent of the devotees are making a beeline from nearby areas unlike in the pre-Covid days when thousands of pilgrims and tourists from outside the state thronged them round the year.

"It is for the first time in many years that thousands of temples across the state remained shut for over 70 days and re-opened with more don'ts than dos, as priests and devotees have to undergo thermal screening, wear mask, wash hands with sanitizer and strictly maintain physical distance in their premises," said Krishna.

Admitting that the mandatory guidelines to be followed by all have made hundreds of devotees wary of returning to the temples across the state, Krishna said the turnout since Monday had been 40-50 per cent of their capacity in most temples.

"Absence of public transport service and a ban on inter-state private vehicles prevented pilgrims and tourists from visiting the temples from across the country and overseas," said Krishna.

Suspension of train services and flights across the country for over two months has also prevented hundreds of devotees from visiting their favourite temples.

"Majority of temples in cities and towns across the state are well-known for their presiding deity. Prominent among them are in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Udupi, Sringeri, Dharmasthala, Shivamogga, Chitradurga, Davangere and Belagavi," Krishna pointed out.

Noting that all temples, shrines and mutts across the state suffered huge losses for remaining shut for over two months, the official said the lockdown had seriously affected hundreds of people who are part of the system and their livelihood depended on devotees.

"Though the state government paid salary to priests of over 30,000 temples under the department for April and May, many of their counterparts had to use their savings or borrow as earning dried up during the lockdown," recalled Krishna.

The famous Chamundeshwari temple near Mysuru and Srikenteshwara temple at Nanjangud in the same district have made elaborate arrangements as per the guidelines to prevent coronavirus spread for devotees to make a come-back.

"Public announcements were also made about the temples' reopening for the devotees with dos and don'ts. Restrictions on use of puja items, offerings to the deity like prasadam and standing in queue for long time are holding up many worshippers," pointed out Krishna.

At Ranganatha temple at Srirangapatnam, Chaluvarayaswamy temple at Melkote have reported 30-40 per cent of devotees turning up during the last 3-4 days, while it was about 60 per cent at Male Mahadeshwara temple at MM Hills in Chamarajanagar district.

The Kollur Mookambika temple and the famous Krishna temple in Udupi, Manjunatha temple at Dharmasthala and Kukke Subramanya temple in Dakshina Kannda district, however, are having better turnout, with a steady stream of devotees to have darshan of their presiding deities.

"When the month-long 'Ashada' begins from June 22, more devotees are expected to turn up at majority of the temples to perform and participate in the festivals and rituals during the monsoon season in the state," added Krishna.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
One inevitable result of radically uneven law enforcement is suspicion of cops in communities subject to the heaviest policing. Perhaps less predictably, ever more aggressive penalties arent even a very good way to lower crime. As Kleiman pointed out in his book, When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment, unlikely but extra-severe punishment doesnt much alter criminal behavior because perpetrators dont expect to get caught. The decades of attempting to solve soaring crime rates with escalating harshness were not just a humanitarian disaster but also a policy failure; we could have gotten better results with milder punishments applied more consistently.
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The conversation started back in March, though, at the time, it was more of a distant hypothetical: What will happen to summer camp?

Julie Danziger, a managing partner of luxury travel agency Embark Beyond, has three kids; Jack Ezon, the founder and a managing partner, has four. After months of remote learning, self-isolation and uncertainty, they realized their theoretical question was becoming all too real.

Some sleep-away camps have said they will reopen with strict testing and social distancing requirements, but those are not even allowed in some states. Day camps are also subject to new guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

"We're in that boat of, 'Oh my God, what are we going to do if we have nothing to do with the kids?" Danziger said.

The answer the New York City-based company came up with was "Camp Embark," a venture that offers curated camp programs for families or groups of friends, private jet travel, an on-site chef and - possibly the most sought-after amenity for these times - minimal interaction with the outside world.

"This exclusive opportunity has been designed to offer comfortable settings allowing for social distancing, through private accommodations, private meals, private activities and a dedicated private counselor," the brochure reads. "Kids will be entertained with full days of play with their personal counselor, while parents can relax with peace of mind or work remotely if necessary."

Danziger and her team spent two weeks tracking down and examining the health protocols of more than 30 resorts, lodges, private homes, ranches and other properties in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean that could accommodate families or small groups.

Lynda Levy, a party planner who runs her own summer camp most years, has been creating schedules - either off-the-shelf or curated for families - with activities such as cooking competitions, slime making, kayaking, horseback riding or painting, depending on the location. In most cases, counselors will be staff members from individual properties, though families can request that a dedicated counselor travel with them.

Employees of different resorts will be subject to the health requirements at each location, such as daily temperature checks. Families can also ask that counselors be tested for the coronavirus, and kids will not interact with guests outside their groups.

"I'm really trying to make a camp-like feel at these four-, five-star destinations," Levy said.

The experience won't come cheap. On the low end, accommodations plus coordinated activities could run around $7,700 a week; on the high end, that number is closer to $150,000 with meals included for as many as 19 people taking up an entire ranch in California.

Potential add-ons include a private chef, private jet for the neighborhood of $4,000 an hour and a consultation with families to customize activities.

So far, about 20 clients have camp plans in motion, Danziger said, with the first starting next week. More are waiting to hear if the camps they had planned to send their kids to will open at all.

While Levy said parents can join their kids at any point, and additional family activities can be scheduled at night, the goal is to make life easier for those who still have to work and want their kids to have some semblance of a normal summer.

"A lot of the reason why we're doing this is so the parents can work remotely and not have to worry about their children all day," Levy said.
Chauvin has been charged with murdering Floyd - REUTERS

George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, the former police officer accused of killing him, knew each other and were involved in an altercation at a nightclub where they worked, according to a former collegue.

Mr Chauvin, 44, has been charged with murder over the death of Mr Floyd, 46, in Minneapolis on May 25 after he knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The video of the killing sparked protests around the world.

Chauvin and Floyd worked in security at a nightclub at the same time. David Pinney, a former co-worker, said the two men had a history and claimed they knew each other "pretty well".

David Pinney told CBS News: "They bumped heads."

"It has a lot to do with Derek being extremely aggressive within the club with some of the patrons, which was an issue," Mr Pinney explained.

The Floyd family's lawyer has called for Chauvin, who faces a charge of second-degree murder, to have his charges upgraded to first-degree murder "because we believe he knew who George Floyd was".

Maya Santamaria, the owner of the club, which was torched by protests in the city, described to CBS News how Chauvin treated black customers. Ms Santamaria said she had employed Chauvin, when he was off-duty from his role as a police officer, to sit in his police car outside El Nuevo Rodeo for 17 years.

Ms Santamaria said Floyd frequently worked as a security guard at the club in the past year. She said both men worked on Tuesday nights

Asked if she thought that Chauvin had a problem with black people, Ms Santamaria said: "Yeah, I think he was afraid and intimidated."

Meanwhile, a prison guard has been suspended after taking part in a re-enactment mocking the killing of Floyd which was captured on video.

A group of white men acted out the killing, one kneeling on another's neck, in front of a US flag and a Donald Trump banner.

The New Jersey Department of Corrections said one of its officers was involved in the "hateful and disappointing video".
[June 11, 2020] BAE Systems to Produce More Vertical Launching System Canisters Under Five-Year U.S. Navy Contract

The U.S. Navy has awarded BAE Systems (News - Alert) a contract to produce multiple types of Vertical Launching System (VLS) canisters with a total lifetime maximum value of $955 million. The initial contract was awarded in February with $24 million funded, followed by contract modifications of $99 million and $43 million received in March and May respectively. Options on the contract include additional canister types for future Navy production requirements. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005404/en/



Vertical Launching System canisters serve in a multifaceted role as containers for missile shipping and storage as well as launch tubes. They also provide identification and firing support to multiple missile types. (Photo: BAE Systems)

"These canisters are a key element of the Navy's Vertical Launching System, and our experience includes 30 years of VLS production, integration and testing to support this world-class capability," said Brent Butcher, vice president and general manager of the Weapon Systems product line at BAE Systems. "The Navy will continue to benefit from our high-quality canisters and lean, efficient operations, which translate into the best possible value for our customers." VLS canisters serve in a multifaceted role as containers for missile shipping and storage as well as launch tubes when loaded into the VLS. They also provide identification and firing support to multiple missile types, including the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, Standard Missile-2, Standard Missile-3, Standard Missile-6, and the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile. Under this latest contract, BAE Systems will produce canisters not only for the U.S. fleet but also for allied nations under a Foreign Military Sales program. Deliveries for the initial order are expected to begin in early 2021, and if all options are exercised, the contract could support the production of canisters over a five-year period, with deliveries extending into 2025. Work on the new contract will be performed at the BAE Systems production facility in Aberdeen (News - Alert), South Dakota, with engineering and program support in Minneapolis. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005404/en/

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Turkeys parliament reportedly passed a controversial bill on June 10 giving nightwatchmen, who patrol the street to report theft and burglaries, almost the same powers as police. Critics are accusing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of wanting to build a loyal militia after the failed coup of 2016 against him.

The nightwatchmen institution attached to interior ministry boasts of over 28,000 members who will now be allowed to carry firearms. They have also been vested with powers to stop and search people that was earlier only allowed to police. Erdogans AKP party argued in the parliament that the new law will enable the nightwatchmen to assist law enforcement agencies in a better way.

People have lost their jobs and their salaries...What good is the watchmen to them? An under-educated mass that will perhaps act as a morality police is being unleashed on society,  said pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party legislator Filiz Kerestecioglu.

According to a presidential ruling in the Official Gazette, Erdogan also appointed new governors in 41 provinces. He shuffled 23 governors between provinces and another 18 were newly appointed. As many as 17 former governors were appointed as chief civil inspectors and one was appointed as a top advisor to Erdogan.

Read: Erdogan Imposes Three-day Lockdown In Turkey, Says Similar Restrictions Would Continue

Minimal restrictions

Erdogan also held a press conference on June 10 following the meeting of the Presidential Cabinet where he discussed the steps to gradually minimise the restrictions. The 66-year-old Turkish leader said that the country has dealt with the pandemic with minimum restrictions, fatalities and economic problems, particularly in comparison to Europe.

Turkey has reported over 173,000 cases of coronavirus with more than 4,700 deaths related to infectious disease so far. As the rate of COVID-19 cases has declined, Erdogan emphasised that people should rearrange their lives in accordance with the principles of mask, distance and hygiene until this plague is fully eradicated.

It is not enough that solely our country defeats the pandemic because the rest of the world should also display the same performance. In this regard, we should get used to the fact that what we call the new normal will continue for a little longer, said Erdogan.

Read: Turkey: Erdogan Backs Cleric Who Claims Homosexuality Brings Disease

Read: Trump And Erdogan Discuss 'worsening Foreign Interference In Libya

(Inputs / Image: AP)
A group of teens is organizing a peaceful space for their fellow San Antonio students to speak up about the Black Lives Matter movement and to honor Communications Arts High School graduate Justin Howell.

Devin Garza, 16, will be a junior in August at Communications Arts High School. She is one of the organizers of a rally planned for Thursday across from Taft High School on Culebra Road, where the Northside ISD magnet school is also located. Garza said what she's planning is a "safe alternative" for teens whose parents may not have allowed them to protest downtown.

READ ALSO: Man critically injured by Austin police during protests identified as San Antonio graduate

The teen said she was motivated by Justin Howell, the 20-year-old who was critically injured when he was shot by Austin police with "less-lethal" ammunition. APD said the intended target was a person standing beside Howell, who allegedly threw a water bottle and backpack, but Howell was struck instead. He suffered a fractured skull and brain damage, according to his family. Howell was a 2018 graduate of Communications Arts High School.

Garza said the rally is also a response from what she's not seeing from adults in her neighborhood.

"The suburban San Antonio silence is deafening," she wrote in a Twitter direct message. "I feel like bringing a rally to the suburbs is important to show that this issue isn't just a city issue and people here are affected, outraged and we're allies. If the adults out here aren't going to make some noise or show support we, the younger generation will!"

Garza did not have an estimate for how many teens she's expecting.

"Whether it's 10 or 30, every voice deserves to be heard," she added.

The rally is planned for 2 to 3:45 p.m. The group has listed a "tips" for joining, like requiring masks and notifying a parent or guardian if a teen is attending alone.

"Above all be peaceful and respectful," an online flyer reads.

Madalyn Mendoza covers news and puro pop culture for MySA.com | mmendoza@mysa.com | @maddyskye
Iran's Knowledge-based companies to raise annual sales to $35 billion

06/11/20

Source: Tehran Times

TEHRAN - Knowledge-based companies in Iran sold products worth 1,200 trillion rials (about $28 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials) in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), while the figure is projected to rise to 1,500 billion rials (about $35 billion) in the current year, said Sourena Sattari, Vice President for Science and Technology.



Source: Islamic Republic News Agency



"Currently, some five thousand knowledge-based companies are active in the country and the number is rapidly increasing so that they will be one of the main pillars of the national economy," he added, IRNA reported on Tuesday.



According to official reports, 250 Iranian knowledge-based companies exported around $400 million of products in the past Iranian calendar year, Mehr quoted Masoud Hafezi, an official with the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology as saying.



Medicine and medical equipment, polymer and chemical products, and industrial machinery were the items exported by the companies mainly to Central Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Persian Gulf littoral states, Hafezi explained.



The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology has reported that 35 domestic knowledge-based companies have been recently listed on the country's stock market and the number is expected to increase in the future.



According to the report, the value of the shares of the mentioned companies is estimated at 1.5 quadrillion rials (over $35.7 billion).

The figure stood at 280 trillion rials (about $6.66 billion) in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19) which shows a significant growth in this field, so the vice presidency is trying to bring five to 10 new knowledge-based companies into the capital market this year.



The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology is following up on several programs to help to fund knowledge-based companies by utilizing capacities of the capital market.



Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani has said that supporting knowledge-based companies is the ministry's priority in the current year.



Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the country's major production units, especially in the field of basic goods and healthcare products, were completely active and this could be an opportunity to increase the country's non-oil exports when the outbreak is over, Rahmani noted.
By Express News Service

KADAPA: Kadapa district reported 42 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, of which 18 are expatriates from Kuwait, 12 from Nawabpeta in Jammalamadugu mandal, six from Proddatur, four from Kadapa and one each from CK Dinne and Rajupalem. People from other states too contributed to the surge in cases in the district.

Till date, eight persons from other states including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Maharashtra have tested positive for the virus, officials said. Also, 49 persons who returned from Kuwait, one each from Qatar and Saudi Arabia have tested positive.

Nawabpeta in Jammalamadugu Mandal emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot after the relaxation of lockdown with lorry drivers visiting the area because of the location of a cement factory in the village, officials said.

On the brighter side, the discharge of 125 persons gave relief to the district administration.

The medical teams have collected 42,238 swab samples from persons with symptoms of coronavirus in the district and the results of 1,748 samples are awaited. District Collector C Harikiran has announced that Godugunur in Badvel rural will be a non-containment zone from Thursday as no positive case was reported in the village in the past 28 days.
Officials at the Oregon Health Authority say they do not know how many contact tracers are working to prevent the spread of coronavirus four weeks after Gov. Kate Brown allowed most counties to reopen.

State officials in April calculated that at least 631 contact tracers would be needed to identify and speak to close contacts of people with identified infections.

The state used that figure to create county-level staffing targets. County officials submitted reopening plans. And Brown on May 15 allowed some counties to move forward despite missing staffing benchmarks, so long as local officials said they could beef up the workforce if needed.

But one month later, as identified daily infections reach an all-time high statewide, the Oregon Health Authority cannot provide basic statistics about how many tracers are currently working.

State health officials, after more than a week of questioning from The Oregonian/OregonLive and a public records request, said they are in the process of surveying counties and expect to have results by the end of the week.

The states inability to provide the tally is concerning, said Benjamin Clark, a University of Oregon associate professor who this week co-authored a report calling for far more coronavirus testing and contact tracing to ensure Oregon businesses can remain open.

It definitely is very concerning that the state is not taking a more proactive approach, and doesnt have the data to back it up, he said.

A recent outbreak in Lincoln County shows that even some of the most prepared jurisdictions could face immense challenges performing contact tracing.

Lincoln was one of just a dozen counties that, according to state data from April, had enough contact tracers to hit the states benchmark of 15 workers for every 100,000 residents. Lincoln County needed only seven tracers based on its population but had double that, according to the states data.

Officials did not have trouble keeping up with infections until this weekend, when Pacific Seafood in Newport reported at least 124 workers or contractors had become infected, quintupling Lincoln Countys cases nearly overnight.

The county subsequently increased contract tracers to roughly five dozen  with help from the state, nearby counties, a community college and a local tribe  to keep up with the outbreak, said Susan Trachsel, a county spokeswoman.

We were ready," she said. "But whos ready for this, really? she said of the massive outbreak.

Oregon so far has reported relatively few infections and deaths compared to other states. Out of about 153,000 people tested, officials have identified about 5,000 confirmed or suspected infections and 169 people have died.

That low infection rate has been part of the justification by the Oregon Health Authority for not requiring more contact tracers.

State officials set staffing benchmarks for counties but did not mandate everyone be hired before reopening, noting that it would be unreasonable to spend money on employees who might not have enough work.

Counties with lots of cases are still struggling to fully staff up.

Multnomah County, which applied to the state to reopen this Friday, has only roughly half the 122 tracers needed based on its population.

Even those staffing projections are low, compared to recommendations by some public health experts.

During a pandemic, tracing capacity should be double what Oregon has called for, or 30 per 100,000 residents, according to some experts. That suggests Oregons total tracing need could approach 1,265.

Thats the figure Clark, the UO public policy professor, cited in his white paper published online Tuesday. He wrote it with Robert Parker, executive director of the universitys Institute for Policy Research and Engagement, and Tim Duy, a university economics professor.

Clark argues that to keep Oregon open, tests should eventually increase to 65,000 a day in conjunction with more contact tracing. The figure is based on a Harvard University report calling for 5 million tests daily across the country.

Paying for those tests and workers in Oregon could cost between $150 million to more than $800 million a year, according to estimates.

But thats still just a fraction of 1% of the states overall gross domestic product from last year, making the investment worthwhile to keep businesses open and Oregonians employed, Clark said. And the costs could be shared between the government and private sector.

This is the best investment that the state can make, said Clark, who added that the paper will be shared with state officials.

The Oregon Health Authority has said the initial calculation for 631 tracers was just a start and officials have plans for at least 800 across the state, including people who work for counties, community organizations and the state agency.

The newsroom last week filed a public records request seeking an updated number of contact tracers statewide. Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state health officer and epidemiologist, said he did not know how many tracers were working but a survey would go out.

This week, Philip Schmidt, a health authority spokesman, indicated in a statement that the survey had yet to be sent as of Tuesday.

Results are now expected by the end of the week.

The survey were sending this week is intended to take a snapshot of each countys evolving capacity and includes far more than just strict personnel numbers, Schmidt said. It includes questions designed to help us understand their capabilities and needs.

We want to measure each countys progress, he added, and assess their needs for current and future support in relation to their infection rates and risks for future outbreaks.

Although its unclear how many tracers have been working over the past month, it appears public health officials by some measures have been able to keep an adequate handle on cases.

The health authority set a goal that health officials initiate follow-up within 24 hours on 95% of cases. According to the most recent data from last week, that happened in all but one county.

Schmidt declined to say whether the health authority believed Oregon still had not reached the 631 tracers initially identified in targets, or if it was problematic that the health authority could not quantify existing workers.

The public health agency, which is leading Oregons response to the pandemic, is working closely with counties, he said, to expand tracing and to forge new partnerships between local health authorities and community organizations.

The desired expansion and collaboration, he said, doesnt happen overnight.

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Sir Keir Starmer today urged Boris Johnson to turn the nation's empty theatres, museums, libraries and leisure centres into classrooms to get children back to school as soon as possible.

The Government has U-turned on its 'ambition' to get all primary school pupils back before the summer holidays as ministers admitted social distancing rules and smaller classes made it impossible.

Sir Keir said there is 'no doubt that the way children are educated needs to change' because of the coronavirus crisis and it is clear 'schools cannot reopen as normal'.

The need to adhere to the two metre social distancing restriction means schools need to find more space for teaching and disused public buildings could be the answer, the Labour leader argued.

However, his call for the swift return of schools is likely to spark accusations of hypocrisy given some union bosses have strongly opposed Government efforts to reopen classrooms.

Sir Keir's comments came amid reports that Mr Johnson is planning to scrap the existing two metre rule by September so that schools can fully reopen for the start of the next academic year.

Sir Keir Starmer, pictured in London yesterday, has urged ministers to repurpose empty museums and libraries as classrooms to help children return to school

The two metre social distancing rule has made it impossible for schools to bring back all of their pupils. Pictured is a primary in Huddersfield

The phased reopening of primary schools in England started on June 1 while secondary schools are due to allow some year 10 and year 12 pupils to meet with their teachers from June 15.

The Government had wanted all primary school pupils to return for a month before the summer holidays.

But Education Secretary Gavin Williamson admitted on Tuesday that many schools are 'not able to welcome all primary children back for a full month before the summer'.

Mr Williamson said ministers will now be 'working to bring all children back to school in September'.

Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Keir accused the Government of having a 'blind spot' on education which is harming the long term life chances of the current generation of school children.

He said there had been 'no plan, no consensus, no leadership' as he warned children must not be allowed to go six months without proper classroom learning.

Sir Keir called for the Government to do three things: Repurpose empty buildings to act as classrooms, develop a national plan with teachers to ensure a full September return and make efforts now to reverse gaps in attainment caused by the outbreak.

'There is no doubt that the way children are educated needs to change in light of the pandemic,' he said.

'Schools cannot reopen as normal. Adaptations need to be made so that teachers, children and parents can be kept safe.

'Introducing these changes must be a national effort using the creativity of the British people. Towns, villages and cities are full of empty buildings and spaces that can be repurposed.

'Theatres, museums, libraries and leisure centres could be used and opened up for children.'

Sir Keir claimed the Government had been 'too slow' to act at every stage of the crisis and that a 'ridiculous situation' had now arisen where theme parks will soon reopen but parents do not know when their children will be able to go back to school.

There is now a cross-party push for empty public buildings to be used as classrooms with Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the Education Select Committee, having already demanded a similar move.

Mr Halfon called for Mr Johnson to set up a 'national education army' to teach children and help them catch up on their education in the coming months.

He wants retired teachers, graduates and Ofsted inspectors to work with schools to 'open school buildings and other buildings and look after these left-behind pupils to make sure they are learning'.
Anbang Insurance Group founder Wu Xiaohui / Reuters-Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk



Anbang Insurance Group founder Wu Xiaohui's name has been mentioned during an ongoing legal battle between the Chinese insurer and Mirae Asset Global Investments over a disrupted $5.8 billion deal for 15 luxury hotels in the United States.



Market observers are paying keen attention to this issue, wondering whether or not the jailed founder is connected to the fraudulent deeds that resulted in disputes over the ownership of the hotels.



According to the New York-based news outlet Real Deal, the Korean investment firm's recent countersuit against its Chinese counterpart presented a theory connecting the deeds for the hotels to the former Anbang chairman, who was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2018 for alleged fraud and embezzlement.



The U.S. media outlet focusing on real estate news wrote that Mirae Asset's claim that a "Chinese power play" could be behind the disputed deeds is based on an agreement that bears Wu's signature.



After Mirae Asset said it discovered dozens of lawsuits over Anbang's properties were pending in Delaware, the company attempted to cancel its purchase of the 15 U.S. hotels. It alleged the seller failed to guarantee its ownership of the properties without securing title insurance for them.



Anbang has refuted the claim, saying it was not obliged to secure title insurance.



Against this backdrop, Anbang sued Mirae Asset in April in Delaware for the buyer's refusal to complete payment for its purchase, and Mirae Asset answered with a counterclaim filed in May.



A source familiar with this issue said Mirae Asset suspects that Wu's attempt to conceal his assets before his arrest caused problems with the ownership of the hotels.



"Mirae Asset appears to doubt that Dajia Insurance Group, which replaced Anbang, has hastened to sell its assets, although it was aware that the properties had problems," the source said on condition of anonymity. "If it's true, the result of the trial will be in favor of Mirae Asset."



Since the arrest of Wu, Anbang has been under control of Beijing, and has been rebranded as Dajia.



In 2018, the Chinese government realized that most of Anbang's assets were owned by the former chairman and his acquaintances, so it ordered the insurer to sell the assets.



A year later in September 2019, Mirae Asset signed a sale and purchase agreement for the Anbang-owned hotels in nine U.S. cities, including the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, JW Marriott Essex House in New York and the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.



Anbang has denied alleged problems with the hotels' ownership, regarding Mirae Asset's attempt to terminate the deal as a typical case of "buyer's remorse" amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has dealt a severe blow to the lodging industry worldwide.



The Chinese insurer has urged the Korean firm to fulfill the contract, while Mirae Asset wants to get back its $580 million deposit and cancel the deal.



"Whether the COVID-19 pandemic is an act of God or a force majeure will be the key issue of the forthcoming trial," another source close to the deal said on condition of anonymity.



The Delaware Chancery Court set the trial date for August 24.



Both Mirae Asset and Anbang declined to comment on the rumor about Wu's involvement in the U.S. hotel fraud, saying they are waiting for the court decision.


A funeral procession was recently taken out in Odisha in which the social distancing norms were throw to the wind. It took place in Rourkelas minority-dominated Nala Road area on June 8.

The procession was that of Dilshad Khan, a history-sheeter, who was killed in an attack by his rival gang over an old rivalry. Thusands of his supporters took the procession through citys roadds, and even marched in front of a police station but cops stood as silent spectators.

These people were not only bunched together closely, they did not even wear masks. A video of the procession went viral on social media.

Khan was hacked to death on June 7 night near Railway Colony park of Rourkela city, and the police have detained four people who were allegedly involved in the murder.

Rourkela SP K Siva Subramani said the police administration is studying the video of the procession and is in the process of identifying the people who violated the social distancing guidelines. We would take appropriate action as per norms, he said.

This is for the second time that Rourkela saw the gross violation of the Covid-19 restrictions. On May 26, hundreds of people in Nala Road, declared as a containment zone after detection of Covid-19 cases, had pelted stones at police and health officials asking for lifting of containment zone restrictions. Thirty people were arrested for indulging in violence that left 40, including 12 policemen and some journalists, injured.

Last Sunday, six of those who were arrested over their role in the violence had tested positive.

As per Covid-19 guidelines of Odisha, not more than 20 people can attend a cremation.
Kyruus, a Boston, MA-based company that delivers provider search and scheduling solutions for health systems, raised $30m in funding.

Francisco Partners made the investment, which followed a $42m Series D round Kyruus closed late last year. Francisco Partners Co-President Ezra Perlman, who focuses on investments in the healthcare IT sector, will serve on Kyruus Board of Directors.

The additional funding, which brings total funding to more than $155m, will accelerate the companys plans to expand its platform, broaden its presence with health systems, and expand to new market segments.

The company now serves 600 hospitals and over a quarter of a million healthcare providers across the US.

Led by Graham Gardner, MD, CEO, Kyruus delivers search and scheduling solutions for health systems to match patients with the right providers across their enterprise-wide access points. Serving more than 250,000 providers across health systems nationwide, the Kyruus ProviderMatch suite of solutionsfor consumers, access centers, and care settingsenables a modern patient experience, while optimizing provider utilization.

FinSMEs

10/06/2020
Two Hill Country politicians are under fire for controversial comments they made Tuesday as racial tensions throughout the country run high.

The mayor of Woodcreek, a small town about 66 miles northeast of San Antonio, deleted a Facebook post in which she wrote Black Lives Matter was "a Socialist attempt to take over our lives, using guilt and shame."

In Kerr County, a county commissioner said on his radio show that George Floyd, who died while in police custody, did not deserve the funeral he received, calling him "basically a thug."

Woodcreek mayor

A Hill Country mayor faced criticism for a series of Facebook posts about Black Lives Matter, including one in which she labeled the movement "a threat to our lives."

Gloria Whitehead, mayor of Woodcreek, penned the since-deleted posts on Tuesday, according to The Wimberley View.

Whitehead repeatedly said "I'm not a racist" in several follow-ups to her original post, which called Black Lives Matter "a Socialist attempt to take over our lives, using guilt and shame."

After noting that a relative's salon in Delaware had recently been damaged, Whitehead linked Black Lives Matter to communist groups and the Weather Underground.

The View reported that the mayor's posts spurred hundreds of comments, many calling Whitehead racist and requesting her resignation.

City officials were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

The Woodcreek city council adopted a social media policy in 2019 that advises the mayor and councilmembers to "keep postings factual and accurate" and "consider content carefully, because postings are widely accessible."

Before deleting the posts, Whitehead defended her statements.

"I don't support the BLM Group...for my personal reasons and research over many years and just like that I'm a Racist," the mayor wrote. "...and have unmercifully been vilified. Let me be clear, I do not support, BLM, the Movement. Never have I ever said that Black Lives do not matter.

"Do not misquote me nor change the dialogue. To the contrary..All Lives Matter. AND..I AM NOT A Racist..You can call me a Racist all day long and I'll still not bow to the BLM idealogy."

State Representative Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, responded to Whitehead on Facebook, writing, "As a fellow elected official, I am disappointed to see this."

"Your words, intentionally or not, do harm to our black community members," Zwiener said. "Please take the time to understand why. If you want to learn more about why this is harmful, I am happy to sit down and help you through this work. Black lives matter, full stop, and every single person in power should be stepping up to make sure theyre treated as such."

Kerr County Commissioner

A Kerr County Commissioner said George Floyd, who died in police custody and sparked a global push for police reform and social justice, didn't deserve any of the "accolades" he received during a memorial service attended by thousands Tuesday in Houston.

Along with being an elected Republican official of Kerr County, about an hour outside of San Antonio, Pct. 1 Commissioner Harley Belew also hosts a radio segment on the Hill Country Patriot. The day before Floyd was buried, he shared his opinions on his death and the memorials planned in Houston.

Audio from the radio show was recorded by Kerrville United, a volunteer-run website geared toward news in the area.

Belew opened the show by calling Floyd "basically a thug." He opposed the Floyd's funeral because he said others were "denied" having services for their loved ones due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Someone that dies with a knee on their neck has probably done something wrong to get the cops called there and thats what people are not talking about," Belew continues. I was waiting to see how this was going to play out. I figured it was going to be one of these Michael Brown deals, and, of course, it has been.

Brown, 18, was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in 2014. The shooting also prompted protests in the St. Louis area for a week after the shooting and then again when Wilson was not indicted.

Belew went on to call Floyd a "useful tool" in pushing a "message."

"George Floyd does not deserve the funeral he's getting, he does not deserve the accolades," he added.

The commissioner could not immediately be reached for comment. On his personal Facebook page, he penned a public post the same day of the radio segment saying he believes the "human race" is the only race and he has "no idea why we're not all the same color."

Discussion within the county, which encompasses Kerville, is mixed with support for Belew and disdain. Some suggested running him "out of town" for the "stunt." Another resident called on County Judge Rob Kelly to address Belew's behavior.

"What he (Belew) said is what he said, I didn't say it," Kelly said when reached by phone, then declined to comment further.
A new popular demonstration against the torturers of the Polisario front is rocking, since Monday, the Tindouf camps, South-western Algeria.

Dozens of Sahrawis, men, women and children, are taking part in this demonstration staged to protest against the condemnation, by a so-called Polisario military tribunal, of a 70-year old man to 7 years in jail for his alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

The angry protesters against repressive machine of the Polisario demand the immediate release of this former member of the Polisario armed militia who become camel farmer after his retirement.

Mohamed Sellahi belongs to the powerful tribe of the Rguibate Ouled Bourhim. He was abducted by a group of drug traffickers coming from Mali. The dealers handcuffed Sellahi and took him in their 44 car. After patrolling Polisario militiamen intercepted their vehicle, they put Sellahi and his kidnappers in the notorious prison of Dhaibia, reported on Monday Moroccan online yabiladi news website quoting a source in the Sahara.

During the night, the doors of the prison were mysteriously opened, allowing drug traffickers to escape thanks, of course, to the bribes paid to the jail guards. Being convinced of his innocence, Sellahi refused to run away. He remained in prison until he was sentenced to seven years in jail for a crime he didnt commit, added the same source.

To calm down the protesters, Polisario leaders have promised Sellahis family a possible pardon from the Front chief Brahim Ghali.

In the Tindouf camps, drug trafficking is a common trade involving several Polisarios leaders. They used this illicit trade to line up their pockets in connivance with Algerian generals.

Any dealer, who dares to operate in their area located in south-western Algeria, he is quickly captured and handed heavy jail terms.
STUTTGART, Germany  Midway through We Are Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On, a theatrical walkabout through the Stuttgart State Theaters, I had one of the most intense experiences of my theatergoing life.

Standing in front of a two-way mirror, I stared in fascination, and a little discomfort, as the actress Therese Dorr locked eyes with me from the other side and recited a monologue that conjured up an apartment  and a life  gone to ruin, like in Pompeii, she kept repeating. The world around me faded away, too. I seemed to fall into her eyes and into her speech.

It lasted no more than five minutes, but that was enough time for the hypnosis to take effect. Such theatrical intimacy came about because of, not despite, the social distancing requirements that have made conventional live performance  onstage before a packed house  impossible so far during the pandemic.
The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday (June 11) issued notice to Maharashtra government seeking response on a petition demanding a CBI probe into the lynching of two sadhus by a mob in Palghar.

The relatives of two Juna Akhara priests who were lynched had filed the plea in the top court seeking a CBI probe into the incident. In the plea, they mentioned that they have no faith in the Maharashtra government or police. The petitioner also said that they do not believe that a fair and just probe would be conducted in this matter by Maharashtra police as they suspect their involvement in the incident.

In another petition that was filed in the SC, the petitioner had claimed that it was widely reported by the media that the Maharashtra police failed to use force to stop the mob from lynching the two sadhus. "This happened despite the fact that whole country was under lockdown since March 25 and that no person is allowed to be out of their house and everyone has been asked to follow social distancing which raises a huge suspicion on part of local police," the plea said.

"During this whole incident, police did not take any concrete step to protect these innocent men which could be proved by the fact that they did not use any force to disperse the crowd and one of the video even shows that one of the police official actually pushed saints to the crowd when they were asking for the protection," it added.

The mob lynching of three men, including two saints Kalpavriksha Giri Maharaj, Sushil Giri Maharaj, took place in Palghar on April 16 upon rumours that they were kidnapping children to harvest organs, including kidneys.

The two sadhus and Nilesh Yalgade, who was driving a Maruti Eeco Van, were going to Surat to attend the funeral of a saint from their Kandivali ashram in Mumbai when they were attacked by the mob.
The Ministry of Justice said Wednesday it wants to crack down on a perceived increase in child abuse by banning physical punishment of children even by their own parents.

Korea's civil law stipulates that parents or those acting in loco parentis may, "in order to protect or educate their children, take necessary disciplinary actions."

But the ministry says "disciplinary" and "necessary" allow for too wide an interpretation that could include physical punishment. A new clause is to be inserted that forbids it.

The ministry hopes the revised law will eliminate any legal basis to justify egregious child abuse in the name of discipline. The initiative was prompted by a recent case that shocked the nation recently when a nine-year-old boy died after his stepmother locked him in a suitcase for seven hours because he had been "disobedient."

The ministry is wary of scrapping the old clause that gives parents the right to discipline their children since it also encompasses the authority to educate and protect them -- a swift smack may be the only way to prevent a toddler from reaching for a hot plate.

But the revision will make it illegal to physically punish children under nearly all circumstances, and a parent who resorts to violence stands to lose any future custody battles. The question for legal experts is where the line is to be drawn. Does making a child stand in the corner or on the "naughty step" constitute physical abuse?


For years, we at The Star have talked about, sometimes in terms of despair, the need to reflect the changing nature of this city Our coverage has not been inclusive enough. One obvious solution would be to hire more reporters and editors of all colors and cultures. New perspectives and new contacts would clearly improve the breadth and scope of our coverage.

1995: Toronto & the Star: Report of the Diversity Committee

How can it be that a generation  a quarter century  has passed and still the Toronto Star and newsrooms throughout North America have not come to terms with the reality and repercussions of predominantly white newsrooms that look nothing like the communities they seek to serve?

Certainly, journalists at all levels of news organizations have seemingly long understood that a more diverse newsroom can provide more representative, more accurate and more complete news coverage that is necessary in a just and equitable society. Yet, after all these years, the truth of this matter is found in statements released earlier this year by the Canadian Association of Black Journalists and Canadian Journalists of Colour.

Canadian newsrooms and media coverage are not truly representative of our countrys racial diversity. We acknowledge that journalism outlets have made efforts to address this worrying gap, but glaring racial inequity persists.

I am not the first person to note that the brutal police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent global protests against systemic equality and for racial justice have presented journalism with something of a #MeToo moment  a seemingly rapid and revolutionary recognition of the need for change and broad refusal to accept the status quo of a long simmering situation.

Indeed, as Canadians confront the broader realities and repercussions of systematic anti-Black and Indigenous racism in our own country, it is well past time for a reckoning within journalism, a time to listen, to learn and to examine journalisms role in the damaging prevalence of systemic racism.

As many have also made clear, this is most of all, a time for action. To its credit, the Star and its parent company, Torstar, committed this week, in a statement sent to all staff, to taking concrete measures to address inequality, exclusion and discrimination.

That was followed by a memo to the newsroom from Star editor Irene Gentle, who endorsed well-justified calls to action by the CABJ and CJoC that hold newsrooms to account for racial equality in Canadian media.

Calls on behalf of Black, Indigenous and journalists of colour are founded in principles of anti-racism, justice and accountability this newsroom has long stood for in its reporting but did not live up to in its internal make-up, organization and, at times, judgment, Gentle said. Words dont matter without actions and these actions can only make us a better, more fair newsroom to work in, inspire more relevant, vital journalism and help make our ideals a reality.

In an earlier note to staff, Gentle acknowledged that the Stars newsroom is not representative of the communities it reports on, even as its own outstanding anti-racism reporting continues to expose systemic racism within other institutions and organizations such as education and police.

Internally, we obviously cannot ignore our own deficits, she said. There are historical and financial reasons for this, but that, while a fact, is not an excuse.

Among the actions the Star and Torstar news organizations have committed to are: voluntary surveys of newsroom demographics to measure employment diversity statistics, hiring and promoting of Black and Indigenous employees and other people of colour and diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, training and mentoring of young and aspiring journalists of colour, including possible collaborations with journalism schools. Gentle also committed to establishing ongoing consultations with racialized and other communities through advisory groups.

Some of these are underway or beginning. Others will require some time to set up and entrench, Gentle said. But we are committed to doing it because we, like all of you, know it is the right thing to do.

The Stars newsroom commitments are supported fully by the Torstar organization overall. In the memo to all staff, Torstar CEO John Boynton made clear the company cannot just talk about appointing more committees, more task forces more study groups to look at these actions.

As a media company with a long history of championing equality for all, Torstar is uniquely positioned to learn from our past, to give voice to the present through our news coverage and providing opportunities in our pages and on our websites for frank, honest and open conversations about race and diversity and to help provide guidance and examples for future generations, he said.

While I have been discouraged at knowing how long Canadian newsrooms have been talking about this issue, with so little real and necessary change happening. I am heartened by these statements of actions and our CEOs words seeking accountability: We will be  and we should be  held accountable for ensuring that we act. If we fail, please let us know.

Indeed, equality and diversity are not simply nice to have, an exhaustive 2019 report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism on the struggle for talent and diversity in modern newsrooms tells us.

More diversity and a better representation of the underlying population is not only a question of justness and fairness, its also a question of power, as the media still largely decide who gets to be heard in society and thus who gets to shape political and social issues, that report states.

Within the Star, I believe there is strong understanding that this weeks commitment to action is just the beginning as we all listen to learn and understand our own roles in the perpetuation of newsroom inequity. I see need for ongoing discussion and debate among journalists, their employers and unions, people of colour from the wider community, journalism scholars and industry associations about newsrooms structures, and journalisms practices, standards and values. Most important, as is happening throughout North America now, this time demands a rethinking about how journalism and its mission in a democracy that stands for universal human rights is defined  and more important, who defines it.

Whether we regard this moment as a reckoning or a revolution, the time for that is now.
 Flash

China on Wednesday rebuked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's remarks on HSBC backing the Hong Kong national security legislation, urging the U.S. side to adopt a correct view and cease "driving a wedge" and "making inflammatory accusations."

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks when asked to comment on Pompeo's statement, in which he claimed that the "show of fealty seems to have earned HSBC little respect in Beijing, which continues to use the bank's business in China as political leverage against London." He also said China's browbeating of HSBC should serve as a "cautionary tale," and shows why countries should avoid economic overreliance on China.

In response, Hua told a routine press briefing that it is narrow-minded and ludicrous to take people as "being threatened" just because they are not following suit with the United States in attacking China.

As "living things can flourish without injuring one another" and "roads can run in parallel without interfering with one another," Hua said that countries, parties and individuals are entitled to make independent judgments based on facts and take actions in line with their own interests.

"As we've stated on many occasions, the decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for Hong Kong to safeguard national security and moves to safeguard its long-term stability and prosperity not only serve the fundamental interests of Hong Kong society, but also will help to protect the legitimate rights and interests of institutions and personnel of all countries stationed there," she said.

Hua said that, since the decision made by China's National People's Congress, parties including the business community have made fair and objective comments based on facts and according to their own fundamental interests.

Hong Kong-related issues are purely matters of China's internal affairs, which brook no foreign interference, Hua said.

"We urge the U.S. side to adopt a correct view on the national security legislation for Hong Kong, stop driving a wedge and making inflammatory accusations, cease meddling in China's internal affairs under the pretext of Hong Kong-related issues, and contribute more to Hong Kong's stability and prosperity," Hua added.
Washington, June 11 : Former US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell backed President Donald Trump's plan to reduce troops in Germany, saying there was no need to pay too much for other countries' defence.

"American taxpayers no longer feel like paying too much for the defence of other countries," Grenell told German media outlet Bild Live on Wednesday.

"There will still be 25,000 soldiers in Germany, that's no small number," added the former official, who resigned on June 1.

Last week, Trump directed the Pentagon to reduce American. military presence in Germany by September.

Citing US government officials, The Wall Street Journal said in a report on June 5 that the move would reduce 9,500 troops from the 34,500 troops that are permanently assigned in Germany, reports Xinhua news agency.

The move also limits the size of US troops deployed in Germany at any one time at the 25,000-troop level.

According to the report, overall troop levels under current practice can rise to as high as 52,000 as units rotate in and out or take part in training exercises.

The report came days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she would not attend the G7 Summit that initially scheduled at the White House later this month due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A person familiar with the matter was quoted as saying that the troops' reduction plan had been discussed within the administration for months and was not linked to Merkel's decision on G7 Summit.

The reduction plan might further strain the relations between Washington and Berlin.

The two allies have been at odds with each other on Iran nuclear issues, Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, and defence burden-sharing, among others.
The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz Announces Investigation on Behalf of Raytheon Technologies Corporation Investors (RTX)

The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz is investigating potential claims against the board of directors of Raytheon (News - Alert) Technologies Corporation ("Raytheon" or the "Company") (NYSE: RTX) concerning whether the board breached its fiduciary duties to shareholders.

If you are a shareholder, click here to participate.







On May 29, 2020, Raytheon announced in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had unilaterally, and without prior notice, changed the terms of stock awards for Board members and a group of Raytheon managers, instantly increasing the value of the unvested awards by more than $100 million.

Our investigation concerns whether the Company's board of directors breached its fiduciary duties to shareholders and/or grossly mismanaged the Company in connection with the above alleged misconduct.

Follow us for updates on Twitter (News - Alert): twitter.com/FRC_LAW.

If you purchased Raytheon shares and wish to discuss this matter with us, or have any questions concerning your rights and interests with regards to this matter, please contact Frank R. Cruz, of The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-914-5007, by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.frankcruzlaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005801/en/
Camper fire claims the life of two people in Marshall County
National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wuogon, John Dumelo has facilitated the dredging of a big gutter at West Legon.



The decision to start work on dredging the gutter, he said, was informed by a promise he made to the community when he paid a visit to assess the discomfort residents face whenever it rains.



According to Mr. Dumelo, he gathered the gutter causes flooding when it rains. Despite the incessant calls on the powers that be to come to the rescue of the residents, the narrative has not changed.



When it rains, here becomes flooded. Its been flooding every single year. The people have complained that at least the gutter should be widened... If you look at the Christian Village bridge, its low and so when it rains, all the debris and everything collects and thats how come the water levels here rise up, he said at the scene, Wednesday.



Dumelo admitted the dredging will not solve the issue completely. The long-term plan, he indicated, is to raise the Christian Village bridge.



Its very pathetic. When it rains people carry their mattresses, their TV sets just waiting for the water to come down. This is Ayawaso West and its not fair. Im an action person; once I said Ill do it; Ill do it to be able to help the people. To be honest, what we are doing today is not going to help the people 100% but its going to help them at least 30 or 40%, he noted.



Some members of the community excited about the development expressed gratitude to the politician for the effort to ease their plights.







Source: Ghanaweb









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:32:01|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Arab League (AL) Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Thursday condemned the Israeli moves for annexing any parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a statement, Aboul Gheit said "the annexation of Palestinian lands constitutes new brutal aggression on the Palestinian people and the sovereignty of their territories."

He reiterated the annexation plan is a blatant violation of international laws and the United Nations (UN) charters in this regard, adding that it will completely undermine any chances for upholding peace in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political rival Benny Gantz signed a deal in April for a unity government that could accelerate the prime minister's plans to annex parts of the West Bank in the coming months.

The annexation is, in fact, part of U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Middle East, better known as the Deal of the Century.

The plan has met strong opposition from the Palestinians and the Arab world as well as international organizations such as the UN, which denounced the plan as a violation of international law. Enditem
The now infamous killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis has again put sharp focus on the wide disparities of race and ethnicity in the makeup of most local police forces from the communities they safeguard - including those in Connecticut.

At nearly all of the Connecticuts larger municipalities there is a yawning gulf between the ethnic and racial makeup of the police departments and the populations of the communities they serve. The disparities have changed little since the CT Mirror first documented them in 2014 after the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

In Hartford, only about 11.5 percent percent of the police department is black, while the city has a 36 percent black population. About 35 percent of Danburys population is Latino, but only 9 percent of its police officers claim that ethnicity. And roughly 11.4 percent of Meridens population is black, but only about 3.4 percent of its police officers are African-American.

The Bridgeport Police Department did not respond to requests for information about the current racial and ethnic makeup of its force but, in 2014, the population of Connecticuts largest city was 35 percent black, compared to 15 percent of its police.

In New Britain, however, 9.6 percent of its police force is African American, nearly matching the population rate of African-Americans in the city. New Britain Police Chief Christopher Chute, a 22-year veteran of the force, is proud of that, but says hed like to boost the numbers of Latinos in his ranks. We really need more Hispanics to apply, Chute said.

While the population of New Britain is more than 45 percent Latino, only 11.5 percent of its police force is Hispanic.

Recruiting is one of the most difficult things in 2020, Chute said, not only for minority officers but across the board.

Theres been a steady decline in applications and we dont have all the answers why, Chute said. He said negative publicity may have dampened enthusiasm for a career in law enforcement.

Since hed like his police force to reflect his community, Chute said he aggressively tries to recruit minority candidates, first from the town and then at other venues including sites across the state that hold the CHIP Physical Ability Assessment used in Connecticut to determine whether an applicant is physically fit for a policing job.

We set up a booth right at the site, Chute said.

Besides passing the CHIP test, applicants for Connecticuts municipal police forces must pass a written test, polygraph exam, background check, psychological evaluation and medical exam.

But the rigorous application process is not usually a problem, Chute said.

The problem is we need to get them in the door first, he said.

Retention is also not a problem, Chute said, since the New Britain Police Department offers personnel the opportunity to retire with a state pension.

Many small police forces say their officers are lured away to large, city departments that can offer better pay and benefits.

Experts say that increasing the ranks of minority officers alone wont solve all the underlying problems of police brutality. But they also say diversity could help strengthen ties between local police and the communities on their beat.

Daryl McGraw, co-chairman of the Police Accountability Task Force, said the disconnect between urban communities and their police forces make residents feel like being in prison. Police act like guards instead of being part of the community, he said.

McGraw said police should ideally be recruited from the communities they serve, which would naturally lead not only to a more accurate reflection of its racial composition, but also to a deeper knowledge of the people and places they work to protect.

Like Chute, Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said its been hard to recruit new officers in the past few years, whether they be white, black or Hispanic.

Its not a career thats desired right now, Spagnolo said. Theres been a lot of negative stories and negative sentiment about the police.

Yet Spagnolo said having a diverse force is important and hes made outreach to the local NAACP, faith based leaders and put up a tent  for 16 hours  at The Gathering a multicultural event Waterbury holds every year. Those recruitment efforts may have had some success because Spagnolo said about 40 percent of the applicants in his last recruitment drive were minorities.

Our goal is to have a police force that reflects the community it serves, Spagnolo said.

He said a diverse force may not be the cure-all to bad policing  he believes training is central to good policing  but said diversity helps police understand cultural issues and foster closer ties with multi-racial and multi-cultural communities.

He said his progressive force already undergoes implicit bias training and de-escalation training, and is considering adding anti-racism training to the curriculum.

As far as reforms, Spagnolo said some may be needed and the federal government should tie policing grants to mandatory training and other requirements.

Policing is going through a very drastic change, Spagnolo said. Its a very volatile situation.

Changing the culture

A number of factors are slowing progress in addressing an imbalance that dates back generations, including the lack of appeal a policing job holds for many minority youth  especially because there is evidence blacks and Hispanics are more likely to suffer violence at the hands of police officers.

The racial imbalance is not by any means apparent only in Connecticut.

A 2016 survey by the Justice Departments Bureau of Justice Statistics, the latest available of most of the nations police departments and sheriffs offices, found that, nationwide overall, one in four officers, and one in five first-line supervisors, were black or Hispanic. Since measures of the nations population range from about 12.4 percent- 13.4 percent black and 17-18.3 percent Latino  some 30-32 percent minority  the disparity between the minority composition of police nationally and of the nations population seems not that wide.

The number of minority officers is not uniformly distributed, however. The balance of races and ethnicity is most reflective of the nations population in the largest cities of half a million inhabitants or more, according to the BJS study. The proportion of black and Hispanic officers in smaller municipalities dropped significantly the smaller the population of the community. In towns that had between 50,000 and 25,000 residents, for instance, the average was 87 percent percent white officers, 6 percent black officers and 5.2 percent Latino officers. Over time nationally, the percentage of black officers has been relatively static at about 11 percent, the BJS study said. The percentage of Hispanic officers increased slightly from nearly 8 percent in 1997 to more than 12 percent in 2016.

In Minneapolis, the city of about 430,000 people where George Floyd was killed on Memorial Day, 20 percent of the citys police force are minority officers while about 39 percent of the citys population is black and Hispanic.

Since demonstrations erupted to protest Floyds death and the larger problem of police brutality, several of Connecticuts police chiefs have expressed sympathy with the protesters, including Norwalk Police Chief Thomas E. Kulhawik. He went out to greet between 400 to 500 demonstrators who marched from I-95 to his station last Sunday.

Kulhawik said he knew many of the marchers who ran the gamut in age, race and ethnicity.

Our message was that we heard their issues and we understood, Kulhawik said. The chief also said recruiting minority officers had been difficult when the economy was booming before the pandemic hit.

When the economy is good, there are a lot of options to policing, he said.

Policing not aspirational for black youth

McGraw, of the Police Transparency and Accountability Task Force, said the effort to diversify police through recruitment should be grounded in a push to make being a police officer attractive (to minorities) again by changing the culture. He believes that police training should be reformed from the ground up to emphasize problem solving and communication and de-emphasize the use of force.

The weapon should be the last resort, he said.

In addition, McGraw said that much more stringent accountability measures should be established. Taking a human beings life should be very difficult, he said. It shouldnt be you can kill somebody and show up for work tomorrow.

John DeCarlo, a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven and the former police chief of Branford, said police that look exactly like their community will get a better results.

But a diverse police force may not always mean less abusive behavior. DeCarlo cited a university study that found black police officers were more likely than white officers to use a taser on black suspects.

We dont have an explanation for that, DeCarlo said.

In 2015, the Journal of Criminal Justice Education published the most comprehensive study on law enforcement and higher education to date. One major finding was that police officers with college degrees are less likely to use force against citizens.

The study said college graduates are used to solving problems and debating issues, and might not like the old school, by-the-book mentality of many police administrators.

Co-author William Terrill, who conducted the study as a criminologist at Michigan State University, said todays policing is much more about social work than it is law enforcement.

Its about resolving low-level disputes, dealing with loiterers and so on, he said, and that officers with experience in psychology, sociology and other college-taught disciplines might be more adept at addressing these issues.

As police chief in Branford, DeCarlo said he urged minority youth in the town to join his force, but there just werent that many black families in Branford.

He said police chiefs are reaching out to black youth, saying come on down and lets make you an officer.

But young black men dont want to be a police officer, DeCarlo said. With all [the violence] that seems to be happening, its not aspirational to be a police officer.

To DeCarlo, education and training are ultimately what makes the difference when it comes to good policing. He said officers with a college education have proven to be less likely to use force.

Still, there should always be a push for diversity.

Police departments should definitely mirror the makeup of their communities, he said.
Dr Julia Courtney (47), from Co Down, is a consultant respiratory physician at the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald. She is married with three children aged seven, eight and 10. In March she issued a video clip urging people to stay at home and it made headlines across the UK.

Looking back on what prompted her to make such a public intervention, she says now: "Early in March we were seeing the pictures coming from Italy - that was probably the biggest realisation that this was coming our way. It just hadn't hit us yet."

Dr Courtney became concerned over the lack of awareness of the measures needed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

"I was chatting to one of the guys from church - we were talking about people not socially distancing and he asked would I do a video for the church. We were probably not seeing a huge amount of social distancing other than people beginning to get a bit nervous, and at that time we were beginning to realise that people needed to stay a bit away from each other," she says.



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"The hospital recognised this was going to be a potentially huge problem and one where we were trying to advise people that now was the time to begin to isolate a bit from each other and not be close to each other."

The first few weeks of lockdown were intense, she says, and the thought of what was on the way was daunting. Routine work had to be cancelled and numerous doctors and nurses had to be retrained to deal with a predicted surge over Easter.

"There was concern about whether there was going to be enough PPE and that was a huge worry at the time," Dr Courtney says. "But there was always capacity within the NHS, which was one of the purposes of lockdown, along with trying to protect the most vulnerable.

"Because people in Northern Ireland did adhere to the rules and largely did what we asked them to do, then we did have capacity within the hospitals. We never got to a situation where we were having to make decisions about beds between patients. We were able to give people the care they needed."

She didn't go home on the days she had been working in the Covid-19 ward.



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"My husband was the main child carer because I was at work most of the time. Homeschooling didn't really happen particularly - he was trying to manage work and there was the fact I was away a lot of the time," she says.

"My main concern was that the children would be kept happy and not be anxious. And they were, partly because of the fact that we weren't doing a lot of homeschooling - they were just enjoying life. They loved being off!"

Dr Courtney says she's been on high alert, constantly washing hands and cleaning her phone.

"My phone doesn't work any more because I've cleaned it so much. When you go home to the children there's always a degree of alertness about getting infected at work and bringing it home to your family and that has added to the intensity of all that," she says.

She admits the intensity and strain has taken its toll and she remains frustrated with people flouting the rules, concerned that it could lead to another surge in cases.

"The people that are flouting the rules are probably going to be okay but it affects others that are around them - they're putting other people at risk," she says.

"People who are not socially distant are putting a lot of people at risk, including vulnerable people and a lot of NHS staff and their families."

And it remains vital to continue good hygiene and social distancing as the lockdown rules are gradually eased, she says.

"I think that people have to try and get back to some degree of trying to function and that is going to pose increased risk, so that is why it's so important," she says.

"You can't have people in lockdown for months and months - there has to be a degree of relaxing things."

'My worst time was watching patients die emotionally and physically alone'

Dr Damian Fogarty (55) is a consultant kidney physician and clinical director in the regional nephrology (kidney medicine) and transplant unit at Belfast City Hospital, now Northern Ireland's first Nightingale Hospital. He is married to another doctor and both have been heavily involved in the coronavirus epidemic. They have three children.



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Dr Fogarty posted a tweet in late January about "this novel viral pneumonia" and charted its progress.

"In March I noticed that Ireland paid more attention than the UK - stopping the St Patrick's Day parades, for instance, whilst the Cheltenham races occurred days beforehand," he says.

It was around that weekend in mid-March that he approached a research colleague Dr Ciara Keenan about setting up an automated twitter account that takes new information from scientific studies and websites and then posts them into the output for their @Covid_Evidence account.

"We were both really struck by how interested people were in this - it had 1,000 followers within 24 hours and 2,000 within a few days. It was a clear sign of the public's interest in this new illness and emerging epidemic," Dr Fogarty says.

"In the end, however, we could not keep curating this and doing our other day jobs too."

As Covid-19 cases started to appear, he was concerned about the lack of public awareness of measures needed to curb its spread.

"I remember going into a supermarket around St Patrick's Day and being struck by them letting in so many people shopping in groups too. There were so many people milling about," Dr Fogarty says.

"I think it was only really when it was in Italy and London that people started to take it seriously."

His unit stopped doing kidney transplants mid-March due to the threat to immunosuppressed transplant patients, although transplants began again on April 17 for patients on dialysis, with no evidence of Covid-19 in either recipients and donors.

"Because almost all the other UK transplant units were closed, we were offered more deceased transplants in the next month than we usually are in a few years combined," Dr Fogarty says.

His workload became extremely intensive as the NHS reconfigured itself to deal with the crisis, including cancelling appointments, putting together contingency plans and even building a new ventilator area in the dialysis unit.

"My worst experience was watching patients dying, albeit palliated with pain relief but being emotionally and physically alone, despite the great work and attention of our nurses," he says. "Our nurses were wonderful as usual, but this reminded me of the power and purpose of being at home as much as possible when medicine can offer no cures," he says.

At the peak of the surge, Dr Fogarty says, the Belfast Trust was caring for around 140 hospitalised Covid-19 patients spread across wards in the Mater and City hospitals, with 20 patients ventilated in the ICU.

"We're now well down to single figures in the hospital," he says.

"Because my wife and I were working with Covid-19 patients, we tried to keep quite separate at home during April. I would shower here, at work, and again when I got home. It was hard to relax otherwise."

He feels Northern Ireland probably got the timing of lockdown about right. "My worry is now that if we are too slow in releasing lockdown, people will die of other diseases because they present too late," he says.

Dr Fogarty believes the clever way out of lockdown would be to open most businesses with social distancing while retaining age-related rules to protect those who are most vulnerable in age groups over 60 or with underlying conditions.

While the media has focused on packed beaches, he warns that the greatest risk of asymptomatic spread is indoors, in business meetings, in nursing homes and crowded spaces inside.

"The more we can educate people, the better chance we have of targeting any resurgent cases," he says.

The virus hasnt gone away and theres real anxiety over when this surge could happen again

Dr Ursula Brennan (43), from Comber, is a GP at Mount Oriel medical practice and lead GP for the Covid-19 centre in Belfast. As part of a BMA video campaign, she urged the public to stay at home during the Easter Covid-19 peak. She is married to Terry McErlean, who runs Resolute PA, and they have two children, aged seven and 13.



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"I got wind of Covid-19 probably in late January but really in the widest sense I could see it was really going to cause problems when we were starting to see the news feeds from Italy in early March," she says.

Everything changed after Friday, March 13 - Dr Brennan had been off work for a couple of days that week because her children were sick and their schools didn't return after that.

The GP practice went to full telephone triage on Monday and Dr Brennan finished her job there on the following Friday to take on her new role helping to set up the Covid-19 centre.

It was, she recalls, a frightening week for everyone.

"It had a massive impact on Terry and the kids - the schools closed, daycare closed, the nursery closed," she says.

"What has struck me is how in relationships where the spouses work away from home, those at home are the ones who are mostly impacted in this process. Terry has been phenomenal - I can't do what I do unless I'm supported by him."

For the first two weeks, she was working from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week, as the centre was training 30 doctors a day.



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Modelling suggested Northern Ireland was due to hit the surge around Easter and Dr Brennan agreed to take part in a video messaging campaign advising people how the Covid-19 centre would work and the importance of measures to curb the spread of the virus. The plan worked, and the public adherence to the rules helped to reduce the peak numbers.

"What I've seen is people adhering to the messaging - wash your hands, social distance, stay home, essential journeys only - and that most certainly has had an impact on our numbers," Dr Brennan says.

"The worry is now coming out of the lockdown. The virus hasn't gone away and there's been a risk of it all ramping back up again. There's real anxiety in the health system over when this surge could happen again. For all of us, it's holding our nerve, and we have used up a lot of adrenalin so far. To think that you could have to go back to that level of alertness brings real apprehension."

What Dr Brennan will also remember from this extraordinary time is the kindness of other people. Neighbours were supportive, she says, even leaving dinners on their doorstep.

"That sort of kindness has been overwhelming and we have really felt supported. We are all flagging a bit now," she says.

"How long this is going to go on for is difficult to imagine. We could be doing this for another year."

Dr Brennan has now returned to her GP job in a reduced capacity and works part-time at the Covid-19 centre. She is concerned that many people may be now relaxing their guard too much: "What I see is just how many people are out and about - it's definitely busier."

The photos of beach gatherings have made her anxious. "We've seen elsewhere how that can impact on the spread of the virus. As a community we are all tired but we still have a role to play in this pandemic," she says.

"Another lockdown will be really hard on people, psychologically and emotionally."

The whole period has been a huge learning curve for staff, Dr Brennan says.

"The work has been stressful and we knew it would be stressful. This is the proudest I've been of any achievement in medicine because of the calibre of the staff, the colleagues who have been putting their hands up and saying 'I'll go'," she adds.
Descendants of British historical figures were today split over whether statues and memorials to be removed from UK town centres over their links to slavery.

A relative of Waterloo hero Sir Thomas Picton has called for his statue to be removed and put into a museum, saying he was 'rather embarrassed' to be a descendant.

But those with family links to Admiral Lord Nelson, Robert Clive and Henry Dundas have all hit back against calls for monuments of their descendants to be taken down.

Public buildings, pubs and streets are also facing being renamed after days of Black Lives Matter protests over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25.

Aled Thomas, 26, is descended from Picton's cousin, Elizabeth Picton, and is the first cousin five times removed of the Napoleonic Wars hero who was also known as the 'Tyrant of Trinidad'.

Sir Thomas Picton (left) was a military officer who enjoyed a prolific career before being killed at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. His statue is currently inside Cardiff City Hall (right)

A marble statue of Picton stands in Cardiff City Hall, but Mr Thomas has written to council leaders to join calls led by the city's Lord Mayor for it to be taken down.

Picton was the highest-ranking British officer killed at Waterloo after the Duke of Wellington called him 'a rough foul-mouthed devil' but 'very capable'.

Sir Thomas Picton: Hero of Waterloo who became 'Tyrant of Trinidad' Where is the statue? Inside Cardiff City Hall Who wants his statue removed? Cardiff Lord Mayor Daniel De'Ath asked the council to remove the state in an open letter which has received support from council leader Huw Thomas. Who was he? A military officer who enjoyed a prolific career before being killed at the Battle of Waterloo. He was the Governor of Trinidad from (17971803). What did he do? The bad: Known as the 'tyrant of Trinidad' for his 'arbitrary and brutal' rule of the island

His motto was 'let them hate so long as they fear'

Ordered the torture of a 14-year-old girl accused of theft The good: Highest ranking officer killed fighting with Wellington at Waterloo Advertisement

His statue has stood in the Welsh capital for more than 100 years even though he was involved in the trade and executed dozens of slaves during his time as Governor of Trinidad, and authorised the torture of a 14-year-old girl.

In a letter to the council, Mr Thomas said: 'While I am related to the Picton family, I do not defend the cruelty that Sir Thomas Picton caused.

'In fact, I feel rather embarrassed to admit I am related to him. We cannot help where we are from and who we are descended from. Also, we cannot change what has happened in the past. But what we can do is learn from them.'

In his letter Mr Thomas said his 'personal recommendation' would be for the statue to be placed in a national slavery museum.

Daniel De'Ath, the first black Lord Mayor of Cardiff, has already called for the marble monument to be removed from an array of the heroes of Wales in the council's Marble Hall.

He said: 'I feel that it is no longer acceptable for Picton's statue to be amongst the 'Heroes of Wales' in City Hall.'

The statue was unveiled by former Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 1916. The hall also includes an iconic painting of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Meanwhile, among the other figures being targeted is Lord Nelson over claims that Britain's greatst naval hero was a white supremacist and had friendships with West Indian slave traders.

Critics have also pointed out that Nelson, who secured victory for the British in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, was against the abolition of the slave trade.

But Lily Style, of South Brent, Devon, who is the fourth great granddaughter of Lord Nelson and his mistress Emma Hamilton, has insisted that Nelson was 'not a slaver'.

Lily Style, of South Brent, Devon, who is the fourth great granddaughter of Lord Nelson, is pictured on board HMS Victory in Portsmouth with her daughter Sophie

Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson (left), who lived from 1758 to 1805, was a British flag officer in the Navy known for inspirational leadership. His column is at Trafalgar Square in London (right)

Ms Style is a descendant of Nelson and Emma, as well as Nelson's sister Catherine Matcham, whose grandchildren William Ward and Catherine Nelson married.

Horatio Nelson: One of most famous Britons who triumphed at Trafalgar but opposed Abolition of Slavert Act Where is the statue? Nelson's column, Trafalgar Square, London has not been targeted. But another statue of Nelson has been at Deptford Town Hall, a department at Goldsmiths University, London. Who is he? Horatio Nelson was born in a Norfolk rectory in 1758, and secured his first command 20 years later through the influence of his uncle, who was a senior naval officer. The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars opened the way for a long succession of triumphs, the earliest taking place in the Mediterranean, where he was blinded in his right eye. He distinguished himself commanding HMS Captain at the 1797 Battle of Cape St Vincent against a larger Spanish force off the coast of Portugal, and mislaid his right arm in the unsuccessful action at Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In the following year, he commanded a British fleet in the first of his historic victories at the Battle of the Nile. Nelson's reputation  for personal courage, aggression and tactical brilliance  won him the adoration of his captains and indeed crews. In 1801, he secured another victory, this time over the Danes, at Copenhagen, bequeathing to folklore the story that he ignored an order to withdraw by putting a telescope to his blind eye to read the flag signal. He subsequently commanded fleets involved in a blockade of French ships in Toulon harbour, and in unsuccessful pursuit of the French and Spanish fleets to the West Indies. Only on October 21, 1805, did he finally bring the enemy to battle off Spain's Cape Trafalgar, which became his greatest victory and secured Britain against invasion by the vast army Napoleon had assembled on the Channel coast. At Trafalgar and in the actions that immediately followed, the French and Spanish lost 24 ships of the line, more than Nelson commanded when he engaged. He was shot down by a sharpshooter in the tops of the French Redoubt-able, and died three hours later. However some believe Nelson was a white supremacist, citing Nelson's friendships with West Indian slave traders, and his description of the ideals of abolitionist William Wilberforce as 'a damnable and cruel doctrine'. Nelson's finest John Sugden, believes Nelson was exemplarily kind to black sailors who did good service on his ships, and in 1802 wrote another letter in support of a proposal by one of his own officers to employ free Chinese labour in the West Indies instead of slaves. What did he do ? The good: Secured victory for the British in the Battle of Trafalgar, the greatest naval victory in British history

The greatest British naval hero ever to have lived The bad: He described of ideals of abolitionist William Wilberforce as 'a damnable and cruel doctrine' Who wants the statue removed? Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action student group. Advertisement

She told MailOnline: 'I have heard talk of Nelson's statues being removed. The idea of removing Nelson's column was put forward in 2017. My response is simple: Nelson was not a slaver.'

She added: 'Historians have discovered that many members of Nelson's crew on Victory at Trafalgar were people of colour.

'Nelson was famously hands on with his crew, and ultimately sacrificed his life so as to be on their level instead of hiding in safety as other naval commanders would have done.

'A black crewman is portrayed prominently in Daniel Maclise's painting of the death of Nelson, which is in display in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

'Also, there is a black figure carved into the plinth of Nelson's column.'

Another descendant of a historical figure is Robert Fowke, of Shropshire, who has family links to Robert Clive, also known as Clive of India, through the Major-General's wife Margaret Clive.

Clive was an East India Company officer who helped Britain seize control of much of the subcontinent in the mid-18th century, but his reputation was muddied by his spell as Governor of Bengal from 1755 when he faced accusations of corruption.

Mr Fowke's ancestor was brought up as a sister of Margaret Clive although they were cousins, and he has done a large amount of research into his family history.

Mr Fowke told MailOnline: 'It's been said that a nation is 'a group of people held together by a fictionalised historical narrative' and I subscribe to that description.

'The problem underlying all this recent ruckus, or so it seems to me, is that some people want to create a new fictionalised narrative for Britain, one that includes them  and because their ancestors came from other parts of the world relatively recently, the new narrative is inevitably very different from the one that us indigenous Brits grew up with.

'Personally, I'm surprised at how distressed I feel by their attacks on the old narrative, even though I recognise that's essentially a fiction. It would be better if bigots on both sides backed off a little.

'A new 'fictionalised' narrative may well be good for the future of our country (of which I am very proud), but those who seek to impose it should be honest enough to admit that they're replacing one fiction with another.'

Meanwhile a plaque will be added to a statue of controversial 19th Century politician Henry Dundas who delayed the abolition of slavery - after a two-year stalemate on wording.

Dundas, a conservative politician who was eventually impeached, is commemorated at the Melville Monument at St Andrews Square in Edinburgh.

The plinth was tagged with graffiti reading 'George Floyd' at a Black Lives Matter demo at the weekend - where calls were renewed for a plaque to be added to the statue, explaining Dundas' role in delaying the abolition of slavery in the 1800s.

Scotland's first black professor, Sir Geoff Palmer, has been calling for a plaque detailing Dundas's role in Scotland's history of the slave trade - but talks with the City of Edinburgh Council ground to a halt two years ago due to a dispute around the wording.

A descendant of Dundas, Benjamin Carey, also slated a lack of enthusiasm from the council which had recently said it would no longer 'facilitate meetings' - a stance which has now changed.

Another descendant of a historical figure is Robert Fowke, of Shropshire, who has family links to Robert Clive, also known as Clive of India, through the Major-General's wife Margaret Clive

Robert Clive (left) was an East India Company officer whose statue stands at Shrewsbury Square and King Charles Street in London (right)

Mr Carey said: 'My ancestor is controversial, but Edinburgh needs to own him, warts and all.'

Robert Clive: East India Company officer who helped expand British Empire but amassed vast wealth subjugating people of Bengal Where is the statue? His statue stands in Shrewsbury Square and King Charles Street, London. Who is he? Robert Clive was an East India Company officer who helped Britain seize control of much of the subcontinent in the mid-18th century and was hailed back in Westminster for delivering important military victories without formal field training. But his reputation was muddied by his spell as Governor of Bengal from 1755 when he faced accusations of corruption. Amid a fierce backlash to his rule in India, as well as sliding health, he took his own life in 1767. At the time of his death, Clive's fortune was worth about 500,000 - around 33million today. What did he do ? The bad: Conquered Bengal at the Battle of Plassey, and helped himself to 160,000 from the defeated Nawab's treasury

Amassed a personal fortune by conquering Bengal and subjugating the population

Paved the way for the British Raj in India which ruled the subcontinent for 200 years Who wants the statue removed? Two petitions started by locals including David Parton call for the Shrewsbury Square statue to be removed. Advertisement

But council leader Adam McVey has now U-turned on that, promising a plaque will be sorted 'as quickly as possible'.

Meanwhile a descendant of William Gladstone has suggested the former prime minister would not have stood in the way if there was 'democratic will' to remove statues of him.

Charlie Gladstone, great-great-grandson of the 19th century politician, issued a statement after an online petition called for Gladstone's Library in Hawarden, North Wales, to be renamed due to the family's links to the slave trade.

The petition, launched by Ciara Lamb, which has only gained just over 40 signatures, claims the name is a symbol of 'oppression' and changing it 'would be progress our community so desires'.

It argues that the name is a 'glorification' of a man whose 'family was one of the largest slave-owning families in the country'.

In a statement, Charlie Gladstone, president of the library, said that 'at the core of our being' its staff 'believe that Black Lives Matter'.

The message posted on Facebook, which is also signed off by the library's warden, Peter Francis, continued: 'We also believe that if it is the democratic will, after due process, to remove statues of William Gladstone, our founder, we would not stand in the way.

'Nor, we think, would Gladstone himself - who worked tirelessly on behalf of democratic change.

'This is why we believe that what matters is how we live today, our values, our democratic process and political involvement.'

It comes after the University of Liverpool confirmed that a 'democratic process' will be used to select a new name for a hall named after William Gladstone, after students pointed out that he had defended the rights of owners of slave-run plantations, such as his father, John Gladstone.

Henry Dundas was a Conservative politician, Scottish Advocate and the first Secretary of State for War (left). His statue, 150ft high, is on the top of the Melville Monument in Edinburgh (right)

In their joint statement, Mr Francis and Mr Gladstone said they had had no contact from the university recently, adding: 'But we read that it was a democratic decision; so, to us the decision seems right and proper. Gladstone stood for change and so do we.'

Henry Dundas: Tory politician who delayed the abolition of slavery Where is the statue? On the top of the Melville Monument in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Scotland. Who wants his statue removed? A petition to the Scottish government was started by Nancy Barrett last week. She proposes Dundas street should be re-named after Joseph Knight, a Scottish-Jamaican slave who won a court case and then an appeal in 1778 to free himself, by proving that slavery didn't exist in Scots Law. Who was he? Henry Dundas (1742  1811) was a Conservative politician, Scottish Advocate and the first Secretary of State for War - he is best known for delaying the abolition of slavery in 1792. During his time as Home Secretary Dundas proposed that slavery be abolished in 'three stages' over a decade, which prolonged the suffering and cost thousands of lives. He gained the nickname of 'The Great Tyrant' which he lived up to when he was caught misusing public money in 1806 and impeached.

What did he do? The bad: Dundas proposed that slavery be abolished in 'three stages' over a decade, which prolonged the suffering and cost thousands of lives

Blocked British reformer William Wilberforce's efforts to abolish the slave trade

He was influential i n the expansion of British Influence in India the affairs of the East India Company The good: Instrumental in the encouragement of the Scottish Enlightenment - a period of intellectual and scientific accomplishments Advertisement

They also commented: 'William Gladstone, whose politics were strikingly different to his Tory father's politics and values, was the first British politician to lead a left-leaning government and to institute dramatic democratic changes when he introduced the secret ballot, universal education and a foreign policy based on freedom and liberty and not the aggrandisement of Empire.'

The Gladstone family continue to uphold 'liberal values', with the library working for 'a more democratic, humane and tolerant society', the statement added.

Mr Francis and Mr Gladstone said the library is aware of John Gladstone's 'plantation-owning past', and has 'instituted a scholarship for research into historical and contemporary slavery'.

They said it is 'undeniable' that John Gladstone 'owned land in the West Indies and South America that used slave labour'.

While his father had received 106,769 in compensation at the time of the abolition of slavery, William Gladstone himself 'received nothing', the statement continued.

It added: 'Yes, in 1831 William did speak in the Commons in favour of compensation for slave owners. It was his first speech in the Commons and he was still in thrall to his father.

'By 1850, he was a changed man and in Parliament he described slavery as 'by far the foulest crime that taints the history of mankind in any Christian or pagan country'.'

Originally known as St Deiniol's, the library was founded in 1895 by William Gladstone who bequeathed it 40,000 when he died three years later.

Gladstone, born in Liverpool, was prime minister for 12 years across four terms between 1868 and 1894.

It comes as the campaign to radically overhaul Britain's town centres has intensified as more local authorities bowed to pressure to review their links to slavery.

Scores of statues and memorials could be removed and public buildings, pubs and streets renamed following days of Black Lives Matter protests.

Momentum is growing after the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was thrown into a harbour in Bristol.

More than 70 memorials honouring colonial figures have been targeted for destruction by activists on the 'Topple the Racists' website

Business minister Nadhim Zahawi yesterday said he did not believe there should be statues of 'any slaver' and that they should be taken down if the majority supported their removal.

The 78 'racist' statues BLM supporters would like to be destroyed 1) Lord Kitchener, Orkney 2) Duke of Sutherland, Golspie 3) Jim Crow, Dunoon 4) Henry Dundas, Edinburgh 5) Lord Roberts, Glasgow 6) Thomas Carlyle, Glasgow 7) Sir Robert Peel, Glasgow 8) Colin Campbell, Glasgow 9) John Moore, Glasgow 10) James George Smith Neill, Ayr 11) William Armstrong, Newcastle 12) Captain James Cook, Great Ayton 13) Robert Peel, Bradford 14) Robert Peel, Leeds 15) Robert Peel, Preston 16) Robert Peel, Bury 17) Robert Peel, Manchester 18) Bryan Blundell, Liverpool 19) Christopher Columbus, Liverpool 20) Martin's Bank, Liverpool 21) Admiral Nelson, Liverpool 22) William Leverhulme, Wirral 23) Henry Morton Stanley, St Asaph 24) Henry Morton Stanley, Denbigh 25) William Gladstone, Hawarden 26) Elihu Yale, Wrexham 27) Green Man, Ashbourne 28) Robert Clive, Shropshire 29) Robert Peel, Tamworth 30) Robert Peel, Birmingham 31) Ronald A Fisher, Cambridge 32) Cecil Rhodes, Bishops Stortford 33) Thomas Phillips, Brecon 34) General Nott, Carmarthen 35) Thomas Picton, Carmarthen 36) Henry Austin Bruce, Cardiff 37) Thomas Picton, Cardiff 38) Codrington Library, Oxford 39) Cecil Rhodes, Oxford 40) Edward Colston (school 1), Bristol 41) Edward Colston (school 2), Bristol 42) Edward Colston (statue), Bristol 43) Edward Colston (tower), Bristol 44) Edward Colston (hall), Bristol 45) George Alfred Wills, Bristol 46) William Beckford, London 47) Robert Geffrye, London 48) Francis Galton, London 49) King Charles II, London 50) King James II, London 51) Robert Clive, London 52) Oliver Cromwell, London 53) Robert Clayton, London 54) Henry De la Beche, London 55) Christopher Columbus, London 56) Thomas Guy (1/2), London 57) Thomas Guy (2/2), London 58) Robert Milligan, London 59) Francis Drake, London 60) Robert Blake, London 61) Admiral Nelson, London 62) Captain Edward August Lendy, London 63) East India Estate, London 64) Stephen Clark, London 65) Charles James Napier, London 66) Earl Mountbatten, London 67) Jan Smuts, London 68) Admiral Horatio Nelson, London 69) Lord Kitchener, Chatham 70) Edward Codrington, Brighton 71) William Ewart Gladstone, Brighton 72) Drax family, Wareham 73) Robert Baden-Powell, Poole 74) Redvers Buller, Exeter 75) Francis Drake, Tavistock 76) Walter Raleigh, Bodmin 77) Nancy Astor, Plymouth 78) Francis Drake, Plymouth Advertisement

Critics accused Liverpool University of waging a 'woke war on British history' after it agreed to rename a building which commemorated four-time Liberal prime minister William Gladstone due to his family's links to slavery.

Protesters continued to target other statues, daubing 'murderer' at a memorial to colonialist Sir George Somers in Lyme Regis, Dorset. In London, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital said it would review whether to remove a statue of its founder Sir Thomas Guy, but would not change its name.

Sir Thomas made a fortune as a shareholder of a company which sold slaves, and used it to build the hospital in 1721.

Earlier this week protesters targeted statues of Sir Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria, even though she came to the throne in 1837  four years after the Slavery Abolition Act was passed.

Campaigners linked to Black Lives Matter have called for around 60 statues which they deem racist to be toppled.

Some 130 Labour-run councils agreed to assess the 'appropriateness' of monuments and commemorations in their areas. In Bristol, the city council announced a commission would review its 'true history'.

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees said the Colston statue would be retrieved from the harbour and put in a museum, alongside placards from Sunday's protests.

A statue of 18th century slave trader Robert Milligan was removed on Tuesday from the docks he founded at West India Quay, East London.

Officials in Plymouth said they would rename a square named after Sir John Hawkins, considered the first English slave trader, after a petition hit 15,000 signatures.

Another called for a statue of Sir Henry Stanley to be removed from the centre of Denbigh in Wales. The council said it would review the request.

Organiser Simon Jones said Stanley  best-known for finding lost explorer Dr David Livingstone  was 'brutal' to Africans and shot black children from his boat to calibrate his rifle sights.

He said: 'A statue to a man like that has no place in Welsh society in 2020.'

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has ordered a review of statues and street names.

A spokesman for Guy's and St Thomas' said of its statue: 'We recognise and understand the anger felt by the black community.'

London Metropolitan University said it would drop the name of Sir John Cass from its art and architecture due to the education reformer's links to slavery.

Liverpool University's decision to rename Gladstone Hall followed complaints from around 1,300 students. Gladstone, who was born in the city, was one of Britain's most prominent reformers. His father owned plantations and opposed the abolition of slavery.

Tory MP George Freeman tweeted: 'This isn't war on today's racism, it's a mad woke war on our own history  which should be a source of insight, debate and learning.'

Laurence Westgaph, a historian and PhD student at the university, said Gladstone was 'a great humanitarian', adding: 'Deleting his name removes the chance to debate. Wiping historical references from the landscape does not do anything to cure racism, we need to talk about them.'

Dr Adrian Hilton, chairman of the academic council of the Margaret Thatcher Centre, said the university's decision was 'intellectually barren'.

Liverpool City Council has previously made a formal apology for the city's role in the slave trade and its mayor Joe Anderson signalled he would be in favour of renaming some streets.

Business minister Mr Zahawi said any removal of statues should be done democratically, and without violence.

He told the BBC: 'My opinion is any slaver should not have a statue, but I wouldn't be breaking the law to take statues down.'

He said Britain should examine its history 'warts and all' without self-loathing or forgetting 'the good things we've done'.

Labour MP Hilary Benn called for an end to the vandalism of statues, after the memorial to Queen Victoria was attacked in Leeds.

He said: 'I don't think we should be commemorating slave traders. But let's have that debate in a proper way, and not by acts of vandalism like this.'

The statue of Edward Colston is pulled out of the harbour by Bristol City Council this morning

In Lyme Regis, protesters in their 60s are said to have cheered as they vandalised the statue of Somers, who claimed Bermuda as part of the British Empire in 1609.

Meanwhile a petition called on Wetherspoons to rename the Elihu Yale, a pub in Wrexham, North Wales, named after a 17th century merchant linked to slavery.

In Edinburgh a statue of Sir Henry Dundas, who opposed abolition, was defaced.

Protesters also placed a traffic cone painted black  with a black power fist symbol  on the head of a statue of the Duke of Wellington in Glasgow. It is often adorned with an orange cone.
It seems bald men are now probable victims of serious COVID-19 symptoms, some studies show.

Balding is usually one of the least desired outcomes for men, but studies indicate that COVID-19 might be a concern, reported The Telegraph.

In the US, Dr. Frank Gabrin who was bald, died from the COVID-19. The condition was then called Gabrin sign. Most probably, baldness might be a factor when afflicted by COVID-19 and it is assumed as a link to the disease but this is still awaiting confirmation.

According to Professor Carlos Wambier of Brown University, the main lead of the study, baldness may be a sign of getting COVID-19 with severe results, reported Lokmat.

It has been noted in the data from the start of the Wuhan Outbreak that quite a number of males would succumb to the coronavirus. But in the UK, a report from Public Health England has cited finding that show working-aged men, will have two times more possibilities of dying from COVID-19.

Why is this happening to men? It could be the indulgences that men have like smoking. Though one idea is that androgens are a cause for hair loss and are boosters for coronavirus to attack the host cells.

Now, with this in mind, some researchers are thinking of using treatments for balding and also prostate cancer. It might be able to stop the progression of the coronavirus, giving the individual more time to combat the contagion.

Professor Ambier added that it might point to a definite possibility that androgens are critical to increased chances for men to get the worst brunt of the coronavirus.

Also read: How Coronavirus Infection Starts in the Body, Leading to Death



Baldness cure give hope

The problem with seeking a cure for the coronavirus is the uncertainty of its release. Since it might take longer to acquire a medicine or vaccine for COVID-19, doctors are looking into alternatives like anti-hair loss which might help reduce the symptoms of the disease.

In the US, there might be trials that involve drugs for baldness, Matthew Rettig is doing these trials that will involve 200 veterans who are all using prostate cancer drugs in the trials.

The Studies conducted

A study conducted said that 79% of male patients at three Madrid hospitals with COVID-19 are all bald. Of 122 patients, in a study cited Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, a Spanish hospital with 41 patients has about 71% bald white men, from aged 31 to 53%. These same researchers found a link to women losing their hair.

Scientists are trying to prove the link between baldness and COVID-19, but Howard Soule who is connected to the Prostate Cancer Foundation told Science Magazine that androgens and COVID-19 are getting noticed now.

Androgens based on what prostate cancer specialists say that it will increase hormones to hasten any cancer. Last April, a study in the journal Cell made a connection with enzyme TMPRSS2 that had something to do with coronavirus infections.

Coronaviruses will attack the cell wall with a spike protein, and the enzyme TMPRSS2 will enable it to infiltrate the cell membrane and begin taking over, confirmed by Science Direct.

Scientists will need to verify the enzymes that will react the same way, as the androgens located in the lungs, and the prostate, it is still sketchy and needs more proofs.

Related article: How Does Coronavirus Fatally Affect the Lungs, Even Killing Intubated Patients?

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Statement by Mr Harvesh Seegolam , Governor of the Bank of Mauritius, to the press, Port Louis, 29 May 2020.

Friends from the media, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Afternoon. Welcome to this press conference.

I will provide you with an insight on the current economic situation and also elaborate on the latest measures which the Bank has announced under its ongoing Covid-19 Support Programme.

Let me at the very outset give you an overview on where the global economy stands.

What we are experiencing today are unprecedented economic conditions. Major companies around the world have shown worrying signs of distress leading to rapid job losses. The ensuing implications on financial stability are serious.

I must emphasise that there is still substantial uncertainty on how the pandemic will evolve and what will be the ultimate impact on economies.

As you are aware the world continues to face an unmatched crisis. Global productive capacity and demand have shrunk massively as the pandemic intensified. Both production and the global supply chain have been severely disrupted by the "Great Lockdown", as termed by the IMF.

The global economic outlook has turned gloomier since April 2020, as countries struggle to contain the pandemic. Most economists no longer see a 'V' shape recovery of the global economy and predictions are for a much longer downturn.

More than 150 countries around the world will be facing a GDP contraction.

Policy responses by central banks

Faced with such worsening situations, Central Banks around the world are finding themselves in the frontlines.

Since the onset of the pandemic, central banks have resorted to all kinds of measures, whether conventional and unconventional measures to salvage their respective economies. Central banks are being looked up as saviours in these testing times.

Domestic economic outlook and risks

Mauritius, as well, is not being spared by this global crisis. Much has already been said about the impact and threat that the pandemic increasingly poses to our economy.

The sectors most at risk include tourism, manufacturing in particular exports of textile, wholesale and storage, business and administrative activities, ICT/BPO, transportation amongst others. These sectors account for nearly 40 per cent of GDP.

The contraction in output this year will be severe and we have estimated that the economy could contract between 7.5% and 15%.

The Bank is monitoring the situation closely.

Export sector and balance of payments

The export of goods and services sector is expected to slump massively, as external demand plunges amid severe economic contraction in our main exports markets.

The significant drop in export earnings will amplify the current account deficit, projected at about 12% of GDP in 2020. This year, the overall balance of payments is forecast to record a deficit.

The tourism sector is a major supplier of foreign exchange. The foreign exchange loss from this industry alone has been estimated at around Rs12 billion for April and May 2020. Last year, tourism receipts amounted to Rs63 billion. This year, as long as the tourism industry remains inoperative, there will be significant shortfalls in foreign exchange receipt.

The pressure on foreign exchange earnings will be amplified by the shortfall in export earnings in other sectors as well, such as textile and fish products.

The Bank, in line with its mandate, has taken necessary measures to maintain stability on the foreign exchange market and address any deficiency in foreign exchange liquidity.

The Bank has sold USD172 million to banks since 18 March 2020. In addition, the Bank conducted swap transactions with banks for a total of USD100 million under its support programme.

Furthermore, the Bank has also provided the State Trading Corporation Ltd (STC) with foreign exchange for a total of USD55 million since 26 March 2020. The Bank will continue to provide foreign exchange to the STC to ensure adequate supply of essential goods to the public.

I have to highlight that Mauritius has a floating exchange rate regime, as per the IMF classification. The recent fluctuations of the exchange rate of the rupee is the result of the interplay of market forces, both domestic and international. The Bank is continuously monitoring activities on the domestic foreign exchange market. It stands ready to intervene as required to contain excessive exchange rate volatility.

At this point, let me reiterate the core mandates of the Bank:

to maintain price stability,

to promote orderly and balanced economic development, and

to ensure the stability and soundness of the financial system.

As such, and given the current context, the Bank of Mauritius will do whatever it takes to safeguard the economy.

All the measures taken by the Bank since March 2020 are a reflection of this commitment.

Concretely, these measures aim at alleviating the financial burden of economic operators, SMEs, households, and individuals affected by COVID-19 and protecting jobs. It must be noted that under the Special Relief Scheme a total of Rs2 billion has been approved by commercial banks to economic operators to date. With respect to moratoria, commercial banks have approved the following:

For economic operators, an amount of Rs6.6 billion has been granted as moratorium on capital repayment for a period of six months on outstanding loans amounting to Rs45 billion;

For SMEs, an amount of Rs467 million has been granted as moratorium on both capital and interest payments for a period of six months on outstanding loans amounting to Rs3.1 billion;

For individuals, an amount of Rs53 million has been granted as moratorium on both capital and interest payments for a period of six months on outstanding loans amounting to nearly Rs600 million;

For households, an amount of Rs140 million has been granted as moratorium on capital repayments for a period of six months on outstanding loans amounting to nearly Rs2.3 billion. The Bank will be paying interest for households earning a combined monthly basic salary of up to Rs50,000.

Contribution of Rs60 billion to government

As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue, Mauritius is undergoing its worst economic downturn since its independence.

It is within this spirit that last Friday that we announced two specific measures aimed at supporting the economy.

First, the Board of the Bank has decided to provide an amount of Rs60 billion to the State for economic stabilisation.

As per the Bank's mandate, this contribution aims at sustaining economic activity and mitigating risks to financial stability stemming from a weakening economy.

I must also point out that the Bank will finance this contribution by issuing its own instruments for the amount of Rs60 billion. The Bank is resorting to this issuance for the reason that there is and will be ample rupee liquidity on the market. These monetary operations will promote orderly conditions on the money market.

Mauritius Investment Corporation Ltd

Let me now elaborate on the second measure that we announced. It relates to the setting up the Mauritius Investment Corporation Ltd (MIC) which will support and accelerate economic development and build a value base for the current and future generations of our country.

The MIC is being set up as a fully-owned subsidiary of the Bank of Mauritius. It will:

First, assist systemically large, important and viable companies in Mauritius, which are financially distressed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These companies represent a direct threat to financial stability. I must here stress that should this not be done, companies would face difficulties in servicing their financial obligations, thus adversely impacting the banking sector. The risk of citizens losing their jobs is high. In this respect, MIC will invest in large- and medium-sized enterprises having a minimum annual turnover of Rs100 million;

Second, invest in companies geared towards building self-sufficiency in key basic necessities;

Third, invest in companies enhancing Mauritius as an innovation-driven economy; and

Last but not least, it will support the development of return-generating key strategic assets and projects.

To meet its objective, up to two billion US dollars from the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank will be made available to the MIC. MIC will invest and manage these funds with a view of building a value base for the citizens of Mauritius. I must again point out that globally returns are in negative territories. By promptly investing part of our reserves in our country in these testing times, we are investing and building the future of Mauritius, hence allowing for orderly and balanced economic development.

I must reassure the public that, should the full amount of USD 2 Billion be used, the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank would still remain at an adequate level which is well above the international norm.

MIC will invest in eligible companies through a number of investment tools including both equity and quasi-equity instruments.

Transparency, good governance and independence will be the bywords of the MIC. The MIC will be run within a strict governance structure and in line with international norms. The Board of Directors of MIC will comprise an independent Chairman, the First Deputy Governor, the Second Deputy Governor, and two Non-Executive Directors. I am pleased to announce that Lord Meghnad Desai, Member of the House of Lords of the UK and renowned economist, has agreed to chair the Board of the MIC.

There will be two distinct committees that will be set up:

An Investment Committee, made up of independent experts who will assess all projects and make appropriate recommendation to the Board of MIC.

An Asset Management Committee will manage the assets under MIC.

MIC will work closely with commercial banks in achieving its objectives.

MIC will publish its audited financial statements and an annual report covering its activities during its financial year. The financial statements will be consolidated with that of the Bank.

Concluding remarks

Amidst this rising uncertainty, the Bank of Mauritius is focused on working towards an economic recovery, while mitigating any potential impact on the stability of the financial and banking system in our country.

I also wish to underline that the Bank has consulted, and is keeping the IMF fully briefed about all measures it is taking.

We, at the Bank, stand ready to put in place what is required, and we will do whatever it takes to save our economy.

I thank you for your attention.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson is losing more advertisers in the wake of his controversial comments about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Walt Disney Co., Papa Johns International Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. said this week they would no longer advertise on his show after he sparked an uproar in addressing the global protests over police brutality and racial inequality.

This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through, he said Monday on his Fox News show, Tucker Carlson Tonight. But it is definitely not about black lives and remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will.

A Fox News spokesperson said earlier this week, Tuckers warning about when they come for you was clearly referring to Democratic leaders and inner-city politicians. The spokesperson said Thursday that all national ads and revenue from Carlsons show have moved to other programs and Fox News hasnt lost any revenue overall.

A spokesperson for Disneys ABC told the publication Deadline that ads for its shows were placed on Carlsons program without the networks knowledge by a third-party ad buyer.

On Tuesday, T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer Mike Sievert replied to several tweets asking about the mobile-phone carriers advertising relationship with Carlsons show and whether it backed the hosts message.

To one Twitter poster who said he would no longer watch Carlsons show and called the comments vile, Sievert replied, Same. We arent running ads on that show and we wont be running ads on that show in the future. Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson!

Papa Johns will no longer advertise on any opinion-based programming, it said in an emailed statement Thursday. Placement of advertising is not intended to be an endorsement of any specific programming or commentary, the pizza company said.

Online activists have targeted Fox News advertisers as part of an ongoing campaign to damage the profits of companies that they believe promote bigotry and sexism. The protests following the death of George Floyd have also pressured media companies to step up their support for racial equality.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a memo to staff last week that it is essential that we grieve with the Floyd family, closely listen to the voices of peaceful protest and fundamentally understand that black lives matter.

Carlsons show has seen several waves of advertiser boycotts in recent years over his commentary. In December 2018, PepsiCo Inc.s SodaStream, TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. and others pulled their ads from Carlsons show after he said immigrants make the U.S. poorer and dirtier and more divided.
Authorities in Florida have released disturbing surveillance video showing the moment hundreds of looters broke into a closed Walmart and stole more than $100,000 worth of merchandise.

The incident took place on the night of May 30 during George Floyd protests in Tampa and the surrounding areas.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on Thursday issued a plea to the public seeking help with identifying the looters who ransacked the Walmart at 2701 East Fletcher Ave. in Tampa.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office today released surveillance video from May 30 showing a crowd of 200 looters breaking into a Tampa Walmart and ransacking it

The plunderers used hammers to break the glass entrance doors, allowing them to rush inside en masse

The store was closed because of the George Floyd protests happening in the area

Surveillance video from inside the Walmart that was released by the law enforcement agency shows a massive crowd of people gleefully forcing their way inside the store and then getting to work despoiling it.

The recording shows waves of raiders, some wearing face coverings, others not, racing through the aisles and grabbing merchandise, mostly electronics, including big-screen televisions.

Some of the intruders try to conceal their faces from store cameras, but others do not seem bothered by the risk of being seen.

The end of the video shows the pillagers running out of the thoroughly plundered store with their spoils in tow.

The raiders attacked the store's electronics section, grabbing boxes of big-screen TVs

Walmart reported an estimated $116,000 in stolen goods and damages

The sheriff's office stated investigators are working to identify 'each and every' looter

According to a statement from the sheriff's office, the incident began unfolding at 9.10pm as a crowd gathered outside the Walmart, which was closed due to the protests that were sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a Minneapolis police officer.

People wielding blunt instruments, including hammers, broke the glass entrance doors and rushed inside the store.

After reviewing surveillance video, detectives believe approximately 200 people entered the store. The Tampa Walmart reported an estimated $116,000 in stolen merchandise and damages.

'Not only is this violence completely unacceptable, it was disrespectful to the protesters who were out there that night trying to express their message in an impactful way,' Sheriff Chad Chronister said. 'We are actively working to identify each and every one of these suspects and ask the public to provide any information they may have.'

Anyone with information about the looting is urged to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at (813) 247-8200.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate 11s court at Mayo Hall complex here has been sealed for two days from Thursday, as a police constable posted there tested positive for coronavirus, a court official said on Wednesday.

As the constable attached to the magistrates court tested positive on Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice has ordered sealing the entire Mayo Hall complex on June 11-12, said High Court Registrar General Rajendra Badamikar in an order here.

As the entire complex will be sanitised, all appointments granted to the members of the bar for physical filing, payment of court fee and process fee and hearing shall be cancelled in all courts in the complex on Thursday and Friday.

The Principal City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru, will ensure that in case of urgency, the matters may be heard only through video conferencing, said Badamikar in the order.
"Agent Orange" is the filmmaker's preferred name for President Donald Trump. It's also a deadly chemical that was used as a herbicide and defoliant in Vietnam, where Da 5 Bloods takes place. The movie stars Delroy Lindo, Isiah Whitlock jnr, Clarke Peters and Norm Lewis as veterans who return to the country to recover the remains of their fallen squad leader (played in flashbacks by Chadwick Boseman). Isiah Whitlock jnr, Norm Lewis, Clarke Peters, Delroy Lindo and Jonathan Majors in a scene from Da 5 Bloods. Credit:David Lee/Netflix Along the way, they embark on a scheme reminiscent of John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, one of Lee's all-time favourites. Although it obeys the conventions of war films and caper flicks, Da 5 Bloods also recognises the disproportionate sacrifice of black soldiers in Vietnam, who were drafted, sent to the front lines, killed and court-martialed far more often than their white peers. Lee, who with Kevin Willmott retooled Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo's script that had originally been about white characters, first heard about the project as he was preparing to direct BlacKkKlansman, in 2017.

Although he couldn't have known then that the themes of Da 5 Bloods would be so germane in 2020, he says, "It doesn't take a great leap to make a correlation between what happened to black and brown boys in Vietnam and what's happened to black and brown communities with corona. You can tie that together without having to work." Spike Lee, left, on the set of Da 5 Bloods. Credit:David Lee/Netflix Inimitable Spike Lee touches abound throughout Da 5 Bloods, which features one of his most familiar stylistic flourishes: a stirring prologue and epilogue, in this case featuring Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King jnr - both of whom criticised the Vietnam War, both of whom were reviled for doing so at the time, and both of whom have been sanitised into sentimental heroes over the ensuing decades. The decision to include King was particularly personal for Lee. The civil rights leader was a senior at Atlanta's Morehouse College when Lee's father was a freshman; Lee graduated from Morehouse in 1979 with Martin Luther King III. "Dr King wasn't just talking about how immoral the Vietnam War was," Lee insists. "He was talking about Dow Chemical and all the other people who were profiting off the war, who were making napalm and Agent Orange. And I think that's why he got assassinated. Not because he was trying to desegregate counters or all that other stuff. When he started speaking against the war, they were like, 'This guy gotta go.' "

Film fans will recognise more than a few shout-outs to Apocalypse Now in Da 5 Bloods, which features at least two straight-up homages to Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film. Lee had just graduated from Morehouse and was preparing to attend film school at New York University when that film came out. He was working as an intern at Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles. "I was at the first screening," he recalls fondly, trying to find the ticket stub while he talks. "Twelve noon, the Cinerama Dome, Sunset Boulevard. Every time I see Francis he says, 'Spike, you've told me this story a million times already!' But it's true! That was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever seen in film." Lee says that he cast Laurence Fishburne and Albert Hall in School Daze and Malcolm X on the strength of their supporting performances in Apocalypse Now. He gives credit to Coppola and Oliver Stone for casting actors of colour in their Vietnam movies, which were breakthroughs compared with John Wayne's Green Berets and other whitewashed histories of the war. He says he has "nothing but love" for both directors, especially Stone, who served in Vietnam. Speculating that Stone may not have felt qualified to tell the black soldiers' story, Lee compares him to Norman Jewison, who had intended to direct Malcolm X before Lee took on the project. "Malcolm X was Norman Jewison's film. And he gracefully bowed out. He didn't have to do that," Lee says, adding that, to this day, their conversation has remained private. "Without saying exactly what he said, you know, he kind of acknowledged that maybe he was not the person to direct that film."

Far from being despondent about coronavirus and political unrest, Lee says, he feels he was "built for this." Since New York went into shutdown, he has been isolating at home with his wife, Tonya, their grown children, Satchel and Jackson, and their Yorkshire terrier, Ginger. "The family motto: Be safe and one day at a time." When the video emerged of George Floyd dying under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis, he responded almost days later with a breathtaking 94-second short film called 3 Brothers - Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd, in which he intercut the deaths of Garner and Floyd with footage from the 1989 film Do the Right Thing, in which Radio Raheem, played by Bill Nunn, dies while in a police chokehold. Does Lee feel compelled to make a particular movie in light of these extraordinary times? "No," he says flatly, although he suggests he might be inspired to make another short film. The position of individual artists and their proper creative response, he says, is a private decision. "As I've gotten older and more mature, I can understand that every artist has their own path," he says. "And there are some artists - and I'm not making any judgments - they think that their gift to God is their talent and to entertain people, and they make a conscious decision to leave politics out of it. And that's their choice. "But I do think that history has showed us that when times have been rough, they've produced some of the greatest music, movies, plays and whatnot from artists who feel that it's their duty to comment or hold up a window to the evil that's going on."
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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

CORPORATE NEWS



GBC AG in 2020 again partner of the Family Office Days in Vienna - On 17 June for the first time also online



Augsburg, 11 June 2020 - Since 2015, the financial community - especially from Austria and the DACH region - has been meeting regularly in Vienna at the Family Office Day. As the first capital market conference in Austria, the event has focused on the target group of family offices, foundations and HNWIs. Following 29 face-to-face events in Vienna and 35 investor round-table presentations, the Family Office Day will be held online for the first time on 17 June 2020. Eight companies from a wide range of industries will present their products and services and be available for one-on-one meetings. The organiser is Advantage Finance from Vienna. GBC AG, one of the leading bank-independent investment houses and expert for medium-sized companies, is again supporting the conferences this year as a sponsoring partner. The next Family Office Day Vienna dates for 2020 are as follows: - 17 June 2020: Family Office Day Vienna - Online - 29 September 2020: Family Office Day Vienna - 30 September 2020: Family Office Impact Day Vienna - 3 December 2020: Family Office Day Vienna "With great passion, GBC has for years been actively engaged in the dialogue between companies, investors and journalists. This is all the more true in these times marked by corona restrictions", says Manuel Holzle, CEO and Chief Analyst of GBC AG, "As our Munich Capital Market Conference in April already showed, online events are also well visited by the financial community, so we are very pleased to be able to contribute to a successful Family Office Day in Vienna". "Vienna is traditionally home to many family offices and foundations that are happy to invest in well-managed Austrian and German companies. Vienna is also an attractive conference venue for listed medium-sized companies. We are therefore very pleased to have GBC AG on board again this year, a very well-connected sponsor and partner. Both Munich and Vienna are special roadshow and conference destinations", adds Sabine Duchaczek, Managing Director of the organiser Advantage Finance. Please find the link to the invitation booklet as follows: https://www.familyofficeday.at/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/FamilyOfficeDayOnline_Einladung_17-06-2020.pdf For the online conference on 17 June 2020, investors can still obtain accreditation until 15 June 2020 at investorenkonferenzen@familyofficeday.at About GBC AG

GBC AG, based in Augsburg, is one of the leading bank-independent investment houses in Germany and an experienced issuing expert for German medium-sized companies. As an owner-managed company, GBC AG knows the financing needs of German SMEs and is an independent and reliable partner for all capital market issues. GBC AG has been a Capital Markets Partner of Deutsche Borse, an issuing expert of the Munich Stock Exchange and a capital market partner of the Dusseldorf Stock Exchange for many years. GBC AG's range of services includes capital market & financing consulting, company analyses & research, and capital market conferences. The next GBC conference dates in 2020



16 September 2020: 10th ZKK Zurich Capital Market Conference

Zurich Marriott Hotel, Neumuhlequai 42, 8006 Zurich 8 - 9 December 2020: 30 MKK - Munich Capital Market Conference

The Charles Hotel - Rocco Forte Hotels - Sophienstrasse 28 - 80333 Munich The 100% subsidiary GBC Kapital GmbH complements the services in the group with corporate finance in the areas of placement & brokerage of bonds and shares.



Contact

GBC AG

Phone: +49 (0)821 241133 0

Email: office@gbc-ag.de

11.06.2020 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

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Theres one thing weve learned since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: take what the World Health Organization says about the novel coronavirus with a grain of salt.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/6/2020 (590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Theres one thing weve learned since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: take what the World Health Organization says about the novel coronavirus with a grain of salt.

The WHO has been wrong or misleading on so many COVID-19 issues, its become almost impossible to rely on it as a trusted source of public health information.

The latest blunder came Monday, when Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO emerging diseases specialist, said the spread of the virus by asymptomatic people is "very rare"  a statement the world health body had to walk back the next day.

Her statement triggered a backlash in the scientific community, including from infectious disease experts who questioned why the WHO would make such a claim when the emerging science has shown the virus does spread asymptomatically.

The WHO made its retraction Tuesday, saying Van Kerhoves statements were "misunderstood." The WHO not only confirmed the virus can transmit from people who show no symptoms, it noted some studies have shown up to 40 per cent of transmissions could be asymptomatic.

Thats very different than claiming its "very rare."

The executive director of WHO health emergencies program, Dr. Mike Ryan, clarified further Tuesday, saying the organization is "absolutely convinced" asymptomatic transmission is happening. He also said wearing a non-medical face mask can help reduce the spread of the disease.

This is the same Dr. Mike Ryan who, just over two months ago, urged the world not to wear such masks.

"There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit," he said in March. "In fact, there's some evidence to suggest the opposite, in the misuse of wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly."

The public would rather hear "the evidence is not clear on that," instead of statements that appear to draw conclusions.

Granted, the science around the virus is evolving rapidly and there are many nuances around how information is conveyed. But its incumbent on public health officials not to make conclusive statements, or suggest they have answers based on incomplete data, when they really dont know.

The public would rather hear "the evidence is not clear on that," instead of statements that appear to draw conclusions.

The WHO got off to a rocky start Jan. 14, when it issued a statement on Twitter saying: "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) identified in Wuhan, China."

Six days later, Chinese officials confirmed the virus could spread between people. By then, it had already reached Beijing and Shanghai, and Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

There was at least some evidence Jan. 14 (when the WHO made its statement) the virus could be transmitted between people. Whether it was "clear evidence" or not doesnt matter. Issuing a statement at the time, suggesting there was little chance of human-to-human transmission, was irresponsible and grossly misleading.

The WHO did the same thing in March, when it played down the likelihood of asymptomatic transmission.

"We do not believe that asymptomatic transmission is a major driver of transmission," Van Kerkhove said during a March 5 briefing.

Using the term "major driver" is ambiguous. It suggests there was little chance of asymptomatic transmission at a time when there was emerging evidence to the contrary.

The WHO has been wrong or misleading on so many COVID19 issues, its become almost impossible to rely on it as a trusted source of public health information.

This week wasnt the first time the WHO had to walk back one of its statements.

Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

In an April Twitter thread, it had played down the likelihood of immunity for those who recovered from the disease: "There is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an immunity passport or risk-free certificate.'"

Later that day, in response to "concerns" raised about its earlier remarks, the WHO issued a "clarification."

"We expect that most people who are infected with #COVID19 will develop an antibody response that will provide some level of protection," it said, taking down the earlier tweet.

The WHO deserves credit for correcting the record after the fact. But the number of times it has made inaccurate, misleading or confusing statements undermines its credibility as a public health authority. It has been sloppy.

It will take some time after this pandemic for the WHO to repair its damaged reputation.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
Nigerian police say they have arrested a man after 40 people were raped in one town over the period of a year.



A mother in the northern town Dangora caught the man in her children's bedroom, according to police spokesman Abdullahi Haruna. The man ran away but neighbours gave chase and caught him, he added.



The man was arrested on Tuesday.



The police say the spate of rapes included an attack on an 80-year-old and children as young as 10 years old.



There has been a recent wave of rapes and killing of women in Nigeria, which have led to a national outcry, with thousands signing a petition and using the hashtag #WeAreTired.



Dangora is a small town in Kano state about 85 kilometres (55 miles) south-west of Kano city, making it difficult for police to access, reports the BBC's Mansur Abubakar from Kano.



The chief of the town, Ahmadu Yau, said the arrest is a welcome development.



"People of Dangora are so happy at this time and we hope justice will be served appropriately."



Residents told the BBC that they had lived the last year in fear, even in their own homes, because they had heard that a serial rapist was climbing fences and raping women indoors.



"We can now sleep with our eyes closed," one woman told the BBC.

Source: BBC









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Matt Hancock has been slammed for warning against mass demonstrations while standing next to an NHS test and trace tsar who also sits on the committee that allowed the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead.

The Health Secretary tonight pleaded with anti-racism protesters to avoid large crowds as he warned coronavirus 'thrives on social contact regardless of what your cause may be'

But social media users were quick to point out that Mr Hancock did the briefing alongside Dido Harding who sits on the board of Cheltenham-organisers the Jockey Club who allowed the massive event to go ahead.

Scientists have dubbed the festival a 'disaster' and claim it accelerated the spread of coronavirus in the UK after 260,000 people flocked to the racecourse just days before lockdown began.

Matt Hancock (right) has been slammed for warning against mass demonstrations while standing next to NHS test and trace tsar Dido Harding (left) who also sits on the committee that allowed the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead

A former jockey herself before going on to run internet giant TalkTalk, Ms Harding was elevated to the House of Lords by her university friend David Cameron in 2014

Toby Earle wrote on Twitter: 'Matt Hancock warning against mass gatherings while stood next to Dido Harding, whos on the board of the Cheltenham Festival.'

Richard Dixon added: Lest we forget: Dido Harding, the UK governments coronavirus trace-and-test mastermind who was at a daily briefing lectern today, is also a board member at the Jockey Club  the folks who gave us the teeming Cheltenham Festival just before lockdown.'

Darren Voltaire said: 'Dido Harding is on the board of the Jockey Club which holds responsibility for the Cheltenham Festival where 250,000 were allowed to be packed in like sardines over four days between 10th and 13th March when the virus was really beginning to take hold.'

A former jockey herself before going on to run internet giant TalkTalk, Ms Harding was elevated to the House of Lords by her university friend David Cameron in 2014, and now works for the NHS running the track and trace service promised to lead the UK out of lockdown.

Scientists have dubbed Cheltenham Festival (pictured) a 'disaster' and claim it accelerated the spread of coronavirus in the UK after 260,000 people flocked to the racecourse just days before lockdown began

Baroness Harding has not publicly commented on the decision to allow Cheltenham to go ahead between March 10 and 13 - but the Jockey Club has insisted that it complied with Government advice at the time.

In today's briefing, Mr Hancock explained that he understood that people 'want to show their passion for a cause that they care deeply about'.

But he stressed the Government's current social distancing rules restrict group gatherings to no more than six people, with the two metre restriction still having to be adhered to.

Social media users were quick to point out that Mr Hancock did the briefing alongside Ms Harding who sits on the board of Cheltenham-organisers the Jockey Club who allowed the massive event to go ahead

He said that 'for the safety of your loved ones' people should stick to the rules and not attend large protests.

His comments came after a statue of slave trader Edward Colston that was pulled down during an anti-racism demonstration last weekend was lifted out of Bristol Harbour.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council said it planned to temporarily remove a statue of Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell from Poole Quay over concerns it may be targeted by protesters.

The Government today published its first set of statistics setting out the initial performance of the NHS Test and Trace programme.

The data showed that some 8,117 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England had their case transferred to the NHS system, of whom 5,407 (67 per cent) were reached, while 2,710 (33 per cent) did not provide information about their contacts or could not be reached.

Overall, 31,794 contacts were identified and, of these, 26,985 were reached and advised to self-isolate - 85 per cent of the total number of contacts.

Of the remaining 15 per cent (4,809), some were not reached, others said they were already taking action independently of the system and some simply refused to comply.

Mr Hancock said the numbers showed the programme had already had an impact in the battle against coronavirus as he praised people for isolating when they have been asked to.

He continued: 'It is brilliant that the vast majority of people have done their civic duty and as we have worked through our plan and as we keep driving this virus down, let us maintain that spirit and fortitude that has helped us throughout this pandemic.

'And that of course includes not attending large gatherings, including demonstrations of more than six people.

'I understand that people want to show their passion for a cause that they care deeply about.

'But this is a virus that thrives on social contact regardless of what your cause may be.

'So please, for the safety of your loved ones, stay alert, control the virus and save lives.'

There have been numerous anti-racism protests across the UK in recent days with one on Sunday seeing the statue of Colston toppled and thrown into the harbour.

Bristol City Council posted a video clip on Twitter of the monument being fished out of the water this morning.

It tweeted: 'Early this morning we retrieved the statue of Colston from Bristol Harbour.

'It is being taken to a secure location before later forming part of our museums collection.'

It came as Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council said it planned to temporarily remove the statue of Baden-Powell from Poole Quay because of fears it could be targeted by activists.

The council said it wanted to 'minimise the risk of any public disorder or anti-social behaviour that could arise were the statue to remain in situ' while views on Lord Baden-Powell are shared.

Council leader Vikki Slade said in a statement issued on Wednesday: 'Whilst famed for the creation of the Scouts, we also recognise that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powell's life that are considered less worthy of commemoration.

'Therefore, we are removing the statue so that we can properly involve all relevant communities and groups in discussions about its future, including whether a more educational presentation of his life in a different setting might be more appropriate.'
New Delhi:

After the Cauvery water dispute rocked the nation, now Odisha and Chhattisgarh have locked their horns over river Mahanadi. Both the state are claiming move volume of water for them.

The Centre has called for a joint meeting with both the CMs on Saturday before the dispute blows wide open to invite any unpleasant circumstances.

Both the CMs Naveen Patnaik and Raman Singh have agreed to meet under the water resources minister Uma Bharati. Chhattisgarh is a BJP ruled state while BJD was an old ally.

The issue began when Odisha accused its neighbouring state of building multiple barrages over the river without the consultation of the former. Chhattisgarh however, claimed that the state hasnt been drawing any more water than it is supposed to, suggesting that the barrages do not obstruct the flow of Mahanadi.

The Patnaik government has also sought the need of a tribunal to help ease the problem with the sharing of water as it demanded the interference of the central government.

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Sonya Forte Duhe (pictured) has had her job offer revoked by Arizona State University

Arizona State University has scrapped the appointment of a new journalism dean after a series of racism allegations against her, including a tweet in which she called some police officers 'good'.

Sonya Forte Duhe was due to take over at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism on July 1 but the university provost has revoked the job offer.

More than 4,000 people had signed a petition to block Duhe's appointment, which accused her of 'microaggressions' and 'a history of racist, homophobic and bodyshaming comments'.

Student newspaper The State Press had raised a number of claims against her, including alleged comments about black students' hair, and said that some had found her tweets 'upsetting'.

Duhe had responded to the George Floyd protests across the country by tweeting: 'For the family of George Floyd, the good police officers who keep us safe, my students, faculty and staff.

'Praying for peace on this #BlackOutTuesday,' she said, referring to a social media campaign about the protests last week.

Some students reportedly found the comment 'upsetting', amid a wave of anger at police brutality against African-Americans including Floyd.

The comment prompted one former student of Duhe, Whitney Woods, to make a series of allegations about Duhe's behavior at Loyola University in New Orleans where she previously worked.

Woods, a black woman, claimed that Duhe had told her that her hair was 'messy, not appropriate for on-air' and asked about her 'African roots'.

Woods also criticized Duhe's Twitter comment, saying it 'never translated to compassionate feeling'.

The student newspaper investigation brought a number of additional claims to light, including an allegation from a gay student that Duhe had called his voice 'theatrical' and suggested he should stick to print journalism.

Another student claimed that Duhe had advised her to lose weight when she went to the tutor with a problem.

Duhe has not commented on these allegations.

More than 4,000 people had signed a petition to block Duhe's appointment at Arizona State University (file photo)

The petition demanding her removal said that Duhe had committed 'several acts of microaggressions' and said 'minority students need to know that ASU supports us'.

'We refuse to let minority voices go unheard, especially those of the Black community,' the petition said.

The Cronkite school of journalism subsequently announced that Duhe 'will not assume the position of dean' or CEO of Arizona PBS as previously planned.

'The Cronkite School remains committed to being a diverse, equitable and inclusive school,' a statement said.

Committee members had had 'high confidence' they selected the right person for the job when a search committee chose Duhe, university provost Mark Searle said.

'I now find that the future of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and our public television station will be better served by not advancing with Dr. Duhe as their leader,' Searle wrote in an email.

Reports in New Orleans say that Duhe will not be invited to return to her previous position at Loyola University.

The Cronkite school's previous dean, Christopher Callahan, accepted a position as president of the University of the Pacific in California.
Two cousins are accused of opening fire on each other during a duel outside a funeral home last Friday, leaving a bullet in one mans butt and sending family members fleeing through the parking lot.

Keon Harris and Geno Walters, both 27, are charged with dueling and several other felonies including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and shooting at an occupied dwelling.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said Harris surrendered peacefully to detectives at a home in Southeast Albuquerque Wednesday. Police found a .45 caliber pistol during a search. Walters has a warrant out for his arrest.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:

Officers responded around 10 a.m. to a shooting in the parking lot of Daniels Funeral Home on Coal SE near Interstate 25. The spray of bullets went through several vehicles, at least one home and left one man in the hospital after he was shot in the butt.

Family members told police they were gathered in the parking lot before a funeral when Harris and Walters got into an argument that ended with both men shooting at each other.

The man who was injured told police he was sitting in his vehicle when he heard gunfire and got out of the car to see what was happening and was struck in the buttocks. Another man was inside a nearby home when a bullet went into the home, hitting him with glass debris.

The security camera video showed Harris and Walters walk to the parking lot and both engage in a duel with deadly weapons The video led police to believe it was Walters bullets that struck several vehicles, house and mans butt.
The Democratic National Convention takes place this week, with Joe Biden set to accept his nomination as the Democratic candidate before taking on President Donald Trump in the 2020 US election.

That acceptance speech will come on Thursday 20 August, following a completely virtual four-day event which begins on Monday 17 August, and can be watched here.

It promises to be a convention like none other, having been postponed, cancelled and moved online amid concerns around safety and coronavirus, which has killed 170,000 Americans to date.

The presumed Democratic party candidate for president, Joe Biden, will also see his rivals in the Democratic primary contest give their backing to his bid for the White House.

They include Senator Kamala Harris, who on Wednesday is due to accept her nomination as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, after she was announced as Mr Bidens running mate less than a week ago.

What happens at the convention?

Not unlike the Republican convention in ordinary times, the Democrats event is traditionally a mixture of rallies, working sessions and elections, with delegates from the 50 states and non-state territories and districts convening in one place to determine the partys platform and pick their candidates for president and vice president.

In 2020, however, working sessions will largely take place online  with participants able to tune-in and watch the proceedings from across the United States. Meanwhile, a considerably slimmed-down speaking schedule will see two-hour packages delivered by star speakers including former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, among other high-profile Democrats and personalities.

Who to watch and when

On Monday , you can expect to see speakers from across the American political spectrum, with at least one Republican starring alongside progressive Democrats such as Senator Bernie Sandors before former first lady, Michelle Obama, headlines the first night of the convention.

Senator Amy Klobuchar

Former Ohio Governor John Kasich

New York governor Andrew Cuomo

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer

Senator Bernie Sanders

Former first lady Michelle Obama

On Tuesday , New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will speak at the convention, providing young and progressive voters with a voice among more mainstream speakers and Mr Biden, who is sometimes at odds with younger Democrats. Tuesday will also seen former president Bill Clinton provide the warm-up to Mr Bidens wide, Dr. Jill Biden, who could become the first lady after November.

Minority leader Chuck Schumer

Former secretary of state John Kerry

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Former president Bill Clinton

Dr. Jill Biden

On Wednesday , a host of women speakers will provide the warm-up to Kamala Harris accepting her nomination as the 2020 Democratic vice presidential candidate, when she will formally become the first black and south Asian woman to stand on the ticket of a major party in the United States. That speech will then be followed by former president Barack Obama.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

House speaker Nancy Pelosi

Former secretary of state Hilary Clinton

Senator Kamala Harris

Former president Barack Obama

On Thursday , Mr Biden will be at the centre of the online event as he accepts the partys nomination in a speech traditionally viewed as the starting gun on the final sprint towards Novembers election. And, without an in-person event, that acceptance speech will be made from Mr Bidens home state of Delaware.

Senator Cory Brooker

Fomer South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg

California governor Gavin Newsom

Andrew Yang

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden

Spectacle

Apart from the selection of the party platform and the partys candidates for president and vice president, the convention also serves as a means to rally supporters and solidify support for the candidates ahead of the November general election.

Recommended Democrats postpone convention to nominate presidential candidate

In 2020, that will come in the shape of completely online performances from Leon Bridges, The Chicks, Common, Stephen Stills, Jennifer Hudson and Billie Eilish (on Wednesday), who will entertain those watching the event.

Monday night will also see a virtual youth choir with members representing all 57 states and territories as singing the United States national anthem from remote locations across the country.

How to watch

The conventions programming takes place between 9 - 11pm EDT ( 1  3am GMT the next day) Monday to Thursday this week, and can be watched online here.
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo at a Press Availability on the Release of the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report

Remarks to the Press

Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State

Press Briefing Room

Washington, DC

June 10, 2020



SECRETARY POMPEO: Good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you all today. I'm here one more time, proudly, to talk about freedom and free societies. And while America is not a perfect nation by any means, we always strive towards that more perfect union, trying to improve. We remain the greatest nation in the history of civilization.

One of the good things that we do in this administration is our dedication to the protection of religious freedom all around the world. Last week, President Trump signed the first ever executive order that instructs the entire U.S. Government to prioritize religious freedom.

Here at the State Department, I've hosted the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom now twice. We've launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance. We've trained our Foreign Service officers to understand religious freedom issues much more deeply.

And today, I'm proud to release the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report. There is no other nation that cares so deeply about religious freedom, that we gather accounts from all across the world  it's an enormous, it's a comprehensive accounting of this fundamental human right.

Let me highlight a few positive developments we've observed in this past year:

The Gambia, an International Freedom Alliance member, has courageously brought a case before the International Court of Justice regarding crimes against the Rohingya.

The United Arab Emirates, long an ally for religious freedom in the Middle East, has become the first country in the Middle East to permit the construction of a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In Uzbekistan, steps have been taken to improve its record on religious freedom, and those steps continue. I had a great chat with religious leaders where I was there earlier this year.

We documented no police raids of unregistered religious group meetings during 2019, compared with 114 such raids in 2018, and 240  240 the year before that. These are great strides, real progress, the efforts of our State Department team showing or bearing fruit.

But there's also a great darkness over parts of the world where people of faith are persecuted or denied the right to worship:

The Nicaraguan Government harasses and intimidates religious leaders and worshipers and desecrates religious spaces, often using proxies.

In Nigeria, ISIS and Boko Haram continue to attack Muslims and Christians alike. ISIS beheaded 10 Christians in that country just this past December.

And in China, state-sponsored repression against all religions continues to intensify. The Chinese Communist Party is now ordering religious organizations to obey CCP leadership and infuse communist dogma into their teachings and practice of their faith. The mass detentions of Uighurs in Xinjiang continues. So does the repression of Tibetans and Buddhists and Falun Gong and Christians.

I commend the report released today to everyone. Its very existence is evidence of our strong resolve to defend human dignity.

Ambassador Brownback, who is standing up here with me, will take questions from you after I wrap up my conversation with you all this morning.

Speaking of China, last week I was humbled and honored to meet with several survivors of the Chinese Communist Party's massacre at Tiananmen Square that happened 31 years ago.

I also released a statement on China's obscene attempts to take advantage of our domestic situation to press their political agenda, which I'm sure many of you saw.

There is no equivalence between our two forms of government. We have the rule of law; China does not. We have free speech and embrace peaceful protest. They don't. We defend religious freedom; as I just noted, China continues its decades-long war on faith.

The contrast couldn't be more clear: During the best of times, China ruthlessly imposes communism. And amidst the most difficult challenges the United States faces, we work to secure freedom for all.

And speaking of freedom, I want to say how happy I am that Michael White's back home safely. I want to thank our team, led by Special Representative Brian Hook, for the great diplomacy that he engaged in that led to Michael's release. I want to thank the Swiss Government, too, for their assistance.

The work is not done. Baquer Namazi, Siamak Namazi, and Morad Tahbaz are Americans still wrongfully detained by the Iranian regime. Tehran must release them immediately.

Staying in the Middle East, a brief comment on Libya.

The agreement between the GNA and the LNA to re-enter UN security talks was a good first step, very positive. Quick and good faith negotiations are now required to implement a ceasefire and relaunch the UN-led intra-Libyan political talks. It's time. It's time for all Libyans on all sides to act, so that neither Russia nor any other country can interfere in Libya's sovereignty for its own gain.

Putting Libya on the path to economic recovery means preserving Libyan oil facilities and strong access to the National Oil Corporation.

On Iraq: The Government of Iraq has agreed to the Strategic Dialogue proposed in April, beginning tomorrow. Under Secretary Hale will lead that discussion with the representatives from Department of Defense, Treasury, Energy, and other agencies, and their Iraqi counterparts.

In keeping with previous dialogues based on our 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement, the dialogue will cover all of the areas of interest between our two countries: politics, economics, security, culture, and energy.

With new threats on the horizon, including the global coronavirus pandemic, collapsed oil prices, and a large budget deficit, it's imperative that the United States and Iraq meet as strategic partners to plan a way forward for the mutual benefit of each of our two nations.

A little bit closer to home, the Trump administration continues to work with our partners to sustain the great transformation here in the Western Hemisphere, to turn it into that hemisphere of freedom that we have talked about.

That work must continue in bilateral, multilateral settings  why I'm voicing the United States concerns over the Pan American Health Organization's role in facilitating forced labor by Cuban doctors in Brazil's Mais Medico program, during which more than 10,000 Cuban health care workers have allegedly been trafficked.

PAHO must explain how it came to be the middleman in a scheme to exploit Cuban medical workers in Brazil.

PAHO must explain how it came to send $1.3 billion to the murderous Castro regime.

PAHO must explain why it did not seek the approval of the executive council  its own executive council  for its role in this program.

And PAHO must explain who in the organization approved a potentially illegal agreement.

And it must explain what it did with the $75 million it collected when it brokered this program.

It needs to undertake reforms to prevent such things from ever happening again.

And just as we did with the World Health Organization, the Trump administration will demand accountability from all international health organizations that depend on American taxpayer resources. Our money must support things that create value and support our values.

The United States continues to stand for democratic values elsewhere in the hemisphere too.

We look forward to a quick and credible conclusion to the vote recount in Guyana.

We expect transparent and credible outcomes in the legislative elections in Suriname as well.

And we continue to support the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom.

Let's not lose sight of how the Maduro regime has harmed Americans, either. We call once again for the regime, which has held six U.S. oil executives for more than two and a half years now without a trial, to release each of these individuals.

We also call on Russia to do the same for Paul Whelan, who needs to be released now.

Rest assured Ambassador Sullivan and his team will keep fighting for Paul.

The United States will also keep our focus on Moscow's other human rights violations. Since 2015, Russia has conscripted thousands of Crimean men into its armed forces and imposed criminal penalties on those who do not comply. Russia must end its repression of those who oppose its occupation, release unjustly imprisoned Ukrainians, and return full control to the peninsula of Ukraine. Crimea is Ukraine.

In brighter news, on the other side of the Atlantic, our consulate in Nuuk, Greenland formally begins operations today. I'm excited about that. It took a lot of work and it's good news. It's the culmination of the administration's efforts to strengthen our engagement in the Arctic region, and a big thanks to Ambassador Carla Sands and her team in Copenhagen for help making this happen.

We're grateful for the solid cooperations we've seen from Greenland and Denmark in making this day arrive. I was supposed to make a trip last year to announce this news and I'm still hoping that I can make it up that way north. I know you'll all want to come along with me on that trip.

One more item from Europe: I also welcome Albania's cross-party agreement on electoral reform, which will strengthen its democracy and further solidify Albania's European future. We encourage all stakeholders to codify this political agreement.

On to Africa. The United States welcomes Congo's arrest of Trazor Mputu Kankonde, who is accused of involvement in the 2017 murder of UN experts Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan. Finding and apprehending him is an important step forward for the rule of law in the DRC and justice for the murder of an American citizen.

More good news: We want to congratulate France on its announcements of operations that killed in northern Mali Abdelmalek Droukdal, the leader of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. This is a big victory. We've taken another senior al-Qaida leader off the battlefield, a terrorist threat who has presented risk all across the globe.

And I want to mention briefly too an upcoming meeting General Secretary Xi is having with leaders in Africa on COVID-19. We've taken note of the very modest financial donations that China and so-called private Chinese entities have disbursed in Africa.

China's contributions to fighting the pandemic are paltry compared to the financial and human costs of the cover-up that it engendered. And I note too our concern that China will exploit the pandemic as a pretext to continue its opaque lending practices that have led nations to debt and disappointment all throughout Africa.

The United States has done and will continue to do enormous good work in Africa. PEPFAR has saved millions of African lives and the U.S. is sustaining multiple programs in Africa to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. We'll continue this remarkable humanitarian work as a reliable, transparent, and steadfast partner to our many African friends.

And finally, I have an announcement regarding America's unyielding pledge of help for countries and people afflicted by pandemic.

First, I want to announce $14 million in new humanitarian assistance for refugees and vulnerable migrants.

Second, President Trump is proud to help supply ventilators to countries all around the world.

Today we're providing nearly $180 million to support the purchase of those ventilators as well as the training and support needed for these complex machines.

So far, we've committed to deliver nearly 15,000 ventilators to more than 60 countries.

I'm happy, with that, to take a handful of questions.

MS ORTAGUS: Welcome back, Shaun. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Shaun, there you are. Shaun, yes, sir.

QUESTION: Thanks, Mr. Secretary.

Actually, I wanted to ask you about events in this country over the past week  the killing of George Floyd. You've  I saw you commented on Twitter about this. And you've criticized China and Iran over their response, how you say they're exploiting it, but what is the message from the State Department? What is the message the United States projects to the world about this, when we have greater attention to the racial disparities here in the United States, when you've seen the use of force in Lafayette Park? What message can the United States have as a sound position to raise morally these issues like the ones we hear today about religious freedom?

And the State Department itself, is there any more focus that you think should be done in terms of diversity in the State Department? Thanks.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, I'll take your second question first. Since the day I arrived here, we've been very focused to make sure we brought every talent to bear all across the State Department, a diverse set of people working from all across the country of every race, of every nature, of every political persuasion to bring them here, to execute America's diplomatic mission. I'm really proud of the work we've done to make sure we have the right team, a diverse team here or on the field. I think the statistics show that hard work by Carol Perez and her team in our Department of Human Resources. I think they've done fantastic work at that end. It's important. It's important as we travel the world that our team represent America in a way that reflects the full glory and diversity of the United States of America.

And as for your first question, I think the question is so troubling, right. Because you ask the question assuming there is a moral equivalency between what takes place in these countries where they repress their people and they bludgeon their people and they burn down their religious facilities, and they deny journalists  you all  the chance to ask a question of a secretary of state  just like the question you had, the opportunity to ask me and demand that we provide responses to you and hold us accountable. Those things don't happen in those nations.

Our diplomats all around the world can be incredibly proud of the fact that they represent a nation that has God-given rights ensconced in our fundamental founding documents that ensure that when we get something wrong here in the United States, when something as tragic and as awful as what happened to George Floyd takes place, that the government responds, right.

We saw both local law enforcement and our Department of Justice move very quickly to address the particular situation. We've now seen people say, "Hey, we're calling for changes in the way law enforcement works." It's not my space here as the Secretary of State, but you can see this debate take place in America. That doesn't happen in nations across the world. In Tiananmen Square 31 years ago, when thousands of people were massacred, instead they repressed journalists, they disappeared people. It's fundamentally different.

Our nation is so special and it's the greatest nation in the history of civilization. It's so special that challenges like the ones that we're confronting here in the United States today will be managed head-on, there will be a political process that's engaged of, there will be wide open debate, and our core principles  the fact that we respect every human being because they are made in the image of God  will be reflected in the way that the United States responds to these challenges. And I actually think our diplomats have this incredible opportunity to tell this important story about how America confronts challenges inside its own country in a way that reflects the finest of what our founders would have hoped America could achieve.

MS ORTAGUS: Rich.

QUESTION: Hi, Mr. Secretary.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Hey, Rich.

QUESTION: Since we last spoke, Mr. Linick has testified that the undersecretary of management tried to bully him on multiple occasions, including an attempt to assume control of leak investigation and dissuade his investigation of last year's arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Is that accurate, and if so, is it appropriate? And is State currently looking into Mr. Linick?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So I haven't had a chance to see the transcript of Mr. Linick's testimony. I understand it's now out, sometime this morning it came out. I haven't had a chance to see that, so all I've seen is what the committee put out in its press release.

Here's what I can tell you: Steve Linick was a bad actor in the inspector general office here. He didn't take on the mission of the State Department to make us better. That's what inspector generals are supposed to do; they work for the agency head  that's me  and they are supposed to deliver and help make that organization better. It's not what Mr. Linick did.

With respect to the leak, there's still work going on. I don't want to comment it  on it other than to say that we have asked for a more thorough investigation than Mr. Linick had permitted. Mr. Linick didn't do what he was asked to do: to respond to a story, I think written by one of you, that suggested that a couple of anonymous sources from inside his operation  I think it was referred to as people close to the investigation  had leaked a very politically sensitive document designed to destroy the career of a professional State Department official. And that leaked almost certainly, according to the report, from his office. We asked him to investigate it in a certain way, he refused to do that, and that's inappropriate. And we still don't, as a result of that, know the answer for precisely how that information got out. We're determined to figure out how that information escaped, which was aimed at harming someone here.

As I said before, my mistake was letting Mr. Linick stay here as long as he did. He continued to undermine what it is the State Department's mission is aimed at achieving. We'll respond as appropriate to the various things Mr. Linick said when we get a chance to read the interview transcript, but I'll leave it at that for this morning. I want to talk about foreign policy issues, the things that really matter.

MS ORTAGUS: Okay. Christina.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you for that.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: Going back to your response to Shaun's question.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: Respectfully, I wanted to ask you, not killing journalists or imprisoning dissidents surely cannot be the bar for American exceptionalism. My colleagues and I have seen firsthand this week on the streets police using nightsticks against peaceful protesters and actively targeting members of the media, but we've heard no condemnation of these acts from the White House. And I'm wondering how and why this administration so vocally supports the rights of protesters overseas, in Hong Kong, and not the protesters a mile or so down the road from where you now stand.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Oh, I think this administration has and continues to support peaceful protesters wherever we find them.

QUESTION: We've not seen a statement from the White House against acts against journalism, against peaceful protesters being attacked by police. What is your opinion of those acts?

SECRETARY POMPEO: For two and a half years, I have worked for journalists to have the right to say whatever the heck they want. I come out and talk to you. You can ask me whatever 

QUESTION: You do.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  question you choose, right?

QUESTION: And I have.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, you  and you have. And there  sometimes I like them, sometimes less so. This is  but this is part of the process. I welcome that.

With respect to the particular things that you suggested, I know there have been concerns from some countries of their reporters having been treated inappropriately here. We've seen some of those allegations come into the State Department. You should know, and those countries should know, we will  we will handle them in a completely appropriate way. We will do our best to investigate them to the extent the State Department is capable of doing that, and we will address them in a way that is appropriate to try and address any concerns those nations may have about their journalists who we, too, do our level best to protect whenever  you've seen them, the international press travel alongside you  we do our best to take care to make sure that they get an opportunity both to ask questions of us and that they can feel safe and secure in doing so.

QUESTION: What is your opinion about the protests?

MS ORTAGUS: That's  that'll be it. Thank you.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Great. Thank you all.

MS ORTAGUS: We're going to have Sam now.

SECRETARY POMPEO: All right.

MS ORTAGUS: Thank you.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Ambassador Brownback, you're up. Thank you all. Have a good day.

MS ORTAGUS: And just one clarifying point. You can actually look to White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. She addressed Christina's question (inaudible). So the White House is on the record.

Go ahead, Sam.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank  thank you all for being here today. I thank Secretary Pompeo. Grateful to President Trump, Vice President Pence, leading on this important issue on religious freedom.

Just as a brief overview, quickly, there are many firsts that this administration has done on this topic of religious freedom that I'd like to highlight here. Last week you saw the executive order on religious freedom the President put out. It's the first time that's ever been done by any chief executive anywhere in the world. President Trump was the first president ever, first chief executive of any country ever to host a religious freedom event at the UN General Assembly, in September last year.

The Secretary mentioned the ministerials to advance religious freedom. He hosted two of them. Those were the largest religious freedom events ever of their kind in the world, largest-ever human rights-focused conferences hosted by the State Department. The Secretary launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance. It's the  he is the first-ever U.S. Secretary of State to organize an international coalition at a national leadership level to push the issue of religious freedom forward around the world. Last year we launched the Abrahamic Faiths Initiative to push for peace between Muslims, Christians, and Jews by engaging in the cause key theologians of each of the faiths.

The Trump administration has done and continues to do more than any other administration to protect and promote religious freedom for all faiths, groups, or for people of no faith at all.

Today, Pastor Andrew Brunson has been reunited with his family. The world has taken notice of the PRC Government's human rights abuses and is beginning to speak out. Asia Bibi has been freed for more than a year. And due to recent improvements, both Sudan and Uzbekistan have been removed from the list of Countries of Particular Concern. Major accomplishments and major things happening.

Since the emergence of the COVID pandemic, we've seen Burma drop its charges and release more than 1,000 Rohingya from jail. Iran furloughed a few of the dozens of unjustly detained members of religious minorities.

The administration has answered the call to fight for people of all faiths, everywhere, at all time. It's been a very fulfilling job for me working with the incredible staff and pushing for religious freedom in every corner of the globe. Yet the state of religious freedom remains far from perfect, and very troubling. In many places of the world, individuals have become more familiar with religious oppression than religious freedom, and that's  this report we've put forward today, the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report  Religious Freedom Report that's put out today.

Faith groups in China are among those suffering greatly on account of their beliefs. In Iran, 109 members of minority religious groups remain in prison for simply being religious minority practitioners. And last year the government executed a number of individuals on charges of enmity against God. In Nigeria, conflicts and carnage continue between predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen and predominantly Christian farmers in North Central states.

So our work is clearly cut out for us. We must continue to build partnerships and alliances with nations who share our commitment to advance religious freedom around the world, and we must continue our efforts to stop bad actors. And we must also continue to expand our capacity. The importance of advancing religious freedom cannot be overstated. It must extend to all areas of our foreign policy, and that's why President Trump announced a new executive order last week, as I mentioned, which prioritizes international religious freedom in the planning and implementation of United States foreign policy and in the foreign assistance programs.

We will continue to press forward our commitment to promote religious freedom for all, and that's what we have done and that's what we'll continue to do, and the Secretary's been outstanding in leading this effort, as has the President and the Vice President, and I think you'll see more to come.

Happy to take questions if you want to.

MS ORTAGUS: Going to try to get through everyone who hasn't had a chance yet, so start with Nick.

QUESTION: Ambassador, Nick Schifrin, PBS NewsHour. Thank you for doing this. I wanted to ask about China and Xinjiang and what you're seeing. China's obviously long said that the Uighurs, Muslim Uighurs who have been imprisoned or detained in Xinjiang have been released, so do you have any evidence that any Uighurs have been released from these detention camps during the coronavirus? And have you seen evidence that independent researchers have found, which is that some of these detainees ended up working in factories, including factories who make products for Western companies? Thanks.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: We have no evidence that they've been released, and even if they were released, they're released into a virtual police state that China has created that Chen Quanguo, the chair of the Communist Party in Xinjiang who was the chair in Tibet, has created. And he's been well funded to create this. These are facts that we do know. We do know that a number of workers have been put into forced labor facilities now in Xinjiang, and even Commerce Department now has sanctioned several of the companies in saying these products are produced by forced labor and they cannot be received into the U.S. marketplace.

It is a horrific situation, and our big concern here is that this is the future of what oppression's going to look like, is what it looks like for the Uighurs when they get out of the prison camps. It's going to be cameras and identification. It's going to be social credit systems. It's going to be oppression, particularly if you want to practice your faith. In many of these places, you're fine if you want to do anything  you want to get an education, fine. You want to work, fine. You're  anything  but if you want to practice your faith, it's a no go. And if you do, there will be consequences for you and anybody else that pings you on your cell phone. These are the things that is the virtual police state that we're very concerned about it being the future of  beyond Xinjiang.

QUESTION: And on those forced labor facilities, as you called them, any evidence that these are factories that make products for the West?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Well, the  I would refer specifically to what Commerce Department has done on the entities list where they blocked these products coming in, and go off of what their records have produced. But this is the information, the anecdotal evidence information we're getting from people that testify, that have relatives or they themselves have been in these facilities.

MS ORTAGUS: Said, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Morgan. Thank you, sir. Are you concerned that many of the authoritarian regimes, especially in the Arab world, are taking advantage of the COVID-19 spread issue and lockdown to basically restrict religious freedoms and go after a lot of practicing people and so on? Are you concerned about that, that this  they are continuing to do that, keeping mosques off limit and saying that 

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Absolutely. Here's the big concern on the COVID crisis from my perspective in the space that I'm in: Number one is that you're subjecting people that are prisoners of conscience to a pandemic. Then they should be released. They shouldn't be in prison in the first place. These are prisoners of conscience. They're in because they're simply peacefully practicing their faith, and they shouldn't be in prison and subjected to it in the first place.

Number two, we're very concerned that in the future, you're going to see a number of governments that see an advantage here, a chance: "Okay, we've shut down all these religious institutions. We're going to keep them shut down after the COVID crisis passes because we don't like these religious institutions operating freely in the first place." And that's a deep concern that has been  that I've raised to our alliance allies and others on the religious freedom space. We don't want to see the leftover of this impact the closing of these religious institutions.

Having said that, I'm very appreciative of religious leaders and their cooperation with health officials around the world to really push back against congregations coming together during the COVID crisis. You saw COVID happen during the Easter period, you saw it happen during Passover, you saw it happen during Ramadan, three of the major kind of religious events of the year for three major religions. And all of the  not everybody, but almost all of the major religious leaders said don't come together, don't congregate, for the first time in a thousand years, because we don't want to see the spread of this. And I thought the religious leaders by and large were very responsive during this COVID crisis, and I think it helped enormously. And they're going to be a big part of the future, too.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS ORTAGUS: Kylie.

QUESTION: Thank you for doing this. Two questions. With regard to the report this year versus the report last year, which country has fallen behind, taken steps backwards the most in terms of religious freedom? And then the second one, you were just talking about religious institutions maybe staying shutdown as a result of coronavirus. Can you point us to a few countries where you guys are looking at that so that we can continue to keep tabs on it? Thank you.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Good questions, and pretty hard to answer, really. And maybe it sounds like a broken record, but China is just such a big player in this space in such a negative way that it's hard to overlook, and they're an exporter of their ways and their technology. That's the other piece of it. If they were  if they weren't an exporter, if they just did it to their own people, which is terrible in and of itself  but that's one you just can't really take your eyes off of.

I'm deeply concerned about what's happening in Nigeria because of the escalation of the violence and the carnage and the lack of response  effective response  by the government. We really need the Nigerian Government to step up and act much more effectively in their space.

Those are two key ones. There's others that  you're seeing, unfortunately, a lot of communal-level violence that's happening in many countries and you're seeing it in democracies, too. We're just  there's a clash of faiths, and it becomes violent and deadly. And to me on a long-term basis that's the piece I get most concerned  one of the pieces I get concerned about because I just  the world gets more and more closer  other than during COVID we haven't, but just  it's more and more integrated. So you're getting these religions touch up against each other a lot more, and unless we can put forward the use of religion for peace and not for war and division, you're going to have a lot more of these conflicts happen.

And that's why this Abrahamic Faith Initiative and others that we're working on to try to  when we did that in the Balkans, even, we put forward a conference working with Albania and others of the use of religion for peace, where in the Balkans it's often been used for war. And that's what we want.

MS ORTAGUS: Michel.

QUESTION: Mr. Ambassador, thank you for doing this. What are the main points that you registered or noticed on the Middle East in this report?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: In the Middle East, both progress and hope and yet continued difficulty. Honestly, UAE, I'm  really did an amazing thing in hosting the pope on a papal visit. First time the papacy has been in the Arabian Peninsula in the history of mankind  and celebrated it. The UAE Government did as an open statement, and you heard the Secretary say they opened a church to LDS and  amazing. And yet you still have blasphemy and apostasy laws in the places.

Saudi Arabia has continued to be a country of particular concern, and they still are the only nation in the world without a single church. And you're  you're going, "Really?" You used to have churches there. There are historical churches that are there. So I  and I meet with a lot  prior to the pandemic, I meet with a lot of Middle East leaders, and they're thinking much more along this line because their children were raised on the internet like most of the places around the world  again, other than China, that has a firewall. They mostly have open access and they want a more open society and a freer society. So the leaders are feeling, I think, that pulse of the population and I hope more will continue to lean forward on how they can open up. And we're getting more indications like that.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS ORTAGUS: Ken, you're the only one that hasn't gone. Do you have anything? If not, it's fine. Christina 

QUESTION: I guess the UN recently came out with a report saying that the Taliban was still close to al-Qaida. What does that do to religious freedom in the future in that country? Are you concerned?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: I don't have a good thought to give you, and so rather than taking a stab at it, I'm  I don't know how I would really frame or categorize that, so sorry.

MS ORTAGUS: Thanks, Sam. Appreciate it. Thank you.

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Illinois Sued Over Law Compelling Health Insurance Coverage for Abortions

Small businesses and a religious group are suing Illinois over a law requiring that all health insurance policies sold in the state provide coverage for elective chemical and surgical abortions, with no exemptions, even for churches.

The lawsuit, cited as Illinois Baptist State Association v. Illinois Department of Insurance, was filed June 10 by the Chicago-based Thomas More Society, a public-interest law firm that specializes in religious freedom issues. The plaintiffs are the Illinois Baptist State Association, dental practice Southland Smiles and its owner Dr. Richard Mantoan, and Rock River Cartage and its owner Curt House.

The plaintiffs are challenging the state Reproductive Health Act of 2019, in which the legislature mandated that every health insurance plan in Illinois that provides pregnancy-related benefits also provide coverage for abortion. They argue this mandate violates their rights under the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which both safeguard the plaintiffs sincerely held religious beliefs which forbid them from funding and providing employee health care coverage for abortion, according to the legal complaint filed in Sangamon County state court.

The plaintiffs allege that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, the Department of Insurance, and its director, Robert Muriel, have failed to protect the plaintiffs rights. They ask the court to declare the mandate unlawful and preliminarily enjoin the state from enforcing it.

The Reproductive Health Act repealed the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, which provided for spousal consent, waiting periods, restrictions on abortion facilities, and criminal penalties for violations.

The 2019 law created a fundamental right for pregnant women to have abortions. It also declared that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights. Pritzker, who signed the measure into law a year ago, has vowed to make Illinois the most progressive state in the nation when it comes to standing up for womens reproductive rights, according to a Chicago Tribune summary.

Radical partisans have forced employers of faith in Illinois into a terrible choice: either pay for the intentional termination of unborn children, or leave your employees families and your own without health insurance, said Peter Breen, vice president and senior counsel for the Thomas More Society.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly condemned this sort of government coercion against people of faith, including in the 2014 Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. decision, he said.

The Hobby Lobby case was a challenge to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as the Obamacare statute. The Christian arts and crafts chain store owners, who say they run their business on biblical principles, believed that the use of contraception was immoral and resisted offering it in their employment-based group health care plans, as required under the Obamacare law. Exemptions were available for religious employers and nonprofit religious institutions, but no exemption applied to Hobby Lobby because it was a for-profit organization.

In a 54 decision written by Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court held that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 gives for-profit companies the ability to deny contraception coverage to employees based on a religious objection.

Illinois law protects the sincerely held beliefs of our states nonprofits and businesses, but our states politicians and bureaucrats have sat silent in response to the conscientious objections of people of faith to paying for elective abortions, Breen said.

We have very strong claims, Breen told The Epoch Times in an interview. We are hoping to get this mandate thrown out.

The Department of Insurance has not taken any steps to give any relief to churches and business owners of faith, so weve been forced to go into court to secure those rights for our clients.

No hearing date for the injunction application has been scheduled yet, he said. The courts in Illinois are still operating remotely, he said, presumably because of containment efforts aimed at the CCP virus that causes the disease COVID-19.

The Illinois Department of Insurance didnt immediately respond to inquiries by The Epoch Times.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11) The Independence Day festivities will take a different turn this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hound the Philippines.

To commemorate the countrys 122nd freedom day celebration on Friday, officials will push through with events but with limited manpower and subject to health protocols.

President Rodrigo Duterte will be skipping the traditional commemoration rites at the Luneta Park in Manila, according to Malacanang, as the chief executive remains in Davao City.

Duterte has designated Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to lead the Luneta ceremony, which will be limited to only 10 guests, in line with the Inter-Agency Task Forces directive.

Dahil sampu lang ang pinayagan ng IATF, ang problema po talaga kapag nandyan ang Presidente, dadami po ang tao na nais lumapit sa kanya, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque explained in a virtual media briefing on Thursday.

[Translation: Because the IATF only allowed 10 people, the problem is, if the President is there, a lot of people would want to come near him.]

The President is still expected to deliver a virtual address after the ceremony, Roque added.

Other government agencies were also tasked to hold celebrations with limited guests.

Joint Task Force COVID Shield commander PLGen Guillermo Eleazar told CNN Philippines that authorities are also encouraged to celebrate the occasion virtually to prevent the spread of the virus.

The June 12 rites at the historic Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, Cavite will also be held differently this year as local officials expect a short and simple program.

Kawit Mayor Angelo Aguinaldo said the ceremony will run for about an hour, with only 10 people allowed inside the shrine, where the Philippine flag was first unfurled as a symbol of national sovereignty.

Physical distancing measures will also be strictly followed, he added.

In 2019, Vice President Leni Robredo led the flag raising and wreath laying ceremony at Rizal Park while Duterte visited government troops in Lanao del Sur. The year before, Duterte was heckled during his Independence Day speech at the Aguinaldo Shrine.

Relish our freedom

As most of the country will commemorate Independence Day virtually, Filipinos are encouraged to savor the concept of freedom which has taken a whole new meaning while the world is on quarantine.

Sana sa Independence Day, mas pahalagahan natin yung mga sakripisyo ng ating mga ninuno," Aguinaldo told CNN Philippines. "Na-experience natin during the quarantine na ito nakulong tayo sa bahay, ngayon mas pahalagahan natin ang kalayaan (na nakamit),

[Translation: I hope during Independence Day, well highlight the sacrifices of our ancestors. We experienced during the quarantine how it felt like to be held hostage. So I hope we can savor our independence.]
OSLO, Norway, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Reference is made to the OSE notification 27 April 2020 from Photocure ASA (PHO: OSE) regarding the return of Hexvix sales, marketing and distribution rights in Europe and other markets currently controlled by Ipsen Pharma SAS (Ipsen). Photocure and Ipsen have today entered into a final agreement.

"We have entered into a final agreement with Ipsen that will have a transformative impact on Photocure, in line with our strategy of building a strong and profitable global business within the diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer. We have built a successful commercial organization for Hexvix/Cysview in the U.S. and the Nordics, with a solid underlying growth potential post the Covid-19 situation. Photocure has a unique understanding of the disease and bladder cancer care. We aim to apply lessons learned in the Nordic region and the U.S. and see significant growth opportunities in Europe and other markets currently not served by Ipsen," says Dan Schneider, President and CEO.

Photocure entered into a global commercialization agreement with Ipsen in 2011 for the sales, marketing and distribution of Hexvix outside the Nordic region and the U.S. Ipsen has served as strategic partner and has built a solid position for the brand in select key European markets. Photocure announced on 27 April 2020 that the company had agreed terms for an agreement with Ipsen to regain the global commercialization of Hexvix, an extensive commercial opportunity going forward, consistent with the company's pure-play bladder cancer focus and solid track-record from other markets. The parties have today entered into a final agreement in which commercial rights will be officially transferred to Photocure on 1 October 2020.

"To retrieve the rights for developing Hexvix in major markets brings flexibility and expansion at a perfect point in time. There is a considerable and growing interest in the bladder cancer market, as the disease remains the most expensive cancer to treat, and we see significant opportunities ahead, " Schneider concludes.

The parties have entered into a final agreement were Photocure will pay Ipsen EUR 15 million upon transfer on 1 October 2020. Ipsen will book sales up until this date. Ipsen will in addition receive earn-out payments in the range of 10-15% of sales (years 1-7 post-transfer) and 7.5% of sales (years 8-10) in the current Ipsen markets.

Photocure had a cash position at the end of the first quarter of 2020 of NOK 127 million and conducted a private placement on 27 April 2020 raising NOK 143 million in gross proceeds. Reference is made to OSE notifications 27 and 28 April regarding the private placement.

Photocure outlines the following key financial targets for the acquired rights:

2019 royalty received by Photocure was NOK 61 million excluding IFRS adjustments. Following the potential transfer of the rights for the Ipsen territories to Photocure, the revenue recognized by Photocure is expected to increase around 3x to 2021 compared to 2019, driven by Photocure being granted the in-market sale in the territories and growth in market penetration. Beyond FY 2021, Photocure is targeting approximately 30% annual revenue growth in current Ipsen territories

excluding IFRS adjustments. Following the potential transfer of the rights for the Ipsen territories to Photocure, the revenue recognized by Photocure is expected to increase around 3x to 2021 compared to 2019, driven by Photocure being granted the in-market sale in the territories and growth in market penetration. Beyond FY 2021, Photocure is targeting approximately 30% annual revenue growth in current Ipsen territories Photocure will incur approximately NOK 30 million in integration and ramp-up costs in 2020

in integration and ramp-up costs in 2020 Photocure will incur approximately NOK 90 million in increased SG&A costs in Europe from FY 2021 and beyond.

Group 2023 ambitions

Photocure delivers transformative solutions which improve the lives of bladder cancer patients. Based on experience and the performance of the breakthrough bladder cancer product Hexvix/Cysview, Photocure has embarked on a stepwise approach to continued growth. Photocure sees significant long-term value creation potential in the global bladder cancer market and has developed a defined growth strategy:

Accelerating - Drive the breadth and depth of Hexvix/Cysview usage in key accounts

Expanding - Generate sales in new geographies and product enhancements

Acquiring - Products used in the management of bladder cancer patients

Transforming - Partner and in-license assets to strengthen the bladder cancer portfolio

The primary growth geographies for Photocure are the U.S. and European markets with large untapped market opportunities. The company sees significant growth opportunities in Europe and other countries not currently commercialized by Ipsen. The agreement is expected to be EBITDA accretive from full-year 2021 and beyond.

Based on the outlook and strategic opportunities, Photocure targets group revenues for 2023 in the range of NOK 1 billion with EBITDA margins of approximately 40%, following the completion of the transaction.

Market conditions are affected by the COVID-19 virus outbreak. See OSE notification of 7 April 2020 for an in-depth analysis of risk and effects of the COVID-19 situation, in addition the trading update 27 April 2020 and the first quarter 2020 presentation and board of directors' report of 7 May 2020.

EBITDA and other alternative performance measures (APMs) are defined and reconciled to the IFRS financial statements as a part of the APM section of the first quarter 2020 financial report on pages 20-21.

About Hexvix/Cysview (hexaminolevulinate HCl)

Hexvix/Cysview is a drug that is selectively taken up by tumor cells in the bladder making them glow bright pink during Blue Light Cystoscopy (BLCTM). BLC with Hexvix/Cysview improves the detection of tumors and leads to more complete resection, fewer residual tumors and better management decisions. Cysview is the tradename in the U.S. and Canada, Hexvix is the tradename in all other markets.

About bladder cancer

Bladder cancer ranks as the sixth most common cancer worldwide with 1 650 000 prevalent cases (5-year prevalence rate), 550 000 new cases and almost 200 000 deaths annually in 2018.1

Approx. 75% of all bladder cancer cases occur in men.1 It has a high recurrence rate with an average of 61% in year one and 78% over five years.2 Bladder cancer has the highest lifetime treatment costs per patient of all cancers.3

Bladder cancer is a costly, potentially progressive disease for which patients have to undergo multiple cystoscopies due to the high risk of recurrence. There is an urgent need to improve both the diagnosis and the management of bladder cancer for the benefit of patients and healthcare systems alike.

Bladder cancer is classified into two types, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), depending on the depth of invasion in the bladder wall. NMIBC remains in the inner layer of cells lining the bladder. These cancers are the most common (75%) of all BC cases and include the subtypes Ta, carcinoma in situ (CIS) and T1 lesions. In MIBC the cancer has grown into deeper layers of the bladder wall. These cancers, including subtypes T2, T3 and T4, are more likely to spread and are harder to treat.4

1Globocan. Incidence/mortality by population. Available at: http://globocan.iarc.fr/Pages/bar_pop_sel.aspx

2Babjuk M, et al. Eur Urol. 2019; 76(5): 639-657

3Sievert KD et al. World J Urol 2009; 27:295-3004 Bladder Cancer. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/bladder-cancer.html

About Photocure

Photocure: The Bladder Cancer Company delivers transformative solutions to improve the lives of bladder cancer patients. Our unique technology, making cancer cells glow bright pink, has led to better health outcomes for patients worldwide. Photocure is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: PHO). For more information, please visit us at www.photocure.com, www.hexvix.com, www.cysview.com

About Ipsen

Ipsen is a global specialty-driven biopharmaceutical group focused on innovation and Specialty Care. The Group develops and commercializes innovative medicines in three key therapeutic areas - Oncology, Neuroscience and Rare Diseases. Its commitment to oncology is exemplified through its growing portfolio of key therapies for prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, renal cell carcinoma and pancreatic cancer. Ipsen also has a well-established Consumer Healthcare business. With total sales over 2.5 billion in 2019, Ipsen sells more than 20 drugs in over 115 countries, with a direct commercial presence in more than 30 countries. Ipsen's R&D is focused on its innovative and differentiated technological platforms located in the heart of the leading biotechnological and life sciences hubs (Paris- Saclay, France; Oxford, UK; Cambridge, US). The Group has about 5,800 employees worldwide. Ipsen is listed in Paris (Euronext: IPN) and in the United States through a Sponsored Level I American Depositary Receipt program (ADR: IPSEY). For more information on Ipsen, visit www.ipsen.com

All trademarks mentioned in this release are protected by law and are registered trademarks of Photocure ASA. This press release may contain product details and information which are not valid, or a product is not accessible, in your country. Please be aware that Photocure does not take any responsibility for accessing such information which may not comply with any legal process, regulation, registration or usage in the country of your origin.

Important information

This announcement is not and does not form a part of any offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities of Photocure ASA (the "Company"). The distribution of this announcement and other information may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or other measures. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.

Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "strategy", "intends", "estimate", "will", "may", "continue", "should" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control.

Actual events may differ significantly from any anticipated development due to a number of factors, including without limitation, changes in investment levels and need for the Company's services, changes in the general economic, political and market conditions in the markets in which the Company operate, the Company's ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, changes in the Company's ability to engage in commercially acceptable acquisitions and strategic investments, and changes in laws and regulation and the potential impact of legal proceedings and actions. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not provide any guarantees that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this announcement are free from errors nor does it accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this announcement or any obligation to update or revise the statements in this announcement to reflect subsequent events. You should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this announcement or any of its attachments.

The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date and are subject to change without notice. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review, update, confirm, or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this announcement.

This announcement is for information purposes only and is not to be relied upon in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment. It is not intended as investment advice and under no circumstances is it to be used or considered as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities of the Company.

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements of section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

For further information, please contact:

Photocure

Dan Schneider

President and CEO

Tel: +1-609-759-6515

Email: ds@photocure.com

Erik Dahl

CFO

Tel: +47-45055000

Email: ed@photocure.com

Media and IR enquiries:

Geir Bjrlo

Corporate Communications (Norway)

Tel: +47-91540000

Email: geir.bjorlo@corpcom.no

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/photocure/r/photocure-enters-into-final-agreement-to-regain-worldwide-rights-of-hexvix,c3131996

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The carer of a 100-year-old man has been charged with his murder after allegedly attacking him with a hammer weeks after he let her go owing to concerns about coronavirus.

Gerald Early, a Second World War veteran, had employed Brenda McKay since May 2019 to help him around the house in Corning, New York.

When the coronavirus pandemic started spreading Early, with the help of his three children and six grandchildren, made the decision to let McKay go.

The family wanted to protect Early from any possible risk of infection.

Gerald Early, pictured with his family celebrating his 100th birthday in March. On Saturday he was found dead and his former carer Brenda McKay charged with his murder

On Saturday, according to police, McKay attacked her former employer.

'There was a great amount of evidence that was collected,' said Jeff Spaulding, Corning police chief.

'Not only did we have a crime scene where Mr Early's murder occurred at his residence, we also had a separate crime scene - that being Ms McKay's around the corner at Walnut Street.'

Spaulding said that McKay did not have any prior convictions but 'was well known by the Corning police'.

He said that, over an approximately 20-year period, police had 20 encounters with her regarding issues with neighbors including verbal confrontations.

'She wasn't a certified caretaker, she didn't relate or help him with medical type conditions or anything like that,' he said.

An autopsy on Tuesday confirmed blunt force trauma as the cause of death.

Brenda McKay, 51, worked for Early for almost a year as a cleaner and assistant. He let her go in April amid concern at the coronavirus pandemic. She has been held in jail without bail

McKay is believed to have acted alone and is cooperating with authorities.

Spaulding refused to speculate on a motive, and added that investigators have no reason to believe McKay was under the influence of any type of substances.

Early served in the Merchant Marine from April 1942 until the mid-1950s, scuttling the ship Courageous on D-Day to make a sea barrier on the beaches of Normandy.

Well known in the community, he told local newspaper The Leader that Memorial Day was particularly special to him.

'The day just makes me think about all the events and experiences I had in World War Two,' Early said.

'A lot to remember.'

Early's photo of the Courageous, which was scuttled on D-Day to make a breakwall in France

Early is remembered for his 'elephant memory, contagious laugh, and words of wisdom'

Early had lived in Corning since 1956, his daughter Jocelyn Niebur said.

She said he opened the first coin-operated laundry in Steuben County, the Red Arrow, and managed multiple properties as a landlord until the age of 97.

Niebur said he loved sailing on Seneca Lake and being a member of the Corning Lions - a club he was part of for more than 50 years.

He was also a member of The First Baptist Church of Corning.

Early, born in Astoria, Queens, was married to Gertrude for 54 years. She died in 2005.

Early's 100th birthday, in March, was marked by his local paper.

'I am overwhelmed with my good fortune,' he said.

His family paid tribute to his energy and intellect in his obituary.

'He will be remembered for his elephant memory, contagious laugh, and words of wisdom,' they said.
They are angry. They are tired. They say that as black men, they know they could lose their lives at any time because of the color of their skin.

These are the sentiments of eight African-American men from San Antonio who are determined to effect real change this time.

They say theyre beyond parsing words about the death of another black man in police custody.

The Denver Heights Business Group, which includes contractors, entrepreneurs, retired city employees and the leadership of 100 Black Men of San Antonio, has been meeting for several months, seeking ways to address racial injustice.

They want to spare mothers, fathers and family members the anguish of losing a loved one too soon. As they watched cellphone video of George Floyds death May 25 after a white police officer in Minneapolis kneeled on his neck, the pain they felt was intense.

This hurt me so much I could not just not say anything, businessman Frank Dunn said at a recent meeting of the group at the Ella Austin Community Center. In any other time and space, we would say we were in a war. There are terrorists against us. We would call that a war.

Members of the group said that traditionally, people look to the church and black organizations to lead the fight,. But that presence has been missing at the marches and rallies sparked by Floyds killing.

Theyre proud of the young people who have turned out for the protests in downtown San Antonio day after day, but theyre disappointed that established black groups and well-known black leaders havent initiated any of them

Henry Boone Jr., 29, a project manager for Turner Construction, Boone, said every voice is needed.

Ivory Freeman, 54, president of 100 Black Men of San Antonio, said community groups must work together, both established groups and new ones.

Its a pivotal point that we can change the minority/majority in San Antonio, Freeman said, and actually give some people an organization to look up to.

Jerry Lara, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Dwayne Robinson, 54, said its vital that whoever represents corporations in outreach programs has a true connection to the community.

The CEO of Robinson Consulting Group said his heart was broken years ago when two representatives of a local company told him the only reason they were serving on the board of a community group was that their employer told them they had to.

To make real change, the younger generation must be engaged, these leaders say. Its not enough to be active in the street, they said. That energy must be channeled to work for change in the very fabric of the community  in schools, churches and businesses.

Were a group of black men who are pushing to involve, include and educate young black people, Llewelln Fambles, 62, said, for advocacy for the future.

Fambles said part of the solution is to hold police accountable. He called for a review of union contracts for police officers and sheriffs deputies.

Just like people, organizations, and businesses have made significant changes for the COVID pandemic to allow people to work from home to be productive in different ways, he said. We can have the same level of change right now, to impact racial disparities in this country.

Charles Johnson, 52, sees an improved opportunity for change now, while energy and attention is heightened.

We need to be a change agent in San Antonio, said the executive director of South Central Texas Regional Certification Agency, a nonprofit that works with public agencies to expand contracting opportunities for small, minority-owned and women-owned businesses.

This is an opportunity to be in positions and places where its our time to do something. This is the time to reach out to corporate boards and join them. This is where we can make an impact.

These sentiments echo an often-quoted comment by former President Barack Obama: Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones weve been waiting for. We are the change that we see.

Members of the Denver Heights Business Group said measures to limit police violence should include not just promoting equal justice and police reform but bolstering entrepreneurship and voter turnout. Its not enough to change law enforcement agencies, they say  society must change too.

Jerry Lara, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Milton Harris, 52, executive director of 100 Black Men, an organization that seeks to improve the quality of life and enhance educational opportunities for African-Americans, read a statement he said summarizes the best approach.

We protest welfare with wealth, we protest misinformation with leadership, we protest fear with mental health, he read, and we protest miseducation with academics for success. No matter the conditions our children are born into, what they are led into is where legacy matters most. What they see is what theyll be

Marcus Primm, 49, said hes energized by the involvement of the younger generation in the Floyd marches.

He recalled how his daughter, a college freshman, asked him if she could attend a rally in San Marcos. Primm said he was proud she wanted to join the protest, unprompted by her parents.

A change is coming, Primm said. Not a moment, but a movement. This is one fight where we cant be on the sidelines, we have to take an active role and be on the front line. Its for the greater good.

vtdavis@express-news.net
Stripping Shamima Begum of her British citizenship exposed her to a real risk that she would face the death penalty in Iraq or Bangladesh, her lawyers have told the Court of Appeal.

Ms Begum, now 20, was one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join so-called Islamic State (IS) in February 2015, and lived under IS rule for more than three years.

She was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February last year, prompting then home secretary Sajid Javid to revoke her British citizenship later that month.

Ms Begum took legal action against the Home Office, claiming the decision was unlawful because it rendered her stateless and also exposed her to a real risk of death or inhuman and degrading treatment.

In February, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC)  a specialist tribunal which hears challenges to decisions to remove someones British citizenship on national security grounds  ruled that the decision was lawful as Ms Begum was a citizen of Bangladesh by descent at the time of the decision.

SIAC found that Ms Begum cannot play any meaningful part in her appeal and that, to that extent, the appeal will not be fair and effective, but ruled that it does not follow that her appeal succeeds.

Then home secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship (Anthony Delvin/PA)

The tribunal also found that the decision did not breach the Home Offices policy on the extraterritorial application of human rights.

Ms Begums challenge to the Home Offices decision to refuse to allow her to enter the UK in order to effectively pursue her appeal was also rejected.

At a remote hearing on Thursday, Ms Begums barrister Tom Hickman QC said removing his clients British citizenship took away the real possibility that she could return to the UK.

He added that the decision had the result of exposing her to continued detention, which would otherwise be ended by repatriation, or the real risk of removal to Bangladesh or Iraq.

Story continues

He said individuals suspected of involvement in Islamic extremism have been subject to extra-judicial killing at the hands of the police in Bangladesh and that, in Iraq, Ms Begum would be subject to a wholly unfair and pre-determined trial and an immediate sentence of death, which was the reported fate of a number of persons detained in Syria including women.

Mr Hickman also argued that the absence of a fair or effective means of challenging the decision to deprive her of her British citizenship made the decision to revoke Ms Begums citizenship unlawful.

He told the court that there had been a manifest breach of natural justice, and that Ms Begums appeal against the deprivation of her citizenship should be allowed because her appeal cannot be pursued in a manner that satisfies even minimum requirements of fair procedure.

Mr Hickman said Mr Javid had been informed that Ms Begum could not have a fair or effective appeal when he took the decision to revoke her British citizenship.

He argued that the refusal of Ms Begums claim for leave to enter the country to pursue her appeal piles unfairness upon unfairness and is wrong in law.

Mr Hickman also pointed out that Ms Begum was only 15 when she left the UK, saying: She had not even taken her GCSE exams.

He added: The only things that are clear are that Shamima Begum was a child when she left the UK and had been influenced to do so.

(left to right) Kadiza Sultana, then 16, and Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both then 15, going through security at Gatwick Airport in 2015 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Sir James Eadie QC, representing the Home Office, said in written submissions: The fact that the appellant could not fully engage with the statutory appeal procedure was a result of her decision to leave the UK, travel to Syria against Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice and align with (IS).

This led to her being held in conditions akin to detention in a foreign state at the hands of a third party, the Syrian Defence Force.

It was not the result of any action by the Secretary of State and the deprivation decision did not have any causative impact on the appellant in this respect.

Sir James added that Ms Begum had been able to speak to her lawyers, and argued that the fact that it might not be possible to mirror the level of access to legal advice that would be available if someone were at liberty in the UK does not mean the proceedings are unfair.

He added: She was deprived of her citizenship for proper and important national security reasons.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families to join IS, shortly after Sharmeena Begum  who is no relation  travelled to Syria in December 2014.

Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, then 16 and 15 respectively, and Ms Begum boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on February 17 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria.

Ms Begum claims she married Dutch convert Yago Riedijk 10 days after arriving in IS territory, with all three of her schoolfriends also reportedly marrying foreign IS fighters.

She told the Times last February that she left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a one-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy, had both since died.

Her third child died shortly after he was born.

The hearing before Lord Justice Flaux, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Singh will resume at 11am on Friday and it is expected that the court will reserve its judgment.
In August, Republicans from around the country will gather at the Republican National Convention to vote for their preferential presidential candidate.

Though the location of the convention has been up in the air  it is now set for Jacksonville, Florida after originally having been scheduled for Charlotte, North Carolina  the selection of the party's presidential candidate will go on as normal.

The party's national convention is an event in which delegates from across the country vote for their preferred presidential candidate, official party business is done and where the party determines its platform heading into the next election.

An incumbent president has never been replaced at a convention, and the Republican convention ahead of the 2020 US election will be no different.

In February, the Republican National Committee voted that it would throw its full weight behind the re-election of President Donald Trump. As a result, several states outright cancelled their primaries.

What actually happens at the convention?

Party national conventions are something of a chimera, part political rally, part working session, part election. During business hours, party members meet together and hold rallies. Most of the working sessions are focused on determining the party's broad platform priorities.

In between working sessions, members of the party - often more obscure members - give speeches to the gathered crowds.

In the evenings, voting occurs and notable Republicans give speeches and hold rallies. For younger or more obscure members of the party, being asked to give an evening speech is often indicative that they're being considered rising stars and potential future leaders.

The selection of the president and the vice president takes place on the final day of the convention. This year - as there is no viable challenger to Mr Trump - the selection process will be simple. Delegates from each state will make their selection. If a candidate receives enough votes to secure the nomination - 1,276 of the possible 2,550 available - then they become the party's nominee.

In the event no candidate is able to reach the vote threshold  a brokered convention  a second round of voting begins. For each round of voting that occurs after the first, a certain number of pledged delegates - those who are bound to vote for a specific candidate as determined by their state's primary or caucus - are released to vote how they see fit. Through this process, delegates can change votes and ultimately swing the convention towards a specific candidate.

Delegates and Commitments

There are three types of delegates who vote at the convention. At-large delegates are essentially state delegates - non-states, like territories and the District of Columbia also have at-large delegates - and each state begins with 10 delegates. Bonus delegates are awarded to states based on recent Republican electoral victories and how many of the state's delegates voted for the incumbent president in the last election.

In addition to the at-large delegates, states also are given congressional district delegates. These delegates must live in the districts they represent. Each of the congressional districts in a state are given three of these delegates.

Finally, there are Republican National Committee members. These individuals are always the state's top three RNC officials - the national committeeman, national committeewoman and the state's chairman.

States can choose how to disperse their delegates through two methods; proportional allocation or winner-take-all allocation.

Under proportional allocation, delegates are bound to a candidate based on the percentage of votes each candidate received during the state's primary or caucus. The GOP requires that 20 states use a proportional system to determine who their delegates will support at the convention. Those states are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Washington and Hawaii. In these states, a candidate must win at least 20 per cent of the total delegates in order to receive any at all. Once they clear that 20 per cent threshold, the number of delegates they win will be the number of delegates bound to support them during the first round of voting at the convention.

Winner-take-all delegate allocation is one in which the winner of the state is awarded all of the state's delegates. Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, and the US territories of American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands use a winner-take-all allocation. No state can choose to use a winner-take-all allocation unless they hold their primary or caucus after 15 March.

When and Where Will the Convention be Held?

The location of the convention is now the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

The original venue was to be in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Spectrum Center. Mr Trump demanded that Democratic governor Roy Cooper allow the Republicans to use the venue without having to adhere to coronavirus safety measures like social distancing and attendance limits.

When Mr Cooper refused to commit to those demands, Mr Trump demanded the venue be changed. While business meetings will still be held at the Spectrum Center due to contractual obligations between the Republicans and the venue, the main rallies and spectacle of the convention will be moved to Florida, where Republican governor Ron DeSantis is unlikely to impose any restrictions on the convention.

The convention is scheduled for 24 August to 28 August.
DOUBTS have emerged about prospects of Irish Commissioner Phil Hogan moving to head the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Mr Hogan has said he is exploring the idea and there was speculation that the post, which falls vacant in September, would go to an EU candidate. Brussels officials had said that in that eventuality, Mr Hogan, who is a former agriculture commissioner, and currently responsible for trade, would be well placed.

But reports from Brussels have now signalled that officials in several EU capitals, including Paris and Berlin, have warned that saving the WTO from its current turmoil must take precedence over making sure its next chief is European. These, and officials in other member states, are understood to be seeking a unifying figure for the troubled global trade organisation.

The Financial Times also reported that France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands all cautioned during EU ministerial talks on Tuesday, that securing the post for Europe should not be the key priority. Denmarks foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, confirmed this view on Thursday saying that a director-general was needed who would reboot the WTO and earn the respect of all.

To my mind, a successful candidates qualifications are more important than nationality, Mr Kofod said.

But other Brussels officials said that Mr Hogans candidature was not beaten yet. The Irish Commissioner, who began in Brussels in 2014 and had his term renewed last December, is believed to have some German support and is still seen as a potential EU candidate for the post for which nominations close on July 8.

Another source said a total of 17 member states backed the idea of an EU candidate when the trade ministers spoke on Tuesday by videolink. France and Belgium are considering backing an African candidate.

The Danish foreign ministers comments underline the EUs cautious approach to the WTO job at a crucial moment in the organisations history. The global trade rules are hit by a bitter USA-China conflict with President Trump trying to go his own way on trade.

The EU, including Commissioner Hogan, have argued that the WTO can be saved if its membership rallies behind big reforms, but also conceded the system risks collapse. The Danish foreign minister has warned that a good candidate cannot be excluded just because he or she is not European.

The job is currently held by Brazilian Roberto Azevedo and it was felt he would be succeeded by someone from a developed country. But it is also noted that an African nominee has not held the post and other names mentioned include Egypts Hamid Mamdouh, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria as well as Jesus Seade Kuri from Mexico.

Hopes that Mr Hogan would get support from US trade representative Robert Lighthizer also remained unclear. Ambassador Lighthizer does not support any candidate at this time, nor does he feel that a candidate must necessarily be from a developed country, United States Trade Representative spokesman Jeff Emerson told the journal Politico on Tuesday.
STAMFORD, Conn., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On the three-month milestone of the global pandemic, Cohen Veterans Network (CVN) announced the results of a national survey of frontline healthcare providers (HCPs) and first responders that showed that COVID-19 has taken a significant toll on their physical and mental health. CVN also announced that clinicians from Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinics across the country are now offering mental health resources to frontline healthcare providers and first responders in New York City  the epicenter of the COVID-19 Outbreak in the United States. CVN clinicians from Killeen, Texas, San Diego, California, and Washington, D.C., will participate. Through its work with veterans and military families, CVN has extensive experience treating the impacts of PTSD and Trauma.

To better understand the need, CVN recently surveyed more than 500 frontline healthcare providers and first responders nationally for its Cohen Veterans Network America's Mental Health Frontline Survey. Key findings included:

Impacts to Mental Health



Many HCPs in both the national sample and NYC area reported trouble sleeping, feeling anxious, challenges parenting, feeling sad or depressed, eating too much or too little, feeling socially isolated, or experiencing headaches, stomach aches or other body pain.





Both nationwide and within the NYC area, HCPs describe themselves as:





Anxious (47% nationally, 54% NYC)







Concerned (66% nationally, 68% NYC)







Worn out (46% nationally, 58% NYC)







Scared (19% Nationally, 29% NYC)





55% of all first responders and frontline healthcare providers say they are concerned about their overall mental health, led by HCPs (60%).





Three-in-four respondents said they or their co-workers would be interested in the types of resources on mental health care provided by the Cohen Veterans Network.



Challenges Accessing Mental Health Resources



9 in 10 (95%) HCP's and first responders said they think access to mental healthcare for all Americans is more important as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.





Roughly two-thirds of respondents (61%) say the coronavirus pandemic has made it more difficult to access mental healthcare services.





If they felt they needed help from a mental health professional, first responders nationally are more likely to worry than HCPs about colleagues finding out they needed help (38% vs. 28%) or their employer/supervisor finding out they needed help (38% vs. 25%.)



Concerns About Physical Health of Self and Family. First responders and frontline healthcare providers are concerned about their health and the health of their families

First responders and frontline healthcare providers are concerned about their health and the health of their families

Nationwide, HCPs are more likely to say their job is putting the lives of their family at risk because of the coronavirus (73%) compared to first responders (58%).





Nationally, one in ten HCPs (12%) and first responders (13%) said they lost someone close to them as a result of the pandemic.

"Our survey shows that first responders and frontline healthcare providers are experiencing extreme stress and anxiety related to COVID-19," said CVN CEO & President Dr. Anthony Hassan. "We believe our experience working with veterans with PTSD, trauma, and loss can directly benefit this critical group."

Frontline healthcare providers and first responders, and their adult family members, in New York City are now eligible for no-cost mental health support from CVN. This population includes NYPD, FDNY, and Paramedics, as well as frontline healthcare providers at NYC hospitals and other healthcare facilities. This support will be available throughout 2020 and may be expanded, depending on need.

Cohen Veterans Network will initially offer two resources to support healthcare workers:

Mental Health Resource Center. CVN has launched a resource center  CVN Frontline  where first responders and frontline healthcare providers can access on-demand mental healthcare programming and asynchronous training from a range of sources through short videos, online tools, and assignments.

CVN has launched a resource center  CVN Frontline  where first responders and frontline healthcare providers can access on-demand mental healthcare programming and asynchronous training from a range of sources through short videos, online tools, and assignments. Support Groups. CVN will offer ongoing non-clinical support groups facilitated by licensed clinicians across its network that directly focus on issues that may most impact frontline healthcare providers. The first group will focus on General Coping Skills and Managing Distress and, over time, may include other areas of focus as needed. These groups will be conducted online.

COVID-19 Impacts on First Responders and Frontline Healthcare Providers

Working with The Harris Poll, CVN recently surveyed 523 frontline healthcare providers and first responders across the U.S. to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health of this population.

"We know from our previous survey, that the pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of everyday Americans," Hassan said. "We now see the impacts on first responders and frontline healthcare providers and their families is even more severe. We stand ready to help."

First responders and frontline healthcare providers can learn more about accessing these resources at www.cohenveteransnetwork.org/frontline.

ABOUT AMERICA'S MENTAL HEALTH FRONTLINE

On behalf of the Cohen Veterans Network, The Harris Poll conducted 523 online interviews among frontline healthcare providers and first responders nationally and in New York City from May 19  28, 2020. Combined with the national sample, an oversample yielded a total of 153 of New York City uniformed frontline workers. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

SOURCE Cohen Veterans Network

Related Links

https://www.cohenveteransnetwork.org


Hidden deep in the annex to the Government's coronavirus 'road map to recovery' plan lies a surprising admission.

It turns out the two-metre rule isn't actually a rule at all.

The 51-page document, published last month, says: 'Public Health England recommends trying to keep two metres away from people as a precaution.

'However, this is not a rule and the science is complex. The key thing is to not be too close to people for more than a short amount of time, as much as you can.'

A 51-page document published last month has revealed that Public Health England recommends trying to keep two metres away from people as a precaution but not as a rule. (Stock image)

Yet this loose guidance  just a 'precaution'  has hardened into the backbone of the Government's social distancing policy.

People are allowed to meet up in groups of six  but by law they have to stay two metres (6ft 7in) apart.

Schools have been told to reduce classes to half their normal size in an effort to keep pupils at two metres distance, or as close to it as they can get.

And employers are allowed to get their staff back to work  but only if they are 'Covid-secure', which means maintaining two-metre gaps between desks.

Official guidance for employers says: 'If it is not possible to keep workstations two metres apart then businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate.'

The UK is one of only a few countries in the world to tell people to keep two metres apart, which increasing numbers of business leaders and politicians say is holding the economy back.

Australia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have implemented a 1.5 metre rule.And France, Denmark, China and Austria have a social distancing rule of just one metre.

Tory MP Greg Clark, chairman of the Commons science and technology committee, yesterday called for a rethink. He told the BBC World at One programme that we should have 'the courage to be able to change if the evidence recommends that'.

The problem is that the evidence on the issue is far from certain. Researchers agree that the further people stay apart, the lower the risk of transmission  but most admit it is not clear exactly where the 'danger' threshold lies.

And this threshold is significantly affected by the amount of time someone stays within that zone, the direction they are facing, whether they are indoors or outdoors, and whether they are an adult or child.

The loose guidance has hardened into the backbone of the Government's social distancing policy. (Stock image)

Back in March, when the UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) committee was drawing up the country's response to the crisis, it asked scientists from a sub-committee  the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag)  to draw up a paper on social distancing.

That paper, by Oxford University's Professor Peter Horby, University College London's Ben Killingsley, and Lisa Ritchie, head of infection prevention and control at NHS England, could find only four good sources of evidence for social distancing  and each suggested the risk was minimal beyond a metre or 1.5 metres.

One was a 1948 US study of the way germs travelled when people coughed, sneezed and spoke in the middle of a room.

It concluded that 'fewer than 10 per cent' of bacteria-laden droplets 'travelled as far as five and a half feet' (1.68 metres). Another, from 2017, found the risk of being exposed to airborne droplets is far greater within 1.5 metres.

A third, from 2009, found when someone is talking 90 per cent of droplets only travel 0.3 metres  and even a cough propels only 15 per cent of droplets 0.5 metres.

The final source, a 2004 study of eight SARS patients in hospital, found 'transmission at a distance of more than one metre is possible, although this is in a sick patient in a health care setting'.

The Nervtag scientists concluded: 'In terms of risk of transmission via close contact in the community, one metre is a minimum, two metres is precautionary.'

That 'precautionary' two-metre threshold is now dictating the way the country recovers.

Experts say the difference between one metre and two metres is crucial to the way the economy gets going. One-metre distancing on a train or a bus would be fairly straightforward, two metres means carriages are virtually empty.

Desks in schools and offices are typically at least a metre apart, two metres severely limits the number of people in a room.

And in restaurants, hotels, pubs, theatres and cinemas, an insistence that customers stay two metres apart would be ruinous.
Lychee sold at a supermarket (Photo: VNA)

Last weekend, specialised trucks started to transport fresh thieu lychee, a unique variety grown in Bac Giangs Luc Ngan district, for distribution at nearly 1,000 outlets of Saigon Co.op across the country.

The volume this year will be 20 percent higher than last year.

A spokesperson for Saigon Co.op said the retailer has bought fresh lychees directly from Luc Ngan and Hai Duong provinces Thanh Ha district, all meeting VietGap quality or safe fruit certification standards.

This year Saigon Co.op has begun selling some agricultural products, including thieu lychees, online.

Customers can order them using MoMo e-wallet, and the supermarket will deliver home.

Besides fresh lychees, canned lychees that can be kept for a long time are also available at Co.opmart, Co.opXtra and Co.op Food at 40,000 VND (1.7 USD).

Also last weekend, Central Retail transported fresh thieu lychees grown in Luc Ngan district in five 20-feet containers to its Big C and Go! supermarkets across the country for consumption and export to Thailand.

A week of promotion will be held in Ha Noi to sell the fruit at 38 Big C and Go! stores across the country, said Nguyen Thi Phuong, deputy general director of Central Retail Group in Vietnam.

This year Big C and Go! are expected to buy around 1,000 tonnes, three times the volume they bought last year.

Central Retail will display the fruit at the best locations in its stores and offer a series of special promotions.

Central Retail will continue to export Luc Ngan lychees to Thailand and display them on the shelves of Tops and Central Food Hall hypermarkets (Central Groups food retail chain) to introduce the fruit to consumers in Bangkok.

In addition to Saigon Co.op and Central Retail, the two provinces are also in touch with other retailers such as Aeon, MM Mega Market, Lotte Mart, Vinmart, and Hapro, agricultural product wholesale markets across the country and fruit processing plants to help farmers sell their lychees.

This year the fruit was grown on a total area of 28,100ha in Bac Giang province and the output has risen by 10,000 tonnes this year to 160,000 tonnes.

Deputy Director of Bac Giang provinces Department of Industrial and Trade Pham Cong Toan said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the province plans to promote its lychees mostly in the domestic market, and only 40 percent would be exported.

According to Hai Duong provinces Department of Industry and Trade, the output is 55,000 tonnes this year, double that of last year.
Residents of an affluent Sacramento suburb took to social media to share photos of rumored protesters seen walking in the area, who were actually revealed to be a group of young black entrepreneurs touring the homes.

Posts made by residents of El Dorado Hills and shared by Tameka Hamilton - a black Republican running for Congress in California - showed the large crowd walking in the street.

One woman - identified as Angie Wackworth - even called on those who supported the 2nd Amendment, the right to bear arms.

'20+ car loads of rioters are hitting the neighborhoods and businesses NOW! This is not a joke,; she said in the post.

Posts made by residents of El Dorado Hills and shared by Tameka Hamilton - a black Republican running for Congress in California - showed the large crowd

Another person took to a post and claimed to be 'armed.'

Several posts - including Wackworth's - have since been deleted off social media but were obtained by Malachi Turner, a 22-year-old who mentors young college students and graduates, who led the June 1 event in the neighborhood.

Turner shared the posts in a video he posted on June 4, titled How Racial Profiling Could've Caused Another Tragedy in Sacramento California, which shows the posts from the various residents before showing what he and the crowd of young hopefuls were actually up to.

On June 1, Turner led the group through Granite Bay, Folsom and El Dorado Hills neighborhoods as part of a 'dream build' for what they want in their futures.

Several posts - including Hamiltons - have since been deleted off social media but were obtained by Malachi Turner, a 22-year-old who mentors young college students and graduates, who led the June 1 event in the neighborhood

'We can't get our mind around something, we can't get to wanting something or even feeling like it's real because we've never experienced it,' Turner said in a clip from his Instagram that he included in the video.

'So today, take your pictures, take your videos and envision yourself living the way we're about to see, and envision yourself in the homes we are about to see.'

Footage from the event shows the mostly jolly group commenting on how amazing some of the home features appear to be.

Several of the participants can be heard greeting residents and telling them how beautiful their homes are.

On June 1, Turner led the group through Granite Bay, Folsom and El Dorado Hills neighborhoods as part of a 'dream build' for what they want in their futures.

Footage from the event shows the mostly jolly group commenting on how amazing some of the home features appear to be

The group even poses for a photo with a Folsom police officer in front of a home in the area, which sold for more than $1.5million.

Folsom police shared that they received one call about the group, the Sacramento Bee reports. The caller told police that the group looked 'unusual'. Police left the scene once realizing the group was looking at homes.

Five people called the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, according to deputies. Many more took to social media to spew racist stereotypes and fake rumors, prompting a response from the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office.

'First off, there are a lot of rumors of looting, crime, and rioting over social media regarding our county. Right now, there are no confirmed cases of looting or criminal behavior associated with rioting,' they said in a statement on June 1

'We have many people working very hard to ensure it stays this way. We will update the community if this changes. Please be wary of rumors on social media and do not believe everything you hear, unless it is from a reliable source.'

Folsom police shared that they received one call about the group, the Sacramento Bee reports. The caller told police that the group looked 'unusual'. Police left the scene once realizing the group was looking at homes

Five people called the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, according to deputies. Many more took to social media to spew racist stereotypes and fake rumors, prompting a response from the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office

El Dorado Hills has a population of 42,000 residents, of which 80 per cent are white. Black people make up just 1.6 per cent of residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Turner was unaware of all the hostility and racist stereotyping until he saw photos of the group circulating across social media.

'Some people were nice and some gave us dirty looks,' Turner said. 'While we thought that it was harmless, they were going on social media and spreading rumors saying that carloads of rioters are hitting our neighborhood.'

He continued: 'If it was another group of individuals, I don't believe the fear would have been the same.'

Turner reflected on how dangerous the situation could have been for him and the other participants

Brian Landsberg, a professor at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, said that reactions like the one on social media are commonplace.

'If we had more housing integration, people wouldn't be so suspicious of people of color,' he added.

The sentiment was shared by Erin Kerrison, a professor in the school welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, who said that the action showed not only vigilantism but also anti-blackness.

'There is something that is very unique and very durable about white property claims to their space and their right to make that space safe,' Kerrison said.

'They imagine what is theirs, their streets, their grocery stores, their sidewalks, and what they claim is theirs against a black threat.'

'You're telling me you were prepared and ready to shoot people, a group of individuals just because they're black?' he said. 'That racial profiling is going to get people killed.' One of the posts Turner shared in his video

Bruce Haynes, a professor at UC Davis, attributed the behavior to 'white flight'.

'There is a reason why those spaces became all white in the first place,' said Haynes. 'They went there when Sacramento became too dark, and it's white flight into the exurbs.'

Turner reflected on how dangerous the situation could have been for him and the other participants.

'You're telling me you were prepared and ready to shoot people, a group of individuals just because they're black?' he said. 'That racial profiling is going to get people killed.'

He said: 'Ahmaud Arbery was killed. What if someone from my team got separated, and someone said 'OK, here's the threat, let's neutralize the threat'?'

Turner stressed that he would do another 'dream build' but would take some different steps.

'I would have to go about it in a different way,' Turner said. 'I can't put my team in harm's way.'
Proptech applicable in a crisis proves tie-up between MOGUL.sg and OrangeTee & Tie. Their vision is to integrate new format of property search for market.

proptech applicable

Proptech applicable in a crisis proves tie-up between MOGUL.sg and OrangeTee & Tie

Proptech company  MOGUL.sg has just announced that they have signed an agreement with OrangeTee & Tie (OTT), one of Singapores leading Property Agency with well over 4300 agents.

Proptech applicable especially in times of crisis

The announcement comes relatively timely during this circuit breaker period for the market where many property agents and buyers are homebound, showing that benefits of property technology are applicable especially in times of crisis. This integration will allow OTT agents to utilise MOGUL.sgs proprietary keyword search, A.I matching and geospatial data in their Agent App.

Integrating MOGUL.sgs proprietary keyword algorithm into their current Agent App is the next step into their app evolution. OrangeTee Executive Director Simon Yio shared that: We are excited to incorporate MOGULs proprietary system into our Agent App. Yio continued: Digital transformation is not a solo journey- it is a journey where we co-evolve and co-innovate with reliable strategic partners such as MOGUL so that everyone can leverage on each others strengths to play a critical role in the business ecosystem and constantly create better value for the consumers.

Proptech applicable to revolutionise searching and listing habits

This partnership has been in progress for some time and is the latest and largest alliance to date for the new portal on the block. Wanting to revolutionise searching and listing habits has always been a hurdle in a developed market like Singapore. MOGUL.sgs CEO and co-founder Gerald Sim reminisced: We experienced a lot of resistance for adoption at the start, but once users understood the logic and saw the simplicity and effectiveness, there was little convincing required after.

Story continues

A product developed out of frustration, Sim shared how exasperating it was for an agent to operate the current formats in the market, where the searches are unwieldy and irrelevant and these agents have to yield to the portals listing priorities according to how much money was spent.

Sim shared: We are now returning the power and control back to the agents. The more detailed you are in your listing, the more successful it will match on the platform. No more boosting fees! Agents are no longer at the mercy of spending credits to get on the first page of prospect users search results.

In agreement to Sims view, Yio (OTT) said: Not only are we integrating the geospatial data benefits of MOGUL.sg but these upgrades to the OTT Agent App will allow our agents to post their app listings directly onto MOGUL.sg as well, ensuing in greater convenience for all our agents.

Powered by Singapore Land Authoritys (SLA) OneMap, MOGUL.sg is one of the geospatial technology start-ups housed at SLAs industry centre- GeoWorks and has seen exponential development over the last year.

MOGUL.sg platforms proprietary keyword matching algorithm and data technology is achieved by translating verified geospatial data from OneMap, sataellite imagery and MOGUL.sgs 70 million geodata points. Users will also be able to access OTTs list of agents and their professional reviews on it.

With the OTT Agent App already considered a Super App with its current medley of features, this product integration will enhance OTTs Agent App to be the only agent app in the market with geospatial capability in the industry. This partnership is a primer of whats to come in the exciting future with regards to property technology and will be made available to come end of June 2020.

Agent App is exclusively available to all OTT Agents on Apple App Store and Google Play store.

About MOGUL.sg

MOGUL.sg is a cutting-edge Real Estate platform harnessing geospatial technology to digitally enable home buyers, home renters, property sellers and Property agents in Singapore to search and sell in a smart and hassle-free manner through geospatial data from Governement agencies.

Although MOGUL.sg has previously signed up other leading property agencies, Knight Frank, Century 21, SLP, however, OrangeTee & Tie is by far the largest partnership to date. The integration of the products will be available by end of June 2020.

About OrangTee & Tie

Founded in February 2000, OrangeTee has firmly established itself as one of the most reputable, dynamic and fast-growing real estate companies in Singapore over the span of two decades.

The company remains at the forefront of technology and innovation within the property industry, as a champion for transparent and ethical advisory practices, while committed to building a sustainable business, by building a sustainable world.

Mr Paul Ho, chief officer at iCompareLoan, said, the fact about proptech applicable in this time of crisis is without doubt. The value-added commercial real estate solutions provided by proptech companies points to the signs of the times. Property services firms and agents must upgrade to keep up with technology or they must die.

He noted that many property agencies struggle to keep up with all the regulatory changes in the industry, as well as the changing financial calculations for acquiring a property. He urged property agents to master the basics in property financing, refinancing, taxation and CPF.

Mr Ho said that iCompareLoan.com runs a full 2  3 days course on how property agents can produce such reports for their customers. He added that the trademarked course teaches Property Agents how to generate complicated Financial calculations using  Home Loan Report (TM)  in 3 mins flat. This helps Property agents to close deals faster and serve customers more professionally.

The Home Loan Report tool is a Singapores first one-of-a-kind analysis platform that provides latest updates of detailed loan packages and helps property agents, financial advisors and mortgage brokers to analyse home loan packages for their clients and give unbiased home loan / commercial loan analysis for their property buyers and home owners.

The post Proptech applicable especially in a crisis proves new partnership appeared first on iCompareLoan Resources.
Another Thai anti-government activist has gone missing in Cambodia, the latest in a string of disappearances of dissidents in Southeast Asia.

Another Thai anti-government activist, Wanchalerm Satsaksit, has gone missing in Cambodia.

His is the latest in a string of disappearances of dissidents in Southeast Asia.

And, as Scott Heidler reports from Bangkok, pressure from supporters and family have prompted the government to at least acknowledge his disappearance.
Its hard to say which is more remarkable: that Vietnam has recorded zero COVID-19 deaths despite a population of 96 million, or that the communist government expects the economy to grow by 5% this year during a massive global recession.

Why it matters: Both numbers deserve some scrutiny, but theres no evidence a major outbreak is being covered up, and the bullishness about Vietnams economy is shared by the IMF and World Bank (though their growth estimates are lower). The southeast Asian country may ultimately be the pandemics biggest success story.

How it happened: Vietnam shares a border and deep economic links with China, and recorded its first case on Jan. 23.

It quarantined an affected region near Hanoi in mid-February, and quickly scaled up an impressive contact tracing regime, knowing it lacked the resources to conduct mass testing.

The government distributed information about the outbreak via text message, and told Vietnamese it was their patriotic duty to wash their hands and self-isolate.

The steps are easy to describe but difficult to implement, yet theyve been very successful at implementing them over and over again, Matthew Moore, a CDC official based in Hanoi told Reuters.

Zoom in: Vietnam is a surveillance state, where citizens are monitored online and by "standing armies of neighborhood wardens and public security officers who keep constant watch over city blocks," Bill Hayton and Tro Ly Ngheo write in Foreign Policy.

The structures that control epidemics are the same ones that control public expressions of dissent," they write.

Hundreds of people have been fined for causing unnecessary panic or undermining the national unifying cause through their social media posts, Global Voices reports. At least three have been jailed.

The big picture: Like China, Vietnam has since the late 1980s paired political repression with economic liberalization.

It brought extreme poverty down from above 50% to near-zero in that time, and over the last decade has seen the second-fastest economic growth in the world, behind China.

The pandemic has punctured most other formerly fast-growing economies in the developing world, but not Vietnam's.

Vietnam has had some luck, says Jacques Morisset, the World Banks Program Leader for Vietnam. Demand for its chief commodity export, rice, has only grown during the pandemic.

The government also started from a strong position  in sound fiscal health and with emergency funds ready to be tapped.

When the pandemic struck, it acted with a combination of foresight and pragmatism and no sense of panic, says Morriset.

Where things stand: Vietnams economy is benefiting on at least two fronts: it was one of the first in the world to re-open with few restrictions, and it was already enjoying a flood of investment as companies like Apple shifted manufacturing to hedge against over-reliance on China.

Vietnam is also expediting some major infrastructure projects as part of its coronavirus stimulus, the FT reports.

One sector that has been hit is tourism, which accounts for 9% of GDP. The government plans to resume flights soon, but only for countries that have had no new cases for 30 days.

The bottom line: This pandemic's success stories include authoritarian states like Vietnam as well as democracies like Australia, Germany and South Korea.

They're aligned not by style of governance but early, competent action  and a bit of luck.

Go deeper:
Kaveree Bamzai By

Express News Service

Calls for measures to prop up demand urgently have occupied centre-stage in most corporate wishlists and the Lenovo India CEOs is no different. On Wednesday, Rahul Agarwal, chief executive of the China-headquartered computer major, sat down for a chat with author and senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai as part TNIEs Express Expressions, a series of live webcasts with people who matter. Excerpts:

There is a lot of talk about Aatma Nirbhar and you are in an unenviable position of running a China-led firm...

We dont know what that means, to be honest. I dont think its being interpreted in the right spirit.

Because the world is integrated and we need FDI. So, this cannot mean isolation. It means that India has to become self sufficient.Our per capita GDP is low, half our population lives in substandard living conditions. That is not atma nirbhar. Our fiscal deficit is quite high, our exports are not that high, our balance of payments can improve. Those things, I think, is more about us becoming atma nirbhar.

Do you have a wish list from the government?

The government has a very tough job and you cant please everyone. But, I feel that it is assumed that the large enterprises will take care of themselves, which I think is not true. Our playground may be bigger, but we have challenges, too.

If I were to ask the government to do something, I would say pull up demand. People are losing jobs, not getting increments... For the larger good, the government should take the bitter pill of leaving more money in the hands of the middle class. They are the ones who will spend.

What are the pros of Work From Home and should it become the new normal?

I think a hybrid approach is good. Work from home gives some flexibility. For me, I feel so much better, I have hot lunch at home, Ive reduced the number of meetings, I have more time to think.The flip side, however, is a reality. Many people may not have comfortable living spaces or private enough workplaces. And, there are always 5-10 per cent of people who will take advantage. But, we need to move past this, because it is not like the 10 per cent delivered more anyway. We also have to move from an input-based to an output-based system (while assessing work). So, what if (employees) are at a movie. What is important is what they are supposed to deliver for the company and if they are doing that.

What do you see happening if workers do not return?

Im now not sure that migrants will not come back because it is a paradox for them. Maybe, the

social fabric is stronger, they have a more spacious house. But the income is pathetic back there. Here, I think they earn money, but theyre away from their loved ones. So, Im not clear. Some might have to come back, while some may find refuge in farming. But, lets see.

Is this an opportunity to reinvent the rural market?

A market depends on two factors: need and a buying capability. If you look at computers, people were not sure about the need and it is still an expensive product. A good laptop still costs you at least `Rs 30,000. I think that rural market penetration is less than 2%. For metros it is 50%, so the opportunities are there. But, it all depends on peoples incomes.
Army General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized Thursday for accompanying President Donald Trump to a photo opportunity in which the President held up a bible in front of a burned church.

I should not have been there, Milley said in remarks to a National Defense University commencement ceremony.

Milleys comments are the latest in a line of rebukes from top current or former military brass. Defense Secretary Mark Esper publicly distanced himself from the Presidents declaration that active-duty military forces could be used to quell protests.

The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations, he said. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis spoke out even more strongly, recently writing Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people; does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us, Mattis wrote. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.

Former Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell came out in support of Mattis, announcing he planned to vote for Democrat Joe Biden. Gen. Milleys apology continued the line of military members who say they strive to be apolitical.

31 President Donald Trump visits St. John's Church across from the White House following riot

My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics, Milley said. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.

Trumps June 1 photo op, which began with the sudden clearing of peaceful protesters from the Lafayette Square area, has been criticized outside of the military as well. Trump led an entourage that included Milley and Esper to St. Johns Episcopal Church, where he held up a Bible for photographers and then returned to the White House.

White House Press Secretary Kaleigh McEnany defended both the clearing of protesters and the Presidents appearance at the church.

I think the U.S. Park Service, with having bricks thrown at them and frozen water bottles, had the right to act. They acted with the appropriate level of force to protect themselves, and to protect the average citizenry, and to protect the peaceful protesters who were among them as well," she said. The President wanted to send a very powerful message that we will not be overcome by looting, by burning, by rioting.

Associated Press content was used in this story

Related Content:
On June 10, Kim Da Mi and Jeon So Nee have been confirmed to star as the leads in the upcoming remake film, "Hello, My Soulmate," according to media outlet reports.

Kim Da Mi's successful portrayal of Jo Yi-Seo in "Itaewon Class" as a young trendsetter has won her Best New Actress Award on the 56th Baeksang Arts Awards - the star in the making she is!

If you loved her role in "Itaewon Class," you will surely love her in "Hello, My Soulmate."

Meanwhile, joining her is Jeon So Nee, the female lead in "When My Love Blooms," where she portrays the young Yoon Ji Soo.

These two rising stars will co-star in the forthcoming movie, a remake of the 2016 Chinese movie "Soul Mate," as two friends. This film is about two women who have been best friends since they were thirteen. Though both have different personalities, they surely get along very well.

One is bookish and conservative, who focuses on her studies to have stability in the future. The other one is free-spirited, who even gave up on her academics and chose to study in a vocational school. She soon stumbled upon a rock band and even did some bartending along with their gigs and shows.

Though totally opposite from each other, the two are really very close. They even snuggle together in bed, do each others' makeup, and promised to be friends forever. Then, a handsome man came to their lives, and they both fell in love with him, putting their friendship to the test.

Will their friendship end up in ruins? Watch it yourself! This is a remake, so things might just go differently.

Kim Da Mi is also best known for her titular role in the action-mystery film "The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion" as Koo Ja Yoon, which will have its sequel released hopefully in 2021. Among 1500 that auditioned, she was chosen by director Park Hoon Jung. Her role has brought her to the spotlight because of her remarkable performance, and was enthusiastically welcomed as a rising star, who appeared in "Chungmuro."

"Itaewon Class," based on a webtoon series, was her first debut in the small screen and did not upset viewers for her performance.

On the other hand, Jeon So Nee debuted as an actress in 2015 and appeared in the "Encounter" series with Song Hye Kyo and Park Bo Gum. She currently stars in "When My Love Blooms." Jeon So Nee also starred in movies "After My Death, Jo Pil-Ho: The Dawning Rage" and "Ghost Walk."

According to reports, "Hello, My Soulmate" filming will begin sometime in August this year. It will be produced by Lezhin Studio and Management AND, not to mention, Management AND is also the management agency of Kim Da Mi.

Director Min Yong Geun ("Re-encounter," "If You Were Me 6," and "One Night Stand") will be helming the upcoming film.
Senator Tammy Duckworth(D-IL), speaks following the Senate voted on the War Powers resolution, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on February 13, 2020. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

Joe Biden's promise to pick a female running mate has hardly helped him narrow the field: At least a dozen women are currently under consideration for the No. 2 spot on the presumptive Democratic nominee's ticket. Reportedly among them is Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the junior senator from Illinois and a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot. On MSNBC last month, Duckworth signaled she would accept the job if offered. "I personally have always answered the call when my country has asked me to serve," she said when asked if Biden's campaign had reached out. Duckworth, 52, has a military background and an inspiring path into politics, both of which could be assets to Biden's campaign. She is a Purple Heart recipient who overcame a grievous combat wound  she lost both of her legs in Iraq when her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade  to become the first-ever Thai American woman elected to Congress. She's also been a fierce critic of President Donald Trump and his Republican allies, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic. But while many experts have been quick to label her a "safe" choice for Biden, some aren't convinced that she's the right pick in a political landscape that has been suddenly altered by the death of an unarmed black man in police custody. Marj Halperin, an Illinois-based Democratic analyst, told CNBC in a phone interview that while Duckworth has been "terrific" for her state, "she sits politically in much the same space" as Biden. "I think if you're looking for a woman to relate to family issues, to relate to the inequities that have sent people of all demographics into the street demanding change, she's responsive," Halperin said, "but I think you will find other candidates who are more of a leader in that regard."

US Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wearing a mask to protect herself and others from COVID-19, known as coronavirus, arrives for a vote at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, May 4, 2020. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

A terrible injury and a career in service

Duckworth is known as a tough competitor. She described the initial pain from her injuries in Iraq as "nonstop, unrelenting, seemingly endless agony." But less than two years later in 2006, Duckworth launched her first campaign for Congress in Illinois' 6th District. She narrowly lost to Republican Peter Roskam. But she was quickly tapped by then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, to lead the state's Veterans Affairs Department, and later became the federal VA's assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs under former President Barack Obama. She resigned from that post in 2011 to launch her second House bid, unseating Republican incumbent Joe Walsh, who became the subject of controversy when he criticized Duckworth for talking too much about her military service. "Our true heroes, the men and women who served us, it's the last thing in the world they talk about," said Walsh, who later walked back the remarks. Duckworth in 2016 won her Senate race against GOP Sen. Mark Kirk, who was roundly criticized after bringing up her heritage in a televised debate. "I'd forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington," Kirk had said. Here are some key biographical details: Duckworth was born in Bangkok to a Thai mother and an American father, who was also a U.S. Army veteran.

In 2018, after a challenging pregnancy, Duckworth at 50 became the first U.S. senator to have a baby while in office.

Government records watchdog site OpenSecrets estimated Duckworth's net worth at $697,531 in 2018, placing her 63rd in the Senate. In Congress, Duckworth has made veterans a central focus. Trump in January 2019 signed the Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act, which Duckworth sponsored with senior Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. The bill was aimed at increasing entrepreneurial opportunities for veterans, in part by making them eligible to receive federal surplus personal property. Duckworth passed three of her proposed bills into law as a freshman senator, earning her plaudits from the bipartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking  in contrast to a stinging Chicago Tribune investigation in 2016, which found that her tenure in the House yielded few legislative successes. Trump in April added Duckworth, a member of the Senate Small Business Committee, to a bipartisan task force focused on reopening the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. The task force included 12 other Democratic senators and every Republican senator, except Mitt Romney of Utah  who had voted to convict Trump on articles of impeachment. Trump was acquitted in February by the GOP-led chamber.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) participates in a reenacted swearing-in with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in the Old Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol January 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. Aaron P. Bernstein | Getty Images

Tough competition

Biden's campaign has kept a tight lid on the vice presidential selection process, but a few names have dominated the conversation. California Sen. Kamala Harris, whose own 2020 presidential bid started strong but fizzled, is currently the leader on political betting site PredictIt to clinch the VP spot. She's 22 years younger than the 77-year old Biden, but is seen as having the experience to take the reins if needed. Moe Vela, who had served under Vice Presidents Biden and Al Gore when they were in office, told CNBC that he believes Biden's top priority is finding someone who's ready to immediately step into the role of president. Florida Rep. Val Demings, the No. 2 candidate in the PredictIt rankings, could move the ball forward for Biden in Florida, an important swing state that Trump won over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Duckworth's price on the political betting site currently sits at 5 cents  a figure that "strikes me as much too low," said Brian Gaines, a political science professor at the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs. Harris is currently 44 cents, and Demings is at 18 cents. "There are a lot of compelling reasons" to pick Duckworth, Gaines said. A decision is unlikely to come before August. Historically, presidential nominees have locked down their running mates a median of four days before their conventions begin, according to FiveThirtyEight. The Democratic convention was rescheduled to mid-August from July due to the pandemic. The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. A Duckworth spokesman declined to comment and referred CNBC to the Illinois senator's prior remarks about the Biden campaign. Biden has seen increasing pressure to put a black woman on his ticket amid the massive protests over George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a white police officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes. Harris and Demings are black. "If there's something about Duckworth that's a real drawback, I suppose it could be that for some subset of the voters right now, given the particular focus on racial justice they might think, 'We really don't just want a nonwhite candidate, we want an African American woman running with him,'" Gaines said. Duckworth, while less vocal about her legislative work on policing than on veterans' issues, this week co-sponsored the broad police accountability and reform bill introduced in the Senate, along with 34 other Democrats. Duckworth had previously sponsored a bill to enforce diversity training within law enforcement.

'Heart and empathy'
Donald Trump claimed Thursday morning that National Guard personnel assured him clearing the area around the White House last week, an operation that included "pepper balls" and tear gas, was a "walk in the park."

The president's hawkish, anti-protester tweet came about three hours before he is scheduled to depart the White House for Dallas, where he will participate in a roundtable with faith leaders and law enforcement officials following protests stemming from George Floyd's death in police custody. He also could announce or at least describe an executive order directing some policing reforms  but officials have yet to confirm he will do so in Texas.

The tweet showed again how the president and his White House have sent mixed signals about policing and the need for changes. He and his team have called the death of Mr Floyd, a black man, under the knee of a white police officer a "tragedy" and called for "justice" for his family. But Mr Trump also has defended law enforcement officers, including two in Buffalo, New York, who pushed down a 75-year-old man then walked away and bled onto a sidewalk.

"Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe how easy it was. 'A walk in the park', one said," the president tweeted without identifying the trooper or describing how he learned of the assessment of the DC Guard's time in and around Lafayette Park across from the White house grounds amid sometimes-violent protests that grew more peaceful late last week.

Even as team Trump has said the president is choosing between a menu of police reform options and likely will sign onto a coming Senate Republican bill being crafted by South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, the GOP caucus' lone black member, they have time and again pivoted back to their base.

That has caused some Democrats to wonder whether the president really is in a political position to back major changes, despite public opinion polls saying most Americans want reforms. His conservative base is solidly pro-cop and opposed the protests in many major US cities. One recent poll showed 64 per cent of Americans disapprove of the president's response to the Floyd death protests, and 69 per cent say the killing shows larger problems within America's police departments.

"The protesters, agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handled VERY easily by the Guard, D.C. Police, & S.S. GREAT JOB!" Mr Trump tweeted Thursday morning, appearing unaware of the historical reference in his abbreviation for United States Secret Service.

For instance, even as White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday said Mr Trump is open to policing reforms, she told reporters he would not sign legislation or an executive order that would end "qualified immunity" for police officers.

The term refers to protections that shield officers from being sued if they violate a citizens constitution rights  unless those actions broke federal law.

Including such a provision in the Senate Republicans' bill, she said, would be a "non-starter" for Mr Trump.
Bhubaneswar: The southwest monsoon set in over Odisha on Thursday with several parts of the state receiving rainfall, informed the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

"The monsoon touched Odisha," informed the Bhubaneswar Met Centre in a tweet.

The prediction of IMD that the monsoon is likely to be normal this year has brought relief to the state, especially to the farming community.

With the advancement of monsoon, heavy rainfall is likely to lash few districts over the next two days.
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday condemned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths reported remark on the Kalapani land dispute and called it inappropriate and illegitimate.

Speaking in the House of Representatives, the lower House of the Nepalese Parliament, Oli said that Indias claim on the Kalapani region is based on unsound facts and Adityanaths remark showed disrespect to Nepal.

He further said that Chief Minister Adityanath is "not in a decision making capacity" in the central government of India when it comes to confronting India-Nepal ties.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath ji has said certain things about Nepal. His comments are inappropriate and not legitimate. He is not in a decision-making capacity in the central government of India. His comments are in the capacity of a chief minister and these should not have been made. If he is trying to threaten Nepal with these comments, this is condemnable. His remarks showed disrespect to Nepal. I want to tell Yogi ji that Nepal does not accept these insults, several media reports quoted Oli as saying in the House.

This reaction from the neighbouring country comes after Adityanath while commenting on Nepals claim on the Kalapani region, had reportedly said, Before determining political boundary, Nepal should think of the long-term consequences and it should also remember what happened to Tibet.

Oli asserted that a solution can be found in resolving Kalapani dispute if India shows more willingness for dialogue.

Since 1961 and 62, India has stationed its military forces in Kalapani. But that land belongs to us. India is showing an artificial Kali river as the basis of its claim on the region. They have also built a temple of Goddess Kali in that area which belongs to us. But our claim is based on historical documents and facts, Oli said while replying to queries raised from MPs on the Second Constitution Amendment that will give legal status to the new map of Nepal that claims Kalapani-Lipulekh-Limpiyadhura.

Nepal last month released the revised political and administrative map of the country laying claim over the strategically key areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.

India reacted angrily to the move saying such "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims will not be acceptable and asked the neighbouring country to refrain from such "unjustified cartographic assertion".

The spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs also asked Nepal to respect India's sovereignty and territorial integrity, hoping that the Nepalese leadership will create a positive atmosphere for diplomatic dialogue to resolve the outstanding boundary issues.

The ties between the two countries came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.

Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.

Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said on Tuesday that Nepal was still waiting for a response from India on holding talks to resolve the border dispute.

"We have expressed time and again that Nepal wants to sit at the table to resolve this problem," Gyawali told The Associated Press. He said that requests to talk were made in November and December last year, and again in May.

"We are waiting for formal negotiations so that these two countries with ... a very unique type of partnership can develop a more inspiring relationship that reflects the requirements of the 21st century," he said.

Gyawali last month said that he was confident that the Kalapani issue between the two neighbours will be resolved through talks. "We have always said that the only way to resolve this issue is by negotiating in good faith. Without impulse or unnecessary excitement, and without prejudice, Nepal wants to resolve the border issues via dialogues, Gyawali told Republica, an English daily.

"We are confident that this issue will be resolved via bilateral talks," he added. He, however, did not mention about Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh - the two areas Nepal claimed belonged to it.

Responding to a question, he said, "We have been trying to hold talks in the matter. However, formal talks and conversations have not taken place yet. We are hopeful that our formal and informal channels of communication will yield something positive."

Gyawali expressed the view that "the Indian side is also deeply concerned and feels the responsibility to address the issue."
Though state parks and campgrounds on the Oregon coast have started to reopen this spring more than two months after closing due to the coronavirus pandemic, some will remain closed through summer.

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department announced the long-term closure of all or part of six state park sites on the Oregon coast Thursday, most of which will remain closed through Labor Day:

CLOSED THROUGH LABOR DAY

Alfred A. Loeb State Park (south coast)

Arizona Beach State Park group camp (south coast)

Cape Blanco State Park (south coast)

Carl G. Washburne Memorial State Park campground (central coast)

Devils Lake State Park campground (central coast)

CLOSED THROUGH JULY 31

Beachside State Recreation Site (central coast)

The parks department said the news will disappoint many visitors and campers and we sincerely understand how this decision affects you," in its announcement on Twitter. We apologize for the disruption and will continue to evaluate our situation throughout the summer.

All campground reservations made for dates during the extended closure will be automatically canceled. The parks department will issue full refunds within 10 days of notifying people of the cancellations, officials said.

READ MORE: Social distance, sanitizer and surfers at reopened Oregon coast parks

The continued closures are the result of an estimated $22 million budget shortfall at the state parks department, caused by the coronavirus pandemic that resulted in an economic crisis and forced the parks department to shut down all park sites March 23. The department is not funded by taxpayers, but by Oregon Lottery proceeds, camping and day use fees, and RV registration fees.

On June 2, the department announced that it will lay off 47 full-time employees by the end of the month, in addition to the 338 seasonal staff that will not be rehired this year.

Its a gut punch, weve never been through anything like this before, parks spokesman Chris Havel said following the announcement of layoffs.

Park officials have warned that some reopened parks will have limited facilities, and that visitors should not rely on having drinking water, clean restrooms or trash service. The department previously said that not all park sites would reopen this summer, but did not specify which would remain closed.

The six coastal parks are the only places where extended closures have been announced.

--Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories
Britains Prince Philip marked a quiet 99th birthday in lockdown with his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, at Windsor Castle in south-east England.

Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the 94-year-old monarch, who have been married for 72 years, have been isolating together since March when the UK went into lockdown in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Buckingham Palace released a new photograph of the royal couple, which was taken on June 1 in the quadrangle at the castle, to mark the birthday on Wednesday. No visits were planned due to the lockdown restrictions for the elderly but the royal family has been connecting with each other through Zoom and other online mediums and are likely to have done so for the birthday as well.

Various divisions of the UKs Armed Forces took to social media to wish the prince, who has an active history with the forces, a happy birthday.

The Royal Marines official Twitter page read: Happy 99th Birthday to the #DukeofEdinburgh #PrincePhilip from the Royal Marines.

In honour of this day, we wanted to share some images from the Duke of Edinburghs time as the Captain General of the Royal Marines. It included photos of the Duke of Edinburgh involved in several military ceremonies in the past.

The Intelligence Corps projected a birthday message for the prince onto one of their officers buildings and said: His Royal Highness has been Colonel-in-Chief of the Intelligence Corps since 1977. We wish him many happy returns and send him this birthday message projected onto the Priory Officers Mess at Chicksands. Prince Philip has not been seen in public since he spent four nights in hospital in December last year for what royal officials said was a planned precautionary measure for a pre-existing condition.

Born in Corfu, Greece, in 1921, the royal is the longest-serving monarchs consort in British history. He retired and stepped down from frontline royal duties in May 2017.

The Queen also celebrated her 94th birthday in April quietly, cancelling the traditional gun salute because of the pandemic.
A volunteer who assisted in the search for autistic teen William Callaghan has pleaded for the return of his motorbike after it was stolen by lowlife gutless thieves.

Bailey Doyle was among hundreds of volunteers who spent hours on Tuesday scouring dense bushland at Mount Disappointment north of Melbourne.

The non-verbal 14-year-old was miraculously found alive the next morning after he survived two nights in freezing temperatures after becoming separated from his family while hiking on Monday.

Mr Bailey was forced to abandon and hide his 2004 blue and white Yamaha dirt bike in bushland after it overheated and stalled during Tuesday's search.

Mr Doyle returned the scene the following day and was shocked to find his beloved motorcycle gone.

Bailey Doyle pleaded for the return of his Yahama bike (pictured), which was stolen on Tuesday

'I instantly messaged the people I saw at the end of the night asking if they had taken it out,' he told 7news.com.au.

'They all said no so I went to the Blair's Hut Command Centre and spoke to a few officers there and asked if anything had been handed in.'

Mr Doyle appealed for the return of the bike in a Facebook group set up for the search for William and was inundated with messages and calls.

In a cruel blow, one caller claimed they had the bike and demanded money if Mr Doyle wanted it back.

Hundreds of volunteers joined the search for autistic teen William Callaghan on Tuesday

'I received a phone call from [someone], saying that 'whoever got that bike out went through all the trouble of getting it out, if you were to get it back it would only be right you paid whoever got it out,' Mr Doyle said.

He remains hopeful he will be reunited with his bike and has reported the numbers that called him to police.

Victoria Police confirmed they're investigating the theft of the bike.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Meanwhile in happier news, William is now recovering from his big adventure at home after spending the night with a well-eared rest at Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.
Debuting Sanctuaries 360: Our Earth is Blue and Surrounding You

By Hannah MacDonald

June 2020

Ask any diver about their first experience underwater and you are likely to get a response about how surreal submerging into the blue was, how the first dive took their breath away, how they saw the unimaginable, and how they were completely immersed and experienced water in an entirely new way. Divers lucky enough to dive in national marine sanctuaries, America's underwater parks, might emphasize that their experience was enhanced by marine life encounters, elaborate coral reefs, towering kelp forests and historic shipwrecks. This month, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is launching Sanctuaries 360, a collection of immersive underwater experiences to bring these exceptional places to viewers all over the world.

The National Marine Sanctuary System encompasses over 600,000 square miles of underwater parks that protect special marine places. These underwater parks are destinations for many who want to visit the ocean and experience immense beauty, biodiversity and have the chance to encounter marine life. For many, reaching and experiencing these underwater parks, like a diver, can be a challenge. Thankfully, virtual reality technology has enabled us to visit incredible places from the comfort of our homes.

Sanctuaries 360 uses virtual reality (VR) video to immerse viewers in the waters of national marine sanctuaries. Filmed using industry-leading 360 underwater and land-based camera systems, these videos can be viewed on VR headsets, phones, tablets, and computer screens, empowering you to visit these underwater parks anytime, anywhere. "Using VR can eliminate barriers that may have kept someone from being able to experience our national marine sanctuaries," says Tracy Hajduk, National Education Coordinator. "Never before have our national marine sanctuaries been so accessible and available to the public."

The following four videos kick off the Sanctuaries 360 series brought to you by NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. Viewers will encounter sea lions, sharks and sea turtles, restore coral reefs and tour a shipwreck on the lakebed. Grab a phone, tablet, computer or virtual reality headset and explore national marine sanctuaries through your fingertips with the videos below.

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary protects some of the most iconic coral reefs in the world, but corals are suffering from disease and other stressors. Fortunately, NOAA and our partners are working together to restore these critical coral reefs. Grab your mask (okay, headset) and help restore the reef by planting healthy corals that will grow into thriving colonies.

Located off the coast of Southern California, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is a biological hotspot. Swim along with a playful sea lion as it takes you on a tour through the sanctuary's kelp forests and rocky outcrops.

Come along and explore with green sea turtles (honu) as they take you around Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Learn how Hawaii's volcanic islands were formed, swim with whitetip reef sharks, and watch your new turtle friends kick back and relax at the turtle spa.

National marine sanctuaries protect more than just aquatic life. Places like Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, located in Lake Huron, safeguard our nation's maritime history. Join your dive buddies on a visit to D.M. Wilson, one of the hundreds of shipwrecks protected in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Education Lesson Plans

Along with these videos, lesson plans have been developed for educators to further engage middle school students with the virtual dive experience. These lessons take you deeper into each video and align with leading science standards and ocean literacy principles.

Your National Marine Sanctuaries

In this National Marine Sanctuary System overview lesson, a mini-research project introduces students to sanctuaries by comparing and contrasting the various sanctuaries. Through a deeper dive into the digital resources offered, including four 360 videos, students learn how national marine sanctuary sites are designated and why they are important for protecting and preserving the ocean and Great Lakes.

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Tied to the virtual dive on the wreck of D.M Wilson, students research the historical, ecological, and economic importance of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Students create a digital infographic that communicates the importance of preserving a shipwreck.

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

On a visit to Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, students will explore the plants and animals that live and thrive in the cold-water marine environment that they encountered in the 360 video. They will also learn about specific adaptations necessary for survival in this habitat.

Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary

In the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary 360 video, students learn about the diversity of life found in the Hawaiian Islands. Students will explore the ecology of three different species, their importance to Native Hawaiian culture, and the conservation measures in place for their protection.

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Students will dive deeper into the coral restoration work that the 360 video highlights. Students will research the ecology of coral reefs, natural and human threats to corals, and the science of coral restoration. Students will design and make an argument for a proposed new coral nursery to be placed within Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

America's national marine sanctuaries are places of hope, inspiration, biodiversity and resilience. And now, diving into them is at your fingertips. So ready, set, dive!

Hannah MacDonald is the education specialist with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
-Criminal defendants accused of nonviolent crimes will be required to post bail in many California counties later this month after a vote Wednesday by state judicial leaders to repeal a zero-bail order they issued two months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Judicial Council, the policy-making body for California courts, said its members voted 17-2 to lift the previous order and allow local judges to set bail for most defendants after their arrest, starting June 20.

Under the previous order, the council said, more than 20,000 defendants have been freed without bail while awaiting trial or pretrial hearings, helping keep jails and courts from becoming vectors for the spread of COVID-19 between inmates, jail staff and surrounding communities. The council said it will encourage counties to maintain zero-bail policies when necessary to protect inmates and communities from the coronavirus by reducing the jail population.

Some counties have voluntarily moved away from cash bail, which keeps arrestees behind bars if they cannot afford to pay bail or the non-refundable 10% deposit charged by bail-bond companies. San Francisco abolished its post-arrest bail system for all charges this year in a settlement with inmate-rights groups after a federal judge declared the citys bail rules unconstitutional. The new rules allow judges to hold individual defendants without bail if the evidence shows they would pose a risk to the public.

California voters will decide in November whether to eliminate cash bail statewide for all crimes. Legislation to abolish monetary bail and require judges to make individual risk assessments for each defendant was signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 and was due to take effect last October. But the laws enactment was suspended when bond companies collected enough signatures to qualify a referendum for the ballot. The companies argue that cash bail promotes public safety.

The Judicial Council voted unanimously April 6 to reduce bail to zero for defendants charged with misdemeanors and most nonviolent felonies, except for felonies related to domestic abuse, stalking, sex crimes or drunken driving. The order took effect a week later.

Police groups and some prosecutors opposed eliminating bail and said it would increase crime. While there have been individual reports of crimes by defendants released without bail, crime statewide has declined statewide during the pandemic, with far fewer people on the streets and roads. One notable exception has been domestic violence.

The vast majority on zero bail did not reoffend, said Judicial Council member Marsha Slough, a state appeals court justice in Riverside. This was a health measure. ...Our goal was to get people out of jail where they faced an increased risk of COVID-19.

Now, she said, the population of county jails has decreased substantially, and should drop further with Gov. Gavin Newsoms recent decision to resume sending newly sentenced inmates from jail to state prison, starting June 19. Prisons remain crowded beyond their listed capacity, but their population has been reduced by coronavirus-related orders to release inmates with less than 60 days remaining in their sentences.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

We accomplished our goal, Slough said in an interview. Now we need to back away from that and let the local courts deal with their local COVID issues, along with county supervisors.

Another Judicial Council member, state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, had a different view.

Congregate living situations are more conducive to the spread of this virus than if we are in a zero-bail situation, she said Wednesday. We are not seeing a spiking in crime or in recidivism. Why is this any different than when this whole thing started?

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
June 10 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Private equity fund Catalyst Capital Group Inc and a collection of U.S. lenders are the leading contenders to take over Cirque du Soleil after pledging this week to put $300 million into reopening the troupe's shows. https://tgam.ca/2Ux95Ud

** The Liberal government's plan to impose retroactive penalties for fraudulent Canada Emergency Response Benefit claims is raising concerns about fairness and constitutionality from tax experts and civil libertarians. https://tgam.ca/2MMfztW

** A C$20 billion ($14.92 billion) loan program designed to ensure banks kept lending to small- and medium-sized businesses throughout the coronavirus pandemic has attracted little interest from borrowers more than six weeks after its launch. https://tgam.ca/3hfRxFB

NATIONAL POST

** The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada is proposing to merge with the Mutual Fund Dealers Association, a move IIROC says would reduce duplication and save millions of dollars that could instead be invested in growth and innovation in the investment industry. https://bit.ly/2zjelDl ($1 = 1.34 Canadian dollars) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:50:24|Editor: huaxia

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DAR ES SALAAM, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Thursday thanked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for approving a 14.3 million U.S. dollars debt service relief amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the IMF has approved the debt service relief to the east African nation at the right time.

"I will write to the IMF managing director to thank her for approving the debt service relief on behalf of Tanzanians," Magufuli said in an address televised live by state-run Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation.

"Some of the money under the debt service relief will be used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic," he said shortly after he had laid the foundation stone for the construction of a 51.2 kilometers road in the new government satellite city in the capital Dodoma.

The road construction was being undertaken by China Henan International Cooperation Group, said Victor Seff, chief executive officer for Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the IMF said it has approved a grant under the IMF's Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to cover Tanzania's debt service falling due to the IMF from June 10, 2020, to October 13, 2020, the equivalent of 14.3 million dollars. Enditem
Go ahead and make it official: Senator Tom Cotton is the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner.

In driving the staff of the New York Times positively batty (including woke hostage victim and executive editor Dean Baquet), Cotton singlehandedly threw a wrench into the workings of America's premier liberal institution. Not since making rubble bounce in Baghdad as a captain in the 101st Airborne has Cotton kindled so much chaos in the heart of an enemy.

In using his senatorial status and martial background to endorse the deployment of the National Guard to quell citywide rioting, Cotton effected a veritable coup, toppling James Bennet, the editorial page editor. The Gray Lady's cosseted staff turned on management, incensed by the fascistic concept of entertaining contrary beliefs.

Like the Arab Spring, the newsroom-led uprising sparked subversive rebellion in sister publications. Philadelphia Inquirer executive editor Stan Wischnowski resigned (read: was pushed out) after vociferous outcry following an article titled "Buildings Matter, Too." On the other side of the Keystone State, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette saw hireling-led distemper when a reporter was removed from the Black Lives Matter beat after showing plain bias in favor of the protesters.

What is this tug-of-war between broadsheet editors and reporters in their employ? Is the nature of journalism changing? What happened to diversity in opinion and just-the-facts-ma'am coverage?

All-out war  that's what happened. Ben Smith of the Times gives a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the press's civil row, with up-and-coming Millennial-age journalists infusing their reporting with progressive ideology. "[T]he shift in mainstream American media  driven by a journalism that is more personal, and reporters more willing to speak what they see as the truth without worrying about alienating conservatives  now feels irreversible," Smith writes, including his own fatalist feelings in his examination.

Smith's wording is careful, beating around what's actually happening, only framing it as a new slant to reporting that lets stringers insert parti pris into their news copy. But there's more to it. The binning of unbiasedness isn't just a stalking horse to serve left-wing causes with the excuse of embracing authenticity. The purpose is political, yes, but it's also essentialist: view-from-nowhere inquiry is viewed as a racial norm. "The entire journalistic frame of 'objectivity' and political neutrality is structured around white supremacy," tweeted Asian journalist E. Alex Jung, synopsizing the new journalistic cosmovision.

(Since ideology can't suffer irony without snapping at the seams, purveyors of this radical reorientation around objective truth fail to see the implication of their views. By fettering "objectivity" to whites, neutrality opponents admit that other races are incapable of putting aside bias to deduce the warheit of things.)

Other young reporters have attempted to redefine the fourth estate's stock in trade along similar lines. Jemele Hill, the former ESPN host who infamously called Trump a white supremacist, described journalism as "not a profession of being friends," but "a profession of agitation." Masha Gessen of The New Yorker told CNN that reporting on the White House should focalize on "harm reduction."

Got that? Journalism isn't just about recording and disseminating information. It's about stirring up trouble and healing wounds at the same time, like a doctor knocking teeth out in a sub rosa fight club.

What all of this lingo-laden twaddle really means is simple. Journalism qua journalism hasn't changed. Straight news documentation still exists as a philosophical concept, a la the Archimedean point. It's just out of practice, like tintype photography or drawing up a code duello.

The print media operate with what playwright David Mamet calls a "code." The left's code, which has subsumed hard reportage, is holistic: all information, every angle, every thought, every utterance, every word, every sentence construction, revolves around dissipating the right's legitimacy.

"The committed liberal, leftist," Mamet explains, "ha[s] devoted so much time, energy, and treasure to the creation of a code that no evidence could convince them that it has been broken and so must be replaced."

The sacked editors who challenged their young colleagues never got the coded memo. Though liberal in persuasion, they thought their ideas could win the day in open combat. The newsy upstarts don't view intellectual competition as helpful  only a form of legitimation. So conservative views must be crushed and shunted from public view.

If Tom Cotton scored any sort of victory over the Times, it's sure to be Pyrrhic. The collateral damage of Maoist suppression will only spread within the news business.
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Linkedin Ella Ide (Agence France-Presse) Rome, Italy  Thu, June 11, 2020 08:23 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc41c1 2 World Italy,Giuseppe-Conte,coronavirus,COVID-19,pandemic,virus-corona,SARS-CoV-2,novel-coronavirus Free

Prosecutors are to question Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the health and interior ministers over how the government handled the coronavirus pandemic, news agencies reported Wednesday.

The prosecutors from Bergamo, the city in the northern Lombardy region worst hit by the virus, have launched an investigation into the crisis, which has killed over 34,000 people in Italy.

They are looking in particular at why a red zone was not enforced in February around the towns of Nembro and Alzano. Regional officials and the government blame each other for the failure.

Italy was the first European country to be ravaged by the virus. The government imposed the country's first red zone, around the town of Codogno, 24 hours after doctors discovered a patient positive for COVID-19.

It went on to shut down 10 other towns, and then large areas of the north, before imposing a nationwide lockdown.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday evening, Conte said he would be interviewed by prosecutors on Friday.

Conte 'not worried'

"The things I have to say to the prosecutor, I will say to the prosecutor -- I don't want to anticipate," he said.

"I will conscientiously set out all the facts of which I have knowledge. I am not at all worried.

"All investigations are welcome. The citizens have the right to know and we have the right to reply."

The team, lead by chief prosecutor Maria Cristina Rota, has already questioned senior officials in Lombardy region, who say it was up to Rome to decide whether certain areas should be shut.

The region's health minister, Giulio Gallera, has said it was clear from February 23 that there were a lot of cases in the areas around Nembro and Alzano, towns in the Bergamo province.

But the government failed to act, he said.

Conte replied that "if Lombardy had wanted to, it could have made Alzano and Nembro red zones".

Codogno was closed on February 21. Lombardy and 14 provinces in the neighboring regions of Veneto, Piedmont and Emilia Romagna followed on March 8, and the whole of Italy shut down two days later.

But a scientific committee advising the government and the national health institute had warned in early March 3 that the towns should be locked down, according to the Corriere della Sera.

Salvini denounces 'lies'

Fifty relatives of coronavirus victims -- members of the "Noi Denunceremo" (We Will Denounce) committee -- filed complaints with the Bergamo prosecutors earlier Wednesday over the handling of the pandemic. It is the first such legal group action in Italy.

"If it hadn't been so disorganized, if [the province of] Bergamo had been made into a red zone earlier, perhaps the hospitals would not have been driven to collapse," said Monica Plazzoli, whose husband Armando died of the virus.

Far-right opposition leader Matteo Salvini, head of the League party which governs Lombardy, on Wednesday welcomed the investigation.

"After so many lies and shameful attacks, justice has been done: those who have made mistakes must pay," he said.

Andrea Orlando of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), part of the government coalition, rebuked Salvini for using "a painful situation for propaganda".

It was normal procedure for prosecutors to speak with institutional representatives, he said.
Moderna Inc. announced Thursday it is ready to begin testing its candidate for a coronavirus vaccine on 30,000 people in the United States.

The step of injecting tens of thousands of people with the possible vaccine is part of its Phase 3 study after receiving feedback from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the biotechnology company in Cambridge said.

We just announced an update on late-stage development of our vaccine (mRNA-1273) against COVID-19. Read more: https://t.co/eVwiVzaz5L pic.twitter.com/EyoOYGRFky  Moderna (@moderna_tx) June 11, 2020

The study, expected to begin in July, will be performed in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Entering Phase 3, Moderna said the dosage of the vaccine has been finalized at 100 micrograms. With that amount, the company remains confident it will be able to deliver approximately 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to 1 billion doses per year, beginning in 2021.

Moderna is one of several companies pushing to develop a vaccine by early 2021.

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NEW YORK, June 10, 2020 -- A research team led by scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at The Graduate Center, CUNY (CUNY ASRC), in collaboration with National University of Singapore, University of Texas at Austin and Monash University, has employed "twistronics" concepts (the science of layering and twisting two-dimensional materials to control their electrical properties) to manipulate the flow of light in extreme ways. The findings, published in the journal Nature, hold the promise for leapfrog advances in a variety of light-driven technologies, including nano-imaging devices; high-speed, low-energy optical computers; and biosensors.

The team took inspiration from the recent discovery of superconductivity in a pair of stacked graphene layers that were rotated to the "magic twist angle" of 1.1 degrees. In this configuration, electrons flow with no resistance. Separately, each graphene layer shows no special electrical properties. The discovery has shown how the careful control of rotational symmetries can unveil unexpected material responses.

The research team discovered that an analogous principle can be applied to manipulate light in highly unusual ways. At a specific rotation angle between two ultrathin layers of molybdenum trioxide, the researchers were able to prevent optical diffraction and enable robust light propagation in a tightly focused beam at desired wavelengths.

Typically, light radiated from a small emitter placed over a flat surface expands away in circles very much like the waves excited by a stone that falls into a pond. In their experiments, the researchers stacked two thin sheets of molybdenum trioxide -- a material typically used in chemical processes -- and rotated one of the layers with respect to the other. When the materials were excited by a tiny optical emitter, they observed widely controllable light emission over the surface as the rotation angle was varied. In particular, they showed that at the photonic magical twist angle the configured bilayer supports robust, diffraction-free light propagation in tightly focused channel beams over a wide range of wavelengths.

"While photons -- the quanta of light -- have very different physical properties than electrons, we have been intrigued by the emerging discovery of twistronics, and have been wondering if twisted two-dimensional materials may also provide unusual transport properties for light, to benefit photon-based technologies," said Andrea Alu, founding director of the CUNY ASRC's Photonics Initiative and Einstein Professor of Physics at The Graduate Center. "To unveil this phenomenon, we used thin layers of molybdenum trioxide. By stacking two of such layers on top of each other and controlling their relative rotation, we have observed dramatic control of the light guiding properties. At the photonic magic angle, light does not diffract, and it propagates very confined along straight lines. This is an ideal feature for nanoscience and photonic technologies."

"Our discovery was based on quite a specific material and wavelength range, but with advanced nanofabrication we can pattern many other material platforms to replicate these unusual optical features over a wide range of light wavelengths," said National University of Singapore (NUS) graduate student Guangwei Hu, who is first author of the study and a long-term visiting researcher with Alu's group. "Our study shows that twistronics for photons can open truly exciting opportunities for light-based technologies, and we are excited to continue exploring these opportunities," said Prof. C.W. Qiu, Mr. Hu's co-advisor at NUS.

###

The research team consisted of scientists from CUNY ASRC, National University of Singapore, University of Texas at Austin and Monash University. Their work was supported by an Air Force Office of Scientific Research MURI grant, the Office of Naval Research, the Department of Defense Vannevar Bush Fellowship Program, and the National Science Foundation.

About the Advanced Science Research Center

The ASRC elevates scientific research and education at CUNY and beyond through initiatives in five distinctive, but increasingly interconnected disciplines: environmental sciences, nanoscience, neuroscience, photonics, and structural biology. The ASRC promotes a collaborative, interdisciplinary research culture with renowned researchers from each of the initiatives working side-by-side in the ASRC's core facilities, sharing equipment that is among the most advanced available.

About The Graduate Center of The City University of New York

The Graduate Center of The City University of New York is a leader in public graduate education devoted to enhancing the public good through pioneering research, serious learning, and reasoned debate. The Graduate Center offers ambitious students more than 40 doctoral and master's programs of the highest caliber, taught by top faculty from throughout CUNY -- the world's largest public urban university. Through its nearly 40 centers, institutes, and initiatives, The Graduate Center influences public policy and discourse and shapes innovation. The Graduate Center's extensive public programs make it a home for culture and conversation.
Christian families in India banned from burying their dead

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Villagers in the east-central state of Chhattisgarh are not allowing Christians to bury their dead until they pay fines for not taking part in Hindu festivals and rituals. Attacks on the minority community in India continue despite the COVID-19 lockdown.

Christians faced stiff opposition to burying their dead in three separate incidents in the districts of Bastar and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh state last month, Alliance Defending Freedom India reported.

The Christians were told to make restitution for not partaking in or giving donations for religious rituals in those villages for all the years gone by, and pay an additional fine before their dead would be allowed to be buried.

It is a terrible and unimaginable thing to be denied an opportunity to grieve the loss of a loved one with dignity, ADF India said.

Since 2019, the group has recorded at least 15 confirmed incidents of Christians being denied burial rights in Chhattisgarh state.

After the groups legal team intervened, the Christians were provided police protection, and in some cases even provided land by the government, for the burials to take place.

In April, when India was under a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, the worlds strictest, at least six incidents of targeted violence against Christians took place in Chhattisgarh, according to ADF India. In the majority of incidents, Christians were physically attacked by mobs of at least 50 people when they refused to take part in religious rituals that violated their faith.

On April 17, villagers in Chhattisgarh states Mendoli area severely assaulted a Christian family, including tearing off the clothes of the victims wife, and forcefully performed a sanctification ritual on them, the U.K.-based Christian charity Barnabas Fund said, adding that the mob then demanded a fee of 5,000 Indian rupees ($66) and threatened to kill the family if they informed the police.

While Indias Grand Old Party, the Indian National Congress, has been governing Chhattisgarh state since December 2018, Hindu right-wing groups are active in the state, which was earlier ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, for 10 years.

In the western city of Mumbai, which is among the worst-hit by the coronavirus outbreak in India, Christian cemeteries didnt have a place for the burial of coronavirus victims until recently due to the absence of official notification, according to The Times of India, which reported that Christian victims of COVID-19 had no option but to cremate their dead.

I wish to stress that coronavirus in a dead person doesnt infect living humans, a local activist Cyril Dara was quoted as saying. The virus becomes ineffective within hours of the victims death, he continued, adding that he would file police complaints against big cemeteries if they didnt allow burials.

The civic authorities finally allotted space in four Christian cemeteries for the burial of coronavirus victims, the Times said.

Attacks on Christians have been on the rise since the BJP won the 2014 general elections in India. Most attacks on Christians are launched under the pretext of the alleged forcible conversion of Hindus.

Several Indian states have had draconian anti-conversion laws, termed as Freedom of Religion Acts, for decades but no Christian has been convicted of forcibly converting anyone to Christianity.

According to Indias own population data, the conspiracy of mass conversions to Christianity does not hold up, says the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern. In 1951, the first census after independence, Christians made up only 2.3% of Indias overall population. According to the 2011 census, the most recent census data available, Christians still only make up 2.3% of the population.

Since the current ruling party took power in 2014, incidents against Christians have increased, and Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences, noted Open Doors World Watch List, which ranked India as the 10th worst country for Christians.

The view of the Hindu nationalists is that to be Indian is to be Hindu, so any other faith  including Christianity  is viewed as non-Indian. Also, converts to Christianity from Hindu backgrounds or tribal religions are often extremely persecuted by their family members and communities, Open Doors added.

At least one Christian was attacked every day last year, according to Open Doors.
Tracey MacDonald, pictured, was jailed for a year by Manchester Crown Court after she was convicted of targeting five elderly women in distraction thefts between February and April 2018

A woman who stole from elderly ladies during distraction thefts was caught by police - after victims said she looked like comedian Johnny Vegas.

Tracy MacDonald, 40, had posed as a delivery driver or a Good Samaritan to plunder almost 1,300 from five women in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester over a two month period. But she was arrested after officers recognised victims' description of her 'fat cheeks' and having a passing resemblance to the comic and former Benidorm star.

MacDonald had stolen from one victim whilst pretending to deliver Easter eggs and picked the pocket of another whilst following her on a shopping trip warning: 'You need to be careful, there are lots of wrong people out there after money and drugs.' Back in 2013 she was nicknamed 'Johnny Vegas' sister' on social media after she appeared on TV's Daybreak, a predecessor of Good Morning Britain, to brag of her welfare handouts after her housing association urged her cut back on cigarettes, alcohol and Sky TV to cope with benefit cuts.

She claimed the demands on her were 'outrageous' and added: 'We get our benefits and should be able to spend them on what we choose to. I get 142 a fortnight- I buy my cigarettes, a drink at weekends, shopping, various things to economise. I wouldn't want to stop doing anything really, it's the way I've been bought up- to spend my benefits on what I choose to, to survive. It's our choice to do what we are doing.'

MacDonald, pictured left in 2013, was compared to northern comedian Johnny Vegas, right, after she appeared on ITV's Daybreak show to complain about advice she had been given over they way she spent her benefits

At Manchester Crown Court victims of MacDonald she said robbed them of their confidence and independence, leaving them scared venture out of their homes.

Widow Mary Wilson, 86, said: 'I am cautious and think of myself as streetwise despite my age. I believe the defendant targeted me and assumed I would not protest as an elderly woman.

'I am a strong person and am one of 13 children and I want to tell the defendant just how wrong what they did was.'

Eileen Mitchell said: 'My confidence has been knocked and and I feel less safe walking around and going to the shops. I am distraught about the incident and feel vulnerable and think people will approach me with malicious intentions.'

MacDonald, from Wythenshawe admitted five counts of theft between February and April 2018 and was jailed for a year. The career criminal had previous 112 offences dating back to 1994 including robbery and theft and had embarked on a similar crime spree targeting vulnerable pensioners in North Wales.

Manchester Crown Court heard MacDonald had been convicted of 112 previous offences

MacDonald was arrested after police were alerted and in interview apologised saying she stole to purchase drugs.

In mitigation her lawyer Jane Dagnall said: 'These were despicable offences and she has an appalling record and she paints a pathetic persona today. She is an animated character who was previously given a chance by a court, tried hard but failed and her demons got the better of her.'

Jailing MacDonald for a year, Judge Alan Conrad QC said: 'You stole from elderly and vulnerable people whose confidence you set to gain and then distract them in order to steal from them. It is despicable that you prey on vulnerable people in this way.'
Top chip supplier TSMC is already readying the launch of its 4nm process, dubbed N4, gearing up for production in the not-too-distant future. News surrounding the new process stems from an announcement made by TSMC CEO Liu Deyin during a shareholders meeting. The news as reported by Chinas MyDrivers places the expected mass-production date out in 2023.

As with previous generations of the technology, Mr. Liu Deyin indicates that the process will be a further enhanced variation on the N5P process. Thats the companys most advanced 5nm process.

The 4nm timeline is a bit surprising, given current expectations from TSMC

Now, the news that TSMC may push 4nm chip production back as far as 2023 shouldnt come as too big a shock. The company, as of the middle of May, TSCM hadnt been expecting to push its 5nm chips and modems until this month. Its competition, meanwhile, isnt too far behind. For example, Samsung has reportedly been helping Google develop its own 5nm chipset for Pixel and Chromebook devices.

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That competitor could potentially overcome TSMC in terms of the chip generation beyond 4nm too. TSMC announced that it would be pulling back its efforts on 3nm chipsets as recently as June 1.

Specifically, the company is being forced to draw back on the production trials by more than a full quarter. The decision to delay the chips comes amid the ongoing global health crisis and subsequent disruptions to the supply chain. But also derives from how difficult it has become to manage logistics of personnel movement and more. The tests will now be finalized before the end of the year.

Perhaps more surprisingly, the company is expected to push 3nm chipsets back as far as 2021. Taken at face value, the date would put the 4nm production behind 3nm production. And that may actually be the case if it opts to separate production processes in the US from its production in its home region. Conversely, the tech company could, in fact, plan to only start larger trials by the proposed 2021 date

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US sanctions could slow things further for TSMC

In the interim, TSMC is facing other challenges as well, providing more context for the extension of dates it has been proposing. And those could ultimately lead to further delays, depending on their severity and how well TSMC manages them.

One such challenge is presented by the fact that TSMC is expecting to lose its second-biggest customer soon. Thats because a rule forbidding the company from working with Huawei will go into effect, forcing it to stop supplying chips in September. The chip manufacturer has expressed that it isnt too concerned about the loss. It can make up the lost revenue with new customers now that it is building a fabrication facility in the US. Thats its $12 billion facility in Arizona.

Additionally, TSMC is expecting to garner provisional support from the US government at the state and federal level for its efforts. The full extent of the proposed incentives has not been reported. The combined offsetting factors may be enough to bolster its position in the market further.
According to media reports, Channel Seven, Sam Armytage and commentator Prue MacSween are set to be sued for racial vilification following the collapse of a settlement around a Human Rights Commission case.

In 2019 Seven agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit with a remote NT community, after blurred footage of the group was used during the now-infamous discussion around removal of Indigenous children. Seven also agreed to pay the costs of the proceedings.

In 2018 a panel discussed a newspaper story around the removal of vulnerable indigenous children, with MacSween suggesting, Just like the first stolen generation where a lot of kids were taken for their wellbeing, we need to do it again.

The Australian Communication and Media Authority found the segment to be in breach of the Commercial Television Industry Code Of Practice leading to an agreement by Seven for an independent audit of its production processes for current affairs.

But legal firm Susan Moriarty and Associates said in a statement said the eight Aboriginal complainants were forced to take their case to the Federal Court after settlement discussions collapsed.

Indigenous elder Aunty Rhonda, who is leading the complaint, said, This nationwide broadcast by Channel Seven in March 2018 was another symbol of national shame and another appalling example of the deeply entrenched virus of racism that still plagues white platforms of privilege in this country, she said.

Channel Sevens subsequent disingenuous downcast eyes and were so sorry murmurs, after we protested and their racism was called out, mean nothing to us when they refuse all reasonable requests for proper repatriation of the pulverising hate, humiliation and distress we feel every day of our lives.

However Seven is yet to be formally advised of any proceedings.

A Seven spokesperson told TV Tonight, Although we dont disbelieve the reports, Seven is not aware of any actual claim being filed at this stage  so is not able to comment on this action.

If and when anything is filed, we will review and take the appropriate steps. Seven settled the original matter in late 2019 in the Federal Court with the Yirrkala community and the Yolngu families and offered an unreserved apology on air shortly after.

BREAKING: Channel 7, Samantha Armytage and Prue McSween to be sued in Federal Court for Racial Vilification pic.twitter.com/HR4q9IbvXt  Mariko Smith (@IndigenousX) June 11, 2020

Updated: Sam Armytage responds.

Source: news.com.au
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is planning to hold his first rally of the coronavirus era on June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And he says hes planning more events in Florida, Texas and Arizona as well.

Trump made the announcement as he met with a handful of African American supporters Wednesday afternoon for a roundtable discussion.

Trumps signature rallies often draw tens of thousands of people but have been on hiatus since March 2 because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has now killed more than 110,000 people in the U.S.

A beautiful new venue, brand new. Were looking forward to it, Trump said during a White House event. Theyve done a great job with COVID, as you know, the state of Oklahoma.

The rally will take place on Juneteenth, the commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Tulsa has its own troubling history on race. Its once-thriving African American business community was decimated in 1921, when a racist white mob killed hundreds of black residents. Black residents attempted to rebuild in the decades that followed, only to see their work erased during urban renewal of the 1960s.

Trumps campaign has been eager to resume rallies as it tries to move past the pandemic, even as cases continue to rise in some parts of the country. He has focused most of his rallies this year on battleground states, although Oklahoma is reliably Republican.

Trump carried Oklahoma by more than 36 percentage points in 2016, more than doubling the vote the total of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Oklahoma was among the earliest states to begin loosening coronavirus restrictions, with salons, spas and barbershops reopening in late April. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitts most recent reopening phase places no limits on group gathering sizes as of June 1 and leaves the decision about how closely to adhere to social distancing guidelines up to business owners and local officials.

Stitt said the state was honoured that the president was visiting.

The President is making Oklahoma his first campaign stop since March 2, and his visit here confirms Oklahoma is the national example in responsibly and safely reopening, Stitt said in a statement issued Wednesday by his office.

State health officials say 47 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Tulsa County on Tuesday, the most recent county data available. That brought the overall total of cases reported to the county to 1,308. The number of current active cases was put at 274, an 13% increase from Monday. One new death brought the countys COVID-19 death toll to 61.

In a statement, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said the city was still working to confirm details about the Trump visit and the rally venue.

Campaign officials did not respond to questions about why Tulsa was chosen and what safety precautions would be taken for those who attend.

Trumps reelection prospects will greatly turn on how the country grades his administrations response to the coronavirus as well as its response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while in police custody after an officer pressed his knee onto Floyds neck for more than 8 minutes.

A Trump campaign spokesperson tweeted a movie trailer-style video earlier Wednesday that advertised: This month were back.

___

Associated Press writers Kat Stafford in Detroit and Terry Wallace in Dallas contributed to this report.

This story was first published on June 10, 2020. It was updated on June 11, 2020 to correct an error that 973 people have died from COVID-19 in Tulsa County. State health officials report the death toll stood at 61 on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has awarded Astrobotic of Pittsburgh $199.5 million to deliver NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon's South Pole in late 2023.

The water-seeking mobile VIPER robot will help pave the way for astronaut missions to the lunar surface beginning in 2024 and will bring NASA a step closer to developing a sustainable, long-term presence on the Moon as part of the agency's Artemis program.

"The VIPER rover and the commercial partnership that will deliver it to the Moon are a prime example of how the scientific community and U.S. industry are making NASA's lunar exploration vision a reality," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Commercial partners are changing the landscape of space exploration, and VIPER is going to be a big boost to our efforts to send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024 through the Artemis program."

VIPER's flight to the Moon is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which leverages the capabilities of industry partners to quickly deliver scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon. As part of its award, Astrobotic is responsible for end-to-end services for delivery of VIPER, including integration with its Griffin lander, launch from Earth, and landing on the Moon.

During its 100-Earth-day mission, the approximately 1,000-pound VIPER rover will roam several miles and use its four science instruments to sample various soil environments. Versions of its three water-hunting instruments are flying to the Moon on earlier CLPS lander deliveries in 2021 and 2022 to help test their performance on the lunar surface prior to VIPER's mission. The rover also will have a drill to bore approximately 3 feet into the lunar surface.

"CLPS is a totally creative way to advance lunar exploration," said NASA's Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen. "We're doing something that's never been done before  testing the instruments on the Moon as the rover is being developed. VIPER and the many payloads we will send to the lunar surface in the next few years are going to help us realize the Moon's vast scientific potential."

VIPER will collect data  including the location and concentration of ice  that will be used to inform the first global water resource maps of the Moon. Scientific data gathered by VIPER also will inform the selection of future landing sites for astronaut Artemis missions by helping to determine locations where water and other resources can be harvested to sustain humans during extended expeditions. Its science investigations will provide insights into the evolution of the Moon and the Earth-Moon system.

NASA has previously contracted with three companies to make CLPS deliveries to the Moon beginning in 2021. Astrobotic is scheduled to make its first delivery of other instruments to the lunar surface next year. In April, the agency released a call for potential future lunar surface investigations and received more than 200 responses. CLPS is planned to provide a steady cadence of two delivery opportunities to the lunar surface each year.

"It is an enormous honor and responsibility to be chosen by NASA to deliver this mission of national importance," said Astrobotic CEO John Thornton. "Astrobotic's lunar logistics services were created to open a new era on the Moon. Delivering VIPER to look for water, and setting the stage for the first human crew since Apollo, embodies our mission as a company."

VIPER is a collaboration between various NASA entities and agency partners. The spacecraft, lander and launch vehicle that will deliver VIPER to the surface of the Moon will be provided through NASA's CLPS initiative as a partnership with industry for delivering science and technology payloads to and near the lunar surface. CLPS is part of the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program managed by the agency's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The VIPER mission is part of SMDs Planetary Science Division. NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley is managing the VIPER mission, as well as leading the mission's science, systems engineering, real-time rover surface operations and flight software. The rover hardware is being designed and built by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and the instruments are provided by Ames, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and commercial partner Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California.

For more information about VIPER, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/viper

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


A LIMERICK Sinn Fein councillor says locals are in "shock" after a man was rushed to hospital after being shot this Thursday evening.

"We don't want it on our doorstep whatever happened. It isn't nice at all," said Cllr John Costelloe.

Shortly before 7pm, gardai and emergency services were called to Castle Street near Thomond bridge. A man understood to be in his 40s was discovered in a car with a gunshot wound.

One theory being explored is that he was shot in a different location on the city's northside and he was being moved.

Cllr Costelloe said people are in "shock".

"It's a busy thoroughfare along there with a lot of people out walking," said Cllr Costelloe.

A garda spokesperson said: "His condition is described as stable. The scene is preserved for forensic and technical examination. No arrests have been made to date. Investigations are ongoing."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Henry Street Garda Station 061-212400 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.
Police officers in Illinois already have to get a state certification and some state officials now are pushing to require state licensure for law enforcement officers, but details on such a measure have yet to materialize.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul floated the idea several years ago when he was a state senator. He brought the idea up again following discord after George Floyd was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis.

The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police is prepared to sit down with Raoul next week to discuss the idea.

Ed Wojcicki, head of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, said there could be some good discussions.

We recognize that the public wants accountability from the police and licensing, if done properly, might be a way to get that done better, he said.

Wojcicki said he hasnt seen concrete details yet regarding how much it would cost, who would oversee the licensing process, or how such a thing would work between local hiring decisions and state licensure.

As they say, the devils in the details and that remains to be seen, he said.

Wojcicki said the association has some concerns. He said hes already heard one suggestion to have officers get amounts of education and training similar to what doctors get.

I think thats a crazy idea because thats not what reasonable people will want, but if you had that level then more politics would be involved, Wojcicki said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he was interested in the idea.

Ive talked to a number of police officers about licensing, Pritzker said Tuesday. So were trying to take into consideration an issue like that and all sides of it to try and see how we can get something like that done.

State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, who also is a police officer, said the discussion takes away from dealing with public corruption within the state legislature.

I will talk about that after we start maybe licensing some of our state representatives and senators, Cabello said.

Cabello said not every cop is bad just as not every governor is bad, but he said Illinois has had a number of chief executives put behind bars over the years.

Look how many governors we sent to prison, look how many state representatives have been indicted, a state senator or two are going to be indicted, so once again its a shifting of the convention to what their narrative is and what they want it to be.

Former governors who have spent time in prison include Len Small, Otto Kerner Jr., Dan Walker, George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.

Cabello also said requiring cops to be licensed wont address the states poor finances or foster a better business climate to bring more jobs and opportunities to all communities across the state.
Spurred on by the anti-racism protests in the United States, Dalits (a marginalised community once referred to as untouchables) have called on India to acknowledge centuries of oppression they have endured.

Dalits find themselves outside the Hindu caste hierarchy  a membership determined at birth  and have historically faced violence, segregation and been barred from even having their shadows touch those of people from more privileged castes.

Dalit campaigners said they supported the Black Lives Matter protests in response to the death of George Floyd after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, and hoped it would ignite a similar conversation in India.

We extend our solidarity because we feel them and we have faced discrimination ourselves, said Omprakash Mahato, president of the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association, a Dalit organisation at New Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University.

India banned discrimination based on caste  a system which divided Hindus into groups based on occupations  in 1955.

But ancient biases against Dalits and members of the less privileged Hindu caste groups persist, making it harder for them to access education and jobs and buy homes.

Good moment to challenge narrative

In India, people need to admit their role in everyday discrimination faced by Dalits and only then can a dialogue for change be initiated. We hope what they are seeing unfolding globally will lead to soul searching, said Mahato.

People need to understand that every life matters.

Dalits, who were sometimes forced to perform unclean tasks like disposing of corpses, and scheduled tribes  Indigenous peoples who are often isolated or disadvantaged  make up about a quarter of Indias population of 1.3 billion.

Indian Dalits have historically learned a lot from the struggle of the African Americans, Ruth Manorama, who works for rights of Dalit women, told the Reuters news agency.

This is a good moment to challenge the narrative in India also and talk about the age-old repression of Dalits, which is visible even during the COVID-19 pandemic with discrimination denying people aid.

Dalits were among the worst-hit by Indias strict lockdown, often having to wait longer for their turn to receive food or financial aid at local distribution points, and even being turned away, she said.

About 300 people have signed a Change.org petition emphasising that the lives of Dalits and minorities matter too and urging Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to admit  that caste discrimination is included in racial discrimination.

It is a good time for people in India to understand and to point out to the government that racial discrimination is not only what you see in America, said Henri Tiphagne of Peoples Watch, a charity backing the petition.

It is the same as how so-called untouchables are treated in India.
Pictures can paint a thousand words. When Dungiven woman Bridie Ward sent us a 1970s image of men lined up by soldiers outside a bar on Belfasts New Lodge Road, it begged further investigation. Liam Tunney caught up with her to find out its background.

The sight of men spread-eagled on the wall of a bar while soldiers search a premise is one that evokes strong emotions in this country.

The Starry Plough sat halfway down the New Lodge Road in north Belfast, but was owned and run for years by Dungiven man Jim OKane.

Although a staunchly Republican area, Jims sister Bridie recalled a mixed crowd at the bar in its earlier days.

There was a mixed crowd away years ago, it was a bar where everyone would meet up. People from Tigers Bay would have come in there before the Troubles started, she said.

Before the Troubles, the sea men, or the dockers, would have been in the bar. They were away at sea for maybe six weeks at a time and they had all this money so they spent it in there.

At the beginning, he made a lot of money in the bar, because when he bought it, there were always darts matches in it.

By the time the Troubles began to poison the city, though, the bar was singled out on a few occasions by the British Army.

Times of Troubles, by Andrew Saunders, describes how, on one of those occasions, the bar was raided following a period of rioting.

On the night of 21 May one platoon went into the Starry Plough to make arrests, it read.

They removed thirty people for questioning and felt sufficiently threatened by the crowd which had gathered outside that they fired rubber bullets.

The bar has been rebuilt and is now named 'The Lodge'.

The Starry Ploughs owner Jim was a Republican Labour councillor in the city and his position attracted unwanted attention that regularly escalated into a physical threat.

He twice survived attempts on his life, attempts that tragically resulted in the deaths of two companions, including a doorman at the bar in the 1970s.

North Belfast historian, Joe Baker, recalled the aftermath of the bomb in an article he wrote for the North Belfast News.

I remember my mother running to it screaming after it was bombed by Loyalists, it read.

She knew that my Dad had been in it but fortunately he had left some time before to head off to another bar.

Another attack, in 1972, on Jims home in Cedar Avenue resulted in the death of Bridget Breen, a 33-year-old woman who was babysitting for the OKane family.

Jim lived up there most of his life and was married up there. They had a hard time during the Troubles, it was tough in the 70s up there, she recalled.

Jim O'Kane outside the Starry Plough in the aftermath of the bomb that killed a doorman.

During the Troubles, they planted a bomb in the entrance [of the bar] and it blew up. He survived, but the door man was killed.

He also lost two homes. He lived in a beautiful house, but they burned him out. They threw a firebomb in and the four boys were very lucky to survive.

The boys were sleeping one night and there was a woman who used to babysit for him. Josie, his wife, was going down that evening to help out in the bar.

The phone rang a couple of times and the first time before she went out, it rang and they said, in an English tongue, Oh sorry, we got the wrong number, so they must have been looking for my brother.

He would have come home at night to have his tea or dinner and went back to the bar. She was ready to go out again and the call came through again, but they put the phone down on her.

She went on to the bar and the babysitter came in. It was one of those old houses, a big red brick house, with a front room like a sitting room at the front and a big long hall.

They threw the duffle bag with the bomb in through the front room, breaking the window.

The babysitter panicked and ran out the front door. It was the big, huge, oak door that was on the front and it fell on her and killed her.

The boys survived because the house was so big that it was just the front that got demolished and they were sleeping away at the back.

Jim died in the 1990s, but an off-licence bearing the family name remains in place on the New Lodge Road.

The effects of the bomb attacks and threats on his life left a lasting impression on the Dungiven man.

He never really got over the babysitter or the doorman, said Bridie.

After that, when he was going down to the bar, and especially coming home at night, he always made sure he checked his car, in case they planted something on it. It was a scary time.
Thiruvananthapuram, June 11 : The custodian of the famed Sabarimala temple -- Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), the temple tantri along with Kerala Devasom Minister Kadakampally Surendran on Thursday decided not to allow devotees for the monthly rituals and cancelled this year's annual festival.

The decision came following matters raised by the 'tantri', who has the final say on all tantric and ritualistic procedures.

Last week, it was decided to open Sabarimala temple based on the guidelines of the Centre. The TDB had also gone ahead and put in place the virtual-Queue, which has been used in the temple for a few seasons now.

However, when the number of coronavirus positive cases started to increase in the state in a second spurt, the temple tantri, two days back wrote to the TDB expressing his concern that things might not be good, if Sabarimala threw open its doors to devotees, even in a controlled manner.

The state government then decided to hold this meeting. Surendran told the media after it ended that it has now been decided not to hold this year's annual festival.

"The discussion was very cordial and everyone agreed taking into account the present Covid scenario in the state. All must recall that there was a point when the total positive cases came down as low as 16, but then in the past two weeks it has started to increase. This was a cause of concern and we all decided it would be better not to open the temple for devotees," said Surendran. There are now over 2,000 cases in Kerala.

"Some people with vested interests are trying to spread canards. Only Covid situation can dictate, when we can open it to devotees," added Surendran.

The temple tantri K.M.Mohanaru said that he is an apolitical person and does not belong to any political party and his only concern are the devotees.

"It's true that we agreed to open the temple, but then only later we came to know that opening of temples is not mandatory and is optional. Hence with the cases spiking, it would be in the best interest of all, that it has been decided not to open the temple. There is no difference of opinion with any at all," said Mohanaru.

The TDB president N.Vasu said apart from the administration, we consulted on all other issues of the temple with the tantri family.

"At the moment all of us agreed, health is more important and hence we came to the decision," said Vasu.

Now the opening of the Lord Ayyappa shrine for its monthly rituals starting June 14 at 5 p.m. will be an inhouse affair till it closes on June 19 at 10 p.m.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
On Friday, many parts of California will move into Stage 3 of Gov. Gavin Newsoms four-stage reopening plan as higher-risk businesses like gyms and bars are allowed to open.

Commensurate to its number of COVID-19 cases, Californias reopening has been slow compared to other parts of the country. Texas, for instance, allowed gyms to resume business in early May. Arizona dropped its entire stay-at-home order in mid May; businesses were allowed to reopen with only recommendations, not requirements, to enforce mask use or social distancing.

Now, a little more than two weeks removed from Memorial Day weekend, an unofficial benchmark date for general loosening of stay-at-home behavior around the nation, a number of states are seeing cases spike.

Experts caution against using only case increases as a baseline for reopening success or failure, however. As states have ramped up testing, particularly in underserved areas, identified COVID-19 cases have also increased. Thats been the case in Florida, which is still reporting more cases but a lower daily positive rate. According to the Orlando Sentinel, infection rates are also dropping from a high of 10% earlier in the year to 4.6% positive tests in recent weeks.

But that's not true everywhere. So far, Arizona appears to be the worst-case scenario of ending COVID-19 mitigation efforts. About two weeks after its stay-at-home order ended, the state began seeing a renewed climb in cases. According to numbers from the Arizona Department of Public Health reviewed by Newsweek, the state was seeing 9% of its COVID-19 tests come back positive the week ending May 24. Its up to an alarming 25% in the week ending June 7. ICU hospitalizations, another indicator of a surge in coronavirus cases, are also increasing.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are also slowly increasing in Texas, which let its statewide stay-at-home order lapse on April 30. As of Tuesday, the state hit its highest-recorded number of hospitalized coronavirus patients. An NPR study found case increases in Southern states like South Carolina and Tennessee "appears to be linked to the reopening of restaurants, barbershops and gyms" about a month ago. COVID-19 cases are up 75% in Tennessee compared to its numbers two weeks ago.

Its almost assured that California will report more COVID-19 cases as workplaces and sites of indoor gathering continue to reopen. There is already concern in Sacramento County, where health officials say theyve seen a drastic increase in the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients as restrictions loosen.

We know from our contact tracing investigations that the majority of these new hospitalizations are related primarily to private gatherings of family and friends, the county Department of Health Services said in a press release Tuesday.

But even if states do not see a massive spike in summertime cases, a season of "slow burn infections" could still have devastating implications for fall, when flu season, a return to school, more time indoors and COVID-19 are all expected to converge.

"A handful of cases seeded the country back in January. So were not going to need a handful of cases coming from Italy and China to seed the country [in the fall]," former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC last week. "Were going to have tens of thousands of cases here so we can seed ourselves."

Despite some health officials concern that widespread national protests could lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases, a noted uptick has yet to occur. Most cases of community spread continue to originate with indoor gatherings, which have a higher likelihood of transmission than outdoor get-togethers, particularly when participants are wearing masks.

UCSF epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford told SFGATE this week that, given protests started in Minnesota two weeks ago, he'd expect to see a protest-related increase by now.

"Minnesota (is) falling steadily; there's one slight uptick on June 1 but that may be because of weekend reporting lags," he said. "But it's all trending down. If you look back seven to 10 days, you would expect to be seeing a significant jump by now."

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here.

Katie Dowd is the SFGATE managing editor. Email her: katie.dowd@sfgate.com | Twitter: @katiedowd
Tesla told Alameda County officials that some of its Fremont workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, but details are scant and some employees in the sprawling manufacturing facility say the electric carmaker is not sharing information internally about the infections.

The worst thing they can do is not say anything, said Branton Phillips, a materials handler who queues up parts for assembly on the manufacturing line producing Teslas Model S and Model X vehicles. They said you dont need to know unless youre on the trace end of it, referring to efforts to trace infected workers contacts.

Concern about the cases spread among plant workers after the Washington Post reported that two workers tested positive for the virus last month. It was not clear where the workers had acquired the infection, on the job or elsewhere.

Employees working in various Tesla departments at the plant told The Chronicle they had received little to no communication from the company about the infections.

Phillips said he had asked Teslas safety department about the coronavirus, and was told there were no cases on the lines where he worked.

Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

With a significant other at home who faces greater risk from the virus because of other ailments, Phillips said he needed to know more to protect himself and his family.

Its my right, I work to live and Ive got nine years to retire. I do not want to get this terrible thing, and put his partner at risk, Phillips said.

The health and safety team at Tesla assured him they were encouraging workers with virus symptoms to stay home as well as testing them and tracing other workers they had been in contact with, Phillips said, adding that he appreciated those efforts.

Neetu Balram, a spokeswoman for the Alameda County Public Health Department, declined to provide further detail about the cases, citing privacy law.

We are working with Tesla to investigate and ensure appropriate public health measures are in place, she wrote in an email.

The health department had previously said it could not share information about Teslas coronavirus safety plan due to its proprietary nature.

We came to an agreement on safety practices and protocols, which we are satisfied will protect against the spread of infection, Balram said.

Manufacturers in Alameda County must comply with Cal/OSHA standards as well as California Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to operate during the pandemic, Balram said.

Tesla did not respond to an emailed request for comment. Two Tesla executives, health and safety chief Laurie Shelby and corporate physician Jim Craner, also did not respond to the request for comment.

Factory worker Matthew Krizan, who works on vehicle bodies, said he is worried about the lack of transparency at Tesla around the virus in the workforce.

Going into the summer with a pandemic still under way, Krizan said in a text message that he hopes Tesla will be transparent about testing and results among its workforce so that we can all take steps to protect ourselves and our families, if necessary.

Another worker, Carlos Gabriel, has refused to return to work despite the plants reopening because he fears contracting the virus. A labor organizer who has been vocal about worker treatment at Tesla in the past, Gabriel began working at the plant in January assembling battery packs for cars but has not worked since March.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Gabriel said he has not been fired or laid off from Tesla because of his health-related refusal to report to work, but has had no official word from the company about infections. I havent heard about any confirmed cases, just rumors, he said. Theyre not being transparent and honest and communicating with the workers.

In March, Tesla continued operating the plant despite a countywide shelter-in-place order. After nearly a week of operating illegally, it agreed to close down, except for some minimal basic functions, and sent workers home with pay.

Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

The company then furloughed many hourly workers and cut pay for others in April.

Workers were called back to the factory in May in a renewed defiance of shelter-in-place, despite ongoing negotiations with the county over requirements for reopening.

The company also sued Alameda County in federal court. CEO Elon Musk called shelter-in-place orders fascist on Twitter and demanded Tesla be allowed to resume production.

The county ended up allowing Tesla to reopen ahead of schedule, and Tesla dropped the lawsuit.

Workers are now required to wear masks at all times and enter the facility through full-body thermal scanners to guard against the virus.

Partitions have also been installed in break rooms, and social distancing at the facility is required, according to a proposed safety plan released by Tesla in May.

Neither Tesla nor Alameda County have released the final plan adopted by the company after review by local health officials.

Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice
Moscow: Russia on Thursday rolled out a drug approved to treat patients suffering from the novel coronavirus, its state financial backer said, as the number of infections there surpassed half a million.

The first deliveries of the new antiviral drug, registered under the name Avifavir, were made to some hospitals and clinics across the country, Russia`s RDIF sovereign wealth fund said in a press release. RDIF has funded trials and has a 50% share in the drug`s manufacturer ChemRar.

The health ministry gave its approval for the drug`s use under a special accelerated process while clinical trials, held over a shorter period and with fewer people than many other countries, were still underway.

There is currently no vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and human trials of several existing antiviral drugs have yet to show efficacy.

RDIF chief Kirill Dmitriev last week told Reuters the plan was for ChemRar to manufacture enough of the drug to treat around 60,000 people a month. Dmitriev on Thursday said more than 10 countries had made requests for Avifavir supplies.

Negotiations were underway to supply the drug to almost all of Russia`s regions, with seven of its more than 80 regions receiving Thursday`s initial deliveries, Dmitriev added.

With 502,436 cases, Russia has the third highest number of infections in the world after Brazil and the United States, but has a relatively low official death toll of 6,532 - something that has been the focus of debate.

The Moscow health department on Wednesday raised its death toll for the month of May, citing changes in the way it determines the cause of death for patients suffering from other health problems.
By Associated Press

CAIRO: Police raided the houses of two uncles of an Egyptian-American activist who recently sued a former Egyptian prime minister in U.S. court, accusing him of crimes against humanity, an international rights group said Thursday.

Human Rights Watch quoted a member of Mohamed Soltans family as saying that more than a dozen uniformed and plainclothes police on Wednesday searched the houses of two of Soltan's uncles in the Delta province of Menoufeya.

The security forces also looked at passports, phones and laptops before asking about Soltan and whether the family had been in touch with him, according to the statement released by the New York City-based group.

Nobody was arrested and nothing was confiscated, the statement said.

The security raids at the homes of (Soltans) relatives in Egypt follows a clear pattern of targeting relatives of dissidents abroad, said Joe Stork, HRW's Middle East and North Africa deputy director.

On June 1, 32-year-old Soltan, now living in Virginia, filed a lawsuit against Egypts former prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi accusing him of targeting him for attempted extrajudicial execution and torture while he was in detention in Cairo between 2013 and 2015.

Soltan invoked a 1991 U.S. statute that allows for victims of torture and extrajudicial killings committed by foreign officials abroad to seek damages through the U.S. court system.

Mohamed Soltan took recourse in a U.S. court because he has had zero opportunity to pursue justice or accountability in Egypt for torture and police abuses, said Stork.

El-Beblawi currently lives in Washington, where he works as an executive director of the International Monetary Fund.

In the summer of 2013, after the military-led ouster of the countrys first democratically elected but divisive president, Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian security officers descended on a protest camp packed with his Islamist supporters, killing hundreds. Soltan, an Ohio State University graduate and the son of a prominent member of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was shot in the arm while working as a reporter for Western news organizations in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

He was eventually arrested by security forces and sentenced to life in prison on charges of spreading fake news in a mass trial widely condemned by rights groups.

In the maximum-security Tora prison complex, Soltan said he endured torture overseen by el-Beblawi and other high-ranking officers. He said he was denied medical care for his bullet wound, beaten to unconsciousness, held in solitary confinement and forced to listen to the sounds of his father being tortured in a nearby cell. He lost 160 pounds over the course of a 16-month hunger strike to protest his imprisonment.

Under pressure from the Obama administration, Egypt released Soltan in 2015, although his father remains in prison.

The lawsuit names President Abel Fattah el-Sissi, intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and three other former senior security officials as culpable, arguing they should be served if they set foot in the United States.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  The Philippine National Police seized Thursday 274 kilograms of suspected shabu in Cavite.

The estimated value of the suspected drugs seized is at 2.5 billion, based on a Dangerous Drugs Board valuation of 6.8 million per kilogram.

This latest drug bust comes just a week after authorities seized 63 boxes of shabu weighing 756 kilos with an estimated value of 5.1-billion in Bulacan  the largest drug haul so far this year.

CNN Philippines' Paolo Barcelon contributed to this report.
Tobin Hill is quite walkable, is very bikeable and offers many nearby public transportation options, according to Walk Score's rating system.

So what does the low-end rent on a rental in Tobin Hill look like these days  and what might you get for the price?

We took a look at local listings in Tobin Hill via rental sites Zumper and Apartment Guide to find out what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in this San Antonio neighborhood.

Read on for the cheapest listings available right now. (Note: Prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

407 E. Locust St.

Listed at $725/month, this 361-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, located at 407 E. Locust St., is 24.6% less than the $962/month median rent for a one bedroom in Tobin Hill.

Expect to find hardwood flooring and air conditioning in the unit. Neither cats nor dogs are welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(See the complete listing here.)

640 E. Evergreen St.

Next, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom address, situated at 640 E. Evergreen St., is listed for $850/month for its 700 square feet.

When it comes to building amenities, expect assigned parking and outdoor space. The apartment has in-unit laundry. Pet lovers are in luck: This rental is both dog-friendly and cat-friendly. Look out for a $850 security deposit and a $50 application fee.

(See the complete listing here.)

312 Pearl Parkway

Finally, here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo at 312 Pearl Parkway, which is going for $951/month.

Amenities offered in the building include a swimming pool. The unit also includes a dishwasher, hardwood flooring and a balcony. For those with furry friends in tow, this property is pet-friendly. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental.

(See the full listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data from Zumper and Apartment Guide, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Additionally, if youre an agent or a broker, read on for real estate marketing ideas to promote your local listing.

Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Jaime King has reportedly had her temporary restraining order against estranged husband Kyle Newman extended.

A judge ruled to continue the order until the hearing date, which has been set for June 29, according to a Thursday report from People.

The 41-year-old Hart Of Dixie actress filed for divorce from the 44-year-old director in May after 12 years of marriage. Ever since the split, their sons James Knight, six, and Leo Thames, four, have been staying in Pennsylvania with Newman.

Update: Jaime King has reportedly had her temporary restraining order against estranged husband Kyle Newman extended. Seen in 2017

The papers: A judge ruled to continue the order until the hearing date, which has been set for June 29, according to a Thursday report from People

'Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties, Petitioner's Request for Domestic Violence Restraining Order is continued to June 29, 2020. Any temporary orders are to remain in full force and effect until the continued hearing date,' stated court records seen by the site.

In May she accused Newman of abusing her for the past five-and-a-half years in explosive new court documents.

The Nebraska-born actress claims she is suffering from 'anxiety, fear and emotional damage' as a result of the long term abuse at the hands of her ex.

Explosive split: 'Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties, Petitioner's Request for Domestic Violence Restraining Order is continued to June 29, 2020. Any temporary orders are to remain in full force and effect until the continued hearing date,' stated court records seen by the site; seen together in 2015 above

Last month, the star claimed in court documents obtained by DailyMail.com for a temporary restraining order that Newman, 44, repeatedly abused her for the past five-and-a-half years.

She said in the shocking court documents that he called her a 'c**-sucking wh***' in front of their two sons.

King also claimed that her estranged husband used GPS trackers and microphone pens to keep tabs on her, and that he took $300k from her bank account.

She went on to say that he's been 'gaslighting' her and that she's 'incredibly afraid' of 'what he will do in retaliation.'

The White Chicks star requested her two Shiba Inu dogs Peter and Wendy, which she owned before they were married, as well as their Mercedes 'so the respondent cannot track my movements through the internal tracking system.'

She also asked for 'exclusive use of all home security systems so that respondent cannot continue to surveil me.'

King wrote in the documents: 'He told me that he is having people watch my movements and my home.'

She went on to allege that Newman is holding their sons James, six, and Leo, four, out-of-state in Pennsylvania and refuses to return them.

The temporary restraining order has been granted until an upcoming court hearing in June.

With the kids: The 41-year-old Hart Of Dixie actress filed for divorce from the 44-year-old director in May after 12 years of marriage. Ever since the split, their sons James Knight, six, and Leo Thames, four, have been staying in Pennsylvania with Newman

The proof in the paperwork: Kyle filed paperwork for custody of their two children

His claims: In the paperwork, Kylie called Jaime a 'chronic drug addict and alcoholic'

The Sin City actress has also been granted shared legal custody, after Newman was denied an emergency order for sole physical custody, according to TMZ.

He also claimed that she has 'spent the last decade high' and refuses to get help for her alleged opioid and alcohol addiction.

Her rep told People: 'This is another vicious, failed attempt of Kyle to continue his abuse of Jaime and manipulate the court system.'

On Thursday, a source told the site: 'It's been a difficult time, but she's leaning on friends. She's been doing a lot of yoga and meditation.'

On June 2 the star was arrested during a peaceful protest in Los Angeles that were standing up against police brutality after George Floyd died in Minneapolis.
How fine to see you all on this wonderful day. As you have heard, I too went to Bronx Science, but in such a distant past  well, not only were you not yet born, but many of your parents were not yet born. Science then was housed in an old public school building on Creston Avenue and 184th Street. This was so long ago that as far as anybody knew, the atom was the smallest thing around and was composed of just three constituent parts arranged in a perfect circle  the rather phlegmatic neutron, the cheerfully unadventurous stay-at-home proton, and the excitable, hyperactive, anxiety-ridden electron.

Time is a mysterious thing, isnt it? Physicists dont know what to do with time. They wonder why it only goes one way. Albert Einstein was so wary of time that all he would say about it was that it is something you measure with a clock.

But I digress. I have to tell you the truth  I had some difficult times at Science, as for example when I took chemistry with Mr. Pfeiffer. Mr. Pfeiffer was a devoted teacher, and it was no fault of his that I was not an altogether passionate chemistry student. One day he demonstrated the chemical reaction that resulted when you combined hydrochloric acid and copper oxide. Does this sound familiar? Mr. Pfeiffer would ask for our pennies  we all had them because pennies were a useful currency in those days  and hed drop them one at a time into the acid, stir things around a bit with a glass rod, and lo and behold a penny would come out shining, as if newly minted.

For of course that was the reaction, the HCL dissolving the copper oxide that had gathered on the pennies with time, leaving only the pure copper. So that was interesting, but Mr. Pfeiffer kept doing the experiment long after his point was made, penny after penny, as if he and not the acid was responsible for this phenomenon. I ducked behind the lab table, and got a match from my lab partner Frankie, who smoked. (By the way, he was to become Judge Franklin Weisberg of the New York State Supreme Court.) I lit the match and blackened a penny with carbon. So when Mr. Pfeiffer dropped my penny into the hydrochloric acid, instead of producing a nifty chemical reaction, the penny lay there comatose at the bottom of the beaker. Oxidized. Dead. The expression on Mr. Pfeiffers face was almost worth the D I got for that period.

It was episodes like this that led me to the school magazine, Dynamo. The first story of mine I ever saw in print was in Dynamo. It was called The Beetle, for I was then in my Kafka phase, and Dynamo in that issue also printed a poem of mine and ran a photograph on glossy paper of a painting I had made. So clearly I didnt know what I wanted to be. And you may have found that out about yourself here, too  that your urge to express yourself is going out in all directions, not yet settling on any one thing, only knowing that it has to be something.
Egypts housing minister Assem El-Gazzar said on Thursday he is self-isolating at home for 14 days after coming into contact with a positive coronavirus case, Al-Ahram reported.

No further information was revealed.

Until Wednesday, Egypt has reported a total of 38,284 coronavirus cases and 1,342 deaths.

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Lois M. Leveen

Lois M. Leveen is the author of two novels, Juliets Nurse and The Secrets of Mary Bowser. She is currently researching a nonfiction book about Mary Bowser Richards Denman, the real woman who was the inspiration for the novel. Leveen lives in Portland.

Early in the pandemic, my sweetie admitted, Im terrified every time you or I go out of the house, even just to take a walk. Anyone we pass could make us sick, and we could die. I dont want to die. I dont want you to die. To which I answered, Welcome to what it feels like if you are black in America.

This was true, and not true.

It is an awful thing to feel that in every public space you enter  streets, parks, stores, schools  you are unsafe. It is an awful thing to respond to everyone you encounter as a potential threat. And if you know the names Trayvon Martin and Emmett Till, Sandra Bland and Philando Castile, you must understand that for millions of Americans (black folks, but also brown folks and Native Americans), that unceasing and potentially fatal vulnerability has been the lived reality since long before the novel coronavirus. And it will continue to be the lived reality long after the disease pandemic ends  unless we change much about America.

I am white. And I have been learning, teaching, and writing about (that is to say, against) white supremacy for most of my adult life. For decades, I have understood in my head and in my heart how unsafe everyday life is for people of color in our country. I have felt fear for my teachers, my friends, my colleagues and for their children. It is no small thing to hold an infant in your arms, and know how little you can do to protect this precious new life from the emotional, psychological and physical harm our nation intends to do to it.

The pandemic has made me feel these things in a more profoundly visceral way. It is one thing to cite statistics about the impact of racism-induced stress on the health of people of color. It is another to feel in your own body the continual flow of adrenaline and cortisol in response to an external and enduring threat. Experiencing the detrimental effects of this new stress in my own body throughout the pandemic has given me a deeper understanding of what it must be like to constantly endure the physical toll of everyday racism.

And yet, although my experience of the pandemic provides an edifying analogy, the anxiety about potential infection that I or my sweetie or any other white person might be experiencing is not at all what it feels like if you are black in America. People of color are significantly more likely than whites to be infected by this coronavirus, and to die if they are infected. My household, like so many, is experiencing financial loss and professional setbacks because of the pandemic. But for households and communities of color, the setbacks are graver and will last longer.

But my response to my sweetie was untrue on an even more fundamental level. Yes, anyone we encounter might infect us with this potentially deadly virus. But such an infection would not be a deliberate act intended to annihilate us, as the snuffing out of George Floyds life or the hunting down of Ahmaud Arbery or countless similar killings have been. Yes, the world outside our home now fills us with a newfound fear for our health and our lives. But Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson and Brionna Taylor were each at home  Jefferson and Taylor in their bedrooms  when police officers shot them to death. Racism is more pervasive, more insidious, more tenacious and deadlier than any virus. No amount of handwashing, social distancing or other careful precautions taken by individuals can protect against it. Instead, it demands our sustained, collective action.

Police officers are our public agents. They are hired, trained and assigned to duty on our behalf. When they kill, they do so in our names. That is why we share responsibility for every past act of police brutality, and for preventing any future ones.

I am deeply concerned that the current mass protests here and around the nation and the world will result in new infections and more disease-related deaths. I do not want to catch the virus, and I certainly do not want to die from it. I also do not want to exercise the privilege, the luxury, of protecting myself from what feels threatening to me, if it means ignoring what remains far more threatening to millions of people who are different from me.

I would never presume to tell anyone else that they should join street protests in the midst of the pandemic. But walking among thousands of masked strangers this week made me feel more connected than I have in months. Even as I put myself substantially more at risk, I was paradoxically more reassured, simply by being among others who were choosing the same risk in the hopes of saving other lives.

Weeks ago, we hung rainbow-festooned signs in our windows, urging Stay Home, Stay Safe. But even a pandemic is no time to be at home with white supremacy.

Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter with links to editorials, op-eds and letters to the editor at oregonlive.com/newletters.
Some metal oxides, such as nickelates, have a tuneable resistivity, which makes them an interesting material for adaptable electronics and cognitive computing. These materials can change their nature from metallic to insulating. How exactly this metal-insulator transition takes place is a topic of great interest in condensed matter physics. However, even the metallic behaviour in nickelates seems unusual. Scientists from the University of Groningen, together with colleagues from Spain, have now found that it is not as complex as was previously assumed. The results were published on 11 June in the journal Nature Communications.

In a metal, electrons can move freely, whereas in insulators, they are strongly localized around the atomic nuclei. When a metal is heated, the ions' vibrations (called phonons) scatter the moving electrons and increase the resistivity. In contrast, heating can generate conductivity in some insulators, when electrons receive enough energy to be released and cross the energy band gap that otherwise prevents them from moving.

Exotic explanations

'In some oxides, such as nickelates, a transition from insulator to metal can occur but it is not clear how this happens,' says Beatriz Noheda, Professor of Functional Nanomaterials and Director of the Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials Center (CogniGron) at the University of Groningen. She and her PhD student Qikai Guo are interested in nickelates because it is possible to tune their resistivity. They could be used in devices that emulate the way that synapses in our brain work.

'Before we can do this, we should understand what the nature of the simplest state, the metal state, is. This means understanding how electrons move around in the material when an electric field is applied to them,' explains Noheda. A linear change in resistivity (an exponent of 1 in the curve that represents the resistivity as a function of temperature) can be explained by a simple model in which the electrons are impeded by the vibration of the ions. 'However, for an exponent that is not 1, more exotic explanations have been suggested, based on the presence of fluctuations in the spins of the nickel electrons and electron-electron interactions that occur when the system is close to a quantum critical point.'

Strain

However, in thin films of neodymium nickelate (NdNiO3), Noheda and her team observed that the exponent was 1 in some samples, while in other samples of the same material, it was not. This suggests that the exponent is not an intrinsic property. Noheda: 'That led us to systematically look at samples grown on different substrates.' The results showed that in perfect films, the exponent is 1, which means that the resistivity is caused by phonons, as it is in normal metals. However, when the substrate that is used induces strain in the thin film, the exponent changes.

The strain leads to oxygen vacancies in the crystals and changes the forces between the ions and, therefore, the electronic energies. That, in turn, changes the materials' resistivity. 'What we found out is that we can control the number of vacancies and continuously tune the resistivity exponent at will, which is a tuning knob that we did not know we had. Thus, understanding the metal state in these nickelates may not require exotic electron-electron interactions,' Noheda concludes.

Synaptic devices

Learning how to control the metal state and the transition to the insulator state will help scientists to design electronics based on nickelates, which can emulate the way that neurons work. That is the ultimate goal of Noheda and her team. 'We now know that these nickelates are more similar to normal metals than we previously thought. This means that they can be quite good conductors if we ensure that there are no ion vacancies in the crystal. In this way, the transition to the insulating phase brings about larger changes in resistance, leading to synaptic devices with improved plasticity.'

In these experiments, the change in resistivity in these nickelates was induced by an increase in temperature. 'This is of course not ideal when you want to make a device. Our next step is to design the material in such a way that we can tune resistivity using an electric field,' Noheda concludes.

###

Simple Science Summary Scientists are looking for new materials to build computers that work in a similar way to the human brain. Such materials should be able to switch from being insulators to being conductors. Neodymium nickel oxide shows this behaviour yet it was unclear as to exactly what makes the electrons in the material move in the way that they do. It has been suggested that this is determined by interactions between the spins (a magnetic property) of the electrons of the nickel ions. However, University of Groningen scientists have discovered that a simpler explanation may suffice: strain and missing ions in the material increase the resistivity and can deceivably mimic the temperature dependence of the resistivity close to a magnetic phase transition. This improved knowledge will help in the development of electronics that can emulate neurons.

Reference: Qikai Guo, Saeedeh Farokhipoor, Cesar Magen, Francisco Rivadulla, and Beatriz Noheda: Tunable resistivity exponents in the metallic phase of epitaxial nickelates. Nature Communications, 11 June 2020
The accounts also targeted billionaire Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui, who lives in Manhattan and is close to former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon. Guo, who also goes by Miles Guo and Miles Kwok, previously worked closely with Chinese intelligence officials but is now campaigning to topple the Communist Party. Beijing is seeking Guos extradition to face charges including fraud, blackmail and bribery,and once sent security agents to pressure him to cease his accusations of corruption against the party.
The Chief of the Defence Staff has said more needs to be done to deal with racism in Britain's military.

General Sir Nick Carter said that members of the armed forces must 'refuse to allow intolerance'.

The UK's most senior military officer issued a letter to servicemen and women saying that greater diversity was needed.

General Carter said recent events 'have brought the issues of racism and discrimination sharply into focus'.

The Chief of the Defence Staff has said more needs to be done to deal with racism in Britain's military. General Sir Nick Carter said that members of the armed forces must 'refuse to allow intolerance'

His comments come after a wave of protests which have spread to the UK and other countries following the death of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis.

He died after police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes while arresting him.

Following a meeting of the chiefs of defence staff, General Carter added: 'We talk a genuinely good game - but it is time to think about how fast we are making progress towards our ambition.

'And we owe it to our black, Asian and minority ethnic servicemen and women, who will be feeling very concerned at this moment, to try to look at this from their perspective, to listen and to continue to make change happen.

'The armed forces thrive on the rich mix of faiths, colour, gender and creeds reflected in British society.

'We value team members for their ability, not for what they look like or where they come from.

'Discrimination has no place in our armed forces. We've learned that success on today's complex battlefields requires the broadest range of talent.'

He added: 'We want to unlock the potential of every member of the armed forces and in return we expect all servicemen and servicewomen to live by our values and standards, to approach every day with an open-minded attitude that sees the potential in everyone, refuses to allow intolerance and unacceptable behaviour, and is committed to seizing the opportunities that empowerment offers.'

His comments come after a wave of protests which have spread to the UK and other countries following the death of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis. Pictured: Protesters in Bristol tied ropes around the statue of slave trader Edward Colston before tearing it down

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: 'Discrimination of any kind has no place in the armed forces and a diverse range of backgrounds only makes us stronger.

'Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, has written to the chain of command to ensure inclusivity is at the forefront of everything we do.'

Recruits from black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) backgrounds account for 8% of the armed forces.

And the MoD has a target to boost that to 10 per cent during the next year.

General Carter's comments come after an Afro-Caribbean soldier won a racism claim against the Army last December because his superiors confused him with the only other black sergeant in his unit.

Sergeant Randy Date, a veteran of conflicts in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, was given a scathing review for his performance on a training course that he hadn't even participated in.

A tribunal heard that the event had actually been taught by another soldier of the same rank - who also happened to be black.

The UK's most senior military officer issued a letter to servicemen and women saying that greater diversity was needed

And the panel ruled that, as a result, the Ministry of Defence was guilty of having racially discriminated against Sergeant Date.

Two months before Sergeant Date's case, a judge ruled that the Army did not stop two black former paratroopers from being racially harassed after their photos were scrawled with 'f*** off' and 'n*****s'.

Lance Corporal Nkulueko Zulu and Private Hani Gue alleged that they suffered racial discrimination and harassment after pictures in one of their rooms in the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment barracks were defaced with graffiti.

They were seeking compensation from the Ministry of Defence after a tribunal in London heard an unknown offender drew a swastika and a 'Hitler moustache'.

Also scrawled on the pictures were the words 'f*** off' and 'n****r', which were on the door of Mr Gue's room.

In a written judgement, Judge Richard Baty ruled the graffiti was 'unquestionably related to race'.

According to the armed forces' official ombudsman, incidents of racism were taking place with 'increasing and depressing frequency'.

Nicola Williams, the service complaints ombudsman for the armed forces, called on the Ministry of Defence to do more to tackle racism among service personnel.

She told the BBC in December that 'incidents of racism are occurring with increasing and depressing frequency'.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it is committed to stamping out racism and that anyone behaving in such a way will be disciplined, discharged or dismissed.

Ms Williams, who said she is waiting for the MoD to act on a number of her recommendations, told the BBC she 'would not go as far' as to describe the Army as 'institutionally racist'.
Hefei, capital of Anhui provincea comprehensive national science center and an important player in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta regionwill ramp up efforts to push forward with innovative development in collaboration with Zhangjiang Science City in Shanghai, another national science center, as stated in an action plan earlier this year. A plan describing how Anhui is going to serve regional integration, released on Jan 16 by the province's development and reform commission, makes it clear that using the innovation resources of Hefei and Shanghai, the two science centers will work together to bolster research into cutting-edge key technologies with an aim of elevating the country's overall innovation capacities. As both cities are located in the Yangtze River Delta region, the two centers are expected to construct world-leading facilities to drive forward scientific and technological development of the delta region, according to the plan. The goal of building Hefei into a comprehensive national science center, following Shanghai's Zhangjiang, began in February 2017. It will focus on research of information technology, energy, health and the environment, while Zhangjiang will seek breakthroughs in the fields of energy, information, materials, life sciences, environment and advanced manufacturing. Currently, five large-scale scientific facilities have been built and put into operation in Hefei, which helps ensure that the city holds the lead in quantum information and nuclear fusion worldwide. In Zhangjiang, a total of 14 facilities are being constructed. The two centers are designed to have different focuses but will be able to cooperate in various ways. In 2017, a quantum center was set up at the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies of the University of Science and Technology of Chinaa Hefei-based universitymarking a big step in cooperation between Hefei and Zhangjiang. Two years later, the quantum center announced plans to build another research center for quantum science in Shanghai in a bid to unite top-notch research agencies at home and abroad for coordinated research. iFlytek Co Ltd, a leading Chinese artificial intelligence company based in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone, established a strategic partnership with Shanghai in September 2018 to promote applications of AI technology in the fields of education, healthcare, smart cities and automotive electronics in Shanghai. Fang Xiangmin, deputy director of the zone's administrative committee, said as a major participant in the construction of the national science center, the high-tech zone is seeking effective ways to promote exchanges and cooperation with Shanghai, as well as other areas in the delta region. "The Hefei government has been offering help for high-tech companies to strengthen cooperation with Shanghai and we've seen some good results in company-to-company interactions," Fang said. As cooperation between Hefei and Zhangjiang is still in its early stages, Fang added that a systematic and coordinated management mechanism is needed to improve efficiency when furthering exchanges and cooperation between the two national science centers.


It's time to set a reminder to move your car parked on your street again.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Association announced Wednesday that on Monday, June 15, it will enforce parking violations related to street sweeping again.

Those cars parked on a block during a time designated for street sweeping may be fined $79.

"Keeping our streets clean is vital, so please be sure to move your cars for our friends at @sfpublicworks," SFMTA tweeted.

The city stopped ticketing for street sweeping on March 16, after the shelter-in-place order was issued to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The city encouraged people to still move their vehicles during street cleaning, but many are failing to do so and San Francisco Public Works says as many as 18,000 cars per day are blocking street sweepers from getting the job done.

Our agencys main objective during our COVID-19 response was to promote safety and minimize risk to San Franciscans, Jeffrey Tumlin, SFMTA director of transportation, said in a statement. As more businesses open up and more residents return to work, now is the right time to ensure our streets are clean and ready to support economic activity.

We certainly understand the needed pause on street cleaning enforcement during the early months of shelter in place, but there have been consequences. Our mechanical sweeping crews have not been able to do as thorough a job cleaning, resulting in more litter and leaves on the streets, Acting Public Works Director Alaric Degrafinried said in a statement. As the City is slowly starting to reopen, we once again can provide the service San Franciscans expect and deserve.

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Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.
Transport for London (TfL) has refused to answer Freedom of Information (FOI) requests about the date and location of COVID-19 fatalities among bus and transport workers.

Tom Kearney, a prominent bus safety campaigner, submitted an FOI request last month asking for a detailed list of all incidents of London Transport Worker Fatalities from Covid-19 covering bus, rail, underground and light rail staff.

Kearney asked for the date of each reported death and the work location (including bus garage or railway station); the name of the TfL division, contractor or agency employing each victim; and the TfL executive title responsible for the service.

London buses

This week TfLs General Counsel rejected Kearneys FOI request, claiming it would be too expensive to process: We have estimated that it would cost in excess of 450 to provide a response to your current requests.

TfLs response will provoke outrage among transport workers whose lives are being treated as expendable. Officially, 43 TfL workers have been killed by COVID-19, including 29 London bus drivers. TfL and the bus operators have concealed the location and dates on which deaths occurred as part of an ongoing cover-up.

According to TfLs obscene ledger, 450 to collate information about 43 fatalities is money wasted. This equates to 10.46 per workeran insult to the families and colleagues of those killed and to the decades of service they gave to the travelling public.

A statement posted by TfL on June 9 made the cynical claim that processing this request would require critical employees to be diverted from their operational responsibilities and, in the current circumstances, we consider that our priority must remain on providing and maintaining an effective transport system to essential workers across the capital.

Kearney submitted five coronavirus-related FOI requests to TfL over its failure to protect transport workers. These included a request for documents relating to COVID-19 risks sent or received by TfLs Chief Safety, Health & Environment Officer, Lilli Matson, between January 1 and April 30, 2020.

Tom Kearney

Kearney also asked for information about the official Review into coronavirus infections and deaths among bus workers announced by TfL on May 21. He wrote, Please provide me with this studys agreed terms of reference, budget and milestones and all correspondence (letters, emails, handwritten notes) associated with the commissioning of this review and the selection of UCL Institute of Health Equity to conduct it.

All of Kearneys FOI requests were denied.

On May 22, Deputy Mayor of London for Transport and Deputy Chair of TfL, Heidi Alexander, replied to an open letter from Kearney, stating, I have asked Transport for Londons Freedom of Information Team to look into your request for documents and information and anticipate a full response to your inquiry will be sent shortly. TfL reports directly to the mayor, who serves as TfLs chairperson.

Yesterday, after his FOI requests were refused, Kearney told the WSWS, Given the letter I received from the Deputy Mayor on 22 May which implied she was personally ensuring that I would shortly get a full response to my FOI requests, I was surprised to find out that TfL had refused all 7 FOIs Id filed since March.

Alexanders involvement is proof of a cover-up reaching into the office of Labours Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Throughout March and April, Khan continued to tell transport workers that face masks and other PPE were not required, even as bus drivers were dying from COVID-19.

Khans office cannot allow public access to documents, letters, emails and memoranda because these would expose its collaboration with TfL and the private transport operators to continue business as usual, and their refusal to protect lives.

This conspiracy against London transport workers is being backed by transport unions, led by Unite.

Kearney also submitted an FOI request on May 12 for documentation including memorandums, emails, drafts, meeting minutes and handwritten notes pertaining to the Tripartite Agreement (The Bus Industry and its People Working Together to Support London) signed between TfL, Bus Operators and Unite the Union in April 2020.

Sadiq Khan and Heidi Alexander

Unites secret deal was signed as bus drivers were dying in record numbers. A joint letter issued by Unite on April 9 with TfL and bus operators pledged industrial cooperation and insisted that PPE such as face masks were not recommended, echoing statements by government ministers and Khan.

Kearney believes the death toll among London bus drivers from COVID-19 reflects a system that is institutionally unsafe. His dogged, decade-long fight for bus safety followed a near-death encounter with a London bus that ran a red light in December 2009. He remained in a coma for one month.

In my conversations with hundreds of London Bus Drivers over the years, it is apparent to me that they are complaining about things the Labour movement won for workers back in the 19th century, Kearney told the WSWS.

Lack of toilets? No break or meal facilities? Being forced to work while ill? In 21st century London, Blakes satanic mills have been replaced by satanic buses and, in my opinion, this reflects poorly on any organisation that claims to have London bus workers interests at heart.

A former Enron executive from the United States, who spent much of his career negotiating energy deals in the former Soviet republics, Kearney is, on the face of it, an unlikely campaigner for bus workers rights. But his blog, which includes anonymous posts from drivers, is a valuable resource.

He is scathing of Khan, While the Mayor of London virtue-signals from his COVID-19 bunker about his new plan to rid London of monuments of long-dead historic figures who profited from slavery, I wish someone would ask him: why werent Londons Bus Drivers included in TfLs Modern Slavery Statement he approved as Chair in July 2018? After the London Assemblys July 2017 Driven to Distraction report on bus safety, he cannot say he wasnt aware of their poor working conditions.

Kearney challenged Khans newly-found interest in the correlation between being BAME and dying from Covid-19. Kearney says the concern is understandable, but I honestly believe it distracts attention from the fact that Khan has long presided over a Surface Transport System that is institutionally unsafe.

The majority of the victims from the Titanic were travelling steerage and, as sad as that is, it still doesnt overshadow the fact that the Titanic sank because the ship hit an iceberga well-known risk that the Captain and Shipowner had already been warned about but had chosen to ignore. What did the Mayor and TfL do to protect London Transport Workers from the known risks of Covid-19 on Public Transport when there was still time to do something in Q1 2020? That is one of the questions I asked that TfL has refused to answer.

It is striking that Kearney, who approaches these issues honestly, has shamed Labour, Unite and pseudo-left tendencies such as the Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party who function as PR agencies for the Labour and trade union bureaucracy. Having read last Fridays WSWS article, London bus drivers face COVID-19 disaster: Build rank-and-file safety committees!, which exposed collusion between Unite and TfL, Kearney shared the article on social media, commenting:

It seems that not all socialists approve of @UniteLondonEast signing secret Tripartite Agreements with @TfL & all London Bus Contractors apparently. Isnt @UKLabour the Workers Party? No Pasaran!

The Socialist Equality Party calls on bus and transport workers to demand the release of all documents being concealed by TfL and Mayor Sadiq Khan over the death of London transport workers. This struggle must be taken forward through the fight for rank-and-file health and safety committees that will take immediate steps to protect workers lives.
Lockdown-like restrictions to return in Maharashtra? Here's what CM Uddhav Thackeray has to say

Maharashtra set up adequate COVID-19 treatment facilities: Uddhav Thackeray

India

pti-PTI

Pune, Jun 11: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said that the state government has succeeded in setting up adequate number of health care facilities for treatment of COVID-19 patients in a short span.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a COVID care centre developed by Wipro Limited at the Hinjawadi IT Park in Pune.

"During the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, the health care infrastructure in the state was not adequate. But we have now succeeded in developing enough number of facilities," the chief minister said via video-conference. Health Minister Rajesh Tope said this state-of-the-art facility would benefit the people.

Uddhav Thackeray says lockdown may be extended if current restrictions are violated

Delhi: Jama Masjid to remain shut till June 30th amid increasing cases of Coronavirus| Oneindia News

"The government will also spend money on raising similar facilities in rural areas of the state," he said. Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji said, "We showed interest in developing this healthcare facility on humanitarian grounds and the government responded positively to our proposal," he added.

"We are trying to provide food and medicine to the needy across the country," he added. The state government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the company to provide treatment to coronavirus patients for a year.
A man allegedly helped his friend pull off a multimillion-dollar gold heist because he thought it was a simple way to solve money problems brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The $3.9 million armed robbery of the Melbourne Gold Company in April has been described as a "bad movie" and "comedy of errors".

Karl Kachami pictured in Melbourne in 2007. Credit:Angela Wylie

Karl Kachami, 48, is accused of staging the robbery  one of the largest heists in Victoria's history  with his long-time friend and gold company employee Daniel Ede.

The father-of-three faced Melbourne Magistrates Court via videolink on Thursday to apply for bail.
Hacker Noon, an Edwards, CO-based technology publishing platform, raised $1M in strategic funding.

Coil, the San Francisco-based startup designed to help creators monetize content and provide a premium experience to consumers, made the investment. It paid $11.35 per share, valuing the company at $11.5M pre-money. Additionally, the companies signed a three year partnership focused on Web Monetization for contributing writers.

Founded in 2016 by David Smooke and Linh Smooke, Hacker Noon is a platform built for technologists to read, write, and publish. It is an open and international community of 12,000+ contributing writers publishing stories and expertise for 4,000,000+ curious and insightful monthly readers. Starting today, Hacker Noon Writers can now add their Web Monetization meta tag to their stories on Hacker Noon. Once enabled, Coil automatically streams micropayments to the writers wallet based on the amount of time Coil Members spend reading.

FinSMEs

10/06/2020
WILMINGTON, Del., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A multi-disciplinary team has been assembled by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP to advise Oversight Board LLC ("Oversight Board"), a Delaware LLC wholly owned by a Delaware Purpose Trust created by Facebook. The Oversight Board will consist of members selected from around the world, including former Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, and Pakistani digital rights advocate, Nighat Dad. Members will serve a three year term and make independent decisions about content appearing on Facebook and Instagram. Their decisions to leave or remove content will take into account Facebook's current content policies and values, along with established principles of freedom of expression and human rights.

Partner, Vincent C. Thomas, will be leading Young Conaway's multi-disciplinary team in advising the Oversight Board on US matters. He is joined by his Business Planning and Tax colleagues, Counsel Justin P. Duda and Associate Travis G. Maurer, who will be focusing on governance, trust, and contract issues. Corporate Counseling and Litigation Partner Tammy L. Mercer, along with Former Vice-Chancellor and Delaware Supreme Court Justice, Jack B. Jacobs and Associate Alberto E. Chavez, will be handling all fiduciary issues for the Oversight Board. Data privacy issues will be managed by Counsel Sara Beth A.R. Kohut and employment issues will be managed by Counsel, Lauren M. Russell. Young Conaway's team will be working closely with a multi-disciplinary team led by partner, Ross McNaughton at Penningtons Manches Cooper.

"The Oversight Board is a unique institution with an important mission ahead of it, and we're delighted to benefit from the multi-disciplinary expertise of Young Conaway," said Thomas Hughes, Director of the Oversight Board Administration. "Their support will be invaluable as we continue to build the Board and Administration team, and work to going fully operational later this year."

Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP, one of Delaware's largest law firms, counsels and represents national, international and local clients, handling sophisticated advisory and litigation matters. The firm's headquarters are located in downtown Wilmington, DE. For additional information, contact Director of Marketing and Business Development, Felicia A. Gojmerac at 302.571.6600 or [email protected].

SOURCE Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP
Coronavirus: Rabat studies steps for Festival of Sacrifice Islamic PM dilemma over crowds and re-entries from abroad

(ANSAmed) - RABAT, JUNE 11 - Moroccan Prime Minister Said Eddine El Othmani of the pro-Islamic Justice and Development (PJD) party is grappling with the issue of how to contain crowds for the Festival of the Sacrifice, a key Islamic holiday that falls at the end of July.



There are about 35 million Moroccans who live in Morocco, but almost the same number of Moroccans have emigrated abroad.



Thus far, the country has managed to contain the spread of coronavirus, but this year's holiday could put a strain on containment, with Moroccans returning home from abroad, as well as the slaughter of millions of rams in a ritual that reproduces Abraham's test of obedience to God. The draft decree for the Covid-19 protection plan initially set forth an extension of the state of health emergency through August 8, but the cabinet opposed this and opted instead for July 10.



The plan provides for a gradual, regional-based reopening, with flexibility to allow for more attention on vulnerable categories such as those over age 65 and those with chronic illnesses.



Starting on June 20, residents will be able to move between regions and from one city to another.



Mosques, bars and restaurants will reopen starting June 25.



National flights will resume starting June 16, with international flights resuming on July 2.



All of the scheduled dates are flexible and could be revised in light of urgent needs such as new hotbeds of infection in various regions.



Face masks will continue to be mandatory, as well as social distancing and basic prevention measures.



El Othmani made the draft decree official on Wednesday, only after the cabinet examined it point by point.



Meanwhile, Morocco is holding its breath; with 106 new cases, the number of people being treated for coronavirus has risen to 777, for an overall total of 8,438 cases.



The number of deaths has remained stable for the sixth day at 208.(ANSAmed).




The model, called " The Economist US presidential forecast", was created by The Economist 's data team with help from Andrew Gelman and Merlin Heidemanns, political scientists at Columbia University. It estimates Joe Biden's and Donald Trump's probabilities of winning each individual state and the election overall. To produce these figures, it combines fundamental factors, such as economic conditions, presidential popularity and the amount of time one party has been in power, with polling data at both the national and state level. The model's projections will be updated daily until the election to reflect the latest available data.

The Economist's forecast, the first to be published in 2020 by a prominent news organisation, aims to avoid the flaws that caused models to misfire in the 2016 election. Rather than using equations that merely provide the best fit to data from the past, The Economist's model uses machine-learning techniques designed to maximise accuracy when predicting the future. Rather than having its projections whiplashed by short-term shifts in public opinion, the model emphasises the fundamentals and treats polls sceptically until the autumn, when the electorate fully tunes in to the race. And once the model does start to take polls seriously, it pays no heed to their official margins of error. Instead, it identifies and corrects for biases that can cause multiple pollsters to miss in the same direction, such as the volatile propensity of supporters of one party or another to answer surveys.

For both the popular vote and the electoral college, the model produces both a single "best guess"which currently shows Mr Biden winning 53.5% of the popular vote (excluding third parties) and 329 electoral votesand calculates the uncertainty surrounding these estimates. The model's website includes charts displaying these best guesses on every day since the beginning of March, and will continue to record its predictions every day until the election. It also includes a map displaying the model's estimated vote shares and win probabilities for each state.

Along with the launch of the US election forecast, The Economist is publishing an article summarising the model's methods and inclusions. It will appear in the June 12th edition of the paper and on Economist.com

G. Elliott Morris, data journalist at The Economist, said: "Among other innovations, The Economist US presidential forecast is the first of its kind to correct for partisan bias inherent in many presidential election polls. We are confident that it will be one of the most accurate forecasts available and will provide the US electorate with a true picture of the race."

The US election model follows the January launch of The Economist's "Checks and Balance" newsletter and podcast . Distributed each Friday, the newsletter highlights the best of our election coverage in The Economist's weekly edition and across its digital platforms. The 30-minute "Checks and Balance" podcast is hosted by three Economist journalists, who are joined by a cast of Economist correspondents from around the world. Each week they go beyond the horse race to dig into an important theme shaping American politics.

US editor for The Economist, John Prideaux, said, "The Economist aims to provide the most rigorous analysis and reporting on the 2020 US election. Our US presidential forecast takes this a step further by providing a projection grounded in meticulous statistical analysis and modelling."

The methodology for The Economist's US election model is open-source and available to anyone here: https://projects.economist.com/us-2020-forecast/president/how-this-works

About The Economist ( www.economist.com )

With a growing global audience and a reputation for insightful analysis and perspective on every aspect of world events, The Economist is one of the most widely recognised and well-read current affairs publications in the world. In addition to the weekly print and digital editions and website, The Economist publishes Espresso, a daily news app, Global Business Review, a bilingual English-Chinese product and Economist VR, a virtual-reality app. Economist Radio produces The Intelligence, a daily current-affairs podcast and several other podcasts a week. Economist Films produces short- and long-form video. The Economist maintains robust social communities on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium and other social networks. A recipient of many editorial and marketing awards, The Economist was recently named the most trusted news source in the 2017 Trusting News Project Report.

SOURCE The Economist

Related Links

www.economist.com


We've all heard it many times: Wear a face covering  indoors, outdoors, on trains and buses. At work, in the supermarket and at church.

But now a new modeling study out of Cambridge and Greenwich universities suggests that face masks may be even more important than originally thought in preventing future outbreaks of the new coronavirus.

To ward off resurgences, the reproduction number for the virus (the average number of people who will contract it from one infected person) needs to drop below 1.0. Researchers dont believe thats achievable with lockdowns alone. However, a combination of lockdowns and widespread mask compliance might do the trick, they say.

CLICK HERE: How to make your own face mask to stop the spread of coronavirus.

We show that, when face masks are used by the public all the time (not just from when symptoms first appear), the effective reproduction number, Re, can be decreased below 1, leading to the mitigation of epidemic spread, the scientists wrote in the paper published Wednesday by the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

The modeling indicated that when lockdown periods are combined with 100% face mask use, disease spread is vastly diminished, preventing resurgence for 18 months, the time frame that has frequently been cited for developing a vaccine. It also demonstrated that if people wear masks in public, it is twice as effective at reducing the R number than if face coverings are only worn after symptoms appear.

The masks dont have to be top-of-the-line surgical or respirator masks. Homemade coverings that catch only 50 percent of exhaled droplets would provide a population-level benefit, they concluded.

As has been well-publicized, wearing a mask primarily protects others from yourself, rather than the other way around. It is not a sign that you consider others a danger.

Science Focus quoted the studys lead author, Dr Richard Stutt, as saying, Our analyses support the immediate and universal adoption of face masks by the public.

Stutt is part of a team that usually models the spread of crop diseases at Cambridges department of plant sciences.

CLICK HERE: Coronavirus: Our most important FAQ articles so far

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Alameda County and San Francisco city health officials require residents to wear face coverings any time they leave home and get within 30 feet of anyone not living in their household.

In San Francisco, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Sonoma counties (plus the cities of Pleasant Hill and Fremont) people must use basic nonmedical, cloth masks, including scarves and bandannas, to cover their noses and mouths when they leave home to go to essential places like the supermarket, drugstore or doctor.

We're tracking COVID-19 in New York. Sign up for breaking news alerts and in-depth local reporting.

Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate
The Ghana Health Service has dismissed suggestions that it is overwhelmed by the increasing number of COVID-19 cases across the country.



According to the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, there is enough space for COVID-19 patients at the various health facilities and isolation centres in the country.



We never underestimated the COVID-19, so we were well prepared . . . we hear that we are moving cases to Cape Coast, it is never true, it's the other way round, so our hospitals are not full, Dr Kuma-Aboagye told Morning Starr host Francis Abban on Thursday.



He added, we are not overwhelmed, our isolation centres are not full, we have spaces at Ga East and other hospitalsin case management if one ward is full, it doesnt mean that there are no other placesso we are not overwhelmed.



Expressing concerns over the increasing number of cases, Dr Kuma-Aboagye urged citizens to keep to the COVID-19 health measures to help curb the spread of infections.



Coronavirus cases in Ghana have now reached 10,358, according to latest figures released by the Ghana Health Service.



The death toll still remains at 48 while 3,824 have now recovered from the highly infectious disease.



Active cases in Ghana now stands at 6,486.



Count of Cases per Region



(Case Count from Highest to Lowest)



Greater Accra Region  6,642



Ashanti Region  1,799



Western Region  778



Central Region  539



Eastern Region  198



Volta Region  162



Western North Region  74



Oti Region  47



Upper East Region  42



Northern Region  37



Upper West Region  22



Bono East Region  13



North East Region  2



Savannah Region  1



Bono Region  1



Ahafo Region  1

Source: Starr









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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China Insider: Internal WHO Documents Reveal the CCPs Delay Worsened the Pandemic by 200 Times

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In January of this year, WHO Director-General Tedros praised China for sharing information on the CCP virus in a timely and transparent manner. However, internal documents show that other WHO officials complained privately in meetings that China delayed releasing information, and did not provide them with enough data to assess the spread of the virus.

00:37 WHO Praised China for Being Timely and Transparent About Virus

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Most Atlantic premiers appear hesitant to allow travel within their four provinces, despite P.E.I. Premier Dennis King's recent suggestion that a travel bubble could be set up as early as the beginning of July.

Following discussions with other premiers in the region on Wednesday night, King said there "seem[ed] to be agreement" that a bubble could be established, "if the epidemiology continues on the trajectory that it's on."

P.E.I. has had no new cases of COVID-19 over the past two weeks, and Newfoundland and Labrador has had just one. Nova Scotia has had nine, while New Brunswick is dealing with an outbreak in the Campbellton area, with four new cases announced on Wednesday, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 29.

King's counterparts have expressed more caution.

"Our first priority is to ease restrictions in our own province," Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said Thursday in a statement, "including expanding the family bubble."

"Nova Scotia is open to an Atlantic bubble, but we cannot put a date on it until we are sure our case numbers are low and the cases in other provinces remain low."

Brian McInnis/CBC

Newfoundland Premier Dwight Ball told reporters: "There's no date yet."

"Premier King, yesterday, raised this issue with all the Atlantic provinces, but first and foremost, any final decision that would be made on this would be have to be made in consultation with our public health officials," Ball said Thursday.

"Now is not the time for us, we've got to be able to make sure we can travel safely around Newfoundland and Labrador first," he said.

The premiers say they want to provide safe and efficient travel in the region without the need to self-isolate, which would allow for tourism and family visits.

"We agreed over the next few weeks to have our officials work together," New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters Thursday afternoon.

Story continues

CBC

"The discussion went well and the idea of having at least a three-way bubble  the goal was that we are working toward having that access sometime this summer. Whether that can be early July or mid-July or whatever is yet to be determined."

King said bubbling would mean Islanders could travel to other Atlantic provinces without having to self-isolate for 14 days.

But they would still have to adhere to all public health directives in the province they are visiting, which include measures such as physical distancing and handwashing.

"It won't be a situation where the cars will run as freely as ever across the bridge," said King.

He said it would have a positive effect on the business and tourism sectors and "continue our plan back to some kind of new normal."

King reiterated that any decision will be based on public health policy, not the lobbying efforts of any one group or organization.

"I don't feel pressure from any one side of this or the other," he said.

CBC

The Atlantic premiers met to prepare for a much wider discussion with all of Canada's premiers and the prime minister Thursday night.

King said he didn't anticipate that bubble being expanded to Quebec and Ontario, two important regions for the P.E.I.'s tourism sector, before the end of the year.

"If we get to a point where we could do an Atlantic bubble that would pretty much be the extent of the bubble for this year," he said.

COVID-19: What you need to know

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

Common symptoms include:

Fever.

Cough.

Tiredness.

But more serious symptoms can develop, including difficulty breathing and pneumonia, which can lead to death.

Health Canada has built a self-assessment tool.

What should I do if I feel sick?

Isolate yourself and call 811. Do not visit an emergency room or urgent care centre to get tested. A health professional at 811 will give you advice and instructions.

How can I protect myself?

Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

Clean regularly touched surfaces regularly.

More COVID-19 stories from CBC P.E.I.
Washington called for a ceasefire in Libya and urged warring parties to protect its oil sector Wednesday as the unity government said landmines had killed at least seven people in the capital.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's call came as the UN said it had held "productive" talks separately with officers from the unity government and rival forces backing military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

The deadly explosions in Tripoli took place days after the Government of National Accord (GNA) declared itself back in full control of the capital and its suburbs after fending off Haftar's year-long offensive to seize it.

"Seven people were killed in landmine explosions in several locations in the south of Tripoli, and 10 others were wounded," ministry spokesman Amin al-Hashemi told AFP.

Those killed were four civilians and three mine-clearing experts, he said, adding that the blasts took place in the Ain Zara and Wadi Rabi districts on the southern edges of Tripoli, controlled by forces backing Haftar until May.

Human Rights Watch earlier this month accused pro-Haftar forces of laying Russian and Soviet-era landmines as they withdrew from Tripoli's southern districts.

Pro-Haftar forces, which are backed by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, had been battling since April last year to seize Tripoli from the UN-recognised government.

In recent weeks GNA forces, reinforced with Turkish drones and air defences, have staged a withering fightback to regain control of the whole of the country's northwest.

Counteroffensive

The GNA's counter-assault is the latest round of fighting in years of violence following the 2011 toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a Western-backed uprising.

GNA forces are hoping now to take back the strategic city of Sirte, the gateway to Libya's oil fields.

But Pompeo on Wednesday backed calls for a ceasefire, urging the warring parties to keep out Russian influence and preserve the country's vast crude oil reserves.

"Quick and in-good-faith negotiations are now required to implement a ceasefire and relaunch the UN-led intra-Libyan political talks," Pompeo told reporters.

He was speaking shortly after European leaders also backed a truce and talks in a joint military commission made up of officers from both sides.

"It's time for all Libyans on all sides to act so that neither Russia nor any other country can interfere in Libya's sovereignty for its own gain," Pompeo said.

A UN report found that Haftar has enjoyed support from a shadowy Russian mercenary group, with Washington charging the sophisticated equipment on the ground could only come from Moscow.

GNA vows to push on

Like the US and the EU, Haftar's backer Egypt has called for a ceasefire following his losses in Tripoli.

But the resurgent GNA has vowed to push on for Sirte, Kadhafi's hometown and the last major settlement before the traditional boundary between western Libya and Haftar's stronghold in the east.

The UN's Libya mission said Wednesday it had held talks with both sides as part of the joint military commission, set up following a January peace conference.

UNSMIL said it had met virtually last week with Haftar's forces and on Tuesday with GNA officers, commending "the seriousness and the commitment of both parties".

An oil refinery in Libya's northern town of Ras Lanuf. By - (AFP/File)

But, it added in a statement, "it calls on them to de-escalate to avoid further civilian casualties and new waves of displacement."

Neither of the warring sides has commented on the latest talks.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said his country, which hosted the January conference in Berlin, was "extremely concerned" by the hostilities and welcomed the latest push to end them.

The fighting for Tripoli has left hundreds dead and forced 200,000 to flee their homes.

Almost a decade of violence has also caused repeated shutdowns of Libyan oil installations, vital in a country where almost all state revenues come from crude exports.

The National Oil Company in recent days resumed production at two oil fields including the country's largest after Haftar's forces were driven out.
A family member of the victim has appealed to Pak PM Imran Khan and other politicians belonging to this area to listen to their grievances.

A Christian girl was kidnapped at gunpoint by local Muslim men in Youhanabad area of Lahore city in Pakistans Punjab province on Monday. According to the sources, the girl was waiting for a factory vehicle in the area, when 2-3 persons allegedly abducted her and threatened her colleagues.

Tanveer Arian, a political and security analyst tweeted, A Christian girl allegedly abducted on gunpoint from Youhanabad, Lahore. This video report is from June 4, 2020. Mother of the girl says that two men abducted her daughter. Another man says that Christians in Pakistan are frequent victims of such crimes.

The family of the girl is shocked with the horrific incident as minorities continue to remain on target in Pakistan, especially Punjab province. Shafiq, a family member of the victim said, Why it happens with our daughters and sisters? Whenever they go out for work, Muslim men forcibly abduct and do unfair things with them. Today, at 7.30 am, when she was waiting for her factory vehicle at the pickup point, 2-3 Muslim men abducted her on gunpoint. They even threatened other girls present at the spot.

Also Read: China, India reach positive consensus on border issue: Beijing

Also Read: Hold police accountable for wrongdoing, urges George Floyds brother to US Congress

He added, We appeal the Prime Minister (Imran Khan) and other politicians belonging to this area to listen to our grievances. When we filed a complaint in the police station, they assured us to get it resolved in 2-3 days. Now, we are clueless why they need 2-3 days to get it resolved.

A large number of Christian and Hindu girls, mostly minors, across Pakistan are abducted and forcibly converted to Islam to get married to Muslims. Even police and politicians ignored their grievances and left the minorities to live a miserable life.

Also Read: Pak security forces abandon border posts as violent protests erupt in Balochistan

For all the latest World News, download NewsX App
Representative image

A fire broke out at Mumbai's Crawford Market on June 10. The city's fire department said no injury has been reported so far.

According to reports, the fire brigade was alerted at around 6:15 pm regarding a fire at some of the cloth shops. According to officials, the fire is restricted to the ground floor of the market.

"It is a level two fire. Firefighting is on and nobody was reported injured in the blaze," an official said.

Personnel of the BMC ward office, police and ambulances have also reached the site.

The wholesale market, also known as Mahatma Phule Market, is close to the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSTM) and has shops selling household items and fruits and vegetables.

Six fire engines are currently present at the spot, news agency ANI reported.
Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

A detailed analysis report of the Global Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market has been covered in the report coupled with a thorough description of each company profile with information on the H.Q, future capabilities, key mergers & acquisitions, financial outline, partnerships and new product launches and developments.

Drivers

Higher safety of passengers and drivers in vehicles

Rising rate of road accidents

Restraints

High manufacturing cost

The comprehensive value chain analysis of the market will assist in attaining better product differentiation, along with detailed understanding of the core competency of each activity involved. The market attractiveness analysis provided in the report aptly measures the potential value of the market providing business strategists with the latest growth opportunities.

The report classifies the market into different segments based on system and application. These segments are studied in detail incorporating the market estimates and forecasts at regional and country level. The segment analysis is useful in understanding the growth areas and probable opportunities of the market.

Final Report will cover the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.

Browse the complete Global Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market Research Report - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2026 @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/19732-vehicle-intelligence-systems-market-report

The report also covers the complete competitive landscape of the global Vehicle Intelligence Systems market with company profiles of key players such as:

Continental AG

Delphi Automotive PLC

Denso Corporation

Infineon Technologies AG

Magna International Inc.

Mobileye NV

Robert Bosch GmbH

Valeo SA

Wabco Holdings, Inc.

SEGMENTATIONS IN THE REPORT:

By System:

Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)

Blind Spot Monitoring System

Adaptive Head Lights

Electronic Stability Program (ESP)

Lane Departure Warning System

Emergency Call System

Obstacle And Collision Warning System

Real Time Traffic

Travel Information System

By Applications:

Passenger Vehicles

Light Commercial Vehicles

Heavy Commercial Vehicles

By Geography:

North America (NA)  US, Canada & Rest of North America

Europe (EU)  UK, Germany, France & Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific (APAC)  China, Japan, India & Rest of APAC

Latin America (LA)  Brazil & Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa (MEA)  Middle East and Africa

Download Free Sample Report of Global Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-19732

The Global Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market has been exhibited in detail in the following chapters -

Chapter 1 Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market Preface

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Vehicle Intelligence Systems Industry Analysis

Chapter 4 Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market Value Chain Analysis

Chapter 5 Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market Analysis By System

Chapter 6 Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market Analysis By Applications

Chapter 7 Vehicle Intelligence Systems Market Analysis By Geography

Chapter 8 Competitive Landscape Of Vehicle Intelligence Systems Companies

Chapter 9 Company Profiles Of Vehicle Intelligence Systems Industry

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Technology and collaboration are the mantras that many hope will help the world turn the tide against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The public health ecosystem has demonstrated unprecedented collaboration among scientists, governments and medical companies, sharing everything from epidemiological data to software and design files to develop a vaccine and manufacture-testing equipment.

Could this crisis be the trigger for a new era of technology collaboration among citizens, businesses and governments to solve the gravest problems of our times? The initial signs are promising. Governments are deploying technology in newer innovative and collaborative ways. For example, many countries, including India, have deployed contact tracing apps developed through public-private partnerships, to prevent the spread of the virus, and are crowd-sourcing relevant information from citizens. Private companies, such as taxi aggregators, are opening up their tech platforms to help the government fight the crisis by tracking crowds in real-time.

This crisis seems to have become a laboratory for the dawn of a new era of what we will call Gov Tech 3.0. While 1.0 was the era of computerisation of manual processes such as putting income tax forms online, 2.0 was about building systems which digitised end-to-end processes, for example, the governments e-office file management system. GovTech 3.0 is focussed on Open Digital Ecosystems (ODEs), the underlying philosophy of which is for governments to move away from being a builder of end-to-end tech solutions towards becoming a facilitator by creating digital infrastructure on which innovators can collaboratively build solutions for the public good.

A good analogy to understand this shift is the physical infrastructure of cities. Building commons is done by the government through public funding and engagement. This includes the construction of roads, drainage systems, parks and mass transit systems. If built and governed well, this is the platform on which businesses and individuals then create the vibrant ecosystem of activities that make up our urban life and are visible to us as we interact and transact with others in the city. Similarly, the ODE approach suggests that the government should focus on creating the digital commons; enable interoperability between siloed systems, so that innovators can build solutions on top, by leveraging what technologists call open-source software, open standards, and open Application Programming Interface (APIs).

Several path-breaking ODEs are already in play in India: Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the financial services space; the National Digital Health Blueprint that imagines a radically different public health ecosystem; the National Digital Infrastructure for Teachers called DIKSHA; the National Urban Innovation Stack which is enabling more efficient provision of municipal services; and a digital ecosystem for agriculture which is being designed by an inter-ministerial committee.

In the wake of Covid-19, we can take this thinking further. For example, could we create a social protection ODE, through which migrant workers can access State benefits irrespective of where they are? This could be enabled through an interoperable tech architecture connecting disparate state and department tech systems and apps, built by innovators, enabling migrants to get real-time information about and access to their entitlements.

ODEs are not just a different way of delivering government services  they are a different way of imagining the citizen-State relationship. ODEs enable the rapid scaling of solutions, through modular technology-building blocks, that can be deployed in multiple contexts by ensuring interoperability across platforms. This can shift the balance of power in favour of citizens.

While ODEs empower and enable collaboration in unprecedented ways, many worry that such interconnected digital networks may make us more vulnerable to harm, with dispersed accountability and possible violation of individual privacy. These concerns are heightened when the power of digital platforms is combined with the coercive power of the State. In the Covid-19 context, we see that in some countries, mobile phone location data, thermal imaging drones, and cyber tech normally used in counterterrorism, are being integrated and deployed for surveillance of citizens. The curtailment of personal freedoms may be acceptable to the public during a crisis, but the worry is that once such technology is out there, it may be impossible to roll it back.

This issue  that with high-stakes benefits come high-stakes risks is central to the ODE debate. Designing privacy-protecting and secure databases is critical. The invisible rules that are coded into tech need to be made transparent through thoughtful design principles, legislation, governance frameworks and public engagement. For example, having accountable institutions behind these ODEs, and robust grievance redressal mechanisms is critical for their success. Making sure the design is citizen-centric and ensures inclusive access to services at the last mile will help drive adoption and sustain these ecosystems.

A recent government white paper put out on mygov.in has invited public consultation on some of these critical open questions around National ODEs. The design choices India makes today, not just in terms of the technology and data architecture, but also in terms of governance architecture and community engagement around ODEs, will determine how we collaborate to build a more resilient and empowered India.

Varad Pande and Kriti Mittal work at Omidyar Network India

The views expressed are personal
Speaking outside of the Prentice Womens Hospital on Thursday, the doctors called the surgery a milestone" in care for patients who are critically ill from the virus which has killed more than 6,000 people in Illinois. The hospital has already received calls from across the country about the procedure.
Aligarh : , June 11 (IANS) Aftab Alam, a professor at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has been served a warning after he expressed his reservations over holding online open book examinations in the university citing last mile connectivity issues that can rob many students of equal opportunity.

In a letter to the political science department professor, AMU Registrar Abdul Hamid said that Alam's email had the potential to 'instigate' the students to boycott the final year examination at a time when the National Disaster Management Act is in operation due to Covid-19 pandemic and this may lead to problems in the conduct of university examinations and other academic activities.

The registrar also stated that the professor has indirectly threatened the university administration that if they go ahead with online open book examination, some students may commit suicide. He has cited the example of a young female student who committed suicide in Kerala due to alleged problems of internet connectivity.

The registrar gave a stern warning to Alam saying, "If any problems occurs in future, you will be held responsible for the same." Alam, who is also a member of an Executive Council, in his letter to the VC, had said that "the online open book examination process requires students to have Internet access, computers/laptops or the latest smartphones, books and quality study material wherever they are currently locked down.

"We have failed to recognise the fact that most of our students left for their homes in an extraordinary situation and they might not have even their books and their study materials with them." He said that there are also numerous students who are handicapped simply because they do not have the latest smartphones and laptops and access to stable 4G Internet connection. The students may face immense difficulties of varying degrees in scanning and uploading their answers on plain sheets depending upon the quality of smartphone and Internet connectivity and load on our server.

The possibility of the server being down and Internet speed too slow in the last minute cannot be ruled out which may deprive many students of timely uploading their answers, he stated.

The professor urged the administration to rescind their decision of online open-book examination and appoint a Working Group of experts to examine various alternatives as online open book examinations are not a feasible solution at all.
President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping speak to business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Nov. 9, 2017. (Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images)

Republican Task Force Offers Strategies for National Security Rooted in American Values

The Republican Study Committee (RSC), released its National Security Proposal, which is grounded in the American values of freedom, human rights, the rule of law, and open markets. The RSC proposes strategies to secure the United States from threats posed by three key adversarial countries.

Reps. Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), led the Houses largest GOP caucus to create a proposal (pdf) which aims to mitigate the national security threat from countries like China, Russia, and Iran to promote a foreign policy that advances Americas prosperity and peace.

We must put #AmericaFirst and address the threats facing our country. The new @RepublicanStudy strategy includes 130 suggestions on how we can craft policy to keep America safe. Number one on the list: Countering the threat of #Chinas Communist Party, said Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.).

Out of the many foreign nations, the task force has found that Chinas Communist Party (CCP) poses the greatest threat to American security. The decades-long policy of integrating China into the global market and fostering vigorous trade relations with Beijing failed to steer the CCP away from Communism and authoritarian rule.

Instead, the committee found ample evidence that China has taken advantage of the United States openness to accumulate huge economic and military strength.

The RSC proposal outlines strategies to stop the CCP global take over.

The strategy offers the toughest package of sanctions ever proposed by Congress on the CCP. It would specifically sanction the entire United Front Work Department and senior CCP leaders, including members of the Politburo for their malign influence campaigns, internment of Uyghurs, and assault on Hong Kong. The strategy proposes targeted measures rather than broad-based tariffs that may hurt the U.S. economy, the proposal states.

Their strategies also include, updating the Foreign Asset Registration Act (FARA), enhancing U.S. laws that safeguard intellectual property (IP), prevent the CCP from spreading propaganda, and stop the transfer of critical technology to China.

Fostering bilateral free trade agreements with countries, like Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Brazil, Kenya, who are facing increased threats from China, would be another important strategy to secure democracy.

The task force has also identified Russia as a major U.S. adversary that uses aggressive means to advance its control over its own citizens as well as supporting other authoritarian regimes. They found Russias disinformation campaign has sought to undermine U.S. democracy as well as other democracies around the world.

The Republicans proposal aims to put sanctions on Russian oil and gas projects, sanctions on Russian sovereign debt, sanctions on Russian proxies in other countries, and designating Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

The committee proposes a strategy to communicate directly with the Russian people to find out how they feel about democracy and human rights.

The third major opponent to U.S. national security is Iran. The committee outlined Irans pursuit of nuclear weapons, its seeking Israels destruction, and sponsoring terrorism as the factors that make Iran a threat to national security.

They suggest thorough sanctions on Irans regional proxies, including its militias in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, the Assad regime in Syria, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The strategy would prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding Irans proxies in Lebanon and Iraq by ending aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Iraqi Ministry of Interior; offer for consideration a new AUMF that would allow the President to go after any State Department designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations and prevent the creation of Salafi-jihadi safe havens and cut off financing and state support for associated groups.

This new Proposal will strengthen human rights sanctions and codify the Ministerial on Religious Freedom with the goal of protecting liberty, security, and prosperity; oppose China and Russias efforts to control international organizations, like the UN, and hold the UN accountable.

The proposal would realign and restructure key agencies in the state department, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Information Agency (USIA).

The committee writes: [a] strong America is essential because our strength enables us to counter threats, oppose tyrants and terrorists, and advance the ideals of peace, freedom, and prosperity around the globe. By contrast, the Russian and Chinese governments seek to dominate their own people and assert control over the other countries of the world.
At the tree planting event (Source: vtc.vn)

Speaking at the event, Russian Ambassador Konstantin Vasilievich Vnukov said similar programmes have been held worldwide to mark the 75th anniversary of the Victory Day over Fascism in the Great Patriotic War (May 9, 1945 - May 9, 2020).

As many as 27 million trees will be planted in Russia and across the world in honour of people who laid down their lives in the fight, he said.

The diplomat noted that the project is widely welcomed, as at least 24 million trees have been grown in various countries.

He also expressed his gratitude to Vietnamese voluntary soldiers who fought side by side with their Soviet Union counterparts in suburban Moscow during the 1941-42.

Vnukov underlined that the trees will remind people of the countries of their solidarity and fraternity, along with their sacrifice for peace and justice in the world.

For her part, VUFO President Nguyen Phuong Nga said the tree planting event is part of activities marking the 70th founding anniversary of Vietnam-Russia diplomatic ties, the 75th year of the Victory Day and the 45th year of Vietnams Reunification Day (April 30).
Queens Park and Ottawa are teaming up with a new $57.6-million Digital Main Street program to help thousands of Ontario small businesses boost their online sales, the Star has learned.

Ontarios Associate Minister of Small Business Prabmeet Sarkaria and federal Economic Development Minister Melanie Joly will announce the new initiative on a Zoom teleconference Thursday.

Its designed to help as many as 22,900 Ontario businesses create and enhance their online presence with grants of $2,500 apiece for digital tools, such as access to web platforms.

The two governments believe that money could also create summer jobs for more than 1,400 students at a time when unemployment has soared since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ottawa is investing $50 million with Queens Park spending an additional $7.6 million.

Ontarios small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and their recovery is critical to Ontarios recovery, Sarkaria is to say, according to prepared remarks.

As thousands of small businesses across the province closed their doors and halt business during the COVID-19 outbreak, many struggled to shift sales or services online, the minister is to say.

I am very pleased, that together with  our federal partners, we are providing small businesses with the tools they need to recover and flourish as Ontario reopens.

Joly, who is responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, said as local economies across Ontario reopen, were focused on ensuring that our main streets dont just survive, but thrive.

These businesses are the backbone of our economy, a source of local jobs  and local pride. Thanks to this major investment, theyll be able to expand their offerings and seize the many opportunities presented by online commerce, she said.

Our message to Ontarios small businesses, and those whose livelihoods rely on them, is clear: were working with you to support good jobs and help our economy come back stronger than ever.

While about 60 per cent of Ontario small businesses have a website, only seven per cent do online sales or can accept payment over the internet.

The provincial and federal governments say that when it comes to digital commerce, Canadian businesses are two years behind their American competitors.

With the pandemic radically changing the way people shop and do business, online sales jumped 16.3 per cent in March alone.

Ontario has been in a state of emergency since March 17, forcing many businesses to shut down, so its expected e-commerce has increased even more in the months under lockdown.

Under the new initiative, businesses can use the Google-powered shopHERE program to hire highly skilled and trained students to build and support the launch of online stores for businesses that previously did not have the capacity to do so themselves.

The core goal will be to help small businesses compete and grow, in a world that is increasingly online, to help them recover as quickly as possible following COVID-19, the two government said in a joint statement.

Its expected that businesses will use the $2,500 grants, which will be administered by the Ontario Business Improvement Areas Association, to adopt new technologies and embrace digital marketing.

The two levels of government hope that giving Main Street enterprises access to some online expertise will make it easier for them to compete.

Robert Benzie is the Stars Queens Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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Chinese Students Safe in Australia Says Universities Peak Body

The peak body of Australias university sector has spoken out against the Chinese regimes advice to Chinese students to reconsider studying in Australia.

Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson told The Epoch Times on June 11 that Australia is one of the safest places in the world where any violent act is taken very seriously and reported to the police.

In 2018, a survey of more than 80,000 international tertiary students found that personal safety and security is one of the top five factors for deciding to study in Australiasurpassed only by the quality of teaching and the reputation of the qualification, said Jackson.

According to the 2018 Department of Education and Training Study (pdf), 95 percent of the international students surveyed choose Australia because of its record on personal safety and security.

Australian universities are committed to making it even safer, Jackson stressed.

On June 9, Chinas Ministry of Education (MOE) issued a warning to Chinese students against coming to Australian universities, accusing Australia of not effectively controlling the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus. The Chinese education ministry also alleged there were many racist incidents against Asians in Australia.

Education minister Dan Tehan responded to the warning in an interview on Sky News with Chris Kenny on June 9, saying: Australia is one of the safest countries in the world for international students to return to.

We are an incredibly tolerant society. Were a multicultural society. We treat everyone the same, and that will continue to be the approach that we take, as a Government, and as a people, said Tehan.

We want to make sure that all international students are welcome here, and thats the approach that we will continue to take, Tehan said.

Tehan also noted that Australia has seen international student numbers grow in the last ten years because, people know this is a safe country to come to, where weve got world-class educational offerings.

Speaking with Ben Fordham on 2GB Radio on June 11, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he had noted the Chinese regimes warnings.

But equally, what I know is Australia provides the best education and tourism products in the world. And I know that that is compelling. And I also know that, you know, the ability for Chinese nationals to be able to choose to come to Australia is, substantively been their decision. And Im very confident in the attractiveness of our product, said the Prime Minister.

Universities Australian released figures estimating Australian universities may lose between $3.1 to $4.8 billion in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Yum said that it demanded that Grubhub revoke its termination of the contract and enter into negotiations. But Grubhub instead reached out to franchisees directly on Monday imposing a new pricing structure, according to the suit.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in New York County's Supreme Court, alleges that Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney improperly terminated the company's contract with Yum on June 2. He sent the company a letter claiming that Yum's work with Uber Eats and Postmates violated the terms of the deal. Yum denies the allegation.

Yum bought a 3% stake in the third-party delivery app in 2018 as more national chains looked to lift sales by offering delivery. As part of the deal, the two signed a contract that required the delivery app to give Yum favorable pricing and service levels for thousands of Taco Bell and KFC restaurants, which are largely operated by franchisees.

The new fees will mean that consumers will have to pay nearly 40% more for Grubhub deliveries of food from Yum's restaurants.

The lawsuit also claims that Grubhub showed signs that it regretted the contract it struck with Yum. Grubhub allegedly blacked out Yum restaurants that were open for business during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the lawsuit, at other times, the delivery app insisted on payment for services that it was required to provide for no extra charge under the contract. And when Grubhub launched its subscription service in February 2020, it breached the contract by not letting Taco Bell or KFC restaurants participate unless they paid an additional fee, the lawsuit alleged.

The contract also allegedly included a $50 million termination fee for Yum if Grubhub came to be controlled by a third party that competed with Yum's business. On Wednesday, Grubhub and the Netherlands-based delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com said that the two companies would be merging in an all-stock deal. The announcement means that the termination fee "may well be relevant," the lawsuit said.

A company spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC that Grubhub "vigorously" denies the allegations in the complaint.

"It is unfortunate that Yum! has taken this step and we are very sorry about the situation Yum Franchisees are in with millions of dollars now at risk especially in the midst of this challenging environment," the spokesperson said. "We're happy to work with Yum! to resolve our contract dispute, but we intend to ensure that Grubhub and its stakeholders are protected against Yum!'s breach of the exclusivity provisions of the agreement."

The lawsuit comes as the coronavirus pandemic forces Yum Brands and the rest of the restaurant industry to lean even more on third-party delivery apps. Grubhub and its rivals have drawn fire from lawmakers, chefs and consumers for the commission fees they charge restaurants on every order.

And while the pandemic means more consumers are ordering delivery through Grubhub, the delivery app has been struggling over the last year. In the battle to regain market share from DoorDash and attract loyal customers, the once-profitable company swung to a loss in its most recent quarter.
GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- A Flint attorney is headed back on the ballot as a candidate for Genesee Circuit Court judge.

State Court of Claims Judge Michael J. Kelly ordered the Michigan Office of Secretary of State to accept nominating petitions filed by attorney Chris Christenson in an opinion issued Wednesday, June 10.

The Secretary of State had previously disqualified Christenson from the ballot because he used the address of his law office rather than the address where he is registered to vote in Grand Blanc on the petitions.

Kellys opinion sets up a three-way August election in the race to replace retiring Judge Michael J. Theile, including Christenson, Genesee District Court Judge Herman Marable Jr. and Stephanie Witucki, an attorney from the Grand Blanc area.

Just three days ago, the county Election Commission decided to wait before approving and printing the August primary election ballot because of the pending decision in the Christenson case.

The Election Commission is expected to meet next week to finalize the ballot now that Kellys decision has been made.

Kelly said in his opinion that he agreed with Christensons position that his home address was not required by state law.

"Having reviewed the pertinent statutory language, the Court agrees with plaintiff that a residential address is not required on a nominating petition. The statute uses the term address and street address, " Kelly wrote. "There has been no dispute that, at least on some level, that which (Christenson) provided ... was an address and/or a street address that belonged to or was associated with (him). And that is sufficient to effectively end the inquiry, because the plain language of the statute does not leave any room for concluding that the terms address or street address are subject to a qualifier such as ... a residential address. "

Genesee Circuit is the trial court of general jurisdiction in the county -- the court of original jurisdiction for all civil and criminal matters except those that are designated to be handled by district and probate courts. The Circuit Court also acts as the appellate-level court for Genesee District Court.

Genesee County waits to finalize ballot with unsettled candidate field in Circuit Court election

Candidate for Genesee Circuit Court disqualified for not using home address on petitions

Judge opens door to allow two Genesee County candidates back on August primary ballot
The ANRA SmartSkies(TM) platform enabling Drone Delivery ANRA is honored to lead two consortia for BVLOS experimentation with partners that have commercial and humanitarian use cases to advance drone operations for India, said Amit Ganjoo, CEO at ANRA Technologies.

ANRA Technologies, a leading provider of end-to-end drone operations and traffic management solutions, today announced that the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has granted exemptions to two consortia led by ANRA Technologies to operate drones for BVLOS operations in the country. ANRA Technologies, the only company to receive approvals for both its consortia will initially focus on delivering food and other essential items in the cities of Ropar and Etah as part of this pilot program.

The ANRA-led consortia includes partners like Swiggy, one of Indias largest online food delivery platforms. Also, the renowned Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, as well as BetterDrones, a drone service provider, will collaborate in the endeavor. These BVLOS operations are scheduled to begin in mid-July, subject to easing of COVID-19 restrictions. India is looking at the operations as a way of fast-tracking its unmanned systems policy and preparing the local industry for a major push into the drone services segment globally.

ANRA is honored to lead two consortia for BVLOS experimentation with partners that have commercial and humanitarian use cases to advance drone operations for India, said Amit Ganjoo, CEO at ANRA Technologies. Our initial operations will focus on delivering consumable items on-demand to residents in and around IIT Campus in Ropar in partnership with Swiggy.

Swiggy customers can place on-demand orders for snacks, food items, beverages and other essentials using the Swiggy App powered by the SmartSkies family of UTM and drone delivery solutions. The solution allows for real-time flight tracking so customers know exactly when their delivery will arrive. Orders are immediately processed and delivered to the nearest launch site where the package is transferred to a drone and flown to a predetermined drop site within an eight square kilometer area. From there a Swiggy driver will make the final delivery by motorcycle to the customers doorstep.

It is by leveraging technology that Swiggy transformed the food delivery industry and made it a part of everyday urban life in India. As thought leaders in the space, we are constantly working towards pushing the envelope with technological innovations applied to deliver convenience at scale. ANRAs world-class domain expertise combined with Swiggys deep market knowledge will enable the laying of groundwork for BVLOS operations for food delivery use cases. We believe that drone technology utilized to deliver consumer services will provide an unprecedented boost to the business while elevating the quality of life of urban consumers., said Alok Jain, Entrepreneur in Residence, Swiggy

"IIT Ropar is proud to be associated with the initiative taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), India, which has granted permission to operate drones for BVLOS operations in the country. IIT Ropar will partner with ANRA Technologies who are leading two consortia aimed at package delivery. The recent COVID 19 has shown that remote and unmanned delivery of essential items can not only be an usual business proposition but can be a life-saving endeavor aimed at restricting infections under such emergencies. IIT Ropar has already started efforts in this direction. I'm sure the present collaboration will bring out products and services of significant business and social impact", stated S K Das, Director, IIT Ropar

"Betterdrones is excited about this upcoming opportunity, and we look forward to using our best endeavors to make sure that we will succeed in this challenge with flying colors", said Kanav Kumar, Business Head, Betterdrones

ANRA is honored to be a domain expert in supporting the development of Indias nationwide operational UAS Traffic Management (UTM) platform called Digital Sky. This awareness of Indias drone implementation efforts combined with being a global leader in UTM and Drone Operations Management capabilities, ANRA Technologies hopes to leverage its experience to:



Help define technology-agnostic protocols to support interaction and data exchange between suppliers of UTM services

Determine suitability and applicability of existing technology capabilities

Understand trade-offs between interoperability and open implementations and any specific technical integration requirements for functionality

Determine acceptable performance envelopes for latency, reliability, availability times and near real-time aspects of communications

Establish how other key emerging standards, particularly Remote-ID and Detect and Avoid (DAA) standards, may be integrated as part of an overall Digital Sky UTM approach.

All these BVLOS operations will be enabled by ANRA SmartSkiesTM CTR and SmartSkies Delivery platforms. A coordinated, scalable, and highly adaptable family of software services, SmartSkiesTM provides execution and management of drone operations in controlled and uncontrolled airspace, ensuring the safety of the National Airspace and seamless integration into the legacy ATC systems.

Additionally, ANRA has designed an innovative feature for secure two-way text communication between drone pilots and airport towers. Only authorized tower personnel will be able to communicate with drone pilots using SmartSkies technology, helping to improve coordination during emergencies.

The ANRA platform is designed to be flexible so it can evolve as the trade space changes and matures, allowing regulators to maintain its authority over the airspace while permitting industry to manage operations in areas authorized for UAS flight.

ANRA Technologies' integrated platforms enable your SmartSkies Delivery application to benefit from a broad suite of services to safely and efficiently grow your drone delivery business

About ANRA Technologies

ANRA Technologies, Inc. is a leading international provider of end-to-end drone operations and traffic management solutions for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operators and airspace managers. ANRA offers highly sophisticated capabilities as part of the SmartSkiesTM family for commercial UAS operations. The platforms have been rigorously tested and vetted by the worlds foremost government aviation authorities and are operational today in multiple locations worldwide. ANRA participates in numerous standards development organizations, including Co-chair for ASTM International Committee F38 (UAS) for UTM and Remote ID, ANSI UAS Steering Committee, ISO Technical Committee 20/SC16 for UAS Standards, and ICAO Trust Framework Study Group. ANRA is also committed to furthering industry support for UTM as a national board member of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). ANRA CEO Amit Ganjoo is a Global UTM Association (GUTMA) board member and member of FAAs Drone Advisory Committee working group for UTM. ANRA Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Washington DC with regional offices in London and New Delhi. Learn more by visiting http://www.flyanra.com

About Swiggy

In August of 2014, Swiggy began operations by signing up a few restaurants in Koramangala, Bengaluru. Soon, the first team of Hunger Saviors came into action to deliver food within 40 minutes. Shortly after, Swiggy raised its first round of funding and launched its app in May of 2015. The technology that delivers great food right to homes was completely developed in-house. Today, Swiggy is the leading food ordering and delivery platform in India. Their innovative technology, large and nimble delivery service and exceptional consumer focus enable a host of benefits that include fast deliveries, live order tracking and no restrictions on order amount, all while having the pleasure of enjoying favorite meals anywhere.

About IIT

Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar is one of the eight new IITs set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, to expand the reach and enhance the quality of technical education in the country. This institute is committed to providing state-of-the-art technical education in a variety of fields and also for facilitating transmission of knowledge in keeping with the latest developments in pedagogy. These two areas of focus will enable students to gain exposure to recent trends in their chosen domains of study and gain practical experience through a wide variety of activities the institute facilitates in its own campus and arranges for in collaboration with industry and other institutes.

About BetterDrones

BetterDrones is a premier training institution developing an ecosystem for the drone industry. The organization undertakes drone operations in the field of data acquisition (including IR and thermal), agriculture, mining, survey, monitoring, and inspection. BetterDrones trains and certifies cadets as drone pilots and engineers by providing hands-on practice and experiences on live operational projects. Their curriculum is progressive and designed to prepare individuals for licensing with pre, progressive and final tests, and relevant soft skills for all roles. Its syllabus and conduct include best practices of the Indian Air Force and Army Aviation.
YEREVAN, 11 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 11 June, USD exchange rate up by 0.58 drams to 481.61 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.77 drams to 548.17 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate stood at 6.99 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 2.05 drams to 611.31 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 164.34 drams to 26664.43 drams. Silver price up by 1.64 drams to 274.3 drams. Platinum price up by 92.95 drams to 12975.69 drams.
By law, Apple needs to register its upcoming and unreleased products with the Eurasian Economic Database ahead of their launch. This time around, the company has registered nine new iPhone models and one Mac with the EEC database.

The iPhones that have passed through the database carry the following model numbers:

A2176

A2172

A2341

A2342

A2399

A2403

A2407

A2408

A2411

The iPhone 12 lineup from Apple is still a few months away from launch. However, we have previously seen the company register some of its upcoming products months before their possible release. The iPhone 12 lineup is expected to comprise of four different models: two regular iPhone 12 models with 5.4-inch and 6.1-inch OLED displays and two iPhone 12 Pro models with 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch 120Hz ProMotion displays. The iPhone 11 lineup had also passed through the EEC database around the same time last year.

As for the Mac, it carries the model number A2330. It is possible that this is the upcoming iMac refresh that Apple is rumored to show off at WWDC 2020 later this month. A leaked earlier this week pointed to Apple working on an iMac refresh with faster AMD Navi GPUs, an iPad Pro-like design with bezels similar to the Pro Display XDR, and more.

Apple and other companies are required to register their new and upcoming devices with the Eurasian database before they can release it to the public in Armenia, Belarus, Russia, and other countries that are a part of Eurasia. This has always given us a good idea of impending product announcements from Apple in the past. While the iPhone 12 lineup is not going to be released before September or October, the new iMac should be announced soon.

[Via MySmartPrice
The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which runs the Sabarimala hill temple, on Thursday decided not to allow devotees and dropped the annual temple festival after the temple tantri (supreme priest) expressed serious reservations.

The Kerala government, after the temple board and the priest differed over the opening of the hill shrine, has called a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram today.

We have decided not to allow devotees in view of the fluid situation. There are no differences between the priest family and the TDB, said state devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran.

The state minister said some people who were adamant on opening the shrine backtracked when the government decided to go ahead with it. The minister blamed cheap politics behind the confusion and the prolonged drama.

Tantri Kandararu Mohanararu also played down differences over the issue, saying it was ideal not to allow devotees at this juncture. He cited the increase in the coronavirus cases in Kerala and the neighbouring states behind his decision.

However, all daily poojas will be held at the shrine as per tantric customs. The temple was planning to open on June 14 and a week-long festival was to follow from June 19.

Earlier, the tantri had sent a letter to the TDB commissioner and spoke to TDB chairman N Vasu about delaying the opening. The TDB, however, claimed that it did not receive any communication in this regard. The tantri is usually considered as the final word on all ritualistic matters.

The TDB, a government-appointed body, runs Sabarimala and other major temples in south and central Kerala.

Many pilgrims swarm the temple from neighbouring states as well. It will be difficult to keep a tab on all devotees. So the festival and other functions can be postponed now, the tantri said, adding allowing devotees at this juncture will pose a serious threat. His demand came in the wake of many Hindu organisations questioning the governments decision to open shrines in the state.

Unveiling the graded exit plan under Unlock 1, the central government had allowed reopening of places of worship for devotees, malls and restaurants from June 8 across the country. They have been shut since March 25, when the lockdown was first imposed to check the spread of the pandemic.

The state has reported 2161 coronavirus cases with 19 deaths. At least 1238 people are undergoing treatment and more than 2 lakh people are under observation.
As countries are slowly re-opening and returning to a 'new normal', Dubai-based hospitality firm Maison Privee is the first to implement a mandatory Covid-19 test program for all employees and suppliers.

All guest facing staff and contractors working with the firm will be required to undergo testing using the Covid-19 IgM Rapid Testing Kit.

"The health and safety of guests is our number one priority. That's why we are rolling out a screening program to ensure that staff who interact with guests are regularly tested for Covid-19," said Rami Shamaa, Co-Founder and Managing Director. "We will also extend this mandatory testing to contractors who carry out cleaning or maintenance work in any Maison Privee properties," Shamaa continued.

The Hecin Covid-19 IgM Antibody Rapid Test Kit is an immunochromatographic assay for rapid, qualitative detection of Covid-19 IgM Antibody in human whole blood, serum, plasma and fingertip blood sample. The test is to be used as an aid in the diagnosis of coronavirus infection disease, which is caused by 2019-nCoV. It will be used alongside other precautionary measures including temperature checks, use of PPE and social distancing to protect staff and guests.

"Having a suite of measures, including rapid Covid-19 diagnostics, to ensure the health and safety of employees and staff is a regional first and we are very proud that Maison Privee is taking the lead on this in our industry," said Paul Mallee, Co-Founder and Managing Director.

These policies come as a welcome initiative representing the first use of such tests in Dubai's hospitality industry. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), testing is the best way to monitor and manage the pandemic until an effective coronavirus vaccine becomes available.

Other measures implemented by the company include a requirement for certification of all cleaning contractors by Dubai Municipality's Health & Safety Department. "All surfaces are thoroughly disinfected including all touch-points, such as light switches, remotes, door handles and kitchen utensils. It's very important that our guests feel safe staying with us, knowing that we're doing everything possible to reduce their risk of infection," said Mallee. - TradeArabia News Service
BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- A white paper on China's fight against COVID-19 has made clear that the country's major strategic achievements in fighting the virus are a result of the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and joint efforts made by the people.

Nothing can be achieved without the strong leadership of the CPC, which made correct decisions rapidly in response to the crisis, stressing a people-oriented governance philosophy and well-established mechanisms of organization and operation.

The country has adopted the most thorough and rigorous prevention and control measures against COVID-19 with an unprecedented scale of quarantine and isolation, said the white paper "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action" released recently by the State Council Information Office.

There was no delay or cover-up in the Chinese government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, as the country has kept its citizens and the international community informed on the development of the epidemic in a responsible, transparent and open manner.

Temporary hospitals were set up at full speed and medical resources across the country were mobilized. All COVID-19 patients, confirmed or suspected, received state subsidies for any medical bills not covered by medical insurance or the medical assistance fund.

Millions of Chinese medical workers have fought the epidemic around the clock, risking their lives to save every patient.

As a result, the cure rate for COVID-19 has reached over 94 percent on the Chinese mainland, while more than 3,000 COVID-19 patients over the age of 80 have been cured in Hubei, the Chinese province hardest hit by the epidemic.

Chinese citizens have also responded with discipline and devotion, while millions of people offered to work as volunteers.

Some 4 million Chinese community workers were working in around 650,000 urban and rural communities, taking body temperatures, screening for infection and sanitizing neighborhoods, said the white paper.

Science and technology have played an important role in China's fight against COVID-19, during which scientific and technical innovations, including big data and artificial intelligence, were applied.

As COVID-19 spreads across the world, China has intensified its international cooperation under the philosophy of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

China had sent 29 medical expert teams to 27 countries and offered assistance to 150 countries and four international organizations as of May 31. It also decided to make any China-made COVID-19 vaccine a global public good when it is ready for application.

Looking ahead, China will continue to offer help and share experience with the international community to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authorities have charged an Idaho man with destroying or concealing human remains after they found the bodies of two children on his property.

Chad Daybell was taken into custody after the discovery of the remains on his rural Idaho property on Tuesday.

Police were searching for his wifes two children who have been missing for months in a complex case that began in late 2019.

The bodies have not been officially identified, but a prosecutor said that they belonged to the children and the way one was concealed was particularly egregious. He did not elaborate, the Associated Press reports.

The grim discovery is a turning point in the case that drew global attention due to Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybells doomsday beliefs and the suspicious deaths of their former spouses.

The couple married in September 2019, a few weeks after authorities say her children were last seen.

Police began searching for seven-year-old Joshua Vallow, known as JJ, and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan in November after relatives raised concerns.

The couple lied to investigators about the childrens whereabouts before quietly leaving Idaho for Hawaii. They were located there months later.

Ms Vallow Daybell was arrested in February in Kauai. She has been charged with child abandonment and obstructing the investigation. She is in jail on $1m bond and intends to defend herself against the charges.

In court documents, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said he believes Mr Daybell either concealed or helped hide the remains knowing that they were about to be used as evidence in court.

Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan, the missing children of mother Lori Vallow Daybell (AP)

Mr Wood said the first body was hidden or destroyed sometime on or after September 8, when Tylee was last seen. The second body dates slightly later, to on or after September 22, the last known day that JJ was seen.

Mr Daybells bail was set at $1m in court on Wednesday, and he was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and stay in the region if hes released before trial. He mostly responded with one word answers when questioned.

The complex case spans several states and began with Ms Vallow Daybells brother shooting and killing her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, in suburban Phoenix last summer in what he asserted was self-defence.

Mr Vallow was seeking a divorce, saying his wife believed she had become a god-like figure who was responsible for ushering in the biblical end times.

Her brother, Alex Cox, died in December of an apparent blood clot in his lung.

Shortly after Mr Vallows death, Lori and the children moved to Idaho, where Chad Daybell lived.

He ran a small publishing company, putting out many fiction books he wrote about apocalyptic scenarios loosely based on the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also recorded podcasts about preparing for biblical end times, and friends said he claimed to be able to receive visions from beyond the veil.

He was married to Tammy Daybell, who died in her sleep last October of what her obituary said were natural causes.

Authorities became suspicious when Mr Daybell and Ms Vallow married just two weeks later.

Tammy Daybells body was exhumed in December, but the results of the subsequent autopsy have not been released.

WIth reporting from the Associated Press
A woman recently released from state prison on shoplifting charges was caught stealing from more central Pennsylvania stores to repay drug debts, authorities said.

Lancaster County prosecutors said 52-year-old Kathleen E. Moore, of Lititz, robbed three stores on Jan. 4, including one which shed stolen from before going to prison.

Moore took about $900 worth of merchandise from Walgreens, Giant and Weis Markets in Lancaster and Manheim townships, according to the Lancaster County District Attorneys Office.

This was the second time she targeted the Weis on Millersville Pike, authorities said.

Surveillance cameras caught Moore leaving the stores without paying, prosecutors said. Police said they recognized her from past investigations.

Moore was sentenced to 3 to 12 years in prison in 2017, authorities said. Shed recently been paroled when she was caught in January.

She pleaded guilty to the latest shoplifting charges, and in exchange received a four-and-a-half to 10-year prison sentence.

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YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. If youre intending on coming to the EU for a holiday it's worth knowing the bloc's external borders are set to be closed until at least June 15. But that only applies if you're a non-EU citizen coming from a non-EU country. The EU Commission has called for the reopening of the bloc's internal borders by the end of June, Euronews reports.

Here is an updated guide to the border situation in Europe this summer:

Austria opened its land borders with Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic on 4 June.

The country will reopen its border with Italy from 16 June, but a travel warning will be issued for the region of Lombardy. There will be no restrictions with most European Union countries.

People arriving in Austria "from any other country" however must produce a medical certificate proving a negative COVID-19 test. The certificate cannot be more than four days' old.

Belgium's borders are closed and the country has banned non-essential travel abroad.

The government has announced plans to reopen the border to citizens from the EU, the UK and the four other Schengen countries (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway) from June 15.

Cyprus resumes tourism travel on June 9 and will do so in two different phases, after closing borders for almost three months. A first reopening is scheduled for June 9 to passengers coming from Greece, Malta, Bulgaria, Norway, Austria, Finland, Slovenia, Hungary, Israel, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia and Lithuania, but they will have to obtain a health certificate proving they are virus-free three days prior their departure. On June 20, passengers from Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Estonia and the Czech Republic will be allowed in too. US, France, Spain, and Italy remain excluded too until further notice.

The Czech Republics borders with Austria and Germany reopened on 5 June, 10 days earlier than expected. From May 27, the country opened its frontier with the Slovakia and Hungary, but with restrictions.

Residents of EU member states able to enter to perform economic activities, to visit relatives or to study at a university. Everyone will have to prove themselves with a negative test for COVID-19 upon entry.

Frances Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced plans to reopen France's border to EU countries and the UK from June 15, following the plans of other EU countries.

For the time being travel into France is restricted with only essential travel allowed for those who don't live in the country.

Travelers arriving from the UK or Spain will be subject to a voluntary quarantine. Those from outside the EU or UK will still not be able to travel to France except for in limited circumstances, while EU countries are still to decide when they will reopen external borders.

Germany will open its borders to the EU and UK from June 16. Currently, travellers are expected to have a valid reason for entering Germany. However, restrictions at the borders have been loosened. Checks at the frontier with Austria, Switzerland, France and Denmark and for passengers arriving by air from Italy and Spain remain in effect until 16 June.

In case of Greece, only a limited number of international flights are allowed to land in Athens. All arriving passengers must be tested and stay overnight at a designated hotel. In case of a negative test, passengers have to quarantine for 7 days. If the test is positive, they need to quarantine "under supervision" for 14 days.

From June 15, tourism travel resumes, and international flights will land not just in Athens but in Thessaloniki too.

However, some passengers will have to undergo mandatory testing upon arrival.

Those coming from any of these airports listed by the European Aviation Safety Agency, will have to get tested on arrival, then go to a designated hotel and quarantine for 7 days if the test is negative, and for 14 days if the test is positive.

All other passengers, including all travellers coming from Albania, Australia, Austria, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, Israel, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, New Zealand, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, South Korea, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Finland - will be subject to random tests and no further restrictions.

Italy opened its borders on June 3 to EU, UK, Schengen area, Andorra and Monaco citizens, following the nationwide lockdown which came into force on March 9. Borders also opened with Vatican City and San Marino on this date.

Travellers coming from the above countries won't have to undergo quarantine unless they have been in any other country in the 14 days before reaching Italy.

On June 8, Russia said it will partially reopen its borders as the country eases coronavirus restrictions.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that traveling abroad for work, medical or studying purposes will be allowed, as well as for taking care of relatives. He also said Russia will let in foreigners seeking medical treatment or taking care of family members. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters there is no set date yet for resuming international flights, which were halted in late March.

Spain will open its borders to international visitors on July 1, backtracking on a previous announcement from Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto that restrictions to border crossings with neighbours Portugal and France would be lifted on June 22.

Currently, people who enter the national territory from abroad must stay in quarantine for 14 days after their arrival, but this will end on July 1 according to officials.

No entry permitted for foreign travelers to Turkey.

UKs borders are currently open. From June 8, visitors from abroad will be required to quarantine for 14 days. Those exempt from these measures include people travelling from Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

As in other countries, certain professions are exempt from these rules, such as healthcare workers travelling to deliver healthcare in the country. Upon arrival, those who are required to self-isolate need to provide their journey and contact details.
The strategic dialogue between Iraq and the United States opened at 9 a.m. Eastern time on June 11 and continued for two hours. The first meeting in the series covered four major topics.

The first was a security discussion led by the head of the US delegation, David Hale, undersecretary of state for political affairs. Representatives of the US Department of Defense also participated in the meeting, expressing their concerns about threats against US troops in Iraq.

The second was an economic discussion led by the Iraqi side about the country's ongoing economic crisis, the government's plans to overcome it and Iraq's plan to become independent of Iranian energy exports. The US delegation emphasized the necessity of economic reforms, expressing US readiness to help Iraq, especially in the energy sector.

A third part was about the political process and organizing early elections, which Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi has promised to do. This portion, which was led by the US side, also addressed human rights in Iraq and the necessity of seeking justice for those hurt and killed in the protests that started last October. More than 700 people have been killed in the protests so far and about 30,000 wounded.

The last portion was a cultural discussion. Iraq has asked the United States to return the Baath Archive and some other pieces of Iraqi heritage. Iraq also asked the United States to extend scholarship programs for Iraqi students.

In a joint statement following the first session, both parties emphasized that "The two governments look forward to in-depth discussions of the above issues at a Strategic Dialogue Higher Coordination Committee meeting in Washington, D.C., likely in July."

Iraqi Sunnis and Kurds have shown full support for the strategic dialogue, while Shiites are divided into two camps. Pro-Iran militias and political forces including the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Fatah bloc, Nouri al-Malikis State of Law coalition and Muqtada Sadrs Sairoun have expressed strong objections against any talks with the United States that do not end with the expulsion of US troops from the country. But Ammar Hakims Hikmah Movement and Haider al-Abadis Nasr Coalition supported the dialogue, encouraging the Iraqi government to expand its relationship with the United States.

In his first reaction to the pro-Iran group, Kadhimi announced June 11 that the dialogue with the United States relies on the will of top Shiite religious authority Ayatollah Ali Sistani and the Iraqi Parliament as well as Iraq's needs. Sistani previously expressed his objection to seeking the expulsion of US troops from Iraq before the next elections.

Although pro-Iran forces in Iraq follow Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, they respect Sistanis views and usually avoid taking action against them.

Interestingly, the pro-Iran forces showed flexibility about US' troops presence in the country.

Head of the Fatah bloc Hadi Amiri said that the dialogue must include a timetable for US troops' departure from the country. Fatah previously insisted on their immediate departure.

Head of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Qais al-Khazali, has said, The American administration should know that when it demands its military forces remain in Iraq, it will be governed by Iraqi law because the Iraqi Parliament has previously refused and will refuse to give immunity to them." Khazali is clearly no longer objecting to the US troops' presence, but only opposing providing them with legal immunity.

Referring to Iraqi PMU's which have coordinated with the government, the spokesman of the US-led anti-IS coalition in Iraq, Col. Myles B. Caggins, said in a June 11 interview with the Iraqi News Agency, "The international coalition has preserved fundamental partnerships with the PMU within the joint operations [against IS]," adding, "The PMU and its organization is an Iraqi affair and has nothing to do with the international coalition." He noted, "The coalition has no intention of going to war with any neighboring country and its presence is only aimed at combating IS."

The statements from all sides regarding the status of the PMU are significant, as Kadhimi seeks to avoid Iraq again becoming a battlefield between Iran and the United States.

Editor's note: June 12, 2020. This article has been updated since its initial publication.
Postman, a San Francisco, CA-based platform for API development, secured $150m in Series C funding round.

The round, which valued the company at $2 billion, was led by Insight Partners, which joined previous investors CRV and Nexus Venture Partners.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations and its business reach.

Led by CEO and co-founder Abhinav Asthana, Postman provides an API Platform for users to accelerate their pace and effectiveness of software development. The solution enables the building of APIs at the very beginning of the development cycle and collaboration between all stakeholders like product management, DevOps, and quality engineering. It is used by more than 11 million developers and 500,000 companies worldwide. The compamy also has an office in Bangalore, where it was founded.

FinSMEs

11/06/2020
Former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn told CNBC on Thursday that more market volatility may lie ahead, following the worst day for stocks in three months.

"We're in the period where we're trying to find a relative fair value for equity," Cohn said on "Closing Bell." "That doesn't mean they can't go lower. And it doesn't mean they can't go higher. We're trying to digest right now what value should be."

The S&P 500 closed Thursday's session at 3,002, giving up nearly 6% in its third-straight day of losses. It was a sizable setback during a run in equities that saw the S&P 500 bounce more than 40% off its late March coronavirus-driven low.

The broad index set its all-time high of 3,393 on Feb. 19, before falling into a coronavirus-induced bear market. Its most recent low of 2,191 came March 23.

"Markets always overshoot," said Cohn, who served as president of Goldman for over a decade. "We probably overshot on the downside, and we probably overshot on the upside."

Thursday's pullback in stocks came as Wall Street assessed news that some states, such as Arizona and Texas, were seeing spikes in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations following the reopening of their economies. There is concern over what the economic impact of a possible second wave of cases could be.

Cohn, a former White House economic advisor, echoed comments made earlier Thursday by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who told CNBC that the U.S. "can't shut down the economy again" if there's a second wave in the fall.

"We're much smarter today than we were in March" when the crisis began, Cohn said. "We're going to change the way we react. We're going to do different things in the economy. I do think the market is understanding that."

However, Cohn stressed the U.S. is not even through the first wave of the Covid-19 outbreak and it could persist for months. "I think we're all trying to guess what's going to happen in the fall," he said.
BETHLEHEM  The Bethlehem town board is set to vote on imposing strict new regulations on the sale of tobacco and vaping products that would require retailers to get a local license.

The new regulations would be accompanied by a six-month ban on the approval of any new vaping shops as the town sets up the licensing program, which is opposed by gas stations and convenience stores that sell tobacco.

The licensing program would be designed as a "cap and winnow" system that would require two businesses to give up their tobacco licenses if a new retailer wanted to get a license. The system would eventually cut the number of tobacco retailers in town from 15 to seven over time.

Under the proposed laws, vaping stores would be prohibited from within 1,000 feet of a school. The town currently has one operating vape shop in Glenmont, although it is far enough away from Glenmont Elementary to comply with the proposed regulations.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the town board held public hearings on the proposals virtually via Zoom during its two recent meetings. A vote is expected at the board's next meeting later this month.

"We'll vote on these proposed local laws at our June 24th town board meeting," Bethlehem Supervisor David VanLuven said Wednesday night after the second Zoom public hearing call.

Citizens have appeared on the calls to voice their opinions on the proposals, and have also submitted letters that town board members have read out loud.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The New York Association of Convenience Stores has been the most vocal against the proposed tobacco regulations, which have not laid out the cost of a town tobacco sales license.

"With its convoluted system for allotting a shrinking number of new licenses based on distance, type of business, or pure chance, this restrictive covenant scheme sounds rather burdensome for retail applicants and the town itself, absent compelling evidence of underage sales," NYACS President James Calvin said in a letter to the town board. "And the fact that the license fee isnt even specified in the proposed local law makes us even more skeptical."

While tobacco retailers have opposed the new laws as overbearing and duplicative of state regulations, local residents have overwhelmingly approved of passing the policies to prevent underage smoking.

"Vape shops go 100 percent against the core value of Delmar as a community grounded in health and wellness," resident Melissa Hurt wrote the town board. "Just look at all the people on the bike paths and rail trail year-round to see."




Nearly six months after the US assassinated IRGC General Soleimani, Tehran is losing its grip on armed groups in Iraq.

Iraqi militia factions expected the usual cash handout when the new head of Irans Quds Force made his first visit to Baghdad earlier this year, succeeding the slain General Qassem Soleimani.

Instead, to their disappointment, Esmail Ghaani brought them silver rings.

For his second visit, Ghaani had to apply for a visa, something unheard of in Soleimanis time  a bold step by Baghdads new government effectively curtailing Irans freedom of movement inside Iraq.

The episodes, relayed by several Iraqi officials, illustrate Irans struggles to maintain sway over Iraqi armed groups six months after the United States assassinated Soleimani and top militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike.

Iran at the same time is grappling with the economic fallout from US sanctions and the coronavirus outbreak.

Without imposing figures such as Soleimani and al-Muhandis to unify disparate factions, divisions have emerged in the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), the umbrella group of mainly Shia fighters.

Their deaths also disrupted a trajectory to institutionalise the armed groups, which al-Muhandis had been meticulously planning with Soleimanis blessing.

With al-Muhandis gone, there is an absence of an anchor around which [PMF] politics revolves, said Fanar Haddad, an Iraq researcher.

Reduced funds and clout

Among Iraqs Shia political and militia factions, Soleimani, a chief architect of Irans proxy groups across the region, held almost legendary status.

Charismatic and a fluent Arabic speaker, his rapport with Iraqi officials was unmatched. He slipped in and out of Iraq regularly to plan, mediate and give cash assistance. One surprise visit by him was sufficient to broker agreement between rival factions, officials said.





Since his death, Shia groups have shown discord, arguing over a prime ministerial candidate twice before they settled on Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Soleimanis successor as Quds Force commander, Ghaani, is less familiar with Iraqi militia leaders and speaks to them through an interpreter. Meetings in Iraq have increasingly been handled by Iranian Ambassador Iraj Masjedi, himself a former Quds Force member.

Ghaanis gift of silver rings  symbolically important in Shia Islam  rather than cash came during a meeting in April with leaders of several militia factions, according to three officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the press.

Ghaani told them, for the moment, they would have to rely on Iraqi state funding, the officials said, a sign of Irans economic crisis.

PMF fighters are paid primarily through the state  $2bn in the 2019 budget  but the funds are not dispersed equally. Smaller Iranian-backed groups rely on other informal means of revenue and receive extras from Iran, roughly $3m-$9m, two Iraqi officials close to the militias said.

Growing fractures

The PMF was created in 2014 as a framework to organise and pay the thousands who volunteered to fight the armed group ISIL (ISIS) after a fatwa by Iraqs top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Since then, its political and military might has soared. Under the staunchly pro-Iranian al-Muhandis, it became a channel for Tehrans influence.

His death opened the door for factions opposed to that influence  particularly ones associated with al-Sistani  to break from the PMF leadership. Militias complain that Iran-friendly groups receive preferential treatment.





The man seen as al-Muhandiss likely successor, Abdulaziz al-Mohammadawi, known as Abu Fadak, met opposition from factions who saw him as the Iranian-backed choice. He has not been officially recognised by the prime minister, though he has assumed some administrative duties, according to officials.

Some of the most Iran-friendly militias under the PMF have shown signs of splintering.

Attacks against US forces in March were claimed by a purported new group, Usbat al-Thairen, believed to have emerged from the powerful Kataib Hezbollah, which the US accused in previous attacks.

Recently, four militias affiliated with the shrines connected to al-Sistani said they would take orders directly from Iraqs prime minister, bypassing the PMF leadership.

A senior official from Kataib Hezbollah said the move has weakened the PMF and its legitimacy among the public. For many Iraqis, the groups credibility is derived from al-Sistanis fatwa.

The fissure was plain to see when, weeks into his leadership, al-Kadhimi visited the PMF headquarters. To his right sat figures friendly with Tehran, to his left those affiliated with al-Sistani.

It marks a major wrench by the Shia establishment led by al-Sistani into Irans broader plans, said Randa Slim, director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues programme at the Middle East Institute.

They are basically saying we do not want an organ that takes its orders from Iran, she said.

Uncertain future

A larger question looms over the future of the PMF.

Al-Muhandis had been directing plans to transform a band of independent militias into a more professional force. Those plans remain unfinished, said three militia commanders on a recent visit to Mosul.

Under al-Muhandis, the PMF began referring to its units by brigade numbers rather than faction names and made moves towards imposing military rank structures and disciplinary courts. He oversaw the creation of engineering units providing services such as roadworks.

He held immense influence over militias and their supporters.

When protesters attacked the US Embassy in Baghdad on December 31 in response to American strikes on Kataib Hezbollah targets, it was al-Muhandis and not Iraqi security forces who was ultimately called upon to have them pull back, according to two Iraqi officials.

Hajj Abu Mahdi made us an official group, its the most important thing he did, said Mohammed al-Mousawi, a PMF commander.

For the years ahead, he had planned greater training for fighters, academies and recruitment to improve management, al-Mousawi said.

Iran appears to be taking a back foot in Iraq. But, experts said, this is likely to be short-lived.

Iran has proved that it learns and evolves, said Slim. Now its in the learning phase.
Iran's letter to IAEA about US' irresponsible conduct

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 10 June 2020 / 13:11

Tehran (ISNA) - Ambassador and permanent representative of Iran to the International Organizations in Vienna, Kazem Gharib-Abadi in a letter to director general of the IAEA warned about the US irresponsible and inhuman behaviour regarding its international commitments in the fields of nuclear cooperation and creating obstacles in the field.

Here is the full text of Kazem Gharib-Abadi's letter:

Distinguished Director General,

Upon instructions and on behalf of my Government, I would like to bring to your attention the persistent United States' irresponsible conduct with respect to its multilateral obligations and international law, to hamper international nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes, which is source of serious concern.

The unlawful actions by the United States in contradiction with the Agency's Statute and the commitments made in the General Conference (GC) Resolutions, as well as against the nuclear cooperation and activities in accordance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and UNSCR 2231 (2015) are not only in violation of the UN Charter, but also could greatly impede the full implementation of the JCPOA.

I would like to recall that as stated in Article II of the IAEA Statute, the objectives of the Agency are "to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world", and one of the statutory functions of the Agency, as stated in Article III of the Statute, is to "encourage and assist research on, and development and practical application of, atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world". Also, as stipulated in its article IV, which constitutes one of the fundamental objectives and pillars of the NPT, the central role of the Agency is to promote international cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy for the realization of "the inalienable right of all the parties to the Treaty (NPT) to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with articles 1 and 11of the Treaty!'.

Such rights, objectives and roles of the lAEA were also highlighted and reaffirmed in the Agency's annual General Conference (GC) Resolutions; the annual GC Resolution on "Strengthening of the Agency's Technical Cooperation Activities" requests the Secretariat to "continue to facilitate and to enhance the development of nuclear technology and know how and its transfer to and among Member States for peaceful uses ... ", and "encourages Member States to contribute in sharing knowledge and technology in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy".

Furthermore, the annual GC Resolution on "Strengthening the Agency's Activities related to Nuclear Science, Technology and Applications" recognizes "the importance of assisting Member States interested in uranium production to develop and maintain sustainable activities through appropriate technology, infrastructure and stakeholder involvement and the development of skilled human resources".

Promotion and protection of peaceful nuclear activities enjoys such an importance that even measures adopted under nuclear security should not hamper it. In this regard, the GC Resolution on "Nuclear Security'" "calls upon all States to ensure that measures to strengthen nuclear security do not hamper international cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, the production, transfer and use of nuclear and other radioactive material, the exchange of nuclear material for peaceful purposes and the promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and do not undermine the established priorities of the Agency's technical cooperation programme".

Against this backdrop, on 27 May 2020, the United States announced that it would unilaterally sanction "all remaining JCPOA-originating nuclear projects in Iran - the Arak reactor conversion, the provision of enriched uranium for the Tehran Research Reactor, and the export of Iran's research reactor fuel". "This action together with the previous malign policies and conducts of the United States against the nuclear cooperation and activities in accordance with the JCPOA and UNSCR 2231 (2015) - in particular designation of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and its Head Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi (31 January 2020) as well as sanctioning the cooperation and activities between Iran and other countries regarding transfer of enriched uranium out of Iran in exchange for natural uranium and providing the storage for Iran of heavy water (3 May 2019) and also Fordow facility (18 November 2019) is intended to substantially prevent Iran, other participant and the international community from implementing their commitments under the JCPOA.

It is noteworthy that the malign policies of the US are not limited to its recent acts. In fact, the US is accustomed to such internationally abhorred policies. The US actions even contradict with the Resolution GOV12015172 adopted by the Board of Governors on 15 December 2015 which, among others, while "recognizing the long-term nature of the provisions of the JCPOA and their implications for the Agency", and "being guided by, inter-alia, the affirmation by the United Nations Security Council in its resolution 2231 (2015)" that "conclusion of the JCPOA marks a fundamental shift in its consideration of this issue", emphasizes "the importance of faithfully honouring the undertakings and commitments under the JCPOA".

Excellency,

The Security Council resolution 2231 (2015) encourages Member States to cooperate with Iran in the framework of the JCPOA in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to engage in mutually determined civil nuclear cooperation. According to this resolution, States are authorized to supply, sale, or transfer of items, materials, equipment, goods and technology, and the provision of any related technical assistance, training, financial assistance, investment, brokering or other services, that is directly related to the modification of two cascades at the Fordow facility for stable isotope production; the export of Iran's enriched uranium in excess of300 kilograms in return for natural uranium; and the modernization of the Arak reactor. The resolution also endorses that these activities continue to be in effect even if the provisions of previous resolutions are applied. Moreover, the supply of a quantity of 19.75% enriched uranium oxide (U308) exclusively for the purpose of fabrication in Iran of fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor and enriched uranium targets for the lifetime of the reactor is guaranteed in UNSCR 2231 (2015).

These unlawful actions adversely affect the international civil nuclear cooperation and activities as specified in Annex I and Annex III to the JCPOA by technically and practically impeding the full implementation of the JCPOA by the remaining participants and the rest of international community. These are not necessarily restricted to above-mentioned areas, but also extended to the humanitarian applications of the nuclear science and technology by imposing sanctions on radiopharmaceutical production company (Pars Isotopes Co.) and Iran's Nuclear Regulatory Authority (INRA), and even intimidating and threatening the Iranian nuclear experts in clear contradiction with the letters and spirit of the lAEA Statute". Such irresponsible and inhuman behaviour by the US is not only endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients in dire need of those radiopharmaceuticals, but also posing a serious threat to the nuclear scientists, which the US would be held accountable for any event in this regard.

These acts by the United States not only constitute a significant material breach of the Security Council resolution 2231, but also are in clear violation of its obligations under the relevant lAEA instruments. The United States sanctions and policies have also prevented the implementation of relevant nuclear-related provisions of Security Council resolution 2231 (2015) by Member States, including the Islamic Republic of Iran.

While the Islamic Republic of lran is entitled to take remedial measures, which the Agency will be duly informed at any stage of its development, the United States shall bear full responsibility for the consequences of its wrongful acts. It must immediately remove these restrictions and limitations on the international cooperation on peaceful uses of nuclear energy which are in contradiction to the objective of the Statute of the Agency, principles of the Non-proliferation Treaty and the provisions of the Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015).

The Members of the Agency should uphold their responsibilities and consider and react proportionately to the unlawful conduct of the United States that is endangering international cooperation in the field of nuclear energy and technology.

It is crucial that the United States violations of its relevant obligations and unilateral actions should not have any negative impact on the work of the Agency in pursuing its mandate in the fields of peaceful nuclear uses in accordance with its Statute and other relevant documents. The Director General is requested to duly reflect such violations by the US in his reports on the implementation of the relevant instruments of the Agency.

I would be grateful for the circulation of this letter as an official document of the lAEA.

Please, accept, Sir, the assurances of my highest consideration.

End Item

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Nepals parliament will hold a special meeting on Saturday to complete voting on a new political map that redraws its border with India. Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis push to get parliament to hold a special sitting on a public holiday - Saturday is the weekly public holiday in Nepal - is seen as an effort to signal his determination to escalate the boundary row with India.

The new map shows Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani - a sliver of land counted as part of Indias Uttarakhand in the older maps - to be in northwestern Nepal.

Nepals lower house had backed the constitution amendment bill that formalises the new map on Tuesday this week. But before lawmakers can vote on the bill, parliamentary procedures require the legislature to give 72 hours to allow any MP to move an amendment. No amendments have been proposed so far, people familiar with the development in Kathmandu told Hindustan Times.

The 72-hour period ends on Friday evening.

An India official said the fact that PM Oli did not wait for parliaments next working day to take up the legislation on the new map speaks volumes about his intentions.

Also read | In Nepals map tactics, a reflection of Chinas growing footprint in Kathmandu

PM Oli, who has been facing pressure from his rivals within the ruling party, came up with the surprise move last month within 10 days of India formally opening a road to Lipulekh Pass for Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims.

In Delhi and Kathmandu, the new map has been seen as an attempt by the Communist Party of Nepal leader to consolidate public support behind him and whip up ultra-nationalistic sentiments.

The announcement, which came around the same time that a standoff between India and China was at its peak, is also seen to have the blessings of Beijings communist party.

In April this year when PM Oli had issued two ordinances to amend the anti-defection law to blunt a political offensive launched by his detractors, China got him to scrap the changes within five days. Chinese president Xi Jinpings emissaries told PM Oli that he should not allow the communist party to be split over their differences.

India has described PM Olis map as a unilateral act that was not based on historical facts or evidence and asked Kathmandu to refrain from such unjustified cartographic assertion for an artificial enlargement of territorial claims.

To be sure, Prime Minister Oli told lawmakers on Wednesday that he had sought talks to resolve the dispute with India.

We have told (them) that we want to resolve this through diplomatic talks ... And the solution is that our land should be returned to us, Oli said in parliament on Wednesday. He also deplored Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths comment that asked Nepal to think through the long-term consequences of its decision and asked Kathmandu to remember what happened to Tibet.

Indian officials have also told Hindustan Times that New Delhi had taken note of the developments around the map and stressed that parliamentary approval would seal any possibility of dialogue between the two sides on the dispute manufactured by Kathmandu.

But do not expect many harsh statements from the government, one of them said, suggesting that New Delhi was more likely to go for the silent treatment as far as the Nepal leadership is concerned but keep its focus on cementing ties with the people of Nepal.

That approach was on display in New Delhi on Thursday when external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava was asked about the developments around the map. Srivastava spoke about friendly relations between the two countries and Indias cooperation via-a-vis Covid-19. But on the map, he refused to say much except to stress that New Delhi had already made its position clear.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:57:30|Editor: huaxia

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DAMASCUS, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday sacked his government's prime minister Emad Khamis, the state news agency SANA reported.

Assad named Hussain Arnous as the new prime minister in addition to his previous duties as minister of water resources.

The current government will continue its duties until the new parliamentary elections next month.

The new move comes in light of the tough economic situation that Syria is passing through with a steep devaluation of the Syrian currency amid soaring prices.

Some anti-government protests took place in Syria's southern province of Sweida over the past few days, demanding the downfall of the government. Enditem
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:

Turkmenistan is assessing the possibility of harvesting new Russian winter wheat varieties in Research and Production Testing Center in Gubadag district of Dashoguz region, Trend reports with reference to "Zolotoy Vek" (Golden Age) newspaper.

Among them is Russias 'Alekseevich' medium-ripened wheat variety, as well as such varieties as Bezostaya-100, Kalym, Moskovskaya-56 and Bagrat.

All the mentioned varieties are examined for the possibility of cultivation in the soil and climate conditions of Turkmenistan. Their productivity, drought resistance, persistence to diseases will be evaluated, the report says.

The Turkmen farmers continue to breed new wheat varieties, in particular, one of which will be put up for sale (the Dovletli wheat variety). Also, the seeds obtained this year from new wheat varieties will be transferred to local farms for testing.

Reportedly, agriculture in Turkmenistan is developing rapidly. It is one of the most important sectors of the country's economy. The main types of agricultural crops grown on the territory of Turkmenistan are wheat, cotton, rice, sugar beet, fodder, vegetable and fruits.

The development of agriculture is carried out on a scientific basis. Various types of agricultural crops are grown taking into account the agro-ecological characteristics of the country's regions.

Special attention is paid to increasing the volume of products in Turkmenistan. As a result, in recent years, the country has increased the production of vegetables and fruit and berries and enlarged the area of perennial plants, vineyards and greenhouses.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Starting Saturday, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will make changes to its transit service, including bringing back some routes that had previously been discontinued due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Muni, under the changes, full routes for the 5-Fulton and 30-Stockton will be restored.

Service along the 7-Noriega will be restored from Ortega Street and 48th Avenue to Funston Avenue and Irving Street and service along the 43-Masonic line will be restored from Geary Boulevard and Masonic Avenue to Geneva Avenue and Munich Street.

Additionally, service along the 28-19th Avenue line will be extended to the north, going to California Street and Seventh Avenue.

Also, between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., the 38-Geary outbound bus will go to Fort Miley and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and end at Geary Boulevard and 32nd Avenue instead of 48th and Point Lobos avenues.

Lastly, the L-Taraval bus, T-Third Street bus, the L Owl bus and the 14R-Mission Rapid line will all see increased frequencies, while the N-Judah bus will begin using 60-foot buses.

In addition to the restored routes and other changes to service, on Monday street sweeping enforcement will resume, Muni officials said.

Since the March 17 stay home order, the city had halted street sweeping enforcement so that people could stay home. The city had been relying on residents to voluntarily move their vehicles, however, as some businesses are reopening, street sweeping enforcement is set to resume.

According to city officials, parking tickets connected to street sweeping violations can be waived for residents who are still being affected by COVID-19.

Copyright  2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Icy conditions with periods of freezing rain. Significant icing possible. Low 26F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 80%..

Tonight

Icy conditions with periods of freezing rain. Significant icing possible. Low 26F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 80%.
Related EU begins Libya arms embargo mission

A Turkish warship prevented the EU's new naval mission enforcing the Libya arms embargo from checking a suspect freighter off the war-torn country's coast, European sources said Thursday.

A Greek navy ship working under Operation Irini tried to check a cargo vessel off the Libyan coast on Wednesday but was warned off by its Turkish military escort, according to media reports in Turkey and Greece.

Peter Stano, foreign affairs spokesman for the EU, confirmed that the Irini vessel had tried to hail the freighter but "the response was not affirmative" and the inspection could not proceed.

"We are now in the process of further verification of information and reasons given for this behaviour," Stano said.

Operation Irini was set up to halt the flow of arms into Libya, where the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) has faced a major uprising by the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of lead by Khalifa Haftar -- who is supported by Russia.

Turkey has strongly backed the Tripoli-based GNA, which in recent weeks has recaptured all remaining outposts in western Libya from LNA forces, who had sought to seize the capital in a 14-month offensive.

Since it began operations last month, Irini has hailed more than 75 vessels for inspection, Stano said, though he did not say how many had been successful.

Without the consent of the ship in question -- or its escort -- Operation Irini cannot board a vessel to inspect its cargo, Stano said.

Instead, it refers cases to a panel of UN experts.

Libya has been mired in chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Earlier this week EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Italy called for a ceasefire as well as the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries.

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As we gain more and more information about the coronavirus and COVID-19, we seem to have less and less understanding of how the disease works and how prevalent it is in areas around the country and world.

Not only does the information keep changing as scientists sift through the data, but the inability of some experts to make that information understandable to the public further confuses matters. Most recently, the World Health Organization had to walk back comments from one of its top leaders about the asymptomatic transmission of the virus.

Meanwhile, Congress seems to have put on the back burner another round of legislation to help those most affected by the virus and accompanying economic shutdowns. And the devastation the virus has unleashed on the nation's nursing homes and long-term care facilities continues to get less attention than it should, given that nursing homes alone account for almost a third of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S.

This week's panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call.

Among the takeaways from this week's podcast:

The recent turnaround by the World Health Organization on whether the coronavirus can be transmitted by asymptomatic carriers points to the many difficulties public health officials have in communicating to the public about the disease. Although knowledge about the virus is developing rapidly, there are still too many mysteries about how it operates.

Even scientists well schooled in disease transmission are confused about how to handle the coronavirus. The New York Times' survey of epidemiologists found a surprising diversity of views on what activities they consider safe.

As people weigh their risks with the reopening of many governments and businesses around the country, some activities, such as schooling for children, may be considered of such importance that they opt to go forward despite the risk.

Congress appears to be in no hurry to move on another funding bill to provide relief to health care organizations or people who have been forced out of work. The House is not in town until later this month, so it would appear unlikely that lawmakers could pass anything before their July Fourth recess.

The Trump administration still hasn't pushed out all the funding that was already approved, but it announced this week it is finally making some of those funds available to health care providers who generally work with low-income patients and are paid through Medicaid. Part of the problem lies in the way the relief bills were written: The federal government had to disburse the money and couldn't let the states do it. Generally, states make the reimbursements for Medicaid, so they were the ones with the needed lists of providers and their financial information.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on nursing homes, leading to large numbers of residents and staff becoming become ill or dying. Such catastrophes may help focus attention on long-term problems that plague these facilities.

Also this week, Rovner interviews Michael Mackert, director of the Center for Health Communication at the University of Texas-Austin's Dell Medical School. Mackert, who teaches in both the medical school and the university's Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, talks about why health experts have had such a difficult time explaining what the public needs to know about the virus.

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read too:

Julie Rovner: The New York Times' "Hospitals Got Bailouts and Furloughed Thousands While Paying C.E.O.s Millions" by Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Jesse Drucker and David Enrich

Margot Sanger-Katz: The Washington Post's "Coronavirus Infections Haven't Spiked Since Europe Loosened Lockdowns. There Are Many Theories About Why" by Chico Harlan, Loveday Morris, Michael Birnbaum and Stephano Pitrelli

Paige Winfield Cunningham: The Baton Rouge Advocate's "Louisiana Is Spending Millions on Contact Tracing. But Less Than Half of Infected Are Answering the Phone" by Sam Karlin

Mary Ellen McIntire: The Washington Post's "The Pandemic Hit and This Car Became Home for a Family of Four. Now They're Fighting to Get Out," by Greg Jaffe

To hear all our podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to What the Health? on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or Pocket Casts.




By Lee Hyo-jin







A man in his 60s, who attacked a friend with a kitchen knife after believing the friend had used the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse for not visiting him, has received a suspended jail sentence.







According to the Seoul Eastern District Court Wednesday, Judge Kim Jae-eun sentenced the man, surnamed Lee, to six months in prison, suspended for two years, on June 5. The court also ordered monitoring of his whereabouts and 80 hours of community service.







Lee was accused of attacking the friend at his home in Songpa District, Seoul, about 11:50 p.m. on Feb. 25, injuring the man's neck, according to the Seoul Economic Daily.







Lee said he got upset while drinking with the victim, as he thought his friend had been avoiding him by using the pandemic as an excuse.







"Lee's actions might have led to a severe injury," the court said. "He has a criminal record, with a suspended prison sentence for a similar crime in the past.







"The defendant fully admits his crime and regrets it. Also, the victim does not want the defendant to be punished."


The Managing Director of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company, Marilyn Amobi, has continued to run and direct her private company in the United Kingdom, in what is clearly a contravention of Nigerias code of conduct for public officers, PREMIUM TIMES can report.

ESL Economics and Management Associates Limited, with company number, 06413894, was incorporated in the UK in 2007. Ms Amobi controls 100 per cent of its shares, according to the Companies House in London.

Ms Amobi is the sole director of the company and filings available at the Companies House show she has always managed the company.

A whistle-blower first alerted PREMIUM TIMES to Ms Amobis continued running of the UK-based company as well as a version of it in Nigeria. PREMIUM TIMES checks as well as an interview with a representative of Ms Amobi confirmed the whistle-blowers claim.

Against the law

Nigerias constitution prescribes code of conduct for public officers, including those in publicly-controlled companies, such as NBET.

The code of conducts stipulates that public officers shall not engage or participate in the management or running of any private business except it is farming.

By implication, when one takes public office in Nigeria, they are expected to formally resign from the management or directorship of a private company in which they are involved even if such belongs to them.

NBET is a wholly-owned Nigerian government company incorporated in 2010 in line with the Electric Power Sector Act, 2005.

In the power industry, it is the manager and administrator of the electricity pool. It has been covering the market shortfall using public funds to shore up the revenue of the GenCos to prevent the collapse of the system. In 2018, N701 billion was released for this purpose from the CBN for the 2017-2019 period.

Available records show Ms Amobi still holds active participation in the running of the ESL, registered both in the UK and Nigeria.

Several management and accounting filings accessed by PREMIUM TIMES show she is the sole signatory for the company in the UK. Two of such filings were as recent as October and November 2019, years after her appointment to head NBET.

This means Ms Amobi also controls a foreign account, another breach of Nigerias law on conduct for public officers.

Ms Amobi was appointed NBET boss in 2016 and re-appointed this May by President Muhammadu Buhari

Nigerian records of ESL seen by PREMIUM TIMES indicate that Ms Amobi remains a director of the company in Nigeria, which she registered alongside a family member, Ifeoma Amobi, in 2012.

Company inactive

A representative, whom Ms Amobi asked to speak with PREMIUM TIMES following our text to her, said the company has not been working, but did not deny NBETs boss active management. The representative asked not be named.

The whistle-blower who contacted PREMIUM TIMES accused Ms Amobi of money laundering. PREMIUM TIMES cannot verify this claim immediately.

Ms Amobis representative said, the company is not to steal money.

The representative also said Ms Amobi declared ESL in her assets and liabilities declaration filings. PREMIUM TIMES cannot immediately verify this.

By law, Ms Amobis action means she risks removal from office, or ban from holding public office for 10 years or forfeiture of any asset she might have acquired in the course of such illegal businesses.

Any of these punishments may be imposed by the Code of Conduct Tribunal if she is investigated, tried and found guilty.
Amid the provinces worst period for COVID-19 infections to date, Ontarios testing labs operated far below their full capacity to survey the spread of the virus, according to the Stars analysis of available data.

Since the end of March, when Ontario ramped up lab space to solve a then-crippling test backlog, the province has completed 858,383 COVID-19 tests. However, over that same period, the labs had room to complete at least 350,000 more, according to the Stars conservative timeline of Ontarios testing capacity.

That means that, at best, Ontarios labs operated at less than 60 per cent of their full capacity in the last two-and-a-half months, a period during which the rate of COVID-19 infections and deaths hit their worst levels.

Theres no shortage of things you could have done to better understand this epidemic using the capacity, said University of Toronto epidemiologist David Fisman, noting that every missed infection can add up. Could more aggressive testing have caught more disease, kept people out of the ICU and saved lives? I dont think thats a stretch.

No public body  not the Ministry of Health, Public Health Ontario nor Ontario Health (the provinces new health super agency)  has published a specific record of the provinces daily testing capacity.

The Star asked both Public Health Ontario and Ontario Health for the provinces testing capacity over time and received ballpark numbers, with only a few tied to specific dates. Because of this, the Star used public statements by provincial officials and daily test totals reported by the province for its analysis.

Our analysis is conservative. We know Ontario has worked to expand its lab capacity steadily over time, but officials have described this growth in only vague terms. To analyze how the capacity has changed, the Star assumed public statements about maximum lab capacity held true until they were exceeded by the day-by-day total of completed tests, or until officials stated a higher number.

In other words, the Stars analysis assumes Ontarios COVID-19 testing capacity went up in sudden jumps when we know it did not. That, in turn, means our tally of unused capacity is likely far lower than the real total.

Hayley Chazan, a spokesperson for Health Minister Christine Elliott, noted that since the pandemic began, Ontario has completed more than 880,000 tests, more than any other province. (Until mid-April, Ontario had tested at one of the lowest per capita rates of any province, but that metric has improved since. As of Wednesday, Ontario had tested about 6,000 individuals per 100,000 residents, second only to Alberta.)

As we carefully and gradually reopen the economy, the Ontario government is implementing the next phase of its COVID-19 testing strategy. Testing is now available to more people in more locations across the province, including at any one of our 137 assessment centres, she said. Since our expanded testing strategy was introduced, we have conducted more daily tests per capita than any other province. We have also seen an increase in assessment centre visits.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ontario has expanded its lab capacity from fewer than 2,000 to more than 20,000 tests a day. Much of this growth came in response to a backlog that built up through March, leaving some patients waiting more than a week to learn they were infected.

Based on public statements and the provinces daily reports, heres how Ontarios lab capacity has grown over time:

Early March: As COVID-19 begins to hit the province, officials say Public Health Ontario labs can process between 1,500 and 2,000 tests a day.

Late March: A growing backlog of uncompleted tests leaves thousands of patients waiting days for test results. In response, health officials begin sending tests to outside labs at hospitals and private diagnostic facilities.

March 29: The provinces labs conduct 7,598 tests in a single day. The previously crippling backlog falls to less than a days worth of capacity, where it has remained.

March 30: The province promises to continue to increase lab capacity. Associate Ontario medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe says a goal of 19,000 tests a day could be reached by mid-April.

April 7: The Ministry of Health tells the Star the province can conduct 13,000 tests daily, but notes that the capacity currently exceeds the number of tests being submitted to the labs.

The Star reports that the province is using less than a quarter of available capacity; the next day, a frustrated Premier Doug Ford publicly calls on public health officials to take advantage of testing capacity, saying his patience has worn thin.

Later, provincial chief medical officer of health David Williams warns the backlog could return if testing criteria are opened up too broadly, saying testing for the sake of testing in the general population is ineffective; despite Fords comments, testing stays well below capacity for the next two weeks.

In this period, as the province focused on testing vulnerable groups  such as nursing-home residents, hospital inpatients, health-care workers and first responders  the numbers show there was much more capacity to find infections in others.

If you have the virus, theres the potential for transmission, said Todd Coleman, an epidemiologist at Wilfrid Laurier University. The scientific understanding didnt match the government policy on prioritizing testing, especially considering there was capacity to do so much more.

Fisman said he doesnt understand why health officials at this time seemed to put such an emphasis on not stressing or straining the system, while not using the available capacity. If the backlog comes back, you reassess, he said, citing a chance to prevent a potentially negative outcome thats easy to predict and reverse.

April 22: Amid a spike in cases at Ontario long-term care homes, the provinces local health units report 706 new infections, still the most in any single day. On that day, the labs report completing about 10,200 tests, well short of provincial targets.

May 1: Ontarios lab capacity reaches 19,525 tests daily, Williams says. Over the next week, the labs conduct about 15,000 tests each day on average.

May 12: Amid an all-out push to test residents and staff at Ontarios reeling long-term care homes, Ford says the provinces target is now 20,000 tests a day, even as the old mark of 16,000 is still not being met.

May 18: After several days near full capacity, test completion falls sharply to below 6,000  lowest since mid-April. Daily totals miss the old 16,000-test target for 10 consecutive days, and Ford once again expresses his frustration.

May 21: The premier says he will be like an 800-pound gorilla on the backs of public health officials until the numbers go up. Meanwhile, the province soon moves forward with Stage 1 of reopening.

This is a time when the province should have been maximizing testing, Coleman said. It is a missed opportunity to ensure that spread wasnt happening, especially in individuals who are in more frequent contact with the public. He added that not testing to capacity, at this critical juncture in the provinces efforts to return to some semblance of normal, was a huge oversight.

May 29: Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott announce the next phase of Ontarios testing plan, which includes tests for anyone concerned they may have been exposed to COVID-19, as well as targeted testing in certain workplaces.

May 30: Elliott tweets the province has completed more than 20,000 tests in a day, using the full capacity of our lab network. Its the first time the province had tested at capacity in a month. By increasing testing both at assessment centres and through targeted campaigns, we can identify and contain new cases of #COVID19 and stop the spread of the virus, the minister tweeted. Starting the next day, a Sunday, testing rates fall well below capacity again for the next four days.

By not using the labs capacity through April and May, the province missed chances to better understand and fight the epidemic, Fisman said. Ontario could have done more intake screening to prevent hospital outbreaks, tested more broadly in jails and homeless shelters, been more aggressive with contact tracing  testing more people who might have to unnecessarily self-isolate for 14 days because they met briefly with a confirmed patient  or even follow the lead of Iceland and hunt the virus with randomized community tests, he said.

June 5: The labs complete 23,105 tests in their largest total to date.

June 8: The total falls to below 14,000 following a weekend that saw far lower rates of sample collection  continuing a weekly trend seen since March.

Coleman stressed that with Stage 2 of reopening planned to begin in much of the province on Friday, testing needs to be maximized in the coming weeks to make sure that we dont lose track of potential new cases and just end up in the situation that we were in before.

Ed Tubb is an assignment editor and a contributor focused on crime and justice for the Star. He is based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @edtubb

Kenyon Wallace is a Toronto-based investigative reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @KenyonWallace or reach him via email: kwallace@thestar.ca

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Okinawa's Governor Promises 'Fierce Opposition' to Plan for New US Missile Bases

Sputnik News

19:15 GMT 10.06.2020

A US plan to build new missile sites on the Japanese island of Okinawa has encountered stiff resistance by locals, including the governor, who was elected on a position of getting US forces out of the prefecture.

'Absolutely Unacceptable'

In the event of a war with China, land-based missiles placed on Okinawa would provide a major leverage point for US forces. However, with the island already a major target due to several large US military installations, Okinawans are fed up with the idea of bringing in even more targets for China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).

"I firmly oppose the idea," Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told the Los Angeles Times for a Wednesday story. "If there is such a plan, I can easily imagine fierce opposition from Okinawa residents."

"Intermediate-range ballistic missiles can be used to attack other countries, so deploying them would conflict with the Constitution and lead to a further build-up of the US bases," Tamaki told Bloomberg News last November. "To have new military facilities would be absolutely unacceptable."

The Straits-Times noted last November that similar opposition is just as likely from other US allies, such as Australia and South Korea, which would then become targets in the event of a shooting war between Washington and Beijing. Similar fears quelled early Cold War enthusiasm in Canberra for a nuclear weapons program, too.

Last October, the Okinawan daily Ryukyu Shimpo reportedly uncovered evidence the US government had informed the Russian government in August 2019 of its intent to base missiles violating the shredded Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in Okinawa within two years. The US formally withdrew from the treaty, which governed the ranges of land-based missiles used by Russia and the US, just days earlier.

Battle Plans Hinge on Okinawa

Never having been bound by the INF Treaty, the PLA has spent decades building up its Rocket Force into a formidably armed corps, wielding a variety of long-range cruise missiles and ballistic missiles and even hypersonic weapons, which the US has yet to field.

Sitting just 500 miles from Shanghai and 400 miles from the Zhejiang coast, Okinawa-based missiles would find much of mainland China within striking distance. However, the Ryukyu Islands would almost certainly fall under heavy attack by the PLA during a prospective war with US allies, as the archipelago falls within the "First Island Chain," or the first string of islands sitting just off the east Asian coast. Beijing's long-term strategic plans call for forcing its adversaries increasingly away from the Asian mainland, beginning with the First Island Chain, which stretches from Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula south to Borneo, in Indonesia.

Likewise, the US Marine Corps is busy reenvisioning the way it wages war, including a pivot from the heavy land-based forces of the last several decades toward a more maritime role.

Commandant of the US Marine Corps Gen. David Berger told Congressional lawmakers in March that the Corps would be expanding its missile capabilities twentyfold in the next five years, as well as introducing the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), which is based on the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) but mounted atop a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle chassis. The weapons system will be able to fire a variety of anti-air and anti-ship missiles.

The purpose of these weapons can be found in Expeditionary Advance Base Ops (EABO), in which Marines will rush forward to set up small outposts on scattered islands that would house batteries of long-range anti-ship and anti-air missiles, creating a "no-go zone" for Chinese air and sea forces. A graphic illustrating the concept by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank happens to show EABOs deployed across the Ryukyuan chain.

Land-based missiles deployed at "Expeditionary Advance Bases" could form a virtual wall against Chinese aggression

Widespread Japanese Opposition to US Missiles

US plans for deploying weapons previously banned by the INF Treaty elsewhere in Japan have met strong resistance as well. An Aegis Ashore system that was to have been built in the western city of Akita was canceled last month amid heavy opposition from locals. Another site, on the western coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture, also met opposition, but so far plans for its construction remain unchanged.

Tokyo approved their construction to provide anti-missile defense against potential attack from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), but with the US out of the INF Treaty, the Aegis Ashore systems can easily be converted to fire offensive weapons, as the site in Deveselu, Romania, has already demonstrated.

Okinawans have also fought the continued presence of several US military bases on the island, which was stormed by US forces in the closing months of World War II in a furious battle that killed nearly half the island's population of 300,000 at the time. US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma sits in the middle of Ginowan City, and Tamaki was elected to the governorship on a campaign to get the base removed from the prefecture. Just four miles north of Futenma is another air base, the US Air Force's colossal Kadena Air Force Base; between the two installations are half of the 50,000 US service members deployed in all of Japan.

In a February 2019 referendum, 70% of Okinawans voted against a US-Japanese plan to relocate Futenma on the island, but Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insisted Tokyo "cannot avoid the necessity of moving Futenma," and land reclamation for the new site, on the coast of rural Henoko to the north, has continued.

A Sputnik

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Fast fashion retailers are struggling to keep stock of over-sized trucker jackets, sales of which banked British brand Boohoo almost $50,000 in the first week of June alone.

Denim trucker jackets were a wardrobe staple throughout the 1990s and different fabrics have since fallen in and out of fashion, with corduroy, cotton, wool and shearling all in vogue at various points over the past two decades.

The current trend is for loose-fitting checkered designs styled over jeans or tracksuit bottoms, in keeping with the laid-back 'lockdown look' still popular despite social distancing restrictions being lifted.

Boohoo has just restocked it's best-selling $46 'Tonal Check Trucker' - which comes in pink, blue, brown, green and grey in sizes small, medium and large - after shifting 1,084 units last week, a spokesperson for the brand told Daily Mail Australia.

Those figures amount to earnings of $49,864 AUD from a single style in seven days.

Scroll down for video

Melbourne makeup artist Kim Muhovics wears a $46 pink checkered trucker jacket from Boohoo on May 12, 2020

Newcastle-based style blogger Taylor Dodds poses in a $64 blue and cream trucker jacket from Nasty Gal on April 12, 2020

The Tonal Check Trucker jacket, which banked Boohoo $49,864 in the first week of June

Boohoo subsidiary Nasty Gal describes it's $64 trucker as 'a must', and customers seem to agree.

The retailer's 'Checkin' You Out' jacket has already sold out in six of the seven available colours, with a single size small in grey and white check left online.

This boom is sure to be welcomed by embattled fashion retailers, who - along with the rest of the industry - were forced to adapt to a locked down market when the pandemic began.

The crisis was easiest for online powerhouses like Boohoo and related brands like Nasty Gal and PrettyLittleThing, which were already masters of the e-commerce domain.

And for Boohoo's British billionaire owner Mahmud Kamani, it appears the pandemic has paid dividends.

The brand's share price fell along with the rest of the stock market when restrictions were lifted, but it's one of the only UK companies to have bounced back since, Euronews reported in May.

The business is now in a 'better position' than it was this time last year, thanks to a swift shift from selling cut-price party dresses to pushing record units of cosy lounge sets, comfy jumpers and affordable outerwear like the best-selling trucker jacket.

Sydney style blogger Briddy Li in the best-selling $46 'Tonal Check' trucker jacket from Boohoo

Perth fashion influencer Alyssa Lee wears a cream and green trucker from Nasty Gal on April 19, 2020

The company's status is all the more impressive given the global fast fashion market is expected to decline from $35.8billion in 2019 to $31.4billion in 2020, a study from Research and Markets reveals.

Australian stylists and social media stars have been keeping warm in trucker-style designs since temperatures plummeted in May, with the hashtag 'trucker jacket' currently linked to 64,867 photos on Instagram.

Melbourne makeup artist Kim Muhovics has shared shots in a pink and white Boohoo trucker and Newcastle-based style blogger Taylor Dudds has posted mirror selfies in a blue version from Nasty Gal.

The boxy silhouette is designed for layering, with enough space to accommodate chunky knits during cold winter months. It also works well draped over bare shoulders in the summer.

More designs are available from The Iconic, Cotton On, Levi's Australia, David Jones and Myer.
WASHINGTON  U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday that a national registry documenting use of force by police and grants to help small departments offer better training are among the reforms he would support as a member of the Senate group crafting legislation in response to the George Floyd killing.

He also called for the Senate to pass the anti-lynching bill that Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked this month, and he again called for the creation of a commission to conduct a top-to-bottom review of our criminal justice system.

I think the question is, do you use a carrot or do you use a stick, Cornyn said. And I think a lot of the police are pretty suspicious of being punished for doing a very difficult job, and I think the right approach is to find some way to incentivize them.

IT IS ON YOU: George Floyds brother urges Congress to act

The Texan is a member of a group of Senate Republicans led by Tim Scott of South Carolina working on policing reforms.

The effort comes as Democrats push sweeping legislation that would ban chokeholds and no-knock search warrants in drug cases, bolster the Justice Departments authority to crack down on misconduct and chip away at some of officers legal protections when they are sued in civil court, among other things.

George Floyds brother, Philonise Floyd, on Wednesday testified before the House committee considering those changes, saying, It is on you to make sure his death is not in vain. George Floyd, a Houstonian, was killed last month by police in Minneapolis.

Republicans have voiced opposition to some of the major pieces of that legislation, including reforms to qualified immunity, which protects police from being sued.

While the Democratic bill calls for a registry of police misconduct, Cornyn supports mandating the reporting to an existing FBI registry of uses of force that cause death or serious injury.

There are things we could do in terms of funding to provide funding for police training, whether its de-escalation training, incentivize mental health checks, said Cornyn, a former Texas attorney general and state Supreme Court justice. You can imagine just with the things law enforcement sees on a day-to-day basis and the challenges they are presented that I think there does need to be some additional help there because you can become jaded and desensitized.

NEW TRAINING ON TAP: Texas to require all police officers receive implicit bias training, in first George Floyd-inspired reform

Cornyn said small police departments dont have the resources to offer the training that many big-city departments have.

I think providing best practices and providing financial support for training would be two of the things Congress can do that would be the most productive at this point, he said.

He also renewed calls for a criminal justice commission that would have been created by legislation he co-sponsored that previously passed the Senate unanimously.

This should not just be a one-time episode, he said. This ought to be a continuing basis, and we havent done this top-to-bottom review of our criminal justice system at the national level since 1965.

ben.wermund@chron.com
Gov. Tom Wolf (left) signed an order that directed the Department of Corrections, led by Secretary John Wetzel (right), to create a reprieve program for medically vulnerable inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes. Read more

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HARRISBURG  In April, amid growing fear that prisons could be tinderboxes for the coronavirus, Gov. Tom Wolf announced he would grant temporary reprieves to certain nonviolent state inmates who have medical conditions that make them particularly vulnerable.

It was a power move by Wolf, who initially opted to wait for a plan from the GOP-led legislature, but reversed course after it became clear a bill would be limited to 450 people. At the time of the announcement, Wolf said: There is a premium on speed here. We need to move quickly."

But what has unfolded since has come up short of even the Republican plan. State officials identified just over 1,200 incarcerated people who met Wolfs conditions, but of those, only 159 have been granted a reprieve, according to data released by the administration.

Of that small group, 148 had been released as of Thursday.

Civil rights groups say there were simply too many cooks in the kitchen  stakeholders far removed from inmates, like district attorneys  while advocates for prisoners, including defense attorneys or even the inmates themselves, were excluded.

Its just an obvious, glaring omission, said Elizabeth Randol, legislative director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

The Department of Corrections has defended its handling of the process, saying it was a cautious approach that included all relevant parties to represent the public interest. Officials screened thousands of inmates to find ones that met the governors criteria: older and medically vulnerable people serving time for a nonviolent offense that had no victim, who have not committed a violent crime in the last decade, and who have no active protective orders.

Only a sliver of the total inmate population, which at the time was about 47,000 people, was determined to be qualified for release. And even among that smaller pool, some say they have been waiting for weeks on word of what is happening with their case.

In a collaborative effort, PA Post and Spotlight PA reached out to nearly two dozen inmates initially identified by the department as eligible for reprieve, along with their family members, to see where they stood in the process. Some said they were still waiting for a meeting with the Pennsylvania Parole Board  whose sign-off is necessary for release  while others were unaware they were identified as eligible until contacted by the news outlets.

Others have been approved but are still awaiting release.

George Scantling, a prisoner at SCI Houtzdale, has been waiting for close to a month to be released after getting his green sheet  an official decision granting parole. He meets all the qualifications listed in the governors order: Scantling is 59, has diabetes and high blood pressure, is serving time for a nonviolent drug crime, and has no prior violent convictions.

Everything for him fits the criteria, said Sherah Freeman, a friend who helped pay off Scantlins outstanding prison fees, one of the conditions for early release. She said she also set up and paid $400 for a room for him in West Philadelphia.

Why are they taking so long to get him out of there? Freeman asked. Hes got a job lined up. Once he gets out, hell be able to work. Whats the reason?

Robert Geiman Jr., who is imprisoned in SCI Laurel Highlands, said the parole board signed off on his release, but hes still waiting for approval from the departments reentry coordinator.

Wolf also must sign off on each reprieve, which Geiman was told did not happen in his case. A spokesperson for Wolf referred a request for comment to the Department of Corrections, which did not address the question in its response.

Turned out to be a joke, Geiman wrote over the prisons messaging system. Something dont add up.

In March, the Department of Corrections estimated that up to 12,000 inmates would need to be released in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Officials said they sent a list of about that many names to the Office of Victim Advocate, which sent back a list of more than 10,000 people who did not have a victim registered with their office.

After a stalemate in the legislature, with Republicans who control both chambers offering a bill that limited releases to 450 people, Wolf signed an executive order establishing temporary reprieves.

The list of criteria, however, limited the program to 1,248 inmates, close to 4% of the states inmate population. After the department did a second pass on the list of eligible people, officials reduced the number to 851.

Corrections Secretary John Wetzel told reporters last month that uncertainty around whether inmates will have to return to prison had been a limiting factor. Wolfs order states the reprieves are temporary, though Wetzel said the department is searching for an option that would allow people who are successful on the outside to stay out of prison.

Of the inmates identified as eligible, 191 were close to being paroled, according to department data. An additional 245 needed to complete programming needs, like a parenting class or Alcoholics Anonymous, before they could be considered for parole.

The reprieve process has gone a little more slowly than we thought, Wolf said at a news conference last Friday. But I think we have to take that in the context of the overall major reduction in the prison population.

State officials faced intense pressure to reduce prison populations in the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak, prioritizing those whose releases were largely uncontroversial for the sake of expediency, said Claire Shubik-Richards, executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

While that approach led to an initial surge in reprieves in the days after Wolfs order, the flow of releases has slowed dramatically in the weeks since. More than two-thirds of coronavirus-related reprieves were granted between April 14 and 21, state data show.

It hasnt lived up to what the department, and certainly those of us in the advocate community, saw as its potential, Shubik-Richards said. It hasn't. There's uniform agreement on that.

But the process hasnt been a loss, she said. Finding consensus on dozens of releases was tremendous given how fractured and contentious the criminal justice stakeholders are in Pennsylvania.

Defense attorneys argue that the list of exclusions was too broad and didnt include parole violators who were serving time for technical violations, such as drinking or leaving home while on supervision.

And with a look-back clause requiring inmates to not have a violent crime in the last decade (a requirement that even Wetzel said was tough to meet), the list of eligible inmates got even shorter.

Peter E. Kratsa, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the exclusions for eligibility were too cumbersome, saying that some crimes included in the list arguably dont have a victim, like pickpocketing.

Youre really casting a wide exclusionary net, he said. While this looks really good in the intentions in it, in practice how many inmates does this really effect?

Sean Damon, organizing director at Amistad Law Project, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, said prosecutors and the victim advocate held disproportionate sway in the reprieve process, which ultimately led to fewer people safely released from prison.

He pointed to SCI Huntingdon, which as of Thursday had fewer reprieves (one) than inmate deaths (five), according to state data.

I think that is pretty damning, and it really shows the need for us to rethink how we do criminal justice reform in Pennsylvania, he said.

But both the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and the Office of Victim Advocate said their involvement isnt the reason why only 159 people have been approved for a reprieve.

We werent the barrier here, said Jennifer Storm, the victim advocate.

Storm said her office followed the letter of the governors order, which was to identify victims, and didnt have any say beyond that. She said she doesnt know why so few people have been released.

There should be more," Storm said.

To keep the coronavirus from spreading widely in state prisons, Wetzel in late March put the system on lockdown, suspending in-person visits and limiting inmates movements. That step helped the department avoid a worst-case scenario, with 259 inmates total testing positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday. Nine incarcerated people have died  five at Huntingdon and four at SCI Phoenix.

The department is now relaxing these efforts in coordination with Wolfs tiered reopening system, though the exact timeline remains unclear.

Its also still unknown when Wolf will end the states disaster emergency  triggering the end of the reprieves  or if the department will find a way to allow some inmates to stay out of prison.

The prospect of returning may be why some eligible inmates  16 total  declined to participate in the program. But for the inmates who are ready to go home, waiting to hear about their next steps feels like a cruel tease.

Many people here including myself have been left in the dark, said Donald Fickles Jr., an inmate held at SCI Laurel Highlands who was never told about his eligibility. This makes me feel the same way Ive always felt about our system, that they dont have our best interest in mind or our safety. Ive always felt they are the bad guys.

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Alessandra Ambrosio proved to be a total beach babe on Wednesday afternoon, when she was spotted playing paddle ball with a pal in Santa Monica.

The 39-year-old model flaunted her toned midriff and radiant tan as she ran around with her paddle in hand.

Meanwhile, Ambrosio's son Noah, eight, attempted to master the art of surfing with a little help from a highly trained surf instructor.

Beach babe: Alessandra Ambrosio proved to be a total beach babe on Wednesday afternoon, when she was spotted playing paddle ball with a pal in Santa Monica

Game time: The 39-year-old model flaunted her toned midriff and radiant tan as she ran around with her paddle in hand

For her day by the ocean, Alessandra flaunted her sculpted legs in a pair of denim Daisy Dukes that featured a stylish raw hem and multi-colored stripe detailing.

She paired her distressed bottoms with a flouncy, olive toned blouse layered over a bright orange bikini top and tied in a knot.

Her brunette hair was tied back into a messy bun and she shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of sunglasses.

New skill: Meanwhile, Ambrosio's son Noah, eight, attempted to master the art of surfing with a little help from a highly trained surf instructor

Daisy Dukes: For her day by the ocean, Alessandra flaunted her sculpted legs in a pair of denim Daisy Dukes that featured a stylish raw hem and multi-colored stripe detailing

To add to her beach babe vibe, Ambrosio decked herself out in a variety of necklaces and metal bangles.

Alessandra appeared to be having a total blast as she beamed in the direction of her paddle ball pal.

Noah looked darling in a pair of colorful palm tree print board shorts as he reported back to his mom mid-lesson.

Mom duty: Alessandra had no problem carting her son's surfboard and other belonging to the their spot on the beach

Total blast: Alessandra appeared to be having a total blast as she beamed in the direction of her paddle ball pal

Earlier in the day, the Victoria's Secret model was spotted showing off her new summer-ready strands during a midday shopping trip at Becker Surfboards in Malibu.

Alessandra's lightened locks flowed about in the breeze as she chatted on her cellphone in the surf shop's parking lot.

The majority of her famous face was concealed beneath a medical grade mask and sunglasses.

Earlier: Alessandra Ambrosio was spotted showing off her new summer-ready strands during a midday shopping trip to Becker Surfboards in Malibu

Chatty: Alessandra's lightened locks flowed about in the breeze as she chatted on her cellphone in the surf shop's parking lot

She secured her phone and other essentials in a miniature cross-body bag and slipped her feet into a pair of strappy, beige sandals.

Alessandra appeared to have found a variety of items that suited her fancy at Becker Surfboards being that she exited the shop with a noticeably full shopping bag.

Once she returned home from her leisurely errand run, Alessandra and daughter Anja, 11, decided to spend some time together crafting tie-dye skirts.

Loading up: Alessandra appeared to have found a variety of items that suited her fancy at Becker Surfboards being that she exited the shop with a noticeably full shopping bag

New look: Alessandra attempted to shed the woes of lockdown on Tuesday by treating herself to some 'summer highlights' courtesy of celebrity hairstylist Denis De Souza

Exclusive: Ambrosio gave her 10.3million follows on Instagram a first glimpse at her stunning highlight job

Alessandra shares Anja and son Noah with ex husband and businessman Jamie Mazur, 39, who she divorced in 2018.

She quickly flashed the camera on Anja who was clearly proud of her tie-dye craftsmanship.

Before emerging from lockdown on Wednesday, Ambrosio gave her 10.3million follows on Instagram a first glimpse at her stunning highlight job.

Stunning: Alessandra was clearly feeling her new strands in a video shared to her Instagram on Tuesday

Drama: Following her big reveal, she also posted a slow motion clip of herself doing a dramatic hair flip in her bedroom, while wearing a floral, off-the-shoulder top

In the short clip, Alessandra tossed her hair from side-to-side and ran her fingers through it.

'Waited for months, but finally just got some Summer highlights by the best #haircolorist [Denis De Souza],' wrote the Brazilian beauty on her post.

Following her big reveal, she also posted a slow motion clip of herself doing a dramatic hair flip in her bedroom, while wearing a floral, off-the-shoulder top.

Mommy-daughter time: Once she returned home from her leisurely errand run, Alessandra and her darling daughter Anja, 11, decided to spend some time together crafting tie-dye skirts

Proud: She quickly flashed the camera on Anja who was clearly proud of her tie-dye craftsmanship

As if the day were not exciting enough for Alessandra, she was also able to unveil the cover she did for Elle Magazine Greece's July issue.

For her cover, she flaunted her famous physique in a green, long-sleeve crop top and a pair of black bikini bottoms as she posed on the beach.

Her hair was tied up into a messy bun and she wore a pair of black aviator shades.
A police officer stands amid smoke and debris as buildings continue to burn in the aftermath of a night of protests and violence following the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

10 Charged in Connection With Looting of Milwaukee Stores During Riots

Milwaukee County prosecutors filed charges against one woman and nine men in connection with looting after the officer-involved death of George Floyd last month.

According to prosecutors, Terry Gilbert, 26; Lamont Nelson, 48; Samuel Daniels, 18; Desmond Givens, 18; Marcus Coleman, 31; Isaiah Allen, 26; Octavian Miller, 26; Jerry Burks, 25; Marissa Jones, 19; and Amondre Brooks, 18, were charged with crimes related to looting, Fox32 reported.

The incidents occurred between May 27 and June 1 amid protests over Floyds death.

Everything here was full, said business operator Sam Ramahi, who owns Trend Benderz. Everything has been taken out. All my tables are empty.

So far, we are estimating damage with inventory anywhere between $600,000 to $700,000, he added.

A looter uses a claw hammer as he tries to break into a cash register at a Target store in Minneapolis on May 27, 2020. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)

Prosecutors told Fox32 that Gilbert and Nelson were among those who swarmed on Trend Benderz, with Gilbert telling police that he was going to take something from the store after seeing that someone broke into it.

Local news outlets posted video footage of the looting at Trend Benderz, showing dozens of people entering the business through a broken glass door.

Terry Gilbert, Lamont Nelson, Samuel Daniels, Desmond Givens, Marcus Coleman, Isaiah Allen, Octavian Miller, Jerry Burks, Marissa Jones, Amondre Brooks in booking photos. (Milwaukee County)

I was just praying to God that  something would just stop the madness and looting, Ramahi told TMJ4. He said that he doesnt know if his business will survive after the looting.

They have the right to be frustrated  but they dont have the right to come into small businesses that are owned here locally and destroy them and steal from them to express their anger, he added.

In Washington, lawmakers also heard testimony from civil rights and law enforcement leaders as Congress considers changes to police practices and accountability after Floyds death in police custody in Minnesota and the mass protests that followed.

Republicans are criticizing activists who want to defund the policea catch-all term for shifting law enforcement resourcesthough the Democratic bill does not call for that. Trump and allies have seized on the phrase to portray Democrats as extreme as GOP lawmakers rush to come up with their own proposals.

Republicans as well as Democrats have called for a national registry of use-of-force incidents, so police officers cannot transfer between departments without public awareness of their records.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 22:23:40|Editor: huaxia

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By Xinhua writer Wang Bin

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Amidst a raging COVID-19 pandemic and anti-racism protests rocking American cities, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo once again played the scapegoating game.

This time he slandered China for "callously exploiting" George Floyd's death as part of "propaganda."

The move is just the latest of a series of attempts by some U.S. politicians to use the "China card" to whitewash their failures at home. They attempt to shift blame with total disdain for basic human dignity.

Nearly six decades after Martin Luther King Jr.'s resounding call for racial justice for ethnic minorities in the U.S., equality among races remains a dream out of reach. It doesn't need to take what other countries say to expose its underlying chasms.

In the context of Washington's anti-pandemic response, the yawning racial gap in terms of people's well-being has grown even more stark. Recent data compiled by the non-partisan APM Research Lab revealed that African Americans are dying at a rate of 50.3 per 100,000 people, compared with 20.7 for whites.

The chance for health, life, and human dignity varies along racial lines, a pathetic but plain fact that American forefathers would hate to see. However, Pompeo and a group of other U.S. politicians have chosen to stay silent on this status quo.

Instead of heeding calls from the U.S. and the world at large, Pompeo and politicians like him have chosen to waste time by ensconcing themselves in a shaky castle of lies and shifting blames.

This doesn't help to save the disadvantaged from suffocation and this doesn't help to address the pandemic of injustice.

Some U.S. politicians have formed a habit of stigmatizing China and make anti-China rhetoric at the slightest chance.

There might be one thousand ways to "make America great again," but feigning ignorance about the truth of social failures and playing blame-shifting games could never be part of them.

It's high time Pompeo and American politicians like him ceased the spread of misinformation, stopped arbitrarily pinning blame on China and lived up to their due obligation of ensuring "human dignity." Enditem
The nation is abuzz with Prime Minister Narendra Modis Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. What is a better example of self-reliance than our street vendors who show up unerringly every morning to supply us with daily essentials?

In an effort to extend this campaign to street vendors, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced the SVANidhi Scheme that offers Rs 10,000 as credit for working capital to each vendor.

Though it is hard to argue with the intention of the scheme, it is important to think through how such a scheme might play out, anticipate the obstacles to success, and begin thinking of them as entrepreneurs not nuisance.

One of the first problems would be availing this credit facility for which a person would need to prove that he/she is a street vendor.

According to data available with the National Urban Livelihoods Mission, state governments have identified only 15 lakh vendors and issued IDs to fewer than 10 lakh vendors.

Over 1,000 urban local bodies (ULBs) across India have not even begun identifying vendors via surveys. Andhra Pradesh is the only state to have issued identity cards to 75% of identified vendors. Even where local bodies have completed surveys, they have identified far fewer vendors than the estimated vending population.

The Street Vendors Act 2014 estimates that approximately 2.5% of the urban population is engaged in street vending. In most states, the number of vendors identified make up less than 1% of the urban population.

For those left out of the survey, the scheme contemplates a letter of recommendation (LoR) issued by the urban local body or the town vending committee. However, the criteria for issuing these LoRs are muddled.

For instance, ULBs may issue LoRs based on a list of vendors prepared by states. The basis that states would use for preparing these lists is unclear, as is the logical chain of asking states to prepare these lists and forward it to local bodies. How will the government check that this is not used to unduly benefit friends and associates of decision-makers?

Further, the scheme has only been extended to vendors engaged in vending before 24 March, 2020. In the past two months, several wage labourers have switched to vending to earn a living.

Manoj Kumar of the National Hawkers Federation claims that the number of vendors in Delhi alone has gone up by 1 lakh. What happens to these new entrants?

The second problem is state-level regulations that actively prevent vendor recognition, obstruct their formalisation and encourage harassment.

Some states, in their rules and schemes, discriminate against migrants and fail to recognise them as vendors. For instance, in Delhi, Mumbai and Tripura, one needs proof of domicile or a voter ID to become a hawker. In Andhra Pradesh, non-residents are not issued IDs and vending certificates.

At Centre for Civil Society, we analysed the state-level rules and schemes born out of the Street Vendors Act. Besides excluding vendors based on ill-conceived son-of-the-soil criteria, states have also introduced several arbitrary and vague provisions.

For instance, in Bihar, Meghalaya and Rajasthan, hawkers need to keep a 'service record book' for Municipal babus to inspect and decide whether to reward or punish a hawker.

In Chhattisgarh, Manipur and Bihar, schemes allow for suspension/ cancellation of licence on grounds of misbehaviour. In Meghalaya, Tripura, and West Bengal, schemes essentially ban roadside cooking.

Tripura also forbids electricity and water connection to vendors in its schemes. Such regulations create a hostile environment for vendors, penalising them for trying to earn an honest livelihood.

Another concern is that while most business enterprises have been issued guidelines on functioning, vendors are not being allowed to operate or being given a clear set of directions.

How will vendors get back on their feet or repay the loans if they are not allowed in the markets? Most states have tried to think about de-lockdown systematically, but missed out on the most ubiquitous of urban entrepreneurs.

The credit package will raise many implementation challenges, and in itself, is far from sufficient. The Union and state governments need to do far better.

First, the Street Vendors Act needs to demand stricter accountability from public officials. The Act places very little emphasis on public officials actively protecting the rights of vendors, and imposes no penalties where they indulge in undue harassment.

Second, artificial entry barriers for vendors (particularly the son-of-soil requirements) need to be removed. State governments ought to do away with bottlenecks to earning a livelihood on the street by amending their state rules and schemes.

Third, formalising vendors will also require formalising their usufructuary rights or temporary user rights over vending spots. This will facilitate time-sharing of vending spots. We also need to allow vendors to manage multiple vending spots and employ labour.

Fourth, governments should allow private contractors to manage public spaces. This is likely to reduce bribery and bump up revenues for municipal corporations.

Companies can also be encouraged to invest in hawking carts (ice cream carts, for instance). To encourage such investment, we need a predictable, secure and non-extortionary regulatory framework.

Fifth, both the Centre and State must check rampant vendor evictions. Since evictions are driven by considerations for public purpose, states need to define it clearly in their schemes. The definition must be drafted with a view that thriving urban street commerce is as much public purpose as anything else.

Vendors may need temporary support, but more than that, they are begging the state to clear way for their 'atmanirbharta' (self reliance). Truth be told: making vendors lives easier will make all of our lives easier.
San Francisco, June 11 : Apple has become the first US company that reached $1.5 trillion market cap and according to the investors and analysts, strong App Store sales, ARM chips-run Macs and a 5G iPhone this fall are the reasons for the surge in stock of the Cupertino-based iPhone maker.

At a current price of $352 per share and 4.3 billion shares outstanding, Apple's market cap hit around $1.53 trillion on Wednesday, reports Mac Rumors.

Riding on its growing services and wearables business, Apple may become the first company ever to touch the $2-trillion valuation mark in next four years, a top analyst forecast recently.

Apple was the first US company to cross the $1-trillion mark in 2018.

According to market research firm Evercore ISI, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker would also be the first firm to surpass $2 trillion, reports Barron's.

In the Wearables business, the analyst expects growth to $60 billion owing to the expansion of AirPods and Apple Watch. The Services business could grow to $100 billion in the next four years.

The analyst expects Apple to continue aggressively buying back stock.

"Apple would reduce its share count by about 1 billion shares in the forecast period, from 4.6 billion at the end of fiscal 2019 to 3.6 billion in fiscal 2024.

"At that share count, the market cap would hit $2 trillion if the stock price was just over $550," wrote Barron's analyst Amit Daryanani.

As iPhones sale dip amid supply and demand uncertainties, Services segment is following a different trend for Apple, with strong year-over-year growth of 17 per cent and setting a new all-time revenue record of $13.3 billion in the company's March quarter results this year.

The company saw all-time records in many of its Services categories - App Store, Apple Music, Video, cloud services, its App Store search ad business, AppleCare, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus and Apple Card.
Walmart will no longer place "multicultural hair care and beauty products" in locked cases in any of its stores, the company confirmed Wednesday.

The practice, which Walmart says was only in place "in about a dozen" of its 4,700 U.S. stores, has received criticism for the implication that the customers who buy these products, largely people of color, can't be trusted. The cases must be unlocked by a store associate, and the products are usually then taken to the front of the store for purchase.

More from NBC News

CBS Denver reporter Tori Mason was the first to disclose the change, after receiving an email from Walmart in response to her story highlighting a situation that people of color have long faced.

Walmart customer Judah Bell said the process is "humiliating" and is something she's noticed at select locations across the country, usually those in more "urban, less affluent areas."

Bell said that because her local Walmart uses the locked cases, she will drive 11 minutes further to a more affluent area and shop at that Walmart, where she doesn't have to deal with such treatment. She said the longer drive can sometimes end up saving time.

"In my neighborhood Walmart, you have to go find somebody and then if they don't have the key, they have to find somebody, so you're just standing there waiting, sometimes for as long as 10 to 15 minutes," Bell said.

She shared photos taken on Wednesday at two different Walmart stores located in economically different neighborhoods. Neither location had "multicultural" beauty products in cases, but the location is the less affluent community had many more items locked in cases, including cold medicine, children's medicine, body wash, and cosmetics.

Walmart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez told NBC News that the company is "sensitive to the issue and understands the concerns" and would be implementing the change in policy "as soon as possible."

"As a retailer serving millions of customers every day from diverse backgrounds, Walmart does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. Like other retailers, the cases were put in place to deter shoplifters from some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products," Lopez said.

While many of these personal care products were placed in cases, equivalent products targeted at a less "multicultural" customer received no such placement.

Bell said she once asked a Walmart employee why they kept those products under lock and key and was told that those products have higher theft rates, but was not presented with any data to support that. Walmart confirmed to NBC News that the decision to place certain hair and beauty products in cases was based on theft data, and that it varied by market. It would not share that data.

"It's hard for a customer to dispute that but predominantly African American people are buying those products, so the assumption is we're thieves," she said. "I try not to shop anywhere where I'm assumed to be a thief."

Walmart isn't alone in facing scrutiny for this practice. Many other personal care stores and national chains such as CVS and Walgreens have been accused of doing this. Walgreens and CVS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
 

1
Walmart will no longer keep "multicultural" personal care products  marketed to African Americans  locked up in glass cases in stores, a practice that has long made the giant retailer the target of criticism and a discrimination lawsuit.

The company on Wednesday said about a dozen of its 4,700 stores nationwide placed multicultural hair care and beauty products under lock and key.

Were sensitive to the issue and understand the concerns raised by our customers and members of the community, Walmart said in a statement.

Walmart had previously defended the policy, saying the decision on which products should be secured is left up to individual store managers. Certain items are kept locked up because they are more likely to be stolen. The reversal comes after millions of Americans gathered in cities large and small in recent days to denounce police brutality and racial bias in response to the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis, who was pinned to the ground by officers after being accused of passing a fake $20 bill at a grocery.

Will your local Starbucks close?: Coffee giant says it will close 400 stores but expanding pickup options

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Customers shop at a Walmart store on May 19, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois.

As a retailer serving millions of customers every day from diverse backgrounds, Walmart does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, the company said. Like other retailers, the cases were put in place to deter shoplifters from some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products.

California resident Essie Grundy, an African American woman, sued Walmart in 2018 after she found personal care products marketed to African Americans locked away on three occasions at a Walmart store in Riverside County.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Walmart to stop locking up 'multicultural' personal care products
In an unusual cease-and-desist letter, the Donald Trump campaign called on CNN to retract and apologise for a national poll this week that showed the president trailing his Democratic opponent, former vice-president Joe Biden, by 14 percentage points among registered voters

President Donald Trumps reelection campaign has sued several news outlets for coverage it deemed unflattering.

On Wednesday, the presidents team added a new wrinkle to its media intimidation tactics: Demanding that a TV network retract a poll it did not like.

In an unusual cease-and-desist letter, the Trump campaign called on CNN to retract and apologise for a national poll this week that showed the president trailing his Democratic opponent, former vice-president Joe Biden, by 14 percentage points among registered voters.

Trumps aides called the poll phony and a stunt, accusing CNN without evidence of trying to stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the president and present a false view generally of the actual support across America for the president.

CNN, like other major news outlets, uses a third-party polling firm to conduct opinion surveys. In a bracing riposte, the networks general counsel, David Vigilante, rejected the Trump campaigns request.

To the extent we have received legal threats from political leaders in the past, they have typically come from countries like Venezuela or other regimes where there is little or no respect for a free and independent media, Vigilante wrote. He added: Your letter is factually and legally baseless. It is yet another bad faith attempt by the campaign to threaten litigation to muzzle speech it does not want voters to read or hear.

The exchange evoked the unskewed polls episode of the 2012 presidential campaign, when supporters of Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, insisted that surveys showing a healthy lead for then-president Barack Obama were inaccurate and influenced by liberal bias. Romney went on to lose.

But Trumps demonisation of the news media has been more relentless and widespread than anything unleashed by the Romney team. His campaign has sued The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other organisations, raising alarms among First Amendment advocates that the lawsuits could deter journalists from pursuing tough reporting.

The legal threat against CNN coincided with a highly unusual dynamic unfolding in recent weeks between Trump and One America News, a conservative cable network that the president has latched onto for its obvious pro-Trump viewpoint.

On Tuesday, Trump advanced a baseless theory that a 75-year-old man in Buffalo who was knocked to the ground by the police and hospitalised was an ANTIFA provocateur, a notion the president learned about from a segment on One America News.

Even the presidents allies questioned the sense of insulting an injured septuagenarian. But Trumps press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said on Wednesday that he was merely raising some questions, some legitimate ones.

On Wednesday, the chief executive of One America News, Robert Herring, offered an overture to the White House. Shortly after the Trump campaign contacted CNN, Herring wrote on Twitter that his network would be publishing a voter survey that Trump might find more palatable.

@OANN will be releasing a poll concerning the 2020 presidential race, Herring wrote on Twitter. It looks as though it will be in favor of @realDonaldTrump.

A spokeswoman for One America News, Krista McClelland, said the network would broadcast results from a poll of Florida residents. She said the network uses a third-party polling service but did not specify which one.

In its letter to CNN, the Trump campaign said that one of its own polling firms, McLaughlin and Associates, had found the CNN poll to be skewed.

The firms leader, John McLaughlin, is a trusted voice for Trump who helped him explore a possible presidential bid in 2011. McLaughlin later worked for Trumps 2016 campaign and is one of two pollsters currently working for the presidents 2020 reelection effort.

McLaughlin has been criticised for generating results that are at odds with other mainstream pollsters. In 2014, he projected that the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, would handily defeat a Tea Party rival, David Brat, by a wide margin; Cantor lost his seat by 11 points.

In teasing its own poll, One America News was inviting Trump to further promote the networks coverage  a boon for a relatively obscure cable channel whose audience remains minuscule despite the presidents support.

Trump has repeatedly tried to raise the profile of One America News, lauding its coverage on social media and at public appearances, in part as a pressure tactic to influence his coverage on Fox News.

But One America News is available in only one-third as many households as Fox News, and its ratings and web traffic are a small fraction of rival media outlets that appeal to conservative audiences.

Michael M Grynbaum and Maggie Haberman c.2020 The New York Times Company
More Support from Law Enforcement and Community Leaders

(TNS)  As protests against police brutality continue across the state and nation in the wake of George Floyds killing in Minneapolis, Minn., police custody last month, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced plans for police reform to promote racial equity in Michigan.In a news release issued Wednesday afternoon, June 3, Whitmer announced her support for a series of policy plans, calling on Michigan law enforcement agencies to enhance their training and policies to help create a police culture where all Michiganders are treated with dignity and respect under the law.Whitmer voiced her support for measures that require law enforcement officers to complete training on implicit bias and de-escalation techniques, and applauded the Senate for taking up Senate Bill 945, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, which addresses many of these issues, the release states. The governor also urged police agencies to require their officers to intervene when they observe an excessive use of force by another officer.The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor were a result of hundreds of years of inequity and institutional racism against Black Americans, Whitmer said in a statement. Here in Michigan, we are taking action and working together to address the inequities Black Michiganders face every day. Thats why Im calling on Michigan police departments to strengthen their training and policies to save lives and keep people safe. I am also ready to partner with the Michigan Legislature and law enforcement officials to pass police reform bills into law.Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II added in a statement, We recognize the shortcomings of the systems in place todaysystems that have left Black, Latino, and other communities of color feeling underserved, even threatened by law enforcement. People across Michigan have been calling for changes to police practices, and these actions are clear steps in the direction of needed reform. We are not done, and we strongly encourage cities and counties to adopt and enact local measures that build trust, accountability, and a comprehensive, non-discriminatory experience of safety for everyone in our state.Col. Joe Gasper, director of the Michigan State Police, said "the role and responsibility of police officers in our society is a great one; one in which our authority is derived from the trust and support of the people we serve."Our members take an oath to protect and serve all people, and in this time, we cannot stand on the outside looking in, Gaspers statement continued. We must listen and take action, reviewing our policies and practices to work together to pave a path forward where everyone has a voice and all are treated equally as human beings.Requesting that the Michigan Commission of Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) provide guidance to law enforcement agencies on continuing education that will help officers keep up with the ever-changing landscape of new laws and issues facing the community, including diversity and implicit bias training.Encouraging police departments to participate in efforts that are underway on comprehensive reporting on the use of force by police departments.Urging law enforcement agencies to implement duty-to-intervene policies.The governor applauded Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren and Lansing Police Chief Daryl Green for their efforts in ensuring their officers intervene when an officer observes another officer doing something inappropriate or illegal.Calling on the Legislature to act on SB 945, under which incoming law enforcement officers would be required by law to go through training on implicit bias, de-escalation techniques, and mental health screenings.Officials say MSP has already taken action to reform policies that will ensure its members treat all Michiganders with dignity and respect. According to the release, MSP has already:Created an Equity and Inclusion Officer position within the department.Set a goal to increase the racial minority trooper applicant pool to 25 percent and the female trooper applicant pool to 20 percent, in an effort to diversify the department.Established community service trooper positions to institute a community policing concept statewide.Posted all non-confidential department policies online to increase transparency.Implemented recurring implicit bias training for all enforcement members and assisted in the development and pilot of a nationwide implicit bias training for civilian personnel.Generated a public-facing transparency web portal for Freedom of Information Act requests.Revised the departments pursuit policy to limit the circumstances in which MSP members can engage in a vehicle pursuit.Whitmer says she has been committed to enacting criminal justice reforms since the day she took office. In April 2019, she signed an executive order to create the Michigan Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration, chaired by Gilchrist, which has reviewed the states jail and court data to expand alternatives to jail, safely reduce jail admissions and length of stay, and improve the effectiveness of the front end of Michigans justice system. The task force has produced a report and made recommendations that are awaiting action by the legislature.And in January 2019, Whitmer signed Executive Order 2019-9, which requires each director of a state department and head of an autonomous agency to designate an Equity and Inclusion Officer to help strengthen non-discrimination protections for state employees.In addition to MSP director Gasper, several other law enforcement officers, elected officials and community leaders voiced support for Whitmers plans Wednesday.I strongly support requiring the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards re-examining, recruiting, hiring, training and retention requirements for Michigans police officers, Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon said in a statement. This examination is not only long overdue but it is absolutely imperative.Police officers must have policies and training systems in place that encourage and mandate they take immediate action to intervene when observing any form of police brutality, Lansing Police Chief Daryl Green said in a statement.We look forward to partnering with Gov. Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Gilchrist to reform the systemic racial inequities in this country, Michigan Legislative Black Caucus Chair and Sen. Marshall Bullock, D-Detroit, said in a statement. This is a time for rational thought and actions, exemplified by those using their voices and feet to march for justice and we look forward to working with leaders in the legislature to address these critical issues. Silence is no longer an optionOut of the fractured sadness, despair, and widespread anger at the tragic murder of George Floyd has arisen a powerful, united voice, Detroit Caucus Chair and Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, D-Detroit, said in a statement. We know that we can do anything when we do it together, so lets keep talking and moving the arc to bend toward justice because the world is listening.I am grieved by the murder of George Floyd and countless other Black men and women at the hands of police, Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington said in a statement. The outrage and hurt felt by members of our community is real. The City of Grand Rapids is committed to continuing to implement actionable steps to create change that leads to increased accountability, justice, and safety for all Grand Rapidians.
Election Commission sets new date for parliamentary polls after postponing them twice over the pandemic.

Sri Lanka will hold the parliamentary elections on August 5, more than three months late because of the coronavirus, the election commission said after health authorities gave their approval.

A mock election will be held this weekend to test new health measures that will be implemented at polling booths and counting centres, commission chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said on Wednesday.

Election commission member Ratnajeevan Hoole said the date would give the sufficient time for preparations under health guidelines.

The vote was delayed and then postponed indefinitely because of the coronavirus, which has killed 11 people in Sri Lanka and infected almost 2,000, according to official data.

Sri Lanka has been steadily lifting lockdown restrictions, although a night-time curfew remains. Schools will reopen later this month, and foreign tourists will be allowed from August 1.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had been hoping the elections would give his party a two-thirds majority in Parliament, allowing it to change the constitution and secure him wider powers.

The first two election dates  April 25 and June 20  were postponed as the Election Commission sought assurances from health authorities that would be safe to hold the vote.

Sri Lanka is facing constitutional uncertainties because it is past a three-month period allowed by law to operate without a sitting parliament.

Last week, the Supreme Court rejected petitions by the opposition parties and civil activists seeking an annulment of Rajapaksas order dissolving the parliament in March.

Rajapaksa was elected last November and used his constitutional powers to dissolve Parliament six months ahead of schedule hoping to secure his party a majority of legislators.

Although he would be allowed to reconvene the dissolved Parliament in an emergency, he refused to do so when the coronavirus made elections uncertain.
Libya: UNSMIL says talks resume, concerned for Sirte 'Avoid further civilian casualties and new wave of displacement'

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, JUNE 11 - The United National Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement on its website that it is "pleased to announce that both the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) delegations are fully engaged in the third round of talks of the (5+5) Joint Military Commission (JMC)". It said it convened a meeting with the LNA delegation on June 3, and another meeting with the GNA delegation on June 9.



"Both meetings - which were conducted virtually - were productive and enabled UNSMIL to discuss with the delegations the latest developments on the ground and to receive their comments on the draft ceasefire agreement, as presented by the Mission to the parties on February 23, 2020," it said.



"While UNSMIL commends the seriousness and the commitment of both parties in the JMC dialogue track, it calls on them to de-escalate to avoid further civilian casualties and new waves of displacement. The Mission is particularly concerned by reports of escalation and mobilisation in and around the city of Sirte," it said.



"Between June 5 and 8, UNSMIL verified at least 19 civilian deaths, including three women and five children and at least 12 injuries to civilians in at least three locations outside Sirte, caused by airstrikes and Grad rockets".(ANSAmed).




Author and historian Bruce Pascoe says Prime Minister Scott Morrison's claim there was no slavery in Australia is wrong, while Labor's Indigenous Australians spokeswoman has called for more truth-telling in the country's history.

Asked on radio on Thursday morning whether he supported the removal of Captain James Cook statues, Mr Morrison said "[Cook] was one of the most enlightened persons on these issues, you could imagine".

Bruce Pascoe at his property in Gipsy Point. He says slavery existed in Australia post-colonisation. Credit:Rachel Mounsey

"Australia when it was founded as a settlement, as New South Wales, was on the basis that there'd be no slavery," the Prime Minister told Ben Fordham on 2GB. "And while slave ships continued to travel around the world, when Australia was established yes, sure, it was a pretty brutal settlement.

"My forefathers and foremothers were on the First and Second Fleets. It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia," he said.
FRANKENMUTH, MI  Hundreds of fans returned to Bronners Christmas Wonderland when it reopened for business on Wednesday, June 10, in Michigans Little Bavaria, with new safety precautions in place.

Bronners spokeswoman Lori Libka said about a dozen shoppers were waiting outside when the store opened at 10 a.m. Wednesday and by 4:30 p.m. about 300 visitors had crossed through the doors. Over all, it was a quiet day for the worlds largest year-round Christmas store, Libka said.

The store closed temporarily in March, along with many other iconic Frankenmuth attractions, amid the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bronners is now open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. The hour between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Friday and Saturday is reserved for shoppers who may be more vulnerable to COVID-19, Libka said. Although the sales floor has reopened, Bronners Seasons Eatings snack area wont reopen until Wednesday, June 17.

President and CEO Wayne Bronner said Bronners is complying with all of the stipulations of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers Executive Orders, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA), and the Saginaw County Health Department.

All employees are wearing company-provided face masks and buttons to remind themselves and others to practice social distancing. Plexiglas shields have been installed in critical areas and floor markers have been placed six feet apart in areas where guests may wait in line, such as at checkouts and ornament personalization counters. Restrooms now feature touch-less water faucets and soap dispensers.

Bronners is asking guests not to enter the store if they are feeling ill, have a fever, have recently been exposed to someone who has COVID-19, or if they have recently experienced symptoms of COVID-19.

In addition, Bronners guests are asked to:

Wear a face mask, unless they have a medical condition that prevents them from doing so.

Maintain more than six feet of distance from anyone outside their household.

Wash or sanitize their hands frequently when inside the building.

Customers who have underlying health conditions or who are concerned about contracting COVID-19 are encouraged to consider curbside options for service.

PREVENTION TIPS

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces.

Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

Read more on MLive:

Michigan retailers caught in a no-win situation of enforcing mask use

Restaurants, pools, libraries reopen: An updated chart of whats allowed in Michigan

Is a second wave of coronavirus inevitable? Michigan nears critical point to suppress another outbreak

Michigan Democrats seek more worker protections as coronavirus restrictions are lifted
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - Argo Gold Inc. (CSE: ARQ) ("Argo Gold" or the "Company") has entered into a mining claim acquisition agreement with Denison Mines Inc. ("Denison") pursuant to which Argo Gold can acquire a 100% interest certain mineral claims located near Talbot Lake, in the Pickle Lake area of the Patricia Mining District in exchange for an aggregate of $135,000 cash and 1,350,000 common shares of the Company and the grant of a 2% net smelter return on the property (with a 1% buyback for $1,000,000). In addition, if Argo Gold establishes an aggregate mineral resource (in all categories) on the Talbot Lake Gold Project of greater than 1 million ounces of gold or gold equivalent using the CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources adopted by CIM Council and reported in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, the Company will make a one-time payment to Denison of $1,500,000 in cash or common shares which equates to $1.50 per ounce of gold resource. The mineral claims are also subject to the Bruce Royalty which is 3% of exploration expenses to a maximum of $245,180; and $100,000 owing on a production decision. The acquisition of the mineral claims is subject to receipt of regulatory approval and the common shares issuable thereunder will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance.

The Talbot Lake Gold Project consists of 760 hectares underlain by a sequence of tholeiitic to komatiitic basalt containing several unexplored iron formations, and one partially-explored high grade vein-type gold deposit. In addition to this acquisition, Argo Gold has staked an additional 399 claim units for a total of 7,982 hectares covering the geological strike extension of the Talbot Lake Gold Project. Argo Gold now controls a total of 23 line kilometres of iron formation containing very high-quality exploration targets for additional gold mineralization.

Talbot Lake was identified in the early 1980's by a belt-scale litho-geochemical exploration program targeting banded iron formations throughout the Pickle and Red Lake greenstone belts by Dome Exploration (Canada) Limited. Identified targets included: Opapamiskan Lake (the future Musslewhite Mine), Dona Lake (the future Dona Lake Mine), and Talbot Lake. Ground prospecting at Talbot Lake identified a high-grade gold quartz vein on the property which became the focus of exploration efforts. The vein itself is hosted in tholeiitic to komatiitic basalts and has been channel sampled on surface for a length of 48 metres over an average width of 3.28 metres for an uncut grade of 13.8 grams per tonne gold; and the vein was drilled to a depth of 200 metres. Denison acquired the property in 1998 and further drilling extended the vein continuity to a depth of 250 metres. Denison also performed down hole orientation surveys on several of the Dome drill holes and determined that the auriferous vein, based on pierce points, was increasing in strike length at depth. Denison briefly optioned the property to Abbastar Resources who carried out a drill program and noted in the press release that gold mineralization occurred in both quartz vein host and iron formation host rocks.

Argo Gold's exploration work during 2020 will consist of consultations with First Nations, basic geological mapping of the iron formation, GPS relocation of the diamond drill holes, and digital compilation of historical exploration data including geological and airborne surveys (Ontario Geological Survey Map P3763 and AMAG/AEM GDS 1108B). The recent and historical ground magnetic surveys identified strong disruption of the magnetic fabric likely due to faulting and/or demagnetization (Dome Exploration, OGS Assessment Files). Argo Gold plans to reprocess and interpret both the OGS GeoTEM AEM/AMAG survey over the property to target areas looking for these characteristics along the iron formation. Bill Kerr, P.Geo, Exploration Geologist of Argo Gold, is the Qualified Person who assumes responsibility for the technical disclosures in this news release.

Corporate Update

Argo Gold is pleased to announce that Chris Wardrop and Jonathan Armes have joined the Board of Directors. Mr. Wardrop has over 20 years business and real estate experience and understands the positive economic impact of the resource sector. He is a lawyer with Poulson Law, a law firm in Sudbury, Ontario and is a member in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario. Mr. Armes has been the President of MinKap Resources Inc. since February of 2016. He previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of ALX Uranium Corp. (formerly, Lakeland Resources Inc.) from 2010 to 2016. Jonathan has provided corporate development and investor relations consulting services to both public and private mining exploration companies for over 20 years. He graduated from the University of Guelph in 1993 with a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree.

Pedro Villigran Garcia has been appointed Vice-President, Argo Gold. Mr. Villigran Garcia is an Engineer and an MBA that has been involved in the mining industry for two decades. Mr. Villagran Garcia assists the company on various corporate fronts including the social media platform to generate market awareness.

Argo Gold also announces that it has granted an aggregate of 400,000 options to purchase common shares of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.165 per share and expiring on June 9, 2023 to directors of the Company.

About Argo Gold Inc.

Argo Gold is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company, focused on gold exploration projects in central and northwestern Ontario. Argo Gold's flagship Uchi Gold Project is comprised of 22 km2 of multiple mineralized trends and widespread gold mineralization. High grade gold intercepts from the Company's winter 2019 drilling program include 132 g/t Au over 1.8 metres at the Woco Vein. All of Argo Gold's projects are 100% owned by the company and its shareholders. Information on Argo Gold can be obtained from SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.argogold.ca. Argo Gold is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (www.thecse.com) under the ticker ARQ, on the OTC under the ticker ARBTF and on the FSE under P3U.

For more information please contact:

Judy Baker, CEO

(416) 786-7860

jbaker@argogold.ca

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement

Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57716
Iran Sanctions Produced 'Excellent Results', Brian Hook Says

Radio Farda June 10, 2020

Speaking online to the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook United States will continue working to re-instate the arms embargo on Iran and that the sanctions have produced "excellent results" so far.

The sanctions have deprived the Iranian regime of billions of dollars, he said and reiterated that Iran is at the forefront of sponsoring terrorism.

Hook also said the arms embargo would prevent Iran from attacking its neighbors through its proxies and prevent the Islamic Republic from "destabilizing the region".

President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday lashed out at the United States and urged the United Nations Security Council to foil what he called "the U.S. plot for extension of Iran's arms embargo.

"For the sake of the world's interests and stability, for the sake of the interests that the region and the world have taken into account in the nuclear deal, we expect the four permanent members of the Security Council to stand against such a plot," he said.

China and Russia are against extending a United Nations arms embargo on Iran which will expire in October as stipulated by the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers in 2015 which the United Nations sanctioned with the Resolution 2231. The United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement  officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)  in May 2018.

On Tuesday Josep Borrell, the Foreign Policy Chief of the European Union, said since the United States has already withdrawn from an international agreement curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions, it can't now use its former membership of the pact to try to impose a permanent arms embargo on the Islamic Republic.

In the webinar with the Heritage Foundation's Brett D. Schaefer, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran also called Iran "an isolated country" with no international support and added that the opposition of Russia and China with lifting the arms embargo was spurred by their wish to sell arms to Iran.

"The Iranian regime is languishing under great pressure and the door is open to diplomacy," he said and added that President Trump will continue to exert pressure on Iran and Iran will have to respond.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-sanctions- produced-excellent-results-brian -hook-says/30663288.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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A lecturer at the Koforidua Technical University (KTU), Dr. Benjamin Kwofie of the Computer Science department has dissociated himself from a letter written by some 101 lecturers to the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC), signed as a group of Concerned Lecturers from Ghanaian Universities against the compilation of a new voters' register by the Electoral Commission.



According to the letter sigthed by Peacefmonline and addressed to the Vice Chancellor of the University, he wishes to state clearly that he knows nothing about the group, their intentions or purpose of existence.



He has therefore asked the Technical University to investigate and issue a disclaimer dissociating the institution and its innocent members from such an action.



Dr Benjamin Kwofies name was the 99th on the list.



But he denies knowledge of the content of the letter.



"I am not privy to the content of the said letter nor am I party to their agenda," he stated.



"I believe my name has been brought into national disrepute, an unfortunate situation for the image of this institution, and to worsen matters, the name of the insitution was appended to my name.



"I wish to call on your noble offce to investigate this matter, issue a disclaimer in a press release and write to the Electoral Commission of this country dissociating the institution and its innocent members from such an action," he added



Concerned University Lecturers Opposes Compilation



The Concerned University Lecturers, Ghana (CULG), a group comprised of over 100 public university lecturers have kicked against the decision of the Electoral Commission to compile a new voters register for the upcoming elections.



In an open letter to the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, the group said It is worried about the decision to compile a new voter's register given that the country's constitutionally scheduled Presidential and Parliamentary elections are six months away.



According to the group, there is no evidence to suggest that the existing register which has used to conduct several elections, including the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections and the District Assembly Elections in 2019, cannot be updated and used for the 2020 elections.



They contend that there is the likelihood that any process of voter registration will defeat the principles of social distancing introduced to curb the spread of the Coronavirus.



Bigger worries



The group said it was even more worried about the EC's decision to limit registration eligibility requirements to passports and Ghana cards as this would disenfranchise nine million Ghanaians.



Parlament Passes C.I. 126



Parliament by a majority decision, 106 - 92 has approved the recommendation of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee to adopt its report on the Constitutional Instrument (C.I. 126).



This CI gives legal backing to the Electoral Commissions (EC) plans to compile a new voters register.



The C.I. 126, which makes the Ghana Card and the Ghanaian passport the only legal identification documents for registering people in the new biometric voters' register.



Compilation of new register



The Electoral Commission has scheduled June 30, 2020, to begin the compilation of the new voters' register.



A letter sighted by Peacefmonline and signed by the Deputy Chairman, Corporate Services, Dr. Bossman E. Asare to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) said "This letter comes to inform you that the 2020 Voters Registration Exercise has been scheduled to commence on Tuesday, the 30th of June, 2020. The registration will be held at all Registration Centres and District Offices of the Electoral Commission throughout the country."



Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is yet to decide on the case.

See letter attached

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
This infographic shows the results of a poll conducted of 500 adults by Realmeter, Wednesday, in which 50 percent said they support the government's plan to ban the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea, while 41.4 percent oppose it. Courtesy of Realmeter



By Jung Da-min



Half of South Koreans support the government's plan to establish a ban on sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets to North Korea, a survey showed Thursday.



In the poll conducted of 500 adults by Realmeter on Wednesday, 50 percent said they support the ban on people in the South sending propaganda leaflets over the border, while 41.1 percent said they oppose it. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.



Controversies over the issue of propaganda leaflets have recently mounted after Kim Yo-jong, a top North Korean official and the sister of the country's leader Kim Jong-un, strongly criticized the South Korean authorities for allowing anti-North Korea activists to send leaflets criticizing the North's regime.






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With Tropical Storm Cristobal charting a path for the Gulf Coast, a Biloxi, Mississippi, local named Khuong Nguyen wanted to get his FD-series Mazda RX-7 out of the storm  the coupe had some bad seals that would let in rain. He parked the orange and black coupe in the bottom story of a parking garage at the city's Golden Nugget Casino, which kept the rain from getting in. But Cristobal came on stronger than expected, creating a new threat of water from below when the parking garage began to flood. Austin Owens, a Gulfport resident about 10 miles from Biloxi, saw photos of the RX-7 with water up to its rockers on a local Cars and Coffee page. As he would later tell Jalopnik, the RX-7 being one of Owens' dream cars, he decided he needed to rescue it. Just to make sure we're all on the same page, a young man braved a tropical storm in his own vehicle to save a stranger's RX-7 in another city.

Owens dragooned a friend and hopped in a Ford Bronco, dodging closed roads and fording three or four feet of water on open roads. They drove to Home Depot to pick up cinder blocks, then headed to the Golden Nugget parking garage. As Owens and his friend arrived, they met Nguyen and a couple of his friends pulling Nguyen's second car, a Ferrari 360, out of the garage on a trailer. The RX-7 had already been set on wood blocks, thin bricks, and some orange wheel chocks, but the stilt job wasn't high enough in front; the water in parts of the garage was knee deep. Owens jacked up the RX-7 to get the cinder blocks under the front wheels; the rear end was fine, due to the slope of the garage floor. Success. As one of Nguyen's friends told Jalopnik, Owens' actions "did give us adequate time to combat the rising water."

The success came at a cost, though, Owens reporting, "We actually killed the [Broncos] transmission on the way out. We actually had to drive in second gear all the way home" due to floodwater seeping into the transmission.

Story continues

He has no regrets, explaining his derring-do with, Its a rare car ... I would hope somebody would do the same for me if I was in the situation with a car of that stature. I didnt have it in my heart to leave it there." With the story blowing up on Facebook, he told the legion of enthusiasts sending their respects, "Appreciate the love, but Id expect the same for one of my cars," followed by, "Alright, whos down for some Forza?"

Save for the original seal issue, the RX-7 came out of the storm with no issues. When Cristobal's rains abate and the RX-7 is fixed, we're sure Owens wouldn't mind if Nguyen made a trip the other way to take the young man for a spin. Check out the Jalopnik piece for the full story and more photos.
Two weeks after the death of Toronto woman Regis Korchinski-Paquet, her family says they will be scheduling an interview with the Ontario police watchdog probing the case as soon as possible, according to their lawyer.

For now, the family is going through a very difficult time and is focused on organizing a private viewing and funeral Thursday for the 29-year-old woman, which will be followed by a later public memorial, according to family lawyer Knia Singh.

The family recognizes the importance of providing a statement to ensure justice for Regis and will be scheduling another interview date with the (Special Investigations Unit) as soon as possible, Singh said in a statement Wednesday night.

The SIU said Wednesday that it is continuing to examine the death of Korchinski-Paquet, an Afro-Indigenous woman who plummeted from her 24th-floor balcony while police were inside her familys High Park apartment unit.

Korchinski-Paquets death has sparked calls for justice and accountability from the womans family and protesters, who have marched against police-involved fatalities and anti-Black racism in recent weeks. Korchinski-Paquets mother said she called police on May 27, the night of her daughters death, because she had needed mental health support.

In a recent obituary, Korchinski-Paquet is remembered as a loving daughter and sister who started her day by texting her siblings: Good morning, I love you!

Her beautiful, infectious smile and unique laugh will be missed, and her absence felt in our hearts forever, the obituary reads.

Last week, Korchinski-Paquets family cancelled an interview with the SIU hours before it was set to occur, citing concerns unnamed police sources were leaking information to the media. The move was a reaction to Toronto Sun stories that cited unnamed sources and provided previously unpublished information about the circumstances of her death.

The cancellation prompted the SIU to ask Toronto police to take immediate steps to prevent further releases of information about what occurred inside the apartment.

Outgoing Toronto police chief Mark Saunders  who announced his resignation earlier this week, citing a desire to spend more time with his family  has urged members of the public to await the findings of the SIU investigation before concluding what happened, as has Toronto mayor John Tory and the Toronto Police Association.

Responding to allegations police may have played a role in the womans death, Saunders has said misinformation can fill the void while police are legally unable to comment during the SIU probe. The chief has said police were summoned to the apartment by multiple 911 calls about an ongoing assault, including two reports that mentioned knives.

In its update Wednesday, the SIU says it has interviewed seven civilian witnesses alongside the six Toronto officers involved. Investigators have also secured and reviewed video footage from the apartment building, received all Toronto police materials that have been requested by the SIU, and completed a canvass of the area in an attempt to locate evidence and potential witnesses, the watchdog said.

The SIU said it is awaiting the results of a toxicological analysis.

Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing for the Star. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis
Guinean President Alpha Conde on Wednesday declared he was fit and well and would 'bury' many of his enemies as rumours persisted that his health was deteriorating.

Conde, 82, said in an interview with Sabari FM radio that he was making fewer public appearances and had stopped receiving visitors on the advice of his doctors, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Rumours had been circulating widely this week that Conde, one of Africa's oldest leaders, was being hospitalised.

Conde made the comments after Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza suddenly died on Monday at the age of 55, sparking suspicions on the country's social media of death from poisoning or COVID-19.

"I assure the Guinean people that I am as fit as a fiddle and I am sure I will bury many people who wish me dead," Conde said, adding that he would continue to 'do sport'.

The impoverished West African country has struggled to curb coronavirus despite enacting travel restrictions and a curfew. More than 4,200 cases have been recorded, including 23 deaths.

Some senior figures are among the fatalities, including government's secretary general Sekou Kourouma, a close ally to the president.

Conde, elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2015, blamed the rumours on his opponents and their "political negligence".

Anger at Conde over suspected plans to run for a third term at the end of the year has sparked protests in which dozens have died.

Conde has been evasive for months about his intentions, without denying his possible candidacy.

"Right now, I'm working on defeating (coronavirus),' he said on Wednesday.

'Each party will decide on its candidate and I will follow my party's decision" for the presidential election, he said.
Military equipment given to police by the Department of Defense tripled last year, in a sign of the increasing militarization of American law enforcement, a DailyMail.com investigation can reveal.

Data from the Department of Defense (DoD) lists more than $210 million of gear including armored vehicles, rifles and smoke grenade launchers sent to police forces last year - three times the $71 million worth of equipment obtained by cops from the department in 2018.

The data also shows a huge spike in the number of items obtained by police from the military, from 25,950 in 2018 to 182,005 last year, which is seven times higher.

And figures for just the first quarter of 2020 already show $60 million of military equipment, setting this year's haul to be the most valuable since 2014.

Studies show police militarization leads to more killings by cops, and researchers say the true numbers of military items going to police departments could be much higher, as other army gear purchases by police are not tracked by the federal government.

Military equipment given to police by the Department of Defense tripled last year, in a sign of the increasing militarization of American law enforcement, a DailyMail.com investigation can reveal

Data from the Department of Defense (DoD) lists more than $210 million of gear including armored vehicles, rifles and smoke grenade launchers sent to police forces last year - three times the $71 million worth of equipment obtained by cops from the department in 2018

The data also shows a huge spike in the number of items obtained by police from the military, from 25,950 in 2018 to 182,005 last year, which is seven times higher

Interestingly, Minnesota, the epicenter of the nationwide riots over George Floyd dying while an officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, has stockpiled $31 million of military equipment since 2016 and has increased its haul each year since 2017, the DoD data revealed.

Cottage Grove Police Department, near Minneapolis where Floyd was killed, picked up a $705,000 mine-resistant vehicle on March 10.

This year the department also obtained accessories for M4 assault rifles, night vision equipment, 24 grenade carriers and two bomb disposal robots.

Among the data, obtained by DailyMail.com from the Defense Logistics Agency, are records of police nationwide receiving 54,014 5.56 mm rifles and 12,235 larger 7.62 mm rifles, 1,216 riot-type shotguns and 34 mine-resistant vehicles.

The DoD data lists 82 'combat/assault/tactical wheeled vehicles', 1,238 night vision sniper scopes, 466 laser range finders, 2,167 tasers and 22 'demolition firing devices' given to police.

Among the military gear are also innocuous items such as gloves, binoculars and filing cabinets.

Military equipment is distributed to police forces under a Pentagon scheme called the 1033 Program.

The scheme was created in the 1990s to put surplus military equipment leftover from the end of the Cold War to use in the police crackdown on drug crime.

However, the scheme has since expanded and the most recent figures show more than a third of the equipment sent to police departments is brand new, creating a backdoor expansion of law enforcement budgets using DoD cash.

Interestingly, Minnesota, the epicenter of the nationwide riots over George Floyd dying while an officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, has stockpiled $31 million of military equipment since 2016 and has increased its haul each year since 2017, the DoD data revealed. Pictured: Police officers in St. Paul, Minnesota

Cottage Grove Police Department, near Minneapolis where Floyd was killed, picked up a $705,000 mine-resistant vehicle (file photo) on March 10

The program was curtailed in 2015 by Barack Obama after an outcry over police killings of black people, but was reinstated by Donald Trump in 2017.

Last week Democrat and Republican senators backed a move to once again curb the program.

Hawaii Democrat Senator Brian Schatz said he would amend this year's defense policy bill to shut down 1033.

'It is clear that many police departments are being outfitted as if they are going to war, and it is not working in terms of maintaining the peace,' Schatz told the New York Times.

A spokesman for Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul told DailyMail.com he was also introducing a bill to curb 1033.

'Senator Paul has worked for years to address concerns with the 1033 program and to stop the federal militarization of local police departments,' the spokesman said..

'His Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act, which he's planning to reintroduce soon, would establish limitations and create greater transparency on the federal transfer of surplus military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies.'

New York police departments almost tripled their procurement of armed forces gear from $1.7 million in 2018 to $4.8 million last year, the data reveals,

'There is a place in policing for the use of some military style equipment. But that type of equipment and those tactics which go along with it are overused in the US, particularly in narcotics enforcement and crowd control,' said David Sklansky, co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center.

The DoD data lists 82 'combat/assault/tactical wheeled vehicles', 1,238 night vision sniper scopes, 466 laser range finders, 2,167 tasers and 22 'demolition firing devices'(pictured) given to police

The 1033 program data showed the most common military handouts to police were the 86,024 magazine cartridges, 66,249 rifles, 45,009 reflex sights and 6,347 .45 caliber automatic pistols

'You can see the results with regards to crowd control just from pictures across the country over the last two weeks.

'The places around the country where the protests have led to violence between police and protesters by and large are places where the police overused military equipment and military-style tactics.'

Sklansky, who has worked as a prosecutor, said the increase in military gear is part of a deliberate push by the Justice Department under President Trump towards more 'militaristic' policing.

'The expansion is in keeping with a general push from the Department of Justice to make police departments move away from community policing and back towards more militaristic styles of policing  a push to make police departments do more of what President Trump has taken to calling 'dominating',' he said.

'It sends a message both to the officers and to the communities in which they work that the police are a paramilitary force of warriors instead of an agency of guardians.'

The data, which goes back to 1990, shows Arizona state troopers have received by far the most military gear of any police force with $55.2 million worth of equipment, followed by Tallahassee, Florida, department of law enforcement with $20.3 million in military supplies.

The 1033 program data showed the most common military handouts to police were the 86,024 magazine cartridges, 66,249 rifles, 45,009 reflex sights and 6,347 .45 caliber automatic pistols.

The most valuable items were the rifles worth a total $26 million, closely followed by 34 mine resistant vehicles costing a total $23,278,893  or more than $684,000 each.

The program was curtailed in 2015 by Barack Obama after an outcry over police killings of black people, but was reinstated by Donald Trump in 2017

Last week Democrat and Republican senators backed a move to once again curb the program. Hawaii Democrat Senator Brian Schatz (pictured) said he would amend this year's defense policy bill to shut down 1033

Studies have linked increases in law enforcement militarization to a rise in police violence.

A 2017 study published in the journal Research and Politics found that the police forces with the most military gear killed more than twice as many people as forces with no DoD equipment.

The paper found that police departments that got the most military equipment also killed more dogs, which researchers took as an indication that their cops got more violent in general.

The study's lead author, Casey Delehanty, a political scientist at North Carolina's Gardner-Webb University, told DailyMail.com that last year's dramatic increase in army gear obtained by police forces could lead to more violence, especially against black people.

'I'm not just worried about the escalated levels of killings we've shown tend to happen when you increase this gear. I'm also worried about the escalated level of harassment and violent coercive interaction.

'It not only makes it more difficult to live in society as a person of color, but also makes it harder for police to do their job. To solve crime, police often rely on cooperating witnesses. Increasingly you're seeing backlash against police who abuse their power with impunity.

'As a consequence you have lower and lower clearance rates on crime, even though there are fewer crimes and more police.

New York police departments almost tripled their procurement of armed forces gear from $1.7 million in 2018 to $4.8 million last year, the data reveals. Pictured: NYPD officers

'It comes from this increasing us-versus-them, militarized mentality.'

Delehanty said despite a push for transparency, the true numbers of military items going to police is still unclear.

'We've had billions of dollars of equipment go out through the 1033 program,' he said. 'But that's not the only source of military gear for police, it's just the one where we have the most comprehensive data.

'A lot of agencies will buy directly from their budgets. It's not really centrally tracked. It's impossible to say at a national or often even a state level how much gear police agencies actually have.'

And though Delehanty was able to show a rise in cops killing suspects after they received more military gear in his 2017 study, he said that there are likely other types of police brutality linked to militarization.

'We looked at killings because it was the measure that we had the best data on. But we think it's also important to recognize that killings are a very small part of the larger spectrum of police misbehavior,' he said.

'We don't have the data on unlawful stops, beatings, or shootings that don't end up in someone dead.'
WASHINGTON - The nation's rebellion against police violence and racism led to state and local actions against statues honoring Confederates, but many federal symbols honoring Civil War rebels, including Army base names, remain untouched.

That's the way it will stay, if President Donald Trump has his way.

"My Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations," he tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

Yet, the bases and Confederate statues at the Capitol are in the incongruous position of exalting people who raised arms against the United States government and who killed members of its military in defense of white supremacy and black enslavement.

The Confederate soldiers and officials are traitors, under the constitutional definition of treason: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

Honoring the Confederates, however, is particularly senseless at the 10 Army bases named for rebel generals who led the fight against the U.S. Army. The bases are:

- Fort Rucker (Gen. Edmund Rucker), Alabama.

- Fort Benning (Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning), Georgia.

- Fort Gordon (Maj. Gen. John Brown Gordon), Georgia.

- Camp Beauregard (Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard), Louisiana.

- Fort Polk (Gen. Leonidas Polk), Louisiana.

- Fort Bragg (Gen. Braxton Bragg), North Carolina.

- Fort Hood (Gen. John Bell Hood), Texas.

- Fort A.P. Hill (Gen. A.P. Hill), Virginia.

- Fort Lee (Gen. Robert E. Lee), Virginia.

- Fort Pickett (Gen. George Pickett), Virginia.

Statues honoring white-supremacist politicians also degrade the Capitol. Standing tall in the Capitol or on its grounds are statues of:

- Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

- Confederate vice president Alexander Hamilton Stephens.

- Proslavery senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.

- Confederate Gen. Wade Hampton III.

- Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

- Confederate Col. James Zachariah George.

- Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith.

- Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler.

- Charles Brantley Aycock, a racist North Carolina governor.

In addition, two Naval Academy buildings, Maury Hall and Buchanan House, the superintendent's residence, are named for Confederate officers. Also, a Navy ship, the guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville, is named after a Confederate Civil War victory.

There are Democratic congressional efforts to address the Confederate memorials, and a Pentagon statement indicated an openness "to a bi-partisan discussion on the topic."

But, Trump's tweets made his opposition to renaming the bases as clear as his allegiances to Confederate apologists: "These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage . . .Respect our Military!"

Apparently, it is of no matter to Trump that the Confederacy attacked "our military" and killed American soldiers.

On Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called for the removal of the Capitol Confederate statues, saying they "pay homage to hate, not heritage."

Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., proposed renaming all bases named for Confederate generals, saying, "It's long past time to end the tribute to white supremacy on our military installations."

In August, Democratic Reps. Adriano Espaillat of New York and and Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania introduced legislation prohibiting federal funding to create or display "any Confederate symbol on Federal public land." The bill says the defense secretary "shall redesignate" the Army installations named after Confederate Civil War generals.

"We should not be using taxpayer dollars in any way to contribute to this type of racist, white-supremacist type of behavior," Evans said, "under no circumstances."

In December, the House approved legislation by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., that would bar naming any military assets in honor of the Confederacy. "Why are you going to praise someone who tried to tear down the Union," he asked. "It doesn't make sense."

The Pentagon's statement, previously reported by Politico, said "each Army installation is named for a soldier who has a significant place in our military history. Accordingly, the historic names represent individuals, not causes or ideologies."

That ignores the fact that the individuals represented a cause, the "Lost Cause" of the Confederacy, an ideology that romanticizes the pre-Civil War South, the Confederates and is "accompanied by a collective forgetting of the horrors of slavery," according to Virginia Humanities, the state humanities council.

A statement from the Navy ignored questions about the Naval Academy buildings and the cruiser, but said Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, "has directed his staff to begin crafting an order that would prohibit the Confederate battle flag from all public spaces and work areas aboard Navy installations, ships, aircraft and submarines." That follows similar actions by the Marines.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy oversaw construction of Confederate statues in Richmond. They have been targeted for removal by state and local officials, as is the case with statues elsewhere. The Daughters did not respond to a request for comment on the military bases. A spokesman for the American Legion, the largest veterans service organization, said its national executive committee expects to address Army base names in October, but for now "the military has the right to rename its bases and forts whenever it chooses to do so. The American Legion does not object to that."

The Legion takes no position on the base names now, no matter how objectionable the names are.
While the nature and frequency of terrorist attacks peaked in the years that followed the 2011 Revolution, sustained counter-terrorist campaigns over the last six years have succeeded in eliminating leading terrorists, drying up their sources of funding, and seriously curtailing their ability to operate

Terrorist attacks in Egypts interior (the Nile Valley and Delta), and its peripheries (Sinai and the Western Desert) increased following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, and peaked between 2015 and 2017 period, posing a grave threat to national security.

As the geographic scope of attacks expanded and the terrorists broadened their targets to include civilians and houses of worship, the government clarified its approach to counter-terrorism. The vision which President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi outlined at the US-Arab summit in Riyadh in 2017, set the strategic contours for Egypt's fight against terrorism, especially in Sinai.

A three-pronged action plan was adopted. It included enhanced intelligence gathering  the surveillance of terrorist elements and assembly points, tracking, cutting off sources of financing and logistic support, and bolstering border security  complemented by sustained military and security operations to deliver debilitating strikes and destroy terrorist infrastructures, and the lunch of ambitious development projects to raise the living standards of Sinais inhabitants.

These three prongs shaped the course of counter-terrorist operations. Martyrs Right and Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 made major inroads towards eliminating the terrorist threat.

Comprehensive Operation Sinai was launched on 9 November 2018 following the presidential directive ordering the Armed Forces and police to eliminate terrorism in Sinai. The presidential directive had been issued in the aftermath of the Rawda Mosque attack on 24 November 2017, when the Islamic State-affiliated Sinai Province massacred more than 300 worshipers during Friday prayers.

Six years into President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisis presidency what are the results of the ongoing counter-terrorist campaign?

The terrorist map in Sinai has changed a great deal over the past six years.

First, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis split off from Al-Qaeda, declared its allegiance to Islamic State and renamed itself the Sinai Province.

The Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis switch in allegiance had a major impact on Al-Qaeda, whose ability to carry out terrorist attacks had declined considerably since 2012. Gradually Al-Qaeda affiliates faded from the scene. In one of its last appearances, Al-Qaeda affiliate Jund Al-Islam released a statement condemning the Rawda Mosque attack. It reappeared briefly on 10 September 2018, posting a video attacking the Egyptian state and calling on Muslim youth throughout the world to join in the jihad for Allah, since when it has sunk into oblivion. As a result, the primary thrust of the security battle in Sinai remains focused on the Sinai Province, still the largest and most active terrorist group in the peninsula.

Military operations in Sinai passed through many stages, beginning with the Martyrs Right series in 2015-2016 and culminating in Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018, the most sweeping, precise and successful of the counter-terrorist operations.

During the past six years Egypt has scored major successes in implementing its three-point action plan. Intelligence and security operations identified and eliminated many first and second tier Sinai Province commanders, including Abu Osama Al-Masry, the former ABM operative Kheirat Sami El-Sabaki, and the notorious Mohammed Gamal. The loss of these and other leaders had a profound impact on the organisation's structure and its ability to carry out attacks.

Egypt also made strides in drying up sources of terrorist funding and logistical support. Egyptian border forces and the coast guard tightened their control over land and maritime borders, both in the theatre of operations and along Egypts western and southern borders. This was complemented by political success: an agreement was reached with Hamas to tighten controls on the Gaza side of the border, while Egyptian military engineers succeeded in closing many of the border tunnels which had been used to supply equipment and personnel to terrorist groups.

The November 2017 Rawda Mosque massacre in which Sinai Province gunmen murdered more than 300 civilians precipitated a major shift. In its wake the civilian population in Sinai increased cooperation with counter-terrorist forces in the peninsula, helping the security forces to dismantle terrorist infrastructures and curtail the ability of terrorists to move around the peninsula.

Two facts testify to the progress achieved against terrorism in Sinai during the past six years. The first is the remarkable decline in both the frequency and scale of terrorist attacks since 2018 compared to the peak years of 2015 to 2017. The second is the dramatic decline in losses sustained by military and security forces over the last 18 months compared to the preceding four years.

So what lies ahead?

While it would be over-optimistic to predict the complete demise of Sinai Province or other jihadist takfiri groups in Sinai, given the successes already achieved by the various counter-terrorist campaigns we can predict that there will be further erosion of their ability to launch attacks, or sustain anything resembling a coherent infrastructure of terror.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 11 June, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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New Delhi, June 11 : Touted as the best premium device coming your way early this year, OnePlus 8 series was impacted (like other brands) by Covid-19 related production issues.

The die-hard OnePlus community in India eagerly waited for the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro that succeed highly-successful OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro.

And the reason was obvious.

Riding on its OnePlus 7 series, OnePlus led the Indian premium smartphone market in 2019 with 33 per cent market share. The company became the first-ever premium smartphone brand surpassing 20 lakh shipments in a year in the country.

The OnePlus 8 series phones feature 5G support, have up to 12GB RAM, latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC and features a quad rear camera setup (OnePlus 8 has triple rear camera system).

The OnePlus 8 Pro starts at Rs 54,999 for the base model of 8GB RAM+128GB storage and Rs 59,999 for the 12GB RAM+256GB model.

It is time to see what OnePlus 8 Pro (8GB RAM+128GB) in unique Glacial Green colour has to offer.

In terms of design, the device scores 10 out of 10. The front is dominated by the large 6.78-inch display which curves over each vertical edge, with a metal frame that runs around the circumference of the body.

The device features a circular punch-hole camera cutout in the top-left corner of the screen. The cameras are placed vertically at the back and the camera bump is more pronounced.

At the bottom, you will find a USB-C port, speaker and SIM card tray (which does not support microSD card as usual in new OnePlus devices). The volume rocker is placed on left and on the right, power button and signature OnePlus notification slider sit neatly.

The phone has a 6.78-inch QHD+ (1440x3168 pixels) Fluid AMOLED display along with up to 120Hz refresh rate, 19.8:9 aspect ratio, and a 3D Corning Gorilla Glass protection. It also features a 10-bit colour panel and an HDR10+ rating.

The device features an amazing display and if you have no option but to stream movies on smartphone only, you would definitely enjoy it.

Thanks to advanced motion algorithms, videos can be viewed at an elevated frame rate of up to 120 frames per second (fps) with reduced motion blur and crisper clarity.

The device is powered by a Snapdragon 865 chip with Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System, which enables staggering multi-gigabit 5G connectivity and advanced Wi-Fi 6 performance.

The smartphone comes equipped with up to 12GB of cutting-edge LPDDR5 RAM for up to 30 per cent faster memory speed and improved power efficiency by up to 20 per cent.

Fortnite ran flawlessly, so did PUBG. We pushed the graphics up to HDR and the frame rate to extreme and did not notice any lag.

The Fortnite experience got elevated with 90fps thanks to OnePlus partnership with Epic Games. Playing the popular battle royale game at 90fps, as opposed to a previous peak of 60fps, was simply awesome.

The OnePlus 8 Pro runs OxygenOS based on Android 10 and has a bunch of improvements under the hood to make sure that the phone makes good use of it.

The 4,510mAh battery remained alive for 10 to 12 hours with active usage. It comes with a Warp Charge in the box, which can give you 40 per cent of battery in about 20 minutes of charging.

The 48MP main camera features an advanced Sony IMX689 sensor with a large 1/1.4-inch sensor size, enabling users to capture more light.

The primary camera sensor is accompanied by an 8MP secondary sensor that has an f/2.44 telephoto lens and OIS support, paired with a 48MP tertiary sensor that includes an f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens.

The camera setup also includes a 5MP "Colour Filter" camera sensor that brings artistic lighting effects and filters.

Moreover, the smartphone offers 3 times hybrid support and 4K video recording at 30/60fps. The video quality, again, was decent as it handled details and colours well.

We found camera performance impressive in various lights. The low-light performance was good and it was capable of producing bright images using a dedicated night mode.

For selfies, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor at the front along with an f/2.45 lens and 1.0-micron pixel size which produces impressive selfies.

Conclusion: Although the price is a bit on the high side for OnePlus fans, OnePlus Pro is worth the wait. The late arrival does not make any impact and the premium Android community in India has another true flagship out there.

(Md Waquar Haider can be reached at waquar.h@ians.in)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and ensuing protests over his death have forced a broad reckoning over the role of police in San Antonio  raising new questions about the citys spending on police, officers use of force and the chiefs ability to keep bad officers off the streets.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg and seven City Council members, an overwhelming majority, have said theyre open to re-examining how much the city spends on the Police Department.

That money could be rerouted for anti-poverty initiatives, including helping the citys homeless, training residents for high-demand jobs or to pay for services for domestic violence victims and those suffering with mental health problems.

911 should not be the first number that we call, for social-based problems, District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval said during Wednesdays council meeting.

Police Chief William McManus agreed.

The Police Department cannot resolve the systemic social and economic issues in cities across this country, McManus told council members. Every city that Ive worked in  from Washington, D.C., to here  has those systemic problems.

The reckoning already has brought about significant changes in police conduct  McManus said Wednesday that officers longer will be able to fire projectiles unless he gives a direct order. It also has raised the possibility of still more drastic measures  Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran suggested every officer should take a lie detector test to determine whether he or she has racist tendencies.

But protesters and police critics have homed in on the citys police spending  which takes up more than a third of the citys entire budget.

Josie Norris, The San Antonio Express-News / Staff Photographer

Some council members noted the city spends a high percentage of its budget on police because thats what residents want.

When the City Council was putting together its budget last summer, residents surveyed said they wanted more spending on public safety, along with neighborhood improvements and streets.

To that end, council members set aside $479 million for the Police Department  about 80 percent of which is mandated under the contract with the police union, City Manager Erik Walsh said Wednesday.

I would be hesitant at this point to say, Yeah were looking at redirecting funds because people want to be safe, District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry said. They want to feel safe.

The renewed focus on police misconduct also has brought new scrutiny of the police union contract, which nearly every council member said is in need of repair.

The contract  which expires next year  gives officers accused of wrongdoing too much latitude to sway the disciplinary process or win their job back if McManus fires them, several council members said.

Under the contract, police supervisors have 180 days to discover a potential case of misconduct. If they miss that window, they cant discipline the officer involved.

If they do, officers accused of misconduct are allowed to view the evidence against them before theyre interrogated. If McManus hands down disciplinary action, officers can overturn that discipline through binding arbitration.

About two-thirds of fired San Antonio police officers get their jobs back, records show.

So far, at least two council members  Sandoval and Roberto Trevino  have said they wont vote for a contract that doesnt fix those issues.

McManus himself is frustrated with the setup, telling council members that state law and the police union contract protect bad officers.

Consequences for misconduct must be served and they must be final, McManus said. If theyre not, we get police officers back on the department that need to be fired.

Some council members have lobbed up even more radical ideas.

Over the weekend, a veto-proof majority of city council members in Minneapolis  where George Floyd, a black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes  decided to completely dismantle that citys Police Department.

District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales raised the possibility of completely transforming the Police Department, including a shake-up among the top brass at SAPD.

She stopped short of saying the city should replace McManus, but added: I think that we should keep all options on the table.

District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez shot down the idea of a Minneapolis-style change to the department.

I dont anticipate that anybody in San Antonio is going to dismantle SAPD, Pelaez said.

But, Pelaez added later, What they also want is a different kind of policing.

Another option suggested would strip the San Antonio Police Officers Association of its power to bargain with the city for a new contract every five years. The city and the union have negotiated since 1974, when San Antonio voters gave the union the power to bargain collectively.

District 2 Councilwoman Jada Andrews-Sullivan, the councils lone black member, suggested the issue should go back to voters for a potential repeal.

Youre telling me a system that was voted on in 1974 is what were still being governed under in 2020, Andrews-Sullivan said. Were in a new day and age. Voters need to have their voices heard.

Putting that matter to a vote could serve as a nuclear option if the union doesnt play ball on giving up some of the contracts protections for officers facing discipline.

About 20,000 residents would have to petition to put it on a ballot  an initiative soon to be undertaken by an organization called Fix SAPD.

But if collective bargaining was torpedoed, that could be a two-edge sword, experts say. It would give the city less flexibility in hiring, promotions and boosting diversity within the department, said Ron DeLord, a lawyer who has negotiated labor contracts for police in Texas cities including San Antonio. Thats because the city would then be bound by state law on such matters.

All of those things would be lost and wed have to go back and act like its 1973, DeLord said.

Police union president Mike Helle could not be reached for comment.

Not all changes pitched by council members require a complete upheaval of the department.

In suggesting polygraph tests to detect racial bias, Viagran was pitching a no-tolerance policy for racism, discrimination and domestic abuse.

Police drew condemnation for firing rubber and wooden bullets on demonstrators at Alamo Plaza last week, though McManus has maintained their use was justified. Viagran noted that a 16-year-old boy protesting in Austin was in critical condition after a police officer there shot him in the head with a bean-bag round.

The difficulty I have with that is that people are out there protesting use of force by police, Nirenberg said. We have to be very careful if our response to that is use of force.

McManus said he now must personally approve the use of projectiles like wooden and rubber bullets during a demonstration.

Hopefully, we dont ever have to use them again, McManus said. But if in fact they are, then  the instruction to use those weapons has to come from me directly.

SAPD has made headway on policies aimed at reducing use of force, McManus told council members.

The department has adopted four policies put forth by the 8 Cant Wait initiative  started by Campaign Zero, a nonprofit aimed at police reform  including a ban on chokeholds and a requirement that officers intervene if they see one of their own engaged in potential excessive force.

Overall, complaints of use of force are down significantly from previous years, a fact McManus attributed to the departments adoption of body cameras.

In 2010, the department received and investigated 64 complaints of excessive force. Last year, that number was 18  which McManus said was a historic low.

Joshua Fechter is a staff writer covering San Antonio government and politics. To read more from Joshua, become a subscriber. jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFReports
Offaly County Council wants to hear your views on the new N52 Tullamore to Kilbeggan Link scheme.

The Council is developing the N52 Tullamore to Kilbeggan Link Scheme, in conjunction with Westmeath County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), to upgrade 8km of this National Secondary Route between the Tullamore Bypass and the M6 at Junction 5 (Kilbeggan).

This first public consultation  underway from June 15 to July 27 - is focused on the Study Area and the Constraints Study. The Council has sent a project brochure, including map and questionnaire, to all households within the study area. People can also view the project online at www.n52tullamoretokilbeggan.ie.

People can also view the maps and information on display in a number of local shop fronts/premises that are currently open to the public, including a window display in Offaly County Council Offices, as well as on the website. This is because it is not currently possible to hold open days due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, according to the council.

Delivering this project is a priority, the council has said.

"The N52 currently operates above capacity, carrying over 14,000 vehicles per day, on a single carriageway with a narrow hard shoulder, as well as having many private access points and public junctions. The overall aim of the proposed new scheme is to improve connectivity within The Midlands and address existing operational and safety issues,

"This project is of particular importance as it links the north-east and the south-west of Ireland, from Ardee in County Louth to Nenagh in County Tipperary and services the towns of Kells, Mullingar, Tyrrellspass, Kilbeggan, Tullamore, Birr. The new N52 Tullamore to Kilbeggan Link scheme will improve the quality of the road and result in better road safety for local people and commercial traffic alike."

All feedback should be returned to the project team by Monday, July 27 by either email info@n52tullamoretokilbeggan.ie or post to RPS, West Pier Business Campus, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. The project team can also be contacted by telephone at 01 5239274 (Monday  Friday).
National museums in Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., are aiming to reopen in late summer or early fall, but things will be very different when they do.

The days of wandering freely through exhibits and engaging with interactive displays are over, at least for the foreseeable future.

Instead, expect limited entry, new safety protocols and plenty of physical distancing in order to keep COVID-19 in check.

"Many of the interactives will have to be turned off, many of the video screens will need to be turned off," said Meg Beckel, president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Nature, which plans to reopen to the public in early September if provincial protocols allow.

Phase 2 of Ontario's reopening plan begins Friday in many parts of the province including Ottawa. It allows museums, galleries, zoos and other public attractions to reopen with certain restrictions, including:

Interactive and "high-contact exhibits" must remain closed.

Physical distancing of at least two metres must be maintained.

Timed entry, and limits on the number of visitors allowed inside at any one time.

"Managed visitor flow," such as one-way foot traffic.

"Establishments should consider operating by appointment and/or record each patron's name and contact information for the purposes of contact tracing."

When the museum does reopen, there will be directional signs to guide visitors through the exhibits and markings on the floor to keep them a safe distance apart.

"We're looking at welcoming about 25 people every 15 minutes," Beckel said. "We've created a traffic circle in the middle of the atrium to keep the traffic flowing in one direction in an orderly formation."

The National Gallery of Canada hasn't settled on a reopening date either, though it's eyeing late July or early August, according to director and CEO Sasha Suda.

Jean Delisle/CBC

Suda said the art gallery's wide-open spaces and general rule against touching exhibits makes the job of reopening easier than at other museums.

Story continues

"I had a staff member say to me this morning we were saying not to touch before it was cool," Suda joked.

Visitors to the gallery can expect limited admission to cut down on the number of people allowed inside at once. They'll also be offered masks and hand sanitizer, Suda said.

Canadian Museum of History

The Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa have drawn up their own plans for free programming and limited access to their buildings, likely starting in August. The Crown corporation that operates the museums said it must align itself will reopening rules set out by both provinces, while incorporating guidance from the federal government.

"We're opening up space where we can respect social distancing, and then try to really use the exterior spaces of the museums in ways that offer experiences to visitors that would be meaningful and interesting for them," said president and CEO Mark O'Neill.

That will likely mean displays and demonstrations of military vehicles and other artifacts outside, as well as guided tours for small groups. Wider access to the museums won't be available until at least September, O'Neill said.

"It's going to be very difficult to create social distancing bubbles."

David Jackson/Canada Science and Technology Museum

Beckel said museums will need to adapt to the new reality, and while she'll miss seeing children excitedly pushing buttons and pulling levers, that type of interactive display is likely a thing of the past. Instead, new exhibits will be equipped with motion-sensitive technology.

"I think the future of interactivity is going to require an investment in new ways of triggering the interactive experience with no touch," she said. "So instead of a button, you'll wave your hand."

It's tricky for us. How do you imagine a science and tech museum without a crazy kitchen? - Christina Tessier, Ingenium

Christina Tessier, president and CEO of Ingenium, which includes the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, said all three are eyeing an August reopening.

Tessier said the Science and Technology Museum will be the most difficult to adapt because of its large number of interactive exhibits, now off limits.

"It's tricky for us. How do you imagine a science and tech museum without a crazy kitchen?" Tessier said, referring to the museum's famous illusory room, a favourite with generations of visitors. "It will become a much more visual experience for those who are touring through."

All these museums are taking an unprecedented financial hit this summer, normally their most lucrative season.

Suda expects the National Gallery of Canada to lose out on about $7.5 million in attendance, parking and special event fees. Then there's the heavy cost of reopening.

"We're looking at an additional roughly $1 million that we're going to need to put toward reopening for extra security, for extra cleaning, for personal protective equipment," Suda said.

Beckel pegs the financial impact to the Canadian Museum of Nature at $8.4 million, which includes the cost of reopening and installing new security measures.

"We are used to welcoming thousands of people every day," said O'Neill, who estimates losses for his two museums at between $10 million and $15 million in ticket revenue and cancelled weddings and banquets.

"We know the incredibly negative, destructive impact of all of this," he said.
John Reinke is one of the stars of the hit Netflix series Tiger King, and he is missing his legs, in the process of a divorce, and broke even if he was part of the famous Netflix series. But even if he's had a rough life, the former zookeeper of Joe Exotic thinks that he's one of the luckiest people on Earth.

John Reinke was a professional bungee jumper, which makes him believe that he can do anything he wants. He thinks he's lucky to be alive since he thinks he should've died when he was 24 years old.

When Reinke worked at the zoo, he worked with the animals 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. He worked as the animals' caretaker and he also ran the park.

Nowadays, he's a photographer that takes pictures of people, while he's a mechanic on the side. He's going through a divorce with his wife, but he also got a girlfriend. His current situation makes him the happiest he has been in his life.

John Reinke On Joe Exotic's Prison Case

John Reinke's former boss Joe Exotic is currently serving a 22-year-long prison sentence for taking part in a murder-for-hire plot. He thinks his boss's rival Carole Baskin and his former business partner Jeff Low should worry since the police and FBI are still investigating the people featured on the Netflix series. The boss of Big Cat Rescue and Joe Exotic's rival Carole Baskin received Exotic's old zoo in Oklahoma as a part of a court settlement worth over $1,000,000.

Reinke thinks that Baskin's second husband's disappearance will have the truth found soon. A recently-hired sheriff in Florida is pushing a case against Baskin over her missing millionaire husband, who disappeared after he planned to divorce Baskin. The sheriff is offering anyone else involved with it immunity, so it shows that he wants to solve it as soon as possible.

The most prominent rumor is that Baskin killed her millionaire husband and fed him to her big cats. She talked about using sardine oil to lure her big cats to someone to get rid of them.

Read Also: Carole Baskin Said "Dead Bodies Can Not Talk" to Ex-Boyfriend: Did Tiger King's Worst Enemy Kill Her Husband?

John Reinke And His Life At The Zoo

Enough about the drama though, Einke enjoyed his time behind the scenes at the zoo.

Einke has said that his involvement in the zoo or the Netflix series isn't something he regrets. He states that the rumors about animal cruelty at the zoo are false. No animals were abused in the zoo, and he was there for over a decade.

The Netflix series made the zoo feeding horses to the tigers into something that sounded horrible. The horses were already close to death, and they couldn't be saved.

Einke stated in the first episode of the Netflix series that animal people are crazy. He still claims they are crazy, and that he is one of the crazy animal people. Animal people are a unique kind of people, according to Einke.

Money is something that Einke is trying to make every day. He still hasn't been paid for starring in the Netflix series, so he's waiting for any money for it.

Einke isn't set for life, he has to mow lawns, work on cars, and do various odd jobs. He can do anything, but he's still happy with his life.

Read Also: Free Netflix Alternatives And More: How You Can Pass Time Without Emptying Your Wallet
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday said that the world was moving towards Artificial Intelligence (AI), but students should also acquire the knowledge of spiritual intelligence.

He also said that educational institutions will have to combine innovation and incubation with research and invention to become centers of excellence.

He was speaking while inaugurating HSNC Cluster University, a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative of the Hyderabad Sind National Collegiate (HSNC) Board and the Maharashtra government, via video-conference.

The world is moving towards Artificial Intelligence, the governor said, and urged the students to also acquire the knowledge of adhyatmik (spiritual) intelligence, which is the core heritage of the country.

Recalling the words of Swami Vivekananda on education, the governor said students should endeavour to awaken the divinity and perfection within them through acquisition of knowledge.

He also said that all stakeholders need to work with coordination, dedication and discipline to improve the standards of higher education.

Koshyari said that the central government was keen on good colleges forming cluster universities.

Such clusters would enable best colleges to become centres of excellence, he said.

The governor complimented the HSNC Board for forming the cluster university comprising K C College, H R College and the Bombay Teachers Training College.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who also attended the ceremony, lauded the HSNC Cluster University for offering choice-based courses in music, dance, art and other subjects.

Art is an essential component of life...Art makes learning pleasurable and delightful. If I had not become chief minister, I would have become an artist. In fact, I am chief minister because I am an artist, he said.

Thackeray described knowledge as an essential requirement of life.

Therefore imparting education must be continued using technological tools even during calamity situations, he said.

Maharashtra Minister of Higher Education Uday Samant said the government was considering a proposal to convert the Sir J J School of Art into a university.

He said the government was also considering a plan of creating vertical universities.
Former Minnesota police officer Thomas Lane poses in a combination of booking photographs at Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 3, 2020. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office/Handout via Reuters)

Former Rookie Officer Charged in George Floyds Death Freed From Jail After Posting Bail

One of the four fired Minnesota police officers charged in the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has been released from jail after his family and the public helped him post bail.

Thomas Lane, 37, was freed around 4 p.m. on Wednesday. A judge set his bail at $750,000 on June 4. He was held at the Hennepin County jail before posting bail, a spokesperson from the Hennepin County Sheriffs Office said.

Lane was charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Floyds police custody death on May 25. His next hearing is scheduled for June 29, and his attorney, Earl Gray, is planning to file a motion to dismiss the charges, according to multiple reports.

Bail was also set at $750,000 apiece for the other two former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, who also made their first appearances in Hennepin County District Court last Thursday.

J. Alexander Kueng (L) and Tou Thao. (Hennepin County Sheriffs Office via AP)

Lane was one of the two rookie police officers barely off probation when a more senior officer ignored Floyds cries for help and pressed a knee into his neck, defense attorneys said.

Gray said his client, Lane, had no choice but to follow the instructions of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin, who has since been charged with second-degree murder. Gray called the case against his client extremely weak.

Chauvin was videotaped pressing his knee to Floyds neck as he gasped I cant breathe and called for his mother before he died. Chauvin remains in jail in lieu of $1.25 million bail.

Kueng and Thao have also been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. If convicted, they potentially face the same penalty as Chauvin, up to 40 years in prison.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin poses for an undated booking photograph. (Minnesota Department of Corrections via Reuters)

Gray said on June 4 that all Lane did was hold Floyds feet so he couldnt kick, and he underlined that the criminal complaint says Lane asked Chauvin twice if they should roll Floyd over and expressed concern that Floyd might be in delirium. He said Lane performed CPR in the ambulance. He also said his client was only on his fourth day on the job on patrol duty and that Chauvin was his training officer, whom he should obey.

What was my client supposed to do but follow what his training officer said? Is that aiding and abetting a crime? Gray asked.

Gray and Kuengs defense attorney, Tom Plunkett, asked the court for lower bail, saying their clients had been police officers for just four days when Floyd was killed. Police records indicate that while the men were rookies, they had more experience than a handful of days on the force. According to their records, they joined the department in February 2019 and became full officers in December. Minneapolis officers must serve a year on probation and spend time in field training with a more senior officer before they are fully qualified.

George Floyd in a file photograph. (Christopher Harris via AP)

Protests flared for a 17th day early on Thursday with crowds in Portland, Oregon, flooding city-center streets and some activists throwing bottles at police. At least 17 people have been killed so far in the nationwide protests following the death of Floydthe ages of those who died range from 18 to 77.

Many of those joining the more than two weeks of protests have been calling for a ban on chokeholds and the other methods of restraint used by police, as well as the defunding of police.

Defense Fund

The family of Lane helped him post bale after setting up a fundraising page for the former officer earlier this week, asking the public for a donation for his defense fund.

On the fundraiser, the author of the page wrote the bail amount set is not reasonable and claims that Lane did everything he could to save George Floyds life.

This shows a total disregard for equal justice under the law, the page stated.

The total amount the page generated in donations is unclear, but the goal was set at $1 million. The page is no longer accessible as of Wednesday.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD News
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

"Students attacking a program for fellow students because of their frustrations with a foreign government is misguided, misdirected and misinformed," said Erik Eging of The Confucius Institute U.S. Center. "A recent GAO report debunks many of the Athenai Institute's complaints about university-run Confucius Institute programs, if only they had taken the time to read it."

The Confucius Institute U. S. Center (CIUS Center) called a recent open letter from the newly formed Athenai Institute (Action to Halt the Expansion of Neo-Authoritarian Influence) "a sadly misguided way of dealing with frustrations that unfairly attacks fellow students and local teachers. American students and educators of language and culture do not deserve to be targeted by those who wish to address the actions of another country. This represents a weaponization of education, in which opportunities for connection and understanding are lost because of the incorrect assumptions by a vocal minority of activists," said the CIUS Center's Executive Director Gao Qing.

Formed in May 2020, the Athenai Institute plans to target locally run Confucius Institute (CI) programs across US college and university campuses, to end language and cultural exchanges as their way of expressing displeasure with the government of China . In a letter that names a number of grievances the students have with that nation, some student organizations joined together demanding that CI programs enjoyed by other students be kicked off campuses.

"Depriving fellow students of language skills in our global economy is shortsighted and will cost people opportunities in the future," noted Erik Eging, Communication Associate at the CIUS Center, a graduate of George Mason University with a bachelor's degree in Chinese. "They justify their campaign by mischaracterizing how the CI programs actually function, as our own government recently confirmed."

In a sleeper report that detailed the CI program's independence, a nonpartisan GAO (Governmental Accountability Office) report issued in February 2019 examined Confucius Institute agreements and operations after more than a year of study, submitting their findings to the U.S. House and Senate for consideration. The Athenai Institute inaccurately portrays Confucius Institute programs on a number of issues directly addressed in the GAO report, including facts such as:

How CI programs are established at the request of colleges and universities, which have full control of hiring, firing and curriculum.

How CI programs are able to address the issues of their choice and have hosted speakers and programming that addresses controversial issues that they elect to discuss.

How CI programs choose their own textbooks and materials.

"The Athenai Institute's efforts highlight the unfortunate consequences of engaging with others without first taking time to understand their intentions and perspectives. This is especially true when engaging with people of other races and cultures," said Cheyenne Boyce, Director of Program Development at the CIUS Center and active Alumnus of the Fulbright English teaching assistant program.

"The CI programs offer many traditionally underrepresented students in global education the life-changing opportunity of experiencing educational and cultural exchanges. The CI program equips students with the language and cross-cultural competencies needed to communicate and solve problems through mutual understanding and respect. As I observe our world today, the need for such skills has never been clearer."

CIUS welcomes your questions on our educational work. We do not endorse or oppose any legislation or lobby on any issues before government.

To learn more about the GAO report, click here. To learn more about the Confucius Institute and how the programs operate, visit www.ciuscenter.org. A link to this press release can be found here.

The Confucius Institute U.S. Center is a (501)(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes the value of mutual understanding between the US and China through language education and cultural exchanges. Confucius Institute programs operate independently at host colleges and universities to prepare the next generation of leaders through language, arts, culture and educational travel experiences. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @CIUSCenter.

SOURCE Confucius Institute U.S. Center

Related Links

http://www.ciuscenter.org/


The government will consider making convicted sex offenders wear GPS tracking devices in an effort to strengthen measures that prevent recidivism, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The idea, along with tougher punishments for school teachers who commit sexually lewd acts, was added to a draft policy plan the government aims to submit at a meeting Thursday arranged to discuss steps against sexual violence and crimes, the source said.

The plan, to be implemented within three years, is expected to be reflected in the annual economic policy blueprint set to be compiled in July.

The government will study overseas laws and monitoring technology for its discussion on the issue. It will also consider tougher rules on teachers who commit obscene acts, including dismissal.
A Norwegian white supremacist who killed his stepsister and then stormed an Oslo mosque has been sentenced to 21 years in prison, the longest jail term allowed under Norwegian law.

Philip Manshaus, who pleaded not guilty but said in court that he regretted not having caused more damage, "has proven to be an extremely dangerous person", prosecutor Johan Oeverberg said as he demanded the maximum penalty.

Last year, Manshaus, 22, killed his 17-year-old stepsister by shooting her four times with a hunting rifle at their home in the Oslo suburb of Baerum.

Then he drove to a nearby mosque where three men were preparing for Eid al-Adha celebrations.

District court Judge Annika Lindstroem said Manshaus was inspired by the New Zealand mosque shooting / AP

Manshaus fired four shots from a rifle at the mosque's glass door before he was overpowered by one of the men in the mosque.

In court, Manshaus confessed to the acts but called them "emergency justice".

One man was slightly injured when overpowering Manshaus.

New Zealand: Christchurch shootings - In pictures 1 /37 New Zealand: Christchurch shootings - In pictures An armed police officer watches as a man is taken by ambulance staff from a mosque in central Christchurch AP An image taken from the alleged shooter's video AP An emotional man wearing a traditional Maori bone carving necklace speaks on a mobile phone near one of the mosques AP Photo/Mark Baker A forensic official works at the Masjid al Noor mosque after a shooting incident in Christchurch AFP/Getty Images An image grab from TV New Zealand of armed New Zealand special forces arriving outside the mosque following a shooting in Christchurch AFP/Getty Images Armed police officers outside the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Reuters Grieving members of the public sit on a curb following a shooting resulting in multiple fatalies and injuries at the Masjid Al Noor in Deans Avenue in Christchurch, New Zealand EPA Ambulance staff take a man from outside one of the mosques in central Christchurch AP Police are seen in front of Christchurch Hospital during a lockdown Getty Images A man rests on the ground as he speaks on his mobile phone across the road from one of the mosques AP Armed police patrol outside one of the mosques AP A man makes a phone call next to car with shattered windows near one of the mosques AFP/Getty Images Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to media during a press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Images An injured person is put into an ambulance following a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Reuters Police keep watch at a park across the road from one of the mosques in central Christchurch, New Zealand AP Armed police push back members of the public following a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Reuters An armed police officer following a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Reuters Police stand outside the Linwood Islamic Centre AP A police officer is seen running after the initial reports that several shots had been fired Reuters Reuters Ambulances race towards one of the mosques AFP/Getty Images Police cordon off Strickland Street where a car bomb was found Getty Images Police Commissioner Mike Bush speaks to media during a press conference at Royal Society Te Aparangi in Wellington Getty Images Police block the road near the Linwood Islamic Centre AP Ambulances and police outside the Masjid Al Noor mosque EPA Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking at Kirribilli House in Sydney, Australia Getty Images A police officer talks on her phone at a roadblock near the Linwood Islamic Centre AP Armed police maintain a presence outside the Masijd Ayesha Mosque in Manurewa, Auckland, as part of the security response Getty Images

Judge Annika Lindstroem, of the Oslo District Court, said Manshaus had plans to kill as many people as possible and set the mosque on fire.

She said Manshaus believed that "Europe is under attack from people of ethnic origin other than his own" and that "the white race is on the brink of extinction".

The judge said Manshaus was inspired by shootings in March 2019 in New Zealand, where a gunman targeted two mosques, killing 51 people, and in August 2019 in El Paso, Texas, where an assailant targeted Hispanics and left at least 22 dead.
PML-N President and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has tested positive for coronavirus, party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed on Thursday to Dawn.

Shehbaz Sharif has self-quarantined himself at home after his report came out.

A PML-N party leader Ataullah Tarar said that Sharifs life had been endangered in this situation by NABs summoning of him.

NAB was informed multiple times in writing that Shehbaz Sharif has suffered from cancer and compared to other people, his immunity system is weak, Tarar was quoted as saying.

Imran Niazi and NAB will be responsible if something happens to Shehbaz Sharif, he added.

When asked about the news, Hamza Shehbaz, Sharifs son and PML-N leader, said: This is a difficult time for Pakistan. May Allah grant health to everyones parents.

The PML-N president had appeared before the National Accountability Bureau on Tuesday in connection with investigations pertaining to money laundering and income-beyond-means.

Earlier this month, he had also appeared before the Lahore High Court to obtain a pre-arrest bail in cases regarding money laundering and assets beyond means. Sharif had filed the appeal in the high court a day before a NAB team raided his residence to arrest him on June 2, after he refused to appear before the accountability watchdog.

Sharif had thrice refused to appear before NAB citing health reasons. In a statement submitted to the bureau, he said: It has been widely reported in the media that some NAB officials have tested positive for Covid-19.

Please appreciate [that] I am a cancer survivor and 69 years old. I have been advised limited exposure on account of the peculiar background of low immunity, he said.

He added that he was available to answer any queries by the investigation team via Skype.

Sharif is the latest PML-N leader to have tested positive for the virus. Multiple other members of PML-Ns top-tier leadership have been diagnosed with the disease, including Aurangzeb, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Ahsan Iqbal and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
The Middletown Police union on Wednesday released a statement condemning social media posts by a councilman regarding George Floyd and Pa. Health Secretary Rachel Levine.

The statement comes two days after Richard Kluskiewicz apologized for posting a political cartoon depicting the death of George Floyd. His public apology did not mention other posts that people found offensive, including transphobic comments about Levine and divisive political posts mocking the Democratic Party.

The Middletown Borough Police Officers Association said its members do not support nor do not agree with any of the councilmans offensive rhetoric.

His lack of maturity paints our borough community and the police association members, as being insensitive to current events or the social changes of equality within our Nation, State, and local communities. We could not stand further from his bigotry. This type of behavior drives our members to have a lack of faith in his leadership as an elected official or have faith in any elected official that remains silent in support of Councilman Kluskiewicz.

The Facbook posts by Kluskiewicz in recent weeks drew complaints by some in the community, prompting him to remove the posts and post an apology on Facebook about the George Floyd cartoon labeled Defund Democrats, which came from an extreme right-wing conservative site. It featured one character as a black man pinned to the ground labeled Black Communities Matter, and another character labeled decades of Democratic policies, in a police uniform with his knee on the other characters neck.

At the time he shared that cartoon, his Facebook page identified him as a Middletown Council member in his biography and all of his posts were visible to the public. He also posted a series of references against transgender people, including an altered photo posted Sunday of Gov. Tom Wolf and Health Secretary Rachel Levine in Nazi uniforms with a vulgar sexual reference to Levine.

Two fellow council members, Angela Lloyd and Dawn Knull, spoke out against the posts, saying they were disgusting and offensive. A longtime resident and chair of the Democratic Club called for him to resign, but Kluskiewicz has said he does not plan to quit.

The union members said they had been waiting to make a statement until the mayor, Jim Curry, commented about the situation, which is roiling the community.

But due to the disappointing lack of action by Mayor Curry to rectify and denounce such deplorable depictions of a tragic death for political grandstanding, our Association would like to make the following statement to the public at this time.

Curry has not answered his phone or returned emails from PennLive.

The statement also condemned the actions of Minneapolis officers in the death of Floyd, who was pinned down while handcuffed for nearly nine minutes.

Middletown officers do not agree with the officers actions which led to the death of George Floyd, as well as any unjustified and unconstitutional seizure of an individual of any background throughout our Nation, the statement said. "We are angry for what took place and in the simplest and basic prospective, such a tragic death, is wrong, unacceptable, and we emphatically denounce it.

The statement promoted inclusivity in the borough.

It is our heartfelt belief that only together can true social progress be achieved during these turbulent times as humans, inclusive of all races, all creeds, all colors, all sexual orientations, all religions, all genders, and all backgrounds, the statement said. To Councilman Kluskiewicz: All of us bleed the same color and all of us were created equal. To make fun or choose such ugly sentiments toward others shows a lack of judgement, a lack of compassion, and a complete lack of professionalism.

Meanwhile, a lifelong Middletown resident started an online petition asking Kluskiewicz to resign. The petition had gained 224 signatures Wednesday evening.

The local Democratic Club also is planning a protest asking Kluskiewicz to resign before the next council meeting on June 16. The protest is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the borough building, before the 7 p.m. meeting.

READ: Harrisburg teen charged with manslaughter in shooting death of his 14-year-old friend
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks the press conference at the State Department in Washington on May 20, 2020. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Pompeo Says US Response to Floyd Protests Fundamentally Different Than Authoritarian Regimes

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday rejected what he called false comparisons between Americas law enforcement response to the protests sparked by the police-custody death of George Floyd, and the brutal crackdowns on free speech and assembly by authoritarian regimes.

Floyds death during an arrest that saw a Minneapolis police officer, since fired and criminally charged, kneel on his neck for nearly nine minutes, sparked widespread protests and spurred debate over reform of policing practices. Some demonstrations degenerated into looting and violence, which was at times met with a decisive law enforcement response.

Pompeo said at a press briefing and, separately, in an email to State Department staff, obtained by The Hill and Politico, that the way the bouts of civil unrest in the wake of Floyds death have played out prove that America cherishes values like the freedom of protesters to voice grievances without fear of reprisal, unlike what typically happens in tyrannical regimes.

Weve now seen people say, Hey, were calling for changes in the way law enforcement works,' Pompeo told reporters at a press conference Wednesday on the occasion of the release of the departments release of the annual religious freedom report.

You can see this debate take place in America, Pompeo continued, referring to the public discourse around reforming police practices.

That doesnt happen in nations across the world. In Tiananmen Square 31 years ago, when thousands of people were massacred, instead they repressed journalists, they disappeared people. Its fundamentally different, he said.

Pompeo rejected the notion that there is a moral equivalency between what takes place in these countries where they repress their people and they bludgeon their people and they burn down their religious facilities, and the way debate takes place in America, where he said journalists have the freedom to demand that we provide responses to you and hold us accountable.

Calling America special, Pompeo insisted that challenges like the ones that were confronting here in the United States today will be managed head-on, there will be a political process thats engaged of, there will be wide open debate.

In Pompeos Wednesday email to staff, he said Floyds death sent shock waves around the world and that it is appropriate to address the concerns it has exposed.

Our own civic unrest gives us an extraordinary opportunity to tell our story abroad: the American response to events of these past weeks presents a stark contrast to what happens in totalitarian regimes around the world, Pompeo wrote, according to Politico.

We must reject unequivocally the false chargesmany of them vile propaganda emanating from China, Iran and other autocraciesquestioning Americas credibility in promoting human rights and democracy abroad, Pompeo added.

In the United States, when the people demand change or security or prosperity, politicians listen. In autocracies, the people dont make demands of government for fear of being officially denounced, locked up, or executed, he wrote.

Pompeos remarks follow last weeks remarks by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, who denounced Floyds death as intolerable and brutality.

However, there is no moral equivalence between our free society, which works through tough problems like racism, and other societies, which do not allow anything to be discussed, Craft told reporters in a telephone briefing, in which she pushed back against criticism from China and Iran, both known human rights violators, over Americas response to the protests sparked by Floyds death.

I would challenge anyone to compare their record with our record as far as how they treat situations, she said, citing Chinas treatment of its minority Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang, as well as Tibet and Africans, adding there should be a dialogue on the difference between those situations and what was happening now in the United States.
A lawsuit alleged recently that solar panel companies have targeted Latino homeowners and Spanish speakers in Oakland in a finance scheme fraud.

Among those identified in the lawsuit were Green Pace Financial, Pace Funding Group, and Complete Sola.

The firms, as indicated in the lawsuit, misrepresented facts and hid information from "hundreds, or even thousands of homeowners" who purchased or leased solar panels for their homes.

The lawsuit, according to The Mercury News, was filed by Cotchett, Pitre and MacCarthy, a law firm from Burlingame, and the Housing and Economic Rights Advocates in Almeda County Superior Court.

Clients Unaware of the Agreement

The lawsuit claimed that homeowners were persuaded to enter into agreements, specifically Property Assessed Clean Energy or PACE.

In relation to the agreement, news reports said that some of the customers did not know that "they were signing up for loans," and that, if they defaulted, the agreement allegedly stated, "Their homes would face foreclosure."

The companies involved reportedly contacted the homeowners in Spanish through phone, email and text messages. However, when the contract and other legal documents were delivered to them, they were written in English.

This so-called "bait-and-switch" scheme caused customers to sign contracts and terms which they, the lawsuit alleged, were unaware of.

Agreement They Thought was a Federal Program

In a statement, a lawyer at the Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, Alison Cordova said, "Purposefully targeting communities that are non-English speaking," to deceive or defraud them "is disgraceful."

Moreover, the homeowners were apparently steered to believe that what they were entering into was government project developed during the time of former President Barack Obama.

They believed too, and the said contract necessitated all homeowners in California to install solar panels by 2020.

Several homeowners, the lawsuit indicated, had also believed that in exchange for the amount they would be paying for the solar panel installations, they would be given a discount on their utility bill.

Also, according to the lawsuit, clients were not informed that they the loan they were signing up for was with interest payments and that their home "would be assessed" because of the agreement.

Allegedly too, the homeowners would be fined interest and other fees on top of the solar panels' installation expenses.

It was unclear too, and the lawsuit stated that these customers would be signing up an agreement that allegedly changed their rights to property "by placing a priority lien on their homes."

Meaning, should there be a default on their loans, the solar panel finance firms mentioned in the lawsuit are allowed to foreclose on the property of the homeowners.

Meanwhile, the main petitioner, an Oakland homeowner named Gloria Sanchez, signed up for the agreement in 2018. She claimed that she was given some information in Spanish and orally.

However, she added, when the documents were provided to her, they were written in English. The solar panel finance companies identified in the lawsuit were not available when asked on Tuesday, to comment on the issue.

Check these out!
In the BBC's series of letters from African writers, Ghana's Elizabeth Ohene writes that George Floyd, whose killing has sparked a global debate about race relations, has been immortalised in the West African state that was central to the transatlantic slave trade.



We do funerals well here in Ghana. When it comes to the rituals, music, clothes and ceremonies that accompany them, I can safely say that nobody does them better.



As I watched the funeral of George Floyd on television, I needed no reminding that most African-Americans can trace their origins to West Africa and grand funerals come easily to them. Or they have had to organise these painful funerals of their people so regularly that they have become well practised.



During the Houston funeral on Tuesday, there was a reference to the message of condolence sent to Mr Floyd's family by Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo.



It was also mentioned that at the president's request, Mr Floyd's name had been permanently mounted on the wall of the Diasporan African Forum at the W.E.B. Du Bois Centre in Ghana's capital, Accra.



This was done at a moving ceremony, organised by the Ghana Tourism Authority last week, in memory of Mr Floyd, who was killed on a street in Minnesota when a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.



Ghana marked in spectacular scale the year 2019, the 400th anniversary of the start of the transatlantic slave trade.



President Akufo-Addo declared 2019 the Year of Return, with a special invitation to all Africans in the diaspora, especially the descendants of slaves, to come to Ghana, either to visit or even to live permanently.



Many of the forts and castles through which the slaves were transported are still standing in Ghana and they remain a source of trauma and emotional distress for visiting black people.



When the Floyd murder story broke, many people took it personally here.



Before the outbreak of coronavirus, we had been looking forward to a big influx of visitors from the African-American community.



Six black state attorneys general from the US had been in Ghana in March as part of the Beyond the Return initiative, and were guests at our Independence Day celebrations on 6 March.



Among that group was Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is now in charge of prosecuting the accused in the Floyd case.



When the GTA organised the memorial, it was personal and it showed.



A crucial part of funerals in Ghana are the colours worn. They would try to describe the person who had died and how.



So the colour scheme at Mr Floyd's memorial was predominantly red and black to show a man had been cut down in the prime of his life, and his death had been unnatural and unexpected.



The haunting music of the dirges on the flutes signalled that he was one of our own and we were sending him off to our forefathers.



It has been interesting for us here to note that our famous distinctive fabric, the kente, has also become part of the George Floyd story.



When senior US Democratic lawmakers "took a knee", in a dramatic gesture to honour Mr Floyd, they all wore kente stoles.



Ghanaians are intensely proud of the kente fabric. Once upon a time, the kente, or kete as it is called in my part of the country, was an almost exclusive fabric worn by royalty and rich people.



It is handwoven and each design has a name and tells a story.



With the passage of time and the intervention of the Arts Faculty of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the second city Kumasi, the kente was transformed and popularized for use among young people in particular.



It remains the fabric for special occasions but we have now found more and varied uses for it.



When the University of Ghana started issuing its own degrees following independence, it put kente strips on the boring academic gowns that it had been using when it started life as a University College of London University.



Kente stoles soon became the symbol of graduation and other commemoration events, with the appropriate words woven into the strip. You may, therefore, have Class of 2000, or Year of Return, or even The Best Dad kente stoles.



We are happy to have African-Americans adopt the kente to emphasize their African roots and if others want to use it to show their solidarity, we have no complaints.



I suspect that some enterprising weavers will soon bring a kente design named I Can't Breathe, and we shall wear it to remember and celebrate the life of Mr Floyd.

Source: Elizabeth Ohene









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The COVID-19 Private Sector Fund, with support from Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, NCCE, Ghana Psychological Association, Ghana Medical Association and Global Media Alliance has led an initiative to denounce stigma and discrimination against COVID-19 recovered persons, frontline workers and their family members through an awareness campaign dubbed, Let Love Lead. End The Stigma.



The Let Love Lead, End The Stigma campaign seeks to change peoples mindset about COVID-19 and debunk myths and misconceptions about recovered persons and their family members. It also aims to reduce fear, communicate support for frontline workers and encourage everyone to play their role in the fight against stigmatization.



The campaign will take place in the form of radio and social media education, community outreach with traditional leaders, religious heads, market leaders, opinion leaders, heads of schools, as well testimonials from recovered persons. As part of the campaign, the Ghana Psychological Association (GPA) will also train stakeholders whose activities are critical in the fight against COVID-19.



A statement issued by the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund on the campaign said,



We want to fight the virus on all angles. Working to reduce the stigma around COVID-19 has become very critical at this point. We risk losing all gains we have made as a country in fighting the virus if people do not accept recovered persons but rather discriminate against them.



We want to encourage all and sundry, from journalists, politicians, health workers, teachers, religious heads, traditional rulers, etc. to support this anti-stigma and discrimination campaign by preaching love for recovered patients, the statement stated.



CEO of GNPC, Dr. K.K. Sarpong expressed the rationale behind the companys sponsorship of the campaign;



As an organisation, we have observed some of the ill-fated ways in which some recovered persons have been treated and we believe that our collaboration with the COVID-19 private sector fund will enable us to promote a peaceful co-existence through education and various interactions in this period of uncertainty.



Ms. Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), major partner of the anti-stigma campaign, stated, This campaign is very necessary to intensify education around COVID-19 issues and the need to accept recovered patients.



We want to emphasize the importance of building trust with recovered persons while combatting stigma and discrimination among the wider population.



According to Dr. Wiafe-Akenten, Head, Social Psychology Division of the Ghana Psychological Association, partners of the campaign, Some Ghanaians have responded to recovered COVID-19 persons and their family members in extreme ways. We want to let people know that stigma and discrimination are barriers to an effective response.



We must treat each other in a way that almost assumes that tomorrow we are going to need the support from those who have recovered. We must cut the hate and work together as a country to overcome this virus, he added.



As part of their support to government in the fight against the spread of the virus, the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund served 144,000 meals to head porters (kayayei) and underprivileged persons during the lockdown, provided high-end tertiary care Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the National COVID-19 Treatment Centre and is currently constructing a 100-bed Infectious Disease and Isolation Centre as well as a 21-bed intensive care unit and a biomedical laboratory at the Ga East Municipal Hospital.



The campaign which is an initiative of the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund and sponsored by the Ghana Psychological Association, is also supported by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ghana Psychological Association (GPA), Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and Global Media Alliance.

Source: COVID-19 Private Sector Fund









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Former Ivorian prime minister Pascal Affi NGuessan says he will make a run for the presidency in upcoming elections, in a move highlighting fractures within the opposition FPI party.

Affi NGuessan has tense relations with his former mentor and the founder of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, who lost an armed tussle for control of the country after elections in 2010.

The FPI has split between Affi NGuessans renewal wing and a loyalist faction called GOR  the acronym for Gbagbo Or Nothing  which has vowed to boycott elections so long as their champion is out of the country.

In an interview with AFP, Affi NGuessan brushed aside the hardliners, declaring the party would field a candidate in the October elections, either with or without the GOR.

If Gbagbo cannot take part, I certainly hope to be that person, he said.

Affi NGuessan, 67, has been president of the FPI since 2001.

After being ousted, Gbagbo was arrested and transferred to the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).

He spent seven years behind bars before being cleared in January 2019 of crimes against humanity for post-electoral violence that claimed 3,000 lives.

He was released under strict conditions, including that he return to court for a prosecution appeal against his acquittal. He is currently in Belgium.

If (Gbagbo) wants to be head of the party, I am willing to hand over to him and play the role of vice president, said Affi NGuessan.

If he is in Ivory Coast and he is eligible, I am willing to join him in the battle.

But if he is ineligible, he too has to commit to supporting my candidacy it has to be mutual, he said, adding that he intended to stage a party congress next month to settle the candidacy.

 Tension 

President Alassane Ouattara defeated Gbagbo at the polls in 2010 and then forced him out with French and UN help following a five-month conflict sparked by the incumbents refusal to step down.

His acquittal by the ICC has sparked huge speculation of a return to Ivory Coast, igniting hopes among hardliners but also fears that the country could tip once more into instability.

Obviously, he is going to come back and this is the moment that requires preparation, said Affi NGuessan, who served as prime minister under Gbagbo between 2000-2003.

A formula has to be found which sets down conditions for a peaceful return. The people in power must agree to receiving him.

Gbagbo technically faces being jailed on his return.

He was sentenced in absentia to a 20-year term by an Ivorian court last November for the looting of the local branch of the Central Bank of the West African States (BCEAO) during the post-election crisis.

Ouattara was re-elected in a landslide in 2015 over his closest rival, Affi NGuessan.

He announced in March this year that he would not seek a third term.

The events of 2010-11 had a devastating impact on one of West Africas most advanced economies, and the political trauma remains profound today.

Tensions are high in the runup to the presidential vote, due in October.

Municipal and regional elections in 2018 were marked by violence and accusations of fraud.

 No repeat of 2010 

Affi NGuessan said he remained dissatisfied with the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) overseeing the presidential ballot but would not boycott the poll.

Ivory Coast does not need another crisis. Theres no question of repeating in 2020 what happened in 2010. We are counting on a sense of patriotism and history for this election to be transparent and for the CEI to give the true result of the ballot box.

The elections have already drawn two official bids.

The ruling RHDP party in March designated the prime minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who flew to France in early May with heart problems.

The other is from former rebel chief Guillaume Soro, once a Ouattara ally, who lives in self-imposed exile in France.

He faces several court cases in Ivory Coast that could scupper his bid, including a 20-year jail term and loss of civic rights.
The Ohio senator used the term during a Senate Health Committee on Tuesday

A Republican lawmaker has asked if 'the colored population' has a higher fatality rate from coronavirus because they 'do not wash their hands as well as other groups'.

GOP State Senator Steve Huffman from Tipp City, north of Dayton, was asking about possible reasons for the alarming trend during a Senate Health Committee meeting yesterday.

'My point is I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and it makes them more susceptible to death from COVID,' said Huffman, who is trained as an emergency room physician.

'But why it doesn't make them more susceptible to just get COVID. Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves?

'That could be the explanation of the higher incidence?'

Recent data has revealed the coronavirus is disproportionately killing African Americans, with around 58 per cent of all virus-related deaths taking place in black communities.

Ohio State Senator Steve Huffman in an undated photograph. Huffman used a term considered a racial slur during a Senate Health Committee meeting on Tuesday

Huffman, who has worked as a physician at Valley Medical Center and Wayne Hospital in Ohio for 18 years, was immediately corrected by Ohio Commission on Minority Health Director Angela Dawson.

'That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country,' Dawson, who is black, replied.

She added that the virus attacks the respiratory system, making people with pre-existing conditions more at risk.

Shortly after the hearing, Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President Stephanie Howse, a Democrat from Cleveland, said Huffman's comment highlights racism from a systemic perspective, adding that he implied African Americans were dirty and lacked the intelligence to wash their hands, Dayton Daily News reported.

Huffman, who is a trained emergency room physician, meets blood donors in February 2018. Cleveland Democrat Stephanie Howse said Huffman's comments, as a doctor, highlighted 'racism from a systematic perspective'

'He highlights what racism is from a systematic [systemic] perspective. He's a full legislator but beyond that, professionally, he's a doctor,' she told the newspaper.

'When we talk about the health disparities that happen because black folks aren't believed when they're actually hurt, they aren't given the treatment that they need.

'Do you think that someone who acknowledges the 'coloreds' is going to give the love and care that people need when they come through those doors?'

Huffman released a statement saying that he asked the question in 'an unintentionally awkward way' and that he was trying to find an explanation for the trend 'since we really do not know all the reasons'.

'Regrettably, I asked a question in an unintentionally awkward way that was perceived as hurtful and was exactly the opposite of what I meant', the statement reads.

'I was trying to focus on why COVID-19 affects people of color at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons.'

John Fortney, spokesman for Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, told the Beacon Journal: 'I know the president addressed it by speaking with Senator Huffman and also talked with committee members.'

He added that the Senate would be taking part in a 'listening tour' on racial issues.

'The upcoming conversations may be uncomfortable at times, but that is how we learn and move forward for a better Ohio,' he said.
China, Europe together launch ESASky in Chinese

With the close collaboration between National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) and European Space Agency (ESA), ESA's world-leading interactive celestial atlas, ESASky, has now been translated into Chinese.

Alongside its English and Spanish language versions, this makes ESASky available to nearly one quarter of the world population in their native tongue. The ESASky in Chinese is scheduled to be available on June 11, 2020 (UST).

NAOC and ESA have long-time collaboration in science research and scientific data open access. NAOC is the host institute of China's National Astronomical Data Center (NADC) and Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO), an online astronomical research and education environment that provides seamless, global access to astronomical information. The ESASky in Chinese is one of the latest achievements between the two partners.

ESASky is a discovery portal that provides full access to the entire sky. It is a web-based application allowing users to zoom in on any celestial object they may be interested in. Once there, they can look at data collected from more than fifty space missions and ground-based observatories across all frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Containing data collected since 1978, ESASky now contains more than half a million images, almost nine and a half million spectra and catalogues that list around three billion sources. With a source inventory that ranges from planets, moons, asteroids and comets in our Solar System to stars, the interstellar medium that pervades our Milky Way galaxy and external galaxies far beyond our own, ESASky is rapidly becoming the go-to interface to visualize and access astronomical data taken by any mission in space or by any large ground-based observatory.

The application is under the responsibility of the ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC), based at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Madrid, Spain.

"We'd been getting feedbacks from users of our astronomy archives that they'd like one easy interface to access all data," says Deborah Baines, ESA's Astronomy Archives Science Lead.

"More and more astronomers are working in multiple wavelengths now. So they need data from all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, but they often don't have the time to go to the specific archives and reduce the data and so on. They want to be able to find science-ready data," says Baines.

Traditionally, astronomers have concentrated their research in individual wavebands, for example, specializing in radio astronomy or X-ray astronomy. They would learn how the data was collected with the specific instrumentations of that particular field, and how to process the raw observations into useable 'science-ready' data, a process called data reduction. However, the archives team noticed that as more and more mission data became available, this traditional workflow was disappearing.

"An astronomer doesn't always care if the data has been taken by an ESA space mission or a ground-based observatory, they just want to be able to get the data easily, and fast," says Baines. The easier it is for an astronomer to find the data needed, the easier it is for progress to be made.

So, in 2014, the ESA Archives team put together a prototype of ESASky. With the feedback they received from users, they developed and adapted the app to the point of first release in 2016.

As well as being a hit with professional astronomers, it has also become a resource for amateur astronomers and members of the general public who like to 'browse' the wonders of the Universe. They constituted more than a third of all ESASky visitors last year and their numbers continue to grow. To help them, the team invested effort to make the app's design responsive so it can be used on mobile devices.

Since ESDC is based in Spain, translation into Spanish was an obvious next step, with native Spanish speakers on the team who could handle translations on the fly. The current Chinese translation came about because twice a year the team attends meetings of the InternationalVirtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA).

The IVOA has been meeting twice a year since 2000 and creates standard for astronomical data formats, allowing different observatories and missions to more easily swap data.

"It's what made ESASky very easy to develop. We can link with other data centres and access their data because we're all using the same standards," says Baines.

The ESASky team was offering to incorporate data from China's Large Sky Area Multi Object Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), when their Chinese counterparts offered to translate the app. "The ESASky project brings together data and astronomers from all over the world. It is a valuable asset on many levels, from astronomy to space science, from professional users to education and public outreach, from basic research to Big Data and cloud computing leading information and communications technology," says Dr. CUI Chenzhou, a research professor at NAOC and Executive Director of NADC.

In the future, the ESASky team will be adding more datasets from ESA, NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and other major astronomical data centers. Thanks to the data protocols set by the IVOA, the app can now access information taken by ground based observatories such as the European Southern Observatory, and can integrate data from NASA's Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC).

"The big aim is to make ESASky a gateway for astronomers to find all data that's been taken," says Bruno Merin, Head of the ESAC Science Data Centre.

The ESASky in Chinese can be accessed at https:/ / sky. esa. int/ ?lang= zh

###

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
I remember when I first got my hands on Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette. It was 1996, and I had it on cassette. Whenever I wanted to listen to the album, I had to open the thing, remove it from its over-loved housing and heavily thumbed inlay card, and jam it into the stereo: creak, clunk, play. When I think of this memory Im in a car  my best friend Karlys clapped-out Nissan Micra to be precise. There would be a pause and then the unmistakable jar of the harmonica, before 57 minutes of wailing and headbanging as Morissette covered love, breakups, feminism, exploitation and abuse. It felt edgy, rebellious, raw. We loved her and we knew every word.

Morissette was still a teenager when she set about writing this seminal album. Shes soon to turn 46 when I catch up with her over Zoom from Los Angeles, where she has been in lockdown for three months, on a countdown to the release of her eighth studio album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road. Shes finding the lockdown difficult. My emotions are all over the place; I had postpartum anxiety already  she and husband Mario Treadaway, aka hip-hop artist Souleye, had their third child last August  and its compounded by all the other understandable emotional rollercoaster rides that this has begotten for all of us, those who have underlying anxiety or depression or OCD or anything, its like Woo, off to the races!

Morissettes honesty in regard to not being quite as well, I thought you should know  as she famously describes it in You Oughta Know  is the visceral thread that runs through Jagged Little Pill and everything she has written since. It was her vulnerability juxtaposed with the guitars, yelling, and of course the harmonica that drew so many of us to her work in the first place. If this post-grunge goddess was having her heart trampled on, and admitting to being brave but chickens***, we were OK to be those things too.

Jagged Little Pill  released on 13 June 1995  was already her third album. The first two had been hits in her native Canada, where she grew up in Ottawa, before moving to Toronto. But the 12 tracks on this unapologetically acerbic feminist record would become the soundtrack to the formative years of a generation of young women, who learnt that if someone wanted to wine, dine and 69 them, they should at least listen to a damn word they said.

The writing process was fast: just two months holed up in a Los Angeles studio with producer Glen Ballard in the spring of 1994. At the time of making the record, Morissette said she knew she liked it, but had no idea she was making a hit. She recalls a conversation with a record company executive who told her she would have done really well if the album sold 175,000 copies  to date, its sold 33 million and inspired a Jagged Little Pill musical (scripted by Diablo Cody, who won an Oscar for her 2007 screenplay for Juno), which opened on Broadway in December before its run was interrupted by the lockdown.

Morissette in 1995, the year Jagged Little Pill was released (William Hames)

So why does the album stand the test of time? Morissette believes it is because it is unfettered, even if she admits she may have wanted to edit it herself at the time to spare her blushes. The lyrics on You Oughta Know, for instance, which reached No6 on Americas Billboard chart, were explicit. Is she perverted like me/ Would she go down on you in a theatre? sang Morissette. She remembers writing the song with Ballard. You know, Im Canadian to the core of my core, so I said to him, Well probably have to change some of those lyrics, some of them are a little intense, and he goes, Wait a minute, did you mean everything you wrote? And I said, Well, of course, and he said, Well, we should keep it.

Its an album that Morissette says she is still proud to stand by  with the exception of one track: I can still stand by the content and the narrative of these songs theres only one that would benefit from a little updating, Not the Doctor. The track is an uncompromising rejection of responsibility for a partners needs or failings. I dont want to be a bandage if the wound is not mine, she sings. I dont want to be your mother. I didnt carry you in my womb for nine months.

I wrote that when I hadnt even been in a long-term committed relationship, let alone a marriage, she says. At one point I was hyper autonomous, thinking that was the way, Ill just do this all myself, I dont need anybody, and then now having been married 10 years I realise that theres some lyrics in that song that I would update. As in, Im actually participating in your healing, Im not just sitting over here going, Hey, youre on your own, call me when youre done!

The success of the album at the time was daunting for the young Morissette, who struggled with the pressure of writing a follow-up. Retrospectively, she realised she was at times being exploited and used.

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She was sent out on a vast US, European and world tour that began on 1 July 1995, and ended on 14 December 1996, playing almost every night, often without a break even between continents  such as 6 November 1995, when she played Los Angeles the day after performing in Tokyo; or a month later, when she played London, one day after a concert in Detroit, then after four straight UK gigs was back playing in New York. I struggled with the sheer amount of it I think. At one point, after the tour of Jagged Little Pill, I remember thinking  and, you know, I was naive, I didnt know there were ebbs and flows to relevance and fame levels, zeitgeists shifting, I didnt know anything  I just thought, Oh f***, for the rest of my life if this is what its going to be, I dont want this. But then it moved into a quite lovely place within a 10-year period.

I was naive, I didnt know there were ebbs and flows to relevance (Kate Garner)

She recalls a couple of moments when she realised that the album had begun to cut through. The first after the record was initially played on LAs famous KROQ radio station: There was a line up around the block and people were screaming the lyrics, they were louder than I was, so within a 24-hour period the camera went on a Dutch angle.

But in the pre-digital age, Morissette still enjoyed a moment of anonymity even after the record was released because of a quirk in the filming of the You Oughta Know video which meant the whole thing appeared blurry: I was walking around with You Oughta Know out like a little cat that got the canary, no one knew what I looked like, then as soon as the video for Hand in my Pocket came out, I remember walking down the street in New York and people started running up to me and I thought, Oh, okay this is different. As a Canadian with my particular temperament, I just love people watching and then all of a sudden I became the one that was watched, and it was very odd.

Later, Morissette would write about the dark side of being a young woman in the music industry, most explicitly in the 2002 song Hands Clean. The lyrics point to the ever-autobiographical Morissette being the victim of sexual abuse. If you werent so wise beyond your years, I wouldve been able to control myself, she sings, taking on the personality of an unnamed guardian, Just make sure you dont tell on me/ Especially to members of your family. Asked now what advice she might have for a young Alanis in the pre-#MeToo era, the artist says she would have done things differently. Is there anything she wishes could have been done to protect her younger self?

I would have had a few extra guardians around her, she says. There were a lot of people with the title guardian around me that were often, at times, the very people who were not a guardian. I dont know how I would have convinced 19-year-old Alanis on this one, but lets get a couple more people around you who arent exploiting you and who arent using you. The thing is, a lot of people didnt even realise they were doing it. I could barely fault anyone because so many people who were exploitative, who were using me, they didnt even know they were doing it.

But its all there, all the lyrics in all the stories are all there  I consider myself to be the queen of revenge fantasy, not the queen of actual revenge acting out.

Critically, Morissette received mixed reviews for Jagged Little Pill. While the LA Times described her as a fresh talent and placed her somewhere between, say, Sinead OConnor and Liz Phair, the Chicago Tribune were less positive, writing that Morissette strives for catharsis but often merely sounds histrionic. In an Independent on Sunday feature published on the eve of the 1996 Brit Awards, where she would go on to win Best International Breakthrough Act, she was described as very young, very good, very big  and very angry.

On 2 November 1995, Morissette appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone with the headline: Alanis Morissette: Angry White Female. This simplistic handle is ridiculous, she says, but shes been called worse things than angry: If I were to be violently and rudely one-dimensionalised the way that was happening during that time, Ill take anger. I think anger is pretty amazing. I think a lot of people when they think of anger they think of destruction, acting out of anger thats destructive, and thats not what I think about when I think of anger. I think about fire and the capacity to say no, and changes, and standing up for oneself, or protecting someone  momma bear is all about rarrrr. So I was happy with angry. It was much better than any of the other ones at the time, but its ridiculous to call any human being any one thing.

After Jagged Little Pill, the pressure to follow it up weighed heavy on Morissette. It would take more than three years for Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie to hit the shelves in November 1998.

Alanis Morissette performs at the Brit Awards 1996 (JM Enternational)

As we grew older, the lyrics that would resonate from the album changed; it became less about gangs of carefree girls blasting Ironic out of packed car windows as we sped down sun-drenched country lanes, to actually needing to hear and believe the more subtle mantras of You Learn: Melt it down (youre gonna have to eventually, anyway)  something I needed to hear when coming to terms with my own actions following a particularly heartbreaking relationship ending. In other moments, I needed to hear and believe everything to be fine, fine, fine, which it often is after a comforting walk with Hand in my Pocket. Thats the beauty of this album: it has grown with us, a friend in times when only Morissette would help muster a smile.

I think in general the common denominator through the whole record is really just me unwittingly giving myself permission to be human. Ive always been terrified in real human being relationships, humans terrify me. Shes somewhat conflicted when I ask whether she would define herself as an introvert.

Its a strange combination, she says. I feel like I was born with my foot on the gas pedal and my other foot on the brake. Im the girl who wants to jump off the cliff but I run down and make sure the waters deep enough. I love racing motorcycles but I did every single safety training you could possibly take. So its high novelty, high sensation seeking, that wild part is very much alive, like I need newness or I feel like Im dying combined with the temperament of a shaky, terrified, poodle. A poodle on a motorcycle.

The pressure was intense, I remember after the tour for Jagged Little Pill ended, any grocery store, any bookstore, anywhere I would go, the first question was, Hey, whens your next record coming out? as though my face had transformed into a cassette tape and thats all they can think. It was a bit like, Oh God, what if I dont want to write this next record? What happens then? It took a while for me to push through that oppressive expectation.

I consider myself to be the queen of revenge fantasy, not the queen of actual revenge acting out (Getty Images)

Fast-forward 25 years and Morissette is touring the record worldwide again, this time with three children and a husband in tow. She says she has the impression the audiences are full of people who have followed her for many years, and feels she and the crowds are part of a big inside joke.

The US leg of the tour has already been officially postponed, and although no formal announcement about the UK and European dates has been made at the point of writing, Morissette said she doesnt know whether she will be coming to London this year, but promises emphatically that she will fulfil the dates: I dont know if it will be September  when she should have been arriving to play in London, Birmingham and Manchester  but were definitely coming, Ill find out soon probably. Were 100 per cent coming.

The singles released thus far from Morissettes forthcoming album bear the hallmarks of her early work: pop-rock hooks and melodies fused with harrowing subject matter. Reasons I Drink, a raucous piano-based singalong, is no exception, covering the issues of excess to the point of self-harm.

The contrast sometimes happens because if the music is what I call a primary colour, combined with a happy tune musically, it can be too much  its too much for me. Its really unconsciously done but I want to contrast it a bit and cut the bite a little bit, or cut the literal. Sometimes if somethings too literal I dont like it.

Ive been asked over the years to write certain songs for things that need to be a little less autobiographical, a little more lighthearted, and lord knows Im lighthearted! But I cant really do it. It has become easier and easier, there was a time when the night before a record was coming out I would wake up with a full panic attack. It was almost like clockwork the night before a record so well see on 30 July if Im up all night freaking out or not.

Such Pretty Forks in the Road is released on 31 July
All his life, Steve Sultanoff, 66, had high cholesterol, a problem that runs in his family. When he was younger and didn't have great health insurance, he decided to participate in clinical trials to get better health care and help discover new medicine that would benefit him.

He was put on statins, but those gave him terrible muscle aches. It took 30 years of participating in some 10 to 15 clinical studies before Sultanoff hit pay dirt: an injectable medication that lowered his cholesterol with almost no side effects. "I couldn't be happier," says Sultanoff, who lives in Irvine, California.

The health industry needs clinical trials to test new medications before they are brought to market, and clinical trials need participants: healthy people and those with chronic conditions. But Americans, especially those age 65 and older, often aren't part of the very studies for new medications that could treat an aging population.

"Historically, aging adults are not in clinical trials, even when testing for diseases that disproportionately impact older adults," says Lindsay Clarke, vice president of Health Education and Advocacy at the Alliance for Aging Research in Washington, D.C.

There are several reasons for this. Some studies impose arbitrary age limits for enrolled participants. Others may use criteria that disproportionately affect older people, such as excluding those with multiple health problems or physical or cognitive impairments, writes Barbara Radziszewska, health scientist administrator, Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology for the National Institute on Aging, on the institute's website.

As a result, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have created new policies and guidelines to ensure that more people, especially those age 65 and older, are included in clinical trials.

Be proactive

If you want to participate in a clinical trial, the first step is to ask your general doctor or specialist if he or she knows of any that you could participate in. If the answer is no, it is easy to search and apply for such trials. All clinical trials nationwide  and there are typically thousands going on at one time across the country  are listed on the National Institutes of Health's searchable database Clinicaltrials.gov.

The nonprofit Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation uses information from Clinicaltrials.gov, but in easy-to-understand language. Submit a brief form on its website and the group's staff might be able to help you find a clinical trial.

For trials that address a particular health condition, check out the website of a well-regarded organization for that condition. For example, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research provides information about clinical studies for Parkinson's, while the National Organization for Rare Disorders does the same for its constituency.

Review the terms

Before starting any trial, you will be screened and, if accepted, given information about the trial and asked to sign that you understand the terms for participating. You should not sign on the spot, but take the paperwork home, read all the information and talk it over with a family member or friend.

Experts say, among other things, it should be clear:

-- How long the trial will take (they can be as short as a day or last for years).

-- How often you'll need to visit a doctor's office or hospital.

-- What the potential side effects are.

-- If you can continue taking your regular medication.

-- If researchers will talk with your regular doctor.

-- If you will be paid for travel and other expenses, or a stipend (sometimes you are, sometimes you're not).

For Genma Holmes, 52, from Hermitage, Tennessee, taking part in clinical trials was a matter of health and principle. As an African American woman, she is well aware of the negative association clinical trials have for black people, who have been subjected in the past, without their consent or knowledge, to sterilization and syphilis studies with horrific results.

She is in the maintenance phase of a three-year clinical study for a medical procedure to treat hypertension. Holmes said the ongoing monitoring during the trial helped her change her lifestyle and lose weight; that plus the procedure means she is now completely off blood pressure medication. She also recruited about 20 people to participate in hers and other clinical studies.

Doing a clinical trial, she says, was about "self-preservation and how to move the conversation in this community  not just for people of color, but for everyone."

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro has assured that the 66 public market workers who were found to be "reactive" in their rapid COVID-19 testing have been placed under quarantine.

A reactive test result indicates that signs of the condition being tested for in a patient are present.

We are not saying they tested positive of the virus," Teodoro said of the 66 individuals. "They are still reactive of the rapid tests that we did. Rapid test is a screening tool, in compliance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization in their strategy to screen, test, and treat.

Teodoro said some of the workers are under home quarantine, while others are confined in the citys designated quarantine facilities.

We do not allow them to go outside of their quarantine places until they receive their confirmatory swab test results, he said.

The mayor added that he is hoping to receive by tomorrow the confirmatory reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results of the 66 workers to determine if they have contracted the virus or not.

He said this is the reason why the workers were labeled for the meantime as reactive of the city government-led rapid testing among 2,000 tenants, vendors, workers, and helpers at the Marikina Public Market.

Teodoro disclosed that out of the 66 "reactive" workers, around 45 are non-Marikina residents.

With this finding, the mayor said the city is intensifying contact tracing efforts and coordinating with nearby local government units to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Marikina.

We found out the source of infection is not in the market, but in their place of residence," he stressed. "We are strengthening our contact tracing efforts with this.

Marikina Public Market Administrator Mon Viliran announced that the market will be closed in the next few days to undergo massive disinfection.

"We will also set a schedule for selling and buying in the market," said Viliran in a Facebook post.

The rapid testing on Wednesday among Marikina Public Market workers was part of the city governments enhanced targeted mass testing activities.

The local government did a mass testing last week among tricycle drivers, where only four found positive of the virus.

Teodoro shared that the city's mass testing is now concentrated in workplaces, particularly among businesses in the industrial and manufacturing sectors.

With our efforts, I think we can be downgraded already to modified general community quarantine," he said. "But realistically, we cannot downgrade if the whole Metro Manila will not be downgraded.

As of 3 p.m. on Thursday, Marikina has 245 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 89 considered as active cases. In addition, there are 27 fatalities in the city due to the contagion and 129 recoveries.
Black Activists Confront Affirmative Action Opponents on Zoom Call

Last week, African American activists confronted affirmative action opponents on a Zoom town hall a conservative Republican candidate organized. At least one Republican elected official attended the event that the Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation (SVCAF) supported.

June Yang Cutter is an Asian American Republican running for State Assembly in District 77, which covers parts of northern San Diego and the nearby cities of Poway and Rancho Santa Fe, among others. She is running against incumbent Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego).

One major topic on the call was the proposed constitutional amendment ACA 5.

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ACA 5 would allow California voters a chance to uphold or overturn Proposition 209, a ballot measure that passed in 1996 outlawing the consideration of race in contracting, college admissions, employment and state data reporting in California.

If voters approve ACA 5 in November, it would bring Affirmative Action back to the state of California. The state would then join 42 other states that provide equal opportunity programs that support women and minorities.

Affirmative Action is an issue that has polarized some staunch African American opponents of Prop 209 and some avid Asian American supporters of it in California, driving a deep wedge that remains smack-dab at the heart of the relationship between those two advocacy camps.

Last Wednesday, June 3, during a virtual town hall meeting organized to drum up opposition to ACA 5, participants made some comments Black activists said were misguided and demeaning.

Some of the Black participants, who attended the digital town hall took offense when one of the speakers referenced a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., quote to make the argument that Black people should get ahead by their own means rather than lean on affirmative action to access opportunities.

He had this immigrant story of how he had to pull himself up by the bootstraps, said Chris Lodgson, a member of American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS). (And he) started talking about how Dr. Martin Luther King would not be in favor of ACA 5 and Affirmative Action. That was sort of the tipping point. I told him that it was disrespectful for him to invoke the name of Dr. Martin Luther King. Taking away Affirmative Action has particularly hurt us.

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Lodgson and other ADOS members, say the Zoom call moderators, dropped them from the meeting when they started speaking up, but they made sure they communicated to the group that some of the comments made on the call were disrespectful and insulting to them. They also pointed out that the selective reference to King without providing context dishonored the memory of an African American icon who stood for equality for all.

We let them know, Lodgson said. The second point I made was that George Floyd was put in the ground in the middle of COVID-19, and you all out here trying to take (stuff) away from Black folks. Its disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourselves. We told them just like that.

Last month, the California Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement approved ACA 5, which Assemblymember Dr. Shirley (D-San Diego) Weber, chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), introduced earlier this year. It passed out of committee with a 6-1 vote.

Under current law, Prop 209 prohibits the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to certain individuals or groups on the basis of their race, sex color, ethnicity, or national origin.

Many opponents of Prop 209 say the legislation puts an end to opportunities that were designed to level the playing field for minorities.

If approved by voters in the November 2020 general election, ACA 5, also known as the California Act for Economic Prosperity, would remove the provisions of Prop 209 from the California Constitution.

ACA 5 has the support of various organizations and civic leaders across the state, which include the National Organization of Women, California Federation of Teachers, California-Hawaii NAACP State Conference, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, and California State Board of Equalization member Malia Cohen.

Others supporters of the proposition are the Justice Society, California Black Chamber of Commerce, Chinese For Affirmative Action (an organization that protects the civil and political rights of Chinese Americans).

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee also endorses the ACA 5.

Although several prominent Asian American leaders and organizations support ACA 5, others remain bitterly opposed to it.

Crystal Lu, President of the SVCAF, wrote a letter to members of the California Assembly urging them to vote no.

The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution clearly states that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws, Lus letter read. ACA 5 re-introduces racial preferences, still a form of racial discrimination, into the state law. Therefore, it violates the US Constitution. It will divide California and pit one group of citizens against another simply based on their race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.

Lu said the SVCAF has started a Change.org petition that more than 22,600 people have signed.

Dr. Mei-ling Malone, an adjunct professor at California State University, Fullerton, who has an African American father and Taiwanese mother, supports ACA 5.

Malone, an instructor of African American Studies, told California Black Media that Asian Americans have an unfortunate history of taking unfriendly positions toward African Americans that dates all the way back to the late 1800s and early 1900s.

They did not come in chains like Black people, she said, referring to a group of Chinese immigrants as one example of an Asian American sub-group whose historical relationship with African Americans has been characterized more by conflict than agreement.

The need for labor on the Continental Railroad and other menial jobs at the turn of the 20th century prompted the United States to relax immigration policies. Asians took advantage of it and emigrated in large numbers.

Asian Americans have had a long history of being anti-Black as their strategy to protect themselves, Malone said in a telephone interview with CBM. Say like in the early 1900s when the Chinese were immigrating to Mississippi, they were doing everything they could to prove to White Folks that they were not Black. They wanted to be more like White people.

Malone said the move to align themselves with White identity and interests in America has been about self-preservation for some Asian Americans. The White power structure, she said, was more suitable and advantageous.

Malone said some Asian Americans still rely on that strategy to get ahead.

Former Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who is Taiwanese American, says some Asian Americans have bought into an idea that America has sold them: That they are the most vaunted group among the countrys minorities.

Obviously, alternately, they could have been in solidarity. Asians and Black folks could have been fighting together, Malone said. But unfortunately, many Asians have a history of taking the fate of were going to side with the White power structure. The model-minority myth helped tighten that strategy.

The next round of voting on ACA 5 will be on the Assembly floor at the State Capitol on June 10. If the proposition passes that hurdle, it moves on to the California Senate for consideration.
"Many studies pointed to a loneliness epidemic even before COVID-19 with illness, mobility, and the complexity of technology making this more acute for seniors," said Gaston Vaneri, senior vice president of brand strategy for Cox. "Now, being classified as an at-risk group and being isolated from loved ones, the problem is exacerbated."

The phone conversations range from what's for dinner and current events of the day to bragging on grandchildren, parenting advice and trips down memory lane. Regardless of the topic, conversations spark a meaningful connection in a time of severe isolation.

"I may get more out of it than Joe, my match," said Eric Wall, a recruiter for Cox Enterprises. "He has so much life experience and offers great perspective on what's going on in today's world. Having served in the Navy, I have a strong bond with Joe, who served in the National Guard. I am willing to do anything I can do to encourage him and make him laugh through this crazy time."

Cox started One Call a Day in California, matching employee volunteers with aging adults affiliated with local veterans' groups and senior facilities. The program now has over 50 active volunteers matched with participating seniors from New York City, Washington DC, Ohio, Louisiana, South Dakota, Colorado, Arizona and California. The One Call a Day volunteer program will expand into new Cox markets including Rhode Island, Virginia, and Florida.

"To know someone cares and you are not alone can change the trajectory of your day and even your outlook on life," said Vaneri. "Our employees are making a simple phone call, but the impact is beyond measure."

One Call a Day is a part of a larger focus on driving greater human connection. The company's campaign shares the stories of members of San Diego Oasis, a senior community center in San Diego that closed due to the pandemic leaving hundreds of seniors at home alone. The staff at San Diego Oasis quickly acted to virtualize curriculum offered by professors and experts in history, humanities, language, technology, art, finance, fitness, and more. A short film captures the importance of connection and the real power of technology to bring us closer to one another at a time when it's needed.

One Call a Day and Virtual Senior Center come on the heels of Cox's recent Connection Project campaign called #NowMoreThanEver, a non-branded campaign which began the COVID-19 period by reaching people with messages of connection. From shopping carts, asking people to "help a senior they know get the things they need" to pizza boxes prompting them to call grandma, the effort was aimed to inspire people to reach out to communities, friends and family.

For more information on ways in which Cox is serving communities amid COVID-19, visit https://www.cox.com/residential/support/coronavirus-response.html.

About Cox Communications

Cox Communications is committed to creating meaningful moments of human connection through broadband applications and services. The largest private telecom company in America, we proudly serve six million homes and businesses across 18 states. We're dedicated to empowering others to build a better future and celebrate diverse products, people, suppliers, communities and the characteristics that makes each one unique. Cox Communications is the largest division of Cox Enterprises, a family-owned business founded in 1898 by Governor James M. Cox.

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Families split and isolated across Asia

When Julie Sergent's father died, she faced an agonising decision: if she travelled from her home in Japan to attend the funeral in France, she wouldn't be allowed back.

Across Asia, domestic lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus are easing, but international travel restrictions in the region remain tight.

Many countries have banned non-citizens from entry or even closed their borders altogether, with devastating consequences for some living far from family.

In Japan, citizens can leave and re-enter the country. Those coming from designated high-risk areas are tested for the virus on arrival and asked to observe a quarantine.

But foreign residents, even those with long-term ties or married to Japanese citizens, cannot do the same.

That put Sergent in an impossible situation when her father died suddenly in April: if she left for France, she would be stranded there.

"I might lose my job, my apartment, my income for quite a while," she said.

The 29-year-old was told she might be able to apply for a humanitarian exemption, but with just two days before the funeral, there wasn't time.

"My mother was devastated. I was the only one in the family who couldn't attend my father's funeral," she told AFP.

"My brother and sister described to me how they wrote a message on a little piece of paper and placed it on his jacket. And that was something I couldn't do," she added, her voice cracking.

- 'There's no one else' -

Yukari, who asked to be identified by her first name only, faces a similar situation.

She is half-American, half-Japanese and lives in Tokyo with her Japanese husband and their nine-year-old son.

But she doesn't have Japanese citizenship and faces being separated from her son and husband if she travels to the United States, where her mother is battling cancer.

Foreign residents are banned from re-entering Japan /  AFP

"I'm... (the) only immediate family that she has. There's no one else... in the US," she told AFP.

Her mother was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in March, and in April her doctor warned she might have just weeks to live.

Ordinarily, Yukari would have taken the first flight out, but instead, she was forced to rely on friends of the family to help her mother.

After a touch-and-go period, her mother's health has stabilised, though the cancer has not gone away.

"I talked to her helpers, and one of them said 'I think she's holding on, to see you one more time.' That was hard to hear."

- Humanitarian exceptions? -

Elsewhere in Asia, the rules are even stricter, with countries like Mongolia effectively sealing its borders altogether. Even citizens are only able to re-enter the country on rare evacuation flights.

That has left people like Nyamtseren Erdenetsetseg and her husband Sukhbaatar Dorj, who are stuck in South Korea, with no way back and no idea when they will see their children in Mongolia again.

The couple went to South Korea in January to visit Erdenetsetseg's mother, who lives in Seoul. They left their five children with Dorj's mother while they were away.

But on February 23, Mongolia announced it was banning entry from South Korea, leaving the couple stranded.

They tried in vain to get a seat on an evacuation flight, and then on May 3, Dorj's mother died suddenly.

In Japan, citizens can leave and re-enter the country but foreign residents, even those with long-term ties or married to Japanese citizens, cannot do the same /  AFP/File

His sister has taken in the couple's children, who ask their parents on phone calls when they will be back.

"I don't say anything," Erdenetsetseg said. "I don't want to get their hopes up for nothing."

She has even considered allowing her Korean visa to expire instead of extending it, in the hope authorities would deport her. But doing that would mean she would be banned from South Korea in the future.

In some places, there are signs of tentative changes. China has begun relaxing travel caps for some foreign firms and is increasing the number of international flights.

And in early June, Japan's government said foreign residents now "may be granted" humanitarian exceptions to the ban, potentially offering Yukari an opportunity to see her mother.

"I just pray that... I can go and see her one last time."
Authorities are accusing Charles Lieber, a 61-year-old Harvard professor, to be untruthful to his connections with the Chinese-led recruitment program. After officials announced his indictment on the charges, Lieber's lawyer said on Tuesday that his client is the victim and not the criminal.

China's accomplice

According to CBC, Lieber was the former chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and officers arrested him in January. Authorities charged Lieber for his alleged involvement with China's "Thousand Talents Plan," a program that seeks to put together people that know foreign technology and intellectual property.

A federal grand jury indicted the suspect on two counts of making false statements to authorities. If Lieber is found guilty, he will be imprisoned for up to five years, released with supervision for three years, and be required to pay a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors noted that Lieber will step foot in court at a later date that they have not yet announced.

Marc Mukasey, Lieber's lawyer, wrote in an email that the government had made a mistake and noted that his client had dedicated his life to science and helping his students.

Mukasey said that Lieber was not the perpetrator but rather another victim in the case. He also said that the professor has always been a fighter and will not allow the mistake to hold them back.

They expressed their intention of proving his innocence and restore Lieber's good name and allow him to contribute once again to the science community with his intellect and passion for teaching.

Also Read: China empties city as G20 Summit nears; residents sent on paid tours

Aiding a foreign entity

The Justice Department stated on Tuesday that since the beginning of 2011, Lieber acted as a "Strategic Scientist" at China's Wuhan University of Technology without the knowledge of Harvard University, as reported by CNBC.

The statement also claimed that Lieber, between 2012 and 2015, was a contractual participant in the Chinese recruitment program. It also said that the Asian country compensated individuals for acquiring intellectual property from foreign parties or entities.

The Wuhan University of Technology allegedly paid Lieber a salary of $50,000 every month for his services throughout the exchange. Authorities also claimed that they paid for his living expenses that totaled to $158,000.

The Chinese university gave the professor more than $1.5 million in funds for the construction of a research lab inside the school. The university required Lieber to work for them for at least nine months out of the year for the compensations.

At the time of his alleged involvement with the Chinese university, the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense granted Lieber's research firm with more than $15 million worth of funds.

The grants required the professor to disclose all of his sources of support, the potential financial conflicts of interest, and foreign collaborations that he has had to be eligible for the support.

Authorities claim that Lieber made false statements of his involvement with the university, where he denied being part of the Thousand Talents Plan.

When the National Institutes of Health talked with Harvard about the professor, Lieber allegedly got the school to lie about his non-involvement with the Chinese recruitment program. In January, Harvard said they had placed Lieber on administrative leave.

Related Article: US and China Reach a Truce as COVID-19 Continues to Cause Chaos

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Apple has removed the popular podcasting app Pocket Casts from the Chinese App Store on the request of the Chinese government. Apple reached out to Pocket Casts a couple of days ago to inform them their app would be removed from the Chinese App Store based on the request made by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

The exact reason behind the Chinese governments request to remove Pocket Casts is not clear, but the app developers note that this is censorship on part of the government. Pocket Casts also revealed that it did not adhere to requests of the Chinese administration to censor podcast content available on their platform which should remain an open medium. Pocket Casts is now not expected to return to the Chinese App Store.

Pocket Casts has been removed from the Chinese App store by Apple, at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China. We believe podcasting is and should remain an open medium, free of government censorship. As such we won't be censoring podcast content at their request.  Pocket Casts (@pocketcasts) June 11, 2020

Apple has previously removed hundreds of apps from the Chinese App Store on the request of the government. In early 2017, the company removed all VPN apps from the Chinese App Store along with the New York Times app on request of the government. In fact, Apple removed over 58,000 apps in just two weeks from the App Store on the request of the Chinese government. Apple also removed Skype from the App Store in the same year to comply with local laws. The next year, Apple removed all illegal gambling apps from the App Store in China.

Our Take

Apple might take a strong stance against racism, human rights, and LGBT rights, but the company is yet to stand up against the Chinese government and its censorship acts. Instead, it simply adheres to their requests and removes all content and apps as requested by the Chinese administration.
2 deaths and 20 new positive cases of Covid-19 reported in Mumbai's Dharavi

With 330 new Covid-19 cases, Ahmedabad's tally rises to 15,635

Delhi's Covid-19 tally at 34,000 with 1,877 new cases

192 more Covid-19 cases and 4 deaths reported in Madhya Pradesh today

208 more Covid-19 and 9 deaths reported in Telangana today

The coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone globally and has kept governments busy in bolstering their healthcare systems for the first half of the year. As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India recorded 286,579 cases and 8,102 deaths due to the novel Coronavirus infection. Almost 10,000 cases and 357 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.

The recovery rates across several countries are on the rise as Covid-19s infectivity rate is far higher than its mortality rate.

Click here for the complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic

Recovery rates are still low across the Americas as Mexico and the US still continue to report a high number of cases. Brazil continues to remain a hotspot.
Components are displayed on a circuit board at the Qualcomm Inc. booth at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai in Shanghai, China, on Thursday, June 28, 2018.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bill to provide more than $22.8 billion in aid for semiconductor manufacturers, aiming to spur the construction of chip factories in America amid a strategic technology rivalry with China.

Chip factories can cost up to $15 billion to build, with much of the expense in the form of pricey tools. The proposal would create a 40% refundable income tax credit for semiconductor equipment, $10 billion in federal funds to match state incentives to build factories, and $12 billion in research and development funding.

It would authorize the Defense Department to use funding under the Defense Production Act to "establish and enhance a domestic semiconductor production capability." While a network of "trusted foundries" exists in the United States to help supply chips to the U.S. government, many chips must still be sourced from Asia.

Senators John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, and Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, introduced the bill in the Senate. Aides to Representatives Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, and Doris Matsui, a California Democrat, said the two planned to introduce a version in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.

While some U.S. firms such as Intel Corp and Micron Technology Inc still make chips in the United States, the industry's center of gravity has shifted to Asia, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has more than half of the overall market for contract manufacturing chips and an even stronger hold on the most advanced chips.

Firms, including iPhone maker Apple Inc, Qualcomm Inc and Nvidia Corp all rely on TSMC and other Asian foundries to manufacture their chips.

The dual shocks of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which disrupted chip supply chains, and Beijing's' move to strengthen its control over Hong Kong have prompted alarm in Washington over having advanced chip manufacturing concentrated in Taiwan, a U.S. ally across a narrow strait from China, which has spent billions of dollars bolstering its domestic chip manufacturing industry.

TSMC last month said it plans to build a factory in Arizona.


[June 11, 2020] OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference to Host Global Leaders, Startups and Investors Online

OurCrowd, the world's largest global venture investment platform will host the OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference on June 22 to explore the latest technological solutions to the coronavirus crisis, including vaccination, treatment, diagnostics and prevention of the disease. The sessions will also cover non-healthcare innovations addressing the changing nature of work and life brought about by the 'Pandemic Pivot' occurring in the global economy. The online conference will also introduce OurCrowd's new $100 million Pandemic Innovation Fund, which will invest in compelling startups addressing the societal and medical realities of pandemics. Investors from over one hundred countries are expected to attend online, including some of the world's biggest investors. The online conference will be broadcast from TV studios in Israel and will feature leading investors, entrepreneurs, medical experts and business leaders from around the world. Online attendees will be able to meet directly with startup CEOs and topic experts in online breakout sessions. There will be live Q&As with guest speakers and the chance to network with other attendees from around the world in real time. As an added bonus, the conference will close with the premiere of "When The World Stops Ending," the new music video by viral music sensation Dave Carroll. The Conference will build upon the excitement and the crowd that was present at the OurCrowd Global Investor Summit this past February. The Summit, held annually in Jerusalem, is Israel's largest business event and the world's largest crowdfunding event in the world, which this year saw more than 23,000 registered to attend from around the world. Thousands of attendees are expected to join the OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference online on June 22. "This conference is about providing global investor support to the remarkable entrepreneurs who are on the front lines working hard to solve the problems humanity is facing with the Pandemic. These entrepreneurs are racing to the vaccine, are building faster and more accurate testing, developing new therapeutics, and delivering remote healthcare services. These people and their companies need the resources of far-sighted investors so they can help to fix the world," said OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved (News - Alert). Alec Ellison, OurCrowd's US Chairman, added: "It's not just medical companies that we will highlight at the Pandemic Innovation conference. The post-COVID world will look different and require innovative technology solutions, whether it's working from home, distance learning, increased cybersecurity, robotic process automation - these will all be part of our "new normal and will be featured front and center at the Conference." Featured Experts:

Dr. Paul Rothman, CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Professor Joseph M. Jacobson, Head, MIT (News - Alert) Molecular Machines Research Group

Dr. Ruth Atherton, Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Scott Bessent, Founder & CIO, Key Square Group; Former CIO, Soros Fund Mgmt

Jeremy Levine, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

Deven Parekh, Managing Director, Insight Venture Partners

Jon Medved, CEO, OurCrowd Among the topics to be addressed are: The Race for a Vaccine: Top researchers such as Prof. Joseph Jacobson, Head, MIT Molecular Machines Research Group and leading entrepreneurs such as Sigal Tal, Chief Medical Officer of MigVax, leading vaccine startup

Meeting the Challenge of a Global Pandemic: From testing and treatment to remote work and cybersecurity, experts from tech, business, and government, such as Ruth Atherton, Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Dr. Paul Rothman, CEO Johns Hopkins Medicine, weigh in on what's to come

The Top 10 Pandemic Tech Trends: Stav Erez, Partner Labs/02 accelerator, and telemedicine entrepreneur Dr. Jonathan Wiesen, reveal what will be hot and actionable going forward in a changed world

Investing in a Time of Crisis: Three of the world's top investors, Scott Bessent, Founder & CIO, Key quare Group; Jeremy Levine, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners; and Deven Parekh, Managing Director, Insight Venture Partners provide exclusive insights into ensuring your portfolio survives and thrives during a global challenge



Among the startups showcased are: data.world - the world's largest open data community, created a dedicated hub for up-to-date COVID-19 data so members can work together to fight the pandemic. The company's cloud-native enterprise data catalog maps siloed data to business concepts, creating a body of knowledge anyone can find, understand, and use.

Ripple: Makes a great-tasting, high protein, plant-based alternative to dairy that addresses the need for food supply chain continuity during the pandemic and beyond.

SaNOtize - Approved by Health Canada for multi-center Phase II trial of its Nitric Oxide Releasing Solution (NORS TM ) for the prevention and early treatment of COVID-19.

) for the prevention and early treatment of COVID-19. Sight Diagnostics - Compact complete blood count analyzer that provides lab-grade results with 2 drops of finger prick blood sample in under 10 minutes.

Barcode Diagnostics - Multiple-screening platform for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection in large populations, using individualized barcoding technology.

Trellis - delivers Autonomous Food Supply Chains powered by smart data and AI. Its Cloud/AI SaaS (News - Alert) platform helps food & beverage producers to integrate data from field to market to eliminate agriculture waste and boost production efficiency in order to conserve global resources.

MigVax - Developing the MigVax-101 COVID-19 oral subunit vaccine for humans based on a proven platform developed over 4 years that was shown to be a highly effective oral vaccine against IBV (Infectious Bronchitis Virus) in poultry. The conference will be streamed across several time zones with two start times so that attendees around the world will be able to join. Registration provides access to both. Content will be the same for both broadcasts.

Eastern Hemisphere : London: 7am-10am | Jerusalem: 9am-12pm | India: 11:30am-2:30pm | Hong Kong: 2pm-5pm | Sydney: 4pm-7pm

: London: 7am-10am | Jerusalem: 9am-12pm | India: 11:30am-2:30pm | Hong Kong: 2pm-5pm | Sydney: 4pm-7pm Western Hemisphere: San Francisco: 8am-11am | New York: 11am-2pm | London: 4pm-7pm | Jerusalem: 6pm-9pm Register now About the conference: The OurCrowd Pandemic Innovation Conference will bring the global ecosystem together online on June 22. The Conference will feature top speakers, unusual content, direct access to startup entrepreneurs, and outstanding networking. Top investors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporate executives, and others will get extraordinary insight into investment and partnership opportunities, with exclusive exposure to cutting-edge startups, the entrepreneurs behind them, and the corporate leaders deploying them. The theme of the conference, Innovation in a Pandemic, reflects the reality of the global crisis, how breakthrough technologies are addressing challenges from prevention and cure to social distancing and food supply, and what the tech investing world will look like in the future. The Conference seeks to create online the powerful experience of the annual OurCrowd Global Investor Summit, the fastest-growing tech conference in the world, which saw over 23,000 people register from 186 countries in February 2020. OurCrowd, the most active venture investor in Israel, sits at the center of the global startup ecosystem and is uniquely positioned to connect all the players. The Conference will take place twice on June 22 to ensure access for attendees from around the globe. Eastern Hemisphere Broadcast: 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Israel time. Western Hemisphere Broadcast: 6 p.m.-9 p.m., Israel time. The same content will be in each broadcast. For more information and to register: https://events.ourcrowd.com/pandemic-conference/ About OurCrowd: OurCrowd is a global venture investment platform that empowers institutions and individuals to invest and engage in emerging companies. The most active venture investor in Israel, OurCrowd vets and selects companies, invests its capital, and provides its global network with unparalleled access to co-invest and contribute connections, talent and deal flow. OurCrowd builds value for its portfolio companies throughout their lifecycles, providing mentorship, recruiting industry advisors, navigating follow-on rounds and creating growth opportunities through its network of multinational partnerships. With $1.4 billion of committed funding, and investments in 200 portfolio companies and 20 venture funds, OurCrowd offers access to its membership of 48,000 individual accredited and institutional investors, family offices, and venture capital partners from over 183 countries to invest alongside, at the same terms. OurCrowd's portfolio is diversified across sectors and stages, ranging from seed and series A through late stage and pre-IPO firms. Since its founding in 2013, OurCrowd portfolio companies have been acquired by some of the most prestigious brands in the world, including Uber, Canon (News - Alert), Oracle, Nike, and Intel. To register and get involved, visit www.ourcrowd.com. For press materials: http://blog.ourcrowd.com/PandemicInnovationConference/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005871/en/

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The move came days after the North defined the South as an "enemy" and vowed to cut all inter-Korean communication lines in anger over the anti-Pyongyang leaflets, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Seoul, June 11 (IANS) South Korea's Unification Ministry on Thursday filed a criminal complaint against two North Korean defector groups for sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, officials said.

The Ministry said it filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against the two defector groups -- Fighters for Free North Korea and Keunsaem -- for sending leaflets and plastic bottles filled with rice into the North.

According to the Ministry, sending leaflets and bottles into the North constitutes a violation of the inter-Korean exchange and cooperation act that bans sending goods to North Korea without government permission.

It also accused the groups of violating the aviation safety act and the public waters management act.

The Ministry said it decided to revoke business permits from the two groups.

North Korean defectors and anti-Pyongyang activists have for years sent a large number of leaflets via giant balloons, said the Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea has bristled at such activities, saying they are aimed at tarnishing its leader.

The government has advised against sending such leaflets, citing concerns about the safety of residents in the border regions, but they have often ignored such an appeal, citing their right to freedom of expression.

--IANS

ksk/
There is no community transmission of the coronavirus pandemic in India, the government said on Thursday amid intense speculation over the past week on the spike in cases, especially in Mumbai and Delhi.

India is such a large country and prevalence is very low. India is not in community transmission, said Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The top medical body official underlined that lockdown measures were successful in preventing the rapid spread of the disease.

We found that about 0.73% of the population in these 15 districts showed a prevalence of past exposure to infection. It means that lockdown measures were successful in keeping it low and preventing rapid spread, added Bhargava.

Community transmission means that the disease is in its third stage and the source of its origin is not known. It is now present in the community and can infect people with no history - either of travel to or contact with infected people and areas. At this point, everyone is susceptible to catching it.

In the first stage, the disease takes the form of a pandemic. The second stage is when the virus starts being transmitted locally. The third stage is that of community transmission.

In Tamil Nadu, chief minister K Panaliswami said his government has been transparent in reporting Covid-19 deaths and none can hide information, rejecting claims of under-reporting of fatalities. He also asserted there was no community transmission of coronavirus in the state, which has reported 1,500 plus fresh cases for four successive days till Wednesday with the tally crossing the 36,000 mark.

On Wednesday, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain reiterated that there was transmission in the community in Delhi, but it was up to the central government to declare community transmission. The Delhi minister, after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Authority a day ago, had said that his government was unable to establish the source of infection in 50% of the cases of coronavirus disease in the city.

The Delhi government also blamed the Centre for using the citys airports to bring in people from other countries. Delhi and Mumbai are the two cities where people were brought in from other nations via flights, and we warned the Centre against it but they did nothing to avoid the landing of flights in Delhi, said Jain.

The high number of cases in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai is indicative of community transmission, say experts.

Some commentators say that India went into lockdown early. Other countries, they say, lifted their lockdown when their disease curve had started to deflate, but here the restrictions are being eased as the curve is going up exponentially.
Supplier News

11 June 2020

Data by SiteMinder, the global hotel industry's leading guest acquisition platform, reveals that minimal planning will go into the trips of the post-COVID hotel guest. The data stems from new indicators within the World Hotel Index, which show that hotel bookings globally have surpassed a third of 2019 levels - for stays as soon as this month.

The World Hotel Index now shows the arrival dates and starting destinations of travellers, in addition to how hotel booking volumes are changing.

"The guest journey remains unchanged, but with a new lens into the post-COVID guest, we are wiser for knowing that today's traveller is a minimalist when it comes to planning. And, for good reason, as we all continue to reflect on how rapidly our world has changed," says Mike Ford, Managing Director at SiteMinder. "The trend of last-minute bookings is truer now than ever before."

Among the most recent findings from the SiteMinder World Hotel Index:

Hotel bookings in New Zealand have surged from 53.96% YoY to 73.18% YoY in the last two weeks, nearly three-in-four of which are for stays during June and July. The rise comes as the country declared COVID-free status on 8 June.

Ireland more than tripled its year-over-year figure this past week, from 14.57% YoY to 46.77% YoY, after it was announced that locals could recommence travelling anywhere in their county. Hotels in Ireland are set to reopen at the end of June, and local holidaymakers aren't wasting time. Of all bookings made within the last two weeks, more than 70% are for stays during July and August.

Taiwan's hotel bookings are almost back to their volumes this same time last year. Taiwan continues to lead the world in momentum, with bookings at 95.72% YoY. Four-in-five of those bookings are for stays in June and July.

To see the hotel booking momentum and guest horizon in other countries, access the live SiteMinder World Hotel Index or sign up for weekly snapshots at HomeForHotels.

About SiteMinder

In an age of rising choice and accessibility for curious travellers, SiteMinder exists to liberate hoteliers with technology that makes a world of difference. SiteMinder is the global hotel industry's leading guest acquisition platform, ranked among technology pioneers for its smart and simple solutions that put hotels everywhere their guests are, at every stage of their journey. It's this central role that has earned SiteMinder the trust of more than 35,000 hotels, across 160 countries, to generate in excess of 100 million reservations worth over US$35 billion in revenue for hotels each year. For more information, visit www.siteminder.com.
Demonstrators attend a Black Lives Matter protest to express solidarity with US protestors in Melbourne on June 6, 2020 (William West/ AFP via Getty Images)

Jacinta Price Says High Rate of Indigenous Incarceration Is Not Caused by Systemic Racism

Addressing domestic violence and child abuse within Aboriginal communities is the key to reducing incarceration rates and decreasing the chances of police custody deaths, says Alice Springs Town Councillor Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

The focal point of the Australian Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests has been to stop Aboriginal deaths in police custody and express solidarity with black Americans after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The rallies in multiple cities attended by tens of thousands aimed to put pressure on the federal government to reassess its efforts in reducing incarceration rates of Indigenous people and address accusations of systemic racism.

However, Price believes the problem of Indigenous incarceration rates can be solved by Indigenous communities taking responsibility for themselves and does not agree that systemic racism is the main factor.

We need to reduce family and domestic violence as the number one cause for incarceration, and of course, if we have safe homes our children are less likely to end up on the path to incarceration, she said.

Price is the Director of the Indigenous Program at the Centre for Independent Studies, a member of the Alice Springs town council, and a candidate for the Country Liberal Party for the next federal election.

Writing for the Queensland Times, Price was critical about the lack of acknowledgment regarding Aboriginal domestic violence by the BLM movement and its supporters in Australia.

Price believes this has the terrible consequence of ignoring the Indigenous victims of severe crimes, who are often related to their abusers.

She wrote: Worse still, activists, politicians, and progressive commentators, who are only too quick to condemn white male perpetrators of domestic violence, too often excuse indigenous offenders on the basis of racism and colonisation.

According to Price, suicide is the leading cause of death among young Indigenous people, which she says is often the result of neglect and abuse. Indigenous children account for a quarter of all child suicides in Australia, she said.

Price wrote: The focus on interactions between indigenous offenders and police is obscuring the real pain of these Aboriginal children and women, who are the victims of child abuse, neglect, domestic violence and sexual assault.

In an interview with Sky News Price said: The very stark reality is that our children are taking their lives because they are often fallen victim to these sorts of individuals.

Between 2007-2011, 26 percent of all deaths among Aboriginal children aged 0-17 were a direct result of abuse injurythats three times the rate for non-indigenous children, Price wrote.

Price said that its not the governments responsibility to lower incarceration rates, its down to individuals.

Her comments were in response to a statement by federal Indigenous Minister Ken Wyatt. In a media release, he said that he wants to lower the incarceration rates quota in his Closing The Gap (CTG) program.

CTG is a commonwealth initiative to bring the health, education, economic, justice, and other outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people closer together. The project aims to address discrimination issues as well as psychological factors caused by the changing social landscape.

Key areas of the program aim to tackle economic issues as well as justice system representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

It has a target to reduce the rate of young people in detention by 11-19 percent and adults held in incarceration by at least 5 percent by 2028.

Wyatts statement on June 6 also touched upon resolving the underlying factors that lead to offending as key to addressing the number of indigenous peoples deaths in custody.

Wyatt admitted that it takes more than money to resolve such issues. He said: It takes commitment, it takes listening and understanding, and it takes us working together.

Price says that while it is true that Aboriginal Australians are incarcerated at a disproportionately high rate, simply blaming racism obscures the deeply problematic issues in a number of Indigenous communities.

She also says the high incarceration rate figures are not a result from systemic racism, because since the royal commission into indigenous deaths (in 1991) courts are more lenient to offenders.
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
The Maldives closed its national borders and canceled all flights shortly after recording its first two coronavirus cases in March.

However, around 30 resorts here have stayed open, with tourists opting to self-isolate in the famous honeymoon destination rather than return home.

The island nation, which is made up of over 1,000 islands, has recorded around 1,457 confirmed cases and five deaths from Covid-19 so far.

While it was previously thought the destination would reopen at the end of the year, officials have brought this forward to July.

A spokesperson for the tourism board has confirmed the Maldives will be open to tourists of all nationalities from July.

While a previous draft proposal indicated travelers would need to present a medical certificate confirming proof of a negative Covid-19 test, the new plans will see visitors allowed to enter the country without prior testing or a mandatory quarantine period.

There are also no new visa requirements or additional fees.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 01:10:41|Editor: huaxia

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RABAT, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Morocco started on Wednesday the repatriation of its citizens stranded in Europe since the closure of Moroccan borders on March 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three planes with 300 people on board from Malaga airport in southern Spain landed at Tetouan airport in northern Morocco, local news website Akhbar Al Yaoum reported.

All the repatriated people have been transferred to classified hotels where they will spend nine days of quarantine, it added.

Authorities have mobilized medical staff and members of the security services as well as a PCR laboratory to follow up the pandemic situations of the repatriated people.

Morocco has organized in May repatriation operations which has enabled the return in three weeks of 1,103 Moroccans who were stranded abroad.

Morocco on Tuesday announced one-month extension of the state of health emergency until July 10 over COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 18 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Morocco on Wednesday, bringing the total number in the North African country to 8,455. Enditem
Two Canadian Telecommunication Giants Shutting Out Huawei in 5G Network

Honest News Straight to Your Home. Try the Epoch Times yourself, and get a free gift.

On June 2, Bell Canada and Telus Mobility have respectively announced their 5G networks partners, which means Huawei is excluded. Today, none of Canadas top three telecommunications giants have adopted Huaweis 5G equipment.

Bell Canada announced that it has selected Ericsson 5G Radio Access Network technology to support its nationwide 5G network. Telus Mobility selected Ericsson and Nokia as its 5G networks partners.

Bell Canada, Telus Mobility and Rogers Communications are the top three telecommunication giants in Canada. Rogers Communication had already chosen Ericsson in 2018. This means that the Canadian telecommunication giants did not take Huawei technology under consideration.

Since Huawei entered Canada in 2008, its equipment has been widely used in Canadian networks such as Bell and Telus, but many countries have indicated that Huawei has close ties with the Chinese Communist Party. Under the Chinese laws which are written by the CCP, Chinese companies must cooperate with the government in gathering foreign intelligence.

Recently, Huaweis alleged intelligence-gathering activities in many countries around the world have also been heavily exposed. Despite the high cost of giving up Huaweis equipment, in the end, Bell and Telus made the decision to cut ties with Huawei.

Following the blacklisting of Huawei last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce introduced a new rule in May to restrict any company from selling U.S. technology and software products to Huawei, especially microchips sets and design-related products such as semiconductors. Huawei has admitted that this new rule has a tremendous impact on the company and Chairman-in-Office of Huawei, Kuo Ping, expressed on May 18 that survival is our key now.

Canada is the only country in the Five Eyes Alliance that has not made a decision to ban Huawei in its 5G networks construction. The United States, Australia, and New Zealand had already banned Huawei in their 5G networks, and Britain has also decided to expel Huawei from its market within three years.

Canadian former Minister of Finance, Joe Oliver, expressed: I dont believe the Canadian government should open up the 5G network to Huawei because there is risk of spying and there is risk of cyber attacks. As well, you know, we are part of the Five Eyes which is a sharing of intelligence between Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. If we open up and adapt to Huawei, the U.S. will be more reluctant to share important intelligence with us under those circumstances.
As the United States confronts persisting racism once again, the US army appeared open to rechristening bases named after generals of the Confederate Army that had fought the Lincoln-led Union to save slavery and continue white supremacy. President Donald Trump ruled it out on Wednesday.

Calling these bases Monumental and very Powerful Trump wrote in a series of tweets, these Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom. These posts were distributed as a statement from the President at the daily White House news briefing, replete with grammatically misplaced capitalisation.

Trump, who is anything but a history buff, added: Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!

But its his military and officials appointed by him - Defence Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the chiefs of staff Mark Milley - who had been reported to be open to having a bipartisan discussion about renaming theses bases, as recommended by the civilian official heading the army, according to multiple US media reports.

Now they cant, shut down by Trump.

Names of these army bases, statutes of confederate generals and other reminders of Americas repugnant past when women, men, and children could be bought, sold and owned, have been among top demands of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the top organisation representing African Americans.

Trumps spirited defence of the base names came ironically on a day when NASCAR, an auto racing company whose races are extremely popular with Trumps political base, outlawed the display of the confederate flag at its events.

NASCAR announced the ban just before the start of a race in Virginia in which the competitions sole black driver Bubba Wallace was participating. He had pushed the franchise past days to disavow its endorsement of the confederate flag, and raced in a car with Black Lives Matter slogan on it.

NASCAR gets it. Trump doesnt, tweeted Stuart Stevens, a veteran Republican strategist and leading member of the inner-party revolt against Trump, arguing that the president will lose more white voters with his Confederate defense than gain. Majority very much want to move past Civil War & hatred, not relive it.

At around the same time, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, ordered the removal of statutes of confederate figures from in the Capitol.

Trump named some of the bases he wants to retain their names derived from confederate generals - Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia.

There are 10 army bases named after confederate generals, all of them in southern states of America that had revolted shortly after Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, was elected president in 1860, running on a party plank of abolition of slavery. South Carolina seceded shortly after and was joined by five other southern states who declared themselves the Confederate States of American even before Lincoln was inaugurated.

Southern forces fired first, in April, starting the Civil War in 1861. But they lost the war.

Virginia, the confederate state with Richmond as the capital of CSA, has three of the 10 bases, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Louisiana and Georgia followed with two each and ave two each; and h. North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Alabama, with one each.
Boise, Idaho

Relatives of two children missing since September said Wednesday that the bodies of two kids uncovered in rural Idaho are the young boy and his big sister, whose mother and her husband are behind bars in a case that has attracted global attention.

Authorities have not released the identities of the bodies discovered on the property of Chad Daybell, who married the children's mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, a few weeks after the kids were last seen.

But Joshua "JJ" Vallow's grandfather Larry Woodcock told the Post Register in Idaho Falls that "both children are no longer with us," also referring to 17-year-old Tylee Ryan.

Extended family members of both children sent a joint statement to Phoenix television station KSAZ-TV confirming the deaths and asking for privacy.

It's another grim turn in a case that had dragged on for months without answers, captivating people with its ties to the couple's doomsday beliefs and the mysterious deaths of their former spouses.

But developments were rapid this week: Investigators searched Chad Daybell's property for evidence, they found children's remains, and prosecutors charged him with destroying or concealing two sets of human remains.

Daybell's attorney, John Prior, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A judge set bail at $1 million during a short hearing.

Police began searching for Tylee and JJ  who was 7 when he vanished  in November after Woodcock and other relatives raised concerns. Police say the couple lied to investigators about the children's whereabouts before quietly leaving Idaho. They were found in Hawaii months later.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

In court documents, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said he believes Chad Daybell either concealed or helped hide the remains knowing that they were about to be used as evidence in court. Wood said the first body was hidden or destroyed sometime on or after Sept. 8  the last known day that Tylee was seen  and the second on or after Sept. 22, the last known day that JJ was seen.

A document that details the reasons behind the charges isn't available to the public. Wood asked to have it sealed, saying it could compromise the criminal investigation. The prosecutor also noted how much media attention the case has received and said keeping the document secret would help preserve Daybell's right to a fair trial.

Lori Daybell already has been charged with child abandonment and obstructing the investigation and is in jail on $1 million bond. Her attorney has indicated she intends to defend herself against the charges, and she is scheduled for a preliminary hearing next month.

Besides the missing children, the couple also has been under scrutiny following the deaths of both of their former spouses.
New Orleans police booked a woman with second-degree murder this week following a double shooting that left another woman dead outside of an apartment complex in Mid-City.

The suspect in the case, 26-year-old Breonna Green, was arguing on the phone with friends of June 3 when she agreed to meet them in the parking lot of an apartment building in the 2600 block of Poydras Street, according to court records.

One of the three friends who drove for the meet up told police that when stepped out of their car, a woman in medical scrubs yelled at them then fired, hitting two of them, the witness said. Lashonda Temple, 22, died from a bullet wound to the chest, police said. A second woman who got out of the car survived being shot in the arm.

Investigators came to suspect Green after reviewing surveillance video and interviewing an unidentified man who had been with her in the apartment complex, police wrote in court records.

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

The video allegedly shows Green wearing medical scrubs as she walks across the parking lot about the time of the shooting. It then appears to show her walking back holding a gun.

Meanwhile, the man said he was with Green as she began going down the apartment buildings stairs to meet her friends in the car. He said he didnt see the shooting but arrived to find Green gone and the two other women shot.

The woman who survived the shooting said she didnt see the shooters face, but police still successfully requested a warrant to arrest Green.

Green was booked Monday on one count each of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. Orleans Parish Magistrate Court Commissioner Albert Thibodeaux set her bail at $360,000. She remained jailed Thursday.

A GoFundMe.com page set up to help cover Temples funeral expenses said she attended Southern University of New Orleans and called her death senseless.

She was a sweet soul that was taken away from us too soon, the page said.
By PTI

HYDERABAD: Junior doctors, agitating over the attack on a senior doctor allegedly by the kin of a virus patient who died, continued their stir on Thursday demanding decentralization of the Gandhi hospital here.

The medicos demanded decentralization as the state-run hospital was the only government hospital where COVID-19 positive cases were being treated.

Health Minister E Rajender, condemning the attack on the duty doctor on Tuesday, held talks with the junior doctors the day after, an official press release said.

The Minister said a decision on decentralization would be taken after discussing the matter with the Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao.

He had told them that he would meet the representatives of the junior doctors every week and extended assurance on solving their problems, including the issue over decentralization.

Reacting to this, the medicos said they would call off the agitation.

However, a leader of the junior doctors said the stir would continue till their main demand for decentralization is not met.
NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market Research Report by Product (Cooking Appliance, Kitchen Ventilation, Mixers and Blenders, Refrigerator, and Washing and Drying Equipment), by End User (Ferry & Cruise, Full Service Restaurant, Hospital, Institutional Canteen, and Quick Service Restaurants) - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19







Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913906/?utm_source=PRN







The Global Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market is expected to grow from USD 81,552.42 Million in 2019 to USD 110,050.31 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.12%.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



On the basis of Product, the Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market is studied across Cooking Appliance, Kitchen Ventilation, Mixers and Blenders, Refrigerator, and Washing and Drying Equipment. The Cooking Appliance further studied across Cooktop & Cooking Range, Oven, Rice Cooker, and Toaster, Kettles and Coffee Makers.



On the basis of End User, the Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market is studied across Ferry & Cruise, Full Service Restaurant, Hospital, Institutional Canteen, Quick Service Restaurants, Railway Dining, and Resort & Hotel.



On the basis of Geography, the Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market is studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market including American Range, Carrier Corporation, Electrolux, Fagor Industrial, Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc., Hobart International Pte Ltd., Hoshizaki Corporation, Interlevin Refrigeration Ltd, MEIKO GROUP, and Universal Steel Industries Pte Ltd..



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market?

6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Commercial Kitchen Appliances & Equipment Market?



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913906/?utm_source=PRN



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ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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Press Release

June 11, 2020 Bong Go: providing economic opportunities in

the provinces is crucial in post COVID-19 recovery Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go said that policies and programs that can provide economic opportunities in the provinces must be prioritized and pursued by concerned government agencies to help Filipinos recover from the current national health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Go also said that promoting employment and livelihood opportunities in the countryside will boost regional development consistent with the long-term goals of the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) Program that is set to be fully implemented after the COVID-19 crisis. "Layunin po ng programang ito na mabigyan ng bagong pag-asa ang mga Pilipino na may hinaharap silang maayos na kinabukasan pagkatapos ng krisis at tutulungan sila kung sakaling gusto nilang bumalik sa kanilang mga probinsya," Go explained. "Marami nang gustong umuwi pero walang pilitan po ito. Lalo na pagkatapos ng krisis na ito kung saan karamihan ay nawalan na nga ng trabaho, huwag sana ipagkait pa sa kanila ang pag-uwi sa sariling probinsya. Ibigay dapat ang tulong na kanilang kinakailangan upang makabangon muli," he added. The BP2 Program Council is currently doing necessary ground preparations for subsequent roll outs, such as close coordination with the receiving local government units to give them more time to prepare for the arrival of BP2 beneficiaries who expressed willingness to relocate to their provinces for good, according to National Housing Authority General Manager and BP2 Program Executive Director Marcelino Escalada, Jr. In the meantime, the government is prioritizing various "Hatid Tulong" initiatives for locally stranded individuals. "Habang nilalabanan natin ang COVID-19, ihanda na rin natin ang mga probinsya para sa mga nais nang lumipat upang mabigyan ang mga Pilipino ng mas maayos na buhay pagkatapos malampasan ang krisis na ito," he said. Go, who is a proponent of the BP2 Program, noted that the lack of economic opportunities and good-paying jobs are reasons why countryside residents go to Metro Manila. "Malaking dahilan po kung bakit napakaraming mga taga-probinsya ang lumuluwas ng Metro Manila ay para makahanap sila ng maayos at disenteng trabaho," Go said. "Ngunit marami sa kanila, nadala na o natagam sa Bisaya dahil paghihirap lang din po ang nadatnan nila sa Metro Manila imbes na mabuting buhay. Kung masisiguro rin po natin na tuluy-tuloy ang paglikha ng trabaho para sa mga kababayan sa mga probinsya, hindi na nila kailangan pumunta pa ng Metro Manila. Ito po ang dahilan kung bakit mahalaga ang partisipasyon ng lahat ng mga ahensya ng gobyerno at ng private sector dito," he added. To accomplish this task, the Senator mentioned that the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Public Works and Highways are presently studying employment policies for provinces to guarantee jobs for the locals. "Pinag-aaralan na po ngayon ng concerned government agencies kung ano po bang maaari nating gawin para masiguro na may sapat na job opportunities para sa ating mga kababayan sa probinsya," Go said. To prepare them for their subsequent employment, Go added that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority is aligning their programs and enhancing courses in agriculture, health and construction to provide training to BP2 beneficiaries and prepare them for their local and overseas employment. TESDA-NCR Regional Director Florencio Sunico said in an interview that they will also do a thorough profiling of workers and industries to help the government in properly assisting Filipinos going back to the provinces under the BP2 Program. Previously, Go urged TESDA to reinforce their programs in the provinces and make them attuned and updated to the changing business requirements in the countryside. He also urged them to coordinate their efforts and collaborate with various government agencies, such as the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic and Development Authority as well as the local government units, to match skills with the jobs that will be made available in the provinces. "This is to ensure that the technical and vocational education as well as the skills trainings offered in a particular province match with what is needed in that locality," Go said. Go also mentioned that government synergy will be a key factor in helping Filipinos recover from the crisis. He said that the success of BP2 Program will also depend on the widespread and active participation of key government agencies in boosting economic opportunities in the provinces. Affirming this strategy of the BP2 Program, the program is expected to involve an increasing number of national government agencies as well as local government units and the private sector. In a June 4 meeting of the BP2 Program Council, it has been suggested that the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, Commission on Population and Development and Philippine Economic Zone Authority will also be engaged more closely. The Council for the Welfare of Children has also signified its intention to become part of the BP2 Program Council. The Cabinet Officers for Regional Development and Security (CORDS) is also envisioned to become a vital advisory council of the BP2 Program. As of June 11, 2020, a total of 86,871 individuals submitted application to be part of the BP2 Program. The top ten provinces with most applicants are Leyte, Samar, Negros Occidental, Northern Samar, Camarines Sur, Eastern Samar, Zamboanga del Norte, Bohol, Pangasinan and Southern Leyte. Executive Order No. 114 institutionalizes the program as a "Pillar of Balanced Regional Development, Creating a Council Therefor, and for Other Purposes." It instructs concerned agencies to prepare and implement the BP2 Program. "Ngayon, merong Executive Order 114 na nag-institutionalize nito. Meron ding inter-agency council na mangangasiwa at magpapatupad nito. Whole-of-government na ang approach ngayon," he explained. The EO came after Go authored Senate Resolution No. 380 which was adopted by the Senate during its plenary session on May 4, urging the executive department to formulate and implement the BP2 program. According to the EO, the BP2 Program will bring "balanced regional development and equitable distribution of wealth, resources, and opportunities through policies and programs that boost countryside development and inclusive growth." The program will also provide adequate social services to its people, promote employment, and focus on key areas, such as empowerment of local industries, food security, and infrastructure development in rural areas.
Despite their age, state law allows Coleman and Walker to be tried as adults because of the first-degree murder charge, the release said. It was not disclosed if the two were released on bond or are being somewhere other than the county jail, which does not list them as inmates.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-10 22:49:57|Editor: huaxia

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BERLIN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Germany extended its travel warning till Aug. 31 for all countries except the member states of the European Union (EU), Schengen-associated states and Britain, the Federal Foreign Office announced on Wednesday.

Last week, the German Foreign Office announced that travel warnings for European countries would be lifted by June 15 and would be replaced by individual travel advices. For Spain and Norway, this would apply at a later date as entry restrictions still applied there.

The Foreign Office stressed that there was no shared criteria and coordination processes between Germany and third countries -- those outside the EU or the Schengen zone -- that would enable "unrestricted travel without incalculable risks."

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the German government had returned more than 200,000 German tourists and travelers with chartered planes from around 60 countries all over the world.

"We cannot and will not risk that Germans will again be stranded all over the world in the summer or that holiday returnees will carry the virus to Germany undetected," said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

At the same time, Maas was "very aware" that many German citizens liked to travel outside Europe to countries such as Turkey or those in North Africa "as soon as possible". When tourism to these parts of the world would be possible again would depend on how the pandemic develops.

A lifting of individual travel warnings was generally possible but would require a positive pandemic development, a stable health care system, consistent security measures for tourists as well as reliable travel options, the Foreign Office noted.

A lifting of travel warnings had to fit into the "overall picture," according to the Foreign Office. As long as there are entry bans by third countries for Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it would not be possible to arrange for thousands of European tourists to travel to those countries. Enditem
The monsoon wind pattern makes the Indian Ocean relatively easy to cross both ways. In the Atlantic, by contrast, winds blow in one direction all year round. Thats why the Indian Ocean is the worlds oldest long-distance trans-oceanic trading arena, and is sometimes known as the cradle of globalisation.





by Isabel Hofmeyr and Charne Lavery





On many beaches around the Indian Ocean, keen observers may spot bits of broken pottery. Washed smooth by the ocean, these shards are in all likelihood hundreds of years old, from centres of ceramic production like the Middle Eastern Abbasid caliphate and the Chinese Ming dynasty.





Originally destined for Indian Ocean port cities, this pottery would have been purchased by merchant elites accustomed to eating off fine plates. These traders formed part of vast commercial networks that crisscrossed the Indian Ocean arena and beyond, from East Africa to Indonesia, the Middle East and China.





Underwater pearl farm. GettyImages

These trade networks stretched back thousands of years, powered by the monsoon winds. Reversing direction in different seasons, these winds have long shaped the rhythm of life around the ocean, bringing rain to farmers, filling the sails of dhows and enabling trade between different ecological zones.





The monsoon wind pattern makes the Indian Ocean relatively easy to cross both ways. In the Atlantic, by contrast, winds blow in one direction all year round. Thats why the Indian Ocean is the worlds oldest long-distance trans-oceanic trading arena, and is sometimes known as the cradle of globalisation.





This cosmopolitan world has long fascinated scholars and has become a vibrant domain of research. Yet this work has had little to say about the sea itself. Its focus is on human movement with the ocean as a passive backdrop. In the age of rising sea levels and climate change, its important to learn more about the sea from a material and ecological point of view.





Over the past few years, this situation has started to shift. In this article we survey both the older and the newer forms of Indian Ocean studies, of surface and depth.





Surface histories of the Indian Ocean





Given the long millennia of trade and exchange, one key concern of Indian Ocean studies has been a focus on cultural interaction. Cities on the shores have sustained deep forms of material, intellectual and cultural exchange, so that the denizens of these ports had more in common with each other than with their fellows inland.





This early cosmopolitan world has famously been explored in Amitav Ghoshs In an Antique Land, which traces the travels of Abram bin Yiju, a 12th century Jewish Tunisian merchant based in Cairo and later in Mangalore, India. The book contrasts the rigidity of borders in the 1980s with the relative ease of movement in the late medieval Indian Ocean.





The Swahili coast provides another famed example of Indian Ocean cosmopolitanism. Stretching a thousand miles from Somalia to Mozambique, Swahili society arose from centuries of interaction between Africa, the Middle East and Asia.





Centred on coastal city states like Kilwa, Zanzibar and Lamu, Swahili trade networks reached far inland to present day Zimbabwe and outward to Persia, India and China. After reaching their height from the 12th to the 15th centuries, these city states were eventually undone by the Portuguese, who arrived from the early 16th century, seeking to establish a monopoly of the spice trade.





Central to these histories of mobility and exchange in the Indian Ocean has been the spread of Islam across land and sea from the 7th century CE. By the 14th century, mercantile networks around the Indian Ocean were almost entirely in the hands of Muslim traders.





In their wake came scholars, theologians, pilgrims, clerks, legal pundits and Sufi divines. Together, these groups created a shared economic, spiritual and legal frameworks. Sufism, a mystical form of Islam is an important strand in the Indian Ocean histories, as is the centrifugal power of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.





European Colonisation along the Indian Ocean





When the Portuguese rounded the Cape in the late 15th century, they entered what many have termed a Muslim Lake, dominated in the north by the Turkish Ottoman, Persian Safavid and Indian Mughal empires. When the Dutch arrived in the Indian Ocean in the 17th century, they were able to go from one end of it to another by carrying letters of introduction from Muslim sultans on various shores.

As Engseng Ho has indicated, these sprawling networks of Muslim commerce operated without the backing of an army or a state.





The Portuguese, Dutch and English in the Indian Ocean were strange new traders who brought their states with them. They created militarised trading-post empires in the Indian Ocean, following Venetian and Genoese precedents in the Mediterranean, and were wont to do business at the point of a gun.





Early European entrants to the Indian Ocean world initially had to adapt to the trading orders that they encountered. But by the 19th century, European empires dominated. Their military, transport and communication infrastructure intensified the movement of people across the Indian Ocean world.





As Clare Anderson has demonstrated, much of this mobility was forced and conscripted. It involved slaves, indentured labourers, political exiles and prisoners who were transported between regions. At times, these systems built on existing foundations of labour exploitation. As recent research indicates, South Asian indentured labour was often taken from regions in India where slavery existed. Old and new systems of unfree labour produced an archipelago of prisons, plantations and penal colonies.





As an archive, the Indian Ocean provides a new way of looking at world history, that has previously been dominated by European accounts. The age of European empires is only one tiny sliver of time in a much longer arc. A view from the Indian Ocean unsettles ideas of the relationship between European colonisers and colonised groups.





As historians like Engseng Ho and Sugata Bose have argued, the Indian Ocean world was an arena of competing claims.





The ambitions of British imperialism, for example, were countered by the equally grand visions of Islam. Indeed, the Indian Ocean arena produced a rich repertoire of transoceanic ideologies, including Hindu reformism and pan-Buddhism.





Such ideologies eventually acquired an anti-imperial character which also fed into ideas of Afro-Asian solidarity and non-alignment. These arose from the Bandung Conference in 1955 at which 29 newly independent nations gathered to forge a new path rather than falling in line with either of the rival camps in the emerging Cold War.





In the 21st century, these older alliances have come under pressure as China and India elbow each other for dominance in the Indian Ocean. Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative involves massive transport and port infrastructure and aims to extend Chinas footprint across much of the Indian Ocean arena. In response, New Delhi has bolstered its economic and military activity in this domain.





Deep histories of the Indian Ocean





While the uniquely well-travelled surface of the Indian Ocean has received much attention, its depths barely register in the cultural or historical imagination. Its waters constitute nearly 20% of the oceans total volume, and its deepest point, the Sunda Deep of the Java Trench, lies nearly 8km below the surface. Yet its seafloor, like much of the worlds oceans, is largely unmapped.





Seafloor features determine weather patterns, fish concentrations and tsunami dynamics. Initial explorations by mining companies revealed mineral-rich deposits on submarine volcanic vents, while new species are continually being discovered.





The deep Indian Ocean is far less studied than the depths of the other oceans, for economic reasons: it is ringed by underdeveloped countries. The second International Indian Ocean Expedition was launched only in 2015, fifty years after the first. It aims to increase understanding about the oceanographic and biological characteristics of this undersampled ocean, as well as the ways in which it is changing.





Paying attention to the submarine world is becoming increasingly important in a time of climate change prompted by human activities. The Indian Ocean is warming faster than any of the other oceans, holding more than 70% of all the heat absorbed by the upper ocean since 2003. Indian Ocean islands  the Maldives being a well-known example  are already being submerged by rising global sea levels.





Cyclone patterns are shifting further south and happening more often as a result of the oceans rising temperature. The monsoon, which underpinned the Indian Oceans shipping networks and the rainfall patterns on its coastlines, is losing its power and predictability.





Deities, spirits and ancestors





While the Indian Oceans depths are in many ways opaque, they are not unpopulated in peoples imaginations. The ocean bustles with water deities, djinns, mermaids and ancestral spirits  a mythical submarine world that reflects the cosmopolitanism of its land populations.





In southern Africa this mix is especially rich: Khoisan/ First Nation water sprites, Muslim djinns introduced by South East Asian slaves, African ancestors, one of whose domains is the ocean, and British imperial ideas about the romance of the sea.





These ideas encounter each other and turn bodies of water into rich sites of memory and history. They have been explored by the Oceanic Humanities for the Global South project. Work by Confidence Joseph, Oupa Sibeko, Mapule Mohulatsi and Ryan Poinasamy explores the literary and artistic imaginations of southern Africas creolised waters.





Afrofuturist science fiction is also turning to the deep Indian Ocean. Mohale Mashigos Floating Rugs is situated in a submarine community on South Africas east coast. Mia Coutos stories from the Mozambican coastline have long paired myths of mermaids with marine biology. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuors novel The Dragonfly Sea links contemporary Afro-Asian networks to the undersea.





Deep sea mining





Some exploration of the deep ocean can seem science-fictional, but isnt.





The International Seabed Authority, a branch of the United Nations in operation since 2001 and responsible for parcelling out potential marine mining areas, has granted contracts for mining exploration in the Indian Ocean. At the same time, researchers are discovering an astonishing number of new deep ocean species on the same sites.





The submarine world has long been plundered for riches. Histories of pearl diving in the Indian Ocean  as in a central scene of Jules Vernes Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea  are continued in todays illegal abalone trade. Poachers on the coast of South Africa don scuba gear to harvest abalone to trade with Asian markets, linking the undersea to Indian Ocean criminal underworlds, along the same lines as the ancient trade networks.





At times these networks are the source of treasure. On the Island of Mozambique, for instance, the shards of blue pottery that were traded around the Indian Ocean are one of the objects of the active treasure hunting trade today. While some of the treasures are sold by dealers in antiquities, others provide crucial evidence for maritime archaeological research. Recently, the Slave Wrecks Project has discovered slave shipwrecks that provide concrete symbols of the transatlantic slave trade and link it to histories of Indian Ocean slavery and indenture.





The old waterfronts of East African port cities like Mombasa, Zanzibar and Lamu are dominated by buildings with a pure white finish. This present-day architecture echoes a centuries-old tradition of building houses, mosques and tombs from white coral stone and dressed with lime plaster. Made from shells and corals that began their life under the sea, this luminous plaster made port cities visible from afar to incoming vessels.





The oceans submarine life and its human histories are always entangled. And now writers, artists and scholars are increasingly drawing attention to their connectedness.





Isabel Hofmeyr, Professor of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand





Charne Lavery, Lecturer and Research Associate, University of the Witwatersrand








China is offering unproven coronavirus vaccines to citizens travelling abroad because the virus is petering out in the country, it emerged today.

Employees at large state-run companies going abroad for work are being recruited to take either of two vaccines developed by the China National Biotec Group.

China desperately wants to become the first country to create a cure for the disease after it emerged in the city of Wuhan in December and wreaked havoc around the world.

But because there are now so few cases of the coronavirus among its own citizens, real-world clinical trials are difficult. As a result, state-owned companies are trying to recruit travelling staff to have the jabs so they can test them out.

Sources would not say which companies' employees are being targeted, and it is not clear how their health will be monitored to check that the jab works.

Early clinical trials did not show any major side effects when the two vaccine candidates were tested on 2,000 people, Bloomberg reported, and China National Biotec Group (CNBG) now wants to trial the vaccine on thousands in the real world.

It must use people to travelling to countries still in the grip of the pandemic to do this.

Scientists at Oxford University have come up against the same problem in Britain, where cases are falling, so are now trialling their jab on health workers in Brazil.

With no proven treatment for coronavirus in sight, a vaccine is considered the golden ticket to ending the global pandemic - but none have so far been proven to work.

China is offering unproven coronavirus vaccines to citizens travelling abroad in a bid to become the first in the world to produce a jab ahead of international rivals (file)

The fast-moving global pandemic makes work hard for scientists making vaccines, which is a notoriously slow process.

China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention pondered the idea of vaccinating people travelling abroad back in April to help bump recruitment numbers up, but is not believed to have started it until recently.

Zhu Fengcai, deputy director of a local branch of the public health body, said the tactic could be particularly effective for those travelling to high-risk areas.

It is unclear which state-run firms are being targeted to offer up their employees for recruitment.

It's also not known how the China National Biotec Group (CNBC) will monitor employees' health when they travel abroad after taking the vaccine.

'Several' coronavirus vaccines could be ready by the end of the year, UK firm claims Multiple coronavirus vaccines could be ready for mass-use by the end of this year, according to a British pharmaceutical giant. AstraZeneca said it was on track to produce hundreds of millions of its experimental COVID-19 jab - called AZD1222 - by September. The jab, developed by scientists at Oxford University, has moved into larger human trials after showing promise in earlier studies. AstraZeneca's chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said he believed 'several' other vaccines would be ready in the autumn, too. The Cambridge-based firm announced plans last month to scale up production of the vaccine to 2billion doses by mid-2021. GlaxoSmithKline, headquartered in Brentford, and US drugs giants Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer also unveiled plans to produce a billion doses of their vaccines next year. Advertisement

The experimental vaccines are currently coming out of the other end of Phase II trials after being proven safe in 2,000 humans who received them.

But whether or not the injections actually prevent coronavirus infection remains unknown and will be tested in Phase III trials.

It's thought more than 10,000 people will be recruited for the Phase III trials, Bloomberg reports.

The jabs are inactivated vaccines, which means they work by injecting someone with a dead version of the virus, or just a part of a dead one.

By doing this, the body is exposed to the virus in a way which still makes the immune system react, because it recognises the dead viruses as intruders, but it cannot be harmed because the dead viruses cannot cause illness.

This way, someone can build up immunity without actually getting sick.

Inactivated vaccines, which are used for flu, polio, rabies and hepatitis A, may not offer protection that is as long-lasting as a live vaccine, so more doses may be needed over time.

CNBG is said to be building factories that will allow it to manufacture more than 200million doses annually.

Estimates suggest the world will need around 4.5billion vaccine doses to put an end to the pandemic.

The virus is so hard to track - because many only get a mild illness - and spreads so easily that experts believe it will continue to spread through the human population indefinitely if a vaccine cannot be found.

It comes after AstraZeneca said it was already manufacturing an unproven vaccine with hopes of dishing out hundreds of millions of doses by September.

The Cambridge-based firm has started to mass-produce the experimental AZD1222 jab, developed by Oxford University, at factories in India, Oxford, Switzerland and Norway.

It expects to have distributed hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine this year and at least 2billion by mid-2021.

AstraZeneca has signed deals to produce 400million doses for the US and 100million for the UK if it is successful in human trials. Results are expected in August.

Britain has agreed to pay for the doses 'as early as possible' - with ministers hoping for a third of those to be ready for September if proven effective.

Following an initial phase of testing on 160 healthy volunteers between 18 and 55, the study of AZD1222 has moved to phases two and three.

It will involve increasing the testing to up to 10,260 people and expanding the age range of volunteers to include children and the elderly.

Two thousand of the volunteers will be trialled in Brazil because of recruitment troubles in the UK, where the virus is slowly vanishing in the community.

AstraZeneca announced a deal last month with Oxford BioMedica to manufacture the Covid vaccine at its manufacturing centre in Oxford.

AstraZeneca will have access to the company's 84,000-square-foot factory and will turn out most of the clinical and commercial supply of the vaccine this year.

It also announced a licensing deal with the Serum Institute of India to provide 1billion doses of the vaccine to low- and middle-income countries by 2021. The goal will be to manufacture 400 million doses in its factory by the end of 2020.

Last week the firm signed a deal with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi) in Norway and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in Switzerland.

The companies will help manufacture 300million globally accessible doses of the coronavirus vaccine this year.
Syria: SANA reports US convoy turned back at govt checkpoint Second episode in which two armies came into contact

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JUNE 11 - Syrian government news agency SANA said in recent hours on Thursday a US military convoy was stopped by Syrian government forces in the country's northeast in disputed territory where Russian, Turkish, US, and Syrian government soldiers are present, as well as Kurdish-Syrian forces.



SANA released a video showing the US convoy arriving at a Syrian government checkpoint in the district of Tell Tamer, between Raqqa and Qamishli.



The convoy was then forced to turn back, SANA said.



This is the second episode of its type reported by Syrian government media since the start of June.



The first formal contact between the US and the Syrian armies took place in the same area on June 2.(ANSAmed).




Press Release

June 11, 2020 Tolentino urges DepEd, CHED to tap UNICEF and

UNESCO's system for distance learning Administration Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino called on the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to tie up with private groups to enhance their existing distance learning systems. During the hearing of the Basic Education, Arts and Culture on Thursday, Tolentino urged DepEd and CHED to link with United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other groups and tap their existing platforms that are being used in various parts of the world. "Why don't we take advantage of the existing platforms tailor-made by these international educational organizations," said Tolentino. "We must tie up with these big players para hindi na tayo mahirapan sa ating gagawing distance learning," he added. Tolentino raised the issue after both DepEd and CHED failed to mention during past hearings that they plan to adopt existing modalities coming from UNESCO, UNICEF and other groups which are currently engaged in distance learning. "For instance, UNICEF has a learning passport supported by Microsoft to help the children of Ukraine, UNESCO has an institute for information technology and education to combat COVID-19 while Google has its Classroom that teachers can use to deliver learning materials to students," Tolentino pointed out. "You have a menu of all the choices pero wala pa akong naririnig mula sa DepEd kung ano ang gagawin," he added. Tolentino said online platforms such as Skype, Zoom and Facebook would not suffice in the delivery of learning materials to students so DepEd and CHED must seek help of other groups. "I am bit worried baka sa unang dalawang linggo sumablay po tayo dito, not because of the lack of competencies on the part of the teachers who will perform this but due to the proper software that will be utilized. Ano po bang software ang gagamitin?" he asked. Tolentino also asked the committee for a demonstration on how the distance learning would be run, two weeks before the scheduled start of classes on August 24. DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones told Tolentino that her office is already in touch with both UNICEF and UNESCO. "They are aware of what we are doing," Briones said.
FILE - In a Friday, April 24, 2020 file photo, Alexis Garrod, CrossFit Potrero Hill partner and head coach, cleans off weight training equipment in an empty gym, which closed for shelter in place orders over COVID-19 concerns, in San Francisco. Reebok says it has cut ties with CrossFit chief executive and founder invoked George Floyds name in a Twitter post chastising a health group for saying that racism was a public health problem. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

The founder and CEO of CrossFit is stepping down after his tweet about George Floyd sparked a social media backlash and a wave of affiliated gyms cut ties with the company.

Reebok also dropped its affiliation with CrossFit this week.

Greg Glassman wrote on CrossFit's website late Tuesday that he would retire. Glassman had apologized earlier for tweets that sparked online outrage by connecting Floyd, an African American man who died at the hands of the Minneapolis police, and the coronavirus pandemic. He said he had made a mistake and should have been more sensitive, but denied being racist.

On Saturday I created a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members," Glassman said. I cannot let my behavior stand in the way of HQs or affiliates missions.

Glassman's exit may have been sealed after Buzzfeed posted a Zoom call he held with CrossFit affiliated gyms in which Glassman reportedly said: Were not mourning for George Floyd  I dont think me or any of my staff are." Buzzfeed said it received the recording through its anonymous tip line.

The Zoom call took place hours before Glassman made a glib response on Twitter to a post by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a health research group, which said, Racism is a public health issue."

 It's FLOYD-19," he replied Saturday, and in a second tweet criticized the group's failed quarantine model and accused it of attempting to model a solution to racism.

Some 1,250 gyms have now severed links with CrossFit, according to industry blog Morning Chalk Up. An anonymously-curated Google spreadsheet lists hundreds of CrossFit affiliates with links to their social media accounts, with most on the list saying they have cut ties, or are considering doing so.

In light of recent comments made by CrossFit CEO, we are deaffiliating from CrossFit, read a post on the Instagram account for CrossFit Central of Austin, Texas. We are resolute in our anti racist beliefs and stance against police police brutality. We stand in solidarity with the black community.

Story continues

The post by CrossFit Central echoed the sentiments of hundreds of other gyms around the world in what has been an astonishingly swift backlash against CrossFit.

An Edelman Trust Barometer poll of 2,000 Americans, published Tuesday, found that 60% of respondents said how a brand responds to the protests will influence whether a respondent buys or boycotts their products. The poll found that younger Americans felt the strongest, with 78% of millennial respondents saying that a brand must speak out on racial injustice.

Americans want brands to step up and play a central role in addressing systemic racism, wrote Richard Edelman, CEO of the communications firm. This is a mandate for brands to act, because consumers will exercise brand democracy with their wallets.

The speed at which companies and affiliates have distanced themselves from CrossFit was accelerated by social media, and to some degree, the coronavirus pandemic, said marketing and branding expert Allen Adamson.

In the past, most companies only had to talk about: Does their product work?" Adamson said. "Now, younger consumers are pulling companies into this conversation because they not only want to know what their product does, but they want to know what the company stands for before they do business with them. And that pressure is exposing all sorts of challenges for companies.

According to the CrossFit website, the annual fee for affiliation for gyms or other facilities is $3,000, which allows them to use the CrossFit name, logo, and promotional materials, among other perks.

Dave Castro will take over as CEO of CrossFit, which is based in Santa Cruz, California.

Floyd died while handcuffed after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes. His death set off protests around the U.S. and the globe.

__________________

AP writer Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this story.

_______

This story has been corrected to show that the Edelman poll was published Tuesday, not Wednesday.
SACRAMENTO  California lawmakers advanced a constitutional amendment Wednesday to overturn Proposition 209, the affirmative action ban approved by state voters in the 1990s that critics say perpetuates inequality for women and people of color.

By a vote of 58-9, the Assembly passed ACA5, which would strip language from the state Constitution prohibiting the consideration of race and sex in public education, employment and contracting.

It is the first major step toward rescinding the law, a decision that would ultimately be left to California voters. If approved in the Senate by a two-thirds vote by June 25, the measure will appear on the November ballot, giving the state a chance to weigh in on the issue for the first time in a generation. Voters could repeal Prop. 209 by a simple majority.

Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, the San Diego Democrat who is carrying ACA5, said mass uprisings in recent weeks against police brutality and systemic racism have shown that new solutions are needed to address the discrimination that remains in many communities.

As we look around the world, we see there is an urgent cry  an urgent cry for change, Weber said on the Assembly floor. After 25 years of quantitative and qualitative data, we see that race-neutral solutions cannot fix problems steeped in race.

Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle 1996

The ban on affirmative action has been part of the California Constitution for almost a quarter-century. Championed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson as he launched an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for president, Prop. 209 passed in 1996 with nearly 55% of the vote. It pushed the state into what supporters hailed as a new era of equal opportunity under the law, where Californians would be judged only by their merit.

Critics argue the law has instead been devastating for women and people of color  curtailing efforts to diversify university campuses, police departments and school workforces, and costing small businesses owned by women and people of color billions of dollars in public contracts.

Several legislators said Wednesday that they were the beneficiaries of affirmative action policies, opportunities that they said had been denied to younger generations because the state could not directly address the unequal circumstances in which they were born.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, credited affirmative action for her admission to Stanford University and a masters program at Georgetown University. In school, she said, teachers had lower expectations for her than her white peers.

We cant create colorblindness, and it doesnt exist, she said.

But opponents argue that instead of leveling the playing field, ACA5 would promote prejudice by allowing universities, schools and government agencies to use race or sex in their admissions criteria, hiring and procurement decisions.

The act of giving special or preferential treatment to someone based on their race is racism itself, or on sex is sexism, said Assemblyman Steven Choi, R-Irvine. Just ask yourself, is it right to give someone a job just because they are white or black or green or yellow? Or just because they are male?

The Legislature last took up the issue in 2014, when the state Senate passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have asked voters to reverse the ban on consideration of race and sex in college admissions. The Assembly shelved the measure after Asian Americans said it could limit their childrens ability to get into Californias most selective public universities, where Asian Americans make up a greater share of students than in the overall population.

That tension was laid bare again Wednesday. Several Asian American legislators who ultimately voted for the measure said proponents of bringing back affirmative action had not done enough outreach to their community. They said many of their constituents fear a repeal of Prop. 209 would undo gains they have worked hard to achieve.

Asian Americans, just like everyone else, we are seeking equal opportunity. We want to be treated fairly, said Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County).

Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, said his office had received more than 3,000 calls from constituents who opposed ACA5 and only 99 from people who supported it. He raised the possibility that his vote could cost him his seat, adding that he had heard from elected officials in his district who asked him, Arent you yellow? Why are you voting against your own people?

Supporters believe 2020 represents their best chance yet to challenge Prop. 209, with opposition to President Trump expected to drive a motivated liberal electorate to the polls in November.

National protests against the police killing of George Floyd have also rapidly shifted the conversation on racial justice in communities across the country. At memorials and news conferences over the past two weeks, black legislators have asked the public to support an agenda that includes reinstating affirmative action in California.

We are in a season of change. We are in a revolution of change, said Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager, D-Los Angeles. Lets not sleep through this.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff
A sales assistant has told of the 'explosive sex' she has enjoyed with multiple married men in breach of lockdown.

At the beginning of the month, an amendment to the Health Protection Bill was released amid the pandemic, stating: 'No person may participate in a gathering which takes place in a public or private place indoors, and consists of two or more persons.'

Yesterday, the rules were eased slightly to allow adults who live alone to chose one other single-person household they can 'bubble' with - where they can visit and stay overnight.

But Claire, 32, from Liverpool, (who has changed her name) has admitted she's already had sex with two men at her flat because she is 'isolating at home and craved human contact'.

The furloughed worker revealed both affairs - a financier and an investor who is isolating separately from his wife - are married men she has met online, and argued that they don't feel guilty because 'neither are showing symptoms'.

A sales assistant has told of the 'explosive sex' she has enjoyed with multiple married men in breach of lockdown, slamming the rule as 'crazy' and arguing that it is 'impossible' for young people to stick to it

Divorcee Claire revealed she had sex the first time in breach of lockdown in April - with a married man she had met on IllicitEncounters.com, the UK's leading affairs site, just before the restrictions came into place.

Recalling how it started, she said: 'We had sex a few times before the clampdown.

'We stuck to the rules for about a month and just Facetimed each other - putting on little sex shows to keep the spark alive.

'After a month, we could wait no longer and he came to my flat for an afternoon of fun.'

Best sex positions for burning calories For him Butter churner: 211 calories Standing: 198 calories Doggy Style: 182 calories Kneeling wheelbarrow: 167 calories Lotus: 148 calories The Eagle: 145 calories Legs up: 127 calories Spooning: 101 calories 69 position: 78 calories The squat: 50 calories Cowgirl: 48 calories Reverse Cowgirl: 48 calories For her The squat: 188 calories Butter churner: 179 calories Kneeling wheelbarrow: 149 calories Standing: 145 calories Cowgirl: 139 calories Lotus: 139 calories Reverse Cowgirl: 137 calories Legs up: 116 calories 69 position: 111 calories Doggy Style: 103 calories Spooning: 84 calories The Eagle 69 calories Advertisement

And she says it was worth the risk, adding: 'We had sex three times. It was explosive because it had been so long for both of us. We were doing all over my flat. I could not wait to do it again.'

Speaking about her first affair, she said: 'He is in his 30s, too, and works in finance. He is married but has a much higher sex drive than his wife.

'We see each other every couple of weeks at my flat and always have sex. Neither of us feels bad about breaking the rules because we are young and fit and are showing no symptoms.'

Claire continued: 'I would do it again - it is crazy that the Government is banning people from having sex.

'The fact is that most young people outside of high risk groups have a very small chance of getting seriously ill from Covid.

'We are being asked to go without sex for the whole of the summer to avoid a nasty bout of flu. It is a ban that most young people just cannot stick to.

'I know that the restrictions are in place to stop us from infecting other people but I cannot live in a cocoon forever.

'I live in a flat on my own and I need human contact. I am not just going to spend the rest of the summer on my own. I have a high sex drive and need physical contact', she reasoned.

Best sex positions to orgasm (for women) Doggy Style 79%

The squat 72%

Reverse Cowgirl 71%

Cowgirl 68%

The eagle 66%

Legs Up 64%

Missionary 63%

Spooning 55%

Lotus 31%

Kneeling wheelbarrow 29%

Butter Churner 21%

Standing 17%

69 position 7% Advertisement

Claire, who split with her husband two years ago, has also started a new relationship with a second married man she met online.

She said: 'He invests in various businesses and has separated from his wife during lockdown.

'He contacted me for the first time about a month ago and we had sex at my flat last week after I cooked him dinner. Again the sex was amazing.'

Claire was speaking as a new survey found that more than half of Britons oppose the summer sex ban.

The figure rises to 68 per cent for those under 30.

The number of people who have had sex in breach of the lockdown has doubled in the last month.

Only a fifth had breached the rules by the end of April, but this figure has risen to 42 per cent in the wake of the controversy over Government adviser Dominic Cummings.

The results are from a new survey of 2,000 people by the affairs website.

It showed that two-thirds of respondents said that the ban needed changing because it applies to all ages and there are no exemptions for younger people.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said the policy was unworkable in the long-term because 'the Government cannot ban people from having sex.'

The poll showed a big rise in lockdown breaches. More than half of those under 30 said they had had sex in breach of the rules since the lockdown came into place.

The figure falls to 29 per cent for those under 40 and 16 per cent for those under 50.

IllicitEncounters.com sex and relationship expert Jessica Leoni said: 'The Government are mad if they think they can stop people having sex.

'We all know the risks from Covid now and people are smart enough to weigh them up and gauge whether they want to spend the rest of the summer without any kind of physical comfort.

'It is bonkers that couples who were seeing each other before lockdown cannot even kiss each other under the rules, let alone have sex. Who is going to stick to that?

'The rules are particularly tough on single people who live on their own like Claire who are expected to live for months on end without any physical comfort.

'There are thousands of Claires out there who have looked at the facts and decided to break the rules because the health risk to them is so small.'
Lavinya Stennett may be one of the few people in the UK not currently offering an opinion on statues.

The 23-year-old Londoner is the founder of Black Curriculum, a social enterprise set up to campaign for black historys mandatory inclusion in the national school syllabus.

The organisation is currently seeing a surge in support following two weeks of anti-racist demonstrations across the country, she says. Almost 100,000 people have downloaded its open letter to education secretary Gavin Williamson asking for pupils to be taught a broader view of history.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagicVanessa Bryant has revealed her new tattoos in honor of her late husband, Kobe, and their daughter, Gianna, both of whom were killed in a helicopter crash in January.

Bryant's tattoo artist Nikko Hurtado reshared videos from her now-private Instagram page on Wednesday. The videos were shot during a house call he made to Bryant's house to pay respects to Kobe in ink.

"Shoutout to [Nikko Hurtado] for coming over and helping me get my Gigi's sweet message transferred on me. #throwbacktoFebruary," Vanessa wrote of the tattoo on her wrist.

Vanessa also showed off a neck tribute to her late husband, whom she calls her "boo-boo."

"I wanted my boo-boo's sweet message transferred on me." Vanessa captioned the second video. "Thank you!" "She added the hashtags #throwback #QueenMamba #MambaMentality.

Vanessa didn't reveal specific details about the two tattoos, but they clearly have some deeper meaning not known to the public. According to the hashtags, the tattoos may have been done back in February.

Bryant and Lakers legend Kobe married in 2001. Including Gianna, they share four daughters: Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, who turns one later this month.

Kobe, 41, and Gianna, among nine other individuals, were killed in a helicopter crash in California on January 26. Bryant is also seeking a wrongful death suit against the helicopter company and the pilot's estate.

By Rachel GeorgeCopyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has declared a state of emergency on the increasing rate of sexual and gender-based violence in the country.

The NGF chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, said this via a communique sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.

Mr Fayemi, who has signed the Sexual Violence Against Children (compulsory treatment and care for child victims of sexual violence) bill into law, said the Ekiti State has maintained a zero-tolerance to all forms of sexual violence.

In the latest release, Mr Fayemi urged other state governors who are yet to validate the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act and other relevant gender-based protection laws to create a register in each state that would ensure it names and shames sex offenders.

He listed the resolutions listed by the governors.

Governors strongly condemned all forms of violence against women and children and committed to ensuring that offenders face the maximum weight of the law; declared a state of emergency on sexual and gender-based violence.

Called on State Governors that have not already domesticated relevant gender-based protection laws to domesticate the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, the Child Rights Act and the updated Penal Code to increase protection for women and children and ensure speedy investigation and prosecution of perpetrators in addition to creating sex offenders register in each state to name and shame.

He added that governors would ensure state commissioners of police provide reports on their response to sexual and gender-based violence at the state and local government levels.

We will invite the commissioners of police to provide a detailed report on the actions taken to strengthen their response to sexual and gender-based violence through the Family Support Units and Force Gender Units at the State and Local Government levels.

Governors will commit additional funding for the prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence through appropriate Ministries, Departments and Agencies;

Endorse the communique of the meeting of the First Ladies in Nigeria which held on 7th June 2020 to evaluate and mobilise action to check the alarming rate of sexual violence against women and girls and indeed all forms of violence against women, the forums statement added.

Trend

For the past few weeks, Nigerians have continued to protest the incessant rape incidents across the country.

This newspaper reported the case of Barakat Bello who was raped and killed by hoodlums in Ibadan. Also, Vera Omozuwa, a 100-level student of microbiology at the University of Benin died days after she was beaten and raped inside a church by yet to be identified men.

For Hadiza Saidus daughter and niece, they were both raped by a neighbour. There was another report of a father who repeatedly raped two of his daughters at gunpoint.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how police operatives arrested 11 men who reportedly took turns to rape a 12-year-old girl.

A lawmaker at the House of Representatives, James Faleke, had recommended that persons found guilty of rape should be castrated. The House adopted the motion condemning sexual violence but rejected his prayer.

Their colleagues in the red chamber also called for stiffer penalties against persons found guilty of rape.
Fearing Arrest for Pro-democracy Activity in Hong Kong, Protestor Flees to Taiwan

By Joyce Huang June 10, 2020

As Beijing tightens control over Hong Kong, some Hong Kong residents who participated in months of pro-democracy protests are opting to self-exile to avoid being charged with the vaguely defined offense of rioting, which can carry a 10-year prison sentence.

A 21-year-old Hong Konger, Daniel is one of them. A critic of China, he asked that his full name not be used.

When he saw thousands of people marching on the street on June 9, 2019, he knew it was time. The Civil Human Rights Front said over 1 million people participated, while police estimated there were 240,000 protestors, according to the South China Morning Post.

"At that moment, I saw a little bit of hope, so I started to participate," Daniel told VOA Mandarin. "But what made me angry is although a million people were marching, the (Hong Kong) government didn't care, and mocked them by saying, 'Thank you for coming out to show how Hong Kong has the freedom of gathering and marching.'"

That anger motivated Daniel. He began standing in the frontline of protests making himself a target for police pepper spray and bean bag shots.

His mother criticized him, saying he sold his soul to the Americans, and for "causing disruption in Hong Kong." Her words presaged the official Chinese position, which emerged when Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying criticized the protests, saying at a July 30 press conference that the protests were, "As you all know, they are somehow the work of the U.S." But Daniel denied of any U.S. involvement in his action, calling his mother's words "ridiculous."

'The fall of Hong Kong'

in 2019, Hong Kong marked the 22nd anniversary of the handover from Britain to China on July 1. In the protestors' eyes, it was "the fall of Hong Kong" said Daniel.

Starting with that morning with the flag-raising ceremony, there were waves protests and police confrontations. He said that he and friends were beaten or pepper sprayed by those whom they called the "black police" in Hong Kong. After that, hundreds of protesters decided to storm the legislative council.

"The Hong Kong police started the attack at midnight," Daniel recalled. "It was brutal. They fired  bean bag shots, pepper spray and tear gas. Unfortunately, I was shot in the thigh at that time."

A bean bag shot, deflected by his right thigh, wounded him in his left thigh.

After the occupation of the Legislative Council, the Hong Kong police began searching for witnesses and clues online. Any protestor who had rushed into the Legislative Council, left fingerprints or other evidence, or had taken off a mask and been photographed by the monitors, was risked arrest.

Daniel and his friends fled to Taiwan. Later that month, authorities charged 44 people with rioting. Under Hong Kong law, that is an unlawful assembly of three or more people where any person "commits a breach of the peace", and a conviction can carry a 10-year prison sentence, according to Reuters.

In mid-August, Daniel's mother told him the police and some people who didn't identify themselves had visited the family home with a ruling saying he was wanted by the police.

Now, after 11 months in Taiwan, Daniel heard from news accounts that one protester, who once fought at his side, was sentenced to four years in prison for the offense of rioting. He said he was lucky to leave Hong Kong in time.

"While in Taiwan, I have continued to support Hong Kong, so I am in line with what the (Hong Kong) government has said is assisting riots, planning riots and so on. I would face a sentence of more than 10 years if I were arrested back in Hong Kong," he said.

Last month, the China's National People's Congress (NPC), voted in favor of a proposal to a committee to formulate national security measures to be directly enacted in Hong Kong. The measures will likely allow mainland security agents to be positioned in Hong Kong to root out behavior and activities that constitute what Beijing defines as subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference. It is anticipated the law will be enacted later this year.

Daniel said that once it takes effect, everyone who participated in the movement could be charged with subversion of the state or colluding with foreign forces.

Earlier this month, Hong Kong cancelled the annual Tiananmen Square vigil, saying the event would pose a "major threat to public health" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics said it was the latest evidence of China tightening its grip on Hong Kong, where the vigil attracted tens of thousands some years to remember the June 4, 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protestors in Beijing.

Some countries are now considering changing their policies toward Hong Kong and its residents. In November, U.S. President Donald Trump signed two bills into law supporting the Hong Kong protesters despite Beijing's repeated objections.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said last month that Taiwan "stands with the people of Hong Kong" as she pledged "necessary assistance" to Hong Kongers who need help.

Some British lawmakers suggested that British National Overseas (BNO) passport holders and democracy activists in Hong Kong who do not have BNO status should be fast-tracked for U.K. citizenship.

As many as 200 Hong Kongers fled to Taiwan last summer, now dozens of them remain in exile in Taipei.

C.H. Kyou is a representative at Che-lam Presbyterian Church in Taipei, which has been helping Hong Kong protesters, including those seeking asylum in Taiwan. Kyou said most of them, in addition to suffering physical trauma, also suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Some wake in the middle of night, convinced they smell tear gas, and others told Kyou they were awakened by people walking outside their room, said Kyou.

Most commonly, the exiled Hong Kongers obsessively check their cell phones to keep current on the situation at home. Constantly sending and receiving messages about Hong Kong, the exiles become anxious. Kyou said Daniel is like that.

Daniel admits that he can't stop watching the situation in Hong Kong because, on the one hand, he feels sorry for his fellow protesters, and on the other, he is afraid of missing out on the opportunity to help fellow protesters via the internet.

"Watching them being arrested is the biggest nightmare," Daniel said.

Having been stalked by people in Taiwan, Daniel now wears a face mask and hat and carries pepper spray when he leaves his home.

Daniel studied STEM in Hong Kong but now he plans to study political or social science in Taiwan. He hopes that when China falls or the Hong Kong revolution succeeds, his younger generation can govern Hong Kong.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

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Niamey, Niger (PANA) - The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said here Thursdays it was alarmed at the escalation of violence in the Sahel region
[June 11, 2020] DataRobot to Host Inaugural AI Experience Worldwide Conference, "Accelerating the Impact of AI in Changing Times"

DataRobot, the leader in enterprise AI, today announced its inaugural AI Experience Worldwide conference, "Accelerating the Impact of AI in Changing Times." The event, which will be held virtually June 16-17, will feature presentations from Free Solo's Alex Honnold, Freakonomics author Stephen J. Dubner, and MLB (News - Alert) legend and ESPN commentator Orel Hershiser, among many others. The conference will bring together thousands of DataRobot customers, prospects, partners, industry stakeholders, and other AI visionaries to discuss how organizations can apply AI technology in today's rapidly changing times to enhance business resilience, reduce costs, improve customer service and retention, and bolster overall business performance. The event, which is free to attend, will commence with a day of training sessions on June 16 that explore the latest AI techniques, how to build a business case around AI, and how to effectively use key components of DataRobot's end-to-end platform, including data prep, automated machine learning, automated time series, and MLOps. Day 2 of the conference will include presentations designed to inspire attendees to create AI strategies that push the boundaries of what's possible even in today's challenging business and economic climate. Highlights include: Alex Honnold , renowned rock climber and star of the 2018 Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo , will deliver the opening keynote address to empower audiences to think differently and tackle the unimaginable -learnings that are more important than ever as the industry and society navigae changing conditions.

, renowned rock climber and star of the 2018 Oscar-winning documentary , will deliver the opening keynote address to empower audiences to think differently and tackle the unimaginable -learnings that are more important than ever as the industry and society navigae changing conditions. Orel Hershiser , MLB legend, World Series MVP, and ESPN (News - Alert) commentator, will join Fred Claire , former Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager, to discuss their journeys for building a winning team, with lessons applicable to any industry.

, MLB legend, World Series MVP, and ESPN (News - Alert) commentator, will join , former Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager, to discuss their journeys for building a winning team, with lessons applicable to any industry. Frank Slootman , CEO of Snowflake, Mihir Shukla , CEO of Automation Anywhere, Andrea Gallego , Partner and CTO of BCG Gamma, and Hilarie Koplow-McAdams , former New Relic President, former Salesforce.com (News - Alert) President, NEA Venture Partner, and DataRobot Board Member, will join forces during a panel discussion on leading technology companies in changing times.

, CEO of Snowflake, , CEO of Automation Anywhere, , Partner and CTO of BCG Gamma, and , former New Relic President, former Salesforce.com (News - Alert) President, NEA Venture Partner, and DataRobot Board Member, will join forces during a panel discussion on leading technology companies in changing times. To wrap up the event, Freakonomics author Stephen J. Dubner will deliver the closing keynote address, providing attendees with insight into how to think more creatively and solve problems in new and different ways.



News - Alert), President and Chief Operating Officer, DataRobot. "Our virtual conference is designed to empower customers and prospects to create and refine AI strategies that unlock unprecedented business value and enable them to win in the market. Through presentations from our team of AI experts, as well as insights from top enterprises and thought leaders, our hope is that participants will come away feeling inspired to transform their businesses using AI." To register for DataRobot's virtual conference or learn more about the event, visit the AI Experience Worldwide website.

About DataRobot

DataRobot is the leader in enterprise AI, delivering trusted AI technology and enablement services to global enterprises competing in today's Intelligence Revolution (News - Alert). DataRobot's democratizes data science with end-to-end automation for building, deploying, and managing machine learning models. This platform maximizes business value by delivering AI at scale and continuously optimizing performance over time. The company's proven combination of cutting-edge software and world-class AI implementation, training, and support services, empowers any organization - regardless of size, industry, or resources - to drive better business outcomes with AI. With a singular focus on AI since its inception, DataRobot has a proven track record of delivering AI with ROI. DataRobot has offices across the globe and $431 million in funding from top-tier firms, including New Enterprise Associates, Sapphire Ventures, Meritech, and DFJ Growth. For more information, visit https://www.datarobot.com, and join the conversation on Twitter and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005112/en/

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Aaron Brady who is charged with the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe.

The man accused of the murder of detective garda Adrian Donohoe told an American woman he was living in fear of police coming to his New York apartment "because he had shot a cop in Ireland", the trial has heard.

Molly Staunton (24) was in a relationship with a housemate of the accused, Aaron Brady (29), in the summer of 2016 when he is alleged to have told her that he was "carrying around guilt having murdered a cop in Ireland".

The witness, who was giving evidence via video link from her home in New York, told the Central Criminal Court that Mr Brady said "he was the most feared man in Ireland".

However under cross-examination she agreed with defence counsel when it was put to her that Aaron Brady was concerned and upset that gardai were looking for him and that he "never made any admission having carried out that shooting."

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The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Adrian Donohoe, who was then a member of An Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty, at Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgan, Dundalk, Co Louth, on January 25, 2013.

Mr Brady, of New Road in Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, also denies robbery of approximately 7,000 in cash and assorted cheques from Pat Bellew at the same location on the same date.

Molly Staunton was giving evidence this evening via video link from her home in New York. The court heard that she is an American citizen who lives in the Bronx but that her father is originally from Mayo and her mother from Clare.

The witness said that in January 2016 she was 20-years-old and in a relationship with Tommy McGeary, who was originally from Armagh, and that he lived in an apartment with Aaron Brady in Woodlawn, the Bronx.

Ms Staunton said that another male who was also from Armagh, Ronan Flynn, lived at the property with her boyfriend and the accused.

The court heard that Ms Staunton worked as a waitress in a pub known as the Press Box in New York city and that she socialised in bars including Behans and the Rambling House, both in the Bronx.

Ms Staunton said that one evening in July 2016 between 7pm and 8pm she was at her boyfriend's house where she would visit almost daily.

The witness said they were on a couch in the sitting room and that Aaron Brady had come out of his bedroom.

Ms Staunton said that he was "intoxicated" and was "going kind of crazy" as well as "crying, going on a huge rant."

Ms Staunton said Mr Brady was "really in distress about his life, about his son and trying to be a good father." She said it was hard to understand his accent but that he was ranting about money and the future.

The court heard that the accused had a girlfriend Danielle Healy, who was from Kerry, and that she was expecting the couple's son at the time.

Lead prosecution counsel Brendan Grehan SC then asked the witness what it was that she heard Aaron Brady say.

Ms Stauton replied: "He said that he was in fear of the cops coming to the apartment because he had shot a cop in Ireland and that he was worried that he didn't have enough money to take care of his son.

She added that Mr Brady said "he was the most feared man in Ireland."

The witness said she was "quite in shock" and she "didn't really believe it".

Molly Staunton also told the court that Aaron Brady said "he had murdered someone in Ireland and that he had to carry around that guilt having murdered a cop in Ireland."

"He said he needed money, that he didn't want to be working in construction and that he wanted to be a good father," the witness told Mr Grehan.

"Ronan tried to calm him down and he eventually went back into his room," she added.

The court heard that agents attached to Homeland Security visited her home in August 2017 looking for Tommy McGeary, who she was no longer in a relationship with.

The witness said she told the agents that she had known Aaron Brady and later made a statement to gardai.

The court also heard that Ms Staunton knew of other friend's of the accused in New York including Micky Leneghan, from Armagh, and Stephen Maguire from Clare, who they called 'Big Show'.

Molly Staunton said that Tommy McGeary moved out of the apartment in November and that Mr Brady moved out as well to live with Ms Healy.

Under cross-examination from defence counsel Fiona Murphy SC, Ms Staunton said that she "got on fine" with Mr Brady but that they weren't friends.

She put it to the witness that her client "denies making any confession to you or to anyone else about shooting a guard" and that the reason he denies this is "because he never shot a guard."

Ms Murphy also put it to Molly Staunton that her client was concerned that gardai were looking for him and that he "never made any admission himself having carried out that shooting", to which the witness said: "That is correct".

The trial continues before Mr Justice Michael White and the jury of six men and seven women tomorrow afternoon.
Members of a local Muslim community called the Dawoodi Bohra recently donated personal protective equipment to officials with the Tomball Independent School District, in an effort to help protect workers in the community meal distribution program.

In a press release, Asma Gulamhusein, a spokesperson for the Dawoodi Bohra community of The Woodlands, said the donation was done as part of a global campaign to, assist local food drives, as well as support and show appreciation for emergency staff.

The leader of the worldwide Dawoodi Bohra community sent a message to all Bohra community organizations to extend whatever help they can to those who are hungry and unable to help themselves, and so Bohra volunteers in The Woodlands have mobilized to do just that., Gulamhusein stated in the press release. We cannot predict for how long cases will continue to increase, in the meantime, were committed to stepping up to help vulnerable members of society, while supporting those many people working tirelessly on the front line in The Woodlands  medical professionals, the police and emergency services, delivery people, and relief agencies  who selflessly ensure that everyone is safe and cared for.

Officials with the Tomball ISD have been distributing free meals to an estimated 2,800 families per week at a drive-through service hosted at Tomball High School.

The donation from the Dawoodi Bohra community included: 45 fabric face masks sewn by local community members; 250 disposable face masks; and 70 bottles of hand sanitizer of various sizes.

Gulamhusein said the Dawoodi Bohras are a group of Muslims from the nations of India, Pakistan and in Eastern North Africe, and are, united by a set of centuries-old principles: love for ones country, eradicating poverty and hunger, womens empowerment, enhancing the natural environment, engagement with other faiths, and physical health and wellbeing.

In an email interview, Gulamhusein said The Dawoodi Bohra community in The Woodlands consists of roughly 30 families who attend worship services at a local facility in Conroe since 2013 under the spiritual leadership of Sheik Nooruddin Yamani

Many of our community members are immigrants from India, Pakistan, and East Africa. Several members, though, are born and raised Americans and are now raising families of their own with strong ties to their mother countries and Texas alike, he said in an email. Our Woodlands community includes professionals and small business owners, including 12 physicians practicing in the Northwest Houston metropolitan area. Our community members are actively involved in The Woodlands area events, ranging from environmental initiatives, interfaith gatherings, and professional associations. We are committed to integrating within our community and embracing all cultures just as we have been embraced by many over the years.

jeff.forward@chron.com
Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA)  The Mauritian Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade Minister, Mr Nando Bodha, on Wednesday, told Parliament that the government has, as at 6 June, repatriated 1,836 stranded Mauritians from eight countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic
BEIJING, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / Talking about foodporn, what comes to the top of your mind? Recently, audiences of Once Upon A Bite series have a new addition to their list.

When watching the second season, you will find yourself navigating through honey hunters climbing cliffs in Nepal, best salami maker tendering his sausages in Italy, and Chinese pastry chef making puffy pancakes that have more than sixty layers just with a rolling pin.

Produced by Tencent Video and co-produced by DOClabs Beijing (http://doclabs.com.cn/en/) and Tencent Penguin Pictures, the food exploration documentary Once Upon a Bite Season 2 is being broadcast worldwide. This documentary has earned a high rating of 9.3 on Douban, the Chinese equivalent of IMDB. Audiences reported that "watching it while eating even makes a daily meal more delicious". Led by chief director Chen Xiaoqing and Li Yong, producers Zhu Lexian and Zhang Ping, China's DOClabs Beijing has been working on it for a year and a half. Once Upon a Bite Season 2 has searched five continents, 25 countries and regions in the world, filmed over 300 kinds of food, and explored the intimate connections between delicacy and people through eight different themes.

The broadcast of Once Upon a Bite Season 2 has not only attracted domestic attention, but also received interactive support from embassies and tourism bureaus of 10 countries including Italy, France, Germany and Japan. The German National Tourism Administration beer, sauerkraut and Munchner Weiwurst after the program was broadcast. The Japanese embassy's official weibo account (the Chinese twitter) also shared the unique flavor of the Yakitori video clips. Norwegian King crab , French Bechamel Sauce, Salted Egg Yolk from USA, Italian Zampone and other delicacies have offered the audience a feast from all over the world.

The king crab , which lives in the depths of the Barents Sea, is large in size and blessed with delicious meat. King crab tastes great both raw and roasted, but it takes a lot of effort to get this taste. The crew followed the captain with 20 years of fishing experience and braved the storm to go out to the sea to finish the extremely difficult shooting on the bumpy ship. Director Li Yong said that the temperature was as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius. If anyone accidentally fell into the sea, the survival time would be only 2 minutes or so. Although the process was full of dangers, the harvest made all efforts worthwhile.

The diversity of United States is like a "melting pot" that blends the cultures of East and West. The food also shows the characteristics of inclusiveness and diversity. Salted egg yolk is a cooking method from the East. It is not only easy to preserve, but also gives egg yolk a taste similar to cheese. In an ice cream shop in the corner of Los Angeles, a girl with a quarter of Chinese ancestry thought of mixing ground salted egg yolk with ice cream that Americans love to eat, so that sweet and salty can be mixed to create amazement.

In addition to recording the innovation and integration of delicious food, Once Upon a Bite Season 2 has also added new filming techniques such as using micro-lens and microscopes. By filming subtle changes in food like the fermentation of salami, the crew wants to find a visual angle that is difficult for human eyes to see.

In the opinion of chief director Chen Xiaoqing, food is the best messenger across cultures. In all kinds of lifestyles, the love for food is always the same.

Media Contact

DOClabs Beijing

Liu Huan

Tel : (+86)10 8212 0621

Email: info@labsdoc.com

SOURCE: DOClabs Beijing

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593555/Once-Upon-A-Bite-Season-2-Broadcasted-Globally-Celebrates-Food-Around-the-World
No immediate claim of responsibility but analysts have long feared Sahel violence could spread to southern countries.

At least 10 soldiers have been killed and six wounded in an attack on an Ivory Coast military post near the countrys border with Burkina Faso, according to the army.

It was not yet clear who carried out the predawn attack on Thursday, which was the deadliest in Ivory Coast since gunmen from al-Qaedas North African branch stormed the beach resort of Grand Bassam in March 2016, killing 19 people.

The head of the armed forces, Lassina Doumbia, said in a statement that 10 soldiers were killed and six wounded. He added that one of the attackers was also killed.

Earlier, a senior officer at the army chief of staffs office said 12 soldiers had been killed and seven wounded, and added that two other military gendarmes were reported missing.

The fighters were believed to have come from Burkina Faso, with which the Ivory Coast shares a 550km (340-mile) border.

A resident of the Ivorian town of Kafolo told AFP news agency he heard the sounds of rifles toward the river during the attack.

We are hiding in the houses with our families. The military has forbidden us to go out. Everything is closed.









Fears over spread of Sahel violence

A 2012 separatist movement in Mali sparked a fireball of conflict in the semi-arid Sahel region in north-central Africa, with violence by various armed groups, including several al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) offshoots, spreading across the borders of Niger and Burkina Faso in recent years.

All three countries have seen a dramatic rise in attacks and displacement, with the situation further stoked by intercommunal violence met with the deployment of national, regional and international forces and local militias.

/news/2020/04/school-forced-fight-children-pay-price-sahel-war-200415140942329.html

About 4,000 people were killed in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in 2019 with thousands displaced, according to the United Nations.

Security analysts have long worried the escalating violence in the Sahel would spread into the coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea, with fighters using Burkina Faso as a launching point to attack neighbours Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo and Ghana.

But while several attacks have taken place near the border of the Ivory Coast on the Burkina Faso side, the violence had not in recent years crossed into the Ivorian side. Benin, Togo and Ghana had also yet to be attacked by fighters from Burkina Faso, according to International Crisis Group (ICG).

While the Gulf of Guinea countries tend to be wealthier than their northern neighbours, ICG has warned that they are also ripe to be exploited by armed groups and often lack coordination.

They are plagued by the same underdevelopment of peripheries remote from the seat of power, popular disenchantment with absent or brutal state authorities, and shortcomings in intelligence and security services, it said in a 2019 report.

In response to the northern threat, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has lobbied for large-scale military operations in the area.

Thursdays attack took place in the same zone where Ouagadougou and Yamoussoukro last month launched a ground-breaking joint operation to flush out fighters.

So-called Operation Comoe, named after a river that flows through the two countries, has led to the death of eight fighters, the capture of 38 others and the destruction of a terrorist base at Alidougou in Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast army said on May 24.
Whats new: American coffee giant Starbucks Corp. said it predicted a year-on-year slump in revenue and profit worth billions of dollars in the second quarter of 2020, even after more than 90% of its stores in the U.S. and in China have reopened.

The Seattle-headquartered companys revenue from April to June this year is likely to be down $3 billion to $3.2 billion, while operating profit in this quarter is expected to drop by around $2 billion to $2.2 billion, according to a company statement issued Wednesday. That will make for a loss of 55 to 70 U.S. cents per share, according to its earnings forecast, far more than analysts earlier estimates.

Background: Starbucks suspended business in more than half of its Chinese mainland stores in late January due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Its stores in China started reopening in late February, and most are now open.

The companys home market however continued to take hit as the pandemic shifted to the U.S. American stores started reopening in the second week of May, and 91% of them have resumed business as of the end of that month, albeit with significantly shorter business hours than before the pandemic, Starbucks said.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full Caixin article in Chinese, click here.

Related: Starbucks Raises Bet on China Despite Coronavirus Blow

Contact reporter Isabelle Li (liyi@caixin.com)
Authorities are reportedly investigating hacking efforts that disrupted police radio communications as well as law enforcement networks and websites in several cities during the recent protests against the death of George Floyd.

Hackers interfered with police radios and attempted to take down websites used by law enforcement in Minnesota, Illinois, and Texas, the Associated Press reported.

Authorities have not released details about how the interference was conducted or who might be responsible for the hacking efforts, but federal intelligence officials warned that such threats may continue during the protests.

Short-term disruptive cyber activities related to protests probably will continue  various actors could be carrying out these operations  with the potential to use more impactful capabilities, like ransomware, or target higher profile networks, read a Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment last week that was obtained by the Associated Press.

The assessment said that on May 31 as protests were underway in Dallas, the police departments unencrypted radio frequency was breached and unknown actors played music over police radios. Chicago polices unencrypted radio frequencies were similarly compromised during protests in the city on May 30. Neither Dallas nor Chicago police have commented on how the radio frequencies were accessed.

Another unclassified Homeland Security intelligence report warned that the personal information of high-ranking police officers from cities across the country is being leaked online as police forces clash with rioters and protesters in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

The home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers of several senior police officials in cities including Washington, Atlanta, Boston, and New York have been published online, the report said.

Riots as well as peaceful protests have occurred in metropolitan areas across the country since Floyds death in police custody on May 25. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, during which time he passed out. His death sparked calls for police reform and evoked memories of other African Americans who have died at the hands of police in recent years.

More from National Review
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Samir Ali - Trend:

So far, a decision has been made about resuming only domestic flights of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), the company's Vice-President Eldar Hajiyev said.

Hajiyev made the remark in Baku during a briefing held by the Operational Headquarters under Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers on June 11, Trend reports.

According to him, no decision on international flights has been made yet.

"We notified the foreign air carriers about our rules. If any company wants to fly to Azerbaijan in compliance with them, this issue can be considered by the operational headquarters, the official said. As for the resumption of international flights, this issue will be addressed following discussions of the issue at regular meetings of the operational headquarters.




President Trumps re-election prospects continue to dim with 145 days left before the November 3, 2020 election. Five ThirtyEight shows from the beginning of June through June 11, 2020, for all cumulative polls, Biden has a 13 point advantage.







Its been said and proven true, a week in politics can be a lifetime, so when looking at poll numbers, you have to skeptical. A perfect example was the 2016 Presidential Election.



That said, the prospects of President Trump winning re-election appear to be fading fast. Nate Silvers first reported polls consisting only of data for the month of June resemble the polling seen at this time before the 1980 election between the incumbent James Carter and Ronald Reagan.



Unlike Carter, who had to deal with two major crises, the economy at the time and the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Trump is facing several crushing scandals including his disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic, an economy that shows as many as 40 million unemployed and battle royals ahead with tell-all books, court decisions that could finally make his tax records available and a social revolution confronting his racism.



Of the 13 polls tallied and adjusted for the variables applied by Nate Silvers FiveThirtyEight.com, Biden is up 13 points nationally. Other key polls in the battleground States show the former Vice President up double digits in Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Pennsylvania. Biden is also ahead by a few points or even in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Georgia, and Texas. Theres even a chance that the Republicans will get severely throttled in Kansas and Montana.



If Trump thought the last five months were challenging, the next 5  months are likely going to be much worse.







John Boltons new book The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir is going to be released, and promises to excoriate President Trump on June 23. If Ambassador Bolton reveals factual evidence, Trump should have been removed from office, convicted by the Senate over the Ukrainian centric scandal  the Democrats could end up with as much as a 13 seat gain and a super-majority.

Trump has to also deal with the approaching decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on his tax returns being turned over. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch both appointed to the court by Trump may decide to either recuse themselves from having to make a decision, or go along with Justice John Roberts desire to have a unanimous decision upholding the lower courts orders turning over Trumps tax returns to Congress and the Manhattan D.A. to insure the three branches of government are equal, and independent. The clock is ticking.

President Trump also faces 40+ million people out of work, and images of hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters turning against him. Fascist cops and white supremacist agitators are streaming across the worlds social and traditional media, in real-time. Throw on top of all these horrible confrontations is Trumps disastrous response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in a death rate in the U.S. just over 100 times the rate in China.

Trump has earned the moniker suggested by Jeb Bush during the 2016 primary: The Chaos President. The polls are confirming what we are all seeing with our own eyes.









CNN Poll: President Trump losing ground to Biden amid chaotic week
Anti-racist protests demanding justice for George Floyd and rallying for the Black Lives Matter movement could cause a second wave of coronavirus cases across Europe, leading EU medical experts said today.

The warning comes following mass protests of tens of thousands of demonstrators crowded together in Europe's biggest cities.

A surge could be identified within just two weeks, officials said.

For more than two weeks crowds of people have flocked outside US embassies and taken to the streets for George Floyd - the unarmed black man who gasped 'I can't breathe' when a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

'If you advise everybody to keep one and half meter from each other, and everybody just stands next to each other, holding each other, then I don't have a good feeling about that,' Jozef Kesecioglu, who chairs the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, told a conference. Above, protesters take part in a march in Helsinki in Finland

Demonstrators defied social distancing rules as they protested the latest African-American death in US police custody and waved placards in the impassioned rallies.

'If you advise everybody to keep one and half meter from each other, and everybody just stands next to each other, holding each other, then I don't have a good feeling about that,' Jozef Kesecioglu, who chairs the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, told a conference.

Asked whether there could a wave of cases could be detected in the coming two weeks, he said: 'Yes, but hopefully I'm wrong.'

People hold up signs that demand 'end the war on black lives' during a Black Lives Matter protest in London last week

Protesters take part in a Black Lives Matter march in Stockholm on 3 June in solidarity with protests raging across the United States over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed during an arrest on May 25

Most countries in the 27-nation bloc have moved past the peak of the outbreak and are gradually reopening business and borders, as infections have fallen over the past weeks.

The UK currently has the fourth-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world and the highest in Europe at 292,854. Spain has the next-highest number across Europe 242,280, followed by Italy (235,576), France (192,068) and Germany (185,555).

Scientists had previously expressed fears that a second wave would be on the horizon after summer - though this now may come earlier in light of the protests.

'As for any infectious respiratory disease, mass events could be a major route of transmission,' Martin Seychell, a health official at the EU Commission, said.

The virus was still circulating, although at lower rates than some weeks ago, he said.

Hundreds of people flocked to Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam in the Netherlands to take part in demonstrations, and can clearly be seen defying social distancing rules

The likelihood and size of a second wave would depend on the effective maintaining of social distancing measures and other factors, many of which are still unknown, he added.

The warning comes after it emerged that a Black Lives Matter protester had tested positive for coronavirus after attending a rally in Melbourne, sparking fears of second wave of the virus in Australia.

The man in his 30s marched with thousands through the city on Saturday and developed symptoms 24 hours later.

The protester wore a mask but health officials said the still feared he may have given the virus to others.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the case could be the start of a mass outbreak. 'This realises our worst fears,' he told Sydney radio 2GB. Now we could slip back into a second wave like other countries have.'

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it was unlikely the man caught the virus at the protest because if he had he would not be showing symptoms already.

'This case is unlikely to have been acquired at the protest but we were all concerned about the possibility of transmission occurring at that protest,' he said.

'It's obviously helpful that the individual wore a mask but masks are not 100 per cent protection.'

Contact tracing is under way and anyone who came face to face with the infected protester for 15 minutes or more will be asked to quarantine as part of the normal process.
Dee Nguyen is seeking help with her mental health following her offensive social media comments and MTV severing ties with her, a rep for the Challenge contestant exclusively confirmed to E! News.

"Dee is currently in a mental health awareness spa resort in an undisclosed location with minders, coping with everything transpiring to the most recent events," her rep said in a statement. "At this time she's focusing on getting better for her well being and focusing on what's next."

On Sunday, The Challenge: Total Madness contestant Bayleigh Dayton spoke out against Nugyen over a recent since-deleted tweet and Instagram comment Nguyen posted regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. According to Dayton's screenshots, Nguyen tweeted, "Idk why some of u think I'm anti BLM. I've been saying that since the day I lost my virginity." On Instagram, a critic called out her #blackouttuesday square post, writing "READ THE --KING ROOM. All you posted was a black square and went about your day and posting your lame a-- thirst traps. Wake up!!! People are dying. Smh." According to Dayton's screenshots, Nguyen responded, "People die every f--king day. You don't know me or what I do. I suggest u wake the --k up and get off social media."

Nguyen later issued an apology that same day. "I am sorry for the insensitive tweet I posted earlier. I was being defensive and not speaking from my heart," she wrote in the since-deleted tweet. "But there's no excuse. I also want to extend an apology to Bayleigh and Swaggy [Christopher Williams]- who are my cast mates and deserve my respect and compassion. BLM to me every day. I'm trying to do the best I can with what is currently accessible to me."

MTV's The Challenge Status Check: Which Couples Are Still Together?

However, on Monday, MTV's The Challenge confirmed they had cut ties with Nguyen in a statement issued on Twitter. "As a result of Dee Nguyen's offensive comments on the Black Lives Matter movement, we have severed ties with her," the statement read. "Out of respect for our Challengers, we'll air our season as planned. We strongly condemn systemic racism and stand with those raising their voices against injustice."

Story continues

Early Tuesday, Nguyen shared a since-deleted second apology, in which she also said she is "stepping away from social media" to focus on her mental health.

Stars Donating to Black Lives Matter Organizations

"The last 24hrs have made me realised [sic] what is important and that is forgiveness. I would like to offer my sincerest apology to my colleagues to whom I have hurt directly and indirectly due to my insensitive remarks," the statement read. "Let me be clear I am a POC that cares about BLM. I believe in this movement and I'm stepping away from social media to focus on my wellbeing and mental health. This is not a goodbye, it's a I will see you again. To my fans thank you for believing in me and for your support. It helps. I see every single one of you and I remember your stories. Stay strong and safe my friends."

Later Tuesday, castmate Wes Bergmann spoke out about how he played a role in getting Nguyen to a "mental health lodge."

"What Dee did was absurd, insensitive, & wrong. But most of all, it was ignorant." Bergmann wrote. "Dee was basically my daughter. I made the decision to ask her to leave in less than an hour. This public decision is what the world needed & deserved. But it doesn't stop my grieving. I then preceded down a 24 hour road of finding a place for her to go. Her mental health by this time had deteriorated to a level where being in a hotel alone would have been the most dangerous option of all. An international flight out of Missouri in the early evening of a pandemic is non-existent. And none of the above keep her safe, heal or educated her."

He continued explaining, "I required third party counseling to ensure I was making the safest & most legal move. It required speaking to a doctor, a hotline, a CEO, and a lawyer. What was happening was so beyond my experience and a lot was at stake: everything from the continued momentum of a movement I firmly believe in, all the way to a literal human life. Throughout this time we were able to sit with her and educate her on her mistakes. Systemic racism can not be explained in a night, but I tried and made as much progress as could be expected in this short of a window. This growth will continue where she has been transplanted."

"Yesterday we successfully landed her in what I'm going to refer to as a mental health lodge," he described. "We have sourced daily psychotherapy sessions in an effort to essentially build her an outpatient care program for when she eventually leaves. Where she'll go is unknown at this second, and not the current prioritybut my best guess is [her native] Australia. I could not have done more, faster. Now that I can breathe, please give me time and privacy to grieve for all those affected by the last 48 hours."

Dee Nguyen

Meanwhile, Nguyen has since issued a new third apology, telling E! News, "I want to sincerely apologize to my fellow cast members, the production crew at Bunin-Murray and the staff at MTV for my choice of words and actions in the most recent events. What was stated wasn't meant to be hurtful or discriminatory in any matter. It was a knee jerk of a reaction and it's certainly not the way that I feel nor what I meant."

The reality star added, "I would love to take it back. But it is out there and to set to record straight. Racial intolerance is intolerable and unacceptable. Having had to deal with racism my entire life, ironically through all this, there is a warm feeling I have with the fact that humans are standing together to call out unacceptable comments and behaviors that in the past were rarely called on. Again, we are shown that you can be judged in a second on all social media platforms."

Nguyen also shared a statement from her management agency, BLVK, which declared its support of the celebrity client. "At this time our team wanted to kindly state we stand strong behind our fellow MTV client Dee Nguyen. We respectfully ask your outlet or business organization to let our team conduct an internal review as this situation unfolds," the statement began.

"Our team is as shocked as you could imagine and would like to affirm that BLVK does not tolerate any form of racism what so ever. We also have an obligation and duty to our clients to ensure their voices are heard and if any of them have made a mistake, allow them to have the opportunity to fix it or clarify it," the statement continued. "We are working on this as we speak and ask for some patience before any further decision is made."
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TB Joshua, founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), says God has instructed him on how to mark his 57th birthday, which i...

TB Joshua, founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), says God has instructed him on how to mark his 57th birthday, which is on Friday.





The 56-year-old clergyman, while speaking to his viewers on Thursday, said his birthday should be used to aid the many TB Joshuas that are sick, needy, or in need of a companion.





According to him, June 12 should also be accorded to embarking on causes that would help the many ailing ones in local communities, hungry people, widows, and orphans around the country.





Birthdays are a time to reflect on the memories of yesterday, the joys of today and the dreams of tomorrow, Joshua said in a video uploaded via his Twitter page.

I want to thank you for your prayers and your love. Many waters cannot quench love. Love that has feet to move to the needy, to move to the sick ones, to move to the hungry ones.





Love that has hands to help others without expectation. Love that has eyes to see misery and want. Love that has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. The only way to have a friend is to be one.





Many T.B. Joshuas are orphans. Lets father them. Many T.B. Joshuas are homeless. Lets shelter them. Many T.B. Joshuas are sick. Lets care for them. Many T.B. Joshuas are lonely.





Let us be their companion. My friends, let the feelings of others matter to us. Will these children not go to school? How can these people be lonely and homeless?





There are many sick ones, hungry people, widows, and orphans in our communities. Let us care for them. Lord, as we celebrate according to your instruction, give us the vision to have for our life.





On Friday June 12th 2020, Prophet TB Joshua will turn 57 years old! Here is an important message on how God wants us to mark this occasion: https://t.co/k7Jso3dfDw June 11, 2020

Joshua had recently made the headlines after videos and pictures of him circulated on social media where he took to the prayer mountain to ask God to heal the world of the COVID-19 crisis.




Joe Biden said his 'single greatest fear' is that President Donald Trump will try to steal the November election but he noted he was confident the military would step in and enforce the results should he win and Trump refuse to leave the White House.

The presumptive Democratic nominee told Trevor Noah Wednesday night that he was worried about the presidential contest, citing Trump's criticism of the mail-in voting options many states have put into place to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

'It's my greatest concern, my single greatest concern. This president is going to try to steal this election,' Biden told the 'Daily Show.'

'This is a guy who said that all mail-in ballots are fraudulent - direct voting by mail - while he sits behind the desk in Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in the primary,' he said, adding that his campaign had lawyers ready to step in and enforce voting rights.

Joe Biden said his 'single greatest fear' is that President Donald Trump will try to steal the November election during his interview with 'Daily Show' host Trevor Noah

Joe Biden noted he was confident the military would escort President Donald Trump from the White House should Biden win in November and Trump refuse to concede

President Trump was criticized by retired military officials when his administration used force to remove peaceful protesters from around the White House

Biden also addressed fears among Democrats that Trump would refuse to concede the election should the former vice president beat him in November. He pointed to the former Joint Chiefs of Staff who have criticized Trump in recent days and said he was confident the military would escort Trump out of the White House should it come to it.

'I was so damn proud. You have four chiefs of staff coming out and ripping the skin off Trump. And you have so many rank and file military personnel saying: Whoa. We're not a military state. This is not who we are. I promise you - I am absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch,' he said.

Such a move would be unprecedented in American history.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called it 'ridiculous.'

'That's a ridiculous proposition. This president's looking forward to November. This president's hard at work for the American people. And leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories,' she told Fox News Thursday morning.

And Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said is was a 'brainless conspiracy theory.'

'This is just another brainless conspiracy theory from Joe Biden as he continues to try to undermine confidence in our elections,' he said in a statement. 'It was the Obama Administration that tried to subvert an election by spying on the Trump campaign in 2016 and Biden himself was part of the effort to sabotage the incoming Trump Administration because they couldn't live with President Trump's victory. President Trump has been clear that he will accept the results of the 2020 election.'

President Trump was asked, on 'Meet the Press' in June of last year, if he would accept the 2020 election result.

'100%. Sure,' he said at the time.

After the Trump administration used force to remove Black Lives Matter protesters from Lafayette Square - the area around the White House - several prominent, retired members of the military criticized the president for the approach.

Those included the current and a few former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - the nation's highest ranking military position - Colin Powell, Martin Dempsey, John Allen and Mark Milley.

Former Trump Cabinet members James Mattis and John Kelly, both retired Marine four-star generals, also criticized the president.

Multiple reports of voting problems in Georgia's primary on Tuesday stoked fears about what will happen in November; above voters wait in line in Fulton County in Georgia's primary election on Tuesday

Democrats accused Republicans in Georgia of voter suppression, noting most of the problems were in heavily black areas; above a voter reads a book while waiting in line to vote in a line stretched around the Metropolitan Library in Atlanta

Fears about the voting process in November were stoked after Georgia experienced massive problems in its primary on Tuesday: voting machines failed to work, a shortage of poll workers and social distancing measures caused long lines, voters claimed they didn't receive mail-in ballots, and polling places didn't have enough provision ballots to distribute to people.

Democrats accused Republicans of voter suppression, noting the most problems predominantly black neighborhoods in and around Atlanta. The Republican secretary of state's office blamed county officials for the chaos.

Many fear it was a preview of what may come in November.

Because of the coronavirus, several states expanded mail-in voting options to combat long lines at the polling place. Some states - such as California - are mailing ballots to all registered voters.

Republicans are suing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and threatened lawsuits in other states.

President Trump, who uses a mail-in ballot to vote in Florida, is a strong opponent of fhat option. He claimed last month that supporters of mail-in voting are using the coronavirus to try to 'scam' the November ballot box, claiming it will lead to the 'greatest Rigged Election in history.'

'The United States cannot have all Mail In Ballots,' Trump tweeted on May 24.

'It will be the greatest Rigged Election in history. People grab them from mailboxes, print thousands of forgeries and 'force' people to sign. Also, forge names. Some absentee OK, when necessary. Trying to use Covid for this Scam!,' he noted.

Trump has long railed against mail-in voting, claiming without proof it leads to greater voter fraud. Last month he also threatened states looking to use that option with losing federal funds.

Democrats, meanwhile, are bracing for their own doomsday scenarios involving the pandemic. The Democratic National Committee has a group of lawyers in place to counter any moves Republicans might take to suppress voter turnout.

A number of scenarios the party was preparing for were outlined in The New York Times late last month including:

Trump declares a state of emergency in major cities in November to keep polling places from openings - cities tend to house more Democratic voters than Republican ones

Shortly before the November election, Attorney General Bill Barr announces a major investigation into Democratic nominee Joe Biden

Biden wins the Electoral College but Trump won't recognize the results and refuses to leave the White House

Some Democrats have already expressed concern that President Trump will use the pandemic to postpone the November 3rd election, which the president has said he will not do and legal scholars say he cannot do.

They're also studying the 1876 presidential election, which is considered one of the most disputed in American history after 20 electoral votes from three states were contested in the aftermath of the Civil War.

That election was not decided until two days before inauguration day when Gov. Samuel Tilden of New York conceded to Gov. Rutherford Hayes of Ohio. Outgoing President Ulysses S. Grant had made contingency plans for martial law out of concern that a new commander-in-chief would not be sworn in.

Additionally, there are worries Trump will use the coronavirus outbreak to delegitimize the November result should Biden win.

And the president has already threatened states - including ones that will be battlegrounds this fall - with punishment if they move to open up mail-in voting.

Michigan was a target of his ire last month.

'Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!,' he wrote on Twitter.

He also threatened Nevada, which declared its June 9 primary an all-mail primary, meaning absentee ballots will be mailed to every active voter in the state.

It was a blatant threat from the president to use his executive power against states that don't bend to his political will.

Martin Dempsey, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, criticized Trump's threat to use military force to suppress the protests last as did Colin Powell

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley issued a public rebuke of Donald Trump in a Thursday memo where the told troops to 'uphold the Constitution' as the president called the military to defend Washington D.C. against George Floyd rioters

But Trump didn't get specific on what kind of federal funds might be with held from the state. 'You'll be finding out that we finding out very soon if it's necessary,' he said when asked about it. 'I don't think it's going to be necessary.'

Trump has also argued that when states send out absentee ballots to all registered voters, it results in kids raiding mailboxes for ballots to be illegally signed and submitted.

'Kids go and raid the mailboxes and hand to people signing the ballots down the street, which is happening, they grab the ballots. You don't think that happens?,' he said at the White House on May 28. 'You don't think they rip them out of mailboxes?'

He claimed those who want to conduct voter fraud also print ballots.

'They can even print ballots. They get the same paper, same machine, nothing is special. They get the same paper, the same machine, they print ballots,' he said.

The Republican Party has launched a $20 million effort to battle mail-in voting. Republicans have long complained about 'ballot harvesting' - their term for the process where someone (usually a party volunteer) collects absentee ballots from a group of people and mails them for them. Democrats call it ballot collecting.

Numerous studies have shown that instances of voter fraud are very low. The conservative Heritage Foundation has kept a database of them for the past four years. It is up to 1,285 proven instances of voter fraud. In the 2016 election, 130 million Americans cast ballots.

Trump has offered no proof of his claims even as he has repeatedly made him.

Twitter even marked two of his tweets on mail-in voting with blue, fact-check marks, a move that infuriated the president and resulted in him threatening more regulation on social media companies.

A soldier keeps watch at the Lincoln Memorial as thousands of peaceful demonstrators were met with a huge military presence Wednesday following a week of tenses clashes in the capital

Many states are using mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, above Dave Turnier processes mail-in ballots at at the Chester County Voter Services office in West Chester, Pa., prior to the Pennsylvania primary election

A voter cast her mail-in ballot at in a drop box in West Chester, Pa., prior to the primary election

Trump also has complained mail-in voting hurts Republican candidates. He railed against a California special election using the method in May. The Republican candidate won that race.

One recent case of voter fraud - and it was committed by a Republican In North Carolina, one political operative has been indicted for voting fraud: a Republican. Political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. and four others who worked for him were indicted over illegal ballot 'harvesting' in regards to a 2018 congressional election that was ultimately rerun last September. Witnesses told state officials that Dowless gathered hundreds of absentee ballots from voters with the help of his assistants. Those assistants testified they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes when Dowless worked for Republican candidate Mark Harris in the 2018 congressional election. Harris appeared to get the most votes in the November 2018 race, but the State Board of Elections ordered a new election. Harris didn't run that special election, which ultimately was won by the GOP nominee, Dan Bishop. Advertisement

The president wrote on Twitter on April 8, ahead of the California contest, that: 'Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, (it) doesn't work out well for Republicans.'

Five states already conduct all their voting by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah.

Democrats have argued Republicans oppose mail-in voting as it makes it easier for Democratic supporters - such as blue-collar workers who would have a tougher time taking off work to get a polling place - to vote. Young people also tend to tilt more Democratic, but are also less likely to vote in-person.

President Trump has voted absentee both when he lived in New York and when he switched his residency to Florida.

Voters have indicated they support voting by mail, particularly this year.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in late April found that around two-thirds of registered voters supported voting by mail in this year's election.

In two-thirds of the states, any qualified voter may vote absentee without offering an excuse, and in one-third of the states, an excuse is required, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But many states - including West Virginia and Virginia - are adding fear of the coronavirus as a valid excuse to request an absentee ballot.

House Democrats included $3.6 billion in election funding as part of the $3 trillion coronavirus relief package they unveiled last week. The money is intended to help states with programs like mail-in voting.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called voting by mail a 'health issue.'

The coronavirus pandemic, which as infected more than 2 million Americans and caused more than 115,000 deaths, has upended the primary season.

New York canceled its June primary because of the disease and 15 other states moved back or extended mail-in voting for their primaries.

Such moves have been controversial and lawsuits have been filed with the argument people have the right to vote.

New York's case illustrates that. Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang sued the state over the move. And the judicial branch showed its strong commitment to protecting the right to vote, ordering the election to go forward. State officials have appealed.

Additionally, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers lost his bid last month to delay his state's primary until June. The court ordered it to go forward amid criticism that in-person voting could contribute to the spread of the coronavirus. Voters queued to vote on April 7 in long lines - many of them wearing face masks and practicing social distancing - due to the limited number of polling places open because of a shortage of workers to staff them.

Twitter posted a blue exclamation mark alert underneath two of Trump's tweets about potential for fraud with mail-in voting, prompting users to 'get the facts about mail-in ballots'

President Trump threatened social media companies when he spoke at the White House last month with Attorney General Bill Barr looking over his shoulder

The Wisconsin Department of Health traced 19 cases of the coronavirus to that election.

Trump has long sounded the voter fraud drum beat.

After the 2016 election, he launched a voting integrity commission, led by then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to investigate Trump's unsubstantiated claim that between 3 million and 5 million ballots were illegally cast.

The commission found no evidence of wrong doing. Trump disbanded it in 2018.
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans.

Connecticut state attorney general William Tong led a coalition of 51 state attorneys generas and territories yesterday in:

filing the third lawsuit stemming from the ongoing antitrust investigation into a widespread conspiracy by generic drug manufacturers to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and unreasonably restrain trade for generic drugs sold across the United States. This new Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, focuses on 80 topical generic drugs that account for billions of dollars of sales in the United States. The Complaint names 26 corporate Defendants and 10 individual Defendants. The lawsuit seeks damages, civil penalties, and actions by the court to restore competition to the generic drug market.

Permit me to quote from the Connecticut press release at length, as it is both more complete and accurate than the secondary press coverage:

These generic drug manufacturers perpetrated a multibillion-dollar fraud on the American public so systemic that it has touched nearly every single consumer of topical products. Through phone calls, text messages, emails, corporate conventions, and cozy dinner parties, generic pharmaceutical executives were in constant communication, colluding to fix prices and restrain competition as though it were a standard course of business. But they knew what they were doing was wrong, and they took steps to evade accountability, using code words and warning each other to avoid email and detection. Our case is built on hard evidence from multiple cooperating witnesses, millions of records, and contemporaneous notes that paint an undeniable picture of the largest domestic corporate cartel in our nations history. Our investigation is ongoing and expanding, and we will not rest until competition is restored and those responsible are held fully accountable, said Attorney General Tong. The Complaint stems from an ongoing investigation built on evidence from several cooperating witnesses at the core of the conspiracy, a massive document database of over 20 million documents, and a phone records database containing millions of call detail records and contact information for over 600 sales and pricing individuals in the generics industry. Among the records obtained by the States is a two-volume notebook containing the contemporaneous notes of one of the States cooperators that memorialized his discussions during phone calls with competitors and internal company meetings over a period of several years.

This action by most US states and territories is the third lawsuit in a similar vein, with prior actions that remain pending in 2016 and 2019. It targets 26 drug companies, and accuses the defendants of conspiring to rig the market between 2009 and 2016 for more than 80 drugs, according to Reuters, U.S. states accuse 26 drugmakers of generic drug price fixing in sweeping lawsuit.

Alloww me now to switch over to a press release issued by the office of Leticia James, New York state attorney general, Attorney General James Challenges Anticompetitive Conduct in the Generic Drug Industry, as it zeroes in on class considerations:

Generic drugs are meant to provide consumers with reliable, cost-effective alternatives to name-brand medication, but because of a widespread conspiracy between these companies, consumers were left paying the bill while pharmaceutical executives lined their pockets with billions, said Attorney General James. These companies put profits over public health, which could have resulted in millions across the country being left without the vital medication they needed. Our coalition includes almost every state, district, territory, and province because Americans across the nation were cheated out of their money and its time

The entire swamp of pharmaceutical sales needs draining, particularly in light of evidence that it takes so very little to sway doctors in what they choose to recommend, certainly less than any major quid pro quo.

Could we read these continuing lawsuits as evidence that states are increasingly fed up with swinish behavior by Big Pharma, and decided to claw back some of its feeding at the trough?

I hope so. Because the rest of the world certainly is fed up with machinations by Big Pharma to profit uber alles from the COVID-19 crisis, including directing prophyphlactic recommondations and distorting treatment protocols, and research into the same, away from cheap, widely available options, such as hydroxychloriquine in favour of new, untested, branded options, including remdesivir. Not to mention a new vaccine  and highlighting the industrys positioning for profit,.

This compares with the rest of the world, at least some of whoms public health officials and drug companies seems more interested in protecting people.

Now, Im not opining on the contested science behind any of these decisions. Yet somehow, Big Pharma has strayed from a historical path where Alexander Fleming opted not to patent penicillin; and Jonas Salk decided likewise not to patent his polio vaccine. Dare I say it: compare that historical record to where we are now.

One thing the COVID-19 crisis might do is lead us to reconsider the Bayh-Dohl model for commercialization of reaserch that manates from universities  and indeed, the entire patent-driven system. But I leave disussion of those issues to a future post.

Some details as to those continuing lawstuits, according to the NY state press release, for you legal junkies out there.:

The two prior state complaints have been consolidated for pretrial purposes in Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) 2724 in federal court in Philadelphia, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As with the earlier complaints, todays dermatology complaint details pervasive antitrust violations in the industry that inflicted massive harms. It alleges that  to facilitate agreements to fix prices and allocate markets  competitors communicated, for example, when manufacturers were entering or leaving the market, when someone saw an opportunity to raise prices, when market shares were not fair, and when competitors did not play nice. The multistate litigation continues to move forward, despite drug manufacturers continued attempts to delay a trial in the face of damaging evidence exposed against them. In 2017, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe denied defendants motions to dismiss the states and other plaintiffs overarching conspiracy allegations. Following a case management order that compels defendants to produce significant materials from hundreds of custodians, defendants petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari, which is pending.

The Wall Street Journal has the most extensive coverage of the event, States Sue Drug Companies, Executives Over Alleged Price Fixing. Alas, the most sriking thing about that article is the accompanying photo, given the COVID-19 threat. Of the 7 people in the background as Tong announced this lawsuit, not a single person, including Tong himself, wore a mask.

And we expect to defeat this pandemic?

Especially given the absence of a vaccine or proven therapies?

The best an individual can hope for is not to catch the disease,

And masks are one of the few safeguards we can rely on at present to limit disease spread.

If we acknowledge and understand: My mask doesnt protect me. It protects you. And yours protects me.

So if we all mask up, we limit spread.

And perhaps by limiting spread, we could defeat COVID-109.

Or at minimum, alleviate much suffering.
President Donald Trump speaks during a round table discussion with African American supporters in the Cabinet Room of the White House on June 10, 2020. (Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images)

GOP Votes for Scaled-Back Convention in Charlotte, Without Trump Acceptance Speech

The Republican National Committee (RNC) voted to keep official convention business in Charlotte, North Carolina, but move President Donald Trumps speech to accept the GOP nomination elsewhere.

GOP officials, frustrated by Gov. Roy Coopers refusal to say the Republican National Convention venue could be filled to capacity because of CCP virus-related restrictions, began last month looking at alternative sites. But city attorneys and members of the Charlotte Host Committee have said moving the entire convention would violate contractual agreements.

The vote means a pared-down group will travel to Charlotte, but another gathering, featuring Trumps address, will take place elsewhere.

The RNCs Executive Committee has unanimously approved procedures that allow for official convention business to continue in Charlotte. Many cities are eager to host the presidents acceptance of the nomination, and talks are continuing with several of them to host that celebration. A final decision will be made soon, a spokesperson for the committee said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

The executive committee approved the attendance of six delegates from each state and territory, for a total of 336, at Spectrum Arena in downtown Charlotte.

The Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 13, 2019. (Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images)

The group from each state or territory usually includes the state party chair, the national committeeman and committeewoman, two credentialed committee members, and the state delegation chairman.

While only the delegates present at the arena can participate in official committee business, all delegates, even those offsite, can vote for the president and vice president nominees.

The portion featuring Trumps speech will happen in a separate location, according to information obtained by The Epoch Times. All delegates and alternates can attend, and each may bring a guest if permitted by law.

There are 5,000 delegates and alternates.

Charlotte City Attorney Patrick Baker said in a statement to news outlets that he was aware of media reports about the RNCs decision to relocate a substantial portion of the convention to Jacksonville, Florida.

An immediate discussion with the RNC and our partners regarding contractual obligations and remedies resulting from this apparent decision is required, he said.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks during a briefing at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, N.C., on June 2, 2020. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

The Charlotte Host Committee said it appeared the committee moved the convention to Florida, which would violate contractual agreements.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on June 10: Theres a couple more things we need to do before we can announce that, but Jacksonville is absolutely in the front-running position.  Jacksonville has a lot of the things that we like and in a very good position.

The portion of the convention staying in Charlotte will be smaller and scaled-down, while a different city would be chosen for a celebration, she said.

Trump has a lot of input into the process, according to McDaniel.

Top Republican officials, including a number of governors, reached out to the GOP after party officials said they wanted to move the convention. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was one of them.

Phoenix, Nashville, Tennessee, Savannah, Georgia, and some other cities are also still in the running.

Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, at President Donald Trumps MAGA rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on March 28, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

North Carolina is still in phase two of its reopening, which includes a limit of 10 people when gathering indoors. Cooper, a Democrat who is up for reelection in November, hasnt set a date for when phase three will start.

A Cooper spokeswoman told The Epoch Times last month that health officials were working with the RNC and would review plans for how to hold the convention.

North Carolina is relying on data and science to protect our states public health and safety, she said.

The spokeswoman said in a statement to news outlets that officials have been working with GOP officials on a scaled-down event.

But it wouldnt be responsible to guarantee a full arena as the RNC has demanded. State officials will continue to support health and safety aspects of any activities that do remain in North Carolina, she said.

A decision on where Trumps speech will take place will likely happen within the next week, McDaniel said during an appearance on Fox News.

We have all types of statesOklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Tennesseethat have come and said we want to host your convention, she said.
British health minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday people should not attend large demonstrations for public health reasons after protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement attracted tens of thousands over the last week.

"I understand that people want to show their passion for a cause that they care deeply about but this is a virus that thrives on social contact, regardless of what your cause may be," he said at a daily news conference.

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[June 11, 2020] Auto Insurance Websites Surpass Agents in Importance to Customer Interaction, J.D. Power Finds

Remember all the talk that digital transformation would disrupt the auto insurance industry? Well, it's real. According to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Auto Insurance Study,SM released today, insurance company websites-for the first time in the study's 21-year history-officially surpass agents in terms of importance to client interaction and service by providing higher customer satisfaction. "We've seen this trend developing for several years, but this is the first time that the digital channel has become the preferred means of interacting with auto insurers, exceeding one-on-one communication with agents," said Robert Lajdziak, senior consultant for insurance intelligence at J.D. Power. "This has huge implications for the industry because it puts the focus squarely on digital investment to notably expand creating seamless customer touch points. It's an area in which the major national carriers excel, versus hyper-local, albeit knowledgeable, agent networks." Following are some of the key findings of the 2020 study: Digital investments pay dividends: Customer experience with auto insurer websites contributes more to satisfaction than agents, accounting for 34% of an insurer's total interaction score. That's one percentage point higher than in the agent channel, which accounts for 33% of total interaction satisfaction. This trend toward increased reliance on the digital channel and decreased reliance on the agent channel has been building steadily for more than a decade. Record high satisfaction driven in part by digital: Overall customer satisfaction with auto insurers improves in 2020 to a record high of 835 (on a 1,000-point scale). National carriers such as GEICO, State Farm and Allstate have earned some of the most significant gains, together ranking highest in six of the 11 regions in the study, aided by the growth of their digital channels. Trust is critical, but insurers have work to do: There is a strong correlation between sores for trust and those for overall satisfaction. On average, a one-point increase in trust (on a 5-point scale) would correlate with a 118-point increase in overall satisfaction. Despite the importance of trust, only 42% of all auto insurance customers say they "strongly agree" that they trust their insurer. By fulfilling service expectations and putting customers' interests first, among other customer-centric initiatives, insurers can succeed in this critical-to-retention metric. Loyalty heavily influenced by claim history: Customers are least likely to renew their policies when part of an insurance claim is denied. Conversely, when customers have experienced a claim that was fully approved and settled, satisfaction is significantly higher and generates the greatest likelihood of renewal. What's more, those customers who experienced sub-optimal claim outcomes and remained with their carrier were more diligent about understanding their policy and what it covers going forward.



California: Wawanesa

Central: Auto-Owners Insurance

Florida: Allstate

Mid-Atlantic: State Farm

New England: Amica Mutual

New York: State Farm

North Central: GEICO

Northwest: GEICO

Southeast: Farm Bureau Insurance-Tennessee

Southwest: American Family and GEICO (in a tie)

Texas: Texas Farm Bureau

See the rank charts for each region at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2020065. The 2020 U.S. Auto Insurance Study, now in its 21st year, examines customer satisfaction in five factors (in alphabetical order): billing process and policy information; claims; interaction; policy offerings; and price. The study is based on responses from 40,123 auto insurance customers and was fielded in February-March 2020. For more information about the U.S. Auto Insurance Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/jd-power-us-auto-insurance-satisfaction-study. J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power has offices serving North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005283/en/

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Statement by chairman of the Joint Chiefs risks the wrath of a president sensitive to criticism of his staged events.

The top military officer of the United States, Army General Mark Milley, said on that Thursday he was wrong to have accompanied President Donald Trump on a walk to a church through Lafayette Square, where he was photographed in his combat uniform with the presidential entourage.

My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics, Milley said. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.

The statement by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff risked the wrath of a president sensitive to anything hinting of criticism of events he has staged. Trumps June 1 walk through the park to pose with a Bible at a church came after authorities used pepper spray and flashbangs to clear the park and streets of largely peaceful protesters.

Milley said his presence and the photographs compromised his commitment to a military divorced from politics.

I should not have been there, Milley said in remarks to a National Defense University commencement ceremony.

Were watching an unprecedented public split between the president and his military leaders. Military drawing a line at domestic politics. POTUS wanted to fire Esper after their disagreement over use of troops. Mileys statement is sure to provoke the same reaction. https://t.co/DnDDuvBQSg  Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) June 11, 2020

Milleys public expression of regret comes as Pentagon leaders relations with the White House are still tense after a disagreement last week over Trumps threat to use federal troops to quell civil unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd.

Esper had not said publicly that he erred by being with Trump at that moment. He told a news conference last week that when they left the White House he thought they were going to inspect damage in the Square and at the church and to mingle with National Guard troops in the area.

Milleys comments were his first public statements about the Lafayette Square event on June 1, which the White House has hailed as a leadership moment for Trump akin to Winston Churchill inspecting damage from German bombs in London during World War II.

BREAKING: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Mark Milley, just apologized for taking part in Trumps ridiculous photo op. Trumps gonna be furious!! pic.twitter.com/6Hr77yoryj  Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) June 11, 2020

The public uproar following Floyds death at the hands of Minneapolis police has created multiple layers of extraordinary tension between Trump and senior Pentagon officials. When Esper told reporters on June 3 that he had opposed Trump bringing active-duty troops on the streets of the nations capital to confront protesters and potential looters, Trump castigated him in a face-to-face meeting and reportedly came close to firing him.

Just this week, Esper and Milley let it be known through their spokesmen that they were open to a bipartisan discussion of whether the 10 Army bases named for Confederate Army officers should be renamed as a gesture aiming to disassociate the military from the racist legacy of the Civil War. On Wednesday, Trump tweeted that he would never allow the names to be changed, catching some in the Pentagon by surprise.

It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020

The Marine Corps last week moved ahead with a ban on public displays of the Confederate Army battle flag on its bases, and the navy this week said it plans to impose a similar ban on its bases, ships and planes. Trump has not commented publicly on those moves, which do not require White House or congressional approval.

Milley used his commencement address, which was prerecorded and presented as a video message, to raise the matter of his presence with Trump in Lafayette Square. He introduced the subject to his audience of military officers and civilian officials in the context of advice from an army officer and combat veteran who has spent 40 years in uniform.

He said all senior military leaders must be aware that their words and actions will be closely watched.

And I am not immune, he said, noting the photograph of him at Lafayette Square. That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society. He expressed regret at having been there and said the lesson to be taken from that moment is that all in uniform are not just soldiers but also citizens.

We must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our republic, he said. It takes time and work and effort, but it may be the most important thing each and every of us does every single day.





Milley also expressed his outrage at the Floyd killing and urged military officers to recognise as a reflection of centuries of injustice towards African Americans.

What we are seeing is the long shadow of our original sin in Jamestown 401 years ago, he said, referring to the year in which the first enslaved Africans arrived on the shores of colonial Virginia.

Milley said the military has made important progress on race issues but has much yet to do, including creating the conditions for a larger proportion of African American officers to rise to the militarys senior ranks. He noted that his service, the army, has just one African American four-star general, and mentioned that the air force is about to swear in the first-ever African American service chief.
First experimental vaccine in the US on track to begin a huge study next month to prove if it can fend off the virus.

A vaccine against COVID-19 developed by US biotech firm Moderna will enter the third and final stage of its clinical trial in July with 30,000 participants, the manufacturer has announced.

Russia surpassed 500,000 cases after 8,779 new infections were reported by health officials. The death toll stands at 6,532, a number the World Health Organization has cast doubt over.

Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, whose modelling helped set the UKs coronavirus strategy, says the countrys death toll could have been halved if lockdown had been introduced a week earlier. The UK has more than 291,000 cases and at least 41,000 deaths.

Students mental health is in focus in post-lockdown China, amid an increase in the number of suicides. In one Shanghai district, there have been 14 suicides by primary and secondary school students so far this year.

More than 7.36 million people have now been confirmed to have the coronavirus and at least 416,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Here are the latest updates:

Thursday, June 11

20:55 GMT  Who should look after refugees during the coronavirus pandemic?

The coronavirus pandemic is having a devastating effect on refugees around the world.

Preventive measures such as physical distancing and frequent hand-washing are often difficult to implement in crowded camps.

The aid agencies helping the refugees are struggling as well. Wealthy nations in Europe, North America and the Middle East are slashing donations, and keeping that money at home to tackle the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Oxfam, one of the worlds largest charities, laid off nearly 1,500 staff and pulled out of 18 countries last month. A recent survey estimated that global government aid will drop by $25bn by 2021.

So, how do we ensure protection for some of the worlds most vulnerable people?





20:35 GMT  IMF approves additional $111,06 mln to Rwanda to address COVID-19

The International Monetary Fund said it had approved an additional $111.06 million disbursement to Rwanda to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the countrys economy.

Rwandas economic outlook has worsened since the approval of the first (Rapid Credit Facility) request on April 2, 2020, leading to a further downward revision in the 2020 GDP growth forecast from 5.1 to 2.0 percent due to deepening of the COVID-19 impact, the IMF said in a statement.

The funding brings total IMF COVID-19 support to Rwanda to $220.46 million, it said, and will help finance the countrys urgent balance of payments and budget needs.





20:15 GMT  Pakistans economy to contract for first time in 68 years

Pakistan says its economy will contract in the fiscal year ending June 30, for the first time in 68 years, as a result of the global pandemic.

Prime Minister Imran Khans adviser on finance, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, said Thursday GDP in the outgoing fiscal year will shrink 0.4 percent, instead of an initially projected 2.4 percent growth. The new fiscal year starts July 1.

Despite recently getting a $6 billion bailout plan from the International Monetary Fund, Pakistans economy has witnessed a steady decline since 2018 when Khans government came into power.

On Thursday, Pakistan recorded 5,834 new confirmed cases, the highest single-day number of infections. That increased overall cases to 119,536 and COVID-19 deaths climbed to 2,356 with 101 new fatalities in the previous 24 hours.

Pakistan has witnessed a spike in deaths and infections since last month, when Khans government eased lockdown  despite warnings from experts and medical professionals. Khan insists he took the decision to save the economy from a possible collapse.

20:05 GMT  Canada to mandate masks on public transport

Canadas largest city will make masks mandatory on public transit because of the pandemic.

Mayor John Tory said effective July 2 masks will be required on the TTC. Toronto has the third busiest transit system in North America behind New York City and Mexico City. Passenger traffic has plummeted.

19:45 GMT  Egypt to reopen tourist destinations less hard-hit by virus

Egypt will reopen select tourist destinations to international charter flights starting July 1, the cabinet has said, allowing travelers from around the world to return to parts of the country less hard-hit by the coronavirus.

The government hopes to draw tourists to popular yet remote attractions that have been spared the ravages of the virus. Those include the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula, home to the major resort and beach destination of Sharm el Sheikh, the Red Sea resort areas of Hurghada and Marsa Alam, as well as Marsa Matrouh, on the Mediterranean coast.

The decision comes even as the pandemic surges in the densely populated capital of Cairo and other major cities, where many people say they cant find a hospital bed. The health ministry has recorded over 39,000 cases of COVID-19 in Egypt, including 1,377 deaths  the highest confirmed death toll in the Arab world.

However, the Cairo airport will remain closed to international commercial flights until further notice. Public parks and beaches will also stay closed until the end of June, said Cabinet spokesman Nader Saad.

19:30 GMT  France reports less than 30 new coronavirus deaths for second consecutive day

Frances coronavirus death toll rose by 27 on Thursday, versus an average daily increase of 50 over the last 15 days, to 29,346, the fifth-highest total in the world.

On Wednesday, 23 COVID-19 deaths were reported.

17:50 GMT  Moderna on track for large COVID-19 vaccine test in July

The first experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the US is on track to begin a huge study next month to prove if it really can fend off the coronavirus, its manufacturer has said.

The vaccine, developed by the US National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc, will be tested in 30,000 volunteers  some given the real shot and some a dummy shot.

Moderna said it already has made enough doses for the pivotal late-stage testing. Still needed before those injections begin: results of how the shot has fared in smaller, earlier-stage studies.

But Modernas announcement suggests those studies are making enough progress for the company and the NIH to get ready to move ahead.

Moderna launched its vaccine test in mid-March with an initial 45 volunteers. The company said it has finished enrolling 300 younger adults in its second stage of testing, and has begun studying how older adults react to the vaccine. These initial studies check for side effects and how well peoples immune systems respond to different doses. But only the still-to-come huge trial can show if the vaccine works.

The vaccine will be tested in 30,000 volunteers  some given the real shot and some a dummy shot [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]

17:25 GMT  British health minister urges protesters not to attend rallies

British Health Minister Matt Hancock has said people should not attend large demonstrations for public health reasons after protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement attracted tens of thousands over the last week.

I understand that people want to show their passion for a cause that they care deeply about, but this is a virus that thrives on social contact, regardless of what your cause may be, he said at a daily news conference.

17:05 GMT  Musicians perform a virtual gala in COVID-19 lockdown

Theatres around the world are closed, and there is no indication of when  or if  they will reopen.

Like many of us, the leader of the Metropolitan Opera and Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, has been in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.

He has used his time in isolation to organise his musicians and singers to stage a touching artistic triumph, online.





17:00 GMT  Italy reports 53 coronavirus deaths, 379 new cases

Deaths from the COVID-19 in Italy climbed by 53 on Thursday against 71 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, but the daily tally of new cases rose to 379 from 202 on Wednesday.

The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 now stands at 34,167, the agency said, the fourth-highest in the world after those of the United States, Britain and Brazil.

The number of confirmed cases is 236,142, the seventh-highest global tally behind those of the US, Russia, Brazil, Spain, UK and India.

People registered as currently carrying the illness fell to 30,637 from 31,710 the day before.

The northern region of Lombardy, where the outbreak was first identified, remains by far the worst affected of Italys 20 regions, accounting for 252 of the 379 new cases reported on Thursday.

There were 236 people in intensive care on Thursday, down from 249 on Wednesday, maintaining a long-running decline. Of those originally infected, 171,338 were declared recovered against 169,939 a day earlier.





16:20 GMT  WHO warns pandemic is accelerating in Africa

The World Health Organization says the pandemic in Africa is accelerating and that while it took 98 days for the continent to reach 100,000 coronavirus cases it took just 18 days to get to 200,000.

WHO Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti said that community transmission has begun in more than half of Africas 54 countries and this is a serious sign.

The virus largely arrived on the continent via travellers from Europe and is spreading beyond capital cities and commercial hubs into more rural areas where many health systems are unequipped to handle cases that require intensive care.

Moeti pointed out South Africa, where the virus has spread from Western Cape province centred on Cape Town into the more rural Eastern Cape. South Africa has the continents highest number of cases  more than 55,000.

15:50 GMT  EU plans advance purchase of up to six promising COVID-19 vaccines

The European Commission is seeking a mandate from EU governments to buy in advance from pharmaceutical firms up to six promising vaccines against the coronavirus, two officials told Reuters news agency.

The EU executive will ask EU health ministers at a video conference meeting on Friday to back the plan, as the bloc fears it may not have enough shots if a vaccine is developed, the officials said.

15:15 GMT  Norway allows airlines to fly full planes again

Norway will no longer require airlines to leave middle seats on planes empty, a measure previously introduced to reduce the risk of contamination with the novel coronavirus, the countrys transport minister has said.

The Nordic country, which advised its citizens in March not to travel abroad, is to open its borders for tourists coming from Denmark, and plans to update travel advice for other countries by June 15.

The Nordic country which advised its citizens in March not to travel abroad is to open its borders for tourists coming from Denmark [File: Reuters]

15:05 GMT  Germany in close contact with Turkey over travel warning

Germany is in close contact with countries outside Europe, including Turkey, over whether travel warnings in place due to the coronavirus pandemic can be lifted, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.

Lifting the warnings would depend on factors like the number of infections and capacity levels at local health systems, Maas said after talks with ministers from several popular holiday destinations for Germans.

14:30 GMT  International trade set to shrink 27 percent in Q2 after April nosedive

International trade is set to plunge by 27 percent in the second quarter and by 20 percent for the year, as major sectors including the automotive and energy industries collapse from the effects the pandemic, a United Nations agency said.

Assuming persisting uncertainty, UNCTAD forecast indicates a decline of around 20% for the year 2020, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report. Trade in the automotive and energy sector collapsed while trade in agri-food products has been stable.





14:15 GMT  UKs test and trace system reaches 26,985 in first week

The UKs Department of Health said its coronavirus tracing system contacted 31,794 people between 28 May and 3 June and of those it was able to reach 26,985, or 85 percent, and advise them to self-isolate.

The governments test and trace system is seen as key to helping to ease lockdown measures.

The 31,794 people were contacts of a group of 5,407 people who had tested positive for coronavirus and provided details of those they had met to the system, said the Department of Health.

However, only two-thirds of the 8,117 people who tested positive for the virus during the period provided details of recent contacts to the system, with the remaining number not able to be reached.

14:10 GMT  WHO: Africas coronavirus hotspots in South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon

Africa will have a steady increase in COVID-19 cases until a vaccine is developed and strong public health measures are needed in current hotspots in South Africa, Algeria and Cameroon, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

Until such time as we have access to an effective vaccine, Im afraid well probably have to live with a steady increase in the region, with some hotspots having to be managed in a number of countries, as is happening now in South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon for example, which require very strong public health measures, social distancing measures to take place, Matshidiso Moeti, WHOs Africa regional director, told a Geneva briefing.





14:00 GMT  Kremlin defends Russias coronavirus death data after WHO query

The Kremlin has denied there was anything untoward with Russias official coronavirus death data after the World Health Organisation said this week that the countrys low death rate was difficult to understand.

Russia has reported more than half a million cases of the new coronavirus, the third-largest caseload in the world, and 6,532 deaths, a number that is many times lower than other countries with serious outbreaks.

Asked if the Kremlin thought the data was strange, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no, but that Russias consumer health regulator would be ready to explain the data to the WHO.

Hi, this is Ramy Allahoum in Doha, taking over from my colleague Usaid Siddiqui.

12:55 GMT  US sees 1.54 million new jobless claims as virus layoffs go on

Another 1.54 million US workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said, bringing the total since mid-March to 44.2 million.

Massive numbers of workers filing weekly jobless claims have become routine since the beginning of shutdowns to stop the coronavirus from spreading but the wave has passed its peak and has been declining steadily, while some have returned to work.





12:45 GMT  China rejects EU accusation it is spreading COVID-19 disinformation

Chinas Foreign Ministry has criticised a European Union report alleging that Beijing was spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.

Spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters: The EU evades many obvious facts but specifically mentions China. This undermines the credibility and authority of this report. Hua called the accusations against China false.

According to the European Commission, Russia and China have mounted targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbourhood and globally.

12:20 GMT  England football star Dele Alli handed one-match suspension by FA over virus prank

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli will miss the Premier League restart after being suspended for a match by the Football Association, having been found guilty of misconduct after mocking the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Alli, 24, was charged with breaching FA Rule E3 (1) after posting a video on social media of himself at an airport wearing a mask and apparently mocking a man of Asian appearance. He later apologised for the prank.

11:59 GMT  Moderna to start final testing stage of coronavirus vaccine in July

Moderna Inc confirmed it plans to start a trial of 30,000 volunteers of its much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine in July as the company enters the final stage of testing.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company said the primary goal of the study would be to prevent symptomatic COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The key secondary goal would be the prevention of the severe disease, as defined by keeping people out of the hospital.

Moderna said it has selected the 100 microgram dose of the vaccine for the late-stage study; at that dose level, the company is on track to deliver about 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to one billion doses per year, starting in 2021 [File: Brian Snyder/Reuters]

11:38 GMT  US-China trade deal impacted by coronavirus

The coronavirus epidemic has an impact on implementation of phase one US-China trade deal, a senior Chinese government adviser said, admitting the current relationship between the countries is very unsatisfactory.

US-China tensions have been rising this year since signing of the partial deal in January, with officials trading barbs over the origin of the pandemic  which first surfaced in central China and has since ravaged the world economy.

US-China tensions have been rising this year since signing of the partial deal in January, with officials trading barbs over the origin of the pandemic  which first surfaced in central China and has since ravaged the world economy [File: Susan Walsh/AP]

11:20 GMT  Virus pushes April asylum requests in Europe to 12-year low

The number of asylum applications in Europe plunged 87 percent in April, to the lowest level since 2008, due to lockdown measures imposed to fight the coronavirus, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) said.

Only 8,730 asylum applications were registered  a record low in at least the past 12 years, and a massive decrease from pre-COVID-19 levels in January and February, it said in a statement, reporting on an area covering the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland.

10:59 GMT  Iran says virus cases top 180,000

More than 180,000 people have been infected in Irans coronavirus outbreak since it first emerged nearly four months ago, an official said.

As the figures were announced, President Hassan Rouhani called on Iranians to stick to guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.

If everyone follows the health instructions exactly, then all jobs can be reopened, he said in remarks broadcast on state television.

10:40 GMT  Malaysia bars citizens from Hajj pilgrimage on coronavirus fears

Malaysia said its citizens would be barred from making the Hajj pilgrimage this year due to concerns over the new coronavirus, following in the steps of neighbouring Indonesia, which is also a Muslim-majority nation.

Every year, Malaysia sends tens of thousands of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, home to Islams two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. Malaysian pilgrims may have to wait up to 20 years to make the trip due to a quota system negotiated with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has suspended the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages until further notice to curb the spread of the coronavirus, though it has begun easing some restrictions on movement and travel [File: Saudi Press Agency/Reuters]

10:20 GMT  Brussels sets out plans to reopen EU borders

Brussels on Thursday set out plans to fully reopen the EUs internal borders on June 15 and to allow travellers from Balkan countries to enter the bloc from July 1.

The recommendation to the EUs 27 member states comes as restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus are eased and national governments seek to restart tourism in time for the summer peak.

09:40 GMT  Bahrain school holds graduation on F1 circuit

As coronavirus bans wreak havoc on school-leaving events, one Bahrain school has honoured its seniors with a drive-through graduation ceremony complete with fireworks at the kingdoms Formula One circuit.

In rows of well-spaced vehicles, students and their families lined up Wednesday evening in front of the main podium of Bahrain International Circuit, where Grand Prix races are held.

This years race was postponed as the pandemic threw the racing calendar into chaos, but the venue was repurposed to bid farewell to the Bahrain Bayan School graduates.

09:18 GMT  UEFA set to choose schedules, venues for European football

Match schedules and venues for international soccer in Europe disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic will be decided by UEFA next week.

The Champions League, for this season and next, and the postponed European Championship playoffs and final tournament are at the top of the executive committee agenda published by UEFA.

08:58 GMT  Philippines reports nine novel coronavirus deaths, 443 more infections

The Philippines health ministry confirmed nine more new coronavirus deaths and 443 additional infections.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed infections have increased to 24,175 while deaths have reached 1,036.

A security guard (L) takes the temperatures of passengers wearing personal protective suits at the entrance to the check-in area at the international airport in Manila [File: Ted Aljibe/AFP]

08:40 GMT  British Airways to put artworks on sale in COVID-19 cash crunch

British Airways will sell at least 10 works of art from its extensive collection, a source said, to try to raise millions of pounds to boost its cash reserves as it struggles through the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline has come under fire from British politicians for plans to cut 12,000 jobs. But with planes grounded and no revenue, it says the job losses are necessary because travel demand is set to shrink in coming years.

08:20 GMT  Russias coronavirus cases surpass 500,000

Russias coronavirus caseload surpassed 500,000 on Thursday, after health officials reported 8,779 new infections.

The nations total currently stands at 502,436 confirmed cases, including 6,532 deaths.

Experts both in Russia and abroad expressed doubts about the countrys remarkably low pandemic death toll, with some alleging that numbers were manipulated for political reasons. The Russian government repeatedly denied the allegations.

Despite recording almost 9,000 new cases daily for the past month, Russian authorities have started easing lockdown restrictions in many regions  including Moscow, which accounts for about 40 percent of all virus cases and almost half of officially reported deaths.

07:59 GMT  Resurgence of virus threatens South Koreas success story

Just weeks ago, South Korea was celebrating its hard-won gains against the coronavirus, easing social distancing, reopening schools and promoting a tech-driven anti-virus campaign President Moon Jae-in has called K-quarantine.

But a resurgence of infections in the Seoul region where half of South Koreas 51 million people live is threatening the countrys success story and prompting health authorities to warn that action must be taken now to stop a second wave.

South Koreas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reported 45 fresh cases of infection, a daily rise that has been fairly consistent since late May. Most have been in the Seoul metropolitan area, where health authorities have struggled to trace transmissions.

South Koreas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reported 45 fresh cases of infection [Ahn Young/AP]

07:38 GMT  European shares slide on Fed outlook, worries of new virus cases

European shares moved further away from their three-month peak on Thursday after a downbeat economic outlook from the U.S. Federal Reserve and on worries of a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 2.6 percent, its fourth straight day of decline, with travel and leisure stocks, banks and automakers losing between 4.5 percent and 5 percent.

A possibility of a fresh rise in U.S. coronavirus cases dampened risk appetite, with a Reuters analysis showing infections rose slightly after five weeks of declines, partly due to more testing.

07:17 GMT  US surpasses 2 million coronavirus cases

The US COVID-19 cases has surged past two million, according to data compiled by the Maryland-based Johns Hopkins University.

The country has so far registered 2,000,464 coronavirus infections including nearly 113,000 deaths and more than 533,000 recoveries.

06:58 GMT  Frances Montchalin: EU must reach deal on coronavirus relief plan by July

The European Union must reach a deal on a proposed 750 billion euro economic recovery plan to cope with the impact of the coronavirus crisis by July, French Junior European Affairs Minister Amelie de Montchalin said.

There is no other solution than having a deal by July. If we do not have a stimulus plan, we will have a problem, Montchalin told BFM Business radio.

France has recorded over 192,000 cases with nearly 30,000 deaths [File: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters]

06:40 GMT  Heathrow starts voluntary redundancy scheme, cant rule out more job losses

Britains Heathrow Airport, which before the coronavirus pandemic was the busiest in Europe, said it had started a voluntary redundancy scheme after passenger numbers fell to an all-time low and it could not rule out further job losses.

Heathrow said that passenger numbers in May were down 97 percent and it was preparing for further declines due to Britains quarantine rule.

06:20 GMT  India sees biggest one-day jump in cases

India reported a record of 9,996 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours with health services in the worst-hit cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai getting swamped by the rising infections.

The Health Ministry reported an increase of 357 deaths. Indias tally of positive cases has reached 286,579 so far, the fifth highest in the world, and 8,102 deaths.

Most Indian states have lifted lockdown restrictions, with train services partially restored and shops and manufacturing reopened. Subways, hotels and schools remain shuttered nationwide.

The Health Ministry said testing capacity has increased and the number of recovered patients exceeds the number of active cases for the first time [File: Divyakant Solanki/EPA]

06:00 GMT  Pakistani government downplays WHO warning on coronavirus spread

Pakistans defacto health minister has downplayed a World Health Organisation warning to the country on reimposing a lockdown in order to control the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

Zafar Mirza issued a statement on Wednesday saying we have made best sovereign decisions in the best interest of our people. We have to make tough policy choices to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods.

Pakistan registered 5,834 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, a new single-day record, taking its countrywide tally to 119,536 cases. The total death toll in the country is at 2,356.

Hello, this is Usaid Siddiqui in Doha taking over from my collegue Ted Regencia.

05:21 GMT  Arrests made over alleged body-snatching incidents in Indonesia

Indonesian authorities have arrested dozens of people suspected of snatching the bodies of COVID-19 victims from several hospitals so the dead could be buried according to their wishes.

Provincial police spokesman Ibrahim Tompo said that at least 33 suspects have been detained by police in South Sulawesi province in the past week. Ponto said charges against 10 of them will proceed to prosecutors.

He says if convicted, the suspects face up to seven years in prison and $7,000 in fines for violating health laws and resisting officers.

Indonesia has reported at least 34,316 cases and 1,923 coronavirus-related deaths in the country.

04:45 GMT  Thailand reports no new coronavirus cases, no new deaths

Thailand on Thursday reported no new coronavirus infections or deaths, maintaining the total of 3,125 confirmed cases and 58 fatalities, according to Reuters news agency.

It was the first time in nearly three weeks that no cases were reported and the 17th day without a local transmission. All recent cases have been found in quarantine among Thais returning from abroad.

There are 2,987 patients who have recovered, said Panprapa Yongtrakul, a spokeswoman for the governments COVID-19 Administration Centre.

04:01 GMT  Germanys confirmed coronavirus cases rise 555 to 185,416

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has increased by 555 to 185,416, data obtained by Reuters from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.

The reported death toll rose by 26 to 8,755, the tally showed.

03:51 GMT  Italian nurses demand better pay, more manpower

Dozens of hospital nurses have protested in downtown Milan to demand better pay and the hiring of more colleagues, AP news agency reported.

Nurses have been hailed as Italys heroes during the countrys COVID-19 outbreak. But organisers of the protest noted that nurses in Italy are among the lowest paid in Europe.

Recently, three nurses, including one who collapsed on a keyboard from exhaustion while caring for infected patients, were among those honoured by the Italian president for special service to the nation. At least 40 nurses with the virus have died in Italy. The country reported more than 235,000 cases and at least 34,000 deaths.

Nurses belonging to the NurSind union hold up signs with writing in Italian: We honour our fallen in the fight against COVID-19 as they stage a protest calling for better working conditions in Milan on Wednesday [Luca Bruno/AP]

03:23 GMT  Puerto Rico eyes lifting of quarantine restrictions

As Puerto Rico considers lifting pandemic quarantine restrictions, health officials say the US territory passed its peak of coronavirus cases and related deaths more than two months ago. However, independent experts said those numbers are in doubt.

Health Department consultant Miguel Valencia said at a news conference that Puerto Ricos confirmed COVID-19 cases peaked at 84 cases on March 31 and deaths at six on April 6. Overall, Puerto Rico has reported more than 5,300 cases and at least 143 deaths on the island of 3.2 million people.

02:50 GMT  Japan eyes partial reopening to business trips this summer

Japan has an estimated 17,146 coronavirus infections and 922 fatalities [Franck Robichon/EPA]

Japan may restart business trips to and from Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand as early this summer, easing an entry ban to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, Reuters news agency reported on Thursday quoting the Yomiuri newspaper.

Up to 250 business travellers a day will most likely be allowed into Japan from the four countries, which have seen their infection situations stabilise, the newspaper said, without citing sources.

Prospective visitors will be required to submit a document ahead of their trips to Japan showing they are not infected, and will be asked to go through a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction test, upon entry, the paper said.

In another step to ease coronavirus-related restrictions, the Tokyo metropolitan government is set to lift the Tokyo alert issued last week to urge residents to keep up their guard as early as the end of the week, the Nikkei business daily said. The number of daily new infections in Tokyo has stayed below 20 for the past four days.

02:31 GMT  South Korea reports 45 new infections

South Koreas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thurday 45 new coronavirus cases, including 40 local infections  a slight decrease from 50 the previous day.

The total caseload in the country now stands at 11,947, with a total of 10,654 considered recovered, according to Yonhap news agency quoting the countrys health agency.

The total death tally remained unchanged at 276, with the fatality rate reaching 2.31 percent.

02:07 GMT  China reports 11 imported coronavirus cases

China has reported a small spike in imported confirmed cases of coronavirus to 11. There were no new deaths or cases of local transmission in Thursdays report.

Chinese officials say just 62 people remain in treatment for COVID-19. In addition, 130 people are under observation and isolation for showing signs of the illness or testing positive for the virus without showing any symptoms, as a safeguard against them possibly spreading it to others.

China has reported a total of 4,634 deaths from COVID-19  a figure that has not changed in weeks  among 83,057 cases recorded since the virus was first detected in the central industrial city of Wuhan late last year.

01:25 GMT  Latin America hits 70,000 pandemic deaths, daily record in Mexico

Latin Americas coronavirus crisis reached a grim new milestone on Wednesday with total deaths exceeding 70,000, according to a Reuters count, as Mexico hit a daily record for confirmed infections.

Brazil, with the largest economy in the region, remains Latin Americas most affected country as total fatalities are just shy of 40,000, the worlds third highest death toll after the United States and Britain.

In the regions second biggest country, Mexico, a new daily record of 4,883 confirmed cases was reported by the health ministry, along with 708 additional fatalities. The daily totals bring Mexicos overall official count to 129,184 infections and 15,357 deaths.

00:01 GMT  Mexico City to increase COVID-19 testing defying national government

Medical staff protest in Acapulco against the non-payment of the COVID-19 bond for the healthcare workers looking after those infected by the virus [David Guzman/EPA]

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum says the capital will embark on a large-scale COVID-19 testing effort as the centrepiece of its plan to reopen its economy, diverging from the federal governments strategy, which has shunned widespread testing as a waste of resources.

The goal will be performing some 100,000 tests a month by July and will use the results to detect and isolate new clusters of infection as quickly as possible, Sheinbaum said in a news conference. It will be paired with an intensive information campaign.

The sprawling city of nine million  with an equal number or more in the suburbs  has confirmed more than 32,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 3,200 deaths, both considered to be undercounted because of limited testing. Nationwide, there were more than 129,000 cases and 15,357 deaths as of the end of Wednesday.

Hello and welcome to Al Jazeeras continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Im Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur.

______________________________________________________________

Read all the updates from yesterday (June 10) here.
with data from the HCMC Statistics Office indicating that the city saw a revenue of a mere VND55 billion in May from travel services. Foreign tourists are seen in downtown HCMC. Despite HCMC being considered the country's tourist hub, its tourism industry reported losses of trillions of Vietnamese dong due to the coronavirus pandemic  PHOTO: DAO LOAN The catering and lodging services segment, too, faced a similar fate, earning some VND3.3 trillion in May, down by 63% year-on-year. A host of tour operators and hotels shut shop, while others faced financial difficulties in operating their businesses despite the launch of various programs and activities in early May. Firms active in the tourism sector are facing multiple challenges as fewer local tourists are buying tours and the country's doors are shut for international visitors, said Nguyen Ngoc An, deputy general director of Fiditour Company. An increasing number of small hotels too have informed of their transfer and sale. We have shut down part of our hotel. As of June, the hotels backup fund has also started to run out, while the revenue has yet to increase," said a representative of a hotel in the city. According to the HCMC Department of Tourism, no international traveler visited the city in May. Between January and May, the city welcomed a total of 1.3 million international tourists, plunging by 63.2% year-on-year. Given the difficulties, the citys tourism industry is now seeking to stimulate the domestic tourism market. A conference to introduce a program titled HCMC  A safe destination is to kick off on June 9, with a variety of promotion and discount packages on offer. However, many firms said that the city will find it harder than other localities to attract domestic visitors as it does not have the advantage of landscapes and beaches. Nguyen Huu Y Yen, general director of Saigontourist, said that the focus should be on young people and high-income families in localities across the country as well as residents of HCMC. Activities such as staying at four- or five-star hotels, shopping, exploring the city at night or visiting bars and clubs should be promoted among young people. Families can be lured with discounted entry tickets to recreational sites such as the Saigon Zoo, Suoi Tien and Dam Sen. Apart from this, staycations can be endorsed among families living in HCMC, wherein they are offered discounts on stays at five-star hotels so they can relax. An from Fiditour Company agreed that promoting staycations was a good idea to get the domestic tourism sector back on track. SGT Dao Loan
Washington: Observing that historically India has been a very tolerant, respectful country for all religions, a top Trump administration official has said that the US is very concerned about what is happening in the country in terms of religious freedom.

The remarks of Samuel Brownback, the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, came hours after the release of the '2019 International Religious Freedom Report' on Wednesday.

Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of the violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.

India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

Brownback, during a phone call with foreign journalists on Wednesday, said India has been a country area that spawned four major religions itself.

"We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions," he said.

"The trendlines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence," Brownback said.

"We're seeing a lot more difficulty. I think really they need to have a I would hope they would have an - interfaith dialogue starting to get developed at a very high level in India, and then also deal with the specific issues that we identified as well. It really needs a lot more effort on this topic in India, and my concern is, too, that if those efforts are not put forward, you're going to see a growth in the violence and of the increased difficulty within the society writ large," said the top American diplomat on international religious freedom.

Responding to a question, Brownback hoped that the minority faiths are not to be blamed for the COVID-19 spread and that they would have access to the healthcare and the foods and the medicines that they need during the crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised any form of discrimination, saying the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally.

"COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood," Modi said in a post on LinkedIn in February.

The Indian government, while previously rejecting the US religious freedom report, had said: India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion.

The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities. It is widely acknowledged that India is a vibrant democracy where the Constitution provides protection of religious freedom, and where democratic governance and rule of law further promote and protect the fundamental rights.

We see no locus standi for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in June last year.

Earlier in the day, the US State Department in its India chapter of the report said that there were reports of religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, discrimination, vandalism and actions restricting the right of individuals to practice and speak about their religious beliefs.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data, 7,484 incidents of communal violence took place between 2008 and 2017 in which more than 1,100 people were killed, it said.

The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations (FIACONA) in a statement welcomed the US annual religious freedom report.

FIACONA President Koshy George said that his organisation finds the list of incidents affecting the rights of the people to believe and practice their faiths as reported to be accurate though there are a few more thousand such incidents that have taken place in India during the reporting period.
'Apostle' Kwabena Owusu Agyei

11.06.2020 LISTEN

The activities of the so-called clergyman, 'Apostle' Kwabena Owusu Agyei, 56, whose blood-curdling remarks and death threats on the chairperson of the Electoral Commission earned him an arrest by the National Security operatives, are unravelling.

Nana Target

From his utterances and actions, the EC boss appears not to really be his target but rather the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He has an avowed hatred for President Akufo-Addo and has not stopped raining curses on him at any given opportunity.

He appears to have started the 'hatred' project as far back as the 2000s when Nana Akufo-Addo was nursing an ambition to lead the country after former President John Agyekum Kufuor.

Several video recordings of the so-called apostle, some of which have found their way on to social media, depict the extent of hatred he harbours for the President.

In the run-up to the crucial 2016 general election, he, with tacit support from the then ruling Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, tried to push the agenda to dissuade Ghanaians from voting for Nana Akufo-Addo to be President.

He frequented radio stations with his warped claims that God had told him Nana Akufo-Addo could not be President once he, 'Apostle' Kwabena Owusu Agyei, was alive.

Fake Prophecies

He even said that he would stop preaching if Nana Akufo-Addo was not the obstacle for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after a prayer challenge.

He once said the NPP should 'eliminate' Nana Akufo-Addo before they could win the 2016 election.

2016 is for the NPP but the obstacle is Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. If the NPP will win, then it is two things. Either Nana Addo will have to step aside for a new training or he would have to die. Case closed! he declared.

Nana will never be President; he will not win, he said it with vicious emphasis and even went further to spew more hatred about the then NPP presidential candidate, who eventually defeated massively the incumbent Mahama and his NDC that the so-called apostle was working for in 2016.

Already, there is stroke hovering like a bird over his (Akufo-Addo's) head and any moment from now the stroke could hit him and attack him, he said with an air of arrogance as if he was the one to determine when a person could die.

He even lied that he had told Nana Akufo-Addo what to do; when the host challenged him about his claims, he quickly changed his statement that he personally told Nana Akufo-Addo about it to as for me, he (Akufo-Addo) has heard it.

'Apostle' Agyei has not relented in his hatred for the President and continues his agenda after Nana Akufo-Addo had overcome his doom prophecies and won the 2016 election to become President.

Akufo-Addo Statue

For instance, he went to the statue of the President's father, Edward, at the Akufo-Addo Intersection close to the Togo Embassy in Accra, and pretended to be praying for the President but in reality 'Apostle' Agyei was raining curses on him.

He pretended to be protecting the President 'spiritually' whilst pouring what looked like wine in a green bottle and after the prayers, which looked like the pouring of libation, he smashed the bottle to symbolize the so-called protection he claimed he was offering the President.

Court Appearance

Already, 'Apostle' Agyei has been remanded in custody by an Accra Circuit Court for threatening to kill the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, if she goes ahead to compile a new voters' register for the 2020 presidential and parliamentary election.

He threatened Mrs. Mensa to stop the compilation of the new register or die young at midnight, although he did not mention any specific day.

'Apostle' Agyei was arrested yesterday morning by some officers of the National Security, while he was granting an interview to a journalist from Hot FM.

In a video circulating on social media, some men, who claimed to be from the National Security, were seen moving into the house of the pastor to arrest him.

Wee Found

Things took an interesting twist when a video went viral which suggested that security officers found parcels of a substance suspected to be marijuana (wee) allegedly on the pastor.

A few hours after his arrest, he was put before a Circuit Court in Accra and remanded for two weeks.

Charge Sheet

He was charged with three counts of threat of death contrary to Section 75 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, (Act 29) of 1960, offensive conduct conducive to the breach of the peace contrary to Section 207 (1) of the same Act and possession of Narcotic Drugs contrary to Section 2 (1) of PNDC Law 236/90.

He pleaded not guilty to all three charges and the court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Essandoh, a High Court judge sitting as an additional Circuit Court judge, remanded him to reappear on June 23.

During interrogation, he said he did not have a wife but said he had four children.

He claimed he was from Asokore in the Ashanti Region and gave his age as 56.

Arrest Drama

In the course of his ranting spree from his home on an Accra-based radio station, he was picked up by National Security operatives.

The movie-script style security operation was executed just when the suspect appeared to have reached what sounded like the climax of his vitriolic outbursts in a part of his house identified as a place near Greda Estates, Indomie Junction, at Nungua in Accra.

Occasionally wiping the balls of perspiration from his forehead and adjusting himself on the plastic chair on which he sat, he insulted almost everyone in government or at the EC, some of the words, too harsh to be repeated.

There was no letup in his ranting, which was beamed live on Facebook, when four persons immediately turned up as if waiting for him to make one of his infamous remarks.

Arrest Warrant

One of them dangled a document which obviously authorized them to make the arrest of the so-called apostle.

He was visibly deflated as the eerie words rang through the portion of his house where the recording was taking place, We are from the National Security and we have a warrant to arrest you.

One of the operatives reached out to him to physically get him to stand up, but he managed a don't touch me caution even as he eventually gave up to the awesome authority of the state.

He was taken to one of the three Toyota V8 Land Cruisers waiting outside in an uncomfortable harbour-hook mode, his ranting ceased for now.

NDC Assignment

Before he was pounced on by the National Security operatives, the 'Wee Apostle' had started the interview by making incendiary statements and was daring the state to arrest him.

He said boldly that Elohim (God) had asked him to speak his mind, exclaiming my instruction is to lead the NDC to victory and that is what I am doing.

He then catalogued unsubstantiated accusations, all of them defamatory in substance, against known personalities in politics.

---Daily Guide
An outbreak of cattle disease called Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) has occurred in Kano State, killing many cows.

The chairman of Dairy and Livestock Husbandry Cooperative Union in the state, Usman Abdullahi, stated this in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday.

CBPP is a disease of cattle and water buffalo caused by Mycoplasma mycoides. It attacks the lungs and the membranes that line the thoracic cavity, causing fever and respiratory signs such as laboured or rapid respiration, cough and nasal discharge.

The transmission arises through intimate contact between infected and susceptible cattle due to the inhalation of infected droplets released during coughing or in nasal discharges from infected animals.

It was first reported in Nigeria in 1924. It was said that between 1924 and 1960, an average of 200 outbreaks occurred each year mainly in Borno and Kano provinces of the then Northern Nigeria.

Reports show that the disease was controlled in Nigeria in 1965, but it re-emerged.

Unfortunately, the disease reporting system, which was efficient in the 60s and 70s, witnessed a setback during the 90s. Currently, the disease is under-reported, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

We are experiencing a major disease outbreak called Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), it is a viral disease that disturbs cows and it is killing so many of our cows currently in Kano State, Mr Abdullahi told PREMIUM TIMES.

This is a contagious and virus disease that attacks animals especially cows, it stops the cow from breathing normally, it is a respiratory tract disease.

I can tell you in a cluster, considering the cooperative level as a cluster because you know the Fulanis are the out-growers and they are living in a clustered settlements, we had an incident that in a particular settlement under Bunkure Local Government of Kano State about 100 cows died within two weeks.

This happened during the heavy lockdown around March but in April and May, this problem was very heavy in that location, he said.

There is a farmer that lost 17, some lost about 20 and some lost five. But the terrible and sad one is a farmer that lost about 50 cows within a short period of time at Bunkure local government of Kano State.

Mr Abdullahi said the outbreak started between November 2019 and January this year. He said in anticipation of the outbreak, we were supposed to do the vaccine during the period of January so it will take us year-round without seeing any negative effect.

But now, since there is no vaccine on the ground, you can see how the problem of the disease escalated and is killing the animals rampantly.

He said the vaccination is supposed to be done yearly by the government.

But unfortunately this year round, there was no vaccine commencement from the government side, he said.

From the point of our understanding, the vaccination with regards to CBPP over time is being conducted under the state government at the Ministry of Agriculture.

And this is the same Ministry of Agriculture that we have contacted so far, they are just telling us to be patient, he said

So instead of waiting, we have contacted the veterinary, they say they will act on it. They just come and do simple medications and treatments.

Mr Abdullahi urged the government to send a monitoring team to help the farmers remedy the situation before it escalates and to adhere strictly to routine annual vaccination.

Secondly, we require maybe putting a monitoring team from the government side to be following up with the farmers at the cluster or at the village level to identify if there are challenges then to provide an immediate remedy or solution before it will escalate to an uncontrolled situation.

Then the third one that we are hoping if they can do is to come and collect the data of those that have lost their cows due to this deadly outbreak to pay compensation, i am sure farmers will be happy because a farmer that has 50 cows and he lost 17 is seriously touching his economy.

Assume a cow sold at N100,000 roughly; if about 15 is lost, it means that a farmer lost about N1.5 million.

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So take for instance if there are 100 farmers in Kano State, you could imagine how heavy the loss will be, he said.

He said those affected are mostly peasant farmers.

These smallholders farmers are the grassroots and backbone of this livestock sector and they are the ones that are suffering from lack of extension services, they have limitations in technical know-how, he said.

He urged the government to ensure extension services delivery to the livestock farmers at the smallholder level. This is my best advise., he said.

Also speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, Muhammadu Bayiye, a cattle rearer who lost 50 of his cows to the outbreak in the state, lamented how the death of the cows has affected him.

I discovered that my cows are just dying but this is not the first time this is happening. I lost a total of 50 cows, 40 young ones and 10 big ones to this outbreak within a little period of time, he said.

Another cattle rearer, Musa Danladi, said there are so many diseases affecting cows but the worst is this CBPP.

I first lost five of my cows in a day. This happened last month but before I knew it, I lost a total of 15 cows in two weeks, he said.

An Abuja-based veterinarian, Samuel James, spoke on how the disease affects the cows.

Definitely when the cows are sick, the (food) intake will reduce and then milk will definitely reduce because theres no food intake.

CBPP affects their breathing, you see them gasping for air, they take less food.

Is a disease that can be handled, if proper measures are put in place. he said.

PREMIUM TIMES reached out to the Veterinary and Pest Control Services in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Abuja, the Director Veterinary and Pest Control Services (DVPCS), Olaniran Alabi, told PREMIUM TIMES that he was not aware of the outbreak in Kano.

The monitoring officer in charge of Kano has not reported to us, he said on Tuesday.

He promised to put a call across to the Director Veterinary Service (DVS) in Kano, one Mr Bello, to ascertain the situation.

He later suggested that contrary to the claims of the cattle farmers, the Kano government was properly handling the situation.

On Wednesday, Mr Alabi said, I spoke with the DVS in Kano and what he told me is that theres an outbreak but not the way you painted it.

You see when you have such information like that it is always very important to clarify with the state because he is the Chief Diseases Control Officer.

In every state we have a director who is in charge of disease control and dont forget that we have a federal system they now return back to the federal level.

If they need our additional support to help them respond to some of these things, he said.

When Mr Bello was contacted on what the state government was doing to assist the farmers, he simply replied with a short message confirming the disease.

Yes, and I had reported appropriately, he wrote suggesting he had done his part.

While the state and federal governments pass the buck, however, the Kano cattle herders continue to count their losses.

This is one of the most difficult times of my life. It was a great loss to me, Mr Bayiye said.
ModernGhana is overwhelmed with calls and email messages from some African Americans who seem to be fed up to the back teeth and are eager to relocate permanently to Ghana with their families.

The calls were as a result of a story published on MordernGhana on June 5.

The story has since recorded half a million read (hits) in three days with over 200 comments. Read story here: https://www.modernghana.com/news/1007293/come-to-ghana-if-youre-not-wanted-in-usa-touris.html

The comments beneath the story and the few that have contacted ModernGhana via email to assist with information to relocate to Ghana are mostly African Americans.

Most of who claim trace their root to Ghana are requesting information on processes in securing dual citizenship. Much as they are eager to live and work in the country, some appear skeptical about Ghana and needed to be assured of safety and acceptance by the locals.

The USA, they intimated, is growing hostile towards African Americans day-by-day following the numerous racial discrimination and killings notably George Floyd whose death was caused by a white American police officer in the USA on 25th May. His death has received global attention and wide condemnations including Ghanas President Akufo-Addo.

Their desire to relocate to Ghana is occasioned by the recent call by the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Barbara Oteng-Gyasi who invited African Americans to re-settle in Ghana if they feel unwanted in the USA.

The sector Minister said at a ceremony in collaboration with the Ghana Tourism Authority, Office of Diaspora Affairs and the Diaspora African Forum to organised a memorial and wreath-laying ceremony at the W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture in honour of George Floyd on Friday, 5th June, 2020.

Racism in America continues to be a deadly pandemic, for which for more than 400 years now, our brothers and sisters in the United States of America have yearned for a cure. George Floyd was not the first black person to use the phrase I cant breathe... The present situation we face today in the year 2020 with the death of George Floyd is going to result in change One who condones evil is just as evil as the one who perpetrates it. That is why it is right not only for Chauvin to be charged but all his accomplices who, together, [killed George Floyd].

We gather in solidarity with brothers and sisters to change the status quo. Racism must end. We pray and hope that George Floyd's death will not be in vain but will bring an end to prejudice and racial discrimination across the world.

Ms Oteng-Gyasi noted that Ghana is ready to welcome every African in the diaspora who is ready to return to the continent away from the racial abuse they have suffered for about 400 years.

We continue to open our arms and invite all our brothers and sisters home. Ghana is your home. Africa is your home. We have our arms wide open ready to welcome you home. Please take advantage, come home build a life in Ghana, you do not have to stay where you are not wanted forever, you have a choice and Africa is waiting for you, said Ms Oteng-Gyasi.

ModernGhana team is open to the appropriate authorities for collaboration on ways to respond to these requests with the right information as it is not within our purview to do so alone. We believe as Ghana gears up for more in the Beyond The Return campaign which seeks to not only promote tourism and home coming of Africans and Ghanaians in the diasporas but to foster economic relations and investments from the diaspora in Africa and Ghana, it will be a good pursuit to consolidate the gains.

Read More: Come To Ghana If You're Not Wanted In USA  Tourism Minister To African Americans As They Lay Wreath For George Floyd

Below is a snippet of comments and email messages:
SC notice to Maha govt on plea seeking transfer of Palghar lynching case to CBI

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, June 11: The Supreme Court has sought a response from the state of Maharashtra on a petition seeking a CBI probe into the Palghar lynching case.

The relatives of two Juna Akhara priests who were lynched by a mob at Palghar had moved the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into the incident. The petitioner said that they have no faith in the Maharashtra government or police. They further said that they have no faith that a fair and just probe into investigation would be conducted and also suspect their involvement in the incident.

Palghar lynching: CM Thackeray urges Amit Shah to take action on those giving communal colour

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

The three victims, from Kandivali in Mumbai, were travelling in a car to attend a funeral in Surat in Gujarat amid the nationwide lockdown when their vehicle was stopped and they were attacked and killed by a mob in Gadchinchile village on the night of April 16 in the presence of police.

The victims were identified as Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70), Sushil Giri Maharaj (35) and driver Nilesh Telgade (30).

In another petition that was filed in the Supreme Court, the petitioner had referred to media reports and claimed that the police complicit in the incident as they did not use force to prevent it.

"This happened despite the fact that whole country was under lockdown since March 25 and that no person is allowed to be out of their house and everyone has been asked to follow social distancing which raises a huge suspicion on part of local police," the plea said.

"During this whole incident, police did not take any concrete step to protect these innocent men which could be proved by the fact that they did not use any force to disperse the crowd and one of the video even shows that one of the police official actually pushed saints to the crowd when they were asking for the protection," it claimed.

The plea, which had sought transfer of trial in the case from Palghar to a fast track court in Delhi, alleged that the whole incident was "pre-planned and there could be police involvement as well". It alleged that attack on these sadhus was "more like an attack on our society as a whole and could cause social disturbance".

The police has arrested over 100 persons, including nine juvenile, in connection with the case.
Protesters have pulled down a statute of Christopher Columbus outside the Minnesota State Capitol.

A rope was thrown around the 10-foot bronze statue Wednesday afternoon and they pulled it off its stone pedestal.

The protesters, including Dakota and Ojibwe Indians, said they consider Columbus as a symbol of genocide against Native Americans. They said they had tried many times to remove it through the political process, but without success.

State Patrol troopers in helmets, who provide security in the Capitol complex, stood by at a distance but did not try to stop the protesters, who celebrated afterward with Native American singing and drumming.

The troopers eventually formed a line to protect the toppled statue so it could be taken away.

The protest followed a similar incident Tuesday night in Richmond, Virginia, and another in Boston.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

Trend:

President of Ireland Michael Higgins has congratulated Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

As President of Ireland and on behalf of the people of Ireland may I convey to Your Excellency and the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan sincere congratulations and warmest greetings on the occasion of your National Day, President Higgins said.

May I avail of this opportunity to express Irelands solidarity in the task of achieving a global economy that will be instrumental in offering security on the necessities of life to all the citizens who share our vulnerable planet, and in honoring our shared commitments in responding to climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the president added.

May the coming time bring peace, well-being and happiness to the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the president said.
Photo credit: Bow Valley Facebook

From Delish

A white grizzly bear has been spotted in Banff, Canada.

This species of bear is extremely rare, according to wildlife experts.

Locals of Banff have named the bear Nakoda.

On April 29, Rim Rock Resort in Banff, Canada shared a video of bears to its Instagram feed. Obviously, bears in Canada are quite common, so you wouldnt think anything special of the post. But one of the normally brown-haired grizzly bears looked different from the others: It was totally white.

According to bear biologist Sarah Elmeligi, who spoke with local outlet The Star, the white grizzly bear is a rare animal. A typical grizzly bear is a type of brown bear that is very large, with a coat that generally ranges from light tan to dark brown. They have extra-long claws and a hump near their shoulders to provide extra strength for digging.

The rare white bear has been spotted roaming around Banff ever since. On May 18, Bow Valley Network shared a video of the white grizzly bear asking its Facebook followers to vote on a name for the bear. Ultimately, they landed on Nakoda the White Grizzly.

Nakoda is a name originally from the Indigenous people of Banff. The name means Friend or Ally in the native language of the three aboriginal tribes of the areaBearspaw, Chiniki, and Wesley, Bow Valley Network wrote on Facebook.

Nakoda joined other famous bears in the area such as The Boss, a 660-pound male grizzly bear, and Split Lip, a large grizzly who has eaten other grizzly bears in Banff National Park.

Officials say Nakoda is a very special bear and as always, if you see it in the wild, do not disturb it by getting too close. We all want Nakoda the White Grizzly to eventually become Nakoda the Great White Grizzly of Banff National Park area, the Facebook post warned.

Story continues

Wildlife experts who spoke to The Guardian said that theyve known about the white grizzly in Banff since 2017, although the public is only recently learning about the animal after these few viral social media posts.

Its an amazing thing to see such a unique [creature] but we hope people can realize that it highlights the conservation concerns with the species as a whole, Jon Stuart-Smith, a wildlife conservationist with Parks Canada, told The Star. He also urged visitors not to stop their cars if they see the white grizzly bear and to keep your distance.

Beyond the ultra-rare white grizzly, other species of bears are very common at Banff National Park. Parks Canada records every reported bear sighting, and if you skim the list, you can see that there is a bear spotted nearly every day. Officials recommend keeping bear spray on you at all times if you plan to hike any of the parks trails.

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When a crowd estimated at more than 3,000 people took to the streets in Kalamazoo, shouts of defund the police echoed off the buildings in the citys downtown.

It was a scene that played out in many cities across Michigan and the nation, and has sparked conversations among civic leaders about what steps, if any, communities should take in response to the cries to defund police. Advocates of the movement say they want to see police budgets reduced or re-prioritized, with significant changes to the role of police in the community.

Willie Riddle Jr., 30, was among the protesters marching in Kalamazoo on the night of Monday, June 1, and into the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

What Riddle saw that night on the lawn of the Kalamazoo County courthouse stuck with him.

Officers deployed tear gas toward a group of people on the ground. Riddle said his eyes and throat stung after he witnessed the crowd being dispersed. Police said previously the protesters laying there had been chased all around the community before the gas was deployed.

The crowd control tactic is just one example of police actions that citizens are questioning in the wake of a national movement to address racial inequalities and demand police reform. For some, defund police has become a rally cry for the movement.

LaDonna Norman, who is organizing a movement to defund the Grand Rapids Police Department, explained the movement in the streets is inspired by decades of discrimination and abuse the black community has faced. Norman spoke of modern-day redlining and other ways that the black community is treated differently, and she believes more aggressive police tactics are used on black people and in black neighborhoods.

I feel like slavery never ended," she said. It just got more sophisticated.

Related: Callers to Grand Rapids town hall on policing talk about defunding, militarization

Police Officers Association of Michigan President Jim Tignanelli said the law enforcement community takes reports of bad apples seriously, and issues with officers are addressed once found.

Tignanelli said police officers are humans, not robots.

Do some guys overreact to some guys just getting angry, do they get tired of it? Yeah. I wish that wasnt the case, Tignanelli said. We do hire human beings. When theyre getting frozen bottles of water and bricks thrown at them, at some point in time its like, Hey come on, what am I here? People can get to the point where, do we  I dont want to say lose it  but kind of get to the point where weve had enough? Yeah. So some might react differently.

Because the career is no longer an attractive option compared to what it once was, Tignanelli said, local departments are forced to choose their officers from a shrinking pool of interested candidates.

Were hiring the best that we can, Tignanelli said. But it might not be the ones that we were really hoping to hire. We had to pick from what was left in front of us. So, when that occurs, youre going to get the quote/unquote bad apple.

DeWaun Robinson, a leader with Black Lives Matter in Flint, said he agrees with defunding police departments in favor of putting the money toward social services for the community.

More preventative measures would benefit society and we want to explore those options, Robinson said.

In Southeast Michigan, an effort is underway to give citizens a stronger voice in policing, said Chris White, director of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality. The group is pushing for police reforms and more citizen input. White said they are not a part of the defund movement.

We think the word will scare people away, he said. When you say defund, the first thing people think is abolish. But what we really mean is re-prioritize the budget to make sure we have programs that develop the community."

Director Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality Chris White.

White said the attention on the issue could bring needed changes to communities across the state. Some changes are already under way.

Ultimately, he wants citizens to have a stronger voice in policing.

The group is advocating for a comprehensive Community Policing strategy that would encompass four counties in Southeast Michigan, and the effort would include school districts, communities and other organizations to address the needs in each city, giving citizens a voice in how policing happens, he said.

The Detroit Police Department needs more African American culturally competent people on the force, he said, and independent audits of crime statistics. Individual officers views on racism should be looked at, he said. Other departments in the area have different needs, he said, and citizens should be a part of forming local policing in their areas.

On May 31, an MLive photographer was among three journalists hit by pellets fired at them by a Detroit police officer. The journalists were documenting the protests against police brutality in the city.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said during an interview with WWMT-TV (Channel 3) on June 10 that she is against defunding, but she supports other aspects of the movement.

I dont support defunding the police, what I do support though is the real investment in communities, Whitmer said, and that it is a part of the movement.

I know people are highlighting the phrase 'defund the police but the fact of the matter is this movement is really about making sure every American, no matter who they are, are safe, protected, respected, and has opportunity under the law, and that to be true for everyone of us, Whitmer said.

Michigan State Police Spokeswoman Shanon Banner said the agency is committed to working on several fronts in regard to police reform in Michigan.

Last week, MSP Director Col. Joe Gasper joined with Gov. Whitmer to show the agencys support for legislation that would require law enforcement officers to complete training on implicit bias and de-escalation techniques, and also to urge police agencies to adopt policies that require officers to intervene when they observe an excessive use of force by another officer, Banner said.

The state police stands by efforts to reform the policing industry, as outlined in the International Association of Chiefs of Polices Framework for Improved Police-Community Engagement, Banner said.

Considering that all aspects of government are underfunded already, further restricting funding to law enforcement will only hinder these reform efforts and slow progress on making real change, Banner said.

Some protesters want budget adjustments to eliminate purchases such as tear gas.

They need to limit the amount of money they have to spend on these things because the Kalamazoo police department should not have tear gas, Riddle said.

After what happened in Kalamazoo, Riddle talked to City Commissioner Eric Cunningham about concerns over police tactics used.

The city will provide a response to community concerns about the tear gas incident, Cunningham said during an interview with MLive this week.

Some people had their hands raised in the air while others were in the process of lying down, the city commissioner said, when the gas was fired at them.

His expectation and minimum standard is that an independent entity come in and investigate and deliver a report to the city commission, Cunningham said.

The city needs to address one off incidents as they happen, Cunningham said, and also respond to citizen input that seeks larger changes within the department. He understands a lot of people are frustrated with what transpired at the recent protests in Kalamazoo.

Conversations are happening now among local leaders, aimed at addressing those areas of community concern, Cunningham said.

The problem the commission has is weve allowed this standard of what our officers deemed to be fair to be going on versus, you know, really having that conversation on what is the community asking for," Cunningham said.

Commissioners should take action based on what the community wants, and that could could be a drastic change, he said.

Cunningham said he brought up the idea of defunding police three or four years ago but the issue fell on deaf ears.

Cunningham said his idea of defunding in the past involved shifting some money from public safety to another area. He declined to give specifics of what could happen in Kalamazoo, but said city commissioners have met with Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas about the police tactics used during recent incidents.

It is unknown how efforts to defund police budgets might play out in a place like Kalamazoo, where more than 100 public safety officers do the jobs of police, firefighter and EMS.

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety accounts for nearly half (48%) of the citys 2020 general fund budget of $67.6 million.

Cunningham said he will advocate for changes within the department, and others in the city, related to equity.

Everything is on the table, Cunningham said.

Meshawn Maddock, co-founder of the Michigan Conservative Coalition, is against defunding police.

I am good friends with many police officers. The idea of defunding our police, its laughable," Maddock said. "There are videos of people out there looting and then when somebody attacks them, theyre screaming for the police. I think we owe our officers a huge apology for anybody who has been coming after them.

"They put their lives at risk, every day. There are bad people in the world -- there are bad stockbrokers, bad sandwich makers, bad Uber drivers. So of course theres going to be a few bad cops.

The same criticism has been leveled at protesters, due to the a variety of viewpoints in the large crowds that have gathered. While many pledged to be peaceful, there have been cases where destruction followed in the wake of major protests.

In Grand Rapids, protesters took to the streets on May 30 to demand changes to policing and issues of equality. But the scene in the citys downtown area devolved into a riot late that evening and about 100 businesses were damaged, seven police cars were burned and several businesses were looted. The chaos caused an estimated $2.4 million in damage, according to city officials.

Norman, who lives part-time in Grand Rapids and part-time in the nearby suburb of Wyoming, is helping to organize an initiative to defund the Grand Rapids Police Department. She is a member of Together We Are Safe: Bridging the Gap, a group that is organizing a letter-writing campaign on the topic.

Norman attended Grand Rapids demonstrations with other people who were being peaceful, she said. When she heard rumors that some people were looking to cause violence and destruction, she said she warned her neighbors to take precautions and told them to be safe.

Norman said she saw snipers on the roof of a building and she did not agree with some of the aggressive police tactics used. She left one of the demonstrations after having a breathing problem, heading for medical care, where a doctor told her she had a chemical exposure that she doesnt know the source of, she said.

Defunding the Grand Rapids Police Department would mean reducing its budget, she said, which accounts for more than $56 million in expenditures from the citys general fund. Norman said the money could be better spent on community relations and resources such as rehabilitation, reentry, and counseling for mental illness, for example.

She said black people experience bias in interactions with police and it is a cycle they are tired of seeing.

When we reach out to the police, it seems like the only time we have their attention is when its violent or volatile, she said.

The communities most impacted by systemic racism and violence should decide how the money should be used, the campaign states. More than 900 supporters have signed on, according to a page for the effort.

For years weve been harassed and brutalized and I think despite all the efforts to hold police accountable, they have continued to act violently toward the black community without accountability and without resolution," Norman said.

MLive reporters Julie Mack and Roberto Acosta contributed to this report.

Read more:

Detroit protesters to discuss 23 demands with Mayor Duggan on Monday

Protesters cause chaos overnight in downtown Kalamazoo

Callers to Grand Rapids town hall on policing talk about defunding, militarization
A New South Wales childcare operator behind bars over a $3.6 million government benefits fraud has failed to overturn her conviction after judges said the term 'bogan' was not a racist description.

Melissa Jade Higgins contended her guilty verdicts should be set aside because multiple jurors may have exhibited bias against her in the form of 'racist and derogatory comments' during her 2016 trial.

The then 29-year-old was jailed for seven years with a non-parole period of four years after being found guilty by a District Court jury of 81 offences - including 66 of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Melissa Higgins (pictured) failed in a bid to have her conviction for fraud overturned after arguing jurors were 'racist' for calling her a 'bogan'

Her scam involved wrongly claiming $3.6 million in government benefits through her Aussie Giggles childcare centre in Albury between September 2013 and March 2015.

She will be eligible for release on parole in May 2021.

The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal on Thursday dismissed her convictions challenge, ruling she had not established that a juror irregularity deprived her of a fair trial.

The court adjourned her appeal in October 2018 so a New South Wales sheriff's officer could carry out an investigation after a juror reported hearing 'racist and derogatory' remarks about Higgins during the trial.

The investigator conducted interviews with all the jurors and reported back to the appeal court.

The juror who first reported the matter recalled the remark 'lock her up and throw away the keys' but could not remember any racial comments being made about the accused.

One juror recalled more than one person saying something like 'how can a bogan rip off the system like this' and 'Oh my god how is someone from the country able to outsmart the government".

The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal (pictured) dismissed Higgins convictions challenge on Thursday

Justices Mark Leeming, Ian Harrison and Peter Hamill noted none of the jurors nominated any specific racist remark having been made and many denied they heard any racist remark at all.

'The word bogan is not a racist description,' Justice Harrison said.

Justice Hamill agreed, saying while the remark may be considered unfortunate, it bore no logical connection to the suggestion of pre-judgment or bias.

'To the contrary, some of the material suggests that one or more members of the jury may have thought the applicant's lack of sophistication - a quality I take to be implicit in the description of a person as a bogan - made it less likely that they could perpetuate the fraud that was alleged,' he said.
EU calls on warring sides in Libya to stop fighting, join peace efforts

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 6:26 AM

The European Union (EU) has called on all warring parties in Libya to instantly halt military operations there and take part in constructive peace talks.

In a joint statement released on Tuesday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Italy urged all sides to the conflict in Libya to immediately agree on a truce deal and withdraw all foreign forces, mercenaries, and military hardware.

The statement followed intensified diplomatic activity by Germany to press for a political solution to the Libyan conflict, with Chancellor Angela Merkel raising concerns in a Tuesday phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the recent escalation of fighting around the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

The German leader had also on Monday discussed Libya with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Libyan rebels under the command of a military strongman, named Khalifa Haftar, have been fighting to overtake Tripoli and unseat the internationally-recognized government of Libya for over a year. Haftar receives backing from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, and Russia.

The Libyan government receives backing from Turkey.

Berlin has insisted that a peace process for Libya launched in Germany on the auspices of the United Nations (UN) be solely pursued. Egypt has unilaterally proposed a parallel process.

Haftar has rejected several attempts at bringing about peace in Libya, including at the Berlin Conference. The presence of foreign patrons with competing regional interests has only compounded the conflict.

Recent weeks have seen a turning point in the fighting, with the Libyan government achieving the upper hand against the rebels on several fronts.

Haftar falls from grace?

Meanwhile, "informed sources" cited by The New Arab (al-Araby al-Jadeed) have said Haftar currently remains in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and although he is not yet under arrest, his state sponsors have come to the final conclusion that he should no longer play a role in Libya's affairs.

The sources said that the renegade general would have little role in the next phase of Libyan developments and would gradually fade away from news headlines in the countries that have supported him.

According to the sources, following Haftar's recent battleground setbacks, Egypt, France, and the UAE forged a consensus on ending his role, noting that Russia and the US were also on board.

They said no positive outcome for regional stability could be anticipated with Haftar's presence since he was not bound by the commitments he made to the countries that backed him.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said on Monday that he and US President Donald Trump had come to unspecified agreements about the Libyan conflict in a phone conversation. "A new era between Turkey and the US may start after our phone call," Erdogan had said.

Libya plunged into chaos in 2011, when a popular uprising and a NATO intervention led to the ouster of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

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South Africa: Minister thanks ICASA outgoing councilors for their contribution

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has thanked all outgoing councillors at the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) for their contribution.

Wednesday marked the end of term of office of four councillors, while the another councillor has since resigned.

The contribution of these councillors to the sector is beyond questionable. They were at the forefront of shaping a regulator that plays a role in developing the sector as well as the digital economy, the Minister said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly approved 10 names from which the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies will appoint six as ICASA councillors.

The Minister is currently considering the recommended list of names by the National Assembly, and will make an announcement in due course.

As we begin the countdown to the release of the high demand spectrum, a resourced, stable and agile regulator is in our interest, Nadabeni-Abrahams said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Lucknow:

Capping hectic political developments in Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav has been made the chairman of the partys state parliamentary board. It is the party's parliamentary board which takes final decision on ticket distribution. In his additional responsibility as chairman of the SP Parliamentary Board, Akhilesh will have a cruicial say in the entire ticket distribution process for the upcoming assembly elections in the state early next year.

It seems that UP CM AKhilesh has had a last laugh in the ongoing feud in the Samajwadi pariwar. After an almost week-long political brinkmanship that brought chacha Shivpal Yadav and bhatija Akhilesh in an unprecedented face off , it was left to the Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav hit upon a compromise formula. It seems Mulayam has quelled the tide for now as both sides (read Shivpal and Akhilesh) appear to have sunk their differences.

This is precisely what Akhilesh wanted  - the power to decide who gets the ticket for the next assembly polls - as a quid pro quo to reinstating chacha Shivpal in his cabinet and continue to let him head the party state unit.

Earlier in the day, Akhilesh Yadav signalled rapproachement when he said that he went to congratulate his chacha Shivpal Yadav and not state party chief at the latter's residence on Saturday. Akhilesh addressed media persons in Lucknow to clarify that that is no rift in the party. Akhilesh has kept Shivpal's PWD department and has returned his previous departments with Medical education and minor irrigation.

Earlier on Saturday, the members of Yuvjan Sabha came out in support of Akhilesh in Lucknow and demanded that the UP CM should be reinstated as the Samajwadi Party state unit chief.

However, Akhilesh supporters have been warned of stern action by the party high command. On the other hand, the supporters on Saturday gathered outside Shivpals residence. Shivraj came out of his home and met his supporters.

ALSO READ: Shivpal Yadav, Prajapati to be reinstated in Akhilesh cabinet

Here are the live updates:

# Akhilesh Yadav is the new chairman of SPs state parliamentary board, will have a veto power in ticket distribution in upcoming UP elections



# We are united, there is no rift in Samajwadi party: Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav.



# Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) ka aadesh sarvamanniya hai: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav



# Hum sabko mil kar kaam karne ki zaroorat hai taakki virodhiyon ko mauka na miley: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav

# I have congratulated him (Shivpal Yadav) on being made UP chief of Samajwadi Party, says Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav



# Akhilesh Yadav: Politics is not a game for me

# UP CM Akhilesh Yadav keeps Shivpal's PWD department, returns Shivpal his previous departments with Medical education and minor irrigation

# Shivpal Yadav to continue as the Samajwadi Party State President

# Gayatri Prasad Prajapati to be re-inducted in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet, will take oath soon

UP: Supporters of Shivpal Singh & Akhilesh Yadav create ruckus outside Shivpals residence in Lucknow. pic.twitter.com/9B4vKWBPC9

 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 17, 2016

UP: Supporters of Akhilesh Yadav stage dharna outside Mulayam Singh Yadavs residence in Lucknow. pic.twitter.com/s4AxGEKq9P  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 17, 2016

UP: Akhilesh Yadav's supporters demand that he be made UP chief of Samajwadi Party again. pic.twitter.com/2FjSHUgoYK  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 17, 2016

UP: Akhilesh Yadav's supporters demand that he be made UP chief of Samajwadi Party again. pic.twitter.com/sMoNSQIIOd  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 17, 2016

#Shivpal and Akhilesh supporters come face to face, raise slogans against each other

#Youth front gherao party office

#Slogans raised in support of Akhilesh Yadav.

Donning red caps and carrying posters of the Chief Minister and his wife Dimple Yadav, the supporters started for the party office this morning, raising slogans like Akhilesh ko adyaksh banao (make Akhilesh the state president), saying only Akhilesh bhaiya could lead the party.



Akhilesh had on Friday announced that his disgruntled uncle Shivpal will be given back his portfolios and Gayatri Prajapati will be reinducted as Cabinet minister, issues which had triggered an all-out war in the party.

ALSO READ: Will accept whatever Mulayam says, Shivpal Yadav on his resignation from govt

The head of four frontal organisation of Samajwadi Party-Chhatra Sabha, Lohia Vahini, Yuvjan Sabha and MSY Youth Brigade, according to sources, have also written to party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav demanding that Akhilesh be reinstated as the state unit chief.



We have conveyed our feelings to Netaji (Mulayam) that we (all youth frontal organisations) will not be able to work with anyone except Akhilesh. We want him back as state president. Youth is feeling dejected after his removal, they are depressed and even ready to immolate themselves in his favour, Mohd Aibad, President Mulayam Singh Yadav Youth Brigade, said.

ALSO READ: I did not ignite any feud in Samajwadi Party, says Akhilesh Yadav

MLCs Rajpal Kashyap and Anand Bhadauria, who had in past held posts in SPs front organisations, also raised slogans in his favour.



Nejati on many occasions has said the youth should lead. We want him to bring back Akhilesh who is undisputed leader of youth and poor and has done a lot for the development of state, Kashyap said.The supporters of Shivpal are also reaching the party headquarters in Lucknow. Akhilesh had on Friday expressed his desire to have a say in ticket distribution for 2017 polls and had termed the elections as his pariksha (test).
The massive economic hit from a second wave of COVID-19 has been spelt out - amid fears Black Lives Matter protests could spark a new virus outbreak.

Authorities are on edge after a protester at last weekend's Melbourne demonstration tested positive for coronavirus, with more rallies planned.

The OECD fears a new spate of infections would cause gross domestic product to shrink by 6.3 per cent in 2020 as lockdowns and business shutdowns were re-instituted.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Melbourne radio station 3AW: 'That's a $25 billion cost to the Australian economy.'

An economic plunge of that magnitude would be equal to three years' worth of GDP, or every quarter from June 2017 to March 2020.

'Should widespread contagion resume, with a return of lockdowns, confidence would suffer and cash-flow would be strained,' the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said.

Scroll down for video

The OECD fears a second waves of coronavirus infections would cause gross domestic product to shrink by 6.3 per cent in 2020 as lockdowns and business shutdowns resumed. Its forecasts were issued days after 60,000 people joined Black Lives Matter rallies, including the one in Sydney pictured

An economic plunge of that magnitude would be equal to three years' worth of GDP, or every quarter from June 2017 to March 2020. Pictured are near empty tables at St Kilda in Melbourne following an easing of restrictions

Even if there was no second outbreak, Australia's economy was still expected to contract by five per cent in 2020 - or a level equivalent to 10 quarters of growth.

Mr Morrison said the positive test in Melbourne exposed the risk of holding more mass rallies.

'People wanting to take (protests) further this weekend are showing a great disrespect to their fellow Australians,' he said.

Last Saturday, 60,000 activists demonstrated in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The marches, highlighting the alleged murder of black detainee George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer, sparked widespread criticism from senior Liberal cabinet ministers, including Mathias Cormann who described them as 'reckless'.

'It is incredibly selfish, it's incredibly self-indulgent and it does impose an unnecessary and unacceptable risk on to the community,' Senator Cormann told Sky News.

Australia, like other countries, was continuing to ease coronavirus restrictions and revive economic activity.

The fears about a second wave of infection were published only hours before it was revealed a Melbourne Blacks Lives Matter protester had tested positive to COVID-19. Pictured is the early in Melbourne

From Saturday, New South Wales residents will be allowed to have 20 people in their home, replacing the existing cap of 10.

Food courts - which have only been allowed to offer takeaway - will be re-opened for table dining, also from Saturday, as gyms reopen after three months of being shut down.

The OECD noted Australia's success at containing COVID-19 and the $70billion JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme giving bosses $1,500 a fortnight to pass on to their staff.

'Confinement has been less strict than elsewhere thanks to the relatively mild virus outbreak,' it said.

Even if there was no second outbreak, Australia's economy was still expected to contract by five per cent in 2020 - or a level equivalent to 10 quarters of growth. Pictured is a boarded-up shop at Newtown in Sydney's inner west

'Massive macroeconomic policy support, including a temporary wage subsidy, is limiting the economic shock.

'Most economic restrictions are planned to be unwound by July.'

Australia is considered less susceptible to the effects of a second coronavirus outbreak, with the 6.3 per cent contraction figure for 2020 well below the global average of 7.6 per cent under the same circumstances.

'Australia has been relatively spared, so far, from the COVID-19 outbreak,' the OECD said.

Still, Australia's economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the March quarter, marking the first quarterly contraction since early 2011.

The OECD noted Australia's success at containing COVID-19 and the $70billion JobKeeper wage subsidy giving bosses $1,500 a fortnight to pass on to their staff. Pictured is Fremantle bar staff

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is expecting the economy to go backwards again in the June quarter, which would see Australia sink into recession for the first time in 29 years.

'The answer to that is yes,' he said.

'That is on the basis of the advice that I have from the Treasury department about where the June quarter is expected to be.'

Mr Frydenberg is the first Australian treasurer to confirm a recession since Labor's Paul Keating memorably said in late 1990: 'This is the recession that Australia had to have.'

Official figures won't confirm a recession until September, when GDP data for the June quarter is released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The House of Federation, which represents the 9 federated states, voted in favor of this solution despite much criticism from the political opposition as well as from jurists and human rights activists. Abiy Ahmed will continue to lead Ethiopia until Covid-19 is no longer considered a crisis situation by the health authorities. Only then can elections be held within nine to 12 months. They were to be held in August this year.

In addition, the population census has been postponed once again. The country has not held one for 13 years.

The Speaker of the upper house of the Ethiopian parliament resigned on Monday in protest against the postponement of the countrys planned elections.

I cannot be complicit when the constitution is being violated and a dictatorial government is being formed, she said. I resigned from being complicit (with) such an historic mistake.

With this vote of the House of Federation, the Former Nobel Price Abiy Ahmed will continue to lead Ethiopia as long as a concrete solution will not be found for the pandemic.

As of Thursday, 2 506 people had tested positive at Covid-19 in Ethiopia. Thirty-five people have died as a result of the pandemic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reiterated his resolve to turn the Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity to make India self-reliant, and emphasised a policy shift from a command and control to a plug and play economy.

Addressing the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata over video conference, Modi asked the industry to focus on people, planet and profit to create globally competitive supply chains.

Noting that the world is grappling with the Coronavirus crisis, he said: But amid all these, every [Indian] citizen is also having a resolve to transform this disaster into an opportunity, to make this into a major turning point.

He defined this turning point as a self-reliant India. He said this has been the aspiration of Indians for several years, and it is being pursued through policies and actions for the past five to six years.

Now the Corona crisis has given us a task to accelerate this process and Atmnirbhar Bharat Abhiyan [self-reliant India initiative] is an outcome of that, he said.

Modi gave a call for an Atmanirbhar Bharat in his address to the nation on May 12, when he announced a package of more than Rs 20 lakh crore to revive the economy battered by the pandemic.

According to the latest official data, the Indian economy grew 3.1% in the three months ended March 31. The growth rate in the full fiscal 2019-20 is expected to be 4.2%, the slowest in 11 years on the back of falling investment and consumption.

Growth in the last quarter was sluggish despite only the last seven days of the period being impacted by the nationwide lockdown since March 25. A sharp fall in gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected due to the 68-day lockdown. Fitch Ratings on Wednesday forecast a 5% contraction in GDP this fiscal, but it expected growth to rebound to 9.5% next year.

The next fiscal appears promising for India as S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said the countrys economy is likely to achieve a strong 8.5% growth, following a 5% contraction in the current fiscal.

These estimates came almost a week after Moodys Investors Service downgraded Indias sovereign rating one notch to the lowest investment grade, with a negative outlook, saying the Indian economy would face a prolonged period of slower growth.

S&P on Wednesday hoped recent structural reforms announced by the government, along with fiscal incentives in the Atmanirbhar Bharat package, would boost the economy. While risks to Indias long-term growth rate are rising, ongoing economic reforms, if executed well, should keep the countrys growth rate ahead of peers, it said.

Key structural reforms announced recently include expansion of the scope for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), allowing marketing freedom to farmers, liberalisation of commercial mining, a comprehensive disinvestment policy, and opening up the defence and space to private entrepreneurs. In September 2019, the government slashed corporate tax rates to make India a manufacturing destination, which, according to S&P, should reinforce growth alongside additional fiscal and monetary easing.

In his address to the industry on Thursday, Modi said his government will take steps to reduce import dependency and encourage local manufacturing. He asked industry to focus on three factors  people, planet and profit  because all are interdependent.

He gave the example of LED bulbs, once unaffordable to the common people. Five years ago, a LED bulb cost Rs 350. But it is now available for Rs 50. This helped provide relief to people, saved electricity worth Rs 19,000 crore and protected the environment, he said.

So, the planet has also benefited. And of course... manufacturers profits have increased, he added.

Modi urged businessmen to set up globally competitive domestic supply chains. This is not the time for a conservative approach. It is time for bold decisions and bold investments, he said.

He said every citizen has resolved to face adversity with determination and this will be a turning point in the countrys history. Atmanirbhar Bharat is the manifestation of the dream every Indian has seen for all these years, he said.

India can lead in manufacturing of products such as medical equipment, defence hardware, solar panels, batteries, chips and aviation, he said.

On June 2, while addressing Indian businessmen, Modi had voiced confidence in the economys ability to return to rapid growth, listing it among his governments top priorities and pledging his commitment to systematic reforms. Yes! We will definitely get our growth back, Modi said in his speech to a conference on Getting Growth Back organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Highlights:

 Audited underlying profit up 6.6% to $242 million in the year to March 31, 2020

 Audited reported (IFRS) profit, including unrealised valuation gains, down 19% to $265 million, due to changes in valuation assumptions impacted by COVID-19

 Final dividend of 12.7 cents, taking the full year dividend lifted to 24.2 cents per share, in line with growth in underlying profit

 Operating cash flows rose 12% to $449.8 million, cash receipts up 12% to $1.13 billion

 Significant investment in keeping residents and staff safe from COVID-19

 Record $711.4 million invested in portfolio, and construction under way on 12 new villages with 841 beds and units built in the year, up 11%

 Total assets of $7.68 billion, up 15%

 Continued strong demand for villages with only 1.7% of resale units unsold at year end, and 98% occupancy at established care centres

 New Takapuna site acquired, thirteenth site in Auckland  landbank at 6600 beds and units

 Seven new villages approved by councils; another seven new village applications lodged

 Named Most Trusted Brand in the NZ industry for sixth time, awarded the Dementia Friendly tick from Alzheimers NZ, staff and residents happier than ever

 Targeting having five villages open in Victoria by December 31, 2020

Ryman Healthcares audited full year underlying profit rose 6.6% to $242 million thanks to strong demand at new villages and the company is in good shape to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19.

Audited reported (IFRS) profit, which includes unrealised fair value gains on investment property, was $265 million, down 19%. The unrealised fair value movement was down $173 million in the year due to changes in valuation assumptions impacted by COVID-19.

This was partially offset by the reintroduction of tax depreciation by the New Zealand Government on commercial buildings which resulted in a deferred tax credit of $86 million.

Shareholders will receive an increased final dividend of 12.7 cents per share, taking the total dividend for the year to 24.2 cents per share, in line with the increase in underlying profit. The dividend will be paid on July 10, the record date for entitlements is June 26.

The growth in underlying profits was driven by strong development margins, particularly from Rymans Melbourne and Auckland villages.

Cash generation was strong during the year with operating cashflows up 12% to $449.8 million. Total assets were $7.68 billion, up 15%, reflecting the value created by ongoing development and strong demand. Ryman invested $711.4 million during the year with construction across 12 sites and continued investment in innovation and its existing portfolio.

Chairman Dr David Kerr said it was a solid result given the disruption caused by COVID-19.

The most important thing for us was to continue to keep COVID-19 out and to look after our 11,600 residents and 6,000 staff. We have been successful so far, but we take nothing for granted.

We have had huge commitment from our team, and a massive amount of goodwill from our residents and their families throughout. I thank everyone who has played a part in this and continues to do so during the recovery.

The COVID challenge had proven the Ryman model of retirement living and care was more relevant to our residents and their families than ever, Dr Kerr said.

We took some big decisions, including starting to ban visitors from countries with COVID-19 infections in January, locking down access to our villages in March, increasing pay at our villages during lockdown and stocking up on PPE to keep everyone safe. Our decisions mean we are in good shape for the recovery.

We are a values-based company  people come first. With this approach we will weather the storm and enhance our reputation as a safe haven for people in retirement and a great place to work.

Ryman was able to reassign members of its construction team to help with security and grocery deliveries during the Level 4 lockdown and its marketing and sales staff worked in support roles, helping with welfare calls and communications, Dr Kerr said.

Chief Executive Gordon MacLeod said Ryman had been on track to finish the year strongly before the profound impact of COVID-19 began to be felt.

We had our strongest February ever with record sales and we had built a lot of momentum for March, which is the end of the selling season for us and traditionally our biggest month, Mr MacLeod said.

The decisions we took to close down our villages to visitors early had an impact on sales activity in March, and we had to shut our construction sites at short notice.

Rymans villages and high-quality care offering continued to be in strong demand, with low resale stock. Care occupancy in established villages was at 98% at March 31.

We are beginning to see sales activity ramp up, it is good to be building again, and our sales and construction teams are up for the challenge, Mr MacLeod said.

Rymans balance sheet remains well placed to support the build programme, but all development decisions would be carefully considered as the New Zealand and Victorian economies recover from the impact of COVID-19.

Ryman has work under way on 12 sites in New Zealand and Victoria, and its strongest ever land bank with 60% of units and beds consented.

We have had a busy 12 months with seven new villages approved by councils, and we have another seven new village applications lodged, Mr MacLeod said.

Ryman has purchased a new village site in Takapuna, which will become its thirteenth village in Auckland.

Mr MacLeod confirmed that Ryman is still targeting to have its fifth village open in Victoria by the end of the year.

During the year Ryman was voted the Most Trusted Brand in the New Zealand industry for the sixth time and was awarded Dementia Friendly status for all its villages by Alzheimers NZ.

Staff and residents were happier than ever, with significant lifts in survey results during the COVID emergency.

We are incredibly grateful to our team for the care and support they provided for our residents over the past three months. We know our residents think the world of them, and so do I, Mr MacLeod said.

Source: Ryman Healthcare Limited

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Eldar Janashvili - Trend:

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) held a foreign exchange auction with the participation of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), during which Azerbaijani banks acquired $40.7 million, Trend reports citing CBA.

According to CBA, demand from the banks at the auction decreased by 22.3 percent or by $12 million compared to the previous auction and amounted to $40.7 million.

Considering the number of days remaining before the next scheduled auction, as well as with the aim of ensuring uninterrupted currency trading by the banks, the demand of banks at the auction will be fully provided during weekends.

The first foreign exchange auction in a long time was held with the participation of SOFAZ on March 10, 2020, during which Azerbaijani banks acquired 323.2 million manat ($190.1 million).

The CBA began to hold foreign exchange auctions through unilateral sale of foreign currency in competitive conditions since mid-January 2017.

In March 2020, it was decided to hold extraordinary foreign exchange auctions in connection with the increased demand of the population for foreign currency amid the failed OPEC+ deal, which entailed a sharp decline in oil prices.

(1 USD = 1.7 AZN on June 11)
British Gas owner Centrica is axing 5,000 jobs, representing 20 per cent of its global workforce.

The group, which employs over 27,000 people and has over three-quarters of its workforce based in the UK, is undergoing a major restructuring amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over half of the job losses are expected to come from management teams and follow 4,000 cuts planned by this year which were announced in 2018.

Centrica said half of its 40-strong top-brass leadership team would be stepping down from their posts and the company by the end of August, with plans also in the pipeline to strip out three other layers of management to help streamline the business.

Cuts: British Gas will lose 5,000 employees as its company Centrica will slimline due to Covid-19

All change: Chris O'Shea, CEO of Centrica, says they must focus on 'modernising and simplifying' work

All in all, around half of the jobs lost will be in the group's corporate, management or leadership teams.

Centrica, which is embroiled in a huge cost cutting drive, hopes to trim 2billion of its outgoings by 2021.

The group has furloughed around 3,800 of its workforce during the pandemic, but they remain on full pay.

Chris O'Shea, the company's chief executive, said: 'The harsh reality is that we have lost over half of our earnings in recent years. Now we must bring focus by modernising and simplifying the way we do business.'

He added: 'I truly regret that these difficult decisions will have to be made and understand the impact on the colleagues who will leave us.

A combination of the (energy price) cap and too little, too late management decisions have left a once proud brand crippled and weak - GMB Union

'However the changes we are proposing to make are designed to arrest our decline, allow us to focus on our customers and create a sustainable company.'

The GMB union vowed to fight the cuts, with spokesman Justin Bowden saying: 'A combination of the (energy price) cap and too little, too late management decisions have left a once proud brand crippled and weak.

'Slashing thousands more jobs is not the answer. You cannot just cut your way out of a crisis.

'GMB will fight for every single job.'

There'll be a removal of three different managerial layers as part of the company's restructure

The majority of the restructuring is expected to take place in the second half of this year, following consultation on the proposals with affected staff.

Significantly for Centrica staff based in the UK, the group said: 'In addition to the proposed new organisational design, the company will today start consultation to simplify terms and conditions for employees in the UK.

'Centrica has over 80 different employee contracts, each with multiple variants, with many of the agreements dating back over 35 years. We need to modernise these to enable us to best serve the changing expectations of today's customers while retaining the quality of our services.'

The company has seen the pandemic curb energy demand and has had to adapt to a price cap imposed in 2019 on the most common energy tariffs in Britain.

Warning: Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted there will be 'many job losses'

Earlier this year it canceled its dividend for 2019 and warned of an increase in non-payments by customers.

It said its latest restructuring push would lead to fewer customer-facing business units and that the job cuts could come as soon as the second half of this year.

A spokeswoman for Centrica said it was unable to disclose the locations for the proposed job cuts as they were subject to consultation, but said roles across all divisions of the firm would be affected.

Although it is still by far the biggest energy supplier in Britain, British Gas has been squeezed by increased competition in recent years.

The company has lost around half its earnings in the past decade, as smaller suppliers chipped away at its market share, from a quarter in 2013 to 19 per cent today.

The rise of smaller suppliers was capped off last year when Ovo Energy, which was only founded in 2009, bought SSE.

Last month Ovo announced that it would axe 2,600 roles at the combined business, as the coronavirus pandemic sped up its restructuring plans.

Centrica's share price is firmly in the red this afternoon and at the time of writing was down 3.28 per cent or 1.37p to 40.46p, having dropped over 4 per cent earlier. A year ago, the now FTSE-250 listed group's share price stood at around the 93.88p mark. The company has recently been relegated from the FTSE 100 index on the London Stock Exchange.

Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted there will be 'many job losses' exacerbated by to the pandemic as businesses suffer losses during lockdown.

A 'significant' number of the near 9million employees currently enrolled on the Government's Job Retention Scheme e are being warned they could be made redundant as the months roll on.

The furlough scheme has closed to new applicants and from August, bosses will have to start contributing to workers' pay.
It may be impossible to trace all the close contacts of a protester who tested positive for coronavirus after attending Melbourne's Black Lives Matter protest, Victoria's top health official says.

The man, in his 30s, wore a mask to the protest last Saturday but developed symptoms in the 24 hours after the rally, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said on Thursday.

He is the first protester confirmed to have COVID-19 after the demonstration, which was attended by thousands of people.

Professor Sutton said it was unlikely the man contracted the virus at the protest but may have been infectious. It was not known if he had the COVIDSafe app downloaded or whether it was activated.
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) and the National Council for Arts and Culture have condemned the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in the United States, and police brutality, and racial discrimination against Africans in the diaspora.

Mr Floyds death more than a fortnight ago has triggered a global wave of activism that has spread to more than 50 countries, including Nigeria and 16 other African countries.

During a memorial service for Mr Floyd held on Wednesday in Abuja, the duo of NiDCOM Chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and the Director-General, NCAC, Olusegun Runsewe, called for justice for Mr Flyod and other blacks (especially Nigerians who are the largest African ethnic group in the U.S.) against racial discrimination and police brutality.

This gathering is against violence, brutality and racial discrimination. We call for respect and dignity for all races. Never again should we be made to witness what we saw on the streets of Minneapolis, the slow murder of an individual by a uniformed police officer, Mrs Dabiri-Erewa said.

According to Mr Runsewe who is also the president World Council of Arts, African Region, African culture has great respect for the sanctity of human life and detests violence.

He added that Nigerian culture in particular is centred on love and dignity, thus Nigerias reason for joining the global movement for justice.

This is why we are joining the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission to ask for justice for Late George Floyd and to propagate the message of peace all over the world.

READ ALSO:

We believe that all men are created equal and have inalienable rights among which are rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, he said.

Come home where you are loved

Mrs Dabiri-Erewa said it was time for Nigerians and Africans in diaspora to reconnect with their home and the black continent, adding that it is not a bed of roses but it is home where they will be overwhelmed with love and the spirit of togetherness.

She said Badagry Door of Return is a platform for every black person to connect physically, spiritually emotionally and economically with the motherland since they have an African DNA in them.

As a black person, you must aspire to come back to your motherland where you can freely breathe. As a black person, you should think of coming back to Africa or Nigeria to invest in an environment where you can freely breathe and as a black person, come back to your home where you will be shown love, she said.

Mrs Dabiri-Erewa added that tracing their African roots would be symbolic for them as they would be received as kings and queens on the African continent, following the slavery experience.

There was a minute silence in memory of Mr Floyd and all the other black Africans all over the world who have suffered violent attacks and even death on account of the colour of their skin.

This was followed by two drama presentations titled I cant Breathe and Our Hearts Toughened.

Protest

In the wake of global call for justice against police brutality, small protests took place at the U.S. embassies in Lagos and Abuja which prompted the diplomatic post to issue a statement in support saying it saluted the protestors expression of solidarity.

They join many Americans who are similarly outraged by what transpired and we have seen them express their shock, grief, frustration, and anger in many parts of the United States, it said.

Police brutality has also been a cause for concern in Nigeria. PREMIUM TIMES had reported a series of police brutality and how Nigerians had called for the reform of the police among others.

But when the spate of sexual violence against women increased in the past weeks, the demand for justice generally resonated after drawing inspiration from the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the U.S.

The rallying cries #JusticeForUwa, #JusticeForTina and #JusticeForJennifer have reverberated among internet users in Nigeria with celebrities joining the virtual campaigns.
Decision-making members of the Journalists Association of Korea and newly elected journalists-turned-lawmakers of the 21st National Assembly pose at a restaurant in the Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. They discussed a variety media-related issues, ranging from sound checks and balances between the media and the Assembly, to fake news, the governing structure of major broadcasters and other thorny issues affecting the media and political landscapes. Courtesy of the Journalists Association of Korea
Union Human Resource Development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has on Thursday released the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Ranking 2020. HRD minister was live with Minister of State Sanjay Dhotre and chairman of AICTE Anil Saharsrabudhe and UGC chairman DP Singh through webcast on his Twitter page @DrRPNishank to announce the ranking. Every year, MHRD ranks the universities and institutions of India based on the pre-determined parameters. In the year 2019, IIT Madras had topped the list of higher education institutions followed by IISc Bengaluru and IIT Delhi. Here we bring to you full details about NIRF Rankings.

HRD Ministers live webcast can be watched online on Twitter or the webcast portal of MHRD.

Heres the direct live link to watch the webcast.

e- Release of India Ranking 2020 (NIRF) https://t.co/MnFqsm7Oqw  Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) June 11, 2020

Full list here:

Overall Category: IIT Madras, IISc Banglore, IIT Delhi Click here to read more

University category: IISc Bangalore, JNU New Delhi, BHU Varanasi

Engineering Category: IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay

Management Category: IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta

Read More: IIM Ahmedabad is the top management institute, check full list here

Pharmacy Discipline: Jamia Hamdard Universitt, Punjab University, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Mohali

Colleges category: Miranda house DU, LSR for women DU and Hindu college DU.

Read More: Check full list of top 10 colleges of India here

Medical Discipline: AIIMS, New Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, Christian Medical College, Bangalore

Law Discipline: National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, NLU New Delhi, Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad

Architecture Discipline: IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, NIT Calicut

Dental College: Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Science, Manipal College of Dental Science, Dr DY Patil Vidyapith Pune

Follow latest updates here for more details:

02:03 pm| For the first time, dental colleges have also been ranked this year.Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Science, Delhi has bagged the first rank. Mainpal College of Dental Science has got second rank while Dr DY Patil Vidyapith Pune has bagged the third position.

01:50 pm| Among the pharmacy discipline, Jamia Hamdard bagged the first rank while Punjab university and National Institute of Pharmecutical Institute Mohali stood on second and third rank, respectively.

01:48 pm| Under the architecture discipline, IIT Kharagpur has bagged the first rank followed by IIT Roorkee and NIT Calicut.

01:45 pm| Among the law colleges of India, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru has bagged the top position with National Law University Delhi has bagged the second rank followed by Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad.

01:43 pm| Maulana Azad Medical college Delhi is the top dental college in India as per the NIRF Ranking 2020

01:40 pm| Among the medical colleges of India, AIIMS Delhi is the top institute while PGIMER Chandigarh is the second best medical college. Christian Medical College has bagged the third rank.

01:38 pm| Under the college category, Miranda House of Delhi University bagged the first rank followed by Lady Shri Ram and Hindu College who got the second and third rank, respectively.

01:36 pm| Under the management discipline, IIM Ahmedabad topped the list followed by IIM Bangalore and IIM Kolkata.

01:33 pm| AIIMS New Delhi has topped the list of medical colleges in India.

01:26 pm| In overall category, IIT Madras has topped the list followed by IISC Bengaluru and IIT Delhi.

01:24 pm| There are around 45 thousand degree colleges, over 1000 universities and 1500 top institutes in India. Every institution should participate in the NIRF ranking, HRD minister suggested.

01:20 pm| I request the UGC Chairman to make it compulsory for all the universities to participate in the NIRF Rankings from next year, said HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in the webcast.

01:07 pm| Over 6.5 lakh have downloaded the National Test Abhyas app for JEE and NEET aspirants. Over 8 thousand students have installed the app in last half an hour.

01:00 pm| HRD Minister releases NIRF Ranking 2020 through webcast.

12:58pm| HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank starts his address.

12: 50 pm Earlier there were only four categories for Ranking in the initial year 2015. But now various categories have been added. From this year, dental colleges have also been added in the NIRF Ranking category, said MoS Sanjay Dhotre

12:47 pm| Minister of State, MHRD Sanjay Dhotre begins his address

12:46 pm| 5500 institutes had sent applications for NIRF Ranking this year

12:34 pm| NIRF Ranking is announced every year since 2015. This is the fifth edition of NIRF Ranking.

12:32 pm| The NIRF ranking is usually announced in the month of April but it was delayed this year due to coronavirus pandemic.

12:24 pm| HRD minister Dr RP Nishank along with Minister of State Sanjay Dhotre, chairman of AICTE Anil Saharsrabudhe and chairman of UGC DP Singh are live through webcast to announce the NIRD Ranking 2020.

12:22 pm| This year Dental colleges have also been ranked.

11:05 am| MHRD had approved NIRF in the year 2015. The NIRF outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.

11:07 am| The methodology for NIRF Rankings: A core committee set up by MHRD has drawn broad parameters for ranking. The parameters broadly cover Teaching, Learning and Resources, Research and Professional Practices, Graduation Outcomes, Outreach and Inclusivity, and Perception.

11:10 am| Broad Parameters (overall):

Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR)

Research and Professional Practice (RP)

Graduation Outcomes (GO)

Outreach and Inclusivity (OI)

Peer Perception

11:14 am| Under the Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR) parameter, an institution is ranking based on

Student Strength including Doctoral Students (SS)

Faculty-student ratio with emphasis on permanent faculty (FSR)

Combined metric for Faculty with PhD (or equivalent) and Experience (FQE)

Financial Resources and their Utilisation (FRU)

11:18 am| Under the Research and Professional Practice (RP) parameter, institutions are ranked on the basis of:

Combined metric for Publications (PU)

Combined metric for Quality of Publications (QP)

IPR and Patents: Published and Granted (IPR)

Footprint of Projects and Professional Practice (FPPP)

11:20 am| Under the Graduation Outcomes (GO) parameter, universities are ranking based on:

Metric for University Examinations (GUE)

Metric for Number of Ph.D. Students Graduated (GPHD)

11:22 am| Under the Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) parameter, institutions are ranked on the basis of:

Percentage of Students from Other States/Countries (Region Diversity RD)

Percentage of Women (Women Diversity WD)

Economically and Socially Challenged Students (ESCS)

Facilities for Physically Challenged Students (PCS)

Perception Ranking (PR)

11:24 am| Under the Peer Perception parameter, institutions are ranked on the basis of Academic Peers and Employers (PR). This is to be done through a survey conducted over a large category of Employers, Professionals from Reputed Organizations and a large category of academics to ascertain their preference for graduates of different institutions.

11:28 am| NIRF also has a discipline-wise ranking methodology. The disciplines include engineering, management, architecture, law, medical, pharmacy and colleges.

11:30 am| Under the discipline-wise ranking methodology, NIRF follows the same broad parameters that are used for overall ranking.

11:32 am| How the universities/ institutions are marked on basis of parameters:

Teaching, Learning & Resources ---100 (marks) -- 0.30 (weightage)

Research and Professional Practice--100 --0.30

Graduation Outcomes --- 100 --0.20

Outreach and Inclusivity --100 -- 0.10

Perception ------100 ---0.10

11:35 am| In the year 2019, IIT Madras had topped the list of higher education institutes. IISc Bengaluru had bagged the second rank while IIT Delhi stood third in this list.

11:37 am| Discipline-wise NIRF Ranking in 2019: Among management institutes in India, IIM Bangalore had topped the list while IIM Ahmedabad stood second and IIM Calcutta bagged the third place.

11:41 am| Under the top higher education institutes fourth, fifth and sixth ranks were clinched by IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur. JNU, New Delhi, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Varanasi bagged the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth spot respectively.

11:45 am| Among the colleges ranking list, Delhi Universitys Miranda House has topped the national ranking of colleges while St Stephens has been placed fourth on the list.

11:53 am| Under the medical list, AIIMS New Delhi had topped the first rank while under the law list ,National Law School-Bengaluru bagged the first rank.

11:59 am| In 2019, among the pharmacy institutes, Jamia Hmdard has come out as the leader, with IIM Bangalore being ranked the top most among management institutes.
North Korea sees little use in maintaining a personal relationship between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump if Washington sticks to hostile policies, state media reported on Friday on the two-year anniversary of the leaders first summit, Trend reports citing Reuters.

U.S. policies prove Washington remains a long-term threat to the North Korean state and its people, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.

The Singapore summit in June 2018 represented the first time a sitting American president met with a North Korean leader, but the statement that came out of the meeting was light on specifics, opting instead for four general commitments.

A second summit in February 2019 in Vietnams capital Hanoi, failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over U.S. calls for North Korea to completely give up its nuclear weapons, and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.

Ri said in retrospect the Trump administration appears to have been focusing on only scoring political points while seeking to isolate and suffocate North Korea, and threatening it with preemptive nuclear strikes and regime change.

Never again will we provide the U.S. chief executive with another package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns, he said. Nothing is more hypocritical than an empty promise.

On Thursday North Korea criticized the United States for commenting on inter-Korean affairs, and said Washington should stay quiet if it wants the upcoming presidential election to go smoothly.

The U.S. State Department did not respond to requests for comment, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Thursday, a State Department spokesperson told South Koreas Yonhap news agency that the United States remains committed to dialogue with North Korea, and is open to a flexible approach to reach a balanced agreement.

Ri said North Koreas desire to open a new cooperative era runs as deep as ever, but that the situation on the Korean peninsula is daily taking a turn for the worse.

The U.S. professes to be an advocate for improved relations with the DPRK, but in fact, it is hell-bent on only exacerbating the situation, Ri said.

The official name of North Korea is the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK).

North Korea will continue to build up its military forces to cope with the threats from the United States, Ri said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan signed on June 11 a decree on extending the state of emergency, declared on April 12 and extended until June 11, for another 30 days, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The current state of emergency will be effective until July 11, 22:00.

Artsakh declared a state of emergency to battle the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to the latest data, the total number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the Republic has reached 68, out of which 43 have already recovered. No death case has been registered so far.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
New Delhi:

BJP is all set to take Uttar Pradesh by storm and will launch four 'parivartan yatras' next month in Uttar Pradesh. Keeping the upcoming state elections of 2017 in mind, the party has decided to stretch these 'yatras' over 100 days. Further, star campaigner and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to conduct a rally as BJP aspires to take on its rivals, the ruling SP and Mayawati-led BSP.

Party sources said the four yatras will start from Saharanpur, Lalitpur, Sonbhadra and either Gorakhpur or Balia and converge at one place, which could be Lucknow, after the inauspicious 'Shradh' period ends.

Top party leaders, including president Amit Shah and several Union ministers, will be addressing public meetings as the yatras move on.

Giving details of the campaign, they said the party has decided to hold a youth and woman meeting in each of the 91 districts of the state.

It hopes to connect with each of the estimated 52,000 panchayats in the state and also hold a meeting at the booth level. Faced with tough competition from SP and BSP, both of which also led by formidable personalities, BJP is banking on its organisational machinery and its central leadership's might as the party is unlikely to name a chief ministerial face like its rivals.

"Our developmental agenda, the good work of the Modi government and the mal-governance of SP and the previous Mayawati dispensation are at the centre of our campaign. So far the prevailing view is that we won't have a chief ministerial face," a party leader said.

With a strong section of Dalits strongly behind Mayawati and numerically strong Yadavs and a large chunk of Muslims supporting SP, BJP is working to make a social coalition of upper castes and other backward castes to pull off a victory in a state where it has been out of power for over 14 years.

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An international team of archaeologists has uncovered a diminutive carving, depicting a standing bird, at the Paleolithic site of Lingjing in Henan, China. The artifact is estimated to be 13,500 years old, making it the oldest example of East Asian 3D art ever discovered.

The open-air site of Lingjing, about 120 km south of the Yellow River, was discovered in 1965 and excavated yearly from 2005 to 2018.

The excavations identified eleven distinct layers ranging in age from 120,000 years ago to the Bronze Age.

Dr. Zhanyang Li from Shandong University and colleagues found several artifacts, including pottery sherds, burned animal remains, and the bird figurine, in sediments (layer 5) dated to 13,500 years ago.

The figurine is 19.2 mm in length, 5.1 mm in width, 12.5 mm tall, and depicts a small standing bird.

Its proportions, i.e., short head and neck, robust, rounded bill and long tail, are reminiscent of a passerine bird.

In lieu of the passerine short legs, a large, rectangular pedestal allows the figurine to stand in the upright position. The oversized tail prevents the object from tilting forward, the archaeologists said.

Passeriformes (passerine birds) is an order that encompasses more than half of all known extant bird species. Unfortunately, the lack of minute details on the figurine prevents a more precise identification.

The Lingjing bird figurine predates previously known comparable artifacts from this region by 8,500 years.

The bird figurine from Lingjing constitutes the first carving found at an East Asian Paleolithic site and it differs technologically and stylistically from previous and contemporaneous representations of avifauna found in Europe and Siberia, the researchers said.

The earliest known statuettes, made of mammoth ivory and including a flying waterfowl, are found in the Swabian Jura. They are dated to 40,000-38,000 years ago.

Few other 3D carvings representing birds, made of teeth and antler, come from West European late Upper Paleolithic sites.

The only Paleolithic bird carvings from Asia are those found at Malta and Buret, two neighboring Siberian sites located west of Lake Baikal. They mainly consist of pendants made of ivory and antler representing flying waterfowls.

The Lingjing figurine is the only Paleolithic 3D object carved in burnt bone and representing a bird standing on a pedestal, they said.

It is also the only Paleolithic carving for which, thanks to its exceptional state of preservation, the final stages of manufacture could be documented in detail.

The research was published in the journal PLoS ONE.

_____

Z. Li et al. 2020. A Paleolithic bird figurine from the Lingjing site, Henan, China. PLoS ONE 15 (6): e0233370; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233370
SPRINGFIELD  Police have begun to issue criminal complaints against those using or possessing illegal fireworks as part of their ongoing crackdown, a spokesman for the department said.

Officers have issued related criminal complaints to people on Greene Street, White Street, Trafton Road and Worthington Street, Ryan Walsh said. Police recently confiscated fireworks from Collins, Malden, Governor, Horace and Catharine streets.

Capt. Drew Piemonte, spokesman for the fire department, said the city has seen a dramatic increase in the use of fireworks and complaints have been coming into both the police and fire departments every night for several weeks now.

Piemonte said a quarter of fireworks burn injuries in Massachusetts happen to children under 10 yrs old. We urge you to keep your kids safe, and leave the fireworks to the professionals, he said.

Walsh said the shuttering of city schools due to the coronavirus pandemic may be a factor in the increased use of illegal fireworks. Complaints, though common this time of year, typically peak around Memorial Day and again around July 4th.

This year we are receiving more calls after Memorial Day than we usually do, he said.

The extra patrols will continue on different nights, he said.

Under state law, those who use or possess fireworks may be subject to fines of $10 to $100. Those who sell them face potential fines of $100 to $1,000 and imprisonment for up to a year.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  Several overseas Filipino workers who were granted royal pardon in Bahrain have been deported to the Philippines, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain pardoned last month 16 OFWs convicted of drug peddling, murder, accessory to murder, attempted homicide, prostitution, embezzlement of funds, stealing, human trafficking, and involvement in fights. They are part of the 154 inmates in Bahrain who were recently granted pardon.

Eleven of them were already sent back to the Philippines, while the deportation of four others is still being arranged. The remaining OFW has been pardoned for the crime of drug peddling, but still faces a seven-year jail term for human trafficking, the department said.

President Rodrigo Duterte previously thanked King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa for granting the royal pardon.

"This act of humanity by His Majesty King Hamad Bin lsa Al Khalifa provides renewed hope and an opportunity for our countrymen and women to build new lives," he said on May 31.
VANCOUVERIts been quite the ride.

Canadas sea otters have gone from teetering on the brink of extinction, to staring down the proverbial barrel of an atomic bomb, to transforming entire ecosystems on the West Coast.

After being virtually wiped out during the fur trade centuries ago, sea otters are once again thriving in British Columbia waters and on their way to injecting more than $50 million annually into the provincial economy.

Thats the finding of a new study published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

Otter watching, when people pay to see the furry creatures with flipper-like feet in the wild, could yield as much as $42 million a year, according to the study out of the Univesity of British Columbia.

Furthermore, the presence of these shellfish-eating animals allows kelp forests to flourish, creating new habitat for economically valuable fish like lingcod, adding as much $9.4 million to that fishery per year.

The study paints a clearer picture of what happens when an animal that was previously wiped out is successfully reintroduced in the wild, says Kai Chan, professor at the University of British Columbia and one of the authors of the paper.

The biggest message coming out of the paper is about the tremendous benefits that await from efforts to reintroduce a top predator, Chan told the Star.

But while the economy is gaining, some communities  including Indigenous coastal communities that rely on shellfish fisheries  are seeing the repercussions of having a thriving predator back in their midst.

The otters resurgence is part of their long, strange story off Canadas West Coast.

The creatures were hunted to near extinction during the fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Then, in the 1960s, the U.S. government made plans to detonate an atomic bomb, for testing purposes, on Alaskas Aleutian Island. The island, while uninhabited by humans, happened to be home to one of the last sea otter populations on the West Coast.

(The U.S. government) realized that testing an atomic bomb on an island that had the last remaining sea otters was a bad idea, but not so bad they didnt want to do it, said Chan. So they relocated those sea otters elsewhere.

About 90 sea otters were transported and released to the west coast of Vancouver Island, according to Canadas Fisheries and Oceans Department.

The idea that they did not consult local communities ... these days it would be unheard of to do that, Chan said.

Three decades later, B.C.s sea otter population had grown to 2,700 otters.

The new study shows how policymakers could do a better job protecting people from the unintended consequences of predator reintroduction, Chan said.

Because what is good for sea otters is bad for shellfish, and the humans who harvest shellfish for a living.

Sea otters, unlike most marine mammals, dont have blubber to keep them warm in the chilly Pacific Ocean and so rely on a high metabolic rate to keep their body temperature up. This requires them to eat a quarter of their weight, about 25 pounds, worth of sea urchin, crab, geoduck, and other shellfish, every day.

With several thousands of sea otters devouring sea urchin, geoduck and crab off the coast of B.C., some local communities, many of them Indigenous, are hurting.

The provinces shellfish industry could lose as much as $7.3 million per year due to the reintroduction of sea otters, according to the studys lead author, Edward Gregr.

He and other study authors quantified the effects of the presence of sea otters by combining food-chain data with economic values for fisheries, carbon pricing and tourism.

We took those ecological results and we took the best available economic information to translate those biological changes into dollars, said Gregr, an adjunct professor at UBC whose research focuses on coastal ecosystems.

The presence of sea otters will result in a 28 per cent decrease in the manila and butter clam fishery, as well as a 25 per cent decrease in geoduck clam catch, according to the model. Crab and sea urchin fisheries will also be affected.

Sea urchin populations, when left unchecked, can destroy large swaths of kelp forest that act as a refuge for many marine species, including fish.

Yet by controlling the sea urchin population, sea otters in fact create more habitat for fish species like ling cod, halibut, and rockfish, which themselves make up a valuable fishery.

According to Gregrs study, the so-called fin-fish fishery could increase in value by $9.4 million.

It wasnt a comprehensive analysis of all the costs and benefits, Gregr acknowledged. Food security for coastal communities was left out, for example, and cultural values also left out.

Its important that the communities that currently rely on the shellfish fishery for their livelihood are able to pivot if they wish, he said.

Given this transformative change along the coast here and the focus of reconciliation in Canada these days, this could provide a pretty wonderful opportunity to reconcile the fisheries in some way, he said, and move toward a more equitable co-management strategy for all marine resources, not just the shellfish.

The government may need to act soon.

Communities on the west coast of Vancouver Island are likely already feeling these effects, said Gregr. Other places, such as the northern part of Haida Gwaii, will be affected by 2040, he said, adding it takes about 25 years for sea otters to transform an area.

The sea otter success story comes at a time when conservationists and biologists around the world are sounding the alarm about a mass extinction of species due to human activity. A 2019 UN report found that about one million species are on the verge of becoming extinct.

Countless ecosystems around the world are a shadow of their former glory, held back by missing key ecological players, just as the sea otters were missing from this coast for decades, said Chan, who was co-ordinating lead author on the UN report.

He hopes this study will not only show that quantifying the economic effects of wildlife recovery programs is possible, but also help governments ensure Indigenous communities are able to access the benefits of a more productive ecosystem.

The challenges here will be to think boldly  and to take action that is just as inclusive of the interest of Indigenous people in local communities.

Read more about:
Although production of the mid-engined Corvette C8 was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, we learned that Chevrolet has big plans for the sports car, with Z06, ZR1, and Zora models underway. The Z06 is officially scheduled for 2022, and even though we dont know if it will arrive on time, we just learned a few juicy details about it from our friends over at Muscle Cars and Trucks.

The 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 will feature carbon-fiber tires

Quoting a "network of well-placed sources," Muscle Cars and Trucks claims that the Z06 will ride on carbon-fiber wheels. These rollers will be optional, so youll have to pay extra to get them, but its still good news. Like the Ford GT, the Chevy Corvette will finally benefit from wheels that are much lighter and more durable than standard alloy rims. The wheels will measure 20 inches in the front and 21 inches in the rear and will come wrapped in high-performance Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires.

This is the same rubber that Porsche offered on the outgoing 911 GT3 RS and 911 GT2 RS models and features a tread compound transferred directly from Michelins race-spec tires. Michelin will most likely produce bespoke versions of these tires not only for the Z06 but for the upcoming ZR1 and Zora models too.

The 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 will feature active aerodynamics

The Corvette Z06 will be a far more aerodynamic car than the standard Corvette, mainly thanks to its active aero features. The package will include an adjustable rear wing, adjustable front splitter, and even adjustable side flaps, all of which will adjust themselves electronically during braking, cornering, and while accelerating. But just like the carbon-fiber wheels, the aero features will be optional and likely available with the familiar Z07 package. The source mentioned above says we should forget about a fixed rear wing for the Z06.

The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 could have a center-mounted exhaust

The C8-generation Corvette no longer features a mid-mounted exhaust. Chevrolet dropped this already traditional feature for a quad-exhaust layout with two pipes at each corner of the bumper. But the center-mounted exhaust could make a comeback on the Z06 model. Muscle Cars and Trucks says that Chevrolet is currently analyzing this option as a way to improve the sound of the 5.5-liter V-8 that will power the V-8. A re-routed exhaust that exits through the center will reportedly "improve the pitch of the exhaust note, and allow the mid-engine Corvette Z06 to sound more like an exotic car." It may sound like a somewhat silly reason to go through all that trouble, but given that Chevy is now aiming at the mid-engined supercar market, its not exactly ridiculous to worry about such things.

The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 will arrive in 2022 if things go as planned

Chevrolet is already facing delays. The 2020 model year Corvette has been discontinued much earlier than planned, while production of the 2021 model year C8 will also be shorter. The Corvette Z06 was originally scheduled for 2022, but the factory shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic could push it back to early 2023. Either way, the Z06 will be followed by the Grand Sport, which will feature a hybrid drivetrain in 2023 and the ZR1 in 2024. The 2025 model year should bring the Corvette Zora, a beefed-up hybrid with a whopping 1,000 horsepower.

Chevy C8 Corvette Timeline Model Year Engine Power (est.) Torque (est.) Likely Application 2021 LT2 6.2-liter 16-valve OHV 490-495 hp 465-470 lb-ft RHD Corvettes for export 2022 LT6 5.5-liter 32-valve DOHC 650 hp 600 lb-ft Corvette Z06 2023 LT2 6.2-liter 16-valve OHV hybrid 600 hp 500 lb-ft Corvette Grand Sport 2024 LT7 5.5-liter twin-turbo DOHC 850 hp 825 lb-ft Corvette ZR1 2025 LT7HP1 5.5-liter twin-turbo DOHC hybrid 1,000 hp 975 lb-ft Corvette Zora

Source: Muscle Cars & Trucks
She has been getting out a little more now that Los Angeles has eased lockdown restrictions in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And on Wednesday Kelly Osbourne spent some quality family time when she headed out to pick up some pet supplies with one of her nieces.

The fun day also included doing some creative arts projects together when they got home from their afternoon jaunt.

Family time: Kelly Osbourne, 35, headed out on a pet supply run with one of her nieces in Los Angeles on Wednesday

Osbourne, 35, stepped out looking her usual rocker-chic in black pants, that came up above her ankles, and white long-sleeve shirt.

She also donned a pair of black and white leather shoes and wore a stylish hat over her purple tresses.

Keeping with the safety first mantra in this post coronavirus world, the television personality wore a black protective mask as she carried her purse and strap for her phone over her right shoulder.

Edgy cool: The television personality looked her usual rocker chic self in black pants, white shirt and hat over her purple tresses

The daughter of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne also took to her Instagram Story and shared a quick video of her playing with her niece, believed to be Pearle Osbourne, eight.

The little girl is the daughter of younger brother Jack Osbourne, 34, and his former wife Lisa Stelly, who finalized their divorce in March after about seven years of marriage.

Aunty Kelly and Pearle worked on some creative arts projects together.

Pearle also has two sisters Andy Rose, four, and Minnie, two.

Quality time: The daughter of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne also took to her Instagram Story and shared a quick video of her playing with her niece, believed to be Pearle Osbourne. eight

family matters: Pearle is the daughter of younger brother Jack Osbourne, 34, and his former wife Lisa Stelly, who finalized their divorce in March after about seven years of marriage

Adorable: Kelly and Pearle worked on some creative arts projects

Love fest: Kelly had her arms around her little niece during their arts playtime

Kelly first came to prominence on family's hit reality show, The Osbournes, from 2002 to 2005.

She also made a name for herself on E!'s Fashion Police, where she was a presenter from 2010 to 2015.

Kelly has also appeared n Dancing With The Stars, Project Runway Junior, Australia's Got Talent, and is the voice of Hildy Gloom in the Disney XD animated series The 7D.
Los Angeles-based Rooftop Cinema Club unveiled its film lineup for its massive drive-in movie theater venue that will be located just outside the front gates of Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

The company, which is known for its unique rooftop venues and movie-watching experiences, announced last week that it will host its third Texas drive-in movie theater in San Antonio. The first two were rolled out last month in Houston, and both have been opened nightly since then, the company told mySA.com.

RELATED: Rooftop Cinema Club to host third Texas drive-in venue at Six Flags Fiesta Texas later this month

Rooftop Cinema Club will open its San Antonio location on June 23 and will run until July 5, according to the release. There will be two movies a night and tickets will cost $24 per vehicle. Tickets can be purchased at rooftopcinemaclub.com/san-antonio.

Guests can bring their own snacks or can order from the concession food truck that will be on site. All orders are made online and guests will be notified for pick up. Concession items will include popcorn, candy and soda, the release said.

Rooftop Film Club started as a single rooftop in London's Shoreditch in 2011 and has now expanded globally with three venues in the United Kingdom and venues in L.A., New York, San Diego and Houston. The company diverted its cinema plans to drive-ins due to the coronavirus pandemic temporarily shutting down movie theaters, restaurants and more businesses in March.

The following is the movie lineup for Rooftop Cinema Club's drive-in movie theater at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
China Again Declines To Join Arms-Control Talks With U.S., Russia

By RFE/RL June 10, 2020

China has reiterated its refusal to participate in three-way disarmament talks with the United States and Russia ahead of a new round of arms-control talks between Washington and Moscow scheduled for June 22 in Vienna.

The United States had voiced hopes that Russia could convince China to join the negotiations about limiting the three countries' nuclear weapons stockpiles.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on June 10 that Beijing hadn't changed its previous stance that it was not going to join the talks.

"We noticed that the United States has been dragging China into the issue...whenever it is raised," with the intention of deflecting from its responsibility, Hua said.

President Donald Trump has in recent years pulled out of a number of international agreements, such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Iran nuclear deal.

The Trump administration, however, voiced a general interest in preserving New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), which obliges the United States and Russia to halve their inventories of strategic nuclear-missile launchers. The treaty expires in February 2021.

But Washington is seeking to broaden the accord into a three-way deal that would also include China, whose nuclear arsenal remains significantly smaller than those of Moscow and Washington.

Hua, speaking in Beijing, said U.S. claims that it wanted to negotiate in good faith "feel extremely ridiculous and even surreal."

China's rebuttal of Washington's overtures came after Russia also warned that U.S. insistence on including China could scuttle efforts.

Moscow called on the United States on June 9 to make a "positive" proposal ahead of the Vienna meeting between Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and U.S. envoy Marshall Billingslea on New START.

Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations by videoconference, Ryabkov said, "My answer to a direct question on whether or not we think it would be possible to bring China to the table would be a flat and straightforward no."

"We need to hear loudly and clearly what this administration wants, how it believes it would be possible to do something positive and not just to dismantle one arms-control treaty or arrangement after another," Ryabkov said.

He added that U.S. allies Britain and France, also nuclear powers with much smaller arsenals, should join the talks.

The United States and Russia each had more than 6,000 nuclear warheads in 2019, while China had 290, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association.

France had 300 and Britain possessed 200, with India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea maintaining smaller arsenals, according to the research group.

With reporting by AFP and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/china-again- declines-to-join-arms-control-talks-with- u-s-russia/30663036.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Market Analysis

Global Potato Chips Market Revenue is witnessing a boom fueled by the changes in food patterns of the masses. Potato chips is one of the most easily available snacks in the market that appeals to consumers belonging to all age groups. Although the market has already penetrated the target segment, it is anticipated to attract a larger consumer base in the years to come. Also, the rising demand for convenience food in conjunction with a sedentary lifestyle is expected to augment the potato chips market over the next couple of years.

Flavor innovation is one of the key areas of focus for the market players. In order to capitalize on the market growth, the industry leaders are emphasizing on the introduction of new flavors to satiate the taste buds of the consumers and gain an edge over competitors. In addition, the emphasis is also placed on the packaging of the product. Investments are projected to increase in packaging for attracting the consumers. It is expected to have a positive influence on the revenue acceleration of the market participants over the next few years.

Competitive Dashboard

The prominent players studies in this MRFR report on Potato Chips Market Revenue are PepsiCo, Inc. (U.S.)., Diamond Foods, Inc. (U.S.), CALBEE, Inc. (Japan), Herr Foods Inc. (U.S.), Intersnack Group (Germany), Lorenz Bahlsen Snack-World Group (Germany), and Snyders-Lance (U.S.)

Industry News

In April 2019, Vlasic, an American brand for pickles, has announced the launch of a range of snacks including pickle flavored potato chips to Bigs Vlasic Dill Sunflower Seeds.

In March 2019, PrimoHoagies, a United States east coast-based, fast casual restaurant chain, revealed its plan of introducing Italian hoagie-flavored, potato chips by the end of this year.

In January 2019, Potato supplier Albert Bartlett has announced the launch of its branded chilled Rooster Homestyle Chips at UK retailer Sainsbury.

Market Segmentation

By flavor, the Potato Chips Market Revenue has been segmented into salt & pepper, barbecue, cheddar & sour cream, classic potato chips, cheese & onion, spicy jalapeno, and others. Among these, the salt & pepper segment is expected to maintain its dominant position over the assessment period.

By product type, Potato Chips Market Revenue has been segmented into salted, chili, plain, flavored, and others. The salted and chili segments are expected to dominate the growth trajectory of the market in Asia Pacific over the next couple of years.

By specialty food type, the global potato chips market has been segmented into gluten-free, GMO- free, vegetarian, kosher, organic, and others.

By distribution channel, the potato chips market has been segmented into supermarket/hypermarket, convenience store, e-commerce, and others.

Access Full Report Details and Order this Premium Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/potato-chips-market-2991

Regional Analysis

Global Potato Chips Market Revenue by Region, has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world (ROW). North America is presently holding the maximum share of the market and is projected to retain its prominence over the assessment period. The efforts directed towards the production oh healthier potato chips are anticipated to augment the regional market in the upcoming years. Asia Pacific is poised to hold the second spot and maintain it through the forecast period. Increasing population in conjunction with rising purchasing power is expected to have a favourable impact on the growth of the potato chips market in the region.

Related Covid-19 Analysis on FnB Reports:

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-a2-milk-market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-alternative-sweeteners-market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-artisan-bakery-market

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-rtd-beverages-market

NOTE: Our Team of Researchers are Studying Covid19 and its Impact on Various Industry Verticals and wherever required we will be considering Covid19 Footprints for Better Analysis of Market and Industries. Cordially get in Touch for More Details.
Jerry Seinfeld revealed that, as a 21-year-old, he took a course in Scientology, though he never pursued it any further.

The 66-year-old comedian was a guest on Marc Maron's WTF podcast on Monday, where Maron asked 'why does everyone say you were a Scientologist once?'

The comedian confirmed that he did take a course in Scientology back in 1975, though he never went through the full program.

Jerry speaks: Jerry Seinfeld revealed that, as a 21-year-old, he took a course in Scientology, though he never pursued it any further

'I did do a course in Scientology in, like, 1975. I found it very interesting, but I never pursued it,' Seinfeld said.

He added that he enjoyed Scientology's 'emphasis on ethical behavior' fascinating, but he also didnt like the aspect of 'avoiding negative people.'

He also said that he's not really religious, but added that he's Jewish and that, 'we celebrate some of the big ones.'

Pursued: 'I did do a course in Scientology in, like, 1975. I found it very interesting, but I never pursued it,' Seinfeld said

He added that the scientology class he took was in New York, though he didn't give any more details.

The comedian previously opened up about his brief stint in scientology in a 2008 interview with Parade.

'Believe it or notits extremely intellectual and clinical in its approach to problem-solving, which really appealed to me. It was very helpful,' he said.

New York: He added that the scientology class he took was in New York, though he didn't give any more details

The comedian added that he took 'a couple of courses' in scientology, and one was in communication.

'I learned some things about communication that really got my act going.They have a lot of very good technology,' he added.

'Thats what really appealed to me about it. Its not faith-based. Its all technology. And Im obsessed with technology,' Seinfeld said.

Communication: The comedian added that he took 'a couple of courses' in scientology, and one was in communication

Seinfeld just released his new comedy special Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill in May, where he performed at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

He also has his hit series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Netflix, with the 11th season debuting in July 2019.

The comedy legend signed a multi-faceted production deal with Netflix back in 2016, which included two new specials and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
CANTON, Ohio, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- JobsOhio today announced that minority-owned Stark County businesses will participate in ELITE, London Stock Exchange Group's business support and development program. In collaboration with JobsOhio and the Stark County Minority Business Association, ELITE USA announced that 13 minority-owned businesses will make up its new cohort.

"ELITE is providing Stark County minority-owned businesses access to resources that will help their efforts to scale up and grow," said Governor Mike DeWine. "This also expands ELITE's presence in Ohio ahead of its headquarters opening in Cleveland in the coming year."

"We are excited to connect ELITE's proven business development capabilities with the Stark County Minority Business Association," said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio's president and CEO. "Ensuring that these businesses have the tools they need to succeed and grow will create new opportunities in Northeast Ohio while accelerating Ohio's economic recovery strategy."

JobsOhio will fund the one-year program, which includes expert consultation regarding strategy, innovation, operations, marketing, governance and risk management, talent management and leadership. This will be the second group of U.S. businesses to benefit from the ELITE program, which supports growth aspirations, promotes global partnerships and facilitates access to international capital.

Last October, Lt. Governor Jon Husted led an Ohio delegation to London, consisting of Southeast Ohio businesses, for the program graduation. Many of the Canton businesses joining this year's class joined that delegation. During that trip, the Lt. Governor joined ELITE in announcing that Cleveland, Ohio will serve as its headquarters in the Americas. The investment in Cleveland provides more opportunity for collaboration with Ohio companies and supports the administration's mission to increase capital investment and job creation.

"I'm thrilled to see the Stark County Minority Business Association's ELITE cohort launch. The expertise, additional resources, and opportunity for growth the ELITE program provides will go such a long way for these businesses," said Rep. Thomas West of Canton. "I'm so grateful to ELITE USA and JobsOhio for making the Stark County Cohort a reality, and I look forward to seeing the benefits this partnership will bring both to our area and the whole state."

Businesses participating in the ELITE program also receive individualized consulting and business support from some of the world's top business and investment experts. ELITE helps companies develop world class strategy, broadens their network and prepares them for building the sustainable leading businesses of the future. ELITE program graduate companies have experienced as much as seven times the growth and created four times more jobs compared to industry peers.

"We are delighted to launch this new ELITE cohort and look forward to supporting these companies in exploring opportunities, developing new strategies and expanding relationships," said Tom Tyler, Head of ELITE USA. "I am confident these dynamic businesses will benefit from the skill, networks and opportunities ELITE offers, and welcome them to the global community of ELITE companies."

"The Minority Business Association is excited about the 13 businesses that will benefit from participating in the cohort launch of the ELITE program," said Leonard Stevens, president of the Stark County Minority Business Association. "This program will allow our participants an opportunity to expand their business platform and gain valuable insight on growing their business and advancing it to the next level."

The following minority-owned small businesses and entities comprise the new Stark County Cohort:

Business Sector The ABCD, Inc. Consumer Services Community Restoration Centers Consumer Services Environmental Flooring Group LLC Construction Freeman Residential Services Healthcare Services Greater Stark County Urban League LLC Consumer Services House of G.R.A.C.E. Residential Services LLC Healthcare Services Integrity Accounting Financial Services Invictus Capital Management Financial Services Me and the Bees Consumer Goods Peterson NBC LLC Consumer Goods Quality Care Construction Consumer Services/Construction Quality of Life Health Care Services LLC Healthcare Services Vital, Inc Financial Services

Following graduation, these organizations become part of a global network of more than 1,500 businesses across 36 sectors and 42 countries, and an exclusive global ecosystem of successful business leaders, expert advisors and engaged investors.

About JobsOhio

JobsOhio is a private nonprofit economic development corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention and expansion. The organization also works to seed talent production in its targeted industries and to attract talent to Ohio though Find Your Ohio. JobsOhio works with six regional partners across Ohio: Dayton Development Coalition, Ohio Southeast, One Columbus, REDI Cincinnati, Regional Growth Partnership and Team NEO. Learn more at www.jobsohio.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

SOURCE JobsOhio
ICG, the operator of Irish Ferries, has reported a 60pc drop in passenger numbers for the first six months of this year, as measures taken to limit the spread of Covid-19 impacted travel.

Car volumes are down 62pc, according to an update from the group.

ICG said it is very difficult to estimate the full year financial impact on the group, as the reduction in passenger revenue will be material.

The severity of this reduction in passenger revenue is dependent on the duration and nature of travel restrictions particularly over the peak summer season, it added.

The company said the current Irish Government position, of asking people from Britain who visit Ireland to self-isolate for two weeks, is not consistent with that of the British Government who do not require people travelling to Britain from Ireland to self-isolate.

In addition, there is nothing to stop people from Britain visiting Ireland by transiting via Northern Ireland without the requirement to self-isolate which is clearly anomalous. We have written to the Irish Government on this issue, ICG said.

Elsewhere, since the start of Covid-19 restrictions in Ireland and the UK the company has experienced more limited disruption to its roll-on, roll-off freight business and its Container & Terminal division.

In the year to June 6 roll-on, roll-off volumes are down 4pc, container volumes are down 13pc, with container lifts on ICGs terminals down 14pc.

Meanwhile, ICG says it has terminated its contract with the German shipbuilder FSG, who were contracted to build a new vessel for Irish Ferries.

This follows the yard making an application through the German courts system to be placed in debtor in possession management under the oversight of an Insolvency Monitor.

As part of the original contract with the yard, ICG paid a deposit on this vessel for 20pc (33m) of the purchase price with the remaining 80pc due on delivery of the ship. This deposit was protected by third party guarantees and has now been returned to ICG, the company said.

The company added that it is in a strong financial position to weather this Covid-19 storm.
Haunted by sagging poll numbers, US President Donald will relaunch his election campaign next week ending a nearly three-month-long pause even as the country is tormented by the coronavirus pandemic and a wave of anti-racism protests.

Were going to be starting our rallies. The first one, we believe, will probably... be in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he said on Wednesday.

Trump didnt say what kind of anti-pandemic precautions will be taken at the June 19 rally. Oklahoma has one of the lowest infections rates, with a total of around 7,500. Theyve done a great job with Covid, as you know, in the state of Oklahoma, Trump said.

Meanwhile, protests raged across the country in the aftermath of George Floyds killing. Statues of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus were beheaded and vandalised as calls to remove sculptures commemorating colonisers and slavers swept the US.

While most rallies were relatively peaceful, crowds in Portland, Oregon, threw bottles at police. Thomas Lane, one of the former cops charged in Floyds killing, was released on bail.

Despite the US militarys openness to rename bases christened after Confederate generals who defended slavery, Trump nixed the move. Calling them monumental and very powerful, Trump tweeted that the bases are part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory and Freedom.

Trumps spirited defence of the base names came as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the removal of statutes of confederate figures in the Capitol. And auto-racing company NASCAR outlawed the display of the confederate flag at its events.

On Thursday, chairman of the chiefs of staff Mark Milley expressed regret for accompanying Trump on his controversial walk through a park outside the White House violently cleared of peaceful protesters on June 1. Trump had gone on to pose for pictures in front of a church damaged in protests.

I should not have been there. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it, Milley said in a pre-recorded video address.
Via Chicago Mayor

As protests across Chicago devolved into chaos last week and residents started to loot nearby stores, police officers were making popcorn and drinking coffee while lounging inside Congressman Bobby Rushs office, officials said in a stunning news conference on Thursday.

Speaking alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Rush said at least 13 Chicago Police officers were loitering inside his South Side campaign office in the early hours of June 1 and were relaxing while nearby stores were being looted and burned, and their fellow officers were clashing with demonstrators.

They even had the unmitigated gall to make coffee for themselves and to pop popcorn, my popcorn, in my microwave, while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight and within their reach, Rush (D-IL) said.

Via Chicago Mayor

The incident, which Rush and Lightfoot said was captured on CCTV, showed the officersand at least three supervisorswith feet up on desks. One officer was asleep on my couch while another was on his cellphone, Rush said.

They were in a mode of relaxation and did not care about what was happening. They did not care. They absolutely did not care, Rush added.

Rushs office is located in a strip mall that had been looted for several hours that night. While Lightfoot clarified that the officers were responding to a call that the campaign office had been broken into and burglarized, Rush said that when he finally got around to viewing the CCTVhe was horrified to see it filled with cops.

The shocking news comes amid scrutiny of Chicago cops, who have been accused of using excessive force during protests and riots in the wake of George Floyds death. The Cook County states attorneys office and the FBI are reviewing allegations that one Chicago officer pulled a woman from a car by her hair before placing a knee on her necka move similar to how Floyd died at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

Lightfoot, at times visibly angry and tearful during the Thursday press conference, said the officers demonstrated a total disregard for their colleagues [and] for the badge and should be held accountable. She said she and her team were enraged when they learned of the incident. None of the 13 officers has been identified, and she urged them to come forward before investigators find them.

Story continues

Calling it a personal embarrassment, Lightfoot offered an apology on behalf of the city, saying the officers had abandoned their obligations to keep the city safe. She said she would push for the state to pass a law requiring police officers to be licensed.

We should all be disgusted, and we should all feel hurt and betrayed in this moment, of all moments, Lightfoot said, adding that the officers were inside Rushs office, located in a shopping plaza that had been looted for about four to five hours.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown also condemned the officers actions, stating that he planned to hold them accountable and uphold the nobility of this profession.

If you sleep during a riot, what do you do during a regular shift when there is no riot? Brown asked, before apologizing on behalf of the police department.

Rush, the co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party, has been a member of Congress since 1993. The Democratic lawmaker has had a tense relationship with Lightfoot in the past, after Rush falsely accused her of being the Fraternal Order of Polices preferred candidate in 2019.

While he was campaigning for a Cook County Board president last year, Rush said those who vote for Lightfoot would have the blood of the next young black man or black woman who is killed by the police on their hands. Seemingly alluding to their history on Thursday, Lightfoot said that, despite their differences, she would work together with Rush against misconduct during a historical period of reckoning for the police.

We havent always agreed on every issue but today, we are in total alignment in our righteous anger and our steadfast determination, and I want to make sure thats very clear, Lightfoot said. What I know of Congressman Rush is thishe has committed his life to calling out and fighting against injustice and this presents exactly one of those moments.

Editors note: This headline has been updated to reflect that the police officers are accused of loitering inside Congressman Bobby Rushs office after responding to a call there. They were not accused of burglarizing the office.

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A 24-year-old Passaic County man was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl he was babysitting in August 2018.

Elias Cano, of Paterson, was convicted after a jury trial in October 2019 of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

The victim gave police a videotaped interview that was played for the jury and also testified, according to Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes.

Valdes said Canos conviction fell under provisions of the Jessica Lunsford Act, which requires judges to impose enhanced punishments for those convicted of sex crimes in which the victim is under age 13.

The law was named after a 9-year-old girl from Florida who was abducted from her home in 2005 by a convicted sex offender who murdered her.

After serving his sentence, Cano will be placed on parole for life and be required to register as a sex offender under Megans Law.

The victim and her family watched Canos sentencing hearing via the states public courts channel, Valdes said.

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Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
As a corpse sticks out from the back of a blazing car on a road in central Iran, a badly burned young Afghan who escaped the flames stumbles along the road.



"Give me some water, I'm burning!" the migrant screams in pain.



The harrowing minute-long video, which went viral on social media, shows a gruesome scene in which Iranian police are purported to have shot a car carrying Afghan migrants, causing it to explode in flames.



Three passengers were killed while five others were hospitalized with burns. A video showed at least one of the injured handcuffed to a hospital bed.



The grisly incident in Yazd Province on June 5 has caused outrage in Afghanistan and rekindled a long-running debate about the treatment of Iran's sizable Afghan community.



It comes just a month after Afghan officials said Iranian border guards killed 45 Afghan migrant workers by forcing them at gunpoint into a river along the two countries' 900-kilometer frontier.



The two events have sent Afghans protesting in the streets and onto social media to denounce Iranian authorities for what they allege is abuse and discrimination against the estimated 1 million Afghan migrants and refugees in neighboring Iran.



Hold 'Perpetrators Accountable'



Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on June 8 called for a thorough investigation of the incident.



The Foreign Ministry said the same day that "no legal channel will be spared to legally hold the perpetrators accountable."



The ministry said authorities in Yazd have admitted that their police shot the vehicle carrying the Afghan migrants. The ministry also said the video uploaded on social media was genuine.



Yazd Deputy Governor Ahmad Tarahomi told Iranian state media that police fired on the vehicle, which they suspected was carrying drugs and undocumented migrants, after it crashed through a checkpoint.



Tarahomi said, that after its wheels were hit, the car continued to drive on its wheel rims, causing sparks that ignited the fire.

Since the incident, angry Afghans have staged rallies across Afghanistan, with demonstrators condemning Iranian authorities and demanding action from their government.



The largest rallies were held in the capital, Kabul, the eastern province of Nangarhar, and the western province of Herat, where scores demonstrated outside the Iranian Consulate on June 10.



'I Am Burning!'



Using the hashtags #StopKillingAfghans and #Iamburning, Afghans have been all over social media with the message: Afghan Lives Matter.



The campaign was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement begun in the United States and the international outcry over the killing of George Floyd, an African-American who died at the hands of police in the U.S. state of Minnesota on May 25. His death has fueled rallies around the world for minority rights.



"A boy screams for a drop of water, but no one gives him [any]. He is burnt. Where is [the] humanity?" tweeted Javid Ahmad Qaem, Afghanistan's ambassador to China, on June 6.



Timor Sharan, a former deputy minister, said on June 5 that "words cannot describe the barbarism and inhumanity of this act by Iran security forces."



Shaharzad Akbar, the head of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, said the incident in Yazd must be investigated.



"[The] perpetuators need to be held accountable," she tweeted on June 6. "Human lives matter. Refugee rights are human rights."



An online petition, aimed at the United Nations as well as the Iranian and Afghan governments, had received more than 53,000 signatures as of June 11.

History Of Discrimination



International human rights groups have long documented violations against Afghan refugees and migrants in Iran, including physical abuse, detention in unsanitary and inhumane conditions, forced payment for transportation and accommodation in camps, slave labor, and the separation of families.



In May, dozens of Afghans illegally crossed into Iran and were detained by Iranian border guards, who allegedly beat, tortured, and then forced them to jump into the Harirud, a 1,100 kilometer-long river shared by Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkmenistan. Many of them drowned.

Iran denied the incident took place on Iranian soil. But Afghan and Iranian authorities launched a joint investigation, the results of which have not yet been released.



And in December 2018, a viral video appeared to show an Iranian police officer slapping, insulting, and humiliating a group of Afghan migrants.

The UN estimates the number of Afghan citizens in Iran at just under 1 million. Tehran puts the figure of documented and undocumented Afghan refugees and migrants closer to 3 million.



For decades, Afghans weary of war and poverty have turned to Iran to earn a living. Tehran has expelled many Afghans -- who are often blamed for insecurity and unemployment -- and periodically threatens those who remain with mass expulsion.



Many other Afghans moved to Iran following the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the long civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal.



Others sought refuge in Iran after the fundamentalist Taliban took power in Afghanistan. After the U.S.-led invasion that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, some Afghans left for Iran in search of jobs, although hundreds of thousands of them returned last year amid a crippling economic crisis in the country.



Thus far in 2020, it is estimated that more than 310,000 Afghans living in Iran have returned home, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Some have returned due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit Iran particularly hard, and the worsening economic situation there. Many Afghans take on menial work that many Iranians are not interested in.



In 2015, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a decree allowing all Afghan children to go to school. But Afghans are still denied basic services, including access to health care, jobs, and housing.
ALBANY - Anti-vaccine advocates will converge Saturday in Albany outside of the state Bar Association's offices as that body discusses a report that recommends mandating a coronavirus vaccine statewide.

The report, released last month by the association's Health Law Section, called for COVID-19 vaccinations to be mandatory for all New Yorkers except those whose doctors exempt them for health reasons.

It also calls on the state Department of Health to adopt uniform standards for allocating ventilators and personal protective equipment, supplies that were in high demand for medical facilities during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in New York.

The recommendation has not been adopted by any state agencies, and there is no legislation pending that would mandate New Yorkers receive a coronavirus vaccine. The bar association is scheduled to discuss the report during a virtual meeting Saturday and vote on whether to adopt the recommendation.

"The coronavirus has disrupted our lives in every way imaginable in New York from the death of loved ones to hospitals and nursing homes with a staggering number of cases," association President Scott M. Karson said in an emailed statement Wednesday. "We have been faced with stay at home orders, separated from friends and families and seen unemployment rise precipitously."

All those public health and societal consequences were taken into account when the Health Law Section of the association made its recommendation, Karson said, and those calls for a mandatory vaccine are subject to the vaccination being safe and effective.

Organizers of the protest, many of whom have been at the helm of the anti-vaccine movement in New York, say mandating any vaccine is an overreach by the government and violates their personal and religious beliefs.

Last year, the state Legislature repealed the religious exemption for school immunization requirements, following a measles outbreak in New York - considered one of the worst outbreaks the country has seen since 1994. Proponents of the repeal said the religious exemption was interpreted over-broadly.

Nancie Orticelli, president of the Constitutional Coalition of New York State, said organizers of the protest anticipate as many as 1,000 people from various organizations across the state will participate.

It all comes down to freedom of bodily autonomy, Orticelli said, noting Second Amendment advocates also are expected to attend.

The scientific community widely accepts vaccinations as an effective means of preventing the spread of infectious diseases, but mandating a vaccine requires state governments to weigh the benefits of protecting public health and a persons liberty, said Molly Sauer, a research associate at the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The majority of us have yet to be exposed, which makes it all the more important that we try to build up that community protection, Sauer said, noting that no COVID-19 vaccine has been approved although several options are being tested. What is the level of the population that has to be protected, immune, that will effectively prevent outbreaks or slow down the spread and protect those people who cannot be vaccinated?

For example, Sauer said to prevent an outbreak of measles the immunization rate of a community must be about 95 percent.

Western New York resident Jina Gentry said, as a Christian, God has given parents the authority to care and protect their children. Gentrys children were affected by the state repealing the religious exemption for vaccines last year.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Now that this is something else that is coming out of the woodwork, the concern of a new possible mandatory vaccination, it is something that I am totally, 100 percent against, and I feel the government overreach needs to stop, Gentry said. God has given us these children to protect, and no government authority should tell us what we should and shouldn't do with our children.

Vaccine opponents also question the chemical makeup of vaccinations and what effects they could have, and allege that vaccines simply increase profits for pharmaceutical companies that in turn give money to the campaigns of elected officials.

Sauer said all vaccines go through rigorous testing and trials before being approved, and experts are working on ways to speed up that process for a coronavirus vaccine without compromising safety protocols.

Vaccination is not just about protecting yourself, it's about protecting the community and trying to minimize the spread of these diseases," she said. "These are really incredible interventions and tools that we have, and its really crucial to understand how widespread those benefits are and they greatly outweigh the risks."






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(Natural News) Three rioters were arrested last week in Gwinnett County, Georgia for allegedly following police to their homes and firebombing their police cars with Molotov cocktails.

(Article by Chris Menahan republished from InformationLiberation.com)

The media is remarkable referring to the alleged assailants as protesters.

From WSBTV, 3 protesters tracked officers to their homes, threw Molotov cocktails at police cars, authorities say:

Three protesters are in jail Thursday after being arrested for trying to set police cars on fire with Molotov cocktails. They were denied bond in court Friday. Police say the vandals tracked those officers down at their homes and tried to torch their cars. Both fires were put out quickly, leaving minor damage to the vehicles. Ebuka Chike-Morah, 21, Alvin Joseph, 21, and Lakaila Mack, 20, all face multiple charges. [] Channel 2 Action News coincidentally spoke to one of the suspects during a protest in Gwinnett County last weekend. Im just trying to get the message across, Chike-Morah said during the protest outside Sugarloaf Mills Mall. Were going to continue walking until we dont feel like walking no more.

Tons of police have also been targeted during the past two weeks.

Officer Shay Mikalonis, 29, was shot in the back of the head by 20-year-old Edgar Samaniego during a riot in Las Vegas last week.

#OfficerDown

Officer Shay Mikalonis is fighting for his life. The man who police say shot him in the back of the head is now under arrest. This is what your rioting is doing, America.https://t.co/gY63Tda28X  LawEnforcementToday (@LawEnforceToday) June 3, 2020

Read more at: InformationLiberation.com
India and China are continuing with their diplomatic and military engagements in an effort to reduce border tensions in eastern Ladakh to ensure long-term peace in the area, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

Both sides are maintaining their military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the situation at the earliest to ensure peace and tranquility in border areas, Anurag Srivastava, the MEA spokesperson said.

A day earlier, on Wednesday, army delegations from both countries held talks in eastern Ladakh to ease tensions along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) where Indian and Chinese soldiers have been locked in a standoff for more than five weeks now.

ALSO READ | For India, a tipping point with China | Opinion

The delegations led by senior army officials met at Patrolling Point 14 near Galwan as part of continuing efforts to resolve the border confrontation.

Border tensions have eased slightly in the area over the last few days, after both sides agreed to limited disengagement of their soldiers along the Line of Actual Control.

Wednesdays meeting in eastern Ladakh was the fourth round of talks between the two countries to break the standoff that had begun with a violent confrontation between rival patrols near Pangong Tso on the night of May 5.

In an encouraging move, China has started withdrawing its soldiers from three hotspots along the contested LAC, with India pulling back its army unit deployed in those pockets.

ALSO READ | Reached positive consensus, says China on talks with India over border tension

Around 250 soldiers of the two armies clashed near Pangong Tso last month with the scuffle leaving many soldiers injured. Although an immediate conflict was avoided as both armies stuck to protocols, tensions rapidly spread to other pockets along the Line of Actual Control.
Starbucks expects to lose more than $3 billion in revenue in its fiscal third quarter due to the new coronavirus, but said the disruption to its business should subside through the rest of the year.

"The Starbucks brand is resilient, customer affinity is strong and we believe the most difficult period is now behind us," Starbucks President and CEO Kevin Johnson said in an open letter.

The Seattle-based coffee giant said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that the virus outbreak will also slash its operating income between $2 billion and $2.2. billion for the quarter, which ends June 28. Starbucks plans to report its third quarter results on July 28.

Starbucks was forced to close its stores to customers at the height of the pandemic but continued to operate drive thru and pickup in many locations. The Seattle company said 95 percent of its 8,000 U.S. company-run stores are now open with varying levels of service, just slightly lower than operations globally.

Starbucks said U.S. same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, improved for six consecutive weeks through the end of May. They fell by 32 percent the last week in May, compared to a 65-percent decline at the pandemic's height in mid-April. The company says it expects a 10-percent to 20-percent decline in U.S. same-store sales for its full fiscal year, which ends Sept. 27.


The Delhi government on Thursday allowed the citys restro-bars, hotels, and clubs to sell their stock of beer expiring this month to liquor shops in a bid to minimise their financial losses, an official said.

There are around 950 hotels, clubs and restro-bars in the national capital which have an excise license, however, they have not been allowed to open since March 25 when the first nationwide lockdown was announced.

The liquor vends will continue to remain closed in the city till June 30.

According to the Excise Act, the restro-bars, hotels, and clubs can only sell liquor to their customers, the official said, adding that it would be a one-time relaxation.

In wake of the extraordinary situation emerging out of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, the government has allowed these establishments to sell the stock of beer expiring on June 30 to liquor vends, the official told PTI.

The decision was taken after the excise department got several requests to allow such establishments to sell their stock of beer lying unsold as it would expire soon due to the lockdown restrictions, the official said.

The move will minimise the financial losses of restro-bars, hotels and clubs as they have not been allowed to open for over two months. However, they cannot sell their stock of beer expiring after June 30, the official added.

The shelf life of beer is around six months, he said.

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Think You Know the Oregon Coast Village of Arch Cape? (Video)

Published 06/10/2020 at 6:24 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Arch Cape, Oregon)  That little unincorporated town just south of Cannon Beach is a mere blip as you whiz past the entrance to the Arch Cape Tunnel, on a deeply forested stretch of north Oregon coast that is more mysterious than it even looks. The place is tiny but its packed with a variety of layers, often quite unique to the rest of the region.

From its history to its weird geology (check out the ghost forests of Arch Cape), along with the natural nooks n crannies of the village, there are more sides to this than meets the eye. You can see some of that in the video, showing two different color schemes. Here even more:

Arch Cape Was the Original Cannon Beach. Yes Virginia, there were technically two Cannon Beachs, although not at the same time. Arch Cape had the name Cannon Beach originally because thats where a cannon was found from a wrecked ship back in the 1900s. It had that moniker from 1891 until 1911, when it suddenly decided it didnt want it anymore, changing it to Arch Cape.

In 1922, the slightly larger town of Ecola (called Elk Creek before that) changed its name again to Cannon Beach. See Quirky Oregon Coast History: How Cannon Beach Got Its Name.





Mammoth Historic Find. The USS Shark had wrecked way up at Astoria in the 1840s and parts of it slinked their way down to this spot. Some forty years later, a local man spotted three cannon from that ship as well as other parts, but only had time to pull away one  which you can see at the Cannon Beach History Museum. The other two made only brief appearances over the next decade or two and then completely disappeared into the sand.





Thus, they become lore for over 100 years. Until the major storms of 2007 and 08, when a Lake Oswego teen made the discovery of the century: she spotted the two cannon in the sand. It was a huge media event at the time and made regional historians quite happy. It was even featured on a major PBS show at the time. See Cannon That Gave Oregon Coast Town Its Name Leaves the State.





Northern Arch Cape. Dont think theres only one entrance to Arch Cape. Theres at least two more, although a couple lurk in between private homes, and well, thats just a bit awkward. Some of these gravel roads north of the main access (next to the Arch Cape tunnel) lead to beach accesses while others dont.

Shark Lane is the other prime access real estate, where parking is at an absolute minimal (youre parking in someones neighborhood so dont be a jerk). A small path leads you onto what is largely a bunch of large stones and its difficult to walk on, but its fine if the tide is way out or summer sand levels get high enough. However, weird stuff piles up by the creek and its always interesting to see what Oregon coast waters have chucked up here lately.

The very northern end of the beaches starts at Hug Point, which leaves almost a mile of walking in the sand if youre heading towards Shark Lanes access. Along the way, this is a pleasant stroll on a fairly wide beach, but one you cant really try if the tides are unruly.





Queen Victoria or Castle Rock? (Photo at top) That slightly poky but splat-like basalt structure out in front of Arch Cape is known primarily as Castle Rock, although many locals have simply nicknamed it Queen Vic, short for Queen Victoria. Look to this one when things get stormy out there as waves like to give it a good beating. Hotels in Cannon Beach - Where to eat - Cannon Beach Maps and Virtual Tours

Staying in Arch Cape?

The Inn at Arch Cape Historic gem, 100 years old. Updated rooms w/ flat panel TV, WiFi, fireplace made of beach rock (firewood provided). 31950 W. Ocean Lane. Arch Cape, Oregon. (less than 10 min drive from Manzanita) (503) 436-2082. Website here.- Book now

Cannon Beach Vacation Rentals. About 60 vacation homes to choose from: ocean view, oceanfront and very close to the beach, all in Cannon Beach or in Arch Cape. All are either oceanfront or very close. Homes sleep as many as 12. 164 Sunset. Cannon Beach, Oregon. 503-436-0940. 866-436-0940. www.visitcb.com



Beachcomber Vacation Homes . Numerous vacation rentals in the Cannon Beach area, including Falcon Cove and Arch Cape. Depending on the home, you may find amenities and luxuries such as a barbecue, claw foot tub, a ship's ladder. 115 Sunset Blvd. Cannon Beach, Oregon. 855-219-4758. 503-436-4500. Website









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Protesters who have formed a free zone in Seattle to keep police out spent the night dancing in the street, dining on free vegan pizza and watching movies under the watch of armed guards, after being deemed 'domestic terrorists' by a furious President Trump who has ordered Democrats to regain control of the city.

The protesters have formed a six-block area they are now calling CHAZ - Capital Hill Autonomous Zone - in revolt against the police.

There are armed people there but the majority, according to those at the scene, are peaceful. Some Seattle residents say they have walked through the area with their dogs at night and that it is 'more peaceful' than when the National Guard were there. There are free stations offering sunscreen, hand sanitizer and snacks, and plant and flower gardens have been set up.

On Wednesday night, the occupants voted on a movie to watch in the street. They settled on the 1990 film Paris is Burning. Trump has ordered that the block be dismantled.

Scroll down for video

People dancing in the street inside CHAZ - The Capital Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle - which Trump said on Wednesday had become overrun with 'domestic terrorists'

The protesters wrote Black Lives Matter in enormous lettering down one of the streets in the autonomous zone on Wednesday night

Artists have spray painted rainbow murals throughout the streets of the six-block zone

A 'no cop co-op' offering free snacks, water, food, soda, sunscreen and hand sanitizer

On Wednesday night, the protesters took a vote and watched Paris is Burning - the 1990s iconic LGBTQ movie. They watched an anti-slavery documentary the previous night

A map created by protesters shows the 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone', or CHAZ, in Seattle, where protesters are manning barricades and controlling entry

The Seattle 'zone', which includes apartment buildings and businesses, also contains the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct, which cops abandoned on Monday after receiving a threat that the station would be overrun and burned down

Armed men are seen manning checkpoints controlling entry to the CHAZ. Police say they have received complaints that protesters are demanding cash to enter the zone, and shaking down businesses inside for 'protection money'

A sign is seen on a barrier at an entrance to the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" on June 10, 2020 in Seattle, Washington

A band plays a free show in front of the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct in the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone

A man carrying an automatic weapon works security at a checkpoint to the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" on June 10, 2020 in Seattle, Washington

'Radical Left Governor [of Washington, Jay Inslee] and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before. 'Take back your city NOW. If you don't do it, I will. This is not a game.

SEATTLE MAYOR SIDES WITH CHAZ AND TELLS TRUMP TO GO BACK TO HIS BUNKER Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Thursday sided with protesters and told President Trump to go back 'to his bunker' after he warned her he'd intervene unless she took control back of the city. She was referring to the underground bunker Trump was whisked to when protesters descended on the White House last week. On Wednesday night, after Trump tweeted that he would intervene, she replied: 'Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker. '#BlackLivesMatter.' Advertisement

'These ugly Anarchists must be stooped [sic] IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!' he continued. 'Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!' he tweeted.

In Portland, another prolifically Democratic city, protesters removed police fencing that was surrounding the courthouse to spray paint the walls.

There were suggestions that they too were trying to build an autonomous zone but their efforts were not as organized as those in Seattle and the crowds dispersed at 2am after playing beach ball and dancing in the street.

Reporters at the scene said police fired rubber bullets and pepper balls into the crowd to try to stop people from tearing down the fence.

The Seattle 'zone', which includes apartment buildings and businesses, also contains the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct, which cops abandoned on Monday after receiving a threat that the station would be overrun and burned down.

A defaced sign outside the precinct now reads 'Seattle People Department'.

Armed protesters have been spotting manning checkpoints where they check identification and frisk people at entrances to the zone.

Police say they have received complaints that protesters are demanding cash to enter the zone, as well as 'protection fees' from businesses under their control.

Seattle Police Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette said at a press conference on Wednesday that, while Washington is an open carry state where firearms are allowed, it is a crime to use them to threaten or intimidate others.

She urged anyone who was subjected to demands by protesters to call 911, describing their alleged behavior as extortion.

However, police sources say that the department is now only responding to priority calls of a violent crime in progress, and it is unclear whether they would be able to do more than take a report over the phone.

Anti-police protesters disputed Nollette's description of what was happening inside the so-called autonomous zone.

The protesters have also planted flowers and plants in the grassy areas within the zone

On Wednesday, protesters listened to Native American speakers

Protesters burn sage while listening to someone speak within the autonomous zone in Seattle on Wednesday night

Many gathered in the Cal Anderson Park and observed social distancing by keeping 6ft apart from other groups

A rally in the street in the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle on Wednesday

People draw chalk messages inside the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle on Wednesday

A man and woman embrace in the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday

A man takes photos of a makeshift memorial in the autonomous zone in Seattle on Wednesday

A person uses free hand sanitizer in the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone on June 10, 2020 in Seattle, Washington

WEDNESDAY: Barricades are seen at the perimeter of the CHAZ, declaring the zone to be 'cop free'

WEDNESDAY: Another barricade declares the CHAZ to be a sovereign entity independent from the United States of America

A sign on a food stand within the CHAZ demands that police be stripped of legal protections they receive on the job

There are meetings for 'affinity groups' including security, tech, medics and childcare every day and book donation piles

'This could literally not be less true. It's incredibly open and peaceful in the CHAZ. The businesses that are open are selling flowers, turning their parking lots into med tents, putting supportive signs in their windows,' one person tweeted.

A reporter for KIRO-FM was granted entry to the CHAZ on Tuesday, and said that free food and medical aid was available for demonstrators on every corner.

Some food and supplies were also distributed to the homeless population in the surrounding area, and protesters were organizing a garbage collection for Wednesday, the reporter said.

On Wednesday night, demonstrators in the zone settled in to watch the documentary Paris Is Burning on a portable projector set up in the street. The film focuses on drag queens living in New York City.

However, other reports on social media indicated that not everything was unfolding harmoniously within the CHAZ.

Some claimed that rapper Raz Simone had established himself as a 'warlord' within the CHAZ, and was patrolling with armed men.

On Wednesday, video emerged that showed Simone and several other men confronting another man within the CHAZ, accusing him of tagging over someone else's graffiti.

'We are the police of this community now!' one member of the Simone's entourage is heard telling the man, who shrugs them off and continues tagging the side of a building.

The video shows the confrontation escalate quickly as Simone's entourage demands the tagger leave, as shoving breaks out and someone shouts 'chill, chill!'

Shouting continues as the tagger is driven away and followed for several several blocks.

'For your own safety, you need to go,' the woman filing the video is heard telling the tagger at one point. 'We had to get to the point where physically addressing it was the best way to get our point across.'

Simone has called for the long-term occupation of the area, tweeting: 'Come out now & hold it down.'

'Well be here as long as it takes so bring a tent and a blanket,' he added.

PORTLAND PROTESTERS 'COPY' SEATTLE - BUT ABANDON THEIR 'FREE ZONE' AFTER PLAYING BEACH BALL AND BEING HIT WITH RUBBER BULLETS Protesters in Portland were accused of 'copying' those in Seattle on Wednesday night but they didn't quite reach the same level of organization. The protesters had gathered at the Justice Center where a fence had been erected by the police to protect it from the crowds. They damaged the fence, knocking it down in parts and bending it in others, to get close to the building to spray paint it. The protesters were largely peaceful - they folded resignation letter templates into paper planes and flew them over the fence to police, and some played beach ball at the scene. However police still fired rubber bullets into the crowd - according to reporters there - and pepper balled them. The crowds dispersed at around 2am, according to the police department. Advertisement

Simone responded to the president's tweets on Wednesday night, writing: 'The President really put a hit on my head. Im not a Terrorist Warlord. Quit spreading that false narrative.

'The world has NEVER been ready for a strong black man. We have been peaceful and nothing else. If I die dont let it be in vain.'

Nollette, the police official, said that while there is no police presence inside the zone now, 'we are working on reopening a dialogue.'

She said that the department hopes to reopen the precinct to so that they can improve Seattle Police's response time and allow detectives to continue working on criminal investigation cases.

The protesters have said that they will retain control of the zone until their demands are met, including that the Seattle police department be disbanded, and that Mayor Jenny Durkan resign.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Governor Inslee, a Democrat, pleaded ignorance of the CHAZ and said he had not heard of the developments in Seattle.

On Tuesday night, around 300 protesters teporarily took over Seattle City Hall, carrying Black Lives Matter banners and calling for Mayor Durkan to stand down, chanting 'Durkan must go!'

The group was led by Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who unlocked the building and welcomed the protesters inside.

Footage shared on social media showed demonstrators giving impassioned speeches, saying calls for an end to systemic racism and police brutality following Floyd's death are 'making history'.

'Do you guys see what we're doing here? Do you really I really see the magnitude of what we're doing here?' one speaker is heard telling the crowds.

'First time in this building and we're making history.'

The crowd camped out inside the government building for only around an hour before continuing to the newly-created 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone' - a zone occupied by demonstrators around a police precinct.

Durkan has come under fire over her handling of the civil unrest in the city, with calls mounting for her to resign.

Sawant - a staunch critic of the mayor - demanded Durkan step down and blamed her for the 'violence and brutality' of cops against protesters.

'If Mayor Durkan refuses to step aside, it will be the responsibility of the City Council to remove her, by introducing articles of impeachment,' Sawant said last week

'The police have inflicted tear gas, mace, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, curfews, arrests and other repressive tactics on Seattle activists and residents - including children - in an attempt to bully and silence the protest movement.'

Tuesday's takeover of City Hall came just hours after a Black Lives Matter group sued the city over the 'unnecessary violence' carried out by cops against protesters across the city.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, Korematsu Center at Seattle University School of Law and the law firm Perkins Coie filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County.

'These daily demonstrations are fueled by people from all over the city who demand that police stop using excessive force against Black people, and they demand that Seattle dismantle its racist systems of oppression,' Livio De La Cruz, board member of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, said in a statement about the suit.

'It is unacceptable that the Seattle Police Department would then respond to these demonstrations with more excessive force, including using tear gas and flashbang grenades.'

The suit says the use of chemical agents violates the Fourth Amendment and First Amendment rights of protesters and brands the use of such tools 'reckless' amid the respiratory COVID-19 pandemic.

Cops have been caught on camera acting aggressively and blasting tear gas and pepper spray in the faces of peaceful protesters during the weeks of civil unrest following Floyd's death on Memorial Day.

Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best issued an apology to demonstrators over the heavy-handed tactics of officers and banned the use of tear gas for at least 30 days from Friday.

Just two nights later, some cops were still seen using tear gas, pepper spray and blast ball grenades against crowds Sunday night.

'CS gas has been authorized,' the Seattle Police Department tweeted Sunday after midnight about the backpedaling.

'In the interest of public and life safety, leave the area now.'

This came after protests turned violent when a man plowed his car into crowds and shot a 27-year-old protester.

Following a backlash over the renewed use of force, officers removed barricades from around the police department's East Precinct in Capitol Hill Monday, leading protesters to set up the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone around it.

The area had been the site of tension and terse stand-offs between law enforcement and demonstrators before police boarded up the precinct and retreated from the area - a move Best described as an exercise in 'trust and deescalation.'

Some claimed that rapper Raz Simone (above) had established himself as a 'warlord' within the CHAZ, and was patrolling with armed men to enforce community standards. 'Im not a Terrorist Warlord,' Simone said in a statement

Leaked video from inside the CHAZ shows Simone (left and right) confronting a tagger (in tan hat) who was painting over someone else's graffiti, in an altercation that turned violent

The six-block radius has since become something of a camp where protesters gather each night to hold memorials for Floyd and march in front of the building.

Protesters describe it as a 'free zone' as it is free of cops and cars, and it contains tents for people looking to camp the night.

Durkan's office told DailyMail.com in a statement that the city is 'facing its most challenging time in its history'.

'As the person who originally investigated the Seattle Police Department for the unconstitutional use of force, Mayor Durkan believes that SPD can lead the nation on continued reforms and accountability, but knows this week has eroded trust at a time when trust is most crucial,' the office said Wednesday

THE LEAD UP TO #CHAZ

SUNDAY: Protests turned violent Sunday night when a man plowed his car into crowds and shot a 27-year-old protester

MONDAY: Demonstrators clash with police near the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct shortly after midnight on June 8. The police abandoned the precinct soon after

TUESDAY: The protesters marched through the streets of Seattle to the 'free zone' after occupying City Hall for around an hour

TUESDAY: People then sit down in the newly-claimed 'free zone' to watch a screening of documentary by Ava DuVernay about how it is legal for prisoners work for no money which the director presents as modern day slavery

TUESDAY: The protesters defaced the precinct signage and renamed it the Seattle People Department

TUESDAY: Protesters have set up a six-block radius around the East Police Precinct and called it the 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone' (above)

TUESDAY: A sign designates a smoking section in the 'free zone'. The police chief said the move by cops to leave the area is an exercise in 'trust and deescalation'

TUESDAY: People sit in the street outside the East Precinct Tuesday. The area had been the site of tension and terse stand-offs between law enforcement and demonstrators before police boarded up the precinct and retreated from the area
A charity supporting bereaved London families has revealed it saw up to 130 calls for help per day at the peak of the UK's Covid-19 pandemic - up from around 80 calls per month.

The Coroners Courts Support Service (CCSS) is a national charity providing free emotional and practical support for families in locating bodies and arranging funerals - largely for those who have English as a second language and struggle to navigate official channels.

During lockdown, the CCSS has acted as part of Londons Pandemic Multi-Agency Response Team (PMART), who are first to attend when someone dies with coronavirus in the community.

The charity's volunteer workers - who all complete training - have assisted more than 1,000 families and taken more than 3,500 calls on a helpline.

They have spent months liaising either with four temporary mortuaries for Covid-19 victims set up around the capital or with families who saw a relative die with the virus at home.

National Lottery Community Fund / CCSS

Their role - usually undertaken at Coroners Court premises - also includes helping make funeral arrangements and corresponding with coroners.

Now, after the peak of the UK pandemic has passed, volunteers are sharing their experiences.

Spencer Simmons, 62, a longtime volunteer who lives on a boat in the Docklands, said: We used to get about 70 to 80 calls a month, but at our peak during this crisis we had 130 calls in just one day.

When the lockdown started our usual volunteering at the courts was turned on its head, so we were all trained up on Zoom how to take and field calls about coronavirus.

I jumped straight into it, supporting people from all over London, all different religions and many who havent experienced a bereavement before, let alone people arriving at your house to take your loved ones body away  I can only imagine how awful it must be for them.

Spencer Simmons, 62, is among volunteers who have spent the pandemic helping struggling families / National Lottery Community Fund / CCSS

Several temporary morgues - including a "super morgue" with the capacity to hold 3,000 bodies in Newham - were set up around London in early April.

Some have already closed, but four of the remaining mortuaries in Hillingdon, Wandsworth and Havering will continue to have round-the-clock security and site management, so they are ready to go in case of an intense second wave, or winter outbreak.

At the peak of the crisis, a line of hearses could be seen lining up outside the Newham facility.

Mr Simmons explained that the role is not for everyone as you are dealing with very difficult situations. During the pandemic, he was unable to help facilitate quick funerals, which was an issue for many London families.

He explained: You dont know what youre going to get asked and people are understandably very upset.

Many cant believe their loved one had Covid  its a shock to people  and because things are taking longer than usual, we have to help people understand that they cant have the funeral as quickly as they would want.

Fellow volunteer Ruth Pressley, 70, who lives in Bedford and has volunteered for the charity for six years, added: We always try and make it more comfortable for people to ask questions and they are always so thankful.

The CCSS was founded in 2003 by Roey Burden, now 88, in a bid to help families get through the process of attending inquests at Coroners Courts.

An coroner's inquest is held if there is reasonable cause to suspect that a death was due to anything other than natural causes.

The charity is part-funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Spokesperson Helen Bushell said: Funding is vital for projects like the Coroners Courts Support Service in keeping their communities connected and reaching those who need the most help. Our priority is to continue getting funding, which is more vital than ever before, out to community groups so they can rebuild and recover from this pandemic.

The helpline is open 09.00  19.00 Monday to Friday and 09.00  14.00 Saturday at 0300 111 2141, or email helpline@ccss.org.uk for support
According to intelligence data, two members of Russia-led forces were killed in action on June 10.

Russia's hybrid military forces on June 10 mounted 14 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action.

"The Russian Federation's armed formations violated the ceasefire 14 times in the past day," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said on Facebook in an update as of 07:00 Kyiv time on June 11. "As a result, two servicemen of the Joint Forces were wounded in enemy shelling."

Russian-led forces opened fire, employing proscribed 120mm and 82mm mortars, infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of various types, UAVs, heavy machine guns, and small arms.

Read alsoOutrage as Danone ad features Russian actor who fired machine gun at Ukrainian troops in Donbas

Under attack came Ukrainian positions near the towns of Avdiyivka, Maryinka and Popasna, and the villages of Pavlopil, Taramchuk, Luhanske, Khutir Vilny, and Troyitske.

Joint Forces returned fire in response to each enemy attack. According to intelligence data, two members of Russia-led forces were killed in action on June 10.

"Since Thursday midnight, Russia-led forces have engaged Ukrainian positions near Maryinka, and the villages of Chermalyk and Novotroyitske with 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, sniper rifles, and small arms. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded," the update said.
Nima Gardideh, the co-founder of a digital advertising agency, has encouraged his clients to hold back millions in advertising dollars from Facebook.

It struck him as borderline tone-deaf to run ads on social media platforms when they were being used to organize protests against racism and police brutality, he said. And the money spent on ads might have been wasted because the usual concerns of consumers seemed not to amount to much at a historic moment.

But there was something else weighing on his mind: Facebooks hands-off attitude toward President Donald Trumps aggressive, misleading posts.

We harshly disagree with how Facebook has approached this, said Gardideh, co-founder of Pearmill, a New York marketing agency with a dozen clients, mostly tech startups. For the past couple of years, this problem has become bigger and bigger. These massive platforms have to care about free speech issues to some extent, but Facebook is on the extreme end of not caring.

Unlike Twitter and Snap, which have toughened their stances against Trumps online statements that contain misinformation or promote violence, Facebook has held firm on its decision to leave his posts alone. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, has defended the policy, despite the resignations of some staff members and public criticism from current and former employees.

In recent days, many companies have cautiously returned to advertising, after having pulled back during the height of the pandemic in the United States. But some have decided not to advertise on Facebook, now that it has become clear that Zuckerberg will give the president a wide berth.

I think this is Facebooks time of reckoning, said Dave Morgan, chief executive of Simulmedia, a company that works with advertisers on targeted television advertising. It may not be immediate or dramatic, but advertisers have given Facebook a lot of passes, and now we are hearing they are saying it will be harder to stand back.

In late May, the social media companies dealings with the president diverged. Twitter started fact-checking Trump and posted an addendum to a tweet that called for military action against participants in a protest whom Trump had described as THUGS.

This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence, the company said in a note attached to Trumps statement.

Facebook reacted differently, allowing the same statement to go unflagged.

Around the same time, companies were struggling with how and whether to address the worldwide demonstrations prompted by the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died last month in Minneapolis after a white police officer pinned him to the ground. On June 2, in an effort that became known as Blackout Tuesday, many advertisers posted images of black boxes instead of paid ads, a gesture intended to show support for the protests.

They began to realize that all of their messaging was off-target, said Rishad Tobaccowala, a former advertising executive who is now an author and marketing adviser.

Facebook generates 98 per cent of its revenue through ads. It netted $17.4 billion (U.S.) from advertising in its most recent quarter. The pandemic has hurt advertising sales in general, and some companies are still incredibly challenged, said Carolyn Everson, Facebooks vice president for global marketing solutions. Blackout Tuesday really had a very significant role on our platforms, Everson added, with hundreds of companies pausing their spending.

Since then, ad revenue has mostly recovered for the company, she said, although several companies have been slow to return as they adjusted their messaging. Nike, Anheuser-Busch and others each slashed their daily Facebook and Instagram spending by more than $100,000 in early June, according to advertising analytics platform Pathmatics.

Some smaller advertisers  including authors, therapy providers and payment companies  described their break from Facebook as a protest against the platform and its subsidiaries.

Simris, an algae-growing business in Sweden, wrote in a LinkedIn post that it was vitally dependent on digital marketing but unwilling to continue to enable a sick system with our funds.

The current developments have now rendered it morally impossible for us to continue feeding the same hand that complacently offers its services as the major platform for hate-mongering, promotion of violence, and disinformation, the company wrote.

Last week, Braze, a software company in New York, withdrew a Facebook ad campaign it had planned later this summer valued at around $60,000. Its chief marketing officer, Sara Spivey, said Facebooks decision to leave presidential statements untouched factored into the decision.

Facebook is the biggest publishing platform arguably in the world, so of course we want to be on it, Spivey said. But the bigger question is Facebooks responsibility to make its platform safe and if we want to be associated with it.

Abe Kasbo, head of marketing agency Verasoni Worldwide in Fairfield, New Jersey, said his agency ceased all Facebook ads soon after Zuckerbergs comments defending Trumps posts. Verasoni, a small agency representing regional banks and retailers, said it stopped its $6,000 monthly budget on Facebook ads.

The amplification of divisive speech and the lack of responsibility that Facebook is taking as a platform forced this, Kasbo said.

Everson, the Facebook executive who deals with marketers, said she had never worked more closely with Zuckerberg than she has in the past week. She acknowledged that the companys decision on Trumps social-media statements is not a decision that everyone agrees is a perfect decision.

On Friday night, she sent a personal note to top advertisers, attached to a long public post from Zuckerberg that promised to review some of Facebooks policies. She said that most of her discussions with clients now focused on efforts to dismantle systemic racial inequality within companies.

Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of the conversation has moved off the decision about the Trump post, she said. It actually would minimize the importance of this moment historically to just focus on one post from President Trump.

The Trump campaign spent more than $2.8 million advertising on the platform last month, according to Advertising Analytics, a media tracking firm. Combined with spending by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a joint effort with the Republican National Committee, the presidents reelection team was the 10th largest advertiser on Facebook behind Samsung, Microsoft and The Walt Disney Co., according to Pathmatics.

Most of Facebooks eight million advertisers are small businesses or individuals, who continue to depend and rely on our platforms, Everson said. Many of them are uncomfortable with the negativity on the platform but feel they have no choice but to keep promoting themselves on it.

Gardideh, of Pearmill, said his clients had tripled their advertising spending in the past four months, as the pandemic pushed down the cost for ad space. In the past few days, some of them shifted some of their Facebook budgets to Google and LinkedIn, he said, or paused social media marketing entirely.

He conceded that his clients were likely to return to Facebook soon because the platform is just the best option there is right now, in terms of cost and scale, he said.

Lutchi Gayot, a small-business owner and congressional candidate in New York, said he paid for Facebook ads while feeling conflicted about it.

The moral thing to do, of course, is to stand on the side thats right, he said. But its hard  Facebook ads are keeping small businesses alive. If youre not on Facebook, you dont exist.

Read more about:


By Dr. Nehginpao Kipgen and Megha Gupta





Dr. Nehginpao Kipgen Megha Gupta
Merriam-Webster is revising its entry on racism after intense lobbying by a recent college graduate in Missouri inspired by the protests and debates about what it means to be racist

Merriam-Webster is revising its entry on racism after intense lobbying by a recent college graduate in Missouri inspired by the protests and debates about what it means to be racist.

Currently, the dictionarys entry contains three sections. The first defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

The second calls it a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles and a political or social system founded on racism. The third section refers to racial prejudice or discrimination.

Peter Sokolowski, an editor at large at Merriam-Webster, said in an interview on Wednesday that editors were working to revise the online entry for racism after the recent graduate, Kennedy Mitchum, wrote a series of emails stating her case.

This entry has not been revised in decades, he said, adding that it was not a new division of the words meanings, but an improvement of the wording.

As a student at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Mitchum had noticed in discussions about racism that White people sometimes defended their arguments by cutting and pasting the definition from the dictionary.

Alumna Kennedy Mitchum knew there was more to racism than what appeared in @MerriamWebster's dictionary. Its not just disliking someone because of their race, she said. Read the dictionarys full response below. pic.twitter.com/0Yen4TrvuJ  Drake University (@DrakeUniversity) June 9, 2020

So in late May, as protests against racism and police violence grew, Mitchum, 22, wrote to the editors at Merriam-Webster to argue that the entry should be revised to better reflect how systemic racism was in society.

Racism is not only prejudice against a certain race due to the colour of a persons skin, as it states in your dictionary, she wrote. It is both prejudice combined with social and institutional power. It is a system of advantage based on skin colour.

The next day, she got a reply.

Alex Chambers, an editor at the dictionary, said that they revise definitions or add new ones when we see large-scale changes happening in the language.

The usage of racism to specifically describe the intersection of race-based prejudice with social and institutional oppression is becoming more and more common among English users, he wrote.

After several more exchanges, in which Mitchum questioned whether their sources reflected a diverse society, Chambers confirmed that the dictionary would revise the entry after the editorial staff discussed it and agreed more nuance was needed. Mitchums exchange with the editor at the dictionary was reported by KMOV-TV on 8 June.

Chambers said they are also planning to revise the entries of other words that are related to racism or have racial connotations.

While our focus will always be on faithfully reflecting the real-world usage of a word, not on promoting any particular viewpoint, we have concluded that omitting any mention of the systemic aspects of racism promotes a certain viewpoint in itself, he said. It also does a disservice to readers of all races.

Sokolowski said the revision will sharpen the language in the second section to better illustrate the ways racism can be systemic, and to include some examples. The point, he said, was to make the entrys wording less opaque.

We will make the idea of systemic or institutional racism even more explicit in the wording of the definition, he said. One way to do that, he said, would be to use more examples, such as describing the system of apartheid in South Africa. (Because of space issues, he said, the print entry will probably not have as many examples.)

The systemic elements of racism have become a central point of the protests that have spread throughout the country after the 25 May killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minnesota. Increasingly, policymakers are reexamining demands to dismantle institutional barriers and policies, and public support for the Black Lives Matter movement has sharply risen.

People are looking up this word every single day, Sokolowski said. These are words that are very abstract, and therefore as ideas are very hard to put into words and that is one reason people go to the dictionary.

Mitchum, who lives in Florissant, Missouri and graduated on 16 May, got a taste of the inadequacies of abstraction as a freshman in 2016, when race and racism were central issues of the election year.

She got into a debate with one writer on social media who denied being racist by cutting and pasting only the first section of the Merriam-Webster definition as their defense, an omission that Mitchum believed disproved their point.

I had to explain myself  that is not all there is to racism, she said in an interview on Wednesday. There is a system, and then there is individual bias. There are structures that perpetuate racism and then people who give in to that system. These two things should go hand in hand.

The dictionary argument happened again this year, when a White classmate argued with Mitchums take on racism in the United States. Mitchum, an NAACP activist at the university, said the classmate also copied and pasted only the first section of the Merriam-Webster entry without recognising the second part and its wider implications in society.

They use that as a way to be ignorant about racism in all its forms, such as microaggressions, Mitchum said. People are programmed to think a certain way. They are not shown the whole picture in a few places.

Sokolowski said that public requests for revisions often coincide with the national discourse. The marriage entry no longer contains references to gender, for example. Activism doesnt change the dictionary, he said. Activism changes the language.

Christine Hauser c.2020 The New York Times Company
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The Landsverordening Toelating en Uitzetting (LTU), in English, "National Ordinance of Admissions and Expulsions" regulates the revocation of residence permits for persons who no longer meet the conditions under which their residence permit was granted and the revocation of permanent resident permits for persons who live abroad. As such, the Immigration and Border Protection Services will be collaborating with the Ministry of VSA and the Civil Registry Department to ensure that persons who are in possession of work and residence permits still meet the conditions of which they have acquired.

After the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, many undocumented persons decided to remain on the island, while at the same time, others migrated to the island without the proper documentation in place. With an already weakened and still recovering economy, on top of the most recent, major blow caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, job loss on St. Maarten is growing exponentially and will inevitably be the case moving forward, with numerous businesses having to close their doors or scale down their operations.

Persons without an income could possibly resort to a life of crime in order to fend for themselves and their families. Though Sint Maarten is the friendly island and welcomes all visitors, illegal activities will no longer be tolerated. As such, the first step will be the removal of our overstayed guests in order to better handle our internal affairs. Minister Richardson has taken the decision to temporarily suspend the process for first-time applicants for residence permits (exemptions will be made for persons holding critical positions), but will undergo strict scrutiny before being granted a residence permit. Also temporarily suspended are the granting of extensions for nonimmigrant stays, visas for pleasure purposes and the process of having a guarantor.

In the coming weeks, the Ministry of Justice will be implementing a restrictive immigration policy. The intention of the restrictive policy is to make Sint Maarten less vulnerable for illegal immigration. While persons enter the country via legal ports of entry, the common practice of over-staying ones tourist visit or visa, often translates into illegal immigration. This practice has negatively impacted our economic, social and justice systems, hence the aggressive approach by the Minister of Justice in addressing this situation. Controls will be intensified on land and sea as multidisciplinary teams consisting of local law enforcement agencies and other various ministries will be initiated. The Minister also plans to sit down with the French authorities in the near future to establish a better working relationship and explore the possibilities of strengthening border controls as a collective body.





Minister of Justice Anna E Richardson would like to inform the general public that the Immigration laws of Sint Maarten will be strictly enforced in the coming weeks and months. Persons who currently reside in Sint Maarten without the legal documentation are advised to take this as a warning and should start making the necessary provisions to voluntarily leave the country or run the risk of getting detained and deported to their country of origin.
A federal judge in Wisconsin on Wednesday declined a request by Republicans to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Democrats seeking changes in the law to make it easier to vote in the August state primary and November presidential elections.

The Republican National Committee, the state Republican Party and the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature asked for the dismissal of the lawsuit brought by the Democratic National Committee and Wisconsin Democratic Party. But U.S. District Judge William Conley said in his order Wednesday that the case should move ahead quickly so it can be resolved far ahead of the elections.

He set a June 29 hearing to discuss the lawsuit, which was filed before the April 7 presidential primary election and consolidated with two other cases. A fourth federal lawsuit, filed by Disability Rights Wisconsin and others, has also since been filed seeking additional changes to make it easier to vote.

Republicans oppose all of the lawsuits.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez heralded the ruling, saying Republicans are trying to use the pandemic to keep people from voting.

They want to weaponize the pandemic, Perez said during a conference call. They are clearly hellbent on suppressing the vote.

Attorneys for the Wisconsin Legislature and the state and national Republican parties did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled just a day before the April election to block Democratic efforts to extend absentee voting. Democrats amended the lawsuit after that election, arguing that changes are still needed in light of in-person voting challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

As was amply demonstrated in the fire drill leading up to the April election, the longer this court delays, the less likely constitutional relief to voters is going to be effective and the more likely that relief may cause voter confusion and burden election officials charged with its administration, Conley wrote.

The lawsuit Conley allowed to move forward seeks to: do away with the requirement that proof of address and a photo ID be provided with voter registration and absentee ballot applications submitted electronically and by mail; extend the electronic and by-mail registration deadlines to the Friday before both elections; extend the deadline for clerks to receive absentee ballots from 8 p.m. on election day to within 10 days of the election and; suspend the requirement that absentee ballots include a witness signature.

Conley said he was unlikely to rule in favor of Democrats on issues that have been repeatedly upheld in federal courts, including the law requiring Wisconsin voters to provide documentary proof of residency when registering to vote.

Democrats also argued that the state must ensure there are safe and sufficient places to vote in person across Wisconsin. Conley ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission, by June 25, to address what steps it was taking to prepare for the elections and whether it believes any of the changes sought in the lawsuit would improve administration of the elections.

The commission consists of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats and is unlikely to vote for or against any of the changes sought by the lawsuit.

Photos: Wisconsinites vote in spring primary despite COVID-19 dangers
People ski and enjoy the evening sun at an opened ski resort in Saariselka

By Anne Kauranen

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's government said on Thursday it will lift coronavirus-related restrictions on leisure travel to and from neighbouring Baltic and Nordic countries, but excluded Sweden, prompting indignation in Stockholm.

"Unfortunately, the epidemic situation in Sweden does not enable giving up the restrictions yet," Minister of Interior Maria Ohisalo told reporters.

The Swedish government said the Nordics are one of the most interconnected regions and jointly represent the world's 11th largest economy.

"There is indignation over the situation, not least in border areas. Sweden has not closed its borders in the Nordics," a spokeswoman for Sweden's Minister of Interior Mikael Damberg told Reuters.

For tourists to and from Denmark, Iceland and Norway, as well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where the infection rate is similar to Finland's, restrictions will be lifted on June 15, Ohisalo said.

They will remain on Finland's eastern land border with Russia and on the western border with Sweden.

"Sweden is a very important border neighbour and partner country for Finland," Ohisalo said, adding the restrictions would be lifted "as soon as the epidemic situation permits".

Transit traffic via Helsinki airport will be allowed, enabling national carrier Finnair to restart connecting flights from Asia to Europe, the government said.

Sweden has adopted fewer restrictions than its neighbours and by June 10, Sweden's COVID-19 deaths were 4,717 - four times the number in the other Nordic countries combined.

Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Finland hoped its relaxation would lead to reciprocity, adding Norway and Denmark had promised to consider including it in their travel bubble.

The epidemic has slowed in Finland, with the total number of cases at 7,040 on Wednesday and 28 patients hospitalised, of which only 4 are in intensive care, health officials said.

From the start of July, public gatherings, such as sporting events, of more than 500 people will be allowed if social distancing rules can be respected, the government said.

(Reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, additional reporting by Colm Fulton in Stockholm; Editing by Catherine Evans and Barbara Lewis)
Victims' Families Say Uighur Religious Leaders Main Target in China

By Asim Kashgarian June 10, 2020

A Chinese government crackdown on the minority Muslims in Xinjiang has taken a toll on the community's religious staff with the imams being most vulnerable to persecution, according to Uighur victims' families and scholars.

'Imam' is a title in Islam given to a religious staff who leads group prayers at a mosque.

Uyghur Hjelp, a Norway-based Uighur advocacy and aid organization, told VOA that Chinese authorities since 2016 have detained at least 518 key Uighur religious figures and imams. The organization says it has found some of the imams, who were previously trained and employed by Beijing, are now sentenced with long prison terms while a few of them have lost their lives in internment camps.

One of the detained imams, Abdurkerim Memet, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2017, according to his daughter, Hajihenim Abdukerim in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Abdukerim told VOA that Chinese authorities were hiding the whereabouts of her father for years until recently when a local contact in Xinjiang told her of his imprisonment.

The 61-year-old was employed by the Chinese government before his detention to lead prayers at a neighborhood mosque in Yengisar county in Kashgar city in southern Xinjiang. His family rejects the Chinese government accusation that he was spreading extremism among the Uighurs.

"My father is a peaceful and law-abiding religious figure," said Abdukerim, adding that her father was salaried by the Chinese government until late 2016 when the newly appointed Communist party chief, Chen Quanguo, began to further enforce Beijing's rule over Xinjiang where, according to the U.N. estimates, over a million Muslims could be held in internment camps.

"I had never imagined him being imprisoned for serving the community. In these years, I have been only hoping to hear from him again," she told VOA.

In April, a spokesperson for China's Xinjiang autonomous government, Elijan Anayit, accused the U.S. officials and media of spreading "rumors" about the detention and prosecution of Uighur imams.

Anayit, in an interview with China Global Television Network, said the Chinese government has attached "great importance to the cultivation of Islamic clergies." He said the government has subsidized Islamic schooling, including Xinjiang Islam Institute which has over 1,000 students throughout its eight branches around the region, including in Ili, Urumqi, Hotan, and Kashgar.

"The criminals who have been prosecuted are neither religious personages nor religious staff. They are criminals who spread extremism and engage in separation, infiltration, sabotage, and terrorist and extremist activities under the banner of Islam," said Anayit.

However, some experts say Chinese officials are increasingly using religious extremism charges to gain a free hand in their campaign against Uighurs and their religious leadership.

"These crimes have become so vague even before Chinese law," Rian Thum, a historian of Islam in China at the University of Nottingham, told VOA.

"They created a long list of illegal religious activities, most of which are not actually illegal things to do in other contexts. For example, to pray at a mosque that is not your hometown mosque can be an illegal religious activity," Thum said.

Pursuing imams as the main targets in Xinjiang should not come as a surprise, charged Abduweli Ayup, the founder of Uyghur Hjelp.

"They are people who can lead, organize, and mobilize Uighurs in large numbers, and mosques are the only places where Uighur language was kept intact," he added.

Ayup said the Chinese government was giving the imams salaries ranging from 600 to 5000 RMB before its clampdown campaign in Xinjiang. The detention, he said, is a part of a larger attempt by the Communist party to prevent a flourishing Uighur identity and culture.

No one is immune

The cases of arrest against government-employed religious leaders reveal that even those who have rose through the ranks of the Chinese system are not protected from persecution, according to Timothy Grose, a professor of China Studies at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Locking up the clerics is an effort to sever "the inter-generational transmission of religious knowledge among Uiyghurs," Grose told VOA.

According to Gene Bunin, the founder of Xinjiang Victim's Database, a website dedicated to collecting data information on detained indigenous residents in Xinjiang, the estimated number of arrested imams among some Turkic communities in the region could be up to 50%. Most of them are taken to the detention camps described by Chinese officials as "vocational training centers" set up to de-radicalize people and teach them new work skills.

"For the reported Kazakhs, imams are about 50% of the victims. For Uighurs, it's very few, up to 10%," Bunin told VOA, adding that the number of detained Uighur imams could be much higher.

While imams living in Xinjiang remain most exposed to the Chinese government campaign, those outside are not immune. Families of some Uighur religious figures claim they were possibly tricked into returning to China under false promises.

False promises

Meryemgul Abdulla, a Uighur based in Turkey, told VOA that her husband and a religious scholar, Abduhalik Abdulhak, were arrested after returning to China under the false pledge of allowing him to build a museum.

Abdulhak, a 48-year-old father of five from China and a former graduate of Islamic law from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, also worked as a businessman in addition to being a religious leader in his community.

Abdulla said Abdulhak returned to China in March 2017 after receiving a message purportedly from his brother that his long-awaited application to establish a museum in commemoration of his great uncle and prominent early 20th century Uighur poet, was approved by local authorities in Turpan city in Xinjiang.

"Soon after he arrived in China, he was taken to a concentration camp in Turpan," Abdulla told VOA. "I have had no news of him since."

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Japan sets daily arrival quota for Vietnam, among three other nations

Staff members of All Nippon Airways wearing protective masks and face shields work at a boarding gate at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on June 4, 2020. Photo by Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon.

Planning to ease its Covid-19 travel restrictions, Japan will allow up to 250 foreign arrivals per day from four countries, including Vietnam.

The quota, expected to take effect from July, will initially apply to businesspeople like executives and engineers, from four countries where the Covid-19 pandemic has been contained, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam, Voice of Vietnam reported, citing the Japanese government.

Those allowed to enter Japan must strictly follow official medical regulations.

Earlier, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Motegi Toshimitsu said Japan wanted to ease travel restrictions for Vietnam, which has managed to bring the Covid-19 crisis under control. The latter has gone nearly two months without community transmission caused by the novel coronavirus.

Among 332 confirmed infections in Vietnam, 320 have recovered.

The travel restriction ease is expected to be mutual, and discussions are being held with concerned countries on how to mitigate the risks of spreading Covid-19, Kyodo News reported, citing official sources.

Details such as how many from each country will be let in, and how freely they would be allowed to move once at their destination, are still being worked out.

Japan chose the four countries thanks to their robust outbreak control, alongside strong economic ties with Japan, Japanese media reported.

Japan is Vietnam's largest labor market, receiving around 80,000 Vietnamese in 2019.

It is also Vietnam's fourth largest FDI contributor in 2019 after South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Japan currently has an entry ban in place for 111 countries and territories, with foreign travelers who have been to any of these areas within the last two weeks being turned away.

The Vietnamese government has said it is considering allowing flights to destinations that have had no new Covid-19 cases for at least 30 days, including Japan's Tokyo, South Korea's Seoul, China's Guangzou, Taiwan and Laos.
Bettiah : , June 11 (IANS) A complaint has been filed in a court in Bihar against Chinese President Xi Jinping, blaming him for the coronavirus pandemic.

The complaint filed by advocate Murad Ali in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Bettiah in West Champaran district alleged that Chinese President Xi and World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spread the virus from Wuhan city in China to the entire world.

The court has fixed June 16 for hearing the case.

The complainant has also named US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as witnesses.

Ali has accused the Chinese leader of being responsible for the spread of the deadly virus from Wuhan in December 2019 throughout the world and the WHO chief for concealing the spread of the virus.

He has alleged that the Chinese President and the WHO chief conspired to spread the coronavirus throughout the world due to which millions of people have lost their lives.

He has sought action under sections 269, 270, 271, 302, 307, 500, 504 and 120B of IPC. Ali has stated social media, print media and various electronic media as the source of the allegations.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
FILE PHOTO: Employees of Israeli flag carrier El Al Airlines take part in a protest asking for recovery plan for the cash-strapped airline that has been grounded due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, near the Finance ministry in Jerusalem

By Ari Rabinovitch and Tova Cohen

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The coronavirus crisis may be pushing El Al Israel Airlines back into the hands of the state, less than two decades after the flag carrier was privatised.

El Al's union told Reuters it did not oppose state control and said the main issue was keeping the carrier flying, as airlines across the globe have grounded planes and sought government aid.

El Al and controlling shareholder Knafaim Holdings have been in bailout talks with the Finance Ministry, which offered to back $250 million in bank loans but said El Al must issue $150 million in shares. The state said it would buy the shares, giving it a majority, if no one else did.

El Al, which has reported losses for two years running and racked up debt to renew its fleet, suspended flights when Israel closed its borders and furloughed most of its 6,500 employees. It has said it faces bankruptcy without state help.

The government has indicated it would not let Israeli aviation collapse, calling it a strategic asset, Meidan Bar, chairman of the Israel Air Line Pilots Association, said.

He said El Al provided a vital link to the world, as most other international airlines had halted flights to Israel during periods of conflict in the past.

If the state had a majority, it would give control to an independent trustee to handle daily operations and would seek to sell the shares in the future, a senior finance ministry official told Reuters.

"The state is not interested in nationalising El Al and making it a government company. The aim is to assist the company so it can recover from the crisis," the official said.

El Al and Knafaim Holdings declined to comment.

"We know we are headed down a new road, it doesn't matter if it's a government or private company," said Avi Edri, head of the transport union at Israel's labour federation. "We know we will have to let a number of workers go."

Two decades ago, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was finance minister, he led a push to sell El Al and other state-owned companies. His office declined to comment on El Al's fate.

(Additional reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Edmund Blair)
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Greece's jobless rate continued to decline in March, figures from the Hellenic Statistical Authority showed on Thursday. The jobless rate fell to 14.4 percent in March from 15.9 percent in February. In the same period last year, the unemployment rate was 18.1 percent. The number of unemployed totaled 653,686 persons in March compared to 856,974 in the previous year. The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, fell to 32.4 percent in March from 37.7 percent in the same month last year. At the same time, employment increased to 3.87 million persons in March from 3.88 million a year ago. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
The USs top military official regrets taking part in President Donald Trumps photo op walk across Lafayette Square in Washington, DC, on 1 June.

General Mark A Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared behind Mr Trump in combat fatigues on that day, said: I should not have been there.

Authorities used teargas and rubber bullets to clear the park outside the White House of peaceful protesters who has gathered in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis.

My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics, Gen Milley continued.

As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, he said in a prerecorded video commencement address to National Defence University.

Acknowledging that his presence raised questions about the role of the military in civil society, he continued: We who wear the cloth of our nation come from the people of our nation. And we must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our Republic.

And this is not easy. It takes time and work and effort. But it may be the most important thing each and every one of us does every single day, he added.

Gen Milley also said that he too is angry about the senseless and brutal killing of George Floyd.

After the clearing of the park, the president and a group of White House staff and officials walked out for Mr Trump to pose for pictures with a Bible in front of St Johns Church, in a widely condemned stunt.

Gen Milleys first comments since the incident will likely anger the White House as the president takes an increasingly tough line against the growing protest movement.

The remarks also further amplify the deepening split between the Trump administration and the military.

General Mark Milley (right) walks alongside the president on 1 June (AP/Patrick Semansky) (AP)

The New York Times reports that Gen Milley has agonised about his appearance behind the president that day after it appeared that the military approved of the hardline tactics used to clear the park of protesters.

In the days after the photo op, the general reportedly told Mr Trump that he was angered by what unfolded that afternoon, and Pentagon officials say he believed that the group had left the White House to review National Guard troops in the square.

Both Gen Milley and defence secretary Mark Esper also opposed the presidents wish to have active-duty troops on the streets to counter the protest movement, arguing that it was largely peaceful and should be handled by local law enforcement.

A number of military officials have ruled out using troops against protesting American citizens under the 1807 Insurrection Act.
Passengers using Dublin and Cork airports have been strongly advised to wear face masks, and only people travelling should enter terminals.

That's according to new guidelines issued by daa, the company operating the airports, aiming to protect health and safety during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Both Dublin and Cork have implemented enhanced cleaning measures, daa says, with a particular focus on "key contact surfaces" such as security trays, self-service kiosks, escalator handrails and trolleys.

960 hand sanitisers have been introduced, with 720 protective plexiglass screens erected at areas like check-in, security, shops, restaurants and bars.

Socially distanced seating is in place, with "10,500 pieces of COVID-19 related signage" indicating everything from queue spacing to occupancy limits for bathrooms and lifts.

Temperature checks or Covid-19 tests are not mentioned: "This is a decision for the national health authorities rather than the airport," a spokesperson told the Irish Independent.

Read More

The new guidelines will apply from Tuesday, June 16, and are based on Ireland's public health advice and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) recommendations.

Cork, Dublin and Shannon airports have all remained open during the pandemic, to allow for passenger repatriation and maintain cargo flights.

Passenger numbers have been at a trickle compared to normal, however - declining by 99pc at the peak of the coronavirus crisis.

While a full recovery could take years, airlines are planning to slowly ramp up schedules - with Ryanair, for example, aiming to operate 40pc of its summer schedule from July, and Emirates set to resume a twice-weekly service between Dublin and Dubai (the route was previously twice-daily).

However, the Department of Foreign Affairs continues to advise against "non-essential travel" overseas until further notice, and a 14-day self-isolation period awaits anyone arriving into the country.

It is unclear when this advice may change.

For those who do travel in the coming months, face coverings are "strongly recommended" at all times inside the airport or its shuttle buses, daa says.

They are not mandatory, however - and children under 13 or passengers with a valid medical reason for not wearing coverings are exempt.

"Passengers should bring their own face mask from home, but if they forget to do so, masks will be available for purchase at the airport," daa says.

The safety of our passengers, our employees and all the other staff is always daas main priority and we will never compromise on that, its Chief Executive, Dalton Philips, said.

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As with all Mucci Farms new builds and expansions, both facilities will be equipped with state-of-the-art automation and technology, and serve as cross docks to maximize efficiency. The Romulus, Michigan warehouse is has a 66,300 square feet footprint and will primarily service the Midwest and Northeast United States. "This location will help us pack, repack and distribute our full lineup to the region in a timely manner," Gianni explains. "Romulus is a great location for us as it allows us to avoid wait times at the border and quickly redirect product to several states."

The Texas warehouse is a 54,000 square foot facility strategically located to serve as a cross dock primarily during the winter months. San Antonio is a central location that will help the company service southern states in the US and addresses an industry wide labour challenge. "The San Antonio area has a population of 2.5 million people and the labour market is particularly experienced in produce," said Ronnie Alvar, Director of Operations. "This helps us onboard a knowledgeable team of people that understand the nuances of the produce industry and can efficiently manage the supply chain." Additionally, this warehouse is equipped with a unique feature in the loading docks. "With hot temperatures in Texas, our dock allows trucks to back into the warehouse in a manner that doesn't break the cold chain. The doors actually open up right inside our pre-cooled loading dock, so we are able to preserve product quality as there is no temperature fluctuation transferring product from the truck to the warehouse."

With a large focus on US expansion, this announcement supports Mucci Farms first US project in Huron, Ohio, a 75-acre greenhouse/warehouse operation. Being built in 3 x 25-acre phases, the first phase has been harvesting and servicing retailers since 2018 and phase 2 is currently under construction with a goal to harvest its first crop this fall. The entire project is equipped with supplemental grow lights allowing for local production 365 days a year.

Growing fresh produce for over 60 years, Mucci Farms is a vertically integrated Greenhouse farming company with over 1700-acres of Lettuce, Tomato, Pepper, Cucumber and Strawberry farms in Canada and the United States between themselves and a global grower partner network. Headquartered in Kingsville, Ontario, the Award Winning company is dedicated to continual investments in automation and technology along with a high level of research and development to offer consumers the most flavourful fruit and vegetable varieties in the world.

SOURCE Mucci Farms

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muccifarms.com


A waiter holding a dinner plate with staff members, wearing facemasks, falling off it

Thousands of workers across the energy, manufacturing and travel industries face redundancy as businesses including Centrica, Liberty Steel, Johnson Matthey and Heathrow Airport cut costs to cope with the coronavirus recession.

It comes as fresh figures revealed that 3m workers in the retail and hospitality sectors have been furloughed, highlighting the extent of the threat to jobs across shops, pubs and leisure sites.

Workers serving customers face-to-face are among those hardest hit by the lockdown and so most at risk from their jobs never coming back, new figures from HM Revenue and Customs indicate.

Just over 1.6m staff in retail and wholesale are now on furlough across more than 160,000 employers. So far the Government has paid out more than 3.3bn of wages to those workers.

Accommodation and food services are close behind, with hotels, restaurants and pubs unable to offer much, if any, service. Just over 100,000 companies in that industry have furloughed a total of more than 1.4 million staff at a cost of almost 2.6bn.

Each month families are saving hundreds of pounds because they cannot get to shops and restaurants or spend on holidays, depriving those businesses and their workers of funds.

Usually, a household would spend an average of 182 per week on travel, holidays and meals out, the Office for National Statistics said  activities that are generally not now possible.

This is more than one-fifth of their usual budget. If they cannot spend it as normal, they can either save the cash or spend it in other areas, such as covering lost income or paying down debts.

It is beneficial for family finances, but the knock-on effect on workers is mounting.

Manufacturers are next with more than 830,000 on furlough, according to HMRC, followed by almost 680,000 workers in the construction trade.

HMRC's data also revealed the regional breakdown of furloughed workers:

The aim of the scheme is to help companies keep staff through the crisis, but it is becoming clear not all roles can be saved.

Story continues

Wave of job cuts

Energy supplier Centrica has axed more than 5,000 jobs, as Liberty Steel, Johnson Matthey, and Heathrow Airport also line up thousands more redundancies in a bid to stem heavy losses triggered by Covid-19.

More than 50pc of the cuts at Centrica will come at management level, as the company seeks to simplify its structure amid market turmoil that has seen the supplier drop from the FTSE 100.

A spokesman for the company said: The aim is that we arrest the decline we have been facing and stabilise the group.

The cuts will save Centrica 2bn by the start of next year, and ultimately put us in a position to return to growth in 2021.

By the end of 2020, Centrica has said it will remove three management layers to speed up the decision making process.

As you know we have been facing very difficult conditions  strong challenger competition eroding market share, low oil prices and a regulatory price cap  these factors have squeezed profitability and thats seen us lose over half our earnings over the past 10 years, the spokesman added.

Industrials business Johnson Matthey is the latest major player in the sector to announced major job losses, cutting 2,500 of its 14,000 global staff.

The FTSE 100 company whose catalytic convertors are used in about one in three new cars worldwide said the cuts were part of an 80m economy drive as it battles the impact of coronavirus. Half of the redundancies will come in the first year of a three-year programme.

Robert MacLeod, chief executive, said although Johnson Matthey was a resilient and diverse business with markets worldwide, Covid-19 had delivered a 60m hit to operating profits.

He added that about a tenth of the companys 4,000 UK staff were sitting at home with no work to do because of the lockdown and lower demand, but added the company had not taken any furlough payments from the Government.

Elsewhere, Heathrow Airport hinted at further job losses, describing a grim picture that is set to continue as Britain begins to force new arrivals to quarantine for 14 days, a move that has been described as a death sentence for the tourism and travel industry.

The airport has launched a voluntary redundancy scheme, warning frontline workers that their roles might be at risk.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: While we cannot rule out further job reductions, we will continue to explore options to minimise the number of job losses.

As steel orders collapse, entrepreneur Sanjeev Guptas GFG Alliance has warned of potentially thousands of job losses.

The UK-based private business, which employs 35,000 people worldwide, has warned that steel orders have fallen by between 20pc and 40pc in some regions with little prospect for recovery over the next 18 months. Demand for the companys aluminium products has also declined.

GFG is now seeking savings of up to 30pc though job losses and productivity improvements cutting overheads.

Government support

Almost 9m people had been furloughed under the job retention scheme by June 7 at a cost to the public purse of 19.6bn so far. Added to payouts to 2.6m self-employed, it means more than 40pc of private sector workers are receiving government support.

Our unprecedented coronavirus support schemes are protecting millions of vital jobs and businesses across the whole of the UK  and will help ensure we recover from this outbreak as swiftly as possible, said Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor.

We have extended both schemes so they will continue to provide measured support across the UK as we start to reopen the economy.
Join me for a story about living in white privilege. Imagine you are out shopping on a very hot summer day. You could really use a bottle of cold water, and you see a convenience store. You walk in, find the cold bottle of water, take it up to the counter and hand the employee your credit card. You are told the store takes only cash for a purchase that small, so you reach into your wallet and throw down a $20 bill. You step outside, enjoy your refreshing beverage and check your email. In what seems like only a few minutes, a couple of police officers come up to you and ask. Were you just in that store? and Did you pay with a $20 bill? You say Yes. Is there a problem? The police explain there has been a report of counterfeit money being passed. So how did your story end?
NPP Deputy Communications Director, Mame Yaa Aboagye says former President John Dramani Mahamas comment to reject 2020 election results is mere mischief and propaganda.



The former President, delivering a speech at the 28th anniversary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), issued a stern warning to the Electoral Commission (EC) ahead of this years general elections.



According to the former President and flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the party will not accept the 2020 election results should they suspect any underhand dealings by the EC.



As leader of the NDC, I wish to serve notice that we shall do all our parts to ensure that our country remains peaceful and that the electoral process proceeds smoothly, but let nobody assume that we will accept the results of a flawed elections, he cautioned.



But to Mame Yaa, Mr. Mahamas comment is an admission that the NDC will lose the 2020 general elections.



According to her, the former President is only finding an excuse for his party ahead of their defeat in the elections.



This act of the former President Mahama is mischief and propaganda to prepare the minds of the NDC for the impending elections because he knows he will be defeated again, so that he can find a very nice way to escape the blame from his supporters. In fact, he is not ready for this years election. No manifesto, running Mate and no policy directives; the handwriting is clear. Defeat awaits JM ahead of 2020 elections.



I thought you once said that the EC is an independent body, so Ghanaians should leave Madam Charlotte Osei alone to do her work in peace. Please, what has changed this time? she questioned Mr. Mahama.

Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/[email protected]









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Paris, France (PANA) - In a joint statement, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of France, Germany and Italy have called on the parties to the Libyan conflict to end military operations immediately and engage in constructive negotiations
A person wearing a protective face mask and gloves as a precaution against the coronavirus walks by the Robert Indiana sculpture "LOVE" at John F. Kennedy Plaza, commonly known as Love Park, in Philadelphia, Monday, April 13, 2020. The sculpture is a big attraction for tourists. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Read more

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to upend the travel industry, two major organizations that promote Philadelphia tourism have laid off staff.

Visit Philadelphia, which focuses on drawing leisure tourists to the five-county region, eliminated 18 positions  36% of its 50-member office. The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB), meanwhile, laid off 17 people, reducing its 66-member staff by almost 26%.

Both groups are nonprofits, and their respective budgets depend largely on funding from the citys hotel room tax. Occupancy of those rooms has plummeted.

A spokesperson for PHLCVB said layoffs were a last resort, and that the organization expects to cut its budget almost in half for its next fiscal year.

"With an estimated 30% decline in hotel occupancy and a loss of over $468 million in hotel room revenue through 2020, and a projected 43% decline in our fiscal year 2021 budget, we were forced to make the painful decision to implement layoffs, said Alethia Calbeck, a PHLCVB spokesperson.

Jeff Guaracino, president and CEO of Visit Philadelphia, said the financial outlook for tourism has gotten only worse.

The market forecast has been lowered even more, and the recovery goes well into 2021 and beyond," he said. "Full recovery for the industry is not projected for five years nationally.

 READ MORE: Phillys tourism economy has already lost $1 billion because of coronavirus  and faces a long road back

Visit Philadelphia was approved for a $1 million loan through the federal governments Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) earlier this spring. In April, Guaracino told The Inquirer that the funding covered two months worth of staff salaries, and meant he could avoid furloughing employees at the time.

But the organization ultimately decided to return the funding.

Like many companies, we can confirm that the PPP was returned in compliance with the [Small Business Administration] rules as the federal agency released more than a dozen updates, Guaracino said Wednesday. Despite the return of the PPP, Visit Philadelphia kept our commitment to all of our employees for the full eight-week period the PPP would have otherwise covered.

Employees were notified of the layoffs on June 3, and will be paid through June 12, Guaracino said. Every single department across the board was impacted.

Guaracino said the greatest asset of Visit Philadelphia is our team. He added: "The decisions that we had to make also had to be in line with how to make sure the organization can fulfill its mission to help rebuild the industry and do our part.

PHLCVB first cut expenses drastically and then implemented furloughs and pay cuts starting April 6, before employees were laid off on May 27, Calbeck said.

Outgoing president and CEO Julie Coker, who had already accepted a new job as head of the San Diego Tourism Authority before the pandemic, delayed taking that position for two months and forfeited her salary for the month of April as well as the vacation payout she was owed upon her departure, Calbeck said.

Cokers last day at PHLCVB was May 29. Her successor, Gregg Caren, previously served as an executive vice president at ASM Global, a firm that operates venues such as the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

News of the layoffs at the tourism groups comes as historic protests against racial inequality have, for more than a week, gripped a city that is predominantly comprised of people of color.

We are committed to ensuring that equality and inclusion are pillars of our destination and we commit to leveraging our strong community connections and our PHL Diversity division to ensure that the economic benefits of tourism extend to all diverse communities in Philadelphia, PHLCVB said in a June 3 statement.

Calbeck told The Inquirer that before the layoffs, the bureaus staff was 32% racially diverse and 68% white. After the layoffs, she said, the 49-person staff is 33% racially diverse, and 67% white.

Visit Philadelphia, on its website, has highlighted black-owned restaurants and shops and boutiques to support, as well as museums and other destinations that showcase black artists. For a time, Visit Philadelphia also paused visitors to its website with a darkened screen and a countdown clock that lasted for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time that George Floyd was held under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer when he was killed.

Within the organization, Visit Philadelphia is providing support, and giving people an opportunity to have a platform to talk about their experience and their truths, chief innovation and global diversity officer Rachel Ferguson said.

Diversity, inclusion, and equity is part of the DNA of Visit Philadelphia, Ferguson said.

Before the layoffs, Ferguson said, 42% of the staff was diverse, and now the employees in the remaining positions are 47% diverse.

Ferguson said that Visit Philadelphia follows the citys definition of diversity from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and that the organizations workforce statistics are inclusive to race, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
(Natural News) Mike OMeara, the head of New York states largest police union, spoke to the press on Tuesday afternoon demanding that they respect law enforcement officers risking their lives to protect American lives and property. He accused the media of treating police officers unfairly and not focusing enough on the sacrifices they have had to make since the beginning of the engineered riots.

During his speech, OMeara talked about how the media has been vilifying police officers, and how politicians across the country were failing them. In his speech, which has since gone viral on social media, he spoke about how the media did not praise law enforcement officers for being able to keep the peace in many parts of the country.

Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect, said OMeara, president of The Police Benevolent Association of New York State (PBA of New York State). Thats what were here today to say. Weve been left out of the conversation.

Weve been vilified. Its disgusting.

https://twitter.com/AugustTakala/status/1270399690912272384

OMeara said that the media failed to talk about how New York police officers have around 375 million overwhelmingly positive interactions with their communities. He accused the media of trying to make police officers embarrassed of their careers; that they failed to mention the fact that several police officers have been killed by criminals since the beginning of the engineered riots.

During his speech, OMeara held up his badge and said that it had not been stained by the acts of the Minneapolis police officers who killed George Floyd, saying: Its still got its shine on it.

Towards the end of his speech, OMeara said that the union does not condone what happened in Minneapolis, and they roundly condemn those responsible for the death of George Floyd. Its not what we do. Its not what police officers do, he added. (Related: Minnesota man charged with participating in the ARSON ATTACK on Minneapolis Police Departments 3rd Precinct.)

Im proud to be a cop, and Im going to continue to be proud to be a cop until the day I retire, said OMeara, ending his speech.

Law enforcement will not support or defend a murder  NYC PBA President

Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York (NYC PBA), also spoke during the press conference. During his speech, he said that no New York City police officer would ever condone the murder of innocent people.

Not one woman or man that has a shield on their chest, a patch on their shoulder  regardless of what arm of law enforcement they come from  will support or defend a murder of an innocent person, and thats what happened, said Lynch.

However, he also followed in the footsteps of OMeara by criticizing protesters who continue to spout anti-police rhetoric and actions, such as with calls to either defund or disband police departments nationwide.

Pat Lynch on death of #GeorgeFloyd, 8 minutes is wrongthere was no strugglewe denounce it and we have from the beginning. pic.twitter.com/rXE3cbU2w1  NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) June 9, 2020

Lynch further criticized New York state legislators who recently passed a series of police reform bills, including one that bans the use of chokeholds. He also slammed the New York State Assemblys decision to repeal 50-a, which prevents the release of police officers confidential personnel records.

Listen to this episode of the Health Ranger Report where Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, lays out why the Democratic Party is wrong to support efforts to abolish police departments in their crime-ridden cities.

Nearly 400 cops injured since riots started

According to New York Police Department (NYPD) First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker, more than 350 NYPD officers have been injured since the engineered riots began two weeks ago. Several of these injured officers had to be hospitalized due to the severity of their injuries.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said that the city is lucky that no police officers have died so far, even as rioters have attacked officers on duty using improvised incendiary devices.

Learn about the dangerous riots that Americas law enforcement is dealing with at Rioting.news.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Twitter.com 1

TheFederalist.com

FoxNews.com

Twitter.com 2

NBCNewYork.com
Bingzi Hu I am honored to be recognized as an Elite Lawyer by my fellow peers in the legal community. I will put my vast experience and knowledge to work in providing skilled counsel to our clients.  Hu commented.

The 2020 Elite Lawyer recognition has been awarded to Bingzi Hu for her outstanding performances and contributions in litigation and criminal defense. This professional accolade is given only to those who perform at an outstanding level of excellence, professionalism, and competence in their field of law.

Elite Lawyer awards and recognizes attorneys with a proven record of achievement in their practice areas and who have received acknowledgment from their peers in the legal community, local Bar Associations, and other committees. The honor is only bestowed upon lawyers who have met or exceeded the criteria of a rigorous, multi-phased selection process.

Bingzi obtained her Juris Doctors degree from Georgia State University College of Law. After that, she pursued further studies in Federal Criminal Defense and Practices and obtained an LL.M. degree from Mercer Universitys Walter F. George School of Law.

Bingzi is a member of the Georgia Bar Association. In addition, she has been admitted to the Northern District of Georgia Federal Court, the Middle District of Georgia Federal Court, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Georgia. She engages in a variety of criminal cases at both state and federal levels, including pill mill cases, securities fraud, bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, and more. She also specializes in appeal and other post-conviction relief.

I am honored to be recognized as an Elite Lawyer by my fellow peers in the legal community. I will put my vast experience and knowledge to work in providing skilled counsel to our clients. Using an aggressive and strategic approach, I am committed to ensuring the best possible outcomes for those who have been accused of federal crimes, Hu commented.
New Delhi, June 11 : Suggesting disagreement between the two entities, SoftBank Group owned U.K. chip designer Arm and its Chinese joint venture issued contradicting statements on Wednesday over the removal of the local unit's CEO, the Nikkei reported.

As per the report, Arm Limited said in a statement on Tuesday that the board of Arm China appointed two interim co-CEOs to replace Allen Wu as chairman and CEO.

On Wednesday, Arm China posted on Chinese social media platforms that Wu would continue to lead the company, directly contradicting the British company.

"Arm China is an independent entity and legally registered in China. According to all the laws and regulations, Allen Wu will continue his responsibility and role as Chairman and CEO," it said.

Arm Limited thereafter issued a lengthier joint statement with Hopu, another major shareholder in Arm China. It said Wu was removed after a whistleblower complaint triggered an investigation, which found "serious irregularities, including failing to disclose conflicts of interest and violations of the employee handbook." "The Board believes that removing Mr. Wu is the most ethical and responsible decision to ensure Arm China's long-term stability and business prospects," Arm and Hopu said, as per the Nikkei report.

The contradicting statements suggest disagreement between the two entities after Arm spun off its Chinese business.

SoftBank acquired Arm, the leading designer for chips in smartphones, in 2016 for about $31 billion. In 2018, Arm sold 51 per cent stake in its Chinese unit to a group of investors. They include state-backed entities such as the Silk Road Fund, sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation and Shenzhen government-owned conglomerate Shum Yip Group.

Since the acquisition, SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son has asked Arm to ramp up spending on research and development in an effort to expand the range of devices using Arm-designed chips. In mid-May, he said shipment of Arm-designed chips are "continuing to grow at an exponential rate." However, the effort has yet to deliver financial results with only 3 per cent increase in revenue.

Arm is seen as one of the world's most important chip design blueprint providers as its intellectual property is needed in more than 90 per cent of global smartphones and mobile devices. Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Qualcomm and Mediatek all need Arm IP licenses to develop their core mobile processors.

Softbank's move in 2018 to cede control of its Chinese operation was viewed as a victory and a major breakthrough for China to secure a crucial source of semiconductor technology, Nikeei said.
Cubas coral reef rescue

Cuba's first coral nursery

helps to repopulate damaged reefs

//from pollution,

overfishing,

and climate change //

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HEAD OF BIODIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF THE CUBA NATIONAL AQUARIUM, PEDRO PABLO CHEVALIER, SAYING:

This project that we are carrying out aims to help the reef recover its ecological functions, its ecosystem functions, and increase the biodiversity of corals. // We are trying to make an assisted selection, an assisted evolution of these corals towards corals that are more resistant to high temperatures, ocean acidification, and contamination of Caribbean sea waters."

Corals are animals on the ocean floor

about 25% of marine life depend on them

at some point in their lifetime

Over half the coral in the Caribbean

have died since the 1970s

(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HEAD OF BIODIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF THE CUBA NATIONAL AQUARIUM, PEDRO PABLO CHEVALIER, SAYING:

"Climate change affects the ecosystem, itaffects all life on the planet. In the specific case of coral reefs, the rise in water temperature, in the seas, especially in the tropics, directly affects corals. These above-normal temperature changes cause what is known as coral bleaching, which is nothing more than heat stress loss from symbiotic algae that live alongside corals."
It was never so quiet. So quiet that one could clearly hear the chirping of birds at noon time, as if this were a bird-filled orchard.

For more than two months, the extraordinarily noisy Old Delhi went soundless. The coronavirus triggered lockdown sapped out all its voices. The Walled City lanes that never slept went into a long slumber. Residents would use the haunting word sannata to describe the deathly stillness that would pervade the narrow alleyways from morning to night, and night to morning.

But now the lockdown is officially over in the Capital and on Monday, for the first time in the area around Jama Masjid, non-essential shops openedthe cloth traders sat in their cramped stores with topi on their head and mask on their face.

The lanes again stirred with the cries of itinerant hawkers, including of those men selling cheap masks from door to door.

As the old life wafted back, there was also the sense of a renewed lossfelt at least by one Walled City dweller. Shaheena, who describes herself as a woman first and then as a wife, mother and grandmother.

In her 50s, she lives near Matia Mahal bazar and admits she is relieved that things appear to be getting back to normal but I had started liking the khamoshi (silence).

Talking on WhatsApp video, she recalls the recent afternoons of the lockdown days when I would hear nothing, everything seemed peaceful.... just the opening of fridge by someone in the house would feel a sound too loud for the ears.

Shaheena spends most of her waking hours either in praying and reading newspapers or in cooking food for the family. I feel sukoon (calm) these daysshe is of course worried about the pandemic but at least, for now, all her relatives and friends are reported to be well. In the pre-corona days, the bedroom window in her second-floor home would be shut due to the noise coming from the street below... the cries of the machhli walla, kebab walla, biryani walla, kharbooj walla....

But these days she tended to leave the window open.

Late in the afternoon, just before the evening, says Shaheena, I would, without fail, start to hear the ho-ho sounds of people on rooftops flying their kabutars. Pigeon-flying would take place in the pre-corona era too but amid all the din during the old days, I would never hear that sound.

During the lockdown, the ho-ho would be as clear to her as if it were emanating from within her own home. Which cant be ruled out because Shaheenas husband, Guddu bhai, is a pigeon lover and is himself a proud owner of a vast collection of birds, that he lovingly maintains on the roof of their house.

The only disconcerting bit of the lockdown silence, apart from the dreadful awareness of the virus that caused it, was the occasional sobbing of dogs in the area that would fill Shaheenas heart with forebodings of fear. We often used to hear their barking but never their crying.

Regardless, the old sounds of the BC (Before Corona) era are coming back, Shaheena says. I will miss the silence.

But the next moment she partially contradicts herself, insisting that silence is fine but Im glad that the poor shopkeepers are finally able to open their businesses even if their shops are still empty of shoppers.... Im truly happy for all the people who were fearing for their rozgaar (employment).

Now she stands by her window for a photo shoot, as her son holds the phone steady.
Richmond, Virginia: A statue of Jefferson Davis has been torn down along Richmond, Virginia's famed Monument Avenue by protesters.

Davis, from Mississippi, was president of the Confederate States of America for the duration of the American Civil War.

The statue was toppled shortly before 11pm on Wednesday (US time) and was on the ground in the middle of an intersection, news outlets reported. Richmond police were on the scene.

The statue of Confederate president Jefferson Davis on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, has been torn down. Credit:AP

About 130 kilometres away, in Portsmouth, protesters beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument on Wednesday, according to media outlets.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:

One-time use funds, saved during the execution of Azerbaijan's state budget in 20120, may be transferred to the reserve fund of the state budget, and spent on financing other activities in 2020, Executive Director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications of Azerbaijan (CAERC) Vusal Gasimli, Trend reports.

The expenses formed due the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the affect of the temporary tax regime on income, are being analyzed. This allows taking into account the pandemics consequences in the execution of the state budget, he said.

In 2019, with the implementation of the revolutionary social package, the one-time savings of about 1.4 billion manat ($823.5 million) were transferred to the state budgets reserve fund, Gasimli said.

The amount of funds of the reserve fund is determined in the amount of not more than 5 percent of the state budgets revenue side, taking into account the actual execution of the expenses of this fund for the previous year, noted Gasimli.

(1 USD = 1.7 manat on June 11)

---

Follow the author on Twitter: Fidan_Babaeva
[June 11, 2020] Digerati Strengthens Balance Sheet by $1 Million

- $281,000 Payoff of Related Party Debt -

- $740,000 Conversion of Shareholder Debt to Equity - SAN ANTONIO, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Digerati Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: DTGI ) ("Digerati" or the "Company"), a provider of cloud services specializing in UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) solutions for the small to medium-sized business (SMB) market, announced today that the Company has retired $1.021 million of debt.

Out of operational cash flow, the Company fully paid and retired $281,000 in related party debt that matured April 30, 2020 and settled and converted $740,000 in shareholder debt to equity. The payment of the debt will improve cash flow from operations and eliminates the note payable for $281,000 and related interest. The conversion of debt to equity eliminated multiple notes payable from the Companys balance sheet and the related interest accruals and payments. Chief Financial Officer Antonio Estrada, Jr., stated, "We are pleased to have paid off the $281,000 operational note from cash flow and converted other Company debt of $740,000 to equity. Eliminating these items from our balance sheet is a solid step toward strengthening Digeratis financial position." About Digerati Technologies, Inc . Digerati Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: DTGI ) is a provider of cloud services specializing in UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) solutions for the business market. Through its subsidiary T3 Communications (www.T3com.com), he Company is meeting the global needs of businesses seeking simple, flexible, reliable, and cost-effective communication and network solutions, including cloud PBX, cloud mobile, Internet broadband, SD-WAN, SIP trunking, and customized VoIP services, all delivered on its carrier-grade network and Only in the Cloud. For more information about Digerati Technologies, please visit www.digerati-inc.com .



Forward-Looking Statements The information in this news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon assumptions that in the future may prove not to have been accurate and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements related to the future financial performance of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations or any of its forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause results to differ include, but are not limited to, successful execution of growth strategies, product development and acceptance, the impact of competitive services and pricing, general economic conditions, and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has provided guidance to issuers regarding the use of social media to disclose material non-public information. In this regard, investors and others should note that we announce material financial information on our investor relations company website, www.TheWaypointRefinery.com , in addition to SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. We use these channels as well as social media to communicate with the public about our Company, our services and other issues. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, in light of the SECs guidance, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our Company to review the information we post on the following U.S. social media channels: Facebook: Digerati Technologies, Inc. Twitter: @DIGERATI_IR

LinkedIn: Digerati Technologies, Inc.



The Waypoint Refinery, LLC

(973) 303-9649

www.thewaypointrefinery.com Investors:

[email protected] The Eversull Group

Jack Eversull

[email protected]

(972) 571-1624

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
The confidentiality of Mr. Bidens process drew fire from a top White House aide, who complains that the secrecy allows Mr. Bidens advisers to avoid scrutiny for their views and to champion Mr. Biden publicly without disclosing ties to his campaign.

Conversations with policy experts close to the Biden campaign suggest that Mr. Biden has thus far leaned on a core group of advisers who roughly match his own ideological standing within a Democratic Party that has steadily moved left since Barack Obama won the White House in 2008. Mr. Biden appears to have widened that group to include some of the young and sharply progressive thinkers who drove the policy debate leftward during much of the 2020 Democratic primary campaign.

To wit: Asked over email if he was advising Mr. Biden, Gabriel Zucman, one of the architects of Senator Elizabeth Warrens proposed tax on high-wealth Americans, referred a reporter to an email address for Mr. Bidens press office. That address matched one that campaign officials sent to members of the newly formed economic policy committee, with instructions to give it to reporters in the event of questions about Mr. Biden.

Campaign officials refused multiple requests to detail Mr. Bidens economic brain trust. They did confirm that Mr. Biden receives regular briefings from a group of advisers that includes at least three liberal economists who are firmly rooted in the partys Washington establishment: Jared Bernstein and Ben Harris, two former chief economists for Mr. Biden from his time in the White House, and Heather Boushey, who was the top economist for Mrs. Clintons transition team when she was the Democratic nominee in 2016.

The campaign has also announced a set of so-called unity task forces on policy that include appointees by Mr. Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, another progressive rival in the Democratic primary race. Those committees have only just begun to meet, and their members have also been instructed not to talk to reporters about their work for the campaign. It is unclear what direct access Mr. Sanderss appointees have to Mr. Biden.

Mr. Biden has faced pressure from progressives who have objected to his receiving advice from Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and top economic aide to Mr. Obama whom they fault over his record in areas like financial regulation and climate change.

Waleed Shahid, a spokesman for Justice Democrats, a progressive group, warned against relying on what he described as the old guard of Democratic economists.
Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc

LEI: 549300K1D1P23R8U4U50

HEADLINE: Annual General Meeting Results

At the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 11 June 2020, shareholders approved the following resolutions:

Ordinary Business

Ordinary Resolutions

1. to receive and consider the Annual Financial Report for the year ended

31 January 2020;

2. to approve the Directors' Remuneration Policy;

3. to approve the Annual Statement and Report on Remuneration for the year ended 31 January 2020;

4. to approve the payment of a final dividend as recommended;

5. to re-elect Jane Lewis as a Director of the Company;

6. to re-elect Christopher Fletcher as a Director of the Company;

7. to re-elect Bridget Guerin as a Director of the Company;

8. to elect Graham Paterson as a Director of the Company;

9. to re-appoint the auditor, Ernst & Young LLP;

10. to authorise the Audit Committee to determine the auditor's remuneration;

Special Business

Ordinary Resolution

11. to authorise the Directors to allot securities;

Special Resolutions

12. to authorise the Directors to allot securities for cash, disapplying statutory pre-emption rights;

13. to renew the Directors' authority to purchase shares of the Company in the market for cancellation or for holding in Treasury within the parameters specified; and

14. that the period of notice required for general meetings of the Company (other than AGMs) shall be not less than 14 days.

All resolutions were passed on a poll.

A breakdown of the proxy votes registered is shown below.

Resolution Votes For % Votes Against % Votes Withheld (including votes at the discretion of the Chairman) 1.* 8,911,583 79.21 2,338,524 20.79 2,046 2. 11,105,402 98.82 132,300 1.18 14,452 3. 11,074,681 99.88 12,841 0.12 164,632 4. 11,250,412 99.99 24 0.01 1,718 5. 11,096,970 98.66 150,790 1.34 4,394 6.* 8,850,024 78.69 2,397,110 21.31 5,019 7.* 8,598,578 77.49 2,497,790 22.51 155,785 8. 11,241,974 99.97 3,524 0.03 6,655 9. 11,227,282 99.88 13,496 0.12 11,376 10. 11,238,798 99.96 4,786 0.04 8,570 11. 11,239,279 99.94 6,735 0.06 6,140 12. 11,220,830 99.78 25,184 0.22 6,140 13. 11,247,820 99.98 2,091 0.02 2,243 14. 11,092,695 98.59 158,776 1.41 683

* In relation to Resolutions 1, 6 and 7, a significant proportion of the vote against came from one shareholder which votes in line with the recommendations of a shareholder advisory consultancy (PIRC).

The Board, through the Company Secretary, has engaged with the shareholder advisory consultancy to allay their concerns and communication with the shareholder will be ongoing.

In relation to Resolution 1, the issue was that shareholder correspondence to the Board is through the Company's correspondence address, which is an office of Invesco Asset Management Limited (IAML), the Company Secretary. PIRC maintains that when correspondence concerning governance matters is handled by individuals employed by the management company it can lead to issues of divided loyalty and there is no evidence that the company has a clear policy allowing shareholders to communicate directly with the Board without the intervention of the investment manager. In common with many investment trusts, the Company's management agreement includes the provision of company secretarial services by IAML and, as set out on page 31 of the Annual Financial Report, 'The Company Secretary has no express authority to respond to enquiries addressed to the Board and all communications, other than junk mail, are redirected to the Chairman.' The Board remains satisfied that Shareholders can communicate freely with Directors as required.

In relation to Resolution 6, PIRC does not consider Christopher Fletcher to be independent as he has served on the Board longer than 9 years (having been appointed in December 2010). The Company has in place a process of succession planning which seeks to balance refreshing the Board while maintaining a degree of continuity. Over the past 3 years, Garth Milne, Ian Barby and at this AGM, Richard Brooman, have retired from the Board. This process will continue. The Board believes that experience, together with independence in character and judgement are important considerations in the assessment of independence. While a Director's tenure of office will normally be for up to nine years, the Board believes that Christopher Fletcher's continued service on the Board is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders, while the current succession process continues. Following the AGM the Board consists of four directors.

In relation to Resolution 7, PIRC does not consider Bridget Guerin to be independent as she is a non-executive director of Charles Stanley Group PLC and Charles Stanley is a significant shareholder in the Company, which raises concerns over potential conflict of interest. It has been explained to PIRC that investment advisers at Charles Stanley make investment decisions on behalf of their clients entirely autonomously with no influence able to be exerted by the Charles Stanley Group Board. Furthermore, as set out on p29 of the Company's Annual Financial Report, the Board has in place requirements which do not permit any Director with a potential conflict of interest to participate in discussion relating to that potential conflict. The Board is firmly of the view that Bridget Guerin is and remains independent in character and judgement and that her appointment to the Board is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.

The Company has 33,826,929 ordinary shares of 20p each in issue, of which 19,382,155 shares are held in Treasury. On a poll these carry one vote per share and accordingly the total voting rights are 33,826,929. The above tables represent the number of votes registered.

The proxy votes lodged with the Registrar will be available via the Company's website at:

www.invesco.co.uk/ipukscit

Board Succession

The Company confirms that as already announced, Richard Brooman, who had served on the Board for over 32 years, retired at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting.

Invesco Asset Management Limited

Corporate Company Secretary

11 June 2020
The 28-year-old mother of one of the four teenagers killed when their friend crashed a stolen car has been released from custody to arrange her son's funeral.

Lesley-Lee Hill is the mother of Lucius Baira-Hill, 13, who died instantly when the Kia Sorento he was travelling in clipped a roundabout, flipped and hit a light pole in Townsville early Sunday morning.

Hill had been arrested last Thursday and charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle after she was seen driving an allegedly stolen car a month earlier.

She was denied bail on Friday - two days before her son died - but the decision was reversed on Wednesday by Townsville Magistrates Court, the Townsville Bulletin reported.

Lesley-Lee Hill, 28, is mother of Lucius Baira-Hill, 13, who died on Sunday in a car accident

Lesley-Lee Hill was granted bail on Wednesday to help plan the funeral of her son Lucius (pictured)

Defence lawyer Phil Rennick told the court family members had travelled from New South Wales to Townsville in the hopes that Hill would be able to assist with funeral plans.

Mr Rennick was required to tell the judge what the funeral plans involved and gather several affidavits including references.

Hill was granted bail on the condition that she would stay with her mother - who Lucius was living with before he died - and report to Mundingburra Police Station every Friday.

'We're relieved our client has been released from custody so she can mourn the death of her son and attend to sorry business,' Mr Rennick told the publication.

She will appear in court again later this month on the vehicle charge.

Hill was released on bail provided she report to police every Friday and stay with her mother. Pictured: Hill with Lucius

Hill will appear in court later this month. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help pay for the teenager's funeral

A Go Fund Me page was set up to help pay for the teenager's funeral with a target of $8,000.

'We tragically lost Lucius at the young age of 13. We as a family are asking for any help we can get as this happened so suddenly. Please and thank you in advance,' a message from the organiser read.

Cayenne Nona, 14, Rayveena Coolwell, 15, and Aaliyah Tappa Brown, 17, also died in the crash.

A witness, who claimed he saw the moments leading up to the fatal crash, said the car was speeding.

'They were doing at least 120km down Hodges Crescent and I said to my missus theyre going to kill someone, there were no police around, just these two cars and they just kept doing blocks,' he told the Townsville Bulletin.

The car (pictured) clipped a roundabout before slamming into a light pole at around 4.30am on Sunday

Cayenne Nona (pictured, left) was remembered online as a 'beautiful soul', while a funeral fundraiser has been set up for Aaliyah Tappa Brown (right) after her death in the crash

Lucias Baira-Hill (pictured, left) and Rayveena Coolwell (right) were identified as victims of the horror car crash in Townsville on Sunday

Emergency services were called to the corner of Duckworth Street and Bayswater Road at Garbutt at around 4.30am after the car crashed into a light pole.

Pictures from the scene showed a badly-wrecked white Kia Sorrento upside down at the intersection.

The 14-year-old alleged driver was charged with a string of offences, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, burglary and possessing dangerous drugs.

Pictures from the scene showed a badly-wrecked white Kia Sorrento upside down at the intersection

Respected indigenous elder Uncle Rusty Butler called for action to be taken against youth crime to save lives.

'I feel empty  because you know they should never have died,' he said.

'We had the chance to save these kids  we need to deal with this because its not going to get better from here.'

A memorial has been set up near the crash site for the four victims, with flowers, balloons and messages left by loved ones.
The spokesperson of the Egyptian Irrigation Ministry Mohamed El-Sebaie said Egypt is keen on reaching consensus regarding the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) during the ongoing online talks, which set off on Tuesday, but without returning back to square one.

The irrigation ministries of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia started online talks on the GERD in the attendance of observers from the US, the EU and South Africa.

The virtual talks come on the back of Sudan's endeavours to bring back the concerned parties to the table following an escalating war of words between Cairo and Addis Ababa.

In an interview with MBC Masr satellite channel over the phone on Thursday, El-Sebaie said "Egypt is keen on achieving joint gains [for the three countries] without harming any party, and without returning back to point zero. I mean we will not start from the beginning."

He stressed Egypts four conditions during the virtual meeting: Egypt demands confirmation from Ethiopia it would take no unilateral action on filling the dam until an agreement is reached; a specific timeframe from 9 to 13 June to reach an agreement on the filling and operation of the dam; talks should be based on the terms of reference to the Washington and World Bank-brokered document in February; and that the observers who have been attending the meetings act as facilitators.

"We hope to reach [an agreement] that satisfies all sides ... and feel there is a genuine will on all sides to reach consensus... if there is no will, we will never reach consensus," he added.

The spokesman noted that the Sudanese side doesn't support one side more than the other, adding that Sudan is a main partner in the negotiations because it has direct interests and each country is keen on attaining its objectives.

"The target is not to reach a conflict of interests," he stressed.

The ongoing talks are the first between the three sides since February, when the Washington and World Bank-mediated negotiations came to a halt after Ethiopia pulled out of a meeting in Washington.

When talks between the three African countries reached a deadlock last October the US stepped in to act as an observer of negotiations.

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Nigel Farage has left LBC. (John Phillips/Getty Images)

Nigel Farage has left LBC, the radio station has announced.

It said in a statement on Thursday: Nigel Farages contract with LBC is up very shortly and, following discussions with him, Nigel is stepping down from LBC with immediate effect.

We thank Nigel for the enormous contribution he has made to LBC and wish him well.

The controversial Brexit Party leader, whose previous show was broadcast as recently as Wednesday night, was the stations highest-profile presenter.

Nigel Farage presented five shows a week on LBC. (Getty Images)

Farage, who presented five shows a week on LBC and interviewed the likes of Donald Trump, has yet to comment on his departure.

Fellow host James O'Brien, while not mentioning Farage's name, tweeted: "We got our station back."

Global, the owner of LBC, was criticised this week for posting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement while continuing to employ Farage.

Largely peaceful anti-racism protests have been sparked by the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last month.

Following Sundays protests in the UK  which saw some clashes between demonstrators and police in London and the removal of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol  Farage had said: A new form of the Taliban was born in the UK today.

Another LBC presenter, Nick Ferrari, was condemned earlier this week following an appearance on Sky News show The Pledge.

Black panellist Afua Hirsch had questioned problematic figures we continue to glorify in statue form across the UK.

Ferrari, who presents LBCs breakfast show, asked her: "Why do you stay in this country?"

Shadow justice secretary David Lammy said of Ferraris remarks: I cant believe I am watching this in 2020. Let alone this week of all weeks.

In a former life, when I thought you cd politely persuade people not to be racist



Their response? "If you don't like it here, LEAVE". Which I'm yet to hear said to a white British person



Racism is telling black people who have a critique of their own country, they should leave pic.twitter.com/Dhx4G0yloP  Afua Hirsch (@afuahirsch) June 9, 2020

Global was also criticised by two of its own presenters for its response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Story continues

Yinka Bokinni and Shayna Marie Birch-Campbell  breakfast show hosts for Capital Xtra, the UKs biggest black music radio station  said they were embarrassed by Globals statements responding to the protests.

The Guardian reported a Global source as saying there is a lack of genuine commitment to diversity at the company.

Global has said: We need to improve, and pledge to make a sustained effort to evolve for the better. Its statement on Monday read:

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
Monash University is pushing ahead with a plan to help a Chinese state-owned company build its new commercial passenger airliner, despite concerns within the federal government some of the designs have been stolen as part of a global espionage campaign.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), China's rival to the United States' Boeing and Europe's Airbus, has been tied to a major theft of intellectual property involving Beijing's Ministry of State Security and state-backed hackers in the design of its new C919 jetliner.

COMAC's flagship C919 plane, its rival to Boeing and Airbus. Credit:Bloomberg

Monash and COMAC signed a $10 million research agreement in Beijing in October last year alongside Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews as he announced a second agreement with China under the Belt and Road Initiative.

It followed an earlier memorandum of understanding between Monash and COMAC, signed in 2017, which committed both parties to work on the design of specialised new 3D printed alloys for the design and construction of the C919.
Casper saw multiple demonstrations against racism and police brutality last week, part of a movement of protests across the U.S. spurred by the police killing of a handcuffed black man in Minneapolis. Hundreds of Casperites marched through downtown Wednesday and Friday in solidarity with the national movement.

After the demonstrators went home each night, groups of armed men stayed to patrol Caspers downtown. They said they were there to protect private property given how protests in other cities had escalated from peaceful marches to businesses being broken into or set on fire.

The groups dotted nearly every intersection down the west part of Second Street, one of Caspers central roadways. The men openly carried a variety of firearms.

Casper City Council member Mike Huber took issue with the armed men, saying Tuesday during a work session that the presence of the armed men was a smudge on the event and that he felt the armed men were there to intimidate, adding, The only thing I felt I needed protecting from was them.

Casper Police officers were present both Wednesday and Friday during the demonstrations, department spokesperson Rebekah Ladd said. Officers were also stationed downtown Wednesday and Friday evenings. Officers did intervene to deescalate verbal altercations between armed residents and other parties, Ladd said, adding those instances were resolved peacefully and no citations or arrests were made either night.

The Star-Tribune spoke with Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen to answer a handful of questions regarding Wyomings laws governing the carrying of firearms in public.

What is open carry?

Open carry refers to the act of carrying an exposed weapon in public, Itzen said. It could be a handgun in a hip holster or a long gun strung across a persons chest. Open carry is not, however, a legal term in the state of Wyoming, meaning the term itself is not used nor defined in any state statute.

How is it different from concealed carry?

Concealed carry is the act of carrying a hidden firearm on your person. Itzen said under Wyomings current statute, there is not a marked difference between concealed carry and open carry.

Do you need a permit?

You do not need a permit to carry a firearm in Wyoming, regardless of whether the weapon is exposed or concealed.

That said, residents must still be legally allowed to carry firearms under other laws. So, for example, the resident must still be 21 years or older and they cant have been convicted of a violent felony, even without a permit, as those are requirements laid out in other areas of statute.

If you dont need a permit, why are permits still issued?

Itzen named two primary benefits to having a concealed firearms permit. Permit holders are able to lawfully carry a concealed firearm in states that have reciprocity with Wyoming  meaning theyve agreed that a permit in one state is valid in the other. Wyoming has reciprocity with more than 30 states, though some of those states impose restrictions on out-of-state licenses.

A permit also makes the process of purchasing firearms smoother, Itzen said. A permit exempts the holder from the federal background check requirement to purchase firearms, as the permit holder would have fulfilled the background check requirement when issued the state permit. That said, Wyoming does not require background checks to purchase firearms, so this only applies to federally licensed sellers.

Can anyone carry a firearm in public?

There are restrictions in Wyomings concealed firearms law limiting the issuance of a permit to those who meet certain criteria.

To be issued a permit, a person must be at least 21 years old. They must be physically able to handle the weapon and they must be able to demonstrate a familiarity with the weapon, either through certifications or membership in a firearm club or the military.

Those who have been convicted of controlled substance violations or those who have been committed to rehabilitation facilities for controlled substance use face more restrictions when it comes to being granted a permit.

To be clear, you do not need a permit to carry a firearm in public, though if you are not at least 21 years old, or if you are a convicted felon, you are still not legally able to carry a weapon, regardless of the permit laws.

There is not a law that specifically addresses open carry in Wyoming. Itzen said there is no real difference in law between concealed and open carry in the state.

Are there laws about how people must handle their weapons while carrying them in public?

Yes and no. There are laws that govern behavior with a weapon. Itzen said someone behaving recklessly with a firearm could be considered criminally liable and charged with aggravated assault, as an example.

The statute that covers concealed carry specifically, however, does not impose many guidelines on behavior while handling a weapon, other than specifying areas where firearms are not allowed.

Itzen said it would be difficult to deem specific hypothetical situations legal or not.

He said almost every case is going to vary based on the facts of the situation, and so would be difficult to predict without knowing every detail of a case, which would happen through a law enforcement investigation.

I dont think you can simply say, Heres a set of hypothetical facts. Whats the answer? he said. Every case is different, and it may be different in minuscule ways or it may be substantially different.

He said the charges in a specific case would fall to the discretion of the law enforcement officers who investigated it.

Many of the armed men patrolling Caspers streets last week said they were there to protect private property. What would have to take place to legally allow them to open fire?

Before a gun can be used in self-defense, Itzen said, a person has to be in fear of death or serious bodily injury.

He reiterated that it would be difficult to offer a legal opinion on a hypothetical because minuscule changes in the facts of a case can dramatically alter its trajectory.

However, property damage alone would not meet the standard for a self-defense argument.

Itzen said Wyomings stand your ground laws, which address the use of firearms in cases of self-defense, have proven complicated in the courts. The only example he could offer for when it would be clearly lawful to fire a weapon at another person would be for the preservation of human life. State statute allows for the use of deadly force to prevent imminent death or bodily injury to themselves or another person, though the law contains a slew of caveats and legal considerations.

Are firearms allowed everywhere in Wyoming?

No, there is a list in statute clearly defining areas where firearms are not allowed.

Those areas are: law enforcement facilities; detention centers, jails or prisons; courtrooms; government meetings, including those of the state Legislature or its committees; and educational institutions, though there are stipulations in the law that allow firearms in some academic locations.

Where can you find more about open carry law?

There is not a specific law that addresses open carry in Wyoming, but the statute that covers concealed firearms is 6-8-104. The language can be found on the Wyoming Legislatures website under the state statutes and constitution tab, visible from the homepage.

Follow local government reporter Morgan Hughes on Twitter @morganhwrites

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An armed volunteer works security at an entrance to the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, in Seattle, Wash., on June 10, 2020. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

Take Back Your City Now: Trump to Washington State Governor, Seattle Mayor

President Donald Trump called on Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee to take back Seattle after protest groups that include Antifa, a far-left network that espouses violence, took over a seven-block zone from which police have withdrawn.

Widely referred to by its acronym CHAZ, the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone was established when staff at the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct, which was the site of violent clashes with protesters, secured the facility, removed barricades, and essentially left the protesters to police themselves.

The people and groups controlling CHAZ have published a 30-point list of demands. These include abolishing the Seattle Police Department and reparations for victims of police brutality.

The Seattle Police Department said there have been reports of people with guns checking the identification of individuals seeking to enter the zone.

While Washington is an open-carry state, there is no legal right for those arms to be used to intimidate community members, Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette told reporters on Wednesday. She added there have been reports of businesses and citizens being asked to pay a fee to operate in the area, which she said could amount to the crime of extortion.

Trump said Inslee and Durkan are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before.

Take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped [sic] IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST! he added in a statement on social media.

Inslee told Trump in response that a man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington states business.

Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker, Durkan responded to Trumps tweet.

Trump said in a later tweet: Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!

Barricades viewed by a reporter with NTD Television, an Epoch Times affiliate, included the phrase, Public safety means no cops on our streets.

The East Precinct building entrance sign was painted over to say Seattle People Department.

The boarded up Seattle Police Department East Precinct inside the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, Wash., on June 10, 2020. (Ernie Li/NTD Television)

Heather Mac Donald, fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of The War on Cops, told The Epoch Times on June 8 that people who resort to what she called left-wing fun and riot revolutionary tactics in seeking social change often fail to consider the lasting damage.

Its not going to be there, she said of the stability and predictability thats needed for society to function. She said what would emerge in place of law and order is poverty, despair, uncertainty.

Can you get anything at your grocery store? Can you walk outside at night? Will there be restaurants? All of that is now in severe jeopardy, she said.

Cities cannot operate with this level of fear, she added.

Seattle police on Wednesday said they wanted to identify and talk with protest leaders about reopening the precinct, Seattle Times reported.
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By the end of April, only 0.73% of the over 26,000 people across 83 districts of India may have been exposed to the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), a study showed, highlighting the slow spread of the pandemic in the country, but also the fact that much of its population is not immune to a disease that still has no cure.

To be sure, only part of the findings of the survey have been released; a key part, on the presence of antibodies in so-called hot spots or containment zones, areas most affected by the disease is awaited.

Blood samples were taken in May from 26,400 individuals in 28,595 households across 83 districts in 21 states and tested for IgG antibodies that determine a past infection due to the virus, and, therefore, also immunity  according to a few scientists.

The results are reassuring as less than 1% population has shown antibodies in the survey that means we have managed to keep the pandemic suppressed successfully. This is a situation around April end as samples were lifted around mid May and it takes about 2 weeks for the results to show, said VK Paul, chairman, Covid empowered group I, and member (health), Niti Aayog. He also added that the case mortality rate (the proportion of deaths to total Covid-19 cases) in the sample studied was just 0.08%. This is a big achievement for a country as large as India, and if we continue to keep the loss of life minimal then it will be an accomplishment for the country, he said.

Covid-19 has, around the world, ravaged crowded urban areas and its preference for these was visible to some extent in the study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research, along with National Centre for Disease Control, state health departments and World Health Organization (WHO). Urban areas showed higher Covid-19 prevalence of about 1.09%, and within them, urban slums, 1.89%.

The results show rural areas were largely unaffected, and even overall prevalence was less than 1%; it means that the lockdown and containment measures in the country have been effective, and spread of the virus was slowed down successfully, said Dr Balram Bhargava, director general, ICMR, while releasing the data at the briefing. To be sure, a repeat of the survey conducted now may throw up a different result. India saw 155,668 new cases of Covid-19 in May, 54% of its current total of 286,953 cases (as on June 10). The month also saw migrant workers returning to their homes in the hinterland from urban centres, potentially carrying the virus with them.

The findings of the study also shed light on the immunity of the Indian population. Around the world, limited blood tests for Covid-19 bodies have been used to assess the immunity of the population to the disease. And they have shown that herd or mass immunity is still far away.

Stopping further spread is a challenge, say experts. You have to look at it both ways; if the percentage is low then it means there is a large geographical area where the virus hasnt gone. Can we contain it like that for ever, and not allow the virus to enter those areas? The immunity in those areas is low, and you have to ensure no infected person goes there ever. Is that even practical or possible?, asked Dr Shobha Broor, former head, microbiology department, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.

The second part of the study, which may provide details of immunity of the general population in hot spots, may still throw up a surprise. The data for the second part is still being collated, and what we have seen so far is that infection in containment zones is high with significant variations, said Dr Bhargava.

At the briefing, Dr Bhargava also shared data that compared Indias management of the pandemic with that of other countries. The number of cases and deaths per lakh population in India are also lowest in the world, with 20.77 cases as compared to 91.67 cases globally, and 0.59 deaths in India as opposed to 5.23 deaths in the world.

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African Achievers Awards launches Feed Africa project; a humanitarian response community outreach to COVID-19 pandemic with food items and facemasks.

In just a few months, the rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 presents an alarming health crisis that Africa is grappling with.

In addition to the human impact, there is also significant economic, business and commercial impact being felt in Africa

The African Achievers Awards officially launched the second phase of the COVID 19 FOOD BANK PROJECT INITIATIVE in a bid to complement Government effort and donor partners in the fight against COVID 19 pandemic in Sierra Leone.

The organisation distributed several bags of rice, packets of pure drinking water, face masks and palm oil to orphans, widows and disabled persons in Juba, Lumley, Aberdeen, Wellington, Jui and Waterloo communities in Freetown Sierra Leone.

On behalf of the AAA, the Country Representative Mr. Abdul Wahab Bangura stated: "We will continue working with government, Organisations to strengthen psychosocial support, food outreach and medical materials particularly for the most vulnerable persons.

Mr. Wahab further thanked the following partners Rokel Commercial Bank, Md. Simbirie C. Jalloh, Rev. Dr. Max CAWilliams (Destiny Shipping), Dr. Walton Gilpin (Rcbank), Mrs Patricia Bah, Mr. Mohamed MM Kallon, Hon. Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara Esq, Mr Mohamed Pa Momo Fofanah Esq, Alfantic Boutique Plus

RASH Construction and Hon. Alusine Kanneh.

The food bank project will hit Nigeria in a few days then spread to other African Cities.

About AAA

African Achievers Award from its inception has consistently honoured great African Achievers from African Leaders, Young Achievers, community builders across the continent. The Awards ceremony has fast become established as one of the biggest gatherings of influential and global African Achievers on the continent.
Credit: WUR/Wopke van der Werf

Intercropping, or the simultaneous cultivation of multiple crops on a single plot of land, can significantly increase the yield, not only of low input agriculture, but also of intensive agriculture, and reduce the use of fertilizers. Scientists of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) reached this conclusion in collaboration with colleagues from China. They published their results in Nature Plants.

Farmers have applied intercropping for as long as we can remember. The dominant idea was that this method provided benefits primarily in low-input agriculture and in areas where low-cost labor is available and fertilizers are expensive or unavailable, such as in parts of Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America. Through an extensive meta-analysis of 226 previously conducted experiments, WUR researchers and their colleagues at China Agricultural University, discovered that intercropping can contribute at least as much to a significantly higher yield of intensive agriculture, while lowering the use of fertilizer.

Strips

Intercropping appears to give a 16-29% larger yield per unit area than monocultures in intensive agriculture under the same circumstances, while using 19-36% less fertilizer when counted per unit product. The increase is most significant utilizing a method of intercropping called 'relay strip intercropping' that is frequently applied in China. This method combines crops whose growing season differs in strips that are one to 1.5 meters wide, with several rows of a crop species in each strip.

Optimal utilization

Wheat, barley and broad beans, for example, grow fast in spring, while cornwhich is sown laterhas the peak of its growth later in summer. Through these different growth periods, the available sunlight, water and nutrients on a field are used more effectively throughout the year than when monoculture is applied. Previous studies already showed that an added advantage of intercropping is that crops require less irrigation and pesticides to protect them from diseases and plagues.

Potential and Hurdles

'There are still hurdles to take concerning, for example, the introduction of new and lighter agricultural machinery, acceptance by farmers and figuring out the most suitable species combinations, spatial configuration and management according to local growing conditions. But Chunjie Li's research shows the great potential of intercropping, including its potential for sustainably increasing the yield of both low and high-input agriculture. If we are to feed the growing world population sustainably, these are opportunities we cannot afford to waste', says co-supervisor and co-author Wopke van der Werf. Van der Werf is an associate professor for the WUR Centre for Crop Systems Analysis.

The results of the study were published in Nature Plants on 1 June. The article is based on the dissertation of Ph.D. candidate Chunjie Li. She will defend her thesis on Wednesday, 16 September.

Explore further Filling intercropping info gap

More information: Chunjie Li et al. Syndromes of production in intercropping impact yield gains, Nature Plants (2020). Journal information: Nature Plants Chunjie Li et al. Syndromes of production in intercropping impact yield gains,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41477-020-0680-9
On June 1, the Australia Institute, a Canberra-based independent think tank, published a report entitled Like a virus: the coordinated spread of coronavirus disinformation.

The coronavirus pandemic has been paralleled by an infodemic of mis- and disinformation and a China bioweapon conspiracy on social media, according to Australian researchers.

On June 1, a report entitled Like a virus: the coordinated spread of coronavirus disinformation was published. Compiled by the Australia Institute, a Canberra-based independent think tank, and the Queensland University of Technology, the research found out that there are many bot-like accounts on social media spreading rumors that the coronavirus is a bioweapon created by China.

The study analyzed 2.6 million tweets relating to coronavirus and their 25.5 million retweets over 10 days from late March 2020, identifying 5,752 accounts that coordinated 6,559 times to spread mis- and disinformation regarding the coronavirus for either commercial or political purposes.

In analyzing the coordinated efforts to promote the China bioweapon conspiracy theory, the research found that the theory focused on 882 original tweets, which were retweeted 18,498 times and liked 31,783 times, creating an estimated 5 million impressions on Twitter users, spread mainly by pro-Trump, partisan conservative and/or QAnon accounts.

There was a sustained level of coordinated amplification of the China bioweapon conspiracy through the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic by pro-Trump, Republican and aligned networks of accounts, said the report.

According to the research, many of the accounts are very likely to be highly automated or "bot" accounts, controlled by computers rather than humans, as accounts that retweet identical coronavirus-related content repeatedly within one second of each other were identified.

"It's not genuine behavior of human users," Rod Campbell, research director at the Australia Institute, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

The conspiracy theory emerged in January 2020, along with claims that the coronavirus was an artificial biological weapon manufactured by the Chinese government in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. To date, there is no scientific evidence to support this idea and it has come under criticism from WHO and other leading health organizations, said the report.

The research said the coordinated inauthentic activities seek to exploit the concerns, fears, and prejudices of ordinary, human social media users, thereby enrolling these users to do the work of the conspiracy theorists themselves.

"It can't be good for coordinated efforts to fight coronavirus. It can't be good for public health or diplomatic relations," Campbell said.

The report called upon governments, non-government actors and technology platforms to address coordinated disinformation campaigns through means such as increased detection and mitigation.

We also need to look at digital literacy in the population, and be running programs and government campaigns to help people to be able to spot a ridiculous theory and learn how to ignore it, and how to have more civilized online discussions, Campbell said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian side is confident in its readiness to start the visa liberalization talks with the EU. Armenia is even ready to rapidly move to the completion of those talks, the result of which will be liberalization, ARMENPRESS reports Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said at the National Assembly.

We consider that we have reached a level where the talks can be started. This is our approach based on adequate arguments, Mnatsakanyan said.

He noted that quite a lot of countries support Armenia in this issue, but added that this issue requires the consent of all the Member States. This is one of Armenias priorities in its relations with the EU, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said, emphasizing that the visa liberalization has also political importance.

Peoples interactions has quite a significant importance for expanding and deepening relations, he emphasized.

Reporting by Anna Grigoryan, Editing and Translating by Tigran Sirekanyan
In a major U-turn, Unilever has confirmed it plans to end its Anglo-Dutch structure and establish a sole headquarters in London, England.

Subject to shareholder approval, Unilever plans to merge its Dutch entity into its UK arm later this year, in a move likely to spark less controversy than its previous proposal in 2018.

The consumer goods giant, which owns a string of well-known brands like Marmite, Dove and Domestos, triggered a full-blown debacle in 2018 when it announced plans to move to the Netherlands, ditch its UK base and scrap its London Stock Exchange listing.

The plans to move to the Netherlands in 2018 caused a spat among the company and some of its biggest shareholders, and was viewed as a major blunder by then-chairman Marijn Dekkers and fellow Dutchman Paul Polman, the firm's former boss.

U-turn: Unilever has confirmed it plans to end its Anglo-Dutch structure

Under the proposal announced today, Unilever's shareholders will have 'an equal voting basis per share' for the first time, the company said.

Unilever said its new plan to have a sole base in the UK would create a 'simpler company with greater strategic flexibility, that is better positioned for future success.'

Staffing levels and roles at the company's various offices will remain unchanged under the new proposal.

Unilever said: 'There will be no significant changes to Unilever's footprint in the United Kingdom as a result of unification, in either jobs or investment. The Home Care and Beauty & Personal Care Divisions will continue to be headquartered in the United Kingdom, as they are currently.'

Linking its move to the pandemic, Unilever said: 'The Covid-19 pandemic will create a business environment in which having as much flexibility and responsiveness as possible will be critically important.'

The company hopes the move will give it more flexibility when cutting merger and acquisition deals in future. Some analysts think the company could also end up spinning out its personal and beauty and food arms at some point.

Keeping its listings in London, Amsterdam and New York, Unilever said unifying under one legal structure could also make it easier to sell off its tea business.

The company has been looking to flog its tea arm, which includes Lipton and PG Tips, since the start of the year, but is yet to find a buyer.

Buy me: Unilever has been trying to offload its tea arm, which includes PG Tips, since the start of the year

Unilever said today: 'The ongoing strategic review of Unilevers tea business has further demonstrated that the dual-headed legal structure can create disadvantages for the group.'

It said a sale 'would be significantly more challenging under the current legal structure than under a single parent structure.'

The Anglo-Dutch company currently operates under two separate legal identities, namely Unilever NV in the Netherlands and Unilever Plc in London, although both effectively work as a single economic entity.

The merger will not have any impact on the company's listing of Unilever NV on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange or on Unilever Plc on the London Stock Exchange.

If the proposals get given the green light by shareholders, Unilever NV shareholders would receive one new Unilever Plc share in exchange for each Unilever NV share held.

Brands: Unilever owns a string of brands like Marmite, Dove and Domestos

Michael Hewson: 'This is certainly a much less contentious proposal than the previous one which proposed moving the headquarters to Rotterdam'

Unilever's chairman Nils Andersen, said: 'Unilevers board believes that unifying the companys legal structure will create greater strategic flexibility, remove complexity and further improve governance.

'We remain committed to The Netherlands and the UK and there will be no change to Unilevers footprint in either country as a result of the proposed change to Unilevers legal parent structure.

'We are confident that unification will help Unilever deliver its vision of driving superior long-term performance through its multiple stakeholder business model.'

Michael Hewson, chief analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: 'Unilever appears to be having another go at merging its Rotterdam and London operations, only this time London is set to be its main headquarters, and the company said it would also keep its various listings in London, Amsterdam and New York.

Former boss: Paul Polman was the former boss of consumer goods giant Unilever

'This is certainly a much less contentious proposal than the previous one which proposed moving the headquarters to Rotterdam, and delisting its London shares.

'Its a pity they didnt go down this route before, it certainly would have been much less contentious.'

Ian Forrest, an analyst at The Share Centre, said: 'The company said the single London HQ will provide more flexibility with any potential acquisitions and demergers in what it described as an increasingly dynamic business environment due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

'This is a positive move for investors as it simplifies the structure and removes the danger of the shares leaving the FTSE 100 index.

'One immediate benefit is it should make any demerger of the companys tea business, which is currently under review, easier if that goes ahead and Unilever clearly expects opportunities to arise from the current economic situation so speed of action could be important.'

Meanwhile, Martin Deboo, an analyst at Jefferies, said: 'The immediate issue is whether NV shareholders will have the same objections to the proposal as PLC ones did in 2018, something a retained AEX listing might mitigate.'

Mr Deboo thinks the plans represent 'more than just a legal change - it signals something about the direction of the company.'

He added: 'We have long been arguing for a split of the business to unlock some value  its refreshing to see they are thinking creatively and radically about this.'

On the London Stock Exchange, the company's share price was up 1.45 per cent or 63.52p to 4,441.52p earlier this morning, while a year ago it stood at around the 4,918.00p mark.
38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting moving to virtual event

The 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting in- person event scheduled to be held in Bloomington, Minnesota has been canceled. The event will be shifted to a virtual, online platform.

This comes after a decision made between AMSAT's Senior Leadership and Board of Directors in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

While AMSAT recognizes the national challenges related to recent events in Minneapolis, they have no bearing on the Symposium decision whatsoever. We anticipate holding 2021's Annual Space Symposium at the previously announced 2020 venue.

The in-person event was scheduled to occur Friday, October 16th - Sunday, October 18th. As the 2020 virtual event plans are developed, they will be announced via the usual AMSAT channels.
June 11, 2020 - How do we decide which patients with COVID-19 should get priority for lifesaving ventilators and ICU beds? Writing in the July issue of Medical Care, a prominent bioethicist argues that COVID-19 triage strategies should focus on saving lives, rather than prioritizing life-years saved. Medical Care is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

"Justice supports triage priority for those with better initial survival prognosis, but opposes considering subsequent life-years saved," according to a special editorial by John R. Stone, MD, PhD, Professor of Bioethics and Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the Center for Promoting Health and Health Equity at Creighton University, Omaha. He adds: "Groups experiencing historical and current inequities must have significant voices in determining triage policy."

'Justice-Respect-Worth' Framework Calls for Rethinking COVID-19 Triage

Recent articles have proposed frameworks for making the "terrible choices" posed by COVID-19 - focused on maximizing the benefits of treatment based on life-years saved. In one approach, patients with lower "prognosis scores" get lower priority for critical care.

But the focus on counting life-years violates "the foundational moral framework of social justice, respect for persons, and people's equal and substantial moral worth," Dr. Stone writes. In particular, prioritizing treatment for patients with a better prognosis will give lower priority, on average, "to individuals for whom social/structural inequities are significant causes of worse health" - with racial/ethnic minorities being a key example.

"Historical and present inequities have reduced expected life-years in populations experiencing chronic disadvantage," according to the author. "Justice requires avoiding policies that further increase inequities...greater priority for more predicted life-years saved will exacerbate those inequities."

A more just approach would be to consider the individual's likelihood of initial survival, while ignoring subsequent life-years saved. "Triage policies can reasonably give priority to people more likely to survive hospitalization and a brief time after," Dr. Stone writes.

By this approach, a younger and older patient would have similar priority for lifesaving care- as long as they had a similar chance of surviving for more than a few months after leaving the hospital. (Dr. Stone adds that bias against the elderly is another reason not to prioritize life-years gained.)

While guidance for triage decisions tries to ensure objectivity, assessments may still be affected by implicit and unconscious negative bias. For that reason, specific diversity on triage teams is essential. Policy decision-makers must include representatives of "populations historically oppressed and disadvantaged," according to the author.

Dr. Stone highlights the importance of the "justice-worth-respect" framework in making difficult decisions about which patients should be prioritized for scare healthcare resources. He concludes: "Triage policies focused on life-years saved will perpetuate social injustice and generally should be rejected."

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Click here to read "Social Justice, Triage, and COVID-19: Ignore Life-years Saved." DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001355

About Medical Care

Rated as one of the top ten journals in health care administration, Medical Care is devoted to all aspects of the administration and delivery of health care. This scholarly journal publishes original, peer-reviewed papers documenting the most current developments in the rapidly changing field of health care. Medical Care provides timely reports on the findings of original investigations into issues related to the research, planning, organization, financing, provision, and evaluation of health services. In addition, numerous special supplementary issues that focus on specialized topics are produced with each volume. Medical Care is the official journal of the Medical Care Section of the American Public Health Association.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer reported 2019 annual revenues of 4.6 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students with advanced clinical decision support, learning and research and clinical intelligence. For more information about our solutions, visit http://healthclarity.wolterskluwer.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.

For more information, visit http://www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Washington:

The US has strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Mohmand agency of Pakistan, which has killed as many as 28 people and injured many more.

"This attack against civilians at a mosque during Friday prayers is an appalling reminder that terrorism threatens all countries in the region, and we send our deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed as well as our thoughts and prayers to those injured," said Ned Price, spokesman of the national security council, White House.

The United States, he said, stands with the people of Pakistan against the scourge of terrorism and will continue to work with the government of Pakistan against those "who commit such outrageous attacks". At least 28 people, including five children, were killed and 30 others injured when a Taliban suicide bomber shouting 'Allahu Akbar' blew himself up inside a mosque packed with worshippers for Friday prayers in Mohmand Agency in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal region.

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Sunrise presenter Samantha Armytage is being sued for racial vilification over a panel discussion which suggested a second stolen generation was needed to help Aboriginal children.

Armytage, Channel Seven and commentator Prue MacSween have all been named in a group complaint to the Federal Court led by a group of Indigenous elders and young community leaders.

The March 2018 segment ignited protests outside Sunrise's Sydney studio after MacSween said Indigenous children needed to be taken away from their parents again for their own welfare.

'Just like the first stolen generation where a lot of kids were taken for their wellbeing, we need to do it again,' she said in the on-air discussion.

Sunrise host Samantha Armytage (pictured) is being sued over a March 2018 segment which suggested a second stolen generation was needed to help Aboriginal children

The group complaint to the Federal Court is being led by a group of Indigenous elders and young community leaders

Armytage, MacSween and radio host Ben Davis had all taken part in the three-way discussion about Aboriginal adoption.

The case is being taken to court after talks aimed at resolving the complaint at the Australian Human Rights Commission collapsed.

The complaint's leading elder Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor said in a statement released through legal firm Susan Moriarty and Associates the group were simply looking for 'accountability and equality'.

'This nationwide broadcast by Channel Seven in March 2018 was another symbol of national shame and another appalling example of the deeply entrenched virus of racism that still plagues white platforms of privilege in this country,' she said.

The group complaint also claimed the segment was 'abhorrent', 'vile' and 'racist'.

'Although we dont disbelieve the reports, Seven is not aware of any actual claim being filed at this stage  so is not able to comment on this action,' a Seven spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'If and when anything is filed, we will review and take the appropriate steps.'

In the 2018 segment MacSween (pictured) had said Indigenous children needed to be taken away from their parents again for their own welfare

Pictured: Indigenous protestors disrupt a broadcast of the Seven Network's Sunrise program at Kurrawa Beach on the Gold Coast in April 2018 after the segment went to air a month earlier

'Seven settled the original matter in late 2019 in the Federal Court with the Yirrkala community and the Yolngu families and offered an unreserved apology on air shortly after.'

Channel Seven were also forced to independently audit production of the show and send editorial staff to Aboriginal cultural training after the broadcast.

The segment was also found to have breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice 'for provoking serious contempt on the basis of race'.

A month after the segment, Indigenous protestors disrupted a broadcast of Sunrise at Kurrawa Beach on the Gold Coast - where the program was on location for the Commonwealth Games.
Do some people really think that the impeachment, the corona-gulag, and the pogroms all occurred in America one after another in a completely random pattern of events?

Why did pre-planned and synchronized riots and looting suddenly arise? Because the adventure with the coronavirus hysteria failed.

Why did the coronavirus hysteria suddenly lead to a corona-gulag being created? Because the impeachment failed.

Why did impeachment suddenly arise? Because "Russiagate" (or, rather, Obamagate) failed.

Why did "Russiagate" arise? Because leftism was defeated in the 2016 elections.

The preparatory work has been well done, comrade Democrats! In 2020, the Democrats managed to simultaneously shoulder on America the analog of the 1918 epidemic, the analog of the 1929 depression, and the analog of the 1968 riots. Moreover, as soon as the corona-gulag began, impeachment was completely forgotten. As soon as the pogroms started, the coronavirus had been milked for all it was worth, and they want you to forget about it conveniently.

The pogroms of 1968 (both in America and in other Western countries) became possible only because of the significant external influence and support of thugs. The whole machine of foreign propaganda in the USSR worked toward this. It should be remembered that before hippies of the 21st century occupied Wall Street, hippies of the 20th century were occupied by agents of the Soviet KGB.

The pogroms of 2020 also became possible only due to profound influence from abroad. This time, communist China acts as an external force, with a fifth column inside the United States  the Democrat Party. The country most affected by President Trump, the Anti-People's Republic of China, is one of the 2020 pogroms' most prominent sponsors.

The task of the Chinese communists is to bring bankruptcy to American cities, states, and businesses and thereby bankrupt America as a whole. For them, Trump is just another obstacle to achieving their goals. The attacks on Trump are not personal  they are just business, the political business of the communists, in which there are only winners. The defeated, according to the old Stalinist tradition, are simply erased from history. Moreover, money in this business is secondary, while ideology is primary.

The platform of the Democrat Party for the 2020 elections looks like this: "America, on your knees!" Anyone who thinks this election slogan is a winning one needs to be reminded that real America has not gone anywhere. America, which has never knelt and will never kneel before anyone, is still here.

In addition to this, the Democrats' latest slogan  to defund the police force and eliminate it  is a real gift not only to Trump, but to all Republicans. Let's recall that it was Vladimir Lenin who proposed first the dissolution of police in April of 1917, six months before the Communist Revolution in Russia.

The ancient philosopher Pericles is credited with the phrase "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you." To paraphrase Pericles, one could say, "Just because you do not take an interest in a worldwide communist conspiracy doesn't mean the communists will leave you alone."

Who now, after the collapse of the USSR, is on top of the communist Olympus? Who else is behind the pogroms of 2020?

Much to the chagrin of global leftism, the key players on the left side of the American political field are not one, but three  China (American disinformation media), George Soros (Black Lives Matter, Democratic Socialists of America, and their numerous mediators), and the Democrat Party (Washington and regional politicians and the militant wing of the party  Antifa).

The most important thing is that these three strike forces of the left are not united. Not only are they not united, but they are in competition with each other. This is what will guarantee their defeat.

What is happening in America today is not anarchy or lawlessness. In America, there is an open communist terror. This terror was premeditated, albeit poorly coordinated. The inconsistency of the left's actions occurs because the activists of this terror are divided into three ideologically opposing factions. Without going into the nuances of ideological discussions, we simply note that the main difference among these factions of the left is what particular form of Gulag should be built in the United States.

The Mussolini blackshirts' emulators in America  Antifa  are not a centralized organization. Antifa is a conglomerate of hundreds of independent groups in all states. The Black Lives Matter group has a similar decentralized structure. Their financing is also not centralized. The essential thing that these ersatz revolutionaries do not have is that they do not have a leader on the scale of Trotsky. They do not have a leader who could unite all the disparate left groups and lead them to a revolutionary assault.

The previous attempts to unify the left are well known  the First and the Second International. They were replaced by the Socialist International (Socintern), which still exists (the branch of the Socintern in America is located in New York and is called the U.N.). Also, there was the Communist International (Comintern), dissolved by Joseph Stalin in 1943. It was the third in the order. After it, the Fourth International was created. This Fourth Communist International is Trotskyist, and it still exists.

The history of all these leftist Internationals extends for a century and a half. The last of them  the Fourth  was founded back in 1938. Since then, leftist philosophy has not been able to offer anything new.

And now  lo and behold!  something incredible happened.

In May 2020, the Fifth Communist International was established. This new International is called Progressive International. At the helm of it is a man well known in America: Bolshevik Bernie Sanders.

The Fifth International is the response by the left to Trump. It is another attempt to unite the leftist, anti-American forces. This is a materialization of the hatred of the Democrats for Trump, the quintessence of the hatred of the Democrats for the Republicans, who dared to deprive the Democrats of their black slaves. The name of this International  Progressive  should not confuse anyone. It has nothing to do with the progress of humanity; rather, it is about progressive taxation (which, as it's known, was one of the requirements of the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx).

The disunity of the anti-American forces in the 2020 elections is a manifestation of the confrontation between globalism and communism, the clash between the Fourth International and the Fifth International. This confrontation resembles the fight between communism and fascism, which, too, being ideologically very close, have always been irreconcilable political opponents. Therefore, it has long been clear to everyone that Antifa, although nominally attacking "fascism," is basically not different from it. As for the catchphrase "Black Lives Matter," it should be confronted with "Gray Matter Matters" (hat-tip Greg Viola).

Antifa, BLM, Democrats, Democratic Socialists, communists  all of them, although fragmented, oppose Trump. Trump is fighting on several fronts simultaneously, but only now, the idiocy of the left is beginning to resemble some kind of rationality.

The rationality of the leftists is that the first half of 2020 could be defined as a political banzai charge. It is a psychological, suicidal banzai charge of desperate losers, political kamikazes. They decided, in the end, to wage, using words from the USSR national anthem, "the last and decisive battle" in America.

Perhaps that is why the riots in America began with the Jewish pogroms of 2019, and at the exit from the corona-gulag, we observe the next, openly anti-Semitic phase of the leftist pogrom. After all, the "peaceful protest" of the left was, is, and always will be an oxymoron.

Gary Gindler, Ph.D., is a conservative columnist at Gary Gindler Chronicles and the founder of a new science: politiphysics. Follow him on Twitter and Quodverum.
Buses. Of all the complicated puzzles to solve for in how to reopen schools safely in the pandemic, transportation may be the most complex, district leaders say.

Millions of schoolchildren ride the school bus every day. For them, the bus is the first point of contact with schools in the morning and the last point in the afternoon, making it a crucial part of the conversation on reopening schools. Yet maintaining six feet of distance between students on a bus will be extraordinarily difficult.

The days of two-to-three children to a seat are not going to be acceptable in the current climate, said Curt Macysyn, the executive director of the National School Transportation Association.

To ensure social distancing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has suggested one child per seat, every other row. But that would require significant modifications to the bus schedule, which would come at a steep financial cost. Here are some key considerationsand looming questionsfor district and school leaders.

Put fewer students on the bus. To space out students, district leaders will need to purchase or rent more buses, make multiple runs, or stagger route times to align with a staggered school scheduleor a combination of all three. This will be a huge expense, in both personnel costs and the costs of additional vehicles, at a time when most schools wont be able to dodge budget cuts. The lack of buses to make multiple runs will drive districts scheduling decisions.

District and school leaders are confronting difficult, high-stakes decisions as they plan for how to reopen schools amid a global pandemic. Through eight installments, Education Week journalists explore the big challenges education leaders must address, including running a socially distanced school, rethinking how to get students to and from school, and making up for learning losses. We present a broad spectrum of options endorsed by public health officials, explain strategies that some districts will adopt, and provide estimated costs. Read Part 1: The Socially Distanced School Day

District leaders are trying to think creatively about how to reconfigure their bus schedules. Scott Muri, the superintendent of Ector County Independent school district in Odessa, Texas, said he is considering running school buses all day, like public transit busesconstantly picking up and dropping off students. However, leaders will have to mesh their transportation plans with their school scheduling models.

Districts must also think about social distancing at drop-off and pick-up points, and possibly stagger those processes to avoid large gatherings of students.

Keep bus assignments as static as possible. The has recommended that districts assign drivers to a single bus and a specific route to minimize the number of drivers who use a vehicle. Districts should also assign students to a single bus. If someone tests positive for COVID-19, the exposure to possible infection is limited to a smaller group and contact tracing is easier to conduct.

Getting enough drivers. Before the COVID-19 crisis, more than 90 percent of school districts reported bus driver shortages, according to a survey by the National Association for Pupil Transportation. One-third of those districts described the shortage as desperate or severe.

Now, superintendents are worried that the shortage will be exacerbated, especially if they must add more buses to complete additional routes. Also, many school bus drivers are older, superintendents say. Since people older than 65 are at higher risk for severe illness due to COVID-19, district leaders fear that many of their drivers might not feel comfortable coming back to work.

Provide personal protective equipment. Drivers should wear masks and gloves. Many public transit systems have installed plexiglass shields around the drivers seat, which school districts could also do. (A Colorado district is leaning toward separating the drivers seat from the students with a clear plastic shower curtain.) Districts might also want to require students to wear masks while riding the bus. The driver and passengers should have access to hand sanitizer that they can apply when entering and exiting the bus.

The buses will also have to be thoroughly and frequently disinfected.

Adequate air flow. Experts say that fresh air and a higher ventilation rate can dilute the presence of the virus. If possible, drivers should open windows and use fans to increase the circulation of outside air. However, its important to consider potential safety risks associated with open windows, including for students with asthma.

Enforcement of social distancing. Officials can place tape on the bus seats to mark where students should sit, but they should also prepare for the reality that students might not listen when the bus is in motion.

We have to understand what the childrens behaviors are, COVID or no COVID, Macysyn said. I just think in certain age groups, to think that theres going to be no contact is not exactly realistic.

Some district leaders are considering adding bus aides or attendants to enforce the rules, which would come at an additional cost. The Missouri School Boards Association also suggested that districts tap volunteers to serve as social distancing monitors.

Encourage students to find alternative methods of transportation. The Missouri School Boards Association has suggested that districts consider minimizing their transportation zone and not providing transportation to students that live within three and a half miles from their school building. Instead, the association suggested districts provide bicycle racks and locks to encourage students to ride their bikes to school and provide additional crossing guards to encourage students walking to school.

A significant number of students do already use private means to get to school. However, this could pose equity and safety concerns, as some parents might not be able to drive or escort their children to school.

Consider alternatives for medically vulnerable students. The Missouri School Boards Association suggested reserving a specific seat for a student who might be at higher-risk for COVID-19. That seat would not be used for any other student during the day, and staff would take special precautions to disinfect it. Alternatively, the district might choose to transport high-risk students in separate vehicles or pay parents or staff members to transport them separately.
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LONDON  COVID-19 aside, 2020 was always going to be a big year for Liberty, which is marking 145 years in business, refurbishing its unique Tudor Revival flagship near Regent Street, re-branding and relaunching its e-commerce site.

As Englands fashion and luxury retailers prepare to reopen on June 15, Liberty will be doing so with a refreshed logo and a web site meant to appeal to local and international consumers alike.

The new, more streamlined logo was inspired by the Liberty sign thats been swinging above the stores Great Marlborough Street flower stall entrance since 1925. The sign has hung above that door, which is a short walk from Oxford Circus, since the store opened on the site that year.

Liberty worked with the design studio Pentagram on the re-branding. The firm redrew the Liberty logo using the signs original typeface, and designed it to be flexible, repeatable, layer-able and bendable to cover packaging, campaigns and transform into its own repeat print.

The new Liberty branding also has a period  or full stop, as the Brits say  at the end of the name.

Harry Pearce, a partner at Pentagram who led the project, described the process of re-branding as one of archaeology, craft and refinement. He called the lettering on the 1925 sign a beautiful gift from the past.

We redrew and refined all the curves to give it the elegance that the brand deserves. Theres a hidden femininity in it. Its a little less chubby than it was, and the full stop at the end seems to say Were Liberty  end of discussion. It has a very contemporary attitude, he said.

The stores Lasenby crest, named for founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty, has also been updated, and now features the wording London 1875. It will be used to accent the master brand.

Pentagrams work also led to the development of a bespoke, Lasenby sans-serif font, which will be used across the brands communications.

Story continues

The sans-serif letterform is very much a la mode, with brands including Burberry and Celine opting for clean, minimalist branding.

Indeed, luxury brands of all stripes have been racing to replace all the tails and flourishes from their logos and embrace a more pared-down visual identity. A re-brand offers an easy way to grasp the attention of a new, younger audience and keep up with the times.

Madeleine Macey, Libertys chief marketing officer, pointed out that the Tudor Revival store already features many different versions of the logo  living layers of history. One, which reads Liberty & Co., has been carved into stone on the stores facade.

All of those different typographies directly reflect the design aesthetic of their times, Macey said. The latest logo will be carved into wood in the store and also feature big on the new web site, which launches on Thursday, June 11.

The branding will be used across all packaging as well as on own brand Liberty collections and collaborations. The brands signature purple background has also been shaded to a richer hue, set off by a whiter gold in the Liberty lettering.

With regard to the new web site, Eric Fergusson, Libertys e-commerce director, said the updated LibertyLondon.com is faster than ever, and also features enhanced presentation of content.

He said Liberty continues its international voyage, with the launch of specially tailored elements for the U.S. market and a richer user experience. Deliveries, duties and payments for all markets have been streamlined.

Liberty said its web site has seen strong revenue growth, averaging 45 percent per year for the last three years, while international growth has been driven by functional improvements and brand awareness of Liberty. Sales in that division have doubled in the past year.

The retailer said customers can shop from almost any country in the world with 200 shipping destinations, and more than 90 local currencies.

Asked if Liberty was emulating any online fashion retailers with the redesign, she said no.

We want to ensure the customer has a good journey, and that its easy to get around the site. We want to make sure our edit can sing and that there is the journey, with storytelling for the customer. Liberty is so much smaller than the other guys  were really a big shop. And the site is really where the new branding sings, she said.

A major restoration of Libertys Mock Tudor building, a protected landmark, which started earlier this year continues. The store, built in 1924 from the timbers of two ancient battleships, has 1,550 windows that need to be removed and refurbished, many of them set with reclaimed stained glass from the 12th century.

Arthur Liberty designed the building to last 100 years, hence the urgency of the restoration: The building is now 95 years old.

For the first time since the store was built, the unique casement windows will be repaired by specialist craftsmen, off-site. Liberty said heritage restoration experts will aim to imitate the work of medieval blacksmiths, echoing the founders support for hand craftsmanship.

Macey said Liberty, like other retailers, was forced to put all of its plans on hold, given the lockdown in March.

We wanted it to happen earlier this year, February time. But the feeling was not right. We waited, and were glad were launching it now. Its so important that people recognize that we are looking to our future. We are custodians of Liberty and want to do it in the right way. We are not afraid. Were invested in ourselves and in our future. What were saying is, Here is our brand, were not going anywhere.'

Liberty is making all of these changes one year after its private equity owner Bluegem sold its stake in the London specialty store in a deal valued at 300 million pounds. Bluegem described the transaction as a secondary recapitalization led by Glendower Capital, a global secondary private equity manager.

All of Bluegems partners co-invested on a personal basis with Glendower. Bluegems Marco Capello remains chairman of Liberty, while Adil Khan, who joined as chief executive officer in 2018, continues to run the business.

Revenue in fiscal 2018-19 was 85.2 million pounds, with profit of 6.5 million pounds, according to Libertys latest filing on Companies House, the official register of U.K. businesses. Since 2010, the fabrics business has more than doubled to more than 50 million pounds, Bluegem said last year.

Liberty produces fabrics for myriad brands including Gucci, which worked the British companys bespoke designs into its fall 2020 collections, and has its own fabric mill in Olona, Lombardy.

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New York:

Incorporating laughter into a physical activity programme may improve older adult's mental health, aerobic endurance and confidence in their ability to exercise, according to a new study. In the study, led by researchers from Georgia State University in the US, older adults residing in four assisted-living facilities participated in a moderate-intensity group exercise programme called LaughActive.

LaughActive incorporates playful simulated laughter into a strength, balance and flexibility workout. In simulated laughter exercises, participants initially choose to laugh and go through the motions of laughing. The exercises facilitate eye contact and playful behaviours with other participants, which generally transition the laughter from simulated to genuine.

Simulated laughter techniques are based on knowledge that the body cannot distinguish between genuine laughter that might result from humour and laughter that is self-initiated as bodily exercise. Both forms of laughter elicit health benefits, researchers said. For six weeks, study participants attended two 45-minute physical activity sessions per week that included eight to 10 laughter exercises lasting 30 to 60 seconds each.

A laughter exercise was typically incorporated into the workout routine after every two to four strength, balance and flexibility exercises. Because laughter is scientifically demonstrated to strengthen and relax muscles, the laughter exercises often involved physicality in the muscles being worked in strength, balance and flexibility exercises to prepare the body for exercise and help it recover.

The study found significant improvements among participants in mental health, aerobic endurance and outcome expectations for exercise (for example, perceived benefit of exercise participation), based on assessments completed by the participants. When surveyed about their satisfaction with the programme, 96.2 per cent found laughter to be an enjoyable addition to a traditional exercise programme, 88.9 per cent said laughter helped make exercise more accessible and 88.9 per cent reported the programme enhanced their motivation to participate in other exercise classes or activities.

"The combination of laughter and exercise may influence older adults to begin exercising and to stick with the programme," said lead author Celeste Greene from Georgia State's Gerontology Institute. "We want to help older adults have a positive experience with exercise, so we developed a physical activity programme that specifically targets exercise enjoyment through laughter," added Greene. The study appeared in The Gerontologist journal.
An EU survey commissioned in November shows racist experiences compared between states. (SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

Anti-racism demonstrations have been held across the world in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Protesters marching under the banner of Black Lives Matter have been taking to the streets in the wake of the 46-year-olds death.

Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck to pin him to the ground as he pleaded for air.

Protesters say that racism is not confined to the US and a survey released in November by the EU showed nearly one in three people of African descent in 12 member states had experienced racist harassment in the last five years.

The UK was still a part of the EU at the time and was therefore counted as a member state by the body behind the survey, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Black Lives Matter demonstrations have been held across the UK and drawn attention to racism in the country. (SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

The survey, Being Black in the EU, found 21% of people of African descent in the UK reported racial harassment in the last five years, the second lowest in the dataset.

Meanwhile, 20% of people in Malta reported the same, the lowest in the set, compared to 63% in Finland, the highest amount.

Across the EU states looked at, just 14% of incidents of racist harassment were reported to police.

The responses were based on weighted results from 5,803 people described as being of African descent from 12 member states.

Read more: Black history lessons 'should be taught in all schools'

Some 5% of the respondents experienced racist violence across all the states, including assault by police officer, and by member state this ranged from 14% in Finland and 13% in Ireland and Austria to 3% in the UK and 2% in Portugal.

Among the member states, an average of 10% of people of African descent had been stopped by police in the last five years and also believed that was due to racial profiling.

Between countries, citizens of Malta and Ireland were less likely to report they were stopped due to racial profiling (5%), with 7% of respondents in the UK saying they had been stopped due to race.

This compares to Austria, where 37% of respondents said they were stopped because of racial profiling, and Italy, where 17% said the same.

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Across the states, 39% of the respondents said they felt they had been racially discriminated against within the previous five years, and one in four had felt discriminated against in the 12 months prior to the survey.

The highest perceived rates within those 12 months were in Luxembourg (50%), Finland (45%) and Austria (42%). The lowest were found in the UK (15%) and Portugal (17%).

Just 16% who said they were racially discriminated against reported or made a complaint about the most recent incident.

Black Lives Matter demonstrations have taken place across Europe, including in Berlin. (AP)

Countries where respondents were more likely to report an incident were Finland (30%), Ireland (27%) and Sweden (25%), with the lowest reporting rates in Austria (8%), Portugal and Italy (both 9%).

The survey also looked at what percentage of the respondents were living in severely deprived housing compared to the general population.

This was defined as a house that is considered overcrowded and had either a leaking roof, rotting walls or windows, no bath/shower and indoor toilet, or was considered too dark.

Read more: PM fails to condemn Trump's 'horrendous' response to anti-racism protests

The group average across member states showed 12% of respondents were living in that kind of house, while 84% believed their skin colour or physical appearance to have been the main reason behind their most recent incident of discrimination as they looked for housing.

Some 8% of respondents in the UK were living in a severely deprived house, compared to 2% of the population.

In every member state surveyed, people of African descent were more likely to live in a severely deprived house. In Malta, 29% were, compared to 1% of the general population, in Austria 22% were, compared to 4%, and in Portugal 21% were, compared to 5%.

Some of the findings for some member states in the housing survey were considered statistically unreliable due to a small number of respondents. The lowest reliable findings were in Ireland, where 6% lived compared to 1% and 7% in Germany compared to 2% of the general population.

Speaking about the protests, Boris Johnson has said he understands the very strong and legitimate feelings of people in this country at the death of George Floyd and of course I agree that black lives matter while Labour leader Keir Starmer has urged him to turbocharge the governments response to racial inequality.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 10:10:47|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Thursday issued an article titled "The COVID-19 Pandemic Magnifies the Crisis of 'U.S.-Style Human Rights'."

The U.S. government's self-interested, short-sighted, inefficient, and irresponsible response to the pandemic has caused the tragedy in which about 2 million Americans became infected with the virus and more than 110,000 have died from it, the article said.

It has exposed the long-existing and now deteriorating problems in the United States, such as a divisive society, the polarization between the rich and the poor, racial discrimination, and the inadequate protection of the rights and interests of vulnerable groups, according to the article.

"This has led the American people into grave human rights disasters," it read.

The article pointed out that the U.S. government has ignored the pandemic warnings, prioritized capital interests and politicized the anti-pandemic endeavor in its COVID-19 response. Enditem

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It was Chuck Lovells early days as a newspaper delivery boy in New Yorks Dutchess County where he developed a knack for getting to know the people in his neighborhood, a skill he says provided the foundation for his police service.

Starting at age 12, going door-to-door to collect the monthly delivery checks for The Poughkeepsie Journal, he built relationships with 60 to 70 people on his street and nearby.

Some residents would crack their door open just an inch to hand him a check but others invited him in for dinner, he recalled Thursday. He got house keys from some to collect their mail or water their plants when they took off on vacation. Hed grab his shovel to clear the snow from the driveway of one elderly neighbor.

He knew in his heart, even that young, that those were the kind of connections he wanted to foster, he said, and they led him to seek a career of serving his community.

Lovell spoke to reporters two and a half hours after he was formally sworn in as chief by the city auditor via a Zoom video conference. Lovell publicly accepted the job Monday after Jami Resch took the unprecedented step of resigning and asking the lieutenant to succeed her. Hell start as chief with a $215,009.06 annual salary, according to a city agreement signed Thursday.

Resch, who was chief for just under six months, said she considered Portlands needs and believed the change was necessary in the wake of public outcry over the killing of George Floyd, an African American man who died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

Resch was the one who pinned the chiefs badge on Lovells uniform shirt at the ceremony.

Lovell said he wants to return the Police Bureau to true community policing, where an officer is assigned to a district and gets to know the people who live and work in a neighborhood and where the residents and business owners hold their district officers accountable.

Yet Lovell acknowledged that with a push by the City Council to remove funding from the bureaus budget and current vacancies in the ranks, that ideal may take some time to reach and require significant restructuring.

Its time for it to come back in a way where people in the community know their police officer, where an officer has accountability to a community because they have to show up every day there, provide service and work together to solve the problems in that community, he said. Unfortunately, thats not going to happen soon.

He said he wished the focus would turn from defunding the Police Bureau to promoting and supporting what works. He said hes been on calls in recent days with city commissioners and the mayor as they prepare to vote on the bureaus budget later Thursday.

I dont think any police chief wants the police defunded, he said. Crime doesnt stop because of a pandemic or because of mass protests. At the end of the day, people need good police services.''

Defunding is not the right approach,  he added. Right fund, right size, right align, right incentivize and get people the police service they know that makes sense for them and is in the best interest of the community.

He said hes committed to listening to residents and their desires about the future direction of the Police Bureau.

"Were open to change and transformation, but we want to make sure the change is meaningful and brings the long-term results the community wants,'' he said.

Lovell is taking over as the City Council is preparing to eliminate the bureaus Gun Violence Reduction Team and return officers who have been assigned to the Youth Services and Transit divisions back to patrol, while at the same time hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the streets each day for two weeks protesting police violence.

At a City Council budget hearing later Thursday, Lovell said he will work to realign the bureau to meet the needs of the community and continue to respond to calls for service. He said hes committed to educating officers for this new era "that puts the community first.''

He urged the city to recognize that the bureaus officers are also part of the community and want to be part of the solution.

Though the mayor is pulling all the bureaus school resource officers out of the Portland, Parkrose and David Douglas school districts, Lovell said he used his time as a resource officer at Jefferson High School to connect with youths and make community connections. The bureau will have to look for other ways to capture those "one-on-one'' relationships and opportunities to reach out to residents , he said.

During the budget hearing, a person testifying referenced a federal suit Lovell faced from his school resource officer days. Early in his career, Lovell was sued by a 16-year-old Jefferson High junior who was handcuffed at school.

The court filing shows that in March 2006, the student and her cousin came to school late and inappropriately dressed, according to the city. The cousin screamed a vulgarity at the schools dean of students and the two ignored a campus security officers request to stop and sit down, according to the city.

When the student refused to sit down, Lovell and another Portland police officer were alleged to have grabbed the student in a neck hold before handcuffing her and placing her in a chair in a detention room at the school.

Her mother was called and the student was released to her, according to court records. A jury found in 2009 that Lovell and the other officer hadnt violated the students Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unlawful seizure or detention.

At his media briefing, Lovell also said he recognized that police currently are handling some types of calls that dont need a law enforcement response. He described the closure of Central Citys Sobering Station as a loss but said he hopes another agency steps up to provide a similar service. The sobering station was a place that police could take intoxicated people encountered on the street and unable to care for themselves.

We need good community partners to step into roles that are better suited for them, he said.

Lovell said hes very happy with the current command staff and is still evaluating if any changes will occur there. He does plan to move the bureaus equity manager into the chiefs office and have that manager report directly to him.

Lovell was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved with his family two hours north to Wappinger Falls at age 7. He joined the Air Force at age 19, spent four years in active duty and two years in the reserves. He said he worked for the federal government handling military sales. He then obtained a bachelors degree in criminal justice administration from Park University. He also is set to receive a masters degree in strategic leadership from the University of Charleston. He moved to Portland at age 28 and applied to the Police Bureau, joining it in 2002.

He served as a school resource officer from 2007 through 2011, was promoted to sergeant in July 2011 and lieutenant in July 2017. He has served as a gang resistance education and training instructor, crisis negotiator and member of the Police Honor Guard. As a sergeant, he worked in patrol and was assigned to the human trafficking and property crime units, and helped oversee the bureaus recruitment.

As a lieutenant, he served as former Chief Danielle Outlaws executive assistant when she came to Portland from Oakland and most recently oversaw a new community outreach division for Resch. The division includes the Behavioral Health Unit, a community engagement officer, a new homeless community liaison and a new civilian community engagement specialist.

The day after the announcement of his appointment as chief, he was promoted from lieutenant to the captains rank. That means he would revert to the captains rank if ever he left the chiefs post. Lovell has seven years left on the force before he would be eligible to retire, and its been more than two decades since someone held onto the chiefs job for that long. The longest tenure in recent history was held by former Chief Charles Moose, who served six years from 1993 to 1999.

Lovells $215,000 annual salary is in step with the chiefs pay Resch received. Outlaw got a 5 percent boost reflecting incentive pay to live in the city of Portland, bringing her annual salary to $225,750. Hell be eligible for a merit pay raise but not in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, according to the city agreement. Records show he lives in Tualatin.

Lovell has been active with the community, serving as a mentor in a "Boys to Men'' program and on the board of Lines for Life, a nonprofit that operates a crisis call center.

I always have been in service to people, community members, strangers," he said.  I think it was just what I was designed to do, what I was called to do.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

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(Newser)  In a letter to the agency's inspector general, more than 1,250 former career employees and political appointees in the Justice Department have asked for an investigation of Attorney General William Barr's role in the clearing of protesters in Lafayette Square last week. The letter expressed concern over Barr's "possible role in ordering law enforcement personnel to suppress a peaceful domestic protest," the Washington Post reports, so that President Trump could "walk across the street from the White House and stage a photo op at St. Johns Church"an event it called politically motivated. The group, consisting mostly of former prosecutors, lawyers and supervisors who served in administrations of both parties, called on Michael Horowitz to open an investigation immediately.

story continues below

Barr has been criticized by civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers since the area was cleared using batons, gas and rubber bullets. Officials have said Barr gave the order. The letter questioned the use of federal forces in Washington against the protesters, per CNN. "We have profound doubts that the personnel deployed from these agencies are adequately trained in policing mass protests or protecting the constitutional rights of individuals who are not subject to arrest or have not been convicted of a crime," it said. The attorney general has said the protesters were moved away because they were becoming "increasingly unruly," not so Trump could walk to the church. (Barr is named in a civil rights lawsuit over the clearing.)
Photo credit: NurPhoto - Getty Images

From Esquire

Following the death of an innocent man at the hands of police in the USA, Britain is having a national conversation about the sanctity of statues of slave traders. Its not that our chilly little island doesnt have bigger issues of racism to confront, because it does. But for some reason, the symbolic destruction of the legacy of colonial oppression still somehow causes discomfort to a vision of Britishness that has never fully grappled with the realities of empire, or the micro-aggressions that our memories of it perpetuate.

When Im not writing about statues on the internet, Im a historian. I say this not to brag (if I wanted to do that, Id make you call me Doctor), but because every time a statue gets pulled down in a country in the global north, someone makes the bad faith argument that we are "destroying history". We arent. When you went to school, you learned history from a book, or a computer, or a television. You did not learn it from a statue. Statues dont educate, they celebrate.

I dont recall many of these objections to statue-toppling when, as a teenager, I watched the 39ft figure of Saddam Hussein being in central Baghdad being pulled from its plinth by an advance unit of the US Marine Corps, which stepped in with an M88 armoured recovery vehicle to do the job that Iraqi hammers and fists couldnt. Indeed Boris Johnson, engaging in full war reporter cosplay in post-war Baghdad, referred to that moment, and the looting that followed, by saying In a word, it was democracy. He even engaged in a spot of light looting himself. And yet 17 years and one month later, when the statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston was torn down in Bristol, Johnsons opinion on statues and direct democracy was slightly different. We have a democracy in this country. If you want to change the urban landscape, you can stand for election, or vote for someone who will.

Photo credit: Gilles Bassignac - Getty Images

Johnsons volte-face on pulling down statues isnt rare. When that statue of Saddam Hussein came crashing down, it was almost universally acknowledged as a moment of liberation for the people of Iraq. Statues are symbolic: we use them to celebrate heroes. They literally and metaphorically tower over us. The statue of Edward Colston that was torn down in Bristol celebrated a man who stole 84,000 humans from Africa, imprisoned them, and transported them in such brutal conditions that as many as one quarter of them died and, often, were thrown in the sea, just like Colstons statue. These slaves were traded for guns, which destabilised West Africa, leading to more war, more slavery, and more death. For British people of colour, walking past that statue is a daily reminder of the crimes of empire and the fact that their city  a city they had petitioned for years to remove the statue  refuses to acknowledge them.

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Racism is a legacy of empire, and it is far harder to toss away than a statue. George Floyds murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officers Derek Chauvin, J Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane has sent people into the street all over the world. The last time this many people were out in the streets of the global north was in 1968. Students in Paris ripped up cobblestones and built barricades; in Prague, people stood up to tanks with flowers; in Spain, they faced up to Francoism in the streets; in London, they fought riot police in front of the US embassy.

Photo credit: Ullstein Bild - Getty Images

In Hamburg, German students pulled down a statue of Herman Von Wissmann, whose brutalities against the native population in German East Africa were not mentioned on his plaque. Those students had come of age after the second world war, they had never experienced colonialism, and they had grown tired of hearing their elders equivocate about the legacy of fascism and the sort of actions they were seeing in Vietnam on their televisions. So, the students, radicalised by boredom and cinematography, decided to move from conversation to action and in pulling down that statue, they forced Germany to confront the crimes of its recent, and distant, past.

Weve largely absorbed the 1968 demonstrations into our cultural memory of the swinging Sixties, but the reality contained much less peace and love; the leader of that German movement, Rudi Dutschke, was shot by a right-wing activist who was inspired by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. After 1968, the world came to a new cultural consensus: racism wasnt fixed, but it was forced to recede into institutions and hide behind legal codes and biases. Since then, we havent done very much to confront it. People like me have largely coalesced in this less-visible racism that gives us privilege, which we take for granted.

Photo credit: Matthew Horwood - Getty Images

What we need to do now is not stop with statues and symbols  we need to do the work in our cultural memory and our history syllabi to make sure that we know why these statues arent OK, and why celebrating slavers is an affront to everything many of us claim to stand for. German students today learn about the crimes that were committed in the name of their nation. What German-ness means has changed since 1945, and this has occurred without a single statue of Hitler polluting Berlins streets, to act as a reminder. Even with the physical remnants of fascism gone after the war, it took public action to confront the crimes of the Nazi regime and the criminals who still held office in Germany. We must do the same.

Oddly, I find myself in agreement with Boris Johnson. Pulling a statue down is democracy. You dont pull a statue down on your own, you dont pull a statue down with a massive donation from a fossil fuel CEO. You pull down a statue when you come together with other people to take symbolic actions that need to be taken to begin a process of change.

When we tear down statues, we leave an empty space. In Hungary, where revolutionaries tore down a statue of Stalin in 1956, the plinth where he stood now just holds his boots. It doesnt celebrate dictatorship; it celebrates the direct action that brave Hungarians took for democracy. Perhaps Bristol can do the same. Instead of coming to political agreement on how to replace statues, we can leave their absences as a monument to the power of people armed with a just cause and a decent grappling hook.

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The government will spend more on debt than infrastructure, health or education this year, according to the European Network on Debt and Development.

Ghanas interest payments in the first four months of this year is also the highest since, at least, 2016.

This, together with interest payments of other countries, will contribute to sub-Saharan Africas external debt-service bill hitting US$36.6 billion this year, according to the Institute of International Finance.

Ghana is expected to spend about GHS23 billion on interest payments by the end of December 2020.

Unlike richer countries that can afford to inject capital into their economies, African governments need to take on more expensive debt to deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic.

The cost of servicing the debt and the debt overhang will make recovery difficult, Gyude Moore, Liberias former minister of public works and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development told Bloomberg.

The Group of 20 leading economies debt-relief initiative aimed at freeing up funds for poor nations to deal with the pandemic is moving slowly.

Since launching in April, 13 of the 73 eligible countries have been granted a suspension and multilateral lenders and private creditors have been hesitant to participate.

Without help, many countries spending more to tackle the pandemic that epidemiologists say has yet to peak in Africa, may be forced into default.

And that could deter fresh investment and financing, jeopardising the World Banks projection for a rebound to 3.1% growth next year.

Head of Africa Research at Verisk Maplecroft, Indigo Ellis said economies with diversified industries and sources of capital will bounce back quicker than those reliant on one sector.

If oil prices remain low, debt costs in Nigeria, the continents top crude producer, could consume 96% of the governments income this year, according to a report by Maplecroft.

Interest payments for Angola, the number two producer, could eat up all revenue in 2020, the International Monetary Fund said last June.

Perhaps, this crisis is going to be a wake-up call for policymakers across the continent to make steep changes in their efforts to transform economies, said Dirk Willem te Velde, a research fellow with the Overseas Development Institute.

Social expenditure also loses out to rising debt costs.

The governments spending on public services in sub-Saharan Africa dropped by 15% between 2014 and 2018, according to the European Network on Debt and Development.

In South Africa, debt-service costs will grow faster than any other spending category over the next three years.

African governments have shrinking fiscal space as revenues are falling, said Adedeji Adeniran, a senior research fellow at the Abuja-based Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa.

For countries with very high external debt which is maturing this year, the debt crisis will be immediate.

---classfmonline
 "I should not have been there."

 Milley said his presence "created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics."

America's top general said that showing up in combat fatigues with impeached President Donald Trump after a violent dispersal of protesters outside the White House last week was a "mistake."

General Mark Milley is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said he was "outraged" by the killing of George Floyd, and the protests speak to "centuries of injustice toward African Americans."

"As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched. And I am not immune. As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week. That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society," Milley, said in a pre-recorded speech to a group of graduates from the National Defense University released Thursday.

"I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it," he added.

"I am outraged by the senseless and brutal killing of George Floyd. His death amplified the pain, the frustration, and the fear that so many of our fellow Americans live with day in, day out," added Milley, in the speech.

"The protests that have ensued not only speak to his killing, but also to the centuries of injustice toward African Americans," he added, saying "we should all be proud that the vast majority of protests have been peaceful."

Read more at CNN:

Top general apologizes for appearing with Trump in combat uniform after forceful removal of protesters

Breaking News: The top U.S. military official, General Mark Milley, apologized for taking part in President Trump's walk to a church photo op. "I should not have been there." https://t.co/WlEkK84CFW pic.twitter.com/3tqjJz8KlR  The New York Times (@nytimes) June 11, 2020

NEW

America's top military official has apologised for taking part in Trump's walk for the bible protest photo-op. "I should not have been there", said chairman of joint chiefs Mark Milley. Said it gave perception of military being involved in politics (He joined in camouflage) pic.twitter.com/YB0smbLlSb  Ben Riley-Smith (@benrileysmith) June 11, 2020



PHOTO: Army Gen. Mark A. Milley takes oath as 20th Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, photo by Jim Garamone | Defense.gov | Oct. 1, 2019
The large German retailer MediaMarkt has been trolling an attempt at utilizing its pages for a PS5 price and console design-related leak. New fan-made concept renders and video of the PlayStation 5 take inspiration from the PS3s design but offer a two-tone look that goes well with the DualSense controller.

Working For Notebookcheck Are you a techie who knows how to write? Then join our Team! English native speakers welcome! News Writer (AUS/NZL based) - Details here

An attempt at leaking the PS5 price and potential final console design has been thoroughly trolled by MediaMarkt. The failed leaker used the pages of the German retailers website to mock-up images of a PS5 purchase page complete with pictures of the console and the price. These fake images, which have been appearing on social media and internet forums, depicted the PS5 priced at 499 Euros (US$566) with free delivery on the Spanish-language site for MediaMarkt.

For those who didnt instantly recognize the already widely published fan-made concept design of the PS5 used in the leaked images, being supposedly listed on MediaMarkts pages would offer a lot of credibility. Fortunately, the company has already taken to Twitter to have a chuckle at the expense of the attempted leaks creator, stating: The PS5 has not yet come out, but we see that a user has managed to take pictures of it on our WEBSITE. Does it come from the future or has an initial course of Photoshop been taken?

Another fan-made PS5 design concept has hit the news, thanks to Concept Creator (Jermaine Smit) and LetsGoDigital. The renders and video show off a PS5 console decked out in black and white, with the two tones separated by a blue LED so that it looks like the DualSenses colorway. As for the overall design, this particular PS5 concept has the rounded look of the PS3 and seems to shun the idea that the final design will be overly thick and more reminiscent of the V-shaped devkit.

The video for the PS5 concept also briefly shows off a game disc for GTA 6, which is one of the many games expected to become available for the next-gen console. More details about games for the PlayStation 5 will be revealed at the event taking place on Thursday June 11, which Sony has recommended viewers make sure they have some headphones to hand for as cool audio work will be part of the show.
2nd Committee Authorizes Subpoenas for Investigation of Crossfire Hurricane

The Senate Judiciary Committee authorized its chairman on June 11 to issue subpoenas as part of an inquiry into the FBIs investigation of the Trump campaign and related matters.

The committee, which voted along party lines, is the second to authorize such subpoenas. Last week, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee authorized its chairman to issue subpoenas as part of a separate inquiry into the origins of and issues with the same FBI investigation, which was codenamed Crossfire Hurricane.

The authorization covers the full range of records related to Crossfire Hurricane and names 53 specific witnesses, including top Obama administration officials such as FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

The committee also authorized subpoenas for records from the Department of Justice inspector generals review of the surveillance that took place as part of Crossfire Hurricane.

The FBI opened an investigation of the Trump campaign in late July 2016. The investigation eventually evolved into the special counsel probe of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia; the special counsel found no evidence of collusion.

The investigation was fraught with irregularities, intense bias against Trump among key officials, and serious errors, as exposed by the inspector general, congressional inquiries, and Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

As part of the inquiry into the Trump campaign, the FBI obtained a surveillance warrant to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The bureaus applications for the warrant and three subsequent renewals included 17 serious errors and omissions. Key to the FBIs decision to obtain the first warrant was a dossier of opposition research on Trump that was funded by Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Democrats on the committee proposed a battery of amendments to the subpoena authorization, all of which were voted down by the Republican majority. Most of the amendments called for subpoenas of the many people scrutinized by the FBI and the special counsel as part of the Russia inquiry. Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) noted that the committees investigation is looking into the FBI and the Justice Departments conduct, not that of the Russia investigation witnesses.

All these people were talking about had their lives turned upside down, being surveilled by their own government, on tape saying, I didnt work with any Russians. I didnt collude with the Russians. It would be treason, Graham said.

So were going to get to the system that led to all this. Mr. Mueller had plenty of time to look at these people, and were going to start looking at the people who did the investigation.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee will specifically focus on the activity of the Obama administration officials during the transition period between Donald Trumps election and inauguration, according to Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.). Johnson said his committee will also call in witnesses who appear before the Judiciary Committee for follow-up questioning.

Graham noted that the committee may eventually call on witnesses involved in the investigation, prosecution, and trial of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. An appeals court in Washington was scheduled to hear arguments on the Flynn case on June 12.
A man has been taken to hospital after falling 30ft from a cliff at Portstewart.

It is understood the person fell a considerable distance at Portnahapple on the cliff path in the town.

Coastguard teams from Coleraine and Ballycastle, the ambulance service, the PSNI and Portrush RNLI went to the scene at 8.37pm after reports a man had fallen onto rocks.

An RNLI spokesman said: "On arrival on scene it was established that a young male had fallen approximately 30 feet onto rocks near Portnahapple.

"Dr Colm Watters, volunteer lifeboat crew member and consultant at Causeway Hospital Emergency department, was transferred from the all-weather lifeboat to the smaller inshore lifeboat and then ashore to assist the coastguard with the treatment of the casualty and their transferral to ambulance."

Keith Gilmore, lifeboat operations manager at Portrush RNLI, said: "We had the opportunity to do some training with our Coastguard colleagues last year and this has paid off in terms of our joint working procedures.

"We are fortunate to have a volunteer with Colms expertise on crew and this was invaluable in this incident. We wish the casualty well and hope he has a speedy recovery."

A Coleraine Coastguard spokesperson said: "Coleraine and Ballycastle Coastguard teams were tasked to reports of a person fallen from a cliff at Portstewart.

"Casualty had sustained lower leg injury. With assistance from Portrush RNLI, the casualty was extracted using coastguard water rescue equipment and handed into care of NIAS.

"The PSNI helped to keep back the large crowd of onlookers who were gathering. Great teamwork by all the emergency services."
They say they've repeatedly contacted the President's Office only to receive formal responses from the Justice Ministry.

Families of Ukrainian political prisoners rallied outside the President's Office on Thursday demanding renewed efforts to free Ukrainian captives from jails in Russia and the occupied Crimea.

Some dozen mothers, wives, and other close relatives of Ukrainian political prisoners came to the President's Office for a "Freedom to Ukrainian prisoners" rally, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

Protesters carried photos of their loved ones who are being illegally held in prisons across Russia and the occupied Crimea. They demand that the work resume of the team at the President's Office dealing with the issues prisoners of war, those whose whereabouts remain unknown, those missing in action, political prisoners, and civilian hostages.

Families of political prisoners are also asking the president to meet with them and hear them out.

Protesters seek that the standing commission under the Cabinet of Ministers operate in accordance with the law on the status of missing persons, and that a bill be submitted to parliament on social and legal support for prisoners of war, political prisoners, and hostages.

Read alsoThose who tortured Ukrainians in Donbas dungeons among swapped, ex-prisoner claims

Liudmyla Shumkova, an aunt of political prisoner Oleksandr Shumkov, told an UNIAN correspondent that, according to various estimates, 94 to 115 Ukrainian political prisoners are being illegally held in Russia and Crimea.

She says the issue of the POW swap is still being discussed at the talks of the Trilateral Contact Group, while the issue of political prisoners, i.e. citizens of Ukraine who have been arrested and imprisoned in the occupied Crimea and in Russia, remains beyond any negotiation platforms.

Shumkova also said that relatives of political prisoners had repeatedly contacted the President's Office, only to receive formal responses from the Justice Ministry.

She drew attention to the fact that it's only those political prisoners who enjoyed international media support or those who had served their sentences, were released from Russian prisons.
They are Le Phan Chan, Dinh Truong Long, Vuong Thuc Thoai, Vuong Thuc Lien, Hoang The Tu, Nguyen Sinh Than, and Ngo Chi Thong.

Among them, Chan, Thoai, Lien, Tu and Than were conferred the Order of the Patriotic War, first class, by the Supreme Soviet Presidium on December 12, 1986. They were also awarded posthumously the Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 medal.

The soldiers were among a group of Vietnamese youths sent to Russia to study in 1926 under an initiative of President Ho Chi Minh. When the Second World War began, they decided to join the Red Army and most of them died in battle protecting Moscow in 1941.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh and representatives of the Vietnamese defence attache office in Russia were invited to visit the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces and the museum complex on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War (1945-2020).

Talking to the press on the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh said the embassy has collaborated with Vietnamese and Russian agencies and the Russian Defence Ministry to collect information on the soldiers.

We are proud of the bravery of the Vietnamese soldiers in protecting Moscow and fighting the Nazi Germany, he said, describing their comradeship with Russian soldiers a demonstration of the two countries communist solidarity and friendship in the Great Patriotic War of Russia.
A new study released today in Scientific Reports announced the surprising discovery of abundant, well-preserved 110-120-million-year-old footprints, belonging to a large bipedal ancestor of modern-day crocodiles from the Lower Cretaceous Jinju Formation of South Korea. The team of palaeontologist trackers that made the discovery includes researchers from Korea, Australia, and University of Colorado Denver professor, Martin Lockley.

While palaeontologists knew that some crocodiles from the "age of dinosaurs" were more adapted to life on land than their modern relatives, these were small animals about one meter long with footprints showing they walked on all fours.

"It shocked us to learn that the trackways represent bipedal animals 3-4 meters long," said team leader Professor Kyung Soo Kim, Chinju National University of Education.

The team named the 18-24 cm-long tracks Batrachopus grandis emphasizing the large size in comparison with much older and smaller 2-3 long cm tracks of the Batrachopus type, commonly found in the Jurassic of North America.

"Nobody expected such large bipedal crocs," said Martin Lockley, a University of Colorado professor who has been studying fossil footprints in Korea for 30 years. "The Jinju Formation is so rich in tracks; you can read the entire ecology."

The discovery of well-preserved tracks is important to palaeontologist trackers because they show details of skin impressions as clear as if made yesterday. Tracks also read the pattern of pads, showing foot bone structure and the tell-tale narrowness of trackways which show a bipedal gait, different from the sprawling posture of modern crocodiles. There has even been evidence from parallel trackways that show they may have travelled in social groups, just like their dinosaur cousins.

Among with the remains of some of the oldest terrestrially adapted crocodiles, are large Triassic species, more than 200 million years old, that some palaeontologists think may have been bipedal, based on anatomy.

"The Korean trackways prove this hypothesis, at least for the Cretaceous Period," said co-author of the study, Anthony Romilio. "It also proves this adaptation was effective for millions of years, even with big fierce dinosaurs running around."

The new study has also solved a tracking mystery dating back to 2012, when some poorly preserved tracks of a bipedal animal were first found in another South Korean rock unit, described as "enigmatic." There was debate over whether the giant pterosaurs were bipeds, quadrupeds or possibly even pterosaurian or human.

###
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos Getty/Houston Police Department

Among the mourners at George Floyds funeral was Harris County Attorney Kim Ogg, whose office sent Floyd a letter last year saying he may have been a victim of a police injustice, long before the one that killed him.

The letter is dated March 8, 2019, and was sent to 3512 Nalle St. in Houston, the last address listed in court records. His mother, Larcenia Floyd, resided there until her death on May 30, 2018. Floyd had not lived here since 2014, when he moved to Minneapolis. He may have never received the notification that addressed him not as Mr. Floyd or as George Floyd, but as he is listed in the case cited at the top of the page.

Re: State of Texas v. FLOYD, GEORGE PERRY

Cause #097658901010

Harris County, 185th District Court

Dear FLOYD, GEORGE PERRY,

Based on a review of criminal cases filed in Harris County, Texas, it appears that former Houston Police Department Officer Gerald Goines may have been involved in the above-referenced case which resulted in your conviction.

Please be informed that Officer Goines has been relieved of duty and is currently under criminal investigation.

This notice is provided solely for the purpose of forwarding to you information of which this office has become aware. This office makes no representations regarding relevance or materiality of this information to your case.

Goines had been the one and only witness when he arrested Floyd back on Feb. 5, 2004, for supposedly providing him with less than a gram of cocaine. The prosecutor originally offered Floyd two years in prison if he pleaded guilty. Floyd balked, but finally agreed when the offer was reduced to 10 months.

Had he gone to trial, he would have faced serious time. And, as in any case based solely on the word of the arresting officer, it would have come down to whom the jury was going to believe: He said, Cop said.

Goines veracity in general was called into question after he was arrested last year. He was alleged to have cited a fictitious informant in securing a search warrant for a house where there was supposed drug dealing. The ensuing raid resulted in Dennis Tuttle and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, being shot to death by police, who also killed their dog. No drugs were found. The couple seems to have been wholly innocent.

Story continues

Goines was charged with murder last August on the grounds that the raid and therefore the deaths would never have occurred without the search warrant. The Harris County district attorney subsequently sought to overturn 73 cases in which Goines was the only person who witnessed the supposed transaction.

That included the case against Floyd, who subsequently went from encountering one of the very worst cops in Houston to encountering one of the very worst cops in Minneapolis. The whole world watched Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneel on Floyds neck until he died. Chauvin now also faces murder charges.

The Houston case was just another minor drug bust, whereas the Minneapolis case sparked the ongoing protests that have rocked the nation. But the difference in magnitude as well as locale makes it important to consider both cases at once. We are reminded that police misconduct is not confined to one city and occurs not just in extreme circumstances recorded by cellphones, but also in routine cases noticed only by those who suffer the immediate consequences.

Floyds attorney in the 2004 bust, James Brooks, has since died of cancer. Neither he nor Floyd is able to report particulars of the case beyond what is in the public case file. Nor were they around on June 5 to hear Ogg note on a Houston TV news show that Floyd had run into a nightmare officer in Houston as well as in Minneapolis.

One of those horrible coincidences which I would say are not just a coincidence but a product of a systemic problem, Ogg said.

She described Floyd as one of Goines victims. Her office has determined there are 91 people who were convicted as the result of search warrants where Goines was the affiant. That brings the total to 164.

Anybody who was wrongly convicted by Gerald Goines or any other officers in the squad need to have their names cleared, Ogg said.

That prominently includes Floyd, even after his life was ended by that other monster cop in Minneapolis.

He would have been entitled to relief, and posthumously we cant necessarily grant that, but Im going to see what we can do, she said.

Ogg could not be reached for further comment on Tuesday.

The district attorney is not available, a spokesperson said. She is attending Mr. Floyds funeral.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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[June 11, 2020] IDC and Ecosystems Announce a Strategic Partnership to Deliver Radical Simplicity to B2B Sellers

International Data Corporation (IDC), the premier global provider of market intelligence and advisory services, and Ecosystems, the leading platform for winning and growing customers based on quantified business outcomes, are excited to announce a global strategic partnership. Improving the scale and consistency with which B2B sales teams communicate business value to customers can be challenging, requiring both effective industry content and a software infrastructure to bring that content to the point of sale. Through combining IDC's (News - Alert) objective industry research with Ecosystems' cloud software, B2B providers have an all-in-one solution for collaborating and consenting with customers on quantified business value. Ecosystems will now incorporate IDC's market-leading content on industry trends and initiatives into its Software-as-a-Service collaborative, value management platform. "Our strategic partnership with Ecosystems represents an exciting future for how B2B companies can differentiate themselves," said Randy Perry, Vice President, Sales Enablement Practice at IDC. "Now, both the buyer and seller can have a discussion on value in the Ecosystem platform, leveraging objective industry analysis," said Jason Cunliffe, Group Vice President, Content Marketing Services at IDC. "Sellers benefit from having readily available content they can offer and buyers benefit from credible industry insights."



Global Sales & Services Executive at HP, who is recognized as a pioneer in outcome selling, Jonathan Nikols, says, "The beauty of what IDC plus Ecosystems brings to value conversations is that every time we have a new customer and/or partner discussion, we're creating a base of customer-validated empirical data in combination with the IDC market data. It brings a higher level of validity to the outcomes that we're showing our customers." "We are so excited about this strategic partnership because we believe it offers radical simplicity for the B2B seller," said Chad Quinn, CEO of Ecosystems. "Whereas, before they had to go to multiple sources to get the right industry content and research, it is now all available in the Ecosystem SaaS (News - Alert) platform. Sellers can now lead with insights rather than products and engage at higher levels in their prospect's organization."

For those interested in how they can enable their sales organization with this competitive advantage, please email [email protected]. About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter (News - Alert) at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe. About Ecosystems Services Ecosystems Services offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for customers and suppliers to discover, quantify, and track customer outcomes. With a mission to make value clear, Ecosystems has formed a world-class community of 82 progressive leaders representing 57 companies, including HP, Microsoft, AT&T (News - Alert) and Gainsight, focused on sales effectiveness and customer success. For more information, visit https://ecosystems.us/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005088/en/

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Here's the most recent top news you may have missed in New York City.

State Senate approves de Blasios MTA board appointee who honored Puerto Rican terrorist

State senators on Wednesday rubber-stamped the controversial appointment of city Department for the Aging Commissioner Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez to the MTA board. Cortez-Vasquez was the head of the Puerto Rican Parade Committee three years ago when it honored convicted terror mastermind Oscar Lopez-Rivera.

Read the full story on New York Post.

Storefronts slowly see business return in Tribeca

With some retail allowed to open for curbside pickup as of Monday, storefronts are slowly coming back to life.

Read the full story on Tribeca Citizen.

NYC detectives union vows to sue rioters who attack officers

The focus of so much of the recent protests has been on police violence against demonstrators and others, but in New York City, the union that represents NYPD detectives is turning the tables.

Read the full story on Fox News.

Coronavirus test kits now made in NYC

New York City officials are building a supply line of locally made coronavirus test kits, which they say is essential to safely reopening the economy.

Read the full story on The Wall Street Journal.

This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
President Donald Trump.

Associated Press

President Donald Trump on Thursday praised the National Guard, the US Park Police, and what he described as the "S.S." for "easily" handling protests last week in Washington, DC, against police brutality.

"Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe how easy it was," the president tweeted.

"'A walk in the park', one said. The protesters, agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handled VERY easily by the Guard, D.C. Police, & S.S. GREAT JOB!"

Trump was presumably referring to the US Secret Service, but his tweet quickly drew attention because the abbreviation is most commonly used to describe the Schutzstaffel, Adolf Hitler's notorious paramilitary force.

The president's tweet came on the heels of a New York Times story that described the aggressive tactics the District of Columbia National Guard and others used against peaceful protesters in the nation's capital last week.

Among other things, they used tear gas against protesters, deployed helicopters to dispel the demonstrations, and fired rubber bullets and pepper balls to break up a crowd of peaceful protesters so Trump could stage a photo op.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump on Thursday praised the National Guard, the US Park Police, and what he described as the "S.S." for the way they handled protests in Washington, DC, last week against police brutality following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd.

Floyd's fatal May 25 arrest, in which a white Minneapolis police officer was recorded kneeling on his neck for several minutes while Floyd said he couldn't breathe, prompted protests around the world.

"Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe how easy it was," the president tweeted. "'A walk in the park', one said. The protesters, agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handled VERY easily by the Guard, D.C. Police, & S.S. GREAT JOB!"

Story continues

Trump was presumably referring to the US Secret Service (typically referred to as the USSS) when he mentioned "S.S." in his tweet. But the post quickly drew attention because the abbreviation is most commonly used to describe the Schutzstaffel, the notorious paramilitary group of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party during World War II.

The SS was originally created as Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, but it adopted a combat role during World War II and was specifically charged with carrying out what the Nazis called the "Final Solution"  the murder of more than 6 million Jews across Europe.

The SS, according to the US Holocaust Museum, also "assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis." The security force "controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system" and "conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union."

Trump's tweet on Thursday came on the heels of a New York Times report that described the aggressive tactics used by the National Guard against mostly peaceful protesters in the US capital last week and how the Guard's response to the civil unrest surrounding Floyd's death had cratered morale among the troops, particularly men and women of color.

"Typically, as the DC National Guard, we are viewed as the heroes," First Lt. Malik Jenkins-Bey, 42, who was the acting commander of the 273rd Military Police Company during the first days of the protests, told The Times.

But last week was different, he said.

"It's a very tough conversation to have when a soldier turns to me and they're saying, 'Hey sir, you know my cousin was up there yelling at me, that was my neighbor, my best friend from high school,'" Jenkins-Bey, who is African American, said.

The District of Columbia National Guard has faced sharp criticism for its tactics in quelling the protests, which included using pepper spray and rubber bullets to dispel peaceful demonstrations and deploying helicopters to fly low over protesters, sending them running for cover as the blast from rotor blades skimmed buildings.

Trump and his Republican allies, meanwhile, have painted the protests as being part of a widespread and coordinated effort by the far-left group antifa to sow discord and stoke violence related to the demonstrations.

While there have been instances of rioting and looting during the protests, a closer examination of court records, media reports, and social-media activity shows little evidence of an organized effort by antifa to infiltrate the demonstrations.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST

Bazaar Corporate Radar

Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar.
A man who is now a quadriplegic after a violent attack outside a Pa. McDonalds is fighting for his life.

As KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh reports, Marc Conn, 62, is in critical condition with sepsis related to his injuries from the attack last fall outside a downtown Pittsburgh McDonalds.

Police say six people, including two McDonalds workers, are accused of attacking Marc Conn and his fiancee outside the restaurant last fall. During the melee, Conn was knocked to the ground and violently hit his head on the pavement.

KDKA has video of the attack here.

The criminal case is still pending.

But Conns attorney said his client might not live to see justice done, telling KDKA he doesnt know if Conn will survive.

He has an infection that developed from bedsores, which required him to be rushed to the hospital on Monday, the attorney, Bill Goodrich, told KDKA.

Marc Conn is in critical condition with sepsis related to his injuries from the attack last fall outside a downtown Pittsburgh McDonalds. (Photo via KDKA Pittsburgh)

Details on the ongoing criminal case from KDKA:

Police say surveillance video shows an argument staring between an unknown male and Conn, along with his longtime girlfriend, Billie Jo Goldsworthy, inside the McDonalds.

When Conn tried to pull his girlfriend away, the criminal complaint says two McDonalds employees, identified as Roneese Davis and Kaniya Martin, intervened and could be seen pushing and punching Goldsworthy, who police say appeared to be pushing back. The fight continued outside, where Conn hit the pavement.

Martins preliminary hearing was on Wednesday morning. Her hearing was continued to the end of July.

READ MORE:

Womans body found stuffed in suitcase left on Pa. street

Pa. woman surprises attacker by shooting him in the neck with warning shot: cops

2 boys drown in Pa. river, one trying to save the other

Grocery store chain halts sales of Pa. newspaper over George Floyd coverage flap

Pa. girl, 3, hit, killed by neighbors car in front of family home

7 shot, 1 dead in hail of 50-plus bullets fired in Pa. apartment courtyard

Pa. teen swallows world record for biggest mouth: jaw-dropping

Teen on the run after shooting, killing his girlfriends dad during lovers quarrel: Pa. cops

Pa. woman, 30, killed in ATV crash involving drunk driver: state police

Driver finds man shot dead along Pa. road: state cops

Pa. woman charged with selling fatal fentanyl dose after 1 survivor IDs her to cops

Orangutan takes bite out of worker at Pa. zoo

Pa. driver who blew through 2 stop signs before hitting, killing bicyclist faces homicide charge
President Donald Trump demanded today that Sesame Street retract and apologize for repeatedly making 14 the Number of the Day.

The move comes on the heels of the Trump campaign demanding that CNN retract and apologize for a poll showing Democrat Joe Biden leading Trump by 14 points.

The Trump campaign sent a formal letter to CNN claiming that the poll in question is a stunt and a phony poll to cause voter suppression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the President, and present a false view generally of the actual support across America for the President and demanded that CNN publish a full, fair, and conspicuous retraction, apology, and clarification to correct its misleading conclusions.

The campaign also alleges that Joe Biden has been colluding with Sesame Street for years, noting that Biden and his wife Jill were honored at the 2010 Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala and that Jill Biden and Michelle Obama met with Sesame Street operatives Elmo, a gay activist, and Rosita, an illegal immigrant advocate, in 2011.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh MacEnany insisted that both CNN and Sesame Street are far left media outlets hostile to the president and that Count von Count, who stars in the Number of the Day skits, is worse than Wolf Blitzer, and almost as scary-looking.

Image by Christaface
Despite soaring first-quarter profits, the biggest grocery chains in the country are ending the wage premium they had been paying front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Loblaw and Metro told workers Wednesday afternoon they were ending the $2-per-hour premium June 13.

In a note to employees, Loblaw Companies Ltd. president Sarah Davis said stores and distribution centres are experiencing a new normal, now that COVID-related safeguards have been in place for several months.

With this stability and with economies reopening we have decided the time is right to transition out of our temporary pay premium, Davis said in the note.

The company is still planning to spend about $25 million on a one-time bonus for workers whove been collecting the premium. That will add up to about $140 per person for workers on a full-time schedule, according to an estimate from the Unifor union.

Ive said it again and again ... but its worth repeating: Im extremely proud of all the work our front-line people in stores (did) to help Canadians get through the early and complicated phase of the pandemic, Davis added.

With more than $280 million invested in adjustments and safeguards, the company is no longer benefitting financially from COVID-19, Loblaw spokesperson Catherine Thomas said in an email. Thomas added that the company had extended the premium several times.

Metro spokesperson Marie-Claude Bacon confirmed the Quebec-based retailer is also eliminating the premium June 13, and will be paying each full-time employee a final $200 bonus, with part-time workers getting $100.

Our employees have done and continue to do a tremendous job. Their dedication to our communities was true before the pandemic and we are convinced it will remain true thereafter, Bacon said.

Requests for comment from Empire Company Ltd., which owns Sobeys and FreshCo, were not immediately responded to.

The head of the Unifor union, which represents approximately 2,000 Loblaw workers and tens of thousands of workers at Metro, blasted the decision.

The pandemic is not over. The danger has not passed. These workers are no less at risk and are no less essential today than they were yesterday. There is no justification for ending pandemic pay now, or ever, said Unifor president Jerry Dias in an emailed statement.

Retail workers have always been essential, and they have always deserved much better. The fact is, the pandemic did not make these workers essential and did not create the inequities in retail, it simply exposed them, Dias added.

Diass assistant for the retail sector Chris MacDonald suggested its not a coincidence that companies are stopping the premium weeks before the Canada Emergency Response Benefit is winding down for most workers.

The wages have been kept so low in the industry that people were wondering is it really worth risking my health and my familys health to work, when I can just collect CERB? So companies had to pay that premium or they wouldnt have had enough workers. It wasnt out of the goodness of their heart. Now that CERB is winding down, thats not as much of a problem for them any more, said MacDonald.

Both Loblaw and Metro said the timing of the CERB program had nothing to do with their decision to eliminate the premium.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents roughly 70,000 Loblaw employees, expressed its disappointment with the decision.

UFCW Canada is disappointed that employers in various sectors across Canada are choosing to stop paying COVID-19 premium pay while the pandemic continues, and some provinces are still enforcing precautionary measures. ... Premium pay should be maintained throughout the pandemic, the UFCW said in a statement.

In the first quarter, Loblaw Companies Ltd.  which owns the Loblaws grocery stores, No Frills and Shoppers Drug Mart  reported that its first-quarter profits soared to $240 million, compared to $198 million in the same quarter last year.

In the fiscal second quarter, Metro reported a profit of $176 million, compared to $122 million the year before.

When the premium was introduced in late March, Loblaw chair Galen Weston said it was to help reward the incredible people whod continued to serve the public during the pandemic.

Our supermarkets and pharmacies are performing well, he said in a statement. And the leaders in our business wanted to make sure that a significant portion of that benefit would go straight into the pockets of the incredible people on the front line.

Read more about:
Omar Rahman, M.D., University of Nebraska Medical Center Credit: University of Nebraska Medical Center

Omar Rahman, M.D., director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute Department of Genetics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, is part of a group that has created a training manual in both English and Spanish designed to help health care providers recognize and diagnose fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).

Dr. Rahman's colleagues included Maristela Monteiro, M.D., Ph.D., senior advisor on alcohol and substance abuse for the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO); Christie Petrenko, Ph.D., assistant professor of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center and associate director of clinical training at the Mt. Hope Family Center; and Diego Gomez, a neuroscience major at Creighton University.

Drs. Rahman and Petrenko have consulted and provided training workshops on FASD throughout the world as consultants for PAHO/WHO since 2011. They worked with Dr. Monteiro in Chile in 2017 and the Dominican Republic in 2018-19, and their experiences in those nations led to the creation of the workbook.

"Each time we've done these trainings, we've continued to improve our training materials and get feedback from sites," Dr. Petrenko said. "The current iteration of training material really solidified on our last trip to the Dominican Republic. It's been a great opportunity to work together and find the most effective ways to engage people in different countries who may have different resources and skill sets available."

"We were informed by our prior experience, but we also had some latitude and could tailor the best ways to teach this content and these skills to people, given the constraints of each region."

"As we saw its usefulness, we kept adding to it," Dr. Rahman said. "It became a much more comprehensive work."

The 55-page handbook, now available in English and soon to be available in Spanish, features sections on prenatal exposure, dysmorphology, neuropsychology, the diagnostic process, and case-based learning modules.

The handbook is particularly valuable because FASD often goes undiagnosed. The team shared a story of a health professional who attended a training and realized her nephew might have FASD.

"That was in the Dominican Republic," Dr. Monteiro said. "She then brought in her nephew and his mother, and the child had a full case of fetal alcohol syndrome.

"The boy had been through three different, privately done evaluations, they had done an MRI, and no one knew what it was. And it was textbook, really, the child had all the features."

That incident was part of the inspiration for the handbook, which also drew from work Drs. Rahman and Petrenko had done in Eastern Europe and Africa with the WHO.

Dr. Monteiro championed the project with PAHO and, by putting the handbook on the PAHO website, ensured it will be accessible and have worldwide reach. "People in Central and South America trust PAHO to provide them with good resources and information," Dr. Rahman said.

The team credited Gomez, who currently is applying to medical school, with writing most of the handbook in both English and Spanish. Members of the University of Nebraska Medical Center public relations team helped design the handbook, and the graphic design work was supported by the Friedland Family Distinguished Professorship.

"The fact that this is freely available to everyone, and on such an important website, is really going to help raise awareness about the condition, in addition to being a good resource for anyone who interacts with patients who have FASD," Gomez said. "There is an extensive medical literature, but there isn't a lot of available materials that can be used for training directly," he said. "Having someone condense that and explain it in language accessible to people will raise awareness."

The team is now looking at creating additional resources aimed at parents and teachers, and Dr. Monteiro wants to explore how COVID-19which has been shown to increase alcohol consumption when people are quarantined at homemay impact FASD prevalence.

Prenatal alcohol exposure affects about 2 to 5 percent of the US population. Children and adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) struggle with lifelong learning and behavioral problems. Without appropriate support services, they are at high risk for secondary conditions, such as mental health problems, trouble with the law, school disruption, and substance abuse.

For a free copy of Assessment of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: A Training Workbook, go to https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/52216.

Explore further Self-care linked to greater confidence in parents of children with FASD

Provided by University of Nebraska Medical Center
In an effort to deter migrants from attempting to land on Cyprus, the government in Nicosia is launching an SMS text message campaign to dispel the mistaken belief the country is a gateway to the European Union.

By Nathan Morley

The message is clear. Those attempting to disembark on the island will receive warning they would be effectively trapped and cant move on to another EU country; given Cyprus is not part of the Schengen area.



In recent years, Cyprus has experienced an increased migrant influx, with local authorities recording arrivals from Syria, Iraq, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, and North Africa, amongst others.



Authorities say around 3.8 percent of those living on the island are asylum seekers, in stark contrast to many other EU states which have a lighter migration burden.



According to the government, there was an increase of over 130 percent in asylum applications during 2019 compared to 2018.



In August 2019, the government in Nicosia asked the European Commission to help relocate at least 5,000 asylum seekers to other European Union member states. At the time, the Cypriot Minister of Interior highlighted human trafficking, smuggling and exploitation of the asylum system.



In a related development, Malta says it is ready to act as a bridge between Libya and the European Union to address the problem of illegal migration.



Prime Minister Robert Abela says his brief visit to the war-torn country last week confirmed that Libya was facing its own migration problems with an influx of migrants from neighboring countries.


Two months into her first term as a member of Congress, Florida Democrat and former police chief Rep. Val Demings was asked on national television whether all lives matter.

When we hire law enforcement to do the job, we need to let them do their job, sit back, and not let, when a group of society feels like theyre being mistreated, let them go in there and tear up a city or town, declared Randy, a Virginia Democrat who called in to Demings inaugural appearance on C-SPANs Washington Journal with more of a comment than a question. Because once you do that, youll have no control. So what Im saying is, all lives matter, not just certain liveseverybody matters.

Demings, who served as chief of the Orlando Police Department between 2007 and 2011 before entering politics, kept a calm expression before responding that in her decades on the force, shed learned that mutual accountability was the best path for cops to take.

Youre absolutely right, we need to support our men and women in blue, because they are the first line of defense when things go wrong, Demings said. Its about accountabilitywe need to hold law enforcement accountable, but we also need to hold the community accountable. If you break the law, you dont get a pass on that; if you dont follow the rules as a law enforcement officer, you should not get a pass about that. So its really about accountability.

Until the past few weeks, Demings remarks were consistent with the approach she has taken towards the Black Lives Matter movement: admitting to faults in law enforcement, but emphasizing that both civilians and cops require trust in order to address them.

Looking for a negative story in a police department is like looking for a prayer at church. It wont take long to find one, Demings wrote in a 2008 op-ed defending the Orlando Police Department against accusations of a reliance on use of force. Despite attempts to focus on our imperfections, we are more committed than ever to reducing crime and keeping our city safe I do believe the vast majority of citizens, business owners and visitors are right there with us.

Story continues

But as the largest protest movement in half a century has spread across the country in response to police brutality against black civiliansand as Demings has come under consideration to join former Vice President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticketthe Florida congresswomans tone on police violence has grown sharper.

As a former woman in blue, let me begin with my brothers and sisters in blue: What in the hell are you doing? Demings asked rhetorically in an op-ed published in the Washington Post last week, in which she urged fellow cops to think before you act! when serving the public.

Bad decisions can bring irrevocable harm to the profession and tear down the relationships and trust between the police and the communities they serve, Demings wrote. Remember, your most powerful weapon is the brain the good Lord gave you. Use it!

As Demings has risen from being one of the first black, female police chiefs in a large American city to a place on the shortlist for Bidens running mate, her background in law enforcement is seen within the campaign as a potential shield against broadsides by President Donald Trump that the former veep wants to defund the policeand her support for meeting the objectives of the Black Lives Matter movement from within law enforcement could make her a bridge between law enforcement and those who support criminal justice reform.

But activists and opponents in Orlando told The Daily Beast that Demings more aggressive public stand on policing is too little, too late.

The cover is niceyoure a God-fearing woman, congratulationsbut when you turn the pages, you might not like what you see, and I know I dont, said Lawanna Gelzer, president of the National Action Networks Central Florida chapter and longtime critic of the Orlando Police Department. Gelzer told The Daily Beast that the change in tone reeks of opportunism from a potential vice presidentand doesnt speak to the longstanding issues in Orlando.

Why now? Gelzer said, responding to the opening lines of Demings Washington Post interview. Why now, when youve know whats been going on for years? You know what has happened in Central Florida.

Willie Montague, one of two Republicans vying to face off against Demings for her congressional seat in November, told The Daily Beast that either her past support for harsh police tactics by the Orlando Police Department was a facade, or her current calls for reform are.

Demings once defended the body-slamming of an 84-year-old man during her tenure as Orlando police chief, Montague said. She is clearly a political opportunist that will say whatever she feels her audience wants her to say, whilst doing something very different.

Montague was referring to the case of Daniel Daley, a veteran of World War II who had his neck broken by an Orlando police officer in September 2010 following a dispute over his car getting towed. Daleys subsequent lawsuit cost the city $880,000, and although Demings was not named in the suit, she publicly defended the officers takedown technique. (Daleys attorney has since defended Demings actions as chief, telling The Daily Beast last month that he thought she would make a good vice president, if selected.)

Demings detractors say that case, and others like it, are part of a broader culture of force in Orlando that she failed to change as chief, and typify the sorts of abuses that many criminal justice advocates see as the reason for reform. The city has one of the highest per capita rates of police killings in the nation, and black residents are 4.6 times more likely to be killed by police than are whites.

Longtime Democratic fundraiser Bob Poe, who squared off against Demings in the partys congressional 2016 primary, cited an investigation by the Orlando Sentinel that found the Orlando Police Department used force against suspects 574 times in the final year of her tenure as chiefroughly 20 percent more frequently than officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a similarly-sized city with a similar demographic profile.

That's the systemic racism were dealing with here in Orlando, Gelzer said. Dont get it twisted because Mickey Mouse is hereOrlando is still a very racist, good ol boy town.

Demings is not the only potential running mate whose background in law enforcement has presented a potential quandary for the Biden campaign. Sen. Kamala Harris of California was trolled as a cop when she sought the Democratic nomination due to her background as a former prosecutor, and Sen. Amy Klobuchars role as the top prosecutor in Minnesotas largest county has been seen as a major potential liability after it came to light that the officer who killed George Floyd shot a man weeks before she was elected to the Senate (although Klobuchar herself did not make the decision not to prosecute the officer).

Demings own public evolution on police reform tracks closely with Bidens own, from urging communities and law enforcement to meet in the middle to, as the congresswoman wrote in the Post op-ed, conducting a serious review of police training, hiring standard, use-of-force policies, and recruitment.

As law enforcement officers, we took an oath to protect and serve, Demings wrote. And those who forgotor who never understood that oath in the first placemust go.

But Demings longtime calls for cops to be a part of the solution in addressing police violence, law enforcement advocates told The Daily Beast, may help make the difficult pill of criminal justice reform a little easier to swallow.

I have to look more into the recordpolicing in New York City is much different than policing in Florida, said Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, the second-largest labor union representing New York City Police Department officers. DiGiacomo, who last week called Bidens calls for reform the sign of a typical politician, said that including Demings might help win back the support of law enforcement unions ahead of the general election.

Policing is very difficult throughout the whole country now, DiGiacomo said. That would be a check on the plus side.

Both DiGiacomo and Montague pointed out that defunding police departments, which has become a rallying cry at protests against violence against black people by law enforcement, is not popular among likely votersbut, countered Gelzer, support for the Black Lives Matter movement is.

Thats what the community is saying, Gelzer said. Its not stripping you of all your money, its reallocating and putting money into services and needs that we need. Theyre like the fire departmentthe fire department does not patrol my neighborhood. They come when I need them.

Demings congressional office responded to questions about her record as chief of police by pointing to her op-ed, in which Demings wrote that we must be proactive. We must work with law enforcement agencies to identify problems before they happen.

The Biden campaign, meanwhile, has made it clear in recent days that criminal justice reform will be one of his top priorities if electedand that the help of every member of a Biden administration will be required to make it happen.

The stains of America's original sin are very much with us to this day, and there is an emergency our country must meet and overcome now: people of color are unjustifiably losing their lives at the hands of police, a Biden adviser told The Daily Beast. Its a long-running epidemic that we must put to a decisive stop.

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The most active traffic is on the border with Poland

Ukraine's border with Poland strana.ua

Ukrainians have made almost 49 million trips to the countries of the European Union since the beginning of the visa-free regime, the press service of Ukraine's State Border Guard Service reports.

"Since the beginning of the visa-free regime (from June 11, 2017 to April 2020), Ukrainians have made a total of almost 49 million trips to EU countries on both biometric and non-biometric documents," the statement said.

In 2018-2019, the total number of trips to the Schengen countries increased by one million - to 18.65 million in 2019. In the first months of this year, the trend continued until the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic - Ukrainian citizens crossed the border with the EU three million times.

The most active traffic is on the border with Poland, as well as at checkpoints with Hungary and Romania. Slightly less - on the border with Slovakia.

Most travelers go on trips by air, the least - by water.

As we reported earlier, on May 14, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba agreed with EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi to accelerate joint work over the conclusion of the agreement on industrial visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU.
B ritain could suffer a second wave of coronavirus infections in the next fortnight, TV doctor Dr Hillary Jones has warned.

He told ITV's Lorraine Kelly on Thursday morning that if the UK sees a second spike at all, it will happen this month.

But he said on Good Morning Britain: If we do see one I think it will be a less significant than the first, however, lets hope we dont have one at all.

Lorraine replied: If that was going to happen when would that show itself do you think?

In the next two weeks, Dr Hillary returned confidently.

Dr Hillary Jones a second wave could be looming / ITV

He added that the only country to show signs of a second wave so far has been Iran, which saw a 50 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases in the first week of June.

Fears of a second wave are mounting as Boris Johnson continues to relax the lockdown further.

From Monday, the PM is allowing non-essential shops to reopen alongside zoos, safari parks and drive-in cinemas.

Adults living alone will be able to form "support bubbles" with one other household and stay overnight from this weekend, Mr Johnson has said.

Places of worship will also open for a private prayer, despite most schools remaining shut until September.

Boris Johnson is considering whether to relax the social distancing rule / via REUTERS

Around half of primary schools reopened last week to Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils, despite warnings from teaching unions that it was unsafe and could trigger a second spike.

The PM is also expected to make a decision on whether to cut down the two-metre social distancing rule, which he confirmed is "under review".

Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, revealed at Wednesdays Downing Street briefing that Government scientific advisers were bracing for a second lockdown over winter.

We are not at the end of this epidemic, not by a long shot, he said. Were in the middle of it.

He warned that there were no comfortable ways to ease the current lockdown without risking a bounce-back in infections.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the Governments chief scientific adviser, has urged caution after the R number - the rate of contagion - rose above the dangerous 1 last week.

Ministers have touted local lockdowns if there are regional flare-ups.
New Delhi: Ram Prasad Bismil played a significant role in Indias struggle for independence and on Thursday (June 11), on the freedom fighters 123rd birth anniversary, India salutes his valour. People from all walks of life saluted Bismil, highlighting his bravery in India's freedom movement.

Bismil, a poet-turned-revolutionary, was born in 1897 in Shahjahanpur. He is credited as one of the key persons to have given impetus to the country's struggle to free itself from decades of colonial rule. Kakori conspiracy, of which Bismal was one of the masterminds, is still considered one of the most brazen acts of defiance against an unjust and harsh British rule here. He was joined by Chandrashekhar Azad, Ashfaqullah Khan, Roshan Singh and other revolutionaries.

Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaq Ullah Khan and Roshan Singh were given death sentence by British government for their involvement in the conspiracy while Azad had managed to dodge the police after looting the treasury.

While Bismil is best remembered for his unwavering love for the country, he also had a much-appreciated poetic side and had published a collection of his poems.

The freedom fighter had also published a pamphlet titled Deshvasiyon ke nam sandesh. He translated some of Bengali books too. Besides these, a collection of poems  Man Ki Lahar and Swadeshi Rang was also written by him.

Sarfarosh ki Tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai, dekhna ki zor kitna baazu-e-qatil mein hai - these immortal lines were also popularised by Bismil.

Heres how Twitter bowed down to Ram Prasad Bismil and his struggle:

Tributes to RAM PRASAD BISMIL on his Birth anniversary.

A revolutionary who sought nothing but freedom, he often employed poetry as his weapon of choice in the fight against the imperialist forces. pic.twitter.com/KqpCV5rL29  Satish Machra (@MachraSatish) June 11, 2020

Tributes in the feet of Shaheed Ram Prasad Bismil on his Birth Anniversary today 11th June. His Sacrifice & martyrdom always inspire us to work for nation #VandeMataram pic.twitter.com/UOPrev6Igt  ArjunRaj (@ArjunRa24109579) June 11, 2020

Remembering Ram Prasad Bismil, the great revolutionary leader of Indias struggle for independence, on his birth anniversary today. He was a brave patriot who sacrificed his life for the freedom of the motherland. He was also a talented poet who wrote extensively about freedom. pic.twitter.com/xBFwV7tCiR  Viswanath Sarode (@ViswanathSarod2) June 11, 2020

1n 1997, on Bismil's birth centenary year, the government had issued a multicoloured commemorative postal stamp.
New Delhi: More than five months have passed to scientists from all over the world fighting the global epidemic Coronavirus. Many countries have declared that the vaccine of coronavirus has been discovered. Meanwhile, American multinational pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson has informed that their vaccine to fight the coronavirus is now fully ready.

Another woman come in support of TikTok star-turned-BJP leader Sonali Phogat

On giving information about the vice president and chief scientist of Johnson & Johnson, Paul Stoffel has said that the vaccine prepared by him to fight the coronavirus is giving very promising results. Clinical trials on humans of this vaccine named SARS-CoV-2 are going to start from next month. We hope that this vaccine can be launched in the market soon. In the statement issued by the company, it has been said that the figures for the new vaccine's Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials are being reviewed.

People creates uproar in quarantine center for favorite food

During clinical trials on humans, this vaccine will be seen by testing on about 1,045 patients. There is a plan to include adults aged 1855 years. People above 65 years of age will also be included in this trial. The company says that during this time we are also in talks with other pharmaceutical companies to make this vaccine available all over the world so that more people can get the benefit in less time.

Has the machine arrived to save the police personnel from Corona?
Four suspected rebels were killed by government forces in Indian-administered Kashmir on Monday just hours after five militants died in a firefight in the same area, officials said, as deadly clashes increase in the restive valley.

The fresh clash was followed by the shooting death of an elected village official from India's main opposition Congress party not far from the site of the firefight, which police blamed on the rebels.

Such armed encounters are frequent in the Himalayan region disputed by India and Pakistan, but the fighting has intensified with at least 85 militants and dozens of government forces killed this year.

In the latest incident, soldiers cordoned a village in southern Shopian area early Monday after a tip-off from police, army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said.

A firefight broke out and four suspected rebels were killed, he added. Soldiers also blew up at least one home, another police officer and locals said.

An army officer, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said three soldiers were wounded in the confrontation.

Hundreds of villagers rallied in support of the rebels, throwing stones and shouting slogans against Indian rule as the firefight raged, a police officer and locals said.

On Sunday, five militants were killed after Indian soldiers and counterinsurgency police cordoned off Shopian's Reban village.

On Saturday, unidentified gunman shot dead a young man in the northern Sopore area. Police blamed rebels for the killing.

The incidents came a week after New Delhi expelled two Pakistan embassy officials over allegations of spying.

Tensions remain high in Kashmir after New Delhi in August revoked its semi-autonomous status and imposed a lengthy curfew.

Pakistan criticised the move and there has been a frequent exchange of fire across the heavily militarised border between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Since 1989, rebels groups have fought against some 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, demanding independence or Kashmir's merger with Pakistan.

India regularly blames Pakistan for arming and training rebels before sending them across the border, charges that Islamabad denies.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 22:12:06|Editor: huaxia

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TOKYO, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Japan is planning to ease its coronavirus-linked travel restrictions this summer by allowing, at first, the entry of up to 250 business people per day from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam, government sources and local media said Thursday.

Japan currently has had an entry ban in place from 111 countries and regions, and foreign travelers who have visited countries on the banned list within two weeks would be refused entry.

"We will continue to carefully consider ways to partially resume international travel in steps, while taking care to prevent infections from spreading," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary committee.

Travelers from the permitted overseas countries would have to undergo tests before arriving in Japan to prove they are negative for COVID-19. Upon landing in Japan they will be required to take another test, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Those qualifying for entry will be required to submit to officials details of their place of residence during their visit as well as an itinerary of places they intend to visit, the sources said.

They may be asked to refrain from using public transport and possibly be required to use a GPS app on their smartphones so that contact tracing can be carried out if they become infected.

As for outbound Japanese travelers, some 181 foreign countries and regions have slapped travel bans or restrictions on Japan, with Australia and New Zealand reportedly saying it may still be too early to allow entry of Japanese travelers.

Japan is in talks with Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand as the potential first batch of travelers it reopens its doors to, although the government would like this measure to be reciprocal, the sources said.

The four countries were picked as they have been judged to have successfully brought the coronavirus outbreak under control in their respective countries, plus the business ties between Japan and these countries, said the sources.

The government here said that following its initial easing of entry restrictions for the four countries, it will look to further expand the easing of restrictions applicable to China, South Korea and the United States.

To inspire more confidence in Japan having overcome the worst of the pandemic, the government is planning to set up test centers so those planning to travel overseas can meet the requirements of foreign countries requiring negative test results from Japanese travelers prior to their departure. Enditem
An angry delivery driver mowed down two people, killing one and injuring the other, after his wing mirror was snapped off, a court has heard.

John Ambler, 33, had been walking along a street in Erith, southeast London, with Jake Kemp, 26, after a night out when he drunkenly punched a parked Toyota Prius in the early hours of 19 October.

The Old Bailey heard how the cars owner, 63-year-old Uran Nabiev, saw what happened and allegedly responded by taking the law into his own hands with tragic consequences.

The pizza delivery driver, who had been at home drinking vodka, got into his car intent on using it as a weapon against the men, jurors were told.

What happened next on Bexley Road was caught on graphic CCTV footage played in court.

Mr Nabiev allegedly drove up behind the two men, revved his engine and mounted the pavement.

Delivery driver Mr Ambler was hit in the arm and his friend ran off pursued by Mr Nabiev, who reversed and mounted the opposite pavement.

Mr Kemp stumbled and fell and seconds later Mr Nabiev deliberately drove straight over him, jurors heard.

The air conditioning engineer was dragged 9m down the pavement, ending face down in a pool of blood.

He suffered a serious head injury and died in hospital three days later.

After the incident Mr Nabiev, a father of one, drove to a friends house shaking, panicking and slurring his words, the court heard.

CCTV screengrab issued by the Metropolitan Police of Uran Nabiev's Toyota Prius driving towards a man on Bexley Road, in Erith, southeast London, 19 October 2020. (Metropolitan Police/PA)

He allegedly said: Thief, thief. They broke the car.

Mr Nabiev fled to his native Azerbaijan but was arrested on his return to the UK in November, when he told police he was extremely sorry for Mr Kemps death.

Opening the murder trial, Anthony Orchard QC said: Instead of ringing the police to report his wing mirror damage, he took the law into his own hands with tragic consequences.

Jake had no chance. He ran and fell. Despite a clear time gap, the defendant made no attempt to brake.

In a prepared statement, Mr Nabiev said he did not intend to harm anyone or to cause them serious harm.

Mr Nabiev, of Bexley Road, denies the murder of Mr Kemp and the attempted murder of Mr Ambler, both from Barnehurst, southeast London.

He also denies lesser alternative charges of manslaughter and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by Press Association
First Minister Arlene Foster has announced a number of new measures as Northern Ireland further relaxes its coronavirus lockdown.

During the Executive's daily briefing the DUP leader announced that:

People who live alone will be able to form a "small support bubble" with one other household from Saturday

The number of people who can meet outdoors while social distancing has been increased from six to 10

All retailers, including those inside shopping centres, can open from Friday

Church halls and community centres can open from Friday to provide childcare

People will also be able to begin buying and selling houses and moving home from Monday June 15

Elite athletes will be able to resume training

Mrs Foster said that the Executive wanted "to minimise the impact of loneliness and isolation on people by enabling people to meet in a controlled and straightforward way."

However people who are shielding will not be able to take part due to their increased risk from Covid-19.

Mrs Foster said that hairdressers, driving instructors etc would be "considered in due course".

She said regulations around childcare were being "finalised" and meetings were taking place on Friday.

The prospect of bringing forward the July 20 opening date for hotel, caravan parks and other tourist accommodation will be considered next week.

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the Executive was considering indicative dates for other parts of the recovery plan.

Northern Ireland's 'R' number, rate of infection, is between 0.5 and 0.9.

It comes after the Department of Health confirmed one person has died from Covid-19 in Northern Ireland over the past 24 hours.

The recorded death comes after four days of no reported deaths in Northern Ireland.

The death toll from Covid-19 in Northern Ireland is now 538.

Read More

Check out today's main developments below
Reni Eddo-Lodge has become the first ever black British author to top the non-fiction paperback book charts.

Her 2017 book, Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race reached number one on the chart this week.

In a tweet reacting to the news, the author said: [I] cant help but be dismayed by this  the tragic circumstances in which this achievement came about.

Eddo-Lodge was referring to the global anti-racism protests sparked by the killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd while being apprehended by police, which has brought the topic of racism  specifically, anti-black racism  to the forefront of media attention.

The fact that its 2020 and Im the first, she continued. Lets be honest. Reader demand aside, that it took this long is a horrible indictment of the publishing industry.

Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race examines race, class and gender in the UK as well as the rest of the world.

Eddo-Lodge had previously posted about the bestseller experiencing an uptick in sales in the wake of the George Floyd protests, expressing her unease with the trend.

This book financially transformed my life and I really dont like the idea of personally profiting every time a video of a black persons death goes viral, she wrote, and urged readers to donate to the nonprofit organisation Minnesota Freedom Fund.

Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race rose 155 places in the official Bookseller Chart, and is currently the third most popular book overall.
StevenDouglas Named In Americas Best Recruiting Firms Recognitions I am extremely excited and honored to have the firm recognized on both the Forbes list of Americas Best Recruiting Firms and Hunt Scanlon Top 50, says Founder & CEO, Steve Sadaka.

StevenDouglas, a national executive search and interim resources firm founded in Florida in 1984, is receiving accolades on two prominent lists. Recently the firm appeared on not only Americas Best Recruiting Firms Executive Search list by Forbes and Statista, but also Hunt Scanlons Top 50 Executive Search Firms in North America.

In 2019, StevenDouglas reached major milestones, exceeding $60 million in revenue, opening multiple offices across the U.S., and expanding their footprint in key markets with client demand. The firm has experienced over 1200% growth since 2005, making it one of the fastest growing firms in the U.S. Currently they have just under 100 corporate and client service professionals, and have also added staff in 2020.

I am extremely excited and honored to have the firm recognized on both the Forbes list of Americas Best Recruiting Firms and Hunt Scanlon Top 50. Given current circumstances, Im also grateful to be in the fortunate position where our clients didnt have to worry about any negative impact to firm services in 2020, even with the uncertainty due to the pandemic, says Founder & CEO, Steve Sadaka. He went on to say, It was our top priority to keep moving forward, and make sure we were there for our staff, clients and candidates.

According to Forbes, to determine their final list, Statista surveyed 25,000 recruiters and 5,000 job candidates and human resources managers who had worked with recruitment agencies over the last three years. Firms could not nominate themselves, and more than 17,000 nominations were collected, with those firms receiving the most recommendations making the list.

StevenDouglas, recognized again in 2020, has moved up to #29 on the Hunt Scanlons Top 50 Executive Firms in North America list. They also rank on that list as the #1 Florida based firm & #2 firm based in the Southeast region of the country. Hunt Scanlon Media has provided global staffing intelligence data to the senior talent management sector for over 25 years.

When StevenDouglas President, Matt Shore was asked how the firm has been able to grow so successfully over the years, he responded, The main reason we keep growing is a combination of great people, great culture, and our business model. By creating a great culture, we have been able to attract and retain some of the best talent in the industry that deliver on their promises. We also offer highly diversified services, specializing not only in executive search, but also interim resources and IT staffing.

About StevenDouglas:

StevenDouglas, one of the nation's leading Search and Interim Resource firms, is a recognized leader in identifying and providing access to top talent and executives for companies since 1984.

The firm has been connecting premier candidates to their client base that spans an array of high-demand disciplines, and a broad range of industries. StevenDouglas is nationally known for search expertise in Finance & Accounting, Human Resource, Information Technology, Financial Services, Operations, Sales & Marketing, Legal, Risk & Compliance, Supply Chain & Logistics; As well as providing interim resources and staffing for Information Technology, Finance & Accounting, and Human Resources.

StevenDouglas supports companies at any phase, including start-ups, emerging middle-market, and Fortune 500 companies. The firm also has established relationships and a successful track-record with private equity and venture capital firms, as well as family offices. Its one of the fastest growing recruiting firms in the U.S. with locations across the country, including a presence in Latin America & Canada.


HK national security law 'likely' within one month

Global Times

By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/10 22:18:52

Setting up a new unit within the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) does not necessarily mean the capabilities of the Chinese mainland's affiliated national security agency in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in enforcing the law would be weakened.

On the contrary, the coordination mechanism between the two would be further improved in joint operations involving national security-related cases, sources close to the matter told the Global Times on Wednesday.

To accelerate the process of formulating the national security law for Hong Kong, two senior officials - Zhang Yong, vice-chairman of the Basic Law Committee under the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, and Song Zhe, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council - attended a forum held by the Hong Kong Coalition to report public opinions from various sectors in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, deputy secretary-general of the coalition, told the Global Times.

About 80 attendees from various sectors including finance, community work and legal work, shared their views of the upcoming national security law for the HKSAR.

"There are some topics of concern related to the new law such as law enforcement mechanisms. Most attendees who reported public opinion to the senior officials from Beijing agreed that Hong Kong needs to set up a special court in handling national security-related cases," he said.

He also said that the HKPF needs to coordinate with agencies set up by the mainland's national security organs, as they lack experience in handling national security as well as terrorism-related cases.

Since the NPC voted to pass a draft decision on establishing the law on May 28, central authorities have held at least five forums to absorb public opinions from the Hong Kong society.

The forums included one where HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam, together with Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng, Commissioner of the HKPF Chris Tang and Secretary for Security John Lee, came to Beijing to meet with Vice Premier Han Zheng and other senior officials of the central government, to exchange views.

"Given frequent meetings that involve reporting public views on the law, the process of drafting is expected to accelerate further. Most attendees also expressed the hope that the law would be enacted as soon as possible," Wong said.

The meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee decided on Tuesday to convene the 19th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee from June 18-20 in Beijing, and they proposed the agenda for the session, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

After the issue of the decision in drafting the law, the NPC Standing Committee would work with related parties to formulate relevant laws and bills, which usually go through three readings in the committee before being enacted, according to the Legislation Law.

Chinese lawmakers usually meet every two months, but interim meetings can be held when there is a special need, leading to speculations that the draft decision of the upcoming national security law for Hong Kong would be signed into law within six months, or even sooner.

However, the agenda for the next meeting did not include deliberating the draft of this highly anticipated law, as the Xinhua report showed.

"We can't rule out the possibility that the NPC Standing Committee will hold interim meetings in enacting the law, as senior officials have been working day and night in drafting the legislature and listening to public opinion from Hong Kong across a broad scale," Wong said, noting that the law is likely to take effect within a month.

When it comes to the nationality of judges in hearing national security-related cases, those who reported the opinion findings to the officials from Beijing did not agree with an earlier claim by the Hong Kong Secretary of Justice Cheng about not ruling out foreign judges, the deputy secretary-general of the coalition noted.

"Zhang and Song did not jump to any conclusion, but they carefully took in what those attendees proposed," he said, noting that those who proposed suggestions all showed concern over foreign judges in cases related to foreign spies.

Cheng was quoted in earlier reports as saying that there are no grounds to bar foreign judges from ruling on national security cases, a comment that aroused heated discussion in Hong Kong and the mainland.

Other issues raised by attendees to the forum included how the clauses of the law would be deliberated in an accurate and detailed manner; how the law would only affect a specifically targeted group of people who endanger national security while it wouldn't affect the freedom of speech of the Hong Kong majority, and how to guarantee their legitimate rights.

"From passing the draft decision to enacting the law, it's now a period of listening to what Hong Kong people think and seeking a path toward coordination between the mainland and Hong Kong authorities in forming a double-level law enforcement mechanism," Li Xiaobing, an expert on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan at Nankai University in Tianjin, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"Both sides need to make adjustments in order to better fit into this new mechanism. One thing for sure is that Hong Kong officials have more courage to use available legal means to ensure law enforcement," he said.

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Feral chickens are terrorising a quiet Auckland suburb after coronavirus restrictions were lifted, and have attracted a swarm of large rats.

Before the country went into lockdown in late March 2019, the suburb of Titirangi, west of Auckland, was dealing with an infestation of up to 250 feral chickens.

The situation worsened after it was discovered the chickens harm the roots of the endangered kauri tree and that food left out for the birds by locals attracted rats 'the size of cats.'

Council contractors managed to capture and relocate 248 of the birds before the operation ceased due to the lockdown but after it was lifted, the chicken population significantly multiplied.

Before the country went into lockdown in late March 2019, the suburb of Titirangi, west of Auckland, was dealing with an infestation of up to 250 feral chickens.

Greg Presland, the chair of the Waitakere Ranges community board, had a theory to explain the sudden increase of the chicken population.

'There's a very kind-hearted local who feeds them and has kept feeding them so the numbers have started to spike up again,' Mr Presland told The Guardian.

'And we're convinced that there's been at least two dumping episodes, where someone's got their chickens and just dumped them in the village.'

Mr Presland warned that the chicken population will continue to increase if the locals keep feeding them.

Their situation worsened after it was discovered the chickens harm the roots of the endangered kauri tree and the food left out for the birds by locals attracted rats 'the size of cats.'

The chicken problem first began in 2008 when a resident released two domesticated chickens.

By 2019, the feral chicken population had grown to about 250 and had become an icon of the area, prompting people to leave food out for the birds.

The local warm opinion of the chickens was cooled by the subsequent rat infestation and the roosters' dawn crowing, and residents called for the chickens to be safely moved to a farm.

'A combination of being sleep deprived and seeing the neighbourhood wrecked made some people really hate them,' Mr Presland said.

Council contractors were tasked with relocating the chickens and set up several large nets throughout the area to catch them.

But the chicken's safety was extremely important to the locals and they requested a vet to remain on standby to check the captured birds and ensure they were cared-for upon relocation.

Council contractors managed to capture and relocate 248 of the birds before the operation ceased due to the lockdown but after it was lifted, locals were greeted to a chicken population that had significantly multiplied

The contractors caught and relocated about 230 chickens and eight more were captured just before New Zealand went into lockdown.

Two chickens managed to avoid capture and the contractor's operation was suspended until the lockdown was eased.

Locals are divided on what to do with the feral chickens as some enjoy their company while others believe they are a nuisance and want them removed.

'The chickens are a part of the Titirangi community. It adds to the charm,' one young woman told Seven Sharp.

Another woman said: 'They are quite cool and you can hear the roosters going which is nice.'

One young father said he didn't have a problem when the chickens first appeared but recently, he said they are going 'crazy.'

'I was walking my young son past a chicken area and they tried to get at him. They are pretty feral.'
Australias journalists union, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) said a News Media Bargaining Code is critical for media outlets to survive. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the MEAA in calling for a clear timetable for discussions about developing an industry code to ensure a sustainable future for public interest journalism in Australia.

The Australian government has said it will legislate for the code to be mandatory to address bargaining power imbalances between Australian news media businesses and digital platforms. In its submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding the development of the code, MEAA said a decade of job losses and struggling media outlets have threatened Australia's news media industry. Digital disruption has led to falling revenues, particularly advertising income, as Google and Facebook have seen a surge in advertising income and market share.

MEAAs media section federal president, Marcus Strom, said: Since January 2019 more than 200 broadcast and print newsrooms have closed temporarily or for good. So far in 2020, Covid-19 has contributed to the suspension or permanent closure of more than 100 newspaper mastheads, many of them in regional Australia. We estimate that the Australian media is on track to lose a further 1000 editorial jobs this year alone.

The impact of this sudden and massive decline in Australian media is profound, according to MEAA. It means that communities have lost their local voice and there is less scrutiny of powerful interests," Strom said.

The IFJ said: A Media Bargaining Code would address the fair value of news content and content creation, whether it be a large media house or a freelancer. Journalism cannot survive without adequate funding to support quality journalism nationally, regionally and locally.
The National Australia Bank has launched a wider independent investigation into staff payments after discovering last year that 1500 employees had been short-changed a total of $1.3 million.

NAB executive Susan Ferrier emailed staff on Thursday saying the bank had employed law firm King & Wood Mallesons and audit firm PwC to conduct a review into problems with the bank's payroll system.

NAB executive Susan Ferrier has emailed staff to apologise for problems with its payments system. Credit:Louise Kennerley

The lender identified payment problems with a small group of staff last year leading to a $1.3 million payout including extra superannuation and interest as compensation. It's now conducting a wider review into payments of current and former Australian staff.

"We take paying our colleagues their full entitlements extremely seriously and it is unacceptable and simply not good enough that we have not always delivered on that promise. I regret these errors and apologise," Ms Ferrier said in the email to staff.
Nearly three months after rejecting self-assessment of AGR dues by telecommunications companies, Indias Supreme Court was back in session this week to consider the governments plea to allow carriers like Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices to stagger their dues payments over a maximum of 20 years.

The government has been keen to get its payment schedule approved, given the disastrous potential effects of an operator going under on the economy, jobs and consumers. The government's formula also includes freezing interest and penalties from 24 October 2019, when the Supreme Court judgement widened the definition of adjusted gross revenue.

So was the court sympathetic? Well, the judges did wonder whether 20 years would be too long, given the possibility that one or more companies could go into liquidation, and asked how the dues could be secured.

And that, roughly, is where we now are. The affected companies will have to come back in five days with affidavits detailing the guarantees they can offer to ensure the payment of dues within a timeframe fixed by either the court or the government. The next hearing will be on 18 June.

However, Vodafone Idea in particular made it clear that guarantees would be difficult. The vast amount it owes (close to $7 billion at current exchange rates), cannot be backed up with bank guarantees, it said. In fact, the companys representative suggested that it did not have enough money to pay its employees and meet its expenses.

As a side development, Bharti Infratel has deferred the 11 June board meeting which was to finalise its merger with Indus Towers, citing lack of critical key inputs in the current business environment  possibly a reference to the ongoing uncertainty about AGR payments.

The merger has now been stalled for over two years, although, as more than one report has pointed out, this is modest compared to the AGR debate: litigation began in 1999 and has yet to end.
SpaceX via AP

Regarding SpaceX opens era of galaxy marketing (Business, June 9): So we read that space is a $400 billion market that could expand to a trillion. The goal is to drive down costs and expand innovation, drawing in more people and more business. Space travel now is the billionaire boys club.

Here we go again, plundering yet another frontier, and we havent even cleaned up the planet on which we live. I would so much prefer all the money going to space travel and exploitation (not including scientific research) being used to try to make our planet healthy again. How can we have forgotten the past  we are still mired in all of our mistakes and mess. Yet we are repeating all of it. More unregulated greed, pure and simple.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Central Iron Ore Ltd. (CIO  TSX.V) (CIO or the Company) is pleased to announce that significant gold intercepts have been intersected through the Companys latest drilling program at the Endeavour Prospect at its South Darlot Gold Project. The results from the 20 hole drill program, which included 17 reverse circulation (RC) and 3 diamond core holes, include a suite of narrow vein, high gold grades of up to 124.4 grams per tonne (g/t) which supports historical and earlier work conducted on the prospect.



Highlights

Significant gold intercepts

ENDD20-002: 1.6m (1.28m true width) at 124.4 g/t Au from 37.3m.

ENRC20-009: 2m (1.6m true width) at 88.08 g/t Au from 27m.

ENRC20-010: 2m (1.6m true width) at 77 g/t Au from 37m.

ENRC20-011: 2m (1.6m true width) at 74.5 g/t Au from 42m.

ENDD20-003: 1.6m (1.28m true width) at 38.2 g/t Au from 53.2m.

ENRC20-013: 2m (1.6m true width) at 36.4 g/t Au from 47m.

Endeavour Prospect

17 reverse circulation drill holes for 706 metres.

3 diamond core drill holes for 141.8 metres.



SOUTH DARLOT GOLD PROJECT (Western Australia)

The Companys South Darlot Gold Project area is located approximately 320km northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and includes:

The British King Mine which is 49% owned by the Company. The British King Mine is 5km southwest of Red 5 Limiteds Darlot Mine. The British King Mine is currently in care and maintenance.

A number of tenements which are subject to a joint venture with a subsidiary of Red 5 Limited (Red 5), details of which are set out below.

Figure 1 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/64e1fd5d-b892-41d6-ad88-6f17c56859d0

Red 5 JV Project (Formerly Barrick Joint Venture Project)

These tenements are situated southwest of Red 5s Darlot gold mine. The Red 5 JV Project Tenements are detailed below.

Project Tenement Status Area (ha) Barrick JV M37/421 Granted 381 Barrick JV M37/552 Granted 200 Barrick JV M37/631 Granted 776 Barrick JV M37/632 Granted 595 Barrick JV M37/709 Granted 98 Barrick JV M37/1045 Granted 90

Figure 2 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c8c5d93a-badd-42f0-8cb8-e345a9c584a8



Story continues

Dispute

As at the date of this release the Company is of the view was that it has earned in excess of a 70% interest in the Red 5 JV Project Tenements having incurred the required expenditure. This is disputed by Red 5 together with other aspects of the operation of the Red 5 JV. The parties are in discussions to resolve this matter.

Endeavour Prospect

The drilling at the Endeavour Prospect included 20 holes for resource definition. A total 17 RC holes for 706 metres and 3 diamond core holes for 141.8 metres for a total of 757.8 metres were drilled at the Endeavour Prospect as part of this program. Twelve holes drilled into the Endeavour Prospect returned significant assays hosted in a planar, laminated quartz vein. The width of the vein ranges from 0.7 to 4.2 metres and has an average width of 1.9 metres. The strike length of the mineralisation is approximately 40 metres and is open down plunge and to the west.

The mineralisation is characterised by a planar, laminated quartz vein with minor sulphides including pyrite, galena and traces of chalcopyrite. Enveloping this is stringer mineralisation over 1  3 metres with grades between 0.5  2.0 g/t Au. This laminated vein and halo mineralisation is hosted in a highly weathered felsic volcanic. Preliminary petrology suggests the gold is secondary in nature and present as small blebs of electrum or particulate grains associated with pyrite.

Figure 3 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f700326d-37c5-4f78-86b0-b8c3965760c5

Figure 4 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f1e61bc8-a74c-4fcd-b217-56433ee410c0

Figure 5 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ce2e818f-8420-4ac4-9f06-5fa27fdec77d

Future drilling programs at the Endeavour Prospect

A program of RC drilling comprising 20 holes for 1,024 metres has been designed at the Endeavour Prospect, targeting the laminated vein both down plunge and to the west. The purpose of the drilling is to extend the mineralisation which is open to the west and trace the down plunge depths of this high grade quartz lode.

Figure 6 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fafb9134-801b-4831-8c9c-10d45264497a

Summary of Drill Results

Hole_ID mE mN mRL Dip Azimith



Depth_from Depth_to interval True_thickness Au_ppm Ag_ppm ENRC20_001 328143.26 6905847.658 441.162 -60 0 NSI ENRC20_002 328133.183 6905848.257 441.006 -60 0 2 7 5 4 6.75 2.3 ENRC20_003 328123.276 6905852.508 432.913 -60 0 NSI ENRC20_004 328114.491 6905853.894 428.944 -60 0 NSI ENRC20_005 328143.78 6905840.721 434.461 -60 0 NSI ENRC20_006 328133.251 6905843.034 430.167 -60 0 17 20 3 2.4 7.04 15.8 ENRC20_007 328123.384 6905845.98 423.79 -60 0 NSI ENRC20_008 328114.321 6905849.007 417.482 -60 0 33 34 1 0.8 7.91 6.3 ENRC20_009 328139.078 6905835.564 422.036 -60 0 27 29 2 1.6 88.08 24.7 ENRC20_010 328119.501 6905841.524 413.667 -60 0 37 39 2 1.6 77 47.0 ENRC20_011 328110.819 6905843.56 409.317 -60 0 42 44 2 1.6 74.5 45.1 ENRC20_012 328113.474 6905836.077 403.064 -60 0 50 51 1 0.8 9.68 4.6 ENRC20_013 328124.142 6905830.904 404.049 -60 0 47 52 5 4 36.4 19.2 ENRC20_014 328140.339 6905825.698 411.09 -60 0 40 42 2 1.6 16.63 33.3 ENRC20_015 328148.56 6905822.635 412.439 -60 0 NSI ENRC20_016 328104.695 6905854.041 429.059 -60 0 NSI ENRC20_017 328104.091 6905851.303 414.553 -60 0 36 37 1 0.8 9.42 5.29 END20_001 328125.667 6905849.545 433.135 -60 0 NSI END20_002 328131.74 6905834.019 413.255 -60 0 37.3 38.9 1.6 1.28 124.4 146.7 END20_003 328141.274 6905817.239 399.368 -60 0 53.2 54.8 1.6 1.28 38.2 38

Quality Control and Analytical Procedures



The Company has a rigorous QA/QC program in place to ensure best practices in sampling and analysis of drill samples. Commercial standards, blanks and duplicates were inserted in every batch of samples submitted for analysis in accordance with industry practice. Gold analysis was carried out by ALS in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, with a 50 g charge by Fire Assay with Atomic Absorption finish method. ALS are certified and registered in each region with global application of standard procedures and audits to maintain standard practice throughout the laboratory network.

Qualified Person

Mr Darryl Mapleson who is a Fellow of Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy has compiled the information within this report relating to mineralisation. Mr Mapleson has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity currently being undertaken to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

Summary

The drilling program was carried out on mining lease 37/631. The importance of the status of this being a granted mining lease should not be underestimated in a development context as it gives CIO a significant cost and time advantage of the order of 18 to 24 months.

Mr Brett Hodgins, President and CEO, said, We are encouraged with the results from the recent drilling program at our South Darlot Gold Project. Endeavour is shaping up as a very important prospect for CIO. The high grade gold results, combined with the prospect being on a granted mining lease, allow CIO to add value to this asset.

I believe this to be an important moment for CIO with high grade gold discovered close to surface, the identification of a structure which can be extended along strike. This combined with our 24 targets provides CIO with the platform to grow our gold resources.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

CENTRAL IRON ORE LTD.

Brett Hodgins

____________________________

Brett Hodgins, President/CEO

For further information, please contact:

www.centralironorelimited.com

Investor and Media Inquiries:

Direct: +61 2 9397 7555

Email: info@centralironore.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Companys equity securities, the state of the market for iron ore or other minerals that may be produced generally, recent market volatility; variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risks associated with the exploration and development of mineral properties. The reader is referred to the Company's disclosure documents for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Companys page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

ABN: 32 072 871 133
Syracuse, N.Y.  The call that Hasahn Bloodworths cousin had been stabbed and killed came just after noon Wednesday. Chennal Price, 44, was Syracuses eighth murder victim in two weeks.

Bloodworth considered whether to mourn or march.

If he stayed home, hed cry. He felt that would only hurt his family more.

For the last 12 days, Bloodworths voice has been the soundtrack to the Last Chance for Change protests. He wheels around a small sound system and chants. He brings his 10-year-old daughter.

In his grief, Bloodworth marched.

I think this is the better place, Bloodworth said. This is going to keep me motivated. This is going to keep me pushing.

The protests have become an outlet and a reservoir of pain. Activists call for police reform and mourn victims of police brutality. They escape a streak of violence thats swept through the city and face it.

Activist Clifford Ryans had to stop marching for a day after one of his relatives was killed. Trejan Sales, a recent gun violence victim, had just marched with Last Chance for Change before he was killed. On Wednesday, Bloodworth balanced his cousins death with the march.

And as protesters confront the pain of both, they must also contend with Covid-19, a pandemic that has disproportionately killed black people in New York and the country.

We cant get no rest, Ryans said at a vigil June 4 for Sales.

We were born into this pain, Bloodworth said. It didnt just happen to us all of a sudden. Weve been going through this since we were kids.

Then Wednesday, his cousins daughter called. She explained Price had argued with a man at the Syracuse Community Health Center. The argument turned physical and the man stabbed Price. A security guard tried to stop the man, but no one helped the security guard hold him down, Bloodworth said. The man got away.

Bloodworth will remember Price for her devotion to her kids, he said. She would do anything for them, even if that meant stealing food sometimes. A reporter asked whether he meant that literally.

I mean that literally, he said.

To keep going, Bloodworth called on the strength of his upbringing. He grew up first with his mother and nine siblings and then in a series of foster homes. Over the last several years, Bloodworth has drawn on that strength to cope with losing about 25 people in his life, including his father and his sister.

Bloodworth has four kids of his own. These protests can change something in their life, he said.

He recently quit his job as a landscaper to keep marching. Work slowed when the pandemic revved. In the last two weeks, new cases of the coronavirus waned and his workload increased. He felt he had to choose between protesting and employment. Bloodworth decided side gigs could keep him afloat.

He quickly became part of Last Chance for Changes leadership group.

His role has been to lead chants for each march. He can choke out I cant breathe to make it more powerful. Years of deejaying taught him well.

On most days, Bloodworth brings his daughter, Jamaica, 10. She used Google to look up racism and lynching, and she found out about George Floyds death and its aftermath. Jamaica insisted she come with him.

She read a poem on June 3 shed written about lynching.

Jamaicas been to more funerals than she has years, Bloodworth said.

On Wednesday, she read another.

"We preach and we seein,

the way that theyre treatin/

The people that want to be equal.

Its like a cycle. Its like a sequel./

Like wow, this should not be ignored.

But its sad that we sit and record./

In fear that our lives will be taken if we try to help.

Man, we dont want this no more."

In the march, the protesters stopped at a New Covenant Baptist Church on East Beard Avenue for a bathroom break. Bloodworth jumped back on the mike.

He explained his cousin had been the woman stabbed. Bloodworth wanted the protesters to know that if they didnt hear his voice this week, he had to go to a funeral.

When they finished, food awaited the protesters. He encouraged them to eat and to mingle.

Were family now, he said.

Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Chris Libonati via the Signal app for encrypted messaging at 585-290-0718, by phone at the same number, by email or on Twitter.
When he was a little boy, Steven Paulson loved animals so much that he wanted to be a dog when he grew up. Then in eighth grade, he discovered horses.

From ages 16 to 20, Paulson traveled the country playing polo and buying, training and selling more than 30 polo horses. Now, the 25-year-old Rancho Bernardo man has run off to join the horse circus.

Since April, Paulson has been a featured rider and trainer in Cavalia Odysseo, a Canadian tent equestrian production that each night features 48 riders, acrobats, aerialists and musicians performing with 40 horses.

Since 2011, Cavalia Odysseo has played in 26 North American cities. Next week, it opens a two-month run in Irvine, where Paulson can be seen up to six nights a week jumping horses, riding dressage and more.

Advertisement

Cavalia Odysseo

When: Opens Nov. 16 and runs through Jan. 8. Showtimes, ()

Where: Tented circus at the junction of I-405 and SR-133, Irvine

Tickets: $29.50-$144.50

Phone: (866) 999-8111

Online: cavalia.net

He said riding a horse in a circus-style show is a goal that was on his dream board for many years, and being part of the Odysseo traveling troupe is even better than he imagined.

Its pretty spectacular, he said. I love learning new things, I love the places we get to go and Ive enjoyed becoming a part of this company. Its like a little village and these people become your family.

Paulson grew up in Rancho Bernardo, where his father, Kevin Paulson, said his son had a natural affinity for animal care. Nicknamed Dr. Dolittle as a boy, he raised dogs, cats, rats, chinchillas, hamsters, guinea pigs, snakes and more. Then in middle school, he met a classmate who rode horses and she invited him to take a riding lesson. Almost from his very first day on a horse, Paulson said he knew he wanted his life to revolve around the creatures.

What I love about horses is that every day you get something different, he said. If theyre in a bad mood, you have to adapt to it. Learning to understand how theyre feeling and working with that is something Ive always enjoyed.

To support his hobby as a teen, Paulson groomed horses at the Poway Polo Club in exchange for lessons. Using money he earned exercising other riders horses, he competed on interscholastic and club polo teams that took him all over the country. On his 16th birthday, he bought his first horse, Marley, an 11-year-old thoroughbred mare he still keeps today at a friends estate in Rancho Santa Fe. That same year, he also left Rancho Bernardo High School to do independent study so he could play polo and train horses year-round.

Rancho Bernardo resident Steven Paulson performs a jump on the horse Intrepido in the touring tent circus Cavalia Odysseo. (Courtesy: Bianca McCarty )

He was always mature for his age and we knew he had that love, so when he said he wanted to take the time to work with horses, we understood, Kevin Paulson said of his son.

In his late teens, Paulson played polo year-round in Texas, Florida, Wyoming and Washington. He also worked for the family of polo legend Hector Galindo, who taught him how to buy, train and sell polo ponies.

Five years ago, Paulson returned to Rancho Bernardo to join his fathers insurance company. But he quickly realized that sitting behind a desk selling car and home policies wasnt his calling. After earning his agent license three years ago, he carved a new niche for himself selling horse insurance policies to friends in the riding and polo industries.

Last year, he began following on Facebook the adventures of an old friend, Rebecca Ratte, who is an aerialist in the Cavalia Odysseo company. When the troupe made its first visit to Irvine last winter, she encouraged Paulson to drive up for an audition.

He described the daylong tryout on horseback and in the stalls as nerve-wracking, but at the end of the day he was offered the job. Kim Huard-Carette, a publicist for Montreal-based Cavalia, said being a good equestrian is just part of what the company looks for in its riders. They also must be good trainers and possess that rare quality of knowing how to communicate with horses.

Its versatility and personality both, Huard-Carette said. Steven had skills in jumping and dressage, but his personality also needed to match the horses. A rider has to know how to build the horses confidence. Our trainers understand how to listen to a horses needs and be so close to them that they know if they dont feel like riding today.

Cavalia Odysseo tells the story of mans history with the horse across time and cultures, including the American cowboy culture as well as equestrian traditions in Western and Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. Paulsons troupe includes human performers from Guinea, Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, Italy, Spain and Canada, and 11 international breeds of horses, including the Lippizan from Austria, the Lusitano from Portugal, the Criollo from Brazil and the Percheron from France.

The shows lineup of acts and horses changes every night, Paulson said, because Cavalia doesnt like pushing its horses to perform when theyre tired or moody.

I like their philosophy, that they just like to let the horses be horses, he said. That keeps it fun for both the horses and the riders.

Besides performing in the shows, all of the riders are required to spend time each day training with the horses.

Paulson said this has been an unexpected bonus because hes learned so many new techniques from the shows international riders, including stage presence and theatricality.

Paulsons sister Sarah, 26, said she and her family were in awe when the first saw him perform in the show last spring.

It was a shockingly cool show, she said. My mom and I both cried. It was very exciting to see him fit in so well and be in his element.

Paulson has a two-year contract with Cavalia and said hes enjoying himself so much he may re-up for a few more years. But he admits he still has many other goals to complete on his dream board.

Hed like to learn French, train dolphins, get his open water scuba diving certification and eventually settle down with a family on a ranch in the R.B. or Poway area where he can ride horses and sell horse insurance.

Kevin Paulson said his family saw Cavalia when an earlier version of the show visited San Diego three years ago, but he never imagined that one day his son would be a part of it.

To see him in this show, its something that makes me very proud, he said.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
The current Egyptian political order began in 2014, a year after the 30 June Revolution that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood regime. The new order rectified and supported the process of transition and change that was launched by the January 2011 Revolution. As it struggled to overcome enormous challenges at home, complicated and aggravated by the repercussions of regional crises, the government, under the leadership of President Abdel- Fattah Al-Sisi, who was elected in June 2014, set into motion the largest comprehensive modernisation process that bolstered Egypts ability to confront the diverse threats and dangers that loomed over the country.

Terrorism was at once the most dangerous and complex threat during this period. Directly targeting the home front, the danger was spearheaded by the Muslim Brotherhood, which sought to avenge itself against state and society for the 30 June 2013 uprising that erupted when Egyptians found themselves prey to a scheme that sought to uproot the nation state founded in 1952 and to put their country and society at the service of a radical ideological organisation with a ruthless and fanatically militant universalist vision. This threat naturally had to take the highest priority especially when it became clear how closely connected it was to major terrorist threats that were on the rise elsewhere in the region, most notably the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq and the proliferation of Al-Qaeda affiliates in Libya and elsewhere in the Sahel and Sahara. To complicate matters further, all these countries fall in the spheres of concern of Egyptian national security, which compelled the government to act quickly at the regional and international levels to promote effective and unconventional responses that would achieve crucial gains while sparing the country additional burdens. It should be added that successes in this domain have worked to increase the confidence and respect of Egypts regional and international partners, especially those most concerned and influential in transnational threats such as terrorism. These successes naturally extended to other related phenomena such as arms smuggling, money laundering, human trafficking and organised crime.

The Egyptian government applied a strategic vision that enabled it to act effectively within its regional spheres of national security and that incorporated the international geopolitical centres most connected with these spheres. At the African level, the post-2014 order began under very difficult circumstances as Egypts membership in the African Union (AU) had been frozen in 2013. As soon as he came to power, President Al-Sisi immediately set into motion a plan of action to reinstate Egypts AU membership. His first visit abroad after his election was to attend the AU Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, which immediately worked to bolster Egypts continental relations. As he followed through with a range of bilateral exchanges, he reoriented the Egyptian political compass southward, reviving Egypts African role in a new modernised edition. Egypt went to great lengths in order to reactivate and innovate frameworks of inter-African cooperation. An early important landmark in this regard was the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development in Africa, established in 2014 as an umbrella organisation for the promotion and organisation of Egyptian-African collaborations. These efforts were soon crowned by Egypts election as chair of the African Peace and Security Council in 2016 which, in turn, opened new horizons for Egypt to play a prominent role in conflict resolution and peace-building in Africa.

Another qualitative shift in Egyptian-African relations began in 2019 when Egypt assumed the chair of the African Union. Egypts African drive experienced numerous critical successes during this period. For example, the African Free Trade Agreement went into effect under Egypts AU chairmanship. Cairo organised the first coordinating summit in Niger in July 2019 to formulate and develop the foundations of partnership and cooperation between the African Union, the regional economic blocs, and the member nations towards the realisation of the principles of African integration and mutual dependency. That summit also launched the second working plan (2021-2030) for the comprehensive African infrastructural development programme which accords particular attention to the development of a continental electricity grid and the creation of an African-wide common energy market. In addition to this remarkable success, Egypt took the lead in representing Africa in major international forums with the aim of expanding opportunities for partnerships and networking between Africa and important loci on the international investment map. The most important milestones in this regard were the Chinese-African Summit in June 2019, the G20 Summit in Japan in June 2019 and the G7 Summit in France in August 2019. On top of these international summits came two that will be forever associated with Egypt in the history of the continent because of Cairos success in pioneering them: the first Russian-African summit in Sochi in October 2019 and the first British-African investment summit in London in January 2020.

The new Egyptian strategic vision accords considerable importance to African security and defence. In this regard, Egypt has initiated numerous dynamic cooperative mechanisms along the linkages between Egyptian national security and African security, starting with the AU police training centre to train security forces for the Sahel and Sahara countries. Egypt followed through by hosting the headquarters of the African Centre for Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development and then the permanent headquarters for the Sahel-Sahara Regional Counterterrorism Centre. The Aswan Forum for Peace and Development, which was held in December 2019, lay the cornerstone for an annual event, sponsored by the Egyptian presidency, dedicated to the advancement of peace and sustainable development in Africa. In the first forum, the Egyptian president launched Silence the Guns 2020, an initiative developed by the AU Peace and Security Council in 2019 during Egypts chairmanship of the African Union and that Egypt was keen to get off the ground in the framework of its commitment to conflict resolution and peace-making throughout the continent.

The strategic projects and plans that President Al-Sisi has inaugurated during the past six years share a common thread, which is the conviction that Egypt and its national security interweave in many significant ways with Africa and the Middle East, in which Egypt stands at crucial junctures, and with the international centres with which it is essential to work in order to generate a robust security climate. In this framework, Egypt has dedicated great efforts to promoting effective cooperation with all regional and international powers in order broaden the scopes of common interests that serve the welfare of all parties, out of the belief that such processes contribute in crucial ways to safeguarding Egypts vital interests at home and abroad. Accordingly, the Egyptian presidencys action plan in the African sphere during the past six years was complimented by projects and agendas in other directions. Within the neighbouring Mediterranean sphere, for example, Egypt announced its strategic partnership with Greece and Cyprus in December 2015. Over the following years this first successful step towards promoting collaboration along the northern axis continued to evolve until it culminated in the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum. Launched in 2019, the seven-country forum is the most important regional grouping in the field of energy as well as cooperation in other fields. Cairo, as a pioneering spirit and the headquarters of that forum, has become the centre of increasing international attention, and many other countries, including France and the US, have been inspired to ask to join the forum.

Nevertheless, 2016 stands out as the most important year in the evolution of Egypts international profile under the post-2014 order. That was the year in which Egypt acquired a seat on the UN Security Council, enabling it to truly reap the fruits of its efforts and visions concerning many major world problems. The attention and respect that Egypt acquired in the fight against terrorism poised it to head the UNSC Counterterrorism Committee, which is responsible for formulating and following through on the international communitys comprehensive strategy for fighting terrorism around the world. The work that Egypt performed as chair of this committee during the peak of the terrorist peril, which had begun to rear its head more widely and fiercely than ever before, earned Cairo greater trust and respect among its partners in the committee and the international community as a whole, many among which grew increasingly convinced by the Egyptian outlook on this issue.

Egypts success here led to other important and related posts and activities. It was unanimously elected as a member of the Human Rights Committee for the 2017-2021 term. In May 2018, it took part in the international conference on Libya that convened in Paris and brought together 20 states and four international organisations including the Arab League with the purpose of developing a roadmap for a political solution to the Libyan crisis. Egypts presence in that forum underscored both how crucial the Libyan situation is not just to Egypt but to the whole of North Africa and how influential a role Egypt can play in that crisis. Egypt, represented by President Al-Sisi, subsequently participated in the Palermo Conference in 2018 and the Berlin Conference in January 2020, taking its place along other major international stakeholders in the processes of developing solutions to lead Libya out of the vicious cycle of war and towards a healthy and stable political future.

The foregoing is only a segment of Egypts record of international relations and activities, but it is a strong indicator of how Al-Sisis government worked to elevate Egypts regional and international status and strengthen the bonds of mutual trust and cooperation between it and many other nations and international organisations. However, if the strategic vision that Al-Sisi set into motion in 2014 had the power to safeguard and secure Egypts strategic security at many levels, we ultimately have to underscore, if only briefly here, another essential component in the national security equation: the largest ever military modernisation and development drive in the history of modern Egypt. Any comprehensive concept of national security will provide for a major element of hard power to take its place alongside the soft power components of strategic strength. This is not to suggest that the Egyptian army was not as central to the protection of our national security before the revolution as it was after 30 June 2013. However, the sheer magnitude and multiplicity of the threats and challenges that faced Egypt as well as the rest of the region and the world during the past decade imposed new and unfamiliar burdens on our armed forces. This is what made President Al-Sisi accord the highest priority in his first six-year plan to the development of the Egyptian Armed Forces in accordance with the latest concepts of comprehensive power. This meant not only upgrading the structures, equipment and capacities of our army in order to render it as effective a safeguard as possible for Egyptian national security, but also equipping it to undertake new functions in the framework of protecting and promoting the comprehensive development and modernisation programme that is unfolding on the ground in Egypt at present. Under todays conditions, active deference is a guarantee for sustaining the building processes that lead to success.

The writer is the general manager of the Egyptian Centre for Straregic Studies.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 11 June, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Mike Pence posted, and subsequently deleted, on Wednesday night an image of him violating Virginia coronavirus orders by visiting the crowded Donald Trump reelection campaign headquarters in Rosslyn with no masks and no social distancing.

'Stopped by to see the great men and women of the Trump-Pence Team today! Thank you for all of the hard work, keep it up! #FourMoreYears #KAG,' Vice President Pence tweeted attached with an image of him with dozens of campaign staff.

The reelection headquarters are located just a bridge away from Washington, D.C. in Northern Virginia, where the state is still in Phase One of its reopening as fears of a coronavirus resurgence shake the nation with rising numbers in the past few weeks.

Democratic Governor Ralph Northam announced Phase Two will begin in Virginia, including in the Northern Virginia outskirts of the nation's capital on Friday.

Pence, who is the chair of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, deleted the images of him violating Virginia's order after public outcry ensued over the 'hypocritical' image coming from what Trump calls the 'law and order' presidency.

Vice President Mike Pence broke Virginia coronavirus guidelines by visiting with dozens of Donald Trump reelection campaign staffers at the headquarters in Northern Virginia with no masks or social distancing

Pence, who is chair of the White House Coronavirus Taskforce, tweeted out an image of the visit and deleted the tweet after public outcry pointed out the 'hypocrisy'

After experiencing a decline in cases in the U.S.  a resurgence began to climb with nationwide non-social distanced protests and states reopening

In the picture, the back of Pence can be seen holding up two thumbs up toward a crowded room of reelection campaign staffers who are all reciprocating the gesture back to the vice president.

'Dear @VP @Mike_Pence, did you delete this because it's no longer true? Or did it not happen? Or because you're a lying hypocritical stinkhole of sewage?' actor Willie Garson tweeted.

A second Twitter user, a healthcare attorney, tweeted: 'Another #COVID19 disease pit, cheered on by @VP. No masks, no distancing, a room full of ignorance and new #COVID cases.'

With several states well into phase one and two of reopening and more than two weeks of nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, there has been an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and concerns by health officials that it could spark a second wave of the deadly virus.

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottleib, a Republican who left his post in April 2019, said he isn't worried about the second wave yet because he believes America is still in the first wave.

'It's not a second wave, they never really got rid of the first wave,' he said in reference to a spike in reference specifically to cases in Arizona, Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina.

'The more concerning part,' he continued, 'is they haven't been able to isolate what the source of the infection is.'

Pence also faced a slew of backlash in April when he was the only one not wearing a mask for a trip to Mayo Clinic where he met with staff dealing with coronavirus and patients diagnosed with the disease

Pence posting an image of his unmasked visit is not the first time he has snubbed coronavirus guidelines, despite serving the highest role in the task force aimed at mitigating the virus' spread.

In late April, at the height of the virus and before any reopening had been implemented, Pence traveled to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to visit with staff and coronavirus patients  and he did not wear a mask at the facility where masks are required to be worn by everyone.

At first his office defended the move, claiming the vice president wanted to look at medical staff dealing with the virus and patients diagnosed with COVID in the eye when he spoke with them.

He later walked back, claiming it was a mistake and that he should have worn a mask.
Hanson said it 'sickened' her to see Australians holding 'black lives matter' signs

Pauline Hanson has called George Floyd a 'criminal and a dangerous thug' while condemning the protests his death in police custody had sparked in Australia over the weekend.

The One Nation Leader addressed the Senate on Wednesday to denounce the Black Lives Matter protests, and the celebration of Mr Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last month after a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes.

'George Floyd had been made out to be a martyr,' Sen. Hanson said. 'This man has been in and out of prison numerous times. He was a criminal and a dangerous thug.'

Mr Floyd's death sparked protests against racism and police brutality across many parts of the world, including Australia where 60,000 people joined demonstrations across Australian cities last weekend.

The One Nation Leader addressed the senate on Wednesday to call George Floyd a 'criminal and a dangerous thug' who has been turned into a 'martyr'

Officer Derek Chauvin (pictured) was identified as the officer pinning down George Floyd in video footage

'It sickened me to see people holding up signs saying 'black lives matter' in memory of this American criminal,' Hanson said.

'I'm sorry, but all lives matter... we cannot allow bleeding hearts and those on the left to destroy the fabric of our society and our freedom.

'No one could possibly condone the way in which George Floyd died. But what upsets me is the attitude of many people - black and white.'

Hanson expressed her anger that Australians didn't show the same outrage at the death of Justine Damond - a white Australian woman who was shot dead by a black officer, also in Minneapolis, in 2017.

'There was no protest, no one really cared because she was white,' Hanson said.

Sen. Hanson said politicians should 'hang their heads in shame' for not speaking up about the health risks of the protests, which defied ongoing warnings for people not to gather in large groups due to the risk of spreading coronavirus.

'It's a grave insult to all law-abiding Australians. These activists should never have been allowed to march and call Australians racist,' she said.

'Shame on the politicians who were too gutless and too scared of losing votes to stand up to the mob.

'People are furious and I don't blame them. They want to know how this happened when our pubs, clubs and gyms and businesses are still crippled by the full force of COVID-19 restrictions.'

Sen. Hanson's statement prompted backlash from some commenters on her Facebook page.

Mr Floyd's death sparked a global movement against racism and police brutality, with protests fanning out to Australia where 60,000 demonstrators rallied against indigenous deaths in custody. Pictured: A protest in Sydney last week

'The more you open your mouth the more you reinforce your racist tag. Give us a rest for heavens sake,' commenter Ken Johnson said.

'Don't speak for me when you say all Australians,' Steven Olive added.

'Nobody protested when Justine Damond was killed because her killer was immediately arrested, charged, & convicted,' Mike King wrote.

The Australian protests linked the death of Mr Floyd to indigenous deaths in custody.

At least 432 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police custody in Australia since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report in 1991.
President Donald Trump praised Egypt for its Libya cease-fire proposal during a conversation on Wednesday with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

President Trump praised President [Sisis] efforts last weekend to promote political reconciliation and de-escalation in the Libyan conflict, the White House said in a readout of the call. The two leaders discussed ways to resume the United Nations 5+5 cease-fire talks and the departure of all foreign forces from Libya.

Why it matters: Egypt, which backs Libyan warlord Khalifa Hifter in his fight against the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), proposed the cease-fire last week after dispatching tanks to the border, raising fears that Cairo could enter the mix of regional powers prolonging the war. Russia has also provided mercenaries to fight alongside Hifter, who has received arms from the United Arab Emirates.

Their regional rival, Turkey, has dispatched soldiers and Syrian rebels to fight alongside the GNA, which has made rapid gains against Hifters forces in recent weeks. Trump discussed Libya with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a separate phone call on Monday. Turkey initially voiced skepticism over the Egyptian cease-fire proposal in the wake of the GNAs success on the battlefield.

Whats next: Trumps praise for Sisis Libya proposal came as the United Nations announced that Libyas warring parties held productive cease-fire talks on Wednesday.

Know more: Trump also reiterated a US commitment to facilitating a fair and equitable deal among Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Ayah Aman has the full story on the dam talks.
PRAGUE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- "Health knows no boundaries - Let's seek what unites us" is the motto of the WORLD HEALTH CONGRESS 2020 PRAGUE that is to be opened on 20th June 2020 at 3:00 PM (CEST) via a videoconference broadcast at www.whc2020prague.com. Main event of the Congress will take place in the historical building of the New City Hall, the seat of the Prague City Council, on 11th - 13th June 2021 under the auspices of the Capital City of Prague.

The aim of the Congress is to create pan-European and worldwide database covering all fields of Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) in order that anyone - professional or a layperson - could access and use information in the area of non-medical therapies and holistic healing.

The Czech Republic is honoured to host world-renowned personalities from various fields of healthcare, coming from the USA, India, UK, Germany, Colombia, Austria, and also from the hosting country. They are:

Dr. Natalia Sofia Aldana-Martinez, MD, Msc, (Colombia), Amarjeet S Bhamra, (UK), Bhaswati Bhattacharya, MPH, MD, Ph.D., (USA), Carol Ann Hontz, B.S., M.Ed. (USA), Nora Laubstein (Germany), Maximilian Moser, PhD., (Austria), Tomas Pfeiffer, (Czech Republic), Mgr. Miloslava Rutova, (Czech Republic), prof. RNDr. Anna Strunecka, DrSc. (Czech Republic), Prof. Madan Thangavelu, Ph.D., (UK), John Weeks, (USA).

The demand for traditional and complementary healing methods is increasing all over the society. This global trend is supported not only in EU, but also NATO, WHO, WHA and other international organizations recommend to study and develop this area. It is very topical and desired to start creating a bridge of mutual trust and respect, to develop the cooperation between fields of medicine and TCIM, and to create a space for mutual communication. It is necessary to realise that TCIM and medicine are not competitors, both should serve people in such area where a given field can be suitably applied to improve the quality of life, to decrease incidence of diseases and raise healthcare knowledgeability, and to decrease healthcare costs.

One of the results of the Congress is thus going to be the creation of the PLATFORM 2020 PRAGUE - information space for communication and mutual cooperation between the fields of EBM (Evidence-based medicine) and TCIM.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel is defending his company's decision to exercise editorial control over incendiary tweets by President Trump  even as Joe Biden blasted Facebook and demanded it fact-check the president's tweets.

Spiegel's platform took the step this month of keeping Trump's videos off the Discover page on its site, saying the First Amendment protects the company's right to exercise control. People who follow Trump can still see them.

'I've been surprised that other platforms are less willing to exercise their First Amendment rights to decide what's right and wrong,' Spiegel told Bloomberg News Thursday. 'We would be devastated if we felt like our products were being used to do bad things in the world.'

'I've been surprised that other platforms are less willing to exercise their First Amendment rights to decide what's right and wrong,' said Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel

Former Vice President Joe Biden called on Facebook not to be 'a tool to spread disinformation that undermines our elections'

Major social media platforms have been split over how to handle Trump this election year, with Democrat former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday demanding Facebook fact-check Trump's tweets in the run-up to the election.

He called on the platform, which Russia exploited in 2016, not to be 'a tool to spread disinformation that undermines our elections.'

'We call for Facebook to proactively stem the tide of false information by no longer amplifying untrustworthy content and promptly fact-checking election-related material that goes viral,' Biden wrote in a letter to Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg.

'We call for Facebook to stop allowing politicians to hide behind paid misinformation in the hope that the truth will catch up only after Election Day. There should be a two-week pre-election period during which all political advertisements must be fact-checked before they are permitted to run on Facebook,' he added.

Shortly after complaining about Twitter putting a warning label over his tweet, the White House's official Twitter account reposted the message verbatim

Twitter today added its second warning to a Donald Trump tweet in four days by covering the president's message about the Minneapolis riots with a comment that it 'glorifies violence'

Biden penned a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling on him to 'stem the tide' of false information and check ads leading up to the November elections'

Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden listens during a roundtable on economic reopening with community members, Thursday, June 11, 2020, in Philadelphia

The letter invited supporters to sign an 'open letter' to Facebook. It also doubled as a fundraising pitch, asking people to contribute from $5 to $500 to 'Support Joe.'

Twitter caused an uproar late last month when it slapped a warning label on Trump's tweet that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' in commentary on George Floyd protests and vandalism that occurred.

Twitter flagged it for 'glorifying violence.'
Mumbai, June 11 : It seems the Covid-19 pandemic has caused major worry among Indian parents as a new survey on Thursday revealed, over 85 per cent parents in the country are now more anxious about their child's future.

The study conducted by online school--LEAD School of 5,000 parents of children from kindergarten to 12th grade from the metro and non-metro cities showed that 70 per cent of parents feel worried about the impact of Covid-19 on their child's education.

Over 78 per cent of respondents are worried about their child's health and safety and nearly 40 per cent parents have expressed concern about their child falling behind and missing out on a year of learning and education.

"Parents should exercise this choice and work collaboratively with schools as this trust-based contract between parents and schools may end up being Covid-19's biggest gift to Indian education", Sumeet Mehta, LEAD School Co-founder & CEO, said in a statement.

The findings also revealed that around 70 per cent parents think they're able to support their child's learning at home.

Moreover, over 60 per cent of respondents see online schooling as an effective mode of learning and believe that it should go hand-in-hand with physical schooling.

According to the data, parents in the states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana feel they are not well equipped to support their child's learning.

On the other hand, parents in southern states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana feel they have been able to support their child's learning.

The survey also showed that 79 per cent of parents are able to spend more quality time with their children - a trend observed in both metro and non-metro cities.
Protesters tore down the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Virginia's capital on Wednesday night.

Police were called to the scene on Richmond's famed Monument Avenue and formed a perimeter around the toppled statue of Davis, who served as the president of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865. The sculpture was towed away just before midnight as a crowd of bystanders cheered.

PHOTO: People gather around a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis defaced with paint after it was torn down in Richmond, Virginia, on June 10, 2020, in this screen grab from a social media video. (Dylan Garner/Richmond Times-Dispatch via Reuters)

It's the latest statue to fall in Richmond in recent days amid anti-racism demonstrations.

Americans among 15 arrested during Black Lives Matter protest in Uganda, police say

Protesters knocked down a statue of Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham in Monroe Park last weekend.

PHOTO: Protesters drag a statue of Christopher Columbus to a nearby pond after pulling it down in Byrd Park in Richmond, Virginia, on June 9, 2020. (Parker Michels-Boyce/AFP via Getty Images)

The Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park was pulled down and thrown into a nearby pond on Tuesday night.

MORE: Dr. Fauci voices concerns about coronavirus spreading amid nationwide protests

Officials in states across the country have announced the removal of Confederate-era statues and monuments amid widespread civil unrest following the May 25 death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck as three other officers stood by.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has vowed to take down Richmond's monument of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as soon as possible and put it into storage, but a court order has temporarily blocked his plans to do so. The 60-foot-tall statue, among others on Monument Avenue, has been vandalized with graffiti.

Protesters tear down statue of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A Rutgers-led study in Colombia can help health care providers across the globe develop plans to improve surgical care access in their regions.

The study, published in The Lancet Global Health, is the first to use primary (actual) population data to assess a country's surgical needs and identify gaps in care. The study was conducted by Gregory Peck and Joseph Hanna, assistant professors of surgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in conjunction with researchers at Universidad de los Andes in Bogota and the Colombia Ministry of Health.

According to the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, 5 billion people worldwide lack access to safe and affordable surgical and anesthesia care. Using the Commission's six core surgical indicatorsaccess to a hospital equipped for emergency and essential surgery within two hours; density of specialist surgical providers; number of surgical procedures provided per 100,000 people; mortality rates of surgical care; and the risk that both indirect and direct costs of surgery will drive people into povertythe researchers assessed nationwide data on Colombia.

They found that out-of-pocket health care expenses led 6.4 percent of the population in Colombia to become impoverished and 19.4 percent to incur catastrophic expenditures in 2007. In addition, 17 percent of the population did not have access to surgical, anesthetic and obstetric services within a two-hour drive.

Surgical, anesthetic and obstetric provider density in Colombia also fell short of the Commission's minimum target of 20 providers per 100,000. However, despite the high volume of surgical cases per specialists, the study found a relatively low proportion of post-surgical deaths. "The relatively high total operative volume that Colombian surgical, anesthetic and obstetric providers and nurses are able to achieve with limited resources is a testament to their hard work and remarkable dedication," said Hanna.

"This type of population study is key to understanding the health of a population and informing policy that can improve the health of communities," said Peck, who has spent nearly a decade working with Colombian hospitals to create strategic plans for improving trauma and surgical care at the whole population level. "The Colombian Ministry of Health can look at our findings to develop a comprehensive, nationwide health care plan." Strategies include improving access to public transportation and addressing the disproportionate location of surgical specialists to population need in certain regions."

"This model of population analysis can be used in the United States to identify needed health care policy improvements," said Peck, who is investigating how to apply similar population research and surgical plans in New Jersey.

"Access to surgical care is left out of 60% of health care plans worldwide, including in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that real disparity exists here with worse outcomes for poorer communities and communities of color," he said. "While New Jersey residents do not struggle with proximity to hospitals as do many in Colombia, the state has socioeconomic barriers in the quality and cost of available health care. By determining where these disparities exist, we can inform future policy here as is being done in Colombia."

Explore further Surgical instruments wrongly left inside a patient may not be detected for more than 6 months
DUBLIN, Ohio, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In the U.S. Armed Services, nothing is more important than the idea of teamwork and a shared commitment to integrity and service. For many Veterans, it can often be challenging to replicate the feeling of comradery and shared purpose when their time in uniform ends. As a Veteran owned company, Golden Eagle Insurance places these values in high regard by continuing to support Veterans through opportunity.

1st Lieutenant Allen Moss is awarded the Air Assault Badge following completion of Air Assault School at Schofield Barracks, HI in 2014.

Bill Jones, Golden Eagle's founder, and President graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1989 and served tours of duty with the U.S. Army in Germany and the Persian Gulf. The lessons of leadership, organization, and integrity that he learned in the service became central to Golden Eagle's philosophy of service and track record of success. His ability to combine organized service methods with a personal touch and innovative ideas helped build the company into a nationwide leader in its field.

With Golden Eagle's success, Bill sought high-quality additions to the staff and saw an opportunity to give fellow Veterans a chance to take their unique background and apply them within the growing company. Bill looked for those who exemplified the same values that he had worked hard to instill in the company.

Jim Perry, a 2013 graduate of West Point, served as an Infantry Officer in the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. As they both hailed from the state of Ohio, Bill had been a friend of Jim's family for years and was familiar with Jim's work ethic and exemplary character. Bill offered a position to Jim as Vice President of Regional Business Development in November of 2018. He now successfully manages many states in the Midwest as well as Colorado, California, Alaska, and Hawaii. Jim brought with him a wide array of skills from his time in service and the civilian world. He had an immediate impact on Golden Eagle and continues to exceed expectations in his role as Vice President.

As the new decade was beginning, Golden Eagle again looked to expand its ranks. Impressed by Jim's success, Bill asked him for recommendations of other Veterans who were preparing to leave the service that would be a valuable addition to the company. At Jim's suggestion, Allen Moss came aboard in late 2019. Allen was a classmate of Jim's at West Point and had served as an Infantry Officer in Hawaii, Afghanistan, and Georgia. Allen and Golden Eagle discovered a new Army program called the "Career Skills Program" that allowed a six-month trial period in the business world before exiting the military. Through this program, Allen officially accepted a full-time position as Vice President of Regional Business Development on April 1st, 2020. Allen now manages Arizona, New Mexico (where he grew up), Texas (where his family now lives), Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Allen's drive and initiative are quickly bringing value to Golden Eagle and its' clients.

The attributes that lead people into service of their country, along with the skills learned during that service, provide businesses with genuinely unique values and advantages. Bill and Golden Eagle also believe there are few better ways to honor the service and sacrifice of Veterans than by providing them with opportunities to succeed after their time in service.

Golden Eagle Insurance is an industry leader in providing innovative blanket protection for lenders across the country. We eliminate the headaches of tracking and force-placing insurance and enable your institution to save time and money with our customer-friendly, compliant Blanket 360 Insurance Program. Since 1995 Golden Eagle has been a trusted provider of Lender Protection including Mortgage Impairment, Force-Placed products including, Hazard, Flood, Collateral Protection, and Outsourced Tracking of Insurance. Golden Eagle also offers other loan related products like GAP, Loan Default Coverage, and Equity Default Protection for Consumer and Mortgage Loans.

Media Contact

A. Blaha

[email protected]

614-656-6001

SOURCE Golden Eagle Insurance
Tata Hitachi, a leading construction equipment manufacturer in India, with machines for infrastructure and mining operations, has been resilient in creating a sustainable future. The company has been an environment crusader and has been running a special series called The Mighty 5, that packages messages around saving the Earth and the environment through various engaging immersive content. To commemorate this world environment day, Tata Hitachi roped in its digital agency, Interactive Avenues - A Reprise Network Company, to create a special episode for this series.

The depleting environment conditions is a rising concern and an ongoing debate. Both, the reason and solution lie in human consciousness and behavioural change. To raise awareness for creating the much-required change, the brand sent out a message on World Environment Day, a specially curated, animated episode for The Mighty 5 series, themed on creating a better India. It's based on creating awareness about the plastic menace and how it is destroying marine life and also, our environment.

Sandeep Singh, MD, Tata Hitachi, said, As leaders in the industry, Tata Hitachi has dedicated itself in creating a better world for our future generations. The mission is to create awareness around plastic menace that is choking up our water bodies and creating havoc for marine life. We are aiming to spread the message that the environment must be respected.

The Mighty 5 series is the journey of a team of five, out on their mission to build a better India. The protagonists in the story are three children - Prithvi, Pallavi, and Arjun - and their two Tata Hitachi machine friends - Veer, the Excavator, and Shinrai - the Backhoe Loader. They work together to defeat all the obstacles in their way to create a better India and follow the brand proposition of 'Chalo Desh Banaye' - building the nation of tomorrow.

Talking about what went into creating this episode, Aparna Tadikonda, Executive Vice President, Interactive Avenues  A Reprise Network Company said, The whole pandemic and subsequent lockdown placed a major challenge in front of the teams as they had to do the scripting, voice-overs, animation from respective locations and couldnt work together. However, that did not hinder the spirit of Tata Hitachi or the IA teams in any way. What we were aiming for, kept our spirits high and enabled us to deliver a campaign in line with the brand ethos."
Citing economic considerations, the Armenian government decided on Thursday to use only 60 percent of a $270 million Russian loan designed to finance the ongoing modernization of the Metsamor nuclear power plant.

The plants sole functioning reactor went into service in 1980 and was due to be decommissioned by 2017. Armenias former government decided to extend the life of the 420-megawatt reactor by 10 years after failing to attract billions of dollars in funding for its ambitious plans to build a new and safer nuclear facility.

In 2015, the Russian government decided to provide Yerevan with a $270 million loan and a $30 million grant for major safety upgrades at Metsamor. The ensuing modernization process led by Russias Rosatom atomic energy agency was due to be completed by the end of last year. However, it fell behind schedule, preventing the full disbursement of the Russian funds.

Armenian Minister for Local Government and Infrastructures Suren Papikian put the amount of the unused credit at $107 million. Papikian said Moscow offered to extend the lending time frame by two years on the condition that the Armenian side agrees to use 80 percent of it for commissioning equipment and services from Russian companies.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians government backed Papikians proposal to reject the condition and finance the remaining Metsamor upgrades from the Armenian state budget. The government said it will spend 63 billion drams ($130 million) for that purpose over the next two years. The Armenian Finance Ministry will raise that money through government bond sales, it said.

We are giving up part of that loan and going to attract funds from internal sources, said Pashinian. They will be attracted on undoubtedly much better terms and will give the government more leverage to increase the efficiency of the use of that loan.

Pashinian stressed the fact that the government will now be free to select the equipment and service suppliers for Metsamor. This will substantially lower the cost of those supplies, he said.

The Soviet-built plant located 35 kilometers west of Yerevan generates roughly 40 percent of Armenias electricity. The European Union and the United State have long pressed for its closure, saying that it does not meet modern safety standards. Successive Armenian governments have sought to allay these fears.

The current authorities in Yerevan also have no plans to decommission Metsamor anytime soon. Papikian suggested in December that the nuclear facility is safe enough to remain operational until 2036.
"I Will Prove You Wrong"

School of Drama alumna Ming-Na Wen achieves her dream (and becomes a Disney Legend)

June 11, 2020

It started with the Easter Bunny. Dressed as the holiday favorite, Ming-Na Wen started to take the stage at her third-grade play when she tripped and fell. The audience erupted into laughter. Some little girls would have been mortified. Wen, though, loved the reaction.

The acting bug had taken its first bite.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, Wen continued to dream about becoming an actress. At Mt. Lebanon High School, she took part in "an incredible arts program," and she remembers studying with teachers James Lutz and Cindy Goode, among others. Lutz, in particular, inspired her.

"Mr. Lutz taught us about [focusing on] the ensemble and not about [focusing on] yourself," she recalled. "I always really loved that about the theater. It's about the triumph of the team."
Exclusive: ECB prepares 'bad bank' plan for wave of coronavirus toxic debt FILE PHOTO: The European Central Bank (ECB) logo is pictured before a news conference in Frankfurt

By Matt Scuffham and John O'Donnell

LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank officials are drawing up a scheme to cope with potentially hundreds of billions of euros of unpaid loans in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The project, which comes as Europe mobilises trillions of euros to bolster the region's economy, is aimed at shielding commercial banks from any second fallout from the crisis, if rising unemployment chokes off the income needed to repay loans.

One of the people familiar with the plan said the ECB had set up a task force to look at the idea of a "bad bank" to warehouse unpaid euro debt and that work on the scheme had accelerated in recent weeks.

The ECB declined to comment on whether it was working on a bad bank scheme.

The amount of debt in the euro zone that is considered unlikely to ever be fully repaid already stands at more than half a trillion euros, including credit cards, car loans and mortgages, according to official statistics.

That is set to rise as the COVID-19 outbreak squeezes borrowers and could even double to one trillion euros, weighing on already fragile banks and hindering new lending, the people familiar with the ECB plans said.

While the idea for a euro zone bad bank was discussed and shelved over two years ago, the ECB, under its new President Christine Lagarde, has consulted banks and EU officials about a scheme in recent weeks, one of the people said.

As the euro zone's most powerful institution, ECB backing for the project is critical but it would also require the blessing of Germany, the bloc's biggest economy.

Berlin has long opposed schemes that accept shared responsibility for debts in other countries although it recently had an unexpected change of heart, agreeing to pool EU borrowing for a coronavirus recovery fund.

'PREMATURE'

One blueprint under discussion would involve the European Stability Mechanism, an EU institution which can provide financial assistance to euro zone countries or lenders, standing in as guarantor for the bad bank, the people said.

Story continues

The bad bank would then issue bonds which commercial banks would buy in exchange for portfolios of unpaid loans, neutralising the virus shock for Europe's lenders. The banks could then lodge those bonds with the ECB as collateral for central bank funding, one of the people said.

Major European commercial banks could be called on to join forces to underpin the scheme, the second person said.

While European countries are now focused on launching a 750 billion euro plan to help economies hit by COVID-19, the idea of a bad bank, and the ECB blueprint, could come up for discussion among central bank governors and ministers later this year.

Asked on Tuesday about bad banks, Andrea Enria, the ECB's chief bank supervisor, said while he supported the concept, it was "premature" to discuss one now because it was not clear how severe the impact of the coronavirus outbreak would be.

"I have been very supportive of asset management companies. I think they are useful," he told reporters, highlighting the success of bad banks in Spain and Ireland in the aftermath of the financial crisis. "Many of these schemes have ended up in the black, making profits."

Enria said the ECB was studying how banks could cope were the crisis to worsen. He said banks had more than 600 billion euros ($680 billion) of capital and this would probably be enough, unless there were a second wave of infections.

ACT FAST

Still, any pan-European scheme to tackle the problem of bad loans would likely face political objections from Germany, which has long resisted attempts to support banks in weaker countries for fear it could get lumbered with unpaid bills.

Markus Ferber, a German member of the European Parliament, said Berlin remained opposed to taking on such mutual guarantees. "National bad banks could be a first step," he said.

Marco Zanni, an Italian lawmaker in the parliament, said the EU decision making process was too complicated and too slow.

"Looking at the past crises, the experience is that European solutions come too late," he said. "When you're facing a crisis ... you need to act in days or weeks, not months or years."

Banks in Italy and Greece, for example, were still recuperating from the fallout from the financial crisis more than a decade earlier when the pandemic struck.

But while the problem of unpaid loans has been concentrated chiefly in poorer EU countries since the 2008 crash, the widespread impact of the coronavirus, which has hit Germany hard, could see borrowers everywhere struggle.

The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, said it had outlined how bad bank schemes could function but no "formal work" was underway. It said banks had been given more regulatory leeway but could "explore all relevant possibilities" if needed.

"European banks are already preparing for another wave of bad debts," said Andrew Orr of accountancy firm Deloitte.

"Having a European bad bank would help. For the bad debt itself, nothing changes. The debts still need to be worked through and the money still has to be paid back."

(Writing By John O'Donnell; Editing by David Clarke)
State officials have said the $124 million project, which spans 1.25 miles, will relieve traffic on surrounding roads. It also will provide better access to a highway that has one of the states largest jobs corridors and is a major commuting route between Maryland, the District and Northern Virginia.
The US has been asked to lobby Saudi Arabia for the release of a former Saudi official's children who were allegedly abducted in an internal power struggle.

Relatives of Saad Aljabri, who is believed to have played a key role in fostering security co-operation between the kingdom and the West, claim the authorities kidnapped two relatives in a dawn raid at their home in Riyadh.

The family of Aljabri's daughter and son, aged 20 and 21, say they have not heard from them for three months and are concerned for their well-being.

Aljabri once served under Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince who was reportedly deposed by Saudi Arabia's current de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman.
The Tema West Constituency Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Dennis Amfo-Sefah, has highlighted candor as one of the selling points of President Nana Akufo-Addo that sets him apart the others.

It is not for nothing that one of the nicknames that have been given the President is 'Osiadieyor' or what in English translates as, 'he who walks the talk', Akufo-Addo has been truthful with Ghanaians, Mr. Amfo-Sefah said.

In a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr. Amfo-Sefah, who is popularly called Nana Boakye, said the truthfulness of the President was one of the things that made him attractive to Ghanaians.

He said every single promise that the President made to Ghanaians during his campaign in the lead-up to the 2016 elections was delivered or being delivered.

Many doubted that he could deliver Free SHS; Free SHS is a reality now. The same goes for 'One Village, one Dam,' One district, One factory, Planting for Food and Jobs and one constituency, one million dollars

The Tema West NPP Chairman also pointed out that President Akufo-Addo had restored allowances for Nursing and Teacher Trainees as promised and still managed to keep the economy intact and not destroyed the economy as was claimed by his opponents.

This is why many people do not doubt at all the President's promise to build eighty eight (88) new district hospitals for the country because of Covid-19, Nana Boakye said.

According to him, the reason why President Akufo-Addo's canduor resonated with the people was because of the lack of truthfulness that others exhibited in office and were exhibiting even out of office.

Former President Mahama's original position on Free SHS was that, it would not work, was it not? Have you realized that now he has come to the position where he says it is good and he will not scrap it even if he becomes President again? That is what we call inconsistency, Nana Boakye said.

He said the former President scrapped the Teachers and Nurses allowances, but ever since President Akufo-Addo restored it, Mr. Mahama changed position and said it was good and he will not scrap it even if he becomes President again.

According to him, former President Mahama's inconsistency was in respect of every programme that the NPP successfully implemented, he will oppose it and denigrate it, but then turn round to praise it when it is finally achieved, Nana Boakye said.

---GNA
Duluth Holding (DLTH) is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and it has solid Zacks Style Scores with an A for Value and Momentum as well as a B for Growth. The composite Style Score is an A. Whats not to like about As? Well I can tell you the shorts don't like to see that!

They also didn't like the 22% jolt the stock saw yesterday on volume that was about 7x the normal amount. Let's see why the shorts are covering in this Bull of the Day article.

Description

Duluth Holdings Inc. provides casual wear, workwear and accessories for men and women. The company markets its products under trademarks, trade names and service marks, including Alaskan Hardgear, Armachillo, Ballroom, Bucket Master, Buck Naked, Cab Commander, Crouch Gusset, Dry on the Fly, Duluth Trading Company, Duluthflex, Fire Hose, Longtail T, No Polo Shirt and Wild Boar Mocs. Duluth Holdings Inc. is headquartered in Belleville, Wisconsin.

Earnings History

There earnings history is ok, with two beat and two misses in the last four quarters. Over that time period the beats were bigger and thus the average positive earnings surprise over the last year is 19.3%. That is good to see.

The most recent quarterly report showed a strong beat on the topline and that is very encouraging given the current COVID conditions.

Estimate Revisions

The current quarter has seen a dramatic move higher in estimates. Just 7 days ago, the Zacks Consensus Estimate was calling for a loss of 18 cents for this quarter. Now the number is a gain of 5 cents. That is a huge move.

The fiscal year is one month off the calendar year and the estimate for this year has moved from a gain of 11 cents to a gain of 30 cents.

Next year has also seen a move higher, from 42 cents to 48 cents. Again, that is what we like to see as not only are estimates moving higher but there is also implied earnings growth here.

It is super important to point out, the big increase in estimates has happened in the last week. That tells me that investors could see a big rally in this name.

Story continues

Valuation

Retail names were on the outs lately and with a low price and good performance the valuation is looking pretty good. I see a 25x forward PE, which is a little higher, but a 1.3x book multiple which is pretty low.

The price to sales multiple is 0.4x which will probably start to move a lot higher as the company continues to see sales increase.

Chart

Duluth Holdings Inc. Price and Consensus

Duluth Holdings Inc. Price and Consensus

Duluth Holdings Inc. price-consensus-chart | Duluth Holdings Inc. Quote

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UPDATE: In another incident near the Alaskan coast, U.S. fighter jets have yet again intercepted four more Russian aircraft that entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which happened on Saturday, June 27.



According to The Hill, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has confirmed the incident involving U.S. F-22 fighter jets and four other Tu-142 reconnaissance jets.

According to the report, the Russian planes did not enter Canadian or American territory, but they did remain in the ADIZ for around eight hours.



The incident comes days after a similar event happened, making it the fourth this month alone.

Previous incidents were reported last month, May, as well as in April and March of this year.



"This year alone, NORAD forces have identified and intercepted Russian military aircraft including bombers, fighters, and maritime patrol aircraft on ten separate occasions when they have flown into the ADIZ, " said NORAD Commander Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy.

He assured the public that despite the ongoing global health crisis, they are capable of a "no-fail" mission to protect the country.

A report on Wednesday, June 10, confirmed that U.S. fighter jets had intercepted four Russian nuclear-capable bombers during a routine flight over neutral waters near Alaska.

Russian Nuclear-Capable Bombers Intercepted

According to Reuters, the four Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS bombers had an 11-hour flight that complied with the international law, citing the RIA news agency and the Russian Defence Ministry.

U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter jets intercepted the aircraft and escorted them during some stages of their flight.

Read Also: U.S. Army's Latest Published Photo Online Reveals Plan of New Hypersonic Weapon

Previous Interactions

This was the second time it happened since April, according to a report by FOX News, as a similar incident occurred back then when U.S. F-22 stealth fighter jets intercepted two Russian patrol aircraft that were flying near their territories.

The news was confirmed by the NORAD commander on Fox & Friends.

"We're ready 24/7," said Air Force General Terrence O'Shaughnessy pertaining to these incidents.

Last month, an American spy plane flying over the Mediterranean sea was intercepted by two Russian fighter jets that "flew in an unsafe and unprofessional manner," according to the statement released by the U.S. Navy on May 26.

Furthermore, the statement from the U.S. Navy said that the interaction between the two aircraft was "irresponsible" despite the fact that the Russian plane was operating in international territories.

"We expect them to operate within international standards set to ensure safety," the statement concluded.

The United States and Russia to Begin Nuclear Arms Control Talks

Meanwhile, the U.S. and Russia will begin their nuclear arms control talks this month as the remaining treaty between the two countries is about to expire in February, according to a recent report by TechTimes.

The negotiations have already been agreed on by the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as well as the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea.

The two will meet in Vienna to begin the talks, starting this June 22.

Nevertheless, Russia warned the U.S. that their insistence on including China in the negotiations could "scuttle efforts.

Read Also: [HACKERS] 50,000 Computers Infected by Fake Recovery Tool 'Stop DJVU Ransomware'; Honda Operations Attacked by Ransomware

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
McCallie's Michael Lowry has been accepted to participate in a seven-week summer research experience for teachers set to begin on June 15. Sponsored by the Center for Science and Schools at Pennsylvania State University, he and other teachers from around the country will be exploring architectural (building) science with researchers and work with faculty to develop a classroom research project based on that experience.

The programs website states, Teachers will work virtually with a faculty member to design sustainable building systems that promote environmental health and energy efficiency for existing structures. The research will take place in participants homes using materials provided by the research lab. Research topics include indoor air quality, lighting effectiveness, thermal comfort, and energy efficiency.

The program was created by Matthew Johnson, professor of science education at Penn State University in State College, Pa. Professor Johnson received funding from the National Science Foundation to create programs for science teachers to do science in order to have a deeper understanding of both the process of science and the content of the material they teach.

I ask my students to stay committed to their learning, to take intellectual risks and keep growing. I need to model this as well. Plus, it's super cool and fun! I'm looking forward to learning and collaborating with my colleagues as we become students again, says Mr. Lowry of the program.

Mr. Lowry anticipates using what he learns to create a circular instructional unit for his physics courses, whereby students learn through a circular process of action, conceptualization and evaluation. One of the researchers focuses on creating wearable tech in conjunction with virtual reality. It would be cool to design an EEG (brain wave monitor) to track brain activity in VR environments. I've been adding more engineering design challenges into my curriculum, so this experience will expand my repertoire.

Mr. Lowry is already looking beyond his physics courses to how this experience might benefit the entire science department. This will be a great opportunity to use the ideas of the Next Generation of Science Standards. We've been exploring how to implement the NGSS in our department so I will act as a guinea pig in creating, testing and refining this unit.




By PTI

NEW DELHI: A committee of seven Supreme Court judges did not agree to the demands of bar bodies including SCBA to resume regular courtroom hearings for the time being and would review the functioning of the Supreme Court at the end of June keeping in mind the pandemic situation, official sources said on Wednesday.

The committee headed by senior-most judge Justice N V Ramana, in its meeting, reviewed the functioning of the Supreme Court in the light of "surging pandemic due to COVID-19 cases in NCT Delhi and adjoining area" and considered the representations of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA), they said.

The judges' committee was not in favour of resumption of open court hearings at the moment, they said.

The sources said the committee would meet again probably on June 30 to decide on the functioning of the courts, which would be opening in July after the curtailed summer vacation, after taking stock of the pandemic situation then.

An official communication with regard to the panel's meeting would be issued, they said.

The top court has been holding virtual hearings since March 25 when the COVID-19-induced lockdown was imposed in the coutry.

Earlier, the committee had postponed its June 5 meeting with the bar leaders to review functioning of courts in view of the pandemic.

SCBA had written to its members on June 4 seeking their views on resumption of regular courtroom proceedings for apprising the judges' panel of its views.

Favouring resumption of open courts, the president of SCBA had also said, Administration of justice cannot remain virtually closed for an indefinite period.

BCI (Bar Council of India), SCBA and SCAORA have been demanding resumption of physical courtroom hearings.

SCBA had said there was an "existential question" and without the court's functioning, lawyers, except privileged few, are in dire need "for the court to start to give them a chance to work and livelihood."
Ms. Stimson said the company had to replace only 20 components for about 30,000 machines. Thats a very low number for a statewide voting system rollout across 159 counties, she said.

Many of the problems, she said, involved difficulties activating voter verification cards  which are inserted into the machines to start voting.

The potential for problems with the new system was somewhat well known from the states small-scale test in the 2019 elections, when a software glitch in the electronic poll books caused delays in most of the six counties where the test took place.

A lot of people saw this coming, this meltdown, months in advance, said Andrew Appel, a computer scientist at Princeton who studies voting machines.

Calling it way too complex, Marilyn Marks, the executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, which had argued for a slower rollout of the equipment, described the technology as a Rube Goldberg contraption with way more components than are needed.

The promise of the new system, in part, was that it would be able to provide a variety of customized options  ballots in different languages, audio ballots for the visually impaired and the like. Yet it has not only proved hard to use in the early going; it is also something of a long and winding digital road to the same end as the old hand-marking systems  a marked ballot fed into a scanner.

In the new systems, voters begin the process by checking in at an electronic poll book, maintained on a digital tablet. There, the voter verification card with a microchip in it is programmed with the voters information. The card is then brought over to a big touch-screen tablet and inserted into a reader to display the voters ballot. After making the selections on the touch screen, the voter clicks print ballot. Then the paper receipt is brought over to the digital scanner, where the voter drops it off.
While I thank God I have not endured bodily harm, I have felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted, he said, urging those who have not felt the sting of racism to empathize with those who have. I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness and the humiliation that comes with feeling like you are being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself.
Harvard University PressThe thesis of Lindsay Chervinskys excellent new book is that the U.S. Constitution of 1787 established the national government of the United States in general terms, but it did not descend to particulars. Article II, which lays out the powers and responsibilities of the executive, left so many things vague that the first presidents had in many ways to invent the American presidency. None played a more important role than the hero of the American Revolution, George Washington. To which we must say, thank goodness.Washington did not particularly want to be the president of the United States. After the war of independence ended, he resigned his commission on Dec. 23, 1783, with a characteristic show of republican modesty. He had saved the country. All he wanted now was to retire to his beloved estate at Mount Vernon, like the Roman hero Cincinnatus in the pages of Plutarchs Lives, and spend the rest of his life in the quiet enjoyment of agricultural pursuits. As early as 1776, Washington wrote to his brother John, Nothing in this world would contribute so much to mine as to be once more fixed among you in the peaceable enjoyment of my own vine and fig-tree.Washington had to be cajoled  even guilted  into attending the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787, and then to accept the unanimous summons of the people to serve as the first president of the United States. He wound up fulfilling two terms, mostly because his closest associates, including Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, assured him that he must stay at his post long enough to secure the post-revolution settlement. By the time he left public life once and for all for Mount Vernon in March 1797, the great man was spent. He had only two years and nine months to sit under his fig tree and bask in his fame before his death on Dec. 14, 1799. Even Great Britains King George III had conditionally called Washington the greatest man in the world.Washington assumed the presidency on April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York City. He was 57 years old. Because the Constitution was silent on so many questions and he had no prior American tradition on which to model himself, President Washington had to invent a large number of presidential protocols, including the cabinet. As always, he was acutely aware that he was playing a role in the theater of the world. To his friend Catharine Macaulay Graham , he wrote, I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any action, whose motives may not be subject to a double interpretation. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.The whole world was watching. Washington knew that history was watching, too, and the future of the American republic depended on his getting it right. He understood that if his presidency for any reason failed, the fragile American republic might not survive. As he traveled to New York City to take the oath of office, Washington wrote an astonishing letter to his friend Henry Knox: My movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.Washington was determined to bring dignity, formality, a somewhat severe deportment and perhaps even a touch of what we would call majesty (a term he would have disclaimed) to the office. He did not want to behave like a king. Americans had had enough of that and Washington was genuinely committed to the creation of a sustainable American republic. But he did not want to be so informal that the American people would fail to show sufficient respect to the office, to the one individual who represented the entire country, not merely a state or a congressional district. Washington wanted the American people to look up to their president as a person of unimpeachable decorum  a man of substance who measured his words before releasing them from his pen or mouth, a person of exquisite civility, perhaps a slightly aloof civility, a man who embodied the best qualities of the American experiment, a person who carefully avoided anything that was low, vulgar, indecorous, or demagogic. He sought to be the president of all of the American people, not merely those whose political views he preferred. Washington put up with Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state for two and a half years, even though Jefferson was somewhat disloyal and already, with his closest friend James Madison, laying the groundwork for an opposition party.Washington had to make a dizzying number of decisions about presidential deportment and protocol with the whole world watching (and judging) his every move. How should a president travel? Should the president ever stay in a private citizens home? Should he shake hands with mere citizens? Should he wear a ceremonial sword? Should he have a formidable title? Who makes the first visit, the president or the other gentleman or woman? (If youve ever read a Jane Austen novel, you know that this was a big issue in the 18th century.) Should the president address Congress in person or through intermediaries? Should he hold public receptions, which any decently attired American could attend? What exactly did the Constitution mean by indicating that the president should seek the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate on some issues? Should the president tour the country? How does the president balance his ceremonial functions and his political ambitions? What is the role of the presidents wife (not yet known as the First Lady)? How much should the president cooperate with congressional requests and investigations; when should the president invoke executive privilege? Under what circumstances should a president veto congressional legislation? Can he do so over policy disagreements, or must he believe the legislation to be unconstitutional? Should the president write a veto message? Should the Supreme Court be consulted informally on constitutional questions? How strictly should the separation of powers doctrine be interpreted? If the country goes to war, should the president serve as commander in chief in the field?The CabinetOne of the great strengths of Chervinskys book is her interest in the social behavior of the first couple. George and Martha Washington had to establish the protocols of how the presidential couple made themselves available to the government insiders and average citizens of the republic. The Washingtons erred on the side of a somewhat frigid formality. At his weekly levees (on Tuesday afternoons), Washington bowed slightly, but did not shake hands with his guests. Martha Washington hosted slightly less intimidating gatherings for women (and some men) on Friday evenings. When the democrat Jefferson assumed the presidency in 1801, he swept aside the pomposities, walked to his first inaugural, met guests in his house slippers, corresponded freely with a wide range of citizens, rich and poor, powerful and plain, and let his pet mockingbird Dick wander freely through the White House. His presidential protocol, he famously said, was pell-mell.The Constitution Washington had helped to create and now embodied did not establish a formal cabinet. It authorizes  but does not compel  the president to require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices." The Constitution does not specify what the executive departments will be, or how many, or what their responsibilities should be. The First Congress of the United States (1789-91), which settled some of these questions, is regarded by some historians as an extension  or at least application  of the Constitutional Convention.One reason the Constitution is silent about a presidential cabinet, Chervinsky argues, is because the Founding Fathers still had a bad taste in their mouths about the British cabinets that had preyed upon the liberties of the American people during the colonial era. Perhaps partly for that reason, Chervinskys painstaking research reveals that Washington was slow to establish a cabinet and that once he had put it together, he soon ceased to find it a useful or congenial way to sort out administration policy. The first cabinet meeting was held on Nov. 26, 1791, fully two-and-a-half years into his first term. The four-man cabinet met only three times in 1791, and six times in 1792, but then 51 times in 1793, a crisis year in America. Thereafter, the president convened the cabinet significantly less often. By reducing the role of his cabinet in his last years as president, Washington ensured, says Chervinsky, that the cabinet developed very little institutional power.Today there are 15 cabinet members, each one requiring Senate confirmation. In the first few administrations, there were only four: The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney General. For Washington, these positions were filled by Jefferson of Virginia (state), Alexander Hamilton of New York (treasury), Henry Knox of Massachusetts (war), and Edmund Randolph of Virginia (AG).Chervinsky opens the book with one of the most important pivot points in the history of the presidency. On Aug. 22, 1789, just four months into his first term, Washington appeared before the U.S. Senate to seek advice about Indian relations. He believed that such consultation was the intention of the Constitution makers, that on certain questions the president would seek advice from the Senate before acting or making a decision. Washington had sent the relevant paperwork ahead, including a specific list of questions he wished to discuss with the 22 senators. Sen. William Maclay of Pennsylvania, who was something of a contrarian, stood up to suggest that the matter be referred to the appropriate Senate committee for careful deliberation, after which the president would be invited to come back for a final discussion. At this, President Washington, who had a volcanic temper which he usually managed to keep under tight control, blew up and shouted, This defeats every purpose of my coming here! Says Chervinsky, As he returned to his carriage, Washington muttered under his breath that he would never return for advice. He kept his wordAugust 22, 1789, was the first and last time he visited the Senate to request guidance on foreign affairs.If Maclay and the Senate had spent the afternoon sorting these things out with the president, American administrative history might have played out in a very different way. In this case, a negative precedent was set. Later presidents have occasionally visited Capitol Hill to meet with congressmen and senators, but Washingtons frustrating experience largely foreclosed that option and helped to cement the separation of powers doctrine at the heart of the American Constitutional system.One of the best moments in the book is Chervinskys account of a cabinet meeting on April 19, 1793, as the administration attempted to find a peaceful path for the infant U.S. as the wars of the French Revolution began to disrupt the Atlantic world. The five men, Washington plus his four secretaries, met in the presidents private study on the second floor of his residence in Philadelphia, where the national government was headquartered during the 1790s. The room was modest, just 15 by 21 feet, and was dominated by the presidents 5-foot-long desk, a wood burning stove, a dressing table, a large globe, and bookshelves, plus a table and chairs brought into the room for the meeting.Five of Americas most important men were in that small room. This quintet included Washington, the Father of His Country, a 6-foot-2-inch man who was already a living legend; the physically imposing Henry Knox (who weighed at least 250 pounds); Edmund Randolph, the proud but indecisive scion of one of Virginias most distinguished families; and two giants of the early national period, Americas Renaissance Man Thomas Jefferson, also 6 feet, 2 inches, but less bulky and formidable than the president, and the idefatigable policy wonk Alexander Hamilton, who  like him or not  was perhaps Americas greatest secretary of the treasury. Thats a lot of ego for one small room. Jefferson later admitted that he and Hamilton were daily pitted in the cabinet like two cocks. Washington did not say much at these meetings, but Hamilton, according to Jefferson, tended to hold forth with all of his overweening confidence for interminably long periods of time. Chervinsky concludes, When Washington and the four secretaries gathered in the room, it would have been rather cozy at best, claustrophobic at worst.Chervinsky also carefully examines the first cabinet scandal in American history. In August 1795, Secretary of State Edmund Randolph, Jeffersons replacement, was accused of taking bribes from the French government in exchange for trying to influence the administrations foreign policy. We now know that while Randolph was the weakest of Washingtons cabinet ministers, and undoubtedly guilty of bad judgment, he almost certainly did not take bribes or betray his country. Randolph resigned immediately, under a cloud, then promptly wrote a long defense of his honor and his conduct. Chervinsky provides an excellent analysis of Washingtons invocation of executive privilege, the first instance in American history, when Congress requested that he turn over documents relating to the highly controversial Jay Treaty of 1795. And the first presidential veto, April 5, 1792, of an apportionment bill.Washingtons immediate successors accepted the idea of the cabinet though each of them handled them differently. John Adams made the terrible, perhaps fatal, mistake of retaining Washingtons cabinet when the venerable old man retired. This meant that he was never able to surround himself with men of his own stamp. It meant, too, that these holdover cabinet members never felt genuine loyalty to him. In fact, several of them took their marching orders from Alexander Hamilton, who had retired from Washingtons cabinet in early 1795, but who took joy in playing shadow president from New York, where he had undertaken a lucrative law practice.Hamilton despised Adams for not being decisive and warlike enough, but particularly for not governing in a Hamiltonian fashion. Adams returned the contempt. It was he who called the illegitimately born Hamilton the bastard brat of a Scotch Pedler. Adams greatest act as president  sending a second peace delegation to France in 1800 after the first one was mistreated, thus ratcheting down the likelihood of war  was undertaken without any consultation with his disloyal cabinet. They were livid, of course, but Adams later decided it was his greatest achievement as the second president of the United States.Jefferson was too shrewd to hamstring his administration with holdovers, particularly since he regarded his election in 1800 as the second American revolution. The suave and conflict-averse Jefferson assembled what still ranks as perhaps the most harmonious cabinet in American history. His principal coadjutor was one of the most talented men in American history, Secretary of State James Madison, soon enough to be the fourth president of the United States. The harmony was so cordial among us all, Jefferson wrote, that we never failed, by a contribution of mutual views, of the subject, to form an opinion acceptable to the whole.This well-researched, thoughtful, and fascinating book points to the strength and the weakness of the U.S. Constitution. Because it lays out the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of the national government in only general terms, it gives each president considerable freedom to define the office to suit his purposes and his management style. So long as the office is occupied by an individual who understands the gravity, dignity, and fragility of a republic, America is in good hands. Between 1789 and 1797, George Washington formulated the standards against which all subsequent presidents must be measured.
Fortinets FTNT Secure Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) was recently adopted by New Zealand-based telecommunications and digital services company, Spark NZ, to improve application experience and automate network security operations cost-efficiently.



This collaboration will help Fortinet expand its foothold in New Zealand by reaching Spark NZs corporate, enterprise and government customers.



Fortinets Secure SD-WAN will simplify and secure the process of changing networks to ensure business continuity for Spark customers with minimal IT support for remote employees.

Fortinet, Inc. Revenue (TTM)

Fortinet, Inc. Revenue (TTM)

Fortinet, Inc. revenue-ttm | Fortinet, Inc. Quote

Growing Adoption of Secure SD-WAN Bodes Well



Growing adoption of its SD-WAN solutions is proving to be a key growth driver, even in a year as challenging as 2020. Moreover, Gartner predicts that 50% of new firewall purchases in the distributed network will utilize SD-WAN features by 2024, up from 20% in 2019. Being the only vendor to offer both security and SD-WAN solutions, the company is well positioned to capitalize on the increasing opportunities in the market.



In the first quarter of 2020, Fortinets Product revenues increased 18.2% year over year to $192.3 million. Notably, this growth was driven by the continued adoption of the FortiGate-based secure SD-WAN solution.



Fortinets SD-WAN business began the year with the announcement that Burger King Brazil, head franchisee of the Burger King and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurants, adopted this solution to acquire high-performance networking capabilities to simplify operations and strengthen security across corporate and restaurant locations.



Moreover, in May, the company announced that consumer and commercial services company, Rollins Inc., selected Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to reduce network outages, and improve user experience and application performance. Additionally, its Secure SD-WAN and SD-Branch solutions were chosen by the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation to enhance the "FLETS SDx" subscription service.



The news of the collaboration with Spark NZ comes days after Fortinet announced that it is witnessing continued momentum with network service providers who are leveraging its Secure SD-WAN. These partners include Alestra, FluidOne and Hydro One Telecom.



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Workers prepare to take down a statue of slave owner Robert Milligan at West India Quay, east London. (PA)

Statues of historical figures Robert Milligan and Robert Baden-Powell have reportedly been removed on public safety grounds.

The owner of the land where the monument of slave owner Milligan stood at West India Quay in east London told The Times that the council were informed Black Lives Matter protesters might attempt to topple the statue themselves.

It was taken away from its plinth on Tuesday evening and is currently being stored at a secret location.

The move comes after a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston was thrown into Bristol harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest over the weekend.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council said it also planned to temporarily remove a statue of Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell from Poole Quay on Thursday over concerns it may be targeted by protesters.

A statue of the founder of the Scout movement Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset, England ahead of its expected removal. (PA)

Robert Baden-Powell is famed for the creation of the Scouts. (Getty)

The council said it wanted to "minimise the risk of any public disorder or anti-social behaviour that could arise were the statue to remain in situ" while views on Lord Baden-Powell are shared.

Council leader Vikki Slade said in a statement issued on Wednesday: "Whilst famed for the creation of the Scouts, we also recognise that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powell's life that are considered less worthy of commemoration.

MORE: Government scientists were warned to go into full lockdown two weeks earlier

"Therefore, we are removing the statue so that we can properly involve all relevant communities and groups in discussions about its future, including whether a more educational presentation of his life in a different setting might be more appropriate.

Slade said on Twitter that the decision was taken following a "threat", adding: "It's literally less than three metres from the sea so is at huge risk.

The statue of slave trader Edward Colston being removed from the harbour where it was dumped by anti-racism protesters on Sunday. (Twitter/Bristol City Council)

The Colston statue has been lifted out of Bristol Harbour and taken to a secure location. (Twitter/Bristol City Council)

The statue was installed in 2008 and faces Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, where the Scout movement was started by Baden-Powell.

The council said it would be "put into safe storage" and that Dorset County Scouts "have been advised and support the position".

Story continues

Anti-racism campaigners have compiled a list of monuments they want removed  including Nelsons Column.

A statue of Queen Victoria in Leeds was also defaced with the words racist, slave owner and Black Lives Matter.

The Topple the Racists website, which says it was set up by an anti-Donald Trump campaign, has listed a number of sites across the UK involving historical figures where it says there is responsibility for colonial violence.

The statue of Colston was ripped from its plinth and thrown into Bristol harbour on Sunday.

People take part in a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Manchester. (PA)

The Colston statue has since been lifted out of the water and taken to a secure location before it becomes part of a museum collection, Bristol City Council said.

In 2010, declassified MI5 files revealed that Lord Baden-Powell was invited to meet Adolf Hitler after holding friendly talks about forming closer ties with the Hitler Youth.

An online petition to "defend Poole's Lord Baden-Powell statue" has received more than 3,500 signatures.
Sources with direct knowledge of the situation have since confirmed that the attack on Lion's systems used ransomware, which locks up IT systems until a sum of money is paid to hackers.

On Tuesday, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed that beverage giant Lion had been hit by a major cyber attack that disrupted its operations.

The latest incidents come as Lion, the company behind XXXX Gold beer and Dairy Farmers, is still trying to recover from a ransomware attack that knocked out its systems this week.

Appliance manufacturer Fisher and Paykel and car maker Honda have joined a growing list of manufacturers hit by major cyber attacks, with hackers stealing sensitive information and shutting down operations.

New Zealand-based Fisher and Paykel and Japanese automaker Honda have since been targeted, with the appliance maker hit by a malware program called Nefilim and the Japanese carmaker reportedly infected by the "Snake" ransomware. The latest spate of attacks come in the wake of government department Service NSW, Toll Group and BlueScope all having their operations disrupted by cyber attacks in recent weeks.

Unlike other ransomware, Snake specialises in targeting industrial control systems. Honda announced it had temporarily suspended production at some of its manufacturing facilities following the attack on its systems, which reportedly affected plants all over the globe on Monday.

Meanwhile, the hackers behind the Fisher and Paykel began to publish corporate files on the dark web this week containing financial data like balance sheets, reviews, and budgets dating back to 2013.

Staff at Lion, which was previously known as Lion Nathan, lost remote access as a result of its attack earlier this week, which has also impacted the processing of customer orders. Late on Wednesday night, the company issued a statement saying it was "still investigating every aspect" of what it called a "major incident", but declined to specify what type of attack it had suffered from.

"This attack could not have come at a worse time for Lion," the company said, revealing the incident was uncovered on Monday, the Queen's Birthday public holiday across most of Australia.
(Alliance News) - Grit Real Estate Income Group Ltd shares surged on Thursday in the wake of news that the company will bow out of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Its stock was 18% higher at ZAR14.50 each in Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon. The real estate firm was untraded in London, last quoted at USD0.69.

Grit said Botswana Development Corp Ltd and Zep-Re will acquire shares held by investors on its JSE register for ZAR14.90 each.

Botswana Development is owned by the government of Botswana will Zep-Re is an institution which is part of the Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa, a free trade area which includes nations like Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

Grit said it will retain its listing in both London and Mauritius, and will allow shareholders on the JSE register to transfer their shares elsewhere before it delists in Johannesburg.

The company said: "Grit is currently listed on three exchanges, which places a cost and administrative burden on the company (excessive management time is spent on regulatory compliance across the three exchanges and excessive costs are spent on three sets of advisors). The cost and complexity of being listed on three exchanges does not currently offer commensurate benefits and accordingly erodes shareholder value. Furthermore, trading in shares on the JSE is illiquid and has been illiquid for an extended period of time."

It expects its delisting in Johannesburg to be effective from July 29.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Officials and members of North Korean women's unions stage a mass rally outside a museum in Sinchon, South Hwanghae Province, Tuesday, to denounce the South Korean government and North Korean defectors here for their anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns. / Yonhap





By Kang Seung-woo







North Korea is ratcheting up its hostile rhetoric against South Korea in its latest expression of anger over the latter's "failure" to curb North Korean defectors' anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns.







Now, its fury has expanded to the United States as the Kim Jong-un regime has threatened to interfere in its presidential election in November if Washington continues to meddle in inter-Korean affairs. The threat came after the U.S. State Department expressed disappointment, Tuesday, over Pyongyang's decision to cut off all communication lines between the two Koreas.







"They (South Koreans) have never abandoned their ugly intentions to destroy our country," the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in an editorial, describing the South Korean government's actions on the leaflet campaigns as "a challenge and a declaration of war against us."







"Regardless of how it plays out afterward, our people have an iron will to rightfully take revenge on the South Korean authorities even if inter-Korean relations end up in total destruction."







Last week, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader and first vice department director of the party's Central Committee, threatened to cancel a military tension-reducing agreement made during the 2018 inter-Korean summit, as the Moon Jae-in administration has "tolerated" the anti-North propaganda campaigns. She also said the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and the joint liaison office may fall victim to the "hostility" of the South.







In response, the government said it would legislate a law to ban the leaflet campaigns.







On Thursday, Cheong Wa Dae said the government would crack down on defectors and activists flying anti-North leaflets and other items across the border tethered to balloons, and sternly respond to any violations in accordance with relevant laws, after a standing committee session of the National Security Council presided over by Chung Eui-yong, director of the National Security Office (NSO) at the presidential office.







"The government expresses deep regret over the continued distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets and other items by activists," said Kim Yu-geun, the NSO first deputy director.







"The government will keep abiding by all inter-Korean agreements to avoid accidental clashes."







Earlier in the day, the unification ministry filed a complaint with police against two North Korean defectors' groups for sending the leaflets across the border. It also plans to revoke business permits granted to them.







Alongside North Korea's state-run paper, the Tongil Voice, a propaganda radio broadcast, joined in to bash President Moon.







"When he told us to trust him, with his hands held up high in Pyongyang and Mount Paekdu, he looked human, and we thought he would be different from the past leaders. Now it looks like he is worse than his predecessors," it said.







The North also warned the U.S. not to meddle in its ongoing matters with the South, irked by a U.S. State Department spokesman urging Pyongyang to return to diplomacy and cooperation.







"This is, indeed, ridiculous. No one is entitled to saying this or that about the inter-Korean relations as the relations pertain to the internal affairs of the Korean nation from A to Z," Kwon Jong-gun, director-general of the North Korean foreign ministry's American affairs department, told the Korean Central News Agency, Thursday.







"If the U.S. pokes its nose into others' affairs with careless remarks, far from minding its internal affairs, at a time when its political situation is in the worst-ever confusion, it may encounter an unpleasant thing hard to deal with.







"The U.S. had better hold its tongue and mind its internal affairs first if it doesn't want to experience a hair-raiser. It would be good not only for the U.S. interests but also for the easy holding of its upcoming presidential election."







However, Kwon failed to elaborate on what the "hair-raiser" would be  although speculation is rampant that the North's current hostile policy toward the South and the U.S. may lead to a military provocation, including the launching of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).







"The North is expected to test an SLBM to complete its development within this year as the U.S. government cannot afford to focus on North Korean issues, and U.S. President Donald Trump has been lenient on such launches," said Cheong Seong-chang, a director of the Sejong Institute's Center for North Korean Studies.







"While staging SLBM tests, it may test-fire other new weapons as well."






Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  The government should prioritize collecting the 50 billion worth of unpaid taxes from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGOs instead of pressuring Filipino online sellers to settle their taxes amid the coronavirus pandemic, opposition lawmakers said Thursday.

In a statement, Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday raised the issue of lax treatment of POGOs which were allowed to operate as non-essential businesses under the enhanced community quarantine even as they failed to settle their dues in the past years.

"Imbes na online sellers, baka pwedeng singilin muna ang mga POGO...hindi yung dagdag-perwisyo pa sa sarili nating mga kababayan na kaunti na nga lang ang kita para pandagdag-gastos sa pamilya nila," Hontiveros said.

[Translation: Instead of online sellers, maybe we should collect first from POGOs...instead of adding to the burden of our fellow Filipinos who are only earning so little to fend for their families.]

"Mayroon din silang (POGOs) mass testing pero tayo wala (They also had mass testing but we don't)," she added, referring to reports of exclusive testing of POGO workers the past months, amid the government's slow action in expanding COVID-19 testing to asymptomatic workers in various areas of the country.

"For many [Filipinos], online selling is the bread and butter as the Duterte administration remains a failure in providing sufficient aid and, decent jobs amid the crisis" GABRIELA Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas said.

"Kung tutuusin, dapat pa ngang suportahan ng gobyerno ang online sellers bilang bahagi ng stimulus ng ekonomiya," Brosas noted.

[Translation: In fact, the government should even support online sellers who are part of the economic stimulus.]

Sen. Joel Villanueva was also disappointed with the state's sudden pursuit of online sellers.

"Dapat tutukan ng BIR ang POGO na may utang na 50 bilyon na tax last year pa. Ngayong COVID-19, pwede bang kapakanan ng mga kababayang Pilipino muna natin ang manguna?," he said in a tweet, taking a swipe at the sector which employs Chinese nationals for offices in the Philippines.

[Translation: The BIR should be focusing on POGOs who owe 50 billion in taxes since last year. In the face of COVID-19, can we prioritize the welfare of our fellow Filipinos instead?]

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque came to the defense of the BIR, insisting that the government is strictly monitoring POGO operations and penalizing those who fail to settle their obligations.

He then appealed to the public to understand the additional tax imposition, as the government only wants to generate additional revenue for its COVID-19-related measures.

"Sinisingil po natin sila, Senator Hontiveros. Hindi po natin sila pinalulusot. Hindi po sila pwedeng magbukas nang hindi nagbabayad ng kanilang buwis," Roque said. "Trust me, lahat po pinagkukunan po natin para mabigay ang pangangailangan ng mga biktima ng COVID-19."

[Translation: We are going after POGOs, Senator Hontiveros. We are not letting them off the hook. They cannot resume operations if they have not paid their taxes. Trust me, we are looking for all platforms where we can support the needs of Filipinos displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic.]

On Wednesday, the BIR issued a memorandum asking online sellers to register and declare their past transactions before July 31 "to ensure that their businesses are registered pursuant to the provisions of Section 236 of the Tax Code, as amended, and that they are tax compliant."

Entities who fail to perform these activities on time shall be meted applicable penalties under the law and existing revenue rules and regulations, said the tax-collecting body.
A Republican Ohio state senator is under fire this week after asking whether "African Americans or the colored population" have been disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic because they "do not wash their hands as well as other groups."

State Sen. Steve Huffman raised the question Tuesday during a hearing on whether to declare racism a public health crisis. Huffman, an emergency room doctor, wanted to know why African American communities are being hit so much harder by the virus, posing the query to Angela Dawson, executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health.

"I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and that makes them more susceptible to death from covid. But why does it not make them more susceptible to just get covid?" he asked. "Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups? Or wear a mask? Or do not socially distance themselves? Could that be the explanation for why the higher incidence?"

Dawson, who is black, quickly challenged the senator's suggestion.

"That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country," she responded, later adding: "Do all populations need to wash their hands? Absolutely, sir, but that is not where you are going to find the variance and the rationale for why these populations are more vulnerable."

Huffman's remarks, which came amid widespread protests calling for racial justice and equality following the death of George Floyd, prompted swift outcry online and from other local lawmakers.

On Thursday, Cleveland.com reported Huffman was fired from his emergency-room physician job for the comments.

"Dr. Huffman's comments are wholly inconsistent with our values and commitment to creating a tolerant and diverse workplace," said McHenry Lee, a TeamHealth spokesman, according to Cleveland.com. "TeamHealth has terminated Dr. Huffman's employment."

Rep. Stephanie Howse, D, president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus who was present at the hearing, told the Dayton Daily News that Huffman's word choice and question "highlights what racism is from a systematic perspective."

"He's a full legislator, but beyond that, professionally, he's a doctor," she said. "When we talk about the health disparities that happen because black folks aren't believed when they're actually hurt, they aren't given the treatment that they need. Do you think that someone who acknowledges the 'coloreds' is going to give the love and care that people need when they come through those doors?"

In a phone interview with The Washington Post late Wednesday, Huffman defended himself, insisting that his language was not intended to be derogatory and said he thought the phrases "people of color" and "colored population" were similar.

"People of color would have been better, but they seem to be interchangeable," he said, before stressing repeatedly that the question had been rhetorical.

"I was trying to focus on why covid-19 affects people of color at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons," he said.

An April Washington Post analysis of early data from jurisdictions nationwide found that majority-black counties have three times the rate of coronavirus infections and almost six times the rate of deaths in comparison to counties made up of mostly white residents.

Earlier this month, The Post reported that African Americans, who already are affected negatively by health disparities, were largely not prioritized as local governments nationwide scrambled to respond to the virus. Despite pleas from black leaders, a number of the first coronavirus testing sites appeared in whiter, more affluent areas, and educational campaigns about coronavirus prevention and social distancing targeting African American communities were rare, according to The Post.

On Tuesday, as Dawson advocated for racism to be declared a public health crisis in Ohio, she credited the pandemic for revealing underlying social inequities in the state. According to most recent figures, Ohio has more than 39,500 reported cases of coronavirus and at least 2,400 deaths.

"The covid-19 pandemic and the brutal death of George Floyd unfortunately provided a pivotal point in time to not only focus on our safety and physical health, but on our emotional, mental and spiritual health," Dawson told members of the Ohio Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee. "We must prioritize the marginalized and those who are suffering, bearing the burden of disease, illness and death."

When Huffman raised the question over whether personal hygiene could be a factor driving black infection rates, people attending the hearing visibly reacted, cringing while the lawmaker spoke, state Sen. Cecil Thomas, D, a committee member, told the Daily News.

"He's an example of why we have to have this discussion about racism and how it impacts people," Thomas said.

Huffman's words were met with similar responses on social media Wednesday.

State Rep. Erica Crawley, D, accused Huffman of implying that black people are less hygienic or clean, tweeting, "This right here is the underlying implicit bias/covert racism that was in the question."

State Rep. Tavia Galonski, D, urged people to vote.

Huffman strongly disputed the criticisms, telling The Post that his words had been "taken out of context." He also pushed back against concerns raised by critics about his role as a practicing physician.

"Anybody that comes into any emergency room, I give them the very best care regardless of what race they are," he said.
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The vast majority of police departments in the United States have not reported any arrests for loitering or curfew violations in recent years, a sign that the controversial police tactic is falling out of favor. But an ABC News analysis of recent arrest data shows that, even as use of the tactic declines dramatically nationwide, some departments continue to use it aggressively.

One of its most prolific proponents? The Philadelphia Police Department.

According to data voluntarily reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by thousands of city and county police departments around the country, the Philadelphia Police Department reported arresting more young people for loitering and curfew violations than any other city in the United States from 2016 to 2018.

Even as their overall number of loitering and curfew arrests declined each year, Philadelphia police still arrested 15,552 people  all of them juveniles  for those offenses over that three-year period, 10 times more than Nashville, which reported arresting the second most people. In 2018, Philadelphia accounted for nearly 1 in 4 loitering arrests nationwide.

The analysis of those arrests, conducted by ABC News in collaboration with ABC-owned stations, reveals a stark racial disparity. About 42% of Philadelphias population is black; about 63% of people arrested for all crimes throughout the city were black; but about 85% of arrests for loitering and curfew violations were made against young black people.

Riya Saha Shah, an attorney for the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, said those numbers are striking for sure, but not surprising.

Theres a long history of treating young black people differently than young white people in terms of how criminal laws are applied, Shah told ABC News. It all goes back to how they are being policed. When you couple discretionary charges with over-policing, you see a racial disparity.

PHOTO: A woman's hands are handcuffed after an arrest during widespread unrest following the death of George Floyd, May 31, 2020, in Philadelphia. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

(MORE: ABC News analysis of police arrests nationwide reveals stark racial disparity)

Story continues

In response to questions from ABC News, the Philadelphia Police Department issued a brief statement.

In order to adequately comment on your findings, we would also have [to] perform a data analysis, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said. That stated, we remain deeply concerned about the racial disparities that exist at all decision points in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. As announced Tuesday, we are joining the City in enacting numerous police reform measures that will serve to address disparities such as these, and bring about the meaningful change we all desire.

Loitering statutes vary widely, but in Philadelphia, the citys statute defines loitering as idling or lounging in or about any place or facility  so as to prevent others from passage, ingress or egress, or to idle or lounge in or about any place or facility.

Similarly, according to the Philadelphia Police Departments Enforcement of Curfew Ordinance, updated most recently in 2014, no minor shall remain in or upon any public place or any establishment from the Evening Curfew Time, which varies by season, day of the week and the minors age, unless accompanied by a parent or doing some other legitimate business.

Police departments once viewed loitering arrests as an effective tool for disrupting certain types of criminal activity, such as drug dealing and prostitution, but departments across the country appear to have decreased their reliance on the tactic as concern has grown that leads to racial profiling.

Legal experts broadly agree that it is a highly discretionary charge, and in past legal challenges to its constitutionality, jurists have questioned whether loitering statues are vague, overly broad and highly vulnerable to discriminatory enforcement.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that one citys loitering statute encourages arbitrary and erratic arrests and convictions, it makes criminal activities that, by modern standards, are normally innocent, and it places almost unfettered discretion in the hands of the police.

According to Andrew Leipold, a professor of criminal law and procedure at the University of Illinois College of Law, loitering laws disproportionately affect minority communities.

Loitering statues have historically targeted the poor and have historically targeted minorities, Leipold told ABC News. The overlap makes it difficult to untangle, but minorities are nevertheless disproportionately affected.

PHOTO: People cross the street in Philadelphia, Sept. 11, 2018. (Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The analysis covers a three-year period ending in 2018, from which the most recent data is available. It does not include data from police departments in Florida or Illinois  or the New York Police Department, the countrys largest police force  which do not report demographic data on arrests to the FBI. It is also limited to jurisdictions that made at least 100 loitering and curfew arrests during that time period.

The analysis shows that loitering and curfew arrests are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Less than 10% of departments arrested anyone for loitering and curfew violations in 2016 to 2018. Only about 100 of more than 10,000 police departments around the country arrested at least 100 people over that three-year period.

Where loitering and curfew arrests are still being made, however, the data shows a significant disparity, after accounting for the demographics of the cities and counties those police departments serve. In nearly 90% of police departments that arrested at least 100 people for loitering and curfew violations from 2016 to 2018, young black people were more likely than young white people to be arrested.

And in 32 of the 101 departments included in the analysis, the disparity was much worse  young black people were five times more likely to be arrested for loitering and curfew violations than young white people.

Likewise, in Philadelphia, arrests for loitering and curfew violations are in decline, down from about 6,000 in 2016 to about 4,300 in 2017 to about 4,000 in 2018. But as overall arrests have declined, the percentage of young black people among those arrests is actually rising  76% in 2016, 79% the following year and 85% in 2018.

That same trend is reflected in other large cities and nationwide. In Minneapolis, for example, where George Floyds death at the hands of a white police officer sparked the latest reckoning over racial bias in policing and police brutality, arrests for loitering and curfew violations are in decline, having dropped from 378 arrests in 2016, to 203 in 2017, to only 61 in 2018. But the percentage of young black people among those arrests has risen from 73% to 79% to 86% in that same time period.

Across the United States, meanwhile, the percentage of young black people arrested for loitering and curfew violations around the country is now double what it was two decades ago, reaching 40% in 2013 and remaining above that benchmark ever since.

PHOTO: Philadelphia Police headquarters, in Philadelphia, Aug. 12, 2017. (Jessica Kourkounis for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

(MORE: ABC News analysis of police arrests nationwide reveals stark racial disparity)

In response to questions from ABC-owned local station WPVI-TV on Thursday, Philadelphias district attorney Larry Krasner expressed alarm at the findings of the ABC News analysis.

Assuming that that is correct, thats troubling, Krasner said. It certainly suggests the possibility the use of a certain type of violation for what is more social control than is law enforcement.

Even as the numbers continue to decline, experts noted that loitering and curfew arrests can still pose serious consequences for mostly young black people.

Shah, from the Juvenile Law Center, cited the never-ending loop of the juvenile justice system, in which a young person can find themselves trapped in a cycle of incarceration, probation violations and unpaid fines and fees that leads to back to incarceration.

Somebody who is brought in on a minor charge like loitering, Shah told ABC News, could end up being incarcerated for a relatively long period of time.

Chad Pradelli, an investigative reporter for ABC-owned station WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, contributed to this report.

As loitering and curfew arrests decline nationwide, Philadelphia's use of the tactic stands out originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Ambassador Pham Hai Anh, deputy head of the Vietnam Mission to the UN, also welcomed efforts of the Sudanese transitional government in promoting peace, security and development in the African country.

Hailing the establishment of the United Nations Integrated Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Anh said the UNITAMS should operate based on respect of independence, sovereignty and territorial integration of Sudan, as well as work closely with the transitional government.

He also highlighted the UNITAMSs top responsibility for ensuring international humanitarian law compliance, preventing and punishing serious crimes in the country, and hoped that the Sudanese Government will take suitable measures to deal with the issue.

UNSC member states lauded positive developments in Sudan and Darfur region in particular over the past time. They expressed their hope that peace talks between the transitional government and armed forces in Darfur will reach specific results.

The ambassador and head of the Sudan Mission to the UN stressed that the transitional government will cooperate actively with the UNITAMS and the UN - African Union Mission in Darfur.

The UNITAMS was founded on June 4, 2020, in accordance with the UNSCs Resolution 2524 for a duration of 12 months. The political mission is tasked with supporting Sudans transitional period, State governance, peace process and pooling resources for economic development and humanitarian assistance.
Guam Visitors Bureau interim President and CEO Carl T.C. Gutierrez said Thursday he is optimistic visitor arrivals from South Korea will resume around mid-July but tourists from Japan aren't likely to return to Guam soon.

The former governor, who started at GVB in May following the retirement of former CEO Pilar Laguana, confirmed Japan Airlines isn't flying any passengers to Guam for all of July.

JAL has announced on its website while 15% of its flights to the United States will be operating in July, its Guam and Hawaii flights will remain suspended for the entire month.

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The governor said he is hopeful Guam can get a certain level of confidence for the South Korean visitors to come back sooner  possibly as early as mid-July. Smaller Korea-based airlines, such as Jeju Air, plans to resume flights to Guam next month, he said.

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero's administration has done a good job of containing the spread of COVID-19 and the efforts can be presented to the South Korean market to make a case for Guam to offer a safe "bubble" destination for South Korean travelers, Gutierrez said.

Guam's tourism industry continues to face challenges in inviting the Taiwanese, South Korean and Japanese tourists because they remain subject to a 14-day quarantine once they return from their international travels. With the average vacation trips to Guam averaging less than a week, for Asian travelers, being quarantined for two weeks when they arrive back home can dampen many tourists' plans to travel at this time.

Gutierrez did say with the right efforts, Guam could return to 1 million tourist arrivals at the end of next year. Guam's tourist arrivals in 2019 had reached a new peak of 1.6 million.

The lull in tourism activity will help Guam improve and put more efforts to become better as a destination, he said.

The slowdown will allow Guam's tourism businesses and workers to prepare for what will be a new normal, Gutierrez said, with mask-wearing, social distancing and frequent hand-washing among the protocols that will be expected of the hospitality industry.

The former governor also said GVB will embark on efforts, in cooperation with other government of Guam agencies, to address homelessness at beaches, parks and other areas.

These efforts include providing homeless shelters on government land that will house affordable shelters, he said.

The former governor also said there will be ongoing islandwide cleanup efforts to encourage island residents to help keep litter off beaches and other places and encourage all to help keep Guam clean.
Falun Gong Adherents in Hong Kong Worry That Beijings Security Law Could Threaten Religious Freedom

Hong Kong adherents of Falun Gong voiced concerns about their personal safety and basic rights upon Chinas implementation of a national security law, during a recent closed-door online roundtable held with religious groups that included the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom among the attendees.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice with meditative exercises and moral teachings based on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Since July 1999, when the Chinese regime launched a nationwide persecution, the practice has been banned and heavily suppressed in mainland China. Thousands have been detained in jails, brainwashing centers, and labor camps, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.

However, it is freely practiced by millions in over 100 countries and regions around the world, including Hong Kong.

Though the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong still guarantees freedoms not enjoyed in the mainland, including freedom of belief.

However, with Chinas rubber-stamp legislature recently approving national security legislation for Hong Kong that would penalize activities considered related to subversion, secession, foreign intervention, among others, human rights groups expressed concern that the proposal would allow Beijing to crack down on dissent.

As with many dissidents, activists, and religious minorities, Falun Gong adherents in mainland China have been sentenced on charges such as subversion of state power-a catch-call charge the regime often uses to silence its critics.

During the roundtable held on June 9, Ingrid Wu, spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Association of Falun Dafa, expressed worries that Beijings persecution of Falun Gong practitioners would be extended into Hong Kong once the security law takes effect. The event took place just before the U.S. State Department released its annual religious freedom report.

We are afraid that Falun Gong will be treated like those practitioners in the mainland, Wu said in a phone interview, and no longer be able to freely practice our faith in Hong Kong and could be arrestedat any time. The suppression could also be extended to other religious groups in Hong Kong, she added.

Wu noted that since Chinas persecution began, Beijing has directly or indirectly interfered with Falun Gong practitioners activities in Hong Kong.

For example, applications to hold events in governmental venues have been continually denied, while adherents have been repeatedly harassed by pro-Beijing organizations since 2013 when holding public events to raise awareness about Chinas persecution.

Most recently, in September last year, a local adherent named Liao Qiulan was assaulted by people believed to be connected to the regime, as she was leaving a local police station to arrange details for an upcoming Falun Gong parade.

Wu told the roundtable that local adherents feared that their rights for peaceful assembly and protest would be further denied after the security law is put in place, because the activities exposing the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] crimes can also be considered subversion of state power, she recalled to The Epoch Times.

She expressed worries that local practitioners could face torture or forced organ harvesting, as mainland adherents do.

Since the 2000s, the Chinese regime has been harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong adherents, to supply its transplant industry. A London-based China Tribunal, in its March report, concluded that the stated-sanctioned practice was still happening, despite claims by the regime that it would stop sourcing organs from executed prisoners and rely exclusively on a new voluntary donation system in 2015.

Wu urged U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Sam Brownback, to issue a statement to address the threat to religious freedom in Hong Kong, and called on the broader U.S. government to help secure Hongkongers rights to religious belief and assembly.

In response to Beijings proposal for Hong Kong, President Donald Trump said in late May that the United States would place sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials who erode the citys autonomy, and revoke the citys special trading status under U.S. law.

Beijing has not formally responded to Trumps announcement, but has said it is intent on implementing the law in Hong Kong.

Wu said that despite the impending threat, adherents in the city will continue to raise awareness about the regimes persecution, and how its ideology is a threat to humankind.

We will continue to tell more people about its hideous crimes, about what Falun Gong is, and why the Chinese regime chooses to persecute us, she said. Only when we persist, will authoritarianism [be exposed and] rejected by all people.

This article has been updated to more accurately describe the online roundtable event.
SEATTLE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released a special May edition of its Public Pension Funding Index (PPFI) in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting market volatility. Milliman's PPFI consists of the nation's 100 largest public defined benefit pension plans.

Our latest analysis shows funding for public pensions in May continued to rebound from the first quarter of 2020 with an aggregate investment return of 2.68% for the month, the second month of improvement for these plans after a dismal February and March. In fact, the Milliman PPFI funded ratio has climbed over five percentage points since the end of Q1, increasing from 66% at the end of March to 71.3% as of May 31. We estimate that the aggregate deficit shrank from $1.619 trillion at the end of April 2020 to $1.547 trillion at the end of May 2020, a $72 billion improvement.

"Most sectors of the market continued their recovery in May, providing positive movement for public pensions," said Becky Sielman, author of the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding Index. "As the economy reopens across the U.S., plan sponsors will continue to monitor asset classes with delayed reporting so as to prepare for any remaining fall-out from Q1's market volatility."

To view the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding Index, go to http://www.milliman.com/ppfi/. To receive regular updates of Milliman's pension funding analysis, contact us at [email protected].

About Milliman

Milliman is among the world's largest providers of actuarial and related products and services. The firm has consulting practices in healthcare, property & casualty insurance, life insurance and financial services, and employee benefits. Founded in 1947, Milliman is an independent firm with offices in major cities around the globe. For further information, visit milliman.com.

About the Milliman Public Pension Funding Index

Since 2012, Milliman has conducted an annual study of the 100 largest defined benefit plans sponsored by government jurisdictions in the U.S. The Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding Index projects the funded status for pension plans included in our study, reflecting the impact of actual market returns, utilizing the actual reported asset values, liabilities, and asset allocations of the pension plans. The results of the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding Index are based on the pension plan financial reporting information disclosed in the plan sponsors' Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, which reflect measurement dates ranging from June 30, 2016, to December 31, 2018. This information was summarized as part of the Milliman 2019 Public Pension Funding Study, which was published on January 20, 2020.

SOURCE Milliman, Inc.

Related Links

www.milliman.com


Monalisa Miffed With Live-In Relationship Reports

The Nazar actress was quoted by ETimes TV as saying, "I am very upset since the time I've seen this news report. I mean how can they write something like this without even asking or speaking to me. Vikrant saw this report first and he showed it to me. We started laughing over it, but now I am unable to remove it from my mind as my fans will start believing it."

Monalisa Challenges The Publication To Bring That Person In Front Of Her

"On what basis have they written that I was in a live-in with this person Madan and that too for six long years. Everyone knows, including my parents, that I met Vikrant in 2008 on the sets of Dulha Albela and since then we started dating each other. Touchwood, we have been together since then and our relationship has lasted for so long. I really want to meet this person Madan, I challenge the publication to bring this person in front of me."

Monas Pictures With Madan Were Doing The Rounds When She Was In Bigg Boss

It has to be recalled that when Mona was in the Bigg Boss house, a few pictures with a man named Madan was doing the rounds on internet. A few reports even claimed that she was married to him.

If Such A Thing Had Happened Why Did No One Call Me To Verify The News

Regarding the same, Mona said, "I was in the house so obviously I have not seen these pictures, but honestly even if such a thing had happened why did no one call me to check or verify the news. How can you write about an actress' personal life without any proof? This is so wrong. There is so much wrong information on my fan pages and Wikipedia because of all these false reports. Fans tend to believe such stories."

Actress Says The News Has Become Very Stressful For Her

She asked that if she really was in a six years live-in relationship with this person, why did the Bigg Boss people call Vikrant to marry her and not this Madan! Mona said that she has always been very transparent about her life and about the work she has done in the industry. The actress questioned that when she never tried to hide anything, why will I do it with my personal life! She added that after reading the news it became very stressful for her.
ELKO, Nev.Brothels in Elko will receive a break on license fees because of the pandemic.

Elkos City Council agreed on Tuesday to forgive brothel fees for one quarter of the year. The annual fee for brothel licenses in Elko is $6,500.

Brothels in the state were closed May 17 under orders from Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and still have not been allowed to reopen.

Brothel owners in ElkoLouis Goldberg of Monas Ranch and Inezs D&D Bar, George Tate of Sues Fantasy Club and Kathleen Ornelas of Desert Roserequested relief for license fees due June 30 in advance for July 1 through Dec. 31.

The brothel owners had requested a six-month break, but instead received a $1,625 forbearance for the quarter.

At a public hearing on Tuesday, Goldberg said his brothel has received no guidance from Sislolak, so he is not clear whether his properties will be allowed to open in the next phase that is scheduled to start June 30.

Brothels also will receive help on liquor license fees. The council decided to waive liquor fees for the quarter beginning July 1 for brothels and one nightclub in town. The fee for liquor licenses is $222 per quarter.

There are about 20 legal brothels in the state of Nevada.
Italian authorities have recovered a stolen artwork by Banksy that was painted as a tribute to the victims of the 2015 terror attack at the Bataclan music hall in Paris.

Authorities in the city of LAquila displayed the recovered artwork at a news conference.

The piece  a black image appearing to depict a person mourning  had been painted on one of the Bataclans emergency exit doors.

Ninety people were killed at the Bataclan on November 13 2015, when Islamic extremists invaded the music hall, one of several targets that night in which a total of 130 people died.

The recovered artwork by British artist Banksy (Andrea Rosa/AP)

Prosecutors in LAquila said the work was recovered during a search of a home in Tortoreto, a city near the Adriatic coast in the Abruzzo regions Teramo province.

They said it had been hidden well in the attic.

Authorities said they were still investigating how the artwork arrived in Italy and the role of the Italians involved.

The discovery was made as part of a joint Italian-French police investigation.
This is the near-death moment a Dubai police officer fell backwards into the spinning blades of a hoverbike that he was testing to be used as a first responder aircraft.

Shocking footage shows the bumpy test ride ending with a life threatening crash landing as the officer from United Arab Emirates city's law enforcement was tipped backwards into the propellers before rolling to safety.

Police had been test driving the Hoversurf Scorpion S3, painted in their white and green livery, as part of an initiative to use the hoverbikes for patrols and responding to emergencies across Dubai.

The video, first uploaded by the hoverbikes' manufacturer, California-based Hoversurf, has since been taken down, with Dubai Police attempting to remove every trace of the video from the internet, reports The Drive.

In the footage the pilot of the Scorpion can be seen ascending without issue. It is when he reaches his maximum altitude of 98ft that the aircraft begins to buck as if the flight controller is unable to tell which way is horizontal.

On the descent, the hoverbike continues to tilt and buck forward and backward until the rear of the aircraft makes contact with the ground.

The 253lb quad-copter then flips over onto the pilot with blades still spinning, resulting in a near fatal crash.

Hoversurf, who gifted the first batch of Hoversurfs to Dubai police for them to test in 2017, said the crash was due to a mechanical failure.

Police had been test driving the Hoversurf Scorpion S3, painted in their white and green livery, as part of an initiative to use the hoverbikes for patrols over Dubai

On the decent the hoverbike continues to tilt and buck forward and backward with the pilot losing control

This could be due to the fact that Hoversurf had a safe operating altitude of up to 16ft, in the footage the police officer can be seen pushing the bike's limits taking it to around 100ft before losing control.

Hoversurf first shared the video with the caption: 'The barometer in Dubai refused and an accident occurred  a down from a height of 30 meters (98ft).

'All safety systems worked well, and the pilot was not injured. Safety is our main concern. It is thanks to such incidents that our designs are becoming more safe.'

An ambulance can be seen attending to the police officer, who is thought to have escaped with only minor injuries.

The 253lb quad-copter flips over onto the pilot with blades still spinning, resulting in a near fatal crash

Hoversurf, who gifted the first batch of Hoversurfs to Dubai police for them to test in 2017, said the crash was due to a mechanical failure

An ambulance attended to the police officer, who is thought to have escaped with only minor injuries

Hoversurf state the top speed for the Hoversurf S3 2019 Hoverbike is 60mph with a flight time of just ten to 20 minutes (with a pilot) and up to 40 minutes when used as a drone. Each hoverbike currently costs $150,000.

Hoversurf chief operating officer Joseph Segura-Conn said the company have a deal with Dubai police who have exclusive rights to order as many units as they want.

He told CNN: 'Currently we have two crews already training [to pilot the hoverbike] and we're increasing the number. They're going to let us know in the next month or two if they'd like any more ... If they would like 30 or 40, we'll make it happen for them.'

However the bikes are still available to buy in the U.S. where pilots do not need a license to fly them as the bikes meet Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
Jeanne Casner (foreground) director of the Chester County Health Department, with some of her coronavirus team behind her: (in no particular order) Alexandria Tavoni, Heather DeStefano, Dave Sekkes, Kelly Raum, Renee Cassidy, Eric Misthal, Michele Steiner, Rachael Hernandez, Suzy Curtis, Gianna Megaro, Bill Boyer, Mike Baysinger, Stephanie Steiner, and Meghan Smith. Read more

Chester is the only county in the Philadelphia region that has failed to meet two important benchmarks for continuing to ease coronavirus restrictions.

Chester Countys latest 14-day count of new cases is up 20% from the previous 14-day period, according to state data. But the countys own case counts  which overall are higher than the states  show a decrease of 1%. Either way, the county fails to meet the state standard calling for decreasing or stable case counts.

Whats more, the state says Chester County hasnt had a positive test rate of less than 10% for 14 days in a row, which violates another reopening barometer. High positive rates usually correlate with high levels of virus in a community. County health officials note that testing data for the last three days are incomplete and provisional.

To be sure, some areas in the largely affluent county of almost 500,000 people have had few or no coronavirus cases. But all of the other seven Southeastern Pennsylvania counties saw their 14-day case counts decrease. Delaware County, a more urban and densely populated county, saw its two-week count fall by 59%, based on state data.

Jeanne Casner, Chester County health director, attributed the high positive rates to the departments decision to focus testing on areas that needed the most attention.

In late May, hospitals and federally qualified health centers in the less affluent and more agricultural southern part of the county started reporting an uptick of cases. So the county targeted testing there to make sure individuals who were very sick got the care they needed, and that those with more mild symptoms were advised on how to properly self-quarantine and limit further spread. That selective testing meant a higher overall positive rate for the county, she said.

While I understand the metrics and eagerness to get to green," Casner said of the states reopening phases, "were doing the right public-health strategy. Were making sure they have the proper quarantine and isolation resources, to make sure we dont have more community spread.

 READ MORE: Coronavirus cases trend downward around Philadelphia, but masks are here to stay

Chester County added more test sites in southern towns, including West Grove, Kennett Square, and Oxford after community partners tracked an uptick in cases there. The three towns with the largest increases  Avondale, Kennett Square, and West Grove  are in the heart of the countys mushroom farming area.

The countys southern townships have a higher concentration of Hispanic, immigrant, and undocumented worker communities, where families face unique health challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, Casner said. Social distancing is difficult in multifamily households, and many people work in jobs where they are considered essential workers and dont have the option of working from home.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for unemployment benefits and are often reluctant to seek health care  pandemic or not  because they do not have health insurance and may fear their immigration status could be questioned.

Casner said the county is working with farms to make sure they are meeting guidelines and encouraging safe behavior among workers. The Health Department partnered with community organizations to create new COVID-19 guidance videos about wearing masks and social distancing in less common dialects spoken in some neighborhoods.

Safe housing and food services are available for people who test positive and do not have a stable living environment or cant self-quarantine in their homes.

Casner said she is optimistic that if her department continues this approach, cases will decline and the county will make its way through the pandemic.

 READ MORE: These are the numbers behind the coronavirus pandemic in Greater Philadelphia

According to state rules, counties can consider moving from the yellow phase  which is where all Philadelphia and its collar counties are  to the more permissive green phase after two weeks if they meet four metrics: 14-day case rates that are stable or declining, positive tests below 10% for 14 days, available hospital beds, and contact tracing that is underway or at least in planning.

If that doesnt happen, then they will not be able to move to the next phase, said Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesperson Nathan Wardle.

Across the country, the lifting of economically devastating stay-home and shutdown orders has been met with fear, political wrangling, and, now, an anticipated surge in infections spread during protests and civil unrest. Massive demonstrations began around the world days after George Floyds death on May 25 at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The dynamics of phased reopening have been particularly fraught in Philadelphia and its nearest suburban counties  Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, and Chester.

Originally, Gov. Tom Wolf said counties moving into the yellow phase  limited reopening of retail, child care, and offices  had to achieve a specific low rate of new infections. But when it became clear that the Philadelphia region would not achieve that by June 5, the planned go-yellow date, the governor said the benchmark was just one of many indicators his administration was using.

On May 30, the day after the region went yellow, protests over police brutality began to erupt in Philadelphia and the region. On June 8, Wolf unveiled the states new coronavirus dashboard, with the four metrics  two of which Chester County may be hard-pressed to meet by June 19, when the region is supposed to go green.
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], June 10 (ANI): Dr Reddy's Laboratories said on Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of select divisions of Wockhardt Ltd's branded generics business in India and a few other international territories of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives.



The business comprises a portfolio of 62 brands in multiple therapy areas such as respiratory, neurology, VMS, dermatology, gastroenterology, pain and vaccines.

They will transfer to Dr Reddy's along with related sales and marketing teams besides the manufacturing plant located at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh with all plant employees.

On February 12, Dr Reddy's signed a business transfer agreement with Wockhardt to acquire these business undertakings for an upfront consideration of Rs 1,850 crore.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent government restrictions, there has been a reduction in the revenue from the sales of the products during March and April.

Subsequently, through an amendment to the business transfer agreement, Dr Reddy's and Wockhardt have agreed that an amount of Rs 1,483 crore will be paid on the date of closing.

An amount of Rs 67 crore will be deposited in an escrow account and released subject to adjustments for net working capital, employee liabilities besides certain other contractual and statutory liabilities.

Besides, an amount of Rs 300 crore (holdback amount) will be released if the revenue from sales during the 12 months post-closing exceeds Rs 480 crore. Dr Reddy's will be required to pay to Wockhardt an amount equal to two times the amount by which the revenue exceeds Rs 480 crore, subject to the maximum of holdback amount.

"This deal is in line with our strategic focus on India and has paved a path for accelerated growth and leadership in the domestic market," said Dr Reddy's Co-Chairman and Managing Director G V Prasad.

"We believe that the acquired portfolio offers good growth potential for us," he said in a statement. (ANI)


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Chennai: Even as Chennai and neighbouring northern districts continue to report a surging number of coronavirus positive cases (the figures today were Chengalpattu-182, followed by Thiruvallur-105, Kancheepuram-33, Ranipet-24 and Thiruvannamalai-23), the State government issued a G.O. to implement the Chief Minister, Edappadi K Palaniswami's recent announcement to provide free face masks to all ration card holders to help reduce the spread of the infection. Accordingly, 13,48, 31,798 cloth masks have been ordered to be procured to family members of 2,08, 23,076 ration card holders in Tamil Nadu.

The 'rate fixation committee' should take a call on the appropriate specifications of the cloth masks to be supplied free to the people and it should also be satisfied that the price of the mask is reasonable and confirming to the specifications, the G.O. issued by Chief Secretary K Shanmugam said.

ends.

In yet another uncontrolled day-wise spike, 1,927 persons tested positive for Covid-19, novel coronavirus, in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, taking the total number of positive patients in the State to 36,841, even as Health Minister, Dr C Vijayabaskar brushed aside suggestions that the virus has entered the 'community transmission' stage.

While Chennai alone accounted for 1,390 Covid-19 positive cases today, and the State's death toll due to the virus jumping to 326 with 19 more deaths confirmed by the Health department today, Dr Vijayabaskar told reporters in Salem that the Government was taking utmost precautions and care in treating the coronavirus patients across the State.

"Don't fear the rising numbers," said Dr Vijayabaskar after he visited the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam medical college hospital in Salem, inspected the Covid-19 treatment facilities there, and discussed the preventive measures to be continued with the doctors. "It is for the Centre to announce, if there is any such thing (community spread)," he quipped.

Adding to what the minister said, the Health Secretary Dr Beela Rajesh said in Chennai that the government was doing everything possible within its Means to ensure that there is no shortage of beds in the various government hospitals.

The total number of beds in the major government hospitals in Chennai was being doubled from 5,000 to 10,000, she said. The treatment facilities were also being constantly upgraded, she assured.

Asked about the reported new mutation of the coronavirus, 'Clade A3i', found mostly in the Southern States of Telangana and Tamil Nadu in a recent study by the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Dr Beela Rajesh said, "there is no need to worry about it."
As the United States begins to reopen after locking down to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, guidance from epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offer insight on the coming weeks and months.

The guidelines and timelines put forth by the CDC are extremely variable, dependent on the spread of COVID-19 in a particular area and any local and state restrictions that may also apply.

TODAY spoke to epidemiologists and public health experts to talk about what reopening will look like in daily life, what people should continue to avoid, and what safety precautions should still be taken even as the country embraces "the new normal."

What do the different phases of reopening mean?

According to guidelines released by the White House, Phase II means that venues such as "sit-down dining, movie theaters, sporting venues (and) places of worship" can operate "under moderate physical distancing protocols, gyms can reopen if they adhere to "strict physical distancing and sanitation protocols" and bars may operate with diminished, standing-room only capacity "where applicable and appropriate." People can gather in larger groups, but should not number more than 50.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan Mandates Face Coverings When In Stores And Public Transit (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

Elective surgeries can also resume, though hospital and senior care facility visits should still be prohibited.

It's recommended that during this phase, employers encourage telework wherever possible, and special accommodations should exist for vulnerable individuals.

During Phase II, high-risk individuals should continue to shelter in place.

Phase III, when reached, will have fewer limitations, allow for larger gatherings, and mean that most employees can return to the office.

Related: As cities and towns prepare to reopen, anxiety is on the rise. Here's how to manage your emotions  and stay vigilant.

Robert Hecht, Ph.D., a professor of clinical epidemiology at Yale University, said it was extremely important that reopening continue at a gradual pace.

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"We don't really know how this is going to go, and being able to try out certain things and then test and see whether people are getting infected or whether it's going well and then moving on is important," he said. "Phasing is important. Monitoring and testing really closely so we know if it's working or not is important. The worst thing would be operating in the dark ... We just need to do it one step at a time. There's so much that we will need to learn and adjust as we go along."

What will daily life look like?

As states and cities reopen, things will begin to look more normal, with non-essential businesses opening and restaurants serving meals. However, there are still significant changes, like businesses sticking to curbside pick-up and restaurants only operating outdoors.

"Everything will look a little bit off," said Dr. Josh Sharfstein, the Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "I think we'll have fewer people in stores, people will be behind Plexiglass, more people will be wearing masks. Many more people will be working from home. You won't see a lot of hugging or high-fives or handshakes. I think that it will look like a version of the way things were, but every part will look different."

Dr. Saad Omer, the director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, said that people should still avoid crowded gatherings in indoor spaces.

"Things that are outside obviously do not have zero risk but have substantially lower risk," he said, adding that restaurants and businesses would be safer if they maintained things like curbside pick-up and al fresco dining.

"During outdoor dining, tables and chairs do still need to be spaced apart," he said.

Do I still have to wear a mask?

All four epidemiologists that TODAY spoke with were in agreement: It's still essential to wear a mask or other cloth face covering, which can help slow the spread of the virus.

CDC guidelines also echo the need for a mask. Other precautions, like social distancing and only going out when necessary, should also continue as much as possible.

Asian female wearing a face mask shopping at the supermarket (Getty Images stock)

"This is not over yet," said Shan Soe-Lin, a lecturer in global affairs at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and trained immunologist. "You should still be doing all the things we were doing before, to the best of your ability  masks, social distancing, really keeping social engagements to a bare minimum, keeping interactions to a bare minimum."

Can kids go to camp or school?

According to the CDC, youth camps and schools can open during the second phase of reopening, but should take precautions like keeping children in small groups and emphasizing masks and social distancing as much as possible.

Soe-Lin and Hecht worried that college and university reopenings could be a larger problem and said that there isn't necessarily enough testing to keep campuses safe.

Children attend school after the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Lockdown Crisis in Rotterdam, Netherlands (Robin Utrecht / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

"Universities are so big," Shan said. "It's basically like holding a major sporting event every day, for each of those campuses. And when you start doing the math for what that testing means, opening at least one university will consume the same amount of tests that an entire state is currently doing."

What will workplaces look like?

Sharftsein said that people will likely be working from home where possible for at least the next few months and said that cramped offices could be a high-risk environment. Some companies, like Twitter and Facebook, have already told employees that they can work from home permanently.

According to the CDC, employers and business operators should make decisions "based on both the level of disease transmission in the community and your readiness to protect the safety and health of your employees and customers."

Portrait of a young woman working in her office and wearing face mask. (Getty Images)

For those who do go into the office, expect some changes, like continued mask-wearing and more distancing between co-workers. Some have suggested that workplaces will have staggered hours or alternating staff schedules to minimize the amount of people who are in the building at one time. Testing will also be important, especially in organizations that frequently work with the public.

"The testing frequency matters, based on risk," said Soe-Lin. "If you are a responsible employer and you're bringing people back and they're interfacing a lot with each other, ideally you should be testing your employees every three to four days, or at least weekly."
CHICAGO, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Presented with a historic agreement between consumer advocates and Illinois' major utilities, state regulators are now considering one of the most comprehensive COVID-19 utility-focused relief measures in the country. This relief plan could serve as a national model for helping utility customers struggling to pay their bills during a pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, a broad coalition of consumer groups and government officials announced Thursday.

The relief plan is expected to be approved next week by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). In addition to extending the halt on utility shut-offs and late fees through the summer, consumer advocates say the negotiated plan also reconnects customers without slapping them with fees, provides longer payment plans, and offers significant bill-payment assistance to help people catch up on their bills as Illinois begins recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plan was negotiated by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office; Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot's office; Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), represented by the National Consumer Law Center; the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services; Allen Cherry, a longtime advocate for low-income utility customers in Illinois; and the Citizens Utility Board (CUB). Those groups were concerned that the pandemic, which forced many people out of work and into their homes, would lead to an overwhelming number of consumers unable to afford their electric, gas and water bills under existing strict utility credit and collection rules, and would cause potential mass disconnections from utility services that are vital to consumers' health and welfare.

"Illinois residents are still experiencing financial hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic," Attorney General Raoul said. "My office advocated on behalf of consumers not only to ensure residents will have access to manageable repayment plans and bill assistance so that they stay connected to vital utility services, but also to provide regulators with data to assess whether particular communities, including communities of color, are being disproportionately impacted by a utility's disconnection and credit and collections processes."

"The COVID-19 crisis has greatly exacerbated many of the financial hardships thousands of Chicagoans were already facing in their everyday lives, forcing many to choose between paying for their utilities, their food, or other essential costs, all while facing the prospect of incurring crippling levels of debt," said Mayor Lightfoot. "I am proud to be joining the many public leaders and consumer advocates in creating this relief plan and setting a nationwide example on how cities and states can work together to help uplift our communities during this unprecedented time and provide solutions that keep our families safe, healthy, and on the path to success."

"Parents were already drowning as a result of the high costs of utilities. COVID-19 has added a heavier weight. It is imperative that utilities throw financially challenged communities a lifeline to ease the burden of utilities we need for basic survival," said Rosazlia Grillier, COFI parent leader. "Our thanks to the Attorney General, the Mayor, our advocacy partners, and the National Consumer Law Center."

"We talk to utility customers every day, so we know people are hurting," said CUB Executive Director David Kolata. "There's a lot of work to be done, but this plan is a huge step forward for helping Illinois families get back on their feet."

In March, on the heels of Governor J.B. Pritzker's emergency stay-at-home directive, the ICC temporarily barred service shut-offs and late-payment fees for all of Illinois' investor-owned utilities. At the same time, state regulators launched a process in which the utilities and consumer advocates would set up a recovery plan for utility customers.

The resulting 30-page agreement includes the following consumer protections for customers of Ameren Illinois, Aqua Illinois, ComEd, Illinois American Water, Nicor Gas, North Shore Gas, Peoples Gas and Utilities Inc.:

Extension of the ICC moratorium on shut-offs and late-payment fees until about September 1, 2020 .

. Reconnection without fee of all financially strapped utility customers disconnected in the last year for nonpayment until about February 1, 2021 .

. A bill-payment assistance program that offers debt forgiveness for utility customers facing financial hardship.

Until about February 1, 2021 , utilities are required to offer extended consumer-friendly Deferred Payment Arrangements (DPAs)utility payment plans that help customers pay off utility debt with no down payment. DPAs for customers who express financial hardship will not require a down payment and will be extended to 24 months. All other customers will be charged a down payment of no more than 10% of their arrearage, and may select periods up to 18 months to pay it off. (Typically, such plans are no more than 12 months.)

, utilities are required to offer extended consumer-friendly Deferred Payment Arrangements (DPAs)utility payment plans that help customers pay off utility debt with no down payment. DPAs for customers who express financial hardship will not require a down payment and will be extended to 24 months. All other customers will be charged a down payment of no more than 10% of their arrearage, and may select periods up to 18 months to pay it off. (Typically, such plans are no more than 12 months.) The agreement will allow verbal expressions of financial hardship to remove barriers to accessing these protections. No documentation will be required.

Utilities will be required to waive deposits connected to late or nonpayment, arrearages, or credit-related issues for residential customers experiencing financial hardship until about February 1, 2021 . All other customers will get this benefit until the end of September.

. All other customers will get this benefit until the end of September. For six months after the ICC moratorium, utilities will not report late payments and nonpayment for active customers to credit bureaus and reporting agencies.

Required utility reporting of disconnections and other credit and collections data, by zip code, through August of 2021. Consumer advocates lauded the data-collection requirements, saying they will provide valuable information about which neighborhoods and communities are being hit the hardest by utility bills and collection procedures.

Also key, advocates said, is an agreement by the utilities to begin a discussion on how to improve the affordability of utility service for low-income consumers. This would include discussing creation of a low-income discount as well as arrearage-reduction programs. It also would examine how to improve the effectiveness of the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP), and to protect its funding from being used for other purposes in the state budget process. The PIPP, a program supported by consumer advocates, gives financial assistance to fixed-income consumers as long as they consistently pay a percentage of their energy bill.

SOURCE Citizens Utility Board

Related Links

http://www.citizensutilityboard.org


The mania currently sweeping much of the Western world apparently knows no limits. In the U.K., Black Lives Matter activists are trying to tear down statues of famous Britons, including Robert Peel. Why Robert Peel? Because he is seen as the father of modern policing, having founded Londons metropolitan police department. Which, of course, was famously unarmed.

But that isnt the worst of it:

Nelsons Column is the latest target of anti-racism campaigners who want it torn down over links to the slave trade. The Royal Navy hero is included in a hit-list of 60 statues on a topple the racists website listing memorials across the UK that activists say celebrate slavery and racism. Nelsons column was erected in 1840 in honour of Horatio Nelson, one of the most famous naval officers in history. Towering 170ft high, its topped with a statue of Lord Nelson, in memorial to the British Navys inspirational leader.

Nelson is one of the great heroes of British history; along with Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, he led the years-long effort to defeat Napoleon. His column dominates Londons Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square, of course, is named after the great naval battle in which Englands fleet, under Nelson, destroyed the French fleet in 1805.

Its news to me, but apparently Nelson favored the slave trade and was hostile toward the abolitionist movement. These days, that is more than enough to get a historical figure canceled. The point that the activists dont seem to grasp is that Nelson (to stay with this instance) has never been honored for his views on the slave trade. His monument does not celebrate slavery and racism. Rather, Nelson is remembered as perhaps the greatest naval commander in history, who contributed greatly to saving Britain from a likely French invasion and died doing it. It is ridiculous to denigrate that achievement because he happened to agree with the majority sentiment of his time on an unrelated issue.

In any event, my guess is that Nelsons Column is secure, as is his place in British history. The crazies arent going to succeed in tearing down either.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Unilever is taking a second bite of the Double Cherry Magnum and attempting to tackle its cumbersome corporate structure once more.

The plan announced on Thursday to combine its U.K. and Dutch arms into a single British parent company has a better chance of succeeding than its botched attempt two years ago to domicile in the Netherlands, for which its former chief executive officer, Paul Polman, and former chairman, Marijn Dekkers, paid the price.

The move by the maker of Dove skincare and Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream also paves the way for the separation of the foods and refreshment business, a step that Polmans successor, Alan Jope, could take in an effort to revive Unilevers flagging appeal to investors. Jope has been criticized for failing to work as quickly as rival Nestle SA to sell flagging brands and energize others. Today he blamed the companys two-pronged structure for getting in the way.

Why is he likely to succeed where Polman failed? In 2018, the plan to unify Unilever into a single Dutch company was abandoned after opposition from some British shareholders, angry the entity probably wouldnt have qualified for inclusion in the FTSE-100 Index. Trackers and active funds with a blue-chip mandate would likely have had to sell, effectively giving up their holdings for no premium.

The new proposal, from Jope, a Brit, and Danish chairman Nils Andersen, should get around this problem. Of course, it could face opposition from Dutch investors. But the company is confident the shares will be able to remain a constituent of the Dutch AEX Index too. Some funds tracking the Euro Stoxx 50 may have to sell, but this proportion is expected to be small.

Meanwhile, Unilever looks to have headed off any possible political fallout in the Netherlands. It has already engaged with the Dutch government, agreeing that if the company were ever to list the foods and refreshment business as an independent company, it would do so in the Netherlands.

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This acquiescence is not surprising. Unilever has strong roots in the Netherlands and will be keen to minimize the chance of an ugly row. The country also has a more protective takeover regime. The arrangement is a compromise that enables Unilever to achieve its simplification, while giving the Netherlands influence over any future Dutch foods business were it to be separated as a result.

Just the mention of a possible separation of foods and refreshments is significant.

Unilever says the question of a demerger is relevant for its tea business. But the whole of the division, which includes a laundry list of well-known brands such as Magnum ice cream, Hellmans mayonnaise and Pot Noodle, is the bigger prize. This division could have a market capitalization of 45 billion euros ($51 billion) on its own, Jefferies analyst Martin Deboo estimated in January.

It was surprising that Unilever really missed out during the pandemic-induced panic buying and work-from-home shift in consumer demand. It just didnt have the right brands or market position to tap into the bulk buying and switch into nostalgia foods that bolstered rivals such as Nestle and Kraft Heinz Foods Co., and it wasnt in the personal-care categories that took off, such as home hair dye.

Splitting off the foods and refreshment business would see Jope back on the offensive, and potentially breathing fresh life into the Unilever investment story. The new structure would also be more conducive to big acquisitions, enabling him to undertake a bigger portfolio reshaping, as Nestle CEO Mark Schneider has.

But first Jope has to pull off the unification. While Unilever wouldnt have tried a second time if it didnt think it could succeed, any unexpected hitch could become a flash point for broader shareholder concerns. With so much riding on the simplification, Jope cant afford a repeat of Polmans Dutch debacle.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.

Chris Hughes is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals. He previously worked for Reuters Breakingviews, as well as the Financial Times and the Independent newspaper.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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The Kaduna State School Quality Assurance Authority has shut down Future Leaders International School, Unguwar Rimi, Kaduna, for conducting entrance examination in violation of the Coronavirus Quarantine Order.

The Director-General of the agency, Umma Ahmad, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Thursday, adding that the schools license would also be revoked.

Mrs Ahmad explained that the school was shut down on Wednesday for conducting entrance examination into Junior Secondary School I (JSS I) and Senior Secondary School I (SSI) for 70 pupils.

She added that they found 34 teaching and non-teaching staffers, including construction workers within the school premises.

The action, Mrs Ahmad said, was in violation of the federal and the states government COVID-19 Quarantine Order, which directed that all schools should remain closed.

The official added that the government had held a series of meetings with the leadership of the Nigerian Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) in the state on why schools should remain closed.

It was resolved that members of the association should leverage on e-learning introduced by the Ministry of Education to keep children learning at home and at no cost to parents.

According to her, Governor Nasir El-Rufai had also in a broadcast on June 9, categorically directed that all schools should remain closed.

But against this directive, we learnt that Future Leaders International School had asked pupils and students to come to the school to write entrance examination into JSS I and SS I.

On getting there, we met 70 pupils and students writing the examination, with 34 teaching and non-teaching staffs as well as construction ongoing in the school.

In fact, half of the pupils and students were not wearing face masks, a situation that put the children at risk of contracting the Coronavirus.

I, therefore, sent the pupils out, invited their parents and closed the school as directed by the Commissioner of Education, Dr Shehu Makarfi.

The quality assurance boss added emphatically that the schools license would be revoked.

When contacted, the proprietor of the school, Margarita Osuala, said: I will not speak right now, but I will get back to you.

On his part, NAPPS Secretary, Philip Iorhena, described the incident as very unfortunate.

Mr Iorhena acknowledged that the state government had been carrying the association along in all its decisions concerning the lockdown, and wondered why Future Leaders International School decided to open.

Notwithstanding, we apologise on behalf of the school and we are appealing to the state government for leniency, he said.

(NAN)
Chang first joined Topa Insurance Company in 2015. She has served a couple of key roles within the company since joining, such as programs & reinsurance manager, and most recently as assistant vice-president of reinsurance & programs. Before joining Topa Insurance, Chang was the head of treaty reinsurance at Aon Benfield, where she was the country head of the companys Thailand operations. She also worked at Guy Carpenter as a senior vice-president of treaty broking for the US West Coast and at Swiss Re as a manager of ceded reinsurance.

She has more than 26 years of experience and has the ARe designation.
The United States now has more than 2 million Covid-19 infections with over 27,000 reported in the last 24 hours and a spike in hospitalisation has been reported from 12 states triggering fears of a second wave and, in a grim reminder that it is far from over yet, an expert has forecast 100,000 more fatalities by September.

More than 112,000 fatalities had been reported till Thursday morning, with 935 in the last 24 hours. Ashish Jha, a Harvard physician, has argued the United States could see around 25,000 deaths a months, with the average of around 800 a day, at the minimum, going up to 200,000 by mid-September.

Even if we dont have increasing cases, even if we keep things flat, its reasonable to expect that were going to hit 200,000 deaths sometime during the month of September, Jha said. in an interview to CNN Wednesday. And thats just through September. The pandemic wont be over in September.

Ramped up testing, contact tracing, strict adherence to social distancing norms and widespread use of masks could help prevent spiraling fatalities, he has argued.

Anthony Fauci, the top US epidemiologist who has also said the epidemic is not done with the United States yet, told ABC Wednesday he is worried about the impact of ongoing protests and demonstrations. Masks can help, but its masks plus physical separation and when you get congregations like we saw with the demonstrations, like we have said  myself and other health officials  thats taking a risk, he said., adding, Unfortunately, what were seeing now is just an example of the kinds of things we were concerned about.

Covid-19 hospitalizations  a number far more worrying than infections  have been spiking in 12 states (21 states have seen a surge in new infections) and there is talk already of a second wave hitting states after they reopened. Such as Florida, Arizona, and Texas.

Texas recorded a single-day high of more than 2,500 new cases and Florida logged a seven-day total of 8,553 cases, according to Bloomberg, which was told by Eric Tanner, a Johns Hopkins University scholar, There is a new wave coming in parts of the country. ts small and its distant so far, but its coming.

Public health officials have been most worried about Arizona, where the number of new cases has doubled  up by 211%  over the past two weeks, the states health department has said. Its healthcare system, which is up to 83% occupancy, is in danger of being overwhelmed soon.

But the epidemic appears to have slipped off the radar of the president, the White House and US congress partly because of President Trumps hurry to reopen the country, put businesses back at work and turnaround rising unemployment numbers (another 1.2 million filed for unemployment benefits last week) , which was has happened to an extent with hirings taking off. The other reason has been antiracism protests and unrest ripping through the country after the death of George Floyd, an African American man, under a knee of a white police officer, with three others holding him down.

President Trump has announced plans to return to the campaign trail with public rallies; some of them in states that are experiencing a spike in new infections: Florida, Texas, Arizona, and North Carolina. He starts on June 19 in Oklahoma, which is relatively safer, but Tulsa, where the rally is to take place, is in a county that has seen a modest rise.
The EU has called for social media companies to provide monthly reports in the fight against fake news as reported by Reuters. This comes amidst Twitters ongoing fight with Trump over fact-checking and free speech. These calls highlight the concerns felt by the EU about the ongoing spread of misinformation around the globe.

Head of EU Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, and European Commissions Vice President for values and transparency Vera Jourova made these comments. They mainly focused on calling out China and Russia for their spread of fake news across the globe.

Social media companies to tackle fake news

Social media companies have been beginning to lead the fight against fake news. Facebook, for example, has stepped up its efforts before the 2020 elections.

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However, the fact that the EU has stepped in demonstrates how much more needs to be done. It also shows the level of concern that is being felt.

Jourova called for Chinese-owned social media TikTok brand blocs voluntary code of conduct to combat misinformation. Overall the EU has plans to step-up its strategy to combat fake news. This will take the form of providing more support to independent and free media in terms of fact-checking and research.

The commission recommended that online platforms should provide monthly reports on misinformation. This would detail their actions to combat the spread of fake news and to promote correct content.

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The idea behind this is to share information across companies. This would mean that with this greater sharing of information should emerge a more sophisticated strategy against fake news.

Vaccination the next fight for fake news

Jourova suggested that the next big fight against misinformation is likely to be surrounding the topic of vaccinations.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging and the race for a vaccine intensifying the need for it to be administered widely when available is of great importance.

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Jourova pointed out that in the last two months Germans willingness to be vaccinated has fallen by 20%. She told a press conference, It can negatively impact the economy and undermine the response of the public authorities and therefore weaken the health measures.

Fake news and misinformation is clearly one of the most important battles in the online world. The EU involving itself is significant as it underlines the importance of the topic.

It also adds an authoritative and collaborative element to what has to now been a rather individual scatter gun approach. Hopefully, this collaborative approach will lead to more fruitful results in the future.
Firms and individuals in Malawi are still waiting for the implementation of the Cannabis Regulation Act after the country passed a bill in February legalising cannabis for medical and industrial use.

Ingrow Limited, a company that grows and processes industrial cannabis, has expressed optimism that the crop can do well in Malawi.

It added that if the act will be implemented, Malawians growing it can benefit from the crop.

Ingrow Limited director, Nerbert Nyirenda, told a local newspaper in the country that the act has to be gazetted and the responsible minister should gazette both the effective date of the Act and regulations to operationalise the act.

The passing of the bill brought a lot of debate from religious leaders and anti-smoking activists.

Furthermore, it is believed that the majority could not differentiate the industrial hemp from the illegal Indian hemp.

Meanwhile, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture has said that the ministry is developing guidelines and regulations to facilitate the implementation of the new law.

For years, Malawi has been depending on tobacco as a main source of revenue and foreign currency in the country, however, due to the global anti-tobacco campaigns, the crop has been on the decline.

Economic experts have so far opted for the implementation of the Act citing that cannabis is economically viable because of its vast list of by-products in comparison with other commercial crops grown in Malawi.

(Xinhua/NAN)
NSW again faces a dilemma over the balance between racial justice and public health  and whether to allow a second planned Black Lives Matter protest to go ahead on Saturday. The NSW Police Commissioner is asking the courts to stop it; the Prime Minister has warned it could jeopardise our success in containing COVID-19.

The Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney last weekend. Credit:AAP

Just on Thursday, a Melbourne protester from last weekend's rallies was reported to have tested positive to COVID, and it is not clear that protesters have been effectively self-isolating since.

The public health threat is therefore clear: large protests, involving thousands of people in close contact, go against key protocols we have observed for several months surrounding social distancing. And they do so in ways that make contact-tracing and self-isolation especially challenging.

Yet the case for allowing the protest to go ahead is equally powerful: hundreds of thousands of people around the world have come out to protest against the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. And their message is clear and persuasive: black Americans have faced a long history of economic and political injustice, and far too little in the way of response and redress.
Eric Gay / AP

Whataburger is the latest company to issue a statement on racial injustices and share a plan of action as the nation pushes for social justice and police reform following the death of George Floyd.

The beloved Texas burger company's social media channels had been quiet since June 1, aside from handling customer questions, but an official statement was posted Wednesday morning.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Workers of Tata Steel's Dutch operations at IJmuiden unit are worried and demanding job security from the management, labour union Federatie Nederlandse Vakverenigingen (FNV) said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the workers of company's IJmuiden unit boycotted work and went on a strike, FNV said in a statement.

From 2 pm afternoon, workers at the ore preparation area of plant went on strike, affecting the supply of the raw material for the blast furnaces, pellet factory and sinter factory, it said.

in the statement, Roel Berghuis, spokesman of FNV, of which thousands of Tata Steel IJmuiden plant workers are members, said: "It is for the first time in 28 years that people at Tata Steel IJmuiden are on strike.

That shows how much the people of Tata Steel Netherlands are concerned.

"According to the Dutch labour union, the "inevitable move" was taken when the management of Tata Steel did not respond to the demands of the employees.

The workers want, among other things, the guarantee that there will be no redundancies and that no jobs will disappear.

"The Indian owners want to cut thousands of jobs at Tata Steel Europe. Last month, chairman of Tata Steel Netherlands Theo Henrar was suddenly laid off. Still, there has not been a proper explanation about that departure. They (workers) are fed up and want the survival of Tata Steel in IJmuiden.

"Furthermore, the staff requires that agreements in the Employment Pact are extended until 2026 and that no parts of Tata Steel Netherlands are sold," it said.

In its response, Tata Steel said it recognises the uncertainty in the minds of the employees and respects the rights of the workers in IJmuiden steelworks.

In the current environment of global uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has been working with all stakeholders, including the unions in both Netherlands and the UK, to meet the challenges.

Tata Steel also said it had requested the union in the Netherlands to postpone industrial action so it could continue discussions and find the best way forward to meet everyone's interests, and added the industrial action will only put further pressure on the company's results as it continues to deal with the impact of lower steel demand caused by the pandemic.

It is important all stakeholders make every effort to keep the company in good health.

"We value the dialogue with our employee representatives and we will continue discussions with them.

We have invited the FNV union for a conversation and while it has not responded, our door is still open and the company looks forward to an active engagement with the unions in the coming days," Tata Steel said.
A man who deliberately coughed at police officers while claiming he was infected with Covid-19 has been jailed.

Andrew Mcendoo carried out the crime in Wembley, north London, after officers stopped the 39-year-old for a drugs search earlier this month.

The moment officers began trying to speak to Mcendoo he began coughing at them and saying he had coronavirus, the Metropolitan Police said.

During the search Mcendoo, of North Circular Road, Neasden, was also found to be in possession of heroin.

He pleaded guilty to charges and was sentenced at Willesden Magistrates Court on Monday to 12 months in prison - for two counts of assault on an emergency worker, and two months for possession of Class A drugs.

The Met labelled Mcendoo's actions towards its officers "completely unacceptable".

Police Sergeant Andrew Marsh, of the North West Command Unit, said: This behaviour is completely unacceptable. Our officers spend every day working to protect their local communities.

Mcendoos actions placed them at risk that day. It is clear that he knew he would be arrested if found in possession of the drugs, so he intentionally coughed at them. However, they were not deterred and a quantity of Class A drugs is now off the streets."

It is a crime under current coronavirus legislation to deliberately attempt to infect a person with the virus.
Since the lockdown rules have lifted significantly, Im sure a lot of you are itching to go out on a road trip. If youre in the market looking for something that will help ferry the entire family, heres a list we think could make that choice easier.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari said if the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is able to acquire land for the ambitious project Chambal Expressway in three months, the Centre would quickly start work on it.

His announcement came at a time when his party is gearing up for bypolls on 24 assembly seats, most of which are located in the impoverished ChambalGwalior region of the state, where the BJP came to power in March.

Twenty-two Congress rebel MLAs, mainly loyalists of former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, had resigned in March, resulting in collapse of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government.

After becoming chief minister (in March) Shivraj Singh Chouhanji spoke to me about the proposed expressway in Chambal. Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar ji often tells me that the project would open new vistas for development in the region," Gadkari said.

The Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister was addressing the BJP's 'Jan Samvad virtual rally' here from Nagpur.

Shivrajji accomplish the work of land acquisition. If you do the work of acquiring 80 per cent government land in three months, I assure you, I will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone of the project," the senior BJP leader added.

It (the project) should not just be a highway. On both sides, industrial units and food clusters should come up. We will open industries along the highway," said Gadkari, who is also the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister.

He said the expressway would generate employment for a huge number of people in the Chambal region whose ravines were once infamous for sheltering dacoits.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 11:45:55|Editor: huaxia

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SEOUL, June 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export posted a double-digit growth in the first 10 days of June owing to more working days compared with the same period of last year, customs office data showed Thursday.

Export, which takes up about half of the export-driven economy, amounted to 12.3 billion U.S. dollars in the May 1-10 period, up 20.2 percent from the same period of last year, according to Korea Customs Service.

It came as the number of business days gained by two days in the cited period. The daily average shipment, which excludes the working day effect, declined 9.8 percent to 1.54 billion dollars.

Import added 8.5 percent to 13.6 billion dollars in the 10-day period, sending the trade deficit to 1.3 billion dollars.

Shipment of semiconductors and telecommunication devices, such as smartphone, advanced in double figures for the first 10 days of this month compared with a year earlier.

Export of medicine and medical supplies more than doubled in the period on robust demand for locally-made test kits for the COVID-19 and other relevant medical supplies.

Export for oil products, automobiles and auto parts tumbled in double digits in the 10-day period.

Shipment to China and the United States, South Korea's top two trading partners, rose 35.7 percent and 15.1 percent each, with those to the European Union (EU) and Japan expanding 22.2 percent and 10.0 percent respectively. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 12:06:24|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Thursday issued an article titled "The COVID-19 Pandemic Magnifies the Crisis of 'U.S.-Style Human Rights'."

The U.S. government's self-interested, short-sighted, inefficient, and irresponsible response to the pandemic has caused the tragedy in which about 2 million Americans became infected with the virus and more than 110,000 have died from it, the article said.

It has exposed the long-existing and now deteriorating problems in the United States, such as a divisive society, the polarization between the rich and the poor, racial discrimination, and the inadequate protection of the rights and interests of vulnerable groups, according to the article.

"This has led the American people into grave human rights disasters," it read.

The article pointed out that the U.S. government has ignored the pandemic warnings, prioritized capital interests and politicized the anti-pandemic endeavor in its COVID-19 response.

When the virus broke out in the United States, some U.S. politicians used it as a weapon to attack political opponents, viewed it as an opportunity to seize power and partisan interests, and prioritized the response of the capital market, instead of regarding the drive to protect the lives and health of their people as their top priority, it said.

"Due to this, the U.S. government failed to give effective warnings to the public and failed to get prepared for the potential consumption of medical resources caused by the pandemic, bringing the American people to the brink of infection and death," it noted.

The article added that inequality within U.S. society has been fully exposed during the pandemic.

"The pandemic has made the lives of people at the bottom of U.S. society increasingly difficult, and further intensified the social polarization between rich and poor," it said, adding that the high unemployment rate brought about by the pandemic has led the working class into a crisis of survival.

Vulnerable groups in the United States have been struggling to survive during the pandemic, it noted.

The elderly have been the "victims" of the U.S. government's ineffectiveness in fighting the pandemic, which also left the homeless having nowhere to go and poor children and immigrant children in worrisome situation, according to the article. Enditem

Related
All clear: A final view of the Mari Paper Mills clarifier tank before the new WWTP goes into operation. The concrete was waterproofed with the Penetron System. The commissioning of the wastewater treatment facilities will allow the Mari Pulp and Paper Mill to meet more stringent regulations on the discharge of pollutants into the Volga River basin.

The latest stage of construction at the Mari Pulp and Paper Mill in Volzhsk, Russia was completed in June 2020. Penetron crystalline materials were applied to waterproof the new concrete structures.

Located in Volzhsk, a city of about 55,000 and part of the Kazan metropolitan area directly east of Moscow, the Mari Pulp and Paper Mill offers a full range of cellulose products, such as: paper, cardboard, cellulose, paper bags, corrugated cardboard. The Volzhsk plant has the capacity to produce up to 120,000 tons of paper, 110,000 tons of cardboard, 50,000 tons of market pulp, 10 million square meters of corrugated cardboard, and 25 million paper bags  every year.

Originally built in the 1930s, the mill has recently undergone an extensive program of expansion, repair and modernization by adding a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and repairing/updating the existing mill buildings.

Cleaner and More Durable

The commissioning of the wastewater treatment facilities will allow the Mari Pulp and Paper Mill to meet more stringent regulations on the discharge of pollutants into the Volga River basin, says Igor Chernologolv, President of Penetron Russia.

To ensure the durability of the concrete structures, the Penetron system was specified by the project contractor. PENETRON, an integral crystalline waterproofing material, was applied to the various drainage tanks, settling tanks, and circulating water basins of the WWTP, and was utilized for repairs in various mill buildings. Used in combination with PENETRON, PENECRETE MORTAR was applied to fill any cracks, construction joints, form-tie holes, honeycombed and damaged areas in the concrete.

Achieving Permanent Concrete Protection

Applied by brush or spray to either the positive or negative side of the concrete structure  to simplify application and save time  PENETRON penetrates deeply into the structure in the presence of moisture. The ensuing chemical reaction fills microcracks, pores and capillaries with an insoluble crystalline formation, which prevents water and water-borne chemicals from entering, even under high hydrostatic pressure. Cracks that develop during the lifetime of the concrete are self-healed by PENETRON, resulting in permanent concrete protection.

Work on the wastewater treatment plant will continue later this year with the addition of a post-treatment facility and emergency pools, adds Igor Chernogolov. Penetron will surely be part of the mix.

The Penetron Group is a leading manufacturer of specialty construction products for concrete waterproofing, concrete repairs and floor preparation systems. The Group operates through a global network, offering support to the design and construction community through its regional offices, representatives and distribution channels.

For more information on Penetron waterproofing solutions, please visit penetron(dot)com or Facebook(dot)com/ThePenetronGroup, email CRDept(at)penetron(dot)com, or contact the Corporate Relations Department at 631-941-9700.
Tom Cruise is famous for doing his own daredevil stunts, and his latest blockbuster looks to set to follow suit.

Skydance, the production company for the much-anticipated Cruise sequel Top Gun: Maverick, shared some behind-the-scenes footage on Wednesday, showing the great lengths the crew have gone to keep the action looking as real as possible.

'No CGI here,' the company tweeted, posting a video of the crew looking visibly shocked as a jet plane is seen flying very low to the ground as they film beneath it.

'No CGI here': Tom Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick scene shows jet flying VERY low over the crew... in a clip posted by Skydance on Wednesday

The nail-biting, nine-second teaser clip shows members of the production team reacting in slo-mo, as the force of the jet is seen shaking them up a notch.

It is not clear if Cruise is flying the jet himself, though he his featured in the clip towards the end.

Cruise - who is reprising his role as Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell - told Empire Magazine in January that the movie would not include 'CGI stuff' like his last box-office bomb The Mummy.

'I said to the studio, "You don't know how hard this movie's going to be. No-one's ever done this before,"' Cruise told the publication. 'There's never been an aerial sequence shot this way. I don't know if there ever will be again, to be honest.'

How low can you go: The crew are seen getting ready to feel the force of the jet flying over

Slow-motion: The clip then goes into slo-mo as we see how the force of the jet shakes everyone up

Keeping it reel: Tom Cruise has previously said the movie would not contain a lot of 'CGI stuff'

In April, director Joseph Kosinski insisted that the highly anticipated action flick starring Cruise will 'stick' to schedule and be ready by June, even if it's not being released for another six months.

'We're sticking to our schedule and finishing the movie just as if it were coming out on its original release date,' said Kosinski in an interview with ComicBook.com.

Even though COVID-19 has left Hollywood at a standstill, the Joseph revealed that the current restrictions have not interfered with him completing the project.

He's back: Cruise is reprising his role as Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

'Luckily, I'm in the home stretch of post-production where, despite all the restrictions of how you can work now, I'm able to continue doing my job and finish the movie, which is pretty amazing.'

The film-maker did admit that if he 'were in any other phase of the project, it would be hard' to complete.

Joseph explained: 'But because I'm in the tail-end of post, I'm able to do everything I need to to be able to to finish it.'

Push back: The film was originally scheduled to hit theaters in June of 2020, but will, instead premiere in December.

The film was originally scheduled to hit theaters in June of 2020, but will, instead premiere in December.

According to its official synopsis, Top Gun: Maverick marks the return of 'one of the Navy's top aviators, Pete Mitchell.'

'After more than thirty years of service, Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.'

With many films, such as Disney's live-action Mulan making the transition from a theatrical release to a VOD release, Kosinski was asked if he considered releasing the film onto a streaming platform.

Kosinski refused to follow suit because he believes Top Gun: Maverick is a 'movie that people need to see on the big screen'.

He added: 'If there's no big screen, then you don't want to release this movie. We want this to be a shared experience on as big a screen as possible.'
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island politicians, youth, NYPD, and other community members came together virtually on Wednesday evening to engage in a conversation about eradicating racism on the Island.

The Zoom discussion, titled Community Dialogue on Race Relations: Speak out Against Hate and Prejudice, was hosted by the African Community Alliance of Staten Island (ACASI). More than 100 community members were present for the call.

On the call, representatives for the Legal Aid Society, ACASI, and the Staten Island Immigrants Council had a chance to speak about racial injustices on Staten Island.

They were joined by NYPD Assistant Chief and Borough Commander Kenneth Corey, Rep. Max Rose (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn), Assemblyman Charles Fall (D-North Shore) and District Attorney Michael McMahon.

A discussion about race has been center stage in response to the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis after officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin has since been fired, arrested and charged in Floyds killing.

Since his death, members of the Black Lives Matter movement and other activists have called for change to police policy and inequality around the nation.

All lives do indeed matter. However, we want to focus on black lives in particular," said a young member of the community, Kewe Mbangue. [George Floyd] made me think about how deeply rooted the systemic injustices are against black people. We want there to be a space where all of our voices arent just heard, but real and effective action can be taken.

Mbangue explained that even if young black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) scream at the top of [their] lungs, it may not create effective change. The virtual conversation was meant to be an avenue to do that.

26 PHOTOS: Over 1,800 assemble for massive protest at Conference House Park

Community leaders, including Corey, explained that listening to the community was a priority in the beginning stage of enacting change.

I really want to listen to what people have to say today, said Corey. This presents a historic opportunity for us to come closer together - police and community, working together. We know we need to do better.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a push for major legislative change in regard to police policy across the state. Two of the most often discussed reforms involve Civil Rights Law 50-a and chokehold policy.

During the presentation, Rose discussed the new Justice in Policing Act that has some really long, overdue policy changes.

The act primarily prohibits law enforcement from racial, religious and discriminatory profiling and mandates training on similar issues. Currently, the bill is going through a hearing process for further improvements, according to Rose.

Fall listed the following legislation, also created in Albany this past week:

Creation of public right to record police, mandating that a person under arrest or in custody can record law enforcement or police

A bill making false police reports a crime

Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act

All state police officers are required to wear body cameras

If a police officer discharges their weapon, it must be reported to their supervisor within six hours.

Repeal of Civil Rights Law 50-A

Creation of an act that requires courts to maintain and report records concerning arrests and court proceedings, including low-level offenses

Creation of an act requiring medical response for arrestees

In the event of a police shooting, the case will go to a special prosecutor within the attorney generals office for review.

After the presenters spoke, the floor was opened for community members to field questions and suggestions.

When asked about escalating arrests and connecting with the community, Corey said NYPD and community members need to get to know each other.

Corey is in full support of moving funding away from NYPD to youth programs, he said. Furthermore, he thinks situations police respond to need to be re-evaluated.

An example is somebody having a mental health crisis,'' Corey said. "Is that really something that we want the police responding to? In many ways, unfortunately, the Police Department has absorbed responsibilities that really belong with other agencies.

Further questions tackled racial inequalities that go beyond policing, including education.

One member asked about how BIPOC can have equal access to specialized schools, such as Staten Island Technical High School. The school faced criticism in March for only admitting one black student to the incoming freshman class.

Members of ACASI said this was the first in a series of discussions to be held.

We actually want to work together as a cohesive community, not one easily divided, said Francis James of ACASI. We know that this is a human issue, and not an issue of just black and white. America is better than this.
Nokia Corporation

Stock Exchange Release

June 11, 2020 at 8:00 (CET +1)

Marco Wiren appointed Chief Financial Officer of Nokia; Kristian Pullola to step down

Espoo, Finland - Nokia has appointed Marco Wiren as CFO of the company and member of the Group Leadership Team, replacing current CFO Kristian Pullola. Wiren will join Nokia on September 1, 2020.

"I am pleased that Marco will be joining us to take the reins of Nokia along with our future CEO, Pekka Lundmark," said Rajeev Suri, Nokia President and CEO. "I initiated the succession planning with the Board's support some time ago and, as Nokia's next CEO, Pekka led the effort to its completion with the selection of Marco."

"Marco has deep financial and leadership experience, a sharp focus on driving operational excellence, and a demonstrated record of success," said future CEO Lundmark. "He also brings an extensive background in business-to-business and technology companies. I am looking forward to working closely with him and am fully confident he will be a terrific member of the Nokia team."

Wiren, who will be based at the company's headquarters in Espoo, Finland, is currently President of Wartsila Energy and Executive Vice President of Wartsila Group, a global leader in smart technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. Wiren has held a number of CFO and other senior financial roles, including CFO of Wartsila Group; CFO of SSAB Group, a global specialized steel company; and CFO of Eltel Networks, a provider of technical services to the electrical and telecommunications industries.

"Nokia is one of the world's iconic global companies and I am excited to be joining as the 5G era gets fully underway," said Wiren. "I have deep respect for the company and its culture and look forward to helping create value for shareholders and other stakeholders in the years to come."

During his time at Wartsila, Wiren helped establish the company as a leader in energy storage, streamlined the portfolio to focus on primary value creation opportunities, improved cash performance, strengthened investment decision-making and expanded use of robotics and artificial intelligence. He also currently serves as Vice Board Chair of Neste, a 28 billion market cap company that provides renewable energy solutions. Wiren holds an M.Sc. in Business Administration from the University of Uppsala.

Kristian Pullola, who has served as Chief Financial Officer since January 2017, will step down as CFO and leave the Group Leadership Team on August 31, 2020. He will remain with the company until around the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition. During his time at Nokia, Pullola played a key role in the transactions that transformed Nokia to a global leader in telecommunications infrastructure, including the sale of the Devices business to Microsoft and the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. He also led company-level performance management processes and helped reduce overall fixed costs substantially. Pullola transformed the finance function into a process-led business partner while enhancing productivity.

"Kristian has been with Nokia for 21 years, and I know he is looking forward to the opportunity to pursue a new path," said Suri. "His commitment, integrity and deep belief in Nokia and its values has served as an example to all of us. I have worked closely with him in both good times and bad, and could not have asked for a more dedicated, intelligent colleague. All of Nokia owes him their thanks and he certainly has mine."

"Serving at Nokia has been a true honor," said Pullola. "I am fully committed to working with Marco on a smooth transition and am confident that I leave Nokia on a path to continued future improvement. It has been a great journey and one that I will always cherish."

***

About Marco Wiren

Born: 1966

Nationality: Swedish and Finnish

M.Sc. (Econ) in Business Administration, University of Uppsala, 1996

Primary professional experience

Wartsila Energy, President, and Wartsila Group, Executive Vice President, 2018-

Wartsila Group, Executive Vice President and CFO, 2013-2018

SSAB, Executive Vice President and CFO, 2008-2013

SSAB, Vice President Business Control, 2007-2008

Eltel Networks, CFO and VP Business Development, 2002-2007

NCC, VP Business Development and Group Controller, 1995-2001

Positions of trust

Neste Corporation, Vice Chair, Board of Directors

About Nokia

We create the technology to connect the world. Only Nokia offers a comprehensive portfolio of network equipment, software, services and licensing opportunities across the globe. With our commitment to innovation, driven by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, we are a leader in the development and deployment of 5G networks.

Our communications service provider customers support more than 6.4 billion subscriptions with our radio networks, and our enterprise customers have deployed over 1,300 industrial networks worldwide. Adhering to the highest ethical standards, we transform how people live, work and communicate. For our latest updates, please visit us online www.nokia.com and follow us on Twitter @nokia.

Media Enquiries:

Nokia

Communications

Tel. +358 (0) 10 448 4900

Email: press.services@nokia.com

Katja Antila, Head of Media Relations

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

It should be noted that Nokia and its businesses are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect Nokia's current expectations and views of future developments and include statements regarding: A) expectations, plans or benefits related to our strategies, growth management and operational key performance indicators; B) expectations, plans or benefits related to future performance of our businesses and any expected future dividends including timing and qualitative and quantitative thresholds associated therewith; C) expectations and targets regarding financial performance, cash generation, results, the timing of receivables, operating expenses, taxes, currency exchange rates, hedging, cost savings, product cost reductions and competitiveness, as well as results of operations including targeted synergies, better commercial management and those results related to market share, prices, net sales, income and margins; D) expectations, plans or benefits related to changes in organizational and operational structure; E) expectations regarding competition within our market, market developments, general economic conditions and structural and legal change globally and in national and regional markets, such as China; F) our ability to integrate acquired businesses into our operations and achieve the targeted business plans and benefits, including targeted benefits, synergies, cost savings and efficiencies; G) expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or to business collaboration agreements or patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration or partnership, agreement or award; H) timing of the deliveries of our products and services, including our short term and longer term expectations around the rollout of 5G, investment requirements with such rollout, and our ability to capitalize on such rollout; as well as the overall readiness of the 5G ecosystem; I) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements, joint ventures or the creation of joint ventures, and the related administrative, legal, regulatory and other conditions, as well as our expected customer reach; J) outcome of pending and threatened litigation, arbitration, disputes, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; K) expectations regarding restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, uses of proceeds from transactions, acquisitions and divestments and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, capital structure optimization efforts, divestments and acquisitions, including our current cost savings program; L) expectations, plans or benefits related to future capital expenditures, reduction of support function costs, temporary incremental expenditures or other R&D expenditures to develop or rollout software and other new products, including 5G and increased digitalization; M) expectation regarding our customers' future capital expenditure constraints and our ability to satisfy customer concerns; and N) statements preceded by or including "believe", "expect", "expectations", "consistent", "deliver", "maintain", "strengthen", "target", "estimate", "plan", "intend", "assumption", "focus", "continue", "should", "will" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. These forward-looking statements are only predictions based upon our current expectations and views of future events and developments and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our strategy is subject to various risks and uncertainties and we may be unable to successfully implement our strategic plans, sustain or improve the operational and financial performance of our business groups, correctly identify or successfully pursue business opportunities or otherwise grow our business; 2) general economic and market conditions, general public health conditions (including its impact on our supply chains) and other developments in the economies where we operate, including the timeline for the deployment of 5G and our ability to successfully capitalize on that deployment; 3) competition and our ability to effectively and profitably invest in existing and new high-quality products, services, upgrades and technologies and bring them to market in a timely manner; 4) our dependence on the development of the industries in which we operate, including the cyclicality and variability of the information technology and telecommunications industries and our own R&D capabilities and investments; 5) our dependence on a limited number of customers and large multi-year agreements, as well as external events impacting our customers including mergers and acquisitions; 6) our ability to maintain our existing sources of intellectual property-related revenue through our intellectual property, including through licensing, establishing new sources of revenue and protecting our intellectual property from infringement; 7) our ability to manage and improve our financial and operating performance, cost savings, competitiveness and synergies generally, expectations and timing around our ability to recognize any net sales and our ability to implement changes to our organizational and operational structure efficiently; 8) our global business and exposure to regulatory, political or other developments in various countries or regions, including emerging markets and the associated risks in relation to tax matters and exchange controls, among others; 9) our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits, synergies, cost savings and efficiencies of acquisitions; 10) exchange rate fluctuations, as well as hedging activities; 11) our ability to successfully realize the expectations, plans or benefits related to any future collaboration or business collaboration agreements and patent license agreements or arbitration awards, including income to be received under any collaboration, partnership, agreement or arbitration award; 12) Nokia Technologies' ability to protect its IPR and to maintain and establish new sources of patent, brand and technology licensing income and IPR-related revenues, particularly in the smartphone market, which may not materialize as planned, 13) our dependence on IPR technologies, including those that we have developed and those that are licensed to us, and the risk of associated IPR-related legal claims, licensing costs and restrictions on use; 14) our exposure to direct and indirect regulation, including economic or trade policies, and the reliability of our governance, internal controls and compliance processes to prevent regulatory penalties in our business or in our joint ventures; 15) our reliance on third-party solutions for data storage and service distribution, which expose us to risks relating to security, regulation and cybersecurity breaches; 16) inefficiencies, breaches, malfunctions or disruptions of information technology systems, or our customers' security concerns; 17) our exposure to various legal frameworks regulating corruption, fraud, trade policies, and other risk areas, and the possibility of proceedings or investigations that result in fines, penalties or sanctions; 18) adverse developments with respect to customer financing or extended payment terms we provide to customers; 19) the potential complex tax issues, tax disputes and tax obligations we may face in various jurisdictions, including the risk of obligations to pay additional taxes; 20) our actual or anticipated performance, among other factors, which could reduce our ability to utilize deferred tax assets; 21) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 22) disruptions to our manufacturing, service creation, delivery, logistics and supply chain processes, and the risks related to our geographically-concentrated production sites; 23) the impact of litigation, arbitration, agreement-related disputes or product liability allegations associated with our business; 24) our ability to re-establish investment grade rating or maintain our credit ratings; 25) our ability to achieve targeted benefits from, or successfully implement planned transactions, as well as the liabilities related thereto; 26) our involvement in joint ventures and jointly-managed companies; 27) the carrying amount of our goodwill may not be recoverable; 28) uncertainty related to the amount of dividends and equity return we are able to distribute to shareholders for each financial period; 29) pension costs, employee fund-related costs, and healthcare costs; 30) our ability to successfully complete and capitalize on our order backlogs and continue converting our sales pipeline into net sales; and 31) risks related to undersea infrastructure, as well as the risk factors specified on pages 60 to 75 of our 2018 annual report on Form 20-F published on March 21, 2019 under "Operating and financial review and prospects-Risk factors" and in our other filings or documents furnished with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proven to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
MIDLAND, Pa., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School CEO Brian Hayden today announced that 1,237 graduates in the Class of 2020 were honored during two virtual commencement exercises.

More than 250 students participated in the ceremony held for Western Pennsylvania graduates on Saturday, June 6, 2020 and almost 250 students from Central and Eastern Pennsylvania participated in the Wednesday, June 10, 2020 event. Typically, the school hosts on-site graduation ceremonies, but the COVID-19 pandemic precluded that opportunity.

"Across America, the Class of 2020 will share a unique distinction of attending their last year of high school in a historic time," Brian Hayden, PA Cyber CEO, said when he informed students of the virtual ceremonies. "Not having a graduation ceremony in no way diminishes your achievement. It demonstrates the grace, maturity, and optimism that make you a PA Cyber graduate."

Graduates heard messages about perseverance from 9-12 high school principal, Sean Snowden; about trust from Deputy Chief Academic Officer, Jennifer Shoaf; and, about gratitude from Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Francis Spigelmyer. Class representatives also addressed their fellow graduates. Hayden also spoke at the ceremonies.

Speaking for her fellow graduates during the Western Pennsylvania ceremony, Rachel Redinger began by acknowledging that being a senior was pretty odd this year.

"Even though we may not have had our 'perfect senior year,' we've completed years of accomplishments and we're leaving here today with our diplomas. Graduating class of 2020, you are the next generation of the world. You are unique, needed, and a pillar to society. You are the legacy of the 20s, and it begins right now," she told her classmates.

Redinger is the daughter of Bob and Wendy Redinger of Upper St. Clair. The 4.0 student who enrolled in PA Cyber in 2007 plans to attend college to study history and public relations.

Alina Sheikh of Bethlehem served as class representative for the Central and Eastern Ceremony.

"While this may not be the ceremony we were expecting, our journey is just as important as anyone else's," she said. "Remember what it took to get here and be proud of your perseverance and accomplishments. These last few years were filled with highs and lows, but as we close this door behind us, we're standing here as better, smarter, and stronger individuals. As we step into this next doorway, let's do so with confidence. We're ready for the challenges and opportunities awaiting us."

Sheikh is the daughter of Ashna and Aamir Sheikh. She enrolled in 2009, earned a 3.88 GPA and plans to attend Northampton Community College.

PA Cyber special education teacher Maria Mancuso sang "The Star Spangled Banner." PA Cyber student Steve Altomari performed Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman's "Time to Say Goodbye." The Pittsburgh Trombone Project also performed "Pomp and Circumstance." Teachers Marc Grandinetti and Melanie Rosenberger, who served on the school's graduation committee, presented diplomas.

The first statewide K-12 public cyber charter school in Pennsylvania, PA Cyber graduated 16 seniors in its first class in 2001. Approximately 10,000 schoolchildren from across the commonwealth are enrolled in the school.

Contact:

David Atkins

[email protected]

SOURCE Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School

Related Links

http://www.pacyber.org


Ruby Princess passengers who had overseas flights booked on March 19 have disputed NSW Healths claim it allowed the ship to disembark before COVID-19 test results were returned because passengers had to get to onward flights.

NSW chief human biosecurity officer Sean Tobin told the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess on Wednesday the decision not to wait up to six hours for results was out of concern for passengers and "their flights".

Dr Tobin said he did not "think [a matter of hours] is too long for the people involved but for others, the well passengers, it does seem like a long time to me".

The Ruby Princess, which was the source of hundreds of Australia's coronavirus cases, departs Port Kembla with its remaining crew members on April 23. Credit:Janie Barrett

Elisa McCafferty, who had a flight booked to London that evening, said Dr Tobin's comments are "just more blame shifting" and passengers with flights spent the day waiting around anyway.
Communities on Brazils River of Unity tested by dams, climate change

by Sarah Sax

June 11,2020 | Source: Mongabay

The landscape where the Sao Francisco River enters the Atlantic Ocean seems so out of place it makes one wonder if this is still coastal Brazil. White sand dunes stretch as far as the eye can see; clusters of cashew trees throw flickering shadows like ocean waves on the sand.



Here among these shifting dunes escaped slaves in the 19th century hid from, and out-maneuvered, the Portuguese who came searching for them. Eventually, the formerly enslaved founded the Pixaim Quilombo near the mouth of the river and developed a reliable sustainable lifestyle and community well attuned to the dynamic, always changing estuary.



But it is a lifestyle utterly dependent on the Sao Francisco River; reliant on the planting of rice in marshes downstream and on catching plentiful freshwater fish upstream.



Now, varied and growing water demands by upstream dams and other users are threatening the long-established quilombo lifestyle  demands that experts predict will worsen severely in Brazils Northeast, one of the nations most climatically vulnerable regions.



We used to catch fish that were meters long, but now you have to go much farther up the river to find them, remembers 84-year-old Aladim, who lives in Pixaim and goes by his first name only. The fish left, so the people left, he remarks.



According to Aladim and Marise dos Santos Lima, a tour guide who works for the Piacabucu Tourism Information Association, about half of Pixaims population has already left for Brazils cities, as their two main livelihoods  fishing and rice cultivation  become more untenable.



There used to be about 100 families, now there are only a few, says Aladim. You are lucky if you have a son and a grandson that stay.



The lower stretch of the Sao Francisco River has suffered decreased flow for decades as hydroelectric dams, agribusiness and other interests have tapped into upstream waters. But a severe multi-year drought beginning in 2012, and considered one of the harshest in recent decades, if not of the last 100 years, has greatly deepened the estuarys water problems.



The drought caused long periods of water stress, variability, and unpredictable levels and flows of the entire regions rivers and reservoirs, leading to decreases in hydropower generation as well as rising conflicts between the agricultural and electrical sectors.



The drought reduced the water flow so much that, the sea ate the river, says Aladim.



During the past decades, the Sao Francisco River basin has encountered substantial changes due to intensive human activities such as river regularization [channelization] and damming, and more recently, climate change, explains Dr. Georgenes Cavalcante, an adjunct professor of oceanography at the Federal University of Alagoas who has studied the river.



Decreased flow has radically increased the salinity of the lower stretch of the river, as the sea intrudes upstream, with potentially devastating effects on rice growing, fishing, the freshwater supply and public health. Aquatic ecology has suffered greatly, as fish and plant populations are displaced by salt and are replaced by opportunistic invasive species.



In 2008, a program for the rehabilitation of the Sao Francisco River basin was created, even as then President Lula proposed a plan to divert more of the rivers water to the Northeast via the Sao Francisco River Water Diversion Project  the largest water infrastructure project ever attempted by the country, and parts of which are still under construction.

 2020 Copyright Conservation news

Theme(s): Communities and Organisations.
Congress has expressed concerns over the recent developments along the Indo-Nepal border after the neighbouring country brought up a new map claiming some of the bordering Indian territories as its own. Congress leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday said that the strain in Indo-Nepal relations after the dispute over Kalapani-Lipulekh areas is a matter of national concern.

Anand Sharma, who is also the Chairperson of Congress Foreign Affairs Department and a Rajya Sabha MP, spoke about the long-standing history of mutual trust and friendship between the two nations which has been strained by the ongoing conflict of interest over the border areas.

READ | Nepal PM's Big Claim On New Map Showing Indian Territory: 'Indian Forces There Since 1962'

"The strong cultural ties and shared traditions between the people of India and Nepal, make the relationship unique and special. Both the countries have invested enormously in nurturing and promoting a strategic partnership recognizing and respecting each other's sensitivities," he said.

"It is regrettable that the present impasse has reached a stage, which has strained the friendly relationship. This needs to be addressed urgently," Anand Sharma added.

Giving a piece of advice to the Centre, Anand Sharma said the government should address the issue soon and take the nation into confidence and should also brief the leadership of other political parties on the same.

READ | Nepal Lower House MPs Unanimously Endorse New Map Constitution Amendment Bill

Nepal's new map

As per reports, Nepal's new map has been drawn on the basis of the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 signed between Nepal and the then British Indian government and other relevant documents. The row originally started when India issued a map in October 2019 incorporating Kalapani and Lipulekh on its side of the border.

In May 2020, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand as a link road to Kailash Mansarovar - Nepal had raised serious objections to the inauguration of this road.

Indian envoy to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra was also called by Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali to raise concern over the matter. However, on the issue of road construction, the Indian government has made clear that the "recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the State of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India."

READ | Nepal Map Resolution In Parliament, FM Seeks 'diplomatic' Ways To Engage With India

MEA statement on Nepal's map

Reacting to Nepal incorporating parts of Indian territory in its official map on May 20, the Ministry of External Affairs slammed this "unilateral act". Maintaining that this move was not based on historical facts and evidence, MEA official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava observed that this was contrary to the understanding between the two countries to resolve boundary disputes through dialogue. He made it clear that India shall not accept such an "artificial enlargement" of territory.

READ | India To Rebuild 56 Schools Destroyed In Nepal's 2015 Earthquake
Bengaluru, June 11 : An employee of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has tested Covid-10 positive. "One BMTC employee has tested positive for Covid-19," the city bus service spokesperson told IANS, here on Thursday.

It was the the first case of infection in the company, the official said and added, the employee had been admitted to a designated hospital.

"He was on leave for three days and got himself tested for Covid-19 at a designated hospital. He tested positive on Wednesday," said the official.

Before the leave, he didn't show any symptoms and reported to duty everyday. The health department has initiated contact tracing as he had travel history to Kalaburagi and Vijayapura districts.

"The workplace has been disinfected and sanitized as per prescribed norms. Further action, as per the advice of the health department officials, will be initiated," he said.

Owning 6,661 buses, BMTC ran 6,161 schedules before the Covid-19 lockdown. It has 45 bus depots, 58 stations and 33,334 employees.
Schumer Blocks Resolution Supporting Justice for Floyd, Opposing Cuts to Police Funding

The top Democrat in the Senate on June 10 blocked a resolution that explicitly supported justice for George Floyd, the Minneapolis man who died in police custody, while opposing cuts to police funding.

The resolution was introduced by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Cotton attempted to pass the measure by unanimous consent, meaning just one senator could register an objection to block it.

Cotton said on the Senate floor that he was glad to see the police officers involved in Floyds arrest were fired and charged, saying justice appears to be swiftly in this case.

While he supports efforts to make sure every American is treated equally, Cotton said he opposes efforts to demonize all police for the actions of the few and radical proposals to dismantle the police departments.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) speaks to the media after attending a briefing with administration officials about the situation with Iran, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 8, 2020. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) objected, telling colleagues that millions of people are marching in the streets to reform our police practices and demanding action.

The resolution is rhetoric and not action. And the worry that so many Americans have is that so many on the other side will feel rhetoric and then try to let this go away. We demand action and we demand it now, he said.

Cotton responded that Schumer didnt appear to object to anything in the resolution itself in his speech. The resolution calls for justice for George Floyd and other victims of excessive force, and also says the Senate opposes radical ideas to oppose or defund the police. Democrats received the resolution on June 9, according to Cotton, and gave no sign they were going to object.

Challenged to point out what part of the text he opposed, Schumer declined, repeating his view of concerns that, if the resolution passed, Republicans would become content.

Schumer then asked for unanimous consent that all other Senate business be put aside the minute the House passes legislation that features proposals for reforming law enforcement across the nation.

A protester holds a Defund the Police sign during a protest near the White House following the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody, in Washington on June 6, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Cotton blocked Schumers motion, saying he was mystified by Schumers opposition and subsequent resolution.

The House legislation hasnt been passed by that body, Cotton noted, adding later: What were seeing here is the Democratic leader apparently objecting on behalf of they Democratic party in defense of the radical idea that we should they defund the police.

After responding briefly, Schumer left the floor.

Some Democrats have come out in opposition to calls to defund the police, or cut funding from police departments, including Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Republicans, meanwhile, selected Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), one of three black senators, to lead the GOP effort to craft police reform legislation.

Trump is considering issuing an executive order on the issue, the White House stated on June 10 after the president met with Scott and others.
After days of facing uncertainty in Mumbai, there was a sense of relief among 180 workers who arrived at Lucknow airport on Thursday morning by a special flight arranged by megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

Migrants hailing from Gonda, Ambedkar Nagar, Unnao and other parts of Uttar Pradesh were looking forward to reach their homes.

Emerging from the airport after due testing, Abdul Jalil Khan of Gonda, who lives in Bandra, north west Mumbai, said he had boarded the flight with his wife and children.

Khan said he failed to register for a train journey and then came to know that Bachchan was making travel arrangements for UP natives.

"We were stranded since the lockdown began and there was nobody to help. We came to know that Amitabh Bachchanji was making arrangements through the Mahim trust and Haji Ali Dargah to help people return home and we filled the form," Khan said.

"I am an imam at a mosque and pray for his long life," Khan said.

Unnao's Ilyas, who worked as a tailor in Bandra, got to know about the flight from a friend and applied.

"There was no money and we were facing issues even for food. I was trying to get a train ticket, but now, we got the chance to travel by air. Thank god and Amitabh saheb for sending me back to my family," he said.

Lucknow Airport Director A K Sharma said 180 passenger arrived by the special flight.

There were six flights scheduled to take off from Mumbai and on Wednesday four flights with about 700 people took off for Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.

The remaining two flights left for Lucknow and Allahabad on Thursday, sources close to Bachchan said.

The flights were organised on Bachchan's directive by his close aide Rajesh Yadav, managing director, AB Corp Ltd, who collaborated with the Haji Ali Trust and the Mahim Dargah trust under 'Mission Milap' to send migrants home.

The actor originally wanted to book a train for the migrants, but decided to arrange for special flights after logistics for train travel did not work out.

Yadav, on Bachchan's behalf, also recently flagged off 10 buses for 300 migrants to reach their villages in Lucknow, Allahabad, Bhadohi and other places in Uttar Pradesh.
We know what the world looks like now: You are fearful to go out; you are hoarding toilet paper and flour; you are Zoom-calling in pajamas; you are trying to figure out how to avoid making your glasses fog up without letting your mask slip, and your kitchen has become a destination vacation spot. Hand sanitizer is way more valuable than those Gucci loafers, which have been replaced by your bunny bedroom slippers. The bottom line is that things have changed, and anyone who doesnt want to be left behind will have to change as well. New World of Work Deloitte published a report, Global Human Capital Trends, that revealed some insights into the new workplace after COVID. The big takeaway is that it is not about getting back to the way things were. Its about business leaders doing three things at once: stage the return to work, understand and leverage the advancements they enacted during the crisis, and chart a new path forward. That especially includes seniors. Remember when silver-haired mavens were considered the elders filled with strength and resilience and wisdom? When we Baby Boomers were helping and advising the next generations at home and in the workplace? Well, now we have been reduced to the fragile, the weak and those most vulnerable to the pandemic.

We need to be left at home when the world reopens. Ouch. But there are things many of us can do to help ourselves out in the workplace. Ways Well Need to Adapt in the Workplace to Stay Relevant These new times call for new behaviors. Seniors have been resilient and adaptable, and when we dont have the leadership from the top, corporations, states, families and individuals will fill in the gaps, and we will design our way forward. Some practical tips to keep in mind as you make your way: Make sure that you are up to date with the digital tools you will need at home. That may mean learning how to conduct Zoom meetings, or Webinars, or buying better cameras for your computer or audio equipment. I cant hear or see you will not cut it in this new world of communication.

That may mean learning how to conduct Zoom meetings, or Webinars, or buying better cameras for your computer or audio equipment. I cant hear or see you will not cut it in this new world of communication. Send out pre-meeting agendas for each meeting. You want to be as organized and indispensable as possible and show that your physical presence is not what is most important; its your presence.

You want to be as organized and indispensable as possible and show that your physical presence is not what is most important; its your presence. Make sure that you really work out a plan with your boss. Discuss things like when they/you will feel comfortable coming back to work or coming in for special meetings. You want to be included in as many meetings as possible. That may just be dialing in on audio and not making a big deal about setting up a Zoom call. If you dont stay connected, you will be left out.

Discuss things like when they/you will feel comfortable coming back to work or coming in for special meetings. You want to be included in as many meetings as possible. That may just be dialing in on audio and not making a big deal about setting up a Zoom call. If you dont stay connected, you will be left out. Follow up after every meeting. Send your notes to your team and to your boss. Again, you want to create living documents of your presence.

The pressure is on, because as weve seen before, recessions carry heavy burdens for those aiming to retire. CNBC reported that the Great Recession in 2008 made it tough for Americans to retire. It became normal to see older people remaining as corporate executives or flipping burgers or greeting shoppers at Walmart. But, hold on to your hats for this time around. Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist, told CNBC that as bad as it was then, todays recession will make will be even tougher on those in their 50s, 60s and 70s. CNBC reports she has calculated that the pandemic will force another 3.1 million older workers into poverty in their retirement, with many forced to choose between their health and their need for a paycheck. How Do You Choose Between Health and Wealth? Staying present and brushing up on your tech skills are great ideas for seniors hoping to keep their jobs through these difficult times, but they will only take you so far  especially if youre in a job that really cant be done remotely. Its going to be tough for older workers. They are the most vulnerable population, and will be the least likely ones permitted back to physical work. How do you hold down an in-office corporate or retail job and try to practice safe distancing? You either risk your health or wealth. Its a tough choice. Those nearing retirement who must go to work can look to guidance from the CDC for information on how to stay safe. In answering the question How can I help protect employees who may be at higher risk for severe illness? the CDC has some clear advice for businesses:

Have conversations with employees if they express concerns. Some people may be at higher risk of severe illness. This includes older adults (65 years and older) and people of any age with serious underlying medical conditions. By using strategies that help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, you will help protect all employees, including those at higher risk. These strategies include: Implementing telework and other social distancing practices

Actively encouraging employees to stay home when sick

Promoting handwashing

Providing supplies and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for cleaning and disinfecting workspaces

In workplaces where its not possible to eliminate face-to-face contact (such as retail), consider assigning higher risk employees work tasks that allow them to maintain a 6-foot distance from others, if feasible. Hopefully, your employer is on board with this advice from the CDC. For more on your legal rights as an employee, please see The Coronavirus at Work: Your Legal Questions Answered. In Closing, a Look at the Bright Side Deloitte found that although technology was a wonderful thing, It does not replace what is needed from humans. In this pandemic, we saw how only humans can give the front-line care in hospitals, with rescue workers, restaurants immediately switching to take-out, delivery workers, grocery workers, letter carriers and so many more. One part of the Deloitte study that warmed my heart deals with the compensation of lower-paid workers. We now hopefully appreciate how much we need these workers, with some proving to be essential in a time of crisis. Maybe its time to re-evaluate those jobs and their salary levels, and consider the well-being of the workers. Is it right that many hourly workers have to hold down three jobs just to make sure their families are taken care of? These are tough times, but we will get through them. We have seen courage and sadness and hope. Maya Angelou said it best, I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Americas war in Afghanistan has dragged on too long. But the U.S. domestic political calendar shouldnt dictate when to end it.

Under the peace agreement signed with the Taliban in February, the U.S. promised to withdraw all its troops within 14 months if the Taliban adhered to its pledge to cut all ties to al-Qaeda. Yet the Pentagon is reportedly drafting plans that could bring the last 8,600 U.S. troops home before Novembers election. Judging by recent tweets, that seems likely to be President Donald Trumps preference.

Even if an expedited withdrawal doesnt happen, floating the idea could prove damaging. The Taliban and the Afghan government are edging closer to their first direct talks. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah have struck a power-sharing agreement; Abdullah now heads peace efforts. A reduction in violence for the Eid holiday held for more than a week. A logjam over prisoner exchanges may be easing.

A U.S. dash for the exit could stall this progress. It would deny the U.S. leverage  even as evidence suggests the Taliban has maintained its links to al-Qaeda. The Taliban would have reason to drag out intra-Afghan talks, then seek to defeat government forces on the battlefield once the Americans leave. Trumps promise that the U.S. would strike with a thunder like never before if that happened isnt credible.

The departure of U.S. troops might not open the gates of Kabul to the Taliban, but without a viable peace process it would be the prelude to more years of bloodshed and stalemate. Afghan forces still depend on the U.S. for air support and funding; foreign contributions account for about 90% of their budget. Its unlikely the U.S. would keep spending at the current level, or that foreign military contractors performing other crucial tasks would stay in Afghanistan, if U.S. troops werent there. And a chaotic scramble for power would jeopardize already fragile aid and commercial projects.

Story continues

After nearly two decades of war, politics shouldnt dictate a decision as important as this. The U.S. should abide by the terms of its deal with the Taliban. If the insurgents want U.S. troops to leave sooner, they can fully disavow al-Qaeda and accelerate the peace talks.

At the same time, the U.S. should continue to engage diplomatically with both sides and with regional powers to nudge those negotiations forward. It should work to maintain the flow of foreign aid to the Afghan government and civil society groups, and make clear that any Taliban attempt to seize power by force will threaten that funding.

Achieving anything like success in Afghanistan by next spring will be a Herculean task. The U.S. shouldnt make it even harder. Thats the least it owes its Afghan partners, and the thousands of Americans who have fallen on the Afghan battlefield.

Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Dr. Christopher Travis, an intern in obstetrics-gynecology, has cared for patients with COVID-19 and performed surgery on women suspected of having the coronavirus. But the patient who arrived for a routine prenatal visit in two masks and gloves had a problem that wasnt physiological.

She told me, Im terrified Im going to get this virus thats spreading all over the world,' and worried it would hurt her baby, he said of the March encounter.

Travis, who practices at the Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center, told the woman he knew she was scared and tried to assure her she was safe and could trust him.

Asking many questions and carefully listening to the answers, Travis was exercising the craft of narrative medicine, a discipline in which clinicians use the principles of art and literature to better understand and incorporate patients' stories into their practices.

How do we do that really difficult work during the pandemic without it consuming us so we can come out whole on the other end? Travis said. Narrative medicine, which he studied at Columbia University, has helped him be aware of his own feelings, reflect more before reacting, and view challenging situations calmly, he said.

The first graduate program in narrative medicine was created at Columbia University in 2009 by Dr. Rita Charon, and the practice has gained wide influence since, as evidenced by the dozens of narrative medicine essays published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and its sister journals.

Learning to be storytellers also helps clinicians communicate better with non-professionals, said writer and geriatrician Dr. Louise Aronson, who directs the medical humanities program at the University of California-San Francisco. It may be useful to reassure patients  or to motivate them to follow public health recommendations. Tell them a story about having to intubate a previously healthy 22-year-old whos going to die and leave behind his first child and new wife, and then you have their attention."

At the same time, telling that story can help the health professional process their own trauma and get the support they need to keep going," she said.

Teaching storytelling to doctors

This fall, Keck School of Medicine of USC will offer the country's second master's program in narrative medicine, and the subject also will be part of the curriculum in the new Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, which opens its doors July 27 with its first class of 48 students. (KHN, which produces California Healthline, is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)

Narrative medicine trains physicians to care about patients' singular, lived experiences  how illness is really affecting them, said Dr. Deepthiman Gowda, assistant dean for medical education at the new Kaiser Permanente school. The training may entail a close group reading of creative works such as poetry or literature, or watching dance or a film, or listening to music.

He said theres also real, intrinsic value for patients because a doctor isnt only being trained to care about the body and medications.

Literature in its nature is a dive into the experience of living  the triumphs, the joys, the suffering, the anxieties, the tragedies, the confusions, the guilt, the ecstasies of being human, of being alive, Gowda said. This is the training our students need if they wish to care for persons and not diseases."

Dr. Andre Lijoi, a geriatrician at WellSpan York Hospital in Pennsylvania, recently led a virtual session for 20 front-line nurse practitioners who work in nursing homes. Two volunteers recited Mary Olivers 1986 poem Wild Geese, which reads, Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on.

Sharing the poet's words helped the nurses relieve their pent-up tensions, enabling them to express their feelings about life and work under COVID-19, Lijoi said.

One participant wrote, As the world goes on around me I mourn seeing my aging parents, planning my daughter's wedding, and missing my great niece's baptism. I wonder, when will life be normal again?

Processing fear to provide better care

Dr. Naomi Rosenberg, an emergency room physician at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, studied narrative medicine at Columbia and teaches it at Temple's Lewis Katz School of Medicine. The discipline helps her "metabolize" what she takes in while caring for COVID-19 patients, including the fear that comes with having to enter patients' rooms alone in protective gear, she said.

The training helped her counsel a worried woman who couldn't visit her sister because the hospital, like others around the country, wasn't allowing relatives to visit COVID-19-infected patients.

Id read stories of Baldwin, Hemingway and Steinbeck about what it feels like to be afraid for someone you love, and recalling those helped me communicate with her with more clarity and compassion, Rosenberg said. (After a four-day crisis, the sister recovered.)

Dr. Pamela Schaff (right) discusses narrative medicine in the Hoyt Gallery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, as Chioma Moneme, a student in the class of 2020, looks on. (Credit: Chris Shinn)

Close readings can also help students understand the various ways metaphor is used in the medical profession, for good or ill, said Dr. Pamela Schaff, who directs the Keck School's new master's program in narrative medicine.

Recently, Schaff led third-year medical students through a critical examination of a journal article that described medicine as a battlefield. The analysis helped student Andrew Tran understand that describing physicians as "warriors" could "promote unrealistic expectations and even depersonalization of us as human beings," he said.

Something similar happens in the militarized language used to describe cancer, he added: "We say, Youve got to fight, which implies that if you die, youre somehow a failure.

In the real world, doctors are often focused narrowly, devoting most of their attention to a patient's chief complaint. They listen to patients on average for only 11 seconds before interrupting them, according to a 2018 study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Narrative medicine seeks to change that.

While listening more carefully may add one more item to a physicians lengthy to-do list, it could also save time in the end, Schaff said.

If we train physicians to listen well, for metaphor, subtext and more, they can absorb and act on their patients' stories even if they have limited time, she said. Also, we physicians must harness our narrative competence to demand changes in the health care system. Health systems should not mandate 10-minute encounters.

Telling the patient's whole story

In practice, narrative medicine has diverse applications. Modern electronic health records, with their templates and prefilled sections, can hamper a doctor's ability to create meaningful notes, Gowda said. But doctors can counter that by writing notes in language that makes the patient's struggles come alive, he said.

The schools curriculum will incorporate a different patient story each week to frame students learning. Instead of, This week, you will learn about stomach cancer, we say, This week, we want you to meet Mr. Cardenas,' Gowda said. We learn about who he is, his family, his situation, his symptoms, his concerns. We want students to connect medical knowledge with the complexity and sometimes messiness of people's stories and contexts.

In preparation for the school's opening, Gowda and a colleague have been running Friday lunchtime mindfulness and narrative medicine sessions for faculty and staff.

The meetings might include a collective, silent examination of a piece of art, followed by a discussion and shared feelings, said Dr. Marla Law Abrolat, a Permanente Medicine pediatrician in San Bernardino, California, and a faculty director at the new school.

Young people come to medicine with bright eyes and want to help, then a traditional medical education beats that out of them," Abrolat said. "We want them to remember patients stories that will always be a part of who they are when they leave here.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.
LONDON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- StatusToday, the emerging leader in workplace analytics, announced today that its people analytics platform Isaak has now been acquired by Glickon for an undisclosed amount.

Glickon is a leading HR tech company headquartered in Italy that provides a candidate and employee experience platform that can help engage employees while generating data and insights.

With the increasing focus on remote work and collaboration, companies are looking at AI powered tools to improve employee wellbeing and engagement. Glickon provides an array of solutions to enhance workplace engagement and will consolidate the capabilities from the Isaak platform by StatusToday to enhance its people analytics offering.

"We continually seek out exponential growth opportunities - today's announcement is exactly that," Matteo Corte, CFO of Glickon, said. "We are excited about the possibilities that could come from the integration of StatusToday's technology and what we can deliver to help answer some of the toughest questions that keep HR leaders up at night. A major step closer to a world where people wake up inspired and end the day fulfilled by the work they do," Filippo Negri, CEO of Glickon affirmed.

As part of the acquisition agreement, Glickon also acquires the Isaak platform and related intellectual property. StatusToday founders, Ankur Modi and Mircea Danila-Dumitrescu, will support the acquisition as external advisers and move on to new ventures.

Ankur Modi, CEO of StatusToday, said, "Glickon has built a fantastic suite of solutions to help businesses be effective worldwide. I am proud that StatusToday's proprietary technology will now power their people analytics offering and help companies and employees be more objective with decision making."

Speaking on future potential, co-founder Mircea Danila Dumitrescu said, "Together with Glickon, StatusToday can add an objective transparency in the workplace, redefining the meaning of work in a way that is trustful, and informed."

StatusToday was awarded the title of Best AI Startup at AI Summit in 2017 and has scaled up its platform to employees and managers in 1069 companies across 105 countries. It was recognized a Gartner Cool Vendor for digital dexterity in 2019. Ankur and his team have raised 4 million dollars from LocalGlobe, Notion Capital, firstminute Capital, Entrepreneur First, Force Over Mass capital, tiny vc and business angels.

About Isaak by StatusToday

Isaak by StatusToday is an analytics platform that helps companies drive organizational change. Powered by Artificial Intelligence technology that models human behavior, the platform measures collaboration, wellbeing, and engagement to empower employees and companies alike.



About Glickon

Founded in 2014, Glickon has developed People Experience software that allows one to create fun and meaningful work experiences, improve health and organizational performance, and gain a competitive edge in the experience economy.

For more information visit blog.statustoday.com

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SOURCE StatusToday
So who's in the running? And what is Biden looking for in a VP?

Biden has said that the selection process is well under way and he will announce his decision by August, ahead of the Democratic National Convention on August 17.

The Christopher Newport University lecturer believes Joe Biden's success or failure could hinge on his vice-presidential choice, given its potential to boost or suppress turnout among Democratic-leaning voters.

Rachel Bitecofer, one of America's best-known election forecasters, says the consensus among political scientists is that it is generally not all that important. But she thinks this year is a different story.

The choice of a vice-presidential candidate sends an important signal about a candidate's priorities and their strategy for winning the election. How much of a factor the vice-presidential selection plays in determining the election result is another issue entirely.

There's suspense. There's competition. There's behind-the-scenes lobbying and public campaigning. It's no wonder that the process of selecting a presidential running mate  known as the Veepstakes  generates so much discussion every four years in the US. The unveiling of the eventual choice is one of the marquee moments of the election campaign, triggering a burst of media attention and analysis.

Biden is hoping to join Lyndon Johnson, George H. W. Bush and Richard Nixon as former vice-presidents who ascended to the presidency.

The vice-presidency is not necessarily a hugely influential position  it all depends on how much power the president is willing to delegate to their deputy. But the role has served as a reliable stepping stone to the White House, or at least the party's presidential nomination.

Youre writing your ticket to be the first woman president.

Former Georgia gubernatorial (governor) candidate Stacey Abrams, for example, recently said she believed she would be an "excellent running mate", telling Elle magazine: "If I am selected, I am prepared and excited to serve." Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has said openly she would like the job and other contenders have confirmed they are on the shortlist.

Potential running mates have always lobbied to be part of the ticket but its usually been done in private. This time the campaigning has been more out in the open. This may well be a result of the coronavirus pandemic: unable to travel and meet Biden face to face, candidates have relied on the media to ensure they are part of the conversation.

The big change from past election cycles is that Biden has publicly promised to select a woman as his running mate  the first time any nominee has made such a commitment. This has dramatically reduced the field of potential nominees and created an incentive for potential candidates to try to propel themselves to the top of the list.

Describing why this years VP slot is a particularly appealing role, former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill recently said, "Youre writing your ticket to be the first woman president."

If Biden bowed out after four years, his vice-president would be in prime position to lead the Democratic ticket in 2024. And if Biden were to die in office  an unpleasant but not far-fetched prospect given 78 is the average life expectancy for American men  his vice-president would take over the job.

The position is especially tantalising this time because Biden would be 78 at his inauguration. He has described himself as a "transition candidate" who can act as a bridge to a new generation of political leaders, and has not committed to run for a second term.

Cons: Comes from a solidly Democratic state so does not deliver an obvious electoral college advantage. Failed to catch on with voters in the primaries.

Pros: As a relatively young, centre-left, black woman, she ticks many boxes. Proved herself a forceful debater in the Democratic primaries.

Cons: A big personality who could overshadow Biden. The pair have clashed in the past over policy.

Pros: Popular among progressives without being as radical as Bernie Sanders. The former Harvard professor would add policy heft and energy to the ticket.

Cons: Her most senior leadership position has been minority leader in the Georgia state House of Representatives, making her significantly less experienced than other contenders.

Pros: Rose to national prominence as the first African American woman to run in a gubernatorial race and almost won. A talented media performer.

Gretchen Whitmer

Home state: Michigan

Age: 48

Current position: Governor

Pros: A moderate who could deliver votes in a key battleground state. Despite anti-lockdown protests, most Michiganders have approved of her coronavirus response.

Cons: Has limited experience, having only been elected governor in 2018. Would be difficult to campaign nationally while guiding her state through a pandemic.

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Amy Klobuchar

Home state: Minnesota

Age: 60

Current position: Senator

Pros: Has a track record of winning over swing voters in a competitive midwestern state. A proud moderate who would be unthreatening to suburban and independent voters.

Cons: Would not excite the partys progressive base. Her record as a Minneapolis prosecutor counts against her.

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Michelle Lujan Grisham

Home state: New Mexico

Age: 60

Current position: Governor

Pros: Would make history as the first Hispanic on a presidential ticket, potentially boosting turnout among a key voting bloc.

Cons: Little-known on the national stage. Has been governor only since 2018.

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Val Demings

Home state: Florida

Age: 63

Current position: Member of the House of Representatives

Pros: An African American congresswoman from a perennial swing state. A compelling back story as the first woman to lead the Orlando police department.

Cons: Presidential nominees have generally chosen running mates from the Senate and not the House of Representatives, where Demings serves.

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Susan Rice

Home state: District of Columbia

Age: 55

Current position: Research fellow at American University

Pros: Highly experienced, having served as Barack Obamas national security adviser and United Nations ambassador. Knows Biden well, and is African American.

Cons: Has been out of the national spotlight in recent years. Seen as part of the party establishment.

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Tammy Duckworth

Home state: Illinois

Age: 52

Current position: Senator

Pros: A fascinating backstory as a combat veteran who lost her legs in the Iraq War. Plenty of congressional experience. Would add diversity to the ticket as first Asian-American VP.

Cons: Has kept a low profile in the Senate. Democrats already assured of winning her home state.

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Keisha Lance Bottoms

Home state: Georgia

Age: 50

Current position: Mayor of Atlanta

Pros: Bottoms has risen to national prominence during the coronavirus pandemic and protests against police brutality. An African American from a potential swing state.

Cons: Presidential nominees have tended to prefer senators and governors rather than mayors as their running mate.

Credit:AP

What is Biden looking for in a VP?

Biden has spoken in substantial detail about what he wants to see in a running mate. "One, that they are younger than I am," he has said, naming an easy hurdle to clear. "And number two, that they are ready on day one to be President of the United States of America." Many have taken this to mean that contenders with more years of governing experience under their belt will have an edge over less experienced rivals.

Biden has also said that he must see eye-to-eye with his running mate. "Im going to pick someone who is simpatico with me, philosophically," he has said. "We can disagree on tactics but not on strategy."

I want to have people around me that have strengths and capacities I dont.

At another appearance he said: "They dont have to agree with me on everything but they have to have the same basic approach to how we handle the economy."

Speaking recently of his VP choice, he also said: "I want to have people around me that have strengths and capacities I don't."

All these comments focus on qualities in a running mate that would help Biden's presidency succeed. But first, he has to win the election. Even if he prefers not to talk about electoral considerations, they will also play a role in his decision.

Bill Clinton and Al Gore in 1996. Credit:AP

What makes a good VP choice?

A much-discussed part of the Veepstakes is whether a running mate brings a "home state advantage" to the ticket, meaning they will help deliver victory in an electorally important region. This rationale helps explain why Gretchen Whitmer has garnered a lot of attention. She is the Governor of Michigan, a crucial electoral college state that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 and Democrats believe is vital to win back this year. The theory she could help push Biden over the line there has elevated her to a likely contender.

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But it's highly questionable whether a vice-presidential pick would actually guarantee victory in their home state. After examining the literature, political scientists Kyle Kopko and Christopher Devine concluded that a vice-presidential candidates state of residence generally has no effect on how a presidential candidate performs in that state. "The vice-presidential home state advantage is, essentially, zero," they wrote in Politico.

More so than delivering votes in a particular state, presidential nominees often use their vice-presidential pick as a way to bring the different factions of their party together.

Strategists say it is increasingly likely that Biden will select a black woman.

Some candidates have doubled down on their electoral appeal by selecting what is known as a "ticket complementer". Bill Clinton famously did this in 1992 by picking another centrist, southern Democrat Al Gore, as his running mate. But it is more common for candidates to choose a "ticket balancer"  someone who has a special appeal to a different part of their partys voting coalition. Trump  a Manhattan celebrity with little connection to religious conservatives  did this to great effect by picking Mike Pence as his running mate in 2016.

The Democratic Party's voting coalition is not just ideologically diverse but racially diverse. This has led to loud calls for Biden to choose an African American or Hispanic woman as his running mate.

Hispanic Americans have traditionally had lower-than-average voter turnout, and Biden fared poorly with Hispanics in the Democratic primaries. Picking a Latina running mate could help generate enthusiasm in this demographic. Similarly, picking a black woman could help drive up African American turnout.

Since the eruption of nationwide protests following George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, Democratic strategists say it is increasingly likely that Biden will select a black woman. This would help him to tap into the energy generated by the Black Lives Matter movement, and firmly position the Democrats as the party of racial diversity.

Biden speaks via video link at the funeral service for George Floyd. Credit:AP

Over recent weeks, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser  who are both black  have been in the national spotlight and have attracted increased attention as possible Biden VP selections.

Rachel Bitecofer is adamant that Biden needs to pick a "ticket balancer" who can boost turnout among younger, more progressive voters who don't necessarily show up to the polls. She believes a candidate such as Abrams or Harris would be well placed to fulfil this role.

Why check one box when you can check three?

"Ideally, you want someone who is attractive to young people, a woman of colour and someone who brings ideological diversity to the ticket," she says. "Why check one box when you can check three?"

Veteran Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, meanwhile, has argued that Warren is the ideal selection because her focus on corruption and a rigged economic system "poll off the chart with non-Biden voters and millennials".

For all those who say the vice-presidential selection doesn't matter, St Louis University Professor Joel Goldstein says the time and effort the Biden campaign is putting into its vetting process shows that is an oversimplification. "The choice of a running mate may not make a 10 percentage point difference but it can matter at the margins," he says. "And many elections are decided at the margins."
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 22:22:59|Editor: huaxia

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Greek twins Marianna (R) and Sofia Erotokritou pose for photos beside protective face masks donated to the Direct Action Directorate of Attica in Greece, June 10, 2020. Greek twins Marianna and Sofia Erotokritou delivered a fresh batch of thousands of protective face masks to the Greek police on June 10 to assist their country's fight against COVID-19, continuing their work as informal ambassadors of Sino-Greek friendship in recent years. The two young students, who have been living and studying in China since 2013, launched a campaign via WeChat to gather the supplies. Many of their Chinese friends donated sums for the purchase of 10,000 masks. (Photo by Lefteris Partsalis/Xinhua)

by Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Greek twins Marianna and Sofia Erotokritou delivered a fresh batch of thousands of protective face masks to the Greek police here on Wednesday to assist their country's fight against COVID-19, continuing their work as informal ambassadors of Sino-Greek friendship in recent years.

The two young students, who have been living and studying in China since 2013, launched a campaign via WeChat to gather the supplies. Many of their Chinese friends donated sums for the purchase of 10,000 masks.

In May, they delivered 4,000 masks to the Ministry of Migration and Asylum and 1,000 to a hospital in Athens.

On Wednesday, they handed over 2,000 masks to the Director of the Direct Action Directorate of Attica, Brigadier Konstantinos Koutsivitis.

"I would like to thank the Erotokritou family for their selfless aid in masks that they donated to our department. They will help us so that we can do our work better," Koutsivitis told Xinhua.

Since Feb. 26, when the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed in Greece, the country has registered over 3,040 infections, including 182 deaths.

After a full lockdown that lasted from March 23 to May 4, Greece is gradually returning to normalcy, but the need is still there for citizens to keep safe distances and wear masks in enclosed spaces.

Greece and China have a long-standing friendship and record of cooperation, which has deepened in recent years. Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Greece confirmed its solidarity with China, and China sent the first large shipment of medical supplies to Greece.

Marianna and Sofia have been closely following the developments in the two countries from Athens, where they are stranded since January when they left Beijing for Greece to spend the Spring Festival holidays here. They will fly back to China in autumn for their graduation, they told Xinhua.

"We received messages of support and solidarity from people in China who wanted to help, so we came up with this idea," Sofia explained.

They regularly update their followers on social media about the completed and planned deliveries.

"They like it very much. They are proud of their participation and they want to see the video of our final delivery. Generally, the Chinese always want to help other countries. We have seen various donations they have made to several countries," Marianna said.

In China, Sofia and Marianna feel at home.

"Both peoples love family, support family. Family is the most important thing to both peoples and I believe this has to do with the fact that our nations, cultures and history have ancient roots. I feel we are closer to each other than compared to a few other nations in Europe," Marianna said.

"During our stay in China all these years, we have felt that the Chinese people love Greece very much. Nevertheless, we were missing Greece, so we started making tourist videos in Chinese," Sofia said.

"On our very first day in China we realized that our origin, being Greeks, is very important. Our fellow students, the taxi drivers, the people we would meet on the streets may not know a lot about Greece. Through our tourist videos we wanted to help them understand Greece more and better because Greece much more than the island of Santorini and the sea," Marianna said.
(Newser)  Chicago cops are in hot water after lounging around a politician's office while looters plundered in the very same strip mall, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. That politician, Rep. Bobby Rush, had video of the officers kicking back in his South Side campaign office earlier this month. "One was asleep on my couch in my campaign office," he said at a Thursday presser alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot. "They even had the unmitigated gall to go and make coffee for themselves and to pop popcorn, my popcorn, in my microwave while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight and within their reach. They did not care about what was happening to business people in this city." The Chicago Tribune reports that Lightfoot was no less upset about the video.

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"That's a personal embarrassment to me," she said while showing slides of the officers kicking back. "I'm sorry that you and your staff even had to deal with this incredible indignity." She also promised to mete out punishments short of firing them: "You know who you are," she said. "You know what you did. Don't make us come find you." Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown also apologized, saying he came down hard on command staff in a Thursday meeting. USA Today notes that Rush's office had been looted earlier that day, and video of the officers began around 1am on June 1. Interesting side note: Rush and Lightfoot had clashed politically before this, with Rush accusing Lightfoot of going too easy on police. (Read more Chicago police stories.)
India: Cyclone Amphan has a message for Covid-hit India

by Sumil Sudhakaran

June 11,2020 | Source: The Times of India

Less than halfway through 2020, India has already encountered two calamities  a pandemic, still raging, and a cyclone that has devastated its Bengal coast. But as the country learns to live with the coronavirus while restarting the economy that had ground to a halt for nearly two months, Cyclone Amphan brings forth a costly lesson: Climate concerns cannot be pushed under the rug while attempting to pump the economy. Cyclone Amphan, which packed winds gusting up to 185kmph, has pummelled West Bengal  already reeling from the coronavirus outbreak with over 270 fatalities  taking with it close to 80 lives and leaving a trail of destruction. Houses and buildings have been damaged, embankments have been breached, saline water has soaked farmland, and electricity pylons have been felled, cutting off power and mobile network to many.



The destruction complicates the states fight against the outbreak; some of the districts that bore the brunt of the cyclone were also among the worst-hit by the outbreak. Consider the coastal district of North 24 Parganas, for instance, where nearly 700 villages were inundated and an estimated 80,000 have been left homeless. The district, as of May 25, has reported 37 Covid-19 fatalities  second only to Kolkata (180) in the state  and over 450 confirmed Covid-19 cases. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has estimated the economic cost of damage at Rs 1 lakh crore. That figure is comparable to the scale of destruction. Last year Cyclone Bulbul, which made landfall as a severe cyclonic storm  Amphan was categorised as an extremely severe cyclonic storm  and affected 3.5 million people in three districts, killing 14, was estimated to have caused damage worth Rs 23,811 crore. The state has announced a Rs 1,000-crore relief fund and the Centre has provided an immediate relief of another Rs 1,000 crore.



Local factors and global warming



But the calamity is also a forewarning. Cyclone Amphan, as with other storms, was born of the warm waters of Bay of Bengal  the buoys in the sea had registered maximum temperatures of 32-34 degree Celsius in the first two weeks of May. There are many factors that influence the formation and intensity of a cyclone, from sea temperature to humidity in the air to geography to the depth of the bay, and all of these play out conducively to make Bay of Bengal particularly prone to tropical cyclones  historically, eight out of ten deadliest tropical cyclones in the world have originated over its waters.



Yet there is growing evidence that global warming has made cyclones more frequent and intense. A 2019 study of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, based on satellite images dating to 1979, led by James P. Kossin of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, showed that warming seas have increased the likelihood of tropical cyclones intensifying into a major one by about 8% a decade. Similar observations have been made in the Indian subcontinent, too. A study by the Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, US, found that the intensity of tropical cyclones in Bay of Bengal significantly increased in the 1996-2010 period when compared to 1981-1995. The authors said this can be attributed to anthropogenic (caused by human activity) climate change.



And Covid-19 could make it worse, warns the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Geneva-based international organisation. The economic toll of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns have made decarbonisation and related aspects such as climate change adaptation and resilience a lower priority, the WEF said in its latest Covid-19 Risk Outlook report.



The risk remains that countries might reduce support for the renewable energy sector, or not include Paris Agreement requirements in their recovery programmes to ease economic activity, protect strategic industries and jobs, the report said. Such easier regulations in the non-green field economy could tip the world towards a vicious cycle of climate degradation, biodiversity loss and future infectious disease outbreaks, the report added.



India's coal dependence



India, among other measures to shield the economy from Covid-19, has liberalised coal mining in the country, proposing to end the de facto monopoly of the public-sector enterprise. Coal accounts for a little over 54% of Indias energy source. And according to the International Energy Agency, coal-fired power generation continues to be the single largest emitter, accounting for 30% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions globally.



A greater emphasis on coal could move India further from its commitments on the Paris Climate Agreement. Will this hamper India's renewable energy production? "Not necessarily," says Rahul Tongia, fellow, Brookings India, an expert on the energy sector. "Instead, new production of coal could reduce coal import". According to credit rating agency Crisil, commercial mining could halve the annual expenditure incurred on importing noncoking coal to as much as Rs 45,000 crore. Besides, levies on coal form a major source of revenue for the central government and coal-producing states  among the poorest in the country. Coal also provides 44% of freight revenues for the India Railways, thereby subsidising passenger support, say Tongia and Samantha Gross, in a paper by Cross-Brookings Initiative on Energy and Climate. Covid-19-induced economic crisis could, however, hamper Indias renewable energy targets in other ways. India has a target of installing 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by the year 2022, bulk of it solar. But liquidity crunch could impact the sector. Says Tongia,"Banks may cut down lending for multiple reasons, from liquidity risk to different priorities. How this will play out is uncertain."



Countries might not include Paris Agreement requirements in their recovery programmes to ease economic activity... this could tip the world towards a vicious cycle of climate degradation, biodiversity loss and future infectious disease outbreaks by World Economic Forums Covid-19 Risk Outlook report



Then there is the China factor. According to the Centre for Energy Finance, China accounts for nearly 88% of Indias solar modules import. And cheaper China-made solar panels have helped bring down the cost of solar energy over the years. In 2018, solar power was priced at about Rs 2.4 per kWh (a unit), an all-time low. This is 20 to 30% lower than the cost of existing thermal power in India, a recent study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and JMK Research & Analytics said. India could also push for local development and manufacturing of storage technology  crucial to solar energy  but China's greater access to critical resources such as cobalt and lithium have so far kept competition minimum. But in a post-Covid-19 world, imports from China would be a concern. The increased emphasis on self-reliance could suggest boosting coal which is mostly domestic, adds Tongia.



In another challenge to sustainability, the social distancing mandate may drive customers, at least the wellheeled ones, away from public transport to personal vehicles. And Indias auto sector, which was already reeling from a drop in demand before the pandemic, may not have the financial leeway to invest in electric mobility. The pandemic, as the WEF says, could hamper sustainability. But Cyclone Amphan, has provided a timely reminder that climate change is as much a threat to us as any other.
Press Release

June 11, 2020 Gordon welcomes inauguration of beaching ramp at Pag-asa Island On the eve of the celebration of Independence Day, Senator Richard J. Gordon congratulated the Department of National Defense on the completion of the beaching ramp at Pag-asa Island, as well as the Department of Transportation and the Palawan provincial government for the construction of a shelter for Filipino fishermen. Gordon said the completion of the ramp on the island, which means hope, two days before Independence Day, is a fitting reminder of the need for Filipinos to be more vigilant than ever to maintain the country's independence, to beware of foreign domination in disguise, to be able to defend national interests, and to protect the people. "The island of Pag-asa, in English - hope, carries a name symbolic of the aspirations of our people. These aspirations moved our heroes in 1898 to rise up against foreign domination and proclaim the independence of the Filipino people. Now, a hundred twenty two years later after that proclamation, there is a need for us to be more vigilant than ever to maintain our independence, to beware of foreign domination in disguise, to be able to defend our national interests, to protect our people. These aspirations are quite timely to recall as we approach the anniversary of Philippine independence and Pag-asa island is a fitting symbol," he said. Gordon, who has long been an advocate of strengthening the military to protect the country's territories and its people, stressed that the Philippines should focus more attention and allot appropriate funding for the development of its far-flung communities and the preservation especially of its marine resources. He strongly pushed for legislation and funding that would strengthen the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Coast Guard and other relevant agencies tasked with safeguarding our territory and resources. "Our country is comprised of more than 7000 islands and has one of the longest coastlines in the world, by necessity, we ought to focus more attention and allot appropriate funding for the development of our far-flung communities and the preservation especially of our marine resources. North to south, east to west, the Philippine archipelago is bounded by waters abundant in fish and other marine life, while underneath these waters lie untapped riches for the benefit of future generations of Filipinos," Gordon pointed out. Last June 9, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana led the inauguration of a P268.1-million beaching ramp which is key to the rehabilitation of the island's Rancudo Airfield, which will be the next phase of the project.
Conspiracy Theorist-in-Chief By Finian Cunningham June 11, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Donald Trumps indulgence in conspiracy theories is running amok. The latest is his speculation that a 75-year-old man who had his skull split open by police was a provocateur. The man in question, Martin Gugino, was shoved to the ground by police officers after he approached them openly, without threat and in broad daylight during a public protest in Buffalo, New York state. He fell backwards, suffering concussion and spilling blood on the sidewalk. Dozens of police officers in riot gear then walked past his prone body to enforce a curfew. Two officers have been subsequently charged with assault over the incident. A follow-up report on the One American News Network, a pro-Trump outlet, claimed that Gugino may have been a supporter of antifascist provocateurs. Trump then amplified that highly speculative report with his Twitter platform. This time Trump may have gone too far even for Republican lawmakers and senior GOP figures. Several of them deplored the president for fanning the flames of violence and reckless peddling of conspiracy theories. There is no evidence that the elderly protester was doing anything other than peacefully exercising his Constitutional right to support the mass demonstrations that have engulfed the US after the killing of African-American man George Floyd by Minneapolis police on 25 May. Like thousands of other US citizens protesting against police brutality over the past two weeks, Martin Gugino found himself subjected to police brutality. The world has been shocked by images of officers manhandling civilians, driving vehicles into crowds, shooting at journalist crews and sweeping into neighbourhoods like vigilante gangs, yelling at residents to go inside their homes. Trump has pitched himself as a law and order president, calling for the National Guard to back up riot police. He and his supporters have sought to portray largely peaceful protests as being infiltrated by extreme leftwing subversives, referred to as Antifa. This is not to deny that such radical activists exist across the US, but Trumps claims about their presence and influence are grossly exaggerated. Even US law enforcement organisations have found little evidence of Antifa being responsible for fomenting protests in hundreds of American cities and towns, the vast majority of which have been peaceful and of a wide multiracial composition, simply demanding an end to racist policing. Trumps seeking of a scapegoat has been echoed by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who has hinted darkly at outsiders whipping up protests. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter This conspiratorial thinking is aimed at confusing the overdue public debate on US police brutality and militarisation of law and order. By blaming others and inflaming passions and prejudices, the desired effect is to let the system off the hook. The same blame-game is at play over Trumps attempts to incriminate China or the World Health Organisation for spreading the coronavirus pandemic. Like his latest Tweet about a 75-year-old man being a provocateur for getting his head smashed in by police, Trump has accused China without a shred of evidence of releasing the virus from one of its laboratories. It really is a sign of how extreme Trump has become when Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary of Iraq War president GW Bush, has denounced the current White House Commander-in-Chief as reckless in trafficking conspiracy theories. Earlier this week, Trumps White House switched the Antifa trope by claiming that the mass protests across the US were the work of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Trump is showing himself to be completely deranged as well as being a chillingly cynical practitioner of the dark arts. His earlier advice about people drinking household bleach as a cure for Covid-19 also show him to be a dangerous buffoon. But the truth is that such conspiratorial loony-thinking is embedded in US political culture in a way that cuts across both so-called right and left. The supposed liberals in the Democrats and their supportive media like the New York Times and CNN may condemn Trump for peddling outlandish speculation and for pouring gasoline on flames. But these same sources have been relentlessly pumping out nonsense about Russian and Chinese interference in US politics, setting up geopolitical conflicts that pander to American imperialism and its military industrial complex. For decades, it is a staple of US politics and establishment media to portray American social problems as the work of outside agitators and foreign enemies. McCarthyism, Red-baiting and so. Conspiracy-thinking about phantom bogeymen is the traditional way for US politics to avoid fundamental democratic change because it conceals the inner corruption. Its just rather apt thats all that the current president is a conspiracy theorist-in-chief. Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. - - " Source " - Post your comment below See also Trump tweets conspiracy theory about protester shoved by N.Y. police
Turkey says 'only we decide' on Hagia Sophia as mosque 'It's a question of national sovereignty and not international'

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, JUNE 11 - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Hagia Sophia is "not an international question at all, but a question of national sovereignty", following harsh controversy in recent days, especially with Greece, on the possibility of reconverting the symbolic Istanbul monument into a mosque.



It has been a museum since 1935, after having previously been a Christian basilica and an Islamic place of worship.(ANSAmed).




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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump could take policy action on race and policing via an executive order, his spokeswoman told Fox News in an interview on Wednesday as lawmakers in Congress move forward with their proposals.

"We do believe that we'll have proactive policy prescriptions, whether that means legislation or an executive order," White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said. She declined to offer specifics, saying the Republican president was still weighing various possibilities.

The potential for executive action comes as both Democrats and Republicans in Congress push forward with proposals aimed at addressing police reform amid massive protests sparked by last month's death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis who died while in police custody.

House Democrats on Monday unveiled a sweeping bill that would ban chokeholds, require body cameras for federal law enforcement officers and restrict the use of lethal force, among other steps, while Senate Republicans on Tuesday said were working on their own proposal.

Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary for Homeland Security, declined to provide details about what action Trump is considering.

"You will see a mix of legislative proposals that we can work on a bipartisan basis, just like the president did with criminal justice reform, and executive actions he can take on his own," Cuccinelli told Fox Business Network.

Trump signed bipartisan legislation in 2018 that changed sentencing requirements and the treatment of federal prisoners.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Office, on Thursday said it secured 257 convictions, including politically exposed persons, across various courts in Lagos State in the last 12 months.

The Commission also said it recovered about N14.9 billion, $5,723, and 31,500 in the same period under review.

The convictions and recoveries are contained in a statement signed by the EFCC Lagos Zonal Head, Muhammed Rabo, and released to journalists by Ayo Oyewole, Head, Public Affairs of the zone on Thursday in Lagos.

According to the EFCC Lagos Zonal Head, the convictions and recoveries are recorded between May 2019 and early June 2020.

The EFCC Lagos Zone Head also confirmed that the Zone had arrested 1,444 suspects, filed 585 cases in various courts and arraigned no fewer than 300 suspects within the same period.

Mr Ismaila Mustapha, also known as Mompha, and his conspirator, Hamza Khoudeih, were arraigned before a Federal High Court in Lagos for various alleged criminal offences during the same period.

The Lagos Zonal office still has several ongoing high profile cases before the Federal High Courts, Ikoyi and the State High Court, Ikeja, Lagos, Rabo said.

Mr Rabo expressed the determination of the acting Chairman of the Commission, Mr Ibrahim Magu, to tackle financial corruption in the society.

Mr Rabo, further reiterated that the Zone would not relax its independent actions against internet fraudsters, popularly known as Yahoo Boys.

EFCC is prepared more than ever, for robust collaboration with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in 2020.

This collaboration led to the arrest of many fraudsters in different parts of the state, some of whom are being prosecuted in courts, the statement quoted Rabo as saying .

The Lagos Zonal Head in the statement warned perpetrators of computer-related frauds to desist from the undisciplined acts.

The EFCC has not gone to sleep, but re-strategising, especially in the face of the lockdown occasioned by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Rabo said.

He also decried the activities of impostors who had been swindling unsuspecting members of the society of their assets and property.

Mr Rabo said that EFCC was also aware, through intelligence gathering, that some unscrupulous elements were in the habit of using the names of prominent citizens to defraud unsuspecting Nigeians.

EFCC frowns at this criminal activity and without any equivocation, anyone caught in the act would face the consequences, he said.

Mr Rabo also stated that the Commission, contrary to the erroneous belief by Nigerians, was not lagging behind in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Recently, the Commission handed over a property forfeited by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, to Lagos state government to be used as an isolation centre for COVID-19 patients.

The six flats of three-bedrooms and a boys quarter had been forfeited to the Federal Government, following an order of a Federal High Court in Lagos in 2017.

This gesture is part of the Commissions efforts in discharging its own social responsibility towards the fight against the spread of Coronavirus.

The Commission is committed and ready to fight economic and financial crimes, to render any essential services that may be required of it in the fight against covid-19, he said.

(NAN)
Most fashion collaborations tend to be a limited edition, one-off event; some however are so good, they deserve a second roll-out.

Such is the nature of the full-floral partnership between Californian skatewear company Vans and French luxury fashion house Kenzo, which first debuted back in 2013 and is set to return for a second instalment next week.

Dropping on June 17, the collection is the first release from Kenzos new creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista, who took over from Carol Lim and Humberto Leon (now at Opening Ceremony) in July 2019, and features three styles of Vans Hi-Sk8 and Old-Skool sneakers daubed from tongue to tread in Kenzos signature florals.

To accompany the shoes, Baptista has also designed a 46-piece unisex ready-to-wear collection of denim jackets, hoodies, logo t-shirts and sweatpants. A summery Cali skate park uniform of sorts.

Speaking to WWD, Baptista said the sneaker prints are archival floral patterns from Kenzo that were repurposed for the apparel collection he described as a dynamic, youthful wardrobe.

He added: The Vans collaboration is a very Californian wardrobe inspired by the world of skateboarding, some bleached basics/essentials from which all jerseys are in organic cotton.

The star piece in the collection is a limited edition Kenzo skateboard, made in partnership with The Skateroom, the profits of which will be donated to a social project aimed at helping young Jamaicans in need.

Kenzo x Vans launches in stores and online on June 17.
Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market Research Report by Device (Electric Vehicles, Laptops & Tablets, Medical Devices, Smartphones, and Wearable Devices), by Type (Inductive and Resonant) - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

New York, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market Research Report by Device, by Type - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913953/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market is expected to grow from USD 3,692.16 Million in 2019 to USD 9,826.67 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 17.72%.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



On the basis of Device, the Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market is studied across Electric Vehicles, Laptops & Tablets, Medical Devices, Smartphones, and Wearable Devices.



On the basis of Type, the Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market is studied across Inductive and Resonant.



On the basis of Geography, the Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market is studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market including Energizer Holdings, Inc.,, Fulton Innovation LLC., Integrated Device Technology, Inc., Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Powermat Technologies Ltd., Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation, Texas Instruments Incorporated, and WiTricity Corporation.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market?

6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Consumer Electronics Wireless Charging Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913953/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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(CNN)  A statue of Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell will be removed from a quayside in Dorset, southern England, as the UK continues to reckon with monuments of its imperialist past.

The statue, which was installed in 2008, will be removed on Thursday, said local authority Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) council in a statement.

"We acknowledge the differing views of the life activities of Baden-Powell and want to create time for all views to be aired, and to minimise the risk of any public disorder or antisocial behaviour that could arise were the statue to remain in situ," it said.

The Dorset County Scouts group supports the removal, the council added.

Vikki Slade, BCP council leader, called for discussions on the future of the statue.

"Whilst famed for the creation of the Scouts, we also recognise that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powell's life that are considered less worthy of commemoration," she said in a statement.

Slade also addressed the move in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

"I do not wish to see the statue removed," she wrote. "However we have had police advice that this statue is on a target list for attack and due to its proximity to the water and its delicate and historic nature I was asked to approve its temporary removal."

The move is part of a wave of actions against monuments glorifying the UK's colonial history.

On Sunday, protesters in Bristol tore down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston and dumped it into a river, and local authorities in east London removed a statue of slave owner Robert Milligan on Tuesday.

Who was Baden-Powell?

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell, was born February 22, 1857 in London and died January 8, 1941 in Nyeri, Kenya, according to encyclopedia Britannica.

He was revered as a national hero for his actions as a British Army officer in the South African War (1899-1902), and went on to found the Boy Scouts in 1908. Two years later, he co-founded the Girl Guides, a similar organization for girls.

Scouts movement

The Scouts is aimed at boys aged between 10 and 14 years old. The organization says scouting "exists to actively engage and support young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society."

Baden-Powell developed an interest in teaching young people when he found out his 1899 military textbook "Aids to Scouting" was being used for training boys in woodcraft.

He decided to set up a trial camp for boys on Brownsea Island, near Poole, in 1907, and then wrote a book for what he called the Boy Scout movement.

Before long there were Scout troops popping up across Britain, and Baden-Powell published a book called "Scouting for Boys" in 1908.

Two years later Baden-Powell retired from his army position to concentrate on the Scouts, and founded the Girl Guides with his sister Agnes that same year.

Why was he controversial?

Critics of Baden-Powell say that he held homophobic and racist views, and sympathized with fascists like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Former Bournemouth East Labour parliamentary candidate Corrie Drew told BBC Breakfast television Thursday: "A quick look into his history shows that he was very open about his views against homosexuality and that he was a very open supporter of Hitler and of fascism and quite a strong, outspoken racist."

She said: "We can't just excuse people's shocking values because they were in the past," adding: "We can commemorate the positive work without commemorating the man."

Drew added that the statue is not historic -- it has only been there for about a decade. "It's not part of our history in itself," she said.

However, some local politicians have spoken out in defense of the statue.

Robert Syms, MP for Poole, wrote on Twitter: "For the avoidance of doubt I am opposed to the permanent removal of the statue of Baden-Powell from Poole Quay."

Conor Burns, MP for nearby Bournemouth West, called on BCP council to put the statue back.

"The removal of the statue of Lord Baden Powell from Poole is a huge error of judgement," he tweeted.

On Thursday morning locals in Poole gathered to show their support for the statue.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Statue of Scouts founder to be removed. Who is Robert Baden-Powell and why is he controversial?"
Amazon has banned police officers from using its facial recognition software for a year and says it hopes that the moratorium will give Congress enough time to come up with rules for using the technology.

The online retailing and tech giant made the announcement in a blog post on Wednesday as protests against police brutality have continued after the cop-related killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

The only law enforcement agency named as using the software on Amazon's website is the Washington County Sheriff Office in Oregon.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment further when DailyMail.com reached out to ask how many agencies use the software and for their names.

Amazon has banned police officers from using its facial recognition software for a year and says it hopes that the moratorium will give Congress enough time to come up with rules for using the technology (pictured)

The online retailing and tech giant made the announcement in a blog post on Wednesday as protests against police brutality have continued after the cop-related killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. Picture is an image of how the software reads a person's face

The only law enforcement agency named as using the software on Amazon's website is the Washington County Sheriff Office in Oregon

'We're implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of Amazon's facial recognition technology,' said Amazon in the blog post.

Amazon said it will continue to allow organizations working to help rescue human trafficking victims and reunite missing children with their families to use the technology, known as Amazon Rekognition.

Specifically mentioned were Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics.

Amazon notes in the announcement that it has advocated for governments to have stronger regulations in place for the use of facial recognition technology. It says that 'in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge.'

'We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.'

Amazon's decision comes as protests against police brutality have continued since Floyd, a 46-year-old black father of two was killed by police in Minneapolis during an arrest.

He was alleged to have passed a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes when Officer Derek Chauvin pressed down on Floyd's neck with his knee for almost 9 minutes, causing his death.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Ca., who serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform which has held hearings on the use of facial recognition technology, told CNBC that he hopes a bill will be passed before year's end.

'It's a good first step, but it's still not enough,' Gomez says in response Amazon's moratorium on use of Rekognition.

IBM on Monday chose to completely get out of the facial recognition business, saying it's concerned about how the technology can be used for mass surveillance and racial profiling.

Democratic Representative Jimmy Gomez of California, who serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform which has held hearings on the use of facial recognition technology, says he hopes a bill will be passed before year's end. He is pictured on Capitol Hill in April

In a letter to Congress, IBM's chief executive officer, Arvind Krishna, called for new efforts to pursue justice and racial equity. The technology company on Monday said it was getting out of the facial recognition business

The George Floyd protests have called for a closer look at the use of police technology to track demonstrators and monitor American neighborhoods.

IBM is one of several big tech firms that had earlier sought to improve the accuracy of their face-scanning software after research found racial and gender disparities.

The firm now says it will stop offering facial recognition software and opposes any use of such technology for purposes of mass surveillance and racial profiling.

In a letter to Congress, IBM's chief executive officer, Arvind Krishna, called for new efforts to pursue justice and racial equity.

He also urged policy-makers to consider a 'national dialogue' on how law enforcement agencies should ethically be using facial recognition tech.

Also Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Floyd a 'martyr' of police brutality as Democrats kneeled for a moment of silence before unveiling a massive police reform bill.

The legislation includes a ban on police using chokeholds or carotid holds, would eliminate no-knock warrants in drug cases and aims to change 'the standard to evaluate whether law enforcement use of force was justified from whether the force was reasonable to whether the force was necessary.'

The sweeping package would also require nationwide use of body cameras by all police, subject law enforcement officers to civilian review boards and abolish the legal doctrine known as qualified immunity, which protects police from civil litigation, according to congressional sources.

It is unclear if the bill would receive support from Republicans.

Amazon's announcement also came after CEO Jeff Bezos said that he doesn't mind losing customers who are angry about his support for the Black Lives Matter movement after receiving a number of 'sickening' emails.

The world's richest man shared a screenshot on Instagram on Sunday of one of the emails he has received after pledging his support as George Floyd protests continue across the United States.

Bezos has come out in recent days publicly stating his support for the cause and Amazon also currently has a Black Lives Matter banner displayed on its website.

The email addressed to Bezos and shared on his Instagram was from a customer called Dave who vowed never to shop with Amazon again.

Bezos shared a screenshot on Instagram Sunday (pictured) of one of the emails he has received after publicly stating his support for Black Lives Matter
Brits are still being denied private coronavirus antibody tests more than a fortnight after blood samples taken from the finger were temporarily banned by the health watchdog.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)  a branch of the Department of Health  pulled the home testing kits, which check if someone has previously had the disease, on May 26.

Officials said they were urgently reviewing the accuracy of the devices, which draw blood using a finger pricker and scour the sample for Covid-19 antibodies  even thought they had been on sale for weeks.

But the tests are still listed as 'out of stock' at some retailers and online pharmacies, including Superdrug, nearly three weeks later. The MHRA claims it suspended sales of the devices over fears they produce unreliable results.

The Government has only validated two antibody tests, made by pharmaceutical giants Abbott and Roche, which are both designed to use a blood sample from the vein and are processed in a lab.

Private firms jumped on PHE's approval of those testing processes earlier this month to start selling their own tests. Confusingly, the lab-based equipment used to process the tests is the same as for the national scheme.

But the companies that make the equipment insist they are not designed for finger-prick samples. The MHRA ban only concerns tests which rely on people taking their own blood from their finger, not ones which use professional samples of vein blood.

Regulators today told MailOnline the services won't resume until the manufacturers of the kits begin to test whether they work for finger-prick samples themselves. The MHRA said it does not 'have any timescale for when any such testing service may be available'.

It comes after it was revealed patients wanting antibody tests to tell them whether they have had coronavirus could be turned down by their GPs, who have been told they are under no obligation to offer the tests.

The best-known company providing antibody tests, Superdrug, says on its website it has 'temporarily halted the Covid-19 antibody testing service'

An update on Babylon Health's website says: 'The MHRA has asked that all COVID-19 antibody testing from finger-prick blood samples be paused'

Lloyd Pharmacy's 59 blood sampling kit - which also used a finger pricker - simply says the device is 'out of stock'

The way antibody tests work is that someone takes their own blood sample, or a medical professional takes it for them, and that is posted off to a lab (file)

Ministers purchased 10million of the kits in late May and has been using them on NHS and care home staff ever since.

NHS England recommended GPs offer the tests to patients who are having bloods taken for other reasons, if the patient wished to know if they had the virus.

BMA GP Committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey warned today there was no clinical benefit for the antibody tests

WHAT IS AN ANTIBODY TEST? An antibody test is one which tests whether someone's immune system is equipped to fight a specific disease or infection. When someone gets infected with a virus their immune system must work out how to fight it off and produce substances called antibodies. These are extremely specific and are usually only able to tackle one strain of one virus. They are produced in a way which makes them able to latch onto that specific virus and destroy it. For example, if someone catches COVID-19, they will develop COVID-19 antibodies for their body to use to fight it off. The body then stores versions of these antibodies in the immune system so that if it comes into contact with that same virus again it will be able to fight it off straight away and probably avoid someone feeling any symptoms at all. To test for these antibodies, medics or scientists can take a fluid sample from someone - usually blood - and mix it with part of the virus to see if there is a reaction between the two. If there is a reaction, it means someone has the antibodies and their body knows how to fight off the infection - they are immune. If there is no reaction it means they have not had it yet. Advertisement

But BMA GP Committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey warned that family doctors should be wary of giving out too many of the kits.

He told Pulse Magazine: 'There is no clinical benefit of just having an antibody test and we wouldn't want to see that driving up inappropriate attendance in GP surgeries.

We need to really understand much more about the long-term benefits of having antibody tests other than it being a surveillance tool for public health purposes.'

The MHRA wants to ensure that blood taken from a capillary (a home finger-prick sample) shows the same levels of accuracy as blood taken from a vein.

The best-known company providing antibody tests, Superdrug, says on its website it has 'temporarily halted the Covid-19 antibody testing service'.

Although the 69 test has been part-approved by Public Health England, Superdrug was asking people to take their own blood samples, which PHE has not approved.

Lloyd Pharmacy's 59 blood sampling kit - which also used a finger pricker - simply says the device is 'out of stock'.

An update on Babylon Health's website says: 'The MHRA has asked that all COVID-19 antibody testing from finger-prick blood samples be paused. The MHRA decision has impacted all testing of this type nationwide.'

An MHRA spokesperson said: 'For these services to resume, validation work will need to be undertaken by the manufacturers of CE marked test kits and CE marked sample collection kits.

'These are commercial decisions made by independent organisations and not overseen by MHRA; we do not therefore have any timescale for when any such testing service may be available.

'No COVID-19 antibody self-testing kits have received CE mark status and there are no testing kits available in the UK for home self-test use.'

Karol Sikora, professor of medicine at the University of Buckingham, told MailOnline: 'The Government got our hopes up about these antibody tests in March, but the politicians didn't really understand them.

'They thought they would be much more accurate and that their would be a higher percentage of the population who had been infected.

'It's a good thing theyve been removed [from supermarket shelves] and the UK should just use them in surveillance studies moving on.

'People shouldn't worry about not being able to get the private tests - some of them are a rip off and they don't really tell you anything. It's not like you get some kind of immune privilege if you get a positive result.'

The way current antibody tests work is that someone takes their own blood sample, or a medical professional takes it for them, and that is posted off to a lab.

There, qualified technicians analyse the blood to look for antibodies for the coronavirus, which are immune system substances created when someone is infected with the virus.

Professor Karol Sikora (pictured) blamed ministers for getting the public's hopes up about the devices then snatching them away when they were pulled from shelves last month

People then receive a result in which the presence of antibodies - a positive result - indicates they have already had the virus, or the absence that they have not.

Antibody testing has been ongoing throughout the pandemic and more than 230,000 people have been tested in a bid to try and work out what proportion of the population has had the virus.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said almost one in five people in London - 17 per cent - have already had the coronavirus, according to surveillance testing.

Meanwhile the rate across the rest of the UK appeared to be around five per cent, he said, which would equal 2.85million people.

Antibody tests for COVID-19 may be wrong up to half of the time, according to updated information from the Centers for Disease Control. A graphic reveals how the test can spot fewer than half of true positive cases, depending on how widespread the infection is

HOW CAN ACCURATE TESTS BE INACCURATE? Antibody tests with what could be considered a high level of accuracy can still produce large margins of error if only a small proportion of a population has been infected. A 95% specific test, for example, will always produce five false positive results from a group of 100 people. Even if it is sensitive enough to detect all the people who have genuinely had the disease, it will still return five false positives, and the effect this has on the results of a survey can be large if the number of true positives is low. If the prevalence of antibodies is low - for example, only 5% of people in the group have had the illness - the results could end up half wrong. The 95% test, in that situation, would be expected to return 10 positives - five of them right, five of them wrong. This means the functional accuracy of the test, known as its true predictive value, is only around 50%. The effect of these false positives is magnified if the prevalence of the virus in the population is low, and less noticeable if the prevalence is high. For example, if 30% of the population have been infected, those five false positive results would be counter-balanced by 30 true positives, making the test more like 85 per cent accurate. A more specific test can reduce this effect; by comparison a 99.9% specific test would return one wrong result per thousand - 100 per million. Advertisement

But only two tests - ones made by Roche and Abbott - have so far been considered good enough to diagnose people on an individual basis - to tell them the results.

Antibody studies, also known as seroprevalence research, are considered critical to understanding where an outbreak is spreading and can help guide decisions on restrictions needed to contain it.

There is currently a high level of inaccuracy in the testing, however, caused by how uncommon the virus is within the population.

If the infection has affected only a small number of people tested, it will have a magnified margin of error.

The way this maths works is that a 95 per cent specific test, for example, will always produce five false positive results from a group of 100 people.

Even if it is sensitive enough to detect all the people who have genuinely had the disease, it will still return five false positives.

If the prevalence of antibodies is low - for example, only five per cent of people in the group have had the illness - the results could end up half wrong. The 95 per cent test, in that situation, would be expected to return 10 positives - five of them right, five of them wrong.

This means the functional accuracy of the test is only around 50 per cent.

This effect is magnified if the prevalence of the virus in the population is low, and less noticeable if the prevalence is high.

For example, if 30 per cent of the population have been infected, those five false positive results would be counter-balanced by 30 true positives in the 100.

A more specific test can reduce this effect; by comparison a 99.9 per cent specific test would return one wrong result per thousand - 100 per million.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Instacart, the North American leader in online grocery, today announced it has raised $225 million as part of a new financing round led by DST Global and General Catalyst, with existing investor D1 Capital Partners participating. The investment comes as Instacart continues to experience an unprecedented surge in customer demand for grocery delivery and pickup. Today's announcement increases the company's valuation to $13.7 billion.

"COVID-19 created a massive shift for the grocery industry and forever changed how people view the necessity of on-demand services. Overnight, Instacart became an essential service for millions of families across North America and our teams have worked incredibly hard to safely serve customers and shoppers during this time of need. We have ambitious plans for the future and this new investment enables us to deepen our support for our shoppers and partners, further fund strategic initiatives such as our advertising and enterprise businesses, and continue to deliver exceptional experiences for customers. This pandemic has fundamentally reshaped the way people think about grocery and ecommerce, and we're proud to have Instacart continue to play an important role in people's lives now and long after this crisis subsides," said Apoorva Mehta, Founder and CEO of Instacart.

Today, Instacart is accessible to more than 85% of households in the U.S., across all 50 states, and more than 70% of households in Canada. The company has accelerated its launch cadence with retailers since the start of the year and now partners with more than 400 national, regional and local retailers across more than 30,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. In addition to groceries and everyday goods, the company has also expanded its offering over the last year to include alcohol and prescription delivery and pickup services. As Instacart looks ahead, it expects to deploy the new capital in a number of ways, including: continuing to support its growing shopper community with new services and features; further investing in key businesses such as Instacart Advertising and Instacart Enterprise; and further scaling its operational and technical teams to help meet the increased customer demand for grocery delivery and pickup.

"It's been remarkable to watch the Instacart team, in these unprecedented times, not only successfully scale its operations and technology to serve customers, but also provide earning opportunities for hundreds of thousands of shoppers, as well as continued business for its retail partners. We are excited to partner with Apoorva and the Instacart team as they deliver long-term value for customers, shoppers, retailers and advertisers for years to come," said Saurabh Gupta, Managing Partner at DST Global.

"That Instacart was able to meet an unprecedented increase in consumer need over the past several challenging months is just one of many signals of the company's operational excellence. We've been following this team since the beginning and, today, we're proud to partner with Instacart as they continue to build the service  with its ease of use, selection, and affordability  to make online grocery accessible for millions of people across North America," said Kyle Doherty, Managing Director, General Catalyst Endurance fund.

"Instacart's response to COVID-19  refocusing the company to meet the rapid shift in needs of customers, shoppers and retailers  has strengthened our conviction in its capacity to lead this important industry in partnership with brick and mortar retailers. We continue to believe that consumer adoption of online grocery will grow substantially in the coming years and are proud to deepen our investment in Instacart at this time," said Dan Sundheim, Founder of D1 Capital Partners.

About Instacart

Instacart is the North American leader in online groceries and one of the fastest-growing companies in ecommerce. Instacart shoppers offer same-day delivery and pickup services to bring fresh groceries and everyday essentials to busy people and families across the U.S. and Canada. Instacart has partnered with more than 400 beloved national, regional and local retailers, including Albertsons, ALDI, Costco, Kroger, Loblaw, Publix, Sam's Club, Sprouts, Walmart Canada, and Wegmans, among others, to deliver from more than 30,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities in North America. Instacart's delivery service is available to more than 85% of U.S. households and 70% of Canadian households. The company's cutting-edge enterprise technology also powers the ecommerce platforms of some of the world's biggest retail players, supporting their white-label websites, applications and delivery solutions. Instacart offers an Instacart Express membership for unlimited free delivery on orders over $35. For more information, visit www.instacart.com . For anyone interested in becoming an Instacart shopper, visit https://shoppers.instacart.com/ .

SOURCE Instacart

Related Links

http://www.instacart.com


UPDATE: The bridge has reopened

All main lanes on the Sam Houston Tollway's Ship Channel Bridge were closed on Thursday evening, the Harris County Toll Road Authority tweeted.

Traffic is being redirected to the 610 bridge as an alternate route.

The emergency closure is to allow engineers to inspect work on the adjacent new bridge under construction, the HCTRA reports.
Actress Raveena Tandon made her Bollywood debut opposite Salman Khan in the film Patthar Ke Phool in 1991. Since then she has never looked back. In a career of over 29 years, Raveena has played a variety of roles.

Recalling how she got her first film, Raveena, in an interaction with actress Kiran Joneja on the latter's online chat show Insider Talk, said: "I never wanted to become an actor, but when destiny wants something to happen it all happens simultaneously, so after finishing my 10th exams I did an internship with Prahlad Kakkar, also I had done a few modelling projects before that, when I was interning with Prahlad Kakkar people used to ask me what was I doing behind the cameras and why was I not acting in front of the cameras. Also, Prahlad used to ask me to model whenever a model didn't turn up for the shoot on time! But those days were really fun. I truly enjoyed my internship days."

She added: "One day I was in one of the studios in Bandra and my friend Bunty, who was a filmmaker I knew him because I had done a few advertisements with him, asked if I was in Bandra. I said yes. To that he said, come outside, Salman (Khan) and I are passing by, just say hi to us'."

On the chat show, Raveena then recounts how she met Salman Khan through a mutual friend, and how Salman was looking for a heroine for a new film produced by the late GP Sippy. The film she referred to was Patthar Ke Phool.

She also shared that her friends were much excited to see her opposite Salman Khan in the film. "I remember my friends were more excited that my co-actor is Salman Khan and they encouraged me to go ahead. So, that was how my journey of being a film actress begun," Raveena recalled.

Raveena returns to the screen after a gap in KGF: Chapter 2, starring Kannada superstar Yash. The film is a follow-up of the 2018 Kannada blockbuster KGF: Chapter 1. Actor Sanjay Dutt plays the antagonist in the sequel.

Follow @News18Movies for more
By Donald Kirk





Harvard professor Cornel West caught the divisions in American life when he warned of both the hopes and concerns of Americans after the funeral for George Floyd in Houston. "We got hope in the form of motion," the renowned African-American philosopher told CNN's Anderson Cooper, "but we've gotta get ready for the backlash."



The idealism and dreams of reform mingle with the fear of violence and killing in the long aftermath of Floyd's death by a policeman in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis. The idealism that suffuses the mood of thousands marching through American streets runs into a wall of revulsion over images of looting and burning as well as overt racism.



When it comes to protests on the streets, the United States has a lot to learn from South Korea. An abiding memory of the Candlelight Revolution of 2016 that forced out the conservative Park Geun-hye as president was that it was almost entirely peaceful. Unruly mobs did not seize the moment, as in American cities.



The ongoing American "revolution" may be broader, more diffused geographically, ethnically and in other ways quite different from the Korean experience and that in other countries. In the next few months, in a presidential campaign like none other, in a pandemic of the coronavirus, protest and violence, U.S.-style democracy faces its severest trial since the American Civil War.



The world is waiting to see if democracy passes the test. A sign of success would be for the U.S. to show that reform is possible as has happened in South Korea since the mass outpourings of June 1987 that led to the democratic Constitution and the system of direct presidential elections beginning that year. Amid all the talk about reform versus mob violence in American cities, Korea's history of democratic reform might be an exemplar.



The outburst of violence across the U.S. has moved past mere vengeance or shock over the vicious killing of a black man by a brutal cop. Emotions in the U.S. go deep into American and world history in a crisis that's not going away. Unrest has been exacerbated by the coronavirus that's led to the loss of jobs, of wages, of the means of survival for millions.



There's no excuse or justification for destroying valuable property, stealing costly stuff from people whose misfortune was to own shops and property where mobs were running wild. But what do many if not most of these thieves and looters have to lose? Many do not have jobs, if they do, they work for low wages, for part-time shifts, gigs with no future and no point. For years, for all their lives, they've been seeing beautiful people on screens, on lovely streets, in sleek vehicles, through windows in stores overflowing with luxuries and in fine restaurants where they're sweeping the floors or washing dishes.



In contrast, the majority of fellow citizens are doing fine on a stock market only slightly rocked by the coronavirus and the protests. That leaves millions who aren't sharing the wealth. The killing of George Floyd in the name of law and order was a spark that triggered the deepest emotions  the indignity that touched off the rage and hatred for those above them who may not all be wealthy but live in comfort, secure from hunger, able to pay the rent or mortgage and own a car.



Resentment among African-Americans goes back to an era that formally ended with the abolition of slavery in the American South in the Civil War but endures in discrimination, violence and suffering to this day. Blacks, Latinos and Hispanics share a common cause, but so do millions of poor whites who resent them as competitors for crumbs off the table of the rich. They too are victims of social and economic repression.



Koreans have their own keen sense of discrimination for reasons of social class and educational background, income distribution and regional origins, among others. A miracle of Korean history since the bloody Gwangju Uprising of 40 years ago is that it's been mostly non-violent. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets since the 1987 democracy movement, most recently in the Candlelight Revolution. These outpourings of peaceful protest provide a model that Americans would do well to emulate in their own twisting path to reform.





Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, observes events as a journalist from Seoul and Washington. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.


A Minneapolis judge ordered the citys police department to stop using neck restraints and chokeholds. A majority on the City Council pledged to dismantle the department, and the chief withdrew from contract negotiations with the police union to allow for "greater community transparency."

These are some of the steps taken in Minneapolis following more than two weeks of demonstrations in cities around the world to protest the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.

But activists, reform advocates and even those who work in law enforcement question whether these types of changes, not only in Minneapolis but also in other cities in the United States, are enough to heal widespread distrust between communities of color and police departments.

Banning neck restraints does not address the structural problems in the police department and does not address the cultural problem that we have about devaluing black folks, Mike Griffin, a Minneapolis activist, said. He added that greater systemwide reforms must be made to bring about lasting change and improve the lives of black people in his city.

Image: NYPD protest (Wong Maye-E / AP)

We will be in this same exact moment in three months, in six months, in a year from now unless we change the significant structural problems of not only the police department, but the racial gaps we have in the city, Griffin, an electoral organizer for Community Change, said.

On the same day Minneapolis banned the restraints, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the states police training program to stop teaching officers how to use any neck hold that blocks the flow of blood to the brain.

New York and Florida, the cities of Denver and Phoenix, plus France have all also banned neck restraints in the wake of Floyds death.

On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top Democrats in the House and the Senate unveiled the Justice in Policing Act that would ban chokeholds across all police departments. It would also require local police departments to send data on the use of force to the federal government and create a grant program that would allow state attorneys general to create an independent process to investigate misconduct or excessive use of force.

Story continues

The next day, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner took a moment from addressing Floyds loved ones during the 46-year-olds funeral service to announce he would sign an executive order banning chokeholds and strangleholds.

In this city, we will require de-escalation, Turner said. In this city, you have to give a warning before you shoot. In this city, you have a duty to intervene. In this city, we will require comprehensive reporting. In this city, you must exhaust all alternatives before shooting.

He added that any reforms must go beyond just policing.

When we invest in communities that have been underserved and underinvested in  then you dont have to spend as much on policing, Turner said.

The refrain is echoed among people who work in law enforcement or have closely watched its evolution over the decades. Even before agencies announced sweeping changes, many police and National Guard members were spotted attempting to de-escalate heated protests by kneeling with demonstrators or dancing with protesters.

But how to ensure rank-and-file officers wont commit acts of brutality when faced with stress and trauma remains a puzzle few departments have solved.

Were past metaphors, Patrick Skinner, a former CIA operations officer, told MSNBC, adding that the problem goes beyond training and straight to the heart of police culture.

Our nation needs to change the mindset of what it means to be a police officer, he said. Were cops. Were not warriors ... If you have a warrior mindset, you cant de-escalate.

Skinner, who now trains police in Savannah, Georgia, says he likes to role-play when working with new officers.

I always say, If you didnt have a badge and a gun, how would you handle this 911 call? If whatever you come up with is thoughtful, legal and kind, try that first, he said.

The tension between having a warrior or a neighbor mentality is playing out in the Los Angeles Police Department, which has a long history of overpolicing communities of color.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said last week he would not authorize a budget increase for the department and would instead reallocate $250 million from the city's proposed 2020-21 budget to black communities to help address health and education issues.

He also temporarily prohibited officers from entering the names of suspected gang members into a statewide database, a sticking point for reform advocates who say it unfairly targets men of color.

Los Angeles Police Commissioner Shane Goldsmith, who is also president and CEO of Liberty Hill Foundation, a social change organization, wants officers to work more closely with the communities they serve.

Public safety is not just about the police, she said. In many cases, police dont make people feel safe and they dont make them safe.

True safety comes from communities brimming with educational and employment opportunities and enough resources to help residents who might be struggling, she said.

We need real transformation, she said. Its about culture change. Its about who we hire and how we train them and identify all the ways that racism gets perpetuated and embedded."

In Minneapolis, activist John Thompson said many of these reforms should have been put in place after his friend and co-worker Philando Castile was fatally shot in 2016 by Jeronimo Yanez, a police officer in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Anthony.

George Floyd didnt have to die for us to be having this conversation about reform," Thompson, founder of the group Fight for Justice Enterprises, said. What were doing now is reactive, as opposed to proactive.

Thompson noted that members of the Minneapolis City Council who say they want to dismantle the police department have not explained what that means or offered any details.

I would love to entertain that conversation and be a part of that conversation and would love to see some alternatives to modern-day policing, but if we dont have a plan, then were just acting out of anger, he said.

Arianna Nason, a member of the activist coalition MPD150 Collective, said Minneapolis "is making history by beginning the community-driven process to dismantle the police department.

This is completely uncharted territory, so it is not entirely unreasonable that there is not a lot of clarity in terms of hard policy out there available, she said. I guarantee you that it will be coming out in the coming weeks as we have teams working on that.

It absolutely needs to be a community driven, community led process, she said. That being said, defund the police -- that is the absolute necessary first step, to remove the massive amount of funding that the Minneapolis Police Department has been designated.

That money needs to be immediately reinvested into communities most affected by police violence.

The New Jersey city of Camden experimented with this concept in 2013 when it disbanded the police department, tore up union contracts and introduced a countywide approach that focused on community patrols. Camden police officers are now seen as guardians, not warriors, Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. told NBC New York.

But by replacing city police with county police, Camden officers dont necessarily reflect the black and the brown residents who are more likely to live in the city than around it. This issue continues to play out in departments across the country.

I want to make sure we keep our eye on the ball on what can actually make black lives better, Griffin, the Minneapolis activist, said.

He said changes, including reducing the police union's power and divesting money from the department into community services, must happen swiftly to save black lives.

Theyre gambling with my life," he said. "We need this very quickly, because every day that goes by puts black peoples lives in danger.

Who else needs to die? As were trying to figure this out, I could be next.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse)  Thu, June 11, 2020 21:07 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bde05207 2 Entertainment Vault-Festival,Britain,London,music,social-distancing,coronavirus,COVID-19 Free

Vault Festival founder Tim Wilson and his team have announced their plans to launch the first socially distanced immersive music event on Oct. 2.

Lockdown Town is the first in a series of socially distanced musical adventures that will be held at One Night Records, which organizers describe as a brand-new immersive music event and venue that is located at a secret London Bridge location.

The immersive experience will take small groups of visitors through a newly built maze of tunnels, where they will discover the bold innovators and rule breaking music makers of the 1950s back to the 1920s.

Music enthusiasts will embark on an unexpected immersive journey punctuated by six concerts, during which they will groove to classic hits of Chuck Berry, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Scott Joplin alongside brand-new original material.

Artists performing in Lockdown Town include Errol Linton, Dom Pipkin, Georgia Van Etten and The Cinelli Brothers.

One Night Records is like a living record shop where, in 2020, audiences will revel amidst the hits of Chuck Berry, Jelly Roll Morton Hank Williams, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Scott Joplin. Youll find gems youve never heard before and also see and hear the hits and legends of the future, Tommy Hare, One Night Records head of artists and repertoire, said in a statement.

Described as Londons first socially distanced immersive event, visitors must adhere to a series of social distancing measures.

Read also: Social dis-dancing? Dutch club tries post-coronavirus layout

In addition to booking tickets in advance, groups will be limited to four family members or friends, with arrivals of each household group staggered to ensure minimal contact between participants.

Face masks are to be worn throughout the entire experience, during which visitors will encounter hand sanitizer dispensers in each tunnel archway entrance. Food and drinks, overseen by award-winning baker Daniel Wright, will have to be pre-ordered or served drive-thru style.

Were going to do it safely, but were going to get people back together and were going to give them an amazing night. The social distancing is part of the show so guests wont notice it. We want to give Londoners something to book now and to look forward to, Tim Wilson, managing director of One Night Records, said in a statement.

While One Night Records will run from Oct. 2 through Dec. 31, Londons music venues and clubs are still closed as a result of the lockdown enforced by the British government amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last May, Prime Minister Boris Johnson released a strategy document, Our Plan to Rebuild, setting out how the United Kingdom will gradually ease lockdown measures.

Indoor leisure and hospitality venues are tentatively included in the step three of the process, which will be considered for introduction no earlier than July 4.

However, Music Venue Trust revealed in a survey that more than 550 grassroots venues across the U.K. remain under immediate threat of permanent closure as a result of the global pandemic.
US sends aircraft carriers to Pacific amid tensions with China

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 5:21 PM

The United States has reportedly sent two aircraft carriers to the Pacific amid tensions with China in the region.

The USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz were allegedly deployed to prevent another pandemic to break out, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"The bottom line is that the mission endures and doesn't take a break for the virus,"Rear Admiral George M. Wikoff said from the USS Ronald Reagan on a call with reporters, according to the newspaper. "We continue to promote regional security with our partners and maintain a very high state of readiness."

The USS Roosevelt was forced into a port in Guam earlier this year in the wake of the global outbreak of the coronavirus.

Military and diplomatic tension in the region have been on the rise since a US transport plane flew Tuesdayover the island of Taiwan, which China does not recognize as independent.

China dispatched fighter aircraft across the Taiwan Strait hours later,raising the tensions even further.

"The military detected multiple numbers of Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets flying southwest into Taiwan briefly this morning," the Taiwanese defense ministry said. "The military has full surveillance and control of all activities in the sea and air that surround Taiwan, and the public can rest assured of our capability to uphold security for our national territory."

The US Navy's laterst measure is meant to create a "bubble of health," according to Rear Admiral Wikoff.

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By PTI

NEW DELHI: India is definitely not in the community transmission stage of COVID-19 spread, the government asserted on Thursday, even as cases and deaths continued to mount with the country recording the highest single-day spike of 9,996 new infections and 357 fatalities.

India's first serosurvey on COVID-19 spread has found that lockdown and containment measures were successful in preventing a rapid rise in infections, but a large proportion of the population still remains susceptible, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said at a media briefing.

The sero-survey has two parts -- "estimate fraction" infected with SARS-CoV-2 in general population and in containment zones of hotspot cities, Bhargava said.

The first part has been completed and the second is ongoing, he said, adding that the survey was conducted in May by the ICMR in collaboration with state health departments, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Bhargava said the study involves surveying a total of 83 districts with 26,400 people enrolling for it and 28,595 households visited.

The districts were selected based on the incidence of reported COVID-19 cases as on April 25.

The slides that were shared with the media stated that data from 65 districts has been compiled till now.

The sero-survey has found that 0.73 per cent of the population in the districts surveyed had evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2, Bhargava said.

"Lockdown and containment (measures) have been successful in keeping it low and preventing rapid spread," he said, citing the survey.

However, it means that a large proportion of the population is still susceptible and risk is higher in urban areas (1.09 times) and urban slums (1.89 times) than rural areas, Bhargava said It found that infection fatality rate is very low at 0.08 percent and infection in containment zones were found to be high with significant variations, but the survey is still ongoing, he said.

Since a large proportion of the population is susceptible and infection can spread, non-pharmacological interventions such as physical distancing, use of face mask or cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette must be followed strictly, Bhargava said.

Urban slums are highly vulnerable for the spread of the infection and local lockdown measures need to continue as already advised by the government, he said.

The elderly, those with chronic morbidities, pregnant women, and children less than 10 years of age need to be protected as they fall in the high-risk category susceptible to COVID-19, he said.

"Efforts to limit the scale and spread of the disease will have to be continued by the strong implementation of containment strategies by states.nThe states cannot lower their guard and need to keep on implementing effective surveillance and containment strategies," Bhargava said.

Asked if India is in the community transmission phase, Bhargava said, "There is a heightened debate around this term community transmission. Having said that I think even WHO has not given a definition for it. And as we have so shown that India is such a large country and the prevalence is so low."

"The prevalence has been found to be less than 1 per cent in small districts. In urban and containment areas it may be slightly higher. But, India is definitely not in community transmission. I would like to emphasise it," he said.

India has to continue with its strategy of testing, tracing, tracking and quarantine and continue with containment measures as success has been found up till now with those measures, and "we should not let down our guards".

His remarks came on a day India saw the highest single-day spike of 357 fatalities and 9,996 cases, pushing the death toll to 8,102 and the nationwide tally to 2,86,579.

According to Union Health Ministry data, the country has registered over 9,500 cases for the seventh day in a row, while the figure for casualties crossed the 300-mark for the first time.

The number of recoveries are more than the active novel coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day.

The ministry said the number of active cases stands at 1,37,448 till Thursday 8 am, while 1,41,028 people have recovered and one patient has migrated.

"Thus, around 49.21 percent of patients have recovered so far," an official said.

Responding to a question, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said, "Symptomatic person or a suspect case should get in touch with states' helpline numbers and try to access the hospital facilities as advised.

In addition to this, we have requested the States to streamline the helpline system and provide guidance.
Saudi Arabias ambassador to the UN has spoken about the need to return Syria to the Arab League and the possibility of reopening the Saudi Embassy in Damascus writes Al-Masdar.

The permanent representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah bin Yahya al-Muallami, stressed on Wednesday, the need for Syria to return to the Arab League.

Muallami said in an interview with RT Arabic that the relations between Riyadh and Damascus can be restored simply, any day, and at any moment if the Syrian crisis ends and the factions of the Syrian people agree on the future direction of the country.

On the possibility of opening the Kingdoms embassy in Damascus along the similar lines of the United Arab Emirates, Muallami said that, there is currently no similar step in the near future because the time has not come yet.

A delegation from Syria visited the Emirates after the UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus last year.

The Syrian-UAE private sector forum was held in Abu Dhabi with the participation of Syrian businessmen, according to SANA.

The forum comes within the framework of developing a positive relationship between the two private sectors in Syria and the UAE to establish joint investments, said Mohammed Thani Murshid al-Rumaithi, Chairman of the Federation of the UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
West Michigans biggest arts festival, ArtPrize, is the latest summer celebration to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The organization on Wednesday, in announcing the cancellation, said it would pause its overall operations as a result of the 2020 cancellation and take time to evaluate the possibility of future events.

From Fourth of July celebrations to music festivals, a growing number of summer events are being called off in the interest of social distancing, even as the states number of newly-reported COVID-19 cases continues to fall.

Below is a look at a few recent developments in the coronavirus crisis in Michigan:

ArtPrize 2020 and Fourth of July fireworks in Bay City, downtown Saginaw called off

Despite attempts to modify exhibitions to allow for social distancing, ArtPrize organizers on Wednesday, June 10, cancelled the bi-annual Grand Rapids arts festival.

We initially shifted plans to focus on outdoor spaces and large indoor venues, ArtPrize board member Marc Schwartz said in a statement. However, after analyzing the situation further and considering the unknowns, we realized that hosting such an event was not the best course forward. Although very disappointing, we believe it is the best decision to ensure the well-being of our constituents.

ArtPrize, which was launched in 2009, draws scores of visitors and residents to downtown Grand Rapids to check out more than 1,000 exhibits scattered throughout the area.

Also on Wednesday, officials with Saginaw Area Fireworks announced that their annual 4th of July fireworks celebration won't be held at the traditional spot on Ojibway Island this year due to COVID-19 concerns.

In lieu of the traditional spot, organizers are hoping a nearby township will host the event.

We should have something definitely in stone by next week," Roy said. Unfortunately, this years fireworks will be nowhere near as nice as last years or next years.

Unlike Saginaws celebration, which is looking for a new location, organizers in Bay City have called off the Bay City Fireworks Festival on July 4 entirely due to COVID-19 concerns.

Michigan Senate OKs to-go cocktails, outdoor drinking districts

The Michigan legislature is on track to allow restaurants to sell to-go and delivery cocktails, as well as allow local governments to create social districts where people of age can purchase to-go drinks and consume them in designated areas.

The legislation allowing those measures passed the state Senate on Wednesday and now heads to the state House, where there appears to be bipartisan support for the concept.

Bar and restaurant owners say the measures will help bolster sales following weeks of only being able to serve take-out due to coronavirus concerns.

Bars and restaurants across the Lower Peninsula were able to reopen their doors for limited capacity dine-in services this week after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer began lifting restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Michigan lawmakers want to declare racism a public health crisis

Democratic lawmakers put a resolution on the Senate floor Wednesday to declare racism a public health crisis in Michigan.

The resolution would also commit to working collaboratively with the Governor and every sector of society to develop an ongoing strategy to address, fund, and support solutions that strategically reduce the long-term impact that racism has on the quality of life and health for citizens of color.

The proposed resolution is in response to the disproportionate way in which the COVID-19 pandemic is harming the states black population. Black residents account for about 13.6 percent of the states population but 40 percent of all coronavirus deaths in the state.

Sen. Marshall Bullock, D-Detroit, one of the senators who introduced the resolution, said underlying health conditions complicating COVID-19 infections are prevalent in communities of color. He added that the economic and social factors that contribute to those health conditions are built on decades of discriminatory housing and education policy.

Resolutions are non-binding and do not have a direct impact on existing laws, but can be used by government bodies as a statement of priorities or to declare intentions.

Michigan retailers caught in a no-win situation of enforcing mask use

Michigan retailers reopening their doors to customers once again are faced with the tough decision of enforcing the states mask policy.

Since mid-April, Whitmer has ordered residents to wear a face covering in public enclosed spaces and allowed retailers to refuse service to anyone not wearing a mask. However, there is no penalty for violating the mask policy.

Meegan Holland, spokeswoman for the Michigan Retailers Association, said retailers are in a bind on whether or not to enforce the mask policy.

Its a no-win situation, she said."If you go into a store and you want to wear a mask and you see other customers not wearing masks, then you get angry at the store.

If you go into a store and they insist that you wear a mask and you dont want to wear one, then you get angry at that."

Experts recently told MLive that social distancing and mask wearing will be key factors in how severe a second wave of COVID-19 later this year will be.

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Michigan has reported 5,711 coronavirus-linked deaths in 3 months

Michigan continues to near 60,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state.

On Wednesday, state health officials announced 171 more confirmed cases of coronavirus and 13 new deaths linked to the infectious respiratory virus in Michigan.

In total, the state now has 59,278 confirmed cases and 5,711 COVID-19 deaths. The state also estimates that there are 244 more probable deaths.

Cases and deaths are continuing to trend downward across the state. The most recent seven-day moving averages of 178 cases and 20 deaths per day are improvements from averages one week prior of 347 cases and 34 deaths per day.

PREVENTION TIPS

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces.

Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

Read more on MLive:

Restaurants, pools, libraries reopen: An updated chart of whats allowed in Michigan

Is a second wave of coronavirus inevitable? Michigan nears critical point to suppress another outbreak

Michigan Democrats seek more worker protections as coronavirus restrictions are lifted
A Republican consultant, while sitting a few feet from a silent Donald Trump, on Wednesday incorrectly accused two black journalists of killing more African Americans than the Ku Klux Klan.

Raynard Jackson, during a White House event on race relations, was in the middle of slamming media outlets and journalists when he singled out CNN's Don Lemon and MSNBC's Joy Reid. Like Mr Jackson, both cable news hosts are black.

Mr Jackson accused the duo of "putting more poison into the black community than any drug dealer."

He also contended, without any evidence, that Mr Lemon and Ms Reid are guilty of "killing more black folks than any white person with a sheet ever their face."

He appeared to be claiming both television personalities have appeared on air and not, in his view, given factual information or opinions about the black community and policies that would affect it.

Mr Trump sat a few seats to Mr Jackson's left. He made no attempt to correct him.

The KKK killed thousands of black Americans as it orchestrated years of terror, especially in the Deep South.

As the event neared a close, Mr Trump joined Mr Jackson by contending the media almost always writes negative stories about him and his presidency.

He trails Joe Biden by double digits nationally in his bid to secure a second four-year term, and behind in several key swing states. A few others that have long been GOP strongholds  Texas, Georgia and Ohio  appear to be dead heats five months before Election Day.

"The president is in big trouble," one Republican strategist said Wednesday. "There's no doubt about it."

Mr Jackson might have been trying to goad CNN and MSNBC to book him as a guest, saying: "What are you afraid to have real black Republicans [on] who know what the hell they're talking about?
ALMA  The fifth suspect in a Harlan County armed robbery was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison.

According to court records, Rylie Bryson, 20, of Kearney was sentenced by Harlan County District Court Judge Terri Harder at the Harlan County Courthouse in Alma for attempted burglary. Bryson will receive 163 days credit on her prison sentence at the Nebraska Department of Corrections for already serving those days in county jail. Upon her release from prison, Bryson will have 12 months of post-release suspension.

Bryson, along with Davontay Wilcox, 26; Brock Teel, 30; Damecius Grigsby 24; and Jake George, 23, were accused of robbing an elderly couple at gunpoint as they laid in their bed at 7:30 a.m. March 11, 2019.

The suspects forced their way into the couples house along Highway 136 between Oxford and Orleans, and they confronted the couple. One warning shot from a .22-caliber rifle was fired at the couple, said Chris Becker, Harlan County sheriff in a March 2019 interview with the Hub. No injuries were reported.

The suspects took approximately $1,000 in cash and collectible coins, Becker said. One of the victims cellphones also was stolen, but it was recovered later in Alma.
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Linkedin Apriza Pinandita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 15:47 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdded6e6 1 World Indonesian-sailors,Chinese-fishing-vessel,forced-labors,exploitation,Foreign-Ministry,Malacca-Strait,human-trafficking Free

The Foreign Ministry and the National Police are investigating a report that two Indonesian crew members jumped off a Chinese vessel while it was underway in the Malacca Strait last week.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed the existence of the NGO report on Wednesday, saying that the two crew members in question were from Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, and Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara.

They decided to jump off the Chinese-flagged Lu Qing Yuan Yu 901 while they were underway in the Malacca Strait, said the ministry's director for citizen protection, Judha Nugraha, in a press briefing.

The two crew members, identified as Reynalfi, 22, and Andri Juniansyah, 30, jumped off the boat on Friday. After about seven hours adrift, they were rescued on Saturday by a group of fishermen from Tanjung Balai Karimun regency in the Riau Islands as they were passing through the area, Antara news agency reported.

They are now in the Tebing Karimun police station and are in good condition. We are still investigating the case in coordination with the National Police, Judha said in the briefing.

Read also: Indonesian sailors deaths on Chinese fishing vessel raise questions about working conditions

The two Indonesian citizens were allegedly victims of human trafficking.

According to a report by Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW), an Indonesian NGO working to prevent destructive practices in fishing and other environmental issues, the two crew members decided to jump off the ship because they could not withstand their treatment on board.

The NGO said they had been intimidated and physically harmed, either by the ships captain or by fellow crewmen.

The allegation of forced labor emerged after we found violations such as unpaid wages, poor working conditions, threats and intimidation, [all of] which Andri Juniansyah and Reynalfi had experienced, said DFW Indonesia coordinator M. Abdi Suhufan.

According to DFW data, at least 30 Indonesian crew members were victims of such violations aboard Chinese vessels from November 2019 to June of this year. Of that number, seven reportedly died, three remain missing and 20 survived.
New coronavirus cases in Wales continue to decline  however 885 Covid-19 related patients remain in hospital

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jun 11th, 2020

The number of new Coronavirus related cases across Wales are continuing to decline  however the head of the Welsh NHS said today there is the equivalent of three large hospitals full of Covid-19 patients.

Speaking at todays Welsh Government briefing Andrew Goodall, chief executive of NHS Wales, said that nearly all local authority areas in Wales are now reporting small numbers of positive cases  with many reporting zero cases. Currently new daily case totals remain highest in North Wales.

Around 7000 people have been discharged from hospital who had Covid-19 related admissions.

However it was stated that there are still 885 coronavirus related patients in hospital beds in Wales  the equivalent of three large hospitals being full.

Mr Goodall said: The number of new cases has been steadily declining since April. Even though we are doing many more tests.

The test positivity rate has declined to under 2 per cent and the number of people dying from Coronavirus has been falling since the middle of April

Most people who have had coronavirus have not needed hospital treatment.

About 28 per cent of our acute hospital beds are empty. Thats around 1850 beds. There are 885 COVID related patients in hospital beds. This is lower than last week and has reduced over the last two weeks.

Whilst lower, this still means the equivalent of three large hospitals full of Covid related patients.

There are 335 available critical care beds in Wales, including our additional capacity. Around 60 per cent are empty and available for use. 32 people are being treated in critical care for Coronavirus. This is again lower than last week and the lowest since the 25th of March.

The majority of people being treated in critical care now Do not have Coronavirus, which importantly shows more NHS work is taking place.

Looking ahead to the next stage of returning to non-coronavirus related services, Mr Goodall said that there will have to be changes in many NHS environments in Wales as part of the new normal.

This could include he installation of plastic screens at reception areas, hand sanitiser stations, and the redesign of appointment systems to limit the number of people flowing in and out of clinics at any one time.

Mr Goodall added: Were still limiting those needing to physically attend our healthcare facilities by accessing alternative services, maintaining changes in practice and use of technology, even whilst we are taking steps towards resetting and restoring NHS activity.

We will need to promote the new normal experience for patients passing through our system.
Mohammad Shahid Islam has been in jail since 6 June. His bail request was denied. The Bangladesh embassy sent a letter to Kuwaiti authorities asking for clarification, with no reply so far. The accused owns a company involved in engineering, contracting, logistics and management.

Kuwait City (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Kuwait authorities on Saturday arrested Mohammad Shahid Islam, a Bangladeshi lawmaker, at his home in Mushrif, a residential area of Kuwait City, on charges of human trafficking and money laundering.

Kuwaits residence investigation department carried out the arrest. The Public Prosecution remanded him in custody the next day, but information about the case became public only after the Bangladeshi embassy was informed.

Mr Islam has been denied bail, but Bangladeshi diplomatic sources note that he has not been formally indicted.

Bangladeshi Ambassador Abul Kalam said he received news of the arrest from one of the brothers of Mr Islam and that we are yet to receive any reply to the letter he sent to Kuwaiti authorities for clarification.

According to al-Qabas, a local newspaper, Islam is suspected of involvement in human trafficking and money laundering.

The lawmaker, an MP from Laxmipur, owns Marafie Kuwaitia Group, a company active in the Gulf region in engineering, contracting, logistics and management.

He is said to have profited from his status as a lawmaker to exploit his compatriots, using them for illegal gain.

The accusations are based on the testimony of five Bangladeshi migrant workers, who said that they had to pay 3,000 dinars to come to Kuwait to work, plus annual sums paid to renew their residency visas.

The lawmaker is managing director and CEO of Marafie Kuwaitia Group, which operates in Kuwait, Oman and Jordan.

A foreign ministry official in Dhaka told Arab News that Islam was in Kuwait on an ordinary passport instead of a red passport, which is a privilege for the lawmakers of the country.

In February, Islam, also known as Kazi Papul, dismissed as false and imaginary allegations that he trafficked humans to Kuwait.
North Korean youth and students march from the Pyongyang Youth Park Open-air Theatre to Kim Il Sung Square during a protest demonstration to denounce South Korean authorities' policy against North Korea and defectors from the north, in Pyongyang, North Korea Monday, June 8, 2020. The signs read "Give us an order (to punish South Korea)." AP



The United States has made clear to North Korea that an improvement in human rights conditions, including religious freedom, will be required for a full normalization of bilateral ties, a State Department report said Wednesday.



According to the annual International Religious Freedom Report, the North Korean government continued to deny its people the right to religious freedom and committed violations that constituted crimes against humanity.



The report covered the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019, and mostly summarized observations made by nongovernmental organizations and news media.



"There were reports the government continued to deal severely with those who engaged in almost any religious practices through executions, torture, beatings, and arrests," it said. "The country's inaccessibility and lack of timely information continued to make arrests and punishments difficult to verify."



But in meetings with North Korean officials, the report said, the United States pressed the regime to improve its human rights record.





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, and his sister Kim Yo-jong. Korea Times file



"The U.S. government does not have diplomatic relations with the DPRK and has no official presence in the country," it said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.



"In February (U.S. President Donald Trump) and Chairman Kim (Jong-un) held a second summit in Vietnam, and they held another meeting in the Korean Demilitarized Zone in June. In engagements with DPRK officials, the U.S. government consistently made clear full normalization of relations will require addressing human rights, including religious freedom," it said.



The report also referred to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's comment during the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom held in Washington in July.



Pence said: "(T)he United States will continue to stand for the freedom of religion of all people of all faiths on the Korean Peninsula."



The U.S. has consistently raised concerns about religious freedom in North Korea, including at multilateral fora and in bilateral talks with other governments, particularly those with diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, the report said.



"This included an October meeting in Brussels of like-minded countries to coordinate actions and discuss the DPRK's human rights record," the department said. "The United States made clear that addressing human rights, including religious freedom, would significantly improve prospects for closer ties between the two countries."





In this Feb. 28 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un take a walk after their first meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel in Vietnam. AP-Yonhap
A nurse who has lived in Derry for fifteen years has shared her familys experience of racism in the city.

Beverly Simpson moved from Guyana in South America to Derry in 2005 to help the failing health system.

She has two sons and a daughter, who was born in Derry.

Mrs Simpson was one of the speakers at the Black Lives Matter rally on Saturday in Derry's Guildhall Square.

Speaking to the Derry News this week, Beverly said she felt compelled to speak at the event as people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities need a safe outlet to express their feelings.

In relation to opposition to the rally taking place, she believes that certain political parties mobilised the PSNI and in doing so aggravated the situation.

Mrs Simpson said she and her daughter Jada were approached by police before reaching the Guildhall and again by three officers while standing there.

The police were intimidating us," she said. "It was a safe space, controlled, we had a voice.

I thought, did police officers just see the colour of my skin and approach me.

They werent approaching everyone. Like every organisation theres an element that think theyre superior.

The rally wasnt even started when we were approached and they didnt give us the option of going home.

They annoyed us that much it made us more determined to stay.

She added: They were trying to put a lid on an active volcano, it will still erupt, but instead of erupting in a controlled manner it will erupt all over the place.

Let it be addressed in a controlled environment, in schools or in church.

People should be able to speak about racism, its not going away no matter how many lids are put on it.

Since moving to the city, Mrs Simpson claimed that her entire family have been subjected to racism.

All three of my children have experienced racism, including my 11-year-old, she said.

In Derry it may be subtle, not open or staring you in the face, but its there and unless we actually speak about it, people get away with it and continue to do it.

Dont get me wrong, you have people everywhere who are good and bad, you have people in Derry who are not racist.

Its about peoples moral compass, your ethics and what you value.

Children are born innocent and unless you teach them to hate, and teach them racism, they dont see the person as another colour.

It is something that is learnt and unless we address our own personal prejudices well get nowhere.

From April 2019 to March 2020, there were 936 racist incidents, resulting in 626 crimes, in Northern Ireland.

Of those, 97 occurred in the Derry and Strabane policing district, an increase of 13 on the previous year.

Its understood that many incidents go unreported.

For Mrs Simpsons daughter Jada, race was never an issue until two years ago.

Mrs Simpson said her friends at school are all white and she never saw herself as different.

However, an incident in 2018 changed her attitude.

She was at the bus station trying to board a bus when the driver shut the door in her face and drove off, leaving her standing there.

Mrs Simpson said that after viewing footage of the incident, the company apologised and the driver was said to have been disciplined.

She continued: Its there, and unless each company can do like the bus company, address the individual who is the rotten egg instead of hiding it, and condoning it or trying to cover it up. Address it openly.

Following the incident, the family felt that somebody had listened to them, but Mrs Simpson said a lot of people are afraid to speak out.

Where does that anger go, where does that hurt go, it stays and grows and infiltrates society.

Confirming the incident, a Translink spokesperson stated: A complaint was received on 13th September 2018 at Foyle Street bus station.

This was acknowledged, investigated and followed up.

Translinks Dignity at Work policy, in which all staff are trained on their induction, makes it clear that we are fully committed to creating a harmonious working environment in which all employees are treated with respect and dignity, regardless of race, colour, ethnic or national origins.

This equally applies to how our staff are expected to treat passengers.

In response to criticism that now is not the right time to hold protests, Mrs Simpson said: Coronavirus is affecting everyone. Its affecting the Black, Asian and ethnic minority community more.

Were being marginalised anyway, were being segregated anyway, whether by a natural cause or a man-made cause so give us a chance to speak in a safe space.

The level of support on Saturday surprised Mrs Simpson and she said she was proud that people challenged themselves by turning out.
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ALBANY - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday said that he opposes the removal of a statue of Christopher Columbus in Manhattan, even as protests across the country have targeted similar monuments, including Christopher Columbus statues, as symbols of racial oppression.

"I understand the feelings about Christopher Columbus and some of his acts, which nobody would support," Cuomo said at an Albany press briefing. "But the statue has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian-American contribution to New York, so for that reason I support it."
Personalised license plates or custom number plates have been quite popular for some time now. A real fortune must be set aside for this pleasure, and many use it as proof that they are wealthy and want to attract attention. The owner of the vehicle can express his desire for certain numeric and letter marks.

The procedure for issuing personalized license plates is precisely the same as for ordinary plates. A request is made for the registration of the vehicle, with the vehicle owner pointing out that he wants to have specific alphabetic or numeric labels of his choice on the license plate.

The competent police department or station concludes whether the owner's choice is possibly immoral, offends public order, and then they decide if such a combination can be allowed.

The numbers and the letters of the license plates seem not to matter to some, but such plates can make the vehicle more attractive and unique.

Now we are going to focus on the most popular license plates among drivers, especially those who are more superstitious or believers in esoteric subjects, numerology, etc. Also, if your car has an unusual license plate and you want to resell it, you may have a problem with that, you'll see.

Good and bad letters for car number plates

For example, cars with the last batch of letter series are worth less than the first batch of the next, that is, an xxxxGZZ, and will be priced worse than an xxxxHBB, even if it takes days.

The same goes for the vehicles registered on December 30, which are paid less than those of the following January 2.

Yes, it might be nonsense, and it is unfair, but, in the mind of the future owner, a "G" is a simple"G," while an "H" is much more "modern."

Do you know about the psychological prices of 9.95 and others? Well, it is the same principle.

The World's Most Expensive Custom License Plates

You are probably thinking that the world is going to hell, and the truth is that nobody will blame you for it. Everything is changing rapidly and, with the rise of social media, we live in an increasingly digital society that encourages us to show the world how unique and special we are. So it has become trendy to spend large amounts of money on a vehicle.

The United Kingdom

One of the biggest markets for personalized number plates is the United Kingdom. New number plates can make any car look unique. The UK number plate company CarReg has been supplying number plates for over 30 years and has over 50 million available. CarReg have been buying and selling number plates for over 30 years. To find out more about it, visit this site. DVLA, the UK Government's Vehicle and Driver Licensing Agency, began issuing personalized number plates in 1989, selling the 'A1' registration for  160,000 ( 177,315 exchange) at a Christie's auction on the first day. Some of the most expensive car registrations there are the following: 25 O, 1 D, 51 NGH, 1 RH, K1 NGS, and others.

Initially, the business had a hard time starting up, with a total of 658 records sold the first year, but in 1990 things changed radically, increasing that number to unbelievable 26,000 copies. However, that's nothing compared to the 5.9 million custom number plates that have been sold in the past 30 years.

The benefits? About two million pounds sterling or 2.22 million euros in exchange for the state coffers. In the fiscal year 2018-2019, a record of personalized license plates was reached, with 404,000 units sold. Usually, the average price online is around 807 pounds (972 euros in exchange), while in live auctions, they reach 3,225 pounds on average (3,574 euros).

The UAE thing is a whole other level

Their business of personalized number plates is even bigger than in the United Kingdom, with the Emirates Highway and Transport Authority (RTA) being in charge of conducting the auctions. Those are quite spectacular auctions. A few years ago, a man spent $9 million on a license plate "5."

Another example is the figure paid in 2008 by Saeed Abdul Ghafour Khouri, a 25-year-old who made world news when he paid a world record of 52.2 million dirhams (1.29 million euros in exchange) for the registration plate "1". The same goes for the license plate of the collector Khouri, with plates that cost more than most vehicles.

The solid Australian heritage

Australia is another of the big markets for personalized number plates. It is understandable since we are talking about the places with the highest rate of vehicles per capita. Currently, one, two, and three-digit number plates first issued after 1910 are highly-priced, but this business does not attract Australian Capital Gains Tax. Anyway, custom number plates like "DOWN UNDER" are still quite popular.

The current record regarding the matter is 2,572,500 Australian dollars (15.8 million euros in exchange), set by Shannon's Auctions in August 2017. It was the price to be paid by Chinese-Australian businessman Peter Tseng - a well-known collector of number plates - to obtain registration number '4' in New South Wales. Tseng also owns the "1" license plate in Hong Kong and the "ONE" plate in New South Wales.

With numbers, things are more discreet.

As always, the more "unique" license plates are those like 0000 or 0006 and similar.

Not long ago, we saw a Ferrari Testarossa for sale with an M-0000-ON plate. The owner knew the value of the plate and noted it in his ad. The peculiar thing is that such a car should have been moon white, and it was orange.

Then there are the capsicums. They always like them a lot. They have the same charm as the "singular" ones.

There are also "cursed" plates, but, of course, that depends on the person. Just as a legionary of Christ flees from 0666, some citizens like to drive their cars with that particular number. And, to contradict the superstitious, we have been told that the "13" is sold like any other number.

"Four" has negative connotations in Chinese culture, unlike eight. 7 and 9 are very dear to Spaniards, while others seem to have a preference for 1 and 6, according to an unscientific study done at the bar with some companions.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Three soldiers have been charged with murder over a massacre in western Cameroon, where security forces are fighting anglophone separatists, the army said Thursday.

At least 10 children and three women were killed on February 14 in the village of Ngarbuh, according to the authorities.

"The three Cameroonian soldiers have been placed in provisional detention in Yaounde military prison," army spokesman Colonel Cyrille Atonfack Guemo told AFP, adding that they had been charged with murder.

The military initially denied any killings and said the deaths had resulted from an "unfortunate accident" which happened when fuel containers exploded in crossfire between separatists and troops.

The UN said at least 23 civilians had died, 15 of them children and two of them pregnant women.

As the international outcry amplified, President Paul Biya ordered an investigation.

The preliminary conclusions, published in mid-April, found that three "uncontrolled" soldiers who had disobeyed orders killed 10 children and three women with the help of local auxiliaries from the Fulani, or Peul, ethnic group.

The troops then "tried to hide the facts by setting fires" before submitting a bogus report, according to the probe.

In addition to being charged with the murder, the three -- two troopers and a sergeant -- are also accused of disobeying orders, destruction of property and arson, the army said on Thursday.

Cameroon's English-speaking regions and their capitals. By Valentina BRESCHI (AFP)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday that it was glad that the investigation had got underway.

"However, we believe that all those who are responsible for these odious crimes, including those at the top of the chain of command, should be held accountable and punished appropriately," she said.

In its own probe, the rights watchdog said between 10 and 15 troops took part in the massacre, including members of an elite unit, the Fast Intervention Battalion (BIR).

The deaths triggered an outpouring of grief in Cameroon, and Richard Bona, a Cameroon-born US bass player, devoted a song to the victims called "Ngarbuh."

Troubled region

The massacre took place in the Northwest Region, which with the neighbouring Southwest Region was once part of British colonies in West Africa called the Southern Cameroons.

They joined French-speaking Cameroon after it gained independence from France in 1960.

Decades of grievances at perceived discrimination by the francophone majority brewed into a declaration of independence in October 2017, which was followed by a government crackdown.

The self-declared state is called the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, named after Ambas Bay in southwestern Cameroon.

The declaration has not been recognised internationally and Biya has refused demands to return to a federal system.

The violence has claimed more than 3,000 lives and at least 700,000 have fled their homes.

Although rights monitors emphasise that abuses have been committed by both sides, the armed forces have become mired in a series of high-profile atrocities.

On June 5, again in response to international pressure, the military confirmed that Samuel Wazizi, an anglophone TV journalist in the Southwest Region's capital of Buea, had died in custody after being detained last August.

The army said he had worked for the separatists and died of "severe sepsis." The National Union of Cameroon Journalists described the statement as a "tissue of lies" and said the 35-year-old had been tortured.

The army has also been accused of violations in Cameroon's Far North, a region abutting Nigeria where Boko Haram jihadists fighters have carried out brutal attacks on civilians.

Seven soldiers are on trial for the execution-style killing of two women and their babies in 2015 -- an atrocity that was filmed and shared on social media.

The government had initially dismissed the images as fake before changing position and arresting the seven.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on June 10 to discuss the worsening COVID-19 situation in the national capital. In a long meeting, the situation in Delhi was discussed in grave detail, according to Kejriwal.

"He (Amit Shah) assured of all cooperation," Kejriwal said in a tweet after the meeting.

tweet

The recent spike in the number of coronavirus cases being reported daily has led many to speculate that another lockdown is on its way for the citizens of Delhi though there is no confirmation yet. Currently, Delhi continues to focus on reopening the state with an economic focus as part of relaxations under the 'Unlock 1.0' guidelines.

For the month of June, Delhi has been reporting 1,250 cases of COVID-19 daily on an average. The state has added 10,000 cases in the first eight days of June. In sharp contrast, it took 79 days for the state to add 10,000 cases before June, according to data provided by the government. The highest single-day spike in cases was witnessed on June 3 when 1,513 patients were tested positive.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday sent a notice to the Delhi government saying that the citizens of the state were facing difficulty due to non-availability of bed in hospitals for COVID-19. The notice was based on a complaint filed by Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken. The notice also said that the inadequate number of COVID-19 tests was leading to mismanagement and deaths of patients.,

The meeting with the Home Minister comes a few days after the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had overturned the Delhi government's decision to reserve the hospitals in the state for only its citizens only. The decision to test only those showing symptoms of Covid-19 was also overruled by the Lt Governor, allowing asymptomatic cases and high-risk contacts of a virus patient to be tested.

According to governments projections, the national capital will have 5.5 lakh cases by July 31 for which 80,000 beds would be required according to the government. "Delhi will need 1.5 lakh beds in healthcare facilities by July 31 once people start coming to the city for treatment from other states", Kejriwal said in his first virtual briefing since Sunday.

Also Read: Coronavirus impact: Households' borrowings peaked in March quarter, says RBI

Also Read: ICICI Bank, US firm Apollo Global to end joint venture AION Capital
Sudan reopened the Qastal-Ashkeet border crossing with Egypt on Thursday, having closed it in March over coronavirus concerns, Sudanese news agency SUNA reported.

Starting from Thursday, 20 trucks carrying goods from Egypt will be allowed to enter the country through the border crossing.

According to SUNA, food and consumable materials will be allowed, while personal items and furniture will not.

Precautions will be taken in the wake of coronavirus concerns, including unloading the cargo and sanitising it in neutral zones before they enter Sudans Ashkeet border crossing. Egyptian drivers will hand over to Sudanese counterparts before entering Sudanese territory.

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Nebraska church cancels services after priest tests positive for COVID-19

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A church in Nebraska is closing down its office and suspending worship services for the next two weeks after one of its priests was found to have the coronavirus.

St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church of Omaha announced this week that it was temporarily closing down after its associate pastor, Father Toby Letak, tested positive for COVID-19.

Father Ralph ODonnell of St. Margaret Mary sent a letter out to the congregation, explaining that while positive for the virus, Letak was not symptomatic at this time and has not had a fever.

He arranged for testing this week only after experiencing a brief bout of nausea. Father Toby plans to quarantine at the rectory and appreciates your prayers, wrote ODonnell.

I am not experiencing any symptoms, nor is anyone in our office. However, out of an abundance of caution, those who have worked closely with Fr. Toby will self-quarantine for the next two weeks and be tested as well.

While in-person worship services will be canceled, the church property itself will remain open to the public on a daily basis, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

ODonnell encouraged anyone who was less than six feet from Letak for at least 10 minutes to self-quarantine for two weeks, even if they wore a face mask while around the priest.

We will keep you posted on Fr. Tobys progress and let you know as soon as we can celebrate public Mass again, ODonnell added.

Last month, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts allowed for in-person worship services to occur as part of reopening the state, provided they adhered to certain social distancing guidelines.

These measures included having worship attendees sit apart from each other and not passing around objects like offering plates and prayer books.

Deacon Tim McNeil, spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha, told the Omaha World-Herald that to his knowledge, Letak was the first priest in their region to test positive.

McNeil also explained that churches in the archdiocese had enacted measures like single-file communion lines and no communal chalices for the wine of Eucharist.

People are being careful, said McNeil to the World-Herald, while acknowledging that the infected priest was really good at wearing a mask.

In recent times, as states have eased restrictions on mass gatherings, many churches have restarted in-person worship services, albeit while adhering to social distancing measures.

Last month, a church in Georgia canceled its in-person services shortly after reopening when several member families became infected with COVID-19.

Catoosa Baptist Tabernacle of Ringgold had restarted services on April 26, only to decide to suspend in-person worship on May 11 after multiple members tested positive for the virus.

Our hearts are heavy as some of our families are dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 virus, and we ask for your prayers for each of them as they follow the prescribed protocol and recuperate at home, stated the church at the time.

Though we feel very confident of the safe environment we are able to offer in our facilities, the decision was made  that we would discontinue all in-person services again until further notice in an effort of extreme caution for the safety and well-being of our families.
Jessica Marais enjoyed her own company while out for a stroll on Thursday, after recently sharing a harrowing open letter about her emotions.

The 35-year-old actress looked happy and healthy as she stepped out for a walk in Sydney's Clovelly, where she picked up a takeaway meal.

She looked cosy in a wool jumper with a heart and check pattern, and teamed her look with baggy black trackpants, sneakers and a backpack.

Going it alone: Jessica Marais (pictured) enjoyed her own company while out for a stroll on Thursday, after recently sharing a harrowing open letter about her emotions

The blonde beauty was makeup-free and styled her hair up in a bun.

She sipped on a bottle of Kombucha while on her walk and had her headphones in her ears as she listened to music.

Something in the sky appeared to catch her eye and the stunner took a moment to take in the view above her.

Out and about: The 35-year-old actress looked happy and healthy as she stepped out for a walk in Sydney's Clovelly, where she picked up a takeaway meal

Rugged up: She looked cosy in a wool jumper with a heart and check pattern, and teamed her look with baggy black trackpants, sneakers and a backpack

After stopping to admire the sight, the South African-born Australian star continued on her way.

She appeared to be listening intently to her music, before picking up a brush and dustpan.

Jessica's day out comes after she posted a heartfelt open letter about 'loneliness and growth' to Instagram on Wednesday.

Looking up: Something in the sky appeared to catch her eye and the stunner took a moment to take in the view above her

Feeling thirsty: She also sipped on a bottle of Kombucha while on her walk and had her headphones in as she listened to music

The Packed to the Rafters star told fans she now 'has the courage to speak my truth', before reflecting on her positive growth as a person.

'Help me not to judge this piece of writing. Help me to welcome criticism, bare my soul in honesty and have the power to detach from it,' she wrote.

The note, which was illegible and incoherent in parts, began: 'I have the courage to speak my truth. To make decisions based on both ignorance and impulses, advertising my genetic code and my spirit, mindfully and in line with my belief systems... which maybe are preconditioned and undoubtedly shape who I am.'

Cleaning up? She appeared to be listening intently to her music, before picking up a brush and dustpan

Elsewhere on the note, she said that after '35 years of semi-aliveness', and despite the help of her parents, she will likely remain 'uninformed and swayed by exposure' because of how her 'brain stores and interprets information'.

Jessica concluded by asking her followers to help her find the wisdom to know 'where freedom resides' and how to 'survive carelessly' while 'not [being] afraid of death, loss, grief, pain, fear, unemployment, love, abandonment and finances'.

Last month, emergency crews were called to her home in Sydney's eastern suburbs for a welfare check on the afternoon of Saturday, May 2.

Open letter: Jessica's day out comes after she posted a heartfelt open letter about 'loneliness and growth' to Instagram on Wednesday

Handwritten: She concluded by asking her followers to help her find the wisdom to know 'where freedom resides' and how to 'survive carelessly' while 'not afraid of death, loss or grief'

Jessica was walked to an ambulance where she was put on a gurney, and it's understood she was then taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick.

A witness told Daily Mail Australia she was not wearing any shoes, her hair was a 'dishevelled mess' and she was in a 'visibly distressed state'.

It comes after the mother-of-one abruptly quit the Amazon Prime reboot of Packed to the Rafters in February 'for personal reasons'.
Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux are pictured on the set of No Time To Die

Its been reported that James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, will have a five-year-old daughter in the forthcoming film, No Time To Die, so does that mean 007 will have no time to do anything?

CHAPTER ONE

Bond awoke. The feel of the sand reminded him where he was. He peered through the fringe of leaves and grass that concealed him from the beach. His heart began to pound.

In front of him stood a young woman, not quite naked. She wore a broad leather belt round her waist. The belt made her nakedness extraordinarily erotic. She had beautiful firm breasts that jutted towards him.

She spotted Bond. Her questing blue eyes examined him fiercely. Who are you? Whats your name?

Bond. James Bond. And, if I may say so, you are an exceptionally attractive young lady.

And who . . . is this? The naked lady pointed to the little girl by Bonds side.

My name is Mathilde. I am five and a half, nearly six. Im bored. Can we go now, Daddy?

And the person to your right? She pointed to the middle-aged woman standing next to him in a sensible summer dress from Marks & Spencer, holding a wicker basket and a windshield.

My name is Bond. Jennie Bond. Former royal correspondent with the BBC and Jamess wife, since you ask. Come along, James, come along, Mattie. Its high time we packed up our bits and pieces and got back to the hotel. Antiques Roadshow is on in ten minutes.

Im bored, repeated the child.

But before you go, Mr Bond, said the naked lady, you must introduce me to the person on your left.

Ah. Yes. Since you ask, this is my mother-in-law.

The elderly woman returned the naked ladys stare. She had no time for niceties.

You need to make yourself decent, young lady! Imagine! Stark naked on the beach  and in broad daylight! Whats the world coming to? Tell her to put something on, James! And stop that ridiculous ogling. A man of your age!

Has anyone seen those paper napkins? Im sure I put them somewhere, said Jennie Bond, impatiently picking up the litter. And, James  the least you can do is help with the deckchair. And dont forget the suncream. Stealing one last furtive glance at the young woman on the beach, James Bond walked back to the hotel with his family in tow.

Are we nearly there, Daddy? said Mathilde. Im bored.

Paparazzi photographs taken during filming show a young girl wearing blue dungarees with Seydour and other actors and crew on the set, but it is not known if she is Mathilde

Allegra Shettini, who 'stood in' for Lisa-Dorah Sonne during a sequence on the new Bond film

CHAPTER TWO

Dr No sat upright in his chair at his underground headquarters, and drew a steel claw out of his wide sleeve.

And now, Mister James Bond, you will tell me all your secrets. If you do not, then these pincers  he pointed the claw at Bonds eyes  will know that you are lying.

Bond struggled to free himself, but the leather straps around his wrists were pulled tight.

A woman put her head around the steel door. So this must be Mrs No, thought Bond. Shes wearing a pair of Marigolds.

Julius, dear, have you put the bins out?

Not now, snapped Dr No, testily. Cant you see Im busy?

Depends what you call busy, replied Mrs No. And then youve got to help Jason with his Geography homework. And Angela is refusing to tidy her room, even though your mother is due in less than two hours, and as for Keith, he promised me he was ...

This was a tricky time for the No family, thought Bond, but he decided it was best to say nothing.

Jennie had insisted on accompanying him to the secret headquarters in the boot of the car, saying that otherwise she never got out. Then, just as they were leaving, their young daughter had said it was unfair that she should be left behind, so theyd had to bring her along, too.

Thoughts: Of why she didn't like the new plot, Britt said: 'I think that Bond should probably be a little more untouchable. He's a fantasy. Everyone wants to be Bond' (pictured, Daniel Craig)

Romance: No Time To Die is set five years after the last Bond film, Spectre, which saw the secret agent fall in love with Dr Swann, a French psychologist (pictured)

Plot: No Time To Die opens with new Bond villain, Safin, played by Rami Malek (pictured), chasing a girl across an ice-covered lake in Norway who is believed to be Dr Swann

And now all three of them were strapped to metal thrones, bracing themselves for Dr No to do his worst.

So sorry  I didnt realise we had guests! said Mrs No, removing her Marigolds, and shaking their hands. Julius calls himself a doctor, but he never thinks of anyone but himself! Anyway, Im Sheila No. Lovely to meet you. Ooh, you do look uncomfortable there, all strapped up  let me get you a cushion or two!

Bond looked at Dr No, and Dr No looked back at Bond. Together, they emitted manly sighs.

Im bored, said Mathilde, fidgeting in her seat. Can we go now?
Michael OLeary has described the latest UK government recommendations to airline passengers as More rubbish from the department that brought you the worlds least effective quarantine.

The Ryanair chief executive was speaking shortly after the Department for Transport (DfT) issued guidelines urging passengers to check in all baggage.

The DfT says: You are strongly encouraged to check in baggage to the aircraft hold and minimise any hand baggage.

This will speed up boarding and disembarking and minimise the risk of transmission.

The intention is to reduce the amount of standing and waiting in the airport aisle.

But Mr OLeary told The Independent: Were recommending passengers do exactly the opposite: maximise carry-on bags and minimise checked-in bags. Even though, clearly, we make more money out of checked-in bags.

On a 30 hop from Edinburgh to Dublin next Monday, Ryanair is charging 12 for a 10kg checked-in bag or 20 for a 20kg case.

Our logic has always been that checked-in bags are handled by eight pairs of hands, from the check-in desk to the boarding gate, all the way through to the arrival airport as well  whereas a carry-on bag the passenger keeps with them at all times.

Our passengers are well drilled. We allow half the passengers to bring two pieces of cabin baggage [for an additional charge, typically 10], and half to bring one small piece of cabin baggage.

The Ryanair boss described the DfT as the Department of Idiots.

The Irish airline, which is Europes biggest budget carrier, has fiercely criticised the 14-day self-isolation rule for all UK arrivals, brought in on Monday by the Home Office.

A spokesperson said: Recent bookings show how UK customers are largely ignoring this useless visitor quarantine as they book in their thousands to holiday destinations in July and August.

The Independent has asked the DfT for a response.
MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI  Although the daily rate of new coronavirus cases has stabilized in Muskegon County, health officials predict that hospitalization rates will continue to rise in the coming weeks.

The increase is attributed to older adults being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, particularly in long-term care facilities, said Muskegon County Public Health Director Kathy Moore.

We initially though hospital rates would follow community rates, Moore told MLive Thursday. But even though weve seen the positivity rate go down in our community, the hospitalization rate has gone up because of the severity among the vulnerable population. The cases among the elderly and vulnerable and those with underlying health conditions are more severe.

County health officials believe hospitals will see a peak of severe cases in the next week or two, and then will see a gradual decrease in hospitalization numbers from COVID-19, Moore said.

Muskegon County has reported 717 positive coronavirus cases and 40 deaths with COVID-19 as of Thursday, June 11, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

While the county health department does not report its countywide hospitalization rate, Mercy Health reported Wednesday there were 18 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Muskegons Hackley and Mercy hospitals, and two patients under investigation for the virus.

Older adults in Muskegon County have suffered from more severe COVID-19 symptoms during the pandemic than any other age group, data shows. The coronavirus death rate has been significantly higher for residents over 80, who make up almost half of the countys coronavirus-related deaths.

Eighteen residents who have died with the virus were over the age of 80, while seven residents were in their 70s and 10 were in their 60s. Four residents were in their 50s and one was in their 40s.

While health officials knew from the start of the pandemic that older adults would be hit hardest by the coronavirus, Moore said the impact on Muskegon Countys older population has been more disproportionate than she had expected.

Im concerned that the lack of, or limited amount of, (personal protective equipment) in these vulnerable establishments has disproportionately exposed more people  more people than I even imagined, actually, Moore said.

State health officials conducted mass coronavirus testing in Michigans long-term care facilities in late May, including nine nursing homes in Muskegon County. However, not all of the data from that testing effort has been updated yet in the state database.

As of Thursday, the county has confirmed 138 positive cases out of 923 total tests conducted in long-term care facilities; although Moore noted that many residents and staff were tested more than once, so the total number of tests doesnt equate to 923 individuals. Of those positive cases, 82 are residents and 56 are staff members.

Over the past seven days, Muskegon County has averaged 7.7 new cases a day. Thats slightly higher than the average of 6.8 new cases per day the week prior, but lower than the 9.57 new cases the week before that.

There have been 9,834 diagnostic tests conducted in Muskegon County as of Thursday.

Residents of color continue to be disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus, data shows. Black residents make up 42 percent of the countys cases, though they make up 14 percent of the countys population.

A recent push for more ethnicity data in Muskegon County has shown that Hispanic residents have also been hit disproportionately, although not as significantly as black residents. Hispanic residents make up 7.3 percent of the countys coronavirus cases, but 5.8 percent of the countywide population.

Residents ages 50-59 continue to be the age group with the largest number of positive cases, with 140 confirmed cases. Thats followed by 115 positive cases in residents ages 20-29, 109 cases in residents ages 60-69, 101 cases in residents ages 30-39, 95 cases in residents ages 40-49, 64 cases in residents over the age of 80, 52 cases in residents ages 70-79 and 34 cases in residents under the age of 19.

The coronavirus is most prevalent in the city of Muskegon, which has 259 of the countys total cases. Muskegon Heights has 128 cases and Norton Shores has 75 cases.

The Michigan National Guard will conduct free coronavirus testing in the eastern, more rural side of the county with a mass testing effort in Egelston Township Friday, June 12, and Saturday, June 13.

Moore said she doesnt think recent protests in Muskegon County, where hundreds of residents gathered June 1 to protest police brutality, will result in a spike of coronavirus cases in the county, despite a lack of social distancing at the gatherings.

I think (protesters) did a good job wearing face coverings or spacing appropriately, she said. We have not seen a spike in numbers since then.

The health directors main concern right now is she doesnt want residents to misinterpret the lifting of the statewide stay-at-home order as Michigan going back to normal.

The responsibility is on the individuals to continue to protect themselves and stay safe, Moore said. Were not back to normal. This is a proceed with caution.

PREVENTION TIPS

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces.

Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus.

More on MLive:

Free coronavirus testing available for all Muskegon County residents this weekend

Coronavirus cases in Muskegon stabilize, but health official warns against complacency

Is a second wave of coronavirus inevitable? Michigan nears critical point to suppress another outbreak
TUNIS - The United National Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement on its website that it is "pleased to announce that both the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) delegations are fully engaged in the third round of talks of the (5+5) Joint Military Commission (JMC)". It said it convened a meeting with the LNA delegation on June 3, and another meeting with the GNA delegation on June 9.

"Both meetings - which were conducted virtually - were productive and enabled UNSMIL to discuss with the delegations the latest developments on the ground and to receive their comments on the draft ceasefire agreement, as presented by the Mission to the parties on February 23, 2020," it said.

"While UNSMIL commends the seriousness and the commitment of both parties in the JMC dialogue track, it calls on them to de-escalate to avoid further civilian casualties and new waves of displacement. The Mission is particularly concerned by reports of escalation and mobilisation in and around the city of Sirte," it said.

"Between June 5 and 8, UNSMIL verified at least 19 civilian deaths, including three women and five children and at least 12 injuries to civilians in at least three locations outside Sirte, caused by airstrikes and Grad rockets".
The electoral commission, INEC, has warned that there would be no declaration of winners in the forthcoming elections in Edo and Ondo if the processes are undermined by violence.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, said this on Tuesday, during a virtual workshop organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).

Elections are scheduled to take place in Edo State on September 19 and in Ondo State on October 20.

INEC said the decision followed the backdrop of its experiences in past off-season governorship elections held in Kogi and Bayelsa that were characterised by violence and electoral violations.

At least 10 people were reportedly killed in election-related violence in the two states during the November 16 governorship elections last year.

PREMIUM TIMES also reported the murder of Salome Abuh, the 60-year-old PDP women leader of Ochadamu Ward in Ofu local government of Kogi State. She was murdered two days after the election.

The APC won the governorship election and its officials have repeatedly claimed that it was transparent and violence-free despite evidence to the contrary.

Warning

The INEC chairman warned that where an election is disrupted in Edo and Ondo, the commission will not make a declaration on the outcome.

He also assured that the commission would take proactive measures in protecting the integrity of the electoral process.

Where the election is disrupted and the commission cannot vouch for the integrity of the process, we will not go ahead to make any declaration, Mr Yakubu said.

And this we have told the political parties point-blank; you either behave for the elections to be concluded in a free and fair manner or we do what the law says.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with the National Security Adviser, we are meeting with all the security agencies. But what are the proactive measures the commission is going to take if there is a replay of what happened in Bayelsa and Kogi? We will protect the integrity of the process, he added.

Mr Yakubu also assured that adequate security during the process will be put in place for both officials and voters in line with advisories and guideline listed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Also, the Director of CDD, Idayat Hassan, called for sanctions against political parties and individuals who make efforts to jeopardise electoral process.

She said unruly behaviour by politicians and their supporters should not be condoned.

She said the commission should be supported in the areas of crisis management, combating misinformation and dissuading bad behaviour.

The international community must support INEC in the procurement process to reduce cost, civic education must be delivered on adherence to the guidelines by voters and political party members, Ms Hassan said.
A road in West London, named after the British Army general who cruelly put down the Revolt of 1857, could be renamed after the founder of Sikhism -- Guru Nanak -- as part of a wider push to recognize the UK's diversity and address the more pernicious aspects of Britain's colonial past.

Havelock Road in Southall is named after Sir Henry Havelock who is widely considered a military visionary for his systematic dismantling of the Revolt of 1857, also known as the first Indian war of Independence from the rapacious rule of the East India Company.

According to a report by news agency ANI, a consultation is underway which could lead to the road being renamed Guru Nanak Road.

Southall is home to a large Sikh community and Havelock Road is home to the Sri Guru Singh Sabha, which is considered the largest Gurdwara in the world outside India.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, launched this consultation as part of a wider process, to re-evaluate memorials - including statues and public spaces - that commemorate British colonialism sparked by the global Black Lives Matter protests.

Youtube

Over the past few days, several statues of British slave traders have been removed in the UK. The statue of Winston Churchill -- revered by some for his role in defeating Nazism -- has been defaced. He is also condemned for his part in tragedies such as the Bengal Famine of the early 1940's as well as his opposition to Indian independence.

Councillor Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council said he welcomed the Mayor's initiative to represent London's diversity.

"I welcome the Mayor's announcement today of a review of our public spaces across the city to make sure that they do represent London as it is today. Our diversity is our strength and we need to make sure that our public realm, our statues, our road names, our buildings, reflect our diversity and do not reflect a frozen past where colonialism, racism and the slave trade were present and celebrated," Bell said.

The change of names will "symbolise the huge contribution of our Sikh community in Ealing and also diversity as a borough, and also it will represent our unity as a borough too", he added.

The long-standing MP for the area Virendra Sharma said the community should come together to decide how we rename this road, but celebrating Guru Nanak Dev Ji in his 550th anniversary, and erasing a white man who killed Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus, would be a sign of our multiculturalism and our diversity.
An intercontinental ballistic missile lifts off from a truck-mounted launcher somewhere in Russia in an undated photo. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russia, US to Hold Nuclear Disarmament Talks This Month, China Declines to Join

The United States and Russia have confirmed that they will hold talks for nuclear disarmament on June 22 in Vienna without China after the communist regime declined to participate in the talks.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed on June 9 that he would hold strategic stability talks with U.S. Special Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea in Vienna on June 22 in the bilateral Russia-U.S. format.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed on Tuesday that he would hold strategic stability talks with @USArmsControl Envoy Marshall Billingslea in Vienna on June 22 in the bilateral #RussiaUS format  https://t.co/InQeZEPPzg  pic.twitter.com/RYa1Y9ArmN  Russia in USA  (@RusEmbUSA) June 9, 2020

China was also invited to join the talks, but it declined the invitation, Billingslea said on June 9. China just said it has no intention to participate in trilateral negotiations, Billingslea wrote on Twitter.

He said China should reconsider its decision. Achieving Great Power status requires behaving with Great Power responsibility, he wrote. No more Great Wall of Secrecy on its nuclear build-up. Seat waiting for China in Vienna.

China just said it has no intention to participate in trilateral negotiations. It should reconsider. Achieving Great Power status requires behaving with Great Power responsibility. No more Great Wall of Secrecy on its nuclear build-up. Seat waiting for China in Vienna.  Ambassador Marshall S. Billingslea (@USArmsControl) June 9, 2020

The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs later responded on Twitter, saying: The U.S. has been dragging China into the issue of the New START extension whenever that issue is raised. This is just what the U.S. does when it wants to deflect responsibilities to others.

The US has been dragging China into the issue of the New START extension whenever that issue is raised. This is just what the US does when it wants to deflect responsibilities to others. pic.twitter.com/hg1sgHBx3O  Spokesperson (@MFA_China) June 9, 2020

Ryabkov said at a video conference held by the Council on Foreign Relations that he didnt believe it would be possible to convince China to join the negotiations on nuclear disarmament, according to Radio Free Europe.

Russia and the United States together possess more than 90 percent of the worlds total nuclear warheads, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, which tallied 6,490 warheads for Russia and 6,185 for the United States. It counted China as having 290 nuclear warheads.

Chinese officials now openly speak of national rejuvenation objectives that include the Strong Military Dream of ensuring that Beijings armed forces acquire world-class capabilities superior to those of anyone else on the planet by 2049, wrote Christopher Ford, U.S. State Department assistant secretary for nonproliferation and international security, in the May 20 release of the Arms Control and International Security papers (pdf).

Military vehicles carrying DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles travel past Tiananmen Square during the military parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of Peoples Republic of China, on its National Day in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019. (Thomas Peter/File Photo/Reuters)

The State Department said in a statement on April 10, President Trump has charged this administration with beginning a new chapter by seeking a new era of arms control that moves beyond the bilateral treaties of the past.

The only U.S.Russia nuclear arms control agreement still in force and binding the two countries is the New START Treaty, which was signed in 2010 and is set to expire in February 2021. The treaty limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons that each country can deploy, and both Russia and the United States comply with these limits, according to data exchanged on March 1.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 2 endorsed Russias nuclear deterrent policy, which allows the country to use atomic weapons, not only in response to a nuclear attack, but also to respond to conventional strikes targeting the nations critical government and military infrastructure.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced on June 2 two new bills aimed to constrain both Russia and China in their efforts to develop and modernize their strategic nuclear arsenals.

Without a firm foundation that constrains our adversaries nuclear arsenals, the United States may once again find itself in a costly arms race with little opportunity to reduce nuclear risks with both Russia and China, Menendez said.

The first bill, the Future of Arms Control Act, calls for the immediate extension of New START and prevents the president from taking any action against the treaty if no decision is made on its extension, Menendez said in the statement.

The second bill, the Arms Control with China Policy Act, mandates secretaries of state and defense to present to Congress a report on methods to engage China on arms control.

Other Arms Control Treaties

In August 2019, the United States withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia because Russia had failed to comply, including failing to comply with requests to destroy its 9M729 ballistic missiles.

The United States recently submitted a notice to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, citing Russian violations, according to a statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The treaty permits its participants to conduct unarmed surveillance flights over the others territories.

Should Russia return to full compliance with the treaty, the United States will reconsider its participation in the Open Skies Treaty, the statement said.
The White House authorized economic sanctions against members of an international court on Thursday over what officials say are politically motivated investigations into alleged war crimes committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

International Criminal Court officials directly engaged in any effort to investigate or prosecute American military personnel will also be barred from entering the U.S., the White House press secretary said in a statement. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the matter this week, calling the threat the international court poses to U.S. personnel "a national emergency."

Read next: Milley Says He Was Wrong to Accompany Trump on Church Walk

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr, addressed the investigation into U.S. troops' alleged crimes in Afghanistan on Thursday. The U.S. has never accepted the court's jurisdiction over American personnel, Esper said.

"Our nation and this administration will not allow American citizens who have served our country to be subjected to illegitimate investigations," the defense secretary said. "Instead, we expect information about alleged misconduct by our people to be turned over to U.S. authorities so that we could take the appropriate action, as we have consistently done so in the past."

A March International Criminal Court ruling allowed an investigation into possible wrongdoing by U.S. troops in Afghanistan to begin, a move that The New York Times reported "infuriated the Trump administration." The court investigates and tries people over allegations of genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity.

The court's top prosecutor in 2017 said there is enough information to provide a "reasonable basis" that American service members and CIA officials "committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence against conflict-related detainees in Afghanistan and other locations, principally in the 2003-2004 period." The probe is also looking at possible crimes committed by members of the Afghan government and Taliban.

The March ruling that allowed the court to proceed with its investigation into the matter marked the first time U.S. forces faced the possibility of becoming defendants in a war-crimes prosecution by the ICC, according to The New York Times.

But Esper hit back against that possibility Thursday, saying the U.S. maintains the sovereign right and obligation to properly investigate the allegations. The U.S. justice system ensures Americans are held to account under the U.S. Constitution, he said, and "not the International Criminal Court or other overreaching intergovernmental bodies."

"Rest assured that the men and women of the United States Armed Forces will never appear before the ICC and nor will they ever be subjected to the judgments of unaccountable international bodies," he added.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

Related: International Court Approves Probe into Afghanistan War Crimes by All Sides
Four Capital Region counties showed an uptick in initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending June 6, following steep declines the previous week, the New York State Labor Department reported Thursday.

The single largest percentage gain came in Saratoga County, where initial claims jumped 60 percent to 889 from 556 a week earlier. Rensselaer County followed with a 41 percent gain, to 537 from 382, while Albany County claims rose 18 percent to 960 from 814. Schenectady County saw a 12 percent increase, to 643 from 565.

Statewide, claims increased 15 percent to 94,348 from 81, 926 the previous week.

But nationwide, claims continued an 11-week decline after peaking at 6.867 million during the week ending March 28, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday morning.

The number of initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending June 6 fell 355,000 to 1.542 million, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday morning. The previous week's number was revised upward by 20,000 to 1.897 million.

The number of initial claims for unemployment by workers has been at historic highs as the national economy stalled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past dozen weeks, 44 million workers have filed for unemployment insurance benefits.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The unemployment claims report comes a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve reported that economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic would be slow, likely lasting for years, and that it expected the nation's unemployment rate to improve only to 9.3 percent by the end of this year. It fell to 14.7 percent in April from 3.5 percent in March, rising to 13.3 percent in May.

Also on Wednesday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned the global economy could decline by 6 percent this year, Bloomberg reported.

Reports on Thursday that COVID-19 cases had surged in states that had quickly reopened their economies sent financial markets sharply lower, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 1,861 points to close at 25,128.
NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --



Compressed Natural Gas Market Research Report by Source (Associated Gas, Non-associated Gas, and Unconventional Methods), by Application (Heavy-duty Vehicles, Light-duty Vehicles, and Medium-duty Vehicles) - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19







Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913916/?utm_source=PRN







The Global Compressed Natural Gas Market is expected to grow from USD 24,343.74 Million in 2019 to USD 46,583.00 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.42%.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Compressed Natural Gas to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



On the basis of Source, the Compressed Natural Gas Market is studied across Associated Gas, Non-associated Gas, and Unconventional Methods.



On the basis of Application, the Compressed Natural Gas Market is studied across Heavy-duty Vehicles, Light-duty Vehicles, and Medium-duty Vehicles.



On the basis of Geography, the Compressed Natural Gas Market is studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Compressed Natural Gas Market including ANGI Energy Systems Inc., GNVert, Hexagon Composites ASA, Indraprastha Gas Limited, J-W Power Company, Luxfer Group, National Iranian Gas Company, Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc., and Trillium CNG.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Compressed Natural Gas Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Compressed Natural Gas Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Compressed Natural Gas Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Compressed Natural Gas Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Compressed Natural Gas Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Compressed Natural Gas Market?

6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Compressed Natural Gas Market?



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913916/?utm_source=PRN



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The music industry provided a lot of excitement for Ghanaians and temporarily took our minds off our woes and COVID-19 when female rappers Eno Barony, Sista Afia and Freda Rhymz took lyrical shots at each other.

Many people thought beefs had been the preserve of the male artistes but the females more than proved their mettle and although things nearly took a physical turn between Sista Afia and Freda Rhymz, this was a thoroughly enjoyable beef that has raised the profile of female rappers.



The male artistes, especially the rappers, watched the beef from the sidelines and Graphic Showbiz has been speaking with some of them on their thoughts about how everything went and whether it was even okay for the ladies to beef.



For Hiplife Grandpapa Reggie Rockstone, there is nothing wrong with the beef and it has brought out the best in the female artistes.



There is a brighter light to all these things and that is what I want Ghanaians to know. This beef thing has brought amazing talents into the limelight. I never knew Eno was this good. Eno has new followers and Ghanaians have come to appreciate her style of rap, he said.



Reggie Rockstone



According to Rockstone, the rap game has been dominated by the males and it was about time the females announced their presence, and that is exactly what they did.



He further stated that the beef had opened doors for up and coming female artistes who were interested in rap.



I am sure there are some female artistes who are hiding somewhere but with the beefs, these female musicians will also come out to show what they have, he said.



Makola Kwakwe hitmaker, Tinny, also said it was very cool for female musicians to 'beef, only if it does not get dirty.



I dont have any problem with it at all. In fact, I endorse more of such healthy beefs. Beefs should be strategic. If you know you are not going to benefit from it, why worry yourself and go into it in the first place.



I remember my beef with Kwaw Kese; he said he was going to beat me if he set eyes on me and that I didnt like, he said.



Tinny



Tinny explained that beef had made him see the female rappers in a new light.



Eno is better than most male rappers we have in Ghana and can match anyone boot for boot. I salute her now for her rap skills and all this wouldnt have been known if the beef did not take place, he said.



Rapper Edem said he wished the beef could have lasted for a year because he enjoyed every bit of it.



I enjoyed every bit of it and never wanted it to end. Apart from me, I know Ghanaians also enjoyed it and wanted to hear more from them but sadly it ended so fast.



'Beefs' are everywhere in the music industry. From Queen Latifah to Nicki Minaj and Cardi B we enjoyed serious rap beefs but they were very entertaining, he said.



Edem



Edem said Eno and Freda Rhymz were serious rappers along with Feli Nuna, adding that he loved the way they all flowed and wished them the best in their careers.



The only thing rapper Flowking Stone dislikes about beefs is when it becomes personal. I like it when you show how best you can rap by killing your opponent with your flow and not personal attacks.



Flowking Stone

"Some rappers go to the extent of insulting your family, which is bad because they should not be part of it. That is the part I dont like but apart from that, I dont have any problem with female beefs, he said.



According to Flowking Stone, a musician should know who he or she was beefing because he or she could end his or her career.



If your opponent is stronger than you, you might end up losing all your fans because everyone will know you are not there yet, he said.









Source: Graphic Showbiz









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Five foundations on Thursday jointly pledged over $1.7 billion to assist nonprofit organisations across the globe weather the storm created by the deadly coronavirus, which has killed thousands across the globe and shut hundreds of businesses.

They include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

They announced a joint commitment to increase their payouts to non-profit organisations with more than $1.7 billion within the next three years to help stabilise and sustain the sector facing devastating economic effects due to the global pandemic and the epidemic of social injustice.

This financial commitment, published on the MacArthur Foundation website represents new funding above the previously approved budgets by each foundations board. Each foundation will determine priorities for the distribution of the new funds based on its grantmaking guidelines and priorities.

Generally, in the aggregate, funds will cover grantmaking aligned with each foundations mission, including racial equity and social justice, arts and culture, higher education, human services, climate solutions, and other areas to provide financial support to communities that are most vulnerable and hardest hit by the impact of COVID-19, the statement explained.

It also said the economic crisis caused by the pandemic is already impacting the financial health and well-being of nonprofits.

In the U.S., nonprofits employ more than 10 per cent of the private workforce or approximately 12.3 million people. According to a Nonprofit Finance Fund survey in 2018, almost 75 per cent of nonprofits do not have six months of cash reserves. The financial fallout of COVID-19 is being felt as nonprofits are experiencing postponed programming and revenue-generating events, threatened academic enrollments, cancelled artistic seasons, fewer grants from foundations given lower endowments, reduced corporate sponsorships, and prospects that government contracts are at risk due to shortfalls in state and city budgets.

In a recent CAF America survey, 73 per cent of nonprofits said they have already seen a decline in contributions, and half said they expect to see revenue a decline by more than 20 per cent over the next year, while the need for services is expected to increase due to the coronavirus pandemic, the statement added.

It said economists and fundraising experts predict that the drop in charitable giving will likely be more significant than that of the Great Recession in 2008, and recovery will likely take longer.

To the rescue

The donors, according to the release, said they are hoping that this infusion of capital will help the nonprofit recipients to be more resilient and durable organisations, able to proactively work to build more sustainable and viable operating models in a post-coronavirus environment.

Ed Henry, President and CEO of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, said amidst the global crisis, there is an opportunity and obligation to intensify the commitment to addressing inequities to ensure a future that improves on the past.

The nonprofit sector is essential to building a just and thriving society, and in this moment, their work is more critical than ever, Mr Henry said.

Working with foundations across the country, we will drive forward with a reinforced dedication to our missions and step up our support to vitally important human services, public health, research, environmental, and arts and cultural organizations.

Also, Darren Walker, President of Ford Foundation, was quoted as saying, COVID-19 presents an existential threat to nonprofits, and we must respond in creative and innovative ways. The pandemic has brought into sharp relief the results of decades of growing inequality. The virus is only compounding that inequality, taking a disproportionate toll on the poor, people of colour, immigrants, people with disabilities, and others who were already marginalised before the crisis hit.

This is a time that calls for bold leadership and innovation, said La June Montgomery Tabron, W.K. Kellogg Foundation President and CEO. Philanthropy needs to respond to the scale of the challenges we are facing. Post-pandemic, our grantees, communities, and partner organisations will need to be strong to re-imagine and rebuild systems centred on racial equity.

Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, also reportedly said, Together, we are experiencing the extraordinary pain of a pandemic, an economic depression, and relentless violence and racial threats against African Americans. The transformative and provocative power of artists, cultural institutions, and humanities scholars will prove even more essential to our countrys future vitality.

At this moment of massive disruption, we see opportunity, said MacArthur Foundation President, John Palfrey. The pandemic is wreaking tragedy across the world and, in particular, in African American communities. In the face of an extraordinary social and economic crisis, our city, country, and global communities require a transformation. Our response to the pandemic will focus on supporting the reinvention of systems that create a more just, equitable, and resilient world.

Modalities

The statement said each foundation, in the coming weeks, will share its plans and timing of deployment of the new grantmaking funds.

In order to generate additional funds for grantmaking, the foundations are exploring different mechanisms, including using funds from their endowment or issuing long-term debt via the capital markets.

This joint effort is an extension of growing collaboration in philanthropy and reflects recent efforts among many foundations to adopt more flexible grantmaking and administrative approaches to supporting grantees during this crisis.
BOISE  In a statement released Monday, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game released a list of five lakes or reservoirs primed for kokanee fishing during the 2020 summer. Kokanee provide some great fishing opportunities across Idaho and can provide lots of action and a great-tasting fish, but theyre a little different than many other Idaho game fish.

Kokanee have a reputation for being a boom-or-bust species: abundant one year, and scarce the next. Just because the fishing was fantastic at a certain reservoir or lake last year doesnt mean it will be again when you go fishing the following year.

Fish and Game biologists have a number of tools to manage kokanee populations for size and abundance, but its a tricky balancing act  and they are ultimately constrained by the natural cycles that cause fish to flourish some years and be scarce in others.

Kokanee populations are typically a combination of stocked fish and those naturally produced by spawning fish. But unlike trout, all kokanee are stocked as fingerlings, so biologists have to hope conditions are right to produce an abundant class of adult fish for anglers.

The key for kokanee anglers is to take advantage of fishing when populations are booming and to take heart knowing that even in a bust cycle, the next boom likely isnt far away (and the fishing is often best on the rebound).

With kokanee fishing in full swing in southern Idaho, and northern Idaho following close behind, here are some waters across the state that appear to be on the upswing, and should be worth checking out in 2020. There are also many other options for kokanee fishing in Idaho, which can be found on the Idaho Fishing Planner.

Lucky Peak Reservoir

Located about 30 minutes from Boise, Lucky Peak is a great option for a day trip for anglers in the Treasure Valley and even the Magic Valley.

The kokanee fishing in southern Idahos silver triangle, comprised of Lucky Peak and nearby Arrowrock and Anderson Ranch reservoirs, has been slower in 2020 than in recent years, particularly at Anderson Ranch, where a confluence of circumstances helped created a world-class kokanee fishery from 2017 through last year.

Signs are pointing to a slower year for kokanee fishing in the silver triangle overall, but Lucky Peak is shaping up to be the best of the bunch.

Lucky Peak has been somewhat of a surprise this year, Southwest Regional Fisheries Manager John Cassinelli said. While it has still generally been slow, anglers are finding a few kokanee and catching both this years age class of adults (17-18 inches) and next years adults (currently 8-11 inches), so that is promising.

Deadwood Reservoir

Deadwood is a unique kokanee fishery because it is off the beaten path and provides a backcountry feel. The kokanee are typically abundant, and the bag (15) and possession (45) limits are fairly liberal  making it the perfect spot for an extended fishing trip. Deadwood serves as the primary source for early run kokanee eggs in Idaho, but biologists also manage it as a quality kokanee fishery. Last year, average fish size was good for anglers  about 13-15 inches  and the early reports from the reservoir this year are also promising.

Access is just opening up there. Right now, only the Bear Valley route into the reservoir is accessible. But the preliminary reports from the few anglers who have made it up there are that there are good numbers of 10-12 inch fish, Cassinelli said. Thats by no means definitive, and we will know more in the next couple weeks.

Lake Pend Oreille

Its shaping up to be a good year for kokanee fishing on Lake Pend Oreille, and anglers in northern Idaho should be taking note.

Fisheries researchers in the Panhandle Region estimated that over 2.5 million kokanee occupied the lake in the fall of 2019, which is the highest count on record since the mid-1990s, and anglers are already reaping the benefits of the abundant kokanee population. Plus, a bonus class of 4-year-old fish is boosting the kokanee fishery, both in terms of numbers and average size.

Lake Pend Oreille is home to late-run kokanee, which typically reach maturity at around 3, at which point they spawn and die. Last fall, some of the 3-year-old fish hadnt matured yet, and there are good signs that these fish being caught by anglers as four-year-olds, which is contributing to the quality fishing on Pend Oreille.

Biologists believe aggressive predator suppression for lake trout and walleye, coupled with low numbers of Mysis freshwater shrimp, are creating good conditions for abundant kokanee right now. You can read a more in-depth look at Pend Oreilles 2020 kokanee outlook here.

Hayden Lake

Another option for kokanee anglers in northern Idaho is Hayden Lake. Fish and Game began stocking Hayden Lake in 2011, and it quickly became one of the more popular fisheries in the Panhandle region. Biologists have typically managed Hayden Lake for larger kokanee and stocked it with early-run variety of the fish, which tend to grow faster than their late-run relatives. They reach maturity at 2 years old and attempt to spawn in the late summer and early fall.

A statewide shortage of hatchery kokanee in 2018 resulted in Hayden Lake being stocked with late-run kokanee, and anglers should expect that kokanee in the 2020 fishery may be smaller on average than they have been in recent years. On the bright side, the late-run kokanee commonly spawn at 3 years old instead of 2, which means anglers may see more larger-than-average kokanee in 2021.

Anglers should also note that these late-run fish will have a light-colored flesh, much like kokanee in Coeur dAlene Lake or Lake Pend Oreille. Idaho Fish and Game returned to stocking of early-run kokanee in 2019.

Dworshak Reservoir

For anglers in the Clearwater region, Dworshak Reservoir is a good option for kokanee fishing. The fishery began to rebound in 2019 after a couple of down years and is likely to remain on the upswing in 2020, although anglers might see some smaller fish this year.

I like to say that kokanee numbers bounce up and down like a Yo-Yo. The good news is that their numbers came up fast last year after bottoming out two years ago, said Sean Wilson, fisheries research biologist. Fishing always seems to be best on the rebound, as kokanee grow better when there are fewer fish to compete for food with.

According to Wilson, Dworshak Reservoir had about a half-million kokanee in the 10-12 inch range in the summer of 2019, which is both larger and more abundant than normal. Based on last years surveys, Wilson anticipates a similar abundance of the larger 2-year-old kokanee in 2020.

In April of this year, the 2-year-old kokanee ranged between 8 and 10 inches, and averaged about 9 inches, which is similar to the size of the age-2 kokanee at that time last year. However, how fast these fish grow is influenced by how many younger kokanee are out there, as both 1-year-old and 2-year-old fish compete for the same food. Fish and Game surveys indicated there could be about twice as many 1-year-old kokanee this year compared to last year, assuming average winter survival.

This means there will be more mouths to feed and growth rates should drop in comparison to last year, Wilson said. With slower growth rates this spring and summer, we anticipate kokanee size will average around 10 inches this summer, with some up to 11 inches. This is a little smaller than what we saw last year, but this should provide a kokanee fishery that many people will enjoy.

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For the last several weeks, anyone living in downtown Indianapolis could hear chants of Black lives matter and No justice, no peace echoing throughout Monument Circle. Anyone walking downtown the morning of May 31 could see crews working to clean up glass and board up business windows after violence ensued the night before.

Some claim officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) threw tear gas unprovoked, starting the chaos. IMPD officials claim violence and destruction of property gave them no option but to deploy tear gas canisters on the crowd.

Regardless of which side started the chaos, could it  and the last three weeks of demonstrations  have been avoided?

The recorded murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police sent shockwaves throughout the country and the rest of the world. Indianapolis was no exception, with demonstrations popping up downtown, calling for the officers involved to be charged.

Beyond Floyds murder, however, Indianapolis was still reeling from the May 6 death of Dreasjon Sean Reed. Reed, 21, was shot and killed by an IMPD officer following a car chase recorded on Facebook Live. The demonstrations in memory of Floyd served a double purpose here in Indianapolis: call for justice for Floyd, and call for answers in Reeds death.

Throughout the past few weeks, shouts of Who killed Dreasjon Reed? have been heard at demonstrations, and signs demanding answers from IMPD have been raised high in the air during protests.

Despite calls from the community, IMPD did not provide the name of the officer  citing safety concerns  for more than a month after Reeds death. On June 10, Taylor confirmed four-year IMPD veteran Dejoure Mercer was the officer involved in Reeds death.

On June 4, Rosemary Khoury was appointed as the special prosecutor on the case by the Marion County Supreme Court.

On June 10, Khoury requested Indiana State Police handle the investigation.

Outrage surrounding Reeds death spiked again June 3, when his mother, Demetree Wynn, hosted a press conference near where her son was killed. Speaking candidly about seeing Reeds body for the first time after his death, Wynn said They couldnt fix his face, describing the damage done to Reeds face alone. Further, Swaray Conteh, lead attorney for the family, said they have evidence that contradicts IMPDs claims that Reed had a gun.

On June 5, community members gathered outside the northwest IMPD precinct to demand justice and answers.

Were here to do what we gotta do, organizer Asia Giles said. Hopefully, it will be peaceful.

The demonstration at the precinct ended without conflict, despite not resulting in any answers from IMPD. A sit-in at the statehouse June 6 and a Wake up for Black lives event on the morning of June 7 also did not yield results.

However, Mat Davis of the Indiana Racial Justice Alliance believes the issues in Indianapolis go beyond Reeds death.

I think that there are many groups who are fighting for Dreasjon Reed, and thats important, Davis said. The Indiana Racial Justice Alliance is made up of several groups, and what were fighting for is systemic changes that need to be addressed for IMPD as an entire institution that affects every aspect of our city.

Whether or not they refer to it as systemic racism, many demonstrators have felt the same way.

This is about more than George Floyd or Sean [Reed], one protester, who declined to be named, said on May 30. This goes deep.

At the statehouse sit-in, one protest sign getting a lot of attention referenced Mayor Joe Hogsetts June 4 announcement of the demolition of a Confederate monument in Garfield Park.

Removing one Confederate monument? the sign read. Is that all you got?

Local activist Cambria York said this is a distraction from the real issue.

I am in general very disappointed by attempts made by Joe Hogsett to placate his community, York said. The removal of a Confederate monument in Garfield Park, while long overdue, is not what we were asking for.  It ultimately hurts everyone if we allow ourselves to get distracted by this fluff.

In response to what he plans to do to further address systemic racism in Indianapolis, Hogsett said he wants to continue to push Project Indy and Indy Achieves, programs helping with job placement and education, respectively. Both programs are race neutral.

Perhaps the biggest step forward in addressing systemic racism in the city was a special resolution, Proposal 182, presented to the city-county council June 8. City-county council President Vop Osili was one of the sponsors of the proposal, which passed unanimously and declares racism a public health crisis in Marion County.

The proposal described racism as a barrier to health equity throughout the country, citing inequities in employment, housing, health care and food access, as well as links between school funding and tax revenue that historically put children of color at a disadvantage in education.

Dr. Virginia Caine, director of the Marion County Public Health Department, said one in four Black children have been exposed to violence and called this proposal a first step in addressing the issues systemic racism causes in Indianapolis. She urged the council to come back with concrete recommendations to help the issue, comparing the proposal to prescribing aspirin for a brain tumor.

Osili is optimistic this proposal will allow the city to undo past injustices through examining data from all city and county departments.

We dont like to talk about things that are uncomfortable, Osili said. But, the needle wont move unless we have those uncomfortable discussions and make changes that reverse, as much as possible, negative impacts of decisions weve made historically.

Contact staff writer Breanna Cooper at 317-762-7848. Follow her on Twitter @BreannaNCooper.

A sign that got a lot of attention at the statehouse sit-in.
A Montgomery County officer was recognized Tuesday for working off duty to help counsel a man contemplating suicide on a bridge about 250 miles away.

Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constables Deputy Enrique Rupert received an award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Greater Houston, an education and advocacy group, during a meeting of the Montgomery County Commissioners Court. Rupert is a member of Precinct 1s crisis intervention team (CIT).

Im not a man of too many words, but I wanted to say the CIT team has given me an opportunity to help people on a daily basis and try to make that change in the world that we need at this time, Rupert said to a standing ovation.

In September 2018, A Montgomery County dispatcher called Rupert on his day off, telling him a man in distress was on the phone seeking to talk with him. Rupert came to find the man was someone he counseled earlier that year. The man was on a Corpus Christi bridge looking to jump.

The man was prompted to call Rupert after coming across his business card as he threw items out of his wallet. The man remembered the positive interaction with Rupert and that the deputy had told him to call if he was ever in need.

Rupert kept the man on the phone, getting his location and having the Corpus Christi Police respond and help him get him safely off the bridge to receive mental health care.

Before county commissioners, a hexagon-shaped crystal award was handed to Rupert by Brenda LaVar, vice president of NAMI Greater Houston.

Rupert is an exceptional crisis intervention team officer, LaVar said. He is a compassioned officer who works well with people in crisis and this is what we need in law enforcement.

The award is given quarterly to an officer nominated by a law enforcement agencys mental health team for outstanding intervention during a mental health crisis, NAMI Greater Houston Executive Director Neal Sarahan told the Houston Chronicle.

This year, Rupert was honored as a 2020 100 Club Officer of the Year, one of only two Montgomery County officers. Pct. 1s mental health division consists of 14 officers. The countywide CIT was instituted in 2017 through support from Commissioners Court.

Pct. 1 Constable Philip Cash told the commissioners the program has been paying dividends since its implementation.

Without (Constable Cashs) foresight to have the CIT team as active that we are, I probably wouldnt be getting this award, Rupert said.

Pct. 1 Cpt. Joe Sclider said psychological events, as far as emergency calls go, have increased compared to the same time last year. The Pct. 1 Constables Office is attributing this to springs stay-at-home orders during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

More people, Sclider said, have been taken in for mental health evaluation during this period.

jose.gonzalez@chron.com

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 13:06:31|Editor: huaxia

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GUIYANG, June 11 (Xinhua) -- As a member of the Bouyei ethnic group, Wang Jing knew from an early age that costume-making skills had long been a crucial part of the identity of her people.

"Making clothes has always been an essential skill of Bouyei women," said Wang, an inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage of Bouyei clothing. "Bouyei women who can't make clothes would be seen as lacking femininity."

Born into a Bouyei family in southwest China's Guizhou Province in the 1970s, Wang grew up wearing clothes made by her grandmother and mother.

When she was a child, Wang was always fascinated by the clothes-making process, watching attentively as elderly Bouyei women wove a variety of patterns with their skilled hands. She began learning the craft at about 10 years of age.

"Bouyei costumes are made with a variety of techniques, including yarn-dye, batik, tie-dye, cross-stitch and brocade. There is a whole set of procedures," Wang said.

In 1991, Wang went to Beijing to study fashion design. After graduating, she returned to Guizhou to work as a designer in a batik factory.

At that time, there were many foreign tourists visiting the factory, who showed a strong interest in the traditional and exotic apparel.

"It dawned on me that I could become a promoter of my hometown's traditional costumes," she recalled.

In 1998, Wang quit her job at the factory and returned to her hometown to start her own designing business, with just two apprentices and three sewing machines.

Wang's career breakthrough came in 2001, when her work -- a painting and three sets of costumes -- won wide acclaim at a local cultural festival.

"The beauty of Bouyei clothing lies in its simplicity," Wang said. "However, people's aesthetics invariably change with the development of society."

"Without innovation, even the most precious things will gradually fall out of favor. Innovation is the best way to pass on culture," she added.

In traditional Bouyei wear, shoulder pads are often sewn into the garment, functioning as a cushion for the wearer when carrying heavy loads.

In her designs, Wang put shoulder pads embroidered with Roxburgh roses on the outside of the clothing, an innovation that combined function with fashion.

In 2013, Wang was invited by Guizhou's commerce bureau to participate in an event in London. To her surprise, dozens of bags featuring Bouyei elements she brought with her were a hit with local people and quickly sold out.

"I was very excited and proud," Wang recalled. After the trip, Wang also went to Singapore and Russia to promote her work, which gained increasing popularity among foreigners.

In 2014, Bouyei clothing was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage. Four years later, Wang was named its national inheritor.

"Passing on traditional culture can enhance our cultural confidence. I will continue to make innovations and promote Bouyei costumes to the world," Wang said. Enditem
Local residents have vowed to fight to protect a statue of Robert Baden-Powell which is set to be removed temporarily for its protection after it was placed on a target list by protesters.

The protesters on the website www.toppletheracists.org claim he "committed atrocities against the Zulus in his military career and was a Nazi/fascist sympathiser".

The statue of the founder of the Scout Movement in Poole Quay, Dorset, England has been targeted by campaigners due to his associations with the Nazis and the Hitler youth programme, as well as his actions in the military.

Vikki Slade, leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, tweeted the decision to remove it was taken following a threat, adding: Its literally less than 3m from the sea so is at huge risk.

And is TEMPORARY @JoshGWright - I dont want it damages or thrown in the harbour and then be asked why we didnt do something! https://t.co/98VcgmSy83  Vikki Slade  (@vikki4mdnp) June 10, 2020

A crowd of local residents gathered around the statue today, vowing to protect it and to stop the council from removing it.

Mark Howell, the local authoritys deputy leader, said the statue would only be removed to protect it, with the aim of it permanently remaining in its position overlooking Brownsea Island where Baden-Powell held his first experimental camp in 1907.

A person with a sign protesting 'British History Matters' alongside the statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset, England today. Pic: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

He added the final decision to temporarily take it down had not yet been made.

He told the PA news agency: We are considering whether we should remove it temporarily to protect the statue.

In terms of its long-term future, this statue stays here, Baden-Powell did an enormous amount of good, he created an organisation that brought people from different religions, ethnic backgrounds and races together and we are very proud of that in Poole and our connection to him.

This has been an emergency reaction because the police have advised us the statue is on the target list being circulated by protesters.

This is an artwork and if it was damaged it wouldnt be easily repaired.

There is no controversy about it being here, its the right place for it.

The target list emerged following a raft of Black Lives Matter protests across the UK, sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis last month.

Local residents show their support for a statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset, England, ahead of its expected removal to "safe storage" following concerns about his actions while in the military and "Nazi sympathies". Pic: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

Len Banister, 78, a former Scout, said of the Baden-Powell statue: He is the reason I am still here, the pleasure he gives to so many people, they shouldnt take it down, I will fight them off.

Spencer Tuck, 35, said: Unfortunately he was in fascist times but there is more to it and this statue is nothing to do with racism, its to do with the heritage of Poole.

Sharon Warne, 53, suggested controversial statues should have information panels installed explaining the positive and negative points about the figures they depict.

He had a bad past but he was the founder of the Scouts which today is a great organisation and its ridiculous to get rid of him.

The Scouts said in a statement: We look forward to discussing this matter with Poole Council to make an informed decision on what happens next.

Baden-Powell was the founder of the Scout movement. Currently, there are over 54 million Scouts in the world and we operate in almost every nation on earth, promoting tolerance and global solidarity.

The Scout movement is resolute in its commitment to inclusion and diversity and members continually reflect and challenge ourselves in how we live our values.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder's Soft Materials Research Center (SMRC) have discovered an elusive phase of matter, first proposed more than 100 years ago and sought after ever since.

The team describes the discovery of what scientists call a "ferroelectric nematic" phase of liquid crystal in a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The discovery opens a door to a new universe of materials, said co-author Matt Glaser, a professor in the Department of Physics.

Nematic liquid crystals have been a hot topic in materials research since the 1970s. These materials exhibit a curious mix of fluid- and solid-like behaviors, which allow them to control light. Engineers have used them extensively to make the liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in many laptops, TVs and cellphones.

Think of nematic liquid crystals like dropping a handful of pins on a table. The pins in this case are rod-shaped molecules that are "polar" -- with heads (the blunt ends) that carry a positive charge and tails (the pointy ends) that are negatively charged. In a traditional nematic liquid crystal, half of the pins point left and the other half point right, with the direction chosen at random.

A ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal phase, however, is much more disciplined. In such a liquid crystal, patches or "domains" form in the sample in which the molecules all point in the same direction, either right or left. In physics parlance, these materials have polar ordering.

Noel Clark, a professor of physics and director of the SMRC, said that his team's discovery of one such liquid crystal could open up a wealth of technological innovations -- from new types of display screens to reimagined computer memory.

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"There are 40,000 research papers on nematics, and in almost any one of them you see interesting new possibilities if the nematic had been ferroelectric," Clark said.

Under the microscope

The discovery is years in the making.

Nobel Laureates Peter Debye and Max Born first suggested in the 1910s that, if you designed a liquid crystal correctly, its molecules could spontaneously fall into a polar ordered state. Not long after that, researchers began to discover solid crystals that did something similar: Their molecules pointed in uniform directions. They could also be reversed, flipping from right to left or vice versa under an applied electric field. These solid crystals were called "ferroelectrics" because of their similarities to magnets. (Ferrum is Latin for "iron").

In the decades since, however, scientists struggled to find a liquid crystal phase that behaved in the same way. That is, until Clark and his colleagues began examining RM734, an organic molecule created by a group of British scientists several years ago.

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That same British group, plus a second team of Slovenian scientists, reported that RM734 exhibited a conventional nematic liquid crystal phase at higher temperatures. At lower temperatures, another unusual phase appeared.

When Clark's team tried to observe that strange phase under the microscope they noticed something new. Under a weak electric field, a palette of striking colors developed toward the edges of the cell containing the liquid crystal.

"It was like connecting a light bulb to voltage to test it but finding the socket and hookup wires glowing much more brightly instead," Clark said.

Stunning results

So, what was happening?

The researchers ran more tests and discovered that this phase of RM734 was 100 to 1,000 times more responsive to electric fields than the usual nematic liquid crystals. This suggested that the molecules that make up the liquid crystal demonstrated strong polar order.

"When the molecules are all pointing to the left, and they all see a field that says, 'go right,' the response is dramatic," Clark said.

The team also discovered that distinct domains seemed to form spontaneously in the liquid crystal when it cooled from higher temperature. There were, in other words, patches within their sample in which the molecules seemed to be aligned.

"That confirmed that this phase was, indeed, a ferroelectric nematic fluid," Clark said.

That alignment was also more uniform than the team was expecting.

"Entropy reigns in a fluid," said Joe MacLennan, a study coauthor and a professor of physics at CU Boulder. "Everything is wiggling around, so we expected a lot of disorder."

When the researchers examined how well aligned the molecules were inside a single domain, "we were stunned by the result," MacLennan said. The molecules were nearly all pointing in the same direction.

The team's next goal is to discover how RM734 achieves this rare feat. Glaser and SMRC researcher Dmitry Bedrov of the University of Utah, are currently using computer simulation to tackle this question.

"This work suggests that there are other ferroelectric fluids hiding in plain sight," Clark said. "It is exciting that right now techniques like artificial intelligence are emerging that will enable an efficient search for them."

Coauthors on the new paper include CU Boulder researchers Leo Radzihovsky, professor of physics; David Walba, professor of chemistry; and Xi Chen, Eva Korblova and Renfan Shao. Dengpan Dong and Xiaoyu Wei of the University of Utah were also coauthors.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has filed a complaint with Germanys Federal Public Prosecutor against an Iranian judge whom the Paris-based media freedom watchdog accuses of being responsible for the "arrest and torture" of at least 20 journalists in 2013.



In a Twitter post on June 11, RSFs Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said that Gholamreza Mansouri was currently in Germany.



"The prosecutor must not let him escape justice!" he wrote.



The move comes two days after the London-based rights group Justice for Iran called for information that could lead to Mansouris prosecution in Germany.



Citing the testimony of "a significant number" of journalists, Justice for Iran said in a statement that Mansouri was "responsible for issuing arrest warrants against them."



"These journalists were interrogated for months in [Tehrans] Evin prison in solitary confinement and pressured to confess against themselves and others."



Mansouri is among several judges who were accused of corruption during the high-profile trial of a former senior judiciary official that opened in Tehran on June 7.

'Full Trust In The Islamic Republic'



Officials have claimed that the judge, who has left the country, had received a bribe of 500,000 euros ($562,000).



In a video posted online on June 8, Mansouri didnt give details about his whereabouts, but he said he would return to Iran as soon as travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic are eased.



"I have full trust in the Islamic republic, Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], and the judicial system," Mansouri said in the video, adding that he was proud of having served in the Iranian judiciary for three decades.



Some media reports said Mansouri went abroad to receive medical treatment.



Iran ranks 173th out of 180 countries in RSFs 2020 World Press Freedom Index.



In recent years, Iranian authorities have detained and imprisoned dozens of journalists, bloggers, and media workers following trials described as unfair by human rights defenders.

Scores of media publications have been also closed.
The global South Africa Fast Food market was valued at $2.7 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach $4.9 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2019 to 2026. Rise in rate of urbanization coupled with surge in demand for various types of convenience food products has been driving the value sales growth for the South Africa fast food market.

South African consumers have been increasingly living a busy lifestyle.

This has created a huge demand for food products such as take-away food items and readily available fast food products. Furthermore, surge in demand for convenience food products has eventually resulted in increase in number of quick-service and fast food restaurant establishments across the country.

Over the past decade, number of foodservice outlets skyrocketed in South Africa. From roughly 76,000 outlets in 2006, the number of outlets increased to 123,000 by 2016. A significant number of these outlets (70%) are in the informal sector (mainly street vendors), with the remaining 30% split equally between cafes/bars, full-service restaurants, and fast food outlets. Hence, surge in demand for convenience food products is a major factor driving the South Africa fast food market in terms of value sales.

Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/13299

Fast food products are usually known for their taste, unique product offerings, and easy availability, which attract the target customers. However, regular consumption of these products has negative effects on the health of the consumers. For instance, most fast food items, including drinks and sides, are rich in carbohydrates with very less fiber content. Therefore, consumption of high amount of carbs can result in rise in blood sugar level. Thus, increasing the risk for insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes as well as weight gain. These factors are expected to restrain the growth of the South Africa market.

According to Statistic South Africa, millennials account for nearly 52% of the total South African population. Rise in per capita income provides high purchasing power. They have been influential in evolving various industries in terms of product offerings and services.

When it comes to the global fast food industry, millennials have been their prime customers. The fast food operators have been continuously strategizing on evolving their product offerings that cater to varying perception and preference of the millennial segment. Thus, rise in number of millennial population in the country is anticipated to provide lucrative opportunity for the growth of the South Africa fast food market.

Some of the key companies profiled in the report include Yum Brands Inc., Famous Brands Inc., McDonalds Corporation, Nandos Group Holding Ltd., Taste Holding Ltd., Traditional Brands, King Pie Holdings, Burger King, Hungry Lion, Spur Steak Ranches, and others.

KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS

 The report provides an extensive analysis of the current and emerging market trends and opportunities in the global South Africa Fast Food market.

 The report provides detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of current trends and future estimations that help evaluate the prevailing market opportunities.

 A comprehensive analysis of the factors that drive and restrict the growth of the market is provided.

 An extensive analysis of the market is conducted by following key product positioning and monitoring the top competitors within the market framework.

 The report provides extensive qualitative insights on the potential segments or regions exhibiting favorable growth.

Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/13299

KEY MARKET SEGMENTS

By Product Type

 Processed Chicken

 Burgers

 Processed Fish

 Pizza

 Sandwich

 Others

By Age Group

 Below 18 years old

 20  35 years old

 Above 25 years old

By Distribution Channel

 On-Trade

 Online Channel

Covid 19 Impact Analysis@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/13299
Muzaffarnagar:

Deteriorating law and order in UP led to a 14-year-old girl allegedly committing suicide by setting herself on fire after she was sexually harassed by two youths of the same village. The shameful incident occurred at Lacheda village on 16th September.

As per SHO Amresh Singh, the two youths, Mohan Kumar and Sonu Singh, have been arrested. He further added that a case of abetting suicide under POCSO Act has been registered against them.

According to a complaint lodged with the police, the two youths allegedly molested the victim when she had gone to the fields. Upon hearing her cries for help, the villagers rushed to the spot and caught both the youths. Later on the culprits were handed over to the police. The victim however was unable to bear the shame and committed self immolation in her house. Fearing violence, the police have tightened security in the village.

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George Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd on Wednesday urged the authorities to make necessary changes in the law enforcement. He said that the police should taught to use force rarely and only when life is at risk.

US Congress must hold police forces accountable for wrongdoing and get them to treat people with respect, George Floyds brother told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution and not the problem, Philonise Floyd said. Hold them accountable when they do something wrong. Teach them what it means to treat people with empathy and respect  Teach them deadly force should be used rarely and only when life is at risk.

He said his brother was not hurting anyone on May 25, the day George died in police custody. George, he added, did not deserve to die over the $20 counterfeit bill he allegedly tried to use that day. I am asking you: Is that what a black mans life is worth? $20? This is 2020. Enough is enough, he added.

On May 25, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, was pronounced dead at a Minneapolis, Minnesota hospital shortly after a white police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.

Also Read: Pak security forces abandon border posts as violent protests erupt in Balochistan

Also Read: Balochistan registers 5 new cases of enforced disappearance in 2 days

Viral video of the incident sparked nationwide protests. The county medical examiner ruled his death a homicide and the officer involved, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder.

Also Read: Hong Kong fears oblivion under Chinese dominion

For all the latest World News, download NewsX App
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:22:40|Editor: huaxia

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BEIRUT, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections increased on Thursday by 14 cases to 1,402, while the death toll went up by one case to 31, the National News Agency reported.

Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan said on Wednesday that Lebanon is facing a new challenge with the opening of the airport and arrival of Lebanese expats, and possibly tourists.

Lebanon continues to repatriate Lebanese nationals stranded in other coronavirus-hit countries.

The country has been fighting against COVID-19 since Feb. 21 and it has received support from several other countries.

China on Thursday donated a new batch of medical supplies to Lebanon.

The donation, including 17,500 masks, 1,500 protective gears, 1,320 goggles and 1,000 shoe covers, will help public hospitals in Lebanon in the fight against COVID-19. Enditem
* Russia and China have started making the case at the United Nations against Washington's claim that it can trigger a return of all sanctions on Iran at the Security Council, with Moscow invoking a 50-year-old international legal opinion to argue against the move.

* The European Union's top diplomat has urged all conflict parties in Libya to immediately stop all military operations and engage constructively in peace negotiations. In a joint statement with the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Italy issued on Tuesday (June 9), the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called on the conflict parties in Libya to swiftly agree on a ceasefire and withdraw all foreign forces, mercenaries and military equipment.

* The coronavirus pandemic in Mexico is advancing toward its peak level of infections but social distancing should continue until a vaccine is made available, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday. The officials, from both the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Americas' arm, PAHO, stressed during a webcast conference that more testing is needed in Mexico before further economic re-opening, and that street protests could cause a spike of new cases.

* Asylum applications in Europe fell to the lowest level in April for over a decade as borders closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, European Union figures show, compounding the challenges of people fleeing conflict and persecution. The number of asylum applications declined to 8,730 during April, an 86% drop from 61,421 in February, according to figures obtained by Reuters from the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). The EU had shut its external borders in March and many of its 27 member states suspended registration of applications.

* The Paris Club of creditor nations have agreed to suspend debt service payments from Chad, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Republic of Congo as part of a G20 debt relief deal, the group said. The Group of 20 leading economies and the Paris Club, an informal group of state creditors coordinated by the French finance ministry, agreed in April to freeze debt payments of the 77 poorest countries this year to free up cash to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

* Russia on Wednesday reported 8,404 new cases of the coronavirus, taking the nationwide tally of infections to 493,657. The country's coronavirus crisis response centre said 216 people had died from the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 6,358.

* Brazil reported 32,091 new cases of coronavirus and 1,272 new deaths for the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday. The South American country has so far recorded 739,503 confirmed cases of the virus, the second highest level of contagion after the United States, and 38,406 people have died, the third highest death toll worldwide.

* Argentina confirmed more than 1,000 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday as the rate of new infections continued to rise just days after it extended lockdown measures in the capital Buenos Aires, the country's largest city and epicenter for the virus. Argentina's Health Ministry logged 1,141 new cases in the past 24 hours, as well 24 deaths, pushing its totals to 24,761 cases and 717 deaths since the outbreak began in early March.

* Mexico's health ministry reported 4,199 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 596 additional fatalities on Tuesday, bringing the total in the country to 124,301 cases and 14,649 deaths.

* The French government is considering whether to end emergency health measures imposed to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic on July 10, the Prime Minister's department said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's office said the possible date of July 10 was one of several options being examined at present. Official data published on Tuesday showed that France's coronavirus death toll had risen by 87 to 29,296.

* Thailand will consider a plan to reopen more businesses and establishments from as early as June 15, an official said on Wednesday, after the country has reported no local transmissions of the coronavirus in the past 16 days. The government's Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration will consider the plan for the next phase of more "high risk" reopenings on Friday, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, the centre's spokesman.

* Hungary and Croatia will lift restrictions on cross-border travel from Friday as the novel coronavirus pandemic has subsided and remains under control in both countries, Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday. Szijjarto said in a Facebook video that previous border openings with Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic had not caused a spike in new cases.

* Bulgaria will extend the epidemic emergency until the end of June to fight the spread of the coronavirus after an increase in new registered cases, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Wednesday. Bulgaria has so far recorded 2,889 coronavirus cases of whom 167 have died. Over the past 24 hours it recorded 79 new cases.

* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan appointed new governors in 41 provinces, a presidential ruling in the Official Gazette showed on Wednesday.

* Thailand reported four new coronavirus cases and no new deaths on Wednesday, bringing its total to 3,125 confirmed infections, of which 58 were fatalities. Thailand has recorded no new local transmissions for 16 days in a row.

* Australia is on course to have largely eradicated the coronavirus by July, a public health official said on Wednesday, as the country's most populous state announced the removal of restrictions on community sports. Australia logged an increase of seven cases overnight in the eastern states, three in NSW and four in Victoria, bringing total nationwide cases to 7,274. Three of the most recent cases were from unknown sources, after the country recorded no cases acquired from an unknown source overnight to Tuesday.

* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 318 to 184,861, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday. The reported death toll rose by 18 to 8,729, the tally showed.

* Colombian police on Tuesday seized cocaine with an estimated value of US$265 million in shipping containers at the Pacific port of Buenaventura, a city on the Andean country's Pacific coast, a senior official reported. Some 4.9 tonnes of the drug were seized in two containers at Colombia's most important Pacific port, anti-narcotics police director General Jorge Luis Ramirez said. While there were no arrests, the operation represents the largest cocaine seizure in Colombia this year.

* The Moroccan government said on Tuesday it will start easing restrictive measures imposed to curb coronavirus infections but delay a full lifting of the state of emergency until July 10. Morocco has been on lockdown since March 20. The gradual relaxation will take into account disparities in the infection rate between Moroccan regions, the government said in a statement.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2020 / Golden Lake Exploration Inc. (CSE:GLM) ("GLM" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that further to its press releases dated May 29th, 2020 the Company has closed the non-brokered private placement. The Company issued 8,166,667 common share units (the "Units") at a price of $0.15 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $1,225,000. The shares and warrants comprising the units are subject to a 4 month hold period expiring October 10th, 2020.

Proceeds raised will be used for advancing the Company's Jewel Ridge project in Nevada as well as for general working capital purposes.

Finders' fees of $63,980 were paid to arm's length parties.

About Golden Lake Exploration Inc.

Golden Lake Exploration Inc. is a junior public mining exploration company engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets. Its objective is to acquire, explore and develop economic precious and base metal properties of merit and to aggressively advance its exploration program on the Jewel Ridge property.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Mike England"

Mike England, CEO&DIRECTOR

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Telephone: 1-604-683-3995

TollFree:1-888-945-4770

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Golden Lake Exploration Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593507/Golden-Lake-Exploration-Closes-Financing
AVON  A property where Jennifer and Fotis Dulos once lived with their children was the focus of an intense search Thursday as a convoy of state police investigators and cadaver dogs looked for evidence in the disappearance of the New Canaan mother.

Police spent about eight hours searching the home and wooded property at 44 Sky View Drive in Avon. A septic company also emptied the propertys large tank and the sludge will be examined for evidence, a source close to the investigation said.

Fotis Dulos died Jan. 30 from an apparent suicide while facing murder and other charges in connection with his estranged wifes death and disappearance. Jennifer Dulos was last seen on May 24, 2019 and has been presumed dead based on blood evidence found in the garage of her New Canaan home, according to arrest warrants.

Jennifer and Fotis Dulos rented the Avon home until it was sold in 2010. The property has been vacant since 2017.

In 2018, Fotis Dulos was hired by the property owner and spent about four months repairing water damage to the home.

The property is located at the end of a cul-de-sac with the home situated down a long driveway and out of view from the street. The home is within 5 miles of two Fotis Dulos-owned properties in Farmington that have been at the center of the police investigation.

David Ford, who owns the Avon property, said state police notified him Thursday morning that they planned to return to the home. Ford said state police searched the home last year and he told them they could return whenever they needed.

I told them anytime, whatever they needed to do, Ford told Hearst Connecticut Media. I dont care how long they are here and if they bring in backhoes.

Ford led the investigators on a tour of the house Thursday morning and also showed them the location of the septic tank.

I brought them in every room and showed them every nook and cranny, Ford said. I told them that if you want to knock down a wall, go ahead.

A few hours later, more than a dozen state police investigators descended on the property to conduct a more thorough search. By mid-afternoon, state police cadaver dogs were also brought to the property. Later in the afternoon, a septic company emptied the tank, Ford said.

"They left no stone unturned," he said.

Ford said Fotis Dulos worked on the home from January to April 2018. Ford is still trying to get an insurance claim settled before he gets the work completed and moves into the home, he said.

Arrest warrants outline Fotis Dulos movements the day of his wifes disappearance based on cellphone data and video footage. The warrants do not mention the Avon home, but police believe Fotis Dulos made several stops that afternoon traveling back and forth between his nearby properties.

Police used video footage from residential homes, commercial businesses, state Department of Transportation cameras and school buses to trace the path they believe Fotis Dulos took in his employees red Toyota Tacoma from Farmington to and from New Canaan the morning his wife disappeared, according to arrest warrants.

Video showed the truck returning to Farmington that afternoon, pulling into 80 Mountain Spring Road at 12:25 p.m., arrest warrants said. The Mountain Spring Road home is owned by Fotis Dulos real estate development company, Fore Group, and is about 5 miles from the Avon property.

Located between the Mountain Spring Road and Sky View Drive properties is 4 Jefferson Crossing in Farmington where Fotis Dulos and his former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, lived at the time of the disappearance.

Arrest warrants said video showed Fotis Dulos and Troconis arriving at the Mountain Spring Road home about 2 p.m. the day of the disappearance. Troconis told police she was driving a white 2014 Jeep owned by Fotis Dulos and he was driving his 2015 black Chevy Suburban, according to arrest warrants.

There is no explanation in the warrants where police believe Fotis Dulos went between 12:25 and 2 p.m. that day.

At 2:24 p.m., police said video showed the white Jeep leaving 80 Mountain Spring Road, taking a left and heading north, according to arrest warrants. The vehicle was seen returning to Mountain Spring Road at 3:55 p.m., according to the warrants, but there is no explanation what occurred during those 90 minutes.

According to arrest warrants, Troconis told police Fotis Dulos gave her paper towels that he said he used to clean a coffee spill in his employees pickup truck while at the Mountain Spring Road property that afternoon. However, Troconis said the substance did not smell like coffee, the warrants said.

The investigation later revealed Jennifer Dulos blood was found on one of the vehicles seats, the warrants said.

In the weeks and months following the disappearance, state and local police searched all of the properties connected with Fotis Dulos and the Fore Group. However, they have not found anything leading to the 50-year-olds remains.

Most of the evidence investigators collected was from inside the garage of Jennifer Dulos New Canaan home where police say she was attacked when she returned home from dropping off her five children at school around 8 a.m. May 24, 2019.

The states medical examiner determined Jennifer Dulos suffered injuries in the attack that were so severe that she could not have survived without immediate medical attention, according to arrest warrants.

One week later, state police found her blood and clothing in trash receptacles in Hartford, where Fotis Dulos had been seen dumping bags of trash the night his estranged wife vanished, according to arrest warrants.

One day after the discovery, Fotis Dulos and Troconis were each charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

In January, Fotis Dulos was charged with murder, felony murder and first-degree kidnapping, while Troconis and his former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, were each charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

Mawhinney, who is jailed in lieu of $2 million bond, is scheduled to appear July 9 in state Superior Court in Stamford. Troconis, who is on house arrest, is expected to next appear Aug. 6 in Stamford.
A new report alleges that Lenovo will likely be using the Snapdragon 865 Plus from Qualcomm in its Legion gaming phone.

Previous reports had suggested that the Legion phone would simply be using the Snapdragon 865. However a plus version would make more sense. Last years ROG Phone II from ASUS used the Snapdragon 855 Plus instead of the standard Snapdragon 855.

Having said that, its important to take this rumor with a grain of salt. Because even earlier reports have suggested that a Snapdragon 865 Plus would not be in production. If its true that Qualcomm was not planning to launch the plus version this year, then the Legion Phone couldnt come with it.

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The Legion Phone may not be the only device with the Snapdragon 865 Plus

If the Legion Phone does come with the Snapdragon 865 Plus inside, then it probably wont be the only phone.

Another rumor from early March suggests that ASUS will use the Snapdragon 865 Plus as well for the ROG Phone III. The companys upcoming gaming phone thats thought to be launching sometime in the third quarter of 2020.

This would pose some competition for the legion Phone as both would carry the same powerful mobile platform. Forcing them to have to differentiate themselves in various other areas in an attempt to win consumer interest over the other.

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If either of these upcoming devices comes with the Snapdragon 865 Plus, then it likely sets the stage for other gaming phones to use the same hardware.

The phone should be powerful regardless of the chipset

Whether Lenovo uses the Snapdragon 865 Plus or the Snapdragon 865, the phone will still be a powerhouse.

Its rumored to come with plenty of excellent features that are perfect for mobile gamers. Like up to 12GB of RAM, at least 128GB of storage space, and a 144Hz screen. Lenovo is even teasing that it will have some sort of revolutionary cooling technology that makes the Legion Phone a game changer.

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Lenovo hasnt confirmed any of the specs yet, but it has confirmed the phone. So while the phone definitely is coming at some point, and probably this year, its still up in the air how good it will be compared to the competition.

Lenovo does do fairly well for itself with its Legion-branded gaming PCs. If it brings that same level of competitiveness to its gaming phone, then it should do just fine. Especially now that gaming phones have been picking up a lot of steam this past year or two.
To the editor:

As clergy of the Episcopal Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan, we grieve the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and all other victims of racialized violence. We stand with those who are pleading for justice, those demanding an end to police brutality, and those who are crying out for a new day. We also recognize that racism manifests in brutal ways every day, ways that those of us who are white dont see.

The stories of the past few months, which echo and amplify those of over 400 years in our nation, are opening the hearts, minds, and lives of us all. We have all witnessed people of color being murdered for no other reason than race. We have seen how the bodies of our siblings of color are perceived as inherently violent by some and expendable by others. We know that communities of color have suffered far higher percentages of deaths from COVID-19 due to inequalities in healthcare, working conditions, and other realities related to systemic racism. We have seen white supremacist groups growing in visibility and voice. We have witnessed inexcusable force  including the use of chemical irritants, rubber bullets, and batons  being used against people of all colors simply because they are in our streets peacefully protesting for change of racist structures and ways.

As Episcopal clergy, we decry any persons or groups who have subverted these otherwise peaceful protests by bringing violence to our streets and communities. And in those circumstances where the rage of those who are suffering oppression has boiled over into riots, we heed the advice of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to commit to listen to the anger behind the riots. Our nation has neither acknowledged fully nor responded comprehensively to the ongoing violence against people of color. Our baptismal vows call us to respond now and always with courage and compassion, to persevere in resisting evil, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

We believe that this moment, like others in our shared history, is inviting us to radical transformation. We also believe that faith demands our participation in helping such transformation take hold. We acknowledge that racism is woven into the systems, institutions, history, and psyche of our nation, including our communities of faith. We confess our complicity even as we seek to break the cycles that sinfully perpetuate racialized violence, inequality, and injustice. We commit anew to the work of reconciliation.

As people of faith, we believe that God is present in struggles for justice, calling us to repentance and inviting us to more fully embody Christs mandate to love one another. Our Presiding Bishop, the Most Reverend Michael Curry, says that Gods dreams are so much greater, more merciful, more loving, and more just than the nightmare being lived by too many in our world. The nightmare of racism is real. Gods dreams are longing to break through. Now.

We commit our prayers and our presence to the hard work ahead, to the faithful work of reconciliation as we stand with those whose tears, hopes, and cries for justice can transform and liberate us all.

THE CLERGY OF THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESES OF EASTERN AND WESTERN MICHIGAN

The Rt. Rev. Whayne M. Hougland, Jr., Provisional Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan, IX Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan

The Rt. Rev. Edward L. Lee, Jr., Retired, VII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan

The Rt. Rev. Edwin Leidel, Retired, I Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan

The Rt. Rev. S. Todd Ousley, II Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan

The Rev. Tom Downs, St. Pauls Episcopal Church in Gladwin

The Rev. Jim Harrison, St. Johns Episcopal Church in Midland

The Rev. Ken Hitch, St. Johns Episcopal Church in Midland
The White House on Wednesday sought to defend President Trumps baseless claim suggesting that a 75-year-old man who was seen knocked to the ground by police in Buffalo, N.Y., last week during a protest over George Floyds death was a member of antifa and that the incident was a set up.

And it was a familiar line of defense.

The president was raising questions based on a report that he saw, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning. There are questions that need to be asked in every case. We cant jump on one side without looking at all the facts at play.

This individual had some very questionable tweets, some profanity-laden tweets about police officers, McEnany continued. Of course, no one condones any sort of violence. We need the appropriate amount of force used in any interaction ... but the president was raising some questions  some legitimate ones  about that particular interaction. And its his prerogative to do so."

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany says President Trump was merely "raising questions" with baseless claim about Buffalo protester: https://t.co/NcQQw0Qtgg pic.twitter.com/kn3kRbT1Wk  Dylan Stableford (@stableford) June 10, 2020

The man, Martin Gugino, was apparently shoved by two police officers, falling to the ground and hitting the back of his head on the pavement, causing him to bleed. A video of the incident was then disseminated widely on social media. Police initially claimed Gugino tripped. He was hospitalized and remained in serious but stable condition on Monday.

The officers, Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski, were at first suspended without pay, prompting dozens of fellow officers to step down from Buffalos Emergency Response Team unit in protest.

McCabe and Torgalski were later arrested and charged with second-degree assault. They were released without bail.

Story continues

In a tweet this week, Trump referred to a report that aired on the far-right One America News Network that suggested the incident was a false-flag provocation by far-left group antifa.

Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur, Trump tweeted Tuesday to his 81.9 million Twitter followers. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?

Guginos lawyer said that the 75-year-old is a longtime peace activist and not a member of antifa.

No one from law enforcement has even suggested anything otherwise, Kelly Zarcone said in a statement. So we are at a loss to understand why the president of the United States would make such dark, dangerous, and untrue accusations against him.

Martin Gugino lies on the ground after he was shoved by two Buffalo, N.Y., police officers during a protest on Thursday. (Jamie Quinn via Reuters)

At a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon, McEnany explained what she called the mindset behind the presidents tweet.

We are living in a moment that seems to be reflexively anti-police officer, McEnany said. And it's unacceptable to the president.

The press secretary also dismissed the idea that Trump was pushing a conspiracy theory.

It's not a baseless conspiracy, she said. The president did have facts that undergirded his question.

McEnany did not specify what facts Trump had when he issued his tweet.

Trump has a history of making conjectures without evidence  from birtherism to claims of widespread voter fraud  for which he subsequently denies responsibility, often claiming they were something he had merely heard about.

Just last month, the president drew fierce blowback after he repeatedly suggested that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough should be investigated in the death of a young woman who died after falling in his congressional office almost two decades ago. A medical examiner ruled her death an accident, concluding she had an undiagnosed heart condition.

When pressed by reporters on why he would float such an idea, Trump said, A lot of people suggest that, and hopefully someday people are going to find out.

In a speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in 2019, Trump made one of the most bizarre assertions since becoming president: that windmills cause cancer.

They say the noise causes cancer, he said before making a whirring noise to mimic a turbine.

Its unclear who they were, but there is no evidence to suggest a link between windmills and cancer.

In 2016, then-candidate Trump parroted the conspiracy theory that Sen. Ted Cruzs father may have been involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Trump said he was simply promoting a story he had read in the National Enquirer.

I had nothing to do with it, he said. This has nothing to do with me, except I might have pointed it out.

Trump ostensibly launched his unlikely political career by promoting birtherism, the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was born outside the country and was therefore ineligible to be president.

After becoming the Republican nominee, Trump offered no apology for his part in leading the birther movement. Instead, he wrongly took credit for ending the issue  something Obama himself did when he released his birth certificate  while falsely blaming Hillary Clinton for first raising questions about Obamas birthplace in 2008.

There is no evidence Clinton played any role in pushing birtherism.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy, Trump said at a hastily called press conference in September 2016. I finished it.

Read more from Yahoo News:
The Public Service Commission has approved a permit for a wind farm in Burke County after rejecting an earlier version of the facility in 2019 because of concerns about its impact on wildlife.

NextEra Energy Resources redesigned the 200-megawatt wind farm, renaming it the Northern Divide Wind Energy Center. The new design has a smaller footprint. It will cover 11,000 acres of land -- about half the size of the earlier Burke Wind Farm -- and consist of 74 turbines.

The company relocated some of the turbines to avoid certain areas that previously posed wildlife habitat concerns raised by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. All turbines would be located in cropland.

When the PSC rejected the original project, Game and Fish said the company couldnt have picked a worse place for a wind project.

Commissioner Julie Fedorchak said the changes make it much more palatable to the wildlife community.

"All in all, I think that the company did what it needed to do, to reach the threshold of 'minimal impact' as required under the law, to receive the siting permit," Fedorchak said.

Commissioner Randy Christmann voted for the permit but expressed concern about the intermittent nature of renewable power, such as wind farms, which generate electricity only when the wind blows. That stands in contrast to baseload coal plants, which tend to operate 24/7.

"I continue to believe that our country is oversaturating our electric grid with intermittent energy, at the expense of baseload energy," Christmann said. "But this is a siting case, and we have to decide this based on the North Dakota Siting Act."

Christmann said given that criteria, the project meets the requirements of the state's siting laws.

The project will cost $300 million to build. A 345-kilovolt power line will be built in Burke and Mountrail counties for the generated power at a $30 million cost.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative will buy the electricity. Commissioners said Next Era is planning to have the wind farm in service by the end of the year.

Bismarck Tribune reporter Amy R. Sisk contributed to this story.

Reach Amy R. Sisk at 701-250-8252 or amy.sisk@bismarcktribune.com.

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Faith Stowers has been seen out and about for the first time since four of her former Vanderpump Rules co-stars were axed by Bravo.

The TV personality, 31, was the height of chic as she grabbed an iced beverage to go from a Starbucks in Los Angeles.

The outing comes as Stowers revealed she's considering legal action against ousted stars Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute following their allegedly racist behavior towards her, in an interview with Page Six.

Stepping out: Faith Stowers has been seen out and about for the first time since four of her former Vanderpump Rules co-stars were axed by Bravo

The Ex on the Beach star rocked an all-black ensemble for the outing, pairing ripped jeans with a dark blouse.

The native Georgian covered her straight, raven tresses with a snakeskin patterned hat and added inches to her frame with a pair to towering clear heels.

Faith accessorized with a pink purse, Gucci belt, gold hoop earrings and a pair over oversize shades.

The look: The Ex on the Beach star rocked an all-black ensemble for the outing, pairing ripped jeans with a dark blouse

Stowers revealed she contacted a lawyer to discuss her legal options for a possible defamation lawsuit against her former co-stars.

Shroeder and Doute reported the military veteran, who featured on seasons four and six of Vanderpump Rules, to police in 2018, claiming she was the suspect they were seeking in an investigation.

The stars, both of whom are white, were axed by Bravo on Tuesday, along with Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni.

Stowers alleges the false accusation was racially motivated.

'The time may have passed for me to [sue] but it is still a thought,' Faith told Page Six on Wednesday.

Exploring her options: The outing comes as Stowers revealed she's considering legal action against ousted stars Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute following their allegedly racist behavior towards her

Good hair day: The native Georgian covered her straight, raven tresses with a snakeskin patterned hat and added inches to her frame with a pair to towering clear heels

Jax Taylor should also be fired from for his past racial remarks, Faith Stowers said Wednesday.

Stowers, 31, told the Us podcast Watch With Us that she didn't believe officials with Bravo have flushed all of the racism from Vanderpump Rules, citing Taylor, 40, as an example.

Stowers told the podcast that 'there are other people that should be educated as well because theyve made some pretty crazy mistakes and said some crazy - not even mistakes. They just said some terrible things.'

Work to do: Stowers told the Us podcast Watch With Us that she didn't believe Bravo has flushed all of the racism from Vanderpump Rules, citing Jax Taylor, 40, as an example

Stowers said she wasn't aware of some of the racial statements attributed to Taylor, but was told about them by industry colleagues.

'I didnt even know the depth of the crazy things that they were saying,' Stowers claimed. 'And so like, I got DMs from other shows, from other females on other shows saying that Mr. Taylor had said some crazy things to them that were racial. So I think he gets a pat on the back a lot.'

Stowers, speaking about Taylor, said the selective firings illustrated a bit of a double standard: 'I think that if youre going to do it for two people, they should do it for some other people as well.'

She added of the situation: 'I just think its not fair to have two people who are very big on their platform, and benefit from the platform, go through something like this for their benefit and everyone elses benefit because theyre benefiting by being able to take time to themselves and learn, educate themselves.'

Problems ahead? Taylor posed with wife Brittany Cartwright in LA

Bold words: Taylor, like Doute and Schroeder, spread false information also linking Stowers to criminal behavior

Kristen Doute and Stassi Schroeder were fired for the show over a 2018 incident they apologized for earlier this week, in which they knowingly lied to police in Los Angeles by claiming Stowers was the suspect they were seeking in an investigation.

Taylor the year before spread false information also linking Stowers to criminal behavior.

When the Shelby Township, Michigan native was asked about Stowers - who he once had a fling with - in a December 4, 2017 tweet, he said she was 'wanted by the police for grand theft auto' and AWOL from the military.

Taylor, who wed Brittany Cartwright last year, said it was a 'bad idea' for Stowers to be on a reality show,' adding that 'someones going to jail.'

Taylor was also accused of making racist remarks against black people by Ashley Martson of 90 Day Fiance fame, who said he made a bigoted comment about her husband Jay Smith saying that his 'nose is the size of his head,' US reported Tuesday.

Martson said she felt Taylor's intent was racially-driven and 'meant to be derogatory.'

Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni were also let go from the Bravo series in connection with past racial remarks attributed to them.
Even the act of voting has become a partisan issue with racial implications in 2020.

Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say theyre willing to vote in person during a pandemic, while Democrats outpace Republicans in wanting to vote by mail, according to new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, which also shows racial differences as well.

The reasons for the partisan split became clear during Tuesdays troubled election in Georgia as well as Wisconsins controversial April 7 primary. Its also playing out in federal court cases in battleground states where Democrats are demanding more mail-in voting opportunities while Republicans resist.

The challenge of having an election during a pandemic  and the resulting partisan division over how to do it  poses particular problems for Democrats, however, because of issues of geography and race.

Coronavirus spreads more easily in densely populated urban areas  where Democrats tend to outnumber Republicans  and has proved to be more deadly to African Americans and Hispanics, who vote for Democrats by bigger margins. On top of that one-two punch, the threat of coronavirus has led to precinct closures that load up voters at combined polling stations, often in urban or Democratic areas.

In Tuesdays primary in Georgia, people waited as long as six hours to cast ballots due to a combination of long lines at combined precincts and voting-machine failures. The problems were most pronounced in areas with large numbers of African Americans. There would likely have been more black voters physically at the polls, but many voted by mail  overcoming a wariness many have with entrusting their ballots to the U.S. Postal Service.

A lot of black voters want to cast their ballots in person, to see it go into the ballot box because they dont trust the mail, said Cliff Albright, founder of Atlanta-based Black Voters Matter, a mobilization and outreach group that operates throughout the Southeast.

Story continues

According to the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, only 28 percent of Democrats said theyd vote in person at the polls, compared with 63 percent of Republicans who are ready to do so if social distancing requirements are still in place in November. When it comes to mail-in voting, though, Democrats outpace Republicans in support by 67 percent to 33 percent, the poll shows.

That feeling [about mail-in voting] is changing because more and more people dont want to go to the polls and get sick from coronavirus and die, Albright said. But some people didnt get their absentee ballots  it happened to my son. It took him six hours to early vote on Friday. So theres this overlapping Venn Diagram of the deadliness of coronavirus overlapping with long lines at the polling place and problems just getting an absentee ballot to cast.

Coronavirus-related precinct closures and other troubles that disproportionately affected Democrats werent isolated to Georgia. They also marred battleground presidential primaries in Florida, Arizona and Illinois on March 15 and Wisconsins controversial April 7 primary. And in Pennsylvania, voters had 77 percent fewer precincts in which to cast a ballot June 2 in Philadelphia.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll underscores the observation by Albright and others who have seen a surge of interest in mail-in voting among African Americans.

The poll showed that 54 percent of black voters said they would prefer to vote by mail during the pandemic, compared with 28 percent who said they would still go to the polling station in person. By 49 percent to 44 percent, whites would prefer to vote by mail than in person during a pandemic and by 43 percent to 38 percent, Hispanics would prefer in-person to mail-in voting.

Overall, voters favored mail-in voting over in-person voting by 50 percent to 41 percent.

Bob Stein, a political scientist and pollster with Rice University, said there's been a clear shift in support for mail-in voting among Democratic voters since the coronavirus epidemic began. There has also been a corresponding decrease in support among Republicans. In the midst of conducting a 1,000-sample poll in Houstons Harris County, Stein said, he saw support for mail-in voting drop 7 percentage points among Republicans who previously had voted by mail when Trump began criticizing mail-in voting.

Ive never seen anything like it, Stein said.

A poll worker sanitizes a voting machine in Indiana.

While mail-in voting can be more fraud-prone than in-person voting, voter fraud is exceedingly rare and seldom tips the results of major elections, according to experts and reviews of elections. Trump, who has voted by mail himself in Florida, has also indicated that a big concern he has with a Democratic bill in Congress concerning more mail-in voting and other election issues was that if you ever agreed to it, youd never have a Republican elected in this country again.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows that 33 percent of voters overall thought Democrats would be mostly helped by allowing all voters to cast mail-in ballots. Only 6 percent believed it would advantage Republicans more and 37 percent said it would help neither party more than the other.

When it comes to party identification, 47 percent of Republicans believed all-mail balloting would mostly help Democrats, compared with 27 percent of Democrats and 25 percent of independents who think this, the poll showed.

Republican fears were also more pronounced than that of independents and Democrats when respondents were asked which statement they agreed with more: Should the U.S. allow all voters to cast mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus; or should this not be allowed because it jeopardizes election security?

The poll showed 34 percent of Republicans said they would favor expanded mail-in balloting while 58 percent said they were more concerned with security. But 81 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents favored the expansion of mail-in voting while 10 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of independents were more concerned with security. Overall, voters favor mail-in voting in this scenario by 58 percent to 31 percent.

Voting by mail, however, can sound easier than it is. First-time voters tend to get tripped up by certain signature and verification requirements that can vary from state to state.

The first time you do anything youre going to make mistakes, said political scientist Christopher Mann of Skidmore College, who studies mail-in voting.

In Florida, which requires that signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes match the voters signature on file with the county election supervisor, first-time voters have their ballots rejected at higher rates than experienced voters, who tend to be older, white and Republican, according to research by the University of Floridas Dan Smith.

Democrats from Florida to Pennsylvania have taken heart in increases over Republicans in voter registration and mail-in voting requests, but Democrats often have lower return rates than Republicans.

Converting those requests to actual votes is where the real work begins, and its a lot harder to do than it sounds, said Ryan Tyson, a Republican consultant from Florida.

The Florida and national Democratic parties say theyve invested more money in outreach and education for voters that includes specialized instruction to help walk people through the process of requesting and properly voting a mail-in ballot.

Still, Democrats lost a special congressional election in California that was overwhelmingly all-mail. Democrats had a registration advantage over Republicans of 6.6 percentage points in Californias 25th Congressional District, but the GOP returned more ballots.

Joe Biden supporters are barely intense enough to tweet about him, said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). The presidents supporters would gargle coronavirus-flavored ginger ale while waiting in a line to vote for him.

However, Trump trails Biden in nearly every national and most battleground state polls, including Florida.

Heading into Tuesdays primary in Pennsylvania, conservatives were crowing that Democrats were underperforming for Biden because more people were voting for Trump in the uncontested Republican primary compared to the Democratic contest. But Biden wound up getting 10 percent more votes than Trump. Democrats also point out that the turnout was huge in Georgia. And, in the April 7 Wisconsin primary, Democrats came out in force and won a contested state Supreme Court seat.

Democrats' Wisconsin win came despite major troubles for black voters in Milwaukee, where all but five of 180 precincts closed due to coronavirus. In heavily black precincts, the total number of ballots cast between the February supreme court primary and the April 7 race increased by less than 40 percent while overall ballots in the state rose 119 percent, according to an analysis by Democratic data consultant Matt Isbell.

A return of coronavirus and the voter suppression that can happen with black and urban voters could swing the general election in Wisconsin, Isbell said. That's true, he said, in other battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania or Florida, which Trump also carried narrowly in 2016.

What we saw happen in Wisconsin, in Philadelphia, in Georgia is a warning sign, Isbell said. We need to get every Democrat an absentee ballot and make sure they cast it the right way.
One of Russia's most influential parliamentarians from United Russia, the ruling party, Konstantin Kosachev, who is also the chair of Russia's Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs in a video conference told select mediapersons in New Delhi that though Russia appreciated President Trump's "sober estimation" of the ineffectiveness and inadequacy of the G7 without other powerful nations especially China.

New Delhi/Moscow, June 10 (IANS) Russia on Wednesday indicated that it will not be part of the expanded G7 summit as proposed by US President Donald Trump because it is aimed at isolating China.

Kosachev said the invitation was problematic because the four countries - "Russia, India, Australia and South Korea" whom President Trump has invited, will be there only as witnesses without any influence on the decision-making. The invitation, he added, was more about targeting and exclusion of China, than anything else. Moscow has asked for explanations from the US about it, the Russian parliamentarian said.

Responding to a question whether the US-China tensions were emerging into a new Cold War, the politician said that the Cold War between the US and Russia was not over yet. Lashing out at the US and the West, Kosachev said the US has been continuing with the policies of weakening competitors through various means to avoid fair competition.

The Russian legislator said that Russia's relationship with China was the strongest ever in their history and it will only grow stronger as the US' anti-Chinese campaign intensifies.

When asked about Moscow's position on the ongoing face-off between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, he said Russia practises non-interference in bilateral issues and believes in being an "honest broker" of peace to prevent any use of military force.

Describing the India-China standoff as a bilateral issue, the Russian foreign policy strategist said, "We understand the sovereignty of India, we understand the sovereignty of China. I really believe Russia should not interfere in these kinds of disputes."

He added that good relations between Moscow and Beijing and good relations between Moscow and New Delhi are two factors which provide a good opportunity for finding solutions to problems that exist between China and India.

In response to a question about India's absence in the Afghan peace process, he said in Russia, the Taliban is classified as an extremist movement, but not prohibited and it has to be recognised as an important player in Afghanistan. "I am absolutely in favour of having India as an important participant in the ongoing peace process. I would recommend Russia to take efforts to involve India as much as possible," he said.

--IANS

aat/kr
Activists have condemned the actions of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who attacked a number of media activists on the M4 highway north of Ariha reports Baladi News.

Opposition activists in northern Syria released a statement today condemning the attack on media activists in rural Idleb by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham security personnel on the M4 highway north of Ariha, confirming that a number of people were targeted yesterday without justification after a Russian-Turkish patrol passed.

According to the statement, each time [such an incident occurs] on a new pretext, it indicates a systematic policy of combating freedom of speech and photography. This gives a general impression that the area is not safe for media work, as similar incidents continue without accountability.

The statement added: As media activists from rural Idleb and Syria in general, we denounce and condemn these practices by well-known parties. We stand beside our fellow activists who faced the attack today, and affirm our rejection of any infringement on our rights to cover events in the area. We reject any restrictions on freedom of the press.

According to the statement, continued repressive security measures against civilian activists are a form of repression, tyranny and infringement on freedoms, and an added suffering for the activists and their families. Authorities in the area must curb this and take responsibility for making sure they do not continue.

Tahrir al-Sham fighters on Wednesday assaulted a number of media activists, including correspondents from Shaam Network, while they were photographing the passage of a Russian-Turkish patrol on the M4 international highway near Ariha. The attack was a continuation of Tahrir al-Shams arbitrary practices against activists and media workers.

Activists told Shaam Network that Tahrir al-Sham security personnel disguised in civilian clothing attacked a number of media activists at the northern entrance to Ariha, after the Russian patrol passed by, shouting insults at them and breaking their cameras.

Sources described the Tahrir al-Sham fighters actions as similar to those of shabiha. The fighters accused the activists of photographing women, which activists confirmed was untrue.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Hospitalisations in Delhi during third Covid wave significantly lower than second

Isolation facility not mandatory for flyers testing positive on arrival from at-risk countries: Check guidelin

Telangana: COVID-19 survivor develops AI based screening system; Installed in railway stations

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

Hyderabad, June 11: Punna Reddy, a coronavirus survivor, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) based screening system that detects a number of 30 people who have high temperature or those not wearing masks in a second.

The system has been installed at Secunderabad and Hyderabad Railway stations.

Punna Reddy came to India for business visit and got infected with coronavirus.

Coronavirus crisis: India records 9,996 new COVID-19 cases; Total tally at 2.87 lakhs

Reddy has survived after spending 17 days at hospital. The survival stint led Reddy to think of helping people in this pandemic crisis.

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

"I came to India as part of my business visit and tested positive for coronavirus, after which I spent 17 days at a hospital. We came up with this solution that can scan up to 30 people in a second", Punna Reddy said.

Earlier, the technology wing of the Telangana police department had come up with a solution of using AI as to enforce the compulsory wearing of face mask in public.

Despite the untiring effort from the police to ensure that the lockdown rules are strictly followed by the people in the state, wearing of face mask in public was violated more often than not.

The new software tool is linked to CCTV cameras that are installed across the city to identify face mask rule violators.

Telangana: A #COVID19 survivor, Punna Reddy has developed an artificial intelligence based screening system that detects people who have high temperature or those not wearing masks. The system has been installed at Secunderabad and Hyderabad Railway stations. pic.twitter.com/URZk4ytOsm  ANI (@ANI) June 11, 2020

The cameras will flag people who are not wearing the masks and an alert will be sent to the central command control centre at the state police headquarters.

The alert will be passed on to patrolling personnel to trace the violators either riding bikes or walking on foot.

Meanwhile, the total number of the coronavirus positive cases in Telangana rose to 4,111 as nearly 200 people have been reported as COVID-19 positive yesterday. The death toll in the state stands at 156 after 11 people died on last 24 hours according to the state health ministry.
It has been months since gyms and fitness centers in central Pennsylvania have been open due to the spread of COVID-19 and Gov. Tom Wolfs mandatory order for all non-essential businesses to close.

As you might expect, that closure hit the industry hard.
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Linkedin Cyril Julien (Agence France-Presse) Houston, United States  Thu, June 11, 2020 07:55 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc2ee6 2 World US,African-Americans,Racism,racial-discrimination,racial-issues,racial-incidents,racial-tension,racial-violence Free

For three generations, black Americans have learned the same cautionary tale about the police. And many, speaking on the fringes of George Floyd's memorial ceremonies, say that nothing has changed in the US since the mid-20th century struggle for civil rights.

"Some things have changed, but not enough has changed," Norman Mitchell told AFP during a memorial service for Floyd at his former school, Jack Yates High, in Houston's predominantly black Third Ward neighborhood.

He acknowledged political advances made for the African American community, such as the election of Barack Obama as the first black president in the history of the US, but at the same time recounted the discrimination he and his children continue to face because of the color of their skin.

"It took an individual kneeling on someone's neck for eight minutes, 46 seconds for the world to see the issue that we've been fighting for the last 100 years," said the 55-year-old.

"When I was a young man, my father used to tell me to be very careful when I went out because there was a possibility that I could be stopped by the police," Mitchell added.

He said he "had this exact same conversation with" his sons, whose ages range from 17 to 32.

Floyd's agony as a white police officer knelt on his neck in a Minneapolis street hit Mitchell's youngest son particularly hard. He "did not think it was real until May 25, and he knew the stories we had been sharing for years," Mitchell said, whose own brother was killed by a Houston police officer in 1991.

At 63 years old, Laura Allen was a child when marches and protests against police brutality started in the Texan city's streets.

"I was three or four years old with my family down (in) the streets, and we're having to march for the same civil rights that we did years ago," she said.

"Not much has changed at all."

The former Yates student -- class of 1975 -- slammed the inequality and "double standard" of police policies in Houston, where "almost every black male I know have been profiled."

Scared of cops

Like many others, Allen has countless stories of arbitrary arrests and intimidation. In 1980, she was detained by park police "for carrying a glass."

This year, she was pulled over during a trip to Alabama with her husband and daughter.

"As soon as we crossed the Alabama border, we were instantly stopped. They ask, 'Is this your car?'" recalled the small, gray-haired woman.

Just as her father brought her to protests, so Allen accompanied her daughter, Leah, last week to a massive rally in Houston, where 70,000 people demanded justice for Floyd.

At 28, Leah Allen has the same distrust of police officers as her mother, since "you never know what could happen."

"I'm very scared of cops," she said, recounting how police officers have followed her or leered sexually at her.

Tragedy can strike at any moment. Syreeta Polley, 38, points to the death in 2016 of black motorist Philando Castile, who was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop near Saint Paul, Minnesota.

As with Floyd, his shocking final moments were caught on video.

Polley has taught her teenage daughter, Nia Madison, to "respect authority figures" and be "cautious."

The 17-year-old has started driving, and the lesson is clear: "Make sure you're prepared if you're being pulled over," said Polley.

"It's 2020 and it's a big step back, it pushes us back to the 50s and 60s and the stories my 92-year-old grandmother would tell," Polley added.

Even the Houston police chief, Art Acevedo, admitted that "there is a lot of work to do" to change the police force's mindset.

Houston-based rapper William James Dennis -- or "Willie D" -- hopes that Floyd's death will serve as a catalyst.

The black community "can use [the death of George Floyd] as a short window of opportunity to move America forward," the artist and activist told AFP on Tuesday, during Floyd's funeral.
Qatar Petroleum (QP) has entered into three agreements to reserve LNG ship construction capacity in Korea to secure more than 100 ships valued in excess of QR70 billion ($19 billion) to cater for its LNG growth plans.



The ships are to be utilized for QPs future LNG carrier fleet requirements, including those for the ongoing expansion projects in the North Field and in the US.



Under the agreements, the Big 3 Korean shipyards - Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) will reserve a major portion of their LNG ship construction capacity for Qatar Petroleum through the year 2027.



The agreements were signed by Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum in a virtual signing ceremony attended by Sung Yun-mo, the Minister of Trade, Industry & Energy of the Republic of Korea.



Al-Kaabi said: The signing of todays agreements with the three esteemed Korean companies reflects our commitment to the North Field expansion projects, even during these extraordinary times. As I have previously stated, we are moving full steam ahead with the North Field expansion projects to raise Qatars LNG production capacity from 77 million today to 126 million tons per annum by 2027 to ensure the reliable supply of additional clean energy to the world at a time when investments to meet these requirements are most needed.



These agreements will ensure our ability to meet our future LNG fleet requirements to support our expanding LNG production capacity and long-term fleet replacement requirements.



With the conclusion of these milestones agreements, we have everything in place to commence the largest LNG shipbuilding program in history. We have secured approximately 60% of the global LNG shipbuilding capacity through 2027 to cater for our LNG carrier fleet requirements in the next 7-8 years, which could reach 100+ new vessels with a program value in excess of QR70 billion, Al-Kaabi added.



Qatar Petroleums LNG carrier fleet program is the largest of its kind in the history of the LNG industry, and will play a pivotal role in meeting the shipping requirements of Qatar Petroleums local and international LNG projects, as well as replacing part of Qatar's existing LNG fleet. - TradeArabia News Service




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[enlarge] Alliance is developing the 275-unit Broadstone NE project near University Village.





Multifamily developer and manager Greystar, of Charleston, South Carolina, announced the recent acquisition of Alliance Residential's management arm. Terms were not announced. Both are active developers in the Puget Sound market. Alliance, of Phoenix, is handing over 500-plus properties with about 130,000 units for Greystar to manage. Ownership remains unchanged. The addition grows Greystar's national management portfolio to about 2,400 properties and 660,000 units.





. . .
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 20:47:23|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian police have detained a man in Banten province for illegally trading endangered animals.

The man was captured on Wednesday with several protected animals seized during the arrest, the Provincial Police's Special Crime Director Nunung Syaifuddin said on Thursday.

"We have seized the endangered animals which have been sold online," he said.

The man admitted that he had sold 15 Javanese langurs, one crested serpent-eagle, one weasel and one wild cat, the police officer said.

Under the Indonesian law, the alleged trader could face a five-year jail term if found guilty, the director said.

"We will develop this illegal trade case to break up its network, including the poacher of the animals," he was quoted by local media as saying.

Indonesia, a vast archipelagic nation, is known as one of the most species-rich nations as its large area of rain forests is home to numerous floral and animal species in over 17,500 islands. Enditem
A person choose a pack of pork at the supermarket (Photo: VNA)

Nearly 130 domestic firms purchased pork and related products in the period, mainly from Canada, Germany, Poland, Brazil, the US, Spain and Russia.

The imports encountered various obstacles as the global supply was also on the decrease, worsened by the ravaging African swine fever in many countries, the MARD said.

There were about 678 million pigs worldwide in January, down nearly 12 percent compared to the figure in 2019.

Due to complexities brought by COVID-19, the MARD has assigned relevant agencies to hold talks with regional countries regarding the import of live pigs.

Animal health agencies of Vietnam and Thailand are discussing procedures to allow direct import of pigs from Thailand.
T wo statues of people involved in the history of Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals will be removed due to their links with the slave trade.

The Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust announced on Thursday that the figures depicting Robert Clayton and Thomas Guy will be taken out of public view.

Clayton, a former Lord Mayor of London, had ties to the Royal African Company, which transported slaves to the Americas, while Guy invested in the South Sea Company, which was also involved in the trade.

It comes after the statue of slave trader Edward Coulston was pushed into the harbour during an anti-racism protest in Bristol, fuelling a worldwide effort to remove statues associated with slavery and racism.

A statement from Guys and St Thomas Charity, Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, and Kings College London, said: Like many organisations in Britain, we know that we have a duty to address the legacy of colonialism, racism and slavery in our work.

We absolutely recognise the public hurt and anger that is generated by the symbolism of public statues of historical figures associated with the slave trade in some way.

We have therefore decided to remove statues of Robert Clayton and Thomas Guy from public view, and we look forward to engaging with and receiving guidance from the Mayor of Londons Commission on each."

Also on Thursday evening, video on social media showed men in hard hats scaling Colston Tower in Bristol city centre to remove the controversial figure's name from atop the high-rise building. The 15-storey tower block, in Colston Street, accommodates a number of offices.

Hours earlier, Colston's statue was fished out of Bristol harbour after being pulled down and dumped into the water during an anti-racism demonstration on Sunday.

Thomas Guy worked as a bookseller while also making a fortune through the ownership of shares in the slave-trafficking firm South Sea Company which aimed to trade 4,800 adult men every year.

We see the pervasive and harmful effects of structural racism every day through our work," said the hospital trust.

"Black people have worse health outcomes, and this inequality is one of many ways racism permeates our society. We are fully committed to tackling racism, discrimination and inequality, and we stand in solidarity with our patients, students, colleagues and communities.

The hospital trust said it hoped to address the legacy of colonialism by removing the statues of its benefactors / PA

It comes after the death of George Floyd sparked anti-racism demonstrations around the world.

Mr Floyd died in police custody, after an officer refused to lift his knee from his neck, despite protests that he could not breathe.His death sparked international Black Lives Matter protests, demanding an end to police brutality and the removal of memorials to historic figures with racist associations.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a diversity commission to investigate which statues should be retained in the city and which new ones should be erected to represent the achievements of all Londoners, particularly black and minority ethnic Londoners.

The Museum of the Home in Hoxton is actively debating what to do with a statue of a merchant involved in the slave trade who it used to be named after.

An online petition calling for its removal, which has received more than 2,000 signatures, has said: We should condemn, not celebrate, the slave traders of Englands past.

In the US, the toppling of a Confederate statue in Portsmouth, Virginia ended in disaster when the rope protesters were using snapped and a demonstrator was knocked unconscious.

Around 80 miles away protesters took down a statue of Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia.
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Centre, Maharashtra government, state police chief and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a fresh petition in the Palghar lynching case. The petition, moved by the family of the victims, is seeking a CBI probe in the case.

The order was passed by a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, MR Shah and V Ramasubramanian which posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.

The state government argued that a similar matter seeking CBI probe is pending with the Bombay High Court for the past two months. But the petitioners sought urgency to hear the matter in the Supreme Court.

The apex court is already hearing a petition on the lynching case has asked the state police to submit a status report.

Three people, including two sadhus (priests), were killed by a violent mob of 500 people on April 16 in Maharashtras Palghar district. The incident happened in Gadchinchale village in the district.

The police have interrogated almost all residents of Gadchinchale and some others of the nearby villages, news agency PTI reported an official as saying. More than 150 people have been arrested so far in connection with the case.

The case was earlier handled by Palghar Police and was later transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had visited the area for a spot assessment of the situation last month.

Deshmukh had later shunted out the Palghar Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh, while several police personnel were transferred to other police stations within the district.

The home ministry had also suspended five police personnel, including assistant police inspector (API) Anandrao Kale; his subordinate, sub-inspector (SI) Sudhir Katare from the Kasa police station under which the village falls.
Continuing its quest to establish streamlined networking infrastructure, Nokia Corporation NOK recently collaborated with Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) for the deployment of its avant-garde suite of machine learning and automation services, including Nokias Service Management Platform (SMP), to improve customer experience in the country. Markedly, the latest move is expected to aid businesses and customers with superior network capacity, especially at a time when communication service providers are migrating toward automated network operations to establish a future-proof standalone software business.



With a legacy of more than 70 years, PTCL is considered to be the largest telecom company of Pakistan, operating nearly 2000 telephone exchanges and the largest fixed-line network across the country. PTCL offers Smart TV service and OTT applications like Smart Link App and Touch App with a first-hand access to Netflix, Inc. NFLX, a streaming service giant. It is worth mentioning that PTCL and Nokia had previously collaborated to deploy the latters Network Analyzer  Fiber and Copper  to minimize operational expenses of PTCLs fixed line networks and resolve complex network issues, thereby enhancing customer experience.



The SMP is an omnichannel customer experience solution that leverages machine learning algorithms from Bell Labs to create dynamic workflows. Backed by superior intelligence and analytics capabilities, more than 1,000 pre-built customer care workflows run on a plethora of devices and channels. The SMP is equipped with an interactive bot engine, which enables customers to use conversational natural language over a digital channel to resolve their issues.



Notably, the customer service platform has a consistent user interface that lowers help desk call volumes and adopts the best course of action to help customers and field technicians. It supports more than 1.5 billion devices and reduces operating expenditures backed by an agile service modelling framework. The latest deployment is expected to not only enhance customer experience but also expand network capacity to keep pace with the burgeoning networking demands of individuals as well as enterprises in Pakistan.



The Finnish equipment vendor is focused on building a robust scalable software business and expand it to structurally attractive enterprise adjacencies. It has reached more than 66 commercial 5G contracts across the globe with 19 live networks. The companys end-to-end portfolio includes products and services for every part of a network, which are helping operators to enable key 5G capabilities such as network slicing, distributed cloud and industrial IoT. It facilitates customers to move from an economy-of-scale network operating model to demand-driven operations by offering easy programmability and automation.



Currently, Nokia is expanding its business into targeted, high-growth and high-margin vertical markets to address several opportunities beyond its primary markets. It also intends to accelerate strategy execution, sharpen customer focus and reduce long-term costs. This, in turn, should help the company position itself as a global leader in the delivery of end-to-end 5G solutions. However, macroeconomic dynamics continue to take a toll on Nokias performance. Its Mobile Access business has been severely impacted by intense competition from arch-rivals, Ericsson ERIC and Huawei, which is likely to create near-term pressure for the Finland-based vendor.



Nokias shares have lost 12.7% against the industrys growth of 6.1% in the past year. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock topped earnings estimates twice in the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 129.1%, on average.

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Environmentalists in Brazil are denouncing an acceleration of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest that they say is directly linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

Environmentalists in Brazil are warning that criminals are taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to clear large parts of the Amazon rainforest.

Despite a heightened military presence, satellite images suggest the amount of forest lost is already higher than that during the whole of 2019, one of the worst years on record.

Al Jazeeras Alessandro Rampietti reports from Bogota, Colombia.
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 11.06.2020:

 Armenia recorded 566 COVID-19 new cases on Thursday, bringing the total number to 14,669 cases.

In total, 245 patientsan increase by 18have died thus far. 5,466 people have recovered thus far.

According to health minister Arsen Torosyan, we have 500 patients in severe, critical conditions.

The number of patients in need of hospitalization has reached 32 people, he added.

 Armenia will receive help in the COVID-19 fight from neighboring Georgia.

Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia noted that the health ministry has already been instructed to prepare the help that Georgia can provide to Armenia. And at first, Georgia will provide Armenia with medical personnel.

In the meantime, Alina Nikoghosyan, Armenian health ministry spokesperson told NEWS.am that the ministry has petitioned to the MFA so that the latter discuss with the countrys embassies abroad the possibility of providing additional aid to Armenia in the COVID-19 fight.

 4 COVID-19 new cases have been confirmed in Karabakh.

Work is underway to determine the circle of contact of these infected people. At the moment, 79 citizens are isolated.

In the meantime, Artsakh president Arayik Haroutyunyan on Thursday signed a decree according to which the term of the current emergency situation that was declared in the republic.

 At Thursdays Cabinet meeting, the government of Armenia decided to provide a loan from the state budget to extend the duration of the operation of the second power unit of the countrys nuclear plant. Thus, Armenia will turn down part of the Russian loan.

According to Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, the Russian loan "is not very convenient in terms of amount and conditions to organize the further operation of the nuclear power plant."

 Debates on the 2019 state budget performance report were held Thursday with Armenian FM Zohrab Mnatsakanyan briefing on the results of the last year.

According to him, the US aid provided to Armenia in 2019 was increased by about 40%.

As he noted, it is also very important for Armenia to develop relations and cooperation with its two closest neighbors - Georgia and Iran.

The minister also added that in 2019, Armenia continued to develop value cooperation with the EU, as well as mutually beneficial cooperation with the EU member states, and with all countries of the European continent, in general.

According to Mnatsakanyan, an active dialogue has been established between Armenia and Iran.

Speaking about Armenia-Russia relations, the FM added that allied cooperation with Russia continued in all areas in 2019.

 MEPs have issued a statement on the construction of a new highway connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the statement, "the decision to build this highway has been taken without the consent of the competent authorities of Azerbaijan in violation of international law."

"In addition, it could symbolically entrench the illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and of its surrounding districts," the statement added.

 The head of Armenias Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Service Gagik Surenyan took to his Facebook to share a photo of a tornado noticed in Armenia's Gavar.

According to him, this is "a rare meteorological phenomenon in Armenia."
Several weeks ago, the idea of even stepping outside your local area felt like a fantasy. But slowly, as lockdown restrictions ease, the situation seems to be changing, and there's a glimmer of hope it might be possible to enjoy a holiday this year.

The situation, however, is far from normal. From beach breaks to escorted tours, the way we travel will look very different from now on.

Some hotels, tour operators and cruise lines have already published details hinting at how we might navigate a new world of socially-distanced sun-seeking and ethical escapism.

These are some of the trends starting to emerge.

It's hygiene on the high seas from now on

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The return to normality is set to be tricky for cruise ships.

The floating hotels have a history of upsets with virus outbreaks, and companies are having to work much harder to regain their customers' trust. But many have already taken steps towards making their fleets as germ-free as possible.

All passengers travelling on Norwegian Cruise Line's fleet will be given a touchless temperature screening every time they return to the ship and when entering dining areas. Capacity will also be limited to allow social distancing on board.

Princess, meanwhile, have pledged to constantly monitor the global health map, cancelling stops and modifying itineraries if areas have been impacted by Covid-19 outbreaks. Self-service buffets will be heavily reduced and hand sanitiser will flow like water.

River cruise company Uniworld has gone even further by discontinuing self-service snacks, removing all books and magazines, discontinuing buffets and introducing set mealtimes.

Tech will replace human contact in hotels

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As hotels across Europe plan to reopen, companies have adopted a range of new measures to make sure their guests feel safe.

Although reputable hotels already have high hygiene standards, new levels of meticulous disinfecting and scrubbing are set to become the norm. Groups such as Wyndham, who have an international portfolio, are working with Ecolab products specialised to prevent the spread of infections on surfaces, and have promised supplies of PPE to staff.

Even smaller, family-run resorts, like Elivi Skiathos in Greece, are upping their cleanliness game: public areas will be regularly disinfected and online check-in will reduce face-to-face contact.

OYO, who have properties ranging from guesthouses and B&Bs, to city-centre hotels, are introducing a new system of "sanitised stays". Their plans include: removing excess furniture from lobby areas to discourage guests from lounging; presenting disinfected room keys and TV remotes in zip-lock bags; and limiting lifts to one group of room occupants at a time.

Ikos, who have luxury all-inclusive beach resorts in Greece and Spain, have designed a new Infinite Care Protocol. Staff will be regularly tested for Covid-19, and anyone staying at the properties given a free rapid antibody test upon arrival.

An in-resort ambulance and 24-hour medical support are reassuring additions, while a mobile app will allow contactless room service, restaurant and spa bookings.

Group tours set to connect in new ways

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An entrepreneur and philanthropist who started one of the world's most successful group tour companies with nothing more than a vision and a credit card, Bruce Poon Tip is an agile thinker. Rather than dwell on the negatives of the pandemic, The G Adventures founder and CEO sees this as an opportunity to reflect upon and readjust the way we travel.

"Why fight so damn hard to return to normal when the opportunity to transform travel is on the other side of this mess?" he says.

He's used his time in lockdown to write a free e-book, 'Unlearn: The Year The Earth Stood Still', detailing his thoughts (download it at unlearn.travel). The future, he says, revolves around the power and privilege we have as travellers to make informed choices about where our money is invested.

"At the moment, people are being sold amenities - the biggest ship, the biggest go track etc - and they are forgetting about the destination. This is no longer travel in my mind," he writes. "The travel industry has made us into tourists, consumers of culture, rather than contributors to it.

From now on, he suggests we should take a different approach: "Destination and local people are key."

For that reason, G Adventures will continue to use local restaurants on their tours with options for "grab and go" boxes and al fresco dining. Affordable 'My Own Room' rates will also make it easier for solo travellers to avoid sharing.

Caravans and cottages promise peace of mind

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Although the race is on to squeeze in a summer holiday, it's likely, once government advice allows, that many people will choose to staycation. Along with self-catering cottages, demand for caravans and holiday parks is set to be high.

According to Auto Trader, searches for caravans are up by 18pc compared to this time last year. Hardly surprising given The UK National Caravan Council's claim that caravans and motorhomes are 'socially distanced by design'. There are no issues with shared facilities, they say, and camping lots are generally set five or six metres apart.

"There's been huge interest" since Ireland's Roadmap was published, the Irish Caravan & Camping Council has said. "Some parks' online booking systems even crashed!"

Lloyd Figgins, chairman of the Travel Risk & Incident Prevention (TRIP) Group, says holiday parks are a low-risk option for similar reasons.

"With everything included within the four walls of your holiday park rental, your holiday can be as safe as being at home," he says. "There's also the advantage that many holiday parks are situated in stunning locations, allowing you to get outside and enjoy the countryside or nearby beach, while still being able to maintain social distancing."

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At a time when the world stands united against racism in the midst of a pandemic, a school textbook in Bengal's Burdwan district is drawing criticism for calling dark-skinned people ugly.

An illustration in a primary school textbook describes the letter 'U' as 'Ugly' with a person of dark complexion in the picture, leaving parents fuming.

According to a report by India Today, parents protested the usage of an image of a black person as an illustration to explain the word ugly under the letter U in childrens curriculum books on alphabet and words.

The book is of a pre-primary department of the government aided school Municipal Girls High School in West Bengal.

Representational Image

Sudip Majumdar, a teacher of Kolkata Bangbasi (Evening) College, told India Today, My daughter is studying in this Municipal Girls High School. I came across this subject while teaching my daughter. It is completely wrong to educate children by calling a black person ugly in this way."

"This book should be withdrawn soon. In any case, the education being given to children in the name of blacks will work to fill their tender hearts with inferiority complexes and discriminate against blacks. This is wrong, he added.

The development comes when anti-racism protests have engulfed the US and other countries too, following the killing of a black man, George Floyd, in police custody.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Vienna  Thu, June 11, 2020 09:36 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddcb8a0 2 News Austria,travel,tourism,Italy,coronavirus,COVID-19 Free

Austria announced Wednesday it would reopen its border with Italy from June 16 and allow free travel from most other European nations from that date as the country eases coronavirus restrictions.

Last week Austria had already relaxed restrictions for travel to some neighboring states but had excluded Italy, one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe.

"Yes, we are opening the border. Yes, travelling to Italy, to Greece, to Croatia for example will be possible," Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told a press conference on Wednesday.

From June 16, Austria will welcome travelers from 31 countries without restrictions, including most of Europe.

Notable exceptions are Sweden, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, Schallenberg said.

Travelers from those countries will still have to show a negative coronavirus test or undergo a two-week home quarantine.

Sweden is on the list due to steeply rising infection numbers in recent days, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober explained.

"It's surprising and quite sad because I would have liked the congenial way (Sweden) has handled the crisis to have met with success, but sadly that's not the case," he said.

Portugal had also recorded a clear uptick in recent new infections while the UK was the third worst European country in terms of new infections per capita, Anschober added.

Read also: Austria plans heavy virus testing of hotel staff to reassure tourists

'Common sense'

As for Spain, Schallenberg said that the Spanish government had itself closed its borders until the end of June and that travel there should restart at the beginning of July.

A travel warning will stay in place for Lombardy in northern Italy, which emerged as a coronavirus hotspot during the pandemic, Schallenberg said, explaining that the government was urging Austrians to avoid travelling there.

However, this could be reviewed in the coming weeks if infections continued to trend downwards.

Schallenberg warned people to remain vigilant when travelling, noting that the pandemic had not yet been beaten.

"If you're packing your suitcase, please don't forget to take your common sense too," he said.

Italy reopened to travelers from within Europe on June 3, three months after going into coronavirus lockdown, but sparse arrivals have dimmed hopes of reviving the key tourism industry as the summer season begins.

Among Italy's other neighbors, Switzerland said Friday it would accelerate plans to open its borders, allowing people travelling from all European Union countries and Britain to enter from June 15.

Austria was among the first in the EU to announce March 10 that it was closing its borders with Italy to fight the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic.

Austria has been spared the brunt of the health crisis with some 16,900 coronavirus cases and fewer than 700 deaths so far among its population of nearly nine million.
In solidarity with Black Lives Matter protest going on in US, Pakistani truck artist Haider Ali has painted George Floyd in one of his latest works. Floyd was killed last month in Minneapolis in police custody after which protests were triggered across the world against racism.

Truck art is a famous art form in Pakistan and can be seen on trucks and buses plying there. Ali's artwork was shared on Twitter by Pakistani writer Nadeem Farooq Parcha.

"Pakistani truck artist, Haider Ali, painting George Floyd. This style of painting adorns many trucks and buses on the highways of Pakistan. Ali is from Karachi, the capital of Pakistans Sindh province," Parch wrote and shared Ali's picture with his work. With Floyd's face in the centre, words like Justice, Equality and Black Lives Matter are painted around it along with their Urdu translations.

Pakistani truck artist, Haider Ali, painting George Floyd. This style of painting adorns many trucks and buses on the highways of Pakistan. Ali is from Karachi, the capital of Pakistans Sindh province. pic.twitter.com/BHWuEP1fsb Nadeem Farooq Paracha (@NadeemfParacha) June 11, 2020

Ali, who says that truck art is to Pakistan what Bollywood is to India, has painted murals, structures, benches, and trucks in the truck art style of Pakistan across the world. He came to limelight in 2002 when he worked on Pakistani truck in North America for the Smithsonian. His work has been exhibited at museums and institutions across the world.

This art is popular in Pakistan and features elaborate elaborate floral patterns and calligraphy. In Afghanistan, the Pakistani decorated trucks came to be known as 'jingle trucks' by American troops.
WASHINGTON - Joe Biden acknowledged Wednesday that questions raised about his support for the 1994 crime bill are legitimate. But the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate insisted that people should judge him based on his current actions, not his past.

Speaking during a virtual NAACP forum, Biden responded to questions that the moderator said were from young voters concerned about his role in writing the bill when he was a senator from Delaware. Critics say the tough-on-crime bill contributed to the mass incarceration of racial minorities in recent decades.

Biden, growing testy, acknowledged that its a legitimate concern, they should be skeptical. But he also said that while hes been told all along that young people oppose his past stances on criminal justice issues, there is no polling evidence to sustain that. Nor is there voting evidence thus far to sustain that.

Watch what I do. Judge me based on what I do, what I say and to whom I say it, he said.

Black voters remain key to Democrats chances for victory this fall, and Biden has engaged in a concerted outreach effort to the black community, releasing a plan focused on black economic mobility and racial disparities in health care and education systems earlier this year. He has also issued a criminal justice plan that reverses a number of key provisions of the crime bill and has apologized for supporting some policies in the 1990s that he now says were harmful.

But some black voters are still angered by his past stances on criminal justice issues and have questioned whether his proposed reforms go far enough.

While theres little chance black voters will support President Donald Trump in significant numbers  6% of black voters supported Trump in 2016, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of people who participated in its polls and were confirmed to have voted  there are concerns they may stay home, which could make the difference in a number of states key to Democrats White House hopes.

Still, Biden predicted Wednesday night that Democrats may be poised to take back control of the Senate this fall, if the current political climate continues.

Based on the polling data now  its really early  there is a real prospect that well pick up up to six seats in the United States to win back the Senate, he said.

As the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests and a renewed push for criminal justice and policing reform, Biden has spoken out more forcefully for the need to address systemic racism, and he reiterated his call for a number of police reforms first outlined in his criminal justice plan last summer.

But on Wednesday night, he still avoided a major flashpoint in the conversation around such reforms  whether hed support reparations for black Americans. Pressed multiple times on his stance, Biden said only that a study should be done and that his support for cash reparations would depend on what it was and if it will include Native Americans as well.
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday barred Kanpur-based People's Co-operative Bank from granting fresh loans and accepting deposits for six months, due to its weak financial position.

The RBI also said no withdrawal of amount of a depositor will be allowed from the co-operative bank.

"As from the close of business on June 10, 2020, the bank shall not, without prior approval of RBI in writing grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits, disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise," the RBI said in a release.

The central bank has barred the co-operative bank from selling, transferring or disposing of any of its properties or assets.

"In particular, no amount of the total balance across all savings bank or current accounts or any other account of a depositor may be allowed to be withdrawn," the central bank said.

These directions will remain in force for six months from the close of business on June 10 and are subject to review, it said.

The central bank, however, clarified that the directions should not be construed as cancellation of banking licence of the co-operative bank.

The bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves, it said.
The new digital portal allows organizations the ability to optimize IT infrastructure resources across their public and private cloud environments

MONTREAL, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Syntax , a leading provider of cloud-managed ERP services, today launched its multi-cloud portal to enable Syntax customers to view and manage all their cloud solutions from one, consolidated dashboard. The Customer Experience Hub (CxHub) provides users with a modern, next-generation customer experience and one view of their IT infrastructure resources, support tickets and billing details.

Traditionally, IT infrastructure resources are housed in separate portals and dashboards. With the introduction of CxHub, Syntax customers can now visualize trends across their private and public clouds in a single location. This consolidation saves time that teams may have otherwise spent moving between disjointed applications to monitor separate cloud environments.

"Our clients know it's no longer a competitive advantage to use cloud-based software. It's a necessity," said Marcelo Tamassia , Global CTO at Syntax. "They need to be cloud-native to survive, especially as more people work remotely. We're proud to unveil Syntax CxHub to help clients make informed decisions about their cloud resources and improve their efficiency."

The self-service model for CxHub helps teams automate the management and provisioning of their IT infrastructure resources. In addition, Syntax CxHub allows users to:

Monitor servers, virtual workstations, databases, network storage, block volumes, volume and database backups, network interfaces, public and private routes and load balancers

Start and stop servers, provision virtual workstations and manage private routes

Compare line-item invoices and month-to-month billing insights organized by category

Filter infrastructure resource monitoring, security and support events by time, source and severity

Interact with resources and events across cloud platforms and regions, or filter to a specific subset of resources

View and analyze infrastructure resource usage, compliance, health and changes that provide a clear audit trail across public and private platforms

Integrate Incident and Service Request ticketing with ServiceNow (SNOW) to easily create, track and resolve issues

CxHub uses a continuous release strategy so Syntax will automatically deploy new features for existing portal users as they are developed.

"At Syntax, we create best-in-class technology to drive exceptional value for our clients," said Christian Primeau , Global CEO at Syntax. "As more people work remotely, it's critical that our customers can effectively run their cloud environments and avoid any disruptions. CxHub helps our customers optimize their multi-ERP, multi-cloud solutions so they can scale and adapt to any situation that comes their way."

Syntax has more than 40 years of experience managing mission-critical applications. Syntax is a certified partner of SAP, Oracle, and JD Edwards. Syntax is also SAP-certified in various operations, including application, cloud and infrastructure, hosting and SAP HANA. For more information about Syntax CxHub, or to schedule a demo, please visit www.syntax.com/cxhub/ .

About Syntax:

Since 1972, Syntax has been providing comprehensive technology solutions to businesses of all sizes with thousands of customers trusting Syntax with their IT services and ERP needs. Today, Syntax is a leading Managed Cloud Provider for Mission Critical Enterprise Applications. Syntax has undisputed strength to implement and manage ERP deployments (Oracle, SAP) in a secure, resilient, private, public or hybrid cloud. With strong technical and functional consulting services, and world class monitoring and automation, Syntax serves corporations across a diverse range of industries and markets. Syntax has offices worldwide, and partners with Oracle, SAP, AWS, Microsoft, IBM, HPE, and other global technology leaders. Learn more about Syntax at www.syntax.com .

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China Uses Cabbage to Advance Disputed Asian Sea Claim

By Ralph Jennings June 10, 2020

A cabbage crop being grown on a tropical islet will help China solidify its claims in a wider, disputed Asian sea by allowing more people to live there and proving that the tiny feature can sustain itself.

Chinese navy personnel last month harvested 750 kilograms of crops on Woody Island in the South China Sea's Paracel archipelago, Beijing-based Global Times online reported. The personnel used domestically developed "sand-to-earth" technology to grow bok choy cabbage, baby cabbage and lettuce among other vegetables, the news outlet says.

Vietnam and Taiwan claim the same islets as well as the surrounding sea. Further south in the 3.5 million-square-kilometer waterway, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines compete with Chinese claims in the Spratly Islands. Rival governments prize much of the sea for fish and energy reserves. China has taken a military lead over the other parties since 2010.

The crop will help China prove economic activity on a disputed island, a plus in its search for an internationally recognized legal basis to control the Paracels ,scholars believe.

"Other than military usage, you need to do something substantive in order to bolster your sovereignty claims," said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. "You need to do something which can advance (the) so-called local economy."

Technology behind China's crop on Woody Island can "support communities" there, the Global Times said, citing experts. About 1,000 people already live on the islet. They rely largely on food shipments from mainland China.

The Permanent Court of International Justice considers a continual display of authority over a land feature as an effective administrative use of the South China Sea.

China lost a world court arbitration case in 2016 to the Philippines over the legal basis for its maritime sovereignty claims. Officials in Beijing cited historical records to argue that about 90% of the waters belong to them.

China's installation of hangars and radar equipment on some islets  following a multi-year land reclamation effort  had alarmed Manila among other claimants.

The farming breakthrough on Woody Island goes against a court statement in 2016 that islands in the sea could not support "communities of their own", the Chinese government-run Global Times said.

"You can factor this in as part of a holistic strategy to demonstrate habitation capability," said Alan Chong, associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines have promoted crop planting on islands under their control in the contested sea but without any clear legal gains, analysts say.

Taiwan ex-president Ma Ying-jeou argued in 2016 that the consumption of corn, sweet potatoes and chickens raised on Taiping Island in the Spratly chain proved that the Taiwanese coast guard-administered feature could support a human population. The islet is therefore entitled to a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone in the sea around it, Ma said.

Some of the 300 Filipinos living on Thitu Island in the same chain plant their own crops. Vietnamese strive to raise crops on South China Sea islets under their control, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

China had grown crops on its maritime holding even before the recent cabbage harvest announcement, he said.

Eventually, farming will run up against a lack of space given each islet's tiny size and competing land uses such as human habitation, he suggested. "Where is the crossover point where you can make enough to feed everyone on the island and significantly reduce the imports?" Thayer asked. "I'm being skeptical that we're making a leap."

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Air Serbia will be increasing its frequencies on flights to Germany starting in August, outstripping its volume of operations prior to the pandemic as confidence in air travel begins to return and competitors take time in resuming services. Starting August 1, the Serbian carrier will maintain ten weekly flights to Frankfurt until the end of the summer season, up from last years daily service. The airline has also managed to secure more favourable slots at Germanys busiest airport. It comes as Lufthansa is yet to schedule any flights between Frankfurt and the Serbian capital before the start of the 2020/2021 winter season in October. Similarly, Air Serbia will serve Berlin ten times per week, up from seven weekly services during the summer of 2019. easyJet does not plan to resume the route before September 2.





Starting this June, Air Serbia will also increase its operations to Switzerland, wiith two daily flights to Zurich, increasing to three daily in mid-summer. Air company's CEO, Duncan Naysmith, said, "We continue to carefully monitor the situation and proactively adjust our traffic to demand. Destinations in Switzerland and Germany are extremely important for us, primarily because of the large number of Serbian citizens who live and work in those countries, but also for business people and tourists. We are closely monitoring developments regarding the lifting or extension of travel restrictions to all destinations we fly to, and we will further adjust our flight schedule in accordance with the changes". Overall demand for air travel is still nowhere near the same levels as prior to the start of the pandemic, however, the Serbian carrier has also increased frequencies on several existing services earlier than originally planned.





Since resuming operations on May 21, Air Serbia has reinstated flights to ten cities, with a further fifteen to be launched next week. A handful of destinations originally planned to resume during the second half of the month have been moved for July including Rome, Milan, Venice, Nice, Barcelona, Kiev and Tel Aviv. Germany is one of the carriers biggest markets, with the airline serving ten cities in the country from Belgrade and Nis.
The Eastern Mediterranean was one of Europes most closely followed drilling regions  for many years leading European politicians have espoused the idea of connecting the offshore bounties of the offshore Levant to continental hubs of demand. Yet after many promising signs in the early 2010s and some moderately ones later in the decade, the first months of 2020 have so far brought only bad news for drillers. It all started with drilling activities winding down because of coronavirus fears, then Lebanons first-ever offshore well turned out to be commercially unviable, having found minor pockets of gas, and recently Cyprus oil and gas prospects were compromised by ExxonMobil delayed all offshore drilling in the islands offshore zone into 2021.

ExxonMobil, along with its partner Qatar Petroleum, was due to drill an appraisal well this summer at its Glaucos discovery, assumed to contain up to 8 TCf of gas. Citing unfavorable pricing conditions in general and operational difficulties connected to the spread of SARS-COV-2, ExxonMobil claimed it would restart drilling in September 2021, whilst the second appraisal well to Glaucos was postponed to early 2022. Following ExxonMobils announcement, the Italo-French ENI-TOTAL tandem has also voiced its intent to delay all drilling operations by at least one year, despite having a rather ambitious objective to drill up to 6 wells in Cypriot waters in the upcoming months. ENI operates a total of 5 blocks in Cyprus offshore zone (Blocks 2,3,6,8 and 9) whilst TOTAL is in operator position on 2 blocks (Blocks 7 and 11).

Concurrently to coronavirus unfolding over the European continent, Turkey has intensified its drilling routine in territorial waters that are internationally recognized as those of Cyprus. As recently as this May, the Yavuz drilling ship which has been traditionally used to drill in contested waters drilled the Seljuk-1 well in the northeastern part of Cyprus Block 06, jointly held by the ENI and TOTAL. The unsolicited Turkish drilling takes place to the north of the 2018 Calypso gas discovery, in water depths of some 2500 meters. Turkey claims that without an all-encompassing political settlement with the Republic of Cyprus on the fate of the occupied northern part it would object to any hydrocarbon development in Cypriot waters, potentially even in the remotest of blocks. Related: The Energy Deal Putting Iraq's $55 Billion Oil Project At Risk



The thinly veiled threat of Turkey jeopardizing the development and marketing of any Cyprus offshore field is tangibly weighing upon East Med drillers. The European Union has tried to strike a more assertive tone vis-a-vis Turkey, Cyprus is an EU member after all, however all previous attempts to sanction senior officials linked to the illegal drilling have been largely brushed off. After the sanctioning of 2 senior TPAO officials by Brussels, Turkey reacted by saying that it would intensify its drilling in the contested waters if further sanctions are slapped onto them. A loose union of Mediterranean nations (and the UAE) have signed a joint declaration on the impermissibility of Turkeys drilling in Cyprus EEZ, only to have the declaration derided by Ankara as hypocritical and coming from countries that seek regional chaos and instability.

Of the 6 wildcat wells planned for 2020 by ENI and TOTAL, two were intended to take place in Block 06, i.e. the one that Turkey has moved to drill in (one was to appraise the Calypso discovery, the other was to assess the reserve potential of the heretofore undrilled Cronos prospect). Interestingly, ENI and TOTAL also wanted to spud one wildcat on the Soupia prospect in Block 03  a bit more than 2 years ago the Italian major was compelled to delay its drilling as Turkish warships started to harass its drillship. Hence, the delay of Cyprus drilling is playing into the hands of Ankara as its own drilling program and seismic surveying seems to be continuing irrespective of global prices  at the same time Cyprus offshore sees no action whatsoever and wants 2021 to come as soon as possible.

All these delays are rendering the task of the Cypriot government even more difficult  despite having had several worthwhile discoveries (Aphrodite, Calypso, Onesiphoros, Glaucus), none of them has gotten close to FID status. As difficult as it is to pinpoint one primary reason why Cyprus would lag behind Egypt or Israel, the island nation has essentially zero natural gas demand and almost all its offshore production would need to be exported. Such an export dependence creating a double whammy for Cyprus  absent any infrastructure it has to rely on someone elses liquefaction assets (most probably Egypt) whilst simultaneously relying on LNG prices being high enough to justify high offshore production costs. Involving other nations in Cyprus gas extraction projects might not be bad strategy though, as it would most probably temper Turkish drilling enthusiasm, however would render Cypriot LNG inexorably expensive  the last thing Larnaca needs in a $1.5-2/MMBtu LNG environment.

By Viktor Katona for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
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The worldwide Automotive Catalytic Converter Market is anticipated to reach over USD 327.9 billion by 2026 according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, North America accounted for the majority share in the global Automotive Catalytic Converter market. The three-way oxidation-reduction catalytic converter is expected to lead the global market during the forecast period.

The increasing demand and production of vehicles majorly drives the Automotive Catalytic Converter Market growth. The increasing regulations regarding emissions and fuel efficiency boosts the adoption of automotive catalytic converter. The increasing disposable income, increasing environmental concerns, and lifestyle changes increase the demand for efficient vehicles, thereby supporting the automotive catalytic converter market. Other factors driving market growth include technological advancement, and upcoming emission regulations in Asia. New emerging markets, emerging consumer demographics, and significant investments in research and development would provide numerous growth opportunities in the market during the forecast period.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/automotive-catalytic-converter-market/request-for-sample

The North America Automotive Catalytic Converter Market is expected to dominate the global market during the forecast period. This is due to high living standards and high disposable income supporting the growth of the automotive industry. Presence of global players in these countries taps market potential and boosts the market growth. Increasing technological advancements and significant investments in research and development in automotive catalytic converters in vehicles boosts the market growth. The stringent government regulations regarding emissions and fuel efficiency further support the automotive catalytic converter market growth in this region. Governments in the region have introduced several laws and regulations to monitor vehicular emission. These regulations have mandated automobile manufacturers to use advanced technologies to combat high emission levels in vehicles

The different types of automotive catalytic converters include two-way oxidation catalytic converter, three-way oxidation-reduction catalytic converter, and diesel oxidation catalytic converter. The three-way oxidation-reduction catalytic converter is expected to dominate the global automotive catalytic converter market in 2017 owing to significant increase in the demand for gasoline vehicles. The stringent emission regulations primarily drive the growth of this segment.

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The leading companies profiled in the Automotive Catalytic Converter Market include Magneti Marelli S.P.A., Faurecia SA, Sango Co.Ltd., Benteler International AG, Futaba Industrial Co. Ltd. ,BASF Catalysts LLC, European Exhaust and Catalyst Ltd, Deccats, Yutaka Giken Co. Ltd., and Calsonic Kansei Corporation among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

Automotive Catalytic Converter Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Type Two-Way Oxidation Catalytic Converter Three-Way Oxidation-Reduction Catalytic Converter Diesel Oxidation Catalytic Converter

Automotive Catalytic Converter Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Catalyst Platinum Rhodium Palladium Others

Automotive Catalytic Converter Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Vehicle Type Passenger Vehicles Commercial Vehicles

Automotive Catalytic Converter Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Region North America US. Canada Mexico Europe Germany UK France Italy Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia-Pacific Latin America Brazil Middle East & Africa



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The U.S. surpassed 2 million coronavirus cases on Wednesday, prompting fears of a possible second wave of infections as businesses reopen throughout the country and thousands of protesters flock to the street.

Some states are facing a looming strain on ICU capacity as coronavirus hospitalizations rise. As of Wednesday, California had its highest number of active hospitalizations since May 13, while Arizona hospitals have been told to activate emergency plans since close to 80 percent of ICU beds in the state were occupied as of Monday.

At the same time, Texas reported 2,504 new cases on Wednesday, the highest one-day increase in the state since the onset of the pandemic. Over the past week, Florida has seen 8,553 new cases, the most during any week of the pandemic.

Cases continue to rise in Arizona and Texas, two states that are grappling with outbreaks. With increased testing resources in both states and better tracing, they have an opportunity to isolate the sources of spread, adapt their public health practices, and control the outbreaks pic.twitter.com/epV9Nt8OSd  Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) June 10, 2020

There is a new wave coming in parts of the country, Eric Toner, a scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Bloomberg. Its small and its distant so far, but its coming.

It is unclear if the recent rise is connected to states reopening businesses, or to the massive demonstrations seen across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers. Georgia has not seen an alarming recent increase in cases despite allowing most businesses to remain open for over a month.

Governors are reluctant to reimpose lockdowns after much of the U.S. effectively shut down at the onset of the pandemic.

Story continues

We want to avoid going backwards if we possibly can, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper said, as hospitalizations and new infections rose to their highest levels since the pandemic began.

More from National Review
By Yang Chengjun

Marshall Billingslea, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control, said on June 8, local time, that he had reached a consensus with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov to hold talks later this month about the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which was signed on April 8, 2010 and will expire on February 5, 2021, adding that he had also invited China to join the talks. It was reported that the talks will take place in Vienna on June 22.

What does the US want to achieve by trying to pull China into the treaty?

Signed by Washington and Moscow 10 years ago, the New START was originally aimed to limit the number of nuclear warheads owned by the two countries to 1,550 each, and it is now the only arms control treaty thats still in force between them. In my opinion, by inviting China to join the talks, the US has five objectives or intentions in mind.

First, the US wants to show the international community its initiative in reducing strategic weapons. The upcoming talks will give the international community the illusion that the US doesnt want to develop nuclear weapons.

Second, the US wants to blame China for its continued development of nuclear weapons, whether China will participate in the talks or not, and no matter what position it holds.

Third, the US wants to cover up the fact that it has never observed the treaty all these years. By holding the talks, Washington attempts to dissemble the fact that it has never stopped renovating and upgrading its current nuclear arsenal or developing new tactical nuclear weapons.

Fourth, the US wants to drive a wedge in the China-Russia strategic partnership. Washington has always been anxious about the strategic partnership between Beijing and Moscow as that poses the biggest threat to its America first ambition and world domination, so it wont waste this opportunity to sow discord in China-Russia relation.

Fifth, the US wants to obtain a deeper understanding of Chinas nuclear weapon development status. Ive participated in three China-US nuclear strategy talks and deeply sensed Washingtons eagerness to know the number of Chinese nuclear weapons and its deployments and development plan. USs invitation this time is trying to expose Chinas nuclear forces to a deeper extent.

What could China do facing the issue of nuclear arms control?

As for the underlying stance, China has always been willing to work with all parties and strengthen communication and coordination in the existing multilateral framework. We believe the US should respond positively to Russias suggestion on extending the New START for five years, further reduce its massive nuclear arsenal and create the conditions for other nuclear states to join the multilateral nuclear reduction negotiation.

China should not join the activity initiated by any nuclear superpower. Withholding the defensive defense policy, China has been keeping the minimum level of nuclear weapons needed for safeguarding national security, which cannot be mentioned in the same breath with the huge nuclear arsenal of the two nuclear superpowers.

China should adhere to its nuclear policy and strategy of not competing with nuclear powers in quantity or scale, non-first-use of nuclear weapons, and succinct and effective nuclear development. Chinas development and retention of nuclear weapons is for safeguarding national nuclear security, and ensuring its reliable capability to fight back when being attacked.

China could think about joining the talks as an observer. Because not having sufficient nuclear weapons for any reduction, China should not participate in the formal talks, but may think about joining as an observer to understand the procedures, progress, and results of the negotiations.

Whats the trend of nuclear arms reductions in the future?

In my opinion, the Vienna talks to be held on June 22 will be the first of its kind between the US special presidential envoy of arms control and the Russian foreign minister, and it indicates a softening of attitude on Washingtons part toward the extension of New START, which is a good thing. I personally have four basic judgments about the result of the talks.

First, the US and Russia will remain nuclear superpowers in the world. Japans Kyodo News reported in June 2019 that there were 14,480 active nuclear warheads in the world at the time (excluding those in storage), including 6,850 in Russia, 6,450 in the US, 500 in France, 410 in China, 380 in the UK, 70 in India, 30 in Pakistan, along with a handful of nuclear weapons in Israel, Iran and the DPRK. Its clear that the US and Russia will main the dominant nuclear powers in the next few decades.

Second, the US and Russia wont slow down their steps of developing new nuclear weapons. Washington has successively backed out of a number of arms control treaties in recent years, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and Open Skies, and it hasnt given a definite reply to Moscows proposal for extending the New START yet. In fact, both countries have kept improving their active nuclear weapons these years, such as the Minuteman III and Topol-M intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles, and developing tactical nuclear weapons featuring small equivalent and low pollution.

Third, the threshold for using nuclear weapons will be continuously lowered. Nuclear weaponry development is no longer a sophisticated technology beyond reach and is even accessible to some small and medium-sized countries. The treaties and agreements that restrict the R&D of nuclear weapons have been abolished or torn apart one after another, leading to the escalation of the nuclear arms race. Besides, certain countries are posing mounting threats of using nuclear weapons when necessary.

Fourth, we should be highly alert to certain countries that are likely to use nuclear weapons and wage a nuclear war. The international community should stay on high alert in the face of an increasingly severe international nuclear situation. We should firmly oppose such extreme acts that will be a crime to the whole humanity, cause irreversible pollution to our common living environment, and seriously harm our offspring. The criminals that use nuclear weapons and wage a nuclear war should be brought to justice.

(The author is an expert on Chinas nuclear strategy, nuclear arms control, and missile technology)

Disclaimer: This article is originally published on ifeng.com, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Amazon may face EU antitrust charges in the coming weeks over its use of data from merchants with whom it competes on its platform, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday, putting it at risk of a hefty fine.

The European Commission has been investigating the U.S. online retailer's dual role as a marketplace for merchants and as a rival since July last year, triggered by complaints from traders about Amazon's practices.

The probe also focuses on how Amazon uses competitively sensitive merchant data to select winners for its "buy box", which allows customers to add items from a specific retailer directly into their shopping carts.

The EU competition enforcer may soon send a charge sheet called a statement of objections to the company, outlining suspected violations of antitrust laws, the person said.

Both the Commission and Amazon declined to comment.

The company will be required to respond to the charge sheet in writing and can also ask for a closed-door hearing to defend itself. If the competition enforcer finds it has breached EU laws, the company could face a fine up to 10% of its global turnover.

Amazon has faced EU Comission scrutiny in the past. Three years ago, it was told to pay back taxes of about 250 million euros to Luxembourg because of illegal tax benefits, just four months after settling with the EU over its distribution deals with e-book publishers in Europe.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Frances Kerry)
While people across the country patiently wait for the full reopening of Nando's, the chicken restaurant has delighted customers by launching 'at home' kits to recreate the dishes at home.

The eatery has teamed up with recipe box brand Mindful Chef to launch a limited edition range of recipe boxes.

For just 6 per person, shoppers will be sent everything they need to recreate one of the chain's signature dishes. Customers can choose between butterfly chicken, chips and fino slaw or a quarter chicken legs, macho peas and sweet mash.

The South African eatery has partnered with recipe box brand Mindful Chef on the launch of its limited-edition box, allowing fans nationwide the unique opportunity to recreate their favourite PERi-PERi meals at home. Pictured: Butterfly chicken, chips & fino slaw

Each box contains pre-portioned ingredients, step-by-step recipes and a bottle of Nando's Medium PERi-PERi sauce.

Giles Humphries, co-founder of Mindful Chef told FEMAIL: 'We have seen a massive 400 per cent increase in demand for our recipe box service in the last two months.

'Experimenting with new ingredients and recipes has been a big trend during lockdown. So it seemed like the perfect time to work with one of the UK's most loved restaurants and give the UK a chance to cook up some of Nando's famous PERi-PERi dishes at home.'

How to make Nando's  chicken legs, macho peas and sweet mash INGREDIENTS (delivered in the box) 100g fresh peas

125g nandos medium peri-peri

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

1 corn on the cob 1 tbsp oil

200g sweet potato

2 x 200g free-range chicken leg

Small handful of flat-leaf parsley

Small handful of fresh minT Each box contains pre-portioned ingredients, step-by-step recipes and, a bottle of Nando's Medium PERi-PERi sauce, so customers can whip up a dish from the comfort of their own kitchen. METHOD 1. Preheat the oven to 220C / fan 200C / gas mark 7 and boil a kettle. 2. Peel the potatoes and cut into slices about 1cm thick, then cut into chips. Place a baking tray in the oven to preheat. Heat a saucepan of boiling water and blanch the potato chips for 3-4 mins. Drain in a colander and place on a clean tea-towel to dry. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp oil onto the baking tray and leave to heat in the oven for 1 minute. Place the chips in a single layer on the hot tray, sprinkle over a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, the smoked paprika and dried oregano and coat the chips in the oil. Cook for 25-30 mins, turning halfway through, until golden. 3. To butterfly the chicken, carefully slice through one side of each breast from the thickest part to the thinnest, being careful not to cut right through to the end. Open out the chicken breasts to resemble a butterfly. Place in a bowl with half of the Peri-Peri sauce (this is spicy, so add to your taste) and  tbsp oil. Leave to marinate. 4. Meanwhile, to make the slaw; on a separate chopping board, thinly slice the red cabbage and the radishes. Peel the carrots and grate. Thinly slice the spring onions and roughly chop the coriander and parsley leaves. Place all these ingredients into a mixing bowl and add the coconut yoghurt, a squeeze of lemon juice (to taste) and season with sea salt and black pepper. Set aside. 5. Heat a griddle pan (BBQ or frying pan) on a medium-high heat, then add the butterflied chicken breasts and cook for 5-10 mins each side or until the chicken is cooked through. 6. Serve the Nando's butterfly chicken on two warm plates, alongside the chips and slaw. Drizzle the chicken with the remaining Peri Peri sauce (to taste) and serve with the remaining lemon, cut into wedges. Advertisement

The Nando's x Mindful Chef recipe boxes will be available for delivery nationwide from June 14 to 27, from 6 per person.

Last month Nando's opened 94 of its restaurants for takeaway and delivering, after initially closing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In March, the Government told restaurants to shut their doors as part of the lockdown but have continued to allow restaurants to serve takeaway and collection services, in line with health and safety guidelines.

The company said that all click and collect orders must be placed online via Nandos.co.uk to avoid queues and keep customers and staff safe.
A transgender woman who was arrested at a protest has alleged that she was sexually harassed and denied her prescribed medications while held in a men's jail for two days without charges.

Joan Fochs, 23, from Seattle, Washington, told the Patch that she was placed in a male isolation unit at King County Correctional Facility where the man in the cell across from her exposed his genitals and sexually harassed her for at least six hours.

'It was terrifying and disgusting,' she said of the experience. 'It showed me that the police need to be dissolved and there needs to be something different to take their place.'

Traumatic: Joan Fochs, a 23-year-old transgender woman from Seattle, Washington, alleges she was sexually harassed at a men's jail for two days after being arrested at a protest

Fochs said she met up with a group of protesters around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, after the grocery store where she works closed early ahead of the night of protests.

When they were confronted by a group of Seattle police officers, one stopped in front of her and told her she was under arrest for assault, which she disputes.

According to Fochs, the officer claimed in a statement that she had tried to knock him off of his bike while she was out past the city's 5 p.m. curfew. She was denied bail when she was brought to the correctional facility under suspicion of assault.

She explained that when she arrived at the jail she was told that she couldn't be placed in a standard female unit because she had not changed her legal gender designation, something she can't afford to do.

I t was terrifying and disgusting. It showed me that the police need to be dissolved

Fochs stressed that she has been taking hormones for more than two years but was told that being moved to a female unit would require a meeting with a 'transgender review committee.'

'I very clearly pass as a woman,' she told the Patch. '[But] that doesn't really matter. It should be based upon what I say.'

She said the walls of her individual cell were stained with dried blood and there was a small window at the top of the door.

When she looked out the window the next morning, she made eye-contact with the man in the cell across from her, and he started to harass her.

She recalled the horror of seeing him expose his genitals through the door's food slot, saying he continued to expose himself and sexually harass her for hours.

When he was released from his cell for a break, she said he banged on the door to her unit for 15 to 20 minutes.

Fochs claimed she was also unable to take her prescribed hormones and anti-anxiety medications because she was told her prescriptions couldn't be verified with her pharmacy.

'I basically had a complete and total mental breakdown without my medication in my system,' she said, explaining: 'I had a panic attack. I was hunched in the corner sobbing and hyperventilating.'

Horror: Fochs said she was unable to take her hormones and anti-anxiety medications while in custody and had a panic attack

Fochs alleged that she was largely ignored when she pressed the call button in her cell and asked for help during hourly security checks.

The man who had harassed her was finally moved after she started sobbing in front of the nurses and a correctional officer who came to check her vitals that evening.

But Foch's said she still faced harassment from other men who were in cells near her up until she was released.

After nearly 44 hours in jail, she was abruptly let go on Monday around 9 p.m. without a court hearing or being told whether or not charges were going to be pursued against her.

In the days following the traumatizing experience, Fochs said she suffered from manic episodes from being off her medication and thought about self-harming herself for the first time in months.

Noah Haglund, a spokesman for the King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention, told the Patch that they are reviewing Fochs's allegations 'to determine whether there is evidence to support her complaint against another person in custody.'

Fochs said a number of legal organizations that advocate for minority groups have. reached out to her since she shared her story in a Reddit post last week.

After her harrowing time in jail, she is now among those advocating for defunding of the police.

'There's no changing a system that's this broken,' she said. 'It needs to be resolved and remade.'
Drivers working for ride-hailing services are considered employees under new gig worker law, says regulator.

Drivers working for ride-hailing services such as Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc will be considered employees under Californias new gig worker law, the states leading industry regulator said on Thursday.

Shares in Uber and Lyft were trading down 7 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively, in late morning trading in New York, with the new order striking at the heart of the gig economy business model of technology platforms that rely on cheaper contract workers.

The decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which regulates ride-hailing companies across the state, comes six months after a state law took effect that makes it tougher for companies to classify workers as contractors rather than employees. The latter designation exempts them from paying for overtime, healthcare and workers compensation.

The CPUC in an order on Thursday said it had to enforce state law, determining that drivers for transportation network companies (TNCs), the industry term for ride-hailing operators, would be considered employees going forward.

For now, TNC drivers are presumed to be employees and the Commission must ensure that TNCs comply with those requirements that are applicable to the employees of an entity subject to the Commissions jurisdiction, the commission said in the document.

The companies have said in the past their drivers were properly classified as independent contractors, adding that the majority of them would not want to be considered employees, cherishing the flexibility of on-demand work.

If California regulators force rideshare companies to change their business model it would affect our ability to provide reliable and affordable services, along with threatening access to this essential work Californians depend on, Uber said in a statement.

Uber in December sued to block the new law, known as AB5, arguing that it punished app-based companies and was unconstitutional.

Lyft in a statement called the CPUCs decision flawed and said forcing drivers to be employees will have horrible economic consequences for California.

Both companies pointed to a November ballot initiative exempting them from the law, for which they, together with food delivery platform DoorDash, have earmarked $90m. Under the companies proposal, drivers would receive mileage-based subsidies, healthcare stipends and occupational accident insurance, while maintaining their flexibility as contractors.

Labour unions have sharply criticised the proposal for creating a new underclass of workers that lack fundamental protections such as sick pay and unemployment insurance.

California in early May filed its own lawsuit against Uber and Lyft, arguing the companies misclassified their drivers in violation of the new law.
June 11 (Reuters) - Air Canada Chief Executive Officer Calin Rovinescu on Thursday urged the Canadian government to relax travel restrictions as they have been hurting the company's sales, Bloomberg News reported.

Rovinescu called the government's curbs on travelers "disproportionate" as the COVID-19 pandemic was easing in many parts of the country, the report said. (https://bloom.bg/2YpwXu2)

"Enable us to do some reasonable amounts of business," he said, according to the report, while speaking on a webcast with publishing and event production company Aviation Week.

Rovinescu's remarks were in the context of a letter sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from the Canadian travel and tourism industry, calling for a national plan to cut back pandemic travel restrictions, Air Canada said.

He is a signatory to the letter, which featured in the Globe and Mail newspaper on Thursday.

Canada and the United States are set to extend a ban on non-essential travel to late July as both countries seek to control the spread of the new coronavirus, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

Washington and Ottawa introduced month-long restrictions in March and renewed them in April and May. The ban, due to expire on June 21, does not affect trade.

Airlines, including Air Canada, have been among the worst hit as coronavirus-led travel bans resulted in thousands of flight cancellations, forcing carriers to cut jobs and costs as revenue dried up.

Rousseau said last month Air Canada was seeing fewer cancellations and an improvement in demand for air travel as lockdowns eased. Canada's largest carrier has announced a summer schedule with nearly 100 destinations. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
Not long ago, Global News of Canada published an analysis on the important question: Are Canadians really as nice as the world insists? The article discusses the well-known stereotype from multiple vantage points, including the finding by researchers at Ontarios McMaster University who even concluded that tweets originating in Canada . . . tend to be kinder and gentler.

More generally speaking, Canada is well-described as a tolerant, multi-cultural liberal democracy. That doesnt require a lot of Twitter analysis. Like its neighbor to the south, Canada is a nation of immigrants. Unlike the United States though, Canada is on an immigration growth trend. Recent analysis in Forbes showed a 26 percent increase in legal immigration to Canada between 20152019, against a decline of 7 percent in roughly the same period for the U.S. According to government projections, the mother tongue of 1 in 3 Canadians will be a language other than English or French by 2031, up from 1 in 10 over the prior five decades.

Within this breadth of diversity are Canadians of Chinese descent, who constitute about 5 percent of the Canadian population, compared with about 1.5 percent for the U.S. Chinese Canadians make up 40 percent of Asian Canadians generally.

Putting that all together, Canada is a tolerant, multi-cultural, open democracy with a significant percentage of citizens with Chinese heritage. Which makes the findings of a poll conducted last month by the non-profit, non-partisan Angus Reid Institute (ARI) particularly compelling. In a survey of more than 1,500 Canadians from May 24, just 14 percent of respondents held a favorable view of China. A Pew Research Survey in 2017 held that number at 48 percent.

Beijings lack of transparency and veracity around its handling of the coronavirus is a factor in this steep decline in favorability. Eighty-five percent of poll respondents disagreed with the statement, The Chinese government has been transparent and honest about the COVID-19 situation in that country. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau previously had said little about Chinas handling of the virus. But in a briefing last week  subsequent to the publication of the poll  he told journalists that there are many questions that need to be asked about the World Health Organization, about China and other countries behaviors since the pandemic began.

Story continues

Aside from mishandling COVID-19, Canadians also are fed up with China over another specific matter. In a high-profile case that has seized the nation, two Canadian expatriates are being held in prisons in China as hostages of the government, in reaction to the arrest on December 1, 2018, at Vancouvers airport of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom behemoth Huawei.

The United States government had indicted Ms. Meng for fraud and other charges connected with Huaweis alleged dealings with Iran to contravene U.S. sanctions. The U.S. seeks her extradition from Canada to face those charges, which are just one element in Washingtons global campaign against Huawei on national-security, intellectual-property, and other concerns. In addition to being a senior Huawei executive, Ms. Meng is a daughter of Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei.

Ten days after Ms. Mengs arrest, Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who had been posted to Hong Kong and Beijing and who now works for the International Crisis Group, was detained in Beijing. On the same day, the Chinese government detained Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who has lived and worked in North Korea and now runs a tourism and cultural exchange service at the ChinaNorth Korea border.

The two Michaels as they have come to be known across Canada, have captured the publics attention. The men have been charged with espionage, they are being held incommunicado, and they have not been able to receive visitors or spend any meaningful time with their families. Media organizations are keeping hostage watch calendars in the same way U.S. media did during the Iran hostage crisis of 19791980.

The prospects for these two unfortunate men worsened on May 27 when a Canadian judge refused to grant Ms. Mengs request for dismissal of the extradition charge. The judge decided that the U.S. charges against Ms. Meng would have been crimes in Canada, too, at the time of her arrest. That so-called double criminality standard led to the judges ruling that the extradition hearing can proceed. Reflecting an increasingly assertive posture by the government in Beijing and a fundamental lack of understanding of the rule of law as democracies adhere to it, the state-run Global Times responded to the ruling by noting that it makes Canada a pathetic clown and a scapegoat in the fight between China and the US.

Just the same, Ms. Meng, who is under monitored detention, is free to move about and is frequently seen in public brandishing her ankle monitor almost as a wardrobe accessory, while the two Michaels sit isolated, charged, with grim prospects, in Chinese prisons. Canadian diplomats are prepared for the worst, including a possible death sentence on bogus potential espionage convictions.

The May ARI poll reflects the Canadian publics growing antipathy toward China in areas related to these matters. While there were no questions about the hostages, the poll found 78 percent of Canadians feel that Huawei should not be involved in building the countrys 5G network. Three-quarters of the respondents said that human rights is the most important factor in ChinaCanada relations  with just a quarter responding trade and investment opportunities for Canada as the primary consideration  down 14 percentage points since before the December 2018 arrests. Overall, nearly 9 in 10 respondents agreed with the statement that China cant be trusted on human rights or the rule of law.

These results are consistent with the emerging consensus in the U.S. and much of Europe that China is a strategic, potentially hostile competitor. In Canada as elsewhere, this overwhelmingly negative view transcends political party divisions. The enmity is consistent across the countrys provinces, too. Even in the western province of British Columbia, with the largest ChineseCanadian population at about 10 percent, only 1 in 5 respondents have a favorable view of the Peoples Republic of China.

Canadas institutions had begun to sour on China even before the Huawei/hostage- crisis situation. China under President Xi Jinping is seen as a threat to national security and intellectual property rights, and as being out of sync with Canadas long-standing support for human rights. In March 2018, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) held an academic outreach workshop for participants from government, business, universities, and think tanks. The proceedings of the workshop, published in June of that year, leaves no doubt about the conclusions of the collected expertise. In China and the Age of Strategic Rivalry, the assembled experts make several observations about Chinas challenges to Canadas economy and security, including:

A warning that Chinese companies, state-owned or not, have close and increasingly explicit ties to the Chinese Communist Party

The growing practice by China to use threats and enticements to bring business and political elites to its side including regarding Chinas positions on Taiwan and other geopolitical issues

The emergence of aggressive postures by Chinese diplomats and others who are willing to harass media and academics who may challenge Chinas activities. This is in line, for instance, with the Global Times reference to Canada as a pathetic clown in reaction to the Canadian court ruling on the Meng extradition.

On the heels of the CSIS report came a more scathing indictment of Chinas designs on Canada. Just as the flurry around the arrest of Meng Wanzhou and the two Michaels was hitting in late 2018/early 2019, long-time foreign correspondent Jonathan Manthorpe published The Claws of the Panda, in which he describes a systematic campaign by the PRC to extend its influence into Canada. In his book  which is similar to Silent Invasion by Clive Hamilton published in Australia the year prior  Manthorpe details Chinas extensive activities using friendship societies, universities, aggressive diplomacy, and other channels to influence and, where necessary, intimidate the Canadian public and its views on China. From Manthorpes perspective, the Huawei incident exposed Chinas true designs for the ordinary Canadian, as reflected in the ARI poll.

It is no coincidence that books about overt and in some instances clandestine influence by China into Canada and Australia would appear around the same time. Each country is experiencing a similar degree of chauvinism and abuse, and each is a victim of similar tactics. Beijing is very deliberate about the approach. While the North American country is larger  and with a larger GDP  it shares with Australia a growing dependence on commodity exports to China. Two-thirds of Canadas economy is trade, and China is Canadas second-largest trading partner behind the United States. By contrast, Canada isnt even in Chinas top 15 trading partners.

China uses this leverage as a weapon to influence the broader relationship with Canada, as it did recently by putting tariffs on Australian exports to China when the Australian prime minister called for an independent review of Beijings role in the global pandemic. In the months following the arrest of the Ms. Meng and the two Michaels, the PRC blocked the import of Canadian canola oil, pork, and beef.

At the same time, Canada is growing wary not just of hostage diplomacy, but of Chinas debt diplomacy, a pressure point that Beijing is using more aggressively around the world to grab strategic assets at distressed values during the pandemic. Both Australia and Canada recently announced an intent to take a closer look at strategic domestic acquisitions by foreign (read: Chinese) buyers. Chinese gold producer Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd., in early May announced its intended purchase of Canadian miner TMAC Resources for $207 million. The transaction is expected to be an early test of an April 2020 policy change when the Canadian government  echoing the CSIS report from 2018 about CCP influence on state-owned companies  announced it would subject all foreign investments by state-owned investors . . . or private investors assessed as being closely tied to or subject to direction from foreign governments, to enhanced scrutiny under the [Investment Canada] Act.

One challenge Canada faces in responding to Chinas aggressiveness which differs from the situation Australia faces is an uneven  and perhaps even declining  relationship with the United States. The Trump administration should see Canada as a natural ally in its own desire to isolate Beijing. Regrettably, Canadian perceptions of the United States dont reflect that. In the same poll in which so few Canadians have a favorable view of China, their view of the U.S. is not much better. Among the twelve countries in the survey, the three least favorable to Canadians are, from the bottom, Saudi Arabia, China, and the United States. Since 2009, the favorable view of the U.S. among Canadians has fallen 30 percentage points and is at a 40-year low. More Canadians see an opportunity for deeper relationships with the European Union than with the United States.

The relationship between the U.S. and Canada is always going to have its ups and downs, but it should be objectionable to Americans and Canadians alike to see such a decline in favorability between the two countries. At more than 5,200 miles, the U.S. and Canada famously share the longest undefended international boundary in the world, a reflection of more than two centuries of shared liberal-democratic values. Each country sees China for the authoritarian power it is, and each has an equal stake in containing PRC ambitions. This should be a compelling basis to reinvigorate relations between the U.S. and Canada.

President John F. Kennedy had been in office for just a few months when he delivered these memorable words to the Canadian parliament in May of 1961:

Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.

That pathologically nice Canada should be fed up with the PRC is something we should embrace. That it is losing its faith in the U.S. as a favorable partner is a colossal waste. Liberal, tolerant, and democratic Canada is nothing but an opportunity for the United States to rekindle a natural relationship that has been  and can again be  the envy of the world.

More from National Review
The global rush to halt the coronavirus led countries like Australia and South Korea to launch smartphone apps to track its spread, using the technology as a key part of their push to tamp down the pandemic and restart their economies.

But U.S. efforts to do the same are running into an all-too-familiar problem that has plagued the pandemic response: a lack of national coordination. And Silicon Valleys attempts to help arent resolving the confusion.

Instead, with varying opinions on what data these apps should record, the federal government has so far failed to institute concrete privacy standards. Apple and Google have sought to fill the void by asserting their own standards, flexing the power they hold over the software on almost all smartphones  but some states are refusing to follow their lead and fear the tech companies rules could render the apps nearly useless.

The result is a nationwide hodgepodge that has U.S. states struggling to take advantage of what sounded like promising digital tools to determine who has been exposed to the coronavirus. And the difficulties come at a particularly crucial moment. The number of cases is rising in roughly 22 states as they reopen and try to rouse their weakened economies. Nationwide racial justice protests have renewed concern about outbreaks.

Some Americans will have multiple, unconnected apps to choose from. Others will have none at all. And the level of adoption experts say is needed for these apps to make a meaningful difference  about 60 percent of the population  is looking all but impossible to hit.

The more fragmentation there is, the less value there is, said Bryan Sivak, who was a chief technology officer for the Department of Health and Human Services under the Obama administration. How do you effectively analyze the data to understand what's happening?

It's kind of a waste of resources, he added. We don't need 50 apps to do this. We don't need 10 apps to do this. We need one app that does it the right way.

Story continues

Apple and Google encouraged each country to build a single app to prevent the patchwork now forming in the U.S.  and to simplify the process for users. Their framework also opens up the possibility of different apps communicating with each other. But ultimately, they said, the decision lies with public health authorities.

At least nine states have released or begun to develop these contact tracing apps, and more than a dozen told POLITICO they are actively considering them. But their approaches are far from consistent. Some states, such as Oklahoma and Virginia, are using the tech companies framework. Others, like Utah and Rhode Island, are going with independent apps. North Dakota is doing both.

Whats more, at least 15 states have rejected the idea of using smartphone apps for contact tracing at all, instead relying largely on thousands of workers to do the tracing. Meanwhile, a handful of major cities have launched their own apps, and some employers and schools are working on tracking apps as part of their own reopening plans.

States choose sides

Rhode Island decided early on to go its own way, starting on its CRUSH COVID RI app in mid-April. State technologists spent a month huddled over computers with the IT services firm Infosys before releasing it on May 19. It has since been downloaded by 45,000 people.

The app uses the GPS data from a users phone to create a running location diary of the previous 20 days. If the user becomes infected, they can give the information to health workers to help identify that persons recent interactions and pinpoint potential disease hot spots.

But that runs afoul of Google and Apples rules, which make their technology off-limits to apps that use GPS data. The companies software framework  the code that developers build into their apps  only allows apps that use Bluetooth signals to detect when two people have been near each other, without recording location information.

Rhode Island IT chief Chirag Patel said the states location-based app helps those who test positive recall where theyve been and whom they have encountered, without relying on others to have a compatible app. Apps using the Apple-Google framework only exchange data when others have them installed. Thats important in Rhode Island where some residents, including Patel, commute across state lines from Massachusetts, he said. (Massachusetts told POLITICO it is in talks with Apple and Google but has yet to make a decision.)

Patel said Rhode Island will evaluate what Apple and Google have to offer, too, but that multiple apps would be counterproductive. We want one-stop apps. If we ask you to download two apps for two purposes, it kind of defeats the purpose, said Patel.

And yet, thats exactly what at least one state has decided to do. North Dakotas GPS-based app, Care19, launched in April and shared with South Dakota, has about 34,600 downloads. North Dakota is beta-testing another Bluetooth-based app based on Apple and Googles technology, but its not available to the public yet.

Care19, a contact tracing app is being pushed by the governors of North Dakota and South Dakota as a tool to trace exposure to the coronavirus.

Virginia is finalizing a contract with a developer to use the Apple-Google technology, but is also looking at adding a GPS-based app if it needs to map hot spots, said the state health departments deputy commissioner for administration, Mona Bector. The department decided to make the Bluetooth approach a priority because it would work more seamlessly with more peoples devices.

Utah, meanwhile, has said it has no plans to use Bluetooth tracking and is working on a GPS-based app called Healthy Together.

Oklahoma went all-in with Silicon Valley. It has contracted with developer MTX to build a contact tracing app based on the tech companies technology. Health department spokesperson Kristin Davis also cited phone compatibility as the reason. A launch date has not been set.

Silicon Valley's fix

Its not certain that the response would have been more coordinated if Apple and Google had not weighed in. The companies have said governments asked them to get involved, in part to solve technical challenges. But their rulings on how an app should or shouldnt function are creating another layer of complexity for states to consider.

Our public health system is strained to the breaking point just as our frontline health care providers are, said Farzad Mostashari, the former national coordinator for health IT at the Department of Health and Human Services. To introduce distraction, inefficiency, frustration in their work is not helpful  it means they dont get to do their job.

Mostashari and former CDC director Tom Frieden have argued in an op-ed that the tech companies Bluetooth approach uses data that also has the potential for abuse and with less hope of useful information.

I certainly wouldnt blame health departments for not engaging with those efforts, said Mostashari. He said decisions about what data to collect and how to use it should be left to those combating the disease.

The Google-Apple rules do assure users of a level of privacy that they might not have otherwise. It only permits apps that store data on the user's phone by default, instead of automatically uploading it to a central database; users have to give permission to share it with authorities. But the limits on the type of data collection are the core concern for states.

The companies app stores still allow contact tracing apps that do not use their technology, so long as they are affiliated with a public health agency or meet other requirements, though those lose the advantage of being tied in with the Apple-Google framework. And a recent study from the watchdog group International Digital Accountability Council found that some of those independent apps had questionable privacy and transparency practices.

Google declined to comment for this story and Apple did not respond to requests.

One major reason for the divide, said Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, is that large consumer tech companies  which have been under fire for years over their methods of collecting and using personal data  have different motivations than health officials.

Apple and Googles incentive is to look like the good guys, related to the protection of privacy. Thats not a public health goal, he said. He said the companies have done little to address states concerns that they wont get the data they need. At the moment, it feels kind of one-way.

Global pushback

That skepticism isnt limited to the United States. In Europe, Apple and Google are facing a backlash from some countries they persuaded to embrace their technology. Five countries, including France, Germany and Italy, published a letter in late May insisting the companies shouldnt dictate conditions for contact tracing apps and arguing Europe must make itself less dependent on Silicon Valley. But those decisions are at least being made on a national level.

Singapore and Australia have seen some of the highest adoption rates of an app they both use called TraceTogether, in part due to intense government marketing. South Korea has integrated its app into a multipronged, nationwide response that includes extensive testing and detailed data collection.

China, meanwhile, has both a national app and a number of regional ones with disparate approaches to collecting data and keeping it private, according to the South China Morning Post.

In the U.S., Congress is trying to come up with a national strategy. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the chamber's No. 2 Republican official, said lawmakers can't just take tech companies at their word that their privacy rules are best, he said.

"I think that they're saying the right things, but as is always the case, you want to make sure that they're doing the right things," he previously told POLITICO. "In the past, assurances have been made by some of the companies in that space that we found out later didn't accurately reflect what was going on."

Thune said he hopes lawmakers will find a middle ground on legislation to include online privacy provisions in a next potential coronavirus relief package. Democrats and Republicans have introduced dueling bills to establish privacy rules, but preexisting partisan divisions, such as differing views on whether to allow states to enact their own laws, appear to make that compromise unlikely.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued only rough, voluntary guidelines saying digital contact tracing tools should be able to share information, limit data to health agencies and require user consent. So thus far, U.S. states have been left to make the decisions.

It mirrors the U.S. approach to the pandemic as a whole. Even as the Trump administration pushed guidelines for social distancing and other preventive measures, it allowed states to decide whether to keep schools and nonessential businesses open to the public. States and, in some cases, cities and counties have decided whether to require face masks and how to secure tests and medical supplies. And though Trump himself pressured some states to return to normal, the federal government has again deferred to governors to make the final call.

Now, as more people resume interstate travel, the danger of disparate apps will become increasingly and dangerously clear, said Paul Jarris, chief medical officer at MITRE, a not-for-profit that manages federal research centers, and former executive director for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

Two people sit next to each other on an airplane for six hours.  When they go off to their different states, [the disease] has just jumped states and well have no way of knowing that, said Jarris.

Not sold on the app solution

At least 13 states and the District of Columbia are looking at the range of decisions and considering whether to wade into digital contact tracing at all.

New Jersey, for example, is not sure its worth the investment of time and money.

Beth Simone Noveck, the states chief innovation officer, said in a statement that though the tech could offer promise, officials worry it will be difficult to deploy, that many people wont use it and that it may not help them meet their public health goals. That, plus significant privacy and security concerns, make it a complicated decision.

A number of states are opting out for now. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming have all confirmed to POLITICO that they arent currently planning consumer contact tracing apps.

We have not written off the idea, but are not convinced to use our time and resources to commit to that as a direction, said Mark Raymond, Connecticuts chief information officer. We are tracking the field, but are not convinced we would see sufficient uptake or how much it will fill in any data gaps that we have.

Many in the public health community say the digital push will always be less important than the traditional method: people interviewing the sick and following up with their contacts.

Technology people feel like they can solve all the problems with technology, said Shyam Gollakota, a University of Washington computer scientist developing the states app, which will use the Apple-Google software.

In this situation, in most public health situations, a human has to be involved, said Gollakota.

Darius Tahir and Cristiano Lima contributed to this report.
A 37-year-old Canastota man has been charged with first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault on a child, both felonies, New York State Police said today.

Jeffrey R. Shaffner, of Canasota was arrested and charged Wednesday after an investigation showed he had sexual encounters with a 10-year-old in the spring at a residence in Lenox, troopers said

The encounters, which lasted several months, was discovered after a relative discovered sexually explicit text messages and photographs which had been exchanged between the suspect and child, police said. The person reported the discovery to police.

Shaffner was arraigned and remanded to the Madison County Jail on $250,000 cash bail or $500,000 secured bond. An order of protection was issued for the victim.

The Madison County Child Advocacy Center assisted in the investigation.
How about no





EDIT: I'm a fan of Disney movies and the parks and this is still too soon I think. They should honestly wait till late August or even September. But anything for money I guess.



Edited at 2020-06-10 11:49 pm (UTC)

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+1 Too soon

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what will be different in september?

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Honestly I dont know. I just think any time during the summer, while kids are still free from school, is a bad time to reopen. At least in the fall kids will be back to learning and families would be less likely to go.

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It is so American to decide theyre bored of corona and decide its too inconvenient to bother with anymore

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Lmao I think pretty much everyone has forgotten about the virus, smh. But watch the media blames the protests (where most protestors wear masks) only and say nothing about the folks crowding out restaurants and bars without masks on.

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the media I've seen in my area doesn't have a very critical voice for all the people out and about; instead they run pieces like "is it finally okay to go to your friend's house for dinner? stay tuned!" like FFS



and my parents aren't on social media so all they see is this, or Trump talking BS, and they take it at face value

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Australia has just had one of the protestors test positive for COVID. So this will be interesting.

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yeah it genuinely feels like ppl have just decided to move on



murphy lifted the stay at home orders effective immediately in nj and i'm like... why

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I have many concerns. I get that we need to restart the global economy but already cases are going up. It just feels like what we've done has been for nothing.

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i've been wanting a covid post the last couple of days, ty op!



my state just announced today that indoor seating at restaurants (50% capacity) begins on friday. malls and arcades and gyms can open next friday. it all seems way too soon.

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theyre going to start opening up bars and gyms on Friday  Some malls are already opened here smh

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Yeahh outdoor seating started here (upstate NY) and I think indoor (some?) might be starting Friday too. Were going into phase 3 so I think this also includes nails salons and stuff too....

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Yeah, gyms and movie theaters open Friday in CA. Im probably canceling my gym membership? They are not doing spin classes and most workout classes which is why I mostly went. Id use the machines and equipment but there will be too many people there for my comfort.

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You didnt cancel it all this time?

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Hogan is such an asswipe...it is way too soon for the populated parts of the state to open gyms and indoor dining (ffs Baltimore doesn't have recycling pick-up for the rest of the month because of a coronavirus outbreak at the sorting center, and they want people huffing and puffing in gymns?!) but he's opening it and then leaving the county execs and mayors who are actually following CDC and JHU recommendations out to dry.



But also apparently they've been messing with the numbers of deaths in nursing homes on the state dashboard, and they're actually a much higher percentage of the total cases than they appear to be, which totally changes how we should be approaching this.

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oh sis my state is LIFTING the 50% capacity ban on restaurants! haha...

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This + the gyms reopening + film production allowed to start again with no vaccines and rising rates and hospitalizations all over the place... make it make sense!!

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I'm very curious to see which productions pick up and if they get any backlash

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Theres no shooting without sag protocols and there are no film bonds without insurance. This means nothing https://t.co/nTkxbBTDvy  cassian elwes (@cassianelwes) June 10, 2020

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well that's good, anyway!

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i think theyre reopening for the economy

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If they reopen everything right now, they can blame the protesters instead of their decisions, and then they won't have to shut things again as the situation spirals out of control

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Everything is opening. People are talking about being "post Corona". Numbers are still going up!!! WTF are they doing?????

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I mean people didn't care when the death toll went over 100k, most people are ignoring the hotspots in the Midwest with Tyson and other meat plants, people are going to blame protesters instead of Memorial Day and other gatherings.



People think the second wave doesn't apply to them if the first wave didn't, all we can do is still try and protect ourselves

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Yeah. :( I just people remember that the government abandoned them to let them die. They chose money over humans.



Which is why I will never leave the house again. LOL J/K

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Money > some people's life

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Which state are you in? Michigan peaked in late April and we are down to the single digits for daily deaths and only had 150 new cases today (lol). Im so thankful for Big Gretch, I think shes handling everythinf smartly.

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IDK I can't imagine having to wear a mask in LA summer for hours at an amusement park. Some people physically wouldn't be able to do it

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Then they shouldn't be there, and employees who can't should be accommodated.

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Florida is probably even worse weather wise .. WDW and Universal! Forget it

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Oh god I forgot about that! I dont know if they will be able to do masks at any of these amusement parks (they probably wont if they havent made it clear)



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Dude, I've been wearing a mask while I'm jogging/hiking in this horrid heat bc other people on the trail can't be bothered to wear a mask or stay the fuck away from me.

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not a good idea imo, might as well stay closed





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Ugh no thank you. The issues of capacity and distance are so scary for almost everywhere ... except small businesses, which I WILL continue to visit because they need the foot traffic most.

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this is a horrible idea and that whole area around Anaheim is going to be a shitshow



Instagram recommended me some Disney park influencer type accounts and OF COURSE they've been waiting for this/going to whatever is currently open

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Did it recommend the Disney rat, Disneylandia? Lol

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I don't think so - I think it was someone from Ohio who went

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GOD IT WAS SO NICE HAVING NO TRAFFIC IN THE RESORT AREA

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Lol I dont even blame them. A lot less people are paying attention to precautions anymore and all 50 states are reopened to various degrees so of course theyre like Yeah time to reopen!

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I haven't been to Disneyland in like 3 years (because it's so goddamn expensive and I say this as someone who used to be an annual pass holder). I can wait until a vaccine is out there before I go again.

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Yup if we act like covid is over maybe itll just go away!! Its so crazy everyone is just acting like its over. Theyre even starting to let visitors in to nursing homes again which I think is just beyond a bad idea even with social distancing.

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Orange County has been a mess this whole time they never even mandated masked from what my family said if they were it was way later and less time than la thats only a hour away.they had the beaches open more then other places they do not care so I feel bad for my friends who work there

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Dear Dr. Nichole Quick, As an OC resident I want to thank you for issuing a common sense mask order, and am disgusted by those who threatened your life for doing so. This is a major fail by the OC Board of Supervisors, whose members have fueled the fire. https://t.co/MfsPVpQJzk  Nina M. Flores, PhD (@bellhookedme) June 9, 2020 orange county fucking sucks

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just chiming in to say that oc sucksssss

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In OC and fuck them. I hate most of my colleagues now, such fucking brats completely ignoring social distancing starting in April at the latest.



My city did require masks in public places pretty quickly though I think.

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yeah nobody is wearing masks or respecting social distancing and so many hair/nail salons are illegally open and secretly letting people in with the lights off and shit ugh



I hate it here

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thats awful.

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I read a thread earlier about how Florida has had the most cases in the last 4 days then they did in 4 days of what we were calling our peak. We reopened everything and now we're seeing the results. I doubt we'll close again because this state sucks ass.



Best of luck with this, California.



Edited at 2020-06-11 12:00 am (UTC)

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Pentagon Announces $250 Million Military Aid to Ukraine, Cites Progress on Corruption Reform

Pentagon officials said Thursday that the United States is moving forward with a $250-million military aid package for Ukraine with the aim of bolstering the countrys ability to defend its territorial integrity in the face of a long-standing conflict with neighboring Russia.

The United States remains steadfast in its support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, the Department of Defense said in a statement, in which it noted the $250 million would be used to strengthen Ukraines capacity to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression.

Ukraine and Russia have been effectively at war since 2014 following several Russian military interventions in the wake of the ouster of Ukraines pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. To date, the conflict has killed more than 14,000 people.

Russia must end its repression of those who oppose its occupation, release unjustly imprisoned Ukrainians, and return full control to the peninsula of Ukraine, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a Wednesday press briefing, adding, Crimea is Ukraine.

U.S. Ambassador to the Permanent Council James S. Gilmore III said on Thursday that Ukraines leaders have repeatedly demonstrated the political will to find a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to the conflict, but Russia has delayed and deflected, promoting a false narrative that it is only an observer to the conflict, rather than an active participant.

The Congressionally-approved funds will be allocated as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), with half the aid package contingent on Ukraines progress on defense reforms.

Last year, the Trump administration put a hold on a portion of similar Ukraine military aid, citing as one of the reasons insufficient progress on anti-corruption reform.

The Department of Defense said its security cooperation programs with Ukraine are made possible by the countrys continued progress on key defense institutional and anti-corruption reforms, which over the past year have included strengthening civilian control of the military, moving towards a Western-style human resources management system, and enhancing internal controls to reduce corruption.

In a statement earlier this year, Ukraines Defense Ministry listed a range of reform priorities it was working on implementing, including defense procurement reform and countering corruption.

This decision is recognition by the United States that Ukraine continues to successfully reform the security and defense sector, in line with European and Euro-Atlantic integration goals and NATO standards, Ukraines Defense Ministry said in a statement regarding the Pentagons announcement.

The Department of Defense said the funds will be earmarked for hardware that will be used in training of the Ukrainian military, which includes enhancements to Ukraines defensive lethal capabilities and maritime situational awareness capacity.

The aid will also be used to bolster Ukraines air surveillance systems through the provision of counter-artillery radars and tactical equipment. Some of the funds will also be spent in the area of military medical treatment and combat evacuation procedures, as well as cyber defense and strategic communications to counter Russian cyber offensive operations and misinformation. 

Ukrainian authorities said they are sincerely grateful to American partners for their consistent support of the reform process in Ukraine, as well as strengthening of our countrys defence capabilities during ongoing Russian aggression.
About 6 p.m., the man was in the 1600 block of South Homan Avenue, when he was approached by someone who pulled out a gun and fired shots, striking him three times to the neck. He was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.
Los Angeles, June 11, 1010 - A female turning age 65 in Chicago could pay $91.78 monthly for Medicare Supplement insurance. If she lived in Manhattan (NY) she could pay as much as $476.04 monthly according to the 2020 Medicare Supplement Insurance Price Index released today by the American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance (AAMSI).

"Consumers are not aware of the significant difference between the lowest and the highest cost for virtually identical Medigap coverage," shares Jesse Slome, AAMSI's director. The organization compiled rates for Medigap Plan G rates for 10 major metropolitan areas.

"In every market the lowest rate was at least half of the highest," Slome notes. "In some markets the highest rate was nearly four times higher." The Association's mid-year price analysis examined Plan G plan costs.

"Some 11,000 Americans turn 65 every day," Slome adds. "They have to evaluate the pros and cons of Medicare Advantage, compare that with Medigap supplemental coverage and in many cases pick a drug plan. It's not just overwhelming, it could be a costly and irreversible decision."

The Association posted the findings on the 2020 Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan G Price Index findings on their website. "We also share a few valuable savings tips," Slome adds. For example, insurers often offer a household discount. "The percentage savings can vary from three percent to as much as 14 percent," he explains.

The Association makes available an online directory where consumers can find Medicare insurance agents in their local area. "Access is free and completely private unlike other sites that are looking to gather your personal information," Slome shares.

The American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance is an advocacy and informational organization that strives to create heightened awareness for the many Medicare insurance options. AAMSI supports insurance professionals who market Medicare Supplement insurance. To find local Medicare insurance agents in your Zip Code go to www.medicaresupp.org/find-local-agent/.
Office workers wearing protective face masks walk to head home at sunset amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo

By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan may restart business trips to and from Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand in the next few months, easing an entry ban to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, the Yomiuri daily said on Thursday.

Up to 250 business travellers a day will most likely be allowed into Japan from the four countries, which have seen their infection situations stabilise, the newspaper said, without citing sources.

Prospective visitors will be required to submit a document ahead of their trips to Japan showing they are not infected, and will be asked to go through a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction test, upon entry, the paper said.

Japan, which bans entry from more than 100 countries, will negotiate with the four countries with a view to a partial reopening in the summer, it said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said nothing specific had been decided.

"It is important to resume comings and goings of people partially and gradually," the government spokesman told a regular news conference.

"Relevant ministries are looking into the matter, while taking into consideration infection situations in and outside of Japan and exchanging views with various countries."

In another step to ease coronavirus-related restrictions, the Tokyo metropolitan government is set to lift the "Tokyo alert", issued last week to urge residents to keep their guard up, and allow more businesses to resume operations, public broadcaster NHK said.

The capital saw 22 new cases of coronavirus infection on Thursday, up from 18 on Wednesday. The average daily infection tally over the past week has remained below the capital's threshold of 20 for the easing of restrictions.

The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to advance its business resumption process to "step 3" on Friday, after holding talks with medical experts, NHK said.

Under the new phase, such businesses as videogame arcades and amusement parks will be allowed to reopen.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Stephen Coates)
Students walk through a front gate of Younghoon International Middle School, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap



By Bahk Eun-ji



Seoul education office's decision to revoke two elite middle schools' licenses has been drawing backlash from parents and students who argue it deprives them of the freedom of choice guaranteed in the Constitution.



Although the decision is not final yet, the two schools  Daewon International Middle School and Younghoon International Middle School  are subject to the approval of the Ministry of Education (MOE), which will notify the schools of its decision within 50 days.



In the wake of the announcement from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), Wednesday, many parents and students claimed the education authorities were removing the opportunity for middle-class students to climb the social ladder. Controversy over education reform has been ongoing nationwide because it is one of the Moon Jae-in administration's top education policy goals.



"I'm worried that it might be an ostensible evaluation for the abolition of the schools, just like when the education ministry decided to revoke the licenses of autonomous high schools last year. It would be more rational for the government to put effort into supporting regular middle schools to improve their quality instead of taking away varied opportunities for students," said a parent of a student at an international middle school in Seoul, who asked not to be named.



The debate over these schools, centered on whether they are living up to their purpose of providing a diverse education or whether they have merely become a means to enter top universities, has been even more heated in an internet community where many parents are actively engaging in the conversation.



"It should have been an opportunity for students who can't afford to study abroad, but want a different environment from regular schools," a user wrote on the community.



Another user also said "what the government should really work on is the college entrance system where many students are exploited in the cutthroat competition. Instead, they are barking up the wrong tree."



International middle schools were established with the purpose of nurturing a global workforce in Korea and to prevent students from studying abroad from an early age. Most classes in the schools are conducted in English, but critics say that the schools are just focused on sending as many students to top universities as possible. Besides the College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT), there are other forms of recruitment to select students based on certain skills such as foreign language ability or other activities.



"International middle schools are undermining the fundamental values of education, including equal opportunity for education. Unlike the purpose of their designation, international middle schools are recognized as schools ranked above regular ones, encouraging private education for this purpose," said the SMOE Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon during a press briefing Wednesday.



A parent of an elementary school student in Gangdong, Seoul, surnamed Yoo, said the education authorities' move only promotes private education businesses such as cram schools in Daechi, Gangnam District, which is a popular area for those seeking such private education.



"I heard the competition rate is so high that it reaches 20 to 1. It means that the government should increase such elite schools to meet the demand. What they're doing is blocking the way for students to get a good education," she said.



If the education ministry approves the cancellation of the licenses, the two schools will lose their "international middle school" status and will be gradually converted into regular schools, starting next year.


Health officials have shared the good news that none of the 140 clients seen last month by a pair of stylists with coronavirus at a Missouri salon ended up getting COVID-19 themselves thanks to masks and other precautions.

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department said in a statement on Monday that all the customers who were tested for coronavirus after being treated by the affected stylists at a Great Clips location in Springfield have confirmed negative test results.

Health officials in Missouri found that none of the 140 clients and six co-workers exposed to a pair of stylists with coronavirus ended up getting COVID-19 themselves. (Getty Images)

"The Springfield-Greene County Health Department is encouraged to report that the incubation period has passed from those potentially exposed from Great Clips," the statement reads. "No clients of either stylist nor additional co-workers contracted COVID-19 as a result."

One stylist treated 84 clients and the other worked with 56, and six co-workers were also exposed. Forty-six of them pursued testing and all tested negative, while the rest were quarantined for a 14-day period, according to the health department.

Additionally, there were no cases of coronavirus out of the more than 400 other people who were in the Great Clips location during the shifts by the two affected stylist, Springfield-Green County director of health Clay Goddard told TODAY on Thursday.

The health department lauded the protective measures taken by the hair salon, which include all stylists and clients wearing masks as well as distancing salon chairs and staggering appointments to help with social distancing.

"The take away to me is clear and Im not gonna gloss over it," Goddard told TODAY. "I was an early skeptic of masking. When I looked at that practice in Asia, I believed that to be a cultural phenomenon, and Im actually on the record stating that. This changed my mind entirely."

Great Clips shared that they were encouraged that their safety measures seem to have worked.

"We recently learned from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department that all customers who were tested for COVID-19 after visiting a franchised Great Clips salon in Springfield have confirmed negative test results," Great Clips, Inc., said in a statement to TODAY. "Together with our 1,100 independent franchisees, we care deeply about the well-being of customers, salon staff and the communities we serve, and we are grateful for the health of these individuals. We thank the health department for their important work during this time."

Story continues

States have differed in whether to allow hair salons to open during the pandemic. Missouri was one of the earlier ones to allow salons to operate as part of businesses reopening from lockdown.

"As a public health official I always follow science," Goddard said. "To me this adds to the scientific evidence that supports the mitigating practice of masking, so lets not make this a political issue, let's realize what it is, and it's a very effective way to mitigate against this disease, and let's use it."

Missouri has had 15,187 coronavirus cases and 848 deaths, according to state health officials. The state was also the site of a packed outdoor pool party at the Lake of the Ozarks last month that prompted St. Louis County to issue a travel advisory and the Kansas City health director to call for self-quarantine of the revelers.
The COVID-19 crisis response proved that fostering pets is the answer to eliminating unnecessary euthanasia of pets in America's shelters. As animal shelters across the nation adjusted operations during the pandemic, families stepped up to temporarily foster pets in their homes. The percentage of pets cared for in foster homes spiked to an all-time high, and euthanasia decreased at shelters across the country.

"As the country opens up for business, we encourage families to continue to open up their homes and hearts to shelter pets. Because, if 2% of pet-owning households in the U.S. fostered just one pet a year, we could eliminate unnecessary euthanasia in this country, not just during the COVID-19 shutdown, but forever," said Susanne Kogut, president of the Petco Foundation. "As we honor volunteer Foster Heroes, who are making a difference in their communities, we hope to inspire more people to join the pet fostering movement. Our goal is to make sheltering pets in foster homes, versus animal shelters, the new normal, so we can create a lifesaving nation together."

Below are some of the National Foster Hero Honorees:

Andre Karma , Muddy Paws Rescue ( New York, NY ): Healthcare worker, Andre, continues to give back to Muddy Paws and his New York Community despite the hardships of COVID-19. Andre is an on-site EMT for a pharmaceutical company, a medical scribe at an urgent care, and a laboratory clerk at a hospital. Even amid this challenging chapter in his life, Andre still found the time and space in his heart to continue to welcome foster dogs into his home. When asked about fostering during the pandemic, on top of his day (sometimes night) jobs, Andre said his foster dogs are not only a sight for very sore, tired eyes, but they are the perfect alarm clock and comfort to get him to his next day. After two years as a foster for Muddy Paws, Andre has helped save almost 40 lives.

Healthcare worker, Andre, continues to give back to Muddy Paws and his despite the hardships of COVID-19. Andre is an on-site EMT for a pharmaceutical company, a medical scribe at an urgent care, and a laboratory clerk at a hospital. Even amid this challenging chapter in his life, Andre still found the time and space in his heart to continue to welcome foster dogs into his home. When asked about fostering during the pandemic, on top of his day (sometimes night) jobs, Andre said his foster dogs are not only a sight for very sore, tired eyes, but they are the perfect alarm clock and comfort to get him to his next day. After two years as a foster for Muddy Paws, Andre has helped save almost 40 lives. Bonnie Krause , Humane Society Waterville Area ( Bangor, Maine ): Bonnie's organization describes her as one of those magical unicorn volunteers who will answer a call in the middle of the night and rush over to pick up a litter of 2-day-old orphaned kittens. Bonnie includes her daughter in raising and rehabilitating kittens and cats, and she mentors other fosters as well. After COVID-19, Bonnie helped expand the shelter's capacity by aiding in the transition of their in-person foster training classes to digital classes, hosting Bottle Baby Basics and Kitten Care 101 for other foster volunteers. Having fostered 73 cats and kittens this year alone, Bonnie is a treasured volunteer who is helping her community save lives.

Bonnie's organization describes her as one of those magical unicorn volunteers who will answer a call in the middle of the night and rush over to pick up a litter of 2-day-old orphaned kittens. Bonnie includes her daughter in raising and rehabilitating kittens and cats, and she mentors other fosters as well. After COVID-19, Bonnie helped expand the shelter's capacity by aiding in the transition of their in-person foster training classes to digital classes, hosting Bottle Baby Basics and Kitten Care 101 for other foster volunteers. Having fostered 73 cats and kittens this year alone, Bonnie is a treasured volunteer who is helping her community save lives. Mike Gresham , K-9 Stray Rescue League ( Detroit, MI ): Over the past 14 years, Mike has fostered more than 200 dogs, including dogs most in need such as pregnant moms, dogs recovering from surgery, heartworm positive dogs, and those with special needs and medical conditions. During COVID-19, Mike used his foster expertise to find homes for six foster dogs in just one month. Even after all his lifesaving work, Mike doesn't consider himself a hero, just a guy who loves dogs and wants to help. Those who know him best describe him as a humble, big-hearted man, with non-stop devotion to the well-being of all dogs  the person any animal lover would aspire to be.

( Over the past 14 years, Mike has fostered more than 200 dogs, including dogs most in need such as pregnant moms, dogs recovering from surgery, heartworm positive dogs, and those with special needs and medical conditions. During COVID-19, Mike used his foster expertise to find homes for six foster dogs in just one month. Even after all his lifesaving work, Mike doesn't consider himself a hero, just a guy who loves dogs and wants to help. Those who know him best describe him as a humble, big-hearted man, with non-stop devotion to the well-being of all dogs  the person any animal lover would aspire to be. Rita Phelps , Palm Valley Animal Society ( McAllen, Texas ): Rita has been a foster for nearly two years and has fostered 68 kittens and cats, and one dog. She's one of Palm Valley Animal Society's go-to volunteers for neonatal kittens or animals suffering from upper respiratory and other medical complications. Thanks to Rita's care and attention, numerous litters of kittens have gotten a new chance at a life filled with love. She's touched countless animal and human lives by fostering and through her selfless acts of kindness, like baking treats for shelter pets and cookies to thank shelter staff. When asked about fostering, Rita says, "The purpose is to get them to a point where they can be healthy and happy, and make someone else happy, and I tell myself they will go to a loving home."

Rita has been a foster for nearly two years and has fostered 68 kittens and cats, and one dog. She's one of Palm Valley Animal Society's go-to volunteers for neonatal kittens or animals suffering from upper respiratory and other medical complications. Thanks to Rita's care and attention, numerous litters of kittens have gotten a new chance at a life filled with love. She's touched countless animal and human lives by fostering and through her selfless acts of kindness, like baking treats for shelter pets and cookies to thank shelter staff. When asked about fostering, Rita says, "The purpose is to get them to a point where they can be healthy and happy, and make someone else happy, and I tell myself they will go to a loving home." Heather Higgins , Front Street Animal Shelter ( Sacramento, CA ): When Front Street Animal Shelter needed help caring for pets during the COVID-19 crisis, Heather didn't hesitate to foster whatever animal needed a temporary home, and she welcomed shy Luna home. Heather provided a calm environment for Luna and, in doing so, helped Luna thrive. Luna came out of her shell, mastered tricks, and learned how to use the doggy door. Heather then became Luna's advocate for finding her a loving home. Thanks to Heather's lifesaving efforts, Luna is now with her new family which consists of a mom, dad, daughter (that Luna loves and cuddles with), and a cat too!

While the Foster Heroes recognized above clearly are making an extraordinary impact, fostering just one pet makes a lifesaving difference in that pet's life. That is why during National Foster a Pet Month, the Petco Foundation encourages all pet lovers to take the Pledge to Save Pet Lives by adopting, fostering, volunteering and/or donating this summer with a goal of inspiring 1.5 million pledges to match the approximate number of pets unnecessarily euthanized in shelters each year in the U.S.

In addition to mobilizing the animal-loving public to help local animal welfare organizations save lives through the COVID-19 crisis, the Petco Foundation's Pledge to Save Pet Lives included $1M in emergency product and cash donations to animal shelters. This commitment follows the Petco Foundation's recent distribution of more than $13M to animal welfare organizations nationwide.

For stepping up and saving lives, each National Foster Hero will receive a thank you gift that includes BOBS from Skechers shoes and their incredible lifesaving work will be honored on petcofoundation.org/foster. The 22 National Foster Heroes were selected after nearly 400 animal welfare organizations across the country submitted their Foster Hero nomination. Participating animal welfare organizations will join in the celebration of Foster a Pet Month and honor their Foster Heroes locally as well.

For more on the Petco Foundation and to take the Pledge to Save Pet Lives, visit petcofoundation.org/pledge and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #SavePetLives.

About the Petco Foundation

At the Petco Foundation, we believe that every animal deserves to live its best life. Since 1999, we've invested more than $280 million in lifesaving work to make that happen. With our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners, we inspire and empower communities to make a difference by investing in adoption and medical care programs, spay and neuter services, pet cancer research, service and therapy animals, and numerous other lifesaving initiatives. Through our Think Adoption First program, we partner with Petco stores and animal welfare organizations across the country to increase pet adoption. So far, we've helped more than 6.5 million pets find their new loving families, and we're just getting started. Visit petcofoundation.org to learn more about how you can get involved.

About BOBS from Skechers

BOBS from Skechers' charitable collection of shoes, apparel and accessories have improved animals' lives: over the past five years, Skechers has contributed more than $5.45 million to help more than one million shelter pets, including saving more than 661,000 rescued pets in the United States. It all started in 2011, when Skechers launched a movement to support children impacted by natural disasters and poverty  a cause that has helped the Company donate more than 15 million pairs of new pairs of shoes to kids in more than 60 countries worldwide. To learn more about BOBS from Skechers' commitment to making a difference, visit www.BOBSfromSkechers.com and follow the brand on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter .

About Skechers U.S.A., Inc.

Based in Manhattan Beach, California, Skechers designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle and performance footwear, apparel and accessories for men, women and children. The Company's collections are available in the United States and over 170 countries and territories via department and specialty stores, and direct to consumers through 3,575 Company- and third-party-owned retail stores and e-commerce websites. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, Israel and Mexico, and wholly-owned subsidiaries in Canada, Japan, India, Europe and Latin America. For more information, please visit about.skechers.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

Media Contact:

Lisa Lane, Director of Marketing and Development

Petco Foundation

[email protected]

SOURCE Petco Foundation

Related Links

http://www.petcofoundation.org


A group of militants gave the slip to security forces during a gun battle in central Kashmirs Budgam district on Thursday morning, evading a cordon that was laid around their hideout.

The local police, CRPF and the army launched a joint operation in Pathanpora village of Budgam district after learning militants were present in the area. As the troops began surrounding the militants hideout, security forces exchanged fire with the militants.

However, the militants escaped under cover of darkness. The operation continued till later on Thursday morning, and it was called off only when officials learnt the militants had evaded the security forces.

A senior police officer, who declined to be named, said two Jaish-e-Mohammed militants managed to escape during the gun battle at Pathanpora. The militants left some arms and ammunition behind before they escaped, he said.

An army spokesman said one suspect has been arrested and arms and ammunition were found at the spot.

The operation was launched on specific information and while the cordon was being laid, the terrorists managed to escape. One suspect has been apprehended and one Chinese pistol, a grenade, six magazines and 147 rounds of ammunition were recovered, the army spokesman said.

Since Monday, security forces have killed 14 militants, mostly locals, in three operations in south Kashmirs Shopian district. The militants were buried 100 km away in Baramulla district.

Police didnt reveal the identities of the dead militants but said they were affiliated with the Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Police also said top commanders were among the dead militants.
David Schenker, the assistant secretary for the Near Eastern Bureau at the US State Department, has voiced appreciation for Egypts Cairo Declaration initiative on the Libyan conflict, saying it was "productive to have more unity in Libya."

In a teleconference with reporters on Thursday, Schenker said that the Egyptian initiative has helpful parts."

"That said, we think that the UN-led process and the Berlin process are really the framework -- the most productive framework -- to engage in negotiations to make progress on a ceasefire," he told reporters.

On Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi launched the initiative in Cairo alongside Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar and Libyan parliament speaker Aguila Saleh.

The initiative aims to bring about a ceasefire and find a peaceful political settlement in the country.

El-Sisi discussed the issue with US President Donald Trump by phone on Wednesday.

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Every writer hopes to be survived by his work. In the case of James Baldwin, the 32 years since his death seem only to have increased the relevance of the writing he left behind. Consisting of novels, essays, and even a childrens book, Baldwins body of work offers different points of entry to different readers. Many begin with with Go Tell it on the Mountain, the semi-autobiographical debut novel in which he mounts a critique of the Pentecostal Church. Others may find their gateway in Baldwins fictional treatment of desire and love under adverse circumstances: among men in Paris in Giovannis Room, for example, or teenagers in Memphis in If Beale Street Could Talk. But unlike most novelists, Baldwins name continues to draw just as many accolades  if not more of them  for his nonfiction.

Those looking to read Baldwins essays would do well to start with his first collection of them, 1955s Notes of a Native Son. In assembling pieces he originally published in magazines like Harpers and the Partisan Review, the book reflects the importance to the young Baldwin of what would become the major themes of his career, like race and expatriate life.





Though resident at different times in Turkey, Switzerland, and (right up until his dying day) France, he never took his eyes off his homeland of the United States of America for long. Nor, in fact, did the United States of America take its eyes off him. Over the course of the 1960s, says Fordham University political science professor Christina Greer in the animated TED-Ed introduction to Baldwin above, the FBI amassed almost 2,000 documents as they investigated his background and activities.

That the U.S. government saw Baldwin as so politically dangerous is reason enough to read his books. But as one of Americas most prominent men of letters, he could hardly be written off as a simple firebrand. Though known for his incisive views of white and black America, he believed that everyone, whatever their race, was inextricably enmeshed in the same social fabric, that people are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them. As he found receptive audiences for his arguments in print and on television, his faculty with words led the FBI to view him as a threat. But that very faculty with words  inseparable, as in all the greatest essayists, from the astuteness of the perceptions they express  has assured him a still-growing readership in the 21st century. Contending with the most volatile social and political issues of his time certainly didnt lower Baldwins profile, but any given page of his prose suggests that whatever hed chosen to write about, wed still be reading him today.

Related Content:

Great Cultural Icons Talk Civil Rights: James Baldwin, Marlon Brando, Harry Belafonte & Sidney Poitier (1963)

James Baldwin Bests William F. Buckley in 1965 Debate at Cambridge University

James Baldwins One & Only, Delightfully Illustrated Childrens Book, Little Man Little Man: A Story of Childhood (1976)

James Baldwin: Witty, Fiery in Berkeley, 1979

Chris Rock Reads James Baldwins Still Timely Letter on Race in America: We Can Make What America Must Become

Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His projects include the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles and the video series The City in Cinema. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall, on Facebook, or on Instagram.
Thousands of workers in West Bengals Murshidabad districts are queuing up at medical centers to get Covid-free certificates so that they can return to their workplaces, both within and outside, the state, officials said. So far, about 10,000 of the three lakh workers who had returned have gone back to other states after taking the medical certificates, the officials said.

Murshidabad is among the biggest contributors to the migrant workforce from Bengal. Every day, people in different community blocks of the district can be seen in long queues outside government health centres to procure fitness certificates, a document that is helping them return to the very states they had to return from during the nationwide lockdown.

A senior district health department official, on condition of anonymity, said, Till Monday, 126 people in Murshidabad had tested positive for Covid-19 and more than 95% are migrant labourers. Had they not returned to their villages the virus might not have spread to remote areas so fast.

Now that they have started returning to the states where they worked earlier, the disease is likely to spread as most of the carriers can be asymptomatic, the health official added.

Dr Utpal Majumdar, Bhagabangola-II community block medical officer of health, said,Hundreds of migrant labourers are coming to Nashipur hospital to get fitness certificates from us so that they can return and join duty.

They were in home quarantine for a while. Those who have lived in quarantine for 14-28 days and have no symptoms of Covid-19 are being given certificates. We are collecting swab samples from those who have symptoms.

Several migrant workers HT talked to said some private companies even sent vehicles to take the workers back. Sixty people from the districts Suti community block area hired a bus and left for Odisha on Monday.

I used to be the main mason at a construction site in Kerala and earn around Rs.800 a day. Here I am being offered 200 for the same job. I will leave soon, said Jafikur Sheikh, a wage labourer from Shamserganj.

Nausad Alam,a resident of Hakimpur village, said: I used to work at the workshop of a renowned jewellery company in Surat. I lost my job and I was worried about my family. I havent got any work here so far. I will leave in a day or two.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state leadership alleged that chief minister Mamata Banerjee wanted to stop the return of the migrants as it would expose the lack of job opportunities in her state.

These people came home out of fear and under financial duress but they had to face indignity and insult. Mamata Banerjee can neither provide work to them nor keep them in proper quarantine facilities. Many have to spend nights in open fields, said BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha. The leader also reminded that the chief minister dubbed the special trains ferrying migrants as Corona express.

However, the Bengal CM said yesterday that she did not coin the term Corona Express, but the people did.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) district leaders claimed that the migration has started again because the pandemic is under control.

The sabhadhipati or head of the TMC-controlled zilla parishad (district council) Mosharaf Hossain said, More than three lakh people returned home. Some came even from abroad. With the situation slowly normalising they have started returning to their place of work. Many of them have sought our help.

Around 10,000 migrant labourers from this district have already left. Many of them took trains while some are hiring buses or private cars, said Hossain.

Many of these labourers earn a good amount of money in other states. They were not getting similar jobs here. Many labourers have already returned in vehicles provided by their former employers, added Hossain.

I think they came home because they were worried about their families. We have noticed that the queues outside ration shops are getting shorter every day. It means people have started earning, Hossain said.

Additional district magistrate (general) Siraj Dhaneswar said, The district administration is trying to provide 100 days of employment to these people under MNREGA schemes. However, we cannot stop anyone from returning to their old place of work.

Political commentator and former principal of Presidency College (now university) Prof Amal Mukhopadhyay said, These people went to other states because they were either unemployed or did not get proper wages. The fact that they are going back proves that the magnificent development chief minister Mamata Banerjee talks about is only cosmetic and not substantive. There has been no industrial growth during TMC rule. I am afraid West Bengal is the worst state as far as job opportunities are concerned.

Speaking to HT from Bolangir in Odisha, Rahaman Miyan, a migrant labourer from Suti, said, I was working at a construction site here when the lockdown started. The company arranged a bus for us and we could return to our native village on April 16. We returned to the site in a bus the company provided.
By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. development agency proposed lifting restrictions on the financing of advanced nuclear energy projects for export, a move the Trump administration hopes will help the industry compete with state-owned companies in China and Russia.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, late on Wednesday opened a 30-day comment period on the proposal, which changes its definition of renewable energy to include nuclear power. The idea was included in the Trump administration's Nuclear Fuel Working Group report https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-uranium/trump-officials-eye-blocking-uranium-from-russia-china-to-help-u-s-nuclear-industry-idUSKCN2252TM, released in April, on ways to modernize nuclear energy policy.

The DFC said the proposed change could help deliver secure power to developing countries and that new U.S. technologies, such as small modular reactors and microreactors, may be well suited for them.

The change could "offer an alternative to the financing of authoritarian regimes while advancing U.S. nonproliferation safeguards and supporting U.S. nuclear competitiveness," the agency said.

Business groups said axing the restrictions would allow the United States to compete and help developing countries power electricity grids, desalination plants and other uses.

Washington "must ensure that our companies, our innovators, and our clean-energy technologies have the best possible chance to compete internationally," said Rich Powell, executive director of ClearPath, a nonprofit that supports development of nuclear energy to fight climate change.

The advanced technologies are expected to be less expensive than traditional nuclear power stations costing tens of billions of dollars.

But nonproliferation experts caution that the plants and their supply chains could become targets.

Ed Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said it is "utterly irresponsible for the Trump administration to promote the export of unproven and potentially dangerous nuclear technologies to the developing world." He said the administration should first work with countries to develop independent nuclear regulators and infrastructures for dealing with emergencies. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
GREENWICH  With the sun setting around them, people gathered in Binney Park for a candlelight vigil honoring the life and death of George Floyd.

The death of the Minneapolis man, captured on video, at the hands of police has sparked international protest and demands for reforms in law enforcement.

With candles lit on Wednesday night, event co-organizer Whitney Keyes urged the 150 people gathered in Old Greenwich to spread love and peace of our hearts by bringing the light of all the love in our hearts into this universe.

All of us have seen the video and felt the trauma of a hate crime that we all witnessed, Keyes said. Because of social media, never again will human rights violations go unnoticed by the world. Ive been so encouraged by all of the protest and all of the outcry. This can no longer happen.

The candles were lit and held for an 8 minute and 47 second observation of silence to signify the length of time that police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on the back of Floyds neck as he lay handcuffed on his stomach on the pavement.

Keyes and Meg Nolan Van Reesema, president of the Old Greenwich Association, organized the event with the help of JJ Worden, who coordinated the involvement of the nearby First Congregational Church. The churchs bells tolled after the observation of silence.

We want to send a message of unity and togetherness while recognizing what we need to do to move to a brighter future, Van Reesema said, adding later that organizers wanted to pay tribute not only to Floyd, but also to all others who were victims of police attacks.

Greenwichs Pete Francis, a member of the band Dispatch, performed his original song Show Me with his wife and children to send a message about coming back to love to heal, he said.

Many families brought along their children to the vigil. Some took to marking the pavement walking trail with chalk, writing down messages including Be Love, Black Is the Same as White, This Is Not Fair and Black Lives Matter.

We want our children to be able to digest the trauma that weve all gone through in seeing these videos, Keyes said. We want to be a part of creating a vision of what we want to see in the world and the love we want to express in the world.

Jamil and Prema Wayland brought their children Ellie, Alex and Avery, because they wanted them to learn that the more people speak out, the more they are heard.

We wanted to support the cause and be there with people and all the sadness were all feeling, Jamil Wayland said. We want to make it known that we all care and we all have a voice. Were here to support everything thats going on.

Were an interracial family and being a person of color I wanted to support Black Lives Matter and support the community and hope we all come together, listen and educate ourselves, Prema Wayland added. We have to learn from this.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
Mosul: The Islamic State group will never again overrun Iraqi territory, the country's Prime Minister has vowed while on a visit to the mosque where the terrorists' caliphate was declared.

The visit by Mustafa al-Kadhimi came amid a recent increase in militant attacks and the partial withdrawal of US-led coalition forces.

Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kahdimi, second right, arrives in Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday. Credit:PMO/AP

In Baghdad, a rocket struck a few hundred meters from the US Embassy inside the capital's fortified Green Zone, according to a military statement, hours before the two countries were to hold highly anticipated talks focusing on the presence of American troops in Iraq. No casualties were reported.

One month into office, Kadhimi visited the gamut of lives touched by IS rule in northern Iraq- from tribal leaders to the internally displaced - to mark the sixth anniversary of the group's onslaught against Iraq. IS controlled a third of the country at the height of its power in 2014.
Amid complaints about the conduct of virtual classes, the Karnataka government on Wednesday decided to stop online classes for children from Kindergarten (KG) to class 5.

Bengaluru: Amid complaints about the conduct of virtual classes, the Karnataka government on Wednesday decided to stop online classes for children from Kindergarten (KG) to class 5.

"Two decisions have been taken-online classes for LKG, UKG, and primary classes should be stopped immediately. Also, collecting fees in the name of online classes should be stopped immediately," Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar told reporters here.

He said, several complaints have been received regarding online classes, and he held discussions with experts, a body of private educational institutions and officials in this regard, and everyone was of the opinion online classes cannot be an alternative to physical classes.

Discussions were also held on how to engage children during this period, with no clarity over the reopening of schools, he said. A committee has been constituted under the leadership of Prof MK Sridhar to prepare guidelines on how to engage students and increase their knowledge, the minister said.

There has been pressure on the government to act, as parents have been complaining about online classes conducted by private schools even for kindergarten kids.

Further stating that the government had already issued circular asking educational institutions not to hike fees on humanitarian grounds considering financial constraints of several people due to the COVID-19 pandemic and induced lockdown, Kumar said, if schools decide to reduce the amount of the fee, it will be a "very welcome move."

He noted that from 25 June SSLC (Class 10) exams were starting. Before taking the decision he had consulted people from all walks of life, experts, representatives of political parties, the minister said.

"From 25 June to 4 July, the exams will be held and safety of children is our utmost priority and we are taking all necessary steps in this regard.

Preparations for the exams are on in all districts, micro-level planning is being done," he said, adding that Health, Transport and Home Departments have joined hands with Education department in this regard.
With more than 600,000 applications for unemployment insurance in the states coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday announced a multi-prong effort to retrain and hire workers who might be left behind when Connecticuts economy reopens.

The CT Back to Work Initiative will include free online training services and a virtual jobs fair with at least 40 prospective employers next week through Indeed.com, which has more than 1,000 employees in Stamford.

Its a jobs program built on a Lamont hallmark  public-private partnerships  to address an unemployment rate that cant be measured accurately because the picture is changing quickly. About one-third of all Connecticut residents with jobs sought coverage for furloughs or layoffs, and while many of those jobs have already returned, economists expect a long recovery to normal levels.

We were hit hard, obviously, by COVID and the COVID-related recession, Lamont said during his daily news briefing in the State Capitol. The bottom fell out of the job market. Think of this as a chance to restart. Heres an opportunity, at no cost to you, to take advantage of the time youve got and see where your skills and dreams can take you. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste, and I hope this gives you a bit of an opportunity.

Lamont announced that another 25 fatalities occurred since Wednesday, bringing the statewide death toll to 4,146 since the first in the coronavirus pandemic on March 17. A net reduction of 24 hospitalizations brought the total to 246.

The state also announced that deaths in nursing homes and assisted living accounted for 85 percent of all COVID-related fatalities in the week ending Wednesday. In all, there were 139 reported deaths in the week (asssisted living centers reported only through Tuesday). Among those, 118 were in long-term care facilities, while 21 were outside those facilities.

In Connecticut, you know somebody that lost their job, and you know somebody that lost their life, Lamont said, stressing that social distancing and wearing masks is a key to the economys rebound. He said that while enhanced unemployment benefits continue for another six weeks, now is the time for those who do not have jobs to plan their strategies.

Through Wedneday, long-term care facilities accounted for 72.2 percent of all deaths in the state  one of the highest levels in the nation.

The new employment program was created by the Governors Workforce Council, and includes a hiring portal through the state Department of Labor website that can be accessed by both businesses and those looking for work.

Now the jobs are beginning to come back, Lamont said.

Dave ONeill, chief operating officer of Indeed.com, said his 15-year-old companys free job fair is an opportunity to help the state of Connecticut, one of the founding locations for Indeed.

Weve been able to take our technology and create a custom job portal for the state that will allow job seekers to quickly and very easily find open jobs near them, he said. People can create and upload resumes inside the portal, and also search for employment opportunities, while companies can seek out people with particular skills.

Some of the companies involved in the hiring events include health care facilities, retailers, warehouses, delivery and logistics, restaurants and others. On June 15, there will be a webinar, with tips being offered on how to succeed in the virtual hiring process.

Garrett Moran, chairman of the Governors Workforce Council, said that efficiency and responsiveness have been the mission of the panel, but the pandemic and the protests over racial justice have made the stakes higher.

In the wake of the COVID virus and the tragedy surrounding George Floyd, we are all reminded that we need to make this real, that we cant just create a plan and put it on a shelf. And we cant just do the happy talk. We have to do the things that are real.

Moran said the council knew the Indeed.com technology and work-search platofrms, and approached the company for help.

They created this job portal and the job fair opportunity, it almost seemed overnight, he said, adding that there are also two free online learning sites announced five weeks ago under the SkillUp CT program, for which 11,000 people registered and 1,500 have completed courses.

Dante Bartolomeo, a former state lawmaker from Meriden who is deputy commissioner of the state Department of Labor, said 473,000 people have received emails from the agency informing them of the SkillUp CT program and other efforts to help people get back to work.

I want to make sure this is a jobs program that works for absolutely everybody, Lamont added.

Glendowlyn Thames, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, said the states $10 million Technology Talent Fund is also available for helping up-skilling the states workforce.

So if you find yourself unemployed, under-employed, there is this opportunity to take advantage of these new platforms and online resources to retool, discover new skills and connect with new job opportunities that will enable you to come out of this stronger, she said.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
At least 10 people have been killed and six others wounded in an attack on an Ivory Coast military checkpoint near the countrys border with Burkina Faso, according to a statement the army released on Thursday.

It was not yet clear who carried out the attack, which took place in the town of Kafolo at dawn.

The head of the armed forces, Lassina Doumbia, said that investigations are underway to determine the nature, the circumstances and the final outcome of this attack.

He could not confirm whether the attack had been an act of terrorism.

READ ALSO:

Though Mr Doumbia did not give details about those killed, President Alassane Ouattara seemed to indicate the victims were soldiers.

We bow before the memory of the soldiers who fell on the field of honour and offer our sincere condolences to the families of the victims, he said in a statement.

(dpa/NAN)
Los Angeles, June 11 : Actor Sean Penn says he is aware that he can be a difficult person to like, and puts blame on "arrogant" directors who don't respect actors.

"There've been several times I've worked with directors who I felt might have found a different job description, and perhaps weren't the storytellers that their initial meetings with each of us actors might have indicated," Penn said.

"Actors are kind of canaries in the coalmine emotionally, and you have to go to whatever place is necessary inside yourself. If you don't have somebody there who at least respects that -- most of what I was referring to is that the arrogance goes further than charm," he said, adding: "I am aware that I can be a difficult person to like from afar." Penn opened up during an appearance on Howard Stern's SiriusXM show, looking back at his acceptance speech when he won an Oscar in 2009, reports dailymail.co.uk.

He had the Best Actor Oscar for "Milk" in 2009. In his acceptance speech, he said: "I did not expect this... and I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often." At the moment, Penn is focusing on the work of his nonprofit organisation Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), which is providing free COVID-19 tests across the US during the pandemic.
"The traditional processes and methods used to identify and attract prospective tenants, especially in the current digital age, are evolving rapidly. Given our current unprecedented social environment that may revolutionize the workplace and tenants' expanding need for term flexibility and technological immersion, leasing agents require better precision-based tools to analyze demand and target qualified tenants. TenantBase's TenantBoard appears to be a leading-edge application platform that will accelerate the leasing agents' ability to be more efficient, productive and client-centric," stated Jack McKinney Sr., Vice Chairman of Cushman & Wakefield.

"These are unprecedented times for the CRE industry. In the past there has been limited visibility into what tenants actually want at any given moment in time. In a market that is changing by the day, the future of commercial leasing is dynamic and demand driven. We believe the leasing industry can thrive if given the right tools," said Bennett Washabaugh, TenantBase Co-founder and CEO.

Landlord agents can sign up for access to a personal dashboard where they can sort and target companies by square footage required, location, occupancy date, lease term and tenant qualifications. This is a dramatic change to the legacy process of posting listings online or contacting brokers in the hopes of finding a suitable prospect. As landlord agents add current or future vacancies to the TenantBoard, machine learning processes surface optimal tenant matches in real time. The agents are then able to easily submit flexible space configurations and deal packages to those tenants.

The goal of the TenantBoard is to help each tenant find and lease their perfect space so there is no cost to add listings or submit offers to potential tenants. The platform allows for fast feedback between the leasing community, the tenant, and the tenant's advisor, as well as the ability to schedule tours or begin discussing deal terms.

"We have thousands of tenants of all industries and sizes needing space across numerous markets in the U.S. right now. Some are actively touring or negotiating deals, others are just entering the market. We realize that vacant space can have unlimited configurations based on size, price and term as long as there is demand from tenants for those configurations," added Washabaugh, "By bringing aggregated tenant demand, we look forward to helping leasing agents and owners transact business in a way that is entirely new but still involves the same familiar faces of TenantBase's tenant rep advisors in your local market. A rising tide lifts all ships."

TenantBase has launched the TenantBoard in ten United States markets including Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Nashville and Orange County, CA. The company has plans for further expansion.

To get started, go to leasing.tenantbase.com to browse current tenants and upload your listings.

About TenantBase

TenantBase is a tech-enabled commercial real estate platform built to revolutionize the leasing process for tenants. TenantBase couples proprietary technology with top local tenant rep brokers to ensure tenants have an end to end leasing experience built and tailored entirely around the needs of the modern tenant consumer. Learn more at tenantbase.com .

CONTACT INFORMATION:

TenantBase, Inc.

Bennett Washabaugh

(734) 646-7867

[email protected]

SOURCE TenantBase, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.tenantbase.com


Ramadan released his new music video Corona Virus on YouTube today

In his new music video released on YouTube, Corona Virus, Mohamed Ramadan raps about the virus while stressing the importance of taking precautions during the pandemic.

"I am a gentleman, I wear gloves and a face mask; I don't hug. This way I am safe," he raps to rhythmic music and dynamic and colourful visuals.

Playfully, the song stresses the importance of disinfecting, physical distancing and attentiveness to measures that can help people avoid contracting coronavirus.

Without making any clear statements about his new music video, Ramadan gave a hint on social media about his new song-in-the-making in mid-May.

On 15 May, he posted a 40-second-long video in which he is in a car with his daughter Hanin, as he raps a short line from the newly released song.

Just eight hours after Ramadan's release of the song Corona Virus, the video received over 700,000 views on YouTube.

Music to Corona Virus is by El Power El 3aly who also worked on the lyrics together with Bldozer. The music arrangement is by Wessam Abdel Munem.

Mohamed Ramadan initially gained famed as one of Egypt's most popular film and television actors.

Over the past year, Ramadan has also turned to singing, attracting a large number of fans for his clips and occasional concerts.

Having signed a singing contract with Rotana in 2019, Ramadan released the song 'Baba', the video clip for which garnered over 30 million views in its first few weeks after release.

On 1 January, Ramadan released another music video on his YouTube channel titled Bum Bum which brought 108 million views until date, followed by Enta Gad3 released in March 2020.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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India lost a staunch advocate of data quality and an empirical analysis guru with the passing of Professor A Vaidyanathan on June 10th night. Vaidyanathan, former Member, Planning Commission and former Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies and Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, passed away in Coimbatore. Some of the best brains in Indian economy, banking, finance, agriculture, water and cooperatives have either been his students or took him as their guru.

Most general business and economy readers may associate him with the celebrated Vaidyanathan committee set up to strengthen rural cooperative credit institutions. His attention to data and its quality, was evident during the stint. Professor M S Sriram at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), who was also part of the committee, recalls of Vaidyanathan's request to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to spare a statistician to do data analysis. The final report even carried an annexure with rigorous data analysis - something not common in expert committee reports.

"I first met him 50 years ago when he was chief of perspective planning division in the planning commission and I wanted to prepare a state perspective plan. He guided me as my guru and inspired me to continue to work on public policy," says Y V Reddy, the former governor of the RBI.

Reddy says, "in terms of empirical research and data quality, he was among the top in India". "I continued to draw on his guidance and even met him in Chennai last year before he moved to Coimbatore," he adds.

Calling him a "guru of all economists", Professor M S Sriram, remembers his first meeting with Vaidyanathan in 2004 when Sriram joined as a member of the Vaidyanathan committee.

"I was cautioned by many that he was a hard task master. While he was a tough teacher, he was also very good natured, considerate person. He was fun to be with too. He often shared side stories to various developments. But then, he never compromised on data".

Among the few to know him both as an academician and at a personal level is YSP Thorat, the former chairman of the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

Vaidyanathan, while working on the rural cooperative credit institutions developed deep friendship with Thorat. Vaidyanathan would endearingly call Thorat by his first name 'Yashwant'. Vaidyanathan began work on rural cooperative credit institutions by asking Thorat to tell him one reason why these institutions needed to exist. Soon after, on Vaidyanathan's suggestion, Thorat was traveling across India for about two months to find an answer.

"He had extraordinary humility, allowing everyone to have a say. He was not dogmatic. He was always ready to debate. He understood people's suffering and the need to help. Fundamentally, he was a teacher who could inspire you," says Thorat.

His wife and former deputy governor of RBI, Usha Thorat, referring to his speech at the Madras Institute of Development Studies in 2018, says, "the most remarkable thing about Vaidyanathan was the way he thought people should study economics" .

Other than chairing the government of India's Task Force on Revival of Cooperative Credit Institutions (2004) or the Vaidyanathan committee as we know it today, he was a member of the K.N. Raj Committee on Taxation of Agricultural Income (1969-70). A student of Loyola College, Madras, Dr Vaidyanathan earned his doctoral degree in economics from Cornell University, US.

He joined the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 1956. His colleagues at NCAER at the time included the late Dr Ashok Mitra, former finance minister of West Bengal. From 1962 to 1972 Dr Vaidyanathan was a member of the perspective planning division of the Planning Commission and worked closely with Pitambar Pant, during which period he had a stint at the Food and Agricultural Organisation, Rome.

After a term at the World Bank (1972-76) he returned home to join Professor K.N. Raj as a member of the faculty of Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. Vaidyanathan was closely associated with state level planning in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He was actively involved in developing India's statistical system and the national sample survey. His scholarly work covered agricultural policy, water management and national statistics.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, describes Vaidyanathan "as a pillar of academic community and one who influenced the thinking of thousands of students, academics, civil servants and political leaders".

Few may know that Vaidyanathan, when he was a member of the central board of the Reserve Bank of India, survived the terrorist attack at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel in November 2008.

'Mr Data' as his students used to call him, will be sorely missed.

Also read: Indian pharma companies Aurobindo, Glenmark, Lupin, Sun, Wockhardt dragged to court in US

Also read: From sanitising tools to unused ventilators: Hospitals, insurers clash over COVID-19 claims
TORONTO - The co-owners of Coco Beauty Bar were ready to return to business once the Ontario government gave beauty salons a green light, but after seeing the strict COVID-19 restrictions required, they wonder if it's even worth the effort.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tim Heffernan and Vesna Rosales are photographed in their beauty salon in Toronto, on Thursday, June 11, 2020. The co-owners of Coco Beauty Bar were ready to return to business once the Ontario government gave beauty salons a green light, but after seeing the strict COVID-19 restrictions placed on them, they wonder if it's even worth the effort.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO - The co-owners of Coco Beauty Bar were ready to return to business once the Ontario government gave beauty salons a green light, but after seeing the strict COVID-19 restrictions required, they wonder if it's even worth the effort.

No facials, no microblading, face waxing or threading. And the biggest financial hit  no lash extensions.

"Lash extensions are our moneymaker, and if we can't do that we're thinking, 'What's the sense of opening up?'" said Vesna Rosales, manager of the small business in Toronto's Bloor West Village.

"We're going to be losing like crazy. We won't be able to pay full rent for July. There's no way."

Rosales and husband and business partner Tim Heffernan consulted the Toronto Public Health website, where he learned they can offer manicures and pedicures, as well as bikini and leg waxes. But he said that will only bring in about 30 to 40 per cent of the usual revenues, at best.

So the couple, who are both in their 60s, broke the bad news to their staff in an email which read, in part: "It doesn't look good." Now, they're asking themselves some big questions about the future of a business they had already considered selling earlier this year, as they planned for retirement.

Much of their frustration can be traced back to federal and provincial governments who've bogged down press conferences with confusing messages, a flurry of staggered deadlines for financial and rent support, and what many small businesses and commercial landlords have described as a total lack of clarity around COVID-19 financial support systems and how they apply.

Among the biggest complaints is the lack of co-ordination between the federal and provincial governments over the rollout of the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program (CECRA) in May, which was meant to help small businesses keep from going under. Tenancy laws fall under provincial jurisdiction, but it took weeks before there was official response to widespread complaints that some landlords refused to adopt the measures, choosing instead to kick out their commercial tenants. Some provinces introduced bans or restrictions on commercial evictions.

Ontario added itself to that group earlier this week with its temporary ban on evictions, which lasts until the end of August. But that's two months after the current CECRA support program expires, creating more questions over whether the federal government intends to extend its support for entrepreneurs who are deeply hurting.

A new study released by Royal Bank of Canada found that small businesses accounted for 60 per cent of job losses in the first two months of the pandemic, twice as many as in the 2008-2009 recession.

Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly has called for broader financial support measures that last longer. He believes without a clear roadway to recovery, most business owners can only focus on short term uncertainties.

"Everybody was of the view that if... (small businesses) were closed for a few months, government provided support, we reopened and things would back to normal, no harm no foul. But unfortunately that's not the world we're living in," he said.

"The CECRA program is ending before many of them are even back, and so the need for support to cover rent for shuttered businesses remains of critical importance to many, because they don't see the light at the end of the tunnel."

More than 5,500 small business tenants were approved for CECRA as of June 8, according to data provided by the House of Commons finance committee on Thursday. Kelly suggests that figure is a "drop in the bucket" compared to the 400,000 to 500,000 businesses the CFIB estimates qualify for the program.

For the owners of Coco Beauty Bar, they're still questioning their fate.

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Other small business owners are in similar situations due to a variety of restricted services, and many will have to consider whether it's worth staying in business with reduced operations.

Tattoo parlours can pierce ears, but they can't decorate faces or necks. Barbers can cut clients' hair, but they can't shave beards. And salons can't offer hand or feet massages.

Rosales hopes for the sake of her business, provincial and municipal leaders will see the importance of returning to regular routines with COVID-19 precautions in place. She said offering a limited menu of mani-pedis won't be sustainable.

"We'll be sitting there waiting for people to come while we have to pay for all the bills  salary, rent, utilities and whatever else," said Rosales.

"We'll be taking it out of our own pocket."

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 01:49:00|Editor: huaxia

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MADRID, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare reported no new deaths from COVID-19 for a third straight day Wednesday, while the number of new cases continued to edge up.

According to the ministry, a total of 27,136 people in Spain have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The figure has remained unchanged since Sunday.

The ministry also informed that 40 people lost their lives to the virus in the past seven days, with eight of Spain's 17 Autonomous Communities reporting no deaths in the period. The seven-day death toll is down from the 50 it reported on Tuesday.

Wednesday, however, continued to see a rise in the number of new cases detected by PCR tests, which discover if the coronavirus is active in the body. The ministry registered 167 new infections, compared with Tuesday's 84 and Monday's 48.

As of Wednesday, Spain has registered a total of 242,280 infections. Enditem
As the extra $600 in federal unemployment benefits from the CARES Act is set to expire July 31, Iowa lawmakers on Capitol Hill are divided on its future.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, expressed concern residents wont be motivated to go back to work if the $600 a week continues past July 31.

Im against extending it just the way it is because we have found that its very hard to get people go back to work if the governments paying you for not working, Grassley said in a call with media Wednesday.

The House of Representatives passed a bill to extend the $600 weekly benefits through Jan. 31. Democratic Rep. David Loebsack, 2nd District, voted for the measure, but Rep. Abby Finkenauer, a 1st District Democrat  voted against party lines.

Finkenauer wants a bill with temporary federal unemployment benefits beyond July 2020, but said the HEROES Act should focus on helping families, workers, small businesses and local governments.

Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend also voiced reservations about the amount of federal benefits at a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday.

She said 79 percent of Iowans who have received unemployment benefits since March 15 earned more on state and federal unemployment than the states average weekly wage.

This is not an issue of low wages in Iowa, Townsend told the committee. It is the impact of the additional money.

The average claim amount  when combining state and federal benefits  is equal to $22.50 per hour, she said.

This has resulted in very awkward conversations between employers and employees, Townsend said. Employees are asking to be laid off.

Six hundred dollars a week in benefits in Iowa goes much further than in states where the cost of living is significantly higher, Townsend said.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the national average weekly wage was $1,095 ($27.38/hour) in the second quarter of 2019. Iowas counties are all below that average. Thirty-six of Iowas 99 counties reported average weekly wages of $749 or lower (roughly $18.75/hour or less), 28 reported wages from $750 to $799 ($18.75/hour to $19.95/hour), 18 had wages from $800 to $849 ($19.95/hour to $21.22/hour), and 17 had wages of $850 or higher ($21.22/hour or more).

Grassley said he supports fellow Republican Sen. Rob Portmans efforts of coming up with a less costly alternative for when the CARES Act unemployment benefits expire.

If its possible to administer it, I think we need to give people encouragement to go back to work, and give them some help from the federal treasury that would supplement their income, Grassley said. Not necessarily to the tune of the $600.

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PITTSFIELD, Mass.  School officials are leaning toward opening school in the fall using a mix of remote and in-person learning.

Superintendent Jason "Jake" McCandless outlined Wednesday what education could look like next school year depending on the state of the pandemic and noted according to conversations with the state education officials, they will likely reopen with a hybrid model.

"We do understand that everyone is on pins and needles about next year and anybody that tells you for certain what next year is going to look like is telling you something that isn't true," McCandless said. "None of us know for sure what next year is going to look like and you will see what planning looks like for several different scenarios."

He referred to information he received from the Department of Education that seemed to favor this hybrid educational plan.

"This seems to me the direction ... the commonwealth is marching toward and we await guidance in the next week or two on what that looks like," McCandless said.

The superintendent said this could take many forms but at its core will mix remote learning with classroom learning perhaps with rotating schedules (week on/week off or day on/day off) in efforts to keep class sizes down.

This arrangement would allow students who need to report to school daily that option but would continue to put stress on families tasked with administering education.

He did note most likely personal protective equipment would be required in the classroom and this could become expensive or difficult to acquire if PPE are in short supply.

He said much of this would have to be worked out through negotiation with collective bargaining units and noted some staff may still not feel comfortable returning to school at all. This could be the same case for students.

McCandless said the other option is to just open their doors and return to school business as usual.

"This seems highly unlikely to me if not entirely impossible," he said.

He said this could create a greater demand for PPE for all students and staff that may not be affordable or even possible.

He said it would also require the district to be flexible with students and staff with health sensitivities or health sensitive people in their home. Also, many may not feel comfortable coming to work.

"This would require massive flexibility on our part as employers and as operators of a school district," he said. "Even if we were to open full stop we know that we will have families that will say, 'that is good for your kid but not for mine' and we think those families deserve that flexibility."

Because of this they most likely still have to provide remote learning plans for these individuals and families.

The final option is to just continue what they are doing with remote learning.

"We have been working with this solution with mixed results since the day we closed," he said. "The good news is ... we have learned many lessons and we are much better at it now."

He said this would put the most pressure on families who will have to continue administering their children's education.

McCandless said any decision would be guided by health data and local and state leadership.

"We are not among those people that say no matter what we have to reopen because 100,000 plus people have died from this virus," he said. "Personally and professionally I think we need to wait and see what the numbers are and what we are able to do."

No matter what it is decided, McCandless said it was important that each student has access to a laptop and is ready for any scenario.

"We believe that all of these scenarios require two things: access to a laptop ... and ideally internet service," he said. "That we are struggling with."

Even if the schools are able to open they may have to change direction mid-year and return to remote learning. School-issued Chromebooks will continue to be distributed to make sure every student has access to a computer.

Internet access remains another issue and McCandless said many students do not have an internet connection. If remote learning continues to be the standard, the district will need to find a way to provide internet.

A committee has been formed to compile a list of students without a connection. Officials are also in contact with community organizations and internet providers to find solutions and ways to legally pay for internet service for those without during the pandemic.

The use of mobile hotspots were explored but deemed not financially or logistically viable. Expanding internet service around schools is also being looked into. McCandless said, optimally, the state would treat the internet as any other utility.

In other business, McCandless said the City Council will review the fiscal 2020 education budget Thursday night and that he has never attended a budget hearing where he did not know how much state aid the district will receive.

The School Committee adopted a level-funded budget of $65 million that relies on level Chapter 70 funding. McCandless said this is possibly the best-case scenario and they need to prepare for deeper reductions in aid  possibly up to 10 percent or around $5 million.

Non-renewal notices have been given to 70 teachers on one-year contracts and later this week he anticipates another 50 or 60 notices will be handed out first-year educators.

He said if state aid comes in as hoped for, employees could be retained.

McCandless said preparations for worst-case scenario means another dozen or so notices will be delivered to administrative employees and teachers.

He did not expect the city to make up this deficit and put the onus on the state and federal government to provide the funding needed to educate students.

"We are not even sure how we would operate school," he said. "We do not know what Chapter 70 is going to look like ... the only thing we do know is that we will have 5,000 wonderful young people and their families looking to us in August or September."
This press release is also available in Francais (pdf) and Deutsch (pdf)



.............





Vevey, June 11, 2020





Nestle sharpens water focus on international, premium mineral and functional brands while exploring strategic options for parts of North American business

Pledges to make entire water portfolio carbon neutral by 2025

Nestle S.A.'s Board of Directors today approved a new strategic direction for its Waters business. The company will sharpen its focus on its iconic international brands, its leading premium mineral water brands, and invest in differentiated healthy hydration, such as functional water products. The Board also confirmed its intent to explore strategic acquisitions to grow in this category, while pledging to make its entire global water portfolio carbon neutral and replenish associated watersheds by 2025.

At the same time, the Board concluded that its regional spring water brands, purified water business and beverage delivery service at its Nestle Waters North America unit lie outside this focus. As a result, the company has decided to explore strategic options, including a potential sale, for the majority of the Nestle Waters business in North America (U.S. and Canada), excluding its International brands. This review is expected to be completed by early-2021.

Encompassing all brands, products and geographies of Nestle Waters, the company's new sustainability commitments build on existing efforts to reach ambitious milestones across the category. With the aim to achieve all goals by 2025, Nestle is driving action to:

Achieve Carbon Neutrality: Nestle Waters will pursue high-quality offsets in addition to investing in projects that reduce or capture carbon across its portfolio. Further, the company is prioritizing International brands Perrier, S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna to achieve carbon neutrality by 2022.



Enhance Water Stewardship: As part of the new strategy, Nestle Waters will support the environmental sustainability of watersheds by replenishing 100% of the water it uses. The company is already committed to certifying all of its water sites globally to the internationally respected Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) standard.



Tackle Plastic Waste: Nestle Waters' packaging is already 100% recyclable or reusable. As part of its broader efforts to drive a circular economy, Nestle Waters is committing to halve its use of virgin plastic by using more recycled PET and supporting the roll out of alternative delivery systems.

Mark Schneider, Nestle CEO, said, "The creation of a more focused business enables us to more aggressively pursue emerging consumer trends, such as functional water, while doubling down on our sustainability agenda. This strategy offers the best opportunity for long-term profitable growth in the category, while appealing to environmentally and health-conscious consumers. Nestle is one of the pioneers in the global water business and remains committed to healthy hydration. We are working tirelessly to ensure that consumers can enjoy our beverages in an environmentally responsible way."

The Nestle Waters business in North America, excluding International brands, had sales of around CHF 3.4 billion in 2019. Apart from the retained International brands it includes popular regional U.S. spring water brands such as Poland Spring Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, Deer Park Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, Ozarka Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, Ice Mountain Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, Zephyrhills Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, and Arrowhead Brand Mountain Spring Water. It also comprises the direct-to-consumer and office beverage delivery service ReadyRefresh by Nestle, and the Nestle Pure Life brand.

Nestle remains fully committed to growing its iconic International brands in the U.S. and globally, including Perrier, S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna. Celebrated the world over for exceptional sophistication and taste, these brands have been timeless performers in the Waters portfolio. Additionally, the company will further build its leading premium mineral water brands around the world and invest in differentiated products under the Nestle Pure Life brand, such as functional water with health-enhancing ingredients.

Nestle's global Waters sales amounted to CHF 7.8 billion in 2019. The portfolio encompasses 48 water brands and one tea brand on five continents, including internationally renowned brands such as Perrier, S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, as well as regional premium brands like Erikli in Turkey, Sohat in Lebanon and Buxton in the UK.

Contacts:



Media:

Christoph Meier Tel.: +41 21 924 2200

mediarelations@nestle.com



Investors:

Luca Borlini Tel.: +41 21 924 3509

ir@nestle.com
BLOOMINGTON  The COVID-19 pandemic and protests that have risen from the death of George Floyd have put a focus on racial disparities in health care.

The McLean County Board of Health said Wednesday night that it needs to do more to address those disparities.

"As we take a deeper dive into all of this, we need to be physically present in segments of our community," board member Judy Buchanan said during the meeting, which took place remotely and at the Government Center.

Buchanan explained that many services for people in need take place at the health department, 200 W. Front St., Bloomington. But she said events of the past two weeks show the "importance of people joining hands" and suggested that the health department consider taking some services out into the community.

"In addition to talking the talk, I suggest we do some walking," Buchanan said.

Board member Cory Tello said there is fearfulness, anxiety and mistrust in some segments of the community.

The board and health department have acknowledged for years that social determinants of health  such as racism and discrimination, education, employment, income, housing and neighborhood condition  are factors that help to determine one's health.

The county's three-year Community Health Improvement Plan, approved earlier this year, includes improved access to health care as among McLean County's top three health needs.

The plan calls, in part, for linking lower income residents with a medical home, increasing the capacity of organizations that provide them with dental services, increasing the availability of transportation for them to health care and increasing accessibility to community-based services.

Buchanan read from an article by the American Public Health Association that said that, to achieve health equity, obstacles  such as racism and other discrimination  must be removed.

"Failing to make progress harms us all," Buchanan said, quoting the article.

While the board didn't develop a specific plan, members agreed that they needed to do more.

"In the midst of the crisis and chaos is a huge opportunity for our community to be part of the solution," Tello said. "What are we doing as a community, at the policy level, to allow everyone to reach their full potential?"

Board member Robert Kohlhase called for raising the health department's work "to a higher implementation."

"Our role we can play is in education and conscious-raising," Tello said.

In other business, health department Administrator Jessica McKnight told the board an application had been submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health for a one-year grant for $2,861,712, effective this month, to increase COVID-19 contact tracing and testing.

If approved, part of the money would allow the health department to expand COVID testing in the community with the department going out and doing nasal swabs of residents at different locations in the community where people in need may walk up for specimens to be collected, McKnight said. Locations would be announced later if the grant is approved.

The grant would also allow the health department to contract with Reditus Laboratories in Pekin to do testing of the specimens collected by the health department.

The board would OK that contract next month if the grant money is approved.

"We know testing is an important response to COVID and we are looking to increase access to vulnerable populations," McKnight said after the meeting.

Photos: Local law enforcement, B-N chapters of NAACP and Not In Our Town hold joint rally

Contact Paul Swiech at 309-820-3275. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_swiech.

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TORRINGTON  The Ritz Crystal Room at Remember When is listed as the number one restaurant in Torrington by tripadvisor.com, with a perfect 5.0 rating and dozens of glowing reviews.

The community was surprised when owners Karen and Rit ODonnell announced they would not reopen when the state allows dine in services again. Restaurants are allowed outdoor dining, but indoor spaces remain off limits until June 17.

The decision to close, the owners said, came in the wake of regulations regarding reopening the state amid the COVID pandemic. The rules businesses must follow in the next wave include limiting capacity to half-capacity, their maximum number of customers, requiring facemasks, and limiting groups to 5 people.

We only have 32 seats in a very small dining room, so to cut that in half and to keep people separated is just impossible, Karen ODonnell explained.

She said she would not want that kind of environment for her customers or her staff upon opening  but delaying a reopening until all rules are lifted wasnt possible, either. I would want all that to be over before I would open, and theres no clue when that would be, she said.

The restaurant includes the Ritz Crystal Room  a dining room on the second floor  and the Ritz Cafe on the ground floor. Both were part of the larger Remember When store, which sells a wide varity of antiques, collectibles and jewelry.

The ODonnells say theyre not gone for good, but are simply removing the restaurant portion of what has always been a much larger business. Remember When Antique Shop and Lighting Museum is still open.

Weve been in town 30 years, 15 as a restaurant, and all that time as an antique store, lighting repair and museum, said Karen ODonnell.

After some weeks of considering a limited opening, such as opening only the cafe on the ground floor and closing the upstairs dining room, the ODonnells decided an early retirement from the eatery portion of the business was their only real option.

It was our life, Karen ODonnell said. I am bittersweet on it. Im happy with the retirement aspect of it, but I miss the people. I miss the staff. We had a good thing happening here. Im grateful for all the business the area has given us over the years.

The announcement was made on May 19 on the companys Facebook page. The ODonnells instantly were inundated with comments of love and support from the community.

Lisa Kochersperger wrote, Although you both more than deserve a great retirement, those of us who consider you all our family will greatly miss you and your wonderful unique restaurant and store. Wish that there was another option for your phenomenal place to stay open. We will miss you.

Former employee Brenda Antuna wrote, Weve had so many laughs despite the hard work. It was wonderful to work for two people that love and care about their staff as much as their staff loves and cares about them. You both will always hold a special place in my heart.

Even customers who only recently had discovered the restaurant were there to give it the sendoff it deserved.

Oh, Im so sorry to hear this. I had my most romantic meal ever here literally the weekend before the lockdown and instantly fell in love with your place and hoped to revisit many times. Im so sorry, wrote Jules and Peeby.

Mr. Rit and Miss K were two of the best bosses Ive ever had, said former bartender and server Skyler Zygmont. My coworkers are some of my best friends now.

Zygmont said she was sad to see the restaurant go. But, We all knew they couldnt run the restaurant portions forever, she said, adding that she was happy the couple found a way to retire that suited them and their needs.

Their first step is to sell of all their restaurant equipment to make room. When they reopen, they will have the antiques, the museum, and the lighting restorations they have always offered.

The lighting repair business is something the couple runs by appointment, since it never broke social distancing guidelines. Were seeing people one-on-one, theyre coming to the back of the building and were seeing them that way before we open, Karen ODonnell said

The antiques store and lighting museum will be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, while lighting repairs are available by appointment. Contact Remember When at www.remwhen.com, on Facebook, or by calling 860-489-1566.
From the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies to schools and government ministries, few concepts in popular psychology travelled as far and wide as lateral thinking. Garnering in excess of 20 million readers across almost 40 countries, a BBC TV series, hundreds of paid-up and certified Master Thinkers, a network of educational and business champions, de Bono had, by the 1980s, become a peculiar type of public intellectual: one who refused to engage with critics and detractors. Criticism was, according to the father of lateral thinking and founder of the Cognitive Research Trust, a vestige of the adversarial and intrinsically fascist Socratic method.  Aeon
North Korea is urging the United States to keep its mouth shut about worsening inter-Korean relations, saying such silence will be beneficial if the U.S. wants to hold a successful presidential election in November.

The statement published Thursday in the state-run Korean Central News Agency was issued by a relatively low-level official in North Koreas foreign ministry. But the comment is still notable, since it appears to be a threat to influence or interfere in the U.S. vote.

North Korea has been unilaterally ramping up tensions with South Korea. This week, it said it will cut off all lines of official communication with the South. The U.S. State Department said it was disappointed in Pyongyangs decision.

For North Korea, that comment amounted to interference in its internal affairs, according to Kwon Jong Gun, who heads the North Korean foreign ministrys North America department.

It would be good to keep your mouth shut, Kwon added. This will not only be in the United States interest, it will also be beneficial for a successful presidential election right in front of your nose.

Before now, North Korea has not explicitly threatened to interfere in the U.S. election, set for November 3. But Pyongyang has signaled bigger provocations are ahead.

In January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the world would soon witness a new strategic weapon. But since then, the North has only continued to periodically test less provocative, short-range weapons.

Trump, who has portrayed his outreach to Kim as a major foreign policy victory, has at times directly linked North Korea with his 2020 re-election chances, despite little if any evidence suggesting it will be a major issue for U.S. voters.

"(Kim) knows I have an election coming up. I dont think he wants to interfere with that, but well have to see, Trump said in early December.

Empty threat?

Its not clear how seriously North Koreas latest comments should be taken. The North Korean foreign ministry is not seen as influential in the countrys decision-making process. And, it has a history of issuing threats that were not carried out.

In December, North Koreas vice foreign minister, Ri Thae Song, threatened an ominous Christmas gift if the U.S. didnt make greater concessions in stalled nuclear talks. The U.S. did not give any ground, and the North didnt engage in any major provocations.

Inter-Korean tension

North Koreas latest threat to the U.S. comes as it also generates a diplomatic crisis with South Korea.

This week, North Korea announced it would halt all communications channels with the South, which it referred to as its enemy.

As an apparent pretext for its decision, North Korea cited recent activities by South Korean activists who occasionally float anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North.

Kim Yo Jong, the increasingly powerful sister of Kim Jong Un, called the activists, many of whom are North Korean defectors, human scum. North Korean state media have shown pictures of anti-defector rallies in North Korea.

It isnt clear why North Korea chose this moment to express outrage about the launches, which have occurred for years.

Nonetheless, the move to cut off inter-Korean communication lines was a blow to the South Korean government, which desperately wants to improve ties with the North.

South Korea has aggressively but unsuccessfully attempted to placate North Koreas concern about the leaflets.

The South Korean government has said it will legislate a ban on the launches. Local police have blocked groups from conducting launches on at least two occasions this month. On Wednesday, the Unification Ministry announced it will file a legal complaint against two groups that distribute the leaflets.

Rights groups and conservative activists have accused South Korean President Moon Jae-in of sacrificing democratic ideals, and letting North Korea dictate South Korean policy, in order to improve ties with the North.

Moon, who has two years left of a five-year presidential term, is making a final push to improve inter-Korean relations. But it is not clear how far he can go, since most inter-Korean projects are barred by international sanctions on North Koreas nuclear program.

U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks have been stalled since February of last year, when Trump and Kim failed to reach an agreement at a summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In December 1807, thousands of stones rained down on Weston, Connecticut. President Thomas Jefferson, upon hearing the news, urged caution in concluding that they had originated from space, which we now recognize as fact.

Dozens of tons of meteoric material strike Earth each day, much as tiny dust and largely into the oceans, unnoticed. Meteorite shares a root with meteorology (the study of that which is raised above the ground), hinting that meteorites were once thought to be a weather phenomenon.

Most annual meteor showers derive from comets vaporizing in the sun, yet no meteorite larger than a dust particle has ever been traced to a comet. Nearly every chunk large enough to survive blazing through the atmosphere originated from asteroids.

About seven-eighths of meteorites contain round nodules, called chondrules, which formed during their primordial condensation. These are material that managed to avoid being incorporated into a planet, moon or asteroid before Earth swept them up.

Most of the remaining eighth came from one or more protoplanets that grew large enough to differentiate (separate into dense iron cores surrounded by rocky mantles) before being shattered in ancient collisions. We know this because their offspring meteorites are iron (from the cores), stone (from their mantles), or a mixture (from the core-mantle boundaries) all whose chondrules melted during their parent bodies differentiation phase.

Rarest of all are lunar or Martian meteorites, blasted off their parent bodies by impacts and later captured by the earth.

Sadly for southern Idaho meteorite hunters, there are few worse places to search than here, where lava rocks superficially resemble meteorites so closely that finding the real thing is like Wheres Waldo? on steroids. Fertile meteorite hunting grounds are places where dark, dense rocks are rare, like sandy deserts, ancient playas and atop glaciers.

Next column: An invisible, Independence Day eclipse.

Chris Anderson manages the College of Southern Idahos Centennial Observatory in Twin Falls. He can be reached at 732-6663 or canderson@csi.edu.

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SANDUSKY, Ohio  When you scream on a roller coaster with a mask on, what kind of sound comes out?

Well find out next month, when Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kennywood and other parks reopen with this requirement: Everyone in the park, including all guests over the age of 2, must wear a face mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Many coaster fans, thrilled with the news this week that Cedar Point would open July 9, were less than thrilled with the requirement that theyll have to wear a mask.

Many took to Twitter and other social media to express their displeasure:

* "Were not going to wear masks in hot humid weather, wrote one commenter on Cedar Points Twitter page. And our health and well-being should not concern you. That judgement should be left to us.

* Drop the mask requirement or refund season passes, wrote another.

* And a third: If you can require people to wear masks, you can require them to wear deodorant too. Get on it.

What about people passing out in the 90+ degree weather from wearing masks?  Michael / Mtnz (@xMtnz) June 9, 2020

One Clevelander who approves of the decision: Dr. Keith Armitage, an infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals, who worked as a consultant and reviewed Cedar Fairs reopening guidelines this spring.

Armitage said he was prepared to try to convince the company to require face masks in all of its parks. Turns out, the company didnt need to be convinced. The proposed guidelines the company shared with Armitage already included the requirement.

Theres more and more data supporting masking, said Armitage, who is medical director of UHs Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine & Global Health. If youre around crowds, the safest thing to do is to wear a mask.

True, he said, being outside lowers the risk of transmission. Being outside with a mask on lowers the risk even more.

He said he would feel comfortable letting his teenage kids go to Cedar Point, but only because masks are mandatory. If it was only my family who had masks on, I wouldnt feel comfortable, he said. If employees and the public follow the protocols, I think it will be a low risk situation.

Armitage said he was pleased to see that other major amusement park companies, including Six Flags, Disney and Universal, also were requiring guests to wear masks.

Some states, including Pennsylvania, are requiring that amusement park guests, in addition to employees, wear masks, at least initially, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Others, including Ohio and Florida, are leaving it up to the individual parks to decide.

An industry document providing reopening guidance from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions also strongly recommends the use of masks for guests  particularly on rides and in areas where social distancing is difficult. Face masks/coverings are recommended for riders to reduce the likelihood of airborne virus droplets transferring from one person to another during the ride, said the document.

Cedar Point spokesman Tony Clark said enforcement of the new mask requirement would be via signage, in-park announcements and employees reminding guests about the policy.

He said he was confident the masks would stay on, even on the parks fastest, wildest rides. Weve tested face coverings on multiple rides and are confident they will be secure, he said.

Universal Studios Florida opened last week with a mask requirement. Tharin White, a writer for Attractions Magazine, wrote a story about wearing a mask for 12 hours in 90-plus degree Florida heat.

For the most part, White wrote, the mask wasnt a big problem  it was relatively comfortable and didnt cause him to overheat any more than the Florida sun already did. And then it started to rain while he was riding the parks new roller coaster, Hagrids Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.

The rain, combined with the launch speeds and the soaked mask, made it hard for me to catch my breath, he wrote. I did, at one point, have to slide a hand in my mask to make a gap in-between my nose and the fabric.

Face masks are required at Universal Orlando Resort, which reopened last week. The park has created U-Rest Areas, where guests can remove the marks. (AP Photo/John Raoux) APAP

Armitage acknowledged that a face mask on a hot day at the park may not be comfortable. Were in a pandemic, he said. Its not going to be perfect.

He added, If its a super hot day and the mask is uncomfortable, blame the pandemic  dont blame the mask.

But he rejects the argument that its a matter of individual choice whether someone wears a mask.

You cant drive drunk in our society, you cant walk into a restaurant with no pants on or walk down the middle of I-90 because you want to, he said. These are societal norms that weve come to accept.

He also promised that the combination of masks and amusement parks wouldnt be reality forever.

Im optimistic that by next summer well be back to normal, he said, noting that scientific work on vaccines and treatments is progressing quickly.

This is a once-in-100-years event, he said. We have to be patient until we get through it. But we will get through it.

Read more:

Cedar Point will open July 9, with reservations, masks required

Pittsburghs Kennywood amusement park to open July 11
China-India Border Tensions Underscore Beijing's Expansionist Intent, Says Tibetan Exile Government Leader

2020-06-10 -- Recent tensions between India and China along the unmarked border in India's northeastern region of Ladakh demonstrate Beijing's continued intention to annex disputed areas and expand its influence in South Asia, the head of Tibet's India-based exile government said this week.

Thousands of troops from the nuclear-armed neighbors have faced off since May near Ladakh's Pangong Lake, with Chinese troops rushing artillery and combat vehicles into the area after India was seen building a road nearby, according to Indian media reports.

Both sides have now pulled back ahead of a new round of talks aimed at reducing tensions, Indian government sources said on Tuesday, with China's foreign ministry saying on Wednesday that discussions between commanders in the two armies have already moved the issue toward a peaceful resolution.

Indian media reported that Chinese and Indian armies have shifted forces back from three flash points high in eastern Ladakh, a part of India with a large Tibetan Buddhist population.

The current face-off in Ladakh is only the latest in a series of flare-ups along China's and India's 2,200-mile-long undemarcated border, or Line of Actual Control, with Indian soldiers using their fists to block an attempt by Chinese troops on May 9 to cross into Indian territory at the Nakula pass in northern Sikkim.

Meanwhile, in June 2017, India sent hundreds of troops into Bhutan to defend its ally against efforts by China to build a road southward into Doklam, an area claimed by both China and Bhutan. The stand-off continued for over two months and ended when both sides withdrew.

Watching China's repeated probes of Indian territory and defenses, India and the international community should remember the experience of Tibet, which was invaded by China in 1950 and finally taken over by force, Lobsang Sangaypresident of Tibet's India-based exile government, the Central Tibetan Administrationsaid in interviews this week.

Promises by China of withdrawal from contested areas are often temporary and must be continually verified, Sangay said, speaking to Arnab Goswami of India's Republic TV.

"It is quite difficult to trust the Chinese regime. They say something and then do exactly the opposite," Sangay said, adding, "They came [to Tibet] in the name of peace and prosperity for the Tibetan people, but ultimately the Chinese took away our country and independence, and we were driven into exile."

"India and the world should learn from Tibet's experience with China," Sangay said.

'Tibet has been militarized'

"When the Chinese government said they would build a road connecting China to Tibet, they promised us prosperity and stability," Sangay said, speaking in an interview on Tuesday with Rahul Kanwal of India Today.

"But that road was used to bring trucks of guns and tanks to occupy Tibet, and since that time that one road has become a hundred roads reaching all over the Tibetan plateau [right up to] the borders of India."

Six military airfields have now been built near Ladakh and the disputed northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and military-grade rail lines now connect Tibet's Shigatse prefecture with the borders of Nepal, Sangay said.

"So the whole Tibetan plateau has been militarized," he said.

Until Tibet's status as a genuinely free and autonomous region is resolved, there will be even more border incursions by China into Ladakh, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh, Sangay said.

"Until the border changes from India-China back to India-Tibet, all of this will continue," Sangay said. "The Indian government should say that for the security of India, Tibet needs to be free."

Origin of the problem

"The establishment of Chinese control over Tibet is the origin of the problem," agreed Manoj Joshi, a defense analyst at India's Observer Reserve Foundation, speaking to RFA in an interview in May.

Recalling a war fought on the border between India and China in 1962 in which hundreds were killed or wounded on both sides, Joshi said, "The Chinese have it much easier now that they have built roads and railways into Tibet."

"They can bring large numbers of troops up to the border now in a very short time," he said.

The installation by China of 5G wireless telecommunications equipment on Mount Everest, bordering Nepal, has meanwhile strengthened China's ability to monitor and disrupt military communications in neighboring states, said S.N. Ravichandranjoint secretary of the Cyber Society of Indiaalso speaking to RFA.

"Not only India but other countries should be wary as well," Ravichandran said.

"What happens if military units in Sikkim and Ladakh are disrupted, and that's where the concentrations [of forces] are building up?," he asked.

"This is of great strategic importance, and yes, India is aware of it. I think that the Indian military is aware of it and is taking measures," he said.

Reported by RFA's Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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The Vietnamese government objected Thursday to report that China is laying undersea cables in the disputed Paracel Islands, saying it was a violation of Vietnamese sovereignty.

The foreign ministry comment came as Vietnam deployed a coast guard ship into another contested island chain in the South China Sea, the Spratlys, in apparent response to the presence of Chinese maritime militia around a Vietnamese outpost there.

In Hanoi, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang was asked about a BenarNews report on Monday that a Chinese ship was laying or repairing undersea cables near Chinese outposts in the Paracels. The reporting was based on commercial satellite imagery and vessel-tracking software, and was cited extensively by Vietnamese state media this week.

Vietnam has sufficient historical evidence and legal grounds affirming its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes in accordance with international law, Hang told reporters, according to the state-run Vietnam News Agency.

Therefore, any activity relating to the two archipelagoes conducted without Vietnams permission are violations of its sovereignty and of no value, she said.

U.S.-based experts interviewed by BenarNews said the cable work suggested that China was installing an undersea surveillance system for its occupied features in the Paracels, further militarizing the region.

Vietnam and China both claim the Paracel Islands, a series of rocks and reefs in the north of the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, BenarNews detected a Vietnamese Coast Guard ship that entered the Union Banks, an area in the Spratlys that hosts four Vietnamese and two Chinese-occupied military outposts. The ship, identifiable as the CSB-8005 on vessel-tracking software and spotted on satellite imagery, entered the area on June 4 and is patrolling near the Vietnamese outpost on Sinh Ton Dong/Sin Cowe East Island.

It appears likely that the Vietnamese ship was sent to scare off Chinese maritime militia boats. There has been a near-continuous presence of the maritime militia in the Union Banks area since March.

Satellite imagery shows what appear to be at least 30 Chinese fishing boats directly north of Sinh Ton Dong as of June 5, and vessel-tracking software indicates that at least five maritime militia ships are in the area. As of Thursday, the software showed the maritime militia had moved east, but were still in the Union Banks area.

In Union Banks, China occupies Johnson South Reef and Hughes Reef. Vietnam occupies Collins Reef, Sin Cowe Island/Dao Sinh Ton, Sin Cowe East/Sinh Ton Dong, and Lansdowne Reef.

China maintains it has historic rights to the entirety of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Beijings rival, Taiwan, have their own claims to portions of the waterway.
This discovery prompted further scrutiny into McCord and FMC. An internal audit allegedly found that McCord had misappropriated additional Spirit/Mortgage Corp. and Citizens/Funding Corp. loans by using warehouse lines of credit with the banks  selling loans to Fannie Mae and then resubmitting the loan documents to Spirit or Citizens to receive additional money from his credit lines with the banks; using FMCs warehouse lines of credit with the banks to refinance the resulting loans without repaying the banks the originally loaned funds; using those lines of credit to fund mortgages to borrowers but never repaying the banks; and using warehouse lines of credit to double fund loans by obtaining funds from both banks to fund the same loan.

McCords actions allegedly involved Spirt/Mortgage Corp. and Citizens/Funding Corp. in loans totaling approximately $40 million, in addition to the $14.1 million in loans McCord sold out of trust.

Upon discovering McCords conduct, both banks terminated future warehouse lending to FMC and instituted requirements that McCord assign FMC-funded mortgages to Spirit/Mortgage Corp. and Citizens/Funding Corp., to ensure that the title companies handling those mortgages sent payoffs directly to the bank. Whole McCord filed the required assignments, his employees allegedly contacted the title companies and had payments directed back to FMC. McCord allegedly continued to collect loan payoffs without paying the banks. He also allegedly signed releases on those mortgages after receiving the payoffs, subjecting the homeowners to potential foreclosure if Spirit/Mortgage Corp. or Citizens/Funding Corp., which held the titles, tried to collect payments on the mortgages.

The indictment also alleged that in 2017, McCord serviced about 12,000 loans, worth approximately $1.8 billion, for Fannie Mae, and defrauded the GSE by diverting escrow money intended to pay homeowners taxes, principal and interest to cover FMCs operating expenses. McCord allegedly bounced checks to more than 60 taxing authorities, and borrowers throughout the Oklahoma City area missed making their tax payments. McCord is alleged to have laundered his ill-gotten escrow money by writing himself checks, pay more than half the purchase price of his sons $900,000 home, and build a custom vacation home in Colorado.

If convicted, McCord faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million for each count of bank fraud and making a false statement to a financial institution. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count of money laundering. The Justice Department is also seeking forfeiture from McCord in the amount of the proceeds of the alleged fraud and in the amount of the property involved in the scams.
FILE PHOTO: An Emirates passenger plane comes in to land at London's Heathrow airport

By Alexander Cornwell

DUBAI (Reuters) - Emirates laid off more pilots and cabin crew on Wednesday in a second day of redundancies at one of the world's biggest long-haul airlines, three company sources said.

An Emirates spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the airline's statement on Tuesday that said some employees had been laid off. No further details were provided.

The Dubai-based carrier laid off hundreds of pilots and cabin crew on Tuesday in a bid to stave off a cash crunch caused by the coronavirus pandemic, sources told Reuters.

More redundancies were expected this week, including both Airbus <AIR.PA> A380 and Boeing <BA.N> 777 pilots, the sources said on Tuesday.

Those who lost their jobs were told their positions had been made redundant, the sources said.

Aviation is one of the industries worst hit by the fallout from the virus outbreak, with airlines around the world laying off staff and seeking government bailouts.

The state carrier had said in May a promise by the Dubai government to provide Emirates with new equity would allow it to "preserve its skilled workforce."

Emirates has since said it could take it up to four years to resume flights to all 157 destinations it flew to before the pandemic.

The airline has operated limited, mostly outbound services from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since grounding passenger flights in March, but is due to restart some connecting flights this month after the UAE lifted a suspension.

Emirates Group, the state holding company that includes the airline, has also seen lay offs at its airport services company dnata.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Mark Potter)
Three people were taken to the hospital after being shot this morning in Stevenson, a tiny Jackson County city in northeast Alabama.

Emergency crews were called to the scene on Ohio Avenue near Bynum Street at 8:39 a.m.

Rocky Harnen, the Jackson County sheriffs chief deputy, said two people were flown by helicopter and a third person was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Their conditions werent available Thursday morning, and the sheriffs office declined to release information about the injured people.

Harnen said investigators dont yet have information to release about a motive or the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Investigators are looking for a green, four-door Mercury passenger car that was spotted near the scene, Harnen said. The vehicle may have body damage or missing parts on its back left side, he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 256-574-2610.
[June 11, 2020] InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN) Coverage Initiated for ISW Holdings Inc.

NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire  ISW Holdings Inc. (OTC: ISWH) , a global brand management holdings company, today announces it has selected the corporate communications expertise of the InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN), a multifaceted financial news and publishing company for private and public entities.

ISW Holdings is a brand management portfolio company with diverse partnerships that focus on growing businesses in multiple sectors, including crypto mining, renewable energy, home health care for the chronically ill, wellness and restoration, and the adult beverage industry, as well as early-stage operations in supply chain and logistics management. ISW Holdings operates as the nexus between its partnerships and their essential services for end users. As part of the Client Partner relationship with ISW Holdings, IBN will leverage its investor based distribution network of 5,000+ key syndication outlets , various newsletters , social media channels , wire services via NetworkWire , blogs and other outreach tools to generate greater awareness for ISW Holdings Inc . We are pleased to engage IBN to maximize our communication with existing and potential shareholders while refining our overall messaging and outreach, states ISW Holdings CEO Alonzo Pierce. With 14+ years of experience assisting 500+ client partners in improving communications within the investment community, and a sizable family of 45+ trusted brands , IBN has amassed a collective audience that includes millions of social media followers . IBN is uniquely positioned to provide ISW Holdings with the solutions needed to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public.



ISW Holdings is leveraging a diverse strategy to create successful brands and partnerships in various disrupting industries, states Chris Johnson, director of client solutions for IBN. While the company continues to broaden its foothold in crypto, health care, wellness, supply chain management, adult beverages and more, we will launch a corporate communications campaign that places its progress in front of the investment community. To learn more about ISW Holdings, visit the company's corporate newsroom profile at www.IBN.fm/ISWH .

About ISW Holdings ISW Holdings Inc. (ISWH), based in Nevada, is a diversified portfolio company comprised of essential business lines that serve consumer product demands. Its expertise lies in strategic brand development, early growth facilitation, as well as brand identity through its proprietary procurement process. Together with its partners, the company seeks to provide a structure that meets large scalability demands, as well as anticipated marketplace needs. ISW Holdings is able to meet these needs through a variety of strategic innovative processes. ISWH is creating and managing brands across a spectrum of disruptive industries. It maneuvers its proprietary companies through critical stages of market development, which include conceptualization, go-to-market strategies, engineering, product integration, and distribution efficiency. The company has also partnered with a well-known software development and consulting company, Bengala Technologies LLC, which is developing significant enhancements in the supply chain management space, and the partnership has a vitally needed patent pending. For more information, visit www.iswholdings.com About InvestorBrandNetwork The InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN) consists of financial brands introduced to the investment public over the course of 14+ years. With IBN, we have amassed a collective audience of millions of social media followers. These distinctive investor brands aim to fulfill the unique needs of a growing base of Client Partners. IBN will continue to expand our branded network of highly influential properties, leveraging the knowledge and energy of specialized teams of experts to serve our increasingly diversified list of clients. Through NetworkNewsWire (NNW) and its affiliate brands, IBN provides: (1) access to a network of wire solutions via NetworkWire to reach all target markets, industries and demographics in the most effective manner possible; (2) article and editorial syndication to 5,000+ news outlets; (3) enhanced press release solutions to ensure maximum impact; (4) full-scale distribution to a growing social media audience; (5) a full array of corporate communications solutions; and (6) a total news coverage solution. For more information on IBN visit https://www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the InvestorBrandNetwork website applicable to all content provided by IBN, wherever published or re-published: http://IBN.fm/Disclaimer Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Corporate Communications

InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN)

Los Angeles, California

www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com

310.299.1717 Office

[email protected]

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to give committee Chairman Senator Lindsey Graham the power to subpoena dozens of Obama and Trump administration officials as part of the Republican-led committees probe of the 2016 Russia investigation.

The committee voted 12 to 10 along party lines to green light possible subpoenas for at least 53 people for interviews and documents related to the investigation, including former FBI Director James Comey, former national security adviser Susan Rice, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. The probe aims to examine the FBIs handling of Crossfire Hurricane, the bureaus code name for its 2016 investigation into Russian election interference and the Trump campaign, which led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

I think we need to look long and hard about how the Mueller investigation got off the rails, Graham said Thursday. This committee is not going to sit on the sidelines and move on.

It would be a collaborative process, but youre trying to stop me  and Im not going to be stopped, the South Carolina Republican said of criticism from Democrats. From my point of view, it sounds like you want to talk about everything except for what we should be talking about.

After Mueller released the final report on his teams investigation, the Justice Departments inspector general issued a report in December on the FBIs handling of the Russia investigation concluding that agents failed to inform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the controversial Steele dossier, cited in applications to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page during the 2016 election, was unreliable. The dossier was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele who was investigating Donald Trump for an opposition research firm hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The dossier purported to show connections between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

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However, the inspector generals report did not say the FISA court should have declined to grant the warrants and nevertheless concluded that political bias did not compromise the FBIs handling of the Russia investigation.

Former acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who signed off on the third application to renew the FISA warrant to spy on Page, last week became the first witness to testify to the committee as part of the probe. Rosenstein told the committee that in retrospect, he would not have approved the warrant had he been aware then of the unreliability of the underlying evidence.

Anybody who knew about the problems with the dossier and continued to use it are good candidates to go to jail, Graham said Monday.

The Judiciary Committee chairman also said he would allow Mueller to testify after Democrats urged him to call the former special counsel as a witness.

Once we find out that the Mueller investigation was run by people who hated Trumps guts, dripping with partisanship, nobody seems to care, Graham said.

The committees Democratic ranking member, Dianne Feinstein, accused Graham of attempting to grant himself unilateral subpoena authority without the approval of a single Democrat and said the GOPs investigation is politically motivated.

Unfortunately, it appears that Senate Republicans now plan to spend the next several months bolstering the presidents attack on the Russia investigation and his Democratic nominee, Democrat Joe Biden. Congress should not conduct politically motivated investigations designed to attack or help any presidential candidate, Feinstein said.

More from National Review
Integrated Marketing & PR agency, Team Pumpkin, has been awarded the Digital mandates for 12 brands across the globe. These mandates range across, Digital Identity, Global Ecommerce Development, Social Media Management, Performance Marketing, and Integrated Digital Marketing Suite.

According to the company, the brands include Sdays  A Fashion Brand from Italy, LuxeHerbal  A Haircare Brand from Singapore, ENHAPP  A HealthTech App from Dubai, and ACCRO  An IT Services company from Dubai from their International division. In India, the agency has won the mandate for CMR University, Celusion Technologies, Ultrawell, CityCash, Tacnik, BlueConch Technologies, Alphard Maritime, and JustBreathe. The Agency is also witnessing increased demand for its digital services from its existing clients across FMCG, Health-Tech, EdTech, eCommerce, and B2B sectors.

Speaking on the win, Ranjeet Kumar, CEO Team Pumpkin said, The COVID-19 situation has led to a lot of brands realizing the need and importance of Going Digital. Team Pumpkin is committed to provide Integrated ROI led digital services to brands across sectors. Many of the brands today have started the digital journey in the last few weeks and we partner with them to make it a success in the new business landscape.

Swati Nathani, CBO Team Pumpkin mentioned, There is no doubt that digital today is the answer for getting back to business growth. During these unprecedented times, we are going out of our way to ensure that the brands who are new to digital are not only consulted and counselled well but also trained well to understand the metrics and impact.

Team Pumpkin also reported that many of these wins are a result of multi-agency pitches and global projects. One such example the company outlined that when Italy was under lockdown earlier and a leading fashion brand Sdays, reached out to develop alternative sales channels, Team Pumpkin rolled out global eCommerce stores in many countries and languages within 6 weeks starting from scratch. The recent wins will be managed out of Team Pumpkins Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi offices.
MINNEAPOLIS, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Braun Intertec, an engineering, consulting and testing firm with more than 35 offices in seven states, is pleased to announce Tom Posey, PE has joined the Braun Intertec team in Texas. Posey brings 25 years of experience consulting on national and international commercial infrastructure and industrial projects and expertise within construction materials testing, field exploration, laboratory testing, geotechnical engineering design and analysis, QA/QC and project management.

"We are thrilled to welcome Tom to our team of employee-owners at Braun Intertec," said Jon Carlson, Braun Intertec CEO. "His engineering and testing expertise as well as his reputation as a leader and mentor in the industry will help us as we develop our growing team of engineers and continue to expand in Texas and beyond."

As a technical leader of our engineering and testing practice at Braun Intertec, Posey will focus on providing technical guidance and counsel to professional and field staff in addition to client project management. Posey's primary areas of technical expertise include: soft and compressible soils, deep foundation systems and construction materials testing.

Braun Intertec provides geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, environmental consulting, building sciences, nondestructive examination and drilling/cone penetration testing (CPT) services. With offices across the state of Texas, we also provide specialty services including: deep foundation design and testing; pavement consulting; structures evaluations and forensic investigations; geospatial and unmanned aerial vehicle services.

About Braun Intertec

Based in Minneapolis, employee-owned Braun Intertec (www.braunintertec.com) is a premier engineering, environmental consulting and testing firm with more than 1,000 employees located in Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Braun Intertec also owns Agile Frameworks, LLC, a subsidiary of Braun Intertec based in Minneapolis and W&M Environmental, a division of Braun Intertec based in Allen, TX.

SOURCE Braun Intertec

Related Links

http://www.braunintertec.com


Business Myanmar COVID-19 Recovery Plan Won't Favor China's BRI Projects, Official Says

Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a photo during their meeting in Naypyitaw in January 2020. / Myanmar State Counselors Office

YANGONWhen Myanmar announced its seven-point economic relief plan to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 in late April, one item immediately raised eyebrows among China analysts in the country. The initiatives third main objective is stated as Easing the Impacts on Laborers and Workers, and one of the ways the government intends to achieve this is putting laid-off laborers and returning migrants to work on Implementation of Labor-Intensive Community Infrastructure Projects before the end of this year.

At first glance, it seems a worthy goal, as it aims to benefit workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, with several megaprojects in the planning stages as part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), experts are concerned that the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP)s emphasis on reviving the economy will see Myanmar push ahead with the implementation of BRI projects without properly assessing their risks in terms of conflict sensibility, potential for incurring unsustainable debt and commercial viability, among other criteria.

Adding to their worries, shortly after the plan was unveiled, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai and Myanmars Deputy Minister for Planning, Finance and Industry U Set Aung met to discuss how to move forward on the development of Chinas ambitious projects in Myanmar in the context of the CERP. The New Yangon City; Kyaukphyu Deep-Sea Port and Industrial Zone; and China-Myanmar Cross-Border Economic Cooperation Zone projectsall of which were agreed during Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to Myanmar in Januarywere among those discussed at the meeting.

Furthermore, Xi expressed hope that Myanmar would speed up its cooperation with China on implementation of the infrastructure projects during a telephone conversation with Myanmar President U Win Myint in late May.

Since then, speculation has grown that the CERPs third goal is tantamount to a green light for the projects.

However, The Irrawaddy learned this week from a senior official familiar with the matter that, so far, the infrastructure projects to be promoted under the CERP do not include any Chinese megaprojects.

The official confirmed to The Irrawaddy that BRI megaprojects are not among those listed in connection with the CERP, adding that there is no danger of the China-backed projects being rushed through or avoiding proper scrutiny.

When it comes to choosing strategic infrastructure projects, they must already have been proposed but facing delays; they must be implemented by a reputable company with international experience; and the projects have to be commercially viablenot a burden on the country, the official said.

The official added: According to the criteria, BRI projects are not among those slated to be chosen.

Based on the officials comments, the three projects agreed during Xis visitNew Yangon City, the Kyaukphyu Deep-Sea Port and Industrial Zone, and the China-Myanmar Border Economic Cooperation Zonesseem far from meeting the criteria.

The Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in western Myanmar is expected to boost development in Chinas landlocked Yunnan Province and provide China with direct access to the Indian Ocean, allowing its oil imports to bypass the Strait of Malacca.

Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee, head of the China desk at the Institute of Strategy and Policy (ISP)-Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy that the key BRI projects, including the Kyaukphyu SEZ, are not commercially viable.

It would take at least 10 to 15 years to become commercially viable. But it is still not certain. Because the result will also depend on geopolitical factors, as the projects implementation is being planned from a strategic perspective [of giving China access to the Indian Ocean], Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee said.

The China-Myanmar Border Economic Cooperation Zones are planned as industrial hubs spanning the Shan State-China border. They will form part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC). The CMEC is envisioned as a corridor for transporting goods to and from Yunnans Kunming via Myanmars Muse along trade routes in Shan State through Mandalay to the Kyaukphyu SEZ in Rakhine State.

However, the corridor traverses highly volatile areas in northern Shan State that are currently plagued by frequent clashes between ethnic armed groups and government troops. Of the six major ethnic armed groups active along the China-Myanmar trade route in northern Shan State, five have not signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. Last year, a series of attacks launched by armed groups shut down border trade for several days. Experts have urged the government not to implement the projects without first securing a political settlement with the ethnic groups. They also warn that if the plan goes ahead without taking the armed conflict into consideration, it would aggravate the situation and provoke new grievances among local people.

U Khine Win, director of the Sandhi Governance Institute, agreed that the Kyaukphyu SEZ is not commercially viable.

He told The Irrawaddy that Kyaukphyu would be commercially viable only after interlinked projects are finished, such as the Muse-Mandalay railway project and Shan States cross-border cooperation zonesboth of which are components of the CMEC. But he said the armed conflicts pose risks to the successful implementation of both those projects.

It will take time, U Khine Win said.

In late May, the CEO of New Yangon Development Company (NYDC), which is slated to develop the controversial New Yangon City project on the west bank of the Yangon River, said he was hopeful the project would commence this year and did not expect any change to the project plans. After reviewing the CERP, he was confident the project would move forward.

And in contrast to the views of the official quoted above, U Khine Win believed it was indeed possible that the BRI projects could be accelerated as the government takes steps to support mega-infrastructure projects under the CERP in a bid to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.

New Yangon City has been a source of controversy due to its flood-prone location as well as the involvement of China Communications Construction Company. The Hong Kong-listed, Chinese state-owned company has been accused of engaging in corruption and bribery relating to development deals in at least 10 countries in Africa and Asia, from the Philippines to Bangladesh to Tanzania, according to international media reports.

And even as China pushes Myanmar to implement the megaprojects, serious questions are being asked about whether Myanmar can still finance them given that its economy has slowed significantly due to COVID-19 and the government has committed to increasing spending on economic stimulus and improving social security and health care in the wake of the outbreak.

The Irrawaddy has learned that Myanmar has added a key condition to the CMEC Cooperation Plan stipulating that China must allow Myanmar to seek financing for the projects from multiple international financial institutions, especially the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to avoid incurring unsustainable debt obligations to China.

The official said that despite Chinas push, the Myanmar government has firmly insisted that it will unbundle the projects to avoid implementing white elephant projects that are not commercially viable.

Recently, the Ministry of Planning, Finance and Industry signed an agreement with Singapores Infrastructure Asia (IA) under which the latter will help Myanmar identify suitable investors and assess commercial viabilityincluding by inviting international-standard tendersfor strategic infrastructure projects listed in the countrys Project Bank, an online database of priority projects aligned with the countrys sustainable development plan.

The Irrawaddy has learned that the government is also planning to add all the BRI projects to the project bank to ensure they are screened for commercial viability and adherence to the sustainable development plan. Moreover, it plans to seek more agreements with firms such as IA to consult on the implementation of strategic projects.

Daw Khin Khin Kyaw Kyee said, The government is cautious when it comes to BRI projects. The preliminary agreement for the CMEC was reached in 2017. It has been more than two years, but implementation of the backbone projects is still being negotiated.

She added, I dont see any projects that have gotten off the ground. That means the government is handling the Chinese projects carefully to avoid the potential risks.
Following the Black Lives Matter protests, which has seen monuments of British figures toppled, a wider discussion about Britains colonial past is emerging. (PA)

A government petition demanding the UK makes it compulsory to teach children about the UKs colonial past has been signed by tens of thousands of people.

Following the Black Lives Matter protests across the UK, a wider discussion about Britains colonial history is emerging.

It comes following the death of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis which, sparked protests around the world.

As such, a new petition is demanding the government to Teach Britain's colonial past as part of the UK's compulsory curriculum.

The petition had gained over 50,000 signatures by Thursday afternoon. (Petition.parliament.org)

By Thursday afternoon the campaign - created by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson - had gained over 50,000 signatures.

When the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the government is required to respond. It will then consider debating the issue in Parliament.

A statement on the Parliament petition website reads: Currently, it is not compulsory for primary or secondary school students to be educated on Britain's role in colonisation, or the transatlantic slave trade.

A statue of Robert Baden-Powell (pictured) on Poole Quay in Dorset is due to be removed and placed in "safe storage" following concerns about his actions while in the military. (PA)

We petition the government to make education on topics such as these compulsory, with the ultimate aim of a far more inclusive curriculum.

Now, more than ever, we must turn to education and history to guide us. But vital information has been withheld from the people by institutions meant to educate them.

By educating on the events of the past, we can forge a better future.

Protesters and police gather around Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square during the Black Lives Matter protest rally in London. (AP)

Colonial powers must own up to their pasts by raising awareness of the forced labour of Black people, past and present mistreatment of BAME people, and most importantly, how this contributes to the unfair systems of power at the foundation of our modern society.

The petition comes after a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston was ripped from its plinth and thrown into Bristol harbour during a Black Lives Matter demonstration at the weekend.

A number of other monuments have been targeted, including a statue of Winston Churchill, near parliament, which was graffitied to say he was a racist.

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A campaign group has written to education secretary Gavin Williamson asking him to review the current school curriculum. (Getty Images)

The Black Curriculum group has also written to education secretary Gavin Williamson and asked him to review the syllabus taught in schools.

Dozens of other petitions have been started across the country, including in Cardiff and Plymouth, to rename streets or remove statues of controversial historical figures.

In the letter to Mr Williamson, the group wrote: "Learning black history should not be a choice but should be mandatory. Our curriculum should not be reinforcing the message that a sizeable part of the British population are not valued."
In August of 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer testified before the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Party and told them about the hardships that she and citizens along the Delta had experienced as they fought for the right to vote. Feeling this might alienate and hurt his Southern base, President Lyndon B. Johnson scheduled a hastily arranged press conference to preempt the speech. This had the counter effect as the speech would be broadcast as America on the nightly news and win support for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party nationwide.

President Harry S. Truman said before Congress in 1950, "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."

Dr King was quoted as saying, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Today's action by the Hamilton County Commission was outright preemption and will serve as a Fannie Lou Hamer moment for this community. At a time when citizens are peacefully participating in civil disobedience, on top of a global pandemic that has exacerbated the economic prospects of an untold score of individuals, to limit public discourse on these and other vital topics was abstract and arbitrary. Many who tried to give comments during the session were denied this fundamental aspect of democracy.

This was not an occasion when a singular group formerly petitioned to air a grievance or perpetuate a stated position. Rather, it was a time when a wide multitude of citizens desired to share for the public record concerns or a set extraordinary circumstances that had befallen them. At issue are several constitutionally guaranteed rights that are afforded to each and every American such as freedom or speech, expression, assembly, petition, due process and equal protection under the law.

The Hamilton County Commission was derelict in their duty in not hearing the important issues being raised by this community. There are profound questions surrounding law enforcement engagement, the militarization of law enforcement, mass incarceration and money bail, the school to prison pipeline, and how we will contend with a dramatic spike in the COVID-19 response that has been devoid of adequate protections for workers who have now been deemed as essential but have not been granted the essentials to help navigate through the crisis like paid time off, adequate healthcare, support for childcare and hazard pay. Contact tracing, isolation, and adequate monetary support for those with positive symptoms has been lackadaisical at best. These morally imperative topics merited our full attention, and to choose to be ambivalent to these questions is likened to striking the albatross. Our government still operates under the will of the people, the rule of law and the consent of the governed, and the people deserve to be heard.

Yours in Abundance,

Unity Group of Chattanooga

Sherman E. Matthews, Jr. Chairman

Eric Atkins, Corresponding Secretary
Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  With life lately moving in ways unlike what we're used to, its safe to say well be experiencing June  and our National Independence Day on the 12th  a little differently this year.

While large gatherings and fireworks are currently not the best options, we can still celebrate our country and what we stand for in small, meaningful ways, like championing original stories that encapsulate who Filipinos are, while also delivering universal themes and messages. If youre looking to celebrate the occasion in the comfort of your own home, you might be interested in doing so by catching up on must-see titles Philippine cinema has to offer  or, if youve already seen them before, watching them unfold all over again. Initially hard to find (some just disappeared after their theatrical or festival runs), these movies have been made accessible to more audiences thanks to different streaming platforms. No more ticketing or scheduling problems; theyre finally available with just a tap.

Here are nine Filipino movies that are available for on-demand viewing right now, or within the month.

Screencap from QUANTUM FILMS/YOUTUBE

Badil (Chito S. Rono, 2013)

Cast: Jhong Hilario, Nikki Gil, Dick Israel

Set in a barangay in Samar a day before the local elections, Badil centers around a young man who learns about the dark side of grassroots politicking when hes forced to take over his barangay captain fathers duties for a mayoral candidate. In this world of vote-buying and skewed priorities, he learns, as the audience does, what our so-called democracy entails.

Stream it on: iWant

Screencap from iFLIX

Aliwan Paradise (Mike De Leon, 1992)

Cast: Raul Arellano, Melissa De Leon, Johnny Delgado, Julio Diaz

An entry in the anthology film Southern Winds, which also includes entries from Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand, Aliwan Paradise is a black comedy set in a semi-futuristic version of the Philippines, where the ability to entertain is as valuable as any qualified job skill. The 27-minute short borrows characters from Lino Brockas Maynila, sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag and is a damning critique of poverty porn, variety shows, and oppressive systems.

Stream it on: iFlix

Screencap from VYAC PRODUCTIONS/YOUTUBE

The Dance of Two Left Feet (Alvin Yapan, 2011)

Cast: Jean Garcia, Rocco Nacino, Paulo Avelino

Wanting to impress his literature teacher who also teaches dance, a young man named Marlon enlists another boy in class  Dennis, their teachers dance assistant  to show him some moves in private lessons. Their sessions result in a deeper friendship, but things grow a little bit more complicated Marlon begins to develop feelings for Dennis and both boys are cast as leads for a dance performance.

Stream it on: GagaOOLala

Screencap from iFLIX

A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino (Lamberto V. Avellana, 1965)

Cast: Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana, Naty Crame-Rogers, Vic Silayan, Conrad Parham

Based on the play by Nick Joaquin, A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino is set in mid-20th century Old Manila and explores the dynamics of high society from the point of view of sisters Candida and Paula Marasigan, as well as their father, a reclusive painter experiencing a creative block who refuses to sell his sought-after self-portrait to help the family make ends meet. When Paula elopes with their boarder Tony, tensions rise and the conflict within the family is brought further to light.

Stream it on: YouTube

Screencap from TBA STUDIOS/YOUTUBE

Women of the Weeping River (Sheron Dayoc, 2016)

Cast: Laila Ulao, Sharifa Pearlsia Ali-Dans, Taha Daranda

In a remote Muslim community, two women are caught in the crossfire as a generations-long blood feud between their families worsens, and they reflect on their experiences in hopes of putting an end to it once and for all. With an all-Muslim cast from Western Mindanao, Women of the Weeping River won Best Picture at the 2016 QCinema International Film Festival.

Stream it on: YouTube

Photo from THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG/FACEBOOK

The Search for Weng Weng (Andrew Leavold, 2013)

Cast: Celso Ad. Castillo, Tikoy Aguiluz, Tilman Baumgartel

Director Andrew Leavold sifts through Filipino B-movie history in his quest to investigate just who the actor Weng Weng was, beyond his James Bond-esque action comedies and renown as the shortest leading man in cinema history at 83 cm. The documentary includes interviews with personalities who worked with and knew the actor, including comedy legend Dolphy, as well as Weng Wengs relatives.

Stream it on: Tubi

Photo from TBA STUDIOS

Smaller and Smaller Circles (Raya Martin, 2017)

Cast: Sid Lucero, Nonie Buencamino

When murders of young boys in Payatas begin to pile up, a trail that leads to a possible serial killer, two Jesuit priests are tasked to help solve the mystery through tedious and unforgiving crime scene investigation, criminal profiling, and forensic analysis, while having to deal with apathy and corruption from the government and the Church.

Stream it on: YouTube

Photo from LOLA IGNA/FACEBOOK

Lola Igna (Eduardo W. Roy Jr., 2019)

Cast: Angie Ferro, Yves Flores, Meryll Soriano, Maria Isabel Lopez, Royce Cabrera

The title character of the multi-awarded Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino entry Lola Igna is an elderly woman who finds her life changed in a myriad of ways when her family and the people around her realize that she might just have a chance at beating the world record for oldest grandmother alive.

Stream it on: Netflix

Photo from CINEMALAYA/FACEBOOK

Pamilya Ordinaryo (Eduardo Roy Jr., 2017)

Cast: Ronwaldo Martin, Hasmine Kilip, Maria Isabel Lopez, Sue Prado, Ruby Ruiz, Raymon Lee,

In this award-winning Cinemalaya entry, a pair of teenagers struggle to make a living as pickpockets in the heart of Manila. When their one-month-old baby is kidnapped, they resort to drastic measures to get the child back.

Stream it on: Netflix (starting June 26)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  Initial probe into the Facebook dummy accounts reported over the weekend showed no evidence of coordinated or malicious activity, the social media network said on Thursday.

At this time, we have not seen evidence of the reported accounts engaging in coordinated or malicious activity focused on creating fake accounts, a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

The network added that it did not see a sudden surge in the creation of accounts over the weekend, although it did record a spike in reports of fake profiles.

Several Facebook users, mostly university students and alumni, raised the alarm on Sunday over the emergence of alleged dummy accounts bearing their names.

READ: #HandsOffOurStudents trends as fake online profiles of university students, alumni surface

However, Facebook noted that majority of the reported profiles have not been recently active. They have not been posting content, making any friend requests or sending any messages, it added.

We will continue to validate the authenticity of these accounts and prioritise the removal of those that violate our policies, Facebook said.

In validating accounts authenticity, additional information will be asked of the owners before they can continue using the platform. Those who fail the verification process will have their accounts deleted, according to Facebook.

The network encourages people to report any account they believe may be inauthentic or violating their policies.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice earlier said it will also conduct its own probe, after over a hundred alleged fake accounts have been reported to the agency.

The DOJ said that should victims of reported duplicate accounts decide to pursue criminal cases later on, data from these accounts could be used in the prosecution.
Shoes 4 All aims to provide children in low-income families across Sri Lanka with at least one pair of shoes.





by Julia Falewee





Community activist Chitral Jayawarna has worked towards his vision of a global egalitarian society for most of his professional career, through leadership positions with service organizations such as the Lions Club of Pita Kotte. But after participating in a 2019 International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on cross-border trade, the economist and public relations specialist returned to his home country of Sri Lanka with new inspiration on how to bring that vision to life, starting in his local community.





Shoes for All

Throughout his exchange, Mr. Jayawarna met with public, private, and nonprofit sector counterparts across the U.S. who inspired him to think big and deepen his professional collaborations in Sri Lanka and around the world. Leveraging ideas from his newfound international network, he spearheaded three new community-based projects with the Lions Club of Pita Kotte to provide shoes for students in under-resourced areas; educate children on the importance of protecting the environment by engaging them in sustainable practices, such as tree planting; and raise awareness and knowledge of the novel coronavirus among the Sri Lankan community.





Shoes 4 All aims to provide children in low-income families across Sri Lanka with at least one pair of shoes. Our goal is simple; we are dreaming for the day every school student in Sri Lanka is wearing shoes while they are attending school, Mr. Jayawarna says. This includes not only the hundreds of thousands of students aged 5-13, for whom schooling is both mandatory and state-funded, but also the 90% of children 17 or younger who face daily challenges to continue their education beyond the mandated age.





These kids are facing enormous challenges due to lack of resources. There are thousands of school students that go to school barefoot. It is our fundamental responsibility to help them, he says.





Through Mr. Jayawarnas tree planting and donation initiative, the Lions Club of Pita Kotte worked with local students to plant over 100 donated trees to provide children with firsthand experiences of caring for the environment, so they may see its effect and continue these practices into adulthood.





Before COVID-19 was making headlines around the world, the social activist took steps to protect and prepare the people of Sri Lanka by creating and distributing information packets outlining the main modes of transmission of the virus, as well as preventative measures.





IVLPTeam in US

Mr. Jayawarna also identified several transferable lessons from his visit to the U.S. that could apply to businesses in his home country. After observing how American industries, such as the growing green sector, biotechnology, manufacturing, agri-business, and e-business remain competitive in the world market, the economist believes American family farming practices can inform agricultural businesses in Sri Lanka.





Sri Lanka family farming businesses have a primarily local focus. One of the greater lessons I observed is family farming businesses developed to cater to the international market through exportation, he recalls from his IVLP visit to a family-run dairy farm and maple syrup producer in Burlington, Vermont.





But the parallels dont end there. Mr Jayawarna reflects that professional exchanges such as his provide new possibilities for international partnerships in a variety of fields. IVLP gives opportunity to young leaders in different sectors to inspire each other and share their experiences with organizations, peoples, and countries.

Since the conclusion of his IVLP, Mr Jayawarna has discussed potential collaborations on projects pertaining to renewable energy and transshipment business with several of his fellow international visitors and American counterparts.




A high school in northern Georgia has launched an investigation after a racist photo showing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the message 'official n-word pass' was shared in their yearbook.

The photoshopped image outraged students and parents at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, a suburb of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

The yearbook shows an image of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King with his arm around a student holding a piece of paper reading 'n-word pass.'

It then reads 'Given by: Black speech n****.'

Principal Kerensa Wing issued an apology to the school community and promised disciplinary action in a statement obtained by The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

A racist photo depicting Dr. Martin Luther King holding a message reading 'n-word pass' and 'black speech n*****' were placed inside the Collins Hill High School yearbook (pictured)

'This is unacceptable and we are currently investigating to determine who submitted this photo and how our processes did not address this before it went to print,' wrote Wing

Wing revealed that some of the planned pages for the yearbook weren't completed before students shifted to digital learning during COVID-19 lockdown orders.

'In our initial investigation, it appears that some of the pages planned for the yearbook were not finished prior to our students moving to digital learning.

'As these photos were not available, the yearbook company replaced those pages with senior selfies that had been submitted.

'Unfortunately, the picture was not caught in the final proof before the yearbook went to press.'

Wing said the racist photoshopped image was submitted by a member of the yearbook staff. School officials are meeting with the group to determine how the incident came about.

Collins Hill High School Principal Kerensa Wing (pictured) issued an apology to students and parents who were shocked by the photo

Graduating senior Aaliyah Williams told WSB-TV she was thrilled to pickup her yearbook on Tuesday, but then she turned to page 148.

'Im excited for the yearbook. I get to see all the exciting memories and I open the book and I see this. And its like, "wow!" It hurts me to the core,' she said.

'Of everything thats going on right now, that shouldnt be a joke. It shouldnt be a joke right now. Its nothing to play around with.'

Her mother, Kavanti White, shared the photo on Facebook and it soon went viral with indignant parents condemning the photo.

'Her senior year shes already had enough to deal with,' said White, adding that there should have been better supervision.

'Im offended. Im offended only because who allowed it to get out? Where was your committee? I understand there are students on the committee but there are adults and teachers over the committee,' she said.

Williams was shocked that someone would take time out to make such an offensive photo for the yearbook.

'When I looked at it, I thought, "Oh my God. This is real?" This is, like, people take out the time to do this and think its a joke,' said Williams.

'Its like another thing to add to your list for 2020.'

The racially offensive photo comes amid protests to end police brutality and systematic racism after the death of George Floyd, an African-American who died in police custody after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Outrage over the incident has sparked Black Lives Matter protests in the United States and across the world.

Now, Williams is trying to decide what to do with her yearbook.

'Me scratching it out, its not going to do anything. Ive already seen it and its already affected me. So there is no point of me keeping that,' said Williams.

Wing said the photo was added by a member of the yearbook staff, who are being questioned by school officials over the incident

Another graduating senior, Milan Broughton, told CBS 46 that 'it was very disrespectful.'

'He basically reduced this amazing civil rights leader who did a lot for the black community.'

She added that some students have asked for a refund over the yearbook fumble.

'Everyone's saying they want their money back because it's been a horrible yearbook that they didn't proof read properly, and they let something as serious as MLK by,' said Broughton.

School officials said they're working with the yearbook company to 'print a sticker of a replacement photo that will be mailed to all who purchased a yearbook.'

Yearbooks that have not been distributed yet were altered to block the photo and will be reviewed to ensure a similar incident does not occur.

'I am disappointed in the students involved, as this is not who we are at Collins Hill High School and does not reflect our values and beliefs,' said Wing.
Heres the thing about pizza: I could eat it every single day and never get bored. And with so many regional styles around the world, its no wonder. From the wood-fired, somewhat soupy-centered circular versions at its birthplace in Naples, Italy, to the softer, square counterparts farther south in Sicily, theres just so much variety.

In the United States, where pizza was imported by Italian immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, youll find even more options: thin and crispy slices in New York! Thick lasagna-like pies in Chicago! Lacy, cheesy-edged Detroit squares trending seemingly everywhere! But one of my absolute favorite styles of pizza is found in New Haven, Conn., with its minimal toppings and extra-charred crusts.

Travel-restricted individuals who cant just hop on a plane for pizza need not worry  theres a slice of New Haven heaven right here in the Bay Area at Pazzo in San Carlos. Started by longtime restaurateur and New Haven native Andy Gambardella, Pazzo isnt new  the restaurant just celebrated its sixth anniversary. But trust me, its better late than never to this pizza party.

Dont just take my word for it: My friend, fellow food writer and pizza enthusiast Kenji Lopez-Alt  also the owner of Wursthall Restaurant & Bierhaus in San Mateo  says New Haven is per capita the best pizza city in the world. In the pizza episode of Ugly Delicious, season 1, Dave Chang also shared similar sentiments, saying New Haven as a community has the best pizza in America. Im a bit more sparing with my superlatives, but I will say this: The 2.5-hour train ride from New York City to New Haven is a pizza pilgrimage Ive done before and one Id happily repeat in a heartbeat.

Unlike a classic pizza Napoletana, which has strict guidelines for ingredients, the type of oven to use, cook time and temperature, the New Haven pie is a bit more difficult to identify. Some places use coal ovens while others use gas ovens, and there is no exact recipe. But there are a few notable characteristics for the pizza:

Thin, crispy, chewy, extra charred crust

Sprinkle of romano cheese

Sprinkle of dried oregano

Oftentimes irregularly shaped and cut due to spreading of its wetter (higher-hydration) dough

Moreover, there are two specific types of pies that are truly representative of New Haven. According to Colin Caplan, author of Pizza in New Haven, one is a plain pie, which comes simply adorned with crushed canned plum tomatoes and a sprinkle of oregano and romano cheese. The other is the white clam pie, which features clams, garlic, oregano and romano. Clams are ubiquitous throughout New England, so it was only a matter of time before the littlenecks made their way onto pizza.

Jen Fedrizzi / Special to The Chronicle

The white clam pie was invented at Frank Pepes, one of the oldest, most popular and still-standing sit-down pizzerias in New Haven. Fun fact: Frank Pepes, which opened in 1925, was the first place to use a pizza box, according to the forthcoming New Haven pizza documentary Pizza, A Love Story (debuting Sept. 29); however, according to Caplan, theres evidence that other pizzerias had clams available as toppings to regular red plain pies earlier, such as Sallys (which was opened by Frank Pepes nephew Sal Consiglio). Both of these pizzerias are essential New Haven institutions, and theyre conveniently located walking distance from each other on the same block of Wooster Street for a back-to-back pizza crawl.

It does stand to reason that New Haven is such an excellent pizza town, for pizza came to New Haven in the early 20th century with immigrants from the Naples area, according to Scott Wiener, pizza scholar and founder of Scotts Pizza tours. Pizza in New Haven is the closest American version youll find to actual pizza in Naples. In New Haven they even refer to their pizza as apizza (pronounced ah-beetz), which is how its pronounced back in the south of Italy.

Wood-fired apizza is also what New Haven-born Andy Gambardella of Pazzo specializes in. Youll find both the plain tomato pie and a white clam version featuring all the classic characteristics: an extra charred and chewy top and a simultaneously thin and crispy bottom thats often imperfectly shaped and irregularly cut with a sprinkle of oregano and romano. The white clam pie also comes with mozzarella by default, which Gambardella explains is just because California has a different palate.

If you really want to order like a New Havener, order the clam pie without mootz, which is what East Coasters often call mozzarella. I myself prefer it that way, Gambardella tells me.

Gambardella, 64, moved to California from New Haven when he was 21. He played music and worked in restaurants before opening up his first restaurant, Gambardellas, in Menlo Park, which he ran for over 20 years, eventually with two locations. Gambardella also had a first location of Pazzo in Redwood City, which he ran with his late brother in the 90s.

Jen Fedrizzi / Special to The Chronicle

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

The current version of Pazzo, a more casual New Haven pizza spot, is what Gambardella had been longing for. This is what Ive wanted to do for years, Gambardella tells me over the phone. Good food done simply.

There are other places in San Francisco that offer their own versions of clam pizza  Tonys Pizza Napoletena, which tops its pies with whole clams still in their shell; Tomassos, which does clams on a red pie; and Golden Boys garlic clam squares  all located in North Beach. Though each restaurant has its own merits, theres something extra special about Pazzo. Perhaps its the family-run vibe in the small, intimate space, or the appearance of the wood-fired oven. It might be the Sallys poster on the wall or the Foxon Park white birch beer on the menu that scream authenticity.

But the real reason that Pazzo is so crazy good is Gambardella, a man whose connection to and passion for New Haven cant be reproduced. He makes all the pizza dough daily (his son Andrew is the only other person who has the recipe), using a blend of three types of flour. Gambardella can still be found firing pizzas out front near the dining room.

Lopez-Alt declared on Instagram that Pazzo was easily the Best New Haven apizza hes had outside of New Haven; though I often disagree with my pizza pal, this time I share his sentiments  Pazzo is well worth a special journey.

Update: This story has been updated from its original version.

Omar Mamoon is a San Francisco writer and cookie guy. Find him at @ommmar Email: food@sfchronicle.com
Despite the governments stimulus package, migrant workers employed by private companies are struggling to survive.

Doha, Qatar  Jobless and literally penniless, Ana, a migrant worker, fears for her and her familys future while sitting in a tiny rented room in Qatars northeastern city of Al Khor.

She has not been paid since February. Up until May, Ana was working in a restaurant, which, like thousands of other businesses across Qatar, felt the brunt of government-enforced coronavirus-related restrictions.

While food deliveries continued, the staff was asked to work without pay. She complied until she could take it no more.

Together with some colleagues, we asked for our salary and refused to work if we werent paid. We cant work without money. Were here to earn a living, Ana told Al Jazeera.

Her manager told her he was not able to pay her.

Ana and her three colleagues were later transferred from company accommodation in the capital, Doha, to the shared room in a private house in Al Khor. They were told they would need to pay rent from June onwards.

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She said their salary remains unpaid and some colleagues had a false absconding case filed against them.

We were thrown out here. We dont have money for food, for rent, for anything. Im tired. I just want this to end. I came here to work but all I want to do now is to go back home to my family and away from all this.

Ana and her colleagues are not the only ones who find themselves in this situation.

In the southern town of Wukair, about 250 staff of a cleaning company are without work and any assistance since March. They rely on food donations and are scared of complaining to the labour ministry for fear of reprisals from their employer.

Its easy to talk but were careful because 250-plus people might lose their jobs if we complain or tell anyone about the situation, one staff member told Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera spoke to numerous affected migrant workers, including driving instructors, salon staff, baristas, chefs, private taxi drivers, small business owners, and hotel and hospitality staff.

Most of them have not received any assistance from their employers and are afraid of complaining.

No money to pay the bills

In Doha, a group of kindergarten teachers has been unable to pay electric bills because of the non-payment of salaries for the last three months. The landlord has now cut off their electricity.

We have messaged the Philippine Overseas Labour Office [POLO] but they are not responding, one of the residents told Al Jazeera. We dont have the money to pay the bills.

Al Jazeera contacted POLO in Qatar whose staff asked the request to be redirected to the Philippine embassy, which did not respond.

Qatars labour ministry also did not respond to Al Jazeeras request for comment but the countrys Government Communications Office (GCO) said, The government has put measures in place to guarantee salaries are paid on schedule and in full.

Between March 12 and June 2, 86 percent of complaints have been resolved, with outstanding cases currently under review, the GCO said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera.

Over 12,000 inspections have been carried out at workplaces and accommodation sites to confirm that companies are implementing all COVID-19 precautionary measures. There is no excuse for any company to violate Qatars labour laws, including late payment of salaries.





Babelyn has been without work, without pay along with her colleagues since March. They are living in a company-provided accommodation. Their employer gave them only a one-time food allowance of 200 riyals ($55).

Its not enough. No work, no salary, and we cant send money back home to our families, Babelyn told Al Jazeera.

Babelyn agreed to go back to the Philippines. However, in violation of her contract, her employer is refusing to pay the end-of-service benefit or the one-way flight.

However, repatriation should be the last resort and extra efforts should be made to secure business continuity and employment and workers incomes, said Houtan Homayounpour, head of the International Labor Organization project office for Qatar.

Where this is not possible, workers should receive their due wages and benefits and repatriation flights from the employer, Homayounpour told Al Jazeera.

The government has also clearly communicated that employers are required to continue to ensure workers have access to decent food and accommodation. This is not negotiable, he added.

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Qatars government said it encourages workers to lodge their complaints with the ministry via a phone call, text or email.

However, to encourage workers to cast their fears aside and come forward to complain  and to ensure compliance on the employers part  the government needs to name and shame businesses and remove or reform absconding laws, according to Vani Saraswathi, director of projects at Migrant-Rights.Org.

Under the Kafala system, the buck stops with the employer. But the government has to be held accountable for continuing with that kind of immigration regime where youve outsourced state duty to private parties, Saraswathi told Al Jazeera.

The fact that residence and working visas are linked and connected to an individual gives them inordinate powers.

If the government chooses to allow private parties to manage migration, it should at the very least hold private parties to high standards, monitor them closely, and penalise those who violate rights.

The GCO said businesses that ceased services following government instructions were ordered to pay basic salary and allowances. Additionally, in cases where work contracts have been terminated, employers must continue to provide food and housing free of charge until the employee can be repatriated at the employers expense.

Qatars stimulus package

Liza has been out of work for more than two months and said her employer has put her on forced leave for the next four months. Her husbands salary was significantly reduced and now it is not enough to pay rent, cover expenses, and look after their one-year-old daughter. Her manager told her the company had no money to pay staff.

The government introduced a 75-billion-riyal ($20.6bn) stimulus package to help companies continue operations and retain jobs, including those in financial difficulty to pay salaries and rent.

But Saraswathi said more needed to be done by the government at the outset.

When visas are allocated for companies, is the government doing its due diligence on whether the company is financially sound, if its business plan is sustainable, and if it has the resources to weather small economic crises. More importantly, do they really need to hire so many workers? said Saraswathi.

On Monday, Qatar announced the gradual lifting of coronavirus restrictions from June 15.

But even when those are eased, saving jobs and restarting businesses will require significant adjustments with cost implications, ILOs Homayounpour said, adding smaller businesses especially will need ongoing support to ensure that the reopening of workplaces occurs with safeguards for the safety of workers and consumers alike.

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For Abdul Sattar and his colleagues, all of whom work at a tailor shop in Dohas Old Airport area, an end of the restrictions cannot come soon enough.

The group was forced to lock down in March. With no other means of livelihood, they are struggling to pay for food and unable to pay rent.

We have nothing in the house and the rent and bills keep adding up, Sattar told Al Jazeera. I dont think well be able to survive for long.

Workers names have been changed to protect identities. None of the workers wanted to name their businesses for fear of reprisal but some have reported them to Qatars labour ministry.
WILLIAMSPORT  Two men have received lengthy prison terms for roles in an undercover FBI scheme to buy guns for a white supremacist group a judge called a terrorist organization.

Henry Lambert Baird, 52, of the Allentown area, former president of the Aryan Strikeforce (ASF), was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann to 14 years and fined $700.

Justin Daniel Lough, 29, of Waynesboro, Virginia, received a 12-year term and a $600 fine.

The judge referred to the ASF as a terrorist organization when he imposed sentences that also included five years of supervised release during which time the two are prohibited from communicating with or joining a white supremacist organization.

Baird told the judge he has tried to disassociate himself from that negative lifestyle. Lough admitted being a white supremacist but denied being a member of the ASF.

The two, among six charged in the case, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine.

The FBI infiltrated the organization and arranged for four 16-pound shipments of simulated methamphetamine from Pennsylvania to Maryland in late 2016 and early 2017. Gun parts were included in an April shipment.

Proceeds from the sale of the drugs were used to buy gift cards from Target that then were to be used to buy weapons for the ASF. Its mission statement advocates the use of violence to achieve its political goals.

The investigation was initiated after the FBI received complaints about convicted felons attempting to obtain firearms in Potter County. The undercover operation included meetings in the Harrisburg area.

The defendants sought unsuccessfully to have the charges dismissed by arguing the government engaged in outrageous conduct and manufactured the crime.

Bairds attorney E.J. Rymsza called it a theatrical performance for which there was no victim.

Brann in March 2019 acknowledged the government exercised some control over the operation but refused to dismiss the indictment, writing that the ASF members repeatedly were advised by the undercover FBI employees they could back out at any time.

Wednesday he rejected arguments by Baird and Lough the government manipulated their sentences by determining the quantity of the fake methamphetamine in the shipments.

Baird was involved in only two of the shipments. But Assistant U.S. Attorney George J. Rocktashel, citing his criminal record that includes crimes of violence, claimed he was recruited for muscle.

Lough was the driver on all four trips and had a full understanding of the scope of the criminal activity, the prosecutor said.

Three other ASF members who have pleaded guilty and awaiting sentencing are Jacob Mark Robards of Bethlehem, Connor Drew Dikes of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Joshua Michael Steever of Manville, New Jersey.

Steven D. Davis of Bumpass, Virginia, the organizations vice president, was sentenced last year to 30 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

He had admitted traveling from Virginia to Potter County in early October 2016 with a shotgun and a 9mm pistol that he gave to a strikeforce member.

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Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: A team of NHRC on Thursday visited the LNJP hospital. Jyotika Kalra, a member was quoted by ANI as saying, 'We have come here to take stock of situation after NHRC took suo moto cognizance on the complaints of the patients regarding discrepancies in availability of beds on Delhi corona app and in hospitals.'

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Mumbai alone registered as many as 1,567 new COVID-19 cases, taking the number of cases to 52,445 on Wednesday, while 97 more patients died, taking the toll to 1,855, the city civic body said.

The number of cases in Maharashtra climbed to 94,041 on Wednesday with 3,254 new patients being detected. However, more than 44,500 COVID-19 patients have recovered in the state so far.

The world's leading economic power is by far the country most affected by the pandemic, both in terms of the number of reported deaths - 1,12,833 -- and the number of diagnosed cases, which stood at 1,999,313 at 8.30 pm Wednesday.

The novel coronavirus has infected nearly two million people overall in the United States, and in the past 24 hours has caused 1,082 deaths in the country, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University Wednesday.

The Shiv Sena-led government, which is grappling with the worst outbreak of the virus in the country, has allowed government offices to open with 15 percent staff and private offices with 10 percent strength.

The relaxations allowed by the Maharashtra government and the eCntre amid the coronavirus lockdown will be rolled back if people don't adhere to the social distancing norms strictly, warned Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, following reports of crowding while boarding buses.

With the death of a COVID-19 patient in Assam, the toll in the state climbed to six on Wednesday while, 235 fresh coronavirus cases were reported with the total reaching 3,285, said health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Of the total 3,285 confirmed cases in Assam, at least 1,249 COVID-19 patients were cured of the viral disease, taking the recovery rate to 38 percent in the state. There are 2,027 active coronavirus cases in the state, said health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Nagaland registered one fresh coronavirus positive case, taking the COVID-19 total in the state to 128, a health department official said on Thursday.

Addressing the 125th Annual Session of CII, the prime minister had said: "World is looking for a trusted, reliable partner. India has potential, strength and ability. Today, Indian industries should take advantage of the trust developed in the world towards India... Getting growth back is not that difficult. The biggest thing is that Indian industries have a clear path of self-reliance."

He had said at the meeting of CII that Indian industries should take advantage of the trust developed towards India as the world is looking for a trusted and reliable partner.

Earlier on 2 June, Modi participated in the annual general meeting of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the foremost national chamber, through a video conference.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address of the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on Wednesday at 11 am via video conferencing.

"More than 70,000 citizens have returned and nearly 17,000 flew out of India on Vande Bharat Mission flights till date. In addition nearly 110K people flew out and 55K citizens returned on more than 730 charters on foreign and Indian carriers permitted by DGCA. Permission for more such flights is in process," Puri said in a tweet.

More than 70,000 citizens have returned and nearly 17,000 flew out of India on flights under Vande Bharat Mission till date, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday.

They said the personnel were found infected during a contact-tracing exercise after the death of a 44-year-old coronavirus-infected constable on 6 June .

As many as 28 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel posted in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, officials said.

There have been four COVID-19 deaths in the country's largest paramilitary force, Central Reserve Police Force, having 3.25 lakh personnel. It has 516 coronavirus cases till now out of which 353 personnel have recovered, as per latest data.

With 435 more people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Pune district of Maharashtra, the total number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 10,394 on Thursday.

The five doctors - four from AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, and one from Apollo Hospital - were found to have been infected with the virus during the contact-tracing exercise, according to a statement issued by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).

As many as 110 more people, including five doctors, tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Wednesday, raising the state's tally to 3,250, a health department official said.

Of the 110 fresh cases in Odisha, 97 were reported from quarantine centres where people returning from different states are lodged, while 13 others were detected in contract-tracing exercise, a health department official said on Wednesday.

The remaining over 70 resident doctors have been quarantined in their hostel rooms at the medical college, he said.

A hostel for resident doctors at the Muzaffarnagar Medical College in Begrajpur in the district has been sealed after six of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus and were shifted to a COVID-care hospital, said subdivisional magistrate Inderkant Dwivedi.

According to subdivisional magistrate Inderkant Dwivedi, the woman, a resident of Khatoli town here, was ill for a long time and had tested positive for COVID-19. She died at Subharti Medical Hospital in Meerut Wednesday evening.

A 42-year-old woman who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus died at a hospital in Meerut, an official said on Thursday.

Tripura on Wednesday reported 31 fresh COVID-19 cases, raising the infection count to 898, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said. Seventeen cases were reported from West Tripura district, eight from Sepahijala, three from Gomti, two from Unokoti and one from Dhalai, he said.

As many as 52,13,140 COVID-19 samples have been tested till 9 am on Thursday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said. In the past 24 hours, 1,51,808 samples have been tested, the medical research body said.

India reported the highest single-day spike of 9,996 fresh COVID-19 cases and 357 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data released by the health ministry on Thursday.

After 9,996 more individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus across the country, the total number of COVID-19 cases increased to 2,86,579 on Thursday, including 1,37,448 active cases, said the health ministry.

For second day in a row, the number of recoveries in India have exceeded the active COVID-19 cases after 1,41,029 patients were cured of the infectious disease as of Thursday. While, there are 1,37,448 number of active cases across the country.

With 357 more COVID-19 patients succumbing to the viral infection in the past 24 hours, the toll across the country reached 8,102 as of Thursday. This takes the mortality rate to 2.83 percent.

Out of the 1,928 samples tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday, results of 81 samples have come out positive, said King George's Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow on Thursday.

A total of 467 vehicles were also seized from their possession, they said.

As many as 441 people have been detained in Manipur for not wearing facial masks and not adhering to social distancing guidelines in public places amid the COVID-19 outbreak, police said.

Nepal has recorded 279 new cases of the coronavirus infection on Wednesday, taking the country's COVID-19 tally to 4,364. At least 15 people have died due to the disease, according to the health ministry.

His claim comes in midst of a raging boundary row between the two countries with India sternly asking Nepal not to resort to any "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims after Kathmandu released a new political map laying claim over Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.

Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday claimed that 85 percent of the people tested positive for coronavirus in the country are those who returned from India.

New health and safety methods were tested during a series of special lockdown episodes that showed the fictional family dramas of the rural Yorkshire village played out during the pandemic. These episodes are airing now.

After weeks of shutdown, British soap opera Emmerdale is back in production, leading the way when it comes to resuming regular filming during the coronavirus era.

"Of the total, there are 8596 recoveries and 8221 discharges," said the state health department on Thursday.

With 51 more people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Rajasthan till 10.30 am on Thursday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state climbed to 11,651. The COVID-19 toll was 264 after five more patients lost their lives to the infectious disease.

The world is fighting Coronavirus, India is fighting that too. But there are other issues also. Flood, locusts, hailstorm, fire in oil well, small earthquakes, two cyclones - we are fighting all of these together, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 95th Annual Day of Indian Chamber of Commerce.

Dr Cameron Kaiser, Riverside Countys public health officer, signed an order Wednesday canceling the popular festivals outside Palm Springs. Health officials are concerned about a possible surge in coronavirus cases in the fall.

The Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals have been canceled this year due to coronavirus concerns.

"Aatamnirbhar lessons start at home. Time has come for India to become self-reliant," said Modi.

Coronavirus would be turning point as India becomes self-reliant due to this crisis, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi during 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

India is witnessing a steady improvement in COVID-19 recovery rate, as it exceeds 49 percent for the first time, improves to 49.21 percent as of Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Kolkata can take inspiration fromits past glory and act as a pivot for development of the East and Northeast, said Narendra Modi on Thursday.

"Indian economy needs to be dragged out from 'command & control and shift' to 'plug & play' mode, said Modi.

The cluster based approach for local production, which is now being promoted in India, is also an economic opportunity for all. Clusters associated with these will be developed in districts, blocks in which they are born, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi during 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

With her death, the number of fatalities due to the infection in Jammu and Kashmir has risen to 52.

They said the patient was admitted to the hospital on June 7 as a case of acute calcular cholecystitis with hepatic flexural growth (CA Colon). Her sample was taken on the same day and came out positive following which the patient was shifted to the infectious disease ward a day later, the officials said.

A 62-year-old woman from Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died at a hospital in Srinagar on Thursday, taking the number of coronavirus-related fatalities in the Union Territory to 52, officials said.

In his address on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: "Decades ago Swami Vivekananda wrote, 'The simplest method to be worked upon at present is to induce Indians to use their own products and get markets for Indian goods in other countries'. This path shown by Swami Vivekananda is an inspiration for India in the post-COVID world."

Narendra Modi on Thursday reiterated that India should take steps to ensure that products that are imported from elsewhere are manufactured within the country. In last five to six years Indias goal of self-reliance has been paramount in policy, practice, he adds. The coronavirus crisis gave us a lesson on how to speed up efforts.

'At this time we have to take the Indian economy out of 'command and control' and push it towards 'plug and play'. This isn't the time for conservative approach. It's time for bold decisions and bold investments. It's time to prepare a globally competitive domestic supply chain," said the Prime Minister on Thursday during 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce.

The apex court listed for hearing, the issue relating to pan-India suo moto of safety in children homes, on 6 July, reports ANI.

Supreme Court took suo moto cognisance of the report that 35 children in a government-run home in Royapuram, Chennai, have tested positive for COVID-19 and sought a status report from Tamil Nadu government regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus in shelter homes and steps taken to safeguard children.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday told ANI that 42 laboratories are functional in Delhi for coronavirus testing. However, he added that seven of them were stopped for two to three days due to a delay in giving test results. "All labs are required to give test results within 24 hours," said Jain.

A Chief Medical Officer of CRPF has tested positive for COVID-19. The CMO has been shifted to a private hospital in Okhla. Total positive cases in CRPF now stand at 544, out of which 353 have recovered and 4 died, reports ANI

Andhra Pradesh on Thursday recorded 135 new coronavirus cases, increasing the states total infections to 4,261, reports ANI. This includes 1,641 active cases, 2,540 discharged/cured and 80 deaths.

Bihar on Thursday reported 109 more COVID-19 positive cases, taking the total number of cases in the state to 5,807, according to the latest bulletin by the state health department.

The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Himachal Pradesh is now at 458, including 182 active cases, 259 recovered and 6 deaths, according to the bulletin from the state health department.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Kerala government has decided to postpone the Sabarimala festival this year, which was scheduled from 19 June, reported The Times of India.

Sabarimala Temple to remain shut for devotees and only rituals will be held inside the premise from 14 June. Decision was taken after meeting between Devaswom Minister and Thantri, News18 reported.

The Uttarakhand government announced a slew of cost-cutting measures, including stopping increment to employees and fresh recruitment in all departments except health and police, to offset the losses caused by the coronavirus-lockdown and the battle against COVID-19, PTI reported.

The announcement of his death was delayed as his body laid in the morgue of a government hospital in the district headquarters of Diphu, 271 km east of Guwahati. The watchman stayed away after locking the morgue's door, as did heath workers out of panic over contagion.

The Superintendent of Police of Karbi Anglong district has ensured honourable cremation of a man who died of the novel coronavirus in Assam on Tuesday, The Hindu reported. The man from Sumpara village in Karbi Anglong district was the fifth COVID-19 victim in the state.

Earlier in June, 49 NDRF personnel and 12 Odisha Fire Service officials had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

As many as 136 more people, including 54 disaster response personnel who were engaged in cyclone Amphan relief work in Odisha, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, raising the state's total to 3,386, a health department official said.

PML-N leader Ataullah Tarar confirmed on Thursday that Shehbaz, 68, has been infected with the virus. He claimed that Shehbaz contracted the virus as he had to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on 9 June in a money laundering case, reported PTI.

Shehbaz Sharif, chief of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the latest top politician to be infected by the virus.

Two more deaths due to the viral disease were also reported in the district, taking the COVID-19 toll to 163, a health department official told PTI.

Indore registered a total of 3,922 coronavirus cases on Thursday after 41 more people tested for the novel coronavirus in the Madhya Pradesh district in the past 24 hours.

There is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu till now. The outbreak has been curtailed in many districts of the state. Since Chennai is densely populated the spread of the virus is more there, ANI quoted Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami as saying.

Chief Minister Zoramthanga had on Wednesday condoled the death of H Lalvenmawii, saying the ex-gratia amount will be released from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) and will be handed over to her family through the Lawngtlai district deputy commissioner.

The Mizoram government has announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 1 lakh for the family of an 18-year-old woman volunteer of a COVID-19 task force who died of "complicated ailments" after keeping vigil along the India-Myanmar border to prevent cross-border movement of people.

The Kanpur district court has been sealed for two days after a senior lawyer tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the general secretary of the district bar association said.

With the current surge in cases, India is on course to overtake Britain in the global list of countries worst affected by the pandemic and expected to reach the three lakh-mark by this week. The United Kingdom, which is the fourth worst-hit nation, has over 2.91 lakh cases.

The country has been recording close to 10,000 cases every day since 1 June. This means that nearly 90,000 cases have been added in the nationwide tally from 1 to 10 June.

The number of COVID-19 cases in India crossed the 2.76-lakh mark on Wednesday, and a third of them have been reported in the first 10 days this month.

With 75 more people testing COVID-19 positive in Uttarakhand till 2 pm on Thursday, the total number of positive cases in the state increased to 1,637, said state health department.

Karnataka government extended ban on online classes till Class 7 standard, ANI reported on Thursday. Earlier, it was decided to not allow online classes till 5th standard.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in a tweet said that BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and his mother have recovered from Covid-19.

"With 2,97,001 total cases, India surpasses United Kingdom (UK) to become the fourth most-affected country by coronavirus pandemic, according to Worldometers tally. The country's death toll stands at 8,473 and 142,454 cases are still active. US remains the most-affected country with the highest number of coronavirus cases (20,72,273) followed by Brazil (7,75,581) and Russia (5,02,436)," News18 reported.

The Telangana health department said that 208 more coronavirus cases and nine deaths were reported in the state on Thursday. Total number of cases in the state is now at 4,320, including 1,993 discharged, 2,162 active cases and 165 deaths.

Supreme Court on Thursday took suo-motu cognisance "on issues relating to the treatment of Covid-19 patients and for the dignified handling of bodies in hospitals".

48 more COVID-19 cases were reported in Jharkhand on Thursday. The total number of cases in the state is now at 1599, including 961 active cases, 630 recovered/discharged and 8 deaths.

The Delhi government on Thursday issued an order directing all designated COVID-19 hospitals to make oxygen facility available on all of their beds. Decision taken in view of the surge in positive cases in Delhi in last one week.

There is no single reason for the surges. In some cases, more testing has revealed more cases. In others, local outbreaks are big enough to push statewide tallies higher. But experts think at least some are due to lifting stay-at-home orders, school and business closures, and other restrictions put in place during the spring to stem the viruss spread.

In Arizona, hospitals have been told to prepare for the worst. Texas has more hospitalized COVID-19 patients than at any time before. And the governor of North Carolina said recent jumps caused him to rethink plans to reopen schools or businesses.

Cases are rising in nearly half the states, according to an Associated Press analysis, a worrying trend that could intensify as people return to work and venture out during the summer.

States are rolling back lockdowns, but the coronavirus isnt done with the U.S.

The total number of people who are receiving unemployment aid fell slightly, a sign that some people who were laid off when restaurants, retail chains and small businesses suddenly shut down have been recalled to work.

The latest figure from the Labor Department marked the 10th straight weekly decline in applications for jobless aid since they peaked in mid-March when the coronavirus hit hard. Still, the pace of layoffs remains historically high.

About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that many Americans are still losing their jobs even as the economy appears to be slowly recovering with more businesses partially reopening.

30 more cases of coronavirus were reported in Goa on Thursday. Total number of cases in the state is now at 417, including 67 recovered and 350 active cases:, said state health department.

1282 people tested for #COVID19 in Himachal Pradesh today, of which 6 tested positive, 989 negative & results of 287 are awaited. Total cases in the state now at 470, including 177 active cases, 276 recovered and six deaths: State Health Department

Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: A team of NHRC on Thursday visited the LNJP hospital. Jyotika Kalra, a member was quoted by ANI as saying, "We have come here to take stock of situation after NHRC took suo moto cognizance on the complaints of the patients regarding discrepancies in availability of beds on Delhi corona app and in hospitals."

The Union health ministry, in a press briefing on Thursday, said that the recovery rate stands at 49.21 percent.

"The number of patients recovered presently exceeds the number of active patients," said Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry on COVID-19 situation in the country.

ICMR said the state government cannot lower their guard and need to keep on implementing effective surveillance and containment strategies preventing the spread of COVID-19.

There is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu till now. The outbreak has been curtailed in many districts of the state. Since Chennai is densely populated the spread of the virus is more there, ANI quoted Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami as saying.

With the current surge in cases, India is on course to overtake Britain in the global list of countries worst affected by the pandemic and expected to reach the three lakh-mark by this week. The United Kingdom, which is the fourth worst-hit nation, has over 2.91 lakh cases.

The number of COVID-19 cases in India crossed the 2.76-lakh mark on Wednesday, and a third of them have been reported in the first 10 days this month.

The country has been recording close to 10,000 cases every day since 1 June. This means that nearly 90,000 cases have been added in the nationwide tally from 1 to 10 June.

As many as 136 more people, including 54 disaster response personnel who were engaged in cyclone Amphan relief work in Odisha, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, raising the state's total to 3,386, a health department official said.

Earlier in June, 49 NDRF personnel and 12 Odisha Fire Service officials had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Sabarimala Temple will remain shut for devotees and only rituals will be held inside the premise from 14 June. The decision was taken after meeting between Devaswom Minister and Thantri, News18 reported.

The Kerala government has decided to postpone the Sabarimala festival this year, which was scheduled to begin from 19 June.

A Chief Medical Officer of CRPF has tested positive for COVID-19. The CMO has been shifted to a private hospital in Okhla. Total positive cases in CRPF now stand at 544, out of which 353 have recovered and 4 succumbed to the virus.

In his address on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: 'Decades ago Swami Vivekananda wrote, 'The simplest method to be worked upon at present is to induce Indians to use their own products and get markets for Indian goods in other countries'. This path shown by Swami Vivekananda is an inspiration for India in the post-COVID world.'

The cluster based approach for local production, which is now being promoted in India, is also an economic opportunity for all. Clusters associated with these will be developed in districts, blocks in which they are born, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi during 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

"Indian economy needs to be dragged out from 'command & control and shift' to 'plug & play' mode, said Modi.

With 51 more people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Rajasthan till 10.30 am on Thursday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state climbed to 11,651. The COVID-19 toll was 264 after five more patients lost their lives to the infectious disease.

"Of the total, there are 8596 recoveries and 8221 discharges," said the state health department on Thursday.

As many as 441 people have been detained in Manipur for not wearing facial masks and not adhering to social distancing guidelines in public places amid the COVID-19 outbreak, police said.

A total of 467 vehicles were also seized from their possession, they said.

With 357 more COVID-19 patients succumbing to the viral infection in the past 24 hours, the toll across the country reached 8,102 as of Thursday. This takes the mortality rate to 2.83 percent.

For second day in a row, the number of recoveries in India have exceeded the active COVID-19 cases after 1,41,029 patients were cured of the infectious disease as of Thursday. While, there are 1,37,448 number of active cases across the country.

This takes the recovery rate to 49.2 percent.

India reported the highest single-day spike of 9,996 fresh COVID-19 cases and 357 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data released by the health ministry on Thursday.

A hostel for resident doctors at the Muzaffarnagar Medical College in Begrajpur in the district has been sealed after six of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus and were shifted to a COVID-care hospital, said subdivisional magistrate Inderkant Dwivedi.

The remaining over 70 resident doctors have been quarantined in their hostel rooms at the medical college, he said.

As many as 28 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel posted in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, officials said.

They said the personnel were found infected during a contact-tracing exercise after the death of a 44-year-old coronavirus-infected constable on 6 June .

With the death of a COVID-19 patient in Assam, the toll in the state climbed to six on Wednesday while, 235 fresh coronavirus cases were reported with the total reaching 3,285, said health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

India on Wednesday recorded 9,985 new COVID-19 cases and 279 fatalities, pushing the country's case count to 2,76,583 and toll to 7,745, the Union Health Ministry said.

On a positive note, the number of recovered patients has exceeded the count of active cases for the first time.

According to news agency PTI, nearly 90,000 cases have been added to the countrywide count of confirmed COVID-19 cases since 1 June, while nearly one-third of the overall toll has also been reported during these 10 days.

India's first COVID-19 case was detected more than four months ago on 30 January, but it took more than 100 days thereafter for the number of confirmed cases to cross 1,00,000 on 18 May. However, the next one lakh cases were added in just about a fortnight. More than 9,000 new cases have been emerging every day for over a week now.

India is the fifth worst-affected nation by the COVID-19 pandemic at present after the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK. India is ranked 12th for the number of deaths, while it is at the 9th place for recoveries, as per the real-time global data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

India reports 9,985 new cases, 279 fatalities in 24 hours

According to the morning update issued by the Union health ministry, India reported 9,985 new cases and 279 fatalities in the 24 hours since 8 am on Tuesday, pushing the overall case count to 2,76,583 and toll to 7,745.

The number of active cases in the country stands at 1,33,632, while 1,35,205 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said. "Thus, 48.99 percent of the patients have recovered so far," it said. With this, for the first time, the number of active cases was lesser than then number of recoveries.

Dr. Neeraj Gupta, professor in the Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, told PTI the data shows that more and more people are recovering which is as per global trends that 80 percent are likely to have mild disease and make 100 percent recovery.

"This should provide hope to the people of India at large who are having a mortal fear of the disease. But then this should not make them complacent and people should follow social distancing and sanitisation guidelines," Gupta said.

Of the 279 new deaths reported in India on Wednesday, 120 were in Maharashtra, 33 in Gujarat, 31 in Delhi, 21 in Tamil Nadu, 18 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Telangana, 10 in West Bengal, nine in Rajasthan, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, three in Jammu and Kashmir, two in Punjab, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, and one each in Bihar, Jharkhand and Tripura.

Out of the total 7,745 fatalities, Maharashtra reported the highest at 3,289 deaths, followed by Gujarat with 1,313, Delhi with 905, Madhya Pradesh with 420, West Bengal with 415, Tamil Nadu with 307, Uttar Pradesh with 301, Rajasthan with 255 and Telangana with 148 deaths. The death toll reached 77 in Andhra Pradesh, 66 in Karnataka, and 55 in Punjab.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 90,787 followed by Tamil Nadu at 34,914, Delhi at 31,309, Gujarat at 21,014, Uttar Pradesh at 11,335, Rajasthan at 11,245 and Madhya Pradesh at 9,849 according to the Health ministry morning update.

The ministry's website said that 9,227 cases are being reassigned to states and "our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR".

States report increase in cases

However, a PTI tally of figures announced by different states and Union Territories, as of 9.25 pm, showed that the total number of confirmed cases has climbed to 2,77,286, while the death toll has mounted to 8,099. It also showed total recoveries at over 1.4 lakh.

The number of cases in Maharashtra climbed to 94,041 on Wednesday with 3,254 new patients being detected, while the number of COVID-19 rose to 3,438 with 149 new fatalities being recorded during the day. However, more than 44,500 COVID-19 patients have recovered in the state so far.

Mumbai alone registered as many as 1,567 new COVID-19 cases, taking the number of cases to 52,445 on Wednesday, while 97 more patients died, taking the toll to 1,855, the city civic body said.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said lockdown restrictions have been partially eased to allow resumption of business and other activities but the COVID-19 threat still persists. He urged people to avoid crowding and maintain physical distancing post easing of the lockdown norms and warned that lockdown restrictions would have to be reimposed if guidelines were not followed.

If the relaxations to the lockdown starts turning out to be risky, we will be compelled to re-impose the lockdown.  CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) June 10, 2020

In Tamil Nadu, a record number of 1,927 new cases emerged, pushing the state's tally to 36,841 The toll rose to 326 as 19 people succumbed to the disease. DMK MLA J Anbazhagan, a noted articulate member of the principal Opposition party in the state Assembly, died at a private hospital in Chennai after battling COVID-19 for eight days.

The Tamil Nadu government announced that it was recruiting more than 2,800 medical personnel including over 1,200 doctors and also proposed to double the number of beds in state government hospitals to 10,000. This would help lower the work burden of doctors, nurses and other health personnel and improve the COVID-19 treatment amenities, said state health minister C Vijaybaskar.

Gujarat, another badly hit state, reported 510 new cases to take its tally to 21,554, while its death toll rose to 1,347. The number of coronavirus cases in Ahmedabad district rose to 15,305 with 343 new cases being detected while the toll the district rose to 1,092 with 26 more fatalities.

New cases of the viral infection also continued to emerge across various states and UTs, including in Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 161 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the Union Territory to 4,507, as two fresh deaths pushed the toll to 51.

Seven more persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Manipur, taking the state's tally of coronavirus cases to 311. All the new patients had recently returned to the state from different parts of the country and were placed under institutional quarantine, a statement issued by the COVID-19 Common Control Room said, adding that their contact-tracing has been initiated.

The Rajasthan government sealed all state borders for a week from Wednesday as the number of confirmed cases in the state surged by 123 to 11,368.

No person can enter Rajasthan without a 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) from the state or leave without a pass, Director General Of Police, Law and Order, ML Lather said in an order.

'Transmission in community', says Delhi health minister

In Delhi, the total count of cases crossed 32,000 with more than 1,500 new cases getting reported, while its death count mounted to 984. The National Capital will need 1.5 lakh beds by 31 July once people start coming from other states for COVID-19 treatment, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said while announcing that the Lieutenant Governor's orders overruling his government's decisions on coronavirus will be implemented as "this is not the time for disagreements and politics".

Kejriwal said his government has "unprecedented challenges" ahead as data shows that COVID-19 cases will rapidly increase in Delhi, but asserted that around 1,900 patients got beds in hospitals in the last eight days and 4,200 beds were still available, a claim that comes amidst reports of acute shortage of beds in healthcare facilities in the National Capital.

Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain said there is "transmission in the community" but only the Centre can declare whether "community transmission". "There is transmission in the community. But if it is community transmission or not that can be declared by the Centre only. It is a technical term," a statement quoting Jain said.

He had said on Tuesday that the source of infection is not known in nearly half of the fresh cases being reported in the National Capital.

Community transmission generally refers to a stage where contact tracing for a large number of infections is difficult to establish.

Warning of more trouble ahead, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said on Tuesday that the number of COVID-19 cases could surge to 5.5 lakh by 31 July in the national capital itself at the current rate.

With inputs from PTI
WASHINGTON  A key Senate committee voted Wednesday to require the Pentagon to strip military bases and equipment of Confederate names, monuments or symbols within three years, setting up an election-year clash with President Donald Trump on the issue amid a rapidly building national outcry against historical representations of racism.

The move by the Armed Services Committee to insert the mandate into a must-pass defense authorization bill, which was supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, came as Trump publicly declared his refusal to even consider removing any of the names. He raged about it on Twitter on Thursday, exhorting members of his party to resist the effort even as a growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were open to removing symbols of the Confederacy.

The conflict underscored how isolated the president is becoming, even from members of his own party, as protests of police brutality against black people fuel a broader discussion of race and identity in America.

The break is more than rhetorical. The move to include the proposal, written by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., raised the prospect of an election-year Senate vote on the issue.

The American people know these names have to go, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference Thursday. The president, she continued, seems to be the only person left who doesnt get it.

Republican lawmakers willingness to break with the president on the issue comes as they have also distanced themselves from his bellicose response to the protests, instead scrambling to come up with a plan to combat racism in policing.

Dramatizing the rift between Trump and members of his own party, he lashed out on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, apparently dismayed by the support the measure was picking up in Congress.

Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars, Trump tweeted. Hopefully our great Republican Senators wont fall for this!

But the presidents message came as many Republicans on Capitol Hill had already endorsed or expressed openness to the idea, including the top leader in the House and several Republican senators. He posted it the day after the closed-door vote on the proposal, which would require the Defense Department to set up a panel to develop a plan to rename, within the next three years, military bases and other assets currently named for Confederate figures. The vote happened after Trump announced that his administration would not consider the idea.

The proposal includes a measure that would exempt grave markers from the ban on Confederate symbols and markers, Senate aides familiar with the details said.

The panel also included a measure that would ban the use of military force against peaceful protesters, a direct response to Trumps threat to call in the armed forces to quell unrest throughout the country, and the use of the National Guard to confront protesters in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House minority leader, told reporters he was not opposed to renaming the bases named for Confederate figures.

There are a number of people in the armed services who think it could be appropriate to change some, he said, citing Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has said he is open to renaming bases. Some would say otherwise not to.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said he didnt have any problem with the idea at all and added that theres been lots of great soldiers since the Civil War whose names could go on forts.

Braxton Bragg was probably the worst commanding general in the Confederate Army, he continued, singling out Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Interesting general to name a fort after.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., held back from supporting renaming the bases but said it was important to start a discussion about why they were named after Confederates in the first place.

A lot of those statues and monuments were put there to kind of declare, Were not going to integrate, Lankford said. I think we should acknowledge that and, say, No, we are. And for those that were digging in during the time of Jim Crow, they need to know that time has passed.

By Thursday afternoon, only a handful of Republicans spoke out against the proposal. Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he felt the issue should be decided by the local communities and states, as opposed to mandating something that maybe the people dont want.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who sits on the panel, told reporters he had risen in opposition to the bill shortly before the vote.

I dont think Congress mandating these being renamed and attempting to erase that part of our history is the way you deal with that history, Hawley said.

The push in the Senate came on the same day that Pelosi reiterated a long-standing call for the removal of 11 statues of Confederates  including Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens, the president and vice president of the Confederate States of America  that are displayed in the Capitol.

They committed treason, and their statues are in the Capitol, Pelosi said. These names have to come from these bases and the statues have to go from the Capitol.

Those statues were selected and donated by states to the Capitol, and current federal law places the power to remove a statue with the states.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, said on Thursday that allowing the states to decide whether to replace the statues was the appropriate way to deal with the issue.

Blunt, the chairman of the panel in charge of handling such a request, said on Thursday that seven states had already moved to replace their statues, four of which had been singled out by Pelosi.

There is clearly an agreement that the federal government has made mistakes, he said. Im glad to see the states replacing some of these statues with statues of people that are more reflective of either the entire history of the country or even the recent history of the country.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Tensions between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump have grown since their historic meeting in 2018 - REUTERS

North Korea rebuked Washington on Thursday for criticising its decision to cut communication links with Seoul, warning it to stay out of inter-Korean affairs if it wanted to ensure a smooth presidential election.

In a statement carried by the KCNA news agency, a senior North Korean foreign ministry official slammed the "double-dealing attitudes" of the United States as "disgusting".

Washington should "hold its tongue and mind its internal affairs first", said Kwon Jong-gun, director-general of the Department of US Affairs, if it wanted to avoid experiencing a "hair-raiser" and ensure the "easy holding" of November's presidential vote.

The implicit threat comes just a day before the two-year anniversary of the landmark summit in Singapore where Kim Jong-un shook hands with Donald Trump, becoming the first North Korean leader to meet a sitting US president.

Negotiations over the North's nuclear programme have been deadlocked since the collapse of a second Trump-Kim meeting in Hanoi last year over what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.

Pyongyang cut communications with South Korea this week over its anger at defectors sending propapanda leaflets over the border into the North - REUTERS

Analysts say it has taken no substantive steps towards giving up its weapons but the impasse has left Pyongyang frustrated over the lack of concessions.

It has increasingly turned its anger towards Seoul rather than Washington, carrying out a series of weapons tests in recent months.

Since last week it has issued a series of vitriolic denunciations of the South, and on Tuesday announced it was cutting all official communication links with its neighbour.

The US State Department said it was "disappointed" by the decision.

Seoul and Washington are security allies and the US stations 28,500 troops in the South to protect it from its neighbour.

Pyongyang is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its banned weapons programmes but has carried out a series of tests in recent months - often describing them as multiple launch rocket systems, although Japan and the US have called them ballistic missiles.
James Cousins, Rapid Insight Higher Education is facing a series of compounding crises. David Kaiser's insight and experience will be very valuable when determining how to adapt and recover to arrive at a stronger, more data-informed position when the crisis subsides. - Mike Laracy, Founder and President of Rapid Insight

Times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, bring the importance of data to the forefront of everyones mind. In an upcoming free webinar, David Kaiser of Temple Universitys Fox School of Business will discuss how addressing a crisis ushered in an unprecedented ability for the entire institution to access data strategically. The webinar will take place on Thursday, June 18th at 2 PM ET (11 AM PT).

The webinar will illustrate how building relationships and partnerships enables university-wide improvements to the strategic application of analytics. It will feature David Kaiser, the Senior Director of Strategic Analytics at Temple Universitys Fox School of Business, and James Cousins, Analyst Manager at Rapid Insight.

Topics of discussion will include how data can be used to break down silos between departments and start conversations about collaborative initiatives, determine which classes can be held online and which can only take place in person, improve curriculum development, qualify faculty, and increase the efficacy of scholarship programs.

With as much praise and discussion as advanced analysis techniques get, David's work reminds me of the basic but critical need for strong partnerships around data, said James Cousins, Rapid Insight Analyst Manager. The scope of his data warehousing effort and the collaboration he's introduced for operational insights is inspiring.

Mike Laracy, Founder and President of Rapid Insight, said, Higher Education is facing a series of compounding crises. David Kaiser's insight and experience will be very valuable when determining how to adapt and recover to arrive at a stronger, more data-informed position when the crisis subsides.

This webinar focuses on a topic that is timely and urgent. Colleges and universities nationwide are working to create data-informed strategies to deal with the continuing impact of COVID-19, and this webinar will offer insight into methods of building lasting change out of the impact of a crisis.

To learn more about this webinar and to register, click here.

About Temple Universitys Fox School of Business:

The vision of Temple Universitys Fox School of Business is to transform student lives, develop leaders, and impact our local and global communities through excellence and innovation in education and research.

The Fox Schools research institutes and centers as well as 200+ full-time faculty provide access to market-leading technologies and foster a collaborative and creative learning environment that offers more than curriculumit offers an experience. Coupled with its leading student services, the Fox School ensures that its graduates are fully prepared to enter the job market.

The flexibility and responsiveness of our knowledge-creating research faculty allows the school to address the needs of industry and generate courses and programs in emerging fields. As a leader in business research, the Fox School values interdisciplinary approaches and translational research that influence and impact real-world problems. Our research informs an adaptive curriculum, supports innovation in teaching and prepares students for the ever-changing business environment.

About Rapid Insight:

Rapid Insight is a leading provider of business intelligence and automated predictive analytics software. With a specialty in higher education and a focus on ease of use and efficiency, Rapid Insight products enable users to turn their raw data into actionable information. The companys analytic software simplifies the extraction and analysis of data, enabling institutions with student populations of all sizes to fully utilize their information for data-informed decision making. For more information, visit http://www.rapidinsight.com.
John Gleeson is the former judge tasked by Emmet Sullivan, the judge in the Michael Flynn case, with talking him into sentencing Flynn in a case that the prosecution has moved to dismiss. One wonders whether any such talking is required, other than for the sake of appearances.

In any event, Gleeson today filed his brief. He argues that Judge Sullivan should reject the governments motion and continue the prosecution to sentencing, notwithstanding the prosecutors desire to stand down.

Gleeson had sketched out this argument in a Washington Post op-ed before Sullivan appointed him to brief the matter. Thus, the course of action Gleeson calls for in the brief comes as no surprise. Judge Sullivan got exactly what he wanted.

Even without the op-ed, Gleesons position was 100 percent foreseeable. He was a left-wing judge whose attitude towards crime depends on the identity of the alleged criminal. He favored leniency for street criminals but, it now seems, favors toughness for political enemies.

Also, as Bill Otis says, Gleeson has no appreciation of the distinction between judge and advocate. Thus, op-ed or not, he was always the perfect candidate to advise Judge Sullivan, who clearly wants to assume the role of advocate in the Flynn case.

In an article called Defense Lawyer in a Robe, Bill quoted the New York Times as follows:

Francois Holloway has spent nearly two decades of a 57-year sentence in a federal prison, for serious crimes that no one disputes he committed. There were armed carjackings, and his participation in an illegal chop shop, where stolen cars would be dismantled and sold for parts. But the fairness of the mandatory sentence has been a matter of dispute, not only for Mr. Holloway, but also for a surprising and most effective advocate: the trial judge, John Gleeson.

Let that sink in. Judge Gleeson was an advocate for the defendant in a case before him. He thus violated the fundamental principle that a judge cannot decide a case in which he has been, much less in which he actively remains, an advocate.

As Bill explained:

Its one thing for a trial judge, during the trial, to make it decently clear he finds one side more persuasive than the other. This is not recommended practice, but it often happens. But its another for the judge, years after the case is over and the governments position fully vindicated by the higher courts, including the Supreme Court, to use his office to go backdoor to achieve the outcome one side  the armed felons side  has wanted all along.

Yet, thats what Gleeson did. Again, from the New York Times:

As Mr. Holloway filed one motion after another trying to get his sentence and his case re-evaluated, Judge Gleeson, of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, began to speak out against those mandatory sentences that he believed were unduly harsh. Mr. Holloways 57-year term was more than twice the average sentence in the district for murder in 1996, the year he was sentenced. More recently, Judge Gleeson began his own campaign on Mr. Holloways behalf, writing to Loretta E. Lynch, who is the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, to request that she vacate two of Mr. Holloways convictions. The payoff from Judge Gleesons efforts will be apparent on Tuesday in a highly unusual hearing, when the judge is expected to resentence Mr. Holloway, who is 57, to time served.

(Emphasis added)

Thus, Gleeson waged his own campaign, using his office and his power, to browbeat the local prosecutor, who regularly appears in his court, into asking for charges to be dropped against a repeat, armed felon whom the prosecutors office properly convicted at a trial many years before. Gleeson then granted the request for a reduced sentence for which he had tirelessly advocated.

As Bill put it:

Having blackjacked the US Attorney into going along with a legally baseless motion to vacate two convictions whose validity is not even questioned (so as to get to the desired dumbed-down sentence), Gleeson then goes ahead and presides over the hearing himself. [Y]ou might think Gleeson would have at least the decency to allow a different judge to decide the motion to vacate. Wrongo. Gleesons whole gig might get spoiled if a judge who hadnt prejudged this ginned-up motion  you know, a neutral judge  were able to decide it. So he put it on his own docket to insure that no hint of neutrality crept in.

(Emphasis added)

Who is John Gleeson? Hes a former rogue judge and current accomplice to a judge who, it appears, also wants to go rogue.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Partly cloudy and very cold. Near or below zero wind chills again late at night towards sunrise. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy and very cold. Near or below zero wind chills again late at night towards sunrise.
Rivers and larger streams are more important than previously thought to brook trout, which are generally assumed to be more associated with small mountain streams, according to research by Penn State.

Under assault from a warming climate, most wild brook trout in the U.S. are now found in those small mountain streams, which stay cold enough year-round to meet their biological need for temperatures below 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

But a genetic analysis of brook trout in streams across the 460-square-mile Loyalsock Creek drainage in northcentral Pennsylvania has shown that the fish are similar genetically, suggesting close relatedness among populations.

The only way that could have happened, according to Shannon White, postdoctoral scholar in the College of Agricultural Sciences, is fish moving between tributaries in the 86-mile-long Loyalsock Creek.

Temperatures in Loyalsock Creek exceed brook trout thermal tolerance from approximately June through September, White pointed out. So fish are believed to inhabit only the bigger river system during the winter.

Although the behavior and survival of brook trout in Loyalsock Creek are not well understood, researchers hypothesize that some brook trout move into the mainstem after spawning in a tributary in October or November and stay until late spring, when some swim up new tributaries.

Its pretty simple  if widespread populations are related genetically, it indicates that fish are moving around between those populations, she explained. Theres a high degree of genetic connectivity between populations separated by the mainstem, and that indicates that brook trout are swimming into Loyalsock Creek and using it as a movement corridor to connect populations in other tributaries.

Understanding patterns of population connectivity is critical for species conservation, White added, because populations that are more connected typically can survive and adapt to disturbance and stress.

To build what White called a family tree of brook trout in the Loyalsock drainage, researchers collected 1,627 adult brook trout from 33 sites, with an average of 49 individuals collected from each site. They clipped the caudal fins of those fish and conducted genetic analysis on those tissue samples.

To estimate statistically how unique habitat features, such as road culverts and waterfalls found in streams, influence the movement of wild brook trout, researchers developed what they call the bidirectional geneflow in riverscapes model as part of a practical framework that uses genetic data to understand patterns and drivers of fish movement.

The novel modeling approach is significant, explained Tyler Wagner, adjunct professor of fisheries ecology, because it shows that brook trout  at least in the Loyalsock Creek watershed  are not confined just to the headwaters. They are using the mainstem as a seasonal, thermally suitable corridor for movement.

There is no reason to expect that the Loyalsock drainage is different from other drainages in the eastern U.S., he said. So the results likely have implications for the conservation and management of wild brook trout.

Specifically, the results suggest that conservation of larger streams and rivers may be necessary to protect and conserve critical brook trout movement corridors that keep brook trout populations healthy.

The findings of the Penn State study, recently published in Ecological Applications, contrast with other research related to brook trout behavior, White conceded. The consensus has been that trout do not move very far, she said. But Loyalsock Creek is a fairly big watershed, and we have found that fish are moving quite a bit, and populations on opposite ends of the watershed are connected to one another genetically.

However, White noted, only a small proportion of the fish travel.

In a separate study we used telemetry to monitor the movement of 162 fish and found that there is a small proportion of the population that moves, she said. Its only about 20 percent of fish that get into Loyalsock Creek.

In terms of males, females and the size of fish that are moving, it doesnt really seem to make a difference. This would suggest that there may be a genetic component to movement, in the sense that some fish have genes that are programmed to make them travel.

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Do you have a nature or outdoor question, or something to share? Contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.
The numbers of new COVID-19 cases among agricultural workers has climbed this week.

On Wednesday, all 38 of the newly reported COVID-19 cases were in those working in the agricultural sector and on Monday, 34 of the 43 new cases were in farms workers as well.

Monday and Tuesday were the second and third highest days for new cases in our region since the pandemic started.

On Thursday, 16 new cases were reported.

Medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said increased testing for migrant farms workers is the reason behind the reported new cases.

Erie Shores HealthCare's COVID-19 assessment centre saw 160 farm workers on Tuesday  significantly less than the 500 to 600 tests officials were hoping to conduct each day. The goal is to test as many of the 8,000 migrant workers in the area as possible.

But Ahmed said people cannot be forced to get tested.

"We also have to recognize that this is something that we have always enjoyed as Canadians and as a society the freedom of making a decision that no one can force you or I to go and get tested unless we feel that there is a risk for me as a person living in the community to spread it to other people," he said.

Windsor Essex County Health Unit

Ahmed said he's learned some in the sector are not always forthcoming with their symptoms.

"These workers are here because they want to make money and it's their job. And every time that they're not at work they are at a risk of not getting money or maybe even feel that if they continue to show up as weak and not able to work  their job could be at risk," he said.

The assessment centre at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre opened as a way to improve access to testing for people in the agri-food sector. It also came after two migrant workers from Mexico died in Windsor-Essex due to COVID-19.

Windsor-Essex's migrant worker situation has emphasized the need for systemic changes, said Ahmed, which includes assessing workers' accommodations, along with managing language and culture barriers.

Story continues

In the short-term, Ahmed said they are focused on immediate supports like contact-tracing and management of cases.

Meanwhile, in another vulnerable sector of the community, a seniors' home previously cleared of an outbreak has been added back to the list this week.

Country Village Homes, a long-term care home in Woodslee, is back under an outbreak after one staff member tested positive for the disease.

The health unit said this week directives from the province indicated residents at long-term care and retirement homes would be tested twice in the month of June, but offered no further details about that testing.

Workplaces under an outbreak

The health unit will begin reporting any outbreaks at workplaces where more than two or more employees have tested positive for COVID-19 within a reasonable amount of time, said Ahmed.

"This disclosure will help the community understand better how the spread is happening and help us reinforce those important measures we need to take when we visit these workplaces," said Ahmed. "It is all of our responsibility when we visit these workplaces we are taking appropriate precautions and employers are too."

With more people returning to work and the province continuing reopening strategies, Ahmed said the reporting is necessary.

A list of current workplaces that are under outbreak will be provided on the health unit's website sometime this week.

Peter Kovalik/Scott Galley/CBC

The health unit announced Monday they would no longer be providing daily COVID-19 live updates each morning, and would instead provide current numbers through its website. A live video update will occur on Fridays when Ahmed presents the epidemiological summary report for our region.

Random drive-thru testing will be available on Thursday in Leamington at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre and Friday in Lakeshore at the Atlas Tube Centre. Both sites will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Testing centres open 7 days a week

The health unit said testing is available at two assessment centres in Windsor-Essex. People that have at least one symptom of the virus, and people who are asymptomatic but are at risk of contracting the virus can be tested.

Windsor Regional Hospital has went back to usual testing hours, after briefly extending them due to an increase in the volume of people looking to be tested.

The assessment centre at the Ouellette Campus next to the Emergency Department is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The assessment centre at Erie Shores HealthCare is open from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

COVID-19 in Sarnia-Lambton

Lambton Public Health reported 271 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region. Overall, 25 people have died.

Another 233 people have recovered.

An outbreak at Vision Nursing Home in Sarnia continues with 26 residents in total testing positive for the disease and 28 staff members.

Ten residents in total have died at Vision Nursing Home.

COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent

Chatham-Kent's health unit reported 148 cases of COVID-19 for that community, with the majority of them linked to an outbreak at Greenhill Produce.

There are now 103 workers at the facility who have tested positive for COVID-19. An outbreak was investigated at the end of April, when about 40 cases of the disease were discovered among workers at the greenhouse operation.

Only two of those cases are still active, according to CK Public Health.

In Chatham-Kent, one person has died due to COVID-19 and 142 people have recovered.

A mobile drive-thru for COVID-19 testing will take place in Wallaceburg from Thursday to Saturday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The clinic is for anyone wishing to be swabbed and will be located in the front parking lot of Chatham-Kent Health Alliance's Wallaceburg site at 325 Margaret Avenue.

Those seeking to receive a test are required to bring a valid health card.
Here is our first impression of the Xiaomi Mi Laptop 14 Horizon Edition. It is powered by a 10th generation Intel Core i7-10510U and comes with an Nvidia Ge Force MX350.

Laptops arent the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Xiaomi, but as it so happens, the company has been making laptops for some time now. If you have had a friend travel to China or seen our coverage from CES, you would have seen photos of these laptops and theres no denying that theyre good. The Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition is the companys first laptop to be launched in India, and as per the company, its been designed specifically for India and is being launched in the country before anywhere else in the world. Xiaomi sent over their Made-for-India Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition for us to review. While the laptop is still under review, just two days of using it have definitely left us with some impressions

Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition Specifications

The Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition comes with some very impressive specs. The unit we have runs off the 10th generation Intel Core i7-10510U. This is a quad-core processor with 4 cores, 8 threads and has a base clock speed of 1.8GHz and a boost clock of 4.90GHz. Accompanying the Comet Lake processor is Nvidias GeForce MX350 graphics with 2GB VRAM. This is the first laptop to launch in India with this GPU. Theres 8GB of DDR4 memory clocked at 2666MHz. Last but not the least, we also get a 512GB NVMe drive, which operates at PCIe 3.0 x4. The display used by Xiaomi is a 14-inch full HD display with a matte coating. The Horizon Edition means that the display is surrounded by slim bezels on three sides, measuring a measly 3mm.

Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition Special Features

The Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition doesnt feel like a laptop thats just been put together by using available parts. It is a laptop that feels purpose-built. After you take the Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition out of its very standard cardboard box, you realise that youre holding a laptop that feels almost as premium as a Lenovo or Dell machine. The whole thing is made using magnesium alloy but does not give off a MacBook vibe, which is great. There really is no way to iterate the high quality of the build, but you can definitely see the very minimal nature of the design. Theres no branding anywhere, except the mi logo on the bottom bezel of the display and an Intel Core i7 sticker on the bottom right corner of the keyboard island. I like minimal and Im sure you will too. The narrow bezel display is definitely appreciated, but in terms of its peak brightness and colour accuracy, thats a matter for the in-depth review that will come later. Saving the best for last is the Nvidia GeForce MX350, which has been often claimed to almost match the performance of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050. There are definitely more things to talk about, but we also want to leave some things for our longer review that comes out in a few days.

Using the Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition

While Ive only had the Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition fore two days, I have been using it to do most of my work like writing and even light photo editing (RAW files from a Sony A7 Mark3). The laptop has been chugging along mostly just fine, without throwing any serious performance issues my way. What stands out is the incredibly thin and light design, without compromising on the rigidity of the body. However, there is one glaring omission from the laptop and thats the webcam. Xiaomi prioritized the slim bezels on this machine, so theres no built-in webcam. Instead, the company provides an external USB-webcam in the box which slides neatly onto the display. This is actually also quite great if youre the paranoid kind who has his/her webcam taped up like me.

Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition First Impressions

Honestly, I was expecting a flimsy laptop, built using plastic parts. I expected the lid to have a lot of flex and the overall build to feel cheap. I have no shame in admitting how wrong I was. The Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition is built extremely well. Their choice of features and specifications also allude to a well thought out machine, choosing the performance-oriented Comet Lake processor over Ice Lake. The fact that we get a 512GB NVMe drive operating at a full PCIe 3.0 x4 interface is also super impressive. You get all this at an incredibly competitive price, with Xiaomi claiming that the models that the Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition competes against, coming in at the Rs 80,000-85,000 range, while this fully spec'd machine costs only Rs. 59,999. Early benchmarks of the processor do tell a favourable story, but the laptop still has a very long way to go in terms of testing. The initial impressions of the Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition are highly favourable, but we will reserve our verdict on the laptops value proposition for our full review, which comes out June 16 2020.
Brian Garrett has waited four decades for this moment.



Its been more than 40 years since he says he was abused while a member of a local Boy Scouts organization in northern California.

Now, a federal judge wants to hear his story.

"They swept things under the rug. And basically, this is about accountability, Garrett told the National Investigative Unit.



Garrett is one of the first of an expected 10,000 former Scouts to file a claim in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy settlement. The judge assigned to the case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware recently set Nov. 16 as the deadline for claimants to come forward.

"It's about them admitting the mistakes  them apologizing, Garrett said from Florida, where he now lives.

"The important thing for people to know is that they're not alone. There are many victims just like them, Garretts attorney, Chris Hurley, at Hurley McKenna & Mertz in Chicago, said in an interview.





Boy Scouts Bankruptcy

The Boy Scouts  one of the nations oldest organizations for youth  filed for bankruptcy protection in February, as it faced a potential wave of litigation over sexual abuse claims that stretch back decades.

The National Investigative Unit, in a worldwide television exclusive in January, revealed the first federal sexual abuse lawsuit of its kind against the Boy Scouts, filed in Washington, D.C.

One of the plaintiffs, Rick, broke years of silence to give his first interview for that story, explaining I do feel the pain still, decades after he was a Scout.

But Rick's lawsuit is now on hold while the organization hes suing stays in bankruptcy court. He must file a new settlement claim like everyone else.

Victims Encouraged to File

In a statement for this story, the Boy Scouts of America said it is committed to compensating victims through its restructuring and that the setting of a deadline for claims to be filed, known as a bar date, is an important milestone in meeting that imperative.

The bar date sets a clear timeline for victims to come forward and later seek compensation from the BSAs proposed compensation trust. We encourage all victims to file a claim and will be providing extensive noticing to ensure that there is a clear process for them to do so, the statement said.

The noticing effort will involve a multi-million dollar advertising campaign soon to notify assault survivors of the approaching deadline.

Fights over Compensation

Despite the conciliatory statement from the national organization, a legal fight is brewing between attorneys for the survivors and the 261 local Boy Scout councils, which are opposed to including their assets in the broader settlement fund, the amount of which will determine how much compensation ultimately goes to verified claimants.

We still don't know what the pool of money is going to be because the Boy Scouts are fighting us, explained Ken Rothweiler, lead attorney for Abused in Scouting, which he says represents several thousand people who will file claims.

Lawyers around the country will be planning to sue those local councils if they don't participate in the bankruptcy, he said in an interview.

When asked whether that prediction was actually a threat of future litigation, Rothweiler did not hesitate to answer.

It actually is a threat. And the local council should know it's a threat and we're very clear that it's a threat. We will sue every single one of those local councils if they don't participate in this bankruptcy, Rothweiler warned.

There is a problem

Dave Henson, one of Rothweilers clients, is already a plaintiff in a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts and is preparing to file a claim in the bankruptcy proceedings.

In a recent interview from his home in Hawaii, Henson paused when asked how his experience in the Scouts has affected him in the decades since. After a nervous laugh, Henson answered: almost in every way imaginable.

"There is a problem and it's a significant problem and it needs to be addressed, he said.

Attorneys at several firms predicted settlement payments could arrive as soon as next year, depending on how quickly outstanding issues in the case can be resolved.

Individuals claiming abuse while in the Boy Scouts who do not file claims by the bar date will not be allowed to file a settlement claim in the future, legal experts said.

The bankruptcy case is Boy Scouts of America and Delaware BSA, Chapter 11 Debtors, 20-10343.

Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. April Chunko and Travis Sherwin contributed to this report.





Know of waste, fraud, or abuse? Have a confidential tip? Send information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.
This week Mercedes drove on the track for the first time since the corona crisis broke out. Both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas had the opportunity to drive the 2018 Mercedes at the Silverstone circuit. Ferrari will do the same later this month at Fiorano.

Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen have chosen not to do so and will therefore not be back on the asphalt until the free practice sessions in Austria. Although Mercedes claims to have benefited a lot from the test, Verstappen doesn't think he's missing anything.

Read more Pirelli announces tyre compounds and has striking choice for Silverstone

To the German Sky Sports he says the following about that: "I don't think they have an advantage because of that. You have to drive an old car, so I decided not to do it. After four or five laps in Austria I will have found the rhythm again".

The Dutchman goes on to say that despite the lockdown he is now fitter than he was in Australia. During the first weeks he had to sit at home, he trained six hours a day. The team will also bring some updates to the Red Bull Ring so it can't be a bad time to prepare, but still Verstappen thinks Mercedes will be the favourite.
PARIS (Reuters) - The European Human Rights Court (EHCR) ruled on Thursday that a French criminal conviction against activists involved in a campaign to boycott products imported from Israel had no sufficient grounds and violated their freedom of expression.

France's highest appeals' court in 2015 upheld rulings that convicted campaigners on the basis of inciting racism and anti-Semitism.

Twelve people, who were part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, were sentenced over the distribution of leaflets in supermarkets in eastern France and wearing T-shirts in 2009 and 2010 calling for the boycott of Israeli goods.

Their legal team argued that the call for a boycott was a fundamental principle of freedom of expression.

The EHCR said there was little scope in European conventions for restrictions on political speech and that its very nature was to be controversial and virulent as long as it did not cross the line and call for violence, hatred or intolerance.

"The Court considered that the applicants conviction had lacked any relevant or sufficient grounds," the ruling said.

France was ordered to pay 27,380 euros ($31,150) to each campaigner.

Israel has said the BDS movement, sponsored by pro-Palestinian intellectuals and bloggers, is motivated by anti-Semitism and a desire to paint Israel as illegitimate.

The ruling comes at a time when Israel is considering annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, drawing criticism in Europe. Some countries, including France, say measures could be imposed on Israel if it went ahead with its plans.

"It's a victory for freedom of expression and civic action," said Bertrand Heilbronn, president of the France Palestine Solidarity Association. "(We) will continue to develop it (the BDS campaign) as long as Israel does not respect international law and human rights."

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jun. 10, 2020 | PADUCAH

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 10, 2020 | 10:50 AM | PADUCAH

Police have recovered a stolen vehicle used in the early morning destruction and robbery of an ATM.



The Paducah Police Department says a witness contacted them at around 3 a.m. Wednesday and reported he saw two men wrap a chain around an ATM at BB&T Bank at 5195 Hinckleville Road and pull it with a pickup truck. When officers arrived, they found the damaged ATM with money missing.



The 1999 Ford pickup was reported stolen from a home on Wellsley Way in McCracken County. It was found abandoned Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of an apartment complex off Olivet Church Road.



Police still are searching for the two men believed to be responsible for the theft.



Anyone with information about the truck, or who recognizes the men or their clothing, is asked to call the Paducah Police Department at 270-444-8550.
Bay League boys and girls basketball teams will play five league games and then there will be a tournament to determine seeding for CIF-Southern Section playoffs.
Russell Simmons Leads Hip-Hop Elite in Praising New Police Reform Legislation

In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, the hip-hop community has rallied behind proposed new legislation to reform American policing.

Def Jam Founder Russell Simmons has led a coalition of others in the rap world in praising a proposal released on Monday, June 8, by Congressional and Senate Democrats, while also pushing their own agenda.

We must have police accountability, Simmons stated. I have been fighting police brutality for 30 plus years since F the police, and its the same issue over and over.

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A major part of the hip-hop communitys proposal is that independent prosecutors should immediately be brought in when police officers are charged with a crime  particularly a brutality or murder claim.

Simmons, who said he has the support of Snoop Dogg and others, noted that there are still some in hip-hop who havent yet gotten behind the proposal because theyd like to see even tougher language added to the document thats circulating throughout the industry.

We need prosecutors who are not beholden to the police unions to indict, prosecute and convict dirty cops, Simmons stated. There needs to be a recognition and prosecution of officers as co-conspirators who stand by as crimes are perpetuated. There needs to be a system and legal process where police are responsible for the errors of their partners, after all, they are accomplices to the crimes that they allow their partners to commit.

Part of the proposal includes an officers loss of retirement and pension benefits when convicted of a crime, use of force and sensitivity training.

Several federal lawmakers said they support the language found in Simmons proposal.

The murder of George Floyd and the video seen around the nation is one more painful reminder of racism, danger to Black Americans posed by police violence, and the failure of our societys collective attempt to address inequality and injustice, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), told Black Press USA in an email.

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We need federal reforms to improve police training and practices, and to ensure transparency and accountability, Johnson wrote.

Congressman Donald McEachin (D-Va.), the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Whip on police reform legislation, said the past few weeks have laid bare to the nation just how far America has to go in addressing the deeply-rooted ills of racial bias and police-sanctioned violence in society.

We can and must reimagine public safety in America to make our policing systems safer for citizens and hold police officers accountable to the communities they serve, beginning with ensuring that the common sense policies included in the Justice in Policing Act (announced Monday by Democrats) are adopted by police departments across our country, McEachin stated.

CBC Chair Karen Bass (D-Calif.) proclaimed that the nation is witnessing the birth of a new movement with thousands coming together in every state, marching to demand a change that ends police brutality, holds police officers accountable, and calls for transparency.

For over 100 years, Black communities in America have sadly been marching against police abuse and calling for the police to protect and serve them as they do others, Bass said.

Never again should the world be subjected to witnessing what we saw on the streets in Minnesota with George Floyd.

Simmons, the Def Jam Records founder, said hes pleased with the action taking by Democrats in proposing legislation that hes long championed.

Remember the words of Audre Lorde, who said, revolution is not a one-time event. It is becoming always vigilant for the smallest opportunities to make genuine change in established, outgrown responses, for instance, it is learning to address each others difference with respect, Simmons stated.

Today, Im getting support from multiple congress men and women and hip-hops most powerful voices. I want prosecutors separate from and free from police control. I want it to be that every time a policeman is reported for any misconduct, the case would go to a different independent prosecutors office.
LANSING, MI -- A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers is proposing the establishment of a state watchdog to investigate sexual abuse and civil rights complaints at public universities, saying established university processes have failed to protect students.

House Bill 5603, sponsored by Rep. John Reilly, R-Oakland Township, and co-sponsored by two other Republicans and two Democrats, would create an Office of the Higher Education Ombudsman within the Michigan Department of Education, appointed by the governor and tasked with investigating a range of complaints.

The states ombudsman would be independent from universities and have authority to investigate complaints concerning university administrative acts, allegations of civil rights violations, sexual misconduct and any other violation of the law that a public university or its employees may be directly or indirectly responsible for in their official capacity.

Throughout the last decade, Michiganders have witnessed their public higher education institutions fail to uphold their duties of protecting students, Reilly told members of the state House Education Committee on Wednesday, June 10.

Reilly pointed out the long-running sexual abuse by two doctors, Larry Nassar at Michigan State University and Robert Anderson at the University of Michigan, that only recently came to light. Victims in both cases say their respective universities failed to act, even as allegations of sexual abuse piled up.

The problem isnt limited to one or two universities but is systemic, the lawmaker said.

You may hear from some that this bill is unnecessary; Universities typically have their own independent ombudsman who report to their respective president, Reilly said. I argue, as previously stated, Michigans current system is clearly not working.

The committee on Wednesday did not vote on the bill, which was introduced in March. There have been several other reforms proposed by lawmakers in the aftermath of the Nassar case.

Related: Nassar-inspired bills reemerge in Michigan legislature

An independent state ombudsman to oversee complaints against institutions receiving state dollars wouldnt be a first. State prisons, veterans homes and Michigans child welfare system all have their own individual state ombudsmen.

Under the bill, complaints could be filed with the new office by current or former students, faculty and staff at a public university, as well as state lawmakers or the ombudsman.

The ombudsman would have powers to interview students, university staff and contractors, inspect university property, obtain any university information and records and hold informal hearings.

Opposition to the bill without testimony was submitted to the committee by Caroline Liethen, legislative liaison for the Michigan Department of Education.

Daniel Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities, was the sole person to testify in opposition to the bill at the state House Education Committee meeting.

Hurley testified that the bill, as written, would grant the ombudsman overly broad authority that conflicts with existing federal and state law.

He cited privacy concerns over the ombudsmans access to university property, as well as their access to some university records protected by federal privacy law.

With the Michigan Office of the Auditor General, as well as ombudsmen within public universities already, Hurley said there are both external and internal accountability checks in place that dont supersede the autonomy of university governing bodies.

The state House Fiscal Agencys analysis of the bill notes that the proposed ombudsmans power to compel universities to comply with requests and directives may be seen as infringing on the authority around supervision and expenditures given to university boards" -- autonomy granted to them under the Michigan Constitution.

Hurley was asked the same question three times by Rep. Brad Paquette, R-Niles: Have state universities failed to address the concerns and complaints against them?

Each time, Hurley avoided the question, instead saying universities have learned from incidents that recently came to light and that the ombudsman proposed by the bill would duplicate existing investigatory offices.

What my main point today before this committee is that the structures and mechanisms for that accountability, both internal and external to the universities, are already in place, he said in response to Paquettes question.

Hurley argued the office could have a chilling effect on reports of sexual abuse, saying some may not report the crimes against them for fear of loss of privacy and control over any investigative or adjudicative process.

Katerina Klawes, a former Northern Michigan University student, testified in support of the bill.

Klawes said she was sexually assaulted while attending the university. She expected support and understanding from the university but instead, she said, was threatened with discipline or expulsion if she spoke out about the emotional pain she suffered in the wake of her assault.

"Michigan colleges have a crisis on their campuses and its not just the number of sexual assaults, Klawes testified. The crisis includes how universities are silencing students, and that complaints against universities too often go unaddressed.

Michigan universities need an independent watchdog to ensure they can no longer silence students and their complaints over how sexual assault investigations are handled.

Under the proposed legislation, Investigations by the ombudsman would be coordinated with, and referred to, law enforcement if deemed appropriate. The ombudsman, upon receiving a complaint, would have 10 business days to notify the complainant whether or not they would be taking up an investigation and, if not, why.

Universities would not be able to retaliate against those cooperating with an investigation, and also would not be able to refuse a legal demand of the ombudsman.

In addition to the investigative capacities, the Office of the Higher Education Ombudsman would also compile an annual report for the Michigan Department of Education and the state Legislature detailing the following:

Number of complaints received and demographic information of complainants, persons accused and other involved parties;

Number of complaints concerning administrative acts, significant student health issues and significant student safety issues;

Number of complaints that led to investigations;

Number of investigations initiated by the ombudsman, categorized by complaint;

Number of hearings; and

Number of reports of findings issued.

Every three years, the ombudsmans office would additionally compile a campus climate survey, with the results reported to the state Legislature.

The ombudsmans office would choose at random and survey at least 20% of all students, staff and faculty at each public university, asking them questions about the quality of classroom experiences, usage of student services, crimes committed on campus, student demographics, discrimination and other questions determined by the ombudsman.

Read more:

Michigan attorney general joins lawsuit over billions of illegal robocalls

70 mph+ gusts, a few tornadoes likely as severe risk upped to 4 on 5-step scale

Two more charged in Grand Rapids riot, one for damaging police cruiser

Report alleging affair, improper pay boost for janitor substantially false, Ann Arbor principal says

Wednesday, June 10: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan
Pakistan - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Sydney, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just released, this edition of Paul Budde Communications focus report on Pakistan outlines the major developments and key aspects in the telecoms markets.

Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Pakistan-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Pakistans telecommunications market. The report analyses the Telecoms Infrastructure, mobile, fixed broadband, Digital Media and Digital Economy sectors. Subjects include:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;

Regional market comparisons

Telecoms Maturity Index

Data centres and smart Infrastructure;

Major players, revenues, subscribers, ARPU;

Broadband (FTTH, DSL);

Internet of Things, 5G developments

Mobile, broadband and mobile broadband forecasts to 2023-4.

Researcher:- Phil Harpur

Current publication date:- October 2019 (25th Edition)

Executive Summary

5G trials have begun in Pakistan

Pakistans telecom market had long struggled with the transition from a regulated state-owned monopoly to a deregulated competitive structure. The transition, and the development of the telecom sector generally, has been greatly aided by foreign investment.

Despite the governments promotion of internet services and the expansion of access nationally over the past decade, fixed broadband penetration remains low at barely 1%. The fixed-line telephony market, dominated by Pakistan Telecommunications, is similarly underdeveloped, and the number of fixed lines is slowly declining as the mobile segment continues to expand.

As in many countries in Asia, both businesses and government agencies in Pakistan are opening up to the benefits of third-party data centres for public, private and hybrid cloud deployments. Data centres have been established in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, while telcos managing data centres include Telenor, Zong, and Ufone.

Story continues

The mobile market has experienced moderate growth over the last six years, supported by a young population and a rising popularity of mobile services. Slow to moderate growth is predicted over the next five years, though stronger growth will be constrained by local competition which has kept prices down and ARPU low.

Mobilink and Warid merged their operations into a single brand, Jazz, which reduced the number of mobile operators reduced from six to five. Further market consolidation is anticipated over the next few years as the operating margins of the major operators come under further pressure.

In January 2020 the telecom regulator issued trial 5G licenses to Zong and Jazz. Despite this, the capacity of LTE infrastructure and the lack of compelling user cases for 5G suggests that network operators are not yet pressed to launch commercial services.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key Developments

Regulator postpones renewal of Telenor Pakistans GSM licence due to CPOVID-19 crisis,

Fixed line market predicted to decline further over the next five years to 2024;

Dominance of the mobile platform continues to hinder development of fixed-broadband segment;

Universal Service Fund (USF) and Ufone signa contract to provide broadband coverage for the Makran Coastal Highway;

MoIT aiming to launch 5G services later in 2020;

Report update includes operator data to Q1 2020, regulators market data for 2019, Telecom Iaturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector.

Key companies mentioned in this report:

Pakistan Telecommunication (PTCL); Ufone (PTML, PTCLs subsidiary); Telenor Pakistan; Warid Telecom; Zong; WorldCall; TeleCard; PakNet; Wateen Telecom (subsidiary of Warid Telecom); Mobilink; NayaTel; Wi-Tribe; National Telecommunications (NTC), Instaphone

Key statistics

Regional Asian Market Comparison

Country overview

COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector Economic considerations and responses Mobile devices Subscribers Infrastructure

Telecommunications market Market overview and analysis Revenue and investment levels Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Regulatory environment Overview Regulatory authorities Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT) Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) National Telecommunications Corp (NTC) Fixed-line developments Access Mobile network developments Spectrum auctions  2014 - 2017 Mobile Termination Rates Other developments

Mobile market Market overview and analysis Mobile statistics Mobile infrastructure 5G Mobile broadband Major mobile operators Statistics by operator PMCL (Jazz) Ufone (PTCL) Telenor Pakistan Zong Special Communication Organisation (SCO) Historic - Instaphone (Pakcom) MVNOs Mobile content and applications m-commerce / m-banking

Fixed-line broadband market Market analysis Broadband statistics Government broadband projects Fixed broadband service providers Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) Stormfiber Fixed broadband technologies Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) Networks Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks Fixed wireless Other fixed broadband services

Digital economy e-Commerce Overview e-Government e-Education e-Health

Fixed network operators Fixed network subscribers by operator Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) WorldCall group TeleCard Wateen Telecom

Telecommunications infrastructure Overview of the national telecom network Fixed line statistics Fibre networks International infrastructure Satellite networks Submarine cable networks International gateways International fibre optic links Data centres Overview Challenges Providers Smart infrastructure Internet of Things (IoT) Smart cities Smart grids

Appendix  Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1  Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities  Pakistan  2020 (e)

Table 2  Pakistans telecom revenues (PKR million) by category - 2004  2018

Table 3 Pakistans telecom investment  total and mobile - 2004  2018

Table 4  Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in telecom sector  2008  2018

Table 5  Percentage of Population Covered by Type of Mobile Network

Table 6  Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration  2010  2025

Table 7  Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration  2009  2024

Table 8  Change in the number of mobile subscribers by operator  2013  2019

Table 9  Change in the market share of mobile subscribers by operator  2013 - 2019

Table 10  Annual change in the number of mobile subscribers by operator  2015  2019

Table 11  Mobile subscribers by operator and 3G, 4G - 2018

Table 12  PCML (Jazz) mobile subscribers  2008 - 2019

Table 13  Historic - Warid Telecom subscribers  2005  2016

Table 14  Ufone (PTCL) subscribers  2008  2019

Table 15  Growth in the number of Telenor Pakistans mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Table 16  Development of Telenor Pakistans mobile ARPU  2010  2020

Table 17  Development of Telenor Pakistans financial data  2010  2020

Table 18  CMPak (Zong) mobile subscribers  2008  2019

Table 19  Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration  2010  2025

Table 20  Fixed broadband subscribers by access type  2009  2019

Table 21  Fixed Broadband subscribers by access type  2009  2019

Table 22  Fixed broadband subscribers market share by access type  2009  2019

Table 23  Fixed broadband subscribers annual change by access type  2010  2019

Table 24  International internet bandwidth  2004  2018

Table 25  Lit/Equipped International Bandwidth Capacity  2013  2018

Table 26  Cable modem subscribers  2008  2019

Table 27  DSL broadband subscribers  2005  2019

Table 28  FTTH subscribers  2007  2019

Table 29  WiMAX subscribers  2008  2019

Table 30  Fixed local line subscribers by operator 2018

Table 31  Fixed-line (WLL) subscribers by operator  2018

Table 32  Historic - PTCL fixed-line subscribers  2008  2017

Table 33  Decline in the number of fixed-line subscriptions and teledensity  2009  2025

Table 34  Historic - mobile subscribers  1995  2005

Table 35  Historic - Telenor Pakistan mobile subscribers  2008  2009

Table 36  Historic  fixed-line subscribers and penetration  1991 - 2006

Table 37  Historic - Instaphone (Pakcom) subscribers  2000  2010

Table 38  Historic - Internet Users and Penetration  2007  2016

Table 39  Historic - PTCL broadband subscribers  2007  2016

List of Charts

Chart 1  Asian Telecoms Maturity Index by Market Category

Chart 2  Asian Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita

Chart 3  Telecoms Maturity Index  Central Asia

Chart 4  Mobile, Mobile Broadband & Fixed Broadband Penetration  2019; 2024

Chart 5 - Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration  2009  2024

Chart 6  Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration  2009  2024

Chart 7  Change in the number of mobile subscribers by operator  2013  2019

Chart 8  Change in the market share of mobile subscribers by operator  2013 - 2019

Chart 9  Growth in the number of Telenor Pakistans mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Chart 10  Development of Telenor Pakistans mobile ARPU  2010  2020

Chart 11  Development of Telenor Pakistans financial data  2010  2020

Chart 12  Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration  2010  2025

Chart 13 - Decline in the number of fixed-line subscriptions and teledensity  2009  2025

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1  Key market characteristics by market segment

Exhibit 2  Central Asia -Key Characteristics of Telecoms Markets by Country





Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Pakistan-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

Nicolas Bombourg

nbombourg@budde.com.au



Within Australia

(02) 8076 7665



Outside Australia

+44 207 097 1241


An expo of products meant for epidemic control that opened in Guangzhou on Wednesday aims to connect Chinese producers with global buyers.



More than 600 enterprises are participating in the two-day international expo held in a 36,000-square-meter exhibition hall in the capital of Guangdong Province, organizers said. It is expected to draw more than 6,000 visitors, mostly potential buyers.

Chinese companies are displaying everything from facial masks, non-woven fabrics, to high-tech products like rapid detection kits and epidemic control robots at the event.

Officials said it is the first exhibition in Guangzhou that hasn't been held online since the COVID-19 outbreak.

"It not only assists the global fight against the epidemic, but also helps related industries grasp opportunities amid complicated foreign trade," said Yang Yong, director of the Guangzhou branch of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Ronnie Almeida, chair of the South China-Ecuador Chamber of Commerce, said his team has bought 700,000 masks and 50,000 detection kits in China. He plans to expand their purchase list at the event to facilitate resumption of work in Ecuador.

Organizers have promised to assist foreign buyers with customs clearance and delivery of epidemic control supplies, taking advantage of an international distribution center located in Guangzhou's Nansha free-trade zone.
After a lot of failed efforts, Vietnams smartphone products now have a great opportunity to return to the market.

When Vietnamese smartphone brands in the pasthad to leave the market, analysts said the deaths of the brands had been anticipated.





The smartphone market had entered the saturation period and sales were growing very slowly. Meanwhile, they had to compete with a lot of giants, from Samsung, Apple and Nokia to Chinese manufacturers whose products are surprisingly cheap.



In such conditions, the existence of Vsmart and BKAV are believed to be a miracle.



Vsmart unexpectedly added its name to the top 3 brands with 16.7 percent of market share after 15 months of debut.

The smartphone market had entered the saturation period and sales were growing very slowly. Meanwhile, they had to compete with a lot of giants, from Samsung, Apple and Nokia to Chinese manufacturers whose products are surprisingly cheap.

It is the success of Vsmart which has madr people change their view about the abilities of Vietnamese brands.



Vsmart smartphones have very strong configuration. With just VND3 million, people can own a smartphone with fashionable design, Snapdragon 675, AMOLED screen with high resolution level Full HD+, and integrated fingerprint security  the features that are equipped for high-end models priced at tens of millions of dong.



Analysts commented that what makes the success for Vsmart is its business strategy which focuses on the mass market segment with the products priced at VND1-3 million.



As for BPhone, Nguyen Tu Quang, CEO of BKAV Corporation, admitted that the company is taking loss with BPhone, but stated that BKAV will still be persistent with the strategy on developing the company into Apple or Samsung of Vietnam.



BKAV, which is preparing for the launch of the fourth generation of BPhone, seems to target the mid-end market segment, rather than the high-end segment as it initially did.



The segment, accounting for 20 percent of the total mobile phone market, has been controlled by Samsung, Oppo and Apple.



According to GfK, in the first seven months of 2019, 99 percent of consumers who bought smartphones priced at over VND15 million chose products of Samsung or Apple.



In 2019, Vietnamese bought 15 million smartphone products, of which high-end products priced at over VND10 million accounted for less than 10 percent.



Analysts believe that mid-end and low-end segments are fertile land for Vietnamese smartphone brands.



They have every reason to focus on low-cost smartphone products as the government has announced the program on popularizing smartphones to 100 percent of the population.

Under the program, mobile network operators, app developers and phone manufacturers will join forces to lower some smartphone prices to $20, or VND500,000.

Mai Lan

Cooperating with Pininfarina, Vsmart targets high-end smartphone market With the agreement announced on May 4, Vsmart has become the second brand of Vingroup cooperating with a leading Italian industrial designer.
The plaque reads in part: In commemorating the centennial of that great struggle between the citizens of the temporarily divided nation in the 1860s the Maryland Civil War Centennial Commission did not attempt to decide who was right and who was wrong . . . it seeks to pay tribute to those who fought and died. As well as to the citizens who, during the Civil War, tried to do their duty as they saw it.
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Tucker Carlson is losing more advertisers in the wake of the Fox News host's controversial comments about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Walt Disney Co., Papa John's International Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. said this week they would no longer advertise on his show after he sparked an uproar in addressing the global protests over police brutality and racial inequality.

"This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through," he said Monday on his Fox News show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "But it is definitely not about black lives and remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will."

A Fox News spokesperson said earlier this week, "Tucker's warning about 'when they come for you' was clearly referring to Democratic leaders and inner-city politicians." The spokesperson said Thursday that all national ads and revenue from Carlson's show have moved to other programs and Fox News hasn't lost any revenue overall.

A spokesperson for Disney's ABC told the publication Deadline that ads for its shows were placed on Carlson's program without the network's knowledge by a third-party ad buyer.

More for you Biden warns that President Trump 'is going to try to steal this election'

On Tuesday, T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer Mike Sievert replied to several tweets asking about the mobile-phone carrier's advertising relationship with Carlson's show and whether it backed the host's message.

To one Twitter poster who said he would no longer watch Carlson's show and called the comments "vile," Sievert replied, "Same. We aren't running ads on that show and we won't be running ads on that show in the future. Bye-bye, Tukcer Carlson!"

Papa John's will no longer advertise on any opinion-based programming, it said in an emailed statement Thursday. "Placement of advertising is not intended to be an endorsement of any specific programming or commentary," the pizza company said.

Online activists have targeted Fox News advertisers as part of an ongoing campaign to damage the profits of companies that they believe promote bigotry and sexism. The protests following the death of George Floyd have also pressured media companies to step up their support for racial equality.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a memo to staff last week that "it is essential that we grieve with the Floyd family, closely listen to the voices of peaceful protest and fundamentally understand that black lives matter."

Carlson's show has seen several waves of advertiser boycotts in recent years over his commentary. In December 2018, PepsiCo Inc.'s SodaStream, TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. and others pulled their ads from Carlson's show after he said immigrants make the U.S. "poorer and dirtier and more divided."
A Lebanon County man died in a motorcycle crash last week in Lebanon City, police said Wednesday.

Officers and EMS were called to the area of North 9th and Guilford streets around 4:30 p.m., June 4, for a crash between a motorcycle and unspecified vehicle.

The man on the motorcycle, later identified as 36-year-old James Miller, of South Lebanon Township, was riding north on 9th Street when he hit the other vehicle that was driving east on Guilford Street and entering the intersection, Lebanon police said.

Miller was not wearing a helmet, police said. He died as a result of his injuries from the accident.

The driver of the other vehicle, Earl Yordy, 76, was not injured in the crash, police said.

The crash is still under investigation by the Lebanon County District Attorneys Office Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction Team and the Lebanon City Police Department.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact the department at 717-272-2054 or 717-272-6611.

Read more on PennLive:
Dr Marcos Pelenur from EECA says there are about 724,000 heat pumps in homes across the country and its important to clean the filters regularly.



Heat pump filters can get clogged  aim to clean them every few weeks and your heat pump will run more efficiently and save you money.



You can also use a dehumidifier to help heat a room faster, according to Dr Pelenur. He advises running the dehumidifier when you turn your heater on.



Dehumidifiers work best in warm rooms and all the electricity they use gets released as heat - so your heater needs to do less work.



If the cold draughts are whistling through your home, Dr Pelenur suggests putting low-cost draught stopping tape around windows or doors and tightening up the hinges on doors and windows.



If you cant do that, you can roll up a towel and put it up against the door or a window.



He says its important to avoid lots of moisture in the home over winter because it increases the risk of mould. Air your home by opening windows and doors a few times a day, even in winter, he says.



Other top tips

Dry clothes outside or in a clothes dryer that is vented to the outside  avoid indoor airing racks or clothes dryers that vent into your house. The moisture in the clothes will end up in your home, making it damp.

Avoid unflued gas heaters which release toxic fumes and make your house damp. Cheap portable electric heaters are safer and cost less to run and are available during the lockdown.

If you have a heated towel rail, only use it when needed. A heated towel rail left on 24/7 can cost you $170 per year to run. Convert the money you save into making sure your home is heated properly.

If you are working from home, you may not have the luxury of choosing where to site your work space, but if you can, use a small space thats easy to heat on its own. Move your desk to a position that gets good natural light.

If your circumstances or energy use has changed, check you are still on the best power deal to suit your needs.
Travelers making their way to Hawaii will still be required to quarantine for 14 days, the state's governor announced on Wednesday.

Governor David Ige extended the mandatory quarantine in an effort to keep the coronavirus cases on the island low.

The state has among the lowest infection of the coronavirus and mortality rates in the country. Ige enacted early self-quarantine measures for all tourists and residents in March.

Governor David Ige extended the mandatory quarantine in an effort to keep the coronavirus cases on the island low

State officials are working to install thermal screening stations and facial recognition technology at Hawaii airports by the end of 2020

Ige shared that the rule will extend until the end of July as the state works to implement a screening process that would allow travelers to return.

State officials are working to install thermal screening stations and facial recognition technology at Hawaii airports by the end of 2020.

The technology would only be used to monitor people within the airport, Ige said.

The state has among the lowest infection of the coronavirus and mortality rates in the country

Both residents and tourists have been arrested in the state for violating quarantine rules.

The state will lift its inter-island quarantine rules by next week, but maintains that anyone with a temperature over 100.4 degrees still be prohibited from flying.

In the United States, more than 2million people have tested positive for the coronavirus. More than 112,900 have died.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has obliquely hinted that the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pulling out all stops to destabilise the Congress-led government by luring some of the ruling partys members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) with Rs 25 crore each.

He alleged that the BJPs plan is similar to that of toppling the erstwhile Kamal Nath-led government in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and some of his party lawmakers have been offered Rs 10 crore each in advance of the promised sum of Rs 25 crore.

The CM made these allegations while speaking to media persons late on Wednesday night, when the Congress took its 107 party MLAs and 13 independent lawmakers to a resort located on the outskirts of Jaipur for a meeting ahead of the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls for three seats from the desert state slated to be held on June 19.

The 120 MLAs will be shifted to the resort on Thursday.

Watch l Ashok Gehlot accuses BJP of horse-trading ahead of RS poll

Our MLAs are intelligent, alert, and united. Rajasthan is the only state in the country, where 13 independent MLAs supported our government for neither exchange of any money nor post. However, the condition on which our MLAs left the party for the BJP in MP is not good, Gehlot said.

Rajasthan governments chief whip Mahesh Joshi in a complaint to the director-general, anti-corruption bureau (ACB), has alleged attempts to poach Congress MLAs and the independent lawmakers, who are supporting the Gehlot-led government.

Attempts are being made to destabilise the government in Rajasthan on the lines of Karnataka and MP, Joshi alleged.

Gehlot said that he would hold another round of meeting with the 107 Congress and 13 independent MLAs on Thursday.

The CM also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the Upper House elections were postponed under pressure because the BJP could not poach an adequate number of MLAs in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

He blamed the saffron party for its lack of faith in democracy, as it has ensured the resignation of eight Congress MLAs in Gujarat since March, including three earlier this week.

Mukesh Pareek, BJPs state spokesperson, refuted the allegations levelled by CM Gehlot against his party and asked the ruling Congress to give evidence of alleged poaching of its and independent lawmakers.

The Congress has failed to manage its own house. There is growing resentment in the partys rank and file over its failed national leadership, Pareek alleged.

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Israels flagship airline El Al could return to being owned by the government, according to a report from Reuters.

The union for El Al told Reuters that it was not against state control and that its main goal is staying in the skies, according to the outlet.

El Al was founded in 1948  the year Israel became an independent country. In the early 2000s, the airline moved toward private ownership, and it is listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchange. Before that, it was owned by the state.

El Al is experiencing severe financial difficulties like other Middle Eastern airlines amid the coronavirus pandemic. Israels borders remain closed and Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv is mostly only receiving repatriation and cargo flights. El Al says it needs government assistance to stay afloat and has put employees on unpaid leave.

The airlines difficulties are not totally new, however. El Al has reported losses for two years and has racked up debt to renew its fleet, according to Reuters.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -Despite concerns about separation of church and state, the Ohio Senate passed a bill that would allow public school students to pray, attend religious clubs and See You at the Pole gatherings, distribute religious material, wear religious clothing and turn in work expressing their faith beliefs.

House Bill 164 passed the Senate 32 to 0.

Unlike in the House, where Democrats opposed the bill in November, in the Senate, it passed with no opposition.

Thats because on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon, lawmakers added 18 amendments to the bill to accommodate schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

The changes were crammed through because lawmakers in both chambers have few session days scheduled for the summer. The General Assembly wont return to a fuller schedule in Columbus until the fall, as the new school year begins.

Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act of 2019

HB 164, which is being sent to the House for concurrence on its amendments, is called the Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act of 2019.

Sponsor Rep. Timothy Ginter, a Salem Republican who is an ordained minister, said the bill wont create any new rights but will codify freedoms already in the state and U.S. constitutions by allowing kids to engage in religious expression in the same manner and to the same extent that students can engage in secular activities.

Assignment grades and scores will still be calculated using ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance, he said in testimony to a Senate committee. This bill makes clear students will neither be rewarded or penalized based on the religious or non-religious content of their work.

The idea, he explained to cleveland.com last year, is if a student submits a painting for an art class that depicts a religious figure, they are not to be penalized on the religious content but on their skill as a painter.

At least 10 other states have adopted similar legislation, said Aaron Baer, president of the Christian policy organization Citizens for Community Values.

No student should be forced to check their faith at the door just because they walk into a public school, he said. The Student Religious Liberties Act ensures that all Ohio students  of any faith or no faith  are not penalized or rewarded because of their Christian beliefs.

Yet Gary Daniels, the ACLU of Ohios chief lobbyist, said that the bill is too vague. For instance, its not clear enough about whether a teacher can penalize a student who writes in a science paper that the earth is 6,000 years old.

The American Atheists and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State said they were concerned about proselytizing and whether the focus on honoring the rights of predominant religions will hurt the education of religious minorities and nonreligious students.

State Rep. Cecil Thomas, a Cincinnati Democrat, told a story from when he was head of the Human Relations Committee in that city. During the holidays, the Jewish community wanted to display a menorah on a public square and Christians wanted to display a Christmas tree.

Then there was the request by the KKK to display their cross on the square, he said. And we resisted that. However they went to court and they were given the authority to place their symbol of what they required as a religious expression on the square.

Thomas is nervous a similar situation will happen in Ohio if the bill isnt air-tight.

But I will be supporting the bill, he said.

Coronavirus amendments to the bill

The coronavirus changes in the Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act of 2019 largely came from House Bill 319, introduced last week.

It will extend special education through telecommunications, allow school bus drivers to become certified over the internet and not in person, and not require third-graders to repeat the grade due to their scores on the reading test, among other changes.

Other coverage:

New Ohio Senate bill would address testing, graduation, bus drivers, furloughs, other school issues amid coronavirus

Ohio lawmakers clear bill critics say could expand religion in public schools
The city of Midland Health Department is currently conducting its investigation on five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Midland County, bringing the overall case count to 185.

The 181st confirmed case is a female in her 20s who was tested by a private provider. She is currently self-isolating at home. The woman is an employee at Chick-Fil-A West, who last worked on Monday. She was not in a customer-facing role, according to a press release from the city. The source of exposure is contact to a known case.
South African media coverage in the second week of lockdown alert Level 3 shows increased calls for the economy to be reopened, as some school learners went back to class. Various sectors of South African society, from opposition parties to business, have voiced concerns about the continued closure in some parts of the South African economy.

On Monday, 8 June 2020, grade 7 and grade 12 learners reopened schools for the first time since the lockdown began, which some are questioning from a safety perspective. This move led to further discussions about sanitation and social distancing in public schools that tend to have more learners in classrooms than their independent counterparts. Following the reopening, Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi announced that 38 schools in the province have reported Covid-19 cases.This weeks media coverage analysis includes sample data of 3,326 media items collected from online media platforms, print and broadcast sources from 3 to 9 June 2020. With this being the eleventh infographic in the series, since 1 April 2020, the conversations are beginning to change from flattening the curve to opening up the economy. South Africans on both social media and the media are talking about challenges they face as some have no income during lockdown.Follow Ornico on Twitter and the company website for weekly updates and ongoing research.
Two young men on a motorcycle became entangled with a low hanging power cable on a highway in the south-central province of Phu Yen and died on the spot.

Do Van Th., 32, and Le Ngoc B., 28, were rising a motorbike on National Highway 25 at 2:45 pm on Monday when they ran into a power cable, according to Nguyen Ngoc Tinh, chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Hoa District in Phu Yen.

The cable had been wired illegally across the road by an unidentified local.

The two victims, both residents of Tuy Hoa City in Phu Yen, were electrocuted and died on the spot.

Tinh said local authorities are investigating the accident and helping the victims' families to hold funerals.

They are also working to identify those responsible for hanging the cable.

According to Thai Minh Chau, director of Phu Yen Power Company, the wire in question had been illegally hung by a local household using two bamboo stakes to straddle it over the highway.

The storm that caused the illegal wire to fall dangerously close to the highway was the same storm that destroyed the roofs of 80 households in nearby Luong Phuoc Village in Hoa Phu Commune, Tay Hoa District in Phu Yen.

A wooden furniture showroom in the village suffered the heaviest damage, estimated at VND350 million (US$15,200), while two 220KV power lines and 16 other power sources also collapsed.

The total damage caused by the storm was estimated at around VND435 million ($18,900).

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Organizations create partnership to support the needs of people living with hemoglobin disorders

NICOSIA, Cyprus and LEXINGTON, Massachusetts, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Thalassaemia International Federation (TIF), a worldwide organization dedicated to ensuring equal access to quality healthcare for every patient with thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders across the world, and Hemanext Inc., a privately held medical technology company dedicated to improving patients' quality of life by delivering a better red blood cell (RBC) replacement therapy, today announced a new strategic alliance on behalf of people living with thalassaemia.

Hemanext and TIF are committed to helping elevate the standard of care for thalassaemia patients worldwide through education and research and development initiatives that will lead to important clinical advances. Through this new partnership, Hemanext will support TIF's educational and advocacy activities in support of patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and policymakers worldwide.

More than 600,000 people worldwide have one of many types of thalassaemia, all of which are inherited blood disorders that are characterized by decreased production of hemoglobin, the protein found in RBCs that carries oxygen to cells throughout the body. The disease causes the destruction of red blood cells leading to anemia. As such, blood transfusions play a vital role in the treatment and management of thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders.

Hemanext is seeking to maximize the therapeutic value of transfusions and reduce financial burdens to health systems with its novel RBC replacement technology. Hemanext is developing a new hypoxic storage method, which the company and many researchers and clinicians believe might improve the quality of life for patients that require chronic and high-volume transfusions, including people with thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders. Optimizing transfusions is critically important at this time, as societies around the world attempt to preserve and expand the blood supply.

"Many efforts are being made to ensure the continuation of blood donations to avoid shortages, as very sadly this pandemic is keeping people from donating blood," said Dr. Androulla Eleftheriou, TIF's executive director. "We will be actively supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) World Blood Donor Day on June 14th. And TIF's theme for 2020 is The dawning of a new era for thalassaemia: Time for a global effort to make novel therapies accessible and affordable to patients. TIF is pleased that Hemanext shares our goal to develop new treatments for hemoglobin disorders. We welcome Hemanext into our network of industry partners."

"The fragility and inconsistency of the blood supply continues to be a concern. During this time, transfusion medicine continues to encourage blood donations and is committed to using blood in the safest and most efficacious way. However, new innovations are needed for the transfusion community," said Hemanext President and CEO Martin Cannon. "Working with researchers in the U.S. and Europe, we are developing a technology that we think will deliver a higher-quality, more uniform red blood cell. We applaud TIF for its support of treatments in every country impacted by thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders."

In many countries, medical complications and financial burdens pose significant concerns to thalassaemia patients, their families and national health systems. TIF is working with organizations around the world that share the Foundation's dedication to seeking solutions to these challenges.

"Transfusion physicians worldwide and patients with hemoglobinopathies they serve would benefit from RBCs that are more durable than currently available cells," said Dr. Michael Angastiniotis, a paediatrician and former Head of the Cyprus Thalassaemia Centre, and currently TIF's Medical Advisor. "Based on preclinical data published by Hemanext and other researchers, hypoxic storage of RBCs may help advance transfusion medicine by reducing the amount and frequency of RBC units need to achieve desired therapeutic outcomes, thereby reducing patients' risk of the dangerous condition of iron overload."

Alex Marichal, VP of Marketing for Hemanext, added, "During the COVID-19 crisis, patients with thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders are even more vulnerable than they were before the pandemic spread around the world. We want to do our part to help them, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with TIF in support of the patients served by the Federation's member organizations."

About Thalassaemia International Federation

The Thalassaemia International Federation (TIF) is a patient-orientated, non-profit, non-governmental umbrella federation, established in 1986 with Headquarters in Nicosia, Cyprus. Its mission is to promote access to optimal quality care for all patients with thalassaemia worldwide and it currently represents 224 members from 62 countries across the globe.

TIF works in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1996 and enjoys active consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2017. Most remarkably, TIF has been awarded, in the context of the 68th World Health Assembly in May 2015, the 'Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize' for the Federation's outstanding contribution to public health.

About Hemanext

Hemanext is a privately held medical technology company dedicated to improving the quality, safety, efficacy and cost of transfusion therapy. The company's research and development efforts center on the study and future commercialization of hypoxically stored red blood cells (RBCs). HEMANEXT ONE, our initial product offering, is a RBC replacement therapy designed to potentially improve the quality of life for chronic and high-volume transfusion patients while reducing costs. Visit Hemanext.com to learn more.

Hemanext anticipates receiving CE Mark approval from the European Union for HEMANEXT ONE within the next few months. Currently, the Hemanext RBC Processing System has not been cleared or approved by any regulatory agency (including the FDA), or any notified body, and is not available for sale.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1179404/Hemanext_TIF_Side_by_side.jpg
A complaint by former Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey about an item on RTE's 'Today with Sean O'Rourke' show has been rejected by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI).

She lodged a complaint with the BAI about a discussion which was broadcast on November 15 last year and included a reference to exaggerated insurance claims.

She had been at the centre of the 'Swing-gate' controversy in May 2019 after issuing legal proceedings against a Dublin hotel after a fall from a swing during a night out.

It was alleged her injuries were so bad she was unable to run "at all" for three months afterwards.

However, the Irish Independent revealed that Ms Bailey ran 'The Bay 10k' in less than 54 minutes just three weeks after the incident.

She later dropped her compensation claim.

Ms Bailey took issue with a panel discussion on the radio show about her de-selection as a Fine Gael candidate in the wake of the controversy.

Miriam O'Callaghan was presenting the show on the day in question as she was filling in for Sean O'Rourke.

According to Ms Bailey's complaint, one of the panellists referred to defrauding insurance, while another contributor spoke about exaggerated insurance claims.

Ms Bailey said these were "untrue and damaging comments". She was not found to have made a fraudulent claim.

She was also unhappy with the presenter's comments about a past matter relating to her expenses. Ms Bailey said this was a separate matter and not under review.

The broadcaster spoke about a statement issued by Fine Gael at the time, but did not reference her own press release.

Ms Bailey claimed "inaccurate comments" made throughout the segment were presented as fact and were not challenged by the presenter. She said that this was not fair or objective.

In response, RTE said that segment of the show is a weekly "robust review" of current affairs. While Ms Bailey being de-selected as a party candidate was discussed, RTE believed the matter also involved a wider debate regarding insurance claims.

At the time, the broadcaster stated twice that she was not being accused of fraud and also stood over the references to a statement made by the Taoiseach. Ms Bailey was invited on to the programme afterwards to address any concerns she had. RTE did not accept she was defamed.

Considering Ms Bailey's complaint, the BAI accepted that "more clarity" could have been provided regarding the panel's comments on fraud.

"However, when taken as a whole, the committee determined that the subject matter was treated fairly and presented in an objective manner," it said, rejecting the complaint.

Meanwhile, the 'Claire Byrne Live' show on RTE One was the subject of a complaint over a broadcast on February 17.

A viewer claimed that one segment failed to be fair or impartial as it included a person who had been a victim of IRA violence. There were many groups involved in the conflict in the North and it was unfair to only invite a guest to represent one side. The BAI rejected the complaint, saying there is no requirement for broadcasters to cover every possible viewpoint.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on orders issued by the National Green Tribunal, Southern bench, on May 5, ordering a committee of central and state officials be constituted to investigate whether a farmhouse reportedly owned by Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, at Janwada in Ranga Reddy district, violates Government 0rder 111, a zoning law meant to protect the Himayathsagar and Osmansagar lakes.

The Division Bench of Justice A Rajashekar Reddy and Justice P Naveen Rao issued the interim orders in two petitions.

One petition was by Mr Rama Rao, challenging the NGT order that had issued notices directing him to explain the contentions of the petitioner A Revanth Reddy, a Congress MP and petitioner before the NGT, that KTR has constructed a farm house in violation of GO 111.

Another writ petition, filed by Pradeep Reddy Badwel, says that he (Badwel) was the owner of the property, where the alleged construction has been made in violation of GO 111 and he being the necessary party has not been made a party in the petition submitted by Mr Revanth Reddy to the NGT.

After hearing the contentions of S Niranjan Reddy, senior counsel for the minister, and Sri Raghuram, senior counsel for Mr Badwel, the bench issued the interim stay orders.

In the interim orders the court said: This court is of the opinion that prima facie, the exercise of NGT Chennai order is erroneous and is in violation of Sec. 14(3) and Sec. 19(1) of the NGT Act, 2010. There shall be an Interim Stay."

The Bench in its order said: "The application before the NGT is that the construction has been made in violation of GO 111, dated 8-3-1996, which is not issued under statute, which aspect is not considered by the NGT.

Further, the NGT at the first instance, should have ascertained the cause of action of the dispute, and then determined the date attached to the cause of action, the Bench said. The construction was done in 2015 whereas the petitioner, Mr Revanth Reddy, approached the NGT on 30-5-2020, which is contrary to Sec. 14(3) of the NGT Act, 2010, which says that the cause of action should be within six months from the cause of action, after which no application shall be entertained.
The May 25 death of George Floyd  a Minneapolis man who suffocated with a policemans knee on his neck  has mobilized the public behind the cause of police reform, and the New York state Legislature has responded by passing long-delayed measures to increase transparency and accountability in policing. While it remains to be seen what will happen at the federal level, New York state began passing a package of legislation on June 8 that includes a legal prohibition on chokeholds by officers, new body camera requirements for local and state police and the repeal of 50-a, a state law that had prevented the public release of police disciplinary records. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the bills into law later this week.

There were no guarantees that such reforms would happen just two weeks after Floyd died, but state lawmakers moved quickly in the days following his death to assemble a bill package from a list of more than two dozen ideas that were already before the state Legislature. These proposals that waited for years now suddenly had a mass movement behind them.

There's no way on God's green earth that a few weeks ago, we could even think of having a unanimous vote on a bill called the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold bill, said state Sen. Brian Benjamin, who represents a Harlem-based district in uptown Manhattan.

The disproportionate effects of the coronavirus pandemic on black and Latino neighborhoods was already on the minds of state lawmakers in mid-May as members of the state Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus began resuming weekly meetings that had been interrupted by New Yorks coronavirus outbreak. While NYPD enforcement of social distancing was already stirring controversy at the time, caucus members were initially focused on addressing public health issues highlighted in a May 18 joint legislative hearing, according to the caucuss executive director, Kyle Ishmael. I would have guessed we would have passed some more stuff to deal with the inequities in our health system, Ishmael said of legislative priorities at the time. Then Amy Cooper happened.

Cooper, a white woman in Central Park, called 911 on the morning of May 25 after a black birdwatcher named Christian Cooper (no relation) told her to put her dog on a leash, as park rules require. "I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life, she told the man, who was not near her and who did not threaten her life. The video exploded across the internet. To many, she was the latest privileged white person to weaponize the police against black people.

There's no way on God's green earth that a few weeks ago, we could even think of having a unanimous vote on a bill called the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold bill.  state Sen. Brian Benjamin

As soon as he saw the video on his phone, Benjamin began considering what he could do to move a bill that he had already sponsored that would make race-based, fraudulent 911 calls a hate crime. Other lawmakers began pursuing similar efforts following the death of Floyd a few hours later.

The following days were a whirlwind of phone calls and texts among members of the caucus, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who have enormous power over what bills can move through their respective chambers. While the legislative leaders told lawmakers they were open to pursuing a new round of reforms, they would wait several more days before announcing their plans to reconvene the state Legislature in early June.

By then a few key things had happened. The ongoing protests showed that public outrage over the Floyd killing had staying power. Things only got more personal for black lawmakers following the May 29 pepper-spraying of state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblywoman Diana Richardson at a Brooklyn protest. I was really hurt by it, Richardson said in an interview. New York needed to see that and New York needed to hear that and New York needed to act on what the people were calling for.

With the usual opponents of police reform measures  police departments and officers unions  on the defensive, Cuomo stated on May 30 that he would sign the repeal of 50-a if it got to his desk. Some state lawmakers also took the lack of involvement of the governor on this issue as a sign that Cuomo would follow their lead on a broader set of reforms. Its a blank check, state Sen. John Liu later said. Were going to write in a lot of zeroes.

A list of 28 bills was compiled for a June 1 meeting of the Democratic Assembly and state Senate conferences. By the time it was over, both chambers had decided to do something, and Heastie and Stewart-Cousins announced later that night that state lawmakers would meet the following week to consider a package of police reforms  but they did not say which ones would make the cut. That would fall to the caucus. They very much turned to us and said: We want to see your list, Ishmael said of legislative leaders. It had to be a package  not just 50-a and we go home.

Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright, who chairs the caucus, Assemblyman Clyde Vanel and Ishmael decided the following day to focus on 13 proposals that fell into four broad categories: police record transparency, misconduct prosecution, policing procedures and body cameras. This would not be the final list of bills that would get approved. Some would fall by the wayside in later days, as a working group including Assemblymen Walter Mosley, Phil Ramos, N. Nick Perry, Erik Dilan and Vanel continued refining the list.

Among the nixed proposals was the idea of transferring NYPD disciplinary proceedings to the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. Benjamins 911 bill would get replaced by a proposal from Richardson that would make racially-based fraudulent emergency calls a civil offense (rather than a hate crime) while expanding the definition of offenses that can result in monetary damages. Other legislation from the original 28, like a controversial bill to decriminalize the crime of loitering for the purposes of prostitution  activists say this law has effectively allowed police harassment for people walking while trans  would not make it back onto the caucuss list despite the calls of some activists.

New York needed to see that and New York needed to hear that and New York needed to act on what the people were calling for.  Assemblywoman Diana Richardson

Proposals to limit the use of solitary confinement in state prisons and to mandate the release of older inmates didnt make the cut either. Even at a time when public opinion appeared to be on their side, state lawmakers were wary of taking on too much at one time, especially given the tricky politics of dealing with police reform in an election year. I would say there were definitely lessons learned from bail reform, Ishmael added. This included the futility of confronting a governor whose powers are at their peak during the budget process. The public backlash to bail reform also underscored the importance of keeping things as simple as possible in order to maintain public support.

One of the things we will be doing in the next three days is really clarifying in many ways what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in policing, Stewart-Cousins told WNYC as the voting began on the final package of bills. Police have had the ability in many ways to construct their own rules.

In the end, a total of 11 bills passed both houses. Some of them received bipartisan support, like the chokehold ban and a proposal codifying the right to record the police. Others, like the 50-a repeal and a bill establishing the office of special investigation within the office of the attorney general, faced much more opposition from Republicans and police unions. Some GOP lawmakers likened the idea of releasing disciplinary records to inviting the assassination of NYPD officers  though some personal information like home addresses and phone numbers could still not be released under the new law.

Taken as a whole, the passage of the package also marked a turning point for the relationship between the Legislature and a governor who had grown increasingly powerful since the coronavirus struck New York three months ago. After watching the governor largely determine the state political agenda during the pandemic, Democratic state lawmakers are now reasserting their legislative power in a way that has not been seen since Democrats outmaneuvered the governor last year to pass ambitious expansions of rent regulations and a bill allowing undocumented New Yorkers to get drivers licenses.

The Legislatures political comeback began with two mid-May hearings on COVID-19 issues and continued later in the month as lawmakers passed a litany of bills addressing the pandemic, including bills aimed at preventing price gouging on personal protective equipment and banning utilities from shutting off services during public health emergencies. Such proposals were much less controversial than police reform, a fact that highlights just how far Democratic lawmakers have come in recent weeks. Just a few months ago, Democratic lawmakers were playing defence on bail reform. Now, criminal justice reforms are once again a political asset rather than a liability.

That does not mean that state lawmakers have solved the problems of police misconduct once and for all. Both Heastie and Stewart-Cousins have said the legislating will continue this year and Democrats are already considering additional measures to rein in the power of law enforcement  including proposed bans on the use of tear gas at political demonstrations. The legislative leaders have also suggested they will likely reconvene their chambers over the summer to address other issues like potential budget cuts to public schools, taxes and the parochial issues that are important to lawmakers districts.

A multibillion dollar state budget shortfall, the ongoing pandemic and a fiscally conservative governor will not make it easy to address such issues through the legislative process. But that can always change in the constantly evolving world of state politics  as long as state lawmakers seize the moment whenever it comes. Sometimes, things happen in the normal course of politics and government where it just opens peoples eyes, Heastie told reporters on June 8. What some people believed was a tough issue (can) finally see the light of day.

Correction: Due to erroneous information from a source, this story included the incorrect date of a phone call between state Senate staff and the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus.
[June 11, 2020] Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Lauds Chancery Court Ruling Ordering Skadden Arps to be More Transparent as Custodian in TransPerfect Case

Today, following a ruling from Delaware Court of Chancery Chancellor Andre Bouchard ordering the law firm of Skadden Arps to make available records that Skadden alone had deemed confidential in the TransPerfect case and to un-redact the records, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Campaign Manager Chris Coffey released the following statement: "We're so used to the Court of Chancery so consistently siding with their old colleagues and friends at Skadden Arps, where Chancellor Bouchard previously worked as a Partner, that this order, small as it is, is a significant victory not just for TransPerfect and its employees, but for the entire judicial process in the State of Delaware. "In Delaware's tight-knit, elitist legal community, where nothing works as it's supposed to, history has shown that the entrenchd interests often prevail, but not today.



"By limiting Skadden's use of redactions to what it considers Confidential Records and non-Confidential Records Filings, the Court is forcing Skadden to be a more responsible and transparent custodian of TransPerfect, despite their objections and considerable efforts to the contrary. "Still, this is just a small step forward. Now we need the Court and Chancellor Bouchard to order Skadden to disclose and itemize their billings to TransPerfect.

"Since being appointed custodian of the company, Skadden has never produced an itemized invoice for the services it claims to have performed as the firm, led by Jennifer Voss and Bob Pincus, has already collected over $14 million in court-ordered legal fees from TransPerfect. That needs to change. Our members and TransPerfect's employees deserve to know where that money has gone." Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is a group made up of more than 5,000 members including employees of the global translation services company TransPerfect, as well as concerned Delaware residents, business executives and others. They formed in April of 2016 to focus on raising awareness with Delaware residents, elected officials, and other stakeholders about the issue. While their primary goal of saving the company has been accomplished, they continue their efforts to fight for more transparency in the Delaware Chancery Court. For more information on Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware or to join the cause, visit DelawareForBusiness.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005690/en/

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When Kelsey Moeller shot a pre-wedding "first look" with her kindergarten students, she knew it would be meaningful, but not in so many ways.

"It was the last thing we got to do together before COVID-19, and I will forever be thankful for that memory," Moeller, a teacher at Hugh Goodwin Elementary School in El Dorado, Arkansas, told "Good Morning America" of the pictures taken on March 12.

PHOTO: Flying Pig Photography (Kelsey Moeller shot a pre-wedding

The shoot was the idea of her photographer, Angi Gibbons of Flying Pig Photography. "When I discovered she was a kindergarten teacher, I told her I'd love to take a bridal portrait of her with her class. She and her mom loved the idea and ran with it," Gibbons said.

PHOTO: Kelsey Moeller shot a pre-wedding 'first look' with her kindergarten students. (Flying Pig Photography)

It turns out teaching is a family affair. Kelsey's mom, Jerri Beth Smith, was a teacher at the same school for 20 years.

MORE: Photographer captures powerful moment of tearful black mom with her son at protest

"While Kelsey was getting into her dress, I gathered the children in the hall and explained they were the very first ones to see her in her dress," Gibbons told "GMA." "Their expressions when they came into the room were priceless."

Kelsey loved the idea so much, she said, because "my kiddos are my life."

PHOTO: Kelsey Moeller shot a pre-wedding 'first look' with her kindergarten students. (Flying Pig Photography )

She told "GMA," "I come to school excited to see them, and leave thinking about them. I think a lot about how I can be better for them and how to make learning exciting. I strive to be that teacher that they always remember."

The "first look" moment was certainly a memorable one for the 5- and 6-year-olds.

MORE: I'm a working mom interrupted 27 times in 11 minutes

"Their reactions were the best," she said. "The girls giggled and were so excited, and the boys, well, some of them were so in awe and some wouldn't even look at me! Their moms texted me later that they came home talking about it and said they were just smitten."

PHOTO: Kelsey Moeller shot a pre-wedding 'first look' with her kindergarten students. (Flying Pig Photography )

It was a special day for Gibbons, too, who said Kelsey and her mom "ran" with the idea. "The children's parents had dressed them for the occasion," she said. "There were rose petals, and team bride and groom glasses and the children had created a hand-painted dress as a surprise gift for their teacher. "

Story continues

PHOTO: Kelsey Moeller shot a pre-wedding 'first look' with her kindergarten students. (Flying Point Photography )

As for Moeller, who was married on May 30, the memories from the first-look photos are a gift to look back on a very special class.

"Some days teaching is hard and you have really bad days, but you get to start over the next day and be better," she told "GMA." "Those kids come to school to see you and learn from you. They are so excited to see you and that makes those hard days worth it! I wish everyone loved like a kindergartner because let me tell you, that is some big love."

Kindergarten teacher has most adorable '1st-look' photo session ever originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
TEL AVIV, Israel, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Dadi Segal, CEO of Panaxia Global, said, "Receiving EU-GMP certification is a defining moment for us and for the medical cannabis industry in Israel as a whole. We are proud to be the first and only medical cannabis company in Israel to have broad EU-GMP certification from a European agency, which enables commercial export of raw materials as well as oils and additional products to Europe. It is a certification with tremendous strategic importance that moves Panaxia and the State of Israel another step forward towards exporting medical cannabis. EU-GMP certification enables us to accelerate completion of the process for regulatory registration of Panaxia products and brands in Germany, Denmark and other target countries in the European Union and brings us closer than ever to commercialization and sales jointly with our strategic partners who are the leaders in these markets, Neuraxpharm in Germany and STENOCARE in Denmark. Furthermore, the certification makes Panaxia the sole gateway to Europe today for Israeli cannabis growers who want to export their cannabis brands."

Pharmaceutical company, Panaxia Labs Israel Ltd. ("Panaxia Israel") (TASE: PNAX), Israel's largest manufacturer of medical cannabis products, today announced that it has received official EU-GMP certification. This certification is necessary for the manufacture, export, and marketing of pharmaceuticals within the European Union (EU), and it applies to medical cannabis products, which are defined in the EU as pharmaceutical products requiring a prescription. Panaxia is the first and only medical cannabis company in Israel to have been awarded EU-GMP certification from a European health authority, making the commercial manufacture, export and sale of a variety of oils and medical cannabis extracts possible. As a result, Panaxia is joining the top tier of a select few international medical cannabis companies that have been recognized with this prestigious certification.

Receipt of the certification enables Panaxia to move to the next stage necessary to export and sell in Europe - completion of the regulatory registration process for its medical cannabis oils and brands in Germany, the largest and fastest growing medical cannabis market in Europe, as well as in Denmark, the most strictly regulated market in Europe and other target countries within the EU. Panaxia, which is in the midst of the registration process in these countries, has already received these marketing approvals, and the first sales of the products are expected later this year. This will be done through its strategic partners and subject to receipt of an export permit from the Israeli Ministry of Health.

Additionally, certification opens the doors of Europe to Israeli medical cannabis growers, as Panaxia is currently the only manufacturer certified to manufacture their cannabis brands for them. To this end, they must be certified by Panaxia and their products must be produced at the Panaxia facility, which has been awarded EU-GMP certification.

The marketing and sales of Panaxia's premium products under the Panaxia brand in Germany will be done through an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement with German pharmaceutical company, Neuraxpharm, the largest producer of products for the central nervous system (CNS) in Europe. As part of the partnership, Neuraxpharm will be responsible for branding, penetration and commercialization of the products with physicians and all of the pharmacies approved for this purpose in Germany, as part of its extensive portfolio of products. The agreement includes a mutual option to consider expanding the collaboration to other EU countries.

In Denmark, marketing and sales will be performed under a strategic distribution agreement with STENOCARE, the largest distributor of medical cannabis products in Denmark, which specializes in distribution of medical cannabis to approximately 70% of the Danish market. STENOCARE will market the Panaxia medical cannabis products to physicians and approved pharmacies in Denmark.

To date, Panaxia has approved and certified its partners in Israel: Seach, Better, Together, Canndoc and IMC to grow raw materials in accordance with the European standard and, therefore, with Panaxia's receipt of the European certification, products made from raw materials that are grown on one of the above-mentioned farms and produced at Panaxia's facility may be exported subject to completion of regulation of exports by the Israeli Ministry of Health. To date, through its collaboration with Seach, Panaxia has an amount of raw material that complies with European regulations and is sufficient for production of oils under EU-GMP for the first months of sales in Germany.

About Panaxia Labs Israel

Panaxia Labs Israel, Ltd., a publicly traded company on the TASE (PNAX) is currently the largest Israeli manufacturer and home-delivery distributor of medical cannabis products, and the first to have received the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Health for the manufacturing of medicinal cannabis-based pharmaceuticals (under the IMC-GMP directive) and European manufacturing standard, EU-GMP, which is required for the manufacture and commercial export of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products to Europe. Panaxia has been approved to provide manufacturing and distribution services for medical cannabis products in Israel, and it manufactures over 30 hemp-based medicinal products and has accumulated a broad foundation of clinical experience based on tens of thousands of patients.

Panaxia is part of the Segal Pharma Group, owned by the Segal family and founded over forty years ago. The company manufactures over 600 different pharmaceutical products that are distributed in over 40 countries worldwide. Panaxia Labs Israel is a subsidiary of Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries, co-founded by Dr. Dadi Segal, Dr. Eran Goldberg, and Assi Rotbart, Adv. as the cannabis division of the Segal Pharma Group. A sister subsidiary, Panaxia US, manufactures in North America over 60 hemp-based medicinal products, including sublingual tablets, lozenges, oils, and inhalators aimed for the treatment of conditions such as PTSD, cancer, chronic pain, epilepsy, anorexia, burns, and many other ailments. Panaxia Group has over 150 employees, and all clinical trials are conducted by its members.

The Segal Pharma Group additionally owns Luminera Derm, manufacturer of injectable dermal fillers, and Tree of Life Pharma, manufacturer of over-the-counter drugs. For more information, visit the Panaxia website at: https://panaxia.co.il/

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/822703/Panaxia_Pharmaceutical_Logo.jpg

For more information :

Noa Leviel

[email protected]

972-50-869-1843

SOURCE Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has apologised for the robodebt scheme. (Photo by Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has apologised in parliament to Australians who unduly suffered because of the so-called 'robodebt' data-matching scheme.

Morrison spoke in response to opposition government services spokesperson Bill Shorten's testimony about a cancer patient who had to sell his house to pay for medical treatment, but still had robodebt collectors chasing him in hospital.

"I would apologise for any hurt or harm in the way the government has dealt with that issue and to anyone else who has found themselves in those situations," said Morrison.

The prime minister said the act of raising and recovering debts was "a difficult job".

"Of course I would deeply regret any hardship that has been caused to people in the conduct of that activity."

The robodebt scheme saw computers match records from multiple government agencies to identify Australians that had been overpaid their entitlements.

But the system was riddled with errors, with many people chased for debts even though they did not actually owe any money.

Three years later, the government was forced to refund $721 million to 470,000 Australians who were affected by the scheme.

Morrison's apology came despite the attorney-general Christian Porter's insistence last week that he would not say sorry because of a class action lawsuit in progress.

Only a day earlier in parliament, the prime minister had blamed the opposition Labor Party for forcing the government to claw back entitlements.

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Two weeks before Tamil Nadu imposed prohibitory orders in Chennai and other parts of the state to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on March 24, Suresh Sambandam asked his 200 employees to stop working from their 15,000-sq ft open officecomplete with a pool table, a cafe bar and desks surrounded by swings for seatsin Chennais information technology hub.

By March 25, when the national Covid-19 lockdown was enforced, nearly half employees of Kissflow Inc, the SaaS (software as a service) company Sambandam founded in 2003 (then called OrangeScape Technologies), were working from their hometowns across Tamil Nadu. The rules have been relaxed for private companies to function, but Sambandam is not in a hurry to return to the way things were.

At a virtual town hall meeting with his employees on June 5, Sambandam unveiled what he called the Remote+ model of work that he intended to institute permanently. In a nutshell, teams would stagger their schedule of working from office while the rest of the time they would work remotely. Employees would be encouraged to work from their hometowns. Asking employees kitted up to work remotely to live in non-urban centres would help the local economy, Sambandam reasoned. The company would reimburse 80% of the expense if an employee needs to buy an ergonomic chair, desk, and battery-operated internet dongle. For those, who would come to Chennai for the mandatory week every monthin office, the company would provide accommodation.

The Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, has forced companies to rethink the way they work as well as where they work. More people than ever are using online tools to meet and collaborate on the internet.

Zoom, a video-conferencing application that offers a freemium model (some free and some paid features) is so ubiquitous, that it is now used as a verb. Zoom Video Communications, the American firm that has developed the application, has posted a profit of $27 million between February and April. In comparison, last year, its profit was $198,000. In May, Google Meet, another video-conferencing application, crossed 50 million downloads in the Google Play store.

Larger companies are also beginning to see the benefits of working remotely. Indias largest software services company, Tata Consultancy Services, has announced that up to 75% of its global workforce will work from home by 2025.

It isnt different elsewhere.

Tobias Lutke, the founder of Canadian multinational e-commerce company Shopify, announced over Twitter that the office of the Ottawa-based firm would remain closed till 2021 and remote work will become permanent for most employees. Weve always had some people remote, but they used the internet as a bridge to the office. This will reverse now. The future of the office is to act as an on-ramp to the same digital workplace that you can access from your #WFH setup, he wrote.

The company has offices spread out across time zones, from Shenzhen in China to Sydney (Australia), Bengaluru, and Vilnius (Lithuania).

Working from home requires infrastructure: good mobile connectivity, fast-speed internet, but importantly, a comfortable chair. Indian furniture maker Godrej Interio has a four-person team, called the Ergonomics and Workspace Research Cell, whose mandate is to study issues commonly faced in offices  like noisy colleagues  and publish findings that eventually guide their product design team.

During the lockdown, it began to study the challenges of working from home. The research revealed that people were working from the sofa, dining table, and bed; all of this was not designed for long hours of laptop work. We saw a 140% spike on searches done for chairs on our website. The second item in demand was a worktable, said Sameer Joshi, an associate vice-president in the marketing division of Godrej Interio, who leads the team.

Based on their findings, the company has launched a range of home office furniture, including workstations, work tables, work desks, and chairs among others.

For technology companies that operate on digital platforms, the shift to remote work has been seamless. Sambandams employees use Kissflow, a cloud-based digital workplace software platform created by his company (Kiss stands for Keep it Simple, Stupid, a well-known design principle). Virtual meet-ups have replaced Friday evening gatherings at the office. A certified yoga instructor conducts sessions each morning over video; employees discuss books and create podcasts to deal with the stress of lockdown.

But not all professions can make this switch easily.

Swaty Singh Malik, a Delhi-based matrimonial lawyer, said the new system of e-filing cases and appearing before a judge in a video call is nothing like the thronging crowds in the courtroom that lawyers are used to. Ours is the art of persuasion standing before a judge, not just a submission of documents, Malik said, adding that many of her cases and mediations are pending. Only urgent matters are taken up for hearing, and that means that your case may not come up at all, she said. No matter how much advice you give on the phone, it cannot really be implemented or enforced until the court steps in.

Courtrooms, which are always filled with people, will need to enforce physical distancing whenever they open. So will open-plan offices. The open office, which was pioneered in the 1950s, was meant to be a breakthrough in workflow and efficiency. But it has often been criticised for doing the opposite: causing greater distraction and reduced productivity, according to some workplace surveys. What is more, the open office is highly susceptible to spreading infection, and companies are beginning to take note of that.

At an online panel discussion hosted by San Mateo-headquartered software company Freshworks on May 20, its founder and chief executive officer Girish Mathrubootham said that the company is workplace-ready for whenever its offices  located in Chennai, Berlin, and Californiaopen. This includes a sanitisation protocol, thermal screening equipment, newly arranged seating to enable effective social distancing and limit face to face meetings. Even their cafe vendor has developed a mobile app that would alert employees when their food is ready for pick up, he said. The company has also created a vulnerability profile of its employees to decide whether it is better for them to stay home, Mathrubootham said.

For the first time, many organisations will have to think of their employees being in a kind of life and death situation [inside the office]. In most industries, you do not think about this, unless you are in the manufacturing space or in the armed forces. So, if you view it from that perspective, then certain investments have to be made, said Aparna Piramal Raje, an author and columnist.

Global commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield is testing a design concept called the Six Feet Office to help employees stay six feet apart. This includes signage that will help people recognise distance, usage of disposable desk covers, and ensuring that people walk only clockwise through the office space to minimise the chances of people bumping into each other.

Joshi of Godrej Interio said that at least 75 companies have approached his team to help them redesign office interiors keeping the Covid-19 disease in mind.

Todays offices are designed to bring people closer, foster collaboration, teamwork and increase speed of response. They are not designed to separate people and thereby prevent the spread of the disease. Godrej Interio, therefore, strongly believes that existing offices need a rethink. We are offering retrofit solutions for existing offices and are recommending flexible design solutions for new offices. We need to keep in mind that the pandemic will be around for 18-24 months while offices have to last much longer than that.
Plague Years is an unprecedented first-person account of the AIDS epidemic. Physician Ross Slotten provides an intimate yet comprehensive view of the diseases spread alongside heartfelt portraits of his patients and his own conflicted feelings as a medical professional, drawn from more than thirty years of personal notebooks. In telling the story of someone who was as much a potential patient as a doctor, Plague Years sheds light on the darkest hours in the history of the LGBT community in ways that no previous medical memoir has.

His moving memoir ensures that these dark hours will not be forgotten, and in honor of Pride Month, were sharing an excerpt from the opening chapter.

In the beginning Tom and I werent the only AIDS doctors in town. There were a handful of others, like the two Davids at Illinois Masonic Hospital, Bernie B. at Rush, Tom C. at Northwestern, Michael B. at Weiss Hospital, and a few others who didnt survive the early days of the epidemic. As gay men, we felt that it was our duty to serve the gay community, which bore the bruntand continues to bear the bruntof the AIDS crisis, not only in Chicago but elsewhere in the United States, for two-thirds of people with HIV in this part of the world were and are gay men. Although Chicago is a segregated citya white North Side and black South SideAIDS in the 1980s was not a North SideSouth Side issue. In the close-knit gay community, patients of all ethnicities and races from every neighborhood found sympathetic, dedicated gay doctors to care for them. Although we also treated small numbers of heterosexual patients whod acquired HIV through intravenous drug use or blood transfusions, as well as women whod contracted HIV from a bisexual partner, their numbers paled in comparison to the number of HIV-infected gay men. We didnt turn away those who werent gay, but most HIV-infected heterosexual men and women knew nothing about our office and wound up elsewhere, like Cook County Hospital, where our good friends Ron S. and Renslow S. had set up a clinic and the citys first AIDS unit.

Tom and I might never have become AIDS specialists had St. Joes employed a full-time infectious disease expert in the critical years between 1984 and 1986. The absence of such a specialist forced us to learn how to diagnose and treat the ailing men who streamed into our practice as best we could. By 1986 St. Joes had hired Roberta L., an infectious disease specialist who became a dear friend and fellow combatant in this hideous war, but by that time wed embraced our role as pioneers in a new field of medicine and no longer needed to refer patients to a specialist. In 1992, as I wrote those entries in my journal, I had the dubious distinction of having signed more death certificates in the city of Chicagoand by inference the entire state of Illinoisthan any other physician. How many deaths had I witnessed; how many more could I withstand before breaking down?

I had no answers to such questions. In fact, such questions eluded my mind that morning in September as I finished my rounds, recorded my observations and recommendations in my patients charts, and returned to the elevators without acknowledging the beautiful urban landscape outside the windows. Lost in thought, I descended to the first floor, stored my gray coat in a locker in the doctors lounge, chatted with colleagues, exited the hospital for the garage, slipped into my car, and headed to my office. But once in the car, with a few moments alone, the enormity of what Id confronted tormented me.

How close we always are, I think, to death, I wrote that day, recording what I felt as I drove through neighborhoods where people went about their business seemingly untouched by the AIDS epidemic. They hadnt the slightest inkling of what my patients and I were experiencingthey lived in a different world from mine, oblivious to the humanitarian catastrophe at their doorsteps. I live life as if the precipice is continually on one side of me. One step and Im over and done with. Often I have that same sensation you have when you are on top of a mountain, looking over the edge. An invisible force presses against you, to keep you from falling. A momentary vertigo as you fathom the abyss. That thrill of being so close to death. Yes, a thrill, which is the obverse of fear. Your breath stops mid-way. What keeps me from throwing myself off? I wonder. All these feelings are encapsulated in the moment when I ponder death and I think of my patients dying. That force against my chest, that abrupt halting of the breath.

Sometimes I wondered what kept me from throwing myself off the precipice, either literally or figuratively. Perhaps it was my idealistic sense of duty and refusal to abandon my community during its darkest hour; or the adrenaline rush I experienced from being at the forefront of a new field of medicine, which exaggerated my importance in my own eyes and the eyes of my patients and colleagues; or the instinctive drive for self-preservation, which prevented me from having a nervous breakdown or, worse, committing suicide; or simply inertia, because maintaining the status quo, terrible as it was, seemed less frightening to me than change, such as pursuing a different career in medicine. Questioning motives sows doubt; doubt leads to indecision; and indecision to inaction, the worst possible response to a crisis, especially for a doctor. So I simply did not question my motives.

Others might have turned to a pastor or rabbi to address such quandaries, but religion was a foreign language I never learned. Synagogues, mosques, and churches didnt (and still dont) inspire feelings of reverence in me, although I respect those for whom they do. When seated in a pew or temple chair, I feel like a trespasser or tourist. Although my parents identified as Jews, they didnt practice any sort of religion; they described themselves as agnostics. My mother skipped Hebrew school classes and intercepted letters to her parents reporting her truancy until an older sister ratted on her. After his bar mitzvah, my father stopped going to synagogue. My mother eventually explained to me that she didnt feel comfortable compelling us to do something she didnt do or, as in my fathers case, did reluctantly. As a result I grew up an atheist whose moral compass was defined not by religious dogma but my parents moral code, which essentially adhered to the Golden Rule but without an angry God to reinforce it.

Each day of my life during those dark times, I searched for some way to move forward. Days spilled into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years as the AIDS epidemic ground on. I wasnt the only one grappling with these issues. There were tens of thousands of us throughout the country and world: public health officials; scientific and clinical researchers; doctors, nurses, physician assistants; and other caregivers, all of us dedicated to a single cause. We intersected at international, national, and local conferences, creating a network that laid the groundwork for finding some solution to the AIDS crisis, of whatever form. When that crisis would end, and how we would survive emotionally and professionally in the intervening time of uncertainty, none of us could fathom.

Photo by Eric Herzog

Ross A. Slotten is a family practitioner specializing in the care of people with HIV/AIDS. He lives in Chicago with his husband and is the author of The Heretic in Darwins Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace.

Plague Years is available from our website or your favorite bookseller.
Five Terrorists Killed in Intense Encounter in India's Kashmir, 14 Neutralised in 72 Hours

Sputnik News

08:57 GMT 10.06.2020

New Delhi (Sputnik): Over 100 terrorists have been gunned down in India's Jammu and Kashmir by security forces in 2020 as they scaled up counter-terror operations in the valley, as per data maintained by the security forces. The data, however, suggests that most were local terrorists, while 10 were foreign, and six remained unidentified.

Five terrorists have been killed in a fierce gunbattle between the security forces and terrorists in the Sugoo area of the Shopian district in India's Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

The encounter which began in the wee hours of Wednesday is currently underway in the village of Hendhama, with an exchange of intermittent firing.

According to sources, a joint team of police, the Army's 44 RR (Rashtriya Rifles), and Central Reserve Police Force launched a cordon and search operation on an intelligence tip about the presence of terrorists in the area. Internet services have also been snapped in the district as a precautionary measure.

The encounter is the third operation within the past 72 hours and a total of 14 terrorists have been killed since Monday in the Shopian district.

Since the beginning of the year, Indian forces have eliminated around 110 suspected terrorists including Hizbul chief Riyaz Naikoo.

Jammu and Kashmir police in a Tweet stated on 8 June that 22 terrorists have been killed in last two weeks, "thwarting [the] wicked actions of Pakistan".

Last week, India's top military officer Lt Gen BS Raju claimed that all suspected terrorist camps and around 15 launch pads in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PoK) "are full", meaning India fears more terrorists incidents this summer.

 Sputnik

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Transportation operators in South Korea, Turkey, and China will rely on Thales' signalling technology to improve and update the performance of their metro networks.

Thales will install its SelTrac Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) systems on Istanbul's Stage 1 of the M10 Line, Nanchang's (China) 1st phase of the Line 4 and Incheon-Seoul's Line 2 capacity increase.

Thales will provide its SelTrac Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling solution in South Korea, Turkey and China, after signing three urban rail signalling contracts. Despite the current Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the globe are committed to progressing forward with crucial public transportation developments and Thales's technology will be an important part of these projects.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005010/en/

(Photo: Thales)

Incheon Metro, Line 2 Capacity Increase

Incheon Subway Line 2 is part of the overall Seoul Metropolitan Subway network, which is currently undergoing modernisation to improve the performance and reliability of the network.

Thales has signed a contract with DaeaTi, a leading Korean railway signalling technology player, to provide new signalling equipment for the Incheon Line 2 depot capacity increase, which will address the need to park the six new driverless trains safely. The trains will be delivered in 2021 with Thales' Vehicle On Board Controller (VOBC) which were separately contracted with train contractor Woojin Ind in 2019. Since the start of revenue service of Incheon's L2 metro in July 2016, passenger flow has doubled from 90,000 to 180,000 a day, prompting the need for six additional trains to cope with the increase.

Thales has been working with Incheon City and Incheon Transit Corporation since 2009 on the Incheon Line 2, focusing on better serving the public transit users of Incheon as their common goal.

Istanbul Metro, Line M10

The M10 Line will be the first metro line to the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, the second busiest airport in Turkey, on the Asian side of Istanbul and will comprise 7.5km of track and four stations. Gulermak-YSE Joint Venture is the main project contractor, and Thales has been contracted by Celikler Taahhut, a major construction company, to install their SelTrac CBTC system on the new M10 Line in Istanbul Turkey, connecting the Kaynarca district and the Sabiha Gokcen Airport. The M4 line is already equipped with Thales's SelTrac solution and the new contract will extend the existing technology onto the new line.

Upon completion, the new line will allow connectivity between the Airport and major cities, taking 13 minutes from the airport to Kaynarca, 46 minutes to Kadikoy and an hour to Yenikapi, on the European side. This project is part of the Government of Turkey's key priorities to improve transportation in major cities, with a strong focus on connectivity between transportation hubs.

Nanchang Metro, Line 4

Thales SEC Transportation System Company Limited (TST), Thales' Joint Venture with Shanghai Electric, will provide the signalling for the first phase of the new metro Line 4 in Nangchang, the capital and largest city of the Jiangxi Province in eastern China. The first phase of the Nanchang Metro Line 4 will expand from Baimashan Station to Yuweizhou Station, passing through the main area of Nanchang to connect five districts. The first phase of the Nanchang Metro Line 4 has a total operational length of 39.6km, with 34.1km underground, 5.5km elevated and 29 stations, making it the longest metro line in Nanchang, with the largest number of stations.

TST is familiar with the network as they have previously delivered signalling systems to the Line 1 and Line 2 of the Nangchang Metro. This project will allow the Nanchang Metro to continue to support the rapidly growing population of Nanchang.

In parallel in China, on April 23rd, Hangzhou Metro Line 16, connecting Hangzhou downtown with Lin'an District, entered into revenue service smoothly. This very fast metro line relies on Thales SEC Transport signalling system technologies for maximum safety and efficiency, ensuring everyday pleasant and reliable journeys for local passengers and showing Thales commitment to China ground transportation.

"During the Covid-19 period, we are continuing to work together with our global partners in major cities such as Incheon, Istanbul, and Nanchang. Thales is committed to providing state-of-the-art SelTrac CBTC signalling technology. No matter the network or city, we continue to tailor our solution to meet the needs of the customer and provide reliable transportation solutions for their passengers." Dominique Gaiardo, Vice President and Managing Director for Thales' urban rail signalling business.

About Thales

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global technology leader shaping the world of tomorrow today. The Group provides solutions, services and products to customers in the aeronautics, space, transport, digital identity and security, and defence markets. With 83,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales generated sales of 19 billion in 2019 (on a pro forma basis including Gemalto over 12 months).

Thales is investing in particular in digital innovations connectivity, Big Data, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity technologies that support businesses, organisations and governments in their decisive moments.

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005010/en/

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Vietnam said on Thursday it is preparing to resume international flights to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Laos in a bid to sustain growth, with the first flights set for early July, according to sources.

"Regarding the reopening of international flights, ministries will first select some locations to open soon, such as Guangzhou, Taiwan, Seoul, Tokyo and Laos, depending on the general situation," the government posted to its website on Thursday.

Hanoi said it would gradually restart international flights without giving specific dates. But this should happen by the end of June or early July, an aviation expert told Nikkei, making Vietnam one of the first countries in the region to resume international flights. Thailand has banned international flights until the end of June.

The first flights between tier-1 cities in Asia are expected to cater to business passengers.



Hanoi has assigned the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control to list overseas "safe zones." However, the destinations must have reported no new infections of the virus for 30 straight days -- a tall order for Tokyo, where 22 new cases were reported on Thursday.

One local travel agent told Nikkei they are preparing to sell July 1 flights for Seoul and Busan from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The agency is also working on tickets for flights connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh CIty with Hong Kong. "We're still awaiting the official green light," the agency said.

Restarting international flights is crucial for Vietnam, which hopes to shake off the effects of the pandemic to achieve its 2020 economic goals.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc wants to see at least 5% growth in gross domestic product, despite the International Monetary Fund's projection of 2.7%, following two straight years of 7% growth.

"The government didn't ask to adjust the growth target this year, but said it would strive for the optimal outcome," National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said on June 8.

Demand for commercial fights in Vietnam is rising as the economy reopens. Many overseas business communities in Vietnam -- including those from Japan, Korea and Europe -- have urged Hanoi to ease entry restrictions for investors, managers, tech experts and other business-related travelers.

In parallel with preparations for the resumption of international flights, Vietnam is promoting individual negotiations with other countries. On May 9, 68 Japanese businesspersons flew into Vietnam. After entry, they took polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests and quarantined for 14 days at the hotel. The Vietnamese government plans to accept several hundred more Japanese businessmen by the end of this month.

The prime minister agreed to the request in Thursday's statement. Moreover, a large number of Vietnamese stranded overseas, such as students, the elderly, and tourists, are pushing the government to resume international flights.

Hanoi is also working to relax entry restrictions on a country-by-country basis as it tries to ramp up trade, tourism and investment, all of which have stalled due to the pandemic.

The tourist industry -- a key economic driver accounting for 9.2% of GDP -- is also preparing to receive foreign arrivals. The sector has suffered the most from the pandemic, losing as much as $7 billion and hitting more than 40,000 businesses and 4.5 million jobs. To alleviate this, the government wants to reopen Phu Quoc Island, a popular destination for Chinese tourists.

In May, Hanoi announced e-visas for people from 80 countries entering at eight international airports from July 1. Foreigners will also be allowed to enter the country via 29 land and sea crossings.

However, the aviation experts said the country is moving cautiously in its efforts to reopen.


In its attempt to strengthen traditional friendly relations and build new ones, Egypts post-June 2013 foreign policy faced a host of challenges

LIBYA: A possible breakthrough is in the works for one of the most pressing issues facing Cairo.

Following a tripartite meeting this week with Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar, and Libyan Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi announced the Cairo Declaration, a joint political initiative that seeks to end the conflict in Libya.

In an attempt to ensure the initiative does not meet the same fate as earlier attempt to broker peace, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri is coordinating with UN Secretary-General Antonio Gueterras, Chairman of the African Union (AU) Moussa Faki, and the foreign ministers of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Niger and the UAE.

Egypt has long sought a political solution in Libya that includes all active political parties and preserves the unity of the country.

COVID-19: The coronavirus pandemic has presented new challenges to foreign policy-makers across the world.

Egypt has launched a number of initiatives to raise awareness of the dangers posed by the virus. As chair of the African group at the UNs Geneva headquarters, Egypt organised a series of meetings with the heads of international humanitarian organisations last month to coordinate their support for African states as they face the fallout from the virus.

Egypt has also led an international campaign at the UN to reduce the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the money remitted by expatriate workers to their home countries.

In collaboration with Egypts National Council for Women, the Foreign Ministry has spearheaded attempts to mitigate the impact of the virus on vulnerable groups of women and take preventive measures to reduce its effects.

TERRORISM: Egypts war on terrorism has been one of the abiding features of the last six years. Cairo has raised the threat posed by terrorism at every international meeting, including the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development.

Government efforts to combat terrorism seem to be working. Egypt dropped out of the top 10 countries affected by terrorism in the Institute for Economics and Peaces 2019 Global Terrorism Index issued in November.

Deaths from terrorist attacks fell 90 per cent in 2019, with the report attributing the fall to the success of counter-terrorism operations in Sinai.

Last week, Shoukri took part via video conference in a meeting of foreign ministers from states committed to combating the Islamic State, and stressed that measures were urgently needed to halt the growth of the groups influence in west Africa and the Sahel, and stop it from restructuring in Iraq and Syria.

At the opening ceremony of the 33rd AU Summit in Addis Ababa in February President Al-Sisi proposed an African summit on fighting terrorism. In a later, closed session, African leaders agreed to convene a special meeting to discuss establishing a continental counter-terrorism force.

EGYPT IN AFRICA: Building relations with African states has been a top priority for the last six years, and Egypts chairing of the AU in 2019 gave Cairo an opportunity to address challenges to the continent head on.

Last year ended with two meetings at which Egypt tried to make the African voice heard: the first round of the Aswan Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development, and the G20 Compact with Africa summit.

In addition to taking part in international forums and voicing African concerns, Cairo has continued to play a vital role on the continent, contributing peace-keeping forces, taking part in preventive diplomacy, and promoting conflict resolution in flash points like South Sudan and Burundi.

During its 2019 presidency of the AU, Egypt championed the African Free Trade Area Agreement tirelessly.

NILE BASIN: One of the main aims of Egypts foreign policy is to establish strong relations with Nile Basin countries and President Al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Shoukri have paid frequent visits to Nile Basin countries over the last six years.

Relations with Nile Basin countries began to sour when they signed the Entebbe Agreement in 2010. Tensions escalated when Ethiopia began work on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which will limit the flow of the Nile, Egypts main source of fresh water. Addis Ababa claims the dam, which will double Ethiopias electricity generating capacity, is critical to its development efforts.

After years of tripartite talks, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan failed to agree a timetable for filling the dams reservoir, or how much water should be released during periods of drought and prolonged droughts.

In the hope of finding a solution Egypt has sought third-party mediation, a suggestion Addis Ababa refused until November last year when the US Treasury Department hosted ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan in Washington for talks on the GERD. The World Bank attended the talks as an observer.

The talks were supposed to lead to a comprehensive agreement by the end of February. However, Ethiopia did not turn up to the final meeting.

In March Shoukri embarked on a round of shuttle diplomacy to African, European and Arab states to resume the tripartite negotiations and reach an agreement before the filling of the dam begins. Ethiopia has declared it will begin filling the reservoir next month regardless of whether an agreement is reached.

Sudan has repeatedly tried to bring negotiations back on track, efforts that seemed to bear fruit this week when the ministers of irrigation of the three states met on Tuesday.

COOPERATION WITH RUSSIA: In the wake of June 2013 relations with Russia improved markedly.

President Al-Sisi turned to Moscow in 2014, when US-Egyptian ties were at their lowest ebb. Since then, Egypt and Russia have cemented ties in a number of ways, arms deals among them.

In 2015 Egypt reached a deal with Russian state energy firm Rosatom to construct a 4,800 megawatt nuclear power plant at Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast. Under the deal, Moscow is loaning Egypt $25 billion over 35 years to finance the construction and operation of the nuclear plant.

In 2017 Vladimir Putin visited Egypt for the signing of the Dabaa deal, a trip that was expected to open the doors to other areas of cooperation.

Moscow halted flights between Russia and Egypt in October 2015, following the downing of a Russian passenger jet in Sinai that killed all 224 people on board. Since then Egypt has adopted tighter security measures at its airports to meet Russian demands, and the two sides agreed to hold meetings in April 2018 to discuss the resumption of flights from Moscow to Egyptian resort towns on the Red Sea. Before the plane crash Russians had accounted for a fifth of Egypts tourist traffic.

On the political level, there is continuous coordination and consultation between Cairo and Moscow on bilateral and regional issues. Shoukri called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov last week to discuss regional developments, including the situation in Libya and the Palestinian territories.

PARTNERSHIP WITH CHINA: Cooperation between Cairo and Beijing has proceeded apace. Relations began their upward trajectory with Al-Sisis visit to China in December 2014, and continued with Chinas announcement of its Belt and Road Initiative, and growing investments in major development projects in Egypt.

Recent years have seen the establishing of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Egypt, and a series of cooperation agreements in the field of trade, the economy, aerospace industry and energy.

Contacts between Chinese and Egyptian officials is continuous. Last week, Shoukri called his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to discuss bilateral and regional issues.

Shoukri briefed Wang of the latest developments on GERD, and Egypts willingness to resume tripartite negotiations in the hope of reaching a comprehensive agreement.

China is in a strong position to press Ethiopia into being less intransigent: Beijing is one of the main financiers of hydropower projects in Ethiopia.

GREECE AND CYPRUS: Security in the Eastern Mediterranean has steadily climbed the regional agenda in recent years. Egypt has developed alliances with Greece, Cyprus, France and Italy to pursue mutual interests. Following a virtual meeting last month they issued a strongly worded joint communique denouncing illegal Turkish activity in Cypriot territorial waters.

They called on Turkey to respect the sovereignty of Mediterranean states, and strongly condemned Turkish military interference in Libya after Ankara moved mercenaries from Syria to Egypts troubled western neighbour.

In a meeting held in January the foreign ministers of the five states said Novembers signing of memorandums of understanding between Turkey and Fayez Al-Sarraj, the head of Libyas Presidency Council, violated UN Security Council resolutions and international law, and further undermined regional stability.

Tripartite cooperation between Egypt, Greece and Cyprus began in 2014 with the goal of promoting neighbourly relations, regional stability, peace and prosperity.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 11 June, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under headline: Balance and diversity

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In a letter to krewe members, the Mystick Krewe of Louisiana announced Thursday that Mardi Gras festivities in Washington, D.C. would not take place in 2021.

"Typically, we would be preparing to send out Krewe member packets for the upcoming 2021 ball," the letter reads. "Sadly, this year's ball will not occur."

+2 Arthur Hardy: Keep these ideas in mind when talking Mardi Gras 2021 and coronavirus Since the COVID-19 pandemic began to take root in the United States, there has been much speculation as to the fate of next years Carnival se

The annual Washington Mardi Gras, which runs over a weekend in Carnival season, features Louisiana food and music and an opportunity to rub elbows with the state's congressional delegation, among other movers and shakers.

More than 2,000 people from Louisiana make the trek up for the annual event, which has become one of the latest coronavirus casualties.

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"Senior Lieutenants spent countless hours searching for a path forward," the letter reads. "However, the health restrictions due to COVID-19 are too much for an event of our magnitude. Washington Mardi Gras is a tremendous event that takes every bit of a year to plan, build and execute.

"Forgoing our annual tradition is not a small decision. Washington Mardi Gras has been skipped only a handful of times in our 76-year history. World War II, The Korean War and Hurricane Katrina are rare examples.

"We are all disappointed to make this announcement, but rest assured, our attention is now on making the 2022 ball one of the best ever!"
Congress has alleged that attempts are being made to lure their MLAs and independent leaders to destabilise Ashok Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot slammed the BJP-led opposition for indulging in horse-trading and stated that everyone is united. Election (Rajya Sabha) is here. It could have been conducted two months back but they had not completed the buying and selling in Gujarat and Rajasthan, so they delayed it. The election is going to be conducted now and the situation is the same, Gehlot alleged.

How long will you do politics by indulging in horse-trading? It will not be surprising if Congress gives them a jolt in the time to come. The public can understand everything. Todays meeting was very fruitful. Everyone is united, well meet again tomorrow, the Chief Minister added.

The comments of the Chief Minister came after Congress Chief Whip in the state Assembly Mahesh Joshi on Wednesday wrote to Director General of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) alleging that attempts are being made to destabilise the State Government by luring his partys MLAs and independent MLAs who support the Government.

Also Read: Kejriwal meets Amit Shah, discusses COVID-19 situation in Delhi in detail

Also Read: Panic grips Pak after IAFs routine exercise

I have come to know through reliable sources that attempts are being made to lure our MLAs and independent MLAs who support us, in order to destabilise the Government, the letter read. It is against the spirit of the constitution and condemnable act. Take action against people who are indulging in such activities, the letter added.

Congress MLAs along with independent MLAs, who are supporting Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan, attended a meeting at Shiv Vilas Resort in Jaipur over upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. Three Rajya Sabha seats of Rajasthan are up for election which is scheduled to take place on June 19.

Congress party has 107 MLAs, including six from BSP who changed camps last year. The party has the support of 12 of the 13 Independent MLAs in the 200-member Assembly.

Also Read: Uttarakhand would need Rs 200 crore for developmental work in Kedarnath, says CM Trivendra Singh Rawat to PM Modi

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PRISTINA -- Newly elected Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti says the European Union and the United States have complementary roles in helping the country meet its top priority: successful dialogue with Serbia.



Hoti told RFE/RL's Balkan Service in an exclusive interview on June 11 that Kosovo is ready for talks with Serbia, has a clear platform and strategy, and expects them to be resumed "very fast."



"We need the full support of the EU as well as a strong U.S. engagement in this process -- both in reaching and implementing an agreement [with Serbia]," Hoti said, adding, "one doesnt go without the other."



Hoti, a leading official in Kosovo's center-right Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), became prime minister on June 3 after winning a vote in parliament by a razor-thin margin.

His election ended a months-long crisis triggered by outgoing premier Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje party, which had been pressing for snap polls after his government collapsed in March following a no-confidence vote initiated by LDK.



A key point of contention with LDK was Kurti's policy in relation to Serbia.



Kurti was reluctant to scrap trade sanctions against Serbia in spite of EU criticism and requests from Pristina's most important ally, the United States.



Three days after taking office, Hoti's government lifted the sanctions on Serbian goods entering the country in an effort to pave the way to resuming dialogue to improve ties with its neighbor.



"We have just taken over our duties and now are waiting for the process to be clarified in the coming days," Hoti said.

Strained Relations



The European Union started mediation between Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, and Belgrade in 2011 amid strained relations that had lingered since a 1998-1999 war between the two that ended only after NATO intervened.



The conflict claimed more than 10,000 lives and left more than 1 million people homeless.



Kosovo's independence, declared in 2008, has not been recognized by Belgrade, Russia, and five EU nations. The United States and more than 110 other countries have recognized Kosovos independence.

Vetevendosje has accused both the United States and Kosovar President Hashim Thaci of working in tandem to remove Kurti from power in order to push through a deal with Serbia. Both Washington and Thaci deny the accusations.



"Germany and France, two key EU members, are paying a great deal of attention to the dialogue process, and it is also of interest that Washington is very focused on putting an end once and for all to open issues between Kosovo and Serbia," Hoti said.



On June 10, Hoti outlined his government's platform for dialogue with Serbia, according to which Kosovo will not negotiate its territorial integrity and the constitutional organization of the state.



Furthermore, the final agreement, which Kosovo insists should result in reciprocal recognition, will have to be in the spirit of Kosovos constitution.



"I do not have a mandate to discuss the territorial integrity of the Republic of Kosovo -- this is clear," Hoti told RFE/RL.



Asked which compromises Kosovo was ready to make in the dialogue with Serbia, Hoti said that the "the compromise Kosovo is [making] is accepting to sit at the table with a goal of normalizing relations with its neighbor."



"That is the compromise we are making. All compromises ended on February 17, 2008 [when Kosovo declared its independence], with the [UN Special Envoy to Kosovo Martti] Ahtisaari Plan based on which Kosovo declared independence with constitutional arrangements in force today," Hoti said.
Up to 60 new jobs are to be created in Kilkenny over the next three years by leading healthcare provider and insurer UPMC.

The Pittsburgh-headquartered company has announced it is establishing the UPMC Global Technology Operations Centre in Kilkenny to support the health systems continuing international expansion. The new centreto be located in MacDonagh Junction  is expected to employ up to 60 skilled technology workers and other support staff over the next three years, adding to the more than 475 staff already in Ireland. The project is supported by the Irish government through IDA Ireland.

Kilkenny was chosen because of its proximity to other key UPMC facilities, including hospitals, cancer centres and an outpatient site in Waterford, Cork, Carlow and Kildare, as well as for the countrys strong tech talent pool, business-friendly environment, significant presence of major tech companies and its active innovation community supporting tech start-ups and incubators.

Our multinational business requires a technology platform that allows us to consistently provide the highest quality care at the lowest cost, regardless of location, said Ed McCallister, chief information officer of UPMC. As we considered locations worldwide that would best meet our needs, Irelandand its centrally located, multi-cultural workforcequickly rose to the top.

UPMC International Senior Vice President David Beirne, who also is managing director in Ireland, noted that support from IDA Ireland, which encourages foreign investment and job creation, was one of many advantages that UPMC weighed.

This new centre will give us the unique ability to accommodate regulatory, cultural and language requirements across our international sites, including in Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan and China," he said.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD said she was delighted to see UPMC expand their presence in Ireland with the opening of a new Global Technology Operations Centre in Kilkenny.

"This will result in the creation of 60 highly skilled jobs, which will support the companys international expansion. This is very welcome news for the county and will be a significant boost to the wider region," she said.

"This demonstrates, once again, that the South-east is an attractive location with much to offer investors.

IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said the investment by UPMC demonstrates a huge vote of confidence in Ireland, its strong value proposition and agile and adaptable business environment that had been sustained despite the changes imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Kilkenny is an ideal choice of location, given the availability of highly skilled creative talent there," he said.

"The new jobs being created are a welcome boost to the economy of the South East. I wish UPMC every success with this latest expansion.

To prepare for the opening of its new centre in Kilkenny, UPMC already is hiring network, systems and security engineers, security and privacy analysts and other information technology managers. The Global Technology Operations Centre staff will initially be housed in temporary space at MacDonagh Junction, adjacent to UPMC Nowlan Park, while the new UPMC offices are completed. UPMC will be the first healthcare tenant in this redevelopment project, which during its long history has been the site of a hospital and a workhouse for the poor.

With multiple healthcare facilities in Italy and Ireland, an advisory agreement to support an academic medical centre in Kazakhstan and a planned partnership to manage a network of new hospitals in China, UPMC has one of the largest and most experienced international divisions of any academic medical centre. With a focus on offering patients the best care close to homewherever that may beUPMC collaborates with healthcare providers, governments and other partners in its four focus countries to create sustainable, high-quality medical services.
Tens of thousands of Pacific Islander slaves were ripped from their families and forced into back-breaking labour on sugar farms across Australia, in direct opposition to controversial remarks made by Scott Morrison.

The prime minister sparked outrage on Thursday by claiming there was no slavery in Australia, despite historians widely documenting the fate of the slaves - called Kanakas.

Edmund Barton, Australia's first prime minister, even admitted in a speech in 1901 that Kanaka people lived in slavery.

Speaking during the second reading of Pacific Islands Labourers Bill on October 2 1901, he said: 'The traffic, we say, is bad, both for the Kanaka and for the white man. It is bad for the Kanaka ... because, in some aspects, it must be slavery.'

Kanaka people are seen at the Dillybar settlement near Nambour (pictured) in the late 19th century, with islanders being forced to Australia between 1847 and 1906

South Pacific islander workers, known as Kanakas, are seen on a sugar plantation in Cairns (pictured) around 1890

Confronting pictures also show Aboriginal people forced to wear neck chains in the late 19th century, with some taken as recently as 1930 - less than 100 years ago.

Kanaka, which means 'person' or 'man' in Hawaiian, was the name given to South Pacific Islander people who worked on sugar plantations, cattle stations or as servants in towns.

They were first introduced into Queensland in 1847 to work on cotton plantations, and were later brought in as cheap labour for the sugar industry.

By 1900, more than 60,000 Islanders had been forced from their homes and taken to Australia.

They were forced by colonialists to work on farms, a practice known as 'blackbirding', and were often told lies about the prospect of a better life.

South Sea islanders arriving in Bundaberg by ship (pictured) in 1893 where they were put to back-breaking work on plantations

Pacific Islanders are seen in cramped conditions aboard a boat as they were brought to Australia in 1890 (pictured)

Emelda Davis, president of the Australian South Sea Islanders, wrote in a 2017 article for The Conversation: 'The treatment of the Islanders was atrocious, exploitative and akin to slavery.

'When plantation owners went bankrupt, the workers were transferred as an asset with the sold property.'

Blackbirding was the enslaving, often by force and deception, of South Pacific Islanders on cotton and sugar plantations in Queensland, and was especially prevalent between 1847 and 1904.

The workers were brought across often using force or deception, with promises of fair earnings and living.

WHO WERE THE KANAKA SLAVES? Kanaka was the name given to kidnapped South Pacific Islander workers forced into back-breaking work in Queensland. They either worked on sugar plantations, cotton fields, cattle stations or as servants. The Islanders were first introduced into Queensland in 1847. By 1900 more than 60,000 Islanders had been recruited in a manner that often amounted to kidnapping. The labourers were generally abused and reduced to 'near-slave status' - because of their low pay, poor conditions and back-breaking work. Ripping the Islanders from their home was known as blackbirding. Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception and/or kidnapping to work as unpaid or poorly paid labourers in countries distant to their native land. It died out only in 1904 as a result of a law, enacted in 1901 by the Australian commonwealth, calling for the deportation of all Kanakas after 1906. Source: Britannica Advertisement

In an interview on Sydney radio 2GB on Thursday, the prime minister was asked whether statues of Captain James Cook should be removed in response to a movement in the UK to topple monuments to slave traders.

He rejected the idea and said: 'It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia.'

Thousands of activists have pointed out that although slavery was never legal Down Under, convicts, Indigenous Australians and Pacific Islanders were all victims of forced labour.

Mr Morrison's critics said he should 'read a book' and shared images of chained-up Aboriginal people from a Western Australia state library collection which resurfaced earlier this year.

Shocking images show Aboriginal people in chains in the 19th century (pictured outside Roebourne Gaol in 1896)

The images show Aboriginal prisoners - many of whom were accused of petty crimes such as killing cattle - shackled with heavy chains around their necks, guarded by white men armed with rifles.

Sometimes police were paid per Indigenous prisoner they caught and brought them into jail using chains.

Some prisoners were put to work on boats while others were forced to lay railways.

Even Aboriginal people not accused of crimes were illegally used as unpaid labour until the 1970s, particularly in the agricultural industry, with only rations and a bed to show for their toil.

Last year the Queensland government agreed to pay 10,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a total of $190 million for wages unpaid between 1939 and 1972.

Police were paid per indigenous prisoner and cruelly brought them into jail using chains where they were forced to work (pictured, captured Aboriginal people in 1890)

Another image shows a white man dressed in shirt and trousers holding a chain connected to two elderly Indigenous prisoners (pictured near Wyndham in 1930)

Before then, convicts shipped to Australia from Ireland and the UK were treated as slave labor.

They were subject to 'assigned service' where they were leased out to rich landowners to use as a cheap workforce.

Author and historian Bruce Pascoe slammed the prime minister's comments.

He wrote: 'When you capture people, and put chains around their necks, and make them walk 300km and then set them to work on cattle stations, what's that called?'

'That's what happened in Western Australia and in the [Northern] Territory and in Queensland.

Aboriginal prisoners are seen forced to wear connecting neck chains near Wyndham in 1930 (pictured)

'It doesn't matter what you call it. It's brutality and I think a lot of Australia are in denial about the real history of the country.'

Shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said: 'The prime minister's comments demonstrate a need for a greater understanding and awareness of our nation's history.

'We cannot achieve meaningful progress on matters such as Reconciliation if, as a nation, we are not aware of the historical context of the challenges we face in the present.

'One of the crucial elements of the Uluru Statement was a national process of truth-telling.'
A Mercer County catering business faced a huge backlash on social media Thursday after its chef called the Black Lives Movement bull---- and mocked the death of George Floyd in a series of posts on his Facebook page.

Youre becoming the new Antifa, Joseph Russo, who identifies himself as a co-owner of The Stone Terrace by John Henry in Hamilton, said of the movement.

I f------ hate these protesters. The evil ones, Russo said on his page. Youre haulting [sic] our way of life for your bull---- looting.

Russo also posted an image of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of a black man, accompanied by the words, Hey, NFL, heres how. Russo commented, Right on! under the image.

Jeannine Frisby LaRue, a community leader in Trenton, fired off a statement Thursday saying anyone who gives The Stone Terrace their business is complicit in Russos act of inhumanity.

Anyone who continues to patronize Stone Terrace with the full knowledge that Russo felt comfortable in putting on blast that Black Lives Matter is bull---- is complicit in his act of dehumanizing his fellow citizens, LaRue wrote on her Facebook page.

Joseph Russo needs an intervention with a human resource specialist to assist him with public relations 101 that while one is in business, one should keep some things to oneself, LaRue wrote. Thats the chapter he missed.

A screenshot of the businesss LinkedIn page, posted to social media, states Russo is the brother-in-law of John Henry, Jr., and a partner in the business. The LinkedIn page on Thursday no longer identified Russo as a partner.

Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin called Russos comments hateful and abhorrent.

Had I known he held these racist feelings, I would never have attended, supported, or held events at his restaurant, Martin wrote in a statement issued Thursday.

Dozens of New Jersey residents took to social media over the past two days, saying they would avoid patronizing the catering company and urged others to do the same.

Stone Terrace. by John Henrys Facebook taken down after Joe Russo, owner-operator, posted racist crap there, including Black Lives Matter Is Bullshit. And, theres a photo of a police officer with his knee on the neck of a man captioned, Hey NFL, this is how you take a knee.  laparker (@laparker6) June 11, 2020

After Russos posts were published, The Stone Terrace tried to distance itself from the chef.

Its come to our attention that there have been inappropriate posts made by an employee at The Stone Terrace, said in a statement, which was posted to Facebook. Joseph Russo is not the owner of The Stone Terrace and these views do not reflect our views as a whole.

The statement went on to say the business was ashamed of Russos comments and that they stand by the Black Lives Matter movement.

On Thursday, the catering company had taken down its Facebook page and representatives of the business did not return calls seeking comment.

Russo did not respond to a phone call and message to his personal Facebook page seeking comment.

If you live in New Jersey, do not patronize The Stone Terrace by John Henry's in Hamilton, NJ. The co-owner, Joseph Russo, is super racist and has posts that say Black Lives Matter is bullshit and that coronavirus is a hoax. #TheStoneTerrace  AshLovesBooksandBlackLives (@AshBooks5) June 11, 2020

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At least a dozen companies were defrauded of $4.4 million in the scheme, the statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office said.

Mr. Courtney also concocted an elaborate story about his life, the prosecutors said. He claimed that he had hundreds of confirmed kills as a U.S. soldier in the gulf war, that he had sustained lung injuries from smoke caused by fires set in Iraqs oil fields and that he had survived an assassination attempt by a foreign intelligence service that tried to poison him with ricin.

All of these claims were false, the statement said.

The court filing says that Mr. Courtney joined the military after the war was over and that his breathing problems were from asthma aggravated when he fought forest fires in Montana. He pretended a hospital stay for ordinary health issues was really the result of the ricin assassination attempt, the court document said.

Stuart Alexander Sears, a lawyer for Mr. Courtney, declined to comment on the plea.

Mr. Courtney went to extraordinary lengths to perpetuate the illusion that he was a deep-cover operative, prosecutors said. Those efforts included creating fake government nondisclosure agreements and letters purporting to be from the attorney general of the United States that supposedly granted immunity for involvement in the fictitious classified program.

Mr. Courtney also convinced real governmental officials that he was in the fictitious task force and then set up meetings with the victims of his scheme and the officials, using them as unwitting props, prosecutors said in the statement.

While the authorities did not explain specifically how Mr. Courtneys scheme had unraveled, the court filing said that several of the companies had eventually started to ask why they were not being paid for the contracts they had been promised and for other tasks. When he was questioned, Mr. Courtney would accuse them of being spies  in one case, an Iranian spy, the filing said.

The way Courtney did it was by putting a great deal of pressure on the funding source to raise the money to meet a supposed deadline to provide funding for an alleged classified national security program that was critical to United States interest, said Steven N. Leitess, the lawyer for Capefirst Funding, a company that was duped into raising $1.93 million for Mr. Courtney.
I knew him very well. In the party, he was invariably non-controversial, low-profile, well-mannered and always very guarded and measured in his utterances.

A perfect description of the late George Michael Chambers, the countrys second prime minister and political leader of the Peoples National Movement (PNM), from Ferdie Ferreira, a foundation member, in his book Political Encounters 1946 -2016.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / This notice is being sent to advise that Maple Leaf Short Duration 2019-II Flow-Through Limited Partnership - National Class (CUSIP 56532M100) and Quebec Class (CUSIP56532M209) (the "Partnership") will be proceeding with a transaction (the "Liquidity Transaction") pursuant to which the assets of the Partnership (the "Assets") will be transferred on a tax-deferred basis to the Maple Leaf Resource Class (the "Resource Class Mutual Fund"), a class of shares of Maple Leaf Corporate Funds Ltd., an open-ended mutual fund corporation, in exchange for Series A shares of the Mutual Fund.

Additional information about the Resource Class Mutual Fund is available in their simplified prospectus and annual information form. These documents are available at www.sedar.com and www.mapleleaffunds.ca .

How the Rollover Will Work:

Pursuant to the Liquidity Transaction, Limited Partners of the Partnership ("Investors") will receive shares of the Resource Class Mutual Fund in connection with the dissolution of the Partnership. The effective date of the Liquidity Transaction (the "Effective Date") is expected to be on or about Wednesday, October 7, 2020. Shortly after the Effective Date, the shares of the Resource Class Mutual Fund will be distributed on a pro rata basis to investors and thereafter the Partnership will be dissolved.

Investors will receive the Resource Class Mutual Fund shares in exchange for, and with a value equal to, the value of the units of the Partnership held at the time of such transfer of Assets. When the shares of the Resource Class Mutual Fund are received, the Partnership units will be removed from each Investors account. Processing may take 2 to 3 business days (in some cases longer) to complete, after the rollover occurs.

The Partnership will issue a press release once the Liquidity Transaction has been completed and the conversion ratio has been determined.

The ACB (adjusted cost base) for each unit of the Partnership and each share of the Resource Class Mutual Fund will be determined by the General Partner upon the wind-up of the Partnership's affairs. The Partnership will dissolve within 60 days of the Effective Date. The General Partner will post these details on its website at www.mapleleaffunds.ca.

Investors should consult with their investment advisor and/or tax advisor for all tax-related matters.

Simplified Example:

An Investor holds 100 Partnership units with a final Net Asset Value of $20.00 at the time of rollover and the net asset value per share of the Resource Class Mutual Fund is $5.00 on the same date. Based on these net asset values, the conversion ratio will be

4.0 (4.0 = $20.00 / $5.00). The Investor's 100 units, valued at $2,000, are removed from the Investor's account and 400 shares (400 = 100 x 4.0) of the Resource Class Mutual Fund, valued at $2,000, are added to the Investor's account.

Processing can be delayed after the rollover occurs, therefore transactions such as switches or redemptions may not be processed until the Resource Class Mutual Fund shares have been credited to client accounts.

Neither the Partnership nor the Resource Class Mutual Fund will accept any liability for transactions executed prior to dealer records being updated.
Abortions in England and Wales last year were at their highest number since the 1967 Abortion Act was introduced.

Of the 209,519 terminated pregnancies in the two countries in 2019, 207,384 were for women resident there, the Department of Health confirmed yesterday.

Both the total number and the number for women living in England and Wales have risen to the highest since the Act was brought in more than five decades ago.

Most of the 2,135 women who came to England and Wales for abortions were from Northern Ireland (47.5 per cent) and the Republic of Ireland (17.6 per cent).

Abortions in England and Wales last year were at their highest number of 209,519 since the Abortion Act was introduced, the Depatment of Health said (stock image)

While the age-standardised rate has risen only slightly to 18 per 1,000 from 17.4 per 1,000 in 2018, last year's rate exceeds the previous highest recorded of 17.9 in 2007.

The statistics show that while there has been an increase in the rates for all ages 25 and above, the largest is among women aged 30-34.

Rates in that age group rose from 15.7 per 1,000 in 2009 to 20.9 per 1,000 last year, the data released by the department on Thursday showed.

Almost three-quarters (74 per cent) of abortions took place in the independent sector, but 99 per cent were funded by the NHS.

The abortion rate last year was highest for women aged 22, up from aged 21 the previous year.

While the abortion rates for those under 18 have fallen over the past 10 years, last year's rate remained the same as 2018 at 8.1 per 1,000.

Government relaxes abortion law so women can take termination pills at home during coronavirus lockdown BY BEN SPENCER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Abortion laws have been relaxed to allow women to take pills at home to terminate a pregnancy. The measures  put in place so women do not have to visit a hospital or clinic  will last two years or until the coronavirus epidemic ends. Women can use the pills up to the 10th week of pregnancy. They must consult a doctor over the phone or video chat to get a prescription, with the pills sent by post. Medical abortions require two pills  mifepristone and misoprostol. Prior to the announcement, abortions in England could only be carried out in a hospital, by a specialist provider or by a licensed clinic and needed to be approved by two doctors to certify that it did not breach the terms of the Abortion Act 1967. Campaigners had warned 44,000 women in England and Wales would need to visit doctors to access early medical abortions in the next 13 weeks  and such travel would severely harm the Government's social distancing strategy. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said last night: 'Public safety and continued access to key services is our priority during this difficult period. 'We are updating our guidance so women who need an abortion up to ten weeks and can't access a clinic can use abortion pills at home. This will be on a temporary basis and must follow a telephone or e-consultation with a doctor.' Advertisement

More than half (55 per cent) of women having abortions last year had already had at least one previous pregnancy resulting in a live or stillbirth, up from 49 per cent in 2009.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) said it believes economic uncertainty and the shift towards smaller family sizes could be significant factors in the increased abortion rate.

The charity called for better contraception services to meet the needs of older women, particularly access to emergency contraception and after having a baby.

Clare Murphy, director of external affairs at BPAS, said: 'The reasons for this increase will be complex but women and their partners, when faced with an unplanned pregnancy, will make decisions based on the circumstances they find themselves - and financial instability or uncertainty can often play a key role in those choices.

'The majority of women having an abortion already have at least one child and over the years we have seen a shift towards smaller families, which also goes hand in hand with the later age at which women start their families in the first place.'

She said while contraception alone 'will never prevent the need for abortion', there is more that can be done around better access to high quality services, particularly when women have recently had a baby.

Kerry Abel, chair of Abortion Rights, said: 'The context for these figures is a climate of continuing austerity, cuts to public services - including contraception and reproductive health; the two-child limit on child benefit that was introduced in 2017 and general economic uncertainty.'

She added that since the coronavirus pandemic began, the charity has received anecdotal reports 'of people finding it difficult to renew contraception', and she added 'the confusion from the Government about changes to at-home abortion measures was unhelpful'.

Marie Stopes UK's medical director Jonathan Lord said the figures 'underline the crucial need for women of all ages to be able to access comprehensive contraceptive services and abortion care, from the point at which they become sexually active right through to the menopause'.

He said a lack of investment in contraceptive services has led to 'poor access and unacceptable waits' for women, and he added it is vital services are funded properly.

Catherine Robinson, of Right to Life UK, said last year's total number of abortions was 'a national tragedy'.

She said: 'We are calling on the Government to urgently bring forward sensible new restrictions and increased support for women with unplanned pregnancies.

The latest statistics show that of the 209,519 terminated pregnancies in England and Wales in 2019, 207,384 were for women resident there (stock image)

'This would ensure we were working together as a society to reduce the tragic number of abortions that happen each year.'

The Life group's director of advocacy Liz Parsons said she was 'shocked but sadly not surprised' to see the increase.

She added: 'At a unique time in our history when we are focusing all our energy on saving lives, we must never forget that abortion results in the loss of a life and last year nearly 210,000 unborn babies lost their lives to abortion.

'With our society raising life up with one hand and taking it away with the other, it is high time that we re-evaluate our priorities and start putting more energy into offering life affirming positive alternatives.'
German Prosecutors Say They Have New Evidence in Madeleine McCann Case, but Not Enough

German prosecutors have said they have evidence that a man jailed for another crime killed British toddler Madeleine McCann 13 years agojust not enough to charge the suspect in court.

Prosecutors last week said that they assumed McCann, who went missing in 2007 while on holiday in Portugal with her family, was dead. She was aged 3 at the time of her disappearance.

The long-running mystery of what happened to the missing toddler has captivated people around the world. German police announced last week that a man jailed in the city of Kiel for an unrelated crime had become a suspect, in a major breakthrough after years of little progress.

The development came after police found a potential link between McCanns disappearance and that of a five-year-old girl named Inga in Germany in 2015.

Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine went missing during a family holiday to Portugal in 2007, attends a news conference at the launch of her book in London, UK, on May 12, 2011. (Chris Helgren/Reuters)

In an interview with CNN Thursday, Braunschweig prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters gave few details on the evidence his office had obtained but said they had findings that showed the 43-year-old male suspect had murdered McCann.

It is actually like thiswe have a specific suspect, we know the name, we have a picture, we know where he is at the moment, namely in custody in Germany, and we actually have findings that suggest that he is Madeleine McCanns murderer, he said.

At the moment, there is insufficient evidence to convict.

Although he did not mention the suspect by name, CNN has confirmed his identity with someone close to the investigation as Christian B. German media has published the same name and photographs identifying him.

Hundreds of clues have emerged in Germany and the UK after a link to the suspect and new details were publicized, Wolters said.

We have a well-founded suspicion, but this suspicion is below the sufficient level we need to actually bring charges to court.

Under German law, a murder case can only be opened if there is enough evidence that would make a conviction more likely than an acquittal, Wolters said.

Friedrich Fuelscher, a lawyer representing the suspect, told CNN Thursday that investigators had not yet approached his client.

On the advice of his defense council he is remaining silent about the accusations, Fuelscher said, adding that he was waiting to get access to the police file from state prosecutors, after which his legal team will further evaluate.

The suspect has also been moved to another cell alone for his own safety, said Oliver Breuer, a spokesman at the justice ministry in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The suspect is highly aware of the international press interest, he said.

We assume Maddie McCann is actually dead

Wolters said that prosecutors have not come across any evidence to suggest McCann was still alive.

Based on the knowledge we have  we assume that Maddie McCann is actually dead, he said, adding there was no reasonable doubt that the girl had died.

Parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann, Kate (L) and Gerry McCann (R) pose with an artists impression of how their daughter might look now at the age of nine ahead of a press conference in central London, UK, on May 2, 2012 five years after Madeleines disappearance while on a family holiday in Portugal. (Leon Neal/AFP/GettyImages)

We of course understand that the parents, at least until the body is found, for example, have the hope that the girl is actually still alive somewhere, but there is actually, from our point of view, no knowledge that would even begin to support that.

He also denied UK media reports that there was evidence suggesting McCann had been killed shortly after her abduction, even though that was most likely the case.

Prosecutors are also almost certain the suspect had committed sex crimes against other people, he said.

We do not know in detail whether this is a matter of British victims or of German or possible other nationalities. But we are very sure that there are more victims, he said.

The suspect had lived in Portugals Algarve region from 1995 to 2007, and also resided in a house in Praia da Luz, the resort town from which McCann disappeared, prosecutors said earlier.

As German prosecutors reported that new evidence had emerged against the suspect, Portuguese prosecutors on Wednesday confirmed the same suspect had two previous convictions in the country, one for disobedience and another for theft, and had served time in prison.

Londons Metropolitan Police last week revealed details of two cars linked to the suspect around the time of the disappearance, and called on the public to step forward with any information about them.

In a statement sent to CNN, the missing girls parents last week thanked the police forces involved for their continued efforts in the search for Madeleine.

All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice. We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know as we need to find peace, they said.

The-CNN-Wire

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It has used the police to make the hostile tranquil, to erase and remove from free society those who expressed sickness coming from a society which poisoned them with persecutions.

This society creates conditions in which extreme, concentrated poverty can exist and then punishes those who react negatively to being condemned to that poverty.

This society doesnt sufficiently care for and insure people, guaranteeing that every person, regardless of station or wealth, has equal access to health care, and then it punishes those who suffer from stress, depression and violent fits of rage because of it.

This society systematically cloisters power  economic, political and cultural  in the hands of an elite few, almost all white, and then bemoans the apathy of those from whom power is withheld.

We need more than performative symbols of solidarity. We need more than narrow, chaste legislation.

Even if either of the police reform bills were passed and signed into law, they would cost the nation nothing and would leave the power structure untouched.

In Martin Luther Kings 1967 book Where Do We Go From Here, he wrote:

The practical cost of change for the nation up to this point has been cheap. The limited reforms have been obtained at bargain rates. There are no expenses, and no taxes are required, for Negroes to share lunch counters, libraries, parks, hotels and other facilities with whites.

What he was seeking, what we were seeking, at that point  quality education, decent, good-paying jobs, fair housing  would actually cost the nation something. That is what real justice looks like: equal access to possibility, success and safety.
Christian author rejects idea that people going to Heaven will forget everything

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Randy Alcorn has objected to the claim of some that when people go to Heaven, they will forget everything about their previous life on earth.

The author of the bestselling 2004 book Heavenpenned a column for Desiring God detailing misconceptions about the afterlife.

In particular, Alcorn took issue with the claim that people who go to Heaven will not remember anything about their former life on earth, labeling it a Hindu, not Christian idea.

You will be you in heaven. Who else would you be? Since well give an account of our lives on earth, we must remain us, and our memories will have to be better, not worse, wrote Alcorn.

Scripture gives no indication of a memory wipe causing us not to recognize family and friends. In fact, if we wouldnt know our loved ones, the comfort of an afterlife reunion, taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:1418, would be no comfort at all.

Alcorn argued that Christs resurrection is our prototype when dealing with how memory will work with entry into Heaven, pointing to Christ identifying Himself to His disciples after death.

He proclaimed, It is I myself (Luke 24:39). When Thomas said, My Lord and my God, he knew he was speaking to the same Jesus hed lived with for years, continued Alcorn.

The question about memory and Heaven was one of a short list of misconceptions that Alcorn hoped to rebut, including the idea that Heaven will not have a culture, that the Bible seldom mentions the topic, and that Heaven will be boring.

God made our taste buds, adrenaline, the nerve endings that convey pleasure to our brains, our imaginations, and our capacity for happiness and excitement, he stated.

We can worship God now by working, painting, playing, reading, writing, and enjoying every other innocent activity. How much more on a new earth where righteousness reigns?

Some within Christianity have argued that when believers enter Heaven they will forget their lives on earth, sometimes citing Revelation 21:4 and its promise to end suffering as evidence.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away, reads the verse.

The apologetics website GotQuestions.org also rejected the claim that people entering Heaven will forget their past lives on earth, recently critiquing the usage of that verse.

The fact that the former things will not come to mind does not mean that our memories will be wiped clean. The prophecy could be suggesting the wondrous quality of our new environment, stated the site.

The new earth will be so spectacular, so mind-blowing, that everyone will quite forget the drudgery and sin of the current earth.
She's the ravishing redhead from Grey's Anatomy who was lucky enough to share on-screen kisses with McDreamy and McSteamy.

But what Kate Walsh is really 'grateful' for was getting 'trapped' in Perth, Western Australia, during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

The 52-year-old, who normally resides in New York City, told the West Australian on Thursday that she feels like she 'left her country in wartime' after visiting Perth for a holiday in March.

Feeling lucky! Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh (pictured) told the West Australian on Thursday that she feels 'grateful' to be 'safe' in Australia after getting trapped in Perth during the coronavirus pandemic and not being able to return to her home in New York

'But I also feel very privileged and grateful to feel so safe,' she said, praising Australia for their handling of the crisis.

Kate has enjoyed her visit so much, she has extended her visa until November and is hoping to set up some projects to work on locally.

'I think its going to be quite a while before production gets up and going in the States and studios will be looking for safe, clean and hospitable places to shoot,' she said.

Looking for work! Kate is enjoying her trip so much, she is hoping to bring some Hollywood projects to the area as she feels it will be 'quite a while before production gets up and going in the States and studios will be looking for safe, clean and hospitable places to shoot' (Pictured with Grey's co-star Patrick Dempsey)

She added: 'Ive fallen in love with this place (Perth)... but its true, its really special and stunning and I think theres a massive opportunity to bring more culture than there already is.'

Last month, Kate celebrated her 15th anniversary since she made her debut as Dr. Addison Montgomery on Grey's Anatomy.

Despite the distance, she gave former co-star Ellen Ellen Pompeo a laugh as she reminisced about the moment online.

Reminiscing: Last month, Kate celebrated her 15th anniversary since she made her debut as Dr. Addison Montgomery on Grey's Anatomy. Despite the distance, she gave former co-star Ellen Ellen Pompeo (left) a laugh as she reminisced about the moment online

'Unreal that today marks 15 years ago to the day since this little lady walked on to your screen and checked ya for screwing her husband,' wrote the Private Practice actress, while tagging Ellen and their co-star Patrick Dempsey.

The clip featured Dr. Derek Shepherd (Dempsey) lovingly helping Dr. Meredith Grey (Pompeo) into her coat, only for his estranged wife Addison to arrive.

Meredith's face falls as soon as she realised Addison shares Derek's last name, but Addison still plunges the knife in.

Surprise! Kate's clip featured Dr. Derek Shepherd (Dempsey) lovingly helping Dr. Meredith Grey (Pompeo) into her coat, only for her character Addison, his estranged wife, to arrive

'And you must be the woman who's screwing my husband,' she says, before the clip cuts to black.

Ellen, 50, quoted the tweeted a few hours later with praise for Kate and the scene.

'@katewalsh thank god I messed with your hubby!! [tears of joy emoji] it worked out well for us both!!!' she wrote.

Watch seasons 1 to 13 of Grey's Anatomy on Stan.
In a surprise announcement, the government of Tamil Nadu has changed the names of over a thousand cities and districts in the state to make their spellings closer to their Tamil pronunciation.

The news came after the order, passed by the Edappadi Palaniswami government on April 1, came into effect on Wednesday after being notified.

Under the new rules, Coimbatore is set to by Koyampuththoor, Mylapore is now Mayilaappor and Vellore is now Veeloor.

Here are some other examples of the phonetic names that the government has given to 1018 places.

VOC Nagar is now Va.OO.Si. Nagar, Puducherry is Puthucherry, Dharmapuri is Tharumapuri.

While the change was clearly brought in to please the Tamil population in the state, many on social media including opposition leaders slammed the move on Twitter.

Sivaganga MP Karti P Chidambaram called it "a totally nonsensical exercise". "Is this a priority now? What will be the cost of repainting all boards, signages etc?" he tweeted. Others felt that, coming in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the timing of the move was not right and would only add to the state's expenditure.

YouTuber Madan Gowri said that while he's "glad" that the names of cities were restored to their original Tamil names, he would be happy if caste pride was also abolished. He wasn't the only one Many took to the hashtag #NameChange to tweet their grievances against the decision.

I'm glad names are changed based on our original city's Tamil Names. I will be happy if caste system is abolished based on our original culture. #namechange Madan Gowri (@madan3) June 11, 2020

Instead of changing names if you remove caste system it will be so much better. #NameChange pic.twitter.com/Mn7ldP08FM Anonymous India (@journalistboii) June 11, 2020

Another Twitter user by the name of "Dusky Tamizhachi" also called the renaming of anglicized names was an "exercise in waste" and "ill-timed".

The renaming of anglicised names into Tamil is another exercise in waste and an ill timed move. If the Govt had wanted only Tamil moves, it should have concentrated on removing use of Sanskrit words from Tamil names & literatures. That would have made Tamil richer and purer. Dusky Tamizhachi (@TamizhRatsaschi) June 11, 2020

Yet others made jokes and memes at the unexpected turn of events.

How many kilometers from Shaennaih to Veelooooorrrr? RadhakrishnanRK (@RKRadhakrishn) June 11, 2020

So then why is it still tamil nadu and not THAMIZH NAADU?#NAMECHANGE pic.twitter.com/V9eluStTej manojnatarajan (@manoj_jonam14) June 11, 2020

#NAMECHANGEAfter seeing the new names of cities in Tamil Nadu.Le North Indians: pic.twitter.com/o1Y0ybZJ0Q Shubham Mohapatra |   (@SM__TWEET) June 11, 2020

This is an actual govt order changing names of places in Tamil Nadu to reflect their exact English pronunciation.Coimbatore is now Koyampuththoor, Vellore is Veeloor, Sholinganallur is Solinganalloor and Mylapore is now Mayilaappoor. https://t.co/GaD1iABUZg Prajwal (@prajwalmanipal) June 11, 2020

Why pa? They just changed English names to Tamil RazoRSharP (@eziind) June 11, 2020

Dedicated to the government of Tamil Nadu that is busy with extremely important engagements like changing names of existing places than be bothered about silly useless things like Covid relief! Viruses come and go! Who cares about a few people dying after all!  pic.twitter.com/1v2R3WosWm  (@veejaysai) June 11, 2020

Is this important now during this pandemic situation...#NAMECHANGE pic.twitter.com/9z4xIWAmud Gowthaman (@GowthamanCSK) June 11, 2020

The move, nevertheless, won the support of many who hailed the Palaiswamy government and welcomed the "move toward decolonisation".

IMK welcomes the move of de-colonisation of English names to Tamil. We thank @mafoikprajan for this permanent change. Thank you sir. pic.twitter.com/SkNkLaVj2V Indu Makkal Katchi ( Official ) (@Indumakalktchi) June 11, 2020

You can't see these English names on boards elsewhere hereafter!Egmore-EZHUMBOORPoonamallee-POOVIRUNTHAVALLIGuindy-GUINDIAdyar-ADAIYAARUMaylapore-MAYILAAPPOORStThomas Mt-PARANGIMALAIErode-ERODUVellore-VELOORCoimbatore-KOYAMPUTHTHOORTuticorin-THOOTHTHUKKUDI#NameChange R K (@radkrishvl) June 11, 2020

The news came even as the state recorded 1,927 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total tally up to nearly 37,000 and 326 deaths. The TN government has ordered an inquiry after reports of nearly 200 COVID-19 deaths in Chennai going unregistered in the state's records.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

For people whose genes put them at risk of becoming obese, exclusive breastfeeding as a baby can help ward off weight gain later in life. Laurent Briollais of Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto and colleagues report these findings in a new study published June 11th in PLOS Genetics.

A growing body of research suggests that babies who consume only breastmilk are less likely to be overweight as children or adults, but the reasons behind this and other benefits of breastfeeding are not well understood. Briollais and colleagues investigated whether the weight-reducing impact of breastmilk can counteract the effects of genetic variations that increase the odds that a person will become obese. The researchers looked at genetic data and the body mass index (BMI) of more than 5,000 children from the ALSPAC study in the UK. In 18-year-old boys whose genes put them in the "high-risk" category for obesity, exclusive breastfeeding until 5 months of age reduced their BMI by 1.14 kg/m2. In girls, the impact was even larger, with a reduction of 1.53 kg/m2. Breastfeeding exclusively until 3 months of age, or a mix of breastmilk and formula, did not cause the same BMI reduction in high-risk individuals.

The World Health Organization recommends that all babies be breastfed exclusively until 6 months of age, but globally, only about 40 percent of babies breastfeed until this age. The new findings reinforce the WHO's recommendation and suggest that a longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding may have the greatest benefits for individuals with a high risk of obesity.

"Obesity is a global problem that is causing a drop in wellness that is straining our health systems," said Dr. Briollais. "Our study shows that while our genes do influence our risk of developing obesity, this predisposition is not irreversible and can be beneficially modified by exclusive breastfeeding."

The authors urge that, from a public health standpoint, breastfeeding should be a priority for babies who are most at risk, to set them on the right path for growth and development and to reduce the risk of obesity-associated diseases as adults.

Explore further Breastfeeding and risks of allergies and asthma

More information: Wu Y, Lye S, Dennis C-L, Briollais L (2020) Exclusive breastfeeding can attenuate body-mass-index increase among genetically susceptible children: A longitudinal study from the ALSPAC cohort. PLoS Genet 16(6): e1008790. Journal information: PLoS Genetics Wu Y, Lye S, Dennis C-L, Briollais L (2020) Exclusive breastfeeding can attenuate body-mass-index increase among genetically susceptible children: A longitudinal study from the ALSPAC cohort.16(6): e1008790. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008790
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:32:52|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong police said on Thursday that between June 9, 2019 and May 31, 2020, a total of 8,986 persons were arrested in the social unrest in Hong Kong.

Among these arrested, 204 persons have had their judicial proceedings completed, of which 166 were convicted, bound over or placed under a care or protection order.

The police reminded the public that all illegal acts come with criminal liabilities and warned people not to break the law.

On Tuesday, a large number of illegal demonstrators gathered in the Central of the Hong Kong Island, shouting and blocking roads. The police arrested 53 people over unlawful assembly and participating in an unauthorized assembly.

"Hong Kong cannot bear such chaos," Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam said on Tuesday, adding that if violent incidents and incidents that challenge the nation's sovereignty, security, development and territorial integrity continue to happen in Hong Kong, the effectiveness of the HKSAR government's work will be greatly reduced.

Lam said that everyone should learn from the experience of the past year. It is the common wish of Hong Kong people to have a stable and peaceful environment.

Frank Chan, the HKSAR government's Secretary for Transport and Housing, said that from June 2019 to May 2020, a large number of traffic lights, railings, CCTV cameras, paving for footpath, litter bins and recyclables collection bins had been damaged, with the repair and replacement costs amounting to 66.25 million Hong Kong dollars (about 8.54 million U.S. dollars). (1 U.S. dollar = 7.75 HK dollars) Enditem
A Texas man was arrested Tuesday in Washington state on a kidnapping warrant out of San Antonio.

Officers found Andres Hernandez, 28, and a 16-year-old victim in Moses Lake, east of Seattle, according to police.

The victim's parents were enroute from San Antonio to pick up the victim Tuesday evening. There is no familial relationship between Hernandez and the victim, police said.

Moses Lake police received information last week that the pair were in the Grant County area. The U.S. Marshals and Washington State Police assisted in the search.

On Monday night, a K9 officer located Hernandez' vehicle in the 1100 block of Grape Drive. Police took Hernandez, who was in possession of a pistol, into custody Tuesday morning. His car was impounded pending a search warrant.

The victim was located nearby and was unharmed, police said.

The Moses Lake Police Department noted that local charges are expected to follow an ongoing investigation into Hernandez' activities in the area.
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Linkedin Fanny Potkin and Gayatri Suroyo (Reuters) Singapore/Jakarta, Indonesia  Thu, June 11, 2020 16:30 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddf0b5b 2 SE Asia ride-hailing-application,ride-hailing-service,Gojek,Grab,Grab-Food,Grab-Bike,Go-Food,coronavirus,coronavirus-effect,COVID-19,COVID-19-lockdown,pandemic Free

Indonesian motorcycle taxi driver Aji chain-smokes and checks his smartphone constantly while waiting for orders by the roadside in downtown Jakarta on a hot June morning, but is staring at the prospect of another fruitless day.

Before the coronavirus outbreak hit, the 35-year-old father of four would ferry at least 20 passengers for a daily income of between $13 and $20 as a driver for homegrown ride-hailing app Gojek.

But when transportation services halted under a city lockdown, Aji considered it a good day if he got more than two food delivery orders, which pay him $0.70 each time. On some days, he has had none. Even with restrictions eased this week, he is struggling to feed his family.

"The situation is that there are many drivers but orders are few," he said, asking to be identified only by his first name.

Eleven drivers for Gojek and Grab, which is backed by SoftBank Group, in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand told Reuters they've similarly struggled, with income slashed by more than half as the pandemic batters Southeast Asia.

And, disappointingly, for both drivers and the companies, an increase in food deliveries - forecast as a major growth area for both firms - has come nowhere near compensating for the losses in transport.

Even in Vietnam, seen as a recovery success story, drivers are reeling.

"The pandemic may cost me and many colleagues our vehicles, which we had bought using borrowed money," said Grab car driver Tung in Hanoi, fearing that lenders may repossess the vehicles.

Unions representing Gojek and larger Singaporean rival Grab, Southeast Asia's most highly valued startup at $14 billion, say thousands of drivers are in the same situation, especially in Indonesia, both firms' largest market.

Core promise

Their plight threatens a core promise of both companies: that they can improve the lives of tens of millions of people across Southeast Asia even as they provide big paydays for their blue-chip corporate and financial investors.

Southeast Asian governments have warned millions could end up jobless as a result of the outbreak.

The two firms told Reuters they are supporting drivers with measures ranging from food packages and vouchers to low-interest bank loans and car rental rebates. But the crisis has also led them to cut the subsidies that have fueled their growth.

Doubts have also crept up about the ride-hailing model globally and on whether investors will continue pumping in massive funds into the startups.

Even before the pandemic, Grab and Gojek - like Uber and Lyft in the United States and other ride-hailing firms around the world - were operating at a steep loss.

Grab co-founder Tan Hooi Ling has warned the company may potentially face a "long winter".

Both companies still have plenty of cash. One source with knowledge of the matter said Grab has $3 billion in reserves. Sources familiar with Gojek's finances said it was finalizing an over $3 billion investment round at a $10 billion valuation; Facebook and Paypal announced investments in Gojek's fintech arm just last week, and it also counts Google and Tencent among its backers.

Each has avoided major layoffs so far, though Grab is implementing voluntary unpaid leave for staff and Gojek is reviewing its services. In the United States, Uber, whose Southeast Asia business was bought by Grab, said it would cut 23% of its workforce. "Transport has fallen off a cliff, food has held steady, while logistics went through the roof and online payments are high... so having a portfolio of products helps," said Gojek Chief Operating Officer Hans Patuwo. "If we were only a transport company, I'd be quite bowled over."

Executives and investors at both firms point to the resurgence of orders at Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing as cause for optimism.

"The rate of recovery will be mostly dependent on when government lockdowns end," said Grab Operations Managing Director Russell Cohen, noting Grab's transport business had previously been profitable in several markets.

The crisis has revived speculation among investors about a merger of the two firms, which sources say has been discussed in early 2020, but not led to serious talks.

Gojek said any reports of a merger are inaccurate. A Grab spokesman declined to comment.

Food delivery

Grab and Gojek have long touted the fast-growing food delivery industry as a big opportunity. But with platforms taking only a 20%-30% commission that is shared with drivers, margins are slim. And growth did not materialize in every market during the lockdowns.

A restaurant chain CEO in Jakarta said food delivery had not picked up in Southeast Asia's largest economy due to people cooking more at home and as most orders traditionally consisted of lunches for office workers, who are now at home.

Aji described food delivery in Indonesia for Gojek as a "fight", with "sometimes 50 drivers for one order", with Grab Vietnam drivers recounting similar experiences.

Even in Thailand, where orders jumped for both Grab and Gojek, profitability remains distant.

According to an April interview with local media by then Grab Thailand chief Tarin Thaniyavarn, food delivery was fast-growing but loss-making during the pandemic, with costs mounting and competition steep.

Tarin said Grab Thailand lost more than $22 million in 2018, while rapid growth led to losses nearly doubling in 2019.

"Imagine last years loss-making business growing rapidly in a short period of time, while the business that used to make profits for us is nearly gone," he said.
We are proud to aid in the effort to reinforce current testing operations. The production of media solutions is a core competency of Gemini Bios.

Gemini Bioproducts, LLC (Gemini Bio), a leading supplier of cell culture solutions and a portfolio company of BelHealth Investment Partners, LLC (BelHealth), today announced the receipt of a federal government contract award to supply critical products in support of the high demand for COVID-19 testing.

Gemini Bio will be supplying reagents in the areas of Viral Transport Media (VTM), Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS), and Saline Solution. Gemini Bio was awarded $3.6 million and remains eligible to supply up to $200 million of products as part of its agreement.

Dale Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of Gemini Bio, stated, We are proud to aid in the effort to reinforce current testing operations. The production of media solutions is a core competency of Gemini Bio. Viral Transport Media is critical to the process of testing for the COVID-19 virus, making it vital to the success of a nationwide testing program. We are pleased to assist in making testing more widely available.

The award is a pivotal piece of Gemini Bios larger dedicated effort to support the containment of COVID-19. To help agencies and labs, Gemini Bio is prioritizing products and services in four key areas: cell culture, viral harvesting and transport, research tools, and analytical instruments.

Cathy Burzik, Executive Chairman of Gemini Bio, added, We are honored to support the national effort to reinforce current testing operations. Gemini Bio is adhering to CDC guidelines in its manufacturing processes. With our newly added capacity through multiple sites, including our state-of-the-art cGMP facility, Gemini Bio is well positioned to fulfill an unmet need in the market.

Gemini Bio is increasing both its domestic production of reagents from its California facility, as well as its manufacturing footprint. Gemini Bio substantially completed the build-out of a new, state-of-the-art cGMP manufacturing facility in West Sacramento, CA. The new facility will enable accelerated growth while accommodating a higher standard of quality among Gemini Bios products to serve the cell and gene therapy market. The cGMP facility, which spans approximately 25,000 square feet, is expected to more than quadruple production capacity and allow Gemini Bio to meet its rapidly growing customer demand.

About Gemini Bio

Founded in 1985, Gemini Bio is a leading provider of cell culture solutions to the scientific community across cell and gene therapy, biotechnology, and academic research as well as offering contract manufacturing. Gemini Bios singular mission is to enhance human life by delivering comprehensive cell culture solutions that enable discovery, development and production of transformational therapies and diagnostics. Our national sales force and international distribution network serves cell culture science worldwide. The Company is based in West Sacramento, California. To learn more, visit us at http://www.gembio.com


The Islamic State group will never again overrun Iraqi territory, Iraq's prime minister vowed Wednesday in an official visit to northern Iraq. The visit by Mustafa al-Kadhimi came amid a recent increase in militant attacks and the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces in a planned drawdown.

One month into office, al-Kadhimi visited the gamut of lives touched by IS rule  from tribal leaders to the internally displaced  to mark the sixth anniversary of the group's onslaught against Iraq. IS controlled a third of the country at the height of its power in 2014. Al-Kadhimi was accompanied by the ministers of housing, migration and displacement, commerce and culture, as well as military officials.

Our visit to Mosul is to send a message to IS: What happened will not be repeated," he told reporters accompanying him.

Al-Kadhimi inspected the iconic al-Nuri Mosque, from where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi first announced the IS caliphate. He was also present to re-open the city's Al-Hurriya Bridge and a museum. A military campaign dislodged IS's territorial hold in Iraq by 2017, but reconstruction efforts have been slow and often upended by local political dynamics.

Al-Kadhimi was inaugurated as premier last month amid a severe economic crisis brought on by low oil prices. Recently, his administration has been dealing with a flare-up in coronavirus cases. The streets of Mosul were empty and shops shuttered due to a curfew aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. The World Bank recently offered to restructure loans earmarked for reconstruction to help the country combat the viral pandemic.

A study released Wednesday by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative found that the two most pressing concerns of Mosul residents were employment and the need to improve security. IS is still capable of launching attacks across a band of territory across northern Iraq.

A recent increase in attacks coincided with the withdrawal of coalition forces in a planned drawdown to consolidate troop presence in Baghdad and Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province. Al-Kadhimi also met with local officials and lambasted past corruption and mismanagement that led to the rise of IS.
Members of North Korean defector groups handle giant balloons containing anti-Pyongyang leaflets as they are about to send them up in the air from Paju, Gyeonggi Province, June 4. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



The unification ministry is still reviewing details in preparation to file a complaint with police against two North Korean defector groups for sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, a ministry official said.



On Wednesday, the unification ministry said it will file a complaint against two defector groups, Fighters for Free North Korea and Keunsaem, for violating the inter-Korean exchange and cooperation act that bans sending goods to North Korea without government permission.



The ministry also said it will take action to revoke business permits granted to the groups.



The decision came two days after the North vowed to cut off all inter-Korean communication lines over such leafleting.






The owner of a German-themed restaurant has been murdered and hacked 'into pieces' by a machete-wielding robber in South Africa.

Eduard Neumeister, 67, who was born in Austria, was hit with 'dozens of blows' from a bush knife at his property in Balgowan, 70 miles outside Durban.

The frenzied attack happened as Eduard - known locally as Edi - went to feed his dogs and prepare for breakfast at the Bratwurst Sausage Restaurant and B&B that he ran with partner Margit Riebler, 62.

Murdered restaurant owner Eduard Neumeister, 67, was hacked to death in front of his partner Margit Riebler (right) at their German-themed restaurant in South Africa

As Eduard went outside he was struck with such force by a man wearing a balaclava that he was knocked to the ground.

His devastated partner Margit told police Eduard bravely fought for his life before tragically collapsing in a pool of his own blood.

Bloodied footprints and a splattered trail were left in the kitchen as Eduard desperately tried to save his partner's life

Thinking Eduard was dead, the attacker ambushed the restaurant kitchen, where he began strangling Margit and threatened: 'Give me all the money or die.'

At this point Eduard staggered through the door, despite his severe injuries, as he desperately tried to help Margit and begged the attacker to leave her alone.

But the man launched a second attack on Eduard with such such ferocity that he was hacked beyond recognition.

Paramedics and police officers said they had never seen such horrific injuries to a person and revealed Eduard was cut 'into pieces'.

As the murderer continued to hack Eduard's body on the kitchen floor, Margit fled to the main road and flagged down car.

She was driven to a nearby boarding school and called emergency services, but the murderer fled the scene before police arrived, and no arrests have been made.

Paramedics and police officers said they had never seen such horrific injuries to a person and revealed Eduard was cut 'into pieces'

Eduard, above, stands with his German sausage stall at an outdoor market in South Africa. He had opened his German-themed restaurant and B&B business in 2010 with partner Margit

Last night Eduard's daughter Sylvia, 38, fought back tears at her Cape Town home and said her father stood little chance of surviving the frenzied attack.

'Dad was hit from behind with a machete outside and it must have hit an artery as there was so much blood.

'Edi had gone out to feed our rottweilers who are just so soft that they barked and ran away when this man attacked, and we think to be there at that time he must have been lying in wait for him.

'We don't know how he got past the electric fence and inside the main compound area but it would seem he knew my dad always fed the dogs at about 7.30am and he was waiting for him.'

A pool of Eduard's blood is seen on the steps into the restaurant where he managed to get up in a bid to save his partner's life as the attacker strangled her

'Dad went down on the ground as you can see from all the bloodstains by the workshop but shouted a warning to Margit, but the black guy went inside then had his hands around her throat.'

She said that when her father heard Margit being attacked 'he managed to get up and he tried to distract the burglar so that he could save her'.

Sylvia, who works as a waitress, revealed her father's injuries were 'too gruesome for anyone to even try and identify him because it was just impossible to tell who he was'.

She said so much of her father's body had been attacked that 'there was nothing left to put in a coffin'.

Describing the killing as 'plain brutal', Sylvia added: 'Our dad was a funny man with a wicked sense of humour who made people laugh.

'He did not harm anyone and was kind to everyone so he did not deserve this. His family had all helped him since 2010 build up his business and our blood, sweat and tears went into that.

'Edi was a happy man who led a good life but thanks to this animal it was all over in an instant.

'It is time this country woke up to what is happening on the farms and smallholdings because what happened here is just not right.'

Police tape protects the crime scene at the Bratwurst Sausage Restaurant and B&B. Authorities believe the motive for the attack was robbery, but the attacker - who remains at large - did not steal anything from safes

Sylvia said that although her father had several safes containing cash and valuables nothing appeared to have been stolen, despite authorities believing robbery was the motive for the attack.

She said: 'Perhaps when Margit ran and got away the killer just panicked and made a run for it'.

Margit, a mother-of-two originally from Berlin, was too distraught to talk as she moved belongings out the property.

Eduard's son Tommy, a sommelier from Weinheim in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, said he spoke with his father on the phone each week and would often visit with his wife and three-year-old son Elijah.

He said: 'Edi and I had talked about farm attacks in South Africa but he never thought it would happen to him and he had upped security with two dogs and an electric fence and he felt he was safe.

Daughter Sylvia, above, revealed her father's injuries were 'too gruesome for anyone to even try and identify him because it was just impossible to tell who he was'

'Killings like this need to stop right now and I don't want anyone else going through what we are going through and more has to be done to keep farmers and those on these smallholdings safe.

'Edi was a proud father and grandfather and I feel a part of me has been ripped out. I could not believe that on Sunday instead of chatting to him as usual I was dealing with his death' he said.

Authorities have secured the property which is being patrolled and lived in by security guards.

KZN Province Premier Sihle Zikalala condemned the murder and said: 'Violent crime will not be tolerated and those who commit such acts will be dealt with harshly.

'We must ensure that the safety of those in our rural farming communities is prioritised'.

Chris Pappas, the opposition party Democratic Alliance KZN spokesperson, said they had constantly called for rural communities to be better protected.

Eduard, pictured above with his family, was described as 'one of the most loving members of our community'

He said: 'There has to be direct subsidising for security initiatives such as farm patrols and farm watches and the utilisation of technology such as CCTV and drones in hot spot areas.

'We need the introduction and support of rural policing units that work with local crime prevention initiatives and the establishment of a provincial rural safety directorate' he said.

South African Police Service spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala Mr Neumeister confirmed no arrests had yet been made.

Democratic Alliance local councillor Sandile Mnikati said: 'I had met Mr Neumeister a few times when I went to his establishment and he was a gentle and loving man.

'The brutal killing of one of the most loving members of our community is a tragedy and his loss to criminals in such a merciless manner will leave a scar for years to come on our community'.

Eduard's son Tommy, pictured about with his father and sister, said: 'Killings like this need to stop right now and I don't want anyone else going through what we are going through and more has to be done to keep farmers and those on these smallholdings safe'

Eduard, originally from Salzburg in Austria, moved to South Africa in the 1970s where he met and married his first wife in 1980.

The marriage broke down in 1994 and Eduard later found new love with Margit before the pair launched their B&B business in 2010.

Daughter Sylvia said: 'Dad basically offered a traditional bit of Germany up in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal and his sausage dishes and German beer went down very very well with the tourists.

Eduard is pictured with his son Tommy (left) and three-year-old grandson Elijah. Tommy said: 'Edi was a proud father and grandfather and I feel a part of me has been ripped out. I could not believe that on Sunday instead of chatting to him as usual I was dealing with his death.'

Three-year-old grandson Elijah is pictured on a tractor with Eduard during a visit to South Africa

The entrance to the restaurant where Eduard was murdered is now shuttered off as authorities conduct investigations into his murder

'He also had a strong following of German locals with lots of passers-by mixed in and he became very well known locally and he loved nothing more than enjoying a few beers and a laugh.

'The business was really taking off with the bed and breakfast side looking good for the future but then Covid-19 came along and he and Margit had to close their doors and then this happens.

'My brother and I are devastated that something so dreadful could happen to our father and sadly know I think this is the end of his dream and I cannot see the restaurant ever reopening.

'We just hope they catch the person responsible for his horrific murder and that anyone else who has had any involvement in setting it up in any way or shape or form is also caught' she said.

There were 21,000 murders in South Africa in 2019 - an average of 58 a day.
New Delhi: Veteran actor Shakti Kapoor, known in the movie business for his perfect comic timings other than the villainous roles he played in early phase of his career is now an avid social media user. His hilarious posts often bring a smile on fans' faces and this latest video will surely tickle your funnybones.

Shakti Kapoor shared a video on his Instagram where he's seen carrying a trash bin on his head and walking towards the society gate to buy liquor. Watch it here:

He is quite active on the social media platform and often shares interesting videos and pictures.

Shakti Kapoor has starred in over 700 movies in his illustrious career so far. He got married to Shivangi Kolhapure and the couple has two children - Siddhanth and Shraddha Kapoor - both are actors.

The veteran actor was also seen in popular reality show 'Bigg Boss season 5'.
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It wasn't Deon Jones's fractured cheekbone or even his concussion that most worried Dr. Amir Moarefi. He was most concerned that Jones could go blind.

"He sustained a rubber bullet direct injury to the cheek, which broke his zygomatic bone, which is your cheekbone, literally about an inch and a half from his eye and about another inch and a half from his temple," Moarefi said.

The horrific death of George Floyd led to a national wave of protests against police brutality and racism. Law enforcement's attempts to control impassioned, mostly peaceful crowds have included the use of 'less-than-lethal' weapons such as tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. But depending on where a person is hit, Moarefi said, those tactics can cause serious long-term injuries. (They can even kill people.)

Jones was hit with a rubber bullet during a protest at Pan Pacific Park in L.A. on May 30. He managed to get to the emergency room at Cedars Sinai Hospital with the help of a health care worker who was also protesting.

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The x-rays confirmed he had facial fractures and doctors recommended he follow up with an ophthalmologist to make sure his optic nerve hadn't been damaged by the impact.

"I had bruising under my eye and it was puffy," Jones said, "and I don't currently have health insurance."

He wasn't sure how he'd get the specialist care he needed until a friend told him about a local doctor who offered to treat injured protesters, especially those without health insurance.

"I called him, then went in and I filled out some paperwork," Jones said. "I remember the girl saying, 'your visit today will be free' and I thought about how many people need to hear that."

INSTAGRAM MEDICINE

Jones is one of the hundreds of people who have contacted Moarefi for medical help after the Long Beach ophthalmologist posted his offer on Instagram.

"I started to get the messages coming in and first it started off with a lot of virtual consults, a lot of messages, pictures, FaceTime chats," Moarefi said.

It quickly snowballed. His Instagram post was shared among protest groups all over the country.

"I've seen broken ankles, broken hands, broken fingers, welts all over the body. I've seen people who have sustained really bad tear gas injuries, where their entire face broke out into these nasty hives, including their eyes. Pepper spray, I've seen really bad cases. You could just see visible swelling of their eyeball," Moarefi said.

Dr. Amir Moarefi received thousands of messages and pictures like this one from injured protestors asking for medical advice. (Jackie Fortier/LAist)

In between his regularly scheduled surgeries, Moarefi checks his phone for new requests. To treat protesters in other states, he's formed a loose network of doctors he knows from medical school and conferences. Mostly he gives people medical advice via text.

Even though clashes with the police have largely died down, some protesters have festering wounds from days-old injuries.

"You get that adrenalin where you feel like you're okay. But then later when you go home, you may be doing more harm than good," Moarefi said.

USING HEALING TO PROTEST

Treating protesters is the ophthalmologist's own mode of protest against racial injustice and a health care system that he said doesn't treat people of color equally.

"The feeling of injustice is what this is all about. And this is just more little bits of injustice that people are feeling if they're peacefully protesting, and they're getting hurt," Moarefi said.

The large number of reported injuries during the protests, including among KPCC/LAist reporters, has led to demands for law enforcement to stop using less-lethal weapons at mass gatherings.

A coalition of community activists and civil rights lawyers called on the L.A. Police Commission to ban their use against protesters. A spokesperson for LAPD declined to comment on the demands.

In a statement, the LAPD said it's looking into allegations of misconduct and use of excessive force against protesters. The department said it's assigned 40 investigators to the task, and reported a total of 56 complaint investigations, 28 of which involve alleged uses of force.

If there are more demonstrations in L.A. this weekend, Moarefi and a group of 11 doctors, nurses and EMT's plan to take medical kits and treat people right on the street.

"When I put my head down and I got my pillow at night, I want to know that I've done everything that I can to help support a cause that I believe in," he said.
When the White House announced recently that it would be pulling nearly 9,500 U.S. troops from Germany, reducing by more than one-quarter our troop presence there, the move caught most everyone off guard. Including, as it turned out, Germany.

Officials said the move had been planned since last fall. Well, maybe. But this White House long ago lost nearly all credibility, and the reasons given for various actions are often far removed from reality.

One might reasonably wonder if President Donald Trumps move was a reaction to German Chancellor Angela Merkels decision not to attend a meeting of the G7 that Trump had been itching to hold, in person, after the scheduled gathering of the leaders of the worlds richest economies was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Though the White House's official line is that the two are not connected, anyone who has watched this president's personalization of nearly any and every act would need to wonder.

We have troops in Germany as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance that has helped to maintain the peace for more than 70 years. But Trump has long professed problems with the alliance. Because, he says, not all members have been paying their fair share.

Though this could be true, at least to a degree, it's also possible that Trump has other reasons for being so anti-NATO. Maybe his affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who'd love nothing more than to see NATO denuded, has encouraged the reality TV star-president's antipathy toward the 30-nation alliance.

How foolish is Trump's move to cut our troop presence in Germany? Even Republicans in the House, a usually sycophantic group that will go along with anything Trump wishes, woke up and took notice.

Imagine.

A letter, signed by 22 GOP members of the House Armed Services Committee, says: "We believe that such steps would significantly damage U.S. national security as well as strengthen the position of Russia to our detriment."

One of the signatories was Rep Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and the third-ranking member of GOP leadership in the House. In other words, she's no one's idea of an anti-Trump leftie.

She signed, as did the others, because pulling our troops from Germany is, plain and simple, an undeniably bad idea.
A retired judge urged a federal court on Wednesday not to allow the Justice Department to dismiss its criminal case against President Donald Trumps former adviser Michael Flynn, citing evidence of a gross abuse of prosecutorial power.

The US district judge hearing the case, Emmet Sullivan, tapped John Gleeson last month to serve as a friend of the court, after the Justice Department abruptly asked the court to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general.

The stunning move by the Justice Department followed a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies and came even though Flynn had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with former Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.

The Department of Justice has a solemn responsibility to prosecute this case  like every other case  without fear or favor, Gleeson wrote. It has abdicated that responsibility through a gross abuse of prosecutorial power, attempting to provide special treatment to a favored friend and political ally of the President of the United States.

He said Sullivan should proceed with sentencing Flynn.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment beyond what the government has already argued in court filings.

Flynn was one of several former Trump aides charged under former Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation that detailed Moscows interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Gleeson said there was ample evidence in the record that Flynn committed perjury, or lied under oath.

He recommended that Sullivan take Flynns perjury into account when sentencing him for lying to the FBI, rather than commencing a follow-on prosecution.

Despite admitting twice under oath to lying to the FBI and agreeing to cooperate, Flynn later changed legal tactics and his attorneys now allege the FBI entrapped him.

The Justice Department now says the FBI investigation that led to the charge lacked an adequate legal basis and that Flynns statements, even if untrue, were not material.

The reasons offered by the government are so irregular, and so obviously pretextual, that they are deficient, Gleeson wrote in response. They reveal an unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President Trump.

Gleeson highlighted the conversations that Flynn had with Kislyak that led to the false-statement charge, and compared them against how Flynn portrayed them during his January 2017 FBI interview.

A transcript showed Flynn telling Kislyak he wanted to avoid a tit for tat over sanctions the United States imposed on Russia for its interference in the 2016 election.

Flynn has also asked an appeals court to force Sullivan to accept the request to drop the case. Arguments in that case are set for Friday.

This Court must stop him (Sullivan) before he further jeopardizes the legitimacy of the federal judiciary, Flynn told the appeals court in a court filing on Wednesday.

Sullivan has said he cannot serve as a rubber stamp and must carefully review the facts in this unprecedented request.
Markets ended in green on Wednesday with the NSE Nifty closing above 10,100 level.

The BSE Sensex rose 290.36 points or 0.86 percent to 34,247.05 while the NSE Nifty rose 69.50 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 10,116.15.

Here are Stocks in focus on June 11, 2020

Pharma companies

A group of attorneys general from U.S. states and territories sued 26 manufacturers of dermatology drugs on Wednesday, accusing them of price fixing and other violations of antitrust law, the third such lawsuit since 2016.

Mahanagar Gas (MGL)

MGL reported a 10.5% quarter-on-quarter decline in profit to Rs 166.6 crore in the March quarter ending March 31, 2020.

Shriram Transport

The company on Wednesday announced Q4 results reporting a 70% year-on-year decline in standalone profit to Rs 223.4 crore.

Indian Hotels Company

Tata group hospitality arm Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) on Wednesday reported a 37.75 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 76.29 crore for the March quarter, hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 122.56 crore for the corresponding period?of the previous fiscal, IHCL said in a filing to the BSE.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he wants to remove all references to Confederate General Robert E. Lee as part of the Big Apple's plan to dismantle institutionalized racism.

He said in a Thursday press conference that 'nothing should be named after Robert E. Lee' and 'everything named after him in this city has to go' after a caller asked for his thoughts on General Lee Avenue near Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn.

During the live briefing, Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson revealed in a heartfelt speech to a caller that having monuments and locations named after the racist Civil War general made it very difficult for African Americans to feel welcome in their own country.

'My father's family, the Thompsons, both sides were enslaved on the plantation of Robert E. Lee's father and one of my ancestors is named Sarah Lee,' Thompson explained.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a Thursday press conference that 'nothing should be named after Robert E. Lee' and 'everything named after him in this city has to go'

Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson, who is a descendant Robert E. Lee's slaves, said that having monuments and locations named after the racist Civil War general made it very difficult for African Americans to feel welcome in their own country

The mayor has vowed to look into whether a street name, requested to be removed in 2017 after the Unite the Right rally tragedy, still existed in Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton. He will 'appeal to the military immediately' after they refused to remove it three years ago

'This is an emotional issue for many people like me.' Thompson added. 'It is really hard for us to feel fully part of this country that celebrates our enslavement like that military bases all across this country are.'

He finished in a somber tone: 'I just want to say that.'

The city officials spoke after a caller said although signs referencing Robert E. Lee were taken down following the tragic events of the 2017 Unite the Right white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, General Lee Avenue in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn has not officially be renamed.

At the St. John's Episcopal Church in Fort Hamilton, which had closed in 2014, plaques came down from a maple tree planted by Robert E. Lee in 1840.

However General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive (another Confederate General) remain because the area of the military base is not affected by city laws.

Despite requests from Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the Army's deputy assistant chief of staff, Diane Randon, responded to a letter: 'After over a century, any effort to rename memorializations on Fort Hamilton would be controversial and divisive.

'This is contrary to the Nation's original intent in naming these streets, which was the spirit of reconciliation.'

At the St. John's Episcopal Church in Fort Hamilton, which had closed in 2014, plaques came down from a maple tree planted by Robert E. Lee in 1840 upon request in 2017

The mayor admitted Thursday he doesn't know whether the street name still exists but the city will 'appeal to the military immediately'.

'I hope everyone just took in the fullness of what the deputy mayor just said. I have known him for 30 years. More and more people are finding exactly where their ancestors were enslaved,' de Blasio continued.

De Blasio said Robert E. Lee (pictured), who used military might to try to protect enslavement and bring harm to other human beings, 'should be taken off everything in America, period'

'I just want to say to those whose ancestors were not enslaved, imagine what that has done to families in this country. American families that went through that trauma and that trauma is felt to this very day and this very hour.

He was strongly against the notion that armed forces and anywhere in America would 'elevate a man who used military might to try to protect enslavement and bring harm to other human beings' and said the name 'should be taken off everything in America, period'.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam last week ordered the removal of a Robert E. Lee monument, but a judge on Monday blocked such action for at least 10 days.

The spokesman for the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, B. Frank Earnest, condemned the toppling of 'public works of art' and likened losing the Confederate statues to losing a family member.

'The men who served under Robert E. Lee were my great-grandfathers or their brothers and their cousins. So it is my family,' he said. 'What if a crowd of any other group went and found the symbols of someone they didn't like and decided to tear them down? Everybody would be appalled.'

He added: 'But I dont know why it's acceptable, why people who are descended from the Confederate Army and the Confederate soldiers, its accepted in this country that you can do anything to us you want.'
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

Trend:

The Turkish, Hungarian, Kazakh and Russian airlines are willing to resume the flights to Azerbaijan, Director of the State Civil Aviation Agency under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Arif Mammadov said.

Mammadov made the remark in Baku at a briefing of the Operational Headquarters under the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers, Trend reports on June 11.

The number of coronavirus infected people has recently increased, the director of the State Civil Aviation Agency added. During the flight, people are in confined spaces for a long time. Moreover, an airplane flies over the territory of several countries and lands in other country. The developed rules are aimed at protecting the health of passengers.

The rules have been also designed taking into account the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization and other organizations, Mammadov added. The temporary rules have been developed in accordance with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization as of May 27. We have already received the information that the Cabinet of Ministers has approved these rules."
LONDON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ocorian, a global leader in corporate and fiduciary services, fund administration and capital markets, is hosting an online debate on Thursday 18 June to discuss the adaptability and resilience of global capital markets following the world's lockdown. In this live video webinar, Todd Buchholz, renowned economist and former White House advisor, will join Ocorian's Regional Head of Americas and Global Capital Markets Service Line Leader, James Maitland as well as Sonal Patel, Managing Director, Head of Sales - Americas at Ocorian.

The panellists will discuss the global economic outlook and how regions are responding to the pandemic, while looking ahead to recovery and identifying segments for growth. They will also focus on the global capital market outlook including changes in merger and acquisition activity and consider if distressed debt is a threat or opportunity. There will be discussion on the path forward with stimulus packages, technical innovation and the digital divide.

To register for the webinar, which takes place on Thursday 18 June at 11.00 am EST / 4.00 pm BST, please visit https://www.ocorian.com/event/webinar-global-capital-markets-and-economic-outlook-todd-buchholz

As a frequent commentator on the state of the markets, Todd Buchholz brings his experience as a former White House director of economic policy; a managing director of the highly successful Tiger hedge fund and a Harvard economics teacher to the cutting edge of economics, fiscal politics, finance and business strategy. Todd Buchholz is a frequent guest on ABC News, PBS, and CBS; he recently hosted his own special on CNBC and has debated such luminaries in the field as Lester Thurow and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz.

James Maitland, Regional Head of Americas at Ocorian, said "The speed we are seeing key players in the market respond to the changing landscape whilst remaining true to their core investment ethos is impressive. I am looking forward to discussing the global economic outlook as well as the opportunities for Capital Markets with Todd Buchholz who is such a preeminent economist."

Ocorian is the seventh-largest corporate, funds and trust player in the world by revenue, managing over 17,000 structures on behalf of more than 8,000 clients. Ocorian provides fully compliant, tailored solutions that are individual to clients' needs, no matter where in the world they hold financial interests, or however they are structured.

About Ocorian

Ocorian is a global leader in corporate and fiduciary services, fund administration and capital markets. It has US$260bn in assets under administration and employs 1,250 professionals.

Supporting and protecting global investment is Ocorian's priority; it manages over 17,000 structures on behalf of 8,000 clients including financial institutions, large-scale international organisations and high-net-worth individuals.

Ocorian provides fully compliant, tailored solutions that are individual to clients' needs, no matter where in the world they hold financial interests, or however they are structured.

The group offers a full suite of corporate, fund and private client services across a network of 20 offices spanning all the world's financial hubs. Locations include Bermuda, BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Netherlands, Singapore, UAE and the UK, as well as a representative office in the US.

To find out more about Ocorian and its services, including regulatory information, visit www.ocorian.com
Screenshots of the Social Rhythms iOS app. Credit: Social Rhythms

Almost overnight, the sleep and wake patterns of nearly four billion people may have changed because of COVID-19-spurred lockdowns.

A free app built by University of Michigan researchers will help users understand their own sleep rhythms, shedding light on how their biological clock is responding to lockdowns, and give tips about how to shift their potentially disrupted rhythms to a more appropriate time.

The data generated by the app could also give scientists an unprecedented opportunity to examine disruption in circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are internal clocks in our cells that regulate when we sleep, when we wake, when we eat and even our digestion. If these clocks are disrupted, a cascade of ill effects may occur, including a weakened immune system.

The new Social Rhythms iOS app assesses how a person's circadian rhythm changed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The app allows users to understand how their own body clocks have been impacted and provide researchers with anonymized data to study the impact of disrupted circadian rhythms on a person's health.

"During social distancing, lockdown or quarantine, many of the key signals which tell our body what time it is, such as access to outdoor light, are blocked. Additionally, many signals which confuse our internal clocks, such as light from screens, have skyrocketed," said Daniel Forger, U-M professor of mathematics.

"Some adults may also have their circadian timekeeping disrupted while caring for other individualsyoung childrenwhose biological clocks run very differently."

Others may benefit from the crisis, such as individuals who no longer have to work night shifts.

"In short, many of us may be experiencing circadian disruption which could lead to fatigue, mood changes, changes in sleep patterns and decreased immune function," said Forger, also a professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics and faculty affiliate at the Michigan Institute for Data Science at U-M.

The app analyzes an individual's circadian rhythms before and after social distancing. Users answer simple demographic questions, then upload data from their phones, Apple Watches, MiBands or FitBits.

Algorithms on the group's servers analyze the data, which then is used to generate a report for the user. The report uses straightforward graphics to show the user whether his or her biological timekeeping has shifted earlier or later. It also can point to other potential concerns about circadian timekeeping, such as whether the individual's rhythms are becoming more irregular or if there is a disconnect between timekeeping between different parts of the body.

"What also is very unhealthy is some people are going to bed at 2 a.m. one day and then 8 p.m. the next day and midnight the next day," Forger said. "You'll be notified if your rhythm becomes more irregular or if it shifts later."

The app will help the U-M researchers build a vast database of information about circadian rhythms. The data will be stripped of identifying information, but will allow the researchers to study how this kind of disruption impacts a person's health and compare an individual's health as a consequence of circadian rhythm shifts. Participants can delete their data at any time.

Forger and his group, in collaboration with Chris Stockbridge of the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Information Technology, were originally developing this app to study major life events such as having a baby or beginning work on a night shift. But then, the coronavirus crisis happened.

"It presented the biggest global change in circadian rhythms of our lifetime," Forger said.

Explore further Study: Bmal1 gene might not be an essential regulator of circadian rhythms

More information: Social Rhythms iOS app: Social Rhythms iOS app: apps.apple.com/us/app/social-rhythms/id1510826025
by Sumon Corraya

Patients who were not tested for the coronavirus are not being admitted. For health authorities, there is no shortage of beds. and people turned away should file a complaint. Some VIPs have reserved beds during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  Many hospitals are turning away sick people on the pretext that they have not been tested for the coronavirus. Ruben Gomes was one of them.

The 75-year-old Catholic man fell ill in early June. His relatives took him to four Dhaka hospitals; all refused to admit him.

After going home to his village of Tumilia (Gazipur district) untreated, he died showing the symptoms of COVID-19. Subsequent tests confirmed the diagnosis.

For his relatives, Ruben would still be alive had he been hospitalised. His death is due to the negligence of the medical staff that turned him away.

Nymur Rahman, a Muslim from Dhaka, was luckier. He had fever, sore throat and cough. He was turned away from two hospitals in the capital because he had not been tested for COVID-19. His family treated him at home after buying a ventilator.

According to health authorities, people are not being turned away because of a shortage of beds or hospital facilities.

Dr Ayeshya Akter, assistant director at the Department of Health, points out that Bangladesh has 654 state-run hospitals with some 60,000 beds, plus 5,050 private hospitals with 100,00 beds.

What is more, Hospitals cannot turn away patients, Dr Akter explained. People who come to a healthcare facility and are turned away should file a complaint with the authorities so that legal action can be taken.

Bangladeshi pathologists note that the country has 447 intensive care units, 218 in the capital alone. Only ten per cent of people infected with the coronavirus need hospitalisation. Every day, around 700 infected people get better and go home.

According to the latest data, almost 79,000 cases have been reported with 1,012 deaths. Some 5,000 people are in hospital and 15,900 have recovered.

For several observers, the problem of hospital beds could be due to corruption. Dr Aminul Hasan, a director at the Directorate General of Health Services, suggests that many influential people have managed to reserve beds during the pandemic, thus reducing availability for those who really need it.
Sternenko says there are several expert opinions on the knife that establish it is not a bladed weapon.

Odesa-based activist Serhiy Sternenko has been charged with homicide and illegal possession of a blade weapon.

"I was charged under Part 1 of Article 115 and Part 2 of Article 263  homicide and 'illegal' possession of a bladed weapon. Despite the fact that there was no murder, but self-defense, which the investigator himself had previously admitted when pressing charges against my attackers, there are several expert opinions on the knife stating it is not a bladed weapon," he wrote on Telegram.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Sternenko said the SBU security service of Ukraine was ready to press homicide charges against him over the death of Ivan Kuznetsov, a person identified as one of the attackers who assaulted him in 2018.

Sternenko earlier claimed he stabbed the man with the knife he managed to grab from the attackers who initially used it against him.

Read alsoOdesa activist to be charged with homicide in what he claims was self-defense

The assault was the third one over the course of the same year, all of which Sternenko claimed were attempts on his life.

At the same time, as earlier reported by Ukrainian media, the attack on Sternenko, which turned out to be fatal for one of the two perpetrators, was qualified as "hooliganism, committed with the use of weapons or another item adjusted for inflicting bodily injuries."

The high-profile case has sparked public debate in Ukraine on whether Sternenko's actions were justified and whether the attacks on the anti-corruption activist were being properly investigated as well.
Contributing about one-fourth of the country's GDP and about one-third of foreign trade and investment, the Yangtze River Delta region in east China is a land of opportunity for investors and enterprises from all around the world. Covering a 358,000-square-km expanse, about the size of Germany, the region consists of Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui with a total population of about 220 million. Hot destination for foreign investment Despite the impact of COVID-19, foreign enterprises are ramping up investment in the region. With 892 newly approved foreign-invested projects from January to April, Jiangsu Province led the country in the actual use of foreign capital with 10.37 billion U.S. dollars posted in the period, up 5.7 percent year on year. The figures in Shanghai and Zhejiang reached 6.46 billion U.S. dollars and 4.96 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. German carmaker Volkswagen has announced plans to invest 2.1 billion euros (about 2.3 billion U.S. dollars) in China to develop its electric vehicle business in the country. With an investment of 1 billion euros, Volkswagen will acquire 50 percent of JAG, the parent company of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp., Ltd. (JAC Motors), and increase its stake in JAC Volkswagen to 75 percent, according to the agreement signed in Beijing on May 29. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG, said the company, together with strong and reliable partners, is strengthening its electrification strategy in China. Its electric car business is growing rapidly and offers a great deal of potential for JAC Volkswagen. By opening its market, China is offering Volkswagen new business opportunities, said Stephan Wollenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Group China. China's huge market and the Chinese government's quick and effective actions during the COVID-19 epidemic gave foreign investors confidence, said Sugimoto Takayuki, general manager of Nidec Shibaura (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd., who has been working in China for two years. "The region has unique advantages in attracting foreign investment," said Wen Jianning, associate professor of Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance. Attractive business environment "Hangzhou and Shanghai are very flexible cities. Not only citizens are flexible, policymakers here are also open-minded, providing as much convenience for local companies and foreign investors as possible," said Lauri Tammi, a Finnish entrepreneur. Tammi has lived in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang, for eight years, offering policy advice to entrepreneurs from Finland and other countries. Now his business has expanded to Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing and other cities in the region. Local governments in the cities learn from each other and compete to provide enterprises with good services and a high-quality business environment, he said. Last week, government officials in the region gathered at a conference in the city of Huzhou in Zhejiang, to mark the first anniversary of the implementation of the integrated regional development of the Yangtze River Delta. Xia Xingxing, a technical engineer of Alipay, China's mobile payment giant, has been working on a "shared metro pass" program in dozens of cities in the region, using digital power to accelerate regional integration. "By using blockchain and other digital technologies, we solved the problem of cross-regional settlement and information exchange. Now citizens in 10 cities can use a QR code to commute in the region," Xia said. Apart from the program, the region's integration also covers government services, transportation, medicare, environmental protection and other fields. Last Friday, groundbreaking ceremonies for a high-speed railway were held simultaneously in several cities in the Yangtze River Delta region. The 163-km railway track, allowing trains to travel at up to 350 km per hour, will open a new route connecting Shanghai with neighboring cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. It is expected to serve as a new transportation artery in the city cluster. More than 10 railway projects are planned to be opened and started in the region this year, with the annual investment exceeding 80 billion yuan (about 11.3 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for nearly one-sixth of the total investment in China's railway system. "The integrated and coordinated development of the region has cultivated not only a complete high-tech industrial chain, but also a large number of high-quality technical workers. All are conducive to attracting foreign investment in manufacturing and research and development," said Wen. "This region has a unique advantage," Wen said.


Lieutenant Governor directed Chief Secretary, Delhi government to ensure all hospitals, clinics, nursing homes display availability of beds on LED boards outside their establishments, at the entry point.

The availability of beds, both COVID and non-COVID, and the charges for the same, including those for rooms or beds and details of the contact person for admission, should also be out on display, added Baijal.

Earlier yesterday, Baijal had said that he was forced to strike down the order of the Arvind Kejriwal government, reserving hospitals in the national capital for city residents, as it violated the constitutional right to equality and right to life, which includes right to

Speaking to ANI, Baijal said, "The order violated constitutional right to equality and right to life which includes right to Earlier also, a similar order of Delhi government was struck down by the High Court on the ground that no citizen of India can be discriminated on the grounds of the residence."

The reversal of the AAP government circular reserving COVID-19 hospitals for Delhi residents has become a flashpoint between the LG and Delhi government.

However, the LG emphasised that during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary that all government agencies work together.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ninety-nine years ago in Tulsa, Okla., white mobs torched the black side of town and killed as many as 300 residents, with the tacit support of some in law enforcement, in one of the worst spasms of racial violence in American history. Last month in Minneapolis, George Floyd died after a police officer pressed his knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes, just days ahead of the May 31-June 1 anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Those two episodes bookend nearly a century in which civil rights progress has been fitful, hard-fought and unfinished. Across 10 decades, from Tulsa to today - against a backdrop of lynching and cross burning, more recently replaced by police chokeholds and vigilante gunshots, amid the subtler violence of systemic racism - voices have been raised in protest and defiance.

Words spoken in times of uplift or assault, hope or despair, can crystallize a moment or a movement: I have a dream. . . . Black Power. . . . I can't breathe. Black Lives Matter. The voices collected here elaborate and extend the mantras, such as Langston Hughes versifying his insistence that America live up to its myth, and James Baldwin defining protest as a duty.

But how many other voices have been lost? For a long time the Tulsa massacre was barely mentioned in history books. The account of eyewitness B.C. Franklin quoted here surfaced only in 2015. Today it's harder for people and events to be ignored because another phrase from protests past - The whole world is watching - has literally come true, thanks to the cameras in every potential witness's pocket. The recent demonstrations were sparked by a bystander's video of George Floyd's death - and they have ended up generating more evidence of excessive force used by police against demonstrators in Washington; Buffalo, N.Y.; Philadelphia; New York City; and Atlanta.

The images presented here, photographed in late May and early June, capture the passion, anger and hope of new voices demanding to be heard. The raised fists communicate as directly as the cardboard signs - hand-lettered with yet more indelible words - while the fleeting tears of a young demonstrator and the warm embrace of comrade marchers speak of the vulnerability and pain at the root of any protest.

The juxtaposition of the historic voices and contemporary images underscores how much work is left to be done. Read in the context of today's clamors for justice, the decades-old diagnoses and laments sound remarkably - and wrenchingly - fresh and relevant. That those dreams remain unfulfilled speaks to an American futility and systemic failure. Seen in that light, the images of today become part of the canon of timeless illustrations documenting the unfinished struggle.

The killing of George Floyd offers yet another tragic opportunity to continue an erratic process of change begun long ago. No one can say whether this time will be different. All we can know is that these voices echoing from the past put their faith in the future - and that these demonstrators insist that the future is now.

Here are their calls for justice:

- - -

For fully 48 hours, the fires raged and burned everything in its path and it left nothing but ashes and burned safes and trunks and the like where once stood beautiful homes and business houses. And so proud, rich, black Tulsa was destroyed by fire - that is its buildings and property; but its spirit was neither killed nor daunted.

- B.C. Franklin, a black lawyer who witnessed a white mob's attack on the black section of Tulsa in 1921

- - -

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

- From the poem "Let America Be America Again" by Langston Hughes, 1936

- - -

Though I have found no Negroes who want to see the United Nations lose this war, I have found many who, before the war ends, want to see the stuffing knocked out of white supremacy and of empire over subject peoples. American Negroes, involved as we are in the general issues of the conflict, are confronted not with a choice but with the challenge both to win democracy for ourselves at home and to help win the war for democracy the world over.

- A. Philip Randolph, union leader and civil rights organizer, calling for an end to discrimination in defense jobs and the military, 1942

- - -

I had been pushed around all my life and felt at this moment that I couldn't take it anymore. When I asked the policeman why we had to be pushed around? He said he didn't know. "The law is the law. You are under arrest."

- Rosa Parks, from her handwritten account of refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus in 1955

- - -

I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

- James Baldwin, from "Notes of a Native Son," 1955

- - -

No, I'm not an American. I'm one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag saluter, or a flag waver - no, not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American Dream; I see an American nightmare.

- Malcolm X, from a speech in Cleveland, 1964

- - -

See, it's time for America to wake up and know that we're not going to tolerate - we're not begging anymore. And I'm not going to say it's not any more of us going to die, because I'm never sure when I leave home whether I'll get back home or not. But if I fall while I'm in Kentucky, I'll fall five feet and four inches forward for freedom, and I'm not backing off it. And nobody will have to cover the ground that I walk on as far as freedom is concerned because I know as well as you should know that no man is an island to himself, and until I'm free in Mississippi, you're not free in no other place.

- Fannie Lou Hamer, from a speech in Kentucky, 1968

- - -

Let me speak of a recent, a very recent black dream: The waiting for the Messiah, some leader. Now nobody - Martin Luther King did not tell Rosa Parks to stay in her seat. That came first. Then he came. She just didn't move. We didn't used to have to wait for the word. And the history of black people in this country is those people who got up and moved, all over this country.

- Toni Morrison, from a speech in Portland, Ore., 1975

- - -

We imagined a more humane future, but we also risked our very lives to defeat racism and U.S. military aggression against Southeast Asia. Now, it is your turn to imagine a more humane future - a future of justice, equality and peace. And if you wish to fulfill your dreams, which remain the dreams of my generation as well, you must also stand up and speak out against war, against joblessness and against racism.

- Angela Davis, from a commencement address to the Berkeley High School graduating class, 1983

- - -

What happened in Los Angeles in April of 1992 was neither a race riot nor a class rebellion. Rather, this monumental upheaval was a multiracial, trans-class, and largely male display of justified social rage. For all its ugly, xenophobic resentment, its air of adolescent carnival, and its downright barbaric behavior, it signified the sense of powerlessness in American society.

- Cornel West, from "Race Matters," on the reaction to the acquittal of white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, 1993

- - -

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. . . . But I have asserted a firm conviction, a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people, that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds and that, in fact, we have no choice - we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

- Sen. Barack Obama, from a speech on race during the 2008 presidential campaign

- - -

We know how to be racist. We know how to pretend to be not racist. Now let's know how to be antiracist.

- Ibram X. Kendi, from "How to Be an Antiracist," 2019

- - -

I came to this city in 1955, which was the year that the body of Emmett Till was found in a body of water in Mississippi, same year that Rosa Parks refused to give up the back seat on the bus. . . . Since that time, I have seen any number of struggles against racism, and they have all ended up with relatively little outcome. So the question is valid, it's a reasonable question: Is this going to be just like so many other movements, a moment of anger and rage and then back to business as usual? ... [But] his death did not simply start a bunch of good speeches, a bunch of tributes. Out of his death has come a movement, a worldwide movement. And that movement is not going to stop after two weeks, three weeks, a month. That movement is going to change the world.

- The Rev. William A. Lawson, pastor emeritus of Houston's Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, from his address at the funeral for George Floyd, Houston, June 9, 2020
It's been dubbed the Botox backlog. Now Ireland's biggest beauty clinic will reopen its doors next Monday to the 30,000-strong waiting list of clients looking to 'freshen up' their features after the stress of lockdown.

Therapie clinics had indicated it was going to wait until July 20, when phase four begins, allowing salons and hairdressers to open their doors, but has now performed a U-turn after consulting with its legal team.

This is despite chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan advising against providers of services like Botox reopening at this point.

Read More

Therapie CEO Philip McGlade said, according to the reopening roadmap, non-essential medical clinics are allowed to operate with certain conditions. He said the "whole industry" will reopen over the coming weeks.

Therapie has 42 branches between here and the UK and does 70pc of all dermal fillers and Botox in Ireland.

"We checked it out with our legal team and we discovered we can perform treatments like Botox if you have a medical practitioner (MP) carrying it out. We have around 80 MPs working for us," he said.

"We won't be doing laser hair removal or any treatments like that but from what we understand, as long as we have a doctor doing the injections, it's fine under the guidelines."

Last Friday saw Dr Holohan recommending that facilities that provide Botox treatment should not reopen, given that it involves "touching and close intimate contact."

Mr McGlade said that the advice was "very confusing" but they were going with their legal advisers. "What threw us was Dr Holohan's comments but then the legislation said a different thing," he said.

"So from Monday, all Therapie clinics will reopen. We have 30,000 people on a waiting list and it's to deal with that pent-up demand. Women and men will do anything to get their Botox done. If the world exploded, they would still want to have it done, I'm even surprised.

"We had so many clients in the middle of the lockdown, when the virus was at its peak, complaining that they couldn't get it done."

Practitioners will be wearing PPE gear while pre-booked clients must adhere to hand sanitising measures and wear face masks during their visits.

Another facility which opened its doors this week ais SISU Clinics which are "doctor-led clinics", focused only on beauty treatment. When asked about opening up in phase two, its medical director, Dr James Cotter, said it was operating within the guidelines.

"We are not a salon, we are a medical clinic. We only have doctors performing our treatments and they all returned to hospitals at the start of the Covid crisis, including myself. We don't do any beauty treatments or laser treatments at the moment," he said.

"The Government allowed from May 18 the reopening of non-essential medical services. On June 8, we opened, in a limited capacity, the medical portion of the clinic."

However, these clinics have been heavily criticised by the Dermatology Aesthetic Nurses Association of Ireland (DANAI). Chairperson Patricia Molloy believes the practice is in contravention of current public health advice.

"These operators are not only jeopardising public health, but are also a serious risk to their clients," she said.

"Insurers have confirmed to DANAI that aesthetic procedures will not be covered until Government guidelines and recommendations allow reopening."
NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyware, the leading provider of threat intelligence and cyber fusion solutions, is proud to announce its integration with Dragos WorldView intelligence, which provides security teams with in-depth visibility of the threats facing industrial networks globally.

With this integration, Cyware users have the ability to easily utilize indicators and other threat data from the Dragos WorldView API that relate to adversaries targeting Industrial Control Systems (ICS) within the Cyware Threat Intelligence eXchange (CTIX) Platform. CTIX will automatically draw relations between technical indicators and associated threat objects, if any exists. Users will now have the most relevant information and context to assist in identifying malicious activities targeting industrial control networks around the world. This enables security teams focused on ICS and OT (Operational Technology) to gain a higher level of visibility into the threat landscape they are facing and better detect, prevent and respond to potential threats.

"This integration with Cyware provides customers with a centralized view of threat intelligence that covers both IT and OT networks," said Matt Cowell, Senior Director of Business Development at Dragos. "Having Dragos WorldView available in the CTIX platform helps to improve visibility and speed up incident response for ICS defenders."

CTIX is an advanced threat intelligence platform (TIP) that provides the ability to ingest, analyze, and correlate threat data from any source and in any format and make it operational and actionable for security teams. Users can fully automate the threat intelligence lifecycle using Cyware's advanced orchestration, rule engine, and REST API capabilities to move faster and take decisive action against threats.

"Operational technology (OT) networks continue to face a heightened level of risk from cyber threats with adversaries adopting advanced tactics and techniques for targeting them," said Amit Patel, VP of Sales at Cyware. "By adding Dragos to our growing technology partner ecosystem, our joint customers can better prevent, defend, and respond to these threats."

About Dragos

Dragos has a global mission: to safeguard civilization from those trying to disrupt the industrial infrastructure we depend on every day. The expert practitioners who founded Dragos were drawn to this mission through decades of government and F500 private sector experience spent going head-to-head with highly skilled cyber attackers who threaten the world's industrial infrastructure. Our solutions combine advanced technology for asset identification, threat detection, and response with the battle-honed insights of our elite team of industrial control systems (ICS) cybersecurity experts. We arm organizations with the tools to identify threats and respond to them before they become significant breaches. Dragos currently protects hundreds of organizations and provides the industrial control systems community with select technology products, research, and thought leadership. Dragos is privately held and headquartered in the Washington, DC area. Visit dragos.com for more information or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

About Cyware

Cyware provides threat intelligence sharing and cyber fusion products to security teams across the world. Cyware's innovative solutions include capabilities for strategic and tactical threat intelligence sharing, cyber fusion, security orchestration and automation, and incident response. Cyware's solutions make secure collaboration, cyber resiliency, and enhanced threat visibility a reality for organizations, sharing communities (ISAC/ISAO), MSSPs, and government agencies. To learn more about Cyware, visit cyware.com .

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No reason given for the decision, as Syria goes through an economic crisis, with currency plunging to record lows.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has dismissed Prime Minister Imad Khamis, state media said, in a move that follows weeks of deepening economic woes and a rare outbreak of protests in government-held areas.

SANA news agency did not give a reason for the sudden decision, announced on Thursday in a presidential decree that named Hussein Arnous, the water resources minister, as Khamiss successor.

After nine years of war, Syria is in the throes of an economic crisis compounded by a dollar liquidity crunch in neighbouring Lebanon.

Its currency has plunged to record lows in recent days ahead of additional United States sanctions, hitting a record 3,000 Syrian pounds to the US dollar earlier this week on the black market.

Syrian authorities blame Western sanctions for widespread hardship among working-class residents, where the currency collapse has led to soaring prices and people struggling to afford food and basic supplies.

The government has criticised the looming wave of tighter US sanctions, known as the Caesar Act, which takes effect later this month. Analysts expect the new measures will make it harder to do business with Damascus, further tightening the noose around al-Assads government.

Arnous, 67, has served in a long succession of government posts, including as the governor of Deir Az Zor province that borders Iraq and Quneitra province in southern Syria.

Fall of Syrian pound

With growing public anger, hundreds of protesters in the mainly Druze-inhabited city of Sweida in southern Syria took to the streets this week protesting worsening living conditions.

In rare demonstrations in government-controlled areas that did not rise against al-Assads rule at the outset of Syrias war, protesters called for the presidents overthrow.

They echoed chants at the start of pro-democracy protests in 2011 that were violently crushed by security forces and sparked the violent nine-year conflict.
The nearly seven-year story of Bridgegate came to an end Wednesday and this being New Jersey, there was a surprise twist.

In a letter to the court, the U.S. Attorneys office asked to dismiss the indictments against former Christie Administration insiders Bridget Anne Kelly and William Baroni  whose convictions were overturned last month by the U.S. Supreme Court  and moved to toss out the guilty plea against David Wildstein, who testified for the government in the bizarre scheme of political retaliation.

Given the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, Mr. Wildstein, through counsel, is now asserting that he is legally innocent of the offenses to which he pled guilty and that his conviction should be vacated, wrote assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes Jr. in a letter to federal District Judge Susan Wigenton, who tried the case. The United States does not oppose that relief, which, if granted, would make dismissal of the information against Mr. Wildstein proper with leave of court.

With the proposed order, expected to be signed by Wigenton, the slate will be wiped clean for all three.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys office declined comment.

The order will finally close the book on the high-profile case that began in September 2013, when traffic lanes at the George Washington Bridge were deliberately shifted to create massive gridlock in Fort Lee for no other reason than to punish a mayor who had backed away from an endorsement in Gov. Chris Christies campaign for re-election that year.

Kelly, 47, who served as deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Baroni, 48, a former GOP state senator the governor named to become the deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty in November 2016 of fraud and conspiracy in connection with a scheme to purposely tie up traffic around the George Washington Bridge as retribution.

The admitted architect of the scheme was Wildstein  a former Republican operative then a high-paid Port Authority political appointee working on Christies behalf. He testified against Kelly and Baroni at trial, claiming that he knew the lane closures would cause major traffic backups, and saw it as a point of leverage that could be used against Mark Sokolich, the Fort Lee mayor.

Wildstein, 58, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to probation.

But in an unanimous decision last month, the Supreme Court in May threw out the convictions again Kelly and Baroni. While the court said the two used deception to reduce Fort Lees access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, and thereby jeopardized the safety of the towns residents, it found that their actions were not a crime under the statute used to convict them.

Because the scheme here did not aim to obtain money or property, Baroni and Kelly could not have violated the federal-program fraud or wire fraud laws, wrote Justice Elena Kagan in an opinion for the court. The evidence the jury heard no doubt shows wrongdoing  deception, corruption, abuse of power. But the federal fraud statutes at issue do not criminalize all such conduct.

That decision also meant that Wildstein had pleaded guilty to something that was not a crime, necessitating the dismissal of charges against him as well.

In a statement after the Supreme Court decision, Wildstein said: The conduct by me and others was still wrong. This is not a vindication. My apologies stand, my remorse continues, and I fully accept responsibility for my role.

He is now the editor of New Jersey Globe, a political news site.

Christie was never charged with any wrongdoing and denied any knowledge of the plan, which was a major factor in his failed 2016 presidential campaign.

READ THE LETTER FROM THE U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE

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Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com.
Kolkata, June 11 : After a video of civic workers insensitively handling dead bodies went viral, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday expressed anguish and sought urgent update from the state government on the matter.

"Make transparent disclosure as regard to dead bodies - when admitted; what treatment given, which hospital, cause of death and importantly Bed Head Ticket. How can human dead bodies be so uncouthly dragged! It shames humanity," the West Bengal Governor tweeted.

Asking the civic authorities and the police to follow law and protocol for disposal, Dhankhar said that he was anguished at the disposal of bodies with heartless and indescribable insensitivity.

"Not sharing videos due to sensitivity. I have sought an urgent update from the state home secretary on the issue. In our society dead body is accorded highest respect and rituals are performed as per tradition," he said.

He further tweeted saying that human rights activists and media owe it to people to be proactive by making it a test case.

"State cannot be allowed to slide into a 'police state' and deprive its citizens of rights under Article 21 of Constitution and virtually eclipse human rights and be repressive. We are not a police state. To inject such fear in public is authoritarianism. Repressive measures do not augur well for democracy," Dhankar added.

He also said that rather than booking those responsible for such inhuman criminality, the police are being misused to 'teach a lesson' to those who exposed it.

A video went viral on social media showing decomposed bodies being dragged into a Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) van one after another in broad daylight in the Basdroni Police Station area. The video was purportedly shot outside the Garia crematorium where disgruntled locals reportedly objected to the cremation of 14 decomposed bodies.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the KMC board of administrators, Firhad Hakim, said the bodies were not of Covid patients, but were unclaimed and identified bodies.

"Muzzling of media or people by police arm twisting will not work anymore...Response from the state Home secretary has come with virtual admission about callous handling of dead bodies promising procedure will be streamlined," the Governor said.
The Kerala cabinet has given its approval for the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Semi-High Speed Rail corridor, Silver Line, which aims to cover about 529.45 km in four hours.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala cabinet has given its approval for the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Semi-High Speed Rail corridor, Silver Line, which aims to cover about 529.45 km in four hours.

While giving its green signal to the project on Wednesday, the Cabinet made minor changes to the alignment proposed in the DPR submitted by the implementing agency Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (K-rail), a joint venture of the Indian Railways and the Kerala Government.

The feasibility report of the project had proposed the line to pass through Mahe.

But as per the changes made by the Cabinet, the line will be skipping Mahe, an enclave of the Union Territory of Puducherry.

While the Kasargod- Tirur stretch of Silver Line will run parallel to the existing railway, the Tirur- Thiruvananthapuram section will deviate from the present one, a press release said.

Silver Line will have stations at Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Cochin Airport, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod.

The cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 63,941 crore. It is expected to be completed in five years.

The DPR will now go for the approval of Railway Board, NITI Aayog, and the Union Cabinet. The project has already received the in-principle approval from the Ministry of Railways.

Trains will be able to run up to a speed of 200 KM per hour on the two-lane greenfield corridor. The line will be laid through areas with low population density in 15-25 metre width, so as to limit the acquisition of land to the barest minimum possible.

The land being acquired for the project will be given good compensation under the land acquisition Act.

Starting from Thiruvananthapuram, trains on the Silver Line will reach Kasaragod in four hours, covering a distance of 529.45 km through 11 districts. The running time between the busy Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam stretch will be one-and-a-half hours. The DPR was prepared by the Paris-based consultancy M/S Systra.

Ahead of preparing the DPR, all vital studies have been conducted, including Aerial LiDAR survey, environmental impact study, scientific soil testing and traffic survey.

"Besides fast-tracking the state's overall development, the project will impart greater momentum to the economic activity in the post-COVID recessionary phase.

It will generate a lot of jobs during and after its completion, and offer plenty of opportunities to NRKs returning home," V Ajith Kumar, Managing Director, K-rail, said.

Silver Line will enhance connectivity with other means of transportation and network most big, medium, and small towns, paving the way for decentralized development.

It will ensure easy accessibility to international airports, commercial hubs, hospitals, and cultural centres, Ajith Kumar pointed out.

Apart from throwing up plenty of direct and indirect job opportunities, it will also lead to the emergence of employment hubs related to a wide range of economic and commercial activities.

By considerably reducing the dependence on road traffic, it will substantially save fuel costs. By modest estimates, no less than 500 trucks will be taken off the road per day, according to a release.

This will not only decongest the roads but also reduce road accidents sharply and address the problem of atmospheric pollution. The project will also boost tourism, which is a prime source of income for the state.
SINGAPORE, June 11, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - A policy brief released this week by the United Nations (UN), "The Impact of COVID-19 on Food Security and Nutrition", raises serious concerns regarding the effect COVID-19 is having on the most vulnerable parts of society already experiencing hunger and malnutrition. As a result, CropLife Asia is reiterating the need for greater coordination and collaboration across the regional food value chain to ensure a sustainable supply of safe and nutritious food.Last year, the UN issued research indicating hunger, undernourishment and obesity are at critical levels globally and throughout Asia in particular. According to the 2019 State of Food Security & Nutrition in the World, some 820 million people did not have enough food to eat in 2018 - this was up from 811 million in 2017 and represented the third consecutive year of increase. Meanwhile, over 513 million of those hungry people (or over 62%) call Asia home. When it came to undernourishment, the statistics were also discouraging. In 2018, the largest number of undernourished people around the world (more than 500 million) lived in Asia."We're seeing first-hand the diabolical disruption COVID-19 continues to cause our food supply chain in Asia. This UN brief only reaffirms the effect the pandemic is having and heightens the needs for action," said Dr. Siang Hee Tan, CropLife Asia Executive Director."CropLife Asia commends the UN for its leadership on this critically important issue. From farm to fork, we all have a role to play in ensuring a safe and nutritious supply of food reaches those who need it most. It's time for the regional stakeholders driving the food supply chain to answer this clarion call by the UN and work together to ensure a food emergency isn't realized in Asia. It's time for greater coordination and collaboration among governments, industries and civil society to deliver results. It's time to get to work."Feeding our growing global population is a shared responsibility, and plant science continues to play a crucial role. Biotech crops are developed with improved traits such as increased yield, better resistance to pests and/or improved nutrition, among others. These traits are crucial tools that enable farmers to meet global challenges such as food insecurity. Meanwhile, farmers continue to rely on crop protection products to produce more food on less land and raise productivity per hectare. Without crop protection products, 40 percent of global rice and maize harvests could be lost every year[1] and losses for fruits and vegetables could be as high as 50-90 percent.About CropLife AsiaCropLife Asia is a non-profit society and the regional organization of CropLife International, the voice of the global plant science industry. We advocate a safe, secure food supply, and our vision is food security enabled by innovative agriculture. CropLife Asia supports the work of 15 member associations across the continent and is led by six member companies at the forefront of crop protection, seeds and/or biotechnology research and development. For more information, visit us at www.croplifeasia.org.For more information please contact:Duke HippDirector, Public AffairsCropLife AsiaTel: +65 6221 1615duke.hipp@croplifeasia.orgSource: CropLife AsiaCopyright 2020 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
School and district leaders must be equipped to protect the health and safety of students and staff before they reopen school buildings. In addition to maintaining social-distancing measures, schools will have to implement safety measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Education Week spoke to more than a dozen experts, including public health officials, about what practices must be adopted and the weighty considerations around costs, staffing, and community support for safety measures.

Should students wear masks?

There is massive debate on whether students should wear face coverings in school. Some schools that have reopened in other countries have foregone masks, while others require students, even the youngest learners, to wear them at all times.

District and school leaders are confronting difficult, high-stakes decisions as they plan for how to reopen schools amid a global pandemic. Through eight installments, Education Week journalists explore the big challenges education leaders must address, including running a socially distanced school, rethinking how to get students to and from school, and making up for learning losses. We present a broad spectrum of options endorsed by public health officials, explain strategies that some districts will adopt, and provide estimated costs. Read Part 1: The Socially Distanced School Day

Those in favor point to evidence that shows that properly wearing masks can help slow the spread of the virus, which is carried by droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. However, some experts are concerned that studentsespecially younger oneswill constantly touch their faces while fiddling with their masks, making the masks much less effective.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that schools encourage students, particularly older students, to wear cloth face coverings if feasible and when physical distancing is difficult. (Masks are not recommended for children under 2.)

If districts require students to wear masks, they will likely have to purchase and provide them to avoid creating an equity issue for those who cant afford them. A disposable mask costs about 75 cents. Purchasing those in bulk would be a large expense at a time when budgets are tight. (Some students would likely opt to bring their own mask from homethe CDC has said that homemade face coverings are effective at slowing the spread of the virus.)

District leaders must weigh their local context when making any requirements, experts say: Is there a high transmission of cases in the area? Are community members generally supportive of wearing masks in public?

You can have the best public health plan in the world, but if your public doesnt buy into it, its not an effective plan, said Mario Ramirez, the managing director of the nonprofit Opportunity Labs, who was an acting director for the Office of Pandemic and Emerging Threats during the Obama administration.

Should staff wear masks?

Theres more of a consensus among public health officials when it comes to having teachers and other school staff wear masks. The CDC recommends that all staff wear face coverings. Ramirez said school nurses should have N95 respirator masks.

Districts will have to decide whether to purchase these masks, and if they do, how they will both find and pay for such a large supply.

Many teachers, however, are concerned about how wearing a face covering will affect their instruction. Elementary teachers say teaching phonics and other language sounds will be difficult when students cant see their lips moving, and teachers of English-language learners worry that students might have a hard time understanding them through a mask. The California Department of Public Health has said teachers can use face shields, if available, which would allow students to see their teachers faces.

For the CDCs July 23 guidance on face coverings, see here .

Should schools check students temperatures before letting them enter the building?

Temperature checks upon entry to a school building have been a popular proposal for reopening. However, public health experts say that this safety measure is not a fail-safe way of monitoring symptoms and can provide a false sense of security.

While a fever is one symptom of COVID-19, an infected person can shed the virus for a few days before exhibiting any symptoms. And even though children are less likely to exhibit severe symptoms of COVID-19, research has found that children who are asymptomatic can be infectious . (Some research, however, has found that children are less likely to spread the virus .) Also, during regular flu season, district leaders say some parents give their child medicine that masks their fever before sending them to school, so a thermometer reading might not be an accurate indication of symptoms.

Its more important to educate parents on all symptoms of COVID-19, and ask them to monitor their children at home, experts said.

Even so, Ali Mokdad, a professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said temperature screenings may help parents feel more comfortable about sending their children to school.

Some parents will ask for it, he said, adding that its better to have a system that everyone will feel comfortable with.

For the CDCs July 23 guidance on symptom screening, see here .

Should schools conduct COVID-19 testing?

Some people have raised the possibility of students and staff being tested for COVID-19 before they return to school. However, experts say theyre concerned about the feasibility of doing so.

Districts dont have the staff, the expertise, or the resources to administer tests effectively without help from health departments, some say. And the effectiveness of testing hinges on the availability of tests and the local health departments capacity: If it takes a week to get the results, the test will have been useless.

Also, experts note that COVID-19 tests involve a nasal swab that is particularly unpleasant for young children. Parents may not give permission for their child to be tested.

Are there enough places for students and staff to wash their hands?

In many school buildings, theres a shortage of sinks for handwashingfor students and for staff. While newer elementary buildings might have sinks in classrooms, middle and high schools tend to have multi-stall bathrooms. Many school bathrooms are equipped with faucets, soap dispensers, toilet handles, and paper towel dispensers that students must touch.

Experts recommend that districts install outdoor hand-washing stations, which students can use before entering and leaving the building. They also recommend installing soap dispensers and water faucets that are activated by motion, which will reduce touchpoints and the spread of the virus. All classrooms should have a supply of hand sanitizer to give students throughout the school day.

Are there enough school nurses?

Experts recommend that every school building have at least one registered school nurse to monitor students symptoms and isolate any sick students from the rest of the school. However, a quarter of schools across the country do not employ a nurse at all, and 35 percent of schools only have a part-time nurse, according to a 2018 survey from the National Association of School Nurses .

Will schools be sufficiently cleaned?

School districts will likely have to hire additional cleaning staff to make sure buildings are disinfected properly at the end of every day. Districts may also have to purchase new equipment, such as electrostatic disinfectant sprays.

Custodians should disinfect high-touch surfaces, like door handles, sink faucets, and handrails, multiple times throughout the school day. The frequent cleaning will have an additional psychological effect, Mokdad said: reminding students and staff that they need to be taking precautions and following the rules.

There is a virus here, Mokdad said. We want it to be physically visible.

Is there a plan to protect high-risk teachers and staff?

Adults older than 65 are at high risk for serious illness due to COVID-19, as are people with asthma, chronic lung disease, diabetes, serious heart conditions, chronic kidney disease, severe obesity, immunocompromised conditions, and liver disease, according to the CDC.

Experts say staff members with those risk factors should stay home from school. Possible solutions include letting vulnerable teachers continue to teach remotely, reassigning high-risk staff to other roles that can be done from home (such as remote tutoring or mentoring), or offering early retirement.
A statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston has been beheaded, police said Wednesday, as calls to remove sculptures commemorating colonizers and slavers sweep America on the back of anti-racism protests.

A Columbus statue was also vandalized in downtown Miami, and another was dragged into a lake earlier in the week in Richmond, Virginia, according to local reports.

The incidents come as pressure builds in the United States to rid the country of monuments associated with racism following massive demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis last month.

Italian explorer Columbus, long hailed by school textbooks as the so-called discoverer of "The New World," is considered by many to have spurred years of genocide against indigenous groups in the Americas.

He is regularly denounced in a similar way to Civil War generals of the pro-slavery South.

The Boston statue -- which stands on a plinth in the heart of town -- has been controversial for years, like other Columbus statues across the US, and has been vandalized in the past.

Boston police were alerted to the damage shortly after midnight on Tuesday, a spokesman told AFP. An investigation is under way but no one has been arrested, he added.

A jogger running past the statue Wednesday said she approved of the decapitation.

"Coming out of the Black Lives Matter protests, I think it's a good thing to capitalize on this momentum," she told AFP, without giving her name.

"Just like black people in this country, indigenous people have also been wronged. I think this movement is pretty powerful and this is very symbolic," she added.

Dozens of American cities have over the years replaced "Columbus Day" in October -- which became a federal holiday in 1937 -- with a day of tribute to indigenous peoples.

But not Boston or New York, which have large Italian-origin communities.

Boston's mayor Marty Walsh condemned the beheading but added that the statue would be removed on Wednesday pending a decision about its future, local media reported.

Protesters also defaced a Miami statue of Columbus at a waterfront park with red paint and messages that read "Our streets," "Black Lives Matter" and "George Floyd," before police made several arrests, according to the Miami Herald newspaper.

In Virginia, protesters used ropes to pull down the eight-foot (2.44-meter) statue and then dumped it in a nearby lake Tuesday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch said.
AMSTERDAMLast year, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema announced her plans to overhaul the citys iconic red light district, possibly shutting down the famous sex worker window displays, and closing down brothels. Now, in the wake of country-wide shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Halsema and city officials may get their chance.

As the Netherlands goes through a phased reopening process, sex workers have been pushed to the back of the line, forced to wait until September to get back to work, even as other close-contact businesses, such as hair salons, have been permitted to open up in May.

Sex workers in Amsterdam rely primarily on tourists to generate revenue, and Amsterdam attracts about 1 million per monthabout five times as many people as actual residents of the city. But Halsema said in a letter to the city council last month that the crisis has highlighted the urgency to think about the city center of the future, according to a report by Bloomberg News.

That future includes far fewer sex workers, and more corporate offices, according to the Bloomberg report.

A key piece of the governments plan to reconfigure Amsterdam is to get brothels to move out of the old city and curb coffee shops that serve tourists, wrote Bloomberg reporters Ruben Munsterman and Ellen Proper. But they added, that wont be easy.

The city centers famed red light district now has 330 windows in which sex workers present live advertisements for themselves. With a prevalence of surveillance cameras and the public nature of the displays, sex workers find the city center not only a source of revenue, but safety.

But in 2019, Halsema proposed eliminating the window displays entirely. At the time, the mayor said that the move was motivated at least partly by a desire to protect Amesterdams sex workers from overzealous tourists.

I think a lot of the women who work there feel humiliated, laughed atand thats one of the reasons we are thinking about changing, she said.

But according to the Bloomberg report, the real motivation is to attract corporations.

The mayors letter to the council in May said that she wanted to change policies and permitting practices so that the old city is not just dotted with shops selling souveniers, cannabis and Nutella-lathered waffles but has companies where residents can work, houses where they can live and grocery stores and outlets that cater to them, according to Munsterman and Proper.

The Amsterdam sex business expects to continue struggling even when allowed to reopen, according to the Bloomberg report, saying that they expect business to reach only 30 percent of previous levels, as fear of coronavirus infection continues to scare tourists away.

Photo By Pexels / Pixabay
North Korea Expected to Step Up Pressure to Get Concessions from South

Eugene Whong 2020-06-10 -- North Korea's move to sever communications with South Korea appears to be a signal that more provocations are on the horizon as Pyongyang tries to extract more concessions out of Seoul, experts told RFA.

The North's state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) announced Tuesday that Pyongyang had shut down an inter-Korean liaison office and direct hotlines between the two Koreas because Seoul was not taking action to stop groups in the South from launching balloons carrying anti-Kim regime leaflets across the border into North Korean territory.

North Korea had threatened for several days to cut communications over the balloons. RFA's Korean Service reported Monday that Pyongyang has been mobilizing citizens to denounce former North Korean citizens who criticize Kim Jong Un's government from their homes in the South.

In Tuesday's report KCNA reiterated that Pyongyang was holding Seoul responsible for not doing enough to stop the leaflet campaigns.

"The south Korean authorities connived at the hostile acts against the DPRK by the riff-raff, while trying to dodge heavy responsibility with nasty excuses. This has driven the inter-Korean relations into a catastrophe," KCNA said, deliberately refusing to capitalize the s in South Korea in its publication of the report in English.

The report said senior North Korean officials "stressed that the work towards the south should thoroughly turn into the one against [an] enemy," during a meeting to discuss relations with the South.

The officials included Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong, a close confidant of her brother who some observers believe is next in line in the ruling family, who had last week referred to exiles in the South as "human scum."

The KCNA report said that the officials discussed a phased plan to deal with the South, ordering the shutdown by noon Tuesday of the liaison office, military communication lines located on the seas east and west of the peninsula, and a direct hotline between the Blue House in Seoul and the Central Committee office building in Pyongyang.

"This measure is the first step of the determination to completely shut down all contact means with South Korea and get rid of unnecessary things," the KCNA report concluded.

More than just leaflets

U.S.-based analysts said that while North Korea may be saying its measures were in response to the leaflet campaigns, Pyongyang also had clear political motives in trying to pressure Seoul.

"North Korea's frustrated with the current lack of progress on getting sanctions relief, and they're frustrated by South Korea's inability, or their unwillingness, to challenge Washington's rigid policy [on sanctions]," Frank Aum of the United States Institute of Peace told RFA's Korean Service.

The sanctions, aimed at depriving Pyongyang of cash and resources that could be funneled into its nuclear and missile programs, place restrictions on items that can be legally imported into North Korea. The curbs have hurt those North Koreans tied to the country's emerging market economy.

Pyongyang had hoped that engaging with Seoul and Washington over the past few years would bring some form of sanctions relief, but after several summits between Kim Jong Un and his counterparts, sanctions remain in place.

Analysts believe that a frustrated Pyongyang can turn up the heat on the South to get what it wants.

"North Korea is trying to intimidate South Korea," Gordon Chang, a lawyer and North Korea expert told RFA.

"North Korea thinks it can do so because Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president is susceptible to intimidation. He believes that relationships with the North are paramount," said Chang.

North Korea is acting out because it likely wants a resumption of several inter-Korean projects that were cash cows, according to Mark Fitzpatrick, the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Non-proliferation.

"I suppose the objective is to try to pressure the Republic of Korea into engaging in trade and reopening the Kumgang Mountain resorts and Kaesong industrial complex for North Korea," Fitzpatrick told RFA.

The resort was shut down in 2008 and the inter-Korean industrial complex has been closed since 2016.

The moves might also be a domestic distraction, or a way to pad Kim Yo Jong's resume to solidify her place as anointed successor, according to The Heritage Foundation's Bruce Klingner.

However, Klingner told RFA the chief motive was "to pressure Moon into offering yet more concessions," adding that President Moon was eager to offer security and economic cooperation in the past.

"But Moon is constrained by what he can offer because of the U.N. sanctions as well as U.S. laws. And right now the populace in South Korea might not be all that eager to offer more concessions to the North because it hasn't led to anything," Klingner said.

More Provocations Ahead

Several North Korea-watchers saw Pyongyang's moves as an indication that further provocations are in store.

"It can also be a way of trying to lay the ground work for North Korean provocative actions while blaming the South for it's action, so by threatening to sever the comprehensive military agreement [CMA], dismantling Kaesong, sort of, veiled threats of additional measures against the enemy, it may be trying to make Moon even more desperate to offer concessions," said Klingner.

The CMA, intended to reduce military tensions to prevent an accidental clash, came out of the September 2018 inter-Korean summit.

Two South Korea-based experts said Pyongyang might take steps to add more pressure on Seoul.

"North Korea could close the inter-Korean liaison office and even dismantle the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the future," Shin Beom-Chul, the head of the Diplomatic Security Center at the Korean Research Institute for National Strategy told RFA.

"Furthermore, I think it could end the 9/19 inter-Korean military agreement," he said, referring to the CMA by the month and day it went into effect in 2018.

Cho Han Bum of the Korea Institute of National Unification told RFA, "In this way, the show of force is foreseeable.

"However, North Korea will not be able to carry out high-intensity provocations for the time being, and it can [only] stage a show of force to express its discontent," said Cho.

The U.S. Department of State, meanwhile expressed disappointment with the closure.

"The United States has always supported progress in inter-Korean relations, and we are disappointed in the DPRK's recent actions. We urge the DPRK to return to diplomacy and cooperation," a spokesperson for the state department told RFA.

Challenge to free speech

South Korea responded to the North's demand that it halt the balloon launches by announcing its intention to pass laws to make the flights illegal  a possibility given that Moon's Democratic Party holds an absolute majority in parliament.

South Korea's right wing was furious.

The main opposition United Future Party said the balloons were effective and legal under South Korean free-speech laws.

North Korea is vulnerable to psychological warfare, a fact South Korea should take advantage of, Kim Yong-hyun, former chief director of operations at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a policy seminar on North Korean threats at the National Assembly Tuesday.

"Though not as [powerful] as North Korea's nuclear program, psychological warfare against North Korea is an asymmetric strategy that South Korea can have. It doesn't make sense to regulate it by law," said Kim.

An opposition party leader said that the North is only using the leaflets as a way to get attention.

"North Korea wants to shake the table to find a breakthrough because of the prolonged U.N. Security Council sanctions and the coronavirus crisis," said Joo Ho-young, the United Future Party's Chairman.

Reported by Albert Hong, Soyoung Kim, Sangmin Lee, Yong Jae Mok, and Jae Duk Seo for RFA's Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Copyright  1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content June not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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On the Boston Common, work on a memorial honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King is expected to begin within the next few weeks and completion expected in early 2022, according to the Boston Globe.

The sculpture will be four intertwined 22-foot-high bronze arms called The Embrace" that was designed by artist Hank Willis Thomas who works with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture.

Architects at MASS Design Group will be developing the plaza. MASS Design Group is a not-for-profit organization, which is governed by a board of directors that meet weekly to assess where to direct grants.

The Kings memorial will be on the new plaza near the Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common and is expected to be finished by the end of 2020.

"That is what we're pushing forward and we're asking the city to work with us, said Marie St. Fleur, executive director of the King Boston Initiative said in an interview on Jan. 12 with WGBH. It's an opportunity to highlight again our commitments and our progress in racial relations in the city.

Working with The Boston Foundation, entrepreneur Paul English led the effort to raise $6 million for the memorial. He told the Boston Globe that raising the money had taken longer than anticipated but is excited to now have raised the funds and thinks that the timing for the memorial being started is timely.

Part of the campaign is to also create a center in the renovated city library branch in Nubian Square, Roxbury that would combine organizations in Boston to look at any inequalities regarding race in the city and offer advice on how to improve the disparities.

More than half of the citys residents are people of color, but deeply ingrained institutional barriers perpetuate persistent income disparities that affect people of color in our city, states the King Boston website.

The creation of the memorial and the care center are both parts of the project, King Boston. The King Boston memorial will be anchored on Boston Common, where, in 1965, Dr. King called Boston to live by its highest ideals.

It would be a crying shame if all of what comes out of this King Boston effort is a memorial. It has to be more, said The Rev. Jeffrey Brown in an interview with the Boston Globe.

Brown is an associate pastor at the Twelfth Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, and a member of the King Boston organizing committee.

Initial fund-raising efforts by the group have a short-term goal of $600,000 over the next two years. The hope is to raise $6 million in the long-term, so the center has the ability to self-sustain.

Got a news tip or want to contact MassLive about this story? Email newstips@masslive.com or message us on Facebook orTwitter. You can also call our news tips line at 413-776-1364.
Bolivia's parliament on Wednesday approved the new date of September 6 for the country's coronavirus-delayed general election, although the decision must still be ratified by interim President Jeanine Anez.

The new law was approved by both chambers of Congress "with more than two thirds of the votes," said Senate President Eva Copa.

Last week the Supreme Electoral Tribunal came to an agreement with political parties on the new date.

"I believe this law ... gives certainty over the date of an election that is crucial for the establishment of democracy in Bolivia," said the electoral tribunal president Salvador Romero.

Copa said no-one voted against the law but Anez's party abstained from the vote.

If Anez doesn't sanction the new law, Copa could also do so.

However, Minister of the Presidency Yerko Nunez expects Anez to ratify the law.

Conservative Anez, a former senator, has been interim president since assuming power in November after socialist leader Evo Morales fled the country following three weeks of protests over his controversial re-election.

Not only did Morales stand in the election despite a constitutional ban against him seeking a fourth mandate, but an Organization of American States audit of the October poll subsequently found clear evidence of fraud.

Morales is currently living in exile in Argentina and is barred from standing in the general election, even as a legislator.

But the candidate for his Movement for Socialism party, Luis Arce, led the most recent opinion poll with 33.3 percent.

Centrist former president Carlos Mesa came next with 18.3 percent and then Anez with 16.9.

Bolivia has recorded 15,000 coronavirus cases and less than 500 deaths since the virus appeared three months ago.
: windyd (windyd), : Travel

 : Mayor Lori Lightfoot: Chicagos coronavirus budget shortfall at least $700 million

: BBS  (Thu Jun 11 04:26:26 2020, )



For months, Mayor Lori Lightfoot declined to say how big of an impact the

coronavirus was having on Chicagos budget.

But on Tuesday, she announced that taxpayers face a shortfall of at least $

700 million due to COVID-19, throwing the citys precariously balanced

spending plan out of whack.

Thats a sobering number, and it presents a sobering challenge, any way

you look at it, she said.

City Hall estimated a $175 million revenue loss in March and April as the

statewide stay-at-home order was in full force and the local economy tanked.

Amusement, hotel, parking and restaurant taxes dipped. McCormick Places

convention business plummeted after a series of cancellations. The airports

saw fewer flights. Lightfoot aides projected similar losses for May.

To fill the hole in an $11.6 billion budget, the mayor said all options

including property tax hikes and staff layoffs are on the table, though she

hopes to deal with the problem without having to take such radical steps.

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related pneumonia 

To start, Lightfoot said the city will attempt to use $100 million from

refinancing debt earlier this year and will try to do more refinancing as

well. She said the city will push off some projects and evaluate hiring

priorities for 2020.

But, she said, the city needs to look at other options.

Nothing about this moment is ordinary, and it will continue to require us

to make some very difficult decisions, Lightfoot said. Our businesses

have been suffering and many of our small businesses, unfortunately, have

been forced to close.

Its unclear how much of the gap could be closed by an influx of $1.1

billion in federal CARES Act money. About 54% of the CARES Act money  $613

million  has to go toward specific expenses, while the city has more

discretion to spend the other 46% as it chooses. The money has to be spent

on COVID-19-related duties, however.

On Monday, Lightfoot administration officials said the city doesnt have 

imminent borrowing plans and that the shortfall for 2021 could be more

than $1 billion.

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of contentious phone call: Shame on him 

Complicating matters: The city is preparing for the possibility of a second

surge in coronavirus cases later this year, which could further upend

Chicagos finances.

The city also is concerned about an uptick in cases due to protests and

unrest following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, Lightfoot

said.

Given the unprecedented scale of the economic dislocation caused by the

pandemic, freshman North Side Ald. Andre Vasquez said the $700 million

budget shortfall estimate sounded a little conservative.

I expected the number to be north of a billion, said Vasquez, 40th. So

Ill be interested to hear more about where that estimate came from.

Vasquez was among a group of progressive aldermen who pushed their own

budget priorities last fall, and he called on the Lightfoot administration

to consider some of those now.

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He pointed to the city collecting payments in lieu of taxes from nonprofits

that often receive tax exemptions. He also said its time to revisit a

corporate head tax on some companies, while acknowledging the city would

need to thread a needle on levying such a per-employee tax.

So many businesses have taken such a huge hit during the pandemic, we

would need to look closely at only taxing those that have managed to weather

it or thrive, Vasquez said.

vasquez said he wouldnt be surprised if Lightfoot resorts to the

politically toxic property tax increase. If that were the case, we would

have to make sure people were still getting a high level of city services,

he said.

Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, a frequent Lightfoot critic, called for

the city to look inward instead of hiking taxes. He said the city should

also consider legalizing video gambling to add a quick infusion of cash.

Before anyone says even one word about cuts, increasing taxes or what have

you, we really need to do a top-down true forensic zero-based budgeting for

every department," said Lopez, 15th.

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Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale, another regular opponent of the mayors,

said the mayor should have enacted a stiffer city hiring freeze months ago.

Once again, were late, said Beale, 9th.

West Side Ald. Jason Ervin, who chairs the City Council Black Caucus, said

the citys response to the budget hole will depend on where the shortfall

is occurring.

We need more detail on some of this, whether it comes in aviation, special

events, some other area, said Ervin, 28th.

But it seems like every year, city departments go through an exercise

where theyre doing less and less and less in terms of services, Ervin

said. So depending on the specifics, we may need to make some very painful

decisions.

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is on to us, so Im spilling the beans. 

Chicago is no stranger to yawning budget deficits. Indeed, several months

after Lightfoot took office last year, she held a televised speech to

announce predecessor Rahm Emanuel had left her with an $838 million

shortfall.

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She closed that gap without a large property tax increase, in part by trying

to get $163 million more from federal authorities for the cost of ambulance

rides by the Chicago Fire Department, money that has been slow to

materialize.

She also hiked fees on Uber and Lyft rides downtown, doubled the tax on food

and drinks bought in Chicago restaurants and pushed through an increase to

the personal property lease tax on some computer leases of cloud software

and cloud infrastructure.

And she relied on several one-time fixes, like a huge tax increment

financing surplus, $215 million from debt refinancing and the elimination of

vacant positions in city government.

Other recent examples of huge budget chasms include the 2012 shortfall,

which Emanuel pegged at $636 million, a deficit he inherited from former

Mayor Richard M. Daley. As the budget hole widened again heading into 2016,

Emanuel got aldermen to approve $588 million in property tax increases,

mainly to help fix the citys underfunded pensions.

--

 :WWW  mitbbs.com [FROM: 103.]


Jon Ossoff, who first rose to prominence running  and narrowly losing  in Georgia's 6th Congressional District special election in 2017, has won the Democratic nomination in the race against first-term Georgia Sen. David Perdue, ABC News has projected.

The 33-year-old media executive and investigative journalist managed to beat the pundit's predictions  and his own  and secure more than 50% of the vote in a race with seven candidates, avoiding a runoff election later this summer between the top two vote-getters.

"This is not a moment to let up. This is a moment to double down  because the task before us is a mighty one," Ossoff said in a brief victory speech Wednesday night.

MORE: 'This is not just a Georgia problem': Primary election troubles foreshadow challenges for November

He said that President Donald Trump and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill are "leading this country down a dark path"  one of authoritarianism, racism and corruption  and that the country "can't go down it any longer."

With such a large field of candidates, the race was expected to advance to a runoff on Aug. 11, especially since two of those candidates  former Columbus, Georgia, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and 2018 lieutenant governor candidate Sarah Riggs Amico  ran well-financed campaigns. Ahead of Tuesday's election, Ossoff said in an interview that it would be "an unprecedented, historic, herculean achievement" to avoid a runoff election under the circumstances, and said his campaign was "fully prepared to win a runoff."

PHOTO: FILE - In this Wednesday, March 4, 2020, file photo, Jon Ossoff speaks to the the media and supporters after he qualified to run in the Senate race against Republican Sen. David Perdue in Atlanta. (Bob Andres/AP)

But in his Wednesday night remarks, Ossoff looked to the general election and made a call out to all Georgians.

"Whether you identify as a Democrat and have your whole life, whether you're an independent or Republican or apathetic, now is the time to stand up and make a change in this country. Now is the time to stand up and make a change in this state," Ossoff said.

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With both Senate seats on the ballot this November, Democrats are eyeing Georgia as a potential pick-up opportunity as they aim to flip control of Congress's upper chamber. After Gov. Brian Kemp's mere 1.4-point victory over Democrat Stacey Abrams in the 2018 gubernatorial election, it's seen as a new battleground state this cycle.

Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Nikema Williams said Ossoff "is a fighter against Washington corruption and a champion for hardworking Georgia families," and predicted he'd turn Georgia blue this November, saying he'll be "an excellent U.S. Senator."

MORE: Democratic candidates vying to unseat Sen. David Perdue see Georgia as critical battleground

She added that the "party is stronger" because of the many candidates who ran, saying, "Now, Georgia Democrats are ready to unite and take on Republicans up and down the ballot this November."

"Senator David Perdue said it best: Georgia is in play," said Senate Majority PAC President J.B. Poersch. "While in Washington, Sen. Perdue has become the quintessential D.C. politician. While Georgia was battling COVID-19, Sen. Perdue was caught trying to get rich off of a global health crisis... Jon Ossoff has made it his mission to stand up to the corruption in Washington, making him the perfect foil for Sen. David Perdue, who has been looking out for his own interests over the needs of working families."

Nathan Brand, spokesperson for the NRSC  Senate Republicans' campaign arm  said Ossoff "may be one of the most unprepared and unaccomplished individuals ever to seek this office."

"His reliance on an embellished resume, insider liberal connections, and campaign cash from far-left New York and Hollywood donors is why Georgia voters can't trust Ossoff to represent their values. This race will end like Ossoffs other political adventures  in embarrassing defeat," Brand said.

PHOTO: FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2019, file photo, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., speaks during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Ossoff told ABC News Monday that Republicans would go after him for his age and lack of political experience.

"I don't have the typical political profile," he said. "First of all, I'm young, and David Perdue and his allies will try to turn that against me, but I believe it's one of my greatest strengths."

Earlier Wednesday in a media availability, Ossoff repeatedly said it was "too early to talk about outcomes." Instead, he called for accountability at "all levels" for how Tuesday's primary election went, and put county and state officials "on notice" that his campaign would be making sure every vote was counted.

But before that press availability, the candidate who finished behind him  Teresa Tomlinson  had essentially declared a runoff election between herself and Ossoff, blasting him as an unelectable candidate because he couldn't secure a majority of the vote in any of the elections he's run.

Now that most (votes) have been counted, it appears that for the third time in his political career, Jon Ossoff has failed to break the 50% needed to avoid a runoff, Tomlinson said in a statement sent at 11:35 a.m. "Even though Jon is universally known, a majority of voters have rejected him again... I am confident voters will conclude that I am the candidate who can beat David Perdue in November."

It's clear now that Tomlinson spoke much too soon.

In a statement that came at 9:01 p.m. Wednesday, she thanked her supporters and competitors, and called for unity against Perdue.

"I want to thank my opponents in this race and congratulate Jon Ossoff on his victory," Tomlinson said. "I call on my supporters, and all Georgians, to do all they can to support Jon in his campaign to defeat David Perdue and Donald Trump in November."

Jon Ossoff avoids runoff, secures Democratic nomination in Georgia Senate race originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:25:05|Editor: huaxia

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ABUJA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari late Wednesday expressed shock over the killing of at least 81 villagers by suspected Boko Haram militants in the northeast region and called on the military to sustain the fight against the terror group.

Buhari charged the armed forces to sustain their recent string of successes against the terrorists to "extract a heavy price from the attackers and bring back all those they kidnapped, and a large number of cattle rustled."

"The primordial nature of the killings is particularly shocking because it happened not long after the Ramadhan and Eid, and the country is preparing to celebrate the Democracy Day," Buhari said while condemning the incident.

Seven other villagers were abducted when suspected Boko Haram militants attacked the Faduma Koloram village in Gubio local government area of the northern state of Borno on Tuesday. Thirteen villagers were also wounded, as many houses were razed and hundreds of cattle were also stolen by the suspected militants.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has been trying to establish an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria, extending its attacks to countries in the Lake Chad Basin that includes Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Benin, and Niger. Enditem
As we collectively examine our lexicon for prejudice, the inherently loaded nature of calling something urban has prompted action. Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Earlier today, the Grammys proudly announced some changes to its upcoming 63rd annual program. With the eligibility period due to end in less than three months time on August 31, the embattled organization behind the most visible music awards show in the world has rejiggered some of its existing categories while renaming others. Amid nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, an ongoing civil-disobedience movement that has concurrently prompted a wider conversation about accountability and allyship from those who benefit from black culture, the most symbolic of these approved rule amendments from the Recording Academy now comes in the form of removing one problematic word from a popular category. As we collectively examine our lexicon for prejudice, the inherently loaded nature of calling something urban has prompted action.

Now rechristened Best Progressive R&B Album, the Grammy grouping previously known as Best Urban Contemporary Album originated in 2013 in an attempt to capture and reward a surging musical trend in a long-standing genre. The new title came from Ivan Barias, a multiple Grammy nominee who currently serves as one of the Recording Academys trustees and founded the category, who says he sees it as a way to move past a contentious word toward a more inclusive understanding going forward. Though now signified by the likes of award winners Lizzo, Frank Ocean, and the Weeknd, as well as notable nominees like Khalid and Georgia Anne Muldrow, the initial terminology dates back to a radio format dating back to the 1970s, one that grouped what was often previously dubbed black music by the industry at a time when funk, soul, and jazz were huge mainstream styles. Though inelegant by todays standards, it served a need at the time. Now, even Republic Records is vowing to rid itself of the word internally as well as externally.

Regardless of genre or language, if were going to do away with the term urban, we actually have to do away with it.

The Grammys seemingly good-faith gesture on the R&B front dramatically falls apart in the Latin-music space, where it blithely continues to group the popular sounds of reggaeton and Spanish-language hip-hop under the urban umbrella. Many in the industry, including publicists and managers behind some of the biggest reggaeton stars, have long urged to give these prevailing styles their own category or otherwise decouple them from the comparatively less salable alternative-music bracket to which they had been tethered since 2009. Instead, the newly Frankensteined award for Best Latin Pop or Urban Album reveals just how wrong the Recording Academy remains in its handling of these issues.

The obvious inconsistency of striking a term from one award name only to retain it in another should be clear to anyone. After all, there has long been a nebulousness to many of the Grammy categories that often manifests in ways that inadvertently tipped off the public about apparent cultural and racial biases endemic to the process. (Rapper Post Malones nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance  in a year where black artists werent  immediately springs to mind.) By interim director Harvey Mason Jr.s own admission, vocal criticism during and around this years ceremony by Sean Combs and Tyler, the Creator informed the organizations decision-making. (Backstage after winning Best Rap Album this past January, the latter referred to the term urban as a politically correct way to say the N-word to me.) The failure to apply that same restorative logic to the Latin categories speaks to a shortsightedness that persists there, and brings into question whether the Grammys seek to do more than placate a few celebrity critics in exchange for a return to so-called normalcy.

To see just how extensive the failings are, its important to have context. The Grammys essentially shunned reggaeton, a genre inspired by and pioneered by black artists, until 2008 when it introduced the Best Latin Urban Album award. The category proved short-lived, abandoned after three instances  two of which were won by Latin alternative act Calle 13  and rolled into the dubious abomination of Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album. (Calle 13 won it that first year too.)

Meanwhile, the Latin Grammys havent fared much better. Since 2000, this parallel awards-granting program within the Recording Academy, with its own televised ceremony, has gone above and beyond just mirroring its all-genre counterparts blind spots. Though it launched the Best Urban Music Album category in 2001, it only introduced the Best Urban Song prize in 2009, five years after Daddy Yankees Gasolina charted on the Billboard Hot 100. In doing so, however, the Latin Grammys have largely relegated reggaeton to these categories, leaving them out of consideration for the general prizes in spite of ever-growing popularity. In the 20 years of these ceremonies, a reggaetonero has not won a single Album of the Year award. It took 18 years, and the inevitability of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankees smash Despacito, before one won a Record of the Year prize, and 19 years before Karol G became the first to snag Best New Artist.

Rectifying these long-standing and persistent issues requires much more than switching a few words around, and thinking deeper than semantics.

At the height of a mainstream boom fueled by Bad Bunny and J Balvin, among others, last falls Latin Grammys nominations so egregiously excluded reggaeton and Latin trap artists from the non-genre brackets that a vocal plurality of them boycotted the ceremony. Though the Recording Academy and its surrogates played it down to these acts and their teams not submitting paperwork on time or otherwise not participating in the process, the visible absence of superstars eventually prompted the organization to add two new categories as penance: Best Reggaeton Performance and Best Rap/Hip Hop Song. Given the history of snubs, the changes offer cold comfort.

Regardless of genre or language, if were going to do away with the term urban, we actually have to do away with it. But rectifying these long-standing and persistent issues requires much more than switching a few words around, and thinking deeper than semantics. Considering the tremendous domestic popularity of reggaeton and Latin trap right now, thanks in no small part to leading BIPOC artists like Ozuna and Sech, its simply absurd to lump this music in with a pop Grammy category that historically favors white or white-presenting acts like Rosalia, and largely legacy names like Juanes and Alejandro Sanz. There seems no logical reason to do so either, as none of the Latin music awards make it to the main broadcast, instead stuffed in a preshow ballroom blitz with prizes hastily handed out for bluegrass, classical, and  if you can believe it in the year 2020  world music albums. Until the Recording Academy takes stock of its house, the Grammys will remain a holistically damaged and toxic institution.
China and the United States should resume timely communication on trade and other issues, a former senior Chinese official said on Thursday, stressing that the world's two biggest economies are too intertwined to be decoupled.

Zhu Guangyao, an adviser to the cabinet and former vice finance minister, made the remarks at a briefing in Beijing.

The room for China to support the economy through fiscal and monetary policies is "very big", said Wang Zhaoxing, another cabinet adviser at the briefing.

China should prepare for a long battle to prevent and resolve financial risks and control shadow banking and financing to property sector, Wang added.

Liu Huan, a third cabinet adviser, said he expected China's economy to rebound sharply in the third quarter of this year.

Liu told reporters after the briefing that he believed China's economic growth could be about 5 percent in the third quarter.

The economy contracted 6.8 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, shrinking for the first time in decades, as the outbreak of the new coronavirus paralysed production and hit spending.
That's great.



And not to take away from anyone as everything helps, but Drake is literally the biggest artist right now and he was bragging about donating $100,000. It gives me a good chuckle (especially if that is in Canadian funds).

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they asked Drake to match $400... he said hold my prosecco pic.twitter.com/TkcZh0o545  montego bae (@ShenaeCurry) June 1, 2020 Its killing me too because in the post where he bragged about giving 100k, someone donated $400 and tagged him and the weeknd and said match my donation but add 3 zeroes...which would be $400,000

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Hes got Birkins to buy for pick mes, gotta be careful with the budget

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Drake spent $400,000 on his stupid mattress but only donated $100,000?

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Thats wassup

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hes amazing. when this all started and institutions were posting the black square, someone brought up on oxfords post how stormzy tried to give them money to set up a scholarship for Black students a few years ago and they declined it. says a lot lol.

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looooove this man and him meeting billie eyelash was one of the cutest things ever omg, was that this year or last? holy shit



also lmao @ people using his success as an example for us not being racist?? oxford denied him bc of his skin colour, ya wankers. im sick of people saying we dont have it bad here, or as bad or theyre sticking up for some stupid racist tv shows bc it was different back then nah fuck off, its always been terrible

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oxford didn't deny him, they denied his offer of a scholarship fund for other black students which is somehow worse, like they think they're too good to even take his money.

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considering they still have the Rhodes scholarship and a statue of Rhodes...fuck them

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oh yikes that is, wow this whole time i thought he was denied a scholarship himself and thats why he turned to cambridge with the scholarship fund

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i love stormzy so much, but even for this he's had so much backlash from the white media and racists in the comments, and it makes me so sad.

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Didnt like 99% of Tory PMs go to oxford lmao

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Yep. Oxford + Cambridge. A ton of them went to Eton before that too. 

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Love this man!! Need to listen to more of his current stuff, I still have tracks from his first album on my playlist lol

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I was jammin to it a friend's house before all this and looked it up and was like, "Imma add this to my playlist when I get in!"



Narrator: She did not add it to her playlist when she got in

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I wish there was a version of own it without that goblin it fucking SLAPS

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You have such good taste

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Cant believe romelu is doing this for a country thats not even his native country wow respect



Hes always been incredibly well and outspoken and I am so impressed by him and how he uses voice

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Dead @ Romelu

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Damn, that's some money and some commitment.

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this is amazing

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I never thought use see the day where a Black British rapper/mc would have the power, money and leverage to do this. This is amazing.

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I love him.

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GENTILLY, France, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the last several years, there has been growing interest and much research in the role and importance of microbiota in maintaining health. The increase in probiotic prescriptions by healthcare professionals or the success of books such as "Gut" by Giulia Enders have proven the need for education and scientific data on gut microbiota for both healthcare professionals and individuals.

The Biocodex Microbiota Institute, the major international platform housing information based on scientific literature on human microbiota, and the World Gastroenterology Organization, a federation of over 100 member societies and four regional associations of gastroenterology share the same goal of educating HCPs and individuals on gut microbiota. To mutualize and deepen their efforts to raise awareness around gut microbiota, they've announced the signing of a partnership.

The two partners will implement different initiatives throughout 2020 including dedicated sessions during special events such as the WGO congress in December. Scientific content will be available on the respective newsletters (e-WGN & Microbiota) and social media channels.

"At Biocodex, we have built our reputation as a pioneer and leader in the world of human microbiota, driven by scientific rigor. We are delighted that our scientific expertise is recognized by the WGO, an organization striving to improve the standards in training, education, and the practice of Gastroenterology. Together, we will increase our efforts toward growing awareness around gut microbiota so as to create valuable assets in this field," declares Murielle Escalmel, Corporate Scientific Communication Director- Global Operations/Medical.

"This partnership will clearly help us to raise our position as the global guardian of digestive health. We are excited to partner with the Biocodex Microbiota Institute, a best-in-class data platform as their deep expertise will be invaluable to WGO's continued commitment in the field. Our trainings, public awareness campaigns will sure be scaled up to reach a large number of people across the globe," concludes Pr Naima Lahbabi-Amran, President of the WGO

About Biocodex Microbiota Institute

The Biocodex Microbiota Institute offers the first major international platform to house data on human microbiota. Over recent years, there has been growing interest in and a great deal of research into the role and importance of microbiota in maintaining health. Given its background and expertise, Biocodex has chosen, through Biocodex Microbiota Institute, to lay the foundations for a vast network of scientifically rigorous data on microbiota, where patients and health professionals can learn about crucial advances in this field. The company has, over 60 years, built a dual reputation as a pioneer and leader in the field of human microbiota. The Biocodex Microbiota Institute brings together all current knowledge and constantly collects new data on microbiota. It then shares the information regularly via its communication tools and social media. As an important player in the health industry, Biocodex Microbiota Institute is proud to offer, a source of information that meets the needs of all.

About the WGO

The World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) is a federation comprised of 115 national gastroenterology related societies representing over 50,000 individuals worldwide. WGO focused on the improvement of standards in training, education, and the practice of gastroenterology, hepatology and other related disciplines worldwide, with a focus on serving low-resource nations.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1169502/Biocodex_Microbiota_Institute_Logo.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1178723/World_Gastroenterology_Organization_Logo.jpg

CONTACT: Heloise Sintes, heloise.sintes@wellcom.fr
NASCAR announced yesterday that they are banning Confederate flags after Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr., NASCAR's only black driver, called for action in the wake of the George Floyd protests.

Said Wallace, "We shouldn't have anybody feeling uncomfortable. Inclusion is what we're trying to accomplish here, unity." Wallace then acknowledged that while many people claim that the Confederate flag is about heritage, "to a lot of people it's a sign of hate."

Now to an alien observing Earth from a distant world, it might seem odd how a protest about police brutality could lead to a race-car circuit banning a flag that was used in a war 150 years ago. But as humans who live on this planet, we can all obviously see how these things are interconnected under the umbrella of racism against Black People. That NASCAR is considered by many to be a southern sport, and that the Civil War was a battle between the North and the South over the right to keep slaves further entangles this issue. So while some fans might be whining because they view NASCAR's decision to bar the Confederate flag as a sign of solidarity with protesters (it is), they should also be aware of something.
Right now, the five bestselling bottles of wine in Ontario right now are J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon from California, Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio from Italy, Apothic Red from California, and Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon from California. One of these wines may even be your tried and true. But its always nice to have options. So today Im revealing a happy alternative to each thats similar, delicious, and may even save you a few bucks.

The most popular wine in the province right now is J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet from California (LCBO 656561 $23.95). It topped $21M in sales in the past 12 months. And its decent wine. Those who like it probably appreciate its dry classicism. Its not a glossy-tasting sunshine-in-the-glass hit of wild berry fruit but rather a bit more restrained and subtle with a bit of texture. And a smart alternative just hit shelves in Ontario.

The 2018 Trinity Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon from California (LCBO 15761 $17.95) tastes quite similar and saves you six bucks. This brand new listing at the LCBO starts with the quiet perfume of blackcurrant and violet then leads to a bright, dry wash of cassis with discreet smoky-spicy-savory undertones. Each sip is supple yet properly structured with that easy-drinking, medium-bodied weight. Great find. Score: 92

If Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand (LCBO 35386 $19.95) is your idea of a good time, youre not alone. More than $19M worth of that wine was sold in the past year at the LCBO. But for Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc under $20, I tend to prefer the less grassy-tasting 2019 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc (LCBO 308288 $19.95). Im also partial to the elegant simplicity of its label.

True to Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, the 2019 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc is aromatic but the nose is all about the intriguing fragrance of jalapeno before the full-throttle attack speeds across the palate unravelling with dry, vivid notes of pink grapefruit, crushed salt, lime zest, and jalapeno (without the heat, of course) that tastes polished to a high sheen. Then, each sip tapers off and leaves the palate well-seasoned with salt and lime. Such a pleasure to drink. Score: 93

If youre all about that crisp, chilled glass of Santa Margherita Valdadige Pinot Grigio from Trentino, Italy (LCBO 106450 $19.95) $14M of which was sold in Ontario in the past 12 months  give the 2018 Ruffino Orvieto Classico DOC from Umbria, Italy a try (LCBO 31062 $12.95). Like the Pinot Grigio, this light, bright white delivers immediate refreshment. Its breezy aromas of citrus and stone draw you toward a brisk but poised palate. Flavours seem sheer and shiny as they suggest cooked apple, cool slate, white flowers and almonds. Theres even a persistent little finish. Good value. Score: 92

Apothic Red from California (LCBO 234369 $16.95) clocked more than $12M in sales in Ontario in the past year making it the fourth most popular wine in Ontario. This big, sweet-centred red is wildly popular with those who like this sun-drenched style. If thats you, heres news you can use: In March, Apothic launched 2018 Apothic Cabernet Sauvignon also from California (LCBO 14130 $16.95), and its sure to appeal to lovers of Apothic Red. The new Cabernet Sauvignon offers all the full-bodied richness of its popular Red but is slightly drier and more serious tasting. So it seems a slight step up in sophistication but doesnt cost a penny more. Those who like it will like it a lot. Score: 88

Of course, Apothic Red is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Zinfandel. For an alternative from those same varieties also from California, grab a bottle of 2018 Three Thieves Red Wine Blend (LCBO 13687 $16.95). Its a total steal and brand new to Ontario this month.

Although its technically drier than Apothic Red, 2018 Three Thieves Red Wine Blend still tastes ripe, smooth, and full of fruit and is sure to appeal to newbies and more seasoned wine drinkers alike. Each sip starts with muted aromas of black forest fruit that pave the way to a juicy entry that tastes pure and unfolds slowly with suggestions of espresso, blackcurrant liqueur, bittersweet chocolate, and a touch of toasted clove and vanilla that persist on the finish. Well-made, stylish wine at a reasonable price sure to up your wine game. Score: 94

The fifth most popular wine in Ontario right now is Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon from California (LCBO 461053 $17.95 till June 21, Reg. $19.95), which also sold more than $12M in the last 12 months. This fruit-driven red is delicious. But so is the slightly less expensive and similar-tasting 2017 Ultimate Longshot Cabernet Sauvignon from California (LCBO 633347 $16.00).

The 2018 Ultimate Longshot Cabernet Sauvignon starts with subdued aromas of cola and cassis before the sleek, satiny entry fans out with cherries, blackcurrant, warm wood, cola and cassis. This dry-tasting, cashmere-textured wine with a touch of black olive goodness on the finish offers instant pleasure  so not a long-shot after all. Score: 92

So there you have it. Options.
This isn't an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know it's time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.

For people who don't know: last December I tweeted my support for Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who'd lost her job for what were deemed 'transphobic' tweets. She took her case to an employment tribunal, asking the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected in law. Judge Tayler ruled that it wasn't.

My interest in trans issues pre-dated Maya's case by almost two years, during which I followed the debate around the concept of gender identity closely. I've met trans people, and read sundry books, blogs and articles by trans people, gender specialists, intersex people, psychologists, safeguarding experts, social workers and doctors, and followed the discourse online and in traditional media.

On one level, my interest in this issue has been professional, because I'm writing a crime series, set in the present day, and my fictional female detective is of an age to be interested in, and affected by, these issues herself, but on another, it's intensely personal, as I'm about to explain.

JK Rowling opened up about a 'serious domestic assault' she suffered in her 20s in a blog post shared last night

Ms Rowling made her astonishing revelations, describing herself as 'a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor' in a 3,663 word essay posted on her personal website on Wednesday

All the time I've been researching and learning, accusations and threats from trans activists have been bubbling in my Twitter timeline. This was initially triggered by a 'like'. When I started taking an interest in gender identity and transgender matters, I began screenshotting comments that interested me, as a way of reminding myself what I might want to research later.

On one occasion, I absent-mindedly 'liked' instead of screenshotting. That single 'like' was deemed evidence of wrongthink, and a persistent low level of harassment began.

Months later, I compounded my accidental 'like' crime by following Magdalen Burns on Twitter. Magdalen was an immensely brave young feminist and lesbian who was dying of an aggressive brain tumour. I followed her because I wanted to contact her directly, which I succeeded in doing.

However, as Magdalen was a great believer in the importance of biological sex, and didn't believe lesbians should be called bigots for not dating trans women with penises, dots were joined in the heads of twitter trans activists, and the level of social media abuse increased.

I mention all this only to explain that I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called c*** and b***h and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me he'd composted them.

What I didn't expect in the aftermath of my cancellation was the avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive.

They came from a cross-section of kind, empathetic and intelligent people, some of them working in fields dealing with gender dysphoria and trans people, who're all deeply concerned about the way a socio-political concept is influencing politics, medical practice and safeguarding.

The author revealed she was in a 'violent' first marriage to Portuguese journalism student Jorge Arantes. Pictured: The former couple with their daughter Jessica, who is now 26

Pictured: JK Rowling at the opening of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway in 2018

They're worried about the dangers to young people, gay people and about the erosion of women's and girl's rights. Above all, they're worried about a climate of fear that serves nobody  least of all trans youth  well.

I'd stepped back from Twitter for many months both before and after tweeting support for Maya, because I knew it was doing nothing good for my mental health. I only returned because I wanted to share a free children's book during the pandemic.

Immediately, activists who clearly believe themselves to be good, kind and progressive people swarmed back into my timeline, assuming a right to police my speech, accuse me of hatred, call me misogynistic slurs and, above all  as every woman involved in this debate will know  TERF.

If you didn't already know  and why should you?  'TERF' is an acronym coined by trans activists, which stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. In practice, a huge and diverse cross-section of women are currently being called TERFs and the vast majority have never been radical feminists.

Examples of so-called TERFs range from the mother of a gay child who was afraid their child wanted to transition to escape homophobic bullying, to a hitherto totally unfeminist older lady who's vowed never to visit Marks & Spencer again because they're allowing any man who says they identify as a woman into the women's changing rooms.

Ironically, radical feminists aren't even trans-exclusionary  they include trans men in their feminism, because they were born women.

But accusations of TERFery have been sufficient to intimidate many people, institutions and organisations I once admired, who're cowering before the tactics of the playground. 'They'll call us transphobic!' 'They'll say I hate trans people!' What next, they'll say you've got fleas? Speaking as a biological woman, a lot of people in positions of power really need to grow a pair (which is doubtless literally possible, according to the kind of people who argue that clownfish prove humans aren't a dimorphic species).

So why am I doing this? Why speak up? Why not quietly do my research and keep my head down?

Well, I've got five reasons for being worried about the new trans activism, and deciding I need to speak up.

The Harry Potter author opened up after facing a barrage of criticism for questioning the phrase 'people who menstruate'. In tweet on Saturday, Ms Rowling wrote: 'I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?'

Firstly, I have a charitable trust that focuses on alleviating social deprivation in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on women and children. Among other things, my trust supports projects for female prisoners and for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. I also fund medical research into MS, a disease that behaves very differently in men and women.

It's been clear to me for a while that the new trans activism is having (or is likely to have, if all its demands are met) a significant impact on many of the causes I support, because it's pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender.

The second reason is that I'm an ex-teacher and the founder of a children's charity, which gives me an interest in both education and safeguarding. Like many others, I have deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement is having on both.

The third is that, as a much-banned author, I'm interested in freedom of speech and have publicly defended it, even unto Donald Trump.

The fourth is where things start to get truly personal. I'm concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility.

Some say they decided to transition after realising they were same-sex attracted, and that transitioning was partly driven by homophobia, either in society or in their families.

Her remarks led to a backlash from stars including Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter in the film franchise of the series, and Eddie Redmayne, who stars in Rowling's Fantastic Beasts films

Radcliffe responded to Ms Rowling in an article for The Trevor Project, a US-based organisation supporting focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth

Most people probably aren't aware  I certainly wasn't, until I started researching this issue properly  that ten years ago, the majority of people wanting to transition to the opposite sex were male.

That ratio has now reversed. The UK has experienced a 4400 per cent increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.

The same phenomenon has been seen in the US. In 2018, American physician and researcher Lisa Littman set out to explore it. In an interview, she said:

'Parents online were describing a very unusual pattern of transgender-identification where multiple friends and even entire friend groups became transgender-identified at the same time. I would have been remiss had I not considered social contagion and peer influences as potential factors.'

Littman mentioned Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram and YouTube as contributing factors to Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, where she believes that in the realm of transgender identification 'youth have created particularly insular echo chambers.'

Her paper caused a furore. She was accused of bias and of spreading misinformation about transgender people, subjected to a tsunami of abuse and a concerted campaign to discredit both her and her work. The journal took the paper offline and re-reviewed it before republishing it.

However, her career took a similar hit to that suffered by Maya Forstater. Lisa Littman had dared challenge one of the central tenets of trans activism, which is that a person's gender identity is innate, like sexual orientation. Nobody, the activists insisted, could ever be persuaded into being trans.

The argument of many current trans activists is that if you don't let a gender dysphoric teenager transition, they will kill themselves. In an article explaining why he resigned from the Tavistock (an NHS gender clinic in England) psychiatrist Marcus Evans stated that claims that children will kill themselves if not permitted to transition do not 'align substantially with any robust data or studies in this area. Nor do they align with the cases I have encountered over decades as a psychotherapist.'

The writings of young trans men reveal a group of notably sensitive and clever people. The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria I've read, with their insightful descriptions of anxiety, dissociation, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, the more I've wondered whether, if I'd been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition.

Speaking out: The wordsmith seemingly denied claims of transphobia, before retweeting a fan's comment which slammed 'extremists' for 'insisting biological sex is an illusion'

The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. I struggled with severe OCD as a teenager. If I'd found community and sympathy online that I couldn't find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he'd have preferred.

When I read about the theory of gender identity, I remember how mentally sexless I felt in youth. I remember Colette's description of herself as a 'mental hermaphrodite' and Simone de Beauvoir's words: 'It is perfectly natural for the future woman to feel indignant at the limitations posed upon her by her sex. The real question is not why she should reject them: the problem is rather to understand why she accepts them.'

As I didn't have a realistic possibility of becoming a man back in the 1980s, it had to be books and music that got me through both my mental health issues and the sexualised scrutiny and judgement that sets so many girls to war against their bodies in their teens.

Fortunately for me, I found my own sense of otherness, and my ambivalence about being a woman, reflected in the work of female writers and musicians who reassured me that, in spite of everything a sexist world tries to throw at the female-bodied, it's fine not to feel pink, frilly and compliant inside your own head; it's OK to feel confused, dark, both sexual and non-sexual, unsure of what or who you are.

I want to be very clear here: I know transition will be a solution for some gender dysphoric people, although I'm also aware through extensive research that studies have consistently shown that between 60-90 per cent of gender dysphoric teens will grow out of their dysphoria. Again and again I've been told to 'just meet some trans people.' I have: in addition to a few younger people, who were all adorable, I happen to know a self-described transsexual woman who's older than I am and wonderful.

A timeline of the controversy Saturday, June 6 - Rowling's speaks out against use of 'people who menstruate' phrase Rowling retweets an opinion article published on website Devex which bore the headline, 'Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate'. Above the article, she slammed the use of the phrase, which was used to include transgender men who were born women and are still capable of menstruating. She wrote: 'I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?' Her tweet immediately provoked a barrage of criticism from her LGBTQ followers. The author then responded to the criticism by retweeting a gay fan's comment which slammed 'extremists' for 'insisting biological sex is an illusion'. Ms Rowling added: 'If sex isn't real, there's no same-sex attraction. 'If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. 'I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn't hate to speak the truth.' Sunday, June 7 - Ms Rowling responds to critics As the criticism continued, Ms Rowling spoke out again by adding to the same Twitter thread. She wrote: 'The idea that women like me, whove been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because theyre vulnerable in the same way as women - ie, to male violence - hate trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences - is a nonsense.' 'I respect every trans persons right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. Id march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe its hateful to say so.' Tuesday, June 9 - Daniel Radcliffe speaks out against Ms Rowling's comments Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe penned an opinion piece for The Trevor Project which criticised Rowling. He wrote: 'To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you'. He added that 'transgender women are women' and said people should not view his words as evidence of 'infighting' between himself and Ms Rowling. Wednesday, June 10 - Eddie Redmayne adds to the criticism Fantastic Beast And Where To Find Them star, 38, Eddie Redmayne joined in the chorus of critics towards Rowling. In a statement released to Variety, Eddie responded: 'As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community... 'I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo's comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.' Other stars, including Jameela Jamil and Jonathan Van Ness also rounded on the author. Wednesday, June 10 - Ms Rowling reveals she was sexually assaulted and details her 'violent' first marriage. Advertisement

Although she's open about her past as a gay man, I've always found it hard to think of her as anything other than a woman, and I believe (and certainly hope) she's completely happy to have transitioned. Being older, though, she went through a long and rigorous process of evaluation, psychotherapy and staged transformation.

The current explosion of trans activism is urging a removal of almost all the robust systems through which candidates for sex reassignment were once required to pass. A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law. Many people aren't aware of this.

We're living through the most misogynistic period I've experienced. Back in the 80s, I imagined that my future daughters, should I have any, would have it far better than I ever did, but between the backlash against feminism and a porn-saturated online culture, I believe things have got significantly worse for girls. Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now.

From the leader of the free world's long history of sexual assault accusations and his proud boast of 'grabbing them by the pussy', to the incel ('involuntarily celibate') movement that rages against women who won't give them sex, to the trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble. Everywhere, women are being told to shut up and sit down, or else.

I've read all the arguments about femaleness not residing in the sexed body, and the assertions that biological women don't have common experiences, and I find them, too, deeply misogynistic and regressive. It's also clear that one of the objectives of denying the importance of sex is to erode what some seem to see as the cruelly segregationist idea of women having their own biological realities or  just as threatening  unifying realities that make them a cohesive political class.

The hundreds of emails I've received in the last few days prove this erosion concerns many others just as much. It isn't enough for women to be trans allies. Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves.

But, as many women have said before me, 'woman' is not a costume. 'Woman' is not an idea in a man's head. 'Woman' is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as progressive.

Moreover, the 'inclusive' language that calls female people 'menstruators' and 'people with vulvas' strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning. I understand why trans activists consider this language to be appropriate and kind, but for those of us who've had degrading slurs spat at us by violent men, it's not neutral, it's hostile and alienating.

Which brings me to the fifth reason I'm deeply concerned about the consequences of the current trans activism.

I've been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor. This isn't because I'm ashamed those things happened to me, but because they're traumatic to revisit and remember. I also feel protective of my daughter from my first marriage.

I didn't want to claim sole ownership of a story that belongs to her, too. However, a short while ago, I asked her how she'd feel if I were publicly honest about that part of my life, and she encouraged me to go ahead.

I'm mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who've been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces.

I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I'm now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be.

However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don't disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you've made. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke  and even I know it's funny  but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven't heard them approaching.

If you could come inside my head and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, you'd find solidarity and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on earth, because I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker.

I believe the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable for all the reasons I've outlined. Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, they're most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of colour, are at particular risk. Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who've been abused by men.

So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman  and, as I've said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones  then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.

On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish government is proceeding with its controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to 'become a woman' is to say he's one. To use a very contemporary word, I was 'triggered'.

Fantastic Beast And Where To Find Them star Eddie Redmayne, 38, joined in the chorus of critics towards the author

Emma Watson, who played Hermione in the Harry Potter films, also spoke out in support of transgender people in a series of tweets on Wednesday

Ground down by the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media, when I was only there to give children feedback about pictures they'd drawn for my book under lockdown, I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head, as memories of a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties recurred on a loop.

That assault happened at a time and in a space where I was vulnerable, and a man capitalised on an opportunity. I couldn't shut out those memories and I was finding it hard to contain my anger and disappointment about the way I believe my government is playing fast and loose with womens and girls' safety.

Late on Saturday evening, scrolling through children's pictures before I went to bed, I forgot the first rule of Twitter  never, ever expect a nuanced conversation  and reacted to what I felt was degrading language about women. I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been paying the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a c***, a b***h, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I'd understand.

It would be so much easier to tweet the approved hashtags  because of course trans rights are human rights and of course trans lives matter  scoop up the woke cookies and bask in a virtue-signalling afterglow. There's joy, relief and safety in conformity. As Simone de Beauvoir also wrote, ' without a doubt it is more comfortable to endure blind bondage than to work for one's liberation; the dead, too, are better suited to the earth than the living.'

Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists; I know this because so many have got in touch with me to tell their stories. They're afraid of doxxing, of losing their jobs or their livelihoods, and of violence.

But endlessly unpleasant as its constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode 'woman' as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.

I stand alongside the brave women and men, gay, straight and trans, who're standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the rights and safety of some of the most vulnerable in our society: young gay kids, fragile teenagers, and women who're reliant on and wish to retain their single sex spaces.

Polls show those women are in the vast majority, and exclude only those privileged or lucky enough never to have come up against male violence or sexual assault, and who've never troubled to educate themselves on how prevalent it is.

The one thing that gives me hope is that the women who can protest and organise, are doing so, and they have some truly decent men and trans people alongside them. Political parties seeking to appease the loudest voices in this debate are ignoring women's concerns at their peril.

In the UK, women are reaching out to each other across party lines, concerned about the erosion of their hard-won rights and widespread intimidation. None of the gender critical women I've talked to hates trans people; on the contrary.

Many of them became interested in this issue in the first place out of concern for trans youth, and they're hugely sympathetic towards trans adults who simply want to live their lives, but who're facing a backlash for a brand of activism they don't endorse.

The supreme irony is that the attempt to silence women with the word 'TERF' may have pushed more young women towards radical feminism than the movement's seen in decades.

The last thing I want to say is this. I haven't written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me, not even a teeny-weeny one. I'm extraordinarily fortunate; I'm a survivor, certainly not a victim. I've only mentioned my past because, like every other human being on this planet, I have a complex backstory, which shapes my fears, my interests and my opinions. I never forget that inner complexity when I'm creating a fictional character and I certainly never forget it when it comes to trans people.

All I'm asking  all I want  is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse.
DUBLIN, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Mechanical Control Cables Market Analysis 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Mechanical Control Cables market is expected to reach $13.96 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 6.6% during 2018 to 2026. Mechanical control cables are obtainable in push-pull applications. By means of these cables, compression pushes motion in single way as tension pulls it in the other direction. Mechanical control cables that employ a push-pull action can be used as replacements in hydraulic, pneumatic, and electrical control systems. By means of pull-pull mechanical control cables, tension applies motion in one direction while spring-actuation returns the control back to its starting point. These types of mechanical control cables are used in applications wherever transmission forces need tension.



Factors such as rising air passenger traffic, growing demand for land vehicles and mounting demand for military vessels are driving the market growth. Though, presence backlog of aircraft deliveries is restraining the market. Advance military modernization plans are the opportunity for the Mechanical Control Cables market.



Based on type, push-pull segment is anticipated to grow at the significant rate during the forecast period, due to rising use in applications which activate the predefined motion, i.e., frontward and backwards motion in a particular direction. Such cables are used mainly in the flight control and landing gear systems of an aircraft. The rising demand for commercial air travel, especially from emerging economies of Asia Pacific, is fueling the demand for new commercial aircraft.



The key vendors mentioned are HI-LEX, Cablecraft Motion Controls, Dongguan SumHo Control cable Co., Ltd, Grand Rapids Controls, Kongsberg , Kuster Holding, Minda, Ningbo Auto Cable Controls Co., Ltd, Ningbo Gaofa Automotive Control System Co. LTD, Orscheln Products , Sila Group, Suprajit, Thai Steel Cable, Triumph Group and Wescon Controls.



Key Questions Answered in this Report:

How this market evolved since the year 2016

Market size estimations, forecasts and CAGR for all the segments presented in the scope

Key Market Developments and financials of the key players

Opportunity Analysis for the new entrants

SWOT Analysis of the key players

Fastest growing markets analysed during the forecast period

Key Topics Covered:



1 Market Synopsis



2 Research Outline

2.1 Research Snapshot

2.2 Research Methodology

2.3 Research Sources

2.3.1 Primary Research Sources

2.3.2 Secondary Research Sources



3 Market Dynamics

3.1 Drivers

3.2 Restraints



4 Market Environment

4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

4.3 Threat of substitutes

4.4 Threat of new entrants

4.5 Competitive rivalry



5 Global Mechanical Control Cables Market, By Type

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Pull-pull

5.3 Push-pull



6 Global Mechanical Control Cables Market, By Platform

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Aerial

6.3 Marine

6.4 Land

6.5 Material



7 Global Mechanical Control Cables Market, By Application

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Land

7.3 Marine

7.4 Aerial

7.5 Non-automotive

7.6 Machinery

7.7 Automotive



8 Global Mechanical Control Cables Market, By End User

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Defense

8.3 Non-aero Military

8.4 Commercial



9 Global Mechanical Control Cables Market, By Geography

9.1 Introduction

9.2 North America

9.3 Europe

9.4 Asia Pacific

9.5 South America

9.6 Middle East & Africa



10 Strategic Benchmarking



11 Vendors Landscape

11.1 HI-LEX

11.2 Cablecraft Motion Controls

11.3 Dongguan SumHo Control cable Co., Ltd

11.4 Grand Rapids Controls

11.5 Kongsberg

11.6 Kuster Holding

11.7 Minda

11.8 Ningbo Auto Cable Controls Co., Ltd

11.9 Ningbo Gaofa Automotive Control System Co. LTD

11.10 Orscheln Products

11.11 Sila Group

11.12 Suprajit

11.13 Thai Steel Cable

11.14 Triumph Group

11.15 Wescon Controls



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dz4m7k

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

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Former President John Mahama and his party are eagerly awaiting the verdict of the Supreme Court about the fate of the old voters' identification card. The anxiety is being shared by others anyway.

Going to court for adjudication on thorny electoral matters is good for which the National Democratic Congress (NDC) should be commended in this regard provided this is shrouded in total sincerity.

What is not good because it is uncivil is the tendency to beat war drums and threaten disobedience when there are issues to be resolved as they simultaneously head for the courts.

When the leadership of the party with the tacit approval of the former President is encouraging its supporters to undermine the registration process, it loses the reverence of right-thinking Ghanaians.

Orderliness is ensured in societies by the existence of the rule of law and the total reverence for state institutions by all citizens.

Having turned to the courts, the party shouldn't have sent emissaries to the hinterland to go and spew lies with the intention of creating fear and panic among the good citizens of this country ahead of the commencement of the registration exercise.

The former President and his team are cutting the picture of a befuddled gang of politicians who do not have much confidence in the judiciary hence their two-pronged approach to their electoral agenda.

The former President should have told us what his criteria for credible polls are. We would, for instance, want to know whether credible elections are those hinged upon a voters' register, with mostly Amadu Sule tampered details. Charlotte Osei told Ghanaians this when they washed their dirty linens in public.

Electoral registers are not compiled once as the NDC seeks to impress upon Ghanaians, because the roll has been replaced multiple times in the political life of the country.

The many reforms which have enhanced the integrity of our electoral process were prompted by calls which came about with the NDC kicking against such changes anyway.

This time round, the EC is leading the charge for the enhancement of the electoral process using the latest technology to generate a new roll.

We do not want to believe that the former President would rather we returned to the old days of opaque ballot boxes and pictureless voters' card.

The old order is being changed not only because we want to be abreast of modern trends but also because there is the need to deliver free and fair elections as the former President claims he wants.

Of course, the former President has the right to reject a flawed electoral process. With no flawed process in sight we can assure him that he should be rest assured that the coast is clear for the most credible polls in the annals of the country polls.

The former President wants to be mischievous about the elections in which he is showing signs of being the underdog because most Ghanaians are going to disapprove of him hence his remarks during the party activity in which he was, of course, the star performer.

Source: Daily Guide
A Maori woman claims she was racially abused and physically assaulted after asking a dog walker to put her pet on a lead.

Ngahina Hohaia was at Owairaka in Mt Albert, New Zealand when she spotted a woman leaving a tent with her dog off leash.

The woman and the animal walked in front of Ms Hohaia's car when she called out to them.

'You need to keep a hold of your dog,' Ms Hohaia said she told the woman, Stuff reported.

The woman then turned around and told her, 'Shut up you black b****, you disgraceful idiots who go around with those mokos on your face.'

Ngahina Hohaia was at Owairaka in Mt Albert, New Zealand when she spotted a woman leaving a tent with her dog off the leash and into the car park (pictured)

Ms Hohaia immediately pulled out her phone to record the woman prompting her to stop her verbal tirade.

Moments later, the woman lunged at Ms Hohaia and physically attacked her leaving her upset and terrified.

'She wouldn't continue with the racial absue while I had my phone out, then she stepped towards me, she rushed towards me and she hit me,' Ms Hohaia told TNVZ.

'It was really upsetting for me. There were other people around. There were other people in the car park.

'There were people at the save the trees campaign tent, and there was no hesitation in her aggression towards me.

'I was surprised at that there was no hesitation from her in the way she treated me and how easily she said those things and how easily those actions came from her.'

CCTV of the incident has been handed over to police who are investigated the attack on Ms Hohaia.
All the four representatives are IDPs and do not live in Russia-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine now.

The Ukrainian side has informed other participants in Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) talks in Minsk that advisers to the Ukrainian delegation who represent the so-called certain (Russia-occupied) areas in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, will take part in TCG subgroups' meetings on a regular basis.

Donbas residents have recently joined the Ukrainian envoys to the TCG for the first time to hold consultations under the Minsk agreements, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Office said.

Read alsoTwo IDP journalists to take part in Donbas settlement talks

In particular, Ukrainian journalists Denys Kazansky and Sergiy Garmash acted on behalf of the certain areas of Donetsk region, while Chairman of NGO Luhanske Zemliatstvo (Luhansk Community) Vadym Goran and doctor Kostiantyn Libster represented the certain areas of Luhansk region.

The Minsk agreements on the settlement of the Donbas crisis foresee that Kyiv should coordinate particular issues, namely local elections, with representatives of the certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The agreements do not stipulate that these should be members of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic." The Ukrainian authorities consider internally displaced persons (IDPs) to be eligible to represent Donetsk and Luhansk at the Minsk talks.

All the four representatives are IDPs and do not live in Russia-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine now. They were invited by the Ukrainian side to join the Minsk talks, where they stressed the need that parameters of the peace settlement should be agreed with those who voice interests of over 1.5 million IDPs forced to flee from the Donbas war.
President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized sanctions against any official at the International Criminal Court who investigates US troops, ramping up pressure to stop its case into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

In an executive order, Trump said the United States would block US property and assets of anyone from The Hague-based tribunal involved in probing or prosecuting US troops.

We cannot  we will not  stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement to reporters.

I have a message to many close allies around the world  your people could be next, especially those from NATO countries who fought terrorism in Afghanistan right alongside of us.

Attorney General Bill Barr alleged without giving detail that Russia and other adversaries of the United States have been manipulating the court.

Using Trumps America First language, Barr said that the administration was trying to bring accountability to a global body.

This institution has become, in practice, little more than a political tool employed by unaccountable international elites, he said.

 Contempt for rule of law 

Human Rights Watch said that Trumps order demonstrates contempt for the global rule of law.

This assault on the ICC is an effort to block victims of serious crimes whether in Afghanistan, Israel or Palestine from seeing justice, said the groups Washington director, Andrea Prasow.

Countries that support international justice should publicly oppose this blatant attempt at obstruction, she said.

Trumps move was hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of his closest allies, who has been angered by the ICCs moves  strongly opposed by Washington  to probe alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories.

In a reference to Israeli settlements, Netanyahu accused the court of fabricating accusations that Jews living in their historical homeland constitutes a war crime.

This is ridiculous. Shame on them, Netanyahu told reporters.

Meanwhile, the European Unions foreign policy chief Josep Borrell voiced serious concern and said the court must be respected and supported by all nations.

Trump has been tearing down global institutions he sees as hindering his administrations interests, recently ordering a pullout from the World Health Organization over its coronavirus response.

In The Hague, a spokesperson said the court was aware of the announcement from Washington and would react after examining it.

 Long-running US anger 

The Trump administration has been livid over the International Criminal Courts investigation into atrocities in Afghanistan, Americas longest-running war.

The ICC is a failed institution. The court is ineffective, non-accountable and is a politically motivated bureaucracy, said Robert OBrien, Trumps national security advisor.

The administration last year revoked the US visa of the courts chief prosecutor, Gambian-born Fatou Bensouda, to demand that she end the Afghanistan probe.

But judges in March said the investigation could go ahead, overturning an initial rejection of Bensoudas request.

Under Trumps order on Thursday, visa restrictions will be expanded to any court official involved in investigations into US forces.

The United States argues that it has its own procedures in place to investigate accusations against troops.

We are committed to uncovering, and if possible holding people accountable, for their wrongdoing  any wrongdoing, Barr said.

Trump, however, used his executive powers last year to clear three military members over war crimes, including in Afghanistan.

Among them was Eddie Gallagher, who had been convicted by a military tribunal of stabbing to death with a hunting knife a prisoner of war from the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Gallagher had become a cause celebre among US conservatives, although Trumps action troubled some in the US military.

The International Criminal Court was set up in 2002 with a mission to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

But it immediately ran into opposition from Washington, where the then administration of George W. Bush actively encouraged countries to shun the court.

Former president Barack Obama took a more cooperative approach with the court but the United States remained outside of it.

Faced with US criticism, the court has focused its efforts on Africa. Pompeo mocked the court for securing few convictions and for judges past calls for pay hikes.

This record of botched prosecutions and poor judgment casts grave doubt on the courts ability to function at the most basic level, he said.
The mayor of the Arctic city of Norilsk has been charged with negligence over his response to a spill that dumped thousands of tons of diesel fuel into local waterways in late May, Russian investigators say.



In a statement on June 11, Russia's Investigative Committee accused Rinat Akhmetchin of failing to coordinate and organize emergency measures to contain and control fallout from the leakage.



The disaster occurred on May 29, when a holding tank at a thermal power plant near the industrial city of Norilsk spilled at least 20,000 tons of diesel fuel into the soil, two rivers, and a downstream lake.



The power plant is owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, the world's leading nickel and palladium producer, which said the leak was caused when pillars supporting a storage tank sank due to thawing permafrost soil.



The Prosecutor-General's Office has also issued preliminary findings revealing that sagging ground helped trigger the disaster.



The Investigative Committee did not say whether Akhmetchin had been arrested.



The mayor, who has headed Norilsk since 2017, faces up to six months in prison if convicted.



The charges come a day after investigators arrested three managers at the power station on suspicion of violating environmental-protection rules.



The three are suspected of having continued to use an unsafe fuel-storage tank that had needed repairs since 2018.



Another manager at the facility was arrested and charged earlier this month.

State Of Emergency



President Vladimir Putin ordered a state of emergency after the extent of the spill became known and Norilsk Nickel has since promised to pay for the costs of the cleanup, estimated at 10 billion rubles ($145 million).

Norilsk Nickel is owned by Russias richest man, Vladimir Potanin. The company denies allegations that management hushed up and downplayed the scale of the disaster for at least two days after the accident.



The company has said that the fuel-storage tank was repaired in 2017 and 2018, after which it went through a safety audit.



Regional officials say oil booms and other cleanup operations have failed to prevent all the spilled fuel and chemicals from flowing from the Daldykan and Ambarnaya rivers into Lake Pyasino.



Separately, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on June 10 that 14 countries, including the United States, have provided satellite data on the spill to aid in the response.

The ecological disaster came as temperatures in Siberia were up to 10 degrees Celsius above average in May and were also higher than normal earlier in the year, leading to thawing permafrost.



Sixty five percent of Russia is covered by permafrost. Norilsk, an isolated Arctic city, is constructed on permafrost and its infrastructure is threatened by climate change.
The United States has hit the dire landmark of two million confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday amid easing of coronavirus restrictions across multiple states.

According to the Worldometer, the country now has over 2,066,401 confirmed cases, with the number of fatalities at 115,130. Though the number of new deaths has begun to curve downward, 21 states-including California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Washington, and Alaska-have seen a continuous rise in coronavirus cases, the New York Times reports.

The recent trends have led Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, to predict that an additional 100,000 people will die from the pandemic by September. In a statement released by CNN Health, Dr. Jha said refusing to re-impose lockdown policies will result in up to 1,000 deaths each day.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) previously predicted the country would see 143,000 deaths by June 27.

COVID-19 Surge

While states that were initially hit hard by the virus have shown improvements, others emerged as new hot spots. The surge in cases and hospitalizations have caused alarm among health officials.

In Arizona, COVID-19 cases increased 115 percent since the state eased its restrictions in mid-May, with an average of 1,000 new cases daily. The number of cases reached record-high, forcing medical care facilities to activate their emergency plans as their intensive care units reach maximum capacity.

A report by Banner Health, a major hospital system, showed a 400 percent increase in ventilated coronavirus patients in Arizona. As of Monday, more than 76 percent of all ICU bed spaces were occupied, leading the state health director to increase ICU capacity by 50 percent and suspend all elective surgeries.

A former Arizona health chief, Will Humble, also urged State Governor Doug Ducey to implement a field hospital or order another shelter-in-place order, said Reuters.

Texas has also reported a surge in hospitalizations on Monday. The state's health department dashboard showed 1,935 were recently admitted in medical institutions-a new record since May 5, which saw 1,888 new hospitalizations.

Florida has also seen a new surge, with more than 1,000 reported cases each day despite the drop in COVID-19 deaths.

Other states such as New Mexico and Utah posted a rise of 40 percent or higher in new cases the previous week.

Public health experts say authorities should not dismiss the surges as a result of more aggressive testing. Cellphone data suggest Americans are moving around at two-thirds of the level of what it was before the shutdown was ordered.

The outbreak is also worsening around the world. A statement from the World Health Organization claimed the pandemic is getting worse around the globe following an increase of 136,000 cases in a day-40,000 of which are reported by the United States and Brazil daily.

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'Why should the state and Centre fight?'

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, centre, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrive at Basirhat in the North 24 Parganas district to inspect the destruction caused by cyclone Amphan. Photograph: PTI Photo

"I have suggested to the chief minister several times that this ever-adversarial attitude towards the Centre is immensely hurtful to the welfare of the state and its people," West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar tells Ishita Ayan Dutt.

You were part of a joint aerial survey of Cyclone Amphan-affected areas recently. What is the extent of devastation?

The scale of devastation is such that has not been seen in the recent times.

Five districts, including Kolkata, have been severely impacted, while 11 others have been affected in varying degrees.

The evaluation of the actual scale of devastation, however, is being hampered due to inaccessibility and as the assessment is presently empirical.

Having said that, a ray of hope was perceptible, when in a wholesome departure to the earlier anti-Centre approach, the chief minister joined the prime minister and me for an aerial survey of the devastation and havoc unleashed by Amphan.

India is a federation of states.

Both the Centre and states are expected to work in harmony and tandem.

There is no scope of either having a confrontational stance.

Such an approach is antithetical to the spirit of the Constitution and the essence of democracy.

I have suggested to the chief minister several times, particularly amid COVID-19 outbreak, that this ever-adversarial attitude towards the Centre is immensely hurtful to the welfare of the state and its people.

Given the scale of devastation, do you think an interim assistance of Rs 1,000 crore is enough?

Prime Minister Modi made the visit at the earliest possible time after Amphan and announced an assistance of Rs 1,000 crore that had already reached the state.

This would be part of a relief package that would be announced after due evaluation by the state authorities and also the central teams that would be visiting the state soon.

The state is projecting a loss of more than Rs 1 trillion.

This figure may go up or down post evaluation.

Whatever be the evaluated figure, that will be the premise of assistance.

For efficiency and efficacy, benefit must reach the beneficiary directly.

That will be more impactful.

This was also the stand of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the 2009 cyclone.

IMAGE: Civil defence volunteers remove an uprooted tree in Burdwan after cyclone Amphan struck. Photograph: ANI Photo

What do you think of the state's level of preparedness in dealing with this cyclone?

The India Meteorological Department had issued warnings weeks ago.

From that perspective, the preparedness left much to be desired.

The enormity can be assessed that even Kolkata is suffering as never before, even after 10 days.

People of Kolkata, who were already under stress due to COVID-19, were without electricity, water, connectivity and essential services for more than a week.

This kind of frightening scenario could have been avoided had the state government focused more on the level of preparation by distancing itself from political rhetoric.

There was a mayhem during the restoration of services.

Our state is earthquake- and cyclone-prone and in that view, preparedness is expected to be in high gear, not the one that falls apart like nine pins.

The unfortunate stand of the state government to shift blame to another agency finds no takers.

The buck stops with the state government.

Electric poles, that should have been requisitioned before the landfall of Amphan, were ordered later.

Same is with other aspects.

Do you think the army should have been called in earlier?

Undoubtedly, the army should have been called soon after Amphan; the civic authorities were helpless virtually on all fronts.

There was an unseemly spectacle of blame game among the government, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and other agencies, while people were suffering untold woes.

The army, in a short span, acted in an exemplary manner and restored the confidence of the people.

As a matter of fact, it has motivated other agencies to work efficiently.

The situation is coming back to normal in Kolkata, but this can't happen by blaming others.

But the prime minister has appreciated the state government's efforts in dealing with the COVID-19 and the cyclone...

The prime minister did appreciate that Mamataji is doing a good job.

I too appreciate. She is in action mode. But I would not want a general to work like a soldier. No one can say anything about her working pattern.

She is extremely energetic and involved.

But then she has to take some tough questions.

What was the preparation 15 days prior to the cyclone? Why this blame game now?

Is there a possibility of change in the Centre-state relations?

Why should the state and Centre fight? Framers of the Constitution had never visualised so.

The state and the Centre have well-defined areas of working.

A confrontational stance can only harm the people.

There is no other state that is embroiled in so much of fighting with the Centre.

It is time for Mamata to reflect and affirmatively be in harmony with the Constitution.

All over the country, farmers are getting assistance under PM-Kisan Scheme.

But 7 million farmers in West Bengal have got nothing.

They would have otherwise received Rs 7,000 crore in total.

The only reason farmers have not got it is because the data has not been shared by the state.

My heart bleeds for the farmers.

This is a cruel joke on them.

Now, the suffering of the people of West Bengal is hurting me.

I have asked everyone not to repair anything in Raj Bhavan till Kolkata is back to normal.

I appeal to everyone in the country to help Bengal in its hour of need.

Bengal will rise again and then stand for India.

IMAGE: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar greets West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Photograph: Shyamal Maitra/ANI Photo

But is there a change in equation with you?

In my few meetings with Mamata, I have unequivocally conveyed that while I take counsel from all, I take command only from the Constitution.

I will work shoulder to shoulder with the state government for the welfare of the people.

The Constitution also prescribes duties that the chief minister has to perform as regards the governor.

She has been consistently in disregard of the same.

Such Constitutional distancing is an affront to the Constitution.

In a sense, going by the stance of the CM and bureaucracy, there is a breakdown of the Constitution.

She has so far not indicated to me any issue that the state has with the Centre.

Since the visit of the central teams, testing for Covid in West Bengal has gone up many times. Are you now satisfied with the state government's Covid management and data-sharing?

Much is to be done.

The situation continues to be worrisome.

The health services are not available for ordinary patients even in Kolkata.

Do you have a message for the Opposition parties in Bengal?

Opposition parties in the state have risen to the occasion during COVID-19 and pledged unqualified support to the government.

The chief minister's unfortunate statement that the Opposition parties are 'vultures in wait of dead bodies' has shocked all sane minds.

My persuasion to her to withdraw the statement has not fructified.

I have suggested to the chief minister several times to adopt an even-handed approach in dealing with political parties as this is no time to look at things from a political prism or dictate actions with an eye on the vote bank.

I have disapproved of the approach that on the one hand Opposition parties' movements are curbed, while on the other, the ruling party members have free run.

No one can countenance such quarantining of the political Opposition.

Production: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
American race car driver Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. said he's "really proud" of NASCAR for "stepping up" and banning the Confederate flag from all its events.

"I think this is the most crucial time," Wallace, 26, said in an interview on "Good Morning America" Thursday. "Time is of the essence right now in the world that we're in, in the nation that we're in, to create change and create unity and come together and really try to be more inclusive."

Wallace, the only black driver in the Cup Series, NASCAR's highest level, has been outspoken on racial issues in the sport and said he feels "very gracious" to have the support of fellow drivers who "are willing to stand up for what's right."

PHOTO: A Confederate flag flies in the infield before a NASCAR Xfinity auto race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C., Sept. 5, 2015. (Terry Renna/AP, FILE)

NASCAR announced the ban on Wednesday night, just one day after Wallace called for action from the racing league to officially remove the Confederate flag, which has a long history of being flown at races on camper trailers, RVs, coolers and even seen on hats of fans since the sport's inception.

MORE: Confederate flag officially banned by NASCAR at events

"That's a symbol of hate and it brings back so many bad memories," Wallace said. "There's no good that comes with that flag, and that's the message we're trying to get across."

PHOTO: NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace appears on 'Good Morning America,' June 11, 2020. (ABC News)

The move comes amid nationwide protests against racism and police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.

MORE: NASCAR driver Kurt Busch hails company for taking steps to safely resume racing

Wallace wore a "Black Lives Matter" shirt and his No. 43 car was emblazoned with a #BlackLivesMatter hashtag at Wednesday night's race at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.

"Last night was really special," he said. "I sincerely thought that was the biggest race of my career just with everything going on in the world and how we were standing up."

Story continues

PHOTO:A confederate flag flies in the infield as cars come out of Turn 1 during a NASCAR auto race at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala, Oct. 7, 2007. (Rob Carr/AP, FILE)

The flag, also known as "stars and bars," was used by the Confederacy after seceding from the Union in 1861 -- prompting the American Civil War -- in a bid to uphold slavery. Most arguments defending the flag, whether it be at sporting events or in state Capitols, have centered on it being about Southern pride and heritage as opposed to its Civil War ancestry.

NASCAR and all of its teams are headquartered in North Carolina. While the sport has spread to race tracks across the country, it has always held close ties to the South.

Some NASCAR fans have taken to social media to voice their anger over the ban, saying they will no longer attend races. Wallace said his message to them is: "It's not about you."

"This is about our brothers and sisters that are suffering," he added. "It's about a group of people that we are trying to bring together and make this world a better place for."

Bubba Wallace 'really proud' of NASCAR's ban on Confederate flags originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Recently the national security advisor to the administration said on a news program that he does not believe the U.S. has systemic racism in our police forces, only a few bad apples. Nothing to see here folks, so move along!

Systemic racism is everywhere in our country, not just in our policy for policing. Anyone of color has faced systemic racism. My husband, my children, my brother-in-law, my nieces and nephew, my friends, all have experienced this in their lives. If you are a person of color, and specifically black, you cant go to the grocery store, jog or sleep soundly in your bed and know for sure you will be alive when you are done. Ask the first Americans to be here  tribal members. They can tell you a thing or two about systemic racism, and much more. Please listen to those speaking out with an open mind.

Melanie Rose, Hillsboro
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday (June 10) commented on the presence of Indian forces in Kalapani, comments by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Nepal and also increased influx of COVID-19 infection from India.

It is to be noted that Nepal considers Kalapani as its own territory along with Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura and has recently issued a new map showing the Indian territories as its own drawing New Delhi's ire.

Speaking in the Nepali Parliament, PM Oli said,"The territory has been separated from us by the stationing of Indian forces and due to Indian Army's deployment, access is being denied to us."

Calling for a diplomatic solution to the border row, Nepali PM said his country has "been raising the issue with India..and based on facts and historic evidences, the area should be handed over back".

He also commented on remarks made by CM Yogi, who had equated Nepal with what Tibet faced in the 1950s saying the comments made by him are "condemnable" and "threatening" Nepal is unacceptable.

On the COVID-19 crisis, he said 85% of cases in the country is due to an increase in the number of infected people coming from India, something he has said in the past as well.

His comments come at a time when ties between New Delhi and Kathmandu are in a downward trajectory due to Nepal coming with a new map, which India sees as "unjustified cartographic assertion".

New Delhi has asked the country to "respect Indias sovereignty and territorial integrity" and create "positive atmosphere" for diplomatic dialogue to resolve the outstanding boundary issues.

On Tuesday, Nepal's Parliament unanimously backed a constitutional amendment bill that will amend Nepal's political map in the coat of arms. Once passed by the 2/3rd majority in the lower house after 72 hours, it will go to the upper house -the national assembly where the same procedure will be followed. After passage in the upper house and assent by the Nepali President, the law or the amendment will come into force giving constitutional backing to the Nepal Map which is at the heart of diplomatic row with India.
At a time when India is bracing for monsoons amid the coronavirus outbreak, a study conducted by two Indian professors has suggested that the COVID-19 spread may intensify during the monsoons.

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) professors Amit Agarwal and Rajneesh Bharadwaj have claimed that humid weather catalyses the spread of coronavirus, while hot and dry weather reduces the risk. The researchers studied the life of droplets through which the novel coronavirus gets transmitted from one patient to another.

According to a report in India Today, the study found that droplets dried off quicker in hot and dry regions, negating the risk of spreading the deadly disease.

Commenting on the research findings, Bhardwaj said, The virus spreads when the infected person coughs or sneezes. The weather of the area where the infected person is in could be a very important parameter. In dry areas, the droplet might dry off very quickly, so the spread would be less.

For live updates on coronavirus, click here

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

Meanwhile, Agarwal explained that the virus present in a droplet dies when the droplet dries up. He further said that this is why in hot and dry weather areas, where droplets evaporate quickly, the virus is likely to die sooner than in humid conditions. The professors also said the virus will thrive longer in arid conditions only in cold weather where droplets do not evaporate easily.

One must note here, no other study has so far concluded that there is a correlation between COVID-19 spread and weather/climatic conditions. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as well as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have denied any link between the two phenomena.

However, if this theory holds true, it could spell doom for India, especially Mumbai  which is adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak  and also experiences heavy downpour every monsoon.
Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials Einar Gunnarsson's report on the first year of Iceland's Chairmanship of the Arctic Council has been published.

Sustainable development has been at the heart of the Arctic Council's mandate since the Ottawa Declaration was signed in 1996. We chose sustainable development as the Icelandic Chairmanship program theme because in a rapidly changing world, we see the value in remembering our starting point. While no one could have predicted a year ago that the world would be facing a global health crisis today, it is ever more important that sustainable development lights our way, environmentally, socially and economically, as we gradually resume our daily lives after the confinement period has passed. I am proud of the Council's resilience and efforts towards our common goal of a sustainable Arctic.

Sustainable development is all-encompassing. During Iceland's Chairmanship the Arctic Council is focusing on four different priorities. They highlight some pressing issues in the circumpolar north: People and communities of the Arctic, the Arctic marine environment, climate and green energy solutions and a stronger Arctic Council.

Climate change already affects and will continue to impact the Arctic. That means effective mitigation and adaptation strategies are needed to address the adverse effects, and that it is imperative for us to strike a balance between economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. The steps towards sustainable development start with harmonizing the traditional knowledge and scientific data that build the foundation for the assessments and policy recommendations generated through our six Working Groups.

Importantly, sustainable development requires close cooperation between the Arctic States, Indigenous Peoples, other inhabitants of the region and beyond. The coronavirus pandemic forced us to collaborate in different ways. We adapted and created innovative solutions, and this resilience and endurance in the face of extraordinary circumstances makes me optimistic about our progress toward a sustainable Arctic.

People and communities of the Arctic

We are conscious of the fact that human resources are the region's biggest wealth. Initiatives that aim to promote the wellbeing of the four million people that call the Arctic their home are at the heart of the Arctic Council's work. These uncertain times that especially threaten remote Arctic communities underscore the importance of this priority.

The Council's Working Groups are currently undertaking over 50 initiatives specifically related to Arctic peoples and communities. These projects range from economic opportunities, youth engagement, the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge, and of course, health concerns.

Youth engagement is also a focus of the Icelandic Chairmanship, and Indigenous youth from across the Arctic brought a strong message to the planning of the future of the Arctic at the first Arctic Leaders' Youth Summit hosted by the Saami Council and the Arctic Council Permanent Participants in November 2019. Delegates have lent strong support to the proposal to foster meaningful collaboration with youth. I look forward to furthering the discussion on avenues for future youth engagement in close cooperation with Senior Arctic Officials, Permanent Participants and youth representatives.

The Arctic States hold a responsibility to safeguard the Arctic Ocean, and the Arctic Council Working Groups have contributed significantly to scientific knowledge and understanding of the marine environment.

The Arctic marine environment

The Arctic States hold a responsibility to safeguard the Arctic Ocean, and the Arctic Council Working Groups have contributed significantly to scientific knowledge and understanding of the marine environment.

In December 2019, we organized a side event at the United Nation's annual climate conference, COP25, on Arctic ocean acidification that brought together leading international acidification experts to discuss the chemical, biological and socio-economic impacts of acidifying waters in the North, and what can be done to tackle the issue.

Iceland has actively promoted the use of innovation and biotechnology in the fisheries sector. Such blue bioeconomy initiatives hold major potential to contribute to sustainable development, making it one of today's main sources for optimism for the Arctic. The Icelandic Chairmanship raised awareness about the blue bioeconomy by organizing an expert panel and interactive workshop at the renowned Arctic Frontiers event in January 2020. A follow-up webinar will be held in the fall.

In October 2019, the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative and the Wilson Center's Polar Institute co-hosted a workshop on Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean together with the Chairmanship. The event gathered experts on marine plastic pollution in the Arctic and resulted in a summary report and set of recommendations that will feed into our Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter in the Arctic.

The Council's Working Groups are pursuing several marine-related projects. Notably, the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group launched its Plastic in a Bottle to track how marine litter and plastics travel long distances into and out of Arctic waters. Equipped with a GPS tracker, the capsule was originally launched by Gumundur Ingi Gubrandsson, Iceland's Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources, from the Icelandic Coast Guard vessel Thor in September 2019. Around 7,000 kilometers and 207 days later, the capsule reached land on the Isle of Tiree, Scotland. The data collected on its journey will feed into the Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter in the Arctic.

The Arctic Ocean Ministers' meeting, planned for 21st April, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Arctic Plastics Symposium as well as the SAO-based Marine Mechanism were postponed until this fall for the same reason.

Climate and green energy solutions

Climate change does not only impact the environment, but also the economic and social wellbeing of Arctic communities. Through the diligent monitoring, assessments and recommendations of our Working Groups, the Council will continue to observe and assess climate impacts in the Arctic to help inform national policies.

Building on the work of the Council's Expert Group on Black Carbon and Methane, efforts to reduce emissions and pollutants continue to slow the current pace of change in the Arctic. The Expert Group is expected to deliver an updated report at the conclusion of the Icelandic Chairmanship.

While energy security remains work in progress in remote Arctic communities, the Council encourages the development and application of green energy solutions to reduce emissions and improve air quality. Working Group projects that promote circumpolar knowledge exchange on this subject, such as the Arctic Remote Energy Networks Academy II (ARENA), move forward, although the pandemic has slowed them down.

Cooperation has always been a key word to describe the Arctic Council. With the booming global interest in the Arctic in recent years, the Council must not only strengthen the ties between and amongst the Arctic States, the Permanent Participants and the Working Groups, but also emphasize further engagement with the Observer States and Organizations, as well as with relevant other bodies.

Stronger Arctic Council

Strengthening cooperation between the Arctic Council and organizations that share our common objectives is a key element towards a stronger Arctic Council. Thus, the Icelandic Chairmanship has continued efforts to strengthen cooperation between the Arctic Council and Arctic Economic Council. Topics include connectivity, responsible resource development and corporate social responsibility.

Cooperation has always been a key word to describe the Arctic Council. With the booming global interest in the Arctic in recent years, the Council must not only strengthen the ties between and amongst the Arctic States, the Permanent Participants and the Working Groups, but also emphasize further engagement with the Observer States and Organizations, as well as with relevant other bodies. To that end, the Icelandic Chairmanship organized a meeting between the Arctic Council and the Arctic Economic Council, the first one after the Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the conclusion of the Finnish Chairmanship in October 2019. The meeting set the stage for future collaboration and focused on important areas of common interest.

Meeting people is important when building the foundations of a good cooperation. Although most meeting activity is online for the time being, we continue to collaborate and communicate, thus maintaining the cohesion between the different elements of the Arctic Council. It is during trying times like these that the importance of strong circumpolar cooperation is ever more pronounced.

Iceland is committed to the principle of sustainable development. With one year remaining of our Chairmanship, I look forward to meeting you all again in person, as we move the needle on the Council's sustainable development initiatives together, and work towards finalizing deliverables for the Ministerial Meeting in May 2021.

The Arctic Council is an international body aiming to promote cooperation in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development of circumpolar regions. Iceland is the chairing country of the council in 2019-2021. After that, Russia will take over the two-year rotating chairmanship (2021-2023).
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson listens to a question during a video press conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, on June 11, 2020. (Olivier Hoslet/AP)

EU Urges States to Reopen Domestic Borders From Monday

BRUSSELSThe European Union on June 11 urged all its member countries to start lifting travel restrictions on their common borders from next week, saying that the closures they introduced to tackle the CCP virus do little to limit its spread.

The EUs executive arm, the European Commission, wants Europes ID check-free travel area to be up and running again by the end of June. Once that has happened, a ban on nonessential travel to the continent can also gradually be eased.

Unveiling the executive arms recommendations for helping to breathe new life into Europes lockdown-ravaged tourism sector, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told member countries that they should open up as soon as possible, and the commission recommends to do it already on Monday.

Johansson said that the virus situation is really improving in all member states, the situation is converging, and she said that Europes Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has reported that having internal border restrictions is not an effective measure.

In a report dated May 26, the ECDC said that the relative significance of transmission through tourism and long-distance travel will probably be small compared to ongoing transmission occurring in the local setting and as a result of local transportation.

Panicked by Italys CCP virus outbreak in February, countries in the 26-nation Schengen travel zonewhere people and goods move freely without border checksimposed border restrictions without consulting their neighbors to try to keep the disease out, causing massive traffic jams and blocking medical equipment.

Free movement is a jewel in Europes crown that helps its businesses flourish, and many European officials worry that the future of the Schengen area is under threat from CCP virus travel restrictions. These added to border pressures already caused by the arrival in Europe of well over 1 million migrants in 2015.

Many EU countries have announced that they are indeed easing internal border restrictions from June 15, but some remain reluctant to do so, fearful that the disease might not be entirely under control in certain of their neighbors.

Johansson said the Schengen area has to function again before Europes borders to the outside world can open, and the commission is keen for countries to start easing the ban on travel into the continent by July 1.

Foreign students, non-EU nationals who normally live in Europe, and certain highly skilled workers could be exempt from the restrictions from then on.

After the CCP virus began spreading throughout Europe, the EU in March gradually extended a ban on all non-essential travel into the 27 member countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland until June 15. Ending the restrictions could bring another economic boost.

While we will all have to remain careful, the time has come to make concrete preparations for lifting restrictions with countries whose health situation is similar to the EUs and for resuming visa operations, Johansson said.

The spread of the CCP virus is easing in Europe, but it remains high elsewhere, and other countries still have bans in place on the entry of some European nationals, so the commission is reluctant to lift all travel restrictions.

It is urging European countries to take coordinated decisions on whom they let in and from wheregiven that visas for the passport-free Schengen area allow travel in 26 countriesand base their actions on data from the World Health Organization and the ECDC.

The plan is for the member nations to draw up a list of acceptable countries in coming weeks and add to it or take countries off depending on how they handle the spread of the disease.

Johansson didnt say who should be allowed back in, notably not commenting on U.S. nationals. But she said Europes neighbors from the Balkans regionAlbania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbiashould be on the list from July 1.

By Lorne Cook

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report
PARIS, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ledger , the global leader in security and infrastructure solutions for digital assets and blockchain applications, has joined the Universal Protocol Alliance , the world's leading coalition of blockchain organizations dedicated to driving global mainstream adoption of crypto assets that benefit consumers, businesses and governments with new and innovative use cases for cryptocurrency.

Ledger Vault is an enterprise infrastructure technology platform that brings the security and trust that the digital asset community has come to know from the company's industry-leading and independently-certified hardware wallets. Vault is a multi-authorization, governance, storage and transfer infrastructure solution, and is backed by a tailored crime insurance program1 for the management of crypto assets that was specifically engineered to address the concerns of organizations such as Universal Protocol Alliance.

The mission of Universal Protocol is to make all cryptocurrencies interoperable, in a form that is more secure and convenient than what is currently available. As part of its commitment and Membership in the Alliance, Ledger will serve as the digital asset wallet partner to the Alliance. Ledger hardware devices and the Ledger Vault are currently compatible with all Universal Protocol Tokens. This utility complements contributions from other UP alliance members, including exchanges Bittrex Global and Uphold , blockchain financial services provider Cred , Blockchain at Berkeley , and blockchain and smart contract security company CertiK .

"The Universal Protocol Platform's technology is beneficial to the entire blockchain industry, as it allows many types of digital assets to be created, and all cryptocurrencies to be converted on a single network. We are honored to be a part of UP Alliance, which can be touted as the developer of the first fully transparent set of stablecoins and a highly valuable mega utility token (UPT). Those looking to solve very practical problems such as the safeguarding of their digital assets can put their trust in our institutional product as it directly compliments UP's focus," said Demetrios Skalkotos, Global Head of Vault, Ledger.

"Ledger's fully customizable enterprise solutions, which have been tailored to the protection of crypto assets for banks, hedge funds, exchanges, and high net worth individuals, is the future of digital asset custody tech solutions," said Dan Schatt, co-founder of the Universal Protocol Alliance and Cred. "Their platform, powered by best-in-class technology, will aid in the mass implementation of blockchain technology that utilizes UPUSD, UPEUR, UPT and other UP tokens. Ledger's comprehensive solution will contribute to UPT as a mega utility token and will also further complement and work with the other Alliance members."

Universal Protocol consists of companies supporting the growth of digital asset companies who contribute their unique expertise that allows for the minting, custody, and storage of digital 'proxy' assets. Additionally, UP member organizations create new and improved digital asset products, and have also introduced contemporary safeguards required for the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency.

Since the launch of the Alliance in 2018, Universal Protocol has released three UP Stablecoins and Tokens: Universal Dollar (UPUSD), Universal Euro (UPEUR), and UPBTC (Bitcoin). Universal Protocol recently listed UPEUR, UPUSD, the Universal Protocol Token (UPT) on Bittrex Global, a critical member of the UP Alliance.

To learn more about the UP Alliance and Ledger visit: www.universalprotocol.io and https://www.ledger.com/

About the Universal Protocol Alliance

A coalition of cryptocurrency companies and blockchain pioneers, the Universal Protocol Alliance seeks to accelerate the adoption of blockchain as a mainstream financial technology by making digital assets more accessible, secure and convenient to own. The Alliance Members consist of Bittrex, Cred, Uphold, Blockchain at Berkeley, and CertiK.

About Ledger Vault

Ledger Vault is a core business unit of Ledger, a leader in security for cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications. Leveraging Ledger's industry-leading and independently-certified security technology, the Ledger Vault provides information technology infrastructure for financial institutions to securely control their crypto assets with a multi-authorization self-custody management solution. With a global team of more than 200 professionals, Ledger develops a variety of products and services that safeguard crypto assets for individuals, companies and connected devices. Founded in 2014, the company has offices in Paris, New York, Hong Kong and Vierzon.

For more information about the Ledger Vault, please visit www.ledger.com/vault .

1https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/11/14/1947273/0/en/Ledger-Vault-Obtains-Groundbreaking-Custom-Crime-Insurance-Policy.html

Media contact

Kelly Ferraro

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LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Science and chemicals company Johnson Matthey Plc (JMAT.L) reported Thursday that its fiscal 2020 profit before tax fell 38 percent to 305 million pounds from last year's 488 million pounds. Earnings per share declined 39 percent to 132.3 pence from 215.2 pence last year. Underlying profit before tax was 455 million pounds, compared to 523 million pounds a year ago. Underlying earnings per share were 199.2 pence, compared to 228.8 pence a year ago. Operating profit declined 27 percent driven by a restructuring and impairment charge of 140 million pounds and about 60 million pounds impact related to COVID-19. Revenue, however, increased 36 percent to 14.58 billion pounds from last year's 10.75 billion pounds, driven by higher average precious metal prices. Sales excluding precious metals edged down 1 percent to 4.17 billion pounds. Sales declined 2% at constant currency rates driven by Clean Air and Health, partly offset by higher sales in Efficient Natural Resources and New Markets. Looking ahead, citing the ongoing uncertainty amid Covid-19, the company said it is unable to provide financial guidance for 2021. Further, the board is proposing a final dividend for the year of 31.125 pence, representing half the level of the 2018/19 final dividend. Robert MacLeod, Chief Executive, said, 'we are targeting additional annualised cost savings of at least 80 million by the end of 2022/23. We regret that this will lead to some job losses, which we estimate to be around 2,500 globally over the three year period.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Since 2010, when enrollment at the University of Montana began to decline, a slate of administrators has come and gone, all of them making grandiose promises upon arrival, receiving lucrative salaries and at times signing bonuses, and leaving with no long-lasting impact other than the continuation of decline in academic standards, loss of students, and further cuts into existing academic programs.

In the last 10 years, UM has had two long-term presidents, one interim president, two long-term provosts and four interim provosts. Some promised to reverse the process of decline, while others put the university through "prioritization" programs, which reviewed academic units with an eye to either downsizing them or cutting them altogether, but all left the institution in a weaker condition than they had inherited it.

The last time the administration hailed the arrival of a new era at UM was in 2018 when Jon Harbor was hired as the new provost. In introducing Harbor, who had been hired with an annual salary of $270,000 and a signing bonus of $10,000, UM President Seth Bodnar stated that the new chief academic officer was a man of "vision, experience, skill, and grit worthy of UM and its students" (Missoulian, April 2, 2018). President Bodnar also claimed that the hiring of Harbor signaled positive momentum that will carry UM into a new future.

Well, that future came and went and the institutional decline at UM accelerated. During Harbor's tenure, the university continued to lose faculty and academic programs. The core curriculum at UM shrank and several programs disappeared. Devastating cuts were implemented after a cursory glance at the most recent class enrollment numbers and without any consultation with affected faculty or those with institutional memory.

Equally disturbing were administrative mishaps of all kinds tracing their origins to the provost's office: For example, it was Harbor's office that in 2019 forgot to forward the names of faculty up for promotion and tenure to the regents (Missoulian, Sept. 19, 2019). More recently, the provost's office forgot to bring the list of graduates to the last Faculty Senate meeting for approval. The same Senate also discovered that the outgoing dean of College of Humanities and Sciences, who reports to the provost, had forgotten to send the names of those proposed for posthumous degrees to the Faculty Senate.

Now that Harbor is leaving UM, Main Hall is back redecorating its window with new mannequins, appointing another interim provost and hiring a new dean for the College of Humanities and Sciences with the goal of "reorganizing" the largest college at UM. Reorganization often serves as the catchphrase for deeper cuts in the university's academic offerings. This time the assault on the university's core offerings promises to be even more dramatic than any other time in the past.

One plan calls for nationally recognized programs and departments such as creative writing and history to dissolve into a larger entity called the Division of Humanities, while programs such as anthropology, sociology and political Science are targeted to melt into another entity called the Division of Social Sciences. The inevitable result of this "reorganization" will be the demotion of the university's offerings in humanities and social sciences to the level of a two-year community college.

What would Sen. Mike Mansfield, a UM graduate as well as a former professor of history at the University of Montana; or the author and critic Leslie Fiedler, who taught for more than 20 years at UM's Department of English, say about the direction their university has taken, turning its back to its long-established legacy and identity as the Harvard of the Rockies?

Lewis Schneller of Missoula is a University of Montana alumnus and a longtime community and political activist.

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Queensland is set to open its interstate borders next month, unless there are massive outbreaks of COVID-19 following the weekend protests.

Giving her strongest indication yet that the borders would open on July 10 as planned, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said next month would be "a very good month for Queensland".

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk holding her "roadmap to recovery" at a press conference on Thursday morning. Credit:Darren England/AAP

Health advice will be handed over to state leaders at national cabinet on Friday morning about whether it would be safe to allow interstate travel next month.

"We have national cabinet tomorrow where we will be looking at the epidemiology, and that will be a very important meeting," Ms Palaszczuk said.
A driver of one of the buses involved in the deadly road crash at Domopoase in Elmina, Mark Mireku, who was facing charges of manslaughter has been jailed one year.

He was sentenced on June 8, 2020, by the Circuit Court in Cape Coast.

He was jailed on 34 counts each of dangerous driving and banned from operating as a commercial driver for life.

Mark Mireku has also been fined GHS17,280 or will in default serve jail time on 18 counts each of negligently causing harm.

Mark Mireku, aged 45, was trying to over-take another vehicle wrongly, thereby colliding with an oncoming bus and killing 34 persons at Dompoase on the Accra-Elimina Highway in the Central Region on January 14, 2020.

But charges of manslaughter are pending against the convict at the High Court, according to police.

The National Road Safety Authority began investigations into the road crash but is yet to make its findings known.

Its probe was expected to inform the next line of remedial actions and measures to prevent future instances of such road crashes.

The Road Safety Authority also disclosed that plans are in place to efficiently regulate the operations of commercial road transport organisations.

A statement from the police added that some 13,000 high-risk commercial drivers will be trained in an effort to prevent future occurrences of such fatal incidents.

--citinewsroom
We see you? What, exactly, were the communication strategists at Gushers and Fruit by the Foot trying to say?

Since the killing of George Floyd last month in Minneapolis, hundreds of thousands of protesters have marched in communities across the country, and hundreds of marketing teams have shared optimistic statements on social media that signal support.

Popeyes Chicken stated that the company would use its platform to support this movement. Wendys claimed that its voice would be nothing without Black culture and promised to amplify Black voices on Twitter. And Burger King adapted its slogan in a tweet that read, when it comes to peoples lives, theres only one way to have it. without discrimination.

It seemed that, to most food companies, the national protests against police brutality and racism were a chance to both express solidarity and build their brands.
Two thousand and ninety eight or 1085-- a debate over the actual number of Covid-19 deaths in Delhi broke out on Thursday between the city-states three municipal corporations , all governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the states Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government .

The three MCDs claimed that as many as 2,098 cremations and burials of bodies of Covid-19 confirmed cases were conducted at its crematoriums and graveyards between March 14 and June 11 in the city.

Responding to the civic bodies claims, the Delhi government in a statement said the Death Audit Committee constituted by it is working impartially, and that this is not the time to make allegation after allegation.

The claims on the number of dead were made by political executives of the three civic bodies  North, East and South Delhi Municipal Corporations in a joint press conference on Thursday. Top bureaucrats of the three municipalities subsequently refused to comment on the matter.

The Delhi governments health bulletin released later in the day updated the death count to 1,085.

Jai Prakash, north corporations standing committee chairperson, said: From March till June 11 afternoon, as many as 2,098 cremations and burials of Covid-19 confirmed cases were conducted at the cremation grounds and graveyards falling under the three municipalities. Out of 2,098 Covid-19 funerals, 1,080 were conducted in SDMC, 976 in north corporation and 42 in EDMC.

He said that other than the confirmed cases, cremation of over 200 Covid-19 suspected bodies was also conducted across burial grounds and crematoriums.

Bhupendra Gupta, standing committee chairperson at SDMC, added: We are giving this figure on the basis of medical reports obtained from hospitals which they release with the body. At cremation grounds and graveyards we maintain a record about Covid-19 suspected cases and confirmed cases.

Responding to the claims of the three municipalities, the Delhi government, in a statement, said that it had set up a Death Audit Committee comprising of senior doctors who are working impartially towards assessing deaths caused by the coronavirus disease.

The Honble Delhi High Court has also declared that the Death Audit Committee is working in an appropriate manner and that the work of the Committee cannot be questioned. We believe that not even a single life must be lost to Coronavirus. This is a time to unite and save the lives of the people. This is not the time to make allegations after allegations, we all have to fight this pandemic together and ensure that not a single life is lost due to Coronavirus, the government said in a statement.

Theres a view that the municipal corporations may be confusing Covid funerals for Covid deaths. As a precautionary measure, almost all funerals are conducted with adequate safeguards. But the fact that the chairpersons distinguished between Covid-19 cases and suspected cases means that there is no such confusion.

When asked about the mismatch in the figures , Prakash said that it all started from May 16 when the Delhi government issued a notice to the three civic bodies to declare the number of cremations of confirmed and suspected cases at crematoriums and graveyards.

The bodies started doing this from May 17, he explained and there was a difference to begin with. That has doubled, he added. We cannot fudge figures at it is based on the arrival of bodies at cremation grounds and graveyards.
UNSETTLED  Seeking Refuge in America follows LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa

America has a lot of nerve trying to stop refugees and asylum seekers. This land that the United States of America stands on was stolen from the Indigenous population and a good half of that stolen land was worked by African-Slaves. In short, every single non-indigenous person in this country is the offspring of immigrants, period, end of the sentence.

So with the new administration sitting in the White House this recent venomous turn against immigration in a nation literally  built on immigrants (on stolen land)  and the deaf ear turned to the desperate flight from crippling poverty and fierce persecution in the greatest country on earth  these ironies are not lost on the young refugees featured in the new documentary Unsettled by director Tom Shepard (Scouts Honor).

Here Shepard turns his lens on four new LGBTQ arrivals whove each escaped mortal danger in their native countries just for being gay.

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Their journies started before the current Trump administration started clamping down so its a bit dated. However, it does provide a fascinating look at how people struggle there and here in this new era of immigration in the new millennium.

LGBTQ people in many countries live under constant fear of being murdered which is approved by society and is often government-approved. In Syria, in the town that Subhi lived Al-Queda established itself firmly and immediately began kidnapping, torturing, and in some cases, killing gay men. This is Subhis reality. He fleed to Turkey after he was threatened by an ex-friend who summarized by that by killing him he would  secure his place in heaven marking it an honor killing by exterminating, his friend Subhi.

In the Congo, Junior is the pastors son where homosexuality is culturally taboo but legal. Despite that legal status he experienced repeated verbal and physical assaults, including while in police custody.

Angola is where lesbian couple Cheyenne and Mari were under siege by neighbors where their dog was killed and one of their mothers attempted to poison them.

Its important to highlight (again) that immigration and the White Houses stance toward refugees have dramatically changed. Subhi and Junior petitioned for and won, refugee status from the United Nations, with permission to permanently resettle in the U.S.

But Cheyenne and Mari were granted only temporary visas; to remain, they need Homeland Security to grant them asylum status, a challenge since approximately two-thirds of such applicants are denied.

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Are there happy endings to each of these stories? The filmmaker shows it raw. For the handsome Subhi, he connects with a strong sponsor in the Bay Area, gets a good job, and becomes a high-profile face of activism focused on fighting global LGBTQ persecution.

Mari and Cheyenne stay strong because they have each other. Its important to highlight this fact because their lives were instable with them almost living in an odd limbo.

Junior, whose looks are unique has a more challenging journey being asked to move  a lot  often in very dangerous neighborhoods. His skill level is low, his relationships (including a couple of men who promised him a place to live) dont pan out, and he barely admits to having an alcohol problem. Hes a mess. In his first year, he moved 10 times, and at one point was living in a homeless shelter.

To add to the drama, all four are in the Bay Area with its impossible housing market, where the line between the have and the have nots is crystal clear.

Unsettled (81 minutes) focuses on the ugly side of America without even knowing it. We get another glimpse of the newly installed President Trump being his ugly, hateful self, again, bragging that hell make refugees from war-torn Syria go back to that country.

It also lets Americans understand how horrible things are for others. Yes, the United States of America is a country filled to the brim with problems but for the four protagonists if they had stayed home they would

have been murdered.

Unsettled  81 MIN. Directed by Tom Shepard. With: Subhi Nahas, Cheyenne, Mari, Junior, Fred Hertz, Melanie Nathan, Samantha Power, Neil Grundas, Kathlyn Queruben, Mark Averett.

Unsettled  Seeking Refuge in America airs on WORLD Channel via local PBS stations  June 28 (and on WorldChannel.org from June 28-July 12)
Massachusetts health officials confirmed another 38 coronavirus deaths, including one probable death, on Thursday, bringing the number of statewide COVID-19 fatalities to 7,492.

Officials also confirmed another 519 cases of the virus, including 165 probable cases, increasing the number of cases statewide to 104,667.

Thursdays positive case data is based on 10,833 molecular tests and 1,534 antibody tests, according to the Department of Public Health.

The latest figures come the same day Cambridge-based Moderna Inc. announced it is ready to administer its candidate vaccine to 30,000 people in the United States.

The move means the company has reached Phase 3 of its experimental study, which is based on feedback from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The study will be performed in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

It also comes as Phase 2 of Gov. Charlie Bakers plan to reopen the economy gets underway, opening up restaurants and retailers across the state. Bars, however, will not reopen until Phase 4 after initially planning to have them reopen during Phase 3, Baker said.

Were glad to be able to responsible open up more parts of our economy but as everyone knows continued progress in reopening depends on our ability to keep pushing back against COVID-19, Baker said on Thursday during his daily press briefing.

The average positive test rate is down to 4.2%, which represents about an 86% reduction in the number of positive cases since April 15. The numbers of hospitalizations is also down to roughly 1,300, or some 60% since the middle of April.

Obviously we hope to continue to see positive development on those trends as move further into Phase 2 and beyond, he said.

Baker on Thursday also addressed questions surrounding when he knew about the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home, after a report suggested one of his top officials may have known about the cases and deaths up to 24 hours earlier.

Coronavirus in Mass.: Cases, maps, charts and resources

Here are the cases listed by county:

Barnstable County:

Berkshire County:

Bristol County:

Dukes County:

Essex County:

Franklin County:

Hampden County:

Hampshire County:

Middlesex County:

Nantucket County:

Norfolk County:

Plymouth County:

Suffolk County:

Worcester County:

Unknown location:

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday he would not be intimidated by "coercion" after China restricted some Australian exports and urged Chinese tourists and students to avoid Australia.

Diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Canberra have worsened since Australia called for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the new coronavirus, which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Lobbying by Australia and the European Union prompted the World Health Assembly last month to back an independent review into the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, China's Ministry of Education said students should reconsider choosing to study in Australia. International education is Australia's fourth-largest export industry, worth A$38 billion ($26 billion) annually.

"We are an open-trading nation, mate, but I'm never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes," Morrison told radio station 2GB on Thursday.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

China has in recent weeks banned Australian beef imports and imposed tariffs on Australian barley. It has also urged Chinese tourists to avoid Australia.

In both cases, officials in Beijing said the warnings were due to racist attacks against Asians during the pandemic.

"That's rubbish. It's a ridiculous assertion and it's rejected. That's not a statement that's been made by the Chinese leadership," Morrison said in a separate interview on 3AW.

"POLITICAL PAWN"

Asked about Morrison's comments, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying denied accusations of coercion and said the warnings were based on facts.

China urges Australia to protect the safety of Chinese citizens, she told a daily news conference.

Australia lodged a protest with China's foreign ministry and with its embassy in Canberra about Beijing's travel and student warnings.

A coalition representing Australia's elite universities, the Group of Eight, has said international education is "being used as a political pawn".

The Australian National University's chancellor, Julie Bishop, formerly Australia's foreign minister, said the university offered students from more than 100 countries a world-class education.

"Canberra is one of the safest cities in a country widely regarded as one of the safest in the world," she said.

Many international students have been unable to return to Australia because of travel bans to stop the spread of COVID-19, but ANU said most of its students remained enrolled and 65 percent of its Chinese students were in Australia.

Monash University's vice-chancellor, Margaret Gardner, told ABC Radio it was "very tense times diplomatically between China and Australia and in fact in this case universities and their students from China are part of the collateral".

China is Australia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth A$235 billion a year.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here
Chennai, June 11 : Next time when you see the name of a city or town in Tamil Nadu spelt differently, don't think it has something to do with numerology, but it is actually phonetics that is behind the change.

And the citizens have to learn the new spellings of the city/town/locality where they live.

The Tamil Nadu government has notified the new spellings for the names of the cities, towns and localities that are phonetically in sync with their original Tamil name.

For instance, Dharmapuri Parliamentary constituency will now be spelt Tharumapuri, Tuticorin as Thooththukkudi, Vellore as Veeloor, Tiruvarur as Thiruvaroor, textile town Coimbatore will be spelt as Koyambuththoor and there are many more like this.

The Tamil Nadu government had looked up 1,018 names and revised the spellings for many of them, though some remain unchanged.

Interestingly the government has not changed the name or spelling for Srivilliputtur, though the district administration had suggested it be called and spelt as Thiruvillipuththur.

In Tamil Nadu, politicians prefer the Tamil word 'Thiru' instead of the Sanskrit "Shri/Sri".

Strangely, the government has retained the name and spelling for Gingee though it the town is known as Senji and the district administration too recommended the same.

Two years ago, the government had announced its plan to change the name and spelling of the towns/cities so that they phonetically sound like their names in Tamil.
Donald Trump departs Washington to travel to Texas yesterday - Reuters /Jonathan Ernst

Donald Trump has ordered sanctions against the International Criminal Court in an attempt to block its investigation of alleged crimes against humanity by US troops and the CIA in Afghanistan.

The US called the Hague-based ICC a "grossly corrupt kangaroo court" and claimed it was being "manipulated" by Russia.

It also warned Nato allies, including the UK, to stand with the US, saying: "You're people could be next."

In an extraordinary move, the ICC hit back at Mr Trump.

"These attacks constitute an escalation and an unacceptable attempt to interfere with the rule of law and the Court's judicial proceedings," the court said in a statement.

The ICC also said that the "unprecedented" sanctions "undermine our common endeavour to fight impunity and to ensure accountability for mass atrocities".

The court added: "An attack on the ICC also represents an attack against the interests of victims of atrocity crimes, for many of whom the Court represents the last hope for justice."

The move was the latest escalation by the White House as it seeks to prevent the court launching a detailed examination of America's longest war.

It includes economic sanctions and travel restrictions against court employees directly involved in investigating or prosecuting US personnel, or those of its allies.

Under the measures the court's employees can have their US financial assets and property seized and, along with their family members, they will be blocked from entering the US.

Founded in 2002 the court was set up to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, and is recognised by 123 countries, including the UK.

The ICC opened a preliminary investigation in 2014 into allegations that British troops committed war crimes in Iraq.

A preliminary inquiry remains open but Britain's chief military prosecutor said last week he expected it to be shut down.

Story continues

The court has always faced opposition from the US, which has refused to accept its jurisdiction.

In March, the ICC ruled its chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda could investigate allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan.

She wants to look at possible offences by US soldiers and intelligence officials between 2003 and 2014, including alleged "acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence."

Mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, and alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities, are also part of the investigation.

Last year, the US revoked the chief prosecutor's visa.

Mr Trump has now signed an executive order imposing the new sanctions.

Mike Pompeo, his secretary of state, made a clear call to the UK to back the move. He said: "We cannot, we will not, stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court. Its grossly ineffective and corrupt.

"I have a message to many close allies around the world - your people could be next, especially those from Nato countries who fought terrorism in Afghanistan right alongside of us."

Josep Borrell, the European Union's chief diplomat, voiced "serious concern".

He said: "We as the European Union are steadfast supporters of the International Criminal Court.

"The court has been playing a key role in providing international justice and addressing the gravest international crimes. It is a key factor in bringing justice and peace. It must be respected and supported by all nations."

The US has also been angered by the court's desire to look into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories by Israel.

US officials argued that it has its own systems in place to examine allegations of wrongdoing by its troops.

Last year, Mr Trump used his executive powers to clear Eddie Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who had been convicted of posing next to the corpse of a captured prisoner in Iraq.

A senior Trump administration official said:" [The ICC] is an unaccountable, ineffective and out-of-control international bureaucracy that threatens American service members and intelligence officers, and those of our allies.

"We have reason to believe there is corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the ICC. We are concerned that Russia may be manipulating the ICC by encouraging these allegations into US personnel."

Mr Trump's "America First" foreign policy has seen him withdraw from, or oppose, a litany of international agreements and organisations, putting him at odds with allies in Europe and Nato.

He has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate accord, and announced the termination of the US relationship with the World Health Organisation.
WASHINGTON  When Republicans read the platform their party is using for the 2020 campaign, they may be surprised to see that it is full of condemnations of the sitting president.

The survival of the internet as we know it is at risk, the platform reads. Its gravest peril originates in the White House, the current occupant of which has launched a campaign, both at home and internationally, to subjugate it to agents of government.

The warning about speech online is one of more than three dozen unflattering references to either the current president, current chief executive, current administration, people currently in control of policy, or the current occupant of the White House that appear in the Republican platform. Adopted at the partys 2016 convention, it has been carried over through 2024 after the executive committee of the Republican National Committee on Wednesday chose not to adopt a new platform for 2020.

The platform censures the current president  who in 2016 was, of course, Barack Obama  and his administration for, among other things, imposing a social and cultural revolution, causing a huge increase in the national debt and damaging relationships with international partners.

The Middle East is more dangerous now than at any time since the Second World War, the platform reads. Whatever their disagreements, presidents of both parties had always prioritized Americas national interests, the trust of friendly governments, and the security of Israel. That sound consensus was replaced with impotent grandstanding on the part of the current President and his Secretaries of State. The results have been ruinous for all parties except Islamic terrorists and their Iranian and other sponsors.

The Republican Party has found itself in this awkward bind because of President Donald Trumps decision last week to move the location of his nominating speech. Under the RNC rules, the convention will adjourn with the old platform serving as the official party platform until 2024.

That move came after the president reached a stalemate with Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat, over what kinds of safety precautions would be put in place in Charlotte, North Carolina, to protect attendees from the spread of the coronavirus.

Before the convention was overhauled, Trump campaign officials, along with Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law and senior adviser, had been looking at a menu of options for a new party platform, including a slimmed down, one-page rewrite as well as a reworking of the 66-page document the party passed in 2016.

When Axios first reported on efforts to rewrite the party platform that involved Kushner, grassroots activists were livid, and some of those discussed organizing an effort to resist what they viewed as his changes  even though the options had been drafted primarily by the campaign, a person familiar with the process said.

The decision to simply let the current platform stay in effect, rather than try to pass any new platform, was ultimately driven by logistics, officials said. Republican officials decided it did not make sense to ask about 5,000 delegates and alternates to pay to fly to Charlotte when the speeches and most of the action of the convention, including the hallmark speeches by the president and the vice president, would be happening in another city altogether.

Melody Potter, an RNC member from West Virginia who sat on the partys platform committee in 2016 and planned to run for a seat on it this August, said she was pleased the platform was being rolled over for 2020.

The 2016 platform is the best one weve had in 40 years, so Im fine with renewing it and extending it to 2024, she said. As a matter of fact, and you can quote me on this, I think it is a ray of sunshine in this whole messy storm.

But what was perceived by some of the grassroots activists as Kushners attempt to circumvent the people who helped elect Trump four years ago hurt efforts among other Republicans to update the platform.

Now, the party is stuck with a platform with positions that already seemed outdated to a large segment of its members four years ago. Meanwhile, Republican officials have discussed with the White House the possibility of putting out Trumps vision for America and the platform he would have pushed for if the committee had been able to meet, and blaming Cooper for making it impossible to do so.

Campaign operatives, for their part, defended the old document. President Trump won in 2016 with this platform and hell win again in 2020 with this platform, said Justin Clark, senior counsel to the campaign.

Candidates from the president down to municipal officials are under no obligation to hew to their partys platform, and few make a point of abiding by all points of it. But a platform does serve as a partys guiding principles, even though the document tends to be most useful for political opponents who weaponize elements of it in attack advertisements.

The 2016 platform that is being renewed was the result of messy debates in Cleveland, the host city of the Republican convention four years ago, during which a group of renegade delegates tried but failed to strip out language opposing same-sex marriage and condoning conversation therapy for LGBTQ youths.

We support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children, the platform reads. We support the right of parents to consent to medical treatment for their minor children and urge enactment of legislation that would require parental consent for their daughter to be transported across state lines for abortion.

The platform made a steadfast case against same-sex marriage and called for a constitutional amendment overturning the 2015 Supreme Court decision that struck down laws defining marriage between one man and one woman. And it blames the current President for seeking to expand workplace protections to include LGBTQ people.

That same provision of law is now being used by bureaucrats  and by the current President of the United States  to impose a social and cultural revolution upon the American people by wrongly redefining sex discrimination to include sexual orientation or other categories, the platform reads. Their agenda has nothing to do with individual rights; it has everything to do with power.

Giovanni Cicione, a Rhode Island lawyer who as a 2016 platform committee delegate led a faction of delegates who fought to strip the anti-LGBTQ language from the party platform, said he believed Trump would oppose the language condemning gay rights.

I do think its unfortunate that theyre not giving the party a chance to evolve its thinking on these issues, Cicione said Thursday. I honestly believe that this president is probably more forward-thinking on gay rights than the party is, but Im not sure its in his interest to make that public.

The RNC, meanwhile, has been eager to highlight that on some of the issues, especially gay rights, the platform is hardly the only way of showing the partys movement on a policy area. On Thursday, for instance, the RNC released a memo detailing how President Trump Has Taken Unprecedented Steps to Protect the LGBTQ Community, noting that he has appointed LGBTQ people to prominent judicial and administration positions.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
LOCAL history was made this week, as a virtual public Limerick council meeting was held for the first time.

From councillor Liam Galvin in Abbeyfeale to the committees chair, Cllr Eddie Ryan in Galbally, members of the influential economic committee gathered behind their computers in their living rooms or offices across the county.

The quarterly meeting was held on a web programme, Webex, which allows teleconferencing to take place due to the need to restrict travel and socially distance.

The only people based on site at County Hall in Dooradoyle, were the councils executive staff, including the new city centre revitalisation manager Celia Larkin.

It was the first time the former partner of ex-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had attended a council meeting.

Due to statutory laws, major decisions could not be made at these meetings  these still require people to be physically present.

Nonetheless, the meeting featured a presentation around the councils plan to revitalise the city and county as the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions begin to be loosened.

There was also a debate on the mid-west business response to the crisis.

As with any council meeting, there were fireworks  but viewers had to wait until the end of the meeting, when Cllr Galvin, and a number of other rural members raised huge concerns over the county development plan which among other things could outlaw the building of one-off homes.

Another meeting will be held remotely this Thursday  the travel and transport committee.

However, other meetings where decisions and elections need to take place are being held with councillors all present.

These include the metropolitan district leaders election on Monday at Dooradoyles County Hall, where distancing will be strictly enforced.
Mumbai: A massive fire broke out at Mumbai's iconic Crawford Market on Thursday triggering panic among local residents here.

The fire broke out at the ground floor of the market and so far no injuries have been reported in the incident.

At least six teams of the Mumbai Fire Brigade has been rushed to the spot and the fire-fighting operation is underway.

The incident took place around 6:15 pm and was first reported by the Mumbai Fire Brigade. The fire department has put the threat level at LO.

The iconic Crawford Market is a British-era busy marketplace as it houses several shops selling household items such as vegetables, fruits, poultry, imported food items, etc.

The wholesale market is just at a walking distance from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station.

Police and medics have also been mobilised to help in the ongoing rescue operations.

There is no report of any casualty so far.
The first 2020 issue of the society's bilingual journal is already online on a brand new and user-friendly website

This month, ARPHA Platform welcomed the fourth medical academic journal to its portfolio: Bulgarian Cardiology, the official publication venue of the Bulgarian National Cardiac Society since 1995. The Society is a member of the European Society of Cardiology.

With its first 2020 issue, Bulgarian Cardiology pioneers the Bulgarian-English bilingual publishing solution from ARPHA, the open-access scholarly publishing platform, developed by the publisher and technology provider Pensoft. Thanks to this, authors will be able to publish their papers either in Bulgarian, or in Bulgarian and English. In the latter case, the article will be displayed in both languages side by side, as exemplified in the paper "Novel approaches to treat resistant hypertension" by Dr Alexandra Cherneva (Acibadem City Clinic - Cardiovascular center, Bulgaria) and Prof Ivo Petrov (Sofia University and Acibadem City Clinic - Cardiovascular center, Bulgaria).

For non-Bulgarian speaking authors, who submit their manuscript in English, the journal provides translation to Bulgarian, so that the published article is also available in both languages. In the latest issue, this is exemplified by the Editorial piece "Atrial fibrillation: Importance of real world data from regional registries. A focus on the BALKAN-AF registry", authored by the international team of Dr Monika Koziel, Prof Gregory Y. H. Lip and Dr Tatjana S. Potpara.

Even though bilingual Russian-English publishing was first introduced by ARPHA in late 2019 to coincide with the move of the Lomonosov Moscow State University's journal Population and Economics to the platform, this time around, it is not mandatory for authors to translate their manuscript in English. On the occasion that the authors deem their work relevant exclusively for the medical researchers and practitioners on a national level, they are welcome to only submit in Bulgarian. However, they will still need to provide the paper's metadata, including the abstract, in English, so that their findings remain findable and accessible to foreign users, in line with the best Open Science practices.

Having already acquired its own glossy and user-friendly website provided by ARPHA, Bulgarian Cardiology also takes advantage of the platform's signature fast-track, end-to-end publishing system, which is to benefit all journal users: authors, reviewers and editors alike. In addition, the published content enjoys technologically advanced semantic markup and enhancements, automated export of data to aggregators, as well as web-service integrations with major global indexing and archiving databases.

The first issue of Bulgarian Cardiology was published in 1995 to provide a scholarly outlet for the Bulgarian Society of Cardiology. Ever since then, it has been serving as an essential forum to bring together the cardiology community in the country. Its aim is to publish both the academic achievements of the Bulgarian medical experts and the key practical guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology.

Bulgarian Cardiology accepts for publication research and review articles, clinical cases, editorials, letters to the Editor, European Society of Cardiology guidelines, announcements from the Bulgarian Society of Cardiology and materials presented at their meetings, and others.

The journal will continue to be published also in print with four issues a year.

"It's a pleasure to all of us at ARPHA to welcome the Bulgarian Society of Cardiology's journal. It's a fantastic win-win situation for both parties: while we managed to customise and provide the necessary services the Society asked us for, they offered us the opportunity to further push our capabilities and know-how, in order to launch our first top-to-bottom bilingual publishing solution," says Prof. Lyubomir Penev, founder and CEO at ARPHA and Pensoft.

###

Additional information:

About ARPHA:

ARPHA is the first end-to-end, narrative- and data-integrated publishing solution that supports the full life cycle of a manuscript, from authoring to reviewing, publishing and dissemination. ARPHA provides accomplished and streamlined production workflows that can be customized according to the journal's needs. The platform enables a variety of publishing models through a number of options for branding, production and revenue models to choose from.

Contacts:

Prof. Lyubomir Penev, founder and CEO at ARPHA and Pensoft

Email: penev@pensoft.net

Prof. Plamen Gatzov, Editor-in-Chief at Bulgarian Cardiology

Email: plamengatzov@yahoo.com
Aegis Living consulted with leading infectious disease experts when creating the Outdoor Living Rooms core design. All Outdoor Living Rooms are equipped with clear dividing walls made of plexiglass that stand approximately 7-feet tall with three panes of glass across, creating a physical barrier to prevent residents and family from physically touching, removing any opportunity for virus exposure.

"Our community teams have been working around the clock to keep our residents virtually connected to their families during this time," said Kris Engskov, President of Aegis Living. "With each passing week of residents being physically separated from loved ones, we knew we had to find a better way. Design consulting and support from infectious disease experts and physicians helped us create these beautiful, new Outdoor Living Rooms to bring families together again  safely."

The Outdoor Living Room experience is tailored for each Aegis Living community and equipped with a cozy sitting area for up to two visitors. While the dividing wall was created to prevent virus droplet transmission, both residents and visitors will be asked to wear masks during visits. All visitors will continue to follow company screening protocols and infection control best practices including proper sanitization and handwashing.

"As a company, we have stepped forward to help shape the future of the senior assisted living industry during this pandemic and beyond," said Aegis Living CEO Dwayne Clark. "Things will not go back to the way they used to be so we must continue to use the latest science and medical research and our ingenuity to push new boundaries and create new ways of approaching resident care. Reconnecting residents with loved ones is one of the most important challenges we knew we had to overcome."

The reopening plan, which was meticulously crafted based on Aegis Living expert experience, addresses areas including dining, activities, visitor protocols as well as ancillary services:

Phase 1: Limited Internal Opening with Physical Distancing

Limited Internal Opening with Physical Distancing Phase 2: Limited Ancillary Services

Limited Ancillary Services Phase 3: Limited Visitors

Limited Visitors Phase 4: Expanded Activities and Services

Expanded Activities and Services Phase 5: Expanded Dining and Visitation

The reopening plan aligns company expertise with federal and state directives, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and guidance from state and local health departments and state licensing agencies. Each phase will be carried out for at least two weeks and the company will host controlled pilots of key activities before programs are implemented across all 32 communities.

Phase I will be initiated on a community-by-community basis and in accordance with state reopening orders and city/county directives. This phase will allow for small group activities while residents also enjoy one meal per day in the common dining areas. Continued emphasis will be placed on outdoor activities and digital or video chat connections with families. By Phase II, residents may enjoy select spa and other ancillary activities. A community must not have active cases of COVID-19 among staff, residents or essential visitors for a minimum of 14 days before embarking on Phase I activity. Communities will return to Phase 0 if any symptoms of the virus are detected or a confirmed case of COVID-19 occurs in a community.

Today's announcement follows the formation of Aegis' Coronavirus Advisory Council, comprised of leading physicians and medical experts. The Council plans to advance Aegis' best practices for how to keep residents safe from the virus, while anticipating ways to prepare for the next health challenge. For more information on Aegis Livings' coronavirus response, visit: www.aegisliving.com/communications

About Aegis Living

Aegis Living is a national leader in senior assisted living and memory care with a simple philosophy: make every day count. With more than 22 years of experience, it is known for its approach for supporting residents along the continuum of care, from light assistance to advanced dementia; an eye for innovation and staying on the frontlines of design; and an employee-centric company culture. With every community, Aegis Living creates a living environment where residents can feel at home and inspired to live life to the fullest. The privately held company is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and operates 32 communities in Washington, California and Nevada, with 7 additional communities in development. For more information, visit www.aegisliving.com. Follow the company on Twitter @Aegisliving and Facebook at www.facebook.com/AegisLiving.

SOURCE Aegis Living

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Heathrow Airport has launched a voluntary redundancy scheme and warned it cannot rule out further job cuts.

The company, which has around 7,000 directly employed staff, said it had agreed the scheme with unions as it battles to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

It has already cut a third of its managerial roles.

Heathrow Airport has launched a voluntary redundancy scheme and warn of more job cuts

The company has around 7,000 directly employed staff and is adjusting to the Covid-19 crisis

Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said protecting frontline jobs 'is no longer sustainable'

Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: 'Throughout this crisis we have tried to protect frontline jobs but this is no longer sustainable, and we have now agreed a voluntary severance scheme with our union partners.

'While we cannot rule out further job reductions, we will continue to explore options to minimise the number of job losses.'

British Airways, which operates the most flights to and from the airport, has previously announced a plan to cut up to 12,000 jobs.

A total of 76,000 people are employed across 400 different companies at Heathrow.

Mr Holland-Kaye told the City AM podcast last week that cuts being made by airlines mean around 25,000 of these jobs could be at risk.

Just 228,000 passengers travelled through the airport in May, down 97 per cent on the same month last year.

Airlines have grounded the majority of their aircraft because of the collapse in demand and travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Year-on-year demand across the first five months of 2020 is now down 44 per cent.

Just 228,000 passengers travelled through the airport in May, down 97 per cent on May 2019

Heathrow said in a statement that the 'grim picture is set to continue' as the 14-day quarantine policy came into force on Monday.

It is urging the Government to establish air bridges between the UK and countries where the risk of being infected by coronavirus is deemed to be low, so passengers can avoid having to self-isolate.

This will enable the UK to 'restart its economy in earnest, protecting livelihoods in aviation and the sectors that rely on it', according to the airport.
MEDIA COURTHOUSE  A Brookhaven man was sentenced Monday to four to eight years in prison after entering a negotiated guilty plea to one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years old.

Timothy Joseph Kalinowsky, 36, of the 500 block of Brookhaven Road, is already serving a 32-year sentence in federal prison for the same crimes. The sentence handed down Monday by Common Pleas Court Judge Mary Alice Brennan will run concurrent to the federal sentence.

Most of the federal documents were filed under seal, but online court records indicate Kalinowsky was sentenced in January and will have a lifetime of supervised release following his release. He will also have to register for life as a Megans Law sexual offender under the negotiated plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Christopher Boggs and defense counsel Joseph Lesniak.

Kalinowsky was arrested in October 2018 and charged with 10 counts each of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual assault and unlawful contact with a minor, all felonies of the first degree, as well as indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age, a second-degree misdemeanor, and corruption of minors, a third-degree felony.

Brookhaven Detective Timothy S. Habich and Delaware County Detective Lisa DeMartini began investigating the case in September 2018 after receiving a report of sexual abuse of a minor. The investigators viewed text messages from the victim, a 13-year-old girl, to a witness stating Kalinowsky had forced her to perform oral sex, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Habich.

The texts from the victim also stated Kalinowsky made me do it again and I cant do this s anymore, according to the affidavit. The witness contacted police after receiving the texts.

During an interview with investigators, the child said Kalinowsky first forced her to perform oral sex on him when she was in the seventh grade. The girl said she was thereafter made to perform oral sex on at least a weekly basis, according to the affidavit, and at least 20 times prior to Sept. 22, 2018.

Detectives met with Kalinowsky at his home Oct. 1, 2018, according to the affidavit. He initially stated he did not know why police were there and closed the door in the investigators faces. He eventually came outside and agreed to speak, but denied ever receiving oral sex from the victim, the affidavit states.

There were no witnesses for Mondays hearing and Kalinowsky appeared via closed-circuit television. Boggs read a victim impact statement from the victims mother indicating their ability to trust had been destroyed and they would never be the same mentally.

He could have hurt me in any way possible, but to go and do something so sick and disturbing by taking my daughters innocence  it feels like Im dead but still breathing, the worst feeling in the world, Boggs read. What he did was a mothers worst nightmare that I just keep reliving over and over and over again in my head.

Boggs said the commonwealth was satisfied with the plea due to Kalinowskys lengthy federal sentence and lifetime registration status. Kalinowsky will also have to provide a DNA sample to state police and stay away from the victim.
As New Jersey businesses reopen their doors that had been shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, they will be asked to comply with standards to keep workers and customers save. Gov. Phil Murphy announced Thursday.

The standards will be known as the One Jersey Pledge, which Murphy called a pact between businesses and consumers on the hand, and employers and their employees on the other, and vice versa.

It lays out, clearly, that we all share a responsibility to see our restart and recovery through, he added during his daily coronavirus briefing in Trenton.

Murphy said New Jerseys economy wont come back unless workers and customers feel safe. He called on stores and workplaces to display signs about the pledge to demonstrate that commitment to safety.

Its the sign that says were all in this together, the governor said. Its the sign that says getting past COVID-19 is our top priority. Its the way we know we can build the confidence we need to get our economy back to being where we know it can be  strong and fair, for every community and for every family.

Under the program, businesses pledge to customers that their employees will wear face coverings, encourage social distancing, wash their hands regularly, undergo health screenings, frequently clean high-touch areas and require those with COVID-19 symptoms to stay home.

Businesses promise employees that they will provide appropriate personal protective equipment, provide sanitation measures and proper training, and require them to stay home if they have symptoms of the virus.

And employees promise their bosses that they will wash their hands frequently, wear face coverings, undergo health screenings when they arrive at work, and clean high-touch areas frequently.

NEW: Weve created the One Jersey Pledge  a pact that lays out that we all share a responsibility to see our restart and recovery through.



Were all in this together, and getting past #COVID19 is our TOP priority. pic.twitter.com/YKhoCpQ8Qv  Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) June 11, 2020

The head of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce welcomed the new standards.

You have to have things that provide for a safe workplace, but arent so onerous that nobody can meet them, Chamber President Tom Bracken said. We have them now and now companies know what they have to do to be considered safe.

Murphy had been asked to set standards to protect employees, some of whom have complained about being forced to work without protective equipment and who have been infected with COVID-19.

You cannot return to normal, said Patricia Campos-Medina of the Worker Institute at Cornell University, a policy adviser to Workers United, Service Employees International Union. Normal kills workers in New Jersey and this country.

Two officials of the New Jersey COVID-19 Worker Safety and Health Coalition, which represents a number of advocacy groups in the state, said Murphys pledge didnt go far enough. They said they needed an executive order setting regulations and protecting workers who come forward with violations.

A pledge is completely unenforceable and meaningless as workers are getting sick and dying, said Yarrow Willman-Cole and Adil Ahmed. The One Jersey pledge does not change the current scheme of enforcing health and safety measures. The reality is that posters arent effective. Workers know that and dont have the real ability to speak up unless they have the actual right to enforce laws and health and safety standards.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

The matter gained urgency Thursday with the state preparing to allow more businesses to open their doors. Stage 2 of the states reopening plan begins on Monday, with eateries allowed to offer outdoor dining and nonessential businesses permitted to welcome customers back inside, at 50% capacity.

Its at the point where we see the state reopening without significant actions to protect workers, said Willman-Cole, workplace justice program director at New Jersey Citizen Action, an advocacy group that set up a Zoom conference call Thursday where employees deemed essential complained about the lack of protective equipment and other safety standards.

Some said they were told not to return to work after complaining. Others said they had symptoms for the coronavirus but were told to return to work anyway or else use their vacation time or limited sick leave.

They didnt give us the protection that we needed. Then people started to get sick," Carmen Torres of Make the Road New Jersey, a group that works on behalf of immigrants, said through an interpreter. I spoke out and my bosses told me not to come back. There was no more work for me.

Others said they should be allowed to stay home if they dont feel safe returning to work.

We should have the right to reject unsafe work without retaliation, Reynalda Cruz of New Labor, an advocacy group pushing for better working conditions, said through an interpreter. It isnt fair. Theyre basically trampling on our dignity, We deserve something better.

Most people who voluntarily quit or refuse suitable work are not eligible for unemployment insurance benefits, but exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis when the work poses a high degree of risk to health and safety, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Bracken said most businesses owners will grant legitimate requests from employees still hesitant to return to work.

Theyre compassionate people who have concerned for their employees, Bracken said. They want to get as many people employed as soon as possible, but they also want to make sure they dont want to put anybody at risk.

A concern is that some employees will make more money on unemployment, thanks to the extra $600 federal payment that ends July 31, and may not want to return for that reason.

We know for a fact that some people are making more, Bracken said You cant ignore that. If you put out an executive order that allows people to not work for health emergencies, it gives them shelter to not go to work for whatever reason.

If were going to recover at a reasonable pace, companies have to have employees.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
An Indian-origin husband-wife doctor couple have launched judicial review proceedings against the UK government over what they say is a refusal to address safety issues around personal protective equipment (PPE) for doctors and healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Nishant Joshi and his pregnant wife, Dr Meenal Viz, had initiated the legal action in April with a pre-action letter seeking answers from the UKs Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England. They decided to push ahead with the case in the High Court in London on Wednesday because they feel they are no longer willing to wait.

We dont want to be doing this. We didnt plan on doing this. Were doctors in a pandemic. We want to focus on saving lives and stitching this country back together, the couple said in a statement.

But we have been pushed into taking action by the governments refusal to address the issues we have raised, they said.

Their law firm, Bindmans, said the judicial review challenge highlights the mismatch between the governments guidance on PPE and the guidance set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO), including in respect of when full PPE is required, as well as with respect to the reuse and reprocessing of PPE - which includes items such surgical gowns, face visors and gloves. The doctors case claims that the governments guidance also fails properly to warn healthcare and social care workers of the risks they face with different levels of PPE and their legal rights to refuse to work when inadequate PPE is available.

As frontline doctors, Dr Viz and Dr Joshi understand the operational pressures faced by government better than most, but they, along with all other health and social care workers, remain entitled to lawful and transparent guidance on the use of PPE and the risks they are facing on the frontline of responding to this national crisis, said Jamie Potter, Partner at Bindmans LLP and solicitor for Dr Viz and Dr Joshi.

Accordingly, we have today [Wednesday] filed judicial review proceedings seeking to challenge that guidance with a view to bringing into line with WHO guidance as well as human rights legislation. This is important not just in the current crisis, but also to any second spike or future pandemic, he said.

The couple highlight that a disproportionate number of the COVID-19 victims are from ethnic minority backgrounds, and the challenge also raises the governments failure properly to consider the impact on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) health and social care workers across the state-funded National Health Service (NHS). The government have also refused to allow Dr Viz and Dr Joshi to publish their initial responses to the pre-action correspondence so that others can assess the adequacy of their approach to PPE. Our clients will push in any proceedings to ensure such documents are made public, their law firm said.

The couples online crowdfunding initiative for the legal case has raised over 61,000 pounds in pledges. Viz, who is eight months pregnant, has also been leading protests outside Downing Street and last month she and her colleagues observed a 237-second silence - one second for every healthcare worker who died in the line of duty during this pandemic in the UK.

The Department of Health said it cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings but has in the past stressed that safety factors have been taken into account with its guidance. PTI AK PMS RS

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Kristen Doute and Stassi Schroeder were fired from Vanderpump Rules over a 2018 incident they apologized for earlier this week, in which they knowingly lied to police in Los Angeles by claiming Faith Stowers was the suspect they were seeking in an investigation.

And Charli Burnett revealed she was 'bullied' by Vanderpump Rules cast members, likening the series to Game of Thrones, she detailed Behind The Velvet Rope With David Yontef podcast.

The star, who became part of the cast in 2019, said on the June 10 podcast that she was 'mistreated' by the cast members.

Speaking out: Charli Burnett revealed she was 'bullied' by Vanderpump Rules cast members, likening the series as like the series Game of Thrones during her appearance on the podcast Behind The Velvet Rope With David Yontef

Charli said she was 'mistreated' by the cast members, and she 'tried with these people. I have gone up to them and said hi.'

Adding: 'I didn't know it was Game of Thrones.'

Charlie continued: 'When you go up to someone 2 or 3 times and they don't even acknowledge you, let alone even put their hand out or even turn their backs to you... It's kind of like, "Oh OK, you aren't even gonna try anymore."'

'They refused to even act like I am a human if I were filming with them so it was defeating.'

On her experience with Stassi, she said she tried to say hi to her once at their premiere party.

On the show: The star, who became part of the cast in 2019, said on the June 10 podcast that she was 'mistreated' by the cast members

Describing the incident as: 'I felt like she had to say hi because everyone was outside and she didn't want to look bad.'

At another encounter - at Ariana's [Madix] party - which she said she 'was so positive' and went up to Lala [Kent] and 'she was nice and said hi.'

She then later said they turned their heads when she walked up to the group: 'It was so embarrassing.'

Adding: 'I don't wanna name them cause I feel bad. Its hard its really hard because you don't want to try again but I did because they were filming and I tried again and again and then you are like OK you won't like me.'

Charli said about Kristen, she said at first she seemed a'a little nicer' but just found out she 'hates me.'

Candid: Charli said on the toxic atmosphere: 'I didn't know it was Game of Thrones. I didn't ask for this. I was mistreated by the cast members I have tried with these people. I have gone up to them and said hi'

She said that she previously thought she liked her: 'Everyone banished her but I am not a follower and had no issue with her.'

She went to an event for James Mae for Kristen and that they followed each other on social media, but it changed on Scheana Shay's] podcast where Kristen 'went on a rant about me,' which she said confused her.

Charli said: 'For someone so much older than me - the way they all handled things - who is the adult here? They went on Twitter rants and interviews prior to the show coming out - basically bashing me.'

Adding that: 'I was a young girl who wanted an opportunity, trying to make a life for myself. They are all so much older than me, Jax could be my dad.'

'For them to treat me this way when I was trying to make an opportunity for myself. They've been in my spot, trying to chase a pipe dream - trying to bash my opportunity before its even given to me... I was just over it.'

Star: She went to an event for James Mae for Kristen and that they followed each other on social media, but it changed 'on Scheana [Shay's] podcast Kristen went on a rant about me,' which she said confused her

Charli revealed that Lisa Vanderpump spoke to her when she was ready to quit SUR.

The star said: 'Lisa said - I remember I was ready to quit SUR, quit everything she had an intense talk while the cameras were rolling. She said - and I don't think it will be aired - "I don't give a f**k about the cameras. I asked you to work here I asked you to be on the show, I don't care what other people think, they don't have to like you... I do." maybe not word for word but something of that nature.'

She said: 'Then I went to work my shift and said "I am gonna stay here." I am gonna stay on the show - these people can bully me. They can talk about me and be mean - I can be the worst person on the show I am going to complete this task I am going to see this through.'

Vanderpump Rules stars Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni were axed this week by Bravo after their past racist comments resurfaced.

On the show: Charli revealed that Lisa spoke to her when she was ready to quit SUR; pictured with Dayna Kathan, Scheana Marie Shay and Charli Burnett

Stassi, 31, and Kristen, 37, have starred on the reality show since its inception in 2013 while Max, 27, and Brett, 31, were newcomers on the most recent season eight.

Arguably one of the most popular stars of the series, which follows the staff at Lisa Vanderpump-owned SUR restaurant in West Hollywood, Stassi has come under fire for a disturbing racist stunt, along with racially-insensitive remarks she has shared online in recent years.

The outspoken blonde has since been dropped by her agent, publicist and several sponsors after her and pal Kristen's racially-driven stunt against black co-star Faith Stowers came to light.

Fired: Vanderpump Rules stars Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute were fired by Bravo after their racially-charged prank that targeted co-star Faith Stowers

A spokesperson for Bravo and Evolution Media confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Stassi, Kristen, Max and Brett 'will not be returning to Vanderpump Rules'.

Stassi also made offensive comments on a previous podcast episode where she was heard speaking negatively about black people and claiming they ask for special treatment in Hollywood.

On Tuesday afternoon, Faith said felt 'vindicated' after their firing, in a new interview with Page Six.

The comments from Charli comes after Faith, 31, told the Us podcast Watch With Us that she didn't believe officials with Bravo have flushed all of the racism from Vanderpump Rules, citing Taylor, 40, as an example.

Incident: Stassi called the cops on her black former costar Faith Stowers  whom she didn't like  in an effort to get her in trouble on a previous season of the show; Faith is seen in 2016 above

Work to do: Faith Stowers, 31, told the Us podcast Watch With Us that she didn't believe Bravo has flushed all of the racism from Vanderpump Rules, citing Jax Taylor, 40, as an example

Stowers told the podcast that 'there are other people that should be educated as well because theyve made some pretty crazy mistakes and said some crazy - not even mistakes. They just said some terrible things.'

Stowers said she wasn't aware of some of the racial statements attributed to Taylor, but was told about them by industry colleagues.

'I didnt even know the depth of the crazy things that they were saying,' Stowers claimed. 'And so like, I got DMs from other shows, from other females on other shows saying that Mr. Taylor had said some crazy things to them that were racial. So I think he gets a pat on the back a lot.'

Stowers, speaking about Taylor, said the selective firings illustrated a bit of a double standard: 'I think that if youre going to do it for two people, they should do it for some other people as well.'

She added of the situation: 'I just think its not fair to have two people who are very big on their platform, and benefit from the platform, go through something like this for their benefit and everyone elses benefit because theyre benefiting by being able to take time to themselves and learn, educate themselves.'

Problems ahead? Taylor posed with wife Brittany Cartwright in LA

Bold words: Taylor, like Doute and Schroeder, spread false information also linking Stowers to criminal behavior

Taylor the year before spread false information also linking Stowers to criminal behavior.

When the Shelby Township, Michigan native was asked about Stowers - who he once had a fling with - in a December 4, 2017 tweet, he said she was 'wanted by the police for grand theft auto' and AWOL from the military.

Taylor, who wed Brittany Cartwright last year, said it was a 'bad idea' for Stowers to be on a reality show,' adding that 'someones going to jail.'

Taylor was also accused of making racist remarks against black people by Ashley Martson of 90 Day Fiance fame, who said he made a bigoted comment about her husband Jay Smith saying that his 'nose is the size of his head,' US reported Tuesday.

Martson said she felt Taylor's intent was racially-driven and 'meant to be derogatory.'

Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni were also let go from the Bravo series in connection with past racial remarks attributed to them.
Beginning on April 2nd, the Office of High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, in close collaboration with RA National Institute of Health, the Armenian Medical International Committee, and Armenia Fund, jointly launched a series of medical webinars for health care professionals on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight in the Diaspora and in Armenia. The purpose of these webinars is to discuss COVID-19 prevention and treatment protocols for health care providers, explore treatment approaches for specific cases, exchange expertise, expand the pan-Armenian medical network, and consolidate the medical fields potential into an accessible format for medical professionals from around the world.

Nineteen webinars have taken place so far, discussing a variety of topics as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to critical care, pharmaceuticals, pediatric health, radiology, pregnancy management, personal protective equipment and infection control, cardiology, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, COVID-19 sampling techniques, endocrinology, neurology and more.

As the fight against COVID-19 continues, the webinar series continues to attract more and more medical professionals from Armenia and the Diaspora, with the number of participants growing from an average of 40 in April to an average of 100 participants in May and June.

A set of nursing webinars led by the Armenian American Nurses Association was added to the webinar series as well, giving an opportunity to hundreds of nurses from nearly all regions of Armenia to join the discussions, learn from their colleagues in the Diaspora, and exchange expertise with one another.

The webinars have been conducted by highly qualified Armenian Diaspora healthcare professionals who work or teach in some of the best medical institutions from around the world.

As the world is navigating through these turbulent times and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are constantly reassessing and reframing our collective efforts with colleagues in healthcare from all over the world, including Armenia and Artsakh. With the use of new and existing platforms, we have been communicating freely in virtual yet face to face discussions and sharing information and experiences that have allowed all of us to better understand and be prepared to best care for our patients, our loved ones and ourselves. We look forward to continuing these efforts and are very thankful to all the institutions and partners in healthcare who have been collaborating in these bilateral activities. We are especially thankful for the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the National Institute of Health for enabling these synergistic global efforts for the mutual wellbeing of all of our communities, stated Dr. Vicken Sepilian, President of the Armenian Medical International Committee.

The Diasporas role in our ability to fight this pandemic has been instrumental from the very beginning. In fact, medical professionals from the Los Angeles Diaspora began sourcing personal protective equipment for Armenia, even before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed. This initiative has brought medical professionals from Armenia and the Diaspora closer than ever before. It is a true testament to the strength of our partnership and the readiness of the Diaspora to mobilize and stand by the homeland, stated High Commissioner Sinanyan.

It should be noted that the Zoom account and professional translation services which make the webinar series possible are provided by Armenia Support Initiative, which is funded by USAID and implemented by Management Systems International.
(Natural News) Over the years, or rather decades, the establishment media aka the MSM has moved further left each year. In coordination with that leftward lurch, trust in the media by Americans has dwindled.

(Article by Susan Duclos republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

While individual polling numbers rarely matter anymore, they are almost always wrong, polls are good for seeing a long term pattern, as Gallups trust in the media surveys show clearly.

In the long term graph below, we see certain years have a spike here and there, but overall the media downward trend is a glaring indictment of their credibility.

That is a pretty definitive decline and it directly coincides with the steadily leftward liberal bias.

THEY JUST HANDED THE DAYCARE OVER TO THE CHILDREN

What does the media do in response to their historical downfall? They move even further to the left and start allowing low level employees, acting like little children that cannot handle seeing an opinion other than their own, total control of their newsrooms.

Think I am exaggerating? Let us look at the evidence.

Exhibit A: New York Times allows Senator Tom cotton to write an op-ed titled Send In The Troops, offering up the opinion that the military may have to quell the rioting that has been seen over the last week over the death by cop of George Floyd.

In his op-ed, Cotton defended the invocation of the Insurrection Act, claiming that rioters have plunged many American cities into anarchy, with looting that has nothing to do with Floyds death, and that an overwhelming show of force is needed to restore order to our streets.

The toddlers of the New York Times had a complete hissy fit that Cottons opinion was allowed to be run in the NYTs. Started screaming about him putting their black workers in danger, without any proof whatsoever that there was any danger at all to any employee.unless of course those same employees were out burning down cities and looting stores and businesses.

The swift backlash, which spilled out on Twitter, came from dozens across the organization and included opinion writers, reporters, editors and magazine staffers. Several tweeted the same message  Running this puts Black @nytimes staffers in danger  with a screenshot of the editorials headline, Tom Cotton: Send In The Troops.

The temper tantrums on social media and within the newsrooms arent even the most disturbing part of this whole thing, but the capitulation by those supposedly in charge, is quite concerning and most likely indicates the last gasp for the establishment media.

First the NYT Opinion Editor, James Bennet, took to social media to defend having published a counter opinion to those that have consistently been published at NYT.

Bennet explained how the paper had bent over backwards in defense of the protesters, then stated Times Opinion owes it to our readers to show them counter-arguments, particularly those made by people in a position to set policy.

So the temper tantrums continued until the higher ups stuck their tails between their legs and caved to the stomping of the feet and screeching of the children.

But on Sunday, the newspapers publisher, A.G. Sulzberger, made it clear that significant changes would be coming to the opinion process.



Last week we saw a significant breakdown in our editing processes, not the first weve experienced in recent years,  he wrote. James and I agreed that it would take a new team to lead the department through a period of considerable change.



On Thursday, the newspaper said in a statement that an internal review had showed a rushed editorial process that did not meet its own standards. Short-term and long-term changes would be coming as a result, the statement said.

The announcement that James Bennet, after four years of running the opinion sections, was forced to resign.

The little brats got their way because the woman chosen to replace him, Katie Kingsbury, is even more of a radical leftist than Bennet himself, which is saying something.

Exhibit B: The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published a piece in response to the destruction of property by rioters and looters, which read Buildings Matter, Too.

Well. I am fairly sure everyone knows what happened next, just read above at what happened at the NYT.

Employees lost their little minds and threw temper tantrums. The paper dedicated an entire article apologizing for what they termed a deeply offensive headline.

Stan Wischnowski, the top editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer was forced to resign after twenty years of working for the paper, and having been in charge in 2011 when The Inquirer investigated violence within Philadelphia schools, a series awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Another publication that is now letting the wailing children run their newsroom and make their decisions.

Exhibit C: New Yorker Magazine has forbidden Andrew Sullivan aka Sully from writing any articles pertaining to the rioting in America. On June 4, 2020, Sullivan announced on Twitter Heads up: my column wont be appearing this week.

Sully is a liberal, but now one that always toes the liberal line, often making the thought police jump all over him fro daring have an opinion other than their own.

Via The Spectator:

Presumably Sullivans editors are frightened that he might make the radically bourgeois point that looting and violence are wrong. Cockburn understands that Sullivan is not just forbidden from writing for the New York magazine about the riots; his contract means he cannot write on the topic for another publication. He is therefore legally unable to write anything about the protests without losing his job  at the magazine that, in 1970, published Radical Chic, Tom Wolfes brilliant and controversial excoriation of progressive piety. Its the bonfire of the liberals!



Who cares about the First Amendment? Not the Maoists who are marching through NYCs media institutions. Safetyism is their creed. Sullivan may be a very small c conservative, in some ways, but he is really a committed liberal  an Obama-loving gay man who thinks that Trumps dangerous fantasies threaten America.

How dare Sully have individual thought. I mean. HOW DARE HIM!!!!???!!!!

BOTTOM LINE

I think everyone can see the pattern of bowing down or kneeling to the children working at the largest of media outlets and how the powers-that-be at those newsrooms are basically letting the temper tantrum-throwing crybullies run the entire show.

Their consistent encouragement to BLM and Antifa to loot, burn and destroy, should very well be considered incitement to violence. Their allowing their employees, whom they pay, not the other way around, determine their policy, and costing the adults in the room their jobs and livelihoods, tells us everything we need to know about the state of the media in 2020.

Take a look below at the devastation and destruction that the media is applauding, encouraging and actively supporting.

The heartbreaking part starts at the 4:36 minute mark, where a young black man is begging people to come help clean up their local grocery store, and the camera pans to total destruction of a store owned by another black man.

To paraphrase, he asks how this type of devastation helping their cause?

(Note  Some video below is without audio)

Read more: AllNewsPipeline.com
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 06:51:21|Editor: huaxia

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OTTAWA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Canada and the United States are discussing extension of the cross-border agreement restricting all non-essential traffic beyond the June 21 set last month, CBC reported Wednesday.

It is unclear how long the agreement will be extended. The two countries reached an agreement in March to temporarily close the border to non-essential travel to fight the spread of COVID-19.

It bans recreational visits while keeping it open to commercial traffic and essential workers who cross the border for work.

The agreement was extended in April by 30 days until May 21, before being extended for another 30 days last month.

At a daily briefing Wednesday morning, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the arrangement with the United States is working very well and conversations are happening daily between the two governments.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government would allow immediate family members of citizens and permanent residents to cross the border.

However, Trudeau added that anyone who enters the country will have to self-quarantine for 14 days, and failure to follow the rules could result in serious penalties.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the United States reported nearly two million COVID-19 cases with over 112,700 deaths, while Canada had almost 99,000 cases with more than 8,000 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Enditem
A group of lawyers advising Black Lives Matter protesters said they were alarmed by the level of "police aggression" at the demonstrations over the weekend.

Ife Thompson formed the Black Protest Legal Support UK in response to a number of anti-racism protests that are being held in the UK following the death of George Floyd.

Anger over the death of the 46-year-old African American in police custody has sparked demonstrations around the world.

The legal counsel group attended the Black Lives Matter protests taking place at Hyde Park, Parliament Square and the US Embassy on June 3, 6 and 7.

At around 5.40pm outside the US Embassy, the lawyers said police officers "started forcefully pushing peaceful protesters to clear the road" which led to a 12-year-old girl being pushed by a police officer.

Protestors clash with Police at Black Lives Matter Rally 1 /24 Protestors clash with Police at Black Lives Matter Rally A firework explodes as police officers clash with demonstrators in Whitehall during a Black Lives Matter protest in London Reuters Police were hit with glass bottles in Downing Street Getty Images Police officers clash with demonstrators in Parliament Square during a Black Lives Matter protest in London Reuters There were angry clashes between violent protesters and police last night Getty Images Getty Images Police clash with protesters during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Westminster, PA Police clash with protesters during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Westminster, PA Police clash with protesters during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Westminster, PA Police on Westminster Bridge during a Black Lives Matter protest rally PA A protester is detained by police officers in Westminster, AP A protester is moved away by police in Whitehall AP A protester is restrained by Police Officers close to Westminster tube station outside the Houses of Parliament during a Black Lives Matter protest Getty Images Police officers surround the cenotaph in Whitehall, London AP Police officers restrain a protester close to Westminster tube station outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A protester is restrained by Police Officers close to Westminster tube station outside the Houses of Parliament during a Black Lives Matter protest Getty Images Police officers restrain a protester close to Westminster tube station outside the Houses of Parliament during a Black Lives Matter protest Getty Images A protester attempts to set fire to the flags on the Cenotaph memorial during a Black Lives Matter protest Getty Images Police clash with protesters during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Westminster PA

They referred to another incident when Downing Street mounted officers "charged on horseback at protesters" without warning and said at least one protester was injured when a police horse became separated from its rider.

On Saturday the Legal Observers said police kettled hundreds of protesters at Downing Street.

If protesters wished to leave police stated they would have to give their name, address, date of birth and be filmed from head-to-toe and those who refused to provide this information were sent back into the kettle.

Black Protest Legal Support UK told the Evening Standard: "We are deeply concerned that young people, including vulnerable children, were kettled by the police despite the polices duty to safeguard and protect them.

"What is particularly egregious is that some of these children, as young as 12-years-old, were arrested when they were identified as vulnerable to the police.

Thousands join Black Lives Matter protests across UK

"The criminalisation of predominantly young black and brown people exercising their right to peacefully protest is alarming.

"We know black children are already disproportionately policed and that BAME children are overrepresented in the youth justice system, accounting for 50 per cent of the young people in detention."

On Sunday the legal observers said there were "extreme levels of police violence on Westminster Bridge" from around 9.30pm until 11.30pm.

They claimed a pregnant woman was manhandled and dragged across the police cordon, and said Legal Observers witnessed officers use excessive force to pull a man off his bike. A small group of protesters were charged at by three rows of riot police to drive them off Westminster Bridge, said the legal counsel group.

Black Lives Matter protesters take a knee / AFP via Getty Images

They added that one of their Legal Observers was "threatened with violence by three police officers" when taking notes in front of the cordon.

The group also raised concerns regarding what the police's decision to "kettle, arrest and detain those under 18 during a pandemic".

"Childrens rights groups including Just for Kids Law, the Youth Justice Legal Centre and the Childrens Rights Alliance, have reiterated the polices safeguarding duties and urged forces to limit the arrests and detention of children and young people whilst Covid-19 risk levels remain high," said the lawyers.

They added that the legal basis for the kettles on Saturday and Sunday night was "questionable".

Police clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters on June 8 / Reuters

"The police applied s.50 of the Police Reform Act 2002 as a blanket power, implying they had reason to believe everyone in that vicinity had acted in an anti-social manner - including vulnerable children and our Legal Observers," said the group.

"They then used this to demand protesters and Legal Observers provide their personal details before being allowed to leave the kettle.

"The use of s.50 in this way is potentially unlawful. Black Protest Legal Support will continue to monitor policing at these protests carefully to ensure all protesters, including children and young people, are safe and supported."

The Metropolitan Police said they arrested 57 people participating in protests across London, Brighton and Clacton-on-Sea over the weekend.

'I will not support those who break the law', Boris Johnson says of Black Lives Matter protests

This includes two teenagers aged 15 who took part in demonstrations at Westminster and were arrested on suspicion of a public order offence.

The force added that eight of its officers were injured over the weekend.

Met Office Superintendent Jo Edwards told i news: Regrettably officers were faced with further scenes of violence and disorder following a day of predominantly peaceful protest throughout the capital.

This is a hugely impassioned movement and we understand the publics desire to have their voices heard  however it is not right that this passion has turned into violent attacks on officers.

Overnight our policing operation will continue and I would urge demonstrators thinking of returning to stay at home. The threat of coronavirus remains very real, and we need you to protect yourselves, your friends and your family.

Black Protest Legal Support UK advised anyone to attend a protest to take a screenshot of bustards from the group's Twitter page which includes numbers of specialist solicitors.

The Met has been approached for further comment.
BRIDGEPORT  A Superior Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit claiming Westport school officials not only turned a blind eye to bullying in a middle school but retaliated against a student who claimed he was bullied.

In a 44-page decision, Judge Barbara Bellis ruled that former Superintendent of Schools Elliot Landon; Kris Szabo, principal of Coleytown Middle School; Vice Principal Micah Lawrence, and teacher Richard Quiricone did not violate the towns anti-school bullying plan and did not act recklessly cause injury to the alleged bully victim.

Although the defendants may not have engaged every conceivable action that could have been implemented under the (anti-bullying) plan, there is no genuine issue of fact that many actions were taken to deal with reported bullying incidents, investigate those incidents and respond to the verified acts of bullying accordingly, the judge stated.

Michael Iancurci, the lawyer for Jack Doe and his parents, said they are appealing the judges decision.

Obviously, my clients are very disappointed by the results and are in the process of filing an appeal, he said.

Westport school officials did not return calls and emails for comment. Their lawyer, Catherine Nietzel, acknowledged receiving both calls and emails on behalf of her clients but did not comment.

Coleytown Middle School has been the subject of complaints of bullying over the years and in 2017 was the subject of two investigations by the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights.

In the lawsuit, a former student at the school, designated in the suit as Jack Doe 2, claimed he was the victim of multiple bullying incidents including physical assaults, name calling, threats, ridicule and mental abuse from January 2013 until at least June 22, 2017.

The main incident, according to the suit, occurred in gym class at Coleytown on March 18, 2016, when Jack Doe 2, who was 12 or 13 at the time, was attacked and assaulted by four students. No teacher or administrator witnessed the attack, as it occurred where the teacher could not see them, the suit states. Jack Doe 2 filed a bullying report with the administration regarding the incident.

Chris Marquette / Hearst Connecticut Media

According to court documents, bullying reports were filed against Jack Doe 2. In early April 2016, Does parents were informed that school officials substantiated several of the allegations made by Jack Doe 2, but also sustained allegations made against Jack Doe 2. Jack Doe 2 received two days of in-school suspension.

The lawsuit states that Jack Doe 2 also attempted to report another incident of bullying on April 29, 2016, to the school's counselor, but Szabo insisted he talk to her. As he was not comfortable talking to Szabo, he did not file a report, and John Doe 2 attempted to speak with the defendants later that day but no one was available, the suit states.

As a result of the defendants' acts and omissions, the suit claims, Jack Doe 2 suffered mental and emotional distress as well as physical injuries, and suffered costs and expenses from the injuries.

However, in her decision, the judge points out that Jack Doe 2 testified at his deposition that he did not report any bullying to school officials prior to March 18, 2016. Szabo testified none of the students involved had reported any conflicts or bullying prior to the March 18, 2016, incident, and Quiricone was not aware of any bullying issues prior to March 18, 2016, between the involved students, and he was not at school on that date.

This evidence therefore establishes the absence of a genuine issue of fact that the defendants were not on notice of any bullying directed against Jack Doe 2 prior to the March 18, 2016, incident and, as a result, their conduct prior to March 2016 cannot be classified as unreasonable or an extreme departure from ordinary care because they could not have knowingly or intentionally allowed Jack Doe 2 to continue to be bullied and subjected to imminent harm, the judge stated.
Egypts foreign minister Sameh Shoukry and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan called on Wednesday for an immediate ceasefire in Libya, urging all parties to be fully committed to the political reconciliation under the UN supervision based on the Berlin International Conference and the Cairo Declaration, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

In a telephone call, the two ministers denounced the violence of militant groups supported by foreign powers against civilians, especially near the city of Sirte.

According to the Egyptian foreign ministry, Shoukry and Al Nahyan expressed their concern about the developments in Libya, asserting that the political solution was the only way to end conflict and achieve stability for the Libyan people.

The Cairo Declaration is a joint political initiative announced by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar, and Libya's Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh in Cairo on Saturday.

The initiative, which was welcomed by Arab and Western countries, aims to resolve the Libyan crisis and end armed conflict in the Arab country.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 14:15:06|Editor: huaxia

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BERLIN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell on late Wednesday showed his support to President Donald Trump's plan to reduce troops in Germany, saying there is no need to pay too much for other countries' defence.

Trump has ordered the U.S. military to remove 9,500 troops from Germany, Reuters quoted a senior U.S. official as saying. The move would reduce the U.S. contingent to 25,000.

"American taxpayers no longer feel like paying too much for the defence of other countries," Grenell told German media outlet Bild Live.

"There will still be 25,000 soldiers in Germany, that's no small number," added the former official, who resigned on June 1. Enditem
Twitter users have slammed Donald Trump for organizing his first post-Covid rally in Tulsa on the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre.

The rally will take place next Friday, on Juneteenth, the commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

The Tulsa massacre of 1921 took place on May 31 and June 1 of that year, and saw a racist white mob kill black residents in the once-thriving African-American business community.

Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will hold his first post-coronavirus rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma next Friday, June 19

The Tulsa massacre of 1921 saw a racist white mob kill hundreds of black residents in the once-thriving African-American business community

The attack, carried out on the ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district, which at that time was the wealthiest black community in the US and referred to as 'Black Wall Street'.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 36 dead although some estimates stretch to 300.

Black residents attempted to rebuild in the decades that followed, only to see their work erased during urban renewal of the 1960s.

This year's anniversary of the massacre comes at a time when raging mass Black Lives Matter protests are being held across the country to mark the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man, died last week at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sparking global outrage.

Twitter users have expressed outrage at Trump coinciding his Tulsa rally with Juneteenth.

'Trump is having his next rally on Juneteenth - the day the end of slavery in the US is celebrated - in Tulsa, the city where the greatest massacre of Black Americans took place. A message. Not a coincidence,' one Twitter user wrote.

Another questioned: 'Tulsa, Oklahoma is the city where there was a huge massacre of African Americans on 19 June 1921. Trump is holding his first MAGA rally since the coronavirus hit in the U.S. in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 19th? Huh.'

One outraged Twitter user wrote: 'You want proof that trump HATES "The Blacks?" He just selected Tulsa, OK -- the site of the Tulsa Massacre that killed 300 Blacks -- for the site of his 1st rally in months. On June 19th.'

'So...Juneteenth. In the city where the Tulsa Massacre took place in 1921. As hes pushing back against anti-racism that he sees as a threat to his presidency. This symbolism sucks,' another person posted.

Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will hold his first rally since the coronavirus pandemic next Friday in Oklahoma, and previewed that he plans to hold three more in swing states he won in 2016.

During an unannounced event at the White House, where he was surrounded by prominent black supporters, the president repeated that he wants to get back on the campaign trail in the style of holding his stadium-filling rallies.

Trump held an unannounced event with black supporters in the Cabinet Room on Wednesday afternoon, where he also said he would be holding rallies in swing states of Florida, North Carolina and Arizona soon

He said he plans to go to Florida, Arizona and North Carolina, swing states that swayed red in 2016, and deep red state of Oklahoma, which he won with 65.3 per cent of the vote last time around.

Trump's campaign has been eager to resume rallies as it tries to move past the pandemic, even as cases continue to rise in some parts of the country. He has focused most of his rallies this year on battleground states, although Oklahoma is reliably Republican.
WASHINGTON  Not every Republican on Capitol Hill is joining President Donald Trump's call to preserve Confederate heritage.

While the president this week decried efforts to rechristen U.S. military bases named for Confederate generals, the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday decided to add a bipartisan provision to the Pentagon's annual spending bill that would begin the process of renaming those installations.

"If we're going to have bases throughout the United States, I think it should be with the names of individuals who fought for our country," South Dakota GOP Sen. Mike Rounds, a senior member of the committee, told reporters Thursday on Capitol Hill. "This is the right time for it. And I think it sends the right message."

In addition, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday called for the removal of 11 Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol Building. The request was made in a letter addressed to a special panel created to oversee the 100 statues states send for display in the Capitol. Each states gets two statues.

Part of a large group of protesters gather around the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue near downtown in Richmond, Va. on June 2, 2020.

"The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation," she wrote. "Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals."

Several Republican lawmakers asked about Pelosi's request said any decision to remove the statues should either come from the states or by changing the law that permits their display. But a few said they would not object to such a change.

More: 10 military bases named after Confederate generals

"Not opposed to it," said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Confederate monuments, statues and other honorifics have become a flash point following massive, nationwide rallies against racial injustice and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was pinned down by a police officer in Minneapolis as he gasped for survival.

Story continues

On Tuesday, the Navy announced that Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, plans to ban display of the Confederate battle flag from public workspaces on bases, ships, aircraft and submarines. Last week, the Marine Corps banned the display of the Confederate battle flag.

On Wednesday, NASCAR banned the presence of Confederate flags from all events, races and properties effective immediately.

More: Richmond is taking down Confederate statues: Is this the end for other Confederate memorials?

That follows declarations by several cities around the country, including Richmond, Virginia, which served as the capital of the Confederacy, to begin the process of dismantling its monuments to secessionist leaders.

Defenders of Confederate symbols  including Trump  say it's part of history, a nod to heritage not racism.

In a tweet Thursday, Trump criticized the move to rename army bases and its chief sponsor, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., while urging GOP senators not to "fall for this."

Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars. Hopefully our great Republican Senators wont fall for this!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020

Trump has not commented on the recent call to remove the Confederate statues from the Capitol Building. But he has a history of defending such monuments.

Following a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017 where white supremacists protested the taking down of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's statue, the president told reporters in New York City that the monument was a "very, very important statue."

"So this week, its Robert E. Lee, I noticed that (Confederate Gen.) Stonewall Jacksons coming down," he told reporters. "I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after. You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?

Some Republican senators from southern states were reluctant to endorse the change. Among them was GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

I do not think we ought to rewrite history," Alexander told reporters when asked about renaming bases. "I think its always appropriate to review the people and the places that we honor to see if they fit the context of the times in which we live.

Anger over some memorials have prompted some demonstrators to remove statues themselves of not only Confederate leaders but also Christopher Columbus who many say should be remembered as a violent colonizer responsible for countless deaths of indigenous Americans.

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton blasted a "cancel culture" that seeks to "completely erase our culture and our history" including the destruction and removal of statues.

Confederate flags fly in the parking lot at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2018.

"Just up the Mall is the Washington Monument," he said, referring to the honorific bestowed upon the nation's first president who also owned slaves. "Are we going to tear it down? Are we going to rename it the Obelisk of Wokeness?"

The Capitol has 11 Confederate statues, four of which are in the process of being removed and replaced by the states that sent them there. Missouri GOP Sen. Roy Blunt, who chairs the panel in charge of overseeing the statues, said even a move to hide them in storage without states' say "would violate the agreement with the states, which is contractual and legislative in nature."

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., favors letting states make the call on which statues to display at the Capitol but he said he's no fan of trumpeting Confederate icons.

More: Gov. Andrew Cuomo pledges support for Christopher Columbus statue in Manhattan

"I've been pretty outspoken on things like schools. I don't think schools should be named after Confederate leaders and generals," he said. "You've got a role model issue there. Same thing (with) military bases."

And Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he's not against renaming bases or removing statues as long as procedures are followed.

"I'm fine with doing that," he told reporters Thursday. "For a lot of reasons, I don't have some personal affinity to the Confederacy, which is a rebellion against the United States of America. I just think it has to be through the right process."

Contributing: Ryan Miller, Jeanine Santucci

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Confederate statues: Some GOP lawmakers break with President Trump
Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh's regime is facing a wave of protests triggered by the detention of a military officer who had denounced discrimination and corruption in the tiny Horn of Africa nation.

Hundreds took to the streets of Djibouti city on June 4 before being brutally dispersed by police, who then made spot arrests throughout the capital, according to an AFP reporter.

The following day, police used live ammunition on a crowd in Ali Sabieh, the country's second-largest city, wounding several people and arresting others, human rights organisations said.

A new demonstration was again held on Monday in the sprawling district of Balbala in the capital, and on Tuesday, security forces were omnipresent in the city.

Map of Djibouti where protests have occurred after the detention of a military officer who denounced corruption. By Thomas SAINT-CRICQ (AFP)

The protestors are outraged over a video shot by Air Force Lieutenant Fouad Youssouf Ali from his cell in Gabode prison in Djibouti city, where the regime is accused by rights activists of detaining opponents and sometimes using torture.

A small, highly strategic country that is simultaneously home to French, US, Chinese and Japanese military bases, Djibouti has been ruled with an iron fist since Guelleh became president in 1999.

In the video, which was posted online, Ali showed his cell, a tiny windowless room only equipped with dirty latrines.

The pilot, who has been in prison since April 22, filmed himself with a mobile phone and revealed what appeared to be injuries to his legs caused by physical abuse.

'Persecution'

He complained about the conditions of his imprisonment and worried that he would never get out alive.

"He could die at any moment," said his lawyer Zakaria Abdillahi, who says Ali needs to be hospitalised and has obtained court approval for a medical assessment.

Abdillahi, who was able to see his client on Wednesday for the first time since May 13, told AFP on Thursday that Ali has "begun a hunger strike".

Ali came to the public's attention at the end of March when he published a first video saying he was persecuted because of his clan, and attacking the nepotism which he said prevailed in the army.

The same day, he fled to Ethiopia to seek political asylum. He was arrested on April 8 by the Ethiopian police and handed over to Djibouti a few days later.

"This gentleman was kidnapped, he was not extradited," Abdillahi said.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's been arbitrarily detained since April 11... He's someone who was kidnapped and held captive, which is a criminal offence," he said.

The government has reacted through its official media, a rare move when opponents are arrested.

"For once, there is pressure from the public... This authoritarian regime is afraid," said Abdillahi, who also accused the police of harassing Ali's family.

Charged with treason

Djibouti's attorney general, Djama Souleiman Ali, said the lieutenant had tried to steal a military plane to fly to Eritrea but failed to take off and damaged the aircraft.

He has charged him with treason, which carries a life sentence but which Abdillahi said "makes no sense".

Relations between Djibouti and Eritrea are strained by a long-standing unresolved border dispute over Ras Doumeira, a strategic cape overlooking the entrance to the Red Sea north of Djibouti city.

Ali "called for insurrection and revolt and that's not acceptable for any country," Djibouti's ambassador to Ethiopia, Mohamed Idriss Farah, told AFP.

Benedikt Kamski, a researcher at the Germany-based Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute (ABI) said that while the current protests remained relatively small, and were likely to fizzle out, they were mainly a sign of dissatisfaction with the government ahead of elections which are meant to take place next year.

"Large parts of the population are dissatisfied with the president and the government, especially due to (allegations of) widespread corruption and the lack of delivering basic services to the population.

"Also unemployment and underemployment are particularly big issues."

The protests also come as Djibouti is dealing with the highest prevalence of the coronavirus on the continent. A lockdown has been lifted but a travel ban is still in place and people's livelihoods have been hit hard.

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Karel Minor, president of the Owen J. Roberts School Board (r far right), resigned Wednesday night after making a joke on Facebook about George Floyd's death. Read more

The president of a Chester County school board has resigned amid backlash for his social media post joking about George Floyds death.

Karel Minor, president of the Owen J. Roberts school board, said Wednesday night that an apology was wholly inadequate and that he would resign immediately.

In a screenshot that had been circulating online, Minor responded to a Facebook post with the comment, Shes got her knee on lifes neck like its a minority in Minnesota. Thats probably too soon. Floyd died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck, setting off a firestorm of protests against racism and police brutality across the country.

It wasnt clear exactly what Minor had been responding to. The screenshot, shared on Facebook by a man who said he worked for the school district, showed Minor had replied to another comment that read in part, Congratulations! Its been a privilege to see you grow and excel. The world is yours.

In an email Thursday, Minor declined to elaborate on his post or agree to an interview.

In a Facebook post announcing his resignation, Minor said his comment was stripped of its context as part of a discussion with a friend about white privilege, my disgust for police brutality, and was intended to mean exactly the opposite of the words used. But, he said, out of context the statement is horrific.

 READ MORE: Head of Pa. charter schools group steps down after posting that Floyd protesters disgust me

Messages sent to the man who had shared the screenshot of Minors comment were not returned Thursday.

Owen J. Roberts spans seven townships in northern and western Chester County. Of its 5,500 students, 82% are white. The other students are Hispanic, multiracial, Asian, and black.

The districts teachers union on Wednesday called on Minor to resign, saying his shockingly intolerant statement contradicts the foundations of public education and serves only to deepen wounds in our communities.

Earlier this week, a Delaware County school board president acknowledged sharing tasteless memes on his Facebook page  including posts denigrating Mexican immigrants and people objecting to mistreatment by the police.

The Penn-Delco board president, Leon Armour, apologized to those offended but said his posts were only meant to be humorous. The district posted a statement from Armour on its website, while some people began circulating an online petition demanding his resignation.
Having shown off its noise cancelling prowess with the Sony WH-1000XM3 premium headphones, the attempt is to bring similar levels of performance to the more affordable price points as well. Democratization of technology, as they say. And that takes us straight to the Sony WH-CH710N, which is priced at Rs 9,990 (a sidetone though, the official Sony India websites insist the price tag is Rs 14,990 and this is available for a discount). It is seriously cool price tag and that makes the Sony WH-CH710N an oasis in an otherwise parched landscape. That also makes it the most affordable noise cancellation headphone in Sonys line-up in India, after the aforementioned WH-1000XM3 (around Rs 29,990), the WH-H910N (around Rs 24,990) and the WH-XB900N (around Rs 16,990). The question really is whether there are compromises to achieve the noise cancellation levels at this price, and how much, while also trying to understand whether it carries down any features from its more expensive siblings?

Competition check with Sennheiser HD450BT is to be expected, that is if noise cancellation is an important element for you. Anyone considering the Sony WH-CH710 will surely glance at the HD450BT which is priced at Rs 14,990 and for the extra money you shell out for that, it does noise cancellation in a slightly different way. With typical Sennheiser sound, that can be had in white and black colors, offers long battery stamina and feels very light as well as comfortable to wear for long durations. The battles have begun in earnest.

You win some, you lose some

First things first, the Sony WH-CH710N immediately sacrifices some of the bells and whistles that youd associate with higher priced headphones. For instance, there is no carry pouch or carry case bundled. That is understandableit is pure economics at play here. Sennheiser does bundle a very nice carry pouch for the HD450BT, which is a nice value-addition to have for the headphone you have just purchased.

Nice and light, and well designed

Sony has most certainly given the Sony WH-CH710 a lightweight build, tipping the scales at around 218 grams. That is great if you want to wear them for a while at a stretch. You can have the Sony WH-CH710 in black and blue colours and my personal preference has to be blue purely because it stands out compared with black. The outer of each earcup has a more curvaceous design as well which is good to look at. The headband also has good cushioning. The power, volume as well as noise cancellation buttons are spread between the left and right earcup, and you will eventually get used to the layout without having to look at it. This has a USB-C charging port, which means in all likelihood, your phone charger will be able to do the job. All in all, once the world becomes a better place and you are able to travel, the Sony WH-CH710 will be a good companion to have for the travels.

In comparison, the Sennheiser HD450BT weighs 238 grams but in the real world, you really wouldnt feel the difference. Earcup sizes are largely the same in terms of diameter albeit with slight design differences, while Sennheiser has bestowed slightly thicker padding on the HD450BTs earcups. What I have not taken to is the physical button layout that Sennheiser went with, and Sony has done it much simpler in terms of layout and recollection. Your colour choices are black and whitewith the white, you get a pretty plain look that would perhaps appeal to some albeit with beige inserts while the black variant will get you a nice matte finish and a dash of silver that adds some shine to the entire thing.

Im not sure if this is a fallout of the accountant getting in the way, but the Sony WH-CH710 do not fold, and the earcups can only be swiveled flat. The Sennheiser HD450BT folds into a much more compact size, which may be what you want when you put the headphones in the backpack or your handbag.

Also Read | Sennheiser HD 450BT Review: These Headphones Sound More Expensive Than They Actually Are

It is all about the sound, and blocking out the noise

First things first, do not expect the Sony WH-CH710 to sound like the top-of-the-line WH-1000XM3. With the price difference, it would certainly be fallacious to even assume so. That being said, this isnt short on audio power either. In each ear are 30mm audio drivers. In my experience, the Sony WH-CH710 do what they are supposed to do as far as the overall audio experience is concerned. These arent neutral by any stretch of the imagination, and while not bass-heavy, there is still that slight emphasis towards the lower frequencies. Yet, it is nearly impossible to find a track that either loses out on detail at either end of the spectrum. The sound is enjoyable and if your library is tuned more towards bass heavy music, you would love this. These cans can go really loud as well, and not lose any clarity along the way.

Still, it misses that extra sparkle that the Sennheiser HD450BT offers. The Sony WH-CH710s frequency range is 20 to 20,000Hz while Sennheiser has given the HD450BT the ability to tap the wider 18 to 22,000Hz frequency range. While I had noted in the HD450BT review as well that there seems to be a bit more softness to the sound, quite audible in some tracks, the sound signature remained neutral as it should.

Between the two, for most users, it will be too close to call. The Sony WH-CH710N and the Sennheiser HD450BT have both taken a different approach to reach where they are, and while sound preferences are subjective, both deliver on the promise of sound. That is even more creditable for the Sony WH-CH710N, particularly considering the really affordable price tag that it comes with.

The small matter of the noise cancellation. Let us deal with the elephant in the roomthe Sony WH-CH710 does not have active noise cancellation (ANC). Instead it uses something called the Artificial Intelligent Noise Cancellation (AINC) to understand the nature of noise around you via the dual microphones in each earcup and then suppress them. The results are quite acceptable, I have to say, with considerable amount of outdoor noise such as traffic and people chatting getting blocked out. But a noisy air conditioner, for example, or something similarly harsh and perhaps rare still somehow streams throughnot that it is going to bother you much, but you just know it is there. This noise cancellation method will do the job for most people, but harsh sounds will still be noticeable to you unless you really turn up the volume.

Sennheiser has a significant advantage with the active noise cancellation (ANC) in the HD450BT. When turned on, these block out pretty much every noise in the world around you. That is just how superior ANC is as a technology, and it is good to see Sennheiser not cutting any corners on that performance aspect.

In terms of battery life, we got close to Sonys claimed 35-hour battery backup time for listening to music with the noise cancellation active. This is quite robust and should work well for travelers too. You charge the battery and pretty much don't have to worry about it for a while. In comparison, Sennheiser HD450BT delivers a bit more than 30 hours with noise cancellation active, and remember, the ANC that it deploys is also far superior.

The Last Word: It is a steal at this price! Except...

The thing is, the Sony WH-CH710 is ticking off a large part of the spec sheet. The lightweight and comfortable build, powerful sound and the fact that it has noise cancellation capabilities. In essence, the slight bias towards lower frequencies should also work well for a lot of Indian users who prefer bass heavy music. The Sony WH-CH710 is indeed a very capable headphone and I wouldnt mind recommending it to just about anyone. At the price which it comes for, under the Rs 10,000 mark, there really is no competition for this sort of audio experience. Why would you not want to buy the Sony WH-CH710N and instead spend similar amounts of money on unknown brands or products that are just not even remotely close as far as the sound is concerned? Dont do it!

However, this is where the finer details come into play. If noise cancellation is important for you and you need a good pair of cans that will block out the ambient noise at work or while traveling, then you just have to prepare yourself to spend a little more and go for the Sennheiser HD450BT which is using superior noise cancellation technology and does a better job of blocking out the ambient noise for your music, podcasts and Netflix binge watching sessions. There are just no two ways about it.
MANISTEE COUNTY, MI  A 67-year-old Michigan man was killed in a near head-on collision in Manistee County.

Troopers from the Michigan State Police Cadillac Post are investigating the crash, which occurred on Caberfae Hwy (M-55) near Seaman Road in Norman Township at approximately 3:35 p.m. on Wednesday, June 10.

A preliminary investigation indicates that Thomas Sievert of Manistee was traveling eastbound on Caberfae Hwy in Chevrolet Cruze when he collided with another driver, a 60-year-old male from Clio, who was traveling westbound.

Sievert was pronounced dead at the scene. The Clio man received minor injuries and was treated at Munson of Manistee.

Alcohol does not appear to be a factor, according to police. Troopers were assisted at the scene by the Norman Township Fire Department, North Flight EMS, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The night before George Floyd was killed, I watched the scene in 'Normal People' where a group of attractive young white students sat around a table somewhere fabulous in Italy, sipping Champagne. One of the assembled made a racist remark, which was laughed off by half the gathering and ignored by the other two, who fled the scene leaving a contrail of white privilege in their wake.

What bothered me even more than twenty-somethings swilling fizz was the missed opportunity of a contemporary drama, written at a time when fascism is on the rise globally, to call out racism. The wherewithal and moral conviction just wasn't there.

Knowing how everyday racist remarks can lead to everyday job discrimination, everyday racist abuse and sometimes murder, I was vexed. I thought of all the normal people whose lives have been brutally torn asunder by racism. Such as Stephen Lawrence, whose mother Doreen I met when I was advising the Metropolitan Police on institutional racism. The grief-laden eyes of a woman whose life was normal until her teenage son was murdered by racists in London haunt me.

I built a life in England which ended 10 months ago when I returned home as a Brexit refugee. The epidemic of far-right bigotry unleashed by the EU referendum morphed into daily race hate attacks, directed not against immigrants like me, but those of a darker hue.

A Leave-voting mother approached me at the school gates, assuring me that "people like me" (white), didn't vote to kick "people like you" (also white) out. It's the "other" foreigners she had a problem with. The juxtaposition of Brexiteers issuing imaginary asylum passes to white immigrants while ordering black and Asian people, many of whom were born and bred in Britain, to "go home" was as surreal as it was sinister. I replied, "If the black and brown immigrants get kicked out, I'll be right behind them."

Racism exists in Ireland, too, and with black voices amplified in recent days, we are hearing heartbreaking stories, such as that of Tre Jones, the 11-year-old who recounted racist abuse from adults and children, calling him the "n-word" and telling him to go back to Africa.

The words of civil rights activist Angela Davis have been widely invoked since George Floyd's death: "In a racist society, it's not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist". For white people wanting to know what to do in this moment, anti-racism groups are urging us to educate ourselves and our children about black history and racism.

I've been teaching my 12-year-old about black history, mostly through stories, since he was four. When his teachers talk about Florence Nightingale, he says, "What about Mary Seacole?" In the last year, we've watched 'The Great Debaters' (not suitable for younger children), 'Just Mercy', the spectacular dramatisation of Malorie Blackman's ground-breaking novel 'Noughts & Crosses', and the 'Doctor Who' re-enactment of Rosa Parks' story.

None of the above made it easier for my son to comprehend how George Floyd could die under the knee of a white police officer who ignored his anguished pleas, "I can't breathe" and "Momma, I'm through". It just helped him understand the anger that comes with generations of pain and oppression.

There is a plethora of educational resources online, but these are no substitute for listening to black voices in this country, now.

For leaders of institutions such as Trinity College, for example, that involves hearing the everyday racism experienced by black and ethnic minority students on campus, and stamping it out. For agents and publishers, it's about commissioning black stories and talent.

As well as educating and enabling, anti-racism requires the courage to challenge racist behaviour. Our children watch how we respond to racist "jokes". Silence is tacit approval.

Not sure if someone is racist? The following is a useful litmus test.

Racists punch down on the powerless, be it "Nigerians coming here for a better life and sending all their money home" (unlike generations of Irish emigrants) or "the sponging asylum-seeking racketeers living it up in five-star hotels, while 'our own' are abandoned in the streets".

Anti-racists punch up at those in power, calling out systemically racist policies that pit "our own" against asylum seekers.

Anti-racists might be inclined to think that the spongers are among the private contractors who pocketed around 1bn of taxpayers' money for operating often substandard and unsafe direct provision accommodation some liken to prison.

Anti-racists will have done their homework and know that the United Nations described the system as a "severe violation of human rights" and will be calling for an end to an inhumane policy described as the Magdalene Laundries of our time.

Our black friends are frightened and traumatised. Now is not the time to be paralysed by white guilt. It's a time to educate ourselves and our children and to call racism out. It's a time to speak up, reach out and show people of colour that black lives do matter.
Society's response to COVID-19 is harming ethnic minorities and migrants, according to global health experts writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. The risk of contracting COVID-19, the severity of the illness and the risk of poor health related to the policies and actions responding to the pandemic are all increased in minority groups, the authors write.

"Black, Asian and minority ethnic and migrant groups have a greater risk of contracting COVID-19 infection, as they are more likely to live in poor and overcrowded accommodation and do precarious forms of work or work in the gig economy. They are also more likely to get a severe form of the infection," said lead author Dr Delan Devakumar, of the Institute for Global Health at University College London.

Many migrant groups, especially those without documents, are less likely to seek help, or may seek help later, with more advanced disease, according to the authors. The UK Government's 'hostile environment' policy, they write, including barriers to accessing the health service, such as upfront charging and the sharing of data with the Home Office, has led to migrants avoiding healthcare.

With the UK and the world more generally likely to enter one of the deepest recessions in a lifetime, the authors say that the poorest, with insecure employment and most vulnerable in terms of health, are at risk for other stress-related health problems, especially mental health issues, that increase in times of recession.

"Economic hardship is a fertile ground for populist movements to thrive and sadly, many world leaders have used the COVID-19 outbreak, mixing public health actions with divisive policies to further their own agendas," said Dr Devakumar, adding that minority and marginalised groups will bear the brunt.

"To successfully combat a pandemic, health protection measures rely on well-prepared and well-functioning health services that treat and support everyone, ensuring those most at risk are protected. Public health principles based around equity should be firmly at the core of the world's response."

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Police in Vrutky town kill a man who attacked a school, leaving one dead and five injured.

Police in Slovakias Vrutky town have killed a man who attacked staff at a school in an assault that left one adult dead.

Thursdays violence also left five people, including two children, injured, a spokeswoman for the countrys rescue services said. The schools deputy director was killed, authorities said.

Slovak media reported that the attacker stabbed victims and was then shot by police as he ran away from the school in the town of Vrutky, 220km (137 miles) northeast of the capital Bratislava.

According to the Associated Press news agency, the attacker was identified as a 22-year-old man from the nearby town of Martin.

He broke the glass door to get in, the staff tried to stop him and he used a knife he had brought with him, Slovak police chief Milan Lucansky said on his official Facebook page.

He dealt a lethal injury to a deputy principal and injured the caretaker, then he got inside the building where he caused a serious injury to a female teacher and then injured two kids with multiple stab wounds, he said.

He then tried to escape with the caretaker running after him. A policeman chased him, but he tried to defend himself with the knife so they used their guns and killed him.

Although he did not go into detail about the attackers motives, Lucansky said the young man appeared to have struggled with mental health problems.

Sincere condolences

The killing rocked Slovakia, a central European eurozone country of 5.4 million people, where the incident was the first violent attack of its kind in a school.

Prime Minister Igor Matovic conveyed his sincere condolences to the family of the victim.

President Zuzana Caputova also offered her condolences and support for all the teachers, police officers, children and their parents affected by this difficult and fearful time.

Slovak primary schools began reopening on June 1 under an easing of coronavirus lockdown measures.

The United School serves children from primary age up to high school.
OSLO  A 22-year-old Norwegian man who said he was inspired by far-right attacks was sentenced on Thursday to 21 years in prison after being convicted of killing his stepsister and opening fire in a mosque near Oslo last August.

The lawyer for the gunman, Philip Manshaus, had sought to use an insanity defense to argue that her client was not criminally liable, but the court made clear on Thursday that it considered him sane in handing down the sentence, which can be extended if he were to be considered a continued threat to society.

Still, the strategy employed by Mr. Manshauss legal team prompted a debate in Norway about the limitations of the insanity defense and whether protections intended to preserve free speech have allowed right-wing extremists to spread hateful ideology on social media platforms.

Mr. Manshaus, 22, admitted killing his stepsister, Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, and attacking the al-Noor Islamic Center in Baerum, an Oslo suburb, while wearing a helmet, camera and body armor. He opened fire in the mosque, but was overpowered by two men inside before anyone was shot.
Thiruvananthapuram, June 11 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that a Covid positive patient in Kannur died, while there were 83 fresh positive cases, taking the state's tally to 1,258.

The deceased had serious liver ailments, he added.

Of the new cases, 27 came from abroad, 37 from within the country, 14 were local infectees and five were health professionals.

Vijayan said starting January 30, when the first case in the country was registered in Thrissur, so far 2,244 have become positive.

"By now, over 2.18 lakh are presently under observation at homes, corona care centres which includes 1,922 in hospitals. As on date, 133 hotspots are there in the state now," he said.

Vijayan also pointed out that with more of the diaspora and those from other states set to come back, quarantines rules are also being modified.

"All those who come from abroad, if they have facility at home, they can stay at home, with the knowledge of the local authorities. Those who do not have the facility at home can opt for institutional quarantine of the state government and those who prefer paid quarantine can opt for that also," he said.

"Likewise those arriving from within the country have to register in the state portal and go for home quarantine, institutional or paid ones," he added.

He also announced that from now on, every day before 12 midnight, the containment zones would be announced and it would be based on the number of positive cases, primary and secondary contacts.

"Streets, wards and sub wards would be marked as containment zones depending on the above guidelines," he said.

Vijayan said it was unfortunate that two people in observation had committed suicide at the Medical College hospital on Wednesday and it is not right to pick wrongs in effective control at the hospitals.

On Thursday, both the Congress and the BJP staged protests in front of the state Secretariat and in front of State Health Minister K.K. Shailaja's official residence stating that this incident occurred because of lack of effective control.
NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has topped this years B-school ranking in the latest National Indian Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2020 announced by the Union HRD Minister through his Twitter handle.

The IIM-Bangalore has clinched the second position, followed by IIM-Calcutta. IIM-A has improved its ranking from last year when it was placed at second position after IIM Bangalore.

Launched by HRD Ministry in 2015, the NIRF ranking judges teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcome outreach and inclusivity, and perception.

The rankings are released for a total of 10 categories  Overall, Universities, Engineering, Colleges, Management, Pharmacy, Medical, Architecture, Dental and Law.

The HRD Minister released India Rankings 2020 virtually in 10 categories in the presence of Minister of State for HRD Sanjay Dhotre.

Union HRD Minister @DrRPNishank e-released the National Institutional Ranking Framework (#NIRF) India Rankings 2020 today in the august presence of MoS for HRD, @SanjayDhotreMP.  Ministry of HRD (@HRDMinistry) June 11, 2020

Additional Secretary (Higher Education) Rakesh Ranjan, MHRD; Chairman UGC Prof DP Singh; Chairman, AICTE Anil Sahasrabudhe; Chairman NBA, Prof KK Aggarwal; Member Secretary NBA, Dr. Anil Kumar Nassa, and representatives of Higher Education Institutions witnessed the release through video conferencing.

This is the fifth consecutive edition of India Rankings of the institutions of higher education in India.

In 2020, an addition to nine rankingsie one domain Dental has been introduced for the first time bringing the total tally to 10 categories / subject domains.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that these rankings acts as a guide to students for selection of universities based on a set of criteria and helps universities to improve their performance on various ranking parameters and identify gaps in research and areas of improvement.

He added that the Ranking of Institutions at national level instill a competitive spirit amongst institutions to perform better and secure higher rank in international ranking.

Pokhriyal said that the Ministry of HRD has taken this important initiative of creating a National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), which is being used for past five years for ranking of institutions of higher education in different categories and domains of knowledge and it is indeed a source of encouragement for all of us.

He said that this exercise has also created a habit of organizing the data by the institutions and most of all these institutions attempt themselves to become more competitive.

The Minister was happy to observe that broad categories of parameters identified in the NIRF have successfully captured all the important aspects of teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practice, graduate outcomes etc. in institutions of higher education.

The Minister was happy to learn that country-specific parameters relevant to the Indian situation such as regional diversity, outreach, gender equity and inclusion of disadvantaged sections of the society are included in the ranking methodology.

All parameters and sub-parameters are duly normalized so keep them size-independent and age-independent so that large and old institutions do not get undue advantages.

Pokhriyal said that it is indeed befitting that besides Overall ranking, category-specific rankings are done for colleges and universities and subject-specific rankings are done for Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Architecture, Law and Medicine. A new subject domain, i.e. Dental is introduced from 2020 onwards.

Here is a list of institutes that topped the list in NIRF Rankings 2020:

Overall ranking

IIT Madras

IISc Bengaluru

IIT Delhi

University

IISc Bengaluru

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi

Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Engineering

IIT Madras

IIT Delhi

IIT Bombay

Management

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

IIM Bangalore

IIM Calcutta

Pharmacy

Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi

Punjab University, Chandigarh

National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Mohali

College

Miranda House, New Delhi

Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi

Hindu College, New Delhi

Law

National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore

National Law University, New Delhi

National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad

Medical

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh

Christian Medical College, Vellore

Dental

Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi

Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Udupi

Dr D Y Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune

Architecture

IIT Kharagpur

IIT Roorkee

National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode
New Delhi, June 11 : Private equity fund, Kedaara has acquired more than 72 per cent in Religare Health Insurance Company Limited (RHICL).

The total investment made by Kedaara group entity, Trishikur Ventures to acquire shares of RHICL is Rs 567.31 crore which comprises of primary capital infusion of Rs 300 crore. and Rs 267.31 crore for the purchase of RHICL shares from existing shareholders, including purchase of 6.39% stake from the company against a consideration of Rs 200 crore.

Following these transactions, the shareholding of the of the company in RHICL now stands at 72.02 % on a paid up capital basis.

Religare Group, today announced the completion of the transaction with Kedaara group entity, Trishikhar Ventures LLP for investments in its health insurance subsidiary - Religare Health Insurance Company Limited ("RHICL").

This transaction will further the growth of the health insurance business for Religare and help RHICL to emerge as a stronger insurance player, a company statement said.

The equity infusion is in sync with the long term vision of the company to be future-focused, explore its full potential and accelerate growth.

Rashmi Saluja, Executive Chairperson of Religare Enterprises Limited and Non-Executive Chairperson, Religare Health Insurance Company Limited said, "Religare Health Insurance is a customer focused company with strong fundamentals. This equity infusion will bolster the confidence of our shareholders in the competitive strength and sound business strategy of Religare.

"The capital infusion will help us to continue our investments in making Religare health Insurance a future-enabled organisation, committed to ensure the best customer experience. It is a matter of pride that Religare has attracted a marquee investor even in such tough economic times."
TORONTO, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fura Gems Inc. (Fura or the Company) (TSXV: FURA, OTC: FUGMF and FRA: BJ43), a gemstone mining and marketing company with emerald, ruby and sapphires assets in Colombia, Mozambique and Australia, respectively, is pleased to provide an update on its 76%-owned Coscuez emerald mine in Colombia.



Key Highlights:

Due to the travel restrictions and current market conditions resulting from COVID-19, the inaugural Colombian emerald auction that was scheduled in Antwerp, Belgium in the month of May 2020 was cancelled. We continue to monitor market conditions to determine the appropriate time to hold the auction.





Since the acquisition in January 2018, the Coscuez mine, under the majority-ownership and management of Fura, is being transitioned from an artisanal mine to a fully mechanised operation. As of December 2019, the 1.5km main LAPAZ adit had been expanded from 2.65 sqm to 5.28 sqm.





A maiden Inferred Mineral Resource in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ( NI 43-101 ) was announced in 2019 (effective date of report: January 23, 2019).





Highlights include:



a. 3 million tonnes of Inferred Mineral Resources;

b. Grade of 2.0 carats per tonne;

c. 6 million carats contained;

d. Conceptual life of mine for Coscuez of 30 years used for the Inferred Mineral Resource estimate;

e. Conservative case price of USD$200/carat; and

f. Estimate prepared and classified by WGM, an independent group of consulting geologists and engineers based in Toronto, Canada.

Following the Inferred Mineral Resource announcement, a mine mechanisation program commenced by Fura in August 2019 and was completed in January 2020. The new mining mechanised fleet includes a total of 12 mini-dumpers with four & two tonne ( t ) capacities, one electrohydraulic jumbo drilling machine, three scoop trams and three tractors, each of which are currently operational on site.





In October 2019, the Company commenced development of three underground declines from the main LAPAZ level to intersect the inferred resource body in the Santana, Ayata and the Miguel sectors. The total development in these sectors is projected to run for 8,704 meters alongside such inferred resource body.





A new 10 tonne per hour ( t/hr ) pilot washing plant was fully commissioned in 2019 and is currently being operated by an all-female crew. This way, the washing process at the Coscuez mine has transitioned from manual washing to washing at the much more efficient pilot washing plant. A new washing plant with projected capacity of 100 t/hr is currently being designed and is expected to be commissioned by Q4-2020.





From day one, Furas priority at the Coscuez mine has been to strengthen its safety policies and establish international industry standard procedures. Standard safety operating procedures have been adopted and are in the process of being implemented to international mining standards.





Due to the COVID19 situation and the corresponding restrictions imposed by the Colombian government, from 20 March 2020 to 04 June 2020, the mine has been in a state of care and maintenance. Since 04 June, 2020, the lockdown has been gradually lifted and mining operations have commenced at 50% work-force capacity, with requisite safety and sanitisation measures implemented.





Fura is currently in discussions with the Colombian mining agency, ANM, to extend the mining licence underlying the Coscuez mine (being mining licence no. 122  95M) which is due to expire on 09 October 2020. As of the date of this press release, Fura has obtained approval for the 30 year mine plan (the PTO by its acronyms in Spanish), which remains subject to an updated environmental licence and the extension of the mining contract. The ANM will inform Fura of the next steps required to move forward in the licence extension process.

Story continues

Dev Shetty, President & CEO of Fura, commented:

We are pleased to provide this operational update regarding our 76%-owned producing Coscuez emerald mine in Colombia. The work carried out by the Fura team all through 2019 and into early 2020 has shown some extraordinary results. Most noteworthy is the team turning the operation into a mechanised mine and the introduction of the new, all women washing plant, which has increased the mining and washing capacity.

Unfortunately, due to global travel restrictions and the market conditions that have arisen as a result of COVID-19, we cancelled our inaugural Colombian emerald auction, previously scheduled for the month of May 2020. As the global situation is evolving rapidly, we continue to monitor developments and will wait for an appropriate time to hold our first auction.

As always, I would like to thank the entire Fura team for all their dedication and hard work in developing the Coscuez mine to this stage.

Safety, Mining and Geology

Since Furas acquisition of its 76% interest in the Coscuez mine, Furas safety department has reinforced the Companys safety standards & policies by including stricter preventive measures, as well as establishing a process for more effectively monitoring the use of personal protective equipment. In addition, Furas safety department has overseen the implementation of the standard operating procedures set out in Furas Safety First policy. Such efforts have shown positive results, with the number of accidents having decreased since previous years.

In addition, Furas team has been busy processing the data generated by the Companys underground diamond drilling campaign to establish patterns that could help to identify productive structures and to generate new targets in the inferred resource. As part of the underground mining exploration program, the Company has plans to construct several exploration tunnels in various areas for discovering/confirming possible mineralized structures/areas.

From the geological studies carried out in 2019 and the litho-structural model generated by geologic and mining software, it was possible for us to prepare a 30-year mine plan, which was approved by the Colombian mining authority in December 2019.

During 2019, Furas Coscuez team focused its efforts on strengthening safety policies and procedures at the mine. After finishing the expansion of the La Paz tunnel section in accordance with the dimensions established by current mining and safety regulations, the team initiated the mechanisation process, described below.

Since the beginning of 2019, Furas Coscuez team has been working to mechanise the mine with modern equipment suitable for narrow vein mining to increase mining capacity as compared to 2018. A total of 12 mini-dumpers with four & two-tonne capacities, one electrohydraulic jumbo drilling machine, three scoop trams, and three tractors were acquired for this purpose. With this addition, the Coscuez team has reduced manual drilling and eliminated manual loading and hauling operations.

Another technical improvement that the Company introduced in 2019 was the implementation of a new active support system consisting of cement-grouted rock bolts, split sets, wire mesh, and shotcrete layers instead of the traditional passive rock support system based on timber sets.

A total of 31,963 t was mined during 2019, representing a 109% increase as compared to 2018.

Furthermore, two international consultants, Bisa and MiningOne, have been retained to complete two technical studies. The first study is a geotechnical study for rock support and mining methods for different types & rock qualities. The topic of the second study is focused on the design of current and mid-term ventilation system.

As part of the mine mechanisation process and our target to increase productivity, in 2019 we commissioned a new washing plant. The plant has a nominal capacity of 10 t/hr and is operated by an all-woman crew. As of now, we are operating the plant by way of a single 12-hour shift per day, however, we are working towards continuous 24/7 operations in the near future.

Environmental

During 2019, a baseline study on the mines environmental impact was conducted. As part of our implementation program, waste dump material was removed from the vicinity of the nearby stream, and the La Paz dump was properly benched with stable slopes. Trees were also planted at various locations to stabilise the slopes. The mine is now in full compliance with the environmental obligations set out in our environmental licence, the terms of which were agreed with environmental authorities in 2018.

Qualified Person

Harrison Cookenboo, Ph.D. and P.Geo. and G. Ross MacFarlane, P.Eng. are Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43-101, and have reviewed the scientific and technical information regarding the Inferred Mineral Resource estimated by WGM as described in this news release and have approved its dissemination. Cookenboo, MacFarlane and WGM are considered independent of Fura.

For more information about Fura Gems Inc., please contact:

Fura Gems Inc. Dev Shetty - President & Chief Executive Officer Tel: +971 (0) 4 240 8760

Rupak Sen  VP Sales & Marketing Tel: + 971 (0) 4 240 8760

Public Relations



Tavistock (UK)



Jos Simson / Barney Hayward



Tel: +44-207-920-3150



fura@tavistock.co.uk

About Fura Gems Inc.

Fura Gems Inc. is a gemstone mining and marketing company which is engaged in the mining, exploration, and acquisition of gemstone licences. Furas headquarters are in Toronto, Canada and its administrative headquarters are in Dubai. Fura is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol FURA.

Fura is engaged in the exploration of resource properties in Colombia and owns a 76% interest in the Coscuez emerald mine in Boyaca, Colombia. Fura is involved in the exploration and mining of sapphires in Australia through its 100% interests in two mining permits (EPM 25973 and EPM 25978) and three mining licences (ML 70419, ML 70447 and ML 70451), and rubies in Mozambique through its 80% effective interest in four ruby licences (4392L, 3868L, 3869L and 6811L) and its 100% interest in ruby licence 5572L.

Cautionary Note Regarding Mining Operations

The Company cautions that it is not basing its production decisions on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, and as a result there is increased uncertainty and there are multiple technical and economic risks of failure which are associated with this production decision. These risks, among others, include areas that are analysed in more detail in a feasibility study, such as applying economic analysis to resources and reserves and a number of specialized studies in areas such as mining and recovery methods, market analysis, and environmental and community impacts.

Regulatory Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Companys modernization and mechanisation at the Coscuez mine, the Companys operations and anticipated operations, the date on which the Companys first emerald auction will be held, and the Companys performance. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of exploration, development and production activities; access to sufficient financing to continue the development of its assets; regulatory risks; risks inherent in foreign operations, uncertainties with respect to the Companys assets; legacy environmental risks, title risks and other risks of the mining industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3f6a2389-c3a3-4514-951a-1e33331cee91

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Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has appointed Muhammed Ubandoma-Aliyu as the Secretary of the State Government (SSG) and Dominic Bako as the Director-General (DG) of the newly established Bureau for Public Procurement.

Mr Sule, who disclosed this on Thursday in Lafia, said the appointment of the new SSG was due to the vacancy created as a result of the sack of Aliyu Ahmed-Tijani, the former SSG from office.

The governor explained that the SSG was selected based on his records of achievement and integrity in the capacities he served in the past.

As you are aware, the Office of the SSG is the fulcrum of governments activities, which requires the occupant of the office to be a person with proven integrity, loyalty and outstanding antecedents.

These were the guiding traits in arriving at the choice of the new SSG, therefore, I have no doubt that the new appointee will continue to be an embodiment of sacrifice and service to the people of Nasarawa State, he said.

READ ALSO:

The governor added that the new SSG and the DG Bureau for Public Procurement would help strengthen machinery of government for effective and efficient service delivery.

He described them as tested technocrats, resourceful experts and experienced personalities.

The governor, therefore, charged the officials to quickly settle down to their new assignments so as to make valuable contributions to enable the government achieve its objectives as promised during campaigns.

Responding on behalf of the new appointees, the SSG expressed gratitude to the governor for the confidence reposed on them, by giving them the opportunity to serve.

He, therefore, promised to discharge their duties without fear or favour and with the fear of God.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the new SSG before his appointment was a principal partner at M.U Aliyu Chambers, Lafia.

He is also a former Chairman of Lafia Local Government Area (LGA) between 1999-2002.

Similarly, Mr Bako, DG of Bureau for Public Procurement, was Special Adviser to the governor on Budget, Finance and Economic Planning.

Mr Bako also served as Permanent Secretary, Head of Civil Service and Commissioner for Finance in the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Umaru Al-Makura.

(NAN)
If youre torn between opening a 529 plan for your grandchildren or contributing to a plan that is already established, heres some food for thought to help you make your decision.



Tax breaks may come with ownership

Not only does your money grow in the account tax-free, but some states offer a tax break for contributions made to a 529 plan. However, in some cases only the plans owner can take advantage of them. (That would be you if you start one for your grandchild, who would be the beneficiary). While there are 34 states and the District of Columbia who have state income tax breaks based on contributions, in 11 of those states the state income tax break is limited to the account owner, Kantrowitz says.

A 529 plan can help with estate planning goals

One benefit of putting money aside in a 529 plan is it removes that balance from your taxable estate, says Grace Peng, a Phoenix-based financial planner for Prudential. That means youll lower your estate tax liability, making your estate more valuable to your beneficiaries after you die.

However, contributions to 529 plans are considered gifts to the account beneficiary, meaning they could be subject to the federal gift tax if they exceed the annual gift tax exclusion amount, which is $15,000 for an individual donor and $30,000 for a couple.

One way to get around this: Make five years worth of contributions upfront, and as long as you stay below the five-year exclusion limit you wont be taxed, says Kantrowitz. That means a couple could contribute $150,000 ($30,000 for each year) and it would be prorated over the current year and the next four years, Kantrowitz says.

A 529 plan could be your Plan B

If the COVID-19 pandemic has proven anything, its that life is unpredictable. Opening a 529 plan for a grandchild rather than contributing to a parent-owned plan gives grandparents another stash of money that can be tapped in an emergency.

As the owner of the account, at any time before the money is withdrawn you would have the ability to take the money out if you had to, Peng points out. Sure, you would have to pay a 10 percent penalty, as well as taxes on the gains from the investment, but you would still have that nest egg if you needed it.

A 529 plan could keep you out of a nursing home

If there is any chance that you may need Medicaid to pay for nursing home expenses in the future, opening a 529 plan might be a liability.

Some states count money sitting in a 529 plan as a countable Medicaid asset if you need government assistance, says Peng. In that case, you may have to wait until your grandchild withdraws the money to qualify for Medicaid.

A grandparent-owned 529 plan can decrease your grandchilds financial aid

When a grandparent opens a 529 plan with the grandchild named as the beneficiary, distributions are considered untaxed income to the student. That income could reduce the amount of financial aid the student qualifies for by as much as half of the distribution amount the following year, says Kantrowitz. On the other hand, when a parent opens a 529 plan it is treated as a parental asset and can reduce the childs financial aid by 5.64 percent at the most.

If youve got $10,000 in the 529 plan, if its parent-owned, worst-case scenario it reduces your financial aid by $564. If its in a grandparent-owned 529 plan, worst-case scenario it reduces your aid by $5,000. In the case of the grandparent-owned plan, there is a much greater impact, says Kantrowitz.
European Commission vice-president Vera Jourova has said that we should not shy away from naming and shaming, if we have evidence.

The European Union has accused China of running targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns globally, for the first time, as the bloc set out a plan to tackle a huge wave of false facts about the coronavirus pandemic, The Guardian reported.

The media citing some incidents related to the accusations noted that French politicians were furious when a Chinese embassy website claimed in mid-April, at the height of Europes pandemic, that care workers had abandoned their jobs leaving residents to die. The unnamed Chinese diplomat also claimed falsely that 80 French lawmakers had used a racist slur against the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

I believe if we have evidence we should not shy away from naming and shaming, Vera Jourova, a European Commission vice-president, told reporters. I strongly believe that a geopolitically strong EU can only materialise if we are assertive, Jourova added.

Also Read: Christian girl abducted at gunpoint in Pakistans Punjab

Also Read: China, India reach positive consensus on border issue: Beijing

The more assertive stance marks a shift in the tone of Brussels from a report in March which described Chinese media narratives while focusing the spotlight on disinformation from Kremlin-backed sources. It comes after lawmakers in the European parliament accused the commission of watering down an earlier report on disinformation under pressure from China  charges EU officials strongly denied.

EU member states are grappling with measures to deal with China on a range of fronts, from foreign policy and security, to the economy. The Commission described China as a systemic rival in a 2019 report that was seen by many member states as marking a watershed in how the EU deals with an increasingly aggressive government in Beijing.

The Commission has further encouraged social media companies to sign a voluntary code of practice on disinformation while threatening regulation if they fail to act.

The latest report steps up demands on platforms to be more transparent in sharing data with researchers and intensify work with independent fact-checkers. I would not like the platforms themselves to be the arbiters of truth, Jourova was quoted as saying. The Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok has become the latest company to sign the code of practice, the Commission said, joining the likes of Facebook, Google, Twitter and Mozilla.

Also Read: Hold police accountable for wrongdoing, urges George Floyds brother to US Congress

For all the latest World News, download NewsX App
Along with many other celebrities, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex recently spoke out against the murder of George Floyd and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. While some celebrities posts are being criticized as performative, Meghan has been fighting against racism for a long time and has used her platform to speak out against injustices.

Shes been open about her own story with racial identity and injustice and has used it to motivate others into taking meaningful action. When it comes to anti-racism work, Meghan really walks the walk.

So for how long exactly has Meghan been fighting against racism? Well, its longer than you think.

Meghans personal story as a biracial woman

RELATED: Meghan Markles Addresses George Floyds Death and Faces Hate From Racist Trolls

In an article written for Elle magazine, long before she met her current husband Prince Harry and she was just described as Suits star, Meghan shared her own story with racism and her identity as a biracial woman. Meghan describes her life as the daughter of a Black woman and a white man.

She tells readers that her mother was often mistaken as her nanny when Meghan was a baby and describes the heartbreak and grief of watching as her mother was called the n-word and trying to control her rage. She reflects on the racist comments that were made when Suits revealed her character (and therefore, her) to be Black.

The reaction was unexpected, but speaks of the undercurrent of racism that is so prevalent, especially within America, she writes, not mincing words. Its clear that as a biracial woman of color in America, Meghan has done an admirable job of navigating her own racial identity and doing her part to speak out against racism.

Meghan has always spoken out against racism

Meghan Markle | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Many celebrities are speaking out against racism since the murder of George Floyd, but Meghan has been one of the few that has been using her platform to speak up long before the current protests. For example, she participated in a 2012 video series for the Erase the Hate campaign. In her video, shes seen wearing a shirt that reads, I wont stand for racism, and talks openly about discrimination.

Meghan talks about the slurs, offensive jokes, and names that are said casually in her presence because some people dont see her as a Black woman and feel comfortable saying racist things around her.

I think for me  beyond being personally affected by racism  to see the landscape of what our country is like right now and certainly the world and to want things to be better, she said.

Even as a royal, Meghan has been known to address race. When she visited Rwanda as a Global Ambassador for World Vision in 2016, she showed solidarity to the crowd by referencing her own race: I want you to know that for me, I am here as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, as a woman of color, and as your sister.

Meghans response to current racial injustices

Because shes made her values clear, its no surprise that Meghan has continued to use her platform to speak out against injustices in the current climate following the murder of George Floyd. In her commencement speech to graduates of her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School in LA, Meghan decided to address issues of racism head-on.

I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that I wouldnt, or that it would get picked apart, and I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing. Because George Floyds life mattered and Breonna Taylors life mattered and Philando Castiles life mattered and Tamir Rices life mattered. And so did so many other people whose names we know and whose names we do not know, she can be heard saying in the emotional video.

She reflects on her experience living through the L.A. riots of 1992, also caused by an act of violent racism, and expresses sorrow that the current graduates are living through the same thing  a reflection that there is still so much work to do in our journey toward a more just society. She ends with inspiring the students to make a difference: You are going to lead with love, you are going to lead with compassion, you are going to use your voice.

Its clear that fighting for racial justice is an issue that is close to Meghans heart, and we stand with her all the way!
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 09:02:27|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Two Pakistani soldiers were killed and four others injured when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in the country's North Waziristan district on Wednesday, a security official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The security forces came under attack in the Tapi village of North Waziristan, a tribal district bordering neighboring Afghanistan, said the official, adding that the military personnel cordoned off the area following the blast and carried out a search operation.

The injured soldiers have been shifted to a nearby hospital, the official said.

No group or individual has claimed the attack yet.

Pakistani military has conducted a series of operations against terrorist groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, in North Waziristan over recent years. Although the area has mostly been pacified, remnants of the terrorist groups still manage to launch attacks on the security forces. Enditem
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"But these are also patients who often have comorbidities such as heart disease and diabetes that need consistent care. This was the first assessment of this patient population to see the effects of the upheaval of their daily lives on their health behavior and well-being."The study revealed that nearly 73% of patients experience increased anxiety, and close to 84% had increased depression. Nearly 70% reported more difficulty in achieving weight loss goals, while 48% had less exercise time, and 56% had less intensity in exercise. Stockpiling of food increased in nearly half of patients and stress eating was reported in 61%.Two of the patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, but nearly 15% reported symptoms of the virus. Almost 10% lost their jobs, and 20% said they could not afford a balanced meal."You don't have to contract the virus to be adversely affected by it. The major strength of this study is that it is one of the first data-driven snapshots into how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced health behaviors for patients with obesity," said Jaime Almandoz, MD, MBA, first author, and an endocrinologist and assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern. Almandoz is also the medical director for the UT Southwestern Weight Wellness Program, multidisciplinary weight management and post-bariatric care clinic.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 42% of American adults are obese. Obesity-related health conditions include heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer that are some of the leading causes of preventable, premature death.Almandoz pointed out that many patients with obesity already struggle with access to appropriate fresh, healthy foods. Some reside in food deserts lacking grocery stores, where the only options are fast food and processed foods from convenience stores."Unchecked diabetes, hypertension, and other obesity-related comorbidities will create a huge backlog of needs that will come back to haunt us. When you throw in disruptions like social isolation, coupled with losing your job and insurance coverage, a potential disaster is waiting to unfold," Almandoz said.With clinics across the country reporting a decrease inpatient visits, Messiah said that people with obesity are potentially missing medical appointments, surgeries, and medications due to the pandemic. People who lost their jobs, and thus their health insurance benefits, may now experience less access to care."We don't yet know how many additional lives will be lost to heart disease and diabetes simply because people did not receive care during COVID-19," said Messiah, who is the director of the Center for Pediatric Population Health. "Unfortunately, many of these are ethnic minorities who are already hit hard with disease burdens."The researchers believe their work can inform clinicians and other health professionals on effective strategies to minimize the physical and psychosocial health impacts from COVID-19 among adults with obesity."Those with obesity and severe obesity are already at the highest risk of death from COVID-19. We're concerned that they can be severely affected if a second wave hits in the fall," Messiah said.The study data came from an online questionnaire conducted April 15 through May 31, 2020. The study population was racially and ethnically diverse, had a mean age of 51, and 87% were women. The mean body mass index for these patients was 40.Source: Eurekalert
Radio stars Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson started broadcasting from home in March at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And while Kyle has returned to their KIIS FM studios in North Ryde, Sydney, Jackie continues to broadcast from her home office in Bondi.

On Wednesday, Jackie, 45, decided to set the record straight and told listeners she had a very important reason for 'choosing' to work from home- her nine-year-old daughter Kitty.

'Don't take that stuff for granted': On Wednesday, radio star Jackie 'O' Henderson (right) revealed the important reason why she is 'choosing' to work from home after co-host Kyle Sandilands returned to their Ryde studio- her nine-year-old daughter Kitty (left)

'I know, people keep saying "why is Jackie still at home?" it's not because of the iso stuff, it's because honestly I really enjoy being able to spend time with my daughter and I've never been able to do that in the morning with her,' she explained.

Jackie revealed that due to the incredibly early morning starts she and Kyle have, she's never been able to help get Kitty ready for school.

Kyle took the opportunity to joke that most parents saw that as the worst part of the job.

'It's because honestly I really enjoy being able to spend time with my daughter and I've never been able to do that in the morning with her' Jackie explained that due to her and Kyle's (left) early morning starts she'd never being able to help get Kitty ready for school before

'I think most parents hate that part, the franticness of trying to get out the door,' he teased.

But Jackie admitted she feels like she's missed out on a lot over the years.

'Well to those parents I say don't take that for granted cause I love that stuff,' she said.

'Well to those parents I say don't take that for granted cause I love that stuff': Jackie said after Kyle joked he thought most parents hated frantic mornings with their children

'For me, it's such a treat and while I can still do it, I'm going to do it, so it's got nothing to do with... I couldn't be bothered to come back in,' she added.

Jackie shares custody of Kitty with her ex-husband Lee Henderson.

The couple separated in 2018 after 15 years of marriage, but remain on amicable terms as they co-parent their daughter.

Exes: Jackie shares custody of Kitty with her ex-husband Lee Henderson (left). They separated in 2018 after 15 years of marriage, but remain on amicable terms as they co-parent their daughter

Kitty previously lived with her father during the week to accommodate Jackie's early starts, but she moved in with her mother after she started working from home.

While Jackie loves being able to spend the extra time with Kitty, it hasn't always been smooth sailing.

At the start of the month, Kyle was left shocked after Kitty walked in on her mother recording a very inappropriate segment.

Oh dear! While Jackie loves having Kitty at home it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Kyle was left mortified at the start of the months when Kitty interrupted their broadcast during a very inappropriate segment

A caller was discussing her masturbation habits to the radio hosts when Kitty walked in on the live radio broadcast.

At the start of the segment, Jackie appeared to instinctively look around the room to make sure her daughter wasn't there before asking the caller questions.

'Are you naked in the photos? what's the deal?' Jackie asked as the caller - named Charlotte - claimed she had been 'pleasuring' herself... to photos of herself.

'Yes, some of them are like body pictures and some of them will have my face,' the caller continued as Kitty was seen entering the room to say goodbye to her mother before heading off to school.

Kyle cut Jackie off as Kitty got closer, saying: 'Oh, hang on everyone. Pause! Pause! Hey Kitty. Adult talking time now. Off you go.'

As soon as Kitty had left the room, Kyle joked by putting on a low voice: 'Okay, now back to Charlotte.'

'I feel very uncomfortable': Kyle recently said he didn't like Kitty randomly popping up during the breakfast show as it 'threw him off' when they were having 'adult' conversations

He later told his co-host: 'She can't just keep walking in like this, Jackie. I feel very uncomfortable when I'm picturing what Charlotte [the caller] is doing to herself and then your child appears. It really throws me off.'

In the past few weeks, Kitty has made multiple on-air interruptions.

She once watched SpongeBob SquarePants on TV, which could be heard over the radio, and another time came in mid-show to ask her mother to make her pancakes.
Before the convention was overhauled, Trump campaign officials, along with Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law and senior adviser, had been looking at a menu of options for a new party platform, including a slimmed down, one-page rewrite as well as a reworking of the 66-page document the party passed in 2016.

When Axios first reported on efforts to rewrite the party platform that involved Mr. Kushner, grass-roots activists were livid, and some of those discussed organizing an effort to resist what they viewed as his changes  even though the options had been drafted primarily by the campaign, a person familiar with the process said.

The decision to simply let the current platform stay in effect, rather than try to pass any new platform, was ultimately driven by logistics, officials said. Republican officials decided it did not make sense to ask about 5,000 delegates and alternates to pay to fly to Charlotte, N.C., when the speeches and most of the action of the convention, including the hallmark speeches by the president and the vice president, would be happening in another city altogether.

Melody Potter, an R.N.C. member from West Virginia who sat on the partys platform committee in 2016 and planned to run for a seat on it this August, said she was pleased the platform was being rolled over for 2020.

The 2016 platform is the best one weve had in 40 years, so Im fine with renewing it and extending it to 2024, she said. As a matter of fact, and you can quote me on this, I think it is a ray of sunshine in this whole messy storm.
New York, June 11 : Haunted by sagging poll numbers, US President Donald will relaunch his election campaign next week ending a nearly three-month-long pause taking advantage of the gradual easing of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

"We're going to be starting our rallies. The first one, we believe, will be probably -- we're just starting to call up -- will be in Oklahoma -- in Tulsa, Oklahoma," he said on Wednesday.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who will be the Democratic Party candidate to run against Trump, is leading the President by 8.1 per cent in the latest RealClear Politics average of polls giving a sense of urgency to Trump's campaign.

Trump did not say what kind of anti-coronavirus precautions will be taken at the June 19 rally, but Oklahoma state has one of the lowest infections rates at 1,890 cases per million with a total of 7,480 cases as of Wednesday evening, according to Worldometer.

"They've done a great job with COVID, as you know, in the state of Oklahoma," Trump said.

To ensure that he gets a rousing reception at the campaign relaunch, he has chosen a state that is staunchly Republican - he won 65 per cent of the votes in 2016, state's Governor Kevin Stitt is a Republican, and the party holds a commanding lead in the legislature.

After that, he said "we're going to be coming into Florida -- do a big one in Florida, a big one in Texas. They're all going to be big. We're going to Arizona".

His official campaign website had not announced the Tulsa event as of Wednesday night while listing several virtual events for June 19.

The Republican National Convention set for August to formally name him the party candidate, though, is clouded by uncertainty because of the COVID-19 restriction, which the state's Democratic governors has so far not agreed to relax sufficiently for the scale that the party wants for the event.

"The Governor is a little backward there," Trump said. "And unfortunately, we're going to probably be having no choice but to move the Republican Convention to another location." The massive participation by Democratic Party supporters in the anti-police brutality rallies around the country could insulate Trump from criticism for holding a rally of several thousands.

Although he and his party have been critical of the Republican enthusiasm for loosening the pandemic restrictions, with only 146 days before the November 3 elections, Biden will have to develop a strategy to counter Trump and have high-intensity public events.

He held a public event in Philadelphia on June 2, but with a limited audience, at which he accused Trump of fanning the flames of hate while the nation is jolted by protests triggered by the May 25 death of African-American George Floyd under police custody in Minneapolis.

Biden has been buoyed by the protests with large turnouts that is energising the Democratic Party as its seen as the bulwark against racism.

Trump announced the rally plans at a meeting with African-American leaders supporting him.

June 19 is observed as Juneteenth, a celebration of the abolition of slavery in the US.

Although he did not make any connection between Juneteenth and his Tulsa rally, his speech will be watched for anything he may have to say about the anti-racism protests or about promoting rights of African Americans.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Eldar Janashvili  Trend:

Azerbaijans Electronic Agriculture Information System (EAIS) has registered 22,670 beekeepers up to date, Trend reports citing the countrys Agriculture Ministry.

According to the ministry, 22,770 beekeepers account for 22,781 beekeeping farms and 23,052 bee families. A total of 506,944 beehives were registered throughout the country.

At the same time, the largest number of beekeeping farms and beehives were registered in Balakan district, which accounts for 1,104 beekeeping farms and 32,273 beehives.

Zagatala district has the largest number of beekeepers - 1,349 beekeepers. Also, a significant number of beekeepers account for Aghsu, Tovuz, Lerik and Gakh districts, said the ministry.

The most common bee breed is the Caucasian Bozdag breed. As many as 395,090 beehives belonging to bees of this breed are registered in the country, which makes up almost 78 percent of all hives.

In accordance with the subsidy rules approved subsidies in the amount of 10 manat ($5.8) are provided for each bee family by the decree of the President of Azerbaijan dated June 27, 2019.

Chairman of the Agrarian Credit and Development Agency Mirza Aliyev expressed confidence that the subsidies given to beekeepers will serve the development of this area and increase productivity.

The new mechanism will allow us to choose regions that are interested in this area, but they have low productivity. This will allow developing projects to support the increasing of productivity in the future, Aliyev said.

According to the subsidy mechanism to be applied from 2020, all subsidies provided to agricultural producers, including beekeepers, are gathered together in the EAIS. Beekeepers must enter information about their farms, the number of beehives, and the bee breed into the system. Registration of beekeepers in the system for receiving subsidies in 2020 ended on May 31.

(1 USD= 1.7 manat on June 11)

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @eldarjanashvili
With COVID-19 cases reported from some of its departments, the Delhi government on Thursday issued a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) prescribing elderly employees and pregnant women to be kept off frontline duties to ensure they are not exposed to any risk.

The government has also suggested that issuance of visitors' passes must be suspended while keeping office buildings and vehicles sanitised to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) released the SOPs focusing on sanitisation and maintaining social distancing by all departments, offices, civic bodies and agencies of the government.

The SOPs include generic preventive measures to be followed at all times like maintaining 6 feet social distance by employees, regular sanitisation of vehicles and frequently touched things like door knobs, lift buttons, washroom fixtures, hand rails and such other items.

The SOPs of DDMA is in line with the detailed protocol of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, Delhi government officials said.

According to the SOPs only asymptomatic staff is allowed to come to office while those above 65 years of age, pregnant women and with mild symptoms of COVID-19 have been advised to work from home.

The entry will be manned by personnel to ensure thermal screening and sanitisation of hands through dispensers at each premises.

The employees will have to wear face masks at all times and maintain social distancing in cafeteria while meetings through video conferencing would be encouraged.

In case of detection of a coronavirus positive case in an office, the health authorities will be immediately informed and risk assessment will be undertaken.

"Risk assessment shall be undertaken by the designated public health authority and accordingly further advice shall be made regarding management of case, his/her contacts and need for disinfection," the SOPs said.

If one or two cases of infection are reported, disinfection will be limited to the areas of the office visited by the affected employees in last two days. The entire office building will be closed and sanitised if more than two positive cases are reported, it added.
Regulatory News:

Philip Morris International Inc.'s (NYSE:PM) Chief Operating Officer, Jacek Olczak, and Chief Financial Officer, Emmanuel Babeau, address investors today at the Deutsche Bank Global Consumer Conference.

The presentation and Q&A session will be conducted in a virtual format, beginning at approximately 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time. A live audio call for the entire PMI session will be held in a listen-only mode. Investors and other parties may register for the call at www.pmi.com/2020deutschebank, in order to receive dial-in instructions and numbers. Presentation slides will be available on the same site.

An archived copy of the call will be available at www.pmi.com/2020deutschebank until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, July 10, 2020. The archived call can also be accessed on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI's free Investor Relations Mobile Application at www.pmi.com/irapp.

2020 Second-Quarter Forecast

The company is on-track to deliver second-quarter reported diluted EPS toward the upper end of its previously communicated range of $1.00 to $1.10, provided on Tuesday, April 21st. The forecast includes an unfavorable currency impact, at prevailing exchange rates, of approximately $0.07 per share, compared to an unfavorable impact of approximately $0.12 per share, communicated previously.

The forecast assumes a currency-neutral net revenue decline wholly attributable to COVID-19-related factors around the high end of the company's previously communicated decline range of 8% to 12%. This primarily reflects industry cigarette volume declines at the high end of our initial estimates due to stricter or longer lockdowns in certain Latin America and EU markets during April and May. We have observed, however, better-than-anticipated IQOS performance and, in recent weeks, signs of recovery for combustible products.

The forecast also assumes no disruption in the company's ability to supply its customers, based on its current operations and inventory levels.

Until PMI is able to estimate the full-year 2020 impact of COVID-19 on its business with greater certainty, the company plans to continue providing quarterly forecasts on a one quarter forward basis, with the exception of the following items forecasted for the full year:

capital expenditures of approximately $0.7 billion, compared to approximately $0.8 billion disclosed previously; and

an effective tax rate of approximately 23%, subject to changes in full-year earnings mix.

The company will issue its 2020 second-quarter results on Tuesday, July 21st

The forecasts in this press release exclude the impact of any future acquisitions, unanticipated asset impairment and exit cost charges, future changes in currency exchange rates, further developments related to the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, further developments pertaining to the judgment in the two Quebec Class Action lawsuits and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) protection granted to RBH, any unusual events, and any COVID-19-related developments different from the assumptions set forth in the company's forecasts.

Factors described in the Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements section of this release represent continuing risks to these projections.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

The presentation, related discussion and this press release contain projections of future results and other forward-looking statements. Achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions. In the event that risks or uncertainties materialize, or underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. Pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, PMI is identifying important factors that, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements made by PMI.

PMI's business risks include: excise tax increases and discriminatory tax structures; increasing marketing and regulatory restrictions that could reduce our competitiveness, eliminate our ability to communicate with adult consumers, or ban certain of our products; health concerns relating to the use of tobacco and other nicotine-containing products and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; litigation related to tobacco use; intense competition; the effects of global and individual country economic, regulatory and political developments, natural disasters and conflicts; changes in adult smoker behavior; lost revenues as a result of counterfeiting, contraband and cross-border purchases; governmental investigations; unfavorable currency exchange rates and currency devaluations, and limitations on the ability to repatriate funds; adverse changes in applicable corporate tax laws; adverse changes in the cost and quality of tobacco and other agricultural products and raw materials; and the integrity of its information systems and effectiveness of its data privacy policies. PMI's future profitability may also be adversely affected should it be unsuccessful in its attempts to produce and commercialize reduced-risk products or if regulation or taxation do not differentiate between such products and cigarettes; if it is unable to successfully introduce new products, promote brand equity, enter new markets or improve its margins through increased prices and productivity gains; if it is unable to expand its brand portfolio internally or through acquisitions and the development of strategic business relationships; or if it is unable to attract and retain the best global talent. Future results are also subject to the lower predictability of our reduced-risk product category's performance.

PMI is further subject to other risks detailed from time to time in its publicly filed documents, including the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. PMI cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not a complete discussion of all potential risks and uncertainties. PMI does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that it may make from time to time, except in the normal course of its public disclosure obligations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant societal and economic disruption, and resulted in closures of stores, factories and offices, and restrictions on manufacturing, distribution and travel, all of which will adversely impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial position during the continuation of the pandemic. Our business continuity plans and other safeguards may not be effective to mitigate the results of the pandemic.

While much of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our business is still unknown, currently, significant risks include our diminished ability to convert adult smokers to our RRPs as store closures preclude in-person guided trials, significant volume declines in our duty-free business and certain other key markets, disruptions or delays in our manufacturing and supply chain, increased currency volatility, and delays in certain cost saving, transformation and restructuring initiatives. Our business could also be adversely impacted if key personnel or a significant number of employees or business partners become unavailable due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The significant adverse impact of COVID-19 on the economic or political conditions in markets in which we operate could result in changes to the preferences of our adult consumers and lower demand for our products, particularly for our mid-price or premium-price brands. Continuation of the pandemic could disrupt our access to the credit markets or increase our borrowing costs. Governments may temporarily be unable to focus on the development of science-based regulatory frameworks for the development and commercialization of RRPs or on the enforcement or implementation of regulations that are significant to our business. In addition, messaging about the potential negative impacts of the use of our products on COVID-19 risks may lead to increasingly restrictive regulatory measures on the sale and use of our products, negatively impact demand for our products, the willingness of adult consumers to switch to our RRPs and our efforts to advocate for the development of science-based regulatory frameworks for the development and commercialization of RRPs.

The impact of these risks also depends on factors beyond our knowledge or control, including the duration and severity of the outbreak and actions taken to contain its spread and to mitigate its public health effects, and the ultimate economic consequences thereof.

Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future

Philip Morris International (PMI) is leading a transformation in the tobacco industry to create a smoke-free future and ultimately replace cigarettes with smoke-free products to the benefit of adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, society, the company and its shareholders. PMI is a leading international tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, as well as smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the United States. In addition, PMI ships a version of its IQOS Platform 1 device and its consumables authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to Altria Group, Inc. for sale in the United States under license. PMI is building a future on a new category of smoke-free products that, while not risk-free, are a much better choice than continuing to smoke. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities and scientific substantiation, PMI aims to ensure that its smoke-free products meet adult consumer preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. PMI's smoke-free IQOS product portfolio includes heat-not-burn and nicotine-containing vapor products. As of March 31, 2020, PMI estimates that approximately 10.6 million adult smokers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to PMI's heat-not-burn product available for sale in 53 markets in key cities or nationwide under the IQOS brand. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005345/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations:

New York: +1 (917) 663 2233

Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4666

InvestorRelations@pmi.com

Media:

Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4500

Iro.Antoniadou@pmi.com
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
The airlines in the Lufthansa Group will serve 90 percent of all originally planned short- and medium-haul destinations and 70 percent of long-haul destinations by September.



The core brand Lufthansa alone will be flying more than 100 times a week to destinations in North America via its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich in autumn. Around 90 flights a week are planned to Asia, over 20 to the Middle East and over 25 to Africa. In Africa, there will again be flights to Windhoek and Nairobi, in the Middle East to Beirut and Riyadh, in North America to Houston, Boston and Vancouver, in Asia to Hong Kong and Singapore.



On short- and medium-haul routes, Lufthansa will offer a total of 1,800 weekly connections from September onwards. There will be 102 destinations from Frankfurt and 88 from Munich, including Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, Naples, Rhodes, Palermo, Faro, Madeira, Olbia, Dubrovnik, Reykjavik and many other summer destinations from Frankfurt.



Many of the resumed destinations are already today, 4 June, being implemented in the booking systems and can therefore be booked. All destinations are updated daily on lufthansa.com and on the websites of the respective Group carriers.



Lufthansa expanded its service concept on 1 June. Customers receive a disinfecting wipe before every flight. On short- and medium-haul flights in Business Class, the beverage service and the normal meal service will be reactivated. On long-haul flights, guests in all classes will again be offered the usual range of beverages. In First and Business Class, customers will once again be able to choose from a range of dishes. In Economy Class, customers will also continue to receive a meal. Strict hygiene regulations continue to be adhered to during the service adjustments.



From July onwards, Austrian Airlines aircraft will take off on regular long-haul flights for the first time since mid-March. Bangkok, Chicago, New York (Newark) and Washington will then be available with up to three weekly flights. The European network offer will also be expanded to include various routes from July onwards - including flights to Greece.



SWISS plans to return to about 85% of the destinations it served before the Corona crisis in autumn, with about one-third of its capacity on these routes. As Switzerland's airline, SWISS is committed to offering the widest possible range of services in the build-up phase. The initial focus here will be on European services from Zurich and Geneva. Further intercontinental destinations will also be reintroduced into the route network.



Eurowings is also significantly expanding its flight program for both business and leisure travellers and plans to fly to 80 per cent of its destinations again in the course of the summer. Following the lifting of the travel warning, interest in holiday destinations such as Italy, Spain, Greece and Croatia in particular is growing by leaps and bounds. This is why Eurowings will be putting 30 to 40 percent of its flight capacity back into the air in July - with the main focus on flights from Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Cologne/Bonn.



When planning their trip, customers should take the current entry and quarantine regulations of the respective destinations into account. Throughout the entire trip, restrictions may be imposed due to stricter hygiene and safety regulations, for example, due to longer waiting times at airport security checkpoints.



From 8 June onwards, guests on all Lufthansa and Eurowings flights are obliged to wear a mouth and nose cover on board throughout the entire journey. This serves the safety of all passengers on board. The General Conditions of Carriage (GTC) will be amended accordingly. Lufthansa also recommends that passengers wear a mouth-nose cover during the entire journey, i.e. also before or after the flight at the airport, whenever the required minimum distance cannot be guaranteed without restriction.  TradeArabia News Service
DES MOINES  A group of racial justice protesters took their cause inside the state Capitol on Wednesday and spoke with state lawmakers and the governors staff.

An organizer with the Des Moines chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement said protesters were able to express their concerns and desires for policy change to several state lawmakers, but said at times the group felt as if they were merely being paid lip service.

One key state lawmaker who talked with the group said he expects to pass legislation that included some of the policy changes the group demanded.

Matt Bruce, an organizer with the group, said members spoke to a meeting of all House Democrats; to Republican Sen. Brad Zaun, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee; and to Gov. Kim Reynolds staff.

Bruce said at times the group felt as if they were being fed lip service, and at other times felt lawmakers were actively trying to avoid the protesters.

Bruce warned state leaders that black Iowans frustration with the inaction of elected leaders will only grow if nothing is accomplished during this legislative session.

We told (state lawmakers) they have a serious security breach already in the state of Iowa. Racism and racist violence is the No. 1 issue in the state, the No. 1 issue affecting peoples safety, Bruce said. All over the state its going to be hard for (protest) organizers to keep control of the tension, keep control of the anger and the rage.

People are literally sick and tired. ... Its a really serious security matter, and people are going to go about any way they can to straight up take some control back.

Black Lives Matter of Des Moines issued five policy demands:

Passing Democratic-proposed legislation that includes a ban on police use of chokeholds and on the rehiring of law enforcement officers who have been fired for misconduct or the use of excessive force, and allowing the state attorney general and county attorneys to investigate police misconduct.

Decriminalizing cannabis and expunging all cannabis-related offenses.

Ending juvenile detention.

Killing proposed legislation that would restrict the states top elections official from mailing out absentee ballot request forms unsolicited.

Issuing a gubernatorial order automatically restoring voting rights of felons who complete their sentences.

Zaun said he was 95 percent sure lawmakers will approve the Democratic-proposed legislation.

(Legislative leaders) are definitely trying to solve the problems that have been advocated, Zaun said. Im pretty certain that we will pass those three items.

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LANSING, MI  Michigans second highest court has upheld a lower court decision which found that a controversial 2018 law allowing construction of a new Enbridge oil pipeline tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac is constitutional.

On Thursday, June 11, a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Enbridge in the ongoing legal dispute between the Canadian pipeline company and Michigans current Democratic governor and attorney general over the future of its Line 5 pipeline.

The appellate decision upholds Enbridges legal victory in the state Court of Claims last October, which upheld a deal the company signed with former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to complete a $500 million utility tunnel under the Mackinac straits that would house a rebuilt Line 5.

The two sides argued on June 2 whether the title of the 2018 law creating the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority, passed during a lame duck session in the waning days of Snyders tenure, accurately portrayed the actual legislation contents or whether it violated the state constitutions title-object clause.

Attorney General Dana Nessel concluded the law was unconstitutional shortly after taking office in 2019 and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer subsequently directed state agencies to disregard the deal. Enbridge sued after failing to reach a new deal with Whitmer.

Both Whitmer and Nessel campaigned on shutting down Line 5.

Thursdays ruling effectively reinstates Snyders controversial Line 5 deal for the moment, although the case appears headed to the Michigan Supreme Court.

While we are disappointed by the Court of Appeals decision, we stand by our position that Act 359 is unconstitutional, said Nessel spokesperson Courtney Covington. We intend to ask the Michigan Supreme Court to review this important matter.

Enbridge released a statement Thursday calling the deal, which lets the company operate the existing dual Line 5 oil lines while the tunnel is being built, valid and enforceable.

We look forward to working with the State to make a safe pipeline even safer. We are investing $500 million in the tunnels construction  thereby further protecting the waters of the Great Lakes and everyone who uses them. Pending receipt of all permits and regulatory approvals, we anticipate completing construction of the tunnel in 2024.

Thursdays appellate opinion was authored by Judge Thomas C. Cameron and joined by Judges Mark T. Boonstra and Anica Letica. Each were appointed to the court by Snyder.

We conclude that the title of 2018 PA 359 does not address objects so diverse that they have no necessary connection, Cameron wrote.

Thursdays ruling is the second appellate decision to favor Enbridge this month. The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals last week overruled a lower court judge who had sided with the National Wildlife Federation in finding that Enbridges Line 5 spill response plan was inadequate.

Two other Line 5 cases are pending in Michigan. A ruling is pending in a case filed by Nessel, who sued Enbridge in Ingham County Circuit Court last June, arguing the pipelines 1953 easement violates Michigans public trust doctrine and it should be shuttered as environmental hazard.

A legal challenge filed by tribes and northern Michigan property owners to Enbridges permits for anchor supports on Line 5 is also pending in the state administrative court system.

Public hearings are expected this summer on Enbridge applications for construction permits necessary to build the tunnel. Michigan environmental regulators have asked the company to supply more information about the project and consider alternatives to a tunnel.

The Michigan Public Service Commission is also considering a request that it declare Enbridge already has authority to re-site its pipeline under bedrock because the commission originally approved the Line 5 site back in 1953.

Assuming Enbridge received all its regulatory approvals and litigation doesnt derail the project, the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority would oversee the construction and operation of the tunnel.

Opposition to the tunnel project centers around the potential threat of a leak the 67-year-old line poses in the meantime and the overall contribution of fossil fuel infrastructure to global climate change. Enbridge says Line 5 is in good condition and is monitored closely, but nonetheless agreed to build a replacement.

Related stories:

Michigan seeks more information about Line 5 tunnel alternatives

Enbridge seeks tunnel permits amid pandemic

Protective coating on Line 5 pipeline worn away again
County Kildare Chamber, Chambers Ireland and the nationwide network of Chambers has published results from a survey of the Irish business community.

This survey sought to quantify and highlight the impact of COVID-19 on businesses in our towns, cities and regions across the country.

County Kildare Chamber represents 400 businesses in Kildare across all sectors.

The Chamber is represented on several Government regional task forces, are represented on the board of Chambers Ireland and is the voice for business in County Kildare.

The latest business survey had 1,320 responses and was conducted between the 28th May and 2nd June 2020.

The survey took a read of the business environment in Phase 1 of our economys re-opening following the COVID-19 restrictions.

The headline findings are:

Business activity levels are extremely low, for those businesses that have returned to operation under Phase 1

Businesses that have opened are typically experiencing less than half of their usual levels of business activity for this time of year

The median expected revenue over the next three months (relative to what they would have expected to be earning in a typical year) has risen from -60% to -50% over the next three months, so most businesses expect their earnings over the coming three months to be half the normal amount.

25% of businesses expect to have earnings that are -70% of their usual level

25% of businesses expect to have earnings that are -70% of their usual level The impact of revenue decline is being felt more strongly in the regions, notably in the West, Border counties and the South East

Smaller operators have seen revenue reduced most significantly, again compounding regional effects for areas which do not have large employers

Invoice arrears are increasing with the value of unpaid invoices (relative to 2019) significantly up across all sectors.

Almost two thirds of microenterprises and small businesses have experienced both an increase in the value owed to them and an increase in the proportion of debt that is owed to them that is now in excess of 90-days past due.

CEO of County Kildare Chamber Allan Shine said:

Government investment into business must continue for the foreseeable. The survey results will not be a shock to anyone. Invoice arrears continue to rise, sole traders and the self-employed are the most vulnerable and many small businesses fear the worst and may have to close their doors over the coming months.

"We need dramatic financial intervention to support SMEs while they continue trading and retain jobs.

"If jobs are to be saved, if businesses are to stay trading, we need to see certainty and clarity on the longer-term economic supports so that businesses can plan for their future. These supports need to address liquidity and cover overheads. Otherwise debt, which is mounting for many businesses, will sink them.

"We require a year-long waiver for impacted business from Commercial Rates, additional funding for Local Authorities, expanded grant aid, and a targeted extension of the Wage Subsidy Scheme for remainder of 2020.

"Our members are also very mindful of the fact that many of the new supports that will need to be put in place will require a new Government, or at the very least, an Oireachtas empowered to legislate. Certainty on policy, supported by legislation and followed by rapid financial intervention, cannot come soon enough.

"In the medium term, the next Programme for Government must urgently address the crisis facing local economies. This must include the financing of an ambitious package of support that invests billions, rather than millions, of euro. Otherwise we will see our cities and towns wither further.

"We also need to look beyond the direct supports to business and consider the bigger picture. Investment in infrastructure and housing must be the centrepiece of a new Programme for Government. Town centres will be at the heart of our economic recovery, if they are not - we are looking into a decade of stunted growth."
As protests around the country against racism and police violence extend well into their second week, demand for books about race and anti-racism has surged.

As of this writing, almost all of the top bestselling books on Amazon (seven out of 10) and at Barnes & Noble (nine out of 10) take on these topics, including "How to Be an Antiracist," by Ibram X. Kendi, "White Fragility," by Robin DiAngelo, and "So You Want to Talk About Race," by Ijeoma Oluo.

On the most recent New York Times list of bestselling nonfiction in e-books and print, five of the Top 15 titles address racism. One of them, "The New Jim Crow," Michelle Alexander's book about mass incarceration, was published 10 years ago.

The week before, there were none.

"People want these books in hand today," said Kelly Estep, one of the owners of Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, Ky., where Breonna Taylor, a black emergency room technician, was shot and killed by police in March. "They feel like it's something they can do right now."

Jason Reynolds' book "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You," adapted from a book by Kendi, was No. 1 this week on The New York Times' young adult hardcover list. "Stamped" distills the history of racist ideas into three kinds of people, Reynolds explained: segregationists, assimilationists and anti-racists. The goal of the book is to help young people identify what is racist and Reynolds said seeing his book return to the top of the list, where it had debuted at No. 1 in March, leaves him hopeful  but cautiously so.

"I'm grateful that people are working to seek out information to help them better understand what's happening in our country, and I hope it's not a knee-jerk reaction due to shame and guilt and not wanting to be on the outside," he said. "I hope people understand that this book is the beginning of a journey of a lifetime.

"I mean, it's a wonderful thing to say I'm a New York Times bestseller, but it would be more wonderful to be able to say we live in a world that is a little more anti-racist."

Even board books for very young children  where current events are not usually a consideration  are reflecting this demand. "Antiracist Baby," by Kendi, is scheduled to be published later this month. Penguin Young Readers had originally planned a first print run of 50,000 books, but in response to the demand it is seeing in pre-orders, it is printing an additional 100,000 copies.

"These numbers are extraordinary for any children's book, and in particular one that is in the board book format aimed at readers 0-3," Elyse Marshall, executive director of publicity at Penguin Young Readers, said in an email. "It's rare to see a board book hit and stay on a bestseller list weeks before it goes on sale, and the sustained presence reflects the moment that we are in."

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

The demand for some titles has been so high that stores are having trouble keeping them in stock. Miriam Chotiner-Gardner, a buyer for Three Lives & Co. bookshop in Manhattan, said she's seen increased demand every which way. Some people are ordering just these books, while others are buying them along with unrelated novels or essay collections. There are customers purchasing just one title, and others stocking up on whole reading lists of five to seven books. Publishers, she added, are working to help the store restock quickly.

"Books that are out today will come back next week," she said. "Usually it takes weeks to get a reprint."

Estep of Carmichael's said Thursday that she didn't have any copies left of her biggest sellers on the subject, including "White Fragility," "How to Be an Antiracist" and "Between the World and Me," by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

"We did get a couple copies of 'So You Want to Talk About Race' today," she said, shortly before 5 p.m. "But I haven't been at the store since about 3 p.m., and I would be surprised if they were still there."

These titles are dominating audiobook sales as well. Libro.fm is a company that partners with 1,200 bookstores in the United States and Canada to sell audiobooks, and on Friday, every one of its Top 10 bestsellers was about race. The company said its Top 10 list on the first day of June, again consisting entirely of books about race, had sold 500 percent more than the Top 10 list did on the first day of May.

But buying books and reading books, Reynolds said, is not enough. "If you read this book and you feel like you're ready to do some good work, and you happen to be a white person, it is imperative to know you do not deserve cookies for being a good human being," he said. "This is an opportunity to be good for good's sake. Imagine that."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  Malacanang has clarified that not all online sellers will need to pay taxes, but should still register or update their records with the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday justified the decision of the tax agency to require all online merchants, including delivery platforms, to declare their profits from selling retail products online. BIR gave them until July 31 to register and update their tax records, as well as to find a way for them to issue receipts or sales invoices, just like in physical stores.

Roque and Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua clarified that existing tax laws will apply to online selling, which saw a surge in activity as people sought to find other ways to make money during the COVID-19 lockdown.

"Talaga naman pong meron tayong exemptions na tinatawag under sa tax reform act [We really have exemptions under the tax reform act]," Roque said.

Chua explained in a Malacanang briefing that annual earnings less than 250,000 are tax exempt, referring to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act that overhauled the system for personal income taxes. Only income above 250,000 is subject to taxes.

"Ang pinagkukunan naman po natin para sa COVID-19 ay 'yung pondo na pumapasok primarily sa BIR at sa Customs. Habang tumataas ang pangangailangan natin sa COVID-19, syempre hahanap at hahanap tayo ng pamamaraan para ma-increase ang ating intake ng taxes. Isa po ito sa pamamaraan," Roque said.

[Translation: We're getting the funds for COVID-19 primarily from the collections of BIR and Customs. As our needs for funding rise, of course we will continue looking for ways to increase our tax intake. This is one of the ways.]

The government has missed its tax collection targets so far this year, bogged down by delayed 2019 income tax collections.

"Humihingi lang po ako ng pag-intindi sa ating publiko dahil kung wala naman tayong kaban, wala tayong ayudang maibibigay [I'm asking for the understanding of the public because if we don't have money, we cannot provide cash aid]," he added.

Several lawmakers said government should prioritize chasing the tax dues of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGOs, rather than cut the earnings of local online retailers making a temporary living via social media or e-commerce channels.

READ: BIR urged to prioritize taxing POGOs over online sellers

Roque says the government needs all the additional revenues to fight COVID-19, with the Department of Finance identifying more than 600 billion in spending.

Some 437 billion worth of loans are also being eyed, with multiple credit lines tapped in the past two months from local and foreign sources.

Chua, however, said these can still be paid off with ample fiscal space.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Jerusalem  Thu, June 11, 2020 23:37 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bde0720d 2 World Saudi-Arabia,anti-Semitism,Mohammad-al-Issa Free

Saudi cleric Mohammad al-Issa sees combating anti-Semitism as a religious duty, an approach which saw the head of the Muslim World League awarded this week by Jewish groups.

Issa was given a prize by the Combat Antisemistism Movement and the American Sephardi Federation, in a virtual ceremony on Tuesday celebrating Muslim leaders tackling anti-Semitism and racism.

"Fighting antisemitism is a religious obligation and a moral obligation," Issa told AFP from the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The former justice minister vowed that the Muslim World League would "keep on until there is no more antisemitism and racism."

The organization is financed by Saudi petrodollars and is seen as a diplomatic arm of the kingdom, as well as an instrument of Wahhabism, the austere Sunni Muslim doctrine.

Political conflicts have led to tensions between Islam and Judaism, Issa said, calling on people to put such differences aside.

"Political outlooks change over time but our values, our morals should never change," he said.

The Saudi cleric was praised in January by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for traveling to Poland for events marking 75 years since the Nazi death camp Auschwitz was liberated.

"This is another sign of change in the attitude of Islamic bodies and, of course, the Arab states toward the Holocaust and the Jewish people," Netanyahu said at the time.

Visiting the World War II extermination camp, where the majority of more than a million people killed were Jews, marked a turning point for Issa.

"We went to Auschwitz to tell the world that we are against these crimes and they will not be repeated," he said.

Riyadh has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, but the two have a common enemy in Iran.

Both countries accuse Tehran of wanting to broaden its influence in the Middle East and develop nuclear weapons.

While Egypt and Jordan have relations with their neighbour Israel, other Arab states have set a peace deal with the Palestinians as a condition for normalising ties.

But Netanyahu's government has sought to improve ties with Gulf nations in particular, including Israeli officials appearing at sport events in the United Arab Emirates.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has argued that further diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab nations would improve prospects for peace with the Palestinians.
Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  In 2016, Australian national I. Turner was arrested by the Queensland Police Taskforce for purchasing child sexual exploitation material, including live-stream videos from the Philippines.

The Australian Federal Police then alerted the Philippine National Police (PNP) of this case, prompting the latter to conduct surveillance of one of his suppliers, Vilma, who was based in Cebu. That same year, our local police implemented a search warrant and arrest at Vilmas residence.

It was revealed that Vilma had been communicating with overseas customers in Australia, Germany, and the United States through social media platforms and e-mail, in which she sells photos and live-streamed abuse of her own children. The investigation also discovered that she had been selling the materials for over five years.

One of her daughters said, in an affidavit, that she had lost count on how many live-stream videos she had been abused in. At the time of the rescue, all of them were minors, aged 7 to 11.

Online exploitation during lockdown

As the world tries to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been strong indicators showing the surge of online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) because of the lockdowns. Global law enforcement agencies have reported a rise in demand for child sexual exploitation materials (CSEM) coinciding with the time of lockdowns, says Atty. Rey Bicol, Manila Field Office Director of the International Justice Mission (IJM).

Bicol also shared that the Australian Federal Police, for instance, received intelligence that CSEM sites were crashing due to increased user activity. European law agency Europol, on the other hand, also reported that there was increased online activity seeking child sexual materials.

In the Philippines, from April 6 to June 12, there were 15 IJM-supported operations, in which 46 OSEC victims and children at risk were rescued, and 8 OSEC suspects arrested. When you have an increase in demand for OSEC from abroad, and you have vulnerable children locked down with potential abusers and traffickers in the Philippines, we can reasonably assume a spike in OSEC incidence, says Bicol.

A report from the Department of Justice Office of Cybercrime also said that on May 25, they received 279,166 cyber tips from the lockdown period of March to May 2020. The office only received 76,561 cyber tips in that same period last year, marking an over 200% increase.

However, even before the lockdown, the Philippines had already been identified as the global hotspot for online sexual exploitation of children. The IJM released a 2020 study, which collected information from 2010 to 2017, where global law enforcement data shows that the Philippines was the largest known source country of cases, receiving more than eight times as many referrals as any other country.

That same study reveals that, of the 285 victims rescued in that time period, the median age is 11 years old, 41% of the crime was perpetrated by their biological parents, and 86% of the victims were females.

Maria Margarita Ardivilla, UNICEFs Child Protection Specialist, says that the main drivers of the persistence of online sexual exploitation of children are poverty, our utility of the English language, and the erroneous notion that there is no violence caused because the body is not being touched.

Eight out of 10 children have experienced violence in the past and most experienced it at home, the place where they should feel safe, she says.

With the lockdown and in the context of the pandemic, we are talking about the toxic brew of tremendous economic strain, being in confined spaces, mobility restrictions, and so its no surprise that there is an increase in the number of cases of violence against children during the quarantine period.

Social media community

While most of these cases are brought to light by law enforcement, social media users have also banded together to report and take down exploitative material on mainstream platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Bantay Bastos, a volunteer-led Facebook page, started a Facebook group to systematize the deluge of child exploitation reports online. Shebana Alqaseer, one of the moderators of the group and also part of feminist platform Every Woman, says that, in the beginning, their goal was to mass report exploitative pages so they can be taken down.

However, the PNPs child protection unit reached out to them, saying that they should document the reports first as the National Bureau of Investigation is tracking these accounts. Kasi we need accountability, to have justice, so hindi siya pwedeng we just take them down on Facebook para hindi kumalat, Alqaseer says. Its good that its taken down pero if hindi natin siya properly documented, hindi sila mahuhuli, and theyll just create new pages.

Since the lockdown, the group has been receiving five to 10 reports a day. Bantay Bastos also has a direct contact with the PNP where they forward all the reports for investigation. It became the groups protocol for those reporting to answer a Google form, which requires a screenshot and URL.

Alqaseer also shares that there have been users who supposedly lure more followers by exchanging a Facebook like or follow with an exploitative video of a child.

Merong user na si [Josh*], gumawa kasi siya ng Facebook group. Ang pang come-on sa mga tao, invite your friends to like this page and Ill send you the [sexually explicit] video via message,' she says. So what we did is expose not just him, but everybody who posted a comment that they wanted a video.

After being exposed, Bermudez reached out to Bantay Bastos, begging that the group take down their posts. Sabi niya hindi naman daw niya alam na mali yung ginagawa niya at ginagawa lang niya para ma-boost yung page niya, Alqaseer shares.

While Bantay Bastos was firm in their resolve not to absolve Bermudez from his actions, Alqaseer does acknowledge that perhaps more people should know that these kinds of activities are wrong and criminal.

Kailangan ng ganoong info campaign because even young people, what if they really dont know? Kasi ang daming real accounts yung mga humingi ng video, she says. What if they dont know? Baka akala nila pag ikaw yung nagvideo, ikaw yung mali, but akala nila kung hinihingi mo, hindi criminal.

Anyone found guilty under the Anti-Child Pornography Act is punishable with reclusion perpetua and a fine of not less than 2 million but not more than 5 million.

Still part of womens issues

During the start of the lockdown, human rights groups and advocates have warned that the quarantine could result in higher cases of gender-based abuses. The PNP reported that during the quarantine period, there were 8 cases of rape a day. This, however, is a lower statistic than the recorded 18 rape cases a day before the lockdown.

But the lower number may not be an accurate representation because of the lack of access to services, the restrictions on travel, and the apprehensions to fight against abusers during a time of national and global uncertainty.

In terms of online abuse, UN Women recognizes that there is still a lack of global data on online and ICT-facilitated violence, but the international NGO does suggest that women are still disproportionately targeted. Meanwhile, IJMs report on OSEC uncovered that 86% of victims were females.

UN Womens brief on online violence against women during COVID-19 also presents that because of the 50% to 70% increase in internet usage, women and girls have been subject to a varied range of abuses  physical threats, sexual harassment, stalking, zoombombing (showing of racially charged and sexually explicit material to the unexpecting participants), and sex trolling.

Alqaseer says that with Bantay Bastos, they found that there is indeed still a continuous increase in online abuse directed to women, but this has been a trend even before COVID-19. She shares that while reports on online sexual exploitation of children have risen, the Bantay Bastos page still generally receives more cases of adult women abused online.

Mas marami paring babaeng nababastos. Mabilis mareport and action kapag children kasi clear na mali kapag bata, she says. Pero kapag babae, minsan na-vivictim blame pa.

*name changed upon the interviewee's request
New Section Manager appointed in North Dakota in wake of resignation

Richard Budd, W0TF, has been appointed as North Dakota ARRL Section Manager, succeeding Nancy Yoshida, K0YL, who resigned on June 2 after serving since January 2018. Yoshida will become the vice president of the YL International Single Sideband System this year and felt she could not do justice to both leadership roles.

Budd, who lives in York, will complete the remainder of Yoshida's term, which extends through September 30. Because Budd was also the only nominee to submit a petition to run for the next term of office as the North Dakota Section Manager by the June 5 deadline, he will continue as Section Manager for the 2-year term that starts on October 1, 2020.

A ham since 1980, Budd had served as a North Dakota Assistant Section Manager since 2019, was Section Emergency Coordinator in 2018, and previously served as North Dakota's Official Observer Coordinator.

ARRL Radiosport and Field Services Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, made the appointment after consulting with ARRL Dakota Division Director Matt Holden, K0BBC.
LOS ANGELES, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global tire market value is expected to reach of around US$ 150 Bn by 2027 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 5%.

Increase in demand for vehicles is the major drivers for the growth of the tire market. Fluctuations in the availability of raw material and their prices are a major factor expected to restraint the growth of the market.

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A tire consists of components such as sidewall, chain, belts, lining, and rubber. Sidewall protects the carcass from collapse as the walls of a carcass are crack-proof and flexible. Sidewalls mostly cover a variety of layers of loosely woven nylon cords. Such nylon cords are often referred to as sheet stacks, which are covered, both inside and outside the tire by a rubber compound. The cord body has the potential to sustain jolts and shocks and is a semi-rigid structure. Tubeless vessels have two extra layers for the reduction of friction and resistance of nylon cords and rubber. Both these components are found within the tread coating to protect the tire from wear and cuts. This is the exterior component of the tire which comes in contact with the ground surface and has been built with various tread patterns according to the specification or area of application for the tire.

Asia Pacific hold large market share of global tire market which is followed by North America and Europe. In 2018, over 27.8 million vehicles production was in China which leads to the largest automotive industry in the world. The related tire market has also seen strong growth in recent years with the increase in automotive production. The Chinese tire market is experiencing steady growth, primarily due to economic development in the country and consistent growth in OEM tire sales. In the Asia Pacific region, Thailand is the fastest growing market for automotive tires, and more than 35% of the world raw rubber is a produce in this country. Other factors such as steady growth of vehicle manufacturing and growing demand for automotive tires will fuel the global development of the automotive tire market in the region.

View Detail Information with Complete [email protected] https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/tire-market

Market dynamics

The major factor driving the growth of tire market is due to increasing demand of tires across the globe which is due the sales of the passenger vehicle is accelerating, particularly in the developing countries. Tires perform several functions, including weight protection for a vehicle, acceleration and brake force transfer, direction change or repairs, and removal of shocks from the road surface to increase the overall performance of the vehicle. In addition, increasing development activities are projected to fuel demand for construction vehicles in both developed and developing countries, consequently enhancing tire sales. In addition, leading companies are interested in producing new products, such as environmentally friendly, flat-function and nitrogen-based tires. For instance, the next generation of tires that give superior fuel efficiency and high friction pressure for significantly reducing deformation of the tires, has been launched by Bridgestone Group, the world's largest tire and rubber company. The measuring of the vehicle still continues, even though the tire is punctured, with the support of the reinforced sidewalls, unlike traditional tires.

The global tire market includes prominent players such as Michelin, Continental AG, The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., Bridgestone Corporation, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd., Pirelli & C. S.p.A., The Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Co., Madras Rubber Factory Limited , JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., CEAT Ltd. and others.

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- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/automotive-vvt-system-market-value-220005853.html Tire Pressure Monitoring System Market - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tire-pressure-monitoring-system-market-010010304.html

- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tire-pressure-monitoring-system-market-010010304.html Automotive Sun Visor Market - https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/automotive-sun-visor-market

Recent Developments

In February 2020 , the new smart tyre collection at Auto Expo 2020 has been launched by leading Indian tire manufacturer JK Tire & Industries Ltd.

, the new smart tyre collection at Auto Expo 2020 has been launched by leading Indian tire manufacturer JK Tire & Industries Ltd. In December 2019 , Continental launches all-new agriculture tire application for end customers and dealers

, Continental launches all-new agriculture tire application for end customers and dealers In October 2019 , Continental shows off intelligent tires

Key Target Audience:

Government bodies such as regulatory authorities and policy makers

Raw material suppliers

Market research and consulting firms

Automobile manufacturers

Tire manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and other stakeholders

Associations, organizations, forums and alliances related to tire industry

Market Segmentation

Tire Market By Season

Winter Tires

Summer Tires

All Season Tires

Other Tires Types

Tire Market By Vehicles Type

Passenger Cars

Light Commercial Vehicles

Heavy Commercial Vehicles

Other Vehicles (All-terrain Vehicles, Recreational Vehicles)

Tire Market By Type

Radial Tire

Bias Tire

Tire Market By Sales Channel

OEM

Aftermarket

Tire Market By Tube

Tubed Tire

Tubeless Tire

Tire Market By Material

Natural Rubber

Synthetic Rubber

Tire Market By Geography

North America

U.S.

Canada

Europe

UK

Germany

France

Spain

Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

Australia

South Korea

Rest of Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa

GCC

South Africa

Rest of Middle East & Africa

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About Us

Acumen Research and Consulting (ARC) is a global provider of market intelligence and consulting services to information technology, investment, telecommunication, manufacturing, and consumer technology markets. ARC helps investment communities, IT professionals, and business executives to make fact based decisions on technology purchases and develop firm growth strategies to sustain market competition. Among the industries served include aerospace and defense, information and communication technology (ICT), semiconductor and electronics, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, chemicals, advanced materials, banking, finance services and insurance (BFSI), and others.

Our collective industry experience of over 100 years has helped us to offer appropriate market information and our global reach and regional connects ensures appropriate insights into regional markets to guarantee apt delivery of information.

Our regional market intelligence helps our clients to identify potential opportunities and develop growth strategies across regions and countries. Our services are geared towards offering best market research to our clients.

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The European Union must reach a deal on a proposed 750 billion euro economic recovery plan to cope with the impact of the coronavirus crisis by July, French Junior European Affairs Minister Amelie de Montchalin said on Thursday.

"There is no other solution than having a deal by July. If we do not have a stimulus plan, we will have a problem," Montchalin told BFM Business radio.

The European Commission's recovery plan aims to help economically weaker countries hit hardest by the coronavirus.

But fiscally conservative northern countries - the "frugal four" of the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden - have resisted some proposals, notably taking on mutual debt.

Montchalin was also asked to comment on media reports that Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA faced a lengthy EU antitrust investigation after declining to offer concessions to allay concerns about their planned $50 billion merger.

"All European players know that our fight is employment, how to relaunch production in Europe. I am fully confident that this priority is deeply ingrained everywhere in Europe," she said.

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"If his death ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn't in vain," says Philonise Floyd.

WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The brother of George Floyd, the African American man whose death in police custody inspired protests across the country, urged lawmakers in a congressional hearing Wednesday to "stop the pain," as Democrats and Republicans offered different remedies for the U.S. problem-ridden police system.

"I'm here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain. Stop us from being tired," Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, said at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

In his emotional testimony at the House Judiciary Committee's hearing titled "Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability," the younger Floyd urged the lawmakers to honor those from around the world calling for change in the wake of his brother's death. "Honor them, honor George and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution and not the problem."

"If his death ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn't in vain." said Philonise.

Wednesday's hearing came one day after George Floyd was laid to rest, and two days after congressional Democrats introduced a piece of legislation seeking sweeping reforms to policing policies, which will make it easier to prosecute police misconduct cases and prevent excessive use of force by law enforcement.

Flowers are seen outside the church where George Floyd's funeral is held in Houston, Texas, the United States, on June 9, 2020. The funeral of African American George Floyd was held Tuesday in the southern U.S. city of Houston, where he was brought up and spent most of his life, two weeks after his tragic death in police custody in Minneapolis. (Photo by Chengyue Lao/Xinhua)

Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus that led the drafting of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, said in her opening statement that she hopes the bill will pass both chambers of Congress and become law, so that "we never, ever, ever see again what we saw a few weeks ago."

Calling police brutality "an embarrassment of our nation in front of the entire world," Bass said the Unites States, which oftentimes points its fingers at so-called human rights violations in other countries, should honor its own commitment to human rights. "While we hold up human rights in the world, we obviously have to hold them up in our country."

On May 25, George Floyd, during the final moments of his life, was put in neck restraint for eight minutes and 46 seconds by a white police officer in Minneapolis, even as he begged for his life. Derek Chauvin, the now fired officer who kept his knee on Floyd's neck, has been jailed and faces murder charges.

"I can't tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that, when you watch your big brother, who you looked up to your whole entire life die, die begging for his mom," Philonise said.

Demonstrators march in a police brutality protest sparked by the death of George Floyd in New York, the United States, June 9, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

While the Democrats stressed the urgency of reforming the broken police system to end police brutality and racial profiling, the Republicans, though also blaming racism, focused more on condemning the rioters that were agitated in the recent "Black Lives Matter" movement.

They argued that police officers and other law enforcement personnel constitute an important pillar ensuring the safety and security of local communities, and that violence against them should not be ignored.

Republican congressman Jim Jordan, ranking member of the judiciary committee, said at the hearing that George Floyd's death was "as wrong as it could be," while condemning the rioters. He also said the "majority of" the law enforcement officers are good people and first responders.

"It is absolute insanity to defund the police," Jordan said, referring to a rallying cry frequently heard in the recent protests throughout the nation.

In an immediate response on Twitter, President Donald Trump hailed Jordan's remarks as "a great statement ... concerning Defunding (not!) our great Police," adding that "this Radical Left agenda is not going to happen."

A woman raises her arms as riot police fire tear gas during a protest outside the 5th Police Precinct in Minneapolis, the United States, May 30, 2020. (Photo by Angus Alexander/Xinhua)

The Democrats in their proposed reform bill didn't embrace the idea of entirely defunding police departments either. Instead, it will provide grants to community organizations, encouraging them to build partnerships that improve accountability.

However, not only is the Democrat-proposed legislation expected to undergo extensive scrutiny by Republicans on Capitol Hill - who offered their own blueprint for reform in a 10-section draft bill that included police reporting, accountability, training and relations -- it's also possible to be pushed back by the White House, which has indicated that stripping police officers of their immunity is a non-starter.

Asked whether Trump would support the police reform proposals rolled out by the Democrats, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a news briefing Monday that the president was "talking through a number of proposals."

Declining to get into the details of the president's thinking, McEnany said that "there are some non-starters in there, I would say, particularly on the immunity issue."

Police stand guard with Trump Tower in the background during a protest over the death of George Floyd in Chicago, the United States, on May 30, 2020. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposed a curfew on the city on May 30. Chicago's precautions followed a chaotic and violent Saturday evening, when many businesses along the streets were looted, police cars overturned and some properties damaged. (Photo by Christopher Dilts/Xinhua)

In addition to banning life-threating police tactics such as chokeholds and limiting the transfer of military-grade weaponry to state and local police departments, the Democrat-proposed bill also sought to reform the immunity doctrine that shields government officials, including police officers, from liability for conduct on the job unless they violate "clearly established" constitutional rights.

"We cannot settle for anything less than transformative structural change, which is why the Justice in Policing Act will remove barriers to prosecuting police misconduct and covering damages by addressing the immunity doctrine," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday when introducing the bill.

Calling for swift action to pass the bill, Pelosi said Wednesday after meeting with Philonise Floyd prior to the hearing that injustice in the current police system "is readily apparent. The need to make the change is clear and the proposals to do so have been in the hopper for a while."

Appearing on Fox News "Fox &Friends" program Wednesday morning, McEnany noted that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, presidential adviser Jared Kushner and domestic policy adviser Ja'Ron Smith on Tuesday huddled with Republican Senator Tim Scott, who led the GOP effort to devise police reforms.

"They had a very positive meeting with Senator Scott and it was very productive, and we do believe that we will have proactive policy prescriptions, whether that means legislation or an executive order," McEnany said.
The city of Port Huron has officially declared racism to be a public health crisis.

The city council voted unanimously at its regular meeting on June 8 to adopt the resolution proffered by Anita Ashford, the only African American on the seven-member board.

Its all about love and being kind to one another, Ashford said.

The adoption followed four protests in downtown Port Huron in the nine days preceding the meeting, sparked by the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department.

According to the resolution, racism and social inequities cause persistent discrimination and disparate outcomes in many areas of life, including housing, education, employment and criminal justice; and emerging body of research demonstrates that racism itself is a social determinant of health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately harsh impact on African Americans. A study by the nonprofit APM Research Lab, for example, has suggested that the novel coronavirus is killing blacks at a rate 2.4 times as high as whites. In part, this appears to be the consequence of the tendency for blacks to work in jobs that cannot be performed virtually and at which social distancing is difficult.

As a result of historical, institutional racism, African Americans experience higher poverty rates and earn lower average incomes than whites, which translate into less access to quality healthcare. That means higher incidences of the underlying health conditions  such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension and diabetes  that put people at higher risk for negative outcomes with COVID-19.

Recent research also suggests that the daily experience of racism affects people on a cellular level, weakening their immune systems and making them more susceptible to viruses.

I did reach out to the county health director, Dr. Annette Mercatante, and she agreed with the resolution and says she has data and studies from around the country that shows that this is a health crisis, said City Manager James Freed.

Among other things, the resolution calls for the council and administration to identify specific activities to further enhance diversity and to ensure antiracism principles across the city of Port Hurons leadership, staffing and contracting.

The resolution asks the council to adopt policies and initiate educational efforts aimed at understanding, addressing and dismantling racism and how it affects the delivery of human and social services, economic development and public safety.

Im in full support of this, said council member Scott Worden.

I support this not because its politically positive, but because its politically practical, said council member Jeff Pemberton.

For the first time since early March, when the spread of the novel coronavirus became a pandemic, the municipal office center was open to the public. A number of residents expressed their support for the resolution during the public comment period of the council meeting.

It is very important that we recognize racism as a public health crisis not just in our community, not just in the state, but in this country, said a Minnie Street resident. I believe it sends a very clear message about where Port Huron stands in the global and national dialogue.

A resolution points the way to how we should view racism, said Andrea McCarthy. Its killing our citizens.

It is a time that has come for healing, for justice, for equity for all, said Kimberly Brown.

City Clerk Cyndee Jonseck read a letter from Alphonso Amos, who could not attend the meeting.

I would like to see systems of oppression caused by white supremacy and privilege eradicated, said Amos, who chairs Black Lives Matter Port Huron.

The audience applauded after each speaker.

Jim Bloch is a freelance writer. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
A group of Minneapolis police officers has condemned the officer charged with murder in George Floyds death and say they are ready to back the police chiefs promised overhaul of the department.

The police killing of Floyd has triggered anti-racism protests around the world. A number of monuments with links to colonialism and slavery have been defaced or pulled down in Europe and the United States as demands for racial justice continue.

One of the four former Minneapolis police officers who was charged over the death of Floyd was released on $750,000 bail.

Floyd died on May 25 after a policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. His death has sparked nationwide calls for policing reforms.

Here are the latest updates:

Friday, June 12

12:30 GMT  London protest cancelled due to far-right activists

A Black Lives Matter group in London said it was calling off a planned protest on Saturday because the presence of far-right activists would make it unsafe, though some anti-racism demonstrators are still likely to gather. Another anti-racism protest on Friday looked set to go ahead.

Authorities have urged protesters not to gather because of the continued risk of spreading the coronavirus. Gatherings of more than six people are currently barred in England, though police have allowed previous demonstrations to take place.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was extremely concerned that further protests in central London not only risk spreading COVID-19, but could lead to disorder, vandalism and violence.

12:00 GMT  Palestinians know deadly US police tactics all too well

Following the killing of George Floyd, as US riot police fired rubber-coated bullets, tear gas canisters, pepper spray and stun grenades at protesters, Palestinians shared tips on social media on how to best deal with the assaults.

Many in the Palestinian territories are well experienced with such tactics by security forces while living under a decades-long occupation by Israeli forces in the West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip.

Read Mersiha Gadzos story here.

Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian protester during clashes following a raid in the West Bank city of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, February 6, 2020 [Abed al-Hashlamoun/EPA-EFE]

11:00 GMT  Cricketer says nickname controversy opportunity to educate on racism

Former West Indies cricket captain Daren Sammy says he has accepted a former team-mates explanation of a potentially racist nickname he was given at the Sunrisers Hyderabad and hopes the issue can be used to educate players about racism.

Earlier this week, the 36-year-old sought clarification from his former team-mates over the nickname kallu  Hindi slang for black  used for him when he was part of the Indian Premier League franchise during 2013-14.

Theres always an opportunity to learn or educate in every situation.. #BeTheChange pic.twitter.com/vWcyzM1v5E  Daren Sammy (@darensammy88) June 11, 2020

Im please[d] to say that Ive had a really interesting conversation with one of the guys and we are looking at ways to educate rather than focusing on the negatives, Sammy wrote on Twitter.

My brother reassured me that he operated from a place of love and I believe him.

10:30 GMT  PM Johnson says UK protests hijacked by extremists

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the anti-racism protests in the United Kingdom had been hijacked by extremists intent on violence who were attacking national monuments in an effort to censor our past.

Police have boarded up prominent statues around London ahead of a new wave of demonstrations and rallies this weekend.

But it is clear that the protests have been sadly hijacked by extremists intent on violence. The attacks on the police and indiscriminate acts of violence which we have witnessed over the last week are intolerable and they are abhorrent. 7/8  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 12, 2020

A famous statue of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill outside Parliament was defaced last weekend during Black Lives Matter rallies in London.

Johnson said it was absurd and shameful that the statue was at risk of attack by protesters, some of whom daubed the words was a racist at an earlier anti-racism demonstration.

09:50 GMT  Churchill statue boarded up before London protests

A statue of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opposite Parliament and the Cenotaph war memorial in central London were boarded up for protection before three days of demonstrations planned in the capital.

The World War II leaders statue on Parliament Square was sprayed with graffiti declaring Churchill a racist during a fractious end to a mostly peaceful demonstration on Sunday over the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Boarding has also been placed around the foot of the Cenotaph on Whitehall, where the government and royal family attend Remembrance Sunday events each year commemorating those killed in World War I and conflicts since then.

Churchills statue guarded before new anti-racist demonstrations [Hasan Esen/Anadolu]

09:00 GMT  Australia urges protesters not to attend rallies

The Australian government has urged activists not to attend Black Lives Matter and other rallies planned for the weekend due to the coronavirus pandemic risk.

Demonstrations are planned in Australian cities this weekend over Floyds killing, the coronavirus risk posed to asylum-seekers held in crowded Australian immigration detention centres and the pandemic threat created by eating meat.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged police to charge protesters with breaching pandemic restrictions during the coming weekend.

The very clear message is that people should not attend those events, because it is against the health advice to do so, Morrison told reporters.

"Theres a reason it was called Black Lives Matter and not African American Lives Matter."#BlackLivesMatter co-founder @OsopePatrisse in #StudioBUnscripted talking to @Lowkey0nline about how the movement has been global from its inception. pic.twitter.com/eyky6mgn4J  Studio B Unscripted (@AJSBUnscripted) June 11, 2020

08:30 GMT  Row in Germany over race in constitution

A row has broken out in Germany over the term race in the countrys constitution as the George Floyd killing in the US police custody spills over into national politics.

Paragraph three in Germanys Basic Law states that no person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions.

But the Green party this week took aim at the word race, pushing for a change to the constitution in place since 1949 as a bulwark against dictatorships like the Nazi regime which championed racist politics more than 70 years ago.





08:00 GMT  French police protest ban on chokehold

French police are protesting a new ban on chokehold and limits to what they can do during arrests, part of government efforts to stem police brutality and racism in the wake of global protests over George Floyds death in the US.

Police from the union Unite SGP Police FO lay their handcuffs on the ground outside some police stations around France on Thursday night in a symbolic protest, and another union plans an action in Paris on Friday.

Police unions are meeting on Thursday and Friday Interior Minister Christophe Castaner to discuss changes to police tactics after Castaner announced on Monday that police would no longer be taught to seize suspects by the neck or push on their necks.

A helmet is seen as police officers stand during a demonstration against French Interior Minister Christophe Castaners reforms, including ditching a controversial chokehold method of arrest [Eric Gaillard/Reuters]

07:45 GMT  Athletes to be allowed knee protest at Commonwealth Games

Athletes competing in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England will be allowed to take a knee in support of worldwide anti-racism movements, competition organisers said.

Commonwealth Games organisers said they would respect peoples rights to voice their opinions.

The movement is challenging all institutions to really look introspectively at what we can do to be more fair, more free, have better equality. Sport is no different, Commonwealth Games chief executive David Grevemberg told reporters.

We are comfortable with the uncomfortable conversation and we need to embrace it.

Players take a knee to support the Black Lives Matter movement before an Australian Football League match in Melbourne on June 11 [Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images]

07:30 GMT  Police woefully undertrained in use of force: Experts

With calls for police reforms across the US, instructors and researchers say officers lack sufficient training on how and when to use force, leaving them unprepared to handle tense situations.

Better training cannot fix all the issues facing the nations police departments, but experts believe it would have a big impact.

The skills are not taught well enough to be retained and now the officer is scrambling to find something that works, said William Lewinski, executive director at Minnesota-based Force Science Institute, which provides research, training and consulting to law enforcement agencies.

Its two-year study of three large US police academies says skills like using a baton or taking down an aggressive offender deteriorate dramatically within two weeks.

07:00 GMT  EPL player names to be replaced by Black Lives Matter

English Premier League players will pay tribute to worldwide anti-racism movements by wearing shirts with the words Black Lives Matter on the back during the opening round of fixtures at the seasons restart next week, British media reported.

The words will replace player surnames on the back of the shirt and BLM logos will be embroidered on the players kits, the Guardian newspaper said.

The Premier League will resume on June 17 after a three-month stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Premier League clubs will replace player names from the backs of shirts with 'Black Lives Matter' for next week's restart, reports @David_Ornstein pic.twitter.com/NEZjxD0lfO  B/R Football (@brfootball) June 11, 2020

06:45 GMT  Why are so many Black Americans being killed by police?

The police killing of George Floyd triggered unprecedented anti-racism protests across the US and around the world.

#AJStartHere talks to the people on the front line of race issues and asks what does it mean to be Black in America?





06:30 GMT  Seattle mayor to Trump: Go back to your bunker

The mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan, has told Donald Trump to go back to your bunker, escalating a spat after the president threatened to intervene over a police-free autonomous zone protesters have set up in the western US city.

Trump had threatened to intervene in the neighbourhood in Seattle dubbed Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ, which was agreed upon by demonstrators and the citys police department.

Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/H3TXduhlY4  Mayor Jenny Durkan (@MayorJenny) June 11, 2020

The reference to a bunker was a nod to reports Trump was rushed by Secret Service agents to a secure area in the White House as demonstrations against racism and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd reached the presidents residence.

Earlier on Thursday, Durkan, speaking at an afternoon news conference, said it would be unconstitutional and illegal for Trump to send military forces into the city to clear protesters, as he has suggested.

Read more here.

05:18 GMT  New Yorks Andrew Cuomo defends Columbus statues

New York should keep statues honouring Christopher Columbus even though the brutalisation of the West Indies inhabitants he encountered on his voyages to the New World is inexcusable, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

Cuomo said Columbus was an important figure for Italian Americans, symbolising their contribution to New York, and for that reason, he opposes removal of the statues.

I understand the feelings about Christopher Columbus and some of his acts, which nobody would support, Cuomo, who is Italian-American, said at a briefing. But the statue has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian-American contribution to New York.

04:34 GMT  Another US city takes down Columbus statue

The city of Camden in New Jersey has taken down a statue of Columbus, calling the statue in Farnham Park a controversial symbol that has long pained residents of the community.

Video from local news outlets showed the statue coming down on Thursday night. The citys statement says a plan to reexamine these outdated symbols of racial division and injustices is overdue.

The majority of Camden residents are people of colour.

Statues of Columbus have also been toppled or vandalised in cities such as Miami; Richmond, Virginia; St. Paul, Minnesota, and Boston, where one was decapitated.

03:25 GMT  New Zealand removes statue of colonist

The New Zealand city of Hamilton tore down a statue of the colonial military commander after whom it was named, after requests from local Maori and threats from anti-racism protesters to topple it.

A crane hoisted the bronze sculpture of Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton from the town square on Friday morning as a small group of cheering spectators looked on.

I know many people  in fact, a growing number of people  find the statue personally and culturally offensive, mayor Paula Southgate said.

We cant ignore what is happening all over the world and nor should we. At a time when we are trying to build tolerance and understanding I dont think the statue helps us to bridge those gaps.

Hamilton was a naval commander who fought indigenous Maori defending their land against British colonial expansion in the 19th century.

Workers remove a controversial statue of Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton from Civic Square in Hamilton on June 12, 2020 [Michael Bradley/ AFP]

03:04 GMT  Chicago investigating officers lounging during unrest

More than a dozen Chicago police officers and supervisors were captured on video lounging inside a burglarised congressional campaign office and even appeared to be making popcorn and brewing coffee as people vandalised and stole from nearby businesses, according to the citys mayor

The footage was taken on May 31 and early June 1, as police received widespread reports of vandalism, theft and arson in neighbourhoods on the citys South and West sides, officials said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who described herself as angry and disgusted by the actions shown on video, said the departments Internal Affairs division and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability are investigating.

Shattered glass hangs from the doorway of a 7-Eleven store on May 31, 2020 in Chicago, after a night of unrest [Charles Rex Arbogast/ AP]

02:39 GMT  NFL to spend $250m on social justice initiatives

The National Football League (NFL) is committing $250m over 10 years to social justice initiatives, targeting what it calls systemic racism and supporting the battle against the ongoing and historic injustices faced by African Americans.

The US league, which has raised $44m in donations through its Inspire Change program, announced the additional $206m commitment Thursday. It plans to work collaboratively with NFL players to support programmes to address criminal justice reform, police reforms, and economic and educational advancement.

02:23 GMT  Louisville bans no-knock warrants

The use of controversial no-knock warrants has been banned in Louisville, and the new ordinance named for Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot after officers burst into her home.

The citys Metro Council unanimously voted on Thursday night to ban the controversial warrants after days of protests and calls for reform.

Taylor, who was studying to become a nurse, was shot eight times by officers conducting a narcotics investigation on March 13. No drugs were found at her home.

Im just going to say, Breonna, thats all she wanted to do was save lives, so with this law she will continue to get to do that, Taylors mother, Tamika Palmer, said after the law was passed. She would be so happy.

The law bans the use of the warrants by Louisville Metro officers. Police typically use them in drug cases over concern that evidence could be destroyed if they announce their arrival. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul also introduced federal legislation on Thursday that would ban the use of no-knock warrants nationwide.

Thursday, June 11

23:40 GMT  Apple, YouTube unveil multi-million-dollar initiatives for Black business, artists

Apple says it will direct more business to its Black-owned suppliers under a $100 million racial and justice initiative, while Google-owned YouTube says it will spend $100 million to fund Black artists.

The unfinished work of racial justice and equality call us all to account. Things must change, and Apple's committed to being a force for that change. Today, I'm proud to announce Apples Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, with a $100 million commitment. pic.twitter.com/AoYafq2xlp  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 11, 2020

22:15 GMT  In open letter, Minneapolis police officers back chiefs efforts to overhaul department

A group of Minneapolis police officers has condemned the officer charged with murder in George Floyds death and say they are ready to back the police chiefs promised overhaul of the department.

Fourteen officers signed an open letter on Thursday addressed to Dear Everyone  but especially Minneapolis citizens.

The letter said Officer Derek Chauvin failed as a human and stripped George Floyd of his dignity and life.

This is not who we are, the officers wrote.

Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder in Floyds death. The letter makes no mention of three other officers charged with aiding and abetting.

The officers signing the letter, which was obtained by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, said they represent hundreds of other officers.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo listens to a question at a press conference. [Jim Mone/AP Photo]

21:33 GMT  Trump: Military cut through protesters like knife cutting butter

Trump flew to Dallas on Thursday for a roundtable on law enforcement, meeting with officials there and causing further controversy.

Its not supposed to be a beautiful scene, but to me it was Trump said at the event, referring to National Guard troops who went through protesters like a knife cutting butter.

Trump said authorities managed to quell protests in Minneapolis, and yes there was some tear gas.

Trump has come under criticism for his handling of nonviolent protesters ahead of a photo-op at a church in Washington, DC, amid ongoing protests over Floyds death and police brutality. Demonstrators outside the White House were dispersed with pepper spray, which some authorities initially denied to be tear gas.

Trump also said the US cannot move forward while decent Americans are accused of being racist or bigots.





The president also expressed his support for police, saying they need more funding, not less. You have bad apples wherever you go, Trump said, though there arent too many of them in the police.

Trumps visit was derided due to the exlcusion of three Black Dallas law enforcement leaders.

Dallas Police Chief U Renee Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown and District Attorney John Creuzot were not invited.

19:55 GMT  Celebrities at it again with campaign urging white people to take responsibility for racism: report

A new video campaign of white celebrities taking responsibility for not fighting racism emerged on social media to a chorus of critics, the Daily Beast reported.

regret to inform you the celebs are at it again pic.twitter.com/pfORBiqvrX  Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) June 11, 2020

Kristen Bell, Kesha, Aaron Paul, Stanley Tucci, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Debra Messing are all featured in the first video for the #ITakeResponsibility campaign, which encourages white people to call out racism and support black lives through various causes, the Daily Beast wrote it in its article, which called the video a cringeworthy public service announcement.

The black and white video shows the actors speaking sombrely as they take turns reciting a script which reads in part: I take responsibility for every unchecked moment, for every time it was easier to ignore than to call it out for what it was. Every not-so-funny joke. Every unfair stereotype.

Others adopted the campaigns slogan, admitting their shortcomings.

https://twitter.com/JCampbellVA75/status/1271175479547101185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The campaign was launched by entertainment production company Confluential Content, in partnership with the NAACP, and aims to to stand up for our Black friends and family in America. Our goal is to rally the white community, to provide education and encourage action, according to its website.

19:21 GMT  Blank incident report detailing Breonna Taylors death decried

Benjamin Crump, attorney for the family of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, two African Americans killed by police, said he was appalled by a nearly blank police report on Taylors killing released this week.

I'm appalled by LMPD's nearly BLANK incident report from the investigation of #BreonnaTaylor's murder. It lists "NONE" under Breonna's injuries She was SHOT 8 TIMES!! It took 3 months to produce and release this report publicly  and THIS is what we get?! #JusticeForBre pic.twitter.com/9vEKmpBtCi  Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) June 11, 2020

The report, released by Louisville Police on the fatal shooting, is mostly blank, with few details of the incident that spurred days of protests in the city.

The report, dated March 13, the day of the shooting, cites a police-involved death investigation and identifies Taylor, 26, as the victim. But it provides few other details, and some are incorrect.



Taylor was shot eight times by narcotics detectives who had a warrant to enter her apartment. A man inside the home with her, Kenneth Walker, fired once and struck an officer. There is no mention of Walker in the incident report.

The report also has a box to check for forced entry, which was checked No, and it also said none in a space for the victims injuries.

In the notes/narrative section, it simply said PIU investigation, which is the departments Public Integrity Unit.

Taylor was not named in the report.

18:26 GMT  Trump tweets ugly anarchists in Seattle must be stopped IMMEDIATELY

Trump continued trading barbs with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Washington Governor Jay Inslee, saying theyre being taunted by protesters who set up an autonomous zone in the city.

The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ, was declared on June 8 as protests against police brutality swept the US. CHAZ covers about six square blocks in Seattle. Organisers have made it a haven for protest groups and others who seek an alternative to the US system.

Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before. Take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020

The politicians are being played at a level that our great Country has never seen before. Take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will, Trump said on Twitter.

Durkan previously told Trump to Make us all safe and go back to his bunker, a reference to Trumps brief stay in an underground bunker during Black Lives Matter protests outside the White House following Floyds killing.

17:23 GMT  West Virginia court says police excessive force has to stop

A federal appeals court has vacated part of a finding that cleared five West Virginia police officers on qualified immunity grounds in an excessive force lawsuit, which was filed by the estate of a homeless Black man shot 22 times in 2013.

A man kneels in front of a line of Kentucky State Troopers during a protest against the deaths of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police and George Floyd by Minneapolis police [Bryan Woolston/Reuters]

A three-judge panel of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled this week that shielding five Martinsburg police officers for their actions during the summary judgment stage of the lawsuit would signal absolute immunity for fear-based use of deadly force, which we cannot accept.

The panel sent the case back to a lower court for further proceedings.

Certain protesters are calling for an end to immunity for police in officer-involved shootings as part of wider reforms.

Although we recognise that our police officers are often asked to make split-second decisions, we expect them to do so with respect for the dignity and worth of Black lives, the panel said. This has to stop.

16:11 GMT  Names of two Confederate leaders to be removed from US Naval Academy

The names of two members of the Confederacy should be removed from buildings at the US Naval Academy, the chairman of the academys Board of Visitors announced.

Representative CA Dutch Ruppersberger, a Maryland Democrat, said the Pentagon should consider removing Confederate names from all military bases as people across the country protest against racial inequality and police brutality.

There has been discussion of renaming these buildings since at least 2017, Ruppersberger said in a statement. As the new Chairman, the time for discussion is over. Its time for action.









Ruppersberger continued by saying those who qualified to study at the academy should not be forced to see buildings named for men who fought to uphold slavery and promote white supremacy.

The academy superintendents residence is named after Franklin Buchanan, the academys first superintendent who left to join the Confederate Navy at the start of the Civil War.

The academys Weapons and Systems Engineering division is housed in Maury Hall, named after Matthew Fontaine Maury. He headed the coast, harbour and river defences for the Confederate Navy.

The Republican-led US Senate Armed Services Committee approved an amendment that would require the Department of Defense to rename military bases named after Confederate generals, setting up a clash with President Donald Trump, who opposes that change.

14:15 GMT  Pentagon chief says he was wrong to accompany Trump on church walk

Army General Mark Milley, the USs top military officer, said he was wrong to have accompanied President Donald Trump on a walk to a church through Lafayette Square, where he was photographed in his combat uniform with the presidential entourage.

My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics, Milley said. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.





The statement by the Joint Chiefs chairman risked the wrath of a president sensitive to anything hinting of criticism of events he has staged. Trumps June 1 walk through the park to pose with a Bible at a church came after authorities used pepper spray and flashbangs to clear the park and streets of largely peaceful protesters.

Milley said his presence and the photographs compromised his commitment to a military divorced from politics.

I should not have been there, Milley said in prerecorded remarks to a National Defense University commencement ceremony.

14:00 GMT  Fitness company apologises for I cant breathe workout

A health club company has apologised on behalf of a franchisee who posted an I cant breathe workout at its gym in Wisconsin.

Photos of the workout instructions drawn on a dry erase board at Anytime Fitness in the city of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin were shared widely on social media and drawn criticism.

The I cant breathe workout included burpees, or squat thrusts, with the instructions dont you dare lay down. It also showed a person in a kneeling position, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Anytime Fitness apologizes for franchisee's 'I can't breathe' workout, says they will share with other locations as an example of "what not to do."https://t.co/qXV9935Bbm pic.twitter.com/lb4sDDPnV3  KARE 11 (@kare11) June 11, 2020

The company said it was profoundly sorry that the workout was posted.

No matter what the intent, we absolutely do not condone the words, illustrations or actions this represents. One of our publicly-stated commitments to antiracism work is to bolster training efforts for our franchise owners to lead with empathy, love and respect. This incident makes it clear we have more work to do in this space, a statement from the company read.

The workout instructions at the gym have since been removed.

13:00 GMT  One of four Minneapolis police charged over Floyd s death freed on bail

One of the four former Minneapolis police officers who was charged over the death of George Floyd was released on bail on Wednesday.

The former police officer released, Thomas Lane, 37, had been held on $750,000 bail and was freed from Hennepin County jail, sheriffs office records showed.

All four officers have been fired from the Minneapolis police department.

Catch up on Wednesdays updates here.
TAIPEI (Reuters) - A high-profile, China-friendly Taiwan mayor who lost a recall election last week said on Tuesday he would not contest the vote in the courts, smoothing the way for an election for his replacement.

Han Kuo-yu from the main opposition party the Kuomintang, or KMT, lost Saturday's recall vote by a huge margin, though he had called on his supporters to boycott it. Han was the party's presidential candidate in January, and also lost by a wide margin.

"I respect the will of the people, and will not lodge a lawsuit," Han said in a statement.

If he had contested the vote it would have delayed the election of his replacement, which should now happen within the next three months.

Han, who was criticised for taking time off to run for president and neglecting Kaohsiung, cannot stand, having lost the recall.

Opponents portray Han and the KMT as doing China's bidding by supporting Beijing's "one country, two systems" model to get Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty. The KMT says it has never supported this.

Han last year visited China and met its top Taiwan-policy maker and met in Hong Kong with its leader Carrie Lam before the Chinese-ruled city was engulfed in anti-China protests. He has said of those trips that he was simply trying to drum up investment for Taiwan.

The KMT is in the midst of an overhaul having lost January's elections, especially on how to rethink its unpopular policy of seeking closer ties with China, which claims Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to win control.

The KMT also has to decide who to stand in the Kaohsiung mayoral election, though it has rebuffed speculation its youthful new chairman Johnny Chiang might contest the seat.

Kaohsiung, Taiwan's third-largest city and a major international port, is traditionally a stronghold for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Editing by William Maclean)
(Alliance News) - All resolutions at WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC's annual general meeting passed, the grocer said on Thursday, but not without a slight hitch with more than a third of shareholders voted against its directors' remuneration report.

A motion to re-elect Belinda Richards as a non-executive director also drew the ire of a sizable chunk of investors.

Morrison's said 35% of voters rejected its directors' remuneration report.

The company said: "We undertook an extensive consultation process before proposing the new remuneration policy and hope that shareholders note the positive changes we have made including the introduction of a post-cessation shareholding guideline. Although the policy vote passed, and we received considerable positive feedback during consultation, the board acknowledges a number of shareholders decided to vote against the policy."

Kevin Havelock, the chair of its remuneration committee, will engage with shareholders, Morrison's said.

The company said it will also liaise with shareholders following the vote to re-appoint Richards.

"The board strongly supports Belinda's re-appointment to the board, and throughout her tenure she has demonstrated her commitment to the company and ability to dedicate sufficient time to her duties. The nomination committee carefully monitors all directors external time commitments and would take appropriate action should concerns be identified," the firm explained.

All other motions passed.

Shares in the company closed 1.3% lower at 185.85 pence each in London on Thursday.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Iranian, Ukrainian diplomats discuss January plane incident

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 10 June 2020 / 09:05

Tehran (ISNA) - A ranking Iranian diplomat and Ukraine's ambassador to Tehran have talked about various issues surrounding the January 8 crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran.

Ukraine's Ambassador to Tehran, Sergei Burdyliak held a meeting with the Islamic Republic of Iran's deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs, Mohsen Baharvand.

In the meeting, the two diplomats discussed the January crash of a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran and the latest developments relating to the incident from various aspects.

In the gathering, the Iranian deputy Foreign Minister emphasized that he is prepared to hold talks with the Ukrainian officials at any time and any place to be determined by Ukrainians at the earliest possible moment in order to immediately resolve the issues about the black boxes of the plane, paying families of the victims compensation, and the other issues relating to the tragic incident.

In turn, the ambassador of Ukraine welcomed the proposal from the Iranian diplomat, saying he will immediately relay the idea to the relevant Ukrainian authorities and will later inform the Iranian side about the results.

End Item

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The police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and ensuing protests over his death have forced a broad reckoning over the role of police in San Antonio  raising new questions about the citys spending on police, officers use of force and the chiefs ability to keep bad officers off the streets.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg and seven City Council members, an overwhelming majority, have said theyre open to re-examining how much the city spends on the police department.
Meghan Markle's best friend Jessica Mulroney has said being the royal's 'closest friend' has 'deeply educated' her about race as she apologised after a 'white privilege' row with a black influencer.

In an emotional video posted on her Instagram page, Sasha Exeter, from Toronto, claimed Jessica, 40, had 'taken offence to a very generic call to action' posted online, and the two women argued about the importance of 'speaking up'.

Sasha said she felt Jessica 'threatened' her during the argument, claiming the mother-of-three had written to her: 'I have also spoken to companies and people about the way you have treated me unfairly. You think your voice matters. Well it only matters if you express it with kindness and without shaming people who are simply trying to learn. Good luck.'

In a comment posted on the video clip, Jessica said she was 'unequivocally sorry', writing: 'As I told you privately, I have lived a very public and personal experience with my closest friend where race was front and centre. It was deeply educational.'

MailOnline has contacted Jessica Mulroney for comment.

Meghan Markle's, 38, best friend Jessica Mulroney, 40, from Toronto, said being the royal's 'closest friend' has 'deeply educated' her about race - as she apologised over a row with a black influencer about white privilege

In the video clip, which was shared with Sasha's 58,000 followers online earlier today, the influencer explained: 'Very early on in this, I was very vocal about wanting my peers with an online presence to speak up, stand up and use their voice for good to help combat what's going on with this race war.'

She said she had made an effort 'not to call out anyone directly', but said Jessica, who 'used to be an acquaintance', took 'offence to a very generic call to action'.

Sasha said Jessica went on to 'lash out' at her and said the 'very problematic antics' escalated until the stylist sent over what Sasha felt was 'a threat in writing.'

Sasha said: 'I'm by no means calling Jess a racist, but she is very well aware of her wealth, her perceived power and privilege because of the colour of her skin.

Toronto-based Influencer Sasha Exeter said she was left 'paralysed with fear' and 'stayed up days and nights' worrying about what Jessica 'could be saying to my existing brand partners, potential work, potential livelihood'

Sasha shared the lengthy video online in which she detailed her disagreement with Jessica, accusing the stylist of 'threatening her livelihood'

'And that my friends, gave her the momentary confidence to come for my livelihood in writing. Textbook white privilege really.'

The influencer accused Jessica of 'never wanting to stand up and use her voice in the first place' and 'not understanding why she needed to'.

Sasha suggested that Jessica felt 'sharing that this really wasn't a problem that she wanted to share on her social channels', used 'excuses that she would be bullied by the public and media', and 'claimed her show was more important to promote.'

She said she felt that Jessica went on to 'threaten her livelihood' by suggesting she would be contacting brands and companies Sasha worked with about the disagreement.

In a comment on the post, Jessica said she was 'unequivocally sorry' for what had happened and wrote that she had 'lived a very public experience with my closest friend where race was front and centre'

Sasha said: 'I'm still shaking my head at this attempt and the audacity she had.

'Not only is Jessica very well aware of her white privilege but just like her fellow Canadian Amy Cooper, she spewed out that threat so effortlessly...

'But I think what makes this situation really horrendous is the threat or claim she was going ahead to speak to brands or companies that I potentially haven't worked with or could possibly work with. That is a threat. That's a threat to my livelihood.'

'For her to threaten me? A single mother, a single black mother, during a racial pandemic? Blows my mind, it is absolutely unbelievable.'

Details of the argument have emerged just a week after Jessica announced she would be taking a break from social media

Sasha continued to say that she felt Jessica 'realised she had screwed up big time' and 'that resulted in a lot of back pedalling'.

Meanwhile the influencer said: 'Amidst all this craziness, I remained paralysed with fear.

'I stayed up days and nights wondering what could she be saying to my existing brand partners, potential work, potential livelihood. What could this mean for my career?

'I spoke to my parents, who were legitimately stressed and worried about how this would affect me if I stood up for myself.'

The influencer went on to claim she had been sent a private message from Jessica suggesting she would file a lawsuit against her

Sasha said that the 'only take away is this sh** needs to stop right now....You cannot be posting that you stand in solidarity, while attempting to silence somebody via text.'

Jessica went on to comment on the post, apologising for her behaviour, writing: 'You are right when you say this sh** needs to stop. As leaders, we need to join hands and call out wrongs.

'I know we have different experiences. And that is something that, even in the course of a heated argument, I need to acknowledge and understand.

'I am unequivocally sorry for not doing that with you, and for any hurt I caused.'

Hours after posting her initial video about her argument with Jessica, Sasha claimed to have been sent further messages 'threatening a law suit to try and shut you up'

She added that she had had a 'very public' experience with 'her closest friend' where race was 'front and centre', adding: 'It was deeply educational. I learned a lot from it.

'I promise to continue to learn and listen on how I can use my privilege to elevate and support black voices.'

But hours later, after posting an apology, Sasha revealed Jessica had messaged her privately online.

Sharing a video on her Instagram stories, she commented: 'Here is what happens when you call out somebody with privilege. They publicly make an apology or statement and privately, behind closed doors, they send you a threat of filing a lawsuit against you.

The Canadian stylist has previously slammed 'racist bullies' when she appeared to reference the trolling Meghan (seen in 2016)

'I'm not sure what is going on, because I thought I was very clear yesterday in my video yesterday that I'm not going to be silenced and I'm not going to shut up.

'I am going to move forward and do what I need to do, to protect myself at this point. But I'm feeling confident in doing so, knowing I have the truth. The unequivocal truth.

'I don't know what's worth here, her using her percieved power to try to threaten my livelihood or using her resources to try to shut me up, but whatever the case is, it needs to stop.'

She went on to share a snap of her Instagram messages, one of which appeared to be from Jessica and read: 'Liable suit. Good luck.'

Last week Jessica said she was taking a break from social media, after revealing that 'someone dear to her told her to stand up to racism'.

Jessica, who lives in Toronto with husband Ben Mulroney, 44, twins John and Brian, 9, and 7-year-old Ivy, took to Instagram to reveal she was 'taking a week off to educate herself'.

The Canadian stylist has previously slammed 'racist bullies' when she appeared to reference the trolling Meghan was suffering.
A plunge into a river to cool off turned deadly for two 14- and 15-year-old friends.

It happened around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday in the Schuylkill River in Southwest Philadelphia, as 6ABC reports.

One of the boys had trouble swimming after jumping in the river. His friend attempted to save him but ended up losing his life as well.

"One of the young boys jumped into the river had some difficulty swimming. The second boy jumped in to help his friend," Inspector Ray Evers with the Philadelphia Police Department told 6ABC.

BREAKING:

Bodies of both boys were recovered late Wednesday night.

Names of the victims werent officially released by police, but 6ABC cites family members in identifying one of the victims as 15-year-old Quadir Beverly.

His family said Quadir tried to rescue his friend.

Quadirs grandmother told 6ABC in part, he would be the type that would jump in to try and save him, but unfortunately the current took them both."

Quadir was set to graduate from middle school Thursday and was to attend Motivation High School next school year.

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3-y-o girl dies of injuries, 9 others hacked to death in Fulani attack on Christian village

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A 3-year-old girl and nine others died in north-western Nigeria's Kaduna State in an early morning attack on a Christian village carried out by armed Muslim herdsmen of Fulani origin, according to a report.

The girl, identified as Elizabeth Samaila, suffered multiple machete lacerations to the head. She died in a hospital Thursday, the day after the attack on the Tudun Agwalla community in Kajuru Local Government Area, the U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.

Also on Thursday, families of nine others who were hacked to death with machetes buried them in a mass grave. Six of the nine were identified as Richard Yusuf, Kefas Yusuf, Fidelis Wada, Kachia, Genesis Soja, and Rahab Soja.

Eight-year-old Rita Friday, who was also injured on the head, was among an unknown number of Christian villagers who were wounded in the attack, CSW said, adding that seven people remained unaccounted for.

"What is particularly unacceptable is that her death is the latest to occur in a series of attacks which continue unabated," CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said. "Southern Kaduna is steadily being transformed into killing fields, either due to a gross failure of governance, or official indifference and acquiescence."

Fulani herders routinely brutally attack predominantly Christian farming communities in Nigeria's Middle Belt. While some believe the nomadic herders launch attacks as they look for grazing pastures, the radicals target Christian villages in a similar manner as the Boko Haram terror group that terrorizes the northern regions of the country.

In a special report, titled "Nigeria: A Killing Field of Defenseless Christians," released earlier this year, the Anambra-based nongovernmental organization International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) estimated that about 11,500 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2015 by Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, and highway bandits.

A recent estimate by Intersociety suggests that over 620 Christians have been killed in Nigeria so far in 2020.

"International pressure must now be brought to bear on both the state and federal authorities to ensure protection for these vulnerable communities, and that effective action is taken to disarm all armed non-state actors and bring the perpetrators of these horrific atrocities to justice," Thomas said.

Last year, two members from the Adara community, a majority Christian ethnic group in Southern Kaduna state, were among other Nigerians who shared their experiences during a panel event sponsored by the conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation.

"Right now my tribe is nonexistent legally," Alheri Magaji, the daughter of the leader of the Adara Chiefdom, said. "Part of the reason why I am here is to try to get my land back. That is who I am. That is my identity. That is what makes me. My people are stranded. They are literally sleeping under the skies on the floor [with] no houses, no food, nothing. It is not about relief materials and how much we can donate. It's about holding the government accountable."

"I spoke to a woman whose limbs were cut off. She had four kids and was nine months pregnant," Magaji recalled. "Fulani herdsmen came to a Kajuru town in February, about 400 of them with AK-47s. They came at around 6:30 a.m. They spoke Adara. They came in with war songs. They were singing songs that translate into 'the owners of the land have come. It's time for settlers to leave.'

"We have 2-month-old babies, 6-month-old babies, babies in the bellies turned from their mother's womb and slaughtered like animals, like chickens," she said. "We are here today to beg the U.S. government and for the world to hear our story."

Nigeria was added to the U.S. State Department's "special watch list" of countries that engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom and is ranked as the 12th-worst country in the world for Christian persecution by Open Doors USA.
Kolkata, June 11 : Shooting for films and television industry finally resumed in Kolkata on Thursday with technicians and artists maintaining health protocol for Covid-19.

According to sources, shooting activities for film and television serials started at Indrapuri Studio, Bharatlaxmi Studio and No 13 Studio at Tollygunj with technicians wearing PPE kit, masks and gloves for their safety.

"All members of the shooting unit underwent thermal screening before entering the studio premises. All the sets and make-up rooms were thoroughly sanitised for the safety of artists and technicians," sources said.

The deadlock over shooting was resolved on Wednesday evening after a long meeting with West Bengal Minister Arup Biswas who intervened into the issue and held a series of meetings with industry people.

Earlier, the representatives from the artists' forum which has nearly 3,000 members refused to start the shooting process over the issue of Rs 25 lakh COVID-19 medical insurance for every artist to be effective from the first day of shooting.

The shooting process faced difficulties as channel owners and tele-producers failed to give assurance about giving signed document of the medical insurance premium to artists from the first day of shooting on Wednesday.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Resident doctors of an NDMC hospital here on Wednesday threatened mass resignation if the authorities did not release their three months' salary.

The resident doctors' association at the NDMC's 450-bedded Kasturba Hospital claimed that they have not been paid salary since March. Many doctors and staff of the hospital have tested positive for COVID-19 till date.

There was no immediate reaction from the NDMC authorities. Dr Sunil Kumar, president of the RDA of the colonial-era hospital (earlier Victoria Zenana Hospital) said, "We cannot work without money. Being the frontline heath care workers, we should be paid our salaries. It is what we are demanding, nothing more," he said.

"We are afraid that if we are not paid our salary by June 16, we will have to go for mass resignation," the RDA president said. A statement was also issued by the RDA, asserting its demand and action plan.

Recently, resident doctors of the NDMC-run Hindu Rao Hospital had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention in getting their salary released.

Also read: Cap prices of N-95 masks in 2 weeks, Bombay HC to drug regulator
G eorge Floyd's 6-year-old daughter has been offered a full scholarship to a university in Texas if she chooses to attend when she is older, the university has announced.

Texas Southern University said it will prepare a place for Mr Floyd's daughter, Gianna, after the board approved a fund to provide a full scholarship.

Gianna's father died after a white police officer held him down by pressing his knee into his neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25.

The university hopes the scholarship will "contribute to easing her journey through life".

This board is committed to education and understands that a college degree is one of many powerful steps towards a productive and successful life, Albert H Myres, chairman of the Board of Regents, said in a statement.

We know that this gesture cannot take the place of her dads loving presence, but we hope that it will contribute to easing her journey through life.

Mr Floyd with his daughter Gianna / via REUTERS

Gerald Smith, chairman of the Texas Southern University Foundation, said: The TSU Foundation is proud to provide this privately-funded scholarship to Ms Floyd.

We know the value of an education in the pursuit of solutions and generational progress. We look forward to embracing her into the TSU family.

Mr Floyd's death has sparked worldwide protests and anti-racism marches against police brutality.

George Floyd funeral in Houston - In pictures 1 /32 George Floyd funeral in Houston - In pictures REUTERS REUTERS POOL/AFP via Getty Images POOL/AFP via Getty Images POOL/AFP via Getty Images POOL/AFP via Getty Images Getty Images AP REUTERS REUTERS AP Family members react as they view the casket AP Mourners pause by the casket of George Floyd POOL/AFP via Getty Images The Reverend Al Sharpton arrives for the funeral service AFP via Getty Images Reverend Al Sharpton enters the church for the funeral for George Floyd REUTERS Quincy Mason Floyd, son of George Floyd, enters the church for his father's funeral REUTERS Actors Channing Tatum (C) and Jamie Foxx (R) attend the funeral service of George Floyd Getty Images Terrance Floyd, brother of George Floyd, exits his car before Floyd's funeral AFP via Getty Images he family of George Floyd prepares to enter the the Fountain of Praise church Getty Images Philonise Floyd, brother, of George Floyd pauses at the casket during the funeral POOL/AFP via Getty Images Philonise Floyd, brother, of George Floyd pauses at the casket during the funeral POOL/AFP via Getty Images The Reverend Al Sharpton prepares to lead the family of George Floyd into the sanctuary Getty Images Family members of George Floyd pauses at the casket during the funeral service AP The Reverend Al Sharpton prepares to lead the family of George Floyd into the sanctuary AP

In the UK, thousands dropped down onto one knee on Wednesday evening and raised clenched fists in a mark of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and in remembrance of Mr Floyd.

Campaign group Stand Up to Racism organised the peaceful and socially-distanced protest titled TakeTheKnee, urging supporters to push for societal change and demand justice for those who have died because of institutional racism".

More demonstrations are planned up and down the country, including Reading, Hemel Hempstead and King's Lynn.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:24:55|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Britain's biggest energy supplier Centrica announced Thursday that it plans to cut around 5,000 jobs in a move to implement "targeted cost savings" and accomplish "a significant restructure".

The restructuring plans, to be carried out mainly in the second half this year, are designed to create "a simpler, leaner Group focused on delivering for our customers," said the firm in a statement.

Among the reduction of nearly 5,000 jobs, over half of the departures may "come from management layers," said Centrica, adding that around half of the current 40 strong senior leadership team will leave the group by the end of August.

Centrica Group Chief Executive Chris O'Shea, who took office about three months ago, said: "I've focused on navigating the company through the COVID-19 crisis and identifying what needs to change in Centrica."

"I believe that our complex business model hinders the delivery of our strategy and inhibits the relentless focus I want to give to our customers,"said O'Shea, adding that the harsh reality was that "we have lost over half of our earnings in recent years."

In February, the company reported a 35 percent drop in its adjusted operating profit in 2019 year-on-year, blaming the country's new price cap for the loss.

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), Britain's energy regulator, introduced a price cap on default energy tariffs on Jan. 1, 2019, which would give price protection to around 11 million energy customers.

As an international energy services supplier, Centrica also operates in countries including Ireland, Canada and the United States. Enditem
The departures area of Lan airlines is seen empty inside the international airport, during an indefinite strike of the Cabin Crew Union of LAN Express, a subsidiary of the Chile-based LATAM Airlines group, Santiago.

By Tatiana Bautzer

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A group of bondholders of LATAM Airlines Group SA <LTM.SN> is in talks to supply up to $1.5 billion in a debtor-in-possession loan within the Chapter 11 proceeding in the United States, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

Bondholders including Blackrock Inc <BLK.N>, Australia's Macquarie Group <MQG.AX>, HSBC <HSBA.L> and Chile's Moneda Asset Management, are informally discussing the issue with investment bank Moelis & Co <MC.N>.

The exact value of the DIP loan will be defined during the talks, but it is expected to be within the $1 billion to $1.5 billion range, the sources added.

LATAM, the bondholders and Moelis did not immediately comment on the matter. Blackrock declined to comment.

LATAM filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection last month, aiming to restructure $18 billion in debt. It was the world's largest airline to date to seek an emergency reorganization due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The company said at the time its shareholders Cueto Group and Qatar Airways had committed to supplying $900 million in additional financing, but that it aimed to raise up to $2.5 billion to support operations.

(This story corrects to say Moelis is engaging in informal discussions with bondholders, was not formally hired, in second paragraph)

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
The Australian government last month unveiled a National Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan, supposedly addressing the rising mental ill health and suicides resulting from the social and economic impact of COVID-19.

In reality, the pitiful $48.1 million outlay announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison amounts to more window dressing in the face of a worsening mental health crisis and the lack of essential services over decades. Even before the pandemic, one in four young Australian was affected by a mental health illness every year.

Contrasted with the hundreds of billions of dollars allocated for business rescue packages, the small promised spending displays the contempt of the ruling elite for the millions of working people being financially and psychologically devastated by mass unemployment and under-employment.

Little of the planned outlay is for frontline services. It consists of $7.3 million for research and data collection, $29.5 million for outreach to vulnerable communities such as the elderly and $11.3 million for public relations, including an advertising campaign called, Its OK not to be OK.

The government said the package built on about $500 million for mental health announced since late January, including for suicide prevention, preventative services and telehealth consultations. But these sums, promised to be spent over several years, are woefully inadequate.

Warning of the fallout from the pandemic, the Brain and Mind Centre (BMC) at the University of Sydney modelled the possibility of an extra 750 to 1,500 more suicides per year. The latter worst-case scenario was based on an unemployment rate of 15.9 percent and youth unemployment of 35 percent.

BMC co-director of health and policy Professor Ian Hickie commented: Public awareness campaigns, helplines and more entry systems that do not connect with specialised care are of little value.

Hickie said the government had outlined no investment or timetable to provide the badly-needed big ticket items. These were more specialised care outside of hospitals, aftercare of those who have self-harmed and information-technology based coordination and delivery of care. Hickie concluded: As decisive and timely actions are not yet on the agenda, many are left to ask: if not now, when?

There is a deepening underlying crisis in mental health, made worse by what Hickie called a highly dysfunctional system, where treatment is mainly accessed through hospital emergency departments or community-based clinics.

Over the past decade, since the global financial breakdown of 200809 and the subsequent bailout of the banks and big business at the expense of the jobs and conditions of workers, there has been a rise in mental illness.

By 2016, the BMC warned of a national emergency. It pointed to areas with high numbers of job losses and economic insecurity as among the worst hit by suicides. By 2018, there were 2,046 deaths by suicide, or 12.1 per 100,000 people. For every death, as many as 30 suicide attempts were madeapproximately 65,000 per year.

There is a long history of governments, both federal and state, severely under-funding mental health services. In 1983, a state Labor Party government in New South Wales spearheaded deinstitutionalisation. Cynically exploiting the poor conditions in under-funded psychiatric hospitals, governments shut down these institutions, falsely claiming they would be replaced by more humane forms of community-based care.

Despite windfall funds from the sale of the lands of the former psychiatric hospitals, Labor and Liberal-National governments alike made ongoing spending cuts to mental health. By 1993, the Human Rights and Mental Illness Report by Brian Burdekin proved that thousands of displaced psychiatric patients had become homeless, been relegated to squalid boarded houses or imprisoned.

Regardless of repeated five-year national mental health plans, this immense social problem has intensified. The crisis is reflected in a 68 percent increase in mental health-related presentations to already over-stretched hospital emergency departments, from 200809 to 201718, when the total reached 286,985.

On average, 90 percent of all emergency department patients left within seven hours, but for mental health patients the figure was 11.5 hours. This wait could be unendurable for many. In 201617, 6,827 people with mental illness left emergency departments before finishing treatment. They were categorised as Left at Own Risk. That is, they left with their ill-health untreated.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Homelessness, substance abuse or ending up in the hands of police can cause people to fall through a huge gap. Among young people, only 31 percent of young women and 13 percent of young men with mental health problems access professional help.

Now, amid ever-more glaring social inequality and the impact of increasingly casualised jobs in the gig economy, and with the trade unions working hand-in-glove with the government and employers to further restructure working conditions, the mental ill-health toll will grow.

At the same time, the threat of war is rising, with the Australian government committed to the provocative US campaign against China, casting a pall over the lives of workers and young people.

To create a mentally well societyto tackle unemployment, housing insecurity and financial distresswhat is required is the fight for a socialist program, that is a society based on human need, not the dictates of corporate profit and the accumulation of private wealth.
Online shopping service concept. (Source: Getty Images)

By Andreo Calonzo

The booming Internet economy has caught the eye of Philippine authorities as the nation hunts for revenue amid the pandemic.

The Philippine tax agency has ordered all online businesses to register, declare past transactions, and pay correct taxes by end-July, according to a June 1 circular released Wednesday. Filipinos went to the Internet in droves to sell goods from food to masks as the quarantine that started in March devastated jobs and hurt incomes.

The virus outbreak has hurt the governments fiscal health, with tax revenue sliding and spending surging, as officials try to boost an economy that the World Bank expects to contract this year. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez has pledged the budget deficit will not be allowed to widen beyond 9% of gross domestic product, out from 3.55% last year.

Without funds in government coffers, we wont have aid and we wont be able to extend help while the threat of COVID-19 remains, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a virtual briefing Thursday.

The Philippines joins other Southeast Asian countries in moving to tax online transactions. Thailands Cabinet approved a draft law this week seeking to impose value-added tax on overseas online services. Indonesian President Joko Widodo signed a rule in December that imposes a tax on e-commerce activities.

Dominguez on Monday backed a proposal in Congress to impose a VAT on sales done through the Internet.

 2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Harvard Professor Indicted on China Program Charges

By VOA Student Union June 10, 2020

The former chair of Harvard University's chemistry and chemical biology department was indicted today for allegedly lying about research funding while participating in China's Thousand Talents Program, the Department of Justice said.

Charles Lieber, 61, has been indicted on two counts by a federal grand jury. He faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

Lieber was arrested in January. He is accused of lying to federal authorities in 2018 and 2019 about his involvement in the program, a recruitment plan designed to attract high-level scientists to advance the China technology industry, and his affiliation with the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT).

Lieber stated in an April interview that he was never asked to participate in the program, and he "wasn't sure" how China categorized him.

In November 2018, the National Institutes of Health asked Harvard about whether Lieber had failed to disclose his then-suspected relationship with WUT and the Thousand Talents Program. Lieber allegedly caused Harvard to falsely tell NIH he "had no formal association with WUT" after 2012, that "WUT continued to falsely exaggerate" his involvement with WUT in subsequent years, and that he "is not and has never been a participant in" the Thousand Talents Program.

Lieber became a "strategic scientist" in 2011 at WUT, the Justice Department alleges, and later became a contractual participant in the Thousand Talents Program from at least 2012 through 2015, unknown to Harvard University.

According to the DOJ statement, this talent recruitment "often rewards individuals for stealing proprietary information."

"Under the terms of Lieber's three-year contract, WUT allegedly paid Lieber a salary of up to $50,000 USD per month, living expenses of up to 1 million Chinese Yuan (approximately $158,000 USD at the time) and awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab at WUT," DOJ said in a release.

"In return, Lieber was obligated to work for WUT not less than nine months a year" by "declaring international cooperation projects, cultivating young teachers and Ph.D. students, organizing international conference(s), applying for patents and publishing articles in the name of (WUT)," the press release stated.

According to charging documents, since 2008, Lieber has served as the principal investigator of the Lieber Research Group at Harvard University, specializing in the area of nanoscience. His research at the Lieber Research Group has been funded by more than $15 million in research grants from NIH and the Department of Defense.

Among other things, these grants required the disclosure of all sources of research support, potential financial conflicts of interest and all foreign collaboration.

Sarmat Misikov contributed to this report.

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(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith said the company wont sell facial recognition software to U.S. police departments until there are laws in place governing the use of such technology, making the pledge a day after rival Amazon.com Inc. paused similar usage for a year.

Smith, who is also the companys chief legal officer, said Microsoft doesnt currently supply the artificial intelligence software for facial recognition to any U.S. police departments. He spoke via video on Thursday at a Washington Post virtual conference that was posted to Twitter.

This is a moment in time that really calls on us to listen more, to learn more and most importantly to do more, he said in the interview. Given that, weve decided we will not sell facial recognition to police departments in the U.S. until we have a national law in place grounded in human rights that will govern this technology.

Smith also said the company will review other uses of facial recognition software, which he didnt specify. Microsoft has an internal committee that looks at when it should sell the software to particular customers. The groups criteria arent public and Microsoft has declined to provide them, apart from a few examples of cases where it opted to turn down contracts.

President Donald Trump on Friday retweeted a post from his former director of national intelligence that called for barring Microsoft from federal government contracts over its refusal to sell facial recognition software to police departments.

Microsofts announcement follows International Business Machines Corp. decision Monday to exit the facial recognition market, and Amazons move Wednesday to put in place a one-year pause on sales to police departments. The moves come in the midst of protests about law enforcement brutality and bias after a police officer killed an unarmed black man, George Floyd. Facial recognition technology has been shown in experiments to sometimes have difficulty identifying people with darker skin.

Story continues

Smith praised IBM and Amazons actions while renewing his call for national legislation to regulate the technology. He has been urging lawmakers to take a stand on facial recognition software for two years, but a bill in Microsofts home state of Washington that borrowed heavily from his proposals has failed twice. Meanwhile activists have been asking for laws that go further, including outright bans on the technology.

If all of the responsible companies in this country cede this market to those that are not prepared to make a stand we wont necessarily serve the national interest or the lives of the black and African-American people of this national well, he said. We need Congress to act, not just tech companies alone.

A 2018 paper found that technologies from Microsoft and IBM made more mistakes when used on people with darker skin, particularly women. After the release of the research by Joy Buolamwini at MITs Media Lab and Timnit Gebru, then a Microsoft researcher, Microsofts Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, asked his team to fix racial and gender disparities in the software. Buolamwini and Gebrus work, along with a later paper examining Amazons software by Buolamwini and Inioluwa Deborah Raji, raised awareness about the softwares failings and increased the volume of calls to ban or limit the sale of such technology.

The American Civil Liberties Union also used Microsofts step to renew a call for laws to address the technology and took aim at the Microsoft-backed legislation that the group has long said doesnt go far enough.

Congress and legislatures nationwide must swiftly stop law enforcement use of face recognition, and companies like Microsoft should work with the civil rights community -- not against it -- to make that happen, Matt Cagle, technology and civil liberties attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, said in a statement. This includes halting its current efforts to advance legislation that would legitimize and expand the police use of facial recognition in multiple states nationwide.

(Updates with Trump tweet in fifth paragraph.)

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2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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The cast members of a musical based on Meat Loafs Bat Out Of Hell album have said performing the rockers songs will be 'incredibly moving'. Bat Out of Hell: The Musical, a loose retelling of Peter Pan set in post-apocalyptic Manhattan, features many of his most notable songs and is on a UK tour. Following Meat Loafs death aged 74, Fridays show at the New Wimbledon Theatre will be performed in his memory, with cast members expected to pay tribute to him.
Environmental advocates and scientific researchers blame the policies of right-wing president Bolsonaro for emboldening illegal loggers

An aerial picture taken on August 28, 2019 shows deforestation in Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve in Altamira, Para State, Brazil, in the Amazon basin. (AFP)

Brasilia: Deforestation of Brazils Amazon rainforest was worse than previously reported in 2019, revised government data showed on Tuesday, during the first year of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is keen to develop the forest crucial to curbing global warming.

Brazils space research agency INPE recorded 10,129 square kilometers of deforestation (3,911 square miles) for its benchmark annual period from August 2018 to July 2019. Thats an area about the size of Lebanon and a 34.4% rise from the same period a year earlier.

The revision is higher than INPEs initial report of 9,762 square kilometers of forest destroyed during that period, an increase of 29.5%.

The 2019 data remains the highest level of deforestation seen in Brazils Amazon since 2008, a level it had already hit prior to the revision.

INPE generally revises the data every year for accuracy as a standard practice.

Environmental advocates and scientific researchers blame the policies of right-wing Bolsonaro for emboldening illegal loggers, ranchers and land speculators to clear the forest.

Bolosonaro has urged the development of the Amazon, including protected areas, as a way to lift the regions poor residents out of poverty.

Brazil is home to roughly 60% of the Amazon, the worlds largest rainforest. Protection of the Amazon is vital to curbing climate change, scientists say, because of the vast amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs.

The revised data is based on a system called PRODES that is only released once annually, which is more accurate than monthly data reported using a rapid system known as DETER.

Monthly data shows that deforestation has continued to worsen in 2020, rising 55% for January to April, as compared to the same period in 2019.

Bolsonaro deployed the armed forces to combat rising deforestation in May, using a decree that expires Wednesday but which officials say they expect to be renewed for another 30 days.
Community members will gather on the Capitol steps Thursday afternoon to unite against hate and violence.

Kevin Maxson is collaborating with Voices for the Voiceless and Black Lives Matter to host a Youth Rally from noon-5 P.M.

Maxson said he organized the event to pay tribute and acknowledge the youth in the local community.

I want to let them know that I see them, I hear them. I support them, Maxson said. He ran against Rep. Patty Kim in the 103rd District but lost in the just-completed primary.

Community members are invited to gather at noon on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg before marching down State, Front and Walnut Streets to the police station at 1 oclock.

Maxson said the march will stop at the station where there will be a moment of silence to respect all of those who have died due to violence before returning to the Capitol steps.

I want them to see that we can express ourselves and unify for a just cause without lashing out in a fit of emotion and attacking one another or being violent toward other community members, Maxson said.

Back at the Capitol, speakers will address the crowd after the march.

The scheduled speakers include Maxson, Pennsylvania Board of Pardons Secretary Brandon Flood, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Executive Board member Cole Goodman, community leader Shatara Parsons, Keystone Halfway House counselor Bernard Beamer and Black Lives Matter organizer Avalon Azaela.

Maxson emphasized that all community members are invited to the event and will remain safe.

Its the peoples march, the peoples protest, Maxson said. We can perpetuate change by uniting and coming up with definitive resolutions that can better serve our community.

Maxson said he expects around 200 people to attend, depending on the weather. There will be gift bags for children and t-shirt giveaways for other attendees.

If one is unable to attend the rally but wants to get involved, contact Maxson on Facebook or email speak4silent@gmail.com.

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BALTIMORE, MD (June 12, 2020) - A new University of Maryland study found fentanyl tops the list of drugs detected in overdose patients at two Baltimore hospital emergency departments. The finding suggests that hospitals and medical systems throughout the United States consider adding fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid linked to most fatal overdoses in Maryland, to their routine drug testing panels. That is the conclusion of researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) at the University of Maryland, College Park. Currently, fentanyl is not routinely included in these panels nationwide. The study is based on de-identified urinalysis results and other data collected through the new Maryland Emergency Department Drug Surveillance (EDDS) system, launched to support improved patient outcomes.

UMSOM researchers collaborated with investigators at CESAR to analyze drugs identified in urine samples taken at both University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) Midtown and Downtown campuses from January 2016 through December 2019. Fentanyl testing was incorporated for all patients undergoing urine screens as a routine test at these hospitals in January 2019.

"The overdose cases we see in our emergency departments stem from a wide variety of substances that may not be known and present increasingly complex treatment challenges," said the study's lead author Zachary D.W. Dezman, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, UMSOM. "In the case of fentanyl, without knowing its true role in these overdoses, public health officials and policy makers will find it difficult to implement the correct measures to improve patient care and help prevent substance abuse."

Fentanyl was the most prevalent drug identified in the study. It was detected in 73 to 87 percent of specimens that were tested for the substance in each of the four calendar quarters in 2019 when fentanyl testing was first implemented. Sixty-one percent of the fentanyl positive specimens contained other drugs in addition to fentanyl, while 13 percent contained fentanyl only. The researchers noted that these results are specific to these two Baltimore hospitals and that the rate of fentanyl positives could vary in other hospitals and states.

Results from the study appear in the current issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers turned to fentanyl testing after previous EDDS observations at four Baltimore hospitals showed that even in the midst of the opioid epidemic, fewer patients were testing positive for opiates. The opiate screen primarily detects morphine and codeine (most frequently indicating the presence of heroin) but does not detect fentanyl.

"The EDDS system represents an important partnership between University of Maryland researchers and hospitals," said Eric D. Wish, PhD, Director of CESAR and Director of the Maryland EDDS. "It can enable faster, more accurate identification of changing trends in substance use and, ultimately, aims to improve patient care."

Nationwide, hospital laboratory testing is routine for a number of substances including opiates, cocaine, and methadone, but not fentanyl, according to Dr. Dezman. "Fentanyl was rarely a cause of overdoses, so routine fentanyl testing was not typically performed. However, through our regular fentanyl testing and EDDS collaboration, we have addressed a gap in our patient care, allowing us to better inform our patients of the risks associated with continued use, assist with buprenorphine induction in the emergency department, and help us connect patients to substance use treatment programs," he said.

Dr. Dezman, together with CESAR, had previously conducted a small pilot study at UMMC Midtown Campus to test for fentanyl in a subset of 76 drug overdose specimens. The findings suggested that the opiate screen was, in fact, missing many of the patients who had tested positive for fentanyl. As a result, Dr. Dezman encouraged both UMMC Downtown and UMMC Midtown hospitals to initiate routine fentanyl screening for all ED patients who undergo urine testing, including psychiatric evaluations, emergency petitions, and labor and delivery patients. The MMWR article presents the first findings for fentanyl from the EDDS system for the four quarters of 2019.

"This study finding makes an important case for including fentanyl in routine drug overdose testing," said UMSOM Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, University Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. "It highlights the important role and function of the newly created Maryland EDDS system, which helps to better guide patient treatment and more effective overdose prevention programs."

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Source: Dezman Z, Schwartz B, Billing A, Massey E, Artigiani E, Factor J, Wish E. "Notes from the Field: High prevalence of fentanyl detected by the Maryland Emergency Department Drug Surveillance System--Baltimore, Maryland, 2019." MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69(23); DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6923a3

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 45 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs; and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.2 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has more than $540 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 student trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System ("University of Maryland Medicine") has an annual budget of nearly $6 billion and an economic impact more than $15 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine faculty, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity, is an innovator in translational medicine, with 600 active patents and 24 start-up companies. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu

About the University of Maryland Medical Center

The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is comprised of two hospital campuses in Baltimore: the 800-bed flagship institution of the 14-hospital University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) -- and the 200-bed UMMC Midtown Campus, both academic medical centers training physicians and health professionals and pursuing research and innovation to improve health. UMMC's downtown campus is a national and regional referral center for trauma, cancer care, neurosciences, advanced cardiovascular care, women's and children's health, and has one of the largest solid organ transplant programs in the country. All physicians on staff at the downtown campus are clinical faculty physicians of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The UMMC Midtown Campus medical staff is predominately faculty physicians specializing in diabetes, chronic diseases, behavioral health, long term acute care and an array of outpatient primary care and specialty services. UMMC Midtown has been a teaching hospital for 140 years and is located one mile away from the downtown campus. For more information, visit http://www.umm.edu.

About the Center for Substance Abuse Research

The Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR), University of Maryland, College Park, is staffed by a diverse team of social scientists dedicated to making the link between academia and government, between research and practical applications, and between people and the services and information they need. CESAR's objective research, practical products, and innovative tools such as the MDCSL, CDEWS, NDEWS and now EDDS have successfully informed policy makers, practitioners, and the public about substance use--its nature and extent, prevention and treatment, and relation to other problems. The research and training CESAR offers helps define the future of drug research and has consistently guided the development and evaluation of effective drug prevention and treatment programs in Maryland and the United States. CESAR is part of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS) at the University of Maryland College Park. EDDS is supported by the MPowering the State Opioid Use Disorders Project, a collaboration between research scientists at the University of Maryland's Baltimore (UMB) and College Park (UMCP) campuses. For more information and to view current data from EDDS hospitals, visit: cesar.umd.edu.
BOCA RATON, Fla., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Crocker Partners has donated 5,000 square feet of space at their Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC) to the YMCA of South Palm Beach County, the company announced today. The space will be used for a Ready to Work Summer Camp being offered exclusively to BRiC's 36 tenant companies and roughly 5,000 employees as they return to campus following the lifting of state and county stay-at-home orders.

"In order for employees to return to work and begin our economic recovery, workers need to have safe, accessible, and affordable access to childcare," said Angelo Bianco, Managing Partner at Crocker Partners. "Helping improve our employee's lives is an integral part of our business and we are fortunate to find a partnership with the YMCA for providing this critical program to families at BRiC."

The City of Boca Raton announced they were cancelling all City-facilitated summer camps and specialty camps on City property for Summer 2020 in light of the pandemic, cancelling many families plans for their children. In addition, the reduced capacity per CDC guidelines for being able to run a safe childcare program created space problems for existing programs, with some choosing to offer their programs virtually.

"As our community continues to reopen and families return to work, the demand for camp care becomes a growing concern. We are happy to have the opportunity to partner with Crocker Partners who have generously provided space at their Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC) for camp care. The YMCA believes every child should have access to programs and resources to develop to their fullest potential in a supportive and enriching environment," states Jason Hagensick, President & CEO of the YMCA of South Palm Beach County.

The YMCA's Summer Camp program will be offered Monday thru Friday, 7:30AM  6:00PM beginning June 15 and August 7 for children ages five through 12 at 4920 Conference Way North. Crocker Partners is also evaluating availabilities at other properties across its 11 million square foot portfolio for future YMCA programs. The summer camp will adhere to state, county and Federal guidelines and take extra safety precautions to minimize risk, including:

Taking the temperature of participants and staff daily

Require facial coverings for all employees

Minimize the number of staffers with whom children are in contact

Limit class sizes to 9 children per group

Frequent cleaning and sanitizing of surfaces

For more information on the program, contact the YMCA of South Palm Beach County at 561-395-9622.

ABOUT BRiC

Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC) is the largest single facility office building in the state at 1.7 million square feet. Designed by Marcel Breuer, the campus was originally built in 1969 for IBM and is home to the invention of the first personal computer. The campus was acquired by Crocker Partners in 2018 with the vision of transforming BRiC into the technology and life sciences hub for the Southeastern United States with unparalleled amenities. An ideal landing spot for companies with large footprints, BRiC is currently home to 18 national headquarters and 19 regional offices including Kroger, Modernizing Medicine and Bluegreen Vacations.

ABOUT THE YMCA

Driven by its founding mission, the Y has served as a leading nonprofit committed to strengthening community for more than 175 years. The Y empowers everyone, no matter who they are or where they're from, by ensuring access to resources, relationships and opportunities for all to learn, grow and thrive. The YMCA of South Palm Beach County is comprised of The Peter Blum Family YMCA of Boca Raton, The DeVos-Blum Family YMCA of Boynton Beach and the [email protected] NCCI. For more information, please visit YMCASPBC.org.

Media contact: Giana Pacinelli, 561-537-4565, [email protected]

SOURCE Boca Raton Innovation Campus
Leesburg, VA, June 11, 2020--An open-access article published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) by radiologists in Singapore recommends a number of applied updates to the workflow of diagnostic ultrasound (US) to prevent nosocomial transmission of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to frontline US service providers, who could inadvertently become vectors for onward transmission.

According to first author Apoorva Gogna and colleagues at Singapore General Hospital, "inpatient US services are segregated into the tertiary hospital and a colocated community hospital," adding that rooms with negative pressure ventilation are dedicated for isolation case scans. With all inpatient scans vetted for clinical urgency and COVID-19 status, patients not suspected of having COVID-19 arrive at a specified US imaging center via predefined route.

Suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases, as well as intensive care patients or those in reverse isolation due to an immunocompromised state, receive portable bedside US by a sonographer and an attending radiologist. "This is in contrast to our regular inpatient portable US workflow in which a trained sonographer performs the scan alone and uploads the images (usually for several patients consecutively), and the images are then sent to a dedicated radiologist for reporting," explained Gogna et al. Acknowledging that throughput is diminished when an on-duty radiologist and a sonographer work in tandem, Gogna maintains that this sacrifice ensures neither repeat scans nor additional images will be necessary.

Before entering the patient's room, US equipment (e.g., battery, probe, gel) is inspected to prevent failure during the examination, then covered with disposable plastic; in the room, the two imaging staff are designated nonpatient contact and direct patient contact.

To help balance speed and clinical relevance, abbreviated scan protocols are acceptable, although Gogna points out that scanning time may not be significantly shortened. Sick patients may not be able to fully cooperate with the examination, and greater attention must be paid to safeguard against breaks in staff protection.

Meanwhile, outpatient US services at Singapore General Hospital are physically segregated into two locations (general US and subspecialty US), and every outpatient request is vetted and prioritized according to clinical urgency. To prevent cross contamination, inpatients are not allowed to move to the outpatient scan area. Gogna advises simple steps, such as rearranging the seating in outpatient waiting areas, to help US departments reinforce social distancing guidelines.

As of June 2020, all patients and visitors to Singapore General Hospital are required to wear face masks, and present policy restricts each patient to one accompanying person.

US staff--mostly segregated by location or by time--can be assigned to standby teams to cover any personnel shortage. As Gogna et al. note, "segregating manpower into redundant functional teams allows continued provision of essential services in the unfortunate event of intrahospital transmission that could require coworkers to be quarantined." Because staff segregation "does significantly affect department workload," the authors of this AJR article suggest reducing elective case listing.

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Founded in 1900, the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) is the first and oldest radiological society in North America, dedicated to the advancement of medicine through the profession of radiology and its allied sciences. An international forum for progress in medical imaging since the discovery of the x-ray, ARRS maintains its mission of improving health through a community committed to advancing knowledge and skills with an annual scientific meeting, monthly publication of the peer-reviewed American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), quarterly issues of InPractice magazine, AJR Live Webinars and Podcasts, topical symposia, print and online educational materials, as well as awarding scholarships via The Roentgen Fund.
Nestle is considering selling most of its bottled water operations in the United States and Canada, the company said on Thursday. That business accounts for a significant share of the Swiss food giants sales but has also drawn criticism from environmental groups.

The company generated revenue last year of 3.4 billion Swiss francs, or $3.6 billion, from American water brands it owns like Poland Spring, Deer Park and Zephyrhills, and from delivering purified water to homes and businesses. That figure does not include higher-priced import brands like Perrier, S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, which are more profitable and which Nestle intends to keep.

Nestle, the worlds largest food company, has come under fire from groups that say it drains natural water supplies to bottle and sell at a profit. Environmental activists regard bottled water as inherently wasteful, at least in countries with drinkable tap water, because of the energy required to transport it to stores. Bottled water also contributes to the global glut of plastic waste.

With corporations under intense pressure to help fight climate change, Mark Schneider, Nestles Tesla-driving chief executive, has been trying to show that the company can be both sustainable and profitable. Nestle, whose brands of baby formula, ice cream, chocolate, pet food and coffee are omnipresent worldwide, has been moving into plant-based meat substitutes, promising to reduce sugar and fat content in its products, and aiming to make all of its packaging recyclable by 2025.
[June 11, 2020] Go Evo Introduces New COVID-19 Employee Screening Solution

TORONTO, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Go Evo (Government Evolved) has announced the release of their Personal Protective App (PPA), an employee screening solution designed to enable self-assessments for COVID-19 symptoms. This secure mobile and digital application supports employees in determining whether they should report to work and provides employers with instant visibility into the health and safety of their workforce.

As economies begin the reopening process and organizations bring employees back to work, its more important than ever to control and manage the spread of COVID-19, said Justin Lum, Head of Marketing for Go Evo. This is why Go Evo has created a solution that provides companies and employees with the tools they need to protect themselves, their workplaces, and communities at large. The Personal Protective App (PPA) leverages Go Evos existing operations management system - MESH - to power customizable forms and dashboards. Built with simplicity in mind, the solution is easy to use, comprehensive, and scalable for organizations of all sizes. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/04c46b43-c067-493e-b678-0b726b3cc072 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e2c5fe85-fa5a-4913-98f1-7cbda8708b2c https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9efb82f2-927a-45b7-a43e-049acabc12cc



https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8b9309de-290b-453d-bd6a-d5a17b07e8c4 For additional images, click here .

Primary Features: Secure Digital Forms: Prior to reporting to work, employees fill out the COVID-19 self-assessment form in our secure app for Android, iOS (Apple) or Windows. If the employee is at risk of transmitting COVID-19 or is identified as high-risk, the app will instruct them to stay home and it will notify their manager

Dial-in Self Assessments: For greater flexibility, employees can dial-in to complete their self-assessments

Automatic Email Notifications: Employers are notified immediately if someone shouldnt report to work once an employee has completed a self-assessment

Reporting Tools: Comprehensive monitoring of workforce COVID-19 risks over time with easy-to-use and secure reporting tools

Platform Security & Privacy: Data is protected and hosted between regional data centers with industry-leading security through Microsoft Azure

Integrations & API: Easily connect popular web services with our REST API and enable single sign-on and automated user provisioning

Temperature Checks: Simply document temperature check results in the app

Contactless Visitor Screening: Screen visitors to your workplace quickly and easily without physical interaction

Document Centre: Upload COVID-19 related policies, procedures, and internal communications for your team Go Evos Personal Protective App (PPA) is available across North America and is currently being used by organizations in a variety of sectors, including government, manufacturing, and health care sectors. Windsor Regional Hospital has to actively screen up to 5,000 staff daily. We were using a paper process that was time-consuming, created line-ups, and increased close, physical interactions. Partnering with Go Evo and their MESH platform has transformed our experience into a seamless electronic process. It has saved time, reduced physical contact, and provided us with visibility into the wellbeing of our staff. We continue to work with the progressive and helpful team at Go Evo on the expansion of the app for other impactful use cases. - David Musyj, President & CEO, Windsor Regional Hospital To learn more about Go Evos Personal Protective App (PPA), please visit: https://go-evo.com/covid-19/ ABOUT GO EVO: Go Evos mission is to enable high-performance operations through automation. With our SaaS product suite, we provide the tools, training, and support to help organizations surpass their operations, asset, and work management goals. For inquiries, please contact: Justin Lum

Head of Marketing

Go Evo

(647) 822-6673

[email protected]

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley said Thursday that he should not have been with President Trump when he visited historic St. Johns Episcopal Church last week in a move that sparked political controversy.

Speaking in a prerecorded commencement address at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., Milley admitted that My presence in that moment, and in that environment, created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

As a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it, Milley stated. We who wear the cloth of our nation come from the people of our nation. And we must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our Republic. And this is not easy. It takes time and work and effort. But it may be the most important thing each and every one of us does every single day.

Trumps visit to the church, which had been set on fire by rioters the previous night, drew criticism because it came moments after federal police cleared protestors from Lafayette Square ahead of a 7 p.m. curfew imposed by D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser. While standing in front of the church, Trump brandished a Bible for the cameras and said he would keep the country safe.

Bowser criticized the actions of the White House, tweeting that A full 25 minutes before the curfew & w/o provocation, federal police used munitions on peaceful protestors in front of the White House.

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis also slammed the move, saying in a rare public statement that never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizensmuch less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.

During a speech before his visit to the church, the president warned that he could invoke the Insurrection Act, a 19th century law that allows him to deploy the military domestically, if governors do not deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets. But according to the New York Times, Milley urged the president not to invoke the power, saying the problem could be managed by the states. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has also said he opposes use of the Insurrection Act, reportedly drawing the ire of the White House.

More from National Review
The antifa myth has gotten amazing traction in neighborhoods across the countryand, notably, in the Trump administration. Misinformation about antifa circulates in closed Facebook groups, but it doesnt stay online: When some people get scared antifa is coming to their own town, they start girding themselves for battle.

NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny saw it unfold in the small town of Klamath Falls, Oregon. A bunch of locals decided to plan a Black Lives Matter protestbut unbeknownst to them, other people in the region were gearing up for an antifa invasion. Two hundred people came armed, ready to fight this antifa rumor that they had heard on Facebook, Zadrozny says. But antifa never showed up. A white nationalist group posing as antifa had sent a message out claiming it was going to target white communities, that it was going there to take whats ours.

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On Thursdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Zadrozny about what happened next, why misinformation spreads so quickly online, and what can be done to rein it in. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mary Harris: What was going on in these Facebook groups to get people interested, concerned, and scared?

Brandy Zadrozny: It started with this Facebook post saying: Im not one to spread fake news, but there are two buses heading this way from Portland full of antifa members. Theyre loaded with guns and bricks, and theyre going to destroy Klamath Falls. Theyre going to murder police officers and theyre going to go to residential areas and theyre going to mess up the white neighborhoods.

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"Suddenly were just playing this game of telephone."  Brandy Zadrozny

Now, a lot of people initially were like, What? No, thats not happening. But then, a couple of hours later at most, someone else posted what they said was a screenshot from this Col. Jeff Edwards, and hes the commander of the Oregon Air National Guards 173rd Fighter Wing in Klamath Falls. It said, Hey, team, please avoid downtown. Weve received intel that there could be two busloads of antifa protesters coming to Klamath Falls. Theyre coming at 8:30. This guy, hes a hero in this small town, and everybody believed that and immediately was like, OK, mount up. And then you saw all the responses were like, This must be true. Whos saying this? And then it was attributed to law enforcement officials. So suddenly were just playing this game of very small telephone.

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Very quickly, it turned to people going out and looking for these buses. They go to the Walmart and they go to vantage points where they can see the highway and just start looking and posting what they see. Someone said that they saw somebody in black at the grocery store. It became this sort of scavenger hunt for the people of Klamath Falls, and offline they started meeting in real spaces. They met at a space thats dedicated to military folks, and they started hatching a plan to come armed, and they gave out blue armbands so everyone would know who the people were that were there to protect the businesses and fight antifa if they had to. And then a few hours later, they were on the street. They came out looking for antifa, and they never found it because antifa never came, of course.

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So instead of fending off foreign invaders, this group of would-be Paul Reveres found themselves in a good old-fashioned counterprotest. Their side had guns. The other side had signs. And the Black Lives Matter supporters were flummoxed.

They werent in the private spaces where people were getting the blue armbands and planning to be armed. So they didnt know what they were walking into. And they were very afraid, as you might imagine, when you see a group of 200 mostly white men all holding guns and shotguns, and somebody had an AK and ARs. And the other prevailing emotion there was pride. They were so proud of their little town. Theyve been there now eight days in a row. People who are on the margins of these communities have come out and made their voices heard, and thats been really powerful.

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I want to highlight a couple of things from your story that I think are important and worth picking apart more. First off, theres the fact that Facebook is really important to signal-boosting these rumors about antifa. And the second thing is that members of the military, like this National Guard person, are bolstering rumors that are later found to be untrue. Im wondering if there are other examples where youre seeing these antifa rumors trickle into more official channels.

Weve seen local police departments and law enforcement agencies having to either come out and say, Theres nothing here, calm down, or OK, we are responding to rumors that antifa is coming on a bus. Its happening everywhere. You could give me a town, and I can find you a Facebook group there, a local, closed Facebook group with community news, and I would be willing to bet you that there is some talk about antifa right now in those groups.

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The truth is sometimes boring.  Brandy Zadrozny

Were you able to speak to Facebook about its role here?

No, we did not speak to Facebook on this story. Facebook groups are where [Facebook is] growing its audience. Its pivoted to privacy, since its lost the trust of a bunch of people by mishandling their data and doing other things to breach the public trust. And so it moved to these private spaces, and we just have no idea about whats going on there. So all of the problems that Facebook used to have, from white supremacy to medical misinformation to political disinformationthats all happening. You just cant see it anymore.

You reported on these Facebook groups where the antifa rumors were spreading, and especially these videos where local people livestreamed themselves talking about their concerns about antifa coming to them and just how popular those wereand then you also talked about one black resident of Klamath Falls [Black Lives Matter protester Frederick Brigham] who was also livestreaming himself, but only 14 people were watching. And so theres this huge disparity in whose voice is being amplified.

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Yes. The truth is sometimes boring. I watched both livestreams, and I can tell you that a protest where people are quietly saying the names of black men and women whove been killed in police custody and talking politely to one another for four hours is a lot less gripping than one in which a man travels around with a rifle on his chest and tons of bulletproof vests all around and men with pipes over their shoulders, chanting and talking about this threat thats coming to kill everyone. Thats gripping, whether its true or not.

I think people who work in this disinformation space have basically given up on expecting the platforms to do anything about this. Theyve signaled that they wont and they dont care. I think that the new tactic is almost like a polluted actual ecosystem, a polluted environment: You want the large industrial waste-makers to clean up their plants, but you also have to depend on each one of us to recycle, to take care of our own streets. Ive gotten a lot of good feedback from people in Klamath Falls that have said, OK, maybe next time I wont share something so quickly, or Maybe next time Ill be more careful with what I believe online. And I think thats where it starts, and thats the hope.

Listen to the full episode using the player below, or subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
NBC's hit series This Is Us is mourning one of the show's former writers, as Jas Waters passed away at the age of 39 on Wednesday.

No cause of death was released, with the This Is Us Writers Twitter account confirming the writer's death on Wednesday.

This Is Us stars Mandy Moore, Susan Kelechi Watson and Chrissy Metz all paid tribute to the writer on social media, along with This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman and Dave Holstein, who created the Showtime series Kidding that she wrote on.

R.I.P.: NBC's hit series This Is Us is mourning one of the show's former writers, as Jas Waters passed away at the age of 39 on Wednesday.

'The entire #ThisIsUs family was devastated to learn of Jas Waters passing,' the show's writers began in their tweet.

'In our time together, Jas left her mark on us and ALL over the show. She was a brilliant storyteller and a force of nature,' the statement added.

'We send our deepest sympathies to her loved ones. She was one of us. RIP @jasfly,' they concluded.

Devastated: 'The entire #ThisIsUs family was devastated to learn of Jas Waters passing,' the show's writers began in their tweet

Mandy Moore replied to their tweet, stating, 'Sending love and light to @jasflys family and loved ones.'

Susan Kelechi Watson added, 'Incredibly shocked and saddened to have just receive this news. Blessed Light, fly with the angels. #jaswaters.'

Chrissy Metz added, 'We were graced with @jasfly on the show as a fantastic writer but to know her and her beautiful spirit was to love her.'

Mandy tribute: Mandy Moore replied to their tweet, stating, 'Sending love and light to @jasflys family and loved ones.'

Susan's tribute: Susan Kelechi Watson added, 'Incredibly shocked and saddened to have just receive this news. Blessed Light, fly with the angels. #jaswaters'

'I am praying for your beautiful transition, Jas. May it be full of love, light and peace. Thank you for the time we shared, your fearlessness and inspiration,' Metz added.

This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman retweeted the This Is Us writers tweet, adding, 'This news took my breath away. Jas was absolutely brilliant and had so many stories still to tell. She made an indelible mark on our show and my heart breaks for her loved ones. RIP @JasFly.'

The TV writer contributed to 18 episodes of the NBC hit between 2017 and 2018.

Jas Waters started her career as a journalist, writing a column for Vibe and starting her own website before she was cast in The Gossip Game, a show about bloggers covering the hip-hop industry.

She told Shadow and Act in 2018 that she 'never had a traditional life'.

'Im also a poor Black kid who grew up in an old folks home,' she told the website.

She got her start as a TV writer on VH1's The Breaks and Hood Adjacent with James Davis in 2017, before joining the This Is Us writers room in its second season.

Waters also received a story credit on the 2019 movie What Men Want, a gender-flipped remake of Mel Gibson's What Women Want, starring Taraji P. Henson.

The writer most recently worked on the Showtime series Kidding, with series creator Dave Holstein also penning a touching tribute on Twitter.

Dan's tribute: This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman retweeted the This Is Us writers tweet, adding, 'This news took my breath away. Jas was absolutely brilliant and had so many stories still to tell. She made an indelible mark on our show and my heart breaks for her loved ones. RIP @JasFly.'

'.@JasFly was a one of a kind voice and so integral to our Kidding writing team.T his is a devastating loss for those who knew her and lived in her light,' Holstein said.

'One of my fav lines of hers is resonating loud with me today: Our scars do not mean we are broken. They are proof we are healed,' he concluded.

Waters' management team, Rain Management, also released a statement about their client's death.

'It is with extremely heavy hearts that all of us at RMG mourn the life of our client & friend, Jas Waters. Jas was a talented & gifted writer, an amazing person, & a sweet soul who will be forever missed. Though she is no longer with us, her impact will be felt for years to come,' the statement read.

Dave's tribute: The writer most recently worked on the Showtime series Kidding, with series creator Dave Holstein also penning a touching tribute on Twitter
Burma AA Accused of Stabbing Myanmar Officer and Seizing Soldier in Rakhine State

Ponnagyun Township. / Min Aung Khine / The Irrawaddy

Sittwe, Rakhine State  The Arakan Army (AA) stabbed a military officer and abducted a private soldier in Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State, on Thursday morning, according to the military-run Tatmadaw True News Information Team.

The incident took place near Aye Zedi Pagoda in Ponnagyun at around 7 am on Thursday, according to Myanmars military spokesman, Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun.

Some soldiers from a battalion in Ponnagyun went to a market in plainclothes. One of them is an officer and the other is a private. The AA troops beat them and handcuffed [the officer] before the stabbing. The police are investigating, said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun.

It was later reported that the officer survived and is receiving treatment from the military in Ponnagyun, said the spokesman.

As the government has declared the AA a terrorist organization, The Irrawaddy was not able to contact the armed group for a comment.

I heard an officer was stabbed and another was abducted near Aye Zedi Pagoda this morning. As residents dare not go outside, we dont know the details, said Rakhine State lawmaker U Aung Than Tin for Ponnagyun Township.

Security personnel are reportedly in pursuit of the AA troops that abducted the soldier.

Residents reported hearing gunshots after the incident and the market has closed. Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun said the incident was not unusual.

It is not uncommon for the AA to act like that. The Yoe Tayoke village police chief in Ponnagyun was also attacked that way. It is evident that those responsible are either AA members or supporters. All those attacked were military personnel, police or civil servants. So there might be instructions in the future [to personnel] to be careful when going out in plainclothes, said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun.

Four unknown men robbed a branch of the Kanbawza Bank in Sittwe on Wednesday evening, stealing 180 million kyats [US$129,000], according to the Rakhine State authorities.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko
The triatomine or "kissing" bug Triatoma infestans. Credit: Dorian D. Dorge for Goethe University Frankfurt

An infection with Chagas disease is only possible in Latin America since the insect species that spread the disease only occurs there. Scientists at Goethe University and the Senckenberg Society for Natural Research have now used ecological niche models to calculate the extent to which habitats outside of the Americas may also be suitable for these insects. The result: Climatically suitable conditions can be found in southern Europe for two kissing bug species; along the coasts of Africa and Southeast Asia, the conditions are suitable for yet another species. The Frankfurt scientists therefore call for careful monitoring of the current distribution of triatomine bugs.

The acute phase of the tropical Chagas disease (American Trypanosomiasis) is usually symptom-free: Only in every third case does the infecting parasite (Trypanosoma cruzi) cause any symptoms at all, and these are often unspecific, such as fever, hives and swollen lymph glands. But the parasites remain in the body, and many years later, chronic Chagas disease can become life-threatening with pathological enlargement of the heart and progressive paralysis of the gastrointestinal tract. There is no vaccine for Chagas disease. The WHO estimates that 6 to 7 million people are infected worldwide, with the majority living in Latin America (about 4.6 million), followed by the U.S. with more than 300,000, and Europe with approximately 80,000 infected people.

Chagas parasites are transmitted by predatory blood-sucking bugs that ingest the pathogen along with the blood. After a development period in the intestinal tract of the bugs, the parasites are shed in the bug's feces. The highly infectious feces are unintentionally rubbed into the wound via scratching caused by the extreme itching of the bug bite. Oral transmission by eating food contaminated with triatomine bug feces is also possible.

Researchers led by the Frankfurt parasitologists and infection biologists Fanny Eberhard and Professor Sven Klimpel have used niche models to investigate which climatic conditions in the world are suitable for Latin American kissing bugs. In particular, temperature and precipitation patterns were incorporated into the calculations on the climatic suitability of a region. The researchers were able to show that currently, Central Africa and Southeast Asia have suitable habitats for triatomines. Two of the triatomine species, Triatoma sordida and Triatoma infestans, are now finding suitable habitats in temperate regions of southern Europe, such as Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. Both triatomine species frequently transmit the dangerous parasites in Latin America and can be found inside or near houses and stables, where they get their nightly blood meals preferably from dogs, chickens and humans.

Another triatomine species, Triatoma rubrofasciata, has already been detected outside Latin America. The model calculations by the Frankfurt scientists identify suitable habitats along large areas of the African and Southeast Asian coasts.

Professor Sven Kimpel explains: "There are people living in Europe who were infected with Chagas in Latin America and are unknowingly carriers of Trypanosoma cruzi. However, the parasite can currently only be transmitted to other people through untested blood preservations or by a mother to her unborn child. Otherwise, Trypanosoma cruzi requires triatomine bugs as intermediate hosts. And these bugs are increasingly finding suitable climatic conditions outside Latin America. Based on our data, monitoring programs on the distribution and spreading of triatomine bugs would therefore be feasible. Mandatory reporting of Chagas disease cases could also be helpful."

Explore further Examining genetic diversity of T. cruzi from California kissing bugs

More information: Fanny E Eberhard et al, Modelling the climatic suitability of Chagas disease vectors on a global scale, eLife (2020). Journal information: eLife Fanny E Eberhard et al, Modelling the climatic suitability of Chagas disease vectors on a global scale,(2020). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.52072
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday he would not be intimidated by coercion after China restricted some Australian exports and urged Chinese tourists and students to avoid Australia.

Diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Canberra have worsened since Australia called for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the new coronavirus, which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Lobbying by Australia and the European Union prompted the World Health Assembly last month to back an independent review into the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, Chinas Ministry of Education said students should reconsider choosing to study in Australia. International education is Australias fourth-largest export industry, worth A$38 billion ($26 billion) annually.

We are an open-trading nation, mate, but Im never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes, Morrison told radio station 2GB on Thursday.

China has in recent weeks banned Australian beef imports and imposed tariffs on Australian barley. It has also urged Chinese tourists to avoid Australia.

In both cases, officials in Beijing said the warnings were due to racist attacks against Asians during the pandemic.

Thats rubbish. Its a ridiculous assertion and its rejected. Thats not a statement thats been made by the Chinese leadership, Morrison said in a separate interview on 3AW.

POLITICAL PAWN

Asked about Morrisons comments, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying denied accusations of coercion and said the warnings were based on facts.

China urges Australia to protect the safety of Chinese citizens, she told a daily news conference.

Australia lodged a protest with Chinas foreign ministry and with its embassy in Canberra about Beijings travel and student warnings.

A coalition representing Australias elite universities, the Group of Eight, has said international education is being used as a political pawn.

The Australian National Universitys chancellor, Julie Bishop, formerly Australias foreign minister, said the university offered students from more than 100 countries a world-class education.

Canberra is one of the safest cities in a country widely regarded as one of the safest in the world, she said.

Many international students have been unable to return to Australia because of travel bans to stop the spread of COVID-19, but ANU said most of its students remained enrolled and 65% of its Chinese students were in Australia.

Monash Universitys vice-chancellor, Margaret Gardner, told ABC Radio it was very tense times diplomatically between China and Australia and in fact in this case universities and their students from China are part of the collateral.

China is Australias largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth A$235 billion a year.
FLINT, MI -- Michael Grimes, a former Flint United Auto Workers official who admitted to accepting more than $1.5 million in bribes from vendors as part of a broader corruption scandal, has reported to a federal prison to begin serving his sentence.

Federal Bureau of Prison records show Grimes, 66, is being housed at the federal prison at Estill, South Carolina, after having been granted time to relocate his family back to Michigan and complete the process of forfeiting a Florida property to the U.S. government as part of his 28-month sentence.

Grimes, who has lived in the Grand Blanc area and Ft. Myers, Fla., pleaded guilty in September to conspiring with other union officials to take kickbacks and bribes from vendors who sold the UAW trinkets, wristwatches and jackets that were distributed to members over a period of nearly 12 years.

In court filings and testimony, Grimes acknowledged taking more than $1.5 million from the vendors in exchange for contracts from the joint UAW-GM Center for Human Resources, which was promoted as a center for training UAW members employed by General Motors and for which Grimes was an executive board member.

Grimes was charged with using the bribes for property, houses, cosmetic surgery for a relative and other items that prosecutors said never benefited union members.

Michael Manley, Grimes attorney, confirmed his client reported to serve his sentence, which is scheduled to run until May 2022, but declined further comment.

Manley also represented Norwood Jewell, another UAW official with Flint roots who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months in federal custody for his role in a bribery scheme involving Fiat Chrysler.

Jewell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violating the Labor Management Relations Act in April 2019 and was released from a federal prisons minimum security satellite camp to finish his 15-month sentence through home confinement, part of the federal governments efforts to expedite the release of eligible inmates during the COVID-19 emergency.

Manley said Grimes has not filed any action seeking home confinement.

A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons said the prison camp where Grimes has been assigned was damaged by a tornado on April 13, and inmates were moved to ensure a safe environment allowing for the continuation of meals, medical care and programming as needed or as possible under the circumstances.

The spokesman said those inmates were moved temporarily to another part of the institution.

It is the Bureaus policy to house inmates in the least restrictive environment as possible, however, in an emergency situation it is our responsibility to ensure safety and security and provide access to programs and services as the situation warrants, he said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal. Currently, the inmates have the same access as they did at the satellite camp and are able to move about their assigned housing units in accordance with (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance on social distancing, similar to their living conditions at the satellite camp. The Bureau is actively working on repairs to damaged areas of the facility and will continue to monitor the situation carefully and adjust plans as needed.

Judge gives former Flint UAW leader more prison time than prosecutors asked for

Former Flint UAW boss used bribes to buy homes, relatives plastic surgery, feds say

COVID-19 concerns send former Flint UAW boss from federal prison camp to home confinement
Mumbai: A family in Jalgaon has been destroyed in mere nine days. But more than coronavirus, it's the public healthcare system that has left the Nehetes devastated.

It all began when Harshal Nehete's mother and grandmother contracted the virus. According to a report in Indian Express, Nehete lost his mother Tina, 60, as she waited for six hours for an ICU bed at the Jalgaon civil hospital.

And on Wednesday, the partially decomposed body of Nehete's grandmother was found curled on the floor of a toilet cubicle in the same hospital.

The report stated that Malati Nehete, 82, had been missing since June 2. Staff at the hospital, where she had been admitted with Covid-19 symptoms, had insisted that "she had simply walked away".

For a full eight days, no hospital staffer had gone to open or clean the cubicle in which Malati's body was found, let alone look for the elderly woman.

The IE reported that the staff broke open the door on Wednesday only after patients in the ward who were using the other cubicles in the toilet complained that they could no longer bear the stench.

Late on Wednesday night, five officials of the hospital, including Dean Dr B S Khaire, were suspended. Sanjay Mukherjee, Secretary, Medical Education, said a detailed inquiry had been ordered.

Before Malati, three other "breathless" Covid-19 patients had died while attempting to reach the toilet in the isolation ward of the civil hospital, the reported quoted district records.

The report stated that Nehete is a marketing executive who lives in Pune. His wife is in the final month of her pregnancy. His father Tulsiram is recovering from Covid-19 in a private hospital in Nashik. No one in the family could attend the funerals of his mother and grandmother.
Electric car giant Tesla (TSLA) is at the top of its game, hitting another all-time high on Wednesday, and reaching the long-ballyhooed $1,000 mark. The latest surge ensued when a memo from CEO Elon Musk telling employees it was "time to go all out" on the production of the Tesla Semi, began making the rounds.

But Teslas latest rally picked up steam earlier this week, when reports came out that demand for Model 3s in China has accelerated. News outlets focused on the 11,095 Model 3s that zoomed out of Teslas Shanghai Giga 3 factory last month and are now sitting pretty outside a new home.

However, GLJ Research analyst Gordon Johnson argues the celebrations are premature and, in fact, the figures are misleading.

The China May 2020 Sales numbers released yesterday, which have been covered by nearly every news outlet, were from China Passenger Car Association (CPCA)... Stated more clearly, the numbers from CPCA yesterday, according to CPCA, were just an estimate, and have not been confirmed, Johnson said.

According to Johnson, the figures to look out for are those released by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC) or the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

Ok, so where are they? Those numbers are not yet available, Johnson added, So all the Reuters and Bloomberg articles from yesterday are wrong. Also, the many analysts commenting on these numbers today on TV are also wrong.

While TSLAs production number of 11,501 is not disputed by the analyst, Johnson believes we do not yet know how many cars TSLA sold in May in China.

What we do know, Johnson adds, are Teslas EU sales figures. They were pretty bad, he said.

Down by 5.2% month-over-month and 33% year-over-year, as it happens. Additionally, through June 8, quarter-to-date, 2Q20 sales dropped by 54% quarter-over-quarter and 75% year-over-year in Norway + the Netherlands + Spain, which accounted for 47% of all of TSLAs EU sales in 2019.

Story continues

But, Johnson summed up, Who cares about numbers/facts when Ron Barron is on TV nearly monthly saying TSLAs stock will increase 10x with no supporting details  and also saying he wants to buy more, despite the fact hes been selling why wont the media focus on the numbers vs. perpetually having people on to give their opinions on what Tesla will do in 2025? what about 2020?

Unsurprisingly, Johnson rates Tesla shares a Sell, without suggesting a price target. (To watch Johnsons track record, click here)

While not quite as flummoxed as Johnson, the Street appears out of sync with Teslas ascent, too. 9 Buys, 9 Holds and 10 Sell ratings add up to a Hold Consensus rating. With an average price target of $633.95, the analysts expect Tesla stock to drop by 38% over the next 12 months. (See Tesla stock analysis on TipRanks)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.
MONTREAL - The head of Transat AT is calling on government for financial support, which it says would enable the travel company to refund passengers whose flights were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An Air Transat sign is seen Tuesday, May 31, 2016 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

MONTREAL - The head of Transat AT is calling on government for financial support, which it says would enable the travel company to refund passengers whose flights were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I say clearly to the various level of government, help us find a solution that is acceptable to all stakeholders, and we are all for it," CEO Jean-Marc Eustache said on a conference call with analysts Thursday.

Canadian airlines have mainly offered travel credit instead of reimbursements for the hundreds of thousands of trips that never took place amid border shutdowns and quarantines.

Eustache's remarks came as the tour operator reported a loss of $179.5 million for the quarter ended April 30, compared with less than $1 million in losses a year earlier.

Transat said Thursday it would resume operations on July 23 after grounding its fleet on April 1, with plans to gradually start flying on 23 international routes and some domestic ones.

However, Ottawa continues to require a 14-day quarantine for all arrivals  in line with many other countries  making travel outside the country a "non-starter" for Canadians, National Bank analyst Cameron Doerksen said.

Eustache pointed to the contrast between Canada's lack of sector-specific support and the billions in financial aid from other governments to justify the absence of refunds for Canadian customers.

"What is overlooked is that the government demand (for reimbursement) has been accompanied by assistance plans that are out of all proportion to what we have seen in Canada," he said.

Transportation authorities in the United States and European Union have required airlines, including foreign ones, to offer refunds for flights cancelled as a result of the pandemic.

Unlike its U.S. and many European counterparts, Ottawa has held off on handing out grants or loans particular to the airline sector, turning instead to a wage subsidy accessible to most employers and loans starting at $60 million for large companies.

WestJet Airlines Ltd. offers a partial exception to Canadian airlines' policies. The airline quietly changed its position this month to allow customers whose flights to the U.S. or U.K. were cancelled due to the pandemic to recoup their cash. The policy does not apply to other destinations, including flights within Canada.

The discussion over refunds remains heated. Three petitions  two were presented to the House of Commons over the past month  with more than 110,000 signatures call for full refunds before any financial aid is handed out to airlines.

Transat chief financial officer Denis Petrain said Thursday that "no significant" amount of fares have been refunded since mid-March.

Eustache publicly expressed concern for the first time Thursday about the impact of the coronavirus crisis on Air Canada's deal to buy Transat for $720 million. The transaction has shareholder approval but still requires a green light from regulators in Canada and the EU.

The financial flogging and capacity reductions at airlines on both sides of the Atlantic could "impact the ability to reach an agreement with regulatory authorities," he said.

One worry is whether a beefed-up Air Canada could offer appropriate "remedies" to rivals for gobbling up a larger slice of the market.

Airline sector remedies  key to securing a regulatory thumbs-up  often include giving up slots at airports as a kind of concession, but a devastated market and shrunken competition could mean many carriers would not have the capacity to seize the slots even if they wanted them.

Last month, European regulators launched an in-depth investigation into the deal amid European Commission concerns it may reduce competition and result in higher prices.

Nonetheless, Eustache expressed optimism that Transat's main customer base  vacationers to Europe and sun destinations and passengers visiting friends and family within Canada  were likely to be among the first groups to take up air travel again, "well before business travellers," who are outside Transat's realm, he said.

Transat has negotiated on fixed costs such as aircraft rent, deferring payments and reducing overall costs to between $10 million and $15 million per month, down from $60 million, the company said. Some of its older aircraft are being dismantled for components. "Were selling parts now," said Eustache.

Significant uncertainty persists, despite Transat's plan to take to the skies next month.

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"Nobody knows whats going to happen tomorrow," he said. "Can you tell me when the borders are going to be open? Can you tell me when the people will travel on a plane?"

In April passenger kilometres fell 98 per cent at airlines globally, while annual revenue is expected to fall by 55 per cent or US$314 billion, according to the International Air Transport Association.

At Transat, revenue in its second quarter fell to $571.3 million compared with $897.4 million in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, the Montreal-based company reported a loss of $38.8 million or $1.03 per share for the quarter compared with an adjusted loss of $6.4 million or 17 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ, TSX:AC)
On June 10, the U.S Air Force F-22 fighter jets were able to intercept two sets of Russian bombers that were spotted off the coast of Alaska.

One of the Russian bombers were just 8 miles away from breaching the U.S territorial airspace that stretches around 12 miles from the east of the state.

Caught on time

The two sets of Russian bombers stayed in foreign airspace, however, the incident on June 10 showed that it was the nearest that a foreign bomber was intercepted in the recent memory to the territorial border of the United States.

According to a statement, the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD F-22 Raptors, with the support given by E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System and the KC-135 Stratotankers were able to intercept two Russian Bomber formations that were trying to enter the Air Defense Identification Zone in Alasaka or ADIZ.

The statement read that the first formation has consisted of two Tu-95 bombers, two Su-35 fighter jets, and an A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft, which was 20 nautical miles near the shores in Alaska. It also stated that the second formation consisted of two Tu-95 bombers that were supported by an A-50 and it came within 32 nm.

The Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace and it did not enter the sovereign space of the United States.

Also Read: US Air Force Sends Spy Drones as Eyes Over South China Sea

The ADIZ

The ADIZ records around 200 miles from the coastline of Alaska. The coastline is monitored and watched by national security.

The United States territorial airspace starts 12 miles from the coastline. In March and April 2020, Russian bombers have carried out a lot of flights across Alaska, but the surveillance of NORAD spotted the Russian bombers around 8 miles from the 12-mile mark and it is the nearest that a foreign aircraft has gotten in the history of US airspace.

It is very rare for NORAD to give press releases regarding the distances that Russian aircraft have gotten in the U.S territory. It also showed how noteworthy the intercepts were for how they happened so close to the airspace of the U.S.

The first group that had reached the US airspace eight miles south and the second party that had penetrated the US airspace 20 miles west. The video of the intercept was posted by Russia's Defense Ministry on its official Facebook page. It showed the U.S Air Force flying together with F-22.

According to NORAD, they have intercepted Russian aircraft multiple times as they have been spotted operating near Alaska, the group also said that they will continue to do air patrols near the coast in order to protect the approaches of foreign aircraft to the country.

NORAD offered the level of detail in order to illustrate the point that they will continue to work to protect the country and to execute defense missions with the highest capacity and capability, the group also emphasized that they are ready to fight in case something breaks out.

NORAD also said that catching the Russian bombers did not happen by luck, it happened because they took deliberate and difficult measures to make sure that they can conduct their missions successfully.

Related Article: Satellite Images Imply Coronavirus Might Have Started in China as Early as August

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The government has received a consignment of 20,000 test units from two organisations to support the countrys fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.



Olam International, a global agribusiness and supply chain management firm and the Singapore-based Temasek Foundation donated the kits.



The test units comprised Fortune Kit 2.0 testing kits and the MGIEasy Magnetic Beads Virus DNA/RNA Extraction Kit, each of which contains sufficient reagents for 200 tests.



The Fortitude Kit 2.0 is used to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and is an All-in-One kit for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 Ribonucleic Acid (RNA), a molecule in the body cells.



The MGIEasy Magnetic Beads Virus Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)/RNA Extraction Kit on the other hand, purifies the viral DNA and RNA from throat swabs, saliva, serum, plasma, BALF (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid) and virus culture medium.



Mr Kenneth Antwi, National Head of HR at Olam Ghana presented the items on behalf of the donors to the government through the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra.



We have previously focused our efforts on helping to improve the safety and welfare of frontline health workers, but with this consignment of testing kits, equivalent to 20,000 test units, it is our fervent hope that the capacity of the laboratories in the area of testing will be greatly strengthed and help the country win the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic, he said.



Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare, Presidential Advisor on Health, commended Olam and their partners for the donation and urged other organisations in the corporate community to emulate the example.



He said the Noguchi, the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) and a number of laboratories in the country have played a major role in the fight against COVID 19 and it was a relief to realise that some corporate institutions like Olam have recognised their efforts and are motivated to lend support.



The work of the laboratories is very important, especially in the light of the fact that the dynamics of the strain of the virus are different from what we see in some European countries. We require more kits for increased testing, which is why we are grateful for Olams gesture today, he said.



The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu said the Noguchi research facility was a centre of excellence, manned by a team which was very determined to prove that given the necessary inputs and support, it could perform beyond the countrys expectation.



What Olam has done is proof that there is a segment of our society which appreciates what we do here and are willing to help, he said.

Source: The Ghanaian Times









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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European Court of Justice rules against German woman seeking damages over defective breast implants from France.

Ten years after a scandal involving defective breast implants from France, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled against a German woman who was seeking compensation.

Thursdays ruling could have a significant impact on other women who paid for implants from French manufacturer Poly Implant Prothese SA (PIP).

The case centres around a patient from Germany who demanded payment from the liability insurance of the French manufacturer. The insurance company declined because its contract stated that the cover only applied to France.

The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court had asked the ECJ to clarify whether the insurers approach was compatible with parts of EU law that prohibit discrimination on the basis of nationality.

ECJs clarification

The ECJ ruled on Thursday that the general prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality is not applicable to a clause, stipulated in a contract between an insurance company and a manufacturer of medical devices, limiting the geographical extent of the insurance coverage.

In 2010, it was revealed that PIP had used cheap, not approved, industrial silicone for breast implants for years instead of expensive medical silicone.

Worldwide, 400,000 women are said to have had the implants put in, for reconstructive surgery after having cancer or for breast enlargement.

The ECJ ruling means that the case goes back to the Frankfurt court for further consideration.
Mike Pompeo with Boris Johnson - TOLGA AKMEN/AFP

America has offered to build Britain's 5G and nuclear power stations so that the "coercive and bullying" relationship with China can end, Mike Pompeo has said.

In a statement released yesterday the US Secretary of State said America stood with its allies and partners against the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) coercive bullying tactics, as he cited reports that Beijing had threatened to punish HSBC and break commitments to build nuclear power plants in the United Kingdom unless London allows Huawei to build its 5G network.

HSBC is understood to have claimed that it could face reprisals in China if Huawei was blocked from selling equipment to the next generation of networks being built by Britains mobile operators.

Mark Tucker, the banks chairman, is understood to have made private representations to Boris Johnsons advisers in which he warned Downing Street against a ban on Huawei in 5G.

Mr Pompeo, one of Donald Trumps most trusted allies, warned that the CCPs browbeating of HSBC should provide a cautionary tale, as he accused Beijing of using the banks business in China as political leverage against London.

Beijings aggressive behavior shows why countries should avoid economic overreliance on China and should guard their critical infrastructure from CCP influence, he added.

The United States stands ready to assist our friends in the U.K. with any needs they have, from building secure and reliable nuclear power plants to developing trusted 5G solutions that protect their citizens privacy.

Mr Pompeo has been vocal of his distrust of Huawei and has previously failed to rule out cutting Britains access to US intelligence if it pursues a relationship with Huawei.

Last month the UK Government confirmed that the National Cyber Security Centre had launched a review of Huawei's involvement in Britain's 5G network in the wake of US sanctions.

Story continues

During Prime Ministers Questions today the Prime Minister said that while the UK should continue to work with the "great and rising power" of China it must feel "absolutely free" to raise concerns with Beijing.

Mr Johnson made the comments after he was pressed to publish a consultation paper on the UK's engagement with China following concerns over several issues, including Covid-19, Hong Kong and the involvement of Huawei in 5G.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader and one of the leaders of the newly formed Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (ipac) told The Daily Telegraph that the free world needed to work together to make the telecommunications market competitive again.

The telecoms companies in the market right now who can build the network are no longer in the USA but in Scandinavia and South Korea, he said. Sir Iain added that 12 years ago there were about 10 companies in this field, but today outside China it was only Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson.

Huawei has driven so many out of business with its subsidised business undercutting them all. We need to rebuild the industry.

It comes after Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, warned that the West "cannot ignore the consequences of the rise of China".

Tobias Ellwood, Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said that when the man in charge of the worlds largest security alliance gives warning of a rising global threat, we should listen.

Britain and the United States must lead in re-setting Western foreign policy before other nations are ensnared into Chinas web of political influence.

Pompeos offer to stand with allies should be taken before the shifting global balance of power in Chinas favour takes us closer to a bi-polar world and another Cold War.
Pauline Hanson has unleashed an extraordinary attack on her 'gutless' parliamentary colleagues after they blocked debate on her motion in the Senate.

The One Nation leader was furious after her 'All Lives Matter' notice of motion was denied in the Senate by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Thursday.

Her latest tirade comes a day after she labelled George Floyd a 'criminal and a dangerous thug' as she condemned the Black Matters Lives protests held across Australia last Saturday sparked by the US man's death.

Senator Hanson's motion to note that all lives matter was denied support from both sides of the chamber on Thursday.

Hanson said it was the first time she says she's seen them band together after four years in the Senate.

Senator Pauline Hanson submitted a 'All Lives Matter' notice of motion a day after condemning the Black Live Matter protests (pictured) attended by 60,000 Australians last Saturday

'I cannot believe that you are not prepared to actually put this to a vote in the notices of motion,' a bewildered Senator Hanson told the chamber.

'So if you are not prepared to put it to a vote then the answer to that is you don't care that all lives matter. Otherwise you would put it and vote on it.

'The people in this chamber are too bloody gutless to stand up for the people of this nation that all lives matter.'

She ended her passionate rant with a desperate plea.

'Until you actually realise that and stop pushing your own agendas, that we're not doing a service to this nation,' Senator Hanson said.

'The Australian people look to us as leaders of this nation. Stop diving this nation.'

Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong earlier explained why she didn't want to debate the idea, which had become a catch cry for critics of the Black Lives Matter protests in the US.

'There are some things that we do not want to import,' Senator Wong said.

Blocked debate on her motion promoted a fiery response from the One Nation Leader who labelled her Senate colleagues who refused to support it as gutless

Senator Hanson later went on afternoon radio to continue her attack on her Senate colleagues.

'I just called them gutless not to stand up for this,' she told 2GB's Mark Levy.

'They haven't got the intestinal fortitude to stand up for what they truly believe in.

'This is causing division within our nation if people don't stand up to this, I'm in fear of what it's going to be like to live in this country.

'I'm fighting for equality.'

The controversial politician addressed the Senate a day earlier to denounce the Black Lives Matter protests, and the celebration of Mr Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last month after a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes.

Officer Derek Chauvin (pictured) was identified as the officer pinning down George Floyd in video footage

'George Floyd had been made out to be a martyr,' Senator Hanson said.

'This man has been in and out of prison numerous times. He was a criminal and a dangerous thug

'It sickened me to see people holding up signs saying 'black lives matter' in memory of this American criminal,' Hanson said.

'I'm sorry, but all lives matter... we cannot allow bleeding hearts and those on the left to destroy the fabric of our society and our freedom.

'No one could possibly condone the way in which George Floyd died. But what upsets me is the attitude of many people - black and white.'

The One Nation Leader addressed the senate on Wednesday to call George Floyd a 'criminal and a dangerous thug' who has been turned into a 'martyr'

Hanson expressed her fury that Australians didn't show the same outrage at the death of Justine Damond - a Caucasian Australian woman who was shot dead by a black officer, also in Minneapolis, in 2017.

'There was no protest, no one really cared because she was white,' Hanson said.

Senator Hanson said politicians should 'hang their heads in shame' for not speaking up about the health risks of the protests, which defied ongoing warnings for people not to gather in large groups due to the risk of spreading coronavirus.

'It's a grave insult to all law-abiding Australians. These activists should never have been allowed to march and call Australians racist,' she said.

'Shame on the politicians who were too gutless and too scared of losing votes to stand up to the mob.

'People are furious and I don't blame them.'
Australia's chief medical officer has slammed the Black Lives Matter protests as a 'bad idea' during the coronavirus pandemic.

Brendan Murphy said the rallies - which brought together tens of thousands of Australians in solidarity with the global movement - are ill-advised.

Professor Murphy's comments come after a protester, who attended Melbourne's rally on Saturday, tested positive to COVID-19.

'My advice, which is the consensus advice of the Health Protection Principal Committee, which is all of the state chief health officers, me and some experts, is that large mass gatherings such as a protest are extremely ill advised,' he told 7.30 on Thursday night.

'We think that they present a significant risk of transmission and a very significant risk because you can't - you don't know who you're contacting and so we feel that people should be discouraged from attending such events.

'We understand the passion that people have for wanting to protest, but we think it's a really bad idea at the moment.'

The Melbourne protester, who is aged in his 30s and wore a mask at the event, was not symptomatic at Saturday's protest and is unlikely to have contracted the virus at the event. He developed symptoms on Sunday.

'We don't know a lot about this protester at the moment,' Professor Murphy said.

'We know that he didn't have symptoms at the day of the protest, developed symptoms the day after and then got tested.'

Professor Murphy said the Victorian Health Department is investigating how the man contracted the virus.

Australia's chief medical officer has slammed the Black Lives Matter protests as a 'bad idea' during the coronavirus pandemic. His comments come after a protester, who attended Melbourne's rally on Saturday (pictured), tested positive to COVID-19

'One of the challenges, of course, is that in a protest you have lots of people that you don't know that you might have come in contact with, and so there is always a risk that if he was infectious at the protest that - even though he was wearing a masks.

'He may have infected others and that's why we are so concerned about gatherings of this nature.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for people attending future anti-racism protests to be arrested and charged, warning rallies are blocking eased coronavirus restrictions.

Mr Morrison said the 'double standard' displayed by protesters had offended many Australians.

The potential health fallout is impeding decisions around interstate travel, funeral numbers and places of worship.

Brendan Murphy said the rallies - which brought together tens of thousands of Australians in solidarity with the global movement - are ill-advised

'It just puts a massive spanner in the works and that's why it's so frustrating,' he told 2GB radio on Thursday.

'They have put the whole track back to recovery at risk and certainly any further action on this front would be absolutely unacceptable.'

The prime minister said protesters should be charged if they attend further Black Lives Matter rallies.

'It's a free country and we have our liberty, but the price of liberty is we respect our fellow Australians,' he told 3AW radio.

'Turning up to a rally this weekend would show great disrespect to your neighbours.'
Out of Love comes blaring its author Hazel Hayes's social media stats: at the time of writing, she has 250,000 subscribers on YouTube, 230,000 followers on Twitter and 180,000 on Instagram.

The Dublin-born, London-based vlogger is best known for her popular YouTube channel ChewingSand, where she shares videos including her celebrity chat series Tipsy Talk, featuring the likes of Margot Robbie, Jessica Chastain and Saoirse Ronan. Hayes has also been posting regular updates chronicling the process of writing and releasing her first book, which is published by the crowdfunding platform Unbound.

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Out of Love is the story of a break-up, told in reverse. It begins with the unnamed narrator, a young Irish woman in London, handing over her ex-boyfriend Theo's belongings as they bid one another adieu after four years. From there, it jumps back days, weeks and months, ending with their first meeting at the office Christmas party in Dublin.

Along the way, we see how their relationship breaks down, each instalment taking away a piece of the scaffolding until the point where loving each other became simply "muscle memory". We also learn how the narrator becomes a full-time writer, considers her sexuality, and works on her mental health.

The aftermath of the split is well rendered, where the narrator astutely charts the fallout: "Phone calls were made. Family members were notified. Condolences were offered. A break-up is like a death without a funeral." She surreptitiously reads through her ex's Facebook messages on an old phone he left behind, and as she sees his nasty comments about her, she thinks back on how they would laugh at stories about his "crazy" ex-girlfriends, realising she has just been added to their number. We'll later hear a more starry-eyed narrator think to herself at the start of the relationship: "I was nothing like those crazy bitches he'd dated in college. What we had was different. What we had was lasting."

As the novel stretches further back in time, it's unclear what, other than the naivete of youth, indicated to the narrator that the relationship would be different or lasting. The two share an interest in Star Wars and whimsical indie-folk music, but little in the way of a spark or meaningful connection. It doesn't help that their sex scenes are loaded with lazy cliches ("I feel like my body is an undiscovered land being explored for the first time").

The pain of a relationship breakdown is sadly universal, which should give Out of Love broad appeal, but Hayes unfortunately finds her characters far more interesting than they really are. The narrator is particularly taxing - she doesn't need to be likeable, but she should be compelling. Hayes' characterisation of her, however, is chaotic and largely incoherent, leading to a late-stage reveal of a history of trauma that feels tacked-on, a hollow attempt to add depth. (On a superficial note, it's also unexplained how she can afford a flat in affluent Marylebone and a publicist on the income from a monthly magazine column and a handful of blog posts.)

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The reverse structure sounds clever in theory, but in execution it has the effect of hindering any narrative flow and offering little to propel the reader forward. The few recurring motifs that tie the story together, such as the narrator's decision to stop taking sugar with her tea, are maddeningly heavy-handed, there are no indicators marking how much time has passed, and the tense can be oddly inconsistent, such as when, towards the end, her future self steps in to explain how she will be diagnosed with a mental disorder long after the break-up.

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We're all familiar with stories of love fading, and Theo's crimes (losing interest in their sex life, choosing his mother's side over her own, getting a supermarket cake for her birthday instead of a special dinner) are cutting but not especially novel. The pedestrian quality of the break-up may prove relatable for readers, but it doesn't deliver much to hold our attention, and at times is akin to hearing a friend complain about a boyfriend you don't particularly like very much over and over.

It is the relationship between the narrator and her mother, not Theo, that really stings. Hayes is at her most effective when describing the narrator's last days in her family home before emigrating: the final tour around Howth, the list of things she'll miss most about Ireland, the moving farewell at Dublin Airport.

Hayes also captures the limitations of language used to discuss mental health, and the challenges of talking about it with loved ones. "I thought you were better now," the narrator's mother says after a year of therapy. "For a time, I was better, but I wasn't 'better'," the narrator notes. "We really need a better word for better."

Readers may be left wishing the book itself were better. In the narrator's writing class, her instructor tells her: "Everything you write begins with such promise, but the endings" The same could be said of Out of Love, which starts out brightly enough, before taking us on a very long, very frustrating slog all the way back to the beginning.
J acob Rees-Mogg joked about ripping down Stonehenge and widening the A303 during a Commons discussion on the recent spate of Black Lives matter statue protests.

The Conservative House of Commons Leader's comments come after a monument to slave trader Edward Colston was torn down in Bristol during anti-racism demonstration.

A campaign group called Topple the Racists has named 78 statues, many of which are dedicated to famous Britons who profited from the Transatlantic slave trade, that they believe should be removed.

Under pressure from campaigners, and fearful of vigilantes, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has said it plans to temporarily remove a statue of Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell from Poole Quay on Thursday over concerns it may be targeted.

Furious locals demanded the statue of Robert Baden-Powell should stay / Getty Images

In an apparent reference to the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol last weekend, and subsequent petitions to remove similar memorials, Tory former minister Sir Desmond Swayne jokingly called for the removal of any trace of Roman civilisation in the UK.

In a question to Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, Sir Desmond said: Will he introduce a measure next week which will efface all remaining trace that there was a Roman civilisation in this island?

Responding during business questions, Mr Rees-Mogg said: My right honourable friend, as so often, comes to the heart of the matter.

Im surprised he hasnt raised Stonehenge, which of course is known to have been the site of  or thought to be the site of  human sacrifice.

Edward Colston statue removed from Bristol harbour

Mr Rees-Mogg added: It does occur to me if it was removed, then the A303 could be widened more easily making it easier to get to Somerset.

The MP for North East Somerset said the Government would earnestly consider any proposals to protect war memorials from being desecrated.

Calling for a debate on the issue, Conservative MP Julian Lewis (New Forest East) said that introducing legislation would enable special circumstance and special penalties to be considered when memorials are attacked.

Mr Rees-Mogg responded: The desecration of these sites is contemptible and there is no government, no minister, no member of this House who would think anything else and therefore, the Government will undoubtedly, earnestly consider any proposals that are made.
Mahatma Gandhis alleged views about Africans during his time in South Africa have been dredged to target his statues in the UK as protestors demand that statues of historical figures linked to racism and slavery trade be removed from public spaces.

Gandhis statue in Parliament Square was targeted during the Black Lives matter (BLM) demonstration on Sunday, when the word racist was written near its plinth. On the same day, the statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down in Bristol.

Now thousands of people have signed an online petition to the Leicester City Council for the removal of Gandhis statue in the east Midlands city with a large population of Indian origin. It was installed on the arterial Belgrave Road in 2009.

Indian circles believe that the BLM campaign is being exploited by anti-India elements based in the UK, where six Gandhi statues have been installed in five cities in recent decades, including two in London: Tavistock Square (1968) and Parliament Square (2015). There were mixed views when the statue in Parliament Square was installed.

BLM campaigners have drawn up a hit-list of at least 78 statues and memorials across the UK that they believe should be removed, including those of Henry Dundas, who was president of the Board of Control of the East India Company from 1793 to 1801 (in Edinburgh), and of Robert Clive, first governor of the colonial Bengal Presidency (in Shropshire).

The BLM campaign has also revived the demand to remove the statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes from the Oriel College in the University of Oxford, where intense debate continues over its fate amidst growing support for its removal.

In London, mayor Sadiq Khan has ordered a review of statues and public spaces for statues and items related to slave trade. Soon after his announcement, the statue of noted slaveholder Robert Milligan was removed from outside the Museum of London Docklands.

Many Labour-controlled councils have initiated such reviews, including the Ealing Council in west London, where a consultation is being launched to rename Southalls Havelock Road  named after Henry Havelock, general in the colonial army involved in suppressing the 1857 Uprising  as Guru Nanak Road.

Khan, said: Our capitals diversity is our greatest strength, yet our statues, road names and public spaces reflect a bygone era. It is an uncomfortable truth that our nation and city owes a large part of its wealth to its role in the slave trade and while this is reflected in our public realm, the contribution of many of our communities to life in our capital has been wilfully ignored.

This cannot continue. We must ensure that we celebrate the achievements and diversity of all in our city, and that we commemorate those who have made London what it is  that includes questioning which legacies are being celebrated.

The Black Lives Matter protests have rightly brought this to the publics attention, but its important that we take the right steps to work together to bring change and ensure that we can all be proud of our public landscape, he said.
Several efforts are under way by Iranian activists across Europe to have a hardliner Iranian cleric, Judge Gholamreza Mansouri arrested while he is in Europe.

Mansouri who is being prosecuted by an Iranian court on charges of financial corruption and taking 500,000 euros in bribe in Iran, is said to be in Germany.

Iranian activists abroad, as well as Iranian journalists in Tehran have accused Mansouri of taking advantage of his position as a judge to torture some 20 Iranian journalists in 2013 and issuing verdicts that landed them in jail for many years on charges fabricated by Mansouri and his colleagues.

On Thursday June 11, human rights and press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed an official complaint with German federal judicial authorities demanding Mansouri's arrest for suppressing and jailing dozens of Iranian journalists.

Mansouri is believed to be in Germany although his multiple entry Schengen visa has been issued by the Embassy of Italy in Tehran according to Iranian sources and the German press. Meanwhile, a clinic where Mansouri has claimed to be receiving medical treatment has denied having such a patient.

The German Foreign Ministry has also denied issuing any visa to the Judge by its embassy in Tehran.

The complaint filed by the RSF says Mansouri has issued imprisonment verdicts for at least 20 journalists in February and March 2013. The RSF appealed to the German prosecutor not to let Mansouri escape justice.

A tweet by the RSF stresses that there should be no amnesty for those who violate human rights.

Meanwhile, Iranian human rights activists in Europe have been also working hard to make sure that Mansuri gets arrested before leaving Germany.

Oxford-Based lawyer Kaveh Mousavi, who has in the past months jailed another Iranian judge in Sweden on charges of crimes against humanity, has appealed to Iranians world over for documentations that would prove the case against Mansouri.

Mousavi wrote in a tweet that two witnesses have already come forward with incriminating evidence and that he is drafting an affidavit on their behalf. However, he wrote that he still needs documented background information about Mansouri including about the case in which he took the family members of an Iranian TV channel owner in Turkey in the 2010s.

Mousavi also noted that any information about the mass arrest of journalists in Iran could prove helpful in the case against Gholamreza Mansouri.

Meanwhile, Shadi Sadr, one of the London-based officials of human rights watchdog Justice for Iran, another organization that is following the case to restore justice about Judge Mansouri, quoted a German publication as having reported that Mansouri may be still in Germany although German authorities have not issued a visa to him.

She also quoted the embassy of Iran in Berlin as having said that Mansouri never reported to the embassy although he had said he would go to the Iranian embassy to facilitate his return to Iran.

The prosecutors office in Tehran has said that Mansouri is not likely to return to Tehran for trial as he left his cell phone on in Tehran to mislead security officers for a long time to believe that he had not left Iran. The official added that Mansouri fled Iran one month after Akbar Tabari, the prime suspect in a major ongoing financial corruption case at a Tehran court was arrested in 2019.

Earlier this week, Mansuri released a video on social media saying that he was abroad for medical treatment for a life-threatening case and promising to go to the Iranian embassy to arrange his return to Iran as soon as the borders are opened. However, he did not say where he was.

Cristophe Deloire, the Secretary General of RSF has confirmed in a tweet that "Mansouri is currently in Germany," and the RSF has filed a complaint against him.

He wrote: "RSF Intl. and RSF Germany just filed a complaint against Gholamreza Mansouri, an Iranian judge responsible for the arrest and torture of at least 20 journalists in 2013, who is currently in Germany. The prosecutor must not let him escape."

If arrested, Mansouri's case would be the second success in a year for Iranian human rights and press freedom activists. Last year, Hamid Nobari, a judge involved in the murder of several thousands of Iranian political prisoners in 1988 was arrested in Sweden and is still in jail thanks to extensive efforts by Iranian activists in Europe.
M ost Brits want the two-metre social distancing rule to stay in place in the UK, a new poll has found.

Government guidance currently recommends Brits maintain a two-metre distance from each other in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

However, there have been calls for the Government to reduce the distance to one metre as the lockdown is eased further.

Of 3,672 adults who were surveyed by YouGov, 58 per cent said they think social distancing should remain at two metres, compared to 24 per cent who think it should either be reduced to one metre.

A small portion of those who were surveyed said social distancing measures should be scrapped altogether (8 per cent) while 10 per cent of adults said they were unsure.

The data research firm said on Twitter that the results showed "the public are firmly opposed to reducing the social distancing restriction".

It comes as the Prime Minister is expected to make a decision on reducing the two-metre social distancing restriction to allow schools in England to reopen fully by September.

On Wednesday he promised to "keep that two-metre rule under constant review.

I believe that the two-metre rule need now to be kept under review, Boris Johnson told MPs at Prime Ministers Questions.

As we drive this disease down, as we get the incidence down working together, I want to make sure that we keep that two-metre rule under constant review.

There is all sorts of scientific advice about that particular matter.

Scottish National Party leader Ian Blackford highlighted that the Cabinet had discussed easing the rule. But thats not the experts advice right now, he added.

Simon Clarke: Everyone should maintain two-metre rule at this point

SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) reported that being exposed to the virus for six seconds at one metre is the same as being exposed for one minute at two metres - that is a significant increase in risk."

Trade organisations have said in order for their businesses to survive, the two-metre rule should be halved.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) and UK Hospitality said that many venues such as pubs and restaurants will not be able to make enough money if the rule, which restricts customer numbers, stays in place.

BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said: It must be recognised that no two pubs are the same and for many, ensuring a distance of two metres will be impossible, keeping them closed for much longer.

Actioning advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for example to use one metre for social distancing from July would enable many more pubs to viably reopen and serve their communities again.

UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: At two metres you are receiving 30 per cent of your normal revenues, at one metre it gets up to 70 per cent  so it is the difference between success and failure for many of those businesses. They will need support if two-metre social distancing is in place.

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If that is what the science says and if that is what our public health needs, that is what we will maintain. We just need to have the additional Government support to make that workable.
As you may have already seen, the Mid Atlantic Air Museum (MAAM) has had to cancel their 2020 WWII Weekend, one of the nations truly great events celebrating the men and women who helped preserve our freedoms during the Second World War. We have covered this marvelous event numerous times in the past, and had been looking forwards to celebrating their 30th anniversary edition this past weekend. But, as we all know, the global pandemic has caused immense disruptions to every aspect of our normal way of life, and will do so for the foreseeable future for obvious reasons. And while MAAM had hoped to reschedule the show for the July 31-August 2nd time period, this too has now slipped. Balance will return though, of that we can be sure; it just requires a little patience on all our parts.

Here now is the MAAMs press release

The time has come to make an informed-as-possible decision on holding WWII Weekend on the alternative dates of July 31, Aug. 1, & Aug. 2.

Thus far Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has made it extremely difficult to make any plans to move forward with the event from where we are now. Most of eastern Pennsylvania has finally moved into the yellow phase, which prohibits large gatherings of more than 25 people. The green phase, will prohibit large gatherings of more than 250 people. Governor Wolf admitted on Friday, June 5th, that he does not yet know what comes after the green phase as no plans have yet to be formulated. It is extremely likely that the large gathering prohibition will continue through this year.

To quote Jack Pelton, Experimental Aircraft Association President, when he announced cancellation of Oshkoshs AirVenture 2020, the largest aviation event in the country, We need a sure thing  we cannot afford to gamble! These are our sentiments exactly. Therefore we cannot, in good faith, move forward with the planning and additional financial investment necessary for WWII event planning without knowing we have a sure thing. Therefore we have made the difficult decision to cancel WWII Weekend for 2020.

After 40 years of Museum operations, I never envisioned that we would find ourselves in a position where we were not in control of our destiny as an organization, but then again, I never envisioned anything like the COVID-19 pandemic covering the world in this modern age! I doubt any of us did!

Hopefully 2021 will look better for all of us, and we look forward whole-heartedly to WWII Weekend 2021. Brenda and I thank you for your understanding and for your continued interest and dedication to the Museum and WWII Weekend.

We have set up a Go Fund Me campaign to helping replace the lost funding that the cancellation of WWII Weekend presents to us. Please take a moment to look at our Go Fund Me site on our Facebook page, Instagram page and our Museum home page and be sure to share with your friends. We are optimistic about its success and hope that you will be too.

Russ

Russell A. Strine

President

Mid Atlantic Air Museum
Drilling at Rozino South Intersects Near-Surface Mineralization

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Velocity Minerals Ltd. (VLC.V) (Velocity or the Company) announces that it has discovered new outcropping gold mineralization at the Kazak target area (Kazak) and received additional positive drill results from the Rozino South Zone (Rozino South), both of which are priority exploration targets close to the Rozino Project (Rozino), Bulgaria. The Company is prioritizing exploration in these areas as any discovery arising from the current exploration could potentially make use of common infrastructure at Rozino.



Highlights:

Kazak Target -- continuous rock chip 1 sampling has returned two consecutive 1.0m samples grading 17.8 g/t gold and 17.3 g/t gold . The high-grade gold occurs in the same permissive sedimentary host rocks as the Rozino deposit. The Kazak target area is located approximately 2km south of Rozino. These are the highest-grade results that have been encountered from surface outcrop sampling since the inception of exploration at the Rozino project in 2017.

Rozino South -- drill results returned a significant, near-surface intercept of 4.0m grading 0.92 g/t gold. The Rozino South target is located 800m south of the Rozino deposit.

Velocity is continuing its drill-focused exploration and developing new target areas to the south of the currently defined, open-pittable Rozino gold deposit.

Kazak Target

Following positive results from soil sampling and initial rock sampling (see news release May 26, 2020) Velocity has received results of continuous rock chip sampling1 at Kazak located approximately 2km south of Rozino. The work has identified new outcrops of silicified sediments similar to the Rozino deposit host rocks and continuous rock chip1 sampling of sparse outcrops within an area that is mostly under surficial cover returned two significant intervals of 2.0m grading 17.6 g/t gold and 2.0m grading 0.53 g/t gold. Systematic mapping and trenching of the Kazak target are in progress and drilling of the high-grade zone will begin as soon as possible.

Story continues

Rozino South Drilling

The Rozino South target is situated 800m south of the Rozino deposit and exploration drilling (Figure 1 and 2) is ongoing with results reported here from drill hole RDD-178, which returned 4.0m grading 0.92 g/t gold from 21m below surface. Drill hole RDD-178 is located approximately 150m west of the discovery hole (RDD-177), which intersected 6.15m grading 1.18 g/t gold, including 1.15m grading 5.23 g/t gold from 203m (new news release May 26, 2020).

Figure 1: Exploration Targets surrounding the Rozino Gold Project. Soil anomalies at Rozino, Rozino South and Kazak, plus anomalous rock chip samples for Kazak area. Inset map; continuous rock chip sampling at Kazak.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/346ff7a4-5b41-437b-8a71-877e6d133778

Figure 2: Geological map of the Rozino South target,

with drill hole locations for planned follow up drilling.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/409f06df-a6d8-451f-9a48-aef165f64c13

Table 1: Significant Exploration Drill Results at Rozino Gold Project

The drill intersections disclosed here have not yet been included in a resource model and true thickness of mineralization has not yet been determined. Drill holes are designed to intersect mineralization perpendicular or close to perpendicular. Drill intersections are calculated using a 0.2 g/t gold trigger, a minimum 0.5 g/t gold composite, and a maximum of 3 metres consecutive waste. Results from RDD-177 were previously

disclosed in news release dated May 26, 2020.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3241f82d-7a18-4ecc-b86c-5b223c74c4a5



Quality Assurance / Quality Control

The work program at Rozino was designed and is supervised by Stuart A. Mills, CGeol, the Company's Vice-President Exploration, who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program.

On-site personnel at the project rigorously collect and track samples which are then security sealed and shipped to ALS Global laboratory in Romania. Samples used for the results described herein are prepared and analyzed by fire assay using a 30-gram charge in compliance with industry standards at ALS Romanian laboratory. A sample split of the milled material is shipped to ALS Irish laboratory for multi-element analysis using an inductively coupled Mass Spectrometer. Field duplicate samples, blanks and independent controlled reference material (standards) are added to every batch.

Drill intersections in this news release are calculated using a 0.2 g/t gold trigger, a minimum 0.5 g/t gold composite, and a maximum of 3 metres consecutive waste.

Note 1: Continuous rock chip sampling is a rapid semi-quantitative technique aimed at approximating trench sampling and although every care is taken by Velocity to approximate the sampling methodology of trench sampling, the results cannot be directly used in any quantitative method of determining constant volume rock grades.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this release has been approved for disclosure by Stuart A. Mills, BSc, MSc, CGeol, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and the Companys Vice President Exploration. Mr. Mills is not independent of the Company.

About Velocity Minerals Ltd.

Velocity is a gold exploration and development company focused on southeastern Bulgaria. Velocitys strategy is to develop a low cost centralized Hub and Spoke operation whereby multiple projects within this emerging gold district produce gold concentrates for trucking to a central processing plant for production of dore. The Company envisions staged open pit mining of satellite deposits and processing in a currently operating carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant. Velocity has a 70% joint venture interest in the Tintyava prospecting licence, which includes the Rozino gold project, and has entered into option agreements to earn a 70% interest in the Obichnik, Makedontsi and Sedefche gold projects, with Gorubso, an established and respected mining company in Bulgaria. Velocitys management and board includes mining industry professionals with combined experience spanning Europe, Asia, and the Americas as employees of major mining companies as well as founders and senior executives of junior to mid-tier public companies. The team's experience includes all aspects of mineral exploration, resource definition, feasibility, finance, mine construction and mine operation as well as a track record in managing publicly listed companies.

About Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a member of NATO (2004) and a member of the European Union (2007). The local currency (BGN) has been tied to the Euro since 1999 (1.956 BGN/EUR). The country is served by modern European infrastructure including an extensive network of paved roads. Bulgaria boasts an exceptionally low corporate tax rate of only 10%. The countrys education system is excellent with good availability of experienced mining professionals in a favourable cost environment. Foreign mining companies are successfully operating in Bulgaria. The countrys mining law was established in 1999 and updated in 2011. Mining royalties are low and compare favourably with more established mining countries.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Keith Henderson

President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Keith Henderson

Phone: +1-604-484-1233

E-mail: info@velocityminerals.com

Web: www.velocityminerals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: future exploration and testing carried out on the Tintyava property; use of funds; and the future business and operations of Velocity. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can be identified by words such as pro forma, plans, expects, may, should, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, believes, potential or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development and mine development activities for the Tintyava property, including the geological mapping, prospecting and sampling programs for the projects, the fact that the Companys interests in the Tintyava property is only an option and there is no guarantee that the interest, if earned, will be certain, actual results of exploration activities, including the program, estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, the availability of a sufficient supply of water and other materials, requirements for additional capital to fund the Company's business plan, future prices of precious metals, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, possible failures of plants, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental and regulatory approvals (including of the TSX Venture Exchange), permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, hedging practices, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, risks related to joint venture operations, and risks related to the integration of acquisitions, as well as those factors discussed under the heading. "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual management's discussion and analysis and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company's profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking information in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.
Srinagar:

Militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Army at Uri, 102 kms from Srinagar, in the wee hours on Sunday, with explosions and heavy gunfire heard at the spot.

17 soldiers died in terrorist attack in Uri (J&K). Total four terrorists killed in the operation. Combing operations are in progress.

The attack began at around 0400 hours and the number of militants was believed to be three.

Immediately after the militants entered the camp, explosions and exchange of heavy fire were heard from inside, official sources said.

(For live updates, click here)

As it happened:

US strongly condemns #UriAttack. Our thoughts are with families of soldiers who lost their lives: US ambassador to India Richard Verma  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

Jammu: Dogra Front workers stage a protest against Pakistan over #UriAttack. pic.twitter.com/KGKPWiY8Fg  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

# I am deeply disappointed with Pakistans continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups: Home Minister Rajnath Singh

# Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such: Home Minister Rajnath Singh

Visuals from Uri: 17 soldiers lost their lives and 4 terrorists were gunned down in an encounter. (Visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/2WbtTVc9me  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

# Delhi: MHA & MoD officials leave HM's residence after attending high level security meet chaired by HM Rajnath Singh

Pained by the mindless terror attack in Uri. I salute our brave soldiers for their supreme sacrifice & extend condolences to their families.  Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) September 18, 2016

Terrorism is not the solution to Kashmir issue.Can only be solved through pol dialogue with all stakeholders-Yechury pic.twitter.com/8VRtdG1XXJ  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 18, 2016

Have spoken to HM & RM on the situation. RM will go to J&K himself to take stock of the situation.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 18, 2016

# Army Chief General Dalbir Singh reaches Srinagar (J&K), will meet soldiers injured in Uri Attack

# #UriAttack shouldn't have happened.GoI needs to be a little more offensive in this regard: Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar

#WATCH HM Rajnath Singh chairs high level security meet in Delhi. NSA, Home Secy,IB Chief present #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/vjpQPq9QTD  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

# Alert sounded in Punjab after terrorist attack in J&K's Uri, extra vigil along the international border.

Delhi: HM Rajnath Singh chairs high level security meet. NSA, Home Secy,IB Chief present (Inside Visuals) #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/MYUAiqa9ro  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi has expressed shock and deep distress over the martyrdom of Indian Soldiers in the dastardly...  INC India (@INCIndia) September 18, 2016

MHA, Defence Ministry have taken this very seriously. We wont tolerate this: Hansraj Ahir, (MoS, Home) #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/DFvCfGszxY  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

# High level security meet to take place at HM Rajnath Singh's residence at shortly, MHA and MoD officials to attend

# Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issues alert for all airports across the country in wake of the terrorist attack in Uri Attack

It's time for GoI to take a practical approach, and react to this: SR Sinho,Defence Expert on Uri encounter pic.twitter.com/1ZADKlrUFz  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

We are with the forces, the protectors of our nation who keep it united: Former J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/SNqZc21spE  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

# Administrative base had large strength of troops of units turning over after tour of duty who were stationed in tents/temporary(ctd): Army

# Pakistan is irritated at the moment, because they failed in their attempt to execute such an activity here on Eid: Hansraj Ahir

# Defence Minister Parrikar to visit Srinagar today

# Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh to visit Kashmir in the wake of terror attack in Uri, in which 17 soldiers lost their lives.

# Four militants killed in Uri terror attack: Army

# Search operations are on in the area

# High level security meet to take place at HM Rajnath Singh's residence at 12:15pm, senior MHA and MoD officials to attend the meet

# Market in Uri has been closed due to the attack

# Rajnath Singh calls emergency meeting of IB, RAW, Home Ministry officials

# HM Rajnath Singh instructs Home Secretary and other senior officers in MHA to closely monitor the situation in Jammu and Kashmir

# Home Minister Rajnath Singh speaks to Governor & CM of J&K regarding Uri terror attack, they apprised him of security situation in the state

#Home Minister Rajnath Singh calls an emergency meeting of concerned officials over the ongoing encounter in Uri

#Helicopters from the Army's 19 divisional headquarters in Baramulla have been pressed into service

#Home Minister Rajnath Singh postpones visit to Russia and the US due to situation in Kashmir.

Keeping the situation of Jammu and Kashmir in mind and in the wake of terror attack in Uri, I have postponed my visits to Russia and the USA  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 18, 2016

Spoke to Governor & CM of Jammu & Kashmir regarding the terror attack in Uri. They have apprised me of the security situation in the state.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 18, 2016

I have given instructions to the Home Secretary and other senior officers in MHA to closely monitor the situation in Jammu and Kashmir  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 18, 2016

#Firstvisuals: Terrorist attack at army's Brigade Headquarter in Uri (J&K). Presence of 3-4 terrorists suspected. pic.twitter.com/4iRX0Rceff  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

#Firstvisuals: Terrorist attack at army's Brigade Headquarter in Uri (J&K). (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/h2ydPw0lTR  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

#Firstvisuals:Terrorist attack at army's Brigade Headquarter in Uri (J&K).Para Commandos of the Army airdrop at site pic.twitter.com/SmJryLvgM3  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

#Firstvisuals: Terrorist attack at army's Brigade HQs in Uri (J&K). Encounter underway. (visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/HGWNwjrAZb  ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016

(with PTI inputs)

Also Read: Uri attack: Home Minister Rajnath Singh postpones visit to Russia and US, calls emergency meeting

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The Bachelor star Seinne Fleming has become the latest member of Bachelor Nation to speak out about the show's struggles with diversity.

The 30-year-old commercial real estate manager from Long Beach, California, who appeared on Season 22 of The Bachelor in 2018, told E! that she doesn't watch the show anymore because, 'I don't feel it's very inclusive.'

She added that she was a 'huge fan' of the show, but she only auditioned when they, 'finally cast a black Bachelorette' with Rachel Lindsay in 2017.

Speaking out: The Bachelor star Seinne Fleming has become the latest member of Bachelor Nation to speak out about the show's struggles with diversity

'That was one of the main reasons why I ended up auditioning for the show because I thought, 'Oh okay, well maybe they are kind of maybe changing things up, making things a little more inclusive. I quickly learned that was not the case,' she said.

Fleming made it clear that Lindsay being cast, 'wasn't necessarily a fluke because she deserved to be and she was a great Bachelorette.'

Still, she considers it a fluke because Bachelor Nation didn't continue to follow that 'pattern' of diversity.'

Not the case: 'That was one of the main reasons why I ended up auditioning for the show because I thought, 'Oh okay, well maybe they are kind of maybe changing things up, making things a little more inclusive. I quickly learned that was not the case,' she said

Lindsay remains the only black Bachelorette in the show's 15 seasons, with the 16th Bachelorette, Clare Crawley, also white, and there has never been a black man cast as The Bachelor in its 24 seasons on the air.

'Even during my time on the show, I was the only woman of color in the top 10 so in many ways it feels like you fill a slot,' she added.

'As we all know, there has never been a Black Bachelor and I just don't think it is actually representative of what dating looks like today,' she continued.

Only one: Lindsay remains the only black Bachelorette in the show's 15 seasons, with the 16th Bachelorette, Clare Crawley, also white, and there has never been a black man cast as The Bachelor in its 24 seasons on the air

Fleming added that, 'by not having a more diverse cast, by not having more Asians or Hispanics or Black people, you're isolating a part of the country that would be interested in the show if they felt more represented.'

She also said that black cast members have 'significantly fewer Instagram followers,' which she attributes to, 'the audience and the people that are watching.'

Fleming's interview comes just days after another star of The Bachelor, Catherine Giudici, spoke up about her time on the show.

Diverse cast: Fleming added that, 'by not having a more diverse cast, by not having more Asians or Hispanics or Black people, you're isolating a part of the country that would be interested in the show if they felt more represented'

She revealed in an Instagram post that she was surprised she was 'chosen because I was Filipino' and that she was just there, 'to check a box.'

She added that she, 'ended up with so much more,' getting engaged to The Bachelor Sean Lowe, and they've been married since 2014 with three kids.

A Change.org petition was also started on Monday to cast a black Bachelor in Season 25, which has over 78K signatures, including Fleming and Lindsay.
A garda detective is being treated in hospital tonight after accidentally shooting himself in the leg with his official issue firearm.

The bizarre incident happened at the residence of the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland in Dublin at around 4.30pm this afternoon.

The male officer, who suffered the self-inflicted gunshot wounds to his thigh, is a member of the gardais elite Special Detective Unit (SDU).

This unit have been providing armed protection at the residence of the ambassador to Israel because of the ongoing threat from Jihadi terrorists and other factions.

The detective was finishing his shift at the residence when he was putting his official firearm in a secure area of his garda vehicle, a senior source said last night.

The firearm went off and he suffered a very nasty injury to his leg. He was rushed to hospital but his injuries are not described as serious, the source said.

Gardai have launched an internal investigation into the bizarre incident and have also referred to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman (GSOC) who are investigating all the circumstances under section two of the 2005 Garda Siochana Act.

Senior sources say that no foul play is suspected in the case.

Israeli Ambassador Ophir Kariv was appointed here in October 2018 and he previously served as Director of the Northern Europe Department in Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In recent years there have been a number of protests at Israels embassy in Ballsbridge which have required the attendance of gardai.

Gardai confirmed the incident this evening.

An Garda Siochana have commenced an investigation following the accidental discharge of an official firearm. The incident occurred at approximately 4.30pm on Thursday 11th June, 2020 in the Dublin area. A Garda member is receiving treatment in a Dublin Hospital for minor injuries, a garda spokesman said.

The matter has been referred to GSOC for under Section 102 of An Garda Siochana Act, 2005 as per protocol. No further information is available at this time, he added.
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday vowed to take the war to the countrys political detractors, elite opportunists and malcontents who are pushing a nefarious agenda of regime change.







The President yesterday chaired an eight-hour long Politburo meeting that focused mainly on ending the current economic challenges, which the ruling party noted are being stirred by an invisible hand determined to breed chaos in the country.





This comes as the economy has been going through turbulent times notwithstanding the fact that the Government has put in place a raft of measures and interventions to spur economic growth.





Despite being in the middle of a tobacco selling season, the countrys major cash crop, the Politburo raised concern about the continued waning of the local currency against the United States dollar due to a speculative exchange control environment being manipulated by economic saboteurs.





In his opening remarks at the 340th ordinary session of the ZANU PF Politburo, President Mnangagwa noted that the Government and its leadership have of late come under attack from detractors bent on fomenting instability in the country.





On the economic front, we are witnessing a relentless attack on our currency and the economy in general through exorbitant pricing models. We are fully cognisant that this is a battle being fuelled by our political detractors, elite opportunists and malcontents who are bent on pushing a nefarious agenda.





They will never win. We did not liberate this country for selfish, profiteers and greedy individuals, but for all people in our land who have a right to enjoy a better quality of life. As a party we must always strive to achieve this, said President Mnangagwa.





The President pointed to the alleged abduction of three MDC Alliance members, namely Joanna Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, as part of the grand plot by the countrys detractors to tarnish Governments image.





The President, however, said the alleged abductions had been exposed for their inconsistencies by Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Cde Kazembe Kazembe in his recent statement.





Concurrently during this period was the resurgence of hate speech and language which are not characteristic of the values we seek to be embedded in our country under the Second Republic. This vile culture must be rejected by all peace-loving people, he said.





President Mnangagwa said the confrontational actions were well coordinated and planned.





I am aware that the intention was to cause despondency, unrest, violence and to render the country ungovernable. These acts should never be tolerated. I urge the Party and nation as a whole, to remain alert. Let us refuse to be divided by vigilantes who are hired by hostile foreign governments to distract us from our quest to grow our economy and improve the quality of lives for all, in peace, unity and love, President Mnangagwa said.





After the Politburo meeting that also saw the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Mthuli Ncube and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya making presentations on the state of the economy, the ruling party acting national spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa said corrective measures were going to be taken to protect the general populace.





Whilst there was consensus on the global economic recession and slowdown caused by the Covid-19 contagion, the general lockdown restrictions on certain sectors of the economy and the continued illegal economic sanctions, there was however a robust acknowledgment that there is an invisible hand at play fomenting regime change and as a revolutionary party we will jealously guard against such elements. Economic fundamentals are strong but perceptions are more negative. The party is aware of these detractors who are manipulating basic price commodities through unjustified cost-build-ups and continuously speculating on the exchange rate to fuel the black market economy for profiteering purposes. This is also compounded by the unhelpful speculation and negative narrative and perceptions being peddled by our detractors, said Cde Chinamasa.





Cde Chinamasa said the ruling party was determined to provide goods and services, such as basic commodities and transport, at affordable prices to cushion the people against the impact of the well-orchestrated plot to sully the image of the Second Republic.





The re-launch of the Zimbabwe United Passengers Company (ZUPCO) and the provision of subsidised basic commodities like roller meal, Presidential Inputs Scheme and capitalisation of Small Micro Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) financial institutions are a platform to cushion our most vulnerable members of our communities and the party will continue on this development trajectory, he said.




'Like doctors, health workers, police, bankers are also COVID warriors,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Baskar Babu Ramachandran, managing director and CEO of Suryoday Small Finance Bank Ltd, says at least 100,000 microfinance borrowers of his bank paid their loan instalments through digital channels in May.

His bank has around 1.3 million such customers.

Loans have always been disbursed digitally, but when it comes to repayment of loan instalments or collection, as opposed to disbursement by the bank, each and every borrower of Suryoday SFB has paid in cash till March this year.

In April, a few thousand customers used the digital channel as they were confined to their homes because of the lockdown.

In May, that number swelled to 100,000.

Another unlisted small finance bank headquartered in Bengaluru, along with the National Payment Corporation of India, launched a UPI QR-based loan instalment payment facility for its customers in end-March.

QR or quick response code is a type of 2D bar code that is used to provide easy access to information through a smartphone.

This channel is typically used for P2P (person to person) and P2M (person to merchant) payments.

A total of 4 million customers of this SFB can also check the balances in their savings accounts and fixed deposits via their mobile phones.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has recently introduced video KYC to open savings accounts.

This is a pilot project and the bank wants to extend this to get customers on board in a zero-contact digital way for other products in a phased manner.

Three years ago, demonetisation gave a big push to digital banking in India.

Now COVID-19 is giving it an even bigger push as bank customers are opting for social distancing.

Even octogenarian pensioners are refraining from visiting branches and instead learning how to bank through their mobile phones from their grandchildren.

This is a good omen. All banks are gearing up to seize the digital opportunity to bring down the cost of customer acquisition and cut down the turnaround time for transactions.

The crisis is also opening up new business avenues for banks.

For instance, the demand for loan against gold has been rising every day.

In small towns and even in villages, cash-strapped families are rushing to bank counters to borrow against gold ornaments.

This is one part of the banking story in India during the current pandemic.

The other part is the grit and determination with which the bankers are going about their business these days, at times even risking their lives.

Like doctors, health workers, police and media persons, bankers are also COVID warriors.

They are with their customers to meet their banking needs and more.

On November 8, 2016, when Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi made the historic announcement of a currency swap which was to replace 86 per cent of Rs 17.97 trillion worth of currency in circulation, most branch managers could not sleep well till the 50-day exercise got over on December 30.

They had to make sure that every customer was taken care of, old high-value currency notes were exchanged with new notes, and that the bank could use the opportunity for generating low-cost current and savings accounts.

On top of that, they needed to be on their toes so that none of their colleagues was used for money laundering.

For the 155,000 branch managers in India, the COVID-19 time is far more challenging than the demonetisation days.

For the record, India has the maximum number of bank branches globally, followed by China and Columbia.

This is true about banking correspondents (BC), popularly known as bank mitra, too.

There are around 800,000 BC outlets across India; typically each outlet is managed by two BCs.

Of these BCs, 126,000 work exclusively for the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which covers 387.3 million depositors.

The movement of migrant workers from cities to their native places has made their job much more difficult.

Rajkiran Rai G, managing director, Union Bank of India, talks about a branch manager in Thane, Maharashtra, who goes to this workplace every day in public transport, changing three buses.

The working hours at the branches have been cut and footfalls have come down, but work has not been reduced to that extent since the employee strength has been halved as each of them comes to the branch every alternate day.

On top of that, there is the lurking fear of being affected by the virus.

In one branch of a private bank in Mumbai, I have seen a sofa set kept in front of the counter of the cashier to create distance between a customer and the banker.

A 56-year-old employee of the Malad branch of IDBI Bank in Mumbai died of the novel coronavirus on May 1 after being treated at the Bombay Hospital for 12 days.

Eight employees of the State Bank of India's Kaveripakkam branch in Ranipet district in Tamil Nadu were quarantined after one banker -- on a three-day deputation at that branch -- tested positive.

The assistant manager at the bank's Ranipet town branch went back to Chennai after the district administration ordered suspension of bank operations in Ranipet town.

When the manager of the bank's Kaveripakkam village branch went on a three-day leave, the assistant manager of the Ranipet town branch was deputed to the Kaveripakkam branch.

These bankers may have got the virus from their customers.

Six employees of State Bank's Park Town branch in Chennai were found to be COVID positive after they visited the nearby Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital to distribute masks, sanitisers and food packets.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, a three-month insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19 beginning March 30, offers Rs 50 lakh to health workers if they die while discharging their duties fighting COVID-19.

This does not cover bankers. Public sector banks have announced up to Rs 20 lakh compensation for their employees till September 2020 in case of death on duty due to COVID-19.

That is too small a cover for what these COVID warriors have been doing for their customers and businesses.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay, a consulting editor with Business Standard, is an author and senior adviser to Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd.
With restrictions easing under Unlock 1.0, Covid-19 cases in Rajasthan have surged by over 2,600 in the first 10 days of June, prompting a worried government to clamp down on inter-state movement.

Between June 1, when Unlock 1.0 came into force and restrictions were eased on travel, malls, hotels, offices and restaurants, and June 10, Covid-19 positive cases in the state have risen by 2620.

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has also expressed concern about the rise in coronavirus cases.

He said the government will regulate inter-state movement as people are not getting tested or they get tested but reports come after they travel, which is leading to the spread of the infection.

Health minister Raghu Sharma said the health department is studying the causes for this unprecedented rise in coronavirus cases.

After Unlock 1, it has come to our notice that people are violating the guidelines. They are gathering in crowds, not maintaining social distance and not wearing masks. At this rate, infection will rise, he said.

He said the government will not shy away from strict measures to control the spread of the virus as this was in the peoples interest.

Sharma also stressed that the state has a commendable recovery rate of 75 percent while the mortality rate is low at 2.25 percent. The rate of doubling of cases is 22 days, he said adding that overall the situation in the state is under control and some harsh steps are being taken to keep the situation under control.

Dr Sudhir Bhandari, SMS Medical College principal said the main reason for the spike in cases is carelessness by people.

After the lockdown ended, people have become careless and casual. They are not adhering to social protocols such as social distancing, hand hygiene and wearing of masks. As restrictions are relaxed, everyone should cooperate and be careful, he said.

The health department data shows that from April 1 to May 1, the total increase in cases was 2,541.

Between May 1 and June 1, the number of cases rose by 6,363. On May 1, the total cases were 2,617 and on June 1, the total cases were 8,980.

Data shows that between May and June, almost 40 percent of cases were those of migrants who started returning to the state from end of April.

Of the total 6,363 positive cases between May and June, 2,543 or 39.9 percent were migrants.

On June 1, the total number of Covid-19 positive cases stood at 8,980 and on June 10, this increased to 11,600, an addition of 2,620 cases.

The total number of migrants who have tested Covid-19 positive in this period is 735. On June 1, the number of Covid-19 positive migrant cases was 2,543 which rose to 3,278 on June 10.

A majority of the Covid-19 positive cases in these 10 days have been reported from Bharatpur, Alwar, Baran, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Pali districts.
D etectives investigating the fatal shooting of journalist Lyra McKee in April 2019 have recovered the gun which killed her.

Lyra, who was 29, was killed as she observed rioting on the Creggan estate on the outskirts of Londonderry on April 18.

One man has been charged with her murder and a second man has been charged with offences relating to the rioting that preceded it.

Lyra was standing near a police vehicle when she was hit by a bullet fired by a masked gunman towards officers.

PSNI Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy said: I can confirm that a gun that was seized and recovered by police last week in Derry was the gun that killed Lyra McKee.

The gun and bullets that were recovered by police / Police Service of Northern Ireland

One line of inquiry is that the weapon was stolen some time ago and used a number of times prior to the journalists murder.

Speaking about the link between Lyra's murder and the recovery of the Hemmerli X-Esse pistol, Det Supt Murphy said he was confident the bringing of the gun onto the streets on the day of Lyra's death involved a number of senior figures in the new IRA.

"Todays confirmation is a significant step forward and opens up a new avenue of investigation for my team," he said.

Lyra McKee Funeral - In pictures 1 /30 Lyra McKee Funeral - In pictures A mourner wearing a Hogwarts scarf holds the order of service for the funeral for journalist Lyra McKee at St Annes Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Getty Images The congregation arrive for the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee at St Annes Cathedral Getty Images The cover of the Order of Service for the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast PA Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, left, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish President Michael D Higgins attend the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast AP Mourners embrace ahead of the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee lies on a pew at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland REUTERS Mary Lou McDonald, Leader of Sinn Fein and Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn attend for the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee at St Annes Cathedral Getty Images The hearse carrying the body of murdered journalist Lyra McKee arrives at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast PA Lyra McKee's partner Sara Canning (C) reacts during the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee (29), who was killed by a dissident republican paramilitary in Northern Ireland at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast AFP/Getty Images Mourners listen to the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee outside St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast PA The coffin is carried into the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast PA A mourner wearing a Harry Potter themed scarf arrives to attend the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee at St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland Reuters The service sheet for the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast PA Mourners, including one wearing a Gryffindor scarf, wait for the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast PA Mourners arrive to attend the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee at St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland Reuters Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald PA A mourner wearing Harry Potter themed cloak arrives to attend the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee at St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland REUTERS Leader of the Labour Party,Jeremy Corbyn Getty Images Taoiseach Leo Varadkar arrives for the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee Getty Images Mourners wearing Harry Potter themed shirts arrive to attend the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee Reuters The funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast PA Mourners arrive at the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee at St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland Reuters President Michael D Higgins before the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast PA Prime Minister Theresa May attends the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee Getty Images

"We will be relentless in pursuing opportunities to bring to justice every person who was involved in the chain of events that led to the gunman indiscriminately firing four shots.

Those shots were fired intentionally towards police Land Rovers, placing many officers at significant risk of death or serious injury.

"The presence of bystanders like Lyra, who were watching the unfolding events, was an inconvenience to the terrorists but the gunman clearly placed no importance on that.

"Any reasonable assessment must be that for the New IRA, the community were, and continue to be, expendable collateral damage."

He added: Lyras murder was not an accident  it was an inevitable and entirely predictable result of terrorist violence."

Man charged with murder of journalist Lyra McKee

Police are also investigating how the gun and its ammunition was transported from Creggan to Ballymagroarty and hidden in a field within 250 yards of local housing after it was fired.

Det Supt Murphy said a detailed forensic examination of the gun, ammunition and plastic bags in which they were wrapped in is ongoing.

The leading officer of the investigation said: "We are using the most advanced DNA technology available and we will exhaust every opportunity to recover forensic evidence.

Last night, I had the unenviable task of telling Lyras family and her partner Sara that after months of painstaking work, the gun that killed Lyra has been removed from the terrorists control.

"Understandably they are relieved that no other family will ever have to face the devastation arising from the use of that gun, that they have been forced to face for the past 15 months.

Lyra McKee was advocated for gay rights and wrote for publications including Buzzfeed and Private Eye / Getty Images

"This is also a very difficult moment for all of them, as they struggle every day to deal with Lyras brutal murder."

Lyra's family are appealing for the local community to assist with the police investigation.

"As the net gradually tightens, those who fired the gun, transported it, moved it, stored it, carried it, hid it or interacted with it in any way, should expect the police at their door," said Det Supt Murphy.

"One positive forensic result, coupled with the extensive evidence we have already gathered, will have significant consequences for the New IRA. That result might not come today, it might not come tomorrow, but we have been patient for 15 months so time is on our side.

Our collective efforts have lost no energy or focus. I know who was involved. I know who the gunman is. I have asked the scientists to find me the evidence that will enable me to complete the jigsaw of the events of 18 April that I have been building for Lyras family since the night she was murdered."

Police forensic investigators at the scene of the shooting / Getty Images

The Belfast writer was living in Londonderry at the time with her partner, Sara Canning.

The gay rights activist was an articulate advocate of a new and more tolerant Northern Ireland and part of the generation which reached adulthood during peace time.

She wrote for publications including Private Eye and Buzzfeed.

Her funeral was attended by then prime minister Theresa May, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Irish President Michael D Higgins at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast.

Anyone with photographs or videos of the events of April 18 are asked to submit any evidence via the Major Incident Public Portal.

Alternatively, those who wish to speak to detectives can contact the Maydown team using 101 or anonymously via the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

There is a 10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those involved in the murder of Lyra McKee.
The United Nations voiced "horror" after reports that eight mass graves had been discovered in an area recently seized by the unity government after forces loyal to eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar withdrew. "UNSMIL notes with horror reports on the discovery of at least eight mass graves in past days, the majority of them in Tarhuna," the UN mission said in a statement on Twitter. "International law requires that the authorities conduct prompt, effective & transparent investigations into all alleged cases of unlawful deaths," it added. Several presumed mass graves have been discovered near Tarhuna, southeast of the capital Tripoli, since it was seized back by forces loyal to the UN-recognised Government of National Accord on June 5. An AFP journalist on Thursday was granted access to a site where several bodies had been discovered and exhumed by the Libyan Red Crescent for identification the day before. Scraps of clothing were scattered around the site near graves covered with fresh soil. "We are searching all the mass graves to identify the bodies and return them to their families," said GNA interior minister Fathi Bachagha, who was in Tarhuna on Thursday. UNSMIL welcomed a decision on Thursday by the justice minister to establish a committee to investigate the finds. "We call on its members to promptly undertake the work aimed at securing the mass graves, identifying the victims, establishing causes of death & returning the bodies to next of kin," it said. Separately, 160 bodies were also discovered in the morgue by GNA forces upon their arrival in the city, according to the director of Tarhuna's public hospital, Aburawi al-Buzeidi. The bodies "were transferred to Tripoli and Misrata by the Red Crescent", he told journalists, giving no further detail. Tarhuna was the main rear base for a devastating year-long offensive by eastern-based Haftar's forces to seize the capital from the unity government. Pro-Haftar forces backed by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had been battling since April in fighting that has left hundreds dead and forced 200,000 to flee their homes. In recent weeks the GNA, reinforced with Turkish drones and air defences, has staged a pounding counter-attack to regain control of the whole of the northwest. Haftar's forces this month abandoned their remaining positions in the southern suburbs to advancing government troops. The US, EU and other foreign powers have called for a ceasefire following Haftar's losses in Tripoli. But the resurgent GNA has vowed to push on for Sirte, Kadhafi's hometown and the last major settlement before the traditional boundary between western Libya and Haftar's stronghold in the east. The GNA's counter-assault is the latest round of fighting in years of violence following the 2011 toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a Western-backed uprising. A member of security forces affiliated with the GNA's Interior Ministry surveyed the reported site of a mass grave in the town of Tarhuna, southeast of the capital Tripoli
In the days and weeks leading up to Mondays budget hearing, Fort Bend ISD teachers and employees urged trustees to reconsider including an annual employee salary increases and the customary step increase for teachers next year. However, citing concerns that COVID-19-related issues will cause an economic downtown, Superintendent Charles Dupre and administrators continued to recommended a number of budget cuts next year, including employee raises and teacher step increases.

Trustees Jim Rice, Grayle James, Dave Rosenthal and Kristin Tassin voiced clear support support for the recommendations. In years past, Fort Bend ISD and other districts faced deep cuts to state funding revenues that led to teacher layoffs across the state. Trustees voiced concerns the district could again face future layoffs due to decreased state revenues caused by an expected drop in sales tax revenues caused by COVID-19 businesses closures and other factors.

Related: Fort Bend ISD superintendent: High school football, extracurricular activities face uncertain future next year

I think it is going to be a tough year or two in Texas as we try to spring back from this, Tassin said and thanked teachers for sending emails to communicate their concerns.

I received your emails. I have read your emails. And, I respect and appreciate the feedback, Tassin said.

But, to say we dont take care of teachers is just not true. Teachers are always at the forefront of what this board discusses: students and teachers. We simply cannot risk giving raises now only to have to lay you (teachers and district employees) off in a year.

Later in the meeting, several people spoke during public comments and urged trustees to reconsider.

Most of us rely on summer work just to make through the summer months, said Denice Dolcoe, a bus driver for the district. As summer school classes are being held online, Dolcoe urged trustees to consider the financial hardships faced by unemployed bus drivers who may not be able to find temporary work. This is the reality of bus drivers and other staff members.

Related: Fort Bend County officials divided over division of federal COVID-19 relief funding

Glenda Macal, president of Fort Bend American Federation of Teachers, also urged trustees to reconsider.

While we understand the need to be frugal in extraordinary times, teachers and staff should not be the ones to bear the burden, Macal said and told trustees Houston and Alief ISD are proposing a step increase and Pearland ISD is proposing a 4 percent increase on top of a step increase, which she argued could cause teachers to leave the district for higher salaries elsewhere.

We cannot afford to lose good teachers and our students deserve better, she said.

The proposed budget calculations currently include the teachers stipend program that offers bonuses for teachers who manage extracurricular UIL activities. However, district officials say it remains unclear how extracurricular activities will be affected by COVID-19 related issues such as social distancing requirements. It also remains uncertain what programs and activities will be allowed to resume and that could cause changes or funding reductions next year to the stipend program payments usually provided to teachers.

Proposed Budget Highlights

Chief Financial Officer Bryan Guinn outlined the details of the proposed budget during a detailed budget presentation currently posted on the district website which indicate the budget is based on a projected enrollment of 77,880 students with revenues estimated at $9,288 per student.

Projected revenues total $730.13 million with expenditures totaling $737.49 with the shortfall to be covered by reserves. District policy requires 90 days of operating expenditures be kept in reserve and proposed budget is structured to maintain those guidelines.

In addition to employee raises, Guinn and administrators recommended shelving a number of projects and initiatives planned before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, approximately $7.7 million received preliminary funding approval next year to include $400,000 for cybersecurity, $1.1 million for expansion of the Early Literacy Academy and Early Intervention Academy (special needs), $2.8 million for a teacher planning time initiative, $1.9 million to fund year two of the early college high school program, $1.2 million for the reading academy and $300,000 for innovative programming among other things.

Guinn told trustees the district did realize some savings last year when schools were closed, such as lower electricity and utility costs and gas savings from not providing bus services for several weeks. However, expenditures were also increased by the cost of providing hazard pay and personal protective equipment to workers at the districts student meal distribution sites.

Although federal funding covers the cost of the meals, revenues were decreased as school cafeterias were closed, Guinn said. Federal CARES Act funding recently provided $134 million in COVID-19 relief to Fort Bend County, a large portion of which was used for testing sites, personal protective equipment, a rental and mortgage reimbursement program for county residents, aid for municipalities and a grant program for local businesses. However, Guinn said Fort Bend ISD had submitted a request for reimbursement for certain eligible expenses which may or may not be approved by county officials.

Agenda documents note the proposed tax rate at $1.2324 per $100 of assessed property value, which is comprised of two parts: the maintenance and operates portion (M&O) of $0.9424 and the portion used to pay the districts bond debt, called the Interested and Sinking rate (I&S) of $0.2900.

Last years tax rate equaled $1.2700 with an M&O of $0.9900 and an I&S at $0.2800. The proposed tax rate includes a one-penny increase in the debt service rate needed to fund projects approved by voters in a 2018 bond election. The overall proposed tax rate represents a decrease of -$0.0376 created by a nearly five cent decrease in the 2020 M&O rate of $.99.

However, despite a slightly lower tax rate the average annual property tax bill is expected to increase $35.62 from $3,371.53 last year to $3,407.15 due to an expected 7 percent increase in property values, according to the agenda documents. Trustees took no action. The proposed budget is scheduled for a final vote at the June 15 school board meeting. The district will receive the certified tax roll from the Fort Bend County Appraisal District on July 25 and the proposed tax rate will receive final approval at the Sept. 21 meeting.

knix@hcnonline.com
Images have been released of the gun used to kill Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland, after police confirmed it was the weapon used in shooting of the journalist.

Ms McKee, 29, was shot while observing rioting in the Creggan area of Derry in April 2019, with her death causing widespread condemnation across the world.

A Hammerli X-Esse .22 pistol was found during a two-day search in Londonderry last week, with police believing the firearm was stolen and used several times before Ms McKee's death.

Images of the Hammerli X-Esse .22 pistol (pictured) used to kill journalist Lyra McKee have been released after Northern Ireland police confirmed it was the gun used in the 29-year-old's death in April 2019

Police confirmed the the firearm jammed as it was fired by the gunman, who was also seen trying to eject the round of bullets (pictured)

The journalist (pictured) was killed while observing rioting in the Creggan area of Derry in April 2019

Jason Murphy, detective superintendent for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said: 'I can confirm that a gun that was seized and recovered by police last week in Derry was the gun that killed Lyra McKee.'

The detective also confirmed that the shot which killed the journalist was fired in the direction of officers.

Derry resident Paul McIntyre, 52, has been charged with the Ms McKee's murder and will be tried in Northern Ireland without a jury.

Mr Murphy stated that advanced DNA technology was used to determine whether the gunman left traces on the weapon.

Derry resident Paul McIntyre (pictured) has been charged with the Ms McKee's murder and the 52-year-old will be tried in Northern Ireland without a jury

Footage of Ms McKee's death shows that the firearm jammed as it was fired by the gunman, who was also seen trying to eject the round of bullets.

Police believe this new information could be useful in trying to find the true history of events in this case.

Mr Murphy added: 'Our collective efforts have lost no energy or focus. I know who was involved. I know who the gunman is.

'I have asked the scientists to find me the evidence that will enable me to complete the jigsaw of the events of 18 April that I have been building for Lyra's family since the night she was murdered.'

The detective also confirmed that 'the net is tightening' for the IRA.

Ms McKee's death cause widespread condemnation across the world, with the incident helping to kick-start political talks surrounding the Stormont powersharing early this year.

The journalist's funeral in April 2019 was attended by Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, President Michael D Higgins and former British prime minister Theresa May.

Ms McKees funeral (pictured order of service) was attended by many major political figures, including then-British prime minister Theresa May (not pictured)

Mr Murphy said: 'Last night, I had the unenviable task of telling Lyra's family and her partner Sara that after months of painstaking work, the gun that killed Lyra has been removed from the terrorists' control.

'Understandably they are relieved that no other family will ever have to face the devastation arising from the use of that gun, that they have been forced to face for the past 15 months.

'This is also a very difficult moment for all of them, as they struggle every day to deal with Lyra's brutal murder.'
Chandigarh, June 11 : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal, here on Thursday, urged External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to help around 20,000 Punjabi workers stranded without passports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and take steps to bring them back.

In a statement the SAD chief said around 20,000 Punjabis had lost jobs in private companies in Dubai. They wanted to return, but couldn't as their passports had been impounded by employers.

Badal urged the External Affairs Minister to ask the Indian Consulate in Dubai to take up the issue with the Emirates authorities and get the passports returned to workers.

He said most of those workers had applied online for return to India but could not return because of lack of passports.

Badal said many youths were ready to pay for their air tickets and urged the Centre to intervene urgently.

The SAD president told the External Affairs Minister while some of the workers could return by air, there thousands others were not in a position to buy return tickets as they had exhausted their savings.

To rescue them naval ships could be sent to bring them back home, he said and also urged Jaishankar to ask the Indian Consulate to extend financial help to workers who lacked money to purchase food items.
The Chinese government has officially eliminated pangolin scales from the list of 2020 approved traditional Chinese medicine ingredients, described by a move campaigners as a critical step in saving the most trafficked mammal of the world.

According to Science Alert, pangolins are insectivores covered with scales, nearly the size of a cat, that are greatly valued in Asian counties for both their meat and scales. More than 130 tons of products related to pangolin were seized by authorities last year, which is estimated to be up to 400,000 animals, as stated by conservation group WildAid.

Eight species of pangolins are found in Asia and Africa. The international Union for Conservation of Nature identified three species of pangolin as critically endangered- the Chinese Pangolin, Philippine pangolin, and Sunda pangolin, which could be found across Southeast Asia. The five remaining species, which include the Indian pangolin, are categorized as either endangered or vulnerable.

Even though pangolin scales are made of keratin, which is identical to the material found rhino horn and human fingernails, traditional Chinese medicine fosters the credence that they help reduce inflammation and improve blood circulation.

On Tuesday, the Chinese state-run media stated that the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the government's official compendium of drugs that covers traditional Chinese and Western medicines, have already eliminated pangolin scales on the list of approved ingredients as an obligation to wild resources exhaustion.

In a report by CNN, according to David Olson, director of Conservation at WWF Hog Kong, these steps of the Chinese government will create great impact since actions like these are critical and needed to be taken if genuine conservation of these animals will happen.

Odson uttered that tradition Chinese medicine and consumption are said to have the most demands for pangolin that became the number top reasons for the illegal trade.

Read also: Fact Check: Did Coronavirus Begin at Wuhan Market with Pangolins as Intermediate Hosts?

After China's State Forestry and Grassland Bureau made an announcement regarding the upgrade of the Chinese pangolin to a first-level protected wild animal, the top-level protection status along with tigers and pandas, a few days passed the decision to eliminate pangolin from the list was released.

9 News also reported that , Sophia Zhang, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation Pangolin Working Group director, stated that while she was glad by the result, she felt that the actions was quite late.

As stated by Zhang, many years have already passed and questioning the great number of pangolins which have been hunted and killed before the action was taken.

Trading of pangolin has caused a destructive impact on Asia's local population. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature said that since 1960 the population of pangolin in China have decreased by more than 90%.

Since pangolins were hunted in Asia to their limits, a booming trade have started in scales from African-native pangolin species. Between 2013 and 2019, two pangolin species native to Africa, the giant pangolin and white-bellied pangolin, have moved from being vulnerable to endangered due to reduced population.

In 2018, though China has banned pangolin products import, the trade was relentless, with regularly intercepted sizeable shipments on their way to the country.

According to Steve Blake, Beijing's WildAir chief representative, in recent years a public movement was growing inside China promoting eager protection for pangolins.

Related article: Facebook Users Still Buy, Sell Pangolin Parts Despite Being Tagged as 'Coronavirus Carrier'

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A landmark bill allowing judges to jail paedophiles for life is set to pass federal parliament on Thursday.

Those who commit sickening crimes against children have often been handed short sentences, with some even released into the community without supervision, attorney general Christian Porter said.

Child abusers would receive a mandatory minimum sentence under the new bill, which also limits bail for repeat offenders.

Under current rules, a third of federally-convicted child sex offenders spent no time in prison in 2019 - and those who did go to jail averaged just 18 months behind bars.

Most child sex offences are dealt with by states, with this new law only applying to federal cases.

A new law targeting paedophiles is likely to pass in federal parliament on Thursday (stock image)

The proposed new laws are aimed at dealing with online or overseas predators, with new offences being set up to target the owners of websites known to host child sex abuse content.

'Sexual crimes against children destroy lives,' Mr Porter said on Thursday.

''It simply beggars belief that nearly a third of all child sex offenders who were sentenced last year were not required to spend a single day behind bars,' the attorney general said.

'Despite the devastating and life-long impacts that their crimes have on their young victims and their families.'

The bill will likely pass in federal parliament today (pictured, Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison on Wednesday)

While Labor has expressed concerns about mandatory minimum sentencing, senators have indicated they won't oppose the bill.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese told parliament on Wednesday his party would help the government in 'any way possible' to end child abuse.

It follows comments made by home affairs minister Peter Dutton, after a police operation saved 14 children from abuse.

'The Australian Federal Police working with AUSTRAC and others is detecting more and more people who are depraved, who are online and who deserve to be caught and will be punished,' Mr Dutton told parliament.

It would also create offences for when someone subjects a child to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, or which causes a child to die.

The proposal will not apply to people under 18.

The new laws are particularly seeking to combat child sex abuse online, and may even punish website operators who let such content be published on their site

The radical overhaul will also bring in a new offence for grooming of third parties with the intention of procuring children for sexual abuse - to target instances of offenders approaching parents and carers.

The minimum prison terms will be five to seven years for the most serious child sex offences.

Reoffenders will also face minimum sentences from one to four years for all Commonwealth child sex offences.

The Australian Federal Police received almost 18,000 reports of child exploitation involving Australian children or Australian child sex offenders in 2018, which was almost double the number from the previous year.

'Sentences need to reflect community expectations and act as a significant deterrent to others, which is why these sorts of despicable crimes must result in significant penalties, not simply a slap on the wrist which is often the case,' Mr Dutton said last year.
New research from The George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford has found significant gender bias in research authorship relating to COVID-19, which means that women's views are not equally shaping the response to the pandemic.

Women are under-represented as authors of research papers in many scientific areas [1], particularly in the most senior positions of first and last author, and this research published today in BMJ Global Health finds the trend persisting in publications on COVID-19.

The research team analysed publications on COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic in January 2020 to identify the representation of women in any authorship position, and as first or last author. Overall, women represented just over one third (34%) of all authors. Only 29% of the 1,235 papers assessed by first author were women, while this was even lower for last author at just 26% (of 1,216 papers).

'Our findings on the major gender gap in research authorship on COVID-19, and in the most senior positions in particular, mirrors the under-representation of women in other areas of science research; a trend that has persisted for years,' said Dr Ana-Catarina Pinho-Gomes of The George Institute UK, who led the analysis.

'There are many possible reasons for their under-representation in COVID-19 research. For instance, women may have less time to commit to research during the pandemic [2], they may also be denied access to COVID-19 research owing to its anticipated high impact [3], and such research may also be considered the realm of those in leadership positions, which remain most commonly held by men,' Dr Pinho-Gomes highlighted.

Crucially, this under-representation of women is likely to be synonymous with an under-representation of research pertaining to gendered issues around the coronavirus, and to the availability and interrogation of sex-disaggregated data, so research insights into COVID-19 may only tell an incomplete picture of the sex and gender impacts of the pandemic.

According to the authors, one possible solution to overcome the persistently low representation of women in authorship of scientific papers, including those on COVID-19, would be to allow voluntary disclosure of gender as part of the submission of papers to scientific journals. This would allow editorial teams to monitor gender inequalities in authorship and would encourage research teams to foster equality in authorship for the benefit of women and men alike.

###

This analysis was supported by a COVID-19 research grant from the University of New South Wales. The research is published in BMJ Global Health.

References: [1] Author gender analysis of 1.5 million medical papers [2] Female academics juggling research and childcare [3] Access to COVID-19 research may be influenced by perceived impact
Central Sulawesi lawmaker Wiwik Jumatul Rofiah (right), calls for a transparent investigation into the deaths of three civilians in Poso, Indonesia, June 11, 2020.

Central Sulawesi police and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) have formed a team to investigate the deaths of three civilians who were allegedly shot by Indonesian government forces during a counter-terrorist manhunt, the provincial police chief said Thursday.

The three young people were shot and killed in two separate incidents in April and June in Poso regency, allegedly by police and military personnel taking part in Operation Tinombala, a joint task force established in 2016 to hunt down, capture or kill members of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), a pro-Islamic State militant group.

The Central Sulawesi police will lead the investigation team, provincial Chief Syafril Nursal said.

Investigators have gone to Poso and we are waiting for the results of their investigation, he said.

Qidam Alfariski Mofance, 20, was killed after allegedly being tortured by Tinombala task force members after meeting with his relatives in Poso on April 9, according to officials.

Later, Firman, 17, and Syarifudding, 25, who both went by one name, were killed while farming on June 2. Tinombala members, joined by Central Sulawesi and Poso police, were patrolling a local forest when the shootings occurred, according to officers.

Officials said 41 Tinombala members had been questioned about the shootings. Provincial police spokesman Didik Supranoto said there were no suspects, but 29 had been questioned regarding Qidams death while the others had been questioned in the cases of Firman and Syarifudding.

At the moment they are being questioned and their status is still as witnesses, Didik told reporters.

Dedi Azkari, the chairman of Komnas HAM in Central Sulawesi, said his organization was collecting evidence from the victims families.

Based on the reports we have, these three cases involve gross human rights violations, he said, adding that those responsible must face justice because their carelessness led to the deaths of innocent civilians.

These three victims were not dangerous. If they were suspected of being followers of MIT, you have to arrest them first, not kill them. Obviously this is a gross human rights violation, he said.

Investigation must be conducted openly

Central Sulawesi lawmaker Wiwik Jumatul Rofiah, meanwhile, called for a transparent investigation.

We dont want to have the impression that you tried to protect the perpetrators even though the culprits could be authorities. The investigation must be conducted openly, she told reporters in Palu on Thursday.

She also urged the government to terminate Operation Tinombala.

It is strange that it takes years and hundreds of personnel just to catch the Eastern Indonesia Mujahidin, which has fewer than 20 members, she said.

In April, the government announced that Rajif Gandi Sabban (alias Rajes), a senior MIT member, was killed in a shootout with security forces in a Poso jungle. At the time, Didik said MIT only had 13 members.
This is something that is in the distant future, Mr. Mnuchin said.

Asked if the process should be accelerated in response to recent unrest, Mr. Mnuchin said that the currency timelines were set by career officials in an extensive interagency process. The $10 bill is next to be redesigned and released in 2026, and Mr. Mnuchin indicated that he had no intention of replacing Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury secretary, on that bill.

A Treasury Department spokesperson noted that the 2030 timeline was set before 2015 by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Federal Reserve Board and the Secret Service. They decided to redesign the $10 and the $50 first because the $20 is the standard A.T.M. note. Because it has the highest volume of the three, it requires robust security features and sufficient time to make those security changes.

Mr. Mnuchin demurred as to whether he personally believed Tubman should ever be added to the $20.

Im not going to comment on it because, as Ive said, its not going to be my decision, Mr. Mnuchin said. Its going to be a Treasury secretarys decision in the future.

Mr. Mnuchin did compare changing the money to altering monuments in Washington, but then was careful to say that he was not taking any position on the matter.

President Trump has expressed his opposition to removing monuments or renaming military facilities that pay homage to the United States history of racism. As a candidate in 2016, he said that he did not believe that Tubman should replace Jackson, who was a slave owner, and called the idea pure political correctness.
Department for Basic Education (DBE) Minister Angie Motshekga has published the amended school calendar for 2020.

The four school terms for 2020 are now gazetted as follows:

Term 1: 15 January  18 March

15 January  18 March Term 2: 8 June  7 August

8 June  7 August Term 3: 12 August  23 September

12 August  23 September Term 4: 5 October  15 December

This new calendar means that between Term 2 and Term 3 there will only be a single days holiday, as Monday 10 August is a public holiday.

However, to provide some compensation for this, Term 3 will only comprise seven weeks.

This calendar has been orchestrated in such a way that there will only be one public holiday throughout 2020 that results in a day taken off school  taking place on 16 June.

Delayed reopening

Schools were closed on 18 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, following a lengthy hiatus, were set to reopen on 1 June for Grade 7 and 12 learners.

However, this date was postponed by a week because the majority of schools were not ready to take learners.

Schools finally reopened to these learners on 8 June, although schools that are not ready to accept these learners in accordance with the guidelines set out by the DBE are not allowed to do so.

DBE director-general Mathanzima Hubert Mweli said that according to DBE data, 97.6% of South African schools were ready to accept Grade 7 and 12 learners as of 7 June.

This translates to 23,100 of 23,675 schools whose facilities were ready to take learners.

Additionally, chief executive of Rand Water Sipho Mosai said that Rand Water has been able to provide water tanks to 2,443 of the 2,634 schools that needed them.

Grade 7 and 12 learners whose schools were not yet ready for them would get access to alternative measures which have been developed by different regional departments, the DBE said.

These included sending these learners to nearby schools, using excess boarding school facilities, and putting learners in camps.

Reopening of other grades

While the DBE has reopened schools for Grade 7 and 12 learners, learners from other grades are yet to return to school.

This poses a problem for parents who need to return to work but dont have anyone to look after their children.

Government has said previously that it will phase in other grades when it is determined that schools are ready to take them.

However, in a Government Gazette published on 1 June, return dates were provided for all grades.

These dates were as follows:

Grade 7, 12  1 June 2020

1 June 2020 Grade 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 11  6 July 2020

6 July 2020 Grade 4, 5, 8, 9  3 August 2020

The gazette states that schools may be allowed to deviate from the phased-in return of grades on specific dates.

This is as long as they comply with minimum measures and requirements, and apply to reopen for these other grades to the head of department in their province.

Amended 2020 school holidays

Now read: Why the reopening of South African schools was postponed
Manama

Bahrain Antiquities and Culture Authority (BACA) President Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa and Chief International Participants Operations Officer at Dubai Expo 2020 Omar Shehadeh discussed the latest construction and organizational developments related to the Bahrain National Pavilion at the global event.

Shaikha Mai said she was looking forward to visiting the Bahrain pavilion expected to be completed by the end of the year.

She praised Dubai's ability to face the current challenges imposed by the coronavirus, communicate with all participating countries and inform them about the progress of work to overcome the crisis and host a successful expo in 2021.

The Pearling Trail project, registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List, will be completed next year and the Bahrain Pavilion will contribute to its promotion as an important testimony to the history of Bahrain and the region, she added.

Dubai Expo 2020 will be held from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. Despite the postponement, the event is keeping the name Expo 2020 Dubai.
Mitch McConnell calls out double standard in allowing protests, but not church services

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Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called out a double standard among Democrats who restricted the First Amendment right of Christians to gather for in-person worship services during the coronavirus pandemic but celebrated throngs of people protesting in the nations streets in the wake of George Floyds death.

Im grateful that after several harrowing days of looting and riots law enforcement restored order and helped these peaceful protesters be heard, notwithstanding the far left calls to disband the police altogether. I believe most Americans are ready to consider how the memories of black Americans like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor can move us to continue combating residual racism, the Kentucky senator began in an address to the Senate Tuesday.

He then made it clear that his address would be about defending the First Amendment right of all Americans to speak out about issues they strongly support and not just the ones endorsed by powerful people.

It is becoming clear to many Americans, including many who appreciate and applaud the recent protests, that our national life during this pandemic has slid toward a double standard, McConnell said. Many Americans feel they have just seen those fastidious regulations and that puritanical zeal disappear in an instant because a new cause has emerged that powerful people agree with.

He noted that state and local leaders put normal American life totally on ice for weeks and asked citizens to make fighting the coronavirus a priority while making many sacrifices.

For weeks, the mainstream media heaped scorn on any small citizen protest, outdoor gathering or even the suggestion that other important values might require a reappraisal of certain restrictions, he said.

A month ago, small protest demonstrations were widely condemned as reckless and selfish. Now, massive rallies that fill entire cities are not just praised but are called especially brave because of the exact same health risk that brought condemnation when the cause was different, McConnell continued.

People just spent the spring watching their small businesses dissolve, or canceling weddings or missing religious observances for the longest spells in their lives or missing the last days of a loved ones life and then missing the funeral. Never were the American people told about any exemption for things they felt strongly about, he noted.

He then called out Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for selectively allowing Black Lives Matter protests but not church services during the pandemic.

Here in the District of Columbia, the mayor celebrates massive street protests. She actually joins them herself, but on her command, churches and houses of worship remain shut, he said. I believe even the largest church buildings in the District are still subject to the 10-person limit for the things the mayor deems inessential.

Houses of worship in the District of Columbia are not permitted to hold indoor or outdoor services with more than 10 people present. This includes the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest church building in North America, the Catholic News Agency reported. The Archdiocese of Washington resumed public masses throughout the entire archdiocese on Tuesday. Masses in Washington and immediately surrounding counties of Prince George and Montgomery are also limited to a maximum of 10 people.

McConnell also pointed to stay-at-home orders in New York City and the restrictions imposed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who also violated her own social distancing orders, saying freedom of speech, assembly and religion have the same constitutional pedigree.

But apparently, while protests are still permissible, prayer is still too dangerous, the majority leader said.

It is now impossible to avoid the conclusion that local and state leaders are using their powers to encourage constitutionally protected conduct which they personally appreciate, while continuing to ban constitutionally protected conduct which they personally feel is less important, McConnell added.
There were no handbags at dawn as hundreds of shoppers abided by social distance queuing for their first foray into Dublin department stores Brown Thomas and Arnotts in nearly three months.

Staff in both stores wore masks and some in Arnotts on Henry Street even donned visors as they eagerly awaited shoppers who had formed queues from early on in anticipation of the stores reopening.

Trade was steady on the first day of business since their closure in mid-March due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The doorman at Brown Thomas greeted shoppers while cameras counted how many customers walked into the store - to ensure a minimal number at any one time.

Door staff also welcomed customers at Arnotts and one smiling worker offered a mother and her young daughter hand sanitiser as soon as they stepped inside.

Lily Smith (16) was one of the first in the queue at Brown Thomas.

The schoolgirl was celebrating her birthday and mother Lucy was treating her to a Prada bag.

The mother and daughter, from Swords, north Dublin, were delighted to be out for the first time in the city centre since lockdown.

"We're really looking forward to shopping," Ms Smith said. "Lockdown didn't bother me too much.

Browse

"We were able to do food shopping online and Lily was able to keep in touch with friends on the phone, so we got through fine."

Mother Mary Burns (58) and daughter Fiona (23), from Castlebar, Co Mayo, were in the city for official business and decided to pop into Brown Thomas for a browse.

Both were among the few customers seen wearing face masks, and Ms Burns said she'd come prepared for her trip with gloves and hand sanitiser too.

"We like Brown Thomas," Ms Burns said. "We like make-up. You never know, we'll look at purses and bags. It's lovely to see people out and about.

"It's good after being locked down for some time. We had family time at home and now I'm working at home. Fiona has lost her job but hopefully we'll get back to normal soon.

"I think people are waiting to see how things pan out before they come out. Some people are still nervous, especially older people, but for the population of Ireland we haven't had that many cases and now I feel more confident to come out."

One father, who had just bought his teenage son a hooded top in Arnotts, praised the store for offering "really good" service.

"The staff are so friendly and happy to be back," he said.

"It's great to be back out and about. They made it seem normal without being too clinical, which was important.

Rethink

"I didn't wear a face mask because the Government advice hasn't been clear but I'll rethink it if we are told to wear them."

Brown Thomas managing director Donald McDonald said: "The amount of people on a wet Wednesday that have taken the initiative to come to Brown Thomas is very positive, I'm quite pleased."

He said he "hoped" this was a sign that people "want to get back to normality", but added: "We are very conscious of the safety element."

The store would, he said, be "ensuring that safety". Customers can pre-book visits to the two stores via their websites and shoppers can also join virtual queues, receiving texts when they reach the top of the queue.

Brown Thomas is operating a policy of encouraging customers not to touch items unless they have to.

It was noticeable yesterday how shoppers were so conscious of Covid-19 that they were even avoiding touching the hand rests on escalators.

Clothes are being placed in quarantine for 24 hours after each wear, and garments are steamed and cleaned.

New technology will allow shoppers to virtually try makeup on.

There is also a click and collect area in the Brown Thomas car park to allow customers to remain in their car to pick up items.

Some dressing rooms are sectioned off to ensure social distancing, while only a small number of customers are permitted into the store's toilets at any one time.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

I know I wrote on voting and legitimacy just the other day, but Tuesdays Georgia primary was just so egregious I cant let it go. In that post, I looked mostly at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on voting, especially in the swing states, and hence on the perceived legitimacy of the 2020 result. In this post, I want to situate Georgias debacle in the context of grand old American tradition of election theft by insiders, and how electronic voting (both poll books and ballot marking devices) enables that.[1] Now, it is true elections like Georgias raise legitimacy questions. From the Associated Press, Chaos in Georgia: Is messy primary a November harbinger?:

The long-standing wrangle over voting rights and election security came to a head in Georgia, where a messy primary and partisan finger-pointing offered an unsettling preview of a November contest when battleground states[2] could face potentially record turnout. Many Democrats blamed the Republican secretary of state for hours-long lines, voting machine malfunctions, provisional ballot shortages and absentee ballots failing to arrive in time for Tuesdays elections. Democrat Joe Bidens presidential campaign called it completely unacceptable. Georgia Republicans deflected responsibility to metro Atlantas heavily minority and Democratic-controlled counties, while President Donald Trumps top campaign attorney decried the chaos in Georgia. It raised the specter of a worst-case November scenario: a decisive state, like Florida and its hanging chads and butterfly ballots in 2000, remaining in dispute long after polls close. Meanwhile, Trump, Biden and their supporters could offer competing claims of victory or question the elections legitimacy, inflaming an already boiling electorate.

But the legitimacy questions arise exactly because the possibility of election theft exists. If we think back through all the examples of election theft in our rickety election system, from Florida 2000, Ohio 2004, Democratic primaries in 2016 and 2020, and doubtless other examples that will occur to you, we can see five techniques that occur over and over again:

Game the voting locations

Game the voting machines

Game the voter rolls

Game the ballots

Game the count

If we consider voting as a supply chain, these are links in the chain (which party operatives can weaken as needed). All have the effect of making it less likely for some slice of the electorate to vote (Black people, for example). Im not saying that all these techniques are used in every, or even most elections, but the system certainly does put temptations in bad actors way.

Let us consider each in turn, with particular application to the Georgia primary just past. Not everything that can get thrown in this buckets is due to electronic voting machines, but you can find an electronic voting machine example in each one.

Voting Locations

Changing voting locations creates confusion. This is often combined with shrinking the number of voting locations. The effect is to turn some disfavored voters away, or to face them with long lines if they actually find where they are to vote. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

County election officials have closed 214 precincts across the state since 2012, according to an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That figure means nearly 8 percent of the states polling places, from fire stations to schools, have shut their doors over the past six years. One-third of Georgias counties  53 of 159  have fewer precincts today than they did in 2012, according to the AJCs count. Of the counties that have closed voting locations, 39 have poverty rates that are higher than the state average. Thirty have significant African-American populations, making up at least 25 percent of residents. Precinct closures can have legitimate reasons but have the result of discouraging voters, [Andra Gillespie, an Emory University political science professor] said.

(For these reasons, theres a lawsuit in play to restore the Voting Rights Act that the Roberts Court gutted in Shelby v. Holder.)

Voting Machines

Giving a disfavored voting location fewer machines creates long lines, turning some voters away. For example:

Why does my precinct of 1.5k voters get 4x more equipment than a precinct of 700k? It doesn't take a genius to figure out why my semi-rural, red county of 100k residents has beyond enough resources while millions in diverse areas of Metro-ATL go without. #GAVoterSuppression  Erin Sims (@sims_erin) June 9, 2020

Another example:

Took @MsLaToshaBrown 3hrs to vote today in GA. Then Brown drove over to predominantly white polling site in Atl suburbs I come over to this side of town, and white folks are strolling in. On my side of town, we brought stadium chairs.https://t.co/lhIAaHrAlC

W/@ZachMontellaro  Laura Barron-Lopez (@lbarronlopez) June 9, 2020

And of course the machines may fail:

#VoterSuppression 2020 Atlanta 4 out of the 7 largest voting precincts in city of Atlanta currently have 0 working machines.

 Ralph Bunche

 Central Park Rec Center

 St Stephen Baptist Church

 Louise Watley Southeast  Waterbed Reg (@Im_gr8nss) June 9, 2020

Or the printers can run out of paper:

Apparently the state didnt send Pittman Park the official receipt paper that is needed to prove votes were cast in these 2 (should be 10) machines. Someone is on the way with it Still waiting. #votersuppression yet again, @GovKemp @KeishaBottoms  Amanda Beth (@amanda__beth) June 9, 2020

(Official receipt paper sounds like a really good grift.)

Voter Rolls

Striking disfavored classes of voters from the rolls (say, those with Hispanic surnames) means that they cannot vote (or must vote with a provisional ballot, which are often not counted). Of course, electronic poll books provide new opportunities for failure:

The KEY solution that would have solved 90% of yesterday's problems-the paper back up of the poll book. Would have allowed all eligible voters to vote on paper ballots. We fought for this in court. SOS claimed it was not necessary. @virginiasmartin is right. https://t.co/ulkQ4xqVSg  Marilyn Marks #StayHome (@MarilynRMarks1) June 10, 2020

Ballots

Ballots may be denied to voters by failing to mail them (possibly to disfavored zip codes), or by not printing enough of them, or by printer failure, again at disfavored locations. For example:

Nicholas Roth, 30, said hed been in line at an Atlanta precinct where the woman ahead of him was told that she couldnt vote because shed already asked for an absentee ballot. She responded: I never got an absentee ballot. Thats why Im here,' Roth said. The woman was sent to an area with other would-be voters whod had similar issues. The individuals had requested absentee ballots, but they didnt arrive in time to send in, but when they showed up to try and vote in person, they were blocked because the system had indicated they already had an absentee ballot, which, again, they said they never received, Roth said.

Or locations can run out of ballots:

Compilation of election-day problems in Georgia: This is unfair, said 80-year-old Anita Heard, who waited for hours to cast her ballot at Cross Keys High School, where poll workers couldnt start voting computers & ran out of provisional ballots. 1/ https://t.co/1ODvqS8kaA  Jennifer Cohn  (@jennycohn1) June 10, 2020

The Count

Finally, the count may be gamed. Im including this heading for completeness, because I dont understand enough about tabulation and how it differs from state to state (but see here and here).

Conclusion

Naturally, Democrats jumped all over the disaster. From The Hill, Georgia officials launch investigation into election day chaos amid voter suppression concerns:

Voting machines down. Limited provisional ballots. Hours-long lines, Harris tweeted. #VoterSuppression is happening right now across Georgia, particularly in Black communities. We cant let this happen in November. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also described the chaos in Georgia as voter suppression, calling on Republicans to support moving to mail-in voting. Voters in Georgia are facing outrageous voter suppression resulting from years of election system sabotage by Republican lawmakers, Wyden tweeted. If Republicans actually wanted you to vote, they would support #VoteByMail and hand-marked #PaperBallots.

However, its worth noting that Los Angeles  under the control of a Democrat  had the first four of the listed techniques, concentrated in Latin (Sanders) districts. Michigan too had long lines in college (Sanders) districts. The Los Angeles VSAP e-voting system is a disaster in the making, just as much as Georgia.

Now, it is true that Republican Governor Kemps deal to bring in the voting machines has a very bad odor. From The New Republic, Making Georgias Bad Elections Even Worse:

But the governors most consequential move thus far has been to urge the state to buy super-pricey new electronic voting machines to replace its 27,000 ancient, notoriously hackable models that Kemp insisted on using last time for his own election. But lest you think Kemp is motivated by a desire for freer and fairer elections, there is, in fact, a Trumpian catch: The likely recipient of Georgias largesse will be a company that one of Kemps closest aides used to lobby for, while another served on its board of advisers. So far, Kemps administration has apparently been fueled by good old-fashioned crony corruption, rather than newfangled populism. The cost of the replacement machines, known as ballot-marking devices (BMDs), is sky-high: Kemp included $150 million in his budget to buy them. Thats just an initial price, not including annual maintenance fees and licensing deals and such, but its at least three times what it would cost to have Georgians vote by paper ballot, as 70 percent of the country now does. Fiscal responsibility, yall!

So, ka-ching. But even if the deal to bring in the voting machines were clean, theyd still be bad, because they enable the techniques listed above. To be fair, voting locations can be closed and ballots not mailed, but those make in-person voting more difficult by adding more voters. In addition, for disfavored districts machines can be removed, machines can fail, pollbooks can fail, and supplies can run out. And thats before we get to hacking.

I think the whole attitude of electronic voting proponents can be summed up in this tweet. David Becker is the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research (oh, innovation):

The biggest factor w/ long lines in GA, DC, PA, and elsewhere has been the inability to recruit enough poll workers, including last-minute cancellations. If long lines outrage you (and they should), then please volunteer to serve as a poll worker. Our democracy needs you.  David Becker (@beckerdavidj) June 9, 2020

Electronic voting can never fail! It can only be failed! Becker commits the classic neoliberal error of assuming labor is fungible. It is not. When I vote, the volunteers, who are mostly nice old church ladies do this: (1) Check my address against a printed voter roll, (2) cross out my name, and (3) hand me a paper ballot and, these days, (4) my own marker. Then I got to the scanner and insert my ballot, and another volunteer (5) hands me my I Voted! sticker. Thats because paper ballots are very, very simple and easy.

These volunteers did not sign up to clear paper jams, train voters how to use touchscreens, disinfect touchscreens by wiping them off, work the phones with technical support, or deal with irate crowds who have been waiting for hours.

The problem is not the volunteers, but the voting machines themselves, which introduce complexity without adding value (unless your value is election theft or, possibly, a steak dinner from a vendor).

NOTES

[1] I believe there is no good faith reason to choose electronic voting technologies (with the possible exception of scanners). Their only unique selling proposition is election theft.

[2] Pundits differ on whether Georgia is a swing state or not. Harry Enten: Georgia was more competitive in the 2018 midterms than it had been in any midterm election in a generation. Democrats won 49% of the vote in the governor, attorney general and secretary of state races. US House Democrats combined to win 48% of the statewide vote, which was their highest share in a midterm since 1990. Larry Sabato: I define swing states as those in which the margin separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016 was under six percentage points. Given the high degree of consistency in the outcomes of recent presidential elections from one election to the next, this seems like a reasonable standard. It yields a set of 13 states with a total of 163 electoral votes that could potentially be competitive in 2020: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Politico: [D}emographic forces are combining to turn longtime red states Arizona and Georgianeither of which has been a core battleground state beforeinto two of the most competitive in 2020. But WABE (Atlanta NPR): The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee still labels Georgia as an emerging battleground.

APPENDIX

No, not Internet voting.
Iran Escalating Pressure On South Korea To Release Billions In Oil Money

Radio Farda June 10, 2020

Iran's Central Bank Governor has said that Iran reserves the right to launch legal action against South Korea if the country's banks refuse to unlock billions of dollars owed to Iran for oil exports, frozen in Korean banks for nearly two years.

According to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday, Abdolnaser Hemmati has said that the actions of South Korean banks prevent Iran from using the money to buy food and medicines, trade that's exempt from U.S. sanctions.

"It is appalling to see that Korean banks have conveniently neglected their obligations, common international financial agreements, and decided to play politics and follow illegal and unilateral U.S. sanctions," Hemmati told Bloomberg without elaborating on the course of action that Iran is planning to take.

Iran could launch legal action to gain access to the funds, the Governor of Central Bank of Iran said, without naming the Korean banks.

In April, rejection of a SWIFT payment for coronavirus test kits due to U.S. sanctions added to Iran's complaints against South Korea, formerly a major buyer of Iranian oil.

In December Iran summoned the South Korean ambassador to protest the delay in payment of the money owed to Iran for oil and condensates exported to the country, presumably for fear of breaching the U.S. sanctions.

Iranian media are also very critical of South Korea for refusing to free the money. The daily Etemad has claimed the owed money to be around $7 billion.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on May 18 announced that "preliminary steps and political consultations were undertaken" to launch a South Korean "humanitarian channel" with Iran similar to INSTEX with Europe.

In late May the South Korean Foreign Ministry sent its first shipment of medicine for treatment of a rare genetic disease worth $500,000 to Iran. The shipment of medicine from South Korea came after the United States in April gave the green light for humanitarian exports to Iran without being caught up in complications arising from U.S. sanctions.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-escalating -pressure-on-south-korea-to-release-billion -in-oil-money/30663730.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Mumbai, June 11 : Cracking the whip, the Maharashtra government on Thursday suspended the Dean and five others after the horrifying incident of a "missing" 82-year old woman Covid-19 patient being found dead in a toilet of the Jalgaon Civil Hospital.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope said besides Dean B. R. Khaire, a superintendent, the attached medical college principal, nurse and security person were slapped with suspension orders.

The developments came a day after the shocking recovery of the dead body of the 82-year old woman being found from the toilet of the same hospital on Wednesday, as reported by IANS.

Zillapeth Police Station's Senior Police Inspector Akbar Patel said that the Jalgaon Civil Hospital authorities and the family had informed the police that she was "missing" on June 2.

Thereafter, the police made full inquiries in her home-town Bhusaval, checked all patient registers in the presence of the relatives, scanned CCTV footage, etc and then registered the complaint on June 6, Patel told IANS on Wednesday.

The woman had tested Covid-19 positive on May 27 and had been admitted to another hospital before she was shifted to the JCH and police teams were sent there to investigate.

The JCH authorities confirmed that she was seen in the ward till June 2 after which the whereabouts of the woman were not known.

It was on Wednesday morning when some people reported a foul smell emanating from one of the toilets in the hospital and the missing woman's body was found there.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for the firing of an officer who was photographed giving the middle finger to protesters. John Catanzara, the new Chicago police union president, noted that in late May, Lightfoot ripped President Donald Trumps response to the unrest, saying, I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump. Its two words. It begins with F and it ends with U.
Sonam Kapoor was in her own world when husband Anand Ahuja started recording his better-half on phone.

He decided to post the video that is entertaining and adorable for many reasons. In the clip that Anand uploaded to Instagram, the Khoobsurat actress is seen doing her exercises on a treadmill. She is also singing and moving to the tunes playing on her earpods.

Anand shared the video and wrote, "My entire world, Sonam Kapoor. Happy birthday month. PS thats your playlist @rheakapoor (sic)."

Sonam reacted to the post and said, "Ass how can you take this video of me and post it (sic). Anand replied saying, "Morning cardio with my baby. You never fail to entertain me (sic)."

Sonam married entrepreneur Anand after two years of courtship in a traditional ceremony on May 8, 2018. She was in quarantine with her husband in New Delhi and returned to hometown Mumbai a few days ago for her birthday.

The Saawariya actress celebrated her 35th birthday at home with her family with a lavish party organized by her sister, Rhea and Anand.

Anand wished his better-half in an epic way with a witty yet heart-touching post. He juxtaposed faces of her close friends and cousins in one frame during the times of social distancing.

Sonams 2019 film The Zoya Factor also starring Dulquer Salmaan remains her last theatre release.

She will be seen in the Bollywood remake of South Korean film Blind. As per a report, yhe film will be directed by Shome Makhija and Sujoy Ghosh will be the creative producer.

Follow @News18Movies for more
Against all odds, airline stocks enjoyed their best weekly gains in history last week, and even Carnival cruises soared as investors--many of them younger novices pouring into fee-free online trading apps--went contrarian. Their travel optimism, however, is based on immediate good news re-opening rather than on realistic fundamentals that show a real recovery will take months, if not longer.

Ridiculously overvalued?

After getting trounced by the coronavirus pandemic, Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) closed last week up over 180% from its record lows, and other major cruise lines are in the same boat.

But by Wednesday morning, Carnival had shed 7% as analysts started chiming in.

Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, told CNBCs Trading Nation that the cruise ship industry is the most overbought and most ridiculously overvalued at this point.

Carnival, for example, is pricing rooms as low as $28 a night per passenger when their actual fixed costs are close to $100. The hope is that the passengers will then be able to make up revenue by [buying on-board amenities. But if you think about this, the people who are going to take advantage of this are going to be young families, the ones that have the least amount of disposable income to spend because those who are most vulnerable to Covid are the older travelers and theyre going to be much less likely to take advantage of these offers, he said.



And Schlossberg things we havent even seen the worst yet. Hes not buying the rebound because he sees another wave of COVID-19 cases taking over Florida.

Indeed, new COVID-19 cases have been on the rise in Florida for the past week, hitting more than 1,000 new cases every day for the past seven days, and 1,426 new cases on Saturday alone. These numbers, including a rise in new cases in North Carolina, Texas and California, are concerning amid the relaxation of stay-at-home orders and the gradual reopening of the economy.



So what about the airlines?

Anyone who jumped on the airline bandwagon last week and sold it for the profits before stocks started shedding gains this week might have done fairly well playing the contrarian to the divestment overtures of legendary investors such as Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn.

The big bump came following reports that airlines were increasing domestic flying for summer.

Analysts are divided on how much pent-up demand will boost the airlines as the economy re-opens and flights consider getting back on track.

The JETS airline EFT (JetBlue, Southwest) enjoyed a 33% gain last week, but it is still a long way from its 52-week high.

American Airlines announced yesterday that it will increase July service and take 141 aircraft out of storage to that end. Delta Air Lines Inc and United Airlines Holdings Inc have made similar moves.

Demand is still at a record low, but the airlines and airline stock bulls think the worst is over.



Even American Airlines Chief Executive Doug Parker is low-key on demand rebound. On Wednesday, he told shareholders that the airline should see a daily cash burn of around $40 million in June--down from $50 million earlier--with the decline attributed to cost-savings.

He also said American Airlines was unsure what flying in the fall would look like, or even next summer, because of coronavirus uncertainty.

Related: Regulators Force Insurance Companies To Offer Discounts

The beat on the street seems to be that if you made some money on the airlines and havent gotten out yet, its probably time.

American is preparing for high-level layoffs, and theres plenty of trouble ahead.

American shed around 6% today, so far:

Delta expects Q2 revenue to be down 90% from a year ago. It also expects to cut its average daily cash outflow to around $40 million by the end of the quarter--and that compares to around $100 million in Q1.

The rally is largely over now, and a trade group report says it all.

On Tuesday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a statement that the industry would report losses of $84 billion for 2020, with revenues down more than 50%, calling it the worst year in the history of aviation.

Even as revenue starts to recover next year, rebounding to nearly $600 billion, the industry still wont be profitable.

By Josh Owens for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
(CNN)  This novel coronavirus is bizarre for many reasons, making its spread unpredictable and hard to control.

One oddity is how easily people can get infected by someone without symptoms. But there's a difference between asymptomatic spread and pre-symptomatic spread.

Here's what you need to know:

Asymptomatic spread is the transmission of the virus by people who do not have symptoms and will never get symptoms from their infection. But those infected carriers could still get others very sick.

Pre-symptomatic spread is the transmission of the virus by people who don't look or feel sick, but will eventually get symptoms later. They, too, can infect others without knowing it.

Why is this important to know now?

A World Health Organization official recently said asymptomatic spread "appears to be rare," prompting widespread confusion because doctors and scientists have been saying the opposite for months.

But the WHO's comment "was not correct," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert in the US.

Evidence shows that 25% to 45% of infected people likely don't have symptoms, Fauci told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday.

"And we know from epidemiological studies they can transmit to someone who is uninfected even when they're without symptoms," said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"So to make a statement to say that's a rare event was not correct."

And while the public might use the word "asymptomatic" to describe any infected person who doesn't have symptoms, the bigger concern may be infection from "pre-symptomatic" carriers.

How can I tell if someone is pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic?

You can't. Both types of carriers look and feel normal, though the pre-symptomatic carriers will get symptoms later.

Studies suggest pre-symptomatic spread is more common than asymptomatic spread.

"Detailed contact tracing from Taiwan as well as the first European transmission chain in Germany suggested that true asymptomatics rarely transmit," said Babak Javid, a principal investigator at Tsinghua University School of Medicine in Beijing and an infectious disease consultant at Cambridge University Hospitals.

"However, those (and many other) studies have found that paucisymptomatic transmission (meaning they have extremely mild symptoms) can occur, and in particular, in the German study, they found that transmission often appeared to occur before or on the day symptoms first appeared."

How is it possible to spread coronavirus without symptoms?

"When you speak, sometimes you'll spit a little bit," said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at UCLA's School of Public Health.

"You'll rub your nose. You'll touch your mouth. You'll rub your eyes. And then you'll touch other surfaces, and then you will be spreading virus if you are infected and shedding" the virus.

How many people get infected by someone without symptoms?

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 40% of coronavirus transmission happens before people feel sick.

In one study, about 4 in 5 people with confirmed coronavirus in China were likely infected by people who didn't know they had it, according to research published in the journal "Science."

"These findings explain the rapid geographic spread of (coronavirus) and indicate containment of this virus will be particularly challenging," researchers wrote.

Many people with coronavirus have no idea they have it -- either because they're asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic, or paucisymptomatic.

The CDC said almost half of the 712 people with coronavirus who were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship didn't have any symptoms when they tested positive.

And a study from Iceland showed 50% of those who tested positive had no symptoms at the time of testing.

How can so many people have or spread coronavirus with no symptoms (yet)?

This coronavirus has a lengthy incubation period -- the time between when someone gets infected to when they start showing symptoms (if they get symptoms at all).

The flu can also be spread without symptoms, but the incubation time is much shorter -- typically one to four days, with symptoms often showing up within two days after infection, the CDC says.

With coronavirus, the incubation period is about three to 14 days, with symptoms typically appearing "within four or five days after exposure," according to Harvard Medical School.

"We know that a person with COVID-19 may be contagious 48 to 72 hours before starting to experience symptoms," Harvard experts wrote.

"Emerging research suggests that people may actually be most likely to spread the virus to others during the 48 hours before they start to experience symptoms."

Are pre-symptomatic carriers more contagious before or after they get symptoms?

"People tend to be the most contagious before they develop symptoms, if they're going to develop symptoms," CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said.

"They call that the pre-symptomatic period. So people tend to have more virus at that point seemingly in their nose, in their mouth. This is even before they get sick. And they can be shedding that virus into the environment."

If I can't see who's pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic, how do I stay safe?

Wearing face masks and keeping a physical distance from others "can help reduce the risk that someone who is infected but not yet contagious may unknowingly infect others," the Harvard team said.
Newly released body camera footage from an arrest in Oklahoma City last year shows a suspect saying I cant breathe before he died at a hospital.

In the May 20, 2019 footage, released this week by the Oklahoma City Police Department, three officers are seen restraining the man, Derrick Scott, 42, who can be heard asking repeatedly for his medicine and saying that he cant breathe.

I dont care, one of the officers, Jarred Tipton, can be heard replying at one point. You can breathe just fine, another officer can be heard saying a couple of minutes later.

Scott, who appears unresponsive several minutes into the footage, was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. An autopsy obtained by NBC News lists his cause of death as a collapsed lung.

The incident began after officers were called to an area south of downtown Oklahoma City shortly before 2 p.m. after someone reported that a black man was arguing with people and brandishing a gun, Oklahoma City police Capt. Larry Withrow said in a statement.

The footage shows Scott running from officers after Tipton asks if he has any weapons. After the police tackle and restrain him, one of the officers can be seen removing a handgun from Scotts pocket.

Later, an officer tries to administer CPR before paramedics arrive.

The autopsy said the police response did not result in fatal trauma and listed several other significant factors that contributed to his death, including physical restraint, recent methamphetamine use, asthma, emphysema and heart disease.

His manner of death was listed as undetermined.

Winthrow said an investigation into the incident by the Oklahoma County District Attorneys Office cleared the three officers  Tipton, Ashley Copeland and Sgt. Jennifer Titus  of misconduct.

Winthrow attributed Tiptons comments to the heat of a conflict.

Certainly that may be something an officer says, he told NBC affiliate KFOR. Just understand  the officers are fighting with someone at that point.

Story continues

But local activists and Scotts relatives have challenged authorities. Scotts uncle, Ronald Scott, told KFOR that he was bothered by how they treated his life.

There is a lack of a focus on humanity and civility, added Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson, of Black Lives Matter OKC. Authorities released the footage after the group included it in a list of demands to city leaders after protests over the death of George Floyd earlier this month.

Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. In a video of the incident, Floyd could be heard saying, I cant breathe  a phrase that became a protest chant after a bystanders cell phone video captured the 2014 chokehold death of a Staten Island, N.Y. man, Eric Garner, who also said, "I can't breathe."
The COVID-19 Private Sector Fund in partnership with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Ghana Psychological Association, Ghana Medical Association and Global Media Alliance have launched an awareness campaign titled Let Love Lead. End The Stigma.

The campaign plans to fight the stigma and discrimination against COVID-19 recovered persons, frontline workers and their families.

The 'Let Love Lead. End The Stigma' campaign seeks to change people's mindsets about COVID-19 and debunk myths and misconceptions about recovered persons and their family members. It is further aimed at reducing fear while communicating support for frontline workers who can play a crucial role in the fight against stigmatization.

A statement issued by the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund on the campaign stated;

We are very happy about the high number of recoveries Ghana has recorded but unfortunately, some recovered persons are being stigmatized against because of the misconceptions going around about COVID-19 recoveries. This campaign has become necessary to encourage behavioural change and educate the public on how to support their successful reintegration into society.

We want to encourage everyone, from journalists to politicians, health workers, teachers, religious heads and traditional rulers to support this anti-stigma and discrimination campaign by preaching love for recovered patients, the statement read.

CEO of GNPC, Dr. K.K. Sarpong expressed the rationale behind the company's sponsorship of the campaign;

As an organisation, we have observed some of the ill-fated ways in which some recovered persons have been treated and we believe that our collaboration with the COVID-19 private sector fund will enable us to promote a peaceful co-existence through education and various interactions in this period of uncertainty.

Ms. Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson of the NCCE, a major partner of the anti-stigma campaign, stated, This campaign is very necessary to intensify education around COVID-19 issues and the need to accept recovered patients. We want to emphasize the importance of building trust with recovered persons while combatting stigma and discrimination among the wider population.

According to Dr. Wiafe-Akenten, Head, Social Psychology Division of the Ghana Psychological Association, partners of the campaign, Some Ghanaians have responded to recovered COVID-19 persons and their family members in extreme ways. We want to let people know that stigma and discrimination are barriers to an effective response.

We must treat each other in a way which almost assumes that tomorrow we are going to need the support from those who have recovered. We must cut the hate and work together as a country to overcome this virus, he added.

The campaign will take place in the form of radio education, sensitization posts on social media, virtual training programs, community outreach, testimonials from recovered persons, etc.

As part of their support to government in the fight against the spread of the virus, the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund served 144,000 meals to head porters (kayayei) and underprivileged persons during the lockdown, provided high-end tertiary care Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the National COVID-19 Treatment Centre. The fund is currently constructing an Infectious Disease and Isolation Centre, which is equipped with a 21-bed intensive care unit and a level 2.5 scalable to a level 3 biomedical laboratory in consultation with officials from Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research.

The campaign, which is an initiative of the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund and sponsored by the Ghana Psychological Association is also supported by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ghana Psychological Association (GPA), Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and Global Media Alliance.

---citinewsroom
Police have charged two people and fined two others after efforts to transfer men protesting their detainment at a makeshift Brisbane immigration site sparked swift action from refugee advocates.

About 120 men, some of whom have been in detention for years, are being held in the Kangaroo Point hotel used to house refugees and asylum seekers transferred from offshore detention for medical treatment.

Serco, which is contracted to manage the facility, directed questions to the federal Home Affairs Department. A Border Force spokesperson would not confirm if anyone had been transferred, citing "operational matters".

The move to relocate some of the men came after peaceful balcony protests by several detainees over the past 10 weeks over living conditions, concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic and their years of detention.
London: Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under fresh pressure over his handling of the coronavirus crisis after one of Britain's most influential experts said introducing a lockdown just one week earlier would have cut the country's death toll by at least half.

Professor Neil Ferguson - the Imperial College London mathematician and epidemiologist whose research prompted Johnson and US President Donald Trump to introduce strict measures in late March - delivered the bombshell claim during testimony to MPs on Wednesday.

His evidence suggests 25,000 lives could have been saved had Britain implemented a lockdown at the same time as its European neighbours instead of waiting until March 23.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing fresh questions about his government's response to the COVID-19 crisis. Credit:Getty

Pushed on whether he had acted too late, Johnson said it was "too early to judge ourselves" and also declined to nominate any aspect of the government's response he regretted with hindsight.
This new fund is a great way to provide our members with diversification across a larger number of early stage companies while providing meaningful and fast capital to entrepreneurs. - Brian Horner, Tech Coast Angels - LA president

In its continued efforts to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southern California, Tech Coast Angels-Los Angeles (TCA-LA) today announced its first members-only fund. This annual fund provides new and diverse opportunities for investors and an additional source of startup capital for entrepreneurs. Tech Coast Angels (TCA) achieved record investment of over $19 million in 2019, in part due to a bellwether annual chapter fund started by TCA-San Diego last year.

The total throughout all of TCAs chapter funds this year pledges $6 million ready for deployment in 2020, all in addition to the direct investments from TCAs 450+ members. The entire fund is to be invested in 2020, providing seed funding to start-up and early stage companies, primarily located in Southern California. Unlike a sidecar fund, this conductor fund provides the first money available to early stage companies, and individual TCA members may invest additional funds on top of that.

TCA-LA has invested in eleven companies this year (six after the coronavirus outbreak), and TCA-LAs 2020 Annual Fund has invested in five companies this year, (three after the coronavirus outbreak):



Fitplan*

Grolens*

Hawthorne Effect

Nevados*

Neural Analytics

Noria Water Technologies

Razberi Technologies*

Ready, Set, Food!*

Recess

Somabar

Turn Technologies

*TCA-LA 2020 Annual Fund companies

Countering the perception that angel funding can move slowly, TCA-LA has also streamlined its due diligence process to provide a funding decision by both TCA and the fund within 30 days of a companys presentation to the angel network.

Far too often, founders lose valuable time focused on a lengthy fundraising process when theyd rather be focused on operating. Our fund will invest quickly and will target $200,000 per check, said Brian Horner, president of TCA-LA. This new fund is a great way to provide our members with diversification across a larger number of early stage companies while providing meaningful and fast capital to entrepreneurs.

Companies wishing to present to TCA-LA: visit http://www.techcoastangels.com/entrepreneurs

Investors wishing to join TCA-LA: email LA Membership: membership(at)techcoastangels(dot)la

About Tech Coast Angels:

Tech Coast Angels (TCA) is one of the largest and most active angel investor networks in the nation, and a leading source of funding for seed-stage and early-stage companies. The angel network is comprised of five chapters, consisting of over 450 members in Southern California. Every TCA member is an accredited investor, and companies in which TCA invest go through well-structured, transparent, time-efficient screening and due diligence. TCA members are founders and business leaders who have extensive knowledge in the investment process and world-class business practices, and thus are able to provide companies with more than just capital: they also contribute counsel, mentoring and access to an extensive network of investors, customers, strategic partners and management.

Since its founding in 1997, TCA has invested over $230 million in more than 420 companies and has helped attract more than $1.6 billion in additional capital/follow-on rounds. http://www.techcoastangels.com

Media contact:

Mitchell Schwartz, Tech Coast Angels  LA Network

mitchellschwartz01(at)gmail(dot)com

(323) 387-0857

###
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Linkedin Alain Jean-Robert/Fiachra Gibbons (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France  Thu, June 11, 2020 09:07 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc94fd 2 Books The-Lying-Life-of-Adults,Elena-Ferrante,author,books,Italy,France,My-Brilliant-Friend Free

Queues formed outside French bookshops Tuesday as legions of Elena Ferrante fans rushed to get a copy of her acclaimed new book, The Lying Life of Adults.

English language readers will have to wait till September to dive into her first novel since her massively successful quartet of Neapolitan Novels ended with The Story of the Lost Child in 2014.

Her new saga is also set in the southern Italian city. But this time the heroine Giovanna hails from the upper echelons of Naples' society rather than from its working-class fringes, with the novel opening in the wealthy hilltop district of Vomero in the early 1990s.

Both her parents are seemingly enlightened intellectuals, and she is brought up to feel "proud to have been born female".

But that does not mean Giovanna is not put through the wringer, with the opening paragraph teased by Ferrante's publishers revealing how marked she was by overhearing her father tell her mother that she was very ugly.

While some Italian critics look down their nose at Ferrante-mania, it has been generally warmly received.

Italian fans queued up at midnight in November to buy the first copies of the book and then read it together in all-night vigils.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic -- which also delayed the book's publication in English from June to September -- it has become a runaway bestseller.

Read also: Netflix to adapt new, as-yet untranslated Elena Ferrante novel

French critics were also generally wowed by the emotional rollercoaster of its teenage rebellion and the treasonous twists and turns of the plot.

Olivia de Lamberterie told French radio that "Ferrante does not set out to seduce the reader. She has a way of laying out her characters in all their complexity... Friendships are often awful and treasonous."

The ending has also left many asking if this could be the beginning of a new Ferrante series, but her Italian publisher claims that even they do not know.

Netflix announced last month that they will also bring The Lying Life of Adults to the screen.

Ferrante became a household name with the first of her Naples books, My Brilliant Friend.

That is also the title of a hit HBO television series drawn from the books.

The quartet of novels, which follows the enduring friendship of two sensitive young girls, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.
A sign marks 5G Park on Huawei's campus in Shenzhen, China, signaling the company's aspirations. (Theodore Kaye )

A new shadow war is underway within the International Telecommunication Union, one of the obscure organizations that sets global technical standards.

International standard-setting is a morass of positive intentions and poor execution. When the process works well, it selects the best technologies based on merit and, for example, allows people to use their personal cellphone numbers anywhere on Earth. When the system fails, we end up with different electrical outlets in each country and scramble for adapters.

Beijing sees standard-setting as an opportunity to promote Chinese technologies and make them the global standard. It is focusing particular attention on the ITU, which is working to set global fifth-generation, or 5G, mobile telecom specifications.

The U.S. takes a hands-off approach, depending on leading American corporations to put forward great technical contributions and assuming the ITU will judge them based on their merits. Beijing, in contrast, intervenes to boost Chinas national champions, particularly Huawei. The result: China is grabbing a growing share of critical patents in the emerging global 5G standard.

To solve this problem, Western governments must take action, but they dont need a heavy hand  small fixes can ensure the standards-setting system remains fair and transparent.

With the world distracted by COVID-19, Beijing is pushing forward. In March, China published a 2020 work plan that, among other things, detailed its intentions to promote Chinese global rules for emerging technologies, the result of two years of work and study.

The Chinese campaign normally occurs behind closed doors, but a 2018 dustup over Lenovos voting record at the ITU provided a glimpse into how Beijing promotes Chinas national champions, particularly Huawei. In one round of voting, representatives of Lenovo  the Chinese computer company that acquired IBMs personal computer business in 2005  voted for the American-proposed standard developed by U.S. company Qualcomm over the standard put forward by Huawei. When Chinese web users found out, they whipped up a firestorm of nationalist sentiment.

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To defend the companys reputation as a good Chinese citizen, Lenovos founder and CEO issued an extraordinary public statement to explain that Lenovo had voted for Qualcomm in one round because its approach best aligned with Lenovos own early-stage technology and patent reserves, but that it voted for Huawei in a separate round because Chinese companies should unite. Although Lenovo is publicly traded, when it comes to 5G standards, the company is more accountable to Huawei, Beijings national champion in the 5G standard realm, and to Chinese nationalist sentiment than to its own shareholders.

These technical efforts may fly under the radar of U.S. senior officials, but they have huge policy implications. Those who set the standards receive more royalties, better prices and greater market share. An unfair process can result in standards that are not the best technically, thus making all of us less secure. And in the worst case, especially when it comes to 5G wireless technology, the world could find itself with two different, incompatible standards: one used in the U.S. and perhaps some parts of Europe, and another in the rest of the world.

Beijing exerts tremendous influence in these standards-setting bodies by violating long-held norms without explicitly violating international law.

China pushes for chairmanships of key standard-setting organizations, giving Beijing the ability to set the agenda. It is no accident that former Chinese telecom official Zhao Houlin leads the ITU. China recently lobbied hard to lead the World Intellectual Property Organization as well. In this rare case, Western governments were paying attention and successfully defeated Beijings candidate through intense lobbying.

The Chinese government coordinates the efforts of its companies and provides significant aid, resulting in a cohesive push for dominance. For Western firms, creating and putting forward technical contributions is very expensive, so they propose just a few. With Chinese government research and development aid, Chinese companies can flood the zone.

When contributions are put forward, Western companies respond individually. In contrast, Chinese officials meet with all Chinese companies before key meetings to inform them of the national objectives. The Chinese delegation almost always unites as a single block. The end result: China is close to muscling a takeover of the global telecom space, with twice as many standards essential patents as U.S. companies.

Of course, quantity of patents isnt everything. Huawei does not yet clearly lead the technical race on 5G (or 6G and other future technologies), but partly through the standards-setting process, it is creating a built-in price advantage.

The U.S. and its allies must pay better attention and push back, but only where necessary. They should map out which of the many technology standards are critical to national security in addition to 5G, including hardware standards related to artificial intelligence and the structure of the internet itself.

For these few technologies that are key to our security, Western governments must ensure that knowledgeable experts attend important standards-setting meetings. Washington certainly should not emulate Beijing and tell American companies how to vote. But on a call before the meetings, government officials can let companies know what Beijing is up to and allow private coalitions to form. Washington could also provide research funds to allow more U.S. firms, especially start-ups, to participate. These are simple, inexpensive fixes, to avoid a potentially dangerous path.

To prevent Beijing from dominating the standard-setting process, there is no need to adopt Chinas severe, top-down methods  only for Western governments and companies to engage and ensure the system remains fair and transparent.

Anja Manuel is a former U.S. State Department official and the author of This Brave New World: China, India and the United States. Melanie Hart is a senior fellow and the director for China policy at the Center for American Progress.
New Delhi/Mumbai, June 11 : Rarely have these two mighty Indian megapolises -- one being the nation's capital and the other its commercial capital -- looked so "helpless".

As actors in Mumbai and politicians in Delhi get a taste of the virus, the two cities are finding it increasingly tough to deal with the pandemic with their available resources and health infrastructure.

As Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded new highs on the Covid-19 dashboard - 149 deaths and 3,254 cases - the highest 97 fatalities were reported in Mumbai. So why is Mumbai facing this unprecedented crisis? Overcrowding is the first obvious answer. The huge disparity between people living and available resources puts huge pressure on hospitals, doctors, nurses, municipal staff and police personnel. Around 1.75 crore people dwell in an area that is roughly 325 square km, making it a compelling case study.

While officials claim Dharavi, the largest slum of Asia, is on way to be a success case study in being able to contain the spread of the virus there, roughly 2,000 cases and 75 deaths seem too impractical to believe for many.

Given the congested nature of the slum and no provision for social distancing within households, many ask for comprehensive and sustained tests to gauge the spread of Covid-19 in the area.

While, officials continue to claim 75,000 beds are available for Mumbaikars, complaints incessantly pouring in about unavailability.

According to the latest data from BMC, 99 per cent intensive care unit beds in Mumbai are full and 94 per cent ventilators are occupied in both public and private hospitals in the metropolis. There are 464 ventilators in public and private hospitals, of which majority are said to be occupied.

To complicate matters, rising death counts means more dead bodies and their management which has become a matter of grave concern of the otherwise economic capital of India.

In May, BJP MLA Nitish Rane tweeted the image of dead bodies in KEM Hospital, saying: "This is KEM hospital Mumbai !" The photo of several dead bodies lying in a corridor of the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Mumbai created a massive online outrage. Meanwhile, all electric crematoria function at double capacity in Mumbai.

Yet, bodies continue to pile up in the metropolis that was otherwise known for its glitz and glamour and opposition leaders allege that it can take 15-22 hours to dispose of a body, such are queues outside crematoria or cemeteries.

Though the national capital hasn't been as awfully affected as Mumbai is, Thursday changed everything.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Thursday released figures about cremation of patients who died due to coronavirus to suggest 2,098 such corpses have been cremated so far. The reason this figure is a game changer is because the official death tally for Delhi has been 984, less than half of the number given by MCD.

While the MCD is ruled by the BJP and the Delhi government is being run by the Aam Aadmi Party, the politics of it can not be ignored.

However, what remains a fact is Delhi's heath infrastructure is coming under an increasing pressure. After Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's 'Delhi hospital for Delhites' order was overruled by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, he warned that Delhi will need 150,000 beds by the end of July if its hospitals need to treat Covid-19 patients from other states, too.

"By July 31, 80,000 beds were projected for the people of Delhi. But now, we will need a total of 150,000 beds," he said in a press conference. But with the gap between what needs to be done and what is being done, more and more Delhi's residents are taking to social media to complain about how they have been "rejected" by hospitals.

The pandemic hasn't spared those from the corridors of power. BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia is down with the virus along with his mother. BJP's TV face Sambit Patra was admitted to Medanta. The head of Press Information Bureau, K.S. Dhatwalia was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) trauma centre after testing Covid positive. The National Media Centre (NMC) remained closed and his contacts -- all senior bureaucrats -- were quarantined.

The virus has hit the Defence ministry, the Civil Aviation Ministry, and even the Rashtrapati Bhawan estate. In fact, the Defence Secretary was one of the first top bureaucrats to test Covid positive.

With more death, mortuaries are running out of place. In May, photos emerged suggesting several dead bodies were kept at a passage inside the premises of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in Delhi. The reason for this was believed to be as the mortuary ran out of space.

The glitz of Mumbai is gone and so has the power of Delhi. Both these mighty metropolises now look feeble in their fight in the battle to defeat Covid-19.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
WASHINGTON - The GOP is looking for an answer on how to respond to national outrage over the police killing of George Floyd. And they are looking to Sen. Tim Scott to provide it.

The question is whether Scott, the lone black GOP senator, will be able to pull Republicans behind legislation in the roiling aftermath of Floyds death. That challenge is steep enough in a mostly white party led by self-proclaimed law and order President Donald Trump. But Scott also is batting back at members of the black community accusing him of allowing Republicans to use him in an election year to right racial wrongs.

Scott, who has kept lines of communication open with Trump even after the president called white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, good people, is asking critics: Who better?

Not surprising the last 24 hours have seen a lot of token boy or youre being used in my mentions, Scott tweeted Wednesday. Let me get this straight ... you DONT want the person who has faced racial profiling by police, been pulled over dozens of times, or been speaking out for YEARS drafting this?

Floyds killing at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked painful upheaval and protests against systemic racism in the United States. But it also posed a stark test for the white Republicans who control the Senate. As Floyds funeral was held in Houston on Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell struck a new tone and acknowledged that almost all Senate Republicans, unlike Democrats, are white.

None of us have had the experience of being an African American in this country and dealing with this discrimination, McConnell, who is up for reelection alongside Trump, told reporters. I think the best way for the Senate Republicans to go forward on this is to listen to one of our own, whos had these experiences.

McConnell spoke after Scott finished briefing Senate Republicans on the legislation, which in part would establish a national database for police misconduct. Floyds brother, Philonise, challenged Congress on Wednesday to stop the pain with police reforms. Scott said he was talking with the White House, but not Trump so far, to agree on a package of legislation.

The 54-year-old former House member describes himself as the son of a son of a son of a slave, a descendant of a West African family who arrived in the U.S. aboard a slave ship, probably in Charleston, South Carolina, two centuries ago.

For all of my life and for all of my familys heritage, we had tried to avoid being confrontational, Scott writes in Opportunity Knocks: How Hard Work, Community and Business Can Improve Lives and End Poverty. Always, we believed, the primary aim should be to find common ground in order to move forward.

In September 2017, Trump summoned the senator to the Oval Office to discuss Scotts criticism of the presidents response to the race riots in Charlottesville, Virginia  notably, Trumps description of the white supremacists involved as being among the very fine people on both sides. Scott writes that the president was gracious  and that he walked out with the presidents commitment to opportunity zones for poverty-stricken cities. The proposal passed as part of the tax cut bill signed into law that year.

The police killings of Floyd, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and others have made problems with police conduct and accountability hard for Republicans to ignore. Scotts legislation is part of a burst of GOP-written bills on the subject. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky wants to stop sending surplus U.S. military equipment to local law enforcement. And Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is backing several bipartisan bills to change police practices.

But the challenge is different for Scott, in part because of the trust issues between the black community, the Republican Party and McConnell. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said in a telephone interview that Scott will have succeeded if he produces a good product.

I think that Tim has the background, he has the experiences that are necessary to bring Republican senators to the realization that this law enforcement issue is real and needs to be dealt with, Clyburn said in a telephone interview. I would hope that he would engage with enough of the other members to make sure that whatever he comes up with will have buy-in from others in his conference.

There are signs that theyre listening. GOP senators, who risk losing control of the chamber in the November election, are distancing themselves from Trumps provocative response as the Black Lives Matter movement gains support.

On Tuesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Scott had told their Bible study group that hed been stopped by police in Charleston multiple times, even as a public official, for being black at the wrong place and the wrong time.

During these last few days Ive been thinking a lot about what Tim Scott told us, Alexander said on the Senate floor. One result of George Floyds killing is that black Americans are telling more stories like Tim Scotts.

At the political intersection, Scott on Wednesday addressed his critics in the black community who chafed at his role.

Dont throw youre the only black guy they know at me either, Scott tweeted. Hes one of three black members of the Senate, he noted, the others being Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California. Stop pretending theres some huge racial diversity gap in the Senate.

It is true, though, that the GOPs constituency and Trumps base of support are overwhelmingly white. And though Trump insists hes done more for black Americans than any other president, his rhetoric often carries racial overtones. Last year, Trump tweeted that four female House members of colour, known as the squad, should go back to where they came from. All four are American citizens.

Scott on Wednesday called himself an optimist.

History is a teacher, he said. The president has been receptive the last three years on the priorities that Ive brought to him, he added. Hopefully hell have the same approach.

___

Follow Kellman at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman.
With Donald Trumps presidency at risk, Republicans arent hesitant to cross the line. They have decided to let it all hang out because they know they cannot win playing by the rules. That not only makes it harder for minorities to vote, it also impacts liberal and moderate whites who believe it is time for change.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 13:37:10|Editor: huaxia

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SHANGHAI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai reported six new imported COVID-19 cases and zero increase in locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the municipal health commission said Thursday.

The imported cases included two Chinese nationals and four Pakistanis. The two Chinese nationals departed from the United States and India, and arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on June 8 and 9 respectively. They showed symptoms during the isolated observation period and were confirmed as COVID-19 patients.

The four people from Pakistan departed for Shanghai on June 2 and arrived in Shanghai on the same day, and later confirmed as COVID-19 patients after showing symptoms.

The six patients have been sent to a designated hospital for medical treatment, while 138 close contacts on the flights have been put under concentrated quarantine.

By Wednesday, Shanghai had registered a total of 343 confirmed imported cases. Twelve of them remain hospitalized and the rest were discharged from hospital after recovery, according to the commission.

The municipality had reported 341 locally transmitted confirmed cases by Wednesday, including seven deaths. Enditem
Nurses are the primary caregivers in hospitals. They are the first person we see when we go to an emergency room and they are the health workers who are most likely to know all about a hospital's patients. The problem is that the proportion of the number of patients to the number of nurses is abysmal right now, with nurses having to handle more patients than they are prepared for. This issue is further compounded by the fact that the Coronavirus epidemic is ravaging the planet and has revealed how important nurses are and that we do not have enough of them.

There Are More Patients Than Ever

One of the biggest reasons why we need more nurses is that there are many more patients to take care of now. This is because of two main reasons:

The passage of the Affordable care Act in 2010. This act extended health insurance coverage to millions of people who otherwise would not have gone to the hospital if they could not afford it.

An aging population. As the population ages, we need more people to take care of them. There are age-related diseases that we simply cannot ignore, and nurses are usually the people tasked with making the elderly comfortable in hospitals, nursing homes, and other institutions.

New Laws

Many states in the United States have passed laws that call for a certain nurse to patient ratio. For example, an emergency room nurse cannot handle more than four patients. With these ratios in play, it is easy to see why we need more nurses to keep the ratio as stipulated within these laws.

More Nurses Are Getting Board Positions

Hospitals are starting to realize the vital roles nurses play in hospitals and because nurses understand healthcare better than many other health professionals, hospitals are starting to offer them board positions. Other reasons for this shift include:

Nurses know what patients need better than anyone. Because of this, they are able to come up with policies that better meet the needs of their patients as more hospitals move to patient- and consumer-centered practices.

When hospital boards come up with new policies and procedures, they hand them down to the staff to implement them. If there is no nurse input during the crafting of these new policies and procedures, there will be lackluster adoption at the staff level. Boards know this and they are therefore adding more nurses to their boards to ensure the policies they come up with are adopted. Nurses who sit on these boards are also better able to push for the implementation of these policies as they see them as a result of their hard work and input.

Highly qualified nurses know how best to eliminate wastage for the sake of hospitals' bottom lines.

More Nurses are Moving to Managerial Positions

Hospitals understand how important nurses are in the running of a hospital as well as helping the hospital provide the best working conditions for nurses. It is now common to see nurses with a Doctor of Nursing Practice heading a whole department, managing nurses, and being responsible for the day to day running of small hospitals.

Besides the added responsibilities and job flexibility, nurses are moving to managerial positions because of better pay. If you want to get into these managerial positions, you have to get a Doctor of Nursing Degree. You can take online DNP programs as they allow you to keep working while earning your degree. Baylor University's online DNP programs have been lauded for their focus on leadership training as well as affording you an opportunity to follow other nursing career paths besides managerial positions.

A Shift Towards Consumer-centered Care

A shift towards customer-centered care comes with some key principles that have to be followed:

Patients can decide the type of care they need

Their preferences, thoughts, and needs must always come first

A hospital cannot impose any treatments on patients who do not want them. For example, if a patient opts for home care, a hospital can not keep them any longer

When all these are considered, hospitals have to also shift their mindset to ensure every patient gets enough attention from the nurses around them. As it takes more time for a nurse to fully take care of a patient, hospitals realize they need more nurses.

The need for nurses to take care of their patients at home if that is what the patients need requires more nurses as some nurses will always be out of the hospital tending to these patient's needs.

The Population is Growing

The population in most countries keeps growing. This because of:

better nutrition

increased access to proper healthcare

decreasing infant mortality rates

When you have an increasing population, it is easy to see that many countries need more nurses to keep up. The rise in population numbers looks even worse when you realize many countries also have an aging population.

There are Fewer Medical Practitioners Overall

The number of medical practitioners is falling. A career in the medical field is not as lucrative as it used to be. One of the main reasons for this is due to the massive student loans people graduate with, as well as the brutal working hours most medical professionals work.

This situation can be remedied by giving medical practitioners avenues to pay their student loans, which will make more of them available. When we have more medical practitioners, the number of hours each of them works will be reduced and this eliminates the argument that medical practitioners work more hours than most other professionals.

Finally, this opens up opportunities for people to get into this field. There is an increasing demand for nurses and other medical professionals now, which is an excellent reason to follow this career path.

Although the Coronavirus pandemic has exposed the need for more nurses, this shortage has been going on for a long time. The bottom line is this, if we want to keep our healthcare systems working, we need more nurses urgently.
Swedens chief epidemiologist showed contrition as criticism mounted over the Scandinavian countrys hotly-debated method of fighting Covid-19, which has resulted in one of the highest death rates per capita in the world.

Sweden has stood out among European nations and the world for the way it has handled the pandemic, not shutting down the country or the economy like others but relying on citizens sense of civic duty.

Swedish authorities have advised people to practice social distancing, but schools, bars and restaurants have been kept open the entire time.

Only gatherings of more than 50 people have been banned.

I think there is potential for improvement in what we have done in Sweden, quite clearly, Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency told Swedish radio.

Sweden, a nation of 10.2 million people, has seen 4,468 deaths linked to Covid-19, which is far more than its Nordic neighbours and one of the highest death rates per capita in the world.

Denmark has had 580 coronavirus deaths, Finland has seen 320 and Norway has had 237, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

If we were to encounter the same disease again, knowing precisely what we know about it today, I think we would settle on doing something in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done, said Mr Tegnell, considered the architect of the unique Swedish pandemic approach.

Authorities in Sweden, including Mr Tegnell, have been criticised and have apologised for failing to protect the countrys elderly and nursing home residents.

But Mr Tegnell said on Wednesday it was still unclear what the country should have done differently.

State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell (Anders Wiklund/TT/AP)

He also said other nations are unable to tell exactly what measures affected the outcome of their outbreaks because they threw everything at it in one go.

Maybe we know that now, when you start easing the measures, we could get some kind of lesson about what else, besides what we did, you could do without a total shutdown, Mr Tegnell said.

Story continues

Asked if the countrys high death toll has made him reconsider his unique approach to the pandemic, Mr Tegnell answered yes, absolutely.

Im not walking around thinking that we have a real disaster here in Sweden, Jan Arpi, a 58-year-old sales executive said.

I think we have it more or less under control, but we have to be even more careful now with the learning we have got from how the virus is spread, especially among the elderly people.

Swedens infection rate of 43.24 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants is lower than Spains (58.06), and Italys (55.39), but is higher than the reported rates in the United States (32.14) and Brazil (14.29), according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Last week, the countrys former state epidemiologist, Annika Linde, said that in retrospect she believes an early lockdown could have saved lives while political pressure has forced the government to bring forward an investigation into the handling of the crisis.

People enjoy the sunny weather in the idyllic surroundings of the garden cafe at Djurgarden in Stockholm (Anders Wiklund/TT/AP)

The moves recommended by Mr Tegnell have made Sweden a bit of a local pariah and did not spare the Swedish economy.

More than 76,000 people have been made redundant since the outbreak began and unemployment, which now stands at 7.9%, is expected to climb higher.

Finance minister Magdalena Andersson has said Swedens economy, which relies heavily on exports, will shrink 7% in 2020 and the Scandinavian country was headed for a very deep economic crisis.

Last week, neighbouring Norway and Denmark said they were dropping mutual border controls but would keep Sweden out of a Nordic travel bubble.

Danes said they will reopen the border next month to residents of neighbouring Germany, as well as to Norway and Iceland, as it accelerates the easing of its coronavirus lockdown.

However, Denmark, which has a bridge that goes directly to Sweden, has postponed a decision on whether to reopen to Swedish visitors until after the summer.
World Vision International in Ghana (WVIG), an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), has donated hand washing facilities to some institutions and groups within its operational districts to aid in the response against COVID-19.



The items, valued at about GH297,902.50, included; 750 Veronica Buckets with supporting metal stands, 750 gallons of liquid soap and other sanitary items.



The donation formed part of the WVIG's COVID-19 response plan aimed at promoting the COVID-19 preventive measures through behaviour change education.



It also focused on supporting health systems and work and strengthening multi-sector support for children impacted by the pandemic.



The beneficiary districts included; Gushegu, Karaga, Savelugu, West Gonja, Zabzugu, Saboba and Builsa South districts.



Others included; Kassena-Nankana, Garu, Bawku West, Wa West, Jirapa, Asutifi North, Kintampo, Anyima and Bunkpurugu Yunyo districts.



Mr Timothy Akanpabadai, Northern Regional Operations Manager of the WVIG, who presented the items said they would promote hygienic lifestyles among residents, as parts of effort to prevent the spread of the virus.



He noted that with new COVID-19 cases emerging daily, experts have envisaged that it will have a huge impact on the poorest and vulnerable, thus, posing a major risk to the efforts and progress made to fight poverty and hunger globally.



He, therefore, appealed to government around the world to support a united global effort to protect vulnerable groups, especially children who sometimes become orphans as result of pandemics.



Hajia Aisha Seidu, Savelugu Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), commended the WVIG for the kind gesture, and said the items would improve on the hygienic conditions of beneficiaries.



She implored residents to continue to abide by the preventive protocols issued by the Ghana Health Services (GHS), World Health Organization (WHO) and other health professionals, adding that it would help to prevent individuals from contracting the virus and mitigate its spread in their communities.



She appealed to other organisations to support the government in its efforts to win the fight the virus.

Source: GNA









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Visa supports Cashless Day in joint effort to promote non-cash payments in Vietnam

Visa is celebrating this years Cashless Day in a joint initiative organised by the State Bank of Vietnam, Tuoi Tre (The Youth) newspaper, the Vietnam E-Commerce Association, and National Payment Corporation of Vietnam. Cashless payments present consumers with safer, more convenient ways to pay.

Figures from Visas Consumer Payment Attitudes study show cashless payment is on the rise, with 74 per cent of consumers in Vietnam expecting to increase their use of cashless payments in the next 12 months. Through initiatives like Cashless Day, Visa continues to support this trend by delivering payment solutions that help ensure the safety and security of merchants and consumers, a commitment that is more relevant than ever with the onset of the global pandemic.

Dang Tuyet Dung, Visa country manager for Vietnam and Laos, said, Visa is delighted to be partnering with Tuoi Tre and key Cashless Day contributors to promote the adoption of digital payments in Vietnam. Through our commitment to providing cutting-edge payment technologies, and in our strong partnership with merchants and service providers, we are proud to be facilitating safer, more convenient payment methods at a time when consumers need it most.

The global pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for how societies live and work, and this includes how we shop and make payments. Early indications suggest a rise in global contactless payments, and a shift in consumer spending toward every day, essential segments such as in grocery and pharmacy products. This shift reflects a greater need to avoid contact when making face-to-face transactions, with consumers looking to limit physical interaction during the checkout process.

Contactless payments provide a faster and more convenient way to pay without compromising security. Contactless payments are protected by dynamic EMV chip technology, which has proven to drastically reduce counterfeit fraud. As a result, contactless payment is fast becoming the preferred way to pay. In Vietnam, we are witnessing a trend in favour of contactless payment, with 85 per cent consumers using this payment method more frequently than they did two years ago.

Beyond contactless payments, the group also seeing a shift towards digital-first commerce in a broader sense. Leading companies and brands are delivering cohesive, omni-channel strategies that seamlessly integrate mobile, online, and in-store commerce, and with social distancing practices remaining a key priority, these channels look set to gain momentum.

As millions of buyers look towards digital commerce for food, everyday staples, and household essentials, initiatives like Cashless Day strengthen consumer awareness and incentivise faster adoption of digital payments.

Host of promotions and benefits for Cashless Day

Working in collaboration with NextPay, NowFood, Saigon Co.op, Starbucks, and CGV, Visa has announced a range of promotions, benefits, and digital payment options to consumers as part of the Cashless Day campaign. Activities surrounding the initiative also include free issuance of Sacombank Tiki Visa Platinum card, cashback incentives, and promotional discounts of up to 50 per cent with major brands and retailers when paying with your Visa card.

In partnering with NextPay, an all-in-one payment platform for SMEs, Visa is also supporting the acceptance of cashless payments among merchants and retailers. Cashless Day promotions will include 100 free Mobile Point-of-Sale (mPOS) terminals for the first 100 merchants to register for the programme, as well as a 50 per cent discount on mPOS terminals and one-year free use of NextShop  a business management software  for others who sign up. The collaboration is also offering a 70 per cent discount for small merchants registering for a three-year service package of the software.

In addition to providing opportunities for merchants to reach more potential customers, Visa is also partnering with NowFood to offer up to VND30,000 ($13) discounts on orders paid for using your Visa card. Among several other promotions being announced, consumers can also gain access to Visa rewards when spending over VND400,000 ($17.40) with Visa contactless payment at Co.opmart, get VND10,000 (43 US cents) discounts for drinks in a single receipt at Starbucks by Visa contactless payment, and can purchase CGV movie tickets at a discounted rate when purchasing online or with Visa contactless payment. By joining the digital ecosystem created by Visa and its partners, consumers can benefit from a seamless digital payment experience.

In advocating Cashless Day, Visa continues to collaborate with partners to support Vietnam in its efforts to become a cashless nation. By combining the efforts of government departments, merchants, banks, media, the fintech industry ,and other stakeholders, the countrys vision of instilling lasting cashless payment habits is swiftly becoming a reality.
A key moment emerged at the Brooklyn memorial service for Mr. Floyd last week, when Mr. Williams criticized the governor and mayor for prioritizing the safeguarding of property over protecting black New Yorkers.

Where is the same energy for black lives? he said. Why are you not saying we have to do everything, everything, everything we can to protect black lives?

Throughout his political career, Mr. Williams has displayed an activist streak: He has been arrested at least a half dozen times while protesting issues such as immigrant rights and President Trumps nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

As a New York City councilman, Mr. Williams co-sponsored legislation that helped create an inspector general for the New York Police Department. He then ran a spirited primary campaign for lieutenant governor in 2018, losing to the incumbent, Kathy Hochul, by less than seven percentage points. Months later, he won a special election to succeed Letitia James as the citys public advocate.

Mr. Williamss rise comes at a peculiar time in the mayoral race: For months, the city was locked down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Everyone and everything, including political campaigns, were frozen in place. New Yorkers lost access to jobs, schools, friends.

Then protests erupted, sending thousands of New Yorkers into the streets, filled with pent-up energy and a desire for change. The sometimes violent behavior of Bill de Blasios police force during the protests only amplified progressive disdain for the mayor, who activists say has failed to live up to his campaign promises.

Now, seven years after Mr. de Blasio ran for office on a pledge to achieve police reforms, New York Citys police force is again emerging as a central issue in a mayoral race.
A decontamination wipe conceived by ordnance officers in the Defence Forces has received funding worth almost 2m from the European Commission to help fight the spread of the coronavirus.

It follows approval for the wipe last week from the United States Food and Drug Administration.

The ground-breaking Anti-Bioagent Wipe (ABwipe) is one of 36 products selected by the European Innovation Council from over 1,400 relevant applications to receive accelerator funding totalling 166m.

It was designed by Irish company, Aquila Bioscience, in collaboration with the Ordnance Corps, whose members have been involved in the concept and product trials.

Read More

In mid-March, the Council launched a call for innovative companies to apply for the funding and received a record number of responses.

The successful companies were selected after an independent evaluation of all applications and virtual interviews with those on the shortlist.

The ABwipe is described by the Council as an innovative, safe and effective bio-decontamination technology for non-toxic removal of biological agents, including Covid-19.

It has been handed funding of 1,940,968.75 and is one of five selected in a category for companies focusing on ways to prevent future outbreaks through vaccines, disinfectants and data analytics.

The money will be used to help the company develop its product and break into other markets such as the US after a successful launch here.

The wipes are being used here to prevent the spread of Covid-19 by the HSE, Defence Forces, An Post and homecare services and are aimed at first responders.

The concept of the wipe was developed by recently retired army lieutenant colonel, Ray Lane, whose bomb disposal skills have been acknowledged around the world through his deployment with United Nations peace missions and training courses for counterparts in other military forces.

In conjunction with his ordnance corps colleagues, Col Lane presented a series of potential bio threat scenarios to Professor Lokesh Joshi, co-founder and director of Aquila Bioscience, which is based at NUI Galway where he is also vice president for research and innovation.

The technology was developed over five years and the wipe was first presented to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at McKee barracks in Dublin last month.

Working with the military, the Department of Defence and the European Defence Agency, the company developed a wipe which Professor Joshi said would serve as an essential tool in the arsenal against the virus to stem its spread and save lives.

He said most existing decontamination solutions contained chemicals that were harmful to the skin, health of the user and to the environment.

But ABwipes did not contain harmful elements and could be used on skin and sensitive areas such as eyes, nose and mouth.

Col Lane described AB capability as offering a significant capacity in protecting people and, ultimately, saving lives.
Muslim pilgrims in Sepang, Malaysia, prepare to board a bus to Kuala Lumpur International Airport while traveling to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage, Aug. 14, 2018.

Malaysia on Thursday joined Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries in pulling out from sending Hajj pilgrims to Mecca this year, as officials cited health concerns around the coronavirus, which has infected more than 100,000 people in Saudi Arabia.

Some 31,600 Malaysian Muslims were registered to undertake the Hajj pilgrimage  one of the main obligations of people who practice Islam  but they will have to postpone their plans to go on the religious journey of a lifetime, the government announced.

Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, the minister at the Prime Ministers Department in charge of religious affairs, said the government made the decision after consulting the Malaysian Ministry of Health and the Tabung Haji  the board that administers funds for Malaysian Hajj pilgrims and matters related to pilgrimages to Islams holiest sites.

Based on the briefing by the Health Ministry and Tabung Haji along with discussions among the members of the special taskforce for Islamic affairs that met on June 9, 2020, the pilgrimage rites for all Malaysians for the Hajj season of the year 1441AH [Al-Habib] is postponed, Al-Bakri said in a statement, referring to the Islamic calendar.

Until now there is no vaccine to contain the virus outbreak, which has claimed many lives across the world. The Hajj pilgrimage is the fifth pillar of Islam and closely related to istitoah, which is the ability to perform Hajj [in] health [and] safety, he said. [W]ithout the ability or the capability of the earlier mentioned, the conditions under istitoah is not met, hence it is not compulsory for us to perform Hajj. I would like to express in all sincerity that this is a heavy decision for me to announce.

The minister said he had met with the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Malaysia on Wednesday to formally deliver Malaysias letter of intent to the kingdoms Hajj Minister, Mohammed Saleh bin Taher Banten. Al-Bakri said he had also presented the matter to the Malaysian king  the countrys highest authority on Islamic affairs  for his consent.



Given priority for next year

In a separate statement, Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff, the managing director of the Tabung Haji, said all pilgrims registered for the 2020 season would be given priority to travel for next years season.

Due to this postponement, all would-be pilgrims allocated to perform the Hajj for the 2020 season will be given priority to perform the rites in the year 2021. Those whose turn is for 2021 will also get a chance to go pending availability in the yearly quota, he said.

The pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia takes place annually for 10 days on the 12th and last month of the Islamic lunar calenda, and is compulsory for all Muslims who are physically and financially able to perform Hajj at least once in their lifetime.

To control the influx of people participating in any given year, the Saudi government issues quotas for every country at 0.1 percent of each countrys total population.

This years Hajj is to run from late July until early August, but Saudi Arabia has not yet reopened the Grand Mosque in Mecca  one of the main destinations for Muslims pilgrims who converge on the holy city from around the world  because the kingdom is contending with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, Riyadh announced it was suspending the Umrah  also known as the minor pilgrimage to Mecca  over concerns around the viral outbreak.

Now, Saudi Arabia may even lower the number of pilgrims who can participate to prevent future outbreaks, according to news reports from the kingdom this week.

On June 2, Indonesia announced it was cancelling plans to send 200,000 pilgrims on Hajj, citing uncertainty about whether Saudi authorities would allow them to enter the kingdom amid the ongoing outbreak.

Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and Cambodia also announced that they are not sending pilgrims on Hajj this year.

Zamzam Jaafar, 67, a Malaysian Muslim who was among those who had registered to undertake the pilgrimage this year with his brother, said that he accepted the governments decision.

I leave it to God, and am at peace. I look forward to go to Mecca next year, the retired nuclear physicist told BenarNews.
WILLIAMS BAY  High school seniors in the Williams Bay School District were able to celebrate their graduation while maintaining their distance during a drive-in style ceremony.

With traditional graduation ceremonies involving hundreds of people packed into a gymnasium, concerns surrounding the coronavirus made the age-old ritual an impossibility for schools throughout the region.

Some high schools have substituted graduation with online ceremonies, mail-in diplomas or motorcade parades.

Williams Bay principal Bill White said students deserved something special during the coronavirus pandemic.

The schools 43 graduates, dressed in caps and gowns, drove with their families to the school June 5 to find a stage assembled outside the buildings main entrance. Instead of filling bleacher seats in a gymnasium, friends and family members parked in the schools main lot as students pulled up to the stage one by one to receive their diploma.

The ceremony was broadcast over an FM radio station and streamed online.

Graduating senior and valedictorian Hanna Frederickson said she was thankful the school was able to host a ceremony at all, despite it being a non-traditional one. With many of the end-of-the-year senior events cancelled this year, Frederickson said the ceremony was much appreciated.

Another senior, Nate Mannelli, said the ceremony gave him the opportunity to see friends he had not seen in months. Mannelli was looking forward to riding his moped afterwards in a parade led by local law enforcement through the village.

School district administrator Wayne Anderson, who is retiring at the end of the summer, gave opening remarks and said seeing the seniors move onto the next chapters of their lives was a joyful experience.

Anderson, however, added that he was sad it would his last ceremony at the school.

I have truly enjoyed each and every moment that I have been here, he said. Thank you for being such a great and supportive community.

Following Andersons comments, class president Caitlin Thies spoke, thanking students, family and staff for being there.

Thies noted the unusual end of the year, but stressed the fact that in retrospect, for the exciting lives students have in front of them, the cancelled school events will be minuscule.

COVID-19 may have interrupted our senior year, she said, but it will not interrupt the rest of our lives.

Fredericksons valedictorian address echoed a similar sentiment  that while many final school moments were robbed of the graduates because of the public health crisis, the disrutpions do not mean the class was any less united.

Dont look back on the things we never did, the fun we could have had, Frederickson urged her classmates. Rather, focus on the opportunities and experiences that await us.

Following the graduation, the Williams Bay Police Department led student vehicles in a parade through the town, complete with squad cars, firetrucks and other EMS vehicles.

White said careful consideration and discussions with health officials went into coordination of the graduation ceremony, to ensure student safety during the event.

White said he believes the moment a student is handed a diploma marking graduation is an important moment that White did not want students to miss, despite not being able to gather for a normal ceremony.

Certainly wed love to have the traditional Williams Bay graduation, just like everyone wants to do their traditional graduation. But we are making the best of the situation, he said. We want to give our kids the chance to celebrate, and to some extent put closure on the school year.

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SUNRISE, Fla., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Interim HealthCare Inc., the nation's leading franchise network of home care, senior care, home health and hospice and healthcare staffing services, today launched a free Dementia Caregiver's Guide to provide valuable insight, resources and advice to those caring for a loved one living with dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

The prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease is rapidly growing in the United States. Currently, there are an estimated 5.6 million people living with age-based dementias and nearly 16 million people caring for them in the U.S. Meanwhile, the number of people with Alzheimer's disease alone is expected to nearly triple by 2050, as the overall population continues to age.

"We hope that our Dementia Caregiver's Guide will offer support for the countless family members who tirelessly give their empathy, time and resources to care for loved ones facing memory care diseases," said Jennifer Sheets, Interim HealthCare Inc. president and CEO. "During Alzheimer's and Brain Health Awareness Month and throughout the year, Interim HealthCare is committed to supporting the well-being of family members and our patients, while delivering comprehensive and compassionate care for cognitive conditions in the home."

The Interim HealthCare Dementia Caregiver's Guide was developed in partnership with Teepa Snow, one of the world's leading educators on dementia and the founder of the Positive Approach to Care (PAC). This resource provides information for recognizing the signs and stages of dementia, and how to provide positive care to a loved one following the proven Teepa Snow PAC methodology. The guide was designed to help family caregivers:

Gain the specialized knowledge needed to care for loved ones with dementia.

Understand how dementia can affect themselves and their family member.

Learn practical steps to navigate the progressing stages of dementia, and how to manage their role as a caregiver.

In addition to providing this new family caregiving resource, Interim HealthCare offers a specialized patient-centered Cognitive Care Program with a focus on dementia. Utilizing a science-backed approach to dementia care, Interim HealthCare's clinicians are specifically trained to better understand how a patient's brain is changing at each stage of disease progression and how to respond with safe, comfortable and meaningful home care.

This specialized Cognitive Care program is also a part of the Interim HealthCare's HomeLife Enrichment signature standard of care, that encompasses the mind, body, spirit and family, to improve the overall health and wellbeing of its patients and those around them.

"I applaud Interim HealthCare's commitment to meeting the specific needs of those living with dementia by using the Positive Approach to Care," said Teepa Snow, founder of the PAC and a dementia care expert. "The company's new guide will provide family caregivers with dementia knowledge, resources and tips to support their loved one, and to care for themselves as the stress of caregiving can really take a toll."

Download the free Dementia Caregiver's Guide here, and learn more about Interim HealthCare's Cognitive Care Program here.

About Interim HealthCare Inc.

Interim HealthCare Inc., founded in 1966, is a leading national franchisor of home care, hospice and healthcare staffing. It is part of Caring Brands International, which also includes UK-based Bluebird Care and Australia-based Just Better Care, both well-known franchise brands in their countries. With more than 530 franchise locations in seven countries, Caring Brands International is a global healthcare leader.



Interim HealthCare in the United States is unique in combining the commitment of local ownership with the support of a national organization that develops innovative programs and quality standards that improve the delivery of service. Franchisees employ nurses, therapists, aides, companions and other healthcare professionals who provide 25 million hours of home care service to 190,000 people each year, meeting a variety of home health, senior care, hospice, palliative care, pediatric care and healthcare staffing needs. For more information or to locate an Interim HealthCare office, visit www.interimhealthcare.com .

SOURCE Interim HealthCare Inc.

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The headquarters of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc, is seen in Wichita

By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Aircraft parts maker Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc <SPR.N> announced on Wednesday a 21-day layoff for staff doing production and support work for Boeing Co's <BA.N> 737 program.

Spirit, which makes the 737 fuselage, said the temporary layoffs and furloughs of roughly 900 workers at its Wichita, Kansas, facility would be effective June 15. The company cited impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty surrounding the 737 MAX's return to service following fatal crashes as reasons for the cuts.

Spirit's announcement comes two weeks after Boeing said it resumed production of the 737 MAX, with a goal of handing jets over to airlines in the third quarter.

The 737 MAX has been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes killed 346 people.

Boeing aims to conduct a key certification test flight on the 737 MAX jet in late June, two people briefed on the matter said earlier on Wednesday.

In May, Spirit, Boeing's largest supplier, said its cash flow outlook for the year had worsened as Boeing and key customer Airbus SE <AIR.PA> cut production due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Leslie Adler and Tom Brown)
The chilling texts a father before he allegedly set fire to his house with two children inside have been revealed.

Father-of-five Anthony Paul Tottman, 40, has been remanded in custody at Casuarina Prison in Western Australia since the alleged incident.

A bail application, in process for the past month, was refused in Joondalup Magistrate's Court on Monday.

At a previous hearing the court was shown footage from body cameras worn by police who attended a rental property in the north Perth suburb of Butler on April 7.

Anthony Paul Tottman, 40, has been remanded in custody at Casuarina Prison in Western Australia since the alleged incident

The body cameras showed officer speaking to a child at the front door before walking to the garage where Mr Tottman was.

Flames could be seen bursting from the bottom of the garage door and near a door leading to the kitchen - sending police into action as smoke and fire alarms were set off, according to The West Australian.

The court heard the accused had been drinking 'large amount' of alcohol and had rowed with his partner of 17 years.

She had taken three of the children in her car and driven a kilometre up the road to call police while the other two children remained at the house, the prosecutor told the court.

'While they waited for police, there were texts and calls where he said 'I'm going to burn the house down',' the prosecutor said.

The defence disputed these messages.

Police allege he had poured petrol in the garage and set it alight then fled the garage into the backyard.

'He exited the engulfed garage through a rear access door to the rear yard where he then tried to stab himself with a large kitchen knife,' the prosecutor said.

He was tasered by officers and then arrested.

Mr Tottman was charged with two counts of endangering the life, health or safety of a person, one count criminal damage by fire and one count of common assault in circumstances of aggravation.

Magistrate Sandra De Maio said there were no conditions she could impose on bail that would prevent her fears for the safety of the partner and children.

Mr Tottman was refused bail to next appear in court on August 17.
A Russian court has granted early release to a 79-year-old former space researcher, Vladimir Lapygin, who was sentenced to prison on a treason conviction and recognized as a political prisoner by the rights group Memorial.



A court in Tver, a city 180 kilometers northwest of Moscow, ruled on June 11 that Lapygin would be released on parole. It is expected this will happen within 10 days, once the court's ruling comes into force.



Lapygin was sentenced to 7 years in prison in September 2016 after a Moscow court found him guilty of handing secret information about the aerodynamic characteristics of hypersonic aircraft to China. Lapygin has denied the allegation saying that he never had access to classified information.



Before his arrest, he worked for a research branch of the Russian space agency Roskosmos.



Since his conviction, Lapygin asked President Vladimir Putin twice to pardon him, but his requests were rejected.



In August 2017, the Moscow-based Memorial human rights group recognized Lapygin as a political prisoner and called for his immediate release.



Lapygin's case is one of several in recent years in which academics have been accused of disseminating sensitive information.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
A ndrea Levys Small Island, Terence Rattigans The Deep Blue Sea and Lorraine Hansberrys Les Blancs are among the last five plays to be streamed online by the National Theatre.

The Bridge Theatres acclaimed production of A Midsummer Nights Dream, starring Gwendoline Christie, and Peter Shaffers Amadeus starring Lucian Msamati will also be available to watch.

Helen Edmundsons epic adaptation of Levys book from 2019 will be streamed first, following on from tonights broadcast of The Madness of King George III. Leah Harvey, Gershwyn Eustace Jr and Aisling Loftus star in the production, which traces a story from Jamaica to Britain throughout the Second World War to the HMT Empire Windrush docking on UK shores. The week-long stream will coincide with Windrush Day on June 22.

Nicholas Hytners A Midsummer Nights Dream, with Christie, David Moorst, Oliver Chris and Hammed Animashaun, will stream the following week (June 25), followed by Yael Farbers production of Hansberrys final play Les Blancs, which explores the legacy of colonialism in Africa and its effect on a family (July 2).

Helen McCrorys celebrated performance in The Deep Blue Sea follows on July 9, heralded as one of the greatest female roles in contemporary drama, and Michael Longhursts decadent production of Amadeus wraps things up on July 16, with Msamati playing Salieri to Adam Gillens upstart Mozart.

These are the final shows and their dates:

Small Island, June 18

A Midsummer Nights Dream, June 25

Les Blancs, July 2

The Deep Blue Sea, July 9

Amadeus, July 16

National Theatre dramaturg Ola Animashawun will be curating content surrounding the Small Island and Les Blancs screenings that explores the plays within the context of current discussions around race and Black Lives Matter.

The series of livestreams began in May with One Man Two Guvnors, with a different show broadcast every Thursday. While the streams are free to watch, viewers can make a donation to the National Theatre and other participating theatres to support them while they remain impacted by closures forced by the coronavirus pandemic.

Executive Director Lisa Burger said: During what has been such an isolating time for many people right across the world it has been wonderful to be able to share these productions with both new and existing audiences, and to have the opportunity to showcase the exceptional creative talent working in our industry.

Although these are the final free broadcasts in the series, Burger said that the National Theatre at Home initiative will continue with details being announced soon.
Masks and gloves will be the order of the day when the prime ministers of four ex-communist countries on Thursday hold the first major face-to-face meeting of European leaders since the coronavirus crisis.

The Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak leaders are due to discuss the EUs 750-billion euro ($850-billion) post-virus recovery fund at the Czech Republics grand neo-Gothic Lednice chateau.

It is believed to be the first time more than two European leaders will have met in person following the lockdowns.

The prime ministers of the so-called Visegrad-four (V4) countries are seeking a joint stance on the massive fund ahead of a European Council summit on June 19, to be held via video conference.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, whose country holds the rotating V4 presidency, has voiced reservations over the plan, arguing that it favours members prone to racking up excessive debt like Italy or Spain.

The recovery fund criteria are tailor-made for countries which have not been as responsible in terms of debt, budget discipline or unemployment, Babis told reporters after talks with his more conciliatory Slovak counterpart Igor Matovic in Prague last week.

With the exception of Poland, which has recently seen a spike in COVID-19 cases, the V4 countries did well in the battle against the virus with timely restrictions.

But Czech government spokeswoman Jana Adamcova told AFP the leaders will still have to observe the health rules.

They will have to wear masks and observe the usual measures, just like everybody else, she said.

And they will have to keep the distance during the press conference.

I suppose theyll wear gloves for the handshakes, she added.

Journalists covering the event will also have to wear face masks. They will be served disinfectant alongside snacks.

 No to migrant quotas 

Other issues include the European Union budget for 2021-2027, the opening of borders and tourism, as well as migration.

Last week, the V4 interior ministers and their counterparts from the Baltics and Slovenia sent a joint letter to Brussels rejecting mandatory quotas for the distribution of migrants.

We clearly said we are offering any kind of help in protecting the EUs outer borders, but we fundamentally reject mandatory relocations, Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek stressed.

He added Austria and Denmark had also joined the initiative, sending separate letters to Brussels as the EU commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, works on a new asylum and migration policy for the bloc.

Im glad that after the experience with the previous debate on quotas, we have put together a strong coalition of countries rejecting them, Hamacek added.

SOURCE: AFP
RTHK: Australia won't give up values for China trade: PM

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he would not be intimidated or give into coercion when asked on Thursday whether Australia would keep taking hits on exports from major trading partner China.

Diplomatic tensions between China and Australia have worsened after Australia called for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the coronavirus, angering Beijing.

The World Health Assembly last month voted to support an independent review into the pandemic after Australia and the European Union led lobbying.

On Tuesday, China's Ministry of Education said students should reconsider choosing to study in Australia, threatening Australia's fourth-largest export industry, international education, worth A$38 billion (US$26 billion) annually.

"We are an open-trading nation, mate, but I'm never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes," Morrison told radio station 2GB on Thursday.

China has in recent weeks banned Australian beef imports and imposed tariffs on Australian barley.

The warning for students followed a similar warning last week from Beijing for Chinese tourists to avoid Australia.

In both cases, officials in Beijing said the warnings were due to racist attacks against Asians during the pandemic.

"That's rubbish. It's a ridiculous assertion and it's rejected. That's not a statement that's been made by the Chinese leadership," Morrison said in a separate interview on 3AW.

Australia lodged a protest with the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, and the Chinese embassy in Canberra, about China's travel and student warnings, said a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The Australian government rejected the assertion it was unsafe to visit or study in Australia, a statement said.

"Australia provides the best education and tourism products in the world," Morrison told 2GB. "The ability for Chinese nationals to be able to choose to come to Australia (has) substantively been their decision. And I'm very confident in the attractiveness of our product."

The coalition representing Australia's elite universities, the Group of Eight, has said international education was "being used as a political pawn". China is Australia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth A$235 billion a year. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The United States may see 200,000 deaths because of the coronavirus at some point in September, a leading expert said, while total US coronavirus cases surpassed 2 million on Wednesday as governments relax restrictions.

Ashish Jha, the head of Harvard's Global Health Institute, told CNN in an interview on Wednesday that without drastic action, the number of US deaths would march on.

"Even if we don't have increasing cases, even if we keep things flat, it's reasonable to expect that we're going to hit 200,000 deaths sometime during the month of September," Jha said. "And that's just through September. The pandemic won't be over in September."

Jha added: "I'm really worried about where we're going to be in the weeks and months ahead."

Total US coronavirus-related deaths totaled 112,754 on Wednesday, the most in the world. Jha said that was directly tied to the fact the United States was the only major country to reopen without getting its case growth to a controlled level - a rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus remaining at 5% or lower for at least 14 days.

He said the deaths were not "something we have to be fated with" and could be prevented by ramping up testing and contact tracing, strict social distancing and widespread use of masks.

Several US states have seen coronavirus cases jump in recent days, causing great concern among Jha and other experts who say authorities are loosening restrictions too early.

New Mexico, Utah and Arizona each saw its number of cases rise by 40% for the week ended Sunday, according to a Reuters analysis. Florida and Arkansas are other hot spots.

Nationally, new infections are rising slightly after five weeks of declines, according to a Reuters analysis that showed total cases at 2,003,038.

Part of the increase is due to more testing, which hit a record high last Friday of 545,690 tests in a single day but has since fallen, according to the COVID-Tracking Project https://covidtracking.com.

It is also likely a result of more people moving about and resuming some business and social activities as all 50 states gradually reopen after lockdowns designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Health officials urged anyone who took part in nationwide protests for racial justice to get tested. Experts fear that the protests, with no social distancing, that have occurred since the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody could lead to another spike in cases.

But Vice President Mike Pence said he saw no sign of that.

"What I can tell you is that, at this point, we don't see an increase in new cases now, nearly two weeks on from when the first protests took effect," Pence said in an interview on Fox Business Network. "Many people at protests were wearing masks and engaging in some social distancing."
Nepal crisis will not come in the way of bi-lateral ties with India: Sources

With Oli stunning CCP team, China would look to target his credibility

India built Temple, created artificial river on our territory says Nepal PM

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, June 11: Nepal. Has alleged that India had encroached upon its territory by deploying soldiers, building a temple and creating an artificial river.

Nepal's Prime Minister, K P Oli said that India had built a Kali Temple, created an artificial Kali river and deployed Indian Army personnel in order encroach upon the Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura. He said that these earlier belonged to his country.

Oli also criticised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath for advising Nepal for not committing the mistake of ratcheting up a territorial dispute with India. He said that these remarks were not acceptable to the people of Nepal.

Indo-Nepal ties to hit rock bottom after latter makes strong pitch tore-draw its map

Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura were based on historical records and India should return the areas it had encroached upon.

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

While India is watching the developments closely, the government had said that the revised official map was a unilateral act and not based on facts.

Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson Ministry of External Affairs had said that what Nepal did was contrary to the bilateral understanding to resolve outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. Such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by India, he had also said.

India also urged Nepal to refrain from such unjustified cartographic assertion and respect India's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We hope that Nepalese leadership will create a positive atmosphere for diplomatic dialogue to resolve the outstanding boundary issues, the MEA spokesperson also said.

Last month Nepal's cabinet endorsed a new political map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory, amid a border dispute with India.

The move announced by foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali came weeks after he said that efforts were on to resolve the border issue with India through diplomatic initiatives.

Nepal's ruling Nepal Communist Party lawmakers have also tabled a special resolution in Parliament demanding return of Nepal's territory in Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh.

The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district.

Indian officials say that they are upset that Nepal did not wait for the foreign secretary level talks. The government had assured Kathmandu that the talks would take place once the threat from COVID-19 subsides. Nepal on the other hand claimed that a dialogue was sought in November last year itself.

It may be recalled that India had donated the antimalarial drug HCQ and 30,000 test kits to Nepal.
Accra, 11 June, 2020: On behalf of German Development Cooperation in Ghana, the Ghanaian German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration (GGC) together with its partners  the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (AHK Ghana) and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) has announced to hold the first virtual career fair in Ghana dubbed the Ghana Virtual Career Fair. The launch of the Ghana Virtual Career Fair which was transmitted live on the facebook page of the GGC offered opportunity for the organisers of the fair to throw more light on what people should expect at the virtual career fair.

Slated for 8 July, 2020, 10 AM  2 PM and targeted at young jobseekers, the Ghana Virtual Career Fair aims to contribute to tackling unemployment and underemployment, improve skills base and promote entrepreneurship among the youth in the country; and to complement the efforts of the Ghanaian government in finding lasting solutions to youth unemployment. The career fair is hinged on four core areas of digital skills, employability, entrepreneurship, and exchange between jobseekers and industry.

In his remarks, the Head of the Ghanaian-German Centre, Benjamin Woesten, reiterated the Centres commitment to assist Ghanaian youth in their skills enhancement to use their potential in the most purposeful way. In our engagement with the youth since the opening of the Centre in December 2017, one thing stands out  the Ghanaian youth is so full of great potential and given the right tools, platform and exposure, there is so much they can do. For us at the Ghanaian-German Centre and in collaboration with our partners, we want to and are happy to be the ones providing this platform to enable them achieve their dreams. Mr. Woesten added that the COVID-19 pandemic, though it comes with some discomfort regarding our inability to physically gather at a central location as has always been the practice, is also providing us with a great opportunity for us to reach people beyond the limitations of a physical converging point. This means that no matter where you are in Ghana, you can participate once you are connected to technology. So, I will encourage all, especially job seekers and entrepreneurs to take advantage of this virtual career fair which has so much to offer.

On his part, the Delegate of the Delegation of German Commerce and Industry (AHK Ghana), Dr. Michael Blank, encouraged people to take the new reality as a challenge and step up to it by going digital and discovering new ways of connecting, experiencing, and sharing.

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Hon. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, in his address indicated that the Ministrys cooperation with GIZ, particularly the GGC, has resulted in over 1000 job opportunities for the young Ghanaian who otherwise had no hope of getting opportunities. He urged all young people desirous of getting jobs and employers keen on engaging young talented people to take advantage of the Ghana Virtual Career Fair and be present (virtually) at the fair.

The Ghana Virtual Career Fair will feature seasoned speakers from the private sector and will give participants rare opportunity to engage with speakers through virtual workshops, panel discussions, crash courses, among others all on one platform. Organisers also announced at the launch that the first 500 people to register will receive free data packages. Registration is free and is now opened at the Facebook page of the GGC (FB: Ghanaian German Centre).

Anchored on its three pillars of Career Guidance, Employment Promotion and Reintegration Support services, the GGC offers employment promotion services to job seekers in Ghana and counsels its clients on socio-economic prospects in Ghana. The Centre targets local population and returning migrants alike. Its services include individual counselling, profiling, soft skills trainings, career guidance advice, psycho-social support, referral into vocational and entrepreneurship trainings and start-up support (trainings, equipment, and business registration) among others. Since its inception in December 2017, the Centre has counselled more than 12,000 individuals, offered more than 13,000 employment promotion measures and facilitated more than 1,000 persons into employment or supported in setting up a business.

The Ghanaian-German Centre (GGC)

The Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs and Reintegration (GGC) is part of the global project Programme Migration for Development (PMD), which is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR). GGCs objective is to support Governments effort at improving living conditions and provide opportunities to enhance job prospects, now and in the future. This entails activities to promote education, training and employment opportunities. The support is aimed not only at the local population and internally displaced people, but also at those returning home from Germany.
Former Ucom executives the Yesayan brothers have confirmed their intention to acquire Armenias market leading operator, Veon Armenia (Beeline).

The acquisition will be made via Hayk and Aleksandr Yesayans new venture, Team LLC. Originally known as AllNet, the brothers founded the unit in April this year after divesting their shares in Ucom due to disagreements over the operators future.

The Yesayans have described Team LLC as an attempt to create a better operator than the one we founded twelve years ago. The brothers were part of the small team that founded Ucom in 2009, and are considered to have been instrumental in making the alternative operator one of Armenias most successful companies.

Veon Armenia has sought permission from the SCPEC (State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition) and PSRC (Public Services Regulatory Committee) to sell 100% of its shares to Team LLC, and the new venture has now filed for a permit to acquire them. If permission is granted, Team LLC will offer services as Team Telecom Armenia.

Local media outlets have quoted Team CEO Hayk Yesayan as saying: Team is paving a new way in Armenias telecom and digital services market and this purchase will help us further enhance our professional team and develop the infrastructure.

He noted that Team.Telecom Armenia has already begun designing and building a next generation network and that acquiring Veons shares would further accelerate the companys efforts.

Veon had previously been in discussions with Ucom over a potential merger between the companies, but these were abandoned in May following the departure in April of the Yesayan brothers, along with several hundred Ucom employees.

The resignations arose from a dispute with senior Ucom staff and shareholders, who argued that if the merger was successful, the resulting entity would be led by Beeline CEO Andrey Pyatakhin. Veon gave no official reason for abandoning the talks with Ucom.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

As many as 2,238 people have been infected with the coronavirus (COVID-19) for the past day in Iran, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Trend reports citing the ministry.

According to Lari, 78 more people have died from the coronavirus over the past day.

Lari said that the situation is more dangerous in Iran's Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Kerman and Hormozgan provinces.

So far, more than 1.17 million tests have been conducted in Iran for the diagnosis of coronavirus.

Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 180,100 people have been infected 8,584 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 142,600 have reportedly recovered from the disease.

The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.

The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 22:05:59|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Ministry of Health on Thursday confirmed that 121 more people tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections to 3,215.

Mutahi Kagwe, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Health of Kenya said that the cases are from 3,215 samples which were tested in the last 24 hours.

Kagwe said in a statement that those who tested positive included 115 Kenyans and six foreign nationals.

He noted that during the period, 44 patients recovered from the disease and have been discharged from hospitals bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,092.

"We are saddened that we have lost three more patients to the disease, taking the tally of fatalities to 92," Kagwe said.

Kagwe noted that 106,247 samples have so far been tested in medical laboratories since the outbreak of the disease in Kenya in mid-March.

He urged Kenyans to adhere to the guidelines that have been given by the Ministry of Health to help contain the further spread of the disease.

Kenya has so far closed borders with Somalia and Tanzania as part of containment measures to avoid the spread of the disease in the country from the neighboring countries. Enditem
SCOTTSDALE, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / CBD Life Sciences Inc. (OTC PINK:CBDL) through its wholly owned subsidiary, LBC Bioscience Inc. is pleased to announce that our CBD Kiosk is now open at Fashion Square Mall! The Kiosk is in a prime location right near Tesla & Microsoft. Fashion Square Mall is based in the heart of Scottsdale, AZ and has Arizona's largest selection of Exclusive Stores & Brands. Close by the Mall is Old Town Scottsdale, which is a popular tourist destination that brings in an immensely amount of revenue.

The CBD "(cannabidiol) market is rapidly growing and has shown promising indication for the health & wellness industry. Widespread use is increasing throughout the public. Follow our social media accounts at www.instagram.com/lbcbioscience, www.facebook.com/lbcbioscience, www.linkedin.com/company/lbcbioscienceinc & www.twitter.com/lbcbioscience for updating information.

Lisa Nelson, President/CEO of CBD Life Sciences, Inc. commented "We have been waiting to open up our CBD Kiosk for months now, but due to Covid-19 we weren't able to open. I am glad we are now open for business to serve our consumers. Fashion Square Mall is Arizona's most popular shopping center located in Scottsdale, AZ."

Lisa Nelson continued "Our CBD Kiosk is selling our full line of CBD products such as Pain Relief Creams, Hand Sanitizers, Pet Products, Gummy Bears, Tablets, Skincare Products, Drops, Coffee, Honey Sticks & more." Lisa ended with "As always, the Company will continue to update the public about new product releases, trades shows, events and any updated information regarding LBC Bioscience Inc."

About LBC Bioscience Inc.

LBC Bioscience Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of CBD Life Sciences Inc. LBC has developed and is retailing/wholesale a full line of cannabidiol based organic products including: CBD Drops, Pain Relief Creams, Anxiety & Sleep Supplements, Edibles, Coffee, Skincare Line, Pet Line, Tablets. LBC's products can be viewed and purchased on the Company's website at www.lbcbioscienceinc.com.

Ten Associates LLC

Contact: Thomas E. Nelson

Telephone: (480)326-8577

Email: tenassociates33@gmail.com

Website: www.tenassociatesllc.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties. See CBD Life Sciences, Inc's, Inc.'s filings with OTC Markets, which may identify specific factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release includes forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and reflects management's current expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Some of these factors include: general global economic conditions; general industry and market conditions, sector changes and growth rates; uncertainty as to whether our strategies and business plans will yield the expected benefits; increasing competition; availability and cost of capital; the ability to identify and develop and achieve commercial success; the level of expenditures necessary to maintain and improve the quality of services; changes in the economy; changes in laws and regulations, including codes and standards, intellectual property rights, and tax matters; or other matters not anticipated; our ability to secure and maintain strategic relationships and distribution agreements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking ability to secure and maintain strategic relationships and distribution agreements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking.

SOURCE: CBD Life Sciences Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593539/CBD-Life-Sciences-Inc-Announces-Grand-Opening-of-CBD-Kiosk-Located-inside-of-the-Scottsdale-Fashion-Square-Mall
RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- City Council President Eloise Henry read a resolution at Tuesday nights (June 9) City Council Committee-of-the-Whole meeting that declares racism is a national crisis.

Henry said such a resolution will be considered for passage in coming days by several councils, such as those representing Summit County, the City of Akron, Hamilton County, Cleveland, Toledo and others. On Monday (June 8) evening, such a resolution was passed by South Euclid City Council.

The resolution asks that the declaration be considered in all Ohio state policies.

The resolution, which State Rep. Stephanie Howse, D-11, president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, has asked other local communities to consider, comes after protests have been held nationally and worldwide calling for equal justice for blacks after the May 25 killing of George Floyd while in custody of Minneapolis police.

I feel that we, in our city, havent faced some of the things other people have, Henry said. But on the other hand, I want to ensure we keep what we have in this city, and that we expand and we grow and we become even better. And that we consider more, because what we saw in these other places, I dont want to see it anymore ever in my life.

"But, in order to do that, were going to have to open our paradigms and think about whats happening and consider other legislation, other thoughts, be open with each other.

Henry said that, while Gov. Mike DeWine is working on legislation incorporating the resolutions sentiments, "I want us not to be the guys who are in the end, waiting. I want us to be thinking about how we can be better.

Joining Henry in introducing the resolution were Councilwomen Cassandra Nelson, Juanita Lewis and Kim Thomas, all of whom are black. Councilman Dan Ursu also asked to be included among the sponsors.

Henry said she has seen from the citys safety forces an effort toward continuing to make the city better for all.

I want us to continue to do that; I want all council people to do that. I want us to think about it when we interact with constituents in our city. I want us to think about it when we interact with each other," she said.

My point is, I would like for us to pass this resolution because, what were trying to do is, all around the country, is to say change is going to happen with us. We cant wait for the top (government leaders).

The proposed resolution lists several whereas clauses that include statements such as race is a social construct with no biological basis and racism unfairly disadvantages specific individuals and communities, while unfairly giving advantages to other individuals and communities and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources.

The resolution, which is expected to undergo minor language changes before coming to a vote, concludes by stating, Now, therefore be it resolved that the Ohio Democratic Party State Executive Committee recognizes that structural and systemic racism is embedded and entrenched in every aspect of our nation, declares unequivocally that racism is a public health crisis and calls on Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohios legislative leaders to join in our declaration and enact equity in all state policies.

After the resolutions introduction, Thomas said: We dont need to have conversation about (race). We need to have action.

After the meeting, Thomas said: "If anyone can sit here and state that racism is not a public health crisis, I think theres an issue. And, if you dont see a problem within the system, everything thats going around in the world today, the problem may lie within you -- you are part of that problem.

Its an uncomfortable conversation; a lot of people dont want to talk about race, she said. "It puts you in an uncomfortable place. But if you want to build a stronger community, these are the types of conversations you have to have.

"We have to have those conversations about how we overcome racism, and what does it look like? Some people dont understand what it is. They may experience it and display it, but if you cant identify it, you wont even know youre part of the problem.

A lot of times when you talk about it, people will say, We have problems in our own race, Thomas said. But at this moment, were not talking about any other race, were talking about whats going on with black and brown people all around the world.

Said Nelson: "Racism is a human disease and, frankly, I believe that its worse than the (coronavirus) pandemic -- it is taught, and African-Americans and other minorities have been taught and expected to live with it. It is very real, and non-minorities must understand that just because you dont see it or you personally are not negatively impacted by it, does not mean it doesnt exist.

I personally have witnessed and experienced many instances of its ramifications throughout my lifetime, she said. "We need to acknowledge it as a society so we can address it.

Despite the ugliness and discomfort, Nelson said, "we must be honest and communicate about it, because its real. It is up to all of us, not just African-Americans, to uproot racism, and it starts by acknowledging it as a public health crisis.

"As a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, I am pained by what happened to Mr. Floyd and the countless others, and it is exhausting that the continued heartbreak is seemingly never-ending.

Racism underlies so many systems in society and, like a cancer, if allowed to fester unaddressed, it will destroy the very fabric of society, just as cancer left untreated kills the body," Nelson said.

Police Chief Thomas Wetzel stated that, after hearing the powerful and impassioned words of the resolution, as read by Henry, he felt compelled to tell council all that the RHPD is doing and plans to do to address the concerns stated.

Wetzel listed videos his officers have been instructed to watch on subjects such as de-escalation, the science behind implicit bias, and Why police officers must report when they see excessive force. On June 9, police supervisors, instructors and canine officers reviewed the departments use-of-force policy. Coming up are de-escalation training and instruction on bias.

"I wanted (council) to know that we are a department that gets it, Wetzel said the day after the council meeting. We are like community policing on steroids. These principles embody the very mindset and culture of our police department.

Our officers value their fundamental mission to protect and serve, and appreciate their role as guardians, Wetzel said. "They care deeply about this community and have compassion towards those in need. They uphold the rule of law and respect those rarified ideals of equality and justice for all.

"We dont just talk the talk, we walk the walk.

Council is expected to vote on the resolution at its next meeting, June 23.

Read more from the Sun Messenger.
The University of Queensland student activist critical of the Chinese Government is suing the university for millions of dollars over its "political vendetta" against him.

Drew Pavlou, a 21-year-old elected student representative on the UQ Senate, said he was claiming $3.5 million in damages and alleged "deceit, conspiracy, harassment, defamation (and) breach of contract" by the university.

Drew Pavlou outside court on Thursday. Credit:Dan Peled/AAP

He argued UQ had levelled trumped-up misconduct allegations against him and is trying to silence him for his criticism of its ties to Beijing.

Mr Pavlou has organised protests supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement and been vocal around issues of Tibetan independence and the Tiananmen Square massacre.
A local US consulate employee was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison in Turkey Thursday for "aiding an armed terror group" that Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup, in a decision denounced by its NATO ally Washington. Metin Topuz, who worked as a liaison officer for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Istanbul, was arrested in 2017 and was jailed Thursday for eight years and nine months, the official Anadolu news agency reported. He was accused of making contact with police and a prosecutor suspected of ties to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says masterminded the attempted coup in 2016. Gulen rejects the accusations. Topuz, a Turkish citizen, denied the allegations in court, the private DHA news agency reported. A lawyer for Topuz, contacted by AFP, confirmed the sentence and said a court of appeals is due to decide whether to uphold it. In previous hearings, Topuz told the judge that his contacts with senior police officials or prosecutors of the time were entirely "part of my work as a translator and assistant liaison officer at the DEA." The Istanbul court acquitted Topuz on political and military espionage charges. The US embassy, whose staff regularly attended the hearings in support of Topuz and his family, has often said there is no credible evidence against him. US consul general Daria Darnel and acting public affairs officer Stephanie Kuck were present at Thursday's session. "U.S. officials observed every hearing in the trial of Metin Topuz in Istanbul, and we are deeply disappointed in today's decision," the US embassy said on Twitter. "We have seen no credible evidence to support this conviction and hope it will swiftly be overturned." - 'New era'- Topuz's initial arrest in 2017 triggered a diplomatic crisis with both Turkey and the US suspending visa services for some time. The latest verdict is likely to cause new strains in bilateral ties as the two NATO allies are mending fences following disagreements over Syria, Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 defence systems, and a US refusal to extradite Gulen. On the positive side, Turkish military planes carried medical supplies to Washington to help the US fight the coronavirus. In an interview with state TRT broadcaster this week, Erdogan praised cooperation with the US in Libya, saying Ankara and Washington were edging closer to a "new era" in ties. On Twitter, the US embassy said the allegations made about Topuz's official duties "misrepresent both the scope and nature of the important work undertaken by our local staff on behalf of the U.S. government and in the promotion of our bilateral relationship." Since the attempted overthrow of Erdogan, tens of thousands of people have been charged with suspected ties to Gulen and more than 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended from public sector jobs. Ankara has been criticised by its Western allies and human rights activists over the crackdown they say has undermined democracy. Turkish officials say the raids are needed to clear Gulen's influence from state institutions. The court sentenced Metin Topuz to almost nine years in prison for allegedly aiding an armed terror group
Many countries are reconsidering their relationship with China  the United States (US) and the European Union, Australia and Canada, Indonesia and Japan, Brazil and Russia. Their policies have generally involved a combination of three approaches, often pursued simultaneously. The first is internal balancing, strengthening themselves and developing capabilities in response to Chinas growing power. The second is engagement, working with China to reach understandings, although this requires some give and take by both sides. The third is external balancing, cooperating with others to gain more leverage and security vis-a-vis Beijing. Every countrys debate about its China policy has essentially involved how much emphasis it can and should place on each approach.

Indias scepticism about China runs farther and deeper than many others, dating back to the late 1950s and especially the 1962 war. Despite a return to full diplomatic ties in the late 1970s, normalisation began with Rajiv Gandhis 1988 visit to China and the agreements of 1993. Commercial normalisation was only evident after about 2003. But the scepticism never truly disappeared.

The India-China relationship can be considered to have four main components. The boundary dispute and bilateral security competition is one. But regional security competition in Indias neighbourhood was always a second factor. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) today leverages Chinas resources, but there were antecedents; Nepal settling its border with China in the 1960s, Chinas sharing of nuclear technology with Pakistan in the 1970s, Bangladesh importing Chinese military hardware in the 1980s, and Chinese backing for the military junta in Myanmar in the 1990s.

Two other elements were previously considered dampeners of India-China competition. Economic relations grew after 2003 but Indian enthusiasm waned as Chinese market access proved limited and the trade deficit widened. The fourth aspect was global governance cooperation. While China and India found common cause at BRICS, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Beijings emphasis on international coalition-building was eventually surpassed by its own superpower ambitions.

India consequently began balancing even as it normalised ties with Beijing. China was a major driver of the India-US civil nuclear agreement, which enabled defence and technological relationships with the US and its allies (including Europe, Japan, and Australia). Chinas overt opposition to Indias waiver at the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008 indicated its unease with that development. What approaches did India subsequently adopt?

First, efforts at internal balancing required a robust Indian economy, appropriate budgetary allocations for national security, and political will to deploy these tools. However, the Indian economy did not perform as dynamically as many had hoped after 2011. Nonetheless, India activated once-dormant airfields, raised army mountain divisions, reallocated air force assets eastwards, and began to improve border infrastructure.

Other tools came into play. Indian aid and concessional loans to the neighbours (especially Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the Maldives) increased and naval deployments in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans picked up by late 2017, although capital budgetary allocations did not keep pace. Indias willingness to intervene to support Bhutan against Chinese road-building in Doklam was an important statement of intent. While these developments have been positive, it is debatable whether they have been sufficient given the widening resource gap with China.

India also attempted engagement with Beijing. The period between the global financial crisis of 2008 and the Chumar stand-off during Xi Jinpings India visit in 2014 witnessed the most sustained engagement in recent years. This was motivated by several factors  an accelerated global economic rebalance, US attempts at engaging China under Barack Obama, and political dynamics within India. While this period also witnessed a hardening of Indias military position on the border, efforts at external balancing slowed down.

The latest period of engagement, which began in 2017, revealed that neither China nor India were able or willing to make major compromises. India continued to reject both the BRI and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The boundary question remained unanswered. Even on economic relations, China made only minor concessions on agricultural and pharmaceutical imports. Even in the absence of real changes, the rhetoric of engagement made sense in the aftermath of the Doklam crisis only because it bought both countries time.

Finally, external balancing involved a series of arrangements with partners that shared Indias concerns about China, with the intention of improving interoperability, facilitating intelligence and assessments, and boosting each others economic and defence capabilities. In the past few years, India has made progress in facilitating logistics support, increasing maritime awareness, upgrading military exercises, and regularising strategic dialogues with the US, Japan, Australia, Russia, France, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and others. This months India-Australia virtual summit is but the latest step in a larger progression.

India is not alone in having a domestic debate about managing Chinas rise. A combination of approaches will remain in the policy mix of every country. But if one believes that Indias internal balancing has been inadequate and engagement requires some genuine compromises by Beijing, New Delhi must logically accelerate its efforts at external balancing to deal with a more powerful China.

Dhruva Jaishankar is director of the US Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation

The views expressed are personal
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

Detectives have arrested a 15-year-old who allegedly shot five people  including a 17-year-old girl  last month at a Southeast Albuquerque apartment complex.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said Adam Herrera was booked into the juvenile detention center Wednesday afternoon in connection with the May 14 shooting.

APDs Gun Violence Reduction Unit identified Herrera as a suspect in the shooting, he said.

Gallegos said officers found ammunition and a gun case, but no gun, during a search of Herreras apartment. Gallegos did not provide a criminal complaint or say how detectives zeroed in on Herrera or whether there are any other suspects.

Officers responded around 8:15 p.m. to the shooting at the Aspen Ridge Apartments, 820 Louisiana SE, near Kathryn. They found five people had been injured by gunfire.

Police initially said it appeared some type of altercation in the parking lot had led to the shooting but gave no other details at the time.
Eckell, Sparks, Levy, Auerbach, Monte, Sloane, Matthews & Auslander, P.C. is pleased to announce that several firm attorneys have been selected to this years Super Lawyers and Rising Stars list. Super Lawyers selects attorneys through a multi-level process that includes peer reviews, evaluations, honors and awards, as well as other legal merits. Each lawyers hard work and experience has led them to be chosen this year.

Leonard A. Sloane has more than 45 years of experience handling personal injury cases including, car accidents, death claims, slip and falls, birth injuries, product defects, and medical malpractice claims. He also serves as chair of the firms Litigation and Personal Injury Department. He graduated from Villanova University School of Law and has been helping injured victims throughout his career. He has been selected to Super Lawyers each consecutive year since 2004, including being previously selected to the Top 100 Attorneys in Pennsylvania through the Super Lawyers selection process. He has been featured in Philadelphia Magazine and Main Line Today for his success in personal injury cases. Len is a past president of the Delaware County Bar Association, and also a member of the Chester County Bar and Pennsylvania Bar Association. Also, he is past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice. He lectures on auto insurance law across Pennsylvania and successfully wrote the leading book in Pennsylvania on automobile insurance law, Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Insurance  An Analysis of the Financial Responsibility Law.

Guy F. Matthews graduated from Temple University Beasley School of Law, obtained his Master of Laws in Taxation from Villanova University, and received the C.L.U. and Chartered Financial Consultant designation from the American College. Guy is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and focuses on estate planning matters for individuals and corporate clients, including conducting seminars for public and professional organizations, such as CPA organizations, CPE approved, estate planning, and bar organizations. Guy has been selected to Super Lawyers each consecutive year since 2009.

Jonathan E. Becker helps clients with estate planning and assists with wills and trusts. He graduated from the Ohio Northern University College of Law and received his LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law School. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Maryland Bar Association, Virginia Bar Association, Ohio Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association, Tax Court of the United States, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He has been practicing for over 20 years and has gained extensive knowledge from working with an institutional trustee. With his dedication and experience, Jonathan has received several awards, including Top Attorney in Pennsylvania in the areas of Estate Planning and Probate by Philadelphia Magazine, and previously as Best Tax Attorney by Main Line Today. Jonathan has been selected to Super Lawyers each consecutive year since 2011.

Joseph E. Lastowka, Jr. has helped more than 6,500 individuals prepare wills and trusts at the firm. He was nationally recognized as being a part of the first court decision that forced the IRS to pay a taxpayers fees. He graduated from The Law School of University of Pennsylvania and is member of the American Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Delaware County Bar Association. Joseph has received various awards and honors, including being selected to Super Lawyers each consecutive year since 2008. He served as an adjunct professor at Widener University and has lectured on all topics related to estate planning. Joseph currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Franklin Mint Federal Credit union and is active throughout his community.

David E. Auerbach has been selected to Super Lawyers each consecutive year since 2004 and is the head of the firms family law department. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania. After starting as a general practitioner with trial work experience, he decided to focus on family law. David has handled thousands of complex cases and has helped families throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He is currently a member of the Delaware County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Additionally, he has lectured on family law issues, especially on the Divorce Code of 1990.

Craig B. Huffman is a graduate from Widener University School of Law and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania. He focuses on family law cases and Orphans Court litigation. Additionally, he has lectured on various family law topics, such as child custody, child support, and other divorce matters. He has been selected to Super Lawyers each consecutive year since 2013 and has obtained many other achievements, including the Eric D. Turner Award, the Nicholas D. Vadino, Jr. Memorial Award, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association Pro Bono Service Award. Craig is a former President of the Delaware County Bar Association, and a member of the Delaware County Bar Association Orphans Court Rules Committee, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He is an essential lawyer at the firm and is also active in his community and church.

Matthew J. Bilker graduated from Widener University School of Law and is admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He concentrates on personal injury litigation, general civil litigation, and municipal law at the firm, and has been a significant team member since 2013. This is Matthews second consecutive year selected to Rising Stars. He is a member of the Delaware County Bar Association Board of Directors, formerly a member of the DCBA Young Lawyers Section  Executive Board, and a member of the Guy G. deFuria Chapter of the American Inns of Court, the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Additionally, he has conducted numerous seminars on behalf of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Delaware County Bar Association. Since Matthew has extensive trial skills, he is able to help his clients achieve the best possible outcome in their cases.

Christopher M. Brown graduated from Widener University School of Law and joined the firm in 2017. He concentrates on estate planning matters, business formation, development, administration, and litigation. His skills earned him the recognition as a 2017 Main Line Today Top Lawyer. Currently, he is on the executive board of the Delaware County Bar Association and is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, an arbitrator in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, and a former editor for the Delaware County Legal Journal. Christopher is also admitted to practice in the Pennsylvania Trial Courts, the Pennsylvania Appellate Courts, and the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. This is Christophers second consecutive year selected to Rising Stars.

Michael J. Davey has been selected to Rising Stars for the ninth consecutive year. Michael graduated from the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Michael concentrates on employment law and discrimination matters, as well as personal injury litigation. Michael is on the executive board of the Delaware County Bar Association, and is a recipient of the Nicolas D. Vadino, Jr., Memorial Award from the Delaware County Bar Association and is widely recognized by his significant contributions to the organized bar.

Melanie E. Tunaitis graduated from Widener University School of Law and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania. She concentrates on family law and strives to help families in need. This is Melanies second consecutive year selected to Rising Stars. Melanie is on the executive board of the Family Law Section of the Delaware County Bar Association. The firm is privileged to have her as a part of its legal team.

Eckell, Sparks, Levy, Auerbach, Monte, Sloane, Matthews & Auslander, P.C. has been providing clients with quality and efficient law services in a variety of practice areas for more than 50 years. The firm is proud to have such dedicated legal advocates on their team. For more information, contact the firm at 610-565-3700 or visit their website at https://www.eckellsparks.com/.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC) officials engaged in an investigation into possible war crimes by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

"The President has authorized economic sanctions against International Criminal Court officials directly engaged with any effort to investigate or prosecute United States personnel without the consent of the United States," the White House said in a statement.

Trump also authorized the expansion of visa restrictions against ICC officials and their family members.

The statement criticized the ICC as an "unaccountable and ineffective international bureaucracy" that pursues "politically-motivated" investigations against the United States and its allies.

Top officials of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Pentagon chief Mark Esper, Attorney General William Barr, and National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, attended a press briefing later in the day at the State Department to denounce the ICC as well as its efforts to probe U.S. actions in Afghanistan.
Technologies like the internet, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence will be leveraged fully to open up new vistas for exhibitors at the upcoming 127th session of the China Import and Export Fair, its organizers said on Wednesday.



Due to the COVID-19 epidemic in many parts of the world, the government rescheduled the international flagship trade event, also known as the Canton Fair, in late March, and decided to hold the same as an online event from Monday to June 24 in Guangzhou.

In line with China's focus on livestreaming, an increasingly popular tool in the country's digital marketing landscape, the fair will provide 24-hour live broadcasting platforms for exhibitors to better interact with the buyers throughout the world, said Li Jinqi, deputy director-general of the Canton Fair's organizing committee.

In addition to using well-known digital platforms such as Google and Facebook, as well as a number of social media portals, buyers from home and abroad can easily access the related exhibits while watching live broadcasts, he said, adding there are a variety of online communication tools to help buyers and sellers interact in real time, as well as improve the efficiency and effectiveness of online negotiations.

To promote global trade and share mutually beneficial development, Li said activities, such as online signings and new product launches to showcase innovative products, will be encouraged during the event. Companies can display their brand image in multiple dimensions through formats such as pictures, videos and 3D imaging to buyers in other parts of the world.

As the Canton Fair looks to engage exporters, exhibition fees will be waived to cope with the effect of the COVID-19 epidemic and help foreign trade companies expand their market and tide over the difficulties, said Zhang Li, deputy director-general of the department of foreign trade under the Ministry of Commerce.

Cross-border e-commerce platforms that participate in the fair-related activities will get fee exemptions, he said, adding that the ministry will attach equal importance to imports and exports, promote the matching of production, supply and sales, enhance online experiences of enterprises and merchants with higher technology levels and better services to succeed in the online session.

Domestic manufacturers have been gearing up to fulfill their overseas orders via the internet as the country's largest trade event is scheduled to be conducted online due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Plans have already been made to increase overseas customers' knowledge of our products through online measures," said Pan Zisheng, vice-director of the Asia-Pacific business department at Foshan, Guangdong province-based Galanz Group.

As a major producer of household electrical appliances in China, Galanz will design a web page with 3D features to display its latest products and services for overseas buyers during the online fair, he said.

Experts expect China's exports to show a stable recovery in the second half of the year on the back of a notable improvement in the industrial, supply and service chains as well as from major trade events like the upcoming Canton Fair and the third China International Import Expo.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic has already cast a shadow over global trade, aviation, services and tourism, business people are reluctant to travel to other countries. Chinese companies will have better access to the global market by showcasing their products online, said Sang Baichuan, an economics professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the international market research institute under the China Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said organizing the event online is not only a flexible measure to deal with the pandemic, but also an innovative measure to upgrade the traditional fair, as the internet and smartphones already play a big role in people's lives and business activities.
A day after urging the people to offer namaz from their homes amid the spike in Covid-19 cases in the national capital, Jama Masjid's Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari, here on Thursday, said the mosque would remain closed till June 30.

Speaking to the media, Bukhari said, "I had made an appeal to the people to offer namaz from their homes and after taking public opinion and consulting scholars, it has been decided that from Thursday's Maghreb (sunset) till June 30 no congregational prayers will be performed at the Jama Masjid."

The decision comes three days after the historic mosque reopened on June 8 after over two months as the government allowed further relaxations as part of "Unlock-1", the first phase of a calibrated exit from the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown.

As several establishments, like shopping malls and offices, opened across the country on June 8, Bukhari asked governments to reconsider decision in view of the rapid spread of coronavirus.

Bukhari's Secretary Amantuallah passed away on Tuesday night at the Safdarjung Hospital due to Covid-19.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is delivering the inaugural address on the occasion of the 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) today. PM Modis address is taking place via video conferencing.

Earlier this month, the prime minister delivered the inaugural address on the occasion the 125th anniversary of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). During the session, PM Modi said that India is on the path to regaining economic growth as the country enters the phase of Unlock-1 to gradually lift Covid-19 lockdown measure and boost economic activity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver the inaugural address on the occasion of 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) today. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/aXbTWgGf5T  ANI (@ANI) June 11, 2020

The prime minister said he has immense confidence in Indias crisis management capability and in the talent of the countrys farmers, entrepreneurs and the many MSMEs.

We will get our economy back, the prime minister said. He emphasised the significance of virtual events in the age of coronavirus. The prime minister pointed at the need to manufacture products which are Made in India but are Made for the World.

He also lauded Indias efforts in fighting the Covid-19 battle and said that India took timely action in a timely manner while coronavirus was spreading across the globe.

He had said that Indian industries should take advantage of the trust developed towards India as the world is looking for a trusted and reliable partner.

World is looking for a trusted, reliable partner. India has potential, strength and ability. Today, Indian industries should take advantage of the trust developed in the world towards India... Getting growth back is not that difficult. The biggest thing is that Indian industries have a clear path of self-reliance, he stated.
The Goldman Sachs Groups GS commodities unit pocketed more than $1 billion as revenues through May this year despite such turbulent times, per a Bloomberg article.

Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that though other commodities, including natural gas, power and precious metals contributed,most of the support came from oil trading.

Since the breakout of the novel coronavirus in China, oil prices have been sliding. The outbreak, which led to travel restrictions and lockdown in most countries, impacted the demand for fuel. Further, prices tumbled as Saudi Arabia initiated a price war and boosted its oil production significantly in retaliation to Russias refusal to lower its crude production. Hence, oil witnessed one of the most vicious selloffs in history, with oil prices trading in the low 20s in March.

Qin Xiao, who oversees Goldmans trading business in Singapore, anticipated a fall in oil prices and therefore positioned the company short on oil. Thus, he was able to reap gains from the position when the pandemic started to spread in Asia and the prices fell by about two-thirds in the first three months of 2020.

At the same time, Anthony Dewell, London-based trader, conducted successful trades, anticipating a fall in the West Texas Intermediate futures market in April as storage tanks filled and prices moved toward zero.

The commodities trading business was once Goldmans most active unit and a significant contributor of profits until tighter regulation curbed the risks it could take on proprietary bets. However, with the market volatility returning on the coronavirus scare, the companys first-quarter results were aided by strong underwriting business, and higher Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Client Execution revenues.

Also, Reuters reported that Goldmans Marcus has been attracting so many applications for new accounts that the company had to temporarily stop accepting them.

Story continues

"We've really seen our growth accelerate under lockdown as people hold off on discretionary spending and take time to reorganise their finances and get the best deal for their money," the article quoted Des McDaid, leader of Marcus U.K.'s operations.

Our Take

While Goldman is on track to remodel its business into a more profitable one, it continues to face probes and queries from several federal agencies, and a few foreign governments for businesses conducted during the pre-crisis period. These are likely to keep costs elevated.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have lost 5.6% over the past year compared with the industrys decline of 9%.

Key Picks

Bank of Hawaii Corporations BOH 2020 earnings estimates have been revised 18.2% upward over the past 60 days. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) companys shares have lost 21.2% over the past six months. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Franklin Resources, Inc. BEN earnings estimates for the current year have been revised 1% upward over the past 60 days. Over the past six months, this Zacks #1 Ranked companys shares have declined 8.8%.

Earnings estimates for First Republic Bank FRC have moved 17.1% north over the past 60 days for the ongoing year. The companys shares have rallied 2.8% over the past six months. It carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

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Environmental groups are demanding Bermuda-based reinsurance company Aspen Re explain its involvement with the Adani Carmichael Coal mine after it was revealed the firm was paid for covering early works on the project.

Leaked invoices from within insurance broker Marsh McLennan reveal Aspen Re was one of four global insurance companies paid for underwriting works on the controversial Queensland coal and rail project. Three of the insurers contacted by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald  HDI, Liberty and XL Australia  said their policies were minor and would expire in coming years.

However, Aspen Re refused to answer questions about which aspect of the project it had insured and whether these plans contradicted any corporate policies on climate change.

Marsh has been employed since 2015 to find insurers for Adani, and one of its staff, who asked not to be named, said Aspen Re was a likely contender to insure the mine and rail project as it was offshore. Marsh's chief executive also had a history dealing with Aspen Re, which made it more likely the firm would be a major player in underwriting the project, they said.
Residents in one of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs are battling with developers over plans to build a Woolworths supermarket in their 'village community'.

The plan, which is currently awaiting council approval, would see a handful of boutique shops on Mosman's high street replaced with a Metro store.

The $5.3 million development would also include a cafe and 20 car spaces - the proposal would keep the existing shopfronts.

But residents in the affluent, harbourside suburb fear the development would destroy their 'village charm'.

The exclusive suburb, which is home to some of Australia's most well-known celebrities, is filled with heritage buildings, boutiques, cafes and speciality shops.

Residents in Mosman (pictured), one of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs, are battling with developers over plans to build a Woolworths supermarket in their 'village community'

The plan, which is currently awaiting council approval, would see a handful of boutique shops on Mosman's high street replaced with a Metro store (pictured: An Artists impression of plan)

One of the major concerns for residents is around parking.

Woolworths' independent traffic analysis found the supermarket would only require 20 parking spaces when comparing it to similar sized stores.

The company's stores in Newtown and Rozelle had required fewer parking spaces because customers either walked or used public transport, the analysis found.

However, the council has requested 'clear details on how the Newtown and Rozelle store are sufficient comparison sites'.

The council said the Rozelle store 'would likely have a different demographic to Mosman and would not be similar in terms of the topography of the catchment area'.

The $5.3 million development would also include a cafe, and 20 car spaces - the proposal would keep the existing shopfronts

One of the major concerns for residents is around parking. Woolworths' independent traffic analysis found the supermarket would only require 20 parking spaces

Business owner Peter Quattroville argued the demographic, socioeconomic status, and consumer behaviour of Mosman residents was different to those in Newtown and Rozelle.

'It is largely accepted that Mosman is historically a car-dependent suburb, a habit that is unlikely to change.'

He said 20 parking spaces did not seem adequate to support buyer behaviour and trends of a typical Mosman resident.

A Woolworths spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the company had listened closely to the community throughout the development of their plans.

'We believe we've put forward a proposal that is consistent with the planning framework.

'We look forward to responding to queries raised by council accordingly.'

Woolworths began consulting with the Mosman community in December. It had planned to build a full-sized supermarket but decided on a smaller Metro store after sparking uproar.
A primary school in Sydney has been shut down after a 'probable' case of coronavirus was detected.

Rose Bay Public School was closed on Friday while health officials wait for test results to come back.

Students have been asked to undertake learning from home.

It is not yet known if the case is a student of staff member.

Rose Bay Public School was closed on Friday while health officials wait for test results to come back

The NSW Department of Education said they were told of the possible case by the health department.

'The safety and wellbeing of our staff and students is of paramount importance, as a precaution the school will be non-operational while we await confirmation from NSW Health.'

This is the third school in Sydney's eastern suburbs to close due to coronavirus in the past month.

Waverley College and Moriah College both had a student test positive for the virus.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said transmissions were to be expected as restriction are eased.

'Unfortunately, this is the new normal,' she told Sunrise in May.

'We have nearly 3,000 schools across the state, so we are going to get situations where there are students or teachers who fall ill with the virus from time to time.'
A man shot dead his estranged wife's new boyfriend before turning the gun on himself at the Washington hospital where his ex worked.

Daniel Sawyers, 32, is said to have killed 27-year-old Eljahn Balon after asking to meet with him and his wife in the parking lot of St. Clare Hospital on Tuesday morning.

Police say Sawyers then turned the gun on himself and was pronounced dead at the scene in Lakewood.

His estranged wife, who has not been named, was unharmed in the incident which took place shortly before 8am. She worked at the hospital alongside her new boyfriend Balon.

Daniel Sawyers, 32, is said to have killed 27-year-old Eljahn Balon after asking to meet with him in the parking lot of St. Clare Hospital on Tuesday morning

Sawyers' estranged wife, who has not been named, was unharmed in the incident which took place shortly before 8am. She worked at the hospital alongside her new boyfriend Balon

Police Lt. Chris Lawler told The News Tribune: 'He said, "Hey, I want to talk to your new boyfriend".

'As soon as they met, the estranged husband opened fire on the boyfriend.'

Balon was hit multiple times in the shooting; he died at a local trauma center.

Court records show the couple had not officially filed for divorce.

Police Lt. Chris Lawler said: 'He said, "Hey, I want to talk to your new boyfriend". As soon as they met, the estranged husband opened fire on the boyfriend'

Court records show the couple had not officially filed for divorce

The hospital, which went into lockdown, released a statement Tuesday saying: 'Earlier this morning a shooting incident took place in the parking lot at St. Clare Hospital.

We are cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation and have learned that one of our employees was fatally shot, and the shooter is also deceased after taking his own life.'

They added: 'We have confirmed all other staff and patients are safe and this was an isolated incident.

'The hospital was briefly on lockdown at the time and is now fully open. We take very seriously the personal safety of our staff, patients and visitors. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and colleagues affected.'
The announcement by the HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy on raising tuition by five times has stunned the public.

Under the 2020 enrolment plan the school has just released, the tuition for full-time training for the 2020-2021 academic year will see a sharp rise.

The highest tuition level of VND70 million a year has been set for Odonto-stomatology and VND68 million for general medical practice. Other training majors have average tuition of VND40 million a year.



Students will have to pay VND500 million in tuition for their six year study at the school.



According to Nguyen Ngoc Khoi, head of the training division of the school, the current tuition is low, VND13 million a year, because the training cost is funded by the state.



Since January 2020, the school hasn't received funding from the state. Therefore, raising tuition is a must for the school to ensure training quality.



The high tuition set by the medical school has become a hot topic of discussion on education forums.

If other schools also raise tuition, the doors to medical schools will be forever closed to the poor. If so, Vietnam will seriously lack medical workers after 6-10 years and medical workers may have to prolong their service length.

Tran Hung in Hanoi warned that if other schools also raise tuition, the doors to medical schools will be forever closed to the poor. If so, Vietnam will seriously lack medical workers after 6-10 years and medical workers may have to prolong their service length.



Huynh Wynn Tran from VietMD commented that the tuition is too high for Vietnamese, compared with the income Vietnamese doctors can expect after graduation.



The tuition set by the HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy is much higher than the average income, which is $2,500-2,600 per annum.



Meanwhile, a newly graduated doctor in Vietnam can expect income of VND4 million a month, or $174, if he works for a state-owned hospital. This means that the income is not high enough to cover expenses.



According to Wynn, in the US, the average tuition is $40,000 a year in state-owned school and $60,000 a year in private schools, while the average income of an American is $60,000 a year and a doctor can expect income of $200,000 a year.



An analyst pointed out that VND500 million is not the total amount of money needed. After graduation, a student will have to study for 18 months more to obtain practicing certificates.



He warned that with such sky-high tuition, only students from well-off families can study at medical schools. The students, after graduation, will stay and work in large cities. If so, the problem of doctor shortages in remote areas will become even more serious.

Le Huyen

Big money poured into higher education sector Nguyen Hoang Group has become well known as the biggest private investor in the education sector.
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday authorizing economic sanctions and travel restrictions against workers from the International Criminal Court who are investigating American troops and intelligence officials for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

Why it matters: This is the ICC's first investigation of U.S. forces, and both Afghan and U.S. officials oppose it. The U.S. does not formally recognize the jurisdiction of the court, and the Trump administration is refusing to cooperate with the investigation.

Yes, but: The ICC is moving forward with the investigation even without U.S. cooperation.

The big picture: This executive order is also the latest in a series of attacks against international organizations, treaties and agreements by the Trump administration, AP notes.

Trump has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal, ended cooperation with the World Health Organization and pulled out of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement:

"The International Criminal Courts actions are an attack on the rights of the American people and threaten to infringe upon our national sovereignty...in practice it has been an unaccountable and ineffective international bureaucracy that targets and threatens United States personnel as well as personnel of our allies and partners."

The ICC responded to Trump's sanctions on Friday, saying it "stands firmly by its staff and officials and remains unwavering in its commitment to discharging, independently and impartially, the mandate," AP reports.

The court also said: "an attack against the interests of victims of atrocity crimes, for many of whom the Court represents the last hope for justice.

Context: Fatou Bensouda, the ICC's chief prosecutor, requested that the court open investigations into U.S. forces in 2017, arguing that it had enough evidence to prove that they had "committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence" in Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004.

Trump has previously pardoned U.S. service members accused of war crimes in Afghanistan.

Zoom out: The U.S. had also attempted to deter the ICC from pursuing legal proceedings over alleged Israeli war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza, Axios contributor Barak Ravid reports.
Pippa Middleton's son Arthur was seen wearing shorts in an 'aristocratic' fashion move that echoed his cousin Prince George's wardrobe during an outing in London this week.

Kate Middleton's sister, 36, put on a casual display in jeans and trainers as she opted to dress the youngster, 19 months, in a quilted jacket and shorts for a coffee run in West London.

Arthur's ensemble resembled that of George, six, who is often seen wearing shorts during public appearances.

Previously, MailOnline's etiquette expert William Hanson told Femail that Kate put her son exclusively in shorts as it's an aristocratic way to dress, harking back to the times of 'breeching', when boys would wear shorts until the age of 8, when they had a party to celebrate the move into trousers.

Pippa Middleton's son Arthur was seen wearing shorts in an 'aristocratic' fashion move that echoed his cousin Prince George's wardrobe during an outing in London this week.

Arthur's ensemble resembled that of George, six, who is often seen wearing shorts during public appearances (seen aged two in 2016 in Canada)

Kate Middleton's sister, 36, put on a casual display in jeans and trainers as she opted to dress the youngster, 19 months, in a quilted jacket and shorts for a coffee run in West London

Pippa looked in good spirits, wearing her hair in a low ponytail as she kept a close eye on the toddler.

She opted for a leather and shearling aviator jacket in the cooler weather, teaming it with ripped jeans and trainers.

Meanwhile little Arthur looked stylish in shorts - a royal favourite for toddlers - and a quilted navy blue jacket and matching traditional buckled shoes.

Despite being seen taking his first steps without the pram over the past week, Pippa opted to keep the little boy in the pushchair as she ran errands on the busy streets of West London.

Pippa looked in good spirits, wearing her hair in a low ponytail as she kept a close eye on the toddler

She opted for a leather and shearling aviator jacket in the cooler weather, teaming it with ripped jeans and trainers

In 2017 William Hanson revealed that shorts on young boys are, in fact, a silent British class marker and trousers are deemed 'suburban', which no self-respecting royal would want to be considered.

THE BREECHING TRADITION The bygone tradition of breeching saw little boys donning dresses before being 'breeched' into breeches, trousers or pantaloons. This was deemed a significant event in the life and when the boy reached the age of eight, he would make the move into trousers, which would often be celebrated with a party. Advertisement

He noted that it could well hark back to the historical sixteenth century tradition of 'breeching', whereby newborn boys would don a dress for the first few years of their lives for potty training reasons, before being 'breeched' - or switching to shorts.

He went on to explain that the youngster would no doubt be following traditions from a bygone era, which most aristocratic families - and public schools - obey.

'Shorts on young boys is one of those silent British class markers that deliberately harks back to a bygone age.

'British upper classes - and particularly royals - are especially keen to hold on to tradition so this sartorial one will silently mark them out from "the rest".'

'Among the aristocracy and upper middle classes in Britain, young boys are almost always dress - by their mothers - in shorts until roughly the age of seven,' he explained.

'Trousers on young boys is considered a tad 'suburban and middle class'.

The bygone tradition of breeching saw little boys donning dresses before being 'breeched', so put into breeches, trousers or pantaloons.

This was deemed a significant event in the life and when the boy reached the age of eight, he would make the move into trousers, which would often be celebrated with a party.

Meanwhile little Arthur looked stylish in shorts - a royal favourite for toddlers - and a quilted navy blue jacket and matching shoes

Despite being seen taking his first steps without the pram over the past week, Pippa opted to keep the little boy in the pushchair as she ran errands on the busy streets of West London

Prince George followed a tradition from a bygone era, which most aristocratic families - and public schools - obey. The tradition harks back to breeching, which saw little boys donning dresses before being 'breeched', so put into breeches, trousers or pantaloons (left in 2015 and right in 2016)

Pippa and husband James Matthews welcomed their baby boy weighing 8lb and 9oz at the private Lindo Wing, at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in October 2018, and she is regularly spotted balancing her motherly duties with her gym routine.

Arthur has the middle names Michael and William. The name Michael is a touching tribute to Pippa's father and her husband's younger brother who died while climbing Mount Everest in 1999.

Michael Matthews went missing on the mountain's infamous Death Zone while he was trying to become the youngest Briton to climb the worlds highest peak.

Following his tragic death, brother James Matthews accompanied by wife Pippa have become committed to fundraising for poverty-stricken areas in Africa and Asia through the Michael Matthews Foundation.
After days of clashes with protesters outside the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct, authorities backed down on Monday, removing barricades and boarding up the building. Since then, protesters have moved in, proclaiming the area the "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone," where the police are forbidden, food is free and documentaries are screened at night.

To some protesters, it's a first step toward their appeals to defund the police and end racial injustice.

A list of demands from the autonomous zone's occupants included abolishing the city's police department, banning the use of armed force, removing officers from schools, eradicating juvenile jails and prisons, and distributing reparations to victims of police brutality.

Instead of "protesters," Trump suggested another term for the demonstrators late Wednesday: "Domestic Terrorists." Trump criticized Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, both Democrats, on Twitter, threatening federal action if local leaders don't "take back" the city.

"Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before," Trump tweeted. "Take back your city NOW. If you don't do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped [sic] IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!"

Both Durkan and Inslee swiftly hit back at Trump.

"A man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington state's business. 'Stoop' tweeting," Inslee wrote on Twitter, mocking Trump for a misspelling in his tweet.

Inslee later said that although the zone was unauthorized and that the country still faces a pandemic, the area was mostly calm and that he hoped for a peaceful resolution.

"What we will not allow are threats of military violence against Washingtonians coming from the White House," he wrote. "The U.S. military serves to protect Americans, not the fragility of an insecure president."

Durkan wrote, "Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker," referring to when Trump was rushed to a safe room in the White House last month during protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

Trump also took a swipe at former vice president Joe Biden on Thursday morning, taunting that he "refuses to leave his basement 'sanctuary' and tell his Radical Left BOSSES that they are heading in the wrong direction. Tell them to get out of Seattle now."

Biden's presidential campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the remark.

Trump's tweets echoed his threats to use military force to quell unrest as thousands took to the streets nationwide after Floyd's death to decry police brutality. Those threats led to an unprecedented backlash against the president from high-ranking former military officers.

Although Trump's tweets did not specifically name the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, nicknamed CHAZ, his comments appeared directed at the movement - a major topic Wednesday and Thursday on conservative-friendly media and on Republican politicians' social media feeds.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., wrote that antifa - a loosely connected militant activist network known for violence - had designated Seattle as its capital and that the United States should not "surrender ANY of its communities to mob rule EVER."

Sen. Ted Cruz,R-Texas, commented sarcastically: "Lord of the Flies in downtown Seattle. What could go wrong?".

Tucker Carlson's Fox News show on Wednesday night included an alarming report on CHAZ, describing a "complete takeover of a seven-block area of a Seattle neighborhood," and alleging that armed protesters are patrolling the area.

Soon after moving in on Tuesday, the protesters hung a banner on the police precinct proclaiming, "THIS SPACE IS NOW PROPERTY OF THE SEATTLE PEOPLE," the Seattle Times reported. Protesters later screened Ava DuVernay's documentary "13th," which highlights racial inequities in the justice system. At least one man with a long gun was seen in the area, the Times reported, despite a weapons ban on Capitol Hill, but the scene has been peaceful since police left the area.

Inside the zone, the protesters have held long "town halls" to discuss their plans and hash out a strategy. Speakers on Wednesday took turns on a stage with loudspeakers, sharing their visions for change with an attentive crowd seated in a wide semicircle.

"From what I've gathered, we're trying to take our community back so we can live without a massive police force patrolling the streets," one protester, Michael Taylor, told the Times.

It's unclear how long police will steer clear of the group. Durkan, who has faced calls to resign over the police's use of tear gas and flash bangs on protesters, hasn't directly addressed the autonomous zone. Asked about CHAZ on Wednesday, Inslee declined to comment, saying, "That's news to me."

Trump's stance was clear, however, as he blasted the movement as a dangerous development aided by his political opponents. "Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course," Trump tweeted.

Later on Wednesday inside the CHAZ, protesters set up tents and prepared for another night on the streets. A funk/hip-hop group called Marshall Law Band played a concert, the Times reported, and then protesters gathered for another documentary: the 1990 exploration of underground LGBTQ dance culture "Paris Is Burning."

- - -

The Washington Post's Marisa Iati contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:19:25|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang holds a video meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a video meeting on Thursday.

Li said the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Sino-German exchanges and cooperation. However, bilateral cooperation did not and will not stop because of the pandemic, but will continue to advance.

Li said China attaches great importance to Sino-German relations, noting that the leaders of the two countries had a telephone conversation not long ago.

"China is willing to deepen mutual political and strategic trust with Germany based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, maintain dialogue and consultation, promote cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade, investment and technology, and advance bilateral ties for new progress," Li said.

Li introduced China's epidemic prevention and control measures and expressed appreciation for the positive results achieved by Germany's anti-epidemic efforts. He expressed willingness to deepen bilateral exchanges in anti-epidemic experience, and to strengthen cooperation in vaccine and drug research and development.

To achieve economic recovery after the pandemic, China and Germany should jointly safeguard multilateralism and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, said the premier.

"China is further expanding its opening up and is willing to create a sound business environment for foreign companies, including German ones, to operate in China," Li said, calling on the two countries to expand a two-way opening up, make good use of the "fast lane" of personnel exchanges that has been launched to facilitate bilateral business cooperation and the resumption of production, and jointly maintain the safety and stability of supply and industrial chains.

China has always supported the process of European integration and is happy to see the European Union (EU) maintain unity and prosperity, said Li. He stressed that strengthening open China-Germany and China-Europe cooperation is "not an expedient measure, but is in line with each other's common interests and can achieve mutual benefit and win-win results."

As Germany will assume the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of this year, China hopes Germany will play a positive role in promoting the development of China-EU relations, said the Chinese premier.

Li said China is willing to maintain high-level exchanges and institutional dialogues with Europe. China will also strive to complete the negotiation of the China-EU investment agreement at an early date, and promote cooperation in various fields to achieve positive results.

Merkel said Germany and China have maintained close, high-level communication. China has made great efforts to prevent and control the epidemic, and the two countries have cooperated well in combating the virus.

She said Germany welcomes China's insistence on expanding its opening to the outside world and will continue to work to promote bilateral cooperation in various fields.

Merkel appreciated China's willingness to provide vaccines developed in China as an international public product, and expressed support for strengthening cooperation between the two countries' vaccine research and development institutions.

She said both Germany and China advocate strengthening multilateralism and are willing to further communication and coordination in WTO-related affairs.

She said Germany is looking forward to the opportunity of serving as the EU's rotating presidency to jointly prepare for high-level EU-China exchanges, promote existing institutional dialogues, accelerate the negotiation of the EU-China investment agreement, strengthen Europe-China-Africa anti-pandemic cooperation, and promote Germany-China, Europe-China relations to achieve greater development. Enditem
In Avengers: Endgame Steve Rogers, aka Captain America travels to the past to return the Infinity Stones to their original timelines. But he ends up staying in there to reconnect with his true love Peggy Carter.

He then returns to the team as an old man, suggesting he lived out a full life. Some fans believe Steve was Peggys secret husband, and that he was watching the Avengers and another version of himself from the sidelines the whole time.

Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter | Marvel Studios

Agent Peggy Carters husband was never seen

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) reveals that she has a husband who Captain America saved during World War II. And she also confirms that she has two children with him.

Peggys husband is never seen on-screen, and she never tells Steve his name. As far as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is concerned, the identity of Peggys husband still remains unconfirmed.

Was Captain America Peggys husband this whole time?

Steve returned to the Avengers timeline at the end of Avengers: Endgame, which suggests hes been living with Peggy in that timeline for years. As one MCU fan theorized on twitter, Steve was always in the prime timeline, living out his days with Peggy.

All the events of the MCU, from Iron Man to Endgame, have been in the timeline Steve created by staying with Peggy. Its corny but, it was always destined to happen. He comes up with some BS that he was a soldier Cap saved to keep his identity secret, and boom. Thread complete pic.twitter.com/XA9il3UHC4  Bork? | BLM (@bork_21) June 11, 2020

RELATED: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Will Sam Keep His Falcon Wings as the New Captain America?

Steve Rogers has always been Peggys mysterious husband that was saved by Captain America in the war, and has been watching the MCU from the sidelines, the fan wrote in a series of tweets. It can be surmised that when Steve decided to travel to 1948 after returning the stones, and for him to appear on the bench at the end, the branch timeline Steve created by returning to Peggy *IS* the Prime Timeline!

All the events of the MCU, from Iron Man to Endgame, have been in the timeline Steve created by staying with Peggy, the fan continued. Its corny but, it was always destined to happen. He comes up with some BS that he was a soldier Cap saved to keep his identity secret, and boom.

The Avengers: Endgame screenwriters confirmed it

This primary timeline theory was thwarted by directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who suggested Steve created a branch reality when he traveled back. But Avengers: Endgame screenwriters, Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, confirmed it was actually true. They wrote the story with Steve as Peggys secret husband this whole time.

It was always our intention that he was the father of those two children, co-writer Stephen McFeely told the Hollywood Reporter. It does introduce the idea that there are two children who have somewhat super soldier DNA.

In another interview with Canada.com, the screenwriters went into more detail. And they suggested that while they feel Steves been a part of this primary timeline, Marvel may not be on board with the idea.
SAN DIEGO - The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed sweeping restrictions on asylum, seeking to align a legal framework with the presidents efforts to limit immigration to the United States.

The moves are only the latest in a series of measures that Trump has taken to limit asylum  this time aimed at changing complicated guidelines and procedures governing immigration courts.

The changes, outlined in 150 pages of legalese, aim to redefine how people qualify for asylum and similar forms of protection to prevent them from being persecuted or tortured if sent home.

Judges will be allowed to dismiss cases without court hearings if supporting evidence is determined to be too weak. Rules will define when a claim may be declared frivolous and raise the threshold for initial screenings under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

The administration will propose new definitions for some ways people qualify for asylum, specifically political opinion and membership in a particular social group.

Asylum is for people who face persecution for their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group, a loose category that may include victims of gang or domestic violence. Narrowing those ways to qualify would mean more rejected claims.

The Justice and Homeland Security departments said asylum-seekers who clear initial screenings will have claims heard by an immigration judge in streamlined proceedings, according to a brief press release, replacing longstanding rules in immigration law.

Since the U.S. became the worlds top destination for asylum-seekers in 2017, the Trump administration has made multiple attempts to make it harder to get, asserting that the system is rife with abuse.

The Justice and Homeland Security departments said the changes would bring more efficiency to a system with an immigration court backlog of more than 1.1 million cases.

The rules will more effectively separate baseless claims from meritorious ones, the departments said. This would better ensure groundless claims do not delay or divert resources from deserving claims.

Critics swiftly condemned the measure. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel for the American Immigration Council, said it was much more far-reaching than Trumps previous attempts to curb asylum and would lead to the denial of virtually every claim except a lucky few.

The proposed changes would represent the end of the asylum system as we know it, he said.

Details are expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday with 30 days for public comment before they take effect. Lawsuits may delay or derail the effort.

The administration effectively put asylum out of reach for many people at the Canadian and Mexican borders in March under a 1944 public health law aimed at preventing spread of the coronavirus, but that move is described as temporary. It allows the government to immediately expel people from Mexico and Central America to Mexico without claiming asylum, usually within two hours.
In a separate incident, police said they took a man into custody after spotting him in the crowd with a bat.

Two of the six men were charged with carrying concealed weapons. Another was charged with possessing a weapon of mass death or destruction. One was a felon, therefore not allowed to possess a firearm.

But three were charged with weapons at parades, etc. prohibited and nothing else.

Did those three protesters have the right to bear arms while also exercising their right to assemble?

Under N.C. General Statute 14-277.2, they didnt.

The statute states that it shall be unlawful for any person participating in, affiliated with, or present as a spectator at any parade, funeral procession, picket line, or demonstration  to willfully or intentionally possess or have immediate access to any dangerous weapon. Violation of this subsection shall be a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Theres an exemption to the statute is if a person has a concealed-carry permit, said Ron Wright, a former federal prosecutor and a professor of criminal law at Wake Forest University for more than 30 years.
VANCOUVER, BC, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Properly , a Toronto-based real estate technology company that is transforming the process of buying and selling homes, has recently launched an innovative affiliate program in partnership with Fintel Connect.

Properly was founded in 2018 with a mission to create a more empowering home buying and selling experience for Canadians.

Fintel Connect Properly

Properly's partnership with Fintel Connect promotes ProperPrice, a free-to-use, no-obligation report that provides Canadians with an instant prediction of a home's value . As the most accurate home valuation tool in Canada, ProperPrice uses machine learning to evaluate thousands of data points, including historical sold data, property details, and proximity to services such as schools, hospitals, and other facilities. Properly's models have been tested on 150,000+ sold homes and are updated daily.

The ProperPrice Report is one of the key steps in Properly's end-to-end home buying and selling experience, which empowers homebuyers to take control of the real estate process. "We believe that Canadians should have easy access to the information they need to make informed decisions about real estate," says Properly's Head of Growth, Rob Palumbo. "Whether you are dreaming about upgrading to a new home, or ready to make a move today, Properly is the modern way to buy and sell real estate."

In partnering with Fintel Connect, Properly will leverage Fintel Connect's expertise in the financial services and real estate space, as well as its wide range of influencers and affiliates to help reach Canadian homeowners. Fintel Connect's performance marketing technology and expertise in the Canadian marketplace will enable Properly to grow market share and continue their mission.

CEO of Fintel Connect, Nicky Senyard, states, "We are pleased to have Properly join our growing platform of innovative brands and provide an exciting, new opportunity for publishers in the network. As a passionate property owner, I believe in Properly's mission and am excited to have Fintel Connect be part of the company's journey to grow across Canada."

Properly's affiliate program launched in May 2020 and is welcoming new publishers to join and promote its solutions and ProperPrice home value report .

About Properly

Properly is simplifying the process of buying or selling a home in Canada. Homeowners can sell their existing home directly to Properly and can work with Properly to find and upgrade to their dream home. Properly offers Canada's most accurate home value report - homeowners get a free assessment of their home's value that is always up-to-date. Properly was founded in 2018 and currently operates in Calgary and Ottawa, with expansion to Toronto and other cities planned in the coming months.

About Fintel Connect

Fintel Connect is a leading performance marketing company dedicated to serving the financial services and fintech space. Based in Vancouver, Canada, the team at Fintel Connect support a wide range of tier one banks, community banks and financial technology companies through its extensive network of publishers and fully scalable tracking and reporting technology.

If you're:

Press and would like to connect, please contact Julia Wild at 206-809-1349 or [email protected].

A merchant and would like to know more, visit https://fintelconnect.com/merchants .

A publisher that would like to join our network, visit https://fintelconnect.com/publishers .

SOURCE Fintel Connect
"We sort of became aware that although there's these massive aggregations, the actual reproduction isn't working so well," Dr. Andrew Dunstan, from the DES, told CNN Tuesday, explaining that his team noticed turtles were falling off cliffs, becoming trapped in the heat and suffering flooding in their nests.

After implementing a series of interventions to help the struggling turtles, scientists then sought to track the population.

In research conducted in December and published in scientific journal PLOS ONE on Thursday, they found that using drones  or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)  was the most accurate way of documenting the endangered sea creatures.

In order to count the creatures, researchers had initially painted the turtles' shells with a white stripe of non-toxic paint while they gathered on the beach and then waited for them to return to the water.

When they tried to count the turtles from the boat, they found that they came away with biased results. For accuracy and ease, scientists deployed drones to film the creatures.
Ireland should tell people they must wear a face covering against Covid-19 and not just should", a leading World Health Organisation (WHO) official said today.

Dr David Nabarro, WHOs Special Envoy on Covid-19 said he was also in favour of bus drivers, security staff and other workers wearing coverings.

He was a strong advocate of face coverings in areas like transport, shops and other places where people cannot physically distance, he told the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response.

Read More

Asked about home-made face covering he suggested people can wear several layers of fabric but it was important it covered the nose.

He said there is evidence that where people are distributed masks free by authorities there is a better take-up.

He also said two metres physical distance rather than one metre gives better protection and factors to such as whether a person is inside or outside must be taken into account.

The reduction of risk is around 70pc at one metre but it is up to 90pc at two metres.

If you dont want to get Covid stay as far away as possible, he said.

Dr Nabarro said he does not believe Ireland will have to go into full lockdown again although the virus worldwide is still in its early stages.

He believed Ireland will be able to target local outbreaks in the future.

Asked about nursing homes deaths he said the statistic showing 62pc of all deaths here were in people in residential centres was high.

The average in other countries is around 25pc but the way deaths are counted internationally are different and Irelands figures may be more honest.

He called for nursing home staff to be tested weekly or more often to allow them know their virus status.
Rouhani: Iranians defeated America's knee-to-neck policy through unity

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 10:26 AM

President Hassan Rouhani says the Iranian nation has managed to defeat America's longtime "knee-to-neck" policy by staying united and standing up against Washington's pressure campaign.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rouhani said the US has long been bullying the world's oppressed nations with the aim of destroying them, saying the knee-to-neck restraint "is not simply a technique used by a single police officer in one US city. Rather, it is basically is a key policy of America."

The Iranian president was drawing an analogy between America's entire foreign policy agenda and the case of a Minnesota officer, who killed an unarmed black man in custody late last month by putting his knee on the back of the handcuffed man's neck and suffocating him.

Rouhani referred to the "maximum pressure" campaign that the US unleashed against the Iranian nation after withdrawing from a multilateral nuclear deal in 2018, saying the Americans were, in fact, pursuing the same strategy against the Iranian nation back then.

"The US nearly placed its knee on the throat of the Iranian nation, who broke it with the hammer of unity," he said, adding that the Iranians neutralized the US pressure mechanism through their solidarity.

"Now, they no longer have a knee to exert pressure on the Iranian nation, but sticking to the same policy, they keep hatching new plots," he added.

Elsewhere in his comments, the Iranian chief executive said that Washington was "angry and upset" at the looming expiration of a UN arms embargo on Iran under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2231 that endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The US, he pointed out, is preparing a resolution at the Security Council to block the measure.

"We expect the four other permanent Security Council members to put up resistance against this conspiracy for the sake of the interests and stability of the world as well as the interests envisioned in the nuclear deal for the region and the globe," Rouhani said.

"In particular, we expect friendly countries, including Russia and China, to resist this conspiracy," he added.

Despite having left the JCPOA, Washington has recently launched a campaign to renew the Iran arms ban  in place since 2006/2007  through a UNSC resolution, but Moscow and Beijing are most likely to veto it.

"The Americans should know that whether they take the resolution [to the UNSC] or not, Iran's defense capabilities will see a boost despite all the difficulties and sanctions," Rouhani said.



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The crowds have thinned and the smoke has cleared, with more than a week of nationwide protests leaving in their wake a nation increasingly resolved to change a broken law enforcement system.

But they also have left police officers badly shaken, and in some cases physically bruised. Nationwide, police leaders say the rank and file are struggling to come to grips with the level of animus they encountered on the streets, as epithets, bricks and bottles all came hurtling their way.

Police have been targets of protest many times before, of course. But never quite like this.

"I've had members say they feel like a Vietnam veteran returning home to a country that hates them," said Robert Harris, a Los Angeles police officer and director of the force's police union. "It's not that our members expect thank-yous. It's the difficulty in knowing that the protesters want to be treated with equality and fairness and respect, and what they're protesting for isn't afforded to the officers themselves."

"The morale is low," he said. "They've taken quite a beating."

Such sentiments are likely to elicit little sympathy from protesters outraged about the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, and the countless deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers that preceded it. Police in the United States have shot and killed nearly 500 people already this year - an average of about three a day. The figure does not include those, like Floyd, who died by other means.

But the fact that police feel besieged and beleaguered potentially complicates efforts to transform Floyd's death into a catalyst for changing the system and preventing the sort of brutality that protesters say his death exemplified.

Although many police leaders say they agree with protesters' aims, they also think their efforts to change have been underappreciated and their line of work unfairly vilified.

"Law enforcement is the only profession where you get rocks, bricks and molotov cocktails thrown at you merely because you're in the same chosen profession as someone else who did something horribly wrong thousands of miles away," said Steven Casstevens, head of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "I can't believe that's where we are. Aren't we better than that as a country?"

President Donald Trump has sought to channel that sense of grievance, staunchly defending law enforcement officers amid calls by some protesters and congressional Democrats to slash police funding. At a roundtable with police officials Monday at the White House, Trump called the nation's police officers "great, great people" and signaled he would resist calls for wholesale change.

"There won't be defunding," Trump said. "There won't be dismantling of our police. There's not going to be any disbanding of our police."

House Democrats introduced legislation this week that would transform many aspects of policing, including a ban on chokeholds and making it easier to prosecute police misconduct.

A Washington Post-Schar School poll released Monday found that a wide majority of Americans support the protesters, with nearly three-quarters of the country backing them. More than two-thirds of respondents said they thought Floyd's killing reflected broader problems with police treatment of black Americans, up from less than half after 2014 protests in Ferguson, Mo.

Whether police agree remains to be seen. To at least some, the officers are the real victims.

"Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect," New York police union leader Mike O'Meara demanded angrily at a news conference Tuesday. "We've been left out of the conversation. We've been vilified. It's disgusting."

The rift between police departments and critics who urge their overhaul has grown in recent days as officers in several cities close ranks to defend colleagues accused of using excessive force on protesters.

In Buffalo, officers cheered two colleagues who shoved an elderly man to the ground during a protest, leaving him bleeding on the pavement. The police union in Philadelphia is selling "Bologna Strong" T-shirts, celebrating officer Joseph Bologna, who faces assault charges alleging he clubbed a student protester in the head.

David Klinger, a former officer who is now a criminologist at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, said many officers are experiencing "bewilderment" at the wave of anger they're facing.

Klinger called Floyd's killing "the most disturbing thing I've ever seen," and he noted that police leaders nationwide have widely condemned it. But many officers feel as though they are being blamed for the crimes of others.

"They don't understand the vitriol directed at them because they didn't do anything. They are a symbol of something," Klinger said. "Officers understand the righteous anger. But not why it is directed at them personally, and why it takes the form of rocks and bottles and bricks."

The vast majority of participants in protests that filled cities from coast to coast did not use violence, police acknowledge. But some did, particularly in the days immediately after Floyd's death on May 25, before widespread appeals for calm were heeded.

"Demonstrations that were peaceful during the day would change, and officers had to put themselves in position to prevent property damage. And that would result in violence toward property and toward them," said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a District of Columbia policy center.

During two weeks spanning the end of May and the beginning of June, 749 officers were injured while responding to protests and disturbances, according to a Justice Department tally. That figure includes about 150 officers hurt in Washington, D.C., 22 of whom required hospitalization.

Two officers in Northern California were killed, although the exact motive and circumstances remain unclear.

The attacks add to a preexisting sense among many officers that they are under siege. But data shows there has been no sustained rise in the number of officers killed or assaulted in the line of duty during the past decade.

"To the extent that officers feel their lives are increasingly in danger, it's probably not an accurate perception," said Jeffrey Fagan, a criminologist at Columbia University.

Nor, Fagan said, did demonstrators' aggression toward police appear to justify many of the violent acts carried out by officers during the protests, many of which were captured on videos that circulated widely on the Internet. Fagan said he saw multiple video clips in which police appeared to escalate confrontations when they could have done the opposite.

"I don't know how they're trained, but they should have been trained to withdraw if at all possible," said Fagan, citing in particular a widely shared clip of New York officers using their vehicles to ram demonstrators amid a hail of thrown objects.

But within police departments, there often is a very different view, even among those sympathetic to calls for reform and the need to curb excessive force. In interviews, police commanders and union officials said that although there were undoubtedly instances in which officers overreacted, many showed remarkable restraint.

"What the cameras don't capture is those officers are standing on those lines for 12-, 14-hour shifts and during that time they're subject to verbal assault, rocks, bricks, frozen water bottles, human waste," said Harris, the Los Angeles police union leader. "It takes a mental toll and a physical toll."

Harris said dozens of officers in the department were injured, including one who was hit by a ricocheted bullet and at least two others who required surgery after being struck by heavy objects.

The violence by demonstrators, Harris said, was "disheartening," particularly given the progress he thought Los Angeles police have made in addressing allegations of brutality. Last year, the union backed one of the nation's most substantive police reform bills, one that narrowed the conditions under which officers can use deadly force.

"There's a reason why we talk about not wanting other officers to tarnish our badge," Harris said. "We want that thing to shine."

Activists say police departments are still too resistant to calls for change, and too protective of bad actors. The California bill, they argue, was watered down in the face of police resistance - just one more example of officers standing in the way of much-needed change.

"This isn't a lack of appreciation for officers who do a good job. It's about holding people accountable for their actions," said Jennvine Wong, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society's police accountability project in New York, where a Brooklyn prosecutor filed charges Tuesday against an officer who shoved a female protester to the ground on May 29.

"Some of the strongest rhetoric for holding accountable civilians who commit crimes comes from police departments," Wong said. "But when it come to officers committing crimes, they try to wiggle their way out of it."

Police departments also are facing the risk of diminishing public credibility, as cellphone videos belie their official statements playing down incidents involving officer force - such as when Buffalo police initially claimed that Martin Gugino, 75, "tripped and fell" during a protest.

In Los Angeles, Assistant Police Chief Robert Arcos said his department was reviewing dozens of reports of alleged excessive force by officers during the protests. "We want to investigate. Everybody wants answers," he said.

The department, he said, is also trying to work with community leaders on broader police reforms. But he said those conversations are coming at a time when many officers feel disheartened and hurt.

The LAPD, he said, already has made significant changes to its training, its protocols for use of force and its engagement with citizens. But when the protests began, the vitriol rained down anyway.

"The level of violence was the worst that I've seen in my 32 years," said Arcos, who was on the streets as a young officer during the 1992 uprising that followed the assault on motorist Rodney King. He said the intensity of attacks on police has been greater this time.

The demand for change, he said, is greater now, too.

"I've never seen people rally around the issue in the way they have today. It's very loud. It's got a lot of momentum. I understand it. I respect it. I know it needs to happen," Arcos said. "But officers will tell me, 'Chief, we're doing all these things. And it's still not enough.' "

- - -

The Washington Post's Shayna Jacobs in New York contributed to this report.
Betting on a continuing uptick in airline passengers, Southwest Airlines is increasing flights system-wide  including restarting direct flights from San Antonio International Airport to Orlando and Nashville, and increasing the number of daily flights to Denver, Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston.

The increase in flights from San Antonio  from 13 a day in May to 22 a day on average in June and July  is still less than half the number of Southwest flights in February, before the coronavirus pandemic grounded much of the air transport system.

Southwest has the largest presence at the San Antonio airport.

Its part of carriers strategy to rebuild its schedule to pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of the year. Other airlines are also resuming service at San Antonio International and expanding the frequency of existing flights.

Aeromexico will resume service to Mexico City on June 18, and VivaAerobus will start service to Monterrey, Mexico, on July 3.

So far, Southwest has the aggressive expansion plan, ramping up to offer 53 flights a day from San Antonio this coming December, higher than the 45 flights a day it ran in December 2019, said Adam Decaire, the airlines vice-president of network planning. In total, the airline plans to run more than 4,000 flights across its route network in December, from its current 1,400 flights.

Despite its plan, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly acknowledged in a YouTube video for employees late last month that the airline is in intensive care.

How Southwest will fare in a year, he said, will depend in part on whether the coronavirus pandemic is still in existence.

Well compete hard for customers, understanding it will be a brutal, low-fare environment as there are far more airline seats  and there will be for some time  than there are customers, he said.

Southwest announced a major fare sale last month, with fares as low as $48 each way. The fare sale continues through June 12.

Airline analysts say it could take several years for passenger travel to return to normal because of COVID-19 fears and uncertainty about the economic recovery.

Decaire said Southwest is counting on passenger demand continuing to increase in coming months as stay-at-home orders are lifted, freeing people to travel once again.

So while I think it's true that there's some expectation that we don't necessarily get back to full recovery, maybe the experts say anywhere from two months to years, he said. We also know that there's going to be a lot of customers who still want to get to the places that they want to go.

In April, Southwests passenger traffic was down to 5 percent of what it was in April 2019. But the airline said its forecast anticipated that number would increase to 25 percent to 30 percent in May.

The airline has not released its final May numbers.

Southwest wont say what percentage of it seats it anticipates will be filled in coming months, but at least until July 31, flights will be at least 33 percent empty.

Some Wall Street analysts are skeptical.

CFRA analyst Colin Scarola said Southwest may intend to restore their pre-pandemic capacity by years end, but that investors should not assume more flights and seats means profitability.

Even though Southwest may be flying the same number of seats at the end of 2020, theres a serious risk that its number of passengers, or load factors, will remain well below 2019 levels, he said. We point out a Harris poll conducted in May that indicated 48 percent of Americans would rather not fly until the pandemic ends.

While Southwest anticipates resuming its normal schedule in the closing months of 2020, nothing is final, said Brain Sumers, senior aviation business editor at travel industry website Skift.com.

If the recovery Southwest hopes will happen does not occur, you can expect the airline to slash its schedule, he said. But even if it does, Southwest will probably keep the strategy where it flies more than its competitors.

One major plus for Southwest is its financial condition  the best in the airline industry, analysts and consultants say. The airline has cash reserves of about $15 billion.

Other airlines are resuming some flights at San Antonio International, though not at the rate of Southwest.

The second biggest airline at the airport, American Airlines, is slightly expanding its flight schedule starting next month, going from five to seven flights a month, said an airline spokesperson.

Delta Air Lines will add one flight a day to Atlanta starting on July 6, for three daily flights a day to the city, said San Antonio Aviation Department spokeswoman Tonya Hope.

United Airlines, she said, will resume daily nonstop service to Denver and Washington Dulles airport on July 6, and service to Newark, New Jersey, on July 7.

Randy Diamond covers aviation, energy and manufacturing in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Randy, become a subscriber. randy.diamond@express-news.net
Antsy city dwellers seeking to escape their covid-19 refuges are road-tripping to nearby vacation rentals in surprisingly strong numbers, showing the first signs of life for an industry that essentially ground to a halt in March.

"People, after having been stuck in their homes for a few months, do want to get out of their houses; that's really, really clear," Airbnb Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said in an interview. "But they don't necessarily want to get on an airplane and are not yet comfortable leaving their countries."

Airbnb saw more nights booked for U.S. listings between May 17 and June 3 than the same period in 2019, and a similar boost in domestic travel globally. The San Francisco-based home-share company is seeing an increase in demand for domestic bookings in countries from Germany to Portugal, South Korea, New Zealand and more. Other companies, including Expedia Group's Vrbo and Booking Holdings are also seeing a jump in domestic vacation-rental reservations.

U.S. searches for Vrbo are now up compared to this time last year, according to a note by Cowen & Co. analyst Kevin Kopelman on Monday, and Airbnb queries are down only around 10%. However, hotels and the wider Expedia brand have yet to get any summer relief with searches still down more than 60%.

International sojourns usually planned months in advance are being replaced with impulsive road trips booked a day before and weekend getaways are turning into weeks-long respites, Chesky said. Previously, a New Yorker might have headed to Paris for a week in June. Now they are going to the Catskills for a month. "Work from home is becoming working from any home," he said.

Still, any rebound is coming from a very low base. The travel sector was gutted by the covid-19 pandemic. Online travel agencies struggled to withstand unprecedented cancellations and air travel passenger traffic that fell 95%. Airbnb and Tripadvisor cut a quarter of their workforces and Chesky said last month that he expects revenue this year to be half of 2019's level. Booking was forced to apply for government aid. In an annual shareholder report last week, Booking CEO Glenn Fogel said the pandemic would impact global travel more than the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the SARS epidemic and the 2008 financial crisis combined.

But months of pent-up demand is leading to a rush of summer reservations. Airbnb has more listings today than it did before the crisis, according to Chesky. The top destinations in the U.S. on Airbnb are almost exclusively traditional vacation rental markets such as Big Bear Lake in southern California, the Smoky Mountains, along the Tennessee-North Carolina border, and Port Aransas in Texas, according to the company.

The unexpected speed of the comeback has kept Airbnb's plans for a 2020 public market debut afloat. Chesky had originally planned to file paperwork for an offering March 31, but was waylaid by the pandemic-related market turmoil that led to speculation the listing would be shelved until next year. However, Chesky says it's still an option. "We're not ruling out going public this year and we're not committing to it," he said. Airbnb was valued at $31 billion in its most recent private fund-raising round, though recent debt issuance to shore up its finances have significantly reduced that valuation.

Since the pandemic began, the percentage of bookings on Airbnb within 200 miles (322 kilometers) -- a round trip travelers can typically complete on one tank of gas -- has grown from a third in February to more than 50% in May. Travel in a post-covid world is shifting "from airplane to car, big city to small location, hotel to home," Chesky said.

Vrbo is seeing similar trends as popular tourist states like Florida and Maine reopen. There's an "immediate pop" as soon as a destination opens, said Jeff Hurst, president of Vrbo, which accounts for about 20% of Expedia's total revenue. "If you draw a 250- mile circle around any major metro -- every place where you see water in there or mountains or national parks, the homes around it are what's starting to get booked up," Hurst said.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Hotels aren't as prevalent in more rural locations. And even where they are, travelers are preferring to stay in vacation homes so they can cook in their own kitchens, control who comes and goes and avoid crowded common areas like lobbies, Hurst said. To help salvage the summer season, Airbnb and Vrbo have enforced confidence-boosting policies that include flexible cancellations and new standards for cleaning.

"We have seen a faster recovery within alternative accommodations than in hotels," Morgan Stanley analyst Brain Nowak wrote in a note last week. Shares in hotel companies such as Marriott International Inc., Hyatt Hotels Corp. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. have dropped by more than 20% this year, compared with Expedia and Booking, which have fallen as much as 14%.

People are eager for open spaces like beach towns or mountain villages, which is sparking the vacation rental rebound, said Naved Khan, an analyst at Suntrust Robinson Humphrey Inc. "Little by little we are seeing it unfold before us as people are feeling bold enough to venture out and stay at another place for a couple of nights and most of the time these places are homes and villas."

Searches for vacation rentals on Google are about at the same level as last year, while hotel searches are down, said Booking Holdings Chief Marketing Officer Arjan Dijk. Consumer appetite has completely changed from a year ago, he said. Significantly more users are signing on to the company's wish list function and indicating interest in domestic homes over international ones. In fact, the company has seen its business shift to more than 70% domestic travel from 45% the same period last year, he said.

Demand for air travel is also showing some early signs of life after all but collapsing. Daily passenger numbers in the U.S. climbed to 391,882 on June 4, the highest since March 22, according to the Transportation Security Administration. But the average daily total over the past seven days was still 87% less than during the same period a year ago. American Airlines Group Inc. said it would boost July flights 74% compared with this month, though the number of flights in July will be about 40% of capacity a year earlier, compared with 30% in June, the airline said Thursday.

"It's going to be awhile before people start crossing borders, getting into planes or traveling for business," Chesky said. The big question on his mind now, as he weighs taking his startup public, is whether the spike in recent bookings turns into a sustainable trend. "The long-term question is what does it look like in a year or five years and that's really anyone's guess," he said. Chesky won't be celebrating until the market stabilizes. "I had a rule that even in our darkest of hours I wouldn't get too low because that's just a moment in time," he said. "And if I can't get too low, then I can't get too up."
Coalition of Northern Savannah Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has added its voice to the calls on the Electoral Commission (EC) to rescind its decision to compile a new Voters Register using Ghana Card and passport as primary identifiable documents.



It said the EC should hold on with the compilation of the new Register until all qualified citizens were registered and issued with the Ghana Card to avoid struggles.



This was in a statement read on behalf of the Coalition, by Mr Richard Zangba, its Spokesperson, at a press conference in Tamale.



Some of the CSOs that signed the statement included; Mamtiti Womens Group, Social Change Advisory Network, Accountable and Good Governance Network, Global Media Foundation, Concerned Citizens Association of Tamale, Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy and Community Development Alliance.



The statement said if the EC proceeded with the compilation of the new Register, many of the people in the, Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East and Upper West Regions would be disenfranchised because they were not registered for the Ghana Card.



It said We are extremely worried because the people, who will be greatly affected by this latest development in terms of threats to their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote are those of us in the five regions in northern part of Ghana due to the over 50 per cent of our registerable population that could not register for the Ghana Card, and will therefore, have to go through very stressful conditions at the expense of farming activities and terrible COVID-19 pandemic to get the few numbers that have the Cards to vouch for them.



The EC announced that it would begin registration for the new Voters Register to be used for the December, 2020 elections from June 30.



According to the EC, the Ghana Card and Passport would be documents to consider for one to be registered and people, who do not have those documents, must be guaranteed for by two registered voters to enable them to be registered as voters.



However, some interest groups including; some CSOs and some political parties that are against the compilation of the new Register, are also not happy that the EC excluded the current voters identity card from the list of documents to be considered for registration.



The statement gave an analysis of the number of people qualified to be registered for the Ghana Card and the actual number that was registered for the Card and the number that was issued with the Cards in the five regions saying From this, it is clear that 77.4 per cent of the total registerable population in northern Ghana will have to stay off their livelihood activities and spend precious time struggling to look for the small number of 22.6 per cent to vouch for them to qualify as a citizen regardless of the right to vote in Article 42 of the Constitution.



The group said it would have been better to invest such resources on the COVID-19 impacted economy to finance governments pro-poor initiatives rather than compiling a Register when the old one Is still credible as was used to elect the current leadership of the country, create new regions and organise the 2019 district level elections.

Source: GNA









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Intense love triangles, romantic engagements and plenty of drama has already been promised in the upcoming season of Bachelor In Paradise.

And now betting odds for the steamy dating series have been released, with British lothario Ciarran Stott being dubbed the current favourite to find love in the idyllic surroundings of Mango Bay Resort, Fiji.

In figures released by Sportsbet, Abbie Chatfield - who was runner-up on The Bachelor in 2019 - has come second in the ranking, followed closely by Timm Hanly.

In his favour: Betting odds for Bachelor In Paradise have been released, with Ciarran Stott being dubbed the current favourite to find love in the idyllic surroundings of Fiji

In a recently released trailer, Ciarran appears to pursue a romance with Abbie before later sharing a passionate kiss with Jessica Brody in another clip.

With his cheeky attitude having caught the attention of a number of women, the long-haired hunk has now been given the shortest odds to find love on the show with $1.20.

Abbie - who is one of Ciarran's pursuits - is tipped as second likely to walk away in a relationship with $2.72 odds.

Rankings: Timm Hanly: has been given odds of $3.5, while his potential love interest Brittany Hockley is at $4.50

Pushed back: The third season of the show, which was filmed last November in Fiji was initially meant to air in April but was delayed because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Bachelor In Paradise 2020 Odds Ciarran Stott 1.20 Abbie Chatfield 2.75 Timm Hanly 3.50 Brittany Hockley 4.50 Jamie Doran 5.50 Advertisement

Timm has been given odds of $3.5, while his potential love interest Brittany Hockley is at $4.50.

The show is said to wrap with three couples returning to Australia together.

The third season of the show, which was filmed last November in Fiji was initially meant to air in April but was delayed because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

From teasers alone it appears that Ciarran has caused the most mayhem during the show.

He is seen stripping naked as he enters the villa, proceeding to walk directly to Abbie while covering his modesty with a bunch of red grapes.

But it appears that any romance between the pair is short-lived, as Ciarran later storms off from the group during a dinner party while Abbie looks frustrated.

Ciarran is then seen kissing Jessica Brody in another clip. An air-date for Bachelor in Paradise has yet to be confirmed.
"We are pleased to have Chris step in as acting CEO to support the Travel Alberta team and our industry during this critical time. Tourism was one of the most immediately and hardest hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic, and tourism businesses are facing their biggest challenge yet. Chris' expertise will ensure a seamless transition as the Travel Alberta team delivers on the Alberta (re)Bound Strategy to restart the province's tourism industry and rebuild Alberta's visitor economy to 2019 levels by 2023," said Southern-Heathcott.

Under Chris' leadership the Tourism Division introduced important and impactful new programs that drove the growth and diversification of Alberta's tourism sector. These include the Tourism Growth and Innovation Program, Visitor Services Innovation Fund and the Tourism Entrepreneur Program. Working in partnership with Travel Alberta, Chris and his senior leadership team also led the development of the Alberta 10-Year Tourism Strategy, which will be reviewed and refreshed to ensure it is relevant and impactful in a post pandemic era.

Outgoing CEO Royce Chwin's last day with Travel Alberta is June 12, 2020.

"On behalf of the Board and the Travel Alberta team, I also wish to thank Royce for his leadership and dedication to Travel Alberta over the past nine and half years. We wish him every success as he takes on a new senior leadership role in British Columbia," said Southern-Heathcott.

The Travel Alberta Board is initiating a recruitment process for the new CEO, with details to follow in the near future.

About Travel Alberta

Travel Alberta is Alberta's destination development and promotion organization, established as a Crown corporation on April 1, 2009. We promote Alberta as a desirable place to travel, work, live, play, invest and learn. Working with businesses throughout the province, we capitalize on Alberta's breathtaking landscapes and world-class hospitality to develop memorable experiences for visitors to enjoy, in all regions, in all seasons. Our work directly and indirectly benefits our province, driving visitation and revenue, diversifying the economy, providing jobs, encouraging economic investment and enhancing quality of life for Albertans and their communities.

We operate under the authority of the Travel Alberta Act within the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism.

To learn more about Travel Alberta's strategy and programs visit industry.travelalberta.com.

@TravelAlbertaCo

Travel Alberta on LinkedIn

#TourismWorks

SOURCE Travel Alberta

For further information: Media contact: Deborah Spence, Manager, Stakeholder Engagement, Travel Alberta, E: [email protected] C: 403-616-9752

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4 billion yuan of fund support in next 3 years to build industrial parks under "one town with one thematic industry" policy

SHUNDE, China, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 11, Shunde, a district of Foshan city in China'sGuangdong province, released the construction plan for ten ultra-large modern thematic industrial parks with new development philosophy, and interpreted related supporting policies. According to the Information Office of the People's Government of Shunde District, the total area of these ten industrial parks exceeds 32,000 mu (2133.33 hectares), each covering an area of over 1,000 mu (66.67 hectares) with a clear leading industry under the guiding principle of "one town with one thematic industry." These parks strive to be built into a new carrier for high-quality development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Since 2018, upgrading the village-level industrial parks has been made the top priority of the party committee and government of Shunde district. After two years' hard-work, a total of 2626.2 hectares of land have been consolidated and 282.2 hectares turned into reclaimed and afforested areas. Besides, 11.45 million square meters of new factories have been built and 7,944 backward and unreliable companies closed.

Shunde has been taking the lead in building Guangdong provincial pilot area of systematic and institutional reform and innovation for high-quality development in full swing, and achieved phased results. It is now sparing no effort in planning to build the provincial pilot area with new development philosophy in the new era. At this moment, Shunde makes its global release of the industrial planning for the ten ultra-large thematic industrial parks, aiming to accelerate the construction of the parks in accordance with the new development philosophy, under the principles of setting planning and construction standards, setting industry theme directions, setting enterprise access standards and favorable supporting policies.

With a total area of over 2133.33 hectares and covering large-scale and continuous development space, these ten industrial parks are rarely seen in the Greater Bay Area. The direction of the leading industry in each park is clarified, guided by the principles of "one town with one thematic industry." The proportion of the output value of the leading industry in its total will gradually exceed 60%.

The ten major industrial parks are Shunde (Daliang) Electronic Information Industrial Park, (Ronggui) Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Chip Industrial Park, (Lunjiao) Intelligent Equipment Smart Home Industrial Park, (Leliu) Smart Home Industrial Park, (Chencun) Intelligent Equipment Industrial Park, (Beijiao) Robot Town Industrial Park (Phase I), (Lecong) Biomedical Industrial Park, (Longjiang) Digital Equipment Park, (Xingtan) New Material & Smart Home Industrial Park, (Jun'an) Electronic Communication Equipment Industrial Park.

In order to plan and build these modern industrial parks with high standards, Shunde took the lead in formulating standards to guide and regulate the construction. Combining their respective characteristics, Shunde has introduced a package of supporting policies, whose intensity and breadth are nationally competitive, covering the entire process of project implementation. Among them, the most important investment projects in the modern industrial parks will be granted a maximum of 30% subsidy for fixed asset investment; for the strategic emerging industry projects settled in the parks, a maximum of 30% subsidies for R&D investment can be granted for three consecutive years.

According to these policies, it's estimated that the district and township levels will invest more than 4 billion yuan in fund support in the next three years.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=365128

Caption: The design sketch of the Shunde (Daliang) Electronic Information Industrial Park under planning (top). The headquarters building of Guangdong Bright Dream Robotics Co., Ltd. has been put into use in the Shunde (Beijiao) Robot Town Industrial Park (bottom).
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Before the newly formed black caucus stated their demands for equity in Kalamazoo County, the Rev. Karika Parker addressed a common retort to the words Black Lives Matter.

For those who respond with All Lives Matter, Parker directed them to the biblical story about a shepherd who leaves his flock of 99 sheep to find the one that was lost.

Local government officials need to stand behind the Black Lives Matter movement because it is the black community who is lost and in danger, she told a crowd gathered Thursday, June 11, in Dr Martin Luther King Memorial Park in Kalamazoos Northside neighborhood.

The Kalamazoo chapter of the the Michigan Democrat Party Black Caucus was formed this year, and is chaired by Kalamazoo County Commissioner Stephanie Moore. The caucus currently has 49 members, Moore said.

The group on Thursday presented two proclamations that will appear on the next agenda for the county board.

The first was a proclamation to declare racism is a public health crisis, a sentiment also heard from Michigan Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh S. Khaldun during a state news conference on both the health inequities the coronavirus pandemic brought to light and the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Both the widespread Black Lives Matter protests and the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed local and state leaders to declare racism as a public health crisis.

In Genesee County, county commissioners pledged that the county health department will pursue policies aimed at improving health in the black community and other communities of color.

At the state level, the same declaration was made by state Sens. Marshall Bullock, D-Detroit, and Erika Geiss, D-Taylor. Their resolution stated the state legislature should commit to working collaboratively with the Governor and every sector of society to develop an ongoing strategy to address, fund, and support solutions that strategically reduce the long-term impact that racism has on the quality of life and health for citizens of color.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on communities of color in Michigan, especially in the metro Detroit area. African Americans make up about 13.6% of the states population, but 40% of all coronavirus deaths in the state are African Americans.

Related: The coronavirus was tailor made to devastate densely populated black Michigan communities

A second proclamation that will be voted on by the board next week will address police brutality, Moore said.

The caucus leadership, made up of local Democrats running for various elected offices within the county this year, urged black voters to call and email their commissioners in support of these two proclamations. The next meeting will be broadcast on the Zoom platform Tuesday, June 16.

To take it a step further, the caucus asked that black voters contact candidates and ask them to show their record of advocacy within the black community. The Rev. Doreen Gardner, a candidate for Kalamazoo County clerk, said the black community is tired of being used for photo opportunities and then ignored.

Were not interested in being trophies, Gardner said. Were interested in being people. People that everybody respects. People that everybody honors.

Moore called on all public servants, elected or otherwise, to stop pandering to our community during election years and stop paying lip service without taking action.

We demand that leaders go beyond kneeling to taking decisive, intentional, deliberate action to change the trajectory of institutional and structural racism, she said.

The caucus will set up a voter registration and census booth during a Black Lives Matter march planned for 1 p.m. Saturday, June 20, starting on the campus of Western Michigan University.

Read more on MLive:

Looking for a way to be involved? Support one of these black-owned Michigan businesses

Kalamazoo artists bring color to boarded up downtown businesses

Businesses stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement after Kalamazoo vandalism

Tough week after tough two months for Michigan business owners hit by coronavirus, looting

Several hundred march in student-led protest against police brutality in Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo leaders march in solidarity with black LGBTQ community

Law office provides guidance to Kalamazoo protesters on site
In this article CIK

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As protests sweep the nation, more and more companies are announcing initiatives aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion within their walls. Whether these promises lead to tangible outcomes remains to be seen, especially since corporations are not required to disclose statistics on the composition of their workforce, which makes tracking broad progress difficult at best. The data that has been collected through surveys paints a picture of just how far things need to change before companies are truly representative of the makeup of society at large, and before salaries are comparable across categories like gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Much attention has been given in recent years to the lack of diversity on corporate boards, which has forced companies to act on that front. All S&P 500 companies now have at least one woman on the board, and executive search firm Spencer Stuart found that last year, of the 432 new independent directors added to S&P 500 boards, 59% were women and minority men. But statistics also show the lack of progress among the corporate workforce. According to data from human resources consulting company Mercer, 64% of workers in entry level positions are white. In the top executive ranks, however, 85% of positions are held by whites, demonstrating the promotion gap that minorities face. And women and minorities continue to under-earn white male colleagues, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Social values aside, there's a real financial risk for companies that fail to put their money where their mouth is. A lack of diversity in background and experience can stifle innovation and promote group think, while companies that don't prioritize inclusion may struggle to attract and retain top talent and younger workers. Additionally, ESG investing  when a company's environmental, social, and governance factors are considered alongside financial metrics  is growing in popularity. Experts say that following the coronavirus pandemic, the "S" element is set to become even more important, meaning that companies that don't prioritize diversity could see investors ditch their stock. "Companies' consideration of diversity & inclusion is not only important on the basis of values; it also has a material impact on their long-term performance," Barclays analysts said in a research report.

The pressure on corporations has built with widespread protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis. Andrew Behar, CEO of the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, said we could be at a watershed moment that will ultimately force companies to begin disclosing more information. His group is among those pressuring companies to provide more transparency around issues including workforce composition, recruitment, retention, pay and promotion practices. He said that regulation could be next, including around CEO compensation, pointing to successful past campaigns by investors. "We need information from companies about the outcomes they are achieving, not only the values they espouse, and it is our duty as shareholders to hold them accountable for inaction," said John Streur, CEO of Calvert Research and Management, the sustainable investing arm of Eaton Vance. Companies are only as strong as their employees, and in the age of social media, one false step  or not stepping up to the plate, in this case  can wind up costing big. Or as Warren Buffett famously quipped: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it."

Minorities are underrepresented and earn less

While companies, at least outwardly, agree on the importance of diversity across organizations, the available data shows that women and minorities are drastically underrepresented when moving up the ranks. A recent study from Mercer shows that the problem starts early, with minorities not advancing at the same rate as their white colleagues.

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At the support staff and operations level, 64% of employees are white, 12% are Black, 10% are Hispanic, 8% are Asian or Pacific Islander, and 6% are other races. The share of positions held by Caucasians increases with each upward wrung of the ladder. By the executive level, 85% of positions are held by white employees. Black and Hispanic employees make up just 2% and 3% of these positions, respectively. It's even more difficult for women minorities: 81% of women in executive roles are white, compared with 6% who are Black and 3% who are Hispanic. Asian or Pacific Islander women hold 8% of posts among women executives. "Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino populations (overall and just for women as well) are underrepresented at every career level above the support staff level when compared to their representation in the general population," the report concluded. The coronavirus outbreak has illustrated the hurdles for minority workers. More than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment protection since the U.S. outbreak began in earnest in March, but numbers have started to improve for white workers. White unemployment fell to 12.4% from 14.2% in May, while Black unemployment rose to 16.8% from 16.7%. Women have also been disproportionately affected since they represent a larger share of workers in some of the hardest- hit industries, including hospitality.

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Despite decades of pushing for wage equality, women and minorities still fall short of the pay of their white male colleagues, according to the Economic Policy Institute. "The data show not only rising inequality through the 2000s, but also the persistence  and in some cases worsening  of wage gaps by gender and race," senior economist Elise Gould wrote in "State of Working America Wages 2019." "At every decile, wage growth since 2000 was faster for white and Hispanic workers than for Black workers."

Economic consequences

On the other side of the ledger, for companies that fail to diversify and promote an inclusive environment, the economic consequences are large  and growing. "Incentives to close the gender gap are evident ... companies focused on gender diversity at a board, C-suite and firm level have consistently achieved higher ROE [return on earnings] and lower earnings risk," Bank of America analyst Haim Israel wrote in a recent note to clients. "Moreover, companies focused on diversity have generally traded at premia to more homogenous counterparts."

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Consulting firm McKinsey put data behind the numbers and found that more diverse companies are positioned to meaningfully outperform their more homogeneous counterparts. "Companies in the top quartile of gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to experience above-average profitability than peer companies in the fourth quartile," the firm concluded in a 2019 study. "This is up from 21 percent in 2017 and 15 percent in 2014." The findings were even more compelling for ethnic and cultural diversity, where companies in the top 25% outperformed those in the bottom quarter by 36% in terms of profitability.

Companies taking action

Inequality and a lack of diversity in the workplace are certainly not new topics, but the recent protests have prompted companies to speak out, condemning racism, and recommitting to doing better when it comes to fostering inclusive work environments. "Let us be clear  we are watching, listening and want every single one of you to know we are committed to fighting against racism and discrimination wherever and however it exists," JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said recently. "These events are symptoms of a deep and longstanding problem in our society and must be addressed on both a personal and systemic level," wrote Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm. "This situation also underscores the critical importance of diversity and inclusion within BlackRock and society at large. We will continue to push forward in our efforts as a leadership team to build a more inclusive and diverse firm." In a series of Twitter posts, Ulta Beauty said it would amplify Black-owned brands, Black creators and black beauty and said it would "continue to facilitate and reinforce not only our unconscious bias trainings, but further our curriculum focusing on privilege and systemic racism." These are just a few of the dozens of companies that responded to the protests and social unrest by condemning racism and pledging change. Experts say it's one thing to make promises, however, but quite another to enact meaningful change.

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A student sued the University of Kentucky this week, arguing the college should have partially refunded some tuition and fees after classes were moved online and most students were sent home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of student Peter Regard in Fayette Circuit Court on Monday, The Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

The suit seeks partial refunds for tuition and mandatory fees, which usually go toward campus services and university facilities such as labs, gyms and recreational facilities, as well as some student organizations, the newspaper said.

The university collected more than $20 million in such fees for the spring semester, according to the lawsuit, which contended that the money should have been partially refunded after online learning began in Mid-March and on-campus services were no longer available.

Regards attorney is also seeking class-action status for all students who were enrolled at the university this spring.

The university had not received the lawsuit as of Wednesday, spokesperson Jay Blanton told the Herald-Leader. He added that the school did not issue refunds because instruction continued remotely, and some fees were used for resources that remained available to students even after most of the campus closed.

UK will vigorously defend its position in this matter, the newspaper quoted Blanton as saying.

The lawsuit follows similar actions by students at more than 25 universities across the country.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Education Universities Kentucky
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Linkedin Apriza Pinandita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 17:18 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddf57ff 1 National Papuan-Lives-Matter,Papua-racism,Papua-protest,Human-Rights-Watch,human-rights-abuse Free

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the authorities to drop all charges and release seven Papuan activists and students accused of treason for their involvement in antiracism protests in Jayapura, Papua, in August 2019.

HRW said in a statement on Thursday that the #BlackLivesMatter protests in the United States in recent years have reverberated in Indonesia as Melanesian people, including ethnic Papuans and Moluccans, face racial discrimination from Indonesian authorities.

Papuan and Moluccan opposition to Indonesian rule and oppressive Indonesian military and police actions has often been met with further abuses, the statement said. Prosecutors should release these Papuan activists, who have suffered enough by being jailed for months far from home for peaceful acts of free expression.

HRW Asia director Brad Adams argued that the Indonesian police had created a revolving door by arresting Papuan activists for peaceful protests and this needed to stop.

Read also: #PapuanLivesMatter: George Floyds death hits close to home in Indonesia

Indonesian authorities should recognize that given the global attention to the Black Lives Matter movement, sending peaceful activists to prison will only bring more international attention to human rights concerns in Papua," Adams is quoted as saying in the statement.

The statement comes as judges in a Balikpapan court in East Kalimantan are scheduled to issue verdicts in three separate trials of the seven activists this week. Last week, prosecutors at the Balikpapan district court demanded five to 17 years imprisonment for the defendants.

Police arrested the seven defendants, namely Buchtar Tabuni, Agus Kossay, Stevanus Itlay, Ferry Gombo, Alexander Gobai, Irwanus Uropmabin and Hengki Hilapok, in Jayapura in September. In October, the authorities transferred them more than 3,000 kilometers away to be tried in Balikpapan for security reasons.

The seven activists had been involved in massive antiracism protests in Jayapura that came in response to an incident where Papuan university students living in a dormitory in Surabaya, East Java, were subjected to physical and verbal attacks by security personnel and members of mass organizations, who accused the students of refusing to celebrate Indonesias 74th Independence Day.

Read also: Lampung university students face intimidation over discussion on discrimination against Papuans

Security personnel reportedly banged on the dormitorys door while shouting insults referring to the students as monkeys, pigs and dogs.

The death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died while being arrested in the US, and the ensuing global outcry has sparked renewed public discourse about racism against Papuans in Indonesia.
An Ohio lawmaker was fired from his job as a physician on Thursday after asking at a hearing this week if the high rate of coronavirus cases among African-Americans was because the colored population did not wash their hands as well as other groups.

State Senator Stephen A. Huffman, a Republican and a doctor, made his remarks on Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate Health Committee about whether to declare racism a public health crisis. They came as he speculated about reasons black people might be more susceptible to Covid-19.

Could it just be that African-Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves? he said. Could that be the explanation of why the higher incidence?

A witness before the State Senate committee, Angela C. Dawson, the executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, instantly pushed back on Mr. Huffmans remarks. That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country, she told him, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.
[June 11, 2020] The Pomp and Circumstance Will Continue: Highpoint Virtual Academy of Michigan Celebrates Their First-Ever Graduating Class with Online Commencement Ceremony

Highpoint Virtual Academy of Michigan (HVAM), an online public school serving students in grades K-12 throughout the state for the last four years, will cap off their school year by celebrating the Class of 2020 in an online commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 pm. HVAM families and friends worldwide will be able to join the celebration. This year, HVAM will graduate 15 students in its first graduating class. All of our graduates are currently working on their after-school plans including military, college, trade school, and the work force. Collectively, the school reports having students that have applied to colleges and universities across Michigan and beyond, including Cornerstone University, Lansing Community College, Wayne State University, and Oakland University. "This school year has been like no other, and its been especially challenging for Michigan's urban students in the Detroit region," said HVAM Principal, Christina Brasil. "Luckily, our students have experience with onlne school at home, so we're excited for the opportunity to celebrate with them at their well-deserved graduation."



Christopher Moore is the Valedictorian and has applied to Cornerstone University in the fall to major in Mission Aviation and minor in Music Worship Arts. Marissa Gibson is the Salutatorian and has applied to Lansing Community College and plans to go into the Social Work field. These students, as well as Ms. Brasil, will be available for media interviews. Students enroll in virtual school for a number of reasons, including those looking for a safer learning environment free from bullying, those looking to get back on track academically, or those looking for an alternative to the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom setting. HVAM students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects and a host of electives and attend live virtual classes every day taught by state-certified teachers.

Details of the graduation ceremony are as follows: WHAT: Highpoint Virtual Academy of Michigan 2020 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Saturday, June 13, 2020, 3:00 PM

WHERE: Watch for the link to be sent by your Graduating Senior or by request.

CONTACT: For any questions, please contact Christina Brasil @ 855-337-8243 About Highpoint Virtual Academy of Michigan Highpoint Virtual Academy of Michigan (HVAM) is a tuition-free online public charter school authorized by Mesick Consolidated Schools that currently serves students in grades K through 12 throughout the state. As part of the Michigan public school system, HVAM is tuition-free and gives parents and families the choice to access the engaging curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs. For more information about HVAM, visit hvam.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005001/en/

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KCMO homicide count officially stands at a record-breaking pace anywhere from 79 to 81 depending on who you're asking

More Deets On Todays Courthouse Protest Confronting Jackson County Prosecutor

KC Freedom Project calls out Jackson County prosecutor for failure to hold police accountable KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The KC Freedom Project hosted a rally Wednesday morning outside the Jackson County Courthouse to raise awareness of prosecuting attorneys' role in affecting change - or maintaining the status quo - within the criminal justice system.

Young Bad Hombre Now Serving Hard Time After Murder

17-year-old man sentenced to 17 years in prison from a 2019 murder, wounding of two others KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - A 17-year-old man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the murder of Fernando Perez and the wounding of two others in a January 2019 shooting. According to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, Angel Perea was earlier certified by family court to stand trial in Jackson County as an adult.

Show-Me Heroin Dealer Convicted After OD

Oak Grove man sentenced for selling fatal heroin overdose A 35-year-old Oak Grove man, Joshua A. Leroux, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in jail for distributing heroin that led to an Arizona man's death. The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri announced Leroux will serve his time in federal prison without the possibility of parole.

Kansas City Hobo Camp Double Murder Suspect Convicted

Man convicted of two 2004 killings at KC homeless camp charged in new case KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - The Jackson County prosecutor is accusing a man already in jail for the killing of two men in 2004 at a Kansas City homeless camp with charges of another murder. Michael J. Gullett, 64, now faces a charge of second-degree murder in the deadly beating of Steven Cassidy, whose remains were not identified until 2008.

Charges After KC Killing

26-year-old Kansas City man charged in deadly shooting near 41st and Troost A 26-year-old Kansas City man has been charged in the fatal shooting of Matthew Cox Sunday outside an apartment near 41st and Troost Avenue, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said. Khalid Heron-Boone faces a second-degree murder charge, a first-degree robbery charge and two counts of armed criminal action.According to court records, the Kansas City Police Department responded to the area of 41st and Troost Avenue on Sunday and found Cox with gunshot wounds in the chest.

Golden Ghetto Creeper Going To Jail For Quite Some Time

53-year-old sentenced to 265 months on sexual abuse charges KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 53-year-old man has been sentenced to 265 months in prison after being convicted on three sexual abuse charges in Johnson County. Roger Dean Schimmel was found guilty April 28 on one charge of rape of a child and two charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, according to Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe.

KCK Car Crook Clip Shared Amid Small Biz Frustration

Catalytic converter thief hits KCK family owned business Tuesday morning KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) - The owner of a family owned business in KCK wants to warn other car lot owners to be on the lookout for catalytic converter thieves. It's an all too common and frustrating crime. Thieves slide underneath vehicles to make quick cuts to steal catalytic converters.

Pitch Shares Rage Against Internets Television

The time has come to cancel 'copaganda' television, and it is long overdue The death of George Floyd has sparked nationwide protests. It has forced a conversation that was 400 years in the making, regarding systemic racism, and how we as a country can move beyond it. More than 70% of Americans believe that what happened to Floyd is not only wrong, but certainly not an isolated incident.

Sleeze Scummit Shots Fired

Lee's Summit police investigate shots fired at a Burger King KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lee's Summit police are investigating after shell casings were found Wednesday in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. A citizen reported hearing shots fired to an LSPD officer who was on patrol around 3:20 p.m. in the 800 block of Northeast Woods Chapel Road.

Senator Hawley Cracks Down On Defunding Legislation

Senator Hawley opposes any effort to defund police departments The effort to defund police departments is getting swift condemnation by elected officials. Former Vice President Joe Biden says that would be a big mistake, although changes do need to be made to police policies. Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley also reacted to the movement to abolish police departments when he spoke with Fox's John Brown.

Guv Parson Against Police Defunding Movement

Gov. Parson not in favor of defunding Missouri law enforcement agencies Protests in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis are ongoing. During some of those protests, communities and citizens have proposed defunding police departments. Missouri Governor Mike Parson said he is not in favor of defunding or dismantling law enforcement agencies.

Demanding Po-Po Reform Just In Time For Campaign Season

Dems locking down votes on police reform "What we saw in Minnesota - the slow, tortuous murder of George Floyd by a uniformed officer - was an outrage and a tragedy. What we have seen since then - millions of Americans marching in the streets to demand justice and call for reforms - it has been an inspiration," Bass said.

TV Tradition Kaput

'Cops,' on air for 33 seasons, dropped by Paramount Network amid protests against police brutality After 33 seasons on the air, "Cops" has been dropped by the Paramount Network as protests against police proliferate around the world."Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don't have any current or future plans for it to return," a spokesperson for the cable channel said in a statement Tuesday.The show had been pulled temporarily from the air in late May, when protests aimed at police over the death of George Floyd began to gain momentum.

Kansas City Search Continues For Missing Hospital Worker

Clues come up in search of missing KC social worker KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A search party finds some clues in the disappearance of a metro woman, but what they found also brings up new questions. According to someone on the search team, they found Marina Bischoff's phone and keys. A search team, made up of community members, police and a private investigator [...]

Show-Me Consequences For Missouri Police Car Crash

Florissant officer fired after video shows him hitting unarmed man with vehicle FLORISSANT, Mo. (KMOV.com) - Florissant Police Chief Timothy Fagan on Wednesday announced the termination of an officer involved in a now-viral violent arrest that was caught on camera. Detective Joshua Smith's firing comes more than a week after doorbell video showed the officer in an unmarked police vehicle strike an unarmed man and then taking him to the ground.

Police Report Shawnee Tragedy

20-year-old man drowns while swimming in private Shawnee pond SHAWNEE, KS (KCTV) - Police say a 20-year-old man drowned while swimming in a pond on Sunday. Just before 3:30 p.m., authorities were called to a pond on private property in the 6300 block of Lind Road for a reported drowning.

Supporters Of Donnie Sanders Speak Out Amid Civil Unrest

'It happens here, too': Family of KC man killed by police still waiting for answers, seeking justice KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The local case of Donnie Sanders, who was shot and killed by a KCPD police officer in March 2020, is gaining new attention. His family is speaking out against police brutality while seeking justice of their own.

Kansas City Church Needs Help After Sanctuary Robbed

Members of small KC church try to raise funds for deductible after burglary Revival of Hope Ministries sits on the corner of Anderson and White avenues. It's normally a place of worship. It's now become a crime scene.Thieves broke in a back door, stripping the sanctuary of speakers, electronics, all the A/V equipment and a music keyboard.But church leaders say the most painful part was seeing the late senior pastor's office targeted.

For our most dedicated denizens of the local discourse, tonight we collect police reports, mugshot stories andof misdeeds from across the metro as the. . . Checkit . . .Developing . . .
(Photo : John Schnobrich / Unsplash) Details of the new and upcoming social media are here.

The mind of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web investor, is behind this new social media app that can topple the legacy of Facebook. This ad-free platform says that users of Facebook are "fed up with Facebook and Twitter because of their political bias, election interference, and privacy violations," Forbes reported.

It is also in view of the recent op-ed article from the New York Post from the founder of the "Anti-Facebook" app known as MeWe. Founder and CEO Mark Weinstein stated and discussed, "Why social media censorship is worse than useless."

The MeWe Privacy Bill of Rights

It involves a bill of rights that include the following points. First, the user owns their personal information and the content they post, different from Facebook. Explicitly, they clarify that these details are not theirs.

Second, they do not accept targeted advertisements from third-parties or targeted content from these third-parties. MeWe says, "We think that's creepy."

They also advocate for full control of your newsfeed and how the posts appear, never manipulating, filtering, or changing the newsfeed posts. Only the user can do that, the company added.

With regard to privacy and permissions, they have full control of these rights. Only the users may access the content, and anyone can opt-out of the members' director for privacy protection. Also, they are not into selling the personal information of their users to anyone.

"Your face is your business. We do not use facial recognition technology. You have the right to delete your account and take your content with you at any time," the app rules added.

TEDx

Weinstein starred in a TEDx Talk earlier discussing what he calls the "surveillance capitalism" business model of today's mainstream social media networking sites. He added that MeWe is abiding with no political and commercial bias. Thus, they do not feature ads, do not manipulate news feeds, and do not monitor news feeds. Advertisers, politicians, and marketers may not purchase members' data.

In the platform analytics, MeWe has garnered around 8 million members as of press time, and is looking at growing this to 40 million by the end of this year, the report added.

Facebook updates and news

Facebook is taking the opposite track. Right now, the issues it is facing are growing day by day.

In a recent report on CNBC, the world's largest social media website will now allow advertisers to promote face masks beginning Wednesday.

This is in opposition to their previous statement in March, saying that they would prohibit N95 respirators, a variant of these face masks. They also prohibited medical masks resemblances, such as bandanas and face covers.

This is part of their continuous effort to guard against scams, unauthorized medical claims, medical supply shortage, hoarding, rising prices, and practices spanning across digital platforms.

READ ALSO: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Apologizes For Data Scandal With Full-Page Newspaper Ads But Admits Something Scary

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
President Donald Trump, in a pair of late-night tweets Wednesday, called on Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to "take back" the city from protesters, whom he called "domestic terrorists," threatening to handle the demonstrators himself if local leaders do not

"Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before,'" the president tweeted. "Take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!"

"Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!" he added in another post just before midnight.

Inslee responded with a tweet of his own, telling Trump to stay out of the state and mocking the president's Twitter typo.

"A man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington states business. 'Stoop' tweeting," Inslee said.

Durkan also shot back with a reference to Trump's May 29 trip to a White House bunker as people demonstrated in Lafayette Square outside.

"Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker," Durkan tweeted.

Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/H3TXduhlY4  Mayor Jenny Durkan (@MayorJenny) June 11, 2020

After critics painted Trump's move to the bunker as cowardly, the president insisted he went there only for a quick "inspection." But Attorney General William Barr later told Fox News that the Secret Service had recommended taking him there because of security concerns about the escalating protests.

Story continues

Seattle, like cities across the U.S., has seen daily demonstrations after George Floyd, an African-American man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. Most of the protests have been peaceful after some initial violence.

In response to outcries against the tactics used by police in Seattle to control the crowds, Durkan promised at a Friday news conference that there would be a 30-day ban on the use of CS gas, commonly known as tear gas.

Despite that ban, police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators over the weekend, prompting a new wave of outrage from activists and City Council members. In response, the Seattle Police Department removed barricades from outside the East Precinct building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, where protesters and riot squads have faced off nightly.

Police also have remained scarce in that area since then and protests have continued peacefully.

The diverse neighborhood popular with young residents has now become known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, where demonstrators have pitched tents and on Wednesday began painting what looked to be Black Lives Matter on one block of the street, as was done last week in Washington, D.C.

The Seattle Times described the liberal community that has sprung up since the police left as a "new protest society," reminiscent of the Occupy movement of 2011.

Trump's threat to intervene in Seattle's handling of the protests follows his previous pledge to use federal forces to quell unrest in cities he believes are failing to do the job themselves.

Many have objected to the potential invocation of the 1807 Insurrection Act  which gives the president the authority to use active-duty U.S. military troops against civilians  including Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and his predecessor, retired Gen. James Mattis.

Contributing: Kristine Phillips and David Jackson, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump demands Gov. Jay Inslee, Mayor Jenny Durkans 'take back' Seattle
Monsoon Accessorize was almost immediately bought by Adena Brands, owned by Monsoons founder Peter Simon, after falling into administration. (Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

More than 500 staff and dozens of stores face the axe at Monsoon Accessorize, despite the company being swiftly bought after collapsing into administration this week.

The owner of the two high street fashion chains had been struggling before the pandemic, but the forced closure of its sites during the lockdown has exacerbated its troubles.

Now 545 staff face redundancy and 35 stores currently shuttered by the coronavirus in the UK and Ireland will close for good.

FRP confirmed they were appointed administrators on Tuesday, but said the company was then almost immediately bought by Adena Brands, owned by Monsoons founder Peter Simon.

It said Simon would try to negotiate better deals with landlords on the remaining 162 stores. But it said he expected to only be able to save up to 100 stores and 2,300 jobs, including in warehouse and head office roles.

Adena Brands will inject 15m ($19m) into the business to allow stores to trade. Around 450 jobs will be safeguarded through a transfer to Simons business, and more could follow.

READ MORE: 3,000 jobs at risk as Frankie and Bennys owner axes 125 restaurants

Ever since I opened the first Monsoon store in Beauchamp Place in 1973, this business has been my passion and my life, and I did not want to see it fall victim to this unprecedented crisis, said Simon, previously a majority owner of the business.

Both Monsoon and Accessorize were trading well before the coronavirus pandemic but the business simply could not withstand the financial impact of having to close all its UK, franchise and joint venture stores for almost three months, added Simon.

He also thanked landlords for their helpfulness and enormous forbearance so far, but warned many more stores future depended on further negotiations.

Tony Wright, joint administrator and partner at FRP, said: We had to move quickly and decisively to secure the future of Monsoon and Accessorize, as many jobs as possible and the presence of these two iconic brands on the UK high street.

Story continues

After assessing a range of options this deal achieves those goals with least disruption to the business in an already challenging retail environment.

Monsoon Accessorize was reported to have warned landlords in late May they had a week to offer rent waivers or permanent store closures would follow.

Full list of Monsoon Accessorize stores facing closure

Basildon

Bexleyheath

Burton-on-Trent

Camberley

Canterbury

Carlisle

Chelmsford

Cork, Patrick Street x 2

Crawley

Derby

Dublin

Hereford

Hitchin

Huddersfield

Kilkenny

Lancaster

Lincoln

Liverpool Airport

Maidenhead

Maidstone

Middlesbrough

Newark

Newtownabbey

Northampton

Southend

St Albans

Staines

Sutton Coldfield

Taunton

Telford

Trowbridge

Truro

Tunbridge Wells

York (Davygate)
Colonialism is a war that began hundreds of years ago and never ended. Its modern tactics and its weapons are noted with precision in the ferocious documentary, In My Blood It Runs.

The film follows an Arrernte Aboriginal family in Alice Springs, Australia, focusing on Dujuan, a 10-year-old boy, and his mother Megan, as they navigate his education. In plain verite style, the documentary exposes how language and school are corrupted to become bludgeons for the system built by settlers.

At home, Dujuan is a gifted healer who speaks three languages, and he is a gentle comfort to his mother. But at school, his teachers are white, and they mock Aboriginal spiritual beliefs while teaching a whitewashed version of colonial history. Dujuan is disengaged and angry, and his grades, attendance and behavior suffer. Megans fear is that Dujuan could be taken from her and placed in juvenile detention, and as Dujuans aunt warns him, if he goes to detention, hell either leave it for jail or a coffin.

The director Maya Newell gains access to both worlds that Dujuan traverses  home and school  and the trust that she seems to have built with all participants is vital to the success of this film. In both settings, her subjects rarely acknowledge the camera directly. She captures natural behavior, whether she observes care or cruelty. Voices rarely raise, but the film still vibrates with fury.
Springfield, Florida, police officer Ronnie Nelson has been arrested and charged with felony official misconduct and misdemeanor battery

A white Florida police officer has been arrested on charges of official misconduct and battery after he was seen on body camera video stopping a black man on his way home and tasering him.

Ronnie Nelson, an officer with the Springfield Police Department, was booked into the Bay County Jail on Tuesday for allegedly using excessive force during his encounter with Solomon 'Sonny' Smith on May 29.

According to reports and video evidence, Nelson and recruit officer Morgan Weller, who is also white, were patrolling Highway 98 shortly after midnight when they spotted Smith walking down the sidewalk and approached him, asking what he was doing there at that late hour, reported Panama City News Herald.

Smith, who is believed to be developmentally impaired and is said to be a well-known figure in the area, tells the officers in the body camera video that he is walking home from a friend's house and that he is not bothering anyone or committing any crimes.

Nelson is accused of using excessive force after stopping Solomon Smith in Springfield on the morning of May 29, as shown in this body camera video

Smith, who is said to be developmentally impaired, tells Nelson and a recruit officer that he is walking home and not bothering anyone

'I'm trying to get home,' Smith says. 'I'm not doing nothing, sir.'

Officer Nelson continues questioning Smith and asks him for his name.

The man gives his name, date of birth and Social Security number, but the female recruit allegedly mishears him and writes down the wrong last name, Eastman.

While Smith and Nelson continue arguing about the reason for the police stop, with the cop telling the man that the area is notorious for drug use and prostitution, the recruit officer goes to run Smith's information.

A few minutes later, she returns and confronts Smith, accusing him of giving her a fake name.

'Well, it ain't no crime,' he replies, then confirms that his name is Solomon Smith.

After accusing Smith of giving police a fake name, Nelson threatens to tase him and calls for backup, which arrives minutes later

Upon the arrival of backup officers, Nelson deploys his Taser against the man, which possibly makes partial contact with his skin

A backup officer then wraps his arm around Smith's neck and forces him to the ground

Moments later, Nelson pulls out his stun gun and orders Smith to put his hands behind his back.

'I'm sorry,' Smith pleads. 'give me another chance, please...I'm trying to go home.'

Nelson orders Smith to get on the ground and warns him, 'I will tase your a**.'

Smith remains standing and asks Nelson, 'why are you doing this to me?'

The man resumes begging the officer to give him anther chance and let him go home, but Nelson would not budge.

This back-and-forth continues for a few more minutes until the recruit officer calls for backup.

As soon as a second patrol vehicle pulls up to the scene, Nelson discharges his stun gun, which possibly makes partial contact with Smith, according to reports.

One of the backup officers approaches Smith, wraps his arm around the man's neck and forces him to the ground.

As Smith is taken into custody, he repeatedly says 'sorry' and begs officers to let him go

'You hurt my back!' Smith man exclaims as he is put in handcuffs.

'Stop, please,' he whimpers. 'It hurts my wrists.'

After being pulled up to his feet, Smith repeatedly says he is sorry.

'I believe you're sorry, Bubba,' Nelson replies, 'but you didn't have to go this route.'

Smith's arrest in Springfield took place just days after George Floyd, an unarmed black man from Minneapolis, was killed by white police officer Derek Chauvin, who was seen on video pressing his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.

Floyd's death sparked widespread protests against police brutality across the US and abroad, followed by calls to defund the police.

'After reviewing the case, talking to the state attorney office, we obtained arrest warrants for Mr. Nelson this morning,' announced Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford, whose agency is handling the investigation into Nelson's alleged use of excessive force. 'Its an embarrassing situation, its an infuriating situation from a law enforcement perspective, but we hope that it shows our accountability measures work.'

The station WJHG reported that Smith's arrest led to protests in Springfield this week, with organizers demanding that the other officers who took part in the incident also be held accountable.

The other responding officers, identified as Joel Oquendo and Brittany League, are currently under review and could face disciplinary actions.

Weller, the recruit officer who accompanied Nelson on patrol, will receive additional training.

Springfield Police Chief Barry Roberts said the rookie cop was 'devastated' by what happened.
Two days after a sarpanch was shot dead by terrorists in south Kashmir, a group of elected panchayat members belonging to the community on Wednesday demanded adequate security to perform their duties in the valley.

Jammu: Two days after a sarpanch was shot dead by terrorists in south Kashmir, a group of elected panchayat members belonging to the community on Wednesday demanded adequate security to perform their duties in the valley.

In a related development, All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Conference (AJKPC) president Anil Sharma said the administration needs to come forward and reassure the elected members who are left panicky by the latest killing and mulling resignation.

Ajay Pandita, 40, was shot dead by terrorists in his native village of Larkipora in south Kashmir''s Anantnag district on Monday. He was the sarpanch of the Lukbawan panchayat halqa in the Larkipora area.

"The 2018 panchayat election was a very good initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and we came forward to lend our support to it despite the terrorist threats and the vulnerable situation in Kashmir," Manoj Pandita, a sarpanch from halqa Lajoora in Kakapora block of Pulwama district, said.

He was among nearly half a dozen sarpanches who assembled at the Exhibition Ground here to protest against the killing of their colleague and press for security cover.

"It is very unfortunate that two days have passed but not a single person from the administration or the Centre found it fit to visit the slain sarpanch''s family to express grief with his two daughters and elderly parents," Manoj Pandita said, adding that they took part in the elections despite the boycott by the regional parties.

He said the sarpanches who jumped into the democratic exercise saw it as an opportunity to connect with the roots after mass migration in 1989-1990 and play "their part to minimise the sufferings of the majority community in the valley which has been at the receiving end over the past three decades".

"Some of us were provided accommodation without security in Srinagar and left vulnerable to the attacks. The slain sarpanch repeatedly demanded security but his pleas were ignored time and again which ultimately cost his life," he said.

He said holding elections was not a favour which was done to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"We also did not do any favour by taking part in the election but the priority should have been the security of those contesting the elections at the grave risk to their lives," Manoj Pandita said.

Mahesh Dhar, a sarpanch from Chakoora village of Pulwama, said they do not have any support from the district administration and the government.

"What have they done for our security?" he asked and said they need to be provided security in the valley on their return to perform their duties.

Meanwhile, the AJKPC president said he had received hundreds of calls from panic-stricken elected panchayat members across the valley over the past two days, seeking his advice to resign from their posts due to the alleged failure of the government to provide them security.

"The government needs to come forward and reassure the elected members of the Panchayati Raj Institution and Urban Local Bodies by providing them security. I have received hundreds of calls from the valley members over the past two days but I told them not to act in haste as resigning means fulfilling the nefarious designs of the enemy," Sharma said.

He urged the government to look into the demand for security cover to the elected grassroots level representatives, especially those facing threats and living in vulnerable areas.

Sharma said Ajay Pandita was the 19th panchayat member killed by terrorists who wanted to create fear among the people and force mass resignations to disrupt democratic institutions in the valley.
W hen teen film Love, Simon was finally released in 2018, it was hailed by critics as a representation of an overdue milestone of inclusion.

The romcom followed Simon Spier (played by Nick Robinson), a closeted student at high school in Atlanta, Georgia who is trying to find out who is threatening to out him, as well as trying to find out which of his classmates have secretly fallen for him; all while balancing school work and home life.

Now following in similar vein to the film, spin-off show Love, Victor follows newcomer Victor (Michael Cimino), who has just started at Creekwood High and is going through similar struggles with his sexuality.

With the show expected to launch on American platform Hulu on 19th July, heres everything we know about Love, Victors launch across the Atlantic.

Can I watch Love, Victor in the UK?

The new 10-part series has already been embroiled in some controversy even before it has been released.

Love, Victor follows Victor as he comes to terms with his sexuality / Hulu, YouTube screenshot

While it was originally set to be made for release on Disney Plus, Love, Victor got bumped to Hulu after containing adult themes.

Many were quick to criticise Disney Plus for the move, fearing that the streaming platform was censoring LGBTQ+ content  however, Love Simon author Becky Albertalli explained the move was motivated by scenes of underage drinking as opposed to same-sex kisses.

The best alternative streaming services to Netflix and Amazon Prime 1 /9 The best alternative streaming services to Netflix and Amazon Prime Curzon Home Cinema With cinemas closing all over the UK, Curzon is one of the chains changing the way they do things in 2020. The cinema is doing its bit to keep movie fans entertained over the coming weeks by offering simultaneous release online. As youd expect from Curzon, the films available have more niche appeal, with current offerings including The Truth and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. People registering with them also get access to Curzon12  a rotating selection of 12 movies updated every month. From 3.49 per film Disney+ The one to challenge Netflixs crown? As you might expect, fans get all the shows and films Disney has produced since the 1930s with this new service, with 500 films due to land on the service in the first year. There are also new originals based on Marvel and Star Wars content like The Mandalorian as well as every series of the Simpsons. Read our full guide here. This could be one to challenge the big boys when it launches on March 25. 5.99 per month, or 59.99 for an annual subscription SnagFilms For cinephiles looking for something with real niche appeal, SnagFilms is a free service specialising in documentaries and indie movies. There are dozens of intriguing docs available to watch now, as well as a classic films section that includes Charlie Chaplins The Kid and A Dogs Life, as well as Audrey Hepburns Charade and 50s noir such as Kansas City Confidential. Free Getty Images Rakuten TV The relative newcomer is purely rental and purchase based, with films priced from 2.49. If youre looking to come and go without making a commitment, this could be one to try. Theres a good selection of new releases on there  including Frozen 2, The Invisible Man and Emma. Have a browse now and see if any take your fancy. From 3.49 per film Mubi Films with more of an indie-centric appeal to them, which makes it great for discovering new movies. Their selection of major releases is a little limited by comparison to Netflix, but the MUBI team do recommend new movies every day for viewers to discover. At the moment theres an introductory offer of three months for 1, too. 7.99 per month Now TV NOW TV rose to popularity a few years ago for streaming US shows like Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead, the films selection available on the separate Sky Movies pass available on the platform is strong too. Its good for crowd pleasing blockbusters, with some of the biggest releases of recent years like the Lion King, Toy Story 4, Mary Poppins Begins and A Star Is Born on there. Sky Cinema Month Pass from 11.99 per month BFI Player If youre tired of scrolling through the usual blockbusters and mainstream comedies on Netflix, this is packed with critically acclaimed gems that you might otherwise miss. One for the cinephiles, there are hundreds of archive films available for free, cult hits like and classics on offer for subscribers as well as current releases like And Then We Danced available to rent individually. From 4.99 a month Peccadillo Pictures

However, because Hulu is an American streaming service, it now leaves the UK without any means of watching the show.

A spokesperson for Netflix told Evening Standard there was currently no plans to stream Love, Victor on the UK version of the platform.

Evening Standard has also reached out to Amazon Prime UK for comment.

For now, the closest we can get to Love Victor is watching the trailer, which is at the top of this video.

Love, Victor is available to stream in America on Hulu on Sunday July 19, 2020
One in 10 Brits say they will only shop online until a vaccine for COVID-19 is found. (rupixen.com/Unsplash)

Nearly one in 10, or six million, Brits will avoid shopping on the high street in the future as a result of coronavirus, according to new research.

In a survey of 2,000 UK adults by personal finance site Finder, a third (34%) of respondents said they will be willing to return to in-store shopping only when certain requirements are met.

For one in 10 (11%)  equating to 5.9 million people across the UK  this would be a vaccine that prevents infection from COVID-19, while a further 13% will only return to the shops when there is a proven treatment for the virus.

READ MORE: Ocado raising 1bn to capitalise on growth in online grocery

Not everyone is planning to stay away from the high street though, as four in 10 (42%) shoppers said they are happy to return as soon as retail stores open with social distancing measures in place on 15 June.

Online shopping has seen a notable rise during lockdown, with recent Finder research showing the UKs most popular fashion sites experienced a 75% surge in visitors in April 2020 compared to the same month in 2019.

This has been aided by the large number of shoppers who are using discount codes when they shop. Almost three quarters (73%) already use them and two in five (43%) Brits plan to use them more over the next 12 months for their fashion, sport and beauty purchases among other things.

READ MORE: Shopkeepers brace for uncertain reopening

Its understandable that consumers may be reluctant to visit shops in person for the foreseeable future due to fears surrounding the transmission of coronavirus, said Georgia-Rose Johnson, shopping specialist at Finder.

As well as being safer, online shopping also enables consumers to easily compare discount codes and find the best deal on products, which is even more important to customers during times of uncertainty and financial hardship.

She added: Although reopening is good news for the high street, it could be extremely expensive for retailer  to try to combat the drop in footfall and to compete with online retailers, physical stores will likely need to launch sales and discount products.

READ MORE: Shops slash prices at fastest rate in 14 years as spending dries up

In addition, amendments to shops will have to be made to meet social-distancing measures which will come at a cost.
The Team of Hope, a renowned Health NGO based in Sandema, has donated varied Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and other items worth thousands of Ghana Cedis to the two major health centers and the Disabled Society in the Builsa South and North Districts of the Upper East Region to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic in Buluk Land.

The items donated include 100 pieces of hand gloves, 10 gallons of 5litre spirits, 10 gallons of 5litres parozone, 10 boxes of giardia soap, 2 infrared (gun) thermometers, 10 pieces of veronica buckets and 10 pieces of water receiving bowls.

The rest of the items include 400 pieces of reusable face masks, 4 large rolls of tissue paper, 10 gallons of 5liter liquid soap, 240 bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and 20 pieces of surgical scrubs.

Donating the items last Sunday, 6th June 2020 on behalf of the Board Chairman, the Executive Director, the entire Board and membership of the team, Mr. Anthony Akum-Nyemi acknowledged that as mostly health workers themselves they understand that, these are indeed hard times in the lives of the health facilities and health workers in the country during the pandemic and therefore hopes that, the items will help put the beneficiaries in a better position to handle COVID-19 cases when they come up

The Team of Hope believes that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought much stress to the various health facilities and frontline workers worldwide.

Following the outbreak there has been a rallying call from all health delivery facilities around the world for people to come to their aid as they are overwhelmed with the surging number of Covid-19 cases and death each day. Mr. Akum-Nyemi has added.

It was therefore in lieu of the above that the Team of Hope has decided to donate its widows mite to the two major health facilities and the disabled society in both districts to help contain the pandemic.

Receiving the items on behalf of the two health facilities in the districts, Dr. Bernard Agilinko, Ag. Medical Superintendent at the Sandema Hospital and Mr. Alfred Adgei Gyasi, Physician Assistant at Fumbisi Health Centre expressed their profound gratitude to the Team of Hope and indicated that the items donated by the Team of Hope thus far constituted the biggest donations they have ever received. The two medical professionals could not hide their joy over the receipt of the items. They have therefore called on other organizations and benevolent individuals to emulate the good gesture of ToH and come to their aid in these difficult times.

The disabled society on their part, could not hide their joy. Their leaders were also full of praises to the Team of Hope for the good gestures done them. According to them, disabled society in Buluk land have been hearing on the radio about people donating various PPEs and other medical items to organizations and individuals, nonetheless, none has thought of them excerpt ToH; consequently, they expressed their heartfelt gratitude to ToH and pray for Gods blessing upon them.

Regardless of the ToH successes over the years, the organization is still facing some difficulties, chief among them is funding. The Team of Hope is, therefore, calling on all corporate organizations, other NGOs, benevolent individuals, and government agencies to either partner with them or assist them in any way possible to enable to the team to continue to improve on the health of people and thereby giving them hope through it health activities.

ToH took the opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of its hardworking executive council members, local coordinators, and individuals for their enormous contributions, both in cash and in-kind towards the activities of the organization.

The Team of Hope (ToH), founded in October 2016, is a non-profit organization incorporated in Ghana to among others, mobilize collective action towards responding to the health needs of people in impoverished parts of northern Ghana. Since its inception, the organization has provided varied free health services including free medical screening and operations to over 500 patients in the northern part of Ghana.

By Analimbey, A. Chris

[email protected]

@analimbeychris (twitter)
Former national security adviser John Bolton plans to move ahead with publication of his memoir about working in the Trump White House despite a new warning from the administration that it contains classified material and needs to be further revised, his lawyer said.

The letter Wednesday from a White House lawyer arrived just two weeks before "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir" is set to go on sale and as Bolton is negotiating media appearances to promote the book.

The letter said Bolton would be provided with a redacted manuscript by June 19, four days before the book is to go on sale.

In response, Bolton's lawyer, Charles Cooper, said he has scrupulously complied with national security requirements and expects his book will be available to the public as planned on June 23.

The book's publisher, Simon & Schuster, has already shipped copies to warehouses around the country in preparation.

"Simon & Schuster is fully supportive of Ambassador Bolton's First Amendment right to tell the story of his time in the Trump White House," said Julia Prosser, vice president and director of publicity for the publishing house.

Bolton is considering some prime-time network media opportunities, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private negotiations.

In an interview, Cooper confirmed that he received a letter Wednesday from John A. Eisenberg, a deputy White House counsel, describing need for further changes to the manuscript.

The Eisenberg letter, which was first reported by the New York Times, noted that the former national security adviser signed a nondisclosure agreement when he began his White House service.

"The unauthorized disclosure of classified information could be exploited by a foreign power, thereby causing significant harm to the national security of the United States," Eisenberg wrote.

Bolton has said that he does not think his manuscript contains classified material.

Cooper said Wednesday that he had sent the White House "a lengthy response to Eisenberg's letter."

"As the publisher has just confirmed, the publication date is unchanged," he said.

Simon & Schuster said in a statement Wednesday that Bolton took care to make sure the book, which was originally scheduled to be published in March, did not endanger national security.

"In the months leading up to the publication of 'The Room Where It Happened,' Bolton worked in cooperation with the National Security Council to incorporate changes to the text that addressed NSC concerns," wrote Prosser, the publicity director for the publishing house. "The final, published version of this book reflects those changes."

The 592-page book is expected to provide a caustic account of life inside the White House from the national security adviser's perspective. It is expected to describe the president's decision-making process, his warring advisers and some foreign policy topics, from Ukraine and Venezuela to North Korea and Iran.

Cooper initially submitted the manuscript to the NSC for review in December. Bolton, who served as national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, worked with the White House to vet the manuscript for national security concerns, Cooper said.

President Donald Trump has said that Bolton should not publish his tell-all until after the election and called him a "traitor" in private. He remains angry that Bolton wants to publish the book, a White House official said.

Media outlets previously reported that an early draft of Bolton's book said Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine as a way to pressure Ukraine's newly elected president to launch an inquiry of Democrats, including the activities of former vice president Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden. That news broke just as the Senate was considering articles of impeachment against the president.
The COVID-19 pandemic and extended lockdown have placed tremendous pressure on CEOs to ensure the wellbeing of their employees and the sustainability of their companies.

With an expected GDP contraction of 7% and job losses of between 690,000 and 1.8 million, this is the worst financial crisis most South Africans will face in their lifetime.

CEOs of South African companies are now required to steer their companies through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Many companies had to implement salary cuts, short time, and retrenchments to keep their companies afloat.

To tell an employee they will lose their job or have to take a salary cut is one of the hardest things a CEO can do, but this is exactly what is expected of them during this time.

Unless they make these hard choices, they will neglect their duty to ensure sound and responsible fiscal management.

What employees say about their CEOs

To measure the performance of prominent South African CEOs from an employees perspective, MyBroadband conducted a lockdown survey.

This survey was completed by 7,603 South African IT executives, IT professionals, and financial professionals across South Africa.

The results revealed that most employees think their CEOs performed very well during the lockdown.

50% of employees rated the performance of their CEO during the lockdown as excellent, with 27% saying it was good and 14% rating it as average. Only 9% said it was poor or pathetic.

In comparison, only 6% of respondents described the governments handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as excellent, with 41% saying it was poor or pathetic.

South Africans, therefore, had far more praise for their CEOs than for the government in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.

CEO rankings

Five tech CEOs stood out for their excellent performance during the lockdown  Afrihost CEO Gian Visser, Vox CEO Jacques du Toit, MTN CEO Godfrey Motsa, MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela, and Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub.

All these CEOs received an approval rating of over 90% from their employees for their leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leaders in the financial sector performed even better, with all prominent CEOs receiving an approval rating of over 85%.

Discovery CEO Adrian Gore was the top-rated CEO with an approval rating of 98%, followed by Liberty CEO David Munro and Absa CEO Daniel Mminele.

The images below provide an overview of the approval ratings of South Africas top ICT and finance CEOs.

IT and Telecoms CEOs

Finance CEOs
The Nigerian Army says it is saddened by the attack on Faduma Koloram village in Gubio local government area of Borno state. Over ...





The Nigerian Army says it is saddened by the attack on Faduma Koloram village in Gubio local government area of Borno state.





Over 70 people were killed Tuesday when Boko Haram insurgents attacked the village.





While visiting the scene of the attack, Babagana Zulum, governor of the state called on the military to intensify efforts in its fight against the insurgents.





Sagir Musa, armys spokesperson, in a statement on Wednesday said troops have been drafted in the area to track and apprehend the insurgents.





He also said efforts are also ongoing to get rid of bandits in some states in the north-west.





The Nigerian army is deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident in which suspected retreating Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists with a few sleeper cells within communities ambushed and killed innocent women and children in Faduma Koloram village, Gubio LGA of Borno state, the statement read.





dominate the area and reassure the affected communities of the Nigerian Armys commitment to protect the population. Already a large contingent of military personnel have been drafted in the general area to track and apprehend or neutralize the perpetrators. We have also mandated the Theatre Command, Operation LAFIYA DOLE to enhance security,dominate the area and reassure the affected communities of theNigerian Armys commitment to protect the population.





bandits are shifting base and venting their anger on hapless citizens because of the ongoing operations in Katsina state. The Nigerian army equally notes with great concern about banditry incidents in some parts of the north western part of the county across Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states. It has come to our knowledge that somebandits are shifting base and venting their anger on hapless citizens because of the ongoing operations in Katsina state.





engaging with communities to rid our society of any and all remnants of these criminal elements. While we sympathize with fellow Nigerians and the good people of Borno, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states in particular, on these unfortunate incidents, we would like to assure all of our unrelenting effort inengaging with communities to rid our society of any and all remnants of these criminal elements.





We would like to state further that the Nigerian Army in conjunction with Nigerian Air Force, sister service, other security agencies and the affected States governments, will make efforts to clear all known bandits hideouts in those states as more troops are being mobilized as directed by Mr President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.





The army added that it is committed to investigate the circumstances of attacks by Boko Haram insurgents and bandits on innocent civilians.





In the past weeks, the military had recorded successes in its fight against the insurgents.




The Senate passed the revised 2020 budget on Thursday, having increased it to N10.8 trillion from the N10.5 trillion initially presented by the president.

This was the same amount approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Of the sum, N422 billion was earmarked for statutory transfers, while N4.9 trillion was for recurrent expenditure.

Also, capital expenditure will gulp N2.4 trillion and N2.9 trillion, about a quarter of the budget, will be used to service debt.

In the same vein, N500 billion was earmarked as intervention funds for the fight against COVID-19, while the health sector got N186 billion allocation.

The presentation of the budget report was done by the chairman, Senate appropriation committee, Jibrin Barau.

The review of the budget was necessitated by the impact of the COVID-19 which has adversely affected the oil price and by extension the revenue projections of the government.

Having been passed by both chambers, the presidents signature to the budget is all that is left to make it a law.
The Pound Sterling Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate edged around -0.4% lower on Thursday morning, leaving the pairing trading at around 1.1144.

All eyes were on the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday evening, as the bank spooked investors, dampening risk appetite and sending them flocking back to more traditional safe-haven currencies.

The riskier Pound edged lower against the Euro after the Fed said it expects rates to remain near zero for years to come. This was welcomed by investors as it is a sign of continued support for asset prices.

Via video link, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said:

It is a long road. We are not even thinking about thinking about raising rates.

Commenting on this, Moh Siong Sim, FX analyst at the Bank of Singapore said:

The Fed met expectations, but at the same time its brought the focus back on the economy.

Theres also a sense that the rally has gone a bit too far too fast, and while economic numbers have been getting less bad it does not mean that its good.

However, risk appetite suffered as the bank also said it expects the economy to shrink by around -6.5% this year. Added to this, the US unemployment rate will remain at 9.3% by the end of 2020.

Following the meeting, the Pound suffered losses against the single currency overnight, although steadied this morning.

The Euro was able to hit a three-month high following the meeting and put up the best fight of any major currency.

Brexit and negative rate speculation continued to weigh on the Pound, with the UKs departure from the European Union the currencys largest headwind.

On Wednesday, the EUs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier urged Britain to adjust its demands in the four months remaining.

According to Barnier, the UK is seeking a trade relationship with the bloc that is too close to that of a fully-fledged member of the EU.

Speaking to a forum in Brussels, Mr. Barnier said:

The truth is that in many areas [Britain] is demanding a lot more than Canada, Japan or many of our other [trade] partners.

In many areas it is looking to maintain the benefits of being a member state without the constraints. It is looking to pick and choose the most attractive elements of the [EU] single market without the obligations.

Meanwhile, last week a British official stated it was obvious that Brussels needed to show more flexibility after talks were unsuccessful.

Pound to Euro Outlook: UK GDP in Focus This Week

Looking ahead, the Pound (GBP) could extend todays losses against the Euro (EUR) following the release of UK growth data.

Economists expect Fridays data to show the British economy suffered a record contraction in April due to coronavirus lockdown measures.

As April was when the majority of the economy was subject to strict restrictions, it is expected this will be the low point of the countrys coronavirus slump.

With forecasts from analysts ranging from a -31.5% contraction to -8.5%, even the best-case scenario is still a worse decline compared to anything seen during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

Expectations have been mixed after last weeks surprise US jobs data showed the economy added 2.5 million jobs rather than a decline of around 8 million.

According to Commerzbank economist, Peter Dixon:

Ive been racking my brains to figure out whats happened in the past, if theres anything out there that would help me to understand whats going on now. And the answer is, I dont think there is. Were in genuinely uncharted territory.

Dire growth data is likely to send the Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate lower at the end of the week.
PG&E Corp. on Wednesday announced the names of 11 new board members who will help steer the company after the expected conclusion of its bankruptcy case this year.

The San Francisco parent of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said six of the new directors are from California, in keeping with the desires of state officials. PG&E agreed to substantial modifications to its board in a bankruptcy deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom this year.

PG&E said the directors will provide substantial expertise in key areas critical to the companys work such as utility operations, safety, risk management, regulatory affairs, engagement with customers and more.

New directors will be seated on the board at or prior to the end of the bankruptcy, PG&E said.

PG&Es announcement comes more than one month after the company said that only three of its current 13 board members would remain in their roles after the company emerges from Chapter 11. Its part of a series of changes coming to PG&E as its bankruptcy case winds down, including the forthcoming departure of CEO Bill Johnson.

The new board members will be: Rajat Bahri, chief financial officer of San Francisco e-commerce company Wish; Kerry Cooper, former president and CEO of shoe brand Rothys; Jessica Denecour, former senior VP and chief information officer at Palo Altos Varian Medical Systems; Ret. Adm. Mark Ferguson, senior adviser to private consultancies and the Institute for Defense Analysis and NATO Allied Command Transformation; Bob Flexon, former CEO of Houston energy company Dynegy; Craig Fugate, chief emergency management officer of Menlo Park startup One Concern and a former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Arno Harris, managing partner of energy advisory firm AHC; Mike Niggli, who spent 13 years at San Diego Gas & Electric parent Sempra Energy; Dean Seavers, former president and executive director at British energy company National Grid; Dara Treseder, chief marketing officer of Redwood Citys Carbon; and Ben Wilson, chairman of the law firm Beveridge & Diamond PC.

PG&E previously said that it would retain three of its current board members: Cheryl Campbell, John Woolard and Bill Smith, a former AT&T executive who will become interim CEO of PG&E when Johnson departs at the end of the month.

Throughout the bankruptcy, the governor has stressed the need for fundamental transformation of this utility so it can provide its customers with safe reliable affordable and clean power, a spokesman for Newsom said in a statement. Consistent with these goals, the state required that the companys new board of directors be independent of Wall Street hedge funds, primarily comprised of Californians, with deep expertise on safety and operational change. The board that was announced today meets the states requirements.

Nora Mead Brownell, the current PG&E board chairwoman, said in a statement that installing a new board is a critical component of PG&Es plan to emerge from bankruptcy as a reimagined utility. She thanked the departing directors for helping PG&E navigate the very difficult issues this company has faced.

Correction An earlier version of this story misstated the title of Carbon's Dara Treseder. She is the chief marketing officer. It also incorrectly described AHC. It is an energy advisory firm. See More Collapse

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

This is the right time for a changeover given that the company will soon emerge from bankruptcy and start a new chapter, Brownell said in the statement.

California regulators approved PG&Es bankruptcy restructuring plan, which included changes to the board, two weeks ago. The companys bankruptcy judge is weighing whether to do the same, which would help PG&E meet a June 30 deadline to be eligible for a new form of state-sanctioned corporate wildfire insurance.

The company said this week that it plans to sell its San Francisco headquarters and move to Oakland in 2022. PG&E has been based in San Francisco since its founding 115 years ago.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
My deepest condolences to family and friends of George Floyd, the black man in Minneapolis who died at the hands of a white police officer, as other officers watched. This must not ever happen again!

In response to Colbert Kings June 3 column (Trump desecrates church for foul political purposes,) I believe Bishop Mariann Budde is wrong and should blame the riotous protesters, whose fire desecrated St. Johns Episcopal Church June 1. These thugs attacked the White House perimeter while Secret Service prevented access inside the fence.

An 11 p.m. curfew was set by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to prevent the White House and St. Johns church from being further ravaged. The curfew was announced by bullhorn in three intervals, yet riots continued in disobedience. The crowd was forced back one block by police. Many were arrested and others sent home.

President Trump supports nondestructive, orderly protesting  not breaking windows, looting and destroying property. Trump did no wrong by taking a photo-op, holding up the Holy Bible in front of St Johns church, verifying his staunch stand of the Constitution of the United States and Declaration of Independence.

After all, God chose a persecutor of Christians, named Saul, whom Jesus transformed. Renamed Paul, he began to preach and write the spirit- filled Pauline Epistles, during his years in prison for spreading the good news gospel. My prayer is Jesus will transform the rough demeanor of our leader Trump!

Philip H. Beach Sr.

Bethlehem Township, Pa.
Scientists warn that if global emissions are not curbed parts of the world will experience larger and more frequent extreme waves over the next 80 years.

Using thousands of modeled ocean wave extremes from the past century, along with two alternative greenhouse gas emission scenarios, the team found the frequency of these events could increase by 10 percent.

A warming world is creating stronger storm winds that are triggering the massive waves and as a result, the 100-year events may begin to occur every 50 or even 20 years instead.

Extreme waves can reach heights of 65 feet, which is as high as a stack of four double-decker buses, and would affect 60 percent of the world's coastline - primarily the Southern Ocean.

Scroll down for video

Scientists warn that if global emissions are not curbed parts of the world will experience larger and more frequent extreme waves over the next 80 years

The stark warning comes from a team at the University of Melbourne, who shared in a statement: Our new research suggests that by the end of the century the magnitude of extreme wave events will have increased by up to 10 percent over extensive ocean regions, and the frequency of storms that generate extreme waves will have increased by five to 10 per year.

This may not sound like a big increase, but it means that almost 60 percent of the worlds coastline will experience larger and more frequent extreme waves.

Researchers also make note of the 290 million people that live below the 100-year flood level, which is an area that has at least one percent probability of flooding every year.

An increase in the risk of extreme wave events may be catastrophic, as larger and more frequent storms will cause more flooding and coastline erosion, reads the blog post by the researchers.

Using thousands of modeled ocean wave extremes from the past century, along with two alternative greenhouse gas emission scenarios, the team found the frequency of these events could increase by 10 percent

The team used data from thousands of modeled ocean wave extremes that they collected over the past century.

The extremes came from global wave models based on wind forces generated from seven different global climate models.

These were then compared to two alternative greenhouse gas emission scenarios - one where emissions are quickly rising and the other they are curbed.

Not only did the results show a 10 percent in extreme wave frequency, but the largest increase of wave size and most occurring was found in the Southern Ocean, which will have an impact on most Pacific coastlines. Pictured are waves in the Southern Ocean

Not only did the results show a 10 percent in extreme wave frequency, but the largest increase of wave size and most occurring was found in the Southern Ocean, which will have an impact on most Pacific coastlines.

'Importantly, the unique approach we have applied means that we can estimate future wave extremes with a higher confidence than previously possible., shares teh team.

'Our analysis considers the whole globe, but the impacts of tropical cyclones on future wave heights arent well understood yet and are an area of ongoing study.'


By Park Moo-jong





One of my friends asked me recently, "Do you know what NGO stands for?" I responded without a pause, "Are you kidding me? You know that NGO stands for nongovernmental organization."



But, he responded with a cynical smile, "No. It means 'no-good organization.'"



This satirical, but sad episode stems from the latest scandal involving the leader of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, a civic organization dedicated to advocacy for the rights of "comfort women" drafted into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II.



The civic group leader's alleged misuse and embezzlement of private donations and government subsidies to help the surviving women in their 80s and 90s has shocked citizens, thus, many got angry and quit offering small donations to various NGOs that purport to work for the needy, especially for underprivileged children.



Unfortunately, however, the alleged corrupt behavior of Yoon Mee-hyang, who led the organization for more than 2 decades since, is adding fuel to the conflict between the progressives and conservatives, namely those in power and the opposition party.



The ruling camp has gone all out to protect Yoon, who became a National Assembly member by proportional representation in the April 15 general election, while the opposition forces are demanding that Yoon give up her parliamentary seat and the prosecution get to the bottom of things and bring the truth to light.



Yoon's controversy has "contributed" to making the people think again about nongovernmental organizations and question how NGO activists manage to earn a living without an occupation.



In short, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) is a nonprofit, citizen-based group that functions independently of government under the slogan of autonomy, participation and solidarity in the fields of human rights, social and political affairs, environment and economy.



Dubbed the "fifth branch" or "fifth power" after the legislative, judiciary, administrative branches and the press, NGO is also called the "Third Sector" confronting the government and business.



Representative NGOs in the world include Doctors Without Borders, Greenpeace, Amnesty International and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), to name a few.



In Korea, NGO activities began in full swing in the late 1980s with the retreat of the military dictatorial government. The birth of the Citizens Coalition for Economic Justice in 1989 was the very signal to open the renaissance of the civil social movement, and the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy was formed in 1994 under the catchphrase, "Citizens' power to change the world."



No one can deny what so many NGOs have done to help build a better society to live in by promoting human rights and supporting the needy. And they carried out their role faithfully on the whole by keeping on check politicians and businesses, while living up to their goal of being free from power and money.



Yet, the latest allegations against Rep. Yoon and the ruling forces' bid to protect the activist-turned-lawmaker reminded many people who donated to NGOs  without, you might say, knowing of the symbiotic relationship between the crocodile and the plover bird.



Since the start of the President Moon Jae-in government in May 2017, so many leading members of NGOs took important posts in the administration and presidential office and became lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.



It's no wonder that civic groups are losing most of their given functions to check and monitor those in power, thus earn the nickname "GOs" or governmental organizations. Many pro-ruling camp NGOs are singing from the same hymn book with the government in working out national policies like closing nuclear power plants, among others.



As mentioned above, leading figures from NGOs like the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice grabbed major posts in the government and local autonomous bodies. The result is citizens' groups sans citizens.



It is common sense that if a citizens' group tasked voluntarily to act as a watchdog becomes the very powers it observes, its civic movement loses its ground to exist.



The financial scandal of Rep. Yoon may make a good opportunity for the government to examine the propriety of its subsidies to civic groups. The subsidies are far from guaranteeing the independence of citizens' movement groups.



One consolation is that President Moon "promised" to set up a consolidated audit system on donated money and fundamentally strengthen the transparency of all activities (of NGOs) to collect donations and raise funds.



The government and civil movement activists have to listen to what one of my friends quipped about NGOs. Surprisingly many people took a lesson from the Yoon scandal: "An NGO is a no-good organization." Pure NGOs' activities cannot be belittled and should not be discouraged.



For reference, a Bangladesh-based NGO, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), has been ranked the top NGO in the world in 2020 for the fifth consecutive year thanks to its robust leadership, governance structure and continued commitment to systemic change.





Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.






Establishing strong and independent corporate governance is vital, they say.

Ambassadors of the G7 countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan) have called on Ukraine to continue reforms in the defense industry.

"During a meeting with [National Security and Defense Council] NSDC Secretary [Oleksiy] Danilov today, G7 Ambassadors encouraged Ukraine to implement reforms in the crucial defense industry that are transparent and in accordance with international standards," they said in a statement posted on the Twitter account of the U.S. Presidency of the G7 Ambassadors' Support Group on June 11.

Read alsoBill on Ukroboronprom corporatization may be submitted to Cabinet, NSDC in June

"Establishing strong and independent corporate governance is vital to attract investment and modernize Ukraine's defense sector," the statement said.

The NSDC's press service said in turn that during the meeting, Danilov had expressed gratitude to the G7 countries for supporting Ukraine in its struggle to restore sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as in reforming the defense industry.

He informed about plans for state-run Ukroboronprom Consortium's transformation, saying Ukraine is grateful to the French government for the extremely important support in conducting an audit of the company's corporate reform.

Also, he emphasized that Ukraine considers it is extremely important to openly inform its strategic partners on security reforms.

According to him, Ukraine continues implementing the reform of the military-industrial complex, taking into account the best international experience in corporate governance.
China warned US not to interfere with its relations with India

With no sign of disengagement along LAC by China, Delhi pins hopes on diplomacy

Reduced air activity, troops disengaged, India-China move at brisk pace for long lasting peace

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, June 11: The situation along the Line of Control (LoC) has calmed down considerably, with both India and China engaging in dialogue.

The cool down began following the Lt. General level talks that were held on Saturday.

Following this the Brigadier and Major General level talks were held, which in turn helped calm tempers further.

Ladakh standoff: China, India reached positive consensus to 'ease' situation along borders

There has been very little or no activity along the LAC. Sources tell OneIndia that following the disengagement of troops, there has been very less activity by the PLA Air Force. There has also been very little patrolling by the Chinese vehicles at Galwan Nullah.

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

The troops too have reduced at the Pangong Tso sector, which is a welcome sign.

The source cited above also said that the process is an ongoing one. The talks will continue, before a complete resolution is found. What we are witnessing are encouraging signs and for the entire issue to be sorted out, talks will have to continue for some more time, the officer also noted.

Meanwhile, China on Wednesday said that troops of both sides have started implementing the "positive consensus" reached by the senior military officials of the two countries on June 6 aimed at "easing" the situation along the borders.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson's remarks came after officials in New Delhi suggested that armies of India and China have undertaken a "limited disengagement" in few areas in eastern Ladakh in a demonstration of their intent to end the border standoff peacefully ahead of another round of military talks on Wednesday.

Asked about the reports of the troops on both sides disengaging and moving back to their previous positions, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that both sides are taking steps to ease the situation along the borders.

"Recently the diplomatic and military channels of China and India held effective communication on the situation along the border and reached positive consensus," she said.

"The two sides are following this consensus to take actions to ease the situation along the borders," the spokesperson said.

Russia should not interfere in India-China standoff as it is bilateral matter: Top Russian lawmaker

Military sources in New Delhi said the two armies have begun "disengagement" around patrolling points 14 and 15 in Galwan Valley and another in the Hot Spring area, adding the Chinese side has even moved back up to 1.5 km in two areas.

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged since May 5 following a violent clash in Pangong Tso.

The trigger for the face-off was China's stiff opposition to India laying a key road in the Finger area around the Pangong Tso Lake besides construction of another road connecting the Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road in Galwan Valley.

During their military-level talks on June 6, India and China agreed to follow the broad decisions taken by their leaders in the Wuhan summit in 2018 to ensure peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Ramallah, Palestine  Thu, June 11, 2020 06:45 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc00ad 2 World Palestine,Palestinians,Palestinian-mission,aid,coronavirus,COVID-19,SARS-CoV-2,Israel,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus,UAE Free

The Palestinian Authority refused Wednesday a planeload of medical supplies from the United Arab Emirates to help fight coronavirus since it was coordinated with Israel rather than with them.

The Etihad Airways flight, which landed in Israel on Tuesday, was the second airborne delivery of humanitarian cargo by the UAE that the Palestinians say they have turned down in a month.

"We refuse to receive it because it was coordinated directly between Israel and them [the UAE]," Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh told AFP.

"We were not part of the coordination."

Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab countries to hold official relations with Israel, but Gulf Arab nations like the UAE have been warming to the Jewish state recently amid shared concerns over Iran.

While a May 19 Etihad flight carrying Palestinian aid from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv was unmarked, Tuesday was the first time an Etihad aircraft landed in Israel bearing its logo, a source with knowledge of the flight told AFP.

The UAE's aid flights come as Israel prepares to move forward with annexing West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley.

A peace plan announced by US President Donald Trump in January gave the green light for such annexations.

Analysts say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Arab states normalizing ties with Israel will push the Palestinians to reach a peace deal.

But "there should be no normalization before the end of the Israeli occupation," Al-Sheikh told AFP.
All activities undertaken without permission on Hoang Sa Islands, including the placement of undersea cables, are violations of Vietnam's sovereignty, its Foreign Ministry says.

"All activities related to Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands without Vietnams permission violate Vietnams sovereignty and hold no value," the ministry's spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a press meet Thursday.

She was responding to inquiries regarding China apparently laying undersea cables between artificial features on the Paracel Islands.

Chinese cable ship Tian Yi Hai Gong sailed from a shipyard in Shanghai in late May and reached the Paracel Islands on May 28, according to satellite images and vessel tracking software, the Benar News, an online news service, reported on June 8.

The ship was "doing something related to undersea cables," which could be laying cables between the Tree Island, the North Island and the Woody Island, part of Vietnam's Paracel Islands. The ship then sailed to other locations.

China laying undersea cables could be for military purposes and potentially strengthen its ability to detect submarines, the paper said, citing experts. It could signal another step by China to militarize the South China Sea, it added.

Vietnam calls the South China Sea the East Sea.

China also laid cables connecting Vietnam's Woody Island to Chinas Hainan Island in 2016, according to Reuters. The following year, China laid cables at the Fiery Cross Reef, the Subi Reef and the Mischief Reef of Vietnams Spratly Islands.

Vietnam has full legal basis and historical evidence to assert sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands in accordance with international law, Hang reiterated.

"Countries need to act responsibly, avoid complicating the situation and contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea," she noted.

Hang also said Vietnam was "paying attention" to a diplomatic note by the U.S. sent to the United Nations (U.N.) on June 3, in which it rejected maritime claims by China as "inconsistent with international law as reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention."

"Vietnam pays attention to the fact that several U.N. member nations recently have distributed documents to express their stance on the East Sea," she said.

The distribution of documents to express their stance is a usual activity for U.N. member nations, Hang noted, adding: "The international community as well as the U.N. values the fact that member states have stances that bolster and abide by international law, including the UNCLOS."
Iowa Republican legislators are fast-tracking a bill that would give meatpacking plants, nursing homes and other businesses broad immunity from coronavirus lawsuits despite criticism that it would also enable them to ignore workplace safety requirements.

The bill, which the state House passed on June 5 with only Republican support, is supported by groups that represent hospitals and doctors, restaurants, casinos, grocery stores, bankers, meat processors, truckers and insurance companies.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, labor unions and the Iowa State Bar Association are among those who oppose the measure.

Republican Rep. Gary Carlson of Muscatine, who managed the bill in the House, said the owners of small businesses want to reopen but need certainty they cant be sued by their employees.

Theyre trying to follow guidelines but are scared to death theyre going to be sued by someone when they tried to do their best, he said.

Rep. Chris Hall, a Sioux City Democrat, said most businesses will work to protect customers and workers and deserve protection from frivolous lawsuits, but the broad protections in the bill also will help some hide the truth.

Essentially, this means that companies have been given the privilege of legal protection without the responsibility to maintain a safe workplace to prevent further spread of a deadly disease in our state, he said.

The Iowa Association for Justice, a state organization of about 1,000 attorneys who fight for individual and civil rights, said more Iowans in nursing homes will die because of the bill and and individual Iowans will have no power to seek accountability or answers.

Its pathetic. Iowans are looking for leadership, and they expect better than this. If no one is accountable, no one is safe, the groups executive director, Brad Lint, said in a statement.

As in many states, the coronavirus struck Iowa nursing homes particularly hard, with nursing home residents accounting for half of the states 622 C0VID-19 deaths. The state reported Tuesday that 39 facilities have had outbreaks, with more than 1,560 residents testing positive for the virus since it arrived in Iowa. Many states have passed legislation limited to protecting health care and elderly care facilities from lawsuits related to coronavirus illnesses and deaths.

Iowas bill offers protection against civil damage lawsuits for health care providers and manufacturers or distributors of household disinfecting or cleaning supplies. It includes many other businesses by stating that anyone who wants to sue must first have been hospitalized or died, and that there must be an intent on the part of a business or employer to cause harm and actual malice. The measure says anyone who is in substantial compliance with federal or state statues, regulations, orders or public health guidance cannot be sued for civil damages. The bill is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020.

It also would protect owners of meatpacking plants, which also have been heavily affected by the virus, with thousands of workers sickened. The Iowa counties that have had the heaviest concentration of virus activity have been those with meatpacking plants. Owners of a wide range of other businesses, including restaurants, hair salons and others who serve the public, expressed concern that they could be sued if someone claimed to have contracted the virus at their business.

Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming enacted similar laws in May that were signed by Republican governors. Several other states have bills pending or have attempted similar action. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed including nationwide liability protection in a coronavirus relief bill, but his efforts so far have not succeeded.

Louise Melling, ACLU deputy legal director, said she has concerns about the implications of shutting off peoples ability to go to court to hold business owners accountable if theyre not protecting workers.

What are we trying to protect and at the expense of whom? she said. What are we saying as a country about what were going to insist on for the safety of workers?

The Iowa House approved the bill late on June 5 with only Republican support after ending debate by Democrats. It now shifts to the Senate, which is also controlled by Republicans. Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver has said the bill is a priority for him.

Because the Senate passed a different version of the bill in February without the immunity language, the measure can gain final approval if the amended language get a majority vote. It then would go to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who hasnt said if she would sign the measure.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits COVID-19 Iowa Politics
Stay-at-home orders and "lockdowns" related to the COVID-19 pandemic have had a major impact on the daily lives of people around the world and that includes the way that people sleep, two studies report June 10 in the journal Current Biology. Both studies show that relaxed school and work schedules and more time spent at home has led people to sleep more on average with less "social jetlag" as indicated by a reduced shift in sleep timing and duration on work days versus free days. But, at the same time, one of the studies also finds that the pandemic has taken a toll when it comes to self-reported sleep quality.

Usually, we would expect a decrease in social jetlag to be associated with reports of improved sleep quality. However, in our sample, overall sleep quality decreased. We think that the self-perceived burden, which substantially increased during this unprecedented COVID-19 lockdown, may have outweighed the otherwise beneficial effects of a reduced social jetlag." Christine Blume (@christine_blume), sleep researcher and cognitive neuroscientist ,University of Basel's Centre for Chronobiology, Switzerland

In their study, Blume and colleagues including Marlene Schmidt and Christian Cajochen explored the effects of the strictest phase of the COVID-19 lockdown on the relationship between social and biological rhythms as well as sleep during a six-week period from mid-March until end of April 2020 in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Their data showed that the lockdown reduced the mismatch between social and biological sleep-wake timing as people began working from home more and sleeping more regular hours from day to day. People also slept about 15 minutes longer each night. However, the self-reported data indicated a perception that sleep quality had declined.

In the other study, Kenneth Wright at the University of Colorado, Boulder's Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory and colleagues asked similar questions by comparing sleep prior to and during Stay-at-Home orders in 139 university students as they shifted from taking their classes in-person to taking them remotely. As the team reports, nightly sleep duration increased by about 30 minutes during weekdays and 24 minutes on weekends. The timing of sleep also became more regular from day to day, and there was less social jetlag.

Students stayed up about 50 minutes later while staying home during weekdays and about 25 minutes later on weekends. Students that tended to sleep less before the effects of COVID-19 took hold showed the greatest increase in the amount of sleep after they stopped going to in-person classes. After the Stay-at-Home orders went into effect, 92 percent of students got the recommended 7 hours or more of sleep per night, up from 84 percent before.

"Insufficient sleep duration, irregular and late sleep timing, and social jetlag are common in modern society and such poor sleep health behaviors contribute to and worsen major health and safety problems, including heart disease and stroke, weight gain and obesity, diabetes, mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, substance abuse, and impaired immune health, as well as morning sleepiness, cognitive impairment, reduced work productivity, poor school performance and risk of accident/drowsy driving crashes," Wright said. "Our findings provide further evidence that poor sleep behaviors are modifiable in university students. A better understanding of which factors during Stay-at-Home orders contributed to changed sleep health behaviors may help to develop sleep health intervention strategies."

"Not surprisingly, this unprecedented situation of the pandemic and the lockdown increased self-perceived burden and had adverse effects on sleep quality," Blume said. "On a positive note, though, the relaxation of social schedules also led to an improved alignment between external or social factors determining our sleep-wake timing and our body's internal biological signals. This was also associated with overall, more sleep."

From a sleep health perspective, the increase in sleep duration and regularity are welcome changes, say the researchers. For those having trouble with sleep quality, Blume suggests engaging in physical activity under the open sky.
Bhopal, June 11 : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday apparently slammed the Congress, and without naming any leader said the destruction of sinners is a work of virtue.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, he wrote: "The destruction of sinners is a work of virtue. This is what our religion says. Bolo, Siyapati Ramchandra ki Jai!" Several political meanings are being drawn from the tweet.

It is also being said that Chouhan's tweet was an attempt to get back at the Congress which has made viral an alleged audio clip of Chouhan.

It's alleged that in the audio clip, Chouhan can be heard saying that the Kamal Nath-led government was toppled at the behest of the BJP Central leadership.

The Congress has also taken potshots at the BJP over the audio clip.
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Jammu: One Indian Army jawan lost his life and a civilian was injured in the ceasefire violation by Pakistan Army in the Rajouri sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday (June 10).

On Wednesday, Pakistan resorted to indiscriminate, unprovoked firing and shelling on the LoC around 10 pm in Tarkundi and Manjakote areas of Rajouri.

"An army soldier sustained injuries in Pakistan firing in Tarkundi area. He was shifted to hospital in Rajouri where he succumbed to injuries. A police constable on leave sustained a shoulder injury due to splinters in Manjakote area. He has been shifted to hospital for treatment," officials said.

A civilian of Rajdhani village was also injured in Pak shelling. Several houses were damaged and a few animals were also killed intense firing and mortar shelling from across the border along the LoC, triggering panic and fear among residents.

According to officials, Pakistan targeted over half-a-dozen villages along the LoC in Nowshera and Balakote sectors. They said Pakistan Army targeted civilian areas in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district with heavy mortars and guided missiles. People living in border hamlets took shelters in some underground bunkers to save their lives as their villages were pounded with mortar bombs

Pakistan violated ceasefire on the LoC in both Poonch and Rajouri districts on Wednesday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex 'discussed Megxit before they got married' because the Duke was 'deeply unhappy for a long time', a new book is set to claim.

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, are currently living in Tyler Perry's $18 million mansion having stepped back from royal duty in March.

Sources have now revealed how bombshell biography Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family, which will be released online on August 11, is set to 'explore the couple's journey' to their decision.

An insider told The Sun: 'The seeds of Megxit were sown before they even got married. The truth is that Harry had been deeply unhappy for a long time.'

Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, 'openly discussed Megxit before they got married', sources have revealed

The source went on: 'And he and Meghan openly discussed going in a different direction well before they got married.'

They added that the biography will 'make clear' that the choice to step back from life as working royals was 'far from a snap decision'.

Co-author Omid Scobie, who has accompanied Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a variety of royal tours, recently told the podcast The Heir Pod the tale has included twists and turns that 'even the Sussexes didn't expect'.

He said: 'This project started about two years ago, and there have been twists and turns that no one expected. This is something no one expected.

According to insiders, the couple discussed 'going in a different direction' to the rest of The firm 'well before they got married'

'I don't even think Harry and Meghan, who by their own account struggled with the realities of the situation, expected things to turn out the way they did.'

Explaining that the biography gives a real inside account of their story, he said: 'I've been on so many engagements and around them as much as possible, and spoken to so many people in their lives, so no stone has been left unturned.

'I've seen the couple remain faithful in their own beliefs and stand strong in the face of adversities which have been publicly played out in the press, and I would like to think this tells the definitive version of their lives together.'

Publishing house Harper Collins, which owns Dey Street Books, the publisher of the biography released a brief description of Meghan and Prince Harry's collaboration with the two journalists.

Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family is set to be released worldwide online on August 11, with the hard copy on sale from August 20

The book's description says that 'few know the true story of Harry and Meghan'.

It promises to go 'beyond the headlines to reveal unknown details of Harry and Meghan's life together, dispelling the many rumours and misconceptions that plague the couple on both sides of the pond'.

It continues: 'With unique access and written with the participation of those closest to the couple, Finding Freedom is an honest, up-close, and disarming portrait of a confident, influential, and forward-thinking couple who are unafraid to break with tradition, determined to create a new path away from the spotlight, and dedicated to building a humanitarian legacy that will make a profound difference in the world.'

The cover features a beaming Prince Harry and Meghan as they visited their namesake county in October 2018 for the first time.

The Duke and Duchess announced plans to step back from life in the royal family in January, before officially saying goodbye to royal duty in March (pictured, in January hours before their initial announcement)

In April, the Mail on Sunday reported that the Duke and Duchess had co-operated with Omid Scobie and Catherine Durand on the explosive new book that risks inflicting further anguish on the royal family.

Palace insiders expect the biography to paint a flattering portrait of the couple.

There are fears it will also be a score-settling exercise in which Harry and Meghan's strained relationship with the Royal Family and painful decision to quit Britain are revisited in uncomfortable detail.

Insiders have revealed how the biography will 'explore the couple's journey' to Megxit, and says Prince Harry had been 'deeply unhappy for a long time' in his life in The Firm

The Mail on Sunday were told that before moving to North America, the Sussexes gave an interview to the book's authors, both journalists.

Echoing Princess Diana's secret involvement in the blockbuster biography, Diana: Her True Story, when she encouraged her friends to speak to author Andrew Morton, questions are being asked whether members of Meghan's inner circle were being urged to help Scobie and his American co-author, Carolyn Durand.

The 320-page biography, due to be released in August, is expected to be a global bestseller.
3 1 of 3 Contributed photo / Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Azitra, a medical dermatology company developing treatments for serious skin conditions, has opened a new, 12,000-square-foot laboratory and office complex at 21 Business Park Drive in Branford.

The company, founded in 2014 by scientists from Yale University, had been operating out of three small laboratories at the Technology Incubator Program accelerator in Farmington. Richard Andrews, president and chief executive officer of Azitra, said the new Branford facility allows the company to benefit from a centralized location.
On June 4, a Buffalo, N.Y., police officer shoved a man who walked up to police. The man hit his head on the pavement, with blood leaking out as officers walked past to clear Niagara Square. Read more

What began in Minneapolis with the murder of George Floyd did not remain in America. His death has not only shaken this country but has reverberated far beyond U.S. shores. And Im not just referring to demonstrations from London to Berlin to Chile to Lebanon, Syria and beyond, protesting racism and inequality in America and within their own countries.

Americas allies and enemies are closely watching how well the United States handles the mass political protests for racial justice as well as a continuing COVID-19 debacle. Until the last few days, the imagery provided rich fodder for Russian and Chinese propaganda (ignoring their own racism and coronavirus failures).

The example the United States sets at home and the image it projects abroad can either magnify American power or detract from it, wrote Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, in a trenchant essay published this week in Foreign Affairs.

If other nations were only observing President Donald Trumps political efforts to stoke racial division they could rightly assume that America had lost any allure as a democratic role model. They might conclude that the U.S. had become so dysfunctional it could no longer provide an effective bulwark against Russian mischief or Chinese aggression.

 READ MORE: George Floyd's death sparked a protest movement. Are there lessons from Cairo and Hong Kong? | Trudy Rubin

Yet, there are positive signs in recent days that America is getting its democratic mojo back.

Before getting to the good news, it is important to grasp the damage done to Americas image by Trumps mishandling of the coronavirus crisis  and by scenes of police violence against protesters.

The presidents slow response to COVID-19 and bungling on testing undermined longtime perceptions of U.S. competence and technological prowess. As Asia moves back to normality and European nations emerge from lockdown, most with stable or declining caseloads, or having defeated the virus, U.S. infections and deaths continue to rise even before a feared fall resurgence.

At the present rate, some epidemiologists predict the U.S. could reach a total of 200,000 deaths by fall.

What astonishes foreign observers is the continued White House refusal to implement a national strategy for testing and contact tracing, unlike every other industrialized country. States and cities cant do it by themselves. And around the country  contrary to Trumps lies  nursing homes and front-line workers still often lack equipment, or tests, or the means to pay for tests.

Yet the president has silenced his scientific advisers, pretends all is well, and refuses to wear a mask, encouraging public disdain for the masking and social distancing that are critical for reopening. Soaring caseloads will deeply undercut any economic revival.

America the incompetent has become our new global image in the coronavirus era. Until a vaccination is found, this country will pay for Trumps mistakes in American lives and lost reputation.

Of course, as the world has observed, trumps indifference to human life, in this case black lives, has been the hallmark of his response to the murder of George Floyd.

The presidents refusal to address a wounded country on racial fairness, his unwillingness to meet with black leaders or Floyds family, are pure Trump. Ditto for his firm rejection to renaming military bases named after confederate generals. And his decision to hold his first post-pandemic rally in Tulsa, Okla., site of a horrific massacre of black Americans in 1921.

And what is the world to make of Trumps tweet promoting a conspiracy theory that the 75-year-old peaceful demonstrator knocked to the pavement and grievously injured by Buffalo police was really an extremist provocateur? This is a total fabrication. Foreign allies and enemies alike can watch the video of the gray-haired senior lying bleeding from the head as police march by.

What makes this tweet, (and all the others like it) even more egregious is Trumps gift to Russian and Chinese propagandists. The president cited as his source a tiny pro-Trump news network known as OANN. But the reporter who narrated the segment previously worked for the Kremlin-controlled Russian news network Sputnik.

 READ MORE: From Tiananmen Square to Lafayette Square, Trump's love of the military undermines democracyI Trudy Rubin

So where do I find my optimism that America may be regaining its democratic shine?

First, in the overwhelming public support shown by polls for two weeks of multiracial demonstrations for racial justice, which, after a violent start, have mostly been peaceful.

Second, in the strong stance by the Pentagon, including many top retired brass and now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark A. Milley, in rejecting the presidents efforts to use the military for political purposes. Milley apologized Thursday for appearing alongside Trump for a photo op after authorities cleared the way by tear gassing peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square.

Third, in the swift movement of many cities toward restructuring police departments, as well as a start to congressional efforts on legislation to curb police violence. Democrats are in the forefront, but some GOP legislators also understand the risk of doing nothing.

If, at this historic moment, the country can make real strides towards racial justice, it will demonstrate to the world that America retains its innate democratic strengths, despite Trumps efforts to undermine them. And it will provide impetus toward needed change in the White House come fall.
Former Inspector General Steve Linick told Congress he was conducting five investigations into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the State Department before he was fired, transcript released Wednesday shows.

Why it matters: Three of the investigations  a review of the International Women of Courage Award, a special immigrant visa program audit and a prove "involving individuals in the Office of the Protocol"  had not been disclosed publicly until House Democrats released the transcript from Linick's June 3 closed-door interview.

It emerged after Trump fired him at Pompeo's recommendation on May 15 that Linick was conducting investigations including on allegations of staff misuse. Pompeo has called the claims leveled against him "unsubstantiated."

Three congressional committees are investigating whether Pompeo had Linick fired in retaliation for his inquiries.

What's new: Linick declined to answer questions on the five investigations and said he "would have no indication one way or the other" as to whether his replacement continued the probes.

He alleged that a senior State Department official, who assisted Pompeo in bypassing a congressional freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pressured him to drop an investigation into the matter.

However, Linick said that he was never influenced by State Department leadership on any investigation and no one obstructed him on the Saudi Arms Sale probe.

Linick also said he was given "no valid reason" for his removal.

The other side: The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But on Tuesday, the department wrote to the inspectors general council chair asking for an investigation into Linick and a "disturbing pattern of leaks," per ABC News.
The anti-smuggling wing of Ludhiana police recovered 12,000 litres of illicit country made liquor from the banks of Sutlej river on Wednesday evening.

The liquor was found dumped on the banks in drums.

Wings in-charge sub-inspector Yashpal Sharma said in another case, they arrested a man for carrying 19 bottles of illicit liquor near Daba.

The accused was identified as Ronki Badshah of Giaspura flats.

He was booked under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act at the Daba police station.
Adult patients in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) are often given rehabilitation therapy and urged to keep mobile from an early point in their hospital stays. This has been shown to improve muscle strength, physical functioning and cognitive health, along with reducing the risk of pressure ulcers ("bed sores"), blood clots and other short-term threats. However, the prevalence or lack of rehabilitation practices for critically ill children in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) across the nation has been not been solidly researched.

Now, a multicenter study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine shows that 65% of the PICU patients examined did not get physical or occupational therapy, or adequate opportunities to be mobile, while hospitalized during the study period. Female patients and those with normal physical function prior to illness were the most likely to not receive this important care. The study team also found that 19% of critically ill PICU patients were completely immobile during the same time span.

The researchers reported their findings in the May 2020 issue of the journal Critical Care Medicine.

In the study, known as PARK-PICU (for "Prevalence of Acute Rehab for Kids in the PICU"), researchers gathered data on critically ill children in 82 PICUs in 65 hospitals across the United States. This represents one-third of all PICU beds in the country. There were 1,769 patient days in the PICUs reviewed, with the researchers also evaluating perceived barriers and potential safety events for patient mobility.

"Despite the evidence that early rehabilitative therapy and mobility provide benefits to adults in ICUs, and despite the fact that it is known to be safe and reliable for children, our findings reveal that patients in PICUs are not getting the rehabilitative care they need," says Sapna Kudchadkar, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and lead author of the study.

Kudchadkar and her colleagues also found that two-thirds of all children admitted to the PICU for three days or longer are under age 2.

"Pediatric survivors of critical illness commonly experience long-term physical, cognitive and psychological problems, and these issues are compounded by the fact that while children are in the PICU, they are undergoing intensive physical and mental development," she says.

Based on their study findings, the researchers urge hospitals to "systematically design and evaluate PICU rehabilitation interventions for a vulnerable patient population.

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GNA says multiple mass graves discovered in Tarhuna and other areas recently retaken from Khalifa Haftars forces.

The UN expressed horror after at least eight mass graves were discovered in an area retaken by Libyas internationally recognised government from renegade military commander Khalifa Haftars forces.

According to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), most of the graves were found in Tarhuna, Haftars last stronghold in western Libya. The city was used by his forces as a launchpad during an ill-fated 14-month offensive to seize the capital from the GNA.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) notes with horror reports on the discovery of at least eight mass graves in past days, the majority of them in Tarhuna, it wrote on Twitter.

International law requires that the authorities conduct prompt, effective & transparent investigations into all alleged cases of unlawful deaths.

Reporting from Misrata, Al Jazeeras Malik Traina said the GNA, which seized Tarhuna on June 5, reported recovering over a hundred bodies in these mass graves.

1/3 UNSMIL notes with horror reports on the discovery of at least eight mass graves in past days, the majority of them in Tarhuna. International law requires that the authorities conduct prompt, effective & transparent investigations into all alleged cases of unlawful deaths. pic.twitter.com/cQY7dTNhzI  UNSMIL (@UNSMILibya) June 11, 2020

The GNA said the remains were those of captured GNA soldiers as well as civilians, Traina said.

These mass graves are yet another indication of the brutality of the Libyan conflict and the toll on the residents in the area, he added.

On Thursday, the GNAs justice ministry launched a committee to investigate the graves, according to the UN mission.





UNSMIL called on members of the committee to promptly undertake the work aimed at securing the mass graves, identifying the victims, establishing causes of death & returning the bodies to next of kin.

The United States also expressed concern over the grim findings.

We are troubled by reports that GNA forces are discovering bodies of civilians, IEDs and land mines in areas retaken from the LNA, said David Schenker, US assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs.

We are similarly concerned that a GNA offensive on Sirte would have serious humanitarian consequence. When armed groups and their external backers escalate, the Libyan people suffer.

Reports of atrocities

In March, UNSMIL said it received reports of hundreds of enforced disappearances, torture, killings and displacement of entire families in Tarhuna by forces loyal to Haftar.

Among the victims were private individuals, state officials, captured fighters and civil society activists, according to the mission.

UNSMIL said it also verified numerous summary executions at Tarhuna prison on September 13.





Toby Cadman, an international human rights lawyer, told Al Jazeera that based on the reported conditions of the dead, including reports some may have had their hands tied behind their backs, the newly discovered graves appeared to be evidence of war crimes.

Of course, they will need to be an investigation to identify the cause of death, he said.

Human Rights Watch Libya senior researcher Hanan Salah said the GNA should invite neutral international forensic experts to help preserve possible evidence of crimes and identify the remains.

We urge the GNA to follow through with their promise to investigate apparent mass graves in a speedy and transparent manner, she said.

Libya, a major oil producer, has been mired in turmoil since 2011, when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising.

It is now split between two rival administrations: the GNA in Tripoli and the eastern-based House of Representatives allied with Haftar.

The GNA is backed by Turkey while Haftars Libyan National Army is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia.

In recent weeks, the GNA, with the support of Turkey, has made major military gains, forcing Haftars forces to retreat.

The GNA has since launched a military operation to take the central coastal city of Sirte and al-Jufra further south.
By Liu Xin and Hou Songsong

BEIJING, June 11 -- Disasters such as landslides, debris flows, and urban water logging caused by a new round of heavy rainfall have occurred in many places in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Guizhou. The People's Armed Police (PAP) Force urgently dispatched troops to help fight against floods. They have transferred more than 2,500 people, transported over 50 tons of supplies, and cleared up more than 40 kilometers of roads since June 7.

Some residents were trapped with the water levels rising sharply in many places in Huizhou city of Guangzhou province on June 9. The PAP Huizhou Detachment quickly launched the emergency plan after receiving the order. Officers and soldiers rushed to the scene with boats and kayaks. They successfully transferred thousands of people trapped in the flood and transported 25 tons of supplies.

On June 9, a river in an ethnic autonomous prefecture of South Chinas Guizhou Province washed down the dam, endangering the lives and property of local people. After receiving the order, the local PAP detachment rushed to the scene immediately. After more than four hours continuous hard work, they successfully built a 30-meter long and 0.8-meter high dam for flood control.

From June 7 to 9, the PAP Guangxi Contingent dispatched more than 600 service members to participate in more than 20 rescue missions and effectively safeguarded the safety of the people's lives and property.

It is learnt that the PAP Combat Service Command Center has been on duty for several days to command the task forces to do their best in emergency rescue.
The "Twilight" franchise may be one of the most-watched movie series ever, but not everyone was impressed by it -- including Anna Kendrick.

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen's love story truly swooned the hearts of moviegoers. Though the actors that joined the project looked like they were having fun on-screen, Kendrick revealed an ugly truth behind those scenes.

Earlier this month, the 34-year-old "Pitch Perfect" actress appeared in an interview with Vanity Fair where she recalled the not-so-happy memories she had on the set of the film.

"I just remember being so cold and miserable, and I just remember my Converse being completely soaked through and feeling like, 'You know, this is a really great group of people, and I'm sure that we would be friends in a different time, but I want to murder everyone,'" Kendrick recalled.

The then 23-year-old Kendrick played the role of Jessica Stanley, Bella's friend in high school, since the beginning of the saga in 2008. She appeared in four of the franchise's films -- 2008's "Twilight," 2009's "New Moon," 2010's "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" and 2011's "Breaking Dawn - Part 1."

She left the role in the fourth and last installment, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" in 2012.

Although she was with the crew for a long time, she remembered how filming the first movie in Portland was "so cold and miserable" before comparing it to surviving a hostage situation.

"Although it was also kind of bonding. There was something about it that was like, you go through some trauma event," she said while laughing. "Like, you imagine people who survive a hostage situation, and you're kind of bonded for life," Kendrick explained.

However, while the beginning of it was not fun, Kendrick noted that she and her co-stars "all got to know each other a little bit better" while shooting the second installment.

Kendrick ALMOST Forgot About "Twilight" Role

Despite the romance-fantasy film becoming a massive hit, Anna Kendrice previously left a rather hilarious statement about her role in the franchise.

"Holy s-t. I just remembered I was in Twilight," Anna tweeted in November 2018.

The Twilight Saga's official Twitter account replied to her tweet, saying, "We could never forget you @annakendrick47".

While it looked like an insult to some, Kendrick's tweet was obviously a joke since she was making fun of all the people who tweeted, "I totally forgot Anna Kendrick was in Twilight!"

Meanwhile, Rainbow Rowell, the author of numerous young adult novels including "Eleonor & Park," also commented and told the actress that she was wonderful in it.

Kendrick's tweet reached 1.1 million likes and 181,200 retweets.

After she left the "Twilight" franchise, Kendrick went on to take part in the "Pitch Perfect" series and earned an Oscar nomination for "Up in the Air." She also bagged the Glamour Award for Writer in 2017.
Non-essential travel restrictions affecting those wishing to cross the U.S./Canadian border that were set to expire June 21 stand a good chance of being extended, according to media reports.

Wednesday, Canadas CBC news reported the restrictions will be extended beyond the June 21 date set last month, citing unnamed sources.

Also, Reuters.com reported that Canada and the United States are set to extend a ban on non-essential travel to late July as both countries seek to control the spread of the coronavirus, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

A spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency told NYup.com this morning there are lots of rumors and we dont comment on rumors.

We wont know until the actual time comes," he said. "Theres nothing official yet. Chances are, yeah it will be extended -- possibly with amendments.

Both countries introduced month long restrictions in March and renewed them in April and May. The ban, currently set to expire June 21, does not affect trade.

In regard to recreational boating and fishing, further restrictions put in place June 1 severely restrict travel on border waters between the two countries. In New York State, that would mean travel on the Niagara River, border areas of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

Currently, U.S. anglers are banned from fishing in Canadian waters and boaters arent supposed to cross the international boundary on the waterways, with minor exceptions. Those caught violating the restrictions face stiff fines (ranging from $275 to $1,000) and possible confiscation of ones boat.

Late last month, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced it was increasing its land and marine patrols along the international border in an effort to secure the Canada-US border and deter any smuggling activity.

Members work to identify, interdict and stop the flow of illegal persons, drugs, guns and other commodities across the border. They also ensure that boaters are complying with any border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police act as customs officials at unofficial points of entry. Sgt. Penny Hermann, a RCMP spokesperson, confirmed that Innocent passage for recreational boaters is allowed.

According to the source from the Canada Border Services Agency foreign national recreational boaters are allowed to travel through Canadian waters is if theyre traveling in a continuous, and most direct and reasonable route possible from one U.S. destination to another. No stopping on the Canadian side is allowed.

More than 110,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the United States, one of the worlds worst-hit nations. Canada reported 7,835 deaths, and 96,244 coronavirus cases on June 9, Reuters said.

A spokeswoman for Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has overall responsibility for ties with the United States, said both sides agreed the (travel) ban had worked well, Reuters added.

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A 15-year-old girl charged with murdering a 51-year-old man, Babatunde Ishola who tried to rape her has been freed by a Magistrate court in Yaba, Lagos.

The police had filed a suit against the Senior Secondary School (SSS) 3 pupil, name withheld, following advice from the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).

Hopes to return to Senate has been shattered for Dino Melaye as an election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja has on Wednesday affirmed Smart Adeyemi as the senator representing Kogi west district.

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Adeyemi of the All Progressive Congress (APC) had polled 88,373 votes to defeat Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 62,133 votes during the rerun poll of November 16.

Former Nigerian minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has asked Nigerians to do away with statues of slave owners in Nigeria like Madame Tinubu.

Protesters in the UK, during the Black Lives Matter rallies which took off across the world, following the death of George Floyd, a Blackman at the hand of Minnesota police officer  had pulled down the statue of Edward Colston.

The member representing Borno South in the upper chambers of the National Assembly, Ali Ndume has advocated that Nigeria needs to revert to the parliamentary system of government, citing that presidential system of government was not designed for poor countries like Nigeria. Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, he further clarified that making the National Assembly a part time arrangement with a reduced salary would save the country some cost especially now that sittings are conducted less often.

Senator Ali Ndume has called on the federal government to slash salaries of workers, since they are yet to fully resume work as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking during an interview on Channels television, he added that the pay cut can also be a means of sacrifice from the workers.

The University of Ibadan (UI) has confirmed that the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki graduated from the institution.

The confirmation was made in a statement by its Registrar, Mrs Olubunmi Faluyi, saying Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki studied Classics. Obaseki, according to the statement, gained

A new report has indicated that the house of representatives has passed the revised appropriation bill for 2020.

According to the report, the new appropriation bill was revised from the proposed N10.5tn to N10.8tn.
The Pantheon, an ancient Roman temple, was among a wave of attractions across Italy that reopened this month after the coronavirus lockdown. The flash mob of guides and organizers was one of several similar events held in various Italian cities this week to draw attention to the severe problems caused after tourism  usually a lifeline  was paralyzed by the pandemic.
Staff at Pennsylvanias youth development centers arent physically abusing or unnecessarily restraining their juvenile charges who have mental health and developmental problems, state officials contend in a newly filed document in federal court.

The Department of Human Services makes that assertion in reply to a lawsuit Disability Rights Pennsylvania filed more than a year ago, claiming those juveniles were routinely being battered. The reply came three months after U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher C. Conner denied a state request to dismiss the suit.

Disability Rights claims staffers at the centers are violating state regulations by placing children in physical restraints without just cause.

The nonprofit Philadelphia-based group also accuses youth center staff of impeding their investigation of the alleged abuses and pressuring the young people in the facilities not to cooperate with the probe, which targeted the Loysville Youth Development Center in Perry County, the North Central Secure Treatment Unit in Danville, and the South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit in Franklin County.

Residents of those centers range in age from 12 to 21 and are committed to the facilities by the courts after being adjudicated for crimes.

Most kids in the centers have developmental issues, Disability Rights contends.It claims staff at the centers assault, provoke, terrify and humiliate youth with disabilities, stripping them of their right to rehabilitation.

State officials denied all those allegations in the new court filing. They insist that when dealing with unruly juveniles the staffers employ Safe Crisis Management techniques that can involve multiple staff for one restraint and that a restraint may involve using an appropriate amount of body weight during some restraints.

It is admitted only that the trained staff at YDCs use SCM techniques that can involve multiple staff for some restraints and an appropriate amount of body weight. By way of further clarification, both youth and staff have been injured during crisis de-escalation techniques and restraints, the reply states. It is admitted that youth have been injured during a restraint. It is denied that this behavior is assaultive.

It adds that the YDCs have a history of disciplining and terminating staff who fail to follow the policies of the Department of Human Services and who do not adhere to training and expectations in their interaction with the youth in their care.

Those assertions come in sharp contrast to the Disability Rights claims that staff provoke residents into misbehaving, then slap them in physical restraints, even when they dont pose a danger to themselves or others. The agency claims kids have suffered cuts, bruises, sprains and black eyes and that one suffered a fracture when he was punched in the eye.
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Linkedin Pitcha Dangprasith and Sophie Deviller (Agence France-Presse) Huay Pakoot, Thailand  Thu, June 11, 2020 15:30 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddeb2dc 2 SE Asia Thailand,elephant,migration,coronavirus,COVID-19,COVID-19-lockdown,pandemic Free

A thousand elephants threatened by starvation have journeyed through the hills of northern Thailand, making a slow migration home from tourist sites forced shut by the pandemic.

Home for some of the animals is the northern village of Huay Pakoot, where generations of ethnic Karen mahouts -- or elephant handlers -- have been rearing the giant mammals for four centuries.

But it is around tourist hub Chiang Mai, 180 kilometers away, that many mahouts and their elephants work, performing money-spinning tricks for foreigners in amusement parks or "sanctuaries".

Some of the controversial camps employ abusive methods to "break" and train the elephants, who earn their keep by entertaining busloads of tourists eager for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

As the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed global travel and closed many of the parks in mid-March, however, Thailand's some 3,000 domesticated elephants have been unemployed. Many -- at risk of starvation -- have been brought home.

"They are tired but rather happy," Chaiyaporn, a mahout of 15 years told AFP, after they arrived in Huay Pakoot.

"They have a very good memory. It seems that after years of absence they know they are finally coming home," the 35-year-old said.

About 1,000 elephants and their mahouts have returned to their villages in the past two months, said Theerapat Trungprakan, president of the Thai Elephant Alliance Association.

"Such a big migration over such a short period of time is unprecedented in this country," he said.

Territorial fights

But the homecoming is not without problems.

Huay Pakoot normally has fewer than 10 elephants in it. Today, more than 90 are living alongside 400 villagers.

The vast forests surrounding the village have been cleared to make room for the cultivation of corn and there is nothing to support the needs of such a large herd.

"The whole village is actually not ready to handle them," Theerapat said.

While some sleep behind homes, most of the elephants remain in the forest at night, watched over by their mahouts.

But sometimes they escape and roam around farm property, risking getting hurt by people trying to defend their crops.

Conflicts between territorial elephants have also already been reported, with at least two injured in a fight, Theerapat added.

For mahouts who made the long journey home to avoid starvation themselves, finding 300 kilograms of plants for each elephant -- their average daily diet -- is a challenge.

Buying sufficient feed instead can cost roughly 500 baht daily ($15), said 19-year-old mahout Jirayu Prateeppratarn.

"More grass, bananas, and sugarcane" crops will have to be planted if the outbreak goes on much longer, he added.

There is also concern that desperate mahouts might turn to the illegal logging industry, which operates around the Thai-Myanmar border.

Theerapat warned that every family's budget in the village is near its end.

But some are hopeful that the crisis might jumpstart a reflection on the unregulated and often brutal nature of animal tourism -- a large, lucrative contributor to Thailand's economy.

Others are just glad the elephants are home.

Mahout Sinchai Joroenbunpod, 37, whose animals have never worked in a tourist camp, told AFP he was overjoyed about the homecoming of the other elephants -- some he had not seen in years.

"I grew up with them -- they are like my brothers and sisters."
Lake County now has more than 300 confirmed novel coronavirus cases according to the Lake County General Health District.

As of 2 p.m. June 9, there are 306 confirmed COVID-19 cases and another 31 probable cases. Those figures come from the health districts latest weekly data report released June 10. The health districts report summarizes available data for total COVID-19 cases in the county based on cumulative data entered in the Ohio Disease Reporting System.

In last weeks report, Lake County had 281 laboratory confirmed cases and 28 probable cases.

The ages of those who have contracted the virus range from 1 to 96 years old with an average age of 50 years old. The 60-69 age group has the most COVID-19 cases in the county, with more than 60, according to the data. The 50-59 age group has the second most cases, with about 55. The 20-29 and 40-49 age groups each have around 50 cases.

Women make up 56 percent of the countys COVID-19 cases compared to 44 percent for men, according to the report. Healthcare workers make up 25 percent of the countys cases. Thats down from 26 percent last week. The percentage has ranged between 24 and 26 percent since the health district added health care worker data to the report May 20.

Of the countys total cases, 80 percent are white, 13 percent are black and 3 percent are Asian. Last weeks figures were 78 percent white, 12 percent black and 3 percent Asian. According to the U.S. Census Bureau population estimates as of July 1, 2019, 91.8 percent of Lake Countys total population is white, 4.6 percent is black and 1.5 percent is Asian.

The county has now seen 72 total hospitalizations due to the virus, up from 68 last week. Ages of those hospitalized range from 2 to 96 years old. The average age of those hospitalized is 64. There have been 25 ICU admissions as of June 9.

This weeks dataset includes two new graphs. One depicts new cases reported by week. The other depicts new cases reported by week of symptom onset. For the purposes of the report, the health district considers weeks to run from Sunday to Saturday.

Data reported for each week reflects the number of cases from the previous Sunday ending on the Saturday date shown, the health district states in the report.

According to the graphs, new cases reported peaked the week ending April 4, when more than 45 cases were reported. On the week ending May 2, new cases dipped to 15, but the county saw a climb in the following weeks. The weeks ending May 23 and May 30 saw the highest number of newly reported cases (just under 45 both weeks) since the early April peak. Ohio, which issued its stay at home order March 23, began reopening the state in May 4 starting manufacturing, construction, and distribution businesses and general office environments. Outdoor service at bars and restaurants resumed May 15. Other businesses such as salons and barber shops were also allowed to open that day. Dine-in service at bars and restaurants resumed May 21.

New reported COVID-19 cases slowed in the first week of June with around 20 new cases reported for the week ending June 6, according to the health districts data.

No new deaths have been reported. There have been 12 total COVID-19 deaths in Lake County, according to the health district.
Manufacturing facilities, warehouses and other large workplaces in the United States continue to be major vectors for the spread of COVID-19, with the number of infections and hospitalizations rising sharply in many areas of the country. In their reckless rush to reopen the economy and restart the flow of corporate profits, the Trump administration and state and local authorities from both parties have all but abandoned any public health measures to contain the virus.

Driven by the premature back-to-work push by US corporations, a mood of anger and opposition is taking hold within the working class in the United States. This is merging with outrage over the police murder of George Floyd, massive levels of unemployment and economic insecurity, and demands by corporations, including many that received government bailouts, for wage and benefit cuts. In recent days, health care workers have joined the demonstrations, aiding injured protesters. Public transit workers in New York Citywhere 139 co-workers have died of COVID-19and other cities have refused to transport cops and protesters arrested by the police.

The strikes, job actions and other protests by workers in the US are part of a growing international wave of struggles, from German meatpacking workers and Polish coal miners in Silesiawho make up 10 percent of the countrys COVID-19 casesto Bridgestone tire workers in Brazil and Panamanian workers who struck against the reopening of the economy.

Workers in a Hog Slaughter and Processing Plant (Wikipedia Commons)

Meatpacking workers

Hundreds of meatpacking workers in Logan, Utah demonstrated Wednesday afternoon to demand the closure of their facility, operated by Brazilian conglomerate JBS. The workers are also demanding that they be compensated for time off during the shutdown.

At least 287 at the facility, or more than 20 percent of the total workforce, tested positive during a screening held on the weekend of May 30. This is possibly the largest single outbreak in the state, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Meatpacking plants, where highly exploited workers are crowded onto often unsanitary assembly lines with no chance of social distancing, have been transmission points for the spread of the virus from major industrial centers to more rural or sparsely populated areas. There are over 20,400 cases in 33 states tied to meatpacking plants, with at least 74 deaths, according to the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

Because many meatpacking workers are undocumented immigrants fearful of being deported, many cases in the industry likely go unreported. The Trump administration has intervened to force meatpacking plants to remain open during the pandemic, while several states have moved to protect meat processing and other companies from legal liability for sickening and killing workers.

To date, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency tasked with overseeing workplace safety, has issued only one citation for COVID-19-related violations even though thousands of workers around the country have filed camplaints about unsafe working conditions. Even meat inspectors from the US Department of Agriculture, hundreds of whom have contracted the virus and at least one who has died, are reportedly terrified of entering the countrys meatpacking plants, where even minimal social distancing measures have not been taken.

Sanitation workers

Hundreds of Philadelphia sanitation workers protested in front of City Hall Tuesday morning to demand protective equipment, access to regular testing for COVID-19 and hazard pay bonuses.

Nearly 60 Philadelphia sanitation workers have tested positive for COVID-19 and another 50 have self-quarantined after being exposed, according to local union officials. The citys 1,100 sanitation workers, whose median salary is $36,000, face the constant threat of infection as they collect trash from the hundreds of thousands of households and businesses in the city of 1.5 million.

Our conditions are real bad, Durrell Rothwell, a sanitation worker who contracted the disease from a coworker and then passed it on to his own son, told the rally. They havent given us the proper tools to protect ourselves. We have to get our own masks, our own gloves, our own everything. For them to not give us hazard pay at least during this pandemic is ridiculous, Rothwell said, according to local media.

Workers are also angered by Democratic Mayor Jim Kenneys proposed budget, which includes cuts of $18.5 million to the Streets Department. Prior to the rally, Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams sent out a letter to sanitation workers threatening them with dismissal if they did not show up for work. [U]nauthorized absences, the letter read, will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Many sanitation workers carried signs reading PPE, not PPD [Philadelphia Police Department], drawing a connection between the endangerment of workers on the job by the government and the police riots against demonstrations protesting police brutality.

The Philadelphia protest was only the latest in a string of actions by sanitation workers throughout the country. Over the last several days, a small group of sanitation workers in Tuskegee, Alabama have been protesting daily outside City Hall during their regular work hours to demand pay increases and PPE. Workers for waste disposal contractors in the city of New Orleans struck over the same demands. The city responded by replacing them with prison laborers earning less than minimum wage.

Autoworkers

After wildcat strikes forced a halt to production in mid-March, the automakers prepared a return to work with a media blitz, fully supported by the United Auto Workers union, which touted the wholly inadequate safety measures being adopted after over two dozen autoworkers died.

Reports of new infections in the plants began as soon as production reopened on May 18. Management at the Elon Musk-owned electric carmaker Tesla, which defied local lockdown orders to reopen its massive plant in northern California last month, has admitted to workers that there have already been several confirmed cases at multiple facilities. Industry outlet Automotive News admitted this week that testing by the companies has not been on a scale sufficient to identify new infections.

Hundreds of workers on every shift are calling off due to concerns about contracting the disease, compounded by underlying health conditions and the unbearable heat, which makes it even more difficult to work with a mask on. A worker at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Detroit told the WSWS, They are working our butts off and want more overtime. The safety measures are being abandoned. They are acting like everything is back to normal.

They are trying to get as much out of us as they can. There are a lot of workers out due to COVID, so they keep coming back and asking us to do overtime. If you dangle time-and-a-half, double time or even triple time on Sunday, a lot of workers who are hard up are going to take it. But they are taking our lives away from us. We create more value for them than the crazy rise on the stock market.

A worker who wrote in to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, said, Jeep plant in Toledo has confirmed cases and theyre still working. I thought I had it, had all the symptoms so got tested and it was negative, but I'm still scared to go to work. I have no immune system and other medical issues. Also have a pacemaker so yeah, I'm scared to death. Its hot, we have no fans and we have to wear a mask all day even at break tables. Its ridiculous. Something needs to be done.

Among auto parts workers, who earn even less than their counterparts in the assembly plants, the situation is even more dire. Workers at a Detroit facility of parts supplier Flex-N-Gate told the WSWS that half of the day shift walked out of the plant Wednesday due to the unbearble heat. Fans in the plant have been shut off to prevent airborne transmission of the virus, and many workers passed out on the line.

Autoworkers, teachers and other workers have also joined the mass protests against police violence.

Health care workers

Hundreds of workers in the East Bay region of northern California at hospital chain Kaiser Permanente took part in demonstrations Wednesday. They are among the thousands of health care workers who have protested and also cared for protesters brutalized by police. This has made health care workers targets for law enforcement, who have been caught on camera destroying their first aid tents.

Health care workers are also being driven into struggle by the coronavirus pandemic, which has savaged their profession. Over 70,000 health care workers in the United States have been infected and nearly 600 have died. Many more have been laid off due to declining revenue, exposing the irrationality of for-profit medicine.

Significantly, the Kaiser Permanente workers who demonstrated this week had voted overwhelmingly for strike action last fall, after working without a contract for more than a year. A strike, originally scheduled to begin during the nationwide strike at General Motors, was prevented at the last second through a sellout deal imposed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Workers at a nursing facility in nearby Sacramento also voted overwhelmingly to strike this week, after several nurses had clocked in but refused to work in protest over a lack of proper PPE.

Throughout the country, hospital management and the political establishment have used ritual phrases about heroic health care workers to cover for budget cuts and shortages, which risk both nurses and patients lives. Seventy-nine percent of nurses are being told by management to reuse PPE, according to the American Nurses Association, and many nurses and doctors have resorted to wearing trash bags and other makeshift protective clothing while on the job.

One New Jersey nurse expressed her anger on social media, declaring, I am a nurse! Stop calling me a hero to justify working us like slaves. Its worse now than ever before. [We have] 8 to 12 patients every damn day! How the hell do you work like that for 4 12 hour shifts straight in a row and have a life outside of work? We see the exhaustion in our faces. Its gotten worse with COVID and it will stay like this long time if nurses dont speak up. We all need to band together and say! NO MORE!

The protection of workers health and safety will not be carried out by the corporate-controlled unions and federal and state agencies like OSHA. In opposition to the demands of management for greater production and profit, workers should elect rank-and-file safety committees to control working hours and line speed, guarantee PPE and safe and comfortable working conditions, regular testing, universal health care and guaranteed income, and the full distribution of information and opposition to retaliation.

The struggle against police brutality and in defense of democratic rights must be fused with the growing opposition of the working class against deadly working conditions, social inequality and austerity and transformed into a conscious political struggle against the capitalist system.
A demonstrator holding a flag kneels in front of the police at the Anaheim City Hall during a peaceful protest over the death of George Floyd in Anaheim, Calif., on June 1, 2020. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)

OC Supervisors Approve Resolution Supporting Protests and Police

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS)The Orange County Board of Supervisors on June 9 approved a resolution supporting local law enforcement as well as activists protesting the killing of George Floyd.

Supervisor Don Wagner proposed the resolution.

It has rightly incensed so many people around this country, who are now taking to the streets in protest of that violence, Wagner said of Floyds death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

But its also important to try in this resolution to recognize there are good men and women on the front line of law enforcement, Wagner said.

Wagner characterized the arrest, with one officer holding his knee on Floyds neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds as he complained he could not breathe and cried out for help, as thuggish behavior.

Wagner added that local law enforcement are doing a very difficult, but by and large very professional job as they respond to multiple protests that have sprung up after the death of Floyd and others in recent weeks.

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said there have been well over three dozen protests with more to come.

Barnes said his primary objective is to support the First Amendment rights of people peacefully protesting, and that he was very proud of the professionalism and restraint shown by his department over the past two weeks.

Barnes said he has never seen a police technique involving placing a knee on the neck of a suspect.

Ive never seen that so-called technique used in Minneapolis, Barnes said. Its not a technique we train for here  nor is it anything I would condone. If I ever saw any of my officers use that use of force for eight minutes  I would have walked him straight to the District Attorneys Office for filing.

It was unforgivable, the actions that took place there, but that is not something we do here. That is not something that would ever be condoned and should be condemned.

Supervisor Doug Chaffee said he was very pleased Barnes department would not use that type of force.

Chaffee requested that instead of saying the resolution supports African-Americans and people of color, it should be rewritten to substitute black members of our community instead of African-American, because not all black people trace their ancestry to Africa.

We need to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, Chaffee said.

Wagner said he struggled with the revision because Floyd was a member of the African-American community, and the resolution included people of color.

Wagner added that the protests include not solely black people, but people of all colors, rightly, thankfully.

Wagner said he accepted Chaffees revision to change the characterization of the arrest as inexcusable treatment to brutal and resulting in his death.

Chau Named Countys Chief Health Officer

Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, was named the countys chief health officer on June 9 by the Board of Supervisors.

Chau was named to his new position following the abrupt resignation of Dr. Nichole Quick, who had faced intense pressure over her order requiring face coverings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Quick had held the job since June 2019, and had also been assuming some responsibilities of the director of public health services. She resigned on June 8 after drawing criticism from some residents and two members of the Board of Supervisors, who had repeatedly grilled her publicly regarding her order to require face coverings as the county allowed some businesses to reopen.

OC Reports 13 New COVID-19 Deaths

The Orange County Health Care Agency on June 10 reported 13 people succumbed to COVID-19, the second-highest number since the pandemic began, raising the death toll to 198.

The county also reported 147 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total to 7,737. The number of people hospitalized stands at 306, an increase of two from June 9, with the number of patients in the intensive care unit remaining at 146.

The number of people tested for COVID-19 in the county stands at 168,158, with 3,511 documented recoveries.

The deadliest day so far was May 21, when 14 deaths were reported in the county.
(CNN)  Over the weekend, thousands of people took part in Black Lives Matter marches across Australia. Yet these protesters weren't just marching to voice their anger about the mistreatment of African Americans in the United States  they want to end entrenched discrimination against Australia's Indigenous population.

The numbers back up their conviction that Australia needs to change. While the country's Indigenous population makes up just 3.3% of its 25 million people, they account for more than a quarter of its prisoners. Indigenous Australians are also almost twice as likely to die by suicide, have a life expectancy that is almost nine years lower, and have higher infant mortality rates than non-Indigenous Australians.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, too. A study by Australian National University released Tuesday found that 75% of Australians hold a negative view of the nation's original inhabitants.

"This study presents stark evidence of the solid invisible barrier that Indigenous people face in society," said report author Siddharth Shirodkar. "But the data is actually not about Indigenous Australians  it's about the rest of us."

Australia's Indigenous people

There are two Indigenous groups  Aboriginal people who live on mainland Australia, and Torres Strait Islanders, who live on the 274 islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea, in the Torres Strait. Their diversity is reflected by distinct beliefs and regional knowledge of the country's harsh landscape, and more than 250 Indigenous language groups remain today, according to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Aboriginal Australians are one of the world's oldest known civilizations, and arrived on the continent at least 45,000 years ago. By the time the British Empire began colonizing Australia in 1788, there were an estimated 1 million Aboriginal people living there.

Despite that, the white colonizers saw Australia as a "terra nullius"  a legal term meaning "nobody's land"  and subsequently, the British government didn't recognize Indigenous ownership of the land.

In the years that followed, huge numbers of Indigenous people died after being exposed to unfamiliar diseases such as influenza, venereal disease, typhoid, tuberculosis, pneumonia, measles and whooping cough. Many others were massacred by British colonizers.

Between the 1790s and the 1930s, an estimated 2,000 British colonizers and more than 20,000 indigenous Australians died in violent conflicts, according to the institute.

It was only in 1962 that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were allowed to vote in federal elections. Last year, Ken Wyatt became the first Aboriginal person to sit in Australia's Cabinet.

Between 1910 and 1970, as many as one in three of all Indigenous children were removed from their families and placed in white households or institutions as part of a policy of assimilation. In 2008, then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to the so-called stolen generation, saying that Parliament "resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again."

Aboriginal Australians today

Unlike other Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and Canada, Australia still doesn't have a treaty between its government and its Indigenous people.

And, just as in the US, there are concerns about how Indigenous people are being treated by the police.

In 1987, the government launched a Royal Commission into the deaths of Aboriginal people in custody after public concern that the deaths were too common and poorly explained.

But analysis from Change the Record, a national Indigenous-led justice coalition, found there have been 449 deaths of Indigenous people in custody between 1980 and 2011  representing 24% of all deaths in custody over that period. No police officer has been convicted for a death in custody, national broadcaster ABC reported.

The Black Lives Matter protests in the US and around the world have once again brought these issues to the fore.

For some protesters, the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in the US drew parallels with David Dungay, an Aboriginal man who died in a Sydney prison in 2015. Like Floyd, Dungay's family say his last words were: "I can't breathe."

The weekend protests also came after a 17-year-old Indigenous boy was injured by a policeman in Sydney last week. Video taken by an onlooker shows the junior constable kick the boy's legs out from underneath him and pin him to the ground with the help of two other officers.

The officer has been placed on restricted duties while the case is reviewed. Last week New South Wales state Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said he was "absolutely" sorry for the incident.

Demands for change

When asked about Indigenous deaths in custody, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged it was an issue and said the government is working to address it.

"But what I do say is that Australia is not other places," he said last week. "So let's deal with this as Australians and not appropriate what's happening in other countries to our country at this time."

Advocates say that more change is needed. Dungay's family is calling for criminal charges to be brought against the correctional officers involved in his case.

The family of Tanya Day, who died in police custody in 2017 in what a coroner ruled was a preventable death, called the deaths of Indigenous people in custody a "stain on this country."

"Our families and communities are being decimated by the racism that infects police," the family said in a statement released by Change the Record, which has called on the Australian government to commit to ending Indigenous deaths in custody. "Aboriginal deaths in custody must end."

Amnesty International Australia director Sam Klintworth wants an independent and transparent investigation. "Australia has a shameful record in its treatment of Indigenous people in custody," she said. "To think this is a problem 'over there' and that Australia is free of the kind of racialized violence making international headlines, is to fundamentally misunderstand the issues in our backyard."

Earlier this month, following the arrest of the Indigenous teenager in Sydney, New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the situation in the US was "a good wake-up call for all of us."

"We have to ensure that we do what we can in our own country to protect all of our citizens," she said, according to a report on broadcaster SBS. "We still have a long way to go in our own country."

This story was first published on CNN.com "Why US protests have prompted a conversation about race in Australia"
,While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought economy to a halt, it has also created opportunities for several new products. One of them creating hype is anti-viral fabrics. Apparel and textile brands are now launching fabrics that kill viruses.

Latest in the line is clothing and textile player Donear Industries. The Mumbai-based company, in collaboration with Swiss firm HeiQ, is launching the range of anti-viral fabrics under the brand Neo Tech that kills covid-19 virus within 30-minutes.

"HeiQ's Viroblock NPJ03 technology has been there for many years. It is not a new technology, only thing is that now they have got it tested against COVID-19 and they have received that certificate a week ago," says Rajendra Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO, Donear Industries.

He adds that they were already producing and supplying anti-viral fabric for some years. "Coincidentally, our company was working on such types of product pre-COVID-19 times also. We were exporting to a medical textile company in the USA and also supplied to several State police departments of India. Once its efficacy was determined against COVID-19, we ramped up the production for Indian market," says Agarwal.

As a start, they have launched their two best selling fabrics under this anti-viral range: polyester-viscose suiting and worsted suiting.

They can be used for various industries and for different uniforms and garments, whether it is jackets, suits, trousers, shirts.

But, will it last long? Agarwal thinks so. He explains that it is not coating, but a certain chemical is embedded in the structure of fabric while dyeing and finishing which then doesn't get washed off even after frequent use.

Agarwal claims to have got orders from over 1,000 retailers whom he will be supplying in the month of June. It will also be available in their retail counters across the country by the end of the month.

The price for the anti-viral fabrics will be 20 per cent more than their non-treated version.

The firm, which supplies fabrics to businesses and also to consumers directly, expects these two products to contribute around Rs 200 crore, at least 15 per cent of total sales revenue this fiscal. The textile firm claims it did sales of Rs 1,200 crore in FY20.

Donear will have the Neo Tech brand name in the selvedge of the fabric so customers are assured of its authenticity.

Tests to check its efficacy were conducted by the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, Australia (Doherty Institute) which showed that treated fabric achieved 99.99 per cent reduction of the virus.

Recently, textile to retail firm Arvind too announced the launch of anti-viral textile under its brand Intellifabrix, in partnership partnered with HeiQ and Taiwanese specialty chemical major Jintex Corporation.
A police officer charged over the death of George Floyd has been released on bail after paying $750,000.

Thomas Lane, 37, one of three officers charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Mr Floyd's death on May 25, was released from Hennepin County jail on Wednesday, sheriff's office records showed.

A fourth officer, Derek Chauvin, was filmed kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck in Minneapolis as he gasped "I can't breathe".

Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and remains in prison in lieu of $1.25 million bail. The other officers, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, remain in prison on a $750,000 bail.

A crowdfunding page had been set up to raise the money for Mr Lanes bail and was posted on social media, asking for PayPal contributions, his lawyer said. The page has since been taken down. It is unclear if any of the money was used as part of the bail payment.

Former police officers (clockwise from top left) Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng have been charged / via REUTERS

All four officers have been fired from the Minneapolis police department.

Mr Lane's attorney, Earl Gray, has previously told the media that Mr Lane was only on his fourth day on the job on patrol duty and that Chauvin was his training officer.

Mr Gray told a court hearing: "What was my client supposed to do but follow what his training officer said?"

Mr Lane's next hearing is scheduled for June 29, and his attorney is reportedly planning to file a motion to dismiss the charges.

The death of Mr Floyd, 46, has sparked worldwide protests and anti-racism demonstrations.

George Floyd funeral in Houston - In pictures 1 /32 George Floyd funeral in Houston - In pictures REUTERS REUTERS POOL/AFP via Getty Images POOL/AFP via Getty Images POOL/AFP via Getty Images POOL/AFP via Getty Images Getty Images AP REUTERS REUTERS AP Family members react as they view the casket AP Mourners pause by the casket of George Floyd POOL/AFP via Getty Images The Reverend Al Sharpton arrives for the funeral service AFP via Getty Images Reverend Al Sharpton enters the church for the funeral for George Floyd REUTERS Quincy Mason Floyd, son of George Floyd, enters the church for his father's funeral REUTERS Actors Channing Tatum (C) and Jamie Foxx (R) attend the funeral service of George Floyd Getty Images Terrance Floyd, brother of George Floyd, exits his car before Floyd's funeral AFP via Getty Images he family of George Floyd prepares to enter the the Fountain of Praise church Getty Images Philonise Floyd, brother, of George Floyd pauses at the casket during the funeral POOL/AFP via Getty Images Philonise Floyd, brother, of George Floyd pauses at the casket during the funeral POOL/AFP via Getty Images The Reverend Al Sharpton prepares to lead the family of George Floyd into the sanctuary Getty Images Family members of George Floyd pauses at the casket during the funeral service AP The Reverend Al Sharpton prepares to lead the family of George Floyd into the sanctuary AP

Protests continued for a 17th day in the United States on Thursday, with crowds in Portland, Oregon, flooding the streets and some activists throwing bottles at police.

Many of those joining the protests have been calling for a ban on chokeholds and other methods of restraint used by police.
Brussels, June 11 : A Belgian Prince who contracted coronavirus after attending a party during lockdown in Spain, has been fined 10,400 euros ($11,800), the media reported.

Prince Joachim, a nephew of Belgium's King Philippe and 10th in line to the throne, was issued with the penalty on Wednesday for failing to observe a 14-day quarantine period after arriving in Spain, reports the BBC.

He has 15 days to pay the fine, in which case the amount will be reduced by half.

The prince, 28, arrived in Spain for an internship on May 24, but attended a gathering in the southern city of Cordoba two days later.

He has since apologised.

Spain had imposed a mandatory two-week quarantine for all international arrivals on May 15.
PRAGUE, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On 20th June 2020 at 15:00 CESTthe World Health Congress 2020 Prague was opened online. It is a unique project held under the auspices of the Capital City of Prague. The partners of the Congress are ANME - Association for Natural Medicine in Europe, EUAA - European Ayurveda Association, SANATOR - the Union of Biotronicists of Josef Zezulka. The Main Event of the Congress will take place in Prague on 11th - 13th June 2021 in the Great Hall of the Prague City Council, and its motto is: "Health knows no boundaries - Let's seek what unites us".

Presenting the participants of the conference who are world-renowned personalities.

THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE VIDEOCONGRESS

The videocongress was opened by

Tomas Pfeiffer - Czech Republic

philosopher, biotronicist, founder and director of the Institute for Non-Medical Therapies, he presented the object and purpose of the Congress and in particular presented the creation of the Platform 2020 Prague.

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/tomas-pfeiffer

"Let me welcome you in the heart of Europe, in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, a highly spiritual and mysterious place where the traces of Franz Kafka, Gustav Meyrink, Josef Zezulka, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla and many other of the greats can be found. It is some kind of magnetic invisible force involved here. An extraordinary situation calls for extraordinary solutions and that is why we open today ceremonially online:

The World Health Congress 2020 Prague whose Main Event will take place in Prague on 11th - 13th June 2021.

On the other hand, the Coronavirus allowed us time for preparations of the Platform 2020 Prague whose foundation is the main goal of the Congress and which I take the liberty to present to you now. Let me start with what the Platform is not. It is definitely not just another "Association of Associations".

For further development of TCIM (traditional, complementary and integrative medicine) there is ever more obvious need for the unification of efforts and intensification of cooperation throughout all disciplines also in relation to the EBM (Evidence Based Medicine); the complex space is still missing here. A globally unique project is involved here. The goal is to provide common space for all TCIM disciplines, enabling unrestricted and beneficial cooperation, sharing and mutual friendly support free of any censorship, a space resembling, to some extent, the Wikipedia portal."

https://www.whc2020prague.com/platform

Ing. Milos Ruzicka, a Prague City Assembly member and the chairman of Health, Sports and Leisure activities Committee of the Capital City of Prague, in the introduction expressed his support of this idea by stating:

"It is our joint desire to push further the boundaries of human knowledge that pulls down the barriers, and the desire to pass on the knowledge and experience gained for the use of all people. Not for war, not for trade, but to alleviate suffering, pain and to make lasting peace in our countries, but above all in our souls. The international cooperation on the creation of professional Platform 2020 Prague is the logical and right way."

The members of the presidium and the guests of the Congress delivered their speeches:

Prof. Dr. Madan Thangavelu- The United Kingdom

Genome Biologist at Cambridge University, General Secretary and Research Director of EUAA - European Ayurveda Association

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/madan-thangavelu

"The unusual situation around the covid-19 pandemic revealed our fragility and helplessness of our healthcare systems. Small Indian state of Kerala provides an example, despite a high density of population they managed to contain the coronavirus crisis and the Nipah virus crisis. Best practice in healthcare could be anywhere in the world, we must be proactive and learning from different communities. This Platform that is developing in Prague is going to be not just for Europe, but for the whole world, and we should approach it in that style.

President of European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, made this interesting comment: "We will stop at nothing to save lives." It offers a vision for Europe - Europe wants to provide a model of healthcare for the rest of the world. It is within this kind of setting that the Platform that is evolving in Prague is presenting itself, announcing to the world where it wants to be, where it wants to go.

In our today's world healthcare is nothing other than the commoditization of disease and health is seen as something that comes out of healthcare. However, health has no boundaries, it is independent. This message of health is not getting through across the countries of the world. I hope that the Platform in Prague in providing the focal point for the whole world to come and learn about other ways to look at healthcare will also open up this narrative on health.

Sustainable development goals provide a new perspective of looking at health, initiatives like European Health Forum Gastein 2020 with the motto Dancing with elephants - New partnerships for health, democracy, business - identify the right way. I believe our newly established Platform 2020 Prague will be a catalyst enabling such new partnerships. It should develop new dialogues in democracy to enhance greater connection between the people's and governments wishes."

Prof. Madan Thangavelu closed his speech with a comment on famous message of Mahatma Gandhi: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

He commented: "I feel our message from Prague will follow this sequence. There will be a point where they will fight us, and at that point we know we are on the right track. Tomas Pfeiffer already has one of the best compilations I have seen for complementary and alternative medicine on his website. I hope that we will be able to populate this Platform with valuable information and we will reach the point where they will not be able to ignore us."

Nora Laubstein- Germany

President of ANME - Association for Natural Medicine in Europe, Naturopathy

Honored by the German "Foundation for Environment and Democracy, Bonn" as "OKOLOGIA-2020"

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/nora-laubstein

"The Platform 2020 Prague is a great chance to create open space for people who search for more possibilities in the area of TCIM. It is a strategic, freely accessible project containing a large scope of values which TCIM brings people, it raises awareness of TCIM methods, their multiple uses, centres of professional development.

CAM deserves more attention of media, TCIM disciplines should follow professional PR procedures like other branches. An increase in awareness of the public and health regulators will enable objective decision-making during the legislative process. This should finally lead to a greater integration of TCIM into healthcare."

Nora Laubstein introduced a complete perspective on the media in relation to TCIM.

Carol Ann (McCracken) Hontz, B.S.,M.Ed. - USA

Author, Teacher and Public Speaker of Specialized Kinesiology

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/carol-ann-hontz

"The current world is stressed out, changes are coming all of the sudden, people are losing security in their lives which leads to fear affecting our body and mind. Health problems arise from these traumas. How shall we face this? It is necessary to be more in balance. TCIM methods focusing on the entire man - have a holistic approach to health - can be very helpful in this. Such an approach leads towards an overall balance and inner unity through which we can become a dynamic force helping change the world to the better as the unity of the whole world starts inside each of us. Unity is also the key topic of this Congress which brings together various disciplines of alternative medicine to develop cooperation under one umbrella.

We can prepare ourselves for dealing with the challenges by taking care of our physical, our mental, our emotional, our spiritual being. When you are more in balance and unified, the creative ideas will flow, so let those ideas come to you awake or sleeping, let us be the dynamic force that helps to change the world."

Doc. PhDr. Eva Krizova, Ph.D. - Czech Republic (Guest of the Congress)

Sociologist, Associate Professor at Charles University, she specializes in modern medicine and healthcare. She published the book "Alternative Medicine in the Czech Republic", was the principal investigator in a research program on alternative medicine financed by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic,and cooperated with MUDr. Bendova, founder of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Czech Republic.

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/eva-krizova

She stated: "In the Czech Republic there is demand for research in this field and I believe that this Congress will contribute to better awareness of TCIM disciplines in general public. Thank you, Mr. Pfeiffer."

Dr. Peter Kath- Germany

President of EUAA - European Ayurveda Association

More information at https://www.whc2020prague.com/peter-kath

"It is important to realise we do not cure a disease but the patient - it is necessary to restore a balance. Evidence based medicine lies on the facts perceived by our senses, it can be enhanced by technical methods, but it is still us who observes things and makes statements. Facts relate to application, results, we compare the condition before and after the treatment. TCIM has results as well. The creation of a database is vital as it is necessary to know what is happening, we need to know a lot of information, we need to make collections of relevant laws.

What unites us? In fact, we are one, we are united, there is no need to cross bridges - we are already there, interwoven and part of a greater occurrence. We may say that we need to unmask the illusion of separation. TCIM is about oneness. The rich treasure of experience of all the disciplines should work together to form a united power and to spread the message. For displaying that the initiative Platform 2020 Prague is certainly a good way to start."

Amarjeet S Bhamra - The United Kingdom

representing the British Ayurvedic Medical Council

More information at https://www.whc2020prague.com/amarjeet-s-bhamra

"I want to start off by thanking to be invited here to be in the company of such wonderful personalities that you have been able to bring together on this meeting today, Tomas. I am also glad to say to the panel that since the last two and a half years since I came to contact with Tomas, I have had very amazing support for all the activities I am involved with in both UK and EU Parliaments.

Ten years ago, we initiated a campaign to save herbal medicines as the free access to it had been made impossible by an European Directive. We launched a petition which succeeded only thanks to our ability to cooperate across the United Kingdom Traditional Medicines sector. Therefore, it is important to cooperate and speak to health regulators - parliamentarians, politicians who form laws and rules.

When people can wear what they want to wear, eat what they want to eat, believe in a religion of their choice, why should we be ruled in the area of healthcare? The right of free choice in healthcare is absolutely vital.

The question is how do we actually make policy makers understand that we want a pluralistic medicine system, that resonates with what we all talk about but put into practice, which is prevention is better than cure.

Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity to be with all of you, and I look forward to your support and your continued guidance to the success that the traditional medicines deserve on this planet. Thank you."

Prof. RNDr. Anna Strunecka, DrSc. - Czech Republic

Educationalist, Researcher, Publicist and Author, long term professor at Charles University in Prague.

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/anna-strunecka

"My profession is physiology and biomedicine. I spent 40 years at Faculty of Science of Charles University where I introduced the lectures of immunology and worked in the Laboratory of Biological Neuropharmacology at the Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics of the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University. For more than thirty years I have been engaged in holistic and integrative approach to human health and possibilities of TCIM disciplines within the frame of research work and in practical application. I exercise healing practice and wrote fifteen popular-science books.

Within the frame of the project Platform 2020 Prague I would like to spread the idea of holistic and integrative effect of vitamins, minerals and medical herbs in the prevention and intervention of a wide range of lifestyle diseases. While there are different approaches by EBM and TCIM, the goal is nevertheless the same - to help the patient. Therefore, they are not competitors but rather complement one another mutually and should cooperate. It is the Platform 2020 Prague that offers the safe space for such cooperation."

Mgr. Miloslava Rutova - Czech Republic

Member of Parliament of the Czech Republic, Member of the Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sports, Social Policy Committee, Member of the Government Council for Seniors and Population Ageing at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Facilitator and Therapist in One Brain Kinesiology Method.

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/miloslava-rutova

"I had devoted my whole life to the work with handicapped children in order to give them what they needed, but there was still something missing until I found an article about One Brain Kinesiology and understood instantaneously that this is It. I collaborated with the founders of this method - Daniel Whiteside and Gordon Stokes, and now I collaborate with Carol Ann Hontz. It changed not only my life but also the lives of the children I worked with. Children are our future and it is important that the common good is spread further, that is what is needed for mankind.

I feel there is going to be unity within the Platform 2020 Prague which we will be able to pass on. At the same time, I feel as my inner responsibility to spread this idea and to provide the alternative with a place it belongs to. And I would be glad if we can manage this also on the Parliament level. If it can work in other states why not in our country? We had a round-table discussion on alternative medicine in the Parliament with Mr. Pfeiffer, and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for his efforts."

Maximillian Moser, PhD - Austria

Associate Professor of Physiology at Medical University of Graz. He took part as Principal Investigator of the Austrian-Russian "Austro-Mir" spaceflight mission in several medical experiments, among them sleep and cardiovascular studies, coordinating a team of 20 co-workers and also cooperated with the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow.

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/maximilian-moser

"I would like to give you an overview of what we are doing here in Graz. Human heart is the holder of numerous rhythms which could be called the time organism of the human body. The observation of this time organism through the frequency sound analysis enables monitoring of diseases in the human organism, heart oscillations are thus a good benchmark for the observation of the effects of alternative or complementary medicine. It has been proved for example that regular recitation of poetry leads to the amelioration of heart problems and the rhythmical movement therapy enables an improvement in the sleep quality.

It is interesting that conventional medicine has never worked with time. I think that time and the frequency description of the human body will be a successful complementary instrument like it is already used in Asian therapeutic systems because an organ clock appears in Indian, Tibetan and Chinese medicine. I believe that such medicine will become medicine of the future as it contains prevention in its core."

Dr. Natalia Sofia Aldana-Martinez, MD, MSc - Colombia (Guest of the Congress)

Editor-in-chief of the Virtual Health Library on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine of the Americas, Physician practising Acupuncture and Homeopathy

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/natalia-sofia-aldana-martinez

"It is vital to share experience from TCIM disciplines. Therefore, I really appreciate there are people from different countries and regions who want to develop this project. We are pleased to share the experience we have in our american region, the experience from the Virtual Health Library on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine of the Americas. Our project is based on providing information in the area of TCIM, we want to support an informed decision-making process and the cooperation with various stakeholders. We believe that to achieve these kinds of projects it is absolutely necessary to have common goals that help others. The dream that we have is to support TCIM for the world population in the best way possible in the health systems service."

Bhaswati Bhattacharya, MPH, MD, PhD -USA, India

Clinical Assistant Professor at Cornell University, Fulbright Specialist in Global Public Health specializing in Integrative Medicine

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/bhaswati-bhattacharya

"I am so privileged to be here among each of you. The world is getting interconnected and therefore, it is necessary to accept new paradigms. Doctors of mainstream medicine start to be interested in TCIM methods; they notice that TCIM has results as well. However, they are often not allowed to practise these methods as they have not been legalized yet. These people are waiting for evidence which will help change this policy, they are waiting for people like Tomas Pfeiffer who is creating an initiative which may become a tipping point in the perspective from which TCIM is seen.

A new opportunity for transformation is coming but the latest facts are missing. Therefore, it is important to increase public awareness - some people have never heard of many therapies - it is important to educate others and be educated by the knowledge of others. By the time we meet next year the vision of Tomas, Carol, Miloslava, Natalia, Madan and all the others can come true. "

John Weeks- USA (Guest of the Congress)

Organizer in the field of Integrative Medicine

More information at: https://www.whc2020prague.com/john-weeks

"As long as each of our professions was working alone, we did not have the power we could have if we began to work together. So we began to bring the fields together in the USA. As a group we could bring our values together in a kind of platform as it is sought to be created here, and merge our voices, and we found out we could change some things. In the USA TCIM has been already acknowledged by National Institutes of Health. Five areas of TCIM are certified there.

Production of services (volume) and managing disease are not a 'health care'. The development of holistic health care is conditioned by equal opportunities for its practitioners. TCIM enables a value-based concept, saving cost at the same time. Cooperation of individual disciplines generates greater power."

For those that did not have the opportunity to watch the live videocongress broadcast there is a recording at:

https://youtu.be/uwroVkw0Eso

Aim of Platform 2020 Prague in greater detail

The aim of the Platform 2020 Prague is to provide complex space across all TCIM disciplines worldwide, to enable an unrestricted freedom of choice from these disciplines without censorship, to help to a better awareness of national governments as well as international organizations such as WHO, WHA, Council of Europe, European Commission, European Parliament and NATO in the field of Holistic healing. It is necessary to keep creating fair access and mutual respect between academic and TCIM spheres, to offer safe space for mutual communication. A part of the Platform 2020 Prague is the idea of prevention and sustainable development of healthcare by decreasing its costs, e.g. based on recommendations by WHO, WHA, Council of Europe, European Commission, European Parliament, NATO. Its part is also the support and involvement in the projects of WHO, WHA, Council of Europe, European Commission, European Parliament, national initiatives and others whose goal is the sustainable development of our planet.

To get acquainted with Platform 2020 Prague, please visit:

https://www.whc2020prague.com/platform

Closing remarks of the Video Congress were presented by Mr. Tomas Pfeiffer, he expressed his thanks to everyone and his wish that hopefully a live meeting will be possible on the occasion of the Main Event of the Congress held on 11th - 13th June 2021 in the Great Hall of the Prague City Council

https://www.whc2020prague.com/main-event

Register for this Congress now at:

https://www.whc2020prague.com/registration

Institute for Non-Medical Therapies

Tomas Pfeiffer, Director

Soukenicka 21, 110 00 Praha 1

Czech Republic
New Delhi, June 11 : The political capital of India is amid an unprecedented health crisis due to a coronavirus outbreak, and this crisis is twofold - the city houses the Parliament, Rashtrapati Bhavan, all the ministries and also has a large population of close to 20 million. Recently, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has gone on record to say that the city is expecting close to 5.5 lakh Covid-19 cases till July end, indicating the worst is yet to come. The crisis is expected to increase manifold as private hospitals are running almost full with Covid-19 cases, and between 60-70 per cent beds are lying vacant in government hospitals.

The Covid-19 crisis has already wreaked havoc among central government offices. Over 2,000 Central government employees have been infected so far - the Defence Ministry is facing Covid-19 menace, as its top bureaucrat has contracted the viral infection. And, the Centre's top spokesperson is battling coronavirus, while a senior Finance Ministry official has also been infected.

Let alone the Centre, the Delhi government is also facing the heat due to rapidly increasing Covid-19 cases, 32,810 so far, while bodies continue to pile up at various mortuaries in city hospitals.

According to Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) data, as many as 2,098 corpses of Covid-19 patients have been cremated by its various divisions. All this, presents a grim picture of the national capital, and establishes that the Covid-19 catastrophe unfolding in Delhi is only one of its kind.

According to Delhi government coronavirus app, the city has a total 9,444 Covid-19 beds, out of which 5,096 beds have been occupied majorly in private hospitals, and 4,348 beds are lying vacant, mostly in government hospitals. Lok Nayak hospital has 1,130 vacant beds and Guru Teg Bahadur hospital has 1,297 vacant beds.

Doctors predict the onslaught of the viral infection will continue and many gaps in the infrastructure in the nation capital would aggravate the health crisis.

Indian Medical Association President Rajan Sharma said: "Amid this health crisis, private hospitals have been made a villain, by terming them black-marketeers. And the doctors have been pitted against the public.

"The Delhi government needs to have an inclusive approach and not a piecemeal approach, and immediately call for stakeholder meet. Testing has to be prioritised and we need to prepare the Covd-19 crisis. The government could decongest highly dense areas, take people into confidence and settle people elsewhere to save lives." The capital's medical professional workforce has already been exhausted with the continuing upward trajectory of growth of cases, which has created tremendous pressure on the health infrastructure. As a result, the ongoing health crisis was converted into a political fight between the Delhi government and Lt Governor. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday in a video message on Twitter said the city was "in big trouble", as hundreds of cases continue to grow every day. He announced that the city's public and private hospitals will only cater to patients who are residents of the city. The Lt Governor rescinded the order on Monday.

Kaushal Kant Mishra, orthopaedic surgeon at Primus Super Speciality Hospital, said: "The Delhi government should take control of all the hospitals during this crisis, and then categorise them Covid and non-Covid hospitals. All citizens must be made aware of these two categories of hospitals." Justifying the 5.5 lakh figures of Covid-19 cases by July end, Mishra added to prepare for the future, Delhi government should control all open spaces and stadiums, as the private and public hospitals have limited capacity. "We need 1 lakh beds, and we have only 25,000 beds. 90 per cent do not require serious monitoring. Open-air temporary hospitals are the solution," he added.

A senior citizen, residing in south Delhi, whose husband contracted the viral infection, said it was extremely difficult to find a bed in the private hospital. Asked why she chose a private hospital over government hospital, she said: "Of course, private hospitals are clean and offer better services." A representative of Fortis Healthcare said: "Fortis Healthcare is treating Covid patients across most of our hospitals across India. In Delhi-NCR, we currently have 400 isolation and ICU beds across 6 hospitals that are dedicated for Covid confirmed and suspect patients.

"We are making necessary infrastructure changes to add 200 additional isolation beds shortly. All our units have a special task force which monitors the situation and focuses on protocols for patient care, sterilization, infection control, infra, medical equipment and PPE requirements, staff rotations, quarantines, and responsible waste disposal." (Sumit Saxena can be contacted at sumit.s@ians.in)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
A young man was found shot dead outside a southwest Houston motel late Wednesday night.

Witnesses called 911 when they heard gunshots and saw the man laying lifeless outside the Budget Host Inn along the West Sam Houston Parkway South near West Bellfort Avenue around 11:40 p.m. Paramedics tried to save the man, in his 20s, but he was pronounced dead in the roadway.

'BLOOD' ON HIS HANDS: Vandal paint hands, head of Christopher Columbus statue in Houston

Officers recovered several shell casings from some kind of pistol, according to Houston Police Department Lt. Ronnie Wilkins.

A truck police believe belongs to the man was found in the parking lot.

Homicide detectives are looking for surveillance video and any witnesses who can help them identify the shooter.

Anyone with information is urged to call HPD homicide detectives at 713-308-3600 or Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 14:38 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdde5e62 1 National LIPI,COVID-19,COVID-19-drugs,coronavirus,coronavirus-prevention,pandemic,herbal-medicines,SARS-CoV-2,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus Free

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has begun clinical trials of two new herbal medicines intended to boost the immune systems of COVID-19 patients.

Head of LIPI, Laksana Tri Handoko, said both medicines were immunomodulator drugs, which is a type of medication that stimulates or suppresses the components of the immune system including both innate and adaptive immune responses.

"The first medicine was made from Cordyceps militaris fungus, while the second was made from ginger, gripeweed, creat or green chireta and Ngai camphor or sambong," Handoko said in a statement on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com.

Cordyceps militaris is a fungus commonly found in the Himalayas and Tibet, but the fungus has been successfully cultivated and produced in Indonesia. Handoko explained that the fungus was widely used in herbal medicines in China, Korea and Tibet.

He said the clinical trials would be conducted on 90 COVID-19 patients treated at the Athletes Village COVID-19 hospital in Central Jakarta. The trial will be conducted in cooperation with the Health Ministry, the Association of Indonesian Doctors for the Development of Traditional and Herbal Medicine (PDPOTJI), The Indonesian Society of Respirology (PDPI), The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), and doctors at the Athletes Village hospital.

According to Handoko, it will be the first clinical trial of COVID-19 herbal medicines in the country. "This clinical trial is a milestone in the development of medicines and supplements in Indonesia. If this trial succeeds, the medicines could potentially be the country's next prime export products."

A researcher from LIPI's Biotechnology Research Center, Masteria Yunovilsa Putra said the medicines were not only intended to help COVID-19 patients to recover but also to prevent people from contracting the disease, especially those who were categorized as people under surveillance (ODP) and patients under surveillance (PDP).

"LIPI started researching the medicines in March by examining our country's herbal commodities that have immunomodulatory properties," Masteria said, adding that Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and pharmaceutical company Kalbe Farma also helped with the initial research.

Masteria said the initial results and analysis from the clinical trial were expected to come out in July.

"If the medicines pass the clinical trials, we hope we can easily find the raw materials in the country," he said. (nal)
A statue of Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell is to be temporarily removed from a spot in Dorset on England's south coast amid concerns it could be targeted by protesters as pressure to take down controversial monuments in parts of the UK grows.

Here we look at the history of the man behind the now world-famous Scouting movement and why he might be seen as contentious.

 Who was Robert Baden-Powell?

He was born in London in 1857, the son of an Oxford University professor, and was later awarded a scholarship to Charterhouse School.

Lieutenant-General and Inspector General of Cavalry Robert Baden-Powell in 1909 (PA)

 What did he do after school?

The would-be Scout founder joined the British Army, coming second in the entrance exam out of several hundred who applied, and was commissioned into the 13th Hussars, the Scout website notes.

He was a lieutenant general in the Army in the late 19th century and trained his men with competitions and games to complement traditional Army training.

The highlight of his military career was the defence of the South African town of Mafeking during the Boer War.

Boys at Robert Baden-Powells experimental camp on Brownsea Island in Dorset in August 1907 (PA)

 When did he start the Scouts?

When he returned home from South Africa, he realised boys in the UK could benefit from the same sort of activities as the boys in Mafeking and he organised an experimental camp at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, in August 1907.

He went on to write his ideas in a book called Scouting For Boys, published in 1908.

The movement got fully underway when boys organised themselves into groups and used Baden-Powells ideas in his book as the basis for camps, treks and other activities.

They persuaded adults to become their leaders and Scouting was born, initially for boys over 10 years of age.

He retired from the Army in 1910 to focus on the Scouts.

 Where does the controversy come in?

The Baden-Powell statue in Poole Harbour, Dorset, where the Scout movement was started, had been targeted by campaigners due to his associations with the Nazis and the Hitler Youth programme, as well as his actions in the military.

The statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset (Andrew Matthews/PA)

In 2009 documents relating to an inquiry into the conduct of Baden-Powell during the execution of an African chief were sold at auction.

The papers suggest that he had ignored a pledge to spare the life of a leader of the 1896 Matabeleland rebellion.

Baden-Powell, who was tasked with protecting 3,000 farming settlers in what is now Zimbabwe, who had come under attack from rebels hiding in caves, was later cleared by the inquiry.

At the time the papers were sold, auctioneer Chris Albury said: What is striking is the black and white certainty of British Imperial justice in all this and the Boys Own sense of adventure in some of it.

It seems that Baden-Powell should not have tried and executed prisoners of war and one written statement used in the trial states that Uwini did surrender so was legally a prisoner of war rather than a captive subject to British mercy.

A group of Boy Scouts sitting around a camp fire in 1910 (PA)

In 2010 newly declassified MI5 files revealed that Lord Baden-Powell was invited to meet Adolf Hitler after holding friendly talks with Hartmann Lauterbacher, chief of staff of the Hitler Youth, about forming closer ties with the organisation.

A hand-written note on the MI5 file states: Lauterbachers visit was a success, especially his interviews with Baden-Powell leading to removal on bar on wearing uniforms in Germany for English groups.

There is no evidence that Baden-Powells meeting with Hitler ever took place.
Northern Ireland has recorded its fourth consecutive day without a Covid-19 death.

The figures should be treated with caution but it is still a positive milestone in what has been an overwhelmingly bleak period in which more than 700 people have lost their lives to the virus and countless more are suffering from the impact of the lockdown.

When Covid-19 first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year, few people in Northern Ireland gave it a second thought. Like Ebola and SARS before it, Covid-19 seemed like an exotic anomaly that would never reach our shores.

But as it began hurtling towards Europe and its devastating effects were seen in the likes of Italy and Spain, suddenly reality set in that Northern Ireland would not escape the virus.

Emergency planning was already under way with experts working hard to establish the likely effects of Covid-19. However, as a novel coronavirus, knowledge of the virus was limited and projections relating to infection levels and the potential death toll could only be based on the experience of other countries already impacted.

Nevertheless, as a vital part of pandemic planning, a team of scientists, doctors and mathematicians were tasked with the important piece of work to allow officials to best prepare for the arrival of the virus here.

At the same time, a public awareness campaign was launched to encourage people to take precautions that would reduce the transmission rate of Covid-19.

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As part of this, the Health Minister seemed to rely on predicted fatalities to illustrate how important it was that the public strictly adhere to everything that was being asked of them, no matter how extreme the guidelines appeared to be.

In March, he said: "If we fail as a community to take the necessary action to slow down the transmission of the virus, up to 80% of the Northern Ireland population could be infected during this pandemic.

"If all the public health advice is ignored, in a worst-case nightmare scenario and with a fatality rate of 1%, then that could mean up to 14,000 to 15,000 lives lost."

He described a surge of "biblical proportions", while some of the most senior doctors in Northern Ireland said it was likely that access to critical care would be rationed.

The British Medical Association even drew up ethical guidelines for doctors which warned that, in the event that hospitals became overwhelmed, frontline workers in the pandemic response would receive priority treatment.

By this stage, the virus was spreading out of control and we were told the only way to get a grip of it was by implementing a series of drastic interventions.

Schools were closed with parents asked to take on the role of teacher at home, businesses pulled down their shutters and people were told to stay indoors.

The lockdown has, of course, had disastrous consequences for the economy, for mental health, for hospital waiting lists and for families who have been torn apart for the last 12 weeks.

In a particularly cruel twist, people across Northern Ireland have been separated from their loved ones in their final hours, saying goodbye through iPads and over the telephone, with only a handful of people allowed to attend funerals. And yet, with the potential for 15,000 deaths without such drastic measures, all the sacrifices were easier to accept.

Certainly, throughout the pandemic, the message from the Department of Health has remained the same.

Covid-19 is highly infectious, it is deadly - particularly to older people with pre-existing health conditions, and social distancing is necessary to save lives, if not our own then the lives of those more susceptible to the virus.

Now we are moving beyond the first surge and attentions are turning to lifting the lockdown in a way that will suppress the virus and prevent a second peak.

However, as a semblance of normal life resumes and more people are coming into contact with one another, it is absolutely crucial that complacency doesn't set in.

Now is perhaps one of the most dangerous moments in the pandemic to date as a second peak, particularly during the winter months, would be catastrophic.

But the battle has been dealt a huge blow with the revelation that Robin Swann chose not to make public the best-case scenario death toll of 250.

It has also transpired that he did not reveal that experts had said the predicted loss of 15,000 lives was not realistic. The timing could not have been worse.

In response, the Department of Health has said publishing the best and worst cases - both deemed unrealistic - would have sent out mixed messages at a crucial time.

And can Mr Swann really be criticised for his decision, particularly if it saved lives?

The real issue here is the danger this revelation poses to the future pandemic response as the minister, who until this point has been lauded for his honesty, is now faced with the possibility that the public may not believe him in the months ahead.
Sittercity, Americas first and largest online resource for in-home care, today announced a partnership with Crosschq, the pioneers of Human Intelligence Hiring, to bring digital reference checks to the Sittercity marketplace. A major innovation for the industry, this new capability will help parents find child care with confidence by equipping them with the new tools and technology to get a comprehensive, 360 view on a potential sitter or care-giver before they begin working together.

Reference checking is a critical part of the child care search process, but todays overly busy parents find it difficult to find time to connect with other families and conduct them, said Elizabeth Harz, CEO of Sittercity. That can lead to parents compromising by checking only one reference, or skipping the process altogether. Now were making it super easy by offering parents the ability to leverage Crosschq.

Digital reference checks have traditionally only been available to the corporate workforce. The Sittercity/Crosschq partnership will revolutionize hiring in the child care industry. In this new world where people are limited to face-to-face interactions, this type of human intelligence becomes even more critical to a familys child care search.

We are excited to partner with Sittercity to transform how real insights from real people can help drive better hiring decisions, said Mike Fitzsimmons, CEO and Co-Founder of Crosschq. We think this could be a blueprint for establishing heightened levels of trust and safety.

Having worked with families since 2001, Sittercity has the most comprehensive understanding of what parents value in reference checks - from time management to creative play to cleanliness. The collaboration between Sittercity and Crosschq is specifically tailored to meet the needs of parents and enables them to quickly receive quality references from multiple sources of a particular caregiver. A Crosschq reference takes as little as seven minutes to complete, and the full Crosschq report will be stored in the cloud and easily accessible for parents and caregivers to share, access and review.

Compared to the laborious, cumbersome phone tag and hurried conversations between moms - and dads - to get a single reference, the Crosschq digital reference checks enable parents to get more insight and ensure they find the right fit for their family, added Harz.

To sign up for Sittercity, visit https://www.sittercity.com/.

To learn more about digital reference checks, visit https://family.sittercity.com/digital-reference-checks/.

About Sittercity

Sittercity is a technology company on a mission to make child care finally work. We pioneered tech-enabled child care in 2001, and we connect millions of parents with babysitters and nannies every year. Recently recognized as a 2018 Chicago Innovation Award winner and one of the best places to work by Crains and Built in Chicago, we are building a platform that is radically simplifying the way we find, book and pay for trusted care. Headquartered in Chicago, we serve families and caregivers nationwide.

About Crosschq

Crosschq has pioneered Human Intelligence Hiring, the next essential software category for building great companies. Through proprietary software and science, Crosschq gathers people-driven insights from job seekers and those who know them best and converts those insights into predictive data. Crosschq data can be used to ensure people and businesses are well-matched, creating long-term, successful employees and winning workplace cultures. The companys cloud-based SaaS solutions were built with a talent-first approach that prioritizes trust and transparency, minimizes bias and protects privacy. Founded in 2018, Crosschq is backed by GGV Capital, Bessemer Ventures Partners, SAP, Slack and other well-known Silicon Valley Investors. To learn more, visit crosschq.com.

###


Insurance fraud seems like it might be an easy thing to do. Insurance companies are often so huge, one wonders how they might not even notic...
The document stipulates that the producers accept the terms of voluntary restructuring of "green" tariffs, which provides for their reduction

A production of green electricity Open source

Ukraines Cabinet of Ministers has signed a Memorandum of understanding on the settlement of problematic issues in the field of renewable energy, the Cabinets press service reports.

The document was signed by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal, acting Minister of Energy Olha Buslavets, officials of the European-Ukrainian Energy Agency and Ukrainian Wind Energy Association (UWEA).

The document stipulates that the producers of green electricity accept the conditions for a voluntary restructuring of "green" tariffs, which provides for their reduction. In particular, for all electricity facilities that produce solar energy, tariffs are expected to be reduced by 15%, for facilities that generate electricity from wind energy - by 7.5%.

For its part, the Cabinet of Ministers noted that the Ukrainian government undertook to take all measures to repay existing debts to RES producers, who had accepted the terms of the restructuring.

As we reported earlier, Ukraines Security Service (SBU) warned Verkhovna Rada that the "green tariff" threatened the energy security of Ukraine.
George Floyds death in Minneapolis police custody has not only sparked protests about law enforcement funding and training, but revived debates about what historic monuments Americans choose to honor.

The latest test comes in Bostons North End neighborhood, where the Christopher Columbus statue was once again beheaded. The defacement comes after a statue of Columbus was torn down by protesters in Richmond, Virginia and outside the Minnesota state capitol.

Lisa Green, a North End resident of Italian descent, said her own children and their peers react differently to the Columbus statue than she might have as a child.

Our kids now, they learn a nuanced view of Columbus, said Green, who recalls celebrating Columbus Day among other Italian American families in Bound Brook, N.J.

Theyre Italian American too, but theyre growing up in a different world, she added.

Long revered as an Italian explorer sailing on behalf of the Catholic monarchs in Spain, Columbus legacy has received renewed scrutiny in recent years for his role in the genocide of Native Americans. Historical texts note that Columbus raped an indigenous woman and ordered his own crew to force indigenous people into servitude as his journeys paved the way for colonialism in the Americas.

Statues honoring Columbus were erected throughout the 19th and 20th centuries across the U.S. in campaigns led by immigrants seeking to highlight the contributions of Italians and Italian Americans. Those monuments are now caught up in nationwide controversies over the meaning of historical markers tied to white supremacy and colonialism.

The Columbus statue was erected in 1979 in the North End park, which was then renamed from Waterfront Park to Christopher Columbus Park. The statue was named by some of the neighborhoods prominent Italians. At the time, the development of the park was seen as an homage to that immigrant community in an era when neighborhoods were being demolished in the name of urban revitalization.

Over the past two decades, the Columbus statue has been repeatedly beheaded and vandalized.

In 2015, the statue was covered in red paint and had the words Black Lives Matter spray-painted on the back. Boston Parks Commissioner Chris Cook told Boston25 at the time, We encourage discourse, but this is not the way to do it you dont want to destroy public property.

Black Lives Matter Boston founder Daunasia Yancey told Boston Magazine the activist group was not involved but that she supported the statement.

There are a lot of symbols of white supremacist violence and institutions in this city, state and country, and I think this is one type of action that calls attention to this and this is an action against it, Yancey said at the time.

Green, the North Ender, said the beheading prompted her to launch a petition Wednesday calling for the city to rename Christopher Columbus Park after Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The Italian immigrant anarchists were sentenced to death in 1927 for the murder of two men during a payroll robbery, even after another man confessed to the crime.

By commemorating Sacco and Vanzetti, wed be giving Italian-Americans in the US and right here in the North End a touchpoint to reflect on how bias and discrimination harmed our ancestors, Green wrote in the petition, also listing astronomer Galileo Galilei, inventor Gugliemo Marconi and progressive New York City Mayor Fiorello Henry La Guardia as other Italians that could be heralded in lieu of Columbus.

The officer-involved deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville sparked protests across the country, bringing a spotlight to racial bias in policing in the U.S. even in the midst of a pandemic. Their deaths have sparked larger, albeit not new, debates about reckoning with the nations history of racism.

The removal of monuments has sparked public debates, including among historians, though some cities have responded to Columbus impact in other ways. In February, the Chicago Board of Education replaced Christopher Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, following the lead of Berkeley, California, and eight other cities.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, citing demonstrations and conversations happening in cities across the country, said the city would remove the statue and place it in storage while the damage is reviewed. During that time, he said officials will take time to discuss the historic meaning of the statue.

We dont condone any vandalism here in the city of Boston, and that needs to stop, Walsh said during the news conference.

Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, a Democrat who represents Bostons North End neighborhood, similarly condemned the beheading of the statue, arguing its the wrong approach to make a statement about the explorers legacy. The House Ways and Means Committee chair went on to describe the Columbus statue as an homage to Italian immigrants who made the waterfront area their home, calling it a celebration of Italian heritage."

While Christopher Columbus has a complex history and symbolizes many different things to different people, there is a lot more to the history of the park than just the naming of it," he tweeted.

If the City wants to have a dialogue about the future of the statue and the park, I ask that the North End Community and the @FOCCP are the ones that lead the process on how to move forward. I ask that the celebration of Italian Heritage be the focus of any discussion. (5/5)  Aaron Michlewitz (@RepMichlewitz) June 10, 2020

A representative of Michlewitzs office said his focus was not on defending the statue or the historical figure but on making sure that people who have volunteered in the parks and the community lead the discussion on the future of the park or the statue.

Michlewitzs comments received praise from some constituents on Facebook and Twitter calling the statue and park a reminder of the contributions of Italians, while others raised concerns about Columbus role in the genocide of Native Americans.

Gillian Mason, an activist and Italian American who lives in the North End, said Italian Americans should be backing the Black Lives Matter movement, having had ancestors who were targeted by white supremacists barely a century earlier in the U.S.

The most shameful part of Italian American history is weve forgotten the fact that we were once victims of white supremacy and we started to side with the oppressor, Mason said in response to Michlewitzs comments.

While the latest beheading has not been publicly linked to protesters, Mason said she doesnt blame people who deface the statue as a statement against Columbus role in colonial history.

In terms of the old guard whos going to come out and defend this, I would just say, think again," Mason said of those defending the statue. "Its time to get really clear about what our history actually is and to start doing some truth and reconciliation about the role weve played really as traitors to the multiracial working class in a lot of ways.

I think its a little tone-deaf to think that all the residents of this neighborhood who are Italian American are going to be proudly supporting Columbus, said Green, who launched the petition. I think we know more now than we did when we were kids. Theres more ways to celebrate being Italian Americans, ones that arent so morally compromised.

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Stocks in the news today: Here is a list of top stocks that are likely to be in focus in Thursday's trading session based on latest developments. Companies set to announce their earnings are Shriram City Union Finance, Westlife, JK Agri Genetics, KSB, KNR Constructions, Sundaram Fasteners, Redington, Ind Bank Housing. Investors will also be taking cues from the latest released March quarter earnings.

Key highlights on share market; check the latest stock market news

- S&P Ratings has affirmed 'BBB-' rating on India, with 'stable' outlook, saying that it expects India to maintain a sound net external position. The brokerage added that it sees strong recovery from India post deep contraction in FY21 & GDP growth at 8.5% in FY22.

- On Wednesday, Sensex ended 290 points higher at 34,247 and Nifty rose 69 points to 10,116

- On a net basis, FIIs sold Rs 919 crore, while DIIs bought Rs 501 crore worth in equities on Wednesday.

Share Market LIVE: Sensex drops 215 points higher, Nifty at 10,050; Sun Pharma, GAIL, Tata Motors top losers

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories: Company announces that it has completed the acquisition of select divisions of Wockhardt branded generics business in India and a few other international territories of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives.

Mahanagar Gas: The company reported 24% rise in its net profit at Rs 166.59 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 133.46 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Company's total income dropped 4.58% (YoY) to Rs 779.63 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 817.07 crore in a year-ago period.

HSIL: The company reported a 78% drop in its net profit at Rs 3.38 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 15.70 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Company's total income dropped 5.2% (YoY) to Rs 468 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 494 crore in a year-ago period.

Shriram Transport Finance: The company reported 70% drop in its net profit at Rs 223.38 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 746.04 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Company's total income rose 7.46% (YoY) to Rs 4173.04 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 3883.38 crore in a year-ago period.

Voltas: Company said in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has launched a new line of Ultraviolet Light (UVC) based surface disinfectant solutions in addition to the engineered UVC based air and duct disinfectant solutions that the industry leader has been offering its consumers for the past several years. This is in line with the Tata Group's commitment towards serving the community and making a positive social impact.

Jindal Stainless (Hisar): Company profit after tax rose 43% to Rs 94 crore for Q4FY20. During Q4FY20, EBITDA and Revenue were recorded at Rs 174 crore and Rs 2,030 crore respectively. Annually, the company's PAT grew 22% to Rs 320 crore.

Jamna Auto Industries: The company reported 66% drop in its net profit at Rs 11 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 33 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Company's total income fell 55% (YoY) to Rs 241 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 544 crore in a year-ago period.

Dwarikesh Sugar Industries: The company reported 36% rise in its net profit at Rs 44 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 32 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Company's total income rose 116% (YoY) to Rs 463 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 214 crore in a year-ago period.

Dhanuka Agritech: The company reported 45% rise in its net profit at Rs 39 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 26 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Company's total income rose 18% (YoY) to Rs 236 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 199 crore in a year-ago period.

Century Textiles: The company reported 32% drop in its net profit at Rs 82 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 121 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Company's total income rose 16.3% (YoY) to Rs 786 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 939 crore in a year-ago period.

Kimia Biosciences: The company has been granted 'permission to manufacture and market new active pharmaceutical ingredient 'Obeticholic Acid' by Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

Gateway Distriparks: The company board has considered and approved the raising of funds up to an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs. 150 crores, subject to receipt of necessary approvals from shareholders

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea: Supreme Court will consider allowing telcos to pay AGR dues over 20 years

Earnings Today: Shriram City Union Finance, Westlife, JK Agri Genetics, KSB, KNR Constructions, Sundaram Fasteners, Redington, Ind Bank Housing among others will announce their Q4 results today
Lucknow, June 11 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has set a target of creating one crore man-days of jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by June 15.

The decision was taken by the Chief Minister at a high-level meeting comprising departments which could potentially create jobs under MGNREGS.

Adityanath also held a video conference with district magistrates and divisional commissioners to accelerate works under MGNREGS and asked them to create an additional 58 lakh more man-days of work to meet the target of one crore.

According to the government spokesman, in the last one-and-a-half months since the MGNREGS works started, a total of seven crore man-days have been created by the rural development department.

Currently, the rural development department is able to create around 42 lakh man-days of work which implies that the state government will have to increase its capacity by more than double to generate jobs under MNREGS.

Yogi Adityanath has asked district magistrates to send a detailed proposal of works in the next three days. He also asked the divisional commissioners to carry out inspection of the districts under their jurisdiction and get the developmental projects expedited.

District magistrates have been asked to assess the situation and identify works which can be conducted under MNREGS in their respective districts.

He has also asked for convergence of various departments to create more jobs under the central scheme. He said that this would also help the government in identifying more spots where works could be carried out and more labourers could be engaged under MNREGS.
A group of hackers who call themselves "Anonymous" has become a hot topic in the wake of George Floyd's death after shutting down the website of numerous police departments, allegedly cutting off radio transmissions of police officers and releasing the alleged rape case of US President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

The Twitter account of "Anonymous" became active again after years of being on hiatus to condemn the brutal murder of the 47-year-old Floyd in the hands of the Minneapolis police officers.

The death of Floyd sparked a worldwide protest against systemic racism and police brutality. The protest and the outcry of the public led President Trump to take refuge in a bunker at the White House, as police and demonstrators fought in the streets with tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash banger being thrown.

Who is Anonymous?

Because of the gravity of their claim, a lot of people are now wondering, who is "Anonymous?". "Anonymous" claims to be an international hacktivist movement that started in 2003 and has exposed a lot of government officials and high-profile people.

Days after the death of Floyd, "Anonymous" re-emerged and posted a series of tweets and videos. The video showed a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and delivered a message about how racial inequality is masked as police brutality and it is an issue in the United States for decades.

"Anonymous" stated that murder and police brutality is a widespread problem in the United States and that the Minneapolis police department is one of the worst in the country and that it has a track record of corruption and violence.

"Anonymous" also stated that Floyd's death is just the tip of the iceberg in the long list of cases of wrongful deaths at the hands of police offices in the state. The video immediately garnered 37 million views despite being taken down by Twitter multiple times.

Netizens have saved the video and reposted it on the site and on other social media platforms. The public is now demanding justice not just for Floyd's murder but also for the murder of other African Americans at the hands of the police.

Also Read: Anonymous "Hacktivists" Expose Donald Trump, High-Profile Celebrities, Politicians and the Royal Family

In 2014, "Anonymous" hacked the website of the City Hall in Ferguson, Missouri, after the death of 18-year-old black teen Michael Brown. The name of the officer responsible for the shooting was released by "Anonymous" but the department denied.

"Anonymous" also released the information of the police who shot 12-year-old black teen Tamir Rice, who was then playing with a toy gun. The hacktivists disabled the Minneapolis police department website and leaked the email addresses and passwords of the police offices.

Other activities

Days after the death of George Floyd, "Anonymous" posted a copy of the alleged rape case of US President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. Both were accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1992 but the charges were dropped because Trump and Epstein threatened the life of the girl and the girl's family.

"Anonymous" also claimed that Trump ordered the killing of Epstein because he was ready to expose the names of the people included in the international sex trafficking ring that he runs. Some of the names on the list are Naomi Campbell, Prince Andrew of UK, President Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump.

In 2008, the hacktivists attacked the Church of Scientology by disrupting the church's services, forwarding prank calls, and releasing documents that connect the IRS to the church, which explains why they are exempted from taxes.

"Anonymous" also attacked churches who had homophobic teachings by exposing their messages and the corruption that is happening in their respective groups.

Related Article: Fact Check: Did Donald Trump Face Lawsuit Along with Jeffrey Epstein Due to Inapt Behavior?

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
McMillen had been arrested in Shelbyville, Ky., in 2016 after a dispute with her mother. The teen was taken to a juvenile detention center, where guards forced her to the ground during a confrontation using a martial arts restraint. She died in her cell, but her body wasnt found for more than 10 hours. An autopsy would attribute the death to a genetic heart condition, but the family believed it was from her rough treatment.
Vertical aerial image of Wimbledon, London We couldnt be happier to announce our first partner in aerial data. Partnering with Getmapping is a great leap forward. Our partnership is one that will support those looking to create solutions using very high-resolution imagery and provide value for customers across industries.

UP42, a developer platform and marketplace for geospatial data and analytics today announced a new partnership with Getmapping Plc, the UKs leading supplier of aerial photography. For the first time, UP42 customers can access and explore very high-resolution aerial data.

Founded in the UK in 1999, Getmapping has over 20 years of experience in the provision of aerial photography, as well as high-quality mapping products and geospatial solutions across Europe and Africa. Aerial photography is used to map terrestrial features and involves taking photographs from an aircraft or other flying techniques to obtain useful data and information about an area.

Getmapping brings two aerial data products in 12.5 cm and 25 cm resolution to the UP42 marketplace. The 12.5 cm resolution data provides coverage of the majority of England and Wales, as well as southerly parts of Scotland, with particular attention to the most densely populated areas. Meanwhile, the 25 cm resolution data covers the entire extent of Great Britain.

This new partnership brings new possibilities. Getmappings premier offerings expand the variety of geospatial data offered by UP42joining commercial and open-source satellite and weather data sources, as well as processing algorithms for customers to use and reveal insight. Additionally, aerial data opens up the ability for UP42 customers to achieve spatial resolutions that far exceed satellite data capabilities. Each pixel of an aerial image represents a ground distance. As a result, 12.5 cm resolution captures twice as much detail per pixel as a 25 cm resolution image of the same area.

Maps are the most well-known example of how geospatial data might be used but our data is used for many applications; 3D modelling of buildings and locations, environment monitoring for floods, vegetation, etc, pre and post-disaster analysis and much more. We are proud to be partnering with UP42, where we can collectively support the growing market need for high-quality data and encourage insights to solve important problems. shared Gillian Melham, European Managing Director at Getmappping.

CPO at UP42, Sean Wiid added, We couldnt be happier to announce our first partner in aerial data. Partnering with Getmapping is a great leap forward. Our partnership is one that will support those looking to create solutions using very high-resolution imagery and provide value for customers across industries.

About UP42

UP42 is changing the way geospatial data is accessed and analyzed. The platform and marketplace bring together multiple sources of data such as satellite imagery, weather data, and moretogether with algorithms to identify objects, detect change, and find patterns. Industry leaders use UP42 to inform business decisions and build scalable customer solutions. Know when and where to fertilize crops. Measure air quality and map emissions. Count cars, trucks, planes, and ships. Developers and data scientists across all industries now have access to a platform to build, run, and scale projects in one place.

About Getmapping

Today Getmapping produces its own vertical aerial photography, oblique photography, point-cloud and height data derived from our aerial and mobile mapping survey programmes. Using reality capture to create a true digital twin, Getmapping provides geospatial solutions to the complex problems facing our world. With an established heritage in reality capture, we have extensive capabilities to capture and process a wide range of 2D and 3D datasets including aerial imagery, mobile mapping and ground penetration data. Working with carefully selected strategic partners we deliver innovative solutions to meet complex geospatial challenges. Our cutting edge software solutions to enable the viewing, integration and analysis of geospatial data, tailored to specific client needs.

For more information, please contact:

Ganesh Venkatesh, Head of Marketing, UP42 ganesh.venkatesh@up42.com

Helen Wattie, European Sales Manager, Getmapping helen.wattie@getmapping.com
German Chancellor Angela Merkel poses for pictures on a bridge crossing the Yangtze River in Wuhan, China on Sept. 7, 2019. (Andreas Rinke/Reuters)

China Needs to Do More on Market Access, Merkel Tells Li

BERLINGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed in a video conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that Beijing needs to take action to open up its market and treat foreign companies fairly, her spokesman said on June 11.

German firms want better market access in China and more legal certainty for investment. They also complain that the government in Beijing distorts competition with high subsidies.

She highlighted the need for further steps on market access, reciprocity, and equal treatment of foreign companies, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said of Merkels discussion with Li.

Concluding an ambitious investment agreement between the EU and China is an important element in this process, Seibert added.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrive for a presentation of self-driving cars at the defunct historic Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, Germany, on July 10, 2018. (Fabrizio Bensch/AFP/Getty Images)

Negotiations on an investment agreement have been underway for six years and should be concluded in 2020.

Merkel told Li that Germany, which takes over the EUs six-month rotating presidency in July, wants rules-based and free multilateral trade plus a strengthened World Trade Organisation, Seibert said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) listens to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on June 13, 2016. (Wang Zhao/Pool Photo/AP)

German manufacturers depend on both demand and supply chains from China, their countrys biggest trading partner.

Merkel and Li acknowledged three agreements reached between Chinese and German partners ahead of the video conference in which German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier participated, said Seibert, without providing further details.

The pair also discussed their cooperation on dealing with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, human rights, the situation in Hong Kong, investment, and trade issues in various economic sectors including public procurement and global economic issues.

By Michelle Martin

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report.
(Newser)  A day after his older brother's funeral, Philonise Floyd told a hushed House Judiciary Committee in Washington that he's weary. "I'm tired of the pain I'm feeling now, and I'm tired of the pain I feel every time another black person is killed for no reason," Floyd said. "I'm here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain." Taking action now could stop his brother George from being just "another name" among the unarmed black people killed by police, he said. House Democrats have proposed legislation to curb protections for officers accused of misconduct and stop the excessive use of force by police, the Guardian reports. Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler has said the goal is a "guardiannot warriormodel of policing."

story continues below

Nadler, a Democrat, told Floyd that his brother "is not just a name chanted in the street," per CBS. Rep. Jim Jordan, the panel's top Republican, told Floyd his brother's death was "as wrong as wrong could be" but said the "vast majority" of law enforcement officers are good people. He called defunding police departments, which many peoplethough not those in Congressare advocating "absolute insanity." Floyd broke down in tears during the hearing as a video played of his brother dying in Minneapolis police custody. "If his death ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived," Philonise Floyd told the lawmakers. "It is on you to make sure his death isn't in vain." (Read more George Floyd stories.)
An absurd decision was how Hagit Peer, who heads Israels leading womens organization, NAAMAT, described the appointment of a man to head the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. Peer was not alone. One by one, womens advocacy organizations and leading female journalists harshly condemned the decision to name Knesset member Oded Forer of the Yisrael Beitenu party to head the panel. Forer will not only chair the committee; he will be its only male member.

Forer, 43, a confidante of Yisrael Beitenu party Chair Avigdor Liberman, is the second man named to head the committee since it was established in 1992. The first was Likud Knesset (and former minister) member Gideon Saar, appointed in 2006 and generally considered to have done a good job.

News of Forers appointment on June 8 set off an uproar on social media platforms and talk shows, generating intense arguments over whether a man should fill a post that has become one of the few bastions of womens leadership in the male-dominated legislature. Previous panel chairs, such as the Likuds Gila Gamliel and Limor Livnat, were leading female lawmakers who went on to become government ministers.

Whereas Saars appointment 14 years ago was somewhat of a pioneering experiment that drew praise from many women, Forer finds himself facing an angry tsunami intensified by the era of social media.

Oded Forer, take a quick peek under your belt, tell us what you see there and what makes you suitable for the job, tweeted pundit Ariana Melamed, a firebrand social critic often identified with gender wars. Melamed also went on to thank the Knesset committee responsible for Forers appointment for continuing the patriarchys oppression.

The irony was not lost on members of the other sex. Comedian Tomer Sharon contributed a sarcastic tweet to the stormy debate: The first item on our agenda today is how to appoint a woman to chair the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women.

The protests did not stop at talkbacks and tweets. The influential womens rights group Kulan described the appointment as a joke at womens expense and called on Forer to step aside. Any woman with eyes in her head can see the burning need for a woman to fight for the status, safety and rights of women in Israel of 2020. For a man to sit in that chair is nothing short of a scandal. This is someone who has never experienced life as a woman in Israel and whose life will not be affected in any way whatsoever by the committees actions and decisions. We call on Knesset member Forer to realize that this is a slap in the face of all women in Israel and to forego the appointment of his own volition. Thousands signed the appeal within hours and sent it to the lawmakers office.

Womens groups were also quick to delve into Forers political and public record, finding that not only had he never been associated with gender equality issues, but he had also voted against proposed bills advancing womens rights. Critics adopted public shaming tactics, presenting Forers record as reflecting the appointments disregard for women and contempt for the committees tasks. For example, Forer was lambasted for having voted against an amendment of the Womens Equal Rights Law mandating appropriate representation for women in the workplace.

Forer has not budged despite the aggressive campaign against him; on the contrary. As a young opposition lawmaker seeking to make his mark, Forer understands he can use the storm to his advantage. I am glad this committee is finally making headlines, he said, Even if its because of the surprise that a man can also lead these issues in the Knesset.

Forer has found a surprising and unexpected ally in Labor party Knesset member Merav Michaeli, a former television presenter and perhaps the public figure most identified with what some regard as radical feminist views. Her signature use of the female grammar form in Hebrew even when referring to men in order to highlight her agenda has made her an inspiration to some and an object of scorn to others. In this case, however, Michaeli is eyeing the Forer storm through a pragmatic political lens. For years, we have been saying that men must join the feminist struggle, the struggle for equality, she wrote in a lengthy Facebook post, seeking to explain that feminists are shooting themselves in the foot with their objections to Forer. We keep saying, rightly so, that the feminist struggle is not only a womens issue. It concerns society as a whole. Men are responsible for this situation and they stand to gain from a change. And now we have a male Knesset member heading the committee. Does his being a man disqualify him for the job?

Prompted by the same mindset, Michaeli fought at the time for membership in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, long considered a male bastion of retired male generals. In the current Knesset, only two women serve on the prestigious 15-member panel.

The dearth of female representation in Israeli politics is a sensitive and painful issue. The numbers speak for themselves. Thirty women serve in the current Knesset, constituting 25% of the lawmakers and an all-time record. Women chair only two of the Knessets 22 committees. The situation is no better in government. Of the 35 newly appointed ministers, only eight are women; none holds senior posts. Only two are members of the Security Cabinet. No less troubling is that women do not head any political party, a regression after breaking the glass ceiling quite a few times in the past.

As for Forer, he is obviously not the reason for the woeful under-representation of women in politics, which stems from voting patterns and other sociological factors. He is simply a convenient target on which to vent frustration. However, his energy and desire to prove himself may end up serving the committee well and attracting additional male politicians to the struggle for womens equality.
The Centre on Thursday asked states to use technology like mobile phone tracking to keep a tab on people under home quarantine after the issue of difficulties in tracking such people was raised at a meeting Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired with representatives of the state governments, officials said.

Issues like exorbitant fee charged by private hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients when government hospital beds are scarce were also discussed. Central government officials pointed out that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have capped the fee and others states can follow suit. Telanganas representative raised the private hospital issue while representatives of West Bengal and Maharashtra spoke about difficulties because of the closure of public transport including metros.

Maharashtra chief secretary Ajoy Mehta suggested local trains should be allowed to run. He suggested that offices should not be allowed to operate at full strength and only 15% to 20% of staff should be allowed.

Bengal chief secretary Rajeeva Sinha cited the problems in conducting door-to-door tests in slums and highly-populated areas. He also told Gauba it is extremely difficult to keep track of people supposed to be under home quarantine.

States, including West Bengal, have directed various categories of people, including patients with mild symptoms, to remain under home quarantine because of a shortage of hospital beds.

Gauba pointed out that some states were utilising technology and mobile phones to track people under home quarantine. He said whenever directions are given to people for self-quarantine, the authorities must also give guidance notes. Gauba added that officials in some states were even calling individuals twice daily to ask them about their well-being.

The states were also told that if a Covid-19 positive person dies, his or her death should not be attributed to comorbidity alone but identified as Covid-related mortality. They were once again told to improve their ambulance services and ensure that patients do not have to spend hours in the triage areas of hospitals.

Maharashtras representative said they have set rules to find out lapses and if a person dies within 36 to 48 hours of his or her admission, then it is considered that the surveillance at the district level has failed. Parameters for hospitals, too, have been set, Maharashtra informed the Centre.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 19:23:59|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian (L) and Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti pose for photos during a ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon, June 11, 2020. China on Thursday donated a new batch of medical supplies to Lebanon to help it fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation includes 17,500 masks, 1,500 protective gears, 1,320 goggles and 1,000 shoe covers. (Photo by Bilal Jawich/Xinhua)

BEIRUT, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday donated a new batch of medical supplies to Lebanon to help its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The donation, including 17,500 masks, 1,500 protective gears, 1,320 goggles and 1,000 shoe covers, was handed over by the Chinese embassy at a ceremony held at the Lebanese Foreign Ministry in Beirut.

The medical supplies will help public hospitals in Lebanon in the fight against COVID-19.

Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian highlighted the importance of the cooperation among the countries to overcome the crisis.

"Cooperation is the strongest weapon against the pandemic. China assumes its responsibilities to protect not only its people but also people all over the world," Wang said at the ceremony.

Wang said that no country in the world can fight such a pandemic on its own, stressing that China is committed to offering donations to the countries affected by the pandemic.

"When China is done with vaccination, it will be available to the whole world and mainly to developing countries to help them fight the virus and support their economic recoveries," he said.

The ambassador praised Lebanon's efforts to contain the virus with strict measures adopted by the Lebanese cabinet.

For his part, Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti expressed thanks to China for its donation and assistance, calling it as a symbol of cooperation between the two countries.

"This is not the first time that China offers donation to Lebanon against COVID-19," he said.

China has previously donated to Lebanon medical equipment including 3,000 kits, over 1 million masks and 20,000 protective gears and 1,600 goggles.

Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections reached on Wednesday 1,388 while the death toll remained 30.
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Twelve Ivorian soldiers were killed and seven wounded in an attack at a northern border post near Burkina Faso early on Thursday, a senior officer at the army chief of staff's office said.

Two other military gendarmes are reported missing, while one assailant was killed. The assailants were believed to have come from Burkina Faso, said the officer, speaking to Reuters by phone.

It was not yet clear who carried out Thursday's attack, which was the deadliest in Ivory Coast since gunmen from al Qaedas North African branch stormed the beach resort of Grand Bassam in March 2016, killing 19 people.

Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso launched a joint military operation last month to tackle the expanding threat from Islamist jihadists linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the Sahel region.

Islamist groups with links to Islamic State and al Qaeda have sought to widen their influence in West Africa in recent years by carrying deadly attacks on a regular basis.

The landlocked nations of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have been worst hit in part because their unpoliced desert reaches have allowed fighters to ghost across borders undetected.

(Reporting by Ange Aboa and Thiam Ndiaga; Writing by Juliette Jabkhiro and Edward McAllister; Editing by Bate Felix, Alison Williams and Frances Kerry)
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned the low take-up of the flu vaccine among health workers is "not on" and "has to change".

It comes amid fears that there could be a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks during the winter flu season.

Mr Varadkar said such a scenario would be "very difficult" and the Government is stepping up the annual flu vaccine programme as a result, including expanding free vaccination for children.

He also said efforts are being made to get health workers to be vaccinated.

He told 2fm's 'Breakfast with Doireann and Eoghan' radio show that "people who work in healthcare are amazing people".

But he added: "Less than half of them got the flu vaccine last year. That's not on. That has to change."

The Taoiseach confirmed personal protective equipment (PPE) is also being stockpiled for the possibility of a second wave.

"We haven't seen anything like this in recent memory so from day one we've been trying to work out what can we learn from this so that if we have another pandemic, maybe a different virus, or if we have a second wave, that we're better prepared," he said of the crisis.

He added the current outbreak is "not over yet" and the Government wants Ireland to get to a situation that sees the number of new cases at zero or close to zero, with a system in place to identify spikes in the disease and "jump on those outbreaks very quickly".

He added: "We don't want to have to lock down the country all over again. There may be re-occurrence in some places but we want to be able to deal with them in that place rather than having to close down the whole country again."

Mr Varadkar said the message to the public is to keep up social distancing, washing hands and avoiding unnecessary journeys.
A statue of Columbus was pulled down on our state capitol grounds in St. Paul yesterday afternoon. This vandalism seems to have taken place with the blessing of Governor Walz and his crew of idiots. Tom Hauser of KSTP News has posted the timeline of events yesterday as follows along with three videos including Hausers incredulous live commentary on the statue coming down that I have posted at the bottom. It is a sad day in Minnesota:

The threat to the Christopher Columbus statue on the south lawn of the Minnesota State Capitol was no secret. It was posted on Facebook at about 11 a.m. Wednesday that protesters would tear the statue down at 5 p.m. It was so well known KSTP Reporter Tom Hauser asked Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington about it at 3:35 p.m.

3:35 p.m.

Ive heard that through social media, Harrington responded. [State Patrol] Col. Langer and his staff will be out there to meet with the groups to explain to them the process that is already in existence for if you want to have a statue or you want to have something removed from the Capitol grounds there is a lawful process for doing that and we will be out there to meet with them to have that conversation. If this is something that the community wants and the legislature agrees with and all the parties that have to part to that decision then theres a lawful process for that to happen but we plan to be out there to meet with them this afternoon.

Technically, Harrington said they would meet with the protesters, but it was implied the State Patrol would protect the statue and enforce laws against destruction of public property.

4:05 p.m.

On Hausers way back to KSTP-TV, he stopped by the Columbus statue to take pictures on his phone to use in future Twitter posts about what he was sure would become an ongoing controversy. They might be the last still pictures taken of the statue.

4:38 p.m.

Just after 4:30 p.m., protesters began to show up and so did one Minnesota State trooper. Mike Forcia, a Native American leader of the protesters, told the trooper exactly what they planned to do.

Well be arrested, but were going to hook him up and were going to pull on him, Forcia said of the statue. Im disappointed that [Gov.] Tim [Walz] and [Lt. Gov.] Peggy [Flanagan] arent out here, he said. Forcia told the trooper he had invited them.

5:03 p.m.

Just after 5 p.m., while Hauser was about to go on the air reporting on the plans for a special session of the Minnesota Legislature later this week, the KSTP newsroom witnessed a live feed of the statue being torn down by protesters. After the protesters refused to accept a piece of paper with the steps necessary to legally have a statue removed, the trooper walked away and left the statue unprotected. Two protesters then climbed the statue with no State Patrol in sight and tore the statue down. Just a few minutes later, more than a dozen State Troopers emerged from the State Capitol and circled the pedestal that had held the statue of Christopher Columbus since 1931.

Gov. Tim Walz released the following statement Wednesday night:

As a former social studies teacher, I taught my students that many Minnesotans look at that statue and see a legacy of genocide. Now more than ever, we must take a hard look at the dated symbols and injustices around us. The Minnesota Historical Society and the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board have a formal process to remove statues from the Capitol grounds, and its important that process is followed in order to ensure the safety of bystanders and the preservation of surrounding property. While that process was too long for those who were pained by the statues presence, that is not an excuse for them to take matters into their own hands and remove it in that fashion. Even in pain, we must work together to make change, lawfully. I encourage Minnesotans to have productive, peaceful conversations about the changes that need to be made to create a more inclusive state.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan also issued a statement Wednesday night:

I cant say Im sad the statue of Christopher Columbus is gone. Im not.

All Minnesotans should feel welcome at the Minnesota State Capitol, and our state is long overdue for a hard look at the symbols, statues, and icons that were created without the input of many of our communities.

The arrival of Christopher Columbus to what is now the Americas set in motion centuries of violence and genocide against the Indigenous people who already lived here. As the highest-ranking Native woman elected to executive office in the country, I have often reflected on the fact that I could see a statue honoring that legacy from my office window. It was a constant reminder that our systems were not built by or for Native people or people of color, but in many cases, to exclude, erase, and eliminate us. Tonight, Im thinking of all the Native children who might now feel more welcome on the grounds and in the halls of their state government.

Below is the Walz afternoon press conference to which Hauser refers in his comments.
Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison has weighed in on the debate surrounding the removal of controversial memorials of historic figures, saying people need to respect history.

His comments come after a website calling for the removal of memorials of figures that celebrate slavery and racism listed Captain James Cook as one of its targets.

The Topple the Racists website describes Cook, who charted the east coast of Australia 250 years ago, as a colonialist who murdered Maori people in their homeland.

I really hope no one tears down the Captain Cook statue, it would be such a shame  pic.twitter.com/p4bRZACpAy  Amber Lee  (@tccthing) June 8, 2020

Speaking on Australias 2GB radio show Ben Fordham Live, Mr Morrison said people need to acknowledge the positive and the negative when it comes to historical figures.

I have always said we have to be honest about our history, he said.

We have got to acknowledge the positive and the negative but I think we also have got to respect our history as well and this is not a licence for people to just go nuts on this stuff.

Mr Morrison, who represents a federal electorate named after Cook, added he felt that the Black Lives Matter movement has been overtaken by political agendas.

Australia, when it was founded as a settlement as New South Wales, was on the basis that there would be no slavery, he said

Yeah, sure it was a pretty brutal settlement  but there was no slavery in Australia.

And so I think what we are seeing with some of these protests, they start on a fair point when they are raising issues about peoples treatment in custody or things like that, fair issue, but now its been taken over by other much more politically-driven, left-wing agendas which are seeking to take advantage of these opportunities to push their political causes.

His comments come less than a day after the mayor of Middlesbrough in England said Teessiders are proud of Cook and statues of the explorer should not be removed.

Andy Preston praised the explorer and navigator  who has a statue in his home town, as well as in Great Ayton and Whitby, in North Yorkshire  as the most successful Teessider in history.
Contraction in Indias GDP growth will depend on whether the country faces a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.

The organisation estimates GDP growth to contract between 3.7 percent and 7.3 percent depending on whether India undertakes another lockdown, Isabelle Joumard the OECDs India Economist told the Hindu BusinessLine.

She said the economic outlook is extremely uncertain given how the pandemic will evolve and we have drawn projections for two epidemiological scenarios for each country.

As per these scenarios, for India, in case of a single wave a 10-week lockdown followed by targeted lockdowns would be successful, leading to a U-shaped recovery. Activity is projected to revert back to the pre-crisis level only in the last quarter of 2020 and income (GDP) will fall by about 3.5 percent in FY21, she noted.

In case of a double-hit, the second albeit less severe wave would require another extended lockdown pushing investment and consumption further down.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

Exports and remittances would also fall more than in the single-hit scenario. The growth profile would be W-shaped, with a smaller second leg but long-lasting scares. In this more adverse scenario, activity would drop by over 7 percent in FY21 and recover gradually throughout FY22, she stated.

Joumard said that the Centres fiscal stimulus focused on wide ranging areas of the economy, but added that supportive fiscal and monetary policy stances should be maintained.

Short-term work schemes and other job security and wage subsidy programmesdirect cash and support programmes to the most vulnerable householdsramping up healthcare resources, professionals, hospital beds will help reduce health risks, she added.

Rebooting investment will be key to promote income and job creation in the medium run, she noted, adding that the government must supplement guarantee schemes with bold reforms and recapitalisation of public sector banks.

The authorities will also need to become more selective in supporting companies and banks. Faster bankruptcy resolution procedures would help avoid locking resources in zombie firms, she noted.

Besides this, modernising labour regulations, creating more formal jobs, improving education and skills and further loosening of restrictions on foreign investment and trade barriers would be key to attract investors, Joumard stated.
After months of tensions, Baghdad and Washington found a fresh stability in their ties Thursday as they held strategic talks Thursday under a new, US-friendly Iraqi premier. Due to coronavirus travel restrictions, top-level talks expected to take place in Baghdad were demoted to a brief online kick-off session, as Iraq faces a spike in cases as well as a looming financial crisis. That tempered expectations for the first strategic dialogue between Iraq and the US in a decade, which came five months after Iraqi lawmakers demanded that US troops leave. David Schenker, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, said that a withdrawal of US forces did not even come up in the initial discussions. Instead, he said that Iraq promised to protect US military and diplomatic facilities -- which have come under fire from pro-Iranian forces -- and that Washington assured an economic lifeline. "We will support the new government through the international financial institutions to help it meet the challenge of COVID-19 and declining oil revenues," Schenker told reporters. Tensions skyrocketed following a US strike on Baghdad in January that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Washington threatened crippling sanctions if obliged to withdraw troops and, according to US military sources, began planning a vast bombing spree against groups blamed for the rockets. But the tensions have calmed substantially since Mustafa Kadhemi -- an ex-spy chief with close ties to the US and its allies in the region -- took the reins as Iraq's premier in May. "The entire US-Iraq bilateral relationship will not be fixed in a single day," said Robert Ford, an analyst at the Middle East Institute and a US diplomat in Baghdad during the last round of strategic talks in 2008, which ironed out the US drawdown from the occupation that began after the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. "But for once, we seem to have the right people in the right place at the right time," he said. - New confidence - Two Iraqi officials said Kadhemi has been invited to the White House this year, a diplomatic olive branch his predecessor Adel Abdel Mahdi had never received. "There was a lack of confidence in the relationship with the previous government, and we're not there anymore," one of the officials said. Further sessions of the dialogue cold provide guidance for US-led troops, who returned in 2014 to head a military coalition fighting the Islamic State group. "Whatever comes out of the dialogue is going to set the future of our strategic relationship," a top American official from the coalition told AFP. "Am I still going to fly surveillance drones or not? Do you still want our intelligence?" he added. The coalition has already consolidated to just three bases in recent months, down from a dozen. A dramatic or sudden drop could hamper the coalition's efforts to back an Iraqi fightback against IS sleeper cells, which have escalated attacks in recent weeks. Other coalition countries are watching from the sidelines, with no formal role in the negotiations. "The ability of non-US members of the coalition to be in Iraq depends on whether the US can stay. We're tied down by this dialogue, too," a Western diplomat told AFP. Iran and its allies in Iraq, which have vowed to oust US troops, are also keeping a close eye on the talks. Many reiterated calls for foreign forces to leave, with the spokesman for the pro-Iran Fatah bloc, Ahmad al-Assadi, insisting on a six-month deadline for their departure. On Monday and Wednesday, two rockets hit near Baghdad airport and the American Embassy, after weeks of calm. But the rhetoric was more tempered than usual, with even the hardline Kataeb Hezbollah saying it would take a formal stance on the talks only after the first session. "These groups are retrenching, which gives Kadhemi some space with the Americans," said Ford. - The economy, stupid - Iraq's economy relies almost exclusively on oil exports, with faltering prices and low demand drastically shrinking the government's ability to pay wages, pensions and welfare to eight million Iraqis. A US waiver protecting Iraq from American sanctions as it imports gas from neighbouring Iran for its dilapidated power sector is due to expire in late September. Schenker said the United States would consider injecting cash into Iraq's universities. The talks are also geared to produce long-term support, like infrastructure upgrades using American energy companies. But Iraq needs an immediate crutch. "The US won't provide all kinds of cash. They can just offer not to apply sanctions," said Ford. "That doesn't fix Kadhemi's single biggest problem," he said -- a lack of hard cash. US troops deployed in Iraq from 2014 to head a military coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist group The US-led coalition has already consolidated to just three bases in Iraq in recent months, down from a dozen, and the talks would likely bring a further drawdown The killing of Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis --alongside top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani -- in January by a US drone strike brought Washington and Tehran to the brink of war, and triggered a storm of protest in Iraq Destruction at Karbala airport in the Iraqi shrine city after it was targeted by US military air strikes against a pro-Iranian group in Iraq in mid-March following the deaths of two Americans and a Briton in a rocket attack on a US base
Brisbane City Council wants to buy Brisbane's heritage-listed but derelict Lamb House, lord mayor Adrian Schrinner said on Thursday.

"We have made attempts to negotiate with the owner," Cr Schrinner said on Thursday morning.

The heritage-listed Lamb House overlooks the city from Kangaroo Point. Credit:Tony Moore

"There was an original willingness to talk to us about that, but unfortunately we didn't quite get the outcome that we expected from that," he said.

"But we are still determined to jointly go into an arrangement with the state government to make sure that the public can have ownership of this property so it can be restored and hopefully used for community purposes."
OAKVILLE, Ontario

June 10, 2020

May 2

Harrison Chan

Nevada Munro

Martial Arts

Martial Arts

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In an attempt to do their bit for frontline workers who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the OMAC World Class Martial Arts school has kicked-off a fundraising initiative for the Oakville Hospital Foundation. The 40-year-old institution's young students have taken to social media to promote the Kick COVID-19 "Break-a-Thon" campaign, where they put their physical prowess on display by breaking a wooden board with their favorite kick.The Break-a-thon also gives students an opportunity to channelize their time and energy at being creative while learning about gratitude and developing a positive approach in a time of crisis.The initiative has received an overwhelming response since it kicked off onand continues to encourage students to showcase what they've learnt at OMAC. The students that raise the most funds will receive prizes and gift cards from OMAC. The Gofundme Page Link (https://www.gofundme.com/f/kick-covid19)., CEO of OMAC says, "Mudo! We are so proud of our students and families of OMAC for supporting this cause. While our locations might be closed for now, we've been excited to adapt and continue being a part of our students' lives. Our online programs have been thriving, and our students continue to persevere despite these challenges. Our constant objective is to exemplify the importance of facing hardship head-on. We call this our "fighting spirit", that part of us that never gives up. Who better to exemplify this during this challenge than our frontline healthcare workers. We can't thank you all enough for your sacrifice and dedication. Our frontline healthcare workers have the strongest fighting spirit, and this is the least we can do for them.", a parent of a student at OMAC says, "Thank you for providing zoom classes to the kids and for creating such a worthy go fund me page. Healthcare needs all the help we can give right now."About OMAC World ClassOMAC is a 40-year-old multiple award winning martial arts institution, with 6 branches across the GTA. It was founded by Grand Master H.C. Kim, who is a revered martial arts veteran. OMAC also hosts a popular after school program for students near its locations. It has recently made a smooth transition to online training with group and one-on-one classes. OMAC prides itself on promoting values of persistence, respect, hard work, and community. OMAC will continue to promote these values in each community it is rooted in.SOURCE OMAC World Class
Former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden issued a stark warning to voters about President Donald Trump, and his attempts to limit access to voting in November.

This president's going to try to steal this election, Biden said in an interview with "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" Wednesday night.

The comments came after the host asked Biden about the recent Georgia primary election which resulted in long lines for voters after issues with both in-person voting and vote by mail requests.

PHOTO: Joe Biden speaks about the unrest across the country from Philadelphia City Hall on June 2, 2020, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden said access to voting was his single greatest concern, and was critical of Trumps efforts to discredit the use of mail-in ballots--a method of voting the president himself had used.

This is a guy who said that all mail-in ballots are fraudulent, voting by mail, while he sits behind the desk in the Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in the primary, Biden said.

MORE: 'This is not just a Georgia problem': Primary election troubles foreshadow challenges for November

While Biden had previously suggested Trump might attempt to delay the general election, the comments from Biden articulate the most direct warning from the former vice president as the campaign continues to ramp up ahead of November.

The Democratic presidential nominee also told the late night host that he is absolutely convinced that the military will "escort" President Trump from the White House if he refuses to leave, alluding to the recent scathing criticism of the commander-in-chief from top former military officials like former Defense Secretary James Mattis and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

You have four chiefs of staff coming out and ripping the skin off of Trump, and so many rank-and-file military personnel saying, Whoa, we're not a military state. This is not who we are. I promise you, I'm absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch, Biden said.

Story continues

PHOTO: Donald Trump makes remarks as he participates in a roundtable with law enforcement officials in the State Dining Room of the White House, June, 8, 2020 in Washington. (Pool/Getty Images)

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dismissed Bidens comments that President Trump would have to be escorted from the White House if he loses in November.

I think that's a ridiculous proposition. This president is looking forward to November, this president is hard at work for the American people. Leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories, McEnany told Fox News Thursday morning.

Her comments were echoed by Trump's campaign.

This is just another brainless conspiracy theory from Joe Biden as he continues to try to undermine confidence in our elections. It was the Obama Administration that tried to subvert an election by spying on the Trump campaign in 2016 and Biden himself was part of the effort to sabotage the incoming Trump Administration because they couldnt live with President Trumps victory," Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told ABC News. "President Trump has been clear that he will accept the results of the 2020 election.

Bidens campaign was highly critical when Tuesdays primary election in Georgia was marred by long lines, voting-machine issues and problems with absentee ballot requests, issuing a statement urging immediate preparations for a November election that has states scrambling to formulate a safe and efficient way to vote in the midst of a global pandemic.

"Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. What we see in Georgia today, from significant issues with voting machines to breakdowns in the delivery of ballots to voters who requested to vote absentee, are a threat to those values, and are completely unacceptable, Rachana Desai Martin, Biden for President National Director for Voter Protection, wrote in a statement released Tuesday.

MORE: Biden targets young voters amid anger over racial inequality in new digital ad

President Trump has consistently claimed, without evidence, that attempts to expand voting by mail will lead to widespread fraud, and argued weeks before the 2016 election that the contest was rigged against him.

Biden said Wednesday that his campaign was putting together a major legal initiative across the country to monitor and counteract any attempts to interfere with ballot access.

What do you think that this is about with Trump? This is a major deal, Biden said, also referencing the slow pace of vote counting in the state of Pennsylvania that could be another harbinger of chaos in November.

ABC News' Jordyn Phelps and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

Biden claims Trump will try to 'steal this election' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Western Australia's Attorney-General has been accused of providing "false and misleading information" to parliament and exposing a covert police probe, but the premier says he is doing an excellent job.

John Quigley used parliamentary privilege last month to claim a laptop at the centre of an MP entitlements scandal might contain material linked to "overseas sexual exploitation of minors".

WA Attorney General John Quigley. Credit:Philip Gostelow

"I'm not saying there's a crime committed because it's very hard sometimes to tell the age of Asian girls, very hard," Mr Quigley said.

"But there had to be an investigation ... that's still a current ongoing inquiry and a computer is locked away in this parliament somewhere with that evidence."
A social justice nonprofit is demanding a public apology from an Alabama lawmaker who they say made racist remarks during a commission meeting earlier this week.

In an open letter emailed to Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, on Wednesday, Project Say Something states Melson made the comments during a Lauderdale County Commission meeting on Monday. During that meeting, commissioners voted against adding a discussion about the removal a Confederate statue to the agenda.

Project Say Something accuses Melson of derailing the conversation by mentioning the nonprofits 2018 proposal to erect a statue of Dred and Harriet Scott beside the countys 117-year-old Confederate statue.

You know, the group that wanted Dred Scott in chains, I think that would be a sign of more oppression than a soldier where its hard to read whats underneath the statue by far, Melson said at the meeting. I think its pretty obvious what a half-dressed black man in chains would be representing the past that Im quite frankly shocked that anybody would even suggest putting that in front of a courthouse cause that would be a disgrace and a sign of a time that we definitely dont like reliving.

Melson has not responded to Al.com for a comment before this story was published Thursday afternoon. Al.com has reviewed audio of the meeting which was recorded by Project Say Something.

Tim Melson, our State Senator, says he'll help any way he can. I'm not sure I believe he meant that, but let's make... Posted by Joel Peeples on Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Melsons comments inaccurately described Project Say Somethings statue proposal, which features a fully clothed Dred and Harriet Scott pulling the chains of slavery, the group says. The nonprofit says it decided to honor the couple because Dred Scott spent nearly a decade in Florence before he was sold to an army surgeon.

Mr. Melsons description of the monument as featuring a half-dressed Black man is blatantly false and belies his racism, Project Say Something states in the open letter. That Melson chose to envision a half-dressed black man speaks to his great disrespect of Project Say Something, Black history, and Black people.

A sketch of the Dred and Harriet Scot statue. A Florence-based social justice nonprofit called Project Say Something wanted to install this statue next to the Confederate monument sitting at the Lauderdale County Courthouse.

Dred Scott is also the namesake of the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court case in which justices ruled that black people, freed or enslaved, were not U.S. citizens and thus could not petition for their freedom. The decision increased tensions between the North and the South before the Civil War. Project Say Something has been trying to add context to the Confederate statue in Florence since 2017.

During the meeting, Melson said he was glad commissioners didnt listen to Project Say Somethings proposal for the statue.

If yall had gotten in a motion five months ago, you would have had a Dred Scott statue in chains. I dont think that would have been, uh, very comfortable for a lot of people coming into this building, Melson said.

The remains of the Confederacy are being removed across Alabama. Monuments have been removed in Birmingham, Mobile and Montgomery. At the University of Alabama, plaques honoring students who fought in the Confederacy were removed. In Montgomery, high school graduates are asking the Montgomery Public Schools Board to rename high schools named after Confederate veterans.

During the meeting, Melson said he understood both sides of the Confederate monument argument, which alarmed Project Say Something.

Apparently, Mr. Melson doesnt want a statue of a black man in chains because it is a history that makes him uncomfortable: in his words, it is a sign of a time that we definitely dont like reliving, the nonprofit wrote. What Mr. Melson fails to note is that with the Confederate statue in place, African American community members are forced to relive that past every time they walk into the courthouse.

The series of Confederate statue removals happened as people protested following the death of George Floyd, who was killed in May by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyds neck for nearly nine minutes. The loss of black lives led to a rallying cry across the nation to remove Confederate symbols.

Project Say Something mentioned in its letter that Melson voted for the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017, which prohibits the removal or renaming of historically significant buildings and monuments.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit against the city of Birmingham for its removal, which could result in a one-time $25,000 fine. A GoFundMe account was created in Birmingham to pay the fine. According to news reports, the city of Florence has the money to pay the fine. Project Say Something called Melsons comments untimely and unhelpful.

His comments come at a time when his community is seeking a peaceful resolution to a problem that has caused much pain and injury," the letter states. "Moreover, his comments were referring to a proposal that was not even being discussed at that meeting and had been denied by the county commission more than two years ago.
A council has postponed the removal of a statue of Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell from its site on Pooles seafront after residents vowed to protect it from anti-racism protesters.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council had announced the statue in Poole Quay, Dorset, would be temporarily taken down after it was put on a target list.

However, the planned removal has been delayed after the council realised the operation would require uprooting its deep foundations and heavy-lifting equipment.

The authority also announced it would be providing the statue with 24-hour security.

A crowd of local residents had gathered around the statue on Thursday and vowed to protect it and stop the council from removing it.

Lord Baden-Powell, who fought in the Boer War, was voted the 13th most influential person in the UK in the 20th century in a poll in 2007.

However, critics say he held racist views and in 2010 declassified MI5 files revealed he was invited to meet Adolf Hitler after holding friendly talks about forming closer ties with the Hitler Youth.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, council leader Vikki Slade said the decision was taken following a threat, adding: Its literally less than three metres from the sea so is at huge risk.

However, Mark Howell, the local authoritys deputy leader, said the final decision to temporarily take down the statue had not yet been made.

He said: We are considering whether we should remove it temporarily to protect the statue.

In terms of its long-term future, this statue stays here; Baden-Powell did an enormous amount of good, he created an organisation that brought people from different religions, ethnic backgrounds and races together and we are very proud of that in Poole and our connection to him.

This has been an emergency reaction because the police have advised us the statue is on the target list being circulated by protesters.

This is an artwork and if it was damaged it wouldnt be easily repaired. There is no controversy about it being here, its the right place for it.

A spokesperson for the Scouts said the organisation was aware of plans to remove the statue.

We look forward to discussing this matter with Poole Council to make an informed decision on what happens next, they said.

Baden-Powell was the founder of the Scout movement. Currently there are over 54 million Scouts in the world and we operate in almost every nation on earth promoting tolerance and global solidarity.

The Scout movement is resolute in its commitment to inclusion and diversity and members continually reflect and challenge ourselves in how we live our values.

Meanwhile an online petition to defend Pooles Lord Baden-Powell statue received thousands of signatures.

Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Show all 21 1 /21 Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June An aerial photo made with a drone shows a large group gathered in Union Park to protest the arrest of George Floyd, who later died in police custody, in Chicago, Illinois EPA Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June A large group marching and chanting in Chicago, Illinois EPA/Tannen Maury Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Protesters gather along the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum and Eakins Oval during a protest AP Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators try to block a freeway during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York REUTERS Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Thousands of demonstrators march across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California REUTERS Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators gather at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington REUTERS Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators march down Flatbush Avenue toward the Manhattan Bridge chanting slogans REUTERS Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Protesters take part in a demonstration to protest in support of the George Floyd protests in the United States, and also to commemorate a similar circumstance in France when Adama Traore, a 24-year-old Frenchman was killed in 2016 by police, during an rally in Champ de Mars next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris EPA Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators attend a protest in Berlin, Germany FABRIZIO BENSCH/REUTERS Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Sydney RON SHAMGAR via REUTERS Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators attend a Black Lives Matter protest to express solidarity with US protestors in Sydney AFP via Getty Images Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June People take part in a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Manchester Piccadilly Gardens, UK PA Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June People wearing masks hold placards during a protest march over the alleged police abuse of a Turkish man, in echoes of a Black Lives Matter protest, following the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis, in Tokyo REUTERS/Issei Kato Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators attend a protest against police brutality in Frankfurt REUTERS Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators attend a protest against police brutality at Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany REUTERS Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June People stand in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds in tribute to George Floyd during a protest against racism and police brutality in Frankfurt am Main, Germany Getty Images Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Thousands of people demonstrate in Cologne, Germany AP Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators hold placards as they attend a protest march to the US Embassy in London AFP via Getty Images Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators cross the River Thames via Vauxhall Bridge as they march to protest outside the US Embassy in London AFP via Getty Images Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Demonstrators gather for a protest against racism and police violence in Lisbon AP Stunning aerial shots show global Black Lives Matter crowds on 6 June Boxer Anthony Joshua is seen on crutches with demonstrators in Watford, Britain REUTERS

It comes after several statues were pulled down amid worldwide protests triggered by the death of George Floyd in the US, who died after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for almost nine minutes last month.

Last Sunday, protesters in Bristol pulled down a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into the harbour. The statue was retrieved on Thursday and the local council said it would be displayed in a museum.

Labour-led councils in England and Wales have agreed to work with their local communities to examine the appropriateness of certain monuments and statues on public land and council property.
KAMPALA  Uganda has discharged 41 more COVID-19 patients from Gulu and Arua Hospitals after they tested negative twice for the disease.

Today is discharge has increased Ugandas coronavirus recoveries to 161.

The discharge was overseen by state minister for primary health care Moriku Joyce Kaducu.

Those discharged were handed certificates of recovery by the monster.

34 were discharged from Gulu Hospital while 7 were being treated from Arua Regional Referral Hospital

The Minister said Gulu Hospital now has 31 active cases but tomorrow more 22 (Friday June 13) are going home if all their second sample turns negative.

Minister Moriku Kaducu lauded Medical Team and Gulu District Taskforce for the support.

They will now undergo psychosocial support before being reintegrated back into the community, the Ministry said.

All first patients who fully recovered from the deadly coronavirus were treated using the controversial hydroxychloroquine drug recently approved by the World Health Organisation.

The Ministry of Health on Thursday confirmed 14 new coronavirus cases, putting Ugandas tally to 679

Dr. Henry Mwebesa, the Director General Services at the Healthy Ministry says six of the cases were among the 1,260 samples tested from points of entry while eight were among 1,061 of alerts and contacts.

Three of the confirmed cases, he says are truck drivers who arrived from South Sudan via Elegu point of entry, two arrived from Tanzania via Mutukula and the other arrived through Lamwo District.

Eight of the 14 are contacts and alerts to previously confirmed cases, he notes, giving the details of community infections.

Three cases were identified from Kampala, Amuru (2), Dokolo (2) and Moyo (1) districts.

All cases are Ugandans. The total number of cases in Uganda are now 679, he adds in a statement on Thursday morning.

Additionally, he says, thirty 30 foreign truck drivers (19 Kenyans, 8 Tanzanians, 2 Eritreans and 1 Burundian who tested positive for coronavirus were handed over to their respective countries of origin.

President Museveni has once again strongly warned Ugandans to exercise caution against the deadly COVID-19.

We are winning this war if only everybody listens, he said on Thursday June 11, 2020, during the national budget.

Giving an update on Ugandas coronavirus statistics, he says that as of June 10, Ugandas positive cases total 679.

But recently, he added it was found that some of the cases were erroneously classified as positive due to carelessness of some technicians.

President didnt not mention the exact number of erroneous cases but asked health minister Dr. Ruth Aceng to clarify whether the said cases are part of the 679 number or not.

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Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Fighting continued Wednesday on the Sirte front (center) between troops of the army loyal to the government of national accord (GNA) and the Libyan national army (LNA) commanded by Marshall Haftar, indicting failure of efforts by the international community to reach immediate de-escalation
A new project supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) aims to design and develop new radiotherapy technologies to give more cancer patients in Sub-Saharan Africa access to treatment and to save lives.

The project, 'Innovative Technologies towards building Affordable and equitable global Radiotherapy capacity' (ITAR), will contribute to the development of novel radiotherapy machines, specifically designed to meet the needs of African hospitals.

The challenge brings together an international team of accelerator physicists and engineers, medical physicists, radiobiologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, IT experts, and health system researchers.

The annual global incidence of cancer is projected to rise to 27.5 million cases by 2040, leading to more than 13 million deaths. Up to 70 per cent of these will occur in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Radiotherapy is an essential component of cancer care being a very effective means of curing the disease, as well as palliative treatment, and where available, is used to treat more than half of patients.

Many low and middle-income countries in Africa have acute shortages of radiotherapy machines. In the lowest income countries only four percent of cancer patients that need radiotherapy treatment are able to be treated.

There are currently only 385 radiotherapy machines in the region, and 60 percent of those are located in just three countries - South Africa, Egypt and Morocco.

A report by the Lancet Oncology Commission - Global Task Force on Radiotherapy for Cancer Control (GTFRCC) of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) recently estimated that by 2035 at least 5,000 additional megavolt-class treatment machines would be needed to meet radiotherapy demands in low-and middle-income African countries.

In ITAR's first phase, the project will define the persistent shortfalls in basic infrastructure, equipment and specialist workforce which remain barriers to effective radiotherapy delivery, and develop novel solutions leading to a detailed specification and conceptual design. The project will then progress to a prototype development phase at STFC's Daresbury Laboratory.

The ITAR project, a critical part of a larger international project that includes the International Cancer Expert Corps (ICEC), CERN, STFC (Daresbury Laboratory), and Lancaster University, is led by Lancaster University and Oxford University, and will bring together partners from the Cockcroft Institute, STFC's Accelerator Science and Technology Centre (ASTeC), John Adams Institute, Swansea University, King's College London, ICEC and CERN.

I am really excited that the idea, first presented by Dr Norman Coleman of the International Cancer Expert Corps at the 2014 ICTR-PHE meeting held in Geneva, continues to flourish. Having Lancaster and Oxford Universities, along with Daresbury Laboratory and others working on this with STFC's critical support and ICEC's expertise, is a significant step in addressing the need for a novel medical linear particle accelerator to generate the radiation for LMICs and other challenging environments." Professor Manjit Dosanjh, from CERN and Oxford University, and member of the ICEC Board of Directors, and who leads the overall international project

A critical aspect of the project's challenge cluster is the involvement of the international partners. Dr Taofeeq Ige and Dr Simeon Aruah, of the National Hospital Abuja, Nigeria, and Dr Surbhi Grover, of the Botswana-UPENN Partnership and Princess Marina Hospital, are key partners working in African hospitals. They will gather information from a network of other hospitals in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and play a key role in the definition of the specification for the new machines.

In addition, ICEC provides a network of international oncologists, medical physicists, and engineers working in radiotherapy systems. They are already providing training and mentorship in lower-middle income countries and will continue with their assistance in the development of the radiotherapy system in this project.

Professor Graeme Burt, of Lancaster University and the Cockcroft Institute, and who is leading the phase 1 project said: "Current radiotherapy machines are optimised for use in western countries. The ITAR project aims to design specifically for use in Africa making it far more tolerant to the local environment, which will greatly increase the capacity for more lives to be saved."

Professor Deepa Angal-Kalinin, of STFC and the Cockcroft Institute, University of Manchester, and who is leading the accelerator design said: "I am keen to apply the knowledge and expertise at Daresbury Laboratory to develop a novel medical linac design in this phase of the project which will prepare us to build a prototype to test our novel ideas."
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia will discuss the issue of prolonging the state of emergency over coronavirus in an extraordinary meeting on June 12, ARMENPRESS reports Prime Mminister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during a briefing following the session at the Commandants Office.

Pashinyan added that they will discuss prolonging the state of emergency by one month.

State of emergency was declared in Armenia in March and was prolonged a few times. June 13 in the last day of the state of emergency.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) -Palladium One Mining Inc. (TSXV: PDM) (FSE: 7N11) (OTC Pink: NKORF) (the "Company" or "Palladium One") reports a new chargeability drill target on the Tilsa Induced Polarization (IP) survey grid on the Lantinen Koillismaa ("LK") Project, in central Finland.

Highlights:

The Tilsa IP survey grid is located six (6) kilometers west of the historic Haukiaho resource (see news release May 7, 2020) and covers one (1) kilometer of the three (3) kilometer strike length of the highly prospective Tilsa trend. ( Figure 2 )

) The survey has identified a consistent chargeability anomaly over the full extent of the grid, which appears to be strengthening to the northeast. ( Figure 1 and 3 )

) The survey also identified two other parallel chargeability and magnetic anomalies possibly representing fault repetitions of the favourable basal phase of the Koillismaa complex.

Historical reconnaissance drilling, in 1999 by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), along the Tilsa trend returned up to 0.58g/t PGE (0.39g/t Pd, 0.13g/t Pt, 0.06g/t Au), 0.35% Cu, 0.29% Ni over 15.26m in hole R379.

The strongest part of the newly identified chargeability anomaly has never been drill tested.







Figure 1. Plan view of the 2020 Tilsa IP survey showing chargeability, and historic drill traces.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6502/57547_37beea5f14355a83_001full.jpg

Preliminary Analysis:

The three (3) kilometer long Tilsa trend appears to be a faulted block of the larger Haukiaho Trend.

The metal ratios of the Tilsa PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization have strong similarities to Haukiaho-style mineralization.

The chargeability anomalies are coincident with strong magnetic highs, suggesting peridotitic rocks, which are characteristic of Haukiaho-style PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization.

The presence of closely spaced fault repetitions of the favourable basal phase at Tilsa is prospective for finding mineralization amenable to open pit mining.

Target Model:

Large tonnage, near surface PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization amenable to open pit mining.

Multiple higher-grade pods of PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization located in embayment structures along the basal contact of the Koillismaa Complex.

"These results represent another in a series of new, highly prospective, drill targets at the LK project. Today the geophysical program has shown the three (3) kilometer long Tilsa trend has potential to host significantly more mineralization than previously indicated. Most historic drilling was focused at the center of the trend, whereas the new IP survey clearly shows the chargeability anomaly increasing to the northeast, where there has been no drill testing." commented Derrick Weyrauch, President and CEO







Figure 2. LK Project with IP survey grids (blue lines). Red circles represent the Kaukua NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate, and the 2013 historic Haukiaho resource estimate. Property outlines colours are based on the form legal status.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6502/57547_37beea5f14355a83_002full.jpg







Figure 3. Plan view of 2020 Tilsa 50m spaced drone total field magnetic survey.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6502/57547_37beea5f14355a83_003full.jpg

Qualified Person

The technical information in this release has been reviewed and verified by Neil Pettigrew, M.Sc., P. Geo, Vice President of Exploration and a director of the Company and the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Palladium One

Palladium One Mining Inc. is a palladium dominant, PGE, nickel, copper exploration and development company. Its assets consist of the Lantinen Koillismaa ("LK") and Kostonjarvi ("KS") PGE-Cu-Ni projects, located in north-central Finland and the Tyko Ni-Cu-PGE and Disraeli PGE-Ni-Cu properties in Ontario, Canada. All projects are 100% owned and are of a district scale. LK is an advanced project targeting disseminated sulphide along 38 kilometers of favorable basal contact. The KS project is targeting massive sulphide within a 20,000-hectare land package covering a regional scale gravity and magnetic geophysical anomaly. Tyko is a 13,000-hectare project targeting disseminated and massive sulphide in a highly metamorphosed Archean terrain. Disraeli is a 2,500-hectare project targeting PGE-rich disseminated and massive sulphide in a highly productive Proterozoic mid-continent rift.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Derrick Weyrauch"

President & CEO, Director

For further information contact:

Derrick Weyrauch, President & CEO

Email: info@palladiumoneinc.com

Phone: 1-778-327-5799

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. The common shares of Palladium One Mining Inc. have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration.

Information set forth in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks associated with project development; the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mining and mineral processing; fluctuations in palladium and other commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume; and tax consequences to Canadian and U.S. Shareholders. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57547
TRENTON  In a report written in part by the mayor for the mayor, Reed Gusciora concluded his administration has done an adequate job responding to the capital citys COVID-19 crisis.

The 38-page status report recounted the citys efforts  from testing, establishing alternative housing options, personal protective equipment collection and contact tracing  to deal with the global pandemic that has infected 3,705 and killed 103 people as of June 4 in the capital city.

The report also sought to explain budgetary constraints that prevent the city from adopting councils demand last week for universal testing.

The big feather in the cap touted by the Gusciora administration: the death rate.

Trentons death rate, including fatalities reported at the citys four nursing homes was 2.8 percent, lower than the statewide average of 7.4 percent, according to the report.

The calculation was based off the states 11,970 deaths and 162,530 cases reported at the time. As of Wednesday, that number rose to 12,377 deaths and 165,346 infections, according to the state Department of Health.

The administration conceded the fatality rate was higher, 4 percent, when adjusted for the death of city residents under state supervision.

Still the report appeared to absolve the Gusciora administration of any negligence dealing with the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, has been the health crisis of our generation. While we are still not out of the woods, the City has adequately prepared for this crisis and continues to contain the spread of the virus as best as our resources allow, the report concluded. We pledged to remain vigilant to ensure the majority of our citizens are protected and that we meet their health care needs.

Community stakeholders said they were still digesting the report. But some were struck by the defensive tone of it, suggesting few have been fiercely critical of the administrations response to the pandemic.

They wondered if the report could become campaign fodder for Gusciora  already facing a recall  to fend off opponent attacks about his effectiveness guiding the city through the crisis should he run for a second term.

This is called C.Y.A. But nobodys after his a**, said Algernon Ward, a former council candidate who has criticized Gusciora for deploying a curfew over the last two months. For him to suggest that, hes putting his own neck in the noose. These are self-inflicted wounds. Clearly, we havent done enough. When you try to claim that, you just make yourself look bad.

Ward said the report recounted a lot of information but was not a plan of action.

Suggestions for improvements are not an attack on them. If you dont have a plan, plan to fail, he said.

Gusciora conceded the report was produced by members of his administration.

Listed contributors included the mayor himself, fire director and emergency management coordinator Derrick Sawyer; procurement officer Grady Griffin; recreation director Maria Richardson; economic and housing director Ben Delisle; business administrator Adam Cruz; chief of staff Yoshi Manale; COVID operations consultant and former water director Steve Picco; health director Shakira Abdul-Ali; health officer Yvette Graffie-Cooper; staff support Rich Kavin and Rachel Villatoro and research intern David McMillan.

Copies of the report were sent to state health commissioner Judy Persichilli and Mercer County health officer Kristin Reed.

Asked who wrote the report, Gusciora said it was a team effort, and acknowledged being involved in drafting content for the report.

Our response can stand up to anyone elses, Gusciora told The Trentonian in a phone interview Wednesday, We are in the orbit of New York, where it was coming down like a tidal wave. This report speaks for itself about what we did and what we intend to do in the future. I dont think anywhere we self-assessed ourselves or patted ourselves on the back.

Timing of Release, Rehash

The city released the report three months after Gov. Phil Murphy placed the state on lockdown, shuttering schools and non-essential business and banning social gatherings.

Murphy lifted the stay-at-home order Tuesday as the state slowly reopens after seeing a downward trend in the number of new reported cases of the deadly virus.

That being said, the city made clear its bracing for a second wave of the virus in the fall.

Much of the report rehashed whats already known about the citys response to the COVID-19 crisis, from establishing a first-responders mobile test site  hailed by Gusciora as the first of its kind in New Jersey  to partnering with the county and local nonprofits to extend testing to more Trentonians.

Sawyer, head of the Office of Emergency Management, said the city secured 328,984 masks, much of it donated, for residents and health care workers.

Officials gave out more than 100,000 masks to Trenton residents, the report states, crediting that with heading off outbreaks in the citys communal and elderly residential settings.

Mike Ranallo, a resident of the West Ward and reputed Gusciora critic, wondered if the administration should be taking a victory lap while the nation is still contending with the plague.

He wondered about the motivation behind such a pro-administration report not conducted by an independent party, expecting it will be used as campaign literature if Gusciora runs for re-election.

This would be the major event of his administration, he said. Therell be nothing bigger this in the next two years. It will be campaign fodder.

The report also sought to explain the city inability to meet council demands for testing for every Trentonian as the city moves toward reopening, calling the push for universal testing an unfunded mandate.

Testing has been limited in the Mercer County region, something Gusciora has been slammed for by some critics.

The county has run a mobile site for symptomatic residents, first at the Quaker Bridge Mall in Lawrence before re-locating to a parking lot near the McDade building in the capital city.

Trenton ran a mobile test site for Mercer County first responders, headed by chiropractor Dr. John Piazza, that tested more than 400 people.

That was something West Ward councilwoman Robin Vaughn attacked Gusciora for on a now-infamous coronavirus call heard round the world.

Of the 21 positives, nine were police officers, including TPD Director Sheilah Coley, and 50 officers were required to self-quarantine.

In addition, a single firefighter tested positive and 80 percent of Trenton Water Works employees were tested to avoid an emergency shutdown of the Citys water filtration plant, the report stated.

Gusciora repeatedly defended the decision to initially test only first responders. The city later partnered with the Trenton Health Team for rotational mobile testing in the four wards.

Between the four sites, 272 Trentonians were tested with 95 positive cases found as of May 27, according to the report. The 272 people tested represent less than a percent of the 83,203 residents in Trenton, according to the U.S. Census.

The city has no plans for universal testing, Gusciora said, adding he favors targeted testing, particularly in vulnerable populations.

The mayor also balked on an initial push for anti-body testing on all city employees, noting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says such tests are only accurate in up to 50% of the test cases.

The report says the CDC says [s]erologic test results should not be used to make decisions about grouping persons residing in or being admitted to congregate settings, such as schools, dormitories, or correctional facilities.

Testing more than 83,000 people is cost-prohibitive, the Gusciora administration concluded, estimating it could run the city as much as $8 million, based on a figure of $100 per test.

The governors office projected it could test 20,000 people daily, according to the report. If Trenton tested 5,000 residents a day, it would account for 25% of the total State tests administered (even though the population is approximately 1% of the State population).

To test all residents is an unfunded mandate, and the City has neither the resources nor the capacity to complete. It also ignores the shortage of tests available to local and state governments, the report said.

If the City subsidized 5,000 tests each day, it would cost the City $500,000 daily (not including the cost of staffing). Over sixteen days, the City could administer 80,000 tests (assuming the City could procure these tests and meet the staffing requirements). This testing scheme, for sixteen days, would cost the City $8,000,000 (not including the cost of staffing and PPE). At this point in time, the City has neither the financial resources or the tests and equipment to implement this testing scheme,

Beyond that, the report concluded that forcibly testing residents who dont want to be tested could violate their civil liberties.

Reactions to Report

Reaction to the report ran the gamut, with some saying the timing of the report was suspect and others suggesting Gusciora is in a tough position no matter what he does.

Ward, a scientist by trade, read the report as excuses for lack of action.

They cant keep being evasive and defensive about it, he said. The last thing I want to think about is politics. COVID-19 doesnt give a sh*t about politics. The best politics is doing the right thing. If you do that, youre gonna prosper. Excuses are bridges to nowhere. I dont want this life-and-death situation to get mired in politics. The hell are you, Donald Trump?

Jonette Smart, president of the Trenton NAACP and a West Ward resident, said she felt it was inappropriate for the administration to conclude it has done an adequate job still in the midst of the pandemic.

They shouldnt be patting themselves on the back for responding to a pandemic and taking care of its residents, she said, noting Guscioras hardly the only politician who has taken that tack.

At-large councilman Jerell Blakeley, who is often viewed as being pro-Gusciora, deferred substantial comment until he finished reading the report.

I think that reasonable people can disagree about them presenting the facts, he said. There are plenty of people who love to criticize the mayors performance they will do that regardless of what the numbers say. If the mayor cured cancer, youd have people complaining about the decline in health insurance stock.

Darren Freedom Green, a community activist and former mayoral candidate, graded the Gusciora administrations handling of the COVID-19 crisis as an F.

He said city officials also havent done enough to address the gunplay that has swept the city during the public health crisis.

One of the notorious examples of the alleged lack of leadership was the coronavirus debacle, in which Gusciora, Vaughn and East Ward councilman Joe Harrison were caught on tape hurling insults at each other.

Vaughn caught the most heat for making homophobic slurs toward the openly gay mayor.

The call received international attention and cast a cloud over the capital city.

At some point, its dangerous if we start to believe our own delusional information. Its always about symbolism, said Green, pointing to the lighting of City Hall in George Floyds alma mater colors as an example of officials proclivity for PR puffery. If youre going to elevate a city, you need substance.

Green said he agreed with others who believe the report will be used to shore up holes in Guscioras future mayoral prospects.

This will be used as a buffer to keep people off him, he said.

Gusciora refused to grade his administration beyond the adequate assessment offered by his offices report.

Thats for somebody else to decide, he said.
Iran showed power by sending oil tankers to Venezuela despite US threats: IRGC head

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 2:55 PM

The chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the country displayed its power through sending fuel tankers to Venezuela despite threats by the administration of US President Donald Trump to take action against them.

"We showcased our might, and our biggest display of power was the imposition of our will [on the enemies] and the sailing of [oil tankers] through high seas from the Persian Gulf towards Venezuela," Major General Hossein Salami said on Wednesday.

He added that the Iranian nation was surmounting problems as it stood at the zenith of power and dignity, noting that the key to overcoming woes was the willpower and faith of the nation.

Five Iranian oil tankers entered Venezuela's waters in May and June, carrying more than a million barrels of fuel to help revive oil refineries in the South American country, which is suffering from a severe fuel shortage caused by US sanctions.

Iran's fuel shipments have infuriated the US, which has imposed draconian sanctions prohibiting trade with both Iran and Venezuela with the aim of crippling their oil sectors.

The US reinstated economic sanctions on Iran after Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear deal in May 2018.

Salami said in his Wednesday remarks that the Islamic Republic managed to bypass the US sanctions, while Washington was drowning under economic pressure.

"The US, unable to contain the coronavirus, is experiencing its worst economic conditions," he said.

He added that the Islamic Revolution was breaking the back of its enemies, noting, "Today, we are witnessing the rapid decline of our big enemies, particularly the US."

Salami also pointed to recent anti-racism protests across the US and said the American nation used to be unaware of the US crimes, but it was now cognizant of the criminal nature of the government to the extent that they even set the national flag ablaze.

"All the symbols with which the US used to introduce itself and portrayed an untrue picture of itself are falling," he added.

The IRGC head said hatred is further spreading in the US, adding that lack of prudence could lead to the collapse of the United States.

US cities have been rocked by anti-racism protests since the May 22 killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African American, at the hands of a white US police officer while he pleaded for his life.

Protesters across the US have been demanding an end to police brutality and what they call "systemic racism."

Floyd's death has also sparked an outpouring of grief and protest worldwide.

In a televised address to the Iranian nation on June 3, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Kkamenei addressed the far-and-wide protests in the US in the aftermath of the gruesome killing of Floyd and said what the US has come face to face with today in the form of the protests "is a result of the realities that had always been kept concealed," and have now risen to the surface causing disgrace for the American administration.

The brutality that was exercised on Floyd is what the United States has been sowing all around the world, the Leader stated, saying, "This is the US government's nature and character that is being exposed today."

Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the "I Can't Breathe" slogan that the American protesters were chanting all across the United States during the protests and called it "the heartfelt words of all nations against which the US has committed many atrocities."

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Press Release

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited deploys Nokia software products to enhance customer experience and service

10 June 2020

Islamabad, Pakistan  Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has deployed Nokia automation, analytics and machine learning software to enhance the customer experience and improve customer service accuracy and efficiency.

Among the products rolled out are Nokia Service Management Platform (SMP), which automates and simplifies the entire customer care process, and significantly reduces the time to resolve customer issues while improving accuracy.

Nokia SMP was deployed across all PTCL Contact Centers in Pakistan. With this, customer service representatives are more efficient with all relevant information including guided resolution steps  now available on a single pane of glass.

PTCL customers can now enjoy a better overall experience as Nokia SMP constantly improves trouble prediction and resolution capability, while reducing customer service costs. The software is based on Nokia Bell Labs machine learning algorithms.

Moreover, PTCL customers can now have an improved quality of experience across internet connectivity, IPTV and communications services by using Nokias software solution.

PTCL and Nokias collaboration includes the already deployed Nokia Network Analyzer  Copper, as well as Nokia Network Analyzer  Fiber, to gather insights that provide remote diagnosis and troubleshooting of last mile issues, further enhancing service quality and reducing customer service time and operational expense.

Moqeem ul Haque, Chief Commercial and Group Strategy Officer, PTCL, said, "We are committed to digitizing our customer experience and reduce customer effort by meaningful customer interactions with higher on-the-spot resolution. This project has enabled us to re-design our workflows with increased effectiveness at a lower cost. Our collaboration with Nokia has greatly accelerated our experience and organizational transformation."

Story continues

Henrique Vale, Head of Nokia Software for MEA, said, "This go-live deployment provides several efficient tools that enhance PTCLs customer service capabilities and the user experience across the board. We are pleased with the deployment with PTCL and look forward to further supporting one of the leading telecom service provider in Pakistan for its digital transformation efforts."

Resources

Webpage: Nokia Service Management Platform

Webpage: Nokia Network Analyzer  Copper (NA-C) and Nokia Network Analyzer - Fiber (NA-F).

About PTCL

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is the largest integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) Company of Pakistan. With a humble start from a telephone and telegraph department in 1947, it has evolved to offer latest digital and telecommunication technologies today. It acts as the communication backbone for the country with the largest fiber cable network that spans from Khyber to Karachi and submarine cables connecting Pakistan to the world. PTCL has been assigned initial long-term entity rating of AAA (Triple A) and short-term rating of A-1+ (A-One Plus). For more information, visit www.ptcl.com.pk

About Nokia

We create the technology to connect the world. Only Nokia offers a comprehensive portfolio of network equipment, software, services and licensing opportunities across the globe. With our commitment to innovation, driven by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, we are a leader in the development and deployment of 5G networks.

Our communications service provider customers support more than 6.4 billion subscriptions with our radio networks, and our enterprise customers have deployed over 1,300 industrial networks worldwide. Adhering to the highest ethical standards, we transform how people live, work and communicate. For our latest updates, please visit us online www.nokia.com and follow us on Twitter @nokia.

Media Inquiries

Nokia

Kannan K

Nokia Media Relations

Phone: +971 529 823 406

E-mail: kannan.k@nokia.com

PTCL

Fariha Tahir Shah

GM Corporate Communication Mobile

+92 331 555 4560

E-mail: fariha.shah@ptcl.net.pk

Nokia

Communications

Phone: +358 10 448 4900

Email: press.services@nokia.com
Istanbul, June 12 : A Turkish employee working for the US consulate in Istanbul was sentenced to prison for "aiding an armed terror group," local media reported.

Metin Topuz, who was arrested in 2017 over his alleged link to a network led by US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, was sentenced to eight years and nine months in jail, the NTV broadcaster said on Thursday.

He was acquitted from charges of "political and military espionage" in Thursday's court hearing in Istanbul, the NTV added.

Meanwhile, the verdict triggered an immediate reaction from the US embassy in Ankara, reported Xinhua news agency.

In a series of tweets, it said, "US officials observed every hearing in the trial of Metin Topuz in Istanbul, and we are deeply disappointed in today's decision." It claimed that there was "no credible evidence" to support the conviction, and the United States hopes that "it will swiftly be overturned." Topuz's initial arrest in 2017 had also led to a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

The Turkish government blames Gulen and his network for being behind the failed coup in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed.

Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denied any involvement, while Ankara has been pushing for his extradition since the failed coup.
Four years ago, despite fierce opposition from Democratic politicians, California voters passed Proposition 54, a constitutional amendment requiring the Legislature to be more transparent.

Nearly two-thirds of the states voters backed Proposition 54, which requires final versions of legislative bills to be in print and online at least 72 hours before final votes. It also requires the Legislature to make audio-visual recordings of its meetings and place them online within 24 hours.

It was aimed at the insidious practice of drafting bills in the dead of night, especially trailer bills to the state budget loaded with special interest goodies, and enacting them before anyone had an opportunity to know what they contained.

Lawmakers didnt like the new law and have connived to get around it whenever they could. And now, a newly drafted constitutional amendment would not only undermine major portions of Proposition 54, but give legislators new authority to act secretly. They could even bar the public from their meetings, whenever the governor declares an emergency  such as the one Gov. Gavin Newsom has decreed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dan Walters: Gavin Newsom channels Pete Wilson Democrat Gavin Newsom's governorship resembles that of Republican Pete Wilson three decades earlier - setting aside his agenda to deal with a non-stop wave of crises, columnist Dan Walters says.

Ostensibly, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 25 would allow legislators to attend legislative meetings and cast their votes on bills remotely, via webcasts or other electronic means, which sounds superficially plausible.

However, if enacted, it would go much further. It would allow proxy voting  a controversial practice now being employed in the House of Representatives  and give the Legislature authority to avoid posting videos of proceedings if compliance is not practicable under the circumstances of the state of emergency.

So, one might say, maybe all of those procedures might be warranted were a major calamity to befall California. But ACA 25 doesnt require the emergency to apply statewide, but within the state, or parts thereof

Therefore, were sparsely populated Modoc County in the northeastern corner of the state to have a wildfire serious enough for the governor to declare an emergency, the provisions of ACA 25 would kick in and the Legislature would be free to operate in secret.

Dan Walters: A conflict 42 years in the making Four decades of decisions on government finance created a conflict between the state and five Bay Area counties that Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposes to settle, columnist Dan Walters says.

Far-fetched? The history of the California Legislature tells us that its members will fully exploit every opportunity to avoid transparency and thus accountability. Proposition 54 was written precisely to stop hide-the-pea procedures, such as misusing budget trailer bills.

The two men largely responsible for enacting Proposition 54 in 2016, former Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee and wealthy physicist Charles Munger Jr., are blowing the whistle on ACA 25, saying it guts the provisions on transparency in the California Legislature that the voters enacted by passing Proposition 54.

The notion that it would be possible for legislators through the use of technology and without being physically present in the State Capitol, to attend and vote remotely in a legislative proceeding, without it also being possible to record the proceedings and post them on the Internet within 24 hours, is a palpable absurdity, they wrote in a letter to legislative leaders.

Dan Walters: Recession freezes ambitious agenda The COVID-19 recession has put the ambitious plans of Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators in the deep freeze, probably for years, columnist Dan Walters says.

That the mere existence of a state of emergency declared by the president of the United States or the governor would justify excluding the public from legislative proceedings, eliminating the right of the public to record them, or relieving the Legislature of its obligation to record and post its public proceedings, all in violation of the California Constitution, is also absurd, they added.

Absurd indeed. ACA 25s chief author, Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, a San Mateo Democrat, and other legislators who have signed onto ACA 25 should be ashamed of themselves for exploiting the pandemic to undercut legislative transparency.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

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Government efforts to build an airport rail link go back a long way. It was 1965 when the Bolte government introduced a bill into the State Parliament calling for the acquisition of land for a rail link from Glenroy to Tullamarine at a cost of no more than 100,000. The opposition was quick to raise concerns about its ability to attract enough patronage and arguments over possible routes proliferated. History does have a way of repeating itself.

In every decade since that bill was written there has been a repeat of the wrangling over the pros and cons of constructing such a crucial piece of Melbourne's transport infrastructure. Fast forward to today, and the debate rages on. Except now the most contentious issue is whether a tunnel should be built between the CBD and Sunshine station, which would then connect with a new above-ground track to Tullamarine. Without the tunnel, trains along the the CBD to Sunshine section would need to share already congested suburban routes, but the project's cost would be significantly less.

An artist's impression of the airport rail link station. Credit:Melbourne Airport

While the state government has backed an airport link for some time, it has never shown a lot of enthusiasm for the tunnel, baulking at the extra cost, and is hesitant to allow private funding to be part of the mix. A superannuation consortium, including IFM Investors, Melbourne Airport, Metro Trains Australia and Southern Cross Station, has proposed contributing $7 billion to the project to ensure the tunnel is built. In return, the private consortium would operate the rail link and charge the state government for usage of the lines.

The Andrews government is shying away from handing over another major piece of transport infrastructure to private hands, with Transurban already raking in substantial profits on the back of the CityLink and EastLink tollways. It is also committed to getting the North East Link under way, is facing cost blowouts on some of its big builds already in progress and could face court with Transurban over contaminated soil on the West Gate Tunnel project. It has its hands full.
Hearst Connecticut Media / Tara O'Neill

NEW HAVEN  As the investigation into a fatal crash on Saturday continues, police on Thursday released the name of the man who died.

Police identified the man who died as 36-year-old New Haven resident Kenneth Brian Victory.
WASHINGTON  A Republican-led Senate panel on Thursday approved a plan by Sen. Elizabeth Warren to have the names of Confederate figures removed from military bases and other Pentagon assets. Only Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, voted against the measure.

The ban would be imposed within three years and was approved by a voice vote as a piece of the annual Pentagon policy bill. A commission would be set up to oversee the process. The provision is likely to be matched when the Democratic-controlled House takes up the measure in coming weeks.

Senators on the Armed Services Committee approved the amendment on renaming the bases on a bipartisan voice vote, but it was not with robust debate  and some dissent. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, said he supported the move while Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said he did not oppose it.

Hawley was the only one to vote against it in committee, according to two people unauthorized to discuss the private debate.

I voted no on it, and I spoke against it in the committee and voiced my reservations, Hawley told reporters Thursday.

I just dont think that Congress mandating that these be renamed and attempting to erase that part of our history is a way that you deal with that history, he said. I dont think turning your back on its how you deal with it, confront it, and then move on.

Chairman James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, wanted assurances local communities would have input, aides said. There was also a push to ensure some flexibility, for example, for commanders who served both sides. Exceptions are also made for gravemarkers, all but ensuring no disruptions at Arlington National Cemetery, the aides said.

The new commission will be made up of eight members, four from the Defense Department and four from both parties in the Senate.

Confederate monuments have reemerged as a national flashpoint since the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes. Protesters decrying racism have targeted Confederate monuments in multiple cities, and some state officials are considering taking them down.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that its time to remove symbols honoring Confederate figures from the U.S. Capitol building and military bases as the pandemic and racial unrest force a national reckoning with racial discrimination.

These names have to go from these bases and these statues have to go from the Capitol, Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. The American people know these names have to go.

President Donald Trump doubled down Thursday on his vow to not rename military bases honoring Confederate generals, even as NASCAR announced it would ban displays of the Confederate flag at its races.

Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars. Hopefully our great Republican Senators wont fall for this! Trump said in a Twitter blast.

The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation, Pelosi wrote earlier. Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals.

At her press conference, she said of Trump: He seems to be the only person left who doesnt get it.

The presence of statues of generals and other figures of the Confederacy in Capitol locations such as Statuary Hall  the original House chamber  has been denounced by African American lawmakers for many years. Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Illinois, was known to give tours pointing out the numerous statues.

But its up to the states to determine which of their historical figures to display. Jefferson Davis, a former U.S. senator from Mississippi who was president of the Confederate States of America, is represented by one of two statues from that state. Pelosi noted that Davis and Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, whose statue comes from Georgia, were charged with treason against the United States.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said the appropriate way to handle the statues controversy would be to continue the trend of states replacing them on their own.

They can trade them out at any time ... a number of states are trading them out now, McConnell told reporters. I think thats the appropriate way to deal with the statue issue. The states make that decision.
Tom Jones, the general manager of the Casper event, said there were still too many restrictions to reasonably hold the parade, which he said can draw a crowd of 30,000.

He also said the parade wouldn't be the same without being able to host the annual fair and rodeo, which is canceled this year amid the pandemic.

The parade to us is the kickoff to our fair, Jones said. If we cant have the fair, why do it?

As of Wednesday afternoon, the state had confirmed 768 cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 212 probable cases. Of the combined 980 known and likely patients, 804 have recovered. Eighteen Wyomingites have died from COVID-19.

Of the six metrics that the state tracks to gauge the severity of the virus' presence in Wyoming, five are marked yellow for stabilizing. Those five are new cases, percent of cases attributed to community spread, total hospital admissions related to the virus, hospital bed availability and ICU bed availability.

The sixth metric  percent of all tests that are positive  is rated as green, for improving. Of the more than 30,000 tests processed by state and private labs, just 2.5% have been positive.
[June 11, 2020] DATA Communications Management Corp. Announces Webcast Details of Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders

DATA Communications Management Corp. ("DCM (News - Alert)" or the "Company")(TSX:DCM), a leading provider of marketing and business communications solutions to companies across North America, is announcing webcast details of its upcoming Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders (the "Annual Meeting") to be held on June 26, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. This year, to proactively deal with the unprecedented public health impact of the ongoing novel coronavirus disease outbreak, to mitigate risks to the health and safety of our community, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders, and to comply with the measures imposed by the federal and provincial governments, the Company's Annual Meeting will be broadcast by live webcast. Shareholders of the Company are respectfully asked to not attend the Annual Meeting in person, and instead are invited to join the webcast. Access to the Annual Meeting webcast can be found at the following Microsoft (News - Alert) Teams link: https://bit.ly/30tDJ4F The webcast will not have voting capabilities and therefore all shareholders of the Company are strongly encouraged to cast their vote in a timely manner by submitting a completed form of proxy or voting instruction form prior to the Annual Meeting by one of the means described in the Company's Management Information Circular (the "Circular") for the meeting, which can be found in the investor relations section of the Company's website at www.datacm.com/investor-relations or on www.sedar.com. Given that shareholders are respectfully asked not to attend the Annual Meeting in person, we also recommend that shareholders not appoint a proxyholder to participate in and vote at the Annual Meeting other than the management representatives named in the Circular. The Company's directors and senior officers, other than the Chairman of the Board, President and Corporate Secretary, will not be attending the physical Annual Meeting in person but do intend to join the webcast. Representatives of Computershare Investor Services Inc. will be scrutineering the Annual Meeting via telephone. DCM reserves the right to take any precautionary measures it deems appropriate in relation to the physical meeting andaccess to its premises. Shareholders should be aware that it is entirely possible the Company will be unable to permit them to attend the physical meeting should they arrive in person at the Annual Meeting.



How to Join the Webcast To ensure the best experience on any device, it's recommended you download the Microsoft Teams app prior to the meeting.

By mobile phone or tablet (must use app): 1. Click the meeting link, which will open the MS Teams app.

2. When prompted, join the meeting as a Guest/Anonymous, or login automatically using your Microsoft account if you have one. By computer (use app or browser): 1. Click the meeting link.

2. When prompted, click the purple Teams app button or click "Use the web app instead". If you connect via the web, it's recommended you use Google (News - Alert) Chrome or MS Chromium browser.

3. When prompted, join the meeting as a Guest/Anonymous, or login automatically using your Microsoft account if you have one. Meeting link: https://bit.ly/30tDJ4F If you experience problems trying to connect, please contact the DCM Helpdesk: [email protected] About DCM DCM is a communication solutions partner that adds value for major companies across North America by creating more meaningful connections with their customers. DCM pairs customer insights and thought leadership with cutting edge products, modular enabling technology and services to power its clients' go to market strategies. DCM helps its clients manage how their brands come to life, determine which channels are right for them, manage multimedia campaigns, deploy location specific and 1:1 marketing, execute custom loyalty programs, and fulfill their commercial printing needs all in one place. DCM's extensive experience has positioned it as an expert at providing communication solutions across many verticals, including the financial, retail, healthcare, consumer health, energy, and not for profit sectors. As a result of its locations throughout Canada and in the United States (Chicago, Illinois and New York, New York), it is able to meet its clients' varying needs with scale, speed, and efficiency - no matter how large or complex the ask. DCM is able to deliver advanced data security, regulatory compliance, and bilingual communications, both in print and/or digital formats. Additional information relating to DATA Communications Management Corp. is available on www.datacm.com, and in the disclosure documents filed by DATA Communications Management Corp. on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward looking" statements that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, objectives or achievements of DCM or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, objectives or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan", and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward looking statements. These statements reflect DCM's current views regarding future events and operating performance, are based on information currently available to DCM, and speak only as of the date of this press release. These forward looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions and should not be read as guarantees that future performance or results will be achieved. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance, objectives or achievements of DCM to be materially different from any future results, performance, objectives or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. The principal factors, assumptions and risks that DCM made or took into account in the preparation of these forward looking statements include: risks relating to the health and safety of our communities, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders, and compliance with the measures imposed by the federal and provincial governments; and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, a continuing situation the impact of which could be material on DCM's business, financial condition and results of operations. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this press release as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Unless required by applicable securities law, DCM does not intend and does not assume any obligation to update these forward looking statements. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005865/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / Searchlight Resources Inc. ("Searchlight" or the "Company") (TSXV:SCLT)(OTC:CNYCF) is pleased to provide its preliminary 2020 corporate outlook and to announce the appointment of Mark Jarvis as a strategic board advisor. On May 28, 2020, the Company closed a private placement, raising over CDN$1,000,000 in a combination of flow through and non flow-through securities, and has now entered into a more active phase in its corporate development and mineral exploration.

Searchlight Resources is fully funded for 2020 exploration with recent completion of financing on May 28 th , 2020

, 2020 The Company plans to accelerate and focus exploration at its English Bay high-grade gold project, including sampling of historical drill core, geophysics, data modelling and drilling.

Respected resource entrepreneur Mark Jarvis joins Searchlight as strategic board advisor.

Searchlight plans to complete geophysical surveys at its extensive Flin Flon land package, which includes four past producing gold mines.

"We have patiently acquired key projects in Canada's highest rated mining jurisdiction, Saskatchewan, and assembled a strategic property portfolio close to major infrastructure at both the Flin Flon and La Ronge historic mining camps," said Stephen Wallace, CEO of Searchlight. "The Company is now well positioned with a strong treasury, a robust gold market, and a portfolio of properties that deserve focused exploration for what we believe may yield exciting discoveries. Our primary focus will be to accelerate and validate the high-grade gold discovery at the English Bay property made by prospectors adjacent to the highway 10 km north of LaRonge, Saskatchewan."

English Bay Gold Project Exploration Plans

The English Bay high grade gold project is located approximately 10 km north of La Ronge, Saskatchewan, alongside highway 102, and which was previously explored from 1999 - 2002 and in 2013, with 37 drill holes totaling approximately 5,000 meters. Multiple high-grade gold drill intersections over a 400m of strike length were discovered including:

2.10 oz/t gold over 4 feet (72.00 g/t Au over 1.2 metres) in DDH CSP-16

1.85 oz/t gold over 4.5 feet (63.43 Au g/t over 1.4 metres) in DDH CSP-03

1.39 oz/t gold over 4 feet (47.66 g/t Au over 1.2 metres) in DDH CSP-13

0.569 oz/t gold over 9 feet (19.51 g/t Au over 2.8 metres) in DDH CSP-04

Searchlight has reviewed the historical data of the 37 drill holes, and is currently finalizing the following exploration plans for the next six months:

Near term mobilization to La Ronge to review, sample and model the over 5,000 meters of historical drill core located at site during June and July 2020.

Plan and execute a summer geophysical survey (UAV MAG) across the property to assist in drill targeting /vectoring during July and August 2020.

Complete geological modelling, drill hole final targeting and commence drilling during September - October 2020 to validate historical high-grade intercepts.

Searchlight can earn 100% interest in English Bay by paying $10,000 in cash payments ($6,000 paid), issue 300,000 shares (200,000 shares issued) and incurring $250,000 in exploration over three years (by April 30th, 2022). The property is subject to a 2% NSR, of which 1% can be purchased for $1,000,000.

Flin Flon Property Exploration Plans

Searchlight controls an extensive land position within the Flin Flon - Snow Lake Greenstone Belt in Saskatchewan, located approximately 10 km from the world-class mining center of Flin Flon, Manitoba. This provides excellent infrastructure for exploration and mining.

The Company is planning to complete multiple geophysical surveys during the summer of 2020. This includes an advanced geophysical survey utilizing drones, which will provide state of the art data for 3D modelling and drill target resolution. From previous exploration the Company has identified drill targets and will use these geophysical surveys to plan the precise parameters of the drill orientations and depths.

Mr. Mark Jarvis - Strategic Advisor

The Company welcomes Mr. Mark Jarvis, to Searchlight's Strategic Board, a successful resource entrepreneur, whose early career as a financial advisor in Vancouver led him to join an oil and gas company, Ultra Petroleum (NYSE: UPL). As a director of Ultra, Mark led financings totaling over $40 million, which helped Ultra drill four trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in Wyoming. Mark is currently Chairman of Gigametals Corp. (TSXV: GIGA), which is developing one of Canada's largest nickel-cobalt deposits, and is also CEO of Shoal Point Energy, a company which has an unconventional gas deposit in offshore Newfoundland, and a recent oil discovery in Kansas.

"I would like to welcome Mark to the Searchlight team," commented Alf Stewart, Director and VP Corporate Development of Searchlight. "I have known Mark for 17 years and look forward to working closely together and benefitting from his broad experience in resource markets and financing."

Technical Note

These presented drill sample results are historical in nature and Searchlight has not undertaken any independent investigation of the sampling nor has it independently analyzed the results of the previous exploration work in order to verify the results. Searchlight considers these sample results relevant as the Company uses historical reports to evaluate and historic sample results as a guide to plan future exploration programs. All sample widths cut by drill holes are not true widths, they represent the intersection of the incline hole with the dip of the mineralized structure. Searchlight estimates from historical data the true widths are 55% to 75% of recorded widths.

Qualified Person

Stephen Wallace, P.Geo., is Searchlight's Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Searchlight Resources Inc.

Searchlight Resources Inc. (TSX.V:SCLT; US:CYNCF) is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company focused on Saskatchewan, Canada which ranked as the top location in Canada by the Fraser Institute for mining investment. Searchlight is currently advancing its English Bay high grade gold project located 10 km from LaRonge, and its Bootleg Lake Project located less than 10 km from Flin Flon, Manitoba hosting multiple past producing high-grade gold mines.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Stephen Wallace"

SEARCHLIGHT RESOURCES INC.

Stephen Wallace, President, CEO and Director

For further information, visit the Company's website at www.searchlightresources.com or contact:

Searchlight Resources Inc.

Alf Stewart, VP Corporate Development

(604) 331-9326

info@searchlightresources.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: Searchlight Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593583/Searchlight-Resources-Provides-2020-Corporate-Outlook-and-Welcomes-Mark-Jarvis-as-Strategic-Board-Advisor
Latest Raise Led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and AXA Venture Partners

LAS VEGAS, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NS8, an online fraud prevention company, announced the company has successfully closed $123 million in venture funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and AXA Venture Partners (AVP).

With this investment, NS8 will accelerate product development and expand its global reach with an increased focus on growing its vast partner network. The company has grown from 50 to over 200 employees within the last year, and hiring continues across sales, engineering, marketing, and infrastructure.

Lightspeed's investment provides NS8 with access to the firm's expansive global network, as well as a team of operators and advisors to help navigate challenges, build world-class teams, and support the company's continued growth at all stages.

"Online fraud prevention has grown rapidly due to the acceleration of ecommerce adoption by merchants and, with it, an increased threat of those seeking to attack online stores. Merchants of all sizes need to invest in security products to ensure a safe and secure online experience," said Bradley Twohig, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. "NS8's platform allows its partners and their merchants to stand up a full-service fraud prevention hub, in a matter of a day, across almost every ecommerce platform. The time to value is simply best in class."

AVP has significant experience helping scale companies that leverage differentiated technology and efficient business models to drive innovation in enterprise software, fintech, consumer and digital health. With offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, AVP can also help NS8 accelerate its global expansion.

"NS8 has built a market-leading fraud detection and prevention platform combining advanced data analytics with real-time scoring. NS8's rapid growth is a testament to the strength of the company's product and the value NS8 delivers to its customers," said Alex Scherbakovsky, General Partner at AXA Venture Partners and NS8 board member. "We are excited to partner with Adam and the NS8 team to scale the business globally."

Throughout the recent global pandemic, NS8 continues to emerge as the fastest growing industry leader, with year-over-year revenue growth of 200 percent and a dedicated focus on aiding online vendors to make fraud decisions that protect their customers and their bottom line.

"Thanks to this investment from Lightspeed, AXA Venture Partners, and our full backing group, we can continue to scale to meet the growing demand for fraud prevention technology in the global marketplace," said NS8 CEO Adam Rogas. "This partnership positions NS8 to empower even more businesses with enterprise-level fraud defenses, regardless of size or industry."

About NS8

NS8 is a comprehensive fraud prevention platform that combines behavioral analytics, real-time scoring, and global monitoring to help online businesses minimize risk. Its patented scoring technology provides actionable data about the type, quality, and trustworthiness of transactions, which businesses leverage to automate fraud management workflows to suit their individual needs. NS8 is headquartered in Las Vegas, with regional offices located in San Francisco, San Ramon, Miami, Amsterdam, Singapore, and Melbourne. www.ns8.com

Crowell & Moring LLP served as legal counsel to NS8 in the fundraising transaction.

About Lightspeed Venture Partners

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise and Consumer sectors. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 400 companies globally, including Snap, Nest, Nutanix, AppDynamics, MuleSoft, OYO, Guardant, StitchFix, and GrubHub. Lightspeed and its affiliates currently manage $10.5B across the global Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in Silicon Valley, Israel, India, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe. www.lsvp.com

About AXA Venture Partners

AXA Venture Partners (AVP) is a global venture capital firm investing in high-growth, technology-enabled companies. AVP has built, in less than five years, a unique investment platform specialized in tech investments with $800 million of assets under management through three pillars of investment expertise: early stage, growth stage, and fund of funds. To date, AVP has invested in more than 45 companies and more than 15 funds. The AVP team operates globally with offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, and Hong Kong. Beyond investments, AVP provides unique access to business development opportunities helping portfolio companies to scale globally and accelerate their growth. www.axavp.com

LinkedIn:@ns8Twitter:@ns8inc NS8.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1174788/NS8_Logo.jpg
The Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956 has been detained again for the same illegal fishing crimes as it was apprehended for a year ago. In 2019 the vessel operators were issued with a fine for using under-size mesh nets and taking fish below minimum landing size: despite refusing to pay, the vessel had its licence renewed. Last month the Marine Police apprehended it again under almost identical charges.

This blatant disregard for the law is enabled by a lack of deterrent sanctions and the decision  taken by government officials in the full knowledge of these crimes  to re-licence the vessel before the fine was paid, says the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). If the government does not crack down on these practices it will endanger the livelihoods and food security of millions of Ghanaians.

The Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956 was initially apprehended in June 2019 for using nets with a mesh size below the legal minimum and taking fish smaller than legal landing size. The vessel operators had failed to declare the catches at port; according to the authorities, they planned to trade them illegally at sea in a practice known as 'saiko'.

In October 2019, the owners were issued with a fine of US$1 million by an out of court settlement committee, and an additional GHS 124,000 for the fish on board the vessel. However, the owners refused to pay the fine and the case returned to court. Despite this, the vessel licence was renewed, and the trawler put to sea again, fishing in the waters of both Ghana and neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire.

On 30 May 2020, the Marine Police apprehended the vessel again, and again the charges brought were nets with a mesh size below the legal limit and under-sized fish. The Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956, which is operated by the Chinese company Rongcheng Ocean Fishery Co Ltd, will be detained until June 16, 2020, when the case is due to come before court.

Around 90% of Ghana's industrial fishing fleet is linked to Chinese ownership, an EJF investigation revealed in 2018 . As Ghana's fisheries laws prohibit foreigners from engaging in joint ventures in the industrial trawl sector, Chinese organisations operate through Ghanaian 'front' companies, using opaque corporate structures to import their vessels, register and obtain a licence.

These repeat offences show that the system of sanctions in Ghana is not having a deterrent effect, says EJF. Under international law, Ghana has a responsibility to establish and implement a system of deterrent sanctions that deprives offenders of the benefits flowing from their illegal fishing activities. The fact that the vessel was authorised by the Ghanaian authorities to fish in Cote d'Ivoire, despite its failure to pay a fine for serious illegal fishing offences, shows that Ghana's decisions on these cases have international importance.

The use of under-size nets is often associated with the damaging practice of saiko, as trawlers use them to illegally target the main catch of Ghanaian canoe fishers  small pelagic fish, also known as the 'people's fish'. Once caught, they transfer the catch at sea to specially adapted boats and sell this stolen fish back to local communities at a profit.

EJF's Executive Director Steve Trent said, It is vital to ensure that the vessel pays the full fines of both cases, and that the outcome of this and other cases are published on the Ministry's website. Perpetrators cannot simply choose not to pay a fine and go back to exactly the same criminal actions as before. That is not how justice works. To safeguard Ghana's food security, livelihoods and stability, the government must act to tackle this issue across the whole fleet.

Notes


Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Slams CCP for Exploiting Floyds Death

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The protests and riots following the death of George Floyd have prompted Chinese state media to belittle human rights in the United States and equated the situation with the Hong Kong protests. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo then issued a statement in response to the attacks, pointing out the differences between China and the United States and slamming the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its false propaganda and for trying to whitewash its dictatorship.

On June 6, Pompeo issued a statement to reprimand the CCP for exploiting George Floyds death and trying to legitimize its authoritarian rule.

The Chinese Communist Partys callous exploitation of the tragic death of George Floyd to justify its authoritarian denial of basic human dignity exposes its true colors yet again. As with dictatorships throughout history, no lie is too obscene, so long as it serves the Partys lust for power. This laughable propaganda should not fool anyone, Pompeo said.

Xue Chi, a China issues research scholar, based in the U.S., told China Forbidden News: There is a profound background to Pompeos statement, a statement published as a strong retaliation to the CCPs propaganda. This background is that, in the context of the confrontation between China and the United States, the Chinese Communist Party has used every opportunity to plant evidence, to frame and to smear the United States.

On May 25, Minnesota resident George Floyd was reported to police for using a fake banknote in a store and was apprehended by an officer who knelt on his neck for nine minutes, resulting in Floyds death. The police officer was subsequently charged with second-degree murder. The incident triggered many protests and riots in Minnesota and many other states across the U.S. and included arson, looting, and even several killings. In order to ensure the safety of the legitimate protestors and the public, police and the National Guard were called to control the riots.

Yet the CCP took the opportunity to launch a propaganda campaign to bad-mouth human rights in the United States and equated the incident with the Hong Kong protests and it needs to crack down on Hong Kong protesters.

However, according to many reports, the Floyd riots were organized by a number of leftist groups, including by the CCP itself. For instance, in a video of riots near the White House on June 1st, someone is heard yelling in Chinese: Hurry up! Hurry, lets leave!

The CCP definitely secretly hid behind and manipulated the riots. Now it is using the incident to justify its brutal suppression of Hong Kong peoples resistance. Such action is despicable in everyones view, Xue Chin said.

Tian Yuan, a current affairs commentator, also expressed his opinion that the George Floyd case is just one case of police brutality against a black man and does not represent the attitude by law enforcement throughout the United States. All peaceful protests are allowed in the United States, but killing, arson, violent destruction of property, and looting are crimes that put everyone in danger. Moreover, the protests and demonstrations in Hong Kong are legal, and it is the Hong Kong police that is using violence in confronting peaceful protestors.

Tian Yuan further reiterated: China is not a normal country. Universal values and truth are welcomed in free democratic countries but become hearsay in China and can be suppressed. There are countless examples of this, one example is freedom of religious beliefs. All of these examples show clearly the contrast between China and the rest of the world.

As Mike Pompeo said in his statement: In China when a church burns, the attack was almost certainly directed by the CCP. In America, when a church burns, the arsonists are punished by the government, and it is the government that brings fire trucks, water, aid, and comfort to the faithful.

Pompeo continued: In China, peaceful protesters from Hong Kong to Tiananmen Square are clubbed by armed militiamen for simply speaking out. Reporters writing of these indignities are sentenced to long terms in prison. In the United States, law enforcementboth state and federalbrings rogue officers to justice, welcomes peaceful protests while forcefully shutting down looting and violence, and exercises power pursuant to the Constitution to protect property and liberty for all. Our free press covers events wall to wall, for all the world to see.

Pompeo also mentioned the CCP virus pandemic in his statement: In China, when doctors and journalists warn of the dangers of a new disease, the CCP silences and disappears them, and lies about death totals and the extent of the outbreak. In the United States, we value life and build transparent systems to treat, cure, and underwritemore than any other nationpandemic solutions for the globe.

Beijing in recent days has showcased its continuing contempt for the truth and scorn for the law. The CCPs propaganda efforts seeking to conflate the United States actions in the wake of the death of George Floyd with the CCPs continued denial of basic human rights and freedomshould be seen for the fraud that they are, Pompeo said.

Pompeo also emphasized that the Chinese Communist Party imprisons people who think differently, and when people embrace their freedom, that freedom is suppressed, and the people have to surrender to the Partys commands and demands. But even in the midst of the riots, the United States is steadfast in its commitment to freedom, the rule of law, transparency, and inalienable human rights.

Pompeos statement ended, saying: During the best of times, the PRC ruthlessly imposes communism. Amid the most difficult challenges, the United States secures freedom.
FILE PHOTO: Hong Kong anti-government protesters attend a rally in support of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen outside the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei

By Yimou Lee and Jessie Pang

TAIPEI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Taiwan is gearing up to welcome Hong Kong people fleeing their city as China tightens its grip, but the island has little experience of handling refugees and is scrambling to prepare and to keep out any Chinese spies who might try to join the influx.

Year-long anti-government protests in Hong Kong have won widespread sympathy in democratic and Chinese-claimed Taiwan, which has welcomed those who have already come and expects more.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen last month became the first government leader anywhere to pledge measures to help Hong Kong people who leave due to what they see as tightening Chinese controls, including newly introduced national security legislation, smothering their democratic aspirations.

China denies stifling Hong Kong's freedoms and has condemned Tsai's offer.

Taiwan, for decades just as wary of the mainland as many in the former British colony of Hong Kong are, is working on a humanitarian relief plan for the expected arrivals, officials say.

"Hong Kong no doubt is a priority for Tsai," a senior government official familiar with the president's thinking told Reuters, adding that the administration was setting aside resources to handle Hong Kong people.

The plan would include a monthly allowance for living and rent and shelter for those unable to find accommodation, said a second person with direct knowledge of the preparations.

It is too early to gauge how many might come but Taiwan does not expect the number to be more than the thousands of people who came from Vietnam from the mid-1970s, most fleeing the communist takeover of what had been U.S.-backed South Vietnam.

Nearly 200 Hong Kong people have fled to Taiwan since protests flared last year and about 10% have been granted visas under a law that protects Hong Kong people who are at risk for political reasons, said Shih Yi-hsiang of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.

Story continues

For now, anyone thinking of making the move has to wait as Taiwan has barred Hong Kong people as part of its effort to block the novel coronarvirus but Shih expects the number to jump once the ban is lifted.

'VERY COMPLICATED'

With little experience of refugees since the 1970s and with worries that China could infiltrate spies posing as activists, the government was urgently looking for experts to vet backgrounds, the second source said.

"This is a very complicated scenario that Taiwan government has never dealt with," said the source who declined to be identified as the information about plans has not been made public.

"We didn't think such things would happen in Hong Kong even in our dreams."

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment.

A Taiwan government panel including security officials would scrutinise applications and issue visas allowing Hong Kong people to study or work in Taiwan, the second source said.

Shih said the government also needed experts in areas from case management to counselling.

A senior Taipei-based Western diplomat said Taiwan was most likely to get the most radical protesters and the less well-off, as those with the means would probably choose to go to countries such as Canada or Britain.

Tyrant Lau, 26, released last month from an eight-month sentence in Hong Kong for possession of weapons, welcomed Tsai's offer and said he aimed to make Taiwan home because of its democracy and low cost of living.

"It's the only hope for protesters who can't afford moving to other places," Lau said in Hong Kong as he waits for the border to open.

"I hope I can live a normal life in Taiwan. I've forgotten what a normal life is like."

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei, and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel)
A top official at a global human rights organization criticized South Korea for trying to shut down two activist groups who sent anti-Kim Jong Un leaflets by balloon across the border into North Korea.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said a decision by South Korea to revoke the licenses and seek prosecution for the groups is a blow against the campaign to hold North Korea accountable for its human rights violations for the sake of political expediency.

The moves against the activists are "a blatant violation of freedom of association that cannot be justified with vague appeals to border security and relations with the North," he said in a statement Thursday.

His comments came the day after South Korea's Unification Ministry said the government plans to cancel the licenses of two groups -- Fighters for Free North Korea and KeunSaem -- that sent balloons with leaflets across the border, and ask prosecutors whether they can bring charges on suspicion of violating an inter-Korean exchange law. Officials from the groups have not responded to requests to comment.

While millions of leaflets have been flown across the border for more than a decade, Pyongyang in recent days slammed South Korean President Moon Jae-in for letting groups that include North Korean defectors send the leaflets into its territory.

On Tuesday, it cut off communications links set up with its neighbor about two years ago, in an expression of its anger. Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korea's leader, previously accused South Korea of tolerating a "sordid and wicked act of hostility."

Moon's office expressed "deep regrets" over activists groups that send leaflets condemning Kim Jong Un toward North Korean territory and will actively seek legal procedures to punish them, Kim You-geun, a senior official at the National Security Council, said at a Thursday briefing.

South Korea's Unification Ministry in a text message Thursday said its official position hasn't changed from the previous day, when it announced it would seek legal action against the two groups.

"Rather than kowtow to threats from Kim Jong Un's sister, South Korea should call for Pyongyang to open uncensored and unrestricted channels for communication between people across the 38th parallel," Robertson said.

Moon, a former human rights lawyer, has made a fresh push to restore economic and other exchanges with North Korea after his ruling progressive camp scored a supermajority in parliamentary elections in April.

But Moon doesn't have much he can offer North Korea without prompting a blowup from the Trump administration, which has repeatedly rejected Seoul's calls for sanctions relief. The U.S. has refused to relax United Nations penalties and other measures against the regime without greater commitments on arms reduction from Kim Jong Un.

The United Nations special rapporteur for North Korea has said the country systematically abuses the rights of its citizens and denies them basic freedoms, while the U.S. State Department accuses Pyongyang of a brutal campaign to crush dissent through political prisons, torture and executions.

South Korean activist groups have accused Moon of downplaying abuses north of the border so as not to upset relations with Kim Jong Un.
There is transmission in the community says Delhi minister

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, June 11: Adding to the confusion over whether there is community transmission of COVID-19 in the city, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said there is "transmission in the community" but only the Centre can declare if it is so.

Community transmission is a technical term, he said, putting on the onus on the Centre.

His remarks come a day after Deputy Chief Manish Sisodia told reporters that the Centre has said there is "no community transmission" of the novel coronavirus infection in the national capital.

Kejriwal meets Amit Shah, discusses COVID-19 situation in Delhi

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

"There is transmission in the community. But if it is community transmission or not that can be declared by the Centre only. It is a technical term," a statement quoting Jain said.

A day earlier, Jain had told reporters that the source of infection is not known in nearly half of the fresh cases being reported here.

Delhi recorded 1,366 fresh cases of COVID-19 on June 9, taking the tally to 31,309, while the death toll mounted to 905, authorities said on Wednesday.

There are 18,543 active cases, and 11,861 people have recovered, Jain said.

Even the active contacts of the cases are around 30,000-40,000. And, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria, himself suggested that "there is a community transmission in the containment zones," he said.

Earlier, in one case, contact tracing would be done for up to 600 people, and today, if we multiply 1500 cases into 600, it gives us 9,00,000 people for contact tracing. So, contact tracing is being done only for immediate contacts and not for indirect contacts, Jain said.

Around 4,000 COVID-19 beds are vacant and over 2,000 COVID-19 beds in total have been added in various private hospitals, he added.

This is the biggest disease that mankind has ever witnessed. Around 100 years ago, a virus known as Spanish Flu of the same intensity spread across the world, and now coronavirus is spreading with the same intensity, the minister said.

"This virus is spreading rapidly, and a person takes two weeks to recover if he gets infected. If he infects even two persons, the spread of the diseases is two-fold in 10-12 days, and over 8-10 people get infected," Jain said.

1,501 new positive cases in Delhi takes tally to over 32K; death toll climbs to 984

Since the base of the disease is such that over 30,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus right now, we are expecting that the rate of the virus will be double in the next 10-15 days, Jain said.

"This count is not absolute but depends on the rate of infection because one person may infect two or three more people before recovering fully from this disease, and this is true for every state and not just Delhi.

"We are arranging twice the number of beds than the patients in the hospitals, and the current scenario is also that half of the available beds are occupied," he said.

By June 15, around 7000 beds will be occupied and by June 30, 15000 beds will be occupied, the minister said.

"If we had arranged for beds equalling the number of COVID cases in Delhi, people requiring health services other than COVID, could not have been treated. But, we will arrange for as many beds as possible as soon as we can," he added.

The WHO had declared that the pandemic may be over by May 16, which has not happened, It still exists, and we have to take all steps and precautions to deal with it, the minister said.

"When the lockdown was imposed, there were 100 cases across the country, and now that number has gone up to thousands. If we impose lockdown again, there will be no logic as the cases will increase from around 2.5 lakh to 25 lakh despite the lockdown," he claimed.

There have been learnings from the lockdown, as there was different perceptions regarding it. Some believed that the virus will be over in a month or two, and some believed that the virus will be over as when temperature increases, but that did not happen, he said.

"We have to learn to live with the virus, and it is here to stay till the next 2-3 years. I can advise the people on three things that they must do, first is to wear a mask when stepping outside to avoid the risk of infection to you and your family, second, maintain social distancing, and third, regularly washing hands," he said.
A German prosecutor has claimed that Portuguese police still think Madeleine McCann's parents are responsible for her disappearance and has criticised working with them.

Hans Christian Wolters said the working relationship with the Portuguese authorities is 'cumbersome' and that they have different ideas of what happened to the toddler who went missing in 2007, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Wolters previously said the authorities have 'evidence' that the three-year-old was killed after she was snatched from Praia da Luz on May 3 and Christian Brueckner is currently the only suspect.

Brueckner - a convicted paedophile - is currently serving time at a prison in Kiel, northern Germany, for a drug offence and has been moved into isolation for his own safety.

Hans Christian Wolters (pictured) said the working relationship with the Portuguese authorities is 'cumbersome' and that they have different ideas of what happened to the toddler who went missing in 2007

Claus Christian Claussen, the justice minister of the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, told a parliamentary hearing yesterday that is was to prevent 'assaults by fellow prisoners'.

He added that Brueckner is being 'monitored closely' and is receiving counselling, as reported by The Times.

Portuguese detectives who probed the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have been left facing tough questions after it emerged they identified the German paedophile who is now the chief suspect in 2007 - but 'discarded' him.

Mr Wolters, the state prosecutor in Braunschweig said: 'Working together with authorities in south European countries is generally more time-consuming.

Mr Wolters previously said the authorities have 'evidence' that the three-year-old (pictured) was killed after she was snatched from Praia da Luz on May 3

'They take a long time for everything and the French or British police are faster.

'We do stay in contact with the colleagues in Portugal, but everything is more cumbersome.

'I think the Portuguese officials still think that Maddie's parents are responsible for her disappearance.'

It comes amid claims Brueckner attacked his British ex-girlfriend in a jealous rage, then hid waiting for her under the bed.

He viciously assaulted the woman, who does not want to be named, after she hugged another man, by slamming her head against the wall of a ladies toilet at a bar in the Algarve.

Kate and Gerry McCann hold an age-progressed police image of their daughter during a news conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, on May 2, 2012

Brueckner then broke into her flat and hid under the bed, waiting for her to return, but when she got back he calmly left, saying 'goodbye' on his way out, as reported by the Daily Mirror.

The couple ended their relationship in mid-2005, and he then embarked on a stalking campaign against her, but was never charged, despite Portuguese police being called out twice to deal with him.

She has now revealed the convicted paedophile could be responsible for killing Madeleine.

In another development Tiziano Ilg, who previously hired the German to work at his restaurant, has claimed 'we all know' what happened to the child.

Brueckner was hired just weeks after Madeleine's disappearance at the eatery in Floral, as reported by The Sun.

Responding to an online news article about her disappearance on his Facebook profile he cryptically said: 'It's time to stop looking and stop imagining. We all know.'
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:13:12|Editor: huaxia

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DOHA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Qatar on Thursday announced 1,476 new COVID-19 cases, increasing the tally of the confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 75,071.

A total of 1,918 people recovered from the coronavirus, bringing the total recoveries to 51,331, while three more patients died, raising the fatalities to 69, the official Qatar News Agency reported, quoting a statement by the Qatari Health Ministry.

A total of 274,793 people in Qatar have undergone lab tests for COVID-19 so far, it added.

China and Qatar have offered mutual help in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

On Feb. 21, five Qatar Airways cargo freighters flew to China carrying approximately 300 tons of medical supplies donated by the airline. Enditem
[June 11, 2020] eMagin Corporation Announces $5.5 million Department of Defense Award

eMagin (News - Alert) Corporation, or the "Company", (NYSE American: EMAN), a leader in the development, design and manufacture of Active Matrix OLED microdisplays used in military and commercial AR/VR devices, and other near-eye imaging products, today announced it has been awarded $5.5 million under the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) Program for Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) Supply Chain Assurance. These funds are for procurement and installation of capital equipment in eMagin's NY-based manufacturing facility, which we believe will enhance our manufacturing capabilities. This IBAS award will be managed under the Cornerstone Other Transaction Authority (Cornerstone OTA) and fully funds Phase I of a three-phase agreement. The IBAS Cornerstone OTA was created to focus on strengthening the U.S. Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base. eMagin's OLED microdisplays are used, or designed in, many current and future defense Programs of Record including a broad range of PEO Soldier programs, F-35 HMDS, and other aviation helmet programs. The capital funding provided during Phase I will be used to procure key equipment and tooling, which the Company believes will improve all aspects of eMagin's OLED microdisplay production, including increased throughput and capacity. The IBAS agreement indicates additional awards through Phases II and III. Provided that funding becomes available, these later phases would enable eMagin to procure and install equipmet designed to increase the production capability of products based on eMagin's advanced dPdTM technology.



Andrew Sculley, CEO, said, "We are very pleased to be recognized by the Department of Defense as the only domestic producer of OLED microdisplays designated as a cornerstone of the U.S. manufacturing base. We view this as a recognition of the value of our OLED microdisplays in defense programs and an endorsement in what we believe to be our superior OLED technology." About eMagin Corporation

The Leader in OLED microdisplay technology for the next generation of computing and imaging devices, serving world-class customers in the military and consumer, medical and industrial markets. We invent, engineer and manufacture display technologies of the future in the USA, including our Direct Patterning Technology (dPd) that will transform the way the world consumes information. Since 2001, our microdisplays have been, and continue to be, used in AR/VR, aircraft helmets, heads-up display systems, thermal scopes, night vision goggles, future weapon systems and a variety of other applications. www.emagin.com Important Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including those regarding eMagin Corporation's expectations, intentions, strategies and beliefs pertaining to future events or future financial performance including the possible receipt of additional funds from the US Government. Actual events or results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those described in the Company's most recent filings with the SEC (News - Alert). For a more complete description of the risks factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our current expectations, including impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, please see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in eMagin's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, and in any Form 10-Q filed or to be filed by eMagin, and in other documents we file with the SEC from time to time. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005842/en/

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This recipe originally appeared on Food52.

One afternoon, I found myself in the presence and home of my hero, Judith Jones. Tucked away in northeastern Vermont, we ate thick wedges of quiche draped with sour cream (it was, I learned after one curious bite, a mingling of fat on fat that accentuated the texture of cream and custard alike). We drank white wine from the supermarket that Judith kept stored, re-corked from a previous days glass, in the condiments shelf of the refrigerator. Her dog, Mabon, scratched a small hole in the seam of my t-shirt while saying hello, a shirt I still have and a hole I havent mended. Ms. Jones told me to call her Judith.

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It was August 2016almost exactly a year before Judith, venerable writer and editor behind some of the most influential American chefs and writers, passed away at age 93. Benchmarks in her long career include, famously, pulling Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl out of the slush pile; publishing Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child after its multiple rejections; and exploding the canon of American home cooking with the works of Edna Lewis, Madhur Jaffrey, Irene Kuo, Claudia Roden, Marcella Hazan, Lidia Bastianich, Joan Nathan and James Beard, among many others. Judith received the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, the year before publishing The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food (sixty pages of which I read on the floor of a public library in Vermont).

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But the story of how I met her actually starts with how I met Bronwyn Dunnewriter, cooking instructor, and Judiths stepdaughter. I was newly twenty-four when I met Bronwyn. Since graduating college, I had moved from Boston to Shanagarry, Ireland for cooking school. Then, in a tight zigzag, I relocated back to Boston, across the country to San Francisco, and back across the country to Vermonts Addison County. That first month in Vermont, I picked up an issue of Edible Green Mountains from a milk crate of used magazines at the grocery store, and read a feature on the cook and writer behind a website called In the Kitchen with Bronwyn. Through Bronwyns website, I sent a cold email: would she be able to tell me a bit about the Vermont food world over coffee? Shortly after, Bronwyn not only returned my email, but met me for lunch in her neighborhood, at a place known for smoked meats and chili.

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A few months later, Bronwyn took me through two enormous storage containers of cookbooks, including her 1975 copy of American Food, authored by her father, the food writer and historian Evan Jones. Bronwyn and I read until we were ravenous, and then grilled off a slab of pork ribs she had stashed in the fridge. Barbecue sauce on our faces, we made our way through every last bone.

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I understood that Bronwyn was the stepdaughter of a hero of mine, a luminary in both cooking and editing, though I never expected to meet Judith Jones. When Bronwyn asked if I wanted to come to lunch at her stepmothers house, two realities merged together, gently and without fanfare, like a pair of soap bubbles: my fork and Judiths somehow eating the same quiche.

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The quiche Bronwyn made for lunch was a custard held together by sheer will, baked to velvet with gruyere and smoky wisps of bacon. I didnt know what to do with the sour cream when it was handed to me, and mirrored both their plates with one fat, collapsing spoonful over the side of my slice. Mabon held court by the leg of my chair, waiting on a newbie for scraps.

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Not wanting to arrive at lunch empty handed, I had woken up early that morning to bake a batch of sesame-honey cookies with cardamom, a spiced riff on a 2011 Food & Wine recipe from Anja Scherwin I have made enough to consider mostly failsafe. I fed the first batch to my chickens, because I accidentally broiled them. The second batch I slipped into a paper bag with a thank-you note attached.

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Perhaps it was strange to be surprised when Judith went to eat them, but I had never envisioned the cookies getting that far. How did I even get here? She added my paper bag to the table, alongside the pastries she had already set out. She pulled a cookie from the pile, and took a cavernous bite.

Delicious, Judith said, her eyes fastening mine below curved bangs the same inner shade of white peaches. Theres a particular vividness to this moment in my memory. I didnt know it would be preserved in such a waystuck in my mind, blinking, unintended to be stored with such clarity. She made a point to eat the cookie and tell me it was good. She didnt have to. It was a small, generous gesture to a new cook and writer who had come around for lunch. It was extraordinarily kind.

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I wonder how our idols reconcile with that expanded, emphasized image of themselves in our minds.

The idea of a hero has undertones of supernatural greatness, and I wonder how our idols reconcile with that expanded, emphasized image of themselves in our minds. It doesnt leave much room for the everyday acts, like responding to a cold email with plans for lunch, or eating a cookie to make someone feel seen. These snippets of generosity accumulate, with effort, like the rolled-up belly of a snowman. Those small moments with Judith, started Bronwyn in a recent email from February. This is what comes up so often with her friends and colleagues when remembering her. There is something she was able to convey, even in old age, that was intimate and global at the same time.

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It has been four years since that lunch, and Bronwyn tells me she doesnt remember Judith ever pairing sour cream with quiche. Had she put it on the table by accident? Did she want to try something picked up from another cook? Were Judith and Bronwyn actually mirroring me, with the sour cream, in some sort of comical, cyclical response to a new presence on the table? Funny: we have absolutely no idea.

I scrawled in a notebook as Bronwyn drove us home after that lunch, cruising through a labyrinthine pass in a state sliced north to south by the Green Mountains. I wrote down anything remembered from the last handful of hours. Judith had told stories about other food and writing icons close to her, like M.F.K. Fisher, James Beard and Edna Lewis. Bronwyn took a picture of Judith flexing a muscle at a square table set with woven straw placemats. I had elaborated on the sour cream (oddly perfect!) and the eye contact (very kind), and these things, arguably non-events, have indelibly lasted. Judith Jones knew that paying attention to the minor, in-between moments is itself an act of generosityand that generosity is what builds a life, and a legacy.

Bronwyns original quiche was a timeless recipe for quiche Lorraine from Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Its lasting for a reason. Here, inspired by Julias recipe and Bronwyns execution of it, I add fresh herbs, white onions and, in a nod to Vermont, swap gruyere for sharp cheddar cheese. Eat this quiche with a fat spoonful of sour cream on top: an oddly perfect taste memory of lunch with Judith Jones.

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Makes one nine-inch quiche.

 1/2 cup sliced bacon

 1 cup thinly sliced white onions

 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

 1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as mint, basil, chives, and/or parsley

 4 eggs

 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream, plus more for serving

 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 9-inch blind-baked pie crust (I like this all-butter crust and this olive-oil crust

 1/2 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese

See full recipe at Food52.

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Of the $10,700 that the Mexican government pays on average for each of the 585 Cuban doctors and nurses who serve in the country's capital, Havana has only paid them $660 for three months ($220 per month), a source from the medical brigade, and another close to these professionals, revealed to the DDC.

The duration of the contract between Havana, the Mexican Institute of Health for Welfare (INSABI) and the Government of Mexico City's secretariats of Health and Administration and Finance has not been disclosed. In an interview conducted on June 3, DIARIO DE CUBA requested a copy from the Secretary of Health of the Mexican capital, Olivia Lopez Arellano, but has not yet received a response.

The official revealed that the contract is worth a total of $6,255,792, paid for by the INSABI.

That money pays for the work of the doctors in hospitals that serve Covid-19 patients, but also "training, specialization (...) counseling, and joint research," she said.

Accommodations do not enter into the expenses, as they are covered by Mexican hoteliers who have made "donations" to collaborate in the fight against the pandemic.

The Cuban professionals have been told that the $220 they receive is "for food."

Shopping in a dangerous neighborhood

DIARIO DE CUBA sources said that Cuban health professionals were taken last Sunday, along with security, to Tepito, a neighborhood with a high crime rate and known for its violence, but also for its streets full of tianguis (street markets) where one can buy all kinds of items at low prices.

Tepito is one of the few areas in Mexico City where it is possible to shop despite the pandemic and the danger of contagion.

The export of professional services, mainly medical, is one of the Cuban government's main sources of revenue, with it retaining at least 75% of what the destination countries pay the doctors in wages. In 2018 this activity generated some 6.4 billion dollars for Havana, far more than Tourism.

In addition to having to hand over at least three quarters of their salaries, Cuban health professionals sent on missions abroad are subjected to strong surveillance and restrictions of fundamental freedoms.

These conditions have been condemned by human rights organizations, and the UN has noted that they could constitute forms of "forced labor" and "modern slavery."

Responding to a question on this topic, Mexico City's Secretary of Health stated that Cuban doctors are doing "volunteer work."

"Health personnel around the world acknowledge that these brigades help to deal with epidemics and critical situations in different countries," said Lopez Arellano.

"It is volunteer work, though it is professional," she insisted.

The Cuban Government, for its part, receives the equivalent of $10,693 per doctor.

Although it has touted the work of the island's doctors in other countries, the Cuban official press has been conspicuously silent about the doctors and nurses sent to Mexico starting last April.

In addition to the 585 professionals in Mexico City, there are another 180 in Veracruz, also under a contract with the local government.

Meanwhile, on the island, on Monday the Cuban government gave a heroes' welcome, complete with a parade through the streets of Havana included, to the health professionals who returned from Lombardy, Italy, one of the places hardest hit by the pandemic in Europe.

The official press dedicated extensive coverage to the return of those 36 doctors, 15 nurses and a logistical manager. However, it has not revealed how much money the government made off this operation (a benefit in addition to the political hay it has made of it) and how much went to the professionals.
DE TOUR VILLAGE, MI - A Canadian barge loaded 3,622 metric tons of coal tar and 6,340 gallons of diesel fuel ran aground in the lower St. Marys River early Wednesday, and its owners are now working with the U.S. Coast Guard on plans to remove it.

The St Mary River is like a maritime highway for freighters, barges and other vessels. It connects Lake Superior and the Soo Locks to water traffic heading south to Lake Huron.

Wednesdays grounding happened about 12:30 a.m. near Sweets Point, which is north of DeTour Village along the eastern edge of the Upper Peninsula.

The 302-foot barge, identified as PML2501, is owned by Purvis Marine, which is working on the salvage plan, Coast Guard officials at Sector Sault Ste. Marie said.

Coast Guard marine casualty investigators and pollution responders are on scene to investigate the incident and ensure proper mitigation of potential negative impacts to the environment, local Coast Guard officials said Wednesday. A Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Traverse City conducted an overflight of the area and did not identify any release of pollution from the barge. The barge has taken on water in a ballast tank and is currently stable. There is no report or identification of pollution at this time.

Coast Guard personnel established a safety zone around the barge, which means other vessels have to stay 500 yards away from it.

At the time it ran aground, the barge was under tow by the 132-foot Anglian Lady, also a Canadian vessel. The duo had last been in Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, and were heading south to Burns Harbor, Indiana, when the incident occurred.

What caused the grounding remains under investigation.

A barge ran aground in the lower St. Marys River near Sweets Point. Map courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard.

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And how.

Instead, the editing process was rushed and flawed, and senior editors were not sufficiently involved, The Times said, which is a nice way of saying more people in charge should have read it before it was sloppily slapped up. While Senator Cotton and his staff cooperated fully in our editing process, the Op-Ed should have been subject to further substantial revisions  as is frequently the case with such essays  or rejected.

There is no doubt that a major debate needs to happen at news organizations and also inside social media companies about who gets to speak what and where. But The New York Times is not a public square any more than Facebook or Twitter is. At The Times you must be invited in and  typically  adhere to a rigorous vetting of your work before the publish button is hit.

The editing process should also have included asking Mr. Cotton to put in what was not in his piece: proper context. Part of that context was clear only if you also had seen his inflammatory posts from earlier last week over on Twitter, in which Mr. Cotton, an Army veteran, appeared to suggest  with his use of the term no quarter  that lawbreakers involved in the protests should be not just arrested but shown no mercy.

Anarchy, rioting and looting needs to end tonight. If local law enforcement is overwhelmed and needs backup, lets see how tough these Antifa terrorists are when theyre facing off with the 101st Airborne Division. We need to have zero tolerance for this destruction, he tweeted.

That awful tweet was followed by one even more heinous: And, if necessary, the 10th Mountain, 82nd Airborne, 1st Cav, 3rd Infantry  whatever it takes to restore order. No quarter for insurrectionists, anarchists, rioters and looters.

Many flabbergasted legal experts quickly responded on Twitter, including the lawyer and journalist David French, who tweeted correctly that a no quarter order is a war crime, prohibited even in actual insurrection since Abraham Lincolns signed the Lieber Code in 1863. Such an order is banned by international law and would, if carried out, be murder under American law.

Of course, Mr. Cotton tried to teargaslight Twitter with the assertion that it was not what he meant.
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Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 08:13 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc3c38 1 Editorial MRT-Jakarta,public-transportation-in-Indonesia,health-protocol,PSBB,transjakarta,COVID-19,coronavirus,KRL Free

The government is speeding up regulations for public transportation as cities and regencies prepare to lift large-scale social restrictions (PSBB).

During the past few months, the Transportation Ministry has barely taken the lead in upholding health protocols for land, air and sea transportation. In Jakarta, for instance, people planning to fly are required to get permits, a requirement put in place by the Jakarta administration. For a few weeks, the ministry banned all passenger travel, only to relax the measures later for work and business trips.

The inconsistency is expected. The public and transportation operators have economically suffered due to restricted mobility. One single policy could drastically affect the industry.

But such indecisiveness by regulators should not be acceptable in the long run. The number of COVID-19 cases and related deaths is still high despite the easing PSBB period. A solid health protocol for public transportation will be a life-saving step for millions of people.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi retracted on Tuesday a half-maximum capacity rule for land, sea and air transportation, which was earlier stipulated in Transportation Ministerial Regulation No. 41/2020. The capacity rule will be regulated under circulars and reviewed overtime.

Read also: Provision limiting number of passengers on public transportation scrapped

This is another sign of reluctance that should not be seen in the future. It will create confusion and prove to be costly for operators and also passengers.

For air travel, stripping the less-than-maximum capacity can still be justified if followed by strict health protocols by airliners, airport operators and passengers.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have jointly issued health safety guidelines for air travel that also do not include a capacity regulation. However, they require strict health measures in airplanes and on the ground that include physical distancing, face masks and frequent hand-washing.

For land transportation, the less-than-full capacity rule should not be negotiable, considering the overcrowded buses and trains in the prepandemic days. This is yet another consequence and reality that we should embrace. It will make travel time longer due to the limited number of transportation modes but safer.

The similar capacity regulation should also be implemented for sea transportation, in which sinking and other accidents often happen due to overloaded vessels.

Read also: Indonesia's latest official COVID-19 figures

Health protocols are even more important for border crossings. Other countries may extend travel bans to and from Indonesia if it does not apply adequate health protocols.

A recent study by Deep Knowledge Group, a consortium of companies and nonprofits, placed Indonesia in 97th position out of 200 countries in terms of safety during the pandemic.

Indonesia is in tier 3, which consists of 60 regions and territories, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Brazil and India. The tier 3 group consists of countries that in theory, should have scored higher, given their resources in healthcare, governmental and crisis management. However, their ranks are much lower than expected.

More than the studys results, the government should put peoples health and safety first in this time of health crisis.
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is one of a select number of initiatives the National Endowment for the Arts has approved for a major 'Our Town' grant.

Mass MoCA Approved for Major NEA Grant

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is one of a select number of initiatives the National Endowment for the Arts has approved for a major "Our Town" grant.

Selected as one of just 51 grants nationwide in this category, the two-year, $100,000 matching grant will support the North Adams Artist Impact Coalition, a collaborative initiative designed to maximize artist support in the North Adams community and better connect artists to regional resources and to each other.

The coalition, which formed last year, is spearheaded by Mass MoCA's Assets for Artists Program alongside the city of North Adams and other area arts stakeholders such as the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Installation Space Art Gallery, Common Folk Artist Collective, Walkaway House Artist Residency and a number of local, practicing artists.

The announcement from the NEA comes as the North Adams Artist Impact Coalition disperses $20,000 of other funding in rapid response working capital grants to 20 city artists whose artistic businesses have been significantly damaged by the coronavirus outbreak. These grants are paired with additional educational support in the form of one-on-one mentorship from coalition members along with webinars on how to sustain a creative business under these new conditions.

"Mass MoCA's Assets for Artists program has more than a decade-long track record of investing in artists throughout our region with this type of multi-pronged support," said Blair Benjamin, the program's founder and director. "We've seen artists make exciting progress from our support, and we're thrilled to significantly expand that work in North Adams with the help of our coalition partners and this NEA grant funding."

The North Adams Artist Impact Coalition also hosts quarterly artist meet-ups around the North Berkshire region, designed the citys first Artist Census in early 2020, and planned an artist materials swap, which is currently postponed until later this year.

The new Our Town grant will support the expansion of the Artist Impact Coalition's existing work with a focus on creating new resources for artists to thrive in the city of North Adams.

"The creative economy is a large sector in this region, and it's no secret it has been deeply impacted by the pandemic," said Jess Sweeney, a North Adams City Councilor, the director of Common Folk Artist Collective and a coalition member. "This grant will go a long way to preserve the fabric of our creative world here in North Adams and simultaneously support artists in navigating the rapidly changing industry."

A public call for additional projects that will strengthen the livelihoods of North Adams artists is expected early next year.
H eathrow has launched a voluntary redundancy scheme for frontline workers.

The airport currently employs 7,000 people in frontline roles. The company refused to say how many of these jobs are at risk.

Heathrow said it had agreed the scheme with unions as it battles to recover from the coronavirus crisis. It has already cut a third of its managerial roles.

Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: "Throughout this crisis, we have tried to protect frontline jobs, but this is no longer sustainable, and we have now agreed a voluntary severance scheme with our union partners.

While we cannot rule out further job reductions, we will continue to explore options to minimise the number of job losses."

It comes as UK's biggest airport today reported a 97% slide in passenger numbers for May.

The all-time low for passenger figures in May of 228,000 was only partially offset by an increase in the number of cargo-only aircraft using the airport.

Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures 1 /81 Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures A deserted Westminster Bridge PA A man wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walks past customers sat outside a restaurant AFP via Getty Images Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Runners pass cardboard cutouts of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William during the London Marathon in London AP An empty escalator at Charing Coss London Underground tube station Jeremy Selwyn Electronic bilboards displays a message warning people to stay home in Sheffield PA A sign is displayed in the window of a student accommodation building following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Mancheste Reuters People take part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions, in Londo AP People sing and dance in Leicester Square on the eve on the 10PM curfew Reuters Hearts painted by a team of artists from Upfest are seen in the grass at Queen Square, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bristol Reuters Graffiti reads 'good luck and stay safe', as the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases grow around the world, under a bridge in London Reuters A sign is pictured in Soho, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London Reuters Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures, during a coronavirus briefing in Downing Street, London AP A person runs past posters with a message of hope, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Manchester REUTERS Riot police face protesters who took part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions in London AP An image of The Queen eith quotes from her broadcast to the UK and the Commonwealth in relation to the Coronavirus epidemic are displayed on lights in London's Piccadilly Circus PA Military vehicles cross Westminster Bridge after members of the 101 Logistic Brigade delivered a consignment of medical masks to St Thomas' hospital Getty Images Durdle Door in Dorset Reuters Captain Tom Moore via Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Coronavirus outbreak PA An NHS worker reacts at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS Reuters Goats which have taken over the deserted streets of Llandudno @AndrewStuart via PA Tobias Weller PA Novikov restaurant in London with its shutters pulled down while the restaurant is closed London Landscapes: Hyde Park and the Serpentine, central London. Matt Writtle A newspaper vendor in Manchester city centre giving away free toilet rolls with every paper bought as shops run low on supplies due to fears over the spread of the coronavirus PA Theo Clay looks out of his window next to his hand-drawn picture of a rainbow in Liverpool, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue Reuters A young man cuts another man's hair on top of a closed hairdresser in Oxford Reuters General view of the new NHS Nightingale Hospital, built to fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London via Reuters Jason Baird is seen dressed as Spiderman during his daily exercise to cheer up local children in Stockport, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters A woman wearing a face mask walks past Buckingham Palace Getty Images A man holds mobile phone displaying a text message alert sent by the government warning that new rules are in force across the UK and people must stay at home PA Medical staff on the Covid-19 ward at the Neath Port Talbot Hospital, in Wales, as the health services continue their response to the coronavirus outbreak. PA Prime Minister Boris Johnson taking part in a virtual Cabinet meeting with his top team of ministers PA A shopper walks past empty shelves in a Lidl store on in Wallington. After spates of "panic buying" cleared supermarket shelves of items like toilet paper and cleaning products, stores across the UK have introduced limits on purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have also created special time slots for the elderly and other shoppers vulnerable to the new coronavirus. Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour PA Mia, aged 8 and her brother Jack, aged 5 from Essex, continue their school work at home, after being sent home due to the coronavirus PA Children are painting 'Chase the rainbows' artwork and springing up in windows across the country Reuters Social distancing in Primrose Hill Jeremy Selwyn A general view of a locked gate at Anfield, Liverpool as The Premier League has been suspended PA Homeless people in London AFP via Getty Images A piece of art by the artist, known as the Rebel Bear has appeared on a wall on Bank Street in Glasgow. The new addition to Glasgow's street art is capturing the global Coronavirus crisis. The piece features a woman and a man pulling back to give each other a kiss PA The Queen leaves Buckingham Palace, London, for Windsor Castle to socially distance herself amid the coronavirus pandemic PA A general view on Grey street, Newcastle as coronavirus cases grow around the world Reuters Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA Britain's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty (L) and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance look on as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) news conference inside 10 Downing Street Reuters The ticket-validation terminals at the tram stop on Edinburgh's Princes Street are cleaned following the coronavirus outbreak. PA Locked school gates at Rockcliffe First School in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear PA A sign at a Sainsbury's supermarket informs customers that limits have been set on a small number of products as the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases grow around the world Reuters Jawad Javed delivers coronavirus protection kits that he and his wife have put together to the vulnerable people of their community of Stenhousemuir, between Glasgow and Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" Getty Images A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A pedestrian walks past graffiti that reads "Diseases are in the City" in Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images Staff from The Lyric Theatre, London inform patrons, as it shuts its doors PA A quiet looking George IV Bridge in Edinburgh PA A quieter than usual British Museum Getty Images A racegoer attends Cheltenham in a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com A commuter wears a face mask at London Bridge Station Jeremy Selwyn A empty restaurant in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre Getty Images A deserted Trafalgar Square in London PA Passengers determined to avoid the coronavirus before leaving the UK arrive at Gatwick Airport Getty Images

The airport has also been hit by the Government's new 14-day quarantine law.

Heathrow is urging the Government to establish air bridges between the UK and countries where the risk of being infected by coronavirus is deemed to be low, so passengers can avoid having to self-isolate.
Prayer movement grows after white Christians kneel in repentance before black Christians for racism

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A multi-racial Houston prayer group called Praytest, started by white Christian rapper Bobby Tre9 Herring, is now emerging as a movement among Christians nationwide after a video of white Christians kneeling in repentance for racism before a group of black believers went viral.

The viral video recorded at the Cuney Homes, a public housing complex in the Third Ward area of Houston, where George Floyd grew up, shows Herring leading the group of white Christians in prayer before the black group, led by Johnny D. Gentry, founder and senior pastor of Free Indeed Church.

The meeting took place just days after Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, was shown on eyewitness video dying in the custody of Minneapolis police officers with the knee of white officer Derek Chauvin pressed into his neck. His death has sparked protest calling for justice and police reform nationwide.

One of the videos that went viral with Pastor Johnny Gentry and myself on one side facing each other, white people kneeling asking God for forgiveness and then you see my black brothers and sisters kneeling asking God for forgiveness, that was a moment that was beautiful, Herring told Click2Houston in a recent interview.

From that one moment, Praytest have continued to multiply. Not only in Houston, they just had one in Austin. Its happening in Livingston  its about to happen in Charlotte [North Carolina], so its spreading nationwide.

He argued that it was time Christians owned Americas sin against black Americans and the only way to do that is reflected in 2 Chronicles 7:14, which says: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

The beauty is in 2 Chronicles 7:14, its the church humbling themselves, seeking the face of God, turning from our ignoring of black-related systemic issues that have been oppressing them. Were repenting of that and were praying. And God is going to heal our land. We believe that God is gonna heal us through what happened to George Floyd and many others before him. God is going to heal us as a result of us standing up as a church  white, black, brown  together, Herring said.

Herrings Eyes on Me, Inc., a nonprofit organization that reaches under-served youth and families in Houston and surrounding areas which he founded in 2008, has provided a free Praytest Strategy Guide to help groups interested in doing prayer walk meetings in black communities in solidarity with the African American community for healing and hope in Christ Jesus.

It takes one Christian Caucasian and one Christian African American with integrity & humility. These people of peace will assemble a multi-ethnic body of believers. We are praying specifically for African Americans and issues related to their needs, pain, hurt, wounds, sufferings, struggles and future, the guide notes.

Walks can include praying over schools, businesses, homes, apartments, police stations etc. We recommend having a local resident connected to the community that can be a guide for parking, walking route & to describe the neighborhoods needs. We dont want to cause traffic/parking issues for the residents there.
The Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) head office in Naju, South Jeolla Province. / Courtesy of KEPCO



By Nam Hyun-woo



Korea Electric Power Corp.'s (KEPCO) investment in a Vietnamese coal fire power plant was approved in a pre-feasibility study despite expected losses stemming from the project, according to officials, Thursday.



According to Korea Development Institute (KDI) data revealed by Rep. Kim Sung-whan of the Democratic Party of Korea and Solutions for Our Climate, the net present value of the project, Vung Ang 2, was estimated at minus $158 million in the study.



This means outgoing cash is expected be greater than incoming cash during the project period of 2020 to 2048.



KEPCO's part in the Vung Ang 2 project would see the South Korean state-run firm build two 600-megawatt coal-fired power plants in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. The total cost is $2.24 billion and KEPCO is apparently aiming to join the project by acquiring a 40 percent stake in it from China Light & Power (CLP) for 220 billion won ($18.4 million).



Given KEPCO's interest in the project, the value of its planned investment will stand at minus $80 million, the KDI anticipated. In South Korea, a project worth more than 50 billion won by a public institution is required to pass a KDI feasibility study.



Despite the bleak profitability outlook, the KDI approved the project in March, according to KEPCO.



"The KDI feasibility study reviewed both quantitative and qualitative factors simultaneously," a KEPCO official told The Korea Times, adding the qualitative factors in this case would be the Korean company's advance into the Vietnamese market.



"Also, the KDI standard for measuring a project's value is excessively conservative, so it usually approves projects whose profitability indices are below 1."



The profitability index is calculated by dividing the present value of total income by the present value of total expense. A reading below 1 means expenses are greater than income. The profitability index of the overall project was 0.96 and that of KEPCO's investment 0.95.



Thanks to the KDI's approval, KEPCO is expected to gain board approval for the investment.



Global investors have already raised questions about the Vung Ang 2 project. CLP was seeking to sell its stake to KEPCO to focus on eco-friendly businesses, and top investment banks including Standard Chartered of the U.K., OCBC and DBS of Singapore have already exited the project.



"With the Vung Ang 2 project found unprofitable, KEPCO should not pursue its investment plan," Rep. Kim said. "Given the global downtrend of renewable energy prices, the project's actual yield in the future will be much aggravated from the current anticipation."



KEPCO has been investing in several coal-fired power station projects. Earlier this week, the KDI approved KEPCO's investment in an Indonesian coal-fired power plant project, despite doubts from global investors. In February, Blackrock sent a letter asking KEPCO to reveal its "strategic reasons" for pursuing the Indonesian and Vietnamese projects.


Are you eligible for the travel voucher? Image: Getty

Australians in the Northern Territory are being urged to support their local economy, with the government now announcing $200 vouchers to supercharge tourism.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said his government was throwing the kitchen sink at the local economy, with the voucher scheme set to cost $5 million.

Under the plan, Territorians will receive $1 for every $1 they spend on a tourism experience, at a value of up to $200 or $400 altogether.

We know the industry that was first and hardest hit by the coronavirus is our tourism industry and that supports many other sectors in the Northern Territory. We are going to have a voucher system that backs in our tourism operators, that backs in Territorians, Gunner said.

Now, I reckon a lot of Territorians out there think they know their territory, I think there are a lot of things out there that you haven't done.

He said Territory Day, held 1 July, is a great opportunity to use the voucher.

If you're living in Darwin, I want you to get down the car, head down the track to Katherine, Alice, get out of the car and support locals, buy local. That is what the voucher system is. We want you to get out in your backyard. There is never a more important time to back Territorians.

He said the rest of Australia is crushing coronavirus, so the territory will soon have more support. But until then, he called on residents to back local businesses.

Tourism supports 17,000 jobs in the Northern Territory and adds $2.2 billion in Gross Added Value to the economy, with the territory government announcing a Tourism Rebound Taskforce in early May.

Coronavirus forced the Northern Territory to close major attractions including Kakadu and Uluru in a bid to stop the spread of the disease.

But as the Northern Territory reopens, its now considering a travel triangle with South Australia and Western Australia.

The Northern Territory and South Australia have zero active cases, while Western Australia has only 28.

Story continues

"Without increased volume from interstate visitation, many Territory businesses will be pushed to breaking point," Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce chief Greg Ireland said.

"Typically, the Northern Territory receives more than one million interstate visitors who provide a substantial contribution to our economy."

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Spilling magic through their outstanding dance moves, a cousin duo Shakir and Rehan has now mesmerised people. While performing on the stage of the show Americas Got Talent (AGT), the duo showcased some fiery moves which not only won over the judges and the audience but are now making the Internet go gaga.

Shared on AGTs Talent Recap YouTube channel, a video shows the duo performing a dance routine which is both exciting and interesting.

The video starts with the judges interacting with the duo. Within a few seconds they start performing and end up getting a standing ovation from everyone. Whats so special in their dance? Watch to find out:

With over one million views, the video has impressed people and its clear from the comments they shared. From writing how hard the stunts are to praising the duo for their performance, people flooded the posts comments section.

I know the stunts look very clean, but they are not easy at all. The precision they have is sheer hard work and blood and sweat and tears. May their dreams be fulfilled, love INDIA, wrote a YouTube user. The little boy has lots of emotions when dancing, expressed another. India has the most amazing dancers in the world, wrote another mentioning that theyre from Philippines.

This performance brought tears to my eyes. There was excellent choreography, grace, and style in their performance. The little boy was just adorable and he thinks the world of his brother. Please, dont ever disappoint him. Congratulations to them both, and I wish them nothing but success, wrote a YouTube user.

What do you think of this dance performance?

Also Read | Indias Bad Salsa creates magic on Americas Got Talent stage. Watch
The National Theatre has delayed the upcoming autumn run of Small Island to 2021.

The venue today told customers that "we have made the decision to postpone the current schedule of Small Island performances. Our reopening plans continue to evolve dependent on government advice, and we are working hard to bring this production back to the stage later in 2021." Originally the piece was meant to run from 28 October 2020 to 9 January 2021.

At the moment, the venue has cancelled all performances until the beginning of September, with discussions ongoing regarding staff redundancies. It is unknown whether or not any performances will go ahead at the theatre in October.

Helen Edmundson's stage adaptation of Andrea Levy's Orange Prize-winning novel is directed by the venue's artistic director Rufus Norris and premiered on the Olivier stage in the spring of 2019. Small Island's cast was originally led by Leah Harvey as Hortense, Aisling Loftus as Queenie and Gershwyn Eustache Jnr as Gilbert. Journeying from Jamaica to Britain in 1948, the play was also be broadcast live as part of NT Live on 27 June 2019.

It has set and costume design by Katrina Lindsay, projection design by Jon Driscoll, lighting design by Paul Anderson, composer Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, sound design by Ian Dickinson, movement direction by Coral Messam and fight direction by Kate Waters.

While the show itself may have been postponed, the venue will be broadcasting the piece on its YouTube channel next week to raise funds whilst the lockdown continues. You can find out more here.
Bengaluru, June 11 : A local court rejected the bail application of controversial student activist Amulya Leona on the ground that she may abscond if set free, a police official said on Thursday.

"The 60th city civil and sessions court judge Vidyadhara Shirahatti on Wednesday rejected Amulya's bail plea fearing as she may flee if granted bail," a police official dealing with the sedition case against her said.

The 19-year-old activist was arrested on February 20 for shouting "Pakistan Zindabad" slogans at an anti-CAA rally, organised by the Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Issai Federation in the city where AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi from Hyderabad was present with others leaders.

Later, the police filed a sedition case against Amulya for indulging in anti-national activities and instigating her friends to stage protest rallies and demonstrations against the ruling BJP government in the state and at the Centre.

As the investigation into the sedition case was underway and a chargesheet is yet to be filed against her, the judge said the accused may participate in similar anti-national events, affecting peace and harmony.

The state police opposed Amulya's bail in the Karnataka High Court on May 19, claiming she was influential and may threaten witnesses if set free from judicial custody.
A mugger was arrested in Argentina after he attempted to speed off on his scooter while the victim's hair was caught in the rear tire.

Gonzalo Federico Sandoval, 23, intercepted Celia Chaparro while she was walking back to her home after grocery shopping in the Buenos Aires municipality of Loma Hermosa on Monday afternoon.

The 46-year-old woman, who was carrying a shopping bag in each hand, fell and landed on her back as she tussled with her attacker.

Sandoval remained seated on his motorbike and pushed it forward towards Chaparro and tried reaching for her purse.

Celia Chaparro was on her way home in the Buenos Aires municipality of Loma Hermosa on Monday when a man aboard a scooter blocked her path and tried to mug her. During the robbery attempt, Chaparro fell to the ground and her hair was stuck to the back tire of the motorbike

Gonzalo Federico Sandoval pushes his moped down the street while dragging Celia Chaparro

Gonzalo Federico Sandoval was promptly arrested at his home without incident after police investigators investigate the registration tags on his abandoned scooter

Unable to wrest the bag away from Chaparro, Sandoval pressed the accelerator and then got off the scooter and ran down the street with it while dragging Chaparro for several feet.

He struggled to with the woman, kicking and hitting her on the head and shoulder before tossing the purse away.

A part of Celia Chaparro's remained stuck to the bike after neighbor's cut it in order to free her

Celia Chaparro (right) said she suffered a nervous breakdown when the neighbors cut her hair while a piece of it was stuck to the rear tire of the moped. She told Argentine network Todo Noticias, 'I didn't want them to cut the hair. It wasn't a lot. But at that moment I was crying from the nerves because my hair was going to be cut,

The commotion drew the attention of her neighbors, including one man who ran to Chaparro's aid and appeared to land a punch on Sandoval's head, which sent him running.

The Good Samaritans were able to free Chaparro by cutting the hair that was caught in the tire.

'I didn't want them to cut the hair,' Chaparro told Argentine television network Todo Noticias. 'It wasn't a lot. But at that moment I was crying from the nerves because my hair was going to be cut.'

After investigating the abandoned scooter's motor vehicle tags, the police was able to track Sandoval's residence address, where they apprehended him with out incident.
(Natural News) The Canadian government led by Justin Trudeau announced new funding of $8.9 million to international abortion organizations as part of its commitment to exporting abortion to developing countries, most of which are inhabited by people of color.

(Article by Martin Burger republished from LifeSiteNews.com)

The biggest part of the money, $4.9 million, will go to Marie Stopes International, a global organization that provides contraception and abortions in 37 countries, The Canadian Press reported. Marie Stopes International was expelled from Zambia in 2012 for performing illegal abortions. In 2018, Niger ordered the closure of two Marie Stopes clinics because they were performing abortion illegally.

On its website, Marie Stopes International brags about having provided over 4.6 million abortion and post-abortion care services to women and girls who turned to us for support in 2019 alone. During that same time period, 14 million women were seen by our teams and chose a contraceptive method to fit their individual needs.

While Marie Stopes International has a presence in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, it is focused on developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia.

A further $2 million will go to Ipas, another international body that works with governments to advocate for safe, legal abortion and to make contraception widely available, the Canadian Press article continued.

731,261 women and girls received abortion care at Ipas-supported facilities in 2019, the organization declared on its own website. Beyond that, 2,597,468 contraceptive services [were] provided at Ipas-supported facilities.

African pro-life leader Obianuju Ekeocha has previously urged Trudeau not to export abortion to developing countries.

I beg you to not use the blood of the innocent to pave the path to development. You can never buy development with the blood of the innocent, she said on the steps of Parliament in Ottawa during the 2016 National March for Life.

In February, Ekeocha said that Trudeaus commitment to funding the killing of pre-born African babies makes him not a friend to Africa.

Ekeocha said that Trudeaus policies have directly supported the killing of Africas youngest and most vulnerable  our preborn babies and have bankrolled the importation of a toxic form of feminism from the West.

Another $2 million of Canadas funds is dedicated to the United Nations trust fund on violence against women to help combat gender-based violence internationally.

Karina Gould, minister of international development, said, We feel particularly right now that its important to make this funding announcement to demonstrate that we are still committed to SRHR (sexual and reproductive health and rights) even in a pandemic and actually highlighting the fact that these needs exist and are, in fact, exacerbated by the current pandemic.

The Canadian government led by Trudeau is known for its significant financial contributions to abortion and contraception, which it frames as womens sexual and reproductive health needs.

In 2017, Canadas then-minister of foreign affairs, Chrystia Freeland, explained that global abortion access and sexual reproductive rights are at the core of foreign policy under Trudeau. She added that Canadian values include feminism and the promotion of the rights of women and girls.

Last month, the government issued a Statement on Protecting Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Promoting Gender-Responsiveness in the COVID-19 Crisis, which called on governments around the world to ensure full and unimpeded access to all sexual and reproductive health services for all women and girls.

Responding to the unprecedented threat of the coronavirus pandemic, the statement argued, requires solidarity and cooperation among all governments, scientists, civil society actors and the private sector.

Funding sexual and reproductive health and rights should remain a priority to avoid a rise in maternal and newborn mortality, increased unmet need for contraception, and an increased number of unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted infections.

The governments pledge of almost $160 million to combat the coronavirus pandemic specifically in developing countries also included funding for abortion.

Canadas investment  aims to ensure that its international partners can maintain their services for vulnerable populations where possible, including support for sexual and reproductive health and rights, a ministry of international development press release stated.

Canadas investment in these programs is in line with its feminist international assistance approach, since this global crisis has the potential to exacerbate inequalities and reverse development gains, the press release continued.

This is especially true for the women and children who are already among the worlds poorest and most vulnerable citizens and who may now be expected to take on additional caregiving responsibilities in their families and communities.

In 2019, the Trudeau government announced it would spend $1.4 billion globally every single year until 2030 on sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. $700 million were specifically earmarked for sexual and reproductive health rights.

Prior to that, roughly $400 million were allotted annually to contraception and abortion.

Read more at: LifeSiteNews.com
(TNS)  In a significant reversal, Amazon said Wednesday it will stop police use of its controversial facial-recognition technology for a year as it awaits federal legislation to regulate it.Amid global protests sparked by the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people, companies have come under increasing scrutiny for their sale of technologies to law enforcement agencies, with a particular focus on facial recognition, which has been shown to misidentify people of color more frequently than white people and used to identify protesters.It took two years for Amazon to get to this point, but were glad the company is finally recognizing the dangers face recognition poses to Black and Brown communities and civil rights more broadly, said Nicole Ozer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California in a statement.Amazons decision followed IBMs move earlier this week to stop selling its general purpose facial-recognition and analysis software, and to discontinue research on it. Google, too, stepped back from the technology, pending additional regulation. Microsoft, which also has sold the technology to police and has advocated for government regulation, did not return a request for comment on Wednesday.Facial-recognition technology attempts to match facial features of an individual in a digital image, such as a surveillance video, to those stored in a database, which could be populated with police booking photos or social media posts, to establish identity.ACLU researchers in 2018 discovered that Amazon was selling its version of the technology, known as Rekognition, to police, though law enforcement agencies have had similar technologies at their disposal for much longer. Last week, as Amazon and its executives expressed support for Black Lives Matter, the ACLU tweeted , Will you commit to stop selling face recognition surveillance technology that supercharges police abuse?Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have demonstrated disparate error rates of facial recognition systems , including Rekognition. Amazon asserted the researchers did not use its service properly. A federal government research laboratory also found facial-recognition systems tend to misidentify Black women more frequently than white men , among many other demographic differentials. Native Americans were most frequently misidentified, the researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology reported late last year. Amazon did not submit its technology for testing.Facial-recognition technology was used by Baltimore police in 2015 to identify protesters after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.Amazon said Rekognition will continue to be made available to organizations that use it to help rescue human-trafficking victims and reunite missing children with their families. The Seattle-based company has said more than 100 children have been reunited with their families with help from its technology since its introduction in 2016.Amazon made no statement about home-surveillance cameras and other technologies sold through its Ring subsidiary, which works closely with police departments, and have also faced criticism.Weve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge, the company said in a blog post Wednesday afternoon. We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.An Amazon Web Services spokesperson did not respond to questions about how many police departments use Rekognition, and whether the one-year pause on police use of it includes other government agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement  a target of Amazon employee protests.Ozer said the ACLU wants Amazon to go further, noting that threats posed to civil rights will not disappear in a year.Amazon must fully commit to a blanket moratorium on law enforcement use of face recognition until the dangers can be fully addressed, and it must press Congress and legislatures across the country to do the same, she said. They should also commit to stop selling surveillance systems like Ring that fuel the over-policing of communities of color.Cities including Oakland and San Francisco have banned the use of facial-recognition technology by governments; Boston is considering such a ban. Earlier this year, Washington state passed a law, which takes effect next July, requiring training on and testing of facial recognition technology used by government agencies, and placing some limitations on what they can do with it. For example, law enforcement agencies cant use the technology as the sole basis to establish probable cause in a criminal investigation.Last month, Amazon shareholders voted down a proposal seeking a report to determine whether customers use of its surveillance and computer vision products or cloud-based services contributes to human rights violations.The shareholder proposal said the use of Amazons technologies in law enforcement and immigration contexts that have existing systemic inequities may replicate, exacerbate, and mask these inequities. It may also compromise public oversight and contribute to widespread government surveillance.The companys board of directors opposed the resolution, noting that all technologies have the potential to be misused, and that potential should not prevent us from making that technology available.In early 2019, Amazon published guidelines for lawmakers seeking to regulate the technology, including recommendations that law enforcement set the technology to return matches at the 99% confidence threshold; that agencies be transparent in how they use the technology; and that notice be given when the technology is used in public or business settings.The companys board said its proposed national legislative framework would help protect individual civil rights and ensure that customers are transparent in their application of the technology.The Washington County Sheriffs Office in Oregon was one of the first users of Rekognition and is one of dozens of customers from a variety of industries featured by Amazon. The law enforcement agency serving suburban Portland reportedly paid Amazon about $700 to upload a database of photos and about $7 a month to conduct searches.A spokesman for the office said Wednesday afternoon the agency had just learned of Amazons decision. During the moratorium, were going to suspend its use, Sgt. Danny DiPietro said.The Seattle Police Department stopped using facial-recognition technology sometime in 2018, a spokesman for the department told The Seattle Times last year.
Credit: Shutterstock

Experience combating Ebola has been a key element in the effective response of African nations to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research out today from Oxford's Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science in collaboration with the African Research Network.

Published today in Nature Medicine, the study explains that there had been fears that Africa would be the next 'hotspot' for COVID-19: "Many predicted a heavy toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on Africa. Its weakened health systems were harbingers of a terrible outcome."

But the reality has been quite different, with Africa only moderately affected thus far by the pandemic. According to the research, expertise developed during previous epidemics, coupled with favorable younger demographics, climate, early and effective lockdown measures, and centralized public health infrastructure all played their part in helping African nations face the pandemic in relative good standing until now.

Author Professor Melinda Mills, Director of the Leverhulme Centre concludes, "There is reason for hope in Africa's response to COVID-19. The pessimistic outlook and prediction of the pandemic in Africa shows some early indications of hope. African countries continue to focus on fast and thorough contact tracing, ensuring quarantine and remaining vigilant in the upcoming weeks, which was key in halting past Ebola outbreaks."

Professor Mills says, "One reason that African nations have fared better than other areas of the world, such as US or the UK, is their rapid, early and even drastic measures. As early as 23 April, many African countries had already taken serious measures. We have much to learn from the way in which the countries that fought off Ebola, have handled the current crisis."

A major factor in the success to date can be attributed to their rapid and strict 'effective lockdown measures." According to the study, "Countries that have experienced the Ebola epidemic were also at an advantage in combating COVID-19....when the first COVID-19 case in sub-Saharan Africa was diagnosed in Nigeria, healthcare workers were ready to use contact-tracing strategies...before it was too late. As soon as the case was confirmed, other countries...began to take dire measures, such as closing borders and minimizing public gatherings."

It continues, "Senegal took severe measures, such as closing its borders and ensuring large gatherings were minimized, at a very early stage, within days of the first reported case...by early June, they had only 45 reported deaths."

According to the report, in the period up to 3 June, Africa seems to have been affected 'only moderately' by the virus, with some 156,000 cases and an estimated 4,391 deaths, across all 54 countries. Using World Health Organisation data, the researchers calculated that Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and South Africa had the most immediate risk of the virus, largely because of the connections between China and their major cities.

Of the sub-Saharan nations, South Africa has been hardest hit. As of 3 June, there were 35,812 cases and 755 deaths. Egypt, meanwhile, saw 1,052 deaths in the same period. Yet the continent's most populous nation, Nigeria, with an estimated 196 million citizens, had experienced just 314 deaths and the holiday destinations of Tanzania and Kenya had reported fewer than 100 deaths between them. Comparatively speaking, as of 3 June, Nigeria has experienced 53 deaths per million, compared to 4,094 in the United Kingdom and 5,534 in the United States.

The research team maintains, the low number of severe cases, could be partially attributed to the younger demographic with only 3% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa over the age of 65. Another 'plausible theory' for the lower morbidity rate in African countries could be climate, "Temperature and humidity are known factors in the transmissions of other coronaviruses."

More information: Bamba Gaye et al. Socio-demographic and epidemiological consideration of Africa's COVID-19 response: what is the possible pandemic course?, Nature Medicine (2020). Journal information: Nature Medicine Bamba Gaye et al. Socio-demographic and epidemiological consideration of Africa's COVID-19 response: what is the possible pandemic course?,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-0960-y
(Natural News) A trial is currently underway in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco in a lawsuit demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ban fluoride chemicals from the water supplies across the U.S., and the outcome could finally put an end to a dangerous and common practice throughout the country.

The Fluoride Action Network (FAN) will argue that fluoridating water is a violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), specifically the part relating to the use of a chemical that has been found to pose an unreasonable risk to public health. Section 21 of the act allows citizens to petition the EPA to ban or regulate specific chemicals.

The group began its legal fight when they presented a Citizens Petition along with several other organizations and individuals back in 2016. It called for the EPA to ban the addition of fluoridation chemicals in American water based on studies showing the chemical is a neurotoxin at the doses that are being used throughout the country.

The trial was first set to begin in August 2019 but was then postponed until this April; the coronavirus crisis meant it had to be pushed back once again. Some of the plaintiffs who joined FAN in the case include Moms Against Fluoridation, Food and Water Watch, the Organic Consumers Association, the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, and the American Academy of Environmental Medicine.

They presented recent studies showing that when a pregnant woman drinks fluoridated water, her children have a significantly greater likelihood of suffering from neurological damage, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and a lower IQ. They said that fluoridated toothpaste offers the same benefits as fluoridated water without the risks.

The witnesses for the plaintiff include risk assessment scientist Kathleen Thiessen, medical expert Bruce Lanphear, environmental epidemiologist Philippe Grandjean, and scientist Howard Hu. All four witnesses have been used by the EPA in the past as experts on the neurotoxicity of mercury and lead.

Could we see a historic shift soon?

Following the first day of testimony in the trial, attorney Michael Connett said that the trial could bring about a historic shift in how we go about using and regulating fluoride.

The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen without a jury. Chen has already rejected a move by the EPA to introduce evidence in the first phase of the trial showing that fluorides benefits outweigh its health risks.

The first phase of the trial is scheduled throughout next week. Chen will then decide whether the risk posed by fluoride in drinking water is unreasonable. Should he reach that conclusion, he is expected to order the EPA to start eliminating the risk via rule-making proceedings that they would debate in the trials second phase.

Fluoride was first added to drinking water in the U.S. in the 1940s, and now its found in the majority of the water systems that serve big populations. However, some communities have banned it, with one notable location being Portland, Oregon.

In addition to the link between fluoride and problems in children such as low IQ and ADHD, other studies have found it can lead to more health problems, such as urinary stone disease, thyroid problems, weight gain and depression.

With almost two thirds of Americans drinking water that contains fluoride, a move to reduce or eliminate fluoride in drinking water could have a huge impact on public health. The judge has already made a few rulings about evidence in favor of the plaintiffs, so there is reason to hope that some real progress can be made here.

Sources for this article include:

DCClothesline.com

SFChronicle.com
Srinagar, June 11 : Jammu and Kashmir Lt. Governor, G.C. Murmu, on Thursday handed over an ex-gratia relief of Rs 20 lakh to the family members of Sarpanch Ajay Bharti, who was killed by terrorists in Anantnag district on Monday.

While paying homage to Bharti, Murmu observed that the supreme sacrifice made by him would always be remembered and the perpetrators of the dastardly act would realise their follies and desist from committing crimes against humanity, a statement issued by the government said.

"The relief amounting to Rs 20 lakh includes Rs 5 lakh from SRE, Rs 1 lakh as ex-gratia from the government, Rs 4 lakh from Lt Governor Relief Fund, and Rs 10 lakh out of the Panchayat Welfare Fund," the statement said.

Ajay Pandita Bharti, a resident of Panchayat Halqa Lukhbawan in Anantnag district, was killed after terrorists shot at him from close range on Monday.

The body was taken to Jammu where his final rites were performed. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and parents.
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Howard University Savings Plan, under the management of TIAA, has been awarded the 2020 Signature Award from The Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA), part of the American Retirement Association (ARA). PSCA is the leading association of defined contribution plan sponsors in the U.S. Howard University with TIAA received first place in the "Plan Changes  Large Company Category."

"We are honored to receive this recognition by the Plan Sponsor Council of America which recognizes the strength and impact of the recent plan changes Howard University implemented to create a stronger package of financial options for our faculty, staff and retirees," said Larry A. Callahan, Howard University's Chief Human Resources Officer. "The partnership with TIAA has been extremely rewarding in terms of the knowledge they bring to the table and the educational resources available to our campus and retirement communities."

PSCA's Signature Awards recognize exemplary retirement plan education and communications. While education has long been an essential element in helping American workers save for retirement, those programs are even more critical today as participants consider their options in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Timothy A. Rodgers, Managing Director, TIAA Financial Services Institutional Relationships said, "It was an honor to partner with Howard University's leadership to provide a multi-tiered campaign to educate plan participants on changes to Howard's retirement program. Communication and coordination were instrumental to the success of the transition and Howard's leadership supported the use of direct mail, email, on-campus and online seminars, and an ambitious one-on-one schedule with TIAA Financial Consultants to ensure that participants were fully informed and prepared. We appreciate Howard's unique brand and culture and so we made sure all materials aligned with the needs of their audiences and clearly conveyed the technical aspects of the transition for participants to understand the changes and increase their confidence in retirement planning."

A panel of 25 business leaders evaluated and selected the winners of the 2020 Signature Awards from 120 entries in eleven categories.

In January, Howard University convened an important event focused on enhancing the economic strength and financial wellness of African Americans. The event, sponsored by TIAA and AARP, brought together industry experts for a discussion on the financial challenges African Americans face and potential solutions to critical issues, including financial literacy, saving for retirement, managing debt and student loans, home ownership, and wealth inequality.

About Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced one Schwarzman Scholar, three Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 11 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows and more than 165 Fulbright recipients. Howard also produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu.

About TIAA

With an award-winning1 track record for consistent investment performance, TIAA (TIAA.org) is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields. TIAA has $1.1 trillion in assets under management (as of 3/31/20202) and offers a wide range of financial solutions, including investing, banking, advice and education, and retirement services.

About the Plan Sponsor Council of America

The Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA), part of the American Retirement Association (ARA), is a diverse, collaborative community of employee benefit plan sponsors, working together on behalf of millions of employees to solve real problems, create positive change, and expand on the success of the employer-sponsored retirement system. With members representing employers of all sizes, we offer a forum for comprehensive dialogue. By sharing our collective knowledge and experience as plan sponsors, PSCA also serves as a resource to policymakers, the media, and other stakeholders as part of our commitment to improving retirement security for millions of Americans. For more information, visit www.psca.org .

1The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards are based on the Lipper Leader for Consistent Return rating, which is a risk-adjusted performance measure calculated over 36, 60 and 120 months. Lipper Leaders fund ratings do not constitute and are not intended to constitute investment advice or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security of any entity in any jurisdiction. For more information, see lipperfundawards.com. Lipper Fund Awards from Refinitiv, 2020 Refinitiv. All rights reserved. Used under license. The Award is based on a review of risk-adjusted performance of 39 companies for 2016, 36 for 2017, 35 for 2018 & 2019, and 30 for 2020. The award pertains only to the TIAA-CREF mutual funds in the mixed-asset category. Without such waivers ratings could be lower. Past performance does not guarantee future results. For current performance, rankings and prospectuses, please visit TIAA.org.

2 Based on $1.1 trillion of assets under management across Nuveen affiliates and TIAA investment management teams as of 3/31/20.

Media Contact: Alonda Thomas, [email protected]

SOURCE Howard University

Related Links

http://www.howard.edu


Thursday, June 11th, 2020 (12:01 am) - Score 518

The UK Government has today reached an agreement with Vodafone, Three UK, Tesco Mobile, Virgin Media (Virgin Mobile), O2, EE (BT), Sky Mobile and giffgaff to remove mobile data (mobile broadband) charges for customers who need to access websites that support some of the most vulnerable victims of crime.

This is in addition to NHS websites and other support websites that have already been zero rated by some mobile network operators over the past few months, and includes Imkaan, a website dedicated to addressing violence against Black and Minority Ethnic women and girls.

The majority of these websites have now been zero rated, although the implementation of this is on an operator-by-operator basis and as such it may take a little longer for some to implement it (best to ask first).

The Zero Rated Sites Providing support for victims and witnesses of crime Victim Support  www.victimsupport.org.uk Providing support for victims of sexual violence and abuse Rape Crisis  www.rapecrisis.org.uk The Survivors Trust  www.thesurvivorstrust.org Male Survivors Partnership  www.malesurvivor.co.uk Providing support for victims of domestic abuse Refuge and the National Domestic Abuse Helpline  www.refuge.org.uk Womens Aid and Welsh Womens Aid  www.womensaid.org.uk and www.welshwomensaid.org.uk Providing support for children suffering abuse NSPCC  www.nspcc.org.uk

The zero-rating of these sites will only apply during the coronavirus pandemic, although the operators have agreed that these measures will be in effect until at least 31st October 2020. The move follows previous commitments from the UKs broadband ISPs and mobile providers to support and protect vulnerable consumers, as well as the NHS, during the crisis.

Matt Warman, UK Digital Infrastructure Minister, said: This agreement will help people who are at risk of violence during this pandemic get the information and support they need, particularly those on pay as you go contracts or tight data allowances. This is yet another positive commitment from the UKs brilliant mobile network providers to support the vulnerable and contribute to the national effort to overcome coronavirus.

The hidden catch here is that most websites also pull in some of their content from third-party servers / domains (e.g. YouTube) and its important to stress that this can still attract a charge (see here for a more detailed explanation), which is not something that would be obvious to most ordinary consumers. Happily the Government have actually recognised this fact in their latest announcement.
USS Kidd Departs on Deployment

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS200610-10

Release Date: 6/10/2020 4:00:00 PM

From Commander, U.S. Third Fleet Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) departed San Diego to continue her scheduled deployment, June 10.

Kidd is scheduled to return to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility to continue its mission in support of SOUTHCOM Enhanced Counter Narcotics Operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

"I am extremely proud of my crew and their coordination with Navy Region Southwest, U.S. Surface Forces Pacific and U.S. Third Fleet as we navigated through our COVID-19 outbreak on board," said Cmdr. Nathan Wemett, Kidd's commanding officer. "The strength of the bond throughout the Navy communities ensured we safely and effectively disembarked the crew, disinfected the ship, re-embarked the crew, and will be able to continue our mission out at sea."

As part of the Navy's aggressive response to the COVID-19 outbreak on board the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100), the ship arrived at Naval Base San Diego April 28 to provide medical care, quarantine, and monitoring for its Sailors, and to clean and disinfect the ship. The ship's crew had begun a strategic deep-cleaning regimen while still underway that balanced decontamination with preventing damage to the ship's critical systems.

USS Kidd is assigned to U.S. 3rd Fleet, which leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy. U.S. 3rd Fleet constantly coordinates with U.S. 7th Fleet to plan and execute missions based on their complementary strengths to promote ongoing peace, security, and stability throughout the entire Pacific theater of operations.

For more news from USS Kidd (DDG 100), visit https://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg100/.

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European universities' alliance COVID-19 Policy Commission launch

EUniWell has launched its well-being Policy Commission

Experts from a group of top European universities are launching a Policy Commission that aims to improve the well-being of people across Europe and beyond living under the shadow of the global Coronavirus pandemic.

Researchers from the European University of Well-being (EUniWell) will kick-start the 6-month commission with a live one and a half-hour webinar at 14.00 CEST on Wednesday 17 June, featuring experts from three partner institutions discussing Well-being in a COVID World. The event will be chaired by Stefano Manservisi, former Director-General of the European Commissions Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development.

People across Europe and the globe are welcome to register to attend the panel discussion and Q&A.



The event will feature discussion of how EUniWell can help to boost peoples well-being from an expert panel featuring:

Christiane Woopen, Professor for Ethics and Theory of Medicine at the University of Cologne, in Germany.

Arnold Tukker, Professor of Industrial Ecology and Director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences, at the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands.

Matthew Broome, Professor of Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health at the University of Birmingham, in the UK.

Judith Barth, EUniWell Chief Student Officer, and student at the University of Cologne.

After a brief introduction to EUniWell by Beatrix Busse, Vice-Rector for Teaching and Studies from the University of Cologne, Pro-Vice-Chancellor International Robin Mason from the University of Birmingham will introduce the EUniWell Policy Commission series. Following this, Stefano Manservisi will chair the panel discussion. Participants will have the opportunity to put questions to the panel towards the end of the event.

EUniWell unites seven top European universities to create research, teaching and policy development partnerships involving 244,000 students and 36,500 staff. Its focus is well-being, supporting individual, social and environmental well-being in a global setting.

Announcing the Policy Commission, leaders* of the Universities of Birmingham, Firenze, Koln, Leiden, Linnaeus, Nantes and Semmelweis commented: The challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic poses give EUniWells mission  to understand, measure, rebalance and improve the well-being of individuals, communities, and society  new urgency.

COVID-19 demands that we re-imagine well-being from different perspectives and find solutions to the challenges it presents to our globalised, connected world. Our new Policy Commission unites the strengths and expertise of EUniWells network of experts to help improve well-being for the people of Europe and their global neighbours.

The EUniWell Policy Commission will bring together experts and interested parties to shape a multi-faceted approach and methodology to well-being in a COVID world. The Commission will scope the issue and produce recommendations for policy change - considering evidence from a range of organisations, experts and interests, as well as drawing on relevant research from within EUniWell.

EUniWell has identified four key areas for research and teaching, closely linked to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in which the partner universities have strong expertise:

Well-Being & Health (SDG 3, Good Health & Well-Being)

Individual & Social Well-Being (SDG 16, Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions)

Environment, Urbanity & Well-Being (SDG 11, Sustainable Cities & Communities)

Teacher Education (SDG 4, Quality Education)

The alliance will support learning at all ages - for university students, life-long learners and their teachers, fostering equality and diversity. Students are the heart of the collaboration and involved in all aspects of its work, including governance. Partner universities will train the next generation of Europeans, enabling scientific breakthroughs and successful knowledge transfer to benefit society.

*EUniWell leaders:

Professor Sir David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Birmingham, UK.

Professor Luigi Dei, Rector, Universita degli Studi di Firenze, Italy.

Professor Axel Freimuth, Rector, Universitat zu Koln, Germany.

Professor Carel Stolker, Rector Magnificus and President, Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands.

Professor Peter Aronsson, Vice-Chancellor, Linnaeus University, Sweden.

Professor Olivier Laboux, President, Universite de Nantes, France.

Professor Bela Merkely, Rector, Semmelweis University, Hungary.

Notes to editors:
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told the Washington Post in an interview on Thursday that he is in "complete remission" after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May 2018.

Why it matters: Prior to undergoing an experimental treatment, the 80-year-old admitted that his prognosis was bleak and even told the New York Times in an interview published in January 2019, "As soon as you discover you have something on your pancreas, youre dead."

Reid was one of four people who joined UCLA cancer specialist Patrick Soon-Shiong's clinical study for cancer patients who had essentially run out of options, according to the Post.

Soon-Shiong credits the treatment regimen Reid underwent with saving his life: Consider the senator the first astronaut to the new universe."

What they're saying: I wasnt willing to acknowledge that I was about to get hit by the Grim Reaper," Reid told the Post about his experience suffering from cancer last summer. "Theres no comparison to how I feel  I feel good. Im alive. ... The simple fact that you have cancer doesnt mean you quit.

Editors note: This post has been corrected to show that Reid was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May 2018 (not November 2018).
Evil in High Places: an electrifying read that follows Jack Barnes, a man who dreams of a seat in politics, and the harrowing events he faces, brought about by the aid he sought after from an outsider. Evil in High Places is the creation of published author Bob Lanier Smith, a retiree in the retail business from Brenham, Texas.

Smith shares, Jack Barnes was struggling. He had made the ballot, but his polling numbers were strong evidence he had no chance in the election. His budget was dwindling, and time was growing short. A friend of his, a sitting senator, noticed his predicament and suggested he meet the man who had helped him secure his senate seat some years before.

Such a meeting seemed a godsend, but there was just one problem: I cant afford to pay for help like that, Jack had said.

This guy is not looking for money. Hes looking for supportdown the road. Hes a lobbyist. Why dont you just meet with him? Then if you decide you dont want his help, no big deal.

It sounded reasonable. Jack agreed to meet with him. The meeting was cordialheck, nothing objectionableand he agreed to accept his help. It was the biggest mistake of his political career.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Bob Lanier Smiths new book shows the corrupting side of power when used irresponsibly and for self-benefit rather than in the service of others.

This book profoundly depicts mans hunger for dominion that pushes him to do thoughtless things he soon will regret to no end.

View the synopsis of Evil in High Places on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Evil in High Places at traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Evil in High Places, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.


State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, on Thursday said its board will consider raising up to $1.5 billion by issuing bonds during the current financial year.

"The executive committee of the central board in its meeting held today (Thursday), on June 11, 2020, inter alia approved to examine the status and decide on long-term fundraising in single or multiple tranches up to $1.5 billion," it said in a regulatory filing.

SBI said the capital is proposed to be raised through public and/or private placement of senior unsecured notes in US dollar or any other convertible currency during 2020-21.

Last week, SBI said it is considering to raise up to $1.5 billion (about Rs 11,330 crore) through a public offer and/or private placement of bonds.

Earlier, in November, SBI raised Rs 3,813.60 crore through perpetual bonds to fund its business growth.

Shares of SBI on Thursday ended 5.64 per cent down to Rs 177.20 a piece on the BSE.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

A coalition of tech giants including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter have backed a five-fold plan to "eradicate" child sexual abuse on the internet. The group, known as the Technology Coalition, was founded in 2006 with the aim of preventing child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) on the web. It partners with organizations like Unicef and children's charities, and provides funding and advice to tech platforms on implementing child safety tools. "The world has changed since we first came together in 2006," the group said in a statement Thursday. "Technology is more advanced, and there has been an explosion of new internet services, including mobile and online video streaming." "The number of people online  more than 4.5 billion in 2020  has added to the challenge of keeping the internet a safe place. As a result, the technological tools for detecting and reporting CSEA content have become more sophisticated, but so too have the forms of abuse we seek to prevent and eradicate."

Technology Coalition's plan to tackle online CSEA has five main goals in mind. The consortium says it will:  Invest in innovative tech to tackle child sexual abuse material on the web.  Hold an annual forum with governments, law enforcement and other stakeholders, as well as periodic events.  Fund independent research into trends around online child exploitation and measures to prevent it.  Create new systems and develop existing ones for the sharing of information and threats across the industry.  Share insights on the reporting of child sexual abuse and form a process for firms to benchmark their progress. The alliance says it will invest millions of dollars into a research and innovation fund to build new technology and publish annual reports on its progress in tackling abusive content. It's working with international bodies WePROTECT Global Alliance  an organization founded by U.K. tech entrepreneur Joanna Shields  and the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. The news arrives after the Technology Coalition backed 11 principles put forth by the so-called "Five Eyes" alliance  comprised of the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand  earlier this year to prevent the spread of online child sex abuse.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the plan, dubbed Project Protect, "brings together the brightest minds from across the tech industry to tackle a grave issue that no one company can solve on its own." In the U.K., the government is introducing new legislation to tackle harmful content including child exploitation and terrorism. But tech companies are also under global pressure to ensure they have robust systems in place to identify and remove toxic content. There are fears the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdown measures have heightened the risk of child sexual abuse spreading online. On May 20, U.K. charity Internet Watch Foundation said there had been 8.8 million attempts to access images and video of children suffering sexual abuse during the country's lockdown. U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel welcomed the latest move from Technology Coalition. She labeled online child sexual abuse "sickening" and said "we must all work collaboratively to eradicate this crime." "Myself and the Five Country partners have been clear that technology companies need to work quickly and go further to address the critical issues that could leave children vulnerable to online predators," Patel added.

Encryption battle
tech2 News Staff

Xiaomi will unveil its first laptop in India today. The company has previously launched a few laptops in China but never in India.

Earlier, it was expected that the upcoming Mi Notebook is rebranded RedmiBook 13 that was launched in China last year. However, Xiaomi India Head, Manu Kumar Jain confirmed that Mi Notebook will make its global debut in India. He further added that it will be India-exclusive and is designed for the Indian market.

Mi Notebook launch event: How to watch it live

The launch event will commence at 12 pm today and you can visit the company's YouTube page and other social media channels to watch the livestream. Link for the webcast is also embedded below:



Here's a glimpse of what you will be seeing tomorrow.

The stage is set and so are we to launch the #MiNoteBook. Tune in tomorrow at 12 Noon to watch the Livestream on our social media handles. RT if you are ready to #MakeEpicHappen pic.twitter.com/AOotUZK7rT  Mi India (@XiaomiIndia) June 10, 2020

Mi Notebook expected specifications

In days leading up to the launch day, Xiaomi has also teased a bunch of details about the laptop on a Mi Notebook dedicated page on the website.

As per a previous report, Mi Notebook will offer up to 12 hours of battery in a single charge. The company has further revealed that the laptop will be ultra thin and ultra light and it will have an SSD. Manu Kumar Jain had also announced previously that the laptop will have "one of the highest screen to body ratio you would have ever seen.", hence, it will sport thin bezel. The company website has also revealed that the laptop will feature an FHD display. Mi Notebook will come with a 1080p display and will be powered by the Intel Core i7 processor.

The brand new #MiNotebook will make its #Global #Debut in #India and will be: India 1st

India exclusive

Made for India Block the date: . No, it's not exactly what you're thinking . RT if you can't wait to see it.#Xiaomi  pic.twitter.com/IKYkHnSQAk  Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) June 1, 2020

Interestingly, because of the COVID-19 spread, Xiaomi is also planning to launch an AR app that will let the customers explore the laptop from the comfort of their home.
A far-right Norwegian man was on Thursday jailed for 21 years for the racially motivated murder of his Chinese-born stepsister and attempting to kill worshippers in a mosque shooting spree.

Philip Manshaus expressed strong anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim views before the 2019 attack and was unrepentant at trial.

Mr Manshaus, now 22 years old, shot and killed Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen in their family home, later explaining he believed the adopted daughter of his fathers spouse posed a risk to the family because of her Asian origin.

He then drove to the nearby al-Noor Islamic Centre and entered the building, firing several shots but hitting no one before being overpowered by a 65-year-old member of the congregation who wrestled away his guns.

He went in with the purpose of killing as many Muslims as possible, Judge Annika Lindstroem said.

Mr Manshaus expressed admiration for the massacre of over 50 people at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 by a white supremacist who filmed and broadcast the killings live.

The attack also drew comparisons with the massacre of 77 people by far-right mass killer Anders Behring Breivik in 2011 in Norways worst peacetime atrocity.

Mr Manshaus, who wore a helmet camera filming the mosque shooting, however, failed in his attempt to broadcast the attack online.

(Reuters/NAN)
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Sustainability has long been at the forefront of the fashion conversation, with companies at both ends of the industrys pipeline  including brands, manufacturers, textile firms and machine providers  investing money to make sure their products and processes are more eco-friendly and mirror todays customers increased attention to the environment.

Yet Giusy Bettoni, founder and chief executive officer of CLASS, a Milan-based international platform that connects the key players in fashion and provides the resources they need to realize sustainability, believes the path to a sustainable future for fashion still has a long way to go.

A lot has to do with the way companies communicate their efforts.

In the past four to five years, a lot of companies have invested in responsible innovation, but thats not communicated properly because it is not believed as a value customers would care about, Bettoni said in an interview with WWD.

For some reasons I cant really tell, theres a lack of communication, a mix and match of different approaches leaving the companies undecided on which steps to take. Each fashion company tells its own story, there isnt a shared knowledge shining a light on the way to reach the goals, she contended.

When Bettoni founded CLASS  Creativity, Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy  in 2007, she proposed herself as an ingredient branding expert at a time when almost no one cared about the composition of a piece of clothing, more than 50 percent of the appeal was ascribable to design, and sustainability was labeled as ugly, expensive and non-performative.

As for the reasons why customers are drawn to a fashion piece, the design quotient is still very important, as is performance. And yet customers are taking sustainability into greater consideration, making sure that what they wear is not harmful to their health  especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic  or that businesses safeguard the environment and their workforce.

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Customers are not ignorant at all, its been the industry keeping them so for too long, she said.

But the winds are changing fast: Communicating sustainability both to the market and to end consumers is increasingly pivotal to stay afloat.

If we lose the three dimensions while communicating, we lose one of the values that could be potentially engaging for the consumer, she noted, referring to design, performance and sustainability.

This is part of a new way of communicating, which encompasses both storytelling and storymaking, as Bettoni put it, pointing to in-depth information about eco-friendly practices delivered through the companies web sites or through new technologies such as VR, smart tags and labels.

We have to share the number of options we have to be sustainable through educational programs and also on the other end to share our actions with the consumer, which is more challenging, and also to tell our eco-friendly efforts less generically, thus avoiding green-washing, she mused.

Ive never appreciated whats labeled as a commodity,  organic cotton for example  I dont think its valuable to be generic or non-specific when it comes to sustainability, Bettoni noted.

In her view, responsible fashion is always the byproduct of responsible innovation, through which new business models are encouraged and companies can take a broader approach in all phases of creation. This ensures responsibility is embedded at every stage of fashion development and production.

We need a new vocabulary, new values and new formats.Its essential to be inclusive and current when we talk about sustainability, embedding the green ethos into the companys narrative, without it shadowing other values, which are equally important, she explained.

Likewise, name-dropping certifications no longer represents an effective way to engage customers. Certifications should be complementary to real values, she said, as too often they do not recount the number of efforts  and values  behind the products and processes that bear that seal of approval.

To wit, Bettoni urges fashion companies to think first about values  such as the respect of human rights, the materials and fabrics employed, the amount of saved resources  and how they are tangibly incorporated into collections and products. In her view, corporate communication  which has characterized the way especially bigger brands share their sustainable commitment  should be flanked by information on single products and single collections, in order to meet consumers demand for transparency.

To this end, more than 10 years after establishing CLASS, Bettoni acknowledged the need to step up her game, by reshuffling the services her consultancy provides, adding new areas that are in sync with todays scenario. The great change comes during the COVID-19 time as we had time to stop and think of a new project that will spearhead our growth in the next decade, Bettoni commented. The new structure will kick off at the end of June.

Banking on CLASS successful Material Hub area dedicate to innovative and smart fabrics and yarns, Bettoni has encapsulated it into the Smart Tools section, which will provide resources for eco-friendly processes in the Process x Progress hub, which includes advice on new generation dyeing and finishing techniques, as well as machinery, such as Italys Santonis seamless knitting machine that avoids yarn waste; for the circular economy and upcycled fabrics in the Back in the Loop section, and for advanced communication tools with the Future Devices area, which includes for example a responsive digital technology implemented by Sense-immaterial Reality for CLASS iCatalog App, allowing to experience remotely the physical features of textiles, or WeArt, which is similarly focused on virtually providing a sense of the tactile characteristic of fabrics.

Firmly believing in the role of education, Bettoni said the more a textile company is technologically advanced, the less it acknowledges the role of communication, believing that innovation is sufficient. I think that small and medium-sized textile companies, but also bigger players, are really communicating sustainability in a conventional way without creating value because they share the same approach of fast fashion firms.

To this end, CLASS will introduce the Smart Academy area, a program of events, tutorials, talks and masterclasses  each with a different target  aimed at propelling knowledge and sharing the best practices among industry leaders. Additionally, the Smart Source hub already introduced three years ago will represent a hybrid between the two former sections, encompassing a sample e-shop and an educational platform targeting fashion design students, designers and brands who will be granted access to information and to buy small amount of innovative fabrics, for which minimum quantities would be required otherwise.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - To Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge, who chairs a House of Representative subcommittee on elections, its obvious that election procedures around the nation must change to safely conduct Novembers general election during a global pandemic.

On Thursday, Fudges subcommittee held a hearing to examine how states conducted primary elections during the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and how the federal government can ensure it doesnt hinder voting in November.

It has become clear that access to the ballot in November is in jeopardy if we do not make substantial investments in our election infrastructure and remove the long standing barriers that continue to keep far too many from exercising their right to vote, said Fudge. We must assure every eligible American can access the ballot box, without endangering their health and with steadfast faith in our democratic process.

Witnesses at the hearing described how the virus derailed primaries in states including Wisconsin and Georgia, where mail-in ballots that many voters requested never arrived, and a reduction of in-person polling places resulted in hours-long lines in some areas.

In Wisconsins primary election, a chief tenet of true democracymaximizing participation without civic discriminationwas undermined," reported Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore. "I do not want to see a repeat in November. Bolstering absentee balloting combined with preserving risk reduced in-person opportunities such as same-day registration and early in-person voting periods is critical to guarantee that as many eligible voters who seek to vote will vote successfully and safely.

Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur said Ohios voter turnout was harmed when the states election officials didnt have the capacity to manage the surge in absentee ballots that were requested after Ohios primary election was rescheduled to April 28. If the Republican-controlled U.S Senate doesnt approve House-passed legislation that provided $3.6 billion in election assistance to state and local governments, Kaptur warned jurisdictions in my state will have to cut major corners that will not only place the franchise at risk, but will make it more likely that the general election will be a mass spreading event."

Although five states already conduct vote-by-mail elections, Republicans who participated in the hearing argued that doing so nationwide would radically change elections in many states and increase opportunities for fraud.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill described thousands of absentee ballots sent to inactive voters, and instances where we witnessed 109 absentee ballots sent to the mother of a mayoral candidate in Brighton, Alabama in 2016 and another instance in the same year in which 119 absentee ballots were mailed to an abandoned home in Wilcox County, Alabama." He said that of the six voter fraud convictions in Alabama, five were related to absentee voting.

We, as states, must fight against federal attempts to mandate how we run our elections under the guise of charitable appropriations, added Louisiana Secretary of State R. Kyle Ardoin. Receiving one- time funds to run elections during an unprecedented crisis at the expense of radically changing our election system is a trade-off we are not willing to make. We will gladly accept federal dollars with no strings or political motivations attached.

The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois, said he supports states that are taking steps to increase their capacity for mail-in voting, but said it would be ridiculous to assume every state should do so when absentee balloting comprised less than four percent of the vote in states like Louisiana and Alabama.

To ask that they move to a primarily vote-by-mail system prior to November would be to ignore the realities of election administration and the very real lack of equipment to make such a transition, some of which takes months to manufacture and deliver, said Davis. "Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security has warned states against reducing in-person voting locations in favor of vote-by-mail as it could have a dramatic effect on voter access, lines, and congestion. This is exactly what happened in Milwaukee where in-person voting locations were reduced from over a hundred, to just five.

Fudge denied that mail-in balloting leads to cheating, arguing that millions of Americans including President Donald Trump and members of his administration vote by mail every election cycle with exceedingly rare instances of fraud.

For every American to exercise their unfettered, unabridged right to vote, we need to stop this foolishness now and do whatever it takes to make sure that every American has the right to vote, Fudge said.

More coverage:

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BESSEMER, MI  A house in Bessemer was fully engulfed in flames when crews arrived on Tuesday.

Michigan State Police Wakefield Post, and the Bessemer City and Bessemer Township fire departments responded the fire. Flames and smoke prevented troopers from entering the home to search for victims.

Lonnie Ray Niemi, 69, was found inside after the fire was extinguished. His body was identified using x-rays. The exact cause of death is not yet known; an autopsy is pending.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. An MSP fire marshal is investigating the incident.
A cosmetologist styles a customers hair in Cincinnati, Ohio. Missouri also allowed hair salons to reopen in May. (The stylist pictured is not related to the Missouri story.)

Jason Whitman/Getty Images

Last month, two Missouri hairstylists cut 140 people's hair while symptomatic with the coronavirus, putting officials on alert for new cases tied to the salon.

But now, after two-week quarantines and regular check-ins with those who were potentially exposed, none seem to have contracted to the virus.

Officials hope to learn more from the case, which illustrates the importance of masks and other measures the salon put in place.

As states continue to reopen, including services like salons and barbershops, 21 are seeing new spikes in cases.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

After a Missouri health department learned of two hairstylists who cut 140 clients hair while symptomatic with COVID-19, the disease the coronavirus causes, they braced for a surge in cases among the newly coiffed.

Springfield-Greene County Health Department director Clay Goddard said back then, on May 22, that he was "very frustrated" and "disappointed" by the potential new outbreak as the state began to reopen.

"We can't have many more of these," he said, as Business Insider previously reported. "We can't make this a regular habit or our capability as a community will be strained and we will have to re-evaluate what things look like going forward."

Related: Experts on How to Make and Wear Effective DIY Face Masks

But now, more than two weeks later, all of the stylists' clients remain healthy, CNN reported, pleasantly surprising health officials, and highlighting the importance of mask wearing, contact tracing, and isolating suspected cases.

The stylists wore masks and all clients were contacted about their potential exposure

The stylists, who worked at a Great Clips in Springfield, wore masks, as did their clients, Business Insider reported. The salon also implemented Centers for measures like keeping chairs far apart and staggering appointments, the health department said, according to CNN.

Great Clips franchise owners Brittany Hager and Jennifer Small told Missouri's KY3 in a statement May 22 that, after the potential exposures, the salon closed to undergo "additional sanitizing and deep cleaning" in accordance with government recommendations.

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Customers and employees who were potentially exposed were notified and offered testing; 46 took tests that came back negative, CNN reported.

The others were quarantined for 14 days and called twice a day to see if they had COVID-19 symptoms. Now, that incubation period is up, and no clients seem to have gotten ill.

A stylist in Georgia wears gloves while giving a haircut during the coronavirus pandemic.

Paras Griffin/Getty Images

The hopeful findings point to the power of masks in helping to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Goddard said, according to CNN. "We are studying more closely the details of these exposures, including what types of face coverings were worn and what other precautions were taken to lead to this encouraging result," he said.

The World Health Organization has long emphasized that masks are only one part of a comprehensive approach to in the fight against the coronavirus.

"The cornerstone of the response in every country must be to find, isolate, test and care for every case, and to trace and quarantine every contact," the director-general said in a regular press briefing June 5. "That is what we know works. That is every country's best defense against COVID-19."

It's unclear how salon and barbershop openings are affecting coronavirus numbers country-wide

Many states, including Georgia and Texas, also allowed barbershops and salons to open last month. It's not clear how they have or haven't affected the states' coronavirus numbers, but it's clear the pandemic is far from over in the country.

The US has nearly 2 million confirmed cases and more than 112,600 deaths. 21 states have reported a recent increase in new cases, according to The New York Times, which some experts are tying to Memorial Day weekend gatherings.

Others expect to see more linked to protests against police brutality and systemic racism, sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died while pinned under the knee of a White police officer in Minneapolis, May 25.

"It's a delicate balance, because the reasons for demonstrating are valid," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US's top infectious-disease expert, said June 5. "And yet, the demonstration itself puts one at an additional risk."

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Black Lives Matter peaceful protest will take place outside Newbridge Town Hall this Saturday, June 13, at 1pm.

The organisers have advised that Covid-19 social distancing must be adhered to at all times during the event. The Newbridge demonstration will be a static protest - that is, the protesters will not travel from outside the Town Hall. There will be two metre markings to help attendees keep their distance.

Masks must be worn at all times and people are asked to bring their own hand sanitiser, water, snacks and signs, and not to share these with others outside their own household. A team of organisers will be advising on safety measures on the day.

"This is strictly a peaceful protest. Please do not do anything to risk the safety of all attending," said the organisers in a social media post announcing the event.

Cllr Chris Pender, who is assisting, said that the protest is being organised by Newbridge locals.

Black Lives Matter protests have taken place in several towns and cities across Ireland, including Dublin, Galway and Kilkenny, in the last few weeks, sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis and reflecting the widespread demonstrations across the US.
VANCOUVER, BC, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - BetterLife Pharma Inc. ("BetterLife" or the "Company") (CSE: BETR) (OTCQB: BETRF) (FRA: NPAT) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusivity agreement with Altum Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("Altum") to work towards finalizing a mutually acceptable definitive agreement for the "merger of equals" transaction, pursuant to which BetterLife would issue 4.582 common shares of BetterLife for each Altum common share, which represented approximately $36.1 million in value based on the proposed share exchange as at May 25, 2020.

Mr. Doroudian, the sole director of Altum, has informed the Board of BetterLife that Altum will call for a special meeting of its shareholders as soon as possible to, among other things, vote on the merger with BetterLife. As announced in its press release of May 25, 2020, BetterLife had secured "hard" lock-up agreements from shareholders of Altum, representing 67.12% of the outstanding common shares of Altum.

The proposed transaction to acquire all the shares of Altum is subject to the receipt of all required approvals and with BetterLife being satisfied with the results of its due diligence. BetterLife has reviewed published scientific claims and materials available publicly on Altum's pipeline of products.

BetterLife would also like to announce that it has amended terms of the agreement entered into on May 6, 2020 with Altum to acquire worldwide rights (other than in Greater China, Japan and ASEAN countries) to commercialize and sell AP-003, a potential COVID-19 treatment. Closing date of the definitive agreement has been extended to July 15, 2020.

Mr. Robert Metcalfe, the lead director of BetterLife commented "I am very pleased that we can finally move ahead with Altum to complete the merger and begin work of advancing Altum's pipeline of 3 products, especially AP-003 and its potential as a COVID-19 treatment."

Exclusive license

In the original press release dated May 7, 2020, BetterLife had announced that in relation to Altum's shared intellectual property with a Canadian governmental research and technology organization ("Research Organization") on composition and the method of manufacturing IFNa2b that yields contaminant (isoform) free, highest purity IFNa2b, "Altum is negotiating with the Research Organization, in the interim, to convert its license to an exclusive license, and ultimately, to obtain an assignment of the Research Organization's rights". The Company is very pleased to announce that, today, Altum received an "exclusive, worldwide and royalty free and sublicensable license" to that intellectual property.

Share consolidation

BetterLife would also like to announce that, prior to the completion of the "merger of equals" with Altum, it intends on completing a consolidation of its common shares at a 10-for-1 consolidation ratio (the "Consolidation"). Following the Consolidation and prior to the merger with Altum, the total issued and outstanding common shares of the Company will be approximately 17,210,985. If the Consolidation is completed, the share exchange ratio for the "merger of equals" with Altum will be revised to 0.4582 common shares of BetterLife for each Altum common share. The Consolidation is subject to the receipt of all required approvals.

About Altum Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Formed in 2016, Altum is a privately-held company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Altum's pipelines consists of three products:

AP-003: Altum's current lead product AP-003, is a patent pending proprietary Interferon 2b (IFN 2b) inhalation formulation. In recent studies IFN 2b has been shown to be effective in slowing viral replication. In the study published Friday May 15, 2020 in Frontiers of Immunology titled "Interferon-a2b Treatment for COVID-19", the authors examined the course of disease in a cohort of 77 individuals with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to Union Hospital, Tongii Medical College, Wuhan, China, between January 16 and February 20, 2020. To the knowledge of the authors the findings presented in the study were the first to suggest therapeutic efficacy of IFN-a2b in COVID-19 disease. Altum is planning a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial of AP-003 in early stage COVID-19 patients to start in the near future.

AP-001: Altum's first product AP-001 is a topical IFN 2b product for the treatment of Human Papiloma Virus (HPV) infection that can cause cervical cancer. In 2017, Altum acquired the BiPhasix platform from Helix Biopharma. The BiPhasix technology is a novel encapsulation and delivery platform technology. BiPhasix-encapsulated interferon IFN 2b for use in treatment of HPV-cervical dysplasia. AP-001 has completed Phase 2.

AP-002: In April 2018, Altum acquired Lexi Pharma Inc., a therapeutics company focused on development of treatments for bone related disorders. Lexi's lead product, AP-002, is an oral gallium-based novel small molecule. AP-002 has US IND approved and has started Phase 1-2 in October 2019 in the US in cancer patients with advanced or recurrent solid tumours.

For further information please visit altumpharma.com.

Cautionary Note

The Company is not making any express or implied claims that Altum's AP-003 or any other product has the ability to eliminate, cure or contain the COVID-19 (or SARS-2 Coronavirus) at this time. Further, the safety and efficacy of Altum's AP-003 are under investigation and market authorization has not yet been obtained.

About BetterLife Pharma Inc.

BetterLife Pharma Inc. is a science-based innovative medical wellness company aspiring to offer high-quality preventive and self-care products to its customers. For further information please visit abetterlifepharma.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, the matters set forth above may be forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, such as the failure to complete the transaction with Altum or to meet obligations under the agreement with Altum, the failure of Altum to hold a meeting of its shareholder, the failure of the shareholders of Altum approving the matters before them, the failure of Altum to complete clinical trials or to have success in such trials, the failure of Altum to secure and/or enforce patent protection for AP-003, the failure of Altum to secure exclusive rights from third parties, the failure of the Company to secure financing needed to carry out the plans set out herein, the failure of the Company to complete the share consolidation, the failure to meet the conditions imposed by the CSE or other securities regulators,the competitive environment within the industry, the ability of BetterLife to commence and expand its operations, the level of costs incurred in connection with BetterLife's operational efforts, economic conditions in the industry, pandemics, and the financial strength of BetterLife's future customers and suppliers. Reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements, as they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially from the anticipated future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forward in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: our ability to obtain, on satisfactory terms or at all, the capital required for research, product development, operations and marketing; general economic, business and market conditions; our ability to successfully and timely complete clinical studies; product development delays and other uncertainties related to new product development; our ability to attract and retain business partners and key personnel; the risk of our inability to profitably commercialize our proposed products; the risk that our proposed clinical trials will not be launched in a timely manner (or at all) or if launched yield positive results or that we will not obtain regulatory market approvals for our products; the extent of any future losses; the risk of our inability to establish or manage manufacturing, development or marketing collaborations; the risk of delay of, or failure to obtain, necessary regulatory approvals and, ultimately, product launches; dependence on third parties for successful commercialization of our products; inability to obtain product and raw materials in sufficient quantity or at standards acceptable to health regulatory authorities to commence and complete clinical trials or to meet commercial demand; the risk of the termination or conversion of our license with Altum or our inability to enforce our rights under our license with Altum;our ability to obtain patent protection and protect our intellectual property rights; commercialization limitations imposed by intellectual property rights owned or controlled by third parties; uncertainty related to intellectual property liability rights and liability claims asserted against us; the impact of competitive products and pricing; and future levels of government funding; additional risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control.

Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE BetterLife Pharma Inc.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Most of us understand the critical importance of monitoring the spread of diseases. And it is as important for plant diseases as it is for humans.

Plant disease epidemics are often hidden from view, unlike human viral disease outbreaks. Yet food and forest production systems, as well as native environments around the world, are just as threatened by emerging epidemics. That is why the UN has made 2020 the International Year of Plant Health.

It is estimated that pests and pathogens destroy between 10% and 40% of food production globally.

There are ways to deal with this problem, starting with biosecurity and plant health management systems. But this is yet another system that's been put under tremendous pressure by the emergence of COVID-19. Under restrictions on human movementnecessary to curb the virus' spreadthe field and laboratory work that are crucial for surveillance and management of plant diseases has been severely curtailed.

Research and specialist services delivered by universities, for example, have in many cases temporarily closed or are operating at minimal levels. Missing even a few months could mean missing a key moment in a pest's life cycle and a chance to intervene and slow its further spread. The pressure on government funding that is required to sustain these systems is also threatening to bring these programmes to a standstill.

Plant diseases require as much attention now as ever to ensure that food systems are in place in the next season. There are also serious implications for forestry and the environment more broadly.

Under threat

Plant health epidemics can be caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes or insects. Many of these organisms originate in one part of the world and rapidly spread to threaten food crops or trees globally. They often jump from a host plant on which they do not cause significant epidemics, to a different plant that does not have resistance to them.

Global biosecurity systems are under pressure to deal with the scale of the problem. For example, trade in plants and plant parts is known to be a major pathway of spread of pests and pathogens. But even well-resourced systems in the US cannot cope with the inspection of billions of plants traded annually. The problem is bigger in developing economies, including many in Africa, because of a lack of capacity.

Biosecurity relies on four things: prevention (at port of entry); preparedness (early detection, diagnostics and control); response (to contain and eradicate or manage plant pests and diseases); and recovery (systems for regulating eradication, management or restoration).

Unfortunately, insect and fungal pests can spread naturally across borders. Once a pest is introduced into one country a whole continent's food, forestry and native systems could be threatened. An example is the fall armyworm, which was first reported in West Africa in 2016 and spread across the continent, reaching South Africa one year later.

Estimates in 2017 put potential losses in maize production in Africa to this pest at between US$ 2.4-6.2 billion. Such production losses could lead to food insecurity in many African countries.

Plant health crisis examples

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of pests and pathogens threatening African countries already. Here are just three examples:

On a main food crop: Maize lethal necrosis disease is caused by the joint infection of more than one virus and can completely devastate a maize crop. The disease first emerged in Kenya in 2011; it has since spread to surrounding countries with devastating yield losses. It is critically important to track its spread, identify outbreaks and attempt to eradicate or restrict its movement. Identification requires highly specialised laboratory analysis to confirm the identity of the viruses.

In plantation forestry: The Sirex woodwasp is native to Europe, but has caused billions of US Dollars damage since it was introduced in New Zealand around 1900 and eventually around the world. A biological control programme that uses a parasitic nematode to sterilise the wasp is widely applied, and has saved the South African forestry industry hundreds of millions of Rand. This programme depends on thorough national monitoring of the wasp infestation levels and the timely release of the biological control nematode.

On native, urban and agricultural trees: The Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer is a tiny ambrosia beetle that introduces a fungal symbiont into trees on which its offspring will feed. The beetle originates from South East Asia, but is spreading around the world. In South Africa it has been recorded from more than a 100 different tree species, and fruit crops such as Avocado. It can kill some mature trees in a matter of months.

Tracking of spread, physical removal of infested trees and the development of biological control are all urgent needs and require specialist knowledge and laboratory support for identification. Monitoring also includes citizen science initiatives in urban areas, and requires researchers to travel to confirm new infestations.

All of this has been set back by restrictions on human movement designed to contain the spread of COVID-19. Researchers must now work out how to catch up, and plan for the coming years in which the virus is likely to continue being a global concern.

What should be done?

Firstly, an assessment is needed of the impact of the original COVID-19 responses on plant health biosecurity systems, so as to plan for coming months and years. We would argue that in future, existing biosecurity systems must remain in full operation. Field surveillance and management of potential biological threats to plant production systems and ecosystems cannot be relaxed or restricted. This can be done safely, in line with global guidelines around protection from the virus.

Secondly, it is critical to recognise that the future of food security is linked across borders. Weak biosecurity in one country threatens neighbouring countries and whole continents. It is important to review regulations and their implementation to secure food supply, industries and the environment. Countries also need strong research funding and capacity.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  The special prosecutor named to oversee the May 6 shooting death of a black man by an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer asked the Indiana State Police on Wednesday to handle the investigation.

Madison County Deputy Prosecutor Rosemary Khoury says it is best that an independent agency look into the fatal shooting of Dreasjon Reed, 21. Indianapolis police on Wednesday identified the officer who shot Reed as four-year veteran Dejoure Mercer.

In the current climate it is my professional opinion that it is in the best interest of all involved that the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department not conduct the investigation in this matter and allow an independent law enforcement agency to assume this responsibility, Khoury said in a statement released by Indiana State Police. In order to conduct as thorough and complete of an investigation as possible, I am also asking the community to cooperate with me and with the investigators who are working alongside me.

Mercer was named the Northwest District Officer of the Year one week before shooting Reed, The Indianapolis Star reported. Police have said Reed was shot in an exchange of gunfire with an officer after a chase.

Another officer, Steven Scott was disciplined after he was captured on video following the shooting saying: I think its going to be a closed casket, homie, an apparent reference to a closed-casket funeral. Scott, who has 15 years of service, was suspended for five days without pay in June, according to personnel files released to the Star.

Both officers are black, according to the department. Before Wednesday, the department had said it could not release the officers' names for safety reasons.

Police have said they began pursuing Reed after officers, including Chief Randal Taylor, saw someone driving recklessly on Interstate 65. Supervisors ordered an end to that pursuit because the vehicle was going nearly 90 mph (145 kph), police said. An officer later spotted the car on a city street and chased Reed on foot before police say Reed and the officer exchanged gunfire. Assistant Chief Chris Bailey has said a gun found near Reed appeared to have been fired at least twice.

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Days of protests followed Reeds killing, which came hours before Indianapolis police officers fatally shot another black man, McHale Rose, 19, and an officer fatally struck a pregnant white woman with his car.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday for an attorney representing Reeds family.

Recent Indianapolis protests that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis also have invoked Reed's name. Floyd was a handcuffed black man who died after a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee to Floyds neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.
New Delhi, June 11 : A day after urging the people to offer namaz from their homes amid the spike in Covid-19 cases in the national capital, Jama Masjid's Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari, here on Thursday, said the mosque would remain closed till June 30.

Speaking to the media, Bukhari said, "I had made an appeal to the people to offer namaz from their homes and after taking public opinion and consulting scholars, it has been decided that from Thursday's Maghreb (sunset) till June 30 no congregational prayers will be performed at the Jama Masjid." The decision comes three days after the historic mosque reopened on June 8 after over two months as the government allowed further relaxations as part of "Unlock-1", the first phase of a calibrated exit from the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown.

As several establishments, like shopping malls and offices, opened across the country on June 8, Bukhari asked governments to reconsider decision in view of the rapid spread of coronavirus.

Bukhari's Secretary Amantuallah passed away on Tuesday night at the Safdarjung Hospital due to Covid-19.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
President Muhammadu Buhari has praised Nigerians for their resilience and for adapting to the realities of COVID-19.

He said this on Thursday when he received the report of the committee on Economic Sustainability Plan, submitted by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who heads the committee.

He said: While the COVID-19 pandemic spread through our towns and cities, it continues to take a massive toll on the economy. I know that many of us have experienced great difficulty during this time, businesses have considerably slowed down and in certain instances, operations closed, work days have been cut short and personnel liberties restricted, people have lost their jobs and earning a living has indeed been difficult.

This has been a trying time for those in the informal sector, which constitutes a large part of our economy, important family celebrations were held without the presence of loved ones, schools are closed and parents have had to resort to home schooling in addition to juggling other responsibilities.

Despite all these, Nigerians have done their best and persevered. I must salute Nigerians for their resilience in adapting the realities of the covid-19 effect while also recognising the super human effort of our frontline health workers who continue to play a critical role in keeping our country and people safe.

He said more efforts would be geared towards making life better for citizens.

Non-oil income largely made up of taxes are also dramatically reduced on account of the lockdown. It is clear that businesses face the prospect of collapse so we must prepare for difficult times, while the government continues to seek ways of supporting businesses and industry, he said.

Mr Buhari appreciated the committees work.

I am pleased to hear that the Economic Sustainability committee consulted with both the National Economic Council and the National Assembly and I look forward to a continuing partnership with both organs, to implement what I consider a national plan.

As we go forward, we must chart a new course and remain steadfast. I believe the priorities contained in this plan present a practical way of achieving our desire of a truly competitive economy that can support our people and secure our future.

I congratulate the Economic Sustainability committee for completing this critical national assignment in good time. I believe that with Gods help and in a sense of duty to prosperity we will successfully reset our economy for a brighter future, he stated.
Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch arrives at the U.S. Capitol on her way to meet with members of the House Intelligence Committee in Washington on Oct. 20, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NY Attorney General Taps Loretta Lynch to Help Probe Police Actions During Protests

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, tapped Loretta Lynch, who once served as attorney general under President Barack Obama, to help investigate alleged misconduct by police officers during recent protests.

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last month he was asking James to probe disturbing clashes that unfolded during protests in New York City, telling reporters: The public deserve answers and they deserve accountability.

Lynch and Barry Friedman, a New York University law professor, will serve as special advisers who will help the states top law enforcement official in the investigation, James announced this week.

The right to peacefully protest is one of our most basic civil rights, and we are working without rest to ensure that right is protected and guarded, James said in a statement. As we continue our investigation, I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to seek answers and accountability, and that includes calling on the sharpest minds to lend their expertise. There is no question that Attorney General Lynch and Professor Friedman have the experience and knowledge, and our investigation will be all the more powerful because of their support.

While attorney general under Obama, Lynch led several investigations into police departments to see whether misconduct was taking place.

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference in New York City on June 11, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

One of the probes, into the Chicago Police Department following the death of Laquan McDonald, concluded officers regularly used force that was unjustified, disproportionate and otherwise excessive.

In a statement released by Jamess office, Lynch said, There is no greater responsibility of government than the protection of its citizens. It is time to examine recent events to ensure that all New Yorkers receive truly equal protection under the law.

Friedman added, We know that our communities are best served and protected when all stakeholders have a seat at the table, not just those in power. Its clear New York is ready for an in-depth look at our policing polices.

Lynch is also known for her history with Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, declining to prosecute Clinton over using a personal server to send classified emails.

NYPD spokeswoman Sophia Mason said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times: The Attorney General is the highest ranking law enforcement official in the state. We will continue to work closely with her and her office.
Press Release

June 11, 2020 Villanueva tells tax authorities: Prioritize collection of

P50-B back taxes of POGOs to raise revenues Cast your tax nets on the big fish, not on the small fry. Senator Joel Villanueva has prodded the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to prioritize the collection of back taxes from sectors like the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) which owes at least P50 billion, to raise much-needed government revenue. With massive layoffs contributing to the spike in unemployment, Villanueva credited the entrepreneurial spirit of online sellers for defying the odds and trying to survive through the different things they hawk on social media and shopping apps. "Alam po natin na kailangan ng ating gobyerno na kumulekta ng buwis. Unahin po natin yung mga napatunayan nang atrasado sa pagbabayad ng buwis. Hanggang ngayon, hindi pa rin nababayaran ng mga POGO ang utang nito na P50 bilyon na buwis sa atin. Sila ang dapat tinututukan ng BIR," Villanueva said in a statement. The lawmaker, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development, also called on the BIR to intensify its information campaign to encourage MSMEs to register with the BIR, the benefits of doing so and the taxes applicable to them. Under the TRAIN Law, a sole proprietorship earning Php250,000 or less is not subject to tax. Villanueva pointed out that the government has seemingly bent over backwards in urging POGO firms to pay their unpaid taxes, but their call has fallen on deaf ears. As a condition to resume its operations, POGOs must settle taxes it owes the government, including a notarized commitment to pay its arrears in previous years, according to the BIR's Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 46-2020 issued on May 7, 2020. But two weeks after the memo's release, BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa was quoted in media reports as saying that no POGO firms or their service providers have come forward to settle their tax obligations. "Ang dami nang pagkakataon ang ibinibigay ng gobyerno sa mga POGO para ituwid ang kanilang operasyon. Malinaw po na winawaldas lang nila itong pagkakataon," Villanueva said. "Ganitong pagkakataon po dapat ang ibinibigay rin natin sa mga mamamayan natin, lalo na sa mga online sellers na nakikipagsapalaran ngayon." "Pasalamat po tayo at likas na ma-diskarte ang ating mga kababayan. Hindi na nga po natin nabigyan ng tulong ang karamihan, bubuwisan pa natin yung mga nais maghanapbuhay ng marangal," Villanueva lamented. "Dapat tutukan ng BIR ang pagkolekta ng utang na buwis mula sa mga POGO. Unahin po natin ang kapakanan ng mga kababayan natin." At least three illegal POGO operations were busted by police during the enhanced community quarantine in Paranaque, Makati, and Las Pinas, arresting over 450 foreigners and confiscating hundreds of gadgets and about P7 million in cash. Police raided two illegal POGO operations in Bacoor, Cavite and Quezon City days after Metro Manila and nearby provinces were placed under general community quarantine. Over 240 foreigners were arrested in the separate busts.
China and India are properly handling and taking actions to ease the situation at the border based on the "consensus" reached recently during their diplomatic and military level talks, a senior Chinese official said on Thursday.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson's remarks came a day after the Indian and Chinese military commanders held "productive" talks to end the border standoff in eastern Ladakh, amid reports of a limited disengagement of troops by both sides from a number of friction points in the high-altitude region.

Asked about the details of the actions being taken by both the countries to ease the situation on the ground, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing in Beijing that "I don't have more information" about the situation on the ground.

"I can only tell you that through diplomatic, military channels, the two sides are properly handling relevant issues with effective communication. We have reached consensus and based on that consensus both are taking actions to ease the situation," Hua said.

Meanwhile, officials in New Delhi said during the more than four and a half hour-long Major General-level dialogue on Wednesday, the Indian delegation pressed for total restoration of status quo ante and immediate withdrawal of thousands of Chinese troops from the areas including around Pangong Tso which India considers on its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

It is learnt that the two sides remained engaged in aggressive posturing in areas such as Pangong Tso, Daulat Beg Oldie and Demchok though some troops were pulled back from Galwan and Hot Spring.

Military sources on Tuesday said the two armies began "disengagement" around patrolling points 14 and 15 in Galwan Valley and another in the Hot Spring area, adding the Chinese side has even moved back up to 1.5 km in the two areas.

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged since May 5 following a violent clash in Pangong Tso. The trigger for the face-off was China's stiff opposition to India laying a key road in the Finger area around the Pangong Tso Lake besides construction of another road connecting the Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road in Galwan Valley.

The road in the Finger area in Pangong Tso is considered crucial for India to carry out patrol. India has already decided not to stall any border infrastructure projects in eastern Ladakh in view of the Chinese protests.

The situation in the area deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on May 5 and 6. The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in north Sikkim on May 9.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it.
CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / NAVION CAPITAL INC. (TSXV:NAVN.P) (the "Corporation"), a capital pool company, is pleased to announce news release from proposed Qualifying Transaction target (as disclosed in the Corporation's April 23, 2020 press release), Daizee Diapers.

Daizee Looks to Close the Timeframe for e-Commerce Shipping to New Customers of its Hybrid Diaper in the UK and Western Europe with New Warehousing and Fulfillment Partnership

VANCOUVER, BC / JUNE 10, 2020 / DAIZEE DIAPERS CORP. (the "Company"), Daizee Diapers Corp., the leading maker of the patented Hybrid Diaper, and Swindon, UK-based Omni Channel Platform Ltd. (OCF), a leading provider of technology driven fulfillment with reach across the UK and Europe, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), describing a mutual plan for collaboration between the two companies.

"Daizee Diapers and Omni Channel Platform Ltd. (OCF) are gearing up to make big strides across the e-Commerce baby care market in the UK and Europe. Our Hybrid Diaper, or Hybrid Nappy as it known in the UK, brings a unique value added proposition to parents and their babies and the companies we work with to get this unique brand to market," said Matthew Keddy, CEO of Daizee Diapers. "We are looking forward to collaborating with OCF in the MOU framework to expand into new e-Commerce markets, where according to Statista the baby care market in the UK is valued at US$1BN (838M)."

The MOU outlines the common framework between both organizations to provide clear cooperation, defining bridging between protocols while leveraging the strengths of both companies. The MOU was entered into on June 8, 2020.

"We are pleased that we can bring our proven omni channel expertise in the UK and European e- Commerce fulfilment markets to this new partnership," said Mark O'Connor, co-Founder at OCF. "In partnering with Daizee we are committed to this new business development, and we are confident that OCF's fast and flexible supply chain solutions will deliver consistent and agile results."

According to market research firm eMarketer, the UK e-Commerce market is the third largest, and accounted for $141B (109B) in 2019, behind China and America. And with cross border e-Commerce sales up 277% per year, online e-Commerce sales, marketing and fulfilment need to increasingly take place closer to the end-user or buyer.

About Omni Channel Fulfillment Ltd.

Omni Channel Fulfillment Ltd. (OCF) is leader in supply chain and e-Commerce fulfillment. We provide outsourced omni channel warehouse and logistics services with reach throughout the UK and Europe to deliver supply chain execution for our customers.

OCF's mission is to be an award winning and competitive innovator in supply chain fulfillment, positively contributing to the economy and delighting our customers every day. For more information, please visit www.omnichannelfulfilment.com.

All information contained in this news release with respect to the Corporation, Daizee and its subsidiaries was supplied by the parties, respectively, for inclusion herein, and each party and its directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party.

For further information regarding the Transaction, please contact:

Livio Susin

Tel: (604) 789-2410

Email: liviotravel@gmail.com

Completion of the Qualifying Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSXV acceptance and, if applicable, pursuant to the requirements of the TSXV, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Qualifying Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder and regulatory approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Qualifying Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Qualifying Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Qualifying Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Corporation should be considered highly speculative.

This press release is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities described in this press release have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended) absent registration or an exemption from registration. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Qualifying Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: the terms and conditions of the proposed Qualifying Transaction; the terms and conditions of the proposed Financing; future developments and the business and operations of the "Resulting Issuer" after the proposed Qualifying Transaction. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that the Qualifying Transaction will proceed and that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Corporation and Dayzee disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Navion Capital Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593532/Navion-Announces-Update-Business-News-from-Proposed-Qualifying-Transaction-Target-Daizee-Diapers-Corp
DENVER, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- MycoTechnology closed its Series D round of financing for $39M, totaling over $120M. The Series D round was co-led by Greenleaf Foods, SPC, S2G Ventures, and Evolution Partners, with participation from Rich Products Ventures, Tyson Ventures, Continental Grain, Middleland Capital, Bunge Ventures, Seventure Partners, Cibus Investments Limited, and Kellogg's eighteen94 Capital investment arm. This round was completed during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating investor confidence in MycoTechnology during uncertain times for the global economy.

With the most recent round of funding closed, MycoTechnology is now considered one of the most valued food technology startups in the world. MycoTechnology contributes much of its success to focusing on purpose driven innovation.

"We do not innovate for the sake of innovating. We create products that solve the biggest challenges in the food industry, like creating great tasting products without excessive sugar, salt, or fat and doing so in a more sustainable way," said Alan Hahn, CEO of MycoTechnology. "I believe this is what attracted our investors to look closely at our company, and when they saw the many ways that mushroom fermentation can truly transform the food industry for the better, they decided to invest, even during challenging times."

"The additional funding will help bring our forward-thinking vision to reality," Hahn added. "With many game changing products currently under development, the funds will help prepare for new product introductions that truly have the potential to change the food industry landscape and bring never-before-seen ingredients to the market."

"As a leading producer of plant-based foods in North America, we were already experienced in the process of fermentation, but MycoTechnology's unique application has the potential to transform the plant-based space by unleashing new protein sources," said Dan Curtin, President of Greenleaf Foods. "Their commitment to clean, simple ingredients, food quality and sustainability align with our values and desire to find new ways to meet changing consumer demands."

"As an original pioneer in plant- based, non-dairy products such as coffee creamer and whipped toppings, we understand the power of MycoTechnology's innovative technology, which will enable food manufacturers to offer new plant-based products that meet the demands of today's health-conscious and environmentally-aware consumers," said Dinsh Guzdar, Managing Director, Rich Products Ventures. "We also look forward to leveraging Myco's unique capabilities in producing great-tasting, plant-based proteins in a scalable, cost effective manner."

"We're pleased to continue investing in MycoTechnology," said Erin VanLanduit, Managing Director of Tyson Ventures. "We have been impressed with their novel approach to ingredient creation through mushroom fermentation from the beginning. Tyson is focused on ensuring the growing global demand for accessible, sustainable protein is met; we need partners like them, innovating with that same eye towards the future."

MycoTechnology helps the food industry create healthier products without excessive sugar, salt, and fat by working with the natural transformative power of mushrooms to make new-to-the-world food ingredients. Their flagship product, ClearTaste, is the world's first organic bitter blocker and flavor clarifier that helps clean up the taste of functional ingredients and is a powerful tool in the fight against sugar and sodium. PureTaste protein filled the void in the plant-based protein market, creating a complete plant protein with improved functionality and bioavailability.

MycoTechnology is dedicated to increasing the availability of healthy, sustainable, and high-quality food options through mushroom fermentation. For more information visit www.mycotechcorp.com.

Contact:

Jessie Booth, Marketing Communications Manager

[email protected]

SOURCE MycoTechnology, Inc.

Related Links

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(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Suspected militants attacked a border post on Ivory Coast's border with Burkina Faso overnight, and around 10 people were killed, security sources said Thursday

Abidjan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jun, 2020 ) :Suspected militants attacked a border post on Ivory Coast's border with Burkina Faso overnight, and around 10 people were killed, security sources said Thursday.

The attack "targeted an Ivorian frontier post at Kafolo," where an anti-militant operation took place a few days earlier, an Ivorian source said, in an account confirmed by a Burkinabe source.

It is the first militant attack on Ivorian soil since March 2016, when a raid on the southeastern beach resort of Grand-Bassam left 19 dead.
The payment will be made based milk supplied in May.

Glanbia has announced it will pay its suppliers 28.62c/L for milk supplied in May and includes a payment to help farmers with drought conditions.

It comes after Lakeland announced earlier today that it was holding its milk price for May supplies.

Glanbia announced it will hold its base price at 28.62c/L and is also including a 0.2c/L payment, which it says is to reflect the challenges faced by farmers during the drought of recent weeks as well as a 0.42c/L share of GI Profit.

A recent Glanbia Ireland survey of over 500 milk suppliers found a significant decline in average grass growth rates, with 58% of milk suppliers in the four worst-affected counties currently feeding silage.

It also announced that farmer members will also receive a 0.42 cpl (including VAT) payment from Glanbia Co-op on all milk supplied this month as their Share of GI Profit.

Glanbia Chairman Martin Keane said markets are delicately balanced at present.

"There has been a welcome recovery in butter and skim milk powder prices over the last month, albeit from a low base. Global milk supply and demand movements over the coming months will need to be closely monitored as economies gradually re-open.

Earlier today, Lakeland Dairies announced that in the Republic of Ireland, a base price of 29c/L (including VAT) will be paid for milk supplied in May. The base price has been held from April.

In Northern Ireland, a base price of 23p/L will be paid for May milk. Again, the price has been held from April.
Iran's Attack on Christians

A group of Christian organizations is reporting on the Iranian government's persecution of Christians to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC).

The UNHRC is a body of independent experts who monitor the countries that signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The committee evaluates how well Covenant signatories respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and rights to due process and a fair trial. It has been the custom of the Committee to request a report from individual countries every four years.

Five Christian groups -- the World Evangelical Alliance, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Middle East Concern, and Article 18 -- have written a report on Iran and will be submitting it to the Committee at the end of June at its upcoming meeting in Geneva.

Iran allows three religious minorities to "perform their religious ceremonies": Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian Iranians. The common thread of these three groups is their historic presence in Iran. With regard to Christian Iranians, the government recognizes Assyrian Christians, Armenian Christians, Chaldean Christians, and the Catholic Church of Iran. Unless a Christian group has that historic link, they are unrecognized and afforded no rights.

Dangerous Activities in Iran Recognized minority religions are not allowed to conduct their services in Farsi, the official language of Iran. According to the report, "Since 2009, the Iranian regime has worked to end the use of Farsi in recognized churches and has forced churches which held services for Farsi-speaking Christian to close."

Churches are also not allowed to have information about their church printed in Farsi. The policy is designed to make it more difficult for Muslim Iranians to learn more about Christianity and possibly convert.

Attending a house church or a religious conference can be a criminal act in Iran. It is considered a national security threat. Studying outside of Iran is a red flag to Iranian authorities. The report warns that Christians are immediately suspect if they "open their doors to inquiring Muslims, actively proselytize or hold a religious discussion in Farsi." The most common charges against Christians who engage in these activities are collusion against national security, propaganda against the state and spreading Zionist Christianity.

Previous affiliation with United States Christian denominations is dangerous as well. Wissam Al-Saliby, advocacy officer for World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) who is based in Geneva, gave Church Militant two examples of churches whose properties were confiscated because they had once been owned by Americans. An evangelical Presbyterian church had been owned by American Presbyterians but was handed over to local Christians. It didn't matter. The chain of ownership led back to Americans so the group could not be trusted. An Assemblies of God property was similarly confiscated. Al-Saliby mentioned another case, Iranian authorities removed the cross from a church in the city of Tabriz, then restored it, but kept the keys to the property.

The report's authors are asking the UNHRC to make inquiries about:

How recognizing Zoroastrians, Christians and Jews as the only religious minorities is consistent with the provisions of the Covenant

Minority faith adherents who wish to practice their faith in the Farsi language

Reports that minority faith adherents are being tried on national security grounds for legitimate practice of their faith

How such cases are compatible with the provisions of the Covenant, in particular, Article 18 [guaranteeing religious freedom]

How apostasy charges and convictions are compliant with Article 18

How many converts to Christianity are currently detained and facing charges related to threats to national security and/or to apostasy

The report includes a list of individuals who have been arrested. The group warns that because of limited access to comprehensive information from Iran, "our reporting on cases can only be considered partial and indicative of broader phenomena."

Growth of Christianity in Iran According the Open Door, one of the groups that helped compile the report for UNHRC, Iran's intelligence minister, Mahmoud Alavi, "openly admitted to summoning Christian converts for questioning, saying that mass conversions 'are happening right under our eyes.'"

Alavi said his agency is cooperating with Muslim seminaries to combat the perceived threat of mass conversions to Christianity.

Furthermore, the Iranian government is no longer trying to claim that converts are highly trained agents of the West; instead, they are admitting that "these converts are ordinary people, whose jobs are selling sandwiches or similar things."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  The government's Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa project has been suspended for now to accommodate locally stranded persons first, an official of the program said Thursday.

"I decided as a matter of strategy na i-suspend muna ang ating rollouts for the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa to give way, unahin natin  kasi this was a very clear instruction from the President  unahin, pauwiin na ang ating mga kababayan na stranded dito sa Maynila," said Marcelino Escalada Jr., executive director of the program, in the regular Laging Handa briefing.

[Translation: I decided as a matter of strategy to suspend for now the rollouts for the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (program) to prioritize our fellow Filipinos stranded in (Metro) Manila, a very clear instruction from the President.]

Escalada, who is also general manager of the National Housing Authority, explained that through the Hatid Tulong program, the government helps send locally stranded people home while public transportation remains limited.

"Ito yung mga tao na walang bahay at tsaka walang enough capacity to finance their stay in Metro Manila," he said. These include overseas Filipino workers, construction workers, tourists and students, the official added.

[Translation: These are the people without housing and don't have enough capacity to finance their stay in Metro Manila.]

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier gave concerned government agencies an ultimatum to bring home by the end of May over 24,000 OFWs stranded in quarantine facilities for over a month.

Last week, the COVID-19 national task force said returning OFWs may only stay in the capital region or wherever they landed for a maximum of five days before being sent home.
OMAHA, Neb., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Jet Linx, the leading private jet management and Jet Card membership company in the United States, is the world's first aviation company to apply the BIOPROTECTUs System to its aircraft and private terminals for protection against harmful microorganisms, including algae, bacteria, fungi and mold. The antimicrobial formulation used was proven by two Centers of Excellence of the Global Virus Network (GVN) to kill and provide residual surface protection against SARS-CoV-2 (the unique coronavirus that causes COVID-19) for more than six weeks.

The extensive independent laboratory tests were annoucned by the GVN , a coalition comprised of the world's preeminent human and animal virologists from 53 Centers of Excellence and 10 Affiliates in 32 countries. Led by the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Australia and the Rega Medical Research Institute of KU Leuven in Belgium, both Centers of Excellence used state-of-the-art high containment virology facilities to independently conduct extensive tests on a BIOPROTECT formulation to study its effects on SARS-CoV-2 infectivity on various surfaces.

"The results of the tests conducted by the Doherty and the Rega Institutes clearly demonstrate that BIOPROTECT eradicates SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces and provides continuous residual antimicrobial protection for an extended period of time," said Dr. Christian Brechot, President of the GVN. "It is clear that effective antimicrobials will be extremely important in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, given the time it will take to implement mass vaccination and fully develop novel therapies. In this context, we are not aware of any microbicide surface treatment that continuously prohibits the growth and surface transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 for an extended period of time. This represents a significant breakthrough in inhibiting the spread of COVID-19 by preventing surfaces from being contaminated by the virus and stopping the spread of the virus through contact with contaminated surfaces. Identifying and exploring innovative solutions, as well as fostering and facilitating collaboration between academic and industrial partners, be it large pharmaceutical firms or small biotech companies, is one of several ways the GVN can make a consequential contribution to the fight against COVID-19."

"Safety is always our utmost priority and there has never been a more significant impetus to utilize groundbreaking technologies such as the BIOPROTECTUs System in order to safeguard our clients, flight crews and ground personnel. We are delighted to learn that ViaClean Technologies' proprietary formula is effective in protecting against this devastating virus and believe that our ongoing application of the BIOPROTECTUs System will enable us to navigate the road to recovery more confidently and rapidly," said Jamie Walker, President & CEO of Jet Linx. "As individuals begin to return to travel with an increased focus on health and wellness, we are proud to offer a private jet solution that provides travelers both peace of mind and a guaranteed standard of safety."

Jet Linx is the first and only operator in the worldwide aviation industry to utilize the BIOPROTECTUs System, which encompasses an array of EPA registered and FDA compliant technologies that disinfect and provide long-term antimicrobial protection against problematic bacteria, fungi, algae and mold. In addition, Jet Linx has installed BIOPROTECT Hand Purifier dispensers in each of its 19 private, client-only Base terminals and now offers BIOPROTECT Hand Purifier inflight on its fleet of jet aircraft.

About Jet Linx Aviation

Jet Linx Aviation is a locally-focused private jet company founded in Omaha, NE in 1999 as a more personalized approach to national private jet companies. Jet Linx offers two different ways to experience private aviation  a guaranteed Jet Card and a Jet Management program  providing its clients with an all-encompassing, local solution to all of their private jet travel needs. Jet Linx is an IS-BAO Stage 3, ARGUS Platinum and Wyvern Wingman safety rated operator, an accomplishment earned by less than one percent of all aircraft operators in the world. It is headquartered in Omaha, Neb. and has bases in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Omaha, San Antonio, Scottsdale, St Louis, Tulsa and Washington D.C. For additional information, please visit the Jet Linx website ( www.jetlinx.com ).

SOURCE Jet Linx

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On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez's won their lawsuit challenging Immigration and Customs Enforcement courthouse arrests. ICE is now barred from making civil arrests at courthouses, and from making civil arrests of anyone required to attend court as a party or witness to a lawsuit.

Now that the courts have spoken, the state Legislature must take the final step to bar this practice by passing the Protect Our Courts Act.

The bill is a permanent solution for protecting immigrants' right to access the courts, and would allow people unlawfully arrested to hold the agency accountable if ICE violates the law by continuing courthouse arrests. The Protect Our Courts Act would let people make use of the Federal Tort Claims Act, allowing individuals who have been damaged by a wrongful or negligent act of a federal employee to be reimbursed for their injuries. Given ICE's track record of flouting the law, this reinforcement is necessary to provide genuine recourse to any individuals who may be arrested unlawfully at a courthouse in the future.

The passage of the bill would bring welcome relief for immigrant New Yorkers who are among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and who have had to reckon with visible ICE presence, as agents provide reinforcements for New York Police Department repression of protests. Last week, five agents with guns drawn, one wearing an ICE/Homeland Security vest, jumped out of an SUV and pinned down a Puerto Rican man who joined a protest in Manhattan. ICE handcuffed him and illegally searched him for something to justify their attack, but all they found was his military ID and driver's license marked "veteran."

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ICE's violent attempted arrest is consistent with recent trends. ICE had massively escalated raids in the first three months of 2020  a 400 percent increase over the previous three months  with aggressive tactics such as shooting a bystander in the face and waving an assault rifle on a Bronx street. Legislators have taken critical steps to keep police accountable because officers have proven themselves so willing to abuse their power. They must do the same in response to the same abuses from ICE. We must keep ICE out of New York courts for good.

Mizue Aizeki is the deputy director of the Immigrant Defense Project.
(Bloomberg) --

Oil rallied as investors looked past an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles to focus on tentative signs of a recovery in fuel demand as well as output cuts.

Futures in New York rose 2.7% Thursday. While U.S. government data showed that American crude stockpiles rose last week, the demand outlook is improving. The four-week average of gasoline supplied to the market has steadily risen as parts of the country emerge from coronavirus lockdowns. The Energy Information Administration again posted a large negative adjustment factor, indicating that production is probably lower than official data show.

You still have a significant amount of production offline, which is helping bring supply and demand in balance, all the while, you have demand starting to recover as states open up in various stages, said Nick Holmes, a portfolio manager at Tortoise. People are looking more to the supply and demand equation.

Rallying equity markets also supported oils rise. Stocks have recovered globally to levels last seen in early March on fresh stimulus measures and hopes that economies are on the mend as lockdowns ease. U.S. unemployment filings shrank for the first time since the outbreak began, even as millions more Americans filed for unemployment benefits.

Economic improvement and declining crude supplies are key to lifting prices as the market contends with both a massive global inventory glut and diminished demand due to the pandemic. Production cuts and the easing of lockdowns have helped boost oil nearly 80% this month. But the market remains fragile, with high prices likely to spur producers to restart wells and undercut gains.

The physical market has been showing some signs of strength, with refiners across Asia buying distressed cargoes in an indication of demand. OPEC+ is set to meet June 9-10 to decide whether to extend output cuts beyond July. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reiterated their cooperation on the deal ahead Wednesday. The Kremlin described the call as positive on Thursday.

Additionally, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. said it will reduce crude production in line with the OPEC+ agreement and government directives, according to a company notice to buyers, agreeing to cut shipments of all crude grades by 5% for July.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.
 Global biopharmaceutical industry veteran brings significant commercial expertise and business acumen to help advance the Companys medical dermatology portfolio 

WEST CHESTER, Penn., June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Verrica) (VRCA), a dermatology therapeutics company developing medications for viral skin diseases requiring medical interventions, today announced the appointment of Diem Nguyen, Ph.D., M.B.A., to its Board of Directors.



The addition of Diem Nguyen to our Board brings another proven pharmaceutical industry leader, with a successful track record of product development and commercialization, to the Verrica team, said Paul B. Manning, Chairman of the Board, Verrica. Her appointment puts us in a position of strength as we prepare for the potential U.S. approval and commercialization of VP-102 for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum.

The opportunity to work alongside the Verrica team to amplify its commercialization strategy for VP-102 and support the advancement of an innovative portfolio of medical dermatology treatments is of undeniable interest to me, said Dr. Nguyen. I look forward to being part of the effort to broaden the reach of Verricas portfolio for the benefit of patients and their families.

Dr. Nguyen most recently served as Executive Vice President, Biopharma, at PPD, Inc., a leading global clinical research organization providing integrated drug development, laboratory, and lifecycle management services. Prior to joining PPD, she held various commercial leadership and general management roles at Pfizer, including Global President, Americas, Pfizer Essential Health, and Global Sterile Injectables. She also served as Pfizers Regional President, North America, Global Established Pharma; General Manager, Global Biosimilars; and Vice President, Established Products Strategy. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Nguyen led corporate development, including all company-wide mergers and acquisitions and investor relations at Serologicals Corporation. She received a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from the University of Virginia, and an M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. Dr. Nguyen also currently serves as a trustee at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

Story continues

About Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Verrica is a dermatology therapeutics company developing medications for viral skin diseases requiring medical interventions. The Companys late-stage product candidate, VP-102, is a potential first-in-class topical therapy for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum and common warts. Molluscum is a highly contagious viral skin infection affecting approximately six million people, primarily children, in the United States, and common warts are contagious skin growths affecting 22 million people. There are currently no FDA-approved treatments for molluscum or common warts. Following positive topline results from two pivotal Phase 3 trials, the Company submitted an NDA on September 13, 2019 for VP-102 for the treatment of molluscum; on November 26, 2019, the Company received notice that the FDA accepted the NDA for filing, with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date of July 13, 2020. If approved, VP-102 will be marketed in the United States under the conditionally accepted brand name YCANTH. Verrica has completed a Phase 2 clinical trial of VP-102 for the treatment of verruca vulgaris, or common warts and, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, intends to launch two Phase 3 clinical trials when conditions are appropriate. VP-102 is also currently in a Phase 2 trial for the treatment of external genital warts. The Company is conducting necessary preclinical activities for VP-103, its second cantharidin-based product candidate, and, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, intends to launch a Phase 2 clinical trial in subjects with plantar warts when conditions are appropriate. For more information, visit www.verrica.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as believe, expect, may, plan, potential, will, and similar expressions, and are based on Verricas current beliefs and expectations. These forward-looking statements include expectations regarding the potential benefits and potential approval and commercialization of YCANTH for the treatment of molluscum, and the clinical development of product candidates for additional indications, including common warts, external genital warts and plantar warts. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such statements. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially include uncertainties inherent in the drug development process and the regulatory approval process, Verricas reliance on third parties over which it may not always have full control, uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other risks and uncertainties that are described in Verricas Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, Verricas Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, and other filings Verrica makes with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on information available to Verrica as of the date of this release, and Verrica assumes no obligation to, and does not intend to, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Investors:

A. Brian Davis

Chief Financial Officer

484.453.3300 ext. 103

info@verrica.com

Luke Brown

Solebury Trout

646.378.2944

lbrown@troutgroup.com

Media:

Joshua R. Mansbach

Solebury Trout

646-378-2964

jmansbach@troutgroup.com




The Green Party leadership battle is on a knife-edge but Eamon Ryan is currently just ahead of his deputy Catherine Martin, the Irish Independent can reveal.

A survey of the party's 49 city and county councillors shows that the current Green Party leader has the support of 52pc of those who responded, ahead of Ms Martin, the deputy leader, who is on 48pc.

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The Green leadership battle kicked off at the weekend after Ms Martin declared she wanted to oust Mr Ryan as leader, despite the party being in the middle of talks to form a government with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

Mr Ryan, who is broadly in favour of entering government, has come under pressure from some party members in recent weeks who are reluctant to go into coalition with the Civil War parties.

Many of them have nominated Ms Martin, who voted against entering negotiations.

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Despite her opposition, Ms Martin is leading the Greens' negotiating team - but Fianna Fail and Fine Gael believe her announcement at the weekend "destabilised" the ongoing efforts to form a government.

Around 2,700 Green Party members will be eligible to vote when the contest, which party rules dictate must happen within six months of a general election, formally begins next month.

The result of a postal ballot is expected on July 23.

Ms Martin is thought to have over 200 nominations from party members, well ahead of Mr Ryan, but the incumbent leads among councillors, according to this newspaper's survey.

He has the support of 15 councillors, 13 of whom declared their intentions publicly, while Ms Martin has the backing of 14 councillors, 11 of whom declared publicly.

Several Green councillors said the contest was unhelpful in the midst of efforts to form a government.

Clare councillor Roisin Garvey did not declare either way, but said: "I'm puzzled why a leader with a six-fold increase in Dail seats should face a challenge."

Among Mr Ryan's supporters there is a strong belief that he has served the party well over the past nine years, having taken over at a time when it had no Dail seats in 2011.

Dun Laoghaire councillor Tom Kivlehan said "the party would be extinct" without Mr Ryan, while Offaly councillor Mark Hackett said Mr Ryan "deserves all the credit" for increasing the number of Green representatives.

Waterford councillor Jody Power criticised the timing of the contest and Ms Martin's decision to declare. "I just feel it's a bit inappropriate at this time to bring up the leadership issue," he said.

Limerick councillor Sean Hartigan said: "I didn't think now was the time for a challenge. I think it could have been left off until after the government was decided.

"I don't think declaring yourself as a candidate is showing leadership."

Westmeath councillor Hazel Smyth said Mr Ryan's "experience and expertise" would be valuable during the impending economic crisis.

Another Ryan backer, Cork city councillor and former senator and party chair Dan Boyle said: "I feel Catherine Martin could be a future Green Party leader. But not now."

Ms Martin's supporters include many councillors who were elected for the first time in last year's local elections.

Wicklow councillor Lourda Scott said: "She is the person to lead the party into the future."

Dublin city councillor Sophie Nicoullaud said it was "good to have a change", while South Dublin councillor Liam Sinclair said Ms Martin is "a more pragmatic person who we need moving forward to take [us] onto the next chapter".

Fingal councillor Daniel Whooley said: "It's a new era for the party and I think Catherine is the woman for that."

Ms Martin's supporters defended her decision to declare her intention to run in an email to some members at the weekend. South Dublin councillor Peter Kavanagh said: "It's a respectful and friendly contest. The timing was as much caused by foot-dragging entering talks by the two other parties."

Cork city councillor Lorna Bogue said her support for Ms Martin was driven by concerns over the imposition of budget cuts in the coming years if the party enters government: "Other parties are wrongly trying to equate tackling climate change with austerity."

Meanwhile, 21 Green councillors had not decided or did not wish to declare publicly.

Four did not respond.
In their latest tweet, Mumbai Police has a special message for the siblings. The department has urged them to build a bridge of trust among each other which will help them during these trying times.

Be a responsible sibling, Mumbai Police tweeted. Then they asked kids to create an understanding among each other which gives them the opportunity to share their experiences, be it good or bad.

It will also help you better understand what they are going through this lockdown, the department wrote and concluded the tweet. In their post, they also used the hastag #EndViolence and tagged UNICEF India chapters official Twitter handle. In case you are unaware, UNICEF or United Nations Childrens Fund is an agency responsible for providing developmental and humanitarian aid to children all across the world.

The department also shared a sweet image of a sibling duo, a brother and his sister, sharing a bottle of hand sanitiser. On the image, they added a caption which reads, Be a responsible sibling. Build trust and confidence.

Be a responsible sibling.

Create an understanding amongst yourselves so that it is comfortable for them to share their experience - both good & bad.

It will also help you better understand what they are going through this lockdown. #EndViolence#Coronavirus@unicefindia pic.twitter.com/Hnoikr7Un8  Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) June 10, 2020

Since being shared, the post has gathered over 300 likes and tons of comments from people. Expectedly, there were a few who praised the departments creativity. Some also wrote that it is a nice message.

Good idea, wrote a Twitter user. Something nice, commented another.

Mumbai Police, however, is not the only department that is using Twitter to put for important messages. Bengaluru Police, regularly, shares all sorts of posts to keep people informed and spread awareness. Recently, the department tweeted various riddles which are all about conveying important messages.
Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae

By Steven Lang

A PhD student at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, SAIAB, has added a new species to the moray eel family. Yonela Sithole and her colleagues noticed that the undulated moray eel found off the South African coast looked a little different to the same species found in many other parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

She wondered whether the undulated moray eel found off the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal coasts are in fact a different species. This question became the focus of her MSc project as she and her colleagues examined local specimens, as well as others from museums in the United States, Hawaii and France.

There are about 200 species of moray eels and although they look like snakes, they are actually fish. These marine predators mostly live in cracks and crevices of tropical and temperate oceans, but some can be found in brackish estuaries and even in fresh waters.

Until Sitholes revision, the undulated moray eel found off the South African east coast have been classified as part of the species Gymnothorax undulatus widely distributed throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. While it is to be expected that there might be some variety in this species, she thought there might be enough of a distinction to revise the classification of the locally found undulated moray eel.

Sithole and her colleagues examined 101 Gymnothorax undulatus specimens from various parts of the world and found that the South African specimens differed significantly from those in other regions.

The first distinction can be seen in the appearance of the skin. Sithole explained that the local examples have  a mottled and faintly reticulated pattern, whereas Gymnothorax undulatus has irregular rectangular blotches separated by large reticulations.

The second difference between the two is in the number of vertebrae in the spine. The local version has between 134 and 136 vertebrae, while the G. undulatus usually has 126134. The exception was only four specimens from Southern Mozambique, which had more than this range.

The third difference can only observed by scientists, who were able to confirm the distinctions through DNA analysis.

Sithole decided to name the newly classified species as Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae in honour of her mentor in fish taxonomy and SAIAB Research Associate, Elaine Heemstra.

Sithole comes from the rural village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape, where she attended schools up to matric. She earned a BSc in biological science at the Walter Sisulu University and her MSc at Rhodes University based at SAIAB.

https://www.grocotts.co.za/2020/05/13/rhodes-student-adds-new-species-to-moray-eel-family/

Source: Grocott's

Please help us to raise funds so that we can give all our students a chance to access online teaching and learning. Covid-19 has disrupted our students' education. Don't let the digital divide put their future at risk. Visit www.ru.ac.za/rucoronavirusgateway to donate
Chef Camille Cogswell was let go from her dual post as executive chef at KFar and executive pastry chef at Zahav, both owned by Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook.

Cogswell won the James Beard Award for rising-star chef two years ago and recently was named one of Food & Wines best new chefs.

Neither Cogswell nor a CookNSolo rep would explain the reason for the parting of ways.

The CookNSolo rep said Cogswell, 29, who started at Zahav five years ago, had an incredible run, and were proud of her and the work we did together at Zahav and at KFar. Were rooting for her and know that she will continue to have much success.

Sous chefs Tim Mavour, Solomon Lamb, and Katreena Kanney now run KFars kitchen.

In a statement, Cogswell said: Im saddened to have been let go from my position in the CookNSolo company. I believe that it will take me awhile to process having to leave my incredible team of people that are so dear to me and the programs that I developed and dedicated myself to for the past four and a half years at both Zahav and KFar. I still cherish the invaluable time that I spent working for Mike and Steve and this does not change the incredible relationships that I built, the countless things that I learned, and the immense hard work that I put in during that time. Im grateful for the mentorship that I received and the opportunities that I was fortunate enough to have. I dont know what CookNSolos plan is for the future of KFar but I hope that it will be positive and serve the community with as much warmth and love as I tried to during my time as executive chef there. I wish them the best.

But its not my intention to have this news detract from the more important focus that everyone should have right now: fighting the injustice and oppression that Black Americans have faced in this country for centuries and continue to endure today. That needs to continue to be the biggest focus until we have significant and monumental progress in overturning the racist structures of our society and putting in place systems that support the BIPOC in every community.
Thieves decamped with an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of Bank of Baroda containing over 12 lakh in Ambalas Mullana area, police said on Thursday.

The accused stole four cabins of the machine bank manager Manoj Kumar told the police.

The security guard was not present at the kiosk when the incident occurred on Wednesday late evening. The CCTV footage shows that the accused came in a car and broke open the shutter lock with a gas pipe and later the ATM with a gas cutter. The thieves sprayed paint on CCTV cameras fitted inside the ATM booth and stole the machine containing 12 lakh, Manoj said in his police complaint.

Mullana police station in-charge said, We are scrutinising the CCTV footage to get a clue to the accused.

An FIR was lodged under Sections 380 (theft), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 457 (lurking house-trespass by night, or house-breaking by night, in order to the committing of any offence punishable with imprisonment) of the IPC.
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Healthcare of Armenia Arsen Torosyan had a telephone conversation with Georgias Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs Ekaterine Tikaradze, the Armenian ministry told Armenpress.

The ministers discussed issues relating to the current medical and anti-coronavirus measures. They presented the situation in Armenia and Georgia in this regard, exchanged views on the actions taken at the national level to address the current challenges, as well as discussed the opportunities of mutual support.

Highlighting the bilateral discussions the two ministers agreed to create a constant platform for exchange of experience. In this respect an agreement was reached to hold a similar discussion in the future via a video conference mode with the participation of the healthcare ministers of the two countries.

Minister Torosyan highly valued the close cooperation between the Armenian and Georgian peoples which is based on centuries-old friendship and mutual respect.

They reached an agreement on organizing bilateral discussions over the strategic issues on anti-epidemic measures, especially for being ready to the possible spread of the virus in autumn.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Vietnam is investing massive sums into several vital infrastructure schemes Photo: Le Toan

The National Assemblys (NA) Standing Committee last week decided that three out of eight expressway projects, which are parts of the Eastern Cluster of the North-South Expressway initiative, will be funded from state coffers. They are the Mai Son-National Highway No.45 (63.4km), Vinh Hao-Phan Thiet (106km), and Phan Thiet-Dau Giay (98km). The state will pour an additional VND23.46 trillion (over $1 billion) into constructing these projects.

According to the committee, these three ventures are of great importance and urgency for investment due to rising demand for traffic. All of them were originally planned for investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) form.

The Phan Thiet-Dau Giay section running through the south-central province of Binh Thuan and the southern province of Dong Nai is to cost over VND14.36 trillion ($624.35 million) for the first stage. It has been assigned to be invested under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format, one of the PPP types.

Of the capital, state-funded capital is VND2.48 trillion ($107.8 million) under the prime ministers approval. The project is expected to be constructed within 36 months. Some contractors involved include Castalia Ltd., of New Zealand, Ernst & Young Solutions LLP of Singapore, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers Pte., Ltd. of India.

Meanwhile, the Mai Son-National Highway No.45 section running through the northern province of Ninh Binh to the north-central province of Thanh Hoa got attention from seven local and overseas investors who wanted to implement it under the BOT format. Its total capital is estimated to be over VND12.9 trillion ($560.87 million), including VND3.17 trillion ($137.8 million) worth of government bonds and the rest funded by investors. It is expected the project will begin construction this year and become operational in 2021.

The activities are part of government plans to boost public investment amid low economic growth caused by weak production and exports. In Resolution No.84/NQ-CP released over a week ago, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc underlined a strong boost for public investment as a key measure to spur on economic growth, which was only 3.82 per cent in the first quarter.

Efforts must be made to disburse public investment, and this must be considered an important political task to stimulate production and business, and consumption, create jobs, and ensure social security, the resolution read. It will also help attract investment from other sources.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong said that amid existing difficulties caused by COVID-19, boosting public investment will be among the best solutions to fuel the economy and it will have great impacts on the country attracting more private sectors.

According to the Ministry of Finance, total available public capital for 2020 is about VND700 trillion ($30.4 billion), which is 2.2 times higher than VND312 trillion ($13.56 billion) of last year. About VND31.1 trillion ($1.35 billion) was disbursed in May, up 17.5 per cent on-year. In the first five months, the figure was VND116.3 trillion (over $5 billion), up 15.6 per cent on-year. The government ordered that the VND700 trillion must be disbursed completely within the year.

Two weeks ago, Hanoi Peoples Committee adopted a resolution on using VND34.64 trillion ($150.6 million) to invest into constructing six large-scale flyovers in the inner city, within 2021-2022. The investment capital comes from the municipal budget.

The committee also decided to invest into another four transport and technical infrastructure projects, with total capital of VND713.3 billion ($31 million). In 2020, the city will also earmark VND37-40 trillion ($1.6-1.74 billion) for public investment. Under the 2016-2020 medium-term plan, the city has VND107.3 trillion ($4.66 billion).

From now until the years end, the city will also invest into boosting the construction of another five key projects, including the Vinh Tuy Bridge second phase and a project to build a concentrated wastewater treatment system for the citys industrial clusters.

According to Resolution 84, in order for public investment to go smoothly, frequent inspections will be organised at related projects and plans.

Strict punishment will be imposed on any organisations, individuals, leaders, cadres, and officers who violate the law and intentionally cause difficulties and delay to the speed of public investment disbursement and construction of projects, the resolution stated.
The Tamil Nadu government has been transparent in reporting COVID-19 deaths and no one can hide information, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Thursday, rejecting claims of under-reporting of fatalities. He also asserted there was no community transmission of coronavirus in the state, which has reported 1,500-plus cases for four successive days till Wednesday with the tally crossing the 36,000-mark.

"What is the difference in death toll? We collect deaths from government hospitals. Private hospitals give their tally. Why should we hide the data? No one can hide deaths. How can we reduce the death toll? If someone dies of coronavirus, everyone comes to know. There is nothing to hide as far as Covid-19 deaths are concerned," he said.

The mismatch in the number of deaths came to light on Tuesday after officials from the Directorate of Public Health reportedly visited the Greater Chennai Corporation office and found the death register noting more than 200 unaccounted fatalities in the department's tally. The department decided to form a committee to probe the case and reconcile the issue, but health officials and Palaniswami have asserted that it was not a case of deliberate misreporting.

The government's 'reconciliation committee' comprises doctors from the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services and Directorate of Medical Education and the city corporation and will look into the question of alleged discrepancies in deaths.

The reconciliation initiative was taken up by the government also in the wake of a complaint by an NGO to authorities claiming that three COVID-19 deaths were not recorded.

A senior officer from the Public health department told News18, "We anticipate there is a mismatch in the death counts We have constituted a reconciliation committee to look into this."

Sources from the Corporation said delayed notification could be one of the reasons for the mismatch.

Several sources from the health department News18 spoke to confirmed there are discrepancies in the death count but there is no clarity on whether it could cross the 200-mark. More than 20 deaths at Perambur Railway Hospital were allegedly not included on the state's medical bulletin.

Palaniswami on Thursday said the department was issuing a COVID-19 bulletin on a daily basis furnishing data on aspects including testing, recoveries, active cases and deaths.

The data on fatalities reflected deaths from both government and private hospitals, he said during the media interaction after inaugurating infrastructure projects, including a bridge named after late Chief Minister J Jayalalaithaa. Also, he wondered how was it even possible to under-count deaths and project it on a lower side.

"How it (deaths) could be shown less? if somebody dies of COVID-19, the media shows (visuals) and people come to know. This cannot be hidden. For the government, it serves no good (purpose) by hiding deaths," he said.

Palaniswami reiterated there was no community transmission of the deadly virus in Tamil Nadu and maintained the spread was through contacts. Population density, congested neighbourhoods were among the reasons for the high number of cases in Chennai, he said.

The capital city remains the hotspot of the virus spread with 25,937 cases out of the state's tally of 36,841 as of Wednesday.

(With inputs from PTI)
Erdogan said the rules will enable nightwatchmen to more effectively help law enforcement - GETTY IMAGES

Turkey's parliament has passed a controversial bill that gives neighbourhood patrols greater powers, with critics accusing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of wanting to build a loyal "militia".

The new law gives "nightwatchmen", who walk the streets at night to report burglaries and disturbances, almost the same powers as police.

They will now be allowed to carry firearms and have the powers to stop and search people.

With more than 28,000 members, the nightwatchmen institution - which is attached to the interior ministry and dates back more than 100 years - has grown considerably after an attempted coup in July 2016 against Mr Erdogan.

The bill's debate in parliament triggered heated exchanges, with deputies even coming to blows during a feisty session on Tuesday.

Police in Istanbul. The Government has been accused of trying to create a loyal armed force - REUTERS

Mr Erdogan's AKP party, which put forward the bill, says the new rules will enable the nightwatchmen to more effectively help law enforcement by thwarting burglaries and preventing assaults on the streets.

In old Turkish films the guards are portrayed as benevolent uncles patrolling the streets with a whistle between their lips, on the lookout for troublemakers.

But the opposition accused Mr Erdogan of authoritarianism by setting up a loyal armed force.

"They are using the institution of nightwatchmen to set up a militia," Mahir Polat from the main opposition CHP party said on Tuesday, adding the police should be reinforced if needed.
A $100 M Wind Farm Proposal in Central Queensland, Australia was rejected by the Environment Minister Sussan Ley as the project would clear old-growth forest which serves as refuge to vulnerable and threatened species such as the koala and greater glider. (Photo : Pexels)

The Environment Minister Sussan Ley rejected a $100-M Wind Farm Proposal in Central Queensland, Australia, as the project would clear an old-growth forest, which serves as a refuge to vulnerable and threatened species such as the koala and greater glider.

Conservation groups welcomed the decision citing that the wind farm could make the biodiversity worse off. However, the group noted that a month ago, Ley also approved a coal mining project in Queensland's Bowen Basin, which could also create havoc to the habitat of threatened species in the area.



The Lotus Creek Wind Farm Proposal

The Lotus Creek Wind Farm Proposal features the development of 81 wind turbines over 48,000 hectares in Rockhampton and Mackay, which would include 632 hectares of koala habitat, 340 hectares of greater glider habitat, and 150 hectares of vulnerable squatter pigeon.

The project, according to Ley, was "clearly unacceptable" under national environmental laws as it is the habitat of species that were severely affected by the catastrophic bushfires last summer.

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The number and density and its value in the future as the refuge of these species meant that the habitat was unique. Clearing the land was considered "unlikely suitable offset," Ley said. The proponent, Epuron may consider modifying its plans and apply again, the minister added.

The Epuron's general manager of development for Queensland, Paul Stangroom, said they were disappointed with the decision as the company felt that Lotus Creek was "a very good wind farm project". Stangroom said they will review the proposal before deciding on the next possible action.



The Olive Downs Coking Coal Project

While conservation groups welcomed the rejection of a Wind Farm proposal to save the habitat of several threatened wildlife species, the group was disappointed with the government for not applying for the same position when it approved the Olive Downs coking coal project last month.

The coal mine development could destroy eight times as much threatened habitat as the wind farm, James Trezise, the nature policy analyst with the Australian Conservation Foundation, said.

According to Ley, she had considered the impact of the bushfire before reaching a decision. Ley said that Pembroke Resources, the company behind the Coal Project, will operate following several agreed to conditions, one of which is to donate $1m for long-term conservation of koalas and greater gliders in Bowen Basin.

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Calls for Toughening the EPBC Act

The law where Ley's decision sprung from the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC)Act is currently being reviewed. In 2018, the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resource and Minister for Environment and Energy announced the need for independent review, to look at the complementation between agriculture and environmental law for positive environmental and economic outcomes

Last year, as the federal government was about to announce a 10-year legislated review of the EPBC, 240 conservation scientists signed an open letter for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to call for an increased budget for the environment department. They also cried for more support for stronger environmental laws to address a worsening extinction crisis.

Scientists point that more than 1,800 Australian plants and animals are classified as threatened with extinction, but such number is an underestimation given that the recent bushfires had already damaged 8.2 m hectares in the eastern state last summer.

Only 22 of the 6,500 projects referred for approval have been rejected based on the said law.

WOW: Extraordinary Marine Animals Trap Microplastics and Carbon Dioxide, Slowing Climate Change
NORWALK  A man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday afternoon at Fairfield County Firearms & Archery, police said.

The mans identity and age were not immediately released.

Deputy Police Chief James Walsh said there were other people at the New Canaan Avenue range when the shooting occurred around 12:20 p.m. Thursday, but there were no other injuries.

The incident is contained, and there is no public threat, read a statement on the Norwalk Police Department Facebook page Thursday afternoon.

Fairfield Country Firearms & Archery operates four different types of indoor ranges for pistols, rifles, machine guns and archery.

Police have not specified on which range the shooting occurred.

In order to use the ranges, a person must have a state-issued pistol permit, a law enforcement credential or an NRA certificate showing the completion of the basic pistol course.

Unlicensed guests are also permitted to use the ranges if accompanied by a pistol permit holder or law enforcement officer. All guests are required to present a government-issued photo ID.

Evan Marto, who is listed as the owner of the gun range, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The area surrounding the range on Watts Plaza was roped off with yellow tape as police investigated the incident.

Neighboring business owners and employees stood outside as police investigated the incident.

Its sad to hear about something like this happening. You just hope that everyone made it out OK said Chris Efstas, manager of Promo Signs, a business located a couple hundred feet from the gun range.

Employees of two other businesses, Levine Auto and Truck Parts and Discount Bedding & Furniture, declined to comment about the shooting.

It was the second shooting that occurred Thursday in Norwalk. Earlier in the day, one person was wounded at the Roodner Court housing complex. The shooting led to a pursuit to Bridgeport, where police said one suspect was apprehended.
Elementary School Guard Slashes Staff and Students, Injures 40

Honest News Straight to Your Home. Try the Epoch Times yourself, and get a free gift.

In recent years, a number of violent attacks have occurred at kindergartens and elementary schools in China.

On June 4, a school guard slashed numerous staff and students at Central Elementary School of Wangfu Town, Wuzhou City, Guangxi Province. The local government announced that the perpetrator was 50-year-old Li Xiaomin. About 40 people were injured, three seriously: the headmaster, another guard, and a student.

The perpetrator is said to be mentally ill. Initially, the school authorities did not want to hire him, but went ahead because his elder brother is the director of the local Education Committee.

An insider, who spoke to the Chinese Epoch Times on condition of anonymity, revealed that people outside the school heard tragic cries around 8 a.m. However, they could not enter the grounds because the school gate was locked. Although the police station is only 100 yards from the school, it was several teachers who, together, wrestled with Li and restrained him.

According to this witness, another guard, who was seriously wounded, struggled to approach the gate to open it; but, with blood all over his body, he was too weak to firmly grip the key. A couple of teachers rushed to help him and opened the school gate.

The witness said that the perpetrator went into the classrooms, knife in hand, to randomly attack people. He mainly jabbed at victims heads. Some students had fingers cut off. It was very frightening.

Some teachers revealed to the witness that Li has mental problems.

The following video shows parents hurriedly carrying the injured children to a local hospital.
In 2007, he already discarded his first mandate as an MP of the Verkhovna Rada

MP Sviatoslav Vakarchuk strana.ua

MP Sviatoslav Vakarchuk stated about discarding mandate during the briefing.

Sviatoslav Vakarchuk stated that he wrote the application for discarding of parliamentary mandate and it is registered in the Verkhovna Rada.

He stated that he considers his mission partially implemented as he brought the Holos party to the parliament.

Vakarchuk is going to deal with some educational project later.

Sviatoslav Vakarchuk was the MP twice at VI and IX convocations. In 2007, he occupied 15th number at the list of the Our UkrainePeople's Self-Defense Bloc and got the parliamentarian mandate but discarded it in a year.

In May 2019, Vakarchuk created a Holos party for participation in the parliamentary elections and entered the Verkhovna Rada with it. In March 2020, he handed over the leadership to MP Kira Rudyk. He refused from the active participation in the partys activity to have more time to unite and develop.
VANCOUVERA Vancouver Island conservation officer who defied orders and refused to kill two bear cubs has won a legal fight over his dismissal.

Its a ruling that shows conservation officers may challenge orders that could result in too many wildlife deaths, a leading animal rights lawyer says.

The B.C. Court of Appeals decision, which nullified Bryce Casavants firing, strikes a blow against a kill culture that has pervaded the provinces conservation service, according to Rebeka Breder, who was one of the first in Canada to specialize in animal law.

Conservation officers in B.C. field thousands of bear reports every year. Often reports present them with a tough decision  to kill the bear, or to not kill the bear.

According to provincial statistics, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service killed 542 black bears and 26 grizzlies in 2019.

It took a lot of guts to do what he did. In the bigger picture, the ruling sets a precedent that conservation officers could stand up to supervisors against kill orders when it is appropriate to do so, Breder told the Star.

Five years ago, Casavant euthanized a mother bear, who had been eating garbage inside a mobile home park in Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.

But he judged that her cubs, who were only about two months old and the size of two small dogs, had a chance to be rehabilitated and brought them to a veterinarian instead.

Wildlife conservation has been his life passion, and Casavant didnt expect that sparing the cubs would lead to his suspension.

At the time, an online petition calling on B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak to reinstate Casavant collected tens of thousands of signatures within days of his dismissal.

The case drew international attention, and British comedian Ricky Gervais expressed his support for Casavant on Twitter, saying, Reinstate this honourable man!

The two cubs, named Jordan and Athena, were later successfully released back into the wild.

Last week, the top courts three-judge panel stated in its decision, Mr. Casavant euthanized the sow but not the cubs because he understood, from speaking with the complainant, that only the sow had been eating garbage.

Killing the cubs in these circumstances would be inconsistent with ministry policy.

Upon reading the decision, Casavant said, he cried for 15 minutes.

He called it a tremendous relief and vindication.

It shouldnt have happened. Legally speaking, my dismissal never happened, Casavant told the Star on Wednesday.

He had defended himself through much of the court proceedings, where he argued that as a special constable appointed under the Police Act, the decision of discharging his firearm was his to make.

Although the B.C. Supreme Court twice rejected his arguments, the Court of Appeal ultimately agreed with Casavant and said such proceedings fall under the Police Act rather than the collective agreement between his union and the Ministry of Environment.

The decision basically chastised the government and union, saying conservation officers should be treated fairly and proper procedures should fall under the Police Act, Breder said.

Casavant said: A constable has independent discretion. Its their badge, their service weapon. Its their individual appointment under the Police Act. Theyre more than an employee.

I lost my career in environmental law enforcement. It was my identity as a constable for this province, and I took that job and role very seriously.

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I served the people and the wildlife of this province in good faith and to the best of my abilities. To have that stolen and taken away unlawfully is not OK, he said.

A Ministry of Environment spokesperson told the Star in an email, We will be carefully reviewing the decision and will not be commenting any further in the meantime.

Breder said the case and public discussion around it highlight how the Conservation Officer Service needs to address what she called an issue of declining public trust.

Last summer, public debate erupted over the appropriate actions of conservation officers in residential neighbourhoods after officers arrested two men and a woman in Coquitlam B.C.. They were charged with obstructing a conservation officer after the residents allegedly stepped between officers and a mother black bear with two cubs.

The resident who was arrested, Tony Faccin, told the Star that he was concerned over his two school-aged children who were playing in the yard while officers were chasing the bears.

Casavant and his lawyer are still reviewing the new court decision, and he has not decided whether to continue working as a conservation officer.

With files from Wanyee Li.

Joanna Chiu is a Vancouver-based reporter covering both Canada-China relations and current affairs on the West Coast for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @joannachiu

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LAW ENFORCEMENT SUPPORTERS FEAR PROTESTER PARDON WOULD FOSTER INCREASED DISRESPECT FOR POLICE AUTHORITY ON KCMO STREETS!!!

More than 200 charges filed during protests in KC KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - Charges are now filed in municipal, state and federal court against people who were in the crowd during the first few days of protests in Kansas City. KCTV5 News requested a list of all the charges filed in municipal court in connection to the protests.

12th Oak could send a powerful message to the community today at the outset of an already violence Summer .Accordingly . . .Here's a glimpse at the debate and why "failure to comply" violation freebies could set a bad precedent for volatile streets:
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Mumbai: The number of people infected with coronavirus across the country rose to about 2.8 lakh on Wednesday, with one-third of the cases reported in just ten days in June.

However, the good news is that for the first time, the number of people recovering from the infection is higher than the number of active cases. Since June 1, the number of people infected with the corona virus has risen by about 90,000 new cases across the country.

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Coronavirus Meanwhile, on late Wednesday evening, BMC sealed off the Tuscany building in Bollywood actress Malaika Arora's Khar area.

It may be mentioned here that BMC sealed Malaika Arora's building as a precautionary measure late on Wednesday evening after receiving information from the BMC that there were corona-infected patients in the building.

Malaika Arora

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According to the reports, she has been living in her home with son Arhaan since the lockdown began.

Malaika is very active on Instagram during the lockdown. She often shares her lockdown experience with her fans through it.
Pending expiration of Phase 1 on June 15, Governor Mike Parson announced Thursday that Missouri will fully reopen and enter Phase 2 of its Show Me Strong Recovery Plan on Tuesday.

It is truly incredible to think about how far Missouri has come since March. At that time, no one knew what to expect. There was a lot of uncertainty, worry, and concern, Parson said. Here we are today, just over 90 days since our first COVID-19 case in Missouri, and I am proud to say we have overcome all of these challenges and more than met our four pillars to reopen.

During Phase 2, there will be no statewide health order. All statewide restrictions will be lifted, though local officials will still have the authority to put further rules, regulations, or ordinances in place.

The decision to reopen was dependent on the four essential Show Me Strong Recovery pillars:

1. Expand testing capacity and volume in the state

2. Expand reserves of PPE by opening public and private supply chains

3. Continue to monitor and, if necessary, expand hospital and health care system capacity

4. Improve ability to predict potential outbreaks using Missouri's public health data

Weekly testing in Missouri has increased more than 220% from approximately 16,000 test encounters the week of April 20 to over 53,000 encounters the week of May 25. Over the past two weeks, the state has averaged more than 10,000 tests per weekday.

Missouri continues to receive and distribute PPE across the state. On Wednesday, the state reached a record PPE shipment, expanding to include not only hospitals, health care facilities, and EMS but also dental offices as more are reopening across the state. Those shipments included the following:

 17,230 gowns

 42,720 N95 masks

 262,000 gloves

 77,100 surgical masks

 18,432 face shields

Missouri has also received national recognition for the use of its PPE marketplace, which helps health care providers with Missouri manufactures and suppliers. Currently, there are more than 100 hospitals, 436 suppliers, and 1,567 health care providers, businesses, and other organizations registered in the PPE marketplace.

Regarding hospital capacity, hospitalizations fell by 43% statewide from May 1 to June 10. In April, the state converted a hotel into an alternate care site in just 11 days.

Missouri now also has a comprehensive COVID-19 dashboard containing data from across the state on testing, positivity rate, deaths, and hospitalizations. Much of the data is broken down further by county or demographics.

We have learned and accomplished so much since March. Knowing what we know now, we are much better prepared to deal with COVID-19 going forward, and we are fully confident that Missouri is ready to take the next step, Parson said.

While Missouri will fully reopen on June 16, Parson emphasized the importance of continuing social distancing and practicing proper hygiene to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

We must remember that COVID-19 is not gone, Governor Parson said. It is still extremely important for everyone to continue social distancing. Be proactive. Avoid large, congested crowds, and if you cant social distance, take extra precautions to protect yourself and those around you.

We all know how to do this now, and it is up to us to take responsibility for our own actions, Parson continued.

In preparation of Phase 2, Parson signed Executive Order 20-12 extending the state of emergency in Missouri through Dec. 30, in order to utilize federal CARES Act funding. Extending the state of emergency will also allow continued flexibility in deploying resources around the state as Missouri reopens and recovers from COVID-19.

Executive Order 20-12 also further extends four previous Executive Orders assisting with Missouris COVID-19 response through Dec. 30:

 Executive Order 20-04 easing regulatory burdens and certain provisions related to telemedicine and motor carriers

 Executive Order 20-05 allowing the sale of unprepared restaurant foods to the public

 Executive Order 20-06 mobilizing the National Guard in our response efforts

 Executive Order 20-08 waiving the requirement for a person to be physically present in front of a notary public

Extending these Executive Orders is consistent with the emergency declaration and gives Missourians more time to adjust as the state works through the economic recovery process.

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'What accounts for the huge difference in death tolls between the most advanced countries and the relatively poorer countries?' mulls Virendra Kapoor..

IMAGE: An artist gives finishing touches to a mural on awareness about the importance of wearing face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Vijayawada. Photograph: PTI Photo

Heat, humidity, genetic immunity, demographics, all in play.

Let us be clear.

The global battle against coronavirus pandemic has been far from perfect. Every country has muddled along, including China, failing to do something absolutely necessary -- and doing some other thing, which in hindsight, looks a sheer waste.

Absent a precedent or foreknowledge about the behavior of the newest virus, governments tweaked policy as they went along, unable to anticipate how the virus would behave.

Here in India, critics have panned the government for the terrible plight of the workers.

But, put your hands on your hearts, and say truthfully if, on the evening of March 24th, could anyone have foreseen the hardships millions of workers living in big cities would face.

Because even the government did not believe that after three weeks it will not be back to normal.

Allowing workers to return to their villages was not sensible anyway, it carried the twin risk of disruption of the economy and the heightened risk of carrying the virus to the hinterland.

Suffice to say everyone in Europe, North America as in India is wiser after the event.

Such 20:20 vision is a gift of hindsight.

Who and how anyone else would have handled the fight against the pandemic is unclear, though quite a few foreign leaders had initially dismissed it as of no consequence.

The US, UK, Brazil are the biggest culprits in this regard.

Given that we are an open society, it is for the government to defend its alleged acts of omission and commission.

But what we are interested in highlighting is the sharp difference in the number of cases and fatalities in India as against those in Europe and America.

Aside from searching for a vaccine to tame the virus, scientists are also examining the unusual phenomenon of a far lower death toll in the subcontinent than in the more advanced Western countries with superior healthcare systems.

IMAGE: Medical workers take care of a patient suffering from coronavirus in New Delhi. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

India has done well to stave off large number of fatalities.

It has fewer than one in a million.

China, where it all started, recorded only about 5,000 deaths.

Thailand, where the virus went next, again has fewer than one death in a million.

Remarkably, Vietnam, Cambodia and Mongolia have thus far recorded no deaths.

In sharp contrast, Britain, Italy and Spain have lost 500 per million, the US, 300 per million, while Germany, which managed the pandemic better, about 100 deaths per million.

Among other factors, researches are exploring a link between obesity and corona deaths.

Generally, people in Asia tend to be leaner while those in Western countries overweight and fat.

For instance, 36 percent of the Americans are obese as against four percent in India, two percent in Japan and Vietnam.

As per the medical standards, 28 percent Britons, 24 percent Spaniards, 22 percent Germans were obese. Obesity is measured as per the body mass index.

What accounts for the huge difference in death tolls between the most advanced countries and the relatively poorer countries?

Could it be demographics? The average age of a country's population could be a factor.

Or the secret could lie in the vastly different weather conditions.

Both factors seemed to be favourable to India.

IMAGE: A healthcare worker checks a boy's temperature in Dharavi, Mumbai. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters

India is a relatively young country, with only seven percent of its population above the age of 65.

Western societies, in sharp contrast, are old and aging.

However, Japan, which has a much larger percentage of old people, has only recorded seven corona deaths per million.

But this could be explained by the fact that Japanese society is well served by a first-rate healthcare system and the people are known to maintain very high standards of personal hygiene and social distancing.

The reason for poor countries in Africa recording a low fatality rate is ascribed to continent's relatively young population.

Also, genetic factors could be at play.

People in Asia are supposed to have better immune systems, having perhaps grown used to live with polluted water, air, food, etc.

Again, unlike the Western populations, the anti-tuberculosis BCG vaccination at birth is supposed to protect against the virus.

As for the heat and humidity as a shield against the coronavirus in tropical countries like India, scientists believe that there is a definite connection here.

They are encouraged by the research into the SARS-I and SARS-II epidemics which established the link between heat and humidity and the spread of the virus.

IMAGE: Mortuary workers load the body of a person who died from coronavirus into a hearse in New Delhi. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Admittedly, the coronavirus is a totally new strain which so far has defied cure.

But the scientific community is increasingly veering to the view that the reason for high number of deaths in the developed world as against those in the developing world could well lie in different weather conditions, age and health profile of populations and the degree of genetic immunity.

Production: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
She's an iconic supermodel with a jaw-dropping physique.

And Doutzen Kroes looked incredible as she displayed her eye-popping frame in a selection of skimpy swimwear for the latest campaign by Dutch lingerie brand Hunkemoller.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel, 35, showcased her pert derriere and endless legs in thong swimwear, before going topless in a sultry snap in the pool.

Wow: Doutzen Kroes looked incredible as she displayed her eye-popping frame in a selection of skimpy swimwear for the latest campaign by Dutch lingerie brand Hunkemoller

The first snap saw Doutzen slip into a plunging black thong swimsuit with an elegant gold string back.

Posing on a sink, the star displayed her peachy posterior and displayed a hint of sideboob, with her decolletage adorned with a chunky gold chain.

The beauty wore her caramel tresses in soft waves, parted on the side while metallic shadow, fluttery lashes and nude lipstick lit up her stunning features.

The star then slipped into a lacy black bikini, which drew the eye to her taut midriff and bronzed legs as she strutted by the sea in vertiginous heels.

Catwalk: The star then donned a lacy black bikini and vertiginous heels as she strutted by the sea

Stunning: Doutzen whipped off her bikini top to pose topless in a pool, as she showcased her pert posterior

Doutzen added a further touch of glamour with cat eye shades and shimmering gold jewellery.

The star then stripped down to just a pair of black bikini bottoms as she posed topless in a crystalline pool.

Striking a sultry pose over her shoulder, the beauty covered her modesty with her hand as she drew the eye to her derriere.

Adding a pop of colour, Doutzen slipped into a gorgeous red and black animal print striped string bikini which showcased her washboard abs.

Wild side: Doutzen added a pop of colour as she donned a red and black animal print string bikini

Work it: The Dutch beauty showcased her enviable frame as she relaxed on a sunlounger

Unreal: Doutzen was every inch the beach babe as she soaked up the sun in the gorgeous bikinis

Emerald: Doutzen wowed in an emerald green swimsuit and a chic summer hat

Doutzen began her modelling career in 2003, and is said to be one of the highest-paid models, with an estimated income of more than $5 million per year. Back in 2014, she came in second on the Forbes top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $8 million in one year.

Style maven Doutzen was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2008 to 2014, and in 2013 she made history as the first model to land four different solo international covers of Vogue's September issue in a single year.

The supermodel balances her modelling feats with raising her children Myllena Mae Gorre, five, and Phyllon Joy Gorre, nine.

Bronzed: The star was every inch the siren as she showcased her taut midriff in a scarlet bikini and oversize hat
Amit Shah urged to intervene into non-payment of resident docs' salaries at NDMC hospitals

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 11: The Delhi Medical Association (DMA) has sought the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah into the issue of non-payment of salaries of resident doctors at various health facilities under North Delhi Municipal Corporation, including Kasturba Hospital and Hindu Rao Hospital.

Resident doctors of NDMC's 450-bedded Kasturba Hospital had on Wednesday threatened mass resignation if the authorities did not release their three months salary.

Delhi govt issues SOPs for its offices to prevent spread of Covid-19

Delhi: Jama Masjid to remain shut till June 30th amid increasing cases of Coronavirus| Oneindia News

Recently, resident doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention in getting their salary released.

"DMA is deeply concerned on the issue of non-payment of the salaries of resident doctors of Kasturba Hospital, Hindu Rao Hospital and other hospitals and dispensaries under North Delhi Municipal Corporation who have been working selflessly and tirelessly in this highly stressful times of COVID pandemic for the last three months, the DMA letter to Shah said.

In our selfless service to the nation in fighting COVID-19 on front lines, our doctors, without caring even their lives, are not only taking risk for themselves but also for their families and trying their every bit so that they serve the society, the letter said.

"... request you to look into the matter and intervene on urgent basis so that our fellows colleagues get the salary of last months along with the arrears at the earliest so that they can performe their duties relentlessly without any stress," the letter said.
In a 3,600-word essay, published on her website, JK Rowling explained in detail her research and beliefs on trans issues, and the concerns she has about how womens rights and some young peoples lives were being impacted by some forms of trans activism.

London: Author JK Rowling defended her right to speak about trans issues without fear of abuse in an intensely personal essay in which she explained the complex reasons for her interest in the subject, revealing painful details from her past.

The Harry Potter creator has long been a target of criticism by trans activists, who have taken issue with some of her social media posts. At times, the criticism has taken the form of abusive language and threats of violence.

In a 3,600-word essay, published on her website, the writer explained in detail her research and beliefs on trans issues, and the concerns she has about how womens rights and some young peoples lives were being impacted by some forms of trans activism.

She also revealed that she has wondered whether she might have sought to transition to being a man had she been born 30 years later, and that she was a survivor of domestic abuse and of sexual assault.

I havent written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me, not even a teeny-weeny one, she wrote in the conclusion to her piece, describing herself as extraordinarily fortunate.

Ive only mentioned my past because, like every other human being on this planet, I have a complex back-story, which shapes my fears, my interests and my opinions. I never forget that inner complexity when Im creating a fictional character and I certainly never forget it when it comes to trans people.

All Im asking  all I want  is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse.

The full text of her essay has been reproduced below:

JK Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues

This isnt an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know its time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.

For people who dont know: last December I tweeted my support for Maya Forstater, a tax specialist whod lost her job for what were deemed transphobic tweets. She took her case to an employment tribunal, asking the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected in law. Judge Tayler ruled that it wasnt.

My interest in trans issues pre-dated Mayas case by almost two years, during which I followed the debate around the concept of gender identity closely. Ive met trans people, and read sundry books, blogs and articles by trans people, gender specialists, intersex people, psychologists, safeguarding experts, social workers and doctors, and followed the discourse online and in traditional media. On one level, my interest in this issue has been professional, because Im writing a crime series, set in the present day, and my fictional female detective is of an age to be interested in, and affected by, these issues herself, but on another, its intensely personal, as Im about to explain.

All the time Ive been researching and learning, accusations and threats from trans activists have been bubbling in my Twitter timeline. This was initially triggered by a like. When I started taking an interest in gender identity and transgender matters, I began screenshotting comments that interested me, as a way of reminding myself what I might want to research later. On one occasion, I absent-mindedly liked instead of screenshotting. That single like was deemed evidence of wrongthink, and a persistent low level of harassment began.

Months later, I compounded my accidental like crime by following Magdalen Burns on Twitter. Magdalen was an immensely brave young feminist and lesbian who was dying of an aggressive brain tumour. I followed her because I wanted to contact her directly, which I succeeded in doing. However, as Magdalen was a great believer in the importance of biological sex, and didnt believe lesbians should be called bigots for not dating trans women with penises, dots were joined in the heads of twitter trans activists, and the level of social media abuse increased.

I mention all this only to explain that I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called cunt and bitch and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me hed composted them.

What I didnt expect in the aftermath of my cancellation was the avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive. They came from a cross-section of kind, empathetic and intelligent people, some of them working in fields dealing with gender dysphoria and trans people, whore all deeply concerned about the way a socio-political concept is influencing politics, medical practice and safeguarding. Theyre worried about the dangers to young people, gay people and about the erosion of womens and girls rights. Above all, theyre worried about a climate of fear that serves nobody  least of all trans youth  well.

Id stepped back from Twitter for many months both before and after tweeting support for Maya, because I knew it was doing nothing good for my mental health. I only returned because I wanted to share a free childrens book during the pandemic. Immediately, activists who clearly believe themselves to be good, kind and progressive people swarmed back into my timeline, assuming a right to police my speech, accuse me of hatred, call me misogynistic slurs and, above all  as every woman involved in this debate will know  TERF.

If you didnt already know  and why should you?  TERF is an acronym coined by trans activists, which stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. In practice, a huge and diverse cross-section of women are currently being called TERFs and the vast majority have never been radical feminists. Examples of so-called TERFs range from the mother of a gay child who was afraid their child wanted to transition to escape homophobic bullying, to a hitherto totally unfeminist older lady whos vowed never to visit Marks & Spencer again because theyre allowing any man who says they identify as a woman into the womens changing rooms. Ironically, radical feminists arent even trans-exclusionary  they include trans men in their feminism, because they were born women.

But accusations of TERFery have been sufficient to intimidate many people, institutions and organisations I once admired, whore cowering before the tactics of the playground. Theyll call us transphobic! Theyll say I hate trans people! What next, theyll say youve got fleas? Speaking as a biological woman, a lot of people in positions of power really need to grow a pair (which is doubtless literally possible, according to the kind of people who argue that clownfish prove humans arent a dimorphic species).

So why am I doing this? Why speak up? Why not quietly do my research and keep my head down?

Well, Ive got five reasons for being worried about the new trans activism, and deciding I need to speak up.

Firstly, I have a charitable trust that focuses on alleviating social deprivation in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on women and children. Among other things, my trust supports projects for female prisoners and for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. I also fund medical research into MS, a disease that behaves very differently in men and women. Its been clear to me for a while that the new trans activism is having (or is likely to have, if all its demands are met) a significant impact on many of the causes I support, because its pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender.

The second reason is that Im an ex-teacher and the founder of a childrens charity, which gives me an interest in both education and safeguarding. Like many others, I have deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement is having on both.

The third is that, as a much-banned author, Im interested in freedom of speech and have publicly defended it, even unto Donald Trump.

The fourth is where things start to get truly personal. Im concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility. Some say they decided to transition after realising they were same-sex attracted, and that transitioning was partly driven by homophobia, either in society or in their families.

Most people probably arent aware  I certainly wasnt, until I started researching this issue properly  that ten years ago, the majority of people wanting to transition to the opposite sex were male. That ratio has now reversed. The UK has experienced a 4400 percent increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.

The same phenomenon has been seen in the US. In 2018, American physician and researcher Lisa Littman set out to explore it. In an interview, she said:

Parents online were describing a very unusual pattern of transgender-identification where multiple friends and even entire friend groups became transgender-identified at the same time. I would have been remiss had I not considered social contagion and peer influences as potential factors.

Littman mentioned Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram and YouTube as contributing factors to Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, where she believes that in the realm of transgender identification youth have created particularly insular echo chambers.

Her paper caused a furore. She was accused of bias and of spreading misinformation about transgender people, subjected to a tsunami of abuse and a concerted campaign to discredit both her and her work. The journal took the paper offline and re-reviewed it before republishing it. However, her career took a similar hit to that suffered by Maya Forstater. Lisa Littman had dared challenge one of the central tenets of trans activism, which is that a persons gender identity is innate, like sexual orientation. Nobody, the activists insisted, could ever be persuaded into being trans.

The argument of many current trans activists is that if you dont let a gender dysphoric teenager transition, they will kill themselves. In an article explaining why he resigned from the Tavistock (an NHS gender clinic in England) psychiatrist Marcus Evans stated that claims that children will kill themselves if not permitted to transition do not align substantially with any robust data or studies in this area. Nor do they align with the cases I have encountered over decades as a psychotherapist.

The writings of young trans men reveal a group of notably sensitive and clever people. The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria Ive read, with their insightful descriptions of anxiety, dissociation, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, the more Ive wondered whether, if Id been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. I struggled with severe OCD as a teenager. If Id found community and sympathy online that I couldnt find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said hed have preferred.

When I read about the theory of gender identity, I remember how mentally sexless I felt in youth. I remember Colettes description of herself as a mental hermaphrodite and Simone de Beauvoirs words: It is perfectly natural for the future woman to feel indignant at the limitations posed upon her by her sex. The real question is not why she should reject them: the problem is rather to understand why she accepts them.

As I didnt have a realistic possibility of becoming a man back in the 1980s, it had to be books and music that got me through both my mental health issues and the sexualised scrutiny and judgement that sets so many girls to war against their bodies in their teens. Fortunately for me, I found my own sense of otherness, and my ambivalence about being a woman, reflected in the work of female writers and musicians who reassured me that, in spite of everything a sexist world tries to throw at the female-bodied, its fine not to feel pink, frilly and compliant inside your own head; its OK to feel confused, dark, both sexual and non-sexual, unsure of what or who you are.

I want to be very clear here: I know transition will be a solution for some gender dysphoric people, although Im also aware through extensive research that studies have consistently shown that between 60-90 percent of gender dysphoric teens will grow out of their dysphoria. Again and again Ive been told to just meet some trans people. I have: in addition to a few younger people, who were all adorable, I happen to know a self-described transsexual woman whos older than I am and wonderful. Although shes open about her past as a gay man, Ive always found it hard to think of her as anything other than a woman, and I believe (and certainly hope) shes completely happy to have transitioned. Being older, though, she went through a long and rigorous process of evaluation, psychotherapy and staged transformation. The current explosion of trans activism is urging a removal of almost all the robust systems through which candidates for sex reassignment were once required to pass. A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law. Many people arent aware of this.

Were living through the most misogynistic period Ive experienced. Back in the 80s, I imagined that my future daughters, should I have any, would have it far better than I ever did, but between the backlash against feminism and a porn-saturated online culture, I believe things have got significantly worse for girls. Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now. From the leader of the free worlds long history of sexual assault accusations and his proud boast of grabbing them by the pussy, to the incel (involuntarily celibate) movement that rages against women who wont give them sex, to the trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble. Everywhere, women are being told to shut up and sit down, or else.

Ive read all the arguments about femaleness not residing in the sexed body, and the assertions that biological women dont have common experiences, and I find them, too, deeply misogynistic and regressive. Its also clear that one of the objectives of denying the importance of sex is to erode what some seem to see as the cruelly segregationist idea of women having their own biological realities or  just as threatening  unifying realities that make them a cohesive political class. The hundreds of emails Ive received in the last few days prove this erosion concerns many others just as much. It isnt enough for women to be trans allies. Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves.

But, as many women have said before me, woman is not a costume. Woman is not an idea in a mans head. Woman is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as progressive. Moreover, the inclusive language that calls female people menstruators and people with vulvas strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning. I understand why trans activists consider this language to be appropriate and kind, but for those of us whove had degrading slurs spat at us by violent men, its not neutral, its hostile and alienating.

Which brings me to the fifth reason Im deeply concerned about the consequences of the current trans activism.

Ive been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor. This isnt because Im ashamed those things happened to me, but because theyre traumatic to revisit and remember. I also feel protective of my daughter from my first marriage. I didnt want to claim sole ownership of a story that belongs to her, too. However, a short while ago, I asked her how shed feel if I were publicly honest about that part of my life, and she encouraged me to go ahead.

Im mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, whove been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces.

I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but Im now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be. However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault dont disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money youve made. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke  and even I know its funny  but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I havent heard them approaching.

If you could come inside my head and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, youd find solidarity and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on earth, because I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker.

I believe the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable for all the reasons Ive outlined. Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, theyre most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of colour, are at particular risk. Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women whove been abused by men.

So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels hes a woman  and, as Ive said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones  then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.

On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish government is proceeding with its controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to become a woman is to say hes one. To use a very contemporary word, I was triggered. Ground down by the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media, when I was only there to give children feedback about pictures theyd drawn for my book under lockdown, I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head, as memories of a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties recurred on a loop. That assault happened at a time and in a space where I was vulnerable, and a man capitalised on an opportunity. I couldnt shut out those memories and I was finding it hard to contain my anger and disappointment about the way I believe my government is playing fast and loose with womens and girls safety.

Late on Saturday evening, scrolling through childrens pictures before I went to bed, I forgot the first rule of Twitter  never, ever expect a nuanced conversation  and reacted to what I felt was degrading language about women. I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been paying the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a cunt, a bitch, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language Id understand.

It would be so much easier to tweet the approved hashtags  because of course trans rights are human rights and of course trans lives matter  scoop up the woke cookies and bask in a virtue-signalling afterglow. Theres joy, relief and safety in conformity. As Simone de Beauvoir also wrote,  without a doubt it is more comfortable to endure blind bondage than to work for ones liberation; the dead, too, are better suited to the earth than the living.

Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists; I know this because so many have got in touch with me to tell their stories. Theyre afraid of doxxing, of losing their jobs or their livelihoods, and of violence.

But endlessly unpleasant as its constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode woman as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it. I stand alongside the brave women and men, gay, straight and trans, whore standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the rights and safety of some of the most vulnerable in our society: young gay kids, fragile teenagers, and women whore reliant on and wish to retain their single sex spaces. Polls show those women are in the vast majority, and exclude only those privileged or lucky enough never to have come up against male violence or sexual assault, and whove never troubled to educate themselves on how prevalent it is.

The one thing that gives me hope is that the women who can protest and organise, are doing so, and they have some truly decent men and trans people alongside them. Political parties seeking to appease the loudest voices in this debate are ignoring womens concerns at their peril. In the UK, women are reaching out to each other across party lines, concerned about the erosion of their hard-won rights and widespread intimidation. None of the gender critical women Ive talked to hates trans people; on the contrary. Many of them became interested in this issue in the first place out of concern for trans youth, and theyre hugely sympathetic towards trans adults who simply want to live their lives, but whore facing a backlash for a brand of activism they dont endorse. The supreme irony is that the attempt to silence women with the word TERF may have pushed more young women towards radical feminism than the movements seen in decades.

The last thing I want to say is this. I havent written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me, not even a teeny-weeny one. Im extraordinarily fortunate; Im a survivor, certainly not a victim. Ive only mentioned my past because, like every other human being on this planet, I have a complex backstory, which shapes my fears, my interests and my opinions. I never forget that inner complexity when Im creating a fictional character and I certainly never forget it when it comes to trans people.

All Im asking  all I want  is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse.

(With inputs from Reuters)
The 22-year-old attacker was a former student of the school.

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Two people died in a June 11 attack at a primary school in Vrutky, near Martin (Zilina Region).

A 22-year-old man from Martin killed one person and injured another four people, including two children. They were sent for treatment to Martin hospital, the police informed on Facebook.

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Several media outlets have reported that the person who was killed is a deputy of the schools headmistress. The information was later confirmed by Police Corps President Milan Lucansky, who arrived to Vrutky.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/tq6X3Zx4BmA

How it happened

The attacker in Vrutky is a former student of the school where he killed and injured people, sLucansky.

They had some problems with him in the past, Lucansky told the SITA newswire. Taking into consideration the time interval, it seems that this student had psychological problems.

Lucansky noted that 22-year-old attacker, armed with a knife, broke into the school through a glass panel. The schools deputy headmistress was trying to stop him but suffered fatal injuries at the hands of the attacker. The attacker injured a school caretaker as well.

He then ran into the nearest classroom to the right, where he attacked a teacher and two children. Afterwards, he fled the school and was followed by the school caretaker.

During the attack, the police received an emergency call and dispatched police near the scene of the crime. They followed the attacker, who defended himself with a knife, Lucansky said. The police were forced to use a weapon, shooting him dead.

The police asked to see recordings from the street cameras and also plan to hear witnesses of the case.

I saw the intervention on the camera recording; the lives of the police officers were really in danger, said Interior Minister Roman Mikulec when he arrived in Vrutky, as quoted by SITA, adding that the attacker was very aggressive. He was ready for anything, Mikulec said.

Meanwhile, the labour inspectorate in Zilina has launched an investigation into the attack. The inspectors will focus on the incident in which the deputy headmaster died, as well as the attack on a teacher and the school caretaker, the TASR newswire reported.

Stabilised and conscious

Those wounded by the attacker were transported to Martin hospital. Alena Krcova of the Health Rescue Service reported that three adults and two children were transported to hospital.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/9K5npZ2sNc4

One woman has an open wound in her chest, two men have leg injuries, one child has a chest wound and another child has a wounded neck.

All the injured people were conscious during the transport and in a stabilised condition, Alena Krcova told SITA.

The two men with leg injuries are policemen who were hit by bullets that bounced. Krcova noted that rescuers returned to the spot to treat people with an acute stress reaction.

Politicians offer condolences

President Zuzana Caputova wrote on Facebook that she feels a lot of grief and sorrow over the tragedy in Vrutky.

I want to express support to all the teachers, police officers, children and their parents who experienced hard moments of fear, she wrote. I think of you. At this moment, may our solidarity with you also be a manifestation of the rejection of violence in whatever form.

Education Minister Branislav Grohling expressed condolences and wished for a speedy recovery for all the wounded people. Any form of violence is unacceptable, he said. It's all the sadder if it occurs on school grounds.

PM Igor Matovic said that he is sorry about the tragedy. He is in the Czech Republic at the June 11 meeting of V4 prime ministers.

Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollar condemned the violent crime and called for an investigation as well as efforts to prevent it from happening again.

Mikulec believes that all children who are with their parents now will be okay. Similarly, for staff of the school that eye-witnessed this tragedy, Mikulec said. He also thanked policemen for ensuring there were no more victims at the intervention.

Vrutky, I am with you, said Economy Minister Richard Sulik, as quoted by SITA. I am deeply sorry about what happened and I express my condolences to all who are affected by the tragedy. Schools are the very last spot where hatred and evil should have a place.

Deputy PM Veronika Remisova also condemned the crime. I express my sincere condolences to all those affected by this tragic event, she wrote on Facebook. The safety of our children and teachers in schools must be a top priority for the state.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini said that his thoughts are with the families of the victims of the attack in Vrutky.

My thoughts are also with all the teachers who honestly fulfil their demanding and meritorious mission and must be shocked by the deed, for which their colleague paid with his life, Pellegrini said for SITA. My thoughts are also with all parents who accompany their child every morning to school and believe that they will return home healthy. Children, parents and teachers deserve a sense of security, and we must do our utmost to ensure it.

Health Minister Marek Krajci wants to personally visit victims in the Martin hospital. What happened today is really unprecedented; its something our country had not experienced yet, he said for TASR.

Also other cabinet members, as well as politicians from both parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties and various non-governmental organisations have expressed their sympathy.

School will remain closed

Classes at the school in Vrutky were cancelled for June 12.

We agreed to declare a day off, said Vrutky Mayor Branislav Zacharides, as quoted by SITA.

There is no camera recording from the incident as the school has no cameras inside. However, the school is secured, and also has a reception area, he added, as reported by TASR.

He did not want to comment on increasing safety at school for now.

The school was properly secured, but if an attacker who can overcome these obstacles appears, little can be done, Zacharides said, as quoted by SITA, adding he wants to discuss how long the school will remain closed at the beginning of next week.

Erika Jurinova, governor of the Zilina Self-Governing Region, and Grohling want to deal with the issue of safety at schools.

Help offered

The Education Ministry as well as non-governmental organisations the Mental Health League and IPcko are ready to offer help in connection with the incident.

The Education Ministry has in this respect strengthened the helpline for children, parents and school employees. The +421(0)800 864-883 helpline is for free and in operation between 9:00 and 22:00.

The experts of the Mental Health League are also ready to help non-stop at their +421(0)800 800-566 helpline.
The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has approved subpoena power for a politically charged congressional investigation of the Justice Departments probe into Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and its contacts with Russia.



The committee on June 11 voted 12-10 along party lines to grant its chairman, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), authority to subpoena dozens of current and former Justice Department officials.



Graham, a close Trump ally, said the panel would look at how the department went "so off the rails" as it investigated Trump and his campaign.



Senator Dianne Feinstein (California), the panel's top Democrat, accused Graham of negating committee rules that require separate approval for individual subpoenas.



The president and his Republican allies contend that the Justice Departments investigation, which led to a 22-month probe by then-U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, was an effort to undermine Trump's candidacy and later his presidency.



Democrats view the Senate probe as a political ploy to help Trumps reelection in the November 3 election.



Muellers report, issued in April 2019, detailed multiple interactions between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, but did not find sufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Kremlin to tip the election.



A December report by the Justice Departments inspector general found multiple errors and omissions in the applications the FBI submitted to conduct surveillance on a former Trump campaign aide in the early months of the probe.



However, it found no evidence that the FBI had acted with political bias.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
N Chandrasekran

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Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday said the world's dependency on China as the single sourcing market will reduce in the post-coronavirus future, which presents an opportunity for India. Speaking at the $110-billion group's cash cow TCS' annual general meeting -- the first shareholder meet to be conducted virtually because of the COVID-19 crisis -- Chandrasekaran said the technology world is moving to work from home (WFH) and the country's largest software exporter will also follow the trend.

The coronavirus pandemic, which originated in China, has forced companies the world over to rethink their reliance on the Chinese supply chain. Simultaneously, the constant flaring up of trade tensions has also meant that the world cannot depend on a single market.

"The opportunity does exist (for India). It is not only a question of a shift, but that of dependency on a single market which will reduce. India will definitely have an opportunity to participate," Chandrasekaran said, replying to a shareholder query.

He added that TCS has presence in China along with 50 other countries and uses its employees there for both domestic projects and also to deliver work globally.

With many shareholders keen to know about the benefits of working from home, Chandrasekaran said at present it is about expenditure in making the shift. He also made it clear that the post-coronavirus future will see a larger number of people working from home.

Replying to queries centred on media reports of only 25 per cent of employees working from its offices, he called it a "guesstimate", saying a specific number cannot be given, but directionally, it is clear that the staff's reliance on working from development centres will reduce.

"We are seeing this as a trend and making significant investments," he said, adding it is not just about connectivity and computer peripherals, but also about ensuring that all the necessary protocols on the security front are followed.

There was also a revenue loss because of the shift and the same has been absorbed in the March quarter, he said.

In his presentation to shareholders earlier, TCS Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Rajesh Gopinathan said 96 per cent of the over 4.5 lakh employees of the company are now working from home and the productivity, both from deadlines and quality perspective, has not been impacted.

Chandrasekaran said over the last few months since the onset of the crisis, the company has moved all its engagement processes with employees and shareholders online. It is also conducting virtual townhalls and off-sites for employees.

On the business front, he said the last two months have seen intense deal negotiations and closures as well, but declined to give a clear answer on pricing power.

Its largest revenue segment of banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) is doing "fine" with lots of deals and negotiations over the last two months, and the company does not anticipate any shock from that segment, Chandrasekaran said.

He said the healthcare and pharma segment, where TCS has a presence, will grow in the current period.

Replying to queries on acquisitions, he said the company will be very selective and will not acquire only for expanding its revenue. Synergies are very important while assessing a deal, he added.

From a domestic perspective, he said the contraction in GDP growth will not impact its turnover because of the low reliance on revenues from India. Only up to 2 per cent of BFSI revenues comes from India, he noted.

He said TCS has not invested in any electoral bonds in FY20 and the investments were done only in the previous fiscal year.

On the COVID-19 relief front, Chandrasekaran said TCS has built a hospital in Kerala and installed beds and wards in hospitals in Mumbai, adding that lack of land means it cannot build a new facility in the financial capital.

The TCS scrip closed 1.92 per cent down at Rs 2,067.80 apiece on the BSE, as against a correction of 2.07 per cent on the benchmark.
Australians may have access to phone and video consultations with specialists, GPs and psychologists beyond September as the federal government considers extending Medicare rebates for telehealth services.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians is campaigning for the telehealth rebates, rolled out in mid-March to make medical care more accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic, to become permanent.

Doctors are pushing for access to Medicare telehealth to be made permanent. Credit:

Health Minister Greg Hunt is weighing up options for an extension "in the context of health requirements, Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advice and stakeholder feedback", a spokesman told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

"Clinical efficacy and safety, patients' and providers' experiences, and assessment of quality and value of services will be paramount when looking at all options for the extension of access to telehealth," the spokesman said.
Military instructors of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are returning to Ukraine to train soldiers after Canada was forced to reduce the number of Operation UNIFIER personnel in Ukraine due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"CAF soldiers will be arriving in Ukraine mid-June to resume training in support of the Security Forces of Ukraine. Members will isolate for a period of 14 days before joining the mission to protect the force in the COVID-19 environment," the CAF posted on Twitter.

#CAF soldiers will be arriving in Ukraine mid-June to resume training in support of the Security Forces of Ukraine. Members will isolate for a period of 14 days before joining the mission to protect the force in the COVID-19 environment. #OpUNIFIER pic.twitter.com/KCe8OiubXn  CAF in Ukraine (@CAFinUkraine) June 10, 2020

At the end of March, the Canadian government said it would reduce the number of Operation UNIFIER personnel in Ukraine from 200 to 60 due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. All training activities of the Canadian Armed Forces in Ukraine were suspended due to the spread of COVID-19.

Canada sends a group of about 200 CAF members to Ukraine every six months.

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Fewer samples have been tested for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Delhi over the past few days with the number falling from an average of about 7,000 samples at the end of May to around 5,000 samples on June 10.

The biggest hurdle, according to laboratories, is the cumbersome RT-PCR mobile app, which has made the process of entering test data tedious; but not entering the data isnt an option. The state government barred some labs from testing because they were not using the app.

Every single detail is documented and sent to the authorities concerned, however, it may not be in the format that the government wants because of logistical issues. If you want to punish well-meaning people for that then there is nothing we can do about it, said an administrator in a Delhi hospital that treats Covid-19 patients. This person asked not to be identified.

The app, which shares its name with the reverse transcription, polymerase chain reaction test which is the gold standard for identifying Covid-19 cases, was launched by the centre on April 30, to remove any discrepancies in sharing of Covid-related data by approved laboratories.

The app is meant to be used by labs across India.

Data is to be filled at the point and time of sample collection and that poses a problem.

The head of a Delhi laboratory that does Covid tests rattled off the issues on condition of anonymity: poor connectivity; the fact that phlebotomists (who collect data) walk, wearing PPEs (personal protective kits) and all to collect samples because it is sometimes difficult to find parking; that they do not want to stay in the infection zone for a minute longer than required but feeding data through the app takes about 10 minutes extra.

The attrition rate of phlebotomists has gone up. Its difficult to find new ones, this person added.

Its not as if it is easier to do this with inpatients in hospitals, said the head of a laboratory at a private hospital who asked not to be named. Imagine a nurse going inside the ICU with a mobile phone to feed in patient data at the time of sample of collection. You cannot do it later because you get a one-time password in the patients phone that you have to quickly feed in. These practical problems nobody seems to think about.

Before the introduction of mobile-based application, labs were feeding patient data into web portals created by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and respective state governments.

The head of another Delhi laboratory who too spoke on condition of anonymity said mobile phones can be potential carriers of disease-causing microorganisms.

I dont carry my phone while stepping out these days because there is enough evidence to show how mobile phones can be carriers of disease-causing microbes including viruses. The phone surface can be contaminated and can act as a source of infection, says Dr Shobha Broor, former head of microbiology department, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.

The cumbersome data entry process and the paperwork involved means laboratories get to test fewer patients, said the head of a third Delhi laboratory who asked not to be named.

It takes about 10-12 hours from the point of sample collection to a report getting ready, and most of the time is spent in paperwork, which makes for a huge volume of work in a day. Its but natural then that it will affect the number of tests being done in a day leading to fewer tests being done.

Some laboratories have hired data entry operators specifically for doing Covid-19 related paperwork. I have hired some 100 operators for the purpose to handle the huge work load that technicians are not trained to do, a lab owner added.

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IBM Security released new data examining the top challenges and threats impacting cloud security, indicating that the ease and speed at which new cloud tools can be deployed can also make it harder for security teams to control their usage. According to IBM survey data and case-study analysis, basic security oversight issues, including governance, vulnerabilities, and misconfigurations, remain the top risk factors organizations should address to help secure increasingly cloud-based operations. The case-study analysis of security incidents over the past year also sheds light on how cybercriminals are targeting cloud environments with customized malware, ransomware and more.

With businesses rapidly moving to cloud to accommodate remote workforce demands, understanding the unique security challenges posed by this transition is essential for managing risk. While the cloud enables many critical business and technology capabilities, ad-hoc adoption and management of cloud resources can also create complexity for IT and cybersecurity teams. According to IDC, more than a third of companies purchased 30+ types of cloud services from 16 different vendors in 2019 alone. IDC CloudPulse Summary Q119 This distributed landscape can lead to unclear ownership of security in the cloud, policy blind spots and potential for shadow IT to introduce vulnerabilities and misconfiguration.

In order to get a better picture of the new security reality as companies quickly adapt to hybrid, multi-cloud environments, IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) and IBM X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services (IRIS) examined the unique challenges impacting security operations in the cloud, as well as top threats targeting cloud environments. Top findings include:

 Complex Ownership: 66% of respondents surveyed IBM Institute for Value Survey of 930 senior business and IT professionals say they rely on cloud providers for baseline security; yet perception of security ownership by respondents varied greatly across specific cloud platforms and applications.2

 Cloud Applications Opening the Door: The most common path for cybercriminals to compromise cloud environments was via cloud-based applications, representing 45% of incidents in IBM X-Force IRIS cloud-related case studies. IBM X-Force IRIS: Cloud Security Landscape Report In these cases, cybercriminals took advantage of configuration errors as well as vulnerabilities within the applications, which often remained undetected due to employees standing up new cloud apps on their own, outside of approved channels.

 Amplifying Attacks: While data theft was the top impact of the cloud attacks studied3, hackers also targeted the cloud for cryptomining and ransomware4  using cloud resources to amplify the effect of these attacks.

The cloud holds enormous potential for business efficiency and innovation, but also can create a wild west of broader and more distributed environments for organizations to manage and secure, said Abhijit Chakravorty, Cloud Security Competency Leader, IBM Security Services. When done right, cloud can make security scalable and more adaptable  but first, organizations need to let go of legacy assumptions and pivot to new security approaches designed specifically for this new frontier of technology, leveraging automation wherever possible. This starts with a clear picture of regulatory obligations and compliance mandate, as well as the unique technical and policy-driven security challenges and external threats targeting the cloud.

Prashant Bhatkal, Security Software Leader, IBM India/South Asia, While companies have been slowly moving to the cloud for years, the global pandemic has served as a forcing function for businesses to drastically accelerate their cloud adoption. The pandemic has created a premium on agility, which the cloud and associated services can provide. Businesses need the ability to adapt quickly and access tools and systems remotely, making cloud the inevitable solution for the new normal. While agility is essential, rapid technology shifts lead to new opportunities for cybercriminals. In the case of the cloud, we are moving to a very flexible and dispersed IT landscape that is easy to deploy and scale, but more complex to manage and control. As the rapid move to the cloud has likely exacerbated these challenges, companies must quickly re-evaluate their security policies for the new normal. Customers in India before the pandemic focused around on-prem deployments of critical applications and data. As they started moving to SaaS-based offerings in the last couple of months to allow availability and access to data anywhere, they realized the need to re-imagine their security posture. We are working with clients to help migrate their mission-critical workloads to Cloud by ensuring security is baked in at every level. We are partnering with customers on how they can shift their security approaches to protect increasingly dispersed, hybrid-cloud environments. Cloud today is a key enabler in providing secure environment to applications and data across various platforms.

Who owns Security in the Cloud?

A survey from IBM Institute for Business Value found that responding organizations that relied heavily on cloud providers to own security in the cloud, despite the fact that configuration issues  which are typically users responsibility  were most often to blame for data breaches (accounting for more than 85% of all breached records in 2019 for surveyed organizations).

Additionally, perceptions of security ownership in the cloud for surveyed organizations varied widely across various platforms and applications. For example, the majority of respondents (73%) believed public cloud providers were the main party responsible for securing software-as-a-service (SaaS), while only 42% believed providers were primarily responsible for securing cloud infrastructure-as-a-service(IaaS).3

While this type of shared responsibility model is necessary for the hybrid, multi-cloud era, it can also lead to variable security policies and a lack of visibility across cloud environments. Organizations that are able to streamline cloud and security operations can help reduce this risk, through clearly defined policies which apply across their entire IT environment.

Top Threats in the Cloud: Data Theft, Cryptomining and Ransomware

In order to get a better picture of how attackers are targeting cloud environments, X-Force IRIS incident response experts conducted an in-depth analysis of cloud-related cases the team responded to over the past year. IBM X-Force IRIS Cloud Landscape Report, based on client incident response cases taking place between June 2018 and March 2020

The analysis found:

 Cybercriminals Leading the Charge: Financially motivated cybercriminals were the most commonly observed threat group category targeting cloud environments in IBM X-Force incident response cases, though nation state actors are also a persistent risk.

 Exploiting Cloud Apps: The most common entry point for attackers was via cloud applications, including tactics such as brute-forcing, exploitation of vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. Vulnerabilities often remained undetected due to shadow IT, when an employee goes outside approved channels and stands up a vulnerable cloud app. Managing vulnerabilities in the cloud can be challenging, since vulnerabilities in cloud products remained outside the scope of traditional CVEs until 2020.

 Ransomware in the Cloud: Ransomware was deployed 3x more than any other type of malware in cloud environments in IBM incident response cases, followed by cryptominers and botnet malware.

 Data Theft: Outside of malware deployment, data theft was the most common threat activity IBM observed in breached cloud environments over the last year, ranging from personally identifying information (PII) to client-related emails.

 Exponential Returns: Threat actors used cloud resources to amplify the effect of attacks like cryptomining and DDoS. Additionally, threat groups used the cloud to host their malicious infrastructure and operations, adding scale and an additional layer of obfuscation to remain undetected.

Based on the trends in our incident response cases, its likely that malware cases targeting cloud will continue to expand and evolve as cloud adoption increases, said Charles DeBeck, IBM X-Force IRIS. Our team has observed that malware developers have already begun making malware that disables common cloud security products, and designing malware that takes advantage of the scale and agility offered by the cloud.

Maturing CloudSec Can Lead to Faster Security Response

While the cloud revolution is posing new challenges for security teams, organizations who are able to pivot to a more mature and streamlined governance model for cloud security can help their security agility and response capabilities.

The survey from IBM Institute for Business Value found that responding organizations who ranked high maturity in both Cloud and Security evolution were able to identify and contain data breaches faster than colleagues who were still in early phases of their cloud adoption journey. In terms of data breach response time, the most mature organizations surveyed were able to identify and contain data breaches twice as fast as the least mature organizations (average threat lifecycle of 125 days vs. 250 days).

As the cloud becomes essential for business operations and an increasingly remote workforce, IBM Security recommends that organizations focus on the following elements to help improve cybersecurity for hybrid, multi-cloud environments:

 Establish collaborative governance and culture: Adopt a unified strategy that combines cloud and security operations  across application developers, IT Operations and Security. Designate clear policies and responsibilities for existing cloud resources as well as for the acquisition of new cloud resources.

 Take a risk-based view: Assess the kinds of workload and data you plan to move to the cloud and define appropriate security policies. Start with a risk-based assessment for visibility across your environment and create a roadmap for phasing cloud adoption.

 Apply strong access management: Leverage access management policies and tools for access to cloud resources, including multifactor authentication, to prevent infiltration using stolen credentials. Restrict privileged accounts and set all user groups to least-required privileges to minimize damage from account compromise (zero trust model).

 Have the right tools: Ensure tools for security monitoring, visibility and response are effective across all cloud and on-premise resources. Consider shifting to open technologies and standards which allow for greater interoperability between tools.

 Automate security processes: Implementing effective security automation in your system can help improve your detection and response capabilities, rather than relying on manual reaction to events.

 Use proactive simulations: Rehearse for various attack scenarios; this can help identify where blind spots may exist, and also address any potential forensic issues that may arise during attack investigation.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island parents gathered for a rally on Wednesday outside PS 37 in Great Kills to call on the city Department of Education (DOE) to reopen school buildings for special education students.

The rally was held just days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that necessary in-person special education programs can resume for the summer. Cuomos executive order implies that it would be up to each district to decide if it wants to participate, following state and federal guidelines.

New York City public schools have been closed since mid-March due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, with instruction and services -- like physical, occupational, and speech therapies  all moved online. But parents said their children are regressing and that remote learning isnt working for their kids.

The rally -- organized by special education parent Sue Pugliese -- brought together about two dozen parents, some carrying signs, as well as: Cris Marchionne, chairperson for the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Council; Angela Olsen, community liaison for Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis; Laura Timoney, deputy director of education for Borough President James Oddos office.

Everybody that came today, from the bottom of my heart and from all of us, we just represented thousands of people on Staten Island, said Sue Guido, parent of 15-year-old Sofia, who attends Great Kills High School. So dont let our little small number fool you with the message that we have the numbers --- but were busy with our children.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

Annette Raia, a parent of twins -- one at Great Kills High School and one at Tottenville High School -- said its just phenomenal the regression that weve seen in such a short period of time.

She said it isnt fair that kids can attend summer day camps, which Cuomo said can open at the end of June, but her son cant go to school for much-needed services.

For my son to have to stay home, while my daughter has the opportunity to go to summer camp, is absurd and is discrimination, she said. My son should not be discriminated against just because he has a disability. He should have something to do this summer, as well. What does he do every summer? His IEP mandates that he gets 12 months of services -- and thats what hes entitled to get. Remote learning doesnt work.

She added that her son deserves to have a great summer -- and for him, school is what makes his summer great. Guido also said its important for special education children to return to their routines and receive their services in-person.

Its getting them back into learning their life skills, which they were learning here, she said. Its not to say that any parent who has special needs [kids] is not doing that at home. Were all going above and beyond for our kids, but they need that interaction with someone else.

The best-case scenario is to have the option for the summer program, Guido said. She echoed Raias concerns that if summer camps can open, children with disabilities should have the option to send their children to school.

Marchionne told parents it is up to them to stress the importance of special education students returning to school this summer to local elected officials. She said there is guidance available for faculty and staff to follow in schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.

So this can be done as long as its done carefully, she said. The classroom sizes are already small to begin withand you have to take into consideration that a lot of children were leading structured lives. Thats been disrupted. A lot of students are feeling uncomfortable. Theyre scared not knowing whats coming next. In this situation, the benefits outweigh the risks.

And parents said they would do whatever safety measures were necessary if their kids could return to school, such as temperature checks and persistent sanitization and hand-washing.

I think that were all, especially because most of our kids are the most vulnerable, we have always taken this seriously before COVID-19, Guido said. Most of these schools before COVID-19, took it seriously. Flu season -- the staff at Sofias school wore gloves, many of them wore masks, so weve always practiced this because we have very fragile students. We are the people who should tell people what to do in a typical classroom. Theres going to be extreme parameters, and I think all of us are willing to try those parameters."

OFFICIALS CALL FOR SPECIAL ED PROGRAMS

Staten Islands elected officials have been calling on the DOE to set up programs for the boroughs most severely disabled students in District 75 schools and non-District 75 special education schools.

While Cuomo said in his executive order that districts would need to follow state and federal guidelines to offer special education programs, the guidelines were not yet available as of Thursday morning.

City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza sent a letter to the state education department on Tuesday requesting further guidance on the order.

In April, Oddo sent a letter to Carranza, signed by the Staten Island delegation, asking the DOE to consider setting up programs for severely disabled students at a stand-alone site, such as PS 37, or to include this population of students to be eligible at the citys Regional Enrichment Centers (RECs), which provide child care to essential workers.

Oddo said in April that his staff, particularly Director of Education Rose Kerr and Timoney, have been communicating with Staten Island parents of severely disabled students who are experiencing regressive behaviors due to school closures. Those behaviors are becoming evident as, due to the nature of their disability, remote learning does not and cannot work for them, the letter stated.

Kerr said some may say there are provisions in place for children and that they are learning. But she said it must be emphasized that these children cant learn in this manner due to their disability, and no provisions have been made for these students.

Theyve tried. No one is saying they didnt try, she said. This goes far beyond learning loss in our system. These are the most severely disabled, and we have to handle them in a special manner because they are special.

Malliotakis said she stands with the mothers and children with special needs across the city who are in need of vital therapies and in-person instruction."

We cannot allow these children to regress, and now that Governor Cuomo lifted restrictions, there is no excuse for the city not to reopen. We are pushing the state education department to give proper guidelines to the city so this can happen as soon as possible, she said.

The DOE didnt respond to a request for comment at the time of publication of this report.

However, in a reply to Malliotakiss tweet about the rally to reopen special education schools, Carranza wrote on Twitter: So with all the shifting knowledge of how this virus is spreadingwe now want to experiment with our most vulnerable studentsHmmm.

So with all the shifting knowledge of how this virus is spreading ... we now want to experiment with our most vulnerable students...Hmmm https://t.co/gjga33Es5u  Chancellor Richard A. Carranza (@DOEChancellor) June 11, 2020

FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.
Sky News

Wales' first minister has claimed that Boris Johnson's "history" is "catching up with him". In a highly-charged intervention in the partygate row, Mark Drakeford said he is not surprised the prime minister has become embroiled in controversy over Downing Street parties during COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021. "If I'm truthful about it, the prime minister is someone who's been sacked from two previous jobs for not telling the truth," the leader of Welsh Labour said.
When Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified in front of Congress in 2018, he declared: Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions. . . . We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to enforce our rules impartially. That wasnt easy to believe then, and after, among other matters, its treatment of two Trump tweets, its even harder to believe now.

The first tweet that ran into trouble was one (or, more accurately, a mini-thread) in which the president alleged that adopting a mass mail-in-ballot system would lead to voter fraud:

There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a Rigged Election. No way!

Twitter annotated the tweet, linking to an official Twitter page that, among other things, states that fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud.

In this instance, at least, Twitter was appointing itself a gatekeeper of the truth.

The second thread that ran into trouble consisted of two tweets by Trump in reaction to growing rioting in Minneapolis.

I cant stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right. . . . These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I wont let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!

Story continues

Twitter put a caption over the second tweet saying it violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence, but would be left up because it may be in the publics interest.

Whatever you may think of Trumps tweets, Twitter is playing a dangerous game. There is a large contingent of activists who believe Twitter has treated Trump too tolerantly. Left-wing ideologues routinely insist on the censorship and even banning of Trump. Until quite recently, Twitters leadership resisted placating them. That stance seems to be shifting.

Twitter may like to maintain that the company is acting in the publics interest, but recent events  particularly those surrounding its recent shareholder conference  have made its underlying ideological motivation all too apparent. It is not necessary to dig up the laundry list of selective banning and censorship that conservatives have highlighted for years. Twitters recent shareholder conference is sufficient to demonstrate its bias.

A proposal was on the ballot for May 27th to highlight Twitters conspicuous exclusion of viewpoint and ideology from its written equal-employment opportunity (EEO) policy. The companys EEO policy protects employees from being discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexuality, and race. But there is no prohibition against discrimination for holding the wrong point of view.

The shareholder resolution, if it had passed, would have been an important step forward to putting this right. But as you can see on pages 32 and 33 of Twitters proxy statement, Twitters board of directors advised voting against the resolution, and wrote a response that, despite a considerable length, failed to explain why the resolution should not be adopted.

The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCFPP) had made specific claims alleging bias at Twitter, with sources to support them. The request was modest: They asked that Twitter issue a report detailing the potential risks associated with omitting viewpoint and ideology from their EEO statement. They did not ask for Twitter to unban Alex Jones, stop shadow-banning conservatives, or institute mandatory diversity quotas for conservatives and libertarians. They just asked for a report.

The Board responded with an invocation of woke boilerplate (At Twitter, we believe our differences make us stronger, We foster important conversations on our service [and] create programs that build a culture of inclusion). They went no further than saying they do not discriminate on the basis of political affiliation (in the U.S.). But political affiliation and ideology are not necessarily synonyms. Simply saying, We do not discriminate based on political affiliation is an insufficient response, as political affiliation is a vague, imprecise term that Twitter hasnt defined. If this is taken to mean political party, it still does little to calm conservative concerns, as a registered Republican could still be discriminated against because, say, he or she opposes gay marriage, for instance. If this is taken to mean they practice no viewpoint discrimination, why did they so forcefully reject a proposal that would have helped entrench those protections? In response to the NCFPPs resolution that pointed out Twitters double standard on diversity, Twitter decided to simply re-affirm that they believe in diversity  which really means diversity of identity groups, not viewpoints. The Boards arguments may have been weak, but they prevailed nevertheless.

The Boards opposition to the NCFPPs proposal was revealing. The leadership of a company looking to establish  or, depending on your point of view, reinforce  a reputation for being non-partisan ought to have welcomed an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to ideological diversity. But it did not.

And the failure to do so does not inspire much confidence in its fact-checking, which was, in fact, merely, a suggestion to seek guidance elsewhere: These claims are unsubstantiated, according to CNN, Washington Post and others. Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud.

CNN and the Washington Post are not known for being above the partisan fray.

Again, whatever ones views about Trumps speculative claim about Californias voting arrangements, this does not look a very rigorous fact-check, suggesting a different motivation for it.

Similarly, to accuse Trump of glorifying violence for threatening to use the military while accounts that actually glorify violence are untouched does not come across as particularly evenhanded. To take one example from less than a month ago, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khameneis account tweeted, We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, without any imposition of a warning by Twitter.

Twitter has had the opportunity to show that it is not another woke corporation. It doesnt appear to be taking it.

More from National Review
From New York City to Atlanta to Houston, major cities have been marked by protests following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other unarmed African-Americans.

While thousands take to the streets to march against police violence and racial injustice, others are opening up their wallets to donate. Various campaigns have popped up to support the cause, but crime prevention expert Rania Mankarious is warning folks to beware of fraudsters looking to profit off peoples pain.

There are a lot of scammers who absolutely thrive when we deal with a national issue filled with emotion, Mankarious, CEO of Crime Stoppers of Houston, told McClatchy News. Thats why its such an important discussion to be had right now.

Crowdsourcing and social media campaigns are among the easiest ways to give.

As of Thursday, the official GoFundMe campaign for Floyd  a 46-year-old black man who died in police custody May 25 after a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes  had raised over $14 million in donations. Derek Chauvin, the officer seen on video pinning down Floyd, has since been fired and charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He remains jailed with bail set at $1.25 million.

The GoFundMe for Floyd has since surpassed its original $1.5 million goal and become the platforms most successful fundraiser, according to Insider.

There have also been calls for justice in the deaths of Taylor, who was fatally shot in her sleep as officers executed a no-knock warrant at her Louisville home in March, and Arbery, the Georgia man chased down and killed by two white men while jogging through his neighborhood, according to police. There is a GoFundMe for Arbery along with a GoFundMe for Taylor.

Mankarious says giving is a great way to show support for a cause. But heres what she advises doing before you hit donate.

Do your homework

If you want to give, take the time to ensure youre donating through a reputable source before giving your money away, Mankarious said.

Story continues

Pause for a moment, and do your research, she told McClatchy News. If its a local charity with a brick and mortar, one that you know and youve seen and has been working, thats wonderful. But if the nature of the situation does not allow for that, then really spend your time making phone calls, making sure youre talking to a reputable charity.

The Federal Trade Commission offers some examples of tricks that scammers may try to pull, including:

Some scammers try to trick you into paying them by thanking you for a donation that you never made.

Scammers make lots of vague and sentimental claims but give no specifics about how your donation will be used.

Guaranteeing sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a donation, (which) is not only a scam, its illegal.

Know where your donations are going

Mankarious also stressed the importance of knowing where your money is going and how it will be used.

For example, donations made to the Minnesota Freedom Fund will be used to cover criminal bail and immigration bond for those who cannot afford to as we seek to end discriminatory, coercive and oppressive jailing, the organizations website states.

Its not just that youll be giving to a charity whose mission is one you want to support, Mankarious explained, but also that your dollars will actually be going toward that mission.

How to avoid getting scammed when making donations after Hurricane Dorian

Report suspected fraud ASAP

Protecting yourself from fraud isnt always fool-proof.

Crowdsourcing sites like GoFundMe have ways of protecting donors from fraudulent campaigns, but some schemes are still successful. A fundraiser launched by New Jersey couple Katelyn McClure and Mark DAmico on behalf of homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt collected $400,000 in donations before it was revealed to be a hoax hatched by all three.

Couple, homeless man accused of $400K GoFundMe scam. Here are some other big fakes

If you fear youve been duped out of your dollars, Mankarious said its important to contact the appropriate agencies right away, whether that be the donation platform or your personal bank.

We also tell people that if youre going to give online, dont use a debit card, she explained. Use a credit card. So contact that credit card and let them know of the fraudulent charge.

Mankarious said its also helpful to contact the local attorney generals office.

A lot of the offices of the attorney general across the country are keeping track of these types of claims, she said. And if it gets large enough, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is going to look at it as well. So its really important that you keep track and that you do contact the various agencies.
COLUMBUS, OhioLegislation to codify student religious expression freedoms, and to not require third-graders to repeat the grade due to their reading-test scores, is on its way to Gov. Mike DeWine after passing a final legislative vote Thursday.

House Bill 164, also known as the Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act of 2019, would allow public school students to pray, attend religious clubs and See You at the Pole gatherings, distribute religious material, wear religious clothing and turn in work expressing their faith beliefs.

State Rep. Timothy Ginter, a Mahoning County Republican and ordained minister sponsoring the bill, said it wont create any new rights but will allow kids to engage in religious expression in the same manner and to the same extent that students can engage in secular activities.

The idea, he explained to cleveland.com last year, is if a student submits a painting for an art class that depicts a religious figure, they are not to be penalized on the religious content but they would be judged on their skill as a painter.

At least 10 other states have adopted similar legislation, according to Aaron Baer, president of the Christian policy organization Citizens for Community Values.

With lawmakers preparing to depart for summer break, the House OKd a number of amendments the Ohio Senate crammed into the legislation Wednesday to accommodate schools during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

They include prohibiting a school district from holding back students for failing to meet Third Grade Reading Guarantee testing requirements so long as their teachers and principals agree they are ready to enter fourth grade.

It also includes $24 million in financial aid to a number of school districts dealing with the pandemic and K-12 funding cuts, extending through 2022 a moratorium on a new rule requiring school buildings to include storm shelters, and changing criteria for certain charter schools that receive Quality Community School Support Program funding.
As a doctor, the idea that were being put in a situation of who should live and who should die by who gets housing creates a huge dilemma, Ansell said, saying the risks are bigger for black residents, who make up over 70% of homeless individuals in Chicago. This is clearly an issue of racial justice."
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Emmy Rossum has called on Urban Outfitters, Free People and Anthropologie to issue an apology as she slammed their alleged racial profiling as 'disgusting'.

The actress, 33, said she now regrets having to wear so many of the retail giant's 'stupid bralets' during her eight-year stint playing Fiona Gallagher in Showtime series Shameless.

The screen star initially laid into Anthropologie via her Twitter page, before later taking aim at the other brands when one of her followers notified her that Urban Outfitters was from the same parent company.

Bold: Emmy Rossum has called on Urban Outfitters, Free People and Anthropologie to issue an apology as she slammed their alleged racial profiling as 'disgusting' (pictured in 2019)

Emmy wrote: 'Hey @Anthropologie. Your policy of racial profiling is disgusting.

'Your employees (US and Canada) tell stories about the codename "nick" they were directed to use when forced to profile black customers. The time for tranparency, apology and CHANGE is NOW.' (sic)

She later added: 'This is gross @UrbanOutfitters...

'Also @UrbanOutfitters and @FreePeople - I am now sorry that I wore so many of your stupid bralets in Shameless. I'm disgusted by your culture.' (sic)

Speaking out: The actress, 33, said she now regrets wearing many of the retail giant's 'stupid bralets' during her eight-year stint as Fiona Gallagher in Shameless (pictured centre in 2011)

'Your policy of racial profiling is disgusting': The screen star initially laid into Anthropologie via her Twitter page

Hitting out: The thespian later took aim at the other brands when one of her followers notified her that Urban Outfitters was from the same parent company

The TV and film star spoke out after a former employee claimed the company once had a code that they were allegedly instructed to use whenever black shoppers visited their stores.

The social media user commented in response to Anthropologie's statement about the Black Lives Matter movement, which they uploaded to Instagram last week.

Alongside a quote about diversity by Maya Angelou, the company wrote: 'Maya Angelou's words, more resonant than ever, are a call for equality and empathy.

Claims: The TV and film star spoke out after a former employee claimed the company once had a code that they were allegedly instructed to use whenever black shoppers visited their stores

'Our hearts, with yours, are breaking at current events, and now is the time for change. Community is the foundation on which our brand was built. Our priorities are improvement, respect, and education  now is the time to learn and grow.'

The former employee replied: 'How are you going to stop racially profiling your Nicky?

'I worked at Anthropologie and the racial profiling was sickening. So many times management told us to watch people of color over the headsets and I refused to follow around mostly black people who were just minding their own damn business and respectfully shopping. Please change.'

Social media users alleged that stores in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, California and Canada used the nickname 'Nick' to refer to Black shoppers.

'A a call for equality and empathy': The social media user commented in response to Anthropologie's statement about the Black Lives Matter movement last week

Another wrote: 'I worked for Anthro from 2007-2010 (I think) and we got the same "training". It was prevalent throughout Southern California from what I've heard. Disappointing to hear nothing has changed in over a decade.

'I thought Chicago was the only ones who used "Nick" as a form of saying "watch that black woman who just walked in". F****** shame. So happy to not work there anymore.' [sic]

The former retail workers highlighted similarities in their experiences, with one penning: 'I work in Canada so it is an international thing I guess! :(.'

As another called for the shoppers to boycott the brand, a social media user said: 'nope I worked for the company in Seattle, Southern California and NYC and it's Nick.'

'This entire thread confirms what I've experienced as a customer over the years', a third added.

'I guess it's an international thing': The former retail workers highlighted similarities in their experiences

Insisting they should 'do better' when it comes to racial injustice, another retail associate said: 'I worked for Anthropologie for about two years. If you want to do better. Hold your employees to a higher standard.

'I was surrounded by coworkers who would very OFTEN say horrible things about customers that would walk in the store. Targeting every single Black person who would walk in the store to "keep an eye on them." This starts within. Stop hiring people who do not practice anti-racism.' (sic)

A former Anthropologie shopper added: 'Interesting gesture; however your company participates in the very behaviour that fuels these issues.

'I was followed by one of your sales assoiciates in your Harbor East Baltimre store for no reason. The sales associate told me that her managers told her to do so! You are part of the problem.' (sic)

'Stop hiring people who do not practice anti-racism': Another retail associate insisted they should 'do better' when it comes to racial injustice

'Better practices can be a great start!' The alleged racial profiling has left some fans of the famous brand uncomfortable to shop at stores in the future

The alleged racial profiling has left some fans of the famous brand uncomfortable to shop at stores in the future, with another sharing: 'Better practices in your stores can be a great start. I've been followed in your stores before.

'The last straw was 4/2/2019 - that was my birthday. I couldn't reconcile giving my money to an employee who never greeted me yet followed me on my birthday.

'I haven't been back since. I like your clothes, candles, books and store ambiance, but being followed in a store will never make it worth it. Please work on this.' (sic)

Others said in agreement: 'I've experienced this as well as Free People is just as bad.

Troubling: Many brands have been called to diversify their business in light of the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man

'This happened to me! I loved anthro, but I couldn't justify spending my money while being followed second chance months later and it happened again. I can't anymore. I was never greeted but I was followed? How? Do better.' (sic)

Many brands have been called to diversify their business in light of the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man.

George, 46, died on May 25 after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

His death has sparked days of demonstrations across the nation over police brutality against black people.

Taking a stand: His death has sparked days of demonstrations across the nation over police brutality against black people (protest in London pictured on last week)

The Minneapolis policeman accused of killing George, Derek Chauvin, was taken into custody earlier this month and charged with second-degree murder and and second-degree manslaughter, officials said.

Black Lives Matter, which was first founded in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman and was nationally recognized for its involvement in the Ferguson protests in 2014 has been galvanized once more following the death of Floyd.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Urban Outfitters, Free People and Anthropologie for further comment.
Even teleprompter could not take so many lies: Rahul's dig at PM Modis Davos speech

Rahul Gandhi to hold dialogue with former US diplomat Nicholas Burns

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 11: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Friday hold a conversation with former US diplomat Nicholas Burns on how coronavirus crisis was reshaping the world order.

The freewheeling interaction between Gandhi and Burns will cover a wide range of issues, including racism in the United States and the flashpoint created by George Floyd's killing.

China not winning battle against COVID-19 says Nicholas Burns

Delhi: Jama Masjid to remain shut till June 30th amid increasing cases of Coronavirus| Oneindia News

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the dialogue will be around reshaping of the world order in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the future of Indo-US relations and the key role played by the Indian diaspora in the US in building it.

The clash of ideologies - 'authoritarian China versus 'democratic United States and India - will also be discussed. The conversation will be released on all social media platforms of the Congress at 10 am on Friday.

Nicholas Burns is currently the Professor of Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard's John F Kennedy School of Government. At the Harvard Kennedy School, Burns is the Director of The Future of Diplomacy Project and Faculty Chair for the programs on the Middle East, India and South Asia.

During his career in the State Department, he was United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs within the United States Department of State. He was also the chief negotiator of the India-US nuclear deal.

As part of his dialogues with various experts, Gandhi has spoken to leading global economists Raghuram Rajan and Abhijit Banerjee; internationally renowned epidemiologist Johann Giesceke; global public health expert Ashish Jha and Indian industrialist Rajiv Bajaj.
[June 11, 2020] Great Learning Books Revenue of Rs. 325 Crores in FY20

NEW DELHI, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Learning, India's leading ed-tech company, has concluded its financial year FY20 with booked revenue of 325 crores; a growth of close to 150% from FY19. This growth has been achieved on the back of increasing demand for upskilling in digital competencies like Data Science, Analytics, AI, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity and Digital Business. Despite this growth, Great Learning has maintained its relentless focus on high quality, and learner satisfaction rates remain at over 90% across 25 million hours of cumulative learning delivered - a benchmark that is among the best in the world in education. Continuing its strong growth trajectory, it has started FY21 with a 5x growth in the learner base on its platform, due to increased interest in learning from professionals and college graduates who had to stay at home due to the COVID lockdowns. The growth in FY20 was boosted by Great Learning's best-in-class outcome metrics - >90% course completion rate, and 2 out of every 3 learners seeing a career transtion within 6 months of program completion with an average salary hike of 45%. The company crossed 25,000 learners across its post graduate programs in FY20. Its programs flourished in global markets as well, with learners from over 85 countries enrolling into its programs.



In March 2020, amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, Great Learning launched several initiatives to encourage professionals and college students to grow professionally. It launched Great Learning Academy, a free online resource that offers over 100 industry relevant courses with 1000+ hours of high-quality learning content focused on skills like Analytics, Programming, Data Science, AI, ML, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing and Business Finance. In addition to watching course videos offline they can practice quizzes before going through a final evaluation and earning their completion certificate. Learners can also download the Great Learning mobile app and learn on their smartphones, anytime, anywhere. Over 4 lakh learners have already benefitted from the Great Learning Academy including employees from 700 leading global and Indian MNCS and PSUs as well as students from over 1000 universities and colleges. The company will use the platform to make high quality education accessible to millions of Indians and at the same time to encourage professional upskilling at an unprecedented scale.

Mohan Lakhamraju, Founder and CEO, Great Learning said, "We have seen significant growth over the last year with professionals increasingly warming to the idea of continuous and lifelong learning. However, the way the market has opened for us over the last few months is unprecedented. From working professionals to college students and even senior executives, we are witnessing a desire to keep pace with changing business and technology landscapes by upskilling themselves. It is such a privilege to see so many people achieve their dreams by learning diligently through Great Learning. We expect FY21 to be a turning point for online higher education in India, accelerating us towards the realisation of our vision where everyone can transform their lives and careers through high quality learning." About Great Learning: Great Learning is India's leading professional learning company focused on upskilling working professionals and students. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/900043/Great_Learning_Logo.jpg

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The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has presented Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) worth GHC 30,000 to the Judicial Service of Ghana at a ceremony in Accra.



The items included gallons of Hand sanitizers, Liquid soaps, paper towels, thermometer guns, Veronica buckets and their stands as well as quantities of face masks.



Presenting the items, Mr. Anthony Forson, President of GBA said as partners in the delivery of justice, the Association needed to support the Judiciary.



The GBA thought it wise to assist the Judicial Service since we are partners in the justice delivery system. Everybody should chip in something little when we chip in, we get a lot, he added.



Mr. Forson said It is common knowledge that COVID-19 has come to stay so everyone has a responsibility for himself and to his neighbour by ensuring that the pandemic did not spread.



He appealed to all Lawyers to help in the fight against COVID-19.



Mr. Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, the Chief Justice, who received the items in the company of other superior court justices, thanked the GBA for the gesture.



Justice Yeboah said nobody could have partnered the judiciary better than the bar in moments like this.



It is good this presentation is coming from the bar, the Chief Justice.



He said the Judiciary would ensure that some of the PPEs gets to courts in remote areas in the country.

Source: GNA









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People seen wearing face masks at Changi Airport's Terminal 3. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE  From Thursday (11 June), Singapore Airlines (SIA) and SilkAir passengers from selected cities in Australia and New Zealand will be able to transit at Changi Airport to other destinations.

These are the first passengers allowed to transit at the airport since Changi Airport announced last month that it will gradually allow transit travellers during Phase 1 of Singapores reopening after the COVID-19 circuit breaker period.

In an advisory on its website, SIA said that the transit flights are only for outbound journeys from these seven Australia and New Zealand cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Auckland and Christchurch.

Passengers on these flights can transit at Changi Airport to any destination operated by SIA, SilkAir or budget carrier Scoot, with effect from Thursday.

However, this does not apply to passengers who wish to transit from other destinations in the SIA Group network to the seven cities. Also, transfers to and from flights operated by other airlines are currently not permitted too.

Transit, non-transit passengers to be kept apart

In line with regulatory requirements, transit and non-transit passengers will be kept apart at Changi Airport.

If the transit time is less than 75 minutes, customers will be ushered directly to their boarding gate. For transit times of more than 75 minutes, they will be ushered to a designated transit holding area at their departure terminal before boarding their connecting flight. All transit hotels at Changi Airport are temporarily closed.

Transit passengers will also be issued with a wristband, which indicates their access to the designated transit holding area. They are not to remove the wristband throughout the time they are in the transit holding area.

Facilities in the transit holding area will include food kiosks, vending machines, restrooms, a smoking room, and a snooze corner. Complimentary WiFi is also available.

Seat selection may not be possible

Story continues

SIA said in its advisory that there may be limited or no seat selection during the booking phase to meet regulatory requirements. Advance pre-paid seat selection has also been temporarily suspended for new bookings.

Some customers may have their seats reassigned closer to the departure date. Those who bought prepaid seats and have been reassigned to a different seat will have their payment refunded, it added in its advisory.

There will be dedicated seating zones on board the aircraft to separate the transit and non-transit passengers. Transit passengers will board the plane first, before the non-transit passengers. Upon arrival at their destination, non-transit passengers will disembark first followed by transit passengers.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has invited airlines to submit their proposals for transfer lanes through Changi Airport. Each proposal will be evaluated based on aviation safety, public health considerations, as well as the health of passengers and aircrew.

Singapore has also set up a fast lane arrangement with China to facilitate travel between the two countries for essential business and official purposes.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

Related stories:

COVID-19: Travellers allowed to transit through Changi Airport gradually from 2 June

Singaporeans can travel to parts of China soon for essential business, official trips

Travellers returning from China after fast-lane travel to serve 14-day SHN
Top-level talks expected in Baghdad demoted to brief online kick-off session due to COVID-19, financial crisis.

Baghdad and Washington are poised to launch strategic talks on Thursday to reset ties after months of tensions.

However, even with a new US-friendly Iraqi premier, a major breakthrough is unlikely.

Due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions, top-level talks expected to take place in Baghdad have been demoted to a brief online kick-off session.

That has tempered expectations for the first strategic dialogue between Iraq and the US in a decade, which will chiefly address the fate of the US-led military coalition, as well as economic and cultural ties.

The entire US-Iraq bilateral relationship will not be fixed in a single day, said Robert Ford, an analyst at the Middle East Institute and a US diplomat in Baghdad during the last round of strategic talks in 2008, which ironed out the US drawdown from the occupation that began after the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

But for once, we seem to have the right people in the right place at the right time, he said.

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Bilateral ties had been at their coldest in years, Iraqi and US officials said, following deadly rocket attacks on American military and diplomatic sites since last year.

Tensions skyrocketed following a US strike on Baghdad in January that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, prompting Iraqi legislators to vote in favour of ousting all foreign troops.

Washington threatened crippling sanctions.

But the tensions have calmed substantially since Mustafa al-Kadhimi  the countrys former intelligence chief who has close ties to the US and its allies in the region  took the reins as Iraqs premier in May.

Two Iraqi officials said al-Kadhimi has been invited to the White House this year, a diplomatic olive branch his predecessor Adel Abdul Mahdi never received.

There was a lack of confidence in the relationship with the previous government, and were not there anymore, one of the officials said.

Troops in the balance

The session, planned for 13:00 GMT, includes a range of diplomatic, military and economic staff from both countries that will split into follow-up committees.

The main event will be the fate of US-led troops, deployed in Iraq from 2014 to head a military coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group.

Whatever comes out of the dialogue is going to set the future of our strategic relationship, an American official from the coalition told the AFP news agency.

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Am I still going to fly surveillance drones or not? Do you still want our intelligence? he added.

The coalition has already consolidated to just three bases in recent months, down from a dozen, and the talks would likely bring a further drawdown.

There are no details yet on troop levels, but the US draft on a joint statement mentions a reduction of US forces, one senior Iraqi official told AFP.

But a dramatic or sudden drop could hamper the coalitions efforts to back an Iraqi fightback against ISIL sleeper cells, which have escalated attacks in recent weeks.

Other coalition countries are watching from the sidelines, with no formal role in the negotiations.

Iran and its allies in Iraq, which have vowed to oust US troops, are also keeping a close eye on the talks.

Many reiterated calls for foreign forces to leave, with the spokesman for the pro-Iran Fatah bloc, Ahmed al-Assadi, insisting on a six-month deadline for their departure.

On Monday and Wednesday, two rockets hit near Baghdad airport and the American Embassy after weeks of calm.

But the rhetoric was more tempered than usual, with even the hardline Kataeb Hezbollah saying it would take a formal stance on the talks only after the first session.

These groups are retrenching, which gives Kadhimi some space with the Americans, said Ford.

The economy

One area where Iraq may see only limited progress is help for its collapsing economy, which relies almost exclusively on oil exports.

Faltering prices and low demand have drastically shrunk Iraqs monthly revenues, leaving Baghdad scrambling to pay wages, pensions and welfare to eight million Iraqis.

A US waiver protecting it from American sanctions as it imports gas from neighbouring Iran for its dilapidated power sector is due to expire in late September.

Thursdays talks are geared to produce long-term support, like infrastructure upgrades using American energy companies and US endorsements for aid from Gulf countries, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

But Iraq needs an immediate crutch.

The US wont provide all kinds of cash. They can just offer not to apply sanctions, said Ford.

That doesnt fix Kadhimis single biggest problem, he said, pointing to the lack of hard cash.
(TNS)  The Federal Communications Commission passed a 5G upgrade order Tuesday that aims to make installing 5G quicker and easier in smaller communities.With a goal of narrowing the rural broadband gap, the order had support from agriculture associations and Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr.From our perspective at the FCC, the stakes are just way too high with 5G to have it be a privilege of living in a big city, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told the Tribune Eagle. So weve been focused on this digital divide, making sure that every community, including Cheyenne, has a fair shot at connectivity.The upgrade will refresh and clarify language from a 2014 order that helped roll out 4G internet across the nation. With the developments in 5G, some wireless builders have experienced delays with tower upgrades in recent years.According to Orr, 5G connectivity is becoming increasingly important for evolving industries across the state, including health care, agriculture and technology.Having that high-speed connectivity is so incredibly critical for the economy, but then its also going to be very critical just as consumers, Orr said.Some Wyoming farmers regularly use blockchain technology to get higher prices for premium beef, and when COVID-19 reached Wyoming, health care providers offered telehealth visits for those who couldnt reach a doctor.While some in the state have taken advantage of advances in technology, others dont have the same opportunities. Orr said the digital divide became even more prominent when Cheyenne schools were forced to move online due to coronavirus.Not every neighborhood in our community is as well-connected as the others, so it really creates a disadvantage for some folks, Orr said.Having a stable, high-speed internet connection allows students, residents and businesses to reach their full potential, whether its cattle farming or e-learning. 5G also is a useful tool as the state works to diversify its economy, focusing majorly on blockchain.With blockchain technology comes the need for rapid data sharing and being able to conduct transactions very quickly. Having that connectivity is something that weve been looking forward to, and I know certainly the blockchain community has been, as well, Orr said.According to Carr, the upgrade will increase broadband investment in rural America in two ways.First, the new order streamlines the process for upgrading existing towers to 5G.Second, by making it faster and more cost-effective to build out 5G in big cities, the order will open up more resources for wireless carriers to build in smaller towns. For big cities like San Jose and San Francisco, the carriers are charged a fee just to sit down and talk with local officials about 5G expansion.According to Carr, the cost of discussing 5G upgrades can be as much as $1 million. Without having to pay those fees, carrier will have more capital to invest in smaller communities.Where does that million dollars come from? It comes from the capital budgets, often, of carriers. That means the smaller, rural communities then dont have the capital left over to build out theirs, Carr said.
The Republican Study Committee issued a report, entitled "Strengthening America & Countering Global Threats."

A group of Republicans proposes that a number of media tycoons close to Russian President Vladimir Putin who help the Kremlin promote its agenda be included in the sanctions list.

This is stated in a respective report by the Republican Study Committee, entitled "Strengthening America & Countering Global Threats."

Read alsoMedia report "blast" outside Kyiv office of Putin's political operative (Video)

The document lists Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in Georgia, who is a close ally of Putin and involved in destabilizing Georgia on Russia's behalf. It also mentions Viktor Medvedchuk, a "pro-Russian oligarch and proxy in Ukraine who has used his media empire to actively assist Russia's efforts to spread harmful disinformation within the country."

"Understanding the full depth of Russia's impact on key domestic sectors is key in assisting Congress to address gaps in our current legislative architecture that allow detrimental Russian influence," it said.

Meanwhile, speaking during Egor Kuroptev's Border Zone program, former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker explained that the publication of the study does not mean its mandatory support by the majority.

"It is a grouping of Republican congressmen and their staffs who work together to produce policy papers or ideas that reflect their thinking without it being part of a legislative process. So is it terribly influential in the sense that this is going to be turned into legislation? No! On the other hand, it is significant because it shows where the thinking is for a significant part of the Republican Party within the Congress. And from that prospective, it is very helpful to see," he said.

Volker also noted that it was unknown whether the proposal would be supported in the Senate and the White House, because "there are degrees" of this support.

"I would not expect the language of this report or the toughness of the sanctions that it recommends to be streamed through across the House of Representatives as legislation into the Senate and into what it makes it to the White House. A weaker version of it would be more likely," he said.

Speaking of increasing the level of sanctions against Russia, he said: "I actually support the idea that the sanctions we've put in place have not been sufficient to change Russia's behavior."

The American diplomat also added that he considers the individuals mentioned in the document, in particular Medvedchuk, Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov and Ivanishvili, to be "very different people with very different backgrounds and different relationships." "And I think lumping them together in that way is not quite accurate," he said.

"For instance, I think that Mr. Ivanishvili acts very independently. I think that Mr. Medvedchuk, on the other hand, is very, very closely tied to President Putin. So, I don't think you can lump them together this way," he said.

"And in terms of the study group itself, I think this is worked on, researched on and drafted on by staffers there. It doesn't have the level of scrutiny that something going through a formal congressional committee would have. On the other hand, as I said earlier, I think it reflects some of the attitude, the positioning of Republican members of Congress. And for that reason, it's significant to bear in mind," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 17:57:26|Editor: huaxia

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YAOUNDE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's House Speaker of National Assembly Cavaye Yeguie Djibril has expressed gratitude to a Chinese firm for providing medical supplies in fighting COVID-19.

"(We) received a large batch of protective equipment against COVID-19 offered by the Chinese company BUCG (Beijing Urban Construction Group)... All our feelings of gratitude to the leaders of BUCG and the people of China," Cavaye told reporters after opening the plenary of the June session of the National Assembly on Wednesday.

BUCG is in charge of the construction of the new headquarters building of the National Assembly, a new Chinese government-aided project.

Cameroon has reported more than 8,500 COVID-19 cases since its first coronavirus infection on March 6, an imported case from Europe. Enditem
India: A fishing community under lockdown

by Rajan John

June 11,2020 | Source: Help Age International

I could sense the aftermath of complete lockdown when I visited the fishing people of the village of Vizhinjam in Kerala, one of the most marginalised groups in the state. The community depends on fishing for its income, but this is irregular as the work is only seasonal. COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown in India has exacerbated their existing insecurity. Physical distancing means less people are able to buy fish which has greatly affected the fishing folks day-to-day earnings. People are reticent to buy fish from street vendors during the crisis, so the vendors, who are typically women, are seeing their incomes fall, affecting whole households. I had a pep talk with the labourers engaged in the sector who explained how all their income has dried up and some can only feed their family once a day. I saw how people were suffering silently when I visited households as part of my work for the mobile healthcare unit. We cover the whole area and have carried on throughout the lockdown. In one house, an older woman smiled as she asked an unexpected question: You are caring for us with our medical needs, but will there be anyone to take care of our nutritional needs during this time of lockdown? The food grains provided by the Government will soon be gone. What will we do after that?



I tried to be positive and reassured her that HelpAge is trying its level best to provide survival kits for poor older people like her. It is painful like a dagger piercing my heart that the fishing community of Vizhinjam is so visibly distressed during lockdown. Nirmala, one of the women I met, said: "I dont have any job and my husband Michael is the sole breadwinner of the family. We depend on the daily income from fishing and have no savings. Now everything has come to a standstill and we are suffering a lot. We cant even borrow money as no one will lend it. We were aware of COVID-19 around other parts of the world, but never expected we would be caught in this whirlwind of a pandemic. I only have the ration the government gave us, and it too will vanish within a few days. Then". She stopped and took a deep breath. Her eyes were moist, and I could sense the agony she was going through.



Dasan an older man living with his wife, told a similar story: "We are poor, and our only income is the old age pension. Though the Government supplied food grains through the ration shop, it was HelpAge India that provided the medicines and hygiene kits we needed at our doorstep. When the authorities directed us to use a mask and sanitisers, they did not tell us how to find money to purchase them. But in this lockdown, you are treating us and providing medicine, and you took care of us by providing the hygiene kits. But now as the food grains are dwindling fast, we need survival kits and livelihood support post-lockdown.



Though I sometimes felt speechless and helpless, I tried to reassure them, even though uncertainty continues to loom large all over the world. What they need is assurance that they can continue their livelihoods and have a small but regular income. Later in the day I met another person named Paniyadimma and she too was apprehensive of the future: "Really, it's very difficult for us to survive in this lockdown. In normal times we struggle to earn a living, and now we are stuck. We hope that, in the same way that you provide us with the necessary medicines and hygiene kits, someone will help us with food also."



Whoever I met, I heard about how difficult people's situations are. Though the government says there is no need to panic, life after the pandemic is a big void for the public. The parting shot of an older person I visited just turned me upside down. They said: "Its better to get the virus than be hungry and suffer endlessly. Our visits to older people were a blessing for many and their families. But it was satisfying to know our team was able to provide something to help. But the story is not finished. The community still need assurance that they will not go hungry in the coming days, weeks and months, and that they can get their livelihoods back on track.
FINAL DESTINATION Its the final chapter in one of Melbournes more turbulent tales. National Wind Farm Commissioner Andrew Dyer has stepped down from the board of BidEnergy, the Alex Waislitz-backed tech company formerly chaired by James Baillieu. Former Packer-family lieutenant Geoff Kleemann, who once served as Crown Limiteds chief financial officer and a director of Domain, is the new chair. To say it has been a rocky 18 months at the listed tech company is an understatement. After all, Dyer joined the board in July 2018 at the request of former McKinsey colleague and then chairman Baillieu. But things soured when Bid chief executive Guy Maine  another Baillieu recruit  fell out with Baillieu and handed the board an ultimatum in early 2018 to choose between him or Baillieu. Maine survived and Dyer ascended to the chairmans role. Baillieu left the board but, importantly, remained on the share register.

In the months after leaving the board, Baillieu referred the company to the Australian Securities Exchange, alleging the board had overstated Dyer's previous involvement with the company in ASX releases. In July, Baillieu launched action in the states Supreme Court suing Mr Dyer, Maine and independent director Leanne Graham, alleging the company had breached continuous disclosure obligations. That matter settled in March of this year, with no findings made against Dyer, Maine or Graham. For his part, Dyer took out an interim intervention order against Baillieu in mid-2019. While some elements of the claim have settled, there is a contest hearing scheduled for October 29. But the spat went beyond the court room and regulators offices. Or else how to explain a note pinned to the noticeboard inside the exclusive Melbourne Club in 2019 that said: Youre a maggot Dyer. It would be funny if Bids share price hadnt dropped from a high of $1.58 in February 2018, to its current price of 63.

But those days are over, according to Bid and Dyer, who says the time feels right to hand over the reins. I chaired the board through a challenging time over the past 18 months and its time for the board move on to the next level, and Im delighted to be leaving the company in very good shape, he said. Kleemann has a reputation as a very safe pair of hands. He first came to prominence as the number cruncher for Packers Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd when it included the Nine Network and ACP. He must have been good given Packer overlooked his role in the One.Tel fiasco, which cost the company $400 million when the telco collapsed in 2001. Kleeman had been in charge of monitoring the financial performance of the investment for Packer in the years leading up to its implosion.

COURT ABUZZ Do you agree there is a sex tape, Dr McKee? It has to go down as one of the more enticing lines to emerge from the NSW Supreme Court in the long-running defamation battle between Capilano Honey, its boss Dr Ben McKee and the defendant, blogger Shane Dowling. Unfortunately, we will not be able to find out anything further about the alleged sex tape  not legally, anyway  because any further information about it has been suppressed under orders by Justice Richard Button. It forms part of the legal battle, with Mr Dowling being sued for defamation by Dr McKee and injurious falsehood by the company. The sorry saga started many years ago, when Mr Dowling wrote some rather intemperate remarks about the Kerry Stokes-backed Capilano allegedly selling fake honey.
The covid-19 pandemic remains an important topic throughout the world. A number of contributions on the IASS website address the pandemic and its consequences from the perspective of sustainability. We would be happy to put you in contact with the respective authors.

How ecological Value Chains Can Help Societies Tackle the Coronavirus Crisis

(Armin Haas)

The coronavirus pandemic has cast a spotlight on the vulnerability of global value chains. Sustainable value chains at the regional level could bring more stability to the post-pandemic world. A team of researchers at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) has developed a typology of climate win-win strategies that can be used to identify sustainable regional value chains.

Article and publication: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/news/how-ecological-value-chains-can-help-societies-tackle-coronavirus-crisis

Brazil: Can Covid-19 Open the Door for New Pandemics?

(Artur Sgambatti Monteiro)

Brazil is one of the hotspots of the corona pandemic, and the Brazilian Amazon is particularly hard hit. In a new Discussion Paper, IASS Fellow Artur Sgambatti Monteiro and Lucas Lima dos Santos describe the impacts of the pandemic on the region. The virus has overwhelmed the poor healthcare system in Amazonian cities and towns. Indigenous groups are especially vulnerable because the pandemic has opened the floodgates for the illegal deforestation and invasion of their territories. The authors warn that the encroachment on previously untouched parts of the forest could give rise to new transmissible zoonoses.

Article: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/news/brazil-can-covid-19-open-door-new-pandemics

Discussion paper: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/sites/default/files/2020-05/Discussion%20Paper%20Covid%2019%20Artur_0.pdf

Better Prepared for Future Crises: Recommendations from Risk Researchers

(Ortwin Renn)

Although there were early warnings of an exponentially growing pandemic, most policymakers around the world were unprepared and reluctant to act when Covid-19 first spread from China around the world. Since then the crisis has led to unprecedented restrictions and triggered the worst recession since the Second World War. In an article published in the Journal of Risk Research, Aengus Collins, Marie-Valentine Florin (both EPFL International Risk Governance Center) and IASS Scientific Director Ortwin Renn analyze the key factors and offer recommendations on how we can better prepare for future crises.

Article and publication: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/news/better-prepared-future-crises-recommendations-risk-researchers

Covid-19 Crisis: Renewables Can Help to Unburden Health Care Systems and Restart Economies

(Laura Nagel)

Economies around the world have been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Substantial political efforts will be needed to stabilize employment markets and relieve pressure on health systems. Renewable energy generation can provide important stimuli for efforts to achieve these goals. A team of researchers with the COBENEFITS project at the IASS has analysed the potential benefits of decarbonizing the energy sector.

Article: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/news/covid-19-crisis-renewables-can-help-unburden-health-care-systems-and-restart-economies

Fact Sheet: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/sites/default/files/2020-05/COBENEFITS-COVID-19_Recovery_factsheet_200511_web.pdf

Build Resilience with Cleaner Air: Learning from Covid-19

(Kathleen A. Mar, Erika von Schneidemesser)

New research links air pollution to severe Covid-19 progression. This should prompt a re-evaluation of German commitments to safeguarding and improving air quality. Clean air deserves a more prominent place in Germany's Strategy for Sustainable Development 2020.

Blogpost: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/blog/2020/06/build-resilience-cleaner-air-learning-covid-19

The transport sector - Climate policy's problem child and the coronavirus crisis

(Tobias Haas, Ina Richter)

Transport is the problem child of climate). While emissions reductions have been achieved across every other sector since 1990, transport-related emissions have climbed by 3.7 percent between 1990 and 2018. And the number of passengers on public transport has collapsed in the pandemic.

Blogpost: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/blog/2020/06/transport-sector-climate-policys-problem-child-and-coronavirus-crisis

Impacts of the Pandemic on the Argentinean Energy Sector

(German Bersalli)

Argentina is among the countries hardest hit by the social and economic consequences of the current pandemic. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is predicting the worst economic crisis in the history of Latin America, with a fall in GDP of over 5 percent and millions more people pushed into poverty.

Blogpost: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/blog/2020/05/tale-golden-goose-and-ugly-duckling-impacts-pandemic-argentinean-energy-sector

Lack of Clean Cooking Energy Aggravates Coronavirus Impact in Africa (Grace Kageni Mbungu)

d the world the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted life as we know it. However, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that the coronavirus exists on top of many underlying health, social, and economic inequalities, and vulnerabilities. The best hope for African countries is to be spared by the coronavirus, but in truth, people are already suffering from the burdens of stringent lockdown measures imposed to contain the spread of the virus.

Blogpost: https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/blog/2020/05/lack-clean-cooking-energy-aggravates-coronavirus-impact-africa

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Photo credit: Victor Boyko - Getty Images

From Esquire

Looking back, its alarming to think we werent more alarmed. It was the afternoon of the 23rd of February and members of the fashion pack, in Milan for the A/W20 shows, had retreated to Trattoria Torre di Pisa in the Brera district of the city. In the previous few days, cases of Covid-19 had been recorded in remote areas of northern Italy, but the city was still open and brands continued to show. Italy wouldnt go into formal lockdown for another fortnight.

Early that morning, Giorgio Armani had announced that he would be cancelling his live show, but other heavyweights, such as Hugo Boss and Dolce & Gabbana, persisted. The mood on the streets, and in the restaurant, was a little confused, but not panicked. At one quiet corner table, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons dined with colleagues, likely discussing their next moves having just a few hours before announcing that the latter would be joining the former at the helm of the eponymous brand. Despite its nebulousness, the virus had still managed to overshadow the juiciest industry news in years.

Photo credit: Boss

I was headed home that evening, but for those bound for Paris and the culmination of the A/W20 shows, it was unclear how it would all play out. Though the French prefer to think of themselves as setting trends, rather than following them, if the Milanese shows were being cancelled then surely the Parisians would follow suit. And if not, would attendees be safe? Most pertinent of all, what did all this mean for the long-term health of the industry more widely?

According to the State of Fashion 2020 report, first published in late 2019 but amended in the midst of the global pandemic, the average market capitalisation of fashion and luxury brands dropped by almost 40 per cent between the start of January and the end of March. The report, produced by The Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company, also states that, compared to last year, fashion brands (apparel and footwear) will see a revenue contraction of up to 30 per cent in 2020, while luxury brands (high fashion, luxury watches, fragrance, jewellery etc.) could shrink by close to 40 per cent. Over the next 12-18 months, a large number of global fashion companies will be bankrupt, it says. The fashion industry, faced with declining sales and shifting consumer habits and hard-to-predict tastes, was already at red alert. Coronavirus may just be the death knell for many involved.

Story continues

Pretty bleak, then. And yet, we persist.

This weekend, London Fashion Week Mens (LFWM) will go ahead as planned. Well, not as planned, but as scheduled. There wont be any actual physical fashion shows to attend, nor any events of any kind, really. There will be no air kisses or hastily gulped espressos. There will be no bloggers, walking back and forth in the hope of attracting street style photographers. There might not even be any clothes.

Guests will be invited to log-in rather than queue up, and once theyre in its not clear what theyll be presented with. However, an April statement from the British Fashion Council, organisers of LFWM, suggested there will be interviews, podcasts, designer diaries, webinars and digital showrooms, among other things. And it will be gender neutral, and open to the public for the first time. Much is in flux, but one thing seems certain: the nature of seasonal fashion and how it is unveiled will never be the same again.



Photo credit: Getty Images

The Covid-19 pandemic is hitting the fashion industry from every angle and severely impacting all of the global fashion capitals, stated another late-May press release from the BFC and its Stateside equivalent, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), and while there is no immediate end in sight, there is an opportunity to rethink and reset the way in which we all work and show our collections.

It goes on to urge designers to limit their output to just two collections a year, which would not only put the kibosh on the culture of consumption the industry promotes, but allow creativity to come to the fore once again. A slower pace also offers an opportunity to reduce the stress levels of designers and their teams, it states, which in turn will have a positive effect on the overall wellbeing of the industry.

(This concept of punishment is not new. From what I understand, the June shows arent so bad, but the January ones can be a logistical nightmare. Pre-production happens throughout the Christmas period, which is a slow time in general, but then for the fortnight before the show, everyone is on holiday. When you have to show a collection in January, you have to make sure youre really organised, explains Bianca Saunders, one of LFWMs clutch of young British designers, because a lot of things shut down [over Christmas and New Year] so you dont have access to materials. And if you want to change ideas [at the last minute], you can never do that.)

A few days after the BFC/CFDA statement, on Instagram, Guccis creative director, Alessandro Michele, echoed the excoriation in more floral verse, explaining that in response to the industrys effect on the environment, the brand would henceforth show just two seasonless collections every year. Its an especially poignant stance when you consider that, had Covid not derailed the plan, the brands cruise (high-summer) collection would have been shown at a one-off event in San Francisco in May.

So much haughtiness made us lose our sisterhood with the butterflies, the flowers, the trees and the roots, Michele artfully explained, So much outrageous greed made us lose the harmony and the care, the connection and the belonging.

In the recent past, feted designers such Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs have mirrored the BFC and CFDAs sentiment by speaking out against the churn of the industry and the culture of consumption it seems to espouse. Many, however, such as Patrick Grant of E Tautz, have held the view for some time, and even based their businesses on it.

The idea of a return to quality and a return to the value of product  in our brand thats never gone away, he explains. [E Tautz has] always been about trying to sell you something thats beautifully designed, incredibly high quality and has enduring value. If youre a brand where that wasnt part of your proposition then youre going to have to start thinking differently.

This weekend, E Tautz, one of the mainstays of LFWM and latterly, one its biggest draws, will be unveiling a digital presentation that has found a way to tell the story of this collection, without being able to physically make or photograph garments." Grant is taciturn, reluctant to reveal too much, but he concedes that the production uses references from a couple of different artists and was created with the help of Photoshop-savvy students at John Moores University in Liverpool. Instead of a collection of clothes, then, E Tautz will be presenting a vibe.

Grant, who also helms Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons and the altruistic, Blackburn-based Community Clothing, is known for his vocal championing of craftsmanship, transparency, ethical production and the general outlook of quality over quantity. But would the repurposing of a physical show into an intangible, digital presentation not be at odds with his need to illustrate the intricacies of the clothing itself? The way its stitched together, the way it hangs on the body, the way it moves when you walk. The point, at least until very recently, of holding a fashion show in the first place.

Photo credit: Getty

For a brand like us, where we dont flip flop from one thing to another on a seasonal basis, he says, there is a continuity in the way our clothes look and feel. Buyers that would normally attend the show on behalf of potential stockists will receive a different, more detailed presentation, so Grant is confident that sales of the new collection wont be vastly affected  around half of what they should be, he says, which seems like a lot to me, but I dont hear much distress in his voice  and the catwalk stuff only represents around 30 per cent of the brands output, anyway.

Theres been so many years of excessive spending in the fashion industry, says Grant all about just buying attention. And there hasnt been that much attention on the clothes anyway. The big brands arent selling clothes, theyre just selling an idea. And I think our customers like our clothes and for them the peripheral stuff is of less importance than the clothes that are hanging in the store.

Grant seems to relish this opportunity to push the reset button. He savours a situation in which budgets matter less and designers are forced to be even more creative, proudly telling me that Londons design scene has always got by on a shitload of creativity and not very much money.

Photo credit: NIKLAS HALLE'N

Maybe, as the BFC and CFDA allude, designers have long needed a break. Saunders, who is the only full-time employee of her brand, is certainly relishing the opportunity to catch up on all the little things that hover on the to-do list. This weekend, instead of a runway show, she is releasing a zine. The images within were shot over a year ago, but only now has Saunders had the time to pull everything into a publishable state.

Its weird, but I feel like this whole lockdown situation has had a silver lining, she tells me over the phone. I have achieved a lot over the past few months. Ive been able to really go over the things the business didnt have, rethink some strategies and take a break. Creatively, I had more time to think about my ideas, create plan for the rest of the year, and I guess set new goals.

Saunders is now planning to show her S/S21 collection in September, as will many others, we can assume. But we cant be sure. That is to say, theres no guarantee that by that point it will be possible to host an event that showcases clothes. (Rest assured therell be plenty of cool stuff, though. On a recent call to Virgil Abloh, the Louis Vuitton menswear designer told me that lockdown had only made his ideas bigger, and I should watch this space.)

Photo credit: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT - Getty Images

The hope of this article was to explain whats happening now and what could happen in the future, but from where Im standing, it seems impossible to predict. Gucci and Saint Laurent have said that they will announce their own respective unique calendars in due course, so its fair to assume that other industry heavyweights wont want to be left out of the vanguard.

As this weekends digital program proves, the void left by a lack of physical fashion can quickly be filled, or at least temporarily papered over, with tech. Perhaps a systemic dismantling of the fashion show tradition (which seems on the cards) will hasten the arrival of digital and intangible clothing, the kind of thing created by Dutch digital fashion house The Fabricant, which sold a one of a kind pixel-based garment for 7,800 last spring (below).

I'm excited to see how these ideas mature and how some of the bigger holding companies and groups go about initiating these ideas moving forward, Samuel Ross, founder of the barnstorming British streetwear brand A Cold Wall tells me over Zoom, because this idea of tangible fashion the supply chain is just far too complex for it to be ever sustainable, so it needs to move into intangible format to a certain degree, and how intangibles work with fixed tangible garment are definitely of interest.

Designers such as Ross will likely view this time of reckoning as a chance for the fashion industry to evolve into a new phase of digital relevance. Whereas designers that follow the Patrick Grant school of thought see this all as an opportunity cast off the bells and whistles and strip it all back to the core principles of craftsmanship and value. Both viewpoints are valid, and both suggest a time in the near future where the consumer gets exactly what they want, rather than what they feel they need.

Either way, the new age of garms is beginning.

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Goldman Sachs booked revenues of more than US$1 billion in its commodities division for the first five months of 2020the investment banks best start to a year in commodities in a decade, mostly thanks to oil trades, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Goldman Sachs was one of the most active banks in commodities before the 2008 financial crisis, but it has since shrunk its commodities division because of lackluster profits, higher costs, and stricter regulation regarding investment banks entering trades.

Last year, Goldman Sachs was said to have further downsized its commodities division as revenues and profits were shrinking and competition from oil trading houses and oil majors rose.

This year, however, Goldmans commodities division reaped the benefits of bets on an oil price decline after the price of oil collapsed in March and April due to the crashing demand and shrinking storage capacity around the world.

According to Bloombergs unnamed sources, most of Goldmans US$1-billion-plus revenues in commodities came from the oil trading division overseen by Anthony Dewell based in London and Singapore-based Qin Xiao, who had correctly predicted and bet on the collapse in oil prices.

The high volatility and interest on oil bets and trading have generally benefited the Wall Street traders and banks this year.

Related: Bulls Beware: A Dark Cloud Is Forming Over Oil Markets

In the first quarter of 2020, Goldman Sachs reported net revenues of US$2.97 billion in its Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) divisionthe highest quarterly performance in five years, reflecting strong client activity in both intermediation and financing, the investment banks Q1 earnings results show.

In its latest note to clients, Goldman Sachs said on Monday that the relief rally in oil may be coming to an end as oil market fundamentals are turning bearish once again and pointing to Brent Crude slipping back to $35 in the short term, because of still uncertain demand recovery and returning production from the U.S. and Libya.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
" " Detail from a fresco featuring Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, located in Magdalensberg, Austria. DEA/E. LESSING/De Agostini/Getty Images

A quick and dirty rundown on some of your favorite characters from Greek mythology: Zeus is the powerful Father of the Gods who had a complicated relationship with Aphrodite and doted on his daughter Athena, who assisted Hercules (the Roman version of the Greek hero Herakles) in one of his 12 labors.

Confused yet? Take it all in and prepare to add more Greek mythology know-how to your growing knowledge bank because we asked Richard P. Martin, Antony and Isabelle Raubitschek professor in classics at Stanford University, to help us get to know the wife of Hades herself, Persephone.

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1. Some Call Her Queen of the Dead

So, who was Persephone, exactly? Otherwise known as Kore (signifying "daughter" and "maiden"), Persephone captured the heart of Hades, who abducted her in his chariot. "She is the wife of Hades, who is the king of the Underworld, and so she can be called Queen of that realm, or even Queen of the Dead," Martin says via email. "But she's not some sort of scary witch figure  she is a beautiful young woman who became the king's bride  exactly how is another, longer and stranger story."

The gist of that story goes like this: Hades became taken with the lovely young Persephone when he saw her picking flowers one day and kidnapped her back to the Underworld. Her mother, the goddess of agriculture, Demeter, then scoured the Earth for her lost daughter. Persephone's dad is Zeus, a figure who fathered more than a few iconic Greek characters, and in some versions of the tale, is responsible for handing over his daughter to Hades. Because of Demeter's distress, she neglected the harvest, and widespread famine ensued.

Zeus then demanded his daughter be returned, but there was a catch: Persephone had eaten a few pomegranate seeds during her time in the Underworld, thanks to Hades' trickery. Because anyone who tasted the food of the Underworld was condemned to remain there (a convenient rule, no?), Hades struck a deal with Persephone's parents: She'd spend four months a year with him, and eight on Earth. Now known as the goddess of spring, Persephone is said to be spending time with her hubby down in the Underworld during the barren months of the year and back above ground when the land comes alive.

"Because Hades has tricked Persephone into eating a pomegranate, the daughter has to return to his realm for one-third of the year  good to know that Greeks in archaic times thought of there being three, not four, seasons," Martin says. "Later versions say she is gone half the year to Hades, and half the year lives above Earth with Demeter."

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2. Ancient Artists Usually Portrayed Her in One of Two Ways

"In ancient art, there are two main motifs where we see Persephone," Martin says. "First, the moment when she is abducted by Hades. He emerges from under the Earth in a chariot and carries her away, while her playmates  nymphs and mortal maidens  try to grab at her to prevent this. An amazing 4th century B.C.E. wall-painting showing this event was found in the 20th century in Vergina, part of the Macedonian region of Greece. Bernini and others have given versions of that scene."

The second main motif, according to Martin, is Persephone-in-the-Underworld. "She is often shown sitting beside her royal husband, overseeing the various famous dead heroes or sinners, or, for example, granting Orpheus the favor of retrieving his dead wife. In modern art, there are some great paintings of her reunion with her mother, but this is rare in ancient art."

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3. There are Some Slight Variations in Her Story

"The variations usually have to do with the time of her abduction by Hades," Martin says. "In our oldest evidence the so-called Hymn to Demeter, from around 600 B.C.E., she clearly is carried off in springtime. She's attracted by a blooming narcissus flower in a meadow full of other sorts of blossoms, and it then acts like a trigger on a trap door  she goes to pluck it and Hades flies up on his chariot."

But Martin says audiences had trouble with that tale from the start. "Already in ancient times, however, people were wrestling with this whole story both because it is so touching and because it was tightly connected with the all-important Mysteries of Eleusis outside Athens, that promised some sort of eternal happiness after life for everyone," he says. "They tried to explain the details in various ways."

One of those ways involves manipulating the often confusing, usually disturbing overlaps in Greek mythology family trees. "It is weird and disturbing that Zeus, first of all, who is the father of Persephone by his own sister Demeter, basically allows his brother, Hades, to abduct (or even rape) her," Martin says. "In ancient times, allegory was the main tool used to interpret unpleasant or opaque stories. So Persephone was allegorized as spring or the growth of crops; her mother was goddess of grain (called in Latin ceres, hence 'cereal'), making the equation easier. And her disappearance was taken to equal the dead of winter when crops do not grow. So some versions have her disappear in autumn, to make the facts fit the story."

There are other variations too, particularly around the relationship between Persephone and her mom. "In the Hymn to Demeter, Persephone does come back to see her mother, after a spectacular sort of hunger strike by Demeter, who causes crops to wither because she finds out her daughter has been abducted and gets Zeus to tell Hades to let the girl return to Earth," Martin says. "Demeter has the power because without her grain, there can be no sacrifices to the gods, so they get starved out, as it were." Martin is careful to point out that in this particular version, it's not the disappearance of Persephone that causes the lack of crops, but the anger of Demeter. "And again, it's not winter but late spring/summer," he says.

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4. Persephone Still Represents Important Themes Today

"In ancient Greece, the myth had multiple simultaneous meanings," Martin says. Here's how he breaks them down:

"A mother and daughter must separate because the latter grows up and marries  which in traditional cultures meant moving, often far away, to a husband's home and family. It was a 'social death' for her original family  so this mythic story channels some of the everyday experience of Greek women," he says. "The story was clearly plugged into cycles of seasons and agriculture," Martin says. "In the Hymn, there is a major subplot about how Demeter in mourning shows up at Eleusis, now a suburb of Athens, becomes a nanny for a royal family, nearly immortalizes their baby (by sticking him in the fire every night), is discovered, and then commands that local people worship her to calm her wrath. Part of the deal is that the family spreads throughout the world the new knowledge of grain-growing." "Because Eleusis was where Demeter settled down to mourn her lost daughter, the shrine there controlled Mysteries  which are still secret to this day  in which hundreds of Greeks and foreigners each year would be initiated into some sort of secret knowledge and sworn to keep it secret," Martin says. "It seems that whoever participated in the elaborate ceremony was promised a happy existence in the Underworld after death  the model for this was Persephone, who basically overcomes death (at least partially) by being enabled to keep coming back."

"For the modern world, the first and third stories have resonance," Martin says. "We still seek stories about what it will be like after death (and methods to ensure our happiness), and we still deal with the pain and confusion of the formation of new families by partially breaking bonds of the old  as when daughters marry and move far away."

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5. She and Her Mother Were Known as The Two Goddesses

"She was such a familiar figure to Greek women, in particular, that she was often just called kore ('the daughter'), and together with her mother, the two were referred to as The Two Goddesses  in fact, women could swear oaths 'by The Two.' Women had a number of female-only rituals in honor of The Two." One ancient celebration, in particular, known as the Thesmophoria, was a religious festival dedicated to Demeter and Persephone."

Now That's Interesting "In Athens, in particular, her name was often 'Pherephatta,'" Martin says. "Neither that word or 'Persephone' have a good Greek etymology, although already Plato (in the Cratylus) and others were indulging in speculation about what it meant. Probably it was a pre-Greek word that made its way into Greek at an early stage."
The wonderful strawberry season is upon us and its a great time to get out of the house for a sweet, healthy treat.

When you go to the fields at local farms to pick your own strawberries, keep in mind some of the changes due to Covid-19. Among them include the following:

1. Bring a face mask. The fields are spread out, but you will be in close proximity with others at check out.

2. Avoid touching products that you are not purchasing.

3. Use hand sanitizers.

Vinny Sicignano, co-owner of Navarino Orchard, says customers can no longer bring their own containers. This would help with less contact, according to Sicignano. With many folks staying home during the pandemic, he is concern with large crowds showing up at once. However, Navarino has 10 acres of strawberry fields, and Sicignano said he can have 500 people on the fields six feet apart at one time.

For Stephanie and Terry Mosher, of Mosher Farms, they are still discussing whether they should have a pick-your-own this year.

Weve just started picking strawberries for our stand and we havent decided if were going to do U-Pick, said Stephanie. We just havent decided if the risk is worth it.

Abbott Farms kicks off their annual Strawberry Festival this weekend. Alice Abbott, manager of the farm, says they have implemented safety measures such as installing new plexiglass barriers, providing gloves and masks to guests upon request, and installing new hand washing/ sanitizing stations throughout the farm and market.

Abbott says she expects a crowd but staff will stagger people on the fields and property to maintain social distancing.

All of our guests have been very gracious about staying away from each other and wearing their masks, said Abbott.

If you know of a U-Pick strawberry farm not on this list, please email nhuynh@nyup.com.

ONONDAGA COUNTY

Address: 3275 Cold Springs Road, Baldwinsville.

Details: U-Pick starts today and the Strawberry Festival kicks off this weekend from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Pre-Registration is required during the festival to enter the Cider House Grill, Kids Zone, Abbotts Wine & Cidery, and Animal Barnyard. After the festival, regular picking hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Facebook: Abbott Farms

Phone: 315-638-7783

Address: 1482 West Genesee Road (Route 370), Baldwinsville.

Details: U-Pick starts June 13. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Facebook: Emmi Farms

Phone: 315-635-7529

Address: 7142 US Route 20, Pompey

Details: Picking is scheduled for June 21, but call to check. Picking location is at the main farm further down Route 20 on Berwyn Road. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Facebook: Lelakowskis Fruit & Vegetable Stand

Phone: 315-677-9547

Address: 3655 Cherry Valley Turnpike, Route 20, Syracuse

Details: Picking is estimated to open June 15. Check Facebook for latest updates. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Facebook: Navarino Ochard

Phone: 315-673-9181 or 315-925-4422

Address: 1220 W. Genesee Road, Baldwinsville

Details: The fruit stand and U-Pick will be open by mid-June from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Saturday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Check Facebook for updates.

Facebook: Reeves Farms LLC

Phone: 315-635-3357

Address: 5831 Hamilton Road, Jordan

Details: Picking starts June 17th. Hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday to Sunday.

Facebook: Yawney Farms

Phone: 315-569-0570

OSWEGO COUNTY

Address: 114 Potter Road, Mexico

Details: Picking is scheduled for June 18, but call first for latest updates. Hours will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Sunday.

Facebook: Behling Orchards

Phone: 315-727-4784 or 315-963-7068

Address: 323 Pendergast Road, Phoenix

Details: Estimated picking date is June 19. Call for updates. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Facebook: Riverside U-Pick

Phone: 315-591-5976

CAYUGA COUNTY

Address: 4069 Goose St., Locke

Details: Estimated date picking date is June 20. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday to Friday; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Facebook: Grisamore Farms

Phone: 315-497-1347

Address: 4240 E. Genesee St., Auburn

Details: Picking starts June 18. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Facebook: Strawberry Fields Hydroponic Farm

Phone: 315-751-5657

CORTLAND COUNTY

Address: 6609 US Route 11, Preble

Details: Picking starts June 15. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Customers cannot bring their own containers this year, due to precautions with Covid-19. There will be 5-quart pails available for a cost of $2 each. If youve purchased pails from the farm in the past, you can bring those along to use.

Facebook: Cobblestone Valley Farm

Phone: 607-749-4032 or 607-591-9607

TOMPKINS COUNTY

Address: 1408 Trumansburg Road, Ithaca

Details: Picking starts June 12. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Sunday.

Facebook: Indian Creek Farm

Phone: 607-227-8248

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GREEN Party leader Eamon Ryan is facing calls from within to drop out of the next month's leadership contest after he used the n-word.

Fingal Green Party councillor Daniel Whooley has told Independent.ie that Mr Ryan should now consider ending his bid remain leader of the party after using the racial slur in the Dail.

"I think this is another reason why Eamon should reconsider his leadership bid and look long and hard at whether he should drop out," Mr Whooley said. "He should consider dropping out of the leadership race with comments like this. A lot of people are disgusted with the comments."

In an earlier statement Mr Whooley described Mr Ryan's comments as "morally reprehensible" and said the leader's apology is "not good enough".

Mr Whooley is supporting deputy leader Catherine Martin in the Green Party leadership contest. The Irish Independent reported on Thursday that the battle is on a knife-edge.

A survey of the party's 49 city and county councillors shows that the current Green Party leader has the support of 52pc of those who responded, ahead of Ms Martin, the deputy leader, who is on 48pc.

Mr Ryan used the n-word during a speech on the issue of racism in Irish society during question and answer session with the Taoiseach in the Dail on Thursday.

Citing an opinion piece from writer and director Sean Gallen, Mr Ryan repeated the term of abuse which the author had used asterisks to self-censor in the op-ed published in the Irish Times.

"In the newspaper today there was a young Irish man Sean Gallen giving his experience of being 'othered', from the age of six being given that name: 'You n*****.' And explaining that sense to him how it completely undermines people.

"I know friends and relations of colour in this country and Travellers and other minorities speak of the same experience, it's real."

In a tweet posted on Thursday afternoon Mr Ryan apologised.

"I made a speech in the Dail today about the scourge of racism in our society," he said.

"In quoting from an article I read this morning, I repeated a racial slur, and I was completely wrong to do so. I want to apologise for any hurt caused. I know this particular word should never be used."

Mr Ryan was speaking after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar outlined a series of measures the next government could take to combat racism in Irish society.

Mr Varadkar, whose Fine Gael party is in talks with Fianna Fail and the Greens to form a government, suggested that education in schools could involve teaching people how to identify it and deal with racism. He said a lot of education is around telling people "what not to say" and that this can be "disabling"

Read More

Mr Varadkar said there would be moves to reform incitement to hatred laws to modernise hate speech and hate crime laws in Ireland and also said the next Government should set a target to increase the numbers of people from ethnic minority backgrounds working in the public service.

The civil service, including the Department of Justice and Equality, is "very white" and "needs to change" he said, suggesting there be a target for people who come from ethnic minority backgrounds and dedicated recruitment campaigns.

"We do need a generation of young people growing up in Ireland, who are people of colour, to see black and brown school principals, judges, cinn comhairle [Dail chairs] perhaps in the future. Visibility and opportunity is really important."

On Direct Provision, Varadkar said much of the accommodation is "sub-standard", but added: "I don't think it would be honest to say we can immediately end it."

He said the Government cannot rollout own-door self-catering accommodation to 7,000 people who are in the asylum seeker system overnight
ALBANY  Five regions in New York can begin phase three of reopening on Friday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Thursday.

The five regions are Central New York, the Finger Lakes, North Country, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley. The Capital Region is still only cleared for phase two.

Phase three will allow both outdoor and indoor dining in restaurants, as well as the reopening of personal care services including nail salons and spas.

Even in the third phase, there will still be restrictions including requirements that patrons stay six feet apart, wear masks at restaurants unless seated, and that establishments not exceed 50% capacity.

Cuomo said businesses could face penalties if they break the rules, including losing their license to operate. He argued that states that had not imposed similar restrictions are seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases, with 14 recording their highest figures to date.

Its not one state, it is the pattern, my friends, Cuomo said. We are the exception and an outrageous exception ... because our reopening is different from their reopening.

Cuomo also said that this summer, decisions on the reopenings of public pools and playgrounds would be at the discretion of local governments. Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said Wednesday his county would allow opening public pools if they go through the normal county permitting process.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Cuomo also commented again Thursday on the alleged killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, which has sparked nationwide protests, saying he is not in favor of piecemeal "one-off" bills, including a proposal by state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi to ban police from using tear gas to disburse unruly crowds.

We have to be smarter about this and more comprehensive, Cuomo said. I dont think this is about any one small reform.
Assuming school buildings reopen this fall, it wont be business as usual.

Public health authoritiesincluding the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionrecommend that schools maintain six feet of social distancing in classrooms and in common areas, such as hallways and cafeterias. This will be difficult, if not impossible, in many crowded school buildings, without some radical adjustments to school operations. Transportation limitations will also drive scheduling decisions.

For many school leaders, a hybrid approach of both in-person and remote instruction makes the most sensebut there are many ways that could work. There are pros and cons to every approach, and the flexibility districts have to alter their schedules may depend on state requirements.

To help district and school leaders make these high-stakes decisions, Education Week spoke to more than a dozen experts, including public health officials, education leaders, and superintendents, to determine a list of a half-dozen potential models, some of which could be used simultaneously.

1. Phased Reopening

How it works: Schools bring back only some students at first to avoid crowding buildings and make it easier to adhere to social distancing. For instance, schools could welcome back only one or two grade levels, while students in other grades continue to learn remotely. As conditions with the virus improve, schools can gradually welcome more students until they reach full capacity.

District and school leaders are confronting difficult, high-stakes decisions as they plan for how to reopen schools amid a global pandemic. Through eight installments, Education Week journalists explore the big challenges education leaders must address, including running a socially distanced school, rethinking how to get students to and from school, and making up for learning losses. We present a broad spectrum of options endorsed by public health officials, explain strategies that some districts will adopt, and provide estimated costs. Read Part 1: The Socially Distanced School Day

Another version: School buildings initially open one day a week, with students continuing to learn remotely the other four days. Students would be divided into groups, either alphabetically or based on grade level, and be assigned to come on a specific day. The number of days a week that students are physically in school could gradually increase as the risks to health decrease in local communities.

Pros: Helps build the confidence of students, parents, and staff as they gradually return to schooland allows schools to more easily scale back operations if theres another wave of the virus later in the school year.

Cons: Deciding who comes back first wont be easy. There are competing arguments about whether younger grades or older grades should be the first to return. On one hand, virtual learning can be harder to provide for young students than it is for older students, and younger children might benefit more from being in the classroom with their teachers and peers. On the other, older students are more likely to follow the rules of social distancing. Experts suggest that district leaders consult with their local health departments to guide this decision. Childcare will also initially be a challenge for working parents.

2. Multi-Track System

How it works: Schools operate on a track schedule, with groups of students in school buildings on different days and engaging in remote learning when they are home. For example, one cohort of students comes to school on Mondays and Wednesdays, another cohort comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and everybody stays home on Fridays.

Another version: Schools divide students into A, B, and C groups, and have students take classes in-person every third day. In this model, special education students, English-language learners, and other vulnerable children like homeless students attend classes in person every day.

Pros: Keeping buildings empty on Fridays allows for regular, deep cleaning without disruption to teaching and learning. Ensuring that the students who need more in-person instruction can be in schools every day addresses a lot of big equity concerns.

Cons: Some families may object to allowing only certain students to attend school daily. This also poses a childcare challenge for working parents.

3. Staggered Schedules

How it works: Half of students come to school in the morning while the other half comes in the afternoon. Schools divide the students based on grade levels or alphabetically, in order to keep siblings on the same schedule.

Pros: Schools avoid some bottlenecks, including arrival, departure, and lunchtime. Morning-shift students could grab an individually packaged meal on their way home. All students would get in-person instruction daily.

Cons: This might not be as workable for schools with large student enrollments. Itll be challenging for parents with full-time jobs to manage the times of day when their children arent in school.

4. Bubble Strategy

How it works: The same group of students stays together for all or most of the day, with the same teacher or teachers.

Students remain in a single classroom all day, even for lunch. If needed, different teachers rotate into the classroom while the students stay put. Younger students might forego electives, like art or physical education, or those teachers provide a lesson to the homeroom teacher. Students might also take those elective classes online, at home.

Pros: This is the CDCs recommended approach. If someone tests positive for COVID-19, the exposure to possible infection is limited to a smaller group, and contact tracing is easier to conduct.

Cons: Students are confined to a single space for extended periods. Classrooms may not be large enough to accommodate social distancing measures if the schools entire student body is in the building at once.

5. Cyclical Lockdown Strategy

How it works: School buildings regularly alternate between being open and closed, with students staying home for a minimum of 10 days during closure periods. Students attend school one full week, followed by two weeks of remote learning at home.

Another version: Students come to school Monday through Thursday, and then learn from home on Friday and all days of the following week.

Pros: Research says this schedule would allow the virus to reach peak infectiousness during at-home weeks. While symptomatic carriers of the virus can be infectious for longer than 10 days, the symptoms would be detected while people are under lockdown, so they and other members of their household can remain isolated or self-quarantined. It may help limit unscheduled disruptions caused by a positive case or wider outbreak in the community.

Rob Miller, the superintendent of Bixby Public Schools near Tulsa, Okla., is leaning toward this strategy for the fall, although he wont make a final decision until closer to the start of the school year. He thinks it would mitigate exposure of the virus in the community, keep students academically engaged, and give families some predictability.

The local health department put it to him this way, Miller said: Its virtually a guarantee that school in the first semester of next year will be disrupted. Its how do we want it to be disrupted? He also thinks this approach will ease some of the pressures of social distancing, and schools can operate somewhat normallywith protective safety measures in place, such as masks for staff members and increased handwashingduring on weeks.

Cons: Students will spend more time in remote learning environments than in school buildings receiving in-person instruction. For working parents with younger children, childcare may be challenging to arrange on such an unconventional schedule.

6. Year-Round Schedule

How it works: The school divides students into groupsone cohort attends school for a set period, roughly nine weeks, while the other cohorts participate in remote learning. The groups would rotate at the end of each period. Breaks from schooling would be more frequent, but shorter than the traditional 10-week summer vacation.

Pros: This keeps students from falling behind academically with no extended breaks from formal teaching and learning. Builds in scheduling buffers for times when buildings must shut down due to positive cases of COVID-19, as well as more frequent opportunities for deep cleaning.

Cons: Theres a strong constituency for summer vacation, and pushback to a year-round calendareven temporarilycould be strong in some communities. Getting siblings on the same schedules can be a logistical challenge. Districts in states that have mandatory start and end dates typically need a waiver for this schedule, although some states have already offered flexibility for the 2020-21 school year.
A man was killed in Delhi reportedly after an argument with another person over spitting in public, the police said on Thursday.

The victim and the accused fought and both sustained injuries. The former succumbed to his wounds, a police official said.

The police said that the incident happened on Wednesday at Shaheed Bhagat Singh complex in central Delhi. The police control room received a complaint at 8.30 pm.

The two men involved in the quarrel have been identified as Ankit (26) and Parveen (29). Both were injured in the quarrel and admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital by a police van. A case of attempt to murder was registered.

While Parveen sustained injuries on his left arm and lower and upper back, Ankit received injuries on his left armpit and chest.

Ankit later succumbed to his injuries due to excessive bleeding after which murder charges were added, the police said.

They also said that Praveen has been arrested and investigation launched.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan had appealed to all states and union territories last month to impose a ban on spitting in public. He had urged a ban on the sale of tobacco products so that spitting can be stopped to check the spread of the coronavirus disease.

After his appeal, many state governments had issued orders in this regard and banned the sale of tobacco products. Delhi is among those more than 20 state which has imposed fine for spitting in public, according to news agency PTI.

The health ministry had on Tuesday brought out a list of dos and donts during the coronavirus pandemic.

Titled COVID Appropriate Behaviours, the list was posted on Union health ministrys Twitter feed.

Among other things, it asked people to not chew tobacco, khaini etc or spit in public places.
Mumbai: After reuniting with his family last week, Malayalam star Prithviraj Sukumaran is focusing on himself and has started working out.

Prithviraj shared a photograph of himself from his gym on Instagram. In the picture, the actor can be seen in black gym wear, posing in front of a mirror. Gym equipment can be seen in the background.

"Lift, Burn, Build," wrote the actor, who recently completed seven days of institutional quarantine.

Prithviraj and director Blessy, along with a 58-member entourage of their upcoming film "Aadujeevitham", were stranded at a desert camp in Jordan since March 12 due to global COVID-19 outbreak.

In May, the actor returned to the country after which he was in quarantine. He also shared his COVID-19 test results on social media, which showed he had tested negative.

Prithviraj, who was last seen on screen in February in the Malayalam blockbuster "Ayyappanum Koshiyum" directed by Sachy, has also made his mark in the Hindi film industry.

He made his Bollywood debut in 2012 with the film "Aiyyaa" co-starring Rani Mukerji, and was later seen in films like "Aurangzeb" and "Naam Shabana".
Rural Residents Face Health Challenges

While the coronavirus crisis mostly impacted large cities and urban areas in the earliest days of the pandemic, a new survey suggests that rural America may face its own set of risks from COVID-19 and other health challenges.

Transamerica Center for Health Studies, a research firm that focuses on health care issues, released a new study in light of the current pandemic that examined results from its previous survey on rural health care.

Not only do rural residents consider themselves to be less healthy than their urban and suburban counterparts, the study said, but they are also less likely to have health insurance.

A snapshot of rural health

The researchers pointed to problems facing rural populations in terms of wellness and health care, citing data from their most recent annual survey (conducted in 2019, before the pandemic). For example, rural residents were less likely to report good health:

Among rural respondents, 69% describe themselves as having excellent (17%) or good (52%) health.

Approximately 79% of urban residents consider themselves having excellent (26%) or good (53%) health.

For suburban residents, 78% reported either excellent (21%) or good (57%) health.

On top of that, 69% of rural residents have been diagnosed with at least one health condition, compared with 66% of urban residents and 64% of suburban residents.

At the same time, nearly 1 in 5 rural residents (19%) have no health insurance, compared with 10% of urban residents and 11% of suburban residents, according to the survey data.

Even among those with health insurance, rural residents were less likely to find routine health care costs affordable. In the survey, 75% of rural residents said they could afford routine health care costs such as co-pays, deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses  less than the 82% of urban residents and 85% of suburban residents who said they find routine health care costs affordable.

Workplaces may play a role

One factor contributing to the health care disparities between rural and urban residents could be the workplace. Overall, rural workers feel less supported by their employers when it comes to health care benefits.

Story continues

According to the survey, 70% of rural workers said they were satisfied with the health insurance plan available to them at work, compared with 84% of urban workers and 80% of suburban workers.

On top of that:

66% of rural workers said their employer offers major medical insurance, compared to 75% of urban workers and 74% of suburban workers.

57% of rural workers said they believe their employer is concerned about the affordability of employee health insurance, compared to 68% of urban workers who think their employer is concerned.

54% of rural workers believe their employer is concerned about their ability to afford out-of-pocket health care expenses, compared to 65% of urban workers.

30% of rural workers say they have been offered a workplace wellness program, compared with 52% of urban workers and 43% of suburban workers.

Whether ones employer offers health benefits or not, health care costs can be overwhelming. However, there are cheaper health insurance options that consumers can explore. Just be sure to carefully evaluate the different plans available, so that you dont waste your money on less-than-solid coverage.

Methodology: Public opinion firm The Harris Poll conducted a survey of 3,760 health care consumers during August 7-19, 2019, on behalf of Transamerica Center for Health Studies. Respondents were between the ages of 18 and 64, with the sample consisting of 1,099 urban residents, 1,795 suburban residents and 866 rural residents.
T Muruganandham By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture, K Pandiarajan said on Thursday that "the names of Vellore and Erode for which wrong spelling is given in the notification issued for changing the names of 1,018 places would be corrected".

Talking to The New Indian Express, the Minister said, "We have a meeting today and will discuss these issues."

Asked about the criticisms from people that the government had taken up such a move at a time when the fight is against coronavirus, the Minister said, "We have received many positive messages. The names of the notification are approved by the experts committee. However, if there are any suggestions for correction, we will consider them."

The notification issued on April 1 read that in the first phase, the names of 1,018 places which are spelt in Tamil in a particular way but written in a different way and read differently will be changed.



READ FULL LIST HERE | TN government alters English names of 1,018 places to match their Tamil pronounciation



For a significant number of places, the recommendations made by the respective District Collectors have been accepted and for the rest of the places, the recommendations made by the experts committee have been accepted.

As the next step towards executing the change of names, the Revenue department will advise the District Collectors to take further steps to change the names of the places according to the new spelling.



Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department and Municipal Administration Department will take steps to change the names according to the recommendations made.
"Nobody worries about the supply chain until something goes wrong," said Joe Walden, the assistant area director in analytics, information and operations management at the University of Kansas.

"Just look at the pandemic. Nobody gave the supply chain a thought in January. Everything they ordered from Amazon and Walmart and Target showed up during the holidays, and they were happy. And then, in the middle of March, all the shelves are empty."

A sudden, unexpected shift in this crucial process is one of the reasons Walden has written "Supply Chain Management Systems and Curriculum Reviews: What Are We Teaching About Supply Chain Management Systems? Do We Need to Modify Our Curriculums?" The paper advocates for conducting course and curriculum reviews in order to safeguard students in supply chain programs from being harmed by a lack of exposure to the various procedures in place.

The article appears in the International Journal of Contemporary Education.

"I want to get people in the industry thinking: What are we doing? What are we teaching? And is it current and relevant?" Walden said.

One of the things that prompted this research occurred when Walden came across a college program still examining a case study from 1995 involving supply chain information systems.

He said, "In 1995, I think my computer had a hard drive that was 100 megabytes. I had a dial-up modem. We were still using handwritten ledgers to keep track of inventory. When I saw that, I thought, 'You believe a 25-year-old case study is relevant?' So I'm trying to influence the industryfrom both the academic perspective and a commercial perspectiveto look at our curriculums to make sure we're keeping them current and relevant."

The supply chain is defined as a network of businesses linked together to provide materials and services to an end user. Walden said that regardless of the actual definition, coronavirus has at least brought the term into the public lexiconeven if it got used during the early parts of the pandemic as a scapegoat.

"People blamed the supply chain for not being able to provide toilet paper, hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes because everybody stocked up on them in panic buying," the KU lecturer said.

Walden's article contends that the chain continues to morph as a focus of business.

"It's changed over time from looking at just the logistics of moving stuff from point A to point B, to everything from procurement to making a product to shipping that product to a distribution center," he said. "And now with the greater emphasis on e-commerce, it also involves getting it to people's front doors."

Walden calls this latest development the "Amazon effect."

"Everybody wants to buy it now and have it tomorrow," he said.

In addition to his International Journal of Contemporary Education article, Walden has concurrently published a related one titled "Bridging the Talent Gap. What is Being Done and What Needs to be Accomplished to Help Fill in or Eliminate the Supply Chain Management Talent Gap?" It can be found in the Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Procurement.

It was inspired by a study that was related to his dissertation of what should be in the curriculum for an introductory supply chain course. This research exposed him to the reality that there remains a huge talent gap.

"The 'Bridging the Gap' idea was, 'What do we need to do right now to prepare students to be the perfect candidate for a job? How can they be ready to step into a job without having to spend their first six months learning what the business is?'" he said.

Raised in North Carolina, Walden spent 26 years in the U.S. Army, with an additional five years working as a contractor. Here, he developed his expertise in warehousing and distribution, which included designing a 4.2-million-square-foot distribution center in Kuwait for Operation Iraqi Freedom. He retired as a colonel.

This may explain why he frequently quotes Sun Tzu, iconic author of "The Art of War," in his supply chain articles.

"I discovered that book in a military course 25 years ago," he said. "Some of the things he wrote about from a military perspective still have applications from a supply chain perspective. In fact, if you look at the curriculum for a lot of Asian business schools, Sun Tzu is still required reading."

"The beauty of Sun Tzu is you can take a couple of words out and add something else in, and it gives you a whole new meaning for a whole new topic," Walden said. "Sun Tzu understood that the success of an overall operation is tied to the success of supply operations in 500 B.C. And we're learning that same lesson again in 2020."

Explore further COVID-19: The impact on supply chains

More information: Joseph Walden. Supply Chain Management Systems and Curriculum Reviews: What Are We Teaching About Supply Chain Management Systems? Do We Need to Modify Our Curriculums?, International Journal of Contemporary Education (2020). Joseph Walden. Supply Chain Management Systems and Curriculum Reviews: What Are We Teaching About Supply Chain Management Systems? Do We Need to Modify Our Curriculums?,(2020). DOI: 10.11114/ijce.v3i2.4861 Bridging the talent gap: What is being done and what needs to be accomplished to help fill in or eliminate the supply chain management talent gap? Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Procurement, www.ingentaconnect.com/content  02/00000003/art00008
The owner of fashion giant Zara is looking to close 1,200 store worldwide - leaving hundreds of Australian jobs at risk.

Inditex, the world's biggest clothing retailer, announced the closures on Wednesday after reporting its first-quarter sales had plunged due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

The company, which owns fashion brands including Zara, Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear, has nearly 7,500 retail stores in 96 countries. There are 15 Zara stores across Australia.

It is not clear how many Australian stores will be impacted by the closures.

The owner of fashion giant Zara is looking to close 1,200 store worldwide - leaving hundreds of Australian jobs at risk

Australia's job market has taken a hit due to the coronavirus lockdown (Pictured: People queue up outside a Centrelink office in Melbourne on April 20)

The closure of the stores is part of the Spanish company's new $4.5billion strategy, which will see it invest in technology to make it easier for customers to track the items they want, blurring the lines between online and in-store shopping.

Using the fashion retailer's app, shoppers will be able to browse a specific store's stock to buy items for collection the same day, reserve a changing room, find garments in store via a map and self check-out using QR codes.

The idea is that sophisticated control of stock and high-tech tools for shoppers to locate items both in store and online will lead to more sales at full-price.

The technology will be rolled out across Inditex's stores over the next three years, a company spokesman told Reuters.

The Spanish company plans to open 450 higher quality, larger outlets in 'premium locations'.

'Stores will play a stronger role in the development of online sales due to their digitalization and capacity to reach customers from the best locations worldwide,' the spokesman said

He added that customers would benefit from larger and 'more attractive stores'.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Inditex for further comment.

Inditex, the world's biggest clothing retailer, announced the closures on Wednesday after reporting its first-quarter sales had plunged due to COVID-19 lockdowns
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 12:51:17|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- "China takes the side of multilateralism and international justice, and commits to building a community with a shared future for mankind," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), said Wednesday.

Zhang made the remarks at "The UN Charter at 75: Multilateralism in a Fragmented World," a virtual high-level forum organized by the Forum of Small States.

Zhang said that the world is facing many global challenges and COVID-19 is the biggest one. "However, the international community should not ignore that unilateralism is posing a bigger threat, weakening multilateralism system and hindering international cooperation. In defending multilateralism, small states matter and all states matter."

Viewing the COVID-19 pandemic as a test to multilateralism, he said "to win this fight, we must join hands and support the central role of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. We must put the people in the center of our efforts and give strength, hope and confidence to the world."

The world is increasingly fragmented, and the problem facing the world is not the problem between member states, but between multilateralism and unilateralism, and between right and wrong, he said.

"China is a dedicated supporter, defender and promoter of the UN Charter and the UN. China, as always, takes the side of multilateralism and international justice," Zhang added.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the UN. The virtual event was jointly hosted by the permanent mission of Singapore as chair of the Forum of Small States in partnership with The Elders and the UN75 Office. Enditem
President Donald Trump just dug himself in more deeply on the wrong side of history in the fast-changing consensus on the role and shame of racism in America. In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, Trump strongly opposed renaming the 10 U.S. Army bases that are named after Confederate officers. As he put it:

These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom. The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations. Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!

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Trump displayed no understanding of just who the namesakes of these bases werenor that these bases were given their names after World War I and, in some cases, after World War II.

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He tweeted his objection in the wake of news that his acting secretary of the army, Ryan McCarthy, expressed a willingness to have a bipartisan conversation about renaming the bases. McCarthys statement came after retired Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote an article for the Atlantic late last week, headlined, Take the Confederate Names Off Our Army Bases.

Since then, three retired Army colonels, who had notable careers in their time on active duty, Mike Jason, John Nagl, and Paul Yingling, made a similar argument in DefenseOne.

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In short, 155 years after the end of the Civil War, the U.S. Army seems on the verge of accepting the full terms of the Union victory.

Meanwhile, Trump is, as usual, clueless about the history of the country he supposedly leads. And rather than take the lead on a movement to redress the symbolism of white supremacy, a step that shouldnt be so difficult, he once again prefers to bask in what he sees as the buzzwords of his baseSTRENGTH! HEROES! MILITARY!even as decorated veterans, who embody those values more authentically than he ever will, are coming to terms with the sinful roots of certain aspects of their tradition.

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All 10 of the Army bases are in former Confederate states in the South. Fort Benning, Georgia, home of several armored and infantry brigades, is named after Gen. Henry Benning, whose support for slavery was so avid that he proposed seceding from the Union and forming a Southern slavocracy more than a decade before the Civil War began. Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home of the 82nd Airborne Division, is named after Gen. Braxton Bragg, who wasnt even a good officer; he got into so many quarrels with superiors and subordinates that he once missed an opportunity to exploit a weakness in Union Gen. Ulysses Grants formation. Fort Gordon, Georgia, home of the Army Cyber Corps, is named after Gen. John Brown Gordon, a slave owner who rose quickly through the Confederate ranks and, after the war, joined the Ku Klux Klan. The list goes on.

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In his Atlantic article, Petraeus wrote that, in his many years as an active-duty officer, often stationed at these bases,

I never thought much about these menabout the nature of their service during the Civil War  the reasons they were honored, or the timing of the various forts dedications. Nor did I think about the message those names sent to the many African Americans serving on these installationsmessages that should have been noted by all of us.

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Nor, when he was a cadet at West Point, did he question the veneration shown toward Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who was a great commander but alsolike all the other Confederate officersguilty of treason. We were not encouraged to think deeply about the cause for which Lee had fought, Petraeus writes, at least not in our military history classes.

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Petraeus told me, in an email on Wednesday, that it was only after he retired from the Army, in 2011, that he started thinking about how strange it was that the leaders of the fight against the Union were more widely honoredwith their names on federal forts, roads, barracks, gates, housing areas, etc.than were those who fought for the country. And, of course, those fighting to secede were doing so to preserve the rights of their states to enslave others, with those others now roughly 20 percent of the soldiers serving on those bases.

These thoughts deepened as he read several biographies of Gen. Ulysses Grant, the Union Army commander and later two-term president, who was honored hardly at all either at West Point or Army bases. Petraeus says he has been mulling for some time that the Army should publicly address this dishonor. The events of recent weeks, he said, were the catalyst to write the essay.

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John Nagl graduated from West Point in 198814 years after Petraeusbut the treatment of Confederate heroes remained the same. He didnt see the light until 2017, when protests began over Confederate monuments in several Southern cities. Also in that year, Rep. Yvette Clarke introduced a bill in Congress to strip Army bases of Confederate namesto the firm opposition of the Army and with little support from her colleagues in the House.

The controversy spurred Nagl, who is now the head of a boys school in Pennsylvania, to read up on the history of the monuments. It was then, he wrote me in an email on Wednesday, that I learned that they had been erected long after the Civil War, as part of Jim Crow racial terror reinforcement, and learned as well that the Army had named posts and forts after Confederate generals in the same era. Its been simmering inside me since, and the current moment seemed like an opportunity to help the service I love so well right a longstanding wrong.

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Mike Jason graduated from West Point later still, in 1995, as a military history major, and by then the academy was changing. The history department was already using words for treason when it came to Confederate graduates, he wrote me in an email. The reverence was definitely in severe decline. His lightning-bolt momentwhen the names of the bases became more than merely uncomfortable or sillycame when Jason was an Army captain, moving back from a tour in Europe to D.C. I just imagined being in the shoes of one of my black NCOs [noncommissioned officers], driving by a confederate monument on Jefferson Davis Highway to a Ft. Lee or Ft. Pickettit stopped me dead in my tracks.

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Jason, who is now a defense consultant, got hot on the issue just this past February, soon after retiring from the Army, when he posted a tweet recalling the time, back in 2008, when his brigade commander ordered the removal of all Confederate regalia. The Army Times called him for an interview; he went on the record to discuss the issue and afterward started sounding the bell on social media constantly. Many officers have reached out to me for mentorship and to talk it over. Other officers, NCOs, and enlisted men and women have kept up the discussion.

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In short, the issue has been festering quietly, behind the scenes, for some time. And now, with the vast protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the suddenly swift passage of new laws and regulations on police behavior, and the realization by even the likes of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Republicans have to do something about the scourge of racism and the brutality of many police departmentsits no surprise that the discussion of the 10 Confederate-named bases has risen to the fore as well, even if their president has his head in the sand.

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Opinion on this, as on the many other issues raised by the Floyd killing, is shifting quickly. As recently as February, soon after the Marine Corps announced it was banning the display of Confederate flags, an Army spokesman said his service had no plans to rename military bases. The Army has a tradition of naming installations and streets after historical figures of military significance, including Union and Confederate general officers, he told Task & Purpose magazine.

This answer would now be unacceptable to anyone besides Trump. The valor of an officer can no longer be separated from the criminal depravity of his cause, and many of the still-honored Confederate officers lacked so much as valor. Nor, more broadly, can history be minimized as the inanimate stuff of street signs, statues, or military bases. History is a living thing. Those signs, statues, and bases mark the honoring and therefore the legitimizing of the causes that their namesakes fought forcauses that should never have been honored in the United States of America. It is long past time to attach them to names and causes that are worthy.

For more of Slates news coverage, subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts or listen below.
A road in West London, named after the British Army general who ruthlessly put down the could be renamed after the founder of Sikhism as part of a wider push to recognize the UKs diversity and address the more pernicious aspects of Britains colonial past.

Havelock Road in Southall is named after Sir Henry Havelock who is widely considered a military visionary for his systematic dismantling of the Revolt of 1857, also known as first Indian war of Independence from the rapacious rule of the East India Company.

On Tuesday it was revealed that a consultation is underway which could lead to road being renamed Guru Nanak Road.

Southall is home to a large Sikh community and Havelock Road is home to the Sri Guru Singh Sabha, which is considered the largest Gurdwara in the world outside India.

The consultation is part of a wider process, launched this week by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, to re-evaluate memorials - including statues and public spaces - that commemorate British colonialism sparked by the global Black Lives Matter protests.

Several statues of British slave traders have been removed in the UK whilst protestors defaced a statue of Winston Churchill - revered by some for his role in defeating Nazism and reviled by others for his part in tragedies such as the Bengal Famine of the early 1940s as well as his opposition to Indian independence.

In a video message to residents of the area, Councillor Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council said he welcomed the Mayors initiative to represent Londons diversity.

I welcome the Mayors announcement today of a review of our public spaces across the city to make sure that they do represent London as it is today. Our diversity is our strength and we need to make sure that our public realm, our statues, our road names, our buildings, reflect our diversity and do not reflect a frozen past where colonialism, racism and the slave trade were present and celebrated, Bell said.

The change of names will symbolise the huge contribution of our Sikh community in Ealing and also diversity as a borough, and also it will represent our unity as a borough too, he added.

The move was also welcomed by the long-standing MP for the area Virendra Sharma.

As the Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall and a Councillor for 25 years before that I have often been ashamed the names of empire still pervade our streets. I have long campaigned for schools to teach more about our Imperial past, not just the great strides made but also the shameful thuggery and violence, names like Havelock belong in books, classrooms and museums, not on the streets to be celebrated, Sharma said.

The community should come together to decide how we rename this road, but celebrating Guru Nanak Dev Ji in his 550th anniversary, and erasing a white man who killed Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus, would be a sign of our multiculturalism and our diversity, he added. a sign of our multiculturalism: UKs Havelock Road, named after general who dismantled Indias first war for Independence, to be renamed Guru Nanak Marg

A consultation to rename Havelock road will begin very shortly, according to Councillor Bell.

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The last few weeks have been wearing Christine Park down. It's the pandemic. It's police brutality. It's also the fear of losing her ability to work and stay in this country legally.

Any day now, the Supreme Court will rule on the fate of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. The program gives temporary legal status to roughly 650,000 young immigrants who arrived in the country as children.

The decision looms large in California, which has the most DACA recipients, about 200,000. A decision is expected by the end of June.

"I'm not gonna lie to you," said Park, a DACA recipient who was brought to the U.S. from South Korea by her parents when she was 10. "I have not been coping well."

The Obama-era DACA program not only offers protection from removal for these immigrants -- the oldest are in their late 30s -- it also authorizes them to work legally and apply for college loans.

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Park, who is 27, was approved for DACA in her late teens.

"I felt like I could stretch my legs a little," Park said. "I could travel. I could work, and feel like I contributed to society in a small way, like being able to pay taxes."

DACA recipient Rodrigo Mijangos Aguilar, 28, plans to keep fighting for a path to citizenship regardless of the Supreme Court decision. (Photo courtesy of Rodrigo Mijangos Aguilar)

Fellow DACA recipient Rodrigo Mijangos Aguilar, 28, said that the work permit gave him the opportunity to wade into the business world -- first working in clothing retail. Now, he's seeking a master's degree in business administration.

He's also been able to expand his world, he said, to be with other people from other backgrounds.

"I've gained more of an understanding of what it is to be a part of something greater than myself, of being a part of the community," said Mijangos Aguilar, who was brought to the U.S. as a baby from Mexico.

The DACA program began in 2012, after various failed attempts in Congress to pass legislation known as the Dream Act which would provide a pathway to permanent legal status for young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally.

At one point, there were an estimated 800,000 DACA recipients nationwide.

While initially President Trump at times spoke positively about these young immigrants -- known as "Dreamers" -- he has been trying to end the program since shortly after taking office in 2017, calling it an abuse of executive power by his predecessor.

Trump officially rescinded DACA in September 2017. But his action was blocked by lower courts, and the program has continued on life support since. The White House brought the DACA case to the Supreme Court last fall.

Based on the justices' line of questioning during oral arguments, the majority appeared to side with the White House, said Louis DeSipio, a political scientist at the University of California, Irvine.

"This is sort of a low point over the last 15 years for the Dreamers," DeSipio said.

DeSipio said that Trump is unlikely to start deportation proceedings against DACA recipients overnight, given strong public support for the "Dreamers" who had to meet stringent requirements and background checks to qualify for the program.

But DeSipio said if the court strikes DACA down, their lives could quickly become very difficult.

"The work authorization for DACA recipients could end very quickly, and that would be a very severe challenge to their status in the U.S. and to their families," DeSipio said.

There has also been speculation that Trump could use the fate of DACA recipients as political leverage to negotiate broader immigration proposals with Democrats.

Rodrigo Mijangos Aguilar went to DC last year to lobby for Dreamer legislation. (Photo courtesy of Rodrigo Mijangos Aguilar)

Mijangos Aguilar said regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, he is hopeful that the coalitions of organizations that have supported DACA recipients over the last two decades will keep fighting for a way to let them permanently stay in the U.S.

"I just know that there are options to continue forward," he said.

More immediately, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles is recommending that DACA recipients whose two-year-long work permits are expiring in the next year to go ahead and renew.

"At least they would have a work permit for two more years until we figure out what the next steps would be for DACA recipients," said Eden Velasco, who runs the DACA clinics for CHIRLA.

The cost of renewing a DACA is high -- $495 -- so Velasco knows that might not be an option right now for everyone. He suggests that DACA recipients consult an immigration lawyer or a Department of Justice-accredited representative like himself if they have questions about what to do.

CHIRLA has been offering financial assistance with renewal fees for hundreds of recipients, although Velasco said that will likely stop after this month.

In May, the Korean Resource Center covered renewal costs for about 200 DACA recipients before funding ran out.

"They're scared, they're tired, they're exhausted," said Christine Park, who has been helping other DACA recipients with their renewals.

Park left a career path in real estate development and this year joined the staff of KRC, a nonprofit that provides assistance to immigrants in her community. When everything else is so unknown, providing answers is the least she feels she can do.
The German Development Cooperation in Ghana, the Ghanaian German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration (GGC) together with its partners  the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (AHK Ghana) and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) has announced to hold the first virtual career fair in Ghana dubbed the Ghana Virtual Career Fair. The launch of the Ghana Virtual Career Fair which was transmitted live on the facebook page of the GGC offered opportunity for the organisers of the fair to throw more light on what people should expect at the virtual career fair.



Slated for 8 July, 2020, 10 AM  2 PM and targeted at young jobseekers, the Ghana Virtual Career Fair aims to contribute to tackling unemployment and underemployment, improve skills base and promote entrepreneurship among the youth in the country; and to complement the efforts of the Ghanaian government in finding lasting solutions to youth unemployment. The career fair is hinged on four core areas of digital skills, employability, entrepreneurship, and exchange between jobseekers and industry.



In his remarks, the Head of the Ghanaian-German Centre, Benjamin Woesten, reiterated the Centres commitment to assist Ghanaian youth in their skills enhancement to use their potential in the most purposeful way. In our engagement with the youth since the opening of the Centre in December 2017, one thing stands out  the Ghanaian youth is so full of great potential and given the right tools, platform and exposure, there is so much they can do. For us at the Ghanaian-German Centre and in collaboration with our partners, we want to and are happy to be the ones providing this platform to enable them achieve their dreams. Mr. Woesten added that the COVID-19 pandemic, though it comes with some discomfort regarding our inability to physically gather at a central location as has always been the practice, is also providing us with a great opportunity for us to reach people beyond the limitations of a physical converging point. This means that no matter where you are in Ghana, you can participate once you are connected to technology. So, I will encourage all, especially job seekers and entrepreneurs to take advantage of this virtual career fair which has so much to offer.



On his part, the Delegate of the Delegation of German Commerce and Industry (AHK Ghana), Dr. Michael Blank, encouraged people to take the new reality as a challenge and step up to it by going digital and discovering new ways of connecting, experiencing, and sharing.



The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Hon. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, in his address indicated that the Ministrys cooperation with GIZ, particularly the GGC, has resulted in over 1000 job opportunities for the young Ghanaian who otherwise had no hope of getting opportunities. He urged all young people desirous of getting jobs and employers keen on engaging young talented people to take advantage of the Ghana Virtual Career Fair and be present (virtually) at the fair.



The Ghana Virtual Career Fair will feature seasoned speakers from the private sector and will give participants rare opportunity to engage with speakers through virtual workshops, panel discussions, crash courses, among others all on one platform. Organisers also announced at the launch that the first 500 people to register will receive free data packages. Registration is free and is now opened at the Facebook page of the GGC (FB: Ghanaian German Centre).

Anchored on its three pillars of Career Guidance, Employment Promotion and Reintegration Support services, the GGC offers employment promotion services to job seekers in Ghana and counsels its clients on socio-economic prospects in Ghana.



The Centre targets local population and returning migrants alike. Its services include individual counselling, profiling, soft skills trainings, career guidance advice, psycho-social support, referral into vocational and entrepreneurship trainings and start-up support (trainings, equipment, and business registration) among others. Since its inception in December 2017, the Centre has counselled more than 12,000 individuals, offered more than 13,000 employment promotion measures and facilitated more than 1,000 persons into employment or supported in setting up a business.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Amitava Sardar

The Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) scheme  the principal arm of RBIs monetary policy, had been introduced way back in April 1999. Since then, though the fundamental building blocks constituting the corridor with Repo Rate as the policy rate, Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) as the ceiling rate and Reverse Repo Rate as the floor rate have remained the same, the sheer variety of instruments and the rationalisations that have been brought to bear for managing systemic liquidity reflect RBIs commitment to innovate and make best use of the circumstances. Yet at the same time, of late RBI appears to have been much more charitable in its operations which are at variance with the way its policy making body i.e., the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at least publicly professes. This also suits a Government that has been struggling to rein in its fiscal deficit.

First, under the current persistent surplus situation (except the turmoil caused recently by COVID-19), the variable rate reverse repo operations of different maturities have become the principal instrument for withdrawing liquidity. The pertinent issue here is whether their pricing is detrimental to the functioning of the inter-bank market.

It is worrisome that RBI has been drawing out huge liquidity virtually at the fixed overnight Repo Rate irrespective of the tenor of the variable rate reverse repo operations from the year 2014-15 since when detailed data are available. During 2019-20, the spread between the fixed rate overnight Repo and the cut-off rates of the variable rate overnight (as well as longer term) Reverse Repo stood at, on average, just 1 basis point. Reverse repos of 14-day, 42-day or 63-day were all being accepted at a uniform cut-off rate of 5.14 per cent relative to the overnight Policy Repo Rate of 5.15 per cent! Hence, there is neither any variability in rates nor any relationship with the term of these reverse repo operations.

On the liquidity injection side also, similar disregard has been noticed from the second half of 2016-17 in respect of 14-day variable rate repo auctions. Further, it is even more glaring that the LTROs (Long Term Repo Operations) of as long as 365 days and 1095 days conducted in February and March 2020 had the uniform cut-off rate of 5.15 per cent. In view of COVID-19, effective March 27, 2020, RBI has provided targeted long term repos of Rs. 1,00,000 crore for up to three years at a floating rate linked to the policy Repo Rate. Accordingly, repos of 1092-/1093-/1095-days have been done at the current repo rate of 4.4 per cent since March 27, 2020.

In this regard, it is instructive to revisit the operations of the MSS (Market Stabilization Scheme). Securities issued under MSS were generally part of the regular auctions of 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury Bills. From 2007, those were also issued as dated securities. As a result, pricing of those securities reflected the full force of market dynamics at the time of auctions and cut-off rates moved at times well beyond the Policy Repo Rate.

In other words, RBI has been injecting and withdrawing liquidity almost at the same Policy Repo Rate irrespective of their maturity and kept the yield curve virtually flat for more than five years. This virtually amounts to yield curve control (YCC) as being practised by Bank of Japan from September 2016 and now Reserve Bank of Australia from March 2020. This has also given rise to a situation whereby RBI could be perceived as too obliging in the recent period. This practice combined with other measures as announced on March 27, 2020, April 17, 2020 and thereafter could, however, be justified in view of the extra-ordinary situation in the midst of COVID-19. 

In fact, reflecting on RBIs extra-ordinary accommodative stance, Jahangir Aziz in his article in Economic Times on February 20, 2020 apprehended whether under the new monetary policy framework, MPC decides the overnight rate and the RBI the rest of the yield curve! More recently, Dr. Urjit Patel, ex-Governor, RBI, in his article in Indian Express on April 28, 2020 raised even more fundamental issues on how of late monetary measures are being taken by RBI without any reference to the MPC.

Second, though the weighted average call money rate has been continuing as the operating target of the monetary policy, market dynamics has changed remarkably during the last two decades in that the share of the call money market in the aggregate overnight money market segment has dwindled from 31 per cent in 2006-07 to a mere 7 per cent in 2019-20. This market is also not deep enough as non-bank participants e.g., mutual funds, insurance companies, corporates etc., are ineligible to participate in it. As opposed to this, Tri-party Repo/CBLO (Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation) being the most transparent and the deepest, has become the largest segment; its share went up progressively from 46 per cent to 69 per cent over this period. Under this circumstance, it is felt that the time has come to replace the weighted average call money rate with the general collateral overnight repo rate as the operating target of monetary policy. Among the major central banks, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of Mexico and the Bank of Brazil treat the general collateral overnight repo rate as the operating target of monetary policy. Simultaneously, RBI should revisit the restrictions placed on both banks and non-banks in the call money market in view of the stricter prudential restrictions now in place to make this market more broad based and deep.

Third, CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) was at 4 per cent since February 9, 2013 until March 28, 2020 since when it has been reduced to 3.0 per cent for one year up to March 26, 2021. Further, CRR maintained on average basis over a fortnight had the daily requirement of a minimum of 90 per cent of the prescribed CRR that had been continuing since April 16, 2016. The Internal Working Group of RBI on Liquidity Management Framework (September 2019) justified continuation of this prescription as it has helped avoid bunching of reserve requirements by individual banks. This daily minimum, however, stands reduced to 80 per cent effective March 28, 2020 for a period up to June 26, 2020.

Now, leaving aside this one-time three-month dispensation, could we really call it an averaging system when the headroom available with banks is so little? Further, with a better liquidity forecasting mechanism in place combined with discretionary term repo and reverse repo instruments under LAF at its disposal, why should RBI be apprehensive of bunching of reserve requirements by individual banks?

In fact, RBI should analyse the behaviour of daily cash balances of banks with it under both surplus and deficit situations and then find out whether reserve requirements continue to remain binding on banks. If found binding, the requirement of a daily minimum of 90 per cent is clearly unfair to banks. In that event, RBI should also consider paying interest on such balances. On the contrary, if CRR is found not binding on banks, it would mean that settlement balances required to take care of banks own payment transactions are higher than the cash balances mandated under CRR. In that situation, it would be easier for RBI to reduce CRR even further, but the daily minimum must be escalated to 100 per cent. Further, an organic link should necessarily be established between its LAF and the intra-day liquidity (IDL) mechanism as available to participants under the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system.

etired as Adviser from Reserve Bank of India. Views are personal.
Realme's X50 series includes four smartphones already and a fifth one, dubbed X50t 5G, is expected to join them soon. The X50t 5G has already bagged a couple of certifications from Chinese agencies and now it has been spotted on the Google Play Console.

The Google Play Console's listing reveals the Snapdragon 765 SoC, 6GB RAM, Android 10 and a FullHD+ screen.

The Google Play Console doesn't reveal any other specs of the X50t 5G, but thanks to 3C we know it will come with 30W fast charging.

While there's no word from Realme about the X50t 5G, the smartphone's global variant (RMX2052) passed through TENAA revealing its design and full specs in the process.



Realme RMX2052

The X50t 5G will sport a 6.57" LCD which is rumored to have a refresh rate of 120Hz. The smartphone will run Android 10 out of the box and will have up to 12GB RAM and up to 256GB storage onboard.

For photography, the X50t 5G will feature a total of six cameras - two on the front (16MP and 2MP) and four at the back (48MP+8MP+2MP+2MP) at the back.

The Realme X50t 5G will feature a side-mounted fingerprint reader and pack a battery with a rated capacity of 4,100 mAh.

Via
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:51:46|Editor: huaxia

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Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, attends the launching ceremony of a massive reporting activity on China's efforts in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicating poverty in Beijing, capital of China, June 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday launched a massive reporting activity that will have media outlets nationwide report the country's efforts in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicating poverty.

Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attended the launching ceremony and delivered a speech.

Huang, also head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, asked journalists to report about outstanding figures and write touching stories, as well as provide coverage centering around people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security.

Nearly 900 journalists from more than 150 media outlets across the country attended the ceremony. Enditem
The creation of a unified British Unilever plc will doubtless be portrayed as a victory for the UK outside the EU.

The reality is that it is a huge vote of confidence in the London Stock Exchange and the City.

Given the choice of fading from view in the Netherlands, or being a big 108billion beast in the FTSE 100, it has chosen the UK.

Given the choice of fading from view in the Netherlands or being a big 108bn beast in the FTSE100 Unilever has chosen the UK

This is logical. Unilever has fabulous traditions at Port Sunlight on the Wirral where it has world-beating testing and R&D facilities.

Its cleaning and hygiene brands  the fastest-growing part of the enterprise long before Covid-19  are run from the group's stately white stone headquarters at Blackfriars on the bank of the Thames.

The effort two years ago by former Dutch chief executive Paul Polman to move the group's main quote to Rotterdam ended in humiliation when a stream of UK long holders of Unilever stock raised objections.

They were concerned the Dutch listing would prevent them from holding the equity because of the mandates of some pension funds.

The barrier to shifting domicile was high, requiring a 75 per cent approval vote and the effort failed.

After a decent interval, Polman, having bravely fought off a highly geared take-over bid from Kraft-Heinz and taken Unilever on a green journey, stepped down.

Successor Alan Jope has found the current dual structure cumbersome and particularly harmful for US investors because of onerous capital gains rules on certain transactions. The new set-up allows flexibility.

Covid-19 has not knocked Unilever out of the big deals game. It has just completed the purchase of Horlicks in India from GSK.

The next big transaction is the sale of the traditional tea businesses of Brooke Bond and Lipton, which could raise anything up to 7billion. There are several options on the table, including a demerger.

As far as unification, is concerned, Jope is not home and dry yet.

The Dutch government has been informed and is satisfied that Unilever will remain in the Netherlands with its own HQ. The next obstacle will be securing the agreement of 50 per cent of Dutch investors.

Brokers have done preliminary soundings but it would be just as well if Jope learned from the mistakes of his predecessor, who was at the United Nations in New York when the last vote took place instead of pressing flesh with big battalion investors.

Unilever should come out of Covid-19 reasonably strongly.

Healthcare and hygiene brands Dove, Domestos, Lux et al are having a good war. Hellman's mayonnaise is firing on all cylinders.

Ice cream and food service have been hit hard. Production and sales in China are back to pre-epidemic levels. Prospects in Latin America, at the epicentre of the pandemic, are less rosy.

If Jope can navigate the unification rocks there is reason for optimism on doing value-creating deals as well as organic growth.

ARM betrayal

Overseas bids for Unilever and AstraZeneca (see page 71) were headed off at the pass. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for Cambridge smart-chip group ARM Holdings.

When ARM was sold to Japan's Softbank in 2016 for 24billion, it was waved through by the Government as a signal that post-referendum Britain was open for business.

Without warning, a 51 per cent share in the company's Chinese division was sold to Chinese investors.

Softbank itself plonked 25 per cent of its holding in ARM into the currently under-pressure Vision Fund, in which Saudi Arabia has a 25 per cent stake.

The latest episode in this corporate tragedy in the making is the eruption of a boardroom row in the Chinese division with claims that chief executive Allen Wu had been fired over serious irregularities. This was later disputed.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, weakening the ownership structure of one of Britain's tech champions, and exposing it to danger, exposes the risks of overseas ownership.

Vanishing act

Johnson Matthey sees itself at the core of the green revolution, with its catalytic converters and cutting edge R&D into batteries for e-cars.

That can't protect it from Covid-19 and shifts in global car making. Preserving resources and cutting costs is the order of the day, with 2,500 jobs to go and the final dividend slashed in half. That's the first cut since the 1980s.

It means that 48 firms in the FTSE 100 firms have announced a cut or suspension of payouts. Cruel times.
As the government continues to flip-flop over its plans to reopen schools in England, provoking uncertainty and anger among the education sector, other countries across the world have already succeeded in sending children back to class.

Earlier this week, education secretary Gavin Williamson admitted that not all pupils would be able to return before the summer, with some having to wait until September, despite initial aims to begin the phased reopening of all primary schools from 1 June.

In contrast, thousands of children in countries such as Denmark, Germany, France, South Korea and China have been back in class for weeks. Here, we take a look at what the rest of the world is doing:

China

Having passed through the worse of the crisis, China was one of the first countries to start reopening its schools.

In the far-western provinces, some have been opened since mid-March, though the vast majority started welcoming students back last month. Class sizes have been reduced, lessons shortened and arrival times staggered to limit the risk of transmission.

Schools in cities with large populations, such as Beijing and Shanghai, are running classes with a maximum of 20 students to allow social distancing. Pupils have also been told to walk or be driven to school by their parents, in order to avoid busy public transportation like the subways.

Teachers are taking students temperatures before they enter buildings while thermal scanners have been introduced in some schools; those with a fever are sent home.

South Korea

A country that has been credited with its rapid and effective Covid-19 response, South Korea began reopening its high schools last month. On 8 June, lower-level pupils started returning to school in phased steps.

Under new sanitation rules, students and teachers must wear masks except at mealtimes and clean their desks, which are spaced 1 metre apart and have been fitted with plastic partitions in some schools.

Like China, authorities in South Korea have turned to thermometers to help monitor the temperature of pupils and teachers. And if any student tests positive for the virus, the entire school is expected to switch to online classes for at least two weeks.

It has been far from straightforward though. More than 500 schools were last month forced to close just days after they had re-opened, due to a spike in cases in Seoul and its surrounding metropolitan area.

Students arrive at school while keeping distance from each other at Bongmyeong High School in Cheongju, South Korea (EPA)

Germany

With responsibility for education devolved to the countrys 16 federal states, some regions have been moving quicker than others in opening schools.

In general, younger students and those with exams to sit have been prioritised in returning to class. Schools in some states have been opened since 27 April to allow pupils to take their tests.

To reduce the risk of transmission, class sizes have been cut in half, one-way systems enforced in corridors, and lunch breaks staggered.

Many states are aiming to have all classes in schools and kindergartens return before the start of the summer break, which starts as early as 22 June in some parts of the country.

Denmark

Denmark was the first European country to reopen primary schools and kindergartens, doing so in mid-April. Secondary students started returning to class on 18 May.

Younger pupils are expected to remain in protective bubbles, which keeps them from mixing with other teachers and groups of children. They use different entrances to their fellow pupils and must wash their hands at least every two hours. Outside teaching has also been implemented where possible.

Christian Wejse, an associate professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Aarhus University Hospital, said the country had not seen an increase in the rate of transmission after schools were reopened.

A music lesson is held outdoors at the Korshoejskolen school in Randers, Denmark (Reuters)

France

Since the countrys lockdown was lifted on 11 May, 40,000 primary schools have reopened, along with some secondary schools. So far, around one in five primary school pupils has returned to class. Priority has been given to the children of key workers.

Teachers and children over 11 are expected to wear masks and class sizes have been limited to 15 pupils. Schools in the worst-affected regions of France, such as Paris, remain closed.

Recommended Nursery children in France forced to play in isolation chalk squares

Others

Sweden: In keeping with countrys soft-touch approach to lockdown, schools have remained open during the pandemic. Authorities have relied on social distancing and hygiene measures to reduce the spread of infection instead.

India: The government is planning to reopen the countrys schools and colleges in a phased manner after 15 August. As part of plans that are being formulated by officials, Indias 270 million students may be required to attend classes on alternative days.

Israel: Over 20 more schools were closed earlier this month after the country recorded the largest single day rise in infections. According to the Education Ministry, 87 schools and daycares have now been closed to stem the spread of the virus.

South Africa: Students in their final years of primary and secondary school started returning to class on 9 June, after an initial delay to the restart date amid teachers concerns there was a shortage of sufficient masks and gloves.
Foxtel drama Upright has been sold to US streaming service Sundance Now.

The eight-part series by Lingo Pictures will premiere in August.

Minchin, who co-wrote and executive produced, said: The reactions to Upright in the UK and Australia have been like nothing Ive ever experienced, and I cant wait for Americans to see it. Its quintessentially Aussie and, at the same time, utterly universal. And Im pretty sure itll make you really laugh and properly cry.

In December Minchin also told TV Tonight, Just this week, because of the reaction, season two has becomes serious.

We did sit down and do a bit of What would it be if we did it? So we have an idea for it has suddenly become very real and were looking at our diaries.

It hasnt been commissioned, but its a real possibility.

Source: Deadline
(Newser)  The fallout from President Trump's now-famous walk from the White House to St. John's Church continues: On Thursday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff apologized for joining the president on that June 1 walk in military fatigues, reports CNN. "I should not have been there," said Army Gen. Mark Milley in commencement remarks at the National Defense University. "My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it." Related:

On Floyd: Trump's walk became controversial because authorities cleared George Floyd protesters from his path to the church using tear gas (or something like it), and Trump then posed for photos holding a Bible. During his speech Thursday, Milley referred to Floyd, calling his killing "senseless and brutal." He said it "amplified the pain, the frustration, and the fear that so many of our fellow Americans live with day in, day out."

story continues below

Pentagon friction: Former Trump defense chief Jim Mattis previously rebuked Trump over the walk. And the Milley comments come amid another source of friction between Trump and the Pentagon: This week, after Milley and defense chief Mark Esper said they were open to the idea of renaming military bases named after Confederate leaders, Trump said that would not happen. On Thursday, meanwhile, a GOP-led Senate panel approved a plan to rename the bases, reports the AP.

Former Trump defense chief Jim Mattis previously rebuked Trump over the walk. And the Milley comments come amid another source of friction between Trump and the Pentagon: This week, after Milley and defense chief Mark Esper said they were open to the idea of renaming military bases named after Confederate leaders, Trump said that would not happen. On Thursday, meanwhile, a GOP-led Senate panel approved a plan to rename the bases, reports the AP. One take: "The back and forth between Mr. Trump and the Pentagon in recent days is evidence of the deepest civil-military divide since the Vietnam Warexcept this time, military leaders, after halting steps in the beginning, are now positioning themselves firmly with those calling for change," per the New York Times.

"The back and forth between Mr. Trump and the Pentagon in recent days is evidence of the deepest civil-military divide since the Vietnam Warexcept this time, military leaders, after halting steps in the beginning, are now positioning themselves firmly with those calling for change," per the New York Times. Defense chief: Esper, who also joined the walk, wrote a letter to Congress with Milley reiterating they did not realize the walk would be used for a photo op, reports the Washington Post. We participated in the walk with the aim of observing damage in Lafayette Square and at (St. John's) Church, and meeting with and thanking the National Guard members who were on duty, they wrote.

Esper, who also joined the walk, wrote a letter to Congress with Milley reiterating they did not realize the walk would be used for a photo op, reports the Washington Post. We participated in the walk with the aim of observing damage in Lafayette Square and at (St. John's) Church, and meeting with and thanking the National Guard members who were on duty, they wrote. More on the letter: Esper and Milley also sought to clarify the military's role in the response to the protests, saying that National Guard troops in DC were there only in a supporting role and "were not ever in the District for purposes of civilian law enforcement. Previously, Esper publicly disagreed with Trump on invoking the Insurrection Actusing the military in more of a domestic policing roleto quell protests.

Esper and Milley also sought to clarify the military's role in the response to the protests, saying that National Guard troops in DC were there only in a supporting role and "were not ever in the District for purposes of civilian law enforcement. Previously, Esper publicly disagreed with Trump on invoking the Insurrection Actusing the military in more of a domestic policing roleto quell protests. Trump: The president has not yet responded to Milley's comments, but earlier Thursday, he issued a tweet about the crackdown on protesters in DC: "Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe how easy it was," he wrote. "'A walk in the park,' one said. The protesters, agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handled VERY easily by the Guard, D.C. Police, & S.S. GREAT JOB!"

(Read more Mark Milley stories.)
T-Mobile and ABC, owned by Disney Company, will stop advertising on Tucker Carlsons Fox News show after his comments on the Black Lives Matter movement.

The news was first reported in Deadline.

Carlson has expressed opposition to the protests around the nation in which millions of Americans have gathered to denounce police brutality and racial bias in response to the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis, who was pinned to the ground by officers after being accused of passing a fake $20 bill at a grocery store.

On Saturday, the news host referred to the protests as Black Lives Matter riots."

Carlson also asked why it was required to be upset about Floyds death, as he isnt from Minneapolis. The comment came June 1 after Nikki Haley, a former UN ambassador, called for collective grieving.

Carlson has expressed disdain for the protests taking place across the country after the killing of George Floyd.

Unemployment: Another 1.5M workers file for unemployment even as many Americans return to work

When do new cars come out?: You'll have to wait to buy 2021, as automakers delay next year's models

We havent run ads on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' since early May and have canceled all future placements. We will continue to support those who stand against racial injustice, T-Mobile said in a tweet.

For its part, Disney said it had run almost 29 ads for its ABC shows this year, and they "were placed on the show without our knowledge by third party media buyers," who were instructed not to continue, according to Deadline.

A Fox News spokesperson said all national dollars from ads were moved to other programs.

Disney and T-Mobile did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert also tweeted: Bye-bye Tucker Carlson!

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tucker Carlson's Fox News show loses ad sponsors Disney, T-Mobile
Amaravati, June 11 : Telugu Desam Party national President N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said the YSR Congress Party's one-year 'vindictive' and 'vicious' rule has caused untold hardships and misery to all sections of people in Andhra Pradesh.

In an open letter to people of the state, the former chief minister called on them to join hands with the opposition and agitate for the strict implementation of the rule of law, "leaving no scope for the ruling party leaders to perpetrate their lawless activities any further".

Naidu slammed Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government for its various acts of omissions and commissions during the last one year.

The leader of opposition claimed that the young generation is not able to find jobs because the Jagan Reddy rule has driven away Rs 1.8 lakh crore investments in just one year. He alleged that the government borrowed Rs 87,000 crore in a year, but there was no commensurate development anywhere in the state.

"No new industrialist is daring to come forward to invest here. With their mindless activities, the ruling YSRCP leaders have ripped apart all systems and institutions," said Naidu.

The TDP chief said over 70 construction workers have committed suicide while 600 farmers also ended their lives following mounting debts and lack of crop returns during coronavirus crisis. The government hiked electricity charges along with liquor and cement prices. This has placed a new burden of Rs 50,000 crore on the people, he added.

Stating that YSRCP was making more mistakes trying to cover up its failures, Naidu blamed the Jagan Reddy regime for "adopting a dangerous vengeful stand" in order to carry forward its mafia rule". "It has bid goodbye to the people-friendly Ambedkar Constitution but is implementing the fanatical Raja Reddy Constitution," the TDP leader said referring to Jagan Reddy's late grandfather.

Praja Vedika (annex building to Naidu's house in Amaravati) was demolished within days of YSRCP coming to power. He alleged that from the day he took oath as the chief minister, Jagan Reddy was targetting and harassing TDP. He said YSRCP atrocities claimed the life of former Assembly speaker Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao. Nine TDP leaders and activists were killed. Seven others were forced to commit suicide. Properties of 56 TDP leaders were destroyed. False cases were filed against 95 persons and another 167 families were put to harassment.

Stating that all sections were turning against YCP misdeeds now, Naidu said the government engineers have protested against ruling party excesses. "Through illegal sand transportation to other states, YSRCP leaders were plundering hundreds of crores. The natural resources were being looted. Over 13 lakh tonne sand was stolen by ruling party leaders in one year." He alleged that Jagan Reddy lured one TDP MLA with financial benefits and another MLA with mining leases and business concessions. TDP MLCs were being lured with financial benefits and also some were threatened if they didn't shift loyalties.

"This is totally contrary to the CM's statement in the Assembly that if anybody was taken from TDP, they would be first made to resign from their posts. YSRCP should explain why it has not asked the three MLAs and two MLCs to resign. The CM should explain why it has not disqualified the defected MLAs and MLCs," he added.
After Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012, Brooklyn-based photographer Ruddy Roye started to think differently about his work. I told myself the work I pursue personally would be about educating my sons, says Roye, 50. My reason for being out here is to capture different scenarios to share with them that theyre second-class citizens. Their rights do not come as normal and natural as the rest of America  that there are different rules for black people.

Roye has documented stories of black struggle and resilience for TIME, including in the aftermath of the shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling by police officers in the same week in July 2016, but the time he spent in Houston for the funeral of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, was one of the most emotionally draining photo shoots hes ever done.

People waiting for the public viewing at The Fountain of Praise church on June 8. There was an eagerness, an urgency among the crowd, to say goodbye, to pay their respects, to the face of the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality, Roye says. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Roye shadowed the family from June 7 to June 9, and he had the opportunity to speak with Floyds son, Quincy Mason, about finding the strength to move forward. I put my hand on his chest and [said], Just breathe and understand that this is your father, Roye says. I was seeing on TV all that power and all that energy thats been generated by the moment where these family members are in the background. We, the people who are not intimately attached to the family, we see a revolution. We find solidarity and empathy with the family, but to us its a movement. To them, its their family member. Theyre overwhelmed. They were crying. They were in pain. So I had to walk that line of recording history and empathy. When I was with the family, I couldnt be a part of the movement. I had to be in the lane of empathy and strength for the family, and when I wasnt with the family, I could photograph like I was documenting history.

I was in the front seat, watching a family that had been catapulted onto an international platform quickly, watching them rise to the occasion on so many levels, and be an example for, tragically, the next family that might have their family members killed, taken away from them. In every choice they made, they are effecting change.

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Roye, whose own sons are now 11 and 15, found hope in all the mourners who came out to the public viewing of Floyds body on June 8 and en route to the cemetery on June 9, especially in a 10-year-old boy Engwin Williams. The light shining through his yellow poster of George Floyds face with the words I cant breathe caught Royes eye. I asked him why he came out today, and he said, To show George that were with him,' Roye said.

With reporting by Olivia B. Waxman

The Floyd family lawyer Ben Crump speaks at a candlelight vigil honoring George Floyd at Jack Yates High School in Houston, June 8. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Attendees at a candlelight vigil honoring George Floyd at Jack Yates High School in Houston on June 8. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, left, D-Texas, joins the Floyd family, family attorney Ben Crump to speak to reporter after a candlelight vigil honoring George Floyd at Jack Yates High School in Houston on June 8. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Justice for George would be that the police officers who tortured him to death be held fully accountable to the full extent of the law, the familys lawyer, Ben Crump told Roye on June 7, at a Houston hotel, while waiting for Floyds extended family to arrive. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Brothers Rodney and Philonise Floyd visit a memorial and mural that honors their brother George with lawyer, Ben Crump in Houston's Third Ward where Mr. Floyd grew up, on June 8. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Quincy Mason and his family pose for a photo before the funeral on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

George Floyd's brothers Rodney (right) and Philonise (left) prepare for the funeral with lawyer Ben Crump (center) on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Rev. Al Sharpton takes a photograph with Sybrina Fulton and Pastor Jamal H Bryant before George Floyd's funeral on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Family members congregate before George Floyd's funeral on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Supporters line up to see George Floyd's funeral procession on Jun 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

A program at the funeral service for George Floyd at The Fountain of Praise church on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Rev. Al Sharpton with George Floyd's family at the funeral service in Houston on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Amalie Mason at emotional moment during the tribute to George Floyd. Family and guests attended the funeral service at The Fountain of Praise Church in Houston on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Pallbearers transport George Floyd's casket at The Fountain of Praise Church on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

The familys lawyer, Ben Crump, far left; Floyds son Quincy Mason, second from right, with his daughter in front of him; and the Rev. Al Sharpton, right, waiting for the private funeral on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

A horse-drawn carriage brought Floyds body into the cemetery on June 9. It felt like a state funeral, Roye said. It felt like they were sending him off with the newfound persona that he had been catapulted into, and this was one of the ways to honor what he became. It felt right. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

A woman salutes George Floyds funeral procession as it passes on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Onlookers document the passing of George Floyds funeral procession on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

A woman takes a knee as George Floyds funeral procession turns into the cemetery in Houston on June 9.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 19:19:24|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Experts have called for strengthening international solidarity and cooperation in scientific studies among universities to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent possible future global health emergencies.

They made the call at a joint symposium on "COVID-19 Fightback and the Future 'New Normal'" which was held virtually on Wednesday. The symposium organized by Tsinghua University and Imperial College London brought together public health experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), Tsinghua University and Imperial College London. It aimed to share knowledge and experience, and promote global efforts in the fight against COVID-19, according to the organizers.

Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London, stressed the importance of scientific collaboration and cooperation among universities and other international institutions around the world to overcome COVID-19 and other global challenges.

"We must ensure that this pandemic strengthens the links between Chinese and UK science, and institutions such as ours. The coronavirus operates across borders, and so do our efforts to inhibit and defeat it," she said.

Universities around the world have a common commitment to building educational resilience as well as contributing to the fight against global health emergencies, said Chen Xu, chairperson of Tsinghua University Council.

"I have confidence that our vibrant partnership will not only benefit the two universities, but also provide critical solutions for the world at large," she said.

David Nabarro, WHO special envoy on COVID-19 and co-director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, said that unity, solidarity and cooperation shown by universities around the world in fighting against the coronavirus was praiseworthy.

Margaret Chan, Inaugural Dean of Vanke School of Public Health Tsinghua, and honorary director-general of the WHO, praised China's successful handling of the COVID-19 epidemic and timely assistance to the countries affected.

Chan said that the epidemic has reaffirmed the values of global solidarity, trust, unity and cooperation in the face of a shared common health threat.

The international community should continue to uphold the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, further strengthen cooperation under the guidance and coordination of the WHO, work together to overcome the current crisis and build a global community of health for all, Chan said. Enditem
If not for coronavirus, you'd expect your local dentist office to be doing just fine.

Dentist offices tend to be stable businesses that stick around for decades, unlike restaurants that open and close frequently. Dentists earn a healthy salary  a median of $US159,000 ($227,277) in the US and offer services with no clear substitute. If you need your teeth cleaned or a cavity filled, the dentist is the only option.

This makes them, in the eyes of some economists, the perfect barometer for gauging America's recovery from the shock of the pandemic.

"If you look at your typical dentist office, nothing went wrong with their business model," said Betsey Stevenson, an economics professor at the University of Michigan. "It's just coronavirus that happened."
Actor Jennifer Aniston has rarely spoken about Angelina Jolie, but in a 2008 Vogue interview, the Friends star described Jolies handling of her romance with Brad Pitt uncool. Aniston and Pitt were married from 2000 to 2005, but he reportedly fell for Jolie while they were making Mr & Mrs Smith together.

When the interviewer brought up Jolie, Aniston asked him to turn off the tape recorder for a moment. Suffice it to say, if there is never any love gained in the first place, there can be no love lost, the piece read. But Aniston agreed to put some things on the record, particularly her reaction to a New York Times profile in which Jolie admitted to falling in love with Pitt while he was still married to Aniston.

Also read: Im lonely, upset, confused: Revisiting Jennifer Anistons explosive first interview post Brad Pitt split

There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening, Aniston said. I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss. Aniston said. That stuff about how she couldnt wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool.

What really rankled Aniston about the piece was that Jolie felt the need to recount a detailed timeline of exactly how her relationship developed on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the story read.

Also read: When Jennifer Aniston recalled her only meeting with Angelina Jolie, told her Brad is so excited to be working with you

Aniston had recalled her one and only meeting with Jolie in a 2006 Vanity Fair interview -- her first after the split. It was on the lot of FriendsI pulled over and introduced myself, Aniston recalled. I said, Brad is so excited about working with you. I hope you guys have a really good time.

Pitt and Jolie separated after 12 years -- two of which were as a married couple -- in 2016. They have six children.

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(Bloomberg Opinion) -- When Eric Garner pulls away from a cop trying to arrest him for allegedly selling untaxed individual cigarettes, police pin him down and choke him to unconsciousness and death. When Lavall Hall, a skinny schizophrenic wearing only boxer shorts and an undershirt, resists efforts to get him to come inside, police Taser and then shoot him. When Sandra Bland argues with a cop who stops her for not signaling a lane change, he threatens her with a Taser and arrests her; she dies in jail in what is later ruled a suicide. And, of course, when George Floyd is handcuffed for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill, an officer kneels on his neck for nearly nine minutes, killing him and igniting nationwide protests.

Its an all-too-familiar pattern. Someone does something minor that someone else finds threatening. The alarmed party overreacts and summons the full force of authority to suppress the threat. The offender becomes a victim. Essential rights are infringed. The damage is both personal and social.

To understand the problem, consider a less dangerous setting where a similar scenario occurs: college campuses.

When a man working his way through college as a janitor reads a book called Notre Dame vs. the Klan in the break room, he is charged with racial harassment. When a literature instructor asks in a faculty training session how the schools sexual harassment policy applies to false or ridiculous allegations, he is fired. When a student starts a Facebook group mocking a student government candidate as a jerk and a fool, he is found to have committed personal abuse. When a literature professor quotes the defiant black author James Baldwin using a racial slur, contrasting its use with the bowdlerized version in the title of a recent documentary, and when a law professor uses the same epithet while discussing systemic racism, both are accused of discrimination.

Outsiders roll their eyes at such incidents. Some call students snowflakes. Facing criticism for suppressing academic freedom and First Amendment rights, the colleges back down, sometimes immediately, sometimes to end litigation. Faced with sustained attention, they cant justify the claim that the behavior represents a threat. The most fearful or sensitive audience doesnt get to decide whats permitted.

Story continues

The underlying pattern is the same as in encounters between police and civilians they perceive as threats, but the outcomes arent. On the streets, fear triumphs. Even when its results are lethal, the overreaction rarely faces the same cold-eyed critique.

Publicized or not, such encounters lead to few trials and convictions. In an analysis of the 385 fatal police shootings in the first five months of 2015, including Lavall Halls death, the Washington Post found that only three led to criminal charges against the officers involved. Another Post investigation with researchers at Bowling Green State University found only 54 prosecutions over a decade that included thousands of police shootings. Many of those shootings were justifiable self-defense. Others saved the lives of civilians. But even when the evidence is strong that lethal force was unnecessary, such cases are hard to win.

Civil-rights lawyer David Rudovsky, co-author of the reference work Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation, explained the dynamic in a 2014 Vox interview. When an officer is on trial, reasonable doubt has a lot of bite, he said.

The argument is: Okay, members of the jury, the prosecutor is saying he shot too quickly, he should have waited, but the fact is that if he'd waited another three seconds he could be dead. The fact is that a lot of cops are killed in the line of duty, and sometimes they're killed because they wait too long. That's an effective emotional argument.

Juries, led by an industry of expert witnesses, tend to support cops accused of wrongdoing, believing they as civilians cant possibly understand the stresses of the job. Instead of skeptically scrutinizing claims that officers felt threatened  asking not merely what they felt but whether that feeling was objectively reasonable, as the law supposedly requires  juries are easily swayed to identify with the fearful cop.

This emphasis on subjective fears unique to police officers mirrors what we hear in debates over free speech and sexual harassment on college campuses. There, many of the same people who would reflexively defend the police argue, correctly, that universities should not put the feelings of the hypersensitive over common sense and free expression and that any punitive action should require objective standards of significant harm. Not so when the fearful are cops.

To reduce that deference, the Justice in Policing Act just introduced on Capitol Hill includes provisions that would revise the standards for federal police. It requires that any force be the only reasonable alternative  necessary rather than justifiable.

As we all know, we can reason away just about anything, Senator Kamala Harris, the California Democrat, said at the news conference announcing the bill. The appropriate and fair question to ask is  was it necessary? (A similar measure restricting the use of deadly force passed last year in California.)

But even if the law changes, juries ultimately decide how to apply it. We have a cultural willingness to defer extensively to the police when they say that they are afraid, says Ken White, a former federal prosecutor who is now a Los Angeles criminal law and First Amendment attorney, podcaster and blogger. To hold police responsible, he says, there has to be a cultural willingness to reject the idea that cops have to be absolutely taken at their word as to when they need to use force.

And that requires getting juries to identify with the people who are the subject of the violence as much as they identify with the cops. George Floyds brutal death may have shifted perspectives.

At the very least, police wielding deadly force deserve as much scrutiny as students wielding harassment complaints. We shouldnt treat them like snowflakes with badges and guns.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Virginia Postrel is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She was the editor of Reason magazine and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, the New York Times and Forbes. Her next book, "The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World," will be published in November.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has obtained final judgments by consent against three individuals charged for their roles in a $10 million boiler room scheme.

The SEC's complaint, filed on July 12, 2017, alleged that Ronald Hardy and Anthony Vassallo, through boiler rooms they controlled, and together with Sergio Ramirez and other employees, engaged in a fraudulent scheme using threatening and deceitful sales tactics to pressure retail investors to purchase penny stocks. The defendants used information they learned about the victims' purchase orders to facilitate the placement of opposing sell orders to dump shares owned by participants in the fraudulent scheme.

In a parallel criminal action, Hardy, Vassallo, and Ramirez pleaded guilty. Hardy was sentenced to 120 months in prison followed by three years' supervised release. Vassallo and Ramirez are awaiting sentencing.

The final judgments enjoin Hardy, Vassallo, and Ramirez from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and the broker-dealer registration provision of Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act, and enjoin Vassallo from violating the market manipulation provisions of Section 9(a) of the Exchange Act. The final judgments order Hardy, Vassallo, and Ramirez to disgorge $2,212,946, $2,446,137, and $251,615 respectively, plus prejudgment interest, which is deemed satisfied by the forfeiture and restitution ordered in the parallel criminal action. The judgments also impose penny stock bars. In settled administrative proceedings, Hardy, Vassallo, and Ramirez, were previously barred from the securities industry.

The SEC's continuing investigation is being conducted by Cecilia B. Connor and Andrew Elliott and supervised by Carolyn M. Welshhans and Amy L. Friedman, with assistance from Leigh Barrett. The SEC's litigation is being handled by James Smith and Matthew Scarlato and supervised by Jan Folena. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Devotees will not be allowed entry to the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple during the next monthly reopening. A meeting chaired by Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran in the state capital on Thursday also decided not to conduct the annual festival.

The meeting was held in the wake of conflicting opinions of the Travancore Devasom Board which manages the temple and the thantris. The board was of the view that restricted entry of devotees could be allowed and the festival conducted with certain restrictions.

Soon after the TDB president N Vasu's announcement in this regard, Kandararu Mahesh Mohanararu, one of the thantris, shot a letter to the board seeking a rethink. The minister then convened a meeting of Vasu and Mohanararu in which the latest decision was taken.

The minister later told media persons that the thantri's demand was just and was approved. He further said the government decision to allow restricted entry to all religious shrines was based on the Centre's direction. Or else, the opposition parties would have incited religious sentiments, he said.

Mahesh Mohanararu said that the board had consulted him on the conduct of the festival and he had given necessary direction on the date and timings. But the letter was in the backdrop of the changed circumstances in which the pandemic spread increased, he said

On Wednesday, Vasu had said that the board's recommendation to the Chief Minister to reopen the shrine for devotees was after consultation with the thantris. The recommendation was made at the video conference convened by the Chief Minister with religious heads and representatives of worship centres.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy unloads a bag packed with fresh food from Japan's resupply ship, the H-II Transfer Vehicle-9 (HTV-9), that had arrived at the International Space Station the day before. Credit: NASA.

A pair of space freighters from Russia and Japan docked to the International Space Station are getting attention today as the Expedition 63 crew works on a variety of space experiments.

NASA Flight Engineers Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken have nearly finished unpacking Japan's HTV-9 cargo craft which arrived May 25. They have been carefully transferring several tons of new station hardware and science experiments and distributing it throughout the station.

Both astronauts also continued their research into space bubbles and how they behave in microfluid systems. Results from the study may improve spacecraft oxygen generation systems and drug delivery applications in skin patches.

One new science experiment being configured today is a high-resolution binocular telescope to be tested outside Japan's Kibo laboratory module. Station Commander Chris Cassidy is setting up the device to demonstrate low-cost, advanced optical payloads for use by public and private institutions. Designed to be affordable and quickly developed, the cutting-edge technology imager will provide detailed views of natural phenomena and critical infrastructure on Earth.

One of two Russian resupply ships, the Progress 74 (74P), at the station is being readied for its departure in July. Cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin checked out navigation gear and packed trash inside the 74P that has been parked at the Pirs docking compartment since Dec. 6, 2019. The 74P will wrap up its seven-month cargo mission in early July for a fiery atmospheric disposal above the south Pacific.

He and fellow cosmonaut Ivan Vagner also ensured the upkeep of Russian life support systems. The duo later split up for an Earth photography session and the study of group dynamics between space crews and mission controllers.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads

Electrolysis Measurement (EM): In support of the ongoing EM experiment, the crew performed a series of sample exchanges. The experiment is expected to process 30 total samples over the next several weeks. Electrolytic Gas Evolution Under Microgravity (Electrolysis Measurement) examines the influence of gravity on electrolytic gas evolution, a complex electrochemical process with multiple applications on Earth and in space. For example, electrolysis generates bubbles that can be used to create pressure differentials in microfluidic devices, such as skin patches, used to deliver medications. Microgravity makes it possible to single out bubble growth and study its effect on the process.

iSIM conference and installation: The crew installed the iSIM onto the JEM Airlock (JEMAL) slide table in preparation for deployment on the JEM Exposed Facility on Wednesday (10-June). The crew also participated in a crew conference with Spain to discuss the iSIM. The integrated Standard Imager for Microsatellites (iSIM), is a high-resolution optical binocular telescope developed by SATLANTIS. Spatial resolution of up to 1m is possible with iSIM at a price cheaper than traditional imaging systems of comparable performance. The objective of this experiment is to demonstrate the technology, and its functionality, in the low-Earth orbit environment.

Systems

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Hard Upper Torso (HUT) Swap: Today, the crew performed a HUT swap on EMU S/N 3006 with a spare standalone HUT. The swap was performed to upsize the HUT from a large (L) to an extra-large (XL) in preparation for the upcoming S6 Battery EVAs. There are now 1 medium, 1 large, and 2 extra-large HUTs available to the crew.

Treadmill (T2) Corrective Maintenance: The crew was scheduled to perform closeout activities on the treadmill today after replacing faulty components in the treadmill over the weekend. The crew installed the Y and Z-axis isolators but discovered a worn bolt while installing the ground strap. The crew was unable to complete all scheduled T2 activities today. The ground team will work to reschedule the deferred activities from today on to tomorrow's plan. At this time, T2 is still non-operational.

H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)9 Cargo Operations: Today, the crew continued to perform HTV9 cargo transfer operations but a portion of the scheduled cargo ops was deferred due to the T2 maintenance. Ground teams estimate ~3 hours remain to complete available cargo ops.

Air Quality Monitor (AQM) Relocate: The AQM was relocated to the Service Module today so the ground team can trend benzene levels. This is in preparation for split atmosphere ops later this week to attempt to pinpoint the source of benzene with the vehicle. In the last few weeks, the ground teams has observed an increase in the benzene level on the ISS.

Completed Task List Activities:

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Retractable Equipment Tether (RET) Inspection

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Crew Tether Inspections

Today's Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

T2 Ops Ground Support

Vacuum System (VS) PGT Pressure Bias Update

A/L SD Cleaning Ground Support

Look Ahead Plan

Wednesday, 6/10 (GMT 162)

Payloads:

Capillary Structures

CIR Manifold Bottle Replacement

Electrolysis Measurement

HRF Supply Inventory

ISS Experience

JEMAL Depress

Spectrum Procedure Review

Wetlab RNA Smartcycler Laptop Checkout

Systems: Activities may change for T2 replan

EVA Procedure Review

HMS Ultrasound

EMU Resize

HTV Cargo Ops

Thursday, 6/11 (GMT 163)

Payloads:

Electrolysis Measurement

EPM Laptop Load

ISS Experience H/W Stow

Manufacturing Device Replace

PL NAS Vent Clean

Plasma Krystal-4 Prep

Spectrum Setup

Systems:

MAX CEVIS

HTV Cargo Ops

EVA Battery Ops

Friday, 6/12 (GMT 164)

Payloads:

Spectrum Power Down

Systems:

Crew Off Duty

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Checkout of Virus Definition File Update on Auxiliary Computer System [] Laptops and Report

JEM Airlock Slide Table (ST) Extension to JPM Side

Kazbek Fit Check

In-Flight Maintenance (IFM) Treadmill-2 (T2) Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Return Hose Fix

EFU Adapter Earth Camera Installation

Environmental Health System (EHS) Air Quality Monitoring (AQM) Relocate

Checkout AQM connection in SM

Regeneration of Micropurification unit () 1 cartridge

Electrolysis Measurement Sample Exchange

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) - COL

Health Maintenance System (HMS) ISS Food Intake Tracker (ISS FIT)

[] Configuration for MRM1

Columbus IP Concatenation Box Cables Remove and Replace

SEPARATION. Deinstallation of Distillation Unit () for access to 

T2 R&R Part 6

VIP Conference for EFU Adapter Earth Camera.

JEM Airlock Slide Table (ST) Retraction from JPM Side

Weekly Health Check of ISS RS Video Recording Equipment and Video Recorder R&R in SM

SEPARATION. Deinstallation of  drive with rotor spin checkout

T2 R&R Part 7 [ABORTED]

T2 R&R Part 8 [ABORTED]

SEPARATION. Installation of  drive

Vacuum cleaning of dust collectors C1, 21 filter cartridges in FGB (panel 203, 403)

Crew Handover Conference

SEPARATION. Installation of Distillation Unit ()

URAGAN. Observation and photography using photo equipment

Providing access and removal of [-] Navigation Module from Progress 443 (DC)

T2 R&R Part 9 [ABORTED]

Transfer Operations - Pack and stow items on HTV

Comm reconfig for nominal ops

MRM1-FGB Screw Clamp Tightening

T2 R&R Part 10 [ABORTED]

Hematocrit. Equipment Gathering.

MELFI Ice Brick Gather

SM Air Sampling Using -1 Sampler

MELFI 1 Ice Brick Insert 1

Photography of the back side of SM interior panels 235 and 438 (from the CQ side)

INTERACTION-2. Experiment Op

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Hard Upper Torso (HUT) On-Orbit Replaceable Unit (ORU) Remove and Replace (R&R)

MELFI Overview OBT

Health Maintenance System (HMS) ISS Food Intake Tracker (ISS FIT)

In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Airlock (A/L) Smoke Detector (SD) Cleaning

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
The total number of cases in Egypt since the outbreak of the pandemic in mid-February has reached 38,284, with 1,342 fatalities

The head of the Egyptian Ministry of Health Scientific Committee to Combat Covid-19, Dr Hosam Hosny, has said that the number of coronavirus cases recorded will continue to rise in June till it reaches between 2,000 and 2,500 cases per day.

Hosny explained during a phone call with Sada Al-Balad TV channel Wednesday that June will mostly be Egypt's peak month, commenting on a statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicating that Egypt has not reached its peak yet.

We expect that in July, the first week of the month, the number of cases will stabilise and then will start decreasing, Hosny said.

He asserted that there is no scientific proof so far that there will be another wave of the virus in September or October.



According to Hosny, the most important indicator is the number of deaths and the fatality rate.

Hosny said that Egypts fatality rate compared to the number of cases is 6.7 percent, which according to him is a very good rate.

He added that when compared to the total population, Egypts fatality rate is below global rates.

Egypt reported on Wednesday alone 1,455 new coronavirus cases and 36 deaths while it has taken the respiratory virus 50 days to reach the first 1,000 detected infections nationwide, 4 April.

The total number of cases the country recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic in mid-February has reached 38,284, with 1,342 fatalities.

By Wednesday, 10,289 Covid-19 patients in Egypt had fully recovered.

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Michiganders can soon fix their discolored roots, tame their shaggy mop or even get a quarantine-inspired tattoo as personal care services are set to reopen.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer authorized hair and nail salons, barbershops, massage rooms and tattoo parlors to begin opening statewide on June 15 and earlier -- starting June 10 -- in the Upper Penninsula and 17 counties in the northern part of the Lower Penninsula. Business owners across the state are working this week to prepare for a surge in customers who are eager to schedule their first appointment since the industry was ordered to close on March 17.
He was 15 years old and still mourning the death of his mother when he was sent to live at the St. Boniface Minor Seminary in 1982.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He was 15 years old and still mourning the death of his mother when he was sent to live at the St. Boniface Minor Seminary in 1982.

He quickly became the target of a priest who would repeatedly molest him in his bed.

Prosecutors want retired Roman Catholic priest Ronald Lanoie to serve 15 months in jail for sexual assaulting a boy from 1982 to 1998. (Winnipeg Free Press files)

Now, nearly 40 years later, prosecutors are urging a judge to sentence 72-year-old retired Roman Catholic priest Roland Lanoie to 15 months in jail.

Lanoie "harmed (the victim) in a very significant and lasting way and actually destroyed his faith," Crown attorney Dayna Queau-Guzzi told provincial court Judge Ryan Rolston at a sentencing hearing last week.

Lanoie pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault for offences spanning the years 1982 to 1988.

Lanoie, who was ordained in 1982, began offending against the victim "almost immediately" after being hired as associate director at the seminary that same year, Queau-Guzzi said.

Court heard Lanoie visited the boys bedroom at night on several occasions and rubbed his penis over the sheets.

"On some occasions the victim would be awake, and on others he would already be asleep," Queau-Guzzi said. "The victim would respond by swatting the accuseds hands away with his hand and he would eventually stop and leave the room."

Lanoie left the seminary the following autumn, assuming duties at Christ the King Church, but maintained contact with the boy, taking him on occasional outings, Queau-Guzzi said.

In 1983, the two went out to a movie and the boy ended up sleeping at Lanoies home. The boy slept in a spare room and barricaded the door with furniture.

When Lanoie later tried to enter the room, he questioned the boy about the blocked door and was allowed inside. Lanoie again placed his hand over the boys penis over a blanket. Again, the boy swatted Lanoies hand away and he left the room.

The victim was living with his sister and her family in 1988 when he arrived home to find Lanoie at the kitchen table. The victim offered Lanoie a ride in his new car, during which time Lanoie touched his thigh three times. The victim removed Lanoies hand, told him "Im not gay," and to never come back to his house again.

The victim reported the incidents to the Archdiocese of St. Boniface in January 2017. In a subsequent interview with the archbishop, Lanoie said he interpreted the victims physical resistance as "playful," not "refusal."

"This is a child Mr. Lanoie is talking about, a child in his care," Queau-Guzzi said. "His comments demonstrate a complete lack of insight into his behaviour."

Lanoie resigned from the archdiocese and was arrested in October 2018.

In a victim impact statement provided to court, the now 53-year-old man said Lanoie used his mothers death "to his advantage to take my innocence and youth away."

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The man said the abuse had a detrimental impact on his attitude toward sex and he suffers from anxiety and depression.

Defence lawyer Evan Roitenberg said Lanoie fully appreciates the damaging impacts of his actions, as shown in a letter of apology written in 2017 that was not read by the victim.

"I had been assigned to the (seminary) with a mission to be a shepherd and a witness to Gods love and I failed you," Lanoie wrote. "You should have been able to look to me as a father and I betrayed that."

Lanoie will return to court for sentencing at a later date.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Instacart has raised a new round of financing that makes it one of the most valuable private companies in the U.S., leapfrogging DoorDash, Palantir and Robinhood.

Amid surging demand for grocery delivery due to the coronavirus pandemic, Instacart has raised $225 million in a new funding round led by DST Global and General Catalyst. The round increases Instacart's valuation to $13.7 billion, up from $8 billion when it last raised money in 2018.

"COVID-19 created a massive shift for the grocery industry and forever changed how people view the necessity of on-demand services," Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta said in a press release. "Overnight, Instacart became an essential service for millions of families across North America"

Mehta said the new round will fund support for shoppers and partners and further expand initiatives in advertising and enterprise.

As the pandemic led to country-wide lockdowns, Instacart's share of the grocery delivery market surged. According to research firm Second Measure, which tracks credit card spending, Instacart's share of grocery pickup and delivery sales jumped to 55% in the third week of May, up from about 30% in February, pushing past Walmart and making it the biggest player in the space. Instacart hired an additional 300,000 workers between March and April to meet the surging demand, and plans to hire at least 250,000 more.

The latest funding round comes amid growing unrest among Instacart's shoppers, who are classified as independent contractors. During the coronavirus pandemic, they have been on the frontlines as essential workers, but do not have the protections or benefits that full employees are entitled to, including employer-sponsored health insurance.

In late March, a group of in-store shoppers organized a strike to protest what they considered to be the grocery delivery app's inadequate response to the outbreak. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden pledged his support, writing on Twitter: "Instacart needs to step up and give their workers the protections and pay they need and deserve." Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) echoed Biden, citing Instacart's previous valuation and exhorting the company to meet shoppers' demands.

Tweet

The following week, Instacart rolled out health and safety kits  which included a reusable cloth face mask, hand sanitizer and a thermometer  but the move came two weeks after many cities across the country enacted shelter-in-place restrictions. Instacart has also provided up to 14 days of paid sick leave to workers diagnosed with the coronavirus, but in-store shoppers continue to push for more  including hazard pay of $5 per order.

Scrutiny of shoppers' treatment has risen further in recent weeks, as Instacart has also come under fire for how it handles customers' tips. CNN reported in April that some customers on the platform were engaging in tip baiting, by enticing shoppers with a large tip and then removing it once the order was delivered.

In late May, four senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, urging regulators to investigate tipping practices at Instacart and other grocery delivery apps. Last month, Instacart unveiled changes to its policy, shortening the window a customer can alter their tip from three days down to 24 hours. The company is also requiring that customers leave feedback when they do remove or change tips.

"For the benefit of all shoppers on the platform, we are now deactivating any customer who consistently and egregiously engages in this type of behavior," Instacart said.

Aside from shopper concerns, some analysts also worry about whether the company can continue its momentum following the coronavirus-induced surge in demand.

As cities and states across the country begin to reopen, a survey last week by investment firm Stifel suggests that the eating-at-home trend may have hit its apex. Researchers found that 63% of consumers responded they are eating or cooking at home more often. And, while that tracks with levels in early March, it's below the peak levels we saw in April, when a large swatch of the country was under shelter-in-place orders.
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A moratorium on utility shut-offs has been extended to Aug. 1 and Illinois residents will receive payment plan options after then.

Consumer groups, the Illinois Commerce Commission and the office of Attorney General Kwame Raoul have reached an agreement with major utility companies to reach the consumer protections. The moratorium may remain in place until the state enters Phase 4 of the COVID-19 Restore Illinois plan, but no later than Aug. 1. Utilities will send a notice to any consumer who would be subject to disconnection and give a 30-day grace period. Consumers who have difficulty paying will be given 18 to 24 months to repay any balance and could be eligible for financial assistance.
Protesters gathered in Oxford to demand the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes were addressed by a 12-year-old local girl, who said it should be torn down.

Ella Johnson addressed the crowd gathered underneath the statue at Oriel College on Oxfords High Street on June 9.

How many times have people walked under this statue? How many times, with no idea of its meaning, no idea of its history and the people who died because of this man? she said.

Tear the statue down. How can we be told that racism is over, that there is no racism in this country? How can we be told the lie that the UK is not racist, that there are not racist people in the UK, when this statue is still standing? We are not taught in our schools about the people who died. We are not taught black history Decolonise the curriculum, end racism in the United Kingdom, Johnson, who described herself as half-Caribbean, said.

Cecil Rhodes was a financier, statesman and empire builder in Africa in the 19th century. He became Prime Minister of Cape Colony, in what is now South Africa, and co-founded the diamond-mining company De Beers. He established the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford University in his will. Past scholars include former President Bill Clinton and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.

Campaigners say Rhodes represents white supremacy and racist colonial policies. By June 10, more than 140,000 people had signed a Change.org petition for the statue to be removed. The leader of Oxford City Council, Susan Brown, has written to Oriel College suggesting it apply for the necessary planning permission to remove the statue, the Oxford Mail reported.

The renewed calls for the statues removal have come amid worldwide anti-racism protests, and the removal of other statues, including in Bristol, where protesters pulled down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston. In London, a statue of the slave trader Robert Milligan was removed by Tower Hamlets Council. In Virginia, meanwhile, a statue of Christopher Columbus was thrown into a lake by protesters. Credit: Jaime Johnson via Storyful
The Monaco Blue Initiative to protect the ocean

June 11,2020 | Source: UNESCO

The Monaco Blue Initiative supported by H.S.H. Albert II of Monaco and implemented by the Oceanographic Institute and the Foundation Prince Albert II of Monaco, gathered 37 patrons of the ocean--including the Executive Secretary of the IOC, Wendy Watson-Wright-- earlier this month to discuss ways to protect the ocean. During the two day workshop, the group launched its 2010 initiative focusing on the deep sea biodiversity and large marine species.



H.S.H. Albert II also sponsored the IOC-UNESCO co-led Oceans in a High CO2 World conference which resulted in the Monaco Declaration, as well as the Climate Change and Arctic Sustainable Development workshop again co-led by UNESCO.



Some of the 37 participants to the Monaco Blue Initiative included Biliana Cicn Sain, head of the Global Ocean Forum; Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP; Julia Marton-Lefevre, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Jacqueline McGlade, European Environment Agency; Tony Haymet, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Susan Avery, Director of Woods Hole Institute; Frederic Briand, Director of the Mediterranean Science Commission (CIESM); and Philippe Vallette, co-president of the World Ocean Network.



During the workshop the group had animated discussions on creating large marine protected areas, reforming fisheries subsidies, increasing consumer initiatives, and creating a global index of status and trends, which a UN regular process for assessing the ocean would provide. Both McGlade and Watson-Wright urged the group to support the move by the United Nations toward a Regular Process for assessing the ocean in order to improve understanding of the oceans and to develop a global mechanism for delivering science-based information to decision makers and the public.



Following the discussions, Watson-Wright met with fellow Monaco Blue Initiative ocean patrons Maria Betti, Director of the Marine Environment Laboratories of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Frederic Briand, Director of CIESM. IAEA is very interested in continuing to work with IOC-UNESCO covering ocean acidification and harmful algal blooms for example, and is also interested in collaborating on other issues of common concern. IAEA and IOC had in the past a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding with UNEP and Watson-Wright confirmed she is looking forward to continuing a similar agreement working together in these areas of common interest. In her discussions with Frederic Briand of CIESM, Watson-Wright encouraged reviving the positive collaborations between the two organizations. The upcoming Triennial CIESM congress will be held in Venice during the second week in May.

 UNESCO 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Theme(s): Others.
Twitter has suspended more than 23,000 accounts that it says were linked to the Chinese Communist Party and covertly spreading propaganda to undermine pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and counter criticism of Beijing's handling of a coronavirus outbreak that grew to a global pandemic.

Although China's efforts remain relatively unsophisticated, especially compared with Russia's in 2016, it is noteworthy, analysts say, that Beijing is seeking stealthily to seed its propaganda and disinformation on Western social media platforms.

"While the Chinese Communist Party won't allow the Chinese people to use Twitter, it is happy to use it covertly to sow propaganda and disinformation internationally," said Fergus Hanson, director of the International Cyber Policy Center at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which issued a report Thursday analyzing the Chinese campaign. "Persistent, covert and deceptive influence operations like this one demonstrate the extent to which the party-state will target external threats to its political power."

The campaign recently has broadened to exploit racial unrest in the United States, ASPI found. One account, for instance, tweeted an image of Lady Liberty with a knee on the neck of George Floyd, an unarmed black man whose death last month after a white police officer in Minneapolis held a knee to his neck has sparked global protests and calls for police reform.

Twitter's disclosure that it had removed 23,750 accounts builds on an action last August in which it removed other accounts that the social media company explicitly linked with China's ruling party.

The accounts were pushing the official, often contested Chinese line on sensitive issues including the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong (violent radicals encouraged by the United States), the novel coronavirus (Chinese worked together and triumphed over it) and Taiwan (it learned its covid response from China.)

They comprised the highly engaged core of a network that includes some 150,000 "amplifier accounts" that had few or no followers and were strategically designed to artificially inflate metrics to make it appear the tweets were highly popular, Twitter said.

These core accounts fired off 348,608 tweets between January of 2018 and April. Most were in traditional Chinese characters, as well as some special characters used only in Cantonese, which is spoken in Hong Kong. The propaganda campaign was aimed at Hong Kong residents, as well as the Chinese-speaking diaspora, researchers said.

"What we see in this data set is further evidence of a sustained commitment by the Chinese Communist Party to use social media for influence operations," said Renee DiResta, technical research manager at Stanford Internet Observatory, which also analyzed the data.

Twitter is blocked within China, where censors tightly control the Internet to try to ensure that the government version of events is the only one accessible. But over the past year, China has sought to broaden its online propaganda efforts beyond its domestic audience and has aggressively pushed its narrative in the wider world.

Chinese diplomats - called "wolf warriors" for their pugnacious style - have used Twitter to spread Beijing's message to international audiences in English and other languages. The government also has begun to surreptitiously target Chinese-speaking audiences around the world using inauthentic or hacked accounts on digital forums such as Twitter and Facebook.

"This large-scale pivot to Western platforms is relatively new, and we should expect continued evolution and improvement" given the government's resources and interest in promoting its narrative, ASPI wrote.

China's Foreign Ministry did not answer The Washington Post's request for comment on the core points of the report. Instead it responded with a general call for countries to work together. "Both the United Nations and the World Health Organization have called on all countries to strengthen unity and cooperation in cracking down on disinformation," the ministry said in a faxed statement.

Last August, Twitter removed almost 1,000 accounts that it said were linked to the Chinese government and focused on undermining the legitimacy of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.

Beijing responded by "immediately creating new [inauthentic] accounts to continue pushing the same themes, which include emergent priorities such as covid, and English language content to surreptitiously push CCP talking points," DiResta said.

Twitter's takedown disclosures, she added, and their efforts to allow access to data for researchers, "offer a model for other companies to follow."

The immaturity of the Chinese campaign is reflected in the low level of authentic user engagement - of real people reading and retweeting or commenting on the posts, and in the speed with which Twitter detected the accounts.

The operators favored speed and scale over quality, ASPI noted. Content appears to have been assembled hastily, with paragraphs squeezed in and images distorted. In some cases the operators didn't bother to remove spell-check underlines, the think tank said.

Most of the accounts tweeting about covid-19 were created after January, with one large batch emerging on a single day in April. Some tweets pushed the line that China was better at fighting the coronavirus than Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that Beijing views as a breakaway province. "China is the best anti epidemic country in the world, not Taiwan," tweeted a since-deleted account using the handle @NicoleS00264634.

The accounts also targeted billionaire Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui, who lives in Manhattan and is close to former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon. Guo, who also goes by Miles Guo and Miles Kwok, previously worked closely with Chinese intelligence officials but is now campaigning to topple the Communist Party. Beijing is seeking Guo's extradition to face charges including fraud, blackmail and bribery,and once sent security agents to pressure him to cease his accusations of corruption against the party.

Some of the tweets depict Guo as a rat or show images of protesters outside his apartment holding bilingual signs saying "Guo Wengui is a big traitor." Many focus on Guo's relationship with Bannon, suggesting that Bannon is happy to be Guo's mouthpiece for a price.

"The Chinese are so obsessed with their image, anybody criticizing them from abroad gets leveled with thermonuclear strikes," said James Mulvenon, director of intelligence integration at the U.S. defense contractor SOS International.

Twitter removed the accounts for violations of its policy forbidding platform manipulation, including engaging in deceptive activity or attempts to make accounts appear more popular than they are, and efforts to artificially influence conversations through fake accounts and automation.

"Improving the health of the public conversation is a priority for our company," Twitter said in a statement. "If we can ever attribute these behaviors to a state-backed information operation, we disclose them to our public archive - the only one of its kind in the industry."

Twitter traced the accounts to the Chinese Communist Party through specific unblocked IP addresses originating from the country, said a Twitter official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.

China is several years behind Russia, which has run online disinformation campaigns in Europe and former Eastern bloc countries for years, and notoriously interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with an effort to exploit societal rifts through posts on Twitter and Facebook that reached millions of Americans.

But while Russia seeks to divide societies and devalue the notion of truth, China, analysts say, is focused primarily on delegitimizing dissidents and adversaries and promoting an image of China as a world power.

"It's still really easy to identify Chinese information operations because the Chinese are mostly interested in refuting criticism and presenting China in the best possible light,'' said Mulvenon of SOS International. "The Russians play Bernie Bros against white nationalists, the left against the right and are much more technically sophisticated. The Chinese are not interested in devaluing truth because they think there is a truth to their message."

Twitter and Facebook began aggressively to take down state-sponsored accounts pushing propaganda and disinformation after the 2016 election. Influence operations from Iran, China, Russia, and several other countries have been detected by Facebook and Twitter in recent years.

- - -

The Washington Post's Lyric Li in Beijing contributed to this report.
A roadside bomb targeting a vehicle carrying troops has exploded in northwestern Pakistan, killing two soldiers and wounding two others, the military says.



The Pakistani army said in a statement on June 10 that the attack occurred near the town of Miran Shah, the main urban center in the North Waziristan tribal district that borders Afghanistan.



No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place as the troops were on patrol.



North Waziristan served as a stronghold for local and foreign militants until 2014, when Pakistans army launched a massive military operation to clear the region of combatants.



Despite the armys claims of success, the region has continued to be the scene of violent attacks, targeted killings, and roadside bombs.



On May 24, officials said three people, including two government officials, were killed in an attack in the town of Mir Ali.
Mayank Singh and Pushkar Banakar By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A day after Indian and Chinese troops partially retreated along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), bilateral Major general-level talks were held on Wednesday, a senior Army official said.

According to sources, both sides exchanged views, which would be reviewed at a senior level. Wednesdays meeting went on for more than four-and-a-half hours, sources said.

More meetings are lined up in future both at the Division Commander and Sector Commander levels to flesh out specific details and arrive at a de-escalation plan. These meetings will culminate in the Corps Commander-level meeting, sources added.

Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign ministry said that both sides were trying to ease the situation following diplomatic and military talks.

Recently, India and China held effective communication through diplomatic and military channels and reached a positive consensus. The two sides are following this consensus to take actions to ease the situation along the borders, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

ALSO READ | Ladakh standoff: China sees 'positive consensus' with India over border tensions

Indian and Chinese troops have been involved in a stand-off since the intervening night of May 5 and 6 after troops from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) attacked Indian soldiers between Finger 4 and Finger 5 positions near the LAC.

The Indian Army retaliated, leading to injuries to large number of personnel from both sides.

Following the escalation of tensions, Corps Commander-level talks were held on June 6.

The dialogue was held between Lt General Harinder Singh, commander of the 14 Corps and Major General Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang Military Region, at Moldo on the Chinese side.

The Chinese foreign ministry last week had said the situation along the LAC was stable and controllable.
Thought Leaders Prof. Carsten Welsch Head of the Physics Department University of Liverpool

How does radiotherapy work?

Radiotherapy is a method of treating cancer using radiation. In principle, radiotherapy could use all types of radiation but the most common types are X-rays and electron beams. Less well-known and less commonly used is high energy proton beam therapy, which is only just entering the UK healthcare market.

Image credit: Optimization of Medical Accelerators Project

Proton beam therapy uses a different type of particle compared to other, better-known, radiotherapy treatments but works in a similar way. The particles are used to damage cancer cells, and in the case of proton beam therapy, damage is done specifically to DNA of cancer cells. By stopping the cancer cells from reproducing, the treatment is ultimately able to destroy the cancer.

What advantage does proton beam therapy hold over x-ray and electron beam therapy?

X-ray radiation penetrates your entire body, meaning it enters at skin level and then goes all the way through your body which, as an example, allows an image to be generated in the process. Whilst X-rays are able to create good quality images, the quantities of energy deposited in the body of a patient are not ideal for treatment purposes because a lot of the energy of the beam is deposited at the entry location on the patients body. As the beam travels through the body of the patient, it deposits less and less energy. This means that if you have a deep-seated tumour, such as a brain tumour, then by the time you reach the tumour, you will have deposited a lot of unnecessary energy in the body of the patient.

With electron beams, the effects are even more limiting because they only have a penetration depth in water (a material that closely resembles the human body) of around 12 centimetres. Anything that is deeper than 12 centimetres can hence not be reached by electron beams. Furthermore, you still deposit most of the energy at the entry location.

Protons are something of a magic bullet because they enter your body without affecting any of the healthy tissue. They also only deposit energy where you want it to be, and are only dependent on the energy of the treatment beam. For instance, if you tune the beam to the right energy, you can tell the treatment beam to stop exactly after 13.4 centimetres in the body, after which you release that energy, to destroy the tumour only where is necessary. That's a huge difference.

When treating brain tumours, doctors are acutely aware that the brain is a very sensitive organ and any damage you do to surrounding healthy tissue could have very significant and serious side effects which could damage your sensors, or affect your ability to speak or move. However, proton beam therapy provides a treatment opportunity that destroys cancerous cells only at the site of the tumour and leaves the rest of the tissue intact. That's why proton beam therapy is a game-changing treatment for some cancer types.

Where is proton beam treatment available in the UK?

Previously in the UK, proton beam therapy was only available at very low energies, meaning that the only application was for eye tumours. This type of treatment was carried out for decades at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre on the Wirral but since November 2019, higher energy proton beams have become available for treatment purposes since the Christie Hospital in Manchester opened its doors for proton beam therapy. There are many more centres that will soon be opening in the UK, including one in Liverpool.

How is the treatment beam tuned?

To tune the treatment beam you need a machine that provides you with a beam of protons at variable energy and intensity levels, and it needs to be able to deliver that in a very flexible way. Taking the example of the brain tumour once more, if you have a tumour that is a few centimetres in size in three dimensions located within the head of a patient, and you know the shape of the tumour very precisely, then you need to paint that tumour with your proton beam in order to fully treat it.

As a result, you need a beam delivery system that allows you to not only scan transversely but also longitudinally, through that volume and deposit exactly the right energy to destroy the cancer at every point inside the volume of the tumour. Your facility needs to be able to accelerate a beam of protons to the required energy and then deliver it precisely to the volume within the patient where it is required. This is all done with a particle accelerator.

Looking towards the future, how can medical accelerator research help to improve radiotherapy for patients?

One of the main advantages of proton beam therapy is that it essentially has no immediate side effects. When you look at alternative forms of treatment, many of them can be quite traumatizing for patients, especially chemotherapy which can damage their entire body and has very significant effects on their wellbeing. The side effects can be extreme, preventing patients from leading a normal life during treatment periods.

Image credit: Optimization of Medical Accelerators Project

With proton beam therapy, when the patient goes into the centre they receive their treatment on the day, and treatment is typically spread over 10 to 20 treatment days. On the day they go into the centre, they have some preparation in the treatment room, they lay down on the treatment bench and then they receive their radiation, which they don't feel at all. It has no immediate side effects. There are no other major drugs patients have to take after that point, but after 20 treatments the tumour can be destroyed.

It's clearly not the magic bullet for all cancers, but for very highly located tumours, such as brain tumours or prostate cancer, it really is a game-changing treatment.

Can you provide an overview of the EU-funded Optimization of Medical Accelerators (OMA) research project that you led?

For the OMA project, our focus from the beginning was to carry out cutting edge research in proton and ion beam therapy. We decided to address this from a clinical perspective, from an engineering point of view when it comes to the design and construction of these machines, and also from a physics and biology side considering the understanding of how these beams actually interact with cells in the human body. We wanted to model these processes better and help improve understanding.

With OMA, we pulled a lot of the expertise that is available across Europe together and built bridges between clinical centres, research facilities where this treatment was pioneered, leading universities who produce innovative ideas, and companies that are specialised in providing these treatment facilities. In collaboration, we aimed to significantly improve treatment.

From a clinical perspective, one of the important challenges to tackle is the uncertainty around energy deposition inside a patient. A clinician would really like to know where exactly the beam delivers its energy. At the moment, that's one of the main issues that prohibits even more precise and targeted treatment. Significantly reduced safety margins and, therefore, reduced side effects, could be gained by more accurate prediction and verification of this range in the body of the patient.

The first direct measurement device for clinical use for that purpose is a prompt-gamma camera. This was one of the technologies that was investigated and improved by one of our OMA Fellows. We had other Fellows who worked together with them, who then tailored treatment plans that take into account improved detectability.

We also developed detectors that were used as fast-range detectors, for mixed beams of carbon ions and helium ions, so that we could online monitor the range of the beam and the patient. We also developed novel designs for beam delivery systems that would allow the beam to be even more precisely delivered to the patient.

We had other Fellows within the OMA project who focused more on diagnostics and they developed new detector types that enable more precise and online ways of measuring the beam as it travels to the patient, as well as diagnostics that measure the beam whilst it is inside the patient. Our diagnostics work package has really improved the overall way in which we can monitor the beam at all times, both, in the machine, as well as in the patient.

We have developed a very significant amount of software tools, which now allow both physicists that are looking into the beam transport and medical doctors that look into modelling the dose distribution inside the patient to gain far better capabilities in predicting what's going to happen when the machine is operated.

How do Innovative Training Networks work and what are the benefits of the scheme?

The traditional way in which we train postgraduate students is through a series of lectures, seminar talks and, primarily, by working on their research projects. Fundamentally, Innovative Training Networks (ITNs) believe that the best way of training these postgraduate students is by collaborating with the best partners across Europe and taking a cohort approach. ITNs train around 15 very highly qualified Research Fellows at a time and, in the case of OMA, they all work in the same broad research area but with distinct, individual projects.

Some researchers are based in industry, some of them are based at universities and others are based at clinical centres. They meet on a regular basis, not only to exchange their research progress but also to discuss how their training has been going and to discuss future collaboration. We want to get new research results from them, but at the same time, we want to train them to become world leading experts in their field.

The ITN scheme provides a unique and fantastic framework to do this, because it covers the salaries of these 15 Fellows. It also provides us with funding to organise international schools and workshops where we bring them together on a very regular basis, allowing for knowledge exchange where we have now developed all of them to a level that they can graduate to PhDs.

The OMA network was funded by the EU through the Horizon 2020 Programme. The project received 4 million of funding, which was awarded on a competitive basis. Every year around 1,500 proposals are submitted for this scheme, making it one of the most competitive in Europe and it has been for many years. A small fraction, around 5% of these proposals, are funded, so with OMA we were very proud to receive this outstanding support.

OMA was actually the very first and, so far, the only ITN proposal that received a 100% evaluation mark across any scientific discipline. To put that into perspective, that's out of around 15,000 proposals, and our project was the only one that received a 100% mark. To me, that was a clear indication that this is a very important area for science, technology and clinical practice to improve healthcare all across Europe.

How important is it to invest in fundamental scientific research? What are the benefits for society?

This is a very interesting question, particularly when considering OMA. I would dare to say that pretty much all the accelerator technology in OMA would not exist had there not been fundamental research conducted decades earlier for particle and nuclear physics applications.

My view is that there needs to be a balance between fundamental science and applied research that addresses the open questions that we have right now. However, the significant breakthroughs, these ground-breaking discoveries that lead to technology changes that ultimately change society, will only ever happen if you invest in fundamental research because that's what pushes the boundaries. Fundamental science is not something that tries to find an answer to a societal problem we have now, it tries to look well beyond that. The technologies that arise from fundamental science ultimately drive innovation.

What is the future for your research and for medical accelerator R&D as a whole?

Accelerators form the backbone of current research in all scientific disciplines. If I look at strategic roadmaps like the European Strategic Facilities Roadmap, then around 50% of future science infrastructures rely on accelerator technology, one way or another.

This presents a number of challenges. We want to reach ever higher energies to look deeper into the nature of matter. We want to see if we can potentially find new particles and new symmetries. One of the challenges is how we can do this, and how we can go to even higher energies.

At the same time, we want to reduce the costs, the complexity and the footprint of these facilities. We are looking at developing technologies that can make particle accelerators much smaller. There are different approaches that we are all involved in at Liverpool. We are targeting a reduction in cost and size by a factor of a 100 or a 1,000. Over a timeframe of 10 years, we are optimistic that this can be achieved for some applications.

Coming back to medical applications, I mentioned that the infrastructure at the Christie was opened last year. That was a very significant investment. It is a huge building containing a complex accelerator. If we now look 10 years into the future and we could reduce the footprint of that facility by a factor of 100 and also reduce the total costs, then the question would no longer be, "Can we have one or two of these facilities in the UK?" The question would then be, "Can we have one or two of these facilities in every hospital in the UK?" Then, of course, the healthcare benefits for patients would be massive.

How has the OMA project improved collaboration in the cancer research field?

In January 2020, we had the final project review for OMA with our Steering Committee and it was a fantastic experience. We've seen our 15 Fellows grow from excellent undergraduate students with little background in the area of medical applications, to become leading experts in their field over a period of just three years. Our Fellows are now invited to give talks at the world's most important medical conferences, and we've seen how the OMA network has created lasting links that will long outlive the duration of the funded-project.

As a result, we decided to continue pretty much all of our activities for at least two more years. In Liverpool, we are now bidding for additional funding for research projects that are connected to medical accelerators, often with other OMA partners. To some extent, the OMA project is still only at the beginning. There's clearly much more to do in proton beam therapy research and seeing now the benefits, both in terms of research outcomes as well as to the researchers that were involved, we definitely want to continue that journey.

Where can our readers learn more?

Readers can learn more about the OMA project at www.oma-project.eu, where there is a lot of information about the project in a brochure that people can download or view online. The website also contains a lot of background information about all of the different projects and also the publications that resulted from it.

For information on the University of Liverpools Physics Department, readers can visit www.liv.ac.uk/physics.

For my own research group, information can be found at www.quasar-group.org, where we go into detail about our research and our outreach activities.

About Professor Carsten Welsch

Professor Carsten Welsch studied physics and economics at the Universities of Frankfurt in Germany and UC Berkeley in the United States. He received his PhD in accelerator physics at the University of Frankfurt and after some years did Postdoc research at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. He was awarded a Fellowship at CERN in Switzerland. He founded the pan-European QUASAR Group in 2007.

Professor Carsten Welsch has been a member of the academic staff at the University of Liverpool and a member of the Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science and Technology since 2008. In 2011 he was promoted to Full Professor of Physics and has been Head of the Physics Department since September 2016.
Walmart announced Wednesday that the company will no longer lock multicultural hair and beauty products in cases in at least a dozen of its stores as Sephora promises to reserve 15 per cent of shelf space to black-owned brands.

CBS reporter, Tori Mason, was the first to learn of the new policy after a Walmart spokesperson sent her a statement.

Mason had previously shared a video from a black woman who noted that only the multicultural hair products were locked inside a case at Walmart.

Other people have shared on social media that the practice is 'nothing new'

Walmart (file image) announced Wednesday that the company will no longer lock multicultural hair and beauty products in cases in at least a dozen of its stores

This Walmart is in the heart of Montbello. There are black and brown people all over the place. The message is clear: We dont trust you.



A customer says the retailer is discriminating against people of color, locking only multicultural products behind glass. @CBSDenver @ 5 pic.twitter.com/9bgI4X0pCb  Tori Mason (@ToriMasonTV) June 8, 2020

In the video, the woman is heard saying that 'white privilege also extends to hair care products apparently in Walmart'.

The customer told Mason that the retailer is discriminating against people of color by only locking multicultural products behind glass.

'The message is clear: We don't trust you,' the woman said.

According to Walmart's statement, the policy was only placed in about a dozen of Walmart's 4,700 stores across the US.

But, the company said, 'we have made the decision to discontinue placing these items in cases' as soon as possible.

According to the spokesperson, the company is 'sensitive to the issue and understands the concerns'.

'As a retailer serving millions of customers every day from diverse backgrounds, Walmart does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.

'Like other retailers, the cases were put in place to deter shoplifters from some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products,' the spokesperson said.

Walmart (file image), along with personal care chains such as CVS and Walgreens, have faced scrutiny for the practice in the past. Judah Bell, a Walmart customer, said the process is 'humiliating' and is something she's noticed in more 'urban, less affluent areas'

Walmart, along with personal care chains such as CVS and Walgreens, have faced scrutiny for the practice in the past.

Judah Bell, a Walmart customer, told NBC that the process is 'humiliating' and is something she's noticed in more 'urban, less affluent areas'.

'It's hard for a customer to dispute that but predominantly African American people are buying those products, so the assumption is we're thieves,' Bell told the network. 'I try not to shop anywhere where I'm assumed to be a thief.'

Other people have shared on social media that the practice is 'nothing new'.

'It happens repeatedly. To believe theft only happens on black hair care products but not white and not be able to show data take a lot of trust in .... white supremacy,' one person tweeted.

The announcement comes just a week after Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon called the death of George Floyd 'tragic, painful, and unacceptable'.

'It's important that we all understand that our problems, as a nation, run much deeper than one horrible event,' McMillon said.

'The pain we're feeling reminds us of the need to support each other and come together. Until we, as a nation, confront and address these hard realities, we will never achieve the best of what we can be.'

Floyd, 46, was laid to rest on Tuesday more than two weeks after he died when a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.

Meanwhile, Sephora has promised to reserve 15 per cent of shelf space for black-owned businesses.

The move makes Sephora the first major retailer in the US to make the '15% pledge'.

Sephora's decision comes after the 15% Pledge website called on Sephora, Target, Whole Foods and Shopbop to make the commitment.

'We are inspired to make the 15% Pledge because we believe it is the right thing to do,' Artemis Patrick, Sephora's executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, told CNN.
Africa Harbors 9 of 10 Worst Displacement Crises, Aid Group Says

By VOA News June 10, 2020

Of the world's 10 most neglected displacement crises, nine are in Africa, the Norwegian Refugee Council reports in an annual assessment released Wednesday.

"The deep crises represented by millions of displaced Africans are yet again the most underfunded, ignored and deprioritized in the world," Jan Egeland, the NRC's secretary general, said in a news release announcing its new report. "They are plagued by diplomatic and political paralysis, weak aid operations and little media attention. Despite facing a tornado of emergencies, their SOS calls for help fall on deaf ears."

Cameroon tops the list of neglected crises for the second consecutive year. The West African nation has reeled from conflict over the Anglophone separatist movement in Cameroon's English-speaking northwest and southwest regions, displacing more than 679,000 people.

It's followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Venezuela, Mali, South Sudan, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Niger.

The countries from Africa's Sahel region  Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Niger  all have been beset by extremist violence and receive insufficient aid, the NRC said.

Venezuela is the only non-African entry on the list. The once-wealthy South American country has been devastated by falling oil prices and political strife. The socialist government led by Nicolas Maduro also blames economic sanctions by the United States and its allies for its misfortunes.

The NRC said it expects the novel coronavirus pandemic will worsen conditions for the countries on its list  and for others, too.

"The World Food Program is cutting rations at a time when you have an economic struggle caused by COVID," Pal Nesse, an NRC senior adviser, said by phone from Oslo on Tuesday. Trade and distribution problems have contributed to higher prices than normal, he said, emphasizing that if humanitarian aid is reduced, "the situation becomes more urgent.  More people will starve."

The World Food Program predicts that 265 million people globally will confront acute food insecurity this year because of the pandemic, more than doubling the number who experienced food shortages in 2019.

The NRC reviewed more than 40 crises in which more than 200,000 people have been displaced. It compiles its list based on three criteria that are lacking: political will, media attention and international aid.

The organization defines political will as the degree to which armed parties on the ground will protect civilians' rights and "engage in peace negotiations, and international actors' willingness or ability to find political solutions."

To assess media attention, it used the media monitoring firm Meltwater. It gauges international aid deficits based on U.N. and humanitarian partners' funding requests and the extent to which these are met.

The previous year's list, in descending order of severity, included Cameroon, the DRC, Central African Republic, Burundi, Ukraine, Venezuela, Mali, Libya, Ethiopia and Palestine.

Nesse suggested countries such as Ukraine and Libya commanded more attention last year with the migrant crisis in Europe and elsewhere. "There has been more news interest, whereas Africa often falls off the news screen, partly because conflicts have been going on for a long time" and because in some countries "it is very difficult for journalists to cover or have access."

Through its list, Nesse said, the NRC hopes to refocus attention, political support and aid.

The NRC report includes recommendations for politicians, donors, humanitarian organizations and the public. Among these are increased diplomatic efforts toward political solutions, more flexible and predictable aid funding, and improved "collaboration and coordination between organizations on the ground."

It urges the public to get informed and speak up about neglected crises, and to check on candidates' and parties' humanitarian policies before voting.

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Tom Kim, vice president of BTREE, speaks to reporters about the functions of the newly developed ORNG chipset at the company in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. / Courtesy of SKT



By Kim Hyun-bin



Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province  SK Telecom said it has developed what it claims is the industry's first miniaturized quantum random number generator (QRNG) chipset for mobile phones and that the technology will soon be widely integrated in diverse industries including AI and autonomous vehicles.



The chipset is the industry's smallest QRNG (2.5 x 2.5mm). It helps accelerate data transmission and strengthens privacy by generating unpredictable and pattern-less pure random numbers that are applied in identification and certification procedures, SK said.



The chipset uses a light-emitting diode (LED) to create photons that are captured by the CMOS image sensors. The photons are then transformed to produce random numbers, making it impossible for a third party to infiltrate the system.

Since 2016, SKT, with its partners BTREE and Switzerland-based ID Quantique (IDQ), have been developing the QRNG chipset for mobile phones.



After SKT acquired IDQ in 2018, the development process gained further momentum, allowing the company to take the title as world's first producer of this state-of-the art technology.





A miniaturized QRNG mobile chipset 2.5mm x 2.5mm. / Courtesy of SKT
Around the world, photographs are popping up showing usually-polluted cities that now have blue skies and sunshine. While sheltering at home is an emotional and financial challenge for many of us, we're witnessing what a world with less pollution looks like. Obviously a pandemic is not the answer to our climate woes, but it is showing us what a big impact human action has on the environment. The question is: how do we keep doing good for the environment as the economy returns to normal?

A lot of us want to transition to clean energy and move away from fossil fuels in our daily lives. Given the infrastructures (or lack thereof) in place, the process can seem daunting, even though we know that it's the direction the world needs to head in. Throughout much of the United States, you are often only given one option for energy. That's not going to cut it.

Even residents that live in energy-competitive states are forced to exert a lot of effort to transition to clean energy. Given that Americans only spend an average of eight minutes every year thinking about their utility bills, we need an easy-to-understand process that works for the environment and our wallets.

This is exactly why Arcadia was founded. Their automated platform helps members access green energy sources in their region. Thanks to their unique pooling of resources, many members even save money every month.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/pi-RqXcg3lg

As part of its smart rates feature, Arcadia negotiates with energy suppliers on your behalf to get you cheaper power rates. Because it represents many customers, Arcadia can often get cheaper rates than individuals would be able to on their own. That means some households in eligible states can save significantly, depending on the rates they paid before. All the while, Arcadia matches your energy usage with renewable wind energy. Even if you dont live in an energy-competitive state, you can still take advantage of their renewable energy match for free. That means the environment -- and by extension, you -- still wins.

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Simply enter your zip code on Arcadias website to find out what programs you're eligible for. After that, you'll connect your utility account and start matching your energy use with clean energy. If youre in an energy-competitive state, Arcadia will start looking for better rates for you. You can also pay your utility bill automatically through Arcadia -- as a bonus, you can pay with a credit card without any fees.

People in eligible states can also join Arcadias community solar program at no cost. Even if you're not eligible for rooftop solar, community solar is a great option. You get all the benefits of solar power without the hassle, expense, or long-term contracts associated with rooftop panels. Saving money while helping the environment is a double win.

Sign up today to receive a $20 Amazon Gift Card or four standard LED lightbulbs!
Director Spike Lee in New York. His new film, "Da 5 Bloods," begins streaming June 12 on Netflix. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Josh Rottenberg's interview with Spike Lee [Spike Lees Battleground, June 7] was wonderful, and I cant wait to see the film (Da 5 Bloods).

Something not mentioned was that the U.S. armed forces were segregated until President Harry Truman ended it in 1948. Thats hard to believe.

As I write this, I realize that 1948 was an election year and I wonder if Truman did it to get African American votes? I hope it was only because it was the right thing to do.

Jim Plannette



Los Angeles

Tear down those monuments

Art critic Christopher Knight's observations and advocacy [Doing Right Thing in the South, June 4] reached me like no other. Not the demonstrations. Nor the kneeling. Nor my constant interactions, respect for and support of people of all colors.

This column has paved a massive highway and provided a road map to facilitate understanding and change. First eliminate all the symbols of repression. Why didnt I get that a harmless statue of Robert E. Lee  that wonderful gentleman farmer/leader/graduate of West Point  was such a toxic symbol to my fellow citizens? He fought to enslave human beings. He needs to be buried. Along with all the others. Yes, 1,700 to go.

Hopefully, the leadership in our country will continue down your highway. 1) Fix the healthcare system to take care of everyone  no matter what color, income or status. 2) Fix the 18th century school system and pay premiums to effective teachers  fire the rest. 3) Eliminate the psychopaths in law enforcement. Then stand back and watch everyone thrive.

June Cowgill



Altadena

::

As a native of Alexandria, Va., as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a graduate student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, as a historian and author of "Managing White Supremacy: Race, Politics, and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virginia," and as a resident of Los Angeles for the last 25 years, I am writing to thank you sincerely for your column.

Story continues

I know the statue in Old Town Alexandria too well. It sits several blocks from the house where my grandfather grew up and several blocks from the all-Black library depicted on the cover of my book. I have spent many hours doing research at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond (now the Virginia Museum of History & Culture), which sits right next to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and I am all too familiar with the odious statues along Monument Avenue. Ditto for Silent Sam in Chapel Hill and the Lee statue in Charlottesville.

When I finished writing "Managing White Supremacy," I thought about writing a book on Confederate statues and memorials, but ultimately decided I didnt want to spend the next six to eight years of my life immersed in the subject (instead, I turned to reapportionment and the Supreme Courts one person, one vote decisions of the 1960s). Thank goodness, because I never would have been able to capture as eloquently as you have in a single column everything that is hateful and fundamentally dishonest about the Souths fascination and glorification of its past. May more and more of the 1,700 come down in the months and years ahead.

Many, many thanks for your powerful words.

Douglas Smith



Los Angeles

::

As a Southerner who grew up revering Confederate generals such as Lee and whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy, I wish you could see a broader point of view.

You dismiss heritage as unctuous twaddle about ancestral bravery in war.

Heritage is powerful, and if you think taking down Confederate statues will ultimately help the problem with systemic racism in the South, you fail to see the importance of the heritage we grew up respecting. It will only harden the hearts of white Southerners.

Wouldnt it be more constructive for liberals like you (and Im one too) to put your energies into building statues to Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and letting those of us with another point of view have our statues and yes, our sacred heritage? Tearing down our traditions will only harden hearts, not erase the past.

The more important goal is to get rid of the racist in the White House. Helping that cause is not going to be furthered in the red Southern states by having people like you crushing what is and has been a lifetime of pride and respect to Southerners.

Beth Brickell



Sherman Oaks

The local angle

While Im happy to see Lorraine Alis praise for local TV coverage of the L.A. protests [Local TV Bests Social Media, June 5], it would be nice if she made even passing mention of the most-watched stations serving the largest viewing audience in the city.

That would be Spanish-language television, which has been providing excellent continuing coverage of events throughout the city and county.

Given that these protests stem from the injustices suffered by people of color, your critics failure to mention stations serving the Latino community is an embarrassing omission.

Tim Paine



Burbank

::

Thank you for a great article. I really appreciated your perspective and insight into how media have evolved and specifically how social media can be so didactic.

And I learned something, which is always nice in a newspaper article.

Kevin M. Quinn



San Diego

::

This was such a well written piece. Thank you. Ive been really disappointed with local broadcast news that has contributed to the narrative of war or chaos when really, I see larger, very peaceful marches of unity with few instances of looting or violence. Please continue to push for coverage of the outcry rooted in the fight for justice, not the actions of few that detract and distract.

Abel Habtegeorgis



Oakland

Cable news can't handle the truth

Television critic Robert Lloyd did a service when he described the noise in my head as I try to keep up with and understand broadcasting today [Cable News Can't Rise to Occasion, June 4].

When speculation, opinion, posturing, repetition and even passion are described as reporting, it creates a cacophony for many of us who are still searching for the clarity that someone like Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite could provide.

But Im frightened by Lloyds notion that the capacity of news reporting is at times itself incapable of telling a complicated story.

Last week, I became an 88-year-old. I have been deceived over the decades but I have also been informed. What will the rest of you who follow my generation rely on to help you make choices?

Jack Drake



Redondo Beach

::

I read Lloyds column and did not understand what the headline had to do with the article. I did not see an analysis of what cable news is or is not doing in covering current events. I watch CNN regularly and am generally pleased with its coverage.

Lately, though, all news coverage is a problem. There seems to be only one story: the protests and observances of George Floyds death. Even the novel coronavirus and its effects on the economy seem to have disappeared into the haze.

I have many other complaints about local and national news programs, but that subject is for another time. At least The Times seems able to cover more than one story.

Gary Green



Pasadena

Same racism, different date

Mary McNamara points out that in light of racism in the U.S. continuing to rear its ugly head, we white people have not done enough to eradicate it [Racism Seems to be a Pandemic With No Vaccine, June 1].

She is 100% right. It is not enough to react after reading about yet another appalling injustice perpetrated on a person of color  we must be in proactive mode at all times.

McNamaras column should be required reading for all those who feel they shouldnt have to do more.

Anneke Mendiola



Santa Ana

::

McNamara has achieved a personal best in virtue signaling with her disgustingly smug  and undoubtedly racist  excoriation of white people, apparently all of whom are complicit in the tragic death of Floyd.

Instead of indiscriminately firing her bazooka like a journalistic terrorist, McNamara should instead look in a mirror and see the true face of scattershot and utterly unhelpful high dudgeon.

Jeff Schultz



Los Angeles

::

McNamaras column was spot on in describing white peoples reaction to the horrible killing we all witnessed in Minnesota. As she eloquently wrote, the real luxury for white people is that the current outrage can pass because its not part of our everyday life.

However, shes absolutely correct that we cannot divorce ourselves from injustice just because its not happening to us. Im reminded about the Holocaust, when Hitler slowly but surely stigmatized Jews and others. One group of citizens gradually lost its freedom until the ultimate tragedy unfolded. Action is sorely needed to heal the vast inequality in all forms that affects Black people across our country.

Michael B. Natelson



Newport Beach

::

Floyds unnecessary death sparked feelings about racism and law enforcement in so many people. We took to the streets to protest. People all over the world joined us in speaking out against injustice and racism. After seeing the attacks on so many African Americans, we cannot ignore this any longer.

It is time for the white community to lead the charge. We must walk shoulder to shoulder with our Black brothers and sisters. I suggest we sit down with elected officials, law enforcement and the media to discuss ways to right this wrong. We will need cooperation from everyone. We need to talk, organize and act. No more lip service. This incident teaches us that everyones life matters and that it is our responsibility to make it happen.

To change our culture, it will take a village. Lets start now.

Marlene Bronson



Los Angeles

::

McNamara is a truly great reporter/columnist. She is a valued member of society and an asset to the community and to this newspaper.

Sarane Bennett



Beverly Hills

::

Today, after 26 years, I ended one of the longest relationships of my life  longer than any of my jobs and as long as my domestic partnership. I have been thinking about this for the last few months but what convinced me today was the article by McNamara shaming me for being a white hypocrite.

I have no problem with her espousing such views if thats what she was hired to do. But to put her condemnation of me in the Calendar section was the tipping point. I cant imagine Robert Hilburn making a blanket statement critical of half his readership  let alone the editor approving of such a thing.

Au revoir, L.A. Times. It was nice knowing you.

Jay Musslewhite



Woodland Hills

Meet the new normal, same as the old normal

Mary McNamaras column [Back to Normal? We Can Do Better, June 5] was a heartfelt piece of brilliance.

Thank you to McNamara for stepping a little out of the normal boundary to express what I hope most of us feel.

William Winkler



Burbank

::

In her column, McNamara appears very concerned that the peaceful protesters not be confused with the relative few protesters who were involved in the violence and looting.

She doesnt appear at all concerned about the thousands of innocent business owners who lost their livelihoods. She never mentions them. Maybe its because McNamara didnt lose her livelihood.

Robert Flaxman



Beverly Hills

An L.A. icon in quarantine

Regarding Sanest Madwoman in Quarantine [June 7]: Physically in lockdown like everybody else, writer and performer Sandra Tsing Loh continues to uncover stuff we hardly notice in our own backyards.

Loh's observations jump like an acrobat from interesting to funny, back to interesting.

Thank God truth is so elusive. And I love it that Loh's arena has remained mostly Los Angeles and environs. Its been good to her, and shes been good to us.

Ken Hense



Los Angeles

The Bard's words ring true

Thanks to theater critic Charles McNulty for elucidating the observations of Shakespeare on our current political events [Ivanka Trump's Source Material, June 2]. I felt like I was reading an essay in a second-year sociology class, and thats a good feeling. The Times is where one goes to be informed of current events, and I would gladly digest more educational posts regarding current events as well.

However I must contest the assertion that "its easy to imagine Ivanka Trump identifying with Portia."

I doubt that anyone in the Trump household has any feelings at all for a character from classic theater.

Chuck Mason



Los Angeles

::

While admiring completely McNultys column  both thoughtful and challenging  I question his assumption that the president cannot imagine being oppressed. President Trump is motivated by fear  witness his being in a bunker on Friday. He sees himself as a victim, possibly being oppressed  even today  by former President Obama.

McNulty made me return to The Merchant of Venice, and I found some very appropriate quotations for Trumps behavior: The Devil can cite scripture for his purpose, being one.

Carol Mitchell



Marina del Rey

::

McNultys intelligent, reasoned, educated essay in response to the first daughters biblical remark was wonderful to read. I cannot imagine Ivanka Trump dashing out to find a copy of the "Merchant of Venice," but should she come across this piece of mild rebuke in her daily reading, I hope she garners something useful from it.

And this thought: Children do not always stand aside when a parent does something uncivil, and I wonder how long she and her siblings will wish their association with their father to continue. Never having much money and little power, submerging my soul for such is beyond my ken.

McNulty is a gift; one I discovered many years ago on the other coast.

Carleton Cronin



West Hollywood

::

Lets hope the theaters open quickly so McNulty can stop his Shakespeare-laced political opinions and their outrage against Trump. This time, McNulty slams Ivanka Trump, whom he does not know, for quoting Kings 20:5.

Not surprising, McNulty had no problem when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) publicly said multiple times: To minister to the needs of Gods creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us  and that this was her favorite Bible verse. However, Pelosis verse is not in the Bible  but no problem for the morally superior McNulty and the ever-enlightened Pelosi.

Since McNultys long-winded hit piece references The Merchant of Venice, the character Gratiano in that great play has a line that best describes McNulty: You speak an infinite deal of nothing.

Kevin Dretzka



Los Angeles

Editors note: After a flurry of stories looking for the source of Pelosi's quote, a Slate reader pointed out that Pelosi may have gotten the quote from the Good News Translation of Proverbs 14:31. "The Good News Translation, a 'common language' Bible first published in the 1970s, translates the verse this way: 'If you oppress poor people, you insult the God who made them; but kindness shown to the poor is an act of worship.' Pelosi reverses the phrases and expands the subject from the poor specifically to all of 'Gods creation.' But otherwise it is a fairly faithful translation."

::

The president holding the Bible high at the entrance of St. Johns Church in Washington, D.C., reminds me of a scene in a performance I saw of Goethes Faust I in Germany in 1947. There, Mephistopheles carried around and showed off a Bible to impress and seduce Gretchen.

Brilliant. Thank you, Charles McNulty.

Helga Kasimoff



Los Angeles

::

So its true that the apple doesnt fall far from the tree. Ivanka Trump quoting a sacred prayer from the Bible didnt make her feigned compassion any more heartfelt than her fathers false love of a Bible he picked up as a prop for his photo op to make him look religious.

The disgusting way he commanded federal troops to attack peaceful protesters in Washington's Lafayette Park with tear gas and roughly beat them with their shields to clear his way for using the church as a backdrop nauseated true religious people to the core. Instead of looking strong as he hoped, it merely exposed his lack of humanity for all to see.

Marcy Bregman



Agoura Hills




A beachgoer walks near the waves in Bolinas, Calif., in April. (Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times)

Few if any residents of the tiny Marin County hamlet of Bolinas have antibodies for COVID-19, researchers reported Thursday.

Residents of this isolated beach town, famously known for trying to keep out strangers, were tested in late April both for the coronavirus and its antibodies. Residents raised money for the tests, and UC San Francisco subsidized the project.

No one tested was found to have an active case of the disease, and the results of the antibody tests show that between zero and three in 1,000 people in Bolinas were previously infected, UCSF infectious disease researchers said.

Our goal with this study was to understand how widely the novel coronavirus had spread in a relatively isolated community like Bolinas before or soon after the stay-home orders went into effect," said Dr. Bryan Greenhouse, a professor at UCSF.

The results "suggest that few if any people in Bolinas had ever been infected by the virus as of the end of April, he added.

Researchers analyzed 1,880 blood samples, using two different tests to look for antibodies, and combined results from the two tests to statistically estimate population-level infection rates.

"It is quite possible that no people in Bolinas were ever infected," Greenhouse said in an interview.

He noted that all tests render some false positive findings, and the results had to be estimated.

While the antibody tests we used are amongst the most accurate available, no test is perfect, and individual results should be taken with a grain of salt," he said.

Researchers said the results show the effectiveness of stay-home orders, particularly for remote, rural places many miles away from highways, researchers said.

After the Bay Area issued stay-home orders in March, surfers arrived in Bolinas in droves. Residents posted themselves at the entrance of town to shout at drivers to turn around and go home.

The townspeople also made signs and posted them on roads leading into town. "Bolinas closed to visitors for duration of pandemic. Residents, deliveries only," said one sign.

Bolinas historically has been unwelcome to visitors. Town leaders limited water hookups decades ago to deter development, and residents regularly tore down traffic signs that showed how to get to the beach community. Bolinas is surrounded by the sea on three sides and reachable from San Francisco only by a long, windy road.

Tech executives eventually moved in, and the newcomers came up with the idea to test everyone in town for the coronavirus. Bolinas has a high percentage of elderly residents, many who live below the poverty line, and the newcomers feared the virus might ravage them.
Henry Bartell Zachry Jr., who was a member of the Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor and was named a Texas A&M Distinguished Alumnus in 1997, died Wednesday.

He was 86.

Born in Laredo in August 1933, he graduated from Texas A&M in 1954 with a degree in civil engineering.

According to the A&M Corps of Cadets website, Zachry served on the universitys Presidents Advisory Committee. He and his father, H.B. Zachry Sr., class of 1922, were both inducted into the Corps Hall of Honor, making history as the first father-son duo inducted.

Zachry has provided scholarships and other contributions through the Texas A&M Foundation, and for many years [has] supported the Aggie Bonfire with construction equipment and personnel, the Corps profile of Zachry states.

He went on to serve in the Air Force as a fighter pilot before joining his familys construction company, H.B. Zachry Co. in San Antonio.
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Lockdowns in Europe have saved millions of lives, according to a report modelling the expected progress of the disease in the absence of the measure in 11 countries.

A team from Imperial College Londons MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Jameel Institute (J-IDEA), and Department of Mathematics published its research in Nature, Monday. Their study also estimates that only a small percentage of the population of these countriesAustria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdomhas been infected with coronavirus.

The report is an indictment of governments initial delays in implementing public health measures, which caused tens of thousands of needless deaths under the pseudo-scientific pretext of achieving herd immunity. Yesterday, Professor Neil Ferguson, an author on the study and formerly a leading adviser to the government, told the House of Commons Science Committee that going into lockdown just a week earlier would have halved the UKs coronavirus death toll.

Above all, the report is also a warning of the terrible consequences of the return to business as usual now being universally pursued.

By analysing reported deaths, the authors calculated the changes in the reproduction number (or R value) between the start of the epidemic and May 4, when lockdowns started to be lifted. The R value indicates how many people on average each infected person is expected to transmit the virus on to. An R of 1 or above means the virus can spread rapidly.

The authors used reported deaths as a more accurate measure than reported cases, since large numbers of infections are known to be unreported. This is in large part due to the continued failures of government testing procedures. As the report notes, Most countries initially only had capacity to test a small proportion of suspected cases, reserving tests for severely ill patients or for high-risk groups (e.g. contacts of cases).

Even the reported death totals, though more reliable, significantly undercount the number of coronavirus-related fatalities. Nick Stripe, head of life events at the Office for National Statistics in the UK, told the Financial Times last week, COVID-related death registrations are running 31 percent higher than the daily numbers reported at the time.

The Imperial College study bases itself on the official statistics collected by the European Centre for Disease Control. Using deaths to estimate the R value in the early stages of the pandemic, prior to the implementation of lockdowns, researchers modelled the predicted spread of the virus along that trajectory counterposed to a model based on the spread actually observed following the lockdowns. The results are stark:

We find that, across 11 countries, since the beginning of the epidemic, 3,100,000 [2,800,000- 3,500,000] deaths have been averted

This includes an estimated 690,000 deaths in France; 630,000 in Italy; 560,000 in Germany; 470,000 in the UK; 450,000 in Spain and 110,000 in Belgium, plus tens of thousands in each of the other five countriesonly up to May 4.

These figures assume no change in the populations behaviour during the pandemic. The authors note that people taking independent action to protect themselves would likely reduce the R value. But it is highly questionable how far they would be able to do so while forced to work, send their children to school and travel on public transport.

Far more significantly, the figures do not consider the impact of an overwhelmed health system in which patients may not be able to access critical care facilities. This would dramatically increase the number of predicted deaths.

Even with lockdowns belatedly introduced, hospitals in Britain, Italy, Spain and France reported being stretched past breaking point, with several having to refuse patients or treatment, declaring emergency shortages of vital medical supplies, or having to close entirely. These countries and others kept just within health care capacity only by abandoning tens of thousands of elderly residents in care homes and keeping thousands more desperately ill people out of hospital.

Only yesterday, Britains National Health Service (NHS) reported that its waiting list for treatmentincluding for cancer, strokes and heart diseaseis expected to more than double to 10 million by the end of the year. The health service is currently working at 60 percent of capacity due to infection control measures. Had the coronavirus been allowed to spread freely, the NHS and other health services in Europe would have collapsed.

The authors conclude: Our results show that major non-pharmaceutical interventions and lockdown in particular have had a large effect on reducing transmission. Specifically, the research finds that these interventions have reduced the R value by between 75 and 87 percent across the 11 countries studied.

Refuting the early attempts made by politicians to blame their own inaction and negligence on the public, the report notes, Modern understanding of infectious disease with a global publicized response [which, we would add, has depended on social and independent media against the public statements of governments] has meant that nationwide interventions could be implemented with widespread adherence and support.

As a result of the populations efforts, the numbers infected with coronavirus to date have been substantially suppressed. The Imperial College model for the progress of the disease with no lockdowns suggests that the UK, for example, would by now have seen 70 percent of people infected, whereas the real figure is estimated at 5.1 percent. Across the 11 countries, the rate of people so far infected is put at between 3.2 and 4 percent. The highest rate of estimated total infections is in Belgium, at around 8 percent, and the next highest in Spain, at just 5.5 percentan average of 4 percent across the 11 states.

The report concludes that populations in Europe are not close to herd immunity. There is therefore no natural barrier to a renewed rapid spread of the disease. The researchers advise, Continued intervention should be considered to keep transmission of SARS-CoV-2 under control.

These conclusions are supported by another recent report, also published in Nature, which produced similar results for a study of China, South Korea, Iran, France and the United States. Carried out by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, the research estimated that 530 million infections had been prevented in these countries by lockdown measures.

The political implications of these studies are immense.

Governments were forced to put lockdowns in place because they felt unprepared to confront the massive popular opposition in the working class to the policy of herd immunity. Those lockdowns, despite the failure to provide sufficient care for either the infected or the isolated population, have significantly restricted the spread of the virus and saved millions of lives.

But as it stands, the loss of these lives has not been averted, only postponed. The ruling class intention was not to use the lockdown to prepare a public health infrastructure to control and eventually eliminate the virus, but to give themselves time to plan how to force a largely unchanged agenda of herd immunity on the population.

Hundreds of thousands of families have already suffered the consequences of this policy. But the present figure for deaths is the result of an infection rate of just 4 percent. Had the disease run its course, this figure would have been over 3 million in just 11 European countries, with an infection rate of 70 percent. Now that the lockdown is ending, and with health care systems in a worse state than ever, a European and global death toll in the millions is likely.

The sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) have published versions of the statement, Build rank-and-file factory and workplace committees to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus and save lives! to provide workers and youth with a strategy for combatting the murderous implications of the back-to-work drive. We urge our readers to distribute, discuss and act on this programme.
The Tamil Nadu government ordered a COVID death audit in Chennai after 200 fatalities, linked to the coronavirus infection, was allegedly not added to the states official toll, reported The Indian Express.

As of June 11, Tamil Nadu has reported 36,841, of which 25,937 are in Chennai. The state has reported 326 deaths till Wednesday evening, including 260 within the capital city alone.

Officials blamed the mismatch on a 'procedural lapse'.

Health Secretary Beela Rajesh denied allegations of the under-reporting death toll and said a nine-member reconciliation committee will look into such cases.

The state has been accurately reporting all COVID-19 deaths. Following reports in media that several deaths were not reported, the set government has formed a committee to assess all these alleged deaths, Rajesh said, adding that the number of deaths that did not make it to the official toll is yet to be ascertained.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

She added, "We suspect that these alleged deaths were cases where people died at home or those that happened at private clinics."

"There were lapses in updating the Chennai's death due to a shortage of staff and the additional workload of managing over 1,000 containment zones," a corporation official told The Indian Express.

Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

After reports emerged, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Dr P Vadivelan issued an order stating, "From now on, all coronavirus deaths in Chennai corporation must be notified on a daily basis. Vadivelan, who is also heading the reconciliation committee, said the panel will look into each and every death.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister K Palaniswami also rejected claims of under-reporting of fatalities. "Where is the difference in deaths? ... there is no ground to conceal deaths and nobody can hide deaths," Palaniswami told reporters on Thursday.

The Chief Minister also reiterated that there was no community transmission of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu and maintained that the spread was through contacts.

A Chennai-based anti-corruption initiative, Arappor Iyakkam, has filed a written complaint to the Health Secretary, claiming that three coronavirus deaths in a government medical college were not added to the states official toll.

"Government medical colleges report directly to the Health Department. Even if the department is blaming the city corporation for not reporting about 200 COVID-19 deaths, how did they miss the deaths in a government medical college?, Jayaraman Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam quipped.

(With inputs from PTI)
The air company believes that the renewal of the flights will help to increase the economy of the region and protect thousands of working places

Low-cost carrier Ryanair Open source

Irish low-cost Ryanair airline renews over 20 regular routes to and from Ukraine from July 1, as Interfax-Ukraine reported.

The company added that some particular routes will be available from the last week of June.

Ryanair noted that the renewal of the flights will allow to increase the economy of the region and protect thousands of working places. Moreover, the passengers with canceled spring flights due to the restrictions for travels caused by the coronavirus will be able to buy back their vouchers.

Earlier, Irish low-cost Ryanair airline stated about the intention to renew 24 routs to and from Ukraine for the summer season 2020. It is about half of all routes of the company from Ukraine.

As we reported, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has been negotiating the issue of resuming air traffic with Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Turkey, and Cyprus.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: A city civil and sessions court has rejected the bail application filed by Amulya Leona in relation to a sedition case registered by the city police for raising pro-Pakistan slogans during the anti-CAA rally held here in February.

Vidyadhar Shirahatti, Judge of LX Additional City Civil and Sessions, on Wednesday passed the order rejecting the bail plea of Amulya, a 19-year-old studying at a college in the city.

In the present case, the petitioner (Amulya) is also alleged to have said Pakistan Zindabad which could affect peace, law and order. The investigation officer has not completed the probe and has not filed the chargesheet, the judge said while rejecting the bail plea.

The grounds taken by counsel of Amulya for seeking bail, the judge said, The points which have been raised by the petitioner are to be considered at the time of the full-fledged trial. If the petitioner is granted bail, she may abscond. Therefore, the bail petition of the petitioner is liable to be rejected."

The judged added that she may also be involved in similar offences again, which affect peace at large, if she was granted bail.

Amulya was arrested on February 20, 2020 after she raised pro-Pakistan slogans at a rally organized against the CAA at Freedom Park in the city.
Investigators with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff-Coronor's office and Paso Robles Police Department investigate a homicide near the Union Pacific railroad tracks north of the train station in downtown Paso Robles, as law enforcement agencies responded to an early morning shooting in the Central Coast city after a sheriff's deputy was wounded, in Calif., on June 10, 2020. (David Middlecamp/The Tribune of San Luis Obispo/AP)

Man Who Shot California Cop Sought; Charges in Other Killing

LOS ANGELESHundreds of California police officers were hunting June 11 for a gunman suspected of opening fire at a police station, wounding a deputy with a shot to the face and killing a transient man with a bullet to the back of his head.

Authorities described being a step behind the suspect, 26-year-old Mason James Lira, since he opened fire at the downtown Paso Robles Police Department before dawn Wednesday. Officials later discovered the body of the transient, who had been shot at close range.

Its a wide-ranging, full-on, full-scale effort, said Tony Cipolla, spokesman for the San Luis Obispo County sheriff. Were right behind him. You cant run forever.

The search intensified into dawn Thursday in and around Paso Robles, a tourist destination in Californias central coast wine region. Police closed parts of a freeway and used flash-bangs during a search of apartments.

The attacks came just five days after another unlikely California crime location. The community of Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County farther north, was the scene of an ambush on police.

Santa Cruz sheriffs Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, was killed and another deputy was injured Saturday in an attack allegedly carried out by an Air Force sergeant armed with homemade bombs, an AR-15 rifle, and other weapons. Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said the suspect, Steven Carrillo, was intent on killing officers.

Carrillo, 32, was arrested and the FBI is investigating whether he has links to the killing of a federal security officer outside the U.S. courthouse in Oakland during a protest against police brutality on May 29. A white van was spotted at both attacks and the FBI is seeking the publics help to find it.

Prosecutors filed 19 charges Thursday against Carrillo who faces life in prison. He is accused of killing Gutzwiller and attempting to kill four other officers, as well as possessing destructive devices and the components to make others. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

Parkinson said there were no events in the Paso Robles area or imminent arrests by authorities that could have triggered the violence. He also said investigators didnt know if the attack was connected to anger swelling nationwide at police over the killing of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

You see whats happening nationally, you see the riots, you see the looting, you see the acts of violence occurring  theres naturally fear as a result of that, he said. So trying to calm the community has been our goal.

These images taken from a surveillance camera and provided by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Office seeking the publics assistance in finding a suspect believed to be responsible for a shooting that took place in Paso Robles, Calif. in the morning on June 10, 2020. (San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Office/AP)

In Paso Robles, a gas station clerk reported seeing Lira around 2 a.m. Thursday when he came into the convenience store to buy an energy drink, KSBY reported. The clerk described Lira as being sweaty, exhausted, and mumbling to himself. Lira seemed crazy but did not do anything threatening, said the clerk, who called 911 after he left.

Officers and sheriffs deputies from agencies throughout the regionincluding the FBIworked through the night in two-person units.

Authorities have not determined the motive for the attack. But Lira, a transient from the Monterey area, was arrested previously for making terrorist threats, said Cipolla, who could not immediately provide more information about that case.

The events started unfolding around 4 a.m. Wednesday, when Lira fired at police cars as they entered downtown Paso Robles, authorities said.

Two sheriffs deputies heard gunshots but didnt see the attacker until they were outside of their patrol car when shots were fired at them. One was hit in the head. His partner returned fire and dragged the deputy to cover behind a police car.

We feel that this was an ambush, that he planned it, that he intended for officers to come out of the Police Department and to assault them, said San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson.

The wounded deputy, Nicholas Dreyfus, 28, was flown to a trauma center and underwent surgery.

He is listed in guarded condition and his prognosis is good, a sheriffs statement said Thursday, adding that the deputys wife and family were with him.

Shots were fired at five downtown locations, and some buildings were hit, including a Department of Motor Vehicles office, Parkinson said. Surveillance camera photos from businesses show a young man in a long-sleeved shirt.

While officers searched for Lira, they received a report of a body near the train station and they found the body of a 58-year-old man on the tracks.

He appeared to be a transient who was camping out overnight, Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis said. It wasnt immediately clear whether he was shot before or after the attack on the police station.

Lewis urged family or friends of the gunman to convince him to surrender. Theres no need for further bloodshed. Theres no need for further violence in our community, he said.

By Christopher Weber And Stefanie Dazio

The Associated Press and The Epoch Times contributed to this report.
Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times.

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A new confirmed case of Covid-19 was reported in Beijing on Thursday for the first time in nearly two months, leading to the sealing of a residential complex in the city and contact tracing in the locality.

The 52-year-old man doesnt have a history of travelling outside Beijing or any contact with anyone returning from outside China, officials said.

Beijing health authorities said the man from Beijings Xicheng district showed symptoms such as chill and fatigue but no cough, sore throat or chest tightness. The patient reported that he had no history of leaving Beijing or close contact with foreigners in the past 2 weeks. The sample nucleic acid test was positive, and the expert diagnosed as new coronary pneumonia confirmed cases, the official was quoted in state media.

Beijing lowered its emergency response to the novel coronavirus epidemic from the second level to the third on Saturday, a local official had announced Friday.

Beijing, local government spokesperson, Xu Hejian said had not reported any locally transmitted or imported case of Covid-19 for 50 consecutive days, signalling that prevention measures had worked.

Overall, Beijing had reported 420 local and 174 imported cases of Covid-19, Xu said, adding that the death toll stood at nine.

Oveall, the Chinese mainland reported 11 new imported Covid-19 cases for June 10, bringing the total number of imported cases to 1,797, the national health commission (NHC) said Thursday.

Of the 11 imported cases, six were reported in Shanghai, three in Guangdong Province, one each in Tianjin and in Fujian province, the commission said.

Of all the imported cases on the mainland, 1,736 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 61 remained hospitalized.

No deaths had been reported from the imported cases, official news agency, Xinhua reported Thursday.

China has reported over 83000 cases and 4634 deaths from Covid-19.
Gravediggers prepare the coffin of Antonio Marciano, 65, who is suspected to have passed away from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during his burial in Duque de Caxias public cemetery, near Rio de Janeiro Brazil. (Image: Reuters)
ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI -- A 71-year-old Allegan County man accused in two cold-case killings, including his adopted teen daughter, has pleaded guilty to murder in Virginia and already is sentenced to life in prison.

Dennis Lee Bowman, of Hamilton, entered pleas Wednesday, June 10 to first-degree murder, rape and burglary in a Norfolk courtroom.

Prosecutors say he killed 25-year-old Kathleen OBrien Doyle in September 1980. She was the wife of a U.S. Navy pilot who was deployed at the time of her death.

After he pleaded, Bowman was sentenced to two terms of life in prison for the murder and rape.

Bowman was charged last year in the Doyle case and just recently charged with murder for the 1989 killing of his 14-year-old adopted daughter, Aundria Michelle Bowman.

Related: Allegan County man charged in death of adopted daughter who went missing in 1989

She went missing that year.

Police in February developed new leads that led them to a shallow grave on Bowmans property, in the 3200 block of 136th Avenue in Monterey Township. There, they found skeletal remains later identified as that of Aundria.

According to the Norfolk Commonwealth Attorneys Office, Deputy Attorney Philip G. Evans II spoke at Wednesdays hearing and talked about how Doyles father spent the rest of his life in regular communication with detectives to help ensure his daughters killer was identified and found. He died in 2016.

Bowman is expected to be returned to Michigan at some point to face trial for his adopted daughters death.

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Congress MP and former party chief Rahul Gandhi will be holding an interactive session with former US diplomat Nicholas Burns on Friday to discuss how the Covid-19 crisis is reshaping the world order.

Tomorrow, Friday, 12th June, 10 AM onwards, join my conversation with Ambassador Nicholas Burns on how the Covid crisis is reshaping the world order, across all my social media platforms, Gandhi tweeted on Thursday.

This comes a week after Gandhi held a discussion with industrialist and Managing Director of Bajaj Auto Rajiv Bajaj on the economic fallout of Covid-19.

Also read: Need to make Covid-19 crisis major turning point for nation - PM

Tomorrow, Friday, 12th June, 10 AM onwards, join my conversation with Ambassador Nicholas Burns on how the Covid crisis is reshaping the world order, across all my social media platforms. pic.twitter.com/qIkWUbxxBg  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 11, 2020

Gandhi has been conduction a series of discussions with eminent personalities and experts amid the coronavirus crisis. His first dialogue was with former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan which took place on April 30. Rajan had told Gandhi that the second and the third lockdown in the country amid the Covid-19 crisis will be devastating for India.

The subsequent weeks saw Gandhi hold discussions with Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee and globally renowned public health experts - Professor Ashish Jha of Harvard Global Health Institute and Swedish epidemiologist Johan Giesecke.

While Banerjee recalled the need for a robust economic package for the revival of the coronavirus-hit economy, Rajiv Bajaj said that India has flattened the wrong curve by decimating Indias economy.

You (the government) have not solved that problem. But you have definitely decimated the economy. You flattened the wrong curve. It is not the infection curve, it is the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) curve. This is what we have ended up with, the worst of both the worlds, Bajaj told Gandhi last week.
File Photo

Taking a step forward in the field of technology, the Chinese company has claimed to build a battery that can last up to 2 million km. The company said that this battery will last for 16 years.

So far, car manufacturers offer warranties ranging from 6,000 to 1.5 million kilometers, with a validity of only three to eight years.

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PhotoContemporary Amperex Technology, a company that makes batteries for electronic vehicles, has not yet said which car maker it will offer its idea to. However, it is reported that the Chinese company CATL will work with the American company Tesla Inc.

Zeng Yuqun, chairman of the Chinese company CATL, said that if a car manufacturer placed the order, they would be ready to make batteries.

PhotoTalking about the business, the chairman of CATL said that he is ready to increase the premium on batteries already supplied by 10 per cent. The company signed a two-year deal with US Company Tesla in February this year.

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In addition to Tesla, CATL has business with BMW, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. According to the report, many countries are turning to electronic cars. By 2031, Britain could ban petrol and diesel vehicles.
The royal family just celebrated another remarkable milestone for Prince Philip as he turned 99 on June 10.

Although it is quite different from his previous celebrations, the Duke of Edinburgh marked his historic birthday in a no-fuss way.

It was previously reported that he wanted to have a distinctly low-key lunch celebration with the Queen, as well as telephone and Zoom calls with the rest of family and friends while at their royal residence in Berkshire. The two have been in Windsor Castle since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Royal Family Greets Prince Philip On His Birthday

With the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, no visits were expected from the rest of the royal family. However, other members of the monarchy sent their warm wishes to honor Prince Philip's special day.

His grandson Prince William and wife Duchess Kate Middleton posted a series of photos together with the Duke of Edinburgh.

"Wishing a very happy 99th Birthday to The Duke of Edinburgh!" wrote the royal couple through their official Instagram account Kensington Palace.

Princess Eugenie also paid tribute to Prince Philip as she took to Instagram to post a throwback snapshot alongside her grandfather during her 2018 wedding with husband Jack Brooksbank.



"A very Happy 99th Birthday to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Grandpa, we wish you a special day.. and may all grandparents celebrating birthdays in lockdown have a wonderful time. #happybirthday," Princess Eugenie wrote.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle -- who are in their Beverly Hills mansion in Los Angeles -- were also reportedly called via video conference the birthday celebrant together with their 1-year-old son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

In more related royal family news, The Firm's official social media accounts also honored the oldest and longest-serving royal consort in British history. They posted a slideshow of photos of Prince Philip through the years.

"Wishing The Duke of Edinburgh a very happy birthday!" the caption of the post read. "His Royal Highness turns 99 today and will spend the day with The Queen at Windsor."

Another photograph of the 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh together with Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle was also shared on Instagram and Twitter.

"This new photograph of The Duke of Edinburgh and The Queen was taken last week in the quadrangle at Windsor Castle to mark His Royal Highness's 99th birthday tomorrow," the caption read.

Royal Family's Photoshop Fail

Interestingly, eagle-eyed fans spotted a strange detail with the couple's official portrait. Netizens mentioned that the photo was poorly photoshopped.

"You had a week to edit with photoshop and you end with this? God save the graphic designer," one wrote.

Another user pointed out that Queen Elizabeth II's hands were digitally manipulated. "Ok-who's responsible for this? Fire that person."

On the other hand, one royal watcher accused The Firm of concealing Prince Philip's illness by editing him alongside the Queen. "Photoshop fail, what are they trying to hide? If Phil is too ill to be out taking photos just use a throwback pic."
The hiring of Mark Saunders as Toronto police chief in 2015 was a missed opportunity. His unexpected early departure gives Toronto a rare second chance.

The Toronto police services board could have picked a futuristic chief, schooled in community policing, committed to the eradication of racial profiling and carding, content with bold new approaches to serve and protect and a modern, collaborative ethos that welcomes dissent and reform.

Instead, it opted for the status quo  a Black chief, yes, the citys first  but that was the extent of the revolution five years ago.

Now, nothing short of a transformational police leader is acceptable  not with the world convulsing over the deadly and brutal interactions of police with citizens, particularly Black men. Steady as she goes will not fly as an attribute of the top cop. Bold doesnt begin to define the ask.

So, the police board has caught a break. Instead of being stuck with a dinosaur at the helm during a time when the crescendo mounts for 21st-century non-military, less violent cops, the board can set the table for the new era now emerging.

Its choice  Torontos 11th chief  will be installed at a moment in history when the universe demands change. Not just change, but reform. Not reform but revolution.

Take body cameras on police officers, for example. Sorry, old news. Both Saunders and Mayor John Tory offered them up for early implementation. No one shouted for joy. This is not a bargaining chip. Body cameras are a given. And they better not be turned off just when the police-citizen interaction gets interesting.

Freeze the police budget. Sorry, old news. What critics and protesters and lawmakers and even police chiefs are saying now is not freeze police budgets, but reduce it. Actually, defund the police. Break up the construct and start again because the system is broken.

Cops are heroic figures cemented in our brains through popular culture and lore. But clearly we are asking too much of them. Instead of hiring social workers and counsellors for schools, we station police officers with students. Rather than fund programs to help couples and families handle conflicts, we send in police to settle domestic disputes. We release people with mental health issues into the community and expect police to engage them without using deadly force.

Re-directing money routinely sent to the police over the past two or three decades will be controversial. But turning back the forces pushing for this wont be easy. Many activists have recommended the same year after year without traction. Suddenly, the demands are becoming mainstream. The chief becomes critical in guiding public debate without pandering to the police unions.

By leaving early, eight months ahead of time and, seemingly, on his own terms  which really means he is not being hounded out and tossed aside amid media speculation about his future  for once, Saunders is ahead of the curve.

Saunders has been an enigma. The citys first Black chief, he was the establishment choice because the alternative, Peter Sloly, was too reform-minded.

Actually, Sloly was too uppity for the police brass. The normal micro-aggressions and slights and racist attitudes baked into the system did little to derail this Negro. Toronto police didnt know what to make of this independent, tough-minded, smart, progressive man. So, the union backed the other Black guy.

Who is going to complain, they smirked. You are getting your Black chief, no?

We got what we bargained for.

Saunders backed carding  the most outrageous and hurtful policy of randomly stopping Black people not suspected of a crime but just to build a data base. And then, when it became a political embarrassment for Tory and the mayor dropped it, Saunders dropped it, too.

Yes, a week ago Saunders was seen taking a knee with anti-Black racism protesters who have joined the global demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd, a policemans knees on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Good on you, chief. Imagine how credible that would play now if youd spent a few hours with Black Lives Matter during their occupation outside police headquarters in March 2016.

The new chief must be innovative, a thought-leader in policing who has actually effected difficult change, not just talked about it on a resume. And there is a base requirement to understand the impact of anti-Black racism and how it intersects with law enforcement.

He or she must be able to hear the calls to defund police and not freak out with scaremongering about what that means. Instead, tell us what we can do differently to change policing.

Smart and experienced is a base requirement, not a selling point. You dont even get an interview without that. Then, show us what youve already done to effect the change you promise. A candidate for chief cant profess to care about sexual harassment in the Toronto Police Service yet show no evidence, month by month, of speaking about this, challenging colleagues, demanding change, holding them to account. Fail to do that as a deputy or superintendent and we dont need you as our top cop.

The worlds changed. Whether by design, instinct, or some other urging, Saunders got out of the way just in time. For Torontos good, the police services board must make this second chance count.

Correction - June 12, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that misspelled Mark Saunders surname in one reference.

Royson James is a former Star reporter and a freelance contributing columnist based in Toronto. Reach him via email: royson.james@outlook.com

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City pools are open

Doug Russell Pool and Washington Family Aquatic Center are open. Because of less-than-normal staffing, the pools will operate on different days. Russell will be open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; Washington will be open Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Both pools will be closed on Mondays for maintenance and training.

The governors orders limit attendance to 50 percent of normal occupancy, according to a press release from the city.

In an effort to accommodate as many people as possible and to allow staff to clean the facilities, entry passes will be sold for three-hour sessions. Passes, which are $3, go on sale at the pool 30 minutes before the posted opening times and are good only for the day of purchase. Punch cards will not be sold this year, according to the release.

Also because of staffing limitations and coronavirus precautions, there wont be private parties, lap swim times, swimming lessons or family nights. Pool furniture will be removed from both pools, but swimmers will be allowed to bring chairs.

Anyone with coronavirus symptoms or who has been exposed to anyone that with symptoms in the previous 14 days should not go to the pools, according to the release.

The schedule is:

--Washington

Noon-3 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. Wednesday and Friday;1-4 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Sunday

--Doug Russell

Noon-3 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Volunteers wanted

These select area volunteer opportunities and events are provided by MSS Connections, a program of MSS made possible by the Warren Charitable Foundation. For more information, visit www.mssconnections.org.

--Petroleum Museum

Wild about Science  Summer Science Camp

Contact: Mara Bland, 683-4403

--American Red Cross

Virtual opportunities

Contact: Stacy Pickett, 425-7637

--Midland Story Telling Festival

Contact: Carol James, carol.james.52@gmail.com, 685-3876

--Legal aid during COVID

www.lanwt.org, 686.0647

--Alzheimers Association

Contact: Janet Cross, jcross@alz.org, 528-3664

MCPL extends curbside service

Midland County Public Library has extended its curbside service at the downtown branch. Hours are now 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Patrons may reserve materials online and will receive an email with instructions for curbside pickup.

The branches, which are open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday during coronavirus, will continue reserving the first hour of each day for at-risk patrons such as those age 65 or older and children age 5 or younger accompanied by an adult. Groups may not exceed 10 people and field trip activities are not available.

Notary services, passport acceptance and meeting room reservations are not yet available at either branch, according to a press release from the library. Use of the Genealogy Department is available by appointment only and may be schedules by calling 742-7400.

MISD serves summer meals

Midland ISD summer meal schedule is in effect. Breakfast and lunch meals will be available for grab and go 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 11 locations, according to a press release from the district.

Meals are available for any child 18 or under, or those who receive services from school. The locations are Bonham, Bowie, Bunche, Burnet, DeZavala, Rusk, Santa Rita, South and Yarbrough elementary schools; Fire Station No. 4 and Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park.

MISD has served more than 405,000 meals during the COVID-19-related closure of schools, Victoria Beck, director of Child Nutrition Services, said.

Daily menus are available at midlandisd.net, under Child Nutrition Services.
TRENTON  Thats all, folks.

Facing pressure from citizens and a local civil rights organization, Mayor Reed Gusciora announced Thursday hes doing away with the 10 p.m. curfew effective immediately.

Residents can move about freely and businesses are allowed to resume normal hours.

The announcement comes days after Gov. Phil Murphy lifted the stay-at-home order imposed to keep New Jerseyeans safe from the coronavirus.

The curfew, however, remains in place for underage youth.

I am pleased to lift the curfew and resume after-hours city life, including the commercial activity that we need to power our citys economy, Gusciora said in a statement.

The mayor met Thursday with Jonette Smart, the president of the Trenton NAACP, which opposed continuing to lock down the capital city.

Smart joined ex-North Ward council candidate Algernon Ward in their opposition to the curfew.

Ward filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and threatened to take Gusciora to court.

A curfew remains in place, from until Sept 1. for those under the age of 18. They must be home from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the mayors office said.

Trenton Police is prepared to enforce the curfew. It already handed out hundreds of curfew violations for those not following the curfew while it was in place the last two months.

Many thanks to Mayor Gusciora for this afternoons meeting and for listening to our serious concerns about the curfew and other issues having a profound impact on our citys quality of life, Smart said in a statement. I am looking forward to additional discussions with the Mayor on a range of issues important to NAACP members and city residents.

Gusciora had been under increasing pressure to lift the curfew, which was in place since April 6, following a spate of murders.

Guscioras edict went beyond Murphys law, but he justified it as part of a mob action mandate on the city books. He said his office ran the curfew by the state AGs office after being challenged by a city legislator who felt it exceeded Murphys executive order.
In the first season software engineer Mariana had to contend with the sexist culture at a tech start-up, while law graduate Callie had a crisis of conscience clerking for a conservative judge in a case about the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man.

Young Australian Maia Mitchell is terrific again in this sequel series to The Fosters. In The Fosters (also on Stan) Mitchell played Callie, a bright but troubled teenager taken in by loving foster mums (Teri Polo and Sherri Saum). In Good Trouble Callie and her foster sister Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) are out in the world  specifically, the newly trendy Downtown district of Los Angeles  and trying to get their careers and love lives going. It hasn't been the plainest of sailing.

It's too easy to miss brilliant streaming shows, movies and documentaries. Here are the ones to hit play on or skip.

If it sounds like Good Trouble might be a bit of an issues burger with the lot, well it's certainly that.

High on the list as the second season gets underway are mental illness and the question of changing one's pronouns should one find one's self to be gender non-conforming. But in that Good Trouble is of a piece with the The Fosters, which also took a thoughtful, compassionate approach to social issues while keeping the drama character-driven. But how to keep all those characters crammed as closely together as humanly possible?

Good Trouble has Callie and Mariana sharing a bedroom in a shared-accommodation building whose less-desirable features include a communal kitchen and communal unisex bathroom. In terms of privacy it makes Melrose Place look like Cast Away, and indeed a desert island might start to look a whole lot better once you realise everyone's going to see who's leaving your bedroom at all hours of day and night (there are no en suites here, remember!).

But then you'd have to give up that stunning swimming pool on the balcony with all its hunky bisexual artists with all their rippling abs and shampoo-ad hair. What do you expect a girl and her sister to do? Besides, on a desert island you'd never have the chance to get involved with Black Lives Matter, or find out what happens to building manager Alice (Sherry Cola), whose immigrant parents are OK with her being gay but want her to stay in the closet to the extended family.

The hugely likeable Mitchell continues to grow as a perceptive, multi-faceted actor whose best work is yet to come.
Col. Beth Makros is commander of the Air Forces 608th Air Operations Center.

Change has come to the way the U.S. Air Force provides bomber support to geographical combatant commands. Within the last 40 days, Air Force Global Strike Command bombers have launched from the continental U.S. (CONUS) to support global operations into European and Indo-Pacific theaters on eight higher-headquarters missions, with 21 bomber aircraft flying missions ranging from 24 to more than 32 hours.

To be fair, Air Force bombers have flown long-duration missions for decades, but now launching bomber missions from home stations into the South China Sea, Arctic Region or Black Sea have become a weekly occurrence. The transition from Continuous Bomber Presence (CBP) to the CONUS-based Bomber Task Force (BTF) approach provides an opportunity for long-range strike to demonstrate its flexibility to meet geographic combatant commanders' objectives while saving critical operational funds. At the nexus of these missions sits a team of long-range strike experts who serve as the connective tissue across multiple air operations centers to ensure mission success.

The integration and execution of airpower across geographic boundaries is second nature to long-range strike aircraft planners and aircrew. Missions are planned, coordinated and executed by a small but agile team in the 608 Air Operations Center at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The mission of the 608th AOC is to execute operational command and control while coordinating global support for BTF missions. Those missions provide national decision-makers and geographic combatant commanders flexible long-range strike options without having the logistics tail of deploying aircraft and airmen into theater.

While flawless execution gives the appearance of simplicity, these sorties are anything but. They require a Herculean effort of detailed planning and coordination between multiple AOCs, often crossing into other nations' airspace, requiring diplomatic clearances and international airspace reservations. In execution, if one piece of the plan goes awry, it can have significant implications on the planned strategic message to our adversaries, as well as allies and partners.

The planning and execution required to execute BTF missions is like a well-choreographed dance composed of a full spectrum of subject-matter experts supporting the 608th AOC. Imagine a 34-hour BTF mission that launches from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, heading northwest over the Aleutian Islands, down along the coast of Japan, through the Luzon Straits, and into the South China Sea, and then returning via the same routing, with zero stops in between. That takes a lot of fuel. Air Mobility Command's 618th AOC guarantees tankers are at the right place at the right time to offload the necessary fuel. But there's more.

These sorties also require multi-domain support provided by the 614th AOC at the Combined Space Operations Center to coordinate long-range communication coverage, and the 16th Air Force's 616th AOC to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance coverage and meet cyber requirements. While the 608th AOC collaborated with Pacific Air Force's 613th AOC to launch two B-1 Lancers for the 34-hour mission to the South China Sea, its planners were, in parallel, coordinating with the U.S. Air Forces Europe 603rd AOC for missions into the United States European Command area of responsibility.

These missions included a Baltic Sea area munitions drop and integration with Estonian ground forces, air intercept practice with NATO fighters, and refueling with U.S. and allied tankers. These missions demonstrated that bombers are unconstrained by geography. It is not uncommon for multiple BTF missions to be airborne in different AORs at the same time.

Because BTF missions operate across multiple combatant commands, we continue to evolve and sharpen this capability. Unencumbered by the large logistics tail necessary for long-term deployments, BTFs afford this same capability at a fraction of the cost. They introduce the flexibility needed for a successful deterrent mission while continuing to grow mission readiness at home. Lessons learned from a BTF mission into the Baltic region can be applied to missions into the USINDOPACOM, USAFRICOM, or USCENTCOM regions.

By operating from home, long-range strike bombers are better postured to quickly employ under the Dynamic Force Employment model, rapidly providing long-range strike to any and all combatant commands. There is no other nation that can match this capability.

The U.S. Air Force has proven its ability to support any combatant command with the rapid employment of airpower within hours of tasking, in accordance with the National Defense Strategy. Eighth Air Force bombers will continue to deliver overwhelming force anywhere, anytime, in support of American interests abroad and those of our allies and partners.

-- The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.
TOTOWA, N.J., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Seniors in Morristown, New Jersey who need care at home can get it from The Senior Company's highly qualified and trained home health aides. Fully-licensed nurses are motivated by outstanding compensation and benefits packages to deliver the golden standard of care with compassion and respect.

Seniors do not have to spend the remainder of their lives at a crowded long-term care facility. Home health aides at The Senior Company are available for live-in care around the clock, as well as on a part-time, full-time, temporary and permanent basis.

The Senior Company

Home care services have proven a lifesaver for the vulnerable senior community during the pandemic, keeping seniors safe and helping to flatten the curve. Virus transmission is high at long-term care facilities. By tending to the needs of patients in the comfort of their homes, caregivers at The Senior Company minimize the risk of spread in the local community.

The Senior Company enhances protection for seniors by mandating measures that include screening all caregivers before they enter patients' homes. If a live-in home health aide takes time off, they are required to get screened before they return to their charge's home. Additionally, The Senior Company gives personal protective equipment (PPE) to patients and their families. The company even provides families with digital thermometers, germicidal wipes, hand sanitizer and more.

Since home health aides at The Senior Company are fully licensed, they are qualified to provide many different services including:

Bathing and dressing

Grooming

Housekeeping

Errands

Monitoring vital signs

Providing feeding tube support

Meal assistance

Managing medication on a weekly basis

Caring for wounds

Providing catheter support

Administering IV therapy and injections

Providing hospice care support

Hospital transfers

Dementia support

Incontinence care

"Contributing to the Morristown community by providing devoted senior care is an honor. We want, and require, our home health aides to treat seniors as they would their own family members. Looking after the well-being of seniors and tending to all of their needs is our greatest passion," said Steve Romano, CEO at The Senior Company.

Get Details About The Senior Company's Services

About The Senior Company

The Senior Company is a trusted New Jersey home health care agency that provides 24/7 home care services for the elderly. As a full service New Jersey Home Health Care Agency, The Senior Company specializes in providing support for seniors who may need full time home care assistance, live in home care assistance or part time home care assistance at home or in a facility after transitioning from the Hospital or Skilled Nursing Facility in their local area.

The Senior Company is a Dual Licensed, Dual Accredited, Bonded & Insured Certified Home Health Care & Certified Help Firm practicing in the North New Jersey area. The Senior Company provides Personal Care as well as Skilled Nursing Care services that are available to help seniors and families who are in need of assistance with activities of daily living. Some of these "ADL's" include bathing, toileting, dressing, light housekeeping, meal preparation, errands, hospice care and other personalized hourly or live-in home care services.

The Senior Company is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Home Care for meeting the industry's highest recognized standards of care in The State of New Jersey.

Contact:

The Senior Company

Totowa: 973-355-6336

Hackensack: 201-355-5209

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SOURCE The Senior Company

Related Links

http://www.theseniorcompany.com/


The Drug Law Enforcement Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service has recently uncovered hundreds of acres of farmland dedicated to the cultivation of plants suspected to be Indian Hemp.



The enclave which is located behind the Tome Mountain at Peki in the South Dayi District of the Volta Region was discovered following police intelligence on the illegal cultivation of the plant which now requires legal documentation to cultivate for industrial and pharmaceutical purposes in Ghana.



A visit to the site revealed hundreds of farmlands dedicated to the cultivation of the substance as far as the eyes can see; right from the slope of the chain mountain into the valleys and the vast land all around. The many farms which were for different owners had hamlets and had maize farms as boundaries differentiating one farm from the other.



The operation which was led by the Drug Law Enforcement Unit of the CID with support from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Unit from the Volta Police Command and the Peki Divisional Police Command lasted an entire day.



According to the Director in charge of the Drug Law Enforcement Unit at the CID Headquarters, Supt. David Selorm Hukporti said the 60 man operation even with the aid of motorized cutters and cutlasses they could barely destroy 20% of the farms in the area.



With the help of a drone, the location which initially looked like a small enclave was discovered to be so vast and hidden such that it would have been difficult to detect and assess.



He noted that they would have to return with more men and machinery to clear the entire area since the cultivation was being done illegally.



He said the location of the area makes the nefarious activity conducive as it was inaccessible by vehicle from both the Peki side and the Boso side in the Asugyaman District of the Eastern region which was a much easier access route.



The team initially wanted to go through the Peki route since the area was under the Peki Police District but realised it would be herculean and used the Boso route. Even that they had to park their vehicles at a point and walk for over an hour through some thick forests.



Two persons who were living in two of the many hamlets scattered in the enclave were arrested in the course of the operation and are since assisting with investigations.



It is obvious the farmers also engage in animal production, as goats, sheep, duck and chicken were seen hovering in the enclave.



Supt. Hukporti noted that the Narcotics Control Commission Bill of 2019 which was passed into law in March 2020, did not permit the recreational use and cultivation as is perceived by the public.



Instead, it permitted people to apply for authorisation to cultivate and possess substances like Indian Hemp for industrial and pharmaceutical use only.



To this end, all who want to engage in cannabis cultivation must go through the right process to do so, else their farms will be destroyed and they will also be arrested and prosecuted as prescribed by the law.



When things are put in place properly, they can apply to the Ministry of Interior and then all other due diligence will be done and they will be permitted, he noted.

Source: Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Omaha, Nebraska, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OMAHA, Nebr.  June 10, 2020  While the results in some areas may take some time to tabulate, voters and elections officials in jurisdictions served by Election Systems & Software (ES&S)South Carolina, Nevada, North Dakota and West Virginiawere able to use in-person voting machines and process ballots as planned on June 9.

We didn't have any issues with our machines at all, said Susie Edwards, elections director for Dillon County, S.C., Our voters like it and seem to think its easier. Its easier for us to use, too. I was so grateful for the outstanding support we had with us.

More than 750,000 South Carolina voters cast ballots in their statewide primary on June 9, where all jurisdictions use the ES&S ExpressVote Universal Voting System. The fully-auditable paper-based voting system was implemented in South Carolina in the summer of 2019, and many voters first interacted with the new machines four months ahead of schedule thanks to a seamless implementation and training process across the state. Voters in Tuesdays election had expanded access to absentee ballots due to restrictions presented by the coronavirus pandemic; however, many voters still opted to cast their ballots in person.

In Georgia, which also held its primary on June 9, ES&S is not a supplier and hasnt sold ES&S tabulators in Georgia in this century. ES&S competed for the Georgia contract but lost to Dominion Voting Systems, headquartered in Canada. The New York Times reported, Georgias voting fiasco stemmed primarily from the 30,000 new voting machines the state bought last year for $107 million. Tuesdays election was the first statewide use of the new system, although six rural counties used the system for municipal contests in December and experienced problems with voting and significant delays. ES&S lost the bid to provide elections equipment in Georgia despite ES&S equipment being ranked highest on technical merit. Evaluators said the ES&S system would be easy for voters, poll workers and election officials to use, but Dominions equipment was chosen by the state. A post-bid in-depth analysis by ES&S shows ES&S voting systems were lower in overall cost when local jurisdiction costs were factored in.

Through our 40 years of experience, we know that successful elections require quality equipment, with good implementation and training, as well as proper provider support, said Jim Schmidt, ES&S Senior Vice President of Operations. The unfortunate situation in Georgia is a serious reminder of the crucial role that equipment providers playa role ES&S is deeply committed to getting right, in each and every election. We are pleased that voters and officials in jurisdictions we support were able to exercise their right to vote and to meet the demanding challenges that have come with running elections during a pandemic.

ABOUT ES&S: Election Systems & Software (ES&S) is the nations leading voting systems manufacturer. For more than 40 years, ES&S has been supporting elections by creating and providing secure, accurate and accessible voting equipment to jurisdictions across the country. Learn more about ES&S at www.essvote.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/essvote.

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McSally, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been fighting the forced retirement of the A-10, along with the late Sen. John McCain and other members of the Arizona congressional delegation since she was a member of the House in 2015.

I know the unique capabilities that the A-10 brings to save American lives on the battlefield, McSally said, who commanded a combat A-10 squadron at D-M.

Developed in the 1970s around a rapid-fire cannon that can destroy tanks, the Warthog is the nations only dedicated aircraft for close air support of ground troops and has been lauded for its effectiveness in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

The Air Force began efforts to retire the A-10 fleet in 2014, contending it was too vulnerable to sophisticated air defenses, but was beaten back by supporters in Congress who approved new funding to replace the A-10s aging wings.

In 2015, the Air Force deactivated 18 A-10s, including nine at D-M, and put them into backup inventory status.

But last year Boeing Co. completed a 12-year, $1.1 billion Air Force contract to replace wings on 173 A-10s whose wings had passed their useful flying hours.

Also in 2019, Boeing was awarded a new contract worth up to $999 million to install 112 new wing assemblies, but that depends on incremental appropriations.

Contact senior reporter David Wichner at dwichner@tucson.com or 573-4181. On Twitter: @dwichner. On Facebook: Facebook.com/DailyStarBiz.

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May 25 2020 marked the second Anniversary of the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, (EU GDPR).

The ground- breaking legislation that changed the landscape of data protection throughout Europe but also has a potential global reach.

The primary objective of the legislation is to harmonise data protection throughout Europe and to give European citizens ownership and control of their personal information.

EU GDPR introduced many onerous and mandatory policies and procedures relating to the gathering and storing of personal information.

These rules apply to all businesses and organisations regardless of size who collect and process personal data, accountability has become the buzzword in data protection and it is the core legal principle which underpins the legislation. Businesses and Organisations have been forced to change their mindset as to how they process personal information and to accept responsibility when they get things wrong.

Personal information is one of the most valuable assets that a business will be entrusted with and failure to respect and protect this data from exploitation is costly. Unwelcome attention of the Regulator which will likely prompt an investigation followed by either a strict sanction or significant financial fine, media interest, and reputational damage.

It has been an interesting two years since EU GDPR came into force. The legislation has certainly raised the focus of personal privacy and has brought the GDPR conversation to many board room discussion tables. How GDPR has been implemented differs greatly from business to business, the journey has been unique for each business and organization. some have embraced the project with enthusiasm and others have remained complacent and appear to welcome the risk of incurring significant fines and sanctions.

Privacy awareness has increased significantly since 25th May 2018 consumers, employees, medical patients, club members and all others have become very aware of their privacy rights.

EU GDPR very much favours the individual. This is evidenced by the seismic increase in complaints received by Data Protection Regulators throughout Europe many of which relate to the misuse of personal information.

European Regulators have been relatively active, some more than others, over 1,300 fines have been imposed, the cumulative total amounting to 450m.

Interestingly Google was one of the first businesses to incur a fine based on annual turnover resulting in a fine of 50,000,000 in January 2019. Following an investigation into a breach of security by British Airways which resulted in 500,000 credit card records being compromised, the UK Regulator announced its intention to fine the business 183.4m in July 2019. The fine represents 1.5% of the airlines worldwide annual turnover, the fine is currently under appeal.

On 22nd May 2020, just days before the 2nd anniversary of GDPR the Irish Regulator issued the first GDPR fine to Tusla Child and Family Agency for 75,000. The fine relates to three separate data beach incidents with two further security breaches under investigation

Privacy has been hugely impacted by the Covid 19 Pandemic. There has been an explosion of fake websites, professing to sell PPE equipment and cyber- crime has increased significantly.

The introduction of track and trace technologies pose huge issues from a privacy perspective, will the individual truly know where their data is and who has access to this information? The topic of track and track Apps and similar technology is very much an ongoing privacy debate globally.

Implementation of the EU GDPR has certainly made an impact to the business world with data protection becoming very real and a recognition that getting it wrong will cost.

The impact to the individual has demonstrated that people will not tolerate misuse of personal information and a growing awareness that GDPR protects their right to privacy. EU GDPR is here to stay, let us await the privacy issues that unfold within the coming months

Clare is a certified Data Protection Consultant PCdp and founder of MonClare Data Protection Consultancy based in Co Louth.

For more information: :www.monclaredataprotection.com. Email:info@monclaredataprotect .com. T:087 461601
Several regional authorities in Spain have filed their proposals to move to a new phase of the coronavirus deescalation plan to the central Health Ministry. The state of alarm in Spain will officially come to an end on June 21. After this date, Spain will be under the new normality following a prolonged coronavirus lockdown and deescalation process.

More than half the country entered Phase 3 on Monday, which is the last step before the new normality. Under this stage, regional governments resume authority of the deescalation process and decide how long this final period should last. Regional authorities can also decide to end the state of alarm before June 21.

For more than seven days, we have been the region with the lowest contagion rate in Spain Alberto Nunez Feijoo, premier of Galicia

The rest of the country  Castilla y Leon, the Valencia region, Madrid region, the North African exclave city of Ceuta, the provinces of Toledo, Ciudad Real and Albacete in Castilla-La Mancha, and the healthcare areas of Catalunya Central, Girona, Lleida and Barcelona in Catalonia  remains in Phase 2. Under the governments deescalation plan, each phase must last a minimum of 14 days. But several of these regions have requested to move to Phase 3 despite having only been in Phase 2 for a week.

Madrid stays in Phase 2

Madrid is the only region not to have issued a proposal to move to the final stage of the deescalation plan. The possibility of moving to Phase 3 has not been considered because from June 21, if everything goes as planned, the state of alarm will end and with it the phase system, explained Ignacio Aguado, the deputy premier of Madrid, on Wednesday. This means that Madrid will move directly from Phase 2 to the new normality when the state of alarm comes to an end.

Regional authorities in Catalonia have so far only requested that the healthcare areas of Catalunya Central and Girona move to Phase 3. Lleida and the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan areas are likely to remain in Phase 2, but the Catalan health chief, Alba Verges, has said that nothing has been ruled out. The deadline to submit phase change requests ended on Wednesday, but a spokesperson from the Health Ministry said it is a flexible process.

Valencia to enter Phase 3

In Valencia, the regional government asked the central Health Ministry on Tuesday for permission to enter Phase 3. Regional authorities also want to allow movement with the neighboring regions of Murcia and the Balearic Islands, and later with Castilla-La Mancha and Aragon. The Valencian government is also expected to allow movement between the provinces.

In Castilla y Leon, regional authorities requested to move to the last stage, with the exception of the provinces of Salamanca, Avila, Segovia and Soria. Health chief Veronica Casado said that the proposal was supported by the regions positive coronavirus figures, and added that after being cautious during the first three stages, now is the moment to take a little risk and accelerate the deescalation process.

The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha has also asked that the provinces of Toledo, Ciudad Real and Albacete move to Phase 3. And Ceuta, which slowed down the deescalation process last week following an outbreak of coronavirus cases, has also requested to enter the final stage.

Galicia considers lifting state of alarm

Meanwhile in Galicia, the regional government is considering lifting the state of alarm next week. The northwestern region entered Phase 3 on Monday, meaning it has the power to end the emergency measures before the official June 21 deadline.

The premier of Galicia, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, said that the government will announce on Friday whether the region lifts the state of alarm from Monday, June 15. According to Feijoo, who is up for reelection on July 12, Galicia has the lowest coronavirus transmission rate in Spain, with 0.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to the national average of 4.2. Data from the Galician healthcare service Sergas shows that only 10 coronavirus patients remain in hospital, none of whom are in intensive care. According to regional authorities, there are 472 active cases, while 10,338 patients have recovered from the disease.

For more than seven days, we have been the region with the lowest contagion rate in Spain, said Feijoo.

Movement between northern regions

Regional governments in Spains northern regions, which have all entered Phase 3, are discussing the possibility of allowing movement between the provinces of each territory.

Basque premier Inigo Urkullu said on Wednesday that he hopes travel between his region and neighboring Cantabria will be allowed from Monday. But he added that all the data will be analyzed so that the free movement of people does not create unwanted situations in any other region. Urkullu said he has held several conversations with Cantabria premier Miguel Angel Revilla on the subject, and that both agree.

The northwestern region of Galicia also favors re-establishing transit with the neighboring Asturias. Authorities in the latter region will on Thursday discuss the suitability of asking the central government to allow movement between Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia starting on Monday,

English version by Melissa Kitson.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Traders' body CAIT on Wednesday launched a campaign to boycott Chinese goods with an aim to reduce India's imports of products manufactured in the country by USD 13 billion by December 2021.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has prepared a list of 3,000 items which are currently imported from China and easily replaceable by Indian manufactured goods.

The campaign call by CAIT, which claims to represent 7 crore traders and 40,000 trade associations, comes amid border tensions between India and China.

"The campaign titled 'Indian Goods - Our Pride' aims to achieve reduction in imports of Chinese manufactured goods by Rs 1 lakh crore (about USD 13 billion) by December 2021," CAIT said.

Addressing a virtual press conference, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said there are four types of imports from China to India -- finished goods, raw materials, spare parts and technology products.

In the first phase, the traders' body has decided to boycott imports of finished goods from China, he said. India's imports from China stand at about USD 70 billion at present.
The fact-checking chatbot on WhatsApp launched by the IFCN is now available in Hindi.

The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) launched a WhatsApp chatbot earlier this March. This WhatsApp chatbot is now available in Hindi.

The fact-checking chatbot on WhatsApp debunks misinformation on Covid-19 as it helps users check any detail about the virus has been classified as false by the IFCN. This chatbot is available in two more languages of English and Spanish. It plans to roll out support for more languages like Portuguese in the future.

WhatsApps biggest market in India with over 400 million users in the country alone. It also has a population of around 44% who understand Hindi and this is why the IFCN decided to launch its WhatsApp chatbot in Hindi, the company said in a release.

How to use the chatbot

WhatsApp users have to save this number +1 (727) 2912606 as a contact on their phone.

On WhatsApp, open the chat for this number and text the word "".

The chatbot will be activated and provide numbers for different facts on Covid-19.

In India the IFCN has 11 fact-checking members out of which seven publish their content in Hindi. The translation is carried out by Jagran Groups fact-checking unit, Vishvas News. Currently there are over 250 fact-checks on Covid-19 available on the WhatsApp chatbot. This will be updated daily as it does with the English and the Spanish chatbots.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - SBD Capital Corp. (CSE: SBD), (the "Company") announces it is continuing to execute against its current business plan, while also exploring various alternatives of financing for the company and business strategy. The Company acknowledges the given market conditions and challenges due to the global pandemic, and is looking to several options to attract new funding, not limited to, but may include, share consolidation and further dilution to its shareholders.

The Company will provide further information as it becomes available.

On behalf of the Board,



SBD Capital Corp.

Arvin Ramos, Chief Financial Officer

Aramos@resourcesgroup.ca

(416) 361-2515

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57732
As a staggering 12,000 species of wildlife are pushed closer to the brink of endangerment, The Alliance for Americas Fish & Wildlife (Alliance) today unveils a means for Tennessee residents to help ensure our fish and wildlife habitats remain intact to allow future generations to pursue the outdoor activities we enjoy today.

Tennesseans can now support the passage of the bipartisanthrough The Alliances new line of mens and womens apparel. Partnering with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to launch the awareness raising initiative, Tennessees citizens will be provided with the most up-to-date information on this game-changing effort through TWRAs efforts.

Available for purchase on RecoverWildlife.com, The Alliance has created a face mask and T-shirts in mens and womens sizes made from 100% recycled materials. Available in navy heather and blue heather V-neck, the T-shirts are $25 and the multi-functional face mask is priced at $13 with free shipping included. All apparel sales directly support the conservation of fish, wildlife, and their habitats in Tennessee and beyond. The proceeds from each purchase will bolster the effort to pass H.R. 3742, which will be paramount in preventing the loss of the wildlife and their habitats we hold dear.

As United States citizens, we all have a duty not only to ourselves, but to our future generations, to ensure that we responsibly manage our diverse fish and wildlife resources. More than ever people are turning to nature for solace and responsible social distancing recreation opportunities, said Sean Saville, Alliance for Americas Fish & Wildlife Campaign Manager. When people reconnect with nature they are reminded of the value of our land, water and wildlife and want to do something positive to help protect it. This legislation is a game changer for conservation, and we need everyone to get involved to make it a reality.

The Alliance for Americas Fish & Wildlifes mission is to create a 21st-century funding model for proactive conservation of our nations most precious natural resources, our fish and wildlife. The solution to this wildlife crisis is passage of the bipartisan Recovering Americas Wildlife Act. The bill provides $1.3 billion per year for state fish and wildlife agencies and $97.5 million for Tribal nations for the conservation of our most vulnerable fish and wildlife. This solution will not require taxpayers or businesses to pay more, but instead allows all Americans to become investors in fish and wildlife conservation.

Investing in conservation has never been easier thanks to the launch of The Alliances fundraising initiative through their new apparel line. This is an avenue in which each American can play their part in the protection of our nature, our nation, and our future.

We are proud to be partnering with The Alliance to work towards passing the legislation that will preserve the diverse and vibrant fish, wildlife, and outdoor recreation opportunities not just in Tennessee, but the country as a whole, said Jenifer Wisniewski, chief of Communications and Outreach at Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency. I ask that my fellow Tennesseans join us in the fight to preserve the wildlife and habitats that make our state a hub for outdoor enthusiasts.

Officials said, "Much is at stake if we do not act soon. Without much needed funding to combat the issue, scientists estimate that one-third of wildlife species in the United States are at risk of becoming threatened or endangered. It currently costs the American public hundreds of millions of dollars each year to restore threatened and endangered species, costs that could be avoided or greatly reduced if proactive conservation measures were implemented first. We need to start down a new path where we invest proactively in conservation rather than reactively. Every American benefits when we have healthy and accessible fish and wildlife."

Please visit RecoverWildlife.com to learn more about this conservation initiative and view and purchase apparel, and learn more about The Alliances mission at OurNatureUSA.com.

Follow The Alliances conservation campaign on their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
The message is that if were going to have bases throughout the United States, I think it should be with the names of individuals who fought for our country, Rounds said. And so I think this is a step in the right direction. This is the right time for it. And I think it sends the right message.
The Supreme Court on Thursday took note of 35 children testing positive for COVID-19 in a government-run shelter home in Tamil Nadu and sought a status report from the state government including steps taken to protect the remaining children.





A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao, Krishna Murari and S Ravindra Bhat also sought status report from different state governments on steps taken to protect children in shelter homes amid the pandemic, and also compliance of its April 3 order in this regard.

The top court said that Juvenile Justice Committees of high courts will circulate a questionnaire among state governments and collect their feedback about the protection of children from COVID-19 in shelter homes.

More than 35 children and five staff members have tested COVID-19 positive in a government-run shelter home in Royapuram locality in Tamil Nadu.

On April 3, the top court had taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the condition of children in protection, juvenile and foster or kinship homes across the country amid the coronavirus outbreak and had issued directions to the state governments and various other authorities to protect them.

The top court had said as the COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying in the country, it is important that urgent measures are taken on a priority basis to prevent the spread of the virus in child care institutions, children in need of care and protection, children in contact with the law in observation homes and children in foster and kinship care.

It had said the juvenile justice boards should consider steps to release all children alleged to be in conflict with law residing in observation homes on bail, unless there are clear and valid reasons not to do so.

The top court had issued directions for the child welfare committees across the country and said they would monitor cases telephonically of children sent back to their families and coordinate through the district child protection committees and foster care and adoption committees for those in foster care.

The top court had directed the JJBs and children's courts "to pro-actively consider whether a child or children should be kept in CCIs, considering the best interest, health and safety concerns".

It had said video-conferences or online sittings can be held to prevent contact for speedy disposal of cases and the JJBs should ensure that counselling services are provided for all children in observation homes.

The top court had directed that all state governments shall circulate information to CCIs about how to deal with COVID-19 immediately, with instructions that awareness about it is spread in a timely and effective manner.

It had asked the states to stay prepared for a disaster or emergency situation that may arise and start developing a system to put in place trained volunteers who could step in to care for children.
Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust - Notice of AGM

Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust Limited

(an authorised closed-ended investment company incorporated in Guernsey with registration number 41352)

LEI Number: 549300HHFBWZRKC7RW84

(The "Company")

11 JUNE 2020

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of Dickson Minto, 16 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, EH2 4DF on 30 June 2020 at 10:30am.

The Notice of AGM together with the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2019 has been posted to shareholders.

In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.3, the Notice of Annual General Meeting, proxy form and accounts have been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM

Enquiries:

Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited

The Company Secretary

Trafalgar Court

Les Banques

St Peter Port

Guernsey

GY1 3QL



Tel: 01481 745001



END


A Virginia Tech historian has earned a prestigious fellowship to continue exploring the historical intersection of race and real estate in the United States.

LaDale Winling, an associate professor in the Department of History, was awarded the Lloyd Lewis Fellowship from the Newberry Library in Chicago.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation, the Chicago-based fellowship is slated to begin in January.

Winling will use the opportunity to research redlining, a term for discriminating against a community by refusing to offer credit or insurance on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Research during the fellowship will inform Winling's newest book project, "Chicago and the Making of American Real Estate." He will explore the careers of two economists, Richard T. Ely and Robert C. Weaver -- one white and one African American; one an academic and one a public policy figure -- to detail the rise, fall, and transformation of redlining over the course of the 20th century. Ely created the field of real estate economics and many of the ideas that made redlining possible, while Weaver spent his career from the 1930s through the 1960s trying to unravel redlining and racial segregation in housing.

In Winling's prior research on redlining, he and collaborators launched the widely acclaimed Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America project. The online resource details the work of the Home Owner's Loan Corporation to grade the credit worthiness of neighborhoods in cities across the United States during the 1900s. The American Historical Association awarded the digital atlas its national digital history prize, and National Geographic named it one of the top mapping projects of the year.

"Redlining maps are the Rosetta Stone of American cities," said Winling. "They helped influence and codify a financial system that favored white neighborhoods and prioritized the values of white-owned homes. By looking at the maps and other materials, we can examine why certain neighborhoods became less desirable, saw less investment, or were demolished for public housing or interstate highways."

In his new research, Winling will use redlining maps to research and write the history of American home finance, real estate economics, and urban policy.

"This fellowship will aid my book project in two ways," Winling said. "First, being in Chicago will allow me to visit several archives there, such as the archives of the National Association of Realtors and the papers of Governor Frank Lowden, who served from 1916 to 1920 during the Chicago race riot. Second, it will allow me time to write and share ideas with the other fellows."

Winling called the Newberry Library a great institution and community, and he said participating in the fellowship feels like a homecoming.

"During graduate school, I took part in a monthly dissertation group on urban history at the Newberry," he said. "It was a valuable community, and I'm still in contact with several of the friends and colleagues in the profession I met there. In some ways, this is familiar territory, and I'm excited to be a part of it."

Winling's first book, "Building the Ivory Tower," explores the role of American universities as real-estate developers in the 20th century, and it was based in part on some of his earlier research in Chicago. The Urban History Association named it the co-winner of the 2018 Kenneth Jackson Award for Best Book in Urban History on North American cities.

The Newberry Library's Lloyd Lewis Fellowship is named for a longtime Chicago journalist who authored several Chicago history publications.

Winling's fellowship is scheduled to span from January to April 2021.

###
Mohammed Rahman lost the business he had spent four years building in one hour earlier this month, when vandals descended upon SNS Electronics & Discount and started taking things as his horrified parents watched.

They looted everything. They left nothing. They smashed everything. They broke everything in the store. Took all of the merchandise. Theres nothing left. The store is like empty now. They took TVs, computers, cell phones, speakers," recalled Rahman, whose business is on the 200 block of South 52nd Street. "Thats the only income we had, but now everything is gone. I was not insured.

He hopes to reopen.

That job will be a little easier thanks to Jeff Brown, president and CEO of Browns Superstores Inc. and the Pennsylvania 30 Day Fund.

After thieves looted and trashed his Fox Street and Parkside stores following peaceful protests about the death of George Floyd, Brown didnt let that sour him on all of the good work hes been doing in underserved communities. If anything, he doubled down by helping out small businesses that were similarly ransacked.

Brown is doing it in conjunction with real estate developer Jeffrey A. Bartos, among others who established the 30 Day Fund last month to assist small businesses badly hit during the COVID-19 shutdown.

 READ MORE: Finally, theres help for Pa.s small businesses that doesnt involve a lot of red tape | Jenice Armstrong

The idea is to help small business owners otherwise ineligible for government loans or grants to quickly get access to cash without having to go through a lot of bureaucracy. Each grantee gets a forgivable loan of $3,000.

Im happy to report that the fund will now also help small business owners hurt by looting as well. In addition to the forgivable loans, the fund is also connecting owners with contractors and other possible funding sources.

Bartos and I talked about this new development on Monday in the parking lot of Browns Parkside store during its reopening celebration. It was noisy, so he had to yell over the din of the crowd about all the donations that have been pouring in: a $1,000 contribution from a Philadelphia police officer who wrote, Im devastated to see what happened to the small businesses in the neighborhoods. Im so sorry we couldnt be there to protect everybody," and a $1 million contribution from Ira Lubert, chairman of Lubert Adler Real Estate Partners, and his companion Pam Estadt.

 READ MORE: Shop Rite owner begs for National Guard after two Philly supermarkets are devastated by looting | Maria Panaritis

Glancing over in Browns direction, I was beyond awed.

The windows of the Parkside store were still boarded up, and the National Guard that he had begged to protect his business was still there.

Yet, Brown and his associates and donors were talking about ways to help small business owners like Rahman open up.

Last Monday, when Jeff told our board what had happened to his stores, especially Parkside and Fox Street, I was angry, Bartos recalled. I was devastated, and I started to question what exactly it is that we are doing here. I went for a walk, and I came back and I called Jeff and said, How are you doing? He said, Were OK. Thank God nobody was hurt. Well rebuild. And then he said, We have to double down. Theres that many more people we have to help. I was floored, and I just thought, Theres not that many people on Earth like Jeff Brown. All the anger dropped out, and I was like, OK, we have a mission. Lets get to work. "

Id be lying if I didnt admit to being impressed  not just by Brown but by Bartos and all whove donated to this fund.

When it was time to go, I drove away feeling full  not just because of all the food we had just purchased from Brown but also by the outpouring of love for a community that only days earlier had been the scene of so much destruction.
The Conrad Weiser School Board on Wednesday voted 8-1 to censure a board member following online messages and memes that many in the community have called racist, and which spurred thousands to sign a petition calling for his removal.

Those messages were on the Facebook page of 10-year board member William Carl Jr., who cast the lone dissenting vote on the censure, which included a request for his resignation.

District administrators have said its clear that the district has no ability to regulate his speech or writings or remove him from the board, so it instead asked for him to step down.

Carl did not resign during the committee meeting, which was held via Zoom. He also did not comment on the censure, which removed him from representing the district on the boards of the Berks Career and Technology Center and the Berks County Intermediate Unit.

The motion calling for Carls resignation said he posted incendiary and denigrating remarks on social media, failed to use respectful discourse on issues of public interest, and did not follow the boards policies and code of ethics.

The posts to his account over the last few weeks referred to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police and the subsequent marches, protests and looting occurring nationwide.

In addition to drawing criticism from district administration and now the board, the posts spurred an online petition which has gained more than 2,800 signatures since it was posted Sunday.

The posts criticize the Black Lives Matter movement and support those who shoot looters and drive over protesters.

Following the censure vote there was no comment from the board, but Dr. Randall Grove, superintendent, said while Carl has a First Amendment right to free speech, his comments were wrong, and said the district and its residents have a right to disagree with him.

One person does not define who we are, said Grove, thanking those who contacted him with their opinions on the matter.

District resident and parent Rachel Kline, a 2006 Conrad Weiser graduate, was the only community member who registered to comment, and she said many in the district disagree with Carls opinions. They dont want him representing the district anymore, and will continue their efforts to get him to resign, she said.

Carl could not be reached by phone for comment this week, and a message to his Facebook account has not been answered.

On Sunday, district alumnus Jordan Henning posted a petition on the website change.org calling for Carls removal from the board.

Henning, of Exeter Township, is a 2004 Weiser graduate. He said hes spoken with many who signed his petition, all of whom believe someone with Carls views should not be helping to make policies for the district.

He does not represent the ideals of the school district, and does not deserve to be a position of power and authority making decisions about the education of the next generation of (Conrad Weiser) Scouts and over such a wonderfully diverse student body, Henning wrote in the petition.

Henning said a walk titled #Wechooselove is being planned for Sunday in Wernersville largely to counter Carls comments.
Ukraine calls on the International Civil Aviation Organization to use all mechanisms to thoroughly investigate the downing of the UIA plane in Iran.

The ICAO Council. The first ever video conference [meeting]. I have just had an opportunity to speak on behalf of Ukraine on the flight PS752. Iran's delay in handing over the "black boxes" is disrespect to the families of the victims and to the International Civil Aviation Organization itself. Rules and trust are important for ICAO's effectiveness. Blocking of the investigation deprives us of both, Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Andriy Shevchenko posted on Facebook.

He added that Iran is expected to deliver a speech by the end of the current session, which will last until June 26. "We urge Tehran to keep its promises and call on ICAO to use all mechanisms of influence for the investigation to be swift and of high-quality. We will achieve justice," the ambassador said.

The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after it took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on January 8. There were 176 people on board  nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK). They all died.

Iran's official in the International Civil Aviation Organization agreed in March to hand over the black box flight recorders to France or Ukraine for analysis, but this has not been done so far.

Six people charged with the downing of flight PS752 were detained in Iran.

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Evangelicals, David Platt march in DC against racism, police brutality: 'Forgive us'

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Hundreds of evangelicals, including Pastor David Platt, gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest against racism and police brutality on Sunday, singing hymns and holding up Bible verses.

The involvement of evangelicals in the protests was organized by a group known as Faith + Works DC, which was concerned that there werent enough explicitly Christian voices involved after the brutal police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis.

We pray that you would forgive us for our history and our present, Platt, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, said as he marched, The Washington Post reported.

We praise you in particular today, Jesus, as this group, for taking the judgment we deserve, he continued.

Platt was introduced at the protests by Thabiti Anyabwile, pastor of Anacostia River Church and a black evangelical who is well-known for speaking out on issues of racism.

The group sang songs such as This Little Light of Mine and "Because He Lives" and prayed as they marched across the Anacostia River to head downtown in their stand for justice.

Anyabwile lamented how few of the marches for justice have come from the church.

This iteration of civil rights is not located in the church, so the church is playing catch-up when it was once the vanguard, he said to The Washington Post. One skill we dont have as a country or a church is conversation. Were unpracticed at that and so were wrestling with hope.

Just before the march, Anyabwile preached virtually to his congregation, saying the blood of black bodies is crying out and that Christians can no longer ignore it.

"Blood spilled unrighteously cries into the very ears of an all powerful God. God hears it," he said, as he preached from Genesis 4 on the account of Cain and Abel. "This country is storing up wrath for the day of wrath."

"Indifference can no longer be the Christian response to what were seeing in the world," he stressed. "It is a lovelessness, it is more than a hatred, it is  an evil  to be indifferent in the face of such suffering and injustice."

He noted that some fundamentalist and evangelical Christians try to exonerate themselves "of all things racism" but that has resulted in indifference to the killings of black people.

"So many Christians  who pity themselves in the midst of conversations about blood flowing in the streets,  fragile white people cant bear to have racism pointed out.

"We are where we are because this country and white evangelical Christians have twisted the theology of the body so that they can own black bodies and our blood flows in the street crying out to God and God answers to strike the conscience  to announce His judgment."

In his Radical podcast on Sunday, Platt offered up prayers for President Doald Trump and the nations political leaders as they navigate issues of justice.

Today, amidst everything going on in my country and my city even, I want us to meditate and pray according to Micah 6:8 where the Bible says, He has told you O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice. And to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God, he said.

Amidst names like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery becoming common place in my country over the last few weeks in particular and not just in my country, far beyond the United States, and cries for justice and mercy, I am reminded in Micah 6:8 that this instinct for justice, this longing for justice and longing for mercy is built into our hearts by God, Platt said. And God has called us as his people to do justice and to love kindness. Not to turn a blind eye or deaf ear to justice but to work for justice.
A family photo taken by photographer Chen Lin of the Wa ethnic groups in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Four years ago, when photographer Chen Lin traveled to a rural village inhabited by the Miao ethnic group in Southwest China's Guizhou Province, he happened to encounter a local wedding, where the bride wore a traditional handmade Miao-style costume  with sophisticated embroidery that had taken several years to finish  while the groom was in a modern suit. Chen was surprised because, among the Miao people, even the man usually wears a dazzling costume for his wedding, known for its silver decoration and fancy embroidery.

The groom told Chen that he left the village to work in a big city five years ago. The young man thought the modern suit is more fashionable and convenient to wear than Miao costumes. It was then that the photographer recognized the need to record the diverse costumes and architecture of China's different ethnic groups.

"If I don't start taking photos, I'm afraid these things will fade into memory and, in as little as 10 years, it will be impossible to see these traditional aesthetics," says Chen, referring to the inevitable influence of modernization on the lives of the ethnic groups.

Since 2016, Chen has devoted himself to his five-year project to take photos of the families of 56 ethnic groups living in different provinces in China. His tally so far is 37 of the groups.

Each ethnic group has their own culture and language. The simple way to identify them is by their appearance and their houses. Chen decided to focus on families in traditional costume, especially big families with four generations all together.

A family photo taken by photographer Chen Lin of the Achang ethnic groups in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"Family is what we Chinese value most. It was believed that having four generations living under the same roof is a signal of the prosperity and happiness of a family. To live together may not always be possible now, but I can frame them together," says Chen.

The biggest family photo, in terms of the number of people, was taken in Yunnan Province, in which the father gathered eight daughters who live in different counties. Single families can sometimes reach up to 50 members.

Chen says in his photos, it's common to see that the elders usually wear traditional self-made clothes, while the younger generation opts to buy their costumes. Sometimes, the youngsters wear high-heels or sneakers because they can't find traditional shoes.

"I never force them to wear traditional costume if they don't have it. That's what happens," Chen says.

A family photo taken by photographer Chen Lin of the Nu ethnic groups in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

It takes a woman upward of one year to weave a traditional dress. For the Miao ethnic group, a bride often starts to stitch her wedding gown as a teen.

To find his subjectspeople from an ethnic group keeping part of their traditional lifestyle aliveChen has to drive hundreds of miles to rural areas.

Often, there were places that a car couldn't reach, so he had to go by motorbike, even though, with the country's fast development, the transportation to rural places inhabited by ethnic groups has improved greatly, adds Chen.

In Yunnan, the Derung ethnic group is one of China's smallest ethnic groups in terms of population and known for the facial tattoos sported by the women.

Chen says they told him that years ago, when relatives who lived on other mountains came to visit during winter, one night's stay would turn into months because of the long, arduous journey involved. Now, modern roads make it easy to visit distant family members.

"In just a few years, great changes have happened," he says.

The young replaced their old houses with modern ones after returning from working in the cities. Some even can't speak their own language since their culture doesn't have writing.

Photographer Chen Lin (left) takes a group photo with a family of four generations, the eldest member of which is 84 years old, from the Lisu ethnic group in Yunnan in 2018. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chen says he sometimes worries that the speed at which he is taking pictures can't catch up with the pace at which the cultures are receding. However, he takes comfort that the government's programs to raise awareness is gradually awakening people's desire to protect their culture.

In November, he went to take photos of the Li ethnic group in Hainan province, a group of more than one million. The group's traditional houses are built like up-side-down boats.

Chen was told that years ago, locals didn't wear their costumes and felt ashamed of their own identity because they were regarded as poor. With the fast development of local tourism, people now are proud of their culture and are actively protecting it.

Chen employs a traditional film camera to take large frame photos that can end up being presented as pictures more than a meter high. His photo equipment is much heavier than that used with digital cameras. That's why driving to his destination is a convenient way for him to take all of his gear, which weighs more than 100 kilograms.

Chen uses "friendly and nice" to describe the different people he has met. He remembers two Tibetan women who helped him carry his heavy equipment to the top of a mountain. Locals treated him to delicious food and provided beds for him, all for free.

"Although each ethnic group has its own personality, we Chinese are a big family."

All of his subjects are now gathered in an online chat group. It consists of hundreds of people from diverse ethnic groups and, although they're strangers to each other, they communicate with each other about their local cuisine, landscape and daily life.

Every year, Chen spends two months driving and photographing. The rest of the time he works as a film director and commercial photographer to support his special project.

The Beijing-based photographer is planning a trip to the Xinjiang Uygur and Tibet autonomous regions in August to capture images of families there. Apart from taking photos, he will start using short films to document his mission and better record the unique culture of each group.

"The more I learn about each culture, the more I want to record. They're fascinating."

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
COVID-19 related travel restrictions and health measures during the past few months led to a dramatic cut in asylum applications in Europe, falling to the lowest level since 2008, said the EU's asylum coordination agency on June 11. The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) said in its special report that 0nly 8,730 asylum applications were registered in the EU+ in April, a massive 87% decrease from pre-COVID-19 levels in January and February.

However, the agency highlighted that there were almost 10 times as many applications for asylum as detected illegal border crossings into the EU+ in April. It said that despite the temporary suspension of certain asylum activities in many EU+ countries, some countries did continue lodging applications.

The agency noted that applications from Latin American countries like Venezuela and Colombia, one of the top countries of origin in recent years, were almost negligible. In the case of Venezuelans, applicants dropped from 5,013 in January to 80 in April, while Colombians registered 5,272 applications in January and just 64 in April.

Read: Trump Administration Proposes Sweeping Asylum Restrictions

Rise in application expected

EASO expects a rise in asylum applications as travel restrictions are beginning to ease and May has already witnessed a gradual rise in the number of applicants. The agency said that EU+ countries should be prepared for increases in asylum applications in the medium term, amplified by the repercussions of COVID-19 on low-income countries.

The report highlighted the COVID-19 effects on the push and pull factors of asylum seekers, especially after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a global ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian access amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It said that only a few countries with an ongoing conflict positively responded to the appeal, and ceasefire initiatives have mainly taken the form of temporary arrangements with no detailed provisions or external monitoring.

Those who crossed borders looking for refuge now have additional problems because travel restrictions designed to slow transmission rates have disrupted traditional migration routes, the report said.

Read: Hungary To Close its Southern Border Zones For Asylum-seekers

(Representational Image: AP)
In these days of protest, there has been a lot of talk about allies of the movement, the one that some call Black Lives Matter, others call Racial Justice, others call Civil Rights and still others struggle to label in a way that conveys both its gravity and its nature accurately, without a political veneer. Ill just call it The Movement, and leave you to pick your own label.

There have always been allies of the Movement, from the earliest days when Catholic priests walked hand in hand with Jewish rabbis and Protestant ministers, marching together as a visible, human wall of defiance against Jim Crow. Allies are, by nature, members of the majority population that didnt suffer the discrimination suffered by black Americans. To be blunt, allies are white.

For generations, these allies have been welcomed with open arms into the Movement because they had both the access and the power that discriminated minorities did not, and were able to use that privileged position to help accelerate the changes needed to redesign society. I am not talking about white privilege, a term as loaded as the phrase Black Lives Matter. White privilege as it is used today is a manipulative trope used by those who dont want cooperation and unity, but who only seek to point fingers and criticize. Accusing someone of having white privilege, especially those blue collar working class folk who just lost their jobs to the coronavirus and are facing the loss of their homes, is both laughable and hostile. It is a way to shut down the conversation, and create a sense of unearned guilt on the part of the target.

But there is a privilege that has always existed in this society which carries the original sin of slavery, of allowing one group of people to own another, and that is the access to sources of power and authority that made it incumbent on those who could make changes, to actually do so. That was never more visible than in the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, after essentially bulldozing the senators and governors (most notably Alabamas George Wallace) who stood in his way. The Movement made change necessary, but Johnson made it possible. Without a white president willing to use his privileged position to move the massive mountains of bigotry with a pen, the Movement would not have achieved its ultimate goals.

Lyndon Johnson was an ally, a powerful ally.

There were other allies who lost their lives in the service of the Movement. Viola Liuzzo, an Italian Catholic, was murdered after having driven African American friends to a protest in Alabama. Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner were young Jewish boys from New York who, together with John Chaney, a black Mississippian, were murdered and their bodies thrown in a ditch in Philadelphia, Missisippi. The movie Mississippi Burning was based on the incident, and elicited significant criticism because it focused on the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to find the killers and bring them to justice instead of the black civil rights workers working alongside of them. This was an example of how being a white ally with access to power and authority was effective, but also resented.

I knew a white ally personally. My father, Theodore Flowers, was a newly-minted lawyer from Temple University, an Irish Catholic kid from the streets of West Philadelphia with a prodigious brain (he was an editor of the Law Review) and an equally prodigious heart. Before he started on what would be a legendary legal career, Teddy went down south to Hattiesburg and Jackson Mississippi in the early summer of 1967 to join the Movement. His contribution was to defend indigent black men in the criminal courts of that state, and also assist in registering voters and applicants for public office. He met the brother of Medger Evers, who had been gunned down in his driveway four years before. He also had a run in with the Ku Klux Klan, which was not unusual in those days because the Klan hated white Yankees about as much as they hated black southerners. If you were a white Catholic Yankee, all the better. My father came home, unlike Viola Liuzzo and the boys who were murdered in that other Philadelphia. But his sacrifice should be noted.

Some people may be angered by this column, as I focus on the contributions of white allies to the Movement. I have had people tell me that white people can only be supporting characters in this struggle, and that it is necessary for them to allow blacks to have a safe space and exclude them from leadership roles. Cooperation on their terms, so to speak. And many of the allies I have heard comment seem to be willing to fill this role.

That is a sad commentary on how the Movement has changed. Before, there was a desire to work side by side toward a common goal of equity, justice and redemption. Now, even among the like-minded, there is some recrimination and division. That should sadden, and anger, all of us.

Because there were no safe spaces for Viola Liuzzo, Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and a resident of Delaware County. Her column usually appears on Sunday. Email her at cflowers1961@gmail.com.
Bank of America's high quality defensive plays should help investors 'sleep at night'

Published Thu, Jun 11 2020 10:04 AM EDT
SAUGUS, Calif., June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- HASA, Inc. ("HASA" or the "Company"), a leading producer and distributor of high quality water treatment products used to sanitize and maintain water systems, today announced a significant expansion into the greater Las Vegas region through a strategic partnership with the Thatcher Group ("Thatcher"), a diversified chemical manufacturer and distributor.

In conjunction with the transaction, HASA will expand its distribution in the commercial and residential pool channel in Nevada with Thatcher as a strategic partner. Thatcher's Henderson, Nevada site will represent the eighth point of distribution for HASA, expanding the Company's footprint to an adjacent region and accelerating the growth of its mini-bulk service offering.

Chris Brink, Chief Executive Officer of HASA, commented, "We are thrilled to announce HASA's expansion into Nevada, furthering the Company's reach and value proposition within a strategic and high growth area. We believe that HASA's capabilities and resources will provide significant value to both residential and commercial pool customers throughout the region."

Craig Thatcher, President of Thatcher Group, Inc., added, "We are honored to have this partnership with HASA and believe that this will enhance the value that our customers receive from the additional services offered through HASA."

Mr. Brink concluded, "We'd like to thank Craig Thatcher, Mike Mitchell, and the entire Thatcher team as we look forward to partnering with Thatcher on this expansion and growing our businesses together in the years to come."

For more information about HASA products and services, please visit the company's website at www.HasaPool.com.

About HASA

HASA, Inc. is a leading producer and distributor of high quality water treatment products used to sanitize and maintain swimming pools and spas, and water systems and containment vessels for recreational, industrial and municipal end markets. Founded in 1964, the company operates seven plant facilities servicing California, Arizona, Washington, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma, and Texas to fulfill its commitment to keeping 20 billion gallons of water Safe, Clean and Clear for homes and businesses across America. For more information, please visit www.HasaPool.com.

About THATCHER

Thatcher Group, Inc. is a diversified chemical manufacturer and distributor. The company was founded in 1967 and has grown to be a major chemical supplier serving 10 different industries. Thatcher Group subsidiary companies operate in 14 locations across the United States serving customer in all 50 states and abroad.

SOURCE HASA Inc.

Related Links

http://www.hasapool.com


They made the pledge during phone talks on June 10, initiated by the Brunei side, on economic cooperation as Vietnam is currently the Chair of ASEAN 2020.

The Vietnamese minister thanked Brunei for the countrys support to Vietnam in performing the important role, voicing his hope that further support will help maintain and reinforce the supply chain and trade, paving the way for the economy to recover in post-pandemic period and thereby turning ASEAN into an attractive investment destination in the future.

The Vietnamese Government is considering projects to link countries, trade and tourism routes among safe countries which record no new COVID-19 cases in the last 30 days, he noted.

The Brunei minister congratulated Vietnam on the successful organisation of the Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and the Special ASEAN Plus Three Economic Ministers (AEM+3) on June 4.

He also spoke highly of and hoped for the prompt implementation of the Hanoi Plan of Action to bolster ASEAN economic cooperation and supply chain connectivity amid COVID-19, in an attempt to foster economic recovery after the pandemic.

The Brunei minister also wanted to strengthen collaboration with Vietnam to prepare for the transition of the ASEAN Chairmanship in the next year.

He also suggested the establishment of a technical exchange channel to regularly discuss matters of the transition, which Anh agreed and said Vietnam stands ready to share experience and support Brunei in the period and when the country becomes the ASEAN Chair.
China removes over 250 church crosses in first 4 months of 2020: report

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Crosses were removed from over 250 state-sanctioned churches in Chinas Anhui province between January and April as the Communist Partys years-long crackdown on church crosses continues, according to the Italian-based magazine Bitter Winter.

All Christian symbols are ordered to be removed as part of the governments crackdown campaign, a provincial employee from Maanshan city told Bitter Winter, a publication produced by the Center for Studies on New Religion which covers human rights issues in China.

The magazine reported on Tuesday that the 250 crosses were removed from churches affiliated with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in cities that include but are not limited to Luan, Maanshan, Huaibei and Fuyang.

One of the churches that had its cross removed from outside its building is The Gulou Church in the center of Fuyang city, a Protestant church that dates back over a century.

The church had its cross taken down on April 2 after over 100 congregation members tried to stop authorities from removing the cross from the church the previous day.

One congregation member told the magazine that local officials told the church members that the cross' removal was done in accordance with a national policy requiring the removal of all religious symbols, not just Christianity.

We support the state and comply with its regulations, the congregation member was quoted as saying.

We can have a dialogue with the government if it thinks that we have done something wrong, but they cant persecute us this way. Officials did not show any documents, fearing that people would implicate them with anything in writing. They only conveyed verbal orders and forced us to obey them.

In the city of Lu-an, over 183 churches had crosses removed during the first four months of 2020, reports Bitter Winter. The report states that in March, a church leader in the city was threatened with imprisonment and the closure of his church if the churchs cross was not removed.

Bitter Winter posted a video Wednesday showing officials removing a cross in Shu County.

An elder from a Three-Self congregation in Hanshan county told Bitter Winter that there were two government-convened conferences so far in 2020 to discuss the national governments demand for the removal of religious symbols.

Allegedly, provincial government officials criticized Maanshan officials for not removing crosses at a quick enough pace. Since mid-April, 33 churches in the county have reportedly not had their crosses removed.

The fact that all church crosses in the county have been taken off makes us very sad because the cross [is] the primary symbol of our faith, the unnamed elder from Hanshan county added. But we dont dare to disobey central government orders: little fish dont eat big fish.

The magazine also noted that crosses were removed from at least 22 churches affiliated with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in four different cities last November and December.

Chinas crackdown on religion and religious minorities has drawn scrutiny from international actors such as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, rights groups and the U.S. State Department.

In its 2020 annual report, USCIRF noted that not only have authorities removed crosses from churches across the nation but they have also banned youth under the age of 18 from participating in religious services.

Reports have also indicated that authorities have required that some churches remove pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary inside of their buildings and replace them with images of President Xi Jinping.

Past reports have also indicated that some churches have begun replacing the singing of hymns with songs that praise the communist regime.

In September 2018, Chinese Christian activist Bob Fu, founder of China Aid, told members of U.S. Congress that the Chinese government is supervising a five-year plan to make Christianity more compatible with socialism, an effort that includes a rewrite of the Bible to make socialist ideas seem more divine.

China ranks as the 23rd worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List. China has been named by the State Department for years as a country of particular concern for engaging in systemic and egregious violations of religious freedom.

In April, USCIRF expressed concern about Chinas selection to the United Nations Human Rights Council Consultative Group, which is tasked with screening applications and making recommendations for independent U.N. experts.

The Chinese government is one of the worst abusers of religious freedom and other human rights, USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer, a longtime conservative activist, said in a statement. The Chinese Communist Party should not have any influence over appointments of the UN Human Rights Councils independent human rights experts.
Seoul, June 11 : South Korea's Unification Ministry on Thursday filed a criminal complaint against two North Korean defector groups for sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, officials said.

The move came days after the North defined the South as an "enemy" and vowed to cut all inter-Korean communication lines in anger over the anti-Pyongyang leaflets, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The Ministry said it filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against the two defector groups -- Fighters for Free North Korea and Keunsaem -- for sending leaflets and plastic bottles filled with rice into the North.

According to the Ministry, sending leaflets and bottles into the North constitutes a violation of the inter-Korean exchange and cooperation act that bans sending goods to North Korea without government permission.

It also accused the groups of violating the aviation safety act and the public waters management act.

The Ministry said it decided to revoke business permits from the two groups.

North Korean defectors and anti-Pyongyang activists have for years sent a large number of leaflets via giant balloons, said the Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea has bristled at such activities, saying they are aimed at tarnishing its leader.

The government has advised against sending such leaflets, citing concerns about the safety of residents in the border regions, but they have often ignored such an appeal, citing their right to freedom of expression.
No Stroopwafels, Fancy TV Screens? How U.S. Air Travel May Change Beyond Tackling Health Concerns

As U.S. airlines navigate the Covid-19 pandemic, it is fashionable to write how the airport and cabin experience will change, in recovery and beyond. Most stories focus on health-related enhancements, such as masks, temperature checks, social distancing, and protection screens separating employees and passengers.

Undoubtedly, these elements will alter the flying airline experience in the short and medium term, but long term, it may be foolish to make predictions. In a rush to restore consumer confidence  and save businesses in distress  airlines have implemented almost every idea they could think of, some based on science, and some not. Eventually, they may streamline to focus on ideas endorsed by epidemiologists.

But another element may change the flying experience just as much. With so few passengers traveling, this is also an economic crisis  the worst in airline history  and travelers should expect airlines to make significant cuts to the passenger experience. They may have little choice, after adding billions in new debt, while pledging airplanes, engines, spare parts, gates and slot holdings as collateral. (Delta Air Lines said Wednesday it has raised more than $10 billion since March.)

Airlines wont compromise on safety, presumably, because they know cutting corners on maintenance is bad for business. But they will look everywhere else for savings, suggesting the (slightly elevated, by recent standards) airline experience travelers experience in 2019 is gone, probably for awhile.

The good news is its not forever. Airlines are cyclical businesses, and airlines have shown they can rack up massive profits during flush times. When high-value travelers return en masse  those are people who buy a $3,000 transcontinental flight, or spend $9,000 for a jaunt to London  airlines again will increase standards and compete on product.

But as long as full-service U.S. carriers rely on short-haul leisure travelers paying $39 or $99 for an economy class seat, they will remain in cost-cutting mode.

Story continues

Heres some stuff that may change.

Less Food

Several years ago, to great fanfare, American Airlines and United Airlines returned free snacks in economy class, offering pretzels and sweet treats, including Stroopwafels. A few airlines, led by Delta, resumed free meals in domestic economy class, on longer transcontinental flights. And many airlines raised the quality of their business and first class meals.

These improvements were mainly a revenue play. Treat passengers a little better, the theory goes, and customers will pay more for airfare. No U.S carrier took this further than Delta, which has maintained it gets a 10 percent revenue premium over the competition because it offers a better experience.

Since the pandemic, airlines have altered meal service, mostly for hygienic reasons. Some have cut many hot meals in premium cabins, instead serving pre-packaged snacks. In economy, many have switched to goodie bags, with water and a small snack, rather than a full service.

Over time, however, airlines may cut food service for economic reasons. Each packet of pretzels doesnt cost much, but in the aggregate, snacks are expensive, and theyre probably not worth it if airlines cant recoup it, indirectly, in the cost of the fare.

Some airlines probably will keep food as a differentiator, while others might retain snacks on some flights and not on others. In premium classes, flights that once had a hot meal might change to a cold snack.

Less Service and Service Elements

By trimming food service, some airlines also can reduce the number of flight attendants on each flight. The Federal Aviation Administration requires airlines to have one flight attendant per 50 seats, but on double-aisle airplanes, airlines often overstaff.

United told flight attendants last month it will move to FAA minimums on all domestic flights. For many long-haul flights, the airline will move to the minimum plus one flight attendant, so long as the load factor is below 80 percent. If the flight is more than 80 percent full, the airline will go with the minimum, plus two.

On longer flights  we suspended some service steps and have combined others, the airline told flight attendants last month. In addition, we are serving more pre-packaged and covered food. For example, in United Polaris, we have suspended pre-departure beverages, hot towels, linens, and we have combined the appetizer / salad, main entree, and pre-packaged dessert onto a one tray set-up. In economy, we are serving a snack, meal and dessert all in one step.

This could be a temporary change to accommodate Covid-19 concerns. Just as likely, it will continue until Uniteds high-value flyers return and the airline makes progress repaying debt.

Televisions/Cabin Interiors

In retrospect, airlines probably should have realized they reached the peak of the economic cycle in 2018 and 2019, when many passengers had little more to gripe about than the future of onboard television screens. With the exception of Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, most airlines were giving up on them, reserving them for long-haul and transcontinental flights. Passengers were upset.

Even in good times, some airlines argued they were too expensive and became obsolete too quickly. They also were difficult and pricey to replace, so airlines often left antiquated screens, rather than upgrade them.

Now, though, most airlines may treat the screens as an afterthought. They may not remove them, but they probably wont add new ones. They also may not pay as much for content. Emirates already has suspended its live television, while several other airlines are not changing titles as often, according to Seth Miller, an aviation journalist.

Then theres cabin interiors more generally. Over the past five years, airlines often retrofitted older airplanes to new brand standards, upgrading lighting, side walls, carpets, seats and, in some cases, televisions. Many of the aircraft that received upgrades barely had been touched since they were delivered a decade or more earlier.

That work is expensive. Airlines have already paid for some of it, and so that work could continue. But much it will stop.

Thats the case at JetBlue, which has been updating its A320s, the oldest airplane in the airlines fleet, with an average age of more than 14 years. In May, the airline said it will pause the program. Passengers will have to live with antiquated interiors (and screens) for awhile.

Hello to Speed Tape

Sometimes, airline passenger complain that a maintenance worker came onto the airplane and fixed a wobbly overhead bin, or squeaky table, with duct tape. The passenger may take to Twitter to say something sarcastic, asking if travelers should trust an airline that makes repairs with household tape.

Safety is our top priority. This isnt actually duct tape. Its a special FAA approved, metal-infused tape used for temporary repairs.  americanair (@AmericanAir) June 21, 2019

It is not duct tape, of course. Its called speed tape, and airlines can use it for most minor repairs. Five years ago, Patrick Smith, an airline pilot who writes a blog called Ask the Pilot, reported the stuff costs about $700 for a four-inch wide roll.

Anecdotally speaking, airlines may have reduced their reliance on speed tape in the past few years, particularly inside the cabin. Many airlines had become profitable businesses that wanted to move upscale, and they knew passengers would remember shoddy interiors. They fixed things the right way.

But times change. When they emerge from this period, most airlines will not have as many mechanics in as many places. They may choose speed tape over permanent repair, deferring replacement for another time.

Theyll probably defer other stuff, too. Airlines can fly with inoperative bathrooms or defective seats, so long as they dont let anyone use them. Airlines have done this in recent years, too, but expect to see more of it.

Sustainability

Environmental sustainability is not a high priority for U.S. airlines.

They may say otherwise, because they wont want to anger their most loyal customers, who care about the environments future. But airlines are fighting for survival, and their goal is cash preservation. Next, theyll pivot to repaying debt.

Its not time to think seriously about electric or hybrid electric aircraft. And even if airlines wanted to discuss it, theres no money to make meaningful investments.

There could still be improvement. The most obvious quick solution to the carbon emissions problem was never electric aircraft. That technology is not ready for anything but the shortest flights. The solution was to get consumers  and airlines  to fly less. It was an impossible argument to make in 2019 amid sky-high demand. But its happening now, because of Covid.

Carbon emissions may drop for another reason. As demand cratered, many airlines retired their oldest and most polluting jets, making fleets got younger and more efficient.

Its not clear what happens next. In previous downturns, airlines have avoided buying new airplanes because they dont want to pay for them. But both Airbus and Boeing are selling next-generation airplanes that sip less fuel than older airplanes.

Even in this crisis, an airline with a fleet of older jets might decide to swap them for new ones. The operating costs of new airplanes are much cheaper, and the price to buy them, while expensive, is far cheaper than before Covid.

Airbus CEO has asked if governments might help fund this transaction.

Instead of taking an old Boeing 777, for instance, back to service, they could take a brand new [Airbus] 350 or 321 with very, very good economics and CO2, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told Politico. And if you subsidize that, you make a big step forward in terms of CO2 in aviation.

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NASA and SpaceX have recently collaborated with each other to launch the Falcon 9 into space from U.S. soil, operated by NASA's astounding astronauts Bob Behnken and Col. Doug Hurley last May 31, 2020. The launching of the Falcon 9 was a success and people everywhere had conveyed their positive outlooks on this successful achievement.

In an article written by ARS Technica, it is stated there that Russian space leader Dmitry Rogozin has expressed his sentiments on the achievements of the aerospace companies. SpaceX's co-founder and CEO Elon Musk stated in a news conference last May 30, 2020 that the trampoline is working, indicating the recent launching of the Falcon 9.

Russia and SpaceX

Russian Space Corporation's overall head, Dmitry Rogozin was affected by this statement. Back in 2014, the U.S. coordinated with Russia for one of their Soyuz vehicles to be put into orbit in space.

The Russian space leader tweeted that NASA should make use of a trampoline instead if they want to go to space because, apparently, there was a slight rift between the U.S. and Russia at the time regarding this matter.

As the SpaceX CEO made his statements in the news conference, Dmitry Rogozin expressed his amusement at the joke. Rogozin stated on Twitter that he looks forward to the cooperation that will take place in future. A few days after the interaction between the space leaders, Dmitry Rogozin cleared out his personal Twitter account. He transformed the account into the official Twitter account for the company Roscosmos or, in Russian terms, Pockocmoc.

The Russian head is still around on Twitter, considering the other official Twitter account he had for his English followers. In addition to this, Rogozin created an article in the American business magazine Forbes about SpaceX's Crew Dragon and released the English version of it in Roscosmos. It revolved around the idea that the U.S. has its own battles when it comes to space research.

Read Also: Elon Musk Provides Insight Into Pictures of Ice-Filled Mars' Crater Circulating the Internet

Rogozin

Rogozin believes that Russia has its own space research programs to think of. He also discussed the future space research plans of Russia in the article. He mentioned there that, before, the Russian Space Corporation sought help from NASA to acquire access to space.

Moreover, Roscosmos gained money for the Soyuz spacecrafts they have provided in the past. However, Rogozin emphasized that the Crew Dragon spacecrafts were less expensive than the Soyuz space vehicles. A Crew Dragon seat costs around $55 million, as stated by NASA. For the Soyuz spacecraft seats, however, it would cost $145 million.

Nevertheless, Rogozin expresses only positive views on NASA and SpaceX's recently successful spacecraft launchings. Vladimir Ustimenko, the head of Roscosmos' media relations, has just stated that Russia will be commencing test drives on two of their newly made missiles. Additionally, Russia will also be reinstituting its research programs on the moon.

Despite these allegations, the actualization of these programs are apparently concepts that were released 20 years ago.

Read Also: Elon Musk Liked a Twitter Post About 3D Concept Comparing Crew Dragon and Starship Size: Sign of Approval?
As part of the Unlock 1.0, malls reopened on June 8, after over two months of being totally shut due to the novel coronavirus-led lockdown.

While restarting business is a relief for malls, the question remained whether people will visit a mall in times of COVID-19.

Moneycontrol visited one of the biggest malls of Bengaluru, Forum Mall, to check if customers have returned to shop, and take a look at the standard operating procedures (SOPs) being followed to ensure hygiene and social distancing.

Forum Mall, which is located on Hosur Road in Kormangala, is one of the oldest malls of Bengaluru and it wouldnt be an overstatement to say that it was one of the busiest malls of the city. However, things changed after the outbreak when malls had to shut shop for over 70 days.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

The scene outside the mall was so unlike the days before the coronavirus struck the world. The seating area outside Forum Mall used to be fully occupied even during the day. However, during our visit, we saw just one person sitting and relaxing.

When it comes to safety measures, there is an ambulance parked right outside the mall. Visitors have to go through a disinfection tunnel, which is followed by a temperature check and fumigation process for bags. There is a sanitiser stand before the entering mall and one at the security check as well.

We have doubled the frequency of cleaning. Hygiene materials have been upgraded. Those materials are expensive but we have to absorb that cost. Our entire safety and housekeeping budget has shot up by 50 percent. The equipment that we have installed has cost us Rs 50 lakh per mall, Muhammad Ali, COO, Forum Malls, told Moneycontrol.

We have restricted entry of visitors to one third. We can't have the pre-COVID footfall because then all efforts will go for a toss. Also, Kormangalas Forum has elevators with a capacity of 20 passengers, which now has been restricted to five people and people have to stand on the markings, he added.

Along with elevators, to maintain physical distancing on escalators every alternate step is blocked and there are also foot markings to help people understand where to stand so that there is enough distance between two people.

Also, the cleaning staff in the mall constantly cleans every area of the mall from floors, seats to doors.

"When it comes to toilets, alternate urinals have been blocked for men. There are placards outside toilets indicating which toilet can be used. Also, alternate washbasins have also been blocked," Ali said.

Now coming to state of affairs inside the mall. First stop was McDonalds where there were around eight to 10 people dining. McDonalds like other food joints was only accepting take-away orders before the ease in lockdown restrictions.

In terms of overall footfalls, the number was low in comparison to pre-COVID levels. However, considering the fact that it has been only few days since the mall opened, the number of visitors seemed to be a good sign for the industry.

Across all our malls (Prestige Group has nine malls in India), we have seen 20 percent footfall in the last three days. Another interesting aspect is that from this 20 percent footfall, we have earned 40 percent revenue across all malls. Hence, we are looking at serious shoppers currently. Before COVID-19, only 10 percent visitors would end up shopping in malls across the country, he said.

Ali added, This weekend is critical as it is the first after reopening, but I am sure business will build and grow.

While the footfalls were low, we saw a lot of shops that had resumed business.

According to Ali, 80 percent shops have restarted operations and the reason for this was suspension of rent during the lockdown period that Forum Mall had offered.

Along with safety measures adopted by malls, retailers have their own set of guidelines.

First, we are asking all retailers to sign up on the SOPs that they have to adhere to. Retailers also have to limit the number of people they can let in. Smaller stores can only allow three customers at a time, he said.

There are further precautions. For instance, a watch store provides plastic gloves to customers before they touch any product. As for apparel stores, some allow customers to try clothes in the store, but if you do not buy that apparel goes into the sanitisation bucket and the clothes are left there for 48 hours. Some stores are not allowing trials and letting customers take the clothes home. If they return the garments, then the same sanitisation process is followed, Ali explained.

Despite malls restarting, there are certain restricted sections. At Forum Mall, the third floor is out of reach, which has theatres, as cinemas continue to remain shut.

Pre-COVID, with good occupancy, cinema contributed around 10 percent of overall footfalls, he pointed out.

Also, the food court at Forum Mall remained shut.

Ali said that F&B (food and beverage) is still struggling because of timing as they have to shut by 8 pm. However, when it comes to food court Forum Mall has a few plans to safely bring back customers.

It has installed automated food court ordering. So, customers can scan the QR code on the table and the entire food court menu will be on their phones. The only time a customer has to get up is to collect the food and only person can do so.

This is in the final stages of implementation, because when it comes to the menu it has to be updated real-time as some food items can go out of stock and those have to be removed from the menu, he said.

Individual restaurants like Salt Restaurants have already started offering menu on QR code. In conversation with Moneycontrol, Rabin Mukherjee, Operational manager, Salt Restaurants, said, We opened our restaurant for dining from June 8. While the opening was not very loud, we hope weekends will be better. Currently, we are doing 10 covers during the day. Before coronavirus, we did 150 covers during the weekend.

One cover means one diner.

Along with contactless dining, Salt Restaurants is maintaining social distancing by leaving alternate tables empty.

Although, the visitor count remains at the lower end so far, things could change over the weekend. And Forum Mall has plans for crowd control as well.

In case we run full, people can book appointments to come into the mall. So, once we reach one-third capacity we block space and allow people who have booked. We will also ask people how much time they will spend because cinemas are shut, so it will be mostly serious shopping," Ali said.
A British COVID-19 patient who was once in an extremely critical condition is now able to sit in a wheelchair to sunbathe daily with help from medical workers at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

His health has been significantly improving during the past week when he was disconnected from ECMO, a form of cardiac and respiratory support outside the body, doctors at Cho Ray Hospital in District 5, where the patient is being treated, said on Thursday.

The Briton has no fever now while he has tested negative for the bacteria that had caused his lung infection.

Cho Ray doctors are helping him get off the ventilator which has given him breathing support.

The patient is completely conscious, able to remember his phone and iPad passwords after a two-month coma, can write on a board, and can use his phone.

His muscular strength is improving, enabling him to sit in a wheelchair to sunbathe with assistance from medical workers every day, Cho Ray doctors said.

He will continue being treated at the hospital though he has already tested negative for the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.

The 43-year-old Briton, a Vietnam Airlines pilot, was confirmed as the countrys patient No. 91 following his diagnosis in mid-March.

He was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases on March 18 with a damaged right lung.

He was on the verge of death many times and doctors once thought only a lung transplant would probably save him.

On May 22, he was transferred to Cho Ray Hospital from the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases after being declared free of the virus.

He has been making a remarkable recovery since.

Vietnam has reported 332 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday night, with 321 having recovered and no death, according to the Ministry of Health.

The Southeast Asian nation has documented no community spread cases for nearly two months.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 06:45:16|Editor: huaxia

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Video: Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, the African American man whose death in police custody inspired protests across the country, testifies at a congressional hearing on June 10, 2020, in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua)

"If his death ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn't in vain," says Philonise Floyd.



WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The brother of George Floyd, the African American man whose death in police custody inspired protests across the country, urged lawmakers in a congressional hearing Wednesday to "stop the pain," as Democrats and Republicans offered different remedies for the U.S. problem-ridden police system.

"I'm here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain. Stop us from being tired," Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, said at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

In his emotional testimony at the House Judiciary Committee's hearing titled "Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability," the younger Floyd urged the lawmakers to honor those from around the world calling for change in the wake of his brother's death. "Honor them, honor George and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution and not the problem."

"If his death ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn't in vain." said Philonise.

Wednesday's hearing came one day after George Floyd was laid to rest, and two days after congressional Democrats introduced a piece of legislation seeking sweeping reforms to policing policies, which will make it easier to prosecute police misconduct cases and prevent excessive use of force by law enforcement.

Flowers are seen outside the church where George Floyd's funeral is held in Houston, Texas, the United States, on June 9, 2020. The funeral of African American George Floyd was held Tuesday in the southern U.S. city of Houston, where he was brought up and spent most of his life, two weeks after his tragic death in police custody in Minneapolis. (Photo by Chengyue Lao/Xinhua)

Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus that led the drafting of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, said in her opening statement that she hopes the bill will pass both chambers of Congress and become law, so that "we never, ever, ever see again what we saw a few weeks ago."

Calling police brutality "an embarrassment of our nation in front of the entire world," Bass said the Unites States, which oftentimes points its fingers at so-called human rights violations in other countries, should honor its own commitment to human rights. "While we hold up human rights in the world, we obviously have to hold them up in our country."

On May 25, George Floyd, during the final moments of his life, was put in neck restraint for eight minutes and 46 seconds by a white police officer in Minneapolis, even as he begged for his life. Derek Chauvin, the now fired officer who kept his knee on Floyd's neck, has been jailed and faces murder charges.

"I can't tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that, when you watch your big brother, who you looked up to your whole entire life die, die begging for his mom," Philonise said.

Demonstrators march in a police brutality protest sparked by the death of George Floyd in New York, the United States, June 9, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

While the Democrats stressed the urgency of reforming the broken police system to end police brutality and racial profiling, the Republicans, though also blaming racism, focused more on condemning the rioters that were agitated in the recent "Black Lives Matter" movement.

They argued that police officers and other law enforcement personnel constitute an important pillar ensuring the safety and security of local communities, and that violence against them should not be ignored.

Republican congressman Jim Jordan, ranking member of the judiciary committee, said at the hearing that George Floyd's death was "as wrong as it could be," while condemning the rioters. He also said the "majority of" the law enforcement officers are good people and first responders.

"It is absolute insanity to defund the police," Jordan said, referring to a rallying cry frequently heard in the recent protests throughout the nation.

In an immediate response on Twitter, President Donald Trump hailed Jordan's remarks as "a great statement ... concerning Defunding (not!) our great Police," adding that "this Radical Left agenda is not going to happen."

A woman raises her arms as riot police fire tear gas during a protest outside the 5th Police Precinct in Minneapolis, the United States, May 30, 2020. (Photo by Angus Alexander/Xinhua)

The Democrats in their proposed reform bill didn't embrace the idea of entirely defunding police departments either. Instead, it will provide grants to community organizations, encouraging them to build partnerships that improve accountability.

However, not only is the Democrat-proposed legislation expected to undergo extensive scrutiny by Republicans on Capitol Hill - who offered their own blueprint for reform in a 10-section draft bill that included police reporting, accountability, training and relations -- it's also possible to be pushed back by the White House, which has indicated that stripping police officers of their immunity is a non-starter.

Asked whether Trump would support the police reform proposals rolled out by the Democrats, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a news briefing Monday that the president was "talking through a number of proposals."

Declining to get into the details of the president's thinking, McEnany said that "there are some non-starters in there, I would say, particularly on the immunity issue."

Police stand guard with Trump Tower in the background during a protest over the death of George Floyd in Chicago, the United States, on May 30, 2020. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposed a curfew on the city on May 30. Chicago's precautions followed a chaotic and violent Saturday evening, when many businesses along the streets were looted, police cars overturned and some properties damaged. (Photo by Christopher Dilts/Xinhua)

In addition to banning life-threating police tactics such as chokeholds and limiting the transfer of military-grade weaponry to state and local police departments, the Democrat-proposed bill also sought to reform the immunity doctrine that shields government officials, including police officers, from liability for conduct on the job unless they violate "clearly established" constitutional rights.

"We cannot settle for anything less than transformative structural change, which is why the Justice in Policing Act will remove barriers to prosecuting police misconduct and covering damages by addressing the immunity doctrine," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday when introducing the bill.

Calling for swift action to pass the bill, Pelosi said Wednesday after meeting with Philonise Floyd prior to the hearing that injustice in the current police system "is readily apparent. The need to make the change is clear and the proposals to do so have been in the hopper for a while."

Appearing on Fox News "Fox & Friends" program Wednesday morning, McEnany noted that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, presidential adviser Jared Kushner and domestic policy adviser Ja'Ron Smith on Tuesday huddled with Republican Senator Tim Scott, who led the GOP effort to devise police reforms.

"They had a very positive meeting with Senator Scott and it was very productive, and we do believe that we will have proactive policy prescriptions, whether that means legislation or an executive order," McEnany said. 
Backers of a Michigan LGBT rights initiative have been granted 69 extra days to gather the signatures required for their question to appear before voters.

The additional time equates to the length of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers stay-home orders intended to slow spread of the coronavirus outbreak. The stay-home period lasted from March 23 to June 1. Court of Claims Judge Cynthia D. Stephens agreed the unusual circumstances hampered the initiatives ability to meet normal petition signature requirements.

Fair and Equal Michigan, whose ballot initiative would amend the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT people, filed suit in the Michigan Court of Claims May 25 challenging rules for citizen-led ballot initiatives, which requires ballot initiative campaigns to collect 340,042 signatures in 180 days to qualify.

While the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act provides protection from discrimination related to religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status, it doesnt include sexual preference or gender identity.

Fair and Equal Michigan sued Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Director of Elections Jonathan Brater and the state Board of Canvassers.

In ordinary times this challenge would fail because there is a legitimate if not compelling state interest in play," Stephens wrote in her opinion. However, for 69 days the people of the state were ordered to stay at home except for activity that was necessary to sustain or protect human life or health.

Violation of this imperative was a misdemeanor.

Stephens ordered the state not to count days that overlapped the stay-home period in the 180-day signature collection window.

The defendants argued that Whitmers orders made an allowance for First Amendment speech activity.

Stephens said some residents who exercised those rights were in fact ticketed and all were in jeopardy of arrest."

The Court of Claims recognized that COVID-19 impacted the fundamental constitutional rights of our nearly 200,000 supporters," Fair and Equal Michigan said in a statement issued Wednesday. "The ruling by Judge Cynthia Stephens validates the voices of supporters and their signed canvassed petitions will apply to the next election cycle in 2022.

The challenge for our supporters: We have until October to garner the remaining signatures.

The ballot question couldnt go before voters until 2022, but Liedel noted the legislature has the option of voting the ballot language into law at any time after the signatures are collected.

While the Judge did not discount digital signatures, the campaign will review canvassing options in the days ahead and lay out a strategy for success, Fair and Equal Michigan said. "The order today is consistent with what we always set out to do: Apply much needed focus on the Legislature to pass the first-ever LGBTQ rights bill or citizens will do it for you.

"The Legislature has blocked attempts for 37 years to pass these basic human rights and this solution gives Legislative leaders and advocates additional time to finally judge people on the job they do, not who they are or who they love.

Stephens full opinion:

COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces.

Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

More on MLive:

Backers of LGBT initiative sue

Group trying to put LGBT initiative on Michigan ballots turns to electronic signatures

Ballot language to include LGBT Michiganders in anti-discrimination law OKed by state board

Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus

Michigan retailers caught in a no-win situation of enforcing mask use

Wednesday, June 10: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan

Expanded Michigan child care service capacity extended as coronavirus pandemic continues
Flatfile, a Denver, CO-based drop-in spreadsheet importer provider, raised $7.6m in seed funding.

The round was led by Two Sigma Ventures, with participation from previous investors including Afore Capital, Designer Fund, and Gradient Ventures, Googles AI-focused venture fund, as well as new investors HNVR, Work Life Ventures, Quiet Capital, Basecamp Fund, and Soma Capital.

The funding was announced in connection with the launch of Concierge, a product focused on data onboarding for large enterprises.

Founded in 2018 by David Boskovic (CEO) and Eric Crane (COO), Flatfile provides software products that focus specifically on solving the problem of data onboarding, the process businesses use to accept data from other organizations.

The companys initial product offering, Portal, serves as an import button that is embedded in software applications via a JavaScript snippet. Utilizing machine learning, Flatfile automatically learns how imported data should be structured and cleaned, enabling customers and teams to spend more time using their data instead of fixing it. Hubspot, Toast, Housecall Pro, among hundreds of other organizations use Flatfile Portal to provide their users with a data import workflow.

The new product, Concierge, provides secure workspaces for collaboration between organizations, allowing customers to manage complex data ingestion challenges for the hundreds or thousands of organizations they serve. After extensive product testing and research, Flatfile is now actively rolling new customers off of its Concierge waitlist.

FinSMEs

10/06/2020
The Charlottesville School Board on Thursday will discuss whether to remove school resource officers from the division, after prompting from Charlottesville chapter of Black Lives Matter and one school board member.

Board Chairwoman Jennifer McKeever said in an interview last week that she expects the board to review the use of school resource officers. In recent weeks, school districts across the country have sought to remove SROs or reevaluate their role in schools following national protests about police brutality.

I dont think the status quo works, McKeever said. I think the Chief and Superintendent agree.

Calls for the city School Board to end its memorandum of understanding with the police department started with last months No Justice, No Peace march downtown and have accelerated recently. The Hate-Free Schools Coalition of Albemarle County has called for the county school system to remove its five school resource officers. The county School Board also will meet on Thursday. Both meetings will be held virtually.

Lashundra Bryson Morsberger, a new School Board member, on May 30 tweeted her support for ending the MOU after several parents on social media advocated for the change.

Youre right, she tweeted. We dont need them in our schools. After the racist threats, I used to think they were the lesser of two evils, but I was wrong. The budget is a statement of our values AND there is no value in policing children. #BlackLivesMatter.

Four full-time Charlottesville Police officers are stationed in the buildings when school is in session. Theyre responsible for securing the school, investigating alleged crimes on school grounds and serving as a resource to students and staff. A memorandum of understanding, signed in 2016, governs what they can and cannot do in school buildings. Officials with the school division and police department have been reviewing that MOU for months.

Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney said theres an opportunity to evaluate other school divisions programs, such as that of Fairfax County.

Im very comfortable having those conversations as to how we create the best plan here in Charlottesville, as Ive always been very conscious ... that we do not contribute, either literally or even the perception, that were contributing at all to the school-to-prison pipeline, she said.

McKeever said she also wants to see changes in the divisions SRO program before the schools reopens in the fall and said she has long wanted to review and revise the citys MOU. Either party can terminate the agreement with 30 days written notice.

We have the time to be deliberate and strategic, she said. We have the opportunity to do it really well and be a leader about SROs in schools. Were absolutely going to do something.

By Friday, McKeever had heard from more than 40 people about removing the officers.

That passion will help to craft a SRO policy for us, she said.

This is the time

In recent years communities have turned to SROs as a way to protect buildings in the wake of school shootings. Several recent studies have found, however, that officers in schools have a negative effect on academic outcomes for African American students.

After each school shooting, the quick and easy response has been up the ante, said Amy Woolard, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center. I feel like were trading a perception of physical safety thats really in our imaginations for the actual safety, security and educational advancement of black students.

Legal Aid has worked for years to limit police presence in public schools and has been planning a long campaign to remove SROs, which would include better data collection about their activity in schools.

School safety is more complicated than putting police officers in buildings, and includes school counselors and equitable education funding, she said.

Communities dont realize that we have power to say we actually dont want this, she said. I think thats what you are starting to see in Charlottesville.

How officers are perceived in schools can depend on students experiences with law enforcement outside the building, Woolard said.

The background there is very different for black students, she said. Just having an officer in the hallway saying hi and being friendly is not going to necessarily unpack that trauma in and of itself.

In an interview, Morsberger said removing SROs is the bare minimum the board could do as the division works to address equity and other persistent issues.

Its time to turn the page and to try something different because this isnt working, she said.   At this point, this is the time where we have the will to do this and theres support. This is the time.

Morsberger said she requested information about specific incidents during her campaign last year and as a board member but hasnt received an answer.

Officers are not supposed to be involved in disciplining students for student conduct issues in either division, according to officials and the Charlottesville MOU.

Neither MOU has any requirement for public reporting about when officers interact with, detain, restrain or arrest students beyond the standard incident form.

Jonno Alcaro, chairman of the Albemarle County School Board, wrote in a letter to a constituent that SROs work with school staff on how to make buildings safer.

They respond promptly when there are reports of intruders on school grounds, he wrote. They come to our buildings at 2 a.m. ... when an alarm is activated and most important, they complete investigations swiftly and fairly when there are social media or bomb threats made against a school or its students.

Albemarles MOU with its police department was signed in 2008 and has not been revised. Officials currently are reviewing the document.

The school divisions and police department share the cost of the officers, who are employees of the department. Charlottesville allocated $301,231 for SROs next fiscal year, according to the city budget. Albemarle budgeted $264,592.

Critics of SROs have argued that both divisions should use that money for more counselors and mental health resources, especially with shrinking budgets. Charlottesville had to cut $1.1 million in expenses for the upcoming fiscal year and Albemarle Countys spending plan is nearly $2 million less than the current operating budget.

Relational Policing Role

Brackney, who took over the department in May 2018, said she has wanted to review the MOU to see if the document aligns with her vision and the school divisions for SROs.

My idea has always been that there ought to be these relationships that are built, she said. If the school is a place where that can happen, then that should be encouraged.

Brackney said she also wants to evaluate whether SROs are meeting the needs of the community and helping to grow a healthy, positive relationship.

When she started as chief, one of Brackneys first questions about the program was about an SRO lesson plan or curriculum, which had not been developed in Charlottesville. The MOU as written doesnt allow for officers to be in classrooms unless invited by a teacher, she said.

The SROs are well-known in the community and have worked to build relationships with students and provide more resources in schools, she said. For example, one officer recently went through the training to have an emotional support dog, who started walking the hallways before the pandemic shut school down.

There is that ability to connect and understand that there are a lot of emotional needs when we are in school settings, she said. These are ways that you break down barriers between that uniform and the person you see behind it.

With any SRO program, Brackney said there need to be clear expectations about the officers role in school.

There are a lot of administrators across the nation who see school resource officers and will weaponize around those discipline issues or student-related issues and then attempt to criminalize that, she said. Thats where we are very clear here in Charlottesville in my relationship with Dr. Atkins is that we do not and will not get engaged in your student conduct or discipline issues that do not rise to a criminal conduct in the schools.

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HANDOUT / National Institutes of Health / AFP via Getty Images

This week will set a record for the most coronavirus cases during the pandemic.

The 14 cases reported Thursday have pushed the total to 39 this week, according to the Midland Health Department. That is 10 more than the previous busiest week (April 19-25). The health department also reported that there were 26 confirmed cases last week, bringing the total to 65 in June.
Measures to restrict the spread of the coronavirus have been abandoned in stages in Germany and across Europe over recent weeks. Schools and childcare facilities were reopened, while workers were forced to return to unsafe workplaces. At the same time, major outbreaks linked to the easing of restrictions and a lack of coronavirus testing continue to occur.

Last week, the city of Bremerhaven surpassed the guideline of 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a seven-day period, which was agreed upon by the federal and state governments as the trigger for reimposing tougher restrictions. In Gottingen, at least 120 people in a high-rise building have been infected over the past two weeks, including 39 school pupils. The city was forced to close 13 schools and childcare centres, and send 100 pupils into quarantine.

According to Johns Hopkins University, over 7 million people have been infected by the coronavirus globally. With over 185,000 infections and more than 8,700 deaths, Germany remains one of the countries worst affected.

Nonetheless, the dismantling of restrictions is continuing apace. Recently, the Bonn-based virologist Hendrik Streeck even argued in favour of deliberately allowing more infections to occur during the summer months.

According to Streeck, studies show that 81 percent of infections are asymptomatic. Those infected would have no or only very mild symptoms, he said. The hope of a vaccine could prove to be deceptive, he added. So people should be prepared to live with the virus. Since the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care is in decline, there is an opportunity for us to increase the number of people with immunity over the summer months.

This strategy of herd immunity has had devastating consequences in every country where it has been tried out. Behind the United States, Britain and Brazil have the second- and third-highest number of deaths in the world. Swedish epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, who is responsible for the coronavirus response in his country, was forced recently to admit that the refusal to implement lockdown measures led to a catastrophic number of deaths. As the WSWS has explained, the policy of herd immunity is a murderous pseudo-science.

The fact that Streeck, who is being strongly promoted by media outlets, politicians and business interests, now proposes such a course for Germany shows that the ruling elite is prepared to callously disregard a large loss of human life in order to protect their interests and profits.

Streeck has long sought to downplay the danger of the coronavirus so as to push ahead with the back-to-work drive, reopen schools and childcare facilities and restart other parts of public life. For example, he allowed the publicity agency Storymachine to promote his controversial Heinsberg study, without acknowledging this publicly. Storymachine was founded by long-time editor of the right-wing Bild tabloid, Kai Diekmann, and event manager Michael Mronz, the husband of the late Free Democratic Party leader Guido Westerwelle. The agency worked for Streeck for free.

Streeck advocates herd immunity even though he is himself forced to admit that there is no scientific basis for it. It is not yet clear whether asymptomatic infections result in immunity or partial immunity, and whether this protects people against reinfection, he told the DPA. But they do form antibodies to the virus, so one can assume that this at least produces some degree of protection, he stated.

The federal and state governments are already refusing to implement measures recommended by serious virologists. For example, they advised carrying out comprehensive testing if schools are reopened.

Christian Drosten from Berlins Charite Hospital recommended testing teachers once a week, even if they showed no symptoms. The early detection of super-spreading events, which can take place at schools, is very effective, stated Drosten. However, despite the authorities being well aware of the risks bound up with the lifting of restrictions, nowhere near enough tests are being carried out.

While governments justified this in the early stages of the pandemic by saying that inadequate numbers of test kits were available, they are now not being used even though there is capacity to do so. In Germany alone, 1 million tests could be carried out per week for COVID-19. In reality, at the end of May, only a third of this capacity was used, with 340,000 tests conducted per week. The low level of testing keeps the official case numbers low, while the actual number of cases continue to rise and additional fatalities are accepted as a price worth paying.

The federal health ministry has repeatedly declared its intention to test more people, even when no symptoms are exhibited. But this has yet to be implemented in practice. Although reports of outbreaks in slaughterhouses, restaurants and above all hospitals and care homes are piling up, all that is forthcoming is vague declarations of intent.

According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute, close to 13,000 cases of COVID-19 have been registered among employees in hospitals and care homes alone. Of these, 584 workers required hospital treatment, and 20 died. At the beginning of April, the percentage of infected doctors and nurses was 4.3 percent, whereas now it is 7.1 percent.

For Susanne Johna, chair of the Marburger Bund medical council, the thousands infected in the medical field is highly relevantbecause the percentage of medical cases is also increasing. She explained that there have been outbreaks that were triggered by one undetected patient. Johna is therefore demanding that patients taken into hospital and medical staff should be tested. She urgently appealed for the available test capacity to be used.

Personal protective equipment also continues to be in short supply. While almost all politicians, including Health Minister Spahn, incessantly declare that adequate PPE is available, the reality appears very different.

According to a survey by the Marburger Bund, the largest doctors association in Germany, 38 percent of doctors stated that they did not have adequate supplies of protective clothing.

Our survey showed that not only are respiratory masks lacking, but also protective gowns or disinfectant, said Johna. FFP3 maskswhich are used for certain activities in close proximity to the patientare practically not available at the moment. Due to the lack of supplies, one disposable mask is being used for an entire shift in hospitals, sometimes for several days in a row, said Johna.

Web.de reported on the criticism of a hospital doctor from Fulda. I feel like we have tested too little, he says. We only tested patients with strong symptoms because we lacked the resources to isolate them. I dont know, but we probably should have tested a few more people. In addition, there continues to be a lack of PPE.
Millions of Ukrainian migrant workers who returned to their native country at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic are now searching for opportunities to return to Europe in search of much needed work as quarantine measures are relaxed both in Ukraine and across Europe.

Ukrainian migrants are a huge source of labor across Europe, making up the largest group of migrant workers on the continent.

According to estimates from the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, up to 9 million Ukrainians out of a total population of 42 million annually work abroad for some part of the year, and 3.2 million have regular full-time work outside the country. The working age population in Ukraine comprises 28.5 million people, out of which 12.5 million are officially employed. Thus, about a third of Ukrainian workers work abroad for at least part of the year.

Farm workers from Ukraine in the Czech Republic

The main reason for these staggering levels of labor migration is the devastating impact of capitalist restoration on Ukraine, which has been compounded by decades of austerity on behalf of the Ukrainian oligarchy and imperialism. Since the US- and EU-backed far-right coup in Kiev in February 2014, living conditions have deteriorated particularly sharply. Minimum wages in Ukraine are now below those of Thailand, Morocco or South Africa. Approximately 60 percent of the population lived beneath the subsistence level before the coronavirus crisis hit.

These conditions have forced a large portion of the working age population to seek employment abroad, where their desperate situation is brutally exploited by major European corporations. Ukraines migrant workers, many of whom look for work through recruiting firms, are primarily working in low-wage manufacturing construction jobs and on farms picking fruit and produce.

Approximately 2 million Ukrainian migrant workers reside in nearby Poland where they account for 2.5 percent of the countrys GDP. Large numbers also work in Italy, the Czech Republic, Finland and Germany.

In March, just prior to the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, Germany adopted the so-called Skilled Immigration Act that will significantly ease the way for Ukraines migrant workers to find jobs in Germany. The act will place German companies in direct competition with Polish corporations for Ukraines migrant workers. In 2019, polls of Ukrainian migrant workers found that Germany was their preferred final destination for work and they would leave their current work country for Germany if offered the opportunity.

The labor of Ukrainian migrant workers also serves as a large source of income for the Ukrainian government. In 2019, remittances from Ukrainian migrant workers were the highest in Europe: with $16 billion they accounted for 11 percent of the countrys entire GDP.

As the coronavirus pandemic spread across Europe in March, the Ukrainian government urged its migrant workers to return home before borders were shut down for an indeterminable period of time. Approximately 2 million Ukrainian workers returned home rather than risk finding themselves stranded in a foreign country without a job and no social or legal protections.

However, as soon as they returned, these workers found themselves out of work within Ukraine, Europes poorest country. On top of these millions of migrant workers, up to 2 million workers have already lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus crisis and salaries average approximately $200 per month.

The government of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who made recruiting Ukrainian workers back to the country one of his main presidential goals when first elected in April 2019, is now struggling to keep workers within its borders. As contract migrant workers, they can earn approximately ten times more in Europe than in Ukraine.

Despite the huge amount of remittances Ukrainian workers send home, their absence has a created a shortage of labor within the country with small businesses often unable to find workers and rural areas depopulated of workers during harvest season. In 2018, the then foreign minister of Ukraine, Pavel Klimkin, admitted that approximately 100,000 people were leaving the country per month and that the situation was creating a massive demographic crisis for the country.

In December of last year Zelenskys government announced a program of a business-friendly incentives intended to attract young migrant workers back to Ukraine, such as low-interest loans for small and medium-sized businesses and funding for construction jobs.

These measures have done little to stem the exodus of workers and while the coronavirus pandemic has returned a sizable number of workers to the country, there is little evidence they will stay once quarantine measures are even further relaxed.

According to Politico, Ukraines Gremi Personal, a recruitment agency which sends Ukrainians to work in Poland, found that 67 percent of Ukrainian migrant workers who returned to Ukraine as a result of the coronavirus already want to leave the country in search of work in Europe.

In April the Ukrainian government attempted to stop charter flights leaving for Finland and the United Kingdom. Due to widespread outcry over the lack of work within the country and the inability of workers to leave the country, the Zelensky government announced it would allow workers to leave only with a guaranteed three-month minimum contract, health insurance covering coronavirus, housing and transportation to their work country and back.

President Zelensky also commented that he would honor diplomatic requests for workers from Ukraines backers in the EU, primarily Germany and Poland, stating, When we get diplomatic requests, we let everyone out. When they show us a copy of the [labor] contract, according to which a person will be hired for at least three monthsgood luck! There is no slavery in Ukraine.

In a written statement to Politico, the deputy ministers Office for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration fraudulently attempted to pose as a protector of Ukrainian workers: No one is prohibiting the departure of seasonal workers from Ukraine, but the government seeks to protect both workers themselves and citizens who will come in contact with them upon their return.

In reality, the Zelensky government is concerned about the ability of companies in Ukraine, both foreign and domestic, to exploit the working class. In recent months, it has introduced a range of labor reforms on behalf of major corporations that will limit Ukrainian workers rights and their ability to receive benefits and unemployment insurance. During the coronavirus crisis medical workers were left without personal protective equipment and were infected themselves, with many engaging in walkouts.

The coronavirus crisis, which has been exploited by the Ukrainian oligarchy to implement further assaults on the Ukrainian working class, is aggravating the already severe demographic crisis in the country. Many of the workers who are now trying to leave will likely never return.

Meanwhile, in Europe, they will be faced with dangerous working and living conditions as the bourgeoisie across the continent has pushed for a premature reopening of the economy, under conditions where the virus is still spreading and workers are not offered adequate protection at their workplaces. Migrant workers from Ukraine and other countries, who often lack medical insurance and are forced to live under cramped and squalid conditions, will be among those hardest hit by the further spread of the virus.
A murderer serving a life sentence for the deaths of five children and three adults in a house fire will have his minimum jail term reviewed by the Court of Appeal.

Eight members of the Chishti family died when Shahid Mohammed, 37, carried out the attack with other men following a long-running and bitter family dispute.

The victims were asleep in their home on Osborne Road, Birkby, Huddersfield, when petrol bombs were thrown inside the property, with petrol also being poured through the letterbox and ignited, in May 2002.

(Left to right) Mohammed Ateeq-ur-Rehman, 18, Tayyaba Batool, 13, Najeebah Nawaz, six months, Nafeesa Aziz, 35, Aneesa Zawaz, two, Ateeqa Nawaz, five, Rabina Batool, 10, and Zaib-un-Nisa, 54, who all died in a fire (West Yorkshire Police/PA)

Mohammed, who was 19 at the time, was investigated by the police for his role in setting the fire, but while others stood trial in 2003 he instead skipped bail and fled to Pakistan.

After more than a decade on the run, he was extradited back to the UK in 2018.

He was jailed for at least 23 years at Leeds Crown Court in August last year after being found guilty of eight counts of murder and one of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

His sentence will be reviewed by three senior judges at a hearing on Thursday, after it was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney Generals Office (AGO) under the unduly lenient sentencing scheme.

Lawyers representing Solicitor General Michael Ellis will argue Mohammeds minimum term is not long enough for his crimes.

During a four-week trial at Leeds Crown Court jurors were told that, in the lead-up to the fire, Mohammed had taken against Saud Pervez, the boyfriend of his sister, Shahida.

Prosecutors said that Mohammed Ateeq-Ur-Rehman, one of those who died in the fire, was the likely target of the arson attack as he had played an active part in maintaining the relationship.

As well as 18-year-old Mr Ateeq-Ur-Rehman, known as Ateeq, his sister Nafeesa Aziz, 35, died along with her children, Tayyaba Batool, 13, Rabina Batool, 10, Ateeqa Nawaz, five, Aneesa Zawaz, two, and Najeebah Nawaz, who was six months old.

Zaib-Un-Nisa, 54, the childrens grandmother and mother of Ms Aziz and Ateeq, died in hospital after jumping out of a window in a bid to escape the flames during the attack, which took place on May 12 2002.

Story continues

A police officer stands guard outside the house in Osborne Road after the fire (Phil Noble/PA)

Sentencing Mohammed, Mr Justice Robin Spencer QC told Leeds Crown Court that, following the attack, the family home was a burning inferno.

He said: Those left behind to grieve will never come to terms with their loss. Words cannot express the depth of their pain and distress.

The judge said that, had Mohammed not fled to Pakistan, he would have given the family closure and prevented them from waiting more than a decade for justice to be done.

One surviving member of the family, Siddiqah Aziz, told jurors how she managed to save her father, Abdul Chishti, from the fire but was prevented from coming to the aid of other family members when she was met by a wall of flames.

Prosecutors said those who were upstairs were overwhelmingly likely to be trapped by the fire that rapidly developed once the petrol had been ignited.

A year after the killings, three men were convicted over their involvement, with Shaied Iqbal being found guilty of eight counts of murder, while Shakiel Shazad and Nazar Hussain were convicted of manslaughter.

The hearing on Wednesday, before Lord Justice Holroyde and two other judges, is due to begin around 12 noon.
One-third of staff working for the archdiocese of Dublin are set to lose their jobs as the financial cost of the Covid-19 pandemic is again laid bare.

Independent.ie has learned that the country's largest diocese is currently working on details of a voluntary redundancy scheme which it will offer its 82 staff.

A spokesperson for Archbishop Diarmuid Martin confirmed the proposed job cuts and said a restructuring process is expected to take some months to complete.

"Staffing levels could be reduced by one-third," said the spokeswoman. Such a measure could impact on as many as 28 of the 82 staff employed by the diocese.

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Staff are to be offered support and advice mechanisms which will be paid for by the diocese.

The jobs affected are believed to be in the areas of parish pastoral workers, finance, human resources, communications and the diocese's chancery office.

Responding to the news, one Dublin priest, who wished to remain anonymous, told Independent.ie he was "gutted" for the diocese's pastoral workers, with whom he has worked.

"We could not have got through the pandemic without our lay parish colleagues and then, just when parishes are about to reopen, our diocese chooses to do this," he said.

Dublin diocese said that, like many organisations, it is facing increasing financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic. It added that the closure of churches for almost three months had taken a toll.

The current crisis has compounded the sustained, decade-long drop in financial support in Dublin as congregations have shrunk, the diocese said.

Archbishop Martin's office told Independent.ie that the closure of churches for Mass since March had seen support for the share collection - the second collection at Masses - drop by 80pc between March and May this year compared with the same period last year. The Share collection supports poorer parishes and central services in the diocese.

Last month, Archbishop Martin announced that priests in Dublin had agreed to a 25pc cut to their incomes.

"A restructuring strategy to address this urgent situation is underway in an effort to reduce costs and plan for a sustainable future," the diocese stated.

In 2018, the diocese announced plans to sell 19 acres of land to the GAA at the former Holy Cross College seminary in Drumcondra, Dublin. The deal was worth in the region of 100million.

When asked why this money could not be used to cover staff salaries until Mass collections are back on track, Archbishop Martin's spokesperson said: "Only a portion of the funds to be raised by the sale [of the land] have been received as the sale is proceeding in stages. These are subject to restrictions under charities legislation and canon law. This is the same for other charitable donations."

"The use of restricted funds is under constant review. Many of the funds we have are clearly restricted for existing and future projects, including plans for sustainable forms of lay ministry."

The spokesperson added that the voluntary redundancy scheme is part of an overall restructuring plan for "a sustainable future" but she stressed that it would be attentive to the needs of all involved.

"Staff in the Diocesan Support Services and parish pastoral workers have been alerted to the fact that significant change is needed.

"What the future will look like for the diocese, parishes and central services is more uncertain due to the crisis we are now facing."
Four private schools in the national Capital have told the Delhi High Court that it is the responsibility of the central and the state governments to provide students from the economically weaker section (EWS) with logistics to help them attend online classes during the Covid-19 lockdown.

In separate affidavits filed in the Delhi High Court, these four private schools said that they are not obliged to provide free devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets and Internet facilities to students belonging to the EWS and disadvantaged groups.

The submissions were made before a bench of justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula while they were hearing a plea filed by Justice For All, an NGO working in the education sector, which had contended that several students belonging to the EWS and disadvantaged groups (DG) were unable to access classes online due to the lack of the aforementioned devices. The court had, on May 8, issued notices to the Centre, the Delhi government, municipal corporations and 10 private unaided schools seeking a response on a plea.

Advocate Khagesh Jha, the president of Justice for All and counsel for the petitioner, said, The court, on Wednesday, directed the central government, state government and remaining private schools to file their responses within two weeks.

A detailed order of the hearing on Wednesday is yet to be uploaded on the Delhi High Courts website. The matter will be heard next on July 15.

A senior DoE official said that they are yet to receive responses of show-cause notices the government had issued on May 8 to 15 schools on this matter. This was following complaints from students that they were not getting any logistical assistance from schools to attend online classes, which had been started after the schools had to close down due to the lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19. In Delhi, the schools have been shut since March 16, but both government and private schools have continued holding classes online.

Reacting to the affidavits filed by these four schools, a senior official in the directorate of education said, We have already informed the court that it is the responsibility of private schools to provide all facilities to EWS/DG students under the Right to Education Act. We will comment only after the court pronounces an order on the matter. Its still sub-judice.

Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 25% seats are reserved for children from the EWS and DG category at the entry-level classes Nursery, KG and Class 1in all private schools. The students are entitled to free education, books and uniforms till Class 8 as per the Act.
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People are petrified to bring up a racial issue, especially in an age of "racial microaggressions," "white privilege," and the massive protesting and rioting over the death of George Floyd.

Even cleaning up graffiti is now considered a racist act.

The fear is understandable when considering how systemic racism has been since the founding of the United States. Andrew Walker expressed the discomfort quite pointedly: "Racial reconciliation is a sensitive subject with which well-meaning people feel intimidated to engage. It seems, at times, there are too many landmines and too many unforgivable sins in the discourse. But in order for us to grow together, we must not let the headwinds of complexity discourage a steady course toward reconciliation."

An exemplary individual who portrayed grace and forgiveness is none other than Nelson Mandela. In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela describes how he felt after getting out of prison. "I was asked as well about the fears of whites. I knew that people expected me to harbor anger toward whites. But I had none. In prison, my anger toward whites decreased, but my hatred for the system grew. I wanted South Africa to see that I loved even my enemies while I hated the system that turned us against one another."

So, I'd like to share a few virtues that the great Mandela lived by and helped bring an end to the Apartheid in South Africa, and hopefully, as we apply them in our own lives that, in solidarity, we can end racism in America.

The first virtue is the Golden Rule: "Do to others what you would have them do to you."

Bottom line, we must treat all people with dignity and respect.

That's what Mandela did as the leader of a divided country. He called whites and blacks to honor one another with dignity and to respect one another's differences. It didn't matter the person's color; if they were being mistreated, Mandela would step in to defend them.

We need to do the same.

If you're white and see a black or brown person racially profiled, discriminated, or mistreated  don't remain silent, say something. Please stand up for them. It would be a great help if more people in the white community broke their silence and fought for more racial justice. And I say that as a Hispanic-American. I, myself, can do more to abide by the Golden Rule.

At the same time, if you're black or brown and you assume all silent white people have a blind allegiance or are unwitting agents of white supremacy, that is a gross generalization and undermines the Golden Rule's very virtue.

Together, let us recognize and admit the pain racism can cause and, as fellow human beings, empathize with those being discriminated against and require our help.

The second virtue is to respect yourself. You never heard Nelson Mandela apologizing for the color of his skin or where he was born. Whether you're a white, black, or brown person, don't feel sorry for your biological make-up. You are who you are because God made you that way. No one should have to apologize to another ethnic group or gender for being born a different color or gender.

The third virtue is to uphold justice and peace.

Mandela didn't rule as South Africa's first black head of state with hatred, violence, and looting. Instead, Mandela upheld justice and peace for South Africans by working with the very people who devalued him as a human being. He knew that for his country to experience peace, he must rely on justice to prevail.

James tells us, "Peacemakers who sow in peace will reap a harvest of righteousness" (3:18).

As a free society, we cannot afford law and order be turned into lawlessness and disorder in the name of fairness. Feeding hatred, justifying violent protests, and looting will not bring about racial justice and unity we are praying for in our country.

What happened to Floyd is morally reprehensible and wrong on so many levels. And thankfully, we received the good news that the officers have been arrested and charged and will have their day in court.

My friend, I encourage you to abide by the Golden Rule, to respect yourself, and to uphold justice and peace. As you do, look to Jesus Christ because he is the only person who can truly end the human evil of racism and bring peace, not only in our streets but in our hearts as well.
Go Mitt!

Back in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected, the world was so upside down you might have believed almost any prediction of our strange future. But Ill bet youd still have been skeptical if somebody told you Mitt Romney would turn into an inspirational political figure.

Yes! The same guy who ran one of the most boring presidential races in modern history. (Theres no question its not good being poor.) Early this year he turned into an impeachment hero. Now hes calling for a voice against racism and marching for Black Lives Matter.

And driving Donald Trump nuts. No holier a grail than that. Yet theres still one more little thing. Mitt cant bring himself to say that people should support Joe Biden. Hes keeping his own voting plans secret. Theres a lot of speculation hes going to write in his wifes name, like he did in 2016.

Thats a pretty pale rebellion. Its like saying youre going to sit home on Election Day and sulk.

Same story for Alaskas Lisa Murkowski, who says shes struggling to figure out what to do. Last week Murkowski responded fervently in support of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattiss anti-Trump essay in which he urged Americans to unite without him and create a better world. There are, everybody knows, a great many things the country needs to do to make a brighter tomorrow. But the without him part does seem to be the critical priority.
A drug test conducted on Kwabena Owusu Adjei, the self-styled pastor who was arrested for allegedly threatening Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) has tested positive for tramadol and cannabis.

A medical report, sighted by Citi News from the Police Hospital showed that his urine sample was taken and tested for some banned substances on Tuesday, June 9, 2020.

He tested negative for six of the drugs, except cannabis and Tramadol.

The embattled General Overseer of the Hezekiah Prayer Ministries was arrested on Tuesday during a live interview he was having with Hot FM at a secret location in Accra.

The interview was based on some statements he had made a few days earlier concerning the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission and President Nana Akufo-Addo bordering on the compilation of a new voters register and the death of former Abuakwa North MP, J.B. Danquah-Adu.

The pastor reportedly warned Jean Mensa to stop the compilation of the new register or risk being killed.

Many people called for his arrest following the statement which they claimed were threats on the EC boss life.

A group called Okyeman Youth For Development in the Eastern Region called on the National Security to sanction the pastor for threatening the EC boss.

After being picked up on what some opposition members described as harsh and illegal manner, photos and videos later emerged from within the countrys security apparatus that cannabis was found on him.

Owusu Adjei was slapped with three charges; threats of death, offensive conducive to the breach of peace and possession of narcotic drugs.

He was immediately arraigned and was remanded by an Accra Circuit Court to reappear on June 23, 2020.

---citinewsroom
[June 11, 2020] Haus Raises $15.75M Series A Led By BlueRun Ventures

Haus Services, Inc., a real estate co-investor offering liquidity and affordability to homeowners, announced today it has closed a $15.75M Series A funding round led by noted fintech investor BlueRun Ventures (News - Alert), joined by Assurant Growth Investing, Leap Global Partners, Correlation Ventures, and H.Barton Asset Management. Existing investors Expa, Montage Ventures, and RIT Capital also participated. The financing will be used to fund Haus's growth to meet the demand of cash-strapped homeowners seeking to reduce their payments and tap home equity. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005028/en/ With this new investment, Jonathan Ebinger of BlueRun Ventures will join Haus's board of directors. "Haus has taken an entirely new approach at how home financing can work, and they're using it to create more flexibility for homeowners," said Jonathan Ebinger, BlueRun Ventures General Partner. "To be able to partner with a team that's redefining the way people own homes, offering liquidty and making ownership more manageable - especially when it's become unmanageable for so many - is very exciting for us."



The company's co-investing platform presents an entirely new way to own a home. Haus invests alongside the owner, and in exchange, homeowners get instant access to their equity and discounted monthly payments. When owners partner with Haus, a customized dashboard tracks the value of their property and allows them to buy more equity anytime or cash out, with funds delivered in days. "Since we launched our platform last July, the team has been united in our mission to bring flexibility and savings to homeowners with instant access to their equity and lower monthly payments," said Jonathan McNulty, CEO of Haus. "With what's happening right now due to COVID-19, people are struggling more than ever. Many have lost their jobs, they're using up their savings to make their payments. Haus makes the trials of owning a home easier to navigate, and we're happy that with this investment, we'll be able to offer relief to additional owners through these uncertain times." According to McNulty, the new funding round will enable Haus to partner with even more homeowners throughout California, Washington and Oregon.

About Haus Haus is a technology company providing a more flexible and affordable way to own and manage your largest asset, your home. Rather than lending money like a bank, Haus invests with owners in their homes. This co-investment model offers homeowners real-time access to equity and lower monthly payments, compared to traditional mortgages. Haus is headquartered in California. For more information on Haus, please visit haus.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005028/en/

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Columbia Engineering researchers propose new computational model of the brain based on assemblies of neurons; their model applied to syntactic processing in the production of language is consistent with recent experimental results

New York, NY--June 11, 2020--Accelerating progress in neuroscience is helping us understand the big picture--how animals behave and which brain areas are involved in bringing about these behaviors--and also the small picture--how molecules, neurons, and synapses interact. But there is a huge gap of knowledge between these two scales, from the whole brain down to the neuron.

A team led by Christos Papadimitriou, the Donovan Family Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering, proposes a new computational system to expand the understanding of the brain at an intermediate level, between neurons and cognitive phenomena such as language. The group, which includes computer scientists from Georgia Institute of Technology and a neuroscientist from the Graz University of Technology, has developed a brain architecture that is based on neuronal assemblies, and they demonstrate its use in the syntactic processing in the production of language; their model, published online June 9 in PNAS, is consistent with recent experimental results.

"For me, understanding the brain has always been a computational problem," says Papadimitriou, who became fascinated by the brain five years ago. "Because if it isn't, I don't know where to start."

He was spurred on by Columbia researcher and Nobel laureate Richard Axel, who recently noted, "We do not have a logic for the transformation of neural activity into thought and action." Papadimitriou wondered what would happen if he interpreted this "logic" as a programming language like Python: just as Python manipulates numbers, the brain's logic manipulates populations of neurons.

He and his team developed a computational system, the Assembly Calculus, that encompasses operations on assemblies, or large populations, of neurons that appear to be involved in cognitive processes such as imprinting memories, concepts, and words. In just the way Python programs can be compiled to machine code and execute, the Assembly Calculus can in principle be translated down to the language of neurons and synapses. The researchers were able to show, both analytically as well as through simulations, that the system is plausibly realizable at the level of neurons and synapses.

"So, we have finally articulated our theory about the nature of the 'logic' sought by Axel, and its supporting evidence," says Papadimitriou, who is also a member of the Data Science Institute. "Now comes the hard part, will neuroscientists take our theory seriously and try to find evidence that something like it takes place in the brain, or that it does not?"

With a new three-year grant from the National Science Foundation, the team is now working with experimental neuropsychologists at CUNY to carry out fMRI experiments in humans to check the predictions of their theory regarding language.

###

About the Study

The study is titled "Brain computation by assemblies of neurons."

Authors are: Christos H. Papadimitriou a, Santosh S. Vempala b , Daniel Mitropolsky a, Michael Collins a, and Wolfgang Maass c A Department of Computer Science, Columbia Engineering b College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology c Institute of Theoretical Computer Science, Graz University of Technology, Austria

The study was supported in part by National Science Foundation Awards CCF1763970, CCF1910700, 1717349, 1839323, and 1909756; a research contract with Softbank;and the European Union's Human Brain Project Grant 991 785907.

The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.

LINKS:

Paper: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/08/2001893117

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001893117

https://www.pnas.org/

http://engineering.columbia.edu/

https://engineering.columbia.edu/faculty/christos-papadimitriou

https://www.cs.columbia.edu/

https://datascience.columbia.edu/

Columbia Engineering

Columbia Engineering, based in New York City, is one of the top engineering schools in the U.S. and one of the oldest in the nation. Also known as The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School expands knowledge and advances technology through the pioneering research of its more than 220 faculty, while educating undergraduate and graduate students in a collaborative environment to become leaders informed by a firm foundation in engineering. The School's faculty are at the center of the University's cross-disciplinary research, contributing to the Data Science Institute, Earth Institute, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Precision Medicine Initiative, and the Columbia Nano Initiative. Guided by its strategic vision, "Columbia Engineering for Humanity," the School aims to translate ideas into innovations that foster a sustainable, healthy, secure, connected, and creative humanity.
Joy Harjo

Leslie Silkos witchery poem, A Long Time Ago, attributes evil in the Americas to a story that could not be turned back; it is a classic and will be reprinted in the forthcoming anthology When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. A new collection of poetry by Craig Santos Perez, Habitat Threshold, is a powerful sequence of poems addressing environmental destruction and how it is associated with racial and cultural hatred and injustice. I return to Audre Lorde again and again. Everything by her, begin with Coal.

Joy Harjo is the U.S. poet laureate and the author, most recently, of An American Sunrise.

Cathy Park Hong

Wanda Coleman, who died at the age of 67 in 2013, may be one of Americas best sonneteers but she was never celebrated as such during her lifetime because she didnt play nice. Coleman was dismissed as too angry, too despairing, too contradictory, too unruly and too black. As a single mother who grew up in Watts, Coleman was too honest about the failures of this nations deep-rooted racism at a time when editors wanted black poetry sandpapered down for white readers. Now, thanks to the editorship of Terrance Hayes, Black Sparrow Press has published Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems, a handsome volume that includes many of her terrifying and fearlessly inventive sonnets: towards the locusts of social impotence itself/i see myself thrown heart first into this ruin/not for any crime/but being.

Cathy Park Hong is the author, most recently, of Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning.

Ilya Kaminsky

What is an epic of our moment? Can a lyric poem rival it? Among the poems I am reading and rereading right now, Middle Passage, by Robert Hayden (which can be found in his Collected Poems), looms large. Why? Because it explains American history better than any other text I have ever read. Describing a journey of a slave ship, Haydens is a documentary piece, yes, but also a chorus, a hymnal, an incantation, a lyric narrative, a drama, an epic account. It combines voices of the crew, a hymnal, a voice of a poet and speeches of litigants in court, among others; its an elegy but also a poem of protest. Its structure is spellbinding. Which is to say: It defies categories, and uses all of them to enact history and show the readers own complicity. It was written decades ago, but speaks to this very moment we are in: you whose wealth, whose tree of liberty / are rooted in the labor of your slaves.

Ilya Kaminsky is the author, most recently, of Deaf Republic.
LONDON: A 37-year-old man who was arrested for running over his stepmother, Kathryn Ashman, three times in a row at a hotel car parking following a fight at a family wedding in August last year, has been jailed for six years.

Ben Ashman was reportedly drunk at the time of committing the crime. He has now been jailed for six years by the Newcastle Crown Court.

According to Daily Mail report, around midnight, Ben Ashman drove his Vauxhall Grandland at guests at his stepbrother's wedding after his girlfriend, Shea Redhead, complained that someone was looking at her that made her uncomfortable.

After that Ben Ashman got embroiled into a bitter fight with the guests and, in a fit of rage, drove his Vauxhall Grandland over his stepmother Kathryn Ashman three times in a row.

Prosecution told the Newcastle Crown Court that Ashman had been boozing on his stepbrothers wedding when he knocked Kathryn Ashman down, reversed over her, then pulled forward with her stuck under the car.

Ashmans girlfriend grappled with his stepmother, who had been disturbed by the commotion and came out of her hotel room in her nightgown.

She suffered a fractured eye socket and six broken ribs - and was left covered in blood.

A witness saw the defendant grab his Ashman and say: If you touch my lass again, I'll f****** kill you.

The court was told that Ashman left Bowburn Hotel in Durham after others broke up the fight, but he got into a further fight with his stepbrother Kyle.

Ashman was originally charged with attempted murder for the injuries he caused to Kathryn Ashman, but the charge was later reduced when the prosecution accepted that running her over was unintentional.

During the trial, Ashman admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, common assault, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to his stepbrother, dangerous driving and criminal damage.
COLUMBUS, OhioFor the third time in six years, Lance Himes is stepping up to become interim director of the Ohio Department of Health.

Himes, the departments general counsel for the past 15 years, was named the states interim health director Thursday by Gov. Mike DeWine, following the sudden resignation of Dr. Amy Acton.

He previously served as interim health director twice before under then-Gov. John Kasich, in 2014 and 2017.

However, Himes faces a much more high-pressure situation now than he did during those two instances. As Ohio Department of Health director, he will be charged with coordinating the states extensive coronavirus response efforts, including deploying COVID-19 tests and issuing state health orders.

Unlike Acton, Himes does not have a medical degree. By law, the director of the department does not need to be a physician but must have extensive public health experience.

Himes has specialized in environmental health and public health compliance issues with the state Department of Health. He helped coordinate the state's response to the Ebola virus in 2014, assisted in overhauling Ohios sewage-treatment regulations, and worked to set into place the states smoke-free workplace rules.

Before joining the state health department, Himes practiced law in Cincinnati for seven years.

He received his bachelors degree in business and geography from Wittenberg University and his law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Read more Ohio coronavirus coverage:

Ohio AG Dave Yost argues diner owners who reopened early shouldnt face criminal charges

Bill to change how state health officials collect, report coronavirus information passes Ohio House

At least 2,457 Ohioans have died with coronavirus: Wednesday update

How much did coronavirus closings sink sales tax collections for Ohio, the counties and transit agencies?

Ohio BMV will reopen driving test sites June 12
The bodies of COVID-19 patients are emerging as the biggest problem in Mumbai even as the Maharashtra government and BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is battling the deadly pandemic.

In the last three months, multiple issues have surfaced - dead bodies lying in COVID-19 wards at LTMG Hospital at Sion, corridor of KEM Hospital at Parel, accumulation of bodies in morgues, disappearance of bodies, cremation without consent, relatives refusing to claim body and long queues in cremation grounds.

"Dead bodies if not managed properly could make the fight against COVID-19 very complex," a top Maharashtra government official said. Reacting to reports of 12 unclaimed bodies at the KEM Hospital, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar said there are 7 bodies in the hospital's morgue as relatives have not come forward, we will speak to police and decide the future course," she said.

It needs to be mentioned that Mumbai's civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal had spoken to police chief Param Bir Singh and discussed the issue of unclaimed bodies.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP vice president Kirit Somaiya has raised the issue of the long waiting time at city's crematoriums.

"Cremation is taking 8 to 22 hours," Somaiya said, adding that he visited Marine Lines, Ghatkopar, Kandivali, Bhandup crematoriums. "The situation is same everywhere," he said.

Stern action will be taken, says HM

Days after the Jalgaon incident, the Maharashtra government has assured stern action. An 80-year-old women, who was COVID-19 positive and "missing" from the ward of Jalgaon civil hospital, was found dead in the toilet of the hospital.

"We've taken a serious note of the Jalgaon incident where a body was found in the toilet. Few have already been booked for this crime. Stern action is being taken against the people responsible for this inhuman act & an enquiry is also being conducted in the matter, home minister Anil Deshmukh said.
Cebu City (CNN Philippines, June 11)  Hospitals in Cebu City are allotting more beds for patients with COVID-19 as admissions continue to rise.

"We see that there is really an increase in number of admissions but our hospitals are responding really by dedicating more of these rooms for our COVID patients," Jaime Bernadas, regional director of the Department of Health in Central Visayas, said in an online media briefing on Thursday.

Bernadas explained that there was initially a large number of hospital beds dedicated for COVID-19 cases, but it was reduced over the past two months due to low utilization.

"So now that we are having an increase in the number of admissions, the hospitals are trying to regain back those slots for our COVID patients," he said.

There have been complaints on social media that patients infected with the coronavirus disease and suspected cases were being turned down at some private hospitals in Cebu City.

Among them was the late barangay captain of Pardo, Cebu City, Manolita "Litang" Abarquez. Her family has blamed the shortage of hospital beds for her death last Sunday. She was 63.

The Abarquez family said they tried to find a hospital room in Cebu City for two days, but were only able to secure admission at a private hospital in Lapu-Lapu City, located on Mactan Island.

"No matter how many great health professionals we have, it is clear and apparent that this pandemic has reached such great heights that (hospital) accommodation has become a scarcity," Apple Abarquez, the village chief's daughter said in a Facebook post.

Cebu is seeing a surge in the number of coronavirus-related hospital admissions while government officials claim the cases are mostly asymptomatic.

Bernadas admitted that there has been an increase in the number of patients that need hospitalization due to symptoms. He, however, noted that there are still more asymptomatic cases than those who need to be admitted in hospitals.

The entire island of Cebu has a total of 4,228 COVID-19 cases. Of this number, majority or 3,439 are recorded in Cebu City, while 324 are in the rest of the province.

Mandaue City has a total of 320 infections, while Lapu-Lapu Cuty has 145.

READ: PH's COVID-19 cases exceed 24,000

During a visit in Cebu on Thursday, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the country's COVID-19 response, noted positive observations but did not say if Cebu will remain under general community quarantine after June 15, or if the restrictions will be eased or tightened.

"Even if the cases are increasing, nakita pa rin natin na maganda ang health care response lalong-lalo na ang ating mga hospital dito (we saw that the health care response is good)," Galvez said.

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to announce the new community quarantine measures across the country on Monday.

READ: New COVID cases 'not inspiring relaxation,' Roque says
BBC newsreader George Alagiah has revealed his bowel cancer has now spread to his lungs.

The presenter, 64, was first diagnosed with the illness in 2014 and later said it had spread to his liver and lymph nodes.

He has now revealed doctors told him in April the cancer is now in his lungs.

Mr Alagiah said: 'My doctors have never used the word ''chronic'' or ''cure'' about my cancer.

'They've never used the word ''terminal'' either. I've always said to my oncologist, ''Tell me when I need to sort my affairs out'', and he's not told me that, but what he did tell me is that the cancer is now in a third organ. It is in my lungs.'

Mr Alagiah, who also tested positive for Covid-19 in March, said he had kept the latest development secret, only telling his editor.

George Alagiah, 64, was first diagnosed with the illness in 2014 and later said it had spread to his liver and lymph nodes

He told the Times: 'I said to my doctor, ''You're going to have to do the worrying for me.''

'I don't want to fill my mind with worry. I just know that he's a clever guy, doing everything he can.'

Mr Alagiah said his chemotherapy has increased as a result of the cancer spreading.

Sri Lanka-born Mr Alagiah was diagnosed with bowel cancer in April 2014.

Mr Alagiah underwent 17 rounds of chemotherapy to treat advanced bowel cancer in 2014 before returning to presenting duties in 2015.

In January 2018, he revealed that the cancer had returned.

Mr Alagiah previously said his cancer, which is terminal, could have been caught sooner if over-50s were screened in England.

At the time, screenings were only offered once you hit the age of 60, unlike Scotland which offers it at 50.

After a campaign led by Mr Alagiah, the rules were changed to offer screening to over 50s in August 2018.

In March, he had a two-week battle with coronavirus that forced him to stay away from the newsroom.

Appearing on BBC News after beating the virus, Mr Alagiah said his cancer diagnoses gave him 'an edge' in overcoming his 'mild dose' of the bug.

Mr Alagiah (pictured above in 2018) underwent 17 rounds of chemotherapy to treat advanced bowel cancer in 2014 before returning to presenting duties in 2015

He credits his wife Frances (pictured together above) for helping him get through the tough times

In November, Mr Alagiah revealed he chose to remain ignorant of the mortality statistics around his illness.

Speaking to the Bowel Cancer UK podcast he said he examined his life for six months after receiving the news, and decided he was happy despite his illness.

He said: 'I decided I didn't want to know about the survival statistics. It's a very unpredictable disease, you're good one week and not the next, good chances one year and not the next.

The journalist, who lives in north London with his wife Frances, had to weigh the positives and negatives of his life to make peace after receiving the bad news.

A timeline of BBC newsreader George Alagiah's battle with bowel cancer April 2014: George Alagiah, 64, was first diagnosed with bowel cancer. 2014-2015: Mr Alagiah underwent 17 rounds of chemotherapy to treat advanced bowel cancer. November 2015: After completing treatment, he returned to presenting duties at the BBC. January 2018: In a tragic turn, he revealed that the cancer had returned. March 2018: Mr Alagiah noted that his cancer was terminal and could have been caught earlier if the screening programme in England was offered at 50 instead of 60, like it is in Scotland. August 2018: Screening age in England is lowered after campaign led by Mr Alagiah. October 2019: Gives interview where he admits cancer is 'knocking on the door everyday' but says he isn't scared of dying. March 2020: Has a brief, successful battle with coronavirus. April 2020: Tests reveal his cancer has spread to his lungs, having previously been in his lymph nodes and liver. June 2020: Shares his latest update, says he has talked to his doctor about 'sorting out his affairs'. Advertisement

He said: 'It took me about three to six months after my diagnosis, I called it getting to a place of contentment. I needed that.

'Just to kind of look at my life and say whatever happens, do you know what, I'm content'.

'I literally had a list of good things that happened to me and bad things, and I realised that the good things far outweighed the bad'.

After battling it for three years it returned and spread to liver and lymph nodes, forcing him to have further treatment.

Speaking on the 'How To Fail' podcast in October about his cancer battle, he said: 'I'm not actually scared of death. I'm not, for myself. That much I know and I've had to work through it in my head.

'I'm one scan away from perhaps knowing that thing is going to happen sooner rather than later.'

He credits his family, his wife Frances and his two sons Adam and Matthew for helping him through the tough times.

'I've dealt with it for myself, but I do find it very difficult when I think of my loved ones and particularly for the woman who has loved me, and I've loved, since 1976  Frances.'

After becoming a grandfather in 2018 he also said that it was a 'wonderful thing'.

He delved deep into what treatment he received and said that after the disease spread he needed 17 rounds of chemo, as well as five operations, one of which removed most of his liver.

In 2015 he returned to work and two years later had to take time out again after his bowl cancer resurfaced.

On the podcast he explained her was 'pretty content with life', and even said he felt happier than he did five and a half years ago.

'Cancer is a physical disease, but you have to deal with it as much in your mind as anywhere else.

'You certainly have to come to terms with it. I was in 'sort your affairs' territory. It took me three to six months to figure out how I was going to deal with it.'

He said he drew up list of good things and bad things in his life and discovered the good things 'way outnumber the bad things'.

He added that it had been tough and that he is continuing his treatment.

'Cancer is knocking on my door every day. I have to accept and own that vulnerability, and not let it engulf me.'
Health care professionals who die by suicide are more likely to be older and nearing the end of their careers, or be of Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry, or confronting physical, mental health or medical malpractice issues, according to a new study from Massachusetts General Hospital.

In a study published in JAMA Surgery, researchers identified modifiable and behavioral risk factors that can lead to burnout and suicide among three groups of health care providers (surgeons, nonsurgeon physicians and dentists) as a way of informing hospitals and residency training programs of potential areas for intervention through increased screening and treatment.

"Our study highlights the fact we have to be concerned about a larger physician population than we originally thought, including individuals facing civil legal, marital and cultural risk factors, as well as those receiving treatment for mental illness," says Yisi Daisy Ji, DMD, with the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and lead author of the study.

"Providers are comfortable advising patients when to seek help but are often reluctant to do so themselves. Part of that is the perceived stigma of being a health care professional with a mental health problem, as well as concern it could adversely affect their medical licensure."

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic raises the importance of physician mental health and suicide prevention. "With physicians across the country facing uncharted challenges in working conditions, redeployment and physical and emotional stress, we must be more vigilant than ever," emphasizes Faith Robertson, MD, with the Department of Neurosurgery, and co-author of the study. "We are calling on all physicians to recognize the signs of mental health difficulties in their colleagues, as well as in themselves, and take early action."

To determine which physicians are most at risk, researchers examined data from the National Violent Death Reporting System from 2003 though 2016. Of the more than 170,000 individuals who died of suicide, 767 were health care professionals.

The Mass General study is the first national evaluation of suicide risk factors and outcomes in the health care provider sub-groups of surgeons, nonsurgeon physicians and dentists.

Some Unexpected Findings

Among the surprising findings of the retrospective study was that physicians who died of suicide were substantially older (mean age, 59.6 years) compared to the general population of suicide victims (mean age, 46.8) years. "This is a previously unrecognized demographic to be at risk," notes Ji.

"Our hypothesis is that the transition into a senior career position or retirement introduces new and often unsettling challenges of purpose, finances and restructuring of routine and family dynamics."

Another unexpected finding by the team was that physicians of Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry were at higher risk of suicide than those of white ancestry. Researchers theorized that the cultural stigma of experiencing mental health problems among this health care population may contribute to low rates of diagnosis and treatment.

Civil legal problems were also found to be a significant risk factor for suicide in physicians compared to the general population, and more so in the nonsurgeon than the surgeon cohort.

The reason, the study suggested, is that physicians in specialties where malpractice litigation is less common (such as nonsurgical) may experience more emotional distress when claims occur, compounded by the duration and uncertainty of each case.

The researchers propose that hospitals would benefit from offering additional psychological as well as legal and human resource support to physicians during times of litigation-induced stress.

With reported cases of physician burnout on the rise nationwide, the study emphases the need for more intense screening and support of health care professionals across all high risk groups.

The paper cited a model educational program at the University of California, San Diego focused on destigmatizing mental health issues and promoting help-seeking behavior and treatment, including an anonymous, interactive online screening program for all medical students and faculty.

Harvard Medical School, too, maintains a robust program that allows physicians under stress to confidentially seek and receive treatment.

"Our study underscores the need for more targeted intervention and support to fit the risk factors of health care professionals," says Ji. "And that support, including mental health screenings and more open conversations among colleagues about warning signs, needs to continue throughout the physician's career if we're going to mitigate burnout and decrease the rate of suicides in the field of medicine."

###

Lead author Ji is a resident in oral maxillofacial surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and MD candidate at Harvard Medical School. Senior author Cory Resnick, MD, DMD, is assistant professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Mass General. Co-authors include Robertson, a resident in neurosurgery at Mass General, Zachary Peacock DMD, MD, assistant professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Mass General, and Nisarg Patel, DMD, research affiliate, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School.

About the Massachusetts General Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with an annual research budget of more than $1B and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In August 2019 Mass General was once again named #2 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its list of "America's Best Hospitals.
Tamron Hall and Kandi Burrus declined to share their first experiences with racism after being asked about them on Wednesday's episode of Watch What Happens Live.

The 49-year-old talk show host and reality star Kandi, 44, appeared remotely on the Bravo talk show and host Andy Cohen, 52, quickly brought up racism in light of the new dialog on race relations sparked by the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in Minnesota.

Andy from his home in New York City said that he was finding personal stories 'connective' to the whole experience and asked them both if they had specific memories growing up of experiencing racism, with Tamron asked to respond first.

Politely declined: Tamron Hall during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live on Wednesday declined to share her experiences with racism growing up

The former NBC News national correspondent called it an 'interesting question'.

'Obviously I've heard and watched so many other friends and family members and celebrities and non-celebrities talk about it. For me, we don't have enough time to name all of the things that I've seen, that I've experienced,' Tamron said.

She recalled hosting a special following the shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012 and focusing on the same subject.

'Now, in reflection, I feel like it's not productive because we know what's happening now. What happened to me as a kid in Texas, even as a young woman trying to break into this business. ...We know the story, so whether it's my story or Kandi's story,' said Tamron who added there were enough racism stories 'in the bank that we know what the problem is'.

Also passed: Kandi Burruss also declined to share her childhood experiences with racism

'To unload a bunch of stories, we know the stories, you know the stories, Kandi knows the stories. But what do we do now?,' Tamron said.

Kandi said she agreed with Tamron.

'We can keep going on and on and on about the past, but right now we really need to be putting that plan of action together to figure out how we can continue the fight and not just let it be just for now,' Kandi said.

Action plan: 'We can keep going on and on and on about the past, but right now we really need to be putting that plan of action together to figure out how we can continue the fight and not just let it be just for now,' Kandi said

'How do we continue the fight? And that's the main conversation that we need to have,' she added.

Tamron talked about the progress in the Black Lives Matter movement, which was met with disdain by some in 2013 when it was launched after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of black teenager Trayvon in Florida.

'Now when you go on social media, every network, every person with a voice has a black box on their Instagram or a message showing their support,' she noted.

Important strides: Tamron talked about the progress in the Black Lives Matter movement, which was met with disdain by some in 2013 when it was launched after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida

Kandi expressed her frustration with All Lives Matter proponents who don't understand the meaning of the Black Lives Matter movement and accuse her of being alienating.

'I'm not trying to alienate you, I'm just trying to get everyone to include us,' Kandi said.

The Real Housewives Of Atlanta star also got emotional while discussing bringing up racism with her children.

Racism talk: The Real Housewives Of Atlanta star also got emotional while discussing bringing up racism with her children

She said her four-year-old son Ace was a policeman on career day and her husband Todd Tucker, 46, tried to explain current events and the civil unrest to him.

'Ace was confused. He was like, ''So, the police are the bad guys?'' Now isn't that crazy to have to explain that to a four-year-old?,' Kandi said as her voice cracked.

'For you to be black and have to worry about the police being the bad guys. I know you guys say I cry all the time, but that's an emotional thing for me,' Kandi said wiping away tears.

Tears flowing: 'For you to be black and have to worry about the police being the bad guys. I know you guys say I cry all the time, but that's an emotional thing for me,' Kandi said wiping away tears

'And Andy, I know you care about us, but you don't have to think about that. That's something that we have to think about for our sons,' she added as Andy, who has one-year-old son Benjamin, nodded in agreement.

Kandi said she has been preaching to friends to encourage their children to become political leaders starting at the local level.

'We need to start grooming our children the same way that white men are groomed to go into politics,' Kandi said.

Kandi said she's been on a Real Housewives Of Atlanta group chat that recently has been focused on how they can encourage Bravo to show they are allies and supporting them in the movement.

Andy said he was hoping they could all work together to work for change and make things better.
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA)- The first flight of the European Humanitarian Air Bridge to support Sudan in tackling the impact of the COVID-19 arrived in Khartoum on Thursday, carrying 90 tons of medical equipment, vaccines, water purifiers, medical kits, medicine, and medical staff protective equipment
New Delhi, June 11 : After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed the Chinese have taken possession of Indian territory in the Ladakh region, as many as 71 Armed forces veterans have issued a strong statement against the former Congress president, questioning his "motivation" for making the controversial statement.

"At the outset, we wish to condemn such undesirable and deplorable tweets/comments by a person who has no idea as to how our soldiers work in the world's most difficult and unfriendly terrain," read the statement. It added, "Rahul Gandhi should never forget 1962, when the country was headed by none other than his great grandfather Shri Jawaharlal Nehru and we were not only caught totally unprepared but had to suffer very humiliating defeat at the hands of China, despite the fact that our soldiers fought valiantly and caused huge casualties to China." Resurrecting his controversial meeting with Chinese officials during the Doklam face-off, the veterans made a stinging attack on Gandhi.

"Whatever may be the motivation of making such statements, it is apparent to everyone that the same are devoid of correct facts and are against national security, which is our main concern. Everyone knows that Shri Gandhi was hobnobbing with Chinese diplomats when there was a standoff between India and China in 2017 in Doklam. No sane Indian is expected to make statements against his own country and military, which undoubtedly support the enemy countries," the statement said.

The veterans included AVM Sanjib Bordoloi, Air Cmde S.S. Saxena, Brig. Dinkar Adeeb among others, goes on to state that the Congressman's statements on Pakistan have been verbatim used and supported by the Pakistani government and military in the past and thus stands a risk in this case as well. "Such twisting of issues of military importance for petty political gains are highly deplorable," they said.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "The Chinese have walked in and taken our territory in Ladakh. Meanwhile, the PM is absolutely silent and has vanished from the scene." Calling it "petty politicisation", the veterans said, "We, the veterans, who are party to this statement have been in the field and have participated in several operations/ actions and, therefore, we all feel insulted and humiliated by such low level politics resorted to by Shri Rahul Gandhi." The Indian and Chinese Army have been in a standoff in the eastern Ladakh area, where the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has created a major military buildup along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Central New York is among five regions of Upstate New York that will be able to move to phase three of reopening businesses on Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

The move allows restaurants to serve food and drinks indoors, with capacity limited to 50 percent. Tables inside and outside of restaurants must be spaced 6 feet apart, and restaurant staff will be required to wear masks at all times.

Spas, nail salons, tanning salons, cosmetologists and massage therapists can also open under phase three of the reopening plan, Cuomo said.

5 regions of New York have been cleared to enter Phase 3 of reopening tomorrow:



Central NY, Mohawk Valley, Southern Tier, the Finger Lakes and the North Country. pic.twitter.com/YU0D3D2Bks  Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 11, 2020

Cuomo cautioned business owners to follow the states health guidelines and rules for social distancing as they reopen from the three-month shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

I know businesses are anxious to open," he said. "Everybodys anxious to get the economy going. Please follow the guidelines and do what is permissible to do.

The governor said local officials cannot offer exemptions to the states rules.

The rules are clear, Cuomo said. You can lose your liquor license, you can lose your right to operate, so this is very serious. Short-term gain is not worth long-term pain.

Before Cuomos announcement, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said he hoped the high number of tests and low rate of infection in the region would convince Cuomo to start phase three in Central New York this weekend.

The other regions that will be allowed to reopen Friday are the Finger Lakes, North Country, Mohawk Valley and Southern Tier, Cuomo said.

MORE ON CORONAVIRUS

Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources

Cuomos office explains why Destiny USA cant reopen yet

Restarting phase 3: Whats opening? Whats closed?

CNY youth sports: Practice with 10 or fewer is OK, but wait to restart league games, McMahon says

Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com

Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
President Donald Trump delivers remarks to U.S. troops, with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani standing behind him, during an unannounced visit to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, on Nov. 28, 2019. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)

Trump Authorizes Sanctions Against ICC Officials Over Probe of US Personnel

President Donald Trump authorized sanctioning any International Criminal Court (ICC) officials who try to investigate or prosecute U.S. military or intelligence personnel, as top officials argued that the United States conducts its own probes into alleged misconduct.

Trump issued an executive order on June 11 declaring a national emergency with respect to attempts by the ICC to assert authority over U.S. personnel without U.S. consent.

If Secretary of State Mike Pompeo determines that foreign persons are involved in such attempts, theyll have their property and interests blocked by Treasury Department officials.

Top administration officials, including Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, support the move.

Attempts by ICC officials to probe American personnel is inconsistent with fundamental principles of international law, Esper said at a press conference in Washington on June 11, adding that the U.S. isnt party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, nor have officials accepted that it has jurisdiction over U.S. personnel.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, holds a joint news conference on the International Criminal Court with Attorney General William Barr and other Cabinet officials at the State Department in Washington, on June 11, 2020. (Yuri Gripas/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

We are here today to defend American sovereignty, national security adviser Robert OBrien said. ICC efforts are unfounded, illegitimate, and make a mockery of justice.

Intelligence indicates that enemies of the United States are encouraging attempts to prosecute American personnel, he said.

The ICC released a statement expressing profound regret at the U.S. actions, describing them as part of a series of unprecedented attacks on the court.

The ICC stands firmly by its staff and officials and remains unwavering in its commitment to discharging, independently and impartially, the mandate bestowed upon it by the Rome Statute and the States that are party to it, it said.

O-Gon Kwon, president of the body that provides oversight of the court, said the U.S. measures undermine our common endeavor to fight impunity and to ensure accountability for mass atrocities.

Judges on the court earlier this year approved a probe of alleged war crimes committed by Afghan government forces, Taliban militants, U.S. troops, and U.S. intelligence personnel.

It was the first time the court had granted approval to investigate American forces.

The many victims of atrocious crimes committed in the context of the conflict in Afghanistan deserve to finally have justice. Today, they are one step closer to that coveted outcome, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement at the time.

Public Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda attends the trial of Malian Islamist militant Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud at the ICC (International Criminal Court) in The Hague, Netherlands, on July 8, 2019. (Eva Plevier/Pool/Reuters)

She pledged to conduct an independent, impartial, and objective investigation.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement June 11 that Trump also authorized the expansion of visa restrictions against ICC officials and their family members.

The International Criminal Court was established to provide accountability for war crimes, but in practice, it has been an unaccountable and ineffective international bureaucracy that targets and threatens United States personnel as well as personnel of our allies and partners, she said.

Officials repeatedly alleged that the court is corrupt and hasnt taken action to reform itself.

If ICC officials have information about alleged misconduct by U.S. personnel, they can submit the information to American authorities, Esper said.
In L.A., Here We Are Again

I must say that as the parent of an African American son and an African American daughter, the events of the past several weeks resonate with me in the way they do with many of us. For we realize that our children could just as easily be victims if only because they look like somebody as the oft-used refrain goes. I, too, confess that my heart rate increases and my adrenaline levels rise whenever I see a law enforcement officer or vehicle and wonder if I will once again be singled out or stopped, or worsefor something.

As we reflect on the seminal events of the past week, beginning with the Minneapolis murder of George Floyd, it is important to note that these events are part of a larger context that is what it all-too-often means to be Black and Brown in the United States. For what happened to Mr. Floyd is part of a context that includes the names of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Atatiana Jefferson. The list goes on to include Oscar Grant, Tamir Rice, and many, many others  in fact, this list includes thousands upon thousands of names, names of Black men and women outrageously killed by law enforcement officers or armed vigilantes taking the law into their own hands.

Today, as hundreds of demonstrations occurred in scores of American cities over the weekend, there is another context as well for we mark the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre resulting in the deaths of approximately (we will never know for sure) 300 African Americans and the destruction of what was known as the Black Wall Street by a rampaging White mob. Indeed, violent death caused by nothing more than living while Black is part of the legacy of what it means to be African American in the United States.

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Los Angeles is no stranger to events like those of this weekend. As we know, our institution, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, is a product of this history as we were founded in 1966 in direct response to the Watts Rebellion of 1965, which was started by the abusive arrest of a Black man and ultimately resulted in 34 fatalities. The Watts Rebellion was preceded two decades earlier by the so-called Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 where Latino men were attacked in downtown Los Angeles and East LA by White American military personnel. Just over two decades after the Watts Rebellion, in 1992 Los Angeles again was witness to an urban uprising, what many people call the Rodney King Riots (after the notorious acquittal of the LAPD officers whose vicious beating of Mr. King was shared with the world for the first time by video) that I often refer to as the Latasha Harlins Revolt. Forty-four people died in 1992 including 10 directly killed by law enforcement officers. It seems that roughly every 2-3 decades, Los Angeles is re-visited by open uprising fighting against overt racism. Here we are again.

It is in this context that I am especially proud of CDU because of our institutional legacy and our institutional mission. For the words: social justice, health equity, and diversity are truly unique as they are rarely found among the mission statements of other higher educational institutions. More so than any other university that I am aware of, CDU has spent decades fighting the very social injustice that leads to events like those of the past weekend and we will continue to do so. Although our niche is health care, our greater purpose is societal equity.

The events of this weekend carry an important message. Americans, especially younger Americans, are simply fed up to the point of action with the persistent and increasing inequity and overt hatred that more and more characterize American society. Americans, seeking change, are taking to the streets to oppose the lurching and bombastic negativism that has replaced an 8-year era of increasing hope for our country. To quote Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in this Sundays LA Times, What you are seeing is people pushed to the edge. Dr. Cornel West spoke to much the same issue this weekend saying that Were living in a system that seems unable to reform itself. We have tasted optimism, idealism, and love for all our fellow human beings, and we want these values back. We are seeking a country where simply being a human being counts for more than being rich, where democracy is more important than autocracy, where hope replaces hate and where compassion trumps the word contempt.

It is important to note that, in my opinion, this weekends events occurred despite the COVID-19 pandemic, not because of it. The fact that so many demonstrators were wearing face coverings indicated that they were fully aware of the potential to acquire COVID-19 by being in a large group, but they were moved to take to the streets in spite of this risk.

I am especially heartened by all the faces I see on the news: not just those of African Americans, but those of Latinos, Asians, and White Americans all taking to the streets to protest the increasing brutality of American society. It is those faces that give me hope for the future because they not only remind me of the faces of my children, but they reflect all the faces of, the mission of, and the contributions of our institution, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

David M. Carlisle, MD, PhD

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Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
Melissa Leong recently revealed she opted to elope with her tattooed bar owner husband, Joe Jones, after dating for only five months.

And on Thursday, Melissa, 40, gushed over her partner, as she shared a black and white portrait of her husband to Instagram as they spent quality time together.

'This guy,' she wrote alongside a heart emoji.

Loved up: MasterChef judge Melissa Leong (left) has gushed over her hot inked husband Joe Jones (right) after she recently revealed they decided to 'elope' after dating for five months

The photo, which appeared to be taken by Melissa, shows the pair spending quality time together, while they indulged in a plate of oysters and wine.

Speaking to TV Week last Monday, the food critic told TV Week, 'when you know, you know' about her romance.

'I first met him briefly at his bar in Melbourne, Romeo Lane,' Melissa said.

'This guy!' On Thursday, Melissa shared a black and white portrait of her husband (pictured) to Instagram as they spent quality time together, enjoying a plate of oysters and wine

'Then we met again properly about 18 months later at a function. We started talking there and we've just not ever ceased since really. It's pretty cool.'

The pair dated for just three months when they decided to get engaged. They then eloped after she filmed SBS's The Chef's Line, just two months later.

'When that wrapped, we went to Joshua Tree in California and eloped. It was all very fun,' the foodie-turned-TV judge said.

Foodie! Her husband Joe also does a lot of cooking as he is the bartender and chef behind the successful Romeo Lane cocktail bar in Melbourne

Some viewers couldn't get enough of her heavily inked beau, who featured on the show in April while the judges spoke of their personal lives.

Following April's episode, Melissa shared a sweet tribute to her husband to Instagram, thanking him for appearing alongside her on the show.

'Shout outs to my awfully hot husband for being a legend and agreeing to be on MasterChef with me,' she wrote.

'Not only is he a classically French trained chef with a specialist focus in pastry, and one of the best things to ever happen to me,' Melissa added.
Long-time Facebook executive Chris Cox on Thursday announced his return to the social media company, saying he will resume his role as chief product officer.

"Facebook and our products have never been more relevant to our future," Cox wrote on his Facebook page. "It's the place I know best, it's a place I've helped to build, and it's the best place for me to roll up my sleeves and dig in to help."

Cox returns to the company after suddenly quitting in March 2019 after a decision by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to pivot the company toward privacy and encrypt the private messages sent between users on Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. Critics have said that the encryption of these messages will make it harder for Facebook to monitor and prevent child exploitation through its services.

"I'm really excited Chris is coming back to Facebook," Zuckerberg wrote in a post.

Cox has previously been described by employees as the heart and soul of Facebook, playing a major role in welcoming employees when they first join the company. Cox said his return will be June 22, and he will attend the company's Q&A on Thursday to answer questions. Before leaving Facebook last year, Cox oversaw all of Facebook's apps, including the main Facebook app, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. Cox did not specify in his announcement which divisions he'll oversee when he rejoins the company.

"I've been following Facebook and I've been encouraged by progress on so many of the big issues facing us," Cox wrote. "In the past month the world has grown more chaotic and unstable, which has only given me more resolve to help out."

A number of employees took to Twitter to praise Cox's return.

tweet

Besides Cox, Facebook on Thursday announced it will also elevate the role of Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams, who will now report directly to Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. Williams will now be involved in the company's decision-making meetings, Sandberg said in a post.

These staff changes come after a turbulent week for Facebook in which many of its own employees and business partners criticized the company for taking no action on a post by President Donald Trump in which he said that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," in reference to Black Lives Matter protesters. Employees who protested the decision not to remove or moderate the Trump post argued that it violated Facebook's community standards, which prohibit language that incites serious violence.
Improving diversity on the boards of large corporations must involve more than addressing a lack of female representation, says Melissa Scully, a director of corporate governance at Deloitte.

In her role at Deloitte, Scully advises the private and public sectors on board effectiveness and corporate governance.

"Improving diversity is not just about increasing gender balance on boards. The ultimate outcome of a well-balanced board is a group that brings a variety of perspectives and exhibits diversity of thinking," she told the Irish Independent.

This will require "going beyond gender to consider other demographic characteristics such as race, age and socioeconomic background, as well as cognitive diversity such as educational background and functional experience," she said.

Scully says these are areas that boards also lack diversity in, "not just here in Ireland, and more needs to be done to increase the pace of change".

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of directorships on publicly listed companies here are held by men.

Of the 339 directorship roles at Irish PLCs last year, 263 were held by men compared to 76 held by women.

Board members are overwhelmingly Irish, white and drawn from similar educational and professional backgrounds.

Irish companies have been slower to diversify at board level in comparison to other countries, Scully says.

"Although the benefits of gender balance are clear - better business outcomes and improved performance - we have been slow in Ireland to increase female representation on boards. The lower rate of progress is not because we do not have the talent, rather we have underutilised talent.

"There are a number of factors behind the low level of female representation, such as recruitment processes that don't promote diversity, the need for a cultural shift, and a small market with reliance on existing networks and contacts."

Nonetheless things are starting to move in the right direction, but "more needs to be done to increase momentum".

A common theme emphasised by the experts is the value of networking.

This includes attending formal events put on by the business community including the Institute of Directors, chambers of commerce or Ibec, as well as specific governance events and training.

Scully says networking is critical. "Going to those type of [formal] events to keep updated, understand key developments and to meet people is really important."

Not all networking pays off though. This can lead to frustration for those who put in the leg work and may come away with nothing to show at the end of it.

"The second piece is around informal networking, meeting with board members who can provide connections to other contacts, which can lead to opportunities," Scully says.

Female leaders at various stages of their career can benefit from this.

"Whether you are thinking about your first board role, or starting out at an early stage in your board career with a charity or public sector board position, and you want to move into the larger corporates, connecting with board members in that space is really important," Scully adds.

When it comes to increasing female participation at board level, she says lots of people talk about the benefits of gender balance, however "people need to move from talking the talk to walking the walk".

"There needs to be clear leadership from boards that diversity is important and we need to see that recognised in new female board appointments, as well as initiatives within organisations to develop female leaders."

There are a number of more structural and process pieces that also need to be looked at, according to Scully.

"For example, many companies have policies in place that mean executives or senior management can't serve on another organisation's board, which is a barrier," she says.

Another challenge stems from the recruitment process and what companies are looking for, as often the criteria they are considering is too restrictive. "It is common that [companies] want previous PLC experience, and also traditional skillsets, but they really need to be broadening the search pool because that will open the door to new and different candidates. This will bring not only gender diversity, but diversity of thinking."

While investors say they are keen to see more diversity on boards, this means bringing non-traditional skillsets to boards and individuals with less corporate board experience, which the same investors may then baulk at.

"While finance expertise and previous CEO experience are important for boards, they also need to look at different skills to reflect the evolving role of the board, such as technology, digital, HR and sustainability. Boards need to widen and deepen the search pool, because ultimately that will open the door to more candidates," she says.
Scott Beardsley is a highly experienced businessman, scholar, teacher, and leader of higher education. He joined the Darden School as its ninth dean in 2015 and during his tenure, the School has reached new heights in diversity, student and faculty excellence, rankings and fundraising. Beardsley is also the Charles C. Abbott Professor of Business Administration and teaches graduate courses in strategy, leadership, global business, and general management. This past year he was reappointed to another term as dean through 2025.

Prior to Darden, Beardsley was most recently Global Leader of Learning and Leadership Development at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm that serves 70 percent of the Fortune 1000 companies. As a senior partner at McKinsey he was based in Brussels, Belgium, and held multiple leadership roles over his 26-year career including as an elected member of McKinsey's global board of directors and leader of McKinsey's strategy practice. He served clients in more than 40 countries.

Beardsley grew up in New England and Alaska and completed his undergraduate education in Electrical Engineering at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. He then attended MIT Sloan School of Management where he received his MS in Management and earned his doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania. He is bilingual and a citizen of the United States and France.

"I am delighted to join the board of such an outstanding organization as the Focused Ultrasound Foundation," said Beardsley. "I believe deeply in their mission and drive to improve and save lives around the world through focused ultrasound technology."

Also joining the Foundation's board, Mike Lincoln is the global head of Cooley LLP's business department where he also leads lateral recruiting and strategy. His practice focuses on emerging companies, venture capital, and mergers and acquisitions. In his current role, Lincoln oversees more than half of the firm's $1.5 billion revenue. In 1999, Lincoln co-founded Cooley's first East Coast office, and today the firm boasts 16 offices across the US, Asia, and Europe.

Lincoln is also an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, teaching a course on emerging growth companies and venture capital.

He serves or has served on numerous boards and councils, including Mindshare, the Shenandoah National Park Foundation, the Federal City Council, the Medical Care for Children Partnership Foundation, the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association, and the University of Virginia School of Law Alumni Council.

Lincoln attended Southeast Missouri State University, where he studied Business Administration, and earned his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

"I have been involved with the Foundation since its inception, and I am honored to now join the Board," said Lincoln. "I am passionate about fostering innovation, and I believe that focused ultrasound has the power to transform healthcare in so many ways. I look forward to leveraging my past experience in this new role as a director."

"Scott and Mike bring additional domain experience and access to individuals and organizations that complement those of the existing board members," said Foundation Chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD. "They both share passion and commitment for focused ultrasound, and their involvement will enhance the ability of the Foundation to drive the field forward."

About the Focused Ultrasound Foundation

The Focused Ultrasound Foundation was created to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide by accelerating the development of this noninvasive technology. The Foundation works to clear the path to global adoption by coordinating and funding research, fostering collaboration, and building awareness among patients and professionals. Since its establishment in 2006, the Foundation has become the largest nongovernmental source of funding for focused ultrasound research. For more information, visit www.fusfoundation.org.

SOURCE Focused Ultrasound Foundation

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Protests sparked by the death of George Floyd are also thought to have contributed to the spike - AARON M SPRECHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Birthday parties and funerals have been blamed for a spike in coronavirus cases as figures showed 21 US states have seen a rise in cases since the country began easing lockdown restrictions.

The number of Covid-19 cases has increased in 21 states in the last fortnight, when many states lifted restrictions to coincide with the three-day weekend for Memorial Day on May 25, according to analysis by the New York Times.

Health officials warned that the US could be facing a second spike of the virus after Americans were pictured in their thousands sunning themselves on crowded beaches and swimming pools over the long weekend.

The warnings have proved prescient in light of the latest figures. More than a dozen states and the US territory of Puerto Rico have recorded their highest seven-day average of new cases since the pandemic began, according to data from the Washington Post. In at least nine states hospitalisation rates have also seen a steady increase since Memorial Day.

Revelers celebrating Memorial Day weekend sparked concern among health officials - Twitter/Lawler50

Texas, one of the first states to ease restrictions in place because of Covid-19, had seen a decline in the number of new daily cases until May 25, when the numbers began to sharply rise once more.

The state's governor, Greg Abbott, allowed businesses including hair salons to reopen from early May, with gyms and swimming pools allowed to welcome customers from May 18.

Figures from the most recent day, June 9, show the state reported 1,945 new covid-19 cases, up from 445 new cases on May 25, according to data collected by the New York Times.

On Wednesday the state also reported record numbers of coronavirus-related hospitalisation rates for the third consecutive day, with 2,153 patients in hospital.

On Saturday Florida reported 1,426 new cases, its highest number since early April. The state's governor, Ron DeSantis, has played down suggestions that the spike is linked to his early efforts to reopen businesses, instead pointing to higher testing rates.

Justin Bahl, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor at the University of Georgia, said that the national percentage of positive cases was approximately 11 per cent, but most states were recording between six and ten per cent positive cases.

Story continues

"This suggests that were doing enough testing and that the increases were seeing is real and not an artifact of increased testing," he told The Telegraph.

Prof Bahl added that there were likely to be multiple causes to the increase. "Certainly, large gatherings and increased community contacts play a large role. Memorial Day likely contributed to the spread, but community contacts and relaxed social distancing will sustain the spread," he said.

Officials in California, which began reopening in early May and has reported record numbers of new cases in recent days, said family gatherings such as birthday parties and funerals were driving the increase.

Contact tracing teams in the state's capital, Sacramento, said they had seen a notable rise in new cases and hospitalisation rates in the last fortnight as they warned against group gatherings inside homes.

Dr Olivia Kasirye, the health officer for Sacramento County, said that despite state orders banning such gatherings, the reopening of restaurants, shops and hair salons had given people a false sense of safety.

However the California governor, Gavin Newsom, has said he will push ahead with the next phase of reopening, which includes bars and cinemas, and is scheduled for Friday.

Weve made it abundantly clear that we anticipate an increase in the total number of positive cases, Mr Newsom told reporters, but he added that the state was far better prepared to handle an outbreak now, with increased testing capacity and millions of masks available.

Among the worst new outbreaks across the US is Maricopa county in Arizona, which includes its capital Phoenix, and has reported more than 4,000 cases so far this month. A rise in cases has also been reported in several other counties in Arizona, which experts have linked to the end of stay-home orders on May 15.

Meanwhile Alaska, where the number of new infections hovered around just one patient per day in early May, has reported its worst figures since the pandemic began. There have been more than 100 new cases in the past week alone, bringing the states total number of cases to 620.

The White House played down the increase in cases on Wednesday, with press secretary Kayleigh McEnany saying: "You've got to look in a nuanced way at each of these states. For instance Texas is one of the places where they're seeing we're seeing a steady slope not a huge rise but part of it's due to the fact that they're testing in long term care facilities and in prisons and the more testing you do the more you identify."

The wave of protests across the US has sparked concerns coronavirus cases could increase - Steve Helber /AP

It comes as demonstrators across the nation have taken to the streets in their thousands to protest against police brutality, sparking fears the number of new cases could rise higher still. Several new infections have already been linked to the protests, with National Guard troops in Nebraska and Washington DC testing positive for the virus after policing protest events.

Dr Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious disease expert, said he was "very concerned" by the sight of crowds of protesters ignoring social distancing rules and not wearing masks.

"It's a perfect setup for further spread of the virus in the sense of creating these blips which might turn into some surges," Dr Fauci told WTOP radio.

However Mike Pence, the US vice president, reportedly told state governors that the country would forge ahead with reopening despite concerns that the protests may have prompted a second spike.
Dancing with friends. Singalongs on vacation. Finally buying that dream car.

These are the memories Breonna Taylor's family remembers when they think back on her life in Louisville, Kentucky. At 26 years old, Taylor was an EMT with dreams of becoming a nurse.

"Her thing was to uplift everybody around her," Tamika Palmer, Taylor's mother, told "Nightline" co-anchor Juju Chang. "You couldn't be sad or down around her."

Today, Breonna Taylor's name is called out along with George Floyd's in protests that have swept the United States in a push for racial justice and police reform.

Taylor was killed on March 13 in her own apartment when three Louisville police officers executed a no-knock search warrant on her home.

PHOTO: Tamika Palmer speaks to ABC News about her daughter, Breonna Taylor, who was shot eight times by police in Louisville, Kentucky, as they executed a no-knock warrant. (ABC News )

Yet her death was largely overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic, which had begun spreading across the country around the same time. Nearly three months later, her mother is still searching for answers about the night her daughter died.

"I haven't had time to sit and grieve," Palmer said. "I'm still trying to figure out why my daughter was killed. I'm still trying to figure out, why did it have to come to her being murdered."

"Why did Breonna have to die?" she said.

Taylor's last night had been like any other; she had dinner with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, after a long day caring for patients. She also spoke to her cousin, Preonia Flakes, about which swimsuits they'd be wearing when they went on vacation in a few weeks.

Watch the full story on "Nightline" tonight at 12 a.m. ET on ABC

PHOTO: Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by Louisville, Kentucky, police officers after they allegedly executed a search warrant of the wrong home. (Breonna Taylor Family)

Shortly after midnight, three Louisville plain clothes police officers used a battering ram to force their way into her apartment.

Under the impression that intruders were carrying out a home invasion, Walker grabbed his licensed gun and fired one round. In return the officers fired 20 rounds, eight of which hit Breonna.

MORE: Breonna Taylor, Kentucky EMT, allegedly killed by police executing search warrant

Story continues

Flakes said she found out her cousin had been killed early the next morning while getting ready for work. When Taylor's best friend told her, "Bree's gone," she asked, "Going where?"

"I just got off the phone with her literally, like, last night. Going where?" Flakes said. "And she was like, 'She's gone, Pre.' I'm like, 'What do you mean, gone?'"

Flakes said she and Taylor were like "sisters," doing everything together from house parties to birthdays, and even seeing each other for sleepovers every weekend. She said Taylor was also helping her to mature into adulthood, advising her on responsibilities like managing her credit score.

PHOTO: Preonia Flakes speaks to ABC News about finding out that her cousin, Breonna Taylor, was killed while asleep in her apartment when police carried out a no-knock warrant on March 13. (ABC News )

Since her death, Flakes says it's hard to believe Taylor is gone and that she sometimes imagines Taylor on vacation with no phone, unable to reach out to anyone.

"But then every day I wake up with something that reminds me that she's really gone," Flakes said. "She's not coming back."

MORE: FBI opens an investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor

Palmer said she found out about her daughter's shooting through Walker, who called her in the midst of the raid.

"It was after midnight. So he called and said that someone was trying to break into the house, and he thinks they shot Breonna," Palmer said. "And so I asked, 'Well, where is she?' He said he couldn't see and he was yelling for her."

Palmer said that when she arrived at the apartment, "the street was lined with police." She spoke to an officer there who told her she needed to get to the hospital, she said. However, after waiting in the hospital for two hours, she was told her daughter wasn't there and returned to the apartment.

"When I got there  they told me to hold on, they'd get a detective over to talk to me, which they did," Palmer said. "It took a couple of hours. He comes over. He asked if I knew if Breonna or Kenny had any enemies or anybody that would want to hurt them. And of course, no, absolutely not."

"And I'm asking, 'Where's Breonna? Where's Kenny?' And so, he tells me to hang tight. He'll be back," Palmer continued. "It was sometime later [that] he comes back. He asked if anything had been going on with Breonna and Kenny -- if they had problems. And I asked, 'Are you insinuating that Kenny did this?' Because he would never."

PHOTO: This undated photo courtesy of Breonna Taylor family shows Breonna posing during a graduation ceremony in Louisville, Ky. (Family of Breonna Taylor via AFP/Getty Images)

Kimberle Crenshaw, a law professor at the University of California Los Angeles and Columbia School of Law, says it's typical among black women to be involved in incidents like Taylor's.

"When we think about where black women aren't safe, they're not safe in the only place they're supposed to be," Crenshaw said. "Black women typically get killed when police do raids."

"No-knock warrants allow police officers, based on one of the lowest standards possible -- reasonableness -- to be able to knock down your door in the dead of night, plainclothes," she continued. "So, from your perspective, you think you're experiencing a home invasion."

Police say they were looking for drugs, but none were found in the apartment. Also, the drug dealer they had been investigating had already been arrested earlier that evening.

Walker was initially charged with attempted murder. His case was dropped.

Meanwhile, none of the police involved in Taylor's death have been charged or arrested, and they remain on the job.

MORE: After Breonna Taylor's death, a look at other black women killed during police encounters

Lee Merritt, the attorney for Taylor's family, said Taylor's case is an example of the kind of systemic problems that exist in the U.S. criminal justice system.

"Breonna Taylor's case is more representative of where we are as a country than the George Floyd's. We've seen adjustments being made, exceptions being made, to the criminal justice system," Merritt said. "But more often than not, it happens like it happened with Breonna Taylor, where she's brutalized and then criminalized, her boyfriend goes to jail, and the men who are responsible for her death are not fired or arrested."

PHOTO: Lee Merritt is the attorney for Tamika Palmer, whose daughter Breonna Taylor was killed March 13 while asleep in her apartment when police raided her apartment. (ABC News )

Following Taylor's death, the Louisville Metro Council began considering legislation that limits the use of no-knock warrants. But the practice remains in place.

"I think it's insane. No one should be awakened that way," Palmer said of the warrants. "Why would you want to enter into a home in the middle of the night without announcing yourselves? What is it in the middle of the night that couldn't wait until 8 [a.m.] for that matter?"

"Why did it take a battering ram?" Palmer continued. "Why not knock on the door and explain who you are? Because, had they done that, Breonna would have definitely let them in."

Contrary to police officers' claims that they knocked on the door and identified themselves, Palmer says Walker, as well as his and Taylor's neighbors, said they never heard the police announce themselves. They told her they only heard the battering ram hitting the door, she said.

"They said  in the beginning, on the news, that they knocked and announced themselves, but then they said they had a no-knock warrant," Palmer said. "So which one is it?"

Initially, after Taylor's death, her mother says the people in her family were the only ones saying her name. "It felt like no one was listening and that no one was answering," she said. But then audio of Walker's 911 call was released amid protests over George Floyd's death.

"I don't know what's happening. Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend," Walker says on the call.

"Can you check and see where [she's] been shot at?" the operator responds.

"I can't, she's on her stomach," Walker says.

The operator asks if Taylor is alert and able to talk to Walker. He says her name and then begins crying as he screams, "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

PHOTO: Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by Louisville, Kentucky, police officers after they allegedly executed a search warrant of the wrong home. (Breonna Taylor Family)

Palmer said it's "amazing" to see so many people joining her fight for justice.

"[I] just love that people who don't even know her are willing to say her name when these officers wouldn't even do that," Palmer said.

Taylor's cousin, Flakes, doesn't see the new push for change stopping anytime soon.

"Breonna's name has brought everybody together as a whole, and everybody is working together to make a change," she said. "There's something that has to be done with police brutality."

Flakes said she hopes to see changes in the laws as well as in the justice system as a whole. Taylor would have turned 27 on Friday, June 5, and Flakes said she hopes there will be more equality for black people by the time Taylor would have been 28. She hopes for these things, she said, because she wants the world to be a safer place for her son.

"He's 6. He really don't understand. But over the weekend  I think he's starting to understand. He's starting to realize. He's running around the house, [saying], 'No justice, no peace,'" Flakes said, referring to a popular rallying cry among protesters.

"I hear him and I see him saying things that we are saying to get the justice that we need to let the world know that we, as black people, are tired," she said. "We are tired."

Since losing her daughter, Palmer has been fighting for what's known as Breonna's Law, which would ban no-knock warrants.

"I'm hoping that it changes the way that they are entering into people's homes and that, again, no family should ever have to go through this," she said.

About the protests currently in their third week, she said, "It's bigger than Breonna now because this is happening everywhere and nobody's safe anymore. So, to just have all these different people, these different walks of lives come together and want the same thing, it's amazing."

Breonna Taylor's mom seeking answers in her death: 'I haven't had time to ... grieve' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The wonderfully named Moroccan Centre of Conjuncture (Centre Marocain de Conjoncutre) has said that the country's national economic growth is expected to reach 4.6% in 2020 which it called very promising compared to the weak results recorded in 2019. This would suggest that GDP will reach MAD 1,196.62 Bn ($124.54 Bn) in 2020, meaning that defence spending will equate to about 3.8% of GDP.

In 2016 Morocco spent 3.28 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence, putting it at 26th place in the list of defence spending as a percentage of GDP - just behind the USA (then at 3.29%).

The increase seems likely to improve Moroccos ranking, though it will remain behind Algeria, its eastern neighbour and rival, which spent 6.55% of its GDP on defence in 2016  a total of US $10.57 billion.

Morocco is ranked 55th among 136 countries in the 2018 Global Firepower (GFP) index  a ranking of comparative military strength. MAD 700 million (US $73 million) of the 2020 defence budget will be exclusively allocated to the costs of conscription, following the passage of Law 44.18 by the House of Representatives. The law reintroduced mandatory military service for young people aged 19 to 25, starting from September 2019.

Most of the MAD 700 million (421 million) will go towards paying the conscripts monthly wages, though MAD 288 million will be spent on rebuilding training and housing facilities, and MAD 61 million will be spent on logistics (medication and transportation).

Some 133,820 young Moroccans, including 13,614 female candidates (for whom the one-year military service is not compulsory), enlisted. Around 15,000 of these (including 1,100 women) were actually called up. Abdelatif Loudiyi, the delegate minister of the National Defense Administration, has predicted that 10,000 new conscripts will join the military each year.

Staff costs account for the bulk of Moroccos defence budget, and are set to rise from MAD 22.330 billion to MAD 33.167 billion due increased numbers and pay increases across the Royal Armed Forces (FAR).

Investment spending will increase from MAD 4.773 billion to MAD 5.146 billion, with increased spending on equipment repair and infrastructure.

The equipment budget is to increase from MAD 6.051 billion in 2019 to MAD 7.125 billion in 2020, as Morocco continues to modernise and strengthen its armed forces through an ambitious procurement programme.

Morocco has been a key Western ally in the international fight against Islamist terrorism, and is currently facing an increased threat of terrorism and insurgency. It is enhancing and improving its defence and internal security forces in response to a wave of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and in particular to the ongoing insurgency in the Western Sahara region, where the Algerian-backed Polisario Front is fighting Moroccan forces. This has prompted Morocco to allocate substantial expenditure to counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism capabilities.

Relations between Morocco and Algeria deteriorated after Spain announced its intention to abandon the former colony of Western Sahara territory in 1975, proposing to divide the area between Morocco and Mauritania. Algeria supported independence for the territory and opposed its absorption by its neighbours.

Mauritania abandoned its territorial claims and withdrew in 1979, but Morocco then claimed the territory relinquished by Mauritania, and this led to renewed tension between Morocco and Algeria. There has been a long-running arms race between Morocco and Algeria, which has received a steady supply of modern weapons from Russia.

The Moroccan Government is expected to procure transport aircraft, helicopters, multirole fighters, submarines, missile defense systems, frigates, and armoured vehicles, while the growing focus on strengthening border security will see increasing expenditure on security systems, motion sensors, alarms, and radar systems as well as on military IT and networking systems.

Morocco is also expected to invest in a new state of the art coastal surveillance system.


London Heathrow airport said it has begun cutting front-line jobs after a recovery in passenger numbers was delayed by Britain's introduction this week of a quarantine rule for incoming travelers.

Europe's busiest airport will initially seek voluntary departures after agreeing a severance plan with unions, it said in a statement Thursday. The hub has already eliminated 500 management posts.

The quarantine plan has sparked uproar among U.K. airlines and airports, with carriers led by IAG saying they'll mount a legal challenge. Heathrow Chief Executive Officer John Holland-Kaye warned previously that the 14 days of self-isolation for arriving passengers would put one-third of the hub's 7,000 posts at risk if Britain failed to say when the policy might be lifted.

"Throughout this crisis, we have tried to protect front line jobs, but this is no longer sustainable," he said in the release. "While we cannot rule out further job reductions, we will continue to explore options to minimize the number."

A Heathrow spokesman said the airport has 5,500 front-line workers but that the number of job losses hasn't yet been determined while it consults with labor groups.

Posts affected will include security officers, baggage-trolley operatives and engineering and maintenance staff. A third of the airport's 1,500 management positions were cut previously.

Heathrow, the main base for British Airways, directly employs only about 10% of the 76,000 people who work at the hub across 350 companies including airlines, retailers and ground handlers, as well as in roles such as immigration and air-traffic control.

Aviation trade groups separately expressed relief as Britain issued guidelines for the resumption of air travel that broadly follow International Civil Aviation Organization measures including the wearing of face masks and social distancing at airports, while omitting steps such as as blocking middle seats.

Airlines UK and the Airport Operators Association both welcomed the recommendations, though International Air Transport Association vice president for Europe, Rafael Schvartzman, said in a statement that the guidelines will be "rendered useless" if the quarantine policy is retained.

Quash Quarantine, which represents 500 travel and hospitality firms, cited a survey of more than 2,000 Britons as showing 70% favor test and trace procedures over quarantine measures, while 59% support so-called travel corridors permitting unfettered travel to and from low-risk countries.

A separate study from Oliver Wyman suggests 75% of British business people expect to travel the same or more once the pandemic ends, and that almost two-thirds of people plan to make at least the same number of leisure trips. At the same time two-fifths would like the green light the government.

Heathrow's passenger traffic remained 97% down from year-ago levels in May as the coronavirus lockdown grounded flights across most of the world. The quarantine rule means that "grim picture" is set to continue even as some airlines seek to revive flights, it said. Cargo volumes were down 40% last month, with a jump in dedicated freighter flights easing the decline.
NICOSIA, Cyprus and LEXINGTON, Massachusetts, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Thalassaemia International Federation (TIF), a worldwide organization dedicated to ensuring equal access to quality healthcare for every patient with thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders across the world, and Hemanext Inc ., a privately held medical technology company dedicated to improving patients' quality of life by delivering a better red blood cell (RBC) replacement therapy, today announced a new strategic alliance on behalf of people living with thalassaemia.

Hemanext and TIF are committed to helping elevate the standard of care for thalassaemia patients worldwide through education and research and development initiatives that will lead to important clinical advances. Through this new partnership, Hemanext will support TIF's educational and advocacy activities in support of patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and policymakers worldwide.

More than 600,000 people worldwide have one of many types of thalassaemia, all of which are inherited blood disorders that are characterized by decreased production of hemoglobin, the protein found in RBCs that carries oxygen to cells throughout the body. The disease causes the destruction of red blood cells leading to anemia. As such, blood transfusions play a vital role in the treatment and management of thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders.

Hemanext is seeking to maximize the therapeutic value of transfusions and reduce financial burdens to health systems with its novel RBC replacement technology. Hemanext is developing a new hypoxic storage method, which the company and many researchers and clinicians believe might improve the quality of life for patients that require chronic and high-volume transfusions, including people with thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders. Optimizing transfusions is critically important at this time, as societies around the world attempt to preserve and expand the blood supply.

"Many efforts are being made to ensure the continuation of blood donations to avoid shortages, as very sadly this pandemic is keeping people from donating blood," said Dr. Androulla Eleftheriou, TIF's executive director. "We will be actively supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) World Blood Donor Day on June 14th. And TIF's theme for 2020 is The dawning of a new era for thalassaemia: Time for a global effort to make novel therapies accessible and affordable to patients. TIF is pleased that Hemanext shares our goal to develop new treatments for hemoglobin disorders. We welcome Hemanext into our network of industry partners."

"The fragility and inconsistency of the blood supply continues to be a concern. During this time, transfusion medicine continues to encourage blood donations and is committed to using blood in the safest and most efficacious way. However, new innovations are needed for the transfusion community," said Hemanext President and CEO Martin Cannon. "Working with researchers in the U.S. and Europe, we are developing a technology that we think will deliver a higher-quality, more uniform red blood cell. We applaud TIF for its support of treatments in every country impacted by thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders."

In many countries, medical complications and financial burdens pose significant concerns to thalassaemia patients, their families and national health systems. TIF is working with organizations around the world that share the Foundation's dedication to seeking solutions to these challenges.

"Transfusion physicians worldwide and patients with hemoglobinopathies they serve would benefit from RBCs that are more durable than currently available cells," said Dr. Michael Angastiniotis, a paediatrician and former Head of the Cyprus Thalassaemia Centre, and currently TIF's Medical Advisor. "Based on preclinical data published by Hemanext and other researchers, hypoxic storage of RBCs may help advance transfusion medicine by reducing the amount and frequency of RBC units need to achieve desired therapeutic outcomes, thereby reducing patients' risk of the dangerous condition of iron overload."

Alex Marichal, VP of Marketing for Hemanext, added, "During the COVID-19 crisis, patients with thalassaemia and other hemoglobin disorders are even more vulnerable than they were before the pandemic spread around the world. We want to do our part to help them, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with TIF in support of the patients served by the Federation's member organizations."

About Thalassaemia International Federation

The Thalassaemia International Federation (TIF) is a patient-orientated, non-profit, non-governmental umbrella federation, established in 1986 with Headquarters in Nicosia, Cyprus. Its mission is to promote access to optimal quality care for all patients with thalassaemia worldwide and it currently represents 224 members from 62 countries across the globe.

TIF works in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1996 and enjoys active consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2017. Most remarkably, TIF has been awarded, in the context of the 68th World Health Assembly in May 2015, the 'Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize' for the Federation's outstanding contribution to public health.

About Hemanext

Hemanext is a privately held medical technology company dedicated to improving the quality, safety, efficacy and cost of transfusion therapy. The company's research and development efforts center on the study and future commercialization of hypoxically stored red blood cells (RBCs). HEMANEXT ONE, our initial product offering, is a RBC replacement therapy designed to potentially improve the quality of life for chronic and high-volume transfusion patients while reducing costs. Visit Hemanext.com to learn more.

Hemanext anticipates receiving CE Mark approval from the European Union for HEMANEXT ONE within the next few months. Currently, the Hemanext RBC Processing System has not been cleared or approved by any regulatory agency (including the FDA), or any notified body, and is not available for sale.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1179404/Hemanext_TIF_Side_by_side.jpg

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SOURCE Hemanext
As epidemiologists are bracing themselves to find out if cases of the novel coronavirus surge from thousands of protesters crowding shoulder-to-shoulder in protests across the nation, many cities and some states are urging anyone who has participated to get tested.

Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Illinois, New York and Minnesota are among those governments offering all protesters free coronavirus tests, whether or not protesters are showing symptoms.

But Oregon and specifically the city of Portland and Multnomah County arent extending that invitation to protesters. Thats even though as many as 10,000 protesters have packed the citys streets during two weeks of demonstrations over systemic racism, police brutality and the death of George Floyd, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

Whether Oregon protesters can get tested on their own for COVID-19 is an open question -- and depends on whether they can convince a doctor to give them the green light.

But many doctors might be inclined to follow the Oregon Health Authoritys guidelines, which recommend testing only for Oregonians who meet certain criteria. Among them:

The person is showing symptoms, such as a fever or cough.

The person isnt showing symptoms, but is black, Latino, Native American, Asian American or Pacific Islander. State officials tweaked their guidelines last week to remove all barriers for the testing of these groups, in recognition of the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has wreaked on minority communities.

The person isnt showing symptoms and isnt a racial minority, but has had close contact with a person known to be infected. In the case of protesters, many who are white and dont qualify automatically for a test, thats the big unknown: Were any of the hundreds or thousands of people crowded around them infected?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated last month that 40% of people who get the disease got it from people who werent showing symptoms. One study found that people are most contagious about 17 hours before they had any inkling they were ill.

The CDC also estimates that about two-thirds of people will ultimately show symptoms, while about one-third wont.

***

Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority. (Dave Killen / staff)The Oregonian

Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, declined to say Wednesday if the agency should revise its guidelines to recommend testing of all protesters  including people without symptoms.

He said that topic would be part of a review and were constantly looking at the guidance.

Allen didnt answer a question about why such a review or guidance was not already in place, given that people who attended protests beginning two weeks ago are now within the window of when they could test positive and unknowingly spreading the virus.

Public health officials say that if they learn clusters of people with COVID-19 took part in the protests, theyll share that information and ask other protesters to monitor themselves for symptoms.

If were finding a lot of cases among people attending certain protests, then certainly wed alert the public, said

Dr. Thomas Jeanne, deputy state health officer at the Oregon Health Authority.

However, state health officials did not indicate the level of detail they would include in their public alerts. They also did not say how large an apparent outbreak at a protest would have to be before the agency notified the public.

***

Although the Oregon Health Authority isnt recommending testing for all protesters, some state lawmakers are.

House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, acknowledged in a blog post the pain and grief Americans have been feeling about the murder of George Floyd but also asked protesters to wear masks.

(D)o not hesitate to get a test if you have recently attended a protest, Kotek wrote.

Rep. Tawna Sanchez, D-Portland, has asked protesters to please consider getting tested.

If you plan on attending a protest, remember that Coronavirus is still out there and real, Sanchez tweeted.

If you plan on attending a protest, remember that Coronavirus is still out there and real. Maintain social distancing as best you can, and wear a mask. If you have recently participated in a protest or any gathering honoring the victims, please consider getting tested.  Tawna Sanchez (@RepTawnaSanchez) June 3, 2020

Many protesters in Portland and its suburbs have been wearing masks, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal governments top infectious disease expert, said Wednesday thats not enough to entirely stop viral transmission in crowds.

Worsening matters, some protesters havent been wearing masks. Others have pulled down their sometimes-stifling face coverings to chant or shout -- actions that epidemiologists say could increase the amount of virus expelled into the air.

Furthermore, the use of tear gas has forced protesters to cough, which also increases the risk of potential spread, and arrested protesters who police confine in close quarters also are at greater risk.

Portland police didnt respond to questions posed by The Oregonian/OregonLive about whether the hundreds of officers working the protests are being tested.

Protesters spoke to authorities through a chain link fence in downtown Portland. Police and other officials aren't always wearing masks. (Dave Killen/Staff)

Scientists say although masks help and so does being outdoors, the risks from large, closely packed crowds is worrisome. On average, it takes about five days before an exposed person starts feeling symptoms. It can, however, take up to 14 days for a person exposed to the virus to start feeling sick. It might be another week or more before those symptoms worsen to the point that people seek medical care.

Floyd died May 25. Protests started in Portland on May 28, and Tuesday marked their 13th night.

This number is likely to be off, but I'll take 600k as number of daily protestors across the US. With a population prevalence of 0.5%, this would imply 3000 infected individuals attending protests daily. 7/21  Trevor Bedford (@trvrb) June 6, 2020

Meanwhile, new coronavirus cases have reached their highest daily numbers over the past few days: On Sunday, Oregon set a record with 146 new cases. That was followed by 114 on Monday, the states second-highest daily total. Residents hospitalized because of the virus also jumped by 40% in the previous week.

Public health officials, however, havent pointed to the protests as a driver. Rather, theyve said the higher numbers were boosted by increased testing and a large outbreak at Pacific Seafood, a food-processing company in Newport.

Nationally, the number of new daily cases has been trending upward in 21 states, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Officials believe much of that is due to the lifting of stay-at-home orders and reopening efforts, but its still unclear how much of a role protests are playing in that.

***

In Oregon and across the country, governmental officials are walking a fine line: Expressing serious concerns about a second wave of infections while not wanting to be seen as dissuading activists from voicing their anger and demanding change after centuries of institutionalized racism against African Americans and others.

Gov. Kate Brown has publicly supported the protests and isnt enforcing her public health emergency orders that prohibit cultural, civic and faith-based gatherings of more than 25 people in Multnomah County or Phase 1 counties as long as physical distancing of at least six feet can be maintained. Elsewhere in the state, where counties have entered Phase 2 of Browns pandemic plan, the governor has limited groups that congregate outdoors to 100 people, but made an exception allowing meetings of up to 250 people for faith-based groups.

Thats far fewer than the thousands whove been gathering in Portland.

I am absolutely committed to making sure that Oregonians and frankly Americans have the ability to use their voices to improve our democracy, to eradicate racial discrimination in our criminal justice system, in our education system, in our economy and in our health care system, Brown said during a news conference last week.

That has riled some members of Oregons church communities. Ten churches are suing the state claiming Brown infringed on their constitutional rights to practice their religions by prohibiting their gathering sizes.

Liz Merah, a spokeswoman for the governor, would not answer a question about whether the governor had a response to criticisms from the religious community. She also didnt answer a question about whether the governor would arrange for free coronavirus testing for all protesters in Oregon.

Health officials with Multnomah, Washington, Marion and Lane counties all said they had yet to report any positive cases among people whove attended protests in their communities. But that could change as the daily demonstrations enter their third week.

Its too soon to say anything about the effects that protests have had on COVID-19, Dr. Jennifer Vines, the health officer for Multnomah County, told the countys board of commissioners Wednesday.

-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; skavanaugh@oregonian.com; 503-294-7632; @shanedkavanaugh

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Results show that retinitis pigmentosa 59 may not be a congenital disorder of glycosylation, as was long assumed

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Researchers who made a knock-in mouse-model of the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa 59, or RP59, expected to see retinal degeneration and retinal thinning. As reported in the journal Cells, they surprisingly found none, calling into question the commonly accepted -- though never proved -- mechanism for RP59.

"Our findings bring into question the current concept that RP59 is a member of a large and diverse class of diseases known as 'congenital disorders of glycosylation,'" said Steven Pittler, Ph.D., professor and director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry and Vision Science Vision Science Research Center. "While in principle it would be reasonable to consider RP59 as a congenital disorder of glycosylation, due to the associated mutation in DHDDS, an enzyme required for glycosylation, there is no direct evidence to demonstrate a glycosylation defect in the human retinal disease or in any animal model of RP59 generated to date."

This means the mechanism of DHDDS-dependent retinal degeneration in human RP59 patients remains unknown, and appears to be more complex than just a DHDDS loss of function.

Retinitis pigmentosa is a group of rare genetic disorders affecting the light-sensitive retinal tissue at the back of the eye. Patients first notice night blindness and loss of peripheral vision, and the disease can progress to vision loss and legal blindness. RP59 has changes in the gene for DHDDS, one of the 50 genes that can lead to RP. RP59 is found in one in 100 Ashkenazi Jewish people and one in 2,009 people worldwide.

In RP59, the lysine that is the 42nd amino acid of the DHDDS enzyme is changed to a glutamic acid, a change known as a K42E point mutation. So Pittler and colleagues at UAB and the State University of New York at Buffalo, or SUNY-Buffalo, examined the retinas of mice that were made homozygous for a DHDDS K42E mutation.

Using spectral domain-optical coherence tomography, they found no evidence of retinal degeneration, even up to one year of age. Also, there was no evidence of compromised protein N-glycosylation, meaning there was no significant DHDDS loss of function in the K42E mice. Opsin, a protein in photoreceptor cells involved in vision, is often mislocalized when photoreceptor cells degenerate; however, the K42E mice showed no change in opsin localization.

What the researchers did find was extensive gliosis in the retinas of the mutant mice, which was spread in a radial pattern throughout the inner retinal layers to the outer plexiform layer of the retina. There was also intense gliosis at the vitreoretinal interface. Gliosis is a change in glial cells of the central nervous system, often in response to injury. In the retina, it affects glial M?ller cells, and that reactive gliosis can have harmful effects on vision.

"These results indicate massive gliotic activation," Pittler said, "which is remarkable considering the lack of overt retinal degeneration or loss of retinal neurons."

###

The study, "Lack of overt retinal degeneration in a K42E Dhdds knock-in mouse model of RP59," is published in Cells. Co-authors with Pittler are Sriganesh Ramachandra Rao and Steven J. Fliesler, SUNY-Buffalo; and Pravallika Kotla and Mai N. Nguyen, UAB Department of Optometry and Vision Science.

Support came from National Institutes of Health grants EY029341 and P30 003039; a Fight for Sight Summer Student Fellowship, a Career-Starter Research Grant from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, the UAB Vision Science Research Center and the Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System.

Pittler and colleagues have also published two companion papers that further probe the role of DHDDS in RP.

The first study, "Selective ablation of dehydrodolichol diphosphate synthase in murine retinal pigment epithelium causes RPE atrophy and retinal degeneration," is published in Cells. It showed that retinal pigment epithelium-specific deletion of the gene for DHDDS in mice induced structural and functional deficits in the retinal pigment epithelium and the photoreceptors. This suggests that retinal pigment epithelium pathology may be a significant contributor to the retinal degeneration observed in humans with RP59 mutations.

Researchers at UAB and SUNY-Buffalo did the study.

The second study, "Retinal degeneration caused by rod-specific Dhdds ablation occurs without concomitant inhibition of protein N-glycosylation," is published in IScience. It examined the rod photoreceptor-specific ablation of the gene for DHDDS. The researchers found that mouse retinas had mild retinal dysfunction at four weeks after birth, followed by rapid photoreceptor degeneration and almost complete loss of rods and cones by six weeks after birth. Rods and cones are the photoreceptors of the retina. Retinal proteins, including opsin, still showed N-glycosylation, which again challenges the conventional mechanistic view of RP59 as a congenital disorder of glycosylation.

Researchers at UAB, SUNY-Buffalo and the Polish Academy of Sciences did the study.
"Tiger Pistol is dedicated to helping JOANN in its initiative to support our country's medical personnel and fellow citizens," said Paul Elliott, CEO, Tiger Pistol. "While JOANN supplies free tools, supplies, and guidance, Tiger Pistol is providing our social advertising platform and campaign management resources to help extend the reach and impact of the initiative."

Beginning in early March, JOANN began to notice groups of people in the crafting and sewing communities making protective masks, gowns, and other essential items to donate to local hospitals and health care facilities. Inspired by the customers who were looking to help during this unprecedented crisis, JOANN wanted to contribute to the cause, providing free mask-making supplies and guidance through in store experience, curbside pickup and joann.com. After just a couple of months, more than 150 million masks were created through a combination of customer purchases and directly donated masks and scrubs to hospitals and health care facilities nationwide. Now, the company's focus is expanding to supplying masks for everyone in America.

In support of this effort, Tiger Pistol is running high-performance Facebook and Instagram ads with copy that dynamically localizes to drive community relevance and ad performance. JOANN is using the ads to drive awareness for the company's 'Make to Give' initiative and donation efforts in connection with its local stores.

"With state and local lockdown orders still in flux, JOANN needed agile and flexible advertising technology," said Talia Wachtel, VP Client Management, Tiger Pistol. "Tiger Pistol's Platform allowed JOANN to rapidly deploy and update ads based on the status of each store, whether open for business, offering curbside or in-store pickup, or only offering ship-to-home service. JOANN can now easily manage its locations with the Tiger Pistol platform's ability to group JOANN's campaigns by county, state, or city according to local government orders, and giving JOANN the flexibility to change or pause these campaign groups in minutes."

The Tiger Pistol platform's unique capabilities enable brands to adapt their strategies to store openings and closings. Government orders may be lifting in areas, but with COVID-19 still looming and contact tracing ramping up, retailers still need a way to rapidly change store status within their advertisements, whether open for business, closed with only online ordering or curbside pickup, or closed for a couple days due to cleaning.

"Unlike other advertising platforms, Tiger Pistol can support a quick and responsive local strategy, ensuring that brands can more easily account for different scenarios," said Elliott. "With templatized local campaigns, the ability to shift creative and messaging based on store status, and easy tools to turn campaigns on or off based on changing local orders, Tiger Pistol gives brands the opportunity to deeply reach communities with both sales-driven and/or purpose-driven content."

"Tiger Pistol saw the value in our efforts to protect our communities, and approached us wanting to help spread the word about our Make to Give initiative," said Chris DiTullio, Chief Customer Officer, JOANN. "Once we saw the platform's capabilities, particularly the ability to provide accurate information down to each store location, we knew there was an opportunity to inspire more customers and create a much stronger local connection. We're thankful for the support of our efforts, and the impact this platform and services have made on our initiative."

Learn more about JOANN Stores and its 'Make to Give' initiative .

To learn more about Tiger Pistol's social advertising tools and how Tiger Pistol, the world's #1 social advertising automation platform for local, unlocks local activation at global scale for brands, resellers, and agencies visit www.tigerpistol.com .

About Tiger Pistol

Tiger Pistol is the world's #1 social advertising automation platform for local. For nearly a decade, the company has been obsessively focused on building the world's most effective social advertising platform for global brands, resellers, and agencies who realize the power of local activation at scale. As a preferred Facebook Marketing Partner and the largest third-party publisher of social advertising for local, Tiger Pistol creates, deploys, manages, and optimizes high-performance Facebook and Instagram ads at unprecedented scale, with over 800k Facebook and Instagram campaigns published to date. Tiger Pistol's first of its kind technology delivers meaningful and measurable business impact for brands, resellers, and agencies alike, helping to unlock value and efficiency through innovation-led social advertising automation. Tiger Pistol has been recognized by Digiday as the Best Social Media Marketing Platform , by Street Fight for Best Social Media Campaign , by AdExchanger for Best Social Media Campaign, and by Localogy as Best Localized Marketing Campaign . Tiger Pistol Ranks in the Top 100 on the Inc. 5000 List of Texas's Fastest Growing Private Companies and in the top 5 among advertising and marketing companies. To learn more, call (888) 400-8845, visit TigerPistol.com , or follow on Twitter , Facebook , or LinkedIn .

About JOANN Stores

For more than 75 years, JOANN has inspired creativity in the hearts, hands, and minds of its customers. From a single storefront in Cleveland, Ohio, the nation's leading fabric and craft retailer has grown to include more than 865 stores across 49 states and an industry-leading e-commerce business. With the goal of helping every customer find their creative Happy Place, JOANN serves as a convenient single stop for all of the supplies, guidance, and inspiration needed to achieve any project or passion. For store locations, project ideas, and a full product offering, visit joann.com .

CONTACT: Christina Morello

Director, Marketing and Communications

[email protected]

(330) 354-0899

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NAB Survey Shows Weak Business Confidence Points to an Extended Recovery

The NAB Monthly Business Survey has been released and it has revealed that Australian business conditions and confidence saw a noticeable broad-based improvement in May, but overall remains weak, at negative levels not seen since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.

The survey indicated that the improvements seen in the month were driven by better trading conditions as the CCP virus lockdown is incrementally lifted.

That said, businesses seem unlikely to hire or expand anytime soon due to global and domestic uncertainties, so the government may need to continue providing relief funds, according to NAB.

It is likely that it will take some time for the employment index to reach positive levels with capacity utilisation still low and activity yet to fully rebound, said Alan Oster, NAB Groups chief economist.

Lifting Restrictions Saw Some Improvement

Not unexpectedly, business conditions remained weak in May but did rise by 10 points to -24 index points led by retailers and the manufacturing sector. The services sector has been the worst-hit.

This months results accord with what we have seen elsewhere, with restrictions having generally been easedthough to varying degrees across the statesthere have seen some pickups in activity, said Oster.

The survey indicated that forward orders improved but remain lower than levels seen in the 90s recession, suggesting short-term activity is likely to remain weak.

Capex spending, an indicator of a businesss intention to invest, was very weak at -20 index points and is tipped to experience ongoing restraint given low capacity utilisation.

Government Support is Necessary

The survey also reflected the scope of the pandemics impact on businesses across Australia, with one-third of respondents reporting a major negative impact.

The business survey points to a very large fall in activity for Q2 following the fall recorded in the Q1 national accounts last week, Oster said.

In the Forward View Australia June 2020 report partly based on the May survey results, Oster and his team forecast a large fall in GDP in Q2a decline of 8.5 percent. However, they expected a stronger pickup in the second half of 2020 and a continued recovery in 2021.

For the recovery to continue, Oster holds that ongoing support from both the RBA and the government is a necessity, arguing for the need to continue the Jobkeeper program.

We expect the economy will continue to require ongoing support from policymakersparticularly as existing measures naturally end, he said. This will likely come from ongoing fiscal support while we expect the RBA to keep rates very low for an extended period.

The survey came out just after the federal government announced that the Jobkeeper wage subsidy scheme would no longer apply to childcare workers from July.

The Jobkeeper scheme, which has benefited about 3.5 million workers with a $1500 fortnightly wage subsidy, was legislated for six months until the end of September.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg indicated that the government is reviewing the scheme and did not rule out that other sectors may see the payment come to an end sooner than September.

We will be looking to see how to strengthen and improve that program, Frydenberg told reporters on June 9.

Peak Jobless Rate Revised Down

Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy signalled a faster recovery and lower unemployment rate than initially expected during a Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 meeting on June 9.

We have been steadily revising down our expectations of how high the unemployment rate will rise because of the fact that the health scenario has continued to improve, he told the Committee.

I think the unemployment rate wont go as high as previously thought, he said. I think the unemployment rate by September will likely be in the order of 8 percent.

In April, Treasury had previously forecast an unemployment rate of 10 percent by June, consistent with the expectations of the RBA. It sat at 6.2 percent in April according to ABS data.

Based on the assumption that the Jobkeeper scheme will continue, NAB also revised down the jobless rate, expecting it will peak this year at a much lower ratearound 8.5 percent.
SPRINGFIELD  Speaking at the St. Michaels Cathedral campus a day after his introduction in Missouri as archbishop-elect of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Most Rev. Mitchell Rozanski reflected Thursday on his legacy as Springfield bishop for the last six years.

As I reflect on the different decisions I have had to make one was the very, very difficult decision to combine Cathedral and Holyoke Catholic high schools into Pope Francis Prep School, said Rozanski in response to a question about his legacy.

That was one of the more difficult decisions that I have had to make in my life and I said after that I pray that I am never put in a position like that again, but I think that what has emerged has shown to be a good decision, the right direction for secondary education here in the Diocese of Springfield.

Ground was broken in 2016 on the new $54 million regional Catholic high school, which opened two years ago, after months of contentious debate around whether such an entity would be financially sustainable in a diocese where decline in school enrollment resulted in numerous school closings and mergers in recent years.

Rozanski cited another accomplishment as being able to visit each of the parishes, to spend a day in the parishes and to get to meet the parish leadership and the people of the parish and that was two days out of the month and then I was able to write a report that gave feedback and a direction for the future."

This was one of the joys and I hope one of the legacies the parishes will remember from my time here as bishop, said Rozanski who will be installed Aug. 25 as St. Louis archbishop.

Rozanski said he expects the report he asked retired Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis to prepare a year ago as an independent investigator into allegations of sexual abuse made against the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon and how the diocese can better handle such cases to be completed before the end of August.

I expect that report to be done and to be issued before I leave, Rozanski said.

The task force that was recently announced to receive the Velis report and act upon it and make recommendations on it that task force will continue its work.

He added he expected the task force to be a great help to me and to my successor.

Springfields ninth bishop said he was very proud of the fact that we have ordained a number of Latino permanent deacons over these past six years who have been invaluable in our reaching out to the Latino communities of our diocese" as well as being very proud of the laity involvement in parishes, in so many different aspects of parish life who so generously respond to living out the gospel."

Financially, Rozanski, called the church at this time struggling, especially with the hit we have taken with not being able to have our churches open since the middle of March and we rely on weekly collections." He called this a concern, caused by the need for public health regulations addressing the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, for every bishop here in the United States in not having the churches open for that length of time.

Asked what he had learned from his time in Springfield that he will take to St. Louis, Rozanski answered "to get the most that I can as I try to make decisions and to try to reach out to people who are experts in their field and who can give me solid advice.

Rozanski, who returned from St. Louis late Wednesday night, called himself speechless when two weeks ago he learned from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Papal Nuncio to the United States, that Pope Francis had appointed him the 10th archbishop of St. Louis, Missouri, succeeding the retiring Archbishop Robert J. Carlson.

I must admit I was literally speechless, said Rozanski who six years ago this month was named by Francis as Springfield bishop.

I did feel a rush of emotions, especially one of sorrow in knowing that I would have to leave Springfield.

He added, I want to save how grateful I am to the priests, deacons, women and men religious, members of our pastoral center staff and parish staffs for all that they have been doing in making the gospel present here in the church of Western Massachusetts.

This church quickly became my home and I am deeply grateful to the people of the Diocese of Springfield for their commitment to living out the gospel and to working with me over these past six years," said the 61-year-old Rozanski who prior to being installed as Springfield bishop had been an auxiliary bishop in his native city of Baltimore.

It is not easy to say goodbye, but I am grateful to Pope Francis for allowing me to remain here as the administrator of the Springfield Diocese until I am actually am installed in St. Louis on Aug. 25.

Rozanski said he hoped to do all that I can here in the diocese during the next two months and do what I can to prepare to hit the ground running whenever I arrive in St. Louis.

A Baltimore Orioles fan, Rozanski said he is prepared to root for the St. Louis Cardinals, whom he noted are in a different league, and said he had previously been to St. Louis only once - when the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had their spring meeting there in 2015.

We had Mass in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and I was mesmerized, said Rozanski whose Wednesday news conference was in that cathedral.

It is the largest collection of mosaics under one roof in the United States. It took 80 years to complete. It is a magnificent cathedral basilica. It truly reflects the beauty of faith.

Questioned about how his successor will be named, Rozanski said the papal nuncio asked him to put together a report for him on my recommendations on what is needed here in Diocese of Springfield, what different issues my successor would face."

That would go to the nuncio and there would certainly be other input from other bishops and then the nuncio would send a what is called a terna to the Congregation of Bishops in Rome who make a recommendation to the Holy Father and then the Holy Father would officially appoint a new bishop for Springfield," Rozanski said.

He added his advice to whoever will be named his successor in Springfield, where five new priests will be ordained next month, would be to rely on the wisdom that is here, the commitment of faith of the people of the diocese and to be able to learn from them and forge a vision with them in order to move forward.
The strategy proposes to use U.S. influence to remove Russia from SWIFT.

The Republican Study Committee (RSC)  the largest caucus of conservatives in the U.S. House of Representatives  released on Wednesday, June 10, The RSC National Security Strategy: Strengthening America & Countering Global Threats

The proposal offers over 130 solutions to counter America's most aggressive global adversaries, including the toughest sanctions ever proposed by Congress against Russia and the Putin regime, the Chinese Communist Party, and Iran.

The summary of the RSC document has a section entitled "Russia: Rolling Back Aggression Through a Strategy of Deterrence".

Read alsoU.S. Congress members call on Pompeo to hit Russia with sanctions over Nord Stream 2

With the aim of "stopping Putin's aggression", the strategy offers "designating Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism".

"The list of aggressive Russian behavior in recent years is long. For instance, under Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime, Russia has invaded and annexed parts of its neighbors (Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014), engaged in disinformation campaigns to undermine democratic elections in many Western democracies  including the United States, used military grade chemical weapons for assassination purposes, coordinated militarily in Syria with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, and supported the Taliban in Afghanistan," reads the RSC National Security Strategy.

Also, the document offers putting forward "the toughest package of sanctions on Russia ever proposed by Congress, including secondary sanctions on Russian oil and gas projects, sanctions on Russian sovereign debt, sanctions on Russian proxies in other countries".

"The United States does not control SWIFT, but it can use its influence to remove Russia from SWIFT through legislation authorizing sanctions on SWIFT itself if it does not expel Russia," the strategy says.

The document also stresses the need to "communicate with the Russian people".

It would call for the creation of a strategy to communicate "directly to the Russian people and support their aspirations for democracy and human rights".
The Spanish government has taken another step forward to facilitate the arrival of foreign tourists. Since announcing that Spain would open to international visitors from July 1, the government has made a series of moves to encourage tourists to return to the country. The coronavirus crisis has devastated the tourism industry, which accounts for 12% of Spains gross domestic product (GDP).

In an effort to reactivate the sector, the government announced that the compulsory 14-day quarantine for overseas arrivals would end by July 1. The Tourism Ministry then proposed that safe travel corridors be opened up between regions in the European Union with a similar level of control over the outbreak.

This plan was confirmed on Monday when the government gave the green light to a pilot tourism scheme that will see 10,900 visitors from Germany arrive in the Balearic Islands from June 15. And on Tuesday, Health Minister Salvador Illa announced that other regions in Spain were welcome to launch their own pilot program. Other regions have the possibility of putting it into practice as a pilot scheme if they consider it appropriate, he said.

British deal ruled out

Spain receives many visitors from the United Kingdom as well as from Germany. But while tourists from Germany will be allowed to visit the Balearic Islands from June 15, this option will not be available to Britain. We are in a similar epidemiological situation as Germany but that is not the case with the United Kingdom, said Iago Negueruela, the head of the Balearics tourism department. Whats more, with Germany we are negotiating within EU conditions and the Schengen zone, which is not the case with the United Kingdom.

Negueruela, however, did say that talks with UK tour operators and authorities were underway to enable the arrival of British tourists as soon as possible.

Pilot scheme in Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands will be the first region in Spain to receive foreign tourists. Under the plan, tour operators and airlines will have to provide the regional government with a list of passengers to ensure the cap of 10,900 tourists has not been exceeded. When the visitors arrive at the airport, they will need to fill out health forms and present them to the authorities, who will then take their temperature. If the tourist has no coronavirus symptoms, they will be able to begin their holiday on the island and will not have to observe the 14-day quarantine. All visitors, however, need to provide their contact information and the address of where they are staying, be it at a hotel or their second residence. A similar procedure will take place in airports across Spain once the country enters the new normality at the end of the deescalation process.

A waiter in Palmanova beach in Calvia in the Balearic island of Mallorca. Francisco Ubilla

The protocol is different if a tourist has coronavirus symptoms, for example, a temperature above 37.5C. In this case, the individual must take a PCR test for Covid-19. If it comes back negative, they can continue with their vacation. If it comes back positive, they will have to self-isolate, explained Francina Armengol, the premier of the Balearic government, on Tuesday. If the tourist who tests positive has a holiday home in the archipelago, they will be able to spend the quarantine period at that residence. If they are staying at a hotel, the regional government will provide alternative accommodation for them at no extra cost. Authorities will also track down the contacts of the affected individual and test them for Covid-19.

The Spanish government has also proposed a similar scheme for the Canary Islands, but the regional authorities there have called for stricter security measures. We feel that the safety conditions are insufficient and that this project does not contemplate the necessary conditions for it to be escalated to meet the large number of visitors who will come after the opening [of borders on July 1], and for this reason, it will be ineffective for testing the application of measures that guarantee health security, explained Yaiza Castilla, the head of the Canaries tourism department, in a letter sent Friday to the Tourism Ministry.

Benefits of scheme

There are three main advantages to partially reopening borders before July 1. First the pilot scheme will test the coronavirus safety protocols in airports, hotels, beaches and other leisure centers; secondly, it will trial the efficiency of the healthcare and tracing systems; and third, it will give destinations such as the Balearic Islands an edge over their competitors.

[The pilot scheme] will help sell trips and stops delaying sales due to the uncertainty of whether or not it is possible to travel, said Negueruela. The pilot project will work to show potential travelers that we are a safe destination.

Another benefit is that the Spanish government, having had the experience of the pilot program in the Balearics, will be able to make any changes needed to reduce the risk of a new coronavirus outbreak when Spain officially opens to international visitors on July 1.

English version by Melissa Kitson.
Apple will spend $100 million on a new company initiative dedicated to racial justice, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced in a video posted on Thursday.

"Growing up in Alabama during the civil rights movement, I saw firsthand that the only thing that ever made lasting and durable change was people of goodwill putting aside comfort and safety to speak up to march to call for accountability and to do what they could to make a flawed society more perfect," Cook said in the video.

Tweet

The announcement comes as other technology companies and executives have spoken out forcefully against racial violence and have announced millions in donations to organizations pursuing justice in response to the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota on May 25.

The Apple Racial Equity and Justice initiative will focus on issues surrounding education, economic equality, and criminal justice reform, Cook said. It will be led by Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives.

Cook said the initiative would include both internal and external components. It will include work with historically black universities, community colleges, science and technology educators and underserved students. It will also include partnerships with outside groups including the Equal Justice Initiative, a group opposed to mass incarceration. Apple is also committing to increasing spending on black-owned suppliers, Cook said. A spokesman declined to provide additional details on specific donations.

Internally, Apple will hire and promote more black and underrepresented employees, Cook said.

"We're taking significant new steps on diversity and inclusion within Apple, because there is more we can and must do to hire, develop, and support those from underrepresented groups, especially our Black and brown colleagues," Cook said.

WATCH: Protests against police brutality continue
[June 11, 2020] The Pomp and Circumstance Will Continue: Insight Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Celebrates 2020 Graduates with Online Commencement Ceremony

Insight Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (Insight PA), an online public school serving students in grades K-12 throughout the state for the last 3 years, will cap off their school year by celebrating the Class of 2020 in an online commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 13 at 11:00 am. Insight PA is inviting all families and friends worldwide to join the celebration. This year, Insight PA will graduate over 80 students, many of whom have been enrolled at Insight PA since it opened its virtual doors in September 2017. Eight students will graduate with a cumulative GPA above 3.5 and over 30 students have been accepted to a college or university. These schools include institutions of higher learning in Pennsylvania and beyond including, East Stroudsburg University, Penn State University, Holy Family University, and University of Mississippi. "We all know that school has changed dramatically because of the coronavirus, and it's been a very challenging year for all Pennsylvania students," Insight PA CEO, Eileen Cannistrci. "Normally, we look forward to giving our online students an in-person graduation, but, given the times, we are excited for the opportunity to do what's right and celebrate with them online. Join us if you can!"



Cambrie Kasler is the Valedictorian and plans to take a gap year before beginning University next fall. Scarlett Cullen is the Salutatorian and is attending Liberty University. These students, as well as Ms. Cannistraci, will be available for media interviews. Students enroll in virtual school for a number of reasons, including those looking for a safer learning environment free from bullying, those looking to get back on track academically, or those looking for an alternative to the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom setting. Insight PA students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects and a host of electives and attend live virtual classes every day taught by state-certified teachers.

Details of the graduation ceremony are as follows: WHAT: Insight Pennsylvania Cyber Charter Academy 2020 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Saturday, June 13, 2020, 11:00 AM

CONTACT: For any questions, please contact Rebecca Stetser at 412-206-1051 or [email protected] About Insight Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Insight Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (Insight PA) is an online public charter school authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education that serves students in grades K through 12th grade. As part of the Pennsylvania public school system, Insight PA is public school, giving parents and families the choice to access the engaging curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs. For more information about Insight PA, visit pa.insightschools.net. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005009/en/

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Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said though the first COVID-19 case emerged in the country on January 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi knew well in advance that the viral infection was a serious threat and the entire world would get affected by it.

Referring to the recent anti-terror operations carried out by security forces in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Information and Broadcasting minister said Pakistan will never succeed in its "sinister" designs.

He was addressing a 'virtual rally', named "Jan Samvad Rally", for Saurashtra and Central Gujarat zone to mark completion of one year (in May-end) of the Modi-led government in its second term.

Follow live updates on coronavirus here

"No one had even heard the name of coronavirus till last year. The first case of coronavirus in India was registered on January 30 (in Kerala).

"However, almost a month before the first case emerged, the PM used to tell us in every Cabinet meeting that it poses a serious threat and it may spread across the world," said the senior BJP leader.

"He used to ask us to ramp up preparations to tackle it and take necessary precautions. This is the sign of a leadership which loves its people," said Javadekar in his address via video conferencing facility.

Javadekar said from zero COVID-19 hospital and only one testing lab - NIV in Pune - India now has 800 hospitals to treat coronavirus patients and around 300 laboratories for testing.

"As soon as the coronavirus entered India, Modiji declared a package of Rs 1,70,000 crore. We gave free ration to 80 crore people and deposited Rs 500 in the bank accounts of 20 crore women for three months.

"Almost 70 lakh migrant workers were sent back home by 5,000 trains," said the minister, who also handles the Environment, Forest and Climate Change portfolio.

"We gave Rs 2,000 each to nine crore farmers (as part of PM-KISAN scheme). We all need to understand this. The Congress waived farm loans of Rs 57,000 crore only once.

"While we are giving Rs 60,000 crore to farmers every year and it will be given for 10 years," said the BJP leader.

He added that Modi showed how a 'Janta ki Sarkar' works.

In his address, he listed several other achievements of the NDA government, including scrapping of Articles 370 & 35-A in J&K, opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Bodo agreement, GST implementation and commencement of Ram temple construction in Ayohdya following the Supreme Court verdict, among others.

"Indian forces are giving a befitting reply to terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir since the last one week. While many terrorists were killed, some were also arrested during operations.

"India has clearly conveyed the message that Pakistan will never succeed in its sinister plans," said Javadekar.

Javadekar also mentioned about Prime Minister Modi's resolve to build an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India) in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

"It does not entail cutting trade ties with the world. It means we will import less and export more. It also encourages people to buy locally-made products," he said.

After his address, Gujarat BJP leaders, who had gathered inside a hall in Gandhinagar for the rally, took a pledge to promote promote locally-manufactured products as propagated by the PM.

They also pledged to buy locally-manufactured products whenever possible.
Seoul, June 11 : North Korea on Thursday warned the US not to meddle in inter-Korean relations if it wants to avoid experiencing an unspecified "hair-raiser" and hold November's presidential election smoothly.

Kwon Jong-gun, Director General of the North Korean foreign ministry's American affairs department, made the remark after Washington voiced disappointment over Pyongyang's recent decision to cut off all communication lines with South Korea, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"If the US pokes its nose into others' affairs with careless remarks, far from minding its internal affairs, at a time when its political situation is in the worst-ever confusion, it may encounter an unpleasant thing hard to deal with," Kwon said in an interview with North's state-run, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"The US better hold its tongue and mind its internal affairs first if it doesn't want to experience a hair-raiser. It would be good not only for the US interests but also for the easy holding of its upcoming presidential election," he added.

Kwon did not elaborate on what the hair-raiser would be.

He told the KCNA that the the US is showing a hypocritical attitude by expressing dissatisfaction over the latest inter-Korean situations given that Washington has been the one bent on hampering any progress.

"Disgusting is the double-dealing attitudes of the US that feels uneasy over any slightest sign of the improvement in the inter-Korean relations and pretends to get very anxious if the relations get worse.

"How can the 'disappointment' touted by the US be compared with the extreme dismay and resentment we are feeling at the US and the South Korean authorities that have repeated betrayal and provocation for the last 2 years?" Kwon queried.

He was apparently referring to Washington's staunch stance on keeping global sanctions on North Korea until its complete denuclearization, which stands in the way of active cross-border cooperation and exchanges, said the Yonhap News Agency report.

Nuclear talks between North Korea and the US have remain deadlocked since their no-deal summit in February last year as they failed to iron out differences over how to match Pyongyang's denuclearization steps and Washington's concessions, including sanction relief.

With little progress in nuclear talks, inter-Korean relations have stayed chilled.

Pyongyang has blamed Seoul for taking a cue from Washington in cross-border issues and has not responded to Seoul's offers for talks and cooperation.

On Tuesday, North Korea called the South an "enemy" and cut off all inter-Korean communication lines.

The move came after Pyongyang repeatedly threatened last week to abolish an inter-Korean liaison office and completely shut down other major cross-border programs, denouncing leaflet-sending as a hostile act breaching a series of peace agreements between the two sides.

A US State Department official later told Yonhap News Agency that Washington has always supported progress in inter-Korean relations and expressed disappointment over the North's latest actions.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
President Donald Trumps fraught relations with senior military officers ratcheted up another notch on Thursday as Gen. Mark Milley, the top U.S. general, formally apologized for appearing in Trumps June 1 photo-op at St. Johns Episcopal Church after police and National Guard officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas to clear protesters from nearby Lafayette Square, across from the White House.

I should not have been there, Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a prerecorded commencement address to National Defense University. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

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Last week, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who also appeared in the photo-op, told reporters that he too shouldnt have been there, further claiming that he didnt know where he was going when Trump led him to the church. Esper also said that he opposed invoking the Insurrection Act to bring active-duty soldiers to quell disorder in D.C., as Trump had threatened to do. Espers remarks earned him a chewing-out in the Oval Office. Whether the same will happen to Milleywho has reportedly been agonizing over his role in Trumps politicization of the militaryis a matter of some suspense.

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In between the June 1 incident and now, several senior officers, retired and still serving, have spoken out against the idea of using active-duty troops against the American citizens who have been demonstrating since the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, who had resigned in protest as secretary of defense in December 2018, used the occasion to criticize Trump himself, lambasting his presidency as three years without mature leadership.

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Trump is scheduled to give a commencement address this Saturday to the graduating cadets at West Point. Rather than delivering it remotely, as various leaders have done for other military academies, Trumpagainst the wishes of West Points leadersdemanded that the Army cadets return to campus, isolate themselves for two weeks, and then, during the ceremony itself, sit in tight formation, ignoring CDC guidelines on social distancing. Of the 1,100 graduating cadets, 17 have tested positive for the coronavirus. The whole business, which seems designed to provide footage of Trump speaking before the newest flock of military officers for his reelection campaign, has sparked quiet resentment from many in the Army.

Meanwhile, in another brewing conflict between Trump and a military culture thats suddenly, swiftly modernizing, the Republican-chaired Senate Armed Services Committee late Wednesday approved a motion giving the Defense Department three years to change the names of all military bases, installations, and street signs named after Confederate officers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren offered the amendment to the defense authorization bill; the motion was approved in a voice vote, signaling that it will almost certainly be adopted by the full Senate.

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Then, on Thursday, Rep. Yvette Clarke, a Democrat from New York, introduced a bill giving the Defense Department just one year to change the names. She sponsored a similar bill in 2017 that garnered so little support it didnt even come up for a vote on the House floor.

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The world has since changed. Just in recent days, several prominent Army officersnotably retired Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistanhave said its time to remove the names of the treasonous secessionists who fought against the United States in the Civil War from U.S. military facilities, including 10 large Army bases in former Confederate Southern states. In response, acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said that he would be open to a bipartisan conversation on the matter.

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But Trump reacted with fury to the whole idea, tweeting on Wednesday that he will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations. He finished off his tweet, laden with more capitalized letters than usual: Respect our Military!although he clearly has no notion of what real military officers, who have deployed for real combat from these bases, really think.

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All of this is taking place as Trumps ratings have slid by as much as 10 percentage points just in the past week, owing in part to his hostile and aggressive response to the protests and to his political exploitation of church property, a move that has damaged his standing with many evangelicals. Now, hes picking a high-profile fight with the military as well.

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The awkward thing about Milley is that Trump appointed him Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman in 2019. The post has a term of four years, so he is nowhere near retiringthough, in accordance with his powers as commander in chief, Trump could fire him. In a recent article in the Atlantic, Eliot Cohen, dean of Johns Hopkins Universitys School for Advanced International Studies, wrote about the Trump eras growing crisis in civil-military relations, concluding, The real demonstration of military courage by a general in such a position is  the willingness to be fired. Milley may soon face that test.

For more of Slates politics coverage, listen to The Political Gabfest.
WAKEFIELD, Mass., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ProTom International announces that it will install its Radiance 330 Proton Therapy System at the new Australian Bragg Centre, Adelaide, Australia. This center will be the first clinically dedicated proton therapy center in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, expecting to start operation in 2024.

This installation will include two gantries, one fixed beam line and a research port. The Bragg Centre will operate as a clinic as well as a research facility.

A render of the new SAHMRI 2 building, which will sit between the SAHMRI's existing building (left) and the University of Adelaide's Health and Medical building on North Terrace Rendering of the ProTom's Radiance 330 Proton Therapy System Treatment Room

The Australian Bragg Centre is a purpose-built facility to be established within the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute ("SAHMRI") in Adelaide, South Australia. Work has commenced on the center, to be located within a new 15 story building ("SAHMRI 2") in the Adelaide Bio Med City - alongside the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, SAHMRI's existing building, the University of Adelaide, and the University of South Australia.

Professor Steve Wesselingh, Executive Director at SAHMRI commented: "The Australian Bragg Centre will be an extension of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. SAHMRI is proud and humbled to be involved in this partnership that will be transformative. The Australian Bragg Centre will figuratively and literally be built on the emerging technology of proton therapy."

Stephen Spotts, Chief Executive Officer of ProTom commented: "The Radiance 330 will revolutionize cancer treatment not only in South Australia, or even Australia, but across the Asia-Pacific region. Once the Bragg Centre is open and operational, cancer patients will be referred there to take advantage of the advanced proton therapy the device offers. Our device operates with great precision, greater power and variability, energy efficiency, flexibility and affordability than other cancer treatment devices."

The opening of the Australian Bragg Centre will bring "life-changing cancer therapy" and "a toxicity reducing treatment modality, especially in kids" to Australian citizens, according to Dr. Jay Loeffler, Chief of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Loeffler also commented: "We look forward to working with the clinical team there, as part of the proton therapy community, and as members of the Radiance 330 user group, collaborating in the advancement of proton tomography and radiography."

About ProTom

ProTom International is a leading device manufacturer of proton therapy technology. We are steadfast in our mission to transform cancer treatment by expanding the accessibility of proton therapy and by developing proton tomography technology.

More information at: https://www.protominternational.com

Contact us: https://www.protominternational.com/contact-protom

Find us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

SOURCE ProTom International
What Americans miss right now (sports) and are worried about (health, of course)

In New York City, restaurants and stores began to reopen this week after the mayor lifted parts of a broad shutdown order. In many Southern and rural states, reopening started more than a month ago.

But even now, three months in, the coronavirus crisis continues to rob us of many of the social conventions and gatherings that used to give us grounding.

A Monmouth University poll released yesterday tells us that going to sporting events is one thing most Americans say they miss. The public remains deeply divided over whether to reopen, but theres broad agreement that with the advent of summer, it would feel good to attend a game.

Roughly six in 10 Americans said they missed being able to go to live sporting events at least a little bit, according to the Monmouth poll. That held true across party identification, education and income levels (though, unsurprisingly, the wealthiest Americans were the most likely to say they missed being able to attend a sports event). Women were eight percentage points less likely to say so than men, but a majority still did.
A proposed ballot measure by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) to repeal California's 1996 ban on affirmative action, was approved by the state Assembly on Wednesday. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

California voters would be asked to erase the state's 24-year ban on affirmative action in November under a proposal approved Wednesday by the state Assembly, with supporters arguing their effort is more important than ever amid nationwide protests for racial equality and justice.

The plan would strike from California's Constitution the rules imposed by Proposition 209, which prohibits government agencies and institutions from giving preferential treatment to individuals on the basis of race or sex. The ballot measure sparked a fierce political and cultural debate in 1996, much of which focused on the impact of the era's affirmative action policies for admission to the state's colleges and universities.

Although subsequent legal challenges left Proposition 209 on the books, opponents have argued the law has preserved and deepened the inequities in education and government contracting opportunities for a generation of Black and Latino Californians  a reality the bill's supporters said has never been more clear.

"The ongoing pandemic, as well as recent tragedies of police violence, is forcing Californians to acknowledge the deep-seated inequality and far-reaching institutional failures that show that your race and gender still matter," said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), the author of the bill, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5.

ACA 5 now moves to the state Senate, where it must be ratified by June 25 in order to be placed on the Nov. 3 statewide ballot.

The lengthy discussion of the proposed ballot measure included only two dissenting voices, both Republican lawmakers.

Irvine Republican Assemblyman Steven Choi said that "giving special or preferential treatment to someone based on their race is racism itself, or on their sex is sexism."

Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) argued ACA 5 would not end racial discrimination in California's education system, insisting that ineffective teachers in low-income communities are kept there by tenure rules that are demanded by teachers unions.

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"You can talk about admissions and using, bringing back affirmative action, but what are we doing to ensure that Black and brown students graduate and get that education?" Gallagher said. "That's a conversation that we need to be having. We need to go even deeper."

But more than two dozen Assembly members who spoke during Wednesday's debate said the 1996 law is antiquated, as is its promise to voters in the 1996 campaign to help create a "colorblind" society.

"Systematic racism didn't stop because of [Prop.] 209," said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), who noted she had benefited from affirmative action as a law student in the '90s. "And so what we've seen over these generations is the missed opportunity of so many kids in our communities who haven't had the benefit that we all had."

The overwhelming support for asking voters to reconsider affirmative action stood in stark contrast to 2014, when a similar effort in the state Capitol to send the issue of affirmative action back to voters roiled the Legislature. Several lawmakers at the time abandoned the effort after advocacy groups warned that reinstatement of affirmative action would limit college admissions for Asian American students.

But those old wounds resurfaced late in the debate Wednesday that lasted more than two hours. Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) said that far more constituents calling his office asked him to vote against ACA 5 than those asking him to support it. He said Chinese Americans, in particular, "believe that if you do the hard work as you're told, they will have their chance too."

Others said the topic wasn't so clear in the Asian American community.

"Some of the opposition want you to believe that Asian Americans unilaterally oppose affirmative action," Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) said during Wednesday's debate. "That is simply not true. ... I hear all the time that my Asian American constituents want more teachers who look like us, more principals, university presidents, more first responders, firefighters, bilingual police officers. Current law prevents that."

In 2017, the issue surfaced again when caucuses representing Asian American legislators asked candidates for governor, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, to weigh in on whether race should be used in college and university admissions. Newsom and his Democratic challengers voiced support for affirmative action; the Republican candidates didn't respond to the question.

Few topics have been more consistently debated in California, where a clash over UC Davis' affirmative action policy resulted in a landmark 1978 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding it. By 1995, conservative activists believed the state's electorate would overturn such policies and drafted a ballot measure to enshrine a ban in the state Constitution.

Proposition 209 barred any attempt to "grant preferential treatment" based on gender or race and passed on Nov. 5, 1996, with support from 55% of voters. Numerous studies have since dissected its impact, and opponents have stood firm that the constitutional amendment has done nothing to limit racial, gender and economic discrimination.

Weber, a Democratic lawmaker who has championed a number of bills she believes would root out systemic inequality, has argued that California was making consistent progress in the early 1990s in helping nonwhite entrepreneurs and businesses owned by women  an upward trajectory, she said, that came to an end with the passage of Proposition 209.

"Removing [Prop.] 209 will not solve all of the problems," she said on Wednesday. "But it's one of the many tools that we have to have in California, to say California is the land of great opportunity."
New research from scientists at Queen Mary University of London has revealed how long-lived Peter Pan discs form, which could provide new insights into how planets arise.

Planet-forming, or protoplanetary, discs are giant discs of gas and dust found circling young stars. The recently discovered Peter Pan discs received their name as like their fictional counterpart they are thought to "never grow up", living around 5-10 times longer than other typical protoplanetary discs.

Whilst astronomers have been aware of the existence of Peter Pan discs since 2016, questions around how and why these discs live so long and the implications for how planets form, have been left unanswered.

In this study, the scientists used computer simulations to look at a range of possible starting configurations and ways in which the disc evolves to reveal the combination of conditions needed to form Peter Pan discs, which they termed 'Neverland's parameters'. They found these discs only form in lonely environments, away from other stars, and that they need to start out much larger than normal discs.

Dr Gavin Coleman, first author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at Queen Mary, said: "Most stars form in big groups containing around 100,000 stars however it seems that Peter Pan discs can't form in these environments. They need to be much more isolated from their stellar neighbours as the radiation from other stars would blow these discs away. They also need to start out massive, so they have more gas to lose and are therefore able to live for much longer."

Until the discovery of long-lived Peter Pan discs, scientists thought that all discs had a lifetime of a few million years and faded away by 10 million years, suggesting that the planets within them must form quickly.

Dr Thomas Haworth, a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow at Queen Mary, said: "The existence of these long-lived discs was really surprising, and finding out why these discs can survive longer than expected could be critical for helping us understand more about disc evolution and planet formation in general. A particularly interesting point is that Peter Pan discs have so far only been found around low mass stars, and these low mass stars are generally being found to host lots of planets. The large disc masses that we need to end up with Peter Pan discs could be an important ingredient that allows these planets to exist."

Due to the specific environment needed for the formation of these discs it is expected that they are very rare. So far, seven Peter Pan discs have been discovered as the result of a citizen science collaboration between NASA and Zooniverse, known as the Disk Detective project.

Dr Coleman, said: "It's great that the findings of a citizen science project are now fuelling novel scientific research into these unique discs, and could even help us to better understand planet formation, one of the key problems in astrophysics."

###

Notes to Editors

*Research publication: 'Peter Pan Discs: Finding Neverland's Parameters' Gavin A. L. Coleman and Thomas J. Haworth, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slaa098

*For more information or a copy of the paper, please contact:

Sophie McLachlan

Faculty Communications Manager (Science & Engineering)

Queen Mary University of London

sophie.mclachlan@qmul.ac.uk

Tel: 020 7882 3787

About Queen Mary

Queen Mary University of London is a research-intensive university that connects minds worldwide. A member of the prestigious Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our world-leading research. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework we were ranked 5th in the country for the proportion of research outputs that were world-leading or internationally excellent. We have over 25,000 students and offer more than 240 degree programmes. Our reputation for excellent teaching was rewarded with silver in the most recent Teaching Excellence Framework. Queen Mary has a proud and distinctive history built on four historic institutions stretching back to 1785 and beyond. Common to each of these institutions - the London Hospital Medical College, St Bartholomew's Medical College, Westfield College and Queen Mary College - was the vision to provide hope and opportunity for the less privileged or otherwise under-represented. Today, Queen Mary University of London remains true to that belief in opening the doors of opportunity for anyone with the potential to succeed and helping to build a future we can all be proud of.
Robin Lachhein, 31, and Judith Schneider, 30, a couple from, Germany, have a very interesting hobby  they travel around the world to recreate iconic movie scenes in the exact same locations they were filmed at.

Robin and Judith met at a friends party 10 years ago, and theyve been visiting famous film locations for the last six years. At first it was just a personal hobby they kept for themselves, only posting photos they took around their home, but then friends started noticing them when they came over and praising their talent for recreating iconic scenes. Instagram had been gaining popularity, so they started their very own page, aptly named Secret Famous Places, which has gained tens of thousands of followers.

Photo: Secret Famous Places/Facebook

This is our hobby, Schneider told Insider Magazine. We just did it because its a lot of fun. But after four or five years, we realized that everybody looking at our pictures is laughing a lot and having fun, so we decided to publish them on Instagram.

The two film buffs constantly have to reiterate that this is just a fun hobby for them, not a full time job, as many people think. Robin is a mechanical engineer and Judith works at a radio station; they just plan out their vacation with film shooting locations in mind. So instead of simply visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris, they also research iconic film locations for their collections, which so far numbers about 70 scenes.

Picking out what scenes to recreate is trickier than most people think. First of all, they only want to recreate good movie scenes, then they mostly opt for ones with male and female actors, although they sometimes make exceptions, like the recreation of a LOTR scene where Judith played elven heartthrob Legolas.

Every new project has to be very well researched and planned out, as simply going out to a film location and taking a photo doesnt work as well as youd think. For example, they once traveled to a certain area of New Zealand to recreate a scene from The Hobbit, only to find that it was missing Mount Cook in the background. They then learned that the mountain was hundreds of miles away and had been digitally added into the background in the movie.

Then there is the weather, which isnt always the same as in the movie scenes they are trying to recreate, finding clothing to closely match those of the actors, or just curious bystanders getting in their shots. The point is that every one of their photos takes a lot of work and planning, they spend hours scouting the internet for information on certain locations, but its all part of the process they love so much.

We combine taking the pictures with holidays, Robin Lachhein said. When we travel to a country, we want to visit the country and want to see great sightseeing spots. The cool part of this hobby is that we dont just visit sightseeing spots where everyone in the country is, we see spots where movies are filmed, which are so much cooler.

Robin and Judith say they only use tools like Photoshop for very minor modifications, like adjusting colors so they better match the look of the movie scenes. Otherwise, they put authenticity first, even leaving random objects that they could easily remove in the shots they post on Instagram.

Searching and researching movie locations when planning their vacations, and then finding the exact angle to shoot the photos from is what makes their holidays more exciting, but Robin and Judith say that the thing they love most about their hobby is that it makes other people happy too.

I like that we are making people smile, they told Insider. Thats really, really cool.
The Worcester Red Sox released a statement Thursday in support of Black Lives Matter.

Bostons Triple-A affiliate, Pawtucket, will move to Worcester for the 2021 season. In the statement, the WooSox stressed that silence is not only unacceptable, but also damaging to the momentum of the Black Lives Matter Movement."

The team also wrote it has spent time engaging in an open and honest dialogue with the members of our team.

It called the death of George Floyd horrific.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black man from Minnesota, died after former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck until he passed out. Floyd was seen in the video yelling I cant breathe before he passed out. Chauvin was charged with murder. Three other offices also were charged.

WooSoxs full statement:

"We want to thank you for your patience as we have taken some time to understand the heightened social unrest taking place in our country over the past several weeks. We believe real work starts from within, and we assure you that we have spent time engaging in an open and honest dialogue with the members of our team to both share perspectives and critically examine the divisive role systematic racism plays in American society.

"It was also necessary to take a step back and listen to the voices from members of the Black community as they share their thoughts and experiences. However, we are learning the silence is not only unacceptable, but also damaging to the momentum of the Black Lives Matter Movement. We are committed to using our platform to speak out against injustice in to elevate the voices of those who courageously share their stories and advocate for necessary change.

"The horrific killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis catalyzed the already growing frustration with the racial biases that many members of the Black community in communities of color, face in their daily lives.

"It has been inspiring to see our community in Worcester come together in peaceful protest against racism in all its forms. Please know that we stand with you, and that your sustained efforts have led to genuine progress, both on a personal and institutional level we are far from the end.

Baseball has been a unifying force in times of adversity, and we commit to being active participants as we help to make a meaningful strides toward a more just society where equality for all is not only spoken but also seen and felt.:

Love, your WooSox
After 108 days of camping at the doors of the newsroom and fighting against systematic dismissals since last year, the workers of the Mexican state news agency managed to get the authorities of that entity to recognize that their strike is legitimate, to abide by the cessation of activities ordered by the Federal Board of Conciliation of the Ministry of Labor and committed to resolve the conflict.

Given the decision of the Governing Board of the Mexican state news agency, NOTIMEX, to recognize the authenticity of the strike maintained by hundreds of workers who were demanding 200 layoffs, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expresses its support towards the journalists have been fighting against the emptying plan the agency is going through - they have been camping since march at the doors of the newsroom to demand the reinstatements.

As the National Sindocato Nacional de Redactores de la Prensa de Mexico (SNRP), an affiliated organization of the IFJ in that country, points out: "We recognize the effort in the struggle of the workers of the Unique Union of Notimex Workers, who have shown cohesion union and solidarity for more than 110 days in its combative and just strike, for the good of the workers of this important news agency of the Mexican State".

In its statement the SNRP reported: "On June 8 Notimex Board had its first session of 2020; in which they accepted the authenticity and legality of the strike and declared the suspension of Notimex activities, which were defended by director Sanjuana Martinez and a small group of senior authorities who were boycotting the legitimate right to strike of more than 200 workers, mostly women. "

"The central point of the session was the labor strike and ended up with its recognition and the official and legal suspension of activities of the agency -a sensible path has been accepted and an important window is opened to solve the conflict".

As the Mexican Union points out, the resolution in favor of the workers comes "after 108 days of living and suffering the months of greatest risk of COVID19 exposing their health and their lives [in the camp]; being the target of calumnies and being intimidated by scabs and even uniformed men.

The decision of the NOTIMEX executives came after the Federal Board of Conciliation and Arbitration of the Ministry of Labor urged the agency's senior officials to recognize the strike and declared a cessation of activities in order to solve it. Although a sector of the media hierarchy tried to delay this order, the compliance was delivered last monday and gave institutional legitimacy to a strike never seen before in history of the Mexican agency, whose last strike had been in 1993 and had lasted just two hours symbolically.

Now, Notimex authorities must focus on solving a conflict under penalty of being fined. The next meeting on the subject is scheduled for next week.

With this scenario, as the SNRP recognizes the "authenticity, maturity and fairness" with which the Notimex workers carried out their successful claim, from IFJ we celebrate that the collective effort of the journalists and their sacrifice has not been conditioned by the attempts of some sectors within the Notimex Board. In this same site we had already reported this type of aggression.

We understand that this news, still in development, is one of the greatest achievements of the press workers in the region since the start of the pandemic and we hope it will point the way and encourage all colleagues in Latin America who are seeing their work sources and years of effort endangered.
Nike recently cancelled their shoes 'Puerto Rico' Air Force 1s from releasing. Sources also revealed to a portal that the images of the original product were leaked online and that the real problem was with Puerto Rico flag on the tongue, as well as the Mola print. The shoes were supposed to launch in stores on Puerto Rican Day Parade on June 14 but won't anymore.

Nike officials recently confirmed that 'Puerto Rico' Air Force 1s won't be released anymore. The officials said that Nike will be removing the shoe from the marketplace and the original intent was to re-release the Air Force 1 Low Puerto Rico from 2000 but the final product does not accurately reflect the original design. Reportedly, the image of the shoes were leaked online as well and that there was some problem with the Puerto Rican Flag.

Nike was asked to remove a Mola print on the shoe

The Puerto Rican Day Parade happens annually in New York to celebrate the 3.2 million inhabitants of Puerto Rico origin living in the country. Nike also has a tradition of releasing new Puerto Rico-themed Air Force 1 every time this year. Reportedly, Nike also faced backlash for using Mola print on the shoe which is a traditional art form that comes from Panama and not Puerto Rican. There was also a petition signed by the people of America asking Nike to remove the print as it was "an insult to The Panamanian culture and history."

The Nike Air Force 1s are very famous shoes and are a collectable item as well. Many well-known stars like Nelly, A$AP Rocky, and Jay-Z have been known to wear the shoes. They are also loved by people who want to flaunt their Puerto Rican heritage. One thing that is common in the shoes is that they always have some Puerto Rican elements in them. Some collectors pay a lot of money to get their hands on some vintage Nike Air shoes. The first shoes were released in 1987 and have a very unique feature. They also gave birth to Air Max hunting, where people would often steal the shoes if they saw someone wearing them. Nike has also had a lot of problems with fakes of the shoes circulating in the market.

Also Read | George Floyd death: Nike takes bold stance with latest 'Don't Do It' campaign

Also Read | George Floyd death: Protesters ransack Nike store in Chicago, loot merchandise

Also Read | Adidas shares Nike's 'Don't Do It' video backing George Floyd protests; gets lovely reply

Also Read | Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, LeBron James star in latest hard-hitting Nike commercial

Promo Pic Credit: Nike official website
PML-N President and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has tested positive for coronavirus, party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed on Thursday to Dawn. Shehbaz Sharif has self-quarantined himself at home after his report came out. A PML-N party leader Ataullah Tarar said that Sharifs life had been endangered in this situation by NABs summoning of him.

NAB was informed multiple times in writing that Shehbaz Sharif has suffered from cancer and compared to other people, his immunity system is weak, Tarar was quoted as saying. Imran Niazi and NAB will be responsible if something happens to Shehbaz Sharif, he added.

When asked about the news, Hamza Shehbaz, Sharifs son and PML-N leader, said: This is a difficult time for Pakistan. May Allah grant health to everyones parents. The PML-N president had appeared before the National Accountability Bureau on Tuesday in connection with investigations pertaining to money laundering and income-beyond-means.

Also Read: EU blames China for huge wave of Covid-19 disinformation, says wouldnt shy away from naming and shaming

Also Read: Christian girl abducted at gunpoint in Pakistans Punjab

Earlier this month, he had also appeared before the Lahore High Court to obtain a pre-arrest bail in cases regarding money laundering and assets beyond means. Sharif had filed the appeal in the high court a day before a NAB team raided his residence to arrest him on June 2, after he refused to appear before the accountability watchdog.

Sharif had thrice refused to appear before NAB citing health reasons. In a statement submitted to the bureau, he said: It has been widely reported in the media that some NAB officials have tested positive for COVID-19. Please appreciate [that] I am a cancer survivor and 69 years old. I have been advised limited exposure on account of the peculiar background of low immunity, he said.

He added that he was available to answer any queries by the investigation team via Skype.

Sharif is the latest PML-N leader to have tested positive for the virus. Multiple other members of PML-Ns top-tier leadership have been diagnosed with the disease, including Aurangzeb, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Ahsan Iqbal and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Also Read: China, India reach positive consensus on border issue: Beijing

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The San Antonio City Council indefinitely extended the citys public health emergency declaration Thursday as Bexar County sees spikes in the number of new coronavirus cases  but doing so is now mostly a formality.

City and county officials no longer set the tempo of when businesses and activities resume amid the pandemic  an authority absorbed by Gov. Greg Abbott. They also cant compel residents to stay at home in any fashion.

But San Antonio needs some kind of order in place to get federal reimbursement for costs stemming from the pandemic, officials said Thursday.

Those federal funds could pay for emergency responders and Metropolitan Health District employees dealing with COVID-19 and for personal protective equipment and COVID-19 tests purchased by the city. So far, the city has racked up about $190 million in those kinds of costs.

On ExpressNews.com: Get the latest update on coronavirus and a tracking map of U.S. cases

The latest city order points to Abbotts order for specifics on how and when businesses can reopen and other activities can begin to take place.

A separate directive issued by Metro Health lays out health recommendations such as wearing face coverings and keeping the requisite 6 feet of social distance. It also reminds officials of private labs conducting COVID-19 tests that their results must be reported to Metro Health.

The thinking on the health directive was that if perhaps some of these recommendations about how to be safe came from a health professional, it might be a little less polarizing than it coming from a political body, Assistant City Manager Colleen Bridger told council members Thursday.

Bob Owen /San Antonio Express-News

In the last two days, Bexar County has seen a spike in the number of new cases  180 on Tuesday and 135 on Wednesday.

There also has been an increase in the number of people with novel coronavirus who are sick enough to be in the hospital. As of Thursday afternoon, 108 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 50 in intensive care and 28 on ventilators to help them breathe.

On ExpressNews.com: Texas COVID-19 hospitalizations up 36 percent since Memorial Day

Some of those new cases stem from lumps of delayed test results from private labs, Bridger said. But the majority are likely the result of increased spread in the community resulting from Abbotts loosened restrictions Memorial Day weekend and from people being tired of doing all of the things that weve been doing over the last three months, Bridger said.

People are less safe in their behaviors, she said.

Bob Owen /San Antonio Express-News

District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran encouraged protesters demonstrating in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis to wear masks and practice social distancing.

We need to continue to maintain all of the practices weve been doing, Viagran said, echoing the words of health professionals as well as other city and county leaders.

Joshua Fechter is a staff writer covering San Antonio government and politics. To read more from Joshua, become a subscriber. jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports
Samsung has announced a new limited edition of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, dubbed Galaxy S20 Ultra Limited Edition White (machine translated from Vietnamese).

The Galaxy S20 Ultra Limited Edition White is priced at VND29,990,000 ($1,290/1,140) and it will be up for pre-orders in Vietnam from June 12 to June 18. Those who pre-book will receive Harman Kardon Aura Studio 3 speakers worth VND6,900,000 ($300/260) for free and get an immediate cashback of VND4,000,000 ($170/150).

The Galaxy S20 Ultra Limited Edition White will go on sale from June 19 through CellPhoneS retail stores and those who purchase the smartphone between June 19 and June 21 will be eligible for an additional discount of VND3,000,000 ($130/115).

The Limited Edition S20 Ultra packs the same specs as the S20 Ultra 4G model: Exynos 990 SoC, 6.9" QHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display, 108MP quad camera, and a 5,000 mAh battery with 45W fast charging support.

Samsung hasn't mentioned the memory configuration of the S20 Ultra Limited Edition White in its press release, but we assume it's the same as the regular models available in Vietnam - 12GB RAM and 128GB storage. The smartphone also comes with a microSD card slot, which allows storage expansion by up to 1TB.

Source (in Vietnamese)
France should speed up its gradual return to work and business activity, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday as new data showed the economy lost half a million jobs in the first quarter alone, Trend reports with reference to Reuters.

President Emmanuel Macrons government put France under one of Europes most stringent lockdowns from mid-March, and only began lifting restrictions on May 11. Macron is due to address the nation in a televised speech on June 14.

I want economic activity to resume more quickly, Le Maire told LCI television, adding he wanted activity to be back to normal by this summer.

The government expects the euro zones second-biggest economy to contract by 11% in 2020 and Le Maire told lawmakers on Tuesday that 800,000 jobs were at risk.

Already in the first quarter, more than 500,000 jobs were lost, largely because short-term contracts were not renewed as the economy went into lockdown, data from the INSEE official statistics agency showed on Thursday.

France is going to get there, its going to recover and return to growth. We can reduce (unemployment), we can rebound from 2021 if we push up our sleeves, get back to work and step up the recovery, Le Maire said.

He added that the car industry, one of the hardest hit, was already returning to normal with strong sales likely in June and July after selling almost no new cars during the lockdown.
A serial sexual abuser and true predator who groomed and abused teenage girls in his flat has been jailed for seven years.

The Central Criminal Court heard that from May 1994 up to February 2001 the 58-year-old man carried out sexual assaults on a total of 14 children.

He pleaded guilty in 2002 to attacks on 10 of these victims and received a prison sentence of nine years with two suspended. While being interviewed by gardai, he denied sexually assaulting three other children.

He continued to deny these offences during a trial at the Central Criminal Court last March but a jury convicted him of 30 counts of sexual assaults of these three girls and a fourth girl.

The Dublin man cannot be named to protect the identities of the victims, some of whom wish to maintain their statutory anonymity.

Passing sentence today, Ms Justice Tara Burns described the man as a true predator. She said he offered the victims an easy-going place of refuge and bribed them with money, cigarettes and jewellery.

Ms Justice Burns said he then pounced and subjected them to his insidious sexual activity. She said he was careful not to go too far and cause them to abandon his lair.

She said the case was aggravated by the age of the victims, the length of time over which the abuse occurred, the grooming of the girls, his lack of remorse, his previous convictions for sexual offending and his exploitation of the situations and vulnerabilities of the victims.

Ms Justice Burns said that in light of the fact that the case dealt with four separate victims, she had decided to impose consecutive sentences, which came to a total of seven years.

The court heard the man has been convicted in both Ireland and the UK for burglary offences. He was extradited from the UK to face trial and has been in custody since March 2018.

At a previous sentencing hearing, a local garda agreed with Giollaioda O Lideadha SC, defending, that while his client was in the UK he worked at a homeless charity centre. The garda agreed that no charges have been levelled against the man arising from this period.

Mr O Lideadha said his client was subject to a very substantial prison sentence relating to the previous offences of sexual assault. He said that his client did a course while in custody which led to him fully recognising that what he did was wrong and resolving to never do it again.

Victim Impact Statements

Paul Murray SC, prosecuting, told the court that while the first victim did not wish to make a victim impact statement, each of the remaining three women had made statements.

In her victim impact statement, which was read before the court by Mr Murray, the second woman said that for many years this affected her badly. She said she rebelled at home and got in trouble with the law.

The second woman said that she felt dirty, sick and ashamed of the person she is today for allowing this to happen to her.

The woman said:

I am not a victim anymore, I am a survivor.

In her victim impact statement, which was read before the court by Mr Murray, the third woman said that she sometimes hated herself for not telling anyone what happened to her at the time.

She said she was so glad he has been found guilty of his disgusting crimes. She said she was glad it was all over and done with and that she had gotten justice.

In her victim impact statement, which she read before the court, the fourth woman said that she turned to drugs at a young age and ended up in a number of abusive relationships.

She said she had suffered sleep paralysis and night terrors and had had to dip in and out of counselling since her early twenties. She said she was extremely over-protective of her daughter and does not let anyone else look after her.

She said the man had robbed us all of our childhood and innocence. She said he would not hold any power over us ever again.

Evidence

A local garda told Mr Murray that in relation to the first victim, the man was convicted of six offences of sexual assault in the period between May 1994 and May 2000.

The first woman gave evidence during the trial that the man would show her pornographic movies in the flat and would very often be naked. On one occasion he placed the victim's hand on his private parts.

The victim was paranoid about the size of her chest and the man told her that if he touched and massaged her chest, it would grow bigger. She went along with it as she knew no better, she testified.

Other assaults included the man rubbing his private parts against her backside and making her masturbate him. If the victim did not let him touch her, his mood would change and he would punish her for things for which she would not normally be punished.

The garda said that in relation to the second victim, the man was convicted of 17 offences of sexual assault in the period between February 1996 and February 2000.

The second woman began to stay in the man's home when she was around nine year's old and that she stayed in his home every two weeks.

The man would ask her to come into his bedroom and he would be naked. On occasions, he put his hands up the victim's top and down her trousers.

The garda said that in relation to the third victim, the man was convicted of six offences of sexual assault during the year 2000.

The third woman knew one of the other victims and told the trial that when she went to the flat the man would give her cigarettes and money.

The man assaulted by her forcing his hands down her trousers while she struggled and she could not leave as the door was locked. The woman did not tell anyone about what happened as the man told her if she did she would be killed.

The garda said that in relation to the fourth victim, the man was convicted of a single count of sexual assault on an unknown date in the period between February 2000 and February 2001.

The fourth woman was assaulted while staying over in the flat with the first woman. She woke up to find the man in the bed beside her with his hand down her bottoms and touching her private parts.

Ms Justice Burns sentenced the man to two years' imprisonment for the offences against the first woman, two-and-a-half years' imprisonment for offences against the second woman, two years' imprisonment for offences against the third woman and six months' imprisonment for the offence against the fourth woman.

She ordered that all sentences run consecutive to each other for a total effective sentence of seven years' imprisonment.

Ms Justice Burns concluded the sentencing by commending the women for their bravery. She said she hoped they can move forward with their lives and said they should be proud of themselves.
The US government will try to stop a company's planned salvage mission to retrieve the Titanic's wireless telegraph machine, arguing the expedition would break federal law and a pact with Britain to leave the iconic shipwreck undisturbed.

US attorneys filed a legal challenge before a federal judge in Norfolk, Virginia, late Monday. The expedition is expected to begin by the end of August.

The Atlanta-based salvage firm RMS Titanic Inc, said it would exhibit the telegraph while telling the stories of the operators who broadcast the sinking ship's distress calls.

The company plans to recover the radio equipment from a deck house near the Titanic's grand staircase.

The mission could require an underwater vehicle to cut into the rapidly deteriorating roof if the submersible is unable to slip through a skylight.

US attorneys argue the company can't do that.

They say federal law requires the firm to get authorisation from the Secretary of Commerce before conducting salvage expeditions "that would physically alter or disturb the wreck."

The agreement with the United Kingdom, they add, regulates entry into the hull sections to prevent disturbances to the hull and "other artifacts and any human remains."

The international agreement calls for the Titanic to be recognized as "a memorial to those men, women and children who perished and whose remains should be given appropriate respect," the government's filing states.

The Titanic was travelling from England to New York when it struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the 2,208 passengers and crew.

Distress calls to other ships that were made by the Marconi wireless telegraph machine are credited with helping to save hundreds of people on lifeboats.

The US filed its arguments with the same federal judge who ruled last month that the salvage firm could dive nearly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) to recover the telegraph equipment.

The Titanic wreck site sits on the floor of the North Atlantic about about 400 miles (645 kilometers) off Newfoundland, Canada.

In May, US District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith agreed with the salvage firm that the telegraph is historically important and could soon disappear within the rapidly decaying wreck.

Smith wrote that recovering the telegraph would contribute to preserving the legacy of the ship and its passengers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration represents the public's interest in the shipwreck. NOAA has operated for years as a friend of the court." It's now seeking to be a party to the salvage case.

NOAA's legal challenge escalates a simmering debate over who can approve salvage missions to the world''s most famous shipwreck.

The federal agency argues that federal laws and international agreements should apply to the wreckage.

The salvage firm disagrees, claiming that hundreds of years of maritime law give authority to the court in Norfolk.

NOAA seeks to jettison the law of the sea, developed over centuries, the company argued in legal filings earlier this year.

George Rutherglen, a law professor who teaches admiralty law at the University of Virginia, said the case is likely far from over.

Depending on how Judge Smith rules on NOAA's status as a party to the case,

Rutherglen said the US government could still try bringing its case to the 4th US. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court in Richmond has taken an interest in cases involving the nation's agreements with foreign countries as well as cases concerning the disturbance of grave sites, he said.

I would be surprised if the 4th Circuit doesn''t pay some attention to what the United States says," Rutherglen said.

Rutherglen also said that granting the firm''s current request could open the door to further requests to salvage inside the hull.

The salvors have a lot of money tied up in this wreck, he said. Their natural incentive is to try to recover as many artifacts as they ethically can.
June 11, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - In the near-two decades since the International Criminal Court was set up to try the worst violations of international human rights law, it has faced harsh criticism for its highly selective approach to the question of who should be put on trial.

Created in 2002, the court, it was imagined, would act as a deterrent against the erosion of an international order designed to prevent a repetition of the atrocities of the Second World War.

Such hopes did not survive long.

The court, which sits in The Hague in the Netherlands, almost immediately faced a difficult test: whether it dared to confront the worlds leading superpower, the United States, as it launched a war on terror.

The ICCs prosecutors refused to grasp the nettle posed by the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead, they chose the easiest targets: for too long, it looked as though war crimes were only ever committed by Africans.

Now, the ICCs chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, looks poised finally to give the court some teeth. She is threatening to investigate two states  the US and Israel  whose actions have been particularly damaging to international law in the modern era.

The court is considering examining widespread human rights abuses perpetrated by US soldiers in Afghanistan, and crimes committed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially Gaza, as well as the officials responsible for Israels illegal settlement programme.

An investigation of both is critically important: the US has crafted for itself a role as global policeman, while Israels flagrant violations of international law have been ongoing for more than half a century.

The US is the most powerful offender, and Israel the most persistent.

Both states have long dreaded this moment  the reason they refused to ratify the Rome Statute that established the ICC.

Last week Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, stepped up US attacks on the court, saying its administration was determined to prevent having Americans and our friends and allies in Israel and elsewhere hauled in by this corrupt ICC.

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A large, bipartisan majority of US Senators sent a letter to Pompeo last month urging him to ensure vigorous support for Israel against the Hague court.

Israel and the US have each tried to claim an exemption from international law on the grounds that they did not sign up to the court.

But this only underscores the problem. International law is there to protect the weak from abuses committed by the strong. The victim from the bully.

A criminal suspect does not get to decide whether their victim can make a complaint, or whether the legal system should investigate. The same must apply in international law if it is to have any meaningful application.

Even under Bensouda, the process has dragged out interminably. It has taken years for her office to conduct a preliminary investigation and to determine, as she did in late April, that Palestine falls under the ICCs jurisdiction because it qualifies as a state.

The delay made little sense, given that the State of Palestine is recognised by the United Nations, and it was able to ratify the Rome Statute five years ago.

The Israeli argument is that Palestine lacks the normal features of a sovereign state. However, as the Israeli human rights group BTselem recently noted, this is precisely because Israel has occupied the Palestinians territory and illegally transferred settlers onto their land.

Israel is claiming an exemption by citing the very crimes that need investigating.

Bensouda has asked the courts judges to rule on her view that the ICCs jurisdiction extends to Palestine. It is not clear how soon they will issue a verdict.

Pompeos threats last week  he said the US will soon make clear how it will retaliate  are intended to intimidate the court.

Bensouda has warned that her office is being subjected to misinformation and smear campaigns. In January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the court of being antisemitic.

In the past, Washington has denied Bensouda a travel visa, and threatened to confiscate her and the ICC judges assets and put them on trial. The US has also vowed to use force to liberate any Americans put in the dock.

There are indications the judges may now be searching for a bolt hole. They have asked Israel and the Palestinian Authority to respond urgently to questions about whether the temporary Oslo accords, signed more than 25 years ago, are still legally binding.

Israel has argued that the lack of resolution to the Oslo process precludes the Palestinians from claiming statehood. That would leave Israel, not the ICC, with jurisdiction over the territories.

On Monday Bensouda was reported to have given her view that the Oslo accords should have no bearing on whether an investigation proceeds.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, told the ICC last week that the PA considers itself exempt from its Oslo obligations, given that Israel has announced imminent plans to annex swaths of Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

Annexation was given a green light under President Trumps peace plan unveiled earlier in the year.

Bensoudas term as prosecutor finishes next year. Israel may hope to continue stonewalling until she is gone. Elyakim Rubinstein, a former Israeli Supreme Court judge, called last month for a campaign to ensure that her successor is more sympathetic to Israel.

But if Bensouda does get the go-ahead, Netanyahu and an array of former generals, including his Defence Minister Benny Gantz, would likely be summoned for questioning. If they refuse, an international arrest warrant could be issued, theoretically enforceable in the 123 countries that ratified the court.

Neither Israel nor the US is willing to let things reach that point.

They have recruited major allies to the fight, including Australia, Canada, Brazil and several European states. Germany, the courts second largest donor, has threatened to revoke its contributions if the ICC proceeds.

Maurice Hirsch, a former legal adviser to the Israeli army, wrote a column last month in Israel Hayom, a newspaper widely seen as Netanyahus mouthpiece, accusing Bensouda of being a hapless pawn of Palestinian terrorists.

He suggested that other states threaten to pull their contributions, deny ICC staff the travel visas necessary for their investigations and even quit the court.

That would destroy any possibility of enforcing international law  an outcome that would delight both Israel and the US.

It would render ICC little more than a dead letter, just as Israel, backed by the US, prepares to press ahead with the West Banks annexation.

A version of this article first appeared in the National, Abu Dhabi.

Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His books include Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israels Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jonathan-cook.net.
Rachael Rollins in Boston is a perfect example of how a focused opposition campaign can undermine reform by focusing on undermining the reformer.

Before she took office, a police organization filed an ethical complaint against her for pledging to handle certain low-level crimes less harshly and more in line with national trends, which the association claimed essentially violated rules of professional conduct for lawyers. Given the frivolous nature of the complaint, the state agency in charge of disciplining lawyers never opened an investigation.

She has even been undermined by judges. For example, a local judge challenged her discretion to dismiss disorderly conduct charges against a protester, the kind of discretion which district attorneys have exercised for more than a century. Ms. Rollins filed an emergency petition with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled in her favor.

What motivates this resistance? In some cases, judges do not want their legacy questioned, the police do not want their overtime reduced and towns dependent on a prison economy do not want mass incarceration to end. Just as much, police unions do not want someone highlighting their efforts to pressure a city to treat domestic violence cases involving officers with more lenience. Or to expose how often officers fired for misconduct will often wind up back on the job as a result of a rigged arbitration system their union helped establish, which is what Larry Krasner has done.

In many cases, however, the struggle is clearly political, not only in terms of corporate political contributions or police and corrections union patronage, but also in terms of racial politics and struggles over who deserves power. Police associations, in particular, take the position that prosecutors should serve the police, rather than both prosecutors and the police serving justice.

Whatever the reason for such reprehensible attacks on reform and reformers, it is not about public safety. The likely cumulative effect of this harassment of progressive prosecutors will be to impede the most important reforms and push these prosecutors out of office. That happened to Aramis Ayala, Floridas first black state attorney, who declined to run for another term.

All this should be a spur for those who care about reform to vote for progressive prosecutors, sheriffs and judges in November.
SPRINGFIELD - Police are seeking the publics help in locating a 67-year-old man who walked away from a Mill Street substance treatment facility and is possibly in danger.

Lawrence Hause was last seen Monday walking away from the Foundation House on Mill Street, where he had been staying.

The Foundation House is a treatment facility that is part of the Western Massachusetts Recovery and Wellness Center that is run by the Hampden Sheriffs Department.

According to the Hampden Sheriffs Department, Hause was enrolled in the Foundation House program for some time. On Monday, he left the premise without explanation. He is not considered a fugitive or an escapee from the program. He is being sought out of concern for his own wellbeing.

Police say he may be trying to reach Rhode Island and is not believed to have any identification with him.

Anyone with information is asked to call 413 787-6300.
After scoring eight cheques in around two months for his crown jewel Jio Platforms Limited, India's richest man Mukesh Ambani is in the process of roping in San Francisco-based top global investor TPG Capital. The private equity firm is in active talks with Jio and could pump in $1-2 billion in the holding company of Reliance Industries' digital and telecom businesses, The Economic Times reported. Official announcement in this regard could be made in the next few days.

Also read: Why global PE giants are crazy about Jio?

So far, JPL has received an investment commitment of Rs 97,885.65 crore against dilution of 21.06 per cent stake, with the recent one from Abu Dhabi government's global investment arm Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) that decided to invest Rs 5,683.50 crore in JPL for 1.16 per cent stake.

Also read: Mukesh Ambani scores 5th cheque! KKR to invest Rs 11,367 cr into Jio Platforms

Facebook, Silver Lake Partners (two investments), Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala have already announced their investments in JPL. Of this, Facebook's deal of Rs 43,574 crore for 9.99 per cent stake is the largest so far in the company. For making JPL debt-free, the parent company has infused Rs 1.08 lakh crore in it.

Also read: General Atlantic to invest Rs 6,598 crore in Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms

Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, has been formally inducted into the family empire as additional director in Jio Platforms.

JPL was created as a subsidiary of RIL in October last year to bring together all digital and mobility businesses under one roof. The new entity has become the parent of Reliance Jio Infocomm and applications like MyJio, JioTV, JioCinema, JioNews and JioSaavn, besides content-generation ventures. Thus, the operating company Reliance Jio became a step-down subsidiary of RIL.

Also read: Jio raises Rs 5,683 crore from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority; total investments near Rs 1 lakh crore

They want to build JPL like Alibaba and Google, which claim high valuations in the stock markets. RIL has been using the cash flow from its flagship petroleum refining business to build the telecom and retail subsidiaries all these years. RIL has spent about Rs 4 lakh crore to build Reliance Jio.

Also read: Facebook-Jio deal: FB investment values Jio Platforms at record Rs 4.6 lakh crore
Bilibili: "I don't like it. I'm only recommending Alibaba. The rest of the Chinese stocks, no thank you."

WWE: "The only way I'm going to buy WWE is through a derivative way: Take-Two Interactive."

Triumph Group: "I like it."

Chegg: "Why don't you wait until it's $50 to get a better average?"

Cloudflare: "Cloudflare is good. Hey, I'll throw in Crowdstrike. I'm going to throw in Snowflake. It'll give you a threesome."

Viavi Solutions: "I am with you, I like that company. And, by the way, I like 5G and I also like Ericsson."

Cyberark Software: "I don't like it as much as the other ones that I've been recommending. It doesn't have enough cloud."
1. Its a lot easier to get tested. And you should.

In the first weeks and months of the pandemic, many people  including quite a few with severe symptoms  found it difficult to get tested. That was due to two factors: a scarcity of testing materials such as swabs and chemical reagents and guidelines that reserved those scant resources for the most at-risk patients. Since mid-April, however, private laboratories greatly improved access. Rite-Aid, for example, is offering free diagnostic testing via a drive-thru in Harrisburg and a number of other communities across Pennsylvania. Its a good idea to get tested even if you dont feel ill because its possible to spread the disease when you have no symptoms.

2. As a result of that expansion, Pennsylvania is getting a more accurate picture of COVID-19s spread.

Pennsylvania, like many states, still has shortcomings in terms of understanding how COVID-19 affects individual communities because of its lack of widespread community testing and demographic data. Health Secretary Rachel Levine said Wednesday one of her top goals in advance of an expected second wave this fall is to establish that kind of testing and contact tracing program.

However, 5 percent of all tests coming back statewide are now positive. Thats a key indicator of adequate testing capacity. What does that mean? A high positivity rate  which was true in the early months of the states coronavirus response  may indicate the state was only testing the sickest patients, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. A lower rate is a sign that public health officials have enough data to make informed decisions about how to reopen and to deploy resources.

3. And yet there are still parts of the state where testing remains sparse.

Quite a few blind spots remain across the state, particularly in more rural areas and places without a large hospital system. The Wolf administration, in recognizing that fact, partnered with the private lab services company Quest to open COVID-19 testing sites at five rural Wal-Mart parking lots. A full list is included below. Patients should register in advance here.

Walmart Supercenter parking lot, 167 Hogan Blvd, Mill Hall, PA

Walmart Supercenter parking lot, 21920 Route #119, Punxsutawney, PA

Walmart Supercenter parking lot, 50 Foster Brook Blvd, Bradford, PA

Walmart Supercenter parking lot, 10 Kimberly Ln, Cranberry, PA

Walmart Supercenter parking lot, 2901 Market St, Warren, PA

4. Public health experts fear a spike in cases due to complacency, large public gatherings and the gradual reopening. But we havent seen it in the data yet.

Many public health experts are carefully scrutinizing testing data for any sign of a new wave of infections triggered by the onset of summer, the Wolf administrations gradual reopening and the protests that dominated headlines in recent weeks. After all, its nearly impossible to maintain social distancing in a crowd of hundreds or thousands of protesters.

So far, at least, we havent witnessed a dramatic spike. Were being very careful and watchful [for that]," Levine said Wednesday. Infection rates statewide continue to be on the downswing, she said, but health officials have seen individual spikes at the local level. The most prominent example is in Erie, which saw a significant spike in the last week following protests there. You see kids and young people out everywhere, no masks and no social distancing, one local activist told GoErie.com.

Of course, given the virus potential two-week incubation period, it may simply be too soon to see a measurable increase.

5. People are still dying of COVID-19, so dont take unnecessary risks.

Pennsylvanias death rate tends to be a more volatile indicator, in part due to adjustments in reporting over time (notice the day in April when the Department of Health reported a negative death toll). Nonetheless, the rolling 5-day average shows an obvious decline: As of Wednesday, the average across five days was 35 deaths per day. Over the same period last month, it was 139.

But the disease is still lethal.

Gov. Tom Wolf, in responding the Legislatures move to lift the emergency disaster declaration, emphasized this point. This is not something we arbitrarily snap our fingers and have this virus go away, he said.

Wallace McKelvey may be reached at wmckelvey@pennlive.com. Follow him on Twitter @wjmckelvey. Find PennLive on Facebook.

Read the The hunt for Ray Gricar.

Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.
President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered sanctions against any official at the International Criminal Court who prosecutes US troops as the tribunal looks at alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

The International Criminal Courts actions are an attack on the rights of the American people and threaten to infringe upon our national sovereignty, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.

She alleged: We have strong reason to believe there is corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the International Criminal Court Office of the prosecutor, calling into question the integrity of its investigation into American service members.

Trump has been tearing down global institutions he sees as hindering his administrations interests, recently ordering a pullout from the World Health Organization over its coronavirus response.

The Trump administration has been livid over the Hague-based International Criminal Courts investigation into atrocities in Afghanistans long-running war, which could involve US forces.

The administration last year revoked the US visa of the courts chief prosecutor, Gambian-born Fatou Bensouda, to demand that she end the probe.

But judges in March said the investigation could go ahead, overturning an initial rejection of Bensoudas request.

The United States is not a part of the court and under the previous administration of George W. Bush actively encouraged countries to shun it.
Editors Note: Welcome to Inside Out, our weekly roundup of stories about Staten Islanders of all ages who are making waves, being seen, supporting our community and just making our borough a special place to live. Have a story for Inside Out? Email Carol Ann Benanti at benanti@siadvance.com.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Leah Abildnes has always been proud to call Staten Island home.

Born in the old Staten Island Hospital building on Castleton and Cebra avenues that was formerly the S.R. Smith Infirmary  a structure that resembled an intriguing castle capped with a red-brick tower  Abildnes was baptized in the Zion Lutheran Church, where shes still a member today.

Leah Abildnes enjoys a Cosmopolitan. (Couretesy/Melanie Kalantari)Staten Island Advance

Born on May 23, 1930, Abildnes grew up in New Brighton along with her nine siblings. But, when she entered her teen years, she and her family relocated to Westerleigh.

In 1948, she met Leif Abildnes, the love of her life, and the man who said that because she was a strong, beautiful woman, she earned the nickname, The New Brighton kid. The awesome twosome married on April 1, 1950.

Abildnes smiles with her great grandkids, Connor, Lacey, Ryan and Emma.(Courtesy of Melanie Kalantari)Staten Island Advance

Together they raised four daughters, Lorraine, Lois, Linda and Lisa. Sadly, Leif Abildnes died in 1992. But, today, Leah Abildnes is the proud grandmother of James, Melanie, Charles, Amy, David, Matthew, and Deanna, and she is great-grandmother to seven.

Leah Abildnes is shown with her eldest granddaughter, Melanie Kalantari. (Courtesy of Melanie Kalantari)Staten Island Advance

Leah and Leif Abildnes were well known in the community during the early 1960s as owners of the Five Ls Candy Store on Lathrop Avenue in Westerleigh until 1964.

Leah and Leif Abildnes are shown during the early years. (Courtesy of Melanie Kalantari)Staten Island Advance

While raising her family and lending a helping hand at the candy store, she also began her 30-year career at J.C. Penney in the Forest Avenue Shoppers Town. In fact, to this day she still attends monthly J.C. Penney retiree luncheons

Leah Abildnes celebrates with Sonja and Sonja's son in law. (Courtesy of Melanie Kalantari)Staten Island Advance

LEAH AT 90

Now, the new nonagenarians greatest joys are spending time with her family, listening to her favorite musicians, from Pavarotti to Roy Orbison, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Lynne. On occasion, she still can be seen dancing and listening to the music of her favorite band Backdraft.

Leah Abildnes stands outside her New Dorp home. (Courtesy of Melanie Kalantari)Staten Island Advance

Her eldest granddaughter, Melanie Kalantari, who resides in Burbank, Calif., confides that her grandmother swears Sambuca is the cure for the common cold, and she adds that Brandy Alexanders used to be her go-to drink.

Leah Abildnes is shown with daughters Lois, Lisa and Lorraine. (Courtesy of Melanie Kalantari)Staten Island Advance

Her favorite sayings are Talk to you manana," and "When I die, I want to come back as a bird.

She says, worrying is a sin. So dont worry,'" adds Melanie.

Leah Abildnes is shown in her younger years. (Courtesy of Melanie Kalantari)Staten Island Advance

Although Abildnes mainly spends her days watching Investigation Discovery, The Price is Right," Jeopardy and The Wheel of Fortune," she has wonderful memories of numerous trips to California and Las Vegas, where she says she always felt young again, embracing the excitement and glamour of Vegas.

And while trips are always exciting, Abildnes says shes always anxious to get home to her beautiful Staten Island.

Leah Abildnes is celebrating 90 years. (Courtesy of Melanie Kalantari) Staten Island Advance

Oh, and she also loves an occasional trip to Eggers Ice Cream Parlor, the Eger Scandinavian Holiday Fair at Christmastime, and, of course, reading through the Staten Island Advance.

This year, to celebrate Abildnes entering her ninth decade, family members and friends gathered for a drive-by birthday parade in front of her New Dorp home and extended well wishes to the birthday girl" as she becomes a brand new nonagenarian.

Happy 90th birthday, Leah!

DANA FORD LINCOLN DONATES 10K TO RUMC

Local Staten Island automotive dealer Dana Ford Lincoln has donated $10,000 to Richmond University Medical Center.

This funds will be used to help provide resources during the ongoing fight against COVID-19, such as personal protective gear, HEPA filtration machines and upgraded respiratory systems.

We have been absolutely astonished and humbled at the support that has poured in from the community during the COVID pandemic," said Daniel J. Messina, president and chief executive officer of Richmond University Medical Center. "We very much appreciate the donation of $10,000 from Dana Ford Lincoln. Now, more than ever, we are comforted by the fact that Staten Island is a community that pulls together in times of crisis.

Dana has and always will be proud to support our community, Dana Ford Lincoln owner Jim Cognetta said. This money represents a small token of appreciation for the brave men and women who work tirelessly to keep us safe and healthy.

Dana Ford Lincoln has been providing sales and service for Ford, Lincoln and various pre-owned vehicles since 1980.

For additional information on Richmond University Medical or Dana Ford Lincoln, visit: http://drivedana.com/ or https://www.rumcsi.org/

STATEN ISLAND UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL NAMES NEW CHAIR OF CARDIOLOGY

Dr. Mitchell Weinberg (Courtesy/SIUH)Staten Island Advance

Dr. Mitchell D. Weinberg has been appointed chairman of cardiology at Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH).

According to hospital officials, Weinbergs clear vision for cardiology will result in a robust, well-rounded clinical program committed to clinical and academic excellence.

We have some of the highest volumes of patients in New York state, and we are dedicated to leading the way in heart care, said Weinberg. I am proud to be joining this award-winning team.

In 2019, Staten Island University Hospital was awarded the Coronary Intervention Excellence Award, was a Coronary Interventional Procedures Five-Star Recipient, and received Americas 100 Best Coronary Intervention awards from Healthgrades.

In 2013, Weinberg joined North Shore University Hospital as the director of peripheral vascular intervention within the Department of Cardiology.

During his first two years, he rapidly expanded the hospitals vascular medicine and interventional program across Long Island. And, shortly thereafter, his responsibilities were extended to Lenox Hill Hospital and the surrounding western region of the health system.

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Weinberg to Staten Island University Hospital," said Dr. Brahim Ardolic, executive director of Staten Island University Hospital. He has been a foundational member of Northwell Health for seven years and is widely respected for his character and years of commitment to the cardiology field.

Weinberg received a bachelor of arts degree and a masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He did his internal medicine residency at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, his cardiology and interventional cardiology fellowships at Mount Sinai Hospital and an advanced fellowship in vascular medicine and vascular intervention at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Most recently, Weinberg obtained a masters of business administration degree from the Zarb School of Business at Hofstra University.

Academically, Weinberg has been widely published and he lectures extensively at national cardiac and vascular conferences. He is advancing his field at the societal level in his role as a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and Society of Vascular Medicine.

He was recently nominated to the Society of Vascular Medicines board of trustees.
Around 80 per cent of working Indians have experienced income loss and over 90 per cent of them are bracing themselves to bear more hardship in the future, said a study by Generali on consumer sentiments during the COVID-19 crisis.

Also, self-employed professionals estimate that they may lose half of their income over the next few months.

Generali, a global insurance and asset management company recently conducted the study in 22 countries. In India, Generali has a JV partnership with the Future Group. The study in India was done through Epiphany  a global market research firm.

Overall the findings show that there is a feeling of fear and anxiety as people are worried about the uncertainty of life as they knew it.

Many are apprehensive about being able to protect their families and are worried about the economic losses likely to occur at every level going ahead, it said in a release.

As per the study, 80 per cent of working Indians have experienced income loss and 92 per cent of them are bracing themselves to undergo further economic losses in the future. Half the Indian working population now works from home. They expect this to continue for the next few months. Most of them put in the same number of hours as they did at their workplace, it said.

Further, 95 per cent or almost all Indians surveyed expect some form of relief in the case of income loss. 53 per cent of those who have experienced losses expect help from the government. 60 per cent are planning to dig into their savings and investments, while 39 per cent expect help from family members, Generali said in the release. Significantly, 40 per cent of Indians expect their employers to step in with some form of relief. As per the study, 30 per cent of the Indian respondents - who are adults living in large cities, perceive the COVID-19 threat as a severe national challenge. Further 30 per cent feel that the crisis will worsen in the coming months. Four out of 10 Indians worry about the impact of the pandemic on physical, mental, social and financial health. Urban families are mainly concerned about the impact on their physical health, it added.

On expectations from the insurance industry, the study found that customers facing extreme income losses expect their insurers to provide flexibility in payment schedules. Thirty-eight per cent people had contacted their insurance company proactively to get financial support or relief during this critical moment.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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Hong Kong police arrested 53 people during protests on Tuesday evening that saw hundreds of activists take to the streets, at times blocking roads in the heart of the global financial hub, before police fired pepper spray to disperse crowds.

The protests, called to mark a year of sometimes violent pro-democracy rallies in the former British colony, also came amid heightened tensions due to a proposed national security bill backed by the central government in Beijing.

Police said yesterday that 36 males and 17 females were arrested for offences including unlawful assembly and participating in unauthorised assembly.

Protesters had defied a ban on gatherings of more than eight people introduced by the Hong Kong government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

More protests are planned in the coming days, with pro-democracy supporters fearing the proposed national security legislation will dramatically stifle freedoms in the city.

While details of the security law or how it will operate have yet to be revealed, authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have said there is no cause for concern and the legislation will target a minority of "troublemakers".

The standing committee of the National People's Congress, the top decision-making body of the Chinese parliament, will meet in Beijing later this month to deliberate on various draft legislation, although it is not known if laws regarding Hong Kong are on the agenda for the June 18-20 meeting.

Hong Kong security secretary John Lee told the 'South China Morning Post' in an interview published yesterday that local police were setting up a dedicated unit to enforce the law and it would have intelligence-gathering, investigation and training capabilities.
The GTX Corp patented and award-winning GPS SmartSole wearable technology has been listed on the GSA schedule under NAICS code 334290 and SIN code 334290. Additionally, the 'Made in USA' PPE hand sanitizers (Product Numbers GL-Sani-3.3 and GL-Sani-7.8) and face shield (Product Number FSNB-01) are also available for purchase on the GSA Schedule. These products are listed under the NAICS codes 339113 and 332999, SIN codes 339113R and 332999, with volume discounts available on each product providing the opportunity for purchase by large governmental organizations including the military.

"We are extremely proud of having our high-quality PPE products, which are manufactured in the State of California and our Flagship GPS SmartSoles available for purchase by United States Government organizations and military. We have seen a significant increase in demand for both 'Made in USA' products and track and trace wearable technology products from domestic and international government agencies. While speaking to a mask manufacturer based in South Korea last week, they inquired about buying 'Made in USA' masks, which is something GTX Corp is currently working on," commented Patrick Bertagna, CEO of GTX Corp.

As a member of the SoCal Bio Partnership for Pandemics Countermeasure Taskforce, GTX Corp is actively using its extensive manufacturing experience to source and distribute U.S. Food and Drug Administration ('FDA') and European CE mark certified PPE across its wide network of channel partners in order to make available products that are in high demand. Under the Company's Health and Safety umbrella, GTX Corp has already delivered hundreds of thousands of PPE items in over 42 States, to a wide range of entities such as essential businesses, assisted living facilities, pharmacies, Fortune 1,000 companies, hospitals, police departments, nonprofits, and local, state and federal government agencies, which require protective gear for their customers, employees and healthcare professionals.

Just this week, GTX Corp introduced its campaign to help get Busineses Back to Work with its 'WORK SAFE PPE BUNDLES' which are pre-packed assortments of PPE designed to meet the needs of small and medium size businesses that are bringing their employees back to work. The bundles consist of masks, sanitizers, infrared thermometers, face shields, Ti22 Liquid Titanium Shield, UV boxes and coming soon, UV wands, along with other protective gear to make sure that companies, their staff and visitors are ready to work, safely and responsibly.

See: Patrick Bertagna GTX CEO interview.

GTX Corp's updated, full-line of PPE can be found on its dedicated website www.gtxmask.com (use promocode 'open4biz' and get a discount on your first order).

About GTX Corp

GTX Corp (GTXO) is a pioneer in smart, mobile, and wearable GPS tracking and recovery location-based solutions designed around health and safety. Supported through a proprietary IoT enterprise monitoring platform and intellectual property portfolio, GTX offers a global end-to-end solution of hardware, software, and connectivity, and develops tracking technologies, which seamlessly integrate with consumer products and enterprise applications. GTX is known for its game-changing and award-winning patented GPS SmartSole -- think Dr. Scholl's meets LoJack, the world's first invisible wearable technology tracking device created for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimer's, dementia, autism and traumatic brain injury. GTX utilizes the latest in miniaturized, low power consumption GPS, Cellular, RF, NFC and BLE technology, enabling subscribers to track in real time the whereabouts of people or high value assets. GTX is also in the protective medical supply business and has developed innovative technology driven solutions. The company has customers in all 50 States and international distributors servicing customers in over 35 countries. The Company's customers range from the U.S. Military, Foreign Military, public health authorities and municipalities, emergency, and law enforcement, first responders, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, small business enterprises, senior care homes, and direct to consumer.

GTXCorp.com

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Disclaimer: GTX Corp does not warrant or represent that the unauthorized use of materials drawn from the content of this document will not infringe rights of third parties who are not owned or affiliated by GTX Corp. Further GTX Corp cannot be held responsible or liable for the unauthorized use of this document's content by third parties unknown to the company.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. The terms and phrases "expects," "would," "will," "believes," and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by GTX considering its experience and its perception of current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that GTX believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause GTX's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Certain risk factors that may cause actual results to differ are set forth in GTX's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (which may be obtained on the SEC Website). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on GTX's forward-looking statements. GTX has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required.

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Someone plastered red paint on the hands and head of a statue commemorating Christopher Columbus in Houston overnight, one of many similar statues of the colonizer aggravated across the country.

The painter also left a sign behind reading, RIP THE HEAD FROM YOUR OPPRESSOR, which remained affixed to the dark-colored statue into the Thursday morning sunlight. As of later in the morning, the red paint  symbolizing the blood of millions of indigenous people slaughtered after Columbus arrival  remained on the statue.
The Gujarat forest department has suggested that the Asiatic Lion population in Gir national park has increased by 29% in the past five years  from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020. The department has also said the distribution area of lions in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, where Gir is situated, has increased by 36% from 22,000 sqkm in 2015 to 30,000 sqkm.

Over the last several years, the Lion population in Gujarat has been steadily rising. This is powered by community participation, emphasis on technology, wildlife healthcare, proper habitat management and steps to minimise human-lion conflict. Hope this positive trend continues!, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

Shyamlal Tikadar, Gujarats chief wildlife warden and principal chief conservator of forests, said the Asiatic lion, which once faced the threat of extinction, has shown extraordinary recovery , thanks to the timely intervention by the erstwhile Nawab of Junagadh and protection programmes of the Gujarat government.

Today, Asiatic lions are present in protected areas and agro-pastoral landscape of Saurashtra covering nine districts in a sprawling expanse of over 30,000 sq. km, which is termed as the Asiatic Lion landscape], Tikadar said. He said the 15th Asiatic Lion Population Estimation based on scat analysis and camera trap modelling was scheduled to take place on June 5-6, but that did not happen due to the coronavirus disease situation.

...the forest department conducted an exercise in which 1,400 forest guards of 13 divisions were asked to spot lions and report their presence. Based on their reports, we estimated the population. The exercise was called Poonam Avlokan (because it was conducted on full moon night), he said.

In 2015, Gir recorded 523 lions, an increase of 27% since 2010. That estimation was a scientific one and was based on established methodology for estimating cat population, said Anish Andheria, the president of Mumbai based Wildlife Conservation Trust. He did not comment on the methodology adopted this time, saying he did not study it.

Poonam Avlokan is a routine monitoring exercise done by forest department. During a pandemic, the effort to monitor lion numbers is commendable. This tells us their number has increased. We need to now understand on how other conservation challenges of Asiatic Lions will be addressed, said Meena Venkataraman, a scientist specialising in Asiatic Lions.
Senate Republicans plunged forward on Thursday with an election-year bid to discredit the Trump-Russia investigation, voting to give themselves expansive authority to subpoena dozens of national security aides and several high-ranking Obama administration officials, including a top campaign adviser to President Trumps Democratic challenger, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The party-line vote by the Judiciary Committee was the second time in a week that a Republican-led panel has moved to expand its reach by granting its chairman the power to unilaterally compel documents and testimony related to the Russia matter. In both cases, Republicans are seeking to tarnish the investigators and to recast Mr. Trump and his campaign not as beneficiaries of Russian assistance in 2016, but as victims of dangerous overreach by a Democratic administration and law enforcement officials.

We need to look long and hard at how the Mueller investigation got off the rails, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the Judiciary Committee chairman, said before the vote, referring to the special counsel who led the inquiry, Robert S. Mueller III. This committee is not going to sit on the sidelines and move on.

With a vote of 12 to 10, with every Democrat opposed, the committee granted Mr. Graham the authority to issue subpoenas to more than 50 officials, including a whos who of top security aides under both the Obama and Trump administrations. They include Denis R. McDonough, President Barack Obamas former chief of staff; Susan E. Rice, Mr. Obamas national security adviser; and Steve Ricchetti, who was Mr. Bidens chief of staff when he was vice president and is now a top adviser to his presidential campaign. He can also compel cooperation from Attorney General William P. Barr and Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, as well as other agents and officials involved in the case, known internally as Crossfire Hurricane.
By Azernews





By Akbar Mammadov

The European Parliament (EP) adopted a joint statement condemning the construction of a new highway between Armenia and Azerbaijans occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, the EP released on its website on June 10.

The joint statement has been made by the EP rapporteurs for Azerbaijan, Zhelena Zavko, for Armenia Traian Basescu and co-chair of the EP Parliamentary Cooperation Committee for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, Maria Kalyurand.

Commenting on the construction of a third highway connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh that will kick off soon, the EP rapporteurs said:

This new road infrastructure will connect Kapan, in Armenia, with Hadrut, in Nagorno- Karabakh, passing through the districts of Qubadli and Jabrayil, which are also occupied. As a matter of principle, we support projects that foster regional cooperation, connectivity and people-to-people contacts in the Eastern Neighbourhood, the statement reads.

That said, the decision to build this highway has been taken without the consent of the competent authorities of Azerbaijan in violation of international law. In addition, it could symbolically entrench the illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and of its surrounding districts.

Therefore, we very much deplore this initiative as it does not help to create conditions conducive to trust, peace and reconciliation. We reiterate our unwavering support to the efforts of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and their 2009 Basic Principles, the rapporteurs stated.

For this mediation to have a chance of success, we call on the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan to step up their commitment, in good faith, to the negotiation on the peaceful resolution of the conflict within the internationally recognised borders of Azerbaijan, the statement concludes.

It should be that it is the first joint document of officials of the European Parliament on illegal activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Groups efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
Investment expands Wipro's Cloud Security portfolio to meet growing demand from enterprises to protect their cloud infrastructure from identities with excessive high-risk permissions

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced a partnership with CloudKnox Security. The Wipro and CloudKnox joint solution offering enables enterprises to proactively protect and manage their Hybrid and Multi-Cloud infrastructure by continuously detecting and remediating over-permissioned identities.

Wipro Ventures, the corporate investment arm of Wipro, invested in CloudKnox through its recently announced $150M Fund II, to strengthen the strategic partnership.

Rapid adoption of Hybrid and Multi-Cloud infrastructure by enterprises is leading to an increase in the attack surface area, and as a result, exposing them to new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. With the proliferation of Hybrid and Multi-Cloud workloads and identities (be it humans, service accounts, bots or resources), the problem of managing authorizations and entitlements related to permissions for identities is becoming more complex and critical.

Wipro will offer an Access Governance for Hybrid Cloud "as-a-service" offering, powered by CloudKnox. The company will leverage its NextGen Cyber Defense Centers to deliver the service. This offering provides continuous protection of critical cloud resources for customers by enforcing least privilege policies. The solution will include:

Visibility and insight into identities, permissions, actions and resources across multi- cloud and hybrid cloud infrastructures

Activity-based authorization for human and non-human identities like service accounts, Application Programming Interface Keys, bots or resources such as compute instance.

The CloudKnox Just Enough Privileges (JEP) Controller to automatically right size excessive identity permissions

Anomaly Detection and Identity Activity Analytics across private and public Cloud infrastructure

Forensic-quality activity data for easy Compliance Reporting and a powerful Query Interface to investigate issues

Sheetal Mehta, Chief Information Security Officer Senior Vice President, Cybersecurity Risk Services, Wipro Limited said, "While adoption of private and public cloud is increasing, existing security solutions are inadequate to manage identities and resources across such a hybrid environment. With this partnership, Wipro has a first-mover advantage offering Identity Governance and secure Cloud Workloads for customers who are migrating and managing Hybrid Cloud infrastructures."

"The current market environment is fueling large-scale adoption of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud infrastructures, creating even greater global demand for the CloudKnox platform," said Raj Mallempati, COO, CloudKnox. "We are delighted to welcome Wipro as a strategic partner to meet this demand and further accelerate our customer expansion, which comes on the heels of Gartner naming CloudKnox a Cool Vendor in IAM and Fraud Protection. The CloudKnox Permissions Management platform perfectly complements Wipro's Access Governance for Hybrid Cloud 'as-a-service' offering by delivering a continuous and adaptive framework for managing cloud permissions that ensures that identities and resources only have the permissions they need to perform their daily tasks."

For more information on the Wipro-CloudKnox partnership, please visit https://cloudknox.io/partners/wipro-microsite/

About Wipro Limited

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 175,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

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Maidugiri: Suspected members of the militant group Boko Haram have killed 69 people in northeastern Nigeria. The attack took place a few weeks ago in the village of Faduma Kolomdi in the ??Borno state in protest of the attack, locals said.

"The militants came on motorcycles and other vehicles and carried out a fierce attack for two hours," said Rabiu Issa, a member of the local defense force.

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Photo"69 bodies have been found but the death toll could rise as many are still missing," he said. The militants set the whole village on fire before fleeing.

Gobi is located about 100 km northwest of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. Most of the people here are involved in animal husbandry and often raise their voices against Boko Haram attacks.
The population of rare Asiatic lions in India has jumped by nearly a third in the past five years to almost 700, an official survey said, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing the increase as an "excellent feat".

Asiatic lions -- slightly smaller than their African cousins and with a fold of skin along their bellies -- are only found in the wild in the Gir sanctuary in western Gujarat, Modi's home state.

"Population of the majestic Asiatic Lion, living in Gujarat's Gir Forest, is up by almost 29 percent," the Indian leader tweeted Wednesday.

"Geographically, distribution area is up by 36 percent. Kudos to the people of Gujarat and all those whose efforts have led to this excellent feat."

The survey of the lion population, which is conducted every five years, was due to be held in early June.

But restrictions imposed by India's ongoing coronavirus lockdown meant the full survey could not be carried out.

Instead, an observation survey was conducted during the full moon last week that involved about 1,400 people, just under half of the usual number of participants, with a smaller group of experts.

"The population of Asiatic Lions has thus shown a steady increase with a population of 674 individuals with an increase rate of 28.8 percent," Gujarat's chief wildlife warden Shyamal Tikadar said in a report.

The Asiatic lion population was estimated to be 523 in 2015 and 411 in 2010.

The big cat was listed as critically endangered in 2000, with its population under threat due to hunting and human encroachment on its habitat.

Priyavrat Ghadvi, who is on Gujarat's wildlife board, said the estimate appeared to be fairly accurate and was encouraging.

"It is a scientific process and the figures are encouraging," Ghadvi told AFP, crediting local efforts for the population increase.

"This shows that the conservation programme has been successful."
HAMILTON  Cancel culture is hitting Hamilton Township.

Outraged customers have called for the boycott of a popular hangout spot for Mercer County Democrats and Republicans after the co-owner of The Stone Terrace by John Henrys made racist posts on Facebook.

Screenshots show co-owner and executive chef Joseph Russo peddled a conspiracy theory saying George Floyd is still alive, called the Black Lives Matter bulls**t, and referred to the coronavirus as a hoax.

One showed a white officer kneeling on a handcuffed suspect with the words, Hey NFL  Heres how to take a knee! mocking Colin Kaepernicks kneeling protest of police brutality during the National Anthem.

Russo criticized evil Floyd protesters, called rioters f***ing animals and suggested black lives do no matter, faulting BLM for alleged silence about the death of David Dorn, a retired black captain for the St. Louis Police.

Their hypocrisy is pathetic, Russo wrote. God rest this mans soul.

Another meme seized on an offensive stereotype showing an overweight black woman holding a bucket of chicken. Looters. Its all about justice, it read.

After social media blew up over Russos insensitive posts, the business quickly went into damage-control mode, scrubbing references to Russo from its website and releasing a statement on Facebook claiming he was only an employee and not co-owner.

Its come to our attention that there have been inappropriate posts made by an employee at The Stone Terrace. We would like to first make clear that Joseph Russo is not the owner of The Stone Terrace and these views do not reflect our views as a whole. We are deeply ashamed of the comments made & apologize for not speaking to this sooner. The Stone Terrace absolutely stands with the black community and is listening, learning and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

Russo and The Stone Terrace have since pulled down their Facebook pages, but several people posted screenshots of Russos posts and the business apology.

John and Catherine Henry released a statement Thursday afternoon referring to Russo as their former executive chef.

We are deeply disturbed and saddened by the highly inappropriate social media comments of our former Executive Chef Joseph Russo that were made recently. Rightfully, the comments were roundly criticized from all corners, the said. We have for 35 years had the great fortune of welcoming all members of our community as guests at the Stone Terrace by John Henrys. We have through those years worked hard to develop a business reputation that at its foundation is respect for all our guests, and we have worked hard to play a positive role in our community.

The comments of Joseph Russo were awful and hurtful and insensitive   and we can reassure you that no aspect of those comments reflect views held by the staff or Catherine and I. We believe our community knows through the manner in which we have conducted business through the last three decades, the values we hold as owners of the Stone Terrace. Were hopeful our community will as well recognize the sincerity of our apology for the pain caused by the comments of Mr. Russo.

Many prominent Mercer County residents, including Trenton councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson, Mayor Reed Gusciora, and Art All Night event director Joe Kuzemka, called for the boycott of the restaurant, which has become a bipartisan hangout spot over the years.

To the owner of The Stone Terrace by John Henrys, since our lives dont matter, neither does our money! Enough is enough, Crystal Feliciano, the aunt of Trenton at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley, wrote in a post that included some of Russos offensive diatribes.

One of them suggested Floyd, who died May 25 after white cop Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, attended his own funeral.

The meme suggested two black men shown side-by-side were one and the same. One of the mens face was obscured by a No Justice, No peace face covering, a chant popularized by protesters who have marched for justice for Floyd and to demand police accountability.

Russo suggested Floyds death was staged to make President Donald Trump look worse amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Could this be true? Im not saying it is. But how much more can they do to Trump? wrote Russo, a Trump supporter, pictured in another post wearing a red Keep America Great hat.

Two autopsies  one from the Hennepin County medical examiner and another from famed forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden  concluded Floyd died by homicide, debunking the wild farce of a rumor.

The Stone Terraces disassociation from Russo, not exactly a silent partner, was sudden, with many calling out the establishment for claiming Russo isnt an owner.

While Russos name doesnt appear on state business incorporation records, he has held himself out for years as the co-owner and executive chef at The Stone Terrace.

The Trentonian found articles, event listings, and fliers referring to him as the co-owner, head chef, and proprietor at The Stone Terrace, including one from April that promoted a Facebook Live cooking show hosted by Russo.

The Stone Terrace described Russo as John Henry Jr.s brother-in-law and partner in the Our Story section of its website and even named one of its ballrooms the Russo Room. References to Russo have since been removed.

The website now reads: After 10 years of extensive catering experience, John Henry Jr. decided to open up shop at a permanent home. With the help of family, he created The Stone Terrace, an expansive catering venue with multiple banquet rooms, lush landscaping, and a central restaurant and bar for local patrons to enjoy regularly.

In addition, The Trentonian called Thursday and left a voicemail on Russos personal extension at The Stone Terrace.

Russo did not respond to phone call seeking comment on the reaction the posts his sparked, at a time when many Americans are protesting to demand justice for Floyd and police accountability.

Chauvin and three other officers involved in Floyds arrest all face criminal charges ranging from murder to aiding and abetting murder.

Darren Freedom Green, a Trenton activist and former mayoral candidate, has been to marquee political events at the township restaurant.

He said it was disingenuous of the business to attempt to minimize Russos role and called for a boycott of the restaurant, which started out in Trenton before migrating to Hamilton, and has been supported by people of color since it opened.

This is what you think of us. Its reprehensible, Green said. He said what he said, and he meant it.

The Stone Terrace has cemented itself as a hotspot for local Democrats and Republicans over the years, as theyve held many fundraisers and events there.

Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin had his election night shindig at the restaurant and ballroom, and his Jan. 1 inauguration ceremony.

Ex-Republican Mayor Kelly gave her state of the township speech there last year as well as her annual mayors ball.

Martin released a statement condemning Russos views.

Im saddened and horrified to see Mr. Russo holds such hateful and abhorrent views. Had I known he held these racist feelings, I would never have attended, supported, or held events at his restaurant, he said. I unequivocally condemn his words and his disregard for human decency. Hamiltons diversity is one of the best parts of our Township. We have residents of all races, religions, ages, creeds, nationalities, and beliefs. We have people who live in urban, suburban and rural communities. Like America, our diversity is our strength.

Clearly, a much larger discussion on race and racism, on diversity, on compassion, and on acceptance is not only needed, but necessary. Today, I am leading the first of those discussions with members of our law enforcement and minority community. I am happy to lead and participate in those discussions locally, but they must also occur across our state and country. Until we come together to ensure hate has no home, we will continue to face the ugliness that is racism.

The Hamilton Township Republican Committee also held a meeting to vote whether to oust chairwoman Lisa Richford at the Hamilton hotspot.

HTRC Chairman Dennis Pone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democratic Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes joined others in speaking out against Russos hate.

The guys lost touch, he said. Its one of the most outrageous things Ive seen during this whole period. I wont be scheduling events there, and I wont be attending events there.

Janice Mironov, chairwoman of the Mercer County Democratic Committee, said Russos views do not represent the values, views or aspirations of our broad, diverse and caring Democratic Party or of our nation.

At a time in our countrys history, when so many people are coming together to underscore the needs for racial justice and social equity, and to make positive fundamental change toward a more inclusive and accepting society, his posted comments are especially stunning and deplorable, she said in a statement. Mercer County Democrats would never, in the past or future, knowingly hold any of our events at an establishment which permits or enables this type of degradation of any group of people.

Raissa Walker, chairwoman of the Trenton Democratic Committee, called Russos thoughts outdated, ignorant and moronic.

Walker said if black lives dont matter to Russo, then black dollars shouldnt matter to him, either.

Gusciora, a longtime Democratic state assemblyman before taking over at Trenton mayor, said hes never held an event there but acknowledged attending repeated Democrats powwows at township joint.

He called on the party to reconsider whether to hold future events at The Stone Terrance in light of Russos remarks.

I think it was highly insensitive for [him] to put that out on social media, Gusciora said. I dont know if they need any more Democratic support.
The vice-chancellor of Oxford University has warned against hiding our history as the row over the controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes intensifies.

On Tuesday, a large demonstration was held outside Oxfords Oriel College as part of a long-running campaign to get rid of the statue of the colonialist.

Speakers said the statue is a symbol of racism and imperialism, and called on the college to remove it from the High Street entrance of the building. Demonstrators also protested against systemic racism and police brutality following the death of George Floyd in the US.

Vice-chancellor Louise Richardson said she did not want to give a binary view on whether to remove the statue, which belongs to Oriel College rather than the university, but said we need to confront our past and learn from it.

My own view on this is that hiding our history is not the route to enlightenment, Prof Richardson told the BBC.

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We need to understand this history and understand the context in which it was made and why it was that people believed then as they did.

This university has been around for 900 years. For 800 of those years the people who ran the university didnt think women were worthy of an education. Should we denounce those people?

Personally, no  I think they were wrong, but they have to be judged by the context of their time.

The #RhodesMustFall movement has come into renewed focus after the removal of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, which was later thrown into the citys harbour before being retrieved by local authorities.

Earlier this week, governors at Oriel College said the institution abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms but that the college continues to debate and discuss the presence of the Rhodes statue.

Prof Richardson said the conversation around the statue was a crucial one that she was delighted to see our students engage in.

This is the kind of issue I think that, you know, universities are designed for, she said. We should be having questions about who should we accept money from, what are our responsibilities with that money, how do we judge people, what lens do we use to evaluate people ethically? Today? In the past?

These are all really important debates and the whole Black Lives Matter debate is a critically important one and Im delighted to see our students engage in it.

But these are complex issues. The kind of issues that colleges are designed for.

Prof Richardson said efforts to diversify the student body at Oxford, which has long faced criticism for a lack of diversity, are continuing as she announced the universitys first college in 30 years and welcomed an 80m donation from the Reuben family, whose name has been given to the new institution.

Part of the funding will go towards a scholarship programme for disadvantaged students.

On diversifying, Prof Richardson said: Weve made progress. Its slow but its steady. The number of BAME students for example has increased from 14.5 per cent to 22.1 per cent in five years. The number of black students, admittedly from a low base, has gone up 100 per cent.

Prof Richardson said the focus of the university was not on statues from the past, but on the experience of students in the present.

I would hate to think that any black student or student of any background would think that Oxford would be an unwelcoming place, she said.

Reuben College, which had been known as Parks College when it was established last year, is due to take in its first students in the autumn of 2021.

The college will focus on climate change, artificial intelligence and cellular life.
A 40-year-old Thai woman has been getting attention on Asian social media for her ingenious strategy of selling second-hand clothes online. Since most of her garments come from dead people, she decided to cosplay as a zombie during online livestreams.

40-year-old Kanittha Thongnak, had been selling second-hand clothes on the streets of Chon Daen, in northern Thailand, for three years when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and while she never made huge profits, she could at least support herself. Things changed drastically once the lockdown came into effect, so like many other vendors, she decided to try her luck online. Selling second-hand clothes, most of which were left behind by the deceased, was always a taboo niche, but the lockdown only made things worse. Kanittha only had a handful of viewers during her livestreaming sessions and hardly made any sales, but luckily she came up with a brilliant idea  to embrace the thing people feared the most about her job by becoming an undead.

The idea to turn herself into a zombie came to the 40-year-old one night when there was no running water for her to freshen up with. She decided to cover her face with white foundation which made her look like a ghost. She just took it from there and managed to achieve a scary look, only instead of chasing away the few people that usually tuned in to watch her livestreams, she gained many more.

In just five days, Kanitthas nightly livestream went from having an audience of a few dozen at any one time to being watched by up to 4,000 people. Her sales skyrocketed as well, and while she wouldnt disclose how much she is making these days, she did admit to doing much better than she ever did selling second-hand clothes.

Thongnak usually starts her livestreams at around 10:00 pm and works until around 3:00 am, and while these hours fit her creepy theme perfectly, they are not exactly considered ideal for online auctions. Still, she has thousands of people staying up just to watch her nightly broadcasts, and her sales have never been better.

When shes not cosplaying as a clothes-selling zombie, Kanittha Thongnak spends most of her time visiting a local temple where the clothes of the dead are spiritually cleansed by priests before being auctioned online, and helping the poor of her neighborhood.

Asked if she has any problems trying out the clothes of the dead for viewers during her online auctions, the 40-year-old said that she doesnt feel uncomfortable at all doing it, because it helps put food on her familys table. As the saying goes, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 17:53:32|Editor: huaxia

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KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's Health Ministry on Thursday reported 31 new COVID-19 infections after three straight days of single-digit new cases, pushing the total number to 8,369.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said at a press briefing that of the new cases, 11 are imported and of the local transmissions, 19 are foreign nationals and one is a Malaysia citizen.

Of the remaining 1,186 active cases, five are being held in intensive care and none of those are in need of assisted breathing.

Another 51 cases have been released, bringing the total number cured and discharged to 7,065 or 84.4 percent of all cases. No new deaths have been reported leaving the total deaths at 118.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri announced Malaysian Muslims will not be allowed to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage this year over concerns on COVID-19. Enditem
- King Lestsie III of Lesotho has been ranked as the ninth biggest landowner in the world

- The 56-year-old monarch first became king when his father was forced into exile in 1990 before he finally became the leader of the country in 1996 when his dad died

- Lestsie III got his first degree in law from the National University of Lesotho after his college education in the UK

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According to Africa Facts Zone, King Lestsie III is the ninth biggest landowner in the world and he is the proud owner of a huge landmass in Lesotho.

It should be noted that in his country, there is no individual ownership of land as sites are given to people to farm on in the bid to ensure a balanced land distribution model.

Aged 56, he became king after his father, Moshoeshoe II, went into exile in 1990.

READ ALSO: EFF gives R6m to Solidarity Fund: Dares Ramaphosa to show receipts

READ ALSO: Maps Maponyane weighs in on ANC anti-racism campaign #BlackFriday

Though the position of his father was briefly restored in 1995, Moshoeshoe II died in a car crash in early 1996 and Letsie again ascended the throne.

Briefly.co.za gathered that he received his education in the United Kingdom at Ampleforth College.

Afterwards, he proceeded to study at the National University of Lesotho where he graduated with a BA in law.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has been ranked the most populated country on the African continent with a whopping population of 206.1 million people.

In a table of six African populous countries according to UN estimates, Ethiopia and Egypt followed in the second and third positions with 114.9 million and 102.3 million people respectively

Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news!

Source: Briefly News
Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinneys bookstore in Plainville, Mass., An Unlikely Story, is a destination for childrens authors on tour, even when they have to make a virtual visit. On June 10, Kinney interviewed Frozen and The Good Place actor Kristen Bell along with creative director Benjamin Hart online, as the duo discussed their newly released picture book, The World Needs More Purple People (Random House), illustrated by Daniel Wiseman.

The premise of the book is that children should strive to embrace positive characteristics that make the world a better place. Purple people in the book, are individuals who have those attributes. Wouldnt it be great, Bell asked the digital audience, if this book was a roadmap for all of the inarguable qualities that every person should have?

PW joined the reading and discussion, which began before the authors even arrived, as attendees took to the chat to share where they were from. Readers logged in from New Hampshire, Florida, New Jersey, Virginia, Michigan, Canada, and as far away as Melbourne, Australia. More than 700 people ultimately joined the event.

Kinney asked questions of his own, but also took questions from audience members. Other viewers could then click to vote on which questions they thought were the best ones to be asked.

An Unlikely Storys marketing and events manager Kym Havens introduced Bell and Hart, who had just found out that The World Needs More Purple People debuted at the top of the New York Times picture book bestseller list. At the same time, Bell took to the running chat on the side of the video screen to say hello to readers and respond to their comments. I cant resist social interaction, she said.

One lesson Hart said he hoped children would take away from the book is to, Hear as many stories as you can and learn as many names as you can, because if you are learning names of people and you are learning stories then you are learning empathy.

Bell said that a main point of the book is that young readers should ask lots of questions. She described a recent bombardment of questions from her five-year-old daughter who asked, in quick succession, Is Santa Claus real? Why is Earth? Who made dogs?

I was like, Lets see if your dads home,  Bell said, laughing.

Bell also spoke pointedly about #BlackLivesMatter, her support for the ongoing protests, and the need to educate white children about anti-racism. She then read from a few passages of the book.

As the reading came to a close, Kinney announced that instead of signing 100 bookplates as promised, Bell and Hart had signed 500. Events manager Havens said hundreds of copies had sold online as the event was winding down.
Filmmaker Spike Lee revealed his thoughts on the controversial stance of 'defunding' the police in a new interview.

The 63-year-old filmmaker spoke to Al Roker on Sirius XM 's Off the Rails show, where he said he thought the term 'defund' is 'tricky.'

The filmmaker, whose new film Da 5 Bloods debuts on Netflix this coming Friday, made it clear that he does not want to get rid of the police at all.

Thoughts: Filmmaker Spike Lee revealed his thoughts on the controversial stance of 'defunding' the police in a new interview

Tricky: The 63-year-old filmmaker spoke to Al Roker on Sirius XM 's Off the Rails show, where he said he thought the term 'defund' is 'tricky'

'We need police! Let the record state, Im telling my brother Al Roker we need police, but we need a police system that is just,' Lee revealed.

'And its so hard with the police unions. I mean they protect their guys, they protect that blue no matter what. And so that has to be dealt withthey have to be careful with the words because already this guy is running with that,' he added.

The BlacKkKlansman director was referring to President Trump, or as Lee calls him, 'Agent Orange, adding, 'hes trying to twist the narrative like they did with Kaepernick and the kneeling  trying to say that was about disrespecting the flag, but that wasnt it at all.'

Need police: 'We need police! Let the record state, Im telling my brother Al Roker we need police, but we need a police system that is just,' Lee revealed

Unions: 'And its so hard with the police unions. I mean they protect their guys, they protect that blue no matter what. And so that has to be dealt withthey have to be careful with the words because already this guy is running with that,' he added

'Weve got to be careful what we say because one or two wrong words, theyll twist that thing around and the narratives change,' he added.

For that reason, Lee said he thinks there needs to be, 'better terminology' than 'defund the police' because that has been, 'equated to disband the police.'

Roker added that, 'we want police, we just want a different kind of police,' as Lee added that he, 'said it better than I could.'

Better terminology: For that reason, Lee said he thinks there needs to be, 'better terminology' than 'defund the police' because that has been, 'equated to disband the police'

Different police: Roker added that, 'we want police, we just want a different kind of police,' as Lee added that he, 'said it better than I could'

Lee added that he thinks, 'we're at a very important point, not just in American history, but world history.'

He said that he added the world because, 'the world is marching too,' pointing to protests in South Korea, Spain, London and other places.

'I think the young people, our white sisters and brothers, they're joining us, and I haven't seen this since I was growing up in the 60s in Brooklyn,' he added.

World history: Lee added that he thinks, 'we're at a very important point, not just in American history, but world history'

Young people: 'I think the young people, our white sisters and brothers, they're joining us, and I haven't seen this since I was growing up in the 60s in Brooklyn,' he added

Lee added he didn't think this is a 'fad' and that the young people are, 'out here in the streets doing business.'

The filmmaker's new project Da 5 Bloods follows four former soldiers who fought together in the Vietnam War, who return to the country to find their squad leader's remains, and the fortune in gold they helped him bury.

The film stars Chadwick Boseman, Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Isaiah Whitlock Jr., Jean Reno and Paul Walter Hauser.

No fad: Lee added he didn't think this is a 'fad' and that the young people are, 'out here in the streets doing business'
Athens, Greece  Greece is believed to possess undersea natural gas reserves worth an estimated $200bn before global energy prices tanked this year. But as economies reopen and demand slowly recovers, the outlook for unlocking Greeces energy riches has grown bleaker, say industry executives and analysts, as Athens lumbering bureaucracy and growing friction with neighbouring Turkey compound already challenging market conditions.

Natural gas prices were already under pressure at the start of the year, thanks to oversupply. Then coronavirus lockdowns, a mild winter and an oil market rout conspired to suppress gas prices even further.

Consumption of natural gas is expected to fall by 4 percent this year, as the sector deals with the unprecedented shock, said the International Energy Agency.

As energy prices have fallen, energy majors have put oil and gas assets up for sale in an effort to cut costs and hoard cash to weather the downturn.

This has helped pull the rug out from under hydrocarbon exploration in frontier territories like Greece, exacerbating the already repellent effect of red tape from Athens that has yet to spell out environmental rules for offshore drilling  an essential first step towards issuing permits.

Frances Total is in advanced talks to transfer its share of exploration block 2 in the Ionian Sea to its local Greek partner, Energean, a senior Greek energy executive, told Al Jazeera.

ExxonMobil has announced it will be focusing investments on Egypt where it recently acquired two offshore exploration blocks. Many in the energy industry interpret the move as a clear demotion of ExxonMobils operation in Greece, where it has acquired two deepwater blocks south and west of Crete.

The concessionaires have a lot of work to do [off Crete], and they havent received permits. Rather than wait, they are moving to places where they wont have delays, said Charles Ellinas, CEO of Cyprus Natural Hydrocarbons Company (CNHC). I think this is why ExxonMobils interest is moving to Egypt. The government makes it very easy to do business there.

Any investor is saying, 'I have a technical risk, I have an economic risk, now I also have a geopolitical risk' Yiannis Bassias, former chief HHRM

Geopolitical risk

In addition to bureaucracy and coronavirus, Greeces natural gas sector faces another hurdle in the form of Turkey, which contests Athens maritime jurisdiction in parts of the Mediterranean Sea.

Tensions between Turkey and Greece appeared to ratchet up in January, after a Turkish seismic exploration ship Oruc Reis encroached upon the edge of the maritime jurisdiction Greece claims. A Greek frigate monitored it for about 24 hours before it left. Greece has threatened to sink any exploration ships sent by Turkey that Athens considers unauthorized.

Last November, Turkey reached an agreement with the Government of National Accord in Libya to divvy up commercial exploitation rights across a corridor of the eastern Mediterranean  much of it within the maritime jurisdiction Greece also claims [File: Yoruk Isik/Reuters]

Last November, Turkey reached an agreement with the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya to divvy up commercial exploitation rights across a corridor of the eastern Mediterranean  much of it within the maritime jurisdiction Greece also claims.

Since then, Turkey has sent soldiers and military equipment to the GNA, helping to turn the tide in the civil war with the self-styled Libyan National Army under renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Though Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, the European Union, Russia, and the United States have all denounced the Turkish-Libyan agreement as illegal, industry figures say it could still be off-putting to potential investors in Greeces claimed slice of the Mediterranean.

ny investor is saying, I have a technical risk, I have an economic risk, now I also have a geopolitical risk,' said Yiannis Bassias, the former head of Hellenic Hydrocarbon Resource Management (HHRM)  the state-owned company that oversees Greeces natural gas concessions. People are saying, Lets see whats going to happen around Crete. Things are freezing up.

An uphill task

Greeces hydrocarbon ambitions have been percolating since 1996, when Athens tried to auction exploration blocks but found no takers. A second auction in 2014 saw only two blocks out of 20 leased.

When Bassias, a hydrocarbon industry veteran, took the helm of HHRM in 2016, he went on the offensive.

We went out to pitch, he said. We asked [prospective buyers] to write us a letter of interest so we could restart the concession tenders without risk. It was a direct expression of interest, which legally obliged [the government] to do an open tender process.

In 2017, Bassias and his team leased four major offshore concessions and three onshore to important global and regional energy players: ExxonMobil, Total, Repsol, Energean and Hellenic Petroleum.

But last December, Bassias was asked to resign two years short of the end of his contract. At the time, he was working to promote promising new exploration blocks in the central Ionian Sea and in the contested waters east of Crete.

Costis Stambolis, executive director of the Institute of Energy for Southeast Europe, a leading energy think-tank, believes the new governments desire to avoid escalating tensions with Turkey was behind Bassias prematurely ended tenure at HHRM.

The current government is not in favour of investments and exploration in oil and gas, Stambolis told Al Jazeera, adding that the governments lack of interest in the sector could negatively affect exploration both on and off Greeces west coast, which are far from Turkey.

But Greek officials insist the government is not pulling back from developing its natural gas potential.

Were interested in using our own hydrocarbon resources to ideally cover part of the countrys needs, Alexandra Sdoukou, general secretary for energy and mineral wealth at the energy ministry told Al Jazeera.

Sdoukou noted that Greece spends at least six billion dollars a year importing all the gas and most of the oil it consumes.

Clearly, were not going to leave things to fate, especially when it comes to [gas] which is going to replace lignite coal  if we found hydrocarbons, that could impact on our energy security, she said.

Gas is vital to the New Democracy governments ambitious decarbonisation programme. Over the next decade, it is set to replace coal in generating the electricity baseload, while the government hopes to leverage investments of 44 billion euros ($48bn) in renewable energy. Gas royalty revenues would bring that goal further within reach.

HHRMs seismic research indicates that Greeces estimated deposits of natural gas alone could reach 70-90 trillion cubic feet (2.55 trillion cubic metres)  as much as Israel, Cyprus and Egypt have discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean combined.

If underwater drilling verifies Greeces deposits and they are developed, Greece would stand to recover up to a third of potential gas revenues in taxes and royalties.

If Greek

, then we will intervene]

Growing fault lines

Greeces foreign policy establishment is clearly concerned. During a public discussion in February, three former foreign ministers dismissed the chances of a bilateral settlement with Turkey over disputed territory in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, and backed arbitration at the International Court in the Hague.

The longer we wait, the worse the situation becomes, a high-ranking Greek diplomat told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. Right now, wounds are not healing, they are being reopened, he said.

But even arbitration requires mutual commitments to abide by the Hagues ruling.

Instead of going to court and wasting 5-10 years when exploratory wells could be being drilled, I am sure the two governments have the courage to sit down and talk for the benefit of their nations, said Roudi Baroudi, CEO of Qatar Energy and Environment Holding, a consultancy.

Baroudi has suggested a maritime delineation on the basis of United Nations law, which he believes Turkey can be persuaded to agree to.

The alternative could be a deepening crisis.

The next steps, as I understand them, are very simple, said the Greek diplomatic source. If Turkey attempts to explore [in water claimed by Greece], then we will intervene  What will happen will depend on whether Turkey insists and we, at that moment, do what we say we will do.
Travel request for panel members turned down by New Delhi as US Congress releases new report on religious freedom.

India has turned down a travel request for members of a US government panel seeking to review its religious freedom, saying foreign agencies had no standing to assess the constitutional rights of citizens.

The visa snub to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Wednesday came as the US Congress released its own religious freedom report while a top Trump administration official said he was very concerned about the South Asian countrys situation.

Indias Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the government firmly repudiated the surveys of the USCIRF, which had little knowledge of the rights of Indian citizens, describing it as biased and prejudiced.

We have also denied visas to USCIRF teams that have sought to visit India in connection with issues related to religious freedom, he told a legislator from Modis governing party in a June 1 letter.

The step was taken because the government saw no grounds for a foreign entity such as the USCIRF to pronounce on the state of Indian citizens constitutionally protected rights, he said, adding that India would not accept any foreign interference or judgement on matters related to its sovereignty.

Reuters news agency said it has reviewed a copy of the letter to Nishikant Dubey, an MP who had raised the issue of the panels report in parliament.

Have confidence to allow visit

USCIRF spokeswoman Danielle Saroyan Ashbahian said its team wanted to travel to India for constructive dialogue with the government.

As a pluralistic, non-sectarian, and democratic state, and a close partner of the United States, India should have the confidence to allow our visit, which would give it the opportunity to convey its views directly to USCIRF in a constructive dialogue, she said in an email.

Since taking power in 2014, Indias Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced criticism for attacks on Muslims and other minorities.

In its report in April, the USCIRF had called for the worlds biggest democracy to be designated a country of particular concern, along with China, Iran, Russia and Syria

The panel had urged sanctions against officials in Modis government after it excluded Muslims from the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed in December last year.

In 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault, the report said.

The USCIRF is a bipartisan US government advisory body that monitors religious freedom abroad and makes non-binding policy recommendations.

New US Congress report

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday released a new 2019 International Religious Freedom Report in Washington, DC. The report, mandated by the US Congress, documents major instances of violations of religious freedom across the world.

Referring to India, the report highlighted the revocation of Indian-administered Kashmirs autonomy by the Modi government in August, the passage of the CAA in December, and attacks by Hindu vigilante groups on Muslims and Dalits (community once referred to as untouchables) over the cow, an animal considered sacred by Hindus.

Mob attacks by violent Hindu groups against minority communities, including Muslims, continued throughout the year amid rumours that victims had traded or killed cows for beef, said the report, adding that charges were often filed by the police against the victims of mob violence.

Hours after the release, Samuel Brownback, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in the Trump administration, said the trend lines [on religious freedom] have been troubling in India, according to a report by the Press Trust of India on Wednesday.

We do remain very concerned about whats taking place in India. Its historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions, Brownback said during a phone call with journalists on Wednesday.

It really needs a lot more effort on this topic in India, and my concern is, too, that if those efforts are not put forward, youre going to see a growth in violence and increased difficulty within the society writ large.
KAWANISHI, Japan, June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd. announced that they have joined WIPO GREEN as a contributing partner. WIPO GREEN is an open platform administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to connect green technology seekers and providers in order to spread and promote innovation in, and the increased use of, environmentally friendly technologies.

WIPO GREEN Partner Logo

WIPO GREEN aims to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by utilizing intellectual property to spread environmentally friendly technologies and promote innovation. By registering and publishing technologies on the WIPO GREEN online database, providers with advanced and environmentally friendly technologies that enable sustainable development will be able to connect with seekers who need such technologies. Since the establishment of WIPO GREEN in November 2013, more than 3,000 green technologies have been registered, and more than 600 connections have been made.

Green Science Alliance focuses on the research and development of cutting-edge technology in the field of energy and environmentally-friendly technology, in order to achieve sustainable society. In April 2020, Green Science Alliance registered their environmental technology patents, such as 100 % nature biomass biodegradable resin, bioplastic and bioethanol (biofuel) from biomass waste, on the WIPO GREEN database, opening them for public use to create a better world. The Alliance will further register more of their environmental and energy friendly technologies.

About WIPO GREEN

WIPO GREEN is a global marketplace for sustainable technology, established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2013. Through its online database and regional activities, WIPO GREEN connects green technology seekers and providers in order to catalyze green innovation and accelerate green tech transfer and diffusion. The WIPO GREEN database is an online catalogue of sustainable solutions and needs across the world. It offers technologies from prototype to marketable products, available for license, collaboration, joint ventures, and sale. It also contains needs defined by companies, institutions, and non-governmental organizations looking for technologies to address specific environmental or climate change problems. Joining the WIPO GREEN database is easy and free of charge.

About Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd.

Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd. was established within Fuji Pigment Co., Ltd. as internal started up company on 2010 in Japan. Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd. focuses on research and development of cutting-edge technologies in the field of energy and environmental green technology.

Research and business can be largely classified as following:

1. 100% nature biomass based biodegradable resin, bioplastic, nano cellulose, biodegradable resin uses waste wood, waste paper, bamboo, plant, starch, food waste as raw material.

2. Rechargeable battery, solar cell, fuel cell etc. for next generation.

3. Biofuel such as bioethanol made from waste biomass such as waste wood, waste plant, waste paper, food waste, etc.

4. Various types of cutting-edge material

Quantum dot, metal organic framework (MOF), oxide nanocollids, metal nanocolloies, silver nanowire, chitin nanofiber, ionic liquid, noble metal alternative catalyst, visible light response photocatalytic material, artificial photosynthesis material, poly silica iron-based water coagulant chemical, etc.

5. CO2 storage and conversion technology, water harvesting from dry desert environment

6. Anti-bacterial, anti-virus materials.

Green Science Alliance will keep challenging to develop cutting-edge good materials and products in the field of energy and environmentally friendly green technology in order to create better world.

Please also refer to following links:

WIPO GREEN: https://www3.wipo.int/wipogreen/en/

WIPO GREEN online database: https://www3.wipo.int/wipogreen-database/

Their environmental technology patents: https://www3.wipo.int/wipogreen-database/searchResultList.htm?query=Green+Science+Alliance&type=all&cat=0&sortby=date&filterby=all&rows=10&showAll=1

Media contact:

Ryohei Mori

[email protected]

81-72-7598501

SOURCE Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd.
The John P. Franklin, Sr. Achievement Scholarship Fund was established in 2011, by the Kappa Foundation of Chattanooga, to honor his extraordinary life and achievements. Mr. John P. Franklin, Sr., was the first African-American elected official and has been a true leader in the Chattanooga community for over 60 years. His legacy has touched and molded the lives of many as an educator, entrepreneur, philanthropist, elected government official, civic and community leader and devoted family man and Christian.

This year the fund awarded three $1,000 scholarships which brings the total of JPF Scholarship awarded to 27.

The John P. Franklin, Sr. Scholarship Fund is administered through the Community Foundation of Chattanooga.

These are the awardees for the 9th Class of JPF Scholars:

Derek Hall  Collegiate High School (University of Kentucky, Major Economics & Jazz Studies)

Jordan Morris  CSAS (UTK  Aerospace Engineering)

Chris Ramsey, Jr.  CSAS (UTK  Industrial Systems Engineering)

Rising male seniors should check with their guidance counselor or visit CFGC.org website in January 2021 to apply for JPF Scholarship next school year.

Individuals who would like to make a tax-deductible donation, please make a check payable to the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, Inc. and in the memo section of the check place JPF Scholarship Fund and remit to the address below:

The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, Inc.

c/o BHSAA Scholarship Fund

1400 Williams Street

Chattanooga, TN 37408

For more information, please contact Chris L. Ramsey, Scholarship Chairman, at chrisramseysr@gmail.com or 619-0732.






In the wake of the police shooting of Philando Castile in 2016, Asian American activists launched an online, crowdsourced effort to confront anti-blackness in their own communities. In a project dubbed Letters for Black Lives, they translated a message addressed to their elders and family members.

I wrote about the deeply moving letter at the time. Now, hundreds of volunteers old and new from around the world have joined in updating the letter: Recently, in Minnesota, a white police officer killed a Black man named George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for almost 9 minutes  ignoring his repeated cries that he was unable to breathe. Two more police officers helped pin Floyd down, while a fourth, Asian officer stood guard and didnt intervene. ... Overwhelmingly, the police havent faced consequences for murdering Black people, even when theres been extensive media coverage. Imagine how many more incidents go unrecorded or unseen.

This week, the project released letters in 26 languages, including Chinese, Hmong, Indonesian, Farsi, Albanian and Turkish. Dozens of additional versions are in the works, as well as efforts to create recordings in different languages. A supplemental guide provides advice on how to handle responses, such as Why are people so angry about this one death, Black people discriminate against us too and If you dont do anything wrong, you wont get in trouble with the police.

At the outset, Mona Weng was disheartened. Its four years later, and were still exactly where we were. The only thing that changed are the names, said the 29-year-old tech professional, who emigrated from China as a toddler. If our original letter had really helped serve its purpose, there would be a lot of more vocal Asians across different generations.

Courtesy of Vanessa Hua

When she posted on social media about the latest examples of police brutality, her father warned her to delete it, reflecting a prevalent attitude in the community: Lets keep our heads down, lets try to be a model minority, lets try to advance our career.

Weng volunteered to translate again in the hopes of deepening those conversations. In this climate, its so critical to have a clear understanding of the why, not just the what.

Likewise, when Grace Deng Benson searched for Chinese-language resources about the protests, many focused on the riots and looting, and not the underlying reasons. Though she wants to help educate her community, she realizes how much she has to learn, too.

It made me reflect on my role in all of this  how I havent paid too much attention, hadnt thought of it as my problem, said Benson, who assisted in the Chinese translation.

Its long overdue, added the 37-year-old Taiwanese American, who says shell talk to her young son about racial injustice.

As a black colleague at Richmond Neighborhood Center told her, Youre viewed as the model minority in this country. And not only do we need your help to stand up when you see something thats not right, but also to speak to your community. Your community will listen to you.

Samir Shrestha worked on the Nepali translations with his father, a former political prisoner and longtime activist who taught him about Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

As difficult as the conversations have been in his community, the 30-year-old says he is making progress with friends who once pushed back against him on these issues. It makes more sense now, his friend told him, for us to see the work youre doing.

Courtesy of Vanessa Hua

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Other grassroots efforts include the Anti-Racism Resources for Asian Americans, an online guide covering topics such as Anti Blackness in the Asian Communities, What We Owe to Black Communities, Vincent Chin and Rodney King/LA Riots and Model Minority Myth and Meritocracy Lies.

Its creator, Emily Chi, said she had felt panicked and frustrated, wondering what she could do beyond going to protests and sharing stories on Instagram. She and her friends noticed the surge in anti-racism resources for white Americans. We were reminded of the binary that exists. How POC (people of color) are guilty of anti-blackness, but we arent white, either, said the 30-year-old, who grew up in the Bay Area and is moving back after graduating from the Harvard Kennedy School.

In a Google doc, she began organizing and collating online links to articles, artwork, documentaries and other resources.

Within days, the guide began circulating as Joan Moon, Jonathan Yuan and Jessica Yi helped manage the document and add links from reader suggestions. Theyre considering whether to host teach-ins, build a formal website  whatever readers need to take action.

Its a start, Chi said.

More Information If you've been writing poetry to make sense of what's happening and would like to share, please send to datebook@sfchronicle.com. It may be published in The Chronicle in a future column. See More Collapse

Vanessa Hua is the author of A River of Stars. Her column appears Fridays in Datebook. Email: datebook@sfchronicle.com
The government in Dhaka hopes plans for the Spectra Solar Project, and the international backing for it, will help showcase the attractiveness of solar investment in the country for private sector money.The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the governments of Germany and Canada are financing a 35 MW solar plant in Bangladesh. The multilateral lender announced details of the investment package for the planned, $17.7 million Spectra Solar Power Project yesterday. The ADB and the Canadian government-financed Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia II cash pot the lender administers will ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Aggrieved youth have blocked a major road in Faskari local government area of Katsina, protesting the activities of bandits in the sta...





Aggrieved youth have blocked a major road in Faskari local government area of Katsina, protesting the activities of bandits in the state.





to beef up security. Wielding placards and chanting anti-government songs, the protesters demanded that adequate measures should be takento beef up security.





Motorists plying the route had to pull over by the roadside as the angry youth lit bonfire in the middle of the road.





The protest comes 24 hours after gunmen killed over 40 residents of Faskari local government area.





More to follow
A bitter row between furious Portuguese police and German prosecutors is threatening to derail the latest attempt to solve the mystery of missing Madeleine McCann.

Investigators with the Portuguese Judiciaria are 'incensed' at the way they are being made to look like they are dragging their feet over the renewed appeal for help.

A week after paedophile Christian Brueckner was identified as the prime suspect there have been no requests to the Portuguese investigative team to gather new information.

Sources said they had not been asked to interview any new witnesses, and instead have faced a barrage of criticism.

A week after paedophile Christian Brueckner, pictured left, was identified as the prime suspect in the hunt for Madeleine McCann, pictured right, there have been no requests to the Portuguese investigative team to gather new information

'Their strategy is all wrong and is not helpful,' a Portuguese police source told MailOnline.

'The German prosecutor has stated as a fact that Madeleine McCann is dead but then in another breath he says they have no idea where the body is and the evidence is circumstantial,' said a police source.

'Why would he say that and why has he not presented any evidence? Cases are solved on evidence and not assumptions.

'We are ready to help, but all we have seen is a talking head and nothing more.'

German prosecutor Hans Wolters further stoked the row with an interview where he appeared to openly criticise the Portuguese police.

He said: 'Working with authorities in south European countries is generally more time-consuming.

Hans Christian Wolters (pictured) said the working relationship with the Portuguese authorities is 'cumbersome' and that they have different ideas of what happened to the toddler who went missing in 2007

'They take a long time for everything and the French or British police are faster. It's more efficient.

'We do stay in contact with the colleagues in Portugal but everything is more cumbersome.'

Portuguese police have insisted that Brueckner's name was passed to British police with Operation Grange, the unit set up to solve the disappearance, in 2012.

They said he was not considered a suspect as at the time his only crimes in Portugal were for theft.

German authorities said it was only after he talked about the missing girl to a friend in bar that he became the focus of their inquiries.

The initial investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine focussed on her parents Gerry and Kate and was widely criticised as being flawed.

The Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared during a family holiday in 2007

The police chief in charge, Goncarlo Amaral, was taken off the case and later sued for libel by the McCanns over a book he wrote about the disappearance.

Portuguese police chief, Goncarlo Amaral, pictured, was taken off the case and later sued for libel by the McCanns over a book he wrote about the disappearance

Amoral had dismissed Brueckner as a suspect back in 2007 and claimed a German paedophile would be made the scapegoat for the girl's disappearance.

The Portuguese side of the investigation is being run from the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Portimao section in Faro while the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig are leading the German side of the hunt for new information.

Met Police officers with Operation Grange make up the third side of the investigation.

Their only comment has been to reveal more than 400 tips have been received since the appeal for information was made last week.

Neither German or British authorities have made a request for their officers to fly out to Portugal.

'If we receive formal notification we will act on it,' said the police source.

The initial investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine focussed on her parents Gerry and Kate, pictured, and was widely criticised as being flawed

Two former British girlfriends of Brueckner, who dated him several years before Madeleine went missing, have already made statements to police.

One, a 43 year old mother of two, has described how he beat her after becoming jealous of her talking to another man and stalked her after they split in 2004.

Brueckner is understood to have been dining with a Portuguese girlfriend called Maria on the night before Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz.

She too has been interviewed and her statement among a file passed to Operation Grange.

Much of the anger directed towards the German authorities stems from their claims that Brueckner could be responsible for other crimes on the Algarve.

An appeal by Hans Wolters for new witnesses, and in particular British tourists who might have taken photos of the suspect during their holidays from 1995 to 2007, has incensed police.

'What does a photo from the year 2000 have to do with the investigation?' said a source.

Portuguese police fully expected to receive an official request for search teams to begin digs near the two homes used by Brueckner  but have had none.

Six years ago, a team from Scotland Yard began digging close to the Ocean Club complex where the McCann family were staying after a tip off her body could be buried on scrub land.

Officers armed with shovels, strimmers and trained sniffer dogs scoured a small patch of land 300 metres from the apartment block where the three-year-old girl was last seen alive in 2007.

The search yielded no new clues and was abandoned after a week.
An NYPD lieutenant who took a knee alongside protesters has issued an apology to his fellow cops and claims he is ashamed to have made the decision.

Lt. Robert Cattani, 34, of the Midtown South Precinct wrote a lengthy email to his colleagues on June 3, the New York Post reports, just three days after he knelt during a Manhattan demonstration.

In the apology, Cattani said 'the cop in me wants to kick my own a**' and that he will be 'shamed and humiliated for the rest of my life' for the decision.

He adds that he has had difficulty sleeping and eating since and that he had destroyed his efforts to be a 'good cop' by 'the decision to give into a crowd of protesters'.

Cattani claimed that he only did so thinking it would prevent any violence at the protest and had since thought about leaving the police department.

Lt. Robert Cattani of the Midtown South Precinct is seen here taking a knee alongside protesters. Three days later he apologized to other cops for doing so

Lt. Robert Cattani, 34, said 'the cop in me wants to kick my own a**' for making the decision to take a knee with protesters in a demonstration in Foley Square, Manhattan, on May 31

Cattani had been pictured among at least four NYPD police officers who took a knee in front of protesters in Foley Square on May 31.

In the lead up, thousands in the crowd had cried out for the gathered cops to do so, chanting 'NYPD, take a knee'.

'We just want to get home safely, same as you,' one protester was heard saying.

Video footage from the moment shared to social media shows the crowd cheering as Cattani was joined by three others in kneeling.

According to Gothamist reporter Jake Offenhartz, Cattani was later heard saying 'Only 4 of us kneeled. Like anything on social media it's either going to make or break us'.

The lieutenant now appears to have completely stepped back from the move and profusely apologized to fellow cops in an email just three days later.

He claims that he felt pressured into kneeling to keep the peace and that he now believes it was the wrong call.

'The conditions prior to the decision to take a knee were very difficult as we were put center stage with the entire crowd chanting,' Cattani wrote.

'I know I made the wrong decision. We didn't know how the protesters would have reacted if we didn't and were attempting to reduce any extra violence.

'I thought maybe that one protester/rioters who saw it would later think twice about fighting or hurting a cop,' he continued.

'I was wrong. At least that [was] what I told myself when we made that bad decision. I know that it was wrong and something I will be shamed and humiliated about for the rest of my life.'

He also said that the impact of the days leading up to this may have had an effect on him and why he chose to kneel.

'I would like to think that being up for almost 40 hours and walking 32 miles in two days might have clouded my judgement, yet still no excuse,' he wrote.

Lt. Cattani, pictured at the protest on May, said he will always feel ashamed for kneeling

Cattani was cheered as he and three of his colleagues took a knee in front of the crowd. He is seen here in the bottom right in the group of officers

'I was here for the peaceful protests. I was there for the fights with the rioters at night. I walked, I fought, I bleed, and I still kept showing up.'

Cattani added that he disagreed with the actions of the former officers in Minneapolis who have been charged with the murder of George Floyd on May 25, the death that sparked the nationwide protests.

Yet, he does not believe he is like them.

'We all know that ahole in Minneapolis was wrong,' Cattani said.

'Yet we don't concede [sic] for other officers' mistakes.

'I do not place blame on anyone other than myself for not standing my ground,' Cattani continued, stating that it 'goes against every principle and value I stand for.'

The cop admitted that he has even thought about leaving the force out of regret for his actions and claims that he spent years trying to be a good police officer.

'I spent the first part of my career thriving to build a reputation of a good cop,' he said. 'I threw that all in the garbage in Sunday.'

In Foley Square, resounding chants of NYPD take a knee. Eventually, four cops kneel to huge chants. We just want to get home safely, same as you, says one protester. pic.twitter.com/6eRC4h9L0Q  Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) June 1, 2020

'I could not imagine the idea of ever coming back to work and putting on the uniform I so wrongly shamed,' he wrote.

'However, I decided that was the easy way out for me and I will continue to come to work every day being there for my personnel.'

He apologized to his precinct in Midtown South, in particular, to whom he said: 'So, from the bottom of my heart and soul I am sorry and SHAMED.

'Since then I have been struggling with the decision I had made, not being able to eat, or sleep. I at one point came to the rash decision to leave the department.

'I let you down. I understand your frustration and anger. I know the cop in me wants to kick my own a**. I want you all to know that I don't expect anyone to accept my apology, nor do I deserve it.

'Please know that just like the first half of my career I will work every day for the rest of it to rebuild he confidence you once had in me.'

DailyMail.com contacted the NYPD for comment on the email but a representative was not available.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra has been shielded by the Chhattisgarh High Court from any coercive action in two cases registered against him in Raipur and Bhilai till the next date of hearing in the case.

HT has a copy of the HCs Thursday order, which said, Considering the contention of petitioner that the petitioner is patient of COVID-19 and has been discharged from hospital and is in quarantine for 14 days, it would be expedient to direct that till the next date of hearing, no coercive steps shall be taken against him in police station of Bhilai

The HC granted four weeks time to the state to file a counter-affidavit in the case.

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National Students Union of India (NSUI) state president Akash Sharma and Youth Congress president Purna Chandra Padhi had lodged a complaint in Bhilai and Raipur against Patra.

In the FIR, Padhi alleged that on May 10, Patra tweeted unsubstantiated allegations against two former prime ministers-- Jawahar Lal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhiboth belonging to the Congress party.

Patra in a tweet had noted that a complaint had been filed against him by some men from the Congress party for calling former prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi, corrupt.

He had further alleged that Indias first prime minister had mismanaged Jammu and Kashmir situation and also accused Rajiv Gandhi of corruption in Bofors gun purchase deal and involvement in 1984 Delhi riots.

Rajiv Gandhi was exonerated of wrongdoing by the Delhi High Court in 2011
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Ciudad de Mexico, 21 ene (EFE).- Para la directora mexicana Maria Sojob ser cineasta ha sido un acto de valentia y de rebeldia que no piensa abandonar mientras sus origenes indigenas delinean sus proyectos y vive una lucha imparable contra el machismo en su comunidad. "A mi me ha pasado que sueno con muchas cosas y digo que las voy a hacer y cuando me dicen que no es posible -porque eso me decian, que nunca iba a estar en la television- yo me empenaba mas en que si sucediera", relata Sojob en entrevista con Efe, y lo ha cumplido. Cuando Sojob era nina, en el arranque de 1994, el movimiento del Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN) hizo historia y puso el nombre del Estado de Chiapas en el dialogo publico mundial. Con apenas 10 anos, Maria vio lo que estaba sucediendo en su lugar de origen desde "el tesoro" de su abuelo, una television muy pequena en blanco y negro que solo transmitia las noticias en espanol y no en su lengua materna, el tsotsil. "Pensaba en cuanta gente de mi comunidad podia entender lo que estaba sucediendo si todo estaba en espanol", recuerda. Los juegos infantiles la dejaron imaginar que ella podia transmitir mensajes desde Chenalho (Ch'enalvo') en su propio idioma y con ella en pantalla. "Eso se fue quedando en mi mente y en mi corazon y cuando tuve la oportunidad de seguir estudiando fue un privilegio", asegura. Sojob tuvo suerte de tener acceso a la educacion y sabe que fue gracias a que sus padres eran maestros de escuelas indigenas. "No es que ellos hubieran estudiado, mi mama apenas termino la primaria y mi papa era campesino, pero hubo un programa de educacion para poblaciones indigenas y los llamaron", cuenta. Maria crecio en las escuelas de lugares reconditos de Chiapas, su destino era ser maestra como sus padres pero su primer acto de rebeldia fue renunciar a dicho llamado familiar para estudiar en la Ciudad de Mexico Ciencias de la Comunicacion. "(La rebeldia) es algo con lo que yo he crecido y tiene que ver con mis antecedentes familiares, vengo de una familia de hombres y mujeres rebeldes, mi propia madre se rebelo y salio de la comunidad porque no queria que la casaran a los 11 anos, de ahi viene esa tenacidad", afirma. Ese fue el primer paso de muchos otros muy duros y dificiles que sus recursos y su condicion de mujer le impusieron, en una sociedad machista. CUMPLIR EL PRIMER SUENO Tras sus estudios, Maria comenzo a dar las noticias en tsotsil como sonaba. Grabo reportajes, entrevistas y, de pronto, se encontro haciendo cine documental. El siguiente paso fue decidir entre quedarse con su esposo y su hija o estudiar cine en Chile. Eligio lo segundo y el costo de su decision es algo que sigue pagando: "La sociedad condena mucho ser madre", piensa. Su cine le ha permitido contar una vision mas pura y propia que la que la educacion y los medios de comunicacion habian mantenido sin voz durante anos. "Hay un proceso constante de colonizacion en todos los ambitos, nos corresponde construir narrativas a partir de nuestro propio pensamiento, miradas y con los esfuerzos del Estado hacer posible una educacion intercultural", anora. Entre su obra se encuentra "Voces de hoy", un documental que retrata el movimiento musical de jovenes tsotsiles en el rock, "Bankilal" (2015) y "Tote (abuelo)" (2019). NUEVA LUCHA Despues de varios anos de no residir del todo en su comunidad, Maria ha regresado y con ello han vuelto los suenos reveladores que caracterizan a los tsotsiles y que ella habia dejado de tener. Entre sus proyectos actuales esta su esfuerzo por llevar producciones cinematograficas a la comunidad en la que vive con el Cine Bolomchom, ademas esta terminando de filmar "Por la vida", cinta en la que retrata a mujeres lencas de Honduras que crean proyectos feministas en sus comunidades. Y ademas, busca financiacion para una nueva pelicula basada en un discurso ceremonial que sono y que la involucrara de forma personal y muy particular en la pelicula. "Hay una sola mujer en la comunidad que discursa, es una senora de mas de 70 anos que no sabe cuantos anos tiene porque no se guia por horarios ni por relojes, y se trata de mi proceso de aprendizaje en el discurso ceremonial", adelanta. Pero la lucha mas cercana con la que vive a diario, es el machismo de su comunidad. "He sentido que la cuestion machista en la comunidad esta mas fuerte, se anulan las voces de las mujeres en las asambleas y cuando me toca hablar no les gusta lo que digo, esto es ir defendiendo y luchando por la palabra", asegura. Maria, como muchas otras directoras, es parte del Compendio de Cineastas Contemporaneas que impulsa el Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia y la Beca de Arte BBVA. (c) Agencia EFE
Harry Enfield appeared on Radio 4's Today programme. (PA)

Harry Enfield has triggered a backlash after saying he thinks there should still be a conversation about the use of blackface in comedy.

The comedian, 59, spoke out during a debate on BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

He said he had darkened his skin to play people several times in the past and, discussing the time he played Nelson Mandela as a dealer, said while he wouldnt do it now, he doesnt regret it.

Nick Robinson later issued an apology after Enfield used a racist term in the interview.

The presenter branded the comments offensive in a social media post he made after the discussion was broadcast, adding that he is really sorry a racial slur was used on air.

The discussion on @bbcr4today about comedy & the portrayal of black people between Harry Enfield & Ava Vidal has provoked a lot of comment. Im really sorry a racial slur was used on air. I pointed out that it was offensive & asked Harry not to repeat it 1/2  Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) June 11, 2020

As I have said in the past - in a totally different context  Normal service from the BBC means you will hear people you disagree with say things you don't like but you should not hear racially offensive language & Im sorry you did. 2/2  Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) June 11, 2020

During the debate, Enfield used a racial slur when quoting the name of a 30s comedy by GH Elliott and Al Jolson.

The issue of blackface has been a hot topic following the death of George Floyd in the US.

In recent days, Little Britain was removed from BBC iPlayer (as well as other streaming sites BritBox and Netflix) following concerns over its use of blackface and stereotyping, and sketch show Bo' Selecta! was removed from All 4 after its star Leigh Francis apologised for playing black characters.

Story continues

Speaking on the Today programme, Enfield said: I have played Nelson Mandela in one thing for laughs and I did it because this thing had come round from the BBC that we couldnt do it anymore.

Read more: Ant and Dec sorry for using blackface on Saturday Night Takeaway

So I thought well who is my hero  Nelson Mandela, who I had the pleasure of meeting once.

The star then considered stereotypes.

Well, at the time there was a lot of things in the papers about drugs and stuff, so I made him a drug dealer or a pusher of alcopops to children and things like that, which I thought was so wrong that it was alright and, you know, I wouldnt do it now but I dont regret it, he said.

Enfield added that he feels there should still be a conversation about it, really.

Little Britain stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas at the 2007 National Television Awards. (PA)

The comedian also pointed out that he has often played white prime ministers, such as Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron.

He said if Tory politician Rishi Sunak were to be elected as prime minister, he would find it difficult that I would not be allowed to play him because of the colour of his skin.

Harry Enfield arrives for the opening night of the musical Lord of the Rings at the Theatre Royal in London in 2007. (AP)

The stars comments triggered a sizeable response on social media, with one person saying on Twitter that it was one of the most offensive conversations they had heard.

Read more: Jimmy Fallon delivers emotional apology following blackface controversy

Oh no, I love Harry Enfield but hes clearly got to be cancelled, said another, while one listener said they could not believe their ears.

However, another Twitter user said it was an illuminating discussion.

People can draw their own conclusions & that's why it is good to hear different points of view, the person posted.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 11:56:14|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, June 11 (Xinhua) -- A protester who attended the weekend Black Lives Matter march in Melbourne, Australia was among eight new COVID-19 cases confirmed for the State of Victoria on Thursday.

Around 10,000 people attended the march in Melbourne, with similar demonstrations taking place in other major cities, sparking serious concern over the risk of a COVID-19 resurgence.

On Thursday, Victoria Health authorities said the protester may have been infectious while at the demonstration, and that they will test all close contacts and put them in a 14-day quarantine.

Victoria Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it was "unlikely" that the man in his 30s contracted the virus at the march, and that he had worn a face mask.

However, he urged anyone who developed symptoms after attending the protest to get tested.

"I hope that anyone who has attended that (protest), and indeed across Victoria, who develop symptoms that are compatible with coronavirus really need to isolate themselves, get tested, get that result back and become well before they get out and about again," Sutton said.

As of Thursday morning, there were 1,699 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Victoria, 57 of which were still active. Enditem
Oslo, June 11 : A Norwegian court on Thursday sentenced a gunman to 21 years in prison for killing his teenage step-sister and opening fire at a mosque last August.

Philip Manshaus, 22, opened fire at the al-Noor Islamic Centre in Baerum, west of the capital Oslo, reports the BBC.

Several shots were fired in the mosque but nobody was seriously hurt.

Manshaus was heavily armed when he stormed into the mosque, but he was overpowered by a 65-year-old retired Pakistani air force officer, Mohammad Rafiq. He pinned Manshaus down and managed to disarm him.

Shortly after the attack, the body of the gunman's 17-year-old stepsister was found at a house in Baerum.

It was treated as an act of far-right racist terror.

Police found evidence that Manshaus was inspired by Brenton Tarrant, accused of deadly attacks on two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch in March 2019, said the BBC report.

Tarrant has pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder in New Zealand.

The 14-year minimum sentence for Manshaus is more than the minimum 10 years in the case of Anders Behring Breivik, the right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011.

Norway increased the minimum sentences for such cases in 2015.




Huh Chang, Economy and Finance Deputy Minister for International Affairs / Courtesy of Ministry of Economy and Finance
Retired Austrian Army Colonel Found Guilty Of Spying For Russia

By RFE/RL June 10, 2020

An Austrian court has sentenced a retired army colonel to three years in prison after convicting him of spying for Russia's military intelligence service (GRU) for more than 25 years.

But the 71-year-old officer, who has not been named and whose trial was held behind closed doors, was released for time served.

A jury in Salzburg on June 9 found the retired colonel guilty of disclosing state secrets. Specifically, the court found the man guilty of operating a secret intelligence operation against Austria, betraying state secrets, and the crime of deliberately revealing military secrets.

The charges carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison but he was sentenced to just three and released for time served since his arrest in November 2018.

According to the indictment, from 1992 to September 2018 the defendant provided military secrets to Russia in exchange for 280,000 euros ($317,000).

Defense lawyers argued he had not revealed any government or military secrets. Instead, they said he only passed on publicly available information. They said the amount he received was 220,000 euros.

"The court took into account the recognition of the facts, the [defendant's] advanced years and the absence of previous convictions as mitigating factors. The court came to the conclusion that the defendant no longer poses a threat," a court spokesman said.

At the time of the man's arrest, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he knew "nothing about the issue."

Austria is one of the few European countries that has maintained close diplomatic contacts with Moscow despite Russia's actions in Ukraine and the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain, which London has blamed on the Kremlin.

Austria's capital, Vienna, home to multiple international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and a branch of the United Nations, is known as a European espionage hub.

The city also used to be a gateway to communist countries during the Cold War because of its proximity to Eastern Europe.

With reporting by dpa, Reuters, Der Standard, and Krone Zeitung

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/retired- austrian-army-colonel-found-guilty-of- spying-for-russia/30662657.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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AN appeal for a planned weekend Black Lives Matter solidarity protest in Tullamore to be called off in light of the Covid-19 crisis has been made.

Cllr Ken Smollen said while all agreed that what happened to George Floyd in the the U.S. was completely wrong it would be totally inappropriate for us [the council] to keep quiet about a protest during the Covid -19 pandemic.

Speaking at this evening's [Thursday] meeting of Tullamore Municipal District Clr Smollen proposed that the the council officially contact the organisers of the protest asking for it to be called off.

We have been in lockdown for months and we don't want to be sent back to where we were, he stressed.

Cllr Tony McCormack said it would be an awful shame to see all the hard work put in by the people of Offaly staying in their homes and social distancing being squandered.

He added that there were ways of protesting other than by organising a demonstration.

Director of Services, Tom Shanahan said he didn't think the council had a role to play as it was a matter for the Gardai.

Cathaoirleach Cllr Danny Owens said he presumed the matter had come to the attention of the Gardai and they would deal with anything untoward.

The demonstration is scheduled to take place this Saturday in O'Connor Square from 2pm to 3pm in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

The event is being organised by local people and residents of the Tullamore Direct Provision centre in collaboration with the Movement for Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) and the Offaly Pro Equality Network (OPEN).

MASI is a non-profit grassroots organisation working and advocating for the right of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

OPEN was set up to ensure that everyone living in Offaly is welcomed and included.

Organisers say the demonstration will adhere strictly to social distancing guidelines and all those who wish to attend are asked to wear face masks and come prepared with hand sanitiser.

More information is available on the social media platforms of MASI and OPEN.
FORMER University of Winnipeg theology Prof. James Christie has been named the inaugural ambassador at large for the Canadian Multifaith Federation.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FORMER University of Winnipeg theology Prof. James Christie has been named the inaugural ambassador at large for the Canadian Multifaith Federation.

Christie, 69, served for 15 years at the university as dean of theology, dean of the Global College, and director of the Ridd Institute for Religion and Global Policy.

In his new volunteer role with the Toronto-based federation, Canadas oldest multifaith organization, Christie will work at establishing a national interfaith network, promote increased interfaith collaboration in Canada, and help faith groups address issues raised by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Christie also wants to "get religion on the radar of the federal and provincial governments."

Too often, governments think religious groups are only about worshipping on weekends, he said. In reality, "they are involved in a wide range of work and ministries geared towards helping their communities."

This includes programs such as food banks, helping homeless people and other essential community services, he said.

For Christie, his new appointment is the culmination of a life spent in ecumenical and interfaith work.

"I feel like my career has prepared me for this opportunity," he said, noting his involvement in ecumenical relations while a minister for 25 years with the United Church of Canada, his doctoral thesis on the implications of Christian and Jewish dialogue, his academic speciality of ecumenism and dialogue theology at the U of W, and being a lead organizer of the 2010 G8 world religious leaders summit in Winnipeg.

Of his new role, Christie is excited for a chance "to build it from the ground up," as he works to strengthen bridges between faith groups in Canada.

The appointment comes at an interesting time during the pandemic.

"The virus has affected everyone, regardless of religion," Christie said. "Its an opportunity for people of diverse faiths to get to know each other and work together."

Faith groups, he believes, can use the pandemic as a way to help people avoid becoming more isolated, nationalistic and tribal.

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"It can give us a new way of seeing the world, that we are all in this together on this fragile planet, that we need each other and the grace of God," he said. "Were all one human community. We need to recognize that and move in that direction."

For Belle Jarniewski, president of the Manitoba Multifaith Council, Christies appointment is welcome news.

"James is wonderfully suited to this new role thanks to his many years of experience and accomplishments in promoting interreligious dialogue and whole world ecumenism locally, domestically, and internationally," she said.

She credits Christie for widening the focus of the Manitoba Multifaith Council from bilateral Christian-Jewish dialogue to multilateral and multifaith dialogue, and for helping to promote the Lieutenant Governors Award for the advancement of interreligious understanding in the province.

In addition to his role as ambassador, Christie is chairman of Project Ploughshares, the peace research institute of the Canadian Council of Churches; a member of the executive committee of the G20 Interfaith Association Advisory Board; and a member of the board of experts of the International Religious Liberties Association.

faith@freepress.mb.ca
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:30:18|Editor: huaxia

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DAR ES SALAAM, June 11 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and five others seriously injured after their mini-bus was knocked head on by a truck in Magu district of Tanzania's northwest region of Mwanza, police said on Thursday.

Muliro Jumanne Muliro, the Mwanza regional police commander, said the accident occurred on Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. at Nyanguge village when the truck knocked on a stationary tractor, veered off and proceeded to knock the mini-bus.

"The tractor had no reflectors or any other sign to indicate its presence along the road," Muliro told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

He said the mini-bus was heading to Busega district from Mwanza city and truck was heading to Mwanza city from Busega district.

Muliro added that five people were injured in the accident and were rushed to the Bugando Referral Hospital for treatment.

Muliro said police were holding the driver of the truck for questioning. Enditem
WASHINGTON - Langston Thomas was in third grade when he first understood the danger of being black in America.

The 9-year-old was playing outside when a white friend threw a rock that struck a neighbor's house in suburban Maryland. But when the neighbor emerged, it was Thomas he angrily chased. And it was Thomas the two white Montgomery County police officers put into handcuffs.

Thirteen years later, the 22-year-old was surrounded by hundreds of people protesting the death of George Floyd as he unfurled a sign in front of the White House. It read: "Justice or Violence: You Choose."

Over the course of three days, Thomas - a new college graduate named after a renowned black poet - would be tear-gassed, shot with a rubber bullet and chased out of Lafayette Square by police on horseback so the president could pose for photos at St. John's Episcopal Church.

"The reason people are protesting now is we want, yes, justice for George Floyd and others who've died," Thomas said. "But we also want to change our entire system: our policing, our culture, how this country views black boys and girls."

As police brutality protests continue across the country, many demonstrators of color say they are motivated by more than Floyd's death on May 25. They are also driven by their own bitter experiences with racist policing.

Behind their face masks and signs lurk stories of humiliation and loss - often at the hands of the very police departments they are now confronting. And some see the protests as a rare opportunity to share their stories.

Emma Mann stood in front of the White House last week holding a sign the 34-year-old had made that morning at her home in Arlington, Va. On it were crammed photos of 19 dead black women.

Some of their names, like Breonna Taylor and Sandra Bland, had been shouted at protests across the country. But in the upper right corner of Mann's poster was a face few would recognize: Gynnya McMillen, Mann's 16-year-old cousin.

McMillen had been arrested in Shelbyville, Ky., in 2016 after a dispute with her mother. The teen was taken to a juvenile detention center, where guards forced her to the ground during a confrontation using a martial arts restraint. She died in her cell, but her body wasn't found for more than 10 hours. An autopsy would attribute the death to a genetic heart condition, but the family believed it was from her rough treatment.

"What happened to her?" asked a man walking past, pointing to McMillen's picture.

When Mann explained, he shook his head and walked away.

For some, the protests brought them face-to-face with the very officers they blamed for their pain.

Jeffrey Price was killed two years ago when his dirt bike collided with a Washington D.C. police vehicle. His relatives alleged officers had chased the 22-year-old and deliberately cut him off, while officers maintained the crash was an accident. The family filed a wrongful-death suit against the city in March.

Last week, Price's relatives were marching with a crowd toward the Capitol when they spotted an officer connected to the case.

"This is your target," a Black Lives Matter activist shouted. "D.C. police killed people here in the city!"

A tense confrontation ended only when the officers biked away.

More often, protesters approached officers they didn't know, but who stood in for those who had wronged them in the past.

As protesters angrily shouted questions at U.S. Park Police officers on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial last week, Bryce Cromartie lobbed a few accusations of his own.

"You lock us up for marijuana," said the 32-year-old African American from Northwest Washington. "You target our communities."

"I cannot speak to specific cases you're talking about," replied Capt. Jeffrey Schneider.

Cromartie explained how two police officers arrested him a dozen years ago for assault. He was later cleared, he said, but the incident soured his view of police.

"Not every police officer is that same police officer you had that experience with," Schneider said. "I'm sorry."

At 22, Langston Thomas is the same age as Price when he was killed. It is also roughly the same age at which his father was sent to prison.

Carl Thomas had often clashed with police as a teenager growing up in Washington, according to Monica Thomas, Langston's mother.

"Being beat up by the police when you're 13 or 14 years old was not good for him," she said.

They met when she moved from Augusta, Ga., to the capital to attend Howard University in the early 1990s. He was smart and charismatic with a love for literature. When their first child was born, they named him after one of their favorite poets: Langston Hughes.

Langston was still a baby when his father was arrested for armed robbery in the summer of 1998. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years, according to court records.

Langston's father sent him letters filled with poetry and seemed happy when his son visited. But court records suggest he was struggling.

His parents married in 2006, shortly after Carl's release, and Langston - clad in white - was a ring bearer. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day the next year, Langston read one of his father's poems at the Lincoln Theatre, along with poems by his namesake. Soon, Monica was pregnant with Langston's little sister.

But his father never fully recovered from his years in prison, nor readjusted to life outside. And one day in the spring of 2008, when Monica was at a doctor's appointment and Langston was outside riding his bike, his father fell from the family's seventh-floor balcony in Montgomery Village.

"Somehow, as I was going up the elevator from the front, he was falling from the back," Thomas recalled, saying that he believed his father took his own life but that an investigation was inconclusive. "I just remember being by myself for 5, 10, 15 minutes. Then I heard some sirens in the distance."

It was around the same time that Thomas was handcuffed by the two white Montgomery County police officers and accused of throwing a rock he hadn't thrown.

"They said, 'We can tell you're lying by how your eyes are moving,' " he recalled.

The officers put him in the back of their squad car and drove him home, where they asked the 9-year-old to open his apartment door.

Monica was startled to see her straight-A student walk in with two police officers. The officers said they were entitled to handcuff her son, she recalled, adding that she filed a complaint but it went nowhere.

After his father's death, Langston moved with his mother and baby sister to Rockville, where he experienced another kind of prejudice. He took middle school math classes two years ahead of schedule. But when he asked teachers for help, they treated him as if he were undeserving, he recalled.

He channeled his frustration into his studies, becoming a class president at Thomas Wootton High School. He was nominated for a prestigious Posse scholarship, impressing his interviewer with a rendition of "I, Too" - one of the Hughes poem he had performed for his father.

The scholarship came with a full ride to Grinnell, a liberal arts college in rural Iowa. It was there that he came to see his father's struggles and his own struggles in the context of systemic racism in the United States, he said.

By the time protesters descended on Minneapolis last month, Thomas was already back in Maryland - his graduation ceremony and plans to start Peace Corps in the fall both upended by the pandemic.

On May 30, he drove his weathered white Pontiac to the capital and joined a thousand demonstrators in Lafayette Square. When Park Police began launching cans of chemical gas, Thomas suddenly found he couldn't see or breathe. Two white women he didn't know poured milk in his eyes.

He returned the next day, staying even after the rubber bullet left a gash in his chest, and then again on June 1, when federal forces cleared the square so the president could visit St. Episcopal John's Church.

When another protester began throwing water bottles, Thomas tried to intervene.

"Are you going to stop me?" the man replied angrily.

That night he dreamed about the protest. But it wasn't the pepper balls or batons that bothered him. It was the confrontation with his fellow demonstrator.

In the dream, the two young men black men were fighting each other when a police officer came up and killed them.

The nightmare was still on his mind three days later, as Thomas headed to another rally.

"What life experiences put somebody in that mind-set where they have that much anger?" he said as he walked through Dupont, where mostly white diners drank wine on restaurant patios. "Who am I to tell this dude not to throw water bottles at the police?"

At Lafayette Square, the crowd of a few hundred was quiet until a young black woman began screaming, "No Justice, No Peace," sweat blurring the message she had inked on her face mask.

Hilda Jordan was a year out of Harvard University, where she had begun protesting after Cambridge police officers beat an intoxicated black student. Like Thomas, she had had her own brush with police harassment, getting pulled over once, only to be let go after the officers learned where she went to school.

And like Thomas, she felt the protests were about far more than George Floyd. As thunderclouds gathered overhead, she asked Thomas and another young black man to help get everyone to take a knee.

They knelt in the intersection, where traffic lights endlessly blinked red.

"Do your knees hurt?" Jordan asked after a few minutes. "That officer was on George Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds."

After almost nine minutes, the crowd quit kneeling. But Jordan kept talking.

"George Floyd was not the first black man to be killed by police," she said, as Thomas nodded. "And he won't be the last black man to be killed by police."

Jordan urged the crowd to vote Trump out of the White House in November. But Thomas wasn't sure Joe Biden would do anything to break the system that arrests black boys for doing nothing wrong, that imprisons black men until they lose hope.

Of the two Hughes poems he had performed for his father, one ended with the uplifting line: "I, too, am America."

But it was the other one Thomas had helped his mother recite before heading to the protest.

"What happens to a dream deferred?" his mother had begun. "Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun? / Or fester like a sore - / And then run? / Does it stink like rotten meat? / Or crust and sugar over - / like a syrupy sweet?"

Monica Thomas had paused, searching for the final words.

"Maybe it just sags / like a heavy load," Langston had said. "Or does it explode?"

- - -

The Washington Post's Paul Schwartzman, Rachel Weiner and Hannah Natanson contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 16:08:19|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Beijing People's Art Theater is set to air a selection of excerpts from 16 classic dramas Friday to mark its 68th anniversary.

A total of 30 performers will take audiences on a journey of stage arts, presenting the theater's best repertoire such as "Thunderstorm," "Rickshaw Man Xiangzi" and "The Sunrise" as well as western works such as "Hamlet" and "Amadeus."

The show will broadcast at 7:30 p.m. on multiple online platforms including Damai and Youku.

A 15-episode biopic of famed drama actor and director Lan Tianye, filmed by the theater, will be aired on BTV's culture and art channel starting Friday. Enditem
After Travis McCready broke the ice last month with a show in Arkansas, it looks like socially-distanced shows will be part of the concert lexicon for the immediate future.

Quiet Riot wants fans to feel the noise this 4th of July, with the band revealing plans to play a show in Arkansas as well. It will take place at the Magic Springs Theme and Water Park in Hot Springs.

The bands drummer, Frankie Banali, revealed more in an interview with Eddie Trunk on his SiriusXM Trunk Nation show.

I am told officially through e-mails that the city has approved the date and theyve approved it for as much as a three-thousand capacity. So it should be interesting, Banali said per Blabbermouth. Im still waiting to see whats gonna happen, because you dont know if two weeks out, or a week out before the show, all of a sudden, that part of Arkansas gets shut down, locked down, the show is canceled or postponed to another date.

As he continues to deal with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, Banali added his concerns about the risks of playing a show during a pandemic.

I have to be very, very careful, because Im in the age group, and because of serious underlying conditions, Im at the top of the list that if I did get coronavirus, I probably would not survive it.

Molly Hatchet and Blackfoot are scheduled to perform as the rockets red glare in the Arkansas night.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest guitarists of all time, click here.
Recent studies have revealed that having a certain blood type, specifically O, may offer protective benefits against the novel coronavirus - but millions of Americans are unsure of what type they have.

There are four major blood groups: A, B, O, and AB. Just like your hair color or eye color, your blood type is inherited from your parents.

They are each discerned by sugars known as antigens, which cause your immune system to produce antibodies.

In each group, there is a protein called the Rh factor, which is either positive or negative, resulting in eight blood types.

O+ and A+ are the most common types, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all Americans, according to Stanford Blood Center.

The rarest blood type is AB, with only 0.6 percent of the US population carrying this type,

One way to find out your blood type - and for free - is by giving at donation centers across the country.

But there are also at-home kits that cost as little as $8.95 and private clinics that will do it for a one-time fee of around $36.

DailyMail.com has broken down some of the easiest options in the US for finding out your blood type.

Americans can donate their blood at a clinic if they want to determine their blood type for free (file image)

DONATE BLOOD - FREE

The cheapest way to find out your blood type is by donating, which is free.

There are a number of clinics that specialized in donations including the American Red Cross, One Blood, New York Blood Center and America's Blood Centers.

You can also donate to community blood supplies, which are typically held at hospital or health clinics.

HOW COMMON IS EACH BLOOD TYPE? There are eight main blood types and O+ and A+ are the most common, accounting for around 73 percent of all people in the US. This is how common each blood type is in America O positive: 37.4%

O negative: 6.6%

A positive: 35.7%

A negative: 6.3%

B positive: 8.5%

B negative: 1.5%

AB positive: 3.4%

AB negative: 0.6% Source: Stanford Blood Center Advertisement

A trained phlebotomist draws around 470 ml of whole blood from a vein in your arm, a process which takes about eight to 10 minutes.

Donated blood is used for transfusions during surgery, those who've lost blood due to major traumatic events such as a car crash or those with illnesses such as neuroblastoma.

The American Red Cross states that there are very specific ways in which blood must be donated to ensure safety.

If someone with type A blood is given type B blood, for example, their antigens will attack the new blood cells and cause an incompatibility reaction resulting in fever, chills, muscle aches and nausea.

People with Type AB blood carry both the A antigen and B antigen, meaning they can only give to other AB types, but are universal recipients.

Those with A and B blood types only carry one antigen, meaning they can only give to people with a similar blood type.

But O-blood, specifically O-negative, are the universal donors because they lack A and B antigens.

Typically you won't know your blood type right away and may have to wait a couple of weeks for results.

There are very specific ways in which blood must be donated to ensure it is safe

AT- HOME TESTING KIT FROM AMAZON - $8.95

For those who don't feel comfortable having blood drawn from their vein, or who don't want to donate, there are several kits you can purchase online.

One of the most popular testing Eldon Blood Typing Kit, available for purchase on Amazon at $8.95.

After cleaning with the finger with an alcohol prep pad, users prick their finger with a sterile disposable lancet and place a drop of blood on each of the four supplied sticks.

The swabs are then rubbed onto four separate areas of the car than contain reagents, which will change color.

Areas where the blood clumps together or spreads out can then be matched to a guide included with kit.

Some do-it-yourself testing kits have vials of fluid that you can mix drops of blood in rather than rubbing it on a card.

At-home blood type testing kits are available to purchase online from sites such as Amazon including the Eldon test (pictured) for $8.95

PRIVATE CLINIC - $36.11

Private clinics can also reveal what blood type you have for a one-time fee, but are more expensive that at-home kits.

However, they are more likely to be accurate because trained medical professional are drawing and analyzing the blood.

One clinic, Lemonaid, is a telemedicine business that has patients chat online with doctors to get prescriptions or receive test kits.

Users pay Lemonaid's doctor fee of $25 and blood type test lab fee of $11.11.

The site directs users to go a Quest Diagnostics lab to have the blood drawn, results of which will be sent to Lemonaid.

The clinic saids it will send a confidential message to users when results are available, typically within three to five days.
Reading, PA (19601)

Today

Partly cloudy and very cold. Near or below zero wind chills again late at night towards sunrise. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy and very cold. Near or below zero wind chills again late at night towards sunrise.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:52:55|Editor: huaxia

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ADEN, Yemen, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Suspected militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch opened fire and killed a senior security official in the southern province of Abyan on Thursday, a government official said.

The local source said on condition of anonymity that "two gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire from assault rifles and killed a security official named Nasr Salhi in Abyan's district of Mudiyah."

He said that the gunmen rained Salhi's vehicle with a barrage of bullets, leaving him dead in Mudiyah, located in the southeastern part of Abyan.

"Salhi was working as a commander of the newly-recruited security forces in Mudiyah district before his assassination," the source said.

He indicated that the gunmen were believed to be belonging to the al-Qaida group, and that they had managed to escape after the incident.

A statement of the newly-recruited southern security forces loyal to the Southern Transitional Council (STC) confirmed that Salhi was killed in an ambush set up by al-Qaida militants.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) network, which mostly operates in eastern and southern provinces, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks against security forces in the country. Enditem
No-knock search warrants have been banned in Louisville following a unanimous vote of the Metro Council on Thursday night.

The ordinance has been called Breonna's Law, named after 26-year-old EMT, Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman who was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police inside her home in the early hours of March 13.

Police had been attempting to serve a search warrant with a no-knock clause at her South End apartment as part of a drugs probe when the fatal incident occurred.

Officers entered the apartment and were fired upon by Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who believed a robbery was in progress. Police returned fire, striking Taylor eight times, who had been sleeping in bed moments before.

Following the council's vote Thursday, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer vowed to sign Breonna's law 'as soon as 'it hits his desk'.

'I suspended use of these warrants indefinitely last month, and wholeheartedly agree with (the) council that the risk to residents and officers with this kind of search outweigh any benefit,' Fischer wrote on Twitter.

Breonna Taylor, 26, pictured, died in the early hours of March 13 after cops raided her home in Louisville. An incident report on her death released this week by Louisville police, three months after the shooting, is virtually blank and provides inaccuracies and inconsistencies

Before the vote was held, Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, told the council that all her daughter 'wanted to do was save lives'.

'So it's important this law passes,' Palmer continued, 'because with that, she'll get to continue to do that, even in her death.'

Councilwoman Jessica Green called the legislation the most important she's ever worked on.

'We are committed to making sure that she lives on forever,' Green said, according to the Courier Journal.

In addition to no-knock orders being banned, the ordinance also requires that any officer serving a search warrant must wear a body camera.

Officers must activate the cameras at least five minutes before the warrant is actioned and they must not turn it off until at least five minutes after it has concluded.

Metro Council President David James presented Palmer with a plaque after the vote, declaring Thursday as 'Breonna's Law Day', to ensure her 'name will never be forgotten.'

The landslide vote comes just 24 hours after Louisville Police released a virtually black and inaccurate incident report from the fatal shooting of Taylor, nearly three months after her death.

The Louisville Metro Council voted unanimously to pass Breonna's Law, with Councilwoman Jessica Green (pictured third from left, front row) calling the legislation the most important she's ever worked on

The document offers few details of the March 13 incident that spurred days of protests in the city, while some of the information included is incorrect or differs from other police reports.

Among the inaccuracies is the claim that the 26-year-old had no injuries after she was shot eight times by narcotics detectives who entered her apartment with a no-knock warrant while she slept.

The report also states that the officers did not force their way into her home. However, crime scene photos showed police used a battering ram to break into her home.

Before the vote was held, Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, told the council that all her daughter 'wanted to do was save lives'

The incident report was filed on the night of the shooting but was only released today - three months after her death - as her family push for further transparency about the events that led to her death.

The report has sparked further outrage among protesters and increased the calls for the officers involved to be charged with her death.

Mayor Fischer called the released report 'unacceptable'.

'It's issues like this that erode public confidence in LMPD's ability to do its job, and that's why I've ordered an external top-to-bottom review of the department,' he said in an statement.

'I am sorry for the additional pain to the Taylor family and our community.'

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, shared the report on social media and said 'I'm appalled by LMPD's nearly BLANK incident report from the investigation of Breonna Taylor.

'It lists "NONE" under Breonna's injuries... She was SHOT 8 TIMES!! It took 3 months to produce and release this report publicly  and THIS is what we get?!' he added.

The report dated March 13, the day of the shooting, cites a police-involved death investigation and identifies Taylor as the victim.

Despite being four-pages long, it provides little information on the incident.

Louisville police released an incident report of the death of Breonna Taylor on Wednesday, three months after her fatal shooting. It stated Taylor had no injuries despite being shot by police eight times in one of several inaccuracies in the otherwise blank report

The three officers involved in the shooting were named in the police report - Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove. In the notes section, it said 'PIU investigation

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, said he was 'appalled'

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer called the released report 'unacceptable'

The three officers in the case - from left, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detectives Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove - have not been charged in the shooting and have been placed on administrative leave

It redacts Taylor's street number, apartment number and date of birth  all of which have been widely reported.

Hours after the shooting, Louisville Police gave more details about the incident during a media briefing.

Officials said the officers knocked, announced themselves and then forced their way into Taylor's apartment, where they were met with gunfire.

Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired once and struck an officer identified as Jonathan Mattingly.

Walker said he had fired as he believed the house was being broken into and called 911 when he heard the detectives enter, not knowing who they were.

Yet there is no mention of Walker in the incident report on Taylor's death released this week.

The report also has a box to check for forced entry, which was checked 'No', in contrast with the media briefing hours after Taylor's death that said an announcement was made and then forced entry was used.

It also said 'none' in a space for the victim's injuries despite Taylor being hit by eight gunshots.

In the notes/narrative section, the report simply said 'PIU investigation,' which is the department's Public Integrity Unit, and details no further information on the shooting death or Walker's arrest for shooting an officer.

Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker, pictured, who has a license to carry, fired his gun during the raid thinking they were being robbed. He hit an officer and the cops fired back killing Taylor. There was no mention of Walker in the incident report released this week

Taylor - who had no criminal record and worked for two local hospitals - was killed after police fired at least 20 rounds into the home, according to a lawsuit filed by her family. Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump said he is 'appalled' at the incident report on Taylor's death

The police department acknowledged there were errors in the report in speaking to the Courier-Journal but claimed that they were due to the reporting program creating a paper file.

'Inaccuracies in the report are unacceptable to us, and we are taking immediate steps to correct the report and to ensure the accuracy of incident reports going forward,' the statement said.

The three officers involved in the shooting and named in the police report - Mattingly, 47, Brett Hankison, 44, and Myles Cosgrove, 42 - have been placed on administrative reassignment while the shooting is investigated.

This week the detective who requested the warrant, Joshua Jaynes, also was reassigned.

Despite calls to do so, Mayor Fischer has stated that the city does not have the capacity to fire the officers until the investigation into Taylor's death is complete, due to a contract with the Fraternal Order of Police.

Taylor's family have since launched a lawsuit for wrongful death.

Police say the search was part of a drugs investigation, but the suit says none were found at the home.

Taylor's lawyers add that the main suspect, Jamarcus Glover, was already in custody at the time of the raid.

Taylor and Walker had been sleeping in bed when police raided their home and they thought they were being burglarized, the suit says.

It claims that Mattingly, Hankison and Myles Cosgrove entered their apartment shortly before 1am, without announcing themselves.

Walker, who has a license to carry, fired his gun thinking they were being robbed, his attorneys say.

Taylor - who had no criminal record and worked for two local hospitals - was killed after police fired at least 20 rounds into the home, according to the lawsuit.

Det. Joshua Jaynes, the officer who applied for the 'no-knock' search warrant that led to Breonna Taylor's death, has been placed on administrative reassignment, Louisville police announced Wednesday. The mayor says no officer can be fired until the investigation is over

Police say no bodycam footage is available but the family's attorney claimed in a new filing Wednesday that some of the officers involved were previously assigned cameras.

'We've got body camera footage from Brett Hankison in other situations and then we got a citation that shows that Myles Cosgrove just two months before this while serving a search warrant for the Criminal Interdiction Unit was wearing a body camera,' attorney Sam Aguiar said.

The calls for the dismissal of the officers and for them to be charged with Taylor's death grew louder from May 28 after the 911 call made by Walker when the police entered was released.

Walker was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but that charge was dropped by prosecutors in May. The officer was shot in the thigh and has since recovered.

Local media outlet, the Courier-Journal, is also suing the police department, seeking the immediate release of the file on the investigation into Taylor's shooting.

Police have said it can't be released as the investigation is ongoing.

The FBI has opened is own investigation into Taylor's death.
According to Patrick Kenyette on AfricanMilitaryBlog, it appears that the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) has received a large shipment of various military equipment. The hardware was shipped through Walvis Bay and will be delivered via Namibia. The equipment was reportedly ordered from France in 2016 and there is no indication that these deliveries are recent since to date, there is no publicly known information regarding the export.

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One of Botswanas obtained MBDA Mistral ALBI short-range anti-aircraft missile systems based on a Panhard VBL (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)

Photographs and videos which were published online show several shrink-wrapped Mowag Piranha IIIC armored personnel carriers being transported on low-bed trucks. Also, a Panhard VBL fitted with a missile launcher assembly most likely for the Mistral anti-aircraft system can be seen. Others include a Unimog U5000-mounted Mistral command post, a VL MICA anti-aircraft missile transporter-erector-launcher truck, and a VL MICA truck-mounted radar or command post vehicle. Botswana has become the next recipient of the VL MICA ground-based air defense system, which to date, according to well-known data, has already been delivered to the UAE, Oman, the National Guard of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and has recently been commissioned by Morocco.

According to an independent source, Patrick Kenyette continues, Botswana first ordered 50 MBDA MICA missiles for its air defense in 2016, for approximately 304.2 million. The source also disclosed that Botswana ordered an additional 45 General Dynamics European Land Systems - Mowag Piranha IIICs, which have been delivered in small batches over the past few years. Bostwana had already received 45 units of PIranha IIIC in 2003-2004.

According to the French Ministry of Defense 2017 report to Parliament on arms exports, published in July that year, most of the money was believed to be from a contract with MBDA for MICA-VL and Mistral missiles. It had been reported that Botswana was interested in these missiles for a time and Botswana Defence Force (BDF) commander Lt.Gen. Galebotswe accompanied by Lt.Co.l Mokgadi and Lt.Col. Motlaleng were in France in December 2015 for a demonstration of the missile systems.

As Defence Web reported on August 3, 2017, the Mistral/MICA agreement was not the first defense deal between Botswana and France, as the BDF is a user of ACMAT (Ateliers de Construction Mecanique de LAtlantique) 4x4 and 6x6 vehicles. However, last years contracts dwarf orders in previous years of 12 million in 2014 and just 0.1 million in 2015. According to the report, France delivered 14 missile launchers to Botswana in 2016. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institutes Arms Transfer Database notes that Botswana bought 100 Strela-3/SA-14 surface-to-air missiles from Ukraine in 2012.

Botswana is an important market for France. Paris granted 15 defense export licenses in 2016, as compared to five the year before. The law enforcement sector is also an important market  Airbus Helicopters sold three AS350 B3e (now known as the H125) Ecureuil helicopters to the Police Air Support Branch in January 2015, which joined three already acquired in 2007.

Meanwhile, in July 2017, it emerged that Botswana had purchased 500 second-hand Land Rover 110 Defenders for P161 million (12.5 million pounds) from UK-based Witham Specialist Vehicles. Land Rover Jaguar ended the production of the Defender range and its spare parts in 2015. The BDF and the Botswana Police Services Special Support Group (SSG) still have large fleets of the Defender 110 which are used for troop transportation and operational support roles.



One of Botswana's radar systems and battery fire control centers MBDA MCP on a Unimog U5000 (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)



One of Botswanas launchers of medium-range anti-aircraft missile system MBDA VL MICA on Rheinmetall MAN chassis (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)



One of Botswanas received MBDA IMCP battery fire control units on Rheinmetall MAN chassis (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)



Shrink-wrapped GDELS Mowag Piranha IIIC APCs or IFVs delivered to Botswana (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)
A mother has sent a stark plea to parents, warning them not to put face masks on babies and young children.

Vanessa Madrid, from California, took to Facebook to share pictures of babies with masks she had come across online, and explained that their smaller airways put them at 'risk of suffocation' if their breathing is constricted.

The mother-of-two also warned that wearing one may result in them touching their faces more, causing an increased spread in germs.

Vanessa Madrid, from California, took to Facebook to share pictures of babies with masks she had come across online, and explained that their smaller airways put them at 'risk of suffocation' if their breathing is constricted

The mother-of-two also warned that wearing one may result in them touching their faces more, causing an increased spread in germs

Sharing her post to Facebook, she wrote: 'Please do not and I repeat do not put a mask on your child or baby.

'A babys airways are smaller, so breathing through a mask is even harder on them.

'Using a mask on an infant may increase the risk of suffocation. Masks are harder to breathe through. A snug fit will give them less access to air, and a loose fit will not provide much protection.'

She added: 'If they are having are hard time breathing, infants are unable to take the mask off themselves and could suffocate.

'Older infants or young toddlers are not likely to keep the mask on and will likely try to remove it, as well as touch their face more, which passes germs from hands to face'.

Sharing her post to Facebook, she wrote: 'Please do not and I repeat do not put a mask on your child or baby'

Mother-of-two Vanessa, seen, shared the warning with other parents across the globe

Her post, which included a picture of a mask attached to a dummy, quickly went viral, racking up 80,000 shares and comments.

One follower wrote: 'Omg would never do this! Feel like its so obvious. People can be so stupid'(sic).

Another added: 'Oh my god who would even think of doing this'.

At what age are children allowed to wear masks? Last month British ministers said that face coverings should not be used by children aged under two or those with respiratory conditions. People who may find it difficult to manage the masks correctly such as primary age children unassisted are also advised not to wear them. Advertisement

Elsewhere one said: 'How can you possibly think this is safe I worry for people that lack this much common sense and responsible for babies/children'.

Last month Japanese experts warned children under the age of two should not wear face masks as they make it difficult for them to breathe and increase their risk of heat stroke.

The Japan Paediatric Association has advised parents not to place masks on infants under two - despite Japan's coronavirus guidelines urging every individual to wear a mask.

In a leaflet issued to the Japanese public the medical body warned that infants could experience an increased burden on their lungs due to the covering of their mouths, reports CNN.

They added that the masks also obstruct the child's face, making it more difficult for parents to notice changes in expression or the colour to the face which could indicate breathing issues.

The leaflet reads: 'It is possible that masks make it difficult for infants to breathe and increase the risks of heat stroke'.

Due to their narrower air passages the mask poses a risk of suffocation, especially if a young child vomits behind a mask, states the advice.

As children have a relatively low risk of contracting coronavirus the Japanese board found that they had no logical reason to face the risks posed by wearing the mask itself.

Her post, which included a picture of a mask attached to a dummy, quickly went viral, racking up 80,000 shares and comments
Living on the West Shore as a young black woman is worse in some ways than being a person of color living in the city of Harrisburg, said 21-year-old Avalon Azalea.

I couldnt walk to school without being stopped and asked what Im doing, Azalea said. I would get pulled over for no reason, no fines, no charges, just I look suspicious. And Im tired of my skin color being suspicious.

Azalea has attended every rally held at the state Capitol steps since the death of George Floyd, who died while being restrained by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25. She and about 100 young people took part in a Black Lives Matter youth rally held there again Thursday.

Rally organizer Kevin Maxson said hes mostly concerned about the societal norms these youths are going to inherit. He said he wants youths of color to know that its all right to speak up and speak out against injustice.

But, thats not where it ends, he said. He said he wants youths to find their voices, to demand respect and peace.

The protesters marched from the Capitol steps down State Street to North Front Street to Walnut Street, which brought them to the Harrisburg Police Department.

All protesters then took a knee.

Its of urgency that we unite as a people, no matter your ethnicity, no matter your geographical location, no matter who you are or what you believe, your religious preference, or your sexual preference, its time, we as a community, stand in solidarity as one, Maxson said. Its time we start treating each other with the respect we so deserve.

There were several speakers, some of whom emphasized that not all police officers are bad. They encouraged attendees to get involved in their communities to make them better by being the change in systemic racism.

Im thinking of getting involved in politics, Azalea said. We arent anarchists. We arent throwing bricks. We just want justice. People should join us in that fight.

A second march was scheduled to follow the first, but it did not take place.

More

Harrisburg police seek help identifying four accused of violence, property damage during George Floyd protest

1 police officer charged in George Floyds death posts bail, leaves jail
Protesters rally towards the White House during a protest over the death of George Floyd in Washington DC, the United States, on May 30, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING -- The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Thursday issued an article titled "The COVID-19 Pandemic Magnifies the Crisis of 'US-Style Human Rights'."

The US government's self-interested, short-sighted, inefficient, and irresponsible response to the pandemic has caused the tragedy in which about 2 m

illion Americans became infected with the virus and more than 110,000 have died from it, the article said.

It has exposed the long-existing and now deteriorating problems in the United States, such as a divisive society, the polarization between the rich and the poor, racial discrimination, and the inadequate protection of the rights and interests of vulnerable groups, according to the article.

"This has led the American people into grave human rights disasters," it read.

The article pointed out that the US government has ignored the pandemic warnings, prioritized capital interests and politicized the anti-pandemic endeavor in its COVID-19 response.

When the virus broke out in the United States, some US politicians used it as a weapon to attack political opponents, viewed it as an opportunity to seize power and partisan interests, and prioritized the response of the capital market, instead of regarding the drive to protect the lives and health of their people as their top priority, it said.

"Due to this, the US government failed to give effective warnings to the public and failed to get prepared for the potential consumption of medical resources caused by the pandemic, bringing the American people to the brink of infection and death," it noted.

The article added that inequality within US society has been fully exposed during the pandemic.

"The pandemic has made the lives of people at the bottom of US society increasingly difficult, and further intensified the social polarization between rich and poor," it said, adding that the high unemployment rate brought about by the pandemic has led the working class into a crisis of survival.

Vulnerable groups in the United States have been struggling to survive during the pandemic, it noted.

The elderly have been the "victims" of the US government's ineffectiveness in fighting the pandemic, which also left the homeless having nowhere to go and poor children and immigrant children in worrisome situation, according to the article.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A report published today has called on industry and government to work together to develop opportunities for the use of marine renewables in the oil and gas sector.

The call is backed by a coalition of organisations and individuals who attended a conference held at the University of Aberdeen last year, to discuss how marine renewable technologies could help power offshore oil and gas activities.

The University launched its own Centre for Energy Transition in September, to provide a focus for all areas of energy-related research with an emphasis on supporting industry in the transition to clean energy and renewables.

Today's report, which reflects on the conference discussions, advocates the creation of a 'niche' market where marine renewables including wave power, tidal stream power and floating offshore wind turbines can provide power to offshore operations.

The emergence of such a market would act as a springboard for the development of marine renewables as part of the energy transition, while reducing the industry's carbon footprint.

This approach has been used successfully in places like Denmark, where the development of wind and solar power was accelerated through, for example, the need to supply power to farming cooperatives.

Last year's conference brought together senior academics in energy policy and economics with leading industry figures. It included representatives and speakers from organisations and companies including the Oil and Gas Technology Centre, Opportunity North East, and Columbus Energy Partners.

Presentations focused on existing plans for the application and development of marine renewables by operators, as well as current schemes. Among those who participated in a panel discussion was leading energy economist Alex Kemp, whose recent report on future prospects for the North Sea made clear the economic challenges facing the industry.

Dr. David Toke, a reader in energy policy at the University, took the lead in organising the event which has resulted in the publication of today's report.

He said: "With oil prices at their rock-bottom now is the time for the oil and gas industry to invest in new technologies that help pave way for energy transition to renewable energy.

"There are some great opportunities for innovation in wave power being used to supply power to offshore oil and gas operations, as well as the steps forward that are being taken with offshore wind. That's what this report is all about, and why people should read it."

Explore further Clean energy is outperforming fossil fuels in America, UK and Europe
- Christopher Columbus' statue in Richmond, Virginia was brought down by protesters, set ablaze then submerged into a lake

- Another statue of the explorer in Boston was also decapitated as the wave of anti-racism protests continue to rock the US

- Columbus was an Italian explorer and coloniser who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean

As the campaign to remove statues commemorating slavers and colonisers continues to sweep across the United States, Christopher Columbus has not been spared.

Police in the US said a Columbus statue in Richmond, Virginia was taken down by protesters, set on fire and then submerged into a lake on Tuesday, June 9.

READ ALSO: Meet African teacher who has 4 Guinness World Records

Christopher Columbus' statue in Columbus Circle, Manhattan, New York City. Photo credit: Getty Images

Source: Getty Images

READ ALSO: I was rejected by my family for taking care of orphans - Bishop Mary Wangui

According to a report by Fox News, another Columbus statue in Boston was also decapitated as the wave of anti-racism protests continue to rock the country.

Columbus was an Italian explorer and coloniser who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean.

This opened the New World for conquest and permanent European colonisation of the Americas.

READ ALSO: Hospital on the spot for detaining single mom over bill accrued due to medics' negligence

A decapitated statue of Christopher Columbus in Christopher Columbus Park in Boston. Photo credit: Getty Images

Source: Getty Images

Columbus' opponents in New York City also demanded his statue be removed.

The 128-year-old 14-foot marble statue stands above a pedestal in Columbus Circle outside Central Park.

In other news, a statue of colonial Belgian king Leopold II was removed from the city of Antwerp, Belgium after protesters vandalised it.

READ ALSO: Burundi's first lady returns home a day after husband's death

The statue was removed following Black Lives Matter protests in some countries in the world occasioned by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer.

Under King Leopold II's reign, millions of people were murdered in the Congo Free State that is today's Democratic Republic of the Congo

He subjected its people to forced labour while he exploited the country's rubber reserves - leading to millions of deaths in what some regarded as genocide.

READ ALSO: This Is Us Writer Jas Waters dies aged 39

On Monday, June 8, the statue was daubed with paint by anti-racist demonstrators.

Before it was taken down, campaigners in Belgium had been calling for monuments glorifying his memory to be removed.

Johan Vermont, a spokesman for Antwerp's mayor Bart de Wever said that it probably would not be returned to its public pedestal next to a church in the Antwerp district of Ekeren.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly

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Curtis Pritchard admits that he cannot face dating again following his messy split from Maura Higgins.

The Love Islander, 24, has said that he is not looking for another relationship after he and his former co-star broke up in a series of blazing bust-ups and public rows.

Speaking to The Sun about the split, Curtis said: 'It hurt. I wasn't ready for everyone to know we had split up  I wanted some time.

Candid: Curtis Pritchard admits that he cannot face dating again following his messy split from Maura Higgins

'It was a shock to see that she had announced it on social media hours later.'

He insists that he is now content to remain single and will not be signing up to online dating platforms anytime soon.

The TV personality added: 'I'm very old-fashioned. I don't actually like talking to people over a mobile phone or laptop. I'm a very sociable person. I like to be with somebody and talk to them.'

Heartache: The Love Islander, 24, has said that he is not looking for another relationship after he and his former co-star broke up in a series of blazing bust-ups and public rows

But it comes after Maura herself said that she would consider going back onto Love Island because she 'needs a man'.

The 29-year-old took to Instagram last month to discuss her love life with fans.

She rubbished claims linking her to Dancing on Ice partner Alexander Demetriou after he separated from his wife of four years, Carlotta Edwards, last month.

Newly-single: But it comes after Maura, 29, said that she would consider going back onto Love Island because she 'needs a man'

Maura said during the Q and A: 'It doesn't bother me. We're in 2020 and a man and woman cannot just be friends...'

She then zoomed in on her face and said: 'Pure sh*** you know.'

Maura also revealed that she has struggled with adjusting to fame since leaving the Love Island villa but assured fans that she is still single.

Asked if she would ever return to Love Island, the Irish beauty replied: 'Well, to be honest, I need a man. So maybe I'll go back in next year, you never know.'

All over: Maura's revelation comes after Dancing On Ice star Alexander Demetriou confirmed he has separated from wife Carlotta Edwards (pictured together last November)

Sad times: The reality star was asked by a fan if she's bothered by the speculation surrounding her and Alexander's relationship following the news he and his wife had split

Confirmation: The professional skater took to Instagram stories to confirm the news and revealed to his followers that it had been a 'tough time' for him

Last month, Alexander, 28, took to Instagram stories to confirm he had split from Carlotta amid reports that he became 'besotted' with Love Island beauty Maura.

In a statement posted on Instagram stories, Alexander said: 'I'm sorry I have been quiet on social media recently but it's been a tough time for me personally.

'Carlotta and I have separated. Although it saddens me that we can no longer be together, I feel this is best for both of us.

'I'm looking forward to what the future will bring but in the meantime let's all say home and stay safe.'

A friend of the former couple recently told their marriage troubles 'came as a shock', as they were so close before the last Dancing On Ice series.
New Delhi, June 11 : The CBI on Thursday carried out searches at multiple locations in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir after registering a case for defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) to the tune of Rs 31 crore, officials said.

A CBI official said that the agency conducted searches at the official and residential premises of accused including then officials of PNB and private persons at Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Jammu, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in a bank fraud case.

The official said that during the searches incriminating documents and locker keys have been found.

The CBI official said that the agency carried out searches at the premises of Nagmani Satyanarayana Prasad, the then Chief Manager; S. C. Sharma, the then Assistant General Manager; Manoranjan Dash, the then Chief Manager; Priyotosh Das, the then Senior Manager at PNB Station Square Branch in Bhubaneswar.

The agency also carried out searches at the residence and official premises of Global Trading Solutions Ltd in Bhubaneswar including its Managing Director Abinash Mohanty, Ex-Directors Kaushik Mohanty and Anshuman Samantaray and company's Director Bidhubhusan Nayak.

The CBI has registered a case under several sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from PNB against four of its officials posted at Station Square Branch in Bhubaneswar. The bank in its complaint has named the then Chief Manager, the then Assistant General Manager, the then Chief Manager and then Senior Manager and Bhubaneswar based private firm, its officials and unknown officials of the bank and unknown others.

In its complaint the PNB alleged that the named officials had entered into a conspiracy with the Bhubaneswar based private firm through its Director(s) in the matter relating to fraud perpetrated in processing, sanctioning and disbursing CC facility, bill discounting and issuing Letters of Credit to said Bhubaneswar based private firm during 2010-15.

The bank has also alleged that the private firm had illegally diverted the funds received from the bank to its sister or group companies and misused the same.

The complaint also alleged that the bank officials did not verify the genuineness of the business activities of said private company which led to the losses to the tune of Rs 31.92 crore.
The top US military commander for operations in the Middle East said that Chinas economic influence in the Middle East may one day pose a greater challenge to US strategic interests than Russia in the region, even as the Kremlin seeks a wider military presence in Syria and Libya.

I do worry about China quite a bit because it is one of my core taskings, head of US Central Command Gen. Frank McKenzie said during a think tank event in Washington on Wednesday.

Russia doesnt have the economic resources to come into the region in the way that China does, McKenzie said, calling the Kremlins interventions in Syria and Libya opportunist.

I am not one of those people who thinks the Russians are master chess players and see four, five, six moves ahead, McKenzie said.

Why it matters: The Pentagon is shifting resources away from the Middle East and other regions to focus on deterring China in East Asia. McKenzie voiced support for the Trump administrations priorities but, like the commanders of US Africa Command and US Southern Command have done, argued Wednesday that his region of responsibility is essential to the wider strategy, calling the Middle East one of the Wild West areas of global competition.

McKenzie urged the United States to confront Chinas growing economic inroads in the Middle East; otherwise, other things will follow over time. Russias military support for Bashar al-Assads regime in Syria has solidified its access to a Mediterranean port, and US Africa Command has expressed concern that the Kremlins military aid to Khalifa Hifter in Libya could lead to a permanent Russian presence in North Africa.

Whats next: McKenzie and other combatant commanders have advocated increasing military partnerships and defense industry sales to regional governments to convince them of the value of relying on the United States.

We dont want them turning to China; we dont want them turning to Russia to buy those systems, McKenzie said Wednesday.

China has sold thousands of armed unmanned aerial vehicles to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, a market that other countries have been shut out of by the Wassenaar Arrangement, which sought to limit the proliferation of conventional weapons.

US pressure on regional partners and allies not to buy Russian and Chinese equipment has had mixed results. Turkey has acquired but not yet activated its Russian S-400 air defense system. Russia has said it is moving ahead with plans to sell Egypt some two dozen advanced Russian Su-35 fighter aircraft, despite senior US officials warning that Cairo could face sanctions.

Know more: Jonathan Fenton-Harvey explores Damascus courtship of China in the Assad regimes so far Sisyphean search for post-war reconstruction funding.
REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

Transat A.T. Inc. (TRZ) plans on resuming some flights to Europe, the United States, Caribbean and within Canada starting on July 23, but it may have to ditch the relaunch if governments dont ease travel restrictions soon.

The Montreal-based travel and tour company, which reported earnings on Thursday and operates the Air Transat airline, said the resumption of flights was the first step towards getting healthy operations back on track.

Transat has suspended all of its flights since April 1, as travel demand disappeared due to the coronavirus pandemic. The companys chief executive Jean-Marc Eustache told analysts on a conference call Thursday that the suspension was the right decision and allowed the company to limit the financial damage prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Revenue in the second quarter ending April 30 fell to $571 million from $897 million during the same time last year, a drop of 36 per cent. Transat reported an adjusted loss of $39 million, or $1.03 per adjusted share, compared to a loss of $6 million, or 17 cents per share, last year.

As of July 23, the company hopes to offer flights from Montreal and Toronto to 13 destinations in Europe, five destinations in the Caribbean and United States, as well as domestic routes between Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

But the plan is contingent on governments around the world loosening restrictions that are currently in place around travel, Annick Guerard, Transats chief operating officer, said on the conference call. Some of the routes Transat will operate feature restrictions that may discourage travellers from booking flights. For example, Canada still requires international travellers to quarantine for 14-days upon return.

Most of the (flight routes) require political change before we are able to operate our flights, Guerard said. However, she said there is nothing that is preventing Transat from flying, and pointed to several destinations that have eased restrictions, including the United Kingdom, France, Portugal and Mexico.

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But from a customer perspective, we want passengers to be accepted at borders and we want them to not have to follow restrictions such as (mandatory quarantine), which would give them barriers for travelling.

Guerard said the company is hopeful the Canadian government will lift restrictions in the coming weeks.

The first one that we are expecting, of course, and that we are waiting impatiently for is Canada, she said.

If borders do not reopen, we will have to cancel most of our plan, but we dont believe this will happen.

The company also announced a Traveller Care program aimed at reassuring passengers with the introduction of new health measures based on guidelines from the International Civil Aviation Organization, Transport Canada, and Canadas Public Health Agency.

Passengers will receive traveller kits including face masks, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. Both passengers and crew will be required to wear face masks throughout the flight. Transat also said it has high-efficiency particulate air filters on all its planes, which eliminates almost 100 per cent of small particles such as bacteria and viruses, refreshing cabin air every three minutes.

We are confident that a decent number of consumers will be interested (in flying) on our aircrafts in the upcoming months, Guerard said.

Transat firmly committed to Air Canada deal

As it embarks on a COVID-19 recovery, the travel company is also at the centre of a $720 million deal that would see Air Canada takeover its operations, although the future of the transaction remains unclear. The proposed deal is currently being investigated by the European Commission over competition concerns, and will require approval from the Minister of Transport in Canada.

Le Journal de Montreal reported last week that Air Canada wants the federal government to block the transaction.

Eustache said Transat remains firmly committed to the Air Canada deal, but warned that the market conditions may impact the companys ability to implement any corrective measures required to secure regulatory approval. Transat has also agreed not to take on additional debt, which may not be possible given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It must be noted that several factors beyond our control could influence the outcome of the proposed arrangement, he said.

Nevertheless, the process of seeking these approvals is ongoing and we are making sure that whatever happens, we will be prepared to deal with this situation in the best interest of all stakeholders.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android and sign up for the Yahoo Finance Canada Weekly Brief.
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By IANS

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Sam Pitroda has criticised the vandalising of Gandhi statues in the US and the UK during recent protests against the police brutality in the US. Pitroda said both the cases should be investigated and those who did this were ignorant about Gandhi's contribution to humanity.

In a statement Sam Pitroda said, "The vandalisation of Gandhi statute at this time in the UK and US is a blow to the very concept of equality, freedom, and democracy."

"It is unfortunate that those who vandalised the statue are ignorant about Gandhi and his monumental contribution to humanity and help decolonise the entire world in the mid 20th century."

Pitroda, a technocrat-turned-politician and the head of the Indian Overseas Congress, said Gandhi's message of truth, trust, love, equality and non violence are in the hearts and minds of every person concerned about the death of George Floyd and the "black lives matter" movement.

"Gandhi is more relevant today in the US, UK, and the world than ever before. He was the inspiration to Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and many other global leaders of substance and character," added Pitroda.

The statue was vandalised by unidentified rioters during the ongoing violent protests against the custodial killing of an African-American citizen, George Floyd, in Minneapolis on May 25.

The US Ambassador to India, Kenneth Juster, on Thursday apologized for the desecration of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Washington DC.

In the UK, the statue was vandalised in London at Parliament square.

The Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) has told the US government that it will pay for the restoration of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Washington D.C. that was desecrated last week during the protests against police brutality.
MANILA, Philippines  The total number of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the country may increase to 40,000 by June 30 if quarantine restrictions will be eased further, a team of experts from the University of the Philippines (UP) said.

In a forum held on Thursday, the UP experts presented the data on the transmission of coronavirus which was based on the current trends of virus transmission in the country.

Right now, yung projection namin, ginamit lang naming yung R0 (pronounced as R naught) na 1.2 sa Philippines. So iyong projection actually is nasa 40,000 cases pa rin by June 30, said Institute of Mathematics Professor Guido David, who is part of the UP OCTA Research Team which issues forecast report on COVID-19 since April.

Kapag nagbago ang trends na iyan, magbabago ang projection pwedeng tumaas, pwedeng bumaba, he added.

The reproduction number or R0 is used to gauge the transmission potential of the disease. It is the average number of people who will contract a contagious disease from one person with that disease.

The Philippines currently has a reproduction number of 1.2, which means that an existing infection can cause one new infection.

Political Science Expert Ranjit Singh Rye, also a member of the UP OCTA Research Team, said that the current reproduction number may still go up if the community quarantine restrictions being implemented in the country will be lifted or further eased.

Kumakalat pa iyong COVID-19, nakakahawa siya. Marami pang mahahawa kapag hindi tayo gagawa ng mga hakbang, Rye said.

Both national level, government level at level po ng indibidwal. Ang number one takeaway. Significant pa ang comunity transmission and marami pa tayo kailangan gawin para imanage yung COVID-19 pandemic sa bansa, he added.

The country has so far recorded 23,732 coronavirus infections with 4,895 recoveries and 1,027 fatalities.

Metro Manila and other areas with high number of COVID-19 cases are under general community quarantine until June 15.

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Malacanang earlier said that President Rodrigo Duterte will announce on Monday the fate of the quarantine restrictions being enforced in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UP OCTA Research Team said it is not recommending the loosening of community quarantine for now as it may result in a spike of COVID-19 cases.

It also advised the Department of Health to monitor the situation and to take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of the virus, especially in areas where the transmission is evident.

The team also said that health protocols, such as social distancing, should continue to be observed by the public.  RRD (with details from Correspondent Aiko Miguel)

The post PH COVID-19 cases could reach 40,000 by June 30 if quarantine restrictions loosened, UP experts say appeared first on UNTV News.
After leaving the job vacant since taking power two years ago, Premier Doug Fords government has hired a new patient ombudsman to keep watch on troubles Ontarians experience in health and home care.

The appointment of longtime health advocate Cathy Fooks to the $203,000-a-year post formerly held by Health Minister Christine Elliott comes with the government under fire for a heavy death toll in nursing homes from COVID-19.

The virus has infected more than 33,000 Ontarians and killed at least 2,500  including 1,772 residents in long-term care, where 65 homes are still fighting outbreaks of the highly contagious virus.

New data from the Ministry of Health also showed the most ethnically diverse and poorest neighbourhoods are three times more likely to contract COVID-19 than predominantly white and wealthier area.

Fooks will take charge of an investigation into the impacts of the coronavirus on nursing-home residents and staff recently announced by the office and serve as a backstop for patients and families whose complaints to hospitals or other health-care organizations are not resolved.

Patient and caregiver voices matter now more than ever and need to continue to be heard, she said in a statement released by the Ministry of Health.

They will help us make the right changes that need to be done.

Just over 5,300 nursing home residents have become infected with COVID-19 despite promises from Ford to place an iron ring of protection around long-term care, and 683 residents are still fighting the virus.

The virus also claimed the lives of seven of 1,967 nursing-home employees who caught it and led to dangerously low staffing levels, with 590 long-term-care workers still sick, according to Ministry of Health statistics Thursday.

Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton acknowledged it is a difficult time and said Fooks will be working to ensure seniors and their families are heard as we work to improve Ontarios long-term care homes.

Several have required emergency help from military medical teams or have been taken over by the province, with officials from nearby hospitals sent in to manage them for 90 days.

Fooks has served as the chief executive of The Change Foundation, an organization focused on improving health care, since 2007 and was the first executive director of the Health Council of Canada. Previously, she worked for two health ministers as a policy adviser.

She was appointed to a five-year term following a search by an executive recruitment firm that began in January.

Cathy Fooks brings over 30 years of experience advocating for change to improve the care Ontarians received, said Elliott, who was appointed the provinces first patient ombudsman by the previous Liberal government to boost transparency in the system.

Elliott, who was a fierce critic of the Liberals as an opposition MPP, quit the post in the winter of 2018 to run for the Progressive Conservative leadership after the resignation of Patrick Brown, and subsequently lost to Ford in a close contest.

The patient ombudsmans office has 18 staff members and is embedded in Ontario Health, the new superagency created by Elliott to consolidate the health system with goals of streamlining and improving the patient experience.

Fooks will have the power to investigate complaints, make recommendations for improvements and will issue an annual report.

The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals continued to fall in figures released by the Ministry of Health on Thursday, declining to 538 people with 120 in intensive care and 87 requiring ventilators to breathe.

Testing numbers improved to a record high with 24,341 samples processed in labs on Wednesday and 203 new cases confirmed as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.

A more up-to-date Star compilation of data from health units across the province at 5 p.m. Thursday showed 238 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, among the lowest daily increases since March, increasing Ontario's case total to 33,382. There were 10 deaths, increasing the fatality toll to 2,543.

The province said another 505 Ontarians with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are considered to be recovered in the last day, raising that total to 25,885.
Washington  President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration will not even consider changing the name of any of the 10 Army bases that are named for Confederate Army officers. Two days earlier, Defense Secretary Mark Esper indicated that he was open to a broad discussion of such changes.

These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom, Trump wrote. The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.

...history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom. The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020

Name changes have not been proposed by the Army or the Pentagon, but on Monday, Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy indicated in response to questions from reporters that they were open to a bipartisan discussion of renaming bases such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia.

Supporters of disassociating military bases from Confederate Army officers argue that they represent the racism and divisiveness of the Civil War era and glorify men who fought against the United States.

To amplify Trump's view, his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, read his tweets to reporters in the White House briefing room. She said he is fervently opposed to changing the base names and believes that doing so would amount to complete disrespect for soldiers who trained there over the years.

The possibility of renaming the bases, McEnany said, is an absolute non-starter for Trump.

If Congress were to pass legislation requiring name changes, he would not sign it, she said.

The U.S. military recently began rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, including the Army base names, mindful of their divisiveness at a time the nation is wrestling with questions of race after the death of George Floyd in police hands. The Navy and the Marine Corps are now banning public displays of the Confederate Army battle flag on their installations, casting their decision as necessary to preserve cohesion within the ranks.

Ten major Army installations are named for Confederate Army officers, mostly senior generals, including Robert E. Lee. Among the 10 is Fort Benning, the namesake of Confederate Army Gen. Henry L. Benning, who was a leader of Georgia's secessionist movement and an advocate of preserving slavery. Others are in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana. The naming was done mostly after World War I and in the 1940s, in some cases as gestures of conciliation to the South.

Few voices in the military are openly defending the link to Confederate symbols, but some of the bases named for Confederate officers are legendary in their own right. Fort Bragg, for example, is home to some of the Army's most elite forces. Any decision to change the name at Bragg or other bases likely would involve consulting with officials from the affected states and localities.

Paul Eaton, a retired two-star Army general and a former commanding general of Fort Benning, said Trump's statements go against ideals the Army stands for.

Today, Donald Trump made it official. Rather than move this nation further away from institutionalized racism, he believes we should cling to it and its heritage, by keeping the names of racist traitors on the gates of our military bases, Eaton said.

Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and veteran of the Iraq war, said in an email exchange that renaming these bases is long overdue.

Most serving soldiers know little about the history behind the Confederate leaders for whom these bases are named, or the political deals that caused them to be honored in this fashion, he said. There might be some pushback from a small segment of soldiers from the South, but this is what we like to call a teachable moment. Now is the time to finally bring about a change that will speak volumes as to what the U.S. Army stands for.

David Petraeus, a retired four-star Army general, said the renaming move, which he supports, amounts to a war of memory, and that before deciding to rename bases like Fort Bragg, where he served with the 82nd Airborne Division, the Army must be ready to follow its own procedures for such change.

The irony of training at bases named for those who took up arms against the United States, and for the right to enslave others, is inescapable to anyone paying attention," Petraeus wrote in an essay published Tuesday by The Atlantic. Now, belatedly, is the moment for us to pay such attention.

Fort Bragg was named for Braxton Bragg, a native North Carolinian and Confederate general with a reputation for bravery and mediocre leadership. His forces were defeated at the Battle of Chattanooga in November 1863.
By Trend

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has launched partnership with Azerbaijans national postal service, Azerpost LLC, Trend reports citing IFC.

The partnership aims to boostelectronic financial services in Azerbaijan as part of an effort to modernize and widen access to financial services for population and private sector, especially in remote areas, the IFC said.

IFC will work with Azerpost to help introduce an electronic wallet, an online service that allows users to make electronic transactions. Azerpost, in parallel with postal services, has recently launched financial services offering under limited banking license. The cooperation will help Azerpost provide selected financial services as an agent of other financial institutions and educate its customers on how to use digital financial services. The work is led by IFCs Electronic and Digital Financial Services Project, which is implemented in partnership with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland SECO, the IFC said.

The initiative will make it easier for individuals and small businesses, especially those in rural areas with no access to bank branches, to make payments and get access to basic banking services electronically, without having to visit banks. This is an important development for Azerbaijan, where only around 29 percent of people have an account at a financial institution. This is well below the average for Europe and Central Asia, according to the World Banks Financial Inclusion Data Global Findex, added the IFC.

Cooperation with IFC will help open new opportunities for Azerpost. As a result of this partnership, we will play an important role in financial inclusion of a large part of Azerbaijans population that is currently not in the banking system, Emin Afandiyev, General Director of Azerpost LLC said.

Electronic payments are often vital, especially in times of pandemics, like the one were facing now. This initiative is part of our broader strategy to help diversify Azerbaijans economy and spur economic growth, in this case through support for electronic financial services, said Jan van Bilsen, IFC Regional Manager for the South Caucasus.

Given that electronic and digital financial services are important elements of modern financial systems, the development of an electronic wallet can also help make Azerbaijans banking system more resilient and open to investments.

Azerbaijan became a member of IFC in 1995. Since then, IFC has invested around $473 million in the country, including $73 million through mobilization. Those funds were used to finance 56 projects across a range of sectors, including financial services, infrastructure, and manufacturing.

In addition, IFC has supported around $100 million in trade through its trade finance program and provided $250 million for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC). IFC has also implemented a range of advisory projects aimed at encouraging private sector growth.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The US$250 million can be used to build Ukraine's lethal defense capabilities, air surveillance systems, special operations forces' counter-artillery radars and tactical equipment.

The United States plans to give Ukraine US$250 million through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative for training and equipment to strengthen the country's ability defend itself against Russia, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The funds for fiscal 2020 are being sent to deter "Russian aggression," the Pentagon said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Read alsoIMF approves 18-month US$5 bln Stand-By Arrangement for Ukraine

The US$250 million can be used to build Ukraine's lethal defense capabilities, air surveillance systems, special operations forces' counter-artillery radars and tactical equipment as well as medical treatment, and cyber capabilities, among other needs, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon said the aid "reaffirms the long-standing defense relationship between the United States and Ukraine."

The United States says it has provided US$1.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

That assistance has expanded since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, including to weaponry such as Javelin anti-tank missiles made by Lockheed Martin Co, that could be used against Russian-backed forces in conflict-hit east Ukraine.
LONDONAfter a week when protesters battled with police outside his residence, spray-painted racist on a memorial to Winston Churchill and dumped the statue of a 17th-century slave trader into Bristol harbour, Prime Minister Boris Johnson knew he was going to face questions about race and justice in Parliament.

Yet, standing in the chamber on Wednesday, Johnson seemed nonplussed when a lawmaker from the opposition Scottish National Party, Kirsty Blackman, condemned U.S. President Donald Trumps response to the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, and asked Johnson if he still believed his assertion that Trump had many, many good qualities.

Yes, Black lives matter, he replied, and yes, the death of George Floyd was absolutely appalling. As for Trump, the prime minister said, he is the president of the United States, Britains most important ally, which is a bastion of peace and freedom, and has been, for most of my lifetime.

Johnsons statement landed with a thud  and not just because Parliament was sparsely populated as part of coronavirus-related social distancing measures. At a time when the unrest in the United States is prompting many in Britain to ask questions about racial injustice in their society, the prime minister is still struggling to find his voice.

As with his response to the virus, Johnson was late to address the protests that erupted in London and other cities after the death of Floyd. And when he did, he oscillated between a hard message of authority and a more conciliatory tone: strident calls for law and order followed by promises to listen to the anguish of Black Britons and other minorities.

On Monday, after days of silence about the events in the United States and their reverberation in Britain, Johnson posted a video, in which he said the death of Floyd at the hands of a police officer had awakened an anger and a widespread and incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice.

But a day earlier, he accused demonstrators who clashed with the police of thuggery. He threatened those who vandalized statues with legal prosecution and warned them not to flout the governments rules on social distancing, saying they could ignite a second wave of infections in the country.

Johnsons past use of racist language complicates his task as leader. As a columnist in 2002, he once referred to African people as having watermelon smiles. He wrote that seeing a bunch of Black kids in the street made him uncomfortable.

We have a prime minister who is on the record making racist statements, said Afua Hirsch, a columnist at the Guardian who writes and speaks about race in Britain. She said Johnson led a government that was quite transparently unfair and racist, which added fuel to the protests.

For some critics, there is little difference between Johnson and Trump. Youve got a bad guy on both sides of the Atlantic, said Kehinde Andrews, a professor of Black studies at Birmingham City University.

Unlike Trump, Johnson has not used tear gas to break up the demonstrations outside the prime ministers residence at No. 10 Downing St. He has not propagated conspiracy theories about the motives of the protesters. And he regularly invokes the phrase Black lives matter, which Trump has not done.

Defenders of Johnson argue that when he was mayor of the London, he pushed for people from ethnic minority groups to be promoted in the Metropolitan Police. Ray Lewis, a Guyana-born adviser who worked with him as mayor, said Johnson had a genuine interest in working to improve the lives of young people from the Afro-Caribbean community.

More recently, Lewis said, Johnson has spoken privately of his anger over the Windrush scandal, in which Caribbean and other immigrants were wrongly detained and, in some cases, deported from Britain in 2018.

He, like most other people from privileged circumstances, responds to the world according to how he has been brought up, said Lewis, who is chief executive of Eastside Young Leaders Academy, an organization he founded to help Afro-Caribbean boys in east London. I have about as much in common with him as I do with Vladimir Putin, and yet there was a kind of connection.

Johnson noted that two of the top four members of his Cabinet are of Indian descent: Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Exchequer; and Priti Patel, the Home secretary, whose criticism of the protesters skirmishes with the police has been more vociferous than Johnsons.

One of the prime ministers ex-wives, Marina Wheeler, is the daughter of an Indian mother. Johnson likes to bring up his great-grandfather, Ali Kemal, a Muslim journalist who fled the Ottoman Empire for England in 1909, because, Johnson has said, it was a beacon of generosity and openness.

Is he racist? said Sonia Purnell, a British journalist who wrote a critical biography of Johnson. Probably not.

Instead, Purnell, who is white, said Johnson tailors his statements to please his audience. As a columnist for the right-leaning Daily Telegraph, his slurs against Black people drew little blowback. As the leader of a right-wing Conservative government, his call for law and order after the protests appealed to his political base.

He is a crowd pleaser, Purnell said, so the question is, what crowd is he pleasing?

In the early days of the pandemic, Johnson resisted unpopular measures like shutting down pubs. As a result, Britain imposed a lockdown later than its European neighbours. Neil Ferguson, an influential epidemiologist at Imperial College London, told a Parliamentary committee on Wednesday that if Britain had acted a week earlier, it would have cut its current death toll of 41,000 in half.

Johnsons reluctance to order a full lockdown also reflects his instinctive aversion to government interference, the nanny state he often lampooned as a journalist.

He wants folks to have fun, said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London. But Im afraid that we are in a situation where folks cant have fun, and he finds that difficult.

For Johnson, his seven months as prime minister have thrust him into a series of awkward issues that often seem to leave him flailing. He had hoped to launch Britain into its post-Brexit future. Instead, he is dealing with a grinding public-health crisis, an economic collapse and, now, thorny questions about how Britain should confront its racist past.

This is not the job he thought it would be, Bale said. He thought it would be about Brexit and surging forward into the new global Britain and sunny uplands.
Spin has launched its scooter sharing business to Germany, the first step in the U.S. company's plans to expand to Europe.

The company, which was acquired by Ford in 2018 for about $100 million, has launched in Cologne and plans to open up in German cities Dortmund and Essen in the coming weeks. Spin said it's also expanding its footprint in the U.S., starting with Atlanta. Other U.S. cities will follow, Spin said without providing more details.

Spin's Europe expansion is part of a trend that was emerging in the beginning of the year before COVID-19 upended the economy. In early 2020, it looked like Europe would become a summertime battleground for e-scooter companies. European and U.S.-based companies, including Lime, Bird, Circ, Swedish startup Voi and German startup Tier, were vying for market share. Voi was in about 40 cities in Europe and Tier had expanded to roughly 56. Amsterdam-based Dott was also in the mix. Spin announced in February plans to expand to Europe.

COVID-19 spread throughout Europe and then North America soon after, putting the brakes on micromobility. The pandemic prompted a number of scooter and bike share companies to pause operations or even pull out of cities altogether.

E-scooter startups are now coming back to Europe, where adoption rates and unit economics have been rosier than in some U.S cities.

Spin is starting with Germany in part because a recent survey conducted by the company and YouGov suggests e-scooters are poised to become a favored mode of transit in the country. Nearly 50% of those surveyed in Germany indicated they are already using or planning to use a solo transportation option for commuting to and from work and for taking trips within their immediate vicinity, Spin said.

"We are seeing heavier adoption of micromobility all around the world especially as the need for people to commute in less crowded conditions increases," CEO and co-founder Derrick Ko said in a statement.

Story continues

Spin said it plans to expand beyond Germany. The company has applied for permits in Lyon and Paris in France and submitted a proposal for rental e-scooter pilot in several U.K. cities, including Birmingham, Liverpool, London and Manchester.

Spin continued operating in some U.S. cities where it was allowed and provided free rides for healthcare workers during the pandemic. The company has resumed operations in 14 cities this month. It is now operating in 25 U.S. cities.

"Spin scooters are being used now more than ever as a utility rather than for leisurely activities," president and co-founder Euwyn Poon said in a statement. "As public transit is cutting services, Spin is stepping in to help."

Since April, new daily active users have increased an average 34% week over week, according to Poon. Trip duration has also increased 44%, reaching a peak of 24 minutes per trip, in May, Poon added.
White House and Republican negotiators are not planning to hold formal negotiations on a fourth coronavirus stimulus package until late July, when Congress returns from recess, according to two senior administration officials and two senior GOP aides. The Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled to return to Washington on July 21, after two weeks working and campaigning in their home districts, and 10 days before certain critical programs under the CARES Act, like increased unemployment insurance payments, are set to expire. GOP lawmakers and the administration are now armed with encouraging data on unemployment and calculations showing that much of previous stimulus money remains unspent. In May, businesses hired or rehired 2.5 million workers, mostly in the hospitality and construction industries. At a hearing Wednesday to discuss the program allowing small businesses to take out forgivable loans, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that program  and others  had created successful incentives for companies to retain workers, but the White House wanted to allow more stimulus funds to be spent before negotiating new aid. "We want to be careful at this point, seeing how much money is in the economy," Mnuchin testified to the Senate committee on Small Business. "A lot of the money is still not in it."

The Trump administration is estimating that more than half of funds from the last three stimulus packages remains "unobligated," or not yet spent, according to three sources briefed on calculations conducted by the Office of Management and Budget. CNBC obtained a detailed breakdown provided by OMB to lawmakers that shows less than a third of the money allocated to pay for expanded unemployment insurance, hospital reimbursements, and FEMA disaster relief loans had been disbursed. It shows just $22 billion of $500 billion earmarked to the Treasury Department for business loans having been spent, though that number will rise in the coming days when the Federal Reserve begins generating business loans under its Main Street Loan Facility.

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OAKLAND  A U.S. Air Force sergeant suspected of ambushing Santa Cruz deputies was charged Thursday with 19 felonies, including murder, attempted murder, and explosives charges. At the same time, law enforcement sources confirmed he is linked to the killing of a federal officer in Oakland.

In a 14-page affidavit filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, Steven Carrillo, 32, was charged with murder in the death of Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller and attempted murder of Deputy Alex Spencer, who was critically injured and remains hospitalized.

In all, Carrillo was charged on Thursday with assaulting a firefighter and trying to kill four officers, and the resident who ultimately pinned him to the ground as he tried to steal his car on his desperate run from police.

Carrillo killed Gutzwiller while lying in wait for the officers on Saturday afternoon at his Ben Lomond home and opened fire and lobbed pipe bombs before stealing one vehicle and attempting to carjack several others, the affidavit said. Carrillo was ultimately wrestled to the ground by a nearby, unnamed resident. Carrillo is also charged with the attempted murder of that resident, who grappled away a pipe bomb and firearm from Carrillo before police arrived. Carrillo faces another two attempted murder charges for firing at other deputies during his attempted escape.

Carrillo is also believed to be behind the Oakland shooting a week earlier that claimed the life of Federal Protective Services officer Dave Patrick Underwood, a source close to the investigation confirmed Thursday.

The FBI confirmed early into the Santa Cruz investigation that investigators were probing links between the two incidents. In both incidents, the suspect was seen driving a white van, and both appeared to target law enforcement officers specifically. It isnt clear if others were involved.

Federal prosecutors are reviewing the Oakland case and are expected to make a filing decision in coming days.

The U.S. Attorneys office declined to comment on the investigation into Underwoods death, citing an open investigation.

Carrillo grew up in the mountain town of Ben Lomond and has been living with his father over the two years since his wife, who was also in the Air Force, committed suicide while in South Carolina on a training program. He was a member of a security squadron at Travis Air Force Base since 2018 and was on active duty at the time of the ambush.

Saturdays ambush occurred after sheriffs deputies responded to a call from a concerned citizen about explosives and firearms in a white van in neighboring Boulder Creek. Deputies followed the van to Carrillos home up a winding road in Ben Lomond, where the ambush occurred.

Carrillo has two school age children, who are living with his late wifes parents.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
IMF Approves $5 Billion In Aid For Ukraine To Shore Up Economy Wracked By Coronavirus

By RFE/RL June 10, 2020

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says its executive board has approved an 18-month, $5 billion standby arrangement for Ukraine aimed at helping the country cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The approval means Ukraine can receive an immediate disbursement of about $2 billion, with the remaining amount disbursed in phases over four reviews during the 18-month period, the IMF said in a statement.

The amount is $200 million more than originally planned, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Twitter.

"The new program funding will help us to overcome the challenges caused by #COVID19. The #IMF has proven itself to be a reliable partner to a friend in need," Zelenskiy said.

The deal provides balance-of-payments and budget support, while safeguarding the country's achievements to date and advancing a small set of key structural reforms, the IMF said.

Zelenskiy's government has touted the agreement as a vote of confidence in its ability to deliver reforms, including a banking law that prevents the former owners of insolvent banks from regaining their assets.

Securing the IMF funds is also expected to unlock financing from the European Union and other institutions for the country, which is not financially powerful enough to pass major stimulus measures to keep its economy afloat amid measures put in place in March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Though the measures are being gradually lifted, the economic damage has been done. Ukraine's economy is projected to contract by about 5 percent this year.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the new arrangement, which succeeds one approved in December 2018 focused on maintaining stability during the election year, will provide an "anchor" for the authorities' efforts to address the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

"The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly worsened the outlook and has refocused government policies on containment and stabilization," the IMF said. "Uncertainty is large, and the economy is projected to contract sharply in 2020 as strict containment measures -- in Ukraine and globally -- led to sizable falls in domestic and external demand."

The country's 2020 budget is expected to be hit hard, with a sharp decline in revenues and large emergency spending, the IMF said.

Two of the main policies the new arrangement will focus on are mitigating the economic impact of the crisis by supporting households and businesses among other measures and ensuring continued central-bank independence and a flexible exchange rate.

Georgieva said sound monetary policies since the 201415 crisis have resulted in a sharp reduction in Ukraine's external and internal imbalances. While Ukraine's track record in stabilizing its economy since then has been strong, more reforms efforts are needed to ensure robust and inclusive growth, the statement said.

The current humanitarian and economic crisis has refocused policy priorities away from deep structural reforms, she said, adding that efforts aimed at tackling corruption and strengthening governance will be critical to ensure macroeconomic stability and achieve sustainable and inclusive growth.

The country has recorded more than 28,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 818 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/imf-ukraine- economy-coronavirus/30662410.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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One of the biggest weaknesses in the American economy is the decline of our scientific and innovation industrial base, and we must invest in academic institutions and industries to rebuild it, Mr. Schumer said. Theres bipartisan support to do so and its growing each day.

The shift in Congress mirrors one in the Trump administration, which has rejected traditional Republican support of free trade in favor of a more managed approach to compete with China. Mr. Trumps advisers have zeroed in on the semiconductor industry, which was born in the United States but has partly migrated to Asia in recent decades, as the test case for their plan to use trade and technology policies to return manufacturing to American shores.

Though the election is fast approaching, officials in the Trump administration have only just begun to implement that plan. Over the last year, they have introduced a variety of measures aimed at cutting Chinese companies off from American technology exports and investment opportunities and crippling the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, which they view as a national security threat. Mr. Trump also waged a prolonged trade war against China  placing tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods, including high-tech ones  as he pressed the country to sign a so-called Phase 1 trade deal.

But the administration has done little to build up other companies that could compete with Huawei and other Chinese technology leaders. As a result, American efforts to get countries around the world to excise Huawei from their telecom networks have been largely unsuccessful.

For many months, officials in the Departments of Defense, State and Commerce have been trying to woo chip makers including Intel, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to expand their manufacturing footprint in the United States. In May, T.S.M.C. announced plans to build an advanced chip facility in Arizona. That plan is contingent on securing funding from Congress, which would likely come through the bill introduced this week.

Officials from the Department of Commerce and State, who helped negotiate with T.S.M.C., have been in talks with Congress to create a standard package of incentives that could be offered to attract other chip suppliers. In a meeting at the White House last Thursday, senior officials discussed incentives that could bring chip manufacturers onshore.

Besides recent tensions with China, industry executives say the bipartisan support for the bill was also fueled by the coronavirus and its aftermath, which underscored the dangers of relying on a distant electronics supply chain.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott seen shopping at a Toronto LCBO while awaiting her COVID-19 test result (Credit: CP24)

COVID-19 in Canada

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott has been photographed at a Toronto LCBO while waiting for her COVID-19 test result, which has caused confusion among the public about what advice people should follow.

Elliott and Premier Doug Ford were both tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday, after being in close contact with Education Minister Stephen Lecce, who had come into contact with an infected patient. Ford and Elliott had cancelled their press conference that day out of an abundance of caution.

Lecce tested negative on Wednesday, and according to CP24, Elliott was seen an hour-and-a-half later at an LCBO near Dupont Street and Spadina Avenue, wearing a surgical mask.

Minister Lecces results came back negative, before I went for testing. While there was no real need for me to go to be tested, I had made a public commitment to do so, said Elliott at Ontarios COVID-19 press conference on Thursday.

At the assessment centre, I was advised because I had not directly been in contact with anyone who had contact with COVID-19, I did not need to self-isolate. That was the medical advice I was given, and that was what I did.

Elliott and Ford received their negative test results Thursday morning.

Ontario's health minister shopped at Toronto LCBO while awaiting COVID-19 test results https://t.co/08olHI8cVY pic.twitter.com/yp9pQB7iYe  CP24 (@CP24) June 11, 2020

Since Lecce is a contact of a confirmed case, he must remain in self-isolation for 14 days from his last exposure to the case, which was June 6.

Even though Ford and Elliott were not required to self-isolate, Public Health Ontario have warned people that given an incubation period of up to 14 days for COVID-19 disease after exposure, a negative PCR test result in an asymptomatic person should not be used to rule out disease.

Story continues

Toronto Public Health hasnt advised people to self-isolate while awaiting test results if they have no symptoms or havent been in close contact with a positive case. But people should still continue to social distance from others, wear a face covering, regularly wash their hands, and monitor for symptoms.

Canadians have since taken to Twitter, many in voicing their confusion about what advice they should heed, following Elliotts trip to the LCBO.

When I did my test, the doctor told me the following: "Until you get the results, assume you are positive."



My results were negative. But I still isolated.  andy a mo (@andrewamonti) June 11, 2020

What the hell, they tell everyone else stay home but your waiting for your test and you go shopping!  shaunna (@shaunnahird) June 11, 2020

People awaiting test results should be isolating until they get said results. Including politicians who tell us that exact thing. This is news, whether you like it or not  Kyle Marshall (@TheActualKJM) June 11, 2020

This is what contact tracing is. Everyone who has presumptive contact has to isolate until they are cleared. That is how we stop the spread. She was irresponsible.  Noelle  (@natsprat3) June 11, 2020
Staff at the University of Melbourne have been warned of "inevitable workforce reductions" after they voted against a proposed pay cut brought on by the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.

Two-thirds of staff rejected a proposed variation to their enterprise agreement, which would have also altered redundancy provisions.

University of Melbourne staff have said 'no' to pay cuts. Credit:Joe Armao

The university is the latest campus to face pay cuts and redundancies in the wake of COVID-19.

Australian universities face an estimated $16 billion downturn from the collapse of the international student market, which has put more than 12,000 jobs at risk.
Television actor Nupur Alankar, who has been a part of shows such as Swaragini and Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?...Ek Baar Phir, is facing financial distress as all her money is stuck in the scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank. With her mother needing hospitalisation, she is in urgent need of funds.

Actor Renuka Shahane, a close friend of Nupur, made a plea for monetary help on her behalf, sharing her bank details and urging everyone to donate. In a Facebook post, she wrote, A very dear actress friend of mine, Nupur Alankar has been facing a lot of financial problems due to all her money unfortunately being stuck in the PMC bank which crashed leaving their customers in the lurch.

Nupur has been taking care of her ailing mother with whatever income she was generating through acting & practicing alternate therapy. Due to the lockdown that work has stopped. Her mother needs hospitalization which is going to cost a lot. I am sharing her mothers account details. Do donate whatever you can to help. Trust me when I say that Nupur is the last person who would ask for help unless she was pushed to the brink. Thank you, she added.

An overwhelmed Nupur commented on the post, Thanks is too less to Express how I feel about u replying every message with such dedication Renuka Shahane. Friend Angel.

Also see: Shah Rukh Khans daughter Suhana sings Dheeme Dheeme from BFF Ananya Pandays movie in unseen video. Watch

There has been a moratorium on withdrawals from PMC Bank after an alleged fraud of thousands of crores was unearthed by the Reserve Bank of India in September 2019.

In an earlier interview, Nupur revealed that with their accounts frozen, she had to sell off her jewellery to survive. With no money at home and all our accounts frozen, I was left with no option, but to sell off my jewellery. In fact, I had to borrow 3000 from a fellow actor. Another one transferred 500 for my commute. So far, I have borrowed 50,000 from friends. There is no clarity when the problem will be resolved and we are scared that we will lose our money, she said.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

As many as 14,179 Turkish trucks transported cargo from Turkey to Azerbaijan in the first five months of 2020, which is three percent more than in the same period in 2019, Trend reports referring to Turkeys International Freight Forwarders Association (UND).

"Azerbaijan accounted for 3.08 percent of the total volume of cargo transportation from Turkey by trucks for the reporting period," the association said.

According to the UND, in May 2020, 3,221 Turkish trucks transported cargo from Turkey to Azerbaijan, which is two percent less than in May last year.

In total, 459,738 Turkish trucks transported cargo abroad from January through May 2020, which is 11 percent less compared to the same period in 2019.

Some 89,760 Turkish trucks transported cargo abroad in May 2020, which is 20 percent less compared to May 2019.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Unions have cautiously welcomed plans to reform our health system in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic - but warned workplaces must be safe for employees.

Health Minister Robin Swann published the blueprint - a strategic framework for rebuilding health and social care services - this week.

It is aimed at fundamentally reshaping the system, which Mr Swann has said was in "very serious difficulties" before the coronavirus crisis.

Health trusts are set to publish proposals for tackling waiting lists, providing high-priority cancer services and dealing with other urgent conditions.

They have also plans for scaling up services in the immediate period until the end of this month.

Mr Swann has said telephone triage, video consultations and other measures used since the coronavirus outbreak will now be embedded in primary and secondary care.

Nipsa and Unison said rebuilding health and social care services must ensure the safety of staff.

Maria Morgan, health official for Nipsa, said: "Nipsa is currently considering all of the detail in the strategic papers and our Health Central Panel will respond, insisting that the rebuilding of hospital and wider community services ensures that there is safe staffing, observation of all health and safety requirements including risk assessments, and a health service that is fully funded and accountable to the public."

She added: "Any reduction, privatisation or removal of services in these plans will not be acceptable to Nipsa".

Meanwhile, Unison regional secretary Patricia McKeown said she shares Mr Swann's "desire" to "get the right healthcare to the people at the right time and in the right place".

"Undoubtedly lessons should have been learned from the response to the pandemic. Major contributions have been made by the frontline - from doctors and nurses to cleaners and care workers," she said.

"The fault lines in our system have been laid bare and it is to the credit of the health and social care workforce that we have been able to keep going."

Ms McKeown stressed Unison members will want assurances that their "health and safety, and the safety of the public, can be guaranteed as the health service opens up again".

"We have not yet conquered the virus and we are concerned that the Executive as a whole is moving too fast to open up society and the economy," she added.

Ms McKeown said health services do need to begin again, but warned it had to be in a safe manner for the public and the workforce.

She added: "Non-Covid patients need urgent treatment and support. The significant negative effects that Covid-19 has had on all aspects of public health and on already unacceptable health inequalities needs smart, deliverable solutions from across the entire Executive."

Under the framework, a new management board has also been created, which is expected to include senior Department of Health officials and health trusts' chief executives.

Ms McKeown said the new board must work effectively and not "simply be another bureaucratic tier in an already highly bureaucratic system", adding that new thinking requires the "direct engagement of the workforce, their trade unions and new thinkers at the table".

Meanwhile, Mr Swann has confirmed the recent consignment of PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) from China will be quality checked.

"I have made clear that PPE products will only be issued to frontline staff after they are assessed," Mr Swann told this newspaper.

"I am pleased to confirm that the reports on the new consignment are positive in this regard."

In April, it emerged that part of the consignment of PPE distributed to Covid-19 test centres, mobile ambulance units and hospitals in the Irish Republic was described as "not fit for purpose" and "unusable" by medical staff.
Newly discovered creatures can often be as impressive and exciting as the ones from the Japanese movies and shows. Many of those fictional characters, including inhabitants of the famous Pokemon universe, might have their analogues among the real animals native to Japan. Maybe, a new species of the dogfish shark published in the open-access journal Zoosystematics and Evolution is also "a real Pokemon" to be?

A new deep-water dogfish shark: Squalus shiraii, was discovered in the tropical waters of Southern Japan by an international team of scientists, led by Dr. Sarah Viana from South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity.

The new shark has the body length of 59-77 cm and some unique characteristics such as tall first dorsal fin and caudal fin with broad white margins. Currently, the species is known exclusively as a Japanese endemic, occurring in the tropical shallow waters of Southern Japan in the North-western Pacific.

Spurdogs represent commercially important for the world fish trade taxa. They are caught for a range of purposes: consumption of meat, fins and liver oil. Despite their high occurrence, the accurate identification data of species is scarce, population threats and trends remain unknown.

Japan currently represents one of the world's leading shark fish trade countries, though, during the last decades the amount of shark catches is decreasing and over 78 elasmobranch species traded in Japanese shark fin markets are now evaluated as threatened.

The new species Squalus shiraii previously used to be massively misidentified with shortspine spurdog, due to the resembling shape of body, fins and snout length. However, there are some differences, defining the specificity of the new species.

"Squalus shiraii has body brown in colour, postventral and preventral caudal margins whitish, dorsal and ventral caudal tips broadly white and black upper caudal blotch evident in adults. S. mitsukurii has body conspicuously black to dark grey and caudal fins black throughout with post-ventral caudal margin fairly whitish and black upper caudal blotch not evident in adults", shares lead author Dr. Viana.

Scientists propose the name for the newly described species as Shirai's spurdog in honor to Dr. Shigeru Shirai, the former Japanese expert of the group.

###

Original source:

Viana STFL, Carvalho MR (2020) Squalus shiraii sp. nov. (Squaliformes, Squalidae), a new species of dogfish shark from Japan with regional nominal species revisited. Zoosystematics and Evolution 96(2): 275-311. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.96.51962
By Sangmi Cha and Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters) - A day after North Korea suspended communication hotlines with South Korea over defectors who send propaganda and contraband into the North, South Korea said it would take legal action against two organisations that conduct such operations.

North Korea gets enraged when the defectors in the South send material such as anti-North leaflets and rice - usually by balloon over the heavily fortified border or in bottles by sea - and its media has in recent days denounced the "mongrel dogs" who do it.

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, recently called defectors "human scum little short of wild animals" and said North Korea would cut communication with South Korea because of its failure to stop them.

South Korea, which is trying to improve ties with the North, said on Wednesday two defector-run groups, Kuensaem Education Center and Fighters for a Free North Korea, had violated the Inter-Korean Exchange and Co-operation Act by sending the leaflets, as well as aid like rice and medicine.

The two defector groups "have created tension between the two Koreas and caused danger to the border-area residents' lives and safety", said the South's Unification Ministry spokesman Yoh Sang-key.

One defector, Park Sang-hak, who left North Korea in 2000 and heads the Fighters For Free North Korea, has been sending leaflets about once a month for the last 15 years.

You can never buy peace with flattery and begging," he said of the South Korean government's response to the North Korean criticism.

About 33,000 North Korean defectors live in South Korea.

As part of the effort to improve ties with the North, South Korean President Moon Jae-in's administration has sought to discourage the leaflet and rice campaigns, and defectors complained of pressure to avoid criticism of North Korea.

On Monday, activists were stopped by residents when they tried to send plastic bottles stuffed with rice by releasing them at sea.

(Reporting by Sangmi Cha and Josh Smith)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 06:04:51|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Two congressional lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill that would remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol.

The bill, from Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Congressman Bennie Thompson, came after nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racial profiling, triggered by George Floyd's death in police custody.

"Americans in all 50 states and millions of people around the world are marching to protest racism and police violence directed at people of color, and yet across the country, Confederate statues and monuments still pay tribute to white supremacy and slavery in public spaces," Lee said in a statement.

Thompson said "we do this in a spirit of racial reconciliation and healing."

There are currently 11 statues of people who served in the Confederacy, either as officials or soldiers, displayed in the Capitol complex.

The statues are all part of the National Statuary Hall Collection, created in 1864 with a law that allows states to select two statues of deceased individuals to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol.

The legislation from the two Democrats would remove all of the Confederate statues in the collection within 120 days. The statues could either be reclaimed by the states or given to the Smithsonian Institution, a U.S. museum and research complex.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, on Wednesday called for the removal of the statues.

"Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed," Pelosi wrote in a letter to the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said Thursday that a decision on Confederate statues in the Capitol should be left up to the states.

"Every state is allowed two statues, they can trade them out at any time... a number of states are trading them out now. But I think that's the appropriate way to deal with the statue issue. The states make that decision," McConnell told reporters.

U.S. President Donald Trump has defended allowing Confederate statues and buildings named after Confederate officials to remain in place.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted he "will not even consider" renaming U.S. Army bases that were named for Confederate figures despite openness from top Pentagon officials to the idea. Enditem
RACINE  The president of Racine Educators United, the union for teachers and educational assistants in the Racine Unified School District, has called for police officers to be removed from RUSD schools. Instead, the leader of the union wants funds currently directed at police to be spent on other classroom needs and on support staff, such as mental health professionals.

However, REUs call to keep cops out of schools has been met with criticism.

The president of the Racine Unified School Board said that he will be considering the idea, but did not indicate he was a fan of removing police officers from schools.

One police officer is stationed full-time in each RUSD high school, and one Racine police officer rotates through each of the middle schools, following the Racine Police Departments touted Community Oriented Policing model.

Calling for change in tactics

A statement signed by REU President Angelina Cruz issued this week says, We call on RUSD to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by removing police officers from school buildings and replacing them with staff equipped to address trauma and social-emotional learning  more teachers, educational assistants, counselors, social workers and school psychologists.

Several school districts nationwide, including in Minneapolis, Denver and Portland, Oregon, have already indicated that they will no longer have police officers placed in schools following protests expressing outrage over the death of George Floyd and decrying police brutality.

The letter from REU reflects many of the messages coming out of nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd, with many demonstrators calling on leaders to divert money away from law enforcement and to devote that money toward other programs. Cruz also called for expansions to ethnic studies and anti-racist curriculums in Racine Unified classrooms, as well as strengthening implicit bias training for staff and students.

The idea of having police officers working in schools has been praised and criticized in recent years.

Particularly as the number of school shootings has skyrocketed over the past 30 years, so have the number of school resource officers. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are 46,000 police officers based in schools in the U.S., able to quickly respond to the most dangerous scenarios that occasionally arise in schools.

But some studies have pointed to unintended negative consequences from having police so at-the-ready.

Research from the Institute for Policy Studies found that children in schools with resource officers are five times more likely to face the juvenile legal system than schools without officers, feeding what Cruz called the school-to-prison pipeline.

The letter from Racine Educators United also lists names of seven who died in the U.S. over the past decade, including Racines TyRese West, saying that the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis is yet another reminder of the countless other Black men and women, including those in our very own community, who have been executed by white supremacists and the systems constructed by institutional racism.

Of the seven names Cruz listed, four were killed law enforcement, one died while in jail by suicide where staff was not following required checks on inmates, one was killed by a former police officer and one was killed by a neighborhood watch coordinator.

Responses from school district, police unions

In response to the proposal to pull officers from schools, Racine Unified Superintendent Eric Gallien said, RUSDs partnership with local law enforcement has allowed us to embrace a Community Oriented Policing model in our schools, which focuses on officers developing strong relationships with students to support positive behavior and academic success.

Partnering with school staff like our counselors, social workers, psychologists and educators, our school resources officers have effectively helped reduce student disciplinary issues and support student attendance and achievement.

The president of the school board, Brian OConnell, said that the school board has not yet discussed the prospect of removing officers from schools, but it is something on their mind.

Clearly this is an important matter that will be discussed, OConnell said. My reaction is that we as a community are engaged in a dialogue about police and I would expect RUSD to be a partner in that dialogue, a very important dialogue.

However, OConnell said that he does not expect police to be removed from schools. He supports the Community Oriented Policing model already in place, in which police officers work inside schools day-in and day-out trying to build to establish a relationship between students, staff and police that is a partnership and is not adversarial ... The police are not there in a traditional enforcement role. They are there in a partnership role.

Todd Hoover, the president of the Racine Police Association (RPA) which represents rank-and-file officers in the Racine Police Department, added in an email, If you take these officers out of the schools, there will still be calls for police at the schools and the officers responding are not going to have the same level of training that the current school officers have. The Racine Police Association feels that taking the school resource officers out of the schools could do more harm than good.

A letter signed by Hoover and by the president of the Staff Officers Association (SOA), which represents supervisors in the Racine Police Department, accuses REU of using a broad brush relating to institutionalized racism.

The RPA and SOA greatly value and welcome the opportunity to maintain a community dialogue on policing issues, and we share the objective of addressing systemic racism and prejudice wherever and however we can, the letter from RPA and SOA states. Nonetheless, we fail to see how denigrating the service and sacrifice of all the officers who work tirelessly to keep our city safe helps advance that public discourse.

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Its going to be an especially fraught moment, said Kori Schake, a scholar in civil-military relations at the American Enterprise Institute. If the president chooses to use the West Point commencement as yet another way to try and wrap himself in the uniforms of the American military in order to build political support, it will demonstrate that there really is no limit to what the president is willing to do, no damage he will avoid doing to the respect the American public has for our military.
The US has an "informal apartheid" system where the whites were at the top of the pyramid, followed by Indians, Asians and blacks, Arun Manilal Gandhi, the New York-based grandson of Mahatma Gandhi feels.

Gandhi, an Indian-American socio-political activist also does not agree with the slogan 'Black Lives Matter', which has taken hold internationally amid protests around the death of George Floyd, allegedly at the hands of police.

Gandhi told the South African weekly Post on Tuesday that after Floyd's death, people of colour were angry, but white Americans were more shocked than angry.

"They cannot believe that a white person would be so ruthless. They are oblivious to the brutality of their kind towards the black race," Gandhi said.

Gandhi said while he understood where the slogan created by the Afro-American community originated from, it perpetuated the divided society that people have created. "I believe that all lives matter. Therefore, we should all work towards creating that kind of respect for all life,' said Gandhi.

"The US has an informal apartheid system where the whites were at the top of the pyramid, followed by Indians and Asians and blacks," he said. Gandhi was born in Durban and lived in the Phoenix Settlement, which his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, established there in 1904.

He was debarred from returning to South Africa after he met and married his wife Sunanda in India in 1956. Now 86 after retiring as a journalist, Gandhi spends his time advocating Gandhian non-violence in lectures to diverse groups.

Gandhi also told the weekly that people often misunderstood the philosophy of Satyagraha (non-violence).

"They think that as long as they don't use physical violence, or hurt or kill human beings, they are non-violent. That is wrong. Violence against property is equally abhorrent," Gandhi said.

President Donald Trump also came in for criticism from Gandhi, who said he believed that the violence following Floyd's death was partly generated by the police to end the Black Lives Matter campaign.

"It serves (Trump's) purpose to generate this violence and add to the frustrations of blacks so they can boycott the elections. That would improve his chances of winning," Gandhi said.

"He is the most divisive president in the history of the US. He continues to divide," Gandhi concluded.
The National Paediatrics Hospital has reported it has received nearly 100 cases of children with encephalitis since the beginning of the year.

A ten-year-old kid from Hai Duong Province being treated with Japanese encephalitis at the National Pediatric Hospital in Hanoi.  Photo benhviennhitrunguong.org.vn

Of the figure, two suffered Japanese encephalitis and the remaining were caused by herpes simplex virus and other viruses, said Dr Nguyen Van Lam, director of the hospital's Centre for Clinical Medicine of Tropical Diseases for Children.

Parents need to be vigilant and should take preventive measures against the disease as the summer comes, the peak season of Japanese encephalitis between May and July.

A mother of a 10-year-old from the northern province of Hai Duong hospitalised for the disease said that a few days ago, her child had a fever, headache and vomiting.

Thinking that the kid had flu, she self-medicated and her son got better.

However, three days later, the child had a high fever and seizures.

His family rushed him to the provincial Children Hospital for emergency treatment and then he was transferred to Hanoi-based National Paediatrics Hospital where doctors diagnosed him with Japanese encephalitis.

In the first two days, the condition of the child was still worse and he was placed on a ventilator, said Dr Dao Huu Nam, head of the Department of Active Treatment.

After 10 days of treatment, the child was able to leave the hospital for rehabilitation because his left side was still weak.

"In recent years, the disease has been recorded in some older children and they were in severe condition. Worse, most of them were not vaccinated against the disease," said Dr Lam.

He said the vaccination should be done at least three times, first when the child was a year old, the second one to two weeks after the first one and the last a year after the second shot. After that, the vaccination should be done every three to five years until the child is 15 years old.

Japanese encephalitis is caused by the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus that can spread the disease throughout the year, but most frequently in summer.

The disease is more common among children under 15. Pigs and birds are reservoirs of the virus.

High fever, headache and nausea are early symptoms of the disease.

Severe disease can result in a high fever, headache, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, seizures, spastic paralysis and even death.

The disease primarily affects children; without timely treatment, children may be at risk of death or suffer serious neurological complications, Lam said.

The mortality rate is high, hitting 30 per cent if not treated in time.

To prevent Japanese encephalitis, parents should take their children to hospitals for vaccinations, doctors recommend. VNS

Japanese encephalitis enters its peak season in Vietnam In Vietnam, year-round Japanese encephalitis is usually prevalent in summer season and peaks between June and July.
A preliminary report by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) on the environmental damage caused due to Oil India Limiteds (OIL) gas well blowout at Baghjan in Upper Assams Tinsukia district, which started on May 27, has found that oil has leaked into adjoining Lohit river, polluting the water and adjoining Maguri-Motapung wetland with toxic pollutants.

Maguri-Motapung is located less than 10 km from Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and is a part of the Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve (DSBR).

The report, which has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and seen by HT, has recommended that the approved new wells and further exploration in the area should be put on hold until OIL authorities put in place their disaster-handling capabilities.

The report said a WII team conducted the survey from May 29 to June 4 and found several dead fish and insects that may have died due to oxygen depletion in the water following the oil spill.

The survey found the presence of at least five endangered Gangetic dolphins in the 20-kilometre stretch of the Lohit river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra river, indicating that the species will be at grave risk from the ongoing spill. The team has collected samples of tissue and blubber from a Gangetic dolphin carcass found in Maguri beel, which is being analysed for presence of various contaminants.

The toxic fumes and oil coating has universally affected the areas flora and fauna. The contaminants and oil are continuing to be released in the surrounding areas and immediate steps are needed to contain this spillover. The released toxins are known to have long-term persistence in soils and sediments, which will not only affect current life conditions, but due to sustained release, pose a serious health risk for a longer-term, the report said.

The WII team has also gathered from the local residents that OIL authorities did not have a mitigation plan for such a disaster, and consequently suggested a comprehensive impact assessment of their field operations in the biodiversity-rich Dibru Saikhowa National Park.

Itd be not only prudent but also essential for the well-being of all life forms that the approved new wells and further explorations in this area should be initiated only after a thorough investigation of potential impact, as well as evaluating disaster handling capabilities in place, with appropriate technology and trained manpower, the report added.

WII has flagged that the environmental impacts of the oil spill will linger on for long.

This is because an oil well blowout spews hundreds of chemical particles in the air, water, and soil. The hydrocarbon component comprises hundreds of organic compounds, many of which are hazardous when released into the environment such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are also carcinogenic.

Local residents have complained of severe difficulty in breathing, headache and nausea to the visiting WII team, who, too, experienced similar symptoms due to the oil spill.

The entire landscape, including the wetland, is coated in layers of oil, according to the team.

The area, where blowout has taken place, is rich in biodiversity and one of the important remaining refuges for several endangered and range-restricted species, the report said.

DSBR is home to tiger, elephant, wild buffalo, leopard, hoolock gibbon, capped langur, slow loris, Ganges River dolphin besides critically endangered bird species such as the Bengal florican, white-winged wood duck, greater adjutant stork, white-rumped vulture, slender-billed vulture as well as the very rare and endemic black-breasted parrotbill.

The report has also pointed out that the entire region has undergone frequent changes in morphology due to recurrent earthquakes, which are known to have caused extensive landslides and ground fissuring, making the area disaster-prone.

On May 11, the MoEFCC had granted environmental clearance to OIL for extension pf drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at seven locations under Dibru Saikhowa National Park.

The lowland forests of the region are unique. Weve found leakages from other wells as well and they can have long-lasting impacts. Weve recommended a thorough assessment of disaster mitigation possibilities before implementing further exploration projects, said Qamar Qureshi, a scientist at WII.

WII will come out with a detailed report on the impact on biodiversity by the end of June.

The wetland is affected, especially the aquatic species. The national park is slightly away from the accident site. Were waiting for the detailed WII study and response from the Assam forest department. Weve already written to them, said Soumitra Dasgupta, additional director-general (wildlife), MoEFCC.

We arent aware of the WII report. Whatever condensed oil had been released earlier has been burnt off. Theres no contamination from that spill anymore. Were trying to contain the releasing gas within four weeks, said an OIL spokesperson.
The recent turmoil that has gripped our nation in the form of riots, looting, arson, and other criminal acts is another reason why President Trump will be re-elected in a landslide. When you look across our country and see masked marauders beating store-owners unmercifully because they were trying to save their businesses, and there are no cops in sight to protect them, you know that liberals are in charge in those places.

When you see news clips of rioters roaming through commercial districts in large cities, ripping down storefronts, pillaging the contents, and running off with flat-screen TVs on their shoulders, cases of liquor, and shopping baskets filled with high-priced sneakers, you might think you're watching a sci-fi flick depicting the end of civilization. However, it's important to keep in mind that the violent behavior of those uncivilized thugs is being watched by hundreds of millions of civilized Americans who are seeing the results of liberal policies in those cities. When hoodlums know that the city's leaders are on their side, why should they obey laws?

Undoubtedly, the liberal elected officials in those blue states refuse to take necessary action against the rioters because they view them as a large part of their voting bloc. Does anyone with an I.Q. higher than a fire hydrant think any of those rioters will be voting for President Trump? He, along with other strong Republican leaders, have been calling for the use of force to put the savages back in their cages. Only morons believe that placating ferocious animals will make them stop attacking us. As Winston Churchill said, "an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

As for the tragic death of George Floyd at the knee of a brutal Minneapolis cop, justice will be done. It's highly likely that officer Chauvin will be spending time in a prison cell for his sadistic display of brutality. But let's get real about the reaction to his crime! Suspending the law and allowing criminals free rein in our streets has absolutely nothing to do with justice for Floyd! It's merely a get out of jail free card for every lowlife thug who generally preys upon the innocent under the cover of darkness but now has the chance to do it with impunity in broad daylight, with video cameras making a record of it for posterity.

The hysteria and mayhem that have resulted from this incident won't help the cause of civil rights. Law-abiding folks of every race and nationality are repulsed by horrific scenes of violence and thievery by the lowest elements of society, and they don't want them in their neighborhoods. Moreover, those white elitist virtue-signalers, when asked to do more than spout compassionate platitudes, such as, for example, inviting some inner-city residents to stay for a few weeks at their comfortable suburban homes, suddenly lose their voices. You see, it's so much easier to simply mouth some empathetic words to make oneself feel like a caring individual than it is to risk one's family's safety with a quixotic act.

Incidentally, no matter how many times you state that Floyd's death was a despicable act by a brutal cop, the moment you say that doesn't excuse the vicious acts by roving bands of hoodlums, you're likely to be deemed a racist. That's a tactic used by the radical left to control the dialogue, thereby destroying rational thought. Leftist want you to believe that all those creatures, scurrying out of looted stores with arms full of purloined goods, are engaging in those larcenous pursuits because they're "frustrated." Come November, voters will show their frustration with lawlessness by giving President Trump the largest re-election landslide in the history of this great Republic!

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.
The U.S. has declared itself "disappointed" at North Korea's severing of all communication lines with South Korea.

A State Department spokesperson on Tuesday said, "We urge [North Korea] to return to diplomacy and cooperation."

"The United States has always supported progress in inter-Korean relations," the spokesperson added. "We remain in close coordination with our ally [South Korea] on efforts to engage" Pyongyang.

Speculation about the North's motives is running rampant. Christopher Hill, who once led failed nuclear negotiations with North Korea, told Voice of America that Pyongyang is "testing" the Seoul-Washington alliance and will continue to make unreasonable demands on Seoul and create tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Mark Fitzpatrick at the International Institute for Strategic Studies speculated that Pyongyang is holding the communication lines hostage as a means to gain huge concessions from Seoul.

On Wednesday, North Korea's state media focused on orchestrated anti-South Korean mass rallies denouncing the activists floating of helium balloons carrying propaganda leaflets across the border, which was ostensibly the reason for the North's latest hissy fit.


Joe Biden has released an eight-point plan to reopen the US economy in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is promising to dramatically expand testing for the virus, guarantee federal paid leave for all who get sick and create a national task force to better track the spread of the disease.

The former vice president released the plan Thursday as he held an economic round table with community leaders in Philadelphia.
Im a firm believer if you have a good employee recognition program, it can help drive overall employee engagement - Jeremy Stephens, Associate VP of Human Resources Operations, Tidelands Health.

Tidelands Health is the largest health care provider in coastal South Carolina, with four hospitals and 60+ outpatient locations. Tidelands Health has more than 2,500 employee, physician, and volunteer partners working to promote wellness, prevent illness, encourage recovery, and restore health.

The health system wanted to increase employee engagement by giving meaningful recognition to its employee partners. Im a firm believer if you have a good employee recognition program, it can help drive overall employee engagement, says Jeremy Stephens, Associate VP of Human Resources Operations, Tidelands Health.

Tidelands Health had been reliant on gift cards for recognition. New IRS guidelines meant the health system needed to change direction. When you have a culture that wants to do a lot of on-the-spot type recognition, we knew we had to do something different, said Stephens.

From a focus group of employees, Tidelands Health learned that employees valued recognition gifts that were branded with the health systems logo.

The HR team evaluated giving a one-time recognition gift to all employees. The cost and administrative burden added up quickly, according to Stephens. Leaders soon realized that their budget and the impact on employees could go farther with an ongoing platform for recognition. We could use that budget in a much more meaningful way to help us drive our engagement numbers and would really be a beneficial mechanism going forward, Stephens said.

Tidelands Health implemented Terryberrys 360 Recognition Platform throughout the health system in order to provide employees with an ongoing recognition experience.

Tidelands Health implemented four modules of the 360 Recognition Platform: Service Awards, AwardPoints, Award Your Team (manager-driven recognition) and Give a WOW (social recognition). Using these tools, Tidelands Health was able to consolidate many of its recognition initiatives into the 360 Recognition Platform. Service awards, performance incentives, and nursing awards, which had previously been issued in the form of taxable bonuses, were converted to the AwardPoints program. Tidelands Health also began using AwardPoints to drive participation in wellness activities.

Employee engagement increased. Leadership recognition gained support throughout the organization. Recognition moments were tied to their core values.

Tidelands Health saw an increase overall in employee engagement. Year-over-year, the health systems overall engagement increased by nearly 10%. Tidelands Health saw a particularly dramatic increase in engagement levels for evening and night shift staff. Stephens attributes this increase in part to the notes of appreciation that day shift staff regularly post on the Recognition Wall for their night shift counterparts.

Leader engagement also increased 2 index points since implementing the 360 Recognition Platform. Says Stephens, Our leaders really appreciate having a tool to recognize our employees. Stephens recounts how the CEO regularly gives points when Team Tidelands has gone above and beyond, like when the hurricanes came through their region recently or COVID19-related contributions. Active involvement from the highest levels of the organization makes a tremendous impact.

Stephens also highlights the value of having recognition moments tied to the core values that are important to Tidelands Health. It helps people understand why we do what we do.
Within the past few weeks, Democrats and Republicans have been looking into the details of a bill that, if passed, would distribute a second round of stimulus checks to Americans that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Amid the discussions, the House Financial Services Committee will look into a method to enhance the distribution to the 35 million citizens that are still waiting to receive their payments from the first stimulus payment, as reported by AS English.

Digital Dollar

A professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, Morgan Ricks, has said in the past that one method that would allow consumers to own a central bank account is through digital dollar.

Former CFTC Chair and founder of the Digital Dollar Foundation, Chris Giancarlo, however, had proposed the use of a tokenized digital dollar founded based on blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Congressman Stephen Lynch will oversee on Thursday a hearing called "Inclusive Banking During a Pandemic: Using FedAccounts and Digital Tools to Improve Delivery of Stimulus Payments."

According to Forbes, the House Financial Services listed the notice of the hearing on their website and on the scheduled lineup of witnesses could be seen Mehrsa Baradaran a Law professor at the University of California, Chris Giancarlo, the Senior Counsel, and several other related names.

Chairwoman Waters introduced a bill that became the origin of FedAccounts. The proposal describes a digital dollar wallet as an account that is maintained by a federal reserve bank on a person's behalf.

The wallet also represents stores the funds inside an electronic device or service that could be used to store digital dollars that may be connected to a digital or physical entity. A digital dollar wallet would also be branded as a FedAccount in all account statements and other communications of the Federal reserve bank.

Also Read: Second Stimulus Check: How Does It Differ from the First Release?

The concept was initially part of the CARES Act draft but did not make it into the final phase of the act.

Two additional bills have been presented since the introduction of H.R. 6321; the Automatic Boost to Communities Act (ABC Act) and the Banking For All Act, which Forbes explained. Both acts touched the subject of FedAccounts but limited digital dollar to being a distribution mechanism rather than being a central bank digital currency.

Moving forward

The Digital Dollar Project published its first white paper last week, and the U.S. government now needs to seriously look into how to construct a digital dollar as the Chinese government already has a digital operating currency which could severely impact the value of the U.S. dollar.

In an interview with The Block, Giancarlo said that the coronavirus pandemic had pushed the boundaries for ideas of how to distribute public assistance effectively. He also noted, however, that one of the bills that had been drafter from the Democratic party includes a proposal for digital dollar.

Lynch recently introduced a bill that utilized blockchain technology to assist Strategic National Stockpile and all 50 states to be able to maintain sufficient personal protective equipment and emergency medical supplies amid the global pandemic.

Related Article: The Heroes Act: Will a Second Stimulus Check be Approved?

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Photograph: John Raoux/AP

Stock markets tumbled in the US and Europe on Thursday amid growing fears over the long-term economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The sell off started after the US labor department announced another 1.5 million people had filed for unemployment benefits and the number of coronavirus infections passed 2m even as states across the US continued to relax their quarantine measures.

Related: 'An American fiasco': US hits grim milestone of 2m Covid-19 cases

Stock markets have rallied  some to record highs  in recent weeks as investors have bet that economies would reopen without a surge infections and that the short, sharp shock of quarantine would be followed by a swift economic reversal.

As traders weighed the morning news for signs about how long the pandemic will sap global growth the major markets all turned negative, with the Dow Jones closing down over 1,800 points (7%) the S&P down 6% and the Nasdaq  which recently hit a record high  also losing 5%. In Europe all the markets closed down with the FTSE 100 in London losing 4%.

In just 12 weeks more than 44 million claims have been made for benefits as people lost their jobs. Rehiring appears to have started. Last week the labor department said the unemployment rate had dipped in May to 13.3% from 14.7% in April  although officials said difficulty collecting data meant the figure was probably 3% higher.

Last night the US passed another grim milestone as the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 passed 2m in the US and more than 115,000 people have died.

Yesterday Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said the coronavirus was the biggest economic shock in living memory and warned it would be a long road to recovery. The central bank expects unemployment to dip to 9.3% by the year end, a sharp fall but still nearly three times as high at the 3.5% recorded in February. Powell warned that while the trend was positive it would be difficult for many people to find work for an extended period.

Story continues

Last week was the second week in a row that unemployment claims were below 2m, a sign that layoffs are slowing from the peak of 6.6m in April. The numbers, however, remain historically high. In the last recession, the highest number of weekly unemployment claims peaked at 665,000 in March 2009, and the previous all-time mark was 695,000 in October 1982.

The downward trend is obviously good news, but in the context of an economy that is reopening it is extremely high, especially when viewed against previous recessions, James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, wrote in a note to investors.

Jobless claims are an application for unemployment benefits submitted to a state labor department. The weekly numbers are seen as a proxy for unemployment trends but not an entirely reliable one. Not every person who is laid off applies for benefits, and not every individual who applies will be counted as making a claim. On top of that states have struggled with the sheer volume of claims, leading to huge backlogs.

Related: US economy will shrink 6.5% this year, Fed forecasts

The Department of Labor said the number of people actually receiving benefits (known as continuing claims) was 20.9 million for the week ending 30 May, a small decline from the week before.

The numbers are also declining in part because of the paycheck protection program, part of a historic fiscal stimulus package worth nearly $3tn, that offers businesses loans that can be partially forgiven if used for employee salaries.

We are seeing the labor market high on PPP money, said Sung Won Sohn, a business economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Once it runs out we might see a significant increase in layoffs again.

Ashley Harris clocked off from her last shift as a cocktail server at Harrahs Philadelphia Casino at 2am in mid-March. She had worked at the casino for 10 years and hopes to get rehired, but her most pressing concern is the imminent end of the federal governments $600-a-week expanded unemployment insurance scheme and her health insurance.

Harris said the end of the expanded benefits  currently set to expire at the end of July  will be devastating.

For them to just cut off the extra $600, which is helping, is going to affect me in more ways than I can ever imagine, Harris said. If I get sick, I wont be able to pay bills.

Democrats are fighting for an extension to the $600 payments but face stiff opposition from Republicans who argue that it is a disincentive for people to return to work.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has reportedly told House Republicans the money will not be in the next bill.

Reuters contributed to this article
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed accused Green Party leader Eamon Ryan of doing a "disservice" to the "enormous efforts" by Irish farmers to be environmentally friendly.

It came after Mr Ryan sought to reassure farmers worried about "scare stories" of the Green Party being "bad for rural Ireland", saying that farming practices should change to be "genuinely Origin Green".

Origin Green is the Government's food sustainability initiative which promotes good environmental practice in food production.

Agriculture has proven difficult in government formation talks amid debate over how much the sector should contribute to cutting carbon emissions.

Mr Ryan told the Dail he "fundamentally disagrees" with how his party's policies have been presented as "bad for farming, bad for beef, bad for dairy".

He said he is "absolutely convinced" that if Irish meat, dairy and other produce can be promoted as "genuinely Origin Green" in international markets, farmers will get a better price for it.

Mr Creed said Mr Ryan's remarks about the need for Irish produce to be genuinely Origin Green "is really a disservice to the enormous efforts farmers are involved".

He argued that Irish farmers have been pioneering environmentally friendly practices for "many, many years".

Earlier, Climate Action Minister Richard Bruton was asked about suggestions that the national herd will have to be cut to reach the 7pc-a-year carbon reduction target demanded by the Greens.

He said no political parties have set targets for reducing the herd and that consultation with stakeholders on climate action measures "is going to be key", particularly in agriculture.

During the debate, Green Party members were warned by Rise TD Paul Murphy not to allow themselves to be used as a "mudguard" for austerity in a potential coalition with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

He claimed that if the Green Party goes into government with the two parties it would represent a "substantial setback for the environmental movement".
Avestus Capital Partners' housebuilding arm, Richmond Homes, has plans to deliver 5,000 homes across the sites it owns in the Greater Dublin Area. Stock Image: Bloomberg

Property group Avestus Capital Partners paid out dividends of 15.7m in 2018 as profits soared at the Dublin-based company.

New accounts lodged by Avestus Capital Partners show that the firm recorded profits of 6.5m in 2018. That represented an increase of 362pc on the profits of 1.4m recorded in 2017.

The dividend payout of 15.7m follows a payout of dividends of 1m in 2017.

The combination of the profit recorded and dividend payout in 2018 resulted in the company's accumulated profits declining by 9.2m to 22.95m.

The company's cash more than tripled from 3m to 11.36m as the value of the company's investments fell from 8.3m to 4.42m following a disposal of 4.2m.

The directors for 2018 are listed as Matthew Brennan, Olan Cremin, Mark Donnelly, Peter Donnelly, Thomas Dowd, Fergus Farrell and Mark O'Donnell. Directors' pay remained static at 1.52m.

Numbers employed by the company increased from 22 to 25.

Last October, Avestus Capital Partners and a US joint venture partner completed the sale of a portfolio - comprising 815 residential units across 16 developments - to Irish Residential Properties Reit (IRES) for 285m.

Avestus Capital Partners' housebuilding arm, Richmond Homes, has plans to deliver 5,000 homes across the sites it owns in the Greater Dublin Area.

A note attached to the accounts said Avestus is a related party to Tazbell Services Group through common directors.

Tazbell, through Dublin Street Parking Services (DSPS) Unlimited, has operated Dublin City Council's clamping contract since 2004.

Last year Tazbell secured a new contract with a value of 36.67m excluding Vat.

A note attached to the Avestus accounts said the company sold its interest in Tazbell Services Group DAC to certain directors of Avestus Capital Partners on an arms-length basis.
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Police are searching an empty Connecticut mansion that Fotis Dulos' was waiting to tear down in the search for his missing ex-wife, Jennifer, who vanished last May.

The empty property is not owned by Dulos but his construction group had a contract to demolish it after it was damaged by flooding. No one has lived in it since late 2017. He and Jennifer rented it in 2010 briefly before the current owner, David Ford, bought it.

In 2018, Ford hired Fotis' company, Fore Group, to demolish it. It's unclear when the demolition was due to begin or why it didn't before Jennifer vanished. Fotis killed himself in January awaiting trial for her murder.

In June last year, police searched the property but they never obtained a search warrant to do it and instead gained entry by getting permission from the owner.

They did not bring cadaver dogs or forensic teams for the first search to look through the woods that are behind it or the septic tank, as they have done with other Dulos properties.

On Thursday, multiple cars were seen outside it and police brought cadaver dogs.

The property sits far back from the road and neighbors and is next to sprawling woods. A septic tank company has been called to drain the 2,000 gallon, 16-ft deep tank on the property.

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Jennifer Dulos vanished last May. Her estranged husband Fotis killed himself while out on bail for her murder in January

The property in Avon is owned by Dulos' property development group. Rows of law enforcement cars were seen there on Thursday. Picture courtesy of NBC CT

The house backs on to a huge swathe of woods and is set far back from the road

A septic tanker arrives to drain the huge septic tank on the property on Thursday afternoon

The house is less than two miles from where Fotis was living in Farmington, Connecticut, when Jennifer vanished last May after dropping off their kids at school.

He killed himself in January while on bail awaiting trial for her murder.

He protested his innocence until his death, even writing in a suicide note that he hadn't killed her.

His girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, and lawyer, Kent Mawhinney, were both charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Both are awaiting their next court date.

TIMELINE OF THE FOTIS DULOS CASE 2004: Fotis Dulos and Jennifer Farber get married. It is his second marriage In the same year, her father Hilliard starts loaning him money for his property business, Fore Group. 2015: Fotis and Michelle Troconis start taking trips he paid for which he claimed were for business. They later start an affair. January 2017: Hilliard Farber dies March 2017: Gloria Farber takes over his estate June 2017: Jennifer files for divorce, saying she is afraid of her husband February 2018: Gloria Farber sues Fotis Dulos for unpaid loans May 24 2019: Jennifer vanishes after dropping off her five children at school June 2019: Fotis and Michelle Troconis are arrested for evidence tampering Gloria Farber files an order for custody of the children. House in Avon is briefly searched but not extensively. August 2019: Troconis 'turns' on Dulos in police interviews, admits she lied when she said she had an alibi for him September 2019: Fotis is arrested again for evidence tampering January 2020: Dulos and Troconis are charged with murder January 28: Dulos is found unresponsive at his Farmington home January 30: Fotis dies in hospital June 11: Police search house in Avon, CT Advertisement

Fotis and Jennifer had five children together, who are now being taken care of by her mother.

They were in the midst of a bitter divorce battle when she disappeared and Fotis claimed she had been keeping the children from him.

Jennifer had alleged in court documents that Fotis was aggressive towards her.

Their former nanny described him chasing her around the house on occasions.

Last year, police reports about the case revealed that DNA that belonged to Jennifer had been found in trash bags that Fotis allegedly dumped in public trash cans the night she vanished.

He'd borrowed an employee's car for the day and, when it was tested, forensics teams found traces of her blood, according to the report.

Troconis initially lied to police on his behalf, claiming they had been together but leaked police reports claim she later changed her story and told police she had been covering for him.

In a statement released last month, Troconis, breaking her silence, said it had been a 'mistake' to trust him.

She insisted she still did not know what happened to Jennifer.

Fotis was also in a dispute with Jennifer's family about money they claimed he owed them.

Throughout the course of their marriage, her late father lent Fotis millions to buy properties to develop them and then sell them on for a profit.

They had an agreement that he'd repay the loans once he'd sold the properties.

After Jennifer disappeared, her mother sued Fotis claiming he owed their family estate millions.

He said he was entitled to keep the money because it was part of a family agreement.

The house in Avon is owned by attorney David Ford. Last week, he revealed that he'd been contacted by police last June.

At first he was hesitant to grant them access, he said, but he allowed them in when he learned that it was part of the search for Jennifer.

'I said do whatever you need to do no problem,' he told Fox.

The property caretaker had recommended Dulos to him, he said.

'My caretaker said heres a guy that builds homes he used to live in the house.' Dulos and Troconis were first charged last year with evidence tampering.

He and his attorney made comments that were widely criticized at the time, including the suggestion that she had killed herself in a Gone Girl-style plot and tried to frame him for her death.

Dulos' company, the Fore Group, had debts totaling $7million when he died and he likely faced steep legal fees from his criminal case and his divorce and custody battle.

He was audacious in his public comments and gave an interview to a newspaper in his native Greece where he complained he'd been the victim of malicious prosecution.

The first set of arrest warrants described how Dulos allegedly lay in wait for Jennifer at the home she was renting and attacked her in the garage.

The documents state unequivocally that it is 'strongly believed' Jennifer was attacked in her garage then put in her own Chevrolet Suburban 2017 to be driven to the spot where the car was eventually found.

In the car, they found her phone which had been active in the location where the car was for 40 minutes before suddenly going offline.

In those 40 minutes, Fotis Dulos - who had earlier been seen in Connecticut driving an employee's car - was nowhere to be seen.

Three minutes after Jennifer's phone went offline, he was seen turning back onto a road, in the same employee's car he'd been driving earlier.

The search warrants do not give any indication of what may have happened to Jennifer's body.

When authorities searched Jennifer's home they found blood in the garage - which had been previously reported - but exactly where in the garage remained a secret until now.

The new documents list that blood was found on the concrete floor of the garage, two garbage cans in the garage and on the passenger door of a Range Rover parked inside.

Dulos girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, who he was living with at the time, and his attorney and friend, Kent Mawhinney, are still facing conspiracy to commit murder

Jennifer's rental home in New Canaan where police believe she was attacked in her garage

Police also found shoe impressions and said that someone had tried to clean up the blood.

Authorities also said they found traces of blood on a cellphone and a tablet that were discovered in the master bedroom of the home.

A page from the hundreds of warrants show the list of the blood stains found inside Jennifer's garage

The search warrants reveal the lengths police went to before bringing the charges.

They have asked for countless phone records, access to Jennifer's iCloud account and GPS information from inside her car which they think will answer the mystery of what happened to her.

The documents also reveal more about the many interviews that have been carried out between Jennifer's disappearance and this month, when Dulos and Troconis were charged with murder.

They include one with a technician who worked for Dulos' construction company who helped Troconis back up the contents of her phone onto a hard drive for her to give to her lawyer.

She told the technician that she wanted to avoid having photographs of her daughter on the internet and that she had already removed her Facebook page.

Surveillance footage (pictured) shows the last known images of Jennifer driving home, where police say Dulos 'lay in wait', after she dropped her children at school at around 8am on May 24

Dulos is shown on May 29 withdrawing $500 cash before visiting a car wash to clean his employee's car on the day Jennifer vanished

At the time, neither Troconis nor Dulos had been charged.

Dulos in January. He maintained his innocence until he killed himself

The technician said he said: 'It must be really weird for Fotis with Jennifer missing,' and that she shot him a 'weird look' in response

He said he thought nothing of the interaction until after their arrests.

Other interviews were conducted with the couple's nanny, Lauren Almeida, who said Jennifer was 'very afraid' of her husband.

Almeida recalled an incident in June 2017 when she said she found Jennifer crying in the driveway.

Jennifer told her Fotis had just tried to run her over and that she had to jump out of the way.

In the same summer, she said she watched Fotis 'chase' Jennifer through the house. Jennifer barricaded herself in her bedroom while Fotis pounded on the door, she said.

She said he calmed down when he realized she and one of the children were also in the room.

Almeida said Jennifer told her she did not want to call the police, however,because she was 'very afraid' of her husband.

She said he threatened to take the children with him to his native Greece. Jennifer's lawyer also told police that a week before she vanished, Fotis lost another attempt to try to win unsupervised visits with the children.

On the night of Jennifer's disappearance, even after he had been notified that she was missing, Fotis called the babysitter and asked her if she would still be able to bring the children to him the following day. It was unusual, she said, because she was never normally involved in picking them up or dropping them off.

She said that she was waiting on instructions from the police but he texted her later, asking for an update.

Fotis Dulos is transported into Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx on Tuesday after attempting to kill himself with carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage in Connecticut before a court appearance

Fotis was found in his car inside his garage. The exhaust pipe he used to try to kill himself is shown attached to his vehicle

There are multiple examples of occurrences when either Jennifer or Fotis called police for a domestic disturbance.

There is also reference to a gun that was owned by Fotis but which police wished to secure. The whereabouts of the gun is unknown, the warrants state.

MICHELLE TROCONIS: I SHOULDN'T HAVE TRUSTED HIM 'My name is Michelle Troconis. For the past year, people have said many things about me - some kind; some cruel. I was advised by my lawyers to remain quiet and rely on the justice system, which is very frustrating for me because there is a lot I would wish to say. It has been nearly a year since I first heard about the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos. 'As a mother, I am saddened for the loss that these five children have suffered, being left without both parents in such a short period of time. But despite the way I have been treated by the police, I know nothing about Jennifer Dulos' whereabouts or what may have happened to her. 'I know that under American law, I don't have to prove my innocence, but actually, to me it feels that way during all this time of public scrutiny. 'To those who are quick to judge people they do not know, let me say this: It is possible to misjudge others. 'Whether or not Fotis Dulos was capable of doing the things the police and prosecutors accused him of doing, I do not know. But based on what I have learned in the last year, I think it was a mistake to have trusted him.' Advertisement

Almeida was interviewed on May 25, a day after Jennifer vanished.

She revealed then that on the night of Jennifer's disappearance, even after he had been notified that she was missing, Fotis called the her and asked her if she would still be able to bring the children to him the following day.

It was unusual, she said, because she was never normally involved in picking them up or dropping them off.

She said that she was waiting on instructions from the police but he texted her later, asking for an update. Fotis went in for a voluntary interview the same day but froze up when police said they planned to seize his phone.

He then left without answering questions.

The warrants suggest that some crime took place at a property owned by Dulos where he asked Troconis to meet him in the hours after Jennifer vanished.

He told her to bring cleaning supplies to the property - specifically a Swiffer, Clorox and paper towel.

Later, the pair drove to what Troconis described to police as a 'creepy' area of Connecticut where Dulos insisted on getting out of the car several times to drop bags in trash cans. It was unusual for him, she said.

Two people who match their description were seen on surveillance cameras making those stops.

A woman who also fits Troconis' description was spotted dropping off a bag at a different trash can.

Police believe Kent Mawhinney, who was representing Fotis in a civil case against his estranged wife's family as they sued him for $2.5million in unpaid loans, was going to help him by providing an alibi for him on the morning of Jennifer's disappearance.

They also spoke with Mawhinney's wife who fears the pair were plotting something against her because she had reported her husband for rape.

He had denied the charges, insisting their sex was consensual.
Parents with young children have been on a roller coaster ride of emotions in the past few months as they try to keep up with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on childcare.

When the pandemic hit, about 50 per cent of parents pulled their kids out of care because of the risk of infection or because they had lost work hours and could no longer afford the fees.

Those still sending their kids to childcare feared their local centres would collapse financially as their revenues shrank.

This was followed by cheers of joy in April when the government announced a temporary $3 billion rescue package which offered free government-subsidised childcare to all comers and some cash to keep centres open.

Yet this week parents and childcare centres had to redo their sums once again because Education Minister Dan Tehan announced that from next month he would return to the pre-April system of childcare subsidies, which only covers a share of the costs.
Reuters

Facebook, Google and Twitter should provide monthly reports on their fight against disinformation, two senior EU officials said on Wednesday as they called out Russia and China for their roles in the spread of fake news.

The comments by EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell and the European Commission's Vice President for values and transparency Vera Jourova underscore the bloc's concerns about the prevalence of misleading news on COVID-19 and the attempts by foreign actors to influence Europe.

"It really showed that disinformation does not only harm the health of our democracies, it also harms the health of our citizens. It can negatively impact the economy and undermine the response of the public authorities and therefore weaken the health measures," Jourova told a news conference.

She said the next fake news front was vaccination, citing a study showing that Germans' willingness to be vaccinated had fallen by 20 percentage points in two months.

The Commission said online platforms should provide monthly reports with details on their actions to promote authoritative content and to limit coronavirus disinformation and advertising related to it.

Jourova also said Chinese video app TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, will be joining the bloc's voluntary code of conduct to combat fake news on its platform. Signatories to the code of conduct include Google, Facebook, Twitter and Mozilla.

Borrell described the fake news fight as involving warriors wielding keyboards rather than swords.

"Foreign actors and certain third countries, in particular Russia and China, have engaged in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbourhood, and globally," the Commission said.

The EU executive plans to counter foreign actors by stepping up its communication strategy and diplomacy, and provide more support to free and independent media, fact-checkers and researchers.
PITTSBURGH, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE: CNX) ("CNX" or the "company") today announced an operational update.

CNX continues to optimize its long-term intrinsic value per share by safely and compliantly generating free cash flow (FCF) per share on a regular basis. The following is an update of key drivers in that effort.

Production Profile Optimization

CNX began sculpting its production profile since May 1st, and the company has shut in as much as 375 MMcf per day of production to take advantage of the large positive spread between summer and winter natural gas prices. The company expects the shut-in amount to decline to approximately 300 MMcf per day of production by July and will adjust as conditions warrant. This production profile optimization would result in over $30 million(a) in incremental FCF over the next few years, assuming the wells are turned back online November 1st and using current forward strip pricing. In a series of related transactions, the company monetized hedges in the summer months of 2020 and added new hedges in the winter months, which locked in a significant portion of this FCF improvement.

SWPA Marcellus Efficiencies

CNX continues to achieve capital efficiency improvements in its core Southwest Pennsylvania (SWPA) Marcellus Shale wells. The company's most recent eight-well Marcellus Shale pad, RHL 99, was stimulated by Evolution Well Services' electric frac fleet and averaged 1,570 lateral feet per day and a peak of 2,600 lateral feet in a 24-hour period. During stimulation of the RHL 99 pad, the company used approximately 140,000 Mcf of CNX's clean burning natural gas to power the fleet in lieu of diesel, which equates to a fuel savings of approximately $2.4 million. Chief Operating Officer Chad Griffith stated, "The company is cruising at high efficiency. Operational results validate our commitment to move to an electric frac fleet over a year ago, which a number of other operators have since adopted. Our operations team continues to be thought leaders in the basin, which will continue to improve capital efficiency. And it is important to note that RHL 99's cost per foot is already lower than the cost per foot assumed in our seven-year FCF plan laid out in our first quarter conference call."

PA Utica Efficiencies

During the quarter, the company also drilled two SWPA Utica Shale wells at a record high pace and a record low cost. When compared to prior Pennsylvania Utica Shale wells drilled, the average drilling costs decreased from $957 per foot to $447 per foot, or a decline of 53%, with drilling times decreased by 22%. When completed, the company expects the total well costs for these two SWPA Utica wells to be approximately $1,375 per lateral foot, far below the $1,800 per lateral foot assumed in the seven-year FCF plan. Also, the company increased its estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) expectations for its most recent Central Pennsylvania (CPA) Utica well, the Bell Point 6, to a range of 4.55.0 Bcfe per thousand feet, which makes it the company's most productive Utica well to date.

Core Inventory

Chief Operating Officer Chad Griffith commented, "Bell Point 6's strong production profile illustrates the potential of our over 100,000 acres of CPA Utica. Coupled with the recent cost performance of the SWPA Utica wells, our Pennsylvania Utica offers compelling economic returns on future capital investment opportunities. With our SWPA Marcellus inventory already providing over a decade of inventory at a maintenance of production activity-set, the CPA Utica delivers multiple decades of core inventory and optionality to grow when conditions allow for good rates of return."

Capital Efficiency and Base Decline

During the quarter, the substantial midstream buildout supporting the company's SWPA Marcellus Shale development plan was completed with only incremental compression and well connects needed going forward. This best-in-basin high pressure / low pressure gathering network allows the company's wells to flow at pressures that improve economics, increase ultimate recoveries, and maintain reservoir and completion integrity over the productive lives of the wells. Under the company's maintenance plan, the PDP volume will continue to grow resulting in an average base decline of approximately 20% through the 2022-2026 FCF plan.

Chief Financial Officer Don Rush stated, "These metrics combine to allow the company to be highly efficient and meet or exceed our seven-year, $3 billion consolidated FCF plan(a)."

(a) CNX is unable to provide a reconciliation of projected financial results contained in this release, including FCF to its respective comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP. This is due to our inability to calculate the comparable GAAP projected metrics, including operating income, given the unknown effect, timing, and potential significance of certain income statement items.

About CNX Resources Corporation

CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE: CNX) is one of the largest independent natural gas exploration, development and production companies, with operations centered in the major shale formations of the Appalachian basin. The company deploys an organic growth strategy focused on responsibly developing its resource base. As of December 31, 2019, CNX had 8.4 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Index. Additional information may be found at www.cnx.com.

Cautionary Statements:

Various statements in this release, including those that express a belief, expectation or intention, may be considered forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act) that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, forward-looking statements contained in this communication specifically include statements regarding future financial performance, including free cash flow, and the company's plans to turn back online the shut-in production volumes and expected well costs. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. The forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning the timing and success of specific projects and our future production, revenues, income and capital spending. When we use the words "believe," "intend," "expect," "may," "should," "anticipate," "could," "estimate," "plan," "predict," "project," or their negatives, or other similar expressions, the statements which include those words are usually forward-looking statements. When we describe strategy that involves risks or uncertainties, we are making forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release; we disclaim any obligation to update these statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. These risks, contingencies and uncertainties relate to, among other matters, the risks and uncertainties set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of CNX's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2020, each filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and any subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE CNX Resources Corporation

Related Links

http://www.cnx.com


In northern Cambodia, giant ibis, white-winged ducks and other rare species have helped ecotourism take flight in recent years. Just two decades after their near extinction, the population of giant ibis has grown to about 300 birds, bringing in thousands of visitors to remote areas of the country. This tourism has provided an important economic catalyst, generating critical revenue for rural communities and conservation initiatives.

But now, in Cambodia and other wild places around the world, ecotourism is in the crosshairs of a new threat - covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The consequences for both wildlife and people are still unfolding and expected to be far-reaching.

"A major source of income for rural communities has suddenly been cut off," said Jeremy Radachowsky, director of the Mesoamerica and Western Caribbean Program for the Wildlife Conservation Society. "It's going to have an especially large impact on budgets for protected areas and wildlife, which also happen to be some of the most important investments we can make to avoid future pandemics."

Why? Because, he said, "degradation of natural ecosystems and wildlife trafficking facilitate the spillover and spread of zoonotic diseases."

Or as the World Economic Forum website puts it: "It is no coincidence that the destruction of ecosystems has coincided with a sharp increase" in infectious diseases.

Added Midori Paxton, head of ecosystems and biodiversity at the United Nations Development Program, "Intact nature gives us air, water and food and serves as a 'natural vaccine' to reduce the frequency and intensity of future outbreaks."

Since the coronavirus outbreak, investments in nature are in jeopardy as resources are diverted and tourism dollars supporting conservation dwindle. Most world travel destinations have experienced shutdowns as borders have been shut, visas restricted and quarantines enforced to limit the spread of the virus. National parks, game preserves and wildlife sanctuaries in Africa, Asia and beyond have closed. The closures have led to reduced protection for wildlife and lost incomes as rangers, guides, drivers, cooks, animal caregivers and others have been let go. The U.N. World Tourism Organization estimates a decline of international tourism of 60% to 80% by the end of the year compared with 2019, with trillions of dollars and millions of jobs lost.

"The biggest concern in the short term is continued investment in ecotourism and rural areas to make up for lost revenue streams and jobs," said Johan Robinson of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), noting that the global cutbacks due to covid-19 could last a year or more.

The collapsed tourism economy adds new stressors on top of ongoing challenges from vanishing habitats to climate change to human encroachment. Already, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the U.N. Development Program have reported an increase in natural-resources exploitation and illegal killings of wild animals and threatened species.

In Costa Rica, a new ecotourism initiative to help conserve the once-common white-lipped peccary - similar to a wild boar - has seen few visitors. Meanwhile, the white-lipped peccaries are increasingly endangered because of the hunting of the large animals and deforestation. In Namibia, a cheetah conservation center can no longer rely on tourist visits to help fund operations. In Gabon in March, the government closed its great-ape parks to tourists because of covid-19, as have other African countries. The closures have drained funds from efforts to protect critically endangered gorillas and other great apes. In Sumatra, ecolodges can't provide their usual support to a sanctuary for nearly extinct Sumatran rhinos and a nearby elephant hospital.

In the wading pools, swamps, marshes and rainforests of northern Cambodia, tourists used to visit in hopes of catching sight of the critically endangered giant ibis, characterized by their height and silver-tipped wings notched with black crossbars, and other wildlife. Their visits have generated thousands of dollars for community funds and conservation programs, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. But now the local economy is in limbo, and this spring the group reported that several giant ibis were killed for their meat, as were white-winged ducks, painted storks and other wild animals.

International agencies and organizations are scrambling to respond to the crisis and reduce incentives to hunt, poach and illegally clear land for farming, timber or other resources. Wide-scale socioeconomic stress related to covid-19 has added to the pressure, with the World Food Program estimating millions of people worldwide are now living close to starvation and resorting to whatever options are available to survive.

"If the supply of money from tourism dries up, rangers might be laid off, leave the bush and look for other ways to feed their families," said Chris Thouless, director of research for Save the Elephants. "If someone sees an elephant, for instance, they might shoot it as an investment even if they cannot immediately get money for the tusks, and hunting for bush meat may increase."

Across Africa, with many countries dependent on a wildlife tourism industry that brings in billions of dollars, the outlook is equally grim. "The situation is pretty bad," UNEP's Robinson said. "Most of the parks have been closed, and there are no tourists and no safaris. It's a huge loss of income, and a lot of lodges don't know if they are going to make it."

Similarly across Central and South America, conservationists are seeing increases in deforestation, poaching and sudden disruptions to long-established businesses and ways of life. In Ecuador, the wildlife-rich Galapagos Islands have had few visitors this spring, and the tourist-based economy has seen thousands of jobs lost.

In response, organizations are ramping up support. The Lion's Share nonprofit, for example, is awarding small grants to ecotourism-dependent communities in developing countries. Other groups are tapping reserves and emergency funds to keep employees on the payroll and ensure staff and partners in the field have food, water and other supplies.

Continued international cooperation and global support for conservation is also seen as vital, including such programs as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund, as government priorities are diverted by the crisis.

"Funding from governments and existing private sector is not going to be enough," Robinson said. "Estimates already indicated that more than double the pre-covid government and philanthropic investments were needed for effective global conservation."

Experts also say this is a good opportunity to revisit some of the deleterious effects of tourism and consider new approaches. For ecotourism, drawbacks can include overcrowding of fragile ecosystems, overdevelopment of tourist amenities and pollution. Long flights to far-flung destinations also emit tons of carbon linked to global warming. To offset some of these impacts, some organizations are considering investing more in economic alternatives to ecotourism.

"Governments that have defaulted on properly financing protected areas too easily rely solely on tourism revenue to make up the difference," said Trevor Sandwith, director of IUCN's Global Protected Areas Program. "This reliance has exposed these areas to a funding crunch that coincides with the pandemic and is caused by it. It has the very serious knock-on effect of affecting the livelihoods of local communities and increasing pressure on protected areas."

In response, alternatives to ecotourism are gaining popularity while sharing the goal of protecting nature and supporting local economies. Among these are conservation trust funds, debt-for-nature swaps, biodiversity offsets, tax incentives and green and blue bonds - debt instruments to raise capital for ecological purposes. In one example, two years ago the Seychelles, a scenic vacation spot in the Indian Ocean, diversified its tourism-dependent economy by raising $15 million through a blue bond to protect the marine life that helps bring in tourists.

And as quarantines and lockdowns are lifted and travel slowly resumes, ecotourism will also find its place again in the post-pandemic world.

"Travel is important for all sorts of reasons, and ecotourism is essential to this," said Joe Walston, vice president for field conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society. "Hopefully, people will also recognize all of these environmental issues are related to each other and will take fewer trips but spend more time in the places they visit. In the short-term, we must do what we can to see rural communities and wildlife through."
Another batch of 13 Nigerian returnees from Canada, Germany and France arrived in the country through Seme Border Post in Lagos State on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the 13 returnees landed in Benin Republic by Air France on June 10 and came into Nigeria through Seme land border around 8 a.m. on Thursday.

A Port Health Services (PHS) official in Seme, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that the Nigerian returnees, comprising eight males and five females, had been screened by health officials.

They arrived at 8:30 a.m. today from Canada, Germany and France through Cotonou Airport.

We have collected their contacts and relevant information for follow up on their health status.

This will be forwarded to officials of Lagos State Ministry of Health and NCDC who will be having random checks on them peeiodically.

After all the checks, we will allow all of them to go to their different destinations since Lagos State Government no longer isolate them in Badagry again, he said.

NAN recalls that 53 Nigerian returnees from Ghana and Benin Republic arrived Seme Border on Saturday, May 16.

With the latest returnees, the number of Nigerians from foreign and neighbouring countries that arrived through Seme border is now 166.

(NAN)
Recent protests have spurred state lawmakers to do what appeared unthinkable just two weeks ago  getting a package of police reform bills through the state Legislature over the longstanding opposition of police unions.

This includes the repeal of what has been called the most contentious state law on the books  50-a, the provision that prevented disclosure of police personnel records  among other changes to how police operate. Other bills that passed the state Senate and Assembly included a chokehold ban and the codification of the publics right to record law enforcement in public.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign into law this week as demonstrations continue in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man whose death has inspired widespread outrage that is now being channeled into new police reform efforts across the country.

That means big changes in the Empire State. Here is what each of the 11 bills approved by the state Legislature will do once they take effect.

Police disciplinary records/50-a repeal

The most controversial bill approved by state lawmakers would change state law to allow the release of police disciplinary records. Supporters say this will make it easier to weed out cops with a history of misconduct allegations before they are involved in additional incidents, as was the case with the officer who placed Eric Garner, a Staten Island man who died in 2014, in a fatal chokehold. Some personal information, however, would not be subject to public release.

Chokehold ban

Although it did not prevent Officer Daniel Pantaleo from putting his arm across Eric Garners neck in 2014, official NYPD policy does not allow chokeholds. That has created legal ambiguity about what types of grappling maneuvers are still allowed and whether officers can be charged with a crime if they use a chokehold. There are also other departments in the state that lack specific bans. The bill that passed the state Legislature makes it a class c felony to place someone in a fatal chokehold, though some exceptions are made for police in life-threatening situations.

Right to record

Another bill inspired by the Garner case establishes an affirmative right for members of the public to record the police in public. While filming the 2014 confrontation between Garner and the NYPD that did not cost Staten Islander Ramsey Orta his freedom per se, it did bring him to the attention of police who later got him locked up on drug and weapons charges. Coincidentally, Orta was released from prison this week.

The Amy Cooper law

While there was talk of making it a hate crime to fraudulently call 911 in order to get black people in trouble, lawmakers eventually settled on a bill that would allow victims to sue for damages whenever someone  like a certain white woman in Manhattan who didnt want to leash her dog  seeks to weaponize the police in the future.

Prohibit racial profiling

Believe it or not, racial profiling will only become illegal once the governor signs into law a bill prohibiting the practice. The state attorney general would also be able to bring legal action against police departments that continue to target racial and ethnic minorities.

Attorney General Office of Special Investigations

Under this legislation, a new office under the purview of the state attorney general would investigate any fatal encounters between members of the public and police.

Law enforcement inspector general

The governor would be able to appoint a new inspector general to oversee local and state police across the state. That person, who would serve a five-year term, would have a $10 million annual budget and the power to access any records held by local and state law enforcement agencies. There are limits written into the legislative language, however, on what types of information could be released to the general public.

Body cameras

State troopers must wear body cameras 30 days after the governor signs this legislation.

More data on arrests and in-custody deaths

The idea for this bill came from President Barack Obamas Task Force on 21st Century Policing. While it took a few years to get it through the state Legislature, it will require that law enforcement collect and publicly release additional demographic information on who is arrested for low-level offense and what happened to people who die while in jails and prisons.

Medical attention in custody

Criminal defendants would be allowed to pursue civil damages against police who deny them the reasonable level of medical care necessary to prevent injury or significant exacerbation of an injury or condition, according to the legislative language.

Firearms discharge reporting

Police officers will have to notify their commanding officers within six hours whenever they shoot a gun  on or off duty  in a way that could have caused bodily harm to someone. A written report would also have to be filed within 48 hours, according to the legislation. This closes a loophole in state law that allowed one NYPD officer to initially avoid telling anyone he fatally shot a man in a 2007 road rage incident by claiming he thought all those bullets he fired hadnt hit anyone.

Editor's note: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this mischaracterized how a chokehold was used on Eric Garner by Daniel Pantaleo.
[June 11, 2020] Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Boonton For Its Global Customer Value Leadership in RF Power Meters and Sensors

Parsippany, New Jersey, USA, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boonton, a Wireless Telecom Group company (NYSE American: WTT ), announced it has been awarded the 2020 Global Customer Value Leadership Award by Frost & Sullivan for excellence in RF power measurement solutions.The Award specifically recognizes the Boonton solutions and their specialized capabilities and superior performance of their RF power meters and sensors . For more than 70 years, Boonton has been a leader in providing solutions with best-in-class performance, robust feature sets, and exceptional quality at price points that deliver the utmost value to customers.Driven by existing and emerging technology needs of design engineers and technicians in the semiconductor, military, aerospace, medical, and communications industries, Boonton continues to advance RF power measurement solutions as exemplified with the recent release of the PMX40 RF Power Meter.

For its well-built technology, best-in-class proprietary methodologies, unflinching customer-focus, renowned legacy, and strong overall performance, Boonton Electronics earns Frost & Sullivans 2020 Global Customer Value Leadership Award in the RF power meters and sensors market, says Research Analyst Samantha Fisher of Frost & Sullivan. Frost & Sullivan finds Boonton sets the standard for RF power meters and sensos, further confirming its leadership through its commitment to delivering the highest performance for the price.



Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in various global markets that demonstrate exemplary achievement and world-class performance in categories such as leadership, technological innovation, customer value, and strategic product development. Industry analysts benchmark market participants and measure performance through in-depth and comprehensive interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to evaluate and identify best practices in the industry. This is the second time Boonton has won a Best Practices Award from Frost & Sullivan in the last few years, following its previous 2017 Global Radio Frequency Power Meters Product Leadership Award. - END -

About Wireless Telecom Group Wireless Telecom Group, Inc., comprised of Boonton , CommAgility , Holzworth , Microlab , and Noisecom , is a global designer and manufacturer of advanced RF and microwave components, modules, systems, and instruments. Serving the wireless, telecommunication, satellite, military, aerospace, semiconductor, and medical industries, Wireless Telecom Group products enable innovation across existing and emerging wireless technologies. With a product portfolio including peak power meters, signal generators, phase noise analyzers, signal processing modules, LTE PHY/stack software, power splitters and combiners, GPS repeaters, public safety components, noise sources, and programmable noise generators, Wireless Telecom Group supports the development, testing, and deployment of wireless technologies around the globe.



Wireless Telecom Group, Inc.s website address is www.wtcom.com . Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this news release may be considered "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements include declarations regarding the intent, belief, or current expectations of the Company and its management. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect actual results. Such risks and uncertainties are identified in the Company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. Marketing Contact

Maria Droge: +1 (973) 386-9696 Wireless Telecom Group Inc. 25 Eastmans Road Parsippany, NJ 07054 Tel: (973) 386-9696 Fax: (973) 386-9191 www.wtcom.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
BALTIMORE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Virus Network (GVN), a coalition comprised of the world's preeminent human and animal virologists from 53 Centers of Excellence and 10 Affiliates in 32 countries, published a viewpoint in Science today that the stimulation of innate immunity by live attenuated vaccines in general, and oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in particular, could provide temporary protection against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

"We know specific interventions such as vaccines against a novel virus that can cause pandemic will take years to prove they work, are safe, durable, inexpensive and readily available for the world," says Dr. Robert Gallo, The Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine, Co-Founder & Director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Co-Founder & Chairman of the International Scientific Leadership Board of the Global Virus Network. "Clearly, these vaccines need to go forward. However, until there are proven efficacy, safety and global availability of the classical vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, we believe our strategy relying on simple, safe, oral, inexpensive, live vaccines will have a broad benefit against COVID-19. This can also likely be used in future pandemics, particularly of respiratory viruses, by inducing innate immunity, which is immediate and not as limiting as a specific vaccine."

OPV is a live attenuated vaccine that was safely used in the United States from 1963-2000 and is still being used in more than 140 countries. Large-scale clinical studies of OPV for nonspecific prevention of diseases were carried out in the 1960s and 1970s. These involved more than 60,000 individuals and showed that OPV was effective against influenza virus infection, reducing morbidity 3.8-fold on average. OPV vaccination also had a therapeutic effect on genital herpes simplex virus infections, accelerating healing. OPV not only demonstrated positive effects against viral infections, but also oncolytic properties, both by directly destroying tumor cells and by activating cellular immunity toward tumors. More recent studies confirm these broad protective effects of OPV.

"Repeated immunization has an additive effect on stimulation of non-specific protection despite antibodies induced by the first vaccination," says Dr. Konstantin Chumakov, Associate Director for Research for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Vaccines Research and Review and a GVN Center Director. "Further, recent reports indicate that COVID-19 may result in suppressed innate immune responses, and thus, their stimulation by OPV immunization might increase resistance to SARS-CoV-2 as well as a broad spectrum of other pathogens."

"The GVN serves as a catalyst to bring together the world's foremost virologists," says Dr. Christian Brechot, President of the GVN, and a Professor at the University of South Florida. "We are pleased to bring this idea to fruition, and we look forward to working with varying nations to initiate clinical trials."

In addition to Dr. Robert Gallo and Dr. Konstantin Chumakov, the authors of the viewpoint in Science include Dr. Christine Benn of OPEN and the Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark and Dr. Peter Aaby of the Bandim Health Project, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, who are both renowned experts in clinical vaccine research, and Dr. Shyam Kottilil professor of medicine and director of the Clinical Care and Research Division of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a GVN Center of Excellence, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Dr. Kottilil, as the colleague of Dr. Gallo and Dr. Chumakov, will be the chief clinician operating the clinical trials studying OPV against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

"Pandemics are unpredictable and have devastating impact on human lives," says Dr. Kottilil. "Our strategy allows a rapid, simple, low-cost, global approach to curtail the present and future pandemics."

"Studies in low-income countries have shown that OPV is associated with strong reductions in child mortality even if there was no circulating polio virus," say Dr. Christine Benn and Dr. Peter Aaby. "In Denmark we found that OPV-vaccinated children had lower risk of getting hospitalized for respiratory infections. We think that OPV may have the same beneficial non-specific effect among adults. We will soon be starting a randomized trial including 3,400 adults above 50 years of age in Guinea-Bissau to assess whether OPV can reduce the risk of COVID-19 and other infections."

"OPV has a strong safety record, the existence of more than one serotype that could be used sequentially to prolong protection against SARS-CoV-2, a low cost, ease of administration and much availability," says Dr. Gallo. "This is not complicated, the science is there to support the idea, and we need to act fast."

About the Global Virus Network (GVN)

The Global Virus Network (GVN) is essential and critical in the preparedness, defense and first research response to emerging, exiting and unidentified viruses that pose a clear and present threat to public health, working in close coordination with established national and international institutions. It is a coalition comprised of eminent human and animal virologists from 53 Centers of Excellence and 10 Affiliates in 32 countries worldwide, working collaboratively to train the next generation, advance knowledge about how to identify and diagnose pandemic viruses, mitigate and control how such viruses spread and make us sick, as well as develop drugs, vaccines and treatments to combat them. No single institution in the world has expertise in all viral areas other than the GVN, which brings together the finest medical virologists to leverage their individual expertise and coalesce global teams of specialists on the scientific challenges, issues and problems posed by pandemic viruses. The GVN is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, please visit www.gvn.org. Follow us on Twitter @GlobalVirusNews

SOURCE Global Virus Network

Related Links

https://gvn.org


"Dr. Wigginton is a seasoned scientific leader whose expertise spans basic scientific research, translational medicine and clinical development," said Dr. Jingsong Wang, M.D., Ph,D., Founder, Chairman and CEO of Harbour BioMed. "We are very excited to have Dr. Wigginton join our SAB team and look forward to his guidance in accelerating our programs to develop the next generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics."

"HBM has an exciting portfolio and its research stands at the cutting edge of scientific progress that is being conducted to bring next generation immuno-therapeutics to address unmet medical needs." said Dr. Wigginton: "I look forward to working with Jingsong and his team."

Dr. Wigginton recently joined Cullinan Oncology, where he serves as Chief Medical Officer, and leads clinical development for Cullinan's portfolio companies. He also serves as an Advisor at MPM Capital, where he provides input on potential oncology investments and clinical development plans for portfolio companies. Previously, Dr. Wigginton served as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice-President, Clinical Development at MacroGenics.

Previously, Dr. Wigginton served as Therapeutic Area Head, Immuno-Oncology Early Clinical Research at Bristol-Myers Squibb. At BMS, he oversaw the early clinical development of the Company's Immuno-Oncology portfolio, from first-in-man through proof-of-concept, co-led the BMS International Immuno-Oncology Network, and served in a governance role for immuno-oncology discovery. These efforts led to demonstration of proof-of-concept for both anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies in patients with a range of different cancers, and for the anti-PD-1/anti-CTLA-4 combination in melanoma.

Dr. Wigginton also had a lengthy career at the National Cancer Institute, serving as Head of the Investigational Biologics Section in the Center for Cancer Research, where he led an integrated basic, translational, and clinical research effort focused on combination immunotherapy. Dr. Wigginton's work has been recognized through numerous peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and invited presentations at various national and international scientific programs, and he previously served as President of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).

About Harbour BioMed

Harbour BioMed is a global, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics in the fields of immuno-oncology and immunological diseases. The company is building its proprietary pipeline through internal R&D programs, collaborations with co-discovery and co-development partners and select acquisitions.

The company's internal discovery programs are centered around its two patented transgenic mouse platforms (Harbour Mice) for generating both fully human monoclonal antibodies, heavy chain only antibodies (HCAb) and HCAb based bispecific antibodies. Harbour BioMed also licenses the platforms to companies and academic institutions. The company has operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; and Suzhou & Shanghai, China.

For more information, please visit www.harbourbiomed.com

Contact:

Atul Deshpande PhD, MBA

Chief Strategy Officer and Head, US Ops.

Harbour BioMed

Phone: +1-908-210-3347

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Harbour BioMed

Related Links

http://www.harbourbiomed.com


Washington

Without a large federal investment in the nation's public school system, districts hit hard by the coronavirus will struggle to meet the needs of their pupils this fall as they try to reopen their doors, educators told a Senate panel on Wednesday.

In testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, education leaders from around the country said budget challenges were among their chief concerns as they drafted plans to resume in-person classes. That is particularly true for students who have borne the brunt of the economic, educational and racial injustices that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Across the country, school leaders are beginning to roll out plans to welcome back more than 50 million students, which include procuring 50 million masks; flooding schools with nurses, aides and counselors; and staggering schedules to minimize class size. But the high-dollar demands to meet public health guidelines and make up for setbacks that have disproportionately affected low-income students, students of color and those with disabilities could cripple their budgets.

"At a time when our kids and our communities need us most, we are having to make massive cuts," Susana Cordova, the superintendent of Denver Public Schools, told senators. Additional funding would be essential, she said: "We must double down for those who have been most impacted by the COVID crisis if we are to deliver on the promise of education to create a more equitable society."

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

In the stimulus bill passed by Congress in March, about $13.5 billion went to the nation's primary and secondary schools. But dozens of groups say they need at least $200 billion more. A House bill last month contained an additional $58 billion for K-12 schools, but it has been ignored by Senate Republicans.

AASA, The School Superintendents Association, has estimated that an average school district of about 3,700 students would incur nearly $1.8 million in costs to meet federal health guidelines, from $640 for no-touch thermometers to $448,000 for additional custodial staff.

The National Education Association estimated that without federal relief, the education system would lose 1.9 million education jobs.
With a three-pronged strategy (restart, restore and resurgence), India can achieve $100 billion in mobile phones and nearly $40 billion in component exports by 2025, a new report said on Thursday.

The strategy document titled "Mobile Manufacturing in a post-Covid-19 World" by industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) and consultancy major EY, offers a roadmap for the Indian industry to become a global supplier of mobile phones in a world where two countries -- China and Vietnam -- and five global companies dominate over 80 per cent of the world's export market.

Nearly 198 countries import mobile phones, and till recently, only two countries -- China and Vietnam -- were among the exporters.

India joined the ranks as a third with a modest $3 billion exports in 2019-20. It now aims to target the number two spot.

"The mobile manufacturing and components sector is ready to lead India's post Covid-19 exit strategy. Production has restarted. We hope to hit 100% production by August," Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA, told reporters in a video call.

India earlier this month launched three major schemes to boost manufacture of electronics in the country -- Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for large-scale electronics manufacturing, Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS), and Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme.

The three schemes would entail an outlay of about Rs 50,000 crore.



"As the PLI scheme kicks in, we plan to ramp up global exports from India. There isn't a moment left to waste," Mohindroo added.

He said that the Indian manufacturing industry is moving forward harmoniously.

"There is no such thing as a domestic lobby and an international lobby here...We cannot work only on the supposedly big Indian market. We will have to export," he said, adding that in the next four to five years the big global companies will be manufacturing in India for their global exports.

ICEA represents mobile and component manufacturers such as Apple, Motorola, Xiaomi, Nokia, Foxconn, Wistron, Flextronics, Lava, Vivo and others.

The plan prepared by ICEA and EY which aims at transforming mobile manufacturing and components into India's largest export within the next 3-4 years, aligns closely with the government's National Policy on Electronics (NPE-2019).

"The introduction of the incentive schemes like PLI, SPECS and EMC will bring resurgence in the manufacturing environment and create a competitive global ecosystem for India to capture the global market share of mobile phones, parts and accessories," said Bipin Sapra, Indirect Tax Partner Telecom sector, EY India.

The report also pointed out areas of improvement, such as the need to shift large-scale global value chains, reduce cost of inputs and the need to increase competitiveness by building a low-cost domestic ecosystem and seeking partnership with states to address India's disabilities.

From just two factories in 2014, India now has become the second largest producer in the world, according to the IT Ministry.
(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. said it will implement a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial recognition software, a major course change for a company that has been one of the most strident defenders of the controversial technology.

The company will pause law enforcement use of the software to give lawmakers time to regulate a technology that has stirred debate for years and shined an uncomfortable spotlight on Amazons cloud-computing division. The move comes in the midst of protests about police brutality and bias after an officer killed an unarmed black man, George Floyd. Facial recognition technology has been shown in experiments to sometimes have difficulty identifying people with darker skin, recalling for activist groups past government overreach that infringed on civil liberties.

Amazon Web Services, the companys cloud-computing group, in 2016 released Rekognition, a software service designed to identify objects in still images and video, including the ability to match a face with images in a database without taking the time to manually compare images.

Rekognition isnt the only such software. Amazon rivals such as Microsoft Corp. and Google have similar capabilities. But Amazons software became the focus of an intense debate about the potential for powerful, new software to undermine human rights after the American Civil Liberties Union called out the risks that such software would misidentify people. The group highlighted Amazons relationships with a sheriffs office in Oregon and the city of Orlando, two engagements Amazon had touted in marketing materials.

Nina Lindsey, an Amazon spokeswoman, declined to comment beyond a two-paragraph blog post announcing the move.

Weve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge, the company said. We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.

Story continues

In a sweeping police-reform bill introduced Monday, House and Senate Democrats included a provision that would block real-time facial recognition analysis of federal police body camera footage.

Amazon said other organizations, including those using facial recognition to combat human trafficking, will be able to keep using the software. Rekognition runs on Amazon servers and is delivered to customers as an internet service, making it, in theory, relatively simple for Amazon to suspend access for police users. Its unclear how many law enforcement agencies were using Rekognition. In an interview for a PBS Frontline investigation that aired earlier this year, AWS chief Andy Jassy said he didnt know the total number of police departments using Rekognition.

Its sort of the first, real, meaningful concession weve seen from Amazon allowing that use of facial recognition by police might not be good for communities harmed by biased policing, said Shankar Narayan, who expressed concerns about Rekognition to Amazon officials while at the ACLU of Washington, which he left earlier this year. The move shows that Amazon is vulnerable to public pressure and optics, said Narayan, a co-founder MIRA, an organization working to give civil society groups a greater say in how new technologies are used.

The pressure on Amazon intensified after a January 2019 study by two AI researchers showed the software made more mistakes when used on people with darker skin, particularly women. Amazon argued with the conclusions and methodology of the paper, authored by Inioluwa Deborah Raji and Joy Buolamwini, leading some of top AI scientists, including Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio to criticize both Amazons sale of the product to police and its treatment of Raji and Buolamwini. Separately, the ACLU tested the software on members of Congress and found it falsely matched 28 of them with mugshots, disproportionately selecting minority lawmakers.

Amazon, which has long been reluctant to bow to outside pressure on public policy issues, claimed that those studies didnt accurately reflect the capabilities of its software. The company has also said there have been no reported cases of law enforcement abuse of Rekognition, though Amazons ability to audit the softwares use is limited by AWSs encryption and policies against examining customer data.

We believe it is the wrong approach to impose a ban on promising new technologies because they might be used by bad actors for nefarious purposes in the future, Matt Wood, an executive in Amazons machine learning group, said in a 2018 blog post. The world would be a very different place if we had restricted people from buying computers because it was possible to use that computer to do harm.

Even as Amazon continued to defend Rekognition, it began trying to fix its deficiencies, conceding at its own trade shows that there was room for improvement. Amazon eventually offered suggestions on potential facial recognition regulation, but resisted calls for a moratorium on its use as cities like San Francisco began to implement restrictions or wholesale bans on the technology.

Other technology builders have proceeded more cautiously. Google Cloud Platform stopped short of selling facial recognition as an off-the-shelf service, saying in late 2018 that the company wanted to allow more time to work through important technology and policy questions. International Business Machines Corp. earlier this week said it would also no longer sell general-purpose facial recognition and analysis software. Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said in a letter to Congress that the company opposed uses of technology, including facial recognition, for mass surveillance, racial profiling or violations of basic human rights.

Amazons blog post didnt mention Ring, the video doorbell subsidiary that in recent years has established ties to police departments around the U.S. and allows investigators to request footage from users. Activists have held up those arrangements, which cover more than 1,300 law enforcement agencies, as evidence that the companys public statements expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement are less than authentic. The Electronic Frontier Foundation earlier Wednesday introduced a petition demanding Ring end its police partnerships.

(Updates with comment from civil liberties advocate in the ninth paragraph.)

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2020 Bloomberg L.P.
The technology promises to speed up sales by better connecting buyers, sellers, estate agents, conveyancers, lenders, government officials and others involved in transactions. (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A blockchain-style platform promises to double the speed of UK property sales, with the startup behind it announcing a new deal for its widespread use.

The deal with other software firms will give around half of UK estate agents access to new technology designed to tackle typical delays in property sales, according to proptech firm Coadjute.

Speaking exclusively to Yahoo Finance UK, chief executive Dan Salmons said home sales typically take months because of a lack of joined-up thinking and data-sharing among many stakeholders involved.

Confusion over next steps in a sale is common. Salmons said estate agents need large armies of workers merely to check for and pass on updates among parties, while buyers and sellers often have to complete similar forms multiple times.

Some experts say the sector is ripe for disruption, and UK government officials are among those who believe blockchain and similar technology could help revolutionise the buy-sell process.

Real-time updates on property sales

Salmons acknowledges his firm is far from the first to promise to speed up sales by better connecting buyers, sellers, estate agents, conveyancers, lenders, government officials and others involved in transactions.

But he said previous efforts hit a wall as they sought to persuade all parties to use a single IT system. This can prove difficult to tailor to everyones needs, and poses privacy concerns with all data centralised. People love new stuff, but theyre not good at giving up old stuff, he added.

READ MORE: Unprecedented surge in property sales as English market reopens

Platforms using so-called distributed ledger technology (DLT), of which blockchain is the best known example, offer an alternative. They promise to let users like estate agents keep using their existing software, and keep data stored locally.

But such platforms connect other IT systems to a common network, so all parties can easily add specific updates or documents onto a single shared record for each property. With Coadjutes tools, everyone involved has access to the digital record and a tracker lets them see others real-time progress and who needs to act next.

Story continues

Demand for digitisation as COVID-19 forces remote work

Dan Salmons, CEO of Coadjute. (Coadjute)

Britains Land Registry began exploring such technology in 2018, with trials held involving officials and conveyancers around the world who wished to tackle similar challenges.

The work sparked the launch of Coadjute, initially as Instant Property Network, as a participant in the trials. Salmons joined the startup after first getting involved in the experiments as Royal Bank of Scotlands director of innovation for home buying.

It has since been working on its software and building interest, but Salmons said the pandemic had proved a turning point. The rise of remote working among estate agents, solicitors and others has sparked a sudden demand for digitisation in recent months, he said.

READ MORE: UK house prices drop for a third month but demand picks up

Now Yahoo Finance UK can reveal Coadjute has signed a deal with both major estate agent software providers dezrez, MRI and Reapit and conveyancing software providers Redbrick and Desrezlegal. The startup estimates it will give around half of UK estate agents access to its software later this year.

Salmons said Coadjute was currently raising cash through a multi-million pound funding round, but its earnings will come from taking a fee when its software is used.

Huge hype over blockchain

He acknowledged the huge hype around blockchain in recent years, however. The company is also likely to need to bring many more parties on board before it can completely overhaul the transparency and speed of sales.

But Salmons insisted the deal will ultimately prove a milestone in digitising the property market, and that such technology can deliver in property more than it has in some other sectors so far. He said conversations had begun about bringing major banks on board.

The CEO was involved in the early rollout of contactless cards in a previous job at Paypoint. He said he believed such platforms could eventually spark a bigger transformation than contactless payments. He expects other companies to even develop property transaction apps, using data via software like Coadjutes.

READ MORE: Taylor Wimpey reports surge of interest in new homes as site work resumes

Your home is one of the biggest purchases youll ever make, but youre presented with a process where youre completely out of control, youve no clear idea whos in charge and you cant find out whats going on, he said. The cause of that pain is that systems are not connected.

He also acknowledged creating the right technology was only part of the challenge. People think innovation is all about the tech, but its rarely the hardest bit.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
TORONTO, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Datametrex AI Limited (the "Company" or "Datametrex") (TSXV: DM, FSE: D4G, OTC: DTMXF) is pleased to announce that former executive from LOTTE Data Communication Ltd. (LOTTE), Edward Choi, joined the Company to head up the sales team in Seoul, South Korea. Edward was a Vice President at LOTTE for leading Lottes cyber security division.



Adding Edward to the sales team in a leadership capacity is a strategic move for Datametrex. His contacts at LOTTE will allow Datametrex to open more doors and build on the strong foundation weve established these past three years, says Marshall Gunter, CEO of the Company.

About Datametrex AI Limited

Datametrex AI Limited is a technology focused company with exposure to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning through its wholly owned subsidiary, Nexalogy (www.nexalogy.com). Datametrexs mission is to provide tools that support companies in fulfilling their operational goals, including Health and Safety, with predictive and preventive technologies. By working with companies to set a new standard of protocols through Artificial Intelligence and health diagnostics, the Company provides progressive solutions to support the supply chain. Additional information on Datametrex is available at www.datametrex.com .

For further information, please contact:

Marshall Gunter  CEO

Phone: (514) 295-2300

Email: mgunter@datametrex.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy.

Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this press release and is based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations and opinions of management on the date such forward-looking information is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.
Almost a fifth of the populations of some parts of Britain have been furloughed due to coronavirus, according to official figures that today reveal the job retention scheme has now cost almost 20billion.

London has been the worst affected area, with all but one of the areas with the most furloughed posts covered by the Job Retention Scheme laying within the capital.

Those with the lowest number are to be found in sparsely populated areas of England Scotland and Wales, the Treasury statistics show.

In total, 8.9 million jobs have been furloughed since the scheme launched. It has cost the Government 19.6 billion to date.

Analysis of the new data shows that 25,400 people have been furloughed in Tottenham, north London, making it the worst-hit parliamentary constituency in the country.

Just under 18 per cent of people are being supported by Government money there.

The constituency with the most overall furloughed posts is West Ham in East London, with 29,300.

Meanwhile, Crawley, close to Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, is the worst-hit local authority by proportion of population.

The figures show that 20,000 people, or 17.8 per cent of the local population, including children and pensioners, have been furloughed there.

The Government launched its jobs retention scheme in March, allowing companies to send workers home, with the Treasury paying up to 80 per cent of their salaries.

In England, 6.5 million jobs had been furloughed by May 31, dominated by London and the South East, at more than one million each.

Around 628,000 workers have been furloughed in Scotland, 317,000 in Wales, and 212,000 in Northern Ireland, the figures show.

London has been the worst affected area, while those with the lowest number are to be found in sparsely populated areas of England Scotland and Wales, the Treasury statistics show

In England, 6.5 million jobs had been furloughed by May 31, dominated by London and the South East, at more than one million each

'Our unprecedented coronavirus support schemes are protecting millions of vital jobs and businesses across the whole of the United Kingdom - and will help ensure we recover from this outbreak as swiftly as possible,' Chancellor Rishi Sunak said.

'We have extended both schemes so they will continue to provide measured support across the UK as we start to reopen the economy.'

But the Government is soon set to ease the support for businesses using the furlough scheme to keep their employees on the books.

From August, businesses will be expected to contribute some of the 80 per cent of their employees' salaries that the Government is currently paying.

The Government data shows that around 1.1 million businesses have claimed cash to help support their staff.

Around 60 per cent of the companies who have furloughed at least one worker have fewer than five employees. These firms have claimed a total of 2 billion for the close to one million employees they have furloughed.

At the other end of the spectrum, around 6,300 companies with more than 250 staff have furloughed 2.5 million people.

These bigger businesses have claimed a total of 4.9 billion to cover the salaries of their staff.

Wholesale and retail businesses were the worst hit, claiming 3.3 billion for 1.6 million workers.

Meanwhile, the data further reveals the destruction wrought on the hospitality sector, with accommodation and food services companies furloughing 1.4 million people, and claiming 2.6 billion in furlough cash.

The data comes two days after it was revealed that more than a million businesses have asked for a loan under three Government-backed Covid-19 support schemes.

Around 35 billion in Government-backed loans has been lent under the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS), its counterpart for larger businesses, called CLBILS, and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
The UK's coronavirus death toll could have been just 10,000 if Boris Johnson had triggered lockdown a week earlier, a former government science chief said today.

Sir David King said modelling expert Neil Ferguson had underestimated the casualties from the delay when he suggested the figures could have been halved.

He accused the government of blundering by trying to pursue a 'herd immunity' policy that would have kept the economy going.

The intervention, in an interview with ITV's Good Morning Britain, came after Professor Ferguson, a key figure on SAGE at the beginning of the outbreak, made his bombshell claim to MPs yesterday.

Mr Johnson imposed the lockdown on March 23 on the back of the Imperial College London scientist's grim modelling, which predicted 500,000 people could die if the virus was left unchecked.

But Prof Ferguson, dubbed 'Professor Lockdown', said that, in hindsight, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if the lockdown had come a week earlier.

The Prime Minister struggled under a barrage of questions at tonight's Downing Street press conference after Professor Neil Ferguson's bombshell revelation to MPs this afternoon

Sir David King said modelling expert Neil Ferguson had underestimated the casualties from the delay when he suggested the figures could have been halved

Britain has officially suffered 40,000 fatalities where Covid-19 was the definite cause of death - the most in Europe and only second to the US.

But the true death toll is thought to be above 50,000 according to estimates which factor in suspected cases who did not receive a test.

Sir David, who was the government's chief scientist from 2000-2007, said today: 'I believe that we could have emerged at this point with no more than 10,000 deaths by just going into lockdown a week earlier.

'My second point is that I think the government position was made clear a few times.

'Once the PM made a speech about how we would ride through lockdown while other countries were going into lockdown, our economy would grow and we would emerge like Superman.

'What he was referring to was a policy of herd immunity.

'I do believe that the government was favouring this idea that we should allow the disease to spread but no more than the NHS could manage to cope with the cases.'

At the Downing Street briefing last night, Mr Johnson batted away questions over whether the government had made serious mistakes in the pandemic.

'At the moment it is simply too early to judge ourselves,' he said. 'We simply don't have the answers to all these questions.'

Asked about what his biggest regret from the crisis is, the PM said: 'Of course we are going to have to look back on all of this and learn lessons that we can.

'But, frankly, I think a lot of these questions are still premature.

'There are lots of things, lots of data, things that we still don't know, and this epidemic has a long way to go, alas.

'Not just in this country, but around the world.'

Chief medical officer Professor Christ Whitty was more forthcoming, saying: 'I think there is a long list, actually, of things that we need to look at very seriously.

'If I was to choose one, it would probably be looking at how we could ... speed up testing very early on in the epidemic.

'Many of the problems that we have had came because we were unable to actually work out exactly where we were.'

Mr Johnson imposed the lockdown on March 23 on the back of the Imperial College London scientist's grim modelling, which predicted 500,000 people could die if the virus was left unchecked. But Ferguson, dubbed 'Professor Lockdown' conceded this afternoon that, in hindsight, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if the lockdown had come a week earlier

Facing the public and reporters tonight Mr Johnson highlighted the number of questions about past actions, when he wanted to focus on the future. 'At the moment it is simply too early to judge ourselves,' he said

Professor Ferguson made the stark admission at a virtual House of Commons Science and Technology Committee briefing today in a rare public appearance since flouting stay at home rules to have secret trysts with his married mistress

Prof Ferguson was forced to stand aside from SAGE after flouting stay at home rules to have secret trysts with his married mistress.

Appearing before the Science and Technology Committee. he claimed that Britain missed 90 per cent of its coronavirus cases because it was not screening passengers at airports, in a thinly-veiled jab at the Government.

The epidemiologist told MPs: 'The epidemic was doubling every three to four days before lockdown interventions were introduced.

'So had we introduced lockdown measures a week earlier, we would have then reduced the final death toll by at least a half,' Ferguson said.

'So whilst I think the measures ... were warranted ... certainly had we introduced them earlier, we would have seen many fewer deaths.'

Professor Ferguson claimed that a lack of screening at airports was the route cause of Britain's catastrophic outbreak.

He claimed he was sounding the alarm about imported cases coming from Italy and Spain since February.

Professor Ferguson criticised the UK for taking too long to ramp up its testing capacity, which meant swabs were reserved for only very sick Covid patients.

The result was that thousands of infected people were allowed to fly in from Europe and spread the virus through the UK.

Professor Ferguson told MPs: 'We tried very hard to estimate what proportion of cases were being missed. At the time [before lockdown] we didn't have a policy of screening people at borders and we estimated then that two-thirds of cases were being missed.

'What we know now is... it's probably 90 per cent of cases imported to this country were missed.

'These were really decisions made by the Foreign Office and by the Department of Health and Social Care, not by SAGE.

'SAGE recommended that when a country had been identified as having active transmission, we should check travellers from those countries.

'The difficult was we know now, particularly with Spain and Italy, had large epidemics before they even realised. We were just not aware of the scale of transmission in Europe.

'Had we had the testing capacity then certainly screening everybody with symptoms coming in would've given us a much better impression of where infections were coming from.'

Epidemiologist Mark Woolhouse, a professor at the University of Edinburgh and an adviser to Tony Blair's Government during the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, told the committee that he feared lockdown would be worse for the nation's health than coronavirus itself.

He said: 'I don't think we will be able to do a full reckoning of the cost of lockdown for some time yet. I have no doubt that lockdown itself will cause a loss of livelihoods, loss of wellbeing and, quite possibly, a loss of lives of itself.

'But we won't be able to balance that out for some time. I fear that, to a degree, in the UK... lockdown may be considerably worse than the disease itself.'

It comes after a study in May predicted 30,000 lives would have been saved if the UK locked down a week before March 23.

The claim was made by mathematical sciences expert Dr John Dagpunar, from the University of Southampton.

He predicted how different scenarios could have affected the progress of the outbreak in Britain and suggested that starting the lockdown on March 16 could have limited the number of deaths to 11,200.

Detailed statistics predict that more than 50,000 people have already died with COVID-19 in the UK, but this study from the University of Southampton suggests that number could have been kept to 11,200 if lockdown was introduced a week earlier

Britain was one of the last countries in Europe to put the rules in place - Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, France, Austria, Spain and Italy had done it days or weeks earlier.

Dr Dagpunar said in his paper 'literally, each day's delay in starting lockdown can result in thousands of extra deaths... it does pose the question as to why lockdown did not occur earlier?'

Dr Dagpunar's study considered the number of people infected with the virus, its rate of reproduction, hospital bed and staff capacity, and the proportion of patients who die, among other factors.

He calculated the death rate to be one per cent, and the pre-lockdown reproduction rate (R) to be 3.18, meaning every 10 patients infected a further 32.

The paper estimated that 4.4 per cent of all patients need hospital treatment, 30 per cent of whom will end up in intensive care.

Of the intensive care patients, a hospital stay lasts 16 days on average and half of them go on to die.

Of the other 70 per cent, a hospital stay averages eight days and 11 per cent die.

Running these factors through an algorithm based on the timing of the UK's outbreak, Dr Dagpunar suggested that the March 23 lockdown could have resulted in a total of around 39,000 deaths. Britain is known to have passed this grim landmark number already.

If lockdown had been started a week earlier, on March 16, the model suggested, there could have been a 'very large reduction' in deaths, limiting them to around 11,200.

The virus would have infected four per cent less of the population in this scenario (two per cent compared to six per cent), the study said, and the demand for hospital beds would have been lower.

Dr Dagpunar said: 'In hindsight [this] clearly illustrates that earlier action was needed and would have saved many lives.'

He said the number of people who would go on to die in the scenarios was 'extremely sensitive' to the timing of the lockdown.
The Belfast Trust has apologised for the "insensitive timing" of a care home bill for over 75,000 sent to a family just days after both parents died from Covid-19.

Harry and May Rodgers, aged 86 and 83, from Belfast, were married for 64 years before they died 24 hours apart at a nursing home in April.

Ten days later, the Belfast Trust sent two letters offering both their condolences and requesting payment.

Their daughter Janice Hills and son-in-law Billy Hills were still in shock after having to say their goodbyes at Parkview nursing home while wearing full PPE. The facility was badly hit by the pandemic, with another eight residents losing their lives.

Speaking to UTV, Mrs Hills said: "It was just horrific, they were skin and bone. They just went down to nothing."

Shaken by the letters from the Belfast Trust, she added: "That's a person you're talking about, you've just sent me an invoice for a person that has just lost their life to this horrible virus. And to me, it just felt as if all they were worth was money."

She said she would support an inquiry to establish why over half of care home residents in Northern Ireland died in care homes.

"I think down the road possibly something else will happen... and by the time they come to do the inquiry (they will ask) who were May and Harry? I think it needs to be done before people forget."

As life slowly returns to normality, her husband urged the public not to forget those who have lost loved ones.

A spokesperson for Belfast Trust said it would "like to offer our sincere condolences to the Rodgers family at this deeply sad time. We are extremely sorry for the insensitive timing of this letter. The Trust will contact the family to discuss the matters you have raised".

The statement added: "As a result of this case, we are reviewing our practice for any potential learning and to ensure invoices are issued within a sensitive timeframe."
Black Lives Matter is a political advocacy group, [f]ounded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martins murderer, according to the groups website. Never mind that the George Zimmerman trial was a complete fraud, as Joel Gilbert brilliantly explained in his recent book and movie, The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud that Divided America.

BLM is a self-described global network, which explains why protests and riots sprang up seemingly spontaneously all over the world after George Floyds death. Starting in Minneapolis, protests quickly spread to far off locales including New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

On their website, BLM states that they, practice empathy. Yet in 2017 this happened.

A white teenager cowers in a corner, his hands bound with orange cords and his mouth covered with tape. Four African Americans kick and hit him and slash at his scalp. As a cellphone camera captures their blurry images and broadcasts the ordeal on Facebook, the attackers hurl racial insults and denounce President-elect Donald J. Trump.

As reported by the New York Times: A hashtag linking the assault to the Black Lives Matter movement exploded on social media. Were the four attackers card-carrying members of BLM? Does it matter? After all, every police officer is a white supremacist and racist based on the actions of four cops in Minneapolis. Generalizing can work both ways.

BLM claims these noble goals: We embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another. They are, huided by the fact that all Black lives matter. Do they walk the walk, or just talk the talk?

Do the lives of Gregory Lewis, Teyonna Lofton, or Angelo Bronson matter? These are not and never will be household names like George Floyd. The Obama Foundation website wont feature their faces. Michelle Obama wont show pictures of any of them on her Instagram page. The justice brothers, Jesse and Al, wont be hustling their deaths. Benjamin Crump wont be representing any of their families. Dr. Michael Baden wont be reviewing their autopsies. Members of Congress wont take a knee for any of them. And there certainly wont be widespread protests and riots over their deaths.

Why not? All three are black. Dont their lives matter, too?

YouTube screen grab

These poor souls were victims of another weekend in the killing fields of Chicago. As the Chicago Sun Times reported: 18 murders in 24 hours: Inside the most violent day in 60 years in Chicago. This was last weekend while millions were proclaiming around the world that black lives matter.

Weve never seen anything like it, at all, said Max Kapustin, the senior research director at the University of Chicago Crime Lab.

Yet I dont hear Democrats, the DNC media, woke celebrities and athletes, or any race hustlers showing the least bit of concern. Where are the Obamas? This carnage occurred in their home city. Will any cable news networks be live streaming the funerals? Will Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ban funeral gatherings of more than ten for these individuals while encouraging gatherings of thousands of looters on Michigan Avenue?

Why dont these black lives matter? These arent simply statistics but real people leaving lives, dreams and families behind.

A hardworking father killed just before 1 a.m. A West Side high school student murdered two hours later. A man killed amid South Side looting at a cellphone store at 12:30 p.m. A college freshman who hoped to become a correctional officer, gunned down at 4:25 p.m. after getting into an argument in Englewood.

Chicago was home to 653 murders in 2016, more than the total in New York City and Los Angeles combined. Who was president in 2016? Who had eight years to fundamentally transform America when he wasnt busy lowering the sea levels?

Interestingly CNN reported, Chicago's homicide rate decreases for the third straight year. Who has been president the past 3 years? Obviously, CNN wont notice that association because Orange Man Bad. In their reporting, President Trump is a racist and white supremacist. The declining murder rate must be due to Obama, despite it being much higher when he was in office. CNN made the same claims crediting Trumps economy to Obama.

Its not just Chicago where black lives dont seem to matter. Look at the last hundred homicides in Baltimore. One only has to go back to mid-February of this year to hit the 100 mark. The race of most victims was listed as unknown yet 29 of the 100 were blacks.

Antwan Phillips, Jared Hill, and Tyrone Henderson were among the victims, but no one will be wearing a T-shirt showing their names or faces. Jesse and Al wont be at their funerals. Nancy Pelosi wont take a knee on their behalf. Why dont their lives matter?

Last January, 14 were killed by a roadside bomb in Burkina Faso, including seven children. A week earlier, 35 people, mostly women were killed in a terrorist attack. Did any of these black lives matter? Where were the protests? Or kneeling? Where was Michelle Obamas #BringBackOurGirls hashtag she used as first lady, long before Donald Trump was a presidential candidate?

YouTube screen grab

The woke kneeling liberals sing the praises of Planned Parenthood, founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger whose goal was to exterminate the Negro population. Their abortion clinics are disproportionately located in ZIP codes with higher percentages of blacks and/or Hispanics than the states overall percentage.

In New York City, home to some of the worst rioting, while blacks make up 25 percent of the NYC population, 46 percent of abortions were black babies. Shockingly more black babies were killed by abortion in NYC than were born alive. By contrast, Whites make up 44 percent of the NYC population but only account for 12 percent of abortions. Why dont the lives of aborted black babies matter?

Will these protests cause a surge in Chinese coronavirus cases? Where are the protests occurring and who will be most affected? According to CNN,

Black Americans represent 13.4% of the American population, according to the US Census Bureau, but counties with higher black populations account for more than half of all Covid-19 cases and almost 60% of deaths, the study found.

Social justice warriors are happy to congregate in urban areas, ignoring the social distancing and mask mandates that the rest of us have been clubbed with for the past three months, potentially spreading the Wuhan virus to blacks, many of whom live in the protest zones. It is almost as bad as protesting in a nursing home. Dont those black lives matter?

Liberal do-gooders are hijacking George Floyds death for their personal quest for power, money, and furthering their Marxist agenda. From defunding police departments to saying, Some white people may have to die, as a University of Georgia graduate student recommended.

If black lives truly mattered, there would be calls for more school choice and fewer abortions, more emphasis on intact nuclear families and less on reparations for events hundreds of years ago. But those are not part of the BLM political platform, contradicting their supposed message.

From a true advocate for social justice, Martin Luther King, Jr, We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. If black lives truly mattered, that would be the emphasis of BLM and their liberal sycophants. Otherwise America will become a balkanized country, populated by fools who let our once shining city on a hill crumble into the ash heap of ruin.

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a Denver-based physician and freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in American Thinker, Daily Caller, Rasmussen Reports, and other publications. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and QuodVerum.
President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order authorizing U.S. sanctions against International Criminal Court employees involved in an investigation into whether American forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

In announcing the action, Trump administration officials said the Hague-based tribunal threatens to infringe upon U.S. national sovereignty and accused Russia of manipulating it to serve Moscows ends.

We cannot, we will not stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in announcing the move.

Rights activists assailed Trumps move. Andrea Prasow, the Washington director for Human Rights Watch, said the action demonstrates contempt for the global rule of law and represents a blatant attempt at obstruction.

Trumps order authorizes Pompeo, in consultation with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to block assets in the United States of ICC employees involved in the probe, according to a letter sent by Trump to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi accompanying the order.

It also authorizes Pompeo to block entry into the United States of these individuals as well as their family members.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants to investigate possible crimes committed between 2003 and 2014 including alleged mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by U.S. forces and the CIA. The ICC investigation was given the go-ahead in March.

The ICC was established in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It has jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself. The United States has never been a member of the court.

The U.S. action is the latest under Trump taking aim at an international body. Trump, who has promoted an America First policy during his presidency, last month said he would end the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization.

Afghanistan is a member of the ICC, though Kabul has argued that any war crimes should be prosecuted locally.

The Department of Justice has received substantial credible information that raises serious concerns about a long history of financial corruption and malfeasance at the highest levels in the office of the prosecutor, said Attorney General William Barr, who did not offer evidence.

LOW POINT

John Bellinger, the State Departments former top lawyer under Republican former President George W. Bush, said the two sides could have avoided the conflict but chose not to.

Its unfortunate that the long-running U.S. dispute with the ICC has reached this new low point. The prosecutor should never have picked this fight with the United States, which will undermine international support for the court.

Its not surprising that the Trump administration has reacted forcefully with threatened sanctions, especially in an election year, Bellinger added.

The Trump administration imposed travel restrictions and other sanctions against ICC employees a year ago.

The International Criminal Court was established to provide accountability for war crimes, but in practice it has been an unaccountable and ineffective international bureaucracy that targets and threatens United States personnel as well as personnel of our allies and partners, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.

The ICC decided to investigate after a preliminary examination by prosecutors in 2017 found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes were committed in Afghanistan and that the court has jurisdiction.

A senior Trump administration official, describing the order to reporters on a conference call, said the directive authorizes sanctions against any individual directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate American personnel without U.S. consent.

SOURCE: REUTERS
President Xi Jinping learns about local efforts in ecological conservation during his visit on Tuesday to a vineyard at the foot of the Helan Mountains in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region. WANG YE/XINHUA

Local authorities get instructions as Ningxia tour ends Local governments should make efforts to overcome the effects of COVID-19 and prioritize the work of bolstering employment and improving people's livelihoods, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday. Xi spoke as he wrapped up a three-day inspection tour of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, a less-developed inland region. About 37 percent of the population belongs to the Hui ethnic group. He visited a village, a community, a section of the Yellow River, a rural ecotourism park and a vineyard to learn about work done in disease prevention, poverty reduction, environmental and ecological protection and ethnic unity. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, instructed local authorities to fully implement decisions of the CPC Central Committee and take tough steps to forestall and defuse major risks, carry out targeted poverty alleviation and prevent and control pollution. Local governments should uphold the people-centered development philosophy and help the people to address their problems, Xi said. The president stressed the importance of securing jobs for major groups including laid-off workers, college graduates, migrant workers and veterans. Xi instructed authorities to pursue high-quality growth, speed up industrial upgrading and promote economic development in quantity and quality. The government should take practical measures to ease the tax burden of enterprises, implement policies boosting domestic demand and help companies address problems in resuming production, he said. Calling increases in domestic demand a strategic measure, Xi urged deepening of supply-side structural reform, promotion of innovation-driven development, building up of a modern agricultural system and boosting sales of Ningxia's agricultural products. Xi instructed local authorities to further deepen reform in all areas, seize the great opportunities in building the Belt and Road and boost opening-up to pursue higher-quality growth. He stressed the importance of poverty reduction, saying continuous efforts must be made to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty as scheduled. The government should help people relocated from poor areas secure a stable life and find ways to become better off, he said. Xi reiterated the importance of upholding the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", saying that the government should focus on the protection of the environment and ecological restoration of the Yellow River. The government should promote balanced development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas, Xi said. He also called for speeding up work on the public health system and carrying out extensive health campaigns. The government should uphold the Party's basic principles on religion work and handle administration of religion issues in accordance with the law, he said, adding that authorities should promote implementation of the Civil Code. Noting that firm belief is the source of strength for the Party to move forward, Xi called on all Party members to stay true to their original aspiration and keep their mission firmly in mind. Bringing benefits to the people is the most important mission for officials, and the misbehavior of formalism and bureaucracy must be opposed, Xi said. He added that continuous anti-graft measures must be taken to create a clean environment for entrepreneurship. While visiting the Yellow River in Wuzhong on Mondaythe fourth time he visited the river in less than a yearXi called it the mother river of the Chinese nation and a precious resource for the development of Chinese civilization. Ningxia authorities should shoulder their responsibilities, pay greater attention to protecting the Yellow River and coordinate major projects along the river to improve the natural environment, he said. On Tuesday, Xi visited a rural ecotourism park and vineyard near the Helan Mountains to learn about the development of local agriculture and efforts to strengthen the ecological conservation of the mountains. Planting should be adjusted to better protect water resources, he said, noting that Ningxia people have long been blessed by the Yellow River. Duan Changqing, a professor at China Agricultural University, said he gave a briefing about the grape plantation, wine production and ecological restoration while Xi visited the vineyard. Planting grapes and developing the wine industry in dry areas not only can protect the environment but also increase the income of farmers, which demonstrates the president's concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", Duan told China Daily.


Press Release

11 June 2020

CityHub, the hotel concept for Gen Y and Z, to grow its portfolio to 10 locations in the next 5 years

The next location to open its doors is in Copenhagen

NIBC and ABN AMRO provide financial facilities to support roll-out

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As the travel industry faces some of the most important challenges in its history, CityHub - the hotel/hostel hybrid brand - announces its financial collaboration with Dutch banks NIBC and ABN AMRO to kickstart its international expansion. The new funds will support and accelerate CityHubs development plan, to grow its portfolio to ten locations.

Launched five years ago in Amsterdam, CityHub was created to bridge the gap between hotels and hostels, to cater to the needs of a new generation of global citizens. Frequently recognised for its innovative take on the hospitality industry, the award winning hotel brand recently announced the opening of its first international location in Copenhagen in September 2020.

Coming at a time when the travel industry is taking tentative steps out of the pandemic, NIBC and ABN AMROs support shows underlying expectation of the growth potential of CityHubs innovative concept.

Young leisure travellers are expected to be the first to resume travelling when lockdowns ease, says CityHub co-founder Sem Schuurkes. Our financial partnership with ABN AMRO and NIBC recognises CityHubs position as the go-to option for GEN Y and GEN Z. We cant wait to bring CityHub to the most exciting leisure cities in Europe.

CityHub combines shared facilities with private sleek sleeping units, offering comfort, safety and high quality services at a hostel budget. Pioneers in contactless hospitality, CityHubs technology allows guests to check in and out themselves, serve themselves at the bar, as well as providing 24/7 customer service via the CityHub app. CityHubs modular concept makes it easy to repurpose existing buildings in up and coming urban neighbourhoods.

Sharing the same belief and confidence in CityHubs potential, Dutch investment bank NIBC is joining ABN AMRO in supporting CityHubs development plan by offering growth financing.

With its game-changing concept, CityHub created a new category that has huge potential for the next generation of travellers. We are proud to be part of the team and excited to support CityHubs growth across Europe, says Brigitte van der Maarel, Head of NIBC Mezzanine & Equity Partners.

We are proud financial partners of CityHub from the very start, providing financial facilities since the opening of its first hotel in Amsterdam five years ago. We are pleased to be able to facilitate CityHubs innovative and disruptive concept to grow throughout Europe, says Peter Sleper, ABN AMRO.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) acted as a guarantor of the loans through the Dutch Trade and Investment Fund, a government agency aimed to support businesses international ambitions.

About NIBC

NIBC is best suited to help entrepreneurs at their decisive moments. Now and in the future. As a bank for entrepreneurs, we are committed to cultivating our THINK YES mentality by being flexible and agile and by matching our clients can-do attitude. We support our corporate clients in building their businesses. For our retail clients in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium we offer mortgages, online savings and brokerage products that are accessible, easy to understand and fairly priced. Operating in the Netherlands (The Hague and Amsterdam), Germany and UK, our corporate clients business (mainly mid-market) offers advice and debt, mezzanine and equity financing solutions to entrepreneurs across select sectors and sub-sectors in which we have strong expertise and market positions. The midmarket is dynamic by nature and requires a bank that can respond quickly and in a highly flexible way. Our aim is to meet the markets requirements at decisive moments such as mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, investments and strategic financings and re-financings.

About ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO serves clients in the retail, private banking and corporate banking sectors. Our primary focus is on Northwest Europe. We offer clients in the Netherlands an extensive and comprehensive range of products and services across a variety of channels.

About RVO

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency supports entrepreneurs, NGOs, knowledge institutions and organisations. We aim to facilitate entrepreneurship, improve collaborations, strengthen positions and help realise national and international ambitions with funding, networking, know-how and compliance with laws and regulations.

We are a government agency which operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Its activities are commissioned by the various Dutch ministries and the European Union.
Could we run out of sand? Scientists adjust how grains are measured

Humans see sand as an infinite resource. We are astounded to discover there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on our beaches.

Yet in some areas, sand is in short supply and scientists have discovered the way we keep track of this resource has given us misleading information.

In many instances, we have simply been measuring sand the wrong way.

"Not all sand is the same," said Associate Professor Ana Vila-Concejo from the University of Sydney School of Geosciences. "Yet the models for assessing sand and how it moves mostly rely on one type. This means we have an inaccurate picture of what is happening, especially in coastal areas that are vulnerable to climate change."

Dr Amin Riazi from Eastern Mediterranean University worked with Associate Professor Vila-Concejo during a short stay at the University of Sydney to develop new engineering models that account for the different shapes of sand grains. Standard models assume sand grains are spherical, which is fine for common sands made up of ground-down silica and quartz rocks.

However, carbonate sands derived from shells, corals and the skeletons of marine animals tend to be elliptical, less dense and have more holes and edges. The new research has taken this into account with astounding results, finding that existing models underestimate the surface area of carbonate sands by 35 percent.

Published today in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, Associate Professor Vila-Concejo's team has shown that standard engineering models also overestimate transport of carbonate sands on the seafloor by more than 20 percent and underestimate suspended transport of this sand by at least 10 percent.

"This means we are not accounting for sand correctly," she said. "While this has impact on construction and manufacturing, it could also have a big effect on the management of coastal areas impacted by climate change."

Sand is used throughout industry. From the glass in your mobile phone to base for roads, sand is used across our economy. In fact, sand and gravel are the most extracted materials on the planet, exceeding that of fossil fuels.

Nature last year reported that illegal sand mining is happening in about 70 countries and hundreds of people have been killed in battles over sand in the past decade.

Associate Professor Vila-Concejo said: "While sand wars are not happening in Australia, we do have areas with chronic coastal erosion and sand loss such as at Jimmys Beach in Port Stephens."

NEW MATHEMATICAL MODELS

Her team took carbonate sand from near Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef and observed how it responded under experimental conditions. Based on these observations, they developed new mathematical equations that much better predict how carbonate sands move.

The team confirmed this by applying their equations to existing data on carbonate sand movement accumulated over six years from observations off the north coast of Oahu, Hawaii.

"Keeping track of carbonate sand will become increasingly important," said Dr Tristan Salles, also from the School of Geosciences in the Faculty of Science.

"If islands and atolls are at risk from erosion caused by sea-level rise, it will be vital to understand how the sands protecting them will respond to the ocean currents, waves and high-energy sea swells battering them."

He said these new equations are likely to be used to update all sediment transport models. "This will include evaluating beach and atoll responses to ocean hydrodynamics in carbonate-sand-rich regions, some of which are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change," Dr Salles said.

At present, coastal engineering uses models based on siliciclastic sands. Associate Professor Vila-Concejo hopes that the models her team has developed can be used to improve management of coastal areas.

"This means we can develop a far more accurate picture of how changing oceans will affect marine ecosystems where carbonate sands are dominant," Associate Professor Vila-Concejo said.

"Understanding how, why and when sediments move is crucial to managing and predicting the effects of climate change and our new work will help in the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies."

###

DOWNLOAD the research and photos at this link.

INTERVIEWS

Associate Professor Ana Vila-Concejo

ana.vilaconcejo@sydney.edu.au | +61 432 077 760

School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Marcus Strom | marcus.strom@sydney.edu.au | +61 423 982 485

DECLARATION

Data for the modelling was provided by PacIOOS, part of the US Integrated Ocean Observing System, funded in part by NOAA, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Ana Vila Concejo acknowledges an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship and a Women in Science Fellowship from the University of Sydney. Amin Riazi acknowledges an Eastern Mediterranean University research scholarship.

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Congress on Wednesday stepped up its attack against the government over the alleged Chinese intrusion in Ladakh with senior party leader Rahul Gandhi questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modis silence on the issue.The Chinese have walked in and taken our territory in Ladakh. Meanwhile, the PM is absolutely silent and has vanished from the scene, Gandhi tweeted on Wednesday.

He also tagged a news article claiming China has taken a hard-line during military-level talks. Addressing a virtual rally for Himachal Pradesh, BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at Gandhi, saying he should understand that strategic issues involving China must not be raised on Twitter.We want disputes to be resolved peacefully. We will say one thing very humbly that today India is the India of 2020 and not 1962. Todays India is of a courageous leader like Narendra Modi and not of Congress leaders, he said. Prasad said when India works to become self-reliant, it will also do so in matters of security and referred to surgical and air strikes targeting terrorists inside Pakistan during first term of Modi government.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 17 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) 596/2014

Announcement by BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust plc

Adjustments to Net Asset Value of BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust plc

Issued on 11 June 2020

Summary

The Board of BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust plc (the "Company") is pleased to announce a positive adjustment of 72 basis points to the net asset value ("NAV") of the Company for 10 June 2020 due to the recognition of an expected receipt of tax reclaims on foreign income and the release of related provisions in the Company's accounts, as explained below.

As the Board has determined that the future receipt of these tax reclaims is now virtually certain, an increase of 2,573,002 (reflecting both the expected tax refund and release of a related provision in the accounts, explained below) has been applied as revenue through the Company's profit and loss account for 10 June 2020.

Background

The Company's investments include shares issued by both UK companies and non-UK companies. Until 2009, while dividends paid to the Company by UK companies were not subject to UK corporation tax, dividends paid to the Company by non-UK companies were subject to UK corporation tax, although credit could be given for any withholding tax suffered. A number of cases challenging this difference in treatment, on the basis that it was illegal under European Union law, were commenced against the UK tax authorities ("HMRC"). The litigation most relevant to the Company was commenced in 2003 in the UK High Court, pursuant to the terms of a group litigation order ("GLO"). The Prudential Assurance Company Limited ultimately became the test case under the GLO.

The Company took a number of measures to protect its investors in relation to this matter, including filing tax returns for accounting periods to 31 August 2007, 31 August 2008 and 31 August 2009 (the "relevant accounting periods") on the basis that foreign dividends were exempt from UK corporation tax, and commencing proceedings against HMRC in the UK High Court (which led to the Company enrolling in the GLO in 2013). In 2018, the Company also filed related statutory claims for double tax relief.

On 25 July 2018, the UK Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the Prudential case, ruling that dividends on non-UK portfolio shareholdings were taxable but that credit should be given for the underlying foreign tax at the foreign nominal corporate income tax rate of the source country. Litigation is ongoing in relation to the validity of various procedural defences raised by HMRC which will be relevant to the Company's ability to be able to succeed in its existing High Court claim.

The Company has, however, now received correspondence from HMRC accepting the entitlement of the Company to a repayment of UK corporation tax suffered in the relevant accounting periods in relation to dividends from non-UK companies. While the amount of the repayment has not been formally agreed with HMRC, and as such a degree of residual uncertainty remains, the Company now considers receipt of a repayment is sufficiently certain that it should make an accrual for accounting purposes to reflect such treatment.

The corporation tax refund expected to be received by the Company following HMRC's acceptance of the claims for the relevant accounting periods amounts to 1,400,356.

HMRC's acceptance of the claims also permits us to release a related accounting provision which was in place should the Company be required to pay additional corporation tax in relation to foreign withholding tax adjustments. This provision is no longer required and results in an additional credit of 1,172,646 for the Company. The aggregate impact of reflecting both the release of these provisions and the expected tax refunds amounts to 2,573,002.

The accounting rules applicable to the Company determine that an uncertain tax receivable shall be accrued in the NAV of the Company when, in the view of the Board, the successful future receipt of such receivable is virtually certain. The Board's current assessment is that the future receipt of the tax reclaims described above is virtually certain and so meets this threshold.

Consequently, the aggregate amount of 2,573,002 was applied as revenue through the Company's profit and loss account for 10 June 2020.

The person responsible for making this announcement is Caroline Driscoll, Company Secretary.

For further information, please contact :

Melissa Gallagher

Managing Director

BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited

Tel: 020 7743 3893

Rob Naylor

Cenkos Securities plc

Tel: 020 7397 1922
A Jersey City attorney convicted of stealing more than $1.5 million from elderly clients and a teenager will not have any time shaved off his 26-year sentence.

An appellate rejected the 58-year-old Joseph Talafous Jr.'s appeal that claimed the sentence was excessive and that some of the convictions should have been dismissed in a 44-page ruling issued Thursday.

Talafous, who was charged in 2016, was convicted in January 2018 of 17 counts under an indictment charging money laundering, theft, misapplication of entrusted property, and failure to make lawful disposition, as well as tax fraud involving estate and trust funds of five clients and filing fraudulent tax returns.

The Toms River man, who had an office in Jersey City, was sentenced two months later to concurrent terms for similar counts and consecutive terms for different counts.

Talafous was acquitted on one count, a theft charge, and he argued that the acquittal barred two other thefts convictions from the same person. He made seven other arguments, including that the statute of limitations had expired in charges related to the estate of a blind North Bergen man who died at the age of 85, which were all rejected by the appellate panel.

The victims included a teenager who was an infant when his father died in a construction work-related accident. Talafous stole $400,000 from a $461,000 settlement. Two of the victims were 82 years old when they died and another was 72. The total taken from their accounts was more than $1 million.

In regards to the sentencing, the appellate panel said it is consistent with the law and does not shock the conscience. ... (The) defendants crimes had separate victims and they continued for so many years.
India Today Group Digital, the digital arm of the countrys most respected news media conglomerate India Today Group, has been ranked as the top source for general news consumption by Comscore, the industry currency for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms. The latest Comscore data of April 2020 endorses the groups strength as Indias most visited, most engaged and most viewed news group on Mobile. Similarly, the leadership of the group dominates the desktop space with 6.28 Million unique visitors. (Source: Comscore, MMX, Mobile Metrix, App Only, General News, Custom list of original news content creators, April 2020, Unique Visitors, Total Minutes, Total Pages Viewed; India).

The report indicates that over 177 million unique visitors on mobile visited digital properties of the India Today Group. These visitors cover 46% of the total Indian mobile internet users. It clearly states that India Today Group Digital clocked 32% more visitors than its nearest competitor. This is a clear testimony to the trust bestowed by digital users on the India Today Group in these uncertain COVID times. (Source: Comscore, Mobile Metrix, General News, Unique Visitors , April 2020; India)

There is more to the milestones!!

The report highlighted that Aaj Tak, the undisputed leader in Hindi news, is the clear number one source for Hindi News Consumption with over 100 million unique visitors. It clocked 26% more visitors than its nearest competitor. Interestingly, the statistics revealed that the total page views on Aaj Tak were 9 times that of ABP News. (Source: Comscore, Mobile Metrix and MMX, Custom list of Hindi news publishers, Unique Visitors and Total Pages Viewed, April 2020; India).

The same data elucidated that Aaj Tak mobile app had 12.7 Million Unique visitors in April 2020. This is the second time when Aaj Tak app achieved the 10 million monthly unique visitor mark. Similar Web Insights App Analysis indicated that it was also the most downloaded news app in India, during this time. Aaj Tak news app has nearly three times the unique visitors as compared to its immediate competitor and higher than combined UVs that of the next top 5 in the line. (Source: Similar Web Insights, App Analysis, March & April 20, Total Android Downloads & Comscore, Mobile Metrix, App Only, News & Information(March & April 2020), Custom list of original news content creators, April 2020, Unique Visitors).

The Comscore report further revealed that together India Today Group Digital properties clocked 1.6 billion mobile-web page views, which was 47% more than what the nearest competitor managed to get, during this time. These digital properties clocked a massive total engagement of 2 billion minutes clearly establishing the trust posed by the audiences in the India Today Group, as a trusted source of news. (Source: Comscore, Mobile Metrix, General News, Custom list of original news content creators, Total Minutes and Total Pages Viewed, April20; India).

Another big highlight of the report is that India Today Group Digitals total visits have grown by 48% during the COVID19 period (Mar & Apr) as opposed to NDTV, which has witnessed the next highest 26% of growth. The aforementioned is in comparison of India's top 5 News Media groups as per highest unique visitors (Source: Comscore, MMX & Mobile Metrix, News & Information, Top 5 media groups as per highest unique visitors, Total Visits, Jan & Feb vs Mar & Apr 2020).

India Today Group is the first original news content creator that has achieved a milestone with 14 Million mobile app unique visitors. (Source: Comscore, Mobile Metrix, App Only, News & Information, Custom list of original news content creators, April 2020, Unique Visitors)

With a mammoth fan base of 184 million users, India Today Group Digital continues to be the countrys most loved newsgroup on social media making it the first choice across the nation. With a phenomenal editorial strength that follows the gold standard of journalism, India Today Group remains number one in terms of credibility and trust, across all platforms.
Sonnie Johnson listens to callers while sitting in on Stephen K. Bannon's Brietbart News Daily radio show on SiriusXM Patriot at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on July 18, 2016. (Kirk Irwin/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Black Conservative Radio Host Sonnie Johnson Tells Trump Over-Policing Must End

Conservative Black Radio Host Sonnie Johnson on June 10 told President Donald Trump during a White House roundtable on race relations that over-policing must end, as calls for police reform grow amid protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In a meeting with several African American leaders organized by the president on Wednesday, Johnson said that more must be done to prevent excessive policing, when asked by Trump what she thought of the defund the police movement.

Johnson pointed to a 2015 Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation (pdf) into the Ferguson Police Department (FPD) following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in the Missouri city. The 102-page report detailed a history of policies in the FPD that stressed revenue generation over actual crime-fightingpolicies that overwhelmingly impacted the citys black residents.

We need the police, Johnston said of black communities. But if you take and look at what happened in Ferguson  the mayors office was using the police force as a taxation unit, she said. They were forcing interactions between police and the citizens, as a way for them to raise money and bring money into the mayors office.

The report said that the St. Louis suburb disproportionately arrested and issued traffic citations to black people to boost city coffers through fines, used police as a collection agency, and created a culture of distrust that exploded when 18-year-old Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson who was white.

Protesters march down Canfield Drive near where Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 7, 2015. Sunday will mark one year since Brown was fatally by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

According to the Washington Examiner, the DOJ under the Obama administration dropped all charges against Wilson after an investigation found no evidence that Brown was trying to surrender to Wilson when he was shot. Witnesses told the DOJ that shortly before the fatal round, Brown had punched the officer in his car, attempting to gain access to the officers weapon.

At that time, black residents in Ferguson made up 67 percent of the citys population, but were 93 percent of the people arrested. A total of 85 percent of the people subject to a traffic stop were black drivers, though a search of their vehicles was 26 percent less likely to produce contraband than when white drivers were searched, the DOJ report found.

That was causing over-policing, Johnson continued. So it is not the fault of the police, nor is the fault of the citizenry what the legislator and the executive branches of city government are putting into legislative practice.

The radio hosts remarks came as White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president may take action on police reform via an executive order in the wake of protests following the death of Floyd on May 25. McEnany said Wednesday that Trump has been reviewing proposals on reform since he and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) met to discuss the issue in September 2017.

There have been growing calls from the far-left side of politics for officials to cut police funding and place greater emphasis on supporting essential social services. Organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement have stated they want a national defunding of police.

The demands of the defund the police movement range from calls for redistributing funds from police budgets for complementary community-based solutions to extreme proposals of entirely disbanding police departments.

Floyds death has also fueled national discussions on overhauling police procedures, including creating a national database of excessive-force encounters, banning the use of chokeholds, and limiting legal protections for police.

Johnson told the president that the black community is not doing okay on issues including health, education, and criminal justice reform, due to decades of Democratic control.

All of these things have been under Democratic control for 60 years, she stated. And they are not going to change until we have a Republican Party that is willing to go into these communities and actually offer a choice to these people about how we can do things differently.

Because the way it is structured now, the only choice that we get is left or even further left, and were not getting the opportunity to actually vote on what we look at as conservatism, equally applied. The very basic economic principles that we on the right say are significant in our success and seeing the success in our country, those are not being offered at the local level in black communities, she said.

Johnson continued: We have started to change a lot of the negative dynamics that are still brought up in statistics today involving us but she said those numbers and statistics about my generation are not going to be out for 20 years.

Referencing Johnsons comments, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Fox News The Story that Congress should coordinate with the White House and the DOJ to incentivize federal tax dollars to support greater accountability and the very best practises in training and transparency at the state and local levels.

Lets look at ways we can foster and promote the very best practices so that what happened to Mr. Floyd in Minneapolis never happens again, he said.

Annie Wu and Reuters contributed to this report.
Perhaps the most significant change  and the most contentious  is giving the police chief more power to fire officers for misconduct by cutting out the role of the labor union, which has typically shaped the disciplinary process and mechanisms for appeals through collective bargaining. The legislation says future contracts should not be used to shield employees from accountability, particularly those employees who have as much power as police officers, and must not restrict management's right to discipline sworn officers.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Healthcare workers have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing care to the sick at great personal risk. Most of the proposed policies to protect their health and safety have focused on access to high-quality personal protective equipment (PPE) and other occupational safety needs. However, authors of a new Health Affairs blog post argue that a major component is being overlooked: behavioral health.

The article, written by Regenstrief affiliated research scientist Theresa Cullen, M.D., M.S.; and Andrew Meshnick from Georgetown University School of Medicine and Lilian Ryan from Georgetown University, addresses concerns about the impact of sustained, acute psychological and moral distress on those working the front lines. They have proposed a coordinated national strategy to identify, prevent, mitigate and manage post traumatic stress disorder symptoms in healthcare workers.

"Previous research has shown healthcare providers caring for critically ill patients and disaster survivors experience symptoms of PTSD," said Dr. Cullen. "I personally witnessed the impact a health crisis can have on frontline workers while working in Sierra Leone during the Ebola pandemic. Many U.S. healthcare workers now are facing similar stresses, and they lack access to services to help them cope. Action must be taken to address this, before the nation experiences an unprecedented crisis in its health workforce." Dr. Cullen was recently named public health director of Pima County, Arizona.

The authors present a three-part strategy:

1. Prevention 2. Treatment 3. Managing long-term effects

The authors urge the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to gather stakeholders to develop a critical incident stress mitigation standard for the healthcare industry and implement it. They also urge new PTSD screening measures. Individuals identified as at an elevated risk of developing PTSD should be offered treatment.

The goal of the treatment phase is to build behavioral health treatment capacity through public-private partnerships, creating a coordinated clinical team of primary care and PTSD specialists throughout the country. In part three, the authors state that the coordinated clinical team should use mechanisms developed in part two to guide health providers, as well as work to develop new evidence-based policies to manage PTSD.

"The lasting impacts of this pandemic are unknown," said Dr. Cullen. "As we continue to address this crisis, those providing frontline care must not be left behind. We need to prioritize both their physical and mental health."

###

"Beyond PPE: Protecting Health Care Workers To Prevent A Behavioral Health Disaster" was published in Health Affairs Blog on June 4, 2020.

About Regenstrief Institute

Founded in 1969 in Indianapolis, the Regenstrief Institute is a local, national and global leader dedicated to a world where better information empowers people to end disease and realize true health. A key research partner to Indiana University, Regenstrief and its research scientists are responsible for a growing number of major healthcare innovations and studies. Examples range from the development of global health information technology standards that enable the use and interoperability of electronic health records to improving patient-physician communications, to creating models of care that inform practice and improve the lives of patients around the globe.

Regenstrief Institute is celebrating 50 years of healthcare innovation. Sam Regenstrief, a successful entrepreneur from Connersville, Indiana, founded the institute with the goal of making healthcare more efficient and accessible for everyone. His vision continues to guide the institute's research mission.

About Theresa Cullen, M.D., M.S.

In addition to being an affiliated research scientist with Regenstrief Institute, Theresa Cullen M.D., M.S., is the Pima County (Arizona) Public Health Director. She is also adjunct faculty at Indiana University School of Medicine.
The vanguard of the revolution has set its beady-eyed gaze on . . . Paw Patrol.

Paw Patrol, a childrens cartoon about doggie do-gooders, has as one of its principal characters a German shepherd called Chase, who is a police officer. (A police officer in an imaginary universe in which dogs have full-time jobs, drive cars, and wear jaunty caps.) According to the New York Times, which just fired its opinion editor for publishing opinions, Paw Patrol has run afoul of the new commandment: Thou shalt not make sympathetic depictions of police officers, including police officers whose beat is an imaginary universe in which dogs have full-time jobs, drive cars, and wear jaunty caps.

Paw Patrol seems harmless enough, writes Amanda Hess, and thats the point. Oh, is that the point? The movement rests on understanding that cops do plenty of harm.

Somehow, this all really began with Huckleberry Finn.

Banning Mark Twains anti-racism and anti-slavery novel has been a project of the Left for years, and one that is not letting up: Just last year, Democrats in the New Jersey legislature, that august assemblage, tried to censor the book and order its removal from school curricula. The objection is that a novel about racism, set along the banks of the Mississippi in the 19th century, and having an escaped slave as one of its principal characters, includes racial slurs. The anti-Huck jihad was and is preposterous, but lappetit vient en mangeant, and once progressives got a taste of vandalism, they wanted more. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were to be unpersoned and detested, as though owning slaves had been the beginning and end of those Virginians careers. The Kansas City Chiefs mascot was a crime against humanity. An aide to the mayor of Washington was chased out of his job for describing a budget as niggardly, which one of the great intellects in Washington city government took to be a racial slur. (It isnt.) Princeton subjected a professor to a hate-speech inquisition for using the word spooks to refer to ghosts. (The incident inspired Philip Roths novel The Human Stain.) And on and on it went.

Story continues

The emergence of social media and a Millennial subculture built on asinine coddling and infantile entitlement turbocharged that censorious energy, creating what we now call cancel culture. In the earlier period, canceling was focused mainly on celebrities or high-profile public figures, and the criteria for canceling mostly had to do with real or perceived bigotry (Roseanne Barr and her Planet of the Apes tweet, Justin Trudeau and his blackface) or for acts of victimization a la Harvey Weinstein. But now the scalp-hunting has started to target ordinary and often obscure people, and the offenses in question have nothing to do with bigotry  it is simply having the unfashionable view of a public controversy, or being somehow associated, however lightly  Paw Patrol did not kill George Floyd  with that controversy. Fender, the guitar company, fired a luthier after he retweeted a (tasteless) joke about running over protesters blocking the freeways. The editors of Variety and Bon Appetit both lost their jobs after writing pieces in support of the recent protests and having their efforts judged insufficiently committed, i.e., for being the first people to stop clapping after Stalins speech. The Bon Appetit editor also was photographed dressed as a Puerto Rican caricature at a Halloween party 16 years ago; every bank manager in Tulsa who ever wore a sombrero to a Cinco de Mayo party in the 1990s is terrified that a photograph of it will turn up.

There is a discussion to be had about the ten U.S. military facilities named after Confederate generals, and about the Confederate monuments, especially those that were put up long after the war as explicitly racist protests against desegregation efforts, though there is no case for the lawless vandalism that has been directed at them. Of course the fullness of Thomas Jeffersons legacy should be acknowledged, but he did a bit more with his life than own slaves, just as the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. did more with his time on earth than cheat on his wife and Mohandas Gandhi did more than write racist tracts about black Africans. (A statue of Gandhi was removed from the campus of the University of Ghana.) We remember those men, and celebrate them, for other things.

Every American should read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

There are a few different things at play here. One is the free-floating desire to punish, the glee that certain awful people get from simply taking the opportunity to hurt someone, even an obscure and basically inoffensive someone. (Remember Has Justine Landed?) Some of this is cynical young staffers at prestigious institutions such as the New York Times who believe that they can clear room for their own advancement by chasing unhip elders out of the corner offices. Some of this is programmatic and political: There is no aspect of culture that is not to be commandeered by the rioting black-masked socialists  they have attempted to commandeer the protests against police brutality for their own ends, and they will commandeer Paw Patrol, too, if they can. They are vicious totalitarians who will use any means at their disposal, from ruining the lives of obscure fast-food managers to engaging in organized political violence.

It is particularly depressing that institutions ranging from the New York Times to the universities to Franklin Templeton have refused to stand up for themselves, for their employees, and, in the case of the Times and other media, for the principles of free expression and open dialogue that they purport to serve. They believe that they can pacify the mob by throwing it a sacrificial lamb or two. In that, they are mistaken. We hope that Corporate America is neither too stupid to understand that nor too cowardly to act accordingly, but, at the moment, we see little cause for encouragement. We are recreating East Germanys culture of informers without even having a Soviet-backed dictatorship to blame it on.

We would prefer that people be treated with grace rather than opportunistic cruelty and with charity rather than pettiness. We would prefer that employers not appoint themselves the moral guardians of every employee and the censor of every employees every utterance in his private life. And here is something close to the fundamental issue: We believe in private life, that people are entitled to their own associations and opinions (even bad ones!), and entitled make their own mistakes, too  and that, barring some direct connection to work life or extraordinary circumstance, that none of this is the concern of the little platoons of finks lurking down in human resources.

We worry about the consequences of cancel culture. But we are much more intensely ashamed of it and what it says about the current state of the American heart.

More from National Review
British Gas owners Centrica are to cut thousands of jobs in a move it says will create a 'less bureaucratic organisation'. (PA)

The owner of British Gas has announced thousands of staff are set to lose their jobs, in a move its leader said would cut costs and halt the companys decline.

Centrica (CNA.L) confirmed plans on Thursday to slash around 5,000 jobs, warning its earnings had halved in recent years. Around half the job losses are expected to hit managers, including around 20 of the 40 current members of its senior leadership team.

The company said in an update to investors the restructure would create a less bureaucratic organisation, but a union organiser warned it would fight for every job. The majority of the cuts are likely to hit in the second half of the year after consultation with staff, though senior figures are expected to leave by August.

Britains biggest household energy supplier also announced plans to standardise and modernise employment contracts, which could prove controversial among its remaining staff. Centrica said it would begin consulting on proposals to simplify terms and conditions, saying workers were currently on varieties of 80 different contracts.

READ MORE: 3,000 jobs at risk as Frankie & Bennys owner axes 125 restaurants

New Centrica boss Chris O'Shea said: Since becoming chief executive almost three months ago, I've focused on navigating the company through the COVID-19 crisis and identifying what needs to change in Centrica. We've learnt through the crisis that we can be agile and responsive in the most difficult conditions and put our customers at the heart of our decision making.

However, I believe that our complex business model hinders the delivery of our strategy and inhibits the relentless focus I want to give to our customers.

The companys shares dropped around 4% on the announcement in early trading in London.

Centrica had already announced plans to slash 400m ($507m) from its spending this year in early April, as it warned on the impact of the pandemic. Bonus payouts for managers were paused, and a final 2019 dividend cancelled.

Story continues

READ MORE: Rolls-Royce job cuts a body blow to town where turbojets born

Domestic energy usage has increased among customers working at home, but Centrica has also seen a more significant reduction in business demand as firms closed sites during the lockdown.

It has warned of an expected increase in bad debt too, with falling business and household incomes hitting customers ability to pay. Meanwhile prioritising essential work to minimise virus risks has hit revenues from non-essential services.

Justin Bowden, national secretary of the GMB union, acknowledged the companys problems, blaming former prime minister Theresa Mays energy price cap and too little too late responses from management.

He said it had left the company crippled and weak, but warned: Slashing thousands more jobs is not the answer. You cannot just cut your way out of a crisis. GMB will fight for every single job.
Financial publication The Banker has named Maybank Islamic Berhad as year 2020s Global Islamic Bank of the Year, acknowledging the banks role as one of the worlds leading shariah-compliant financial institutions.

The judges were impressed by the banks commitment to sustainability, the evolution of its digital offering, and the opening of its first branch in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said the publication in a statement.

Among Maybank Islamics achievements that appealed to the judges include the banks introduction of new features in its Maybank2u mobile app for SMEs. These features allow SMEs to instantly open conventional or Islamic business accounts, place fixed deposits, and tap into various payroll and payment solutions. Additionally, the bank also launched a shariah-compliant version of its Maybank Anytime Everyone (MAE) mobile wallet, which amassed more than one million users by October 2019.

Of particular mention is also Maybank Islamics expansion into the UAE, which saw the bank being awarded a full Islamic banking licence by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. This is the first of its kind awarded to a Malaysian Islamic bank.

This bold new expansion, together with its strong operational and financial performance across its existing footprint, make Maybank Islamic the deserved winner of the 2020 Global Islamic Bank of the Year award, said the publication.

These achievements are on top of a notable financial performance that Maybank Islamic clocked in for 2019, with its total shariah asset increasing by 7.1% to US$58.2 billion, and profitability rising by 25% to US$611.5 million for the year. This is despite a slight slip in its Tier 1 capital, which refers to the banks primary funding source meant to keep it running through the transactions that it undertakes. Maybank Islamics return on equity (ROE) also increased from 22.5% in 2018 to 26.7% in 2019, whereas its cost-to-income ratio remained unchanged at 32.5%.

The chief executive officer of Maybank Islamic, Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican also commented that the award is a sign of Maybank Groups commitment and capability to leverage its leading position in the region to deliver value to its customers and communities.

This latest award is Maybank Islamics second time winning the Global Islamic Bank of the Year title by The Banker publication, with the first being in 2015. Previously, Maybank Islamic had also been named as Malaysias leading shariah-compliant financier for four times.

The Banker publication is based in London, and has been in circulation since 1926. It is owned by The Financial Times, and runs several annual awards and rankings, including the Top 1,000 World Banks ranking.

(Source: The Sun Daily)

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DES MOINES, Iowa  Hold the pork chop on a stick and get a butter cow rain check.

This summer's Iowa State Fair was canceled Wednesday because of concerns about the coronavirus, marking the first time since World War II that the annual gathering won't be held in Des Moines.

Without comment, the state fair board voted 11-2 to cancel the fair, which typically caps an Iowa summer with an 11-day run in mid-August.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is an advisory member of the board, but she said she did not make a recommendation to them on the 2020 decision.

I stand by whatever decision they make," she said. I appreciated that theyve really been thoughtful in taking the time. Theyve not rushed this decision, giving Iowans an opportunity to respond so they could wait as late as possible to see where we were at in a very evolving and rapidly changing environment. I appreciate them really taking the time to do that.
Bengaluru, June 11 : The confession by the son enabled the police crack the mystery behind an elderly couple's murder in the city, a police official said on Thursday.

"The accused (Santosh) confessed to the crime after he was tracked on the Cauvery river bank at Srirangapatna earlier in the day with both legs broken when he attempted to commit suicide by jumping from bridge," Kamakshipalya police inspector J. Gautham told IANS here.

"Santosh has not been arrested so far as he is under treatment for his injuries at the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital here where he was rushed in an ambulance from Srirangapatna," Gautham said.

The sensational murder of Santosh's parents Narasimha Raju, 70, and Saraswathi, 64, came to light when their domestic maid found their bodies in the house in Kamakshipalya on early Wednesday.

"On being alerted by the maid, our team visited the house and inspected the crime scene. It was found that the old couple was strangulated," Gautham said.

The couple, who hail from Mysuru, was living with Santosh, an auditor, and his wife in a rented house in the western suburbs.

"Preliminary investigation revealed that Santosh fought with his parents and allegedly assaulted them earlier too, as told by the neighbours," added Gautham.
Northern Pulp Pauses Environment Assessment Process to Facilitate Further Engagement with Community about Future Mill Operations "We want to operate in Nova Scotia and believe that a modern mill and healthy environment can co-exist in Pictou County, just like it does in 89 other communities with pulp and paper mills across Canada."  Graham Kissack, Paper Excellence Canada. June 11, 2020 - Paper Excellence Canada on June 8 announced that Northern Pulp notified Nova Scotia Environment of its intention to pause the Environment Assessment for the new Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) to facilitate further detailed discussions with stakeholders about how Northern Pulp and the community can best work together to foster a clean environment, maintain and protect jobs, and contribute to a strong Nova Scotian economy. "We remain concerned that the Environmental Assessment, based on the current terms of reference, is ambiguous and would not result in a clear outcome. Instead, it could lead to more uncertainty, division, and disappointment among stakeholders," said Graham Kissack, VP, Environment, Health, Safety and Communications for Paper Excellence Canada, on behalf of Northern Pulp. "Pausing the assessment will provide time for us to further engage the community in discussion about the mill and its future, how we can best co-exist, and an appropriate Environmental Assessment process for the environmental improvement being proposed," Kissack explained. The pulp mill was forced to stop production by January 31, 2020, after the Province of Nova Scotia's decision to require Northern Pulp to cease using the Boat Harbour Effluent Treatment Facility (BHEFT) for its intended purpose of treating effluent from its pulp mill over a decade prior to the end of the term of the lease for the BHETF. The premature closure of the BHETF left the mill with no ability to treat or transport pulp effluent. Since January, Northern Pulp has been conducting a safe and environmentally sound hibernation of the mill, which would allow it to reopen in the event a proposed new ETF receives the necessary approvals. Earlier [on June 8], Northern Pulp filed an appeal with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court related to the order Nova Scotia's Minister of Environment issued to Northern Pulp on May 14, 2020 for management of the Northern Pulp site during its hibernation. The new Ministerial Order imposes terms and conditions, in addition to those in a January 2020 Ministerial Order that are impractical and show a lack of understanding of the pulp and paper industry and effluent treatment facilities. "We want to operate in Nova Scotia and believe that a modern mill and healthy environment can co-exist in Pictou County, just like it does in 89 other communities with pulp and paper mills across Canada," Kissack said. The modernization and restart of Northern Pulp would re-establish more than 300 well-paying direct mill jobs in Pictou County and more than 2,500 forestry sector jobs throughout the province. Northern Pulp has contributed more than $250 million annually into Nova Scotia's economy since 2011, including approximately $100 million spent procuring forestry and wood services and products within the province. About Northern Pulp Northern Pulp, a Paper Excellence company, is located in Abercrombie Point, Pictou County, Nova Scotia and has operated since 1967. The mill has the capacity to produce about 280,000 tonnes per year of northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp. Prior to its shutdown, the mill operated approximately 353 days per year and directly employed over 300 people. Paper Excellence Canada has grown through logical acquisitions from a single mill base to a multinational group producing 2.7 million tonnes of paper and pulp and employing over 2,300 people over the past decade. To learn more, visit: www.paperexcellence.com SOURCE: Paper Excellence Canada Go to a related story on PaperAge.com:

 Northern Pulp to 'Hibernate' Mill, Will Continue with Environmental Assessment Process - Jan, 10, 2020.
By Fan Jishe

China's unique nuclear policy

Of the five nuclear weapons states defined by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), China's unique policy is manifest in a number of ways:It has conducted few nuclear tests, and it maintains a small nuclear arsenal with limited deployment. China did not follow either the United States or Soviet Union's example on nuclear policy. Never has China defined its security relations with other countries from a nuclear perspective, and it has even downplayed the nuclear component in its foreign policy, committing itself and calling on other four states to adopt a no first use policy. China's emphasis on transparency of strategic intent rather than capabilities is also significantly different from other nuclear weapons states.

Equally important, China's nuclear policy has remained largely unchanged for more than half a century, despite sea changes in its external and internal environment, such as the split with the Soviet Union, the rapprochement and establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, the end of the Cold War and China's economic rise and transformation from an outsider to an insider of the international community. China was expected to adjust its nuclear policy, but it chose not to do so.

What makes China's nuclear policy unique? Will future pluralistic security challenges and increasingly complicated and competitive great-power relations drive China to adjust its nuclear policy? This is the biggest question mark for many China observers.

What makes China's nuclear policy unique?

China's nuclear policy was very much shaped by the first generation Chinese leaders' philosophy and understanding of the shape of future war, the role of people and weapons in war and their experience in fighting conventional wars. China believes that there are just and unjust wars, that people play a bigger role than weapons and that weapons alone cannot determine the result. If a war involving nuclear weapon is similar to the wars China fought against the Japanese invasion in World War II or with the United States on the Korean Peninsula, China could drown an enemy in a sea of people.

Chinese leaders strategically downplayed the importance of nuclear weapons, even as they tacitly attached much more importance to them. As a result, they understood that on one hand that a nuclear weapon is a paper tiger, but on the other that this tiger could turn into real tigers, iron tigers and tigers that can devour people when others have them and you don't.Meanwhile, Chinese leaders were pragmatic in not following either the United States or Soviet Union's example in nuclear development. They believed that nuclear weapons are expensive and useless things meant to scare people. ... When it comes to the development of sophisticated weapons, we have to win with quality, not quantity, as too many of them will be a big burden for us.A certain quantity, quality and variety constitute the guiding principle for China's nuclear development. In China's national defense white papers, these principles were generalized into the term lean and effective.So, China has long had a clear answer to the classic question How much is enough? For China, numerical superiority or inferiority in nuclear weapons does not make a significant difference because, under no first use, a nuclear weapon can only be used to retaliate against a nuclear attack.

For China's nuclear arsenal, to be lean is important, and to be effective equally so, if not more. A small nuclear arsenal means that China is vulnerable to a large-scale nuclear strike. How to make it survivable? Keeping the nuclear force secret and opaque is the early answer to this question. For this purpose, a network of hardened tunnels that stretch into the depths of huge mountains was dug to store nuclear weapons.

What are the prospects for China's nuclear policy?

Over the past several decades, China's nuclear policy has been fairly consistent and stable. However, speculation about possible changes in the country's nuclear policy arises time and again. Some have challenged China's "no first use pledge; others have questioned the size of China's nuclear arsenal. The inexplicable doubts, groundless guesswork and outrageous speculation have not been able to shake China's confidence in its nuclear policy.

The overall consistency of that policy is not in conflict with the minor changes that have taken place over the past several decades. For example, China joined in all the universally accepted international instruments on nuclear issues, and it began to play a bigger role in tackling regional nonproliferation challenges. It improved its nuclear transparency in a subtle and gradual way by regularly promulgating national defense white papers.Military parades are also a way for China to improve nuclear transparency. Also, like other nuclear states, it has made efforts to improve the safety, security, reliability and survivability of its small nuclear force.

With China's rise and given the changes in its external security environment, is building up a nuclear arsenal really necessary? Before answering this question, another should be asked first: What is the role of nuclear weapons in China's national security strategy?

According to a recent white paper, China's National Defense in the New Era, the country's nuclear policy was confirmed again as no first use, no nuclear arms race, nuclear capabilities maintained at minimum level required for national security and an overall strategy of self-defense. If the fundamental role of China's nuclear weapons remains unchanged, then it would not be necessary for China to change its nuclear policy.

Some lessons can be learned from the nuclear arms race between the United States and Soviet Union in the Cold War era. Fierce competition in both quantity and quality brought no positive change in either the United States or Soviet Union's security environment. At times, the competition and confrontation was potentially catastrophic  for example, the Cuban Missile Crisis or the NATO military exercise Able Archer 83. They built up their nuclear arsenals rapidly and then deployed them in many places through different delivery means and put them on hair-trigger alert.The result was that a huge amount of money was spent, but a smaller proportion went for development and manufacture of the weapons themselves. What cost big money was the delivery means, command and control and defensive measures  all at the expense of ordinary people's welfare.

Maintaining a large numbers of nuclear weapons increases a nation's economic burden while risking accidents, unauthorized launches and even terrorist attacks. Given the money spent and the inherent risks, nuclear weapon could not be easily used, and many are not usable at all. Even at a most critical and challenging time, such as the Korean War, the Taiwan Strait Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War, the use of nuclear weapons was considered and abandoned.And then, they started to tear down their nuclear arsenals, lower the alert level, exchange information, conduct dialogue, and develop confidence building measures with their adversaries.

History clearly demonstrates that Chinese nuclear policy is rational, reasonable and pragmatic. China did not take the of the United States and Soviet Union with regard to nuclear matters during the Cold War era, and it is not likely it will choose to do so any time soon.

With that said, we cannot deny that there are some matters that might have some impact on China's future nuclear policy. They include whether the role of nuclear weapons can be further narrowed, whether the momentum of nuclear disarmament can be maintained, whether the development and deployment of missile defense can negate other countries retaliatory capabilities and whether the development of cyberspace will affect nuclear deterrence.

China will not engage in arms races with other countries, nor will it forgo its no-first-use policy. When it has confidence in its moderate nuclear capabilities, China will likely be more willing to accept asymmetrical mutual vulnerability. If the credibility of China's nuclear deterrence is challenged and weakened, the country will certainly take measures necessary to restoring strategic stability.

(The author Fan Jishe is a professor from the Central Party School of Communist Party of China. And the article is originally published on chinausfocus.com and does not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.)
An Indian-origin husband-wife doctor couple have launched judicial review proceedings against the United Kingdom government over what they say is a refusal to address safety issues around personal protective equipment for doctors and healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

IMAGE: A medical worker wearing personal protective equipment at the back of an ambulance outside Lewisham hospital as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in London. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

Dr Nishant Joshi and his pregnant wife, Dr Meenal Viz, had initiated the legal action in April with a pre-action letter seeking answers from the UK's Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England.



They decided to push ahead with the case in the high court in London on Wednesday because they feel they are no longer willing to wait.

We don't want to be doing this. We didn't plan on doing this. We're doctors in a pandemic. We want to focus on saving lives and stitching this country back together, the couple said in a statement.

But we have been pushed into taking action by the government's refusal to address the issues we have raised, they said.

Their law firm, Bindmans, said the judicial review challenge highlights the mismatch between the government's guidance on PPE and the guidance set out by the World Health Organisation, including in respect of when full PPE is required, as well as with respect to the reuse and reprocessing of PPE -- which includes items such surgical gowns, face visors and gloves.



The doctors' case claims that the government's guidance also fails properly to warn healthcare and social care workers of the risks they face with different levels of PPE and their legal rights to refuse to work when inadequate PPE is available.

As frontline doctors, Dr Viz and Dr Joshi understand the operational pressures faced by government better than most, but they, along with all other health and social care workers, remain entitled to lawful and transparent guidance on the use of PPE and the risks they are facing on the frontline of responding to this national crisis, said Jamie Potter, Partner at Bindmans LLP and solicitor for Dr Viz and Dr Joshi.

Accordingly, we have today [Wednesday] filed judicial review proceedings seeking to challenge that guidance with a view to bringing into line with WHO guidance as well as human rights legislation. This is important not just in the current crisis, but also to any second spike' or future pandemic, he said.

The couple highlight that a disproportionate number of the COVID-19 victims are from ethnic minority backgrounds, and the challenge also raises the government's failure properly to consider the impact on black, Asian and minority ethnic health and social care workers across the state-funded National Health Service.



The government have also refused to allow Dr Viz and Dr Joshi to publish their initial responses to the pre-action correspondence so that others can assess the adequacy of their approach to PPE. Our clients will push in any proceedings to ensure such documents are made public, their law firm said.

The couple's online crowdfunding initiative for the legal case has raised over 61,000 pounds in pledges. Viz, who is eight months pregnant, has also been leading protests outside Downing Street and last month she and her colleagues observed a 237-second silence -- one second for every healthcare worker who died in the line of duty during this pandemic in the UK.

The Department of Health said it cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings but has in the past stressed that safety factors have been taken into account with its guidance.
A Swedish prosecutor closed the case of the assassination of former prime minister Olof Palme after 34 years yesterday, accusing a graphic designer who died two decades ago of the country's most notorious unsolved crime.

Mr Palme, who led Sweden's Social Democrats for decades and served two periods as prime minister, was one of the architects of Scandinavia's model of a strong welfare state, and a fierce Cold War-era critic of the United States and Soviet Union.

He was shot dead in central Stockholm in 1986 after a visit to the cinema with his wife and son, and the failure of the police to find a killer sparked decades of conspiracy theories.

"It is my sincere hope that this wound can now be allowed to heal," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said, describing the murder as a national trauma.

But the suspicion of many Swedes is unlikely to be satisfied by yesterday's accusation, against a long dead suspect with no political profile, based on evidence the prosecutor acknowledged would have been too thin to secure a conviction.

"The Palme investigation concluded in the manner that has defined it since the very beginning: a great anticlimax," daily newspaper 'Dagens Nyheter' said. "Instead of clarity concerning the issue of guilt, we got a monument to a policing fiasco."

Prosecutor Krister Petersson, who has led an investigation into the case since 2017, said the killer was Stig Engstrom, a suspect long known to Swedes as "Skandia man" after the insurance firm where he worked as a graphic designer, with offices near the scene of the shooting.

Mr Engstrom was repeatedly questioned in early investigations but dismissed as a serious suspect at the time.

He died in 2000 in a suspected suicide.

A 2018 book by an investigative journalist brought to light a range of previously overlooked evidence reigniting interest in Mr Engstrom.

Mr Petersson said Mr Engstrom had been implicated by information about his whereabouts and witness accounts of the killer's appearance.

"Because the person is dead, I cannot bring charges against him and have decided to close the investigation," Mr Petersson said.

He did not announce any major investigative breakthroughs, nor could he give a clear motive for the killing, though he said Mr Engstrom was known to dislike Mr Palme and his politics.

The prosecutor said he felt confident the evidence would have been sufficient to arrest Mr Engstrom, although it "would not, in itself, lead to a conviction" without corroborating evidence which it was no longer possible to obtain.

Mr Palme's son, Marten, said he believed Mr Engstrom was guilty, "but unfortunately there is no conclusive evidence".

Mr Engstrom's family have repeatedly dismissed accusations he was the killer.

Mr Palme was prime minister from 1969-1976 and again from 1982-1986.

Supporters hail him as the architect of modern Sweden, while conservatives denounced his support of revolutionary movements in the developing world.

His support for the anti-apartheid African National Congress made him an enemy of the South African authorities, and while his opposition to the Vietnam War angered many Americans, he was also fiercely critical of the Soviet Union.

For decades, conspiracy theories around his killing have blamed a range of forces, from the CIA and Kurdish separatists to the South African security services.
By Associated Press

CAPE TOWN: Collins Khosa was killed by law enforcement officers in a poor township in Johannesburg over a cup of beer left in his yard. The 40-year-old black man was choked, slammed against a wall, beaten, kicked and hit with the butt of a rifle by the soldiers as police watched, his family says.

Two months later, South Africans staged a march against police brutality. But it was mostly about the killing of George Floyd in the United States, with the case of Khosa, who died on April 10, raised only briefly.

We also lost our loved one. South Africa, where are you? Khosas partner, Nomsa Montsha, asked in a wrenching TV interview Friday, eight weeks after she held his hand as he died while waiting for an ambulance.

Her words, in a soft, steady voice, were a searing rebuke of the perceived apathy in South Africa over Khosa's death. The army exonerated the soldiers in a report that concluded he died from a blunt force head injury that was no one's fault. His family is still seeking a criminal case.

Floyd's death also emboldened a small number of people in Kenya to march and tell their own stories of injustice and brutality by police.

In this Wednesday, June 3, 2020, file photo, a Maasai man jumps next to a new mural painted this week in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, showing George Floyd with the Swahili word "Haki" or "Justice." (Photo | AP)

Despite racial reconciliation that emerged after the end of the apartheid system, poor and black South Africans still fall victim to security forces that now are mostly black. The country is plagued by violent crime, and police often are accused of resorting to heavy-handed tactics.

Journalist Daneel Knoetze, who looked into police brutality in South Africa between 2012 and 2019, found that there were more than 42,000 criminal complaints against police, which included more than 2,800 killings  more than one a day. There were more than 27,000 cases of alleged assault by police, many classified as torture, and victims were overwhelmingly poor and black, he said.

It is clear that in South Africa, 26 years of democracy have not as yet ensured that black lives matter as much as white lives, said a statement last week from the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which promotes the vision of the anti-apartheid leader and the countrys first black president.

Angelo Fick, who researches issues of human rights and equality, said white people are policed differently from blacks in South Africa in what he calls the echoes of apartheid.

Khosas family said his beating death followed accusations by the soldiers that he was drinking a beer in his yard, which was not illegal even though buying alcohol was prohibited at the time because of South Africas strict coronavirus lockdown.

The sale of tobacco also is illegal during the lockdown, and middle-class whites discovered buying cigarettes have gotten off with a warning from police.

Montsha described how the soldiers, while beating Khosa, struck her with sjamboks, the heavy whips wielded by security forces during the apartheid era. Police and soldiers still carry the notorious weapons.

The old house. You put new furniture in but its still the old house, Fick said of the security forces.

In Kenya, the police force has for two decades been ranked the country's most corrupt institution. It's also Kenya's most deadly, killing far more people than criminals do, according to human rights groups.

In the last three months in Kenya, 15 people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been killed by police while they enforce a curfew, according to a watchdog group. Human rights activists put the figure at 18.

The boy, Yasin Hussein Moyo, was shot in the stomach by police in March as he stood on the balcony of his home. Police have blamed a stray bullet, but witnesses say the officers deliberately started shooting at the boy's apartment building as they patrolled the neighborhood during the curfew.

Kenya's culture of an oppressive colonial police force is still intact, said Peter Kiama, the executive director of the Independent Medico Legal Unit, which tracks police abuse. There also is a security system that has sought to subdue opposition to the government and, in turn, has become corrupt.

There is a symbiotic relationship, Kiama said.

When Kenya created two organizations nearly a decade ago to monitor and hold police accountable, the members of one of them found a severed human head in their new offices on the first day of work. Just in case the message wasnt clear, there also was a piece of paper with the words: Tread carefully.

Kiama's organization says 980 people have been killed by police in Kenya since 2013, and 90 percent of those were execution-style slayings.

Despite the decades of injustice and brutality, activists say there is no groundswell of public support for change in South Africa and Kenya, two of the biggest economies in Africa.

"I gave up on police violence being an issue around which one could get any kind of attention from politicians, or anyone," said David Bruce, an expert on South African law enforcement for 20 years.

In her interview on national TV, Montsha looked at the camera and asked South Africans why no one was standing up for Khosa.

We are crying out loud," she said.
Monitors display a video showing facial recognition software in use at the headquarters of the artificial intelligence company Megvii, in Beijing, May 10, 2018. Beijing is putting billions of dollars behind facial recognition and other technologies to track and control its citizens.

Facial recognition technology developed by U.S. firm Clearview AI could be illegal in Europe, according to a European privacy group.

Clearview AI's software allows organizations to match pictures of people's faces to a database containing more than 3 billion images that have been taken from social media platforms and other websites.

In February, BuzzFeed reported that the company has expanded to 26 countries outside the U.S. including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The report stated that Clearview has "engaged" with national law enforcement agencies, government bodies, and police forces in those countries.

However, the European Data Protection Board warned on Wednesday that "the use of a service such as Clearview AI by law enforcement authorities in the European Union would, as it stands, likely not be consistent with the EU data protection regime."

Hoan Ton-That, Clearview AI's CEO, said: "Clearview's image-search technology is not currently available in the European Union. Nevertheless, Clearview AI processes data-access and data-deletion requests from EU residents. In fact, Clearview AI searches the public internet just like any other search engine."

Over 600 U.S. law enforcement agencies are using Clearview AI's technology, according to The New York Times.

Google, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook have sent cease-and-desist letters to Clearview AI after they learned it was scraping images from their platforms. Ton-That responded by saying his company had a first amendment right to access public information including images from online platforms.
In the 'Harry Potter' books, the central character, 'Harry' has been defined as someone who refuses to back-down from a challenge, is defiant and always stands strong in his stance.

Much like the main character, the author of the book, JK Rowling also seems to be steadfast in her stance. The only problem being, her stance is being observed as transphobic.

Rowling on Wednesday published a lengthy post on her blog website in response to the backlash and her concerns over new trans activism. She has been under hefty scrutiny about her thoughts on transgender identity from the LGBTQ community along with Eddie Redmayne and Daniel Radcliffe, who starred in the Harry Potter film franchise.

I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode woman as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it, she said.

Fans still aren't buying it.

J.K. Rowling factually wrong on all counts, doubles-down and joins chorus of anti-intellectual and hubris-drenched Trump trolls on Twitter to finally get that last market of people who haven't bought and read or watched Harry Potter yet, because no good new ideas coming from her. buddha_head (@buddhahead5) June 11, 2020

Rowling became the subject of ire on Twitter when she criticized an opinion piece published by the website Devex, a media platform for the global development community, that used the phrase people who menstruate. Rowling implied it should have said women.

And that was just the beginning of what turned into a transphobic rant.

The famed author continued with another thread speaking about the concept of biological sex. She said she felt compelled to tweet her thoughts about her experience with domestic abuse and sexual assault.

I stand alongside the brave women and men, gay, straight and trans, whore standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the rights and safety of some of the most vulnerable in our society: young gay kids, fragile teenagers, and women whore reliant on and wish to retain their single sex spaces, she said in her post Wednesday.

Here's why she needs to stop, or just stick to fiction.

Rowlings tweets caused a firestorm of responses from the LGBTQ community and others who were upset with her words.

A Harry Potter fan group tweeted its disapproval of Rowlings post and encouraged followers to donate to a group that supports back transgender women.

Some even decided to donate the amount they had spent on merchandise to these support groups.

It seems JK is good at only one thing: writing fantasy, the advocacy group GLAAD said in a statement Wednesday. Her misinformed and dangerous missive about transgender people flies in the face of medical and psychological experts and devalues trans people accounts of their own lives.

Redmayne, who starred in two Fantastic Beasts films of the Harry Potter prequel series, disagreed with Rowlings comments on Twitter. The Oscar-winning actor said that his transgender friends and colleagues are tired of the constant questioning of their identities.

Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid, said Redmayne, who played a transgender woman in the 2015 film The Danish Girl, which earned him an Oscar nomination. He joined Radcliffe who also disapproved of Rowlings thoughts on transgender identity.

Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they arent who they say they are, said Emma Watson on Twitter on Wednesday. She starred as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series.

On Monday, Radcliffe published a lengthy essay about Rowlings tweets on a website for a nonprofit organization dedicated to crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ people.

"Transgender women are women," said the actor.

Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I, the actor said.

(With inputs from Associated Press.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A decades-long push to let Californias public universities and government agencies consider race when making admissions and hiring decisions passed its first test Wednesday as more than two-thirds of the state Assembly voted to put the question on the ballot in November.

California has banned affirmative action-type programs since 1996 when 55% of voters agreed to amend the states Constitution to ban preferential treatment based on race, sex, colour, ethnicity or national origin.

That amendment has withstood multiple legal challenges and legislative attempts to change it. But this year, worldwide protests over racial injustice sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis have given supporters a boost in their quest to bring affirmative action back to California.

Im so grateful I didnt have to convince you that racism is real, because George Floyd did that, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a Democrat from San Diego and the author of the proposal, told her colleagues moments before the vote.

The Assembly voted 58-9 to let voters decide whether to repeal the amendment. If the state Senate concurs by June 25, the question would be added to the November ballot  further intensifying an election year that already includes a presidential contest.

One Republican  Tom Lackey of Palmdale  joined 56 Democrats and one independent to put the amendment on the ballot. The nine no votes all came from Republicans. Twelve lawmakers did not vote.

The repeal effort faces strong, organized opposition among some in the Asian community. Wenyuan Wu, director of administration for the Asian American Coalition for Education, said Asian American students have always been labeled as over represented in good schools.

We worry that the bill, once the bill is passed, that will give the state universities in California ample reason to use racial balancing to discriminate against us, she said.

Assemblyman Steven Choi, a Republican from Irvine who was born in South Korea, said he opposed the measure because it would legalize racism and sexism.

I do not want to live in a state where the colour of my skin or my race or my sex or my national origin determines my qualifications for a position, a job or entering to a college, he said. I came here to this country to get away from ideologies like that.

The opposition made for a tough vote for members of the Assemblys Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus. Democrat Evan Low, who is of Chinese descent and shares an apartment with his police officer brother, said he received more than 3,000 emails and phone calls from his constituents urging him to vote against the repeal.

But in an interview with The Associated Press, Low said he voted for the bill because injustice to one is injustice to us all.

How do you go to a Black Lives Matter rally and say, Yes, I am with you, but then all of a sudden say, Oh, well, not here, not on that part, he said.

Californias ban of affirmative action was inspired in part by a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed public universities to use race as a factor in their admissions decisions. That case originated from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.

Since the 1996 amendment, at least seven other states have adopted similar policies: Washington, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, New Hampshire and Oklahoma. A constitutional amendment in Colorado failed to pass in 2008.

This is not the same California that voted on this 25 years ago, said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, a Democrat from Los Angeles.

California is the nations most populous state, and its also one of the most diverse. Hispanics surpassed whites in 2015 as the states largest ethnic group. As of 2019, Hispanics make up 39% of the states population while whites account for 36.8%, according to the U.S. Census. Asians account for 15.3% while African Americans make up 6.5% of the states population.

California State University, the nations largest four-year public university with 23 campuses and nearly 482,000 students, has a student body that is nearly 75% people of colour. Hispanics account for 43% of the students while whites account for 22.4%. Asians account for 15.7% and black people make up 4% of the student population.

At the University of California system, Asians account for 30% of the undergraduate and graduate student population, followed by whites at 24%, Hispanics at 22% and blacks at 4%.
I SIS bride Shamima Begum was denied a fair hearing when she was stripped of her British citizenship and refused permission to fly back to the UK to fight her case, the High Court heard today.

Ms Begum was 15-years-old when she left Britain with two friends to join Islamic State in February 2015, marrying a jihadi fighter in Syria and spending more than three years in terrorist-control territory.

After news broke in February last year that she was now in a Syrian refugee camp, then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship on national security grounds.

A Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) then ruled that Ms Begum, who grew up in east London, had not been rendered stateless by Mr Javids decision as she is a citizen of Bangladesh by descent.

The tribunal also found Ms Begum, who has been denied permission to fly back to the UK to fight her case, could not play a meaningful part in her appeal.

Taking her case to the Court of Appeal today, Tom Hickman QC said the Home Secretarys decision to revoke citizenship should be declared unlawful as he would have known Ms Begum could not properly take part in any appeal.

The consequences of the appellant not being able to have a fair and effective appeal means the Secretary of States decision stands in definitely, possibly forever, without there ever having been a judicial decision on the merits, he said.

That piles fairness upon unfairness and is wrong in law.

Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid / REUTERS

Ms Begum, now 20, was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who flew from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on February 17 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria.

She has told journalists she married IS fighter Yago Riedijk within ten days of arriving in the terrorist-controlled territory, and openly discussed life under the extremist regime.

Ms Begum said she had two children with Mr Riedijk but they have since died. She was heavily pregnant when news of her move to a refugee camp broke, but the third child also died shortly after being born.

Mr Hickman said Ms Begum now insists she was not telling the truth about harbouring pro-ISIS views when she first spoke to journalists, fearing for her safety in the refugee camp she was in.

After moving camps, she gave another interview claiming that she doesnt share their views and had not told the truth because she was receiving threats.

Mr Hickman pointed the court to government figures showing that 40 per cent of around 900 people who have travelled to ISIS-controlled regions of Syria later returned to the UK and most were assessed to pose a low security risk.

Just because someone has gone out to Syria is in itself not an indication that pose a security risk, he said.

Shamima Begum / ITV

In a written submission to the court, Sir James Eadie, one of three QCs representing the government, said Ms Begum had been the architect of her own situation, rather than the decision taken by Mr Javid.

The fact that (she) could not fully engage with the statutory appeal procedure was a result of her decision to leave the UK, travel to Syria against Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice and align with ISIL, he said.

This led to her being held in conditions akin to detention in a foreign state at the hands of a third party, the Syrian Defence Force. It was not the result of any action by the Secretary of State and the Deprivation Decision did not have any causative impact on (her)."

Lord Justice Flaux, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Singh are hearing the appeal over two days and will deliver a ruling at a later date.
Eir is to charge 5.99 per month for its webmail service from July first.

The company had suspended the introduction of the fee during the pandemic lockdown.

The move is estimated to affect tens of thousands of Eircom.net email address users. Eircom.net email addresses are common among community associations, schools and voluntary organisations.

The companys webmail service has been free for almost 20 years.

From July first, Eircom.net account holders who dont pay wont be able to open individual email messages. If they dont pay within two months, their email account will be deleted.

Eir is understood to be implementing the move as the email service is a loss making one that requires customer service resources.

The companys website says that the charge is being brought in to provide a better service.

Eircom.net email users who do not wish to start paying the new 6 monthly subscription can export their emails and contact addresses to free services such as Gmail. Instructions for doing so can be found at support.google.com and involve setting up a Gmail account or using an existing Gmail account.

Eir executives say that they do not make money from email services, unlike Google, which sometimes uses the data from Gmail to supplement its advertising business.

However, it may leave thousands of people feeling trapped into paying a new monthly subscription to avoid losing access to longstanding business, community and personal contacts.

In the UK, telecoms companies have been introducing similar charges on once-free services. BT customers reacted with dismay when the former incumbent recently raised prices to 7.50 (8.80) per month for customers to use its email, while TalkTalk charges 5 (5.88) per month.
A policeman in Las Vegas who was shot in the head while trying to arrest a George Floyd protester could spend the rest of his life on a ventilator, his family have said.

Shay Mikalonis, 29, was shot on June 1 while attempting to detain demonstrators along the Las Vegas strip.

The suspected gunman, Edgar Samaniego, 20, has been charged with attempted murder, battery and gun charges.

A prosecutor in the case said Friday that police video shows 'visual evidence of the actual act' of Mikalonis being shot.

Shay Mikalonis, 29, was shot in the head June 1 while riots erupted after George Floyd protests

Mikalonis had been with the Las Vegas police department for four years when he was shot

Mikalonis on Tuesday had surgery to repair his shattered jaw, and was awake and able to recognize his relatives, they said.

But in a statement tweeted by the Las Vegas police, the family said he remains on a ventilator and will remain so for the foreseeable future - perhaps for the rest of his life.

'He is still very critical and therefore still at UMC Trauma,' they said, adding that he had had 'a setback' and that staff at the hospital were 'working hard to get his vitals back under control'.

The family said they wanted well-wishers to know that the four-year veteran of the department was 'a fighter'.

'But he has a long hard fight ahead of him.'

They added: 'Our concern is for Shay and only Shay.

'We hope and pray that one day he will leave UMC Trauma and go to a rehabilitation facility [where] they can work on Shay's quality of life, whatever that may be.'

Edgar Samaniego, 20, has been charged with attempted murder, battery and gun charges

Samaniego, charged in the shooting, appears at the Regional Justice Center on June 3

Steve Grammas, president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, thanked officers and supporters who have dropped off food and held vigils at the hospital.

'From the moment Shay got shot, the community has continued to support him and our officers,' Grammas told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

'We are thankful for it.'

On Thursday a fundraiser for Mikalonis and his family is planned, and has been nicknamed 'Shay Day'.

The event is being organized by the Injured Officers Police Fund, and all proceeds will go to the Mikalonis family.

'Please join us and sign a card and/or donate directly to the family as we rally this amazing community of Las Vegas together to support the recovery of Shay,' the organization said.

In Las Vegas, demonstrations last weekend resulted in hundreds of arrests, and police used tear gas, pepper balls and beanbag projectiles to disperse crowds.

The same night Mikalonis was wounded, police shot and killed a man they said was armed with several guns and refused orders to leave an area near federal courthouses.

Protesters in Las Vegas on June 5, four days after Mikalonis was shot in the head
Eight years ago, Canada eliminated federal restrictions on the interprovincial shipment of wine for personal use. We were tantalizingly close to freeing domestic wine trade, but, unfortunately, most provinces retained their own restrictions.

Last year, Doug Ford passed a sunset provision ending Ontario prohibitions on shipping Canadian wines to consumers from wineries in other provinces.

Implementation was delayed but is now scheduled for July 1.

Fords bold initiative couldnt be more timely.

If the Ontario restrictions are, indeed, revoked on Canada Day without further delay, our wineries can start to build the truly Canadian supply chain that we need in this time of global economic uncertainty.

My thanks to Premier Ford on this issue. I hope premiers Jason Kenney and Francois Legault follow his example.
Chhin Eng remembered when Preah Sihanouk provinces Sihanoukville airport was nothing more than an airstrip. In 2005, when he first moved to the coastal town, there was little business activity and the Kang Keng airstrip had few flight arrivals or departures.

The last three years have seen an exponential increase in air travel to Sihanoukville, largely aided by the increase in casino and construction activity. Dozens of flights arriving at the towns airport, at least 20 a day from Chinese cities, were keeping Chhin Eng busy in his Lexus RX-300 SUV.

When the Chinese started coming, I could make up to $100 every day, he told VOA Khmer in late May.

In 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to Cambodia overlapped with the onset of a massive increase in Chinese investments into Cambodia, a lot of it heading straight for Sihanoukville. These investments were directed towards casinos, online gambling, and tourism-related infrastructure projects, including housing.

In just a few years, the town was being transformed from a backpacker haven, laced with Russian criminal elements, into the promise of a new, more metropolitan city. From 2016 to August 2019, Chinese inflows of investment into Sihanoukville peaked at about $2 billion, according to the Cambodian Development Council.

With the numerous casinos dotting the city, online gambling ticking away and construction activity moving along speedily, the Cambodian government in 2019 ordered a ban on online gambling starting January 2020  an extension of Chinas crackdown on outflows of illicit money, especially via casinos and online gambling operations.

Provincial authorities reported a significant decrease in Chinese nationals starting January, who at the peak of Chinese business activity numbered around 200,000 individuals. Authorities have never been forthcoming about the exact number of Chinese nationals in the city, with state institutions making different estimates.

The novel coronavirus pandemic then further exasperated an already-precarious situation, leaving the city in a standstill. Cambodias first positive case was also reported in Sihanoukville, with another cluster of cases among a French tour group in March.

On a recent trip, reporters saw several unfinished condominiums and high-rise buildings and little to no construction activity. Multiple small businesses and shops, many fitted with Mandarin signage, were shuttered and under-construction streets had no traffic jams, previously caused by tourist buses and construction vehicles.

Approved foreign direct investment inflows have slowed down in the interim, according to the World Bank, and even after China lifted its COVID-19 travel restrictions local government officials said there is no certainty if Chinese business owners and workers will return to the city.

Cambodian residents, and the few remaining Chinese nationals and businesspersons, spoke to VOA Khmer about their concerns and apprehensions over Sihanoukvilles uncertain economic prospects, many wondering if this was the new normal for the coastal city.

In late May, Chhin Eng was tipped off about a flight with tourists was arriving at the airport. The taxi driver rushed to the airport in his SUV, only to see the long line of Chinese tourists boarding buses and minivans pre-booked by a local Chinese-owned tour company.

I am jobless and having nothing to do at home, Chhin Eng said, before getting into his SUV for the 45-minute drive back to the city center.

I decided to come here today... betting on the chance that I could pick up a customer. But I could not get any.

Chinese business owners and nationals told VOA Khmer they were not very optimistic about the current situation. Many had come to Sihanoukville believing that it could be turned into a vibrant city, like the many dotting Chinas industrialized provinces.

But the double-blow of the online gambling crackdown earlier this year and the global viral pandemic, have left investments and businesses in limbo.

Chinese national Lau Zhu moved to the port city 12 months ago and started a small business, where he became an intermediary between other Chinese businesspersons and local officials.

The Zhejiang province native, who is married to a Cambodian woman, admits that a lot of his work involved the facilitation of tea money, as well as consulting newcomers on their operations.

With several land purchase agreements in his hand, Lau Zhu spoke of how business was profitable when there were 300,000 Chinese nationals in Sihanoukville, which was his estimate of the Chinese population in the city.

They came here and rented houses, guest houses, and hotels, so it was great for the business, he said, speaking of the arrival of Chinese nationals since 2016.

But with no online gambling, the 300,000 people all went back suddenly, he added. So, it is not good for business anymore.

Speaking at a press conference on June 9, Preah Sihanouk Governor Kuoch Chamroeun said there were around 15,000 Chinese nationals remaining in the town, attributing the quick exit of people to the COVID-19 outbreak. He did not give an estimate of how many Chinese nationals were in the city at the start of the year.

Ye Zuo Rui, a 35-year-old Chinese national, is one of the few who has chosen to remain in Sihanoukville. He migrated from Guangdong provinces Shenzhen city, following other Chinese business owners who were taking a gamble on moving to a new country.

Incidentally, Finance Ministry Secretary of State Vongsey Vissoth, speaking at a meeting to discuss Cambodias macroeconomic management in February, said the government hoped to turn the town into a second Shenzhen.

Back at his office, Ye Zuo Rui said he started a car garage, catering to both Chinese and Cambodian nationals, after realizing that he could provide a faster service than existing car-repair businesses. Seizing on the property boom, he also runs a real estate brokerage service.

Everyone came here because they saw the light, he said, as his staff gathered to hear his insights into the current situation.

He said that business activity was currently at its lowest, since he moved to Sihanoukville in 2018, and that he was losing thousands of dollars a month because real estate sales had dried up.

In the current situation, not losing money is good enough, let alone talk about earning income, Ye Zuo Rui said, despondently.

With the current economic slump, the Chinese national said there is little keeping him in Sihanoukville, except for the initial hope that had drawn him to the port town  to build a new city in Cambodia.

Ivan Franceschini, a post-doctoral fellow at the Australian National University, said the situation in Sihanoukville was grim, especially for Chinese and Cambodian workers, many of who were struggling to make a living.



For many Chinese workers, the dream of Sihanoukville had turned into a real nightmare, as they were stuck there, unable to collect enough money to fly back to China or trapped, he said, in an email this week.

Prime Minister Hun Sen on June 1 made a visit to the citys newly-paved boulevard connecting downtown Sihanoukville to the international airport, winding along the provinces southern coastline.

The road is part of a 300-million dollar infrastructure road project, which the government said it is funding from the annual budget. Hun Sen said he envisioned the city as a multi-purpose commercial hub and a development model that could be replicated across the country.

Franceschini said the Cambodian government was attempting to rescript the Sihanoukville story and steer its development to be modeled on Shenzhen, but it was unclear if this would be possible.

It remains to be seen if these experiments will work, if there will be enough investment from China and elsewhere to support them, he said.

[A]nd most importantly if Sihanoukville will recover from the blows that the wild development of recent years has inferred to its attractiveness as a tourism and investment destination.

With the dramatic changes Sihanoukville has undergone over the years, Cambodian residents were hopeful the adverse impacts of increased investment from China, including the inward migration of Chinese workers and criminal activity, were a thing of the past.

Cambodian residents have been resentful, especially on social media, of being priced out of their homes and businesses, forcing many to leave the town or move to the outskirts. Chinese nationals and businesses were able to pay higher rents for shops and apartments, with landlords profiting from this new clientele.

Additionally, the casino and online gambling operations had attracted some Chinese criminal elements, with local police reporting an increase in kidnappings, extortion, and murders involving Chinese nationals in the city.

In August 2019, the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh issued a warning about the rising crime in the southern port city. In the travel advisory, it asked Chinese citizens to refrain from gambling activities or from venturing out at night, warning of chaos and insecurity.

In view of the special circumstances in the relevant region, if Chinese citizens still insist on going out [in the town], it may cause the parties to face a higher security risk and may affect the effectiveness of obtaining assistance, the advisory in Mandarin read.

Shortly after, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the end of online gambling, starting January 1, 2020, a move that immediately received the endorsement of the Chinese officials.

The Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh did not respond to a request for comment.

According to an April study by the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace, a large number of Chinese businesses and triad networks moved to Myanmars Karen state, after Cambodian and Chinese law enforcement cracked down on these activities in Sihanoukville.

Cheap Sotheary, the provincial coordinator for local rights group ADHOC, has lived in Sihanoukville for 30 years. After giving up a teaching job in 1990, she relocated to the port city and said she had witnessed the various iterations of the town, starting from the influx of United Nations forces under UNTAC.

She was critical of the casino and gambling operations in the city, blaming it for the increase in crime, which was a new development for the long-time resident.

The [gambling] industry was the main driver of crimes involving Chinese nationals, she said. You had never seen as many kidnappings, shootings, torture and confinement cases as you did [recently].

She was not against investment and development that benefited the city, but wanted authorities to take advantage of the current economic lull to plan and regulate such activities.

Near OChheuteal Beach, which is popular among Cambodian families, Lao Harry was enjoying a seaside picnic with his wife, Kong Leakena, and two young children.

Kong Leakena speaks a little Mandarin and used to work at a local casino, but lost her job after gambling establishments were ordered closed once Cambodia started to see an increase in novel coronavirus cases in March.

She wanted local authorities to ensure social protections for Cambodian residents of the town, so that they were not affected by the downsides of foreign investment-dependent development.

The authorities just need to implement absolutely strict legal enforcement [with tourists and investors] to protect the locals and make the city more livable for them, Kong Leakena said.

For Lao Harry, who grew up in the town, he distinctly remembers his elders always expected Sihanoukville to develop like Hong Kong, a waterfront, developed city.
Supplier News

11 June 2020

Dallas, Texas -- While globally hotel stays remain relatively flat at all-time lows, the U.S. and Canada saw stays increase 10-30% week-over-week in May, according to the latest data from Onyx CenterSource, a leading global provider of B2B payments and business intelligence to the hospitality industry. OnyxComp internal analytics show recent hotel stay trends in parts of the U.S. and Canada follow earlier data from China, shared on the Onyx blog yesterday, indicating signs of initial market recovery. In contrast, South America continues to see low hotel stay volumes, in line with the region's ongoing struggle to contain COVID-19 spread. In week-over-week data reflecting actualized hotel stays since the beginning of 2020, industry trends showed the following:

China experienced a steady increase in stays toward the end of April, after new COVID-19 cases dropped below an inflection point around 2,500 per week, which Onyx reported via its COVID-19 blog coverage

The U.S. began to see an uptick of its own, with an increase in week-over-week hotel stays of just under 10% the week of May 16

Canada also saw a sharp increase of 29% in week-over-week stays the week of May 16

Onyx's global dataset has been vital to understand trends in worldwide hotel stays in the wake of the novel coronavirus, which has made revenue forecasting impossible for players across the hospitality industry. "These OnyxComp data insights tell us that the recovery roadmap is more a series of passageways that interconnect, with bends and curves, as opposed to a single straightaway," said Mark Dubrow, CEO of Onyx CenterSource. "Factors beyond simply COVID-19 casessuch as varying policies governing reopenings, changed airline routes and access, and economic disparitieswill affect how recovery looks in different segments of the global market."

Within the U.S., there continues to be wide variability in recovery outlooks and timelines. In Hawaii, though COVID-19 cases decreased 27% from their early-April high, week-over-week transactions in mid-May were down nearly 40%, likely affected by the extended mandatory 14-day quarantine in effect until at least June 30, as well as limited air travel.

While Illinois is slowly reopening, Chicago is following a more extended, or conservative, approach to reopening, which has likely impacted hotel stay trends for the state. Illinois has seen relatively flat hotel stays throughout late March and April, with week-over-week transaction volumes increasing between 3-6% in mid-May.

In states where reopening activity has been ongoing the last few weeks, signs point to growth. Both Florida and Texas have seen week-over-week increases in stays between 8-18% in the first half of May.

"These are insights that have proven significant and valuable to our hotel and agency clients," said Brian Clubb, SVP of Product Management at Onyx CenterSource. "This is such a challenging time in our industry, so any additional resources we can provide to support our clients, we are happy to offer. We want to be there for them, and they rely on us to be consultative and thorough in our analysis." OnyxComp insights are available to hotel and agency clients and updated daily with the latest industry and coronavirus data.

To access more thought leadership and information from Onyx CenterSource, subscribe to our insights here.

About Onyx CenterSource

Onyx CenterSource is a leading global provider of B2B payments and business intelligence solutions to the hospitality industry. The company strives to build long-lasting relationships with its partners and is passionate about providing quality customer service, consultative insight and cost-effective solutions. With a legacy dating to 1992, the company facilitates in excess of $2.1 billion in payments annually, partnering with more than 150,000 hotel properties and 200,000 travel booking providers in 160 countries. In addition to its headquarters in Dallas, Onyx CenterSource has regional hubs in Seville, Spain and Tnsberg, Norway. CommPay is a registered trademark of Onyx CenterSource.
A brother of George Floyd took his grief to the US capital yesterday with an impassioned plea to Congress not to let his brother die in vain, lamenting that he "didn't deserve to die over $20".

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee held the first congressional hearing to examine issues underlying civil unrest - racial injustice and police brutality - that erupted following Mr Floyd's May 25 death after a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck.

The Democratic-led House is moving forward with sweeping reform legislation while Senate Republicans craft a rival plan.

Mr Floyd was unarmed when taken into custody outside a corner market where an employee had reported that a man matching his description tried to pay for cigarettes with a counterfeit bill.

"George wasn't hurting anyone that day. He didn't deserve to die over $20. I'm asking you, is that what a black man's worth? $20? This is 2020. Enough is enough," Philonise Floyd (42) told the politicians. "It is on you to make sure his death is not in vain.

"I'm here to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain.

"George called for help and he was ignored. Please listen to the call I'm making to you now, to the calls of our family and the calls ringing on the streets of all the world."

It was not clear whether Democrats and Republicans will overcome partisan differences to pass legislation that President Donald Trump would be willing to sign.

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News that Mr Trump could take policy action on race and policing through an executive order, but did not give details.

Officer Derek Chauvin, who was fired after the incident, has been charged with second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter. George Floyd and Mr Chauvin both worked as security personnel at the same nightclub. Philonise Floyd said Mr Chauvin knew his brother and "didn't like him", adding that "it has to have something to do with racism".

The hearing had politicians and witnesses, including several civil rights advocates, expressing sorrow over Mr Floyd's death, the latest in a long string of killings of African-American men and women by police that have sparked anger on America's streets and fresh calls for reforms.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 15:18:36|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom Liu Xiaoming has voiced hope that the British business community will view the national security legislation for Hong Kong from "an objective and reasonable" perspective, despite some British politicians' irresponsible remarks.

Liu made the remarks on Tuesday during an online briefing on China's annual "two sessions" with Chinese and British business community.

The "two sessions," which refer to the annual meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, were held in late May this year.

The NPC, China's top legislature, approved during the session a decision on national security legislation for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

"The national security legislation for the Hong Kong SAR targets the very few actions and activities that gravely jeopardize national security ... This legislation has won the support of the majority of Hong Kong people. Many countries have also upheld justice and expressed their appreciation and support for this legislation," Liu said.

However, some British politicians still cling to the Cold-War and colonial mentality, and refuse to accept the fact that Hong Kong has been returned to China and is now a special administrative region of China, he said.

"They made irresponsible remarks recently on the national security legislation for the Hong Kong SAR and interfered in Hong Kong affairs, which are China's internal affairs. The Chinese side strongly opposes this," the ambassador said.

A prosperous and stable Hong Kong is in the interests of both China and Britain, Liu said, describing it as a "wise and visionary move" that some big British businesses in Hong Kong have expressed their understanding and support for the legislation.

"It is my hope that the British business community will view the national security legislation for the Hong Kong SAR from an objective and reasonable perspective. I hope you will contribute positive energy to the long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong," he added. Enditem
The nation's top military official has apologized for taking part in President Donald Trump's walk from the White House to St. John's Church for what eventually turned into a controversial photo op after authorities had used pepper balls and smoke canisters to disperse largely peaceful protesters.

"I should not have been there," said Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a prerecorded video commencement address to National Defense University. "My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics."

"As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from," Milley said in the video address.

ABC News has also learned that Milley was so upset about his role in the events that he thought about resigning, but ultimately decided he would be letting the troops down. Instead he felt the better course of action was to deliver his apology.

Milley acknowledged in his remarks that everything senior leaders do "will be closely watched and I am not immune, as many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society."

MORE: Trump calls tear gas reports 'fake news,' but protesters' eyes burned just the same

Milley, who was wearing combat fatigues, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were the target of widespread criticism from current and former leaders for their participation in last Monday's walk through the park to St. John's Church. A senior U.S. official said Milley had changed into the camouflage uniform from his dress uniform in anticipation of a long evening at the command center that had been set up in Washington to monitor Monday evening's protests in the capital.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John's Church, June 1, 2020. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Both believed they were accompanying Trump to thank National Guard troops and other law enforcement officers outside Lafayette Square, Esper said last week.

Story continues

MORE: Trump denies ordering protesters forcibly removed for church photo op

When Trump's party arrived at St. John's Church, the president posed with a Bible and then asked top officials, including Esper, to participate in a photo opportunity. Though he was nearby Milley was not asked by Trump to join in the picture.

Earlier on that Monday, Esper and Milley had pushed back strongly against Trump's demand that thousands of active duty troops be sent to the nation's capital under the Insurrection Act to quell the protests that emerged following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, according to a senior U.S. official.

Both succeeded in advocating that thousands more National Guardsmen from other states should be sent to reinforce the numbers of the D.C. National Guard in a show of force that would demonstrate that active duty troops were not needed. As a back-up 1,600 active duty troops were moved to areas outside of Washington, D.C., to be on standby in case they were ever needed, but they were sent home a few days later.

MORE: Timeline: The impact of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis and beyond

In his commencement address, Milley said he, like many Americans, was "outraged by the senseless and brutal killing of George Floyd."

"His death amplified the pain, the frustration, and the fear that so many of our fellow Americans live with day in, day out," Milley said.

The protests that have ensued not only speak to his killing, but also to the centuries of injustice toward African Americans," he added. "We should all be proud that the vast majority of protests have been peaceful."

PHOTO: President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he visits outside St. John's Church across Lafayette Park from the White House, June 1, 2020, in Washington. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

"What we are seeing is the long shadow of the original sin in Jamestown 401 years ago," said Milley. "We are still struggling with racism and we have much work to do."

And that includes in the military where Milley said "we must, we can, and we will do better." The senior leaders of the four military services have also said that they will lead initiatives to discuss and improve race relations within the military in the wake of Floyd's death.

Earlier this week Milley and other top Pentagon officials indicated they were open to the idea of having discussions about the renaming of 10 Army bases and facilities named after Confederate generals.

But Trump quashed that possibility on Wednesday tweeting that "My Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations, Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!"

This report was featured in the Friday, June 12, 2020, episode of Start Here, ABC News daily news podcast.

"Start Here" offers a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the ABC News app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Milley apologizes for taking part in Trump church walk: 'I should not have been there' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Former Gov. Ed Schafer has concerns about Gov. Doug Burgum's hefty donations to a political group that successfully targeted a powerful, fellow Republican's reelection bid.

"To have ... one Republican just outright campaigning with gobs of money and negative advertising against another Republican worries me about the shaping of our Republican Party," Schafer said.

He had two thoughts upon learning of Burgum's donations totaling $1.85 million to the Dakota Leadership PAC, run by former Burgum advisers, which ran advertising against longtime House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, who appeared to lose his reelection bid Tuesday.

"My first thought was he's in a no-win deal," Schafer said, pointing to likely future opposition to Burgum by lawmakers.

"My second thought was he can't make his relationship with the Legislature any worse," he added, calling Burgum a "great leader," but one with a "very poor" relationship with the Legislature.

Burgum and Delzer have tangled over budget issues, including a rule change Delzer led that shunted the governor's 2019 budget blueprint, frustrating Burgum.

But Burgum, a wealthy former software executive elected in 2016, has maintained he doesn't have a rocky relationship with the Legislature, despite his 2016 campaign statements to break up establishment politics and a 2017 interbranch lawsuit over executive and legislative authority.

Schafer, whose 1992 gubernatorial win is seen as helping propel North Dakota's Republican Party to dominance in state politics, said he sees fences needing mending in the party.

"We need to stand for the same things," Schafer said.

Governor's spokesman Mike Nowatzki did not immediately respond to the Tribune regarding Schafer's comments.

North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Rick Berg said the party's supermajority brings advantages and disadvantages, including differences of opinion. He called Burgum's tactics "unprecedented."

"There's always been tension between the legislative branch and the executive branch," said Berg, a former House majority leader and speaker. "And I would guess that every governor has been in that situation. My take on this is (we) probably have to wait until after the next legislative session to determine what that impact is with the governor being so involved, financially, in legislative races."

Burgum is seeking reelection with Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford. They will face Democrats Shelley Lenz and Ben Vig and Libertarians DuWayne Hendrickson and Joshua Voytek in November.

Schafer senses an "underlying disappointment" from the Legislature in the way it works with the governor, manifested in Burgum's sidelined budget plan.

"I think if you look closely you'll see the Legislature constantly trying to pull authority, responsibility, oversight out of the governor's office and into the Legislature," Schafer said. "And to me that's a signal that they don't like what's going on in the governor's office."

House Majority Leader Chet Pollert, R-Carrington, has said he sees "difficulties in the future" for relationships because of the Dakota Leadership PAC.

Schafer, who endorsed Burgum in his 2016 gubernatorial bid against Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, said he has spoken to Burgum about working relationships with the Legislature and "negative advertising, because I hate the campaign they put up against Delzer and telling falsehoods about a long-term public servant."

Schafer suggests Burgum needs to "shed his business acumen and understand the public process better," which can be "tricky" for businesspeople entering government.

"There's a separate and equal branch of government, so they don't report to you, man," he said. "They don't get their pay from you and they don't get their report card from you."

Burgum's "money politics" bothers Schafer, the former governor said. Such spending blocks people from seeking office, he said.

"If money is the only answer, then you have a government that is built by the wealthy, the elite and the chosen few. That's it. And that's not good government," Schafer said.

He's not sure what the dynamics will be in the 2021 Legislature. But the fences can be mended, he added.

"I think this is a wake-up call or a shock or whatever the case may be," Schafer said. "We're at this point between the two branches of government and we've got to figure out how to bring them together for good policy direction for the state of North Dakota and for the people of North Dakota."

Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com.

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The Trump campaign has demanded that CNN retract and apologise for a poll showing Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential election, in a substantial lead.

CNNs poll, conducted by survey and market research firm SSRS, showed president Donald Trump trailing Mr Biden by 14 per cent among registered voters.

In the poll, 55 per cent of participants said they would vote for Mr Biden if the election was held today, compared to 41 per cent who said they would vote for Mr Trump.

The poll also showed Mr Trumps approval rating at 37 per cent, which is the worst it has been since January 2019.

In a letter to CNN president Jeff Zucker, that the broadcaster said contained numerous incorrect and misleading claims, the Trump campaign claimed the poll was designed to mislead American voters through a biased questionnaire and skewed sampling.

The letter, signed by the campaigns senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis and chief operating officer Michael Glassner, said the poll presented a misleading view of support for the president.

Its a stunt and a phony poll to cause voter suppression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the President, and present a false view generally of the actual support across America for the President.

The campaign also demanded a full, fair, and conspicuous retraction, apology, and clarification to correct its misleading conclusions.

In response to the letter, CNNs executive vice president and general counsel, David Vigilante, said: To my knowledge, this is the first time in its 40-year history that CNN had been threatened with legal action because an American politician or campaign did not like CNNs polling results.

He added: To the extent we have received legal threats from political leaders in the past, they have typically come from countries like Venezuela or other regimes where there is little or no respect for a free and independent media.

President Trump tweeted last week, after the poll was published, that he had hired Republican polling company McLaughlin & Associates to analyse the data from SSRS.

Mr Trump wrote that he had asked them to look into the poll, and ones from other outlets, that he felt were FAKE based on the incredible enthusiasm we are receiving.

The Trump campaign used claims from MacLaughlin & Associates analysis in the letter, and CNN writers Henry Enten and Veronica Stracqualursi fact-checked some claims made by the pollsters.

McLaughlin says CNNs survey is a skewed anti-Trump poll of only 25% Republican. That percentage of respondents, however, is consistent with several other major polls that use live telephone interviews, which provide the most reliable snapshot of the race, they wrote in an article about the letter.

McLaughlin this week argued that pollsters should include a third of Republicans in surveys to reflect the 33% that they represented in the 2016 vote, but exit polls nearly always have higher shares of partisans and lower shares of independents than pre-election phone polls, the writers added.

CNN reported that despite the presidents claims, polls from six other outlets, including Fox News, showed Mr Biden at least 10 per cent ahead of Mr Trump in June.
World Bank (WB) Country Director for Vietnam Ousmane Dione (L) and Politburo member Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission (Photo: VNA)

Ousmane Dione, who is going to end his working tenure in Vietnam, congratulated the country on its remarkable achievements gained over the past time.

For his part, Binh thanked the WB official for his active contributions to promoting the bank's role and support efficiency in Vietnam, not only through increasing development assistance capital but also helping to exchange policies, renew mindset in management, change growth model, and fuel economic development.

He also suggested the bank continue supporting Vietnam and coordinating with the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission, especially in policy dialogue and devising initiatives and measures for post-COVID-19 socio-economic recovery and development.

The same day, the Vietnamese official hosted Denmark Ambassador to Vietnam Kim Hojilund Christensen and US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink.
theAsianparent recently featured the story of Karen, a mother who is battling to raise two children under the age of 6 who have both been diagnosed with autism, while having to deal with a neighbour who is allegedly applying undue pressure on her small family, often cursing for her children to die. In our attempts to raise community awareness on empathy towards families with special needs children, we reached out to the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) about the various avenues of support for families with autism, that is currently being implemented in Singapore.

Support for families with autism

Regarding Karens specific case, the MSF spokesperson said: It is indeed challenging for Karen to care for two children with autism while facing disputes with her neighbour. Karen and her family are receiving support for their social and emotional needs, as well as financial support from MSF and our community partners. These include Early Intervention professionals and social workers. These professionals will continue to work closely with Karen and her family to mitigate the family stressors.

MSF Social Service Offices (SSO) have been supporting the family with Comcare Short-to-Medium Term Assistance from April to December 2020. The family is also supported by a Family Service Centre near their home, which provides counselling support and advice in managing the familys relationship with their neighbour. Both children are attending the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC). They attended weekly online classes with Karen during the Circuit Breaker period, the spokesperson further added.

Emotional support

In the article about Karens ordeal, she said to have felt depressed to the point of suffering from very dark thoughts as the situation had become unbearable for her. The disputes with her neighbour added to the general stress that parenting bringsand that of raising children with developmental needs, in particular.

Story continues

MSF shared that while it is challenging for families like Karens who are dealing with a myriad of difficult situations, there are a few avenues of help offered by government programmes that they can take to avoid being over-burdened and receive targeted help specific to their cases.

We encourage individuals and families facing social and emotional challenges to reach out to their nearest Family Service Centre (FSC), which are based in the community and staffed by social service professionals. Alternatively, individuals and families could reach out to any social service touchpoints and we can make the necessary referrals to the FSC, MSF noted.

A list of the nearest FSCs in your locality can be found here.

The National CARE Hotline (1800-202-6868) is a further venture set up recently to provide 24/7 round the clock emotional support and psychological first aid to those feeling stressed and distressed. The hotline also provides emotional reassurance, a listening ear, or practical coping tips. The CARE Hotline is open to all and complements existing phone or online counselling platforms, MSF noted.



If callers need help beyond what the volunteer counsellors of the CARE Hotline can provide, they will be linked up with agencies, healthcare institutions and community partners for more support, MSF further added.

Below are lists of various hotlines, including the National Care Hotline, and that of community partners offering targeted support for families in distress.

Infographic of hotlines to call for when in need of assistance. Source: MSF

Support For Families with Autism: Educational Support for Children with Special Needs

According to MSF, families in similar situations can benefit from Government-funded programmes that provide early intervention support for families with autism, through a range of professionals, from learning support educators and early intervention teachers; to therapists, psychologists and social workers. The early intervention seeks to maximise a childs developmental potential.

[Programmes like] SG Enable supports families with children with developmental needs and provides referrals to relevant services. Today, children under the age of 7 with developmental needs can receive intervention through Government-funded Early Intervention (EI) programmes. Children with mild developmental needs are supported by the Development Support (DS) and Learning Support (LS) programmes, in a preschool setting. Children with moderate to severe developmental needs can receive intervention through the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC) at EI centres, MSF stated.

The range of early intervention programmes can be found in the infographic below:

support for families with autism

Infographic provided by MSF.

The EIPIC programme saw a recent revamp to make it more flexible and customisable to the varied needs of children. Fees for Singaporeans have been lowered to make the programmes more affordable for families of children with developmental needs.

Since April 2019, MSF has enhanced EI subsidies and broadened the income criteria for means-tested subsidies so that more families qualify. As a result, out-of-pocket expenses for EI services have been lowered across all EI programmes for most income groups, with reductions averaging between 30% and 70% depending on the EI programme. After subsidies, fees for Singapore Citizen Children range from $5 to $430 per month (fees prior to enhanced subsidies ranged from $5 to $780 per month), MSF noted.

More details on government-funded support programmes for children with developmental needs can be found here.

Financial and Social Support for Families with Autism

It is a particularly challenging time for persons with disabilities, their caregivers, and families, being in the midst of a global pandemic that has severely restricted normal daily activities.

While many families were unable to access usual rehabilitation and care services in the usual manner during the circuit breaker, all disability services are gradually reopening in Phase 1, according to MSF.

Our disability services continue to maintain regular contact with clients, and connect them to customised assistance as needed, including supporting caregiving, MSF added.

For more detailed information on the support available for families of persons with disabilities, caregivers can refer to the Enabling Guide (www.enablingguide.sg) by SG Enable, which is a valuable resource hub for persons with disabilities and caregivers.

It includes information on emotional and financial support, such as the various financial assistance schemes, grants and funds that persons with disabilities or [their] caregivers can leveragebe it to defray the cost of disability support and assistive technology, secure their financial future or fund their education, MSF noted.

The website also carries a curated set of specialised resources on support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those in need of financial support can apply for the various help schemes at www.supportgowhere.gov.sg, contact the ComCare hotline at 1800-222-0000, or approach their nearest SSO, MSF also noted.

A list of SSO offices in different localities can be found on the MSF website.

Everyone plays a part in making our society an inclusive and caring one. Let us exercise empathy, especially during this difficult time. The community can also help lookout for persons with disabilities to support their needs, MSF added.

SG Enable may be contacted at 1800-8585-885 or contactus@sgenable.sg for individuals who need disability-related support.

Also Read: Neighbour Curses To Death Kids With Autism, Calls Cops on the Family Repeatedly

Teenager Slips Into 5-day Coma After Drinking 2 Cups of Bubble Tea Daily

The post A Guide to the Financial, Social, and Emotional Support Available to Families Of Children With Special Needs appeared first on theAsianparent - Your Guide to Pregnancy, Baby & Raising Kids.
Senate health and education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Thursday said The single best thing that we could do to help minority children and minority families is to help them go back to school safely in August and September.

Senator Alexander said on the Senate floor Thursday morning that the countrys 56 million K-12 students returning as safely as possible in the fall to our 100,000 public schools and 34,000 private schools, and 20 million college students returning to 6,000 colleges and universities would represent our countrys surest step back toward normalcy.

Senator Alexander also said he agrees with Tennessees commissioner of education when she says, we want children to do two things: we want them to be safe, and we want them to thrive.

For the benefit of the children, the benefit of the parents, especially the benefit of low-income children, many of whom get one or two meals a day at school, we need to go back to school as a country, Senator Alexander continued.

I think it's in our interest to make sure that principals and school boards know that they'll have sufficient funds to open 100,000 public schools safely, because school administrators, with all respect, sometimes are a little bit conservative, reluctant to take risks, and if there's the excuse that we don't have enough money to open safely, they may just say let's keep up with remote learning.

There are limits to what you can learn remotely, Senator Alexander noted earlier in his remarks. Teachers aren't trained to teach remotely. In many parts of our country, broadband isn't sufficient to allow students to learn remotely. Teachers haven't made lesson plans to teach remotely. Home schooling is a good thing for parents who are able to do that, but home schooling is hard and takes a lot of time. And if you are in a family, as two-thirds of married families are, where both parents are working outside of the home, how are you going to do home schooling appropriately, and so that your child doesn't get far behind?

Senator Alexander concluded his remarks: I think it's important to get the country going and it's good for the children and it's good for the parents to make sure that schools have sufficient funds to reopen safely.

Read a transcript of Senator Alexanders remarks on the Senate floor here.




MIDDLETOWN  Assisted Living Services congratulated 20 home caregivers recently by awarding each a $1,000 bonus for their efforts caring for Connecticut seniors during the coronavirus outbreak.

Starting in February, the family-owned home care agency retooled its unprecedented monthly $5,000 Platinum Caregiver Award as the Homecare Hero Award to recognize more outstanding employees, according to a press release.

It was already incredibly difficult to choose just one staff member per month for our award program, and we wanted to give more caregivers the opportunity for a financial reward as they displayed incredible dedication to our clients from the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mario DAquila, COO of ALS, said in a prepared statement.

There are five monthly winners for February, March, April and May, who were chosen after clients were called at random by Homecare Pulse, a third-party survey company, to measure the Chester-based ALS customer satisfaction.

The client or family member was able to rate ALS services and the quality of care provided, the release said. Clients had the opportunity to mention caregivers that went above and beyond and exceeded expectations for the quality of care that was given to them or their loved one. ALS also considered caregivers for this award that had taken on additional cases and helped out the company during this time of need.

DAquila shared a couple reviews that illustrate these caregivers unwavering commitment to client care:

My mother had anxiety and depression and was nervous about being alone. The caregiver saved our lives.

My mother worships the ground she [the caregiver] walks on. Previously, she wouldnt let anyone come into her home.

The award program resumes this month. In addition to the monetary bonus, honorees receive a crystal statue and certificate of merit.

For more than two decades, ALS has led the charge to raise the standards for quality of care across the board in the highly competitive home care industry.

The company gives tens of thousands of dollars each year to incentivize employees for superior performance or perfect attendance, according to the agency. Managers also receive incentives if quality assurance benchmarks are achieved.

Incentives and genuine appreciation for staff members are just a few of the reasons ALS has a high employee retention rate with some employees still working for the agency for nearly two decades, according to the company.

For information, visit assistedlivingct.com or call 203-634-8668.
"While most of us take our next meal for granted, we must recognize that poverty and hunger exist even in the most affluent nations. At a time when the world is in distress, these impoverished communities suffer more significantly. Give With Oakwood is our commitment to provide relief to these communities, making small but meaningful impacts through localized efforts," said Dean Schreiber, Chief Executive Officer of Oakwood and Managing Director of Oakwood Asia Pacific.

In Asia Pacific, where rice is a staple for most people, each Oakwood property will make rice donations to a local community or charity organisation with every direct booking received. Please click here to access the list of participating Oakwood properties in Asia Pacific and their respective charity partner.

All seven Oakwood properties in London, the United Kingdom, will channel 1 to The Felix Project for every confirmed booking received via its website or agency partner. The Felix Project collects fresh, nutritious food that cannot be sold and delivers the surplus food to charities and schools so that healthy meals can be provided.

In the United States of America, Oakwood will be lending its support to Feeding America, a non-profit organisation with a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other community-based agencies. For every confirmed reservation made under the Give With Oakwood rate, US$2 for each day of the booking will be contributed to Feeding America.

For more details on Give With Oakwood, please visit Oakwood.com/Give-With-Oakwood.

Click here to download high-res images.

About Oakwood

Oakwood, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mapletree Investments, is a global leader in hospitality management and development. The company manages a portfolio of award-winning properties that combine the space and comfort of a private residence with the thoughtful services and amenities of a hotel, ideal for both short- and long-term stays. Through this specially crafted Oakwood experience, guests are invited to feel a sense of belonging, familiarity and reassurance whenever they stay at any Oakwood property around the world. For more information, please visit www.Oakwood.com.

SOURCE Oakwood

Related Links

https://www.oakwood.com


The Minority Caucus in Parliament has condemned and denounced the manner of arrest by National Security operatives of Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei a Self-acclaimed Pastor on Tuesday.



According to the Minority Caucus, the manner of arrest of Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei violated his fundamental human rights.



Speaking to Journalists at Parliament House on Wednesday, the Minority Ranking Member on the Committee on Interior, James Agalga said article 19 of the 1992 Constitution enjoins arresting officers to respect the innocence of suspects until they are proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.



James Agalga pointed out that the arrest warrant was not read to the suspect before he was whisked by security personnel and the display of the suspect before the cameras could prejudice the outcome of any future trial of the suspect.



He said the government has allegedly decided to intimidate people who criticize the wrongdoing of government and state agencies which according to the Minority is unfortunate.



Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei, Founder and Leader of the Hezekiah Apostolic Prayer Ministry, who allegedly threatened to 'kill' Mrs. Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) has been remanded by an Accra Circuit Court.



The self-styled man of God is also said to have insulted President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



He has been charged with the threat of death, offensive conduct to the breach of peace, and possession of narcotic drug.



He is said to have threatened the life of Mrs. Jean Mensah after insulting her and the President.



He has denied all the charges and would make his next appearance on June 23.



Police Sergeant Frederick Sarpong, told the Court presided over by Mr. Emmanuel Essandoh that the accused, on Thursday, June 4, made a live video of himself on Facebook and YouTube threatening to kill the EC Chairperson if she went ahead with the compilation of the new voters' register.



In the same video, he rained insults on Mrs. Jean Mensa and the President, Nana Akufo-Addo.

Source: Emmanuel Akorli/Parliamentary Correspondent/Peace Fm









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Former Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran entered a plea of no contest to a public drunk charge Wednesday afternoon and notified Municipal Court Judge Calvin Taylor she would appeal the case to Jackson County Court.

Moran entered the courtroom alone shortly before her scheduled 5 p.m. trial. Her attorney, Dianne Herman Ellis, was already in the courtroom and as soon as Moran arrived, Ellis informed Taylor of her clients plea and intent to appeal.

Moran was arrested the night of Jan. 13 after a police officer found her laying in the roadway near her Washington Avenue home.

According to the police incident report obtained by The Mississippi Press the following day, Ocean Springs patrolman Howard Rhodes was southbound on Washington Avenue at about 11:48 p.m. when he spotted a white female laying on her back in the southbound lane. I got out to check on the female, later identified as Connie Moran, and observed she was intoxicated and unable to stand.

The report also indicated Moran had removed her shoes, smelled of alcohol and was disoriented when I awakened her, Rhodes wrote. Initially, she made no move to attempt to stand and lay on her back, smiling. She asked me repeatedly what I was doing. I told her she was laying in the road and that I was checking on her well being.

Another officer, Melanie Hammond, arrived on the scene and, at that point, Moran attempted to stand, but fell down. The officers notified Acadian Ambulance service and medics examined Moran when they arrived, but she refused medical treatment, signing a release form, according to the report.

Rhodes wrote that Moran was highly intoxicated and could not walk or stand without assistance, and he and another officer, Paris Griffin, helped Moran to a patrol car, where she was placed under arrest for public drunk.

Moran was transported to the Jackson County Adult Detention Center, where she was held overnight under a $263 bond.

A no contest plea does not carry an admission of guilt. It is the typical plea entered by those in municipal court who intend to take their case to the county court.

Moran has repeatedly proclaimed her innocence, telling the Sun Herald she was in her driveway and slipped, falling and hitting her head, causing her to become disoriented.

I was in my driveway, Moran told the Gulfport paper. They could have just helped me back into my home.

The police report, however, said Moran was in the roadway, listing the location of the incident as only the 200 block of Washington," but the police log released the following morning stated that Moran was found in front of 207 Washington Ave., adjacent to her home at 206 Washington.

Officers body cameras recorded video of the incident on Washington Avenue, while surveillance cameras captured the booking process at the municipal jail, where Moran reportedly became belligerent and uncooperative, telling the booking officer I built this jail, according to an official who has seen the footage.

The Citys Public Safety Complex, which includes the police department and court facilities, opened in January 2012 during Morans second term as mayor.

A public drunk charge carries a maximum fine of $263. She will be required to post an appearance bond set by the municipal court, as well as a fee of $108.50 to file the appeal with the county court. Moran could still opt to drop the appeal and pay the municipal fine of $263.

Moran served three terms as Ocean Springs mayor from 2005-2017 before she was defeated in a bid for a fourth term by current mayor Shea Dobson. Last November, she sought a seat on the Mississippi Public Service Commission, but was defeated by then-Pascagoula Mayor Dane Maxwell.
FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a joint news conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow

ANKARA (Reuters) - The United States needs to play a more active role in Libya, both in achieving a ceasefire and in political talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, as Libya's warring sides restarted U.N.-led ceasefire talks.

Turkey supports Fayez al Serraj's internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), whose forces have in recent weeks repelled a 14-month assault on Tripoli by Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA).

The LNA is backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia. While Washington has said it opposes Haftar's offensive, it has not thrown its support behind the GNA. It has also lambasted Russian involvement in support of Haftar.

Cavusoglu said the involvement of the United States, a NATO ally, was important to protect the alliance's interests, adding that Turkish and U.S. officials would discuss possible steps, as Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed during a call on Monday.

"For some reason, the United States has not been that active in Libya, perhaps because of past traumas," Cavusoglu said in an interview with broadcaster NTV.

"The United States needs to play a more active role, both for achieving a ceasefire and in the political process."

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed the resumption of U.N.-led talks between Libya's warring sides and urged speedy negotiations to achieve a ceasefire, as a new round of talks began after the GNA's rapid gains.

Cavusoglu, who dismissed a ceasefire proposal by Egypt as an attempt to save Haftar after losses on the battlefield, said on Thursday that only a lasting ceasefire under U.N. auspices would be acceptable.

Trump also discussed Libya with Egypt's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday, and the two leaders discussed ways to resume U.N. ceasefire talks and the departure of all foreign forces from Libya.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler and Gareth Jones)
Nearly three months into Oregons coronavirus outbreak, the states weekly jobs numbers show that far fewer workers are losing their jobs and tens of thousands of laid-off Oregonians are being called back to work.

The improved numbers come as Oregon gradually reopens from its March shutdown and suggest the worst of the steep economic downturn is probably over. But state economists have warned that full recovery from Oregons steepest downturn since the Great Recession will take years, and are cautious about the latest numbers.

It really is too soon to say, said Anna Johnson, economist with the employment department.

While the number of new jobless claims fell to 8,500 workers last week  down from nearly 90,000 new claims one week in late March  Johnson notes that new claims are still coming in at twice Oregons average rate from before the pandemic.

Oregon recorded 36,000 fewer continued unemployment claims in the last week of May, a 12% drop from the prior week.

The 257,000 continued claims (from workers who were already unemployed, filing for continued benefits) at the end of May was smaller than any single week since mid-April, suggesting thousands of Oregonians are going back to work. But the total was still 10 times higher than before the pandemic.

While there was a drop last week in continued claims, the total number of continued claims is still really high, Johnson said, and continues to be higher than the peak reached during the Great Recession.

Oregons unemployment rate was 14.2% in April, the highest point on record. Mays numbers come out Tuesday. Nearly 490,000 Oregonians have filed for jobless benefits since the start of the crisis in March, more than a fifth of the states workforce.

Nearly two-thirds of Oregonians rate the states economy as poor or very poor, according to a poll released Thursday by DHM research. Thats up from 55% in March.

But Oregonians say theyre less worried about their own circumstances. In March, at the beginning of the outbreak, 63% said they were somewhat or very worried. In this months poll that number was 49%.

The recent drop in new jobless claims has helped Oregon begin to catch up with its enormous backlog of benefits applications. The number of Oregonians waiting on benefits spiked above 100,000 last month, with many waiting for well over a month.

Now, the backlog is down to roughly 13,000 regular claims  plus thousands more self-employed workers who are newly eligible for unemployment benefits. The state has been unable to say how many of those workers are still waiting.

Gov. Kate Brown fired the director of the Oregon Employment Department at the end of May as the department struggled to process claims and communicate with workers who are awaiting benefits.

New director David Gerstenfeld said Thursday that the department now has staffers from other state agencies and members of the Oregon Army National Guard calling benefits applicants to guide them on working through the benefits process.

The department is now working with Google, too, on technology to improve the claims process for self-employed workers. And the department has set up a liaison to the state Legislature to assist lawmakers in resolving constituent claims.

Through the heart of the departments crisis, in April and May, Gerstenfelds predecessor refused to speak publicly about her agencys struggles or say what she was doing to address tens of thousands of unpaid claims. Gerstenfeld has held regular media briefings since he took over at the end of last month.

The departments phone lines are still jammed, though, and thats its main way of communicating with jobless Oregonians to resolve problems with their claims. The communications crisis, and the departments obsolete computer system, continues to prevent thousands of workers from getting their benefits.

We know Oregonians are still waiting and they continue to feel frustrated, Gerstenfeld said on a media call Wednesday. We are doing everything in our power to do right by them.

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Police from the central province of Thua Thien-Hue have arrested 11 suspects, including seven Nigerians for cheating and illegally appropriating property, worth over VND120 billion (US$5.1 million), from Vietnamese citizens online.

Ogo Emeka Donal, a Nigerian, 35, at the police station in the central province of Thua Thien Hue.  VNA/VNS Photo

According to the police, the suspects are Ugochukwu Samuel Nnaemeka, 24; Stanley Chidiebere Umed, 29; Nnaka Chibuzor Frankline, 36; Chimezie Ebuka Samuel, 28; Chukwugekwe Godwin Ajearo, 34; Ugochukuwu Okechukwu James, 35; Ogo Emeka Donal, 35; Ngo Hai Nghi, 24; Vu Ai Linh, 24; Dao Dang Vu, 33; and Pham Ngoc Duy, 36.

All of them live in HCM City.

The police said a woman, who lives in Hue City, informed the police on April 2020 that a foreigner had stolen VND3.9 billion (US$168,000) from her.

After receiving the report, police started to investigate and found that the womans money was transferred to a number of bank accounts. However, all withdrawals were made at ATMs in HCM City.

About 15 days later, the police identified Dalaxy Dave, a Nigerian currently living in Cambodia, as the ringleader of the gang.

Dave contacted Vietnamese citizens on social media and gained their trust. He pretended to be a US soldier and asked to send valuable gifts to his Vietnamese friends or invited them to invest money in business projects in foreign countries.

Dave also ordered his accomplices in Vietnam to illegally access Facebook accounts to purchase items online and send links asking the sellers to provide OTP codes to steal money from their bank accounts.

The suspects also pretended to be police and procuracy officers to call victims and tell them to send money to the suspects bank accounts.

When they successfully stole money from the victims, Dave would tell his accomplices to withdraw the money and send it to him. The accomplices would also receive an amount from the illegally appropriated cash.

The police seized 53 fake ID cards and many mobile phones used for the scam at the suspects homes.

Dang Ngoc Son, deputy director of the provincial Police Department, said the investigation was difficult because the suspects used sophisticated tricks to hide their crimes.

However, the local police co-operated with the Ministry of Public Security and HCM City Police Department to arrest them. VNS

Ministry of Information and Communications warns about strange phone calls and messages The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) recommends that people watch out for strange calls and do not send any money or provide personal information to strangers over the phone.
Chouhan is also heard saying that it was not possible to pull down the Kamal Nath government without the help of Jyotiraditya Scindia

An audio clip in which Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan can allegedly be heard saying that the Central leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party wanted the Kamal Nath government to fall went viral on Wednesday, triggering a huge political row.

Mr Chouhan is also heard saying in the purported 9.28-minute long audio clip that it was not possible to pull down the Kamal Nath government without the help of Jyotiraditya Scindia and his loyalist, former Congress MLA Tulsi Silawat.

The Congress, which has all along maintained that the BJP had hatched a conspiracy to pull down the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to capture power in MP, seized the opportunity to attack the ruling party and even threatened legal action.

I have been maintaining from the very beginning that there was a conspiracy to pull down my duly elected government The audio has established that the BJPs Central leadership had conspired to pull down my government even though it enjoyed majority, former chief minister and Congress veteran Kamal Nath said.

Working president of MP Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Jitu Patwari said his party may move court against the BJP for having plotted to dislodge an elected government following the expose in the purported audio.

Mr Chouhan was reportedly addressing BJP workers of Sanware Assembly constituency in Indore on Monday when he allegedly said in Hindi, The Central leadership (of BJP) decided that the (Kamal Nath) government should fall. They (the Kamal Nath government) will ruin and destroy (the state) Tell me, was it possible to dislodge the government without Jyotiraditya Scindia and Tulsi Bhai? There was no other way.

The Tulsi Bhai referred to in the clip is former health minister who joined the BJP along with Mr Scindia.

In the coming bypoll if Tulsi Silawat doesnt become MLA again, will I be able to remain CM, will the BJP government survive? he allegedly said, exhorting BJP workers to overcome their differences and work for Mr Silawats victory in the upcoming by-elections in the Sanwer Assembly seat.

Twenty-two Congress MLAs, loyal to Mr Scindia, had resigned from the Assembly leading to the fall of the Kamal Nath government on March 20, paving the way for Mr Chouhan to return as chief minister for the fourth time.

All the 22 ex-Congress MLAs later joined the BJP with Mr Scindia. Two of them, Mr Silawat and Govind Singh Rajput, have been inducted into the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Cabinet.

The BJP has vehemently denied any role in the collapse of the Kamal Nath government. Neither the saffron partys Central leadership nor Mr Chouhan have reacted to the audio clip yet

But the partys state spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal dismissed the charge that it had a hand in the fall of the Kamal Nath government.

Infighting in Congress had led to the fall of the Kamal Nath government, he said.
Drivers should avoid making two or more at-fault car insurance claims to avoid having their policies renewal canceled. Furthermore, policyholders should refrain from making three or more comprehensive claims within a three year period to avoid expensive rates, Russell R, Marketing Director

Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that explains how many car insurance claims a driver can make and if there are any restrictions.

For more info and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/what-drivers-should-know-about-car-insurance-claims/

Whatever the reason, some drivers may be required to make multiple car insurance claims in a year. Most car insurance companies don't have a limit in the number of insurance claims made by a policyholder as long as he makes these claims for legitimate problems and he has valid car insurance at the time of the incident. However, most car insurance companies have limits on at-fault insurance claims. Drivers who have two or more at-fault insurance claims in three years are labeled with multi-claim status and will have their premiums raied and even risk having their policies non-renewed by their insurers. Also, some policies might have an aggregate limit, which is the maximum total amount the insurer will pay for the entire policy period.

Not all claims are treated the same by the insurers. Based on the amount of damage and who is at-fault, insurance companies separate claims in the following categories:



At-fault claims. At-fault claims are claims where the policyholder is at-fault in an incident. If a policyholder gets involved in an accident that occurs as a result of his actions, then the policyholders insurance company is required to pay any damages from this accident. Even one at-fault claim will cause insurance premiums to rise. Policyholders who make two at-fault claims within a three-year period are likely to have their policies non-renewed.

Not-at-fault claims. Policyholders who got involved in accidents not caused by them will need to make a claim through the other drivers insurance company (if they reside in most states) or through their own insurance providers (if they live in of the 12 no-fault states). The insurance providers treat these claims differently than at-fault claims. Policyholders have no limits on how many not-at-fault claims can make in a certain period.

Comprehensive claims. Comprehensive policies cover things like theft, vandalism, damage caused by floods, storms, hurricanes, or fire. These claims don't affect the price of insurance unless policyholders file three or more comprehensive claims in less than three years. Furthermore, in some states insurance companies are prohibited from raising the premiums after one or two comprehensive claims.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
Pakistan on Wednesday voiced concern over Israels plan of annexing a large portion of the West Bank and urged it to refrain from taking any unilateral action.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi attended a virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss Israels threat to annex territories in the West Bank.

Israel was urged to refrain from taking any unilateral action that would lead to the annexation of any occupied Palestinian territory in violation of relevant UN resolutions and international law, the Foreign Office said.

While reaffirming Pakistans solidarity with the people of Palestine, Qureshi reiterated call for the establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine, on the basis of internationally agreed parameters, the pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.

The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations, including Pakistan.

Qureshi also raised the Kashmir issue during the meeting and called upon the international community to play an active role in resolving the outstanding disputes.

Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmirs special status on August 5 and bifurcating it into two Union territories.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 was its internal matter. It also advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda.

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WASHINGTON  Without a large federal investment in the nations public school system, districts hit hard by the coronavirus will struggle to meet the needs of their pupils this fall as they try to reopen their doors, educators told a Senate panel on Wednesday.

In testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, education leaders from around the country said budget challenges were among their chief concerns as they drafted plans to resume in-person classes. That is particularly true for students who have borne the brunt of the economic, educational and racial injustices that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Across the country, school leaders are beginning to roll out plans to welcome more than 50 million students back, which include procuring 50 million masks; flooding schools with nurses, aides and counselors; and staggering schedules to minimize class size. But the high-dollar demands to meet public health guidelines and make up for setbacks that have disproportionately affected low-income students, students of color and those with disabilities could cripple their budgets.

At a time when our kids and our communities need us most, we are having to make massive cuts, Susana Cordova, the superintendent of Denver Public Schools, told senators. Additional funding would be essential, she said: We must double down for those who have been most impacted by the Covid crisis if we are to deliver on the promise of education to create a more equitable society.
After nearly three months of working from home arrangements, WAs peak landlord body has urged tenants to return office staff to the city to help struggling CBD businesses.

Despite WA entering loosened phase 3 restrictions on June 6, Perths streets remain noticeably bare as major companies opt for caution in returning their huge workforces back to city offices.

Perth companies have been urged to return staff to the CBD to help struggling businesses. Credit:Photo: Louie Douvis

Public transport patronage, a good indicator of activity in the city, is still down between 40 and 50 per cent compared to pre-COVID-19 levels.

The Property Council of WA said its members were reporting about 25 per cent occupancy.
By PTI

KATHMANDU: Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said that his government will seek a solution to the Kalapani issue through diplomatic efforts and dialogue on the basis of historical facts and documents.

"We will get back the land occupied by India through holding a dialogue," Oli said while responding to questions in Parliament on Wednesday.

He claimed that India built a Kali temple, created "an artificial Kali river" and "encroached the Nepalese territory through deploying the Army" at Kalapani.

The river defines the border between the two countries.

ALSO READ: Nepal calls again for border talks with India

Oli's claim comes in midst of a raging boundary row between the two countries with India sternly asking Nepal not to resort to any "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims after Kathmandu released a new political map laying claim over Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.

The ties between India and Nepal came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.

Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory.

India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.

Nepalese officials say that Nepal had control over the area before 1962, when the India-China war took place.

At that time India stationed its army seeking permission from then Nepalese rulers for temporary purpose, but it never removed its forces, they claim.

Although there are border issues in other areas such as Susta but the government has given priority to Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as Nepali territories have not been captured by deploying army in other parts of its international border, Oli said in response to a question in Parliament.

Earlier this week, the Nepalese Parliament unanimously endorsed a proposal to consider a constitution amendment bill to pave way for putting the new political map that includes Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura in Nepal's national emblem.

A discussion on the issue started in the Parliament since Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shivamaya Tumbahanfe tabled a bill for the second amendment to the Nepalese Constitution to incorporate the new political map of Nepal on May 31.

Prime Minister Oli said he was happy to learn that the unprecedented unity has been shown both within and outside the Parliament on the issue of national unity and territorial integrity.

"Our ancestors founded and saved this country through their struggles.

We will be able to establish our territorial integrity if we remain firm," he said.

Prime Minister Oli also raised objection to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's reported remark that Nepal should not repeat the mistake which Tibet made.

"If Adityanath spoke about that, it was not appropriate," he said.

"It is not appropriate to threaten Nepal in that way.

.

.

This should not have been spoken by a chief minister of UP," he said.

"It is a deplorable matter, if he spoke so.

" Oli also complained about India's unwillingness to receive the joint report prepared by Eminent Persons' Group (EPG) of India and Nepal.

Nepal is ready to receive the report, but it would be meaningless unless both the governments receive it, he said.

"As per the condition, India should first receive the report but it has not shown any interest to receive the report which was prepared two years ago," he claimed.
Standard Lithium Successfully Commissioned Demonstration Plant Despite COVID-19

Posted by Publisher Internet

After Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLL) (OTCQX: STLHF) (FRA: S5L) managed to close an almost two times oversubscribed C$12.1M capital raise on February 21, 2020, the company is financed at least into the ?Proof of Concept? completion of the demonstration plant, and the subsequent consummation of the formal Joint Venture with LANXESS. The timing couldn?t have been better, as the COVID-19 pandemic gathered speed at the same moment, severely dampening sentiment at for example the mining industry?s premier event PDAC in the first week of March. With the funding secured, Standard Lithium proceeded as quickly as possible, abiding to COVID-19 measures at the Lanxess location, resulting in the announcement on May 19, 2020 of the successful commissioning and commencement of continuous 24/7 operation of the demonstration plant, first of its kind at this scale, this month. In the meantime, lithium product prices kept on falling, so as these are interesting times, it certainly is time for an update, further illustrated by input from CEO Robert Mintak.

All presented tables are my own material, unless stated otherwise.

All pictures are company material, unless stated otherwise.

All currencies are in US Dollars, unless stated otherwise

Standard Lithium recently announced the successful start-up of the industrial-scale Direct Lithium Extraction Demonstration Plant at Lanxess? South Plant facility in southern Arkansas (the ?Site?) on May 19, 2020. This plant, using LiSTR Direct Lithium Extraction technology, had been successfully commissioned on May 15m 2020 and is now operating on a 24/7 basis, extracting lithium directly from Lanxess? tail brine?of their bromine operations.?Standard Lithium is now involved in systematic optimization in order to fine-tune the plant, which is a highly automated, three-story demonstration plant including an integrated office, control room and laboratory, and investigate how performance can be improved further. The most important features of the technology are, per the news release:

Produces lithium chloride (LiCl) directly from un-concentrated raw brine;

Reduces recovery time from months to less than a day;

Eliminates the massive environmental footprint of evaporation ponds;

Returns virtually all water to the source aquifer;

Not affected by weather conditions;

Vastly increases recovery efficiencies to as much as >90%; and,

Unlocks large-scale unconventional brine resources.

The demonstration plant is capable of an annual production of between 100-150 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). To be clear, the LiSTR demonstration plant extracts lithium from the LANXESS tail brine stream and produces a high purity lithium chloride solution (LiCl) similar to the output of the evaporation ponds process but much faster, done in hours instead of many ???months. The LiCl will be sent off site and converted via a third party to battery quality, 99.5% purity lithium carbonate (Li2CO3). The commercial operation would incorporate an onsite Li2CO3 conversion plant. Standard Lithium is working on their own Li2CO3 technology called ?SiFT?. The SiFT technology utilizes processes from the pharma industry and includes artificial intelligence and robotics to self-optimize the crystallization process. A news release in March announced that a prototype pilot plant produced a better than 99.9% purity Li2CO3.

Depending on the success of testing, either the SiFT plant or a standard plant will be constructed after the construction decision has been made.? ?

In the meantime, the company is actively monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and working closely with Lanxess to implement preventative measures at the site to safeguard the health of its employees and contractors. This results for example in funny site visit pictures like this:

Some of the measures being put into place include:

Continuing operations at the site with the minimum staff present on site as required;

Screening all contractors and external visitors to site for risk factors, as well as employees returning on shift change;

Requiring employees who show symptoms or are in close contact with someone with symptoms to stay home from work;

Suspension of all international travel and requiring employees returning from travel outside of the USA or Canada to self-isolate for the government recommended 14-day self-quarantine period;

Implementing work-from-home practices where possible, including ongoing process engineering and optimisation work at the company?s LiSTR demonstration plant;

Reducing in-person meetings and transitioning to videoconferencing where possible, as well as restricting any large gatherings;

Enhanced cleaning and disinfecting protocols at the site on hard surfaces and especially at touch-points; and,

Promoting personal preventative measures, such as frequent handwashing, and increasing awareness of social distancing practices.

According to CEO Robert Mintak, the impact of COVID-19 on the project has been managed exceptionally well with the technical team in Canada working virtually with the operations team in Arkansas. The impact to the timeline has been about 8 weeks, but compared to their peers who have been largely stalled or halted during the pandemic, Standard was able to push further ahead. A PFS that has been planned has been impacted by the travel ban. A release date will not be certain until international travel returns to somewhat normal.

I feel this is very reasonable, and even in line with normal project/study delays across the board of junior mining companies. The real outbreak of COVID-19 in March didn?t leave the Standard Lithium chart unharmed as can be seen here:

Looking in hindsight, the mid-March panic was a perfect buying opportunity, but many were probably expecting much more bad news, or a limited dead cat bounce at best, as the US, as the leading economic power, was gearing up to become the epicenter of the pandemic, with a president who initially denied a crisis and compared COVID-19 with the flu. The difference is there is a vaccine against influenza, and not against COVID-19. However, the virtually unlimited financial support programs from the central banks and governments seemed to provide sufficient oxygen for the markets, resulting in strong and lasting recoveries of indices and almost all individual stocks. For now, Standard Lithium has fully recovered and more, reaching highs not seen since Q4, 2018, and is working towards the all-important technology proof of concept, the consumation of the JV with Lanxess and a final investment decision.

As a reminder: this demonstration plant is roughly designed at 1/60 scale of the target production capacity of the first phase of commercial production, and should provide sufficient testing data this quarter for a planned upcoming Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), and if the testing is successful and the JV formed it should be a straight path for the contempleted phased commercial production development after the investment decision would have been made by Lanxess.

The base case economics used to indicate a pretty robust lithium project, at a capex of US$437M an operation can be constructed with an after-tax NPV8 of US$989M and an after-tax IRR of 36%, based on an average long term LCE price of US$13,550/t. However, we are nowhere near such lofty price levels anymore unfortunately. In this useful article of Matt Bohlsen on Seekingalpha we can find a monthly update on lithium pricing which I find to be very useful when doing due diligence on lithium companies: Fastmarkets?quotes an LCE price of US$7,500/t (coming down from US$8,750/t in February), and lithium hydroxide prices of US$9,750/t in this useful article of Matt Bohlsen on Seekingalpha, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI)?has April prices at US$6,582 for Li carbonate (coming down from US$7922/t in February), US$9,125 for Li hydroxide, and US$420 for spodumene (6%). What I find fascinating is that the hydroxide price gap with carbonate remains constant in absolute terms, resulting in a larger and larger relative difference, potentially indicating higher fees being calculated by converters in Asia. ?

The trend keeps following a downward path, including a new drop in April/May, probably caused by COVID-19 fall-out as can be seen here in this chart coming from Fastmarkets (paid for link, chart provided by Bohlsen on Seekingalpha.com):

As the lithium carbonate market seems to be oversupplied, and demand is weakening further due to COVID-19, the short term outlook isn?t particularly healthy. For the long term I have seen market scenarios contemplating US$9,000-10,000/t LCE, but we aren?t there yet. Therefore I again reworked the lithium sensitivity, where three scenarios are presented, the 20.9kt LCE pa (per annum) base case, and the hypothetical 30kt LCE pa expansion scenarios as I calculated them in my first article on the company:

A current US$7,228/t LCE price, which is roughly a midpoint of Fastmarkets and BMI estimates, would generate a hypothetical NPV8 of about zero, and a hypothetical post-tax IRR of 9.2%, which would render the project not economic, as lithium projects usually need an IRR of at least 25%. As the Lanxess project has one of the best economics for lithium projects around, almost no project is economic these days. These figures are based on 100% project ownership economics. As stated in the past, Lanxess is committed to provide project finance to the JV when testing and the PFS are successful for them, and Standard will probably be an estimated 30% JV partner (according to company documents filed on Sedar. I asked CEO Robert Mintak this, and other questions in the following short interview:

The Critical Investor (TCI): Thanks for taking the time to conduct this short interview. First I wanted to ask you for a quick update on several basic items. Could you tell us what your current cash position, after raising C$17.1M in Q4/2019-Q1/2020?

Robert Mintak (RM): ?We closed a non-brokered financing in February for just over $12M Canadian, which has allowed us to continue advancing the project, We have a team of roughly a dozen at the plant in El Dorado and a handful working? in Canada. At the end of Q3 March 31, 2020 we had roughly $7M CDN which we are deploying strategically to achieve our immediate milestones while managing the runway.

TCI: Could you explain to us what optimization steps you and your team are undertaking, and to what kind of improvements these could lead, possibly in terms of NPV/IRR increase, or capex/opex decreases?

Without going into a lengthy description, the ongoing operations, testing and optimization steps are similar to any piloting stage. On the LiSTR process specifically we will be testing for effective lithium recoveries, concentration and purity, residence time in the loading, washing and stripping reactors, water and energy consumption and, adsorbent life cycle performance and reagent recovery and optimization.

TCI: When do you expect to get in publishable useful numbers on costs, finally showing commerciality of the proprietary extraction process, maybe not at current LCE prices but for example at US$10k/t levels?

RM: The price today of battery quality lithium carbonate is not the same as what is being reported. Pricing out of Japan and Korea is above $10K. We will be modeling the project economics based upon well thought and researched pricing models for battery quality (BQ) lithium over the next number of years. Covid-19 has had an impact on the sales of EV?s and other consumer goods, however the economy coming out the pandemic will be different than the economy prior. EV?s and renewable energy which includes stationary storage, have been prioritized as part of new era of dirigisme that is being displayed by many of the world?s largest economies. The lack of investment in the raw material supply chain, new lithium production, along with importance of localizing production and decoupling from China-centric critical supply will elevate the value of a US producing lithium asset.

TCI: What about the SiFT pilot processing plant, do you still anticipate delivery to the Arkansas site in Mid Q2, or did COVID-19 slow things down here as well??

RM: The SiFT plant is fully mechanically built and paid for. We will begin commissioning soon. Instead of shipping the plant to Arkansas as originally contemplated, because of the COVID travel restrictions we will commission the plant in Canada by shipping LiCl from Arkansas to Canada. The same results but this will save money and time. We will at some point, when travel returns to normal, ship the SiFT plant for installation in Arkansas.

TCI: When is the PFS expected, try to be as specific as possible?

RM: COVID travel restrictions will determine the PFS timing. The PFS will require site visits by several QP?s. With the current pandemic and other elements it would be out of place to provide a specific timeline.

TCI: If possible, could you indicate to the audience your expectations for PFS economics, as compared to PEA economics?

RM:The PEA that was released in Q3 2019 took a very conservative stance. We believe the data from the demonstration plant combined with some other key cost input efficiencies like reagent recovery will improve the already attractive project numbers by a healthy percentage.

TCI: As I mentioned in the paragraph before this interview, prices for lithium products have dropped off significantly, even rendering the project uneconomic. I know you are optimizing project economics, but a drop from US$10k being the minimum of being economic to US$7k nowadays is probably more than can be restored by optimization. How are you dealing with this, and more importantly maybe, do you know how Lanxess is dealing with this? Do they have a certain higher price scenario for the long term future in their heads, and will continue with a construction decision as long as a certain minimum LCE price will result in an economic project?

RM: As I mentioned earlier, I disagree with the sub $10K pricing scenario for battery quality lithium carbonate, and I state, regardless of the pricing today, the industry is going to be facing a day of reckoning in the near future for the lack of investment in new projects capable of producing battery quality lithium chemicals, not spodume concentrate, rather fully integrated lithium chemical production. This will likely result in a spike in pricing much like what we saw from 2015-18.

TCI: I read something in the PEA recommendations about adding a unit which could use direct raw brine, without using the tail brine of the Lanxess bromine operation. Is this still an option?

RM: The LiSTR process is not affected by bromine being present in the brine. So yes we are looking at the entire opportunity in south Arkansas which represents a much larger number than what was considered in the PEA

TCI: Do you have anything else to add for interested investors?

RM:? The project is incredibly exciting and potentially disruptive for the industry. A number of companies have been promoting direct lithium extraction, black boxes and magic beads for years but the approach we have taken has been project focused and methodically executed. We now have an operating direct extraction plant while still pre-commercial, this is at a scale no one has ever done before. We are just at the starting line and things are going to get even more exciting as we go into the next phase.

Conclusion

After COVID-19, the world seems to have changed. Fortunately, Standard Lithium managed to raise C$12.1M right before things got serious, and commenced their demonstration plant after small delays. On the process side of things, the project is running quite smoothly despite COVID-19. On the lithium product pricing side, things don?t really cooperate. However, according to CEO Robert Mintak, real contract pricing for lithium products in Japan and South Korea, being major battery producers, is hovering close to US$10k which would still render the Lanxess project economic with an after-tax IRR of 25%, as one of very few lithium projects.?? ?

After COVID-19 restrictions being no longer necessary, Standard can complete their upcoming PFS, which will likely show improved economics. Directly after this, a Lanxess construction decision awaits.

I hope you will find this article interesting and useful, and will have further interest in my upcoming articles on mining. To never miss a thing, please subscribe to my free newsletter on my website www.criticalinvestor.eu, and follow me on Seekingalpha.com, in order to get an email notice of my new articles soon after they are published.

Disclaimer:

The author is not a registered investment advisor, and currently has a long position in this stock. Standard Lithium is a sponsoring company. All facts are to be checked by the reader. For more information go to www.standardlithium.com and read the company?s profile and?official documents on?www.sedar.com, also?for important risk disclosures. This article is provided for information purposes only, and is not intended to be investment advice of any kind, and all readers are encouraged to do their own due diligence, and talk to their own licensed investment advisors prior to making any investment decisions.
As a physician, I realized that the current method of trial and error for prescribing medications can be substantially improved using genomics

ActXs genetic clinical decision support service, also known as GenoACTTM, helps physicians provide better care using the patients genetic data. Today, ActX announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued Patent No. 10,586,612. It covers methods and systems for organizing, storing, searching, aggregating, and distributing large amounts of biological information obtained for individual patients. With ActX, once patients are genotyped or sequenced, their data is stored in the cloud and referenced in real time. This provides physicians with real time decision support as they use their Electronic Medical Record. For example, if a physician writes a prescription for a medication that may not be effective, then based on the patients genetics, ActX will provide an alert in their normal workflow. The alert has minimal latency, succinctly informs the physician, and provides suggestions for more effective treatment.

The patent covers the use of electronic biological information, stored and distributed through a cloud-like information storage facility to patients, clinicians, and electronic health record-based applications. The ability to provide patients and their physicians with actionable information quickly in real time, based on a large amount of genetic data, in normal physician workflow, is new to the healthcare industry. This was developed by ActXs CEO, Dr. Andrew Ury, and Software Engineer Michael Arlt. The 612 Patent covers 21 claims and is valid through March 3rd, 2034.

The service we have created with ActX helps make genomics actionable, a key part of which is pharmacogenomics, in everyday medical practice, said Dr. Andrew Ury, founder of ActX. As a physician, I realized that the current method of trial and error for prescribing medications can be substantially improved using genomics. Instead of trying out a medication for months to see if it works or causes serious side effects, physicians and patients can, for many medications, using genetics, know in advance whether a medication is likely to work or cause side effects. The approval of this patent allows us to continue with our mission of making real-time genomic decision support a standard in patient care.

This newly allowed patent is owned by ActX, with the inventors being Andrew Ury and Michael Arlt. It is one of the latest U.S. patents issued in connection with precision medicine and cloud-based information storage and sharing.

About ActX

ActX is the industry leader in EHR-integrated precision medicine. Our service helps physicians make better decisions about medical treatment, using a patients genetic information to guide therapy. The ActX Genomic Service offers proven, tightly integrated, real-time genomic decision support for medication orders and actionable genomic risks, a built in patient Genomic Profile, and the ability to fully customize content.

As medications are ordered, and before the prescription is finalized, medications are checked against the patients genetics for efficacy, adverse reactions, and dosing. Extensive evidence based and actionable content is provided as default, customizable content, covering hundreds of genes. You can easily suppress any content or interactions, or add or modify content. The ActX Genomic Service is live at numerous U.S. health systems. For more information, visit http://www.actx.com, email info@actx.com or call 888-998-2289.
Washington, June 11 : US President Donald Trump says he will "not even consider" renaming military bases named for Confederate generals.

He tweeted that the bases were part of "a Great American heritage", the BBC reported on Wednesday.

Trump's remarks follow reports that top military officials were open to changes amid nationwide soul-searching after the death of George Floyd.

For many, symbols of the Confederacy - the slaveholding southern states that seceded, prompting the 1861-65 American Civil War - evoke a racist past.

Trump tweeted on Wednesday that bases named for Confederate generals "have become part of a Great American heritage, a history of Winning, Victory and Freedom".

He added: "The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.

"Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!" White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told a news briefing afterwards that the possibility of renaming those bases was "an absolute non-starter" for Trump.

She said he would not sign any legislation that Congress might ever pass requiring such name changes.

The death last month of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, after a policeman knelt on his neck in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has reopened America's long-festering racial wounds.

On Wednesday, Nascar - a league in which both drivers and fans are overwhelmingly white - announced that it would ban the flying of Confederate flags at its races and other events.

On Wednesday, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for Confederate monuments in the US Capitol building in Washington DC to be removed.

"Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals," said the California Democrat in a statement.

"Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They should be removed." Each US state gets to pick two statues to send to the Capitol complex, where the Senate and House are situated.

Many of the Confederate figures have been moved to less central locations in the building in recent years, though some lawmakers have argued these statues should be removed altogether.
Rick Kern/WireImageThe Dixie Chicks initially planned to release their new album, Gaslighter, in early May, but delayed that project due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the superstar trio has announced a new date for their album: July 17.

The Chicks shared the news over social media today, posting a photograph of three young beauty pageant contestants with what appear to be the band mates faces as young girls. The new release date for Gaslighter is spelled out on the three girls sashes.

Gaslighters title track and lead single came out in March. The band shared another look into the new batch of tunes with Julianna Calm Down in late April.

The new project will be the groups fifth studio album, and their first full-length, original release since Taking the Long Way came out in 2006. The band spent over a year hinting on social media that they had a new, Jack Antonoff-produced project in the works before officially announcing Gaslighters release.

The long gap between Dixie Chicks albums is the result of a deep-seated, infamous rift between the band and many country listeners. Country radio effectively benched the trio after frontwoman Natalie Maines spoke out in 2003 against President George Bush and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

By Carena Liptak

Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 11, 2020 - 19:04 | All, Coronavirus, Japan

Japan plans to ease its coronavirus travel restrictions by letting in up to around 250 foreign travelers per day from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam, government sources said Thursday.

The quota, which Japan aims to introduce this summer, will initially apply to businesspeople, the sources said, adding that the government task force on the virus response is expected to finalize the plan soon.

Japan currently has an entry ban in place for 111 countries and regions, with foreign travelers who have been to any of these areas within the last two weeks being turned away.

"We will continue to carefully consider ways to partially resume (international travel) in steps, while taking care to prevent infections from spreading," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary committee.

Foreign travelers who come to Japan under the quota will be required to hand in negative results from a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test taken before their departure and take another test when they land in Japan.

They will also need to submit an itinerary detailing the hotel they are staying at and places they intend to visit and refrain from using public transportation, the sources said. They may be asked to keep GPS data on their smartphone to make it easier to conduct contact tracing in the event they are found to be infected.

Businesspeople such as executives and engineers will be given priority, with students and then tourists set to follow later, the sources said.

The government is also considering setting up stations to conduct PCR tests on people leaving Japan, as some countries have begun opening their borders to those that provide negative results, the sources said.

According to the Foreign Ministry, 181 countries and regions have imposed travel restrictions of some kind on Japan, including Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam.

The easing of travel restrictions is expected to be mutual, and discussions are being held with these countries on how to do so without risking the spread of COVID-19.

Details such as how many from each country will be let in, and how freely they will be allowed to move once at their destination, are still being worked out.

Japan chose the four countries for the scheme because they have the outbreak under control, and due to their strong economic ties with Japan, the sources said.

Depending on the situation, the government will expand the list later to other countries, including China, South Korea and the United States.

Related coverage:

Japan's coronavirus entry ban disrupting lives of foreign residents

Japan says foreigners with humanitarian needs exempt from entry ban
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday termed as totally impermissible' the demand by Department of Telecom for dues of Rs 4 lakh crore in Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) from PSUs and said DoT must consider withdrawing it.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah raised questions on the demand raised by the government from the PSUs and said that its verdict in the case was misinterpreted as the issue of their dues based on AGR was not dealt with by the apex court.

This is wholly and totally impermissible, the bench said, while referring to the demand raised against the PSUs.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for DoT told the bench that it would the file the affidavit explaining as to why the AGR demands were raised against the PSUs.

The bench also asked private telecom operators to file affidavits giving details as to how they will pay the AGR dues.

On May 18, the top court had lashed out at Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other mobile phone operators for self-assessing their outstanding telecom dues, saying they need to pay past dues with interest and penalty -- an estimated amount of Rs 1.6 lakh crore.

The apex court had also came down heavily on the DoT for allowing companies to re-assess what they owed to the government, and said its order -- passed on October 24, 2019 -- on revenues for calculating dues was final.
France: Le Figaro says Macron proposes resigning, reelection Said in a meeting he is sure of winning, has no opponents

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, JUNE 11 - French President Emmanuel Macron said in a meeting with supporters that he is tempted by the idea of "resigning and getting reelected" in the coming months, according to French daily Le Figaro.



It said Macron proposed the possibility during a video conference with his "inner circle" of backers from his 2017 election.



The goal of the move would be that of "taking back control" in a difficult time for the legislature.



"I'm sure I'd win; there's no one against me," he said, according to Le Figaro.(ANSAmed).




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The statue of slave trader Edward Colston was fished out of Bristol Harbour this morning before being taken to a secure location four days after it was thrown in.

The monument was toppled during a Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday, but police have not yet made any arrests  despite the moment being recorded on film.

Early this morning council officials retrieved the statue and took it to a secure location before it will later form part of the city's museums collection.

The statue of Edward Colston is pulled out of the harbour by Bristol City Council this morning

The statue of Edward Colston has been pulled out of the harbour by Bristol City Council today

A council spokesman said: 'As we run a working harbour, the statue needed to be removed. Thank you to Bristol Harbour and Bristol Museum and the salvage crew for assisting.

'Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees shared yesterday that what goes next on the now empty plinth will be decided democratically by Bristol's citizens.'

Saskia Alice, the council's head of external communications, tweeted that the media had not been informed about the removal of the statue in advance because 'the safety and security of our salvage team was the priority'.

It comes as experts said vandals who tore down the statue before dumping it in the harbour are likely to escape prosecution due to a legal loophole.

The protesters involved may never be prosecuted because it is unclear who the statue belongs to and there has so far been no complaint from the owner to police.

The statue of slave trader Edward Colston is fished out of Bristol Harbour this morning

Council workers take part in the removal of the statue from Bristol Harbour this morning

The statue of Edward Colston had been thrown into the harbour during the anti-racism protest

Under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 prosecutors must prove the statue 'belonged to another'.

Without an owner coming forward to confirm they did not consent to the damage, the law protects defendants who are able to argue they had an 'honest belief' that the owner would have consented.

Bristol City Council is investigating whether it owns the statue, but even if it does local politicians appear unwilling to prosecute.

Matthew Scott, who runs the BarristerBlogger legal blog, said: 'Normally the owner of damaged property will provide a statement to the police saying 'I did not consent to the damage to my property'.

'A prosecution for criminal damage without one would be highly unusual.'

It had been widely assumed that the Colston statue, which had stood in place for 125 years, was owned by the council.

The statue of Edward Colston lies on the harbourside in Bristol today after being pulled out

The crane in place to lift the statue of Edward Colston out of the harbour by the council today

But yesterday Bristol's mayor Marvin Rees admitted ownership had not been '100 per cent established' and the council's legal team were trying to resolve the situation.

Bristol's Society of Merchant Venturers built the monument in 1895, but last night it said it would not be staking a claim for it or making a complaint to police.

Mr Rees previously said: 'As an elected politician I cannot condone criminal damage  but I am of Jamaican heritage and I cannot pretend that I have any real sense of loss for the statue or that it was anything other than a personal affront to me to have it in the middle of Bristol.'

Yesterday, when asked what should happen to those who pulled the statue down, he added: 'I think the bigger question should not be about the individual perpetrators, it's about what this means for Bristol and how we as a city go forward.'

The dramatic moment that the statue of Edward Colston was pulled from its plinth on Sunday

The Edward Colston statue is knelt on in a symbolic act by protesters in Bristol on Sunday

Black Lives Matter protesters roll the statue along the street towards the harbour on Sunday

One senior barrister said: 'I think the Bristol case with the Colston statue case is dead in the water effectively.

'With no loser statement from the owner and the ambiguity the council, the mayor and the police have shown in their statements it is very difficult to see how it could be argued that it is in the public interest to prosecute.

'The defence would argue that they had a reasonable belief that the owner would be happy for me to do this and the prosecution could not counter that argument.

'The CPS would evaluate that at an evidential stage and probably decide there is not a realistic prospect of conviction.'

Caroline Goodwin QC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, said prosecutors would need to be satisfied an offence was 'more than likely to have occurred' and that 'a public interest hurdle had been overcome'.

She added: 'We need to have faith in the criminal justice system.

Protesters gather to throw the statue of Edward Colston into Bristol Harbour on Sunday

The statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston is pushed into the water on Sunday

'This will only last if we continue to protect equally all our people from harm and lasting change will come through democratic means not mob rule which opens the gates to anarchy.

'Focus must remain on orderly change within the law, which is where lasting freedom lies, and equality of opportunity resides.'

Last night Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they had made no arrests in relation to the toppling of Colston's statue.

A spokesman added: 'We're in the early stage of our investigation and are currently collating statements and reviewing the large amount of footage available to us.

'We're seeking early investigative advice from the Crown Prosecution Service and will continue to liaise with them as the inquiry progresses.'

The force said its focus is on 'identifying those responsible', continuing: 'As with all criminal damage investigations, we will look to obtain a statement from the owners of the damaged property.'

Edward Colston: Slave trader, philanthropist and a son of Bristol The Edward Colston statue in Bristol was pulled down by demonstrators on Sunday Edward Colston was born to a wealthy merchant family in Bristol, 1636. After working as an apprentice at a livery company he began to explore the shipping industry and started up his own business. He later joined the Royal African Company and rose up the ranks to Deputy Governor. The Company had complete control of Britain's slave trade, as well as its gold and Ivory business, with Africa and the forts on the coast of west Africa. During his tenure at the Company his ships transported around 80,000 slaves from Africa to the Caribbean and America. Around 20,000 of them, including around 3,000 or more children, died during the journeys. During Colston's life, slavery was being actively encouraged by King Charles II, with many European countries taking part in the trade. Colston's brother Thomas supplied the glass beads that were used to buy the slaves. Colston became the Conservative MP for Bristol in 1710 but stood only for one term, due to old age and ill health. Historian and broadcaster David Olusoga said one of the main problems the statue caused was that people did not understand why it was a source of upset for many in the city. 'This is a city that is about 14% BAME with a statue of somebody who was not just a slave trader, he was involved in the Royal Africa Company, the company that trafficked more people into slavery than any in British history,' he told BBC News. 'The fact that it has not been seen as a problem for such a long time, that so many people are confused as to why the statue offends and upsets so many people, has been the problem.' Colston donated money to causes in and around Bristol before his death in 1721 - including to the city's churches, founded almshouses, Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School, and founding a religious school for boys. According to Historic England, his involvement in the slave trade was the source of much of the money which he bestowed in the city. Due to his philanthropy, Colston's legacy has been honoured by the city he once called home, where streets, memorials and buildings bear his name. An inscription on the statue, which was built in 1895, read: 'Erected by citizens of Bristol as a memorial of one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city.' Following Colston's death in the 18th century, he was described as 'the brightest example of Christian liberality that this age has produced'. His charitable efforts helped inspire philanthropists in future generations, today the Dolphin Society provides help to vulnerable and elderly people who wish to remain independent. The society says it is 'seeking to emulate the charitable endeavours of Edward Colston,' but distances itself from the 'evils of slavery, both in the days of Colston and in the appalling levels of modern day slavery'. A statue was erected in his honour as well as other buildings named after him, including Colston Hall. Campaign group Countering Colston has called for an end to Bristol 'publicly celebrating' the controversial figure, and for the city to recognise the 'true history of transatlantic slavery, colonialism and exploitation'. An 11,000-strong petition said the statue of Colston had 'no place' in Bristol's 'beloved' city centre. In a victory for campaigners, Colston Hall - Bristol's largest concert hall - announced in 2017 it would be re-branding, while a school formerly known as Colston's Primary School was renamed last year. Advertisement

Statues in the firing line: Map reveals the 78 'racist' monuments from Orkney to Truro that 'Topple The Racists' campaign wants torn down in wake of Black Lives Matter protests

The campaign to tear down monuments in towns and cities across Britain gathered pace today as a 'hit list' of statues and memorials deemed to be 'celebrating racism and slavery' reached 78.

A website called 'Topple The Racists' has controversially identified dozens of landmarks from Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert's Bodmin Beacon to Lord Kitchener's memorial in the Orkney Islands that they say need to be removed 'so that Britain can finally face the truth about its past'.

Organisers have said they were inspired by the 'direct action taken by Bristolians', referring to the tearing down of slave trader Edward Colston's statue on Sunday in the city, before it was thrown into the harbour.

In details showing how statues are chosen, the website says the hit list includes 'cases where there is responsibility for colonial violence', adding that 'judgement calls' had been on cases where history is more 'complicated'.

Memorials to monarchs such as King Charles II and King James II make appearances on the list, as well as Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.

Monuments have been targeted in 39 towns and cities, with 12 located in London, and six in Bristol. Five of the one in Bristol celebrate Colston, including two schools, a tower and a renowned music venue which is set to change its when it reopens in the autumn.

Responding to the suggestions that some buildings built with the profits of the slave trade could be torn down, the group said they can 'just be renamed'.

Yesterday, anti-racism protestors forced the removal of 18th Century slave dealer Robert Milligan from outside the Museum of London in West India Quay, Docklands.

Boris Johnson's Business and Industry Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Iraq and moved to the UK with his Kurdish parents aged nine, has since said there should be no statues of slave traders in Britain.

Mr Zahawi said they should not be torn down illegally like Edward Colston's in Bristol, but said: 'Any slave trader should not have a statue. But I wouldn't be breaking the law to take statues down, it should be done through our democratic process. It should be up to local people to decide what they want to do. If the majority of people decide that we want the statues down, then they should be taken down'.

As debate rages over the future of many of Britain's most famous monuments, it has also emerged:

Boris Johnson reiterated that 'black lives matter' to him during fiery PMQs with Sir Keir Starmer;

Colston's School in Bristol is considering changing its name after statue of Edward Colston was torn down on Sunday;

Oxford University chancellor Chris Patten accuses Cecil Rhodes statue protesters of 'hypocrisy' because imperialist's trust funds scholarships for 20 African students a year;

An Oxford-educated museum curator tweets to BLM supporters instructions on how to destroy statues with household chemicals - and says next target should be memorial to Winston Churchill's Parliament Square statue;

Football hooligans and far-Right activists have called for a 'ring of steel' around Churchill and the Cenotaph this weekend as Tommy Robinson slams 'soft-handed police' ahead of more protests;

A 'hit list' of 78 statues and memorials to some of Britain's most famous figures has been created by an anti-racism group urging local communities to remove them because they 'celebrate racism and slavery'

The next in line? BLM supporters have pinpointed a list of their next targets, but the most widely shared are (top left to bottom right) 1) Lord Nelson  tried to stop abolition (Nelson's column) 2) Sir Thomas Picton 3) Thomas Guy - London, Guy's Hospital 4) Sir Robert Peel 5) Sir Francis Drake 6) William Beckford 7) Henry Dundas 8) Clive of India 9) John Cass 10) General Sir Redvers Buller 11) Lord Kitchener 12) Ronald Fisher 13) Lord Grey - Grey's Monument - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Grainger Street 14) Oliver Cromwell  Statue - London, Houses of Parliament 15) Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde  Statue - Glasgow, George Square 16) William Ewart Gladstone 17) William Leverhulme  Statue - Wirral, outside Lady Lever Art Gallery 18) William Armstrong - Memorial - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eldon Place 19) King James II  Statue - London, Trafalgar Square 20) General James George Smith Neill, Wellington Square, Ayr

There are at least five statues of two-time British prime minister Sir Robert Peel also under threat because his MP father, also called Robert Peel, campaigned for slavery to continue. His son is considered the father of the modern police, after setting up the Met as Home Secretary in 1829. Some BLM supporters are also angry because of his links to policing.

Internationally-renowned Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London has revealed it will consider whether to remove a statue of its founder Sir Thomas Guy - but will not change its name - as a senior minister backed a Black Lives Matter campaign to topple upwards of 70 monuments to slave traders.

Sir Thomas helped set up the hospital near London Bridge in 1721 having made his fortune in the 17th and 18th centuries as a major shareholder of a company selling slaves to the Spanish Colonies.

Today Guy's and St Thomas' welcomed Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's review of statues and street names in the capital and said the future of its own monument to its founder outside the Guy's building should be considered.

A spokesman said: 'We recognise and understand the anger felt by the black community and are fully committed to playing our part in ending racism, discrimination and inequality', adding: 'There are no plans to change the name of the hospital'.

The removal of a statue of the so-called 'Tyrant of Trinidad' Sir Thomas Picton from Cardiff city hall is nearing success as all of Labour's 130 UK local authorities agreed to draw up a list of controversial statues in their communities which could be ripped down after Edward Colston's was destroyed in Bristol on Sunday.

Cardiff City Council's leader Huw Thomas has backed the campaign to rip it down calling it an 'affront' to black people in the Welsh capital because he executed dozens of slaves. He was even put on trial in England for illegally torturing a 14-year-old girl - extremely rare at the turn of the 19th century - but after being convicted he successfully appealed.

While noting Picton's statue commemorated his part in the Napoleonic Wars and being the highest ranking officer to die at Waterloo, Councillor Thomas said: 'The growing awareness and understanding of the brutal nature of his governorship of Trinidad and his involvement in slavery makes it, in my view, very difficult to reconcile his presence in City Hall'.

A 25ft obelisk dedicated to him on the outskirts of Carmarthen town centre, which has been there since 1888, is also subject to a petition for removal. It stands on Picton Terrace, which also faces calls to be renamed.

A statue of Sir Thomas Guy, sits outside Guy's Hospital, which he founded in 1721 with 19,000 of his own money, equivalent to 2million today. Today the NHS Trust admitted it would consider its removal in a review set up by Sadiq Khan demands it because he made his money from slavery. Former bookseller Thomas Guy made his fortune through the ownership of shares in the South Sea Company, which had a monopoly on trafficking slaves to Spain's colonies in South America in 1713

The next to fall? This tribute to Sir Thomas Picton in Cardiff City Hall is expected to fall after the council's leader also demanded its removal. There are at least five statues of two-time British prime minister Sir Robert Peel (right in Parliament Square) also under threat because his MP father, also called Robert Peel, campaigned for slavery to continue

An aerial view of the Sir Thomas Picton obelisk on Picton Terrace in Camerthen, Wales, which is also on the BLM supporters' hit list. Picton was known as the 'Tyrant of Trinidad' owing to his brutal regime as governor of the Caribbean island. In 1806 he was convicted of ordering the illegal torture of a 14-year-old girl, Louisa Calderon. A charge that was later overturned.

Thomas Guy: The London bookseller who made his fortune through shares in slave trading firm... then sold them to found hospital in his name Former bookseller Thomas Guy made his fortune through the ownership of shares in the South Sea Company, which had a monopoly on trafficking slaves to Spain's colonies in South America in 1713. The British firm was created predominantly to sell enslaved people and had a target to trade 4,800 adult men every year. Guy sold his shares in the company at the top of the market in 1720, letting 50,000 of stock go for more than 250,000 - the equivalent of 400million in modern-day prices. Having created almshouses, he founded Guy's Hospital close to this London birthplace with the aim of providing care to 'incurables and lunatics'. He died in 1724 and his will was so complex and so high in value that an Act of Parliament was needed to enact it, and he left nearly 220,000 to the hospital. The bulk of his estate was left in trust to complete work on the hospital, while a further sum was set aside for the release of prisoners in the capital who owed debts. Advertisement

In Edinburgh SNP city council leader Adam McVey said he would feel 'no sense of loss' if a statue to Henry Dundas, who delayed the abolition of slavery, was removed, amid mounting calls for action in the Scottish capital.

Also in Scotland a memorial to General James George Smith Neill, which stands in Wellington Square, Ayr, is also under threat. General Neill served during the Indian rebellion of 1857 and accused of ordering the deaths of many Indians following the Bibighar massacre.

Plymouth council said a public square named after slave trader Sir John Hawkins would be renamed while in nearby Exeter council chiefs will review the future of the city's statue of General Buller, who is rumoured to have had a hand in the introduction of concentration camps seen during the Boer War.

A debate has erupted over the legacy of 19th century prime minister Sir Robert Peel after those calling for his statues to be removed were accused of targeting the wrong man.

Lancashire-born Sir Robert, who is best known for founding the Metropolitan Police, is immortalised in a number of statues across the north of England and Scotland.

Five of these - in Leeds, Glasgow, Bury, Manchester and Preston - were included on a map of possible other targets following the toppling of the monument to Edward Colston in Bristol.

The Glasgow statue was daubed with graffiti at the weekend.

But many people have come to the two-time PM's defence, suggesting anti-racist campaigners may have got the wrong Sir Robert.

References to him being a vocal opponent of the abolition of slavery because it threatened his fortune in the cotton trade appear to have confused him with his father, also called Sir Robert Peel.

At a press conference in Leeds on Wednesday, Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake said: 'There seems to be now a recognition that there has been some misunderstanding about the Robert Peel whose statue is in Leeds and that it was actually his father who worked in the cotton trade.

The 78 'racist' statues BLM supporters would like to be destroyed 1) Lord Kitchener, Orkney 2) Duke of Sutherland, Golspie 3) Jim Crow, Dunoon 4) Henry Dundas, Edinburgh 5) Lord Roberts, Glasgow 6) Thomas Carlyle, Glasgow 7) Sir Robert Peel, Glasgow 8) Colin Campbell, Glasgow 9) John Moore, Glasgow 10) James George Smith Neill, Ayr 11) William Armstrong, Newcastle 12) Captain James Cook, Great Ayton 13) Robert Peel, Bradford 14) Robert Peel, Leeds 15) Robert Peel, Preston 16) Robert Peel, Bury 17) Robert Peel, Manchester 18) Bryan Blundell, Liverpool 19) Christopher Columbus, Liverpool 20) Martin's Bank, Liverpool 21) Admiral Nelson, Liverpool 22) William Leverhulme, Wirral 23) Henry Morton Stanley, St Asaph 24) Henry Morton Stanley, Denbigh 25) William Gladstone, Hawarden 26) Elihu Yale, Wrexham 27) Green Man, Ashbourne 28) Robert Clive, Shropshire 29) Robert Peel, Tamworth 30) Robert Peel, Birmingham 31) Ronald A Fisher, Cambridge 32) Cecil Rhodes, Bishops Stortford 33) Thomas Phillips, Brecon 34) General Nott, Carmarthen 35) Thomas Picton, Carmarthen 36) Henry Austin Bruce, Cardiff 37) Thomas Picton, Cardiff 38) Codrington Library, Oxford 39) Cecil Rhodes, Oxford 40) Edward Colston (school 1), Bristol 41) Edward Colston (school 2), Bristol 42) Edward Colston (statue), Bristol 43) Edward Colston (tower), Bristol 44) Edward Colston (hall), Bristol 45) George Alfred Wills, Bristol 46) William Beckford, London 47) Robert Geffrye, London 48) Francis Galton, London 49) King Charles II, London 50) King James II, London 51) Robert Clive, London 52) Oliver Cromwell, London 53) Robert Clayton, London 54) Henry De la Beche, London 55) Christopher Columbus, London 56) Thomas Guy (1/2), London 57) Thomas Guy (2/2), London 58) Robert Milligan, London 59) Francis Drake, London 60) Robert Blake, London 61) Admiral Nelson, London 62) Captain Edward August Lendy, London 63) East India Estate, London 64) Stephen Clark, London 65) Charles James Napier, London 66) Earl Mountbatten, London 67) Jan Smuts, London 68) Admiral Horatio Nelson, London 69) Lord Kitchener, Chatham 70) Edward Codrington, Brighton 71) William Ewart Gladstone, Brighton 72) Drax family, Wareham 73) Robert Baden-Powell, Poole 74) Redvers Buller, Exeter 75) Francis Drake, Tavistock 76) Walter Raleigh, Bodmin 77) Nancy Astor, Plymouth 78) Francis Drake, Plymouth Advertisement

'It's very interesting looking at comments over in the North West where he was born in Bury. There's a really strong reaction that actually Robert Peel was a reformer and did do many things that have had a lasting impression and impact, not least establishing a police force that doesn't carry arms.'

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: 'I think there is a feeling there is a misunderstanding here which is that his father had links to the slave trade rather than Peel himself, or the Peel who is commemorated in different places in Greater Manchester.

Dozens more monuments are expected to fall after all 130 Labour-led authorities in England, Wales and Scotland have come together to promise to 'review the appropriateness of local monuments and statues on public land and council property'.

The 130 Labour councils won the blessing of Sir Keir Starmer's central party, but senior Tories have lined up to admonish the behaviour.

Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, told MailOnline the wave of statue scrutiny was being driven by 'a politically-correct gang of anarchists who hate everything about this country'.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is also conducting his own review of statues in the capital and believes all the city's slave trader monuments should be axed.

Campaigners have set their sights on statues on private property, such as the monument of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University, where yesterday crowds of protesters rallied.

A statue of the colonialist who claimed Bermuda as part of the British Empire has been vandalised amid anti-racism protests.

The word 'murderer' has been daubed across an information board next to the bronze figure of Sir George Somers in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

Somers discovered the island in 1609 after his ship, destined for Virigina, US, was blown off course by a hurricane.

He died there just a year later by which time the region had been claimed by the British Crown.

A bustling slave trade later emerged on the island in the 1640s.

By 1720 there were more than 3,500 slaves among a population of just 8,000 people.

Many have since argued that Somers' discovery paved the way for slavery - which is believed to be why his statue has now been targeted.

Yet another 19th century statue - of the man who found lost explorer Dr David Livingstone in an African jungle looks set for the chop.

A petition to remove the statue of Sir Henry Stanley from the centre of Denbiegh in Wales - where he was born - has already attracted more than 1,500 signatures.

The tribute to Sir Henry was installed by Denbigh Town Council ten years ago and re-creates the moment he uttered the famous phrase - 'Dr Livingstone, I presume?' - when he found the explorer in East Africa in 1871.

There was criticism at the time amid claims that the 19th-century explorer was guilty of crimes against humanity and supported slavery.

Organiser Simon Jones said: 'Out of respect to the Black Lives Matter campaign, the statue of Stanley should be removed from Denbigh town centre immediately.

'He was known for his brutal treatment of Africans to the extent that he used to shoot black children from his boat to calibrate his rifle sights while sailing down river.

'A statue to a man like that has no place in Welsh society in 2020. It is an insult to African people that it stands pride of place in the town.'

Black Lives Matter demonstrators were joined by a police chief constable taking the knee at a special event in memory of George Floyd.

Kent Police's Alan Pughsley is believed to be the first top cop in the UK to kneel in solidarity with the 46-year-old's death in Minneapolis, USA.

Mr Pughsley was filmed performing the symbolic gesture at an event in Gravesend, Kent while other officers also joined the socially distanced group of more than 50 people.

Last night in London there was a commemoration event, organised by Stand Up To Racism, to mark George Floyd's funeral in Houston, Texas, with police forming a ring of steel around statues including Sir Winston Churchill's in case it is attacked again.

Workmen were yesterday seen uprooting a statue of Robert Milligan from its spot on West India Quay in London's docklands to cheers from spectators. Protesters had drawn up a hit list of 60 'racist' monuments to be taken down, including Milligan's.

Amid growing pressure to act, the charity Canal and River Trust worked with the Museum of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to remove the bronze figure of the Scottish merchant who owned 526 slaves at his Jamaican sugar plantation.

Statues glorifying slave traders and colonialists have come into sharp focus in recent days, as part of a broader movement inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests that started in the United States following the death of George Floyd on May 25.

On Sunday, protesters in Bristol tore down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston and threw it in the harbour, receiving a mixed reactions of celebrations from anti-racism campaigners and protestors while some politicians and officials questioned the 'anti-democratic' manner in how the statue was taken down.

And in Oxford yesterday more than 1,000 demonstrators have demanded the removal of a statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes, an imperialist who provided philanthropical support to Oriel College in Oxford University where the monument stands.

The Canal and River Trust, which owns the land where Milligan's statue is located, issued a statement on Twitter following a petition launched by Tower Hamlets Labour councillor Ehtasham Haque, which demanded the removal of the figure and reached over 1,000 signatures in 24 hours.

Exeter City Council, a Labour authority, will review the future of the city's statue of General Redvers Buller - who was linked to the introduction of concentration camps in the Boer War. The Old Etonian was awarded the Victoria Cross in the Zulu War after rescuing a number of comrades under fire, before being promoted to the Head of the Army and sent to South Africa at the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899.

The word 'murderer' has been daubed across an information board next to the bronze figure of Sir George Somers in Lyme Regis, Dorset. Sir Somers was English privateer who claimed the English colony of Bermuda, also known as the Somers Isles.

The equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington with a traffic cone on his head and wearing a face mask in Glasgow today

A Black Lives Matter campaigner hugs a police officer following a march from Green Park to Trafalgar Square in London today

The 130 Labour councils considering whether they should pull down imperialist statues Majority Labour Amber Valley. Barking and Dagenham. Barnsley. Barrow-in-Furness. Bassetlaw. Birmingham. Blackburn with Darwen. Blackpool. Bradford. Brent. Bristol. Bury. Calderdale. Cambridge. Camden. Cardiff. Chesterfield. Chorley. Copeland. Corby. Coventry. Crawley. Croydon. Doncaster. Durham. Ealing. Enfield. Exeter. Gateshead. Gedling. Gravesham. Greenwich. Hackney. Halton. Hammersmith and Fulham. Haringey. Harlow. Harrow. Hastings. High Peak. Hounslow. Hyndburn. Ipswich. Islington. Kingston upon. Hull. Kirklees. Knowsley. Lambeth. Leeds. Leicester. Lewisham. Lincoln. Liverpool. Luton. Manchester. Merton. Neath. Port Talbot. Newcastle upon Tyne. Newham. Newport. North Tyneside. Norwich. Nottingham. Oldham. Oxford. Plymouth. Preston. Reading. Redbridge. Rhondda Cynon Taf. Rochdale. Rossendale. Rotherham. Salford. Sandwell . Sefton. Sheffield. Slough. South Tyneside. Southampton. Southwark. St Helens. Stevenage. Sunderland. Swansea. Tameside. Telford and Wrekin. Tower Hamlets. Trafford. Wakefield. Waltham Forest. Warrington. West Lancashire. Wigan. Wolverhampton. Labour in coalition Cannock Chase. Cheshire East. Cheshire West and Chester. Cumbria. Dumfries and Galloway. East Lothian. Flintshire. Inverclyde. Lancaster. Lewes. Mansfield. Midlothian. Milton Keynes. North Ayrshire. North Hertfordshire. North Lanarkshire. North Somerset Nuneaton and Bedworth. Pembrokeshire. Pendle. Rother. Scarborough. South Ayrshire. Southend-on-Sea. Stirling. Stockport. Stockton-on-Tees. Stroud. Swale. Thanet. Vale of Glamorgan. Waverley West Lothian. Wirral. Wyre Forest. Advertisement

It earlier said: 'We recognise the wishes of the local community concerning the statue of Robert Milligan at London Docklands and are committed to working with London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the Museum of London Docklands and partners at Canary Wharf to organise its safe removal as soon as possible.

'The Trust stands with out waterside communities against racism. We promote equality, diversity and inclusion, using our canals to enrich the lives of all those alongside our waterways from every community.'

A video shows people cheering and clapping as workers used a crane to remove the statue from its plinth.

'While it's a sad truth that much of our city and nation's wealth was derived from the slave trade, this does not have to be celebrated in our public spaces,' said London Mayor Sadiq Khan in a tweet with a photo of the statue.

John Biggs, the mayor of Tower Hamlets, posted a video of himself at the scene, in which he says: 'This has become the focus of a lot of anxiety and anger in our community. We need to take it, put it into storage and then talk about what we can learn from this and how we can help these events to make us a stronger community.'

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Museum of London said it 'recognises that the monument is part of the ongoing problematic regime of white-washing history, which disregards the pain of those who are still wrestling with the remnants of the crimes Milligan committed against humanity.'

The commemorative statue, sculpted by Richard Westmacott, was commissioned by the West India Dock Company, of which Milligan was Chairman, following his death in May 1809. He also has a street in the area named after him, Milligan Street, near Westferry DLR station.

The museum also tweeted: 'The statue presently stands shrouded with placards and is now an object of protest, we believe these protests should remain as long as the statue remains.'

The decision follows huge crowds of Black Lives Matter supporters gathering outside Oriel College at the University of Oxford last night to campaign for a monument of imperialist Cecil Rhodes to be removed.

The demonstration was organised by the Rhodes Must Fall campaign group and came after activists identified 60 UK statues they want removed for 'celebrating slavery and racism' as councils and museums rushed to bring down their controversial monuments.

Some of Briton's most famous people on the hit list include the Edinburgh statue of former Home Secretary Henry Dundas, who delayed the abolition of slavery, and a statue of Sir Francis Drake on Plymouth Hoe.

The interactive map, called 'topple the racists', was set up by the Stop Trump Coalition in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and lists plaques and monuments in more than 30 towns and cities across the UK. The online list is unregulated and can be added to by the public.

Who is Nadhim Zahawi, the Iraqi-born minister saying slave trader statues should not exist Nadhim Zahawi was born in Baghdad to Kurdish parents in 1967. Under threat of persecution from Saddam Hussein's regime, his family immigrated to the UK when he was nine. He grew up in Sussex and was educated at King's College School in West London and University College London where he studied Chemical Engineering. In 2000 he founded YouGov, a leading market research company which has since become famous for the accuracy of its political polling. Having started life in an office in Mr Zahawi's garden shed, YouGov now employs over 400 people on three continents. He floated the company on the London Stock Exchange in 2005 and was named Entrepreneur of the year by Ernst & Young in 2008. In January 2010 he stood down from YouGov to run for election as Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon. Upon winning the seat, he was elected to the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, which scrutinises the impact of government policy on business. In 2011 he co-authored Masters of Nothing with fellow MP and now Health Secretary Matt Hancock, detailing an account of the human behaviour behind the banking crash and offering policy recommendations designed to prevent a future crisis. In January 2018 then Prime Minister Theresa May appointed him as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education. Mr Zahawi was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 26 July 2019. He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education from 9 January 2018 to 26 July 2019. Continuing his career in politics he was later elected as Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon in May 2010. Advertisement

At last night's Oxford protest, organisers placed chalk crosses on the floors in either side of the street outside the entrance to the college, to enforce social distancing.

The crowd took to their knees for eight minutes 46 seconds, to reflect the time Mr Floyd, a father-of-two, spent with a police officer kneeling on his neck which killed him in America last month.

Hours before the rally began Oxford City Council's leader Susan Brown wrote to Oriel College inviting them to apply for planning permission to remove the statue, after 26 councillors signed a letter saying it is 'incompatible' with the city's 'commitment to anti-racism'.

Councillor Brown said: 'Typically such actions are only allowed in the most exceptional of circumstances. But these are exceptional circumstances, and as a city council we are keen to work with Oriel to help them find the right balance between the laws that protect our historic buildings and the moral obligation to reflect on the malign symbolism of this statue.'

Oriel College has said it will 'continue to debate' the issue - but did not commit to removing it.

Ndjodi Ndeunyema, an Oxford University law student and a former Rhodes scholar, organised las night's Oxford rally after starting the Rhodes Must Fall campaign for its removal five years ago, and said: 'The statue remaining is an affront on the university's support for movements such as Black Lives Matter.

'Rhodes is not worth of veneration or glorification because of the racism and subjugation he represents'.

Protesters also packed into Leicester city centre last night during another evening of demonstrations against racism.

It comes as the University of Leicester has increased its efforts to 'decolonise the curriculum' in subjects like English, history and law in recent months - and it is launching a scheme to recruit more BAME academics in teaching roles.

Professor Nishan Canagarajah, vice-chancellor of the university, said: 'It is about a sense of belonging in the university. That comes from having students who are diverse, from having staff who are diverse, and from having a curriculum that is diverse.

'It's not something you can easily fix because I think the students have certain perceptions and that's not going to change overnight.

'They see certain universities as not welcoming for them. That may not be true, but that might be what they have been feeling since they were very young.

'I think if you go and visit Oxford and places like Bristol you will think they're welcoming for ethnic minorities, but there is a gap between that reality and what the community outside perceives them to be, as not really representing them. I know these universities are taking a lot of action to address that.

More than half (52%) of students are from a BAME background at the University of Leicester but currently only 14.2% of teaching staff and 9.8% of professors are from a BAME background.

BLM had their first success last night after the Museum of London and Tower Hamlets Council agreed to remove a statue of Robert Milligan, a slave trader and plantation owner, from Docklands

Member of the public Graham Newby leaves a sign that reads 'Leave her alone who as ever done this hang your head in shame' on a statue of Queen Victoria in Woodhouse Moor, Leeds

Graffiti on a statue of Robert Viscount Melville in Edinburgh - who delayed the abolition of slavery - as the city council leader said he would not be unhappy if it want

A Winston Churchill statue has been vandalised today at Woodford Green in North London

Oxford University chancellor Chris Patten accuses Cecil Rhodes statue protesters of 'hypocrisy' because imperialist's trust funds scholarships for 20 African students a year Lord Chris Patten (pictured left), who has no power to remove the Rhodes statue (pictured right), located at Oxford University's Oriel College, said a trust set up after the mining magnate's death pays for the education of more than a dozen African students at the prestigious each year. The chancellor of Oxford University has hit out at the 'hypocrisy' around protests to remove a statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes. Lord Chris Patten, who has no power to remove the Rhodes statue, located at Oxford University's Oriel College, said a trust set up after the mining magnate's death pays for the education of more than a dozen African students at the prestigious university each year. But he also called for a 'sensible discussion' over the removal of Rhodes' statue, which has become a focal point amid continuing anti-racism protests from the Black Lives Matter movement - who at the weekend toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Meanwhile, concern continues that Oriel College chiefs may be reluctant to remove the statue over fears they face the loss of millions of pounds in funding, as revealed by a leaked report in 2016. Commenting on the protests, Lord Patten, who was the last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992, told BBC Radio Four's Today Programme: 'Firstly I am very pleased the demonstrations were peaceful and secondly I don't make the decision on whether the statue comes down'. Advertisement

The university has launched a 1.5 million annual scheme to create three funded PhD studentships and ten postgraduate scholarships to attract students from BAME backgrounds into academia.

And from this year, the English BA at Leicester has been changed to include more diverse texts and authors set and written in countries across the world.

The reading list now includes Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and NW by Zadie Smith.

A history teacher who was standing opposite the Cecil Rhodes statue revealed he had travelled from London to 'guard it' as he felt that it should not be brought down.

The 32-year-old, who did not want to give his name, said: 'I am here to make sure they do not tear it down. I am a history teacher and about seven years ago I went to the grave of Cecil Rhodes in Zimbabwe after sitting with the Matabele chiefs.

The teacher wore a tweed suit and a fedora hat, while clutching a paperback copy of a book called '1066 and all that' behind his back.

He added: 'Accounts of Cecil Rhodes that are being printed are one-sided and while I definitely think a plaque or something would be a good idea, we do not tear things down and we certainly do not do it without due process. I am going to talk to my school about the monuments and the children will debate the legacy and the history.

'If you dig into most of the statues in London, you get some pretty horrible things. I do not suppose that tearing things down just because 2,000 people ask for it is in any way correct.'

The teacher watched as a woman organiser began to speak though a megaphone and chanted 'down with the king of the blood diamond' and 'take it down' which the crowd of several hundred people echoed.

She said: 'It is about time you started to listen to the people of this city and not your funders. We want this statue down. We declare ourselves anti-racist and we do not want this statue in our city. It does not reflect our own views, it does not reflect our values.'

Sadiq Khan has called for the removal of all slave trader statues in the capital as he promised to personally 'review and improve' the diversity of the capital's landmarks. The Mayor of London has launched his own Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm after Black Lives Matter protesters pulled down the monument to Edward Colston in Bristol and hurled it in the city's harbour.

Mayor Khan today said he wouldn't 'pre-empt' the commission's findings on the suitability of London's street names, murals, statues and memorials, but admitted he would like any statues of slave traders removed in London and to build more 'people of colour, black people, women, those from the LGBT community'.

The Queen Victoria Statue in Woodhouse Moor Park in Leeds today, West Yorkshire which has had 'Black Lives Matter', 'BLM' and 'Slave Owner' spray painted on it. Queen Victoria became the British monarch in 1837, four years after the Abolition of Slavery Act.

Black Lives Matter and 'slave owner' were among the phrases daubed on the statue of Queen Victoria in Woodhouse Moor Park in Leeds before being removed today.

Who are the men behind the statues BLM activists want to tear down Cecil Rhodes Where is his statue? A 4ft statue of Rhodes stands outside Oriel College at Oxford university Who was he? Cecil Rhodes (1853 - 1902) was the Former Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, the modern day South Africa. He was a British supremacist, imperialist, mining magnate, and politician in southern Africa who drove the annexation of vast swathes of Africa. What did he do? The bad  Colonised much of Southern Africa for Victorian Britain and established a vast new British territory in Rhodesia, today's Zimbabwe and Zambia  Rhodes believed that the British were 'the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race'  He secured control of Rhodesia by swindling the king of Matabeleland, and showed scant regard for his African employees, whom he dismissed as 'n***ers'  Founded De Beers mining company, trading diamonds mined with slave labour The good  Established Rhodes Scholarships, which paid for brilliant young students from former British possessions to study at Oxford, among them the former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott Thomas Guy Where is his statue? Outside Guy's Hospital in London, England Guy was founder of Guys' Hospital, London. He made his fortune through ownership of a very large amount of shares in the South Sea Company, whose main purpose was to sell slaves to the Spanish Colonies. The South Sea Company supplied 4800 slaves each year for 30 years to Spanish plantations in Central and Southern America What did he do ? The bad  He bought 42,000 shares in the South Sea Company, amassing a fortune when he sold them in 1720  The South Sea Company supplied 4800 slaves each year for 30 years to Spanish plantations in Central and Southern America The good  He became a governor of St Thomas' Hospital, after building three wards  He later opened Guy's Hospital opposite St Thomas' which cost him 19,000  In his will Guy bequeathed financial support for prisoners with debt in London, Middlesex and Surrey to be released William Beckford - Slave owner and politician Where is his statue? In the Guildhall in London William Beckford (1709-1770) was born in Jamaica, the son Peter Beckford, one of the most powerful slave-owners of the colonial era. Peter had purchased sugar plantations on the Caribbean island in 1661, where he also served as Speaker of the legislature. When both Peter and William's elder brother - also Peter - died, he inherited the enormous fortune and estate which included 13 plantations and over 1,000 slaves. By the time of his death, Beckford's plantations were raking in over 50,000 each year and he is estimated to have amassed 1million in the bank - an eye-watering sum in 18th century Britain. In the early 1700s he returned to London and used his riches to buy the sprawling Fonthill estate in Wiltshire, which he stuffed with art and expensive furniture. The house burned down in 1755, but Beckford poured money and resources into rebuilding it. He later embarked on a political career and was elected as an MP in 1754 before serving twice as Lord Mayor of London in 1762 and 1769. Beckford also used his money to bankroll the rise of future prime minister William Pitt the Elder and ferociously lobbied in favour of the West Indies sugar industry. In 1758, when Pitt was in the cabinet, Beckford advised him to attack the French in the island of Martinique because of the lucrative haul of slaves they could capture. Beckford had nine children, eight of which were out of wedlock. The only son he had with his wife, Maria Marsh, was the novelist William Thomas Beckford. Despite enslaving scores of men, at home he banged the drum for liberties, and once even answered back to King George after he arrested notorious critic John Wilkes. What did he do?  Inherited and oversaw 13 sugar plantations and more than 1,000 slaves in Jamaica.  Campaigned for civil liberties as an MP and in 1770 demanded the King dissolve parliament to remove evil ministers. Advertisement

But he said he did not think statues such as of Sir Winston Churchill's in Parliament Square should be included in the review it was tagged with 'racist' on Sunday. He said Londoners needed to be educated about famous figures 'warts and all' and that 'nobody was perfect', including the likes of Churchill, Gandhi and Malcolm X.

The leader of Oxford City Council has this afternoon invited Oriel College to make a planning request to remove the statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes, which has been at the centre of a long-running row.

Councillor Susan Brown said: 'I'm clear in my support for the Black Lives Matter movement and I have a great deal of sympathy with the Rhodes Must Fall campaign. The question of statues and their historical context is not a simple matter, but sometimes acts of symbolism are important. I know my views are shared by a majority of my fellow councillors.

'It would be better for the statue to be placed in a museum, such as the Ashmolean or the Museum of Oxford, to ensure this noteworthy piece of the story of our city isn't lost to history.

'Of course, bringing down statues alone isn't sufficient to address the issue of racism in our society and continued action on this should involve all our city's key institutions.

'I have today written to Oriel College to invite them to apply for planning permission to remove the statue, as it is a Grade II* listed building'.

In 2016, Oriel College decided to keep the statue despite widespread student demands to remove it. Campaigners from the Rhodes Must Fall group argued that the row illustrated Britain's 'imperial blind spot'.

In a statement ahead of the protest, Oriel College pledged to discuss the issues raised by protests against the Rhodes statue.

The statement read: 'Oriel College abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms.

'The Governing Body are deeply committed to equality within our community at Oriel, the University of Oxford and the wider world.

'As an academic institution we aim to fight prejudice and champion equal opportunities for everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality or faith. We believe Black Lives Matter and support the right to peaceful protest.

'The power of education is a catalyst for equality and inclusiveness.

'We understand that we are, and we want to be, a part of the public conversation about the relationship between the study of history, public commemoration, social justice, and educational equality.

'As a college, we continue to debate and discuss the issues raised by the presence on our site of examples of contested heritage relating to Cecil Rhodes.

'Speaking out against injustice and discrimination is vital and we are committed to doing so.

'We will continue to examine our practices and strive to improve them to ensure that Oriel is open to students and staff of all backgrounds, and we are determined to build a more equal and inclusive community and society.'

Monuments that could be under threat in London would include statues of William Beckford at London's Guildhall, John Cass on Jewry Street and one Thomas Guy, which stands in the courtyard at Guy's Hospital.

Campaigners are targeting statues all over the UK including a Edinburgh statue of Henry Dundas, who delayed the abolition of slavery in Scotland, while in Glasgow Barclays Bank has confirmed the 'Buchanan' name will be dropped from a major riverside development over its connection with the slave trade.

The Sir Francis Drake statue on Plymouth's Hoe, where he was playing bowls when he learned Britain was set to be invaded by the Spanish Armada in 1588, is also said to be under threat after BLM supporters set up a 'topple the racists' website mapping more than 30 statues and monuments organisers claim 'celebrate slavery and racism'.

Sadiq Khan said he 'hopes' the new Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm will recommend some memorials in the capital should be removed.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Mayor of London: 'One of the things that I realise is that I've not got ownership of the statutes or indeed some of the land that these statues are on. But it is a wider conversation I want to have about the diversity of the public realm in our city.

'When you look at the public realm - street names, street squares, murals - not only are there some of slavers that I think should be taken down, and the commission will advise us on that, but actually we don't have enough representation of people of colour, black people, women, those from the LGBT community.'

But critics have called his approach 'distracting and divisive', with Shaun Bailey, Tory candidate for Mayor of London ,saying: 'He [Mayor Khan] is seeking to distract Londoners from the fact he failed to support his police service during the protests, allowing a small group to hijack a largely peaceful protest and betray the cause of fairness that the vast majority were there to promote. He should be focusing on keeping all Londoners safe and promoting opportunities for all people of colour'.

Andrew Rosindell, MP for Romford, told MailOnline: 'I think the Mayor of London should be focusing on issues that matter to Londoners. Like the bankrupt TFL, the recent crime wave and many other issues.

'Ripping down our history is not something the Mayor was elected to do. Our history is who we are and you can find something bad in everything, be it prime ministers or anyone.

'The idea of going around London tearing down statues and renaming streets is absurd.

'He is pandering to a politically correct gang of anarchists who hate everything about this country - they are anti-British.'

City Hall called London 'one of the most diverse cities in the world', but said the capital's statues, plaques and street names largely reflect Victorian Britain.

Football hooligans and far-Right activists call for 'ring of steel' around Churchill and Cenotaph this weekend as Tommy Robinson slams 'soft-handed police'

Police fear far-Right thugs could descend on London this weekend to take on anti-racism protesters, with football hooligans planning counter-protests to 'defend' memorials and statues.

The Democratic Football Lads Alliance, founded in 2017 with a supposed aim of opposing terrorism, has urged members to defend war memorials at Whitehall this Saturday from midday.

It urged people to 'defend what our war heroes done for this country and their honour', with members expected to gather by the Winston Churchill statue and the Cenotaph.

And former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson called for opposition protests in a two-minute video in which he accused police of being 'soft-handed' at Black Lives Matters marches.

Black Lives Matter protesters clash with opponents next to the Winston Churchill statue in Westminster yesterday. The clashes follow week-long protests across the world in response to the death to George Floyd in America.

The Democratic Football Lads Alliance, founded in 2017 with a supposed aim of opposing terrorism, urged members to defend monuments

Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson called for opposition protests in a two-minute video in which he accused police of being 'soft-handed' at BLM marches

Mr Newby cleans graffiti from the statue of Queen Victoria at Woodhouse Moor in Leeds today

He accused officers of failing to act because there were 'too many people who aren't white'.

Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: 'We have got the perfect storm ahead of us this weekend, we have got planned protests and now Tommy Robinson and his agitators.'

Several football 'firms' plan further demonstrations. A group of Millwall fans spent part of yesterday guarding the statue of Churchill in Parliament Square.

Other fans from as far as Cardiff and Blackpool also descended on London and said they were prepared to use force to prevent vandalism.

The Democratic Football Lads Alliance has urged members to defend monuments, but Hope Not Hate chief executive Nick Lowles said 'their real objective' is simply violence.

The plans echo a 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when neo-Nazis clashed with counter-demontrators over plans to remove a statue of General Robert E. Lee, the American Confederate. It culminated with a white supremacist ramming his car into a crowd, killing a woman and injuring 19.

Black Lives Matter activists in Britain have compiled a list of 60 'racist statues' they want removed for 'celebrating slavery'.

Coventry City fans sit under the Lady Godiva statue at Broadgate Square yesterday to celebrate promotion into the Championship after the League One season was ended early

As protests continue to grow over monuments linked to colonialism, hundreds of demonstrators surrounded an Oxford college last night demanding a monument to Cecil Rhodes be torn down.

Protesters gathered in Oxford High Street kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds  the time George Floyd had a white police officer kneeling on his neck which led to his death in Minneapolis.

The crowd chanted 'take it down' as police stood guard at the entrance to Oriel College.

Rally organiser Ndjodi Ndeunyema, a law student and former Rhodes scholar whose education has been partially funded by a trust set up by the 19th century colonialist, said: 'The statue remaining is an affront on the university's support for movements such as Black Lives Matter.

A man holds a cross with an England flag on top of it as police guard the statue of Winston Churchill at Parliament Square yesterday afternoon

'Rhodes is not worthy of veneration or glorification because of the racism and subjugation he represents'.

Elsewhere, vandals in Leeds targeted a memorial to Queen Victoria, daubing the word 'slave owner' on the plinth even though she was crowned four years after the abolition of slavery.

Last night a Downing Street spokesman urged police to make their own decisions about whether to intervene if protesters try to pull down statues.

It comes after officers stood by while a statue of Edward Colston was thrown into Bristol harbour.

Racists or heroes? It's not black or white: Black Lives Matter want to topple statues of some of the most famous Britons because of their links to colonialism and slavery - but they also gave fortunes away, and helped build Britain and a modern world



Black Lives Matter activists are calling for the removal of 60-plus statues of slave owners and racists across Britain. Top of their target list is the statue of Cecil Rhodes and petitions also exist to remove the statue of slave-trading West India Docks founder Robert Milligan, and the statue of former Home Secretary Henry Dundas who delayed the abolition of slavery and that stands atop a column in Edinburgh. But on a website called Topple The Racists, set up by Black Lives Matter activists, members are invited to propose other statues that should be torn down across Britain. There, a wide range of figures from Britain's colonial past are being proposed for destruction. Among them are leaders who held undeniably racist views and others who performed evil acts against people of colour, such as slave owners and Thomas Picton who ruled Trinidad with an iron fist and ordered the torture of a 14-year-old accused of theft. But others also played a leading role shaping the cities and institutions that form modern day Britain. The statues targeted by BLM activists are: Cecil Rhodes Cecil Rhodes (1853 - 1902). A 4ft statue of Rhodes stands outside Oriel College at Oxford university Where is his statue? A 4ft statue of Rhodes stands outside Oriel College at Oxford university. Who was he? Cecil Rhodes (1853 - 1902) was the Former Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, the modern day South Africa. He was a British supremacist, imperialist, mining magnate, and politician in southern Africa who drove the annexation of vast swathes of Africa. What did he do? The bad: Colonised much of Southern Africa for Victorian Britain and established a vast new British territory in Rhodesia, today's Zimbabwe and Zambia

Rhodes believed that the British were 'the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race'

He secured control of Rhodesia by swindling the king of Matabeleland, and showed scant regard for his African employees, whom he dismissed as 'n***ers'

Founded De Beers mining company, trading diamonds mined with slave labour The good:  Established Rhodes Scholarships, which paid for brilliant young students from former British possessions to study at Oxford, among them the former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott Who wants the statue removed? University of Oxford campaigners claim that forcing ethnic minority students to walk past the Rhodes memorials amounts to 'violence' as he helped pave the way for apartheid. Robert Milligan Robert Milligan (1746-1809) was a Scottish merchant and slave owner. His statue stands at West India Quay outside the Museum London Docklands Where is his statue? West India Quay outside the Museum London Docklands, where it has stood since 1997 after being moved from its original plinth nearby in 1813. Who was he? Robert Milligan (1746-1809) was a Scottish merchant and slave owner. He was born in Dumfries, Scotland, but soon moved to Kingston, Jamaica, where he managed his wealthy family's sugar plantations. He returned to London in 1779 where he became instrumental in the construction of the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs. According to the inscription on the bronze statue's plinth, it was to Milligan's 'genius, perseverance and guardian care' that the docks owed their 'design, accomplishment and regulation'. From the Docks, ships would sail to West Africa where shipowners such as Milligan bought enslaved Africans. The ships then crossed the seas to the Caribbean to buy sugar, rum and coffee before returning to England. At the time of his death in 1809, 526 slaves were registered on Milligan's Jamaican plant called Kellet's and Mammee Gully. What did he do? The Bad: Used slaves to amass great wealth through trade

Was a vocal opponent of the abolition of slavery The good: Built London's docks: Pooled together a group of wealthy businessmen to create the West India Docks which brought in shiploads of produce to England Who wants the statue removed? Tower Hamlets councillor Ehtasham Haque has started a petition for the statue of Robert Milligan to be removed from Canary Wharf. He said: 'He has no place in London, and he does not deserve the honour of a statue'. Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy known for inspirational leadership. Nelson's column, Trafalgar Square, London (right) Where is the statue? Nelson's column, Trafalgar Square, London has not been targeted. But another statue of Nelson has been at Deptford Town Hall, a department at Goldsmiths University, London. Who is he? Horatio Nelson was born in a Norfolk rectory in 1758, and secured his first command 20 years later through the influence of his uncle, who was a senior naval officer. The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars opened the way for a long succession of triumphs, the earliest taking place in the Mediterranean, where he was blinded in his right eye. He distinguished himself commanding HMS Captain at the 1797 Battle of Cape St Vincent against a larger Spanish force off the coast of Portugal, and mislaid his right arm in the unsuccessful action at Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In the following year, he commanded a British fleet in the first of his historic victories at the Battle of the Nile. Nelson's reputation  for personal courage, aggression and tactical brilliance  won him the adoration of his captains and indeed crews. In 1801, he secured another victory, this time over the Danes, at Copenhagen, bequeathing to folklore the story that he ignored an order to withdraw by putting a telescope to his blind eye to read the flag signal. He subsequently commanded fleets involved in a blockade of French ships in Toulon harbour, and in unsuccessful pursuit of the French and Spanish fleets to the West Indies. Only on October 21, 1805, did he finally bring the enemy to battle off Spain's Cape Trafalgar, which became his greatest victory and secured Britain against invasion by the vast army Napoleon had assembled on the Channel coast. At Trafalgar and in the actions that immediately followed, the French and Spanish lost 24 ships of the line, more than Nelson commanded when he engaged. He was shot down by a sharpshooter in the tops of the French Redoubt-able, and died three hours later. However some believe Nelson was a white supremacist, citing Nelson's friendships with West Indian slave traders, and his description of the ideals of abolitionist William Wilberforce as 'a damnable and cruel doctrine'. Nelson's finest John Sugden, believes Nelson was exemplarily kind to black sailors who did good service on his ships, and in 1802 wrote another letter in support of a proposal by one of his own officers to employ free Chinese labour in the West Indies instead of slaves. What did he do ? The good: Secured victory for the British in the Battle of Trafalgar, the greatest naval victory in British history

The greatest British naval hero ever to have lived The bad: He described of ideals of abolitionist William Wilberforce as 'a damnable and cruel doctrine' Who wants the statue removed? Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action student group. Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel (1788 - 1850), served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (left). Statues of Sir Robert Peel stand in London's Parliament Square (right), Glasgow's George Square, Bury and Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens Where is the statue? Statues of Sir Robert Peel stand in London's Parliament Square, Glasgow's George Square, Bury and Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens. Who wants the statue removed? Several petitions have been started by locals in Manchester - both to keep and remove the statue. Who is he? Sir Robert Peel (1788 - 1850), served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and is regarded as the father of modern British policing having founded the Metropolitan Police Service. He is also a founder of the The Conservative Party. Black Lives Matter activists have targeted statues of the former Prime Minister due to his father's involvement with the slave trade. A petition to remove Peel's statue in central Manchester was started by Sami Pinarbasi, who said Sir Robert is a 'icon of hate and racism'. His father Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet, (1750 - 1830), was a British politician, industrialist and textile manufacturer. He amassed wealth through industry and became one of ten known British millionaires in 1799. However to 'protect the cotton industry' in Manchester Peel petitioned against the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill. What did he do ? Good: Issued the Tamworth manifesto in 1834, laying down the founding principles for Britain's modern day Conservative party

Regarded as the father of British policing, founding Metropolitan Police in 1829 - and was against having an armed police force

Pushed the Catholic Emancipation Bill through parliament in 1828, reducing restrictions placed on Roman Catholics - but said 'though emancipation was a great danger, civil strife was a greater danger'

Supported the repeal of The Corn Laws (1815) to help provide food during the Irish Potato Famine (1845  1852)

Brought in The Factories Act 1844, to regulate conditions of industrial employment Bad: His father petitioned against the Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill as he viewed it as a 'threat' to cotton industry in Manchester, he presented petition May 1806 Robert Clive Robert Clive (left) was an East India Company officer whose statue stands in Shrewsbury Square and King Charles Street, London (pictured right) Where is the statue? His statue stands in Shrewsbury Square and King Charles Street, London. Who is he? Robert Clive was an East India Company officer who helped Britain seize control of much of the subcontinent in the mid-18th century and was hailed back in Westminster for delivering important military victories without formal field training. But his reputation was muddied by his spell as Governor of Bengal from 1755 when he faced accusations of corruption. Amid a fierce backlash to his rule in India, as well as sliding health, he took his own life in 1767. At the time of his death, Clive's fortune was worth about 500,000 - around 33million today. What did he do ? The bad: Conquered Bengal at the Battle of Plassey, and helped himself to 160,000 from the defeated Nawab's treasury

Caused the Bengal famine of 1770 with his taxes on Indians and changes to agricultural practices that killed an estimated 10 million Indians

Amassed a personal fortune by conquering Bengal and subjugating the population

Paved the way for the British Raj in India which ruled the subcontinent for 200 years Who wants the statue removed? Two petitions started by locals including David Parton call for the Shrewsbury Square statue to be removed. Sir Thomas Picton Sir Thomas Picton (1758 - 1815) (left) a military officer who enjoyed a prolific career before being killed at the Battle of Waterloo. His statue Inside Cardiff City Hall (right) Where is the statue? Inside Cardiff City Hall Who wants his statue removed? Cardiff Lord Mayor Daniel De'Ath asked the council to remove the state in an open letter which has received support from council leader Huw Thomas. Who was he? A military officer who enjoyed a prolific career before being killed at the Battle of Waterloo. He was the Governor of Trinidad from (17971803). What did he do? The bad: Known as the 'tyrant of Trinidad' for his 'arbitrary and brutal' rule of the island

His motto was 'let them hate so long as they fear'

Ordered the torture of a 14-year-old girl accused of theft The good: Highest ranking officer killed fighting with Wellington at Waterloo Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake (1540 - 1596) was an English admiral and renowned Elizabethan seaman who circumnavigated the globe. His statues stand on Plymouth Hoe and in Tavistock, respectively Where is the statue? Two identical statues memorialise Drake, on Plymouth Hoe and in Tavistock, respectively. Who wants his statue removed? A petition to Plymouth City Council claiming to be in support of Black Lives Matter, has amassed over 1,000 signatures. Who was he? Sir Francis Drake (1540 - 1596) was an English admiral and renowned Elizabethan seaman who circumnavigated the globe. He spent much of his career plundering ports in South America and the Carribean, particularly those owned by the Spanish, who branded him a pirate. He was knighted for his efforts and made Vice Admiral of the Navy where he was instrumental during the successful defence of the Spanish Armada in 1588. What did he do? The good: Successfully fended off invasion from the Spanish fleet in 1588 as the Navy's Vice Admiral

Was the first captain to complete circumnavigation of the globe in a single voyage

Marauded Spanish ports and ransacked goods to bring back to England, for which he was hailed a hero The bad: His early voyages aboard his cousin John Hawkins's ships to fetch African slaves before selling them on in Europe

In 1562 the pair sailed from Plymouth with three ships and captured about 400 Africans in Guinea, later trading them in the West Indies

Drake and Hawkins are believed to have enslaved around 1,400 Africans between 1562 and 1967 Henry Dundas Henry Dundas (1742  1811) was a Conservative politician, Scottish Advocate and the first Secretary of State for War (left). His state, 150ft high, on the top of the Melville Monument in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Scotland Where is the statue? On the top of the Melville Monument in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Scotland. Who wants his statue removed? A petition to the Scottish government was started by Nancy Barrett last week. She proposes Dundas street should be re-named after Joseph Knight, a Scottish-Jamaican slave who won a court case and then an appeal in 1778 to free himself, by proving that slavery didn't exist in Scots Law. Who was he? Henry Dundas (1742  1811) was a Conservative politician, Scottish Advocate and the first Secretary of State for War - he is best known for delaying the abolition of slavery in 1792. During his time as Home Secretary Dundas proposed that slavery be abolished in 'three stages' over a decade, which prolonged the suffering and cost thousands of lives. He gained the nickname of 'The Great Tyrant' which he lived up to when he was caught misusing public money in 1806 and impeached.

What did he do? The bad: Dundas proposed that slavery be abolished in 'three stages' over a decade, which prolonged the suffering and cost thousands of lives

Blocked British reformer William Wilberforce's efforts to abolish the slave trade

He was influential i n the expansion of British Influence in India the affairs of the East India Company The good: Instrumental in the encouragement of the Scottish Enlightenment - a period of intellectual and scientific accomplishments Thomas Guy A statue of Thomas Guy is seen outside Guy's Hospital on June 08, 2020 in London, England Where is the statue? Outside Guy's Hospital, in London, England. Who wants the statue removed? He was named on the Topple The Racists' site. Who is he? Thomas Guy (1644 - 1724) was a British bookseller, stock speculator, governor of St Thomas' Hospital and founder of Guys' Hospital, London - which he built with profits of the slave trade. He made his fortune through ownership of a very large amount of shares in the South Sea Company, whose main purpose was to sell slaves to the Spanish Colonies. The South Sea Company was responsible for the transportation of around 64,000 enslaved Africans between 1715 and 1731 to Spanish plantations in Central and Southern America. After selling his shares in South Sea Company at the peak of their value, Guy used his massive fortune to establish Guy's Hospital for 'the poorest and sickest of the poor' in London. What did he do ? The bad: He bought 42,000 shares in the South Sea Company, amassing a fortune when he sold them in 1720

The South Sea Company supplied 4800 slaves each year for 30 years to Spanish plantations in Central and Southern America The good: He became a governor of St Thomas' Hospital, after building three wards

He later opened Guy's Hospital opposite St Thomas' which cost him 19,000 Sir John Cass Sir John Cass (1661- 1718) was a merchant, politician and Alderman. His statue stands outside London Metropolitan University (pictured June 8) Where is the statue? Outside London Metropolitan University. Who wants the statue removed? He is named on the Topple The Racists' site. Who is he? Sir John Cass (1661- 1718) was a merchant, politician and Alderman for the ancient London ward of Portsoken, in 1711 was elected a Sheriff of London and later knighted. Cass was responsible for helping the slave trade to establish across the Atlantic. He dealt with slave agents in the African forts and Caribbean. He also founded an educational charity, Sir John Cass's Foundation, which still exists to this day. Cass was a member of the Court of Assistants of the Royal African Company between 1705 and 1708 and bequeathed shares in the Royal African Company on his death. The Royal African Company was established by Royal Charter under King Charles II. It gave a monopoly to the on trading in Slaves from ports in West. British slave trader Edward Colston played a large part in the running of the company. What did he do? The bad: Helped to establish slave trade deals across the Atlantic with slave agents in the African forts and Caribbean

Cass was a member of the Court of Assistants of the Royal African Company between 1705 and 1708 The good: He founded an educational charity, Sir John Cass's Foundation for 50 boys and 40 girls in the City of London, which still exists to this day

He was Alderman for the ancient London ward of Portsoken, elected a Sheriff of London in 1711 and was knighted in 1712 William Beckford William Beckford (1709-1770) was a Slave owner and politician. His statue stands In the Guildhall in London (pictured) Where is his statue? In the Guildhall in London. Who wants his statue removed? He is named on the Topple The Racists' site. Who was he? William Beckford (1709-1770) was a Slave owner and politician. He was born in Jamaica, the son Peter Beckford, one of the most powerful slave-owners of the colonial era. Peter had purchased sugar plantations on the Caribbean island in 1661, where he also served as Speaker of the legislature. When both Peter and William's elder brother - also Peter - died, he inherited the enormous fortune and estate which included 13 plantations and over 1,000 slaves. By the time of his death, Beckford's plantations were raking in over 50,000 each year and he is estimated to have amassed 1million in the bank - an eye-watering sum in 18th century Britain. In the early 1700s he returned to London and used his riches to buy the sprawling Fonthill estate in Wiltshire, which he stuffed with art and expensive furniture. The house burned down in 1755, but Beckford poured money and resources into rebuilding it. He later embarked on a political career and was elected as an MP in 1754 before serving twice as Lord Mayor of London in 1762 and 1769. Beckford also used his money to bankroll the rise of future prime minister William Pitt the Elder and ferociously lobbied in favour of the West Indies sugar industry. In 1758, when Pitt was in the cabinet, Beckford advised him to attack the French in the island of Martinique because of the lucrative haul of slaves they could capture. Beckford had nine children, eight of which were out of wedlock. The only son he had with his wife, Maria Marsh, was the novelist William Thomas Beckford. Despite enslaving scores of men, at home he banged the drum for liberties, and once even answered back to King George after he arrested notorious critic John Wilkes. What did he do? The good: Campaigned for civil liberties as an MP and in 1770 demanded the King dissolve parliament to remove evil ministers The bad: Inherited and oversaw 13 sugar plantations and more than 1,000 slaves in Jamaica

In 1758 Beckford advised Pitt to attack the French in the island of Martinique because of the lucrative haul of slaves they could capture General Sir Redvers Buller General Sir Redvers Buller (1839 -1908) was an aristocratic Army officer (left). His statue stands near St David's Church in Exeter, Devon Where is the statue? Near St David's Church in Exeter, Devon. Who was he? General Sir Redvers Buller (1839 -1908) was an aristocratic Army officer who had a long career subduing colonial Africa, particularly in the Zulu and Boer wars. What did he do? The bad: Ruthlessly defeated the Zulu people in what is now modern day South Africa

Rumoured to have helped set up African concetration camps for prisoners during the Boer War The good: Won the Victoria Cross by rescuing two fellow officers during a pitched battle in the Zulu War Who wants to remove the statue? He is named on the Topple The Racists' site. Lord Kitchener Lord Horatio Kitchener (1850-1916) (left) was a renowned Field Marshall and Secretary of State for War. His statue stands on Khartoum Road in Chatham, Kent, where he was Earl (right) Where is the statue? A bronze statue of Kitchener atop a his favourite horse, Democrat is located on Khartoum Road in Chatham, Kent, where he was Earl. Who is he? Lord Horatio Kitchener (1850-1916) was a renowned Field Marshall and Secretary of State for War who commanded British troops in several imperial conflicts. He is well known for appearing on WW1 recruitment posters along with the call to arms: 'Your country needs YOU'. What did he do? The good: Won the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 and securing the Sudan for the British

Amassed the biggest volunteer army ever in Britain during the First World War

Commanded British troops in Egypt, where the controller-general branded Kitchener 'the most able soldier' he had ever known The bad: Kitchener masterminded the use of concentration camps to imprison Boers during the Second Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century

Thousands of men, women and children died in these horrific prisons, many from disease and starvation Who wants his statue removed? Kitchener's statue is named as a target on the website Topple The Racists. William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone (1809  1898) served as a Liberal British Prime Minister for 12 years. A plaque celebrates Gladstone at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton (right) Where is the statue? A plaque celebrates William Ewart Gladstone at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton. Who is he? William Ewart Gladstone (1809  1898) served as a Liberal British Prime Minister for 12 years, across four terms from 1868 to 1894. He was involved in claims that his father was one of the largest owners of slaves in the Caribbean as well as a driving figure of the West India lobby. His father Sir John, the owner of large sugar plantations in the Caribbean, was compensated with the equivalent of about 83 million today after slavery was abolished in 1833. The bad: Gladstone supported the Slave Compensation Act 1837, an act which payed compensation for slave-owners but nothing to newly liberated people

He supported the system of apprenticeship which r equired slaves to continue labouring for former masters for four to six years in exchange for provisions The good: Championed political reform, home rule for Ireland and working-class rights

Campaigned against the excesses of British imperialism Who wants his statue removed? Gladstone's plaque is named as a target on the website Topple The Racists. Sir Henry De La Beche Sir Henry De La Beche was a renowned geologist and paleontologist in the 19th century Where is the statue? Inside Imperial College, where several buildings are named after him too. Who wants the statue removed? Students at Imperial College have long been campaigning to remove him, and he is named on the Topple Racism website. Who was he? Sir Henry De La Beche (1796  1855) was a renowned geologist and paleontologist in the 19th century, he founded the Geological Survey of Great Britain. The bad: Owned plantations in Jamaica where slaves were used The good: Organised the first geological survey of Great Britain

Mapped the Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils of Devon and Cornwall Ronald Fisher Ronald Fisher (1890 - 1962) was a mathematician and geneticist (left) A stained glass window in the dining hall of Caius College, Cambridge, commemorates Fisher (right) Where is the statue? A stained glass window in the dining hall of Caius College, Cambridge, commemorates Fisher. Who is he? Ronald Fisher (1890 - 1962) was a mathematician and geneticist who is viewed as the father of modern statistics. He was also a pioneer in evolutionary theories and helped revive Darwinism in the 20th Century. One of the 'finest minds of his era', Fisher held academic posts at University College London and Cambridge. The bad: Fisher's fascination of genetics led him to discover eugenics, of which he became an advocate

He also held staunch views on race and in the aftermath of WW1 criticised UNESCO for trying to coordinate a united condemnation of racism, stating his belief that races differed The good In 1925 he published Statistical Methods for Research Workers which popularised the 'p-value', now widely used in research to calculate probabilities

Fisher publicly acknowledged the link between lung cancer and smoking Who wants to remove it? The window is on a list of targets featured on the Topple the Racists website.

By Milly Vincent and Jack Elsom For Mailonline
LARNACA, Cyprus (AP)  An Israeli airliner with 22 passengers aboard became the first commercial flight to touch down in Cyprus after the east Mediterranean country reopened its airports following an 11-week ban aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.

Nora Reich, a passenger aboard the Israir Airlines turboprop that arrived at Larnaca International Airport from Tel Aviv, said she had rushed to catch the first flight to Cyprus to see her newborn granddaughter.

My daughter is with her family. They are diplomats here, Reich told The Associated Press. And now she have a baby, she delivered a baby girl. I come with the first flight to see her. 

Israel is among a group of 19 countries with low coronavirus infection rates from which Cyprus is now permitting commercial flights.

Arriving passengers must secure health certificates declaring them coronavirus-free three days before departure.

The requirement is set to expire June 20 for people coming from 13 of those countries, including Greece, Finland, Norway and Germany.

Tourism-dependent Cyprus is keen to resume commercial flights in hopes of salvaging the summer tourist season.

Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos said the country is looking to capitalize on its comparatively mild COVID-19 outbreak to attract holidaymakers. Cyprus, which has a population of around 880,000, had a total of 970 confirmed cases and 18 virus-related deaths as of Tuesday.

This is what Cyprus will sell this year, is the excellent results we have with regards to the coronavirus, Karousos told the Associated Press. Cyprus would be a safe place to be.

Karousos said its projected that the country will see about 35% of the nearly 4 million passenger arrivals it had for all of last year. Tourism directly accounts for 13% of Cyprus gross domestic product.

The minister said its expected that monthly arrivals will peak at 600,000 passengers during September and October from countries including Poland and Denmark.
Teaching unions have questioned the legality of an announcement by Education Minister Peter Weir that schools should reopen on August 17.

Addressing hundreds of head teachers in an online broadcast hosted by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), Mr Weir said pupils in primary seven and those taking their GCSE and A-levels in years 12 and 14 should be back at school by that date.

This is the first time Mr Weir has set a date, having previously said some years would return in August with the rest to be phased in from September with a mix of classroom and remote learning.

Asked during the meeting how the date would affect school holidays, Mr Weir said: "I think the aim would be to have every school open at that stage in the same way as the same position in other jurisdictions as well.

"I'm not quite sure at the moment where anybody's going to be going on holiday on August 17."

Mr Weir added that not all school staff would be required to start back on this date, given the limited numbers.

The Ulster Teachers' Union have already called for legal clarification on Mr Weir's remarks.

"We were previously assured by DE (the Department or Education) that attendance from August 17 would be voluntary on the part of schools and teachers," said the union's General Secretary Jacquie White.

"However, it now appears that directions have been issued by the Education Minister, to principals in a recent webinar.

"This raises significant questions around the implications on teachers' contracts and any holidays booked.

"We would emphasise that schools should not be acting upon such directions and should wait until further official guidance is published as the legal basis with regard to that matter remains unclear.

"We will continue to engage with the relevant authorities to get clarification as a matter of urgency, to ensure new arrangements won't conflict with teachers' contractual rights."

Dr Graham Gault, vice-president of the NAHT in Northern Ireland, told the BBC: "We have no clarification on what the contractual arrangements are going to be for the staff, none whatsoever.

"And the minister would be very well advised to talk fully with the trade union bodies as soon as possible to have that all ironed out.

"That can't be left for a principal to be making those decisions on behalf of staff and it also can't be left to be voluntary.

"Clear guidance needs to come from the minister as soon as possible."

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said it fully appreciated the "legitimate concerns" from teachers, parents and pupils and that there were still a range of "highly complex" issues that needed to be addressed.

The statement added the opening would be subject to medical and scientific advice, and most pupils will have a mix of classroom and remote learning.

The spokesperson said: "It is clear that the longer that children are out of school full-time, the more it prejudices their long term educational prospects. Therefore the aim remains a return to full-time classroom education as soon as medical guidance allows this."

The department has now established a Restart Programme, with both the minister and the department set to consult with a wide range of stakeholders.
Protestors in San Antonio have gathered multiple times at Public Safety Headquarters to remember George Floyd and advocate for law enforcement reforms.

One of their demands - which has been voiced in cities across the country - is to defund the police. Vanessa Salas, a salon owner who joined the demonstrations last week, said "we need to make fundamental changes in the police department operations."

"A big thing we want to see is the defunding of the police department. The police budget is $479 million and that's ridiculous because they're constantly bullying people of color and not protecting the community," Salas said.

READ MORE: You've heard calls to 'defund the police' and 'abolish the police.' What do those actually mean?

Proponents of defunding the police argue that portions of the police budget, which represents more than a third of San Antonio's $1.3 billion operating budget, should be rerouted into health and social services.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg and seven City Council members, an overwhelming majority, have said they're open to re-examining how much the city spends on the police department. Others have pushed back against the idea.

Here's what San Antonio leaders have said about defunding the police:
New program analyzes key less-than-truckload and truckload carrier metrics in Europe, North America and Latin America to provide greater insight into carrier performance

project44, the global leader in advanced visibility for shippers and logistics service providers, today announced the industry's first Global Preferred Carriers Program. This program evaluates and recognizes through a monthly published list less-than-truckload (LTL) and truckload carriers in the project44 network that have demonstrated excellence in performance, consistency, delivery of high-fidelity data and shipment visibility across multiple loads.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005018/en/

The industry's first Global Preferred Carriers Program evaluates and recognizes less-than-truckload and truckload carriers in the project44 network that have demonstrated excellence in performance and commitment to shipment visibility across multiple loads. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Through this program, global retailers, manufacturers and distributors can benefit from more predictable and higher service levels and increased network stability. Preferred carriers have the advantage of gaining additional business opportunities from over 300 enterprise customers, representing $57B of managed freight, and more strategic, multiyear relationships?.

"Markets will always have their ups and downs, and we have to stay agile and productive regardless. Real-time visibility empowers us to add more value to our customers by keeping their costs consistent and shipments predictable," said Bartlomiej Wedzikowski of Wedzikowski Transport, a leading European truckload carrier headquartered in Poland. "We're confident that our standing in project44's Preferred Carriers list will send a direct signal to our customers that we are committed to their business success."

project44 Preferred Carriers include 9 LTL carriers in North America and 320 truckload carriers, including Top200 in Europe, Top100 in North America, and Top20 in Latin America. Each of these 329 carriers demonstrated best in class performance levels and exceeded their customers' expectations for real-time visibility.

Those included on the list are awarded with the tracking compliance badge representing that a particular carrier has met project44's rigorous tracking standards, including high tracking percentages across multiple loads, consistent delivery of high-fidelity data, and commitment to real-time shipment visibility. Some of the pioneering carriers reaching Preferred status in May include Saia and Averitt Express on the LTL list and DSV and CR England on the truckload list.

"project44 enables LTL carriers to eliminate manual processes and increase efficiency," said Marek Bella, leader of Europe Carrier Operations at project44. "Our data shows that truckload carriers visible on the project44 network are four times more likely to win freight and new customers."

"We're very proud to be recognized as a project44 Preferred Carrier. Capacity is tight, and trucking conditions have been changed dramatically and rapidly," said Wendi Fitzsimmons, Project and IT Manager at Volpe Dedicated, a North American carrier with nearly 100 years of truckload experience. "With a streamlined data sharing process, we were able to provide a competitive customer experience by balancing pricing and on-time delivery. As a result, we're equipped to bypass transactional interactions and invest our resources in building long-term strategic partnerships with our customers."

"Our customer's experience is central to our roadmap and DNA," said Tommy Barnes, Head of Global Network Partnerships at project44. "By introducing the first global Preferred Carriers program, we want to help the entire transportation ecosystem drive more operational efficiencies and delivery excellence within the entire supply chain."

To usher in a new era of trust and predictability, project44 has built the most expansive multimodal network, five times larger than any other visibility provider. With the recent launch of the industry's first and only unified multimodal visibility offering, frictionless collaboration and fast time to value has become a reality.

Learn more about project44 or schedule a demo today.

About project44

project44 is the world's leading advanced visibility platform for shippers and logistics service providers. project44 connects, automates, and provides visibility into key transportation processes to accelerate insights and shorten the time it takes to turn those insights into actions. Leveraging the power of the project44 cloud-based platform, organizations increase operational efficiencies, reduce costs, improve shipping performance, and deliver an exceptional Amazon-like experience to their customers. Connected to thousands of carriers worldwide and having comprehensive coverage for all ELD and telematics devices on the market, project44 supports all transportation modes and shipping types, including Air, Parcel, Final-Mile, Less-than-Truckload, Volume Less-than-Truckload, Groupage, Truckload, Rail, Intermodal, and Ocean. project44 has placed second, behind only Amazon, on FreightWaves' 2020 Freight Tech 25, a list of the most innovative companies across the freight industry, and received the 2020 SAP Pinnacle Award as the Cloud Partner Integration of the Year. To learn more, visit www.project44.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005018/en/

Contacts:

Mariya Barnes, mbarnes@project44.com
Technavio has been monitoring the infertility drugs market and it is poised to grow by 1038.44 million during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 5% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005061/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Infertility Drugs Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact

The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. AbbVie Inc., Allergan Plc, Bayer AG, Ferring Pharmaceuticals AS, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Merck Co. Inc., Merck KGaA, Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., and Sanofi are some of the major market participants. Although the growing lifestyle diseases will offer immense growth opportunities, rising inclination toward other modes of treatment for infertility will challenge the growth of the market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

Growing lifestyle diseases has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. However, rising inclination toward other modes of treatment for infertility might hamper market growth.

Infertility Drugs Market 2020-2024: Segmentation

Infertility Drugs Market is segmented as below:

Product Hormone-based Therapy Others

Type Female Infertility Male Infertility

Geography North America Europe APAC South America MEA



To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR41375

Infertility Drugs Market 2020-2024: Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our infertility drugs market report covers the following areas:

Infertility Drugs Market size

Infertility Drugs Market trends

Infertility Drugs Market industry analysis

This study identifies raising awareness regarding infertility in couples as one of the prime reasons driving the infertility drugs market growth during the next few years.

Infertility Drugs Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the Infertility Drugs Market, including some of the vendors such as AbbVie Inc., Allergan Plc, Bayer AG, Ferring Pharmaceuticals AS, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Merck Co. Inc., Merck KGaA, Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., and Sanofi. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the Infertility Drugs Market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

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Infertility Drugs Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024

Detailed information on factors that will assist infertility drugs market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the infertility drugs market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the infertility drugs market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of infertility drugs market vendors

Table Of Contents :

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2019

Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 2024

Five Forces Analysis

Five Forces Summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by Product

Market segments

Comparison by Product

Hormone-based therapy Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Others Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by Product

Customer landscape

Geographic Landscape

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024

APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024

South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024

MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Volume driver Demand led growth

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

AbbVie Inc.

Allergan Plc

Bayer AG

Ferring Pharmaceuticals AS

GlaxoSmithKline Plc

Merck Co. Inc.

Merck KGaA

Novartis AG

Pfizer Inc.

Sanofi

Appendix

Scope of the report

Currency conversion rates for US$

Research methodology

List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005061/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: media@technavio.com

Website: www.technavio.com/
Los Angeles: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the State Department will do its best to investigate the police beating of a Seven Network reporter and cameraman outside the White House.

Amelia Brace and Tim Myers were broadcasting live back to Australia last week when US Park Police aggressively cleared demonstrators out of Washington DC's Lafayette Square so US President Donald Trump could pose for photos outside a church holding a bible.

Brace was struck with a truncheon, Myers was punched and hit with a riot shield and both were hit with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Australian journalist Amelia Brace and her cameraman Tim Myers have been struck by riot police during demonstrations in Washington DC. Credit:Nine News

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had asked the Australian Ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, to look into what took place.
Juvenescence Limited, a life sciences company focused on modifying aging and increasing human healthspan, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Ellen Donnelly to its Senior Leadership Team.

Ellen joins the Juvenescence team as the CEO of the Epigenetics Division of Juvenescence and CEO of our portfolio company, Souvien Bio Ltd, a biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutic agents to modulate critical epigenetic mechanisms associated with neurodegeneration. Most recently the CEO for Modus Therapeutics AB, Ellen brings a strong background in neuroscience to the company from her prior leadership positions at Pfizer, spanning neuroscience research and development. Ellen has a PhD in Pharmacology Neuroscience from Yale University School of Medicine and worked in management consulting at SVB Leerink before moving into the industry.

Dr. Greg Bailey, CEO of Juvenescence, said: "Ellen is a great addition to the Juvenescence team given her background as a former biotech CEO, knowledge of capital markets and her big pharma background in Neuroscience at Pfizer. She will be working with members of the Souvien advisory board, Dr. Li-Huei Tsai (the director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Dr. Stephen Haggarty (the director of the Chemical Neurobiology Laboratory at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital). They will work together at Souvien to advance its innovative drug discovery programs targeting the epigenetic underpinnings of neurodegeneration and to guide their products into human trials for neurodegenerative diseases. Ellen's role will extend well beyond Souvien to increase Juvenescence's portfolio in neurodegeneration and immunology."

Dr. Li-Huei Tsai and Dr. Stephen Haggarty said: "Ellen Donnelly is a wonderful addition to Souvien. We look forward to working with her to bring drugs targeting epigenetic mechanisms into human trials."

About Juvenescence Ltd:

Juvenescence Limited is a life sciences company developing therapies to modify aging and increase healthy human longevity. It was founded by Jim Mellon, Dr. Greg Bailey and Dr. Declan Doogan. The Juvenescence team are highly experienced drug developers, entrepreneurs and investors with a significant history of success in the life sciences sector. Juvenescence will create, partner with or invest in new companies with longevity-related therapeutics, by in-licensing compounds from academia and industry, or forming joint ventures to develop therapeutics for longevity. Juvenescence believes that recent advances in science have greatly improved our understanding of the biology of aging and seeks to develop therapeutics with the possibility of slowing, halting or potentially reversing elements of aging.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005420/en/

Contacts:

Juvenescence

CFO, David Ellam

juvenescenceir@juvenescence.ltd
 Flash

The brother of George Floyd, the African American man whose death in police custody inspired protests across the country, urged lawmakers in a congressional hearing Wednesday to "stop the pain," as Democrats and Republicans offered different remedies for the U.S. problem-ridden police system.

"I'm here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain. Stop us from being tired," Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, said at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

In his emotional testimony at the House Judiciary Committee's hearing titled "Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability," the younger Floyd urged the lawmakers to honor those from around the world calling for change in the wake of his brother's death. "Honor them, honor George and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution and not the problem."

"If his death ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn't in vain." said Philonise.

Wednesday's hearing came one day after George Floyd was laid to rest, and two days after congressional Democrats introduced a piece of legislation seeking sweeping reforms to policing policies, which will make it easier to prosecute police misconduct cases and prevent excessive use of force by law enforcement.

Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus that led the drafting of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, said in her opening statement that she hopes the bill will pass both chambers of Congress and become law, so that "we never, ever, ever see again what we saw a few weeks ago."

Calling police brutality "an embarrassment of our nation in front of the entire world," Bass said the Unites States, which oftentimes points its fingers at so-called human rights violations in other countries, should honor its own commitment to human rights. "While we hold up human rights in the world, we obviously have to hold them up in our country."

On May 25, George Floyd, during the final moments of his life, was put in neck restraint for eight minutes and 46 seconds by a white police officer in Minneapolis, even as he begged for his life. Derek Chauvin, the now fired officer who kept his knee on Floyd's neck, has been jailed and faces murder charges.

"I can't tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that, when you watch your big brother, who you looked up to your whole entire life die, die begging for his mom," Philonise said.

While the Democrats stressed the urgency of reforming the broken police system to end police brutality and racial profiling, the Republicans, though also blaming racism, focused more on condemning the rioters that were agitated in the recent "Black Lives Matter" movement.

They argued that police officers and other law enforcement personnel constitute an important pillar ensuring the safety and security of local communities, and that violence against them should not be ignored.

Republican congressman Jim Jordan, ranking member of the judiciary committee, said at the hearing that George Floyd's death was "as wrong as it could be," while condemning the rioters. He also said the "majority of" the law enforcement officers are good people and first responders.

"It is absolute insanity to defund the police," Jordan said, referring to a rallying cry frequently heard in the recent protests throughout the nation.

In an immediate response on Twitter, President Donald Trump hailed Jordan's remarks as "a great statement ... concerning Defunding (not!) our great Police," adding that "this Radical Left agenda is not going to happen."

The Democrats in their proposed reform bill didn't embrace the idea of entirely defunding police departments either. Instead, it will provide grants to community organizations, encouraging them to build partnerships that improve accountability.

However, not only is the Democrat-proposed legislation expected to undergo extensive scrutiny by Republicans on Capitol Hill - who offered their own blueprint for reform in a 10-section draft bill that included police reporting, accountability, training and relations -- it's also possible to be pushed back by the White House, which has indicated that stripping police officers of their immunity is a non-starter.

Asked whether Trump would support the police reform proposals rolled out by the Democrats, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a news briefing Monday that the president was "talking through a number of proposals."

Declining to get into the details of the president's thinking, McEnany said that "there are some non-starters in there, I would say, particularly on the immunity issue."

In addition to banning life-threating police tactics such as chokeholds and limiting the transfer of military-grade weaponry to state and local police departments, the Democrat-proposed bill also sought to reform the immunity doctrine that shields government officials, including police officers, from liability for conduct on the job unless they violate "clearly established" constitutional rights.

"We cannot settle for anything less than transformative structural change, which is why the Justice in Policing Act will remove barriers to prosecuting police misconduct and covering damages by addressing the immunity doctrine," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday when introducing the bill.

Calling for swift action to pass the bill, Pelosi said Wednesday after meeting with Philonise Floyd prior to the hearing that injustice in the current police system "is readily apparent. The need to make the change is clear and the proposals to do so have been in the hopper for a while."

Appearing on Fox News "Fox & Friends" program Wednesday morning, McEnany noted that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, presidential adviser Jared Kushner and domestic policy adviser Ja'Ron Smith on Tuesday huddled with Republican Senator Tim Scott, who led the GOP effort to devise police reforms.

"They had a very positive meeting with Senator Scott and it was very productive, and we do believe that we will have proactive policy prescriptions, whether that means legislation or an executive order," McEnany said.
Bandits killed at least nine persons and rustled over 500 cows in Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State, the lawmaker representing the area in the state House of Assembly, Ibrahim Danjuma, told PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.

Mr Danjuma said the attackers, welding sophisticated weapons, rode on motorcycles on Saturday from Tashan Bawa village to raid communities in Sabuwa before returning to their forest base unchallenged.

PREMIUM TIMES reported on Wednesday how the gunmen killed 20 and injured 20 others in a separate attack in Faskari Local Government Area of the Katsina State.

Mr Danjuma said bandits had been terrorising Sabuwa LGA and had rustled over 500 cows within a month, forcing many residents to flee farming communities in the area.

On Saturday the gunmen appeared from Tashan Bawa village where they started the killing and proceeded to Yarkaka community where they killed two and injured four persons. They proceeded to Unguwan Dauda where they killed one person and razed two vehicles, the lawmaker said.

He said the gunmen chased away residents of Tashan Labbo.and burned one motorcycle before proceeding to Gamji where they also shot many people and looted shops.

Mr Danjuma said in Kanawa, they stole motorcycles and at Taura killed three persons before moving to Nakaba and Idaki where they also killed three and rustled animals before retiring to the forest at around 3 a.m.

As a lawmaker, I informed all the relevant security agents when the attacks were ongoing. Unfortunately, there was no response from the security agents. In the attacks they killed nine and injured eight, Mr Danjuma said.

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The lawmaker said Katsina may experience its worst food crisis because Sabuwa Local Government Area is the major producer of grains in the state.

He lamented that as the farming season approached, the bandits had intensified their attacks, killing and robbing people in farms, adding that as a result, many farmers can no longer farm while some have fled the area.

Were appealing to the government to come to our rescue and save the people and their sources of livelihood, because if these attacks continue, the state and the country may record their worst food insecurity as the farmers cannot farm because of insecurity in their respective locations, Mr Danjuma said.

But the police spokesperson in Katsina, Gambo Isah, said earlier on Thursday that the special force deployed from Abuja has brought calm to some parts of Katsina attacked by the gunmen.

Mr Isah said although the special force was still carrying out operations, they cannot cover the over 5000 villages in Katsina.

The security men cannot be everywhere at the same time. The attacks in Sabuwa, Faskari, Dandume will soon be over as the bandits days are numbered. The criminals will no longer have a hiding place, he said.
Steppe Cement records net profit of US$9.7m in 2019

11 June 2020

Steppe Cement has released its annual results for 2019 and records a net profit of US$9.7m. EBITDA increased to US$23.9m from US$21.4m in 2018 aided by higher prices.



The Kazakhstan-based producer sold 1.715Mt in 2019, compared to 1.72Mt in 2018. The company's domestic cement sales grew by four per cent, while its exports fell by 29 per cent due to increased competition from new plants in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and the strength of the tenge against the som in the 2H19.



Both kiln lines operated at 88 per cent of their combined capacity. Line 5 produced 0.995Mt and Line 6 produced 0.721Mt. Production costs per tonne increased by 10 per cent due to coal and transportation pricing.



Steppe Cement's average cement selling prices rose by eight per cent in local currency but dropped by two per cent in US dollars to US$46.6/t delivered.



Kazakhstan's cement market grew by two per cent to 8.9Mt in 2019, according to Steppe Cement. Imports to Kazakhstan fell by 10 per cent to 0.7Mt or eight per cent of the total market. In April 2019 the government closed imports from Iran to west Kazakhstan, but at the same time Uzbekistan stopped imports from Kazakhstan.



The company directed capital investment to improvement of the cement mills, silos and packaging to reduce power consumption in 2019. In 2020 the company endeavours to conserve cash and limit capital investment to ecological and energy-saving projects. However, approximately US$2m will be invested in a cooler EP fan system, pan conveyor replacement, slag drier filter and automation, plus laboratory equipment.

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Tofu has been enjoying a boost in the U.S. over the last few months, driven by the meat industry's supply-chain issues during the pandemic, Bloomberg reports.

Why it matters: Sales were up 66.7% compared to last year for the four-week period ending March 28  and still up 32.8% in May. One company had to import more tofu from South Korea to meet demand.

Go deeper: Eating insects could save the planet
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  Poor families have begun receiving the second tranche of COVID-19 cash aid, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said on Thursday.

Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista said the 1.3 million Pantawid Pamilyang PIlipino cash card holders could now begin withdrawing the next financial assistance from the government.

Ang kanilang ayuda ay na-credit na sa kanilang account kahapon. Sa susunod na linggo, susunod ang mga lugar kung saan nakapagsagawa na at natapos ang validation, Bautista said in an online media briefing.

[Translation: Aid for them has been credited to their accounts yesterday. Next week, areas where validation has been completed would come next.]

The validation process to prevent duplication of beneficiaries delayed the distribution of the second tranche of cash aid from the original schedule in May.

The government, however, believes that the distribution of the second tranche would be faster.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque had said it would only take two days to distribute cash assistance to some 17 million families electronically and with the help from the military.

The government will tap an online cash system called ReliefAgad where beneficiaries can choose their preferred mode of payment  cash, PayMaya, GCash, or through bank accounts. If electronic transmission is not available, police and military personnel will assist in cash distribution.

The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act authorized Duterte to provide an emergency subsidy of 5,000 to 8,000 each to 18 million low income families once a month for two months. Some 98 percent of the beneficiaries were able to receive the first tranche of cash aid, but implementation was marred with delays and corruption allegations.
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is the best educational institute in the country, as per the National Institutional Ranking Framework Rankings (NIRF) India Rankings 2020 of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru took the second spot while IIT Delhi was in the third position in this year's NIRF India Rankings.

This year, a total of 5,805 applications have come in for participation in the process of the rankings.

Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank released the latest rankings over a live broadcast on social media. He said that all the 1,000 plus universities and 45,000 plus colleges across India must be encouraged to take part in the rankings.

"The institutes that are ranked on the top also have a responsibility to handhold and mentor fellow institutes. This will give the smaller institutes an opportunity for capacity building," he added.

Initiated by MHRD, the framework uses several parameters for its ranking like Teaching, Learning, and Resources (TLR), Research and Professional Practices (RP), Graduation Outcomes (GO), Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) and Perception (PR). Institutions across the country are divided in nine different categories.

There is a proposal to link the funding of institutes across India to their NIRF Rankings. Further, MHRD may also make it mandatory for all partially or totally funded educational institutes to take part in NIRF every year.

Going forward, the top-ranked NIRF institutions may also get additional benefits like starting online courses without the need for any prior permissions.

These rankings were launched in September 2015 and till now the list has been published in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. These rankings are expected to act as a guide to students looking for higher educational institutions in India.

In 2019, IIT Madras had topped the overall rankings list followed by Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru) in the second position and IIT Delhi in the third place.

There is a view among Indian academicians that the international rankings like QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education Rankings may not be able to measure India-specific developments in education. Hence the NIRF was launched as an alternative for Indian students to get deeper understanding of the best institutes in the country.

Here is a list of institutes that topped the list in NIRF Rankings 2020:

Overall ranking:

IIT Madras

IISc Bengaluru

IIT Delhi

University:

IISc Bengaluru

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi

Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Engineering:

IIT Madras

IIT Delhi

IIT Bombay

Management

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

IIM Bangalore

IIM Calcutta

Pharmacy

Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi

Punjab University, Chandigarh

National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Mohali

College

Miranda House, New Delhi

Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi

Hindu College, New Delhi

Law

National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore

National Law University, New Delhi

National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad

Medical

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh

Christian Medical College, Vellore

Dental

Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi

Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Udupi

Dr D Y Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune

Architecture

IIT Kharagpur

IIT Roorkee

National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode
By Aisha Jabbarova

Azerbaijan has registered 352 new COVID-19 cases, head of the Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions (TABIB) Yagut Qarayeva said during the briefing of the coronavirus task forces under the Cabinet of Ministers on June 11.

Qarayeva also said that the situation around the epidomological situation is worsening.

Six people died and 210 patients recovered on June 11. Thus, the tally of infection cases in the country has reached 8,882 and coronavirus-related deaths is 108.

Some 362,654 tests have been carried out in the country to this date, to reveal COVID-19 cases.

Azerbaijan registered its first COVID-19 case in February and imposed anti-coronavirus quarantine regime on March 24.

The number of infection cases surged after the relaxation of the quarantine regime on May 18, which lifted restriction on the residents movement.

On June 6-7, the country imposed a two-day weekend lockdown to curb the surge of COVID-19 cases.

___

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The topic of racism is now everywhere around the world. It sparks with the death of the black man George Floyd, but the impact is now increasing more than ever. Apparently, not everyone still understands what the protesters are fighting for. Just like a gym in Wisconsin that recently received backlash after they posted a workout program, designed to keep their customers standing up-- called 'I Can't Breathe.'





'I can't breathe' no longer refers to George Floyd, its now a workout program

A famous gym in Wisconsin is now under a lot of controversies after the facility created a program called 'I Can't Breathe' as one of their newest offered workout routines for their customers.

Fox News reported that Anytime Fitness in Wisconsin recently introduced the said program at the state. A Twitter user posted a picture on social media showing the name of the program 'I Can't Breathe' on a dry erase board that also displays an assumingly black man on his one knee. It also captioned, "and don't you dare lay down."

Before George Floyd died while being pinned down by police officers, the 'I can't breathe' line were his last words. Apparently, health authorities said that he died out of asphyxia or lack of oxygen due to the forced arrest of the policemen.

What is this workout?

The controversial workout lasted for more than 35 minutes and included some of the standard workout routines like burpees and rows.

The tweeted image was captioned by @cashewcruise by saying, "really concerned that @AnytimeFitness finds mocking the death of George Floyd appropriate racism is alive in Wauwatosa #Milwaukee."

Normally, I roll my eyes when companies apologize for anything, because they're usually apologizing to blue checkmarks over something that's not a big deal... but man, who thought this was a good idea?! Lol  Joe Fleabag (@JinjoJoey) June 10, 2020

Reddit users also found the post not funny and racist that Anytime Fitness did not stop these kinds of discriminatory acts.

"Talk about tone-deaf," says one Redditor.

"Fire the person who thought this was clever or funny. Making light of a man's brutal murder. Sad sick people," another Reddit user wrote.

Anytime Fitness apologizes with the 'I can't breathe' program

On Facebook, Anytime Fitness already commented on the issue and said that they were very sorry about the issue. They also understand the backlash from the masses about what they did and fix the problem.

"No matter our intent, we now recognize how deeply offensive our words, illustrations, and actions have been," the statement, which was posted to Facebook, read. "We obviously have work to do within our own location, and we will work hard to earn back your trust and respect. We stand with our black community, and again, we are so very sorry for this insensitive move."

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, on June 10 held phone talks with his Japanese counterpart Nishida Yasumori.

Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence

The call was to continue promoting defence cooperation activities between Vietnam and Japan after the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled. The two sides also shared information about their disease prevention and fight as well as discussed the regional and global issues of mutual concern.

Sharing the COVID-19 situation in Vietnam, Vinh said that Vietnams success in disease control was thanks to the engagement of the whole political system, the drastic direction of the Government, as well as the participation of all ministries, agencies and localities, with the army playing an important and active role.

He stated that Vietnam highly values the achievements of Japan, with the role and contribution of the Ministry of Defence, in COVID-19 prevention and control, as well as the international cooperation spirit of Japan in the sharing of information and experience in dealing with the pandemic, and its support for other countries.

As the fight against COVID-19 is still long and complicated, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence wishes to continue cooperation, support and experience sharing with its Japanese counterpart, he stressed

After the disease is completely controlled, the Vietnamese ministry is ready to join its Japanese counterpart in implementing the cooperation plan for 2020 with such agreed contents as exchange of high-level delegations, cooperation at multilateral forums, participating in UN peacekeeping operations, overcoming war consequences, training personnel, and military medicine.

For his part, Nishida Yasumori appreciated Vietnam's efforts, especially the contributions of the Vietnam People's Army to the COVID-19 fight, considering it valuable experience for many countries in dealing with similar epidemics as well as other non-traditional security challenges.

He affirmed that Japan is ready to cooperate and share experience in combating COVID-19 with Vietnam and will quickly deploy defence cooperation activities that the two sides agreed right after the pandemic is contained.

Japan supports Vietnam to successfully organise activities in the year it serves as ASEAN Chair, including activities within the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM ), he noted.

At the phone talks, the two sides also exchanged views on the regional and global matters of mutual interest. According to the Japanese Deputy Defence Minister, recently there have been a number of actions that caused tensions and complicated the situation in the East Sea. Japan resolutely opposes these actions.

Vinh affirmed Vietnam's consistent view that disputes and disagreements must be resolved peacefully, on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) and regional treaties./.VNA
Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) said it has provided $40 million in financing to Saudi Arabias first independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP) in Dammam, sponsored by the private sector  out of a total project finance facility worth $160 million.

A multilateral development financial institution, Apicorp said partnerships between the private and public sectors in financing sustainable energy projects was vital and now remained a strategic focus for the group more than ever.

The Dammam ISTP contract was clinched by a consortium comprising Metito and Mowah Company (each owning 40% shares) and Orascom Construction with the remaining 20% stake.

The construction of the ISTP has already begun, with commercial operations scheduled to begin in July 2022. The project has a design capacity of up to 350,000 cu m per day and an average daily flow treatment capacity of 200,000 cu m per day.

The project, which is estimated to cost $245 million, is in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 reform plan goal for the optimal use of water resources and to encourage private sector participation in economic development initiatives.

The contract was awarded by the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) acting through the Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC).

Financing for the facility has been provided in collaboration with The National Commercial Bank (NCB) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited (SMBC).

The $160 million financing facility, which has a tenor of 27 years, will be used for the overall development, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance of the Dammam ISTP.

CEO Dr Ahmed Ali Attiga said: "As a trusted financial partner to the regions energy sector, we are pleased to play our part in supporting the first independent sewage treatment plant in Saudi Arabia. By utilizing world-class facilities and technologies, the project will upgrade the existing infrastructure and enable it to effectively recycle waste water."

"It is indeed a honour to contribute to the kingdoms Vision 2030 through this initiative that enhance the sustainability of the kingdoms utilities network, he added.

On behalf of the consortium, Metito Managing Director Rami Ghandour, said: "While the world is navigating unprecedented and testing times due to the evolving Covid-19 pandemic, we are delighted to achieve a strategic milestone for the water and wastewater industry in the region with the successful financial closing of the Dammam ISTP."

"The financial structure for this pioneering project and the backup received from reputable local and international banks and financial institutions is a clear testament to its importance, impact and to the confidence of all stakeholders in its sustainable success," stated Ghandour.-TradeArabia News Service
A South African court on Wednesday began hearing a controversial petition challenging a tobacco sales ban imposed by the government in March as part of stringent measures to control the spread of coronavirus.

The Fair-trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA), which represents some cigarette makers, took the government to the Pretoria High Court challenging the draconian ban.

We have termed it a draconian prohibition, a ban of this nature is probably the most dramatic of any measure that can be taken, argued FITA lawyer Arnold Subel.

He said there were no facts to justify the irrational ban which he said was driving the industry underground and killing a legal multi-million dollar business.



This is heaven for the illicit trade, they can charge what they want, they can mix it with what they want, they can make it more addictive all sorts of narcotic substances can be added.

State lawyers said the ban was imposed to reduce access to cigarettes and force people to stop smoking.

The purpose of the prohibition is obviously to reduce the availability of cigarettes, government lawyer Marumo Moerane said.

He conceded the ban did not completely eliminate smoking but said there is a reasonable possibility of reducing it, which helped to prevent overburdening of the health system.

But Subel said forcing smokers to go cold turkey was cruel.

Its like using a sledgehammer to beat people into submission, to force people to go into  cold turkey on smoking, its an act of cruelty, and people are desperate, said Subel.

The ban came in to effect on March 27 along with a ban on alcohol sales.

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Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering, has been remanded to further custody until July 9 by a UK court.

The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, appeared via videolink for the remand hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.

He was remanded in further custody until July 9 as part of the regular 28-day "call-over" hearing.

"The next hearing will be a similar videolink call-over towards the next stage of your extradition proceedings scheduled for September 7, District Judge Samuel Goozee told Modi, who spoke only to confirm his name and nationality.

Last month, Judge Goozee presided over the first part of the extradition trial, held in a partial remote setting due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, with the second part scheduled for a five-day hearing from September 7.

"I hope Mr Modi by the time we get to September, the current restrictions on movement from prisons have been eased and you can be in court in person to follow the proceedings, the judge had told Modi, at the end of a four-day partial hearing of the case on May 14.

Modi had been following the court proceedings from a room at Wandsworth Prison and could be seen taking notes during the course of the trial.

The first part of the case focused on establishing a prima facie case against him but the schedule had to be re-timetabled as the government of India submitted a further set of documents as corroboratory evidence. The judge allowed the additional evidence to be introduced but agreed that Modi's defence team would require enough time to digest them.

Therefore, a hearing already planned to deal with a second extradition request, made by the Indian authorities and certified by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel earlier this year on two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death, has been effectively extended to conclude the prima facie case arguments.

The judge has indicated that the two requests are inextricably linked and therefore he would be handing down an overall judgment at the conclusion of the second hearing, scheduled between September 7 and 11.

The charges against the diamond merchant centre around his firms Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds making fraudulent use of a credit facility offered by the Punjab National Bank (PNB), known as letters of undertaking (LoUs).

Modi's team has sought to counter allegations of fraud by deposing witnesses to establish the volatility of the gems trade and that the LoUs were standard practice.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian government, have been laying out the case that a number of PNB staff conspired with Modi to ensure LoUs were issued to his companies without ensuring they were subject to the required credit check, without recording the issuance of the LoUs and without charging the required commission upon the transactions. This resulted in a fraud amounting to nearly USD 2 billion.
A transgender writer has invited JK Rowling to lunch in order to introduce her to some young trans people.

On Wednesday, the Harry Potter author published an open letter on her website, in which she defended her comments about transgender people, and also revealed she is a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor.

The Harry Potter author received a widespread backlash over the weekend after taking issue with a headline about people who menstruate and tweets that were accused of transphobia.

Many actors who have starred in film adaptations of Rowlings books, including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, have since spoken out in support of transgender people.

Recommended The Body Shop calls out JK Rowling over menstruation tweet

On Wednesday evening, writer Paris Lees tweeted that she would like to invite Rowling over for lunch when lockdown is over.

Ive met with 100s of media professionals via @AllAboutTrans and would be very happy to introduce her to some young trans people and their families in a friendly, supportive, empathic setting, she said.

Lees tweet has received more than 1,600 likes and thousands of praiseworthy comments.

Thats the most helpful intervention Ive read in the last 48 hours, Paris, replied one person.

Another added: That is really kind of you Paris and amazing to offer that opportunity, youre brilliant x.

Since Rowlings initial tweet, several brands have publicly spoken about her comments.

For example, on Wednesday, the Body Shop tweeted a photo of a red canvas bag reading: Its bloody natural. #DropThePWord to end period shame with the caption: Hey @JK_Rowling heres something we made earlier, we thought you might like one! Weve also popped in a vegan bath bomb and a copy of Trans Rights by @paisleycurrah for you to read in the bath!

While The Body Shops tweet appeared to be in support of transgender rights, the statement was met with criticism on social media as many accused the company of bullying Rowling.

Others suggested the company was making light of Rowlings admission that she is a survivor of abuse and sexual assault, which she described in her open letter.

The Independent has contacted The Body Shop for comment.
AMSTERDAM (dpa-AFX) - Dutch paints and chemicals maker Akzo Nobel N.V. (AKZA.AS; AKZOY) reported Thursday that its revenue for the month of April, amid Coronavirus pandemic, was down almost 30 percent than last year with strongest market headwinds. In May, revenue remained around 20 percent below 2019 even though demand improved as some lockdown measures started to ease. The company noted that segments related to automotive and aerospace industries continue to be more significantly impacted than others. Distribution channels for Decorative Paints have mostly reopened in China and Europe, with demand returning towards previous levels. Demand for Performance Coatings has also improved. AkzoNobel noted that its various steps taken mainly to rapidly reduce costs are proving successful. During the first quarter, COVID-19 adversely impacted revenue by around minus 5 percent. Asia was most affected throughout the first quarter, with other regions impacted only from the second half of March onwards. The company is scheduled to release its second-quarter financial results on July 22. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Only one thing makes heading out on a road trip better--bringing your beloved pet along! Of course, youll need a pet-friendly place to stay along the way. You could just book your same-old, tried-and-true places . . . or, you could make it a true adventure and try something new! Hotels are increasingly welcoming pet guests these days, and there are lots of options to choose from--some of which you may never have heard of!

Here are our four favorite newer pet-friendly hotel chains, chosen for their flexible pet policies, low pet fees, and/or extra amenities.

Canopy by Hilton

Canopy Hotels by Hilton offer the upscale, personalized experience of a boutique hotel, with added local flair that makes each location unique. Canopy offers plenty of extras that make it a relaxing and luxurious place to stay. On top of that, the entire Canopy chain is pet friendly, and ready and willing to pamper your pet as much, if not more than you do! Canopys pet fees are non-refundable, but reasonable, as they wont exceed $50. Human guests are welcome to bring two pooch travellers with them. If youre planning to bring a large dog, make sure you secure approval from the hotel ahead of time.

Canopys amazing Paws in the Neighborhood pet program offers furry guests a customized welcome kit. Kits include a cinch bag, all-natural treats, a plush toy, doggie waste bags, and a guide to the areas best dog-friendly shops, parks, and tourist sites. places. The hotel provides a comfy and cozy doggie bed for each pooch, as well as place mats, food and water dishes, and door hangers to let maintenance and other guests know that a four-legged guest of honor is in the room.

SureStay by Best Western

Best Western is well-known for comfort, quality, and value, and its SureStay chain--Best Westerns economy option-- is no exception. SureStay hotels offer great amenities, such as modern, well-appointed guest rooms; delicious complimentary breakfasts; valuable loyalty programs, and pet friendly policies at every location!

When it comes to guests of the furry variety, SureStay rolls out the red carpet. The chain boasts a low pet fee of $10 per pet, per night for up to two dogs, or two cats. Each property features an easily-accessible green space behind the hotel where pets can play and go potty. And, all of SureStays pet-friendly guest rooms are on the ground floor, making them convenient for outdoor access, and for loading and unloading pets and pet gear into cars.

My Place Hotels

My Place Hotels are a comfortable, convenient choice for short or extended stays. This rapidly-expanding chain boasts locations across the U.S., and their hotels are commonly located near pet-friendly places to shop, dine, and explore nature. Every My Place location is very pet-friendly; pet fees start at $10 per night, per pet, hotels accept dogs and cats alike, and two furkids of any breed are allowed to stay with their pet parents.

My Place Hotels also provide easily accessible outdoor pet space for pets to play, explore, and do their business, and sanitary pet bags are provided for easy clean-up.

Even Hotels

Even Hotels is a modern hotel chain centered around wellness, comfort, and happiness, making it a perfect choice for people and pets with healthy, active lifestyles. All of their hotel amenities are designed to keep guests active, rested, hydrated, well-fed, and rejuvenated during their stay. And their holistic approach doesnt just apply to humans--it extends to furry guests, as well.

The Even Hotel chain doesnt have hard-and-fast pet policies across the board. Not all locations accept pets, and among the many that do, pet fees, rules and amenities vary. However, the chains pet fees are affordable, and their pet policies are flexible and non-restrictive.

About TripsWithPets

TripsWithPets has been helping pet parents find pet friendly accommodations

since 2003. TripsWithPets provides online reservations at over 30,000 pet friendly hotels & accommodations across the U.S. and Canada. You'll find lodging in great destinations like, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Kingdom City, MO, and Roswell, GA.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 03:11:49|Editor: huaxia

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MINSK, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian forestry enterprises have sent a container train with timber to west Suzhou in China's eastern Jiangsu Province, the press service of Belarusian Forestry Ministry said on Wednesday.

The train with 44 container cars departed this week and will deliver 1,830 cubic meters of timber to China, traveling along the New Silk Road, according to the ministry.

Belarusian wood will arrive in China within 10-12 days, four times faster than traveling by sea, the press service said.

This is the second container train with timber sent to China. The first train with a production volume of 1,613 cubic meters departed in April.

The Belarusian side intends to send another container train to China this year. Monthly delivery of timber from Belarus to China is being planned for the near future. Enditem
TORONTO and HOUSTON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. ("Medicenna" or the "Company") (TSX: MDNA) (OTCQB: MDNAF), a clinical stage immuno-oncology company, today announced that Dr. Fahar Merchant, President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Medicenna, will present a corporate overview at the Raymond James 2020 Human Healthcare Innovation Conference on Thursday, June 18th, 2020, at 1:40 PM ET.

A live webcast of the presentation may be accessed at https://kvgo.com/raymondjames/medicenna-therapeutics-june-2020. A replay of the presentation will be available after the event by visiting the Investor Relations section of Medicenna's website at https://ir.medicenna.com/.

About Medicenna

Medicenna is a clinical stage immunotherapy company focused on the development of novel, highly selective versions of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-13 Superkines and first in class Empowered Cytokines (ECs) for the treatment of a broad range of cancers. Medicenna's lead IL4-EC, MDNA55, has completed a Phase 2b clinical trial for rGBM, the most common and uniformly fatal form of brain cancer. MDNA55 has been studied in five clinical trials involving 132 patients, including 112 adults with rGBM. MDNA55 has demonstrated compelling efficacy and has obtained Fast-Track and Orphan Drug status from the FDA and FDA/EMA respectively. Medicenna's long-acting IL2 Superkine asset, MDNA11, is potentially a best-in-class next-generation IL-2 with superior CD122 binding without CD25 affinity and therefore preferentially stimulating cancer killing effector T cells and NK cells when compared to competing IL-2 programs. It is anticipated that MDNA11 will be ready for the clinic in 2021. For more information, please visit www.medicenna.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of the Company and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects", "believes" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements related to the future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include the risks detailed in the annual information form of the Company dated May 14, 2020 and in other filings made by the Company with the applicable securities regulators from time to time.

The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect and that study results could change over time as the study is continuing to follow up all patients and new data are continually being received which could materially change study results. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements only as expressly required by Canadian securities law.

SOURCE Medicenna Therapeutics Corp.

Related Links

https://www.medicenna.com/


If you really want to honour him, implement his inclusive ideology: SC Bose's grandnephew

All Indians should learn to be self reliant says PM Modi at ICCs 95th annual plenary session

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

New Delhi, June 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the country needs to be self-reliant and change coronavirus pandemic into a turning point, on the occasion of the 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) via video conferencing.

"Every citizen of this country has resolved to turn this crisis into an opportunity. We have to make this a major turning point for this nation".

PM Modi addresses 95th annual plenary of Indian Chamber of Commerce: Key highlights

The PM said as India is fighting against COVID-19 pandemic, there are other challenges also like floods, locusts, hailstorm, fire in oil well in Assam, small earthquakes, two cyclones that we are fighting against together.

While batting for Atma Nirbhar Bharat, the Prime Minister said Indians should learn to be self-reliant.

"Everything that the country is forced to import, how it should be made in India itself, how India should become an exporter of the same products in future, we have to work faster in this direction", said the PM.

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

PM Modi said Aatamnirbhar lessons start at home and time has come for India to become self-reliant.

While talking about agriculture and farmers of the country PM Modi said that Indian farmers have got their true freedom owing to the recent reforms. They can go to any part of the country to sell their produce. Recent decisions taken by the Centre for farmers have freed the agriculture economy from years of slavery.

PM's address to India Inc came at a crucial time when the nation faces multiple challenges due to the pandemic including contracting the economy.

Earlier on June 2, in the inaugural address on the occasion the 125th anniversary of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the PM said that he has confidence in India's crisis management capability and in the talent of the country's farmers, entrepreneurs and MSMEs.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce, or ICC, is the premier body of business and industry in Eastern and North-Eastern India.

The membership of the Chamber comprises largest corporate groups in India, with business operations across the country and abroad.
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DURANGO, Colo.  An autopsy has determined a tourist died as a result of drowning while rafting on Colorados Animas River.

Patrick Southworth, 61, of Ballston Lake, New York, is believed to have inhaled water after the shock of falling into the cold river at the Durango Whitewater Park around 10 a.m. Saturday, The Durango Herald reported Wednesday.

Despite attempts to revive Southworth, he was pronounced dead at Mercy Regional Medical Center.

La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith said she believes the combination of shock and water inhalation resulted in Southworths death relatively soon after he entered the water, explaining why he was seen unconscious moments after falling out of the raft.

Durango Police Cmdr. Ray Shupe said no charges are expected as a result of Southworths death.

Southworth and his wife, Patti, worked as hospital pharmacists on Navajo Nation lands in New Mexico, said Matt Malinoski, Southworths son-in-law.

The couple traveled to Durango for the weekend to go rafting and horseback riding, Malinoski said.

Mountain Waters Rafting conducted the river trip. Co-owner James Wilkes said Southworth was wearing a personal flotation device and every safety precaution was taken.

Its just a really sad accident, and theres no one to blame, Wilkes said.
VANCOUVER, BC, June 11, 2020 /CNW/ - Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (the "Company" or "ReconAfrica") (TSXV: RECO) (OTC: RECAF) (Frankfurt: 0XD) is pleased to announce it has been granted a petroleum licence in northwestern Botswana for 2.45 million acres (9,921 km2) (the "Licence") and has entered into a farm-out option agreement on these lands. The Botswana lands are contiguous to the Company's 6.3 million acre petroleum licence in northeast Namibia.

Eastern Extension of the Kavango Basin

As a result of acquiring and interpreting additional tight grid regional aeromagnetic data, ReconAfrica feels it has definitively established the eastern boundary of the Kavango basin, where a deep and high potential section of the basin extends from northeast Namibia into northwest Botswana. As a consequence, ReconAfrica has successfully acquired the Licence covering the eastern part of the entire Kavango basin.

Terms of the Licence are as follows:

100% working interest in all petroleum rights from surface to basement





An initial 4-year exploration period, with renewals up to an additional 10 years, in accordance with the Botswana Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act





Upon declaration of commercial production, the operator holds the right to enter into a 25-year production licence with a 20-year renewal period, in accordance with the Botswana Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act





Royalties associated with the production licence will be subject to negotiation, in accordance with the Botswana Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act , and generally range from 3 to 10% of gross revenue from production





, and generally range from 3 to 10% of gross revenue from production The Company has committed to a minimum work program of US$432,000 over the first 4-year exploration period





over the first 4-year exploration period The corporate tax rate in Botswana is 22%

A new and more regional isometric of the deep Kavango basin can be seen on the Company's website - Isometric

Farm-out Option Agreement

The acquisition and analysis process of the Botswana lands and initial data set used to define the most eastern portion of the Kavango basin in Botswana was initiated over the past several years by a private company, controlled by Mr. Craig Steinke, a related party to ReconAfrica.

While Mr. Steinke was proceeding with the application process, he proposed a joint venture with ReconAfrica. In consideration of Mr. Steinke allowing ReconAfrica to lead the acquisition and operate the Botswana lands, the Company, through its wholly-owned Botswana subsidiary, has entered into a farm-out option agreement (the "Agreement") with a private company wholly-owned by Mr. Steinke (the "Farmee") under the following terms:

The farm-out option will carry a 3-year term providing the Farmee with the right to acquire a 50% working interest in the Licence (the "Option")





Initial payment from the Farmee to ReconAfrica is C$100,000





If the Option is exercised within 18 months of the date the Licence was awarded, the Farmee will pay ReconAfrica C$1,000,000 upon transfer of the Licence following exercise





upon transfer of the Licence following exercise If the Option is exercised between 18 months and 36 months from the date the Licence was awarded to ReconAfrica, the Farmee will pay ReconAfrica C$1,500,000 upon transfer of the Licence following exercise

The Agreement is subject to certain conditions, including the approval of the Botswana Department of Mines and Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security ("MMR") to the transfer of the Licence upon exercise of the Option.

The Agreement may be terminated if the MMR does not provide its approval to the transfer within six months following exercise of the Option, the transfer is not completed within six months following the exercise of the Option, or by mutual agreement.

Drilling Update

Due to travel restrictions precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company has deferred drilling operations which were originally scheduled to commence by June 30, 2020. As Namibia was only lightly affected by the COVID-19 virus, with only 29 confirmed cases (16 recoveries and 13 active cases) as of the date of this news release, guidance from Namibia on the timing of lifting international travel restrictions suggests international travel will commence in July or August, 2020. As a result, ReconAfrica's revised drilling schedule, subject to the lifting of travel restrictions in a timely manner, includes shipping the Company's Crown 750 drilling rig from Houston, Texas to Walvis Bay, Namibia on or before the second week of September with an anticipated spud, of the first of the three initial wells, late October, 2020.

Regulatory

The Agreement is not an "Arm's Length Transaction" as such term is defined by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") and therefore constitutes a "related party transaction" as such term is defined in Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). Craig Steinke, the sole director and shareholder of the Farmee, has beneficial ownership of more than 10% of ReconAfrica's common shares.

In respect of the requirements of MI 61-101 and TSXV Policy 5.9, the Company relied on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements under MI 61-101. The Company was exempt from the formal valuation requirements of MI 61-101 as no securities of the Company are listed on the specified markets outlined therein. Additionally, the Company was exempt from the minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as the fair market value of the transaction is less than 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

In addition, the Agreement constitutes a "Reviewable Transaction" in accordance with TSXV Policy 5.6 and is subject to acceptance of the TSXV.

A material change report respecting the Agreement will be filed less than 21 days before the anticipated closing date. This abbreviated period is reasonable and necessary in the circumstance as the Company wishes to complete the transaction in a timely manner. A copy of such material change report will be provided to any shareholder of the Company upon request, without charge.

ReconAfrica is a junior oil and gas company engaged in the opening of the newly discovered deep Kavango Sedimentary Basin, in northeastern Namibia and northwestern Botswana where the Company holds petroleum licences comprising approximately 8.75 million contiguous acres.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information: Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. Such statements include, without limitation: the receipt of the MMR approval to the transfer upon exercise of the Option, the entry of the Company and the Farmee into a joint operating agreement, the receipt of the TSXV's acceptance of the Agreement and the anticipated recommencement of drilling. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "suggests" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on ReconAfrica's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to ReconAfrica. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and ReconAfrica undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

SOURCE Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd.

For further information: J. Jay Park, CEO or Scot Evans, COO, Tel: +1 (604) 423-5384, Email: [email protected]
London, June 11 : The UK government is facing calls from former Conservative Party members to drop the 2-metre social distancing rule in England, saying that keeping the measure will significantly impede recovery, media reports said on Thursday.

Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith has warned of dire economic consequences, with public transport running quieter than necessary and pubs, restaurants and cafes unable to stage a proper recovery or even open, reports the BBC.

He has urged Ministers to move to a 1-metre policy - in line with World Health Organization guidance already followed by countries including France, Denmark and Singapore.

"The number one and single most important priority to unlock the economy is getting the distance down to one metre," Smith was quoted as saying to the Daily Mail newspaper.

"The hospitality sector simply can't make a living at two metres." Another former Conservative Cabinet Minister, Damian Green, told the BBC that scrapping the 2-metre guidance was the "single biggest change" the government should make in the coming weeks.

"I think that makes a huge difference to many parts of industry, particularly hospitality businesses, restaurants, pubs, and so on," he said.

"We've seen other countries do that, actually move from two metres to one metre, without any damaging effects so far." Green added that he would like to see the move come as part of "a package of ways of making sure that we do get our economy, across the board, open as fast as possible".

Conservative backbenchers made similar points to Chancellor Rishi Sunak - who admitted the rule makes things difficult for opening up - behind closed doors on Wednesday night, according to the BBC report.

At Wednesday's daily Downing Street briefing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to "keep that two metre rule under constant review".

He said there was a "balance of risk" to be struck, but caution was needed at present.

As of Thursday, the COVID-19 cases in the UK stood at 291,588, the fourth highest in the world, with 41,213, the second highest number of global fatalities.
Rapidly evolving situation. Its one of many annoying stock phrases we hear government and health officials use daily to describe the pandemic. But it could just as easily be used to describe another tumultuous event: the political saga of Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Last year around this time, a poll emerged indicating that Fords approval rating had plummeted, the result of his administrations many cuts to the provinces health and education sectors. Then came the Toronto Raptors victory parade at which thousands of tipsy, elated people, many of them commuters from outside the city, showed up to bask in their teams glory and, it turned out, to boo Ford.

In December of 2019 another poll emerged revealing that not much had changed: Fords approval rating was the lowest in the country compared with other premiers. (It was also during this month that a Toronto teenager was filmed on live TV offering the following keen political analysis: Doug Ford is probably thinking about Timbits right now. And Im telling him: he is a Timbit himself.)

Then came the coronavirus. Our fortunes fell. But the fortunes of our leaders rose. Leaders across the country and in particular, Premier Ford, saw their approval ratings climb, the likely result of an anxious populace desperate for direction and grateful to receive it, no matter where it led them.

Fords calm delivery in press conferences combined with a genuine effort at bipartisan co-operation garnered praise here and across the border. In April, the Washington Post ran a column called A crisis can forge great leaders. Doug Ford is showing that in Canada.

And thus began what historians may someday refer to as The Cheesecake Honeymoon: a brief era in which many members of the public and media (myself included) fell under a spell that compelled us to forget that Doug Ford was Doug Ford  an embattled politician prone to gaffes and uninformed policy decisions  and regard him instead as the host of a folksy cooking show who happened to be premier: i.e. Guy Fieri in a suit.

Youve probably seen the now viral video released in mid-May  the one that dulled our judgment and captured our hearts. In it Ford is wearing his signature black Were all in this together T-shirt that makes him look like a concert roadie, and a pair of blue gloves. Hi everyone, he says standing in a shiny kitchen. Today were gonna make the famous premiers cheesecake  If I wasnt premier Id open up a Cheesecake Factory.

Alas, no cheesecake factory was built to stand forever. And Fords is crumbling fast. Or rather, its been out of the fridge on the counter, crumbling for a while.

The thing is, folksy gimmicks like Cooking with Doug are disarming when you need a distraction from the pandemic  a faceless problem for which no one is to blame.

But folksy gimmicks by politicians arent so cute in the face of problems for which the province is to blame.

For example: Ontarios repeated failures to meet its testing targets, its unconscionable failure to protect seniors in long-term care, its hasty decision this week to reopen child-care centres to the dismayed surprise of the people who manage them. Not to mention, according to APTN, disturbing new revelations that the Ford government is allowing Ontario foster homes to be inspected over the phone rather than in person.

Folksy gimmicks arent so cute in the face of the premiers recent denial of plain fact: that systemic racism exists in Canada. (Hes since walked back this statement.) Nor are they cute in the face of his outright refusal to consider cutting police budgets; this is interesting, of course, because he doesnt usually have a problem with slashing budgets.

Folksy gimmicks arent so cute in the face of Ontarios stubbornly high rate of community transmission or the news this week that Education Minister Stephen Lecce recently came into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, spurring Health Minister Christine Elliott and the premier himself to get tested for the virus. (Lecce, Ford and Elliott all tested negative.) Nor are they cute in the face of the fact that Michael Ford, a Toronto city councillor, also the premiers nephew, has tested positive.

Yes, thats the same Michael Ford who posted a photo of himself cooking in April, in what appears to be the same kitchen in which the premier filmed Cooking with Doug in May. The premier maintains he has had no contact with his nephew for two weeks but reasonably one does wonder: how many cooks have been in that kitchen recently? And how closely are those in power following the guidelines they endorse?

Clearly the public is willing to extend a lot of good will to its leaders  even unpopular ones  at the beginning of a crisis. But were deep in now. Cheesecake doesnt cut it anymore.

Emma Teitel is a columnist based in Toronto covering current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @emmaroseteitel

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Scientist and professor C N R Rao said online classes for young children such as KG, the first and second grade should be terminated.

The concept of online teaching-learning for school children - has not found favour with eminent scientist K Kasturirangan, who says the direct physical and mental connection is important to bring out aspects such as playfulness and creativity in them.

The National Education Policy, 2019, draft committee chairperson stressed the need for face-to-face contacts, interactions, exchange of ideas and thoughts as he backed the traditional mode, amid a debate on online classes for children due to COVID-19-induced closure of schools.

"Fundamentally, the physical and mental connection with children directly is extremely important. Playfulness, creativity and many other aspects can never be transferred through online learning", Kasturirangan, who was Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation between 1994 and 2003, told news agency PTI.

He said 86 percent of the brain grows by the age of eight, adding that issues associated with the early phase of children need to be assessed and evaluated carefully and any kind of new approach needs a scientific basis.

"Development of a brain is a continuous process within these eight years, and if you don't stimulate the brain properly by continuous interactions, then obviously you are missing a chance of really getting the best out of youngsters in terms of brain boat and performance, the recipient of Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan said.

"There are issues of these which need to be analysed very carefully. Just the kind of solutions that we talk of for higher education like online and so on may not be the way to deal when it comes to dealing with the early phase of children, the former Rajya Sabha member said.

The issue of online education for school children needs to be looked into very carefully and one should not jump into any kind of approach without any scientific basis.

"There is much to be evaluated, and it has to be assessed", underlined Kasturirangan, who had also served as a Member of the now-defunct Planning Commission of India.

Another acclaimed scientist, Prof. C N R Rao, who was awarded 'Bharat Ratna' in 2014, also spoke out recently against introducing online classes for children, underscoring the importance of human interface for good communication and inspiring young minds.

The Honorary President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and the Linus Pauling Research Professor said online classes for young children such as KG, first and second grade should be terminated.

"I am not an enthusiast about on-line teaching. We need human interface with students for good communication. That is how young minds can be inspired, Prof. Rao, who was Chairman of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister from 1985-1989, and from 2004-2014, told PTI.
FILE PHOTO: Former Venezuela's Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters

By Gary McWilliams

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas set aside a $1.4 billion default judgment against a former Venezuelan oil minister, ruling he was not properly notified of the lawsuit, but said the U.S. company that alleged fraud and bribery can move ahead with the case.

Harvest Natural Resources sued Rafael Ramirez and others, alleging it lost millions when Venezuela refused to allow a sale of its oil operations in the country to a buyer it had lined up. It also alleged Ramirez and others sought a $10 million bribe to approve the sale.

In her opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal overturned the default judgment, finding Ramirez's default "was not willful" and that he had raised defenses including that Harvest waived claims in its sale of Venezuelan operations.

Dane Ball, a partner with law firm Smyser Kaplan & Veselka LLP, which represents Harvest, declined immediate comment.

The lawsuit notice was faulty, Ramirez told the court, because he had fled the United States months before Harvest delivered its claims to his former residence and because it could have served him internationally.

Rosenthal in late 2018 awarded Harvest millions in damages in a default ruling and later tripled the award to $1.4 billion. Harvest alleged it sold its Venezuelan assets for $470 million less than an original offer and later ceased all operations.

The judge, whose order was signed on Tuesday, said Harvest can still bring its claims and set a scheduling hearing for June 25.

Ramirez, who was Venezuela's oil minister for 12 years and later served as its foreign minister and U.N. ambassador, had sought to have the entire case, as well as the default judgment, thrown out.

Harvest's suit "is filled with legal and factual errors," said Ramirez attorney Abbe David Lowell, adding his client looks forward to the chance to defend himself in court.

(Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Jammu, June 11 : After violating the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K's Rajouri district on Thursday, Pakistan again resorted to firing and intense shelling in Poonch district, an army official said.

Defence Ministry spokesman, Col. Devender Anand said that at about 7.45 p.m., Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms and shelling with mortars on the LoC in Mankote sector of Poonch.

"Indian Army is retaliating befittingly," he said.

A soldier was killed and a civilian injured in Pakistan ceasefire violation early on Thursday in Manjakote sector of Rajouri.
The U.S. economy has produced two significant numbers lately. One was expected. The other wasnt. The good one probably outweighs the negative one. Confused? Join the crowd.

The encouraging number was a real surprise: The country actually gained 2.5 million jobs in May from April, and thus the unemployment rate dropped to 13.3%. That was amazing because the experts were expecting an increase in monthly unemployment stats and therefore an overall jobless rate nearing 20%.

And this wasnt just a bunch of numbers being thrown out by talking heads. The increase in employment suggests that the worst of the coronavirus disruptions may be behind us. You cant emphasize the may in that sentence enough, but more people are going back to work, which means they will be spending more at restaurants and stores in their cities  and causing those businesses and others to ramp up or open up.

That matters, because the big question about all this economic disruption is how long it will last. Will we keep staggering along the rest of the year, or would the grim news start to turn around at some point? The May job numbers suggest we have made that transition from hopeless to hopeful.

But as Lewis and Clark must have said many times along their historic journey, were not out of the woods yet. The same government officials who brought the glad tidings of more jobs also said our economy has officially sunk into a recession.

That was no surprise, of course. When the bottom started dropping out of everything in February, it was clear that growth had given way to decline. The only question was when the dreaded R-word would come forth, and now it has. And when the economy is in a recession, no one can be comfortable. It means were limping along far below capacity, with too many people out of work and too many businesses laying off workers  or shutting down.

Some recessions are worse than others, but you still want to get out of one as quickly as possible. That is generally described as two consecutive quarters of growth. We might string together two positive quarters this year, but there are only three of them left, and the current one is going to end in 19 days.

Even when that happens, two strong quarters wont bring us back to where we were before the coronavirus disrupted everything. Most economists doubt that will even happen next year. We still have nearly 20 million fewer jobs now than when this nightmare began.

The thing that determines our economic future is the thing that put us in a ditch  the coronavirus. If it continues to decline this summer and gradually fade, our recovery could get gradually stronger. But if theres a resurgence of the virus in the fall, well have major problems again. Some states could return to lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, though its difficult to conceive of Texas taking those steps again. Too many people and politicians want to put those restrictions in the past and keep surging forward, even if COVID-19 cases tick up.

More Information Ten cities best-positioned to recover from coronavirus (alphabetically listed) Boise, Idaho Denver, Colorado Durham, North Carolina Madison, Wisconsin Provo, Utah Raleigh, North Carolina Salt Lake City, Utah San Jose, California Tucson, Arizona Washington, D.C. Source: Forbes See More Collapse

But if one part of the country goes back into slow motion, it will affect the rest of us. The same goes for foreign countries that may not have hit their peak yet  like Mexico, bordering four states. This virus doesnt stop at any Customs booth.

Even with the jobs report, our economic future still has plenty of dark clouds. The virus caused 48% of U.S. households to lose income by one study. For households earning less than $25,000 per year, the rate of loss was 56%. Losses like that will reverberate.

In Texas, there is real concern that the oil industry will never again be as strong. Statewide, the industry lost more than 26,000 jobs in April. Supply still exceeds demand, nationally and worldwide, and probably will for the rest of this year. Locally, the problems with Parkdale Mall cant make anyone feel good.

The stock market is humming along, which is encouraging, but many analysts worry that the market is floating higher than it should. Non-millionaires are still concerned, and they should be. The May jobs report was a boost, but its not definitive either. We still have a long way to go, and we dont even know how long that journey will take.

TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com
South Korean Engineering Company Pleads Guilty to Defrauding U.S. Army, Agrees to Pay $68.4 Million

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, June 10, 2020



SK Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (SK), one of the largest engineering firms in the Republic of Korea, pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud, in connection with a fraudulent scheme to obtain U.S. Army contracts through payments to a U.S. Department of Defense contracting official and the submission of false claims to the U.S. government.

SK entered the plea, pursuant to a plea agreement with the United States, before U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Parker in the Western District of Tennessee, who sentenced SK to pay $60,578,847.08 in criminal fines, the largest fine ever imposed against a criminal defendant in the Western District of Tennessee, pay $2,601,883.86 in restitution to the U.S. Army, and serve three years of probation, during which time SK agreed not to pursue U.S. federal government contracts. The U.S. Army previously suspended SK by order dated Nov. 17, 2017, from future contracting throughout the executive branch of the U.S. Government.

As part of SK's plea agreement, SK agreed to, among other things, cooperate fully with the United States in all matters relating to the conduct covered by the plea agreement and other conduct under investigation by the United States, to report violations of U.S. federal law, and to continue to implement a compliance and ethics program designed to effectively detect and deter violations of U.S. federal law throughout its operations. Separately, SK has entered into a False Claims Act settlement with the United States, under which it is obligated to pay $5,200,000 in civil penalties to the United States, which the department credited against SK's criminal fine.

"SK paid millions of dollars to secure contracts with the Army and submitted false claims to conceal those illicit payments," said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "Today's guilty plea and substantial criminal penalty sends a clear message: companies who voluntarily self-disclose misconduct, cooperate, and remediate will receive appropriate credit for their efforts. But companies like SK  which withheld and destroyed documents, attempted to persuade a witness not to cooperate, and failed to discipline any responsible employees  will pay a price."

"This settlement demonstrates our commitment to root out corrupt practices that harm our military and American taxpayers, and to hold contractors accountable for their corruption," said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Justice Department's Civil Division.

"Protecting the U.S. Treasury and the interests of the federal government abroad is a top priority of this office, and this guilty plea and sentence shows our commitment to hold foreign actors accountable for major fraud committed against the United States," said U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant of the Western District of Tennessee. "The scheme committed by the defendant in this case is a serious crime of dishonesty and deceit that strikes at the very heart of those national interests and will not be tolerated. The Army-CID, the FBI, and DCIS are to be commended for their diligent investigative work in uncovering and exposing this fraud, and I am pleased that we have achieved justice by holding the defendant legally and financially accountable."

"American contracts are not for sale in the United States, nor abroad," said Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. "This case should send a message to companies and officials domestically and overseas that the FBI and our partners will hold accountable those who threaten the integrity of our military operations and who abuse their position to profit personally at the expense of American taxpayers."

"This plea demonstrates the great cooperation among our federal investigators and prosecutors," said Director Frank Robey of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command's (CID) Major Procurement Fraud Unit. "It also holds SK responsible for their actions and sends a strong message that this type of conduct will not be tolerated."

"This sort of abhorrent behavior is a serious threat to the integrity of the DoD acquisition process and a gross betrayal of the public trust" said Special Agent in Charge Stan Newell of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Transnational Operations Field Office. "The special agents of the DCIS, along with our partner agencies, will vigorously investigate and bring to justice those who pilfer taxpayer dollars and shamelessly enrich themselves through corruption and deceit."

According to plea documents, SK obtained a large U.S. Army construction contract at Camp Humphreys, South Korea in 2008 worth hundreds of millions of dollars. SK paid millions of dollars to a fake Korean construction company named S&Teoul, which subsequently paid that money to a contracting official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In order to cover approximately $2.6 million in payments to S&Teoul, and ultimately to the contracting official, SK submitted false documents to the U.S. Army.

SK also admitted that its employees obstructed and attempted to obstruct federal criminal investigations of the fraud and bribery scheme. SK admitted that, in April 2015, its employees burned large numbers of documents related to U.S. Army contracts, in order to hamper U.S. and Korean investigators. Further, SK admitted that, in the fall of 2017, its employees obstructed a federal criminal proceeding by attempting to persuade an individual not to cooperate with U.S. authorities.

A number of relevant considerations contributed to the United States' criminal resolution with SK, including that SK frustrated the United States' investigation by withholding requested documents and information, destroying documents relevant to a pending federal investigation, and attempting to persuade a potential witness not to cooperate with the investigation. In addition, SK did not discipline any employees responsible for the misconduct, either through direct participation or failure in oversight, or those with supervisory authority over the area in which the criminal activity occurred, and failed to retain business records and otherwise failed to prohibit the improper destruction and deletion of business records.

In November 2018, two SK employees, Hyeong-won Lee and Dong-Guel Lee, were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee on charges of conspiracy, major fraud against the United States, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and obstruction of justice for their alleged roles in the scheme.

The indictment is only an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until found guilty by a court of law. The case is U.S. v. Lee (2:18-cr-20378-TLP). Hyeong-won Lee and Dong-Guel Lee are currently fugitives of justice.

Army-CID, DCIS, and the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office investigated this case. Assistant Chief Justin Weitz and Trial Attorney Danny Nguyen of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Arvin of the Western District of Tennessee prosecuted the case. Trial Attorney Andrew Steinberg of the Civil Division's Fraud Section represented the government in the civil case. The Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs and Public Integrity Section and the Korean National Police Agency provided assistance in connection with the case.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.

Topic(s): Financial Fraud

Component(s):

Civil Division

Criminal Division

Criminal - Criminal Fraud Section

Criminal - Office of International Affairs

USAO - Tennessee, Western

Press Release Number: 20-528

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India could see another round of locust attacks unless Pakistan prevents it, said Locust Warning Organisation. India has requested Pakistan to hold a discussion on the imminent locust attack. However, Pakistan is yet to give a formal response to it.

This time the swarms of locust could arrive from Africa. Monsoon winds would easily steer the pests towards India. According to the Economic Times report, Pakistan has a major role to play in preventing another locust attack in India. Locust Warning Organisation deputy director KL Gurjar told the daily that if Pakistan kills swarms of the locust at its side of the border then India would not face a threat.

India and Pakistan are likely to convene a technical level meeting over locust attacks on June 18. On June 5, Pakistan's Foreign Office had said that Pakistan and India were cooperating with each other to tackle locust attacks under a forum administered by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Pakistan and India are members of FAO's Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in South-West Asia. The two countries are facing some of the worst locust attacks in recent years. The desert locust is a short-horned grasshopper that causes extensive damage to crops.

Meanwhile, in India, drones were used to spray pesticides on crops and trees in Nagpur. So far, no crop damage has been reported.

This year locust swarms entered India earlier than their normal time of June and July. The locust swarms entered India from Pakistan.

The immature locusts are very active and their mobility makes it difficult to control the swarm at one location, the agricultural ministry said. It further added that to control immature locusts, at least 5 days are required.

Depending on the wind speed, locusts can move over 150 km in a day in the direction of the wind during day time. It settles down on nearby vegetation by sunset and can consume every green shoot or crop in the vicinity.

Also read: Worst locusts attack in decades; crops damaged in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Rajasthan

Also read: Locust attack in India: Swarms of locusts enter Maharashtra; damage orange orchards, vegetables
WATERFORD  A petition from the Town of Waterford that was filed in January in Racine County Circuit Court has finally been answered: it was granted.

The Town of Waterford wants to incorporate the entire area that now makes up the Town as the Village of Tichigan. This would give the municipality more local control over lawmaking and preventing annexation from neighboring communities.

After a hearing, the court recorded Monday that the petition meets the signature requirements specified in Wisconsin Statutes.

The petition also meets the minimum requirements for an isolated village and metropolitan village, according to the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access.

However, the Town cant be incorporated quite yet as there are still more steps left to the process. The petition will now go to the Incorporation Review Board. Upon receipt of the petition and the $25,000 incorporation review fee, the IRB will make a decision: dismiss the petition, grant the petition or dismiss the petition with a recommendation that a new petition be submitted to include more or less territory.

The IRB will submit its answer to the court. After that, the court would either dismiss the petition or grant it and if it is granted, order an incorporation referendum in which residents would vote on whether to incorporate.

More hurdles ahead

Town Chairman Tom Hincz went to the hearing. He said that the petition being granted was just one of the steps.

Its not a major hurdle, the major hurdle is getting through the state board, he said.

Hincz didnt know when the end of this process would be, but hopes its before the end of his lifetime. He said hes noticed that a good portion of the population supports incorporation.

Were much, much, larger than the village in terms of area, we have a larger population and we have significant abilities and areas that we can expand, Hincz said.

The Village of Waterfords Motion to Dismiss was also denied by the court.

Village Administrator Zeke Jackson said officials didnt receive a notice of the hearing in a timely manner. The delivery attempt was made on a Sunday when the Village offices were closed.

The motion to dismiss the case was related to the timeliness of the delivery, Jackson said. But the statutes say its only required that the notice be sent and not delivered in a timely manner.

Its unfortunate that every other municipality received their notice but we did not, Jackson said.

Village talks

Hincz still wants to have a discussion with the Village to attempt to circumvent the lengthy process because a conversation has still not occurred.

Village officials say they have reached out to the town several times to ask for such a meeting to no avail, while town officials have said the same thing about the village.

Jackson said the Village is looking into a boundary agreement with the neighboring municipalities. Village officials just want to know the Towns position on incorporation so they can evaluate it.

The Villages master plan document on this topic says the village and town should work collaboratively to establish an agreement on terms mutually satisfactory for both parties. Jackson is hoping this agreement happens.

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HOUSTON  Houston City Council on Wednesday denied an effort to reallocate nearly $12 million from the Houston Police Departments upcoming budget to fund sweeping police reform and other measures.

Houston Councilwoman Letitia Plummer proposed redirecting the money to fund several measures, including strengthening a police oversight board by giving it investigative powers, enhancing police de-escalation training and creating a program that would provide no-interest loans to minority-owned businesses.

But City Council voted against Plummers proposal to include the measures in Houstons fiscal year 2021 budget, which begins on July 1.

Also Wednesday, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has dropped prosecutions of 786 criminal cases against Black Lives Matter demonstrators arrested for nonviolent misdemeanors, such as obstructing a highway and trespassing.

Another of Plummers proposals  to use funding from one police cadet class to pay for the creation of a mental health mobile response unit to help police with non-threatening lower priority calls  was referred to a council committee for further study.

The debate over police funding in Houston mirrors similar ones that have taken place across the country following the killing of George Floyd. The black man died last month after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee to Floyds neck, pinning him to the ground. Floyd, who grew up in Houston, was laid to rest in suburban Houston on Tuesday.

Protesters have been pushing to defund the police. Supporters say their proposals are not about eliminating police departments or eliminating all police funding but about spending more on what communities need, such as housing and education.

As council members met on Wednesday, dozens of protesters rallied outside city hall asking for cuts in the police departments budget.

Community activists have also called for more transparency from the Houston police department following six deadly police shootings since April 21.

The council on Wednesday approved a new city budget that increased the nearly $1 billion police budget by about $20 million, despite financial challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Plummer said her proposals were not about eliminating the police but about making officers jobs easier and having conversations about transparency. She said it was also about dealing with the root of the problem that has led to the death of Floyd and other black men.

George Floyd died because of the end result. No ones talking about the poverty that he dealt with, Plummer said. No ones talking about how he was able to put food on the table. No ones talking about how difficult it was for him to thrive in the community.

Mayor Sylvester Turner and other council members said they supported some of the ideas that Plummer proposed but that they needed to be studied further either in committee or by a new task force that was announced earlier this month to review Houston police policies.

Turner planned to sign an executive order banning Houston police from using chokeholds and requiring officers to exhaust all alternatives before shooting. But he said he has also advocated for providing more resources to under-served and under-resourced communities in Houston.

Weve been on a forefront of that. It didnt take a police shooting for that to be on our list, Turner said.

The dismissals came after a week-long review to separate cases of simple civil disobedience from those involving harm to persons and property, Ogg said.

Of 654 persons charged because of the protests, 51 adults and one juvenile remain charged with active cases. Their cases include 35 misdemeanor charges and 19 felony charges such as weapons offenses and aggravated assault of a peace officer.

We will always protect the First Amendment rights of peaceful protesters, Ogg said. The only people I will be prosecuting are those who intentionally hurt others and intentionally destroy property.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
The police watchdog will assess the tasering of rapper Wretch 32's father after the shocking footage released yesterday prompted outrage.

The clip, released by the musician on Twitter and Instagram, showed 62-year-old Millard Scott tumbling downstairs at his north London home on April 21 this year, after an officer is heard to warn: 'Police officer with a Taser. Stay where you are.'

Scotland Yard said it had reviewed the incident and found no misconduct, however the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) instructed the force to refer it to them and it will now assess what happened and decide whether an investigation is required.

An IOPC spokesman said: 'We have used our powers to call this matter in and we will now carry out an assessment to determine whether an investigation is required.'

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and human rights group Amnesty were among those urging the IOPC to launch an inquiry into what happened.

The distressing scenes were captured on police body cam footage as officers push past a woman to enter a house in Tottenham, North London.

As they go inside, a woman says: 'Don't touch me, I'm not resisting, social distancing, please don't touch me.'

Police move through the house saying 'police officer with taser move move' and then 'police officer with taser stay where you are' before firing.

The Metropolitan Police yesterday confirmed they attended the address 'to carry out arrest enquiries as part of a long running operation to tackle drugs supply linked to serious violence in the Borough of Haringey'. A spokesman added: 'The incident, including body worn footage, has been reviewed by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards and no indication of misconduct has been identified.'

The rapper released the footage yesterday and it caused outrage. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and human rights group Amnesty were among those urging the IOPC to launch an inquiry into what happened

The police warn they are going to use a taser and then use it on Mr Scott, causing him to fall down the stairs

Officers then check on him as he lays prone on the floor. Met Police confirmed that an ambulance was called but Mr Scott required no further treatment

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has demanded an 'urgent explanation of the distressing incident' from the Met Police

He added: 'A 22-year-old man located inside the address was arrested and later charged with encouraging another to commit an offence under the Serious Crime Act 2007.

'A 52-year-old woman was also arrested at the scene on suspicion of obstructing/resisting a police constable in the execution of duties but was de-arrested at the scene.

'She was subsequently charged with the offence after being interviewed by police under caution at a later date.

'As officers entered the premises, a man came downstairs and started moving towards an officer suddenly.

'He was ordered to remain where he was but continued towards officers who, after several warnings, deployed a Taser.'

The spokesman said the man was not arrested and the London Ambulance Service was called to the scene, but the man required no further treatment.

Commander of the North Area Command Unit, Treena Fleming said: 'I can understand why any use of Taser can look alarming - that is why it receives heavy scrutiny  which we welcome.

'Met officers are highly trained to engage, explain and try to resolve situations, using force only when absolutely necessary. We examine our processes regularly to ensure Taser is being used in an appropriate manner.

'This incident has been thoroughly reviewed by our professional standards department and no misconduct has been identified. I continue to talk to the family about their concerns.'

A man, who Wretch 32 has said is his father, collapses down the stairs and lays limp on the floor. A woman shouts 'oh my god, oh my god' as he falls.

The officers then check on the prone man asking 'are you ok', as he lays stricken on the floor. The clip then ends.

The grime artist, real name Jermaine Scott Sinclair, from Tottenham, North London, posted the video to his social media accounts this evening.

He said: 'This is how the police think they can treat a 62 year old black man in Tottenham but this 1 happens to be my dad #Nojusticenopeace'.

The rapper, who has amassed more than a million in record sales, says he will be appeared with his father on ITV News at 10.

Millard Scott said: 'I'm lucky to be alive. The only people who have invaded our space are the Metropolitan Police. The only people who seem to ignore all the guidelines put out there are the metropolitan police.'

Wretch 32 described how his father and his uncle fought against police brutality in London

Millard Scott, appearing on ITV News tonight, said he was 'lucky to be alive' after the incident

Asked if the same thing would happen to him if he was white, he said 'no way, no how'.

Mr Scott is shown an interview of Met Commissioner Cressida Dick saying there is no discrimination in the force. He responds: 'It seems to me that in this moment in time are are being singled out and targeted.'

His son Wretch 32, adds: 'Ive grown up in a household with my dad and my uncle and I've watched them fight against police brutality my whole life.

'I'm 35 now and we are still here again today and I now have to have the same conversations that my dad and my uncle and my grandparents had with me when I was a child. That means there is no progression.

Social media users reacted with fury at the clip, describing the incident as 'vile' and that things like this 'must stop'.

One user said: 'I'd love to know the context here. They shout at him to 'stay where you are' and give him no time to comply, then taser him at the top of the stairs so he has to fall.

'Looking at him on the stairs his size hardly looks to be a physical threat. This just seems so wrong'

And another said: 'I am so sorry to see this, solidarity.'

The grime artist (pictured), real name Jermaine Scott Sinclair, from Tottenham, North London, posted the video to his social media accounts this evening

The shocking video comes in the wake of the Black Lives Matters movement sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis.

The death of Mr Floyd - whose funeral was today in Houston, his home town - comes amid demonstrations all over the world against racial injustice and police brutality.

In the UK, there have been multiple marches in cities and town all over the country for the past week, as Black Lives Matters protesters called for the country to face its imperialist past, and tear down statues of people associated with the slave trade.

Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square was covered in graffiti after protests in the capital at the weekend.

And the statue of Edward Colston was thrown in Bristol's harbour after being dragged on its plinth by activists on Sunday.

Today, more than a thousand protesters blocked an Oxford street in a loud but peaceful anti-racism protest over the statue of an imperialist at a university college.

A campaign to remove the statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes from the second floor of Oxford University's Oriel College has gained renewed attention in recent days, with thousands signing new petitions to have the monument taken down.

Demonstrators hold placards as they protest for the removal of a statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes on the outside of Oriel College in Oxford, on Tuesday

Tuesday's demonstration attracted around a thousand people as speakers called for the college to remove the statue from the High Street entrance of Oriel College and put it in context, as well as protesting against racism across society.

Ndjodi Ndeunyema, a law student and one of the organisers of Tuesday's demonstration, said: 'We are here to shame the college that seeks to venerate and glorify someone who is not worthy of glorification or veneration.

'We demand an official and public acknowledgement of the colonial violence on which Oriel is built.

'We demand the immediate removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes.'

The Oxford protest comes after several Black Lives Matter protests nationwide, including a demonstration on Saturday where a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour.

At one moment during Tuesday's peaceful protest, attendees spent eight minutes and 46 seconds silently sitting on the floor to mark Mr Floyd's death.

In 2016, Oriel College decided to keep the statue despite widespread student demands to remove it.

Demonstrators gather outside University of Oxford's Oriel College during a protest called by the Rhodes Must Fall campaign on Tuesday

University of Oxford associate professor of African politics Simukai Chigudu said: 'This campaign has been important for a very long time, one of the challenges of being black in this country or belonging to a minority group is that you feel that your presence is unwelcome, and that's true of Oxford University as well.

'The institution is structured according to a legacy and a culture that is very white and very elitist.'

Dr Chigudu added that the campaign to remove Rhodes' statue could help highlight a deeper set of structural issues in society.

Several vans worth of police officers were in the area of the demonstration.

After the protest ended and numbers reduced, an officer in a blue liaison uniform knelt in the middle of the crowd and was met with cheers.

Many of the protesters wore masks or gloves at the demonstration while organisers also handed out masks and drew chalk crosses on the floor to encourage distancing - though protesters and journalists were in close proximity by the doors of the college.

Ahead of the protest, the leader of Oxford City Council Susan Brown invited the college to apply for planning permission to have the statue removed - despite its Grade II listed status.

She suggested the statue should be placed in the Ashmolean or the Museum of Oxford.

Labour councillor Dr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini addressed the crowd and said the statue commemorated white supremacy.

She said: 'I'm going to give the college a message from Oxford City Council - please do apply for planning permission to have the statue removed.'

Oriel College declined to comment on the letter when approached by PA, and instead pointed to a statement it made earlier in the day.

In the statement, the college said it supported the right to peaceful protest, adding: 'We will continue to examine our practices and strive to improve them to ensure that Oriel is open to students and staff of all backgrounds, and we are determined to build a more equal and inclusive community and society.'
The Gray Television Washington News Bureau talked to 30 lawmakers from across the country in the weeks since George Floyd's death while in police custody.

We interviewed both Republicans and Democrats from rural areas and cities. These lawmakers are charged with representing the communities where protesters are making their voices heard.

"People have a right to protest," Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) said.

"They want to be heard and say this is not right," Rep. Al Lawson (D-Fla.) said.

"People are feeling desperate," Rep. Chellie Pingree, (D-Maine) said.

The lawmakers we talked to are encouraging peaceful protests, but not violence.

"We cannot have destructive behavior, because it distracts from the message," Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) said.

Some members of Congress are taking action, working on the issues raised by protesters across the country.

Democrats announced legislation Monday aiming to reform federal, local and state law enforcement.

The bill, called the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, includes a ban on police choke holds, mandates tracking and reporting cases of excessive force throughout the nation, and would increase police use of dash and body cameras.

"We need to control the use of excessive force," Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) said. "Reform and balance and cultural training for our law enforcement personnel."

The bill is written by Democrats with no Republicans signed on as co-sponsors.

"We also have to recognize, however, there are law enforcement officers, by and large, 99.9 percent of them are heroic, sacrificial public servants," Rep. Mike Johnson, (R-La.) said.

As protesters kneel outside the Capitol, there is pressure on lawmakers to do something. But with a divided Congress, change will not be easy.
What is common between the Jeep Compass sold in the US, Jeep Renegade that sells in Europe and the Jeep Grand Commander sold in China? They all find their roots at the twin engineering centres in India managed by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).

The Chennai centre in fact has grown to be one of the largest technology centres outside of North America for FCA, housing about 1,000 engineers (total FCA India engineer headcount is about 1600). Every new vehicle project of FCA destined for the US, Europe or anywhere else in the globe is done from Chennai.

Covid or no Covid the engineering centres in India have only become stronger. If there has been any change it is only for the better. They are an indispensable part of any product developed by FCA, said Partha Datta, president and managing director FCA India, who was working at the Pune tech centre before being asked to lead the company in September last year.

In Pics | Check out the 2021 Jeep Compass facelift

Set up in 2007, the Chennai centre handles parts designing, testing and validation for all products developed, manufactured and sold in the US and European markets.

The Pune centre, however, is in charge of products coming to India. The premium SUV Jeep Compass, for instance, was fine tuned for Indian tastes by the Pune centre.

The Chennai and Pune engineering centres gained in global prominence at the global development stage. All of the virtual work done from a development standpoint and the analysis is actually led by Chennai. That center is getting more prominent for FCA as a global engineering resource. The Pune centre has a part of that responsibility but it does work for India products, Datta said in an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol.

Only a year back FCAs survivability in India was under the scanner given the imminent pullout of the Fiat brand from India, sale of Fords India assets preceded only by the exit of General Motors.

The Italian-US company banked heavily on the Jeep brand of Chrysler for a turnaround in its fortunes. Jeep, a purely SUV brand in the premium category, made an official entry into India in mid-2016.

With sales of less than 8,500 units (as of March 31, 2020) FCA is far from being labeled as a serious competitor to some of the bigger players in India.

However, despite COVID-19 forcing auto companies to prune operations and postpone plans, FCA is doing the exact opposite.

If for anything we are rethinking investments in India for the better. Certainly we are always looking out for fleshing out and making sure that our product portfolio is added to. As we had committed earlier there will be a sub-four meter SUV, also working on a few iconic products that we will be bringing to the showrooms and all of this in addition to a new Compass, added Datta.

Also Read: FCA to roll out 2-3 more Jeep models locally from next year



FCA India retails five Jeep SUVs in the price band of Rs 16.5 lakh for the Compass to Rs 1.1 crore for the Grand Cherokee SRT. The Compass is manufactured at the Tata-Fiat joint venture plant located near Pune while others are imported.

The hard stop brought about by the national lockdown announced in March has changed the way people buy cars. Digital, contactless sales and buying experience has taken the centrestage across segments. FCA does not want to be left behind.

Customers are wary being in proximity of somebody they are not familiar with. Our digital portal is now operational for several weeks where we are seeing pretty large number of leads, where people are coming for enquiry which is the first step before they come for a retail experience, added Datta.

More than half of FCA India's total dealership strength of 80 is open.
Nepal's Parliament is set to hold a special session on Saturday to vote on a constitutional amendment to come out with a new political map laying claim over the strategically key areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura along the border with India, sources said on Thursday, notwithstanding a strong protest by New Delhi.

A house meeting has been scheduled for Saturday as per the Parliament's notice and the matter relating to the constitution amendment bill is likely to come during the meeting, parliamentary sources said.

Meanwhile, in a conciliatory tone, India on Thursday said it deeply values its friendly ties with Nepal.

"We have already made our position clear on these issues. India deeply values its civilization, cultural and friendly relations with Nepal," Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said.

Last month, India reacted angrily to Nepal showing the three areas as Nepalese territory in the new map and cautioned the country that saying such 'artificial enlargement' of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it.

"Our multi-faceted bilateral partnership has expanded and diversified in the recent years with increased focus and enhanced government of India's assistance on humanitarian, development and connectivity projects in Nepal," Srivastava said at an online media briefing when asked about the issue.

Nepal last month released the revised political and administrative map of the country laying claim over the strategically key areas. India has been maintaining that these three areas belonged to it.

Earlier this week, the Nepalese Parliament unanimously endorsed a proposal to consider the constitution amendment bill to pave way for endorsing the new map.

The ties between India and Nepal came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.

Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.

India sternly asked Nepal not to resort to any "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims after Kathmandu released the new map.

Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said that his government will seek a solution to the Kalapani issue through diplomatic efforts and dialogue on the basis of historical facts and documents.

"We will get back the land occupied by India through holding a dialogue," Oli said while responding to questions in Parliament on Wednesday.

He claimed that India built a Kali temple, created 'an artificial Kali river' and 'encroached the Nepalese territory through deploying the Army' at Kalapani.

The river defines the border between the two countries.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Atmospheric ozone (O 3 ) has become one of the major air pollutants. Catalytic decomposition is one efficient and economical technology in O 3 removal, where metal oxides can serve as cost-effective catalysts substituting for noble metals.

A research team led by Prof. Chen Yunfa from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstrated the electron generation, compensation and transfer between ZnO and O 3 through tuning crystal defects in ZnO.

The study was published in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental on June 6. The findings may help design and synthesize highly efficient metal oxide catalytic materials for air cleaning.

"The efficiency of metal oxides should be improved to the noble metal level, and thus the electron transfer mechanism between metal oxides and O 3 should be investigated," said Prof. Chen.

The researchers demonstrated that crystal defects such as oxygen vacancy, Zn vacancy, and Ga and Li dopants played a vital role in electron transfer.

They found that in ZnO lattice, oxygen vacancy and Ga substitution for Zn could generate electrons, which were then consumed by O 3 to decompose into O 2 and surface adsorbed O 2 2-.

Then Zn vacancy and Li substitution for Zn could serve as an electron trapper to grasp electrons from O 2 2-, completing the electron cycle and recovering the catalyst. Otherwise, the O 2 2- would fill into the oxygen vacancy in ZnO quickly and deactivate the ZnO catalyst.

In their previous studies, Chen's group explored the electron transfer between crystal defects in metal oxide catalysts and O 3 , and synthesized kinds of highly efficient O 3 decomposition catalysts (e.g. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2019, 241: 578-587; ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2020, 3: 597).

"This work is expected to benefit the design and synthesis process of more active O 3 removal material for air cleaning," said Prof. Han Ning from IPE.

Explore further Highly-stable water electrolysis catalyst for the production of hydrogen and oxygen

More information: Anqi Wang et al, Defect Engineering of ZnO for Electron Transfer in O3 Catalytic Decomposition, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental (2020). Journal information: Applied Catalysis B: Environmental Anqi Wang et al, Defect Engineering of ZnO for Electron Transfer in O3 Catalytic Decomposition,(2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.119223
Joel Osteen: George Floyd's death was a 'turning point,' 'ignited something in me' Televangelist says 'this is not a political issue': 'Wrong is wrong'

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Days after marching with thousands in a George Floyd demonstration in downtown Houston, Texas, televangelist Joel Osteen said Monday that he thinks Floyds death represents a turning point and the incident ignited something in him.

The 57-year-old Osteen, who rarely makes his political opinions public, told African American Pastor John Gray during an hour-long conversation on race and the church Monday that issues of injustice and inequality are not political issues.

I stay away from political issues but this is not a political issue, Osteen said. This is a human issue. Wrong is wrong and we want to lend our voice  you know this  but to stand with our black brothers and sisters and stand against injustice and the things that have been wrong.

Osteen, the senior pastor of Houstons Lakewood Church, one of Americas largest evangelical megachurches, was among many who marched last Tuesday in Houston against instances of police brutality and to pay tribute to Floyd.

Floyd was a 46-year-old Houston native who had moved to Minnesota to start a new life following several incarcerations, including a felony conviction for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon in Texas. On Memorial Day, a store clerk at Cup Foods in Minneapolis called 911 to report that Floyd had given him a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase cigarettes and that he appeared to be intoxicated.

After he was arrested and handcuffed at the scene, Floyd refused to get into the squad car, "fell to the ground, and told the officers he was claustrophobic," according to details in a criminal complaint against former officer Derek Chauvin who was later fired and charged with second-degree murder for kneeling on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, even after Floyd had stopped moving and breathing.

Video of the incident sparked nationwide protests and renewed condemnation of instances of police brutality and calls for defunding police departments.

Osteen also participated in #BlackOutTuesday, a social media hashtag movement in which users posted pictures of black squares to show solidarity with the African American community.

I know we can do better. I think this incident with George  and it's not just him, it is what it represents  I feel like it is a turning point, Osteen told Gray. It has ignited something in me about, as I said, what can we do better.

Osteen stressed that as terrible as Floyds death was, he is hopeful because God takes what is meant for harm and He knows how to bring some good out of it.

But I do believe that we have to be open and acknowledge the pain, seek to understand, grieve with you and realize that you have it more difficult than us, Osteen told Gray, who served as an associate pastor at Lakewood before moving on to lead Relentless Church in South Carolina.

Then again, God knew you were going to be you and He knew I was going to be me. So lets take what we have and lets move forward with it.

Osteen stressed that Lakewood Church, which founded by his father, has stood in unity for 60 years.

You couldnt possibly know the power of this moment, not only for the body of Christ but for particularly, black people, Gray told Osteen.

There are so many people in the African American community who love you and love your wife and love the work of this church. They may know you from a television broadcast, but I have had the honor and privilege of being in a relationship with you for over 11 years now. Having seen your life up front and up close. And to know your heart is one thing, but to have this moment for other people to kind of step into what I know and what I believe is a critical moment for leaders to get off the fence.

Gray agreed that the issue at hand is not political, but rather spiritual and human.

For you to not just be a global pastor, but the pastor Lakewood Church in Houston, where George Floyd was from  Third Ward  it was critical for you to have a moment like this so we can talk about the pain, Gray said.

Osteen recalled an incident that occurred with his wife, Victoria, at a bookstore at Houston Community College a few years back that opened his eyes to the hardships that many black and impoverished people face across the U.S.

He said his wife went down to the college bookstore to buy books for their kids who were taking classes at the school while they were still in high school.

The place was packed with young African American kids with people in this itty bitty room. Victoria walks in, this white beautiful girl, and she gets in the back of the line. They asked what she was there for. She said she was there to get some books for her children, Osteen explained. They said, Do you have cash, have money? She said, Yeah, I have money. I am going to buy them. They said, you can go to the front of the line. We are all waiting for financial aid.

I thought, how can they get ahead when they are sitting there waiting in line and waiting for somebody to give them a $40 book, Osteen continued. It's hard enough to raise kids and get ahead these days, [but] when you see how much is against some people you think, how can that happen?

Osteen again reiterated that we are here to learn how can we do better.

Gray suggested that churches that have access to capital and resources can look to partner with colleges and commit a certain portion of their mission budgets to help impoverished people who are trying to better their lives through education. He suggested churches should partner with historically black colleges or universities.

I think that is something that should be considered. Because when we think of missions, we think of places that dont have access to resources and capital, where people have been disenfranchised. Well, if that is really what missions is about, you can look down the street, Gray said.

I think that churches, particularly white churches that have money in the bank,  you can help with your relationships: you know the bank president, you know the mayor, the county commissioner, you know the president of that college. Tell some of these corporations to put some money into a pool and lets get 100 kids and lets pay for their books and lets give them a stipend so they dont have to go to work and they can just focus on their education.

Gray stressed that if several churches did such a thing in every community, there would be an immediate response and return on investment.

What you said about Pastor Victorias experience at Houston Community College is critical, because you got kids in line who have the stress of trying to learn with the added burden of not being able to have the financial resources to do so without having to take two or three jobs and student loans that are going to add debt, Gray said.

So even after they get that degree, they are going to be paying for that degree before they can put a down payment on a house. Now, that hinders my ability for how I want to plan out my family.

The conversation between Gray and Osteen at Lakewood Church is part of Grays series titled A Necessary Conversation. Last week, Gray held a similar conversation with Steven Furtick, pastor of the popular Elevation Church in North Carolina.

Churches need to respond in real-time to systemic injustices they see within their communities to bring solutions, Gray said in the conversation with Furtick. George Floyd dying on TV with a knee on his neck was our Emmett Till moment where we see the brutality and the lack of humanity that we can literally not ignore any longer.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:59:12|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China's oldest and largest trade fair is bracing for a new form of "cloud exhibition" from June 15 to 24 as part of efforts to stabilize global supply and industrial chains amid uncertainties in global trade due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Canton Fair, also known as the China Import and Export Fair, was held every spring and autumn in Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong Province, since its founding in 1957, and has been seen as a barometer of China's foreign trade.

This year's online session of the fair, its 127th edition, affirms the country's commitment to free trade and the multilateral trading system in tandem with virus containment measures.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the global economy, the World Trade Organization expected this year's global trade to fall by between 13 percent and 32 percent.

The pandemic is also taking a toll on the world's second-largest economy, as the country's foreign trade in goods dropped by 4.9 percent year on year to 11.54 trillion yuan (1.63 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first five months, official data showed.

"The 'cloud Canton Fair' will meet demands at home and abroad," said Zhuang Rui, vice head of the Institute of International Economy at the University of International Business and Economics, adding that both domestic and foreign enterprises have intense need to further expand business through the internationally recognized trade platform.

The online Canton Fair will help foreign trade firms increase orders, stabilize international market share and smooth the production and sales chain, Li Jinqi, director general of the China Foreign Trade Center, told a press conference Wednesday.

David Morand, a French buyer who has participated in the Canton Fair for 15 consecutive years, said the country's decision to host the exhibition entirely online is a major innovation for the global trade.

Zhuang said China's burgeoning digital economy also enables the country to hold an online trade fair. Over the past years, the development of new technologies, including the internet and big data, has breathed new life into foreign trade, spawning emerging trading models such as cross-border e-commerce and livestreaming selling.

The upcoming session of the Canton Fair will provide around-the-clock services, including online exhibition, promotion, business docking and negotiations, Li said.

Meanwhile, exhibitors are jumping on the livestreaming bandwagon to accelerate digital transformation, while some enterprises move the studio to their workshops to exhibit assembly lines for customers worldwide.

The fair, including 50 exhibition areas based on 16 categories of commodities, will attract some 25,000 Chinese enterprises, which can present their products in various forms such as images, videos and 3D formats, according to organizers.

As the fair's technical service provider, tech giant Tencent will provide overall technical support to facilitate buyers to start instant communication through formats including online conference, video, voice, text and graphics, and schedule an appointment in advance to mitigate the effect of time difference, according to the firm's project leader Dong Kai.

Foreign buyers can register on the 24-hour livestreaming platform and start purchase negotiations at any time during the exhibition period, as all enterprises are exempted from paying exhibition fees to bolster international trade and yield win-win results.

Despite lockdowns easing in some countries and regions, it will still take time for demand to recover, as there are increasing uncertainties in global trade, said Zhang Li, an official with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

To stabilize foreign trade and investment, China has introduced a string of measures, including financing support and simplified procedures.

While consolidating business with developed economies, China also aims to tap emerging markets, with the fair stepping up invitations for firms from countries along the Belt and Road (B&R), said Zheng Jianrong, head of the bureau of commerce in Guangdong.

The Canton Fair will continue to set up import exhibitions, where exhibitors and products from B&R countries account for 72 percent and 83 percent, respectively.

The country pledged to make targeted efforts to support exporters in selling their goods in the domestic market and to expand imports to promote quality development of foreign trade, said Zhang of MOC. Enditem
The new Work From Home era has made a couple of gadgets compulsory for a comfy work experience and headphones is one of those categories. Sony wants to take advantage of the situation and has come up with another pair of affordable headphones in India. It's called the WH-CH710N and has been priced at Rs 9,990. The major highlight of the WH-CH710N is the active noise cancellation, a feature that's mostly limited to more expensive earphones.

The WH-CH710N looks identical to the existing Sony over-the-ear headphones. Sony is bringing two major features that matter to wireless headphone users a lot. One of them is active noise cancellation, which Sony calls ANC. Paired with the Sony Headphones app, the WH-CH710N uses artificial intelligence to alter the noise isolation levels using its microphones.

The next highlight on the WH-CH710N is the long battery life. The WH-CH710N promises to deliver up to 35 hours of battery life. That said, there's Quick Charge onboard that allows getting a battery life of up to 60 minutes with a short refill of 10 minutes. The headphone has a USB-C port for charging.

That said, if you run out of battery, there's an AUX port that you can use to connect to the phone, provided your phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sony bundles an AUX cable with the WH-CH710N.

Concerning the audio, the WH-CH710N uses 30mm drivers which Sony claims can deliver clear tracks. Users can also use the WH-CH710N for taking calls as the headphone has built-in mic for taking calls on the move.

As part of the smart features, WH-CH710N can latch up with your phone's voice assistant. Sony says that there's built-in support for Google Assistant for quick access to your phone's features or even regular Google Assistant features. The WH-CH710N skips on the touch-based controls in favour of the regular button-based playback controls.

Sony also says the WH-CH710N feature swivel design for the earcups that make it easy to pack them in bags. The headphone features Bluetooth 5.0 for connections.

Sony is currently bringing the WH-CH710N in two colours: black and blue. The WH-CH710N will be available in all Sony retail stores as well as other e-commerce platforms.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation seal is seen at FBI headquarters in Washington, on June 14, 2018. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

FBI Says Hackers Are Targeting Mobile Banking Apps

The FBI on Wednesday warned that cyber criminals are targeting mobile banking apps in an attempt to steal money as more Americans have used online banking during the pandemic.

The FBI noted that it expects to see hackers exploit security loopholes in mobile banking platforms.

With city, state, and local governments urging or mandating social distancing, Americans have become more willing to use mobile banking as an alternative to physically visiting branch locations, the agency wrote in a statement on Wednesday. The FBI expects cyber actors to attempt to exploit new mobile banking customers using a variety of techniques, including app-based banking trojans and fake banking apps.

The federal law enforcement agency warned Americans to be cautious when downloading apps on tablets and smartphones.

Cyber actors target banking information using banking trojans, which are malicious programs that disguise themselves as other apps, such as games or tools. When the user launches a legitimate banking app, it triggers the previously downloaded trojan that has been lying dormant on their device, according to the statement.

The FBI added that the trojan creates a false version of the banks login page and overlays it on top of the legitimate app, and once the user enters their credentials into the false login page, the trojan passes the user to the real banking app login page so they do not realize they have been compromised.

Some bad actors created fake banking apps that mimic those used by major financial institutions, the FBI said, adding that these apps allow users to enter their login credentials, which are then used by hackers.

The warning noted, These apps provide an error message after the attempted login and will use smartphone permission requests to obtain and bypass security codes texted to users. U.S. security research organizations report that in 2018, nearly 65,000 fake apps were detected on major app stores, making this one of the fastest growing sectors of smartphone-based fraud.

To combat these threats, the FBI said Americans should only download banking apps from official app stores or via bank websites. They should also use two-factor authentication and use strong passwords.

If you encounter an app that appears suspicious, exercise caution and contact that financial institution, the FBI said. Major financial institutions may ask for a banking PIN number, but will never ask for your username and password over the phone.

During the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, agencies have warned about a number of scams, including fake websites and fake charities to bilk people out of money.
The River Lea originates in the suburbs north of London, winding its way southward until it reaches the citys East End, where it empties into the Thames near Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs. In the early 1700s, the river was connected to a network of canals that supported the growing dockyards and industrial plants in the area. By the next century, the Lea had become one of the most polluted waterways in all of Britain, deployed to flush out what used to be called the citys stink industries.

In June 1866, a laborer named Hedges was living with his wife on the edge of the Lea, in a neighborhood called Bromley-by-Bow. Almost nothing is known today about Hedges and his wife other than the sad facts of their demise: On June 27 of that year, both of them died of cholera.

The deaths were not in themselves notable. Cholera had haunted London since its arrival in 1832, with waves of epidemics that could kill thousands in a matter of weeks. While the disease was on the decline in recent years, a handful of cholera deaths had been reported in the preceding weeks, and it was not unheard-of for two people sharing a home to die of the disease on the same day.

But the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Hedges turned out to be the start of a much bigger outbreak. Within a few weeks, the working-class neighborhoods surrounding the Lea were suffering one of the worst cholera epidemics in Londons history. The newspapers delivered the same sort of morbid accounting that has obsessed us all in the age of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus: the terrifying upward trajectory of runaway growth. Twenty cholera deaths were reported in the East End the week ending July 14. The following weeks tally was 308. By August, the weekly death toll had reached almost a thousand. London had not experienced a major outbreak of cholera for 12 years. But by the second week of August, the evidence was unmistakable: The city was under siege.

Then, as now, the first line of defense was data. Londoners were able to track the march of cholera across the East End in close to real time, thanks primarily to the work of one man: a doctor and statistician named William Farr. For most of the Victorian era, Farr oversaw the collection of public-health statistics in England and Wales. You could say without exaggeration that the news environment that surrounds us now is one that William Farr invented: a world where the latest numbers tracking the spread of a virus  how many intubations today? Whats the growth rate in hospitalizations?  have become the single most important data stream available, rendering the old metrics of stock tickers or political polls mere afterthoughts.

In 1866, Farr had become a convert to a theory of cholera first proposed by the London doctor John Snow more than a decade before  the idea, which turned out to be true, that the disease was being transmitted in drinking water. And so as the deaths began to mount in the East End, Farr immediately began investigating the water sources in the neighborhood.

By the mid-1860s, a significant portion of working-class communities were receiving their water through private companies that ran the pipes to specific addresses, much as cable companies do today. Farr decided to sort the population that had died in the recent outbreak not by residence but by the company that supplied their drinking water. The data he assembled revealed a clear pattern: An overwhelming number of people who became ill drank out of East London Waterworks Company pipes.

The company claimed that their water had been effectively filtered at their new covered reservoirs. But investigators soon tracked down the source of contamination: The water in one East London company reservoir had not been properly isolated from the nearby River Lea. Looking through the mortality reports from earlier in the summer, the investigators discovered the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Hedges, who lived near the reservoir. An examination of their residence revealed that their toilet was expelling waste directly into the river, thereby introducing cholera bacteria into the water supply and triggering the outbreak. It was a brilliant piece of detective work, carried out with remarkable speed and efficiency. And it turned out to be a momentous one: 1866 marked the last significant cholera outbreak in the history of London.

Farr was among the first to think systematically about how data on outbreaks, their distribution in space and over time, could be used to curb them as they unfolded  and to minimize future ones. The field he helped invent has come to be called epidemiology, but in its infancy it was known by another name: vital statistics. (Vital as in vita, Latin for life.) The innovations in this field do not look like our traditional model of medical breakthroughs: They are not packaged in the form of miracle drugs or new imaging technologies. At their core, they are simply new ways of counting, new ways of discerning patterns.

At this stage of the coronavirus pandemic, we find ourselves in a situation not all that different from the Victorians, despite the vast gulf in scientific, technological and medical expertise that separates us from them. We lack vaccines to protect the uninfected; no drug has yet emerged to cure Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Our main protection right now is the one that Farr began building almost two centuries ago: the collection and analysis of data. Data lets us see where the disease is spreading and where health care systems are likely to be overrun. It allows us to calculate infection rates and map hot spots down to the level of ZIP codes.

Eventually, medicine will protect us from SARS-CoV-2, but for the time being, vital statistics are the best defense we have. In the spirit of William Farr, multiple new experiments in data gathering and analysis have sprung up during the pandemic, experiments that might save thousands of lives before the crisis is over. And they may well prevent future pandemics from developing in the first place.

William Farr in 1865. It is only when crystallized by the intellect, he wrote, that facts constitute the eternal truths of science. Ernest Edward/National Portrait Gallery, London

Born in 1807 into a rural family of little means, William Farr was a precocious learner who attracted the support of a wealthy patron and mentors as a teenager, apprenticing with a local physician before studying medicine in Paris and at University College London. By his mid-20s, Farr had established a medical practice in London. But his true passion was for vital statistics: He was an early member of the London Statistical Society and came to believe that understanding macropatterns in mortality could become a lifesaving tool as effective as any traditional medical intervention. In fact, given the sorry state of medicine in the 1830s, data was by far the more powerful instrument. The use of data to understand patterns of life and death had been almost exclusively a commercial interest during the 18th century, a science developed largely for the mercenary aims of insurance companies. But Farr and a handful of his peers saw the potential of vital statistics as a tool for reform, a means of diagnosing the ills of society and shining light on its inequalities.

After publishing a few papers in The Lancet analyzing medical data, Farr was hired in 1837 as a compiler of abstracts at the General Register Office, a new government body tasked with tracking births and deaths in England and Wales. At Farrs encouragement, the G.R.O. began recording a much wider range of data in its mortality reports, including cause of death, occupation and age.

At the G.R.O., where he worked for nearly his entire career, Farr was responsible for taking raw data and making it meaningful: discovering interesting trends in the numbers, comparing health outcomes for different subgroups in the population, inventing new forms of visualization. His statistical inquiries would at times take him to some disturbing positions. He spent years developing a bizarre theory about the connection between topographic elevation and disease, which led to some xenophobic ideas about the inferiority of lowland peoples. But the enduring legacy of Farrs vital statistics turned out to be an egalitarian one: exposing inequalities of health outcomes, using scientific thinking to dispel the longstanding assumption, prevalent among the ruling class, of a causal link between disease and moral turpitude in low-income communities.

Counting the dead itself was not a new technique: London parish clerks had been publishing weekly bills of mortality since the Elizabethan era. But Farr devised new ways to make that information useful. Collecting and publishing data was not merely a matter of reporting the facts but instead a more subtle, exploratory art: testing and challenging hypotheses, building explanatory models. As Farr wrote in an essay published the year he joined the G.R.O., Facts, however numerous, do not constitute a science. Like innumerable grains of sand on the seashore, single facts appear isolated, useless, shapeless; it is only when compared, when arranged in their natural relations, when crystallized by the intellect, that they constitute the eternal truths of science.

The first question that Farr used statistics to answer is relevant to our present crisis as well: To what extent did urban density contribute to the death rate? Perhaps because of his own life journey  growing up in the agricultural region Shropshire, now living in the largest city on the planet  Farr decided to devote one of his first studies to the differences in health outcomes between the country and the city.

Farr was a pioneer not just in collecting data but also in devising ingenious new ways of representing it. One way of measuring the health of a society is what was called in Farrs time a life table: breaking down the death rate in a given population by age. (Life tables are what allowed us to see that Covid-19s lethality has been disproportionately concentrated among the elderly, unlike the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed an unusual number of young adults.) In one early report, Farr experimented with an ingenious way of representing those different outcomes, drawing upon data collected from three separate communities: metropolitan London, industrial Liverpool and rural Surrey. It was, in effect, a tale of two cities  and one countryside. Viewed as a triptych, the illustrations conveyed a clear message: Density was destiny.

In Surrey, the increase of mortality after birth was a gentle slope upward, like a dune rising above a waterline. The spike in the cities, by comparison, looked more like the cliffs of Dover. That steep ascent condensed thousands of individual tragedies into one vivid and scandalous image: In Liverpool, more than half of all children born were dead before their 15th birthday.

Despite those grim numbers, Farr remained hopeful that the health crisis emerging in the industrial cities could be ameliorated. Is the excessive mortality of cities inevitable? Farr wrote in the 1840 annual report of the G.R.O. The first writers who established satisfactorily the high mortality of cities took a gloomy and perhaps fanatical view of the question. Cities were declared vortices of vice, misery, disease and death; they were proclaimed the graves of mankind. And yet, he continued, there is reason to believe that the aggregation of mankind in towns is not inevitably disastrous.

In that same report, Farr turned his attention to another puzzling pattern in the data he had collected: what he called the laws of action of epidemics, now known to epidemiologists as Farrs Law. Analyzing a smallpox outbreak in Liverpool, Farr divided the mortality counts into 10 separate periods. The mortality increased up to the fourth registered period; the deaths in the first were 2,513, in the second 3,289, in the third 4,242; and it will be perceived at a glance that these numbers increased very nearly at the rate of 30 percent. But the rate of increase, he observed, only rises to 6 percent in the next, where it remains stationary, like a projectile at the summit of the curve which it is destined to describe. Farrs Law was the first attempt to describe the rise and fall of contagious diseases mathematically. All the models that have shaped so much private angst and public scrutiny  the Imperial College London models that steered Prime Minister Boris Johnson away from the initial strategy of herd immunity, the University of Washington Covid-19 projections that have heavily influenced the Trump White House  all these forecasts are descendants of the laws of action that Farr originally sketched out in 1840. When we talk about flattening the curve, the curve in question was first drawn by William Farr.

A life table illustration by Farr, published in The Fifth Annual Report of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in England, 1843. Steven Johnson

Victorian scientists would have immediately recognized many of the core categories of data assembled by epidemiologists working on Covid-19: infections, deaths, locations and so on. Todays vital statisticians obviously have access to a wider pool of information  antibody-test results, comorbidities of victims, even different genetic strains of the virus  than Farr was able to assemble. And they have software that allows them to build models that project the epidemiological curve that Farr first identified.

But the coronavirus pandemic has also revealed some crucial holes in the way we collect data during an emerging outbreak. As unlikely as it might sound, given the existence of organizations like the C.D.C. or the W.H.O., in the early days of the coronaviruss spread, no single data repository existed where information about all the known cases could be accessed and analyzed by public-health officials and researchers. There really has never been a successful effort to share comprehensive open data sources during any of the modern epidemics, says Samuel V. Scarpino, who runs the Emergent Epidemics Lab at Northeastern University. The vast majority of public-health data during epidemics are still largely organized on pen, paper, Excel and PDFs.

Scarpino was one of a handful of volunteers, including the Oxford research fellow Moritz Kraemer and a Ph.D. student at Tsinghua University in Beijing named Bo Xu, who formed an ad hoc organization in late January to create a 21st-century equivalent of Farrs mortality reports: a single open-source archive of every recorded Covid-19 case anywhere in the world. By early February, the Open Covid-19 Data Working Group had assembled detailed records for 10,000 cases. Today an informal network of hundreds of volunteers has assembled records for more than a million cases in 142 countries around the world. It may well be the single most accurate portrait of the viruss spread through the human population in existence.

Of course, the greatest value in that kind of data set lies in the clues it can give us about the future path of the disease and how that path can potentially be interrupted. But again, the work of building those models has entirely taken the form of impromptu efforts organized at a handful of academic institutions around the world. The Johns Hopkins University epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers argues that the coronavirus pandemic has made it clear that one crucial innovation we need is a new kind of institution, what Rivers called a center for epidemic forecasting. Rivers draws an analogy to institutions like the National Weather Service. There were a few big storms at the turn of the century with terrible loss of life and also enormous economic consequence, so there was interest at the time in figuring how to predict the weather, Rivers explains. With meaningful investment, Rivers believes, we can get to the place where we are with the Weather Service, where we have reliable forecasts that inform our everyday lives as the public, and also help decision makers to understand how best to respond to these outbreaks.

Forecasts are only as good as the underlying data that support them, and in the case of disease outbreaks, most of the data collection  even in comprehensive archives like the one assembled by the Open Covid-19 Data group  suffers from a crucial liability: The information is captured too late. Numbers like hospitalizations or deaths are vital statistics to be sure, but they are tracking the end stages in the path of a disease. In the case of Covid-19, by the time the average person makes it to the hospital, around 10 days have passed since their initial contact with the virus. Public-health reporting is usually very late, says the epidemiologist Larry Brilliant, who helped eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. Its just shortly before the peak of an outbreak, historically, because as people get more alarmed, they go to their doctor, and their doctor goes to the public-health official and they report it.

With a disease like Covid-19, where presymptomatic and asymptomatic carriers are capable of spreading the virus, the lag in reporting can make the difference between a runaway outbreak and effective containment. A typical case of Covid-19 that ends in a death follows this timeline, which can stretch to 30 days or more:

Infection -> Incubation -> Presymptomatic spread -> Symptoms and spread -> Doctors visit -> Hospitalization -> Intensive care -> Death

In the standard regime, even in the best-case scenario, data collection doesnt begin until Day 10, during the doctors visit. Covid-19 has prompted an inspiring scramble of experiments designed to move the data gathering earlier on the timeline. Some of them involve what is called sentinel surveillance  widespread, early-stage testing in critical populations that may be at risk. Theres testing for the individual who needs to understand do they have this disease, do they need to isolate or seek care, says Lorna Thorpe, director of the epidemiology division at New York Universitys medical school. But to manage the outbreak, you need to know where it is, you need to be ahead of it. Much like the outbreak of 1866, Covid-19 has hit hardest in low-income communities, which generally have reduced access to the health care system, where most data is collected. Oftentimes the communities that need our attention during the outbreak, that are most likely to be hit early, may also be the ones that we understand the least about, Scarpino says.

In part because of the limited supply of tests, the first few months of data about Covid-19 were almost entirely oriented toward people experiencing severe symptoms, who would show up at hospitals. But a sentinel-surveillance program could have targeted communities  like nursing homes or low-income neighborhoods  that had not yet experienced symptomatic infections, potentially detecting those outbreaks before they became unstoppable. Thorpe points to the success of the Seattle Flu Study, an initiative that began in 2019, which set up testing kiosks, analyzed samples from hospitals and distributed home nasal swabs to a broad section of the citys population, asking them to send in samples if they developed symptoms of respiratory infection. Tellingly, the program was the first to detect community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States.

The Seattle Flu Study was a variation on another emerging technique that has already played an important role in the fight against Covid-19: syndromic surveillance. The idea is simple: Supplement the official data from patients entering the health care system with data tracking the appearances of disease symptoms before they get to a doctor or a hospital. One influential early project that drew on this approach was a program called Google Flu Trends, introduced in 2008 as a collaboration between Google and the C.D.C. The service didnt track symptoms directly but instead analyzed patterns in Google search queries associated with influenza: My child has a fever, say, or aches and pains. By mapping those queries geographically, the service aimed to identify influenza hot spots days or weeks before they showed up on the radar of the C.D.C. Then, in 2011, an epidemiologist at Boston Childrens Hospital named John Brownstein helped create a website called Flu Near You that relied on user-submitted data tracking fever and other flu symptoms directly through a small but statistically representative group of volunteers. In the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, Brownstein spun off a new version called Covid Near You. Most people with Covid have mild illness and are unlikely to interact with any health system, Brownstein says. Data from self-reported symptoms can help fill in gaps, especially in light of limited testing. A visitor to the site answers a few simple questions: Whats your ZIP code? How are you feeling? If youre not feeling well, what are your symptoms? The data collected allows the service to map emerging hot spots before they show up in the clinics or in the official county health reports, effectively shifting the data-collection timeline five days to the left. In late March, when much of the focus was on the explosion of cases in New York City, Covid Near You was already picking up a surge in Covid-19 symptoms in less densely settled areas. Despite the urban hot spots, Brownstein says, they saw signs of outbreaks in rural communities, especially in locations where people may have second homes.

New technology has also made syndromic surveillance more feasible. The San Francisco-based start-up Kinsa has been selling an internet-connected thermometer since 2014. According to Inder Singh, Kinsas chief executive and founder, who formerly oversaw the Clinton Foundations work on infectious disease, the original vision was for the company to detect these early patterns of illness without forcing people to change their usual routines. The idea was: Lets take an existing behavior, the only thing that people do in the home when illness strikes, Singh explains. They grab the thermometer. From the consumers point of view, the interaction with Kinsas thermometer is straightforward enough, but behind the scenes the device sends anonymous, geolocated information about the results to Kinsas servers. That new data stream enables the company to maintain what it calls health weather maps for the entire country, with real-time data on atypical fevers reported down to the level of individual counties.

Starting on March 4, 2020, Kinsas charts began tracking a statistically meaningful increase in the number of fevers in New York, 19 days before the city went into a full lockdown. (The first case in the city was reported on March 1.) By March 10, the number of people registering an elevated temperature in Brooklyn was 50 percent higher than normal, suggesting that the virus was already rampant throughout the five boroughs, even though the official case load was still less than 200.

One limitation of our current data has to do with geography rather than time. As Marc Gourevitch, chair of the department of population health at N.Y.U.s medical school, observes, most of our tools for mapping outbreaks arent granular enough. In many cities and urban neighborhoods, Gourevitch says, there can be great variation within a couple of blocks, or a fraction of a mile, in terms of the conditions that really drive health. So if you want to look at variations in health and risk and outcomes, you need to take a granular view of the geography that youre talking about if you want to be able to think about strategies of protecting at these small scales. Its really the scale at which health is fundamentally determined: whether its by crowding, access to good schools, to air quality  all kinds of drivers that vary on a small scale. By default, our health care data is generally organized geographically by county. But in a city like New York, where a single county contains millions of people, that scale is all wrong for tracking a fast-moving virus.

In many cases, that wide-angle view has been established deliberately as a privacy protection. A few years ago, Gourevitch helped organize an online resource called City Health Dashboard, which presents community life-expectancy averages by census tract, showcasing the broad inequalities in health outcomes in communities living just a few blocks from one another. But even that resource was controversial. It took years and pressure to get state authorities and the C.D.C. to contribute to the estimates of life expectancy at the census-tract level, Gourevitch says. That was a multiyear effort because of legitimate concerns about the privacy issue.

One potential solution that Gourevitch sees is a kind of geographic blurring for outbreak data. In John Snows famous map of the 1854 cholera outbreak  the one that ultimately led to the understanding that the disease was caused by contaminated water  he documented deaths at the level of individual street addresses, revealing a cluster of deaths around a widely used drinking well. But in the middle of an outbreak like Covid-19, you dont need to be zoomed in that far to get a meaningful sense of where the outbreak is spreading. Instead of a pushpin on the map denoting an infection at a specific address, Gourevitch suggests deliberately making the targeting less precise: perhaps a city block, not a specific address. That level of granularity would be tight enough to detect the spread of the outbreak through microcommunities in the city, but not so tight that individual identities can be discerned in public data.

A Farr visualization charting temperature and mortality rates in London, printed in Report on the Mortality of Cholera in England, 1848-49. British Library/Science Photo Library

While all these forms of disease surveillance offer improvements on the basic model that Farr and Snow helped invent in the middle of the 19th century, they share one key characteristic: They are based on data assembled from human beings, as they pass either through the health care system or through some self-reporting mechanism. Shifting the timeline even further to the left may require new sources of data that are not anchored in individual cases.

In the early 1990s, a Dutch microbiologist named Gertjan Medema was conducting experiments with triathletes racing in the Rhine delta. Medema and his colleagues were interested in the health impact of open-river swimming, and so as part of their experiment they collected river water, which they subsequently analyzed for the presence of a whole host of pathogens: bacteria, fecal pathogens, enteric viruses and other dangerous microbes. In those days, testing a sample for the presence of these organisms took weeks. While Medema and his team were still waiting for their results, the news broke of an unusual outbreak of polio in Streefkerk, a town six miles downriver from the testing site. Medema analyzed the river water they collected three weeks before and discovered that poliovirus was clearly detectable in the samples. The river held clues pointing to an emerging outbreak weeks before the health authorities did. It was a lucky coincidence  if luck is the right word to use, Medema says now.

Back in 1992, those clues were effectively useless from a public-health perspective because they took too long to decipher. But todays tools allow scientists like Medema to detect a virus based on its precise genetic sequence in a matter of hours. Because many dangerous pathogens are expelled in human waste, sewage samples are the most direct way of surveying viral or bacterial activity in a given community  short of testing people directly. When I saw SARS-CoV-2 hit in China, Medema says, I was looking for reports of fecal shedding of the virus. Before long, evidence began circulating that some sufferers of Covid-19 experienced diarrhea. And thats when I said, it may be that this virus will come to our country, so wed better prepare sewage surveillance. Not because we think its an important risk for transmission, but because you could use sewage to monitor the circulation of the virus in the population.

On Feb. 6, Medema and his colleagues gathered sewage samples from six points in the Netherlands, including a waste-treatment plant near Amsterdams Schiphol Airport, on the premise that the virus could potentially first arrive via air travel. The results came back negative. But a month later, when the outbreak was still in its earliest stages in the Netherlands, they returned to the same locations to collect samples. This time, they found evidence of the virus in several of the locations. If we compare our prior sewage reporting with the number of reported cases, Medema says, it looks likely we can pick up the signal of the virus if we are at about one in 100,000 people reported infected. (A preliminary study of a sewage-treatment plant in New Haven, Conn., this spring showed that presence of the virus in wastewater peaked seven days before reported Covid-19 cases.) In Farrs era, sewage was a primary cause of epidemics. But in the 21st century, sewage might well offer us important data to contain their spread.

Not all pathogens are expelled in human excrement, which means that Medemas approach has some limitations as a defense against future outbreaks. But sewage surveillance has a critical advantage over syndromic surveillance with a virus like SARS-CoV-2, which has an unusually high concentration of carriers who show no symptoms whatsoever. The difficulty for this kind of virus is that containment doesnt work because there is a lot of silent transmission, Medema says. But we can use sewage surveillance with these sorts of viruses  to pick them up and understand the virus circulation better. Theres a projection that we may see waves and waves of this virus. Maybe sewage surveillance can be an early warning to see if theres another wave coming.

The most radical technique for shifting the data-collection timeline to the left  but the one that might offer the most significant protection against future epidemics  involves cutting people out of the equation altogether. The underlying data that allowed William Farr to draw the first epidemic curve back in 1840 was, understandably, limited to patterns of life and death in the human population. Syndromic or sewage surveillance allows us to pick up signals earlier in the cycle by detecting symptoms or fecal shedding before people make contact with the health system. But for many of the most terrifying diseases that have emerged in the past few decades, the initial human cases showed up in the middle of a much longer timeline. Covid, SARS, MERS, swine flu, bird flu, Ebola, H.I.V., Zika all were at one point animal diseases, Larry Brilliant says. Instead of syndromic surveillance, going two steps to the left is surveillance of animal diseases. You move it where it belongs into the realm of the zoonotic diseases, about 50 of which have jumped species from animals to humans in the last three decades.

The promise of applying Farrs vital statistics to the realm of animal diseases is a simple one: You can stop an emerging zoonotic disease before it makes the jump from animal to human. Animal surveillance could ward off the potential pandemic that experts have historically worried about the most: an influenza outbreak along the lines of the 1918 avian flu. When you have 20 of your chickens die off, and your whole livelihood depends upon them, Brilliant says, if you have a hotline as they do in Cambodia, you can call the government and say I have 20 dead chickens, and theyll come and bring you 30 live ones and clean up your place. Thats a phenomenal bi-direction system that cleans up the virus for you, puts you back into business, and the epidemic is aborted. Being able to survey bats, pigs, birds  thats going way beyond syndromic surveillance. Thats what were going to have to do in the age of pandemics.

Public-health data began with that most elemental form of accounting: how many people died on this day in this place. The insights that arose from the collection of that information helped turn cities from the graves of mankind into communities that today enjoy some of the longest life expectancies anywhere on the planet. But during an epidemic, from the perspective of vital statistics, a human death tells the story of an infection that happened in the past. A hundred dead chickens, on the other hand, could tell the story of a future infection  and maybe even stop it from emerging at all.

Steven Johnson is the author of twelve books, including his account of the 1854 cholera epidemic, The Ghost Map, and most recently, Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and Historys First Global Manhunt.
The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: The places that inspired Middle-Earth

By John Garth

Princeton University Press. 208 pp. $29.95

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After months of lockdown, political unrest and the inescapable threat of environmental collapse, some of us long for a glimpse of a world other than our own. Readers can find one in John Garth's "The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien," a fascinating, gorgeously illustrated and thought-provoking examination of the landscapes, cities and architecture that inspired Tolkien during his lifelong creation of Middle-earth.

Garth is the author of "Tolkien and the Great War," a seminal work that underscored how Tolkien's fiction, far from being a bit of donnish fancy, was in many ways rooted in his experiences at the Battle of the Somme and his observations of an irrevocably damaged world in the aftermath of World War I. "If Tolkien has a message," Garth writes in his new book, "it is simple. Modern life tends to blind us to the true value of things." As Tolkien himself put it, "If you really want to know what Middle-earth is based on, it's my wonder and delight in the earth as it is, particularly the natural earth."

That wonder and delight seems to have begun to flourish soon after Tolkien first saw England, at the age of 3. Born to English parents in what is now South Africa, his mother had brought him and his younger brother to her home country for what was to have been an extended visit. A year later, Tolkien's father, still in Africa, died, but the family remained in England.

"I loved it with an intensity of love that was a kind of nostalgia reversed," Tolkien wrote of England in his great essay "On Fairy-Stories." Tolkien's "aching love for a newfound home," Garth writes, burgeoned into a vast creative enterprise, what Tolkien termed his legendarium. It includes not just his best-known books - "The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings," "The Silmarillion" - but numerous others edited by his son Christopher and published posthumously, including the 12-volume "Complete History of Middle-earth," as well as maps, paintings, drawings, notes, poetry and lexicons compiled for the languages that Tolkien, a philologist, invented for the denizens of his secondary world.

Garth, a journalist as well as a Tolkien scholar, proves an exceptional guide to Middle-earth. Much has been written about the "Tolkienesque" landscapes that inspired Tolkien's work, many now co-opted by the tourism industry - long-barrows and fallen castles, British and Northern European woodlands, ruins, mountains and rivers. Garth also emphasizes those places, "real and imaginary, that Tolkien knew from his reading." The resulting palimpsest of the real and imagined, ancient and modern, urban and bucolic, mythic and historic, is what gives Middle-earth its powerful singularity - the "tremendous sense of perspective," as Garth puts it, that is so "vital in making us feel that Middle-earth was not intended for the story, but existed before it."

The first chapters in "The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien" are arranged according to geography (primarily the British Isles and Northern Europe) and topography (oceans and seashores, mountains, rivers and lakes, woodlands). The book's last four sections explore landscapes where humankind has left its physical mark, in the form of ancient ruins, industry, farmlands or warfare. Throughout, the oversize pages are filled with maps, reproductions of Tolkien's own paintings, illustrations from various editions of his books by Pauline Baynes, Alan Lee, John Howe and others, in addition to contemporary and archival photos.

As with the journeys undertaken by Bilbo, Frodo and their companions, some of the most memorable passages describe hiking through the wilderness. Garth recounts a nearly month-long walking tour in the Swiss Alps undertaken by Tolkien and his brother, Hilary, in 1911, shortly before Tolkien embarked upon his studies at Oxford. This Alpine sojourn reveals the roots of Rivendell, the Misty Mountains, Caradhras, Dunharrow and the Dwimorberg, places that readers have returned to and thrilled to countless times. Tolkien's illustration of Rivendell is reproduced, along with a photograph of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, showing a nearly identical prospect. Elsewhere, images of Oxford's Radcliffe Camera, Bruegel's "The Tower of Babel" and even Albert Speer's scale model for the Nazi's Berlin Volkshalle suggest the source of Tolkien's vision of Morgoth's Temple.

Tolkien only visited the Alps once. Yet his experience of the sublime "conveyed for him a 'sense of endless untold stories' - that same impression of potentially limitless exploration which is vital to the success of his legendarium." Garth's masterful book ends with a reminder that a profound concern for the environment and its despoliation imbues Tolkien's work. In 1954, novelist Naomi Mitchison, having read early proofs of "The Lord of the Rings," wrote Tolkien inquiring about various unresolved elements in the tale, including the fate of the Entwives. His response: "They would indeed be far estranged from the Ents, and any rapprochement would be difficult - unless experience of industrialized and militarized agriculture had made them a little more anarchic." Tolkien's hand-scrawled note alongside reads: "I hope so - I don't know."

Tolkien as feminist eco-warrior! Years after his death, his legend - and legendarium - continue to inspire and astonish.

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Hand's 16th novel, "The Book of Lamps and Banners," will be published this fall.
Bill Banning Police from Using Deadly Sleeper Hold Introduced in California Assembly

Last week, reacting to the violent death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man in Minnesota, California Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson) introduced a new bill.

The legislation, AB 1196, bans law enforcement officers in the state from using carotid artery restraints to subdue and detain suspects. The chokehold  commonly called the sleeper hold among wrestling fans  is supposed to render victims unconscious, but it has proven to be deadly.

The world watched as the 200-pound weight of a police officer was leveraged on the neck of George Floyd for over 8 minutes. Two other officers held him down and another watched as his body succumbed to the attack and went limp before expiring, said Gipson, who co-authored the bill with other legislators who are members of Californias Black, Latino, Asian & Pacific Islander, and LGBTQ caucuses.

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At a ceremony held at the state Capitol to unveil the bill Monday, Gipson said, My bill creates a unified policy across law enforcement departments so that these methods can no longer be used here in the state of California.

I also want to point out, he continued, Congresswoman Karen Bass, on the federal level, along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, introduced a similar piece of legislation.

Carotid artery restraints are choking maneuvers that prevent blood from reaching the brain of the victim by compressing arteries in the neck. In 2014, New York City police officers used the tactic to kill Eric Garner, another unarmed African American man, on Staten Island in that city.

Last Friday, Gov. Newsom announced that he has ordered the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to stop using carotid artery restraints.

Across this country, we train techniques on strangleholds that put peoples lives at risk. Now, we can argue that these are used as exceptions, but at the end of the day, a carotid hold, that literally is designed to stop peoples blood from flowing into their brain, that has no place any longer in the 21st-century practices and policing, Gov. Newsom said during a news conference held at the California Museums Unity Center in Sacramento.

There are nearly 600 law enforcement agencies in California, including police stations, and almost 80,000 police officers, according to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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Since Minneapolis Police Department officers killed Floyd on Memorial Day, protests calling for racial and economic justice have erupted in cities and towns in California, across the country and around the world.

The deadly use of force technique can be performed using any object and can easily go wrong. This time it was a knee, Gipson said, commenting on the legislation he authored.

Right after Floyds death, the San Diego, Davis, and Sacramento police departments officially announced that the agencies would immediately refrain from using the carotid artery restraint, also known as the chokehold.

Under California Senate Bill 1421, which went into effect in January 2019, the carotid artery restraint method is one of the practices law enforcement agencies are required to disclose in officers misconduct cases to increase accountability.

Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) authored SB 1421.

The City of San Francisco has also taken steps to prohibit the use of the deadly-force technique.

Dr. Lee T. Snook, one of the speakers at AB 1196 introduction in Sacramento, said various medical associations across the country have been asking, What more can we do to end this systemic racism in the house of medicine and justice?

Snook, is the president-elect of the California Medical Association (CMA), a professional organization founded in 1856 that currently has nearly 50,000 members. CMA supports Gipsons bill.

We believe this bill is small, but a significant step in that effort, Snook said. Carotid restraints have been routinely misused, abused, and have proven fatal. We see it in dozens of cases that go unnoticed by the press every single year.
KYIV -- A controversial former leader of a far-right Ukrainian paramilitary group says he is officially suspected of premeditated murder and possession of an illegal bladed weapon in the killing of a man he claims was self-defense.



Serhiy Sternenko, who once led the Right Sector group in the city of Odesa, wrote in a post on Facebook on June 11 that the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) had handed him a document informing him that he was a suspect in the case.



Sternenko was attacked by two men late in the evening on May 26, 2018, while walking with his girlfriend. He fought off the attackers, suffering numerous head injuries and a cut to his arm in the process. Sternenko injured one of the assailants who later died in hospital.



"There was no murder, but necessary self-defense, which was confirmed by an investigator earlier when he called the attackers suspects. As for the knife, several forensic evaluations established that it is not a bladed weapon," Sternenko wrote.



The SBU confirmed that Sternenko is a suspect in the case, saying that, after Sternenko defended himself using his knife, the attackers fled the scene. But Sternenko, whose life and health were no longer in danger, chased one of them and stabbed him several times, inflicting wounds that led to the man's death.



On May 18, when hundreds of Sternenko's supporters rallied in front of the SBU building, the SBU said Sternenko was not a suspect in the case.



Sternenko, who was questioned on that day, told his supporters that he was given the status of victim in one of cases and the status of witness in another one.



The attack was the third against Sternenko in three months.
Gunjan Saxena Was Set To Release On April 24, 2020

Gunjan also added that it was her one-track mind, that helped her reach the formidable goal. "None of the life journeys is a walk in park and mine was no different. But at times a one-track mind on goal does help. During my tenure in IAF, whatever little I could achieve was with the help of men and women in blue uniforms," she said.

Janhvi Kapoor Hopes To Make Real Gunjan Saxena Proud

Talking about working with director Sharan Sharma, she added, "I have always admired his honesty, sincerity and a sensitive compassion while portraying my life on big screen. Everybody at my age has a story to tell. Lucky few like me have Sharan and Janhvi to narrate my story.... I sincerely hope everyone will enjoy the movie not because it is my story but more so because of the honest work of Sharan and his team."

Actress Janhvi also shared Gunjan Saxena's post on her Instagram profile and wrote in the caption, "It's an honour to know you let alone have the privilege to be able to understand your journey and share it with the world. Hope we make you proud, Gunjan Mam."

Gunjan Saxena's Netflix Release Date Will Be Announced Soon

The film follows the story of Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena who flew Cheetah helicopters in the Kargil war zone. Reportedly, film director Sharan Sharma got in touch with NDTV for its report on India's first women combat aviators published in 1999, which talks about Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena and Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan. The film is co-written by Sharan Sharma and Nikhil Mehrotra.

Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl stars Janhvi Kapoor, Angad Bedi, Pankaj Tripathi and Manav Vij in the lead roles. The makers are yet to announce the new release date of the film.
Apartments with over 3 Covid cases to be containment zones for 7 days: Check BBMP's full guidelines

Mid-Air collision of two IndiGo flights averted at Bengaluru airport; DGCA to probe, take strict action

2 cops deputed for CM Bommai's security held for trying to 'extort' money from drug peddlers

Court grants bail to student facing sedition over slogan at anti citizenship law protest

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Bengaluru, June 11: Just hours after the sessions court rejected the bail plea of a student accused in a sedition case, a magistrate court here has granted bail to Amulya Leona.

Earlier the sessions court had rejected the bail plea filed by Amulya on the ground that she would abscond. However, the 5th ACMM court later granted her bail. The bail was granted on the ground that the police had failed to file the chargesheet in the mandated 90 days time.

Right-wing group activist announces Rs 10 lakh bounty to kill Amulya Leona for pro-Pak slogan

Covid-19: India registers over 10,000 fresh cases in 24 hours and 396 deaths | Oneindia News

The incident occurred on February 20 in the city during a rally which was held to protest against the amended citizenship law. While rejecting the plea, the sessisons court had earlier observed that if bail is granted to Amulya Leona Noronha, she may involve herself in similar offences which would affect peace at large.

Amulya was booked under charges of sedition and promoting enmity between groups. Her friends however said that she was trying to convey a message of universal humanity by chanting zindabad in the name of all nations, including Pakistan and India.
DENVER - A Gambian man has been indicted in Colorado on federal charges that he tortured planners of a failed 2006 presidential coup when he was a member of a special armed unit that reported directly to the dictator of the African nation, prosecutors said Thursday.

Michael Sang Correa, 41, was charged under a U.S. law thats been used only twice before allowing non-citizens who are suspected of committing torture in other countries to be prosecuted, U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn of Colorado said.

Michael Correa allegedly committed heinous acts of violence against victim after victim in a brutal effort to coerce confessions, said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski.

Correa made an initial court appearance on seven criminal charges: one count of conspiracy to commit torture and six counts of inflicting torture on specific individuals.

Correa had been living in Denver and working as a day labourer since sometime after 2016, prosecutors said. He has been held in an immigration detention facility outside Denver since last year.

He was represented at his initial hearing by an attorney with the federal public defenders office, which does not comment on cases. An email request for comment sent to the Gambian embassy after hours was not immediately returned.

Prosecutors allege Correa was a member of an armed unit that physically and mentally tortured people who were suspected of plotting a failed coup against former president Yahya Jammeh. Correa is accused of being part of that conspiracy and torturing six people.

Correa and his alleged co-conspirators allegedly beat the detainees using their feet, pipes and wires, sometimes covering their heads with plastic bags, and also administering electric shocks to their bodies, including their genitals.

Correas unit, known as the Junglers, was made up of people who had been chosen from the Gambian armed forces, but reported directly to Jammeh and operated outside of the militarys chain of command.

Jammeh was a 22-year dictator of The Gambia, a country surrounded by Senegal except for a small Atlantic coastline, and was accused of ordering opponents tortured, jailed and killed. He lost a presidential election and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after initially refusing to step down.

Correa came to the United States to serve as a bodyguard for Jammeh in December 2016 but remained in the U.S. after Jammeh was ousted and overstayed his visa, Dunn said.
The Supreme Court has pronounced its order in the case dealing with the dues payable from the telecommunications sector to the government  known as adjusted gross revenue. The court has been quite harsh on the government for having raised a demand for dues against public-sector units such as Gas Authority of India Ltd.

The court viewed that as going beyond what it had mandated, and asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to clarify why it did so. This might turn out to be a little difficult for the government, as its lawyers had to concede that there were differences in the ...
Michele Sullivan knows within the first few seconds of meeting someone shes going to be underestimated or dismissed.

Born with metatropic dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism, the 4-foot-tall Sullivan learned early on to make the first move and just start talking to people  one of her many powerful habits that helped lead to a successful career at a Fortune 500 company.

Most of the time, the friendly approach works; sometimes, it doesnt.

You can tell by whether theyre looking over your head, Sullivan, 55, who lives in Washington, Illinois, told TODAY.

I dont worry too much about the people who are not open enough to look past my size and Im very grateful for the people who are open and we can just carry on a conversation.

Sullivan writes about her life philosophy in her book, Looking Up: How a Different Perspective Turns Obstacles into Advantages, covering everything from her childhood surgeries for knee and hip issues  she jokes that she was born with her check engine light on  to her 30-year career at Caterpillar, a major construction equipment manufacturer, where she ultimately became the first female president of the companys philanthropic arm.

Sullivan traveled all over the world as part of her philanthropic work. Here, she's in Uganda. (Courtesy Michele Sullivan)

She shared some of her favorite advice with TODAY.

Choose looking up as your world view:

Sullivan: Being 4 feet tall, I literally look up to everyone through the day. But its much more than that. It actually taught me to figuratively look up to everyone because we all have value. When you let go of preconceived notions, it just opens up your world so much more.

With all thats happening in the world, especially in the last few weeks, theres a lot of talk about looking past only what you see and we definitely need to do that in many ways. We need to look up to everyone.

Ive never seen the world like this before, but there are a lot of good things happening and we will get through this.

Open up and make the first move:

Sullivan: People can be uncomfortable around me because of my size so I learned very young that I had to talk first or people wouldnt talk to me.

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I learned that if I walked up and started talking, they had to talk back and then they forgot about my size. My gift of gab definitely comes in handy. I know some people are more shy, but remember, you dont have to talk someones ear off. Just start the conversation and then watch it flow. You dont have to carry it the whole time  other people will start to step in.

Michele Sullivan was born with a rare form of dwarfism (Courtesy Michele Sullivan)

Be willing to let your guard down:

Sullivan: It takes courage. Thats tough sometimes, even for me today: Do I want to walk up and start talking? Most of the time it works; for the few times it doesnt, you just say Thats OK and you move on. Nine times out of 10, people are very respectful.

I let my vulnerability show if I want to learn about a certain subject or area of interest of mine. When you start asking questions, people like that. Youre showing you dont know everything. When you start to show an interest, other people will also show an interest.

Asking for help is a strength:

Sullivan: We all need help  dont be afraid to ask for it. You can see my physical challenges, but we all have challenges that you cant see like anxiety or depression. We have to help each other.

Im incredibly fortunate to be born in the country I was born in and to be born into the family I was born into. They taught me to rely on my resilience  my good days far outnumber my bad days. When I do have a bad day, I lean on my kitchen table  whenever something is really getting to you, dont you have a few people that you talk to first? I call that my kitchen table. Everybody should have a kitchen table. I know there are better days ahead.

Intimacy works better than influence:

Sullivan: In the business world, the higher you move up, the more you try to use your influence and your title to get people to do what you want. What I found was intimacy works much better than the influence of your position. When I really got to know the folks around me and found out what makes them tick, they really thrived.

2015 Global Citizen Festival In Central Park To End Extreme Poverty By 2030 - VIP Lounge (Craig Barritt / Getty Images)

Seeing others takes sacrifice:

Sullivan: When you walk in a room and you scan it for who youre going to talk to, you generally go to the people who look like you or you might be safe with. I tend to talk to people who arent like me. It doesnt always work. They may not be interested in talking with me. Thats a sacrifice that you have to make, but most of the time, it works and youd be amazed at the people you meet when you engage someone you normally wouldnt walk up to.

Keep going:

Sullivan: People overlook or underestimate me quite often. Do I let it stop me? No. I just continue to work. Just keep doing your work and it will get noticed. At the end of the day, we all want to just make an impact.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
By Associated Press

KATHMANDU: Nepals foreign minister said Tuesday that the country was still waiting for a response from India on holding talks to resolve a border dispute that has strained relations between the South Asian neighbors.

Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali told The Associated Press in an interview that requests to talk were made in November and December last year, and again in May.

We have expressed time and again that Nepal wants to sit at the table to resolve this problem, Gyawali said.

We are waiting for formal negotiations so that these two countries with ... a very unique type of partnership can develop a more inspiring relationship that reflects the requirements of the 21st century, he said.

ALSO READ: Amid border row, PM Oli says Nepal will get back land from India through dialogue

The latest border dispute between the countries began over India's inauguration last month of a Himalayan link road built in a disputed region that lies at a strategic three-way junction with Tibet and China.

The 80-kilometer (50-mile) road, inaugurated by Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, cuts through the Lipu Lekh Himalayan pass, considered one of the shortest and most feasible trade routes between India and China.

Nepal fiercely contested the inauguration of the road and viewed the alleged incursion as a stark example of bullying by its much larger neighbor, triggering a fresh dispute over the strategically important territory.

The government of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli issued a new political map of Nepal that showed the disputed territory within its borders.

Nepal, which was never under colonial rule, has long claimed the areas of Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh in accordance with the 1816 Sugauli treaty with the British Raj, although these areas have remained in control of Indian troops since India fought a war with China in 1962.

There have been reports that India does not want to hold negotiations with Nepal until its coronavirus outbreak is brought under control. Nepal, however, is in a rush for talks.

If the coronavirus is an obstacle for not being able to hold diplomatic dialogue soon, it should have been an obstacle for the inauguration of the link road as well, Gyawali said. But if the coronavirus did not create any problem to the inauguration, that means there are some controversies, there are some paradoxes.

The dispute over the territory brought a new wedge in relations between the two nations, leading to an exchange of strong-worded statements and remarks from both sides.

There is no any alternative to dialogue and friendly talk, and talk not just for formality, but with commitment to solve the problem and to develop such an environment where both countries can prosper together, where both countries can journey together toward a prosperous region of South Asia, Gyawali said.
Bengaluru-based financial services platform Groww has gone live with stock trading, expanding its horizon beyond mutual funds and gold.

After testing the service for a few months, Groww recently opened it for its users, claiming to have already opened one lakh accounts. Moneycontrol was the first to write, on May 28, that Groww was beta testing a stock-trading platform.

We needed to get the broking licence then build the product which took some time. We have been doing internal testing since October 2019 and added more users in April this year. Now, we are opening it for others as well, chief executive officer Lalit Keshre told Moneycontrol

Its users had been demand stock trading since 2018 and the company had been working on it for quite some time.

The company was targeting the next million investors, young traders who would be attracted to the product because of the simplicity and the user friendliness of the platform, he said.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

Having started with buying and selling of stocks, the startup is working on futures and options trading, intra-day trading and others features that it hopes to take live over the next few months.

Any new player in a space has to go up against the incumbents and in stock-trading, Groww will have to fight for its share with the largest stock-broker in the country Zerodha, another tech startup.

ALSO READ: Zerodha makes TOTP mandatory to counter phishing; here is how to get one

Speaking of competition, Keshre said that they were trying to make stock-trading more democratic and expand the market.

When we had entered into mutual funds, there were already entrenched players there, even in stock-trading, there is competition but our aim is to grow the market and chase new investors and traders, he said.

During a previous interaction Abhishant Pant, an angel investor in fintech startups, had said the coronavirus outbreak had thrown up opportunities as well as challenges for new players in the fintech ecosystem.

Groww could leverage the growing interest among Indians in stock trading as many were trying to lap up some scrips cheap during the pandemic, he said.

Given the economic stress, many investors with surplus wealth might chose to save money rather than invest it and that was a challenge.

Markets cannot be predicted, we can only create good products and offer de-risking capabilities to our investors, we are building Groww along those principles, Keshre said.

Groww was launched in 2017 by former Flipkart executives Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh and Ishan Bansal. The startup is backed by YCombinator, Sequoia Capital and Ribbit Capital.

In terms of equity support, Keshre said they were in a comfortable position as a low burn gave them quite a long runway.
ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Abstrakt Marketing Group, a St. Louis-based B2B lead generation company that offers inbound, outbound, and creative marketing services, has been named a double winner in the 18th Annual American Business Awards, the 41st Annual Telly Awards, and the 26th Annual Communicator Awards.

Abstrakt Marketing Group is honored to announce they have been recognized with a series of awards from world-wide and nation-wide sources for their engaging video production services, innovative product development, and much more. Abstrakt Marketing Group received the following recognition in this year's awards:

Communicator Award of Distinction in Design & Campaign Branding

Communicator Award of Distinction in Craft-Motion Graphics

Bronze Stevie Award in Support Staffer of the Year

Bronze Stevie Award in Product Management Department of the Year

Bronze Telly Award in General-Social Impact

Bronze Telly Award in General-Public Interest/Awareness

Each one of these honors has been announced in the last month. In addition to each award, we also earned a #1 spot on the St. Louis Business Journal's list of Largest Advertising, Marketing and PR Firms. Also, we were named Corporate Livewire's 2020 B2B Company of the Year and we were a platinum Hermes Creative Award Recipient.

Abstrakt's Vice President of Marketing, Melanie Clark CEO says, "On behalf of the entire leadership team, we are honored to be recognized for our creative work on both a national and international level. These awards not only showcase our team's ability to create engaging internal pieces but also displays our ability to collaborate with our client partners. Our partners hold our team to a high standard and receiving recognition like this confirms it. We are proud to offer great creative for an affordable price."

Founded in 2009, Abstrakt has entered their 11th year of business with no plans to slow down; rather, they've set goals for the year that surpass all previous years' objectives. With a talented and dedicated team that will grow beyond 350 employees this year, Abstrakt is on pace to become the #1 resource for businesses looking to grow.

About Abstrakt Marketing Group

Based in St. Louis, MO, Abstrakt Marketing Group is a business growth agency serving over 700 clients nationwide. With 300+ employees, Abstrakt has grown rapidly since its founding in 2009. Abstrakt is a full-service lead generation company, offering both inbound and outbound solutions for their client partners. For more information, visit abstraktmg.com .

About The Telly Awards

The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring video and television across all screens. Established in 1979, The Telly Awards receives over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents. Entrants are judged by The Telly Awards Judging Councilan industry body of over 200 leading experts including advertising agencies, production companies, and major television networks, reflective of the multi-screen industry The Telly Awards celebrates.

About The American Business Awards

The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.'s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations  public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word meaning "crowned," the awards will be virtually presented to winners during a live event on Wednesday, August 5.

About The Communicator Awards

The Communicator Awards is the leading international creative awards program honoring creative excellence for communication professionals. Founded over two decades ago, The Communicator Awards is an annual competition honoring the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and identity work for print, video, interactive, and audio. The 26th Annual Communicator Awards received over 6,000 entries from ad agencies, interactive agencies, production firms, in-house creative professionals, graphic designers, design firms, and public relations firms.

SOURCE Abstrakt Marketing Group

Related Links

http://www.abstraktmg.com


President Donald Trump returned to George Floyds home state for the first time since he was killed, calling what happened in Minneapolis to Floyd a disgrace and pledging to push for reforms to policing nationwide while also slamming efforts to defund police departments.

Trump said at a meeting at the Gateway Church in Dallas that the radical efforts to defund, dismantle and disband the police are the wrong way to go and hell push in the opposite direction.

We must invest more energy and resources in police training, Trump said. We have to respect our police and take care of our police. Theyre protecting us, and if theyre allowed to do their job, theyll do a great job.

Trump said he knows there are some bad apples in any line of work, but I can tell you there are not too many of them in the police. Trump said hes working on an executive order that would set standards for the use of force by police, including an emphasis on de-escalation tactics.

We are going to make sure our police are well trained, perfectly trained, have the best equipment, Trump said.

POLICE TRAINING CHANGE: Texas to require all police officers receive implicit bias training, in first George Floyd-inspired reform

But in his first trip to Texas since the coronavirus outbreak, Trumps message went beyond law enforcement. The White House billed the hourlong meeting as a discussion on how to help minority communities and improve opportunities for all Americans.

Trump insisted hes been working on programs to help what he called the forgotten men and women of America since he took office. He pointed to criminal justice reforms he signed last year, increased funding for historically black colleges and universities under his administration and record low unemployment among black communities before COVID-19 hit the U.S.

Americans are good and virtuous people, Trump said. We have to work together to confront bigotry and prejudice wherever they appear, but well make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racists or bigots.

While the event focused largely on policing and community relations, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, Dallas Sheriff Marian Brown and Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall were not part of the discussion. All three are black. There were more than a dozen other speakers, many black, including religious leaders and business owners.

After the discussion, Trump attended a political fundraiser at a private residence that Republican National Committee officials said would raise $10 million for Trump Victory  a joint fundraising committee for Trump, the RNC and 22 other state party committees.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Texas Democrats were quick to blast Trump for coming to Texas to raise money while the nation is facing both the coronavirus and as millions of protesters call for change in policing in America.

Our country is in desperate need of leadership and action, but instead of doing his job and working to fix the challenges, Donald Trump decides instead to schmooze with his billionaire campaign donors and pose for a photo-op, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said.

Trumps words defending the police were part of a consistent theme during the event in which speakers repeatedly warned against efforts to cut police department budgets.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr followed Trumps comments and told the audience that the nation has made great progress in policing over the decades and that there is room to continue to implement reforms. But like Trump, he made clear he is against dissolving police departments.

This is not the time to tear down our institutions, Barr declared. Police are by and large good decent people.

Later, Vernell Dooley, police chief of Glenn Heights, a town of 13,000 just south of Dallas, said that there are inconsistencies in police training and procedures nationwide and that he supports better standardization.

This is not the time to defund police, Dooley said.

Trump praised police for their efforts over the last two weeks to confront violence in many cities in America. He repeated a phrase hes delivered often over the last two weeks in calling for law and order but with one key addition.

We have to dominate the streets, Trump said. We are dominating the streets with compassion.

While Trump alluded to Floyds killing, he did not mention him by name during his comments. Floyd, who grew up in Houston, was killed on May 25 when a police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.

Later in the event, Surgeon General Jerome Adams was more direct in extending his condolences to Floyds family by name.

Trumps last Texas visit was to Austin in January when he spoke at a convention for the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The trip to Dallas was his 15th visit to Texas since the took office. By comparison, former President Barack Obama made four trips to Texas during his first four-year term in office.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton  all Republicans  were among those to greet Trump at Love Field in Dallas when Air Force One landed just after 2:30 p.m.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
After conducting a study in New Orleans that found many people were unwittingly spreading the novel coronavirus even though they did not show symptoms, Ochsner Health is conducting a similar study in the Baton Rouge area.

The goal of this 'prevalence study' is to provide a clearer picture how far the virus has spread in Louisiana's two largest cities, which have seen the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the state.

Dr. Leonardo Seoane, Ochsner's chief academic officer and a senior vice president, said testing could start in late June or after the Fourth of July break. Ochsner is working with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and tying down grant funding.

"We're working on it right now, the logistics, and I would say within the next month we will do a prevalence study in Baton Rouge and the greater Baton Rouge area, taking into account about 800,000 people," he said.

Seoane said the study will test 2,500 to 2,600 people in the region over a one-week period. That group will be based on a demographically and geographically representative sample so the results can be generalized to the broader population.

Ochsner's testing efforts in the Baton Rouge area informed creation of the sample for the prevalence study, Seoane said, revealing places with heavy viral spread or with limited testing.

Residents will be asked to take both an antibody test and a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, diagnostic test, showing who has gotten over the virus and who has recently been infected. Pairing the two tests together is an important way of revealing how many asymptomatic spreaders of the virus are in the community.

Seoane said the antibody test is 99.6% accurate.

The Baton Rouge study will be similar to one Ochsner conducted in Orleans and Jefferson parishes with 2,500 participants. Though the study's methods and final results won't be disclosed until they are checked by outside scientists in a peer review, hospital officials say that study showed a "significant amount" of people unwittingly spread the virus.

Seaone said the findings of the studies could have important public health implications. They could, for example, reinforce the call for social distancing measures and protective face coverings  even for those who aren't sick  and they could give crucial information about where and how the virus is spreading.

Seoane said a recent study not conducted by Ochsner found that about 30% of people who tested positive for the virus got it from somebody who did not show symptoms.

"It's one of the major ways the virus is spreading and understanding that in your community, I think, is key," he said.

The same premise is possible for the Baton Rouge area.

Many have noted that new positive cases likely greatly undercount the true spread of the virus because of the number of people who don't have symptoms and aren't tested. Based on data from March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 35% of people who were infected were asymptomatic in the United States.

The planned prevalence study in the Baton Rouge area give a clearer picture of which specific areas the virus has hit hardest.

An earlier Ochsner analysis of 3,481 people who tested positive for coronavirus at its facilities lent support to what state and federal health officials have been saying: Coronavirus is having a disproportionate effect on the African American community.

Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

That study found 70.4% of those who tested positive were black, though the hospital system's patient base is only 31% African American.

Among a number of health and demographic factors, including being African American, that study also found that living in a low-income area was associated with increased odds of being admitted into one of Ochsner's hospitals for the COVID-19 illness.

Seoane said the prevalence study will be able to break down its information to the ZIP code level. The same level of detail in the New Orleans-area prevalence study shows the virus is spreading out from epicenters.

"We absolutely proved, and I mean I think everybody intuitively knows too, it's not spreading just homogeneous throughout the entire state, much less the city of New Orleans, Jefferson Parish or Baton Rouge. There are certain neighborhoods where you see the spread and it'll kind of grow from those areas," Seoane said.

This kind of information can drive more focused testing and other efforts to help those hot spots, he said.

+10 Coronavirus testing push in East Baton Rouge aims to better reveal extent of pandemic Jana Nero showed up at the Blackwater United Methodist Church in Baker early Thursday for a novel coronavirus test after a woman who wasn't we

Meghan Parrish, spokeswoman for Baton Rouge General, said that hospital has talked about doing a prevalence study but hasn't yet. The hospital's antibody testing so far has shown that of about 2,000 people, 4.4% were positive, though that testing wasn't conducted randomly and can't be extrapolated to the entire community.

In a separate random sample constituting 5% of the hospital's employees  about 160 people  positive antibodies were found in 4.8% of those tested, she added.

Other hospital systems in the Baton Rouge area are still in a conservation mode with their testing supplies, focusing on patients most in need. Daryl Cetnar, spokesman for Ochsner, said the hospital system has been able to leverage its purchasing power to source the necessary swabs and other supplies.

Mark Armstrong, city-parish spokesman, said the parish officials are excited about any new tool to fight the spread of the virus.

Baton Rouge General releases data on crucial coronavirus antibody tests. What do they show? Of the 1,571 coronavirus antibody tests Baton Rouge General has performed at its urgent and primary care clinics over the past four weeks, rou

Others, however, said they wanted to see more about how Ochsner was conducting its prevalence studies before they could speak to how representative the testing will be.

Susan Hassig, a Tulane University epidemiologist, said prevalence studies can be difficult and costly to construct to ensure a random and representative sample is collected.

She noted that some of the ways that Ochsner was soliciting participants for the New Orleans-area prevalence study was through television news stories and social media, both potential forms of self-selection that could undercut the randomness of any sample.

Random selection is a key factor in any study that seeks to generalize a smaller sample of people to the broader population. Public opinion polls work with the same statistical principles.

"It really depends on how they actually implement it, she said.

Seoane didn't provide all the details of Ochsner's methodology but did say that the hospital system plans to have multiple sites so they are close to residents and avoid bias in the sample.
Minneapolis, MN, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- June 11th, 2020-- Provation and P4 Diagnostix Laboratory Network (P4Dx) today announced an agreement to begin the use of Provation Apexs Pathology Interface across P4Dxs national laboratory network. Provation Apex, a cloud-based platform, is used by healthcare clinicians to quickly and accurately create electronic procedure notes with auto-generated reimbursement codes and digital images. Provation Apexs Pathology Interface streamlines communication between healthcare clinicians and pathology labs, such as P4Dx.

We are very excited to work with P4 Diagnostix to bring Provation Apexs Pathology Interface to our mutual customers, said Provation CEO Daniel Hamburger. P4 Diagnostix is a market leading pathology service provider and, like Provation, they have a strong focus in technology, providing meaningful data-exchange and integration offerings.

Through this partnership, Provation Apexs Pathology Interface will provide timely exchange of critical patient data between pathologists and clinicians, Hamburger added.

The Provation Apex Pathology Interface also helps replace a historically error-prone, manual process. The pathology interface includes electronic features such as automated specimen collection, pathology request forms and label printing. Without this integration clinicians may rely on hand-written patient notes, specimen jar labels and specimen tracking logs.

Provation Apexs Pathology Interface gives clinicians the information needed to provide immediate follow-up care to their patients, said Brett Reilly, P4Dxs Senior Vice President of Business Development. We look forward to a continued partnership with Provation and bringing leading-edge technologies to our mutual customers.

P4Dx has had a long-standing partnership with Provation having previously entered into a pathology interface agreement for Provation MD, Provations on-premise procedure documentation software. Partnerships between Provation and leading pathology vendors such as P4Dx means there is typically little to no additional cost for Provations customers to implement their pathology interface.

About Provation:

Provation is a leading provider of clinical productivity software for healthcare professionals. Celebrating 25 years, we serve more than 3,300 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and medical offices, including 43 of the top 50 U.S. hospitals for gastroenterology (GI) and GI surgery. Provation helps providers increase operational efficiencies, business profitability and regulatory compliance by improving quality, streamlining workflows and enabling insights with structured data. Our portfolio includes solutions for procedure documentation (Provation MD and Provation Apex), order set and care plan management (Provation Order Sets and Provation Care Plans), practice management, electronic medical records (EMR) and report writing (MD-Reports) and perioperative documentation (Provation MultiCaregiver). Provation is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. For more information about Provations solutions, visit provationmedical.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About P4 Diagnostix Laboratory Network:

P4 Diagnostix Laboratory Network (P4Dx) is comprised of Theranostix, Platinum Pathology, Manhattan Labs and Long Island Pathology. These labs perform diagnostic testing, business software services and lab information systems. The network is an industry leader in diagnostic pathology, offering superior testing services, advanced business solutions and cutting-edge information technology. Visit p4dx.com for more information.

Attachments
You know a lawyers bluffing if he inundates the court with case authority for an ostensibly simple principle. The amicus brief that Judge Gleeson filed with Judge Sullivan in the Flynn case has those string cites. Gleesons bluffing. Worse, hes lying.

Its typical for dishonest attorneys to use fake citations  cases that do not stand for the principles asserted -- in their endless string sites, hoping no one will check. This what Judge Gleeson did in his brief: Every one of his 14 citations in footnote two on page 1 is a lie. Thats all you need to know about his brief.

Gleeson argues that Sullivan was behaving normally when he invited a third-party to attack a defendant at the trial court level in a criminal case. These are Gleeson's case citations, each of which is wrong:

 Holguin-Hernandez v. United States, 140 S. Ct. 762, 765 (2020): I was unable to locate a substantive decision for a case of this name at that location. [See update below.] Instead, after searching in legal databases and online, I found this -- United States v. Holguin-Hernandez (5th Cir., Apr. 15, 2020, No. 18-50386) [pp. 2] (emphasis mine):

Applying our well-established prior precedent, as we are required to do, we ruled that Holguin-Hernandez failed to raise his challenges in the district court, such that our review was for plain error only. United States v. Holguin-Hernandez, 746 F. App'x 403 (5th Cir. 2018) (mem.) (citing United States v. Whitelaw, 580 F.3d 256, 259-60 (5th Cir. 2009)), vacated and remanded, 140 S. Ct. 762 (2020). The Supreme Court granted certiorari and vacated our decision, determining that by arguing for a specific shorter sentence than he received, Holguin-Hernandez preserved his claim of error such that plain error review was inappropriate. Holguin-Hernandez, 140 S. Ct. at 764, 765, 767.

 The following cases all involve an appellate court inviting an amicus brief, which is standard and accepted practice at the appellate level:

Greenlaw v. United States, 554 U.S. 237, 243 (2008).

United States v. Harrington, 947 F.2d 956, 960 & n.7 (D.C.Cir. 1991).

United States v. Robertson, 507 F.2d 1148, 1158-59 (D.C. Cir. 1974).

Seidner v.United States, 260 F.2d 732, 734 (D.C. Cir. 1958).

 I cannot access the following six unpublished district court cases. Whatever happened, none were tested on appeal, and they are not legal authority:

United States v. Pitts, No. 19 Crim. 49 (D.D.C. July 30, 2019) (Sullivan, J.)

United States v. Suggs, No. 07 Crim. 152 (D.D.C. Nov. 6, 2015) (Huvelle, J.).

United States v. Jackson-White, No. 13 Crim. 91 (D.D.C. July 21, 2013) (Berman Jackson, J.).

United States v. Clarke, No. 06 Crim. 102, ECF No. 410 (D.D.C. Mar. 20, 2009) (Bates, J.).

United States v. Church, No. 95 Crim. 173, ECF No. 49 (D.D.C. Dec. 19, 1995) (Kessler, J.)

 United States v. Moore, 209 F. Supp. 2d 180, 181 (D.D.C. 2002). As well as being untested on appeal, Judge Sullivan appointed a Federal Public Defender as amicus curiae for, not against, the defendant.

Gleeson also makes fallacious arguments:

This practice [amicus briefs in criminal trials] is also consistent with the local rules. The district courts civil rules govern all proceedings in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and allow for the participation of amici. See D.D.C. Local Civ. R. 1.1(a), 7(o).

Wrong! The district court has separate Civil and Criminal rules. The quoted languages placement in the rules shows that it refers only to civil proceedings:

We know this is true because there is a corresponding paragraph in the criminal rules, which obviously means that the civil rules are inapplicable:

Lastly, Gleeson argues

Even apart from those rules, federal district courts possess the inherent authority to appoint amici curiae[.] In re App. of FBI for an Order Requiring the Prod. of Tangible Things, No. 13 Br. 158, 2013 WL 12335411, at *2 (FISA Ct.Dec. 18, 2013); see also Jin [v. Minister of State Security], 557 F. Supp. 2d [131] at 136 (D.D.C. 2008).

Both In re App. Of FBI and Jin are civil cases. The cases to which the Jin court cites are also civil cases.

In United States v. Sineneng-Smith, No. 19-67 (U.S. Sup. Ct., May 7, 2020), which Gleeson ignores, Justice Ginsburg lambasted the Ninth Circuit for inviting amici counsel to help it advance its own take in a criminal case:

The Nation's adversarial adjudication system follows the principle of party presentation. Greenlaw v. United States, 554 U. S. 237, 243. In both civil and criminal cases, . . . we rely on the parties to frame the issues for decision and assign to courts the role of neutral arbiter of matters the parties present. Id., at 243. That principle forecloses the controlling role the Ninth Circuit took on in this case. No extraordinary circumstances justified the panel's takeover of the appeal.

That standard should apply with extra force to a mere district court judge.

Im not the only one who caught Gleeson being dishonest. Theres this too:

4/ Leaving aside that the FBI's version does not match Downer's own statements and that it might've been embellished somewhere along the way, the absolute minimum you'd expect from a court appointed amicus is to stick to the FBI's version. Tells you a lot that Gleeson didn't.  Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) June 10, 2020

Paul Mirengoff has more about what a piece of work Judge Gleeson is.

UPDATE: Someone was kind enough to forward the Westlaw report for the citation to Holguin-Hernandez v. United States, 140 S. Ct. 762, 765 (2020). I opened it with some trepidation for fear it would undercut the principle behind this article; namely, that Judge Gleeson was deceiving the court by failing to make the distinction between amicus briefs at the trial level in criminal cases versus at the appellate level (or higher). Thankfully, seeing the actual decision does nothing to upset the principle I was asserting. The Supreme Court did not say that district court judges can appoint amicus counsel in criminal cases. Instead, the Supreme Court appointed amicus counsel to brief an issue at the appellate level -- an issue that both the government and the defendant agreed was a problem. They did so because the nature of appeals meant there was no one to represent the opposing viewpoint at the appellate level, something the Supreme Court deemed important. An interesting principle, to be sure, but it has nothing to do with the matter at issue in the Flynn case.
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, France, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has recently signed a contract with navigation company iXblue for up to 172 FOG based Quadrans gyrocompasses. Delivered over the span of 4 years, the Quadrans navigation systems will equip the Swedish Navy's fleet of high speed crafts, mainly combat boats CB90.

"The FMV was seeking new maintenance-free and high-performance gyrocompasses for the retrofit of their fleet of high speed crafts. Our Fiber-Optic Gyroscope (FOG) technology having no moving parts and offering exceptional reliability, was identified as an ideal solution to keep maintenance costs down," states David Cunningham, Commercial Director at iXblue. "Another key aspect was the performance delivered by these gyros. The CB90 vessels are indeed very fast boats and need the most reliable and accurate heading and attitude data to navigate safely. Our Marins Series Inertial Navigation Systems being already in service on the Gotland-class submarines and Koster Class MCMV's, and our Quadrans gyrocompasses equipping other surface boats in the Swedish Navy fleet, the FMV was familiar with the high-performance delivered by our systems and knew the Quadrans met the specific requirements needed for the CB90."

Built around the Fiber-Optic Gyroscope technology pioneered by iXblue, the Quadrans gyrocompasses are indeed solid-state and strap-down systems, that provide highly accurate heading and attitude data and that are perfectly suited for high performance at high speeds and in challenging environments such as GNSS denied settings. Compact, lightweight and with low power consumption, the Quadrans Gyrocompasses are easy to install on small-sized crafts, while their open architecture guarantees seamless interfacing with all major GNSS systems and third-party navigation software.

"We're very proud of this new mark of confidence in our Quadrans gyrocompasses and FOG technology," continues David Cunningham. "We want to thank the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration for their continued trust and long-standing partnership and look forward to our future collaboration with them."

About iXblue

iXblue is a global high-tech company specializing in the design and manufacturing of advanced marine, photonics and autonomy technologies. The group in-house expertise includes innovative systems and solutions devoted to inertial navigation, subsea positioning, underwater imaging, as well as shipbuilding and test & simulation. iXblue support Civil and Defense customers in carrying out their sea, land and space operations with maximum safety, efficiency and reliability and conducts its business in over 60 countries. www.ixblue.com

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 19:41:19|Editor: huaxia

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MALE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has approved an income support project worth 12.8 million U.S. dollars for workers in the Maldives who have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, local media reported on Thursday.

The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors in a press release said the COVID-19 Emergency Income Support Project will strengthen the Maldives government's income support allowance scheme for workers who have lost their jobs, on no-pay leave, or those whose wages were reduced to below 323 U.S. dollars per month.

"The drastic fall in tourism revenues and the constraints necessitated by the COVID-19 containment efforts have dealt a severe blow to low-income households who have lost their jobs or their source of income," World Bank Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough said.

The funds include a 6.4-million-U.S. dollar grant and a 6.4-million-U.S. dollar credit line from the International Development Association (IDA). The Ministry of Economic Development will be implementing the project with assistance from the National Social Protection Authority and the Maldives Pension Administration Office.

According to the World Bank's South Asia Economic Focus, the Maldives may see a GDP contraction of 8.5 to 13 percent in 2020 due to shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enditem
This week, Tesla reached two milestones. First, the electric automakers market capitalization surpassed Toyota on Wednesday, making Tesla the most valuable auto company in the world. Second, less than a month after Tesla reopened assembly facilities in Fremont, California, the company has reported its first COVID-19 cases, with at least six employees testing positive for the virus.

The potential exposure of thousands of Tesla workers to the virus is an entirely predictable outcome of the companys profit-driven decision to prematurely reopen in brazen defiance of local public health restrictions.

The first two cases were reported by anonymous workers in an interview with the Washington Post, published June 9. These cases were reportedly in the companys seat assembly facility, close to the main manufacturing plant, with one worker on morning shift and one on evening shift.

Tesla plant in Fremont, California (Ben Margot/AP photo)

Four more cases at the main Model S/X factory were then reported by an anonymous worker to the Electrek industry news website, bringing the likely total of reported cases in Tesla manufacturing facilities to six. Alameda County rules only require Tesla to report cases among county residents. Many Tesla workers commute long distances from different counties, suggesting that this is likely an undercount. In addition, Tesla did not test workers prior to reopening and is only required to report new cases to the county.

Tesla production associates, i.e., factory workers, make about $20 an hour, ranging from $14-23 an hour, according to Glassdoor.com. With a 40-hour work week, 50 weeks a year, this is $40,000 a year or $3,300 a month, barely more than the monthly rent of a two-bedroom apartment in Fremont, where the factory is located. Shifts are generally between eight and 12 hours, with 35 minutes for lunch and two 10-minute breaks scattered arbitrarily throughout the day. Workers report not knowing a days schedule until they arrive for work. These are the low-wage jobs for which Tesla workers are being asked to risk their lives.

Teslas strongarming of local government is a case study in corporate interests overriding public health concerns with the full support of the federal government. The factory re-started production on May 11, two days after Tesla sued Alameda County for extending lockdown measures somewhat longer than the state-level guidelines due to elevated local case levels. Tesla CEO Musk openly aligned himself with the Trump administrations drive to open the economy, with Trump personally tweeting in defense of reopening Tesla.

After Musk threatened to move production out of California, local and state officials prostrated themselves and have allowed Teslas reopening to proceed essentially without impediment, with only token safety measures. After the decision, Governor Gavin Newsom gushed of his great reverence for Musk.

Although Tesla has announced plans to maintain physical distancing on the line, limit contact in break rooms and stagger shifts and breaks for its roughly 10,000 employees, there is essentially no enforcement. The Fremont Police Department claims to have performed some initial random compliance inspections of facilities, although no workers who have spoken to the press report seeing such inspections. However, the department has abandoned even this cosmetic measure and has been reportedly pursuing compliance enforcement only on a complaint basis since mid-March.

Its like nothing but with a mask on, said one of the workers who spoke to the Washington Post. When the plant was reopened on May 11, safety measures included hand sanitizer, temperature checks and masks. An initial 20-minute grace period instituted to prevent contact between shifts was shortened to 10 minutes after only a few days. All of these measures, even if enforced, are completely inadequate.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, spreads largely through airborne transmission, including from aerosol microparticles that can remain suspended in air for extended periods of time. Thus, in spaces with poor air circulation, such as Tesla factory floors, physical distancing has only a limited ability to slow the spread of the virus. One infected worker on the floor has the potential to expose countless others on a shift. This may even be the case for asymptomatic workers, as was illustrated by the World Health Organizations recent admission that the likelihood of such transmission is still unknown.

Workers report that even Teslas cosmetic safety measures are not being enforced, in keeping with the companys abysmal safety record, which is worse than many slaughterhouses and sawmills.

They pretty much say that this is a personal responsibility for physical distancing in the factory, said a worker who spoke to SF Weekly. Everyones just mixing around. Theres really no organization.

This is a life and death situation, they continued. Theres really no room, and this is a factory with recycled air. Youre basically just breathing on each other. Many workers are not wearing masks, they said, to ease breathing either during or after strenuous labor.

Tesla CEO Musk has repeatedly downplayed the danger and severity of the pandemic, while denouncing lockdown measureswhich epidemiologists say have saved tens of thousands of lives in the US aloneas fascist.

In his latest attempt to sow disinformation around the pandemic, Musk recently denounced Amazon for allegedly refusing to allow sales of electronic versions of a self-published book by former New York Times reporter and outspoken COVID-19 lockdown critic Alex Berenson. Amazon has since allowed sales of the book, claiming that its previous absence from the online store was due to a technical error.

Workers report that those who tested positive for the coronavirus have been instructed to remain home, while those quarantined due to possible exposure have returned to the line. It is unclear whether they were tested before doing so.

Tesla cashed out workers paid time off (PTO) in March, claiming this was to comply with California law on extended leave due to the shutdown, according to an SF Weekly interview with Tesla worker Carlos Gabriel. The move leaves workers without PTO, further pressuring them to remain on the job in unsafe conditions. Although Tesla touts its current unlimited voluntary time off policy, Gabriel and others rightly suspect that those who take time off will likely face retaliation.

Thus, Tesla workers are faced with a choice between staying on the job and risking infecting themselves and their families, attempting to survive with no income in one of the most expensive parts of the country, or trying to find another job amid depression-level unemployment. The Trump administration has made clear that it will do everything to shield companies from being held accountable for COVID-19 infections among their workers. Meanwhile, an increasing number of state governments have encouraged employers to report workers who refuse to work during the pandemic so that their unemployment benefits can be denied. Despite this, an estimated 5-10 percent of Teslas workforce have opted not to work.

Musks breakneck campaign to restart production, no matter the cost in human lives, is driven by both his material interests and those of the financial oligarchy as a whole. In early May, Musks compensation package, determined by Teslas board of directors, including fellow billionaire Larry Ellison, granted Musk 1.69 million stock options, currently valued at $730 million, as a reward for keeping Teslas average market value above roughly $100 billion for six months. Thus, Musk was strongly encouraged by the Wall Street speculators who determine stock prices to take measures such as a premature reopening to maintain a high stock price.

Musks fortune has doubled since October last year as a result, rising from roughly $19 billion to over $43 billion as of Wednesday, making him the 31st richest person in the world, according to Forbes.

Although Teslas facility is not unionized, autoworkers at unionized plants across the US face essentially the same conditions. Although the United Auto Workers union maintains a formal grievance process for health, safety, and labor law violations, the general response of union bureaucrats is to dismiss workers complaints and say the company can do that.

To protect their health and the lives of themselves and their families, Tesla workers must form rank-and-file safety committees, democratically controlled by the workers themselves in opposition to the corrupt official trade unions. Tesla workers must form lines of communication with like-minded workers across the auto industry and among their brothers and sisters in other sections of the working class, as well as among the emerging protest movement against police brutality and racism.

For Tesla workers to secure a safe workplace, with sufficient pay and benefits, along with every other democratic and social rights, the wealth of the corporate and financial elite must be expropriated and redirected to the working class, and the auto industry placed under workers collective control and ownership, as part of the struggle for socialism.
New Delhi, June 11 : Vodafone Idea on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the total demand of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues it faces is Rs 50,000 crore, plus the interest and the penalty, but currently, the telecom company does not even have enough money to pay salaries to its employees and meet its expenses.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Vodafone Idea, told a bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S. Abdul Nazeer and M.R. Shah, that: "Total demand of Rs 50,000 crore plus interest plus interest, penalty we can't give... we don't have enough money even to pay to our employees and meet our expenses." Rohatgi also argued before the bench that the telecom company is also unable to give any bank guarantee. According to the Centre's calculation, Vodafone Idea owes nearly Rs 53,000 crore, which includes interests and penalties for non-payment of statutory dues.

During the hearing, Rohatgi contended before the bench that the dues are extremely huge and urged the apex court to allow him to file an affidavit in three or four days.

The bench asked the telecom operators, including Vodafone Idea, to file their response, within five days, regarding the roadmap to clear the AGR dues.

Vodafone's counsel contended before the bench that it is not possible to give bank guarantee for Rs 50,000 crore AGR dues, but says that its spectrum and license could be taken as security.

"Licences and spectrums were separately auctioned. We purchased them for thousands of crores. Intrinsic value of the spectrum will be best security.

"Licenses can be extended, spectrum (is) very valuable. Spectrum best security for telcos to pay dues," he added.

At the end of the hearing, the apex court gave some relief to the telecom companies, as it agreed to consider a plea to grant more time to them to clear their dues on AGR charges. The top court, however, made it clear that telecom companies must clear the dues which are around Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

The next hearing on the matter is scheduled on June 18.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 05:43:00|Editor: huaxia

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RAMALLAH, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Wednesday urged Germany to pressure the Israeli government to withdraw its plan to annex Palestinian lands.

Ishtaye's remarks came during a three-way online meeting with German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

The "very important" meeting, held after Maas' meetings with Israeli officials, "focused on the Israeli annexation plans," said Ishtaye in an emailed press statement.

"We explained our total opposition to annexation because it is a serious threat to the establishment of the Palestinian state, a clear violation of the international law and also a threat to the regional security," he added.

The Palestinian side has kept the door unlocked for a serious and real political track based on international law, the Palestinian prime minister noted.

For his part, Maas reaffirmed Germany's rejection to the (Israeli) annexation process, saying it violates international law and harms the vision of the two-state solution that Germany backs, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, Safadi voiced Jordan's steadfast position against the (Israeli) annexation plan that violates the international law and undermines the two-state solution, according to the statement. Enditem
Bob Owen, Staff-photographer / San Antonio Express-News

A busy week in Texas politics with a huge spike in numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations, talk of reforms following the death of George Floyd, Republicans calling out their own for racism, and one powerful lawmaker putting legal pot into the mix as a way to offer property tax relief.

Join the conversation featuring Scott Braddock, editor of The Quorum Report and Houston Chronicle political writer Jeremy Wallace.
The new Crayola licensed 5-day mask system is a total solution for children, teens, adults, and teachers as people spend more time outside and re-enter shared spaces. Each set comes with five super soft, dual layer masks that are machine washable. The masks come in different colors and licensed design varieties to encourage fresh usage Monday through Friday. Adjustable, secure fit ear loops allow the 3D masks to comfortably fit a wide variety of faces for both children and adults. Each set comes with a calendar card for the fridge to help kids and parents plan daily use and a mesh laundry bag for easy machine washing. Washed weekly, each mask can be worn for best use up to 6 months.

"We are proud to partner with Crayola in preparing children for a smooth transition back to school," said George Hartel, Chief Commercial Officer of SchoolMaskPack. "The mask system has applied our proven face mask technology to Crayola's signature colors that have inspired many generations. Additionally, in collaboration with in/PACT, the premier payments and solutions provider for consumer charitable giving in the U.S., customers will have the opportunity to help direct where SchoolMaskPack gives back to the community by donating to one of three charities that support kids who are impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic - DonorsChoose, No Kid Hungry, and Heart of America."

"Crayola has always worked to support children in the home and in the classroom," said Warren Schorr, Vice President of Business Development and Global Licensing at Crayola. "We're glad to partner with SchoolMaskPack to bring options to their mask system and provide supportive solutions for school communities, parents, teachers, and children."

Customers can purchase Crayola licensed non-medical cloth mask systems at www.schoolmaskpack.com, and through other online retailers.

About SchoolMaskPack

SchoolMaskPack is a non-medical mask retailer under Supara Group, a leading tech apparel company with over 400 points of sale worldwide. Established in the 1960s, Supara Group is behind market leading products including GQWhite, the ultimate white shirt, and GQWhite Masks and the new Crayola licensed non-medical reusable mask system. The company develops technical and functional garments while creating a true omnichannel retail shopping experience for customers to ensure detailed craftsmanship, comfortable fit and great design. www.suparagroup.com.

About Crayola

Crayola LLC, based in Easton, Pa. and a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, is the worldwide leader in children's creative expression products. Known for the iconic Crayola Crayon first introduced in 1903, the Crayola brand has grown into a portfolio of innovative art tools, crafting activities and creativity toys that offer children innovative new ways to use color to create everything imaginable. Consumers can find the wide array of Crayola products in the "Crayola Aisle" at all major retailers. crayola.com and www.facebook.com/crayola.

MEDIA CONTACT

Hans Lao Cell: 551-208-6026 Office: 212-226 5105 Email [email protected]

Client Director, Sweeney Vesty, 79 Madison Avenue, New York NY 10016

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia - A man with a knife attacked a school in Slovakia on Thursday, killing one person and wounding at least five before he was killed by police, authorities said.

The attack took place at the United School in the town of Vrutky in northwestern Slovakia on Thursday morning. The establishment operates for children from elementary age up to high school. The dead victim was the deputy director of the high school, authorities said.

The attacker was identified as a 22-year-old man from the nearby town of Martin, a former student at the school, police said.

The Slovak rescue service said three adults and two students were treated in a hospital in Martin but didnt immediately reveal more details.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said she felt great sorrow and offered her condolences to the relatives of the victims and support for those who were wounded, teachers and police.

Unfortunately, there are crazy people living among us and were not able to prevent such a situation, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said.
Former Block stars Kyal and Kara Demmrich have finished renovating their 'forever home' on the New South Wales Central Coast.

The former reality stars, both 32, recently completed work on the home in Bateau Bay, across the road from the beach.

Kyal and Kara showed off the stunning property in the Express Advocate on Wednesday, as reported by realestate.com.au.

Dream home: Former Block stars Kyal and Kara Demmrich have finished renovating their 'forever home' on the New South Wales Central Coast

The longtime married couple revealed the theme of their home is 'Australian coastal meets Mediterranean villa'.

Kyal and Kara completely transformed the property, which was described as 'an old mouldy asbestos shack', forcing them to do a knockdown-rebuild.

The new home features white weatherboard and timber detailing, with an open living, kitchen and dining area, which opens out into the backyard and pool.

Stylish: The longtime married couple revealed the theme of their home is 'Australian coastal meets Mediterranean villa'

Beach house: The former reality stars, both 32, recently completed work on the home in Bateau Bay, across the road from the beach

The modern home also features a spiral staircase and skylights in the kitchen, to make the most of natural lighting.

Kyal and Kara share two young children together, Ziya and Vada, and they opted for a nautical-themed kids' bedroom.

The sprawling property also boasts a separate self-contained guesthouse, upstairs loft mezzanine, and a toy room for the kids.

Lots of work: Kyal and Kara completely transformed the property, which was described as 'an old mouldy asbestos shack', forcing them to do a knockdown-rebuild

Fine details: The new home features white weatherboard and timber detailing, with an open living, kitchen and dining area, which opens out into the backyard and pool

In a post on Instagram last month, the couple revealed their new house was also environmentally friendly.

'Solar Powered! One thing we've been thinking a lot about over the last few years is a switch to a renewable energy source,' they wrote, revealing their home had been outfitted with energy sensors.

They added: 'The main reason for this being the environmental impact, but also for the cost savings.'
The carcass of one more female wild elephant was found in the jungles of Rajpur in Balrampur district of Surguja on Thursday morning taking the toll to three in the last three days.

Two female wild elephants were found dead in the jungles of Pratapur forest range of Surajpur on Tuesday and Wednesday. Officials believe that all the three female elephants were from the same herd.

The body has been found in Rajpur forest range of Balrampur district on Thursday morning. We are yet to conduct the third post-mortem, however, the postmortem of the two other elephants have been conducted and prima facie doctors told us that the death was due to toxicity said Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Arun Kumar Pandey talking to Hindustan Times adding that complete reports are awaited.

All three were young animals and they could not die like this at this age hence we suspect that these are not natural deaths, said Pandey adding that no injury mark was found on the elephants.

Meanwhile, forest officials have also collected samples from nearby ponds and water bodies to check if it was poisoned. We dont think that they have been poisoned through water bodies because then many deaths of wild animals would have taken place, said Pandey.

Two carcasses of elephants were found in separate places of Pratapur forest range of the district on Wednesday and Tuesday and the post-mortem report of both the elephants is still pending.

A herd of some 18 elephants had ransacked some mud houses in Karwa village before moving toward Pratapur on June 6-7.

As per preliminary information, this herd was coming from Rajpur and then moved towards Pratapur. Near Rajpur they entered a village where they destroyed some mud houses. We are also investigating the villages which the herd crossed to ascertain what they have eaten, a senior official said.

Earlier, the forest department told HT that it seems that the pregnant elephant died due to cardiovascular failure and some cysts were also found in her body. However, the exact cause of death will come out after the post-mortem report, which will arrive on Thursday.

Forest officials believe the dead jumbos belonged to the herd of elephants roaming in the area since the last one month.

North Chhattisgarh is home to around 240 wild elephants, which roam in the coal rich forest lands in Surguja region of the state. Several reports of human-elephant conflicts have surfaced in last few years in the region.

Amalendu Mishra, member of the State Wildlife Advisory Board, who tracks elephant movement in Surguja region said, In this region there are about 90 out the total 240 wild elephants in Chhattisgarh. There is much need of training and capacity building of forest departments ground staff for the management of wild elephants.

According to Mishra, for tracking the live movement of elephants, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) was radio collaring the pachyderms. However, currently only 3 out of 240 wild elephants have been radio collared.

He further says when it comes to wild elephant deaths in Surguja region the deaths are mostly due to random reasons. For example, people lay live wires in jungles for trapping wild boars or for saving crops and elephants get electrocuted.

Though there has been a slow increase in the numbers of wild elephants in Chhattisgarh, but as compared to a state like Karnataka it is still very less. Karnataka has about 6,000 elephants while in Chhattisgarh it is around 230-240 only, he said.

As per Chhattisgarhs forest department figures, during the financial year 2018-19, a total of 56 people were killed by wild elephants in northern Chhattisgarh. In 2017-18, 74 people died due to elephant attacks in the state.

We have ordered a high-level probe into the deaths of these elephants which will be headed by former principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF), Mohammad Akbar, Chhattisgarhs forest minister told Hindustan Times.

The minister further added that the first death was reported on Tuesday in Ganeshpur forest of Surajpur district and doctors have said that the elephant died due to cardiac issues.

The second death took place on Wednesday and the doctor said the elephant probably died due to toxicity but the post-mortem report is awaited. The post-mortem of the third elephant is yet to be done. A case of poisoning has not been detected in any of these deaths. We have also used sniffer dogs to detect any foul play but nothing has been found, the minister said.

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Security review in J&K is message to Pak not to use Taliban win in Kashmir

Six months on, Security Forces have already gunned down 100 terrorists in the Valley

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, June 11: The security forces have attained immense success this year in eliminating terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

The data compiled by the forces says that in the encounters between April 1 and June 10, 68 terrorists including those of foreign origin have been gunned own. The highest number of terrorists to be killed at from the Hizbul Mujahideen. 35 of them from the Hizbul have been killed during this period.

Security forces bust terrorist hideout in Kulgam

From January 2020, more than 100 terrorists have been killed. These include terrorist from the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad. In April alone the security forces conducted the maximum operations and managed to kill 28 terrorists.

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

In May, 20 terrorists were eliminated. The data further says that in the first six months of the year, 35 terrorists from the Hizbul Mujahideen, four foreign terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, 10 local terrorists of the JeM and three from the Islamic State were killed. It may be recalled that last year, the Security Forces had killed 125 terrorists.
SAN CARLOS, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bluescape , a leading virtual work platform, announced the receipt of a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) to advance technology innovations across the US Air Force. The awarded work will build on the Bluescape Phase I contract awarded last year in support of improving multi-domain operations and situational awareness activities.

The SBIR grant is a highly competitive program that encourages agile companies to provide innovative solutions to increase the effectiveness of government agencies. Bluescape participated in the SBIR program focused on Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) operations.

"We are excited to be growing our partnership with the U.S. Air Force in building the information environment of the future--one which enhances the speed and accuracy of decisions across dispersed teams," said Peter Jackson, CEO at Bluescape. "We allow organizations to build a flexible Common Operating Picture which synthesizes different streams of data that normally remain siloed in separate applications."

Bluescape begins Phase II activities immediately to expand the adoption of its virtual work platform in combination with the CVR environment completing the collaboration technology ecosystem across the Department of Defense (DoD).

"We look forward to continuing our partnership with the U.S. Air Force in order to build an expansive capability that will have strategic effects across the DoD and impact our national security and global defense," said Patrick Rollo, Federal Business Manager at Bluescape. "We are honored to support the mission of our warfighters."

Rollo added, "We are also thankful for the hard-working team at AFWERX as they coordinate the upcoming invite-only virtual trade show for JADC2 solutions on June 17. We look forward to working with the broader DoD to scale up similar initiatives for other teams."

Bluescape works closely with government agencies and the intelligence community to improve information sharing and collaboration. Its software solution is recognized for its stringent security features by several branches of the U.S. military and other international defense organizations.

To learn more about our government and military solution offerings, visit our overview page .

Additional Resources

Bluescape Government solution page

Bluescape Situational Awareness overview video

JADC2 AFWERX virtual trade show announcement

AFWERX Fusion Challenge 2019 finalist overview and news

About Bluescape

Bluescape transforms the way people work for enhanced creative and productive experiences. Its virtual work platform enables people to work, meet and share multiple applications, documents and web content in a secure, digital visual container (DVC). Bluescape is an open SaaS platform that integrates with leading unified communications systems, messaging, content management, and collaboration applications. It operates on large format touch screen displays, laptops, desktops and mobile devices from any location and at any time. Bluescape is based in San Carlos, CA with offices throughout the U.S. and Canada. The company was founded in 2012 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Haworth. Visit Bluescape and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook .

Contact: Sydney Alcaraz, [email protected]

SOURCE Bluescape Software
TORRINGTON  The Northwest Connecticut Arts Council has named this years UNICO Scholarship winners: Torrington residents Mazda Delgado and Madison Woiten.

The Northwest Connecticut Arts Council administers this grant program on behalf of the Torrington UNICO Scholarship Fund. This fund has enabled the arts council to give funds to visual and performing arts students and practitioners age 25 and under. The goal of the grant is to foster the talent and career development of Northwest Connecticut youth in all areas of the arts, according to a statement.

Delgado is graduating from Torrington High School this year, and plans to major in music education at Syracuse University this fall. Her primary instrument is trombone, and she has training in piano, voice, music analysis, and songwriting, and was the drum major for the Torrington High School marching band. In February, she performed at Carnegie Hall for the 2020 High School Honors Performance Series Concert Band.

She was selected through an extremely competitive audition process that included students from 48 United States, Guam, Canada, Bermuda, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico, Qatar, South Korean, and Taiwan. Delgado has been awarded the Paolo Abate Mini Grant Arts Award for $465, and plans to use it toward her tuition at Syracuse.

Woiten will be a senior at Parsons School of Design and is majoring in photography. She uses photography to explore her identity and topics like poverty, home, and New England Redneck stereotypes that influenced her growing up, she said in a statement. Her photo and video work can be found on her website at madisonwoiten.com. She has been awarded the Paolo Abate Mini Grant Arts Award for $465 and is using it toward her tuition at Parsons.

We are grateful to have such hard working young professionals in our community, said Maddie Stenson, program director of the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council. We are honored to be able to support Mazda and Madison in their studies, and look forward to seeing the projects they pursue in the future.

Brian Mattiello, president at the Torrington UNICO club, said, We are pleased once again to partner with the NWCT Arts Council in supporting talented artists pursue their passion and further their artistry. The NW corner has rich character, made all the more by the presence of arts and culture, but in particular because of artists like Mazda and Madison.

Other Paolo Abate Mini Grant awardees have included students studying at Berklee College of Music, The Pratt Institute of Art, Hartt School of Music, Northwestern Connecticut Community College, Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, Massachusetts College of Art, and the New England Conservatory of Music.

The Torrington UNICO Paolo Abate Mini Grant Arts Award is named in honor of sculptor and artist Paolo Salvatore Abate, who lived in Torrington for much of his career. Abate (1884-1973), an internationally renowned sculptor, was born in Italy, and was also a teacher and author. He came to the United States in 1903, first settling in Winsted, then moving to New York City. His New York studio was a gathering place for notables such as Enrico Caruso and Joyce Kilmar, both of whom Abate sculpted. In 1928, he moved to Torrington where he continued to sculpt and teach. Abate was president of the International Fine Arts League, a member of the National Sculptor's Council, the Artists Council, the Connecticut Artists and Writers Society, and was an active member of the Torrington UNICO Club, an Italian/ American service organization. For more information about Torrington UNICO Club, contact Brian Mattiello, President, at 860-485-4542. For information about the Torrington UNICO Scholarship Fund for young artists, contact the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council.
The Circuit Court in Accra presided over by His Honour Mr Emmanuel Essandoh has remanded two persons who were arraigned before the court on charges of stealing 15 HP Probook laptops belonging to the National Identification Authority (NIA).

The two Frank Nketia, a trader and Victor Maduka, a businessman pleaded not guilty to three charges of stealing, possession of stolen properties and dishonestly receiving contrary to the law.

They were, however, remanded into police custody to reappear on June 26, 2020.

Their lawyers moved an oral application for them to be granted bail but the court said the charge of stealing NIA properties should be a subject of concern.

Brief facts

The brief facts of the case as presented to the court by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rita Yeboah were that the complainant in the case is Emmanuel Selby, the head of Projects at Information Management system under the auspices of the National Identification Authority (NIA).

While Frank Nketiah (A1), a trader and Victor Maduka (A2), a businessman both reside at Tetegu and Lapaz in Accra respectively.

According to the prosecutor, in October 2019, the government of Ghana procured over 5000 HP Probook laptops computers from Denmark for NIA to be used to issue the ECOWAS Cards to Ghanaians.

She said, in February this year, 64 of the laptops were detected stolen from the NIA premises and investigations into the case revealed that one of the employees working under the complainant stole the laptops and disposed 15 of them at Circle in Accra. But, the prosecutor said he could not lead the police to the receivers.

ASP Yeboah said on May 14, 2020, seven of the stolen laptops were retrieved from shops at Burma Camp in Accra and when the serial numbers were scanned, they were among the laptops procured for NIA.

Investigations she said revealed that in March this year, Nketia received and bargained the price of 12 HP Probook from two others, now at large and kept them.

Nketia, the prosecutor said later called Maduka who came and purchased same at a price of GHc1, 500 per each.

She told the court that, during the lockdown, some Nigerian businessmen at Circle had their shops locked-up which included Nketias shop. Maduka she said then gave the laptop to a friend to sell for him where the supervisor of that shop at Burma Camp bought the retrieved ones and was issued with a receipt.

The prosecutor told the court that they admitted the offences in their respective caution statement to the police and after investigations, they were accordingly charged with the offence and put before the court.

---starrfmonline
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Defunding police, excessive militarization and police tactics used during the May 30 riot in Grand Rapids were popular topics for callers to a digital town hall forum on policing.

Numerous callers were able to voice their opinions during the Wednesday, June 10 two-hour session, although city leaders noted that many others were still waiting on hold when the session ended.

They planned to collect the questions anyway and answer them outside of the public forum.

Many people wanted to talk about what happened May 30, when a peaceful protest earlier in the day transformed into rioting late at night.

Some callers accused police of using heavy-handed tactics -- tear gas, smoke canisters, and flash-bang devices -- they didnt believe were necessary.

Related: Grand Rapids police to create policy banning chokeholds

I just find it a little disrespectful you found that a safe way to break up a protest that was by and large peaceful, one caller said.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne reiterated earlier statements hes made about the night.

This was a peaceful rally that turned unlawful. The tear gas was not utilized until rocks and bottles were thrown at officers," he said.

Some callers asked why officers seemed to have their names covered on uniforms or not distinguishable.

Payne didnt say whether names were inadvertently covered by tactical gear, but he did pledge Wednesday that names now would be displayed on the outermost part of clothing so they could be more visible.

Several callers wanted to know the status of an investigation into an officer who fired what appeared to be a tear gas canister at a man while at close range. The canister hit the man in the shoulder and was captured on video since viewed millions of times on social media.

Payne said he assigned two police internal affairs investigators to look at what happened and work only on that case.

So the investigation is ongoing and its a priority for them, he said.

Another caller was concerned about the gear used by police during the May 30 incident.

Im concerned about the militarization of the police department. I dont think we need that equpment on any of our American streets, the caller said. Its very intimidating and fearful.

Payne said police have the equipment, in part, to keep up with criminals carrying ever more dangerous weapons than in past years.

We make sure we have the capability to address any concerns, he said.

Across the nation, various efforts are underway seeking to defund local police departments, including in Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids police, however, are protected by a charter amendment -- passed by voters in the 1990s -- that requires that 32 percent of the general fund goes to the police department.

At the time, the police department was having staffing issues and a charter amendment ballot issue to increase the city income tax was tied to the 32 percent threshold.

City Manager Mark Washington said hes not prepared to move toward defunding, particularly on short notice as backers of the idea want.

Its not only the fact that you would defund something, but you need to make sure you have something to replace it, he said.

The idea, he said, is not to jeopardize the health and safety of the community.

More from MLive

Grand Rapids police chief: Riot, George Floyds murder at hands of police traumatize many

Grand Rapids riot costs now exceed $2.4 million, per rough estimate
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras has topped the list of higher education institutes in the overall category, in the National Institutional Rankings Framework list 2020, released by the Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal on Thursday.

IISc Bengaluru has bagged the second place in the list while IIT Delhi stood at the third place.

Among the colleges, Delhi Universitys Miranda House has topped the national ranking of colleges while LSR has bagged second place and Hindu college has come third.

Among Universities, the top place has gone to IISc Bengaluru, Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University has got the second place while the Banaras Hindu University has bagged the third spot.

Among management institutes, IIM Ahmedabad is on the top of the list , followed by IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta in the second and third place respectively.

In the pharmacy category, the top institute is Jamia Hamdard in Delhi followed by Panjab University, Chandigarh. The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research, Mohali stood in the third position.

In the Medical colleges category, AIIMS Delhi was the college which rather predictably got the top spot followed by PGI, Chandigarh and CMC, Vellore.

National Law College, Bengaluru was chosen as the best Law college followed by National Law University, Delhi and NALSAR, Hyderabad.

Minister of State Sanjay Dhotre, chairman of AICTE Anil Saharsrabudhe and UGC chairman DP Singh were also present during this occasion. The rankings were released online through webcast on Twitter account of the HRD Minister.

NIRF Rankings 2020: Latest Updates

In 2019 NIRF rankings, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras topped the list of higher education institutes in the overall category. IISc Bengaluru clinched the second place in the list, while IIT Delhi bagged the third place. The fourth, fifth and sixth place was bagged by IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur. JNU, New Delhi, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Varanasi bagged the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth spot respectively.

(With inputs from Amandeep Shukla)

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In context: Automakers have struggled as of late due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but things are slowly starting to return to normalcy now. Indeed, after sorting out some pandemic-related issues with local officials, Tesla has restarted production on its line of EVs, and its stock price has rallied as a result.

As of writing, Tesla's stock sits at a whopping $1,015 per share, giving it a market capitalization of $174.47 billion. However, earlier this morning, it managed to reach a market cap of $185 billion, which temporarily made it the most valuable automaker in the world, surpassing even Toyota by a few billion dollars, according to TheStreet.

Of course, given the always-fluctuating nature of the stock market, it was inevitable that Tesla would lose that briefly-held crown. Now, its value is back down to $174.47 billion, with Toyota once again reigning supreme in the industry thanks to its market cap of $182.87 billion.

For reference, the last time Tesla's stock even came close to reaching the $1,000-a-share mark was February, and it quickly sank the following month. However, the stock has been rapidly recovering, with share values climbing roughly $200 in the past 30 days along (up from $820 on May 10).

This stock surge suggests investors are demonstrating renewed confidence in Tesla's ability to right the ship following a couple months of Covid-19-related production hang-ups. Of course, it's also possible that CEO Elon Musk's recently-leaked Tesla Semi memo contributed to the carmaker's increased stock value.

In the memo, Musk pushes for employees to accelerate Tesla Semi development in the hopes of reaching "volume production" on the vehicle soon.
Nearly a month after rainfall and the failure of the Edenville Dam combined to create the largest flooding event in area history, many families in Midland County are still unsure if their insurance plans will cover the damages.

Different reasons for denial of claims

Heather Atnip of Atnip & Associates and member of the Michigan Flood Victims Legal Team has seen hundreds of clients in the past three weeks. She primarily assists clients who do not have flood insurance.

Those who do have flood insurance have reported conflicting reasons why insurance companies are not accepting claims, some stating the flooding was a man-made disaster and others claiming the flooding was due to natural causes because of the heavy rain the area sustained. Atnip advised that everyone should check their policies for anything about drain blockages, as many area residents experienced flooding not from the dam breaches, but the backed-up sewer system.

Theyre trying to exclude anything from the dam breaking. One of the ways theyre doing that is expanding the definition of water, Atnip said. It really makes you question when insurance isnt insurance.

Atnip encouraged individuals who do have flood insurance to look for conflicting provisions within their policies, which creates ambiguities.

An ambiguity of contract is something we can use against insurance companies, she said.

Holding out for FEMA aid

Jael Campbells house on Joanne Street in Midland suffered only minimal damage from the flood, with a couple inches of water ruining the floors and drywall. Since the house is right on the edge of the floodplain, she doesnt have any flood insurance.

The only thing Im holding out hope for is a national disaster declaration from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), Campbell said.

Even if the funds are given to the city, residents dont know how the money will be designated.

It could be another two months before we know anything, Campbell said.

'Suddenly everything changed for everybody'

Michael Fernettes home on Saint Marys Drive in Midland was not so lucky. It was completely flooded and had to be gutted. Fernette was able to talk to an assessor and contractor and was able to receive insurance money.

The insurance was going to cover everything. We were going to be back in the house in two months, Fernette said.

Shortly afterwards, Fernette and his neighbors received a statement from the City of Midland saying that if their homes were below the base flood elevation, they would need to bring the structures up to code. The Fernettes home is two inches below the base flood level. Now they are facing the possibility that their insurance money along with their efforts to restore the house have been wasted.

Suddenly everything changed for everybody," Fernette said.

Left with 'complete rejection'

For Sara Ladwein and her family, flooding caused by the failure of Edenville Dam devastated a lake house on North Island Drive in Sanford, which they had owned for 12 years. The floodwaters swept away most of the foundation from underneath the building, as well as an entire small barn in their backyard.

When she contacted her insurance provider State Farm, Ladwein said the company left her with a "complete rejection.

"We called them as soon as this happened, and within 24 hours, they called back as said 'we don't cover surface water  we don't care how it gets in the home," Ladwein said.

A lawyer the family spoke to said the odds of filing a successful lawsuit against the insurance agency are "slim to none."

In addition to losing equity on the home and still having to pay back on the mortgage, multiple specialists the Ladwein family brought in to look at the building said there would be no way to rebuild in a cost effective way, with the most conservative estimates still totaling more than $150,000.

"I can't see any way at this point in time that we're going to come close to recovering anything significant in terms of what we've lost," Ladwein said.

Ladwein considers her family to be among the luckier ones, as the house on Sanford Lake was their "summer home," and they have another in Larkin Township, which was untouched by floodwaters. Many others, including some of their neighbors, do not have another home to return to.

Residents didn't know they could get flood insurance

One of the most common complaints the City of Midland has received from residents is that many did not know they could get flood insurance.

"Anybody in the City of Midland can buy flood insurance," said Grant Murschel, the citys director of planning and community development. "They're eligible to purchase it on their home to be covered in the event of a catastrophe like this. They don't have to be in the floodplain  they can be in the highest part of Midland, and still be able to get flood insurance."

One thing Murschel said policy-holders can do if they feel they are not getting the right information from their insurance company, or not being helped in the right way, is to file a complaint with the Department of Insurance and Financial Services, which can be reached on its website, michigan.gov/difs.
WASHINGTON  A massive federal policing reform bill would require Connecticut police to report use of force data, increase body camera usage, block them from receiving some military equipment, set a new standard for police misconduct and place negligent officers on a national registry.

Born out of weeks of protests, Democrats Justice in Policing Act would attempt to bring more professionalism and uniformity to the practices of over 18,000 police departments across the country, while curbing racially-motivated and improper behavior.

Backed by the entire Connecticut congressional delegation, the legislation is the most comprehensive law enforcement reform proposal now before Congress. Republicans have not yet countered with their own proposals.

People of all backgrounds, genders and races have come together to demand change. Honor them, honor George, and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution - and not the problem, Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd who was recently killed by a Minneapolis Police officer, testified before Congress on Wednesday.

Hold them accountable when they do something wrong, Floyd said. Teach them what it means to treat people with empathy and respect. Teach them what necessary force is. Teach them that deadly force should be used rarely and only when life is at risk.

The U.S. House of Representatives will try to pass the Justice in Policing Act this month. If passed, it would require state and local law enforcement to report data on use of force, disaggregated by race, sex, age, disability and religion, to the Department of Justice. Connecticut police do not currently report this data publicly.

Police are the only agencies in the United States that are authorized to use force against the population so of course we should be keeping assidious records on that, said John DeCarlo, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven and former Branford police chief.

The legislation would mean that any local or state police department receiving federal funds would be required to use body cameras. It does not add federal funds for this purpose.

In Connecticut, not all police departments use the cameras  its a department-by-department decision. All Connecticut state police on patrol use body cameras. While the cameras themselves are not that expensive, police chiefs said, storage of hours upon hours of video footage gathered year after year can be  a main hurdle for some police departments interested in the technology. The state offers some financial incentives to help towns cover the costs.

The bill would prevent local and state law enforcement from getting surplus firearms, mine resistant vehicles, weaponized drones, certain aircraft and silencers from the military and would require local police to get approval from their city council to receive transfers of any military equipment.

In April, the city of Bridgeport received a mine resistant vehicle from the Department of Defense, according to DOD records. The New London Police Department and Connecticut State Police each received one of the vehicles in January, records show.

This package is not anti-police, said Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5. My husband has been in law enforcement for 23 years as part of the Waterbury Police Department. I recognize that any solution to the problem of police misconduct will have to include proper training and resources for law enforcement agencies in order to reform their practices. The Justice in Policing Act will redirect resources to where law enforcement really need them: training, accountability, and transparency, rather than militarization.

The legislation would also give Connecticut police chiefs a new tool when hiring: they could consult a national police misconduct registry listing officers who have been found to have committed abuses.

Connecticut police departments already conduct background checks and polygraph tests on candidates, but Norwalk Mayor and former police chief Harry Rilling said such a registry is absolutely necessary.

If somebody coming in from another state has been terminated because they used excessive physical force... then its critical that we have that information, said Rilling. We could reach out to the other department. Sometimes well get cooperation and other times we might not... sometimes there may be a temptation from the other department to say Oh yeah, good guy, good gal, whatever, just to get rid of them.

One of the most controversial parts of the proposed bill would limit qualified immunity for police officers, a law that gives such officials legal protection for actions performed on the job. The change could open cities and police departments to fault in lawsuits when police officers violate individuals constitutional rights. The U.S. Supreme Court is also examining qualified immunity and the shield it can provide police.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany called changes to qualified immunity a nonstarter on Monday, but a few Republican senators have said it may be time for reform.

"So I'm actually thinking seriously about the qualified immunity, said Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind. Most in our conference don't want to go that far, but I'm really going out to see if I can get a few others interested in looking at that as well because I think that'd be the one thing that shows our conference means business. You never know, this might be a watershed moment."

Moreover, the bill would change the federal standard for prosecuting police misconduct from willfulness to recklessness eliminating the need to prove intent.

The cop with his knee on Floyds neck was negligent, he was reckless, DeCarlo said. If a police officer acts recklessly, it is dangerous to the community. So when we look at the guy whose knee was on George Floyds neck. ... I know that right now the national argument is it is racist, but its even more than that. I dont have any faith that this guy woudnt have done that to anyone and people like that should not be on police departments.

The legislation would also incentivize state attorneys general to conduct independent investigations into improper conduct by police departments.

In Connecticut, the Chief States Attorney appoints an out-of-district prosecutor to investigate whenever police use deadly force. In some states, these investigations are done internally by the police departments themselves. The U.S. Attorney in the District of Connecticut can also investigate civil rights violations by police.

The Department of Justice conducts investigations into patterns of misconduct by police forces. The legislation would create a new task force to oversee these investigations and enforcement and give the DOJ subpoena power in these cases.

Connecticut police officers already receive sensitivity training at the police academy and everything three years must complete review hours. The proposed legislation would mandate training on racial, religious and discriminatory profiling for all law enforcement. It would also create law enforcement development and training programs and set national police department accreditation standards.

We have upgraded tremendously the standards and practices of Connecticuts local and state police through training, recruiting, screening, and evaluating as well as taking action against those few  very few  who fail to meet the high standards we believe are essential in Connecticut, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. former attorney general of Connecticut. The nation should take those standards and protocols and practices and make them uniform across our country.

For federal law enforcement  like the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and others  the Justice in Police Act would ban the use of chokeholds and carotid holds, a move that cuts off the flow of air and blood to the head, often resulting in unconsciousness.

National scrutiny is falling on police use of force to the neck after an officer in Minneapolis kneeled on the neck of a black man George Floyd causing his death on May 25. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed banning chokeholds for state and local police.

President Donald Trump met with law enforcement officials Monday at the White House, including Sheriff Tony Childress of Livingston County, Ill., who urged Trump to prohibit all physical restraints to the neck, along with requiring officers to render medical aid to all, intervene when officers use inappropriate force and make de-escalation training mandatory.

The Justice in Policing Act would also ban federal law enforcement from using no-knock warrants, the kind of warrant used when police in Louisville, Ky. responded to the home of Breonna Taylor in an attempted drug sting. Taylor, 26, was killed when police fired into the home; police say Taylors boyfriend was shooting at the officers.

The legislation would also make lynching a federal hate crme. It would require federal law enforcement to use dashboard cameras and body cameras.

As some protesters call for defunding the police, the legislation would establishes public safety innovation grants for community-based organizations to create local commissions and task forces to help towns and cities to make new, fairer public safety approaches. The Minneapolis City Council has backed ending that citys police department in its current form.

While the Trump administration has indicated openness to reforms, Trump and other Republicans have slammed calls for defunding police.

There wont be defunding. There wont be dismantling of our police, Trump said Monday. Our police have been letting us live in peace and we want to make sure we dont have any bad actors in there and sometimes well see some horrible things like we witnessed recently but I say 99.9 - lets go with 99 percent of them  great, great people and theyve done jobs that are record setting.

Local police spend much of their time responding to incidents that are not crimes  calls on homelessness, mental health issues, substance abuse problems, landlord/tenant and neighbor disputes. Part of the defund movement calls for shifting some police funding to other government organizations that would respond to these issues and take them off the plate of cops.

Once we address these pernicious and persistent disparities in policing, we must then address the historic, structural inequalities that leave communities more vulnerable to police violence, Hayes said. Funding schools, promoting housing equity, ensuring access to health care and reforming our system of mass incarceration are but a few necessary steps that still must be taken.

emilie.munson@hearstdc.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
A whistleblower lawsuit filed by former New Mexico police detectives says they were retaliated against for repeatedly raising concerns about the operation of their departments sex crimes unit.

Former Albuquerque Police Department detectives Mandi Abernathy, Sally Dyer and Teresa Romero filed the lawsuit in 2nd Judicial District Court last week, The Albuquerque Journal reported Monday.

The lawsuit by the former detectives says the sex crimes unit leadership undermined the investigation and prosecution of serial rapists and failed to train newer detectives on how to investigate complex and sensitive cases.

The lawsuit also alleges mishandling of their work and assignments or mistreatment by a superior.

The city of Albuquerque and police department are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

All three detective have resigned, and Dyer and Abernathy now work for other law enforcement agencies in the state.

The detectives seek damages, two times back pay with interest, compensation for damages, reasonable attorney fees and other relief the court deems proper.

Over the past several years the Albuquerque Police Department undertook testing of decades worth of rape evidence kits to clear an enormous backlog.

Officers were told in 2017 to stop using a database to track suspect information. The units leadership frustrated the detectives attempts to use of a national FBI database, the lawsuit says.

Its clear this wasnt just incompetence; this is absolutely a purposeful effort to undermine the arrest and prosecution of serial rapists, said Laura Schauer Ives, an attorney representing the detectives.

Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos did not respond to the specific allegations. The city had not been served with the lawsuit but plans to investigate, he said.

The department has been working to improve investigations of sexual assault including tests of the backlog of rape kits, Gallegos said in an email.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Law Enforcement Mexico
For black Americansparticularly mengrowing up in better neighborhoods doesn't diminish the likelihood of going to prison nearly as much as it does for whites or Latinos, new Cornell research shows.

"If you're a black male in America, it doesn't matter much if you come from a good neighborhood or a bad neighborhood," said Steven Alvarado, assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Your chances of being incarcerated are similar."

Alvarado is the author of "The Complexities of Race and Place: Childhood Neighborhood Disadvantage and Adult Incarceration for Whites, Blacks, and Latinos," published June 1 in the journal Socius.

The study's publication at a time of widespread demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice was coincidental, but Alvarado said its findings lend support to calls for structural reform.

"There's a systemic and a deep inequality in American society," he said, "in terms of the treatment of blacks in the criminal justice system that might mute some of those beneficial effects of growing up in a more advantaged neighborhood."

Alvarado analyzed restricted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Longitudinal Survey of Youth that followed thousands of diverse Americans growing up between 1986 and 2014. That 28-year period coincided with an acceleration of mass incarceration and residential segregation in the U.S., Alvarado said.

Linking the NLSY survey data to census tract data, he ranked neighborhoods' relative advantage or disadvantage based on characteristics including housing values and levels of income, employment and education.

By comparing outcomes among siblings, Alvarado controlled for some "unobserved" variables not measurable in the surveyssuch as genetics, parenting strategies and family eventsthat might influence an individual's chances of incarceration.

The data confirmed that blacks, whites and Latinos who grew up in tougher neighborhoods all are more likely to go to prison or jail than counterparts who grew up in better neighborhoods, as one might expect.

But while the chances of incarceration dropped sharply for whites and Latinos from advantaged neighborhoods, black adults benefited about half as much from that upward neighborhood mobility, Alvarado found.

Alvarado called that finding sobering and surprising. Considerable research has touted the benefits of moving people into less poor neighborhoods to improve outcomes, he said, but few studies have looked at incarceration as an outcome.

"My findings complicate that a little bit and tell us that when it comes to incarceration we might want to also think about larger structural changes to criminal justice in the United States," he said, "and not simply moving people from one neighborhood to another as a sufficient way to address this issue."

Blacks enjoy fewer protective effects from good neighborhoods with respect to incarceration, Alvarado suggests, because of the nation's highly racialized criminal justice system.

"More than other racial and ethnic groups, the odds of experiencing incarceration for blacks may be tied to racial profiling, surveillance, stop-and-frisk policies, gang injunctions and other forms of social control that affect all black Americans, regardless of their family and neighborhood origins," he wrote.

Recent events have made that reality more apparent to all Americans, Alvarado said, adding that his research provides some hard data that supports calls for systemic reform led by the Black Lives Matter movement.

"It's very difficult for black Americans to find refuge from incarceration," he said. "We're seeing that play out now in terms of the demonstrations and the policy changes that municipalities are starting to consider."

Explore further Kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods more likely to be obese as adults

More information: Steven Elias Alvarado, The Complexities of Race and Place: Childhood Neighborhood Disadvantage and Adult Incarceration for Whites, Blacks, and Latinos, Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (2020). Steven Elias Alvarado, The Complexities of Race and Place: Childhood Neighborhood Disadvantage and Adult Incarceration for Whites, Blacks, and Latinos,(2020). DOI: 10.1177/2378023120927154
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian sent a congratulatory message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of Russia Day.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Armenian Presidents Office, the message runs as follows,

Honorable Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Please, accept my sincere congratulations on the national holiday of Russia, the Russia Day. This remarkable day was a turning point in the history of the country. Its closely related with the deep-rooted reforms aimed at the improvement of the welfare of the citizens of Russia.

We record with satisfaction that the strategic partnership between Armenia and Russia, which are based on the centuries-old fraternal relations between our peoples, steadily strengthen and cover the whole spectrum of our cooperation in the political, economic, military and humanitarian spheres.

The foundation of this strategic partnership was and must always be in the future the high level of trust between our peoples.

Today the deepening of our relations become more and more significant in regional economic projects, particularly, in the spheres of high technologies, AI, innovations and food security, as well as the expansion of cultural, humanitarian and educational projects.

Honorable Vladimir Vladimirovich, I wish you good health and success, and peace, happiness and welfare to the fraternal people of Russia.

I am sincerely convinced that Russia will successfully overcome the hardships resulted by the spread of coronavirus and will confidently continue the path of development and progress.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan
The central government on Thursday said it has requested the United Kingdom to not consider fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya's asylum plea.

Last month, Mallya lost his appeals in the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to India to face money laundering and fraud charges.

"We have asked the UK not to consider Vijay Mallya's asylum plea if sent," said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava in an online press briefing. "India is in touch with the UK for his early extradition."

Last week, a spokesperson in the UK High Commission had said a "confidential" legal issue meant Mallya is unlikely to be extradited anytime soon. "We cannot estimate how long this issue will take to resolve," a spokesperson of the British government had said.

"Under United Kingdom law, extradition cannot take place until it is resolved. The issue is confidential and we cannot go into any detail. We cannot estimate how long this issue will take to resolve. We are seeking to deal with this as quickly as possible," the official had added.

On May 21, the MEA had said India was in touch with the British government over Mallya's extradition after he exhausted all legal options against New Delhi's request to the UK to extradite him.

The UK top court's decision marked a major setback to the 64-year-old businessman as it came weeks after he lost his high court appeal in April against an extradition order to India.

Mallya has been based in the UK since March 2016 and remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017.

The high court verdict in April upheld the 2018 ruling by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at the end of a year-long extradition trial in December 2018 that the former Kingfisher Airlines boss had a "case to answer" in the Indian courts.
The service volume of online diagnosis and treatment in hospitals under the National Health Commission has increased by 17 times compared to the same period last year as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to recent data from the commission.

A doctor of Fengjie Peoples Hospital discusses the treatment plan for his patient with an expert with the First Hospital Affiliated to AMU through video chat. (Photo/Xinhua)

Meanwhile, the service volume of online diagnosis, treatment and consultation on some third-party platforms has increased by more than 20 times over the same period last year.

According to Cai Xiujun, president of the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated with the School of Medicine of Zhejiang University, the hospital has launched features for online diagnosis and treatment such as special lines for expert consultation and live-streaming from renowned doctors.

After the launch of online health insurance settlements on Feb. 15, the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital took the lead in realizing a series of functions, such as further online consultations for chronic diseases, drug distribution to homes and automatic settlement of health insurance, leading to a surge in service volume.

Furthermore, Internet technology has been widely adopted to provide online medical and health services to meet people's needs across the country.

For instance, 5G technology has been utilized to support remote consultation in the China-Japan Friendship Hospital/National Telemedicine and Connected Health Center in carrying out remote consultation for patients from central China's Hubei province.

Lu Qingjun, Director of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital/National Telemedicine and Connected Health Center, said that people would gradually become used to seeking online medical services. He added that the contents of "Internet + medical treatment and health" services will be diversified, and related industrial groups will develop rapidly.
New Delhi, June 11 : Automatic Vote Recording System and submission of classified documents are among various major issues to be resolved before the monsoon session of Parliament, which is likely to see a mix of virtual and physical participation of the MPs due to the threat of COVID-19.

It all began when the Parliament was building found inadequate to accommodate all members in view of COVID-19 physical distancing norms. As discussion to run Lok Sabha session in the Central Hall and main committee hall of Parliament, and Vigyan Bhawan plenary hall is still on, infrastructure issues like Automatic Vote Recording System, interpretation system, identification system and mic system need to be resolved when MPs are physically present in the House.

If the proceedings of the Lok Sabha are shifted from its chamber to any of these three places, these facilities will have to be installed before the session begins, said a source in Parliament. It is expected that the session will begin in August or September but there is little time to install this infrastructure as it is a Constitutional obligation that the gap between two houses should be not more than six months only, he said.

The Monsoon session of Parliament is normally held in the month of July. The Budget Session was curtailed abruptly in March this year due to COVID-19. Automatic vote Recording System is an integrated system on microphone management which helps in recording vote during the time for division in the Lok Sabha chamber.

Members operate the automatic recording equipment from the seats (same as the division numbers) assigned to them. After the process is completed, the system starts totalling up the affirmative and negative votes. Besides, abstentions and the total numbers of 'AYES', 'NOES' and 'ABSTAIN' are flashed on the total result display boards.

It also indicates the total number of members who have exercised their vote. Interpretation system in the Lok Sabha chamber is designed to interpret the proceedings of the House simultaneously from English to Hindi and vice versa and from Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu into English and Hindi.

For the purpose, a special team of Parliament headed by a Joint Secretary level officer on Thursday visited Vigyan Bhawan to assess the feasibility if Lok Sabha session can be run from there, the source said. But, another source said, the visiting team found that Central Hall, committee hall and Vigyan Bhawan are not large enough to seat all the MPs at one of these buildings at a time while maintaining a minimum distance of one metre.

On the virtual session issue, which is also being considered by the secretaries of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the source said the major issue is how the Bills would be submitted as these are "classified" documents when moved in the House. The presiding officers of both houses are learnt to have been exploring options of holding a 'hybrid' session of Parliament or a virtual one.

The hybrid session would allow some MPs to be present physically in Parliament with the remaining ones attending it virtually. Issuance of passes (both sessional and temporary) to media and visitors is also among the issues which are part of discussions. But the source said it all depends on the government which has to decide when the session will be run.

The development comes after the secretaries-general of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha said that the facilities are inadequate for a full virtual session. Earlier, there were reports that the government was mulling a full virtual session.

The secretaries-general of both Houses have also assessed the physical and digital infrastructure for the options to conduct sessions. They reported to the presiding officers (Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla) that it was not possible to hold a full virtual session and also it was not possible to accommodate all the MPs at the Central Hall, Community Hall and Vigyan Bhavan.

They said seating arrangement as per social distancing norms will fall short at the Central Hall, Community Hall and Vigyan Bhavan. The chambers face space constraints, given the physical distancing norms, and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) cannot enable capacity for virtual participation of all members. The NIC provides cyber infrastructure for the government.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)
(Newser)  Personal information of police officers nationwide is being leaked online amid tense interactions at demonstrations across the US over the police custody death of George Floyd and others, according to an unclassified intelligence document from the Department of Homeland Security, obtained by the AP. The document warns that the effort, known as "doxxing," could lead to attacks by "violent opportunists or domestic violent extremists" or could prevent law enforcement officials from carrying out their duties. High-ranking police officials in a number of citiesincluding Washington, Atlanta, Boston and New Yorkhave had their personal information shared on social media, including their home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, the report warns. "At least one of the police commissioners was targeted for his alleged support of the use of tear gas to disperse protests," it says.

story continues below

Police officials nationwide have said they feel caught in the middle, trying to stop violent protests while abandoned by lawmakers in the demand for police changes. Some said they fear for their lives. "Weve been vilified. It's disgusting," New York State police union official Mike OMeara said as state lawmakers repealed a law that keeps police records secret. Federal officials identified posts that include specific personal information of law enforcement officers in Kentucky and included a link to a website with their full names, the names of their family members, home addresses, specific information about the vehicles they drive and online account login information, the report says. It was in Kentucky that a 26-year-old EMT, Breonna Taylor, was killed by police in her home in March. The personal information of an officer from San Jose, California, and his family was also posted online in a post that called for others to "do with this information what you will," the report said. (Twitter stepped in over a police union post with personal data.)
A Black Lives Matter protester was seriously injured when a toppled statue fell on his head and knocked him unconscious.

A witness told a Wavy.com reporter that the injured man was seen "convulsing on the ground" after the statue hit him during the protest in Portsmouth, Virginia.

It comes after the statue of slave trader Edward Coulston was pushed into the harbour during an anti-racism protest in Bristol, fuelling a worldwide effort to remove statues associated with slavery and racism.

Footage of the Portsmouth demonstration showed a fallen Confederate statue in the middle of a large bloodstain on the ground.

The protesters began pulling down the statue at around 8.20pm but the rope snapped causing it to fall, local media reports.

"There were individuals at the front, they were pulling and working at the legs for some time and trying to get it down," said the witness.

"And there was a gentleman who was directly in front of the statue and when the statue finally did give way it came and fully hit him in the head.

You could see his skull was actually showing, he was convulsing on the ground."

He added that the injured man "lost a significant amount of blood".

One of the Confederate statues was beheaded at the protest in Portsmouth, Virginia / TWITTER @USSOLOASSN via REUTERS

Sergeant Misty Holley of the Portsmouth Police Department said a man sustained serious injuries and was hospitalised.

The Portsmouth monument sits on a site where there used to be a whipping post to punish slaves, reports the Virginian Pilot.

It comes after the death of George Floyd sparked anti-racism demonstrations around the world.

About 80 miles away from Portsmouth in Richmond, the statue of Jefferson Davis was pulled down / AP

Mr Floyd died in police custody, after an officer refused to lift his knee from his neck, despite protests that he could not breathe.

His death sparked international Black Lives Matter protests, demanding an end to police brutality and the removal of memorials to historic figures with racist associations.

A statue of Christopher Columbus in Richmond, Virginia was torn down by protesters, set on fire and then dumped into a lake on Tuesday.

The statue was toppled less than two hours after protesters gathered in the city's Byrd Park chanting for the statue to be taken down.

Leading Democrat, and House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi called for Confederate statues to be removed from the streets of the countrys capital while US President Donald Trump denounced the removal of "beautiful" Confederate statues.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a diversity commission to investigate which statues should be retained in the city and which new ones should be erected to represent the achievements of all Londoners, particularly black and minority ethnic Londoners
The total death toll in the United States from the novel coronavirus pandemic could hit the grim figure of 2,00,000 by September and expecting a dramatic decrease in COVID-19 cases in the country will be a "wishful thinking, an eminent Indian-American professor has warned.

IMAGE: Emergency medical technicians unload a patient into an ambulance outside of the Hammonton Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare one of numerous nursing homes to have staffing shortages during the national outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Hammonton, New Jersey. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Ashish Jha, the head of Harvard's Global Health Institute, told CNN that he is not trying to scare people to stay at home rather urged everyone to wear masks, adhere to the social distancing rules and called for ramping up testing and tracing infrastructure.

Anybody who's expecting a dramatic decrease in cases is almost surely engaging in wishful thinking. And if it (COVID numbers) stays just flat for the next three months, we're going to hit 2,00,000 deaths sometime in September and that is just awful, Jha said.

Jha said the 200,000 death toll is not just a guess. Currently 800-1000 people are dying daily in America from the virus and all data suggest that the situation is going to get worse.

We're gonna have increases, but even if we assume that it's going to be flat all summer, that nothing is going to get worse... even if we pick that low number of 800 a day, that is 25,000 (deaths) a month in three and a half months. We're going to add another 88,000 people and we will hit 2,00,000 sometime in September, Jha said.

The United States is by far the hardest-hit country in the global pandemic, in terms of both confirmed infections and deaths.

According to data by the Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus cases in the US currently is nearly two million and about 112,900 people have died in the country, the most in the world.

When asked about an improvement in states like New York, which had been the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, Jha said while coronavirus cases are declining in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the numbers are increasing in states such as Arizona, Florida, Texas, North and South Carolina while the country as a whole is pretty flat.

He said, people should take measures as that will help suppress the virus and ensure people could get back outside safely but he voiced concern that this was not the situation in reality.

We're not doing that and so we're going to unfortunately have another 25,000 deaths a month until September, and then it'll keep going. It's not going to magically disappear. We've got a turn around. This is not the future I want, he said.

Jha said he had expected the situation to improve in the summer months but on the contrary the numbers have continued to rise even in the warm weather.

Summer was supposed to be our better months -- warmer weather, people outside, a little less transmission. This is not the time (summer) I was expecting a lot more cases. We're seeing a lot more cases, especially in states like Arizona where the numbers look really scary, he said.

Jha added that he was hopeful that maybe the summer months would give us more of a break. I think I may have been too optimistic on that.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Compounding the hardships of the coronavirus, some nursing homes have demanded that low-income residents turn over their $1,200 economic stimulus checks, a cash grab lawmakers want to halt.

On Tuesday, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the Health and Human Services inspector general's office to issue a warning to nursing homes and assisted living facilities that such practices are improper and unlawful.

In the House, Reps. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Frank Pallone, D-N.J., asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to spell out to nursing homes that the relief money from Congress is not considered income that facilities can legally claim to defray the cost of care.

Low-income Medicaid recipients must not be coerced into wrongly handing over their checks for fear of being kicked out of their homes, wrote Neal and Pallone. Any funds taken must be returned.

Nationally, over 35,500 people have died from coronavirus outbreaks at nursing homes and long-term care facilities, about a third of the national toll, according to a running tally by The Associated Press.

The attempt to claw back stimulus checks from residents on Medicaid was flagged last month by the Federal Trade Commission's elder justice office, which said it had received reports from Iowa and other states. Oregon's attorney general has issued a scam alert," calling the practice unlawful.

The nursing home industry says if there's a problem, it's not that common. We are not aware of widespread issues with resident stimulus funds," the American Health Care Association said in a statement.

But the FTC's elder justice coordinator, Lois Greisman, posted earlier that this is not just a horror story making the rounds.

Some nursing homes were claiming that if a resident was on Medicaid, the facility would get to keep the $1,200 stimulus payment.

Generally, a Medicaid recipients taxable income is taken into account in determining their eligibility for the program. Taxable income can be taken by a nursing home, according to congressional staff, while the resident can keep a small amount as a personal allowance.

Story continues

But lawmakers said Congress structured the payments as a tax credit, not as taxable income. They were part of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, passed to provide an economic lifeline as the pandemic shut down much of the nation's business activity.

Congress expressly intended that any refund be disregarded in the administration of federal programs and federally assisted programs, wrote Grassley and Wyden. Translation: Medicaid recipients can keep the money.

The Trump administration agrees. CMS chief Seema Verma tweeted on Tuesday that nursing homes engaging in this behavior will be subject to enforcement action.
Dubai based LEVA Hotels has signed an exclusive partnership with VACKMA LLC to expand in the United States of America.



(TRAVPR.COM) DUBAI - June 11th, 2020 -

Dubai based LEVA Hotels has signed an exclusive partnership with VACKMA LLC to expand in the United States of America. As part of the agreement, VACKMA will develop and operate 3 and 4-star hotels under the LEVA and its sub brands in USA while offeringhotel owners a choice of both franchise and management agreements.

Mr. JS Anand, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LEVA Hotels, said, We are proud to launch the LEVA brand in USA partnering with a prestigious group such as VACKMA. The tie-up is part of our strategic growth plan and steadfast vision and, demonstrates the resilience of our brand despite the recent industry challenges. We look forward to a successful collaboration with VACKMA to expand LEVA Hotels in the US.

With over 30 years global industry experience working in airports, food services and first-class hotels, VACKMA LLC is specialized in developing innovative, award-winning business solutions delivering outstanding customer experiences and operators returns.

Mr. Anton Muller, Founder & CEO, of VACKMA LLC, stated, We are delighted to partner with LEVA Hotels that holds great potential for growth. We are confident it will serve as a refreshing choice, offering superior brand standards and exceptional management options to hotel owners, with flexible terms tailored for diverse market segments. At VACKMA we help bridge the gap between owners vision and todays market needs and LEVA is a perfect fit in our scheme.

LEVA Hotels is uniquely positioned in the upscale and midscale segments with four complementary and well differentiated brands designed to provide a solid return on investment for owners and greater value to guests. While LEVA is specialised in the 4-star and above category, EKONO by LEVA is a smart and efficient choice in the mid-scale segment.

Building up on its growth momentum, the brand is aggressively exploring expansion opportunities across the GCC, Africa, Europe and USA. In addition to its flagship hotel LEVA Mazaya Centre, a deluxe 4-star hotel in Dubai, the group had recently signed management agreements for two beautiful hotels in Muscat and a stunning property in Kampala.

--Ends--

Connect with LEVA Hotels on @LEVAHotels #LEVAHotels

About LEVA Hotels

LEVA Hotels is a dynamic lifestyle hotel brand uniquely positioned in the upscale and midscale segments offering a fresh perspective on hospitality. It attracts travellers who want to be immersed in vibrant spaces while enjoying world-class comfort and engaging service at affordable price points. Derived from the Latin word Levatio meaning comfort, LEVA Hotels boasts a unique portfolio of 4 complementary and well differentiated hospitality brands aimed at delivering greater value to guests with a balanced lifestyle and solid return on investment for owners. At every level, LEVA is focused on the essentials that turn the mundane into memorable. For more information visit www.stayleva.com

For Media Contact:

Hina Bakht

Managing Director

EVOPS Marketing & PR

M: +971 50 6975146 | T: +971 4 566 7355

Hina.bakht@evops-pr.com

www.evops-pr.com

Dubai based LEVA Hotels has signed an exclusive partnership with VACKMA LLC to expand in the United States of America. As part of the agreement, VACKMA will develop and operate 3 and 4-star hotels under the LEVA and its sub brands in USA while offeringhotel owners a choice of both franchise and management agreements.

Mr. JS Anand, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LEVA Hotels, said, We are proud to launch the LEVA brand in USA partnering with a prestigious group such as VACKMA. The tie-up is part of our strategic growth plan and steadfast vision and, demonstrates the resilience of our brand despite the recent industry challenges. We look forward to a successful collaboration with VACKMA to expand LEVA Hotels in the US.

With over 30 years global industry experience working in airports, food services and first-class hotels, VACKMA LLC is specialized in developing innovative, award-winning business solutions delivering outstanding customer experiences and operators returns.

Mr. Anton Muller, Founder & CEO, of VACKMA LLC, stated, We are delighted to partner with LEVA Hotels that holds great potential for growth. We are confident it will serve as a refreshing choice, offering superior brand standards and exceptional management options to hotel owners, with flexible terms tailored for diverse market segments. At VACKMA we help bridge the gap between owners vision and todays market needs and LEVA is a perfect fit in our scheme.

LEVA Hotels is uniquely positioned in the upscale and midscale segments with four complementary and well differentiated brands designed to provide a solid return on investment for owners and greater value to guests. While LEVA is specialised in the 4-star and above category, EKONO by LEVA is a smart and efficient choice in the mid-scale segment.

Building up on its growth momentum, the brand is aggressively exploring expansion opportunities across the GCC, Africa, Europe and USA. In addition to its flagship hotel LEVA Mazaya Centre, a deluxe 4-star hotel in Dubai, the group had recently signed management agreements for two beautiful hotels in Muscat and a stunning property in Kampala.

--Ends--

Connect with LEVA Hotels on @LEVAHotels #LEVAHotels

About LEVA Hotels

LEVA Hotels is a dynamic lifestyle hotel brand uniquely positioned in the upscale and midscale segments offering a fresh perspective on hospitality. It attracts travellers who want to be immersed in vibrant spaces while enjoying world-class comfort and engaging service at affordable price points. Derived from the Latin word Levatio meaning comfort, LEVA Hotels boasts a unique portfolio of 4 complementary and well differentiated hospitality brands aimed at delivering greater value to guests with a balanced lifestyle and solid return on investment for owners. At every level, LEVA is focused on the essentials that turn the mundane into memorable. For more information visit www.stayleva.com

For Media Contact:

Hina Bakht

Managing Director

EVOPS Marketing & PR

M: +971 50 6975146 | T: +971 4 566 7355

Hina.bakht@evops-pr.com

www.evops-pr.com

###
Hydroxychloroquine Tablet

New Delhi: Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers DV Sadananda Gowda said that the Department of Pharmaceuticals has given its nod to lift the ban on exports of Hydroxychloroquine.

India banned the export of Hydroxychloroquine on March 25, with a few exceptions. Some have suggested that the drug may be used to treat corona virus.

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PhotoOn April 4, its export was completely banned. "The Department of Pharmaceuticals has approved the lifting of the ban on the export of Hydroxychloroquine," Gowda wrote on Twitter.

Excluding SEZ / Export Oriented Units (EOU), manufacturers have to supply 20 per cent of production to the domestic market.

Department of Pharmaceuticals has approved the lifting of ban on Export of Hydroxychloroquine API as well as formulations. Manufacturers except SEZ/EOU Units have to supply 20% production in the domestic market. DGFT has been asked to issue formal notification in this regard. Advertisement June 10, 2020

He said that the Directorate General of Foreign Trade has been asked to issue a formal notification in this regard.
Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal attacked Congress on Thursday and said defence minister Rajnath Singh has given assurance that he will give a detailed description on the matter in the parliament.

Member of Parliament from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal on Thursday attacked Congress for politicising the India-China standoff and said that the government is not silent on this matter but believes in raising the issue on appropriate platforms and asserted that Defence Minister will give a detailed reply in the parliament.

The government is working on the defence and management of Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China. It is unfortunate that the Congress party is raising an issue related to this matter. Congress party always wants to see proofs whether it be for the surgical strike or any other issue related to Indias defence, he said.

As to why the government is silent on this matter, we do not believe in raising the issue on any platform. Our defence minister Rajnath Singh has already given an assurance that he will give a detailed description on the matter in the parliament, he added. Namgyal further asserted that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi India has not conceded even an inch of land to China.

Also Read: Covid-19 crisis should be turned into an opportunity for self-reliant India: PM Modi

Also Read: China, India reach positive consensus on border issue: Beijing

Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into power in 2014. One thing has been ensured that not even a single inch has been conceded to China in Ladakh. BJP is a nationalist party. We will never budge on this matter and the country should be assured about this fact, Namgyal told ANI. Namgyal further said that Article 370 and LAC are separate issues and should not be looked through the same prism.

We cannot see Article 370 and Line of Actual Control (LAC) through the same prism. Article 370 is an internal issue. We have fought for the abrogation of article 370 right from the times of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherji. But I reiterate that LAC and Article 370 are unconnected, he said.

Speaking on the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Ladakh, Namgyal said, COVID-19 was a new challenge and Leh Hospital has combated the situation well. We were able to contain the situation in Leh and Kargil well in the beginning. In the past few days, the cases have spiked but with continued efforts, we will be able to combat the pandemic in the future.

Diplomatic and military level talks are already underway to find a resolution to the ongoing dispute in Eastern Ladakh where the Chinese have deployed a large number of troops along the Line of Actual Control. The Major General level talks were held after the military Commander-level talks were held on June 6 between 14 Corps Chief Lt Gen Harinder Singh and Chinese Maj Gen Liu Lin at Moldo opposite Chushul.

After the first round of talks, Chinese and Indian Armies disengaged by going back by 2-2.5 km from their standoff positions at Galwan Nala, PP-15 and Hot Springs.

Also Read: Kasturba Hospitals resident doctors threaten mass resignation over salary issue

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The two social media influencers are charged with a number of crimes, including debauchery and human trafficking and violating familial values and principles

Egypt's general prosecution on Thursday referred detained TikTok influencers Haneen Hossam and Mawada Eladhm, who are well-known for their videos on the video-sharing platform, to criminal trial for violating familial values and principles in Egyptian society and establishing and running online accounts to commit this crime.

According to an official statement, the prosecution's order includes three other defendants who had been involved in both crimes, one of whom is charged with possessing unauthorised and illegal software for the purpose of using it to facilitate committing these crimes.

The defendants are also charged with helping one of the aforementioned girls to abscond from jurisdiction, concealing evidence of crime, and publishing materials to influence public opinion in favour of a party of the lawsuit.

The general prosecution said it is to continue investigations over human trafficking crimes that the aforementioned defendants are charged with.

Eladhm was arrested 14 May after she had attempted to flee her residence at an upscale New Cairo compound, moving around between Cairo and the North Coast on the back of an arrest warrant issued against her over charges of violating Egyptian familial values and principles.

Eladhm, who has 3.1 million followers on TikTok and 1.6 million others on Instagram, became famous for posting lip syncing and dance videos.

Hossam was arrested 21 April on charges including inciting debauchery and human trafficking.

Her arrest comes a few days after she posted a video on TikTok encouraging women to publish live videos and talk with strangers, via short video sharing platform Likee, in exchange for money.

On Monday, Hossam was ordered to be released on EGP 10,000 bail after about a month and a half in custody.

But according to Thursday's order, the 20-year-old influencer has been remanded once again after she was confronted with new evidence, which resulted in examining her seized electronic devices.

The general prosecution said previously that she was caught with three phones and a laptop in her possession.

Hossam, a second-year archaeology student at Cairo University, has 1.2 million followers on the social media app TikTok.

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Mr Hart hopes a return to the gym is taken at an appropriately "slow and safe" pace. Loading "It was definitely very exciting for myself - but obviously my concerns and my clients' concerns are that things are reopened properly," he said. "People need to manage their expectations. They're excited, but with a touch of anxiety as well." Tip 2: Keep your distance

Jordan McCreary, director of 27 F45 studios across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, said there will be space between classes to allow minimal contact during changeovers. F45 workouts are intense, 45-minute group classes - some days focusing on resistance-based training, and others on cardio. "We've had to change our workouts so instead of changing between lots of different stations people stay in one spot, with longer rest breaks, and then move on," Mr McCreary said. Jordan McCreary at a F45 Gym in Park Street, Sydney, before the pandemic hit. Credit:Brook Mitchell Before the pandemic, studio sizes ranged from 35 to 50 people. At present, they will be restricted to just 10.

Loading "We're hoping we can increase class sizes ... quickly, but it's a good start," Mr McCreary said. He also said the company had partnered with Soul Safe, an infection prevention and control certifier, and all staff had been trained on proper hygiene methods. Mr Hart said with no physical contact allowed, helping clients with their form and motion would be tricky. Personal trainer James Hart. Credit:Instagram

Tip 3: Bring multiple towels and wash hands regularly Professor McLaws said although most transmissions of the virus were through personal contact, it could still be contracted from surfaces. "Honour the people around you with some hand hygiene," she said. "We know that most of the spread of COVID-19 is through direct contact - and you can get it indirectly from contaminated surfaces, and one of the most common ways is through people's expressed particles. By all means, clean the equipment very well and clean your hands very well." She encouraged gym-goers to take multiple sweat towels - one for themselves and one for things that they touch.

Some gyms will install more hand sanitising stations and close-off risky areas such as the showers and even the water fountain, so it's best to bring your own water bottle. Professor McLaws said to observe the location of certain gym equipment. Credit:Nic Walker Mr Hart of Bird on Fire said keeping it simple was the best route. "Just maintain hygiene. In my eyes it's making sure you're wiping down your equipment, maintaining safe distance," he said. Tip 4: Warm up on the way

At F45 classes, some members usually come in early to do extra exercise or talk to their trainers - others stay late to stretch or foam roll. That won't be the case from Saturday. "We won't be letting people through the doors until it's class time," Mr McCreary said. Mr Hart said people should "do all their warm-ups outside the gym and leave as soon as possible". Tip 5: Observe the location of equipment Loading

Professor McLaws said the location of certain equipment that are low to the ground, such as rowing machines and benches, was important. This is because someone's saliva droplets can travel six metres in five seconds. "If you're around somebody that's moving the airflow, their particles can be pushed to the other end of the room," she said. She said gyms should not be putting rowing machines at a lower level next to other cardio machines, such as exercise bikes. Professor McLaws suggested the safest practice would be to have perspex screens in-between cardio machines, like the ones recently seen at supermarket checkouts and self-service machines.
Television has already seen some changes as protests against police brutality have continued around the country.

On Monday, Cops was canceled after 32 seasons on the air. LivePD," which airs on A&E, was also canceled after it was originally placed on hold, according to Deadline.

Could the Nickelodeon cartoon Paw Patrol be next?

Paw Patrol features a group of rescue dogs that work together to solve problems. One of the main characters is Chase, a police dog.

The controversy started when the show tweeted out a message of solidarity toward the Black Lives Matter movement. The post said it would be muting its content until June 7 to give access for Black voices to be heard so we can continue to listen and further our learning.

In solidarity of #amplifymelanatedvoices we will be muting our content until June 7th to give access for Black voices to be heard so we can continue to listen and further our learning. #amplifyblackvoices pic.twitter.com/NO2KeQjpHM  PAW Patrol (@pawpatrol) June 2, 2020

The post drew some criticism from other users, albeit some of it was in jest.

All dogs go to heaven, except the class traitors in the Paw Patrol," one user tweeted.

How much will Paw Patrol be donating to bail funds? another posted.

The response lead the New York Times to publish a piece on the backlash against the childrens cartoon, its police dog Chase and other good cops on TV sitcoms.

Critic Amanda Hess wrote in the article:

Even big-hearted cartoon police dogs  or maybe especially big-hearted cartoon police dogs  are on notice. The effort to publicize police brutality also means banishing the good-cop archetype, which reigns on both television and in viral videos of the protests themselves. Paw Patrol seems harmless enough, and thats the point: The movement rests on understanding that cops do plenty of harm.

With Hess column bringing attention to the outcry, others on social media noted that things had gone too far, including Eric Trump and Senator Ted Cruz.

Now the left wants to cancel Paw Patrol. These people are truly insane...



The Protests Come for 'Paw Patrol' - The New York Times https://t.co/8QbV9coBhN  Eric Trump (@EricTrump) June 11, 2020

Despite the protests against the show, there are no signs that Paw Patrol is in danger of being canceled any time soon. In fact, Nickelodeon recently renewed the series for an eighth season and a theatrical film Paw Patrol: The Movie is scheduled to be released in August 2021, according to Decider.

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The Senate Armed Services Committee wants to spend nearly $7 billion over two years to launch an aggressive new military effort aimed at deterring China and shoring up U.S. defenses in the Pacific region. It's also calling for strategic deployments of weapons and platforms to keep China and other threats, including Russia, at bay.

The Pacific Deterrence Initiative, approved as part of the Senate version of the 2021 defense budget and policy bill, includes $1.4 billion for next year and plans $5.5 billion for fiscal 2022 to augment missile defense, fund new efforts in support of regional allies, and forward-posture more troops in the region.

Read next: Navy Carrier Ford's High-Tech EMALS Catapult System Breaks During Sea Trials

"The best way to protect U.S. security and prosperity in Asia is to maintain a credible balance of military power but, after years of underfunding, America's ability to do so is at risk," a summary of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, released by the Senate Armed Services Committee following markups, reads.

The Senate-approved NDAA "encourages" the Air Force to establish a new F-35A Joint Strike Fighter operating location in the Indo-Pacific region "quickly to posture ready forces in our priority arena," the bill summary states.

In April, Pacific Air Forces took delivery of its first two F-35s, stationed at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The base is set to have 54 of the aircraft by December 2021. The Senate's version of the NDAA includes a total of $9.1 billion to buy more of the stealthy fifth-generation fighters -- 14 more than the White House asked for in its budget request.

Elements of the Pacific Deterrence Initiative also include improving active and passive missile-defense systems for bases and operating locations in the region; building up the military's system of prepositioned stockpiles, including vehicles, weapons and fuel; and starting to transition the military's operating model in the Pacific from large and difficult-to-defend bases to "dispersed, resilient, and adaptive basing."

In a May op-ed for War on the Rocks, committee chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, and ranking member Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, argued that the creation of the PDI would re-orient the Pentagon's approach to strategic planning and spending.

"It doesn't matter how many F-35s the military buys if very few are stationed in the region, their primary bases have little defense against Chinese missiles, they don't have secondary airfields to operate from, they can't access prepositioned stocks of fuel and munitions, or they can't be repaired in theater and get back in the fight when it counts," they wrote. "The Pacific Deterrence Initiative will incentivize increased focus on posture and logistics, and help measure whether these requirements are being matched with resources."

The PDI would follow the European Deterrence Initiative, launched in 2014 in response to the Russian annexation of Crimea. The EDI, initially known as the European Reassurance Initiative, allowed the U.S. to deploy more troops to Europe for exercises and presence missions to reassure allies.

The Senate's NDAA would also require the secretary of the Army to draft and present a plan to station or deploy its two batteries of interim cruise missile defense capability into operational theaters. This refers to the Israeli-made Iron Dome weapons system, purchased by the Army in 2019 to fill an urgent capability gap. The service is set to take delivery of the first of two Iron Dome batteries in December.

In addition, it would require the chief of naval operations and the head of U.S. European Command to collaborate on a "detailed plan" to base two additional guided-missile destroyers in Rota, Spain, a hub that has been used as a launchpad for quick-response forces to Africa and the surrounding region. The commander of EUCOM, Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February that he wanted two additional destroyers in Rota to execute command-and-control in light of increased Russian undersea activity in the region.

The Senate bill, which totals $740.5 billion, must still be reconciled with a House version. The House Armed Services Committee plans to mark up its version of the bill later this month.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

Related: Military Pay Raise for 2021 Moves Forward in Senate
ACATLAN DE PEREZ FIGUEROA, Mexico - In grief and anger, hundreds of people bid farewell Thursday to a 16-year-old Mexican-American boy shot dead by local police in this town in southern Mexico.

Shouts and signs demanded justice and white balloons accompanied the casket of Alexander Martinez Gomez, who had spent years of his short life on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border and was said to be passionate about developing as a soccer player.

Authorities say a police officer shot him in the head with a shotgun Tuesday night in an incident still under investigation.

Oaxaca state prosecutor Ruben Vasconcelos said Thursday that the attack on the teen was frontal.

There was a shot directly at nine youths that were riding on motorcycles and since (Alexander) was at the front of the group of people with the frontal shot he died immediately, Vasconcelos said.

Another teen was wounded and still hospitalized.

The town government of Acatlan de Perez Figueroa said in a statement that a police officer was involved in the shooting, but that it hadnt been in bad faith. The officer was in custody.

Reached by phone Thursday, a local police officer who would identify himself only as the commander said that the teens on motorcycles failed to stop at a checkpoint.

But Vasconcelos, the prosecutor, cast doubt on the police version.

Theres been talk of a lot of motives, he said. The police talk about it being an accident ... but we dont believe that. He said he expected the officer in custody to be taken before a judge Friday on murder charges.

Vasconcelos said investigators were also looking into whether police tampered with the crime scene.

Some other officers in the department were already under investigation over allegations of excessive use of force and even extrajudicial killings related to a shootout in mid-May in which six alleged criminals died. After that incident, more state and federal forces were sent to secure the area.

In comments to Imagen Television, the dead teens mother, Virginia Gomez, demanded justice in his death.

I want my son and here he is, dead, with a shot to the head, Gomez said, standing over her sons body Tuesday night.

In another video circulating on social media, Gomez said her son and his friends had just gone to the store to buy sodas. She said the police didnt provide first aid at the scene.

Her son had a North Carolina drivers license on him. Some local reports said he was visiting his grandparents.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement Thursday that it was aware of reports of the death of a U.S. citizen in the town. We are closely monitoring local authorities investigation and stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance, the statement said.

The town is in an area with high levels of street crime and organized crime activity. On Thursday, the Oaxaca state security agency said in a statement that it had sent state police officers to the town and that the army was sending soldiers to run checkpoints and ensure public safety.

It also said Gov. Alejandro Murat had spoken to Alexanders mother and promised there would not be impunity.

But Thursday afternoon, there was no sign of soldiers in the town as neighbours, friends and relatives, including Martinezs father who flew in from North Carolina, said goodbye to the boy.

In an emotional moment, his casket was taken to the local soccer field and placed in the penalty area. One of his friends passed the ball, which rebounded off the casket and into the goal so Martinez could score a final goal as onlookers shouted justice.

Various criminal groups are present in the area near Oaxacas border with Veracruz state, including the Jalisco New Generation cartel. The National Guard, army and state security forces have had operations in the area.

Mexico has a long history of human rights violations by security forces.

The killing comes amid greater attention to police killings and racial injustice in the United States after the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. Protests have spread to Mexico and last week highlighted the death of Giovanni Lopez, a man allegedly beaten to death by police in a town south of Guadalajara in May.

___

Associated Press journalist Felix Marquez reported this story in Acatlan de Perez Figeuroa and AP writer Maria Verza reported from Mexico City.
The Pirates released 39 minor league players this week, as first reported by John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com. Outfielder Charlie Tilson, utilityman Jake Elmore, right-hander Luis Escobar and infielder Sherman Johnson stand out as players with prior big league experience.

Tilson, 27, joined the Bucs on a minor league deal this winter after spending the past four seasons in the White Sox organization. Acquired by Chicago in the 2016 swap that sent lefty Zach Duke to the Cardinals, Tilson made his MLB debut shortly after that trade. However, a torn hamstring suffered in his debut game required surgery, and hes been plagued by a series of leg and ankle injuries ever since. In 280 Major League plate appearances, the former second-round pick carries just a .246/.310/.290 batting line. Tilson was known for his speed early in his career, but the 46 stolen bases he recorded in 134 games back in 2015 dwarf the eight bags he swiped in a combined 115 games between Triple-A and the Majors last year.

The 32-year-old Elmore has the most MLB experience of the group, having appeared in 217 games and logged 527 plate appearances. Elmore is just a .215/.292/.275 hitter in that time, but hes demonstrated substantial versatility; in 2013, the Astros used him at every position on the diamond  including catcher and pitcher. Elmore has at least 106 innings at all four infield spots, 234 innings in the outfield (including 14 in center) and has also caught 4 1/3 innings and pitched two frames (one run allowed) in the Majors.

Escobar, 24, made his big league debut last year and received 60 grades on his fastball while coming up through the minors. He averaged 95.1 mph on that heater in his 5 2/3-inning cup of coffee last year, although he also walked four batters, hit another and threw a wild pitch in that short time. Escobars 2019 results in Triple-A were solid, particularly considering how hitter-friendly that league was last year: 4.09 ERA, 9.3 K/9, 5.2 BB/9, 1.15 HR/9 and a 46.6 percent grounder rate. That said, its not exactly a huge surprise that he was cut loose; Escobar did go unclaimed on waivers back in November.

As for the 29-year-old Johnson, hes an eight-year minor league veteran who received the briefest of looks with the Angels back in 2018, appearing in 10 games but going hitless in 11 plate appearances. He has at least 450 innings at all four infield positions and, while hes never shown much power, has been a consistent on-base threat with fairly low strikeout rates in his minor league career.
Following a rare anti-Armenian protest in Tehran, Armenia has again tried to dispel neighboring Irans apparent concerns over its decision to open an embassy in Israel.

The Armenian ambassador to Iran, Artashes Tumanian, assured a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official on Wednesday that his country remains committed to its friendly relationship with the Islamic Republic despite its desire to improve Armenian-Israeli ties.

The Armenian government announced the decision last September, saying that it will not only give new impetus to its relations with the Jewish state but also help to secure the Armenian Apostolic Churchs continued strong presence in the Holy Land.

Israel hailed the move, with then Foreign Minister Israel Katz calling it a significant step in the development of bilateral relations. His Armenian counterpart, Zohrab Mnatsakanian, indicated that he would welcome the opening of an Israeli embassy in Yerevan.

The opening of the Armenian Embassy in Tel Aviv, initially slated for the beginning of this year, appears to have been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Iranian leadership waited until March 15 to publicly signal its disapproval of Yerevans decision. A senior adviser to parliament speaker Ali Larijani said the move will have a negative impact on stability and security in the region. The official, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, urged the Armenian side to think twice before opening the mission in Tel Aviv.

Ambassador Tumanian met with Alireza Haqiqian, the head of the Iranian Foreign Ministrys Eurasia department, on the same day. According to the Armenian Embassy in Tehran, he explained his governments Israel-related motives to Haqiqian in great detail.

In a sign of Irans lingering discontent, two dozen Iranian university students rallied outside the Armenian Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday to condemn Yerevans plans and to urge it avoid any diplomatic presence in the occupied Palestinian territories. News reports from the Iranian capital said the protesters chanted Death to Israel and burned an Israeli flag.

Tumanian discussed the demonstration with another senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official, Mohsen Faghani, at a meeting held the following day. According to an Armenian Embassy statement, the envoy assured Faghani that Armenia will continue to avoid involvement in any anti-Iranian political project.

The ambassador emphasized that Armenian-Iranian friendly relations have been and remain one of Armenias foreign policy priorities, read the statement.

The statement cited Faghani as saying that some circles in the Islamic Republic are worried about Israeli influence on Armenia. At the same time, it said, the Iranian official praised the current state of Armenian-Iranian relations and expressed confidence that they will not be undermined by any discontent with the Armenian diplomatic presence in Israel.

Mnatsakanian echoed Tumanians assurances when he spoke to journalists in Yerevan on Thursday. Armenia has never implemented and does not intend to implement policies towards one partner at the expense of another, said the foreign minister.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani most recently spoke by phone on April 28. An official Armenian readout of the phone call said they discussed ways of minimizing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on bilateral commercial ties.

Pashinian stated on May 7 that Armenian-Iranian relations remain very good and are developing dynamically.

Two weeks later, Pashinian sent a congratulatory message to Israels reelected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I am hopeful that through joint efforts we will be able to replenish and overhaul the agenda of Armenian-Israeli cooperation and build strong ties of mutually beneficial partnership, he wrote.

Armenian-Israeli relations have long been frosty, reflecting differing geopolitical priorities of the two states. Armenia has maintained a warm rapport with Iran, one of the landlocked South Caucasus countrys two conduits to the outside world, while Israel has pursued strategic cooperation with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Armenian leaders have long expressed concern over Israels large-scale arms deals with Azerbaijan which have reportedly totaled at least $2 billion since 2012. The Azerbaijani army used some of its Israeli-made weapons, notably sophisticated anti-tank rockets, during April 2016 hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.

And as recently as on April 21, Karabakhs Armenian-backed army claimed to have shot down yet another Israeli-made Azerbaijani military drone.

Armenia and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1992 but have had no embassies in each others capitals until now. Armenian ambassadors to Israel have been based in Paris, Cairo and even Yerevan.
If you really want to honour him, implement his inclusive ideology: SC Bose's grandnephew

PM Modi addresses 95th annual plenary of Indian Chamber of Commerce: Key highlights

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

Delhi, June 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has on Thursday addressed at the 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) via video conferencing.

The PM at the address said as India is fighting against COVID-19 pandemic, there are other challenges also like floods, locusts, hailstorm, fire in oil well in Assam, small earthquakes, two cyclones that we are fighting against together.

All Indians should learn to be self reliant says PM Modi at ICCs 95th annual plenary session

Here are the key points of the address

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

While batting for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, the Prime Minister said Indians should learn to be self-reliant. Aatam Nirbhar lessons start at home and time has come for India to become self-reliant.

Everything that the country is forced to import, how it should be made in India itself, how India should become an exporter of the same products in future, we have to work faster in this direction.

Indian farmers have got their true freedom owing to the recent reforms. They can go to any part of the country to sell their produce. Recent decisions taken by Centre for farmers have freed the agriculture economy from years of slavery.

Industries will have to think about how they will turn India into a net exporter of products.

Indian are saving a total of Rs 19,000 crore due to the usage of LED bulbs. Carbon emissions have also reduced for using LED.

At this time we have to take the country's economy out of 'command and control' and take it towards 'plug and play'. This isn't the time for a conservative approach. It's time for bold decisions and bold investments. It's time to prepare a globally competitive domestic supply chain.

Decades ago Swami Vivekananda wrote, 'The simplest method to be worked upon at present is to induce Indians to use their own produce and get markets for Indian artware in other countries'. This path shown by Swami Vivekananda should be the inspiration for India in post-pandemic world.

DBT, JAM have helped millions of beneficiaries.

We have to revive the historical excellence of West Bengal in the manufacturing sector. We have always heard "What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow". We have to take inspiration from this and move forward together.
MIAMI, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AshBritt Environmental is proud to support local public radio stations WLRN and Houston Public Media via launching a hurricane preparedness campaign in South Florida and the Greater Houston Area and select local jurisdictions. The campaign is to remind the community and small businesses that now is the time to prepare for the 2020 Hurricane Season which officially began on June 1st. Local businesses are also invited to learn more about partnering with AshBritt to aid in their community's recovery. The ads direct the community and businesses to AshBritt.com for resources on preparedness and partnerships.
New Delhi: Actress Antara Biswas aka Monalisa for her fans has had a long-standing career in movies - Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Tamil, Kannada, Bhojpuri and Telugu languages respectively. She started off from Hindi movie 'Jayate' in 1997 and went on to star in multiple movies, doing special roles or dance numbers.

She got noticed as a background dancer in filmmaker Shaad Ali's 'Bunty Aur Babli' (2005) starring Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji. She featured in the title song of the movie along with the filmmaker himself.

Not many know that her first Bhojpuri film came in 2008. Titled 'Bhole Shankar', it starred Bollywood legend Mithun Chakravarty and Manoj Tiwari in lead roles. 'Bhole Shankar' was the first Bhojpuri film to simultaneously release in overseas.

She went on to star in multiple movies in various languages. She became a famous name in Bhojpuri movie industry and has several hit songs to her credit. Finally, a turning point in her career came with the reality show 'Bigg Boss 10' in 2016.

She remained one of the most talked-about contestants that season and got married to her then-boyfriend Vikrant Singh Rajpoot on the show.

Soon after the show, she was flooded with offers and Monalisa made her move into the television world with the supernatural show 'Nazar'. She played evil force Mohana in the 2018 show and won accolades for her role.

In 2020, the show saw its season 2 and again Monalisa was seen playing Madhulika Chaudhary in Nazar 2.

The actress is a famous personality on social media as well and her rising fanbase on Instagram is solid proof of it.
Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation ("Toshiba") has launched two lens reduction type 1,500-pixel monochrome CCD linear image sensors for industrial equipment: TCD1105GFG, with a built-in electronic shutter function, and TCD1106GFG. Sample shipment will start from July 2020.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005926/en/

Toshiba: Lens reduction type 1500-pixel monochrome CCD linear image sensors "TCD1105GFG" and "TCD1106GFG" for industrial equipment (Photo: Business Wire)

The new sensors support two key industry requirements: faster operation of equipment that incorporate sensors, including inspection equipment with monochrome CCD linear image sensors; and lower power consumption.

The new sensors can be used at a maximum data rate of 25MHz, and both incorporate a timing generator circuit and CCD driver, realizing high-speed operation with few external circuits. A built-in sample and hold circuit lengthens the video output signal period, contributing to easier design for high-speed signal processing.

In addition to improved performance, lower power consumption than Toshibas current high-speed products is achieved with a single 3.3V power drive.

Features

1,500pixels, 25MHz (max) data rate, monochrome CCD linear image sensors

Built-in timing generator circuit reduces external driving circuits.

Built-in sample and hold circuit extends video output signal period.

(signal polarity: positive)

(signal polarity: positive) Built-in electronic shutter function: TCD1105GFG only

Single 3.3V power drive

Applications

Automated optical inspection equipment, sensing equipment, barcode readers, etc.

Main Specifications

Part number TCD1105GFG / TCD1106GFG Pixel size 5.25m by 50m (5.25m pitch) Effective pixel number 1500pixels by 1 line Sensitivity (A light source + CM500S) TCD1105GFG: 125V/(lx s) TCD1106GFG: 600V/(lx s) Data rate 25MHz max Power supply voltage 3.3V (typ.) Others / Additional features Timing generator circuit Sample and hold circuit Electronic shutter function (TCD1105GFG only)

For more information on the new products, please visit:

TCD1105GFG

https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/info/lookup.jsp?pid=TCD1105GFG

TCD1106GFG

https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/info/lookup.jsp?pid=TCD1106GFG

Customer Inquiries:

System Devices Sales & Marketing Dept.

Sales Promotion Group

Tel: +81-3-3457-3332

https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/ap-en/contact.html

*Company names, product names, and service names may be trademarks of their respective companies.

*Information in this document, including product prices and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current on the date of the announcement but is subject to change without prior notice.

About Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation combines the vigor of a new company with the wisdom of experience. Since becoming an independent company in July 2017, the company has taken its place among the leading general devices companies, and offers its customers and business partners outstanding solutions in discrete semiconductors, system LSIs and HDD.

Its 24,000 employees around the world share a determination to maximize the value of its products, and emphasize close collaboration with customers to promote co-creation of value and new markets. The company looks forward to building on annual sales now surpassing 750-billion yen (US$6.8 billion) and to contributing to a better future for people everywhere.

Find out more about Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation at https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/ap-en/top.html

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005926/en/
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

Chrysler is recalling 27,634 Pacifica plug-in hybrid minivans due to a fire risk. Until the vehicles can be repaired, the automaker says that they should be parked outdoors, away from other vehicles, and that owners should also be careful not to let any moisture get on the floor of the second rowincluding from wet umbrellas or drinks.

A Chrysler spokesman told CR that the fire risk is likely due to corrosion of an electrical connection involving the Pacificas 12-volt battery system, although the automaker is still investigating the cause. This system is used to power auxiliary features, including radios and garage door openers, and is not part of the vehicles plug-in hybrid propulsion system. However, only hybrid vehicles are included in this recall. The connection is located behind the driver seat.

Chrysler says it is aware of fewer than 10 fires and one minor injury related to this issue. All but two of the fires took place when the vehicle was parked, and drivers of the moving vehicles that caught fire noticed smoke first. One fire took place in Minnesota; the others took place in Canada.

Dealers will inspect the battery connector and tighten it if there is no evidence of corrosion. If the connector is corroded, the dealer will hold the vehicle until a repair is available, and the owner will be provided with a loaner vehicle free of charge.

Chrysler previously recalled over 10,000 2017 and 2018 Pacifica Hybrid minivans in 2018 for another fire issue related to the vehicles fuel system.

The Details

Vehicles recalled: 27,634 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans from the 2017 through 2020 model years.

The problem: An electrical connection within the vehicles 12-volt battery system may corrode and cause a fire.

The fix: Chrysler is still investigating how to fix this issue. For now, dealers will inspect electrical connections and tighten them if necessary.

Story continues

How to contact the manufacturer: Chrysler says that starting June 16, owners will be able to visit recalls.mopar.com to check if their vehicle is included in the recall. Owners may also contact Chrysler at 800-853-1403.

NHTSA campaign number: 20V334. Chrysler's own number for this recall is W46.

Check to see whether your vehicle has an open recall: NHTSAs website will tell you whether your vehicle has any open recalls that need to be addressed.

If you plug your cars 17-digit vehicle identification number (VIN) into NHTSAs website and this recall doesnt appear, it means your vehicle doesnt currently have any open recalls. Because automakers issue recalls often, and for many older vehicles, we recommend checking back regularly to see whether your vehicle has had a recall issued.





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Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright  2020, Consumer Reports, Inc.
Press Release

June 11, 2020 Trabaho sa Oras ng Pandemya

Employ displaced but skilled OFWs for jobs funded by Govt - - Imee The government must seize the opportunity to boost its economic recovery projects with highly skilled workers by recruiting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the Covid-19 pandemic, Senator Imee Marcos said. Marcos called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to immediately inventory the skill sets of OFWs who have returned from abroad, to find out where they can best be used by the government. "We help ourselves by helping our OFWs. They have value-added knowledge and skills plus a solid work ethic that can improve government efficiency and boost development in the countryside where many of them have returned," Marcos said. "We have seamen with leadership experience in handling different nationals, construction workers abreast of the latest building techniques, health workers familiar with advances in medical research and technology, master electricians with new knowledge on fire prevention, urban planners who have learned to combine function with greater environmental awareness," she added. "For decades, OFW remittances have sustained the Bangko Sentral's currency reserves during many economic crises. This is the best time for the government to prove to our OFWs that its gratitude is sincere," Marcos said. Marcos predicts that the 17.7% unemployment rate recorded in April will increase and should compel the government to expand job creation so that income streams and consumer spending can continue to keep the economy running. To organize the creation of job opportunities, Marcos has filed the "Trabaho Sa Oras ng Pandemya Act" (TROPA) which consolidates the wage subsidy and cash-for-work programs of the Labor and Social Welfare departments. An initial Php200 million pesos will be managed by a DOLE-led council of government agency heads, with additional appropriations subject to approval by the Department of Budget and Management. The TROPA bill directs the council to ensure living wages under humane working conditions, health insurance and hazard pay, and social security benefits, with leave privileges to be granted on a case-to-case basis.
The Kaduna state school quality assurance authority says it has shut Future Leaders International School in Unguwar Rimi for conducting ...

The Kaduna state school quality assurance authority says it has shut Future Leaders International School in Unguwar Rimi for conducting entrance examination in violation of the coronavirus quarantine order.





According to NAN, Umma Ahmad, director-general of the agency, who broke the news on Thursday, said that the schools license would also be revoked.





Ahmad explained that the school was shut down on Wednesday for conducting entrance examination into Junior Secondary School I (JSS I) and Senior Secondary School I (SSI) for 70 pupils.





She added that they found 34 teaching and non-teaching staffer, including construction workers within the school premises.

The action, Ahmad said, was in violation of the federal government COVID-19 quarantine order, which directed that all schools should remain close.





The official added that the government had held series of meetings with the leadership of the Nigerian Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) in the state on why schools should remain closed.





She also pointed out that Nasir el-Rufai, the state governor, had on June 9, categorically directed that all schools should remain closed.

But against this directive, we learnt that Future Leaders International School had asked pupils and students to come to the school to write entrance examination into JSS I and SS I, she said.





On getting there, we met 70 pupils and students writing the examination, with 34 teaching and non-teaching staffs as well as construction ongoing in the school.





In fact, half of the pupils and students were not wearing face masks, a situation that put the children at risk of contacting the Coronavirus.





I, therefore, sent the pupils out, invited their parents and closed the school as directed by Shehu Makarfi, the commissioner of education.





When contacted, Margarita Osuala, the proprietor of the school, said: I will not speak right now, but I will get back to you.





Reacting to the development, Philip Iorhena, NAPPS secretary, appealed to the government to be lenient on the matter. He also wondered why the school would flout governments directive.





Notwithstanding, we apologise on behalf of the school and we are appealing to the state government for leniency, he said.
Representative Image

Questioning the basic philosophy that getting foreign companies to open shops in the country will drive our exports, the outward shipments by these entities declined by a steep 13.8 percent in 2018-19 while overall exports rose by 28 percent in the year, according to the World Trade Centre.

In what looks more counterproductive, negating the basic premise of foreign companies-driven exports growth, these very same foreign companies have driven up imports, shipping in 13.4 percent more raw materials and machinery in 2018-19, says the World Trade Centre (WTC) quoting the latest figures from the Reserve Bank.

In FY19, exports rose a full 28 percent to Rs 38.14 lakh crore from Rs 29.80 lakh crore in FY18, while total imports grew a much higher 37 percent to Rs 45.02 lakh crore in FY19 from Rs 32.7 lakh crore in FY18, according to the official data.

According to the latest RBI data, there were 8,095 foreign companies, most of them export-focused in FY19. Of these, 5,099 or 63 percent companies are into services, 2,350 or 29 percent into manufacturing, and the remaining operate in other sectors.

Specifically, 18 percent of these companies belong to computers and related service sectors, 7 percent are engaged in machinery and machine tools, and 6 percent are into wholesale and retail trade.

While exports by these companies declined 13.8 percent to Rs 89,396 crore in FY19, down from Rs 103,680 crore in FY17, their imports rose 13.4 percent during this period. These 8,095 foreign companies imported raw materials, capital goods and spare parts worth Rs 1.18 lakh crore in FY19, compared to Rs 1.04 lakh crore in FY17, the WTC data showed.

The export data of these 8,095 companies are based on their audited annual accounts.

Around 22 percent of these foreign companies are from the US, 12.5 percent are from Singapore, 9.6 percent from Mauritius and 7 percent each from Japan and Britain.

Exports by these companies declined despite their overall production and sales growing 26.5 percent during the reporting year. Their total sales grew to Rs 23.81 lakh crore in FY19 from Rs 18.82 lakh crore in FY17 and this includes both domestic sales and exports.

For these 8,095 companies, their export intensity, measured as the ratio of exports to total sales, also declined from 5.5 percent to 3.8 percent during these reporting period.

Export intensity has fallen for both manufacturing as well as services sector companies. While export intensity fell from 4.7 percent to 3.6 percent for the services sector companies, the comparable figure for manufacturing companies declined from 6.4 percent to 4.4 percent.

Machinery and machine tools companies were the only ones whose export intensity has been largely constant with their export to total sales ratio of 598 of them remaining at 11.5 percent. On the other hand, the share of exports in total sales of 1,490 companies engaged in computers and related activities almost halved from 14.1 percent to 7.6 percent.

On the other hand the proportion of exports in total revenue for automobile companies declined sharply from 5.6 percent to 2 percent, show the WTC data.

Against this export earnings by 16,045 domestic companies which are non-government, non-financial companies, grew 1.4 percent between FY17 and FY19.
Cathy Ruse says shell never forget the first school board meeting she attended: a father got up to the podium with a piece of paper in his hand, and then started on a shocking, profanity-laden tirade.

It was bizarre and disruptive to the point that the chairwoman reached for the gavel to interrupt. But then the father stopped and explained that this was from the first page of the reading assignment his daughter was given.

It was just a really stunning point that he made, Ruse said.

Ruse is a lawyer, and has spent her career fighting on the national level for the big issues that affect family and life. She was the spokesperson on human life issues for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, chief counsel on the Constitution subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives under U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, and is a recognized expert on topics such as civil rights, pro-life issues, and religious freedom.

Shes currently a senior fellow and the director of human dignity at the Family Research Council, a nonprofit research organization focused on family issues in public policy.

But it was more recently that Ruse turned her focus to local matters. When she heard that her local school board had voted to let boys use the girls bathrooms, and vice versa, in public schools, that got my attention, she said.

Ruse dug into the matter and discovered there was only one vote against the policy, and she wanted to know who that was. Ruse started going to her local Fairfax County board meetings in Northern Virginia.

She discovered that a politically charged, propaganda-filled, 70-hour-per-student sex education curriculum in her local district was underway in classrooms (which parents are told once at the beginning of the year that it will be family life education). The meetings were horrific and telling. A board member would apologize for using graphic terms, while confirming that eighth-graders were being taught about a variety of sexual acts, including the how-tos, without any moral framework.

Motions to include teaching health risks of items on the curriculum (such as various contraceptives and hormonal and surgical transitioning) were rejected multiple times. Ruse saw desperate parents trying to advocate for their children and felt their deep frustration.

Not only that, but she realized public schools were turning students into ideologues en masse, dictating the culture of the next generation.

At the Expense of Education

Ruses daughters attend a Catholic school, not the local public school, but whats happening in public schools affects the whole country. This becomes the philosophy of the society, courts, and government of the next generation. Plus, your tax dollars fund these programs.

The reality is, the majority of American kids are going to continue to be educated in public schools for the foreseeable future, even if theres a mass exodus and even if the lockdown is making parents rethink public education in the future, Ruse said.

Its naive to think there is going to be no impact on the child going through and getting these messages for all these years, or no impact on the culture, Ruse said.

Ruses local school district is more left-leaning than most, but public schools around the country face similar issues: their sex-ed courses, often outsourced, are being used as a way to indoctrinate children with tactics that are chillingly reminiscent of those used by propaganda arms of totalitarian regimes. Speech is ideologically restricted (for example, the terms sex assigned at birth are used instead of biological sexmaking it a matter of choice versus biological reality) and dissent is met with shaming.

She added that the long hours dedicated to sex education come at a time when two-thirds of students arent proficient readers and achievement levels continue to decline across the country.

The result is that these schools turn out ideologues who dont know if theyre male or female, but they have a lot of anger at our country. How is that going to turn out? Ruse said.

There is a real and damaging effect on young minds that learn, beginning as early as kindergarten, that they may be in the wrong body and the remedy is drugs and surgery, and that they should expect to have many sexual partners, with the highest moral imperative being to get their consent (building skills around consent mean moving beyond the how to say no model, according to one lesson).

It was such a bald-faced lie that is being taught to kids, that they could be born in the wrong body. Such a sinister  its so bad, I couldnt turn my gaze away, Ruse said.

Making Parents Aware

She recently put together a brochure of her findings, with the intention of telling parents what really occurs in public schools. Many parents arent aware, but some have already dealt with tearful young children coming home feeling violated after some of these lessons.

Im reporting what Ive seen and what Ive heard because parents are in the dark, she said. They assume sex ed is one thingthey dont know its radically changed.

A recent study by the Institute for Research & Evaluation found that some of these sex-ed programs actually lead to increased sexual activity, number of partners, and experimentation by students, all of which are things students are told is healthy and normal in some lessons.

Not one parent I know shares that goal, Ruse said.

Ruse says the parents shes been in touch with arent winning. Despite their impassioned arguments and tearful stories, boards continue to vote against them, and the lessons continue.

Theyre losing, but theyre still fighting, she said.

The most important piece of advice for parents: [You] must be very present [at] your school. Ask for all of the material your child will be taught, in advance. Thats your right. Make the school know that you are watching and are ready to act, Ruse said.

Ruse advises parents to ground their children by telling them about marriage and its moral or religious nature, and by inculcating their family values in matters of human sexuality and marriage, instead of leaving things to chance.

Some school districts have an option to opt out (possibly only at the beginning of the school year), but some dont. Ruse urges parents to find out what is actually in the lessons, rather than reading the summary (in one case, an abstinence until marriage lesson included zero references to marriage, but told students about the option of abstaining from sexual activity until their next monogamous partner), and to keep an eye on school calendars that are chock-full of awareness days and weeks that further indoctrination.

Ruse also wants to remind parents they arent alone. The fight may be an uphill one, but to help your child resist cultural efforts to diminish and demean human dignity is a worthy one, and parents are childrens first educators. The brochure ends with links to additional resources, including a universal opt-out letter and even schooling alternatives, and Ruse reminds that even if your kids are out of public school, the majority in the nation is not, and we should pay attention.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for 11 Confederate statues to be taken down in the US Capitol, amid a growing campaign across the country to remove symbols of the Confederacy.

Multiple statues of Confederate leaders have been taken down in various states across the US, after protesters graffitied some with the words Black Lives Matter, following the death of George Floyd.

Protests have taken place across the US, following the death of Mr Floyd, who died after his neck was knelt on by Derek Chauvin, who at the time was a Minneapolis police officer, but has now been fired and charged with second degree murder and manslaughter.

In a letter to leadership of the Joint Committee on the Library, Ms Pelosi asked for the 11 monuments erected in the Capitol, following the Confederacys defeat, to be taken down, as they pay homage to hate, not heritage.

Ms Pelosi said: Let us lead by example. To this end, I request the Joint Committee on the Library direct the Architect of the Capitol to immediately take steps to remove these 11 statues from display in the United States Capitol.

Recommended Nascar driver Bubba Wallace calls for Confederate flags to be banned

She added: They must be removed.

In her letter to the committee, Ms Pelosi noted that two of the statues in the Capitol are Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens, President and Vice President of the Confederate States of America, respectively, both of whom were charged with treason against the United States.

Ms Pelosi added: While I believe it is imperative that we never forget our history lest we repeat it, I also believe that there is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honour across the country.

The House speaker previously called for the monuments in the Capitol to be taken down in 2017, after a car drove into a crowd of people at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Her attempt was unsuccessful.

A few monuments to Confederate officials have been removed in the last week, and a statue of confederate officer John B Castleman was taken down by the city of Louisville on Monday and moved to Cave Hill Cemetery, where he is buried.

Recommended US Marines order Confederate flag to be removed from public display

The citys decision came after a statue of Confederate general, Williams Carter Wickham, was toppled by the public in Richmond, Virginia, and a statue of segregationist mayor Orville Hubbard was removed from the Dearborn Historical Museum in Michigan.

The Marine Corps, who previously announced their intent to ban all images of the Confederate flag from their bases, officially ordered their removal last week.

The Confederate battle flag has all too often been co-opted by violent extremist and racist groups whose divisive beliefs have no place in our Corps, the service branch said in a statement.

Our history as a nation, and events like the violence in Charlottesville in 2017, highlight the divisiveness the use of the Confederate battle flag.

On Monday, the US army announced it is now open to the idea of renaming its bases that are named after Confederate leaders, but on Wednesday, president Donald Trump tweeted that he disagreed with the idea.

It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom, the president tweeted.

The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.

Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!
MEPs have issued a statement on the construction of a new highway connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The joint statement by the chair of the delegation, MEP Marin Kaljurand, the European Parliament's standing rapporteur on Armenia, MEP Traian Basescu, and the European parliament's standing rapporteur on Azerbaijan, MEP Zeljana Zovko was adopted on Wednesday, June 10.

The statement runs as follows:

Announced last year, the construction of a third highway connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh will kick off soon.

This new road infrastructure will connect Kapan, in Armenia, with Hadrut, in Nagorno- Karabakh, passing through the districts of Qubadli and Jabrayil, which are also occupied.

As a matter of principle, we support projects that foster regional cooperation, connectivity and people-to-people contacts in the Eastern Neighbourhood.

That said, the decision to build this highway has been taken without the consent of the competent authorities of Azerbaijan in violation of international law. In addition, it could symbolically entrench the illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and of its surrounding districts.

Therefore, we very much deplore this initiative as it does not help to create conditions conducive to trust, peace and reconciliation.

We reiterate our unwavering support to the efforts of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and their 2009 Basic Principles. For this mediation to have a chance of success, we call on the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan to step up their commitment, in good faith, to the negotiation on the peaceful resolution of the conflict within the internationally recognised borders of Azerbaijan.
Construction Project Management Software Market Research Report by End-User (Builders & Contractors, Construction Managers, and Engineers & Architects), by Deployment (On-Cloud and On-Premise) - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

New York, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Construction Project Management Software Market Research Report by End-User, by Deployment - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913949/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Construction Project Management Software Market is expected to grow from USD 1,403.93 Million in 2019 to USD 2,836.78 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.43%.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Construction Project Management Software to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



On the basis of End-User, the Construction Project Management Software Market is studied across Builders & Contractors, Construction Managers, and Engineers & Architects.



On the basis of Deployment, the Construction Project Management Software Market is studied across On-Cloud and On-Premise.



On the basis of Geography, the Construction Project Management Software Market is studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Construction Project Management Software Market including Aconex Ltd., Buildertrend, CoConstruct, CPG Corporation, Epicor Software Corporation, ePROMIS Solutions, Finalcad, JCL INTERNATIONAL INC., Magicsoft Asia Systems Pte Ltd, Netsense Business Solutions Pte Ltd, Newforma, Inc., PCOM PTE LTD, Procore Technologies, TeamGantt, Textura Corporation, and Viewpoint, Inc..



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Construction Project Management Software Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Construction Project Management Software Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Construction Project Management Software Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Construction Project Management Software Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Construction Project Management Software Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Construction Project Management Software Market?

6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Construction Project Management Software Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913949/?utm_source=GNW



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RICHMOND, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA) of Canada and the Canadian Recreational Vehicle Association (CRVA) are releasing their updated study, showcasing the economic impact of the Canadian recreation vehicle (RV) industry.

The study, conducted by The Portage Group Inc and urbanMetrrics inc, showcased that in 2019, the RV sector generated an estimated 67,200 jobs and delivered $4.8 billion in added economic value (GDP) to the Canadian economy from an initial expenditure of $6.2 billion. These factors have increased from the previous 2017 data.

"With this recent data, we are able to highlight the significant contributions the industry makes to the Canadian economy" said Gord Bragg, RVDA of Canada Chairman of the Board. "The findings show that not only does RVing continue to be an exceptional way to vacation, but it also has a considerable economic impact. The updated 2020 Economic Impact of the Canadian RV Industry is also very timely as it will give us a baseline from which we will be able to measure the impact of the pandemic on the industry."

"2.1 million Canadian households own an RV" stated CRVA Chairman, Jeff McDermott. "And while manufacturers and dealers contribute considerably to the total economic activity, expenditures associated with RV ownership and use account for 78% of the total value added to the Canadian economy. Post-purchase spending by owners for services such as insurance, storage and accessories along with RV tourism related expenditures are significant contributors to the overall impact."

In order to determine the level of economic activity supported by the RV industry in Canada, the impacts of RVs were broken down through four distinct domains. Key findings are outlined below:

RV Manufacturing:

The total value of recreation vehicles manufactured in Canada was approximately $416 million in 2019.

As detailed below, the value of recreation vehicles manufactured in Canada in 2019-including direct, indirect and induced impacts-generates significant value for the Canadian economy.

Story continues

 $314.4 million in value added to the Canadian economy;

 4,800 full-time years of employment ;

 $203.0 million in labour income across Canada; and,

 $86.6 million in tax revenue to municipal, provincial and national governments, in the form of personal tax, corporate tax, and other taxes.

RV Retail Sales and Service:

The total value of recreation vehicles sold and serviced in Canada in 2019 was approximately $3.8 billion. In calculating the economic impact of RV retail activities, however, it is important to note that only the gross retail and wholesale markup components represent the unique contributions of retail sales and service activities.

As detailed below, the value of recreation vehicles sold in Canada in 2019 generated:

 $746.0 million in value added to the Canadian economy;

 11,300 full-time years of employment ;

 $473.0 million in labour income across Canada; and,

 $163.5 million in tax revenue to municipal, provincial and national governments, in the form of personal tax, corporate tax, and other taxes.

NonTravel Related RV Expenditures:

Overall, total non-travel related recreation vehicle expenditures for 2019 are estimated at some $1.7 billion. This substantial spending on items such as storage, insurance, as well as other equipment and accessories (excluding repairs) yields a significant economic impact across Canada.

 $1.5 billion in value added to the Canadian economy;

 17,700 full-time years of employment .

 $820.9 million in labour income across Canada; and,

 $564.4 million in tax revenue to municipal, provincial and national governments, in the form of personal tax, corporate tax, and other taxes.

Tourism Related RV Expenditures:

It is estimated that RV owners spent a total of approximately $3.4 billion on various goods and services while travelling throughout Canada in 2019. This spending generates a significant benefit to local municipalities, the provincial/territorial economies, as well as spread more broadly across Canada at the federal level.

 $2.2 billion in value added to the Canadian economy;

 33,400 full-time years of employment ;

 $1.2 billion in labour income across Canada; and,

 $1.1 billion in tax revenue to municipal, provincial and national governments, in the form of personal tax, corporate tax, and other taxes.

In sum, the RV sector stimulates economic activity and creates jobs for Canadians across the country. Across all four subsectors, total RV industry expenditures for 2019 have been estimated at approximately $6.2 billion. Moreover, the Canadian RV industry was a significant driver of tax revenues, with the industry contributing $1.9 billion in tax revenue to municipal, provincial and national governments, in the form of personal tax, corporate tax, and other taxes.

The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of Canada (RVDA) is a national federation which exists to protect and promote the interests and welfare of RV Dealers across Canada to enable the industry to maximize its potential.

The Canadian Recreational Vehicle Association (CRVA) is a non-profit organization comprised of leading Recreational Vehicle Manufacturers and Suppliers of the components that go into Recreational Vehicles that are sold in Canada.

For further information or a copy of the full report, please contact:

Eleonore Hamm

604-718-6325

eleonore_hamm@rvda.ca

OR

Shane Devenish

905-315-3156

shane.devenish@crva.ca



SOURCE: The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA) of Canada and the Canadian Recreational Vehicle Association (CRVA)





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/593480/Updated-Economic-Impact-of-the-Canadian-Recreation-Vehicle-Industry-Shows-Growth




An image of survivors of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests posing for a photograph with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is displayed as Pompeo, foreground, accompanied by Sam Brownback, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom(R), speaks at a news conference at the State Department in Washington on June 10, 2020. (ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

State Department Rebukes Chinas Decadeslong War on Faith

Religious persecution in China has intensified over the past year as the regime continues with its decadeslong war on faith, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on June 10 while presenting his departments annual assessment on the religious freedom record around the world.

The Chinese Communist Party is now ordering religious organizations to obey CCP leadership and infuse communist dogma into their teachings and practice of their faith, Pompeo said in the press briefing.

The mass detentions of Uyghurs in Xinjiang continues. So does the repression of Tibetans and Buddhists and Falun Gong and Christians.

The State Department has labeled China a country of particular concern since 1999 for its freedom violations.

The Chinese communist regime has exercised tight control over religious activities, allowing only five state-sanctioned religious organizations to operate under its control and with exclusive rights to hold worship services. Believers outside of state-approved organizations frequently face arrest, harassment, and torture. The regime has also initiated a religious sinicization drive, in an effort to make religious doctrines conform with the Chinese Communist Party line, such as requiring churches to recite the national anthem before singing Christian hymns, the report noted.

While individuals in many places of the world have become more familiar with religious oppression than they are with religious freedom, thats particularly the case in communist countries, Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said in a separate press briefing.

Communism seems to have difficulty abiding alongside religious and freely operating religious entities. Its atheistic by nature and its organization just cant seem to really tolerate the free expression of faith.

Unveiled on June 10, coinciding with the 21st year since Beijing created its Gestapo-like security apparatusthe 610 Officethe extensive report on Chinas record dedicated a notable portion to the persecution of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong.

Police arrested around 6,100 and harassed nearly 3,600 Falun Gong practitioners in 2019, and at least 96 are confirmed to have died as a result of the persecution, the report said, citing Minghui, a U.S.-based website tracking the CCPs persecution of the practice.

Guo Zhenxiang, 82, was arrested for handing out information pamphlets at a bus stop in eastern Shandong Province and died hours later; Li Yanjie from northeastern Heilongjiang Province fell to her death while trying to escape from police who were forcing their way into her apartment.

The religious freedom report also made a special note about the growing list of evidence alleging that the Chinese regime is murdering prisoners of conscience and extracting their organs for sale.

A February 2019 study published in the medical journal BMJ found that 440 of 445 Chinese studies had failed to report whether organ donors for the research had given their consent. Another study, published in BMC Medical Ethics in 2019, concluded that Beijing likely falsified its organ donation numbers, with data that conforms almost precisely to a mathematical formula.

Minghui has documented anecdotal evidence supporting the organ harvesting allegations. He Lifang, a 45-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Qingdao in Shandong Province, died less than two months after his arrest. His body had a sewn-up incision in the chest and an open incision in the back.

Brownback also warned that the Chinese regime seems to be pioneering a future of oppression with its use of high-tech surveillance.

For the estimated 1 million Muslim minorities incarcerated in concentration camps, a virtual police state involving cameras, identification, and social credit systems is likely awaiting them once they get out of detention, Brownback said, relaying concerns of such heavy-handed suppression spreading beyond the region.

When asked which countries are lagging behind in protecting their peoples religious freedom, Brownback named China, saying, Maybe it sounds like a broken record, but China is just such a big player in this space in such a negative way that its hard to overlook, and theyre an exporter of their ways and their technology.

Even if the Chinese regime didnt export this technology and just used it on their own people, thats one you just cant really take your eyes off of, he said of the CCP.
"Our country is experiencing a widespread need for quality, affordable housing solutions," said Rick Boyd, President of Clayton Manufacturing. "At the same time, we are continuously researching ways to reduce labor stress for our valued team members. Automating processes and integrating robotics in our current production not only lessens the physical burden, but also enhances safety and improves efficiency. By testing and incorporating the latest available technology into our construction processes, we hope deliver innovative and attainable solutions to more home buyers."

In early 2018, UT engineering faculty and students began conducting research over multiple three-week periods at Clayton Rutledge in East Tennessee, one of the company's 40 off-site home building facilities nationwide. By using wearable activity trackers and analyzing hours of video, the students were able to compare value-added to non-value-added tasks for each team member throughout their day and offer solutions to create better use of time and labor efforts.

"My experience with Clayton had a positive impact on two aspects of my life problem-solving and relationship management," said Abhay Bajpai, a Graduate Research Assistant at UT. "Through our research and collaboration, we were able to understand the production process, as well as provide solutions to problems and constraints they were experiencing. The relationships we built with the team members were crucial in our methods for an overall sustainable process improvement."

According to the National Institute of Building Sciences, 57 percent of activities in construction are wasteful and non-value adding, while 62 percent of all activities add value in manufacturing. As a result of the partnership, changes to improve productivity and team member experience were implemented at several Clayton home building facilities across the nation, including the process of kitting. Kitting is the practice of bundling all materials for a specific space in the home and delivering them at the most accurate time during the building process. Not only does it improve efficiency, but it also encourages physical distancing between team members.

"Not only were we able to create an algorithm and methodology unique to Clayton and the manufacturing industry that's never been done before, that research is now expanding," explains Dr. Rupy Sawhney, Industrial and Systems Engineering Professor at UT. "Several of our staff and students have subsequently developed and published major reports and studies."

Coupled with ongoing partnerships with educational institutions, such as the University of Tennessee, Clayton is helping evolve the future generation of America's workforce.

As technology advances and new information becomes available, the Clayton Home Building Group remains focused on improving the future of housing and guiding the industry forward through efficiency, innovation and sustainability.

About Clayton Home Building Group

Founded in 1956, Clayton is committed to opening doors to a better life and building happyness through homeownership. As a diverse builder committed to quality and durability, Clayton offers traditional site-built homes and off-site built housing  including modular homes, manufactured homes, CrossMod homes, tiny homes, college dormitories, military barracks and apartments. All Clayton Built homes are proudly designed, engineered and assembled in America. In 2019, Clayton built 51,964 homes across the country. Clayton is a Berkshire Hathaway company. For more information, visit claytonhomes.com .

Media Contact

Caitlyn Crosby

[email protected]

SOURCE Clayton Home Building Group

Related Links

http://www.claytonhomes.com


New Delhi:

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who is facing allegation of sexual harassment, went to the Jamia Nagar Police station on Sunday to get himself arrested but police refused to apprehend him.

We will not arrest him now. Whatever he is doing is of his own accord. We will go by our investigation, a senior police officer said.

The Okhla MLA had yesterday said police are under pressure to arrest him and today he said they didnt arrest him due to public pressure. However, senior police officials rubbished the charges.

Khan had reached the Jamia Nagar Police Station with scores of his supporters around 1:30 PM and asked the policemen to arrest him. It is the victory of common people. The police didnt arrest me because of public pressure, he said.

The AAP MLA had yesterday alleged the police want to arrest him in a false case.

I requested them to not do so since I am personally involved in the ongoing fogging work in my area but they said they are under pressure. I will be courting arrest at Jamia Nagar police station, he had said yesterday.

A case of sexual harassment was registered against Khan last week in south-east Delhis Jamia Nagar Police station on a complaint by his sister-in-law.

A case under IPC sections 354(A)(sexual harassment), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) was registered against Amanatullah and the womans husband.

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Churches say Mass. city's 10-person limit too extreme, plan to defy mayors restrictions

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A group of Massachusetts churches are planning to hold in-person worship services with more than 10 people on Sunday, despite a local city's order prohibiting mass religious gatherings.

Even though Gov. Charlie Baker is allowing churches to hold indoor services with 40% capacity, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone issued an order banning worship gatherings of more than 10 people.

The four churches  Igreja Comunidade Batista Shalom Internacional, Christian Fellowship of Boston, International Church, and Safe House Baptist Church  have expressed their intention to hold services with more than 10 people on Sunday.

They're being represented by First Liberty Institute and the Massachusetts Family Institute, which sent a letter to Curtatone on Wednesday, which detailed their plans to follow social distancing guidelines.

"The Churches have developed a plan  to safely and prudently reopen their facilities in accordance with Guidance issued by the Center for Disease Control (CDC Guidelines'), DLS Standards, and Order 33's General Workplace Safety Rules," read the letter, in part.

"For instance, the Churches will limit occupancy to 40 percent of their maximum permitted occupancy level, counting every person, including staff, in each church. The Churches will also instruct members and staff that if they are feeling sick or have been exposed to someone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 that they should not attend in-person."

Jeremy Dys of First Liberty said in a statement that the city's restrictions "would prevent even Jesus and the twelve disciples from lawfully gathering in Somerville."

"If thousands of people can peacefully protest in the streets under the First Amendment, certainly churches are able to safely resume in-person religious gatherings," Dys said.

The four churches and the groups representing them are not the only ones taking issue with the 10-person limit being imposed in Somerville.

C.J. Doyle, head of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, also denounced the city's restriction as "very extreme," "unwarranted," and "constitutionally very dubious."

"There's nothing in the Bill of Rights that says these rights will be upheld except in a public health emergency," said Doyle, according to CBS Boston.

For his part, Curtatone has defended the 10-person limit, telling CBS Boston that he was working with faith leaders to determine when he could safely lift the worship restriction.

"We need to make sure as we reactivate these different sectors of our lives they don't contribute to this pandemic. All these faith leaders are seeing that," the mayor said.

"Every church, every house of worship, every temple is a different size and scale, and we'll be working on individually tailored site safety plans for all of them."
Retired Laois firefighters are back working for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis and have been specially thanked by the CEO of Laois County Council.

Speaking at the May meeting, John Mulholland thanked seven retired staff who came back working on temporary contracts for the duration of the crisis.

Our thanks to retired fire personnel who have come back to augment our service and provide resilience at this time, he said.

He explained that if one member of a fire crew was out sick, that all the crew had to go out on isolation.

Mr Mulholland's monthly report detailed a 310,000 upgrade at three of the eight fire stations in Laois.

Mountmellick, Mountrath and Abbeyleix are all to receive upgrades to infrastructure.

In Mountmellick, 150,000 will be spent on building a new fire service drill tower and a new concrete yard to the rear of the fire station, based in Irishtown beside the Owenass river.

Laois County Council said that planning and design is underway for the works.

Work in Mountrath station had started and then had to be suspended due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Mountrath is getting 130,000 of improvements. It will get a new 4x4 garage and a new fire service drill tower.

The council said that the work will resume shortly.

Abbeyleix fire station will get a new trench rescue training facility, costing 30,000.

The funds were announced back in March 2018. They are paid by the National Directorate Fire & Emergency Management which supports the Irish Fire and Rescue Service.
TCN News

The US Department has released its annual report on International Religious Freedom (IRF) for this year in the US Congress on Thursday.

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The precursor to this detailed analysis was US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) ranking that placed India in the lowest grade in religious freedom, marking it as CPC  Country for Particular Concern. The IRF report was unveiled by US Secretary of State Mike Pompe on Thursday in the assembly, particularly raising concerns over incidents following the change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The revocation sparked protests, criticism from Muslim leaders, and challenges filed in the Supreme Court from opposition politicians, human rights activists, and others, states the section dealing with the revocation of Jammu and Kashmirs special status. It highlighted the killing of civilians, security personnel and communication shutdown in the Valley that served as a backlash against the division of the territory.

The report has outlined that violence against minorities accelerated with the announcement of a countrywide NRC and CAA resulting in religiously inspired mob violence, lynching, and communal violence. It enlists attacks against Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Jharkhand and Bihar, especially noting the Tabrez Ansari lynching case. It marked that during the CAA protests, such mob attacks by violent Hindu groups against minority communities rose whereas around the same time, domestic and international media had reported 25 deaths, hundreds of injuries and thousands of detentions, with 5,500 detained in Uttar Pradesh alone while the state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath denied of such instances. The report recounted that multiple reports of excessive force by police against protesters, particularly against Muslim university students were noted; especially in December when police moved onto the campus of Jamia Millia University in New Delhi to end a protest, deploying tear gas and beating protesters with batons.

In addition, debates on changing minority status of central universities like Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamic were also taking place and many public places were renamed from their erstwhile Islamic-origin names to Hindu ones. Simultaneously, Babri Masjid decision by the Supreme Court and instances of denying women entry into the Sabarimala Temple and several similar incidents were happening around the country. IRF echoed that while all of this happened, authorities failed to prosecute perpetrators and often protected perpetrators from prosecution and filed charges against victims.

Further, in its country report for India, IRF has detailed accounts of religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, discrimination, vandalism, and actions restricting the right of individuals to practice and speak about their religious beliefs, mentioning specifically the cow vigilantism by Hindutva groups. It remarked that religious freedom in the Indian constitution stood in stark contrast with state anti-conversion laws.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data, 7,484 incidents of communal violence took place between 2008 and 2017 in which more than 1,100 people were killed. Although MHA data for 2018-2019 was not available, incidents of communal violence continued through the year.

However, based on NGO and media watch reports between 2018 and 2019, the IRF report for religious freedom in India has mentioned several attacks on Christians and pastor families with perpetrators tracing their alliances to Bajrang Dal and other Hindu nationalist groups. It continued that collaborators of anti-Sikh riots have been released despite proven charges. US Secretary of State Pompeo further revealed in the session that several countries have been listed for the positive development of religious freedom and those that are negative examples but India features in none of the two lists.

The report condemned such attacks on freedom and concluded that government failed to act to prevent or stop mob attacks on religious minorities, marginalized communities, and critics of the government.
T he statue of 17th-Century slave trader Edward Colston has been removed from Bristol Harbour by the council.

Bristol City Council fished the statue from the water on Thursday morning after it was dumped there by anti-racism protesters on Sunday.

The council tweeted a video of the statue being hoisted out of the sea alongside the caption: Early this morning we retrieved the statue of Colston from Bristol Harbour.

"It is being taken to a secure location before later forming part of our museums collection.

It comes after Mayor Marvin Rees said on Wednesday that the statue would be recovered and put out on display at one of the city's museums.

Mr Rees said it would be displayed alongside Black Lives Matter placards from the recent protest "so the 300-year-story of slavery through to todays fight for racial equality can be learned about".

Edward Colston statue recovered from Bristol harbour 1 /8 Edward Colston statue recovered from Bristol harbour PA PA PA PA PA Bristol Council

During Sunday's protests, video footage captured the statue being pulled down using a rope.

After it fell, people can be seen dancing on top of the statue and cheering, before it was taken to Bristol Harbour and tossed in.

Statue of Edward Colston pulled down in Bristol

It was an landmark moment from the last week, which saw thousands of protesters gathering across the UK to march against racism following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis.

Mr Rees also said that a commission of historians and other experts will also research and share Bristols true history following the removal of the statue.

TODO: define component type apester

The events over the last few days have really highlighted that as a city we all have very different understandings of our past," Mr Rees said in a statement.

"The only way we can work together on our future is by learning the truth of our beginnings, embracing the facts, and sharing those stories with others. This is why this commission is so important."

Mr Rees, the UKs first directly elected black mayor, added: Education of our history has often been flawed.

"More accuracy of our citys history which is accessible to all will help us understand each other, our differences, our contradictions and our complexities.

Any decision on the future of the plinth on which the statue stood will be decided democratically through consultation, the mayor said.
Sen. Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD) introduces Rod Rosenstein, nominee to be Deputy Attorney General, prior to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee

By Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) - A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators on Thursday introduced legislation that would require Republican President Donald Trump to more systematically punish China for stealing U.S. technology.

The bill requires the president to give Congress periodic updates on foreign companies and individuals that steal vital U.S. trade secrets and mandates the leveling of penalties, including economic sanctions.

The legislation was introduced by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Republican Senator Ben Sasse.

Van Hollen told Reuters the bill was a "direct approach" to combating China's use of illicit methods for acquiring rapid technological advances.

"I think there is a big deterrent benefit to making it clear upfront that when we find this kind of theft, there will be penalties," Van Hollen said.

The Chinese government has repeatedly insisted Washington has exaggerated the problem of intellectual property theft for political reasons, dismissing the industrial espionage allegations as groundless.

Van Hollen and Sasse's bill would require the president to send a report to congressional committees every six months.

The biannual report to Congress must list individuals or companies involved in serial theft of U.S. trade secrets that threatens U.S. national security or economic health.

The legislation also requires the president to impose penalties on those companies, including "blocking sanctions" that generally freeze American assets and bar doing business with a U.S. business or person.

The United States has long asserted that China fails to protect American intellectual property and steals it or forces the transfer of it.

Trump has retaliated against Chinese intellectual property and trade practices by hiking tariffs and imposing limits on companies like Huawei Technologies Co [HWT.UL].

A Senate report released in November found that federal agencies responded too slowly as Beijing recruited U.S.-based researchers to transfer intellectual property from American laboratories, leaving U.S. taxpayers unwittingly funding China's economic rise.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Truro, Massachusetts; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
After 95 years of operation, the Sacred Heart School in Bath will close at the end of this school year, according to the Diocese of Allentown.

The school at 115 Washington St. couldnt overcome the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, according to diocese spokesman Matt Kerr. He issued a news release Wednesday.

This decision does not come lightly and will affect many people, including students, their families, alumni, the parish community and the many friends and benefactors who have supported our school over the years, said Father Christopher Butera, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish.

Only 60 students were registered for next year for kindergarten through eighth grade. The school has consistently run operating deficits, Butera said.

We recognize the impact that such sad news has on our students, their families, and our staff, said Brooke Tesche, Chancellor of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Allentown. These decisions were reached only after much analysis, deliberation and prayer.

Also closing is St. Francis Academy in Bally, Berks County. That school will transform itself into a preschool and full-day kindergarten program beginning next academic year.

Students in the two closing schools are eligible for Catholic School Continuation Grants of $1,000 in the first year and $500 in year two if they transfer to another Catholic school.

Elementary schools are operated by individual parishes and not by the diocese, according to the news release from the diocese. The diocese provided the parishes with support and the evaluation tools to determine the schools futures, the release says.

After study, the pastors recommended closures. The closings also were recommended by the diocesan Council of Priests and the diocesan Board of Education. Bishop Alfred Schlert accepted the recommendations.

Last month St. Theresa Elementary School in Hellertown closed after 80 years.

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Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. If theres anything about this story that needs attention, please email him. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
There were calls from local leaders in East Orange on Wednesday for youth to become more civically engaged at a George Floyd rally, and they may soon get their chance if a city ordinance fully passes.

The East Orange City Council on June 8 passed a first reading of an ordinance that would require two members who sit on the public safety advisory council to be between the ages of 15 and 20, while another two would have to be 21 to 30 years old. The ordinance would also increase the number of people on the council from seven to 14.

Young people have been an integral part of the peaceful protests across this nation and globe, said East Orange Council Chairman Christopher James. "They deserve a seat at our table too.

The advisory council was first created in 2015, said Mayor Ted Green. Its members are supposed to field concerns from residents on public safety issues involving the police and fire divisions and make recommendations to the citys governing body.

Wednesdays rally, the mayor said, was about a lot more than just Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for about eight minutes. He called on residents in his city, which is about 85% black, to become politically involved too.

Each and every day in our communities, we have to get involved, Green said. You have to make sure you vote. Youve gotta come out to the council meetings. You have to go up to the board of education meetings. Until we get involved, its not going to stop.

East Orange Mayor Ted Green attends a peaceful Black Lives Matter march and rally in East Orange to remember George Floyd. The "Peace, But Not Patience" Walk and Rally started at the Sussex Avenue Mall with a march to East Orange City Hall. Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2020. Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

It was not immediately clear who sits on the advisory council, and local officials who spoke with NJ Advance Media admitted that its members dont routinely meet.

Under the newly proposed revisions to the advisory committee, the mayor would appoint members who would be subject to the city councils confirmation. One of the 14 members would have to work in the law enforcement field, but cannot be a current East Orange employee.

There are, however, teens in East Orange who are already getting involved. The East Orange Junior Police Explorers, which works with the police department and helps with community events like citywide cleanups, attended the rally.

Zahmir Coles, 17, joined the program about two years ago, after it was revived from a hiatus due to a lack of funding. Coles learned about the program from his school resource officer and told NJ Advance Media he wants to become an Essex County Sheriffs officer and make change within the ranks.

(Police) are trained to see people as either a threat or as a friend, Coles said. So thats just my number one: to change how these people are getting trained and who theyre getting trained by.

Im here at the Sussex Avenue Plaza in East Orange for a George Floyd rally. It kicks off at 1 p.m. but theres already a decent turnout of what appears to be about 200 people. pic.twitter.com/A7Fy0FuwXN  Rebecca Panico (@BeccaPanico) June 10, 2020

The advisory council would not have the same powers as Newarks Civilian Complaint Review Board, which is embroiled in a state Supreme Court battle to strip it of its subpoena power. The board, should Newark win its case against the local police union, would have the ability to investigate cops accused of misconduct separately from internal affairs.

Ex-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin now faces second-degree murder and manslaughter and three other officers were also charged. It took days for the cops to be arrested, which sparked nationwide protests that focused on racism and police reforms.

East Orange Police Chief Phyllis Bindi said she supports the advisory council and told NJ Advance Media that trust between the department and community needs to constantly be earned.

I want you to know that that behavior or inactive behavior will never, ever be tolerated by the East Orange Police Department, Bindi told residents outside of city hall. Never, ever. I guarantee that.

The city councils next meeting is scheduled for June 22 at 7:30 p.m., where a second reading of the advisory council ordinance is slated to be on the agenda.

Protestors participate in peaceful Black Lives Matter march and rally in East Orange to remember George Floyd. The "Peace, But Not Patience" Walk and Rally started at the Sussex Avenue Mall with a march to East Orange City Hall. Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2020. Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

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Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com.
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Wednesday, where she discussed the chaotic mess surrounding the Georgia primary elections. Voting issues plagued her own bid for governor in 2018 and she wants election officials to start being held accountable, starting with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. It was an unmitigated disaster because the secretary of state, who is in charge of elections, claims that he had no responsibility for the actual performance of elections, said Abrams. So, instead, it depended on the county you lived in if you had access to democracy. Abrams also questioned Raffenspergers use of election funds. This is all due to the fact that the secretary of state failed to train, failed to give good direction, failed to invest but he found it possible to spend $400,000 to film a television commercial about himself purchasing new machines, said Abrams. That could have paid for 1,600 poll workers, which certainly would have made things easier yesterday for Georgians. Despite Georgia investing $106 million in new voting machines, Abrams and others are concerned that these voting issues could be even worse in November. So she is pushing for the Heroes Act to be passed by the senate, which would allocate $3.6 billion for the equipment, supplies, and staffing needed to administer elections in 2020.

Video Transcript

STACEY ABRAMS: It was an unmitigated disaster, because the secretary of state, who is in charge of elections, claims that he had no responsibility for the actual performance of elections. And so instead, it depended on the county you lived in if you had access to democracy.

KYLIE MAR: Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams appeared on "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert Wednesday, where she discussed the chaotic mess surrounding the Georgia primary elections, and how the blame falls directly on Secretary of State Brad Rappensperger.

Story continues

STACEY ABRAMS: This is all due to the fact that the secretary of state failed to train, failed to give good direction, failed to invest, but he found it possible to spend $400,000 to film a television commercial about himself purchasing new machines. That could have paid for 1,600 poll workers, which certainly would have made things easier yesterday for Georgians.

KYLIE MAR: Despite Georgia investing $106 million in new voting machines, Abrams and others are concerned that these voting issues could be even worse in November. So she is pushing for the Heroes Act to be passed by the Senate, which would allocate $3.6 billion for the equipment, supplies, and staffing needed to administer elections in 2020. And she also wants local election officials to be held accountable.

STACEY ABRAMS: It's also about making sure that people can understand the rules. And when they try to follow them, that we hold the county elections officials accountable, but that means holding the statewide elected officials most accountable, because the responsibility is theirs.
OPEC has agreed to extend production cuts, which energy investors expect to help correct the painfully out-of-balance global supply/demand equation. That's got oil prices up off their recent lows and energy stocks moving higher again. But there's something else going on in the industry that investors need to consider that could limit the growth of energy companies both large and small. Here's what you need to watch, and how you should think about it.

Forget the near-term ups and downs

Oil and natural gas are commodities prone to dramatic and frequent price moves. All it takes is a bit of news and prices can soar or collapse, often taking the share prices of energy industry giants like ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) higher or lower. The stocks of smaller players like Chesapeake Energy (OTC:CHKA.Q) and Matador Energy (NYSE:MTDR) are usually impacted even more.

There's a mismatch here that's important to recognize, though. Oil majors like Chevron frequently explain to investors that they don't pay all that much attention to near-term energy price moves, preferring to focus on the long-term supply and demand equation in the energy sector. That isn't to suggest that near-term price changes don't have an impact -- the current low oil prices have led Chevron to reduce its capital spending plans as it attempts to balance cash going out the door with cash coming in. However, Chevron still sees a bright long-term future for oil, as does Exxon. So while these companies are pulling back, they are keeping their eyes on the long term and still spending.

Smaller players are pulling back, too, but the impact on their businesses can be more dramatic, particularly when it comes to onshore U.S. drilling. That's because non-conventional wells tend to produce a lot of oil up front, but the flow slows quite quickly to a trickle. In order to keep production growing, unconventional drillers need to keep drilling. Exxon and Chevron have diversified businesses, mixing short-cycle assets (like unconventional U.S. wells) and longer-cycle assets (like offshore wells), along with material downstream businesses that add even more variety to the cash flow stream.

Put simply, the bigger players can not only afford to spend more even during difficult times, but they also have business profiles that allow greater flexibility. But that brings up the bad news that's taking shape in the energy market, despite rising oil prices.

Historically low

This down cycle in the oil sector has been particularly brutal due to a combination of factors, including the long-term increase in U.S. onshore production, an ill-timed price war between OPEC and partner Russia, and the demand drop off related to the global effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. It got so bad that oil prices briefly fell below zero, which, in theory, means that oil drillers were paying customers to take oil off of their hands. And there's still a huge glut of oil sitting in storage that needs to be worked off before a sustained price increase can really take hold.

That's where the "bad news is good news" factor comes in. Generally speaking, pulling back on capital spending means slower production growth for oil companies. For an onshore U.S. driller that can quickly lead to production declines. So it's terrible for onshore U.S. drillers that the number of rigs operating in the United States today is near historic lows. This isn't a small issue -- the current active rig count is now about 80% below the peak levels seen in 2012.

Drillers are pulling back very hard, and that will have material implications for their individual businesses. But with cash flow weak because of low oil prices, there really hasn't been much of a choice. Indeed, some companies in the U.S. onshore space are already going bankrupt, and more are likely to follow.

However, from a big-picture point of view, fast-growing U.S. production was one of the factors that led to an oversupply of oil in the first place. So a material pullback in onshore drilling will actually help speed up the process of getting supply and demand back in balance. Add in OPEC's production cuts and the outlook starts to look even brighter on the supply side of things. On the demand side, there's still a lot of excess oil sitting in storage to work off -- but with economies around the world starting to reopen, the need for oil is again getting back to more normal levels. So a steep drop in drilling is bad news on the one hand, but on the other it's exactly what the oil market needs.

Turning things around

As you watch the news in the energy sector, be careful to think about the long-term supply/demand equation like the energy giants do. That's what matters, and what will really determine what is good news and what is bad news. On that score, a drop in drilling in the U.S., a key source of oversupply in the global market, is very good news, even if it means that there's likely to be a shake up in the sector. In fact, a few more bankruptcies might actually be a benefit, too, if they foster more rational long-term drilling plans. On the negative side, what you'll want to watch out for is a material uptick in energy prices leading to a material uptick in U.S. drilling, as that could start a brand new down cycle again. All in, as an investor today, you should probably focus your attention on companies that have proven they can manage through volatile periods like this, like the integrated giants.
Photo credit: Hotel Esencia in Mexico  Tanveer Badal

From Harper's BAZAAR

Somehow its June (March, and the start of lockdown, feels both like yesterday and a decade ago) and yet this year, like most of 2020, summer holidays are at risk of being cancelled. The thought of leaving your postcode may still seem like an ill-advised pipe dream (the government still warns against any non-essential travel), but hotels all around the world are preparing to welcome guests to a post-Covid reality over the coming months. Inevitably, things are going to look different for a while, with new buzz phrases like air bridges and travel bubbles suddenly a part of everyones holiday-booking vernacular.

The 14-day mandatory quarantine is probably going to put a lot of people off leaving the UK for now. But if you are dreaming of a summer holiday  whether its Aperol spritzes on the Amalfi Coast, saganaki at sunset in Greece or beers on a breezy French beach  this is what it might look like in 2020 terms.

From limiting the number of people checking in, implementing social-distancing measures at mealtimes and the temporary death of the breakfast buffet (RIP), there will be some noticeable differences in how hotels are run this summer. The private hotel experience  where guests will basically feel like they have the place to themselves  is set to become a popular option.

At the family-owned Grand Hotel Tremezzo on Lake Como, only 30 of its 90 rooms will be open to guests. The third-generation current CEO Valentina de Santis says: It will certainly be quieter but richer than ever terms of what it has to offer, as all our facilities will be available for the enjoyment of very few lucky guests. This is our answer to the need for safe travel for those discerning travellers that are still seeking exclusivity while being totally carefree. Those guests will be armed with a pocket-size hand sanitiser on arrival and, because this is Italy, a stylish face mask designed by a local silk artist. The hotels Villa Sola Cabiati can also be hired out, with a team of staff to arrange everything for you, from yoga sessions to boat trips from the marina.

Story continues

Photo credit: The Greek Villas' Villa Felice

The Greek Villas, a holiday-home rental company, is offering guests an experience that will essentially transform its houses into private hotels. This means caterers, cleaners, day trips, spa treatments and even a concierge. The company has also shrewdly teamed up with Lloyds of London to create an insurance package that means you can book without concerns about sudden changes in government regulations. And it can arrange a private jet if getting on a scheduled flight isnt looking all that tempting. Vasilis Pandis, co-founder and managing director of the Greek Villas, says: We have seen an increase in bookings with many being long-term rentals as travellers seek to relocate and escape cities. With this private-hotel experience, guests can enjoy the privacy of their own villa with the luxuries of a five-star hotel.

Tom Barber, the founder of Original Travel, has always aimed to offer travellers a degree of privacy, with things like fast-track security, out-of-hours museum access and private guided tours, but now hes taking it up a notch. We are doing more to create bubbles of protection around our clients when they can start travelling again, including a new collection of road trips departing from the UK on the Eurotunnel, designed to avoid busy airports and crowded planes, and make the most of Original Travels favourite small, boutique hotels, he says. We are supplementing our existing rail-only itineraries to include private rail carriages, such as the new private suites onboard the Belmond and were adding to our selection of stand-alone properties, be they nomadic glampsites, pop-up private camps or separate cottages within hotel grounds.

At Borgo Egnazia in Puglia, outbuildings offer a solution for long stays and are a great option for reuniting families wanting to spend a little longer together after so much time apart  its cassette and villas are spread across 40 acres. It may not have been something you previously looked for in a hotel, but the more anxious in your party will be relieved to hear that theres a doctor on-site 24/7 and a clinic with an oxygen supply.

For Julian Cabanillas, the GM of the Marbella Club, this isnt a new situation. Hotels have been adapting to new health and safety protocols continuously over past decades, he says. It will be more challenging to be able to provide the warm and familiar service we are famous for while adapting to new social norms. It will be a change of pace, but we feel that creating safe havens, full of small yet significantly thoughtful details, will ensure our guests continue to feel at home with us. For those seeking seclusion, the clubs 17 villas all have private entrances and theres a contactless check-in service in place for minimal interaction. The hotel is set to reopen on 2 July and Spain currently has no quarantine measures for incoming tourists.

Photo credit: Ana Lena

Of course, some hotels were already set up for social distancing, long before this pandemic hit. In Mexico, Kevin Wendles Hotel Esencia on the Riviera Maya sits on 50 acres, with no neighbours, three outdoor restaurants and its own beach. Since the celebrity-favoured retreat is already big on its privacy offering, according to Wendle, most of our tables and suites already exceed current social-distancing recommendations. The private villa, originally built for an Italian duchess, is available for exclusive use for the first time ever this summer. The hotel also has a new section with 12 suites, including seven right on the sand, that can be booked by one family or group of friends. We are even able to set up a private restaurant, with private chef and private waiters, exclusively for any group of more than 15 people travelling together, he adds.

For Wilderness Safaris, whose properties all enjoy the heavenly solitude of remote Africa and only ever have a handful of guests at a time, the camps already exist in isolation  and if youre dreaming of long-haul, the African bush is probably a good place to start. This is one instance where socially distanced dinners are a good thing, since the company plans to serve meals in different areas of its camps and concessions, meaning you get the added bonus of an unforgettable experience as well as keeping to two metres apart from your fellow guests.

If youve enjoyed having little Perspex boxes around you at the supermarket self-checkout, youll love the Lake Vanern cabins in West Sweden. The Ben Fogle-approved glass structures have only trees for neighbours and guests must sign up to a three-night stay, (preferably leaving their phones behind) in order to fully make the most of the peaceful setting. It's a good place to ease back in to normal life for anyone feeling not quite ready to face the real world and the rest of humanity yet.

Photo credit: Gili Lankanfushi's Private Reserve

The tiny islands of the Maldives are also a useful backdrop for minimising human interaction this summer. At Gili Lankanfushi, the 45 villas all have open-air living areas, roof terraces and private decks leading to the lagoon  and we can think of far worse places to cocoon ourselves in that its 1,700sq m Private Reserve, with its four bedrooms, private cinema, spa and gym, and slide for grown-ups.

Or you can stake out an Indonesian island for a month, since Nihi Sumba is taking bids for a 30-day buyout where guests will have two and a half kilometres of private beach, 500 acres and an island the size of Jamaica to themselves. The CEO and partner of Nihi Sumba, James McBride, says: For those taking the month-long buyout, we will be introducing more of an opportunity to educate themselves on Sumba, the tribal culture and way of life, which travellers normally dont have time to do this will tap into the new-generation hospitality travellers will be seeking post Covid  one that is soulful, more human and more honest.

So even though things are going to look a little different for a while, theres no need to retire your passport for good  all hope is not lost.

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EU concerned over Israel's annexation plan in West Bank, German FM says

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 3:09 PM

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where he is going to express the European Union's "concern" over the Tel Aviv regime's controversial plan to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank.

Mass arrived in Jerusalem al-Quds on Wednesday as the first high-level European visitor to touch down in occupied lands since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic there, and was received by his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi as they were both wearing face masks.

The German Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that "in the Middle East conflict, Germany and its European Union partners are committed to the resumption of negotiations and a [so-called] two-state solution."

It added, "In Israel, Foreign Minister Maas will also express European concern about the possible consequences of annexation"

Mass held talks with his Israeli counterpart, before meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and minister of military affairs Benny Gantz.

Germany's top diplomat is due to travel on to Jordan, where he will hold a video conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh and meet with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

On May 21, Jordanian Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz said his country would review its relationship with Israel in case the Tel Aviv regime proceeds with its annexation plans.

"We will not accept unilateral Israeli moves to annex Palestinian lands and we would be forced to review all aspects of our relations with Israel," Razzaz told the official Petra news agency back then.

His comments came nearly a week after Jordan's monarch King Abdullah II starkly warned Israel of a "massive conflict" if it goes ahead with the annexation plans.

"Leaders who advocate a one-state solution do not understand what that would mean," King Abdullah said in an interview published by the German news magazine Der Spiegel on May 15.

Jordan is the only Arab state apart from Egypt to have diplomatic relations with Israel. Even though Amman and Tel Aviv signed a peace treaty in 1994, bilateral ties have been tense in recent years.

Haniyeh calls for Arab, Islamic summits against Israel's annexation plan

Separately, a senior official with the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has called for emergency Arab and Muslim summits to confront the Israeli regime's plans to annex Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

"It is necessary to back the Palestinian position, which rejects settlement projects in the West Bank and the Judaization of al-Quds (Jerusalem)," Head of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh said in a message addressed to the leaders of more than 40 Arab and Muslim countries on Tuesday.

Haniyeh then described the Israeli annexation plans as a new aggression in the dismal record of the regime's crimes, warning the plans pose a real danger not only to the Palestinian people but also the entire Arab and Muslim nations.

The top Hamas official also called for Arab and Muslim summits in order to form a united front against Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank and Judaization projects in Jerusalem al-Quds, besides US-sponsored schemes aimed at liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

"It is important to ensure a political and diplomatic network to defend the Palestinian cause, and take serious and unified positions that reject and illegalize annexation plans," Haniyeh highlighted.

He also censured the Israeli regime over exploiting normalization attempts by a number of Arab and Muslim states "to implement its plans in the occupied Palestinian territories."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was sworn into office for another term on May 17, has set July 1 for the start of cabinet discussions on extending Israeli sovereignty over settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.

In response to Israel's decision, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared the end of all agreements signed with Israel and the United States on May 19.

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Egypt's ceasefire proposal for Libya aims to save Haftar: Turkey

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 3:26 PM

Turkey has slammed Egypt's proposal for a ceasefire in Libya as not sincere, saying the initiative aims to save renegade general Khalifa Haftar, whose fighters are losing ground in the war-torn country.

Ankara supports the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj against rebels commanded by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is backed by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, among other countries.

Egypt recently proposed a ceasefire that would have started on Monday and an elected leadership council as Haftar's offensive to capture Tripoli, the seat of the Libyan government, collapsed and as the Libyan rebels lost ground.

Russia and the UAE welcomed that initiative, while the Libyan government and Turkey  whose support for Tripoli has helped change the course of the war  said fighting would continue to recapture the coastal city of Sirte and the Jufra air base, to the south, in a strategic region of the oil-exporting country.

"The ceasefire effort in Cairo was stillborn. If a ceasefire is to be signed, it should be done at a platform that brings everyone together," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Hurriyet newspaper. "The ceasefire call to save Haftar does not seem sincere or believable to us," he added.

The European Union also rejected the ceasefire proposal by Egypt, insisting that a European initiative known as the Berlin Process be pursued. Germany also stressed that UN-backed talks were key to the peace process.

Cavusoglu added Ankara will continue talks with all parties for a solution to Libyan crisis, but that such a solution would require the agreement of both sides.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he and his US counterpart Donald Trump had agreed on "some issues" on Libya about the conflict in Libya.

Cavusoglu said Erdogan and Trump had delegated their foreign and defense ministers, intelligence chiefs and security advisers to discuss possible steps in the north African country.

Turkey's presidency said Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed Libyan matters in a phone call on Wednesday.

Libya plunged into chaos in 2011, when a popular uprising and a NATO intervention led to the ouster of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

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Donald Trump attacked Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, using a derisive nickname, over her amendment that prompted an Armed Services Committee agreement that all US military bases named after Confederate generals should be renamed in three years.

"Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth 'Pocahontas' Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars," the president tweeted from Air Force One en route to an event on race relations and other topics in Dallas.

"Hopefully our great Republican Senators won't fall for this!" he added, putting pressure on his party to block the compromise spawned by Ms Warren's initial amendment that would have required even faster name changes.

The Armed Services Committee's annual Pentagon policy bill, following committee work this week, could be further changed when it hits the chamber floor later this year.

More follows
The three people who died in a fiery crash on Route 22 in Newark late Tuesday night were on their way home from a large pop-up party in Point Pleasant Beach that brought thousands of people to the oceanfront, authorities said.

They were identified Wednesday as Taylor Hill, 19, Kamal Johnson, 18, both of Newark and Nashawn Brooks, 20, a former high school athlete from Irvington, according to a statement from the Essex County Prosecutors Office. Hill and Johnson were pronounced dead at the scene and Brooks died at University Hospital in Newark shortly before noon on Wednesday.

All three were passengers in a Cadillac CTS, which was the only vehicle involved in the crash which occurred at 11:11 p.m., the office said.

Two other women in the car, including the 19-year-old driver, sustained life-threatening injuries and were hospitalized in critical condition on Wednesday evening, the office said.

Speed did not appear to be a factor in the crash, a prosecutors office spokesperson said.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced during his daily coronavirus press briefing on Wednesday afternoon that he had spoken with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka who informed him of the tragic news.

Three young [people]...were killed on Route 22 on the way on the way back from Point Pleasant Beach, Murphy said.

Murphy said they attended the beach gathering at the Jersey Shore town that required police from neighboring towns to be brought in for crowd control.

An awful loss of life with two other [people] who were in...Im not sure what type of hospital care, but please keep them in their prayers, Murphy added.

The car was headed westbound on Route 22 when it crashed and caught fire about 11 p.m. in Newark, according to a report on ABC-7.

Three people were ejected from the car and taken to a nearby hospital, reported ABC-7. Video from the scene showed a badly burned vehicle and police blocking the road.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation Wednesday evening.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
L ocals in Poole have vowed to fight to keep the statue of Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell standing after the council said it would be brought down.

Residents staged a protest this morning in front of the monument on the town's quay after campaigners demanded it be removed due to Baden-Powell's associations with the Nazis and his actions in the military.

Anti-racism activists have drawn up a hit list of 78 statues and street names across the UK that they want removed.

It comes after Black Lives Matter protesters toppled a figure honouring Edward Colston, the 17th century slave owner, in Bristol and dumped it in a harbour.

Campaign group Topple the Racists reportedly said the Poole Quay statue of Baden-Powell should be removed because of his documented homophobia, racism and enthusiastic support of Hitler.

Locals gathered to defend the statue on Poole Quay / PA

In response to the campaign, Vikki Slade, leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, said that the statue will be removed and placed in "safe storage" while "views are aired".

She also tweeted that the decision to remove the it was taken following a threat, adding: Its literally less than 3m from the sea so is at huge risk."

But today a number of locals were adamant that the figure should remain, branding calls to remove it ridiculous.

Some 7,500 people have also signed a petition to save the statue, calling it "an asset to not only local history, but worldwide history".

Locals vowed to fight for the statue / Getty Images

He is the reason I am still here, the pleasure he gives to so many people, they shouldnt take it down, I will fight them off, Len Banister, 78, a former Scout, said.

Spencer Tuck, 35, said: Unfortunately he was in fascist times but there is more to it and this statue is nothing to do with racism, its to do with the heritage of Poole.

Another held up a placard next to the statue reading "British history matters". When asked whether the monument's presence was problematic, another local told Sky News: No problem at all. So what are they going to do, take the Pyramids down and the Colosseum?

Baden-Powell founded the Scouts in 1910 after writing the best-selling book Aids to Scouting while he was in the British Army.

However, biographers have claimed that Baden-Powell was an enthusiastic Nazi sympathiser, who called Mein Kampf "a wonderful book".

The statue was installed in 2008 and faces Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour.

It is the latest flashpoint amid growing calls to bring down statues of historical figures with ties to colonialism, slavery and racism, following worldwide outrage over the death of George Floyd in US police custody last month.

Monuments for slave traders Edward Colston in Bristol and Robert Milligan, in Londons Docklands, have already been removed.

While Liverpool University has promised to rename a university halls of residence named after former Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone in response to student uproar over his family links to slavery.

Mark Howell, deputy leader of Poole Council, said the council is considering whether we should remove the statue, but insisted it would only be a temporary move.

The Scouts said in a statement that they look forward to discussing this matter with Poole Council to make an informed decision on what happens next.
South Africa: Public Works continues to release land for restitution

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has over the past three months released numerous parcels of land for human settlements development, land redistribution and restitution.

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia de Lille, said the release of land under the custodianship of the department is part of governments commitment to land reform, redistribution, restitution and land tenure that includes human settlements development.

The release of land for these purposes is one of the most tangible contributions we can make to reversing the legacy of apartheid spatial planning and ensuring that public land is used for public good. DPWI releases land for human settlements development purposes on a gratis basis subject to various administrative processes and conditions being met, de Lille said.

De Lille said the land transferred by DPWI is on the condition that the land is not sold to the private sector and in the event that land is to be resold, national government must get the first option to take the land back".

Some of the details of the parcels of land which have been signed off for release since March are as follows:

Northern Cape: Portion of a farm in the Phokwane Municipality measuring 0.9571 hectares size for human settlements;

Limpopo: Kalkbank, release of land measuring 1065 hectares to settle a claim for a restitution claimant community;

North West: portion of Doornkop farm measuring 1094 hectares for restitution of individual claimants;

Western Cape: Parcel of land in the Stellenbosch Municipality measuring 18.774 hectares. This land has been released for human settlements development and related infrastructure;

Western Cape: Parcel land in Driftsands, City of Cape Town measuring 1234 hectares size. The land was requesting to upgrade portion of an informal settlement; and

Western Cape: release of land in Franschhoek for restitution to a claimant family.

All of this work of transferring land is vital to ensure that we restore peoples dignity either through issuing of title deeds, through releasing land for integrated human settlements developments or restoring peoples rights as land owners in cases where land was taken away from them by the apartheid regime, the Minister said.

She said the department will continue to expedite all requests for land and will make announcements as more parcels of land are signed off for release.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The four-decade old building, which housed 40 apartments in its five floors, had collapsed on Sunday night in the city's Lyari neighbourhood.

Karachi, June 11 (IANS) The death toll from a building collapse in Karachi rose to 22, while six people were reported injured even as rescue teams raced against the clock to look for survivors.

"A total 22 bodies and six injured have been recovered from debris," Raheel Ahmed, the police spokesperson for the area, told Efe news on Wednesday.

Ahmed said that some of the bodies had been brought out on Wednesday.

Arshad Ali, spokesperson of the Edhi Foundation - one of the largest humanitarian non-profits in the country, told Efe that search was on for more people who could be trapped under the debris.

The Minister of Information for the Sindh province, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, said in a televised press conference on Tuesday that authorities were investigating the incident as the building had already been declared dangerous and notices had been issued for vacating it.

Building collapses are relatively common in Pakistan, mainly due to the poor state of the structures, explosions in gas cylinders or installations and sometimes also due to heavy rains.

In March, 24 people were killed due to the collapse of another building in Karachi, where authorities have declared around 150 structures, including both housing and commercial premises, as unsafe.

In 2012, at least 45 people were killed and 103 injured in the eastern city of Lahore, after the collapse of an industrial plant.

--IANS

ksk/
Gandhinagar:

Chief Justice of India T S Thakur on saturday had breakfast with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a meeting that comes in the midst of tensions between government and the judiciary over judicial appointments.

Justice Thakur, who was here to the state judicial academy, drove to the Raj Bhavan and greeted Modi on his 66th birth day. The meeting between the two lasted about half an hour, the Raj Bhavan sources said.

 CJI Shri Thakur met Narendra Modi and extended birthday greetings to the Prime Minister,  PMO India said on Twitter. Modi on his personal Twitter handle said,  met CJI Shri Thakur. I thank him for his kind wishes. 

Later in the day at a function, recalling his meeting Modi, Justice Thakur said  (I) told the PM when I met him in the morning today for breakfast, that coming to Gujarat gave me such peace that once you land here, you feel you have landed in a very very peaceful place". "And who can feel these vibrations and reverberations more than those who hold high offices? Because you know so many things get connected to the office you hold. Therefore, I would say that I am lucky to be here with you this morning, and to share my thoughts with you,  he told the audience.

In the recent past, Justice Thakur had expressed deep concern over the pendency of cases and delay in transfer and appointment of judges in high courts.

Observing that justice delivery system is  collapsing  , the Supreme Court had on August 12 sent out a message to the Centre over non-execution of collegium  s decision to transfer and appoint Chief Justices and judges in High Courts, saying it will not tolerate the  logjam  and would intervene to make it accountable.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Whatever his view of the purges, Mr. Grassley is irked by the presidents disrespect for Congress. In response to Mr. Trumps April 3 announcement that he was firing Michael Atkinson, the former inspector general for the intelligence community who played a tangential role in the presidents impeachment, Mr. Grassley demanded more detailed reasoning by April 13  a request the White House ignored. The senator made a similar request following the May 15 ouster of Steven Linick, the former inspector general of the State Department, whom Mr. Trump dismissed at the request of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Mr. Linick had been investigating the secretary for possible abuse of office.

Mr. Grassleys letter to the White House also expressed concern that, at both the State and the Transportation Departments, the president had replaced the ousted inspectors general with political appointees from within the agency, who reportedly planned to keep their political appointments while serving as I.G. This would, he pointed out, give them oversight of and access to all confidential inspector general information, including whistle-blower complaints and identities, while still reporting to the department secretary. (The senator is a big champion of whistle-blower protections.)

On May 26, Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, responded with a letter that provided no explanations, even as it asserted the presidents constitutional and statutory authority to do what he had done.

Unimpressed, and perhaps weary of being humiliated, Mr. Grassley at last moved beyond letter-writing. Last Thursday, his office announced that he would not consider the nomination of Christopher C. Miller to be the director of the National Counterterrorism Center nor the nomination of Marshall Billingslea to be the under secretary for arms control and international security at the State Department until the president explained himself.

Perhaps coincidentally, Mr. Grassleys move came one day after Mr. Linick told House members that hed been removed from office shortly after seeking to interview Mr. Pompeo about his role in a questionable arms sale to Saudi Arabia. He also testified that a top department official and longtime friend of Mr. Pompeos, Brian Bulatao, had pressured him to abandon the inquiry.
New Delhi: The Sabarimala Temple will not be opened for public for the monthly pooja and its festival will also be cancelled, informed Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran on Thursday (June 11). He said the decision was taken after a meeting with Sabarimala tantri and Travancore Devaswom Board.

The opening of the Lord Ayyappa shrine for its monthly rituals starting June 14 at 5 pm. will be an inhouse affair till it closes on June 19 at 10 pm.

This development comes after Travancore Devaswom Board President N Vasu had a day ago announced that Sabarimala Temple festival will commence from June 19.

"Sabarimala temple opens on June 14 evening for monthly puja. We discussed with both 'tantris' of the temple. With their consultation and cooperation we decided this. As of now, we are going ahead with monthly puja and temple festival scheduled from June 19," said Vasu.

"As per the present schedule, the temple festival is to commence on June 19, before that there will be monthly puja from June 14. The Arat ceremony will be conducted on June 20 at Pampa river," he added.

The BJP had earlier criticised the CPI(M)-led Kerala government for allowing temples under the state-funded Devaswom Board to open for devotees.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs and senior BJP leader from Kerala V Muraleedharan had said the move raises suspicions.

There are around 3,000 temples in Kerala under the five devaswoms  temple affairs body controlled by the government.
Trump stood in front of the historic St. John's Church holding a Bible and posing for photographs. He later motioned to members of his Cabinet to stand alongside him for more pictures.

Before the photo op, Trump stopped short of invoking the Insurrection Act but threatened to deploy active-duty U.S. military if states failed to quell demonstrations. He then walked out to St. John's with Milley, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other members of the Cabinet, including Attorney General William Barr.

The protests were triggered by the death last month of George Floyd at the hands of police. The unarmed black man died after a white Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes. The officer has been charged with second-degree murder.

Following a June 1 Rose Garden speech, Trump posed with a Bible outside St. John's Episcopal Church after protesters were forcibly cleared from Lafayette Square across from the Executive Mansion.

"My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics."

"I should not have been there," Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a video commencement address to National Defense University.

The nation's highest-ranking military officer apologized Thursday for accompanying President Donald Trump to a photo opportunity at a Washington church after authorities violently moved protesters from an area outside the White House.

"As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched, and I am not immune. As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week, that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society," Milley said.

"We who wear the cloth of our nation come from the people of our nation," the four-star general said. "And we must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our Republic. And this is not easy. It takes time and work and effort. But it may be the most important thing each and every one of us does every single day."

Milley praised the mostly peaceful protests saying "we should all be proud" because the "peaceful protests means American freedom is working."

A senior Defense Department official last week told reporters that Esper and Milley did not plan to participate in Trump's photo-op in front of St. John's Church, whose basement had been set on fire by protesters the night before.

"The secretary and the chairman were both actually heading to the Washington Field Office of the FBI to be co-located with the director of the FBI and the Attorney General to observe and provide leadership for response efforts last evening," the official said.

"They were not aware that the Park Police and law enforcement had made a decision to clear the square. And once they began that walk off the White House grounds with the president, their understanding was that they were going out of the White House to go into Lafayette Park to review the efforts to address the protests," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The latest revelation comes as former national security leaders criticized Esper and Milley's handling of the civil unrest.

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who resigned from the Trump administration in December 2018, wrote in a statement last week that he "watched this week's unfolding events, angry and appalled."

"Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflicta false conflictbetween the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part."

Mattis, who was Trump's first Defense secretary, also took issue with the June 1 incident in which protestors were forcibly cleared from Lafayette Square.

"The words 'Equal Justice Under Law' are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demandone that all of us should be able to get behind," Mattis wrote.

"We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution."
MINNEAPOLIS, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) today announced voting results from its 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Shareholders elected 11 members of the board of directors, ratified the appointment of Target's independent registered public accounting firm, approved the "Say on Pay" management proposal and approved the Target Corporation 2020 Long-Term Incentive Plan.

The Carideo Group, the independent Inspector of Elections, has certified all voting results for the Annual Meeting, held on June 10, 2020. The final tabulation indicates that approximately 442,601,633 million shares were voted, representing 88.6 percent of outstanding shares.

The final tabulation of votes for each proposal is as follows:

1. Shareholders elected each of the following board nominees for a one-year term by a majority of the votes cast:

Nominee Percent For Percent Against Douglas M. Baker, Jr. 97.9 2.1 George S. Barrett 99.5 0.5 Brian C. Cornell 93.8 6.2 Calvin Darden 96.2 3.8 Robert L. Edwards 99.3 0.7 Melanie L. Healey 99.1 0.9 Donald R. Knauss 99.5 0.5 Monica C. Lozano 99.3 0.7 Mary E. Minnick 96.1 3.9 Kenneth L. Salazar 97.9 2.1 Dmitri L. Stockton 98.9 1.1

2. Shareholders ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Target's independent registered accounting firm for fiscal 2020:



Percent For 94.2 Against 5.6 Abstain 0.2

3. Shareholders approved, on a non-binding advisory basis, Target's executive compensation ("Say on Pay"):



Percent For 93.6 Against 6.4

4. Shareholders approved the Target Corporation 2020 Long-Term Incentive Plan.



Percent For 93.7 Against 5.9 Abstain 0.4

About Target

Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) serves guests at nearly 1,900 stores and at Target.com. Since 1946, Target has given 5% of its profit to communities, which today equals millions of dollars a week. For the latest store count or for more information, visit Target.com/Pressroom. For a behind-the-scenes look at Target, visit Target.com/abullseyeview or follow @TargetNews on Twitter.

SOURCE Target Corporation

Related Links

www.target.com


The Justice Department moved swiftly to bring federal charges against 53 individuals accused of violence during nationwide protests that swept across the United States calling for an end to police brutality.

Attorney General William Barr promised a crackdown on members of the anti-fascist movement known as antifa and other 'extremists' he blamed for helping to drive the violence.

But a Reuters examination of federal court records related to the charges, social media posts by some of the suspects and interviews with defense lawyers and prosecutors found mostly disorganized acts of violence by people who have few obvious connections to antifa or other left-wing groups.

Reuters reviewed only federal cases, both because of the allegations by the Justice Department about the involvement of antifa and similar groups, and since federal charges generally carry harsher penalties.

A woman holds a sign during a protest against police brutality in Florissant, Missouri, on Wednesday

John Wesley Mobley Jr, 36, was charged with impersonating a police officer when he was found carrying a BB gun that looked like a Glock pistol and a fake US Marshal's badge

Mobley had a history of felonies and had impersonated police in the past, the complaint said

In some of the charging documents reviewed by Reuters, no violent acts are alleged at all.

The Department of Justice declined to comment on Reuters' findings and referred to an interview that Barr gave to Fox News on Monday.

He said there that while his department had some investigations underway into antifa, it was still in the 'initial phase of identifying people.'

Looting and violence broke out at some of the hundreds of largely peaceful demonstrations over the past week sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, an African American, after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him with a knee to the neck for almost nine minutes.

Ca'Quintez Gibson, 26, was arrested for allegedly using Facebook live posts and emoji-filled messages to encourage people to loot in Peoria, Illinois

The policeman, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder, and three other officers with aiding and abetting.

While Barr and President Donald Trump have repeatedly singled out antifa, an amorphous movement of primarily leftist anti-authoritarians (the name is derived from 'anti-fascist'), as a major instigator of the unrest, the term does not appear in any of the federal charging documents reviewed by Reuters.

It is possible that more evidence could emerge as the cases progress.

Only one group was called out by name in a federal complaint: the so-called Boogaloo movement, whose followers, according to prosecutors, believe in an impending civil war.

Hate group experts say Boogaloo's followers are largely an assortment of right-wing extremists.

Prosecutors alleged three men affiliated with 'the movement' plotted to set off explosives in Las Vegas in the hopes of touching off rioting before a protest.

The three suspects are scheduled to appear in federal court on Monday and have not yet entered a plea.

Their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Kyle Olson was arrested in Madison, Wisconsin, after he was caught carrying a loaded handgun, which he said he brought to the protests 'for protection,' court records stated. Joseph Bugni, the public defender who is representing Olson, said his client had 'no political motivation'

In three other criminal complaints, individuals told police about their ideological leanings without claiming allegiance to any particular group.

In Massachusetts, 18-year-old Vincent Eovacious was charged with possession of a Molotov cocktail and - according to the complaint against him - told his arresting officer he was 'with the anarchist group.'

The US attorney's office in the state said there was no additional information on what that meant.

Anthony Krohn was found by police lying intoxicated on the grass near the Wisconsin state capitol with a serious gunshot wound to his leg, which he said he had accidentally inflicted on himself

His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another man, Brian Bartels, arrested in Pennsylvania for spray painting and destroying a police vehicle, described himself as 'far left' and said he lashed out in a 'f***-it moment,' according to the charging documents.

His lawyer, Joseph Otte, declined to comment.

A man in Lubbock, Texas, 25-year-old Emmanuel Quinones, brandished an assault rifle at a protest and shouted: 'This is a revolution' and 'President Trump must die' as he was arrested, according to prosecutors.

He admitted to posting messages on social media aimed at intimidating Trump supporters. Quinones' attorney declined to comment.

On social media, 17 individuals espoused violence - like threatening to start riots or harm police - or organized themselves using encrypted communications, the complaints alleged.

Social media profiles reviewed by Reuters showed a range of views, including anarchism, anti-racism and anti-government messages.

Ca'Quintez Gibson, 26, was arrested for allegedly using Facebook live posts and emoji-filled messages to encourage people to loot in Peoria, Illinois.

But John Milhiser, the US attorney in Springfield, Illinois, whose office is prosecuting the case, told Reuters that Gibson had 'no connection' with any political group or motive.

Brian Bartels, who was arrested in Pennsylvania for spray painting and destroying a police vehicle, described himself as 'far left' and said he lashed out in a 'f***-it moment,' according to the charging documents

Gibson's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Barbara McQuade, who was US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan during President Barack Obama's administration, said prosecutors were generally cautious about making allegations based on someone's ideology, owing to constitutional guarantees of free speech.

Michael German, a former FBI agent and current fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice, said the government could produce more evidence at trial, but the 'lack of clear indications of involvement of anti-fascists in these protests I think shows they are not leading in any way the protest violence.'

Still, Trump's campaign for re-election in November is sending out pleas for campaign donations touting the president's '100%' stand against antifa.

Most of the individuals charged - about 40 - were accused of violent acts around the protests, from throwing Molotov cocktails to setting fires or looting stores, according to photographs and affidavits included in the criminal complaints.

In the rest of the cases, no serious violence was alleged, Reuters found. Some of those arrested were charged only with possessing illegal drugs or firearms.

One man arrested in Florida, John Wesley Mobley Jr., was charged with impersonating a police officer when he was found carrying a BB gun that looked like a Glock pistol and a fake US Marshal's badge, according to the federal charging documents.

Emmanuel Quinones, 25, allegedly brandished an assault rifle at a protest in Lubbock, Texas, and shouted: 'This is a revolution' and 'President Trump must die' as he was arrested

Mobley had a history of felonies and had impersonated police in the past, the complaint said. His attorney, Karla Mariel Reyes, declined to comment.

A man arrested in Madison, Wisconsin, Kyle Olson, was carrying a loaded handgun, which he said he brought to the protests 'for protection,' court records stated. Joseph Bugni, the public defender who is representing Olson, said his client had 'no political motivation.'

Another man charged in Wisconsin, Anthony Krohn, was found by police lying intoxicated on the grass near the Wisconsin state capitol with a serious gunshot wound to his leg, which he said he had accidentally inflicted on himself.

Krohn's attorney, Peter Moyers, said his client had 'no history of political activism.'

Attorneys for some of the individuals charged said they were surprised the FBI was getting involved in cases that would usually be handled by state prosecutors.

The FBI referred questions to the Justice Department.

The head of the New York Police Department's intelligence unit, John Miller, told reporters at a briefing there were definitely signs of organized violence by 'anarchist groups' that came 'prepared to commit property damage' in 'high-end stores run by corporate entities' and developed a 'complex network of bicycle scouts' to report on police movements.

But none of the eight people charged by the Justice Department in New York were alleged to have ties to specific anarchist groups, according to court papers.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Reuters' findings.
Met Eireann's weather forecast for the weekend and the early parts of next week show humid and unsettled conditions prevailing.

According to the national forecaster, Friday will be a fairly cloudy day with showery outbreaks of rain. However, good dry periods will develop during the afternoon before a further pulse of rain moves in across the southeast of the country on Friday evening. A humid day with highest temperatures of 15 to 19 or 20 degrees, mildest in the northwest, in moderate to fresh northeast winds.

Outbreaks of rain will develop across much of Leinster and Munster on Friday night but it looks set to hold largely dry in Connacht and Ulster until morning. Minimum temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees in moderate northeast winds.

Met Eireann's latest forecast continued: "A showery day is expected across the country on Saturday with longer spells of rain likely in some areas. Feeling warm in any sunny spells with highest temperatures of 17 to 21 degrees as winds fall mostly light. A good deal of dry weather overnight but with a few scattered showers. Minimum temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees.

"Warm and humid on Sunday with sunshine and heavy showers. There is a risk of heavy and prolonged downpours in places with a few thunderstorms breaking out. Highest temperatures ranging 18 to 23 degrees with generally light winds but gusty around heavy showers. Humid overnight with some scattered showers and the ongoing risk of an isolated thunderstorm. Lowest temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees.

"A warm and humid day on Monday with hazy sunny spells but also scattered heavy downpours and isolated thunderstorms. Highest temperatures of 18 to 22 degrees with light, variable winds. Isolated showers overnight with lowest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees.

"Another day of sunny intervals and scattered heavy showers is expected on Tuesday with the ongoing risk of isolated thunderstorms. Highest temperatures of 17 to 20 degrees."
A spate of stabbing murders at Greece's largest asylum-seeker camp has left five people dead, including a woman and a young boy.

The killings happened in the overcrowded camp Moria on the island of Lesbos, which is home to 17,000 people living in squalor.

Five have been killed in the violence since the start of the year - including a woman and young boy - while ten others have also been injured in the attacks.

'The situation gets worse every day,' says Muhammad, a Syrian who has been stranded at at Moria with his pregnant wife and their young daughter for the past seven months.

'We fear for our children. Every day there is unrest, and every night they fight with knives'.

A mother walks with her daughter among Moria camp, where thousands of migrants are crammed in overcrowded camps or living rough

Two of the stabbings happened in the central square of the port capital of Mytilene, and residents have expressed concern over a shortage of police officers at the camp.

Tension between Afghanistan's ethnic Hazaras and Tajik are a frequent source of violence, says Nazifa, a teacher from that country.

'Yesterday, people came to our tent asking if we are Hazara or Tajik. We are neither, so both sides now consider us foes,' she said.

Greek authorities had pledged to move many migrants, mostly families, to the mainland to help ease overcrowded conditions at camp Moria but operations have been stalled amid the pandemic

As well as the murders, the overcrowded camp faces fears of a coronavirus outbreak which could claim more lives.

The camp has been under lockdown since March 18 which has been extended three times, most recently to June 21.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) this week criticised the lockdown extension as 'discriminatory' and 'counter-productive.'

'The extension of movement restrictions imposed on asylum seekers who are living in the Greek reception centres will further reduce their already limited access to basic services and medical care', Marco Sandrone, the group's Lesbos field coordinator said in a statement.

'In the current phase of the COVID-19 epidemic, it is absolutely not justified from a public health point of view,' he said.

'This population doesn't represent a risk. They are at risk,' Sandrone said, noting that people were trapped in overcrowded camps with limited access to water and sanitation, and where social distancing measures were 'just impossible' to apply.

The Greek government had planned to relocate more than 2,300 asylum seekers from island camps to the mainland, including elderly and ill people, but the operation has been stalled by the pandemic.

The UN refugee agency had also urged last month that the exceptional measures be lifted 'as soon as possible'.

Ibrahim, a former mechanic from Kabul, says the restrictions are preventing him from obtaining food for his family.

'We can no longer go to town and we have to buy supplies at the camp store,' he said.

'We tried to go once, but the police turned us back.'

He agrees that the biggest concern in Moria is public safety.

'There are 100 police for 20,000 residents,' he said.

The migration ministry has said that small groups of camp residents are allowed out at regular intervals to obtain supplies, under police supervision.

Fardeen, a 17-year-old Afghan, has been stranded at the camp for nine months.

He says that other residents, who were allowed into Mytilene for medical appointments, saw no Greeks wearing masks on the street.

A young boy at camp Moria, one of 17,000 living in squalor, looks on. A spate of stabbings that have left five people dead have taken place across the camp since January

'(The locals) don't seem to care much about the virus. Are these measures only for migrants? Am I different?' he asks.

'Today the police turned us away from the beach. Swimming is one of the few things that helps us forget about living in Moria,' he said.

Dozens of Africans last month marched out of a hotel near the Peloponnese town of Kranidi to protest against a total lockdown imposed in April after more than 150 people at the facility tested positive for coronavirus.

Authorities extended the Kranidi hotel lockdown to June 14 after three more cases were discovered in May.

More than 31,000 asylum seekers live in the five camps on the Aegean islands, with a total capacity of 6,095 people.

The migration ministry has recently stepped up asylum procedures, sorting through more than 6,000 requests in May.

Hundreds of refugees who have secured asylum have been queueing daily at the port of Mytilene, and over 500 have boarded ferries to Piraeus since last week, local news website StoNisi said.
According to the contract C3 and the Park District signed in 2012, C3 is required to pay the Park District $1.5 million even if the festival is not held, unless there are special circumstances. C3 owes nothing if the festival is not held because the Park District breached the contract. The Texas-based promotion company owes $750,000 to the Park District if the cancellation is because of force majeure, which covers fire, hurricane, flood, tornado, act of God, terrorist act, mechanical or structural failure, civil commotion and any law or order from a public or military authority stemming from certain occurrences that are not reasonably foreseeable and are beyond reasonable control.
- The bodies of infants were retrieved at Korogocho area and the matter reported at the Kariobangi police station

- Since the Nairobi River Restoration Project began early 2019, 16 bodies of infants and five of adults have been retrieved from the river

- Governor Sonko called on the police to help nab those dumping babies in the water body and those promoting abortions

Two more bodies were on Wednesday, June 10, retrieved from the Nairobi River by the Comb Green clean-up team working under Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.

The bodies of infants were retrieved at Korogocho area and the matter reported at the Kariobangi Police Station who authorised their burial.

READ ALSO: Kisii man wrestles with huge cat wearing red 'necktie' after it kicked him while asleep

Members of the team cleaning up Nairobi River. Photo: Citizen Digital.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Ngumi na mateke Kirinyaga huku Waiguru akitimuliwa na habari zingine zenye gumzo wiki hii

This brought to 21 the number of bodies retrieved from the city river since the launch of the Nairobi River Restoration Project in early 2019.

The 21 include 16 infants and five adults.

According to Fredrick Okinda who is leading the clean-up team, the Wednesday morning exercise was cut short when one of the team members noticed a polythene bag floating on water only to realise that the remains of an infant were inside.

"One of us noticed a paper bag floating around and when he went on to open it, he was shocked to find remains of an infant and minutes later, we found another body of a girl dumped around the same area," Okinda noted.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and members of his clean up team retrieve bodies from Nairobi River. Photo: Mike Sonko.

Source: Facebook

The Korogocho area has become synonymous with the vice despite previous measures to tame it.

Governor Sonko called on the police to help nab those dumping babies and those promoting abortions.

"The police have a big role to play. l know they have been working tirelessly to curb this vice but we note that it's beginning to resurface again. They will need to be more vigilant," Sonko said.

The governor also urged locals to be on the lookout and report those perpetrating the vice.

He promised to invite various agencies to conduct a probe and unearth the real problem affecting the society.

The county boss asked sub-county administrators to file such reports and hand them in before end month.

The issue has also attracted the attention of organisations dealing with children rights who are now calling on young ladies facing abortion temptations to contact them for counselling.

Beatrice Muema who works with Kangemi Childline Organisation, said they were issuing counselling services to many women faced with the challenge.

"When you dig deeper we realise that the child was either defiled by a grown-up but for them, they thought that they are in a relationship. We thank the county government, more so Governor Sonko. We must find a long-lasting solution," Muema said.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly.

This is God's miracle to me-Maureen Mwikali | Tuko TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
When COVID-19 stay-at-home orders first began to pop up in Tennessee, the state's parks saw a sudden increase in visitors. People believed that outdoor recreation at a safe social distance would be a healthy away-from-home option, and so they set out to visit the state's many parks.

Alarmed by the huge number of local and out-of-state guests visiting during that first week, park managers grew concerned about potential health risks for visitors and staff. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee quickly responded by closing the state's 56 parks. Officials were uncertain of when and how to safely reopen them.

Staff at Tennessee State Parks needed a way to help the governor's office monitor the COVID-19 crisis, make policy and create guidelines. Moreover, they needed a system that would help park managers plan reopening strategies and keep the public up-to-date about which parks are open and what restrictions are in place.

Since location plays a crucial role in COVID-19 safety and prevention, state leaders decided to use GIS to monitor and manage the crisis. For years, Tennessee State Parks had been using the technology, keeping up with location intelligence advancements and developing applications for managing park and business operations, so it was not a stretch to create a GIS strategy specifically designed to handle the pandemic.

Managing information essentials

Rachel Schultz, parks and conservation GIS lead, and a team at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation created a location strategy that would help leaders launch safe initiatives. First on the to-do list was to determine each park's risk factors and levels. Next was to create a dashboard that would give the governor's office actionable information that would be updated throughout the day as needed.

"Previous park closures were due to budgetary and economic concerns," Schultz said. "These current and partial closures are caused entirely by public health concerns. It's a new arena for us, as I believe it is for many organizations."

Simultaneously, the GIS team expanded park staff's technology capacity, developing apps and analysis to provide decision-makers with the location intelligence they needed. The team used a variety of data to support these tools, including existing information on parks, COVID-19 tracking data from the state health department and modeling output data from the Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation. But the most valuable data came from the parks themselves, especially real-time information captured by park managers and rangers using GIS mobile apps for data collection.

Analyzing risk

Risk analysis played a large role in understanding and managing response for state parks. To determine COVID-19 risk levels for each park, the GIS team created a web survey app to collect information from park managers. It asked them to rate their concern levels about continuing regular operations during the outbreak as low, moderate or high. The survey also asked what specific situations were driving those concerns.

The team built an operations dashboard that showed the spatial distribution of parks with high concerns. It also used geographically weighted regression tools to find patterns that explained why some parks were more or less concerned with risk than others. Findings showed the highest concerns came from parks with rugged or steep terrains in which park rangers would be exposed to COVID-19 during rescues. Also, parks that had sufficient stocks of personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies were more likely to give a low or moderate concern rating.

Deciding when to reopen

Staff used a GIS park sustainability dashboard to brief the governor on the status of Tennessee State Parks, which allowed him to work on pandemic response including the difficult decision to temporarily close state parks.

During the closure, the team completed two more GIS projects. The first one tracked PPE and cleaning supply inventory at parks across the state. It helped management determine how best to distribute equipment and supplies among state parks. A dashboard measured status of the goal of getting each park fully stocked with everything staff needed to feel secure upon reopening.

Within the parks, staff posted signage about closed trails, social distancing rules and face mask requirements.

Informing the public

Tennessee State Parks wanted to supply people with information that would be easier to read than a simple list. The GIS team lead worked closely with the park's marketing team to embed a web app at TNStateParks.com. They built a publicly accessible, interactive map that interfaced with the GIS database.

Whenever a park's status changes, the map automatically updates and shows the most current information. If a park experiences an unsustainably high amount of visitation over a weekend, the park can close or restrict admission and immediately show it on the public map.

A tenet of social distancing is to stay close to home. Although Tennessee encourages people to come out and enjoy state parks, it asks visitors to limit travel as much as possible. Fortunately, all Tennesseans can find a state park within a one-hour drive. The status map will quickly and clearly show the nearest park and its current status and restrictions.

"We have never experienced anything like this," Schultz said. "GIS helps us to respond to these new and ever-evolving situations quickly and efficiently."
[June 11, 2020] Novant Health Builds a Solid Foundation for Optimized Operating Room Capacity With Help From LeanTaaS

LeanTaaS, Inc., a healthcare analytics software company delivering solutions that improve patients' access to care, today announced that Novant Health has successfully deployed iQueue for Operating Rooms across Novant Health's North Carolina surgical locations. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, LeanTaaS and Novant Health implementation teams collaborated remotely to bring 139 operating rooms across 23 locations online and to train 1,300 surgeons, clinic team members, operating room leadership and operating room schedulers on the application in just four weeks. Historically, hospital software implementations across multiple locations take six months or more. Novant Health selected iQueue for Operating Rooms to not only assist in the recovery of elective surgery volume post COVID-19 but, more importantly, to also provide greater visibility and transparency into operating room performance metrics needed to optimize the use of operating room time across its surgical locations. "We are excited to utilize iQueue for our operating rooms because it gives us access to data that we previously did not have," said Leslie Barrett, president and chief operating officer of Novant Health Medical Park Hospital, and Novant Health's system vice president of surgical and anesthesia services. "iQueue enables us to have a better understanding of our true capacity and where we have opportunities to optimize our operating room utilization." LeanTaaS began data onboarding, implementation and training at Novant Health in April and launched the platform remotely by the end of May. The platform's success was notable: Within three days of launching, 34% of participating surgeons, clinics and surgical team members actively used the system to release block time, request open time for elective cases, and gain greater visibility into their historical operating room metrics.

Within four days of launching, surgeons and clinics made 225 requests for 25,000 operating room minutes outside of block time - time which might have historically gone unused because the surgeons might not have known it was available.

Surgeons released 102 blocks, which equates to 27,000 operating room minutes for other surgeons to access and use.

Surgeons set 71 "availability alerts" which translates into pent-up demand for operating room time that is not yet available. The releasing, requesting and monitoring of time all occurred without multiple phone calls etween operating room scheduling, surgeons, patients and clinics.



In addition to opening up time in the operating rooms and increasing visibility into available time, Novant Health leadership gained insight into the demands for operating room time through previously inaccessible metrics such as the percentage of time filled versus the percentage of time that was released and the percentage of time requested.

"Novant Health's advocacy for iQueue for Operating Rooms, from the beginning of the contracting phase through the implementation, led to a speedy and successful launch in just four weeks' time under some of the most challenging circumstances healthcare has seen," said Ashley Walsh, senior director, client services for LeanTaaS. iQueue for Operating Rooms is a lightweight, cloud-based SaaS (News - Alert) solution that digitally transforms core operational processes in operating rooms using predictive analytics and machine learning. The solution unlocks operating room capacity so more cases can be performed in the same number of operating rooms without extending business hours: Increase access - Find time for surgeons wanting more OR access.

- Find time for surgeons wanting more OR access. Right-size blocks - Collect and make available the right set of underutilized blocks to surgeons needing more time or to attract new surgeons.

- Collect and make available the right set of underutilized blocks to surgeons needing more time or to attract new surgeons. Engage surgeons with credible performance metrics - Create a "single source of truth" using current, objective and credible reporting easily accessed through either mobile or desktop browser. About LeanTaaS LeanTaaS provides software solutions that combine lean principles, predictive analytics, and machine learning to transform hospital operating room and infusion center operations. Approximately 100 health systems across the nation rely on the company's iQueue cloud-based solutions to increase patient access, decrease wait times, reduce healthcare delivery costs, and improve revenue. LeanTaaS is based in Santa Clara, California, and Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information about LeanTaaS, please visit https://leantaas.com/, and connect on Twitter/LeanTaaS, Facebook/LeanTaaS and LinkedIn/LeanTaaS. About Novant Health Novant Health is an integrated network of physician clinics, outpatient facilities and hospitals that delivers a seamless and convenient healthcare experience to communities in Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. The Novant Health network consists of more than 1,600 physicians and over 29,000 employees that provide care at nearly 700 locations, including 15 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics. In 2020, Novant Health was the only healthcare system in North Carolina to be included on Forbes' Best Employers for Diversity list. Diversity MBA Magazine has also ranked Novant Health third on its 2019 list of "Best Places for Women & Diverse Managers to Work." Novant Health provided more than $993.2 million in community benefit, including financial assistance and services, in 2019. For more information, please visit our website at NovantHealth.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook. LeanTaaS and iQueue are trademarks of LeanTaaS. All other brand names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Tags: LeanTaaS, iQueue, healthcare, Novant Health, predictive analytics, operating rooms, COVID-19, elective surgery, machine learning, hospitals, data science, data analytics, big data, lean principles View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005205/en/

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We've seen Ayushmann Khurrana play a Kanpuriya to the T in Bala and ace the Mathura dialect in Dream Girl. With his body language and mannerism, he had no problems convincing us that he is indeed a cassette shop owner in Haridwar (Dum Laga Ke Haisha) or a small-time writer from Bareilly (Bareilly Ki Barfi).

Thanks to these successful portrayals, Bollywood quickly crowned this Punjabi from Chandigarh the 'poster boy of heartland cinema'. Ayushmann went on to star in Article 15 and Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan, both based in Uttar Pradesh, thus nailing his newfound tag.

Gulabo Sitabo is yet another UP-based film Ayushmann has taken on, playing a middle class man in Lucknow. The film pitches him against a stalwart, a pillar in Bollywood cinema who has been holding fort for over five decades. In many films through those decades, we have seen Amitabh Bachchan flaunt his UP swag proudly on screen.

Bachchan was born in Allahabad, and a part of his appearance and mannerism has always reflected that identity. We have seen him slip into Punjabi or Bengali roles with equal ease - his mother was Punjabi and his wife is Bengali. But his desi charm has been an inseparable part of his on screen persona.

One of the most enduring images of Bachchan in his UP avatar is from the song Khaike Paan Banaras Wala from Don (1978). With a gamchha tied around his head and a paan in his mouth, the actor reveled in the role of the unsophisticated thief. The song was initially meant for Dev Anand's Banarsi Babu, but the senior actor had rightly assessed that it did not go with his suave, urban personality. Instead, Bachchan got to ace the look in this last minute addition.

He got to relive that slightly rustic, unpolished image in several other films and songs. Some of his most popular songs - Aaj Rapat Jayein (Namak Halaal, 1982), Jumma Chumma De De (Hum, 1990) and Holi Khele Raghuveera (Baghban, 2003) - banked on Bachchan's crude yet endearing appeal. We have also seen him channel the same in films like Bade Miyaan Chhote Miyaan and Sooryavansham in 1998.

His style of saying 'Hain!' with his left hand extended became a trademark after his role in Shahenshah (1988). But ironically, it was the role of Inspector Vijay, also played by him, who required a UP-ite's body language in the film.

The film's director Tinnu Anand had told Scroll, "Being from Allahabad, Amitabh could speak in a particular style rooted in his hometown, which he added to his character of the policeman, the paan-chewing inspector Vijay. Amitabh reasoned that since the other guy, Shahenshah, has all these heavy dialogue, the alter-ego should have a different lahja (tone) of speaking."

His role of DCP Dashrath Singh in Bunty Aur Babli (2005) exploited his UP connect once again. While the film captured the restless soul of small town India with protagonists from Fursatganj and Pankinagar, it also gave us an antagonist who clung to his gamchha more than his policeman's uniform.

Not just films, Bachchan has enjoyed mouthing dialogues in the dialect of his motherland in several TV commercials as well. "One can never forget the tone graph and mannerisms of your 'janmbhoomi'... and the joy of its 'boli'," he had said while sharing an video ad for an innerwear brand. Here's another sample of his gamchha-clad look in an ad.

In his current release, Gulabo Sitabo, Bachchan plays an aged Muslim man living in an old haveli in Lucknow. The film's writer Juhi Chaturvedi says, "Mr Bachchan comes from the Lucknow-Allahabad belt so he understood the character of Mirza very well. He knew the cultural and historical background. Language has its own contribution to a character. Each language has its own satire, banter and repartee. He was familiar with all that. He was able to contribute a lot from his own understanding and experiences," Juhi said.

Bachchan's adversary in this film is Ayushmann, with a very UP name  Bankey. "Ayushmann is not from Lucknow, but he has done so many films in that space. Despite belonging to Chandigarh, he is able to pull off a role like this. But at the same time, this is not just another 'Ayushmann in UP' role. He makes sure all his characters look different," says Juhi.

The portrayal of the heartland hero has changed over time. While Bachchan has been acing the desi mannerism for decades, Ayushmann has sealed his space in heartland stories in a short span of time. It will definitely be interesting to see the two UPs face off in Gulabo Sitabo.

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Actor Sonu Sood has proven to be a messiah for thousands of migrants who could not reach home because of coronavirus lockdown. He has been sending these migrants home in buses and planes and always follows through whenever anyone in distress reaches out to him. Suffice to say, he's won many hearts.



More recently, a Twitter user suggested that Sonu Sood send Chinese troops at the border 'back home' too and his reaction to this comment earned him another round of applause.

Twitter

Given that things have been tense at the border in Ladakh, someone suggested the actor could help out here as well.

One man tweeted My idea - Send Sonu Sood to Ladakh to send Chinese back home safely.







To everyones surprise, Sonu Sood replied to the tweet saying,' Chinese logon ke details bhejo (Send the details of the Chinese troops)'. The hilarious response tickled everyone on Twitter.

Anti-China sentiment in India seems to be growing, especially after Sonam Wangchuk, the educator who inspired the character of Phunsuk Wangdu in 3 Idiots came out to ask people to boycott Chinese products.

Sonam Wangchuk released a YouTube video when tensions at the border were high. Among other things, he mentioned in the video that China makes almost Rs 5 lakh crore from its business with India every year, and this money might be used by the Chinese to invest in their army which is fighting against ours.

He argued that we are indirectly sending money to the Chinese army, hence we should boycott Chinese products and apps and stop them from profiting. He asked people to start by deleting apps like TikTok from phones and then get rid of hardware - like phones and other devices - within a year.

Coming back to Sonu Sood, people have been sending out joke/fake tweets to him, asking for help and the actor seems to be taking them lighting, in healthy humor.



For example, last month one person tweeted to Sonu Sood, Bhaiya, girlfriend se hi milwa dijiye. Bihar hi jaana hai.(Brother, help me meet my girlfriend, I too want to go to Bihar) to which the actor replied, Thode din door reh ke dekh le bhai, sache pyaar ki pareeksha bhi ho jayegi (Spend some time apart and see brother, it will also be a test of your true love).

So these days we are not only seeing the helpful, but also the funny and witty side of the actor!




422 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore on June 11, including 5 cases in the community

The Ministry of Health has reported 422 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore as of 12 pm on June 11. This takes the nations tally of infections to 39,387.

Of the new cases, the vast majority are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.

Photo courtesy: Facebook/Singapore Ministry of Health

There are also five cases in the community  of these, one is a Singaporean and four are Work Pass holders.

All four Work Pass/Work Permit holders are asymptomatic but had been detected due to our proactive screening. Amon them, one was tested as he works as a security guard at a dormitory at Tampines Street 62. Another was swabbed as part of our efforts to screen workers in essential services.

The other two cases are housemates of previously confirmed cases, and had already been quarantined earlier. They were swabbed during quarantine to verify their status.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the Singaporean case.

Meanwhile, 754 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.
Paris, France (PANA) - The French foreign affairs ministry Wednesday expressed concern with allegations by Amnesty International of exactions against civilians by Malian, Burkinabe and Nigerien forces under the pretext of checking antiterrorist operations
While much is still unknown about how South Carolina school districts will reopen in the fall, experts say one thing is absolutely certain: It will look very different from what teachers and students are used to.

A group of educators, administrators and state officials from the S.C. Department of Education met Thursday morning to present an initial draft of recommendations that school districts across the state should take into consideration when forming their plans for instruction for the upcoming school year.

Directing student traffic flow in hallways, eating meals in classrooms and prohibiting visitors past the school lobby were just some of the recommendations mentioned, all designed to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus that shuttered schools statewide in March.

Almost all suggestions came with two major caveats: The success of any plan for fall reopening depends heavily on the level of the virus' spread throughout the community and the specific resources and capabilities of each individual school district.

Officials also recognized that many of these changes will also come at a price.

Things are going to take longer, theyre going to be more complicated  but I also think we have to hammer home that its going to cost more, whether it be time or financial resources, said Harrison Goodwin, task force member and superintendent of the Chesterfield County School District.

Changes to instruction

One of the most frequently asked questions parents have surrounding reopening schools is how class time will be structured.

Patrick Kelly, coordinator of professional learning in Richland School District 2 and head of the task force's instruction subcommittee, presented three major scheduling options that districts should consider for the fall: traditional, hybrid and full distance learning.

The traditional model could be used if there's little to no coronavirus spread in the coming weeks. This plan would likely still need to include class size caps, increased spacing between desks and reducing class transitions during the day to minimize the spread of the virus, Kelly said.

A hybrid model, in which students would experience both in-person and long-distance learning, could be used if there's moderate spread or if a school district lacks sufficient facility space to implement facets of the traditional model. A hybrid model could include morning/afternoon structured school days or an A/B alternating-day schedule, in which students attend school one day in person and virtually the next.

A full distance learning option could be considered if there's high community spread detected in the area. This type of model would require extensive two-way communication between teachers and parents, technology assistance hubs and special considerations to meet the needs of special student groups, like English language learners or students with Individualized Educational Plans.

Regardless of what model a district ultimately pursues, Kelly emphasized that districts should avoid any scenario in which the burden falls on a classroom teacher to simultaneously create and execute in-person and virtual lessons at the same time for the same students, a major point of concern for some Palmetto State educators.

This could be avoided via resources such as virtualSC programming, livestreaming classes, or by including a separate distance learning section within a teacher's class schedule, he said.

"How do you schedule learning in a world of COVID? It poses unique challenges that we've never faced before," Kelly said, adding that these recommendations are only complicated by the "impossibility of projecting with certainty the health conditions in August."

School schedules likely will need to change as time goes on, he said, but districts should present parents with their intentions no later than 20 days before the first day of school.

All schools should also make sure to have a distance learning contingency plan in place in case there's a surge of coronavirus cases or a school outbreak, Kelly said.

"We can't be caught off guard again, and districts need to build plans now," he said.

Other possible recommendations made during Thursday's meeting included shutting off water fountains, spacing desks further apart to accommodate social distancing, modified emergency drills, staggered arrival/dismissal and longer school days. A full copy of the drafted guidelines can be found at the S.C. Department of Education's website.

On Wednesday, Gov. Henry McMaster outlined his recommendations for how the Legislature should spend federal coronavirus aid, allocating $215 million to bring students back to school for an additional five days next school year.

If approved by the Legislature, those additional days will be crucial for teachers to revisit prior content, conduct student evaluations and help prepare kids for the next school year, Kelly said. He emphasized the additional time is in no way an attempt to completely recover the instructional time students missed.

Transportation challenges

Another major facet officials are considering is how to ensure students get to school buildings safely.

"Transportation is the biggest issue I think we face as a state right now," said Scott Turner, deputy superintendent of Greenville County School District and member of the S.C. Education Oversight committee.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has suggested that school buses should operate at no more than 50 percent capacity in the fall, he said. As a result, State Superintendent Molly Spearman has encouraged parents to drive their children to school "if at all possible."

"That would help us tremendously with the capacity level on buses," she said.

When school buses do start their routes again, students should have assigned seats and should board the bus in order, from back to front. Bus drivers should wear a mask, and there should be training on appropriate safety protocols, Turner said.

The task force agreed to collect community feedback and public comments until the morning of June 18, and the group is set to meet again on June 19 for final reviews and recommendations.
With two-year-olds set to make their first qualifying appearances in the coming days, trainers Blake MacIntosh and Anthony MacDonald gave Wednesday night's (June 10) COSA TV viewers an inside look at their rookies' development to this point.

Moderator Greg Blanchard was joined by the pair of Ontario-based trainers for discussion about a number of their two-year-old standouts who are pointed to stakes campaigns in Ontario and beyond, as well as a number of other topics.

MacIntosh is optimistic that Bazooka Hanover can realize substantial return on owner Steve Heimbecker's $200,000 investment in short order.

"He just does what he has to do," MacIntosh said of the son of Captaintreacherous and Bittorsweet Terror. "He's got a nice gait; he's effortless out there. He's got a nice reach to him, does everything right."

After two training trips that were "just amazing," according to MacIntosh, Bazooka Hanover is slated to qualify on Friday (June 12) morning at Woodbine Mohawk Park with Doug McNair in the bike.

Perfectboy Hanover may not be qualifying this week after spooking at a tractor during a Mohawk training session last week, but he has otherwise ticked every box thus far.

"He's done everything right from day one," MacIntosh said of the $95,000 Harrisburg purchase. "He can do it pretty easily; you just start him up and he's gone ... He's a special individual at this point. Just does everything right, smart  I love this colt."

On the trotting side, a $50,000 Lexington Select purchase called Black Tie Bash will commence his career for MacIntosh on Mohawk's Friday morning card as well.

"He's got a lot of go and he wants to go," MacIntosh noted of the dual-eligible son of Chapter Seven and Daylon Mermaid. "He's New York and Lexington eligible, so we'll be able to send him to Lexington to race on the big track. He's got a lot of talent and a lot of speed  he can go like the wind."

Chris Christoforou is listed to drive Black Tie Bash.

"I love (Christoforou) on a trotter," continued MacIntosh. "You just try to find the drivers that suit the horses."

MacDonald's TheStable.ca operation currently accounts for 122 horses. Thirty-eight of those are two-year-olds who will go through their first qualifying paces in this week's Mohawk sessions, and one of them in particular has some big expectations to try to meet.

Braemar may only be a $30,000 Lexington Select buy, but the three-quarter brother to 2013 O'Brien Award winner Vegas Vacation has already demonstrated promise in his development.

"James (MacDonald) went with him all winter, trying to keep him covered up and keep him quiet," MacDonald said. "He's a big, powerful colt, but he's very green. He's a strong colt and he's done his work really well. He can pace the turns just as fast as the straightaways. We were lucky to get him; he's really hard not to like.

"I don't think you're going to see Braemar put his best foot forward until August when he's got four or five starts. Depending on how he comes out of the qualifier will determine what comes next. The qualifier on Friday was unexpected, but maybe a bit ahead of schedule. His schedule is very fluid at this point still."

Much of TheStable.ca's business model centres on developing mid-range yearlings and pointing them to lucrative sire stakes schedules, and MacDonald has chosen a number of trotters to compete under his banner on both sides of the 49th. And while much of his stock  including trotters Eternity Road and GW Chrome  is pointed to the blossoming Ohio Sires Stakes circuit, one trotting filly in particular is Ontario through and through.

A $41,000 London Selected purchase, Warrawee Welcome may not qualify until later this month, but MacDonald is high on his expectations for her.

"Going into the sale, I wasn't that interested in the filly," MacDonald said of the daughter of Muscle Mass and Noble Peace Prize. "At the time, the dollar was really low. I thought the sale would go pretty high, and it did. This filly was just exceptionally looking at the sale. As soon as we put the harness on, she had a big, sprawling gait. She trained this morning in 2:05  last quarter in 29 seconds  at Mohawk. We've been really protective of her; Mario (Baillargeon) has done a great job with her. She appears to be a very nice filly; she's never given us any inclinations that she's anything but a good filly. I'm eager to see her race this summer."

COSA TV has scaled back their Facebook Live broadcasts to a once-weekly schedule, now airing only on Wednesday nights.

The entire show can be viewed below.
Synthace Ltd, the company behind Antha, the cloud-based software platform for automating and improving the success rate of biological processes, and the Tecan Group (SIX Swiss Exchange: TECN) announce a partnership to deepen the integration between Synthace's Antha software and Tecan's Te-Chrom automated chromatography system to unlock the full potential of miniaturized protein purification. The new combination of the Te-Chrom system with Antha that is currently under development and available to Early Access customers is expected to provide significant time and cost savings for bioprocessing labs.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005366/en/

Bioprocessing customers seek more flexible automation solutions

Currently, the miniaturization and parallelization capabilities of Tecan's liquid handling systems for purification allow customers to simultaneously explore a large number of factors while using minimal sample volumes from the bioreactor. The Te-Chrom system on Fluent and Freedom EVO automation platforms is the industry benchmark for this application, and completely eliminates manual processing steps for customers using RoboColumn systems and other compatible consumables.

To augment this solution for customers seeking to implement even more advanced purification workflows and Design of Experiments (DoE), Tecan and Synthace will focus on developing two transformative benefits. Firstly, the translation of sophisticated experimental designs into machine-readable instructions for automated equipment are designed to be made more flexible and less tedious, allowing customers to efficiently execute more ambitious experiments. Secondly, the aggregation and structuring of experimental data is designed to be automated to further reduce risk of human error and delays to scientific insight.

When available on the market, Tecan and Synthace customers will be able to run flexible, end-to-end, multiplexed purification workflows on Antha, enabling scientists to focus on 'what' they want to achieve, while the integrated software takes care of 'how' to implement the desired experiments.

On Friday 19 June, 3PM BST/4PM CET/9AM EDT/6AM PDT, Synthace will host a live online demo to showcase the key features of this new integration between Antha and the Te-Chrom system. Find out more at: synthace.com/purification-miniaturisation-tecan

A combination of best-in-class technologies to reduce time to market

Together, Tecan and Synthace will empower customers to plan, execute and track data for experiments on the Te-Chrom system more easily than if manually performed. Through Antha's intuitive user interface, customers will benefit from visual experimental design tools and detailed in silico experimental previews that are matched with the customer's Tecan liquid handling robot configurations. Antha will further augment the existing Te-Chrom system by automatically linking analytical data, sample metadata and experimental context, providing an end-to-end solution for customers.

Markus Gershater, Chief Science Officer at Synthace said "We are thrilled to collaborate with Tecan, a leader in providing best-in-class liquid handling technology solutions, to bring the acceleration and optimization of miniaturized purification processes to market. This collaboration will significantly improve ease of optimization and thereby reduce process development cycles for bioprocess scientists and engineers. We are excited to build a successful relationship with the Tecan team at such a critical juncture in the acceleration of bioprocessing. Together our teams will empower users to increase throughput, maximize productivity and save valuable time."

Dr. Remi Magnan, Associate Director Cellomics Proteomics at Tecan added "We are pleased to join forces with Synthace to deliver synergies that provide additional value to our bioprocessing customers. This collaboration with Synthace, a leader in computer-aided biology, will further contribute to Tecan's already broad and growing digital offering across many application areas."

Disclaimers: The Te-Chrom system and the Antha software platform referenced in this press release are for research use only. RoboColumn is a registered trademark of Repligen Corporation, US.

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About Synthace

Based in London, UK and Boston, US, Synthace is accelerating biological discovery optimisation through computer-aided biology. Our cloud software platform, Antha, empowers biologists by enabling them to flexibly program their lab automation without the need to code. The graphical user interface has been designed by biologists for biologists, intuitively enabling them to automate their whole experiment from planning to execution, data collection and analysis. Antha is the cornerstone of the lab of the future, seamlessly connecting the digital realm of data with the physical of lab automation and wet-lab biology, automatically collecting and structuring data to accelerate biological understanding. Synthace is unlocking the potential of biology for humankind and our environment. Synthace works with biopharmaceutical companies, and in 2016 was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer that is helping shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and in 2018 as a Cool Vendor by Gartner.

About Tecan

Tecan (www.tecan.com) is a leading global provider of laboratory instruments and solutions in biopharmaceuticals, forensics and clinical diagnostics. The company specializes in the development, production and distribution of automation solutions for laboratories in the life sciences sector. Its clients include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, university research departments, forensic and diagnostic laboratories. As an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Tecan is also a leader in developing and manufacturing OEM instruments and components that are then distributed by partner companies. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has manufacturing, research and development sites in both Europe and North America and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2019, Tecan generated sales of CHF 637 million (USD 643 million; EUR 574 million). Registered shares of Tecan Group are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (TECN; ISIN CH0012100191).

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - As companies debate whether to reopen as the COVID-19 pandemic abates, Congress is debating whether the federal government should continue to provide unemployed workers an extra $600 per week on top of their state unemployment benefits.

The argument on Capitol Hill hinges on whether the extra money is discouraging workers from returning to their jobs, or providing an invaluable safety net for low-income workers whose jobs may not return for months.

At a Tuesday hearing before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, witnesses argued the extra payments are a disincentive to employment because they provide many workers with more money than they earned at their jobs.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said recent studies by the University of Chicago and the federal government found that because of the $600 payment, more than two-thirds of unemployed workers will get unemployment benefits greater than their prior weekly wages, and approximately 20 percent will receive benefits double their pre-layoff wages. While most workers prefer to return to their jobs, Scalia said, there will always be some who will not energetically seek employment when unemployment benefits are available.

The greater the unemployment benefit, the greater the incentive for that handful of workers to remain out of the workforce," Scalia told the committee. The CARES benefits were intended to be temporary, and will expire at the end of next month, by which point we expect the economy to be deep into the process of re-opening, with shut-down orders ended andFridays jobs report confirmsmillions of Americans freed to return to work. Unemployment benefits will still be needed past that date, of course. But the circumstances that originally called for the $600 plus-up will have changed; policy will need to change as well.

Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend told the committee that 79 percent of Iowans who received unemployment since March 15 made more on unemployment than their average weekly wage, given the higher unemployment levels experienced by lower paid workers in the hospitality and retail industries. She said that so far, more than 3,000 employers in the state have told her agency that their workers are refusing to return after being recalled.

A Pittsburgh small businessman whose company makes trucking industry tarps reported that employees he recalled to work told him they were missing out on a lot of money by working and not being laid off.

They asked if it was possible to have a rotating schedule with the employees who were still laid off so everyone could participate in getting the extra $600 per week instead of their co-workers who were laid off the entire time, Neilly Canvas Good Company President Les Neilly testified. "They stated they knew I was trying to run a business, and understood that I had to make tough decisions, but they were missing out on the extra $600 per week the federal government mandated for the laid-off workers every week, and they wanted to share in the pot of gold. "

The $600 weekly relief that was included in the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act will expire at the end of July, and Congress is debating whether to renew it. Many Democrats, like Ohios U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, would like to see the payments continue until the end of the year. The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act) that the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed last month would extend the payments through January 31, 2021.

Brown told reporters last week that he intends to fight like hell to ensure the $600 payment continues after July, as he doesnt believe unemployment levels will return to normal for at least another year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has indicated that he will not bring the HEROES Act up for consideration in the Senate. Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said continuing the $600 payments would encourage people not to work.

Some have argued that that extra $600 is going to keep workers from going back to work, Brown told Scalia at the hearing. Its a pretty clear takeaway here: the companies they work for didnt pay them enough to begin with.

The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank that focuses on the needs of low- and middle-income workers, argues its a good idea to give workers who made below-average incomes before the crisis that $600 boost, and contends the subsidy should continue. In a blog post, economists from organization say putting extra money into the pockets of lower-income workers helped keep the economy going during the slowdown, and kept them from having to run down their meager savings and go into debt just to survive during the lockdown period.

Conservatives have floated stories of businesses trying to reopen now that cant find workers because potential employees make more collecting unemployment,  the organization says. Well, if businesses are really serious about reopening (and many shouldnt be), theres an easy cure for thisoffer wages that are high enough to entice potential workers to come to work.

Other Ohio Democrats argue the $600 subsidy isnt enough. Rep. Tim Ryan of the Niles area has introduced a bill that would provide a $2,000 monthly payment to every qualifying American over the age of 16 until employment returns to pre-COVID-19 levels, and up to $5,500 for families with children.

This crisis is unfortunately not going to end tomorrow, said a statement from Ryan. We need continued payments until our economy recovers.

At Tuesdays hearing, Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman said small businesses owners throughout Ohio have told him their workers are upset they can make more money by collecting unemployment insurance than from working. He said that during a recent tele-town hall, a woman told him that one of her daughters who went back to work was upset that her sister got more money on unemployment benefits than she got from working, when they formerly had comparably paid jobs.

We do have a huge problem here, said Portman. The 600 bucks was necessary, in my view, to get us started in this, but now we have a situation where the economy is starting to reopen and people are looking for workers.

When the Senate introduces its next COVID-19 relief bill, Portman wants the federal government to provide a $450 weekly bonus for six weeks to individuals who return to their jobs, on top of their wages. He argues that doing so would boost the economy while encouraging people to safely return to work. He said the $450 figure would ensure that even people who make minimum wage would be making more at work than on unemployment. His proposal would save taxpayers money by getting workers off state unemployment rolls and paying them less than the $600 per week that the federal government would otherwise pay them, said Portman..

Scalia was noncommittal when Portman asked what he thought of the proposal.

I do think it makes sense to get people back to work, said Scalia. I look forward to speaking with you and others about what we might do going forward.

More coverage:

Sherrod Brown chides Housing Secretary Ben Carson at Senate hearing

Federal oversight of Chinese telecom companies is lacking, says report from Ohio U.S. Sen. Rob Portman

Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur questions Trump administration proposal to resume nuclear tests

Ohio housing advocates warn of impending COVID-19 related eviction crisis and urge Congress to act

Child and domestic abuse reports rose during the COVID-19 crisis, legislators are told

SNAP benefits can now be used online in Ohio

Sen. Sherrod Brown wants Senate to declare racism a public health emergency

Sen. Sherrod Brown denounces President Trumps handling of protests, Sen. Rob Portman calls for a national commission on race

Battle over protecting businesses from COVID-19 lawsuits likely when Senate considers its next relief package

Ohio shoppers can use SNAP benefits for online grocery purchases starting this summer, USDA decides

Ohio congressman seeks impeachment inquiry of judge in Michael Flynn case

Sen. Sherrod Brown clashes with Trump officials over COVID-19 response

Annie Glenn, widow of former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn, dies at age 100

Canadian border with U.S. likely to remain closed until June 21

Mismarked COVID-19 testing swabs from Clevelands U.S. Cotton confused state officials

House passes coronavirus package along party lines; Senate Republicans say they wont consider it
Hong Kong: CE signs anthem law

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today signed the National Anthem Ordinance passed by the Legislative Council in accordance with Article 48(3) of the Basic Law.

The ordinance will come into immediate effect after it is gazetted tomorrow.

Mrs Lam said: "Like the national flag and the national emblem, the national anthem is the symbol and sign of the nation. As an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is duty-bound to preserve the dignity of the national anthem through legislation.

"I am pleased that the National Anthem Ordinance will be gazetted and come into effect tomorrow, signifying the fulfilment of the constitutional responsibility of the Hong Kong SAR and reflecting the spirit of 'one country, two systems'."

The ordinance provides for the playing and singing, protection and promotion of the national anthem to preserve the dignity of the country, enhance the sense of national identity among citizens and promote patriotism.

The offences stipulated in the ordinance only concern the misuse of the national anthem, or public and intentional acts with an intent to insult the national anthem.

"I hope that members of the public will respect the national anthem of their own volition, hence the promotion of the national anthem is of paramount importance.

To let our next generation understand the history and spirit of the national anthem and to observe the etiquette for the playing and singing of the national anthem, the Education Bureau will update its learning and teaching resources and issue directions to schools through circulars to support schools in teaching students," Mrs Lam added.

The Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress passed the Law of the People's Republic of China on National Anthem on September 1, 2017, and added the Law to Annex III to the Basic Law on November 4 the same year.

According to Article 18 of the Basic Law, the national laws listed in Annex III to the Basic Law shall be applied locally by way of promulgation or legislation by the Hong Kong SAR.

Having regard to the common law system and actual circumstances in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong SAR Government decided to implement the National Anthem Law in the Hong Kong SAR by local legislation.

The National Anthem Bill was introduced into LegCo for the first and second readings in January 2019, and was passed by LegCo on June 4 this year.

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A Junction City man accused of threatening his girlfriend, trying to shoot her friend and firing shots into her parents house was apprehended overnight, police say.

Junction City police said they received multiple tips about Victor Burgoynes activities Wednesday and determined his location about 10:25 p.m.

Multiple law enforcement agencies tried to apprehend Burgoyne as he left a Eugene home in a car, according to police. He led them on a short pursuit but eventually left the road and came to a stop in some blackberry bushes on Oregon 99E, police said.

Burgoyne was apprehended and taken to a hospital.

Junction City police on Wednesday published a news release saying they needed help finding Burgoyne, who they referred to as suicidal and extremely dangerous.

He had tried to shoot his girlfriends friend by firing a bullet into the friends Junction City house early Tuesday, according to police. The bullet ripped through a wall and partially penetrated another, the woman told authorities.

Bullet fragments came to rest near the drain of a tub where the woman had been taking a shower minutes before, she told authorities.

Burgoyne, 44, also fired multiple shots into his girlfriends parents Harrisburg house Tuesday night, police said. He also threatened to kill family members and friends if she didnt meet with him, police said.

Burgoyne kept threatening his girlfriend in phone calls and text messages throughout the early morning, police said Wednesday.

He hasnt yet been booked into the Lane County Jail.

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
A portrait of Wang Dingguo [CNR]

Wang Dingguo, a Red Army veteran who had completed the Long March, died of illness at the age of 107 on Tuesday, leaving the world with one less survivor of the epic military expedition who knew so well about the struggle, and more importantly, the power of determination and faith.

The Long March, which was carried out by the Red Army and led by the Communist Party of China to combat the Kuomintang regime, covered over 12,500 kilometers from October 1934 to October 1936.

"There are only less than 100 Red Army soldiers who took part in the Long March that are still alive. With Wang's passing, there is now one less person among them," said Xue Gang, a history consultant of the Chinese Martyrs Glorification Promotion Association. "And the only time people hear about them is when their obituaries are published. Actually, their stories are all truly inspirational and must be preserved when we still can."

Wang from Sichuan Province was believed to be the oldest Red Army woman veteran before she died in Beijing. She joined the Red Army and the Party when she was 20, five years after she was sold to a local man to be his wife.

An old photo of Wang Dingguo [CNR]

When Wang was 21, she started the Long March with the Fourth Red Army Front. She was with the army's theatrical troupe that aimed to lift the troops' spirit. She was in charge of props and makeup and served as a fighter during battles. The troupe had to march ahead of the troops and caught up with them after they passed, which means she had to take the same route twice.

The Red Army passed through some of the most difficult terrain with limited supplies during the Long March. It was ended when the three Red Army fronts of more than 30,000 troops met in Huining, Gansu Province, in October 1936. The army was engaged in more than 380 battles during the process.

One of Wang's toes fell off right before her eyes due to frostbite when climbing a snow mountain. Wang was also shot twice in her right leg during battles. None of the life-threatening circumstances foiled Wang's determination to complete the Long March and seal the ultimate victory.

Wang Dingguo makes a military salute. [CNR]

She could still remember moments when the troops would light up the torches as night came, she said during an interview in 2016. "The line of torches looked like a long dragon with flames. They lit up the winding roads in darkness. For me, I saw hope," she said.

Xue said the Red Army veterans' stories during the Long March are particularly inspirational for young people. "People joined the Red Army for different reasons. Many of them were very young and just wanted to make a living. Through the hardship of the Long March, they gradually found their purpose in life and grew to be real heroes."

He urged the country to set up a database of Red Army veterans and record their stories so the stories wouldn't be lost.

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
America can be proud of many things: our innovation, generosity and entrepreneurial spirit are unsurpassed. Yet when it comes to our nation understanding one of the greatest gifts ever given to humanitythe Biblewe're moving from dumb to dumber, and it's no laughing matter.
Semiconductors on a circuit board that powers a Samsung video camera at a Samsung media and analyst event in San Jose, Calif., on March 23, 2011. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Countering China Supply Chains, US Bill Seeks to Boost Domestic Production of Electronic Chips

Both houses of Congress have tabled new legislation to boost domestic production and development of semiconductors, which are chips that power everything from smartphones, computers to missiles systems.

The move comes as the U.S. administration seeks to reduce its reliance on foreign supply chains, especially those in China.

Ensuring our leadership in the future design, manufacturing, and assembly of cutting edge semiconductors will be vital to United States national security and economic competitiveness, said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), in a press release.

As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to dominate the entire semiconductor supply chain, it is critical that we supercharge our industry here at home, he said.

The bill would require that the secretary of commerce create a $10 billion federal program to match incentives offered by state and local governments to companies for constructing semiconductor manufacturing plants in the United States.

Companies would also be entitled to tax benefits in the form of refundable investment tax credits (ITC) for expenses related to purchasing semiconductor equipment or building manufacturing facilities. The ITC rate would be 40 percent through 2024, 30 percent in 2025, and 20 percent in 2026.

Additionally, the bill would set aside $12 billion in research and development funds for various federal agencies. For example, the National Science Foundation (NSF) would receive $3 billion to implement basic research programs.

A $750-million trust fund over ten years would also be established for activities such as aligning U.S. policy on developing microelectronics with those of foreign government partners.

Named the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act, it was introduced by John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) in the Senate on June 10. According to the press release, McCaul and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) will introduce the House version on June 11.

If passed, the U.S. president would be required to establish a subcommittee on semiconductor leadership through the National Science and Technology Council, to ensure U.S. leadership in semiconductor technology and innovation.

This legislation would help stimulate advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities domestically, secure the supply chain, and ensure U.S. maintains our lead in design while creating jobs, lowering our reliance on other countries for advanced chip fabrication, and strengthening national security, Cornyn said in the press release.

U.S. trade body Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) welcomed the new bill in a statement on June 10.

The U.S today accounts for only 12 percent of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity, said Keith Jackson, SIA chairman and president and chief executive officer of U.S. firm ON Semiconductor.

Jackson added that the bill would allow the United States to remain the world leader in chip technology, which is strategically important to our economy and national security.

According to SIA, U.S.-based semiconductor firms, which primarily do research and development, design, and process technology, have the largest global market share, with 47 percent in 2019. South Korea comes in second at 19 percent, followed by Japan and the European Union at 10 percent each, Taiwan 6 percent, and China 5 percent.

But in terms of manufacturing, there are three companies in the world capable of producing the fastest and most advanced chips: U.S. firm Intel, South Korean tech giant Samsung, and Taiwan-based TSMC, the worlds biggest contract chipmaker.

Intel has six chip plants: three in the United States, one in Ireland, another in Israel, and one in Dalian city, China.

In May, TSMC announced a plan to build a $12 billion manufacturing plant in Arizona.

Although China lags behind in semiconductor manufacturing capabilitieswith Chinas chipmakers at least two generations behind TSMCsome parts of the supply chain are based in China. For example, TSMC and Samsung both have chipmaking factories in China.

China, which is heavily reliant on foreign imports for semiconductors, had set a target for domestically producing 70 percent of its semiconductor needs by 2025, under its ambitious industrial policy Made in China 2025.

But China is unlikely to fulfill those ambitions. According to estimates in a May report by Arizona-based semiconductor market research company IC Insights, Chinas domestic semiconductor production would only reach 20.7 percent in 2024about one-third of its 70 percent target. Chinas domestic production stood at 15.7 percent in 2019.

IC Insights pointed out that China-based companies only produced $7.6 billion (38.7 percent of production) worth of semiconductors, while the remaining $11.9 billion (61.3 percent) of chips were produced by foreign companies such as TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and Korean chipmaker SK Hynix that have factories in China.

IC Insights forecasts that at least 50% of IC [integrated circuit] production in China in 2024 will come from foreign companies such as SK Hynix, Samsung, Intel, TSMC, UMC, and Powerchip with fabs in China, the report stated. UMC and Powerchip are both Taiwan-based semiconductor companies.
Johnson is speaker at Northern State event Monday

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson will speak at the grand opening of Northern State University's Center for Public History and Civic Engagement.
The national shame of Indigenous injustice is proof for all Australians that it takes more than protests to lift people out of systemic failure and put them on the path to fairness. It takes politics, too. Yet the facts reveal a dismal breakdown in politics that has cost lives.

The forum for this political failure is not the theatre of Parliament but the grey and hidden space where federal and state leaders negotiate change  or, more often, agree on inaction.

The Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne on Saturday. Credit:Justin McManus

This is, or was, the Council of Australian Governments  the peak group that has wasted years talking about a target to reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in jail. For all the platitudes about the need for action, leaders and their officials were content to talk instead.

Scott Morrison has swept away the old forum in favour of the national cabinet, his regular meeting with premiers and chief ministers during the pandemic. He promises a better way to get results. The paralysis on Indigenous policy should be one of his first tests.
Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, D-Baltimore County, is renewing her call to remove a Civil War plaque that sits in the Rotunda of the State House, a relic that she has said "has no place" in the grand marble hall.

Jones, the state's first African American House speaker, pushed for the plaque's removal last year but was rebuffed by the rest of the four-member Maryland State House Trust board, which voted to alter the plaque instead.

In an email to the board on Thursday that alluded to the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police and the protests that have followed, Jones said she wants the plaque removed entirely.

"The past two weeks have reignited our national conversation about the systemic racial injustice that continues throughout the United States of America," Jones wrote. "This plaque is not a symbol that belongs in our seat of government.

Instead of taking down the plaque, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford , a Republican member of the trust, last year suggested removing from it the logo of the Civil War Centennial Commission, which features a Confederate flag, and replacing it with the Maryland flag. His proposal was approved 3-to-1, with Jones the only dissenter.

The plaque reads in part: "In commemorating the centennial of that great struggle between the citizens of the temporarily divided nation in the 1860s the Maryland Civil War Centennial Commission did not attempt to decide who was right and who was wrong . . . it seeks to pay tribute to those who fought and died. As well as to the citizens who, during the Civil War, tried to do their duty as they saw it."

Jones said the wording inappropriately honors Confederate soldiers and their motivations.

"History clearly tells us that there was a right and a wrong side of the Civil War," Jones wrote to the board last year. She called the plaque's language, which was written during the height of the civil rights movement, "an affront to people of color" and said her board colleagues "missed the point" by allowing the inscription to remain.

Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, who joined the board in January after succeeding Senate President Mike Miller, D-Calvert, said in an email Thursday that he supports the plaque's removal.

A spokeswoman for Rutherford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rutherford said last year that the Confederate flag was a "divisive symbol" that "had no place in this or any State House." He said removing it was a way to "represent our history appropriately. . . . It is important that we remember, and teach future generations that ours was a divided state."

The fourth member of the panel is Laura Mears, chairwoman of the Maryland Historical Trust, who could not be reached Thursday evening.
A man with a knife has killed one person and wounded at least five others in an attack at a school in Slovakia.

The attack took place at the United School in the town of Vrutky in north-western Slovakia. The establishment operates for children up to high school age.

The victim was the deputy director of the high school, authorities said.

The attacker, who was killed by police, was identified as a 22-year-old man from the nearby town of Martin. Police said he was a former student at the school.

Police officers at the school in Vrutky today where a man with a knife attacked, killing one person before he was killed by police. Pic: Erika Durcova/TASR via AP)

The Slovak rescue service said three adults and two students were treated in hospital in Martin.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said she felt great sorrow and offered her condolences to the relatives of the victims and support for those who were wounded, teachers and police.

Unfortunately, there are crazy people living among us and were not able to prevent such a situation, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said.
Upcoming political events in the Bay Area. Events are taking place online unless otherwise noted:

FRIDAY

Youth activists: Bay Area youth activists join MindShift podcast host Katrina Schwartz and KQED education reporter Vanessa Rancono for an online discussion about shaping the future of racial justice, climate change, gun violence and economic inequality. Hosted by KQED and SPUR. 3 p.m. More information is here.

Pulse memorial and Black Lives Matter: A solidarity rally and march for Black Lives Matter on the fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla. 6 p.m., Jane Warner Plaza, 401 Castro St., San Francisco. More information is here.

SATURDAY

Virtual climate conference: Updates on climate change action, training on how to engage with members of Congress and others on climate change, and connect with other people working on the issue. Hosted by Citizens Climate Lobby. 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. More information is here.

Poor Peoples Campaign: California Poor Peoples Campaign holds a virtual town hall about police killings of black people and the coronavirus pandemic. With the Rev. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign. 11 a.m. RSVP here for meeting link.

S.F. Black Lives Matter protest: Organized by California Nurses United. 12:30 p.m., UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, 1825 Fourth St., San Francisco. More information is here.

Vallejo march: In support of families that have lost loved ones at the hands of police. Marchers are asked to wear black and a mask. 3 p.m. starting at Vallejo City Hall, 555 Santa Clara St., to police station at 111 Amador St. Organized by Vessels of Vallejo. More information is here.

SUNDAY

Anti-Trump protest: A rally and march organized by Refuse Fascism. Noon, Powell and Market streets, San Francisco. More information is here.

MONDAY

AIDS quilt: Caretakers of the AIDS Memorial Quilt discuss its roots and continuing relevance in another pandemic. Sponsored by the Commonwealth Club. 4 p.m. More information is here.

TUESDAY

Covering Trump: ABC News White House reporter Jonathan Karl on covering the president. Sponsored by the Commonwealth Club. 5 p.m. More information is here.

WEDNESDAY

Equity and voting in the black community: Black Women Organized for Political Action hosts a virtial meeting on equity in the black community and information about the upcoming election. 6 p.m. RSVP here for Zoom link.

THURSDAY

Raising antiracist children: A discussion with Ibram X. Kendi on raising children to feel empowered to change society. Sponsored by the Commonwealth Club. 10 a.m. More information is here.

JUNE 20

Poor Peoples Digital March: A mass assembly and digital march on Washington to call for action on systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and religious nationalism. 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. More information is here.

Phone bank training for introverts: A workshop hosted by Swing Left on building confidence to make one-on-one connections in working for political change. 1 p.m. RSVP by June 19 here.

JUNE 22

Stacey Abrams: Voting rights activist and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate in conversation with Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeifer. Sponsored by the Commonwealth Club. $15 for nonmembers. 6 p.m. More information is here.

To list an event, please email Chronicle politics editor Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com
Amulya Leona Noronha, a college student from Bengaluru who was charged with sedition for raising the 'Pakistan zindabad' slogan at an anti-Citizenship Act (CAA) rally earlier this year, has been granted bail by the magistrate court under the provision of CrPC Section 167(2). Amulya is expected to have the bail order by Friday.

Amulya Leona Noronha, a college student from Bengaluru who was charged with sedition for raising the 'Pakistan zindabad' slogan at an anti-Citizenship Act (CAA) rally earlier this year, has been granted bail by the magistrate court under Section 167(2) of CrPC. The bail order is expected to be passed on Friday.

On Wednesday, 10 June, a sessions court had denied her a regular bail application on the grounds that the accused may abscond and involve herself in similar offences, but on the same day, Amulya's lawyers were able to get her bail by moving a default bail plea in a magisterial court.

After spending nearly three months in jail, the 19-year-old journalism student is expected to be released from Parappana Agrahara jail on Friday.

Although Amulya's lawyers had been pressing the sessions court for an urgent hearing even before the coronavirus lockdown began, the court refused to hear the matter as the Bengaluru Police said they could not file a chargesheet against the student citing restrictions due to the lockdown.

Speaking to Firstpost, R Prasanna who is a part of the team of advocates that has been arguing the case in court said, "The regular bail application which was moved under CRPC of Section 439 (special powers given to a high court or sessions court in granting a bail order), the court had rejected the plea. So we approached the magistrate court for a default bail under whose jurisdiction the alleged crime was committed, under Section 167 (2) of CrPC which states that defines the statutory time by when the charge sheet has to be filed."

The time period defined under Section 167 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is that if a charge sheet is not filed within 60 to 90 days, a default bail application can be given.

Prasanna said, "We had moved the default bail plea on 26 May and again on 29 May which were dragged on due to various complications. On 2 June, we filed a physical application, and subsequently, the state filed the charge sheet on 3 June. As the state had failed to file the charge sheet within the stipulated time, we moved to the magistrate court for default bail that was granted."

According to the advocate, although the state had argued that they were allowed for an extension in the time allotted, the magistrate court had ruled in favour of Amulya.

Senior advocate and former state public prosecutor BT Venkatesh is currently at the forefront representing those who have been booked for speaking against CAA, including Amulya, in the state of Karnataka. Speaking to Firstpost, the lawyer noted: "It seems like we are going back in time - from a democratic nation to an undemocratic one."

Venkatesh said there was a paradigm shift in how "systems were making life hard" for students who were being prosecuted for just speaking up. "It's very sad to young students being charged and prosecuted for just making statements. This speaks volumes of the level we have gone to be one of the most un-democratic systems," said the former state prosecutor.

Earlier this year, on 20 February, Amulya had raised 'Pakistan zindabad' slogan at an anti-CAA rally organised by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi in Bengaluru. A case was almost immediately registered against her under Section 124A (Offence of sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

The student was booked under various sections Indian Penal Code (IPC) for sedition, namely  Sections 124-A, 153[A], 153-B, 505[2] of IPC, which included disaffection towards the government of India, for wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. of any particular group or class or upon the founders and prophets of a religion, for Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration and for statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between classes.

The organisers had invited her to address the gathering soon after Owaisi came on stage. Owaisi, who addressed the gathering later on, said he did not agree with the woman, whom he described as "so-called liberal".

In one of her Facebook posts on 16 February, Amulya had hailed all south Asian countries, including Pakistan. She said that every citizen of a country is entitled to basic benefits and rights and that the government is responsible for every one of them equally.
New Delhi, June 11 : There is no community transmission of Covid-19 at the national level, while the lockdown measures helped in controlling the spread of the deadly virus until now, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said on Thursday.

"There is a heightened debate on community transmission. WHO has not given definition on it. India is such a large country and the prevalence is so low. The prevalence is less than one per cent in small districts. It is slightly higher in the urban areas. In the containment areas, it may be slightly higher. But, we are definite that India is not in community transmission," Bhargava said at the daily press briefing.

"I would like to emphasise that it is not in community transmission." The ICMR chief, however, said they have to continue with the strategy of testing, tracing, tracking and quarantine. He also stressed on to continue with the containment measures, saying "we have found success with those measures until now".

The ICMR's clarification comes amid India recording its biggest single-day jump in new coronavirus cases with 9,996 fresh infections and 357 patients dying, taking the total number of cases to nearly 2.86 lakh cases. This is the ninth consecutive day that the country - fifth worst-hit by the pandemic - reported over 9,000 Covid-19 cases.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The depths of the Mediterranean harbor a natural treasure: Posidonia oceanica  an aquatic plant essential to the seas balance. Breguet depicts the plants arabesques on the Marine Haute Joaillerie Poseidonia through the art of mother-of-pearl marquetry and invisible setting. The dial, set with 85 baguette-cut diamonds, appears to ripple across the intense iridescence of the Tahitian mother-of-pearl, which is deeply colored or more silvery depending on the light. The skillful setting continues on the bezel, caseband, lugs of the strap, and the clasp of the buckle. The mechanical heart of the Marine Haute Joaillerie Poseidonia beats to the rhythm of caliber 591C, an extra-thin self-winding manufacture movement.

Marine Haute Joaillerie 9509 Poseidonia  Breguet

Mother-of-Pearl and Diamonds

Worked in marquetry, the Tahitian mother-of-pearl demands expertise and delicacy. For the Marine Haute Joaillerie Poseidonia, Breguet combines the craft with the art of invisible setting. The white gold of the dial thus recedes from view, becoming imperceptible behind the glint of the diamonds. The artisan selects each mother-of-pearl attentively to harmonize its iridescent pattern, unique to each gem, with the inset curves of the Poseidonia. Together, their radiance evokes rays of sunshine playing on the seas surface. The lines of the pattern unfurl, with diamonds extending out to the lugs of the strap.

Delicate, gold Breguet hands indicate the hours and minutes. The tip of the second hand reveals the letter B of the maritime code of signals  a distinctive feature of the Marine collection. The traditional baguette-set bezel facilitates reading: the distinct triangular diamonds mark each of the 12 hours. The sides of the white-gold case and the crown are delicately fluted, alternating between polished white gold and baguette-cut diamonds. A briolette-cut diamond tops the crown, claw set with six baguette-cut diamonds. The crown protection is set entirely invisibly with 14 baguette-cut diamonds.

The setting continues to the clasp of the strap buckle, echoing the inset bezel and the shape of the open-tipped Breguet hands. The B for Breguet stands out against the slightly colored metallic finish in the center of the buckle.

Marine Haute Joaillerie 9509 Poseidonia, version  Breguet

Emeralds, Rubies, and Sapphires

To join the diamond and Tahitian mother-of-pearl Marine Haute Joaillerie, Breguet proposes three other versions with white mother-of-pearl marquetry: sapphire-set blue, ruby-set red and emerald-set green. From the dominant hue of each version  red, green, or blue , Breguet composes the curves of the Poseidonia in different colors. Each of the 85 gems composing the pattern is selected for its hue, is then cut and set invisibly. After months of work, the result reveals a singular radiance of remarkable colors, unique to each Marine Haute Joaillerie. On the bezel, the setting is composed of the different colors of the dial, just like the setting of the strap buckle. The metallic finish in the center of the buckle also takes the dominant color, as does the iridescent nuance of the leather strap.

Marine Haute Joaillerie 9509 Poseidonia, version  Breguet

Mechanical Heart

On the caseback, the transparent sapphire reveals the extra-thin, self-winding 591C caliber, whose bridges are engine-turned by hand with the Marine motif  inspired by the deck of a ship. On the bevel of the white-gold rotor, the sparkling diamond border contrasts with the intensity of the Tahitian mother-of-pearl. The words Horloger de la Marine (Watchmaker to the Navy) are engraved on the rim of the caseback in white gold. This refers to the title of Chronometer-maker to the French Royal Navy bestowed upon Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1815
Princess Alexandra has carried out a rare royal engagement by speaking to several charities she patrons in support of carers week.

The Queen's glamorous cousin, 83, spoke on the phone to Friends of the Elderly, St. Christopher's Hospice and Care For Veterans from Buckingham Palace.

In a photo posted to the Royal Family's Instagram page, Her Royal Highness can be seen donning a baby pink and white striped T-shirt and purple and green floral scarf as she speaks on the phone to a charity.

They also shared a series of throwback images of the mother-of-two visiting the sites before the lockdown.

Princess Alexandra, 83, has carried out a rare royal engagement by speaking to many charities she patrons in support of carers week (pictured)

The Honorable Lady Oglivy, who is the sister of both Prince Edward of Kent and Prince Michael of Kent, is the patron or president of more than 100 organisations.

In a caption with the series of photos, the royal family said: 'To support @carers_week 2020 this week, Princess Alexandra spoke to some of the charities she is Patron of to find out more about how they have been coping during the Coronavirus outbreak.

'@friendselderly Chairman Kerry Rubie and CEO Steve Allen told Her Royal Highness how carers have been keeping residents busy during lockdown with activities including a visit from donkeys at Alton care home and learning to grow tomatoes at Woking care home.

'Her Royal Highness also spoke with the CEO of @stchrishospice, Heather Richardson to learn about the charitys ability to provide palliative care of the highest quality during Covid-19 and the support they are giving to carers.

In a caption with the series of photos, the royal family said: 'To support @carers_week 2020 this week, Princess Alexandra spoke to some of the charities she is Patron of to find out more about how they have been coping during the Coronavirus outbreak.' Pictured, at St Christopher's hospice

Her Royal Highness has been Patron of St Christophers since 1981. She is pictured here, before lockdown

'Her Royal Highness has been Patron of St Christophers since 1981. Each year they provide support to 6500 people across South East London both at home and in the hospice.

'Princess Alexandra also spoke with Andrew Neaves, the CEO of @careforveteran . Her Royal Highness has been President since 2003. The charity provides residential nursing care, rehabilitation and respite to Ex-Services personnel and their families.

'Photos taken before lockdown.

Last month on International Nurse's Day, Princess Alexandra joined other members of The Firm to praise healthcare workers in a video message.

The royal, who is 53rd in line to the the throne, spoke with the head of the Naval Nursing Service in her role as Patron of Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS).

On the calls, members of The Royal Family spoke with nurses about the work they are doing, with many talking about the impact of Covid-19 and how they were coping with the pandemic.

While it may be a definitive step into the limelight for the Queen's first cousin, who was a bridesmaid at her wedding to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, the princess has actually been quietly carrying out thousands of official duties over the years.

Princess Alexandra is pictured at St Christopher's hospice before the lockdown began

Friends of the Elderly Chairman Kerry Rubie and CEO Steve Allen told Her Royal Highness how carers have been keeping residents busy during lockdown with activities including a visit from donkeys at Alton care home and learning to grow tomatoes at Woking care home (Pictured)

Princess Alexandra also spoke with Andrew Neaves, the CEO of @careforveteran. Her Royal Highness has been President since 2003. The charity provides residential nursing care, rehabilitation and respite to Ex-Services personnel and their families (pictured, at a care home)

Earlier this year, the Queen used her social media to shine a spotlight on Princess Alexandra, among other 'quiet achievers' within the royal family, in the wake of Megxit. Pictured, Princess Alexandra and the Queen together at Buckingham Palace

Earlier this year, the Queen used her social media to shine a spotlight on Princess Alexandra, among other 'quiet achievers' within the royal family, in the wake of Megxit.

In February, the Royal Family account, which boasts 7.5million followers, broadened its focus from only the Queen's immediate family - her children and 'working' grandchildren - to include her first cousins and their spouses.

While these minor royals occasionally appeared on the account last year, they have been featured with greater regularity since the start of 2020.

But while her work may be under-the-radar, Princess Alexandra maintains a full schedule of engagements and lives in Richmond Park, London at the marital home she once shared with her late husband Sir Angus Ogilvy, who died in 2004.

Today, she is patron of more than 100 different organisations and her closeness to the royal family was demonstrated in 2016 when the Queen held a party to celebrate Alexandras charity work and to mark her 80th birthday.

Overseeing organisations ranging from the British Skin Foundation to the Light Infantry Club and the British Goat Society, her workload includes visiting hospices, meeting Alzheimers sufferers and working with the blind.

The under-the-radar royal has long-been close to the Queen, serving as her bridesmaid at her wedding to Prince Philip, 99




Haiti - FLASH : The country is approaching 4,000 cases





The Ministry of Public Health informs that 134 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Haiti (the day before: 124), for a total of 3,796 cases throughout the national territory (40.4% of women and 59.6% of men) since the first case (March 19, 2020 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30319-haiti-health-origin-of-the-first-2-cases-of-covid-19-in-haiti.html ).



Deaths : 2 new deaths were recorded 1 in the West and 1 in the Nippes, bringing the national total to 58.



Healings : 24 people healed (unchanged since May 31)



Active cases : (less death and recovery) 3,714 cases (+ 3.69%) +132 in 24h (the day before : +122)



Number of suspected cases investigated since March 19 : 7,906 cases +287 in 24 hours (the day before : +168)



All the details in our daily report of 11am



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30994-haiti-covid-19-daily-report-june-10-2020.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30987-haiti-flash-1-confirmed-case-of-covid-19-every-7-minutes-on-average.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30319-haiti-health-origin-of-the-first-2-cases-of-covid-19-in-haiti.html



S/ HaitiLibre


















The Black Lives Matter movement has gained tremendous momentum and influence since May 25, when a passerby captured a video recording of a Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes. A 2017 review of recent social science research on Black Lives Matter, published well before the ongoing global eruption of mobilization among people concerned with the equal application of justice, outlined the movements motivations and growth but also cautioned that failure to achieve its goals, including concrete reform in policing, could undermine it.

In The Social Psychology of the Black Lives Matter Meme and Movement, Colin Wayne Leach (Barnard College, Columbia University) and Aerielle M. Allen (University of Connecticut), applied the dynamic dual-pathway model of protest to Black Lives Matter. That model, introduced by Leach and others in 2012, integrates many common explanations of collective action and conceptualizes collective action as the outcome of two distinct processes: emotion-focused and problem-focused approach coping. Emotion-focused approaches are based in group anger derived from unfair collective disadvantage, and problem-focused approaches are related to beliefs in a groups efficacy and potential for social change.

In their review, Leach and Allen cited research demonstrating bias in the application of the law against Blacks, including a 2016 analysis that found police use physical force against Blacks about 3.5 times more than against Whites. Public awareness of such disparities, and of police misconduct more widely, swelled beginning in 2012, when a white neighborhood watch officer killed unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida. The Black Lives Matter meme and movement emerged in response to the subsequent killings of other African Americans including 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson and 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, along with the 2013 acquittal of Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Michael Brown.

Black Lives Matter has animated intense social and political activity, especially among younger people and others who have been less politically engaged, Leach and Allen wrote. While acknowledging a dearth of scientific research on the meme and movement at the time, they noted that examining the dynamics of it and other real-world movements can enrich psychology conceptually, methodologically, and practically.

Consider the use of social media to influence, organize, and carry out contemporary protest movements. [T]he social sharing of information, emotions, and intentions can reinforce individual psychology and thereby increase the chances of concerted and coordinated action across individuals, Leach and Allen wrote. For instance, in the 3 weeks after Wilson avoided indictment for killing Brown, the BlackLivesMatter hashtag appeared 1.7 million times on Twitter, mostly in an affirming context. Research confirmed support for the movement by a clear majority of African Americans, Democrats, and White Americans under 30, and either neutrality and uncertainty by most other groups with the exception of Republicans, who adamantly opposed it.

Leach and Allen further reviewed several studies of protest that reinforce the dynamic dual-pathway model. In large-scale antigovernment protests in Turkey in 2013, for instance, the decision to protest was dynamic in that it brought with it two divergent consequencesa feeling of collective empowerment from coordinated action and the experience of intense police violence (e.g., receiving baton beatings, being shot with water cannons). This social sharing of reality and its attendant perception of support from like-minded others, as confirmed by a linguistic analysis of Twitter posts, helps explain support of Black Lives Matter, particularly among individuals in areas with higher rates of police killings of Black people.

But the dynamic dual-pathway model also reveals risk, according to Leach and Allen. Specifically with regard to Black Lives Matter, for instance, future failed action to achieve the movements goals could undermine both the motivational bases for protest and broader social support for the movement. This is part and parcel of the way in which protest and other active coping is best viewed as a dynamic social and psychological process operating within societies and the individuals that constitute them.

Reference:

Leach, C. W., & Allen, A. M. (2017). The Social Psychology of the Black Lives Matter Meme and Movement. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 543547. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417719319
President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John's Church, in Washington. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night. Walking behind Trump from left are, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley says his presence created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. He called it a mistake that he has learned from. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Read more

WASHINGTON  Army Gen. Mark Milley, the nations top military officer, said Thursday he was wrong to accompany President Donald Trump on a walk through Lafayette Square that ended in a photo op at a church. He said his presence in uniform amid protests over racial injustice created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

"I should not have been there," the Joint Chiefs chairman said in remarks to a National Defense University commencement ceremony.

Milley's statement risked the wrath of a president sensitive to anything hinting of criticism of events he has staged. Pentagon leaders' relations with the White House already were extraordinarily tense after a disagreement last week over Trump's threat to use federal troops to quell civil unrest triggered by George Floyd's death in police custody.

Trump's June 1 walk through the park to pose with a Bible at a church came after authorities used pepper spray and flash bangs to clear the park and streets of largely peaceful protesters demonstrating in the aftermath of Floyd's death. Milley's comments Thursday were his first public statements about the walk with Trump, which the White House has hailed as a presidential "leadership moment" akin to Winston Churchill inspecting damage from German bombs in London during World War II.

Milley said his presence and the photographs compromised his commitment to a military divorced from politics.

"My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics," Milley said. "As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it."

After protesters were cleared from the Lafayette Square area, Trump led an entourage that included Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper to St. John's Episcopal Church, where he held up a Bible for photographers and then returned to the White House.

Esper has not said publicly that he erred by being with Trump at that moment. However, he told a news conference last week that when they left the White House he thought they were going to inspect damage in the Square and at the church and to mingle with National Guard troops in the area.

The public uproar following Floyd's death has created multiple layers of tension between Trump and senior Pentagon officials. When Esper said last week that he had opposed Trump bringing active-duty troops onto the streets of the nation's capital to confront protesters and potential looters, Trump castigated him in a face-to-face meeting.

Just this week, Esper and Milley let it be known through their spokesmen that they were open to a "bipartisan discussion" of whether the 10 Army bases named for Confederate Army officers should be renamed as a gesture aimed at dissociating the military from the racist legacy of the Civil War.

On Wednesday, Trump said he would never allow the names to be changed, catching some in the Pentagon by surprise.

The Marine Corps last week moved ahead with a ban on public displays of the Confederate Army battle flag on its bases, and the Navy this week said it plans a similar ban for its bases, ships and planes. Trump has not commented publicly on those moves, which do not require White House or congressional approval.

Milley used his commencement address, which was prerecorded and presented as a video message in line with social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic, to raise the matter of his presence with Trump in Lafayette Square. He introduced the subject to his audience of military officers and civilian officials in the context of advice from an Army officer and combat veteran who has spent 40 years in uniform.

He said all senior military leaders must be aware that their words and actions will be closely watched.

"And I am not immune," he said, noting the photograph of him at Lafayette Square. "That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society." He expressed regret at having been there and said the lesson to be taken is that all in uniform are not just soldiers but also citizens.

"We must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our republic," he said. "It takes time and work and effort, but it may be the most important thing each and every one of us does every single day."

Milley also expressed his outrage at the Floyd killing and urged military officers to recognize it as a reflection of centuries of injustice toward African Americans.

"What we are seeing is the long shadow of our original sin in Jamestown 401 years ago," he said, referring to the year in which the first enslaved Africans arrived on the shores of colonial Virginia.

Milley said the military has made important progress on race issues but has much yet to do, including creating the conditions for a larger proportion of African American officers to rise to the military's senior ranks. He noted that his service, the Army, has just one African American four-star general, and mentioned that the Air Force is about to swear in the first-ever African American service chief.

One of Trump's Republican supporters, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said he agreed with Milley's comments  "in both substance and spirit."

Graham, a former Air Force lawyer, wrote on Twitter that Milley is a tremendous military leader who understands the long tradition of maintaining an apolitical nonpartisan military.
(CNN)  The Pentagon has officially confirmed it is moving forward with a $250 million security assistance package to Ukraine, half of which was contingent on Kiev making progress on reforms and anti-corruption efforts.

"The Department of Defense announced today its plans for $250 million in Fiscal Year 2020 Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds for additional training, equipment, and advisory efforts to strengthen Ukraine's capacity to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression," the Pentagon said in a statement to CNN.

The statement said that the "funds -- $125 million of which was conditional on Ukraine's progress on defense reforms -- will provide equipment to support ongoing training programs and operational needs."

"These security cooperation programs are made possible by Ukraine's continued progress on key defense institutional and anticorruption reforms," the statement added.

CNN reported last month that the Pentagon had certified to Congress that Ukraine has made the necessary reforms to justify the additional funding and that the aid package included mobile radar systems designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire, dozens of ambulances, secure communications equipment, including 100 "tactical tablets" and the patrol boats armed with remote controlled 30mm cannons.

Congress was not expected to block the package given the broad bipartisan support for arming Ukraine.

The Pentagon statement Thursday added that the package "reaffirms the long-standing defense relationship between the United States and Ukraine -- a critical partner on the front line of strategic competition with Russia. The United States remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders."

The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative was thrust into the spotlight after the Trump administration froze security assistance to Ukraine after it was notified to Congress, an action that led the House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump.

The White House has offered shifting and vague accounts of why the hold was implemented and what triggered Trump to ultimately change course and release the money.

Trump administration officials at times cited corruption in Ukraine as justification for freezing the aid, though that justification was undermined by the Pentagon's certification at the time that Kiev was making progress in combating corruption.

The official who provided that certification, John Rood, then the Pentagon's under secretary of defense for policy, was ousted shortly after Trump's acquittal impeachment vote.

The nonpartisan congressional watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, conducted a review which found that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld US security aid to Ukraine last year that had been appropriated by Congress.

The GAO said that the White House budget office violated the Impoundment Control Act, a 1974 law that limits the White House from withholding funds that Congress has appropriated.

Russia seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and tensions between Kiev and Moscow in the region remain high.

The US has long accused Moscow of arming, backing and even directing separatist fighters in the country's east in addition to annexing the Crimea peninsula.

The counter artillery radars will enable Ukrainian troops to detect where enemy fire is coming from, a major concern given the ongoing exchanges of fire along the conflict's frontlines.

The Pentagon's supplying of armed patrol boats are seen as important given Ukraine's tensions with Russia in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

In 2018, Russian forces seized three Ukrainian vessels and captured 24 Ukrainian sailors following a clash in the Kerch Strait which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and is the sole access route for ships travelling to Ukraine's eastern port cities.

The Sea of Azov is much too shallow for most conventional warships to operate, making it the ideal environment for the type of patrol the US is supplying to Ukraine.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Pentagon announces $250 million in security assistance to Ukraine"
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 15:21:09|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia conducted 315 tests for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours and the results are all negative, the country's National Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) said Thursday.

Two more patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total of recoveries in the country to 89, Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the surveillance department of the NCCD, said at a daily press conference.

"We are now testing 175 Mongolian nationals who returned home from Kazakhstan on a chartered flight last night," she added.

As of Thursday morning, Mongolia has confirmed 194 COVID-19 cases, including five foreigners. All the cases were imported.

No local transmissions or deaths have been reported in Mongolia so far. Enditem
The Winslow Township Police Department went to Facebook Wednesday to alert residents of two bear sightings, and to warn them against attempting to snap a pic with the grizzly creatures.

Please do not, I repeat, DO NOT attempt to take selfies with the bear," the department wrote on Facebook, along with other safety recommendations.

Due to two separate bear sightings on Cooper Terrace and Union Road, here are the NJ Division Fish and Wildlife... Posted by Winslow Township Police Department (NJ) on Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Black bears are generally not known to be a threat to humans. According to National Geographic, American Black Bears can grow to be five to six-feet long and weigh anywhere between 200 and 600 pounds.

The department went on to give advice such as not feeding the bears or approaching the animals. It even recommended families with homes in areas where black bears have been found in the past to have a Bear Plan that includes an escape route and planned use of whistles and air horns.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.

Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com.
WESTPORT  A plan to create a new affordable housing neighborhood in town remains under way despite a state refusal to sell property the homes would be built on.

The proposal involves requesting a portion of the state Department of Transportations maintenance lot at 900 Post Road East to create a townhome community.

This is an almost 11-acre site thats utilized by the state to store salt and dirt and trucks, Danielle Dobin, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commissions Affordable Housing Subcommittee, said at Tuesdays meeting.

I do not think that (the) highest and best use for 11 acres of land literally in the heart of Westport, accessible to all transportation, located in the Greens Farms School district, which is one of our wonderful elementary school districts, is for use as a salt dump when it could be instead much better utilized for housing, he said.

The plan hit its first roadblock when the state DOT rejected the proposal in February. But Dobin said she has continued communication with the state regarding the proposal.

I do think were making some headway to transfer the land to the Westport Housing Authority, Dobin said. But the COVID-19 pandemic really put a stop to the conversation.

The proposal would create 40 to 60 units in a 90 percent affordable community. Dobin said shes hopeful a letter-writing campaign from Westporters and out-of-town residents alike can get the state to transfer a portion of the property.

With regards to an impactful sized development for Westport that would supply housing for families  to call it a dramatic change would be an understatement, she said.

The proposal has garnered support from state and town officials who say they see it as an opportunity to address a need in town.

If ever there is a time to be focused on this issue, its now, First Selectman Jim Marpe said. I appreciate the collaboration with the Planning and Zoning commission in trying to address whats clearly a shortage of affordable housing in Westport.

Marpe said recent events across the nation are a reminder of the need to create a diverse population.

To me, this is about taking action as a community, he said. The good news is we have been taking action towards this.

Selectwoman Melissa Kane echoed his sentiments.

I think because we will have strength in numbers and because right is on our side, we have an opportunity to convince the state that this is the best use for certainly the four acres of that piece of property, she said.

Neighbors to the property also showed support for the proposal.

The idea of having this new project is so exciting, Lory Nurenberg, a West Parish Road resident, said. We are completely 100 percent in support of this. We would be proud neighbors.

dj.simmons@hearstmediact.com
A report from Fox Business offers some insight on whats going on behind the scenes as Dish Network is expected to purchase Boost Mobile from Sprint as part of an agreement that was made with regulators. T-Mobile and Sprints merging required that a third-party purchase Boost Mobile, along with its customers and assets for $1.4 billion.

Due to the pandemic, the value of these assets has fallen and Dish Network chair Charlie Ergen is wary of going through with the purchase of Boost Mobile.

FOX Business has learned Ergen is balking at the sale price as the value of many assets declined amid the coronavirus pandemic-spawned recession. And T-Mobile is growing frustrated and looking at other potential buyers, people with knowledge of the matter say.

Ergen is reportedly extremely hard to work with and not living up to their end of the bargain as per a person close to T-Mobile. The divestment of Boost was supposed to be completed by June 1 but an internal memo to T-Mobiles employees suggests the acquisition has been put on hold. Dish Networks purchase of Boost Mobile was a conditional event to take place for the Sprint/T-Mobile merger to close, and it seems the carrier celebrated too early.

T-Mobile is reportedly looking for alternative buyers, including an arrangement of multiple private parties all chipping in to fund the purchase of Boost. Softbank still intends to fund the purchase for Dish Network, but the Japanese company is reportedly in financial problems.

Regardless of whether Dish buys Boost or not, T-Mobile must sell the prepaid brand to some other party as per the regulator's agreement.

Source
Hundreds of residents were forced to flee northern parts of Tucson, Arizona, with little notice on Thursday as the Bighorn Fire raged near the Catalina Foothills. Forecasters say that a dangerous combination of weather conditions will keep the threat high for fires like Bighorn to spread further and for new fires to ignite to end the weekend.

One such fire ignited on Sunday afternoon, local time, just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. This new fire, dubbed the Bush Fire, quickly spread throughout the day Sunday and even doubled in size to nearly 14,400 acres overnight.

Flew over the #BushFire on final approach to Phoenix-Sky Harbor this evening. pic.twitter.com/Rd4OEqoUoP  Jeremy G (@keepmeupdated19) June 14, 2020

The Bush Fire is currently at 0% containment, according to the Gila County Sheriff's Office. Although there are currently no evacuation orders in place, residents of Punkin Center and Tonto Basin, Arizona, have been told to remain alert.

Arizona has the largest concentration of ongoing wildfires across the southwestern United States, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, with California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and West Texas also reporting blazes.

Lightning sparked the Bighorn blaze back on June 5, and it has spread rapidly in recent days. On Wednesday, the Bighorn Fire had scorched around 3,200 acres, but by Sunday, it had grown to 13,500 acres with just 22-percent containment, according to InciWeb.

One of the biggest challenges in battling this blaze is the landscape of the Catalina Mountains where it is burning.

"This fire has been really complex from the [beginning]. With that terrain, it's super steep, super rocky, so a lot of it is just not safe for our firefighters to be on the ground up there unfortunately, so a lot of this fire has been surpassed and managed from the air with helicopters and air tankers," Adam Jarrold told AccuWeather. Jarrold is the public information officer assigned to the Bighorn Fire.

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The Pima County Sheriff's Department went door-to-door in the northern parts of the Catalina Foothills to ensure that residents in danger of the fire were able to get to safety in time. People that live nearby should monitor the situation closely and be prepared to leave if the mandatory evacuation orders are expanded.

"As the fire gets closer to the homes, we have hotshots getting behind the communities to create firebreaks, using hand tools, chainsaws to remove any fuel for the fire," said Jarrold.

More than 400 firefighters from all across the region are converging on the Bighorn Fire to help contain the blaze and to prevent it from endangering more structures, The Associated Press said.

Those that need to evacuate should make sure to keep safety precautions in mind amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Residents should avoid close contact with those who are sick and should practice public health recommendations when relocating," the department stated in its evacuation notice. "Grab your emergency go kit. Keep in mind unique needs for your family or special equipment for pets and livestock."

Local resident Scott Fadynich is dangerously close to the fire and is preparing to evacuate the moment that evacuation orders are given.

"It's just my wife and myself. We took some time [Thursday], put the breaks on everything else I've been doing and just gathered important documents and a few things that we feel like are priceless," Fadynich told AccuWeather News Reporter Bill Wadell on Friday.

Friday afternoon, the Pima County Office of Emergency Management and the Pima County Sheriff's Department downgraded the evacuation status, allowing previously evacuated residents to return to their homes. However, they caution for people to remain alert and prepared.

Shortly after the evacuation status was lifted in the Catalina Foothills, a new evacuation order was announced for the Catalina area.

On Sunday evening, the evacuation status in the area was downgraded once again.

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Other notable fires across the Southwest include the Elizabeth Fire and the Lime Fire, both burning in Ventura County, California. The Lime Fire is the bigger of the two, however as of Sunday evening, the 800-acre fire is 90%, according to Cal Fire.

On Friday afternoon around 1 p.m. PDT, Cal Fire declared a new fire, the Grant Fire, in Sacramento County, California. Within four hours, the blaze exploded from 100 acres to 5,000 acres. As of Sunday evening, the Grant Fire is at 90% containment. Video of damage from the fire shows charred fields and small flames still eating away at the remaining plant life. In Fresno County, California, the Hog Fire ignited, reaching up to 600 acres by Saturday afternoon.

Any type of outdoor burning is strongly discouraged in the pattern as wind gusts are likely to frequent 20-30 mph with an AccuWeather Local StormMax of 60 mph possible. Such winds can easily turn a few sparks into a rapidly spreading blaze in minutes.

The use of outdoor power equipment should also be limited, and cigarettes should be properly discarded.

The gusty winds can also lead to blowing dust in the deserts, resulting in poor visibility for motorists at times. Loose, lightweight outdoor items should be brought inside before the winds pick up.

AccuWeather meteorologists expect additional fire threats this week with several more rounds of gusty winds across the Southwest.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
People are arrested for curfew violation in Hollywood this month. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

As smoke from a nearby car fire billowed up, the police batons came raining down. Deon Jones felt one lash across his back and shoulder as he ran. Glancing back, he saw a Los Angeles police officer aim a tactical gun right at his face.

The pain was sudden and searing. Ringing filled his ears. At the hospital, a doctor told the 28-year-old protester that he would have been blinded had the police projectile struck an inch to the right  and dead had it hit an inch higher, at his temple. Instead, he had two cracked bones in his face, a head injury and stitches across his cheek.

"We are protesting police brutality," Jones said, "and then being brutalized by police while were protesting."

A Times review of dozens of instances of police force during protests over the killing in police custody of George Floyd found that demonstrators suffered a range of injuries at the hands of the LAPD, from minor bruising from baton strikes and falls as police skirmish lines advanced, to serious injuries to their genitals and heads from foam and sponge bullets and beanbags being launched into crowds, sometimes from close range. To date, there has been no formal assessment of how many protesters were hurt.

Deon Jones felt one lash across his back and shoulder as he ran. Glancing back, he saw a Los Angeles police officer aim a tactical gun right at his face. (Handout)

Many of the protesters' wounds are from incidents in which police appeared to have violated their own policies for how weapons like batons and "less lethal" munitions may be used, after they had declared large gatherings unlawful and subject to dispersal, the review found. Others, including some of the most serious injuries to men's genitals, appeared to be the result of sanctioned uses  such as officers aiming projectiles directly at a man's belt line.

Since the Rodney King beating nearly three decades ago, the LAPD has increasingly placed limits on how police use force, from wielding batons and flashlights to firing weapons and using certain choke holds.

Weapons such as beanbags and foam projectiles were ushered in to reduce police shootings. But there are now calls from Black Lives Matter activists and others to restrict their use after the police response to protests, and additional questions about the use of batons.

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Ed Obayashi, a police force expert, said the protest videos underscored how the use of batons can quickly spin out of control and result in serious injury.

"After one blow strikes, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy and you get casualties," he said.

Witnesses to the events say the police were at times responding to water bottles and other debris being thrown at them and fires and other vandalism occurring around them. But other times, the police appeared to be lashing out at peaceful protesters simply for being on the street.

"We were standing there, and they were really not wanting us there anymore," said Matt McGorry, an actor who was shot in the stomach with a projectile, and whose videos from the front lines are among the most viewed online. "They just came after people, even when people had their hands raised. They were swinging at people's knees like they were trying to hit a home run."

Police and city leaders, including Mayor Eric Garcetti and LAPD Chief Michel Moore, said the actions of police officers who clashed with protesters in recent weeks are under review. Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman, said the department has committed 40 internal affairs investigators to the sole task of reviewing such interactions and assessing whether policy violations or more serious misconduct occurred.

More than 50 investigations have been launched into complaints about police behavior during the protests, including 28 alleging excessive force. Seven police department employees have been taken out of the field pending the results, the department said Wednesday. Moore has said he witnessed officers using batons in ways he did not approve, though it's not clear whether they are among those assigned to desk duties.

The recognition of failures is an evolution in tone from the early days of protest, when Garcetti and Moore repeatedly praised the department's officers for their "restraint." And they still maintain the police force performed admirably overall.

Garcetti and Moore have repeatedly lamented the fact that more than two dozen police officers were injured, including one with a skull fracture, but have attempted no public accounting of protester injuries at the hands of police.

According to The Times' reporting, there were a significant number, including many from a violent police confrontation with a large gathering of protesters near the Grove in the city's Fairfax District on May 30.

Police say a peaceful protest at Pan Pacific Park spiraled out of control as people in the crowd, whether protesters or infiltrators keen on inciting chaos, started to damage stores, light cars on fire and endanger other citizens and officers. Protesters say police stirred up trouble by amassing in riot gear and then hemming people into confined areas with no escape.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, about two miles away, treated several patients with injuries from tactical bullets, said Dr. Sam Torbati, medical director of the hospital's emergency room. Most patients had injuries such as bruising and lacerations and were discharged after receiving treatment, he said.

Hospital officials would not provide total figures for such injuries.

Asst. Chief Robert Arcos, who oversees LAPD operations, said officers were deploying sponge and foam bullets at specific targets, including those throwing projectiles at police, and not simply to disperse or push back crowds. But he acknowledged many complaints of excessive force are being looked into.

Department policy for such weapons requires they be used only on individuals who present a clear and immediate threat and are specifically targeted, and from at least five feet away. It mandates officers aim at individuals' navel or belt line first, and then their arms and legs if initial shots are ineffective. Officers are not supposed to aim at people's heads or necks. They are not to use the weapons in response to verbal threats or "mere noncompliance." They are not to fire the weapons at people running away.

Protesters said they were fired upon from point-blank range, that the weapons were fired indiscriminately into crowds and at people running away, and that the weapons were aimed at people's heads and faces.

Arcos said batons were generally used to push people out of the area after dispersal orders, or to strike people in instances where officers were confronted with "aggressive or violent behavior."

"I know that there are video images that do not seem to support that, but there is more context that we have to look at  for example, the body-worn video from those officers, which we are doing," he said.

Protesters said the batons were used to beat protesters who were passively resisting dispersal orders, and at times when people were trying to disperse but weren't doing so as quickly as officers wanted them to.

During the same protest in Fairfax where Jones was shot in the face, Eric Schuh was injured too. The projectile that hit him snapped off one of his teeth, cracked several more and busted his lip open.

Schuh, 28, said he was trying to help someone who had fallen in the crowd when he heard a bullet whiz by his ear. He said he threw his hands up and tried to duck behind a car, but it was too late. He saw the police officer aim his gun directly at him, he said.

The next second I was looking down and blood was just coming out of my mouth like a faucet, and I remember being in intense, intense pain, said Schuh, who lives in Long Beach.

Schuh's friend, Danyel Norman, 32, was hit in the throat seconds before Schuh, she said. Terrified, they rushed away and into an alley that resembled a triage ward, full of others with similar injuries, Norman said.

They were "all on the ground treating each other, she said, when police began firing into the alley.

Suzee Dunn, 30, a writer and producer, said she witnessed police corral crowds into tight spaces, only to start shooting projectiles wildly while jabbing people in the gut and striking them in the legs with batons. She was shot in the leg.

"It was just mass chaos and insanity and people hurt everywhere," she said.

Peter Murphy, 32, a manager at a local deli, said police showed zero restraint with their batons.

"They were shoving people with their batons, using their batons to hit people in their ribs, and then they would cock back their batons and full-force hit people," he said.

He said he witnessed police firing projectiles at random into large crowds of fleeing protesters.

"The crowd started to scatter, people started to move and get out of the way, and rubber bullets kept being shot. Even as people were retreating they kept getting hit," he said. "It seemed like the intention was to hurt people rather than just disperse them."

Days later, Ben Montemayor, a 28-year-old filmmaker, was hit by a police projectile in Hollywood.

An LAPD officer had grabbed a sign reading "Defund the Police" away from Montemayor and a friend, then shoved the friend to the ground, Montemayor said. When he went to help his friend up, he felt intense pain, he said, and realized he'd been shot in the groin.

One of his testicles swelled to twice its usual size, and the other was also injured. At a nearby hospital, he was rushed into emergency surgery to save his testicles and his future ability to have children, he said.

Some medical experts have for years argued police give the wrong impression of such weapons when they refer to them as "less than lethal" or suggest they are a soft approach to enforcement. Baton strikes can cause lasting injuries, and projectiles can be deadly.

A 2017 analysis of 1,984 people injured by rubber or plastic bullets found that 3% were killed and 15% permanently injured by the impact, left with vision loss, head injuries or limb amputations.

If you fired at a ton of people in the crowd, someone is going to get hit in the eye or in the face or in the scrotum or something like that and have permanent disabilities, said Dr. Rohini Haar, the studys lead author and an emergency room physician.

Los Angeles Times reporters Joel Rubin and Cindy Chang contributed to this report.
A bullet found in the skull of the Mennonite woman who disappeared in New Mexico in January matches the rifle of her accused Air Force airman killer.

Mark Gooch, 21, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the death of Sasha Krause, a 27-year-old schoolteacher who disappeared from the Mennonite community in Farmington on January 18.

Krause's body was found more than 400 miles away a forest north of Flagstaff, Arizona, more than a month after disappearing.

On Wednesday the Coconino County Sheriff's Office announced a bullet found lodged in her head matches that of Gooch's .22-caliber rifle.

A bullet found in the skull of a Mennonite woman Sasha Krause, who disappeared in January and was found dead suffering a gunshot wound to the head in February, matches the rifle of her accused Air Force airman killer

Authorities said she suffered a bullet wound to the back of her head and was found face down beneath brush, wearing a gray dress, white coat and hiking shoes.

An autopsy determined that Krause died of a gunshot wound to the head and had suffered blunt force trauma.

She was found with her hands bound with duct tape, but testing did not detect any human DNA on it. Analysts also weren't able to reveal any fingerprints from the tape that could be compared against others.

Results are pending on DNA taken from underneath Krause's fingernails and her neck.

The sheriff's office said it will not release the results of a sexual assault exam kit to protect Krause's privacy and that of her family. The autopsy noted no definitive evidence of injury to Krause's genital area. She was not wearing underwear when she was found.

Gooch's attorney, Matthew Springer, didn't immediately respond to a message left at his office Wednesday.

When Gooch was arrested in the case he told police that he had traveled to Farmington the day she vanished, saying he went for a long drive from his base in Arizona to the small New Mexico town.

Krause disappeared from the Farmington Mennonite Church (above) outside Farmington, New Mexico on January 18. Her body was found more than a month later over 400 miles away in the forest outside Flagstaff, Arizona

Gooch, who was also raised in a Mennonite family in Wisconsin, joined the military to escape what he told investigators was a difficult, sheltered and restricted life, according to sheriff's records.

He owned a .22-caliber rifle that he tried give to a friend to store in May.

One of Gooch's friends told authorities that Gooch asked him to store a .22-caliber rifle because he wasn't allowed to have it at Luke Air Force base where he served as an airma, in metropolitan Phoenix.

Authorities seized the weapon, replaced it with a nearly identical one and waited for Mark's brother Samuel Gooch to pick it up before arresting him, the sheriff's office said.

Sam Gooch, accused of trying to pick up Mark's gun, was arrested and charged with hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence and is currently being held on bond.

Samuel Gooch told a sheriff's detective after his arrest that Mark Gooch never asked him to get rid of the gun.

'I made some hard decisions and we'll see where this goes,' Samuel Gooch said, according to an audio recording of the interview.

Authorities arrested Mark's brother Samuel Gooch in May for trying to take his .22-caliber rifle allegedly used in the killing

Coconino County Superior Court Clerk Valerie Wyant said the case is sealed.

Jon Paxton, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, said Samuel Gooch recently was served with the indictment and no court dates have been set.

Sam Gooch said the family left a Mennonite church in Wisconsin around 2015.

Sheriff's records hint that Mark had disdain for the Mennonite community and at least two of his brothers.

He never became part of the church, a process that involves a period of study, a commitment to be a follower of Jesus, and baptism usually in teenage years.

Gooch said he felt like an outsider because his family wasn't born into the religion. He once told a friend that he found life on his family's organic dairy farm depressing and wanted to live like other people.

His older sibling, Sam Gooch, told investigators his brother holds a grudge against the Mennonite community over perceived mistreatment, but he didn't elaborate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, lauded Indians for showing determination in turning coronavirus crisis into an opportunity. During his virtual plenary address at the 95th Annual Day of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), PM Modi again made an appeal to make India self-reliant in order to come out of the crisis.

PM Modi said, "Every citizen of this country has resolved to turn this crisis into an opportunity. We have to make this a major turning point for this nation. What is that turning point? A self-reliant India".

Further, he said that while the entire world was battling against the coronavirus crisis, India had to confront other issues also such as floods, locust attacks, hailstorms, earthquakes, and cyclones.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, India needs to take the economy towards 'plug and play' mode from 'command and control' mode, the PM added.

The PM advised industry bodies to avoid conservative approach amid the crisis. He said, "It's time to prepare a globally competitive domestic supply chain," adding that it was time for "bold decisions" and "bold investments".

On the farmers' issue, the PM praised his government's decisions. PM Modi said, "Recent decisions taken by Centre for farmers have freed the agriculture economy from years of slavery." The PM added that the country would now need to take steps to ensure that products which were imported from elsewhere get manufactured in India.

Also read: Coronavirus impact: Households' borrowings peaked in March quarter, says RBI

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Suspected jihadists attacked an army frontier post on Ivory Coast's border with Burkina Faso overnight, killing around 10 people, the military said on Thursday. It is the first assault by Islamist extremists on Ivorian soil since March 2016, when a raid on the southeastern beach resort of Grand-Bassam left 19 people dead. Dozens of gunmen targeted the frontier post at Kafolo in northeastern Ivory Coast in a pre-dawn operation, an Ivorian security source said. Giving a provisional toll, armed forces chief of staff Lassina Doumbia said "around 10" people were killed at the post, which was manned by army personnel and gendarmes, while six were wounded and an attacker was "neutralised". "Investigations are under way to determine the nature, circumstances and final toll of this attack," Doumbia said in a statement. "In the meantime, urgent steps have been taken in the area, in particular placing all troops on alert and carrying out search operations for the assailants." Ivorian and Burkinabe sources earlier put the toll at 10 and 12 dead respectively, and both said two people were listed as missing and an assailant killed. "This is a terrorist attack. We had information about this threat of drug traffickers allied to terrorists to gain access to a port area," Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko said as he greeted the wounded at Abidjan airport at the end of the day. The army will conduct air raids in the coming days and will "strengthen our presence around the frontier", he said. "The response will be proportionate to the attack," he said. - 'Hiding in our houses' - "There were sounds of rifles toward the river," an anonymous Kafolo resident said in a telephone interview. "There were sounds of military cars speeding through the village. We are afraid. The sounds of guns have been going on since early this morning. And it's still going on." "We are hiding in the houses with our families. The military has forbidden us to go out. Everything is closed," he said, adding that residents are normally in the fields growing cotton and peanuts in the arid area. The attack, launched at around 3am, was carried out by dozens of armed individuals believed to be from the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), which has a hold on the area, according to a source in Burkina Faso. Security analysts have long worried that a jihadist revolt in the Sahel that began in Mali in 2012 is spreading towards coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea. Ivory Coast shares a 550-kilometre (340-mile) border with Burkina Faso, where jihadist violence has claimed nearly 1,000 lives and forced 860,000 people from their homes over the past five years. - Anti-jihadist operation - The latest attack took place in the same zone where the two countries last month launched a ground-breaking joint operation to flush out jihadists. "Operation Comoe," named after a river that flows through the two countries, led to the death of eight suspected jihadists, the capture of 38 others and the destruction of a "terrorist base" at Alidougou in Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast army said on May 24. The operation was launched after jihadists were spotted last year to the north of Ivory Coast's Comoe national park. Security sources say they are jihadists operating in Burkina Faso who hole up in Ivory Coast. The Grand-Bassam attack four years ago was claimed by Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It targeted civilians on hotel terraces in the resort, in contrast with the latest attack which aimed at a border post manned by the military and police. Jihadist violence, often intertwined with inter-communal violence, resulted in 4,000 deaths in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in 2019, according to the United Nations. Security analysts have long worried that a jihadist revolt in the Sahel that began in Mali in 2012 is spreading towards coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea
Instagram / The family of Jahmel Leach

The New York City police department has launched an investigation amid allegations of police brutality against a black 16-year-old named Jahmel Leach, after his family shared photos of the badly beaten teenager while demanding justice.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was really troubled by the Leach familys account of what happened to the teen earlier in the month when he was detained by police officers during a night of protests over the death of George Floyd.

Ive spoken to Jahmels family and Im really troubled by what they told me, he said in a statement on Wednesday night. Were going to get them answers. The NYPD has launched an investigation into what happened.

The 16-year-old was detained by the NYPD, which said it had body camera footage of him lighting a pile of garbage on fire during the protests on 1 June. His family pushed back on those claims, saying he was watching the vandalism that occurred but not participating.

Photos showing the teenagers bruised face were featured on a bulletin shared by the family across social media, which claimed the NYPD arresting officer told his mother: I'm sorry. He is so tall I thought he was an adult when I took him down."

Ive spoken to Jahmels family and Im really troubled by what they told me.



Were going to get them answers.

The NYPD has launched an investigation into what happened. https://t.co/nhEof7tMyP  Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) June 11, 2020

Earlier this month, @NYCSchools student Jahmel Leach sustained significant injuriesan injured jaw, and cuts, bruises, and swelling all over his bodyallegedly in an incident with the NYPD. I am horrified. I know @NYPDNews is now investigating.  Chancellor Richard A. Carranza (@DOEChancellor) June 11, 2020

The family said officers tased and beat the teenager, then arrested him and took him to a local hospital. Officers did not inform any family members about the minors arrest until he had reached the hospital, the family claimed  which would be a violation of new laws passed in the city, ABC News New York reported.

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Local officials have decried the alleged police misconduct, including New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, who tweeted: Earlier this month, @NYCSchools student Jahmel Leach sustained significant injuriesan injured jaw, and cuts, bruises, and swelling all over his bodyallegedly in an incident with the NYPD. I am horrified. I know @NYPDNews is now investigating.

The death of Mr Floyd  a 46-year-old black man who was seen in now-viral cellphone footage pleading for air as a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes before his death  sparked global protests against racism and police brutality.

In New York City, those weeks of demonstrations have occasionally turned violent by nightfall in some areas, with peaceful protests devolving into scenes of violent riots and looting.

The NYPD has also alleged they saw the teenager exiting a vandalised T-Mobile store, though he was not in possession of any stolen products.

Mr Leach and his family approached the mayor during a memorial service for George Floyd held in Brooklyn last week. The teenager wore a shirt featuring the bulletin with his beaten face on it as he posed for a photo with Mr de Blasio that was then shared to social media.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The Health Department in Assam is worried as they believe there is community transmission of COVID-19 in Guwahati.

At least 13 people in the city tested positive for the disease but they did not have any travel history in recent times.

Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the growing number of cases, reported from the society, was a matter of grave concern for the Health Department.

"Thirteen cases were reported from the society (in Guwahati). So, there is a strain moving. We have to stop it at some point. We have some worries about Guwahati," the Minister said.

The Health Department identified three localities where it found a trend of the disease.

"There is a pharmaceutical company near the Harishabha at Pan Bazaar. A lot of people go there to buy medicines. As we recorded three cases within a radius of 100 metres there, we are thinking of making the area a containment zone for seven days. We have to strictly maintain the containment protocols," Sarma said.

ALSO READ | Assam SP gives respectful farewell to COVID-19 victim after others prove unwilling

He said most of the cases in the city had a link with the Harishabha at Pan Bazaar.

"We found a trend also in the godown areas of Bishnupur and Fatasil Ambari. So, if we can isolate the two areas, the disease will not spread. The infection in Guwahati is indeed a matter of grave concern for all of us," the Minister added.

About a week ago, he had said 98% of the cases in the state were reported from returnees lodged in the institutional quarantine centres.

Till 12:30 pm on Thursday, Assam had recorded 3,319 cases altogether.

With 897, Tripura has recorded the second highest number of cases in the Northeast. It was followed by Manipur 309, Nagaland 128, Mizoram 93, Arunachal Pradesh 61, Meghalaya 44 and Sikkim 13.

So far, eight people have died  six of them in Assam and one each in Tripura and Meghalaya. 1,591 people have recovered.



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Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oilfield, as a worker wears a protective mask, following an outbreak of coronavirus, north of Basra, Iraq March 15, 2020. Essam Al Sudani | Reuters

The 23 member states of OPEC+, comprised of OPEC and ten of its oil-producing allies, for the most part delivered on record production cuts agreed to by the alliance through the month of May, a new report shows. "OPEC's 13 members dropped their output to 24.32 million b/d, for a compliance rate of 82% with their prescribed cuts," S&P Global Platts found in a survey released Wednesday. The ten non-OPEC members, which include Russia, pumped a combined 13.89 million barrels per day comprising 91% of their cuts, bringing OPEC+'s collective compliance to 85%, Platts reported. Following the coronavirus pandemic-induced plunge in oil prices, OPEC+ embarked on the largest coordinated oil production cut regime in history in May. They agreed to cut 9.7 million bpd in an effort to support the market, amounting to about 10% of global oil supply. In total, Platts found that the coalition managed to reduce its output by a combined 8.28 million bpd for the month.

The OPEC+ alliance agreed over the weekend to extend the cuts through July, with Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman asserting that this time there would be "no room whatsoever for lack of conformity." But the pacts have traditionally been difficult to enforce, with some members  particularly Iraq and Nigeria  falling behind on their cutting commitments, and OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia shouldering the overwhelming majority of cuts, often slashing their output by more than their required quota.

We remain skeptical about Iraq's ability to meet their enhanced output commitments. RBC Capital Markets

Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer, was the group's biggest offender, pumping 4.19 million bpd in May  some 600,000 bpd over its agreed limit. Nigeria, Angola and Gabon, as well as non-OPEC states Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, were among the other laggards. The group's most recent agreement included a promise by non-compliant countries to compensate for any barrels they didn't cut in May or June by making deeper reductions between July and September. Iraq's oil ministry said this week it is "fully committed" to cutting its production from June onward in accordance with the OPEC+ deal.

Will Iraq comply with the cuts?

But how this will be enforced remains unclear, and many doubt the capability of Iraq in particular to get its production down to where the Saudis want it. Deep cuts to production are something particularly painful for the war-weary country, where 90% of state revenues come from oil exports. "The actual mechanism for punishing errant producers is unclear," RBC Capital Markets analysts wrote this week in a client note. "The OPEC leaders did not specifically respond to questions about the Iraqi finance minister's request for a quota reconsideration based on 'economic conditions and living standards'. We remain skeptical about Iraq's ability to meet their enhanced output commitments." For Iraq, as well as Nigeria and Kazakhstan, "it may prove difficult for them to match their commitments 100%, because of the contractual agreements these countries have with upstream companies," David Fyfe, chief economist at energy analytics firm Argus, told CNBC.
The Florida Supreme Court has granted an emergency request by the Florida bar to immediately suspend an attorney who, with his firm, has filed thousands of assignment of benefit and first party lawsuits against Florida property insurers over the last several years.

The states high court approved the petition for an emergency suspension of Scot Strems, owner and sole named partner of Coral Gables-based Strems Law Firm, on June 9. The move came after The Florida bar filed a 48-page petition on June 4 alleging that Strems has been the respondent of several complaints before the Florida bar and that he and his firm are causing great public harm.

Strems firm is accused by the bar of engaging in mendacious, bad-faith conduct and making dishonest or even fraudulent statements to other parties involved in suits, including the court. The bar also accuses Strems of illegally filing multiple lawsuits on an individual policy claim, delaying and ignoring court deadlines, and violating court orders.

Mr. Strems sits at the head of a vast campaign of unprofessional, unethical, and fraudulent conduct that now infects courts and communities across the state, the petition states.

The bars petition said that given the pattern of conduct by Strems and his firm and the clear and unquestionable harm to the public, the immediate suspension was warranted.

Strems and his attorneys, Scott Tozian and Mark Kamilar, did not respond to multiple requests for comment by Insurance Journal. The firms website states the firm has approximately 20 attorneys across six offices in the state and that it specializes in first-party property claims, in which it represents homeowners against their property insurers.

A former associate of the firm testified it had filed more than 10,000 suits against Florida property insurance companies.

Industry Calls On Florida Lawmakers to Reform Lawsuit Abuse The industry again expresses concern over an explosion of AOB claims over the last several years. Study Cites AOB Abuse for Increasing Insurance Costs In Florida The I.I.I. report says the AOB mini-industry has cost consumers billions of dollars as they are forced to pay higher premiums to cover needless repairs and excessive legal fees.

Despite the professional veneer of the firms website, dockets across Florida are replete with orders sanctioning Mr. Strems and his subordinates for the delay, misrepresentation, and bad faith that have become the hallmarks of their firms litigation practice, the bar stated in its petition.

The petition says Strems firm files separate lawsuits against insurers for individual claims, even though they occur under the same policy, at the same property, and at the same time. After these cases are filed, water mitigation firm All Insurance Restoration Services, Inc. (AIRS), subsequently files multiple lawsuits in county courts relating to the same losses. The bar petition states that while SLF does not typically represent AIRS, the water mitigation firm will proceed under an AOB that has been executed by SLFs clients.

The end result is that the involvement of respondent and his firm results in four separate lawsuits filed resulting from the same alleged occurrence, the bar petition says.

The bar cites a motion from Avatar Insurance Co. that the firm has worked in tandem with AIR and the public adjusting firm Contender Claims Consultants, noting the entities are involved in literally thousands of claims together, more likely tens of thousands of claims.

Cited in the 700-pages of documents that accompany the petition as evidence are:

More than 30 orders and other filings of case dismissals with prejudice because of willful violations of a courts orders or purposeful delays, as well as sanctions against the firm, involving 18 cases against eight different insurance companies.

A class action lawsuit by claimants who say they were illegally solicited and profited off of by the firm and other third parties.

Affidavits by two Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court judges who have handled hundreds of cases brought by Strems.

A deposition of the firms former litigation manager who testified that the firm has handled as many as 10,000 suits at once, that Strems attorneys for the firm didnt keep track of their time and fee sheets stating time spent on cases were falsified.

The bar said numerous parties have been and continue to be injured by [Strems] bad faith, including: insurers and their counsel who must litigate these cases; the courts; the public and Florida homeowners whose premiums ultimately fund both sides of SLFs cases; and the clients of Strems who are sometimes conscripted (unwittingly or otherwise) into the firms conduct, and whose claims are frequently rendered worthless due to court sanctions.

Also cited in the petition are synopses of orders and other filings across 18 separate cases that lay bare the pattern of unethical and unprofessional conduct by respondent and SLF.

The orders  by no means represent the totality of sanctions issued against respondent and his firm. Indeed, the orders themselves make reference to yet more sanctions orders which are not addressed in this petition, the bar states.

In an affidavit dated May 4, Judge Gregory Holder of the Thirteenth Circuit Court in Hillsborough County, Fla., said he personally had presided over hundreds of first-party property claims cases involving Scot Strems or the Strems Law Firm. Holder said he and other judges in the courts General Civil Division have had many conversations concerning the pattern and practice of Strems and the Strems Law Firm.

Universally, these discussions have noted his absolute violations of the Rules of Professional Responsibility and blatant obstruction of justice in virtually every case where he and his firm enter an appearance, Holder stated.

Holder also noted Strems conduct has resulted in clear and unquestionable great harm to these Florida citizens who have chosen Mr. Strems and his firm to represent their interests.

Affected Companies

Florida-based Security First Insurance Co. has litigated hundreds of Strems cases and filed multiple sanctions against the firm. Representatives from the company told Insurance Journal the firm engaged in the aforementioned delay tactics on claims investigations, inflated or misrepresented claims, and delayed court proceedings like discovery efforts and depositions on claims lawsuits in attempts to increase its fee payouts. Security First currently has 209 open cases with the Strems firm.

In January, Security First deposed former Strems litigation manager and managing partner Christian Aguirre in a $321,000 fee dispute. Aguirre, who resigned from the firm in 2018, testified that at one point during his tenure the firm had as many as 10,000 lawsuits against insurance companies and that he personally handled as many as 700 in one year for the firm.

In the deposition, included as evidence in the petition for Strems emergency suspension, Aguirre said the Strems firm did not instruct him to keep track of his time and the law firm billed for case meetings that never occurred.

Bill Mitchell, head of the First Party Practice Group for insurance defense firm Conory Simborg in Tampa, called the Strems Law Firm the worst in terms of firms that sue Florida insurers. He said he personally had multiple interactions with the Strems firm in cases he worked where its attorneys would fail to show up for examination under oath requests, depositions, and not respond to discovery. The goal of Strems, he said, was to incur larger fees by dragging out the cases.

When you negotiate a settlement after a year and a half, they feel they are entitled to a higher fee of that settlement when in reality that claim could have been settled in 30 days, Mitchell said.

Roger Desjadon, CEO of Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., said the company has had a magnitude of lawsuits submitted by the Strems firm  and in many cases it has been multiple lawsuits on the same loss. He described Strems as among the top three or four firms filing lawsuits against his company.

This particular law firm is a very well recognized name in the state of Florida in the realm of lawsuits for profit, or the allegation of lawsuits for profit, he said.

Whats Next

The Supreme Courts emergency suspension states that Strems may no longer accept new clients and must cease to represent any clients after 30 days of the court order. In addition, Strems must notify all clients, opposing counsel and courts where he is counsel of record of his suspension, which Mitchell said leaves any case for which he is personally named on the retaining agreements in limbo. It was not clear if the other attorneys at the firm will take over these cases for the Strems firm. Additionally, Strems must provide The Florida Bar with the requisite affidavit listing all clients, opposing counsel and courts informed of the order within 30 days.

Strems was further ordered by the court to stop disbursing or withdrawing any funds from any trust account related to his law practice without approval of the Florida Supreme Court or appointees, as well as other conditions related to financials.

A referee will be appointed by the Florida Supreme Court within 14 days and a case management conference will be conducted within the next two months. Strems is expected to respond to the Florida Bars petition.

AOB Abuse

Some in the insurance industry hope this situation will be an example to the Florida Legislature of how certain law firms are taking advantage of insureds and exploiting the states legal system for their own gain, and that lawmakers take steps to address the issue.

I would like to see a greater focus on how these sort of actions impact the industry as a whole and consumers as a whole, because unfortunately I think a lot of people have the misconception that when we, being insurance companies, pay fraudulent, frivolous or over-inflated claims, that its a victimless crime and that it doesnt matter, said Melissa Burt DeVriese, president of Security First.

DeVriese said insurers in Florida are filing large rate increases because of losses related to excessive litigation like what was happening with Strems, and, Guess who pays those rate increases? The consumer.

The vast majority of people do not file frivolous lawsuits. They do not file frivolous claims, but theyre all bearing the cost of a handful of bad actors, she said. Thats what Id like to see come out of this situation is a focus on bad actors, a focus on the cost drivers in the Florida market that are leading consumers to pay more for their homeowners insurance than they should be.

Desjadon said addressing the issues with this one particular law firm is a good step, but the problems wont go away even if Strems is disbarred. He said the legislature needs to look at the one-way attorney fee statute and changing the formula of fee multipliers on first party lawsuits so attorneys are not incentivized to file frivolous claims.

I think that this for everyone really is kind of a wake-up call that something needs to be done, or the alternative is there will undoubtedly continue to be problems with pricing and problems with availability, he said.
Two sisters found dead in a London park following a birthday celebration were stabbed to death, a post-mortem has found.

No one has been arrested over the deaths of 27-year-old Nicole Smallman and 46-year-old Bibaa Henry as of Wednesday, police said.

The sisters were found dead in Wembley, northwest London, on Sunday after they were reported missing the day before.

Ms Smallman, from, Harrow and Ms Henry, from Brent, spent Friday evening in Fryent Country Park with a group of people to celebrate the older sister's birthday, the Metropolitan Police said.

People are thought to have left throughout the evening until only Ms Smallman and Ms Henry remained by midnight.

Police were called to the park off Slough Lane on Sunday afternoon to reports of two women who were unresponsive.

The sisters were pronounced dead at the scene.

The cause of death was stab wounds, according to a post-mortem examination conducted on Tuesday.

Detectives are following multiple lines of inquiry, police said.

Both these women were stabbed multiple times and we are working tirelessly to find who is responsible," Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding, senior investigating officer, said.

Their families have been devastated by their loss and they need and deserve answers."

Recommended Sisters found dead in London park after birthday party

He asked anyone who was in Fryen Country Park on the evening on 5 June until early into 6 June to contact police.

"The area the group were situated in is around a five minute walk from the Valley Drive entrance of the park, leading to a hill area," adding it would be a "well-known spot to sit and look over London".

"If you were in that area of the park from the evening of 5 June through to Sunday lunchtime, noticed the group, or saw anything or anyone suspicious, please contact us immediately," he said.

He also asked people who regularly go to the park to come forward if they saw anyone acting suspiciously, or who stumbled across items that may not have seemed significant at the time, but could be important for the murder investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting CAD 3160/7Jun.

Alternatively, people can provide information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 13:41:15|Editor: huaxia

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KATHMANDU, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's cities are receiving medical supplies from various Chinese cities with which Nepali cities have established sister-city relations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bharatpur Metropolitan City in southern Chitwan district has received medical supplies worth 100,000 yuan (about 14,140 U.S. dollars) from Golmud City of Qinghai Province to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the metropolitan city confirmed.

"In the medical supplies, there are 10,000 surgical masks, 960 pieces of N95 masks, 120 infrared thermometers and 120 sets of personnel protection equipment," Suresh Chandra Adhikari, press advisor to the Mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City told Xinhua on Wednesday. "The Chinese side handed over the materials to us on Monday at Tatopani-Zhangmu border point between two countries."

"We plan to use these medical goods for frontline health workers fighting against the COVID-19, our staff and testing the fever of service seekers from the city government," he said.

According to Zhang Jinxiang, a representative of Nepal Overseas Chinese Business Association, which has been arranging the delivery of these goods to Nepal, told Xinhua on Wednesday that Shigatse city in Tibet Autonomous Region of China has also donated medical goods to Bharatpur city.

"The medical goods will arrive in the 10 days," he added.

In late May, Pokhara Metropolitan City in western Nepal had received medical goods including surgical masks, Personal protective equipment (PPEs), gloves and shoes covers from three Chinese cities with which it has sister city relations, the city said.

The metropolitan city said in a press statement that it had received nine types of medical goods including 10,000 surgical masks, 300 PPEs from three Chinese cities of Linzhi, Kunming and Guangzhou to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Man Bahadur G.C, mayor of the city said that as a popular tourist destination, the city has established sister city relations with eight Chinese cities.

Earlier, China's Yibin city and Ganzi city also provided medical supplies including 20,000 surgical masks to Pokhara.

The Himalayan country has so far reported 15 deaths and over 4,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Enditem
Hundreds in Oakland, Calif., marched this week to demand answers in the June 6 fatal police shooting of an apparently unarmed driver, a case that has become a focal point in the city amid ongoing demonstrations against police brutality following the death of George Floyd.

Erik Salgado, 23, died Saturday after California Highway Patrol officers fired a barrage of gunfire at him and his pregnant girlfriend as they sat in a suspected stolen vehicle, which police say Salgado "rammed" into CHP vehicles. Salgado's girlfriend, identified by Berkeleyside as 23-year-old Brianna Colombo, survived but was seriously injured; family could not be immediately reached Tuesday night regarding whether her baby survived.

"Those officers belong in jail right now," Hoku Jeffrey, an organizer with Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary, said during a news conference Monday.

On Tuesday, the Oakland Police Department, which is leading the investigation of the shooting, released more details about the fatal encounter. The department said CHP officers were conducting a follow-up investigation for an unrelated crime when they spotted a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat driving recklessly and ran the plates, discovering it had been reported stolen. Police later learned it was among 74 vehicles reported looted from a car dealership in San Leandro on June 3.

Multiple cruisers pursued the Hellcat and initiated a traffic stop, Oakland police said. When officers got out, Salgado allegedly began "ramming CHP vehicles," police said.

Three officers opened fire, killing Salgado, the father of a 3-year-old daughter. His girlfriend was shot twice, according to family, and as of Tuesday was in stable condition at the hospital, police said

"Why not try other methods of getting him [out of] the car if he was such a danger that they had to shoot him 40 times?" Salgado's sister, Amanda Majail-Blanco, said Monday during a march in Oakland for her brother, KGO reported.

Since then, partial video footage of the incident taken by neighbors has been released by local journalists.

On Tuesday, surveillance video from one home's security camera was shared on Twitter by KTVU, capturing the sound of dozens of rapid gunshots.

"They could have shot a child. They could have shot anybody. They could have shot into someone's home and killed someone, but clearly they didn't care," Jeffrey said.

In a video obtained by investigative journalist Shane Bauer, officers can be heard yelling demands at Salgado as he is dying or already dead.

"Hands up, mother------!" one cop yells.

"Turn the car off!" another yells, as the engine is still blaring.

As it becomes clear that Salgado is not responsive, officers turn their attention to his girlfriend. An officer tells her to keep her hands in the air and says they are going to give her instructions to get out of the vehicle.

"Climb out of the car now!" one officer yells.

She can be heard on video moaning in pain.

On Monday, hundreds of people marched in East Oakland from a school Salgado had attended to the site of his death, where they set up a vigil for him and demanded justice. Salgado's family and many of the marchers were particularly angry that police were not forthcoming with details of why they killed Salgado, in a time when protesters are demanding police transparency and accountability.

"They should be up front and honest about what they did," Majail-Blanco told the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday. "If they're bold enough to kill somebody, they should be bold enough to tell us."

Oakland Democratic Mayor Libby Schaaf said Monday that the city is "committed to conducting a rigorous and transparent investigation into this fatal shooting that occurred in our city."

Since nationwide protests erupted last month following Floyd's death, law enforcement officials have come under increased pressure to release video evidence and to criminally charge police who have beaten or killed people.

In New Jersey, people are marching for Maurice Gordon, a 28-year-old unarmed black man from New York, and demanding murder charges against the state trooper who killed him during a routine traffic stop. Gordon's car broke down during the stop, leading the officer to request that Gordon sit inside the police cruiser for his safety until a tow truck could arrive, according to new dash-cam footage released this week. He was shot and killed after exiting the cruiser against the officer's wishes, then getting into a struggle with the officer trying to force him to go back into the cruiser.

In Las Cruces, N.M., people are marching for Antonio Valenzuela, who died Feb. 29 after an officer put him in a vascular neck restraint and said to him, "I'm going to f------ choke you out, bro," new body-cam footage released this week shows. Officer Christopher Smelser was fired and charged Friday with manslaughter, but Valenzuela's family's attorney argue that he should be charged with murder.

In Tacoma, Wash., people are marching for Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old unarmed black man who died March 3 from lack of oxygen due to physical restraint by officers, according to an autopsy report. He yelled, "I can't breathe, sir," just before his death, new footage from a Ring camera released Tuesday shows. Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards has demanded that all officers involved be fired, while a criminal investigation is ongoing. His family has demanded the officers be charged with murder.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Washington, United States  Thu, June 11, 2020 09:27 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddca8d1 2 World Donald-Trump,US-presidential-election,US-presidential-race,campaign Free

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will launch rallies soon in four states, including the battleground of Florida, signaling a rapid restart to his election campaign after it was stalled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump said he'll start in Oklahoma on Friday next week, before heading to Florida, Arizona and North Carolina.

"We're going to be starting our rallies. We believe the first one will probably be ... in Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Beautiful new venue, brand new. They're looking forward to it. They've done a great job with COVID, as you know," he told reporters at the White House.

"They're all going to be big."

Raucous rallies have been a hallmark of Trump's presidency and a key to energizing his base, which he hopes will turn out in big numbers on November 3. He is currently lagging in the polls against Democrat Joe Biden.

Job approval for the president is also down after his response to the coronavirus pandemic and the recent turmoil over police brutality, sparked by the death of an unarmed black man during his arrest in Minneapolis.

Although the coronavirus remains a threat, his campaign now feels that the crowds at daily street protests have lifted the political pressure on Trump to avoid large gatherings of his own.

Trump's campaign has so far not detailed how it will respect health precautions in an arena setting.
'Severe' risk headed for Australia. Source: Getty

Australias economic growth is predicted to fall a whopping 6.3 per cent if theres a second wave of coronavirus, and 5 per cent if there isnt, new data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) revealed.

But even with a major fall, the OECDs economic outlook found Australia would still be one of the major world leaders in recovery, behind Korea, China, Indonesia and Costa Rica.

The OECD, however, puts one major caveat on this: income support measures like JobKeeper and the JobSeeker bonus will need to be extended.

Australias ample fiscal space permits a strong response to a second outbreak or if the recovery falters, the OECD report stated.

In particular, some income support measures may need to be extended beyond their September expiry date.

The OECD also stated the government could further promote reskilling and upskilling through adult education and enhance job search programmes.

And, expanded loan guarantees, coupled with accelerated insolvency processes could reduce scarring for entrepreneurs and facilitate a dynamic recovery, according to the OECD.

The authorities should also ensure that the social safety net is adequate and consider further investment in energy efficiency improvements and social housing.

The OECD isnt the first institution to flag that extended income support measures might be necessary.

In May, the Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe told the Senate Select Committee on Covid-19 that the Australian economy would hit a critical point when stimulus measures end in September, and warned against withdrawing them if the workforce still required them.

"It's clearly going to be a critical point when that scheme [JobKeeper] comes to an end and also when the deferral for six months of mortgage payments and other payments that the banks are offering  so that's a critical point for the economy," Lowe said.

Story continues

If we have not come out of the current trough in economic activity, there will be, and there should be, a debate about how the JobKeeper program transitions into something else, whether it's extended for specific industries, or somehow tapered.

The governments stance on JobKeeper extensions

The government has not confirmed what it intends to do with JobKeeper, and whether it plans to even keep it around for the entirety of the six months it was initially touted to last for.

In a May address to the National Press Club, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said while the stimulus did its job in supporting the economy, it could only be temporary.

Now it is true that in the short term, demand stimulus by Government can boost your economy. And that is why we have supported this as an emergency response, but it can only be temporary, he said.

At some point youve got to get your economy out of ICU. Youve got to get it off the medication before it becomes too accustomed to it.

And in a press conference earlier that month, Morrison couldnt provide any certainty on the length of the stimulus.

I can give them the certainty that I want them to be back in their jobs, where they don't need it [JobKeeper or JobSeeker], Morrison said.

There has been some speculation that JobKeeper would remain for some sectors, like tourism, and be cut for others.

For example, 120,000 childcare staff will no longer receive the $1,500 fortnightly wage subsidy from 20 July, which sparked some talk that other sectors could be cut early too.

"There may well be some further adjustments made at the edges in the context of the economic statement of 23 July," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told a Senate Committee on Tuesday.

However, Cormann said no decisions had been made about other sectors yet.

Almost $13 billion in JobKeeper payments have flowed to 3.3 million workers since the beginning of the scheme.

Will the increase in JobSeeker be extended?

The doubling of the JobSeeker payment has been something of a lifeline for unemployed Australians, who are finally able to afford basic necessities without breaking the bank.

In April, the government was told to sustain the increase to ensure all eligible recipients dont live in poverty by the Senate Community Affairs References Committee.

Significantly, the committee found that the income support system is not meeting its objective of ensuring a minimum standard of living for working-age jobseekers, as too many live in poverty, the review stated.

The committee recommends that once the Coronavirus Supplement is phased out, the Australian Government increase the JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance and Parenting Payment rates to ensure that all eligible recipients do not live in poverty, the Senate recommended.

But the government has previously stated its intention to also revert the income support payment back to its pre-coronavirus level.

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The shooting occurred shortly before 2 a.m. in the 13600 block of Central Park Avenue, where a large party had been ongoing for several hours, the Cook County sheriffs office said in a statement.
RICHMOND, Va. - Protesters impatient with legal efforts to remove Confederate statues took matters into their own hands this week, toppling this city's iconic figure of Jefferson Davis and a statue in Portsmouth that caused a serious injury when it fell on a man's head.

The bronze figure of the Confederate president had stood since 1907, about a half-mile up Monument Avenue from the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee that Gov. Ralph Northam is fighting to remove.

A group of protesters pulled the Davis statue off its pedestal a little after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and dragged the paint-splattered figure across the road. Police surrounded the fallen statue a short time later. A small crowd gathered, many of them holding signs from demonstrations against police brutality toward African Americans that have swept Richmond - like other cities around the country - for nearly two weeks.

In Portsmouth, a man was knocked unconscious when a falling statue of a Confederate soldier hit him in the head, according to local and state police. The man was taken to a hospital with what state police said was a life-threatening injury.

Northam, a Democrat, on Thursday appealed to protesters to stop trying to tear down the "very large and very heavy" statues themselves.

"We all came together to create a process to do that safely. We need to let that happen," he said in a press briefing. "Pulling them down is not worth risking someone's life. Let's do this the right way and keep all Virginians safe."

Republicans on Thursday charged that Northam was surrendering Virginia to "mob rule" and called him "unfit to lead."

They also slammed Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, a Democrat, for failing to prevent the destruction of the Davis statue just one night after protesters pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus - reviled for his treatment of indigenous peoples - and chucked it into a lake. Earlier this week, protesters tore down a statue of another Confederate figure, Williams Carter Wickham, in Monroe Park at Virginia Commonwealth University.

City police said they are investigating the incidents but didn't directly answer questions about whether they have softened enforcement after being criticized for gassing peaceful demonstrators early last week. Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley said the department does not discuss patrol strategies but said police are "aware of the ongoing situation and are constantly adjusting our methods to address it."

Stoney, who is African American, tweeted Thursday that Davis was "a racist & traitor," but he urged protesters to stop taking matters into their own hands. "For the sake of public safety, I ask the community to allow us to legally contract to have the remaining ones removed professionally," he tweeted.

Stoney and all members of the City Council have said they will support an ordinance to remove the four Confederate statues on city property along Monument Avenue, including Davis. He cautioned Thursday that the statues are mere symbols of a bigger issue.

"Jefferson Davis is gone this morning, but it's going to be a lot harder to dismantle the racism he and his peers embodied and institutionalized. That's what this city will keep working toward," Stoney tweeted.

In a text message obtained by The Washington Post and verified by the department's spokesman, Richmond Police Chief William Smith said the monuments have a "short life span," given the council's plans to remove them. But he also said police, who were initially responding to reports that protesters were trying to pull down the Lee statue, attempted to reach the Davis monument in time to stop the vandalism.

"By the time we had personnel respond to Davis, the statue had already been toppled," Smith texted to a Monument Avenue resident. "Our biggest concern is for life safety followed by private property. The monuments have, based on city council, a short life span, with Jeff davis monument already contracted for removal. We are most concerned about large monuments that could injure someone."

A Richmond work crew on Thursday removed the city's police memorial statue from Byrd Park, the same area where the Columbus statue had stood, about 2 1/2 miles away from Davis. A city official said the memorial is being repaired and restored after damage inflicted during recent demonstrations and will be returned to public display.

Northam had begun efforts this week to take down the Lee statue, which towers 60 feet over a giant traffic circle and is the only one on state property. But a Circuit Court judge granted a temporary injunction late Monday to halt the removal for 10 days as part of a suit challenging Northam's authority to take it down, filed by the descendant of a family who deeded the land.

It was after that action that protesters began acting to take down statues on their own.

"Keep people waiting long enough, and something like this is bound to happen," said a 24-year-old man, who would only give his name as Thomas, who had bicycled over to see the fallen Davis statue late Wednesday.

One witness said a small group with tools and ropes had brought the statue down using a car. When a flatbed tow truck arrived and workers and police began sizing up how to remove the figure from the street, a crowd of several dozen began a short chant of "na na na na, hey hey, goodbye."

But not everyone was cheerful.

Marcus, 34, who like others declined to give his last name, said he had grown up seeing the statues and as an African American had hoped they would come down.

"But not like this," he said. "It would've been nice to see this stuff come down without having to protest for it. You shouldn't have to kill someone and get a riot behind it to have some action."

- - -

The Washington Post's Laura Vozzella contributed to this report.
By Associated Press

NEW YORK: Amazon on Wednesday banned police use of its face-recognition technology for a year, making it the latest tech giant to step back from law-enforcement use of systems that have faced criticism for incorrectly identifying people with darker skin.

The Seattle-based company did not say why it took action now.

Ongoing protests following the death of George Floyd have focused attention on racial injustice in the U.S. and how police use technology to track people.

Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed black man's neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.

Law enforcement agencies use facial recognition to identify suspects, but critics say it can be misused.

A number of U.S. cities have banned its use by police and other government agencies, led by San Francisco last year.

On Tuesday, IBM said it would get out of the facial recognition business, noting concerns about how the technology can be used for mass surveillance and racial profiling.

Civil rights groups and Amazon's own employees have pushed the company to stop selling its technology, called Rekognition, to government agencies, saying that it could be used to invade people's privacy and target minorities.



INTERVIEW | Takes much more than few protests, hashtags to tackle racism: Frederic Kanoute

In a blog post Wednesday, Amazon said that it hoped Congress would put in place stronger regulations for facial recognition.

'Amazon's decision is an important symbolic step, but this doesn't really change the face recognition landscape in the United States since it's not a major player,' said Clare Garvie, a researcher at Georgetown University's Center on Privacy and Technology.

Her public records research found only two U.S. agencies using or testing Rekognition.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office in Oregon has been the most public about using it.

The Orlando police department tested it, but chose not to implement it, she said.

Studies led by MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini found racial and gender disparities in facial recognition software.

Those findings spurred Microsoft and IBM to improve their systems, but irked Amazon, which last year publicly attacked her research methods.

A group of artificial intelligence scholars, including a winner of computer science's top prize, last year launched a spirited defense of her work and called on Amazon to stop selling its facial recognition software to police.

A study last year by a U.S. agency affirmed the concerns about the technology's flaws.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology tested leading facial recognition systems -- though not from Amazon, which didn't submit its algorithms -- and found that they often performed unevenly based on a person's race, gender or age.

Buolamwini on Wednesday called Amazon's announcement a 'welcomed though unexpected announcement'.

'Microsoft also needs to take a stand,' she wrote in an emailed statement.

'More importantly our lawmakers need to step up' to rein in harmful deployments of the technologies.

Microsoft has been vocal about the need to regulate facial recognition to prevent human rights abuses but hasn't said it wouldn't sell it to law enforcement.

The company didn't respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Amazon began attracting attention from the American Civil Liberties Union and privacy advocates after it introduced Rekognition in 2016 and began pitching it to law enforcement.

But experts like Garvie say many U.S. agencies rely on facial recognition technology built by companies that are not as well known, such as Tokyo-based NEC, Chicago-based Motorola Solutions or the European companies Idemia, Gemalto and Cognitec.

Amazon isn't abandoning facial recognition altogether.

The company said organizations, such as those that use Rekognition to help find children who are missing or sexually exploited, will still have access to the technology.

This week's announcements by Amazon and IBM follow a push by Democratic lawmakers to pass a sweeping police reform package in Congress that could include restrictions on the use of facial recognition, especially in police body cameras.

Though not commonly used in the U.S. , the possibility of cameras that could monitor crowds and identify people in real time have attracted bipartisan concern.

The tech industry has fought against outright bans of facial recognition, but some companies have called for federal laws that could set guidelines for responsible use of the technology.

'It is becoming clear that the absence of consistent national rules will delay getting this valuable technology into the hands of law enforcement, slowing down investigations and making communities less safe,' said Daniel Castro, vice president of the industry-backed Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which has advocated for facial recognition providers.

Angel Diaz, an attorney at New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, said he welcomed Amazon's moratorium but said it 'should have come sooner given numerous studies showing that the technology is racially biased'.

'We agree that Congress needs to act, but local communities should also be empowered to voice their concerns and decide if and how they want this technology deployed at all,' he said.
Protesters vandalized the Bayside Marketplace statue of Christopher Columbus, a historic figure thrust into modern controversy because some activists see him as the symbol of colonization that brutalized and destroyed indigenous communities.

When police arrived to stop them, things got heated Wednesday evening.

Seven people were arrested for vandalizing the statue, Miami police said. Using surveillance cameras, police saw and identified the seven, who were not named, spray paint two statues outside of Bayside Marketplace, 401 Biscayne Blvd. One statue portrays Columbus; the other, another legendary explorer and colonizer, Juan Ponce de Leon.

The graffiti included a hammer and sickle, long a symbol of the Russian Revolution  and a symbol likely to inflame passions in a city full of Cubans fiercely opposed to communism. Early Thursday morning, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio reacted on Twitter, retweeting the Herald photo with the comment, Because nothing says justice more than a Soviet hammer & sickle! Dont let anyone twist this.

He called for supporting peaceful protest and racial equality but NO TOLERANCE for arson, looting, vandalism and violence.

The Wednesday protest turned into a skirmish as police were trying to make arrests after they said some officers were assaulted and a police car was damaged. One woman was thrown to the ground in the melee.

Police decided to bum-rush the kids on skateboards, said Erica Clark, a Miami resident who was part of the protest ... Everybody got upset because it didnt take that many cops for one kid so everybody bum-rushed the cops to get them off of the one kid.

Police called the seven arrested violent protesters and said no peaceful protesters were arrested.

In the City of Miami, we support peaceful protests but there will be zero tolerance for those who hide behind the peaceful protesters to incite riots, damage property, and hurt members of the public or our officers, Miami police said in a release.

Story continues

Police arrested several protesters at Bayside Marketplace after statues of Columbus and Ponce de Leon were defaced on Wednesday, June 10, 2020.

Confederate and Columbus monuments have been targeted in recent weeks amid the protests after the death of George Floyd, the 46-year-old unarmed black man who was killed on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis cop pressed his knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes.

The cop, Derek Chauvin, has since been fired and charged with unintentional second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, as well as third-degree murder.

In Richmond, Virginia, protesters toppled a Columbus statue Tuesday and set it ablaze. In Boston, a Columbus statue was beheaded. On Wednesday, a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol resulted in a statue of Columbus being lassoed and yanked to the ground, according to CNN affiliate WTVR.

Columbus is credited in American textbooks as the discoverer of the New World, but he also killed and enslaved indigenous people of the Americas in his earliest travels.

That man literally has blood on his hands. Us putting the fist on his chest and the blood on his hands is symbolic, one protester told the Miami Herald.

For years, Native American advocates have urged states to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.

During the Wednesday protest, Miami protesters tagged the Bayfront Park Columbus and Juan Ponce de Leon statues with the letters BLM (Black Lives Matter), George Floyd and a Soviet hammer and sickle.

During a protest in downtown Miami, people tagged a statue of Christopher Columbus. That man literally has blood on his hands... us putting the fist on his chest and the blood on his hands is symbolic, one of the protestors told me. pic.twitter.com/ThXsUgPFzS  isaiah (@stclaudeii) June 10, 2020

The crowd quickly broke up as police responded.

But not before the confrontation, which took place in the middle of the northbound lanes of Biscayne Boulevard near the Ponce de Leon statue. Protesters tried blocking police vehicles from leaving, which escalated the tension.

They targeted the individuals who were out here giving the movements and they came out and started brutally slamming protesters, said Louis Hernandez, 29.

It definitely seemed like it was planned, 100 percent, added Jonathan Vale, 30. They knew who they were targeting. They went specifically to the five people who were leading the march.

The protest, billed as No Justice, No Peace, began around 5 p.m. at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, with about 50 to 60 people marching over to Bayside. It was peaceful until the police arrived with clubs, helmets and shields.

Several protesters were arrested after a group at Bayside defaced a statue of Columbus and one of Ponce de Leon on Wednesday, June 10, 2020.

Earlier in the evening, chants of Black Lives Matter and No justice, no peace punctuated the sounds of skateboards gliding across the pavement.

As the chants died down, hip-hop and excerpts of the Rev. Martin Luther Kings speeches blared from a speaker.

Local skateboarders organized the protest to honor Israel Reefa Hernandez, an 18-year-old graffiti artist who died after being tased by Miami Beach police in August 2013. Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle did not press charges, contending the Taser stun gun, under state law and police policies, was a non-lethal weapon  and thus the teens death was an accident, not manslaughter or murder, she said.

The vibe was far mellower earlier in the afternoon during a car caravan that ran from North Miami Beach to North Miami.

At least 40 cars bearing signs supporting the Black Lives Matter movement lined Northeast 19th Avenue. In the distance, speeches with the words justice, accountability and equality could be heard.

The demonstration, organized by Haitian American Historical Society CEO Elizabeth Jeanty, saw drivers journey about four miles from North Miami Beach to the North Miami police station.

Its time for reform, former state Sen. Daphne Campbell, a Democrat who had represented the area, said before the demonstration. Its time for police to realize black lives matter.

Speeches from city officials and police chiefs bookended the North-Dade demonstration.

Were not going to let the behavior of a cop in Minneapolis destroy the relationship that we have with the North Miami police and North Miami Beach police, North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime told the crowd.

The rally was designed to show unity between the local police departments and the black community.

As the cries for defunding police departments continue to swell, Jeanty and others dismissed that sentiment.

I think we need a balance, Jeanty said. ... If were going to spend $100 million on police funding, we must spend the same amount on funding resources for the community  better schools, better programs, crime watch and things like that.
A Co Antrim RAF war hero who sank more German U-boats than any other pilot has been immortalised after a new maritime patrol aircraft was named in his honour.

Terence Bulloch, who was born in Lisburn, became the highest scoring pilot in Coastal Command in the Second World War after joining the Royal Air Force in 1936.

The RAF recently announced that the third of its nine Poseidon MRA Mk1 (P-8A) maritime patrol aircraft would be named the 'Terence Bulloch' following its production in the US.

Squadron Leader Bulloch passed away in 2014 aged 98.

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DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he was "delighted" the RAF named the aircraft after the Lisburn man.

"As a pilot with Coastal Command he was very much involved in defending the UK against German attacks, including German missile attacks on London and other parts of England," he explained.

"We're very proud to have someone like this from the Lisburn area and to see him recognised in this way I think is both fitting and appropriate."

The key role of the Poseidon MRA Mk1 will be to help protect the UK's submarine-deployed nuclear deterrent and its two new aircraft carriers.

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Squadron Leader Bulloch gained recognition after he carried out the greatest number of attacks against Nazi forces in the Battle of the Atlantic, which ran from 1939 until 1945.

He had joined the RAF aged 19 in 1936 after attending a lecture and being offered a flight in a Vickers Virginia by a Wing Commander from RAF Aldergrove at his school, Campbell College.

Serving with Coastal Command, Squadron Leader Bulloch and his crew shot down two German seaplanes, sank four German U-boats and severely damaged several others.

He was known for his flying skills, innovative tactics and perfect eyesight.

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Before the introduction of the long-range Liberator (B-24) bomber, attacks by packs of U-boats exacted a heavy toll on Allied shipping bringing essential supplies across the Atlantic.

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On October 12, 1942, Squadron Leader Bulloch sank a U-boat mid-Atlantic when flying a Liberator of CXX Squadron on detachment at Reykjavik in Iceland.

Then on December 8, during a convoy escort, he attacked a U-boat 'wolf pack', sinking a second submarine and attacking another with the two remaining depth charges.

He and his crew then attacked five other submarines with cannon and machine gun fire.

His final U-boat was sunk in the Bay of Biscay on July 8, 1943, flying a Liberator of 224 Sqn from St Eval, Cornwall.

The pilot's flying log book recorded 350 operational sorties and 4,658 flying hours, including 2,059 hours on operations.
The central governments repeated and continuing denial of community transmission of coronavirus is futile and counterproductive to slowing down the rise in cases, epidemiologists and health experts say. Despite one of the harshest lockdowns in the world which began on March 25, the country is steadily inching towards the mark of three lakh cases. As on Wednesday, the country recorded a total of 2,76,583 cases of which 1,33,632 were active; 1,35,206 had recovered and 7,745 had died due to the infection.

Epidemiologists and health experts were of the view that community transmission has been evident right from April. The decision to not make this public officially has affected messaging on the pandemic, limited testing strategies and has also allowed the government to justify the prolonged lockdown, experts said. Community transmission refers to a stage wherein the original source of transmission is unknown in several cases.

We know it (community transmission) has been happening for a while. Trying to control or eradicating it is out of question, so the approach should be to slow it down. As of now, contact tracing wont be of much help because tracing everyone at this stage will be difficult, said Jayaprakash Muliyil, member of the ICMR-constituted sub-group on epidemiology and surveillance and former principal of the Christian Medical College, Vellore.

Muliyil added that the state-level experts advising governments should be allowed to formulate location-specific strategies. I have said in the past too, government should boldly admit that there is community transmission as there is nothing wrong in it.

Dr T Sundararaman, former director of the National Health Systems Resource Centre, said denial of community transmission reflects stubbornness on part of the government. If you need complete geographic sealing of an area, it indicates that you are not sure of the sources of transmission, Sundararaman said.

By denying community transmission, you are also limiting symptomatic people outside hotspots and containment zones from getting tests freely, he added. Currently, only those symptomatic people within hotspots, with travel history, those who had contact with lab-confirmed cases and health care workers and symptomatic migrant returnees with influenza-like illness are eligible for a test.

Notwithstanding official denial of community transmission, the indications were there from April with the results of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) sentinel surveillance of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) patients. The study, released in April, found that among 5,911 SARI patients who were tested by ICMR to check for Covid-19, 104 tested positive and 40 among them did not have any history of foreign travel or contact with a Covid-19 positive case.

In another recent indication of community transmission, the preliminary result of governments nationwide survey of asymptomatic people has found that Covid-19 might be prevailing in 15-30% of population in hotspot or high-load districts.

Government scientists said that the community-based sero-survey in 69 districts of the country to study prevalence of the Covid-19 infection will give a fair idea of the extent of community transmission. The sero-survey results will be out soon. That will give us an idea of those who have tested positive without no known contacts and regarding community spread, said Rajni Kant, head of Department of Research Management, Policy Planning and Communication at ICMR, Delhi, and director of Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur.

Some felt that that messaging on the pandemic has to be more emphatic to let the public know that they cannot let the guard down. Everywhere, whether or not they are identified clusters, we need to be conscious about community transmission being a potential reality. For that the top requirement is continuous and repeated awareness at individual and institutional level that relaxation of lockdown should not be perceived as the emergency has been taken care of, said Tanmay Mahapatra, an epidemiologist who works as team lead for CARE India in Bihar.
New Delhi: India on Thursday requested the United Kingdom not to consider any request for asylum by fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya as there appeared to be ''no ground for his persecution in the country.''

Last week, the UK government had indicated that Mallya is unlikely to be extradited to India anytime soon, saying there is ''a legal issue that needed to be resolved before his extradition can be arranged.''

"We have been in touch with the UK side for his early extradition. We have also requested the UK side not to consider his asylum, if requested by him, because there appeared to be no ground for his persecution in India," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing.

He said that New Delhi has been in touch with the UK for his "early" extradition.

Vijay Mallya's leave to appeal against extradition in UK Supreme Court was rejected a few weeks ago leaving no further legal remedy in the country.

The UK top court's decision marked a major setback to the 64-year-old businessman as it came weeks after he lost his High Court appeal in April against an extradition order to India.

It now up to the UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to give a final go-ahead by signing on the extradition papers. Mallya had committed a fraud of Rs 9,000 crore on a consortium of Indian banks.

Mallya has been based in the UK since March 2016 and remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017.

The High Court verdict in April upheld the 2018 ruling by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at the end of a year-long extradition trial in December 2018 that the former Kingfisher Airlines boss had a "case to answer" in the Indian courts.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

Trend:

A meeting between members of the Azerbaijan-Georgia working group on inter-parliamentary relations and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Azerbaijan Zurab Pataradze has been held in Azerbaijans Parliament on June 11, Trend reports citing the parliament.

Group leader, MP Arzu Naghiyev noted that mutual visits play an important role in the development of relations between countries, adding that cooperation with Georgia in political, economic and humanitarian spheres is developing.

The MP also spoke about the historical and friendly relations between the countries.

Touching upon a strategic partnership, the MP stressed that thanks to existing joint projects, the relations between two countries reached a qualitatively new level.

Naghiyev also informed the ambassador about reforms carrying out by Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev.

Touching on Nagorno-Karbakh conflict, the MP stressed that Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijans territories.

We support the settlement of the conflict within the rules of international law, emphasized Naghiyev.

During the meeting, Pataradze said that Georgia intends to expand cooperation with Azerbaijan in various fields, emphasizing that Azerbaijan is one of the largest investors of Georgia.

Pataradze said that mutual visits contribute to the strengthening bilateral relations.

Members of the Azerbaijan-Georgia working group on inter-parliamentary relations Amina Aghazade, Mazahir Afandiyev, Nagif Hamzayev, Tural Ganjaliyev also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, they shared their views on the development of bilateral cooperation.
ALBANY  Six members of the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics have called on the panel's chairman, Michael K. Rozen, to conduct a search for an "independent" executive director amid longstanding criticism that the commission's leadership and operations have been too closely aligned with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Legislature, the Times Union has learned.

JCOPE's top staff position has been vacant since the departure a year ago of former Cuomo counsel Seth Agata, whose resignation left the embattled commission in search of its fourth executive director in eight years.

A search committee within JCOPE that had been tasked with finding Agata's successor received more than 100 applications from candidates, many of them highly qualified and with no apparent ties to the governor or Legislature. But last year, as that list was whittled to about nine contenders who were to be interviewed, the committee's effort to hire a replacement suddenly ended.

The candidate favored by the governor, Monica J. Stamm, is JCOPE's general counsel and has been largely serving as the acting executive director since Agata's departure. Stamm worked with Cuomo when he was state attorney general, serving as his office's deputy bureau chief in the public integrity unit.

Despite six of the commission's 12 sitting members being appointed by Cuomo, including Rozen, sources said there are not enough votes in favor of appointing Stamm, who is regarded as a highly qualified attorney, to the executive director position.

"Impressive credentials aside, the appearance of any possibility of any continuing political allegiances runs contrary to JCOPE's mission and hampers its capacity to inspire public trust," states a March 6 letter that was sent to Rozen and signed by six JCOPE commissioners, all of whom are legislative appointees. "Given the voting structure embedded in JCOPE, it is imperative that we select someone free of encumbrances. We call into question independence from the executive and legislative branches of government."

Earlier: Inspector general probed ethics panel's alleged leak to Cuomo

Heastie contacted JCOPE commissioner after January meeting

Lackluster proves followed alleged ethics leak to Cuomo

Seiler: Anatomy of a total tank job

The letter went on to say that "in an effort to address ongoing criticism of JCOPEs lack of independence from political influence, certain of its commissioners are seeking to ensure that the person appointed to the position of executive director is free from past ties to the current administration as envisioned by the statute. Only by doing so will JCOPE achieve a heightened level of public confidence that its important mission is being carried out in a manner that disregards political loyalties."

The letter was signed by commissioners Marvin E. Jacob and James A. Yates, who were appointed to JCOPE by Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie; Gary J. Lavine, David J. McNamara and George H. Weissman, appointees of Senate Minority Leader John J. Flanagan, and James W. McCarthy, an appointee of former Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb.

Five other commissioners, all appointees of Cuomo, did not sign the letter. They are Robert Cohen, James E. Dering, Colleen C. DiPirro, William P. Fisher and Daniel J. Horwitz.

The unrest in the commission follows a leak investigation by the inspector general's office last year that centered on allegations that Cuomo had complained to Heastie about how the speaker's appointees to the commission had voted on a matter involving the governor's former top aide, Joseph Percoco, who is serving six years in prison for his federal conviction on bribery and corruption charges.

The votes of the commission are private, and disclosure of that information is a misdemeanor crime.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The inspector general's investigation, which was kept secret until it was disclosed by the Times Union in November, was sparked by a former commissioner's complaint that Heastie's chief counsel, Howard Vargas, called her following the confidential JCOPE meeting in January 2019 and told her that the governor was aware of how she and other commissioners had voted.

The commissioner that Vargas contacted, Julie Garcia, is a former Essex County district attorney who had been appointed to the commission by Heastie. She later resigned from JCOPE  six days after the inspector general's office sent a letter to the commission on Oct. 4 indicating it could not "substantiate" the allegations.

Questions immediately surfaced about the veracity of the inspector general's probe. Vargas, Cuomo and Heastie  who the Times Union later reported had also called another commissioner, Yates, on the day that Garcia was contacted by his chief counsel  were never interviewed by the inspector general's office.

Heastie declined to be interviewed for the story. He also has declined to say why he called Yates that day, or what they spoke about.

Despite a statutory requirement that any vacancies on the commission be filled within 30 days, both Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins have for more than eight months declined to appoint new commissioners to fill two vacancies on the 14-member panel, including the spot vacated by Garcia last October.

"I will not vote for any internal candidate until the leak is resolved," Lavine said when asked for comment this week on the letter sent to Rozen in early March. "Im not suggesting staff was involved in the leak.  It just is a matter of principle."

Lavine, an attorney in Syracuse, had served on the commission from 2011 to 2018 as an appointee of Cuomo, but the governor did not re-appoint him to the commission in January 2019, at a time when an ethics complaint against Percoco had been filed with JCOPE. But later that month, Lavine was re-appointed to the commission by Flanagan.

"I think the letter best expresses what our concerns were and remain," said Weissman, an attorney and member of Albany Law School's Government Law Center advisory board who has been a JCOPE commissioner since its inception in 2011. "I believe it then, and I truly believe it now."

Rozen did not immediately respond to a request made through the commission for an interview.
Rainbow fish behave like matadors by darting away from their predators at the last moment to avoid being eaten, a new study reveals.

The tiny fish, also known as a Trinidadian guppy, spans less than an inch in length.

It initially draws the attention of its most common predator  the much larger pike cichlid  by turning its irises black, which makes its eyes very conspicuous.

This tricks the pike into charging towards the tiny fish's head rather than its body.

According to a British team of scientists who performed experiments in water tanks using robots, the rainbow fish then uses quick reflexes to whip its head out of the way, causing the predator to miss, before swimming away.

The speed of the whole interaction is around three hundredths of a second, meaning it's only fully observable using a high-speed camera.

Incredibly, it is common for fish to approach their predators to find out if they are hungry and therefore pose any immediate danger.

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A female guppy, or rainbow fish, with its black iris. The colour-changing iris is crucial for the 'matador strategy'

'We noticed that guppies would approach a cichlid at an angle, quickly darkening their eyes to jet-black, and then waiting to see if it would attack,' said lead author Dr Robert Heathcote, who undertook the study at the University of Exeter.

'Cichlids are ambush predators, lying in wait like a coiled spring before launching themselves at their prey.

'The guppies actually use their eyes to get the predator's attention, causing them to lunge at a guppy's head rather than its body.

'Whilst it seems completely counter-intuitive to make a predator attack your head, this strategy works incredibly well because guppies wait until the predator commits to its attack before pivoting out of the way.'

Individuals that dare to approach their predators is known as 'predator inspection' and it's pretty ubiquitous in fish, according to Dr Heathcote.

'Its similar to the mobbing behaviour practised by lots of birds and mammals  some really well studied examples are three-spined sticklebacks and minnows,' he said.

The four-part matador strategy. The new research paper demonstrates a previously unknown divertive strategy - but the researchers think it may be used by other species too

Many animals are known to use 'conspicuous colouration'  the act of changing colour to a noticeable degree  for purposes such as communication, attracting mates and advertising their toxicity, which puts off predators from eating them.

But the team of marine scientists now propose a new strategy of diversion  the 'matador strategy'  which may be used by other species too.

'We don't know for sure, but it seems highly likely that other animals also use a 'matador' strategy like the one we have identified in guppies,' said Professor Darren Croft of the University of Exeter.

'Eyes are one of the most easily recognised structures in the natural world and many species go to great lengths to conceal and camouflage their eyes to avoid unwanted attention from predators.

Cichlids (top) and guppies (bottom). The smaller fish's changing eye colours make the cichlids - a large fish that is the guppies' main predator - to charge at their head rather than their body

'Some species, however, have noticeable or prominent eyes and, for the most part, it has remained a mystery as to why this would be.

'Our latest research gives new insight into why 'conspicuous' and colourful eyes have evolved.'

For their experiments, researchers, who had already observed guppies changing their eye colour when threatened, placed hungry pikes in tanks with 'realistic' rainbow fish robots and vice versa.

This prevented the need to run 'life-and-death experiments' with fish had the matador strategy not gone as planned for the plucky rainbow fish.

'We used robotic guppies, to get real pike cichlids to attack, as well as model pike cichlids, to see what real guppies do when they encounter them,' Dr Heathcote said.

'Both the model cichlids and robotic guppies were made using resin casts of real animals, and the colours of the robots were matched to the specific visual system of the receiver.

Video shows real pike capture a guppy, followed by the guppies' eyes changing colour in the presence of a separated pike

'This was really important, since other animals see colours very differently to humans  a model animal that looks realistic to a human might look rubbish to the species youre doing an experiment on unless you take these visual differences into account.'

Dr Heathcote told MailOnline that the animals seemed to behave towards the robots in the same way they would to the real thing, thanks to impressive replicates.

'All the cichlids temporarily engulfed the robotic guppies before spitting them out,' he said.

'The real guppies would also strongly avoid the head and mouth of the model cichlids, exactly like what they do to real animals.'

Using robotic guppies, the research team found the real pikes tended to strike towards the head rather than the body, when the robotic rainbow fish's eyes turned black.

An incredibly realistic robot guppy models next to a one pound coin. When robotic guppies had black eyes, cichlids tended to strike towards the head rather than towards the centre of the body

They then progressed to using both real-life guppies and cichlids in a tank, with a transparent screen to prevent the guppies being eaten, and filmed the interactions with high-speed cameras.

The crew observed the success rates of cichlid attacks  guppies that turned their eyes black were 38 per cent more successful at escaping than guppies with normal eye colouration.

The matador strategy was then confirmed using footage of a previous study in which cichlids were filmed hunting real guppies.

One surprising finding was that larger guppies were better than smaller ones at escaping.

'As animals become larger, they generally become less agile,' said Dr Heathcote.

'If larger prey don't have weapons or other ways of defending themselves, this can result in them being easier for predators to catch.

'By turning their eyes black, larger guppies actually reverse this phenomenon.

'Bigger guppies with black eyes are better at diverting and escaping predator attacks.

'Since bigger animals produce more or larger offspring, it would be really exciting to find out if the animals that use these kinds of strategies have evolved to become larger.'

Previous research has shown guppies change the colour of their eyes to express aggression towards each other.

'We knew that changing iris colour was somehow involved in interactions with other guppies, but when we saw that guppies performing predator inspections were also changing the colour of their irises, we figured that something really interesting must be going on,' said co-author Dr Safi Darden, also of the University of Exeter.

The findings have been published in the journal Current Biology.
Pakistans leader of opposition Shahbaz Sharif has tested positive for Covid-19, a spokesperson of his PML-N party said on Thursday.

Sharif has isolated himself at home, Marriyum Aurangzeb added. PML-N blamed the infection on frequent court appearances that he had to make. Sharif had appeared before the National Accountability Bureau on Tuesday in connection with a money laundering investigation. He had also appeared before the Lahore High Court to obtain a pre-arrest bail in similar cases. He had repeatedly refused to appear before NAB citing health reasons. In a statement, he said: It has been widely reported in the media that some NAB officials have tested positive for Covid-19. Please appreciate I am a cancer survivor and 69 years old.
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government today made a decision to provide a loan worth 63,2 billion AMD from the state budget for extending the duration of the operation of 2nd power unit of the Nuclear Power Plant.

Minister of territorial administration and infrastructures Suren Papikyan reminded that within the frames of this program Armenia and Russia signed agreements in 2014 and 2015 on provision of a loan. The talk is about the 300 million USD, 270 million USD is a loan and the 30 million USD is a grant.

Starting December 2018 negotiations for extending the term of the loan started. Due to the events before 2019 it wasnt possible to spend the existing loan resources completely. At the moment the loan balance is 107 million USD, but now we consider it more appropriate to provide a loan from Armenias own resources. In order to complete the project it is proposed to provide 63,2 billion AMD budgetary loan from the state budget, the minister said.

In turn Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the existing [Russian] loan in terms of amount and terms was not so much convenient for organizing the further operation of the NPP. In fact, we are attracting funds from domestic sources which will undoubtedly be made in much better terms and will further raise the leverage of the government to increase the level of efficiency of the use of this loan, he said, adding: We have a concrete task to raise the efficiency of the NPP which is not only a management issue, but also an issue of energy security.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan






STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As coronavirus numbers in New York continue to drop, five upstate regions will be the first to enter the third phase of the reopening process, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

The Mohawk Valley, Central New York, Finger Lakes, Southern Tier, and North Country regions will enter phase three on Friday. The regions will be allowed to have indoor and outdoor dining, and personal care like nail salons.

Cuomo credited the slow, phased reopening process with keeping COVID-19 numbers low across New York, but urged continued vigilance as the process continues. Other states have seen spikes after they began their reopening processes.

The numbers are good, he said. You could make a mistake today that wipes out everything weve done, so we have to stay smart. This COVID has not gone away.

On Wednesday, the state saw a total of 34 deaths from the virus, which is down from a peak near 1,000 lost per day.

Staten Island and the other four boroughs entered phase one on Monday, and are expected to remain there until at least early July.

The state is currently conducting approximately 50,000 tests per day, which helps the state track any possible hot spots that may arise. Cuomo has said that New York is currently focused on 10 ZIP codes in New York City, none of which are on Staten Island, that have seen higher positive rates.

Cuomo also announced that he would leave the reopening of public pools and playgrounds to the discretion of localities. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that City Hall can start having a conversation about whether that will be possible this summer.

I dont know if well get there, but at least we can at least begin that conversation now for the first time, based on what you saw today with those indicators," he said.

Early in the pandemic, the city assumed the pools would be closed for the summer, and its planned budget accounted for $12 million in savings from those closures.
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Eamonn Holmes has revealed fears he has just four years to live, after recounting how his dad, Leonard, died of a heart attack at the relatively young age of 64.

The 60-year-old TV personality, who co-hosts This Morning with his wife Ruth Langsford, admitted he's become more aware of his mortality in recent years.

Speaking on The Journey podcast with Pete Snodden, he said: 'My father was dead at 64. He died of a heart attack. That gives me four years. Ruth says, "Dont talk like that," but you do think like that.'

Fears: Eamonn Holmes has revealed fears he has just four years to live, after recounting how his own dad died of a heart attack at the relatively young age of 64. Pictured in January

The Belfast-born star went on to discuss the things he'd like to achieve as he continues with his long-running career in television, explaining: 'Theres projects that I crave and Ive got interests in lots of things.'

Eamonn's admission comes days after bosses of Celebrity Gogglebox issued an apology to him, after he slammed their editing of him during Friday's show.

The star took to Twitter calling out the show's 'idiotic and cruel choice' to air a clip of him joking after a harrowing moment from the BBC series Ambulance, instead of a filmed clip of him discussing his father's death.

Sad: Eamonn described his father's passing as a 'particularly horrible experience for my Mother, my younger brother and his friend who were all in the car' (pictured Leonard Holmes)

Producers issued an apology on Saturday to the TV presenter, in which they promised to edit future repeats of the episode.

In a statement shared on Gogglebox's Twitter, they wrote: 'We have apologised to Eamonn over what happened in this week's episode. We understand and respect Eamonn's feelings on such a deeply personal story.

'We have taken the decision to edit the episode for future repeats and All4. We look forward to working with Eamonn and Ruth for the rest of the series.'

Eamonn took to his own Twitter to re-share the statement and added his own comment.

Sorry: Eamonn's interview comes as Celebrity Gogglebox issued an apology after he slammed them for their editing of his appearance on Friday's show. Pictured with wife Ruth Langsford

Reply: Eamonn took to his own Twitter to re-share the statement and added his own comment

He wrote: 'For those who judged me wrongly. I think it's important you read this. It was a bad edit and we move on with what should be a fun experience on what is almost always a very entertaining programme. Thank you @C4Gogglebox.'

He then shared the statement to his Instagram, but this time wrote: 'After last night's clumsy edit which led to a huge amount of distress and outrage to viewers ,myself and my family.... Thank you, We move on and look forward to making fun TV.'

It comes after Celebrity Gogglebox was removed from the catch up service All4 in light of Eamonn's outburst.

Fans took to Twitter to complain the episode had been removed from the online service, in some cases while they were still watching the programme, leading the (now correct) speculation it's being re-edited following Friday's backlash.

'Clumsy edit': He then shared the statement to his Instagram, writing, 'After last night's clumsy edit which led to a huge amount of distress and outrage to viewers, myself and my family'

Drama: Celebrity Gogglebox was removed from the catch up service All4 after Eamonn criticised the show for omitting a scene of him discussing his father's death

On Friday, Eamonn criticised Celebrity Gogglebox for bosses' 'idiotic and cruel' choice to air a clip of him laughing and joking instead of discussing his father's death.

The broadcaster hit out in a string of tweets claiming bosses chose to feature him comically reacting to a harrowing moment in BBC's Ambulance, instead of discussing the moment his father died of a heart attack.

TV veteran Eamonn appeared on the show alongside wife Ruth Langsford, 60, who he presents on This Morning with.

Following the episode, he took to Twitter and shared: 'In reply to a number of complaints .... I am hurt beyond belief that @C4Gogglebox chose not to use me talking about my Father dying from a heart attack at the side of a road...

Furious: The broadcaster hit out in a string of tweets claiming bosses chose to feature him comically reacting to a harrowing moment in BBC's Ambulance

'[They] replace it with a funny story following a young lad giving his Father CPR. Idiotic and cruel edit.'

He then shared: 'So following a tragedy that has forever haunted my family, I am in no mood for criticising holier than thou mouthpieces on here who haven't gone through what we did.

'I had nothing but praise and emotion for the Ambulance control room TV programme. An atrocious edit.'

Finally the star wrote: 'How my Father died was a particularly horrible experience for my Mother, my younger brother and his friend who were all in the car.

'The resuscitation in The BBC Ambulance programme was as close as could be to my Dad's passing. Yet I am the one edited to make it look like a laugh.'

Emotional: In the scene that Eamonn criticised, the celebrities were moved by a touching story where a child phoned 999 to report that her father was having a heart attack

Hurt: He said, 'I am hurt beyond belief that @C4Gogglebox chose not to use me talking about my Father dying from a Heart Attack at the side of a road and replace it with a funny story'

In the scene Eamonn criticised, the celebrities were moved by a touching story where a child phoned 999 to report that her father was having a heart attack.

He lost consciousness, and appeared to have died, but the child was amazingly able to resuscitate him with the help of the emergency services call operator.

The show then featured Eamonn discussing the moment he frantically drove his then-pregnant wife Ruth to the hospital in 2002 so she could give birth to their son Jack.

Eamonn said: 'All I can say is, when your contractions started when you had Jack. I don't like singing my own praises, but thank goodness I was the ambulance that day, I got you there in the nick of time.'

When Ruth said she still had to give him directions to the hospital he shared: 'Look, did I get you there? Did you have the child in the hospital under medical supervision? All's well that ends well, thanks to me.'
WICHITA, Kan., June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 4, 2020, Spirit AeroSystems [NYSE: SPR] received a letter from Boeing directing Spirit to pause additional work on four 737 MAX shipsets and avoid starting production on sixteen 737 MAX shipsets to be delivered in 2020, until otherwise directed by Boeing, in order to support Boeing's alignment of near-term delivery schedules to its customers' needs in light of COVID-19's impact on air travel and airline operations, and in order to mitigate the expenditure of potential unnecessary production costs.

Based on the information in the letter, subsequent correspondence from Boeing dated June 9, 2020, and Spirit's discussions with Boeing regarding 2020 737 MAX production, Spirit believes there will be a reduction to Spirit's previously disclosed 2020 737 MAX production plan of 125 shipsets. Spirit does not yet have definitive information on what the magnitude of the reduction will be but expects it will be more than 20 shipsets.

The 737 MAX grounding coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic is a challenging, dynamic and evolving situation. During this time, Spirit plans to work with Boeing to determine a definitive production plan for 2020 and manage the 737 MAX production system and supply chain.

Due to the matters described above, Spirit has elected to place certain Wichita hourly employees directly associated with production work and support functions for the 737 MAX program on a 21 calendar day unpaid temporary layoff/furlough effective Monday, June 15. In addition, Spirit will declare an immediate reduction of the hourly workforce in Tulsa and McAlester, Okla., effective Friday, June 12.

Spirit remains a proud partner on the 737 MAX program and looks forward to working with Boeing to ensure the long-term success of the program.

On the web: www.spiritaero.com

On Twitter: @SpiritAero

About Spirit AeroSystems Inc.

Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.SpiritAero.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that may involve many risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "could," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "forecast," "intend," "may," "might," "objective," "outlook," "plan," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would," and other similar words, or phrases, or the negative thereof, unless the context requires otherwise. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown. Our actual results may vary materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such forward-looking statements and that should be considered in evaluating our outlook include, without limitation, the timing and conditions surrounding the return to service of the 737 MAX and any related impacts on our production rate; our reliance on Boeing for a significant portion of our revenues; our ability to execute our growth strategy, including our ability to timely complete and integrate our announced Asco and Bombardier acquisitions; our ability to accurately estimate and manage performance, cost, and revenue under our contracts; demand for our products and services and the effect of economic or geopolitical conditions in the industries and markets in which we operate in the U.S. and globally; our ability to manage our liquidity, borrow additional funds or refinance debt; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations, including on the demand for our and our customers' products and services, on trade and transport restrictions, on the global aerospace supply chain, on our ability to retain the skilled work force necessary for production and development and generally on our ability to effectively manage the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business operations; and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors are not exhaustive and it is not possible for us to predict all factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in our forward-looking statements. These factors speak only as of the date hereof, and new factors may emerge or changes to the foregoing factors may occur that could impact our business. Except to the extent required by law, we undertake no obligation to, and expressly disclaim any obligation to, publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems

Related Links

https://www.spiritaero.com


Highlights:

CS-20-24, the just-completed first hole of Phase 2, was collared 200 meters northwest of CS-20-22 and intersected three separate visually well-mineralized vein structures at shallower levels including native silver and cobalt arsenides within a 5-meter zone (core interval) approximately 47 meters above the Robinson Zone;

CS-20-24 is interpreted to be an extension of the original vein confirmed through historical drill hole CA-11-08 in addition to Canada Silver Cobalt's recent follow-up wedge holes;

A network of high-grade native silver veins has now been traced over a vertical distance of approximately 144 meters from the middle intersection in CS-20-24, at a vertical depth of 371 meters, to the second deeper intercept in CS-20-22 (representing a new vein) near the lower contact of the diabase with the Archean rocks.

Matt Halliday, Canada Silver Cobalt VP-Exploration, commented: "With the first hole of Phase 2 we've already opened up much more room for expansion of the very high-grade Robinson Zone, and many more high priority targets remain to be drilled. This appears to be a 'pregnant' system with strong potential for significant additional lateral and vertical extent given the increasing success we are having at hitting these narrow but exceptionally high-grade vein structures from surface. We eagerly anticipate the first batch of assays from CS-20-24.

"Our research shows that the Northern Ontario Silver-Cobalt Camp hasn't seen anything like this in at least several decades  a grassroots discovery of very unusual silver grades, comparable with those that helped make this region the birthplace of Canadian hard rock mining in the early 1900's," Halliday continued. "In addition, core from CS-20-24 shows promise for gold mineralization in the 326-meter Archean package drilled into above the Nipissing diabase, nearly half a kilometer northeast of the high-grade gold intercept in CS-19-19 (refer to March 2, 2020, news release)."

Next Drill Holes

Geologists are now preparing to drill a series of wedge holes, commencing early next week, from CS-20-22 and CS-20-24 in an attempt to follow the trail of native silver veins, similar to the strategy last December that also involved the successful use of downhole camera technology. GoldMinds Geoservices' custom-built downhole camera has been deployed once again and has provided valuable information with regard to CS-20-22 and the orientation of vein structures. It will also be used in the coming days to evaluate the vein structures intersected in CS-20-24.

Robinson Zone Inferred Resource

Notably, as disclosed in a maiden resource estimate May 28, 2020, zones 1A and 1B of the Robinson Zone entering Phase 2 had an average silver grade of 8,582 g/t (250 oz/ton) in a combined 27,400 tonnes of material for a total of 7.56 million Inferred ounces of silver using a cut-off grade of 258 g/t AgEq (mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability). This resource estimate did not include the second vein discovered in CS-20-22.

Gold Target Above the Diabase

Starting 40 meters downhole and continuing to 368 meters, CS-20-24 intersected multiple potential gold-bearing quartz-carbonate multi-generational veins with sulphide mineralization and intense alteration in the Archean package above the Nipissing diabase. Arsenopyrite was also noted in feldspar porphyry.

As reported by Canada Silver Cobalt March 2, 2020, the last drill hole that targeted gold mineralization at Castle East (CS-19-19) intersected 4.3 g/t Au over 4 meters and 1.5 g/t over 12.5 meters within a 30-meter mineralized zone (core length, true width unknown at this time) grading 0.70 g/t Au (vertical depth approximately 240 meters). This broad interval included 1 meter that returned 15.2 g/t Au. This early stage gold discovery is approximately 460 meters southwest of the visually encouraging zones encountered in CS-20-24. The potential relationship between the two areas is being investigated as geologists await assays for this latest hole.

Castle Property Location

The Castle Property is 15 km east of Pan American Silver's Juby gold deposit, 30 km due south of Alamos Gold's Young-Davidson mine, 75 km southwest of Kirkland Lake Gold's Macassa Complex, 80 km northwest of CCW's Temiskaming Testing Lab/processing facility in the town of Cobalt, and 100 km southeast of new gold discoveries in the Timmins West area.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Castle East core samples were collected using a 0.3-meter minimum length and a 1-meter maximum length. Drill core recovery averaged 95%. Two quality control samples (blank and standards) were inserted into each batch of 20 samples. The drill core was sawn with one half of the split core placed in a plastic bag with the sample tag and sealed, while the second half was returned to the core box for storage on site. Where silver was visually and significantly present, a pulp-metallic analysis on full sample was requested for the silver and gold assays where the entire sample is dried, weighed and crushed over 95% then fully pulverized and passed through 200-mesh screen to create a plus 200-mesh fraction (metallics) and a minus 200-mesh fraction (pulp). The minus 200-mesh fraction (fines) was run using geochemical analysis with AA finish for Ag, Au, Cu, Ni, and Co. The entire +200 mesh (coarse) fraction was analyzed using gravimetric processes (fire assay) for both Ag and Au to provide a weighted average assay for the entire sample.

Swastika Laboratories is an ISO 17025 certified lab independent of Canada Silver Cobalt.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Mr. Merouane Rachidi, Ph.D., P.Geo., (APGO, APEGNB and OGQ) of GoldMinds Geoservices, a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101.

About Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc.

Canada Silver Cobalt's flagship Castle mine and 78 sq. km Castle Property features strong exploration upside for silver, cobalt, nickel, gold and copper in the prolific past producing Gowganda high-grade Silver District of Northern Ontario. With underground access at Castle, a pilot plant to produce cobalt-rich gravity concentrates on site, a processing facility (TTL Laboratories) in the town of Cobalt, and a proprietary hydrometallurgical process known as Re-2OX for the creation of technical grade cobalt sulphate as well as nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) formulations, Canada Silver Cobalt is strategically positioned to become a Canadian leader in the silver-cobalt space.

"Frank J. Basa"

Frank J. Basa, P. Eng.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

SOURCE Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc.

For further information: Frank J. Basa, P.Eng., President and CEO, 1-416-625-2342; Marc Bamber, Director, [email protected], +44-7725-960939

Related Links

http://www.canadacobaltworks.com/


Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The Green IC research team at the National University of Singapore has developed an innovative technique that allows the transfer of bits (the basic unit of information in computing) across a silicon chip up to five times more efficiently than standard setups.

This breakthrough is advantageous for applications such as machine learning, where many processing cores called "neurons" are constantly exchanging data, requiring ever-increasing levels of power. Such power consumption must be significantly reduced to allow for extended battery life in next-generation smartphones, smart watches, and other mobile devices that require higher computing performance.

Led by Professor Massimo Alioto from NUS Electrical and Computer Engineering, the invention by the NUS team enables a new generation of intelligent high-performance systems, where many more neurons can exchange data, while fitting the limited power budget of battery-powered systems. Such higher-performance machine learning processing translates into new capabilities, from augmented reality, to continuous monitoring of wearable electronics, speech recognition, automatic video quality enhancement, secure user authentication, and more.

"Artificial intelligence and other popular computationally-intensive applications require an increasing number of neurons to deliver the necessary performance. As a result, the power consumption jumps quadratically with the number of cores. Our research demonstrates that the rising power consumption of these setups can be now tamed, allowing a sustainable increase in the number of cores for future generations of intelligent chips," explained Prof Alioto.

"Our silicon chip demonstration sets a new standard for power efficiency, without modifying the building blocks, such as transmitters and receivers, that are typically used in these setups, allowing its easy adoption in existing designs. Given that power, performance and cost are all fundamental drivers of artificial intelligence applications, our invention simplifies the integration of next-generation intelligent systems," he said.

A network on a chip with a dynamic energy-quality trade-off

Today's silicon systems generally adopt a "network on a chip" to implement the communication features between the different processing elements on the same chip. In the case of large-scale designs, networks-on-chip reduce the complexity involved in designing the wires and also provides a streamlined structure capable of improved performance, power efficiency and reliability.

Dr Viveka Konandur (left) and Prof Massimo Alioto (right) from the Green IC group testing the network-on-chip in a machine learning application. Credit: National University of Singapore

The invention from the NUS researchers is a network-on-chip that achieves an uncommonly favorable energy-quality trade-off, substantially reducing power consumption at an insignificant loss in quality. This property permits the amplitude (voltage swing) of the transmitted signal to be dynamically adjusted, setting it to conventional values for maximum accuracy in mission-critical tasks. Lower voltage swings reduce the power consumption at minimal accuracy reduction.

As an example, this dynamic energy-quality scaling achieves prolonged battery life by allowing an imperceptible video quality degradation, when full quality is not necessary. This is the case for most practical uses of smartphones, when the quality of ambient lighting is less than optimal, when the user is not paying full attention to the content, or when the battery level is low. Such operating conditions are easily identified by light sensors, camera sensors, and battery monitors, and are used to reduce power when allowed.

The network-on-chip demonstrated by the Green IC group can also run at three times lower power for the same quality, compared to state-of-the-art approximate networks using a lower number of bits to save power.

"The proposed network-on-chip is part of a broad research investigation of energy-quality scalable systems, which have been pioneered by our group and demonstrated in several chips for vision, auditive intelligence, memory, processing, and sensor interfaces, among others," he said.

"Energy-quality scalable networks-on-chip were the missing link in fully-scalable systems that can run at full accuracy if required, or reduce consumption down to best-in-class when full accuracy is not required. In our approach, most significant bits are dynamically routed to network wires that happen to be affected by usual levels of variations, while steering least significant bits to the wires that experience more variations."

Next steps

The development of the network-on-chip with five times lower power consumption is a key step towards the demonstration of a full 'computer vision system." Computer vision is the field of computer science that focuses on replicating the human vision system, enabling computers to identify and process objects in images and videos in the same way that humans do.

The NUS invention paves the way for a computer vision system where all components are energy-quality scalable, and are simultaneously adjusted to operate at the lowest power whilst maintaining an acceptable level of accuracy. The underlying research aims to demonstrate a new breed of low-power smart cameras that could operate almost perpetually under the tight power budget extracted from the environment such as via a centimeter-sized solar cell, eliminating the conventional need for wires and cables.

Explore further Enabling battery-powered silicon chips to work faster and longer
It is, by any standard one might be inclined to apply, an unexpected and unsettling turn of events.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/6/2020 (590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is, by any standard one might be inclined to apply, an unexpected and unsettling turn of events.

Last fall, Canadians went to the polls and delivered a federal election result that told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in no uncertain terms that they were unhappy with his first-term performance and were putting his government on a very short leash for its second mandate.

Voters anger wasnt sufficiently heated to reject the Liberals outright by installing an Andrew Scheer-led Conservative government, but the message was nonetheless clear: a minority Parliament, in which a duly chastened Mr. Trudeau would have to govern with a greater sense of collaboration and a much less imperious demeanour.

Since the pandemic started, sittings led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been limited to occasional, mostly virtual encounters with handfuls of physically distanced members from each party in the House while others participated online. (Justin Tang / The Canadian Press files)

And Canadas 43rd Parliament did  as all minority Parliaments will  begin on a much more cautious footing than had been the case with Mr. Trudeaus previous majority government. And then ... COVID-19.

When the pandemic arrived on Canadian soil, government functions necessarily paused, along with virtually all familiar economic, social and recreational activity, as health authorities scrambled to put in place measures aimed at mitigating the spread and impact of the novel coronavirus.

That such a cessation was necessary is beyond dispute. But what has happened more recently, in terms of the Liberal governments apparent exploitation of the pandemic as a means to limit parliamentary debate and institutional oversight of its decisions, should be cause for alarm for all Canadians.

An analysis this week by the Globe and Mail pointed out that in what amounts to very nearly a year, Parliament has sat for a total of 38 days. Thirty-eight. Days. That includes three full weeks of Monday-to-Friday sessions last June, followed by the traditional summer recess that stretches well into autumn, followed by the necessary pre-election shutdown.

The Trudeau government was handed its humbling minority mandate on Oct. 21; Parliaments next sitting took place on Dec. 5 and lasted seven working days before the holiday recess. Business in the House of Commons resumed in late January and proceeded normally through February and early March.

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Since COVID-19 became the singular issue driving government decision-making, however, sittings have been limited to occasional, mostly virtual encounters with handfuls of physically distanced members from each party in the House while others participated online. And for most Canadians, the work of the federal government has been reduced to almost-daily sightings of the prime minister as he ventures briefly outside his residence to deliver a short sombre monologue before retreating to closed-doors solitude.

After receiving the necessary (albeit inexplicable) support of the NDP, on May 26 the Liberals  against the objections of the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois  suspended Parliament until Sept. 21, except for a session on June 17 to attend to government spending approval and four sitting days spread throughout the summer.

After receiving the support of the NDP, on May 26 the Liberals suspended Parliament until Sept. 21, except for a session on June 17 and four sitting days spread throughout the summer. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press files)

It isnt enough. Parliamentary governance requires vigorous debate, full opposition engagement and a requirement for the government in power to explain and defend the legislative measures it is imposing on Canadians. The moment at which Mr. Trudeau could use the pandemic as convenient cover for his avoidance of parliamentary obligations has passed.

"I think its becoming more and more clear that the reason its been such an abnormal amount of days, with so little days, is because the government is trying to run from accountability," said Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen.

Its a predictable political-spin response from a member of the Opposition. But its also very hard, in the current context, to dispute her assertion.
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A global real estate company that advises both tenants and landlords, has proposed a number of measures it thinks could help stimulate shopping in London once the Covid-19 lockdown lifts.

Colliers International said it has drawn up a three-point plan it would urge the UK Government to look at to help boost the retail sector.

Numerous companies had to close shops in March due to the coronavirus crisis. From June 15 non-essential retailers, including clothing brands, can reopen stores in line with social distancing guidelines.

Colliers head of London retail agency, Paul Souber said: Both the Government and the London Mayor's office should be looking at positive action to make it easier and cheaper to get into the capital, and provide incentives for shopping in the capital. Whats needed is a mix of financial and practical measures.

His firm suggests measures could include the immediate introduction of an online sales tax, with the proceeds channelled directly into physical shopping environments across the UK and not just in London.

The company added that there could be public transport incentives to encourage travel into central London, as well as substantial VAT relief on items bought in stores.

Souber said: The West Ends reopening plan, which has been developed by Westminster council and the New West End Company, provides a safe and responsible platform for the resumption of retailing and leisure in the capital but this must be coupled with direct and positive action to encourage shoppers to come back to Londons great shopping streets.

He added: We have to get London shopping again otherwise the economic impact in terms of lost jobs and revenue to the Treasury will be felt far beyond the capital.


WINDSOR (dpa-AFX) - Energy and services company Centrica plc (CNA.L) announced Thursday the appointment of Johnathan Ford as Group Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect. He will also join the Centrica Board.



Further, as part of a wider Group restructuring, the company announced that Sarwjit Sambhi, Chief Executive, Centrica Consumer and Richard Hookway, Chief Executive, Centrica Business will step down from the Board. They will leave the Company by the end of July.



Under the company's plans for a significant restructure, it will have fewer customer-facing business units all of which will report directly to the CEO. Around half of the current 40 strong Senior Leadership Team will leave the group by the end of August.



The role of Chief Executive, Centrica Consumer and Chief Executive, Centrica Business will not be replaced.



Three management layers will be removed to create a flatter, less bureaucratic organisation which is closer to, and focused on, the customer.



The company added that the revised operating model would accelerate the delivery of targeted cost savings and lead to a reduction of around 5,000 roles across the Group. Over half of the departures are expected to come from management layers.



The majority of the restructuring is expected to take place in the second half of 2020.



Ford succeeds Chris O'Shea, who was appointed as Group Chief Executive on an interim basis in March and on a permanent basis in April, after Charles Berry stepped down following doctors'advice to reduce workload. Ford was previously the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Homeserve plc.



Centrica further announced the appointment of Carol Arrowsmith as Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.



In London, Centrica shares were trading at 40.22 pence, down 3.85 percent.



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Burundi convened an extraordinary cabinet meeting Thursday to discuss a way forward after the sudden death of long-serving ruler Pierre Nkurunziza left many anxious over the future of the troubled country. Nkurunziza, who died on Monday aged 55, had been due to step down in August after his surprise decision not to run in an election last month won by the ruling party's handpicked successor. But his death has raised uncertainty and fears of a power struggle in a country that has witnessed violent political upheaval, a refugee exodus and a bloody civil war in its recent history. The government called a ministerial meeting to discuss "the management of the situation following the unexpected death" of Nkurunziza, who according to the government died of a heart attack after feeling unwell for two days. "We will in particular sign the referral to the constitutional court to declare the presidency definitively vacant," a ministerial source told AFP on condition of anonymity. The meeting will be chaired by the first vice-president, Gaston Sindimwo. Under the constitution, the president of the National Assembly, Pascal Nyabenda, should take over on an interim basis before president-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye's swearing-in in August. The path forward will be determined not by the ministers but an innermost "crisis committee" answering to the president's office, the source said. This group is made up of powerful generals who like Nkurunziza, who ruled for 15 often tumultuous years, emerged from the ethnic Hutu rebellion during Burundi's long civil war which ended in 2006. "In reality, it is not the council of ministers that will decide what will happen... everything has been decided within the crisis committee that sits with the presidency," the source said. - Personality cult - A ruling CNDD-FDD official told AFP the government "was leaning towards accelerating the investiture of the president-elect" instead of making other interim arrangements. "It will be legitimate, and not at all shocking, and above all will spare General Ndayishimiye a long period of uncertainty and immobility that is synonymous with danger," a diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. Nkurunziza, an evangelical who believed he was chosen by God to rule the East African nation, fostered a personality cult around his leadership. The ruling party declared him a "visionary" and "supreme guide for patriotism", and some officials likened his death to a catastrophe. But he did not wield power alone, and analysts say his death could provoke a power struggle among the upper echelons of government. Nkurunziza had wanted Nyabenda to succeed him, but the generals opted for Ndayishimiye who won the May 20 election. While also a general, Ndayishimiye is not a regime hardliner and Nkurunziza was expected to continue to play a significant role. His 2015 run for a third term in office sparked protests and a failed coup, with violence leaving at least 1,200 people dead while some 400,000 fled the country. A climate of fear marked by a crackdown on the opposition and media settled over Burundi in the years after. Rumours swirled on social media about his death, with some suspecting he had been infected by coronavirus. His wife, first lady Denise Bucumi, who was recovering from the coronavirus in a Nairobi hospital, flew back to Bujumbura late Tuesday. Burundi is mourning the death of President Pierre Nkurunziza who died on Monday after 15 years in power Map of Burundi Nkurunziza had been due to hand over the reins of power in August
Farmers who have diversified into rural tourism and hospitality businesses are primed to assist Scotlands economic recovery if reopening goes ahead next month.

The Scottish government said it is aiming for a restart date of 15 July for tourism as Covid-19 lockdown measures are set to ease.

However, the date is dependent on public health advice and progression to Phase 3 of the lockdown route-map.

A new Scottish Recovery Tourism Taskforce will also assist with the ongoing reset of the tourism sector.

It will look at the sectors recovery needs as well as actions being taken by the UK government and the development of a new domestic visitor marketing campaign.

The Scottish Land and Estates (SLE) said the intended resumption of tourism and hospitality was 'welcome news' for Scotlands rural economy.

Stephen Young, head of policy at SLE, said: Progress still needs to be maintained in the fight against Covid-19 but this indicative target provides a date which businesses can work towards.

We recently established that 90% of 250 rural businesses we surveyed felt they were well-equipped to reopen safely.

"The Scottish government has said it will publish guidance next week for the tourism and hospitality sectors and this should hopefully provide even greater confidence for the restart."

The rural business group added that it would like to to see self-catering or caravan sites open earlier if possible.

"Rural areas are helped by having more space and most guests will travel by private transport to accommodation so an opportunity does exist to expedite the resumption of rural tourism," Mr Young said.

Scottish government's tourism secretary Fergus Ewing said: This date cannot be definitive and is conditional on public health advice and progression to Phase 3 of the route map.

"Businesses must now use this time to satisfy the necessary regulations and adapt to the new way of living.
Johnson & Johnson said yesterday it would bring forward by two months human trials of its potential Covid-19 vaccine to the second half of July, as the drugmaker rushes to develop a shot for the contagious respiratory disease.

The company has already signed deals with the US government to create enough manufacturing capacity to produce more than one billion doses of its vaccine through 2021, even before it has evidence that it works.

There are no approved treatments or vaccines for Covid-19.

Johnson & Johnson's study will test the vaccine against a placebo and assess its safety and immune response in 1,045 healthy people aged 18-55 years, as well as those 65 years and older.

The trial will take place in the US and Belgium.

"Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development," said Johnson & Johnson's chief scientific officer Paul Stoffels.

The company is also in talks with the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to start larger, late-stage trials ahead of schedule, depending on results of the early studies and regulatory approval.

Moderna Inc is at the forefront of Covid-19 vaccine development and has started testing its candidate in a mid-stage trial that will enrol 600 patients.

The company expects to begin late-stage trials in July.

Moderna's vaccine uses messenger RNA technology, an approach that has not yet been approved for any medicine, while Johnson & Johnson is utilising the same technology used to make its Ebola shot.

There are about 10 coronavirus vaccines in human testing and experts have predicted that a safe and effective vaccine could take 12 to 18 months from the start of development.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson's were up 1.1pc at $147.67 (130.05) in morning trading.
Nines annual Gold Telethon, held in Sydney on Monday, raised over $1.64 million for Sydney Childrens Hospitals Foundation.

Today Extras David Campbell and Belinda Russell hosted a 2 hr telethon this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, joined by various Nine personalities.

Earlier this week Nicola Stokes, CEO at Sydney Childrens Hospitals Foundation, said, As a nation, weve gone through change and uncertainty. But in tough times sick kids dont give up, and yesterday as a community weve shown that we dont give up on them either.

Raising over $1.64 million and counting for Sydney Childrens Hospital, Randwick will give the gift of research breakthroughs, state-of-the-art equipment, plus world-class clinical care  but most of all it gives the gift of hope. Thats worth its weight in gold.

There is still time to donate to the 2020 Gold Telethon by calling 1800 244 537, texting GOLD to 0427 183 592, or visiting the Gold Telethon website.
A spurned boyfriend who stabbed his ex-partner and a baby boy in front of three children after she ended their relationship has been jailed for life.

Rehan Khan, 27, repeatedly knifed Salma Sheikh, 33, and her 11-month-old son at her home in Feltham, west London with a purple kitchen knife.

Ms Sheikh was in such pain from her injuries that she later took a fatal overdose of the painkillers she had been prescribed after the attack.

On the day of the frenzied assault, Khan messaged his estranged lover 270 times before going to her home 30 minutes after sending the last one.

Cambridge Crown Court heard how Khan barged his way into Ms Sheikh's home on June 4 last year and pulled out the knife.

He then stabbed the youngster three times in the abdomen before stabbing Ms Sheikh five times as she used her body as a shield to protect her son.

Rehan Khan, 27, stabbed his estranged lover Salma Sheikh, 33, and her 11-month-old son at her home in Feltham, west London

The child was airlifted to St George's Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and remained in intensive care for five days.

His mother's injuries meant she relied on high strength pain killers which she overdosed on.

The court heard a panic alarm was installed by police at her home in February after a series of abusive messages from Khan.

On the day of the attack, Khan stormed through the door after a school friend of one her children had knocked on it.

Judge Sean Enright described the offences as 'extraordinary' with only a 'life sentence being justified.'

He reflected for the children: 'This would be an episode they will never forget.

'There are two offences of attempted murder before the court. I have come to the conclusion that after you saw a the doctor you decided to exaggerate or make up symptoms in the hope of getting a lesser sentence.

'You are dangerous in my view, within the meaning of the statute, particularly to women.'

Khan sat with his hands over his ears with a bowed head as he appeared over video link from HMP Belmarsh.

Felicia Davy, prosecuting told the court: 'On 4 June 2018, Salma Sheikh, a mother of four, and her youngest, who was just 11 months old at the time, were both stabbed multiple times by Rehan Khan. His intention was to kill.

On the day of the frenzied assault, Khan messaged his estranged lover 270 times before going to her home 30 minutes after sending the last one

'The child was stabbed first followed by Ms Sheikh who was using her body as a shield to prevent further harm to her baby.

'The court is aware that tragically Ms Sheikh died on 24 September last year.

'It is believed there was an unintentional overdose of morphine, because of the pain she was still suffering from those injuries, particularly the shoulder injuries, which led to a cardiac arrest.

'These offences were committed when the defendant was on bail for a previous assault on Ms Sheikh. Furthermore, he had bail conditions not to attend the address.'

He was convicted in May 2018 and placed on a restraining order.

Khan, of no fixed address, admitted two counts of attempted murder on May 13 last year and was jailed for life on both offences.

He will serve a minimum of 16 years.

Detective Constable Tom Bradshaw, who led the investigation, said: 'Rehan Khan inflicted significant injuries to his former partner and a young child - injuries that would have been worse if not for the quick intervention of emergency services.

'He also carried out these attacks in front of others who will never be able to forget what they saw that night. We are pleased he has now been brought to justice and will spend a significant amount of time behind bars.'
Rotimi Amaechi, Nigerias Minister of Transportation, lost out again in the crisis bedevilling the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, as a high court in the state on Tuesday declared Igo Aguma, of a rival faction, the acting chairman of the party in the state.

The APC has barred its members from appealing the judgement.

Mr Aguma belongs to a faction of the APC in Rivers that is loyal to Magnus Abe, a former governorship aspirant in the state.

Mr Amaechi is a former governor of Rivers and one of APCs most influential leaders, but he has been having it tough getting the APC in Rivers to unite in the partys quest to wrestle power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the oil-rich state.

The protracted crisis in the party prompted the court to declare that the APC did not have a governorship candidate in Rivers in 2019, paving the way for Governor Nyesom Wike of the PDP to have an easy second term victory.

Mr Aguma, a former member of the House of Representatives and former political ally to Mr Amaechi, parted ways with him over his (Amaechi) insistence that Mr Abe would not be the APC governorship candidate in the 2015 and the 2019 elections.

Mr Aguma filed a lawsuit in December 2019 against the APC, including its national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, for setting up a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the party in Rivers.

The setting up of the caretaker committee contravened the APC rules, Mr Aguma had told the court.

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The court presided by Justice George Omereji declared that Mr Aguma suffered injustice and his civil rights violated when the APC set up the caretaker committee.

The APC in its reaction to the development has barred its members from appealing the court judgment.

The APC National Vice Chairman, South-South, Hilliard Etah, said in a statement on Wednesday, This is to categorically state that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has not delegated any authority to anyone, group of persons, agents or whatsoever to appeal the said judgement.

Mr Etah said the APC was yet to take a decision whether to appeal the judgment or not.

Mr Abe said of the court judgment, The only thing wrong with the judgment is that it failed to massage the ego of any individual.

He advised Mr Aguma not to harbour personal or hidden agenda, but to reach out to all persons of consequence in the party who are desirous of repositioning the party. He said he should have the courage to move on if people do not want to join him to rebuild the APC in the state. None of us can be bigger than the party, he said.

The recent appointment of Mr Abe into the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation by President Muhamadu Buhari has also unsettled the APC faction loyal to Mr Amaechi.

It is unclear, for now, if there is a hidden plan by some powerful people within the APC to push Mr Amaechi aside and rebuild the party in Rivers around Mr Abe ahead of the 2023 general elections.

PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately reach the transport minister for his comment.
'A proposal to do away with labour laws is not feasible.'

'That's why we wanted to have a dialogue with the states.'

"We want to attract investments and are working towards reforming labour laws," Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar tells Somesh Jha

Industry perceives labour laws in India as cobwebs. Workers also don't seem to benefit from these laws as most have remained in the unorganised sector, outside the labour law framework.

Do you agree that it has neither helped workers, nor industries?

That's the reason we are bringing about four codes and rationalising them.

For instance, we are replacing inspectors with facilitators who will assist you rather than go with a mindset to harass you in the name of inspection.

We will undertake reforms to help both workers and industry.

Some states have proposed labour law changes. What is your view on these?

Labour is a subject under the concurrent list of the Constitution, and therefore both states and the Centre can legislate on it.

States can make their own changes to suit their needs.

Some changes in the labour laws do not need the central government's permission.

We cannot meddle with all decisions taken by state governments.

For instance, they can exempt industries for three months from portions of labour laws.

Now some states have increased daily working hour limit to 12 hours from eight hours, but they need to give overtime wages, too.

Some unions have expressed ire over a few changes.

But we take a call whenever labour law changes come for our consent.

strong>Didn't the central government push for some of the labour law changes?

We have not given directions, but only suggestions.

But those changes were different, such as related to raising the threshold under various labour laws for companies.

India is a signatory to ILO (International Labour Organisation) conventions and one of them says 60 hours of weekly work is allowed in India.

Two states have already reversed this decision.

We were thinking of calling a meeting of all state labour ministers, but it couldn't take place due to the pandemic.

We wanted to suggest steps that they could take, keeping in mind the needs of ILO conventions.

States like Uttar Pradesh have proposed doing away with labour laws temporarily. What is your view?

There is no question of removing labour laws.

A proposal to do away with labour laws is not feasible in my view.

That's why we wanted to have a dialogue with the states earlier. We will hold a meeting with them soon.

Are you saying that ILO norms will be kept in mind while framing laws?

Yes. As you rightly pointed out, India is a signatory to ILO and it has praised our efforts many times.

We will not do anything which will give them an opportunity to complain.

The trade unions have complained to the ILO recently...

We will talk to the unions. We will address it through dialogue.

Don't you think it was a reverse strategy of the government to not allow workers to go home earlier and now when economic activities are beginning, they are being facilitated to go home?

There is a fear in the mind of workers.

Now, most workers have gone back home and governments have taken steps to address their problems.

I think this will continue for the next two months of June and July.

After the monsoon, the workers will return to factories.

For now, there will be a shortage of skilled and semi-skilled workers in factories in the immediate future.

Don't you think the Centre could have handled the issue better?

Lockdown was a sudden decision taken by the government to control the spread of the virus.

Workers follow a particular time schedule in cities and they generally go back home for two-three months in a year.

When the lockdown was enforced, workers got anxious about the disease and panicked.

And in India, around 90 per cent of the 480 million workers are in the unorganised sector.

They are spread out across the country.

When I went to my constituency Bareilly (in Uttar Pradesh) during the first few days of the lockdown, I saw many workers on foot walking back home.

But when I went to Bareilly a few days back, I hardly saw people walking back home.

There are problems in small pockets, but their best interest has been taken care of by giving them transportation, food and shelter by the state and central governments, along with non-governmental organisations.

Workers were anxious about the virus and they wanted to be home.

Now, most of them have already reached home and only a few are left.

Is the government planning incentives to bring back the workforce?

There is a need to instill confidence in the workers.

In India, the mortality rate is low and the real threat is to the older population.

I think by the time workers come back after monsoon, the situation will improve.

Did we not anticipate that lockdown will create problems for the 400 million unorganised sector workers?

I am a part of the group of ministers which has to recommend suggestions for welfare of workers.

We have discussed the need to create a national database for migrant workers to map their movement and skill sets.

The prime minister's office is also aware of such a move.

It is critical to create a database first and we are working towards it.

What is the next step?

We plan to assign a unique identification number to the workers.

We are also discussing how the benefits of the Employees Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance Schemes can reach them as well.

The PM wants to ensure social security cover for migrant workers.

Do you think we need to revisit the process of labour law reforms, especially looking at the current situation?

When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister, a decision was taken to convert 44 laws into four codes so that these laws are easy to comprehend, even for workers.

In 2004, the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government came to power, but it didn't take it up.

In 2014, we started working on labour codes and the Code on Wages has already been passed in Parliament in a historic step.

Now, two codes -- the Occupational Safety and Health and Industrial Relations -- will be taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha in July when the Parliament session is likely to take place.

The whole world is looking at India to undertake these reforms.

We want to attract investments and are working towards reforming labour laws.

Will you consider taking the ordinance route too?

There is hardly any need as the Parliament session will likely happen in July.

After the pandemic, don't you think the labour law changes require a fresh thinking?

Yes, we will try to bring more unorganised sector into the organised and are contemplating various measures.

Wasn't the Inter-State Migrant Workers Act of 1949 ineffective in dealing with the plight of the migrant workers?

We do need to reform such laws.

The first step is to have a national database of migrant workers.

Second, it is also necessary that there are provisions in the law that migrant workers are able to get benefits of welfare schemes in a better way.

For instance, in the Building and Other Construction Workers Act when workers register with one state, they are unable to take benefits of the scheme if they move to another state.

We are considering bringing about such a change.

Also, the definition of migrant workers will be altered.

Right now, if a migrant worker is in a state without being employed through a contractor, s/he is outside the limit of this law.

There is a need to widen this so that maximum workers are benefited.
Check out news you should not miss today.

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 96.4 percent of COVID-19 patients in Vietnam has recovered, with 12 being treated in hospitals while only eight among them still tested positive with the virus as of Thursday morning, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

 A truck driver lost control of his vehicle while driving fast in the rain on Wednesday and hit a group of road workers, killing one and injuring another on DT759 road through Phuoc Tan Commune, Phu Rieng District in the southern province of Binh Phuoc.

 Vietnam now has 21 provinces and cities with low fertility rates and 33 provinces and cities with high fertility rates among the country. Ho Chi Minh City reports the lowest fertility rate with each mother of reproductive age giving birth to 1.35 children, while the north-central province of Ha Tinh has the highest rate at over 2.9 children born per woman.

 An ambulance was ablaze on Wednesday night after it lost control and hit a median strip while driving fast in the rain on DT741 through Tan Phu District in Binh Phuoc Province. The accident seriously injured seven people including a newborn on the vehicle.

 A thunderstorm with whirlwinds that occurred around 6:00 pm on Wednesday unroofed a number of local residential houses and factories and completely destroyed a factory in Binh Xuyen District in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, killing three and injuring many.

Lifestyle

 Ho Chi Minh City has been considered as a hotpot where people could find any food from any region of Vietnam, food expert Tran Thi Hien Minh said at a conference discussing regional cuisine cultures and how to attract tourists with foods in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday.

 The Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center said it has signed a cooperation agreement with British broadcaster BBC to broadcast the citys promotional videos daily on its channel, starting from June.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Police are conducting a criminal investigation into a small fire at a Gloucester County, N.J., property where a group of men, including a prison guard and a former FedEx worker, reenacted the killing of George Floyd Monday, taunting peaceful protesters as they marched by them.

On Wednesday, police were investigating a potential crime at the Delsea Drive property in Franklinville, an unincorporated community in Franklin Township, that happened Tuesday night, said Lt. Matt DeCesari, public information officer for Franklin Township Police. No injuries were reported, but police did not release any more details.

Township Fire Marshal Anthony Baldosaro said that stacks of firewood in front of the property along the road were burned. The fire was minor, he said.

The property, across the street from the Community Commons shopping center, is where Joseph DeMarco, a correctional police officer at Bayside State Prison, a FedEx worker and several other people participated in an apparent counter-protest during a planned march down Delsea Drive.

Calls to a phone number listed for DeMarco were not immediately returned. Another number, listed for DeMarco and seen on a sign advertising firewood in the videos, was disconnected.

Sarah Hill stands across the street from the wood business owned by the DeMarco brothers with a Black Lives Matter sign Wednesday.

On Monday afternoon, peaceful protesters marched down the street, holding signs and chanting Black Lives Matter," escorted by Franklin Township police officers in patrol cars. As the protest passed by the firewood business, with a President Trump banner behind them, a Thin Blue Line flag and sign reading All lives matter a few feet away, a group of men shouted at protesters as one had his knee on the back of a mans neck.

You dont comply, thats what happens," the kneeling man is heard saying in one video. You dont comply, thats what happens right here, look. He didnt comply. He didnt comply. If he wouldve complied, it wouldnt have happened. Its his own fault, thats why hes dead."

In the same video, seemingly filmed by one of the men participating in the reenactment, a man is heard responding to chants of Black Lives Matter with to no one."

On Tuesday, the state Department of Corrections confirmed that a senior correctional police officer participated in the reenactment. The officer, whose name was not made public by the agency, was suspended from his post and was banned from state DOC facilities, pending an investigation, said Matt Schuman, a DOC spokesman.

The officer was hired in 2002 and worked at Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Burlington County until January 2019, when he moved to Bayside. William Sullivan, president of PBA Local 105, the union that represents state correctional officers, confirmed that the officer was DeMarco.

Initially, commentators on social media identified the wrong person, a different correctional police officer with the same name who works at South Woods State Prison, said Sullivan. That man was not in any way related to the group of men who reenacted Floyds killing, he said.

The union sees the June 8 incident as a mark on the reputation of correctional officers, putting the unions members in harms way.

We have gotten an overwhelming amount of members that are very upset by this incident, said Sullivan. According to our PBA Local 105 bylaws, you cant bring harm to another member. And its our position, based off the phone calls, these actions brought harm to our membership. It puts a target on all of our backs.

Another reenactor was identified as an employee of FedEx, which a company spokesperson confirmed late Tuesday. Late Tuesday, the company said theyd fired the employee, saying, FedEx holds its team members to a high standard of personal conduct, and we do not tolerate the kind of appalling and offensive behavior depicted in this video."

A spokesman for FedEx declined to provide more information Wednesday, including the name of the former employee.

George Floyd, who was being arrested for alleged forgery, was not armed and did not appear to be resisting arrest, according to multiple reports. The officer who kneeled on Floyds neck - for nearly nine minutes - was ultimately charged with second-degree murder. The three other officers involved were also fired and were all later charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

The videos from Franklin Township brought swift and wide rebukes from local and state officials, starting with the township police department and the mayor.

The Franklin Township committee and its police department are appalled and saddened by the revolting actions of certain individuals after Mondays locally organized peaceful march, the police chief, police department and Mayor John Bruno said in a joint statement Tuesday. This is not who we are as a community. We support the goal of this march which is to spread awareness and to ensure a better future for all of us.

Calls to Bruno were not immediately returned Wednesday. Lt. Matt DeCesari, public information officer for the township police, did not release any more details Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation.

On Tuesday, Gov. Phil Murphy condemned the reenactment in a Twitter post. But in response to a question from NJ Advance Media at Wednesdays press briefing, Murphy stopped short of saying that Joseph DeMarco should be fired or lose his pension.

Its reprehensible. Period," he said. Theres a process underway. Beyond that, lets let the process play out. It was completely unacceptable and reprehensible."

According to Sullivan, there will be a Loudermill hearing, a hearing to determine if a public employee will be terminated, to determine if DeMarco will keep his job or be suspended with or without pay.

Another protest in solidarity with George Floyd is planned in Franklinville for Saturday 11 a.m.

Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com.
Black Lives Matter protest held in Prairie Village Hide Transcript Show Transcript HE RESPONDED, SAYING HIS RECORD IS CLEAR THAT HE KNOWS HOW AND WHEN TO ACT IT IS WILLING TO FIGHT FOR PEOPLE'S RIGHTS. NO SYSTEMS OF OPPRESSION ARE MEANT TO BE REIMAGINED. KRIS: BLACK LIVES MATTER MARCHERS TOOK TO STREETS OF PRAIRIE VILLAGE TONIGHT WALKING ALONG MISSION ROAD FROM 77 TO 71ST AND BACK AGAIN.

For our most dedicated denizens of the discourse we share a glimpse at changing times and shifting attitudes in the suburbs of Johnson County . . . Social media denizens celebrated this demonstration against police brutality along with MSM because there was no violence . . . Sadly, that makes it a little less newsworthy from a real life American newsroom perspective.Checkit:
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 13F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 13F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
[June 11, 2020] Tait Towers Manufacturing LLC Identifies and Addresses Data Security Incident

LITITZ, Pennsylvania, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Tait Towers Manufacturing LLC ("TAIT"), a manufacturing company that specializes in designing, constructing and delivering live event solutions, announced that it has identified and addressed a data security incident. On April 6, 2020, TAIT became aware of a data security incident in which an unauthorized party accessed a TAIT computer server and the email accounts of certain TAIT personnel. Upon learning of the incident, TAIT immediately took its servers and IT systems offline and a leading cybersecurity firm was engaged to assist with the investigation. Although the investigation is ongoing, the investigation has revealed that the unauthorized access began on February 16, 2020. TAIT has addressed the security issues resulting in this incident, taking steps such as resetting the login credentials for TAIT's servers and email system. Additionally, TAIT conducted a review of its cybersecurity defenses and protocols and has implemented additional safeguards, such as adding multi-factor authentication and deploying endpointmonitoring systems.



To date, TAIT has no reason to believe that any of the information maintained in the server and email accounts was misused. TAIT is in the process of informing those individuals potentially affected so they can monitor for any suspicious activity. TAIT's investigation into this matter is ongoing, but TAIT has determined that the server content and email accounts accessed by the unauthorized party may have contained some individuals' names, addresses, email addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers or financial account numbers. Out of an abundance of caution, TAIT encourages its clients, employees and vendors to remain vigilant by reviewing their financial account statements for any unauthorized activity. As a precaution, TAIT is prepared to offer credit monitoring at no charge to those individuals potentially affected by this incident. For more information or to sign up for credit monitoring, please call our dedicated call center for this issue at 855-917-3540. "TAIT takes data security very seriously and understands the importance of protecting the information it maintains," said Adam Davis, Chief Creative Officer at TAIT. "We are working to address this issue and regret any inconvenience this may cause to our valued employees, clients and vendors."

Additional information is available at www.taittowers.com/DataSecurityIncident or by contacting Kierston Powell via email at [email protected] or telephone at 717-606-4659.

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Statue of Captain James Cook in Hyde Park, Sydney. Credit:Getty Images

The monument to James Cook in Sydney's Hyde Park belongs to what the historian Graeme Davison called 'the heroic age' of colonial statuary.

It was built at a time when white Australians claimed they occupied a land without history, overlooking  in their midst  the oldest continuous civilisation in the world. It lionised the Yorkshire seaman as "Discoverer", denying the fact that Indigenous people had explored, named and occupied their country millennia before.

Viewed from every angle the statue proclaims dominion: a hand raised triumphantly, one foot reaching forward, a telescope symbolising the white technology that opened 'new' continents to European gaze. And there is a subtext to this monument; one so obvious there was no need to state it in bronze or stone. In 1770, without the knowledge or consent of Aboriginal people, this junior naval officer claimed possession of all of Eastern Australia for the British crown. Cook thus set in train a tragic collision of cultures we still live with today.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has claimed Cook was an "enlightened person" and  by the standards of the day  he isn't wrong. James Cook was raised with the moral fortitude of Quakers: he embraced the Enlightenment ideals of science and reason over blind tradition and treated with compassion the men under his command. None would dispute his bravery, his enterprise, or the skill that guided a tiny vessel across the oceans of the globe.
Canada doubles arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite dire rights record: New figures

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 6:23 AM

Newly-released figures have revealed that Canada's sales of military hardware to Saudi Arabia hit a record in 2019, despite a moratorium that was in place on approval of new arms exports to the kingdom due its poor human rights record.

Citing figures released by Canada's department of Global Affairs, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Tuesday that Canadian shipments of military goods to Saudi Arabia doubled in 2019, compared to the previous year.

Canada, it added, sold almost $2.2 billion worth of military equipment to Saudi Arabia in 2019  more than double $950 million recorded in 2018  with light armored vehicles (LAVs) comprising the bulk of the exports.

More than 30 large-caliber artillery systems and 152 heavy machine guns were also sold to Riyadh.

The sales were part of a $10-billion contract Canada signed in 2014 to export LAVs made by the Ontario-based General Dynamics Land Systems to Saudi Arabia, according to the report.

This is while the government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had, in 2018, frozen all new export permits and begun a review of the LAVs deal with Riyadh after reports emerged that the Saudi government was behind the brutal killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

Trudeau said at the time that Canada "was looking for a way out of the Saudi arms deal."

The Guardian cited Mark Kersten, deputy director of the Wayamo Foundation as criticizing the 2019 exports, which had taken place when the moratorium was still in place before being removed earlier this year.

"I struggle to know what 'moratorium' means to this government, because to me, when there's a moratorium on something, you can't increase the sales of that thing. And exactly what seems to have happened," he said.

"I can't understand for the life of me, why the government wouldn't say anything about it, unless it just simply didn't want the public to know, because it looks awful," Kersten added.

In April 2020, Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that Canada was lifting the moratorium on new export permits to Saudi Arabia and that it had renegotiated the 2014 deal.

The "significant improvements" to the contract would secure the jobs of thousands of Canadians, "not only in Southwestern Ontario but also across the entire defense industry supply chain, which includes hundreds of small and medium enterprises," they said in a joint statement.

Canada's refusal to fully scrap that deal drew sharp criticism from human rights campaigners and other governments.

Opponents argue that the Saudi government has violated the very basics of the human rights by killing tens of thousands of civilians in its prolonged war on Yemen besides its other rights violations against its own citizens.

Canada's decision to keep the deal and lift the moratorium came despite calls for the North American state to follow the example of Germany and Sweden, which both cancelled arms contracts with Saudi Arabia following Khashoggi's murder.

The Trudeau government had long portrayed itself as a critical voice against Saudi human rights violations both at home and abroad. Ottawa, in 2018, engaged in a severe diplomatic dispute with Riyadh for speaking against the regime's shameful rights record.

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Bhopal:

An unidentified person threw ink at Union Health Minister J P Nadda at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal, amid protest by students over poor facilities at the institute.

Ink was thrown at the Minister at the entrance of the AIIMS when he was in his car leaving the institute, surrounded by protesting students amid and rains and chaos.

Few drops of ink fell on the Minister's kurta. An official of AIIMS Bhopal, on the condition of anonymity, said it is so far not known who threw the ink. He said the police have started investigating the matter. Students had gathered to lodge protest over poor facilities at AIIMS when Nadda was at the premier medical college to dedicate a number of facilities.

A third year MBBS student Rishi Prem claimed two of the protesting students, Ijya Pandey and Anjali Krishna, sustained injuries as the Minister  s vehicle made a forced exit.

No student of AIIMS college threw ink at Nadda. We protested silently against lack of infrastructure at AIIMS where no surgery has taken place yet, Prem, a student who hails from Kerala, claimed.

 We just wanted to talk to the Minister for improving AIIMS. We don  t have even minimum facilities at the institute (required) for treating patients and learning. There is no permanent director at AIIMS, Prem added.

Director, AIIMS-Raipur, who is also acting in-charge of the Bhopal facility, Dr Nitin Nagarkar, was not available for comments despite repeated calls.

The AIIMS source declined to comment on the condition of the two students who were injured.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi/Kabul, June 11 : Pakistan's ISI not only provides cadres of its proxies like Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Taiba to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Afghanistan, but also gives the pan-Islamist terror outfit around $200 million aid every year.

This revelation along with many others about the collusion of several Pakistan-backed terror groups with each other was made in a documentary 'Daesh in Afghanistan' released by Tolo News on Wednesday. The documentary has several testimonies from ordinary Afghan civilians, Daesh Khorasan prisoners, former Daesh members who joined Afghan Taliban, scholars and security experts on Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The ISKP, as per Afghanistan's National Security Adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, is a broad umbrella under which many elements from the Haqqani network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Kashmir-specific terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba have come together to strengthen the Afghan Taliban against the elected government in Afghanistan.

Former Pakistan ambassador to the US and author, Hussain Haqqani, in his comments said that ISKP was born out of very angry elements of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which had very close links with the Sirajuddin Haqqani network. None of the ISKP members went to Syria, so it is just renaming and rebranding of the TTP, he said.

The outfit so far has mostly attacked Shias in Quetta where the Afghan Taliban operates from, the former ambassador said, adding the "ISKP is an outcome of the ideological extremism of Pakistani jihadi movements." Afghan civilians of Nangarhar province, interviewed in the documentary, said that initially, they thought ISKP members were "just migrants from Pakistan." But it was only after a turf war between Taliban and ISKP broke out in Nangarhar province, in which ISKP was able to seize territory, it became apparent who they were.

Last year in November, the Afghan and NATO coalition forces defeated the ISKP, forcing hundreds to surrender along with their families, with most of them being Pakistani nationals who had infiltrated, four years ago, into Nangarhar province through the Durand Line -- the border which Afghanistan has disputed since it was drawn by the British in 1893. Nangarhar province was the centre of the ISKP activities in Afghanistan.

Rahmatullah Nabil, former National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief, told TOLO news that the ISI asked Hafiz Saeed to send his Lashkar-e-Taiba cadres to Daesh (ISKP) to escape attacks on him. An expert on ISIS, Hussain Ehsani, revealed that Daesh Khorasan has several sources of income, including the $200 million it receives every year from the ISI.

Incidentally, recently a UN Security Council monitoring report said that Taliban and Al Qaida continue to cooperate with each other in Afghanistan and Kashmir-specific Pakistani terror groups, JeM and LeT are sending their trainers to Afghanistan to carry out target assassinations.
WASHINGTON  U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Thursday compared taking down Confederate statues and renaming military bases to tearing pages out of history books.

"I dont think we can go back and erase our history by removing statues," Cornyn said. "What happens next? Then somebody says you cant teach about the Civil War or slavery in your textbooks."

Cornyns comments came when he was asked whether he supported renaming military bases, including Fort Hood in Texas, that are named after Confederates, or removing statues built to honor them.

MAGNIFICENT AND FABLED: Trump says no change at bases named for Confederate officers

The killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis has reignited calls to remove Confederate statues and monuments, many of which were built by white supremacists in the early and mid-1900s as a response to black civil rights efforts.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected calls to rename military bases, saying on Twitter: These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.

Theres no question that America was an imperfect union when we were founded. We obviously betrayed our own ideals by treating African Americans as less than fully human and weve been paying for that orginal sin ever since then, Cornyn said. Weve made a lot of mistakes as a race, a human race and as an American people, but I think we need to learn from those and not try to ignore them or erase them.

I dont agree with going back and trying to rename institutions or pull down statues or try to tear those pages out of our history books that our kids learn in school, he said.

ben.wermund@chron.com
New York:

Around 25 people were on Sunday injured in an explosion that rocked New Yorks busy and upscale neighbourhood also frequented by tourists, hours before world leaders arrive here for the high-level UN General Assembly session.

The explosion - which came hours after a pipe bomb went off in a garbage can in New Jersey - occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood at 23rd St. and 6th Avenue, a busy residential and commercial area frequented by tourists and city residents, around 8:30 pm (local time) yesterday.

The Fire Department of New York tweeted that 25 people have been injured and have been taken to hospitals in the area.

Authorities said none appear to be life-threatening at this time.

Personnel from the New York Police Department, FBI and counter-terrorism agencies are on the scene where restaurants and shops have been evacuated and subways in the area have been shut down. Mayor Bill de Blasio was also headed to the scene.

Assistant Commissioner for Communication and Public Information at the New York City Police Department J Peter Donald tweeted that authorities are responding to a report of an explosion at 23rd St. and 6th Avenue in Manhattan.

We will update you w/more when we have it, Donald said.

The explosion came hours after another explosion went off in a garbage can in a New Jersey beach town yesterday morning. Three pipe-bomb-type devices wired together were found near the boardwalk in Seaside Park, according to CNN. No injuries were reported and a four-block area was evacuated for most of the day, authorities said.

Security is already tight in the city as nearly 190 world leaders, including President Barack Obama, will arrive in the city for the about week-long high-level annual UN General Assembly session, beginning tomorrow.

Obama has been appraised of the explosion in New York City, a White House official said.

The president has been apprised of the explosion in New York City, the cause of which remains under investigation. The president will be updated as additional information becomes available, a White House official said.

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Microsoft is following Amazon and IBM in limiting access to facial recognition technology in light of protests denouncing police discrimination and violence. Company president Brad Smith has announced at a Washington Post event that Microsoft wont sell facial recognition systems to police departments until theres federal regulation grounded in human rights. This is more of a commitment to the status quo when the company already doesnt officer facial recognition to police in the US, but this does represent a firm line for any would-be deals.

There will also be review factors to determine the use of facial recognition in other areas and protect rights there as well, Smith said.

The approach is consistent with Microsofts stance from the past few years. It was asking Congress to regulate facial recognition back in 2018, and has turned down at least one US law enforcement contract that it felt would tread on peoples human rights. The company has already been scaling back its investments in facial recognition.

Microsoft might get its wish for a law, at least to a limited degree. Congressional Democrats have introduced a police accountability bill that would ban the use of real-time facial recognition without a judges approval. The bill if it became law wouldnt address some of the lingering problems, such as racial and gender biases, but it might reduce the potential for racial profiling, intimidation, privacy intrusions and other violations that could come with indiscriminate use.
The playground padlocks are starting to come off. Now that all 50 states have begun to reopen, children in some areas are once again zipping down slides and swinging from monkey bars after months of waiting.

A handful of states, including New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Ohio and Iowa, announced in June that playgrounds could start reopening, though the decision to open town or city-owned playgrounds was usually made locally. In New York City, for example, playgrounds officially opened on Monday, more than a week after playgrounds were permitted to open elsewhere in the state.

We are hoping to turn on water features later this summer, said Jane Meyer, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, in an email.

While this is good news for children, some parents are being a bit more cautious. The coronavirus is still spreading, and a vaccine isnt expected until next year at the earliest. Although the overall number of deaths in the United States has been curving downward, testing in some states suggests that infections are climbing quickly. So is it really OK for kids to return to the playground?
A vote by the Republican National Committee to leave the partys 2016 party platform unchanged ahead of the November election has infuriated grassroots activists  including moderates who wanted to streamline its message and social conservatives who sought added language on emerging hot-button topics.

The decision by the partys executive panel Wednesday means the GOP will maintain positions in the 4-year-old policy blueprint  including opposition to same-sex marriage and a nod to gay conversion therapy  and decline to stake out new positions on topics such as police reform, gender identity and third-trimester abortions. Party officials and senior Trump campaign aides had previously discussed ways to pare down the 58-page document to a single note card or abbreviated list of principles, but the effort broke down after several conservative groups registered complaints with the White House.

America has changed incredibly since 2016 and not updating our platform to reflect that is an unforced error. The RNC should reconsider this terrible decision, said Terry Schilling, executive director of the American Principles Project and a proponent of updating the platform to oppose efforts to defund law enforcement or permit transgender minors to undergo gender reassignment treatments.

We cant go into 2020 with the same platform we had in 2016, and by limiting the ability to make changes you run the risk of having a stale platform. It will be tone deaf, Schilling added.

At the other end of the GOP spectrum, Jerri Ann Henry, former executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, said the decision effectively upholds one of the worst platforms in terms of LGBT issues. Henry, who has spent years fighting for marriage equality within the Republican Party, was supportive of a condensed platform that harkens back to the partys big principles and not the minute detail of every microscopic policy.

But when plans to shrink the bloated platform fell through, the only suitable alternative in her view was to proceed with platform deliberations, which typically occur in the week or two prior to the partys nominating convention.

Story continues

I would have loved to have seen them say, Alright, that didnt work, so lets try to root out the issues. Going from one big attempt to consolidate the platform to keeping the 2016 platform is just a big punt, she said in an interview Thursday, adding that reusing the 2016 platform is in no way, shape, form or fashion  an OK solution.

The widespread disappointment in the decision to leave the platform unchanged illuminates one of President Donald Trumps major hurdles as he campaigns for reelection. The same traditional conservative groups that objected to condensing the platform in a way that would have eliminated controversial planks on abortion, parental rights and LGBT issues are now annoyed they cant change the platform to strengthen its language on some of those same issues and others.

Such frustrations could dampen their enthusiasm for the president and down-ballot Republicans at a time when Trump is trying to preserve his relationship with social and religious conservatives who helped catapult him into the White House in 2016. The president's support among those and other Republican-leaning constituencies has waned in recent weeks.

At the same time, positions contained in the 2016 platform on abortion, education, marriage, LGBT rights and family structure could further alienate suburban voters and women. Those demographics abandoned the GOP in droves during the 2018 midterms and the Trump campaign has invested significant resources to try to win them back.

There are a lot of things that could have gone into the platform that maybe could have appealed to more Americans than our party currently appeals to, said Jennifer Williams, who became the first openly transgender delegate to attend a GOP convention in 2016.

RNC National press secretary Mandi Merritt blamed the situation on North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, who has rejected the party's plans for a full-fledged convention in his state.

"His refusal to work with the RNC on holding a full event in his state left our members with no choice. It would not be right for a very small group to craft a new platform without all of the delegates present," Merritt said in a statement.

But in a tweet Friday morning, Trump appeared to call for a vote on the platform, a development that would have occurred in Charlotte. The president also said he favored an abbreviated platform.

"The Republican Party has not yet voted on a Platform. No rush. I prefer a new and updated Platform, short form, if possible," Trump wrote.

The move will also prevent Trump and his team from highlighting accomplishments such as bipartisan criminal justice reform that would normally appeal to broad swaths of voters. Anything positive that the Trump administration has achieved in the last three years cant be put into this document now because this document is frozen," Williams said.

Tom McClusky, president of the anti-abortion group March for Life, pointed to a section of the 2016 platform affirming the Mexico City Policy, a rule that bans U.S. funding to nongovernmental organizations that provide abortions. Trump, he said, not only reinstated the policy after it was suspended under by Obama administration, but expanded it too.

Indeed, the 2016 platform contains several references to policy changes Trump has already delivered, as well as criticisms of the current administration and the president that could cause confusion given Trumps incumbency. For instance, the platform calls for the U.S. Embassy in Israel to be moved to Jerusalem, something Trump did during his second year in office. It also slams the current Administration for a ballooning national debt that has placed a significant burden on future generation. Though the reference was made when President Barack Obama was in office, the national debt has also increased significantly under Trump.

Another section of the platform describes the Middle East as more dangerous now than at any time since the Second World War." That creates a potentially awkward situation for party officials who praised Trumps decision to launch airstrikes against Syria over a suspected chemical weapons attack in April 2018 and to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear agreement the next month.

Its very sloppy to do it this way, said Williams, the former GOP delegate.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel speaks at a rally for President Donald Trump in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, March 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

The Trump campaign disputed that the document in its current form would present issues for the presidents reelection campaign. In a statement to POLITICO, senior counsel Justin Clark said, President Trump won in 2016 with this platform and hell win again in 2020 with this platform.

Another GOP operative close to the Trump campaign said the only people who actually think the platform matters are naive, while adding that most state Republican parties and county GOP chapters have their own platforms that local and state officials pay closer attention to.

For some of the presidents top religious and conservative allies, the RNCs decision to keep the 2016 platform in place  a move officials attributed to the partys broader plan to have a drastically scaled-back convention because of the coronavirus pandemic  was an improvement over the other possible outcome.

Given the quarantine situation, we were concerned that decisions regarding the Platform not be made in proverbial smoke-filled rooms or through secret meetings in Washington, D.C., said Colleen Holcomb, president of the Eagle Forum, a group founded by the late conservative activist Phyllis Schafly, who played a key role in shaping past GOP platforms.

On Monday, the organization sent a letter to Trump and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel warning that demolishing the platform will result in devastating division within the party. But after learning of the partys decision on Wednesday, Holcomb thanked the committees executive panel for forgoing revision until a time when the full democratic process can be assured.

Social conservative donors and groups, including the Eagle Forum, had pounced on the RNC after learning late last month that some of Trumps top lieutenants, including senior adviser Jared Kushner, were exploring ways to simplify the partys platform. That idea was one of several potential changes that had circulated among party officials and the Trump campaign.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who helped to draft the 2016 platform, reached out to the administration to inquire about the talks. Marjorie Dannenfelser, another Trump ally who runs the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List, got in touch with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to voice her concerns.

Some leaders reached out to the office of Vice President Mike Pence, himself an evangelical who is close to many social conservatives.

Ken Blackwell, a prominent conservative leader who sits on the Trump campaigns advisory board, used an appearance on Perkins radio show to send a blunt warning.

The bottom line: We cannot afford to think of the platform as something that is just a marketing instrument that you can get and put in your vest pocket on a 5-by-3, 8-by-5 card. You just cant do it, Blackwell had said. While I think the president is well positioned, it is not a slam dunk, and we cannot afford to, in fact, weaken the enthusiasm that people have built up over the last four years.

Grassroots conservatives view the platform as a mechanism for accountability and worried that eliminating its explicit language on social issues would open the door for Republican candidates to be deliberately vague on key issues. Among their concerns was that mentions of abortion  which comes up 35 times in the 2016 version  would be reduced.

The full platform is still essential for guiding policy, holding legislators accountable, and for distinguishing policy differences between Republicans and Democrats, the Eagle Forum had written in its Monday letter to Trump and McDaniels. We respectfully request that all efforts to streamline the overall platform, which has been forged over more than a century of committed grassroots activism, be resisted.

With the Platform Committee scrapped, the only official business that is likely to take place next month in Charlotte, N.C.  the original location of the 2020 GOP convention  is the selection of Trump as the partys nominee. The presidents acceptance speech is expected to take place at a separate facility in Jacksonville, Fla., though the Trump campaign and RNC were still finalizing those details this week.

Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report.
A woman allegedly tried to kill herself in Jalandhar's Shahkot after she murdered her son. She decided to kill her six-year-old boy as she was afraid that he loved his grandmother more than her, as per a TNN report. The accused's name is Kulwinder Kaur.

After the deed, she jumped from the second floor of her house in a bid to end her own life. But she survived. Kaur is getting treated at the civil hospital in Nakodar.



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The 30-year-old accused's husband lives in Italy. She lives with her in-laws along with her son. Allegedly, Kaur's relationship with her mother-in-law Charanjit Kaur was not cordial and she used to be upset as her son spent a lot of time with his grandparents. The accused was allegedly jealous of her mother-in-law as her son spent more time with her.

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On Monday, the family had dinner, following which, Kaur's six-year-old son went to his grandparents. Furious with her son, Kaur took to him to her room and allegedly stabbed him twice using a kitchen knife.

On hearing the cries of six-year-old Arshpreet, Charanjit Kaur and her husband went to Kaur's room and saw him bleeding profusely. The six-year-old died while his grandparents were taking him to the hospital, Hindustan Times reported.

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Allegedly, Kaur told her in-laws that she had killed the child and jumped off the roof of her home. Sukhwinder Singh, Shahkot station house officer (SHO) said that they have registered a case of murder against the accused.


Access to coronavirus testing remains a challenge for some Oregonians a week after state health officials loosened testing criteria to include people of color who do not have symptoms.

Michael Lopez, 29, contacted two health care providers in Washington County this week trying to get tests for himself and his wife, who are Latino.

Lopez expected it would be easy based on the Oregon Health Authoritys new guidance about who could be tested.

Instead, Lopez said he was rejected twice.

To have an experience like this, it adds to it, he said of the difficult overall circumstances of living through the pandemic. Its tough.

Oregons longstanding problem with testing eligibility continues despite thousands of tests sitting unused each week and fewer Oregonians tested per capita than almost anywhere else in America.

The latest confusion frustrates residents and health care providers alike, who both want more clarity from the Oregon Health Authority.

At the outset of the pandemic, state officials discouraged testing people who had coronavirus symptoms but who didnt need medical evaluation. That left some sick people scrambling to secure testing into April.

The state similarly discouraged testing Oregonians without symptoms even though scientists say infected people without symptoms spread the virus.

Then last week officials did a partial about-face. Acknowledging disproportionate health impacts among communities of color, particularly Hispanic people, the state said coronavirus testing should be more widely available for some groups.

We are expanding our testing criteria today to asymptomatic individuals, those who dont have COVID-19 symptoms, who are in populations historically underserved by our health systems and thus more at risk of COVID-19, Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, announced at a news conference last week with Gov. Kate Brown.

But even those efforts have caused more frustration and confusion among some people who are supposed to benefit.

Thats because the states guidelines arent entirely clear-cut. In one section, the agency retained language saying it does not recommend routine screening of asymptomatic people for COVID-19.

Yet in another section, the health authority said it recommends such testing of people without symptoms be limited to six groups: people exposed to a known infection, people exposed in congregate settings like nursing homes and prisons, people who have a disability, migrant workers arriving in Oregon, people whose first language is not English and Oregonians of color.

The guidelines specifically list people who identify as Black, African-American, Latino, Latina, Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Asian-American or Pacific Islander.

State officials on Wednesday would not directly comment on Lopezs experience being denied testing.

They offered mixed messages about whether people of color who have no symptoms should be able to get a coronavirus test in Oregon.

We think they should be tested, if they seek it, Allen, the health authority director, said in an interview.

But a health authority spokesman, responding to written questions from the newsroom, later downplayed the states guidance about testing people of color without symptoms, saying in some circumstances such testing might be useful.

In other words, testing an asymptomatic Latino man might be appropriate, e.g., to inform public health investigations; but we are not recommending that it be done routinely, spokesman Jonathan Modie wrote. Health care providers should use their judgment.

Modie further parsed the states guidance to say the health authority didnt recommend testing routinely for any group without symptoms, but in instances when a physician considered testing, we recommend that it be limited to selected populations.

Thats a far more nuanced accounting than the state previously provided.

In fact, in one summary written on Oregon Health Authority letterhead last week, the state said its new guidance expands testing recommendations for asymptomatic people to include  people in the racial and ethnic groups above.

Lopez said he decided to seek testing after reading in The Oregonian/OregonLive last week about the states new guidance. He and his wife are planning to drive to California on Friday to visit his parents and they wanted to have peace of mind that they werent infected by the virus.

Lopez said he first called Kaiser Permanente. An advice nurse said she thought only people with symptoms could be tested, Lopez recalled, but he was passed along to a doctor.

Lopez said he spoke with the doctor, who reiterated that he did not qualify for testing.

He said that unfortunately, because Im not showing any symptoms, Kaiser was not able to allocate a test, Lopez said.

Lopez said he called Oregon Health & Science University, as well, to seek testing. Again, Lopez said he was told testing was not available because he lacked symptoms.

It is concerning, especially if we are trying to follow the rules and be as safe as we can, Milady Lopez, 27, said of her husbands efforts.

The couple said they didnt pursue testing until now because they didnt want to take tests that otherwise could be allocated for people who are sick. But based on the states new guidance to cover people of color without symptoms, they were surprised to be turned away.

Oregons most recent testing statistics show that 35% of identified infections are among people who are Hispanic. Only 13% of the states population identifies as Hispanic.

Michael and Milady Lopez double-checked the states testing guidance online. They noted that other people of color might not have that level of resolve and simply give up, particularly if English is not their main language.

if theyre being told no, thats it, Milady Lopez said.

Kaiser Permanente said the Oregon Health Authority should clarify its guidance on testing for people of color without symptoms.

Our current testing protocol includes prioritizing testing for people in the communities that are being hit hard by this disease. This includes anyone who has symptoms, as well as contacts of cases or settings of outbreaks, Dr. Steven Spindel, chief of service infectious disease, said in a statement.

Following current guidelines, we have not yet taken the step of testing asymptomatic individuals in the community, he added. We are seeking additional clarity and consensus in conversations with public health officials regarding the next step in expanded testing for these asymptomatic groups.

OHSU, in a statement, apologized for any confusion and said it believes it is following the states guidelines.

OHSU wont comment on protected health information; however, we want to emphasize that we are following OHAs June 2 recommendation that testing of people without symptoms consistent with COVID-19 be limited to identified groups, including people of color, spokeswoman Tamara Hargens-Bradley wrote in a statement.

We apologize for any distress and encourage patients with concerns about their care to contact our Patient Relations team for assistance, she added.

Michael Lopez said he has all but given up hope that he and his wife can be tested before they leave to visit his parents.

Although they both have been working from home and are not particularly worried they might be infected, Michael Lopez said his father is 60 and his mother has an autoimmune disease, increasing their desire to know with certainty.

At this point, I think its very, very dismal that well be able to get tested, he said.

But the couple is holding out hope, saying they may try once more  when they arrive in California.

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
The Canadian Coast Guard is sending an environmental response team to Postville following a spill of an unidentified pollutant into the harbour.

Residents of the small northern Labrador town began noticing a smell a few days ago and saw a sheen on the water that then spread, AngajukKak (mayor) Glen Sheppard told SaltWire Network.

He said it is covering an area about 13 square kilometres and they want to find the source.

Its quite the area its spread across. Peoples boats are in a mess. Theres a strong smell of diesel. Everything points the finger to an oil spill or a wastage, he said.

According to a statement from the Canadian Coast Guard, it received a report of a sheen on the water on Monday. They conducted a surveillance flight in the area and observed about 2,000 to 3,000 litres of pollutant. A flight they made the following day showed about 980 litres of pollutant remaining on the water. In addition to the response team, the Coast Guard has sent the CCGS George R. Pearkes to assess the scene.

A fuel tanker belonging to the Woodward Group of Cos. left the harbour in Postville on Sunday, and CEO Peter Woodward told SaltWire Network they checked the ship and the slick didnt come from the vessel.

We investigated our ship, the Coast Guard investigated our ship, and it doesnt appear it came from our ship, so no one knows where it came from, he said.

When the tanker was pumping in Postville the crew noticed the smell, Woodward said, and both they and the Coast Guard checked the ship then but found nothing.

Id love to know whats going on as well, he said. We sent a helicopter up to take pictures and from (what) we could see it appears to be coming from the shore, but we dont know where it originated.

Sheppard said hes concerned for the potential impact on wildlife in the area, with three fast-water areas just southwest of the town and the diverse wildlife in the region. He said the slick has reached the beach and while the rainbow rocks may look pretty, it isnt a pretty mess.

Kids swim down there, and we have caplin that spawn in that area, he said.

The Nunatsiavut Government, the Inuit government that Postville is part of, released a statement about the spill on Tuesday, also raising concerns about the potential effects.

This is very concerning, as there are still many unanswered questions, Nunatsiavut Lands and Natural Resources Minister Greg Flowers stated in the release. We are monitoring the situation very closely and have been in regular contact with the Coast Guard. Hopefully, we will have some answers soon, and steps will be taken to immediately remediate any environmental impacts.

Torngat Mountains MHA Lela Evans said shes also worried about the damage to wildlife, with a large number of fish and birds in the area, and the reliance of the local people on the food chain. Her biggest concerns now are that it will be cleaned up and investigated.

The Coast Guard will be doing an assessment and deciding whether or not theyll put resources behind cleaning it up, she said. Id like to have this investigated, determine what caused it, and make sure that things are put in place to prevent this from happening.

Both the Coast Guard and Service NL are looking into the spill, since it hasnt been determined yet if it originated on land or on the water. They both told SaltWire Network the source of the spill had not yet been determined and they are working together to determine a course of action.
[June 11, 2020] Los Angeles County and 3Di Systems Partner to Release Anti-Price Gouging Solution in Record Time, Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

LOS ANGELES, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 3Di Systems ( 3disystems.com ), a national leader in community engagement solutions, announced the creation of an online and mobile anti-price gouging solution to help Los Angeles county residents continue to fight the coronavirus pandemic. With an increasing number of Covid-19 positive individuals in the Los Angeles area, some businesses have taken advantage of the panic, increasing prices of essential items like toilet paper, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizers, and more. Often, these price increases equate to over a 10% markup on goods and services that could help residents to successfully get through an emergency. Not only is this practice unethical, it's illegal in the state of California, and prevents many from acquiring the supplies they need to keep themselves, and their families, healthy and safe. "3Di was approached by the County of Los Angeles Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) to discuss how we could help the community solve this problem," said Rajiv Desai, CEO of 3Di Systems. "Within 48 hours, we used our low-code platform and created an anti-price gouging solution that will allow county citizens to lodge price gouging complaints and help to launch investigations to enforce consumer protection laws."



The technology was built leveraging 3Di System's Engage platform, which allows citizens to use current technologies to request services and interact with city administration directly. The anti-price gouging app will allow citizens to report illegal pricing using a mobile app or a browser on their phone, as well as to attach any relevant photos. To learn more about LA County's fight against unfair pricing practices, visit their Anti-Price Gouging page on their website for more information.

If you believe you are a victim of price gouging in the Los Angeles County area, save your receipts and call (800) 593-8222 or file an online complaint . About 3Di Systems 3Di Systems is a Los Angeles-based solutions and services company with almost two decades of experience providing award winning technology for the public sector. Through its powerful low-code 3Di Engage platform that includes solutions for affordable housing, fire prevention, and community engagement, 3DI Systems makes transforming cities and counties into digitally current communities their mission. For more information, visit www.3disystems.com. CONTACT: Roberto Guerrieri

PHONE: 480-326-5283

EMAIL: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/los-angeles-county-and-3di-systems-partner-to-release-anti-price-gouging-solution-in-record-time-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-301074739.html SOURCE 3Di Systems

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For years, Chinese e-commerce exporters have been learning the ins and outs of ad placement on Facebook, Instagram and other mainstream social media platforms to reach customers around the world. But they recently spotted a new way to grab people's attention, one that has never felt more familiar.

Video influencers.

Shopping via videos is currently all the rage in China. There are efforts from short video apps like Douyin -- TikTok's Chinese sister -- that match merchants with content creators for promotion. During the coronavirus lockdown, millions of consumers relied on live videos to check out products and posed questions to merchants remotely, a practice that has won endorsement from local governments as a way to drum up domestic consumption. In just Q1 this year, more than 4 million live shopping sessions took place in China.

In other parts of the world, brands and video creators -- especially influencers with sizable followings -- are also getting pally. A few American venture capitalists have recognized the early potential of the collaboration. Amazon, a few years behind its Chinese counterparts in live streaming, launched Amazon Live last year.

Now Alibaba, one of the pioneers of shoppable videos in China, has big plans to attract and train up international influencers -- so it can sell more around the world through AliExpress . The platform is one of Alibaba's marketplaces for international consumers, which altogether claim 180 million annual active consumers.

"Chinese manufacturers are always looking for ways to sell and influencers are the quickest way to drive traffic these days," reckoned Miranda Tan, chief executive of Robin8, a data-driven influencer marketing platform.

Indeed, a few Shenzhen-based e-commerce exporters told TechCrunch that they are actively looking to work with international content creators, particularly TikTok influencers, to market their products. For now, they depend on their Chinese staff to make low-budget promo videos that often miss important cultural nuances.

Story continues

Everyone is a seller

AliExpress plans to recruit as many as 100,000 "promoters," who will help merchants and brands on AliExpress promote through YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other popular internet platforms. Besides popular influencers, the platform is also after talented content creators behind the camera and seasoned marketers with access to customer acquisition channels.

Screenshot: a live broadcasted promotion on AliExpress

"Live shopping is still in its relative infancy in the overseas consumer market," Martin Wang, who heads overseas seller operation and social commerce cooperation at AliExpress, told TechCrunch. "Our initiative will help propel the overseas ecosystem forward."

Fabian Ouwehand, the founder of short-video marketing agency Uplab, echoed that view. "It's interesting because it will push the industry [abroad] to innovate on social commerce. It looks like they are trying a strategy [through which] every user can become a seller -- key opinion consumers going to the West."

To that end, the team created the "Connect" matchmaking system for influencers to find promotional tasks and is providing training and analytics tools to support their creative process. While live selling has been available to Alibaba sellers in China since 2016, AliExpress only added the feature last year and announced the recruitment program in April.

The call for talent came at a time when millions around the world have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak. It's no surprise that AliExpress is billing the recruitment as one that could "help individuals rebuild after COVID-19."

"A lot of people don't have money now and are looking for ways to make money during the coronavirus outbreak," contended Tan, who has observed many individuals are learning to be product promoters on social media to make extra bucks. "Everyone becomes their own independent company."

Cultural differences

An obvious target for AliExpress is the emerging crop of bilingual foreign influencers living in China. "Many are foreign students in China with a positive image and a knack for expression. They have a flexible schedule in the evening, so agencies will approach them, train them as live-streaming hosts and eventually sign with them," said Wang.

The influencers fluent in Chinese and their native language may seem like ideal ambassadors in sellers' target markets, but there is a potential drawback. "They might look to Li Jiaqi and Weiya as role models," said Wang, referring to China's top beauty influencers known for their record-smashing sales. "But what works in China may not work in their home countries."

On the demand side, Wang worried that Chinese merchants are too accustomed to seeing meteoric sales numbers that influencers in China generate. "The overseas [live streaming] market has not reached the stage of maturity, so it's our priority to manage expectations from both sides [of sellers and content creators.]"

Most of AliExpress's sellers naturally come from China, the world's factory, while Russia is its biggest market for revenue. The platform has been working to boost its inventory by opening up to sellers in Turkey, Russia, Spain and Italy last year. For instance, Russia is a big market for AliExpress's Turkish merchants. The expansion means an even greater challenge for the Chinese company to cope with differences in business dynamics and consumer behavior across regions.
Cancelled cruises include Panama Canal, Hawaii, Pacific Coastal and South America

SEATTLE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With travel and port restrictions continuing for the near future due to global health concerns, Holland America Line is extending its pause of cruise operations and cancelling additional departures from the port of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 2020, as well as select Hawaii itineraries for early 2021.

The following cruises are affected:

Eurodam:

Sept. 26, 2020 , 22-day Panama Canal cruise from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale, Florida .

Koningsdam:

Sept. 26, 2020 , seven-day Pacific Northwest cruise from Vancouver to San Diego, California .

, seven-day Pacific Northwest cruise from to . Jan. 16 and Feb. 2, 2021 , Circle Hawaii Voyages roundtrip from San Diego .

Maasdam:

Sept. 21, 2020 , 16-day Mexico and Sea of Cortez itinerary from Vancouver to San Diego .

Noordam:

Sept. 27, 2020 , 14-day North Pacific Crossing from Vancouver to Yokohama, Japan .

Volendam:

Sept. 30 , Oct. 3 and Oct. 10, 2020 , three- and seven-day Pacific Northwest and coastal cruises from Vancouver .

Westerdam:

Sept. 20, 2020 , 17-day Circle Hawaii cruise roundtrip from Vancouver .

, 17-day Circle Hawaii cruise roundtrip from . Oct. 7, 2020 , 23-day Inca Discovery voyage from Vancouver to San Antonio ( Santiago ), Chile .

All shorter segments within the above cruise departures are cancelled. Collectors' Voyages that combine back-to-back cruises including the above departure dates are also cancelled.

Guests Automatically Receive Future Cruise Credit

Those with impacted cruises automatically will be cancelled, and no action is needed for guests opting for the Future Cruise Credit (FCC). All guests will receive an FCC per person as follows:

Paid in Full : Those who had paid in full will receive 125% FCC of the base cruise fare paid to Holland America Line.

: Those who had paid in full will receive 125% FCC of the base cruise fare paid to Holland America Line. Not Paid in Full: Those with bookings not paid in full will receive an FCC of double the amount of the deposit paid for the cruise. The minimum FCC is $100 and the maximum will be an amount up to the base cruise fare paid.

The FCC is valid for 12 months from the date of issue and may be used to book sailings departing through Dec. 31, 2022. All other funds paid to Holland America Line may be transferred to a new booking or will automatically be refunded via the method of payment used to purchase the services.

Full Refund Option Also Available

Guests who prefer a 100% refund of monies paid to Holland America Line can visit the Cancellation Preferences form to indicate this preference no later than July 15, 2020.

The above options are not applicable to guests booked on a charter sailing. Other booking and cancellation conditions and policies may apply if the cruise was not booked through Holland America Line. See the terms and conditions in the Cancellation Preferences form for all details.

Recognizing the vital role travel advisors play in the success of the cruise industry, Holland America Line will protect travel advisor commissions on bookings for cancelled cruises that were paid in full and for the total amount of the FCC when rebooked.

As previously announced, Holland America Line extended its pause of global cruise operations and cancelled all Alaska, Europe and Canada/New England cruises for 2020. In addition, Amsterdam will not operate the 79-day Grand Africa Voyage.

For more information about Holland America Line, consult a travel advisor, call 1-877-SAIL HAL (877-724-5425) or visit hollandamerica.com.

Find Holland America Line on Twitter, Facebook and the Holland America Blog. Access all social media outlets via the home page at hollandamerica.com.

SOURCE Holland America Line

Related Links

http://www.hollandamerica.com


Tara Reid revealed she has been in quarantine with Jedward twins, John and Edward Grimes, throughout the coronavirus lockdown.

Sharing a picture of herself with the 27-year-old boys, who she met on Celebrity Big Brother back in 2011, she wrote about how grateful she is to them.

She penned: 'Im so happy Im with my bffs John and Edward @jepicpics thank god they are with me during my quarantine my experience.

'Thank God they're with me': Tara Reid, 44, discussed quarantining with BFFs Jedward, 28,as she posted this picture on Instagram on Wednesday

'Would not have been the same without them be safe we all care about you.'

The Irish pop duo are currently living in 44-year-old Tara's Los Angeles penthouse and Tara has said they are using the time to work on new material.

She told Digital Spy: 'We are all artists. John and Edward, you should see the songs they're writing right now.'

Close: The twins really hit it off with Tara when they appeared on CBB together back in 2011

She said the trio have all been listening to the lectures of spiritual guru Deepak Chopra every day.

'We did it last night together with all the lights off,' the boys said.

'And wecleaned her windows yesterday,' they added.

While fans will be said they can't get a peek of the three of them recreating their experience in the Big Brother house, there is some good news for fans.

Iconic: Big Brother's presenters Davina McCall (pictured) and Rylan Clark are joining forces with Emma Willis and Dermot O'Leary to remember the show's best bits

For the very first time on TV, Big Brother presenting icons, Davina McCall, Rylan Clark-Neal, Emma Willis and Dermot OLeary, are joining forces.

The awesome foursome will come together (virtually) to share their thoughts on some of the juiciest and most memorable episodes of Big Brother for E4s Big Brother: Best Shows Ever.

Dermot, 47, and Emma, 44, will join Davina, 25, and Rylan, 31, in the first episode on Sunday June 14 at 9pm on E4. They will also contribute to episodes across the series.
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed an emergency action and obtained an asset freeze against five individuals and six offshore entities for an alleged fraudulent scheme that generated more than $25 million from illegal sales of multiple microcap companies' stock, including four that were the subject of recent SEC trading suspension orders: Sandy Steele Unlimited Inc., WOD Retail Solutions Inc., Bioscience Neutraceuticals, Inc., and Rivex Technology Corp.

The SEC's complaint alleges that from at least January 2018 to the present, Canadian citizen Nelson Gomes, working with Canadian Michael Luckhoo-Bouche and others, enabled corporate control persons that were unknown to the public to conceal their identities while dumping their company's stock into the market for purchase by unsuspecting investors. The complaint alleges that these illegal stock sales were often boosted by promotional campaigns that, in some instances, included false and misleading information designed to fraudulently capitalize on the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the alleged promotions included claims that Sandy Steele could produce medical quality facemasks and that WOD Retail had automated kiosks for retailers to use in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The complaint also charges Canadians Shane Schmidt, Douglas Roe, and Kelly Warawa with fraudulently dumping shares of Sandy Steele.

"Microcap stocks can be particularly vulnerable to manipulative schemes, and investors should be alert to the heightened risks that exist during this national emergency," said Paul Levenson, Director of the SEC's Boston Regional Office. "The SEC will continue to act quickly to protect investors from investment scams, including those seeking to capitalize on the COVID-19 crisis."

The SEC's complaint, filed in federal district court in Boston, charges Gomes, Luckhoo-Bouche, Roe, Warawa, FFS Capital Limited, and Atlantean Management Corporation with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The complaint also charges Schmidt with violations of the antifraud provisions and Paifang Trading Limited, Artefactor Limited, Meadow Asia Limited, and Thyme International Limited with registration violations. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, conduct based injunctions, disgorgement of allegedly ill-gotten gains plus interest, civil penalties, and penny stock bars.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts today announced parallel criminal charges against Schmidt.

The SEC's case is being handled by Trevor Donelan, Eric Forni, Kathleen Shields, J. Lauchlan Wash, Susan C. Anderson, and Amy Gwiazda in the Boston Regional Office and Katherine Bromberg of the Division of Enforcement's Retail Strategy Task Force. This enforcement action is the result of the staff's ongoing investigation following the trading suspensions. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, the Alberta Securities Commission, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Division of Enforcement's Retail Strategy Task Force previously issued an investor alert cautioning investors to be aware of COVID-19 scams. The SEC also has information available on microcap stocks, including red flags to look for when investing in microcap stocks.
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Yesterday, I pointed out that the annual number of homicides in Baltimore was around 215 in the five years before the left and the Obama administration undermined the police force there following the death of Freddy Gray. In the five years since, the average number of homicides per year is around 335.

Thats 625 excess deaths.

How many of the lives lost were black lives? To me it doesnt matter. Black lives and white lives are of equal value. However, the racial breakdown should matter to the BlackLivesMatter movement.

According to this article in the Baltimore Sun, nearly all of Baltimores homicide victims in 2019 were black. I infer that nearly all of the 625 victims whose deaths we can attribute to the diminution of policing in the city since mid 2015 were black.

Were any lives saved by Baltimores passive policing? According to the ACLU, in the five years before the change of policing in Baltimore, 109 civilians died in police encounters in the entire state of Maryland. Blacks made up 69 percent of this group, so 75 of those who died at the hands of the police in Maryland were black.

In Baltimore City, there were 31 such deaths during this period. I think we should assume that all, or virtually all, of the dead were black.

The ACLU says that around 59 percent of the blacks in Maryland who died in police encounters during this five year period were armed. Applying this percentage (which may or may not be reliable) to Baltimore, the result is 12 unarmed blacks killed in encounters with the police in the five years.

What about the five years since the Freddy Gray killing? According to the Washington Posts database, the police have shot and killed 79 people in Maryland since 2015 (if Im reading the study correctly). Thats a four-and-a-half year period, and the number does not include deaths by other than shooting. Nor does it tell us (1) how many of those shot and killed were black or (2) how many of these shootings occurred in Baltimore.

The ACLU has posted the names of approximately 125 African-Americans it says died at the hands of the police since Grays death. Again, I cant tell how many of these deaths occurred in Baltimore.

Therefore, I dont know whether or what extent the alteration in policing in Baltimore reduced the number of blacks killed in encounters with police. But lets assume for the sake of argument that the alteration in policing eliminated killings of blacks in Baltimore by the police (and lets put aside the question of the extent to which some killings of blacks by police from 2010 through 2014 were justified).

Even in this utterly implausible scenario, Baltimores black lives trade-off from reduced policing was around 600 blacks killed vs. 31 black lives saved.

No rational person to whom black lives matter would accept this trade-off.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The state filed insurance fraud charges against an international opioid manufacturer, according to a media release from the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Following an investigation, the state Department of Financial Services has filed charges and initiated administrative proceedings against Endo International and several of its subsidiaries, which was responsible for approximately 18.4% of the opioids in New York from 2006 to 2014.

All these opioid manufacturers knew how addictive and dangerous their products were, and they used it as a reckless business model for their own financial gain at the cost of thousands of human lives and billions of dollars," Cuomo said. Their greedy, fraudulent behavior is inexcusable, and New York will make sure that justice is served and these big pharmaceutical companies are ultimately held responsible for their actions.

The DFS alleges that Endo downplayed certain drugs addictiveness in an effort to further their use as painkillers, and did so without scientific substantiation using a large sales force that made over 165,000 phone calls to New York healthcare providers over a four year period to market a single drug.

In June 2017, the FDA requested that Endo remove one of its products from the market due to its high risk of abuse, despite the company trying to market it as less addictive.

DFS has brought both insurance and financial services charges against Endo. If found to have violated the insurance law, the company faces a fine of $5,000, and if it is found in violation of the financial services law, it faces a fine of $5,000 per violation, which the state contends is each prescription of the drugs it falsely represented.

New York demands accountability from the drug companies and others responsible for the opioid epidemic that continues to devastate families and communities throughout the state and across the country, Cuomo said.

The company did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
PHILADELPHIA, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Berger Montague continues to investigate securities fraud claims against Ryder System, Inc. ("Ryder" or the "Company") on behalf of all purchasers of Ryder common stock (NYSE: R) between July 23, 2015 and February 13, 2020 (the "Class Period"). In a recent development, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Ryder, noting a "multi-year, negative trend in prices for used vehicles," which could lend credibility to the allegation that the Company belatedly lowered its residual values.

If you purchased Ryder shares, have information, would like to discuss this investigation, or have any questions concerning your rights or interests, please contact our attorneys Benjamin Galdston, Esq. at (619) 678-0187 or Andrew Abramowitz, Esq. at (215) 875-3015, or visit www.bergermontague.com/ryder-system-update.

According to a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Ryder misled investors by assigning significantly overstated residual values to its trucking fleet, thereby allowing the Company to report depreciation expenses that were lower than they should have been, thus artificially inflating Ryder's earnings.

Investors began to learn the truth about these overstated residual values through a series of disclosures beginning on July 30, 2019. On that date, Ryder drastically reduced its earnings forecast for 2019, and attributed this lowered guidance primarily to weaker valuations of the Company's tractors. On this news, the price of Ryder shares declined 10%, or $5.94 per share, to close at $53.38 per share.

Then, on October 29, 2019, the Company substantially lowered the residual values for all its vehicles and recorded a $177 million depreciation expense. Ryder explained that "management concluded that our residual value estimates likely exceed the expected future values that would be realized upon the sale of power vehicles in our fleet." Shares dropped 12% over the next two trading days, falling from $55.12 per share to $48.44 per share by the close of trading on October 30, 2019.

Finally, on February 13, 2020, Ryder disclosed that it recorded a total depreciation expense of $357 million for fiscal year 2019, and that it expected to record an additional depreciation expense of $275 million during fiscal year 2020 due to additional reductions of residual values. In response to this news, the price of Ryder shares declined 20%, or $10.07 per share, over the next two trading days, to close at $40.12 on February 14, 2020.

If you purchased Ryder common stock during the Class Period, you may seek Court appointment as lead plaintiff to represent other injured investors in a class action. The lead plaintiff appointment deadline is July 20, 2020. You do not need to be a lead plaintiff to share in any potential Class recovery.

Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Ryder System, Inc. should consider their options to help Berger Montague's investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under this program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to thirty percent (30%) of successful recoveries obtained by the SEC. For more information, contact us.

Berger Montague, with offices in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and San Diego, has been a pioneer in securities class action litigation since its founding in 1970. Berger Montague has represented individual and institutional investors for five decades and serves as lead counsel in courts throughout the United States.

Contacts

Benjamin Galdston, Shareholder

Berger Montague

(619) 678-0187

[email protected]

Andrew Abramowitz, Senior Counsel

Berger Montague

(215) 875-3015

[email protected]

SOURCE Berger Montague

Related Links

https://bergermontague.com


Dr. Elaine Larson, professor emerita of nursing research and professor emerita of epidemiology at Columbia University, who is considered one of the worlds leading authorities on hand hygiene, agrees. In 1980, Dr. Larson wrote her dissertation on hand-washing and devoted the subsequent 40 years to studying infection prevention and spreading the message that clean hands save lives.

I dont think that people are reluctant, but every decision we make occurs because of habit as well as a quick, unconscious risk-benefit assessment, and then we decide that we are safe, she says. Most people from childhood learn that they can often omit hand hygiene with no consequences, so that reinforces that it is not an essential habit.

But even in times like these, she says its difficult to link the cause  not washing  and the effect  getting sick  when there is a time lag between the two and when it does not occur 100 percent of the time. Another obstacle to normalizing hand-washing is what psychologists call optimism bias, which leads many of us to believe bad things are more likely to happen to others.

So is there any hope of convincing people that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially when it comes to Covid-19? Does hand-washing stand a chance of becoming part of the new normal, like wearing seatbelts did once we fully realized their impact on saving lives?

Dr. Larson explains that its always easier to change a system than to change behavior. Cars now beep to remind us of wearing seatbelts. In hospitals, we are testing ways to notify staff when they need to wash, but those systems still need a lot of work, she says. Something like that may happen eventually in, for example, public restrooms and airports.

In 2009, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine studied the impact of intervention messaging in public bathrooms at rest areas along highways in England. Out of 14 different messages, Is the person next to you washing their hands? proved to be the most effective at changing behavior. So if we all start washing our hands more, others may be more likely to follow.

I followed up with my old friend Kelly Dineen, now a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Chicago, for her take on the situation. She suggested that those who remain indifferent or resistant to the cause should hang notes in their bathrooms and around the house to establish and cultivate the habit.
On June 8, a Delhi-based retired deputy inspector general (DIG)- rank officer of the Border Security Force (BSF) and his wife, tested positive for Covid-19. When the couples efforts to get themselves admitted to isolation facilities in government and private hospitals in Delhi proved futile, they contacted the officials at the central armed police forces (CAPF) referral hospital at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Lakhnawali camp at Greater Noida. In no time, they were admitted to an isolation ward there and their treatment commenced.

CAPF inspector general (medical services) Dr Dinesh Chandra Dimri said in pursuance to the instructions of director general Surjit Singh Deswal that all hospitals must help veterans and their dependants, the couple was immediately admitted to the hospital. While the former BSF DIG had fever, his wife had breathing problems. But, now they are recovering fast, he said.

Dr Dimri said so far 224 of the 340 CAPF personnel and their dependents have been cured of Covid-19 and discharged from the referral hospital. The list of discharged patients include 173 personnel from ITBP, 41 from BSF, five from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), one each from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the National Security Guard (NSG), and the National Disaster Response Force, besides two civilians.

The remaining 116 patients, who are still admitted to the isolation facility of the hospital, include 45 from NSG,16 from ITBP, 14 from CRPF, 12 each from CISF and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), nine from BSF, four from NDRF, two from National Investigation Agency and one each from Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) and intelligence bureau (IB), he said.

The IG said of the total 340 patients admitted so far to the referral hospital, no casualty has been reported yet. Of these patients, 45 had various co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism and cancer. Our team of doctors, led by Dr Shailendra Kumar, has also treated 12 critical Covid-19 patients successfully, Dr Dimri said.

Meanwhile, Dr Mukesh Saxena, the CAPF additional director general (medical services), has issued directions regarding various safety measures that must be mandatorily followed by all CAPF staff. They have been given adequate protective equipments, including PPE kits, N-95 masks and sanitisers, to tackle the pandemic, he said.
The Supreme Court has adjourned the highly anticipated case between the Electoral Commission and the National Democratic Congress to June 23 for judgment.

There was a heavy police presence at the Supreme Court on Thursday as the majority of Ghanaians expected a judgment today.

The NDC is challenging the Electoral Commissions decision to compile a new voters register for the December polls.

The opposition NDC argues that a new voters register will deprive many Ghanaians the right to vote in the polls, a claim the EC disagrees with.

The party has argued in its suit that the EC lacks the power to go ahead with its plans because it can only compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law.

---starrfmonline
ATLANTA, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc. (NYSE: CTT) today announced that due to the public health impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and to protect the health and well-being of its employees, stockholders and community, its Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual Meeting") on June 24, 2020 will be held virtually. As previously announced, the Annual Meeting will commence at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) on June 24, 2020, and online access information is detailed below. There will not be any in-person participation at the Annual Meeting.

Stockholders will be able to vote their shares electronically and submit questions during the Annual Meeting through the virtual meeting's chat function. CatchMark encourages stockholders to submit their proxies in advance of the Annual Meeting using one of the available methods described in the proxy materials.

Stockholders can access the meeting online at the following link: www.meetingcenter.io/273680346. Only authenticated stockholders as of the record date of April 8, 2020 will be allowed to participate. To login to the Annual Meeting, stockholders will be required to have a control number and password. The password for the meeting is CMTT2020. For stockholders of record, the control number can be found on the proxy card or notice of the availability of proxy materials, or the email providing notice of the Annual Meeting that the stockholder previously received.

Beneficial owners holding shares in "street name" through an intermediary, such as a bank or broker, must register in advance to attend the Annual Meeting online. To register, beneficial owners must request a legal proxy with respect to their shares of CatchMark common stock from their bank, broker or other nominee. Beneficial holders must then forward the email from their bank or broker containing their legal proxy, or otherwise email an attached image of their legal proxy, to [email protected], along with their name and email address. Requests for registration should be labeled as "Legal Proxy" and be received no later than 5:00 p.m. (EDT) on June 19, 2020. Beneficial owners will receive a confirmation email from Computershare of their registration.

The Company currently intends to return to an in-person stockholder meeting format in the future.

The proxy card included with the proxy materials previously distributed will not be updated to reflect the change to a virtual-only meeting and may continue to be used to vote shares in connection with the Annual Meeting.

About CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc.

CatchMark (NYSE: CTT) seeks to deliver consistent and growing per share cash flow from disciplined acquisitions and superior management of prime timberlands located in high demand U.S. mill markets. Concentrating on maximizing cash flows throughout business cycles, the company strategically harvests its high-quality timberlands to produce durable revenue growth and takes advantage of proximate mill markets, which provide a reliable outlet for merchantable inventory. Headquartered in Atlanta and focused exclusively on timberland ownership and management, CatchMark began operations in 2007 and owns interests in 1.5 million acres* of timberlands located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. For more information, visit www.catchmark.com.

* As of March 31, 2020

SOURCE CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc.
Phuket officers receive PPE personal donation from Royal Thai Police chief

PHUKET: Police officers in Phuket have received personal protective equipment made available by a personal donation from Thai Royal Police Chief Gen Chakthip Chaijinda and his wife Busaba, who serves as the Head of Police Housewifes Association.

COVID-19healthpolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 11 June 2020, 12:36PM

The food packages were handed out at an event held at Phuket Provincial Police Station yesterday (June 10).

Presiding over the event were Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Rungrote Thakurapunyasiri.

Maj Gen Rungrote explained that Gen Chakthip and his wife Ms Busaba had spent their personal money to buy necessary goods and consumer products to hand out to police across the country in order to thank all the officers working hard during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before this, Gen Chakthip had bought face masks, face shields and other PPE protective equipment many times, Maj Gen Rungrote said.

On behalf of the Phuket Provincial Police and every police officer in Phuket, I thank Gen Chakthip and his wife for their concern and care, and we will keep working hard to take care of people in our areas, he added.

Also at the event yesterday, the Phuket Provincial Police received donations from former graduates of the Thailand National Defence College. The alumni donated 6,000 face masks, 300 5kg bags of rice, 1,000 cans of fish, 3,000 packs of instant noodles in order to encourage and cheer police for their efforts.

Maj Gen Rungrote said that police should prepare for tourists returning to Phuket soon.

All police must work harder on screening measures and controlling the number of people at locations and gatherings in order to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 in Phuket, he said.
Swedish English

Stockholm, June 11, 2020  Anoto Group AB (Anoto or the Company) today announces that it has signed a license agreement worth 72,000 USD for its education solution KAIT with a school district in the State of West Virginia, USA.



The contract was entered into between Anotos subsidiary Knowledge AI Inc, which markets and sells the AI based education platform KAIT. In addition, the district is also expected to work closely with KAIT to conduct a longitudinal study of KAITs effect on students performance.

Another conversion to a three-year fully paid contract during the lockdown stage is a very encouraging sign of the strength of our product. COVID-19 has an unanticipated effect of accelerating digitalization of education. We are excited to continue to expand our platform and deliver value to our customers, says Joonhee Won, CEO of Knowledge AI Inc.

For further information, please contact:

Johannes Haglund, Chief of Staff

For more information about Anoto, please visit www.anoto.com or email ir@anoto.com

This information is information that Anoto Group AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, on June 11, 2020 at 08:00 CET.

About Anoto Group

Anoto is a publicly held Swedish technology company known globally for innovation in the area of information-rich patterns and the optical recognition of those patterns. It is a leader in digital writing and drawing solutions, having historically used its proprietary technology to develop smartpens and the related software. These smartpens enrich the daily lives of millions of people around the world. Now Anoto is a cloud based software solution provider based on its patented dot pattern technology which provides a methodology for accumulating digital big data from analogue inputs. Anoto Cloud includes Anotos four solutions: KAIT  the worlds first AI solution for offline education; ACE  Anotos new and improved enterprise forms solutions; aDNA  Anotos secure interactive marketing solution; and Dr. Watson  Anotos biometric authentication and security solution. Anoto is traded on the Small Cap list of Nasdaq Stockholm under ANOT.

Attachment
Vietnam, and indeed other nations of similar standing, can use the current climate to push their development ahead, Photo: Le Toan

Leaders of the EU a fortnight ago held their first bilateral summit since the coronavirus pandemic began to spread  and the addition of Japan as a partner highlighted a potential change in the order of the world.

In a summit first, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, European Council President Charles Michel, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said they are continuing major efforts to halt COVID-19, but insisted that an effective multiparty approach is key in the fight.

The leaders recognised that global solidarity, co-operation, and effective multilateralism are required more than ever to defeat the virus as well as to ensure economic recovery, they wrote in a joint statement released after the conference.

The online event was part of the blocs attempts to work with like-minded nations and regions in the face of an increasingly complex atmosphere in both Washington and Beijing, according to the Financial Times. It kicked off an intense few days of geopolitics for the EU, as foreign ministers prepared to meet with China several days later.

However, last Thursday it was revealed that an autumn summit between the EU and China had been postponed due to the pandemic. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was planning to host EU leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Leipzig on September 14 to enhance political and economic ties between the 27-member bloc and Beijing.

We need a more robust strategy for China, which also requires better relations with the rest of Asia, Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign policy chief, told an annual conference in Berlin last Monday. Thats why we must invest more in working with India, Japan, South Korea, and others.

The EU and Japan in last September signed an ambitious deal to build infrastructure and set new development standards in joint ventures worldwide, in a response of sorts to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. PM Abe called growing co-operation between Brussels and Tokyo a resounding declaration.

News of nations wishing to get involved in major infrastructure projects could be music to Vietnams ears. The countrys ambitious funding into infrastructure will ensure it retains an advantage over regional peers such as India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia, and spurring further construction activity in the coming years, according to Fitch Solutions.

Before the pandemic hit, Vietnam was already well on its way in terms of attracting international investment. A number of industrial parks established across the country have attracted a great deal of attention, with a variety of tax incentives, lower operating costs, and access to nearby roads and ports. Major projects like the North-South Expressway are also being created in order to ease the flow of goods around the country.

Fitch added that the US-China trade war last year prompted low-end electronics and textile manufacturers to move operations from China to Vietnam. It believed the coronavirus pandemic will only lead to further shifting of production lines away from China, with Vietnam likely to benefit.

This has already been demonstrated in Samsungs recent move to build a research and development centre in Hanoi, as well as the bases being set up by electronics groups such as Denmarks Sonion and Japans Sharp. Other big companies are planning to set up production lines in the country including Microsoft, Nintendo, Ricoh, and Dell.

Meanwhile, strong economic growth over the years has led to rising income levels, which in turn has resulted in an increase in the demand for higher-end residential real estate, especially in dense urban areas such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Push-and-pull effects

While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy is more dramatic than any other shock in recent history, forcing companies big and small to think outside the box and make huge alterations, the consequences of the virus in a shift in geopolitical order could be even more game-changing.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, an associate professor and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told the Bangkok Post last month that neither the US nor China will come out of the pandemic with flying colours.

However, the issue will not be about who wins or loses outright. It is likely to be about who suffers least, recovers better, and re-emerges sooner, he said. As the global contraction begins to bite all economies, Chinas giant market at home will likely give the country more room to manoeuvre.

Pongsudhirak added that if the weaknesses of the US and Europe in the global financial crisis a decade ago enabled Chinas launch to superpower status, the next year could see its solidification. Even though it will likely register its lowest growth in recent memory, China may well come out of COVID-19 stronger, he said.

However, Deepanshu Mohan, associate professor of economics and director of the Centre for New Economics Studies at the Jindal School of International Affairs in India noted, In a post-COVID world, many developed nations may consider disentangling direct trade relations with China and decoupling supply chains to restrict the flow of goods and services into and from China.

In a recent paper for the SSANSE Commission for a Post-COVID Future at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, Robert G. Patman explained, The emerging global order could be characterised by de-globalisation and protectionism and by intensified geopolitical competition involving the great powers like the US and China, and also conflicts such as the relatively brief oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

On the other hand, there are observers who see globalisation as a structural change powered by technologies that have made the world more interconnected, Patman said.

The data decider

That control of advanced technologies and the data it can provide is set to be a pivotal factor in who can move ahead in the near future. Technology and data are now inherently geopolitical. The nature of it has placed tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon in a commanding position, said Gulshan Rai, former national cybersecurity co-ordinator at the prime ministers office in India.

At one time, these tech giants needed the support of governments everywhere. But now with their global reach, it is governments that are dependent on them.

Rai added that the ongoing pandemic is an example of how citizens around the world have accepted the idea of their live locations being traced and shared. In India, without much concern for the right to privacy, more than 90 million people have downloaded Aarogya Setu, a contact-tracing app. The pandemic has brought a change in perception on issues like privacy.

The geopolitical ramifications can be found everywhere. From Southeast Asia to the US, countries are both attempting to recover from the pandemic, and jockey for position on the global stage. With that, old frictions could bubble to the surface.

Karin von Hippel, director-general of the Royal United Services Institute said, Some countries will emerge from this trying to cling to China, but others are likely to try to decouple.

For Britain, Germany, France, and other major European economies reliant on the American security umbrella but looking to retain stronger economic ties with China, the difficulty of managing the fallout from the US-China trade (and now coronavirus) dispute may now only increase.

In the United Kingdom, government sources told The Atlantic they are concerned about the reality of a COVID-19 geopolitical second wave. The British government expects protectionism to increase, supply chains to be brought back under national control, and the US-China relationship to become more antagonistic.

This becomes more complex as the UK last week resumed post-Brexit trade discussions with the EU, with much to untangle leading into the official split next year.

Vietnam will be watching, as it weighs up the potential of a future UK-Vietnam free trade deal.

Without reforms in the liberal economic order, and to institutions such as the UN Security Council when it comes to veto powers, the rules-based international order could remain susceptible to the forces of populism. Patman at the University of Canterbury offered a suggestion.

To meet this challenge, small and middle-level states will have to move from top-down multilateralism  where superpowers like America or China always lead  to a more bottom-up, strategic form of multilateralism that is capable of mobilising international support for long-overdue institutional reforms.

Above all, COVID-19 has demonstrated for many states that neither the US or China can be relied upon to protect their vital interests, Patman said.
W PP has appointed Angela Ahrendts to its board as a non-executive director.

The appointment is a big scoop for the advertising giant which has been trying to restructure under chief executive Mark Read. Ahrendts had previously been at Apple where she was senior vice president from May 2014 until April 2019.

Before that Ahrendts was chief executive at Burberry, where she modernised what was at the time a tired British brand.

The advertising industry has been hit by coronavirus with corporates slashing spend and tightening budgets.

Roberto Quarta, chairman at WPP, said: "Angela's reputation as a leader of creative and technology-driven businesses is second to none; she also has deep insight into our clients' needs in a changing world. We are delighted that she will be joining the WPP Board."

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Angela Ahrendts said: "WPP is one of the world's leading creative companies. Mark and his excellent leadership team have a strong sense of purpose and a strategy that values creative talent while embracing societal shifts and new technologies. I am so honoured to support their ongoing development as a member of the WPP Board."
After more than a quarter of a century in Darien schools, Rick Sadlon, supervisor of music for the Darien Public Schools, is stepping down.

His last day is June 30. There is no replacement yet for his position.

Sadlon, a jazz musician who plays saxophone, flute and clarinet, said he would like to devote more time to his career as a performing artist.

Accomplishments

For the past 26 years, Sadlon, 64, has worked in Darien Public Schools  first as Darien High School band director and then in his current role, which he held for 21 years.

Sadlon currently supervises the music for all Darien public schools  20 teachers in total. This involves the the band, orchestras, chorus, general music, and all the concerts and curriculum, said Sadlon, a Newtown resident and father of two.

According to Sadlon, one of the biggest accomplishments of his career is hiring excellent music teachers.

My most important facets of this job include hiring and helping and assisting music teachers to deliver a high level of instruction, he said. Im so proud of what those teachers have accomplished and what weve done together.

He said that he works with the teachers together as a team.

Teachers are given those opportunities that encourage them to try new things and new ideas, and I was there to support them through it, he said.

Music instruction after middle school are all electives, according to Sadlon.

The challenge has always been to make sure our programs are meaningful, enjoyable, and enriching, so parents and well as students see the value and benefit of a music education, he said. We really worked hard to make sure those are great experiences for them, and that they leave our classroom being uplifted and with a sense of meaning every day.

Enrollment in music education continues to increase, according to Sadlon. When Sadlon started as director of music, the orchestra program at Darien had 10 students. Currently, there are more than 90 students in the program.

Our programs have had such a great reputation and deliver such good instruction and great experience that we continue to see an increase in enrollment over the years, he said.

Some of the music programs and opportunities for students that were created during Sadlons tenure include the Darien Young Composers Concert, Music Department Curricular Focus Themes, DHS Small Ensemble Concert, DHS Wind Ensemble, DHS Chamber Orchestra, and DHS Pops Strings.

Most recently, Sadlon was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra and will be working to promote performances and educational programs in Waterbury and throughout Northwest Connecticut.

Prior positions

Sadlons musical career has taken him as far away as Zurich, Switzerland, where he performed in CATS in Musical Theater Zurich.

They offered me the position as a woodwind player in their orchestra, he said, adding he stayed there for three years.

It was a wonderful life experience, being in Zurich, he said. I was taking German lessons every week. It was a period of enlightenment.

He recalled his time there fondly. Mondays were our day off and my wife [Anne] and I would go to a different country every week. Paris for the weekend, down to Venice, Milan, and up into the mountains in Switzerland, Sadlon said. Wed take a train and wed go to Germany and Austria.

However, during those years, he said he really missed teaching and being involved in education.

After awhile, doing the same show over and over it got a little old, he said. I missed the interaction with students.

Performing artist

Sadlon has been an active musician his entire life. He plays saxophone, clarinet and flute. He performs in jazz clubs concerts and for corporate gigs for conventions and parties, mostly in Connecticut and New York.

He plays in 50 to 60 gigs and engagements a year, he said.

In his retirement, he said he wants to put 100 percent of time into performing.

He plans to continue to actively perform with jazz groups such as New Duke, Gomez & Sadlon.

Creativity, passion, vision

Middlesex Middle School band teacher Gretchen Perrett has known Sadlon since 1983, when the pair performed in the Goodspeed Opera House Orchestra in East Haddam together. She is also retiring this year, after teaching music for 42 years.

Rick is a wonderful, wonderful musician. He brought a real creativity to the job, a lot of innovations, Perrett said. I valued his expertise as a musician. He is so supportive and believes in stretching ourselves and capitalizing on our own strengths to do our best job. He will be missed.

Tammy Sload, a parent of a student in the Darien Music for Youth Organization, said Sadlon has been a great inspiration for her children, whether it was by creating the Young Composers Concert and offering it each spring with an area composer as a judge, or by playing alongside the kids as a member of the pit orchestra for musicals at DHS, or by supporting the teachers to make competitions and concerts and trips happen.

Sload continued: He is creative and enthusiastic and dedicated to helping students reach their individual and collective musical goals. Hes also never too busy to stop and talk to a student. He's a great guy, and we've been lucky to have him in Darien.

Irene Trautman, another parent of a Darien music student, said when she started working with Darien Music for Youth about 20 years ago, Rick was our go-to guy in the district.

His answer when it came to bringing great programming into the schools was always, we can make it work, Trautman said. The light always got brighter in the room when he started taking about master classes, military concerts, jazz bands, Young Composers; anything that would enhance the musical experience for the students.

She added that over the years, Sadlon never lost his passion for the kids or the programs in the schools, always trying to raise the musical bar for all, K-12.

He tirelessly continues to fight for superior music education in the district, even as his retirement is imminent, Trautman said. He knows every student by name and you could always find him at every musical extracurricular activity. He is a true leader, educator and someone I'm so happy to call my friend.

Jonathon Grauer, director of bands at Darien High School, said Sadlon is a leader in the field and one of the most respected music educators in the State of Connecticut.

With the ever changing landscape of music education, Rick has always been there to guide us through difficult times and new initiatives, he said. Rick is sought after around the state to provide professional development to towns that are not lucky enough to have a director of music.

Grauer continued: We see Rick as a valuable resource to our small town of Darien but his contributions to the state and national level will be sorely missed by many. Personally, Rick has been a friend and mentor to me. I have become a better teacher under his supervision and a better person because of his friendship.

Jane Minnis, Darien High School orchestra director, said Sadlons passion for music is demonstrated in so much of what he does  from creating innovative programs for students and teachers to performing music professionally.

In Darien, he has created a music department that stands at the forefront of music education, composed of dedicated teachers who share his enthusiasm for music, said Minnis, adding shes always inspired by Sadlons vision and motivation, and [I] treasure all the wisdom he has imparted over the years.

Sadlon said he thanks the Darien Community for entrusting him with the responsibility of developing and assuring a high quality program of music instruction for its young people.

It has been an honor and privilege to serve the Darien community for the past 26 years, he said. I have confidence that our best days are still ahead and that our music program in Darien will continue to thrive, grow and build on what we have accomplished.

sfox@darientimes.com
Mexico City, June 11 : At least 400 police officers were deployed in Mexico City during youth protests demanding an end to police violence and the immediate release of the country's political prisoners.

Shortly after Wednesday afternoon, the representative office of Jalisco state in Mexico City, located in the affluent neighbourhood of Polanco, became a bunker as protesters from various social organizations were expected to arrive, reports Efe news.

"We are demanding the dissolution of repressive bodies, the release of political prisoners, the punishment of perpetrators and the entire line of command that has sheltered these violent acts," a member of the Accion Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Action) group told Efe.

The protesters demanded justice for the police custody deaths of the African-American George Floyd in the US, and of the Mexican Giovanni Lopez after being detained in Jalisco state for not wearing a mask, as well as the release of the lawyer Susana Prieto, who was detained in Matamoros.

They also marked the 49th anniversary of the 1971 student massacre known as "El Halconazo" or "The Corpus Christi Massacre", considered the second most tragic after the Tlatelolco Massacre on October 2, 1968.

They reported that the police tried to intimidate them when they arrived.

On Wednesday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke out against the repression, recalling El Halconazo.

"No to repression, neither to students nor to any citizen. No to repression, no to torture, no to enforced or forced disappearances, no to massacres, no to violence," he said.

Lopez Obrador indicated that his government seeks to resolve differences peacefully "and that the State, the State security forces should not be used to repress the people" since, he said, "that does not solve the problems; on the contrary, it complicates them".

On June 5, dozens of protesters vandalized the US embassy in the Mexican capital, protesting the deaths of Floyd and Lopez.

They tried to tear down the metal fences that guard the embassy, hit the police and caused damage.

They then went to the headquarters of the government of Jalisco and destroyed shops and other properties in their wake, while a group of police officers allegedly beat a 16-year-old girl who was participating in the protest.

On Monday, during another march in the centre of Mexico City, protesters caused destruction and looting, which was condemned by Lopez Obrador, who proposed the creation of an unarmed peace group for the demonstrations.
SINGAPORE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- OSCEsmart has launched a tailor-made Superexam platform designed to host SQE prep courses. The original scheduling software is tailored specifically for the needs of the QLTS and SQE assessments, to match qualified solicitors of England and Wales, and aspiring solicitors. OSCEsmart founder Dr Olga Pogrebennyk has also announced a new Tutor Training Course - to open soon after the introduction of the SQE.

'We've invested immeasurable time and effort in developing the skills required to provide quality training to lawyers seeking to qualify under the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme, and achieved sustainable results. The key component of OSCEsmart preparation is real-time individual mocks followed by the assessors' feedback - which based on recent research is the most effective learning strategy. We've accumulated knowledge and experience which now allow us to venture even further - developing an SQE preparatory course, and empowering law firms to deliver their own superexam training to their trainee solicitors. To offer our perspective on superexam methodology and share OSCEsmart experience, we have set up a specialised Superexam Blog at https://superexam.uk/ ' (Dr Pogrebennyk).

Tutor Training Course

The Tutor Training Course allows educators and law firms to get their staff trained as tutoring solicitors and interviewers. Another possibility is to grow the skills of the firm's trainee solicitors by enrolling them in the SQEsmart course.

Piloting the platform

The new digital platform has been successfully piloted for the QLTS OSCE since 29 April 2020:

'Since the end of April, I've been using Superexam to book and monitor my mocks. It also provides access to the mock materials with detailed instructions regarding individual mocks. For me, good planning is one of the key components of the OSCE preparation as I have been, like many others, studying while working full-time and juggling other commitments. So I find Superexam very useful as a timesaver and a great tool for efficient planning' (Cansin Karga Giritli (Turkey), PhD Student/Researcher (University of Glasgow)).

Having found the new technology a handy tool for connecting the two axes of OSCEsmart team - candidates and tutors, OSCEsmart is expanding its reach to serving as a marketplace. Law firms and educators looking for an opportunity to conduct SQE educational events can contact info@qltsosce.co.uk or visit https://qltsosce.co.uk/

Students' opinion

OSCEsmart original methodology of teaching application of substantive law has already proved successful - take it from people who know best: OSCEsmart recent graduates who used the skills and knowledge provided by the course to go through the assessments under the Qualified Lawyers' Transfer Scheme.

'Olga and team not only prepare you for the legal side, but also thoroughly explain the marking criteria and practice with you under exam conditions. The OSCE marking is very specific and it simply requires practice to get it right. They're really flexible time-wise, always encouraging and supportive, and their feedback was still very honest and comprehensive. As I booked the most comprehensive course with them, I had so many mocks that in the exam I didn't have to think any more about the do's and don'ts - it just came naturally. Chatting with other candidates, I felt I was better prepared for this unique exam situation - and from what I know, I also got a higher mark' ( Rosanna Morello Carrieri - November'19 QLTS OSCE).

About OSCEsmart (SQEsmart)

OSCEsmart (SQEsmart) operated by LEOPINION PTE LTD, Singapore, is a results-oriented training provider for the QLTS OSCE and SQE, with a strong focus on candidates' practical skills. In its 3rd year of operation, OSCEsmart passing rates have reached 90.47% (Nov'19 OSCE).
Award winners will quantify the changes that can be attributed to a particular intervention, such as a project, program, or policy

WASHINGTON, DC--Resources for the Future (RFF) announced today the winners of three grants, totaling $300,000, to quantify the benefits of using satellite data in decisions that improve socioeconomic outcomes for people and the environment. These awards advance the work of the Consortium for the Valuation of Applications Benefits Linked to Earth Science (VALUABLES), a partnership between NASA and environmental and natural resource think tank RFF.

The three winning teams are led by researchers from Moravian College, Salisbury University, and the University of Wyoming, with transdisciplinary personnel drawn from eleven more academic institutions and organizations. The award winners will conduct impact assessments that quantify the societal benefits of using Earth observations in health, ecosystem, and water quality applications.

"We are so appreciative of the 41 teams that competed for the grants, the 12 teams that submitted full proposals, our anonymous external reviewers, and feedback from our NASA partners," says Alan Krupnick, a senior fellow at RFF and VALUABLES team member who led the Grants for Assessing the Benefits of Satellites (GABS) competition. "Each of the winning projects features an interdisciplinary team, is on a compelling topic, and is being handled creatively and with state-of-the-art methods. The results of this research and demonstration of research methods to estimate the value of information from satellites should redound to benefit all of society, both in the areas targeted for research and to the improved generation and use of satellite information."

The winning projects address diverse topics with important practical applications:

Sonia Aziz (Moravian College) leads a field experiment that provides a satellite data-driven early warning system for cholera in Bangladesh through access to a cell phone app for a "treatment" community. Cholera rates and other outcome metrics will be compared to those of a "control" community without the app. The project team includes Emily Pakhtigian (Penn State University), Ali Akanda (University of Rhode Island), and Kevin J. Boyle (Virginia Tech). "We expect to provide estimates of potential societal benefits of satellite data as well as necessary inputs for policymakers to design and implement effective policies to limit the incidence and spread of cholera," say Aziz and her colleagues. "Providing households with satellite-aided information regarding the nature of cholera risk should improve their averting decisions."

Jill Caviglia-Harris (Salisbury University) leads a project to explore how the Brazilian Forest Code is enforced through the use of satellite data that monitors deforestation. Satellite data already are being used for management and enforcement; this project will estimate how much deforestation would have happened without the satellite data and compare that to deforestation and its consequences with the satellite data. The project team includes Andrew Bell (New York University), Trent Biggs (San Diego State University), Katrina Mullan and Thais Ottoni Santiago (University of Montana), Erin Sills (North Carolina State University), and Thales West (New Zealand Forest Research Institute). "This will be the first study to estimate the amount of avoided deforestation resulting from the use of satellite images to support the Forest Code," say Caviglia-Harris and colleagues. "Our contributions will add to the limited evidence on whether and how the availability of satellite imagery has helped protect designated areas, and the even thinner literature on the benefits of monitoring deforestation to inform climate change policy and commitments."

Stephen Newbold (University of Wyoming) leads the development of a model that describes how lake visitors in California adjust their recreation choices when outbreaks of harmful algal blooms are announced. This will improve our current understanding of how early warning systems supported by satellite data allow recreators to divert their visits away from water bodies currently experiencing a bloom, and instead visit un-impacted sites, thereby increasing the overall enjoyment of water-based recreation activities, reducing the risks of adverse health effects, and mitigating the regional economic impacts associated with lost visitation days. The project team includes Sarah Lindley and Shannon Albeke (University of Wyoming), Joshua Viers (University of California, Merced), Robert Johnston (Clark University), and George Parsons (University of Delaware). "Predicting where and when these events will occur is an ongoing challenge, and early prediction is important because it allows steps to be taken to reduce the damage caused by harmful algal blooms," Newbold and colleagues say. "The case study should shed light on the value of satellite-based early warning systems in other regions of the United States and beyond."

"These projects will generate much-needed quantitative evidence on how satellite data improve societal outcomes," says Yusuke Kuwayama, an RFF fellow and the VALUABLES Consortium director. "But more importantly, they will help grow the community of Earth scientists and social scientists working together to demonstrate the return on investment in scientific information."

###

VALUABLES is a collaboration between RFF and NASA to measure how satellite information benefits people and the environment when it is used to make decisions. More information available at the VALUABLES website.

Link to Photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dD8GyRMc5KGbPqTpwVJ3FJOawuphAoXQ

Link to Videos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13iwBamDpexpFCx8W9k53XNgJ9IXT5_u7

Link to project videos playlist on YouTube: hhttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOjSu4xPoHKfPYLaD6dXJoYFuKCdBAAjT
Businessman and member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alfred Agbesi Woyome says he remains loyal to former President Jerry John Rawlings although the former president abused him verbally.



According to Woyome, Rawlings called him a thief during the heat of the GHS51 million judgement debt case.



Jerry John Rawlings has made comments against me and called me a thief on this matter, but I am still loyal [to him] because the oath and everything that we have sworn still makes me respect him. And I will defend him everywhere, but I will disagree with him. All my issues with Jerry John Rawlings started when I opposed the wife [Konadu Agyemang Rawlings] not to do what he had done to Professor [John Evans Atta] Mills but it does not mean that I still dont love that family because what that family has done for Ghana is great, he said in an interview on Face to Face on Citi TV.



Rawlings slams Woyome



During one of his usual outbursts, Jerry John Rawlings in the year 2015 lambasted Woyome, a known financier of the opposition National Democratic Congress over the GHS51 million judgement debt money wrongfully paid him.

The extent of corruption I have been talking about. I just read that the thief called Woyome had been freed. Why, because his accomplices [Betty Mould and one other person] who were in government were not produced in court for vital evidence to incriminate him, Rawlings said at the time.





Despite the attack, Woyome said he still loves Mr. Rawlings and his family.



I am innocent

Mr. Woyome has been engaged in a legal tussle with the government since 2013, after the Supreme Court on June 14, 2013, ordered him to refund all monies wrongfully paid him in the form of the judgment debt.



The businessman, however, has maintained that he is innocent in the matter and has tried unsuccessfully to seek redress at different courts.



It is also erroneous to say that when a new Government came, I run to court. This matter was there, together with the security forces and the AG until there was a change of power, he told host of Face to Face Umaru Sanda Amadu.



Chief Justice advises Woyome to settle debt or face sale of property

The state has secured an order from the court to sell Woyomes properties to defray the debt.



Chief Justice Anin Yeboah earlier this month, advised Alfred Woyome, to find money to settle his debt to avoid the sale of his properties.



Justice Yeboah made the comment during the hearing of an application by the Attorney General seeking clearance from the court for the State to take over Mr. Woyomes properties instead of selling them.



The properties include two mansions at Trassaco Estate, a house at Kpehe where he resides, an office complex of Anator Holdings, a residential building at Abelemkpe, and a stone quarry in the Eastern Region including its plants and equipment.





The case was adjourned to the 24th of June due to the unavailability of the lawyer of Alfred Woyome.



Source: citinewsroom.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Riding the momentum of the George Floyd riots, California's legislators have moved to ask the voters to repeal Proposition 209, the voter-passed measure to end affirmative action.

According to the Sacramento Bee:

More than two decades after California voters banned consideration of race in university admissions, public employment and contracting with Proposition 209, the state Assembly on Wednesday approved a measure that would ask voters to repeal the law. In a 58-9 initial vote, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, secured the necessary two-thirds majority approval needed to send Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 out of her house and to the state Senate. Only one Republican, Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, voted in favor of the bill. ACA 5 would repeal provisions of the 1996 ballot measure, which prohibited state institutions from granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. Advocates of the change said it would once again allow affirmative action in hiring, contracting, and admissions[.]

Apparently, they can't repeal it themselves since it was enacted by the voters. But they can ask, and ask again, until they get the answer they want, which is what they're doing now.

Just one problem with this wokester scheme to never let a crisis go to waste: Asian-Americans can see that they're the target.

All of the contrived gains for African-Americans, and peoples of color that are expected to come, are going to come at Asian-Americans' expense.

"It does come with political peril," said Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, who supported the bill but expressed concern that he'd received 99 calls in support from his constituents and more than 3,000 in opposition, many from the Asian-American community.

Three thousand to 99 is a pretty good measure of just which voters are feeling motivated by this.

This isn't Asian-Americans' first battle with this, either. Back in 2018, in this piece I wrote on Orange County's Asian voters, I cited this passage on them from the New York Times:

And though they tend to hold liberal views on issues like gun control, climate change and public spending, the political causes that some Asian-Americans have rallied around in recent years have veered conservative. Organizing on the social media platform WeChat, Chinese immigrants mobilized in 2014 to kill legislation that would have resurrected affirmative action at California universities.

They won then. They sound as though they are even more motivated now.

And they are growing in numbers. Among public school kids enrolled in the state, Asian/Pacific kids make up about 12% of the state student body. Blacks, who would make up the marquee beneficiaries, make up only 5.4% of the public school student body. Hispanic kids, though, are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries  making up 54.6% of the beneficiaries. The likeliest beneficiaries will be Hispanics, who will take their winnings out of the Asians' hides.

What's bad about this is that studies show that affirmative action tends to decrease the success prospects of the very people it is intended to help. Affirmative action holds black people back.

But facts don't matter in a cauldron like California.

To capitalize on the Black Lives Matter sentiment going around, it's telling that a black old-line Democrat, state assemblywoman Shirley Weber, is introducing the bill. She's from San Diego. By coincidence again, the real crazies in the state Assembly are in the Latino bloc, the worst of which "coincidentally" also hail from San Diego, starting with professional affirmative action beneficiary Lorena Gonzalez, who unknowingly damned the entire idea of affirmative action by citing her economically illiterate self as proof of it being a good thing.

"I'm a product of Affirmative Action," added Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego). "Without it, I wouldn't be where I am today. I believe every qualified person from an underrepresented community in California should have the same opportunity I had."

Gonzalez is the one who killed the California gig economy and devastated entire industries, such as Hollywood, driving scores out of state, with her unpopular AB5 kill-independent-contractors law, which has wrought havoc. Any time there's an economy-killing bill or a bad idea out there, somehow she turns up.

The voter showdown will be a test of just how blue California really is. Asian-Americans, whites, and probably principled people who are black or Latino are going to oppose this something fierce. If it motivates them to get out to vote in November, it might also energize them to vote Republican.

Democrats don't want that. But they might just get it from angry Asian voters energized to vote on the grounds that their kids earned places in these schools. They might just get it, good and hard.

Image credit: Wikipedia, public domain.
DOJ Supports Faith-Based Foster Care Agency

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Liberty Counsel

June 11, 2020



WASHINGTON, June 11, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a Catholic foster care agency because it refuses to compromise its religious beliefs by placing children with same-sex couples. The Supreme Court agreed to review Sharonell Fulton, et al. v. City of Philadelphia and oral argument is expected in the fall.

In March 2018, the city canceled its contracts with Catholic Social Services dues to its religious beliefs about marriage, not long after the city issued an urgent call for 300 families to provide foster care to help care for the flood of children coming into the system due to the opioid crisis. The city then prohibited Catholic Social Services from placing any more children with the families it had already certified, in order to investigate whether the agency had violated the city's Fair Practices Ordinance, a policy that prohibits "discrimination" on the basis of "sexual orientation" or "gender identity."

Foster parents licensed through the Catholic Social Services sought an order to require the city to renew its contract, arguing that the city's decision violated its religious freedom under the Constitution. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals previously denied Catholic Social Services' request for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia.

The Justice Department quoted the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission in its brief. "The context of the City's actions reveals impermissible hostility toward religion. The City's actions are also unconstitutional because the record shows the City failed to 'proceed in a manner neutral toward and tolerant of [Catholic Social Services'] religious beliefs,' as it was 'obliged [to do] under the Free Exercise Clause.' The evidence demonstrates the City's impermissible hostility in numerous ways, and so the decision resulting from that hostilityexclusion of Catholic Social Services from the foster-care program 'cannot stand.' Further, the City authorizes some exemptions to its policy it doesn't offer to religious organizations," the brief says.

"The City's action," the brief says, "burdened Catholic Social Services' exercise of religion in a manner that the Free Exercise Clause prohibits."

There are currently 6,000 foster children in the city of Philadelphia and dozens of families licensed to foster through Catholic Social Services who are willing to take in children. However, as a result of the city's actions, their beds have remained empty for two years.

In Sharonell Fulton, et al. v. City of Philadelphia, several foster parents licensed through Catholic Social Services are plaintiffs, including the late Cecilia Paul, who fostered more than 100 children, and Sharonell Fulton, the lead plaintiff, a single mother who has fostered more than 40 children in 26 years.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "We commend the Department of Justice for protecting vulnerable children in need as well as religious liberty for faith-based organizations. There are children languishing in foster care institutions because the city of Philadelphia's refusal to protect religious freedom. Faith-based adoption and private foster placement organizations should not have to choose between their deeply-held religious beliefs and their mission to help children and families."

Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.



SOURCE Liberty Counsel



CONTACT: Mat Staver, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org



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In this weeks Musical Moment, Joseph Johnson, the Toronto Symphony Orchestras principal cello, contributes a Catalan folk song called Song of the Birds.

A solo version for cello was brought to international attention by the legendary cellist and humanist Pablo Casals in 1971 when he played it at the United Nations after being given the Peace Medal. As Casals described it in his powerful speech, the song is about how birds flying overhead sing for peace.

Birds sing when they are in the sky, they sing: Peace, Peace, Peace, and it is a melody that Bach, Beethoven and all the greats would have admired and loved. What is more, it is born in the soul of my people, Catalonia, Casals said of the folk song.

Johnson has played Song of the Birds many times in his career, but never has it seemed to be such a reflective, deeply moving and ultimately uplifting response to the times.

The Musical Moment, produced by the TSO and the Star, features musicians recording themselves live at home, performing pieces no longer than three minutes. The new video will be posted each Thursday at thestar.com/musicalmoments.
Jazmine Adams-McNeal tried time and time again to explain to her young daughter why their weekly trips to the library stopped suddenly in March.

It didnt go over well.

It was a lot of meltdowns, said Adams-McNeal, 31, of Ferguson, Missouri. She, her wife and their children  a 4-year-old girl and twin 2-year-old boys  are staples at their local library. My daughter grew up at the library. We stay going to all the programs. Definitely the lap-times on Fridays.

Amid all the talk of the country reopening, libraries across the nation are struggling to reopen their doors to communities that have come to rely on them not just for books, videos and reading hours, but also for an array of social services, from literacy programs, U.S. citizenship classes, housing and tax assistance and public bathrooms for the homeless.

Just 37% of libraries plan to reopen by July, according to a recently released survey from the American Library Association. Nearly half of the nations libraries  47%  do not have plans to reopen their doors to the public anytime soon, according to the association, which surveyed 3,800 libraries from all 50 states in May.

Librarians and library patrons say it is an especially difficult time for libraries to be closed, with many school systems closed to students who might not have internet access at home and more than 44.2 million Americans filing jobless claims, many of whom would normally be able to seek assistance at their local library branch.

We all think of nurses and doctors as the first responders during the pandemic. And I would say that that's absolutely true. They are the first responders  on health, said Susan Benton, head of the research-focused Urban Libraries Council. Public libraries are the first responders on the recovery.

More than just lending books, libraries have historically filled in the cracks of society, Benton said.

Library usage surged a decade ago during the Great Recession, according to the American Library Association, because of free public access to the Internet, computers, workforce training, education classes and social services.

Story continues

But the coronavirus pandemic has cut off that resource for vulnerable populations who may need help at a time when the U.S. is now officially in a recession.

Libraries are the most visited civic institution in the country, said Tony Marx, president of New York Citys library. And that's because everyone uses the library. You know, whether you're black or white, whether you're red or blue, whether you're rich or poor.

A woman collects unemployment forms at a drive through collection point outside John F. Kennedy Library in Hialeah, Florida, on April 8, 2020.

What using the library during COVID may look like

The Urban Libraries Council, which serves as a think-tank for hundreds of libraries in metro areas, has been convening leaders since quarantines began months ago to come up with a game plan for this moment.

You know what it's appropriate for San Francisco may not at all be appropriate for Tucson, Arizona, or for Miami, Florida, Benton said. It really varies from locality to locality.

Still, some best practices have emerged. Many libraries, like businesses and local and state governments, are following a phased approach.

The first phase is likely to be a restart of book lending thats curbside or contactless. Next, there could be limited in-person browsing and building visits. Third, there will likely be more open access to visit, meet and congregate within buildings.

Most libraries say theyre planning to step up cleaning and require masks by staff and the public.

I won't pretend that we aren't apprehensive about aspects of this. We are. But we have to bear in mind how much the library means to a number of people, said Waller McGuire, CEO of St. Louis City Public Library. I know that we're not a hospital and we're not a grocery, but we're a vital service.

During the coronavirus lockdowns, St. Louis County Library turned its parking lots into sites for community giveaways. Residents were able to pick up emergency meals, diapers, feminine products and books.

St. Louis last week began allowing people to drop off library books theyve had to hold onto for months because of stay-at-home orders.

Returned materials will be quarantined for 72 hours before being eligible to be re-lent, another practice many libraries said theyd adhere to.

By the middle of June, five of the St. Louis libraries will open portions of their buildings for limited browsing. Less than 20 people will be allowed inside at one time, and there will be a 15-minute limit.

I know that everyone is anxious to return to a familiar, comfortable world, but we're just not there yet, McGuire said.

McGuire and others say theyre following the lead of their local governments. And theyre aware that this is an experiment.

One of the things that I worry about is  that it's possible that if infection rates start to grow, it's possible we'll have to close back down again, he said.

Larger libraries will wait to reopen

Chicago also opened some of its libraries this week, requiring social distancing, masks and giving people time limits for computer use.

But many large library systems said they are still grappling with how to reopen safely, especially in communities that have seen high rates of coronavirus.

Thats true especially in New York City, home to the nations largest library system and the epicenter of the pandemic thus far. As of Thursday, New York City had seen more than 205,000 cases and 17, 255 confirmed deaths. More than 2 million people in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19 and 113,168 have died from it.

We know that the reopening of this city is going to be way messier than closing. Lots of hard decisions, lots of risk assessment, Marx said. We have to go carefully with reopening to ensure the safety of our staff and of the public.

New York, too, is likely to stick to a phased approach, Marx said, beginning with minimal-to-no-contact book pickups, possibly in July.

There is no timeline or date to allow wider public access to buildings yet, Marx said.

John F. Szabo, head of the Los Angeles Public Library system, said officials there are getting close to calling library staff back to work and launching some sort of curbside book lending.

We're not rushing anything. And we want to make certain that everything is in place and that it's safe for both our staff and the public, Szabo said. But obviously, we're eager to be of service.

A man walks passed the Library in Manhattan on May 22, 2020 in New York City.

Digital demands surge

Library leaders stress that while their doors have remained shut, their services havent ceased during the lockdowns.

E-book and audio borrowing is up. Kids storytelling is still happening via livestreams and video conferencing. Libraries are even coming up with creative ways to hold social distancing and virtual summer camps for children.

Since we've been closed, we've seen an 864% increase in people asking for library cards through our e-book app, Marx said. We've seen a 200% increase in new readers on our e-book platforms. I mean, we've got thousands of people going to webinars on how to save their businesses or start businesses.

But that still leaves out those who cant access or afford high-speed internet at home. And this digital divide adds to the urgency libraries feel to find solutions even if they cant be fully open. St. Louis library, for example, bought hundreds of additional portable hot spots and laptops to lend out for the first time.

As millions of families hunker down amid the coronavirus crisis, students are taking school lessons at home.

Many libraries kept their Wi-Fi on so people without broadband access at home could use their networks even if they couldnt be in the building.

In St. Louis County, for example, leaders spent $6,300 on new equipment that would boost Wi-Fi signals. They also started giving away free meals, diapers, feminine products and books in their parking lots three times a week.

They always are there for the community, said Adams-McNeal, So it was no big surprise to me.

She said shes been using the drive-thru giveaway weekly, partly to relieve the strain on her familys budget. She also grabs extra meals for her neighbors, who are out of work because of the pandemic. Plus, its the only way her daughter gets to still see the library employees she misses.

Elsewhere, libraries are coming up with other creative ways to get services to people.

In San Antonio, officials are turning four vehicles into mobile hot spots that will be sent into targeted low-income neighborhoods where home broadband internet isnt as prevalent.

San Antonio Public Library Director Ramiro Salazar said the city also plans to allow limited computer access at some branches, because its so important for people to have Internet access right now.

I see libraries as the great equalizer, Salazar said. Especially during times of crisis, in times of hurricanes, floods, recessions, you name it.  We figure out a way to continue to serve."

Library patrons, staff are eager and anxious about reopening

In this Friday, April 17, 2020, file photo, Hillsborough County Library Service employee Stephen Duran, right, wears gloves to protect himself from the coronavirus outbreak as he hands unemployment paperwork to residents at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library in Tampa, Fla.

Elizabeth Dunnebacke says she and her family miss their local library terribly. But shes also anxious.

New Orleans, where the 49-year-old lives, was one of the hardest hit in the early days of the pandemic.

I would love for my kids to just be able to go over there, especially now that summer's here, Dunnebacke said. It's a safe indoor place that they can enjoy themselves. But I just don't even know what that looks like right now in this post-COVID world."

Dunnebacke said it seemed like libraries in New Orleans closed too late on March 16. Now she worries they could be opening too soon. She isnt alone.

Library associate Erin Wilson and other colleagues who work at New Orleans public libraries have been back on the job for a couple weeks.

They've been less than impressed by the reopening plan. Libraries there are doing contactless lending for now, but Wilson said leadership has been vague about what comes next.

The populace was being told that we would be open at 25% capacity, Wilson said. But for us, as the actual front-line staff enacting those plans, we really had no details. And we were told to all go have a meeting at our branch and that we would like figure it out.

Wilson said workers at their branch decided on a staggered shift plan, and are now doing contactless lending. Wilson is sewing face masks for colleagues because theres been a limited supply of personal protective equipment and cleaning materials handed out.

Wilson said they are envious of libraries that have published detailed plans.

Other libraries have had phase one, two and three planned for weeks," Wilson said. "It really makes me sad because I don't have this job because it's high paying. I don't have this job because I'm trying to, like, do anything except serve the community.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When will libraries reopen after coronavirus? It might be months
A sign is seen on a barrier at an entrance to the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, in Seattle, Wash., on June 10, 2020. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

Seattle Police Chief Enters Abandoned East Precinct, Says Officers Will Return

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said that she wants the abandoned East Precinct to return to service and officers to start patrolling the area again.

On Thursday, Best was seen entering the Eastern Precinct, inspecting the now mostly-empty building.

Our calls for service have more than tripled, Best told KOMO News, adding that these are responses to emergency calls for rapes, robberies, and all sorts of violent acts that have been occurring in the area that were not able to get to.

We owe that service to everybody, Best said of officers returning to the area.

She also said in a recent address that it wasnt her decision to abandon the East Precinct before left-wing protesters took over a several-block area and declared it the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.

You should know, leaving the precinct was not my decision, she told officers, adding that Seattle city leaders failed its citizens and police. It came after protests, some of them violent, following the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd.

Earlier this week, Seattle officers were seen removing items and boarding up the East Precinct on Capitol Hill ahead of demonstrations. Days before that, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan banned the use of tear gas.

People peer through a barrier with their dog at an entrance to the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, in Seattle, Wash., on June 10, 2020. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

People paint an acronym for Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone near the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct in Seattle, Wash., on June 10, 2020. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

We had solid information to believe anti-government groups would destroy the precinct when we left, Best told officers. The station is still standing. No officers were hurt, no force was used, she added.

But she suggested that law and order might return to the area soon.

You fought for days to protect [the East Precinct]. I asked you to stand on that line. Day in and day out, to be pelted with projectiles, to be screamed at, threatened, and in some cases hurt. Then to have a change of course nearly two weeks in, it seems like an insult to you and our community, the chief told officers. Ultimately the city had other plans for the building and relented to public pressure. Im angry about how this all came about.

A person walks by a camping trailer in the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, Wash., on June 10, 2020. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

In the meantime, individuals with guns are checking the identification of people trying to enter the so-called autonomous zone, also known as CHAZ, which was essentially set up by far-left groups including Antifa.

We have been hearing from community members that they have been subjected to barricades set up by the protesters, with some armed individuals running them as checkpoints into the neighborhood, Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette told reporters on Wednesday.

While they have a constitutionally protected right to bear arms, and while Washington is an open-carry state, there is no legal right for those arms to be used to intimidate community members, she added.

Citizens and businesses are being asked to pay a fee to operate in the area, which is tantamount to extortion, according to Nollette.

A local rapper, Raz Simone, allegedly committed assaults in the area and was captured on camera punching someone who was spraying graffiti. On Twitter, some have jokingly referred to him as a local warlord who patrols the neighborhood.

The zone has makeshift borders constructed via old police barricades, fencing, plywood, overturned dumpsters, trash cans, and warning cones. A cardboard sign reads that you are now leaving the USA. Anti-police and pro-Black Lives Matter graffiti is seen throughout the area.

President Donald Trump highlighted the apparent lawlessness in the area, writing on Twitter that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Durkan are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before.

Take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST! he wrote on Twitter.
Liquor vend owners in Chandigarh will have to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 if they fail to maintain hygiene in and around their shops, as per amended excise policy. The Chandigarh Union Territory Administration on Wednesday approved an amended excise policy for the period July 2020 to March 31, 2021.

The earlier excise policy for financial year 2020-21 could not be notified because of the coronavius outbreak. The policy for 2019-20 was extended till June 2020, a government statement said. As per the amended policy, the number of licensed liquor vends has been reduced from 95 to 94 while the allotment of vends will be made through an e-tendering system for more transparency, it said.

To curb the menace of cartelization and monopolistic practices, a single person or entity will be entitled to allotment of maximum 10 vends, it further said. The total quota will be 75 lakh proof litres for Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and 7.5 lakh proof litres for country liquor and 2.47 lakh proof litres for Imported Foreign Liquor, it said.

The quota of country liquor has been rationalized keeping in view its less demand in city shops and quota of IFL has also been rationalized keeping in view its less demand in village shops, it said. In order to promote 'Swach Bharat Abhiyan', the retail licensees will have to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in and around the shop, failing which a penalty of Rs 10,000 will be imposed for the first time and of Rs 20,000 for subsequent failures, the release added.

The Cow Cess of Rs 5 per bottle of beer and country liquor and Rs 10 per bottle of whisky, which has already been announced, will be applicable from July 1.

Also read: Mall owners and restaurants heading for logjam; DLF to propose 'shared pain' model
STORY LINK Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) Exchange Rate Rises on Dire Fed Outlook

Pound Sterling Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) Exchange Rate Edges Higher as Fed Spooks Investors

It is a long road. We are not even thinking about thinking about raising rates.

The Fed reiterated that it expects to maintain the near-zero fed funds rate until it is confident the economy is on track to achieve the central banks dual mandate. [...] Powell reinforced this message with the line that they are not even thinking about thinking about raising rates.

The gloomy outlook by the Fed brought over optimistic markets back to reality.

Sterling (GBP) Edges Higher despite Brexit Woes

Sterling has been rallying against the US Dollar. While we see specific reasons for an appreciation of the Pound, the move underlines the broader vulnerability of the US Dollar, especially as fears over COVID-19 subside.

The truth is that in many areas [Britain] is demanding a lot more than Canada, Japan or many of our other [trade] partners.

In many areas it is looking to maintain the benefits of being a member state without the constraints. It is looking to pick and choose the most attractive elements of the [EU] single market without the obligations.

Pound Australian Dollar Outlook: Will British GDP Send GBP Lower?

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The Pound Sterling Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate edged up by around 0.3% on Thursday. This left the pairing trading at around AU$1.8279.The risk-sensitive Australian Dollar was left under pressure today following yesterdays US Federal Reserve meeting.The US central bank posted its bleak economic expectations for the worlds largest economy, spooking investors and weighing on the Aussie.Traders flocked back to the safety of the US Dollar (USD) after an earlier slump supported riskier assets such as AUD and GBP.Investors scrambled back to safety after the Fed said it expects rates to remain near zero for years to come, and speaking via video link the banks Chair, Jerome Powell noted:Commenting on this, analysts at Deutsche Bank, led by head of thematic research, Jim Reid noted:The Feds forecasts show that the US economy is likely to contract by around -6.5% this year. Added to this, the countrys unemployment rate is going to remain at a high level, stuck at around 9.3% by the end of 2020.This weighed on the risk-sensitive Aussie and according to Peregrine Treasury Solutions executive director, Bianca Botes:The Pound edged higher against the Australian Dollar, but struggled and fell against both the US Dollar (USD) and Euro (EUR) following a downbeat Federal Reserve.GBP/AUD rose as traders flocked towards safer bets, but the risk of Brexit and negative exchange rates from the Bank of England (BoE) continued to weigh on Sterling.According to UBS Global Wealth Managements chief investment officer, Mark Haefele:However, GBP gains against the Aussie were limited as Britains departure from the EU remains the Sterlings biggest headwind.Wednesday saw the European Unions chief negotiator Michel Barnier urge the UK to adjust its demands in the few months remaining before the end of the transition period.He stated the country is seeking a trade relationship with the EU that is too close to that of a member of the EU.Speaking to a forum in Brussels, Mr Barnier stated:Looking ahead, the Australian Dollar (AUD) could continue to slide against the Pound (GBP) if traders remain cautious at the end of the week.However, Sterling could soon give up any gains as traders focus on Fridays UK GDP data. Economists largely expect data to show the British economy has suffered a record contraction in April due to the coronavirus lockdown being in full-force.It is expected April will be the low point of the countrys economic slump as the majority of the country was subject to strict lockdown measures.Economic forecasts from analysts range from a dire -31.5% slump to an -8.5% decline. Even the best-case scenario is still worse than anything seen during the global financial crisis in 2008-2009.Disappointing British growth data is likely to send Sterling lower, and if risk appetite remains weak the Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate will be left flat.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

TAGS: Pound Australian Dollar Forecasts
Euronext wheat edged higher on Wednesday, steadying after a three-day fall in step with Chicago prices as traders assessed mixed harvest prospects across Europe.

Front-month September milling wheat on the Paris-based Euronext exchange was up 0.50 euro, or 0.3%, at 185.00 euros ($209.92) a tonne at 1523 GMT.

The market was also awaiting direction from U.S. government crop estimates on Thursday.

Traders were weighing the impact of a dry spring against beneficial rain this month across Europe and the Black Sea region.

Contrasting forecasts for the upcoming harvest in Russia, were contributing to the hesitant trend.

Russian crop estimates are in such a wide range, who to believe?, one futures dealer said.

In western Europe, more showers are expected in the rest of the week although concerns remained about dry northern parts of France and Germany.

In France, the farm ministry on Tuesday forecast this years winter barley crop would fall nearly 12%. It will give a first wheat production estimate next month.

In Germany, more welcome rain fell in dry eastern regions on Wednesday and more is forecast up to Saturday.

Just a bit more (rain) could be enough to get the crops in the north and east in a good enough state for the harvest, one German trader said.

Standard bread wheat with 12% protein for September delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale at around 1.0 euro under the Paris December contract against 1.5 euro under on Tuesday, as sellers resisted the day-earlier fall in Paris.

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A firm euro continued to dampen export sentiment for the upcoming season.

Egypt bought 120,000 tonnes of Russian wheat for July shipment in a tender on Wednesday in which no French supplies were offered.

For the current season that ends this month, farm office FranceAgriMer raised again its estimate of French soft wheat exports outside the European Union to a new record.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new study shows that the severe impact of the summer drought that hit Europe in 2018 was partly due to the spring heatwave that preceded it, which triggered early and rapid plant growth, depleting soil moisture.

With lots of sunshine, high temperatures, and ultimately drought, the summer of 2018 was extremely dry in Europeparticularly Northern and Central Europe. Among the consequences of the lack of precipitation were forest fires and significant harvest losses, which had a considerable economic impact. In Germany alone, the sums paid to farmers in compensation amounted to 340 million. The 2018 drought differed from the dry summers of 2003 and 2010 insofar as it was preceded over much of Central Europe by an unusual spring heatwave.

An international collaboration, led by researchers Ana Bastos and Julia Pongratz of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich, has now shown that the spring heatwave amplified the effects of the subsequent summer drought. The impact of the summer drought on the productivity and carbon balance of ecosystems varied on a regional scale, depending on the nature of the dominant type of vegetation. In light of ongoing global warming, the incidence of summer heatwaves and periodic droughts is expected to rise. According to the authors of the study, the adoption of alternative land management strategies could offer ways to mitigate droughts and their effects. The findings appear in the online journal Science Advances.

Research studies of the summer droughts in 2003 and 2010 have revealed that ecosystems absorbed less carbon dioxide than usual, because their productivity was restricted owing to the scarcity of water, the high temperatures and fire damage. "Little is known about whether and how preceding weather parameters influence the response of ecosystems to extreme conditions during the summer," says the lead author of the new study, Ana Bastos, who now heads a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena. "To answer this question, we used the year 2018 in Europe as a case-study and carried out climate simulations incorporating 11 different vegetation models."

Evolution of simulated photosynthesis anomalies in 2018 relative to 1979-2018 mean (top) and evolution of drought conditions (bottom) in the highlighted region. Credit: Ana Bastos

The results show that the warm and sunny conditions that prevailed in the spring led to more vigorous vegetation growth, which also started earlier than usual. This in turn increased rates of uptake of carbon dioxide during spring. However, the impact on annual productivityand therefore on the overall carbon balancewas highly variable across regions. "When plants resume growth earlier in the year, they use more water," says Bastos. "In Central Europe, rapid plant growth in the spring significantly reduced the water content of the soil. By the summer, the level of soil moisture was already insufficient to maintain the biomass that had accumulated, making ecosystems more vulnerable to the effects of the drought." According to the models, this effect explains about half of the summer's soil moisture deficit. Therefore, in Central Europe the high spring temperatures had a negative impact on the productivity of ecosystems and net uptake of carbon dioxide later in the year.

In Scandinavia on the other hand, the earlier onset of growth compensated for the drought-induced loss of productivity later in the summer. As a result, levels of ecosystem activity, as well as the annual carbon balance, were either neutral or slightly on the positive side. The authors attribute this different regional behavior to the specific vegetation in the two regions. In Central Europe, arable land and pastures dominate the landscape, while forests cover much of Scandinavia. "Trees use water somewhat more economically," says Bastos. "If they grow faster in the spring, they also consume more water than they otherwise would. But they can control water loss from transpiration by adjusting the opening of stomatal pores in their leaves," she explains. Furthermore, trees have deeper roots than grasses or crop plants, which enables them to tap the water present at greater depths during periods of drought. For these reasons, the boreal forests of Northern Europe maintained almost normal levels of carbon fixation, even during the strong drought.

Overall, the new simulations indicate that the warm spring of 2018 contributed either to amplify the vulnerability of ecosystems to summer drought, in central Europe, or to mitigate the negative effects of a warm and dry summer, in Scandinavia, related with differences in land-cover and water-use by vegetation. These findings suggest that better data on growth rates of vegetation in spring could serve as a supplementary early indicator of impending summer droughts. Moreover, the negative impacts of future heatwaves and droughts could perhaps be reduced with the help of alternative approaches to land management. "In the long term, owing to climate change, spring vegetation will regularly grow at faster rates, consuming more water and increasing the risk of summer droughts," says Julia Pongratz. "It might be possible to make ecosystems more resilient by altering the plant coverfor example, by planting stands of trees in the immediate vicinity of cropland. But more extreme water shortages in summer will themselves alter the nature of ecosystems, if threshold levels of mortality and fire incidence are more frequently exceeded. So it is not at all clear whether Europe's ecosystems will continue to serve as carbon dioxide sinks in the future."

Explore further US absorbed carbon dioxide despite drought

More information: A. Bastos el al., "Direct and seasonal legacy effects of the 2018 heat wave and drought on European ecosystem productivity," Science Advances (2020). Journal information: Science Advances A. Bastos el al., "Direct and seasonal legacy effects of the 2018 heat wave and drought on European ecosystem productivity,"(2020). advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/24/eaba2724
Even as India and China continue to discuss ways to reduce tensions in Eastern Ladakh, it is emerging that the Chinese Army has deployed its troops all along the over 4,000 kilometre-long Line of Actual Control after which India has also rushed its fighting formations to forward locations in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

India and China have been engaged in one of the biggest disputes over territory in several years after the Chinese military started building up along the Line of Actual Control in May first week along the Ladakh sector and Sikkim where they came to the Naku La area and had a face-off with the Indian troops there.

"The Chinese military has done military build-up not only just in Ladakh but also in other sectors including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh wherever it shares borders with us. The build-up includes troops and heavy weaponry which are deployed in rear positions," government sources told ANI.

To avoid any possibility of any misadventure by the Chinese, we have rushed in our fighting formations to forward locations in all these sectors, the sources said.

The reserve brigades of a Corps with an area of responsibility including Himachal Pradesh have gone up to the Ladakh sector to provide backup and cushion to the 3 Infantry Division based in Karu there.

Additional fighting formations have also been moved forward to the border locations in Himachal Pradesh where Chinese choppers had shown up in April.

In Uttarakhand also, additional troops have been deployed in the Harsil-Barahoti-Nelang Valley and other sectors as Chinese choppers had come there also before the build-up started and have been seen carrying out foot patrols.
Britain yesterday accused China of the brutal and disgraceful torture of a British official  ratcheting up tensions between the two countries.

The Foreign Office labelled the mistreatment of former consulate worker Simon Cheng last summer shocking and appalling.

He was held by the Chinese for more than two weeks in what amounted to torture, said a damning 30-page report.

The six-monthly review of Hong Kong relations also urged Beijing to step back from the brink and warned that the former British territory faced its greatest period of turmoil in decades.

Simon Cheng, 29, was held by the Chinese for more than two weeks in Shenzen near Hong Kong, China. The UK has accused China of the brutal and disgraceful torture of a British official  ratcheting up tensions between the two countries

Anti-government protesters wearing masks depicting Simon Cheng, a former British Consulate employee, hold banners as they attend a rally outside the British Consulate General in Hong Kong, China, on November 29, 2019

Mr Cheng was missing for more than two week in August last year and described being handcuffed, shackled, blindfolded, hooded and beaten with sharpened batons during his time in detention

Hong Kong has been convulsed by unrest since last June.

Increasingly violent protests over plans to allow extradition to mainland China grew into calls for full democracy and an inquiry into police brutality.

Now the territory faces a new security crackdown under draconian new laws rubber-stamped by Beijing.

Mr Cheng was working for the British consulate when he was held in the border city of Shenzhen neighbouring Hong Kong.

He described last year how he was handcuffed, shackled, blindfolded, hooded and beaten with sharpened batons during his time in detention.

He put in a tiger chair  a metal chair with bars that disables a detainees movements and forces them to sit in a painful posture, often for hours.

Mr Cheng said his captors also ordered him to squat and pose in fixed positions, also for hours. If he failed to remain still, they would beat his knee joints with spiked batons.

He said they also yelled abuse at him during the torture, branding him an intelligence officer sent by the UK and worse then s***.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says: 'The UK was shocked and appalled by the mistreatment suffered by Simon Cheng, a valued staff member at the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong'. Pictured: Mr Raav gives statement on the government's response to China's proposed new security legislation in Hong Kong in the House of Commons in London on June 2

In a foreword to the report, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: The UK was shocked and appalled by the mistreatment suffered by Simon Cheng, a valued staff member at the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong.

His treatment in Chinese detention, for more than two weeks, amounted to torture. On 19 November, I summoned the Chinese Ambassador to express our outrage at Simons brutal and disgraceful treatment.

The Foreign Office report said such incidents damage Chinas international reputation.

Mr Cheng, a Hong Kong citizen, told BBC that he was shackled to a steel 'tiger chair', hung spread-eagled on a 'steep X-Cross' and beaten while being detained by police in Shenzhen

Demonstrators in Hong Kong staged rallies in November last year to support Mr Cheng after he went missing

It said Hong Kong has experienced its greatest period of turmoil since the handover in 1997 and warned the UK was deeply concerned by Chinas plan to impose a national security law.

There is still time for China to re-consider, to step back from the brink and respect Hong Kongs autonomy, the report warned.

The former British colony was handed over to China in 1997. Under a one country, two systems deal, its people retained more rights than those in mainland China.

It is feared that under the new laws, it faces widespread use of secret police, arbitrary detention, surveillance and control of the internet.
Its always interesting to see how simple changes like this encourage people to change their behavior. Emboldened by the absence of through traffic, people walk and jog in the street. One of them, Esley Stahl, strolled with her almost two-year-old son Felix, who was pedaling a small blue toy car.
The Karnataka government on Wednesday decided to stop live online classes conducted by schools across the state for students up to fifth standard and prohibits the schools from charging extra fees for online classes.

There were complaints that some private schools in Bengaluru charged students extra fees for online classes apart from the monthly tuition fees.

The State education ministry has announced, "Online classes shall not be conducted for pre-primary (LKG, UKG) and primary classes (upto Class 5) henceforth. Such classes will not substitute classroom teaching and might affect the students' age and mental well-being."

The private schools will not be allowed to charge fees for the online teaching.

However, pre-recorded classes shall be conducted.

Parvathy Mahesh's son, Arun is in class IV and she was dismayed with the school charging exorbitant fees for online classes.

"I am with the government on this. Moreover, my son used to sit before the system since morning. This is not good for their health."

Meanwhile, live online classes will be allowed to continue for secondary classes.

Earlier, a report submitted by National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) had pointed out that such virtual classes were not ideal for students below the age of six years.

The experts at the mental health institute claimed that it was not appropriate for children up to the age of 6 years to have more than an hour of screen time daily.

Responding to criticism from experts that online classes would not be feasible for all students across the state, due to financial constraints and infrastructural challenges education minister Suresh Kumar said, "It is also important to ensure the gap between 'haves' and 'have-nots' does not increase."

According to officials of the education department, the Karnataka Department of Public Instruction will issue detailed guidelines for the same soon.
ATLANTA, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SOAR Vision Group, the Baldrige Foundation, and Guidehouse are collaborating to help hospitals, health systems, and community organizations, such as local food banks and homeless shelters, with their immediate and long-term responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The three organizations will offer their respective capabilities to providers and community organizations to help them better anticipate and meet the needs of their staff, patients, and communities, both during and after the pandemic. The solution will include:

Baldrige Foundation's proven experience for more than three decades, promoting the Baldrige Framework by sharing the best practices of national role-model healthcare organizations that demonstrate agility, commitment to innovation, and sustainable results.

SOAR's Priority PuLSE, an action-based SAS software tool that organizes strategic priorities, orchestrates team action plans, and visualizes performance results into a single accessible source.

Guidehouse's command center readiness and organizational mobilization consulting services, and its emergency preparedness and response expertise. Guidehouse's experts include former hospital, military, and federal government executives who have led organizations through previous crises.

"While hospitals and health systems always focus on patients first, to serve patients effectively they also must focus on ensuring their organizations maintain operational performance," said Guidehouse Partner Charles Peck, MD, a former health system CEO who was responsible for EBOLA emergency preparedness at this system. "The ability to communicate in real-time with accurate, enterprise-wide point-of-care data is essential to doing so. Through this collaboration, we can extend timely support to providers on the frontline of this and future crises."

Guidehouse, which acquired Navigant in October 2019, assists providers in developing centralized communication centers to better manage immediate needs related to patient flow, capacity, triage protocols, supply inventories, staffing, and other operational processes. These centers can then be expanded into fully integrated system-wide command centers.

Public Health Muskegon County (Michigan), a client of SOAR Vision Group, is deploying Priority PuLSE to support its COVID-19 virtual command center response. Dr. Roger Spoelman, senior advisor of Strategy, Leadership, and Innovation at SOAR Vision Group and a retired health system executive, was asked by Muskegon County's (Mich.) public health director to help lead this community preparedness project in order to coordinate and align efforts in managing the COVID-19 crisis.

"Nimble changes in organizational strategy, empowering decision-making on the front lines, and a culture of speaking up and high trust are critical during crises," Dr. Spoelman said. "Priority PuLSE enables these critical functions, and we're confident it will provide the real-time vital communication we need while ensuring the appropriate stewardship of scarce resources."

"Priority PuLSE is designed to enable organizational leaders and team members to quickly detect essential gaps in their COVID-19 response, allocate appropriate resources to address those gaps, ensure accountability for necessary actions, and report results," said Ben Sawyer, president & CEO of SOAR Vision Group. "Although this special release of PuLSE focuses on COVID-19 specifically, its functionality combined with Guidehouse's command center readiness and management expertise and consulting services, enables an agile and comprehensive response to any organizational priority."

"As a retired Colonel in the United States Army responsible for managing many disasters and the overarching strategy for over 11,500 employees and 65 facilities, this virtual command center capability could have saved us significant time and resources, at a time when both are scarce," said Al Faber, president & CEO of the Baldrige Foundation.

PuLSE also enables real-time responses to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Federal Emergency Management Agency standards. The CDC provides guidance and resources to state and local health departments, including training on a wide array of topics such as encouraging best practice guidelines at community organizations and helping educate organizations about identifying COVID-19 symptoms.

"Guidehouse has been a trusted advisor to the CDC for more than 15 years. We continue to support the CDC as they work closely with state, local, tribal, and territorial partners, as well as public health partners, to respond to the COVID-19 crisis," said Scott McIntyre, CEO of Guidehouse. "Our collaboration with SOAR and the Baldrige Foundation further enhances our support to public health organizations by helping to promulgate the CDC best-practice guidelines and empower a coordinated response by communities and providers on the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis."

About Guidehouse

Guidehouse is a leading global provider of consulting services to the public and commercial markets with broad capabilities in management, technology, and risk consulting. We help clients address their toughest challenges with a focus on markets and clients facing transformational change, technology-driven innovation, and significant regulatory pressure. Across a range of advisory, consulting, outsourcing, and technology/analytics services, we help clients create scalable, innovative solutions that prepare them for future growth and success. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the company has more than 7,000 professionals in more than 50 locations. Guidehouse is a Veritas Capital portfolio company, led by seasoned professionals with proven and diverse expertise in traditional and emerging technologies, markets, and agenda-setting issues driving national and global economies. For more information, please visit: www.guidehouse.com.

About SOAR Vision Group

SOAR Vision Group is a national technology and performance excellence firm that enables organizations to achieve exceptional results through deployment of its Strategy Execution SystemTM. SOAR is a strategic partner of the Baldrige Foundation. For more information please explore their website at https://soarvisiongroup.com/.

About the Baldrige Foundation

The mission of the Baldrige Foundation is to ensure the long-term financial growth and viability of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, and to support organizational performance excellence in the United States and throughout the world. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is presented annually by the President of the United States to organizations that demonstrate role-model performance. For more information, contact the Baldrige Foundation on their website at http://baldrigefoundation.org/.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

ALVEN WEIL Guidehouse

704-995-5607 [email protected] JOSH RACETTE Executive Director of Corporate Development The Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Office 202 559-9195 Mobile: 614 563-2024 [email protected] LISA COUNSELL, RN

Chief Commercial Officer

SOAR Vision Group, LLC

Mobile: 404 661 6062 [email protected]

SOURCE Baldrige Foundation

Related Links

http://baldrigefoundation.org


Because of their environmental benefits, cover crops like clover and rye are increasingly popular on US farms; increasing their use will require research and investment but researchers says the benefits should far outweigh the costs

As farmers across the globe look to grow food more sustainably  with less water, fertilizer, pesticides and other environmental impacts  the use of cover crops is becoming more popular. These crops, which are often grasses or legumes, but also many other types of plants, are generally grown between the harvest and planting season of the lands main cash crop, to reduce erosion, build soil fertility and control weeds, among other benefits. Their use has jumped in recent years. From 2012 to 2017, U.S. cover crops increased to 6.2 million hectares, an increase of 50 percent.

But the growth in cover cropping may soon hit a ceiling: planting millions of acres of cover crops will require huge extensions of land to produce cover crop seed. Between 3 and 6 percent of the 92 million acres of cropping land currently used for corn (maize) in the U.S. may be required to produce cover crop seed for that land area.

Researchers estimated that range based on 18 cover crops currently used on corn farmlands. The study was published June 11 in Communications Biology, a Nature journal, by scientists at the University of Minnesota, University of Southern California, Saint Louis University, University of Hawaii, and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

Cover cropping works, said Colin Khoury, a crop researcher at the Alliance, who co-authored the study. But its not yet commonly used even though its widely praised.

Despite its growing popularity, only 1.7 percent of U.S. cropland currently employs cover crops. Universities, nonprofits and industry are driving growth in cover crop use through research, advocacy and education.

Cover crops make soil healthier  they reduce erosion and help restore nutrients and carbon, and create the conditions where soil can better hold moisture, all of which can help mitigate climate change as well as support farmers adaptation of their crops to hotter and drier conditions. They help control weeds and pests and can reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, which have highly valued downstream benefits.

Water quality improvements are seen quite rapidly when you use cover crops, said Michael Kantar, a plant breeder at the University of Hawaii.

Without investment in improving cover crops, the land needed to produce enough seed to widely scale up their use would likely cut into land used to produce cash and food crops. This is because cover crops do not generally reach a seed-producing age when planted on land between harvest and planting of food crops.

While 3-6 percent of U.S. corn farmland may not seem like much, it only takes 0.2-0.7 percent of that land to produce corn seed. Some of the cover crops that provide the greatest environmental benefits have the poorest seed production, meaning that as much as 12 percent of the U.S. corn belt would be needed to produce cover crop seed of those crops. This would be equivalent to producing 44 million metric tons less corn on those farmlands.

Invest, and look south

The authors said demand could overcome the land limitation  as long as this demand is channeled into investments in breeding programs to increase cover crop seed yield. Scientists can improve cover crops using conventional breeding techniques or biotechnological innovations, including CRISPR/Cas9 technology  essentially the same methods already used to increase seed yields in food and cash crops.

Its not a prohibitive investment, said Kantar. We need more dedicated breeding programs for cover crops.

Alternatively, a cover crop seed industry could expand into other temperate or even tropical growing regions, giving new income opportunities to farmers who could produce seed for an emerging, global market for more sustainable crop production.

The economic and environmental benefits of expanded cover cropping likely surpass needed investments by a very wide margin, said Bryan Runck, the studys lead author from the University of Minnesota.

###

About the Alliance

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. http://www.bioversityinternational.org http://www.ciat.cgiar.org http://www.cgiar.org
Editor : Daisy

Source : Xinhua

During the wheat harvest season, many people travel to Shandong, Henan, Hebei and other major wheat producing areas to help local farmers harvest. Gao Zhiyong and his wife Wu Suge, who are from Nanhe County of Hebei Province, have been in this business for years. Starting in mid-May every year, they would spend about a month travelling to various places and helping farmers harvest. The husband drives the harvester, while the wife is responsible for contacting the farmer clients, measuring the wheat fields and keeping accounts. The couple usually starts their day at 5 o'clock in the morning. "Although it is hard work, the income is considerable. With a daily harvest of about 90 mu (about 6 hectares), our net income can be over 50,000 yuan (about 7,000 U.S. dollars) for a harvest season." Gao says.

(Source: Xinhua)
Joe Biden is the Democratic presidential nominee, and though the primary was, by historical standards, quite tepid, there is still a lot of work to be done on unifying the party. Many young Democrats are rightfully skeptical of Mr. Biden and his record on many issues that matter to them. But Mr. Bidens team has at its disposal a number of concrete actions that would not just help to unite the party but also help it win persuadable voters. By embracing progressive ideas, Mr. Biden and his allies will be able to make a persuasive positive case for himself that will appeal to voters, as opposed to just focusing on anti-Trump messaging that isnt as persuasive. Research, in fact, shows that most voters have fairly fixed views on Mr. Trump but can be persuaded about Mr. Biden.

These policies were all necessary before the pandemic, but the coronavirus has only made the case for them stronger, both to address the pandemic and to rebuild afterward. Americans cannot afford to stay home from work, because we have no paid leave policy and too often cannot afford to be at work, because we lack affordable child care. The progressive agenda already had more support than many realize, but the pandemic has added urgency and helped make voters comfortable with more ambitious policy positions. Passage of Senator Kirsten Gillibrands Family Act, for example, which would guarantee paid family leave, and Senator Elizabeth Warrens proposal for high-quality, affordable child care would, especially if they became law together, increase affordability and foster resilience for American families.

At Data for Progress, we tested these policies in the most robust way we could. To begin, we informed voters that these were Democratic proposals, which cues the partisan instincts that will take over as the policies become law. We also tested four arguments for and against each, which voters were randomly assigned. Even after hearing these arguments, these paid-leave, pharmaceutical and climate policies had strong majority support. These are places where Mr. Biden can embrace the progressive agenda and win.
WASHINGTON  A key Senate committee voted on Wednesday to require the Pentagon to strip military bases and equipment of Confederate names, monuments or symbols within three years, setting up an election-year clash with President Trump on the issue amid a rapidly building national outcry against historical representations of racism.

The move by the Armed Services Committee to insert the mandate into a must-pass defense authorization bill, which was supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, came as Mr. Trump publicly declared his refusal to even consider removing any of the names. He raged about it on Twitter on Thursday, exhorting members of his party to resist the effort even as a growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were open to removing symbols of the Confederacy.

The conflict underscored how isolated the president is becoming, even from members of his own party, as protests of police brutality against black people fuel a broader discussion of race and identity in America.

The break is more than rhetorical. The move to include the proposal, written by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, raised the prospect of an election-year Senate vote on the issue.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:40:52|Editor: huaxia

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NEW YORK, June 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded sharply lower on Thursday with the Dow plunging more than 900 points shortly after the opening, as investors were worried about a second wave of virus infections across the country. Enditem
Baghdad, June 11 : Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said that the strategic dialogue between Iraq and the United States is mainly aimed to serve the country's interest and achieve its sovereignty.

Al-Kadhimi made his comments during a visit to Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul on Wednesday, on the anniversary of the fall of the city in the hands of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in 2014, according to a statement by al-Kadhimi's media office, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Hisham Dawood, the adviser of al-Kadhimi, told the state-run Iraqiya TV channel that the dialogue with Washington will include economic, cultural, agricultural, industrial, scientific and security files.

In April, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington and Baghdad will hold a strategic dialogue in mid-June to take a decision on the future of the presence of the US forces in Iraq.

The relations between Baghdad and Washington have witnessed a tension since January 3 after a US drone struck a convoy at Baghdad airport, which killed Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

The US airstrike prompted the Iraqi parliament on January 5 to pass a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in Iraq.

Over 5,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the Islamic State militants, mainly providing training and advising to the Iraqi forces.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices slumped on Thursday amid concerns about slow demand recovery. Benchmark Brent crude tumbled 2.9 percent to $40.54 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 2.6 percent at $38.56 a barrel. Investors fretted about slow demand growth as coronavirus cases continued to rise and the U.S. Federal Reserve projected recovery from the pandemic would take years. With U.S. states such as Texas and Arizona reporting an increase of cases since Memorial Day, investors are assessing the risk of a Covid-19 second wave. Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell said Wednesday that millions of Americans may never get their jobs back and that Congress will probably need to extend additional aid as unemployment remains at historic highs. On Wednesday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said the pandemic had triggered the most severe recession in a century. Worries of a persistent glut also weighed on the commodity after data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed U.S. stockpiles increased by 5.7 million barrels in the week ended June 5 to 538.1 million barrels. Markets were expecting a draw of more than 1.5 million barrels in the week. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.




THE government is seething with anger after regional powerhouse, South Africa, commented on Zimbabwes long-running political and economic crises earlier this week, the Daily News can reveal.





This comes after Pretorias International Relations minister, Naledi Pandor, was interviewed by the Johannesburg-based Power FM radio station  where she, among other things, urged Zimbabwes political players to engage in dialogue.





Well-placed sources told the Daily News last night that local authorities  apparently including President Emmerson Mnangagwa  were not impressed by Pandors comments, especially her throw-away remark that South Africa was not considering military intervention in the country.





We are not happy. Even the president (Mnangagwa) is not happy about what the minister said in her interview.





We are going to launch a formal complaint to the South African government through the countrys Foreign Affairs ministry.





This is because the minister is offending against the principle of subsidiarity  which means that even though South Africa is the current chair of the African Union (AU), it has no right to interfere on regional issues.





That is the function of regional structures. So, the minister is offending against the principle of subsidiarity, one of the sources said.





Areas of politics and security come under the direct responsibility of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation and Zimbabwe is the current chair of this organ.





That gives us the latitude to intervene in Mozambique and to intercede between Zambia and DRC, and also to deal with the Lesotho issue, another source said.





The second source also claimed that this was not the first time that Pandor had spoken out of turn on Zimbabwe.





It was also claimed that Pandor had been organising meetings on Zimbabwe without the approval of either President Cyril Ramaphosa or Mnangagwa  allegedly prompting Ramaphosa to apologise to Mnangagwa on numerous occasions over his ministers conduct. It was also claimed that Pandor had been organising meetings on Zimbabwe without the approval of either President Cyril Ramaphosa or Mnangagwa  allegedly prompting Ramaphosa to apologise to Mnangagwa on numerous occasions over his ministers conduct.





Many people have gotten jobs at the United Nations by attacking Zimbabwe. I believe this is one of those situations where people want to be seen speaking up about the countrys situation to get international recognition, another angry senior government official said.





The same official also said it was noteworthy that South Africa had declined to bail out Zimbabwe over the years, in addition to Pretoria imposing many tariffs and non-tariff barriers on the countrys exports, thereby negatively affecting the two countries trade.





All initiatives for economic support from South Africa have come to nought. From the days of the First Republic it was (former SA Finance minister) Trevor Manuel who was shooting down the agenda for a financial package for Zimbabwe, even after the leaders had agreed on this.





This time around it is Finance minister Tito Mboweni  including things as elementary as allowing us to use their rand. They will just not allow us to use it.





If anything, the help we have had from them is that of political hot air, and I dont know if that is their sense of assisting us, the fuming official said.





You can all see that the relationship is inherently imbalanced in many ways, and then someone dares tell us they are assisting us. How are they assisting us?.

The solutions to Zimbabwe will be generated by Zimbabweans. South Africa is already over extended in terms of its domestic challenges. It has no capacity to go abroad and there should never be that misconception, the official added.





Speaking to Power FM on Monday, Pandor said Pretoria would not use a hawkish approach to end Zimbabwes growing problems.





I think the South African government is in consistent engagement and interaction with the Government of Zimbabwe, both to persuade as well as to provide support where it is needed.





Let me give you an instance of the opposite of our policy  you had Saddam Hussein with respect to Iraq. The decision of (former US president) George W Bush was to use American warfare in Iraqi.





Where is Iraqi today? It is a shell of what it was under what was a dictatorship of (the late Iraqi president Saddam) Hussein, Pandor said.





We engage consistently. Non-interference means we wouldnt use our soldiers, our army to invade Zimbabwe, to enforce a platform of democratic practice that we have in South Africa.





We believe that such is a decision that Zimbabwean people must make.

However, we are able  through diplomatic engagement  to persuade the people of Zimbabwe that they need both political as well as an economic revival, which does mean that they have to change in policy and practice, Pandor said further.





She emphasised that South Africa would continue to encourage dialogue in Zimbabwe.

It is the political actors who, sitting around the table, will resolve those issues.




The federal government is partnering with the private sector on the POST (People Outside Safely Together) promise program, an initiative that calls on businesses to commit to 5 key public health measures to help protect customers and employees.

The measures include maintaining physical distance, washing and sanitizing hands, keeping workplaces clean and disinfected, staying home if unwell, and practicing respiratory etiquette, including wearing a mask when recommended.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement during a tour of an Ottawa business. He encouraged all business owners  including boutiques, restaurants, and tech startups  to sign up at postpromise.com.

Together, we can keep people safe. And together we can give Canadians the confidence thats needed to restart our economy, said Trudeau

With this initiative and others were making progress, that said theres still more to do.

The POST program is a voluntary training and education platform intended to be a way for businesses to show they are taking steps to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Organizations representing 100,000 businesses are taking part. Participants will be able to display the POST logo. It is not a certification, so businesses are encouraged to follow local guidelines.

Public confidence is essential to a successful economic restart, said Goldy Hyder, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada (BCC), which helped spearhead the initiative.

By following the advice of health officials and actively committing ourselves to the fight against COVID-19, we can reassure Canadians that business owners and managers are working to mitigate risk and get the economy moving again.

There is no charge to participate, but additional marketing materials can be purchased.

Besides BCC, founding sponsors include the Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada (BOMA Canada), the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Canadian Global Cities Council, the Retail Council of Canada, Restaurants Canada, Medcan, and SALT XC.

Jessy Bains is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jessysbains.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Paused: New development at Dublin Airport will be slowed down

The DAA will slow development of its Dublin Airport Central office plan in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and speculation that it could result in more people working from home in the long term, according to CEO Dalton Philips.

The project already has tenants including Kellogg's and ESB International in phase one, with the cereal giant set to move in later this year. There are three office blocks in the phase.

Earlier this year, the DAA, the semi-State company that operates Dublin and Cork airports, sought letting agents to lure tenants to the next phase of the project. It's due to include two office blocks, each six storeys high and extending over 11,500 square metres.

The DAA had anticipated starting construction on the office blocks in the current quarter and completing them by the end of 2022.

"I think we'll slow that down," Mr Philips told the Irish Independent in relation to the second phase.

"Buildings four and five - for the moment I'm going to pause it," he said.

"I'll just see what [Covid-19] means for the whole office environment.

"I think the proposition is still extremely compelling, but I think we just need to take stock.

"A, it's money and B, how is the office environment going to be? I really don't know. Are these trends going to stick or not?" he said.

The Dublin Airport Central project is aimed at large Irish and multinational companies that need high-quality office space.

The DAA warned last week that it's losing 1m a day in revenue and had already lost 160m as airline fleets remained grounded around the world due to the pandemic.

The company had embarked on a 2bn infrastructure investment plan for Dublin Airport that includes a 300m-plus runway project which will be completed. Most other projects are now under review, however, as the DAA undertakes sweeping rationalisation that will see hundreds of staff either laid off or taking extended career breaks.

Mr Dalton told the Irish Independent last week that the DAA could ask the Government to help bankroll the infrastructure project if the company is unable to secure finance via normal channels in the post-Covid environment.

Yesterday, Transport Minister Shane Ross said he has established a new taskforce to advise on what needs to be done to revive Ireland's aviation sector. The taskforce, chaired by entrepreneur and venture capitalist Chris Horn, will prepare an aviation recovery action plan, to be submitted to Government by July 10.
UPDATE: Bighorn Fire passes 7,000 acres, only 10% contained

The Bighorn Fire continued to grow Thursday, threatening approximately 850 homes around Oro Valley and the Catalina Foothills  a level of destruction that would constitute a major disaster, the federal government said.

The blaze, which has burned more than 4,700 acres, forced local authorities to issue mandatory evacuations for about 200 residences, sending Pima County Sheriff's deputies door to door in a Catalina Foothills neighborhood.

The Pima County Office of Emergency Management and the Pima County Sheriff's Department issued the evacuation order shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday for the northern-most homes in the area between Alvernon Way and First Avenue, north of Ina Road.

Deputy James Allerton, spokesman for the sheriff's office, said the people in that area are being told to leave immediately, as fire crews set back-burns to clear away vegetation between them and the advancing blaze.

Authorities also expanded the so-called "set" area, where residents are urged to voluntarily leave or be prepared to evacuate if conditions change. That area now extends north of Ina from First to Alvernon and north of the Skyline Road alignment from Alvernon east to Sabino Canyon Road.
The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on Tuesday, said more than 49 million people may fall into extreme poverty due to COVID-19 crisis this year.

This was disclosed during the launch of a Policy Brief on the impact of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition.

His assertion comes a few weeks after PREMIUM TIMES reported that about 23 million more people are expected to be pushed into extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa this year alone, according to the president, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Gilbert Houngbo.

The UN secretary said there is more than enough food in the world to feed the population of more than 7.8 billion people but today, more than 820 million people are hungry.

Our food systems are failing, and the COVID-19 pandemic is making things worse, Mr Guterres said.

Unless immediate action is taken, it is increasingly clear that there is an impending global food emergency that could have long term impacts on hundreds of millions of children and adults, he said.

He said the number of people who are in short supply of food and nutrition will rapidly expand, while every percentage point drop in global Gross Domestic Product( GDP) means an additional 0.7 million stunted children.

Even in countries with abundant food, we see risks of disruptions in the food supply chain. We need to act now to avoid the worst impacts of our efforts to control the pandemic.

Brief

Declaring the launch of the policy brief, the UN chief said it has three clear findings.

He said the world must mobilise to save lives and livelihoods, while focusing attention where the risk is more acute.

This he said means designating food and nutrition services as essential, while implementing appropriate protections for food workers, and as well preserving critical humanitarian food, livelihood and nutrition assistance to vulnerable groups.

Also, Mr Guterres said, it means positioning food in food-crisis countries to reinforce and scale up social protection systems.

He urged countries to scale up support for food processing, transport and local food markets, while they must also keep trade corridors open to ensure the continuous functioning of food systems.

He said countries must ensure that relief and stimulus packages reach the most vulnerable, including meeting the liquidity needs of small-scale food producers and rural businesses.

He said global leaders must strengthen social protection systems for nutrition, as countries need to safeguard access to safe nutritious foods, particularly for young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, older people and other at-risk groups.

The UN official said countries need to adapt and expand social protection schemes to benefit nutritionally at-risk groups, which includes supporting children who no longer have access to school meals.

We must invest in the future, Mr Guterres said. We have an opportunity to build a more inclusive and sustainable world.

He charged countries to build food systems that better address the needs of food producers and workers, and provide more inclusive access to healthy and nutritious food in order to eradicate hunger.

Let us rebalance the relationship between food systems and the natural environment, by transforming them to work better with nature and for the climate, he said.
Allsup explains PTSD Awareness Month in June draws attention to crucial research for veterans, importance of medical treatment for documenting VA disability appeals

Belleville, Illinois, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Numerous studies and medical treatments continue to improve for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and this is an important development for veterans needing medical documentation of PTSD for their VA disability appeals, according to Allsup Veterans Disability Appeal Services. Allsup joins organizations nationwide, including the National Center for PTSD to observe PTSD Awareness Month in June.

More than one in 10 veterans experience PTSD, often due to combat trauma. In order to receive VA disability benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans need medical evidence to support their claim for a service-connected disability.

For many veterans, PTSD can be a severe impairment that affects them daily and may even worsen their ability to hold a job or carry on normal daily activities, said Brett Buchanan, VA-accredited Claims Agent at Allsup. Veterans should absolutely continue with their appeals for VA disability compensation as a vital financial backstop while they deal with PTSD. This medical issue requires therapeutic intervention and its frequently a devastating health condition for veterans and their families.

PTSD historically has been given other names, including shell shock or combat fatigue, and, generally, it can develop after events like combat, assault, or natural disasters. Sexual harassment or sexual assault also can lead to PTSD. People with PTSD experience a range of bodily reactions (such as reliving an event through flashbacks or nightmares) that will not go away as time passes, and can worsen.

The VA continues funding a variety of ongoing research for treatments and therapies, including trained service dogs, deep brain stimulation, prolonged exposure therapy, and other therapies. This research also explores the possibility of combined treatments, and medical studies range across veterans of all eras and their families.

Story continues

Unfortunately, despite many treatments available, PTSD is still prevalent. Estimates vary widely, but in one study of 60,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, 13.5% of deployed and non-deployed veterans screened positive for PTSD. Also, estimates suggest up to 500,000 people who served in these wars over the past 13 years have been diagnosed with PTSD.

Veterans who have experienced the disability-related effects of PTSD that disrupt their functioning and daily lives can also consider applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), which is a federal benefit provided when a severe disability prevents work and is overseen by the Social Security Administration.

For more assistance with your veterans disability appeal, call Allsup Veterans Disability Appeal Services at (888) 372-1190.

Find more information from Allsup at Veterans.TrueHelp.com.

ABOUT ALLSUP

Allsup and its subsidiaries provide nationwide Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, return to work, and healthcare benefits services for individuals, their employers and insurance carriers. Allsup professionals deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. Founded in 1984, the company is based in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis. Learn more at TrueHelp.com and @Allsup or download a free PDF of Applying for Social Security Disability Insurance: Getting It Right The First Time.

Attachment

Rebecca Ray

Allsup

(618) 236-5065

r.ray@allsup.com



Victoria Shockley

Pinkston

(919) 780-9727

victoria.shockley@pinkston.co


VIRUS? WHAT VIRUS?

I see that the coronavirus is spiking all over the country do the due to the stupidity of the American people. And feeding the narratives that virus is over is Donald Trump. He hasnt even mentioned the coronavirus for three weeks. He knows hes in trouble politically. I guess he figures if he doesnt mention the coronavirus people will think its over but its not over, its coming back with a vengeance and Donald Trump is going to do absolutely nothing about it. All he cares about is getting re-elected and he knows the longer the virus hangs around the less chance he has to get re-elected. So hes going to pretend it doesnt exist anymore. And some of our people are stupid enough to believe him.

GOD BLESS FLOWERS

Im offended by the recent comments here about Christine Flowers. People are dissing her, but do they know that she went to Villanova Law School? Huh? Did you all get a law degree from Villanova? Are you all faithful Catholics? If not, then how dare you judge this wonderful woman for the disgusting and divisive statements she has made over many years. Have you ever walked a quarter-mile in her  whatever she puts on her feet? Combat boots? Uggs? If you havent, then why should you judge her? Judging others is Christines job, not yours. And when it comes to hypocritical right-wing blowhards being published in our local newspapers, I dare you to name someone more right-wing and more blowhard than Christine. And Chris Freind. (And thats only because right-wing moron Gil Spencer has been gone for years now.) So stop bashing Christine Flowers! Im sure she prays every day and night for heathens like yourselves. You should thank her for her caring attitude!

JB

SPEAK UP

It seems like in almost all professions, be it the military, law enforcement, private corporation, higher education or the White House, there are bobble heads who would nod to everything the boss says and does. Even if the boss is wrong, morally or legally, the subordinates would go along with it. That is reprehensible. In the case of the recent George Floyds case, rookie cops did not intervene when Derek Chauvin was hurting and eventually killing Mr. Floyd maybe because Chauvin had years of experience on them. To intervene is a moral and human thing to do. The bystanders are equally at fault for not calling 911. Thank goodness a bystander recorded the video. For all you bobble heads out there, please stop being selfish and point out things if they are inhumane, immoral or illegal. You would want the same from others if you happen to be the victim of wrongdoing.

HELP MY DAD

On Monday, June 8, my dad left his cane in the shopping cart at the Brookhaven Aldi. It was blue and had where he got it (Walgreens) on the base. No one has turned it in. If you find it, please be kind of return it to the store. Thank you. Do the right thing.

BEWARE!

I would like to alert Sound Off group that there is a scam going around here in Delaware County. I just received a call from somebody who said he was calling from PECO and they were going to give me a discount on my electric and gas. And he had my name, my telephone number, my address, and then he asked for my account number, which I did not give, and birth date. Everybody, give out no information. Anyway, he had an accent, a very heavy accent. He was very hard to understand. But anyway, then I called PECO and they said there is a scam going around in our area and if they have your account number they will switch you to a different supplier without your okay. So I want to alert everybody.

ENOUGH ALREADY

I am so tired of hearing about our Founding Fathers! These were men who believed that slavery was a good thing and that women had no rights  not even the right to vote, which was not granted until 1920! They did not have a clue as to what life would be like in 2020. They wrote the Constitution in such vague terms that no one can figure out exactly what it means. Please read them and try to figure out exactly what they mean.

A FLAMING FEMINIST
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Sonos CEO Patrick Spence

Reuters/Yves Herman; Andrej Sokolow/Getty Images

Google has countersued Sonos over alleged patent infringement, escalating a legal battle between the two companies, as first reported by The Verge and confirmed to Business Insider.

"We are reluctantly defending ourselves by asserting our patent rights," a Google spokesperson told Business Insider, saying Sonos had made "false claims" about Google's technology and its work with the tech giant.

Sonos originally sued Google in January, accusing it of "blatantly and knowingly copying our patented technology."

Sonos' CEO also testified against Google during a congressional antitrust hearing this year, accusing the company of various anticompetitive behaviors.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google filed a patent infringement lawsuit against smart speaker maker Sonos on Thursday, as first reported by The Verge and confirmed to Business Insider, escalating an ongoing legal dispute between the companies.

"We are disappointed that Sonos has made false claims about our work together and technology. We are reluctantly defending ourselves by asserting our patent rights," Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda told Business Insider in a statement.

In the complaint, Google accused Sonos of using "substantial volumes" of its technology, including "patented Google innovations in search, software, networking, audio processing, and digital media management and streaming," without its permission.

Google also stressed its partnership with Sonos in the complaint, saying it had "worked constructively with Sonos to make the companies' products work seamlessly by building special integrations."

The lawsuit comes in response to Sonos' own patent suit against Google, filed in January, which accused the tech giant of "blatantly and knowingly copying [Sonos'] patented technology in creating its audio products."

Story continues

Sonos, which makes home speakers that work with both Google's artificial-intelligence-powered Assistant and Amazon's Alexa, had said that as it pressured Google to officially license its technology, Google asked Sonos to adhere to unreasonably strict terms, such as alerting Google to names and designs of future products six months in advance.

Later that month, CEO Patrick Spence criticized Google during a congressional hearing on antitrust for what he said were anticompetitive behaviors.

The advantages Google has in marketing its own products "are like nothing we've ever seen before," Spence said. He alleged that Google had pressured Sonos to only allow its speakers to sync up with Google Assistant, rather than also offering it on Amazon's competing voice assistant Alexa.

Google is currently facing a number of antitrust lawsuits at the state, federal, and international levels, and Reuters reported that the US International Trade Commission opened a patent probe into some of Google's audio products following Sonos' lawsuit.

"Instead of simply addressing the merits of our case, and paying us what we're owed, Google has chosen to use their size and breadth to try and find areas in which they can retaliate," said Sonos CEO Patrick Spence in a statement to Business Insider.

"As we saw in the past with Eero, and have seen most recently with Zoom, Google seems to have no shame in copying the innovations of smaller American companies in their attempts to extend their search and advertising monopolies into new categories.

"We're mostly sad to see a once innovative company with the mission of 'Do No Evil' avoid addressing the fact they've infringed on our inventions, and have turned to strong-arm tactics the robber barons of old would have applauded."

Avery Hartmans and Bani Sapra contributed reporting to this story.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Two womens right groups have expressed their indignation at the increasing rate of attacks on women who take up leadership positions in the country.

Unfortunately, we have sat in our comfort zones of incredulity, that now these abhorrent, vile, incendiary and contemptible verbal attacks are passing the threshold into threats of death, the two groups said.



The two groups are ABANTU for Development and the Womens Manifesto Coalition (WMC).



Personal attacks



A statement signed by the Executive Director of ABANTU, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, said the recent personal attacks and abuse and now the threat of death on the Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Jean Mensa, were revolting, horrendous, awful and unacceptable.



We are deeply saddened that women in leadership positions have faced multiple insults and acts of degradation over the years while performing their assigned and constitutionally mandated duties, the statement added.



It noted that women in Ghana had in recent times managed to ascend to very high-profile positions of leadership, some for the first time such as the first woman Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood; the first woman Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Charlotte Osei, and the first woman Speaker of Parliament, Mrs Justice Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo.



These women and others served under the barrage of vitriol and threats, approval and disapproval from various sections of our citizenry. Nevertheless, they contributed in no small way, in progressing the aspirations and motivations of so many other women and helped push the nations required mandate of promoting women in institutional arrangements for sustainable development, it said.



Support to women



The statement said the two women rights groups had been consistent in their support and defence of women in national policy and decision spaces and as organisations.



We will continue to advocate the need for Ghana to hold itself accountable to its constitutional mandate of increasing womens equal participation and representation in public policymaking and decision making at all levels, it stated.



We want to assure Mrs Jean Mensa that we recognise the difficulties associated with serving in such a combative position as the Electoral Commissioner trying to satisfy strong diverse political viewpoints in the hope of delivering universally acceptable democratic and electoral outcomes, the two groups added. #Ghanavotes2020





Source: Daily Graphic









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Seattle, Washington -- President Donald Trump is clashing with Seattles mayor over how to handle protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyds death.

The New York Post reports demonstrators have occupied a six-block area of the city, dubbed the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or CHAZ, for protests without police. People inside the zone have been handing out free snacks at a No-Cop Co-op and showing films on racial injustice.

THIS SPACE IS NOW PROPERTY OF THE SEATTLE PEOPLE," a sign said Tuesday near a shuttered police precinct, according to the Seattle Times.

Trump called the protesters domestic terrorists and threatened to take action if Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan fail to shut down the CHAZ.

Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before, Trump wrote on Twitter late Wednesday Take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped (sic) IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!

Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!

Newsweek reports Durkan responded by mocking Trump over reports he recently hid in a White House bunker during a night of protests in Washington, D.C.

Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker, Durkan tweeted with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.

Trump later denied staying in a bunker for safety reasons, saying he visited it May 29 briefly to inspect it. U.S. Attorney General William Barr later told Fox News that "the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker. We cant have that in our country.

Inslee also rebuked Trump while making fun of the presidents spelling error: A man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington states business. Stoop tweeting.

Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020

Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/H3TXduhlY4  Mayor Jenny Durkan (@MayorJenny) June 11, 2020
New Delhi: Almost half of India`s population will not be able to survive more than a month without any job or income, just with the help of savings or family support.

With a protracted lockdown and dismal economy, job losses are mounting and concerns are going up for families as to how long they can hold out.

As per the latest IANS CVoter Economic Battery Wave survey, 28.2 per cent of males said they would survive less than a month without income, while 20.7 per cent said they could survive for a month. At the more comfortable end of the spectrum, 10.7 per cent said they could survive without income for more than a year.

For 2 months, the number is 10.2 per cent while for 3 months it is 8.3 per cent. It is 9.7 per cent for 4-6 months and 5.7 per cent for less than a year.

The numbers are concentrated for less than a month and a month, which is almost half the respondents.

The sample date is first week of June and the sample size is 1,397 and covers more than 500 Lok Sabha seats across the country. This is a weekly tracker of 1,000 plus new respondents.

For females, the numbers are similar in less than a month to a month of survival without income. However, in the case of females, the survival is more for a month as compared to less than a month.

For females, 19.9 per cent said they would survive less than a month without a job or income while 28.4 per cent said they could survive for a month. Broadly, this also adds up to half the numbers. A total of 11.5 per cent said they could survive for more than a year.

From the survey, it is clear that the senior citizens have the best survival rate without income and are leveraging their savings. For the senior citizens, 60 and above, 19.2 per cent said they could survive more than a year without any income.

The lowest survival rate is indicated by the young, in the 25-40 years age group, where the highest percentage of 28.6 said that they would survive less than a month sans income.

Understandably, the survival rate is longer for those with higher education and in the high-income group, although both may not necessarily follow.

The higher education group is the highest amongst all social groupings with 31.6 per cent saying they can survive for more than a year without income. For the high-income group, this number is 29.6 per cent.

Among the social groups, for Muslims the number is highest for less than a month with as high as 38.4 per cent while it is 30.2 per cent for a month, which makes it more than 68 per cent who would not be able to survive for more than a month.

Among the regions, the prosperous and industrialised Western region is the best performing, where only 17.2 per cent said they would survive for less than a month while 15 per cent said they would survive for more than a year.

The Eastern region is more vulnerable as 30.4 per cent said they would survive for less than a month. For the regions as a whole, more than 48 per cent said they would survive for a month or less without income or jobs.
A quiet leader in environmental and social justice philanthropy in Canada for the last 20 years, the organization says they sought a name reflecting the momentum of change it enables.

"In these tragic and hopeful times, MakeWay's purpose is ever clear. The gaping inequities laid bare by the virus and the anti-racism protests crystalize how much justice matters. New leadership is rising, and the dramatic changes needed to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss seem more possible. More of us are seeing our interconnectedness. Right now, there is an opportunity for a transformative shift, and it is time to make way for nature and communities to thrive together," said Kerr.

Smear campaigns about Tides Canada have repeatedly misconstrued the purpose of Tides Canada's international philanthropic funding and have also conflated it with the US-based Tides Foundation. Tides Canada was singled out by the Premier of Alberta during the launch of a 2019 public inquiry to scrutinize international funding for the Canadian environmental movement as being "anti-Alberta".

"This very expensive un-public government inquiry has yet to say anything. Probably because there is no bogeyman. Only 1% of Tides Canada's funding has gone towards pipeline-related activities since 2005. Instead, we have been proudly partnering with international and Canadian funders to protect vital marine and terrestrial environments and support Indigenous stewardship," said Kerr.

The change is made on the organization's 20-year anniversary under new leadership from Kerr, who joined the organization in 2019. Hailed by sector leaders as an invigorating call to action, the name "invites us to commit to what we want to make way for. It's time for us to healto be collaborative, bold, and listen to all voices, not just human, but all living things," said MakeWay board member, Denise Williams.

Tides Canada was originally named after the Tides Foundation in the U.S., though over time the organizations have diverged and no longer hold any legal, financial, or governance connections. MakeWay builds partnerships and provides services, grants and solutions to help nature and communities thrive together.

About MakeWay

www.makeway.org

MakeWay is a national charity and public foundation with a goal to enable nature and communities to thrive together. We do this by building partnerships, providing solutions, grants, and services for the charitable sector across the country.

SOURCE Tides Canada Foundation

For further information: Media Contact: Alison Henning, Director Communications, [email protected], (236) 317-2778

Related Links

http://www.makeway.org/


New mothers and their babies met with politicians and media at the Dail gates today to hand over the Uplift petition signed by 25,500 to extend maternity leave.

The petition calls maternity leave/ maternity benefit should be extended by three months for those who are currently on it in light of the recent outbreak of Covid-19 and the lockdown.

Tara McDarby, new mum, was there with son Callum, aged four months.

We need childcare solutions available to us so we can return to work. We should not have to give up our jobs. Women have the right to be in the workplace, as well as know their children are being taken care off. Thats why were calling on the government to extend maternity leave for another 12 weeks until things go back to normal.

Uplifts Shae Flanagan.

This group of new mums have been campaigning hard for weeks and 25,500 Uplift members are behind them. They need certainty about their futures and the welfare of their babies. Our people-powered community is calling on the government to make sure families are protected, said Shae.

The petition was handed over to politicians, including TD Brid Smith, Senator Marie Sherlock and Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou McDonald. It will be discussed in the Dail today.

Uplift describes itself as a people-powered community of over 270,000 people in Ireland.

"Each week, thousands of people take action together, such as signing petitions or contacting their TDs, to help build a more equal, sustainable and just Ireland," it says.

Link to petition: https://my.uplift.ie/ petitions/extend-maternity- leave-and-maternity-benefit.
GST on textiles will not be increased from 5 to 12 per cent: FM Sitharaman

It is not BJP money: Nirmala Sitharaman on IT raids on 'Samajwadi perfume' trader

Budget Session 2022 to commence on January 31; Union Budget to be tabled on February 1

FM Nirmala Sitharaman to address press conference at 4:30 pm, likely to clear air on Antrix Devas issue

FM Sitharaman on Devas-Antrix issue: Cong has no moral right to speak about crony capitalism

Economy in safe hands; worry not, Mr. Ramchandra Guha: Nirmala Sitharaman

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 11: A war of words broke out on twitter between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Ramchandra Guha with the minister asking the historian not to worry about economy as it is in "safe hands".

Earlier in the day, Guha tweeted quoting British writer Philip Spratt's comment in 1939 that Gujarat was economically strong but "culturally backward".

No late fee for delay in filing of GSTR-3B returns: Sitharaman

Sitharaman then posted a weblink to an article published in September 2018 about the Poland government organising event to honour former Jamnagar king, Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja, for giving shelter to 1,000 Polish children during World War II.

Delhi: Jama Masjid to remain shut till June 30th amid increasing cases of Coronavirus| Oneindia News

"In 1939, when Philip Spratt, from Britain, belonging to the Communist International wrote, (who @Ram_Guha quotes) this was what was happening in Gujarat: Jamnagar... Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja... saved 1,000 Polish children #Culture," Sitharaman tweeted.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani also responded to Guha's tweet saying that Indians would not fall for "tricks" of dividing them. Soon after, Guha tweeted: "I thought it was only the Gujarat CM, but now it seems even the FM is obsessing about a humdrum historian's tweets.

The economy is surely in safe hands." Taking a swipe at Guha, Sitharaman tweeted late in the evening: "The economy is very much in safe hands; worry not, Mr. Guha.

Taking cognisance of thoughts in current national discourse+responsibly doing my job aren't mutually exclusive. Either way, an interest in history is a plus. Surely an intellectual such as yourself should know that."
An employee wearing a protective mask prepares cut flowers at a wholesale flower market in San Francisco, California, on Monday, May 18, 2020.

The economy is uncertain for small businesses, yet many of them are still taking their time securing emergency funding through the Paycheck Protection Program.

The federal government rolled out the so-called PPP in April as coronavirus and ensuing stay-at-home orders took their toll on small businesses.

The forgivable loan program was originally intended to cover eight weeks of payroll costs, plus mortgage interest, utilities and rent expenses.

The first round of funding  amounting to $349 billion  ran out in less than two weeks.

More from Smart Tax Planning:

Five lessons for small businesses, post-PPP

Tax Day is coming. Get ready for July 15

Used a PPP loan for rent? You can still get some forgiveness

Demand has cooled significantly: The pot was refilled on April 27 to the tune of $310 billion, and nearly seven weeks later, there's still $130 billion that's gone unclaimed, according to the Small Business Administration.

Confusion around the workings of the program, especially over forgiveness, could be a reason why entrepreneurs are leery of applying for aid.

"It's like they're building the airplane while it's in the air," said Albert Campo, CPA and managing partner at AJC Accounting Services in Manalapan, New Jersey.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-10 22:01:13|Editor: huaxia

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Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, speaks at a press conference after a meeting of European Commissioners in Brussels, Belgium, on June 10, 2020. The European Commission will later this week put forward an approach for the gradual and partial lifting of the Schengen zone's external travel restrictions as of July 1 with certain third countries, Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said here on Wednesday. (European Union/Handout via Xinhua)

BRUSSELS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission will later this week put forward an approach for the gradual and partial lifting of the Schengen zone's external travel restrictions as of July 1 with certain third countries, the bloc's top diplomat said here on Wednesday.

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the bloc's executive arm, said after a meeting of European Commissioners that later this week they will adopt its assessment of travel restrictions and will put forward an approach for the gradual and partial lifting of these restrictions as of July 1, with certain third countries, taking into account a number of principles and criteria, and based on a common coordinated approach by European Union member states, supported by the European Commission.

The European Commission first invited the heads of state or government on March 16 to introduce the entry ban, which applies to all EU member states except Ireland (Schengen member states), as well as four Schengen associated states -- Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Enditem
'VeggieTales' creator talks white privilege; credits success to access to education, opportunities

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Phil Vischer, creator of the popular Christian animation "VeggieTales," said he decided to use his platform to address issues of racial injustice by penning a blog where he said that being white gave him access to opportunities that others did not have.

With over 65 million "VeggieTales" videos to date, Vischer said he's had a successful life despite being raised in a single-parent home and surviving on baloney sandwiches.

"I'm watching America burn, and watching fingers point in all directions. Of course, I'm not a racist. I've never kneeled on anyone's neck or denied housing to anyone. So I'm clean. Right?" He recently wrote in a blog posted to his podcast website Holy Post.

"This situation has me examining how I tell my story, and I am more convinced than ever that how we tell our stories matters. I have benefited from racial injustice," Vischer said.

The animation filmmaker detailed how hard life was for him after his parents divorced. He then revealed the struggles that he, his siblings, and his mother faced. Despite all odds, they all went on to accomplish great things.

"After marrying a tradesman, my mother got her doctorate at age 50 and became a college professor. My brother ended up at Harvard Law and is now dean of a law school in Minnesota. My sister has a doctorate and teaches in NYC. And I am a filmmaker of moderate renown," Vischer continued.

"Did we work hard? Yes, I guess so. But lots of people work hard and don't have nearly as much to show for it. So what is the missing factor? The factor that may be even more important than the hard work," he said: "We were white."

Vischer then reflected on the many privileges he said his family had, going back generations, because they were white. He also spoke of the opportunities his grandparents and parents had because they had access to quality education.

"How did a wealthy, white suburb help launch my filmmaking career? A good education was part of it," he said. "A high school with lots of resources was part of it. Making films with my church friends whose neighboring wealthy high school actually had film classes was part of it."

"A friend at church had a friend who owned a video production company that just happened to be looking for a summer intern. A couple of phone calls and I had an internship, that led to a job, that led to my work in computer animation, that led to my career as a filmmaker of moderate renown," he added.

He said although his story might seem like it has nothing to do with race or economic inequality, it does because of the opportunities allotted to him.

"We had friends who knew people who owned companies. If we had relocated to a much poorer community  specifically a non-white community  the odds of bumping into someone at church who knew someone who owned a film production company would have been next to nothing. Wealthy communities bring proximity to opportunity," he said.

Vischer said those facts have "everything" to do with racial injustice.

"Way back in the 1930s the federal government decided that white families should be encouraged to own homes, and black families should not. Seventy years of policies encouraging and underwriting white home ownership, and discouraging black home ownership have led to a profoundly inequitable America," Vischer said.

"Did I work hard? Yes, but not unusually hard. Not nearly as hard as many of my brown and black neighbors, who hold down multiple jobs just to pay rent."

Were we of above-average intelligence? I suppose so. But so are many people who struggle to find opportunity in America. So what made the difference? We were white."

Vischer ended his blog by sharing what he thinks about the unrest happening in the U.S. following the death of George Floyd.

"So when I see people of color protesting injustice or living in poverty in wrecked communities, people in Ferguson, Missouri, or Minneapolis or Chicago or Flint, Michigan, and I feel the urge to say, 'Well, if you just worked harder you could do what I did' That is a lie. We built a system to favor ourselves. And it worked amazingly well," he added.
(Newser)  Saturn's largest moon is moving away from the planet 100 times faster than thoughta finding that helps cement a new theory on how moons migrate. NASA explains why moons move at all: A moon's gravity tugs on the planet it is orbiting, "causing a temporary bulge in the planet as it passes. Over time, the energy created by the bulging and subsiding transfers from the planet to the moon, nudging it farther and farther out." Our own moon moves about 1.5 inches from Earth each year, per CBS News. Titanwhich is three times farther from Saturn than our moon is from usis drifting about 4 inches per year, according to data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. That's a big surprise and suggests Titan started out much closer to its host planet billions of years ago, "which would mean the whole system expanded more quickly than previously believed," per Space.com.

story continues below

"Most prior work had predicted that moons like Titan ... were formed at an orbital distance similar to where we see them now," says Caltech theoretical astrophysicist Jim Fuller, co-author of a new study in Nature Astronomy. "This implies that the Saturnian moon system, and potentially its rings, have formed and evolved more dynamically than previously believed." The findings sync with Fuller's 2016 theory that outer moons move at a similar rate as inner moons despite being further away from the host planet's gravity. He now believes these interactions could "apply to many systems  even binary star systems, where stars orbit each other," per CNN. Scientists hope to learn more when NASA's Dragonfly arrives for a three-year study of Titan around 2034. (Read more space stories.)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. (Emerald) (TSXV: EMH; OTCQX: EMHTF) today announced that, further to its news release on April 29th, Emerald will report its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020, after the market close on Thursday, June 18, 2020. The company will host a conference call on Friday, June 19, 2020, at 10:30 a.m. ET.



To access the audio broadcast, please dial (866) 652-5200, or via the internet at:

https://services.choruscall.com/links/emhtf200619.html



An archived version of the presentation will be available for 90 days on the Investors section of Emeralds website:



https://ir.emeraldhealth.ca/events-and-presentations



About Emerald Health Therapeutics

Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. is committed to creating new consumer experiences with distinct recreational, medical and wellness-oriented cannabis and non-cannabis products, with an emphasis on life science-based innovation and production excellence. Emeralds three distinct operating assets are designed to uniquely serve the Canadian marketplace and international opportunities. These assets, all in full production, include: its Metro Vancouver, BC-based greenhouse operation (78,000 square feet) capable of producing organic-certified product; Verdelite, its premium craft cannabis production indoor facility in St. Eustache, Quebec (88,000 square feet); and Pure Sunfarms, its 41.3%-owned joint venture in Delta, BC, producing high quality, affordably priced products (1.1 M square feet). Its Emerald Naturals subsidiary has launched a new natural wellness product category with its non-cannabis endocannabinoid-supporting product line and is expanding distribution across Canada.

Please visit www.emeraldhealth.ca for more information or contact:



Jenn Hepburn, Chief Financial Officer

(800) 757 3536 Ext. #5

Emerald Investor Relations

(800) 757 3536 Ext. #5

invest@emeraldhealth.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements made in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and are subject to important risks, uncertainties and assumptions, both general and specific, which give rise to the possibility that actual results or events could differ materially from our expectations expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements.

We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties related to, among other things, changes of law and regulations; changes of government; failure to obtain regulatory approvals or permits; failure to obtain necessary financing; results of production and sale activities; results of scientific research; regulatory changes; changes in prices and costs of inputs; demand for labour; demand for products; failure of counter-parties to perform contractual obligations; as well as the risk factors described in Emeralds annual information form and other regulatory filings. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release represent our expectations as of the date hereof. Forward-looking statements are presented for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to obtain a better understanding of our anticipated operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Emerald undertakes no obligations to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur, unless required by applicable law.
Pesticides may be the reason for the death of Rome's fish.

Rome authorities continue to investigate the cause behind the mysterious death of hundreds of fish in the city's river Tiber on 30 May.

Initial tests have proved inconclusive and further testing is underway, however police do not believe the phenomenon relates to deliberate illegal dumping of toxic material into the river.

The capital's environment department is however working on the theory that the mass death of the fish relates to insecticides used in corn crops, abundant in farms north of Rome, reports online newspaper RomaToday.

The pesticide in question is believed to be a form of neonicotinoid which may have been washed into the Tevere by heavy rain at a time when the river's water levels were much lower than normal.

In April 2018 the European Union banned the use of three controversial neonicotinoid insecticides on all crops grown outdoors. The ban followed a respected scientific review which concluded that the insecticides posed a high risk to wild bees and honeybees.

As investigations continue in Rome, authorities are removing the fish carcasses to avoid health problems for those who frequent the banks of the Tevere.

Photo La Repubblica
Protesters so far have filed a total of eight lawsuits claiming battery and unnecessary use of force against the city of Portlands police since thousands started protesting the death of George Floyd over the past two weeks.

The protesters seek a total of $2.8 million from the city, saying they were peacefully expressing their rights when police injured them or sent them running in fear for their lives by indiscriminately using tear gas, rubber bullets or explosive devices. Almost all of the lawsuits ask judges to ban Portland police from using such crowd dispersal tactics.

City Attorney Tracy Reeve declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The lawsuits were filed Friday through Tuesday.

Police have said they use such crowd-dispersal tools when peaceful gatherings have turned violent with protesters throwing or using sling shots to propel bricks, mortars, bottles of water, cans of beer and glass bottles or tried to climb or knock down a chain-link fence erected temporarily to protect the justice center.

-- Lydia Fuller filed a $250,000 suit, claiming Portland police opened fire on her with military-style weapons including chemical weapons and explosive devices on June 7. She was hit by a rubber bullet in the chest, causing bruising to one of her breasts and prompting her to go to the emergency room, according to her lawsuit.

At no time during the protest did Ms. Fuller ever act physically aggressive toward anyone, states the suit, filed Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Portland attorney Michael Fuller is representing Lydia Fuller, his cousin, along with five other plaintiffs.

-- Julia Leggett claims she was peacefully protesting June 5 when police shot a flash-bang grenade at her leg -- shredding her pants and causing painful bruising and wounds that have become infected. Leggett is studying for her masters degree in clinical mental health counseling at Portland State University, states the suit filed Sunday. She seeks up to $450,000.

Julia Leggett's injuries. (Submitted photo)

-- Daniel Michaels claims he was picking up a friend from a peaceful protest on June 6 when police intentionally launched projectiles into (his) leg, rear, and hand. Michaels seeks up to $250,000 in his suit, filed Sunday.

-- Brandon Farley claims that officers intentionally shot him in the knee with a rubber bullet on June 4, prompting a visit to the hospital. He seeks up to $950,000 in his suit filed Saturday.

-- Mason Lake, a professional photographer, was struck on May 31 by a projectile in the arm, breaking his skin, causing swelling and loss of feeling, according to his $450,000 lawsuit filed Saturday.

Mr. Lake believes he was specifically targeted by City of Portland police officers because he was a photographer documenting police brutality, the suit states.

-- Philip Elias was struck June 2 in the arm and abdomen, leaving rings of severe dark bruising on his body, according to his $250,000 lawsuit filed Friday.

-- Andrew and Samira Green claim they were frightened for their lives after they went to a June 2 protest with their children, whose ages werent listed in their lawsuit. Their suit says they went because they are Muslim and believed they needed to support the Black Lives Matter community. Samira Green is black, wears a hijab and is pregnant, states the $200,000 lawsuit filed Monday.

After police announced the gathering was an unlawful assembly, the Greens started to leave but were trapped in a cloud of tear gas, causing them both to cough heavily and Samira Green to vomit.

-- Dont Shoot Portland filed suit in federal court Friday against the city on behalf of two protesters, Nicholas Roberts and Michelle Misha Belden, who arent seeking a specific dollar amount but have asked a judge to prohibit police from using tear gas to control crowds.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez issued a 14-day ban on the riot-control agent, except when lives are at risk.

- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
MILAN (Reuters) - A group representing relatives of people who died of COVID-19 in Bergamo, one of Italy's hardest-hit cities, asked prosecutors on Wednesday to investigate possible criminal responsibility in the management of the pandemic.

Consuelo Locati, a lawyer for the group, said around 40 requests were filed over the handling of the outbreak in Lombardy, the northern region which includes Bergamo and accounts for around half of Italy's 34,000 deaths.

"People want an explanation," Locati told Reuters. "They have given a signal to the justice system and they want to have confidence in the justice system because there's a moral obligation in this."

The aim was to identify those responsible for managing the response and determine whether criminal charges could be raised, she said, adding that once lawyers had time to prepare a case, a separate wave of civil lawsuits would be likely in September.

Regional authorities in Lombardy have faced angry criticism for failing to set up special isolated "red zones" quickly enough, and for leaving open a major hospital that became a centre of infection early in the crisis.

Bergamo prosecutors have already questioned Lombardy's president, Attilio Fontana, and its health chief Giulio Gallera over a decision not to seal off badly affected areas in the city's hinterland early in the outbreak.

This week they will question Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and top ministers on Friday.

Critics accuse the right-wing League party, which has dominated Lombardy's politics for decades, of weakening the system by putting too much emphasis on big hospitals and starving local health services of resources.

When the pandemic struck, critics say, too many patients died because they were funnelled into hospitals only after developing serious symptoms, or left in nursing homes with inadequate care while overstretched local general practitioners went without adequate support.

Fontana has defended his government's handling of the crisis, while admitting mistakes, saying general practitioners would henceforth receive more resources.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Late in the evening on Wednesday, June 10, the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen's Association and the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association revealed via social media that clearance has been given for at least some live horse racing to resume in the State of Pennsylvania, contingent on the implementation of proposed safety measures.

The PHHA simply shared on social media, "We have received approvals from the PA Department of Health to resume live racing. More information to follow as it becomes available."

Although the MSOA's announcement didn't offer much more information, it did explain that the state's department of health has approved racing to resume at the Meadows, and for horsepeople to stay tuned for race dates.

The MSOA's social media announcement did include a screen grab of a letter sent to the Meadows from the Pennsylvania's secretary of health, Rachel Levine.

The screen grab of the letter, which appears below, indicates that racing at the Meadows has been clearance to resume if measures set forth in the track's reopening plan are implemented and maintained.
The MHRD NIRF Rankings 2020 has selected Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras as the best engineering institute in the country.

IIT Delhi took the second spot while IIT Bombay was in the third position in this year's standings.

Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank released the latest rankings over a live broadcast on social media

Also Read: NIRF Rankings 2020 announced by MHRD

This year's engineering rankings were similar to the last year's list. The only change was Anna University dropping out of the top ten list while IIT Indore was a new entrant at the 10th spot.

Here is a list of the top 10 institutes in engineering:

IIT Madras

IIT Delhi

IIT Bombay

IIT Kanpur

IIT Kharagpur

IIT Roorkee

IIT Guwahati

IIT Hyderabad

IIT Tiruchirapalli

IIT Indore

A total of 200 institutes from across the country have been ranked under the engineering category.

This is the fifth edition of the NIRF Rankings and is aimed at helping students choose the best institutes for higher education. At a later stage, MHRD will also make funding for institutes proportional to their NIRF Ranking in that particular year.
TDT | Manama

Deputy Prime Minister His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa received Bahrain Culture and Antiquities Authority (BACA) president Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa. Shaikha Mai briefed HH Shaikh Mohammed on the book Dilmun Land of Density, dedicated to celebrating the incredible density of the historical and cultural assets of Bahrain.

HH Shaikh Mohammed expressed his appreciation of the efforts by BACA and Shaikha Mai to launch programmes and projects in various regions of the Kingdom to revive its heritage, root its culture and propagate its history and ancient civilisation.

Shaikha Mai expressed gratitude to HH Shaikh Mohammed for his support to BACA in its endeavors to highlight Bahrains history and culture HH Shaikh Mohammed with Shaikha Mai locally and internationally.

Shaikha Mai presented the four projects that BACA will launch during this year:

 The opening of the pedestrian bridge linking the Bu Maher Fort with the beginning of the Pearling Trail, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The bridge, to be used by visitors to the trail, will be completed next year.

 The completion of the project for the restoration of Al Fadhil Mosque minaret after restoring its details as they were when it was built, to harmonise with the unique urban look in the capital.

 The opening of the textile factory in Bani Jamra that aims to revive and revitalise the textile trade for which Bahrain has been known for for more than a century.

 The Sound and Light Project in the Shaikh Salman bin Ahmed Al Fateh Fort in Riffa that narrates the history of the Al Khalifa family in Bahrain
Union Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari said that economic war against coronavirus pandemic has started in India and that the COVID-19 outbreak would cause a humongous loss to the country's revenue.

Gadkari, who was addressing his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Jan Samvad virtual rally from Nagpur on Wednesday, stated that India was expected to lose revenue of Rs 10 lakh crore due to coronavirus outbreak.

"An economic war has started. Our villages, farmers, workers, and industry are in a state of crisis due to coronavirus. There are great difficulties and great troubles," Gadkari said.

The transport and highway minister also stated that there were some states that have no money to pay even next month's salaries.

Referring to stimulus packages announced last month by the Union Finance Minister, Gadkari said, "The Indian government's revenue has been hit. We have a GDP of Rs 200 lakh crore. Ten per cent of it, around 20 lakh crore package, has gone to industries, farmers...".

"So if with Rs 200 lakh crore (GDP), Rs 30 lakh crore go this way, (one can imagine) what serious situation it will lead to".

The Union Minister added that India was facing the crisis but it should be dealt with positivity, and no negativity and fear was needed. He said that until the vaccine gets discovered against coronavirus, India will have to keep on fighting against it. Gadkari expressed hope that a vaccine for coronavirus will be developed soon.

During the virtual rally, Gadkari also listed out the NDA's achievements. The minister stated that "What the Congress could not do in 55 years, the BJP government under the leadership of Modi has done in just five years".

Under Modi's leadership, the nationalism, which puts the country's interest above other things, is being pursued and vote bank politics was receding, the BJP leader said.

Also read: CBIC settles controversy around taxation; says no GST to be levied on directors' 'salary'

Also read: Mall owners and restaurants heading for logjam; DLF to propose 'shared pain' model
Matthew Busch, Contributor / For The San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio police officers will only be allowed to fire projectiles into a crowd of protests if Chief William McManus gives a direct order, the chief said during a City Council meeting Wednesday.

The announcement came after District 4 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran questioned McManus about the departments use of wooden pellets and rubber bullets during recent protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it has set aside 53 per cent of the N21 billion it pledged for medical intervention for the construction of medical infrastructure across Nigeria.

It had earlier pledged N21 billion to help combat COVID-19 and improve on healthcare delivery in the country.

According to a Thursday statement by the corporations spokesperson, Kennie Obateru, the construction of medical facilities will be across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

Ground-breaking ceremonies for the construction of 200-bed Infectious Diseases Hospitals with in-situ laboratory had already been held in Bayelsa, Borno and Katsina states with that of the other locations to follow suit, the official said.

Mr Obateru said the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mele Kyari, who leads the intervention, said 14 medical centres and two Intensive Care Units (ICU) expansion and upgrade would be delivered across the federation as part of the intervention initiative.

The groups governance committee also allocated 26 per cent of the funds to the deployment of logistics and in-patient support systems and 21 per cent of the sum to the provision of medical consumables across the country.

The committee comprises of the managing directors of oil companies and other industry players.

All the initiatives by the respective stakeholders form part of their usual corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme/commitments, the official said.

He said medical consumables and logistic support have been delivered to 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), while other states would soon receive theirs.

The report said medical consumables comprise respirators, protective suits and test kits as well as logistics and in-patient support systems among which are ambulances, ventilators and beddings and laboratory equipment.

States that have received these are: Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Jigawa, Kwara, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Sokoto, Plateau and Rivers State as well as the FCT.

He said the intervention is driven with a clear governance structure of the various coalescing companies involved in the initiative

The initiative is to support the ongoing federal governments efforts and in collaboration with the presidential task force and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to curb the pandemic, Mr Obateru
The Netherlands questions some of its longtime traditions in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.

More than 10,000 people have rallied in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.

Protesters are highlighting the countrys colonial past, but that is not the only focus of the demonstration.

Activists are demanding an end to systemic racism in the Netherlands.

Al Jazeeras Step Vaessen reports from Amsterdam.
ROCK SPRINGS (Wyoming News Exchange)  Laura Etienne pleaded guilty Thursday morning to using funds from the Sweetwater County Combined Communications Dispatch Center to buy nearly $3,000 worth of personal items between 2016 and 2018.

She and her husband Robin Etienne, former director of the Combined Communications Dispatch Center, were both arrested in January 2020 and charged with felony and misdemeanor counts related to misusing an Amazon Prime account set up for the center and making nearly $7,000 in combined unauthorized purchases. The couple currently lives in Utah. Laura Etienne or...
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:03:41|Editor: huaxia

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Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government Matthew Cheung speaks with Xinhua during an interview in Hong Kong, June 10, 2020 (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)

-- National security legislation is a step in the right direction, and will add momentum for Hong Kong's long-term development.

-- National security legislation will create a win-win situation both for the nation and for Hong Kong.

HONG KONG, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The national security legislation is a step in the right direction, and will add momentum for Hong Kong's long-term development, Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government Matthew Cheung has said.

"It's not taking away anything that we enjoy. It's adding something that has been missing and should have been cherished in the last year or so - stability, security and safety," Cheung said on Wednesday in an interview with Xinhua.

Stability, security and safety are the guarantees for the development and prosperity of any place, Cheung said. "Hong Kong is no exception. Without these three guarantees underpinning the economy, there is no core development in the long term."

Cheung said the legislation will create a win-win situation as it will plug a loophole in national security for the nation and at the same time bring Hong Kong back on track.

"Stability comes before prosperity. Without stability, there will only be empty talk about prosperity," he stressed.

When the baseline of national security is tight, "one country, two systems", which has proven to be successful in the last 23 years and is the only way forward for Hong Kong, will continue to progress steadily in the years ahead, Cheung said.

In that case, Hong Kong, which enjoys the best of both the Eastern and Western worlds, will have greater room to leverage its advantages and continue to thrive as an international financial center and metropolis, he added.

This, in the eyes of Cheung, will also benefit international investors and foreign businesses here.

The international trade community here understand the need for the national security legislation because they have witnessed and actually become victims to the social unrest since last year, he noted.

"Investors come simply because it's a stable place with certainty guaranteed. It is a simple logic of doing business," He said.

The National people's Congress (NPC) has made it clear that the national security legislation for the HKSAR aims at safeguarding Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability and guaranteeing the legitimate rights and interests of Hong Kong residents.

It has also been clarified that the legislation only targets a tiny number of people involved in serious crimes endangering national security, including splitting the country, subverting state power, organizing and carrying out terrorist activities, as well as interfering in Hong Kong affairs by foreign and external forces.

The central authorities have given assurance "from the very outset," Cheung said, rebutting misinformation that Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and Hong Kong residents' legitimate rights and freedoms will be compromised after the national security laws are enacted.

Photo taken on Nov. 27, 2019 shows the entrance of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

On the part of the HKSAR government, the secretary said the whole team have been pro-actively trying to put across in the community the message that this legislation is urgently needed and to elaborate on its importance and objective.

"Our job now is to explain, clear the air, debunk any myths, and put the record straight."

Cheung said he believes the legislation will take into account the differences between legal systems in the mainland and Hong Kong and make sure the laws enacted are enforceable in Hong Kong.

Expressing strong objection to foreign interference and threat of sanctions, Cheung urged the relevant countries to "think twice and be rational".

"Any sanction is a two-edged sword that may hurt Hong Kong but may hurt themselves doubly more," he said, adding the United States, for example, has a lot of investment in Hong Kong and enjoys a huge trade surplus from Hong Kong.

"The pendulum has been in their favor for a long time," but the situation may change due to the sanctions, he warned. 
Salvage crews have lifted the wreckage of a torpedo boat, thought to have been commanded heroically by John F Kennedy, from New York City's Harlem River.

One engine frame, two bottom parts with propellers and axles (one propeller in place, two missing) and one rudder, were excavated on June 1, while on June 3 a mini generator, hatch door frame and broken wooden pieces were lifted from the water.

The boat commanded by JFK in World War Two was being removed because the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is building a $610million sea wall along the river to prevent flooding in the 207th Street train yard, which went under water during Hurricane Sandy on 2012.

JFK's valiant record, rescuing several of his PT 109 crew members in August 1942 after being rammed by a Japanese warship, memorialized him as a WWII hero and helped boost his credentials on his way to the White House.

A hatch door frame and broken wooden pieces were recovered from the Harlem River on June 3. They are from a gunboat commanded heroically by John F Kennedy in World War Two

Pictured is a rudder from the gunboat JFK commanded after it was pulled up on June 1

Three workers handle an axle shaft that is connected to a propeller after the excavation

John F Kennedy (pictured) commanded the boat on his last WWII mission in 1943 and 1944

Pictured is a view of motor torpedo boat PT 59 during its World War II service in the Solomon Islands, early to mid 1940s

This photograph shows divers pulling up pieces of the gunboat JFK commanded in WWII

But aboard the lesser-known PT 59 in November 1943, on his third command as Lieutenant, Kennedy rescued 10 Marines from a troop of Japanese infantrymen hunting down American soldiers on the Solomon Islands, east of Papua New Guinea.

Despite whispers of the Harlem River being the PT 59's last resting place, only last month when city officials on a flood-protection project began lifting hardwood planks from near the 207th Street train yard, did the rumors seem real.

'This is history,' said Harlem local, Bob Walters, 73, who told the Chicago Tribune that he spent much of his childhood on the river.

In 2017, Kennedy biographer William Doyle, said the PT 59 ended up in a training center in Rhode Island and then the Philadelphia Navy Yard in the years after the war.

Following the paper trail, Doyle discovered that after its service the vessel was sold on to a weekend fisherman who used it as a party boat, the New York Post reported.

Damaged in a fire, the ship was transformed into a houseboat during the 1970s and docked on the Harlem River at 208th in Inwood.

Excavated items from the Harlem River in New York City last week include a mini generator

In the wreckage full of broken wood was one engine frame. Some propellers remain missing

A crane is pictured near Inwood's North Cove Thursday in New York as excavation continued

A crane retrieves pieces of what is believed to be the PT-59, a Navy vessel commanded by John F. Kennedy in his mid-20s

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is building a $610 million sea wall along the river to prevent flooding in the 207th Street train yard

In the mid-1970s, the new owner let the boat, which he said had become a hazard, sink to the bottom of the river. The river is pictured on Thursday

Though Doyle knew the last owner sank the boat after it became a hazard, the full story of the ship's twilight years has now been revealed by the last man to pilot the scrap of presidential history.

Redmond Burke, 80, a retired schoolteacher, told the Tribune that he bought the 59 for $1,000 while working at Bronx Community College in 1970.

By then, the boat would have seemed alien to Kennedy - its war-ready engines stripped out for more economical replacements and its turrets replaced with fishing rod holders.

Burke said that he was unaware of the boat's history until one of his students, who'd been researching Kennedy's war record, told him, 'You're living on a famous boat'.

In the mid-1970s, he let the boat, which he said had become a hazard, sink to the bottom of the river.

He had previously tried to sell it off to Kennedy interest groups but had no success.

Front view, a 40 mm Bofors, and twin .50 BrowningsPT-59 US Navy patrol boat once commanded by John F Kennedy during WWII. Commanding the 59, Kennedy (not pictured) rescued 10 Marines from a troop of Japanese infantrymen hunting down American soldiers on the Solomon Islands, east of Papua New Guinea

40mm gun PT-59 US Navy patrol boat once commanded by John F Kennedy during WWII

Black and White photo of John F. Kennedy's old command PT-59 abandoned in the Harlem River in New York, rapidly decaying away, soon to sink. The boat had been converted to a fishing vessel. PT-59 US Navy patrol boat once commanded by John F Kennedy during WWII

PT-59's cramped engine room. PT-59 US Navy patrol boat once commanded by John F Kennedy during WWII

'I had hoped it might have a more dignified end,' he said, 'but it was not to be.'

On Thursday, DailyMail.com captured images of the wreckage being pulled from the water.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is building a $610 million sea wall along the river to prevent flooding in the 207th Street train yard. It was flooded during Hurricane Sandy on 2012.

An MTA spokesperson has said the scene where the boat sank is not considered a historical site however the agency will 'continue to work with the experts to ensure appropriate preservation where possible'.

Spokesperson Meredith Daniels added to the New York Times that the remnants could end up in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston and the Battleship Cove maritime museum in Fall River, Massachusetts.
Michigans regulatory agency has received 370 allegations of possible violations of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers executive orders during the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Only one case has resulted in a license suspension though, according to Orlene Hawks, director of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, who testified Thursday, June 11, during a state legislative meeting of the Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Hawks confirmed that Owosso barber Karl Manke has been the lone case to date to result in a license suspension. When asked by legislators if she thought there was any correlation to the media coverage of Mankes case, Hawks said no.

LARA takes complaints all the time, hundreds of complaints a week," Hawks said. "Were unbiased. We have teams across the agency, which their sole workload is to look at the violation, crosswalk that with the statute and so theres no bias in terms of if we do happen to move a case to the complaint status or further on. This is what they do.

Were on site, were looking at it ourselves, were making notations, were interviewing, were looking at documents, were making phone calls. Theres a great amount of investigatory work that goes into getting from point A to point B in the process.

Manke had his licenses suspended by the state on May 13 after he reopened for business May 4 in defiance of an executive order issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that closed barber shops, salons and other non-essential businesses to slow the spread of COVID-19. Hawks declined to talk specifics about Mankes case, which is a pending court issue.

Related: Michigan Supreme Court sides with Owosso barber, sends case back to lower court

Of the 370 alleged violations reported to LARA since March 10, there have been 305 cases closed after being deemed unsubstantiated. Hawks said 65 remain open and pending, including 60 filed with the Bureau of Professional Licensing and five filed with the Liquor Control Commission.

Hawks fielded several questions from legislators Thursday morning related to the reopening of Michigans salons and barbershops. Most came from state Rep. Matt Hall, R-Marshall, who chairs the bipartisan committee aimed at the states response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The committee has members from both the Michigan House and Senate.

Hall said the committee heard stories of frustration and confusion from small business owners who testified regarding the states response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including Whitmers executive orders.

Related: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer rejects Republican invite to testify in coronavirus response probe

Northern Michigans barbershops, salons and other personal care services were allowed to reopen Wednesday, June 10, and the rest of the states such businesses can reopen Monday, June 15.

Hall questioned why the industry has had to wait so long to reopen when an advisory group made up of cosmetology, manicurists, and barbering business owners submitted its safety guidelines, created with the help of LARA team members, around May 21.

Hawks said her agency works to ensure businesses know how to open safely, but doesnt play a role in determining when its safe for businesses to reopen. She said the plan had to work its way through the Labor and Economic Opportunity and Health and Human Services departments, as well as the governors office.

LARA will enforce the safety measures laid out in the governors Executive Order 2020-114, which include things like businesses must provide COVID-19 training to employees, develop a COVID-19 response plan, develop a self-screening protocol for employees, and keep employees 6 feet apart when possible or require them to wear masks when they cant.

Kim Gaedeke, chief deputy director of LARA, said the personal care industry is well-versed in sanitation and hygiene guidelines, and has a vested interest in taking all precautions to prevent further spread of COVID-19 or a need to close businesses again.

(The plan) is guidance and best practices, but I can assure you a lot of them are doing more, Gaedeke said.

Nursing homes

Another popular topic of questions posed to the LARA director Thursday morning was around nursing homes and their safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have questioned the states initial decision to put COVID-19 patients in the same nursing homes as people who werent infected.

Sen. Pete Lucido, R-Shelby Township, recently called for an investigation into executive orders that allowed the movement of COVID-19 positive patients into nursing homes. He and other lawmakers have supported efforts to ban that practice.

In her testimony Thursday, Hawks noted that LARA had conducted investigations into the infection control plans and measures in place at 376 of the 442 federally certified nursing homes in Michigan since March 26. The agency conducted another 30 unannounced investigations this week, and plans to hit the remaining nursing homes in the coming weeks.

During those investigations, the agency looks at measures in place to mitigate the spread of infections, including barriers in between COVID-19 positive patients and non-infected patients. Employees designated to caring for infected patients use separate entrances from other employees.

In flu season, for example, seniors are vulnerable to the flu as well, Gaedeke said. They have to be able to isolate those residents with infectious diseases anytime. With COVID-19, were learning every day about the virus and there are extra things the homes have to meet now.

Asked if she believes its wrong to place COVID-19 patients in the same nursing homes as non-COVID-19 patients, Hawks said she does not make policy decisions.

In late May, state health officials said about 23 percent of the states COVID-19 deaths were in nursing homes, though that number is expected to grow as more data is made available. Of Michigans 5,711 coronavirus-linked deaths, 87 percent are from individuals 60 or older.

Licensing and buy-backs

On March 29, Gov. Whitmer signed executive order 2020-61 to allow hospitals to use more types of health workers to treat coronavirus as the threat of overwhelmed health systems appeared imminent. That order was replaced by Executive Order 2020-61, which extended those opportunities until the end of the state of emergency.

Hawks said that move allowed LARA to issue licenses for health professionals who may not have met the continuing education requirements for those renewing licenses during the health crisis. It also allowed LARA to help graduating students obtain their license sooner so they could begin responding to the pandemic.

Between March 10 and June 7, Michigans licensing agency issued 14,467 new health and occupational licenses. That includes 3,460 licenses issued to registered nurses, 1,160 licenses issues to educational-limited medical doctor (residency), 791 medical doctors, and 686 pharmacy technicians.

The agency has licensed 4,856 new hospital beds, 210 new nursing home beds, and 47 new inpatient psychiatric beds. It has also issued 791 new licenses to electrical journeyman, plumbing apprentices and other skilled trades.

Hawks also reported that the states spirits buy-back program resulted in the Liquor Control Commission buying back spirits from 673 of the states 8,500 on-premise liquor licensees for a total of more than $3.37 million.

The program assisted bars and restaurants that were forced to close in late March to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Once the state of emergency ends, licensees will have 90 days to repurchase the inventory by selling it when they re-open and paying the commission back, interest-free.

PREVENTION TIPS

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces.

Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

Read more on MLive:

Michigan has reported 5,711 coronavirus-linked deaths in 3 months

Michigan retailers caught in a no-win situation of enforcing mask use

Restaurants, pools, libraries reopen: An updated chart of whats allowed in Michigan

Thursday, June 11: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan
Julia Reinhart/Getty ImagesLars Ulrich surprised a pediatric ICU nurse -- and Metallica superfan -- during Wednesday night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC.

Tracey Bednar of Long Island, New York, who helps treat children diagnosed with COVID-19, was chosen as host Jimmy Kimmel's #HealthCareHero for this week. During her interview with Kimmel, Bednar revealed that she loves to blast Metallica, particularly "Enter Sandman," during her drive home from work. That's when Kimmel introduced Ulrich to the chat.

"As a father of three, I can't thank you enough for what you do," Ulrich told a shocked Bednar. "All of us out here in San Francisco in my family, and everywhere, are so grateful for what you do. And thank you for having Metallica be a part of your life."

As a further sign of his appreciation, Ulrich is sending Bednar a signed copy of Metallica's S&M vinyl box.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "What S&M vinyl box?" That's because the collection, which was recorded during Metallica's two concerts last fall accompanied by the San Francisco Symphony, hasn't actually been officially announced yet.

According to Ulrich, S&M will be available widely on August, but Bendar, of course, will be getting the first copy.

By the way, Ulrich isn't the first rock artist to surprise a Kimmel #HealthCareHero. Back in April, Dave Grohl paid tribute to Foo Fighters fan and Bronx emergency and trauma nurse TJ Riley with an acoustic performance of "Everlong."

By Josh Johnson

Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Ensure full protection to minorities, US says in a report to India

International

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Washington, June 11: Voicing concern over the alleged attacks and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities in India, an official American report said on Wednesday that the US officials have emphasised the need to ensure full protection to minorities as guaranteed under the Constitution.

Mandated by the US Congress, the '2019 International Religious Freedom Report' that documents major instances of the violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department on Wednesday.

India previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

No automatic citizenship for minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh: MHA sources

The India section of the report says that the US government officials underscored the importance of respecting religious freedom and promoting tolerance and mutual respect throughout the year with the ruling and opposition parties, civil society and religious freedom activists, and religious leaders belonging to various faith communities.

In their engagement with government officials, media, interfaith harmony organizations, and NGOs, US officials emphasised the need to address the legitimate concerns of the country's religious minorities, condemn communal rhetoric, and ensure full protection of minorities as guaranteed under the Constitution, it said.

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

In October, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, in meetings with senior government officials, raised concerns over violence and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, including communal violence, the report said.

The report refers to the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir last August and the parliament passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December as major highlights for India last year.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 was its internal matter.

On the CAA, which accelerates citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered the country on or before December 31, 2014, the Indian government has stressed that the goal is to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the CAA was an act to provide citizenship and not to take it away from legal Indian citizens, the report said, adding that in November he stated that the Constitution should be revered as a "holy book and a guiding light."

Some officials linked the CAA with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a process used to identify illegal immigrants in the state of Assam.

Epicentre of terrorism: Pak minorities put up posters outside UN office

On December 22, Modi disavowed any discussion of implementing the NRC nationwide, including earlier comments from Home Minister Amit Shah that a nationwide NRC should be in place so "we will detect and deport every infiltrator from our motherland," the report said.

Some officials of the Hindu-majority parties, including from the ruling BJP, made inflammatory public remarks or social media posts against minority communities, the report alleged.

"Authorities often failed to prosecute perpetrators of such 'cow vigilantism,' which included killings, mob violence, and intimidation. According to some NGOs, authorities often protected perpetrators from prosecution and filed charges against victims," it said.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that each and every citizen of this country can turn the COVID19 crisis into an opportunity, re-emphasising the need to implement AtmaNirbhar Bharat in all practicality.

PM Modi, delivering the inaugural address of the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) via video conferencing, said that a self-reliant India is the way forward. Drawing parallels with household encouraging their children to be self-reliant, Modi said that Aatamnirbhar lessons begin at home. He also added that the time has come for India to become self-reliant.

Modi said that the turnaround of Indian economy remains the prime resolve of the government adding that it is now time to take economy out from command and control mode to plug and play mode. For this, the government will have to take bold decisions and bold investments, he added.

The PM said that we must take steps to ensure that products which we are forced to import from elsewhere are manufactured in India, highlighting that people-centric, people-driven and planet-friendly development have become part of governance.

"Recent decisions taken by Centre for farmers have freed agriculture economy from years of slavery," Modi said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 05:04:12|Editor: huaxia

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KHARTOUM, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The deputy chairman of Sudan's Sovereign Council said on Wednesday that a comprehensive peace deal is expected to be signed between the Sudanese government and armed groups by June 20.

"The government is steadily moving toward achieving peace, and we promise the Sudanese people to sign a comprehensive and sustainable peace agreement by June 20," said Mohamed Hamdan Daqlu during a video negotiation between the government and the armed groups.

Arrangements are underway to overcome the final points related to power-sharing before reaching the deal, he noted.

Since last October, South Sudan's capital Juba has been hosting peace talks between the Sudan government and armed groups from Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions. Enditem
India and China are continuing diplomatic and military engagements for an early resolution of the stand-off between border troops, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday as people familiar with developments confirmed the build-up of Chinese forces extended to Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Earlier this week, the two sides began what Indian officials described as a limited military disengagement at three hotspots along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC)  Galwan Valley, Patrolling Point 15 and Hot Springs  in eastern Ladakh, which has been the focus of the tensions.

However, last months violent confrontations between Indian and Chinese soldiers in eastern Ladakh and north Sikkim triggered a military build-up on both sides of the LAC that stretched from Ladakh to Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, two senior officers said on condition of anonymity on Thursday.

Asked about the stand-off at a weekly news briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said both sides continue to be in touch through diplomatic and military channels to work for an early resolution of the matter in line with the guidance from the top leadership of India and China.

As you are aware, a meeting was held by the corps commanders of India and China on June 6 in Chushul-Moldo region. This meeting was in continuation of diplomatic and military engagements which both sides have maintained to address the situation in areas along the India-China border, Srivastava said, referring to the meeting between Lt Gen Harinder Singh, commander of Leh-based 14 Corps, and Maj Gen Liu Lin, commander of the Peoples Liberation Army in South Xinjiang region.

The two sides had agreed that an early resolution of the situation would be in keeping with the guidance of the leaders, he said.

Srivastava added, The two sides are, therefore, maintaining their military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the situation at the earliest as also to ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas. This is essential for the further development of India-China bilateral relations.

He didnt go into the details of further engagements through diplomatic and military channels and whether the two sides had discussed issues such as the reduction of troops and the Chinese side pulling back from the Indian side of the LAC.

One of the two senior officers cited above said the Chinese build-up began immediately after clashes between border troops in Ladakh and Sikkim on May 5-6 and May 9, and predated the June 6 meeting between Lt Gen Singh and his Chinese counterpart Maj Gen Liu at Moldo on the Chinese side of the LAC.

We have noticed a Chinese military build-up across the length of the border, from the northern to the eastern sector. This is in their so-called depth areas or pockets within the Chinese side of the LAC, he said.

Indian forces matched Chinas military moves by sending reinforcements to forward areas, said the second officer cited above.

Former Northern Army commander, Lt Gen (retired) BS Jaswal, said: This season is usually utilised by them for military exercises. China may have also kept forces in reserve to cater for any conflict contingency due to their early aggressive posturing in Ladakh and Sikkim. Its also for keeping troops acclimatised.

Jaswal said India would have deployed enough solders in forward areas to repel any offensive design by China, which would also encounter terrain friction (terrain difficulties) in case of any adventurism.

While the specifics of the Chinese build-up in other sectors remain unclear, their deployment in depth areas across the LAC in Ladakh includes more than 8,000 troops, tanks, artillery guns, fighter bombers, rocket forces and air defence radars.

In the latest military contact between the two sides, army delegations held talks in eastern Ladakh on Wednesday to ease tensions along the LAC.
Day one after Gov. Tom Wolf announced a $225 million grant program to provide in relief aid for small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 public health crisis, 10 businesses had already filled out an application on Community First Funds website.

Unfortunately, the application was for a loan program the community development financial institution offers, not the grant program the governor spoke about.

Applications for that grant program are not likely to be available until closer to the end of the month, said Community First Funds executive vice president and chief lending officer James Buerger.

But when they are, he said the application form will be simple. And community development financial institutions, such as Lancaster-based Community First Fund, which are being tapped to distribute the grants, will assist businesses should they have trouble.

Whats more, Buerger said the grants will not be issued on a first-come, first-served basis as other business grant programs that the state and federal government have offered and quickly were tapped out.

COVID-19 has put a significant strain on all of Pennsylvanias businesses and communities, and the COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance Program will expeditiously provide assistance to Pennsylvanias small businesses, which we know are hurting, said the states Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Davin.

This critical funding will help underserved businesses such as minority-owned businesses and other businesses in historically-underserved areas begin recovery efforts and get back on their feet.

The network of 17 community development financial institutions, or CDFIs as they are referred to, that will be accepting applications is still working with the state on the final details on how the program will be structured and the scorecard that will be used to determine grant eligibility.

But this much is known. The money is divided into three pots: $100 million for grants to minority and historically disadvantaged businesses; $100 million for grants to Main Street businesses, and $25 million for CDFIs to offer loan payment relief to businesses or to shore up a CDFIs financial position due to a high number of loan defaults.

Initially, half of the money in the two grant programs will be distributed equally to the CDFIs so each would receive about $3 million for each of those two grant programs, said community and economic development department spokeswoman Casey Smith. After 60 days, the department will evaluate the grant distribution to ensure the money is being distributed across all 67 counties.

The grants are geared toward helping only businesses that have less than $1 million a year in sales and no more than 25 full-time equivalent employees and might include such establishments as barber shops, hair salons, tattoo shops and other small service businesses.

The impact on them has been really significant and there really hasnt been much relief geared to them so this is really geared to them, Buerger said.

The CDFIs will dole out grants in amounts ranging between $5,000 and $50,000 based on a business annual sales, said Daniel Betancourt, president and CEO of Community First Fund. The intention is to issue grants in four rounds that will run through November.

Each round will offer a two-week window to receive applications. Then applications will be ranked and within two weeks of the application window closing, grants will be issued. Businesses that apply and dont receive a grant will have their application carried over for consideration in the subsequent rounds and will not have to reapply, Betancourt said.

Matt Doherty is co-owner of Empire Tattoo in Oakland, Allegheny County, near the University of Pittsburgh campus. He is hoping to obtain one of these grants to support his business that opened six years ago.

Doherty said the business closure order came down right around of his shops busy season. It reopened last Friday when Allegheny County moved into the green phase of Wolfs reopening plan.

He already received a $5,000 grant to help him pay rent and other bills as well as give some to his four employees. He also took out a $17,000 low-interest loan at the end of May to have some extra on hand in case a need arises but a little more free money would come in handy when his tax bills come due.

Having more money is always good, Doherty said. It would help me personally just to kind of catch up on my bills and to give some out to my employees.

Buerger said businesses that received other government relief aid would not be disqualified on that basis alone but it could be a criterion in determining the amount of need.

The bottom line, Buerger said, is we want to get this money out as quickly as possible. Its a large amount of money and we want to get it.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.
OSLO (Reuters) - A far-right Norwegian man was jailed for 21 years on Thursday for the racially motivated murder of his Chinese-born stepsister and attempting to kill worshippers in a mosque shooting spree.

Philip Manshaus expressed strong anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim views before last year's attack and was unrepentant at trial.

Manshaus, now 22 years old, shot and killed Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen in their family home, later explaining he believed the adopted daughter of his father's spouse posed a risk to the family because of her Asian origin.

He then drove to the nearby al-Noor Islamic Centre and entered the building, firing several shots but hitting no one before being overpowered by a 65-year-old member of the congregation who wrestled away his guns.

"He went in with the purpose of killing as many Muslims as possible," judge Annika Lindstroem said.

Manshaus expressed admiration for the massacre of more than 50 people at two New Zealand mosques last year by a white supremacist who filmed and broadcast the killings live.

The attack also drew comparisons with the massacre of 77 people by far-right mass killer Anders Behring Breivik in 2011 in Norway's worst peacetime atrocity.

Manshaus wore a helmet camera, filming the mosque shooting, but failed in his attempt to broadcast the attack online.

In his first court hearing last August, Manshaus appeared with black eyes and bruises on his face and neck from the ensuing fight at the mosque.

The court rejected the defence's plea to declare Manshaus insane, relying instead on a psychiatric evaluation which found him fit to stand trial.

The 21-year prison term, the steepest available for the first-degree murder and breach of anti-terrorism law, also contained a provision that his release can be put off indefinitely should he still be considered a threat to society.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche, Editing by William Maclean)
As a performance marketing agency, partnering with businesses to grow their online presence and achieve their business goals through efficient and effective marketing, is what we do best. We take pride in devoting our time and skills to making their passion our own.

As a performance marketing agency, partnering with businesses to grow their online presence and achieve their business goals through efficient and effective marketing, is what we do best. We take pride in devoting our time and skills to making their passion our own.

Working with a humanitarian NPO, however, results in quite a different but exciting challenge - forcing us to think even further outside the digital box! In December 2019, UNICEF South Africa joined Prebo Digitals client list with a specific vision and strategy to grow their brand online and increase donor support. Through our innovative application of expertise and efficiency, we are determined to meet these goals and vision.

As we have worked together to grow their donor support through our services, UNICEF South Africas campaigns and initiatives have grown our hearts.

Working for the perfect fit

It takes a digital village. Strategies shift when the bottom line of an organisation is not a customer base but rather a donor support base. An agency that does work in the digital space - creating awareness around campaigns on social media platforms, Google and content creation - frees up UNICEF South Africa to focus on what they do best on-the-ground: rolling up their sleeves and making a difference in the lives of vulnerable children in communities across South Africa.

We have the unique skill set to assist them on that journey.

Working for the greater good

As a humanitarian organisation, UNICEF South Africas brand philosophy is all about giving back. The focus is not about making a profit, but about making a difference. Conventional return on investment (ROI) and customer conversion rates take a back seat to the urgent need to find individual partners who will invest in sustainable programmes that will uplift the broader community. Instead of your online monetary payment getting something delivered to your door, your online donation delivers hope to the doors of others.

We have the privilege to be part of that.

Working for every child

UNICEF South Africas sole mandate is protecting the rights of every child. This is the driving force behind every campaign initiative. We get to contribute to this cause-related marketing strategy, becoming a small cog in the machine of change in our neighbouring communities.

To date, we have employed our services and had digital hands-on input in the following campaigns:

Campaign #1 - #DeliverFutures

The Deliver Futures campaign was a 2019 festive season initiative to combat acute malnutrition and kickstart a new future. This involved the delivery of boxes containing micronutrient powder and high-energy peanut paste to malnourished children across the globe.

Campaign #2 - #EveryChildAlive

The Every Child Alive campaign was a 2020 New Year initiative to put an end to preventable newborn deaths that occur daily. This was focused on giving vulnerable mothers and babies access to affordable, quality healthcare, good nutrition, and clean water.

Campaign #3 - #LittleHandsMatter

With the sudden rise of a global pandemic - prompting an immediate campaign response - weve been hands-on with the Little Hands Matter initiative. In working alongside UNICEF South Africa, we have helped in their quest to successfully achieve their campaign objectives to build and roll-out over 100 handwashing stations in under-resourced areas in the fight to curb the ongoing spread of life-threatening diseases.

We have been proud to collaborate on these campaigns, sharing the vision and hope for every child.

Looking ahead, we are excited and confident to be able to assist UNICEF South Africa in the important work they do across the country.

UNICEF South Africa works to promote the rights of every child and supporting children to reach their full potential.

Prebo Digital is a performance marketing agency founded on the belief that great businesses are built on great partnerships. We deliver a collaborative, measurable, and business objective-focused approach to growing your business.
Whether it's dining in at a local restaurant or heading to the nearest beach, many Texans are eager to get out of the house after sheltering in place for nearly two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On May 1, the first establishments opened under Gov. Greg Abbott's "Open Texas" plan. Texas is currently under Phase 3 of the plan, which allows nearly all businesses - including bars - to operate at 50 percent capacity. Restaurants can increase their capacity to 75 percent on Friday.

READ ALSO: What's new in 'Phase 3' of Gov. Abbott's plan to reopen Texas

Amusement parks in counties with more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases, like Bexar County, can reopen on June 19. Also, outdoor events, such as July 4 celebrations, are now allowed under the order.

The threat of COVID-19, however, remains. There are new cases reported daily and there is still no vaccine for the virus.

With more establishments opening, the San Antonio Express-News asked medical experts the risk level for participating in summer activities such as tubing or swimming.

Here are what the experts are saying
Burma Satirical Troupe Face Extra Prison Terms for Ridiculing Myanmars Military

Three Thangyat troupe leaders appear at court in Ayeyarwady Region. / Peacock Generation Facebook

Yangon  Members of the Daungdohmyoset (Peacock Generation) troupe who criticized the military in their satirical performances are facing fresh jail terms at courts in Ayeyarwady Region after already serving several sentences in Yangon.

The troupes leaders, Ko Zayar Lwin and Ko Paing Ye Thu, have been sentenced to 3 years, and fellow leader Ko Paing Pyoe Min, was sentenced to up to four years by courts in Yangon and Ayeyarwady. On Thursday they were additionally sentenced to one year in prison by the Maubin Township Court in Ayeyarwady Region under Article 505(a) of the penal code for criticizing the military in their Thangyat performances.

The three leaders and other members will also face additional sentences from two charges filed by the military at different townships in Ayeyarwady Region.

Ko Zayar Lwin, Ko Paing Ye Thu and Ko Paing Phyoe Min are scheduled to appear in Dedaye Township Court in Ayeyarwady Region on Friday facing more Article 505(a) charges.

About 25 members have to appear at the Pathein Township Court in the region under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law.

During the 2019 Thingyan water festival, the troupe held Thanyat performances in two townships in Yangon and four Ayeyarwady townships.

The military filed about eight lawsuits against the performers in April and May 2019, alleging that the performances criticized the military, undermining respect for officers and potentially encouraging a mutiny.

Articles 505(a) of the penal code and 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law have been used by the military to file lawsuits against troupe members.

Article 505(a) says anyone making any statement which could cause personnel to mutiny or disregard their duty can result in a two-year prison term.

Any citizen can use Article 66(d) to sue for alleged online abuse, regardless of whether they were the subject of the remarks. It carries a threat of three years in prison and is deeply controversial for alleged defamation. The law has come to be interpreted as any use of the internet, so sharing a Facebook post that casts someone in a negative light can be grounds for prosecution.

On February 17, Ma Su Yadnar Myint, Ma Kay Khine Tun and Ko Paing Pyoe Min were sentenced to six months in prison by Botahtaung Township Court in Yangon under Telecommunication Law charges filed by a military officer.

Ko Zayar Lwin, Ko Paing Ye Thu, Ko Paing Pyoe Min, Zaw Lin Htut, Nyein Chan Soe, Ma Su Yandanar Myint and Ma Kay Khine Tun were sentenced to a year in prison with hard labor by the same court on November 18, 2019, under Article 505(a).

Ko Zayar Lwin, Ko Paing Ye Thu, Ko Paing Phyoe Min and Ma Su Yadanar Myint were jailed for six months by Mayangone Township Court on December 11, 2019, under Article 66(d).

On October 30, 2019, Ko Zayar Lwin, Paing Ye Thu, Paing Phyoe Min, Zaw Linn Htut and Ma Kay Khine Tun were sentenced to one year in prison under Article 505(a) by the same court.

Ko Zayar Lwin told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that they never expected justice because the courts accept all lawsuits from the military without question.

The troupe had not used lawyers or challenged the charges because it did not trust the judiciary, he said.

Our political stand will not change because of imprisonments. We will keep taking on the military to get them out of politics, said Ko Zayar Lwin.

Athan, a Myanmar-based organization advocating freedom of expression, recently reported that between April 2016 to March this year, 66 lawsuits were filed against those who criticized Myanmars military.

It said 52 lawsuits were filed directly by military officers against critics.

You may also like these stories:

Thangyat Troupe Member Arrested over Performance Satirizing Military

Myanmar Military Wins Yet Another Court Case Against Satirical Performers
An asthmatic teenager who choked to death on bushfire smoke desperately fought to save her own life, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

Courtney Partridge-McLennon, 19, died in bed at her parents' house in Glen Innes, northern New South Wales, during bushfires in the area last November.

Her older sister, Cherylleigh Partridge, said the family found Courtney in the home's granny flat on the morning of November 29.

'She was found in her bed with her phone torch on and her reliever medication quite close to her, so she didn't have time to ask for help,' Ms Partridge said.

Courtney Partridge-McLennan (pictured), 19, died from an asthma attack last November

Courtney (pictured) choked on bushfire smoke surrounding her parents' home in Glen Innes

Courtney's family gave evidence on Wednesday at a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into the health impacts of the recent bushfire season.

The teenager, one of six children, was not a severe asthmatic and had been able to manage the condition her whole life.

Ms Partridge told the inquiry how Courtney had struggled to overcome the asthma attack brought on by the smoke and that her sister was unaware of the severe danger it posed.

'We don't have air quality monitoring the same way that metropolitan areas do,' Ms Partridge said.

'You can look outside and use common sense and go 'it's pretty smoky out there', but the understanding of what the levels are, if they're hazardous don't exist for regional NSW,' she said.

Ms Partridge called for up-to-date and understandable air quality information to be readily available across all of NSW.

'It wasn't until after my sister's passing and the South Coast fires kind of took off... where I began to see in the media that people were being recommended to wear P2 masks and to stay inside and activate air filters if they had access to them,' Ms Partridge said.

Courtney (pictured), who had suffered with non-severe asthma all her life, was found in bed with her phone torch on and her reliever medication close to her

The inquiry heard a government campaign was required to provide real-time air quality information to help asthmatics make decisions on what level of protection they needed.

The bushfires that raged near Glen Innes in November killed three people and left the town covered in thick smoke.

Air quality in some areas of New South Wales reached such hazardous levels that just being outside became the equivalent of smoking an entire packet of cigarettes.

Asthma Australia chief executive Michele Goldman told the inquiry that hazardous air quality should be treated with more urgency.

Courtney's (pictured) family gave evidence to a NSW parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday

'We've seen with the coronavirus how we can prepare ourselves and how we can respond to emergencies,

'We're seeing the intensity and duration of fires increasing, we're now starting to understand the true health impacts of exposure to smoke,' Ms Goldman said.

Ms Goldman called for the development of a uniform approach to measuring and reporting air quality across the country.

She said: 'We need to ensure that the community both understand the potentially harmful impacts ... and we need to give them the tools to be able to understand what air quality is like at any given time, on any given day in any given jurisdiction, and to have strategies that they can put in place to protect themselves.'

The inquiry will continue on Friday.
The Consul General of Mexico in San Diego, in alliance with the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty or MAAC announced they had opened the application for their first-ever scholarship program named ColibriMX for Latino and Mexican American students.

The main objective of this project, the alliance said, is to help promote higher education for the Latino and Mexican American population.

According to Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, the Institute of Mexican Abroad or IME provided $36,000. Initially, the objective was to raise around "$34,000 more to distribute grants amounting to $1,000 to 70 local students."

In connection to the scholarship grant, Gonzalez Gutierrez said, they "believe in the power of education" being the best instrument for social flexibility.

Application Now Open

Since it has been announced that applications are now being accepted, students can already submit their essay containing 600 words until July 8 this year. San Diego Tribune reported that announcement of scholarship grantees is scheduled on August 14.

The said scholarship grants had been announced in December last year. However, because of the global pandemic, the project will begin accepting entries today, June 10.

Named after a hummingbird also called "colibri," the ColibriMX scholarship program, according to the consul general, "moves around just like the immigrant community." More so, Gonzalez Gutierrez added, also represents, it signifies "hope and personal strength."

Their hope, the consul general continued, "That ColibriMX" would inspire Latino and Mexican American students in San Diego as the program gives them the assurance that the got the government and MAAC's support and that, "we have your back."

Good News to First-Time College Students

It is the main objective of this scholarship program to serve first-time college enrollees this fall 2020 semester who have "2.5 or higher GPA."

The grant is designed as well, for those who can "demonstrate Mexican or Latino descent, financial difficulty, and residence in San Diego County."

According to MAAC CEO, Arnulfo Manriquez, "Now, more than ever," they want to support and inspire a new generation of leaders as they pursue higher education.

These young leaders, he added, "will be the beacons of hope, strength and perseverance" everyone needs for the enactment of amendment in this community, the region and even the entire world.

A community- and a business-organized committee is tasked to assess the students' essays and applications.

The Partnership

As Mexico's Consul General, Gonzalez Gutierrez is responsible for the safeguarding of the safeguarding the wellbeing of any Mexican national residing in San Diego County. It is also his duty to connect these Mexicans in the county, to specific resources.

Meanwhile, MAAC is San Diego County's leading provider of "comprehensive social services." It also functions to build healthier and stronger communities through the space it provides.

Such space is where individuals and households in need can find resources to self-sufficiency through support and access to high-quality projects in what MAAC's five critical areas of focus which include education, health and wellbeing, and affordable housing, among others.

Check these out!
The high school students observed the delegates to the Y7 Summit deliberating on topics such as the future of education, employment, peace, security, and energy policy.

"It was truly inspirational to hear speakers emphasize the importance of youth engagement. I have no doubt my peers are on their way to forming creative solutions to the world's most pressing problems," said Kiara Ortiz, a graduating senior from Dominican Academy 2020, Dartmouth College '24.

On the final day, students got the chance to propose their own policy solutions.

"All week, they get to think about what it might be like to actually become delegates on the Y7, sitting in their seats. Our curriculum challenges them to learn to step outside of their comfort zones to share their thoughts with a new group of peers from different countries and cultures," said Patricia Lozada, Knovva Academy's Y7 Committee Chair. "This is how high school students transform into public policy leaders."

"I feel I am standing with the world. I am not alone and we are not alone," said Hailey He, a student from Chongqing Nankai Middle School in China."No matter what the pandemic brings to us, if we just connect together and hold each other's hands, we can all get through it."

Student Awards

Knovva Academy recognized 12 students for their extraordinary contributions in elevating the youth voice. The award winners hailed from Egypt, Australia, U.S, Japan, India, and China. Vidhur Senthil of Upper St. Clair High School, PA, earned the Most Outstanding Delegate Award.

Knovva Academy: is an international education company based in Boston, Massachusetts. We are passionate about global education and making the world a better place. Knovva Academy uses project-based learning and experiential education to empower youth to become change-makers. Knovva students break down cultural barriers so they can rebuild a world without them. Find out more at www.knovva.com .

Contact:

Yuxi He

[email protected]

SOURCE Knovva Academy

Related Links

http://www.knovva.com/


Chris Lilley has been pictured for the first time since Netflix announced his more controversial shows had been removed from the streaming platform amid the Black Lives Matter movement.

On Wednesday, the 45-year-old Australian comedian was seen drinking beer at a trendy bar in Sydney's Bondi Beach.

The Ja'mie: Private School Girl star appeared rather glum as he sipped his drink, scrolled through his phone and stared into the distance.

Feeling low? Chris Lilley has been pictured for the first time since Netflix announced his more controversial shows had been removed from the streaming platform amid the Black Lives Matter movement. Pictured at a bar in Sydney's Bondi Beach on Wednesday

The world-famous funnyman blended in with the crowd in an unassuming taupe sweater, black jeans and a knitted beanie.

Later on, Chris brightened up when he was joined by some friends.

Looking more animated, he chatted over the table while gesturing with his hands.

Something on your mind? The Ja'mie: Private School Girl star appeared rather glum as he sipped his drink, scrolled through his phone and stared into the distance

Low-key: The world-famous funnyman blended in with the crowd in an unassuming taupe sweater, black jeans and a knitted beanie

That's better! Later on, Chris brightened up when he was joined by some friends

On Wednesday, Deadline reported that four of Chris' shows - Jonah from Tonga, Angry Boys, Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes - had been removed from Netflix in Australia and New Zealand.

In the past, those shows raised questions about racial discrimination as several of the characters were portrayed in blackface and brownface.

On Angry Boys, he portrayed African-American rapper S.mouse and performed a song called Squashed N****.

Talkative: Looking more animated, he chatted over the table while gesturing with his hands

Cancelled: On Wednesday, Deadline reported that four of Chris' shows - Jonah from Tonga, Angry Boys, Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes - had been removed from Netflix in Australia and New Zealand

Controversial: In the past, those shows raised questions about racial discrimination as several of the characters were portrayed in blackface and brownface. On Angry Boys, he portrayed African-American rapper S.mouse (pictured) and performed a song called Squashed N****

In Jonah from Tonga, he painted his face brown and wore a curly wig to portray troubled teen Jonah Takalua.

In We Can Be Heroes, Chris played Chinese physics student Ricky Wong.

Despite the removal of four of his shows, Chris will still have two series available on Netflix, Ja'mie: Private School Girl and Lunatics, in which he dons brownface to play 'dog whisperer' Jana Melhoopen-Jonks.

Raising questions: For Jonah from Tonga, he painted his face brown and wore a curly wig to portray troubled teen Jonah Takalua (centre)

Still streaming: Despite the removal of four of his shows, Chris will still have a couple of series available on Netflix, including Ja'mie: Private School Girl (pictured)

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Princess Pictures, which produced the shows for the ABC, for comment.

Chris has previously defended his style of comedy. Last year he told The Weekend Australian: 'I'm not trying to do the thing that is trendy at the moment.'

The award-winning comedian went on to say he would continue making 'clever, layered' characters.

Defending his controversial portrayals, he added: 'When you meet them, you think "I know that type of person", but then there is a twist, something crazy.

'[In] the end you think, "Actually, I kinda relate to this, she just did that thing that I do everyday."'

Available: Lunatics, in which he dons brownface to play 'dog whisperer' Jana Melhoopen-Jonks (pictured), will also still be available on Netflix
The death of George Floyd on May 25 was horrific, an obvious abuse of power by the Minneapolis police officer and three colleagues who made no attempt to come to Floyd's aid. The next day, the rioting began in Minneapolis. It was violent, destructive, and murderous. Tragically, the death of this one man at the hands of one particular bad cop became an opportunity for the demolition of the city. Hundreds of small businesses, many of them minority-owned, were destroyed.

Like previous riots, the rioters have set their own communities back decades. The riots spread to New York; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Chicago; Santa Monica; Beverly Hills; and elsewhere. There have been protests in nearly every other city in America. Hundreds of millions of dollars in losses due to looting and damage to buildings have been incurred.

The crisis has devolved into more destruction of historical statues; Columbus has been executed over and over again. In nearly all cases, the police have been ordered to let the rioters have their way; they were not allowed to do their job.

Nearly all the rioting took place in cities chronically and badly run by Democrats, public officials who have for years implemented every misguided progressive policy known to man. They are all destined to fail. As Dov Fischer wrote, "Systemic Racism and Bigotry Are the Lifeblood of the Left." These riots tell the story.

The question is, where on Earth are the Republicans? Why has there been no press conference with every Republican in the House and Senate standing together to denounce all this violence? To passionately defend our police? They know damn well that Chauvin is an outlier, a bad cop who has kept his job because his Democrat-run city kept him despite his abusive tendencies.

Would any of these Republicans put up with their own children behaving in such a manner? Of course not. Every Republican knows that when you permit bad behavior, you get more of it  lots more of it. A small child wants to find out where the limits are. The same is likely true with these perps. Let them act out day after day, and they will escalate, as they have in Seattle. Governor Inslee is a fool, as is Mayor Garcetti of Los Angeles.

The thugs in Seattle who have taken over a seven-block section of downtown, which includes a police precinct, are armed and dangerous. They are extorting the businesses within their "autonomous zone." No one is stopping them. The mob has taken over. They have made the mayors of these cities cower in the corners of their mansions. There is not a courageous one among them. They are all yielding to the lowest common denominators, the thugs. Where are our law-and-order Republicans brave enough to name what we are seeing unfold: domestic terrorism?



YouTube screen grab (cropped).

Republicans know that nearly all of the people who go into law enforcement are good people. They are not racists; they do not mistreat the thousands of people with whom they come in contact every day, every week, every year. There will always be bad seeds who need to be culled. And yet the Republicans are not speaking up for the hundreds of thousands of good cops. Why? Are they, like the boarded up businesses who spray-paint "black lives matter" on those boards, afraid of these goons showing up at their own homes? Perhaps.

The rioters have an army of allies who are in charge of destroying those who condemn their actions or fail to support them on social media. It is not a reach to assume they have members willing to go to the homes of any Republican brave enough to call out these miscreants. But if you run for office to represent a body of constituents, your supporters have a right to assume that you will stand and deliver when support and protection are needed.

All the Democrats in the affected cities have failed the test, but to their everlasting shame, so have all the Republicans. Not one has spoken out and demanded that every governor and mayor take charge of his city and allow the police to do their jobs. Tom Cotton was vilified by the left for his suggestion in a New York Times op-ed that the military should be called in to quell the violence, even though a majority of Americans support his view. And when Trump briefly brought the National Guard into D.C. to defend against particularly violent protesters, he was condemned by the media and many Democrats.

The Democrats are fomenting this violence, and the Republicans are doing nothing about it. If they think all this leftist violence will serve them well in November, they may well be right. There is a silent majority that is silently outraged by what it is seeing: submission. But even that political calculation reeks of cowardice.

Why is President Trump always alone in saying what needs to be said? And when he says what needs to be said, he is viciously attacked by the Democrats and the media who, like Pavlov's dog, consider any word he says as an opportunity for slander. And the Republicans do not come to his defense.

At the moment there is no Republican but Sen. Cotton who has won or even kept the respect or support of his or her constituents. They have all made common cause with their Democrat counterparts. They are letting Antifa and Black Lives Matter, both of which are Soros-funded terrorist groups, have their way with all of us, and it is disgusting. They are not out there defending our police without whom we cannot exist. They know this! They are all -- all of our elected officials except Trump -- capitulating to violent actors who will think nothing of killing indiscriminately next. Antifa and BLM are just a step away from adopting the tactics of the drug cartels of Mexico and the Palestinian jihadis. One small step.

Senators McConnell, Cruz, Scott, Lee, Rubio, et al. Where are you? Congressmen Nunes, Johnson, McCarthy, Gaetz, Jordan, et al., all you good guys, where are you now when we need you to stand up for our values, our safety, our property?

This is not about race. The people who have taken over that section of Seattle claim to represent BLM but are mostly white social justice warriors embracing the violence. This is about civil society. Do we keep it or let it devolve into madness? Do read Jeremy Carl's column on capitulation and cowardice.
The Nigerian senate has denied directing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate former governor of Akwa Ibom and now Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who disowned the letter in which the senate purportedly directed the anti-graft to probe Akpabio over financial improprieties at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), called on security agencies to fish out mischief makers.

He said in a statement released on Wednesday June 10;

My attention has been drawn to a forged letter dated 7th May, 2020, purported to emanate from my office, addressed to the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The letter fraudulently indicates that His Excellency, the Deputy President of the Senate had directed the Clerk of the Senate to petition the Hon. Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and one Mr. Scott Ikott Tommey on allegations bordering on alleged corruption at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The Office of the Deputy President of the Senate, has already responded to the false publication and fraudulent petition.

I completely agree with the submission of the Deputy President of the Senate that the publication is false, fake, malicious, mischievous and vexatious.

In addition, the general public and all concerned are hereby invited to note as follows:-

That at no time did the Deputy Senate President, His Excellency, Senator Augustine Ovie Omo-Agege, request me to forward any petition to any Agency of government;

That at no time did the Office of the Clerk, Senate issue or caused to be issued, a petition seeking the monitoring and investigation of the Hon. Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, His Excellency, Senator Godswill Akpabio or any person for that matter;

That the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has channels for addressing public petitions.

In this instant case, no petition on the subject matter is before the Senate and therefore, no Resolution could have been taken in this regard;

That the letterhead used by the mischief maker(s) is different from the one in use in my Office as the reference number NASS/CS/99/R/21/19 on the forged letter is not an aspect of our filing index; and the style, syntax and word fonts employed by the mischief maker(s) in their correspondence varies from our in-house standard.

Accordingly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as the general public are hereby advised to disregard this discredited petition.

In addition, Security Agencies are enjoined to investigate the source of this forgery.
Cabinet signs memorandum with investors in green energy

13:40, 11.06.20 263

Ukrainian authorities assume the commitment to fix and approve annual quotas in support of green energy and ensure that auctions are held to distribute such quotas.
BlackRock Throgmorton Trust plc

(LEI: 5493003B7ETS1JEDPF59)



11 June 2020

Update research from QuotedData - Separating the wheat from the chaff

COVID-19-related falls in markets have weighed on BlackRock Throgmorton Trust (THRG), although it has held up well relative to both its peer group and its benchmark. Its manager sees this as a defining moment for investors - one that could set the stage for many years to come.

Identifying industry change, investing in tomorrow's winners and shorting unsustainable business models are core parts of THRG manager Dan Whitestone's investment process. He believes that the economic disruption associated with measures to control the virus will accelerate the pace of change in many industries. Good stock selection will be paramount to future returns.

THRG aims to provide shareholders with capital growth and an attractive total return by investing primarily in UK smaller companies and mid-capitalisation companies traded on the London Stock Exchange. It uses the Numis Smaller Companies Index (plus AIM stocks but excluding investment companies) as a benchmark for performance purposes, but the index does not influence portfolio construction. Uniquely among listed UK smaller companies trusts, THRG's portfolio may include a meaningful allocation to short as well as long positions in stocks.

Full research:

https://quoteddata.com/research/blackrock-throgmorton-trust-separating-wheat-chaff-2/

This research is also available free on QuotedData's website www.quoteddata.com where you will also find news, performance data and factsheets on every London listed Investment Company. QuotedData writes and distributes research on a number of quoted companies, facilitates meetings between those companies and existing and potential investors and assists in raising additional capital where required.

NB: Marten & Co was paid to produce this note on BlackRock Throgmorton Trust plc and it is for information purposes only. It is not intended to encourage the reader to deal in the security or securities mentioned in this report. Please read the important information at the back of this note. QuotedData is a trading name of Marten & Co Limited which is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Marten & Co is not permitted to provide investment advice to individual investors categorised as Retail Clients under the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority.

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The man who worked at the same club as George Floyd and white cop Derek Chauvin and claimed the two 'bumped heads' is walking back his story.

David Pinney claimed Floyd and Chauvin knew each other 'pretty well' and didnt get along because Chauvin was 'extremely aggressive within the club', in parts of an CBS News interview aired Tuesday.

But on Wednesday he told CBS News he had confused Floyd for another unnamed African American employee.

'There has been a mix up between George and another fellow co-worker,' he said.

'I apologize for not doing my due diligence and placing you in a very uncomfortable situation,' he said.

He had been connected to the news network through Maya Santamaria, the former owner of the club El Nuevo Rodeo, where Floyd and Chauvin worked part-time security.

Scroll down for video

David Pinney (above), who used to work at the same club as George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, is walking back on his claims that the two 'bumped heads' while working security together

Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white cop who has since been arrested, was seen in footage kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as the victim repeatedly said he could not breathe (incident pictured)

Pinney initially claimed that the two men knew each other 'pretty well' and that Chauvin likely knew who Floyd (pictured) was when he arrested him on May 25

'She specifically said she was unable to give detailed information about George because she did not have a close relationship with him as I did,' Pinney said.

The death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was killed by white cop Chauvin who dug his knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis, has sparked worldwide outrage against racism and police brutality.

On June 6 Pinney spoke in a 50-minute-long videotaped interview with CBS News describing interactions between Floyd and Chauvin.

When asked, 'Is there any doubt in your mind that Derek Chauvin knew George Floyd?' Pinney replied, 'No. He knew him.'

Maya Santamaria (above) said Chauvin worked as an off-duty police officer for 17 years

When CBS interviewed Santamaria, she explained that she believed Chauvin was 'afraid and intimidated' by black people in general. Her club El Nuevo Rodeo is pictured

'How well did he know him?' a CBS reporter asked.

'I would say pretty well,' Pinney replied.

Pinney said he worked with Floyd for about five or six months in late 2015 and early 2016.

'I knew George on a work basis. We were pretty close. When it came to our security positions, he was in charge and I worked directly below him as a security adviser.'

Pinney claimed Floyd didn't want to work with Chauvin because of his aggression.

'He always showed aggression to, you know, George. So George, to keep it professional, George had me intervene and  interface with him instead of himself, just to be  just to get away from the conflict and keep it professional,' he said in the Tuesday interview.

The club's owner, Maya Santamaria, confirmed last month that the two men worked security at the establishment.

When CBS interviewed Santamaria, she explained that she believed Chauvin was 'afraid and intimidated' by black people in general.

According to Santamaria, Chauvin had a tendency to flash his temper and overreact to situations.

'He sometimes had a real short fuse and he seemed afraid,' she said.

'When there was an altercation he always resorted to pulling out his mace and pepper spraying everybody right away, even if I felt it was unwarranted.'

The embattled cop, 44, was said to be ironing out the details of the deal four days after Floyds death on Memorial Day and one day before he was arrested

In the investigation into Floyds death cops are looking to see if Floyd and Chauvin knew each other and what the relationship was.

The Floyd family claims Floyds death on May 25 was in part a personal matter.

Their lawyer had previously called for Chauvin to be charged with first-degree murder 'because we believe he knew who George Floyd was'.

Chauvin was charged with second degree murder last month. He was reportedly negotiating with prosecutors over a possible guilty plea deal in the days leading up to his arrest.

J Alexander Kueng, 26, of Plymouth; Thomas Lane, 37, of St Paul; and Tou Thao, 34, of Coon Rapids, appeared in Hennepin County District Court on June 4.

They are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder  unintentional  while committing a felony and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk.

Bail for all three was set at $1 million. Thao's attorney made little objection.

But attorneys for Kueng and Lane kicked back at this and the charges leveled against their clients arguing that both were rookies - Kueng was on his third shift and Lane was just four days on the force  who had no sway over Chauvin, a far more senior officer.
Personal information of police officers in departments nationwide is being leaked online amid tense interactions at demonstrations across the US over the police custody death of George Floyd and others, according to an unclassified intelligence document from the US Department of Homeland Security, obtained by The Associated Press.

The document warns that the effort, known as "doxxing", could lead to attacks by "violent opportunists or domestic violent extremists" or could prevent law enforcement officials from carrying out their duties.

Multiple high-ranking police officials in a number of cities, including Washington, Atlanta, Boston and New York have had their personal information shared on social media, including their home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, the report warns.

"At least one of the police commissioners was targeted for his alleged support of the use of tear gas to disperse protests," it says.

Police officials nationwide have spoken out lately saying they feel caught in the middle of trying to stop violent protests, and feel abandoned by lawmakers in the demand for police reform. Some have said they fear for their lives.

"Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect! We've been vilified. It's disgusting," New York State police union official Mike O'Meara said as lawmakers in New York State repealed a law known as Section 50-a that keeps police records secret.

But the demonstrations around the country have centered on the police use of excessive force in the killings of minorities. George Floyd, whose funeral was Tuesday, cried out that he couldn't breathe as a white officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into the man's neck.

Floyd's death, caught on video, sparked widespread demonstrations and the debate over force.

The same words were used by Eric Garner in 2014 after he was placed in a choke-hold by police and later died.

Federal officials also identified posts that include specific personal information of several law enforcement officers in Kentucky and their family members, and included a link to a website that contained their full names, the names of their family members, home addresses, specific information about the vehicles they drive and online account login information, the report says.

A 26-year-old EMT, Breonna Taylor was killed by police who had served a no-knock search warrant at her Kentucky home on March 13 as part a of drug investigation. She was not the suspect they were seeking.

The personal information of another officer from San Jose, California, and his family was also posted online in a post that called for others to "do with this information what you will," the report said.

It is not illegal to post the personal information of law enforcement officers online, though many social media companies specifically prohibit its sharing as part of their terms of service.

The report warns that some of the information may be coming from officers' compromised email and other accounts, but some of the information may be from publicly available databases based on public records and social media sites.

Officers are being encouraged to increase their security settings on their accounts, like using multi-factor email authentication and strong passwords. The report also suggests avoid taking online quizzes or games that elicit personal information, to be wary of suspicious emails and not to post phone numbers online.

The report says the Department of Homeland security has "medium confidence that cyber actors will possibly continue to target law enforcement officers" with doxxing tactics "to undermine law enforcement's response to ongoing lawful protests."
Australias scenic Bluff Knoll trail was nearly destroyed by the bushfires that wiped out almost half of Stirling Range National Park. But the hike has now reopened and visitors can once again catch a 360-degree view of the park from Bluff Knoll after four months of repairs.

I am pleased that people can now walk Bluff Knoll and I encourage them to strongly support the surrounding operators as well as businesses in the broader region, Albany MLA Peter Watson told Australian Leisure Management.

Getting Bluff Knoll back in shape required removing 11 tons of trash and importing 55 tons of new materials.

Its been a long process theyve been going for three months already and weve got another month to go, Peter Hartley, biodiversity and wildlife service manager told the Associated Press. Its hard labor-intensive work.

Contractors added more steps along the trail and installed a new bridge. The modifications make the hike less strenuous and more family-friendly. The renovations, funded by a grant from the Federal Governments Australian Heritage Grants, cost $140,000.

It gives people a chance to walk up there, take in the view and if they dont want to carry on the summit they can turn around and walk back again, Hartley told the Associated Press.

The trek to the summit usually attracts 60,000 annual visitors. Bluff Knoll officially reopened to visitors on May 22.

If you liked this story, check out In The Knows article on the man who spent his life savings on a California ghost town.

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The post Australias scenic mountain trail reopens after wildfires nearly destroyed it appeared first on In The Know.
Microsoft Azure Expansion Enables Customers to Uphold Data Residency Needs as They Deliver Training with LMS365 Platform

AARHUS, Denmark, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- LMS365, provider of the only learning platform built into Microsoft 365 and Teams, announced today that it's deploying new data centres in rapidly growing markets in the UK and Germany. These new Microsoft Azure data centres will enable LMS365 to provide a learning platform that supports the data and compliance requirements within the local regions.

Click to Tweet: @lms365 Deploys New Data Centres in the UK and Germany to Support Data Governance Requirements: https://tinyurl.com/yagrbycj digitallearning

As businesses throughout Germany and the UK adopt cloud technology and shift to remote work environments, they're also grappling with a changing regulatory framework that includes GDPR and in-country data residency standards. German organizations, in particular, are intensifying their focus on data governance as the pandemic accelerates digitization efforts. LMS365's data centre expansion enables organizations and government institutions to uphold data sovereignty by keeping data within their legal basis as they provide training, learning and onboarding to employees.

New customers can choose to deploy LMS365 from these additional regional data centres and existing customers will be relocated by request.

LMS365 now delivers its award-winning learning platform from seven regional Microsoft Azure data centres in Northern Europe, Central US, Central Canada, Eastern Japan, Eastern Australia, Germany and the UK.

Robert Nederby, managing director of DACH, LMS365, said: "COVID-19 put high pressure on companies to support remote working. At the same time, German businesses across industries are fast-tracking their cloud and digitization journeys. This has raised discussions of data protection and unprecedented demand for trusted cloud infrastructures like Microsoft 365, Teams and Azure. This expansion helps us deliver on our continued commitment to serve our fast-growing customer base of +200 customers in UK and DACH, and to elevate their businesses through the transformative capabilities of the LMS365 platform."

Travis Campbell, senior business manager, LMS365, said: "Brexit and GDPR have placed a new focus on data governance and security for organizations across Europe. It's important for us that customers can choose our platform without having to worry about legal constraints. Providing these new data centers is key to supporting our expanding customer base as they rely on LMS365 to successfully implement remote learning and learning in the flow of work via Microsoft 365 and Teams."

About LMS365:

LMS365 has 700+ enterprise and public customers with over 4 million users. 50+ trusted partners have implemented the solution in more than 40 countries, with customers in all sectors, and deployments ranging from a few hundred employees to 50,000+ employees. LMS365, a Microsoft Preferred Solution, is one of the fastest-growing cloud-based Learning Management Solutions in the market today. LMS365 provides a modern, integrated, and familiar learning experience as learning is now made possible within Microsoft Teams, Mobile and SharePoint Online. LMS365 is fast to install, highly configurable, easy to use and fully integrated with the rest of your digital workplace, including Microsoft 365, SharePoint & Teams. Website: LMS365.com

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Connecticut is facing monumental issues relating both to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and anti-racism protests that have sprung up around the nation in recent weeks. But its government has been operating mostly by necessity as a one-person show, with the Legislature sidelined and the governor issuing a series of executive orders related to the shutdown and current reopening of state businesses.

That is due to change. Lawmakers, whose regular session ended last month, are calling to reconvene in a special session this summer to take on some of the days biggest issues, including preparations for the fall elections in the midst of a possible second wave of the coronavirus, as well as police accountability. Both are deserving of elected officials full attention.

Gov. Ned Lamont has been initially supportive of measures on both issues, particularly allowing for no-excuses absentee ballots in November as well as in primaries slated for the end of the summer. He has also seized on the issue of police reform, saying the state must work together now to enact measures that will ensure our communities of color feel safe and have confidence that law enforcement and our criminal justice system as a whole treat all of our citizens fairly and equally.

But its not so simple. Lamont says he will not call for a special session unless he and a majority of lawmakers can first come to an agreement on both issues that could then be officially approved at the session. Once we have agreed upon a package that has sufficient support in both chambers, I will issue a call for a special session that is tailored to specifically address that legislation, Lamont wrote. I will not issue a call for a special session until or unless that happens, however.

Theres no question of the importance of both issues. A disastrous primary day in Georgia this week, and one earlier in the year in Wisconsin, shows what can happen to traditional Election Days in the time of a pandemic. It cant be allowed to happen here. Lamont says he does not have authority to issue another executive order pertaining to the November election, so it must come from the Legislature. That much of a basic agreement should be enough reason to call the special session.

Then there is police accountability. While Lamont is saying the right words, this is an issue that cries out for public debate of the kind that should take place in a public session of the state Legislature. It does not call for a prearranged agreement between top officials that would then be approved in a pro-forma session. For one thing, such a move would shut out the minority party completely, when the moment calls for open dialogue and healthy give and take.

Lamont has done well in leading the state through an emergency, but the time has come for the next step. That necessarily involves a more active role for state legislators to do the jobs they were elected to do. And when the Legislature meets, it should debate in public the major issues of the day. Anything else is subverting the peoples right to know what their government is doing.
GREENWICH  James Fahy, a retired Greenwich police officer who was awarded numerous commendations for bravery after a shoot-out with armed robbery suspects on I-95 in 1974, died Wednesday. He was 82.

Fahy was a longtime Cos Cob resident and a 23-year veteran of the department who retired with the rank of lieutenant in 1991, according to Greenwich Police Department.

In the incident on I-95, at least a dozen shots were fired at the old toll both near Exit 4, and when the firing stopped, two suspects had been killed by Fahy and a Connecticut state trooper, and a third was seriously wounded. Fahy was credited for his quick action and proficient marksmanship in the deadly shooting.

/ GPD

It began on the afternoon of Sept. 24, 1974, when a trio of armed robbers from Brooklyn, N.Y., entered the home of Darien family who were holding a memorial service for their deceased father.

The mourners were robbed at gunpoint, and after the suspects had fled, police put out a description of the vehicle used by the perpetrators, a white Cadillac. The trooper stopped and approached the vehicle on I-95 in Greenwich, and Fahy arrived a short time later. One of the suspects began firing with a rifle and another with a pistol, according to media accounts from the period. The exchange of gunfire was over in less than a minute.

Fahy remains the only recipient of the Greenwich Police Departments Medal of Honor. He also received national and state commendations. He was awarded the John Clarke Officer of the Year Award in 1974.

But he remained modest about his actions during the armed confrontation.

It was just one of those things that happens, he told Greenwich Time when he retired in August 1991.

He was born in New York City on Dec. 23, 1937. He graduated from All Hallows High School in the Bronx, N.Y., and earned an associates degree from Norwalk Community College, a bachelors degree from Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., and a masters degree in public administration from the University of New Haven.

Before becoming a Greenwich police officer, Fahy served as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force from 1955 to 1968, and he continued as a sergeant first class in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Fahy was as a town constable in Greenwich after retiring from the police department, serving legal papers.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen.
In a recent incident, a statue of Christopher Columbus in Boston was beheaded, the police said on Wednesday.

IMAGE: A man photographs a statue of Christopher Columbus, which had the head pulled off overnight, amid protests against racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd in Boston, Massachusetts. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

There have been three reports of Christopher Columbus statues being tampered with -- one thrown into a lake, one beheaded, and another pulled to the ground, CNN reported.

At the Minnesota State Capitol on Wednesday, a group of people at a rally tossed a rope around a statue of Columbus and tugged it to the ground, CNN affiliate KMSP reported.

Columbus has long been a contentious figure in history for his treatment of the indigenous communities he encountered and for his role in the violent colonisation at their expense.

In recent years, many cities and states have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day, in recognition of the pain and terror caused by Columbus and other European explorers.

IMAGE: The head of a statue of Christopher Columbus was pulled off overnight amid protests against racial inequality in Boston, Massachusetts. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Some demonstrators have said they targeted Columbus statues to stand in solidarity with indigenous people.

As racial reckoning occurs across the United States following the death of George Floyd, many Confederate statues -- which some consider racist symbols of America's dark legacy of slavery -- have been removed.

The incidents come as pressure builds in the United States to rid the country of monuments associated with racism following massive demonstrations over the killing of Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis last month.
The Defense Department has been conducting a worldwide review of U.S. troop deployments, including a review of forces in Europe, but that was not connected to the White Houses actions. Some officials believe former U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell is behind the Germany idea, a parting shot to his former Berlin hosts. Some think the leak was meant to catch Trumps attention so he would sign off on the plan. Some think it was a trial balloon, floated so it could be popped by the predictable GOP outrage.
Donald Trump and his attorney general William Barr, among the president's other Republican allies and members of the administration, have repeatedly blamed so-called members of "Antifa" for recent protest violence in the wake of the police killings of black Americans.

But federal prosecutors have not linked any protest arrests for federal crimes to the loosely organised group of antifascist demonstrators that the administration has argued are staging a coordinated campaign to incite violence.

The term does not appear in any of the more than 50 arrest records and charging documents from more than a dozen states reviewed by The New York Times, NPR, Reuters and The Independent, among others.

Only one "extremist" group has been named by prosecutors in cases related to demonstrations: three men arrested during Black Lives Matter protests in Nevada are allegedly linked to the far-right "Boogaloo" conspiracy to incite a civil war.

The suspects allegedly armed themselves and wore bulletproof vests before walking into a Las Vegas crowd and provoking nearby police officers, according to US District Court filings. They were arrested on 30 May after preparing Molotov cocktails, prosecutors allege. The men have denied the charges.

Prosecutors have sought a number of charges against other demonstrators, many charged with nonviolent offences and questioned about their ideologies and political leanings, following protests against police violence and racism after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis and the deaths of other black Americans across the US.

New York Police Department intelligence chief John Miller told reporters that "anarchist groups" had organised into the city to "commit property damage" at corporate chain stores as the city's business centre saw looting amid protests.

But none of the eight people charged by federal prosecutors in New York have any reported ties to anarchist groups, according to court filings.

On Monday, Attorney General Barr told Fox News that "focused investigations" are underway into Antifa, which he says is among a "witches' brew of extremist groups that are trying to exploit this situation on all sides."

Mr Barr had previously announced that the "violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly".

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28/30 Atlanta AP

29/30 White House, Washington AFP via Getty

30/30 White House, Washington AFP via Getty

But the attorney general has broadly defined extremist violence by pointing to antifa specifically, without addressing far-right threats and violence. Antifa, encompassing a broad spectrum of the left,

Mr Trump has also threatened to designate antifa as a terrorist organisation, though the American Civil Liberties Union argues he has "no legal authority" to do so.

Hina Shamsi, national security project director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the president's message "demonstrates ... terrorism is an inherently political label, easily abused and misused".

"There is no legal authority for designating a domestic group," she said. 'Any such designation would raise significant due process and First Amendment concerns."

Reports from the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security meanwhile appear to undermine the administration's claims, according to intelligence documents that argue that "based upon current information, we assess the greatest threat of lethal violence continues to emanate from lone offenders with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist ideologies and [domestic violent extremists] with personalised ideologies."

During sworn congressional testimony, FBI director Christopher Wray said the bureau considers "Antifa" to be "more of an ideology than an organisation" and that the agency investigates violence, not ideologies.

In February, the FBI director told the House Judiciary Committee that far-right domestic violent extremism has risen to a "national threat priority" for 2020, posing a "steady threat of violence and economic harm" to the US while its underlying drivers  including "perceptions of government or law enforcement overreach, socio-political conditions, racism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia, and reactions to legislative actions"  persist.

Mr Wray said the FBI is "most concerned about lone offender attacks" which have "served as the dominant lethal mode" for domestic terror incidents.

Recommended What black organisers want white protesters to be doing right now

In a now-deleted post on Twitter, the White House said, without evidence, that "Antifa and professional anarchists are invading our communities, staging bricks and weapons to instigate violence. These are acts of domestic terror."

On Tuesday, the president  who has been reluctant to condemn right-wing and fascist violence in the US  echoed right-wing conspiracy theorists by calling a 75-year-old protester in Buffalo, New York, who was pushed to the ground by police and hospitalised in critical condition, an "Antifa provocateur".

Antifa has become a frequent target of cable news and conservative media and the subject of conspiracies scattered across social media, rousing armed Americans to travel to peaceful demonstrations and prepare for violence.

Hundreds of people equipped with military gear and armed rifles and shotguns have appeared in smaller, rural areas as counter-protests to marches and protests against police violence.

Critics of the administration and the media's focus on leftist demonstrators argued that the attention paid to them dismisses the violence committed by police at protests as well as the purpose of the protests in the first place.

William C Anderson, co-author of As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation, wrote on Twitter: "Focus anger and frustration on the people in power doing the killing and the oppressing. Don't believe all this nonsense about anarchists, especially if you don't even know what anarchism actually is."
What happened

After a brief rally Latin American airlines are now back on the descent, as growing fears of a second wave of the pandemic are outweighing optimism that the worst of the initial wave is now behind us.

Shares of Brazilian airline Azul (NYSE:AZUL) are down more than 20% heading into the close, with shares of domestic rival Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (NYSE:GOL) off 16%. Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA) of Panama was down 11%, as was Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC).

So what

COVID-19 has hit the global airline business hard, pushing travel demand down to near-zero and forcing airlines to scramble to cut costs, raise cash, and ride out the storm. Latin American airlines have been hit particularly hard because of their reliance on international travel, which has fallen more than domestic demand and is likely to be complicated for months to come as different nations impose different restrictions.

Two large Latin American airlines, Latam Airlines Group of Chile and Avianca Holdings of Colombia, have filed for bankruptcy protection. And for a while investors assumed it was inevitable for others as well. Gol, Azul, and Copa shares all lost more than 70% of their value between mid-February and mid-March.

Just as in the U.S., parts of South America are beginning to reopen. Shares of both Gol and Azul doubled in the first week of June on news that Brazil's Rio de Janeiro was allowing restaurants and tourist destinations to reopen. Copa, which has been the steadiest of all Latin American airline stocks through the crisis thanks to its relatively pristine balance sheet, has also gotten a lift in recent days.

Similarly, Grupo Aeroportuario owns and operates a number of airports in Mexico and Jamaica and relies on aircraft volumes for its revenue. The company, whose shares have held up slightly better than the airlines, is well-positioned to survive the downturn, but there is little chance revenue and earnings can soar absent an aviation recovery.

Over the past several days investors have switched their focus away from what is beginning to go right for airlines back to what could go wrong, homing in on data that suggests cases are on the rise in many U.S. tourist-focused states. New cases are also on the rise in Brazil, Mexico, and elsewhere in Latin America, and with them comes added risk.

As these stocks trade on the U.S. exchange, they tend to be influenced by U.S. investor sentiment toward airlines. On Thursday, a bad day for the broader markets, that sentiment led to a sell-off in airline stocks.

Now what

These stocks have taken investors on a turbulent ride so far this year, and even as sentiment was improving off of the lows, there was reason to worry if the rally was sustainable. A pandemic is hard to predict, and until we know exactly how and when the outbreak is contained, and whether there is a second wave, it'is impossible to say for sure whether any airline has enough cash in the bank to survive.

Investors with a high risk tolerance who are interested in buying in and hoping for the best should limit themselves to a small portion of their overall portfolio, and watch balance sheets carefully. Among the airline stocks discussed here, I think Copa, with net debt totaling just 1.66 times EBITDA, is a better bet than Gol (21.4 times) or Azul (15.6 times).
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  June 10, 2020  Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Volkswagen AG VWAGY, Toyota TM, Nissan NSANY and Honda HMC.

Here are highlights from Tuesdays Analyst Blog:

Japan Auto Sales in Free-Fall: No Recovery in Sight

Japans auto market slump persists, as is evident from the latest data from the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. Auto sales in May declined almost 45% year over year to 218,285 units, representing the eight consecutive month of decline. As we know, auto sales for April fell 29% year over year to 270,393 units, marking a nine-year low level amid coronavirus woes. In May, the Japanese auto market worsened further.

Diving Into the Dismal Sales Numbers

Sales of minivehicles tanked 52.7% year over year to 70,307 units in May, which marks the sharpest year-over-year fall since 1968. Sales of cars, trucks and buses fell 40.2% year over year to 147,978 units during the month. This represents the second lowest volume since 1968.

Imported vehicle sales for May fell nearly 46% from a year ago to 12,554 units. Mercedes-Benz sales declined 41% year over year to 2,694 units. Sales of BMW dropped 53.9% to 1,706 units. Volkswagen AGs Audi sales were down 45.7% year over year to 1,072 units in May and that of its namesake brand slid 57.4% to 1,605 units.

Auto sales in Japan during January to May 2020 declined 19.2% to 1,860,404 units from the corresponding period of 2019. During the first five months of 2020, passenger car, truck and bus sales fell 19.6%, 17.2% and 16% to 1,542,089, 313,021 and 5,294 units, respectively. Minivehicles registered the maximum decline of 21.2%, with sales plummeting to 675,567 units during the same period. Vehicle imports during the January to May 2020 period dropped 20.9% from the corresponding period of 2019 to 93,300 units.

Story continues

Whats Behind the Dull Show?

The coronavirus outbreak has crashed Japans auto market, with depressed demand and restricted business at dealerships. With COVID-19-induced shelter-in-place orders since April, factories and stores were temporarily shuttered and demand pummeled. Japan-based auto biggies including Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Suzuki, Mazda and Mitsubishi resorted to significant production cuts in the wake of coronavirus induced-low demand.

Prior to the virus eruption, the market was bearing the brunt of consumption tax increase. Last October, the government raised the general sales tax from 8% to 10%. Resultantly, sales volume increased 12.9% in September as customers wanted to avoid the hike. Since October, sales have been on a decline.

Timing has also been an issue. The governments stay-at-home orders coincided with the spring Golden Week holiday in late April to early May, in turn resulting in lost revenues. While businesses seem to gain from these holidays, the state of emergency and lockdown restrictions during the period adversely impacted vehicle sales.

It should also be noted that even before the virus outbreak, millennials in Japan had been showing lesser interest to purchase cars. They seem to be more attracted to ride-sharing options instead.

And of course, weak consumer confidence amid a sluggish economy is a major dampener. Notably, the nations economy contracted an annualized 2.2% in the January to March period, which followed a 7.3% plunge in the final quarter of 2019, the sharpest fall in more than five years. As it is, Japans economy was getting stagnant and the coronavirus outbreak added to the woes. Data released by the government last month indicated that Japan had entered into a recession in first-quarter 2020 for the first time in 4.5 years amid sales hike, COVID-19 impacts and the U.S.-China trade tiff. Various economic parameters including private consumption, capital expenditure, private residential investment, exports, imports, factory output and job figures witnessed a decline in April.

How Did Japans Big 3 Automakers Fare Amid COVID-19 Crisis?

Japans woes have put the auto bigwigs of the nation in a tight spot. During the first five months of 2020, sales of Toyota, Honda and Nissan declined 12.6%, 21.2% and 24.8%, respectively. While Honda and Toyota carry a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), Nissan holds a Rank #4 (Sell). On a year-to-date basis, shares of Toyota, Nissan and Honda have declined 6%, 0.8% and 22.1%, respectively.

You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Late last month, Nissan reported fiscal 2019 results (ended 31 Mar, 2020), wherein consolidated net revenues came in at 9,878.9 billion yen, down 14.6% year over year. The firm incurred net loss of 671.2 billion yen  its first annual loss since 2009. This marks the companys biggest loss in two decades. The downside was mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which marred its production, sales and other business activities across all regions. Nissan aims at reducing global production capacity by 20% and slash 20,000 jobs in a bid to survive the coronavirus crisis.

Toyota and Honda were also severely affected by the pandemic, which caused declines in sales and earnings across all major markets served. While in fourth-quarter fiscal 2020 (ended 31 Mar, 2020), Hondas revenues declined 13.6% year over year to $31,752 million, Toyota recorded consolidated revenues of $65,190.6 million, down 7.3% year over year. Toyota expects the coronavirus outbreak to deal a major blow to earnings and sales in fiscal 2021. It forecasts operating income to decline 79.5% year over year to 500 billion, which would mark the lowest profit in nine years. Meanwhile, Honda refrained from providing any dividend forecast and financial outlook for fiscal 2021 amid coronavirus-induced uncertainty and financial crisis.

Is There Any Ray of Hope?

With the pace of coronavirus infections slowing down, the state of emergency was lifted in stages toward the end of May. However, economic activities are yet to attain normalcy. The outlook for new vehicle sales still appears gloomy. Customer sentiment is not upbeat yet, as they are still putting off the purchase of big-ticket discretionary items like cars in anticipation of further economic slowdown.

With major COVID-19 impacts likely to be felt in the second quarter, Japan is bracing for the worst economic slump since the Second World War. While U.S. and European policymakers are now directing their thoughts on ways to boost growth, Japan is still focused on preventing a second wave of infection.

Japan needs to rev up stimulus measures for boosting sales. Improvement in the economy and consumer spending will be crucial for the auto sector to recover from the slump. Automakers are waiting with bated breath to witness a rebound in Japans auto market. Until then, they will have to resort to cost containment and other strategies to overcome the resultant challenges.

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The Hawaiian Islands are not only home to the most active volcanoes in the world, Kilauea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island, but also boast a unique natural environment. Born by volcanic activity of a very active hot spot in the middle of the Pacific Plate, they are a showcase of natural history.
The effect of the coronavirus pandemic on countries all around the world speaks to the destructive potential of the infection. The European Union had released its most criticizing accusation of the Chinese nation in the spread of false information about the COVID-19 virus.

On Wednesday, the EU accused China had purposely focused on spreading false information and conducted campaigns to mislead the bloc of the coronavirus.

Foreign actors

According to The New York Times, the bloc's executive arm, the European Commission, blamed "foreign actors" as well as third world countries including Russia and China for allegedly spearheading the campaigns.

The commission had previously accused Russia of the issue but adding China into the conversation is a significant development.

European Union officials caved into Beijing's pressure which led to diminished criticisms of the country. The report documented the methods that the governments utilized in spreading the false information relating to the coronavirus.

China gained the resentment of French politicians in mid-April when its embassy website claimed, at the peak of Europe's coronavirus pandemic, that medical workers gave up their jobs, leaving residents to lose their lives to the virus.

An unnamed Chinese diplomat also alleged that 80 of France's lawmakers were racist against Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

A European commission vice-president, Vera Jourova, believes that if one has sufficient proof, then there should be no reservations in making accusations. She also noted that they had seen an increase of narratives that undermine the country's actions against the coronavirus.

Also Read: Trump Says US Will Move to Support Hong Kong: Withdraws From WHO

She cited how pro-Russian, Chinese officials, and state media have spread claims that former Soviet republics are hiding US biological laboratories as an example of the alleged disinformation, as reported by The Guardian.

Jourova noted that assertiveness is the only way that a geopolitically powerful EU can materialize which emphasizes Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission's aim of leading the body into a global position.

Fighting disinformation

In the European Union's new report, however, it demanded social media platforms be stricter with their fact-checking and promote authoritative content and fight back against false information. It also stated that it would strengthen its capabilities in ensuring disinformation does not spread and raise any alarms.

Josep Borrell, the bloc's foreign policy chief, said that disinformation is deadly, especially in times of crisis. "We have a duty to protect our citizens by making them aware of false information and expose the actors responsible for engaging in such practices," he added.

The alleged campaigns by China gave EU members a difficult time in deciding how to best respond. The commission branded China as its "systemic rival" in a report from 2019 that several member states saw as a method in how the EU responds to the increasingly threatening government of Beijing.

The commission also shared their thoughts on Trump's responses and suggestions on how to treat the coronavirus where they noted the harmful side effects of the US president's outrageous ideas which include injecting bleach into yourself to treat the coronavirus.

Related Article: Europe Promises to Reopen Just in Time for Summer Despite Coronavirus Pandemic

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MEDFORD, N.J., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pinelands Recovery Center  a regional leader in evidence-based adult treatment of drug and alcohol addiction  has begun COVID-19 testing for all new clients entering its residential treatment facilities, located in Medford, NJ. The testing reinforces the health safety protocols and procedures already in place at the 30-bed center.

Under the new guidelines, each new client at the time of admission meets with a staff registered nurse, who collects a throat swab to determine active infection. The test is sent out to Ammon Labs of Linden, NJ for analysis. Most test results are received within 24 to 48 hours. While awaiting test results, the client is quarantined in a private room to ensure safety of everyone in the facility.

"Providing COVID testing to all new admissions has allowed our clients to safely continue focusing on their treatment goals. It is one of many safeguards we have put into place as we continue to work to provide a calm, therapeutic environment during this time of crisis," says Christian Losch, program director.

Pinelands Recovery Center, formerly known as Ambrosia Treatment Center, holds the highest accreditation from the Joint Commission, the same level of accreditation and certification as hospitals. However, treatment at Pinelands Recovery Center occurs in a comfortable, estate-style environment instead, located on 44 secluded acres in southern New Jersey.

The center was acquired last year by Discovery Behavioral Health, an expanding nationwide provider of mental health services.

About Pinelands Recovery Center

Pinelands Recovery Center of Medford is an evidence-based addiction treatment facility in New Jersey. Backed by a partnership with researchers at Rutgers University and hailed by media critics for highly successful results, the goal of Pinelands is to achieve long-term physical, mental, emotional and spiritual recovery. With 30-bed accommodations and a 24-hour professional staff, the center offers treatment in a comfortable, relaxing environment. For more information on Pinelands Recovery Center of Medford visit, www.pinelandsrecovery.com.

About Discovery Behavioral Health

Discovery Behavioral Health is a leading healthcare provider in the U.S. in the treatment of substance abuse, mental health and eating disorders, offering successful residential and outpatient evidence-based treatment of children, teens and adults. The company was established in 1998 and is headquartered in Orange County, California.

Press Contact:

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The government and unions have reached an agreement to support businesses through partial unemployment.

Although the health crisis has improved, the economic crisis persists. On Wednesday, the government announced that it will grant short-time working to businesses in financial difficulty since the exit from lockdown. These measures will be valid until the end of the year.

Above all, the government took into account companies and sectors that will take longer than others to recover from the coronavirus crisis. Industrial enterprises will continue to benefit from cyclical short-time, or partial unemployment, in order to help them react to upheaval in the international markets. Businesses benefiting from these measures must agree not to dismiss employees for economic reasons.

In addition to this, companies in the hospitality, tourism and event sectors will be able to benefit from accelerated access to short-time working from structural sources, without limiting the number of employees entitled to it. If necessary, these companies will be allowed to resort to economic redundancies, limited to 25% of their employees, until 31 December 2020. In the event of an economic upturn, they will agree to re-hire dismissed employees.

Companies affected by the crisis, other than industrial or vulnerable sectors, will also have access to short-time working, but will not be allowed to make redundancies, as the measure aims to preserve jobs as much as possible. The use of partial unemployment will be limited to 25% of the workforce in July and August, then 20% in September and October and finally 15% in November and December.

The partial unemployment scheme can only be granted if companies compile restructuring plans, such as recovery plans for small companies with less than 15 members of staff, or a job retention plan for companies with more employees.

The Economic Committee will be responsible for assessing the requests and the response to the measures.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 21:21:31|Editor: huaxia

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LAGOS, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government has approved stiffer penalties against rapists and child abusers as proposed by the ministry of women affairs, describing the upsurge in rape cases as embarrassing.

Pauline Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs, told reporters in Abuja at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday the government's decision to endorse the stiffer penalties against sex offenders following approval of a memo she presented during the meeting.

She said the council noted that there is an existing law already, the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPPA), 2015, and resolved to push for the domestication of the Act in states in order to ensure convicted rapists face deserved punishments for their actions.

Activists have been calling on Nigeria authorities to deal more effectively with rapists through the strict enforcement of existing laws and promulgation of tougher sanctions.

On June 5, a coalition of civil society organizations and human rights activists held peaceful protests in the Federal Capital Territory and Lagos demanding a state of emergency to be declared on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Nigeria.

The protest which took place at the police headquarters in both cities followed a perceived rise in the number of rape cases in Nigeria including the recent deaths of two rape victims. Enditem
A shamed daughter who splashed out on holidays and lingerie after stealing more than 80,000 from her elderly mother has been jailed for two years.

Karen Wakeling, 47, took the cash over ten years after being given power of attorney over her mother, Pat Cordon, who is aged in her 80s and has dementia.

Norwich Crown Court heard how she even used her mother's money to pay for her 40th birthday party at a hotel in Hunstanton, Norfolk.

The stolen cash was also used for a luxury car, beauty treatments, piercings, groceries, nights out, trips away with friends and to pay off credit card bills.

A shamed daughter who splashed out on holidays and lingerie after stealing more than 80,000 from her elderly mother has been jailed for two years. Karen Wakeling, 47, from Hunstanton, Norfolk, took the cash over ten years after being given power of attorney over her mother who is aged in her 80s and has dementia

Other amounts funded a Love Film subscription and her passion for shopping at Bravissimo which sells lingerie and swimwear 'for women with bigger boobs'.

Former Tesco worker Wakeling denied fraud between October 2009 and June 2019, but a jury took just over an hour to find her guilty following a trial in January.

Judge Anthony Bate jailed her at a Skype hearing for the 'substantial fraud' which he said justified immediate imprisonment as it was so serious.

He told her that she had 'perpetuated over a number of years a sustained, dishonest breach of trust and treated your mother's bank account as your own to spend on yourself'.

Former Tesco worker Wakeling denied fraud between October 2009 and June 2019

Chris Youell, prosecuting, said Wakeling of Hunstanton had been meant to look after her mother's finances.

But he said during her trial: 'She abused her position of having power of attorney and spent the money for her own benefit, not for her mother.'

Mr Youell said there was a big gap in what was being withdrawn from the account and what was being spent on her mother, who was the widow of a retired firefighter.

He added: 'A lot of the detail in this case has been taken from the bank accounts. It is all there in black and white.'

Mr Youell said payments were going directly from the mother's account to pay Wakeling's credit card bills.

He added: 'Essentially they were being paid off from her mother's bank account. She was misappropriating large sums of money.'

Wakeling was a regular visitor to the Lodge Hotel, in Hunstanton, where she held her 40th birthday party.

Mr Youell added: 'Her mother was not invited but ended up paying for it.'

Wakeling's brother moved in to help look after his mother in 2014, but had no idea that money was being syphoned out.

He only found out about it when her bank account was frozen.

Mr Youell told the hearing yesterday (tues) that Wakeling had taken 'in excess of 80,000' to spend on herself.

Wakeling was a regular visitor to the Lodge Hotel, in Hunstanton, where she held her 40th birthday party

The court heard that the offence was aggravated by the length of time it was conducted over.

Wakeling insisting that the money she took was her 'mum's way of saying thank you' for caring for her.

Giving evidence during her trial, she claimed that said she had only done 'whatever my mum asked me to do',

Dudley Beal, defending, said Wakeling, had started out acting legitimately by managing her mother's estate.

He said that the money was not taken through coercion or intimidation and she had not set out to 'fleece her mother dry'.

Mr Beal said it was simply that the money was there and her mother said she could have it 'all be it that's not something she should have done'.

Detective Constable Gemma Weeks from Norfolk Constabulary's Adult Abuse Investigation Unit (AAIU) said after the hearing: 'The money was used to fund holidays and to run her luxury vehicle as well as to finance personal expenditure including piercings and lingerie. Pictured: One of the photos taken by Wakeling while on holiday

The detective added: 'Wakeling left this vulnerable elderly lady living in less than ideal living conditions with no access to her own finances for over ten years'

Detective Constable Gemma Weeks from Norfolk Constabulary's Adult Abuse Investigation Unit (AAIU) said after the hearing: 'Wakeling abused the vulnerability of this elderly woman for her personal gain and to fund her own lifestyle.

'The money was used to fund holidays and to run her luxury vehicle as well as to finance personal expenditure including piercings and lingerie.

'Wakeling left this vulnerable elderly lady living in less than ideal living conditions with no access to her own finances for over ten years.'

The Norfolk Constabulary AAIU was set up in 2001 to investigate allegations of abuse against vulnerable adults and was the first of its kind in the UK..

A Norfolk Police statement said: 'The abuse can be physical, financial, sexual or even emotional.'

'The unit works closely with local partner agencies such as social services and health providers to investigate offences and safeguard adults from abuse.'
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Healthcare workers have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing care to the sick at great personal risk. Most of the proposed policies to protect their health and safety have focused on access to high-quality personal protective equipment (PPE) and other occupational safety needs. However, authors of a new Health Affairs blog post argue that a major component is being overlooked: behavioral health.

The article, written by Regenstrief affiliated research scientist Theresa Cullen, M.D., M.S.; and Andrew Meshnick from Georgetown University School of Medicine and Lilian Ryan from Georgetown University, addresses concerns about the impact of sustained, acute psychological and moral distress on those working the front lines. They have proposed a coordinated national strategy to identify, prevent, mitigate and manage post traumatic stress disorder symptoms in healthcare workers.

"Previous research has shown healthcare providers caring for critically ill patients and disaster survivors experience symptoms of PTSD," said Dr. Cullen. "I personally witnessed the impact a health crisis can have on frontline workers while working in Sierra Leone during the Ebola pandemic. Many U.S. healthcare workers now are facing similar stresses, and they lack access to services to help them cope. Action must be taken to address this, before the nation experiences an unprecedented crisis in its health workforce." Dr. Cullen was recently named public health director of Pima County, Arizona.

The authors present a three-part strategy:

1. Prevention

2. Treatment

3. Managing long-term effects

The authors urge the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to gather stakeholders to develop a critical incident stress mitigation standard for the healthcare industry and implement it. They also urge new PTSD screening measures. Individuals identified as at an elevated risk of developing PTSD should be offered treatment.

The goal of the treatment phase is to build behavioral health treatment capacity through public-private partnerships, creating a coordinated clinical team of primary care and PTSD specialists throughout the country. In part three, the authors state that the coordinated clinical team should use mechanisms developed in part two to guide health providers, as well as work to develop new evidence-based policies to manage PTSD.

"The lasting impacts of this pandemic are unknown," said Dr. Cullen. "As we continue to address this crisis, those providing frontline care must not be left behind. We need to prioritize both their physical and mental health."

Explore further Looking for ways to protect against pandemic PTSD

More information: "Beyond PPE: Protecting Health Care Workers To Prevent A Behavioral Health Disaster" was published in Health Affairs Blog on June 4, 2020. Journal information: Health Affairs "Beyond PPE: Protecting Health Care Workers To Prevent A Behavioral Health Disaster" was published inBlog on June 4, 2020.
The video-conferencing app Zoom recently shut down the account of a U.S.-based Chinese rights group after it held an online event marking the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.



Humanitarian China said its account was closed on June 7 at around 10.00 p.m. local time, a week after it had used the platform to host an international event commemorating the weeks-long pro-democracy movement that ended when Chinese leaders ordered the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to kill civilians with tanks and machine guns on the night of June 3-4, 1989.



"Zoom has not responded to our requests for an explanation," the group said in a statement on its website.



It said more than 250 people had taken part in the online event, which was also livestreamed to other social media platforms.



"A significant proportion of attendees were from China," Humanitarian China said in a statement on its website. "Our conference provided many the opportunity to connect with activists abroad for the first time."



Speakers included members of the Tiananmen Mothers victims' group, workers severely punished for resisting the PLA troops on the ground, the organizers of 30 years of June 4 candlelight vigils in Hong Kong, as well as writers, academics,and former student leaders of the 1989 movement.



"Prevented by police from reporting live, most speakers from China sent pre-recorded messages," the statement said, citing the case of dissident Dong Shengkun, previously jailed for 17 years for his activism, who was detained for five days by police to prevent him from taking part.



"We are outraged by this act from Zoom, a U.S company," Humanitarian China said, adding that the platform was "essential" to efforts to reach out to Chinese audiences and fellow pro-democracy activists.



"It seems possible Zoom acted on pressure from the [Chinese Communist Party] to shut down our account," the group said. "If so, Zoom is complicit in erasing the memories of the Tiananmen massacre in collaboration with an authoritarian government."



"Humanitarian China demands an explanation of why our account was shut down, and we will pursue other channels to protect our rights," it said.



Contract protected by U.S. law



U.S.-based lawyer Ouyang Ruoyu, who managed the Zoom account for Humanitarian China, said the group had paid its subscription so as to be able to host the event.



"This contract is protected by U.S. law," Ouyang said. "How could Zoom just abruptly terminate this contract at the request of the Chinese government?"



Former 1989 student leader and Humanitarian China founder Zhou Fengsuo said the group had hoped to reach more people inside China's Great Firewall this year, because Zoom had yet to be banned by the government like other non-Chinese platforms.



In a statement quoted by the news website Axios, Zoom confirmed that the account had been shut down, and said it was due to a need to "observe local regulations" in jurisdictions where they operate.



The company then restored the Humanitarian China account with little fanfare.



"Beijing makes its rules, and then Western companies are driven by the need to make a profit to comply with them," Zhou told RFA.



"These 'local regulations' are obviously Chinese regulations, which is tantamount to admitting that they shut down our account at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party," he said.



"We need to know what kind of instruction they received from the Chinese authorities, and whether it will be providing user data to the Chinese Communist Party," Zhou said.



Zoom also recently shut down an account belonging to veteran labor activist and human rights campaign Lee Cheuk-yan, who is one of the organizers of the Hong Kong June 4 candlelight vigils.



He had previously used Zoom to deliver four lectures related to the June 4, 1989 and the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.



He has yet to receive a response from the company.



Another Zoom event hacked



And former 1989 student leader Wang Dan said his commemorative Zoom event for the Tiananmen massacre anniversary was interrupted several times.



Wang said it was unclear whether Zoom was hacked, or whether it had colluded with the Chinese authorities.



"We strongly suspect that this attack came from China," Wang told RFA. "It was clearly politically motivated."



"Zoom is an American company, and as such should first abide by the laws of the United States, not the laws of China," he said. "Freedom of expression is protected under U.S. law."



"They shouldn't be shutting off access to their services or closing accounts for political reasons," said Wang, who is considering taking legal action against the company.



An April 2020 study by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said the company had been using non-industry-standard encryption for securing meetings, and that there were discrepancies between security claims in Zoom documentation and how the platform actually works.



The company had been routing encryption keys through servers in China, even when all meeting participants and the companies they worked for were located outside China, it found.



"This finding is significant because Zoom is a company that primarily serves customers in North America and sending encryption keys via servers in China may potentially open Zoom up to requests from authorities in China to disclose the encryption keys," Citizen Lab said in its FAQ.



Zoom saw a huge spike in new users in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with numbers rising skyrocketing as millions started working from home.



App banned by companies, governments



Chinese-American entrepreneur Eric Yuan, founded Zoom in 2011, has previously disclosed that most of its product development was done in China, with some calls routed via Chinese servers.



The app has been banned by some companies and government agencies, including Tesla, NASA, the New York City government, the U.S. Senate, and the German foreign ministry.



RFA technology specialist Lee Kin-kwan said the hacker attack on Wang Dan's event could have been sponsored by the Chinese authorities, who would be able to obtain the app's source code directly from the company or its employees in China.



Lee said participants in Zoom meetings should limit the software to a dedicated device, and use it in conjunction with a virtual private network (VPN), which should be switched on first.



He warned there could be a threat to the security of participants in a politically sensitive event like the June 4 anniversary.



He said that, as well as hacker attacks, Chinese spies could infiltrate such events and then use video recordings as evidence against people without anyone being aware of it.



"It's to be expected that they would do this because the Chinese Communist Party has always done this in the past," Lee said. "Intelligence agents from East Germany and the Soviet Union used to do similar things."



Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A total of up to 250 business travelers from Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand could be allowed to enter Japan per day, starting this summer, under a proposed easing of coronavirus travel restrictions being considered by the government, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

As well as allowing visitors from the four countries - which have largely brought the spread of the coronavirus under control and have close economic ties with Japan - the government is making preparations to establish an organization dedicated to testing Japanese residents for the virus when they depart the country.

After a task force headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe soon decides on the proposed easing of entry into Japan, the government plans to hold full-fledged discussions with the four countries and aims to resume travel to and from these countries this summer.

It is expected that between 200 and 250 business visitors - including managers, technical experts and technical intern trainees - will be given special permission to enter Japan per day. The actual figure will be adjusted through restrictions on visas issued and the number of flights operating.

If a visitor to Japan tests negative for the coronavirus in a PCR test conducted after they arrive, they will be exempt from the 14-day quarantine period and be able to conduct their business activities provided their host company takes steps such as securing transportation for them and limiting their movement to work-related locations. However, these visitors will be told not to use public transportation.

In addition, these visitors will need to submit a certificate proving they tested negative for the virus before entering Japan and an itinerary listing details such as locations they will visit in the country. The government also plans to ask them to retain information about locations they visit, through a smartphone and other means, for 14 days after arriving in Japan as part of thorough preventive measures implemented to combat the spread of the virus.

To also enable business trips for Japanese residents, the government plans to discuss with the four nations how many Japanese would be permitted to enter and the scope of their activities.

When a destination country requires a Japanese traveler to provide a certificate proving a negative coronavirus test, the government arranges for samples to be collected at places such as a company's health management center or a medical institute for overseas travelers, and for private testing laboratories and other entities to check these samples.

If entry restrictions are eased for more countries in the weeks and months ahead, the number of people requesting tests will increase, raising fears about the burden this will place on Japan's medical system. To alleviate this concern, the government also is considering setting up a PCR testing center for people departing Japan, which would handle a full-scale testing system for departees.

The government has basically banned the entry of foreign nationals from 111 nations and territories, including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand, because of the coronavirus pandemic. People traveling from countries granted entry to Japan are requested to self-isolate at home or in an accommodation facility for 14 days after they arrive. The government has advised Japanese nationals to avoid traveling to 129 countries and regions, and also urges them to refrain from nonessential travel to all other countries.
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A wild boar has been caught on camera desperately trying to escape being captured by jumping from a rooftop ledge before plunging to its death in China.

The untamed animal was being chased by local police after intruding into a residential complex in south-western Chinese city Chongqing.

Heart-stopping footage shows the huge beast trying to leap across two eight-storey buildings from the rooftop  but failing to reach the other end.

A wild boar has been caught on camera jumping from a rooftop ledge to escape being captured before plunging to its death in Chongqing of south-western China yesterday

The incident, which took place on Wednesday morning, was captured on camera by a local resident who then shared the footage online.

Local police arrived on the scene on Wednesday morning after being alerted about a wild boar breaking into the compound.

The helpless animal was forced to run up to a buildings rooftop after being cornered by the officers.

But it fell from the platform nearly 80 feet above the ground after trying to jump between the two buildings during the police chase.

The frightening scene was captured on camera by a resident who shared the footage on their social media page.

A man says in the video: 'It's moving in the mud. This wild boar is quite impressive.'

An officer is seen looking down from the rooftop of the other building as residents gather outside to check on the beast after the terrifying scene occurred in Chongqing yesterday

Moments later, the distressed animal appeared from the bushes and leapt through the air in the hope to reach to the next building.

People can be heard gasping and screaming as they witnessed the wild boars daring attempt to escape police chase before plunging to its death.

One resident shouts: 'It fell! It fell! Did it die?'

Another replies: 'Yeah it's on the ground. It didn't make it.'

An officer is seen looking down from the rooftop of the other block as residents gather outside to check on the beast after the terrifying scene occurred.

The police officers retrieved the animals dead body on the ground and took it away for disposal, according to the local media.

Media reports did not specify the height of the residential block but a typical eight-storey building is 24 metres (78 feet) high.
Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a roundtable on economic reopening with community members, Thursday, June 11, 2020, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) Read more

Joe Biden stopped at the Enterprise Center in West Philadelphia on Thursday to debut an eight-part plan for safely reopening the country.

Trump has had a one-point plan  open businesses. Just open them, Biden said. It does nothing to keep workers safe and keep businesses able to stay open. And secondly, its done very little to generate consumer confidence.

Biden, who has gradually started increasing in-person campaign events recently after the coronavirus shut down campaigning in mid-March, talked with Della Clark, president of the Enterprise Center, which helps support minority-owned businesses; U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Pa.); and two women affected economically by health restrictions.

The former vice president listened to the experiences of Tamika Anderson, a member of SEIU 32BJ, who was laid off from her job as a cleaner due to the shutdown, and Tiffany Easley, who owns an eye-wear shop in West Philadelphia. Each participant sat at least six feet apart from the others and wore masks when they werent talking. The room used for the event once was the dance floor on American Bandstand.

Biden discussed aspects of his eight-part plan to reopen, which includes directing the federal government to provide and pay for regular testing for workers called back to work. It also suggests ensuring workers have access to personal protective equipment and extending federal paid leave to workers who get sick from COVID-19, as well as those caring for family members with the virus.

The plan also lays out guidelines for reopening child-care facilities and proposes grants for small businesses looking to reopen.

It lays out guidance for protecting older Americans and a safe shopper certification for businesses that complete basic health and safety requirements. The plan would establish a national contact tracing workforce.

We need to hire 100,000 people now as tracers from communities, Biden said during his 80-minute visit. "Pay them a decent wage to be the ones who go out and trace.

He said he was concerned about being unprepared for a second wave of COVID-19. What worries me the most is, I see nothing that is being done to prepare for what the experts and scientists are telling us is likely to be a bounceback, Biden said. Referring to the current rise of infections in a dozen states, he said, Im praying this is an aberration. But I dont think so.

After going over his plan, Biden asked for feedback from the four Philadelphians. If I had a magic wand, Biden asked, what would they want him to do?

Easley said shed ask for more access to capital for businesses with fewer than 20 workers. Shes already had to close one of her stores, despite small grants, including one from the Enterprise Center.

I was blessed to get those grants," she said. "They were gone within a day because bills exceed what I got.

Clark noted that a lot of businesses that her organization helps need guidance and funding to transfer some services online. She suggested that janitorial service companies, which employ many African Americans, would benefit from financial assistance to train workers in advanced sanitizing, now in demand to help maintain clean and healthy spaces.

She said her main concern is time, with 34% of minority-owned businesses having closed permanently. The clock is ticking, and every month that goes by that these small businesses are not able to generate revenue, its just putting us further and further behind," Clark said.

Biden said that $2 trillion in federal aid is not getting to the right people and that hed restore the aid programs inspector general to review the stimulus payments.

There are answers, and there are answers available right now," he said. "But this idea of somehow separating the COVID crisis from the jobless crisis is a fools errand. Theyre tied together.

The campaign of President Donald Trump said Biden was weeks too late in discussing reopening and should have instead visited Philadelphia businesses damaged by looting during recent protests.

While the Trump administration issued science-based guidelines and worked with governors of both parties to safely reopen their economies, Biden hid in his basement and opposed reopening at every turn, spreading disinformation about testing capacity and refusing to support any end to the lockdowns, the Trump campaign said.

Vice President Mike Pence has a similar round-table discussion on reopening the economy scheduled near Pittsburgh on Friday. Pence will also stop at Covenant Church in Pittsburgh and at a local restaurant before the discussion at Oberg Industries in Sarver, Butler County.
(Photo : From The Specials - Neville Staple Facebook Page) Neville Staple with wife Sugary Staple

Facebook has long been a platform for various people of different interests, beliefs, and even affiliations. But they seem to be working hard against racism as it recently shut down 100 skinhead Facebook accounts. However, the platform's algorithms targeted all related accounts regardless if they were racist, against racism, musicians, or just fans of reggae or ska music. Reports of the crackdown surfaced on Monday, June 8.

According to One Zero, affected Facebook accounts include those of ska/dub/reggae band Dakka Shanks vocalist Clara Byrne and British music journalist Guy Shankland.

In a tweet posted on Wednesday, June 10, Journalist Garry Bushell confirmed that "100s of UK accounts with any link to skinhead culture" were shut down. A Redditor speculated that social media network even barred those who merely liked or followed Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (S.H.A.R.P.) as well as fans of street punk bands.

Facebook apologized about the mistake and has already reinstated the affected accounts. "We apologize to those affected by this issue," a Facebook spokesperson told OneZero. "These accounts were removed in error and have been reinstated, the spokesperson said adding that they are already investigating on the matter and "are taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again."

Last week, 200 Facebook accounts that encourage people to join the Black Lives Matter protests were deactivated. These accounts were linked to white supremacist groups, the Proud Boys and the American Guard, that are already banned on social media platforms.

The wide spectrum of Skinhead Facebook algorithm does not realize

Currently, there are two existing spectrums of skinhead subculture: one rooted in Jamaican music, and the other more about white supremacy.

The original skinhead subculture crosses with various music scenes, bands, and musicians. This means musicians' pages were affected by the crackdown. The most notable deactivated account was that of The Specials' Neville Staple whose case is a perfect example of Facebook's misunderstanding of subculture. The Specials were first in the 2 Tone genre that adopted diversity against white nationalism and attracted an early skinhead following.

Thus the Jamaica-born frontman was referred to as the "original rude boy" and is known for his 2-tone ska community legacy. This diverse musical genre has Jamaican roots.

"Please look into things before doing a general cull," Staple tweeted yesterday. He regularly performs live music on Facebook.

Neville's wife, artist Sugary Staple also tweeted, "Unity runs through the veins of me & @SugaryStaple plus all our 2Tone Ska community's veins!" Facebook also suspended Sugary's account, but the platform said both of their accounts are already reinstated.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the "skinhead style first emerged as part of a non-racist and multiracial scene." It is associated with ska, dancehall, and reggae music, which can be witnessed among bands like The Specials.

In the 1960s, Skinhead subculture surfaced in working-class London and has since experienced numerous waves and movements.

However, white supremacy, racism, and fascism have also associated with skinheads. Violence and murder were also committed by hate groups who link themselves with the subculture.

Facebook deactivated skinhead accounts in error

Facebook Vice President of Integrity (Project Management) Guy Rosen's tweeted on Wednesday afternoon that they have "mistakenly logged out" skinhead-affiliated accounts while trying to delete "several networks."

The Facebook spokesperson also confirmed to Gizmodo that Staple's page was one of the affected accounts, although the company did not elaborate further on how the Staples' accounts were included in the list of bad actors.

We mistakenly logged out these accounts, which have now been reinstated, during a takedown of several networks of bad actors this week. We're sorry for the error and are reviewing to better understand what happened.  Guy Rosen (@guyro) June 10, 2020

According to OneZero, Facebook asked some owners of deactivated accounts to share their profile photo, which the company was checking for inauthentic behavior and evading enforcement that goes against Facebook's Community Standards.

Facebook has been tracking and deleting accounts with "inauthentic behavior." It removed pages with an inauthentic admin that promoted legitimate anti-"Unite the Right 2.0" rally. Later, Facebook removed the entire legitimate organizing effort.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
CHATSWORTH, Calif.As nationwide protests against police violence, sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, entered their third week, the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday published a statement calling for sex workers to be included in the police brutality conversation.

Sex workers are frequent targets of police violence and abuse, and according to the statement authored by ACLU Trans Justice Campaign Manager LaLa B Holston-Zannell, full decriminalization of sex work would allow sex workers to better protect themselves and seek justice when they are harmed.

The ACLU has long been in the vanguard of the movement to decriminalize sex work, first stating its support in 1975, according to New Jersey ACLU officials Jeanne LoCicero and Udi Ofer. In fact, the ACLU had unoficially stated support for decriminalization in 1973, but did not make the stance a written policy for another two years.

But the current national focus on police violence and racial injustice has given the decriminalization issue a new urgency. According to Amnesty International, in 2015 statistics showed that about 40 percent of adults arrested for sex work-related offenses in the United States, and 60 percent of youth, were blackthough black people make up just 12 percent of the U.S. population.

Police regularly target, harass, and assault sex workers or people they think are sex workers, such as trans women of color. The police usually get away with the abuse because sex workers fear being arrested if they report, wrote Holston-Zannell in the ACLU statement. Police also take advantage of criminalization by extorting sex workers or coercing them into sexual acts, threatening arrest if they don't comply. Criminalizing sex work only helps police abuse their power, and get away with it.

Decriminalizing sex work would remove the fear of arrest for sex workers who report police abuses, Holston-Zannell wrote. It would also remove the power of police to use arrest as leverage to coerce and intimidate sex workers.

Removing criminal penalties and threat of arrest would also advance equality in the LGBTQ community, especially for trans women of color, who are often profiled and harassed whether or not we are actually sex workers, according to the ACLU statement.

According to a report by The National Center for Transgender Equality, people of color reported being arrested for being trans at more than twice the rate of their white counterparts, 49 percent to 18 percent.

Photo By Bojan Cvetanovic / Wikimedia Commons
Police in Germany said they tracked down a suspect in an explosives attack on an anti-fascist activist by following a trail of blood that led to his apartment.

The attack caused considerable damage, and blew fragments of the activists mailbox into her house in Einbeck, near the German city of Goettingen.

Lower Saxony states interior minister, Boris Pistorius, condemned the attack.

Police said the 26-year-old suspect, who has been detained, appeared to have badly injured his hand when the explosives detonated early. Officers seized evidence, including weapons, at his home.

Authorities said the suspect is linked to the far-right scene. The 41-year-old woman who was targeted had been active in campaigns against neo-Nazis.

Left-wing groups are planning a protest on Friday following the attack.

German authorities have warned of the growing threat of far-right extremism.

Next week sees the start of the trial against two men suspected of involvement in the killing of Walter Luebcke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkels party who was gunned down outside his home last year.

One of the suspects in the Luebcke case has a long history of neo-Nazi violence.
India and China have taken baby steps to end the military standoffs along the Ladakh border. The recent announcements, following military level talks, mean that both countries have pulled back at the three points in or near the Galwan Valley. However, the more egregious Chinese intrusion at Pangong Tso remains unresolved with China in possession of the disputed northern shore of the lake. As long as the status quo in Pangong Tso is not restored, it will be a case of wishful thinking rather than cool-headed calculation to believe the present crisis is entering the home stretch. It is perfectly possible that the Pangong Tso issue could go on for months, if not years.

Beijing does not believe territorial disputes are a tea party and it is important that New Delhi does not treat them as such. If anything, any premature celebration on this side of the Line of Actual Control would encourage China to conclude that possession is nine-tenths of surrender. Reducing Indian forces in the region because a few tents have been removed and soldiers walked back a kilometre or two is not advisable. It is China that would like the new alignment to be the status quo and it must not look as if India is acquiescing to the same. Negotiated settlements with Indias northern neighbour must always be backed by firepower and hard-nosed diplomacy. In the iron-gloved world of Chinese foreign policy, an agreement to end a dispute is only a reflection of the power equation at the time, and can be changed without warning if that equation shifts  especially if it moves in Beijings favour.

Trust but verify was the motto of the protracted arms control negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union. It applies in spades, with possibly even less trust, to relations between India and China. The Cold War rivals were both status quo powers by the time they began such talks. India and China are emerging powers with rising economic and military capacities. Their sense of national interest keeps changing as their concerns and capabilities keep expanding. This has been strikingly with China which keeps adding new items to its list of core interests  and then expects others to adjust. New Delhi must be cautious about declaring successes, even small ones, until there is clear evidence on the ground that Beijing has converted words into deeds.
Oakland police deployed smoke, gas and non-lethal munitions over four straight days of demonstrations that broke out following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer wrote in a letter to the community late Wednesday.

Those measures, beginning May 29, were used during unlawful assemblies and in exigent circumstances and to disperse crowds to stem assaults on officers, Manheimer wrote.

In the wide-ranging letter, the interim chief noted the dangerous conditions on the ground and extent of the destruction during rioting and looting, but she also wrote that the department is evaluating the principles and policies proposed by various groups and organizations calling for changes in police practices.

Manheimer said about 200 businesses were looted or vandalized and 137 arson fires were set during a period in which numerous shootings also occurred throughout the city. One killing was related to the incidents of looting, and two federal security guards were shot outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building. One of the guards, David Patrick Underwood, was killed.

Now Playing: Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, local artists and community members paint over boarded-up storefronts in Downtown Oakland. The grassroots project responds to the civil unrest over police violence and systemic racism, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Video: Caron Creighton

More than 30 first responders were injured amid the unrest, including 21 Oakland police officers and two Oakland Fire Department personnel, and four people in crowds reported injuries, Manheimer said. More than 300 people were arrested, with more investigations pending.

Manheimer said the Police Department will review its use of tear gas and other tactics. The letter stated that all uses of gas will be investigated and reviewed as a use of force.

The interim chief said she also planned to propose a special order at the Police Commission meeting Thursday evening that would ban the use of the carotid restraint. Law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area and around California, including San Francisco, have ended use of the choke hold, in which pressure on the neck cuts off blood flow in the carotid artery to the brain.

Manheimer said Oakland police have already started revising the use-of-force policy and many of the proposed revisions align with 8CantWait initiative policies designed to reduce police violence against civilians.

We will be conducting a thorough review and assessment of our Crowd Control and Crowd Management Policy operations as referenced above in an After-Action Report and via our Use of Force Investigations, Manheimer wrote. All reviews and assessments will be reported to the Federal Monitor and our Police Commission.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a tweet Thursday that reforming and reimagining police practices is nowhere near done and it will take collaboration to make this transformative leap toward justice.

The departments use of tear gas has concerned several city officials.

Sarahbeth Maney/The Chronicle

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

In a letter sent June 3 to the mayor, police chief and City Administrator Edward Reiskin, council members Nikki Fortunato Bas, Rebecca Kaplan and Sheng Thao urged the Police Department to stop using tear gas during the pandemic.

The use of tear gas for crowd control adversely affects individuals in crowds of (protesters) as well as residents who are not involved in protesting, and it can have serious effects on medically vulnerable people and increase the spread of COVID-19, the letter says.

While many demonstrations in Oakland in the past two weeks were inspiring and peaceful, the chief said, police also responded to assemblies disrupted by violence, requiring crowd management to control physical attacks on officers and threats to public and officer safety.

Oakland received aid from other Northern California law enforcement agencies that enabled us to provide calm and security to our neighborhoods, Manheimer wrote. A curfew enacted in the city for several days was only enforced ... as a last resort to calm unruly gatherings.

CouncilmanNoel Gallo said he appreciated the straightforwardness of the chiefs letter, as well as her willingness to create change within the Police Department.

He added, I think weve heard the public loud and clear.

Matt Kawahara and Alejandro Serrano are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com, alejandro.serrano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara @serrano_alej
By IANS

GUWAHATI: Around 7,000 people have been evacuated while the inferno completely and partially burnt more than 35 houses as the fire fighters, NDRF, and engineers intensified their efforts to douse the oil well fire in Assam for the third day on Thursday, officials said.

At least two fire fighters of Oil India Ltd (OIL) were killed and four others including one from ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) were injured near the oil well blowout site in Assam's Tinsukia district on Wednesday.

The inferno was so intense that it could be seen from as far as 10 km away.

ALSO READ: Fire in Assam gas well periphery doused, experts from US, Canada to join efforts to control blaze

OIL spokesman Tridiv Hazarika said that Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a review meeting with the crisis management team and OIL officials through video conferencing on the fire in the OIL's gas well. It has been reported that except at the well plinth area, the fire around the site has mostly extinguished. However, the burning of gas at the well mouth would continue till the well is capped.

The fire in around 200 meters periphery has completely burnt about 15 houses, while another 15 houses have been partially affected.

"Over 7,000 inhabitants adjoining the oil well fire site have been shifted to the 12 relief camps set up by the OIL," Hazarika told IANS.

A senior official of the Tinsukia district administrations said that it would take at least four weeks or a month to completely control the blaze.

The massive fire broke out at the leaking natural gas producing well of the state-owned OIL in Tinsukia district on Tuesday even as an expert team from a Singapore-based emergency management firm was trying to plug the leakage of gas and oil condensate for the past 16 days, prompting the state government to seek the Indian Air Force's help to douse the blaze.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday dialed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him about the latest developments regarding "oil well explosion incident". "The Prime Minister assured all help towards the people in the affected area," an Assam government release said.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tweeted that Modi discussed the situation in Baghjan fire tragedy in a telephonic conversation with Sonowal and "assured all possible support from the Centre".

Sonowal had on Tuesday spoken to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh seeking help from the IAF to douse the blaze, officials said. An OIL spokesman said that the fire has been kept controlled in a 1.5 km radius but it is still raging as the "uncontrollable" natural gas is being fed by the well's oil.

Local people said that the inferno has left a trail of devastation in the adjoining areas, including a famous lake. Farmlands with standing crops, as well as ponds and wetlands in the adjoining villages have also been badly affected and the threat is growing with every passing day.

Experts, environmentalists and wildlife activists are worried as the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, known for its feral horses, is less than two km away.

Central paramilitary troopers, NDRF, OIL and ONGC engineers and experts are on a war-footing exercise to douse the fire.

The oil well at Baghjan in Tinsukia, around 550 km east of Guwahati, had been leaking gas accompanied by oil condensate since May 27, causing enormous damage to the region's wildlife, wetlands and biodiversity. OIL Chairman-cum-Managing Director Sushil Chandra Mishra had a detailed discussion with Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, who is camping at Tinsukia, in the presence of Deputy Commissioner (Tinsukia) Bhaskar Pegu, and appraised the latest status of the blowout and actions initiated by OIL.
Halifax police wont be getting an armoured vehicle after all. The $300,000 it would have cost will instead be put toward anti-Black racism initiatives. Just for good measure, Halifax council also voted this week to put another $89,500 toward programs for diversity, inclusion and public safety.

Its not a lot of money, and its just one medium-sized city. But the direction is clear: away from spending tax dollars on giving police the latest expensive gear, toward better funding for social needs.

Suddenly, politicians who once ran in fear of being labelled anti-police are scrambling to get in front of a growing movement to reshape police forces. From Los Angeles to Toronto, there are proposals to cut police budgets and funnel the money into social services.

In Minneapolis, where police killed George Floyd and set off a continent-wide movement against anti-Black racism and police violence, the city council has endorsed the most radical move  to disband its police department and dismantle policing as we know it.

The movement for change is, as we have argued before, long overdue. Back in 2016, Toronto made an abortive move to trim its ballooning police budget by $100 million over three years, but the politicians backed off in the face of an upsurge in gun violence and warnings from the police union that public safety was at risk.

This time must be different. Those who want a different model of policing use various slogans  defunding, dismantling, or simply reform. The best may be the one suggested by U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, who may well end up as Joe Bidens running mate. She talks about reimagining how we do public safety.

By whatever name, it need not provoke fear among people worried about being left defenceless against violent criminals. Who ya gonna call? is a reasonable question  and any serious proposal for change must include a core force well-equipped and highly trained at responding to serious crime.

Nor can change come overnight. Alex Vitale, one of the leading U.S. proponents of defunding and author of The End of Policing, says this: Im certainly not talking about any kind of scenario where tomorrow someone just flips a switch and there are no police. What Im talking about is the systematic questioning of the specific roles that police currently undertake, and attempting to develop evidence-based alternatives so we can dial back our reliance on them.

Put like that, it means rethinking our notions of what constitutes public safety as a whole. And making sure that policing makes all communities feel safe.

It means accepting that traditional reform measures, such as more and better training of existing police forces, havent worked in the past and arent likely to produce far-reaching change.

It means rethinking how useful it is to prosecute so many crimes of poverty, such as minor theft and shoplifting, which consume vast amounts of police, court and prison resources but which would be better fought through social measures. Arresting, trying and jailing addicts who feed their habits through petty crime, for example, is futile as well as cruel.

It would mean rethinking what tasks are best left to armed police, and which ones would be better performed by others with different training and skills. As crime rates have plummeted in recent years, police have taken on a host of jobs they arent particularly good at, like crisis intervention with people in mental distress.

Too often, that has ended in tragedy simply because police have weapons and use them when threatened. By now its obvious that others  such as social workers and nurses  should be on the front lines in situations like that.

It would also mean reversing the trend toward militarization of police, as Halifax did this week. And even rethinking whether all police should be armed at all times. Police have insisted that all on-duty officers, even those in schools, must be armed in case theyre called on to respond to an emergency. But is that really necessary, especially when police in Canada so rarely find themselves in a situation where they must actually use their weapons?

Can it all work? Can a more community-focused model of public safety deliver on that promise without leading to more crime or putting police themselves in danger?

American reformers are encouraged by the example of one small city that actually abolished its police department. Camden, N.J., took that step in 2013 because the old force was rife with corruption. It set up a new force with a focus on community involvement and outreach; violent crime since then is down sharply and relations between police and the Black community are less fraught.

Of course, every city is different and the differences are even greater between U.S. and Canadian policing. But surely the general direction of change must be similar in both countries. Money now lavished on expensive police forces should come under much closer scrutiny, and other social priorities should get a lot more attention.

The challenge will be to make sure change happens when the streets are no longer filled with protesters. Politicians should keep their nerve, and voters should support them in making tough choices for better, smarter public safety.
Free Speech Movement Ghana has cautioned the government against what they say are attempts to suffocate free expression in the country on the back of recent police activities.

According to the Group, they have noticed with grave concern the growing incidences of arbitrary police invitations and in some cases arrests of citizens who express their dissenting views and opinions about the Akufo Addo-led government and its officials.

Last week, the National Chairman of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), Mr. Bernard Mornah was invited by the CID for expressing a strong opinion about the possibility of ensuing chaotic situation if the Electoral Commission (EC) does not revise its modalities for the proposed new voters register.

Subsequently, ace news broadcaster Kofi Adomah of Accra-based Angel FM was also invited and interrogated by the CID for predicting the 10th Covid-19 address of the President.

This week, the National Security has arrested one Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei for threatening to kill the EC Chairperson among many other things.

In a statement from the Free Speech Movement Ghana Group, they have kicked against some of the utterances of the aforementioned individuals but insists that these incidences are attacks on the freedom of speech granted to citizens by the constitution of the Republic of Ghana in accordance with the 1992 Constitution.

Free Speech Movement sounds a caution to the government to shirk the subtle attempts to suffocate the freedom to free expression as it has the tendency of eroding the gains made so far in the life of our burgeoning democracy, a statement signed by Kwame Owusu Danso who is the Conveyer has said.

It added, The closure of media houses is still fresh in the minds of the people of Ghana as it has stifled the media space and rendered scores of people jobless and helpless. It is incredible and amazing that this is happening under the presidency of Nana Akufo Addo who was considered a champion of press freedom and free expression prior to his assumption of office as president of the Republic of Ghana.

Read the full statement from the Free Speech Movement Ghana below:

9th June, 2020.

For Immediate Release

GROWING INCIDENCES OF ARBITRARY POLICE INVITATIONS AND ARRESTS

The Free Speech Movement has noted with grave concern the growing incidences of arbitrary police invitations and in some cases arrests of citizens who express their dissenting views and opinions about the Akufo Addo government and its officials. We view this as an attack the freedom of speech granted the citizens by the constitution of the Republic of Ghana. Such is the importance of this freedom that a whole chapter of the constitution is dedicated to this fundamental right of the citizenry.

Only last week, the National Chairman of the PNC, Mr Bernard Mornah was invited by the CID for speaking and expressing a strong opinion about the possibility of ensuing chaotic situation if the Electoral Commission does not revise its modalities for the proposed new voters register. This invitation was unwarranted and unnecessary. It only served to create unnecessary tension. As if Mr Bernard Mornahs invitation wasnt enough, Mr Kofi Adomah a journalist with Angel FM in Accra was also invited and interrogated by the CID for predicting the 10th Covid-19 address of the President. How much more arbitrary could the CID invitations have been? There are also widespread speculations that one popular artists manager by name Bulldog has also been invited by the CID for questioning the professionalism of the Police.

Today, our attention has been drawn to a video circulating on social media and trending on traditional media about a rambostyle operation conducted by the National Security during the arrest of one Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei earlier today during a live interview with journalists from Hot fm for threatening to kill the EC Chairperson. Indeed, the proposed new voters register has been a matter of heated debate in hamlet's, homes, offices, palaces and in the street corners over games of draughts and it is not only Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei who has expressed strong sentiments against officials of the

EC.

Although we do not agree with the strong words he used in his sermon we know that the state has a right to protect and preserve lives and properties of the good people of Ghana. However, we strongly disagree with the manner in which the said Apostle was apprehended by National Security Officials.

We observed in the video that the gentleman was shown a piece of paper as a warrant for his arrest and without the opportunity to interrogate the document, or have his rights read out to him, he was bundled into a V8 vehicle and driven away with later footage showing him in handcuffs with officers accusing him of having in his possession substances believed to be indian hemp. Chapter 5, Article 12 of the 1992 guarantees every citizen the protection and preservation of their fundamental human rights. Ghana is a nation of rule of law with respect for the preservation of individuals rights. These rights did not come on the cheap as people struggled and suffered for it.

As such, Free Speech Movement sounds a caution to the government to shirk the subtle attempts to suffocate the freedom to free expression as it has the tendency of eroding the gains made so far in the life of our burgeoning democracy. The closure of media houses is still fresh in the minds of the people of Ghana as it has stifled the media space and rendered scores of people jobless and helpless. It is incredible and amazing that this is happening under the presidency of Nana Akufo Addo who was considered a champion of press freedom and free expression prior to his assumption of office as president of the Republic of Ghana.

Signed

KWAME OWUSU DANSO

Convener
CHICAGO, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Guaranteed Rate, one of the largest retail lenders in the nation, announces today that it has donated $3.4 million to Feeding America, which will help to provide 34 million meals* across their nationwide network of food banks.

"I am so proud of the generosity and drive our employees demonstrated in order to make this donation possible," said Guaranteed Rate Founder and CEO Victor Ciardelli. "During this time of adversity, we rallied together as a team and as an organization to help people in need and make a positive change. My heart is full."

In just a few days, Guaranteed Rate Companies' employees helped contribute over $1 million to help provide meals for individuals and families across the country. With a two-for-one dollar company match, Guaranteed Rate donated a total of $3,424,110 to Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States.

"We are deeply grateful to Guaranteed Rate and its employees for their generous support of our COVID-19 relief efforts," said Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot. "Their gift will help provide food and other essentials to our neighbors facing hardships during this challenging time."

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 1 in 9 people struggle with hunger in the United States. As the virus continues, Feeding America is seeing a spike in need and a decrease in volunteers, making fundraisers to support their mission and local food banks more important than ever.

This initiative is emblematic of Guaranteed Rate's Core Values and "Grow for Good" metric, which measures the company's impact on its customers, referral partners, GR family and the communities it serves.

About the Guaranteed Rate Companies

The Guaranteed Rate Companies, which includes Guaranteed Rate Inc., and Guaranteed Rate Affinity, LLC, has over 5,000 employees in a total of 700 offices across the U.S and funded $37 billion in 2019. Headquartered in Chicago, Guaranteed Rate Inc. is one of the largest retail mortgage lenders in the United States. Founded in 2000 and licensed in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., it has helped homeowners nationwide with home purchase loans and refinances. The company has established itself as an industry leader by introducing innovative technology, offering low rates and delivering unparalleled customer service. 2017 marked the launch of Guaranteed Rate Affinity, LLC, a mortgage origination joint venture between Guaranteed Rate, Inc. and Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), a global leader in residential real estate franchising and brokerage. Collectively, the companies have earned honors and awards including: "Top Lender for Online Service" for 2018 by U.S. News & World Report; No. 3 ranking in Scotsman Guide's Top Retail Mortgage Lenders 2019; Chicago Tribune's Top Workplaces list for seven consecutive years; and Best Online Lender and Best Lender for FHA Streamline Refinance by NerdWallet in 2019. Visit rate.com for more information.

About Feeding America

Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 40 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of member food banks. Guaranteed Rate donated $3,424,110 to Feeding America.

SOURCE Guaranteed Rate Companies

Related Links

https://www.rate.com


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Bengaluru-headquartered edutech startup Quizizz launched in India on June 11, hoping to emulate in its home country its impressive performance in the United States as coronavirus forces teachers to take their classrooms online.

What started as a mission to make education fun four years ago has today been adopted by half of the schools in the US, the company says.

The founders, BITS Pilani graduates Ankit Gupta and Deepak Joy Cheenath, are hoping to see a repeat in India. Quizizz is backed by Nexus Venture Partners and Prime Venture Partners.

We offer a platform that allows teachers to convert assignments more into a form of a game or a quiz, this helps students concentrate easily on assignments and makes learning fun, said Gupta.

The platform makes assignments competitive by introducing leaderboards, memes and other such tools. As they complete the assignments, students are graded automatically. Teachers just have to keep track of the weak points of the students that come out through these assignments.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

The company said that it gets around 50 million monthly active users globally, with millions of teachers and 1.2 billion questions being solved by students every month.

We are offering the product in 12 different languages and have also onboarded support staff to help teachers in understanding the product better, Gupta said.

Teachers can sign up, look up their content library for suitable assignments, or customise them according to their requirements. Once an assignment is created, a code needs to be generated and shared with the children. They can click on the link and do the assignments online.

We are looking for teachers to adopt it. Since it is a free platform, eventually we can reach out to schools for all their assignments as well, Gupta said.

The company is still early on the revenue front but is hoping to make money through paid products and also by introducing corporate-learning programs.
This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

MILAN  When Salvatore Scilanga returned home from missions at sea as an officer in the Italian Coast Guard, he would usually steer the conversation to his wifes day, or his daughters friends and schoolwork.

He avoided talking about the shipwrecks unless he was asked  and was especially careful on those days when his daughters saw him on the television news carrying children in his arms at the port.

Mr. Scilangas vessel was involved in rescuing some of the thousands of people fleeing poverty and war by crossing the Mediterranean to Italy, often on rickety, overcrowded boats.
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A woman and boy were killed Wednesday afternoon in a collision involving an 18-wheeler in north Houston, authorities say.

The woman, 25, and the boy, 3, have not been identified by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, says lawmakers in the upper chamber and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, would meet President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the resurgence of insurgency in the country.

The decision for the meeting was part of the resolution of the Senate following a Point of Order raised by Abubakar Kyari (Borno-APC) during Thursdays plenary.

Mr Kyari said there was a need to find lasting solutions to matters which were of urgent national importance.

He said the attack by Boko Haram on a village in Gubio Local Government in Borno on June 9 left more than 90 persons killed and over 50 persons critically injured.

While relying on Orders 42 and 52 of the Senates Standing Rules, Mr Kyari noted that the attacks were becoming very worrisome in view of the fact that the Nigerian armed forces recently recorded successes in the fight against insurgency.

Contributing, Ali Ndume (Borno-APC) said the killings had been going on in the last 11 years.

In 2015, we had some kind of relief when this government took over. But it is not over until it is completely over.

The problem is not restricted to the North East. We have issues of banditry and herdsmen conflicts in the North Central and other security challenges.

What I will suggest is that Mr President (Lawan) you have to step a step further. It is not just this motion, I think you need to see President Buhari and talk one on one on this issue, Mr Ndume said.

President Muhammadu Buhari

Mr Lawan, who advocated for the sack of non-performing service chiefs, said that what was required in tackling insurgency was to assist and to redefine the necessary solutions.

He urged the Federal Government to immediately begin the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Nigerias Security Challenges as a way of addressing the nations current security challenges.

Around 2005, there was a group called Taliban; they appeared in Yobe East. This Taliban was somehow dealt with.

Boko Haram has metamorphosed from initially a group of religious zealots into now an industry. It is an industry because what they do is no more religious; they have people from different faith, different countries who are part and parcel of Boko Haram.

This Senate passed so many resolutions including the reports of the various ad hoc committees we set up on security; but the problem persists.

I dont want to say meeting the President is something we have to reveal. But of course, it is natural; issues like this will be of interest to us to discuss with the President, but we have been doing that.

What is necessary is for us to persist. Our armed forces have their challenges and therefore we continue to look at those challenges and try to address them.

Where anyone is found wanting, our stand should be that people should occupy offices based on their performance. There is no point if somebody is not registering successes for such person to continue to be there. But that is if you give the person the necessary tools to fight.

We should give them the necessary tools and then we will hold them accountable, Mr Lawan said.

(NAN)
B oris Johnson should have challenged harder scientific advice and put Britain into lockdown faster, a former Cabinet minister said today.

Rory Stewart was one of the leading voices who spoke out from late February on tougher restrictions to combat the coronavirus.

The former international development secretary believes the Government was acting on advice from scientific and health chiefs, but argued it should have followed the lead of countries such as South Korea which have been more successful in fighting Covid-19.

The job of politicians is to challenge  and challenge also on the basis of whats happening in other countries, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

So I think its right that they did follow the scientific advice, but I believe that from the end of February they should have been challenging it harder on the basis of what they could see was happening elsewhere in the world.

With questions being asked about the Governments handling of coronavirus, one of Mr Johnsons former supporters said he had predicted a car crash of mismanagement at No 10.

Tim Montgomerie said he turned down the offer of a great project made to him by the Prime Minister because he felt problems were being stored up.

I could see the car crash coming and I couldnt bear to be part of it, Mr Montgomerie, a former editor of ConservativeHome, wrote in the New Statesman.

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He said that in a string of private calls he had urged Mr Johnson to improve the No 10 operation by bringing in outsiders and improve discussion about policies which he had heard was often cut short or overruled by Dominic Cummings.

All these private calls for a course correction went unheeded, he wrote.

This years Cabinet reshuffle was a key moment in the rot, he said. It took six years for Margaret Thatchers governments to begin to stop listening to alternative voices. The same patterns had emerged within six months of Johnson becoming Prime Minister, and within six weeks of his general election victory last December.

All you need to know from June 10 Covid-19 briefing

Amid the row over lockdown timing, Mr Stewart said it was striking that by the start of March China and South Korea had managed to suppress the disease and other countries were moving very quickly to do things like shut down schools and shut down transport systems.

Minutes of the Governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) show it believed on March 13 that it was a near-certainty that countries such as China would suffer a second wave.

However, Mr Stewart argued: Even if theres going to be a second peak that doesnt mean that you dont move to suppress the first peak. Because if you dont suppress the first peak you impose intolerable pressures on your health system and you lead to tens of thousands of deaths.

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Mr Stewart, who dealt with the Ebola crisis as a minister, spoke out today after Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London told MPs that had we introduced lockdown measures a week earlier, we would have reduced the final death toll by at least a half. It currently stands at around 52,000.

Professor Ferguson added: Whilst I think the measures, given what we knew about this virus then in terms of its transmission and fatality, were warranted, certainly had we introduced them earlier we would have seen many fewer deaths.

His modelling of the infection was instrumental in the lockdown being introduced, but he later quit Sage after flouting a social distancing rule.

London during Coronavirus lockdown - In pictures 1 /66 London during Coronavirus lockdown - In pictures A woman jogging near City Hall, London, the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK in lockdown PA An image of Queen Elizabeth II and quotes from her broadcast on Sunday to the UK and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus epidemic are displayed on lights in London's Piccadilly Circus PA A pedestrian walks past a billboard reading "Please believe these days will pass" on Broadway Market in east London AFP via Getty Images Military vehicles cross Westminster Bridge Getty Images Boris Johnson Jeremy Selwyn Sun-seekers cool off in the water and sunbathe on the riverbank at Hackney Marshes in east London AFP via Getty Images Ed Davey is shown on screens as he speaks via videolink during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London PA A herd of fallow deer graze on the lawns in front of a housing estate in Harold Hill in east London AFP via Getty Images A woman wearing a mask crosses a bridge over Camden Lock, London PA An empty Millenium Bridge PA A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" is seen on an underground station platform Getty Images People push to enter the Niketown shop in Londo AP Jo Proudlove and daughter Eve, 9, follow the daily online "PE with Joe" Joe Wickes' exercise class on "Fancy dress Friday Reuters Waterloo station looking empty PA Police in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn Getty Images A quiet Parliament Square Getty Images PABest A man walks along a passageway at London's Oxford Street Underground station the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK in lockdown to help curb the spread of the Coronavirus PA Social distancing markers around the camel enclosure at ZSL London Zoo PA A police car patrols Greenwich Park in London PA The Premier League in action in front of empty stands AP Novikov restaurant in London with its shutters pulled down while the restaurant is closed. A deserted Piccadilly Circus PA A general view is seen of a deserted Trafalgar Square AFP via Getty Images Getty Images The iconic Abbey Road crossing is seen after a re-paint by a Highways Maintenance team as they take advantage of the COVID-19 coronavirus lockdown and quiet streets to refresh the markings Getty Images A view of 20 Fenchurch Street (the 'Walkie Talkie' building) in the City of London, the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus PA A deserted Chinatown PA A person looks at graffiti on a JD Wetherspoon pub in Crystal Palace, south London. Wetherspoons workers have described founder Tim Martin's lack of support for his chain's 40,000 employees as "absolutely outrageous" PA The London ExCel centre that has been turned into a makeshift NHS Hospital and critical care unit to cope with the Coronavirus pandemic PA The Palace Theatre, which usually shows the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play, sits in a deserted Shaftesbury Avenue PA The Sondheim Theatre, which usually shows the Les Miserables musical, sits in a deserted Shaftesbury Avenue PA Two members of a British Army mounted regiment exercise their horses in Parliament Square AP Westminster Bridge is deserted PA A quiet Canary Wharf Underground Station PA An empty street and bus stop at St James's Park AFP via Getty Images Whitehall Jeremy Selwyn A quiet Canary Wharf Underground Station PA A single pedestrian walks past The national Gallery AFP via Getty Images London Bridge Station Jeremy Selwyn Kings Cross and St Pancras Jeremy Selwyn Buckingham Palace looking empty in London, PA London Bridge Station Jeremy Selwyn Kings Cross and St Pancras Jeremy Selwyn London Bridge Station Jeremy Selwyn London's Carnaby Street empty as shops closed after a lockdown was announced in the latest bid to stop the spread of coronavirus through the UK AP A single pedestrian walks past The national Gallery AFP via Getty Images A quiet Jubilee line westbound train carriage PA A quiet Canary Wharf Underground Station PA Empty Embankment Jeremy Selwyn

Mr Johnson told last nights No10 press briefing: There are lots of things, lots of data, things that we still dont know, and this epidemic has a long way to go, alas.

Local government minister Simon Clarke this morning rejected claims that the Government had made mistakes in not introducing the lockdown until March 23.

We acted in good faith on the guidance we received, he told Sky News. Everyone can go and look for themselves at the Sage papers I dont think for a second that Government failed to listen to our scientists.

He said the Government had responded in a proportionate way based on guidance, adding: No government could or would have done otherwise.

He denied that scientific advisers had made errors, saying: The truth is Britain was always going to be hugely exposed to this virus We are a global travel hub.

Mr Clarke signalled that pub gardens and other parts of the hospitality industry will be allowed to reopen on July 4. He told LBC Radio: There is real light now at the end of what has been an awfully long tunnel for that sector and were all looking forward to that.

He said the two-metre social distancing rule needed to be maintained at this point, adding: We would love to make progress on this point but we are not yet in a position to do that.
LONDON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- StatusToday, the emerging leader in workplace analytics, announced today that its people analytics platform Isaak has now been acquired by Glickon for an undisclosed amount.

Glickon is a leading HR tech company headquartered in Italy that provides a candidate and employee experience platform that can help engage employees while generating data and insights.

With the increasing focus on remote work and collaboration, companies are looking at AI powered tools to improve employee wellbeing and engagement. Glickon provides an array of solutions to enhance workplace engagement and will consolidate the capabilities from the Isaak platform by StatusToday to enhance its people analytics offering.

"We continually seek out exponential growth opportunities - today's announcement is exactly that," Matteo Corte, CFO of Glickon, said. "We are excited about the possibilities that could come from the integration of StatusToday's technology and what we can deliver to help answer some of the toughest questions that keep HR leaders up at night. A major step closer to a world where people wake up inspired and end the day fulfilled by the work they do," Filippo Negri, CEO of Glickon affirmed.

As part of the acquisition agreement, Glickon also acquires the Isaak platform and related intellectual property. StatusToday founders, Ankur Modi and Mircea Danila-Dumitrescu, will support the acquisition as external advisers and move on to new ventures.

Ankur Modi, CEO of StatusToday, said, "Glickon has built a fantastic suite of solutions to help businesses be effective worldwide. I am proud that StatusToday's proprietary technology will now power their people analytics offering and help companies and employees be more objective with decision making."

Speaking on future potential, co-founder Mircea Danila Dumitrescu said, "Together with Glickon, StatusToday can add an objective transparency in the workplace, redefining the meaning of work in a way that is trustful, and informed."

StatusToday was awarded the title of Best AI Startup at AI Summit in 2017 and has scaled up its platform to employees and managers in 1069 companies across 105 countries. It was recognized a Gartner Cool Vendor for digital dexterity in 2019. Ankur and his team have raised 4 million dollars from LocalGlobe, Notion Capital, firstminute Capital, Entrepreneur First, Force Over Mass capital, tiny vc and business angels.

About Isaak by StatusToday

Isaak by StatusToday is an analytics platform that helps companies drive organizational change. Powered by Artificial Intelligence technology that models human behavior, the platform measures collaboration, wellbeing, and engagement to empower employees and companies alike.



About Glickon

Founded in 2014, Glickon has developed People Experience software that allows one to create fun and meaningful work experiences, improve health and organizational performance, and gain a competitive edge in the experience economy.

For more information visit blog.statustoday.com

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New Delhi (India), June 10 (ANI) India is keeping a close eye on the ongoing Pakistan Air Force war games code-named 'High Mark' involving its fighter and other aircraft fleets.



The wargames are being held over Pakistan air space and a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) had been issued by the Pakistan Air Force to inform about its aerial drills, government sources told ANI.

A close watch is being kept on their activities by the Indian Air Force as the Pakistani jets have been carrying out different manoeuvres including night time flying by its combat aircraft including Chinese JF-17, F-16s and Mirage-3s, sources said.

The Pakistani aircraft also have been practising drills like defending against night-time raids like the Balakot aerial strikes by the Indian Air Force in February last year, they said.

The Pakistani jets also flew extensively over Karachi city last night in practice missions.

Last month also, Pakistan had started flying night time sorties anticipating a retaliation by Indian Air Force after the death of a Colonel in an encounter in Handwara in Kashmir. (ANI)


Metin Topuz was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison for aiding a terrorist organisation.

A Turkish court sentenced a US consulate employee to eight years and nine months in jail on Thursday for aiding a terror organisation, a development that could further strain frayed ties with Washington.

The United States said it was deeply disappointed by the ruling.

US officials observed every hearing in the trial of Metin Topuz in Istanbul, and we are deeply disappointed in todays decision, the embassy said on Twitter.

We have seen no credible evidence to support this conviction and hope it will swiftly be overturned.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said Washington was deeply troubled by the decision and hoped it would swiftly be overturned.

The Turkish foreign ministry on Friday hit back at the comments.

The rule of law prevails in Turkey and the Turkish judiciary is independent, it said in a statement. We are inviting US authorities to respect the principle of judicial independence and stay away from any actions that may influence the judiciary.





Topuzs trial has been one of several sources of friction between NATO allies Turkey and the US, who have also been at odds in recent years over policy differences in Syria and Turkeys purchase of Russian missile defence systems.

Topuz, who has been in jail for more than two and a half years while facing trial, was initially accused of espionage and trying to overthrow the government.

A prosecutor said in March he should be acquitted on those charges and instead be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for membership of a terrorist organisation.

Two lawyers for Topuz were not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

In a 78-page indictment that included telephone calls, text messages, and security camera images, Topuz was accused of links to officials who led a 2013 corruption investigation and were later found to be members of the network of US-based Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen, which Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup.

A translator and fixer for the US Drug Enforcement Agency at the US consulate in Istanbul, Topuz maintained throughout the trial that he contacted the individuals, who at the time held high-ranking positions in the police and judiciary, as part of his job.

Gulen, a businessman, has lived in self-imposed exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999 and has denied any involvement in the coup attempt.

The US embassy, whose staff regularly attended the hearings in support of Topuz and his family, has said there is no credible evidence against him.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural address of the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) through video conferencing today. Referring to the war against the COVID-19 Pandemic Prime Minister said India is putting up a brave front along with the entire world. He said the country is also facing various other problems arising out of disasters like locust attacks, hailstorms, Oil Rig Fires, series of mini earthquakes and two cyclones, but that the nation is fighting these problems in unison.

Prime Minister said that such difficult times have made India more resolute. He said that determination, will power and unity are the strength of the nation which makes the country to fight all the crises. He said that any crisis provides us with an opportunity to turn it into a turning point to build a self- reliant India (AatmaNirbhar Bharat). The Prime Minister said self reliance has been an aspiration of India for years. He said it is time for bold decisions & bold investments, to prepare a globally competitive domestic supply chain and not for conservative approaches. He was listing the sectors in which India should attain AatmaNirbhar.

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A remarkable thing has happened in a remarkable case.

In the prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a retired judge filed a brief Wednesday in which he powerfully argues that the government has engaged in a "gross abuse of prosecutorial power for the purpose of benefiting a political ally of President Donald Trump. He urges the court to reject Trumps threat to prosecutorial independence by denying the governments motion to dismiss the case and proceeding to sentencing.

Last month, the acting U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, Timothy Shea, filed a motion to dismiss the charge against Flynn. Special counsel Robert Mueller had charged the former national security adviser in 2017 with making false statements during an interview with the FBI shortly after Trump became president. According to the charging document, to which Flynn pleaded guilty, he falsely denied talking with a Russian diplomat in December 2016 about U.S. sanctions against Russia and a United Nations vote. In his plea agreement, Flynn also admitted to making false statements in his lobbying disclosure forms regarding his work on behalf of the government of Turkey.

After Mueller submitted his report to Attorney General William Barr and closed down the Office of Special Counsel last summer, Flynn stopped cooperating, obtained a new lawyer and sought to withdraw his guilty plea. Until recently, the government had taken the position that Flynns statements were false and material. But last month, instead of responding to Flynns motion, Shea filed the motion to dismiss the case against Flynn, a highly unusual step in a case where a defendant has already admitted his guilt.

Classic example of 'dubious dismissal'

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, faced with an unusual situation, appointed retired Judge John Gleeson as amicus curiae, or friend of the court, to help him make sense of the governments about-face. Gleeson is a former federal prosecutor known for convicting noted mob boss John Gotti. He later served as a federal judge in Brooklyn for 22 years.

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As Gleeson explains in his brief, federal rules require leave, or permission, of the court before a case may be dismissed. The purpose of the rule is to prevent dubious dismissals of criminal cases that would benefit powerful and well-connected defendants. Gleeson argues that a dismissal of Flynns case would provide precisely that kind of inappropriate benefit to a close associate of the president.

Gleeson argues that the governments stated reasons for seeking dismissal are pretextual and overcome the presumption of regularity. In an 82-page brief, he convincingly rebuts the governments argument that the evidence is insufficient to prove that Flynns lies were material or that he made them knowingly and willfully. Calling the governments arguments preposterous, Gleeson details how they depend on misstatements of law, distortions of fact and departures from positions DOJ has repeatedly taken in cases not involving the presidents political allies.

President-elect Donald Trump and national security adviser-designate Michael Flynn in 2016.

For example, Gleeson points out that materiality requires only that a false statement have a natural tendency to influence a matter under investigation. Here, Flynn, who was serving in the sensitive position of national security adviser, repeatedly lied about the nature and extent of his communications with a senior official of a hostile foreign power that was being sanctioned by the U.S. government for interfering with the U.S. presidential election.

These lies certainly had a tendency to influence, and, in fact, did influence an investigation by the FBI into potential threats to national security.

Flynn test case: Will Trump and Barr force justice system to aid and abet corruption?

Gleeson similarly skewers arguments that the government could not prove that Flynn lied knowingly and willfully, calling these contentions even more implausible than the materiality arguments. He points to several facts to support the conclusion that when Flynn spoke to the FBI, he remembered discussing sanctions with the ambassador: Flynn was having contemporaneous conversations with members of the Trump transition team to discuss what to say to the ambassador about the sanctions, Russia acted on his request, Flynn spoke again to the ambassador, who told him that Russia had acted because of his request, Flynn reported to his deputy that his calls had made a difference and Russias response was a newsworthy event that Trump tweeted about.

These facts support a fair conclusion that when Flynn was interviewed by the FBI one month after these events occurred, he remembered discussing sanctions with the ambassador. Nothing about the evidence has changed since the government brought this case.

'Severe breakdown' of independence

In addition to exposing the pretextual nature of the governments position, Gleeson makes an even more significant argument  that the governments motion to dismiss amounts to "gross abuse" of power by Trump. He argues that the evidence shows close coordination between Flynn and other members of the Trump campaign. Flynn discussed the Russian calls with members of the transition team, and Trump and others tried to keep reports about them out of the press.

Gleeson's brief notes that Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to let go of the investigation into Flynn. And he says Trump himself has engaged in running public commentary, tweeting more than 100 times and making it clear that he is personally invested in ensuring that Flynns prosecution ends, and has deep animosity toward those who investigated and prosecuted Flynn.

These tweets, Gleeson writes, were issued against the background of a severe breakdown in the traditional independence of the Justice Department from the president. Trump has publicly repudiated settled, foundational norms of prosecutorial independence.

Fading beacon: America was the keeper of democracy. We were imperfect but we kept trying, until now.

Gleeson argues that the Department of Justice had the unreviewable choice of declining charges against Flynn, and that Trump still has the unreviewable choice of pardoning Flynn, but by filing charges in court, they forfeited the right to implicate this court in the dismissal of that charge simply because Flynn is a friend and political ally of the president.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hold oral argument on Friday on a request by Flynn for a writ of mandamus, which would direct Judge Sullivan to grant the Justice Department's motion to dismiss without further action. Lets hope the court takes a moment to consider Judge Gleesons perspective and allow Judge Sullivan to make his own decision before deciding whether to review it.

As Gleeson explains, the purpose of the rule requiring the court to approve a dismissal is to protect the judiciarys independent interest in the integrity of its own proceedings. Barr and Shea may be allowing Trump to use the Department of Justice as a tool of his political machinery, but the court should resist following.

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, an NBC and MSNBC legal analyst, and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow her on Twitter: @BarbMcQuade

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump-Barr reversal on Flynn was all about helping an ally: Gleeson
[June 11, 2020] Entwistle & Cappucci LLP Announces Securities Class Action Filed on Behalf of Persons or Entities That Traded Common Stock of Forescout Technologies, Inc. During the Period February 6, 2020 Through May 15, 2020, Inclusive

Entwistle & Cappucci LLP ("Entwistle & Cappucci") and Susman Godfrey L.L.P. ("Susman Godfrey") today announced that they have filed a securities class action lawsuit on behalf of persons or entities that purchased or otherwise acquired common stock of Forescout Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FSCT) ("Forescout" or the "Company") during the period February 6, 2020 through May 15, 2020, inclusive (the "Class Period"), and who thereby sustained damages (the "Class"). The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. 3:20-cv-03819 against Forescout and related defendants (collectively, "Defendants"). The class action asserts claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint alleges that Defendants made materially false and misleading statements and omissions of material facts regarding the significant and disproportionate decline in Forescout's financial performance and the related risk Forescout's planned acquisition by Advent International Corp. would not close. As a result, Class members that purchased Forescout common stock during the Class Period did so at artificially inflated prices. In this action, Plaintiffs seek, among other things, an award of damages and prejudgment interest, to Plaintiffs and other Class members. If you wish toserve as a lead plaintiff in this matter, you must file a motion with the Court no later than 60 days from today, or by Monday, August 10, 2020. Any member of the proposed Class may move the Court to serve as a lead plaintiff in this matter through counsel of their choice, or they may choose to do nothing and remain a member of the Class.



If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact: Andrew J. Entwistle, Esq. of Entwistle & Cappucci at (212) 894-7200 or via e-mail at [email protected]; or Robert N. Cappucci, Esq. of Entwistle & Cappucci at (212) 894-7200 or via e-mail at [email protected]. About Entwistle & Cappucci

Entwistle & Cappucci is a national law firm providing exceptional legal representation to clients globally in the most complex and challenging legal matters. Our practice encompasses all areas of litigation, including securities, antitrust, corporate transactions, general corporate and commercial, creditor's rights and bankruptcy, corporate governance and fiduciary duty, government affairs, insurance, investigations and white collar defense. Our clients include public and private corporations, major hedge funds, public pension funds, governmental entities, leading institutional investors, domestic and foreign financial services companies, emerging business enterprises and individual entrepreneurs. About Susman Godfrey For more than 30 years, Susman Godfrey has focused its nationally recognized practice on just one thing: high-stakes commercial litigation. It is one of the nation's leading law firms, with offices in Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles and New York. For more information, visit www.susmangodfrey.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005602/en/

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By Francesco Guarascio

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission is seeking a mandate from EU countries to buy promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates in advance from pharmaceutical firms, as long as they are not produced solely in the United States, officials said.

The EU executive wants to pay for up to six potential vaccines in deals where the makers would commit to providing doses when and if they become available.

It will ask EU health ministers at a video conference meeting on Friday to back the plan, which has been swiftly devised as the bloc fears it may not have access to enough shots should a vaccine be developed.

All vaccines in clinical trial this year are in principle eligible for advance purchases, but not those which are produced exclusively in the United States, because Washington has signalled it will not allow sales abroad before its own needs are met, the EU officials told a news conference.

"Sourcing from producers that would only have production capacity in the United States would not really be an option for us," one Commission official said, adding this would not guarantee that the shots are available for the EU population.

British-based drugmakers AstraZeneca <AZN.L> and GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>, France's Sanofi <SASY.PA>, and U.S. players Pfizer <PFE.N>, Novavax <NVAX.O>, Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N> and Moderna <MRNA.O> are among companies trialling vaccines. See FACTBOX for full list and details:

The Commission official said U.S. companies with production facilities in Europe could be eligible. Asked which companies could be excluded from EU deals, she said it was too early to say.

The plan would offer financial guarantees to pharmaceutical companies, which face big losses if their vaccines are not successful.

"We pay up front a significant part of the investment needed in exchange for a commitment from the pharmaceutical manufacturer to give us a vaccine when is available," the official told a news conference.

Story continues

The purchase agreements would be financed with an EU emergency fund, which currently has a budget of 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion), officials said, confirming Reuters' earlier reports.

EU governments, which are negotiating deals with pharmaceutical companies on their own, could also provide extra funding, the official said. It is not clear whether the plan has the backing of EU member states, however.

As part of the plan, the Commission will also propose a temporary softening of regulatory requirements to develop vaccines that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs), officials said, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

If backed by EU health ministers on Friday, the Commission will make formal proposals next week.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Mark Potter and Pravin Char)
USC has removed the name of former President Rufus von KleinSmid from a prominent campus building because of his active support of eugenics. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

With its soaring arches, international flags and globe-topped tower, the Von KleinSmid Center for International and Public Affairs is one of the most prominent buildings at USC. Its namesake, the late Rufus B. von KleinSmid, has held a place of distinction as the universitys fifth president.

But on Thursday, USC announced it had stripped Von KleinSmids name from the building as the university at last reconciled with his disturbing leadership role in Californias eugenics movement.

The scholar, who is credited with expanding the university's academic programs and international relations curriculum as president from 1921 to 1947, believed that people with defects had no ethical right to parenthood and should be sterilized. His Human Betterment Foundation was instrumental in supporting the 1909 California legislation that authorized the forced sterilization of those deemed unfit  essentially anyone non-white, said Alexandra Minna Stern, a University of Michigan history professor and expert on eugenics.

His active support of eugenics is "at direct odds with USCs multicultural community and our mission of diversity and inclusion," President Carol L. Folt announced.

"This moment is our Call to Action, a call to confront anti-Blackness and systemic racism, and unite as a diverse, equal, and inclusive university," Folt wrote. "You have asked for actions, not rhetoric, and actions, now."

The university also removed Von KleinSmid's bust from the building after a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees' executive committee.

Tweets with the hashtag #VKCIsOverParty celebrating the change circulated Thursday among USC students after photos of the building without Von KleinSmids name were posted on the platform.

Everything he believed in is a threat to the Black community and any marginalized community, so I do think its a step in the right direction, said junior Jaya Hinton, co-director of USCs Black Student Assembly. But anti-Blackness is more than just names on buildings. USC is an institution and systemic, institutional racism is a real thing.

Story continues

USC had failed to respond to years of demands from within and outside the university to remove Von KleinSmid's name from the building.

They include Japanese Americans, who say Von KleinSmid prevented more than 150 second-generation Nisei students from returning to USC after World War II, when tens of thousands were wrongly incarcerated following Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Von KleinSmid was the only West Coast university president who refused to send their transcripts to colleges in other states, where Japanese Americans released from incarceration camps were trying to finish their education, said Jon Kaji, past president of the USC Asian Pacific Alumni Assn. He began pressing USC in 2012 to remove Von KleinSmid's name from the building but officials did not respond, he said.

But mass protests calling for racial justice, triggered by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, finally pushed USC to action. Folt said her office has been deluged with input from students, staff, faculty leadership, deans, alumni and neighbors.

Earlier this week, students began circulating an online petition, similar to one in 2018, calling for the renaming of the building. Last September, just an hour before Folt was sworn in as USC president, the bust of Von KleinSmid was found with a rag over its face with the words rename VKC on it and a piece of cardboard inscribed with NAZI hung around its neck.

Last year, then-Provost Michael Quick announced the formation of a Nomenclature Task Force to address concerns regarding building names, symbols and monuments. The committees formation came after members of the Undergraduate Student Government had called for it a year before.

Folt also announced five other actions USC would immediately take to confront systemic racism.

Form a Community Advisory Board for the Department of Public Safety. Racial and identity profiling, officer training, education, disciplinary matters, financial resources and partnerships with the Los Angeles Police Department are among issues that will be examined.

Convene a new Taskforce on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Folt said she will charge a new committee to identify structural and institutional processes that perpetuate racism and inequality.

Hire a Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.

Expand space and programming for underserved students, including those who are undocumented, along with those who are the first in their families to attend college. The expanded services will include students who are Black, Asian Pacific American, Latino, Native American, Middle Eastern, LGBTQ+ , veterans and former foster youths.

Require Unconscious Bias Training.

Folt's announcement drew cautious support from students who have been pressing for action on the issue.

Shes using the right words for sure, Im just hoping theres action behind them, said USC rising senior Michael Mikail, who is majoring in political science. I think its one step in the right direction, but we have a lot of steps to go.

In a Daily Trojan letter to the editor last week, Mikail had included the name change on a list of actions he wanted Folt to take to better support Black students.

I, and other Black students advocating for change, did not come to USC to be activists or agitators, said Mikail, who also serves as executive director of USCs Pan-African Student Assembly. We came for an education, and USCs institutional failings have forced us into these roles.

Hinton, who is studying business administration, commended Folts other actions, such as instituting implicit bias training. But she said she hoped not just students, but also faculty members, administration and Department of Public Safety members would be required to take it.

George Sanchez, a professor of American studies and ethnicity and history at the school, who has documented Von KleinSmid's history, said the former USC president was a key figure in pushing California to the forefront of the eugenics movement. The German Nazis were reading writings by California scientists leading the movement, which was couched as a scientific way to improve public health and welfare by regulating the makeup of America's "racial stock."

They were seen as reformers," Sanchez said. At the time, these ideas were seen as what the social sciences and science should work together to make a better society.

California's sterilization law did not call out race explicitly, instead targeting those with "mental deficiencies" and "feeblemindedness." But the labels were disproportionately applied to racial and ethnic minorities, people with actual and perceived disabilities, poor people and women, Stern said, and the eugenics literature of the time specifically mentioned Mexicans, Filipinos and, later, Japanese and Japanese Americans.

Overall, about 20,000 people in a dozen California state institutions were sterilized throughout the 20th century under the law, which was repealed in 1979, Stern said. Her research lab has found that Latinos were sterilized at significantly higher rates than others in the institutions, the majority of whom were white. Latinas were 59% more likely to be sterilized than non-Latinas, the lab found.

Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles) has introduced legislation to compensate survivors of sterilization.

To me, this is Californias version of Confederate monuments, Sanchez said. This history of eugenics and sterilization is central to Californias racial history. In a sense, USC understands that it has a long history that is implicated in this, but I think they waited until a moment like this to act.
TDT | Manama

The journey back home for 45 Indian expatriates, who were among 901 inmates pardoned by His Majesty King Hamad in March, has reportedly been delayed due to the mass suspension of international flights caused by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. There are about 45 Indian nationals at the Alba deportation center, waiting to go back home from Bahrain, Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam (BKS) president P V Radhakrishna Pillai told TDT.

Bahrains Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) in April announced an amnesty for migrant workers living illegally in the Kingdom until December of this year. Foreign nationals taking advantage of this initiative are not required to pay any fines to either regularise their residency or leave the country, as per the declaration.

The 45 former inmates intend to fly home under the amnesty, but they are currently unable to travel. Efforts are being made for the urgent resolution for their relief, and there are about 15 of them who hail from the state of Kerala, he said. The BKS intends to repatriate a total of 594 Indian nationals in four chartered flights in the coming weeks.

The issue has been brought to the attention of the Indian Foreign Ministry, the authorities at the State Government of Kerala, and the Indian Embassy in Bahrain, Pillai added. Despite Pillais claims, Indian Embassy second secretary P K Chowdhury told TDT that they have not received any information on the 45 former inmates.

He said that details and numbers of those granted amnesties are usually forwarded directly to the Indian Embassy by immigration officials. He told TDT: Usually, we receive information about those who are awaiting repatriation from the local authorities, and we immediately accommodate such humanitarian cases.

In coordination with the local authorities, we have fast-tracked the process whenever possible in cases that needed repatriation. Based on the legal status of each case, we have facilitated the repatriation for many irregular migrants so that they can go back home.

He highlighted the case of Jayaprakash Vamadevan, who had been living in Bahrain as an unregistered migrant for the last 41 years. He was granted an exit permit and is set for repatriation today, supported by the Indian Embassy, as TDT reported earlier this week.
Kala Dalahan takes an order from Sherry Swingholm (front) of Plymouth Meeting and Ashlie Reilly (rear) of Devon at their table at Cerdo Restaurant in Conshohocken June 8, 2020 as the region moves into the yellow phase and outdoor dining is now permitted. Read more

As Pennsylvania and New Jersey kept the lid on new COVID-19 cases while other parts of the country saw worrisome increases, area politicians wrestled Thursday with how to satisfy a long-repressed yearning among their constituents.

People just want to go out to eat.

Philadelphia will begin to allow outdoor dining on Friday for restaurants that have sidewalk cafe licenses, and it will open applications for other restaurants to begin offering seating on sidewalks, in parking spaces, or on temporarily closed streets, city officials said.

 READ MORE: Outdoor dining returns to Philly. Here's how it will work.

New Jersey restaurants can resume outdoor service on Monday as planned. But Gov. Phil Murphy faced criticism from restaurant owners who want to offer indoor seating as well, given that the state loosened restrictions this week on other indoor gatherings, such as church services. At a news conference, Murphy shot back at Asbury Parks move to allow indoor restaurant service, vowing that the state would enforce its prohibition.

We cannot have communities mirroring the cavalier actions in other states which have not put a premium on making the health of their residents priority number one," he said.

 READ MORE: Jersey Shore movie theater shuts its doors after being issued three violations

In Philadelphia, outdoor dining would technically have been permitted last week under state guidelines, when the city moved into the yellow phase of reopening. But the city took a more cautious approach in waiting until Friday.

Managing Director Brian Abernathy said outdoor dining in the city this summer will include a pilot program for closing a street for a weekend at a time  up to 60 hours  to allow for restaurant seating.

Restaurants also will be permitted to open seating on vacant lots and in parking lots, and to turn curbside parking into seating areas or takeout pickup locations. Those changes will require city permits; Abernathy said applications will open on Friday and officials will begin reviewing them on Monday. Officials said they will review applications within three days.

Pennsylvania announced 467 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, for a total of 77,313, while New Jersey reported 537 new cases, for a total of 165,816. When averaged over the previous seven days, New Jerseys daily case counts have dipped below Pennsylvanias for several days in a row, the first time that has happened during the pandemic.

Philadelphia identified 156 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said.

 READ MORE: SEPTA partners with Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium to test employees at stations

While that number is higher than in previous days, Farley said, the city received a large number of test results and had a positive rate of 7%. That percentage is a positive sign, he said, as positive test rates peaked at 40% earlier in the pandemic.

The city now has recorded a total of 24,107 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,434 deaths, including one new death announced Thursday.

Hospitalizations due to the coronavirus have also decreased, Farley said Thursday, as have emergency room patients displaying symptoms of the virus. But it is still too soon to predict when Philadelphia may move into the green phase of reopening, he said.

We will advance to green as soon as we feel theres a safety level that makes us comfortable doing that, he said.

Farley said it is still too early to tell how well businesses have complied with guidelines during the yellow phase, and said the city will continue to rely on businesses and residents voluntarily following guidelines because widespread enforcement would be a challenge.

While officials have been concerned about an increase in coronavirus cases due to crowds during protests last week, Farley said there are no indications that protests caused the virus to spread.

Its still early, were going to have to watch this for at least another week, but so far so good, he said.

People are encouraged to get tested for the virus seven days after participating in a protest. The citys testing capacity has continued to increase, Farley said.

Testing has never been more available than it is right now in Philadelphia, he said.

When people test positive, the city has started trying to identify and warn others who may have been exposed by those patients  a practice called contact tracing. So far that effort is relatively small" but will increase, he said.

A resurgence in cases elsewhere is a reminder of the continued need to be cautious, said physician Val Arkoosh, chair of the board of commissioners in Montgomery County, which entered the yellow reopening phase a week ago.

She cited a rise in COVID-19 cases in such states as Arizona, Nevada, and South Carolina, which began to reopen last month.

We are in good shape here, we are moving in the right direction, she said Thursday. But I just want to remind everybody that this could easily go the other way.

 READ MORE: Why Gov. Tom Wolfs big effort to grant coronavirus reprieves to Pa. inmates came up small

Arkoosh said she hopes to transition to green by early July if the county maintains its downward trends.

In Bucks County, David C. Damsker, director of the county health department, was even more optimistic. The countys number of COVID-19 cases seems to be holding steady at a low baseline number, potentially setting the stage for full reopening in a week, he said at a Thursday news conference.

We do believe were ready to move to green as soon as the governor allows us," he said. which could be as early as next Friday.

Elsewhere, in a reminder by the coronavirus that were all animals, the microbe has attacked mink farms in the Netherlands. That in turn has led mink farmers in the United States  including in Pennsylvania  to double down on their precautions against the disease.

Were aware of what is happening in the Netherlands, said Mark Stahl, a second-generation mink farmer in Sunbury, Pa., and a board member of the Fur Commission U.S.A. We [mink farms] have a low risk. Not no risk. But even prior to the outbreak, we didnt allow visitors. Now we do temperature checks of our workers when they start work.

The Dutch initially rejected the shutdowns enforced by most countries and championed the controversial idea of herd immunity  building resistance to the virus by exposing the population to it. By April, COVID-19 was spreading rapidly in the Netherlands, which had one of the highest mortality rates in the world.

After the first mink infections were reported at two Dutch farms in late April, genetic testing and contact tracing linked the outbreaks to a farm worker who had COVID-19, according to Science magazine. But the surprising discovery was that at least two farm workers later contracted the infection from the furry creatures. Dutch authorities began euthanizing tens of thousands of minks on June 6.

Ethical concerns and marginal profitability have diminished Pennsylvanias mink industry, which was never huge, to just a handful of farms, including Stahls.

Pennsylvania had 86,000 minks in 2017, compared with Wisconsin, the national leader with 1.1 million minks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Scientists have yet to pinpoint the source of the coronavirus, and Chinese officials no longer are saying it jumped to humans at a live animal market in Wuhan in December. Infections have been documented in cats, dogs, tigers, hamsters, and other animals since the pandemic began.

Staff writer Marie McCullough contributed to this article.
Burma Myanmar IDP Killed While Fetching Rice in Chin State

Paletwa / Aung Kyaw Htet / The Irrawaddy

YANGONA civilian was fatally shot as a group of displaced residents went to fetch rice on Wednesday in war-torn Paletwa Township in southern Chin State, where the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) are engaged in ongoing fighting.

I heard that they were shot from the forest on their way to get rice. The victim is U Myo Thant, age 46, said U Kyaw Aung, secretary of the townships community-based organization to help people affected by clashes and disasters. He was killed on the spot. But I dont know about the others, I dont know if they were injured or not.

U Myo Thant, a native of Nanchaungwa Village, was taking shelter at the camp for internally displace persons (IDPs) in Seint Sin Village. He is survived by his wife and his two children, one 8 years old and the other a few months old.

Some 20 displaced people from Seint Sin camp, including U Myo Thant, walked about 5 km to Nanchaungwa to get rice. Nanchaungwa suffered bombings from air strikes by the Myanmar military on April 7, which killed seven civilians and burned down dozens of houses.

The IDPs were reportedly shot from the forest on their way to Nanchaungwa. There are only the Tatmadaw [the Myanmar military] and the AA in Paletwa, and only those two are fighting. They can fight, but they need to consider civilians, said U Kyaw Aung.

People are quite frightened by shootings on sight like this, without distinguishing between civilians, the AA and the Tatmadaw. They dont even dare go outside their villages now, he added.

Paletwa Township, due to its remote location, is only accessible by water from Rakhine States Kyauktaw and by road from Matupi. The township brings in most of its basic foods from Kyauktaw via the Kaladan River.

Fierce clashes near Paletwa since February between the Myanmar military and the AA have effectively blocked transportation between Paletwa and neighboring Kyauktaw, leaving Paletwa isolated and short of food.

Transportation by boat along the river is not safe and the Myanmar military has blocked the road to Matupi for security concerns.

The government and civil society organizations have supplied rice for the displaced people, but the IDPs say the supplies are not enough.

Ma Mai Nan Wai, spokeswoman for the Relief and Rehabilitation Committee for Chin IDPs, said the displaced people informed the Myanmar military before they went to Nanchaungwa to fetch rice.

Ma Mai Nan Wai said the displaced people had said they were shot by Myanmar military. The Irrawaddy was not able to get a firsthand account from any of the displaced people and could not independently verify the reports due to the circumstances.

Myanmar military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that he did not know about the shooting and that the Tatmadaw has no reason to shoot the IDPs.

A WFP aid convoy was shot between Seint San and Nanchaungwa. The Myanmar military is also helping with the transportation of rice to the area, he said.

A WFP aid convoy transporting rice for displaced persons was shot between Paletwa and Samee in late April. The Myanmar military and the AA traded blame for the attack.

Ma Mai Nan Wai said that both sides are responsible for the lack of safety around the transportation of food for civilians. She described the disruptions to food shipments for civilians as a violation of human rights.

Our people went there [to Nanchaungwa] because we were told they can do so if they get permission. It would be better if the Myanmar military accompanied them and provided security in such cases. Even if they dont want to accompany them, it is still their responsibility to talk to the other side to ensure the safety of civilians on the way. What we understand is that it is the responsibility of the military to provide protection and security, she added.

On May 26, Auk Meeletwa Village, which is on the opposite bank of the Kaladan River from Paletwa, was set on fire. The village was abandoned by local residents who fled on March 8 following clashes.

On May 30, a displaced woman was fatally shot when she and others paddled from Paletwa to their home in Auk Meeletwa Village to collect firewood for cooking.

In both incidents, the Myanmar military and the AA blamed one another. Between January and June 10, 41 civilians have been killed in the fighting in Paletwa, and more than 11,000 have been forced from their homes into camps in urban Paletwa. More than 130 have fled from Paletwa to Yangon.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Madeleine McCanns grandmother Eileen who 'never gave up hope' her granddaughter would be found has died from a coronavirus-related illness.

Eileen McCann, aged 80, passed away last month just weeks before German police broke the bombshell news that they believe Madeleine is dead and are now investigating a new prime suspect over her abduction and murder.

Widow Eileen - one of Madeleines devoted grans and Gerrys mother - said shortly after her granddaughter was snatched in 2007: When I lost my husband John two years ago I thought that my world had collapsed. But losing Madeleine is ten times worse.

Madeleine McCann's grandmother Eileen, right, who 'never gave up hope' her granddaughter would be found has died from a coronavirus-related illness (left: Madeleine's aunt, Diane)

The former shop assistant and cleaner from Glasgow, who spent many months in Portugals Praia da Luz supporting and comforting her devastated son, Kate and their toddler twins Sean and Amelie after the kidnap, said at the time: As long as they dont find her body, Ill never give up hope. When we do finally get her home shell have so much love and hugs from us all.

Along with family members, Eileen was a stalwart for launching a global campaign to keep Madeleines disappearance in the global spotlight and find her abductor.

Eileens wish, and that of Kates parents, retired joiner Brian and former teacher Susan Healy from Liverpool, was for them all to learn the fate of their adored grandchild before their own lifes end.

Heart doctor Gerry and ex GP turned medical worker Kate, both 52, of Rothley, Leicestershire, are understood to have attended Eileens small funeral amidst Covid-19 social distancing restrictions in St Covals, East Renfrewshire.

Gerry has confirmed his mother's death to the family spokesman but relatives do not wish to comment. Kates uncle Brian Kennedy told MailOnline: We do not wish to comment on private family matters.

A source close to the couple said: It is yet another tragedy for the family and people who know them will be very sorry to hear. But is is a private family matter and Kate and Gerry do not wish to discuss it.

Eileen, right, pictured during a vigil in Glasgow for Madeleine, left. The grandmother was a stalwart for launching a campaign to keep Madeleines disappearance in the global spotlight

Kate and Gerry McCann pose with a computer-generated image of how their missing daughter Madeleine might look during a news conference in London in May 2012

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell added: The family will definitely not be commenting on a private family matter.

Mother-of-five Eileen, who hails from Donegal, Ireland, was a driving force along with two of her three daughters Philomena and Tricia and son John in campaigning to find Madeleine.

She and family members were happy to conduct media interviews to help keep the youngsters disappearance in the media headlines in a bid to track down her kidnapper.

She had previously told of her belief that her hyperactive and inquisitive grand daughter was drugged to stop her screaming out before she was snatched.

She said: 'There is no way they carried her out of there without her awakening. If she was taken when she was sleeping by somebody she did not know, she would have screamed the place down.

Three-year-old Madeleine had been left sleeping alone with her younger twin siblings while her parents were dining in a nearby tapas restaurant with pals whilst taking it in turns to make half hourly checks on the kids.

Christian Brueckner, above, has been named as a prime suspect in the disappearance

Eileen was convinced Madeleines abductor struck at his first opportunity after closely monitoring the familys footsteps during their stay at a luxury poolside complex.

She said: 'I really believe that whoever took her gave her a drug first to stop her screaming and raising the alarm. Without a doubt, I believe the person who carried Madeleine out of the room that night had sedated her first. She is not the type of child to go off with a stranger.

Shes always been chatty and hyperactive at times but shes not one of these children who talks to anyone, she needs to get to know someone first.

Tough-talking Eileen has always been a fierce critic of the doubters who have continually slammed her son and daughter-in-law for leaving their children alone and wrongly believing they were responsible for their eldest childs disappearance.

Portuguese police had worked on a theory that the McCanns had accidentally killed their daughter with an overdose of sedatives to calm her down after a previous unsettled night and later hidden then disposed of her body.

Kate and Gerry were made suspects - arguidos'- in Madeleines disappearance by the Policia Judiciaria in September 2007, four months after she had vanished but were later cleared on any suspicion of wrongdoing.

Eileen defended the couple not choosing to use the resorts babysitting service, saying: They don't like leaving the children with strangers. It wasn't something they did very often - they have a nanny at home whom they trust. They're normal parents who love their children and would never neglect them in any way. Any suggestion they were neglecting them is completely insulting.

In a heart-wrenching interview when the McCann's made their painful return home to the UK without Madeleine, Eileen told how Kate collapsed in tears in her daughters bedroom.

She said: 'Kate needed to go into Madeleines room as soon as she got back. She wanted some time alone there. It was very traumatic for Kate. I can't imagine how sad she must have felt. Madeleine's clothes and toys were just the way they had been left.

German Federal Police have released a photo of a Volkswagen camper van, used by a suspect who may be connected to the disappearance of Madeleine 13 years ago

Police have also released a picture of a Jaguar which was used by Brueckner in Praia da Luz, Portugal, by a suspect who may be involved in the disappearance of Madeleine

German Federal Criminal Police Office handed out a photo, above, showing a house in Algarve, Portugal, that was used by the German man suspected to be linked to the disappearance

'Kate believes Madeleine is still alive and I imagine said a little prayer for her.' She told how daughter Trish had called her saying: 'Kates in Madeleines room. Shes really upset.'

Eileen, who had been in Portugal with the family but had flown back to Scotland, had earlier witnessed Kates despair at the airport, saying: 'She was really distressed and kept saying she didn't think shed be going back without Madeleine.

'We kept hugging and kissing and I said to her Be strong. She kept saying But I'm going back without Madeleine and I told her: 'You have to think about the twins now.

Over the past 13 years Eileen has continued to be a tower of strength to her son and Kate and the family have frequently got together, more recently in Scotland.

German police, being assisted by Scotland Yard, are investigating convicted rapist Christian Brueckner over Madeleine's kidnap and murder. Detectives are convinced she is dead and say they know how she was killed but have no idea where her body is.

Despite 600 new tips off - 400 to the Met Police and 200 to German Police - following a high profile appeal for information no charges have yet been brought against the 43-year-old German suspect.

He is currently in prison for raping an American pensioner and has now been moved to his own cell over fears for his safety.

Kate and Gerry welcome the significant breakthrough but say until a body is found they will continue to hope Madeleine could still be alive.
Senate Republicans on Thursday approved subpoenas for a slew of Barack Obama-era officials as part of their look into the origins of the Russia investigation.

On a party-line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved subpoenas for former FBI Director James Comey, former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

The mass subpoena list, which includes around 50 names, also includes Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, the FBI officials who worked on the counterintelligence investigation into President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

President Trump has long pushed for the probe by members of his party and has constantly railed against the 'witch hunt,' which is what he called the investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election.

Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator who is a close ally of Trump's and facing his own re-election campaign this year, is leading the probe into origins of Russia investigation

President Donald Trump has long pushed for his party to start the probe

The mass subpoena list, which includes around 50 names, also includes former FBI director James Comey and former FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok

Now Republicans have ramped up their efforts to investigate the president's political foes during an election year.

Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator who is a close ally of Trump's and facing his own re-election campaign this year, is heading the effort.

'I assure you, we're not going to be deterred,' Graham said of the probe.

He has resisted pressure from President Trump to call Barack Obama before the panel and there is no mention of the former president in the subpoena authorizations.

In a 12-10 party-line vote, Republicans gave Graham broad power to subpoena the Obama era officials.

Page and Strzok were having an affair and exchanged text messages expressing their concern about Trump winning the White House, messages the president used to claim there was a 'deep state' conspiracy working against him. The two are a perennial target of Trump's ire.

Officials Republicans want to subpoena Trisha Anderson Brian Auten James Baker William Barr Dana Boente Jennifer Boone John Brennan James Clapper Kevin Clinesmith James Comey Patrick Conlon Michael Dempsey Stuart Evans Tashina Gauhar Carl Ghattas Curtis Heide Kathleen Kavalec David Laufman Stephen Laycock Jacob Lew Loretta Lynch Andrew McCabe Mary McCord Denis McDonough Arthur McGlynn Jonathan Moffa Sally Moyer Mike Neufield Sean Newell Victoria Nulan Bruce Ohr Nellie Ohr Stephanie L. OSullivan Lisa Page Joseph Pientka John Podesta Samantha Power E.W. Bill Priestap Sarah Raskin Steve Ricchetti Susan Rice Rod Rosenstein Gabriel Sanz-Rexach Nathan Sheets Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall Glenn Simpson Steve Somma Peter Strzok Michael Sussman Adam Szubin Jonathan Winer Christopher Wray Sally Yates Advertisement

Trump has also expressed his fury at Comey, whom he refers to as a 'dirty cop.'

Graham was also given the power to look into the documents that went into compiling the infamous Christopher Steele dossier, which claimed Russians had blackmail material on Trump. The president has denied this.

And Graham can also examine documents and records referenced in Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz's review of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications related to former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The Republican senator from South Carolina has denied any political motives or pressure from Trump.

He's said he wants to release his findings by October, which would have the issue in the headlines shortly before the election.

Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is conducting a similar investigation in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chairs.

During Thursday's Judiciary committee hearing, Democrats pushed for a slew of their own subpoenas, each voted down one-by-one along partisan lines.

'We're not going to hold the Mueller investigation all over again,' Graham said in urging his GOP colleagues to vote against the Democratic demands. He said special counsel Robert Mueller conducted a thorough investigation and now was the time to look into how the probe got started.

The committee also rejected, on a party line vote, a motion by Democratic Senator Kamala Harris to subpoena Attorney General Bill Barr for his role in using law enforcement officers, chemical agents and rubber bullets to clear Lafayette Square of peaceful protesters so President Trump could walk to St. John's church for a photo-op.

The committee rejected Democratic efforts to subpoena White House senior adviser Jared Kushner; former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; Konstantin Kilimnik, who received internal Trump campaign polling info from Manafort; former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen; former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos; former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn; Roger Stone; and Jerome Corsi, who had communications with Stone.

'I don't understand how we can do an investigation if you're not going to be able to get all the evidence,' said Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic leader on the committee.

Comey, as FBI director, authorized Operation Crossfire Hurricane, which was the agency's counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russian officials trying to interfere in the president election.

It was a joint investigation by the FBI, the CIA and the National Security Agency.

It was sparked by information that George Papadopoulos, an adviser to Trump's campaign, claimed the Russians had damaging material on Hillary Clinton.

It was eventually taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose investigation cleared the Trump campaign of any collusion but came to no conclusion as to whether President Trump tried to hamper the special counsel's probe.
As countries across the globe continue to find a coronavirus vaccine, more and more pharmaceutical companies have joined the endeavour. Indian biotech firm Panacea is one of the latest joinees. Meanwhile Johnson and Johnson has said that it would start human trials in July. Eli Lilly and Co has also said that it might have a coronavirus drug ready for use as early as September. Additionally China is offering employees of state-run companies the option to get inoculated with two vaccines in development.

Here are the latest updates on development of coronavirus vaccine and drug:

CORONAVIRUS VACCINE

Johnson and Johnson has said that it has pushed up clinical trials by two months. Human trials would now start in the second-half of July. This would allow J&J to take part in the clinical trials programme planned by the US government that aims to find a vaccine by the year end. "Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development," said Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels. The J&J trials that will take place in the United States and Belgium would test the corona vaccine for safety and efficacy in 1,045 volunteers between ages 18 to 55 years.

Also read: Coronavirus vaccine update: Indian firm Panacea to make vaccine; Serum Institute puts in $100 million

UK-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plans to roll out a billion doses of the potential COVID-19 vaccine by the second half of 2021. GSK is developing a vaccine candidate with pharma major Sanofi. GSK will utilise its well-established 'adjuvant' platform and Sanofi's antigen technology to scale up vaccine doses. After the clinical trials are cleared GSK is confident of supplying a billion doses through its network in Canada and Europe.

A prominent Italian health expert has said that the first doses of coronavirus could be ready as early as autumn-winter. The expert said that Europe is ahead of the US in the race to find a vaccine. "Europe is far ahead of the United States in terms of new coronavirus vaccine, and we are getting ready for having a consistent part of it produced in Italy," said Walter Ricciardi, adviser to the Italian Health Ministry for the COVID-19 emergency. "With respect to the timing, if all goes well, we might have the first doses of the vaccine in Europe, and of course in Italy, by autumn-winter," he said. Ricciardi said that a COVID vaccine research project conducted by an Anglo-Italian partnership was in a more advanced development phase as compared with others.

Japanese biotech company AnGes Inc expects its coronavirus vaccine to be ready by the first half of 2021 if production and supply goes smoothly. The firm is repurposing its hypertension vaccine that had already passed high safety and regulatory standards.

Meanwhile, in China, employees of some large state-run companies are being given the option to get inoculated with two coronavirus vaccines currently in development. Employees travelling overseas can volunteer to be administered COVID-19 vaccines developed by Sinopharm's subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG). There are five Chinese coronavirus vaccine candidates that are in the human trial stage and competing with the likes of Moderna and AstraZeneca.

Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: Sun Pharma starts Phase 2 of trials; PM Modi pledges $15 million to GAVI

Indian firm Panacea is partnering with US-based Refana Inc to make a potential COVID vaccine. It aims to make more than 500 million doses of the corona vaccine candidate, with around 40 million doses ready by early next year.

CORONAVIRUS DRUG

US-based Eli Lilly and Co has said that it could have a coronavirus drug authorised for use as early as September if all goes well with either of two antibody therapies it is testing. "For the treatment indication, particularly, this could go pretty fast. If in August or September we're seeing the people who got treated are not progressing to hospitalisation, that would be powerful data and could lead to emergency use authorisation. So that puts you in the fall time: September, October, November is not unreasonable," said Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky. He added that Lilly is also doing preclinical studies of a third antibody treatment for coronavirus that could enter human clinical trials in the coming weeks.

Additionally, Gilead Sciences has said that its antiviral drug Remdesivir has prevented respiratory disease in macaque monkeys infected with coronavirus. Remdesivir is the first drug to show improvement in human trials.

Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: US says 2 million doses 'ready to go'; AstraZeneca aims to release vaccine in Sept
PCUSA leader: Churches should 'not rush' to reopen amid COVID-19 pandemic

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The head of the Presbyterian Church (USA) cautioned congregations against reopening for in-person services amid renewed concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

PCUSA General Assembly Stated Clerk, the Rev. Herbert J. Nelson, posted a video online Monday on the issue of churches reopening amid eased restrictions on in-person gatherings.

Nelson explained that while worship is important and restrictions are being loosened, churches should take our time and not rush into reopening for in-person services.

Recognize that we are still in the midst of this coronavirus, said Nelson. The practices that many of you have continued to push through that had been created out of your own imagination even when we were unable to go into sanctuaries and other church buildings, expand upon that."

Allow us to take this slowly and to recognize in all things that we are to be the persons who help to build the abundant life that individuals seek on this side of Heaven.

Noting that wise decisions must be made, Nelson went on to stress that the reality is that we are truly called in all of these days to remember the preservation of life and that vessel which God has given to each and every one of us.

So I am asking that we slowly move through this process of reentering, even when laws allow us to do so. I would ask us to take an opportunity to think through what it means to do the very basics that government officials and also healthcare officials have asked us to adhere to, he continued.

As states begin multiphase plans to allow businesses and houses of worship to reopen, many churches that halted in-person worship services to help combat the spread of COVID-19 for a designated period of time, so that hospitals did not get overwhelmed, have reopened.

Congregations frequently follow social distancing guidelines, such as wearing face masks, spacing out individuals and families that attend, and encouraging sick members to stay home.

Nelsons comments come as the World Health Organization stated that transmission of COVID-19 by people who are asymptomatic is "very rare," only to clarify later that the actual answer is more complex.

I was responding to a question at the press conference. I wasn't stating a policy of WHO or anything like that. I was just trying to articulate what we know, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO said. And in that, I used the phrase very rare,' and I think that that's misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare.

According to numbers by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, worldwide there are approximately 7.4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 417,100 deaths.
We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So before you buy or sell GYG plc (LON:GYG), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Buying?

It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.

See our latest analysis for GYG

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At GYG

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Managing Director of USA Peter Brown bought UK100k worth of shares at a price of UK0.50 per share. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of UK0.73. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

AIM:GYG Recent Insider Trading June 11th 2020

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership of GYG

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 18% of GYG shares, worth about UK6.2m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

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So What Does This Data Suggest About GYG Insiders?

The fact that there have been no GYG insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don't see anything to make us think GYG insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for GYG you should know about.

Of course GYG may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Fake currency with a face value of more than Rs 55 crore has been seized from a bungalow in Pune, and senior police officials believe the figure could rise as the counterfeit notes were still being counted on Thursday.

Six men arrested in connection with the seizure, including army personnel, are being interrogated and will be produced in court by Thursday afternoon.

The money was found in a bungalow at Sanjay Park in Viman Nagar during a joint operation by Pune Police and Military Intelligence.

The arrested men were identified as Lance Naik Shaikh Alim Gulab Khan, a member of the Indian Army bank at Bombay Sappers, Sunil Badrinarayan Sarda, from Kondhwa area of Pune, Ritesh Ratnakar from Kamothe in Navi Mumbai, and Tufail Ahmed Mohammad Ishaq Khan, Abdul Gani Rehmtullah Khan and his son Abdul Rehman Abdul Gani Khan of Meera Road in Mumbai.

The lance naik rented the bunglow for Rs23,000 eight months ago. He was the one who was involved in procuring the money. Prima facie, the owner of the place has no involvement in this, said additional commissioner of police (crime) Ashok Morale.

Asked whether genuine Rs1,000 notes were among the seized currency, Morale said this money was simply for show. The Rs1,000 notes were demonetised by the Centre in 2016.

This is an old racket. They hunt for customers and try to lure them into buying the currency they have. Our informant had an offer from them. They asked for Indian currency and offered American dollars. So police officers posed as customers and approached them, said senior police inspector Rajendra Mohite of the anti-narcotics cell.

A fake office was set up by police in White House building near SP College, where a member of the gang came and checked the cash. While two officers posed as clients, a woman constable posed as a receptionist in the office.

We took help of a bank and kept Rs25 lakh in cash ready. They checked some of the notes and only then started speaking, said Mohite.

The accused had forbidden the two officers from using their mobile phones, according to police. The bungalow had four dogs for security, according to police.

The police officers involved in the raid used software that allowed them to track each other without touching their phones.

The accused first took them to Koregaon Park and then to the bungalow in Sanjay Park, where police teams followed and conducted a raid.

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(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Copper has been on a steady upward trend, charging into a bull market and toward $6,000 per metric ton. Thats going to be tough to sustain. Chinas stimulus efforts are being felt most strongly in infrastructure and construction. They have been less marked in other metal-intensive corners of the market: consumer goods and exports, which are still waiting for Europe and the U.S. to rally.

Meanwhile, disruptions to supply from Latin Americas unfolding coronavirus disaster havent been enough yet to offset annualized demand loss. What happens next will be determined by whether Chile, Peru and producers like Indonesia, home to the worlds second-largest copper mine, can do better at controlling the epidemic than resource-rich Brazil.

An economic bellwether, copper crumpled earlier this year as the scale of the pandemic became clear, falling by late March to its lowest levels since late 2016. The metal has clawed most of that back and with no large market surpluses in sight, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is among brokers that have raised price forecasts. The comeback has been largely driven by China, which consumes half the worlds copper and has been steadily eating through stockpiles as industrial production restarts and building resumes. Theres plenty of encouraging evidence: Inventories, after soaring when the pandemic began, have tumbled back. Cancelled warrants, which represent metal earmarked for delivery and so suggest appetite for the physical commodity, have shot up since late May.

Hiccups in mine activity are lending support. Shipments from Peru, which has seen perhaps the longest lockdown among top producers, are down by almost a fifth so far this year, according to UBS Group AG. Add in Covid- and price-related closures, project slowdowns and cuts to spending budgets, and the combination is telegraphing tight supply. Enthusiasm is visible among previously bearish money managers, who are turning bullish and adding to long positions.

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Is all of that enough to keep copper running high? Not necessarily. While consultancy Wood Mackenzie Ltd. estimates 2020 refined production will be down more than 1%, it expects refined consumption to contract by over 3%.

The shape of Chinas stimulus and recovery offers one reason for caution, as the effects of pent-up demand begin to fade. Take grid spending, usually a major driver of copper demand: After a contraction at the start of the year, investment has increased and the budget is expected to expand from a year earlier. Yet the emphasis is on ultra-high voltage electricity lines to cover long distances, which tend to use lighter aluminum. Production of consumer appliances like air conditioners is also still under pressure. Though better property and auto sales figures are encouraging, there was no significant real estate stimulus out of the recent National Peoples Congress meeting. And measures to support the electric vehicle sector and its charging infrastructure may not be enough.

More worrying is the weakness in the Chinas exports, as seen in the May manufacturing purchasing managers index. About 30% of Chinas apparent consumption of refined copper is actually exported, according to Cru Group, so extended lockdowns in India and elsewhere matter.

It would be foolish to underestimate Chinas ability to throw money at the problem. Still, the bigger unknown for the coming weeks is how the coronavirus spreads in coppers biggest producers. Peru has already seen exports drop but so far Chile, which accounts for about a third of global production, has continued to operate largely unscathed. That was easier when there were fewer cases in the wider population, but now the country is in the grip of a significant outbreak.

Brazil, now with the second-highest case number in the world after the U.S., offers a cautionary tale. With case rates rising at and near mines, iron ore producer Vale SA has already been forced to suspend work at one complex, Itabira, and concerns are growing about the countrys north. Near its Carajas operations there, the local town of Parauapebas has 5,734 cases for a population of roughly 200,000.

Indonesia is another worry, says Nick Pickens, copper research director at Wood Mackenzie, given the importance of the Freeport-McMoRan Inc.-operated Grasberg mine to additional supply into 2021. Reuters reported last month that the mine was now working with a skeletal team after a rise in coronavirus infections in the area, including in workers living quarters.

That would add uncertainty further out, not least given the degree to which miners have cut capital expenditure, discretionary spending and care and maintenance, as Cru principal analyst Craig Lang points out. That leaves them less prepared if something goes wrong, and increases the risk of disruption. For now, though, it may take more to feed the bull run.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Clara Ferreira Marques is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities and environmental, social and governance issues. Previously, she was an associate editor for Reuters Breakingviews, and editor and correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, India, the U.K., Italy and Russia.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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2020 Bloomberg L.P.
It's no surprise that the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating the digital health space, and so it's also no surprise that a lot of the startups in this area are currently getting funded. Conversa Health, a Portland, Oregon-based startup that provides a virtual care and communication platform for personalized healthcare, is among these startups. The company today announced that it has raised a $12 million Series B round led by Builders VC and Northwell Ventures, the venture arm of Northwell Health, one of the largest healthcare providers in New York, with 23 hospitals and 800 outpatient facilities.

With this round, which also saw the participation of P5 Health Ventures, Nassau Street Ventures and Ohio's UH Ventures (the venture arm of Ohio's University Hospitals), Conversa has now raised a total of over $26 million.

In addition, the company also today announced that it has appointed Murray Brozinsky as its new CEO. Conversa co-founder -- and now former CEO -- West Shell III will become the company's executive chairman.

"I used to say that virtual health is inevitable," Brozinsky told me. "And the reason is that we can talk about the economics and how healthcare is moving to a value-based reimbursement system and how we're gonna break the bank in spending 20% of GDP and our need to improve the patient experience. So you can see how it would become the predominant way that we practice healthcare in this country. And with COVID, that has now become the catalyst for it to become a tipping point. So we've seen an acceleration of virtual care and we fully believe that the major health systems are going to implement platforms like this, in many cases, our platform as the first line."

The goal, Brozinsky told me, is for Conversa's platform to become the digital front door for a health system. The company's automated chat-based platform can help triage patients and see if they need a virtual or in-person visit with a doctor, for example. But healthcare systems can also use it to check in on patients and gather data about them, either by asking for it or through connected devices. Indeed, as Brozinsky noted, in many ways, Conversa is a data company.

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One new line of business is the company's Employee HealthCheck services, which allows employers to screen workers before they return to work, using a simple Q&A process. In the current environment, where businesses are very much responsible for creating and maintaining a safe work environment, that's indeed a very timely launch (and healthcare providers, too, are using the company's system to screen patients and their loved ones before they arrive at their facilities).

"We think it's going to be incumbent on employers to continue to screen their employees for COVID," said Brozinsky. "And then on the heels of that, we're seeing a lot of -- and this has been an issue, but now it's become a bigger issue -- which is mental health. So a lot of PTSD, certainly from healthcare workers, stress and anxiety for lots of people in the environment. So we've got programs on the heels of COVID that are helping to screen for mental health."

He also noted that while a lot of employers have launched wellness programs, the activation rates for these have remained very low, all while the nature of work is changing rapidly as people work remotely and are often scared to come in to work.

"Even before COVID-19, we have been expanding our work with Conversa throughout our organization over the last few years as they are a critical component of Northwell Healths vision for virtual health, further strengthening the provider-patient relationship through personalized, insightful engagement," said Joseph Schulman, senior vice president, Population Health, Business Transformation, for Northwell Health. "We have been successfully using Conversa to scale our communications and care for thousands of COVID-19 patients with programs focused on lab results, quarantine, antibody tests and more. Conversa has been an extraordinary partner."

Conversa CEO Murray Brozinsky
She's been taking to the streets to join the Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.

And Madonna, 61, shared an Instagram photo of herself with 'impassioned activists' outside City Hall on Wednesday as she urged others to join the movement.

Madonna said she stood with 'grieving mothers who have lost their children to police brutality' and demanded the resignation of District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

'I cried for hours hearing the anguish of mothers': Madonna took to Instagram on Wednesday to urge people to join Black Lives Matter protests, wants to Defund The Police and demanded the resignation of the District Attorney

Lacey has come under fire for not prosecuting more police officers for misconduct and Madonna also believes it's time to Defund The Police.

She wrote: 'Every Weds for the last few years Black Lives Matter LA, has gathered in front of City Hall to demand the resignation of D.A. Jackie Lacey and to grieve with mothers mourning the loss of their children to police brutality.

'I urge you to join them next Wed. And every Wed. I did today and had the honor of meeting these two compelling and impassioned activists @janayathefuture and @kendrick38.

Out in force: Madonna joined crowds at another Black Lives Matter march last week, despite being on crutches as she lent her support to the important movement

'I cried for two hours feeling the anguish of the mothers who spoke but at the same time I saw hope in the leaders of this generation.

'#defundthepolice #bld.pwr #blacklivesmatter #endpolicebrutality.'

According to the LA Times, 'thousands of demonstrators marched to decry the practices of the citys law enforcement and protest against Lacey.'

Killed: The protest follows outrage at police brutality and the killing of George Floyd on May 25

The site reports: 'Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies lined the building as families of victims of officer-involved shootings spoke of losing loved ones as protesters shouted, Say their name.'

They add that the crowd was chanting: 'Jackie Lacey must go. Jackie Lacey must go. We need to show the next D.A. we mean business. Prosecute killer cops.'

The protest seem to be exacting some change. Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a media briefing on Wednesday that he will make a $250 million investment to communities of color.

He added that the money will be cut from city operations, including as much as $150 million from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Former Deputy Mayor Of Tehran Being Tried For Billion-Dollar Corruption

Radio Farda June 10, 2020

Forty court hearings have been so far held in the trial of former Tehran Deputy Mayor, Issa Sharifi on charges of corruption, the spokesman of the Islamic Republic Judiciary, disclosed on Tuesday, June 9.

Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili said the hearings, with eleven defendants, are underway in the Armed Forces Judicial Court. He stopped short of identifying the other suspects but promised that the judge would soon issue a verdict.

Sharifi, a long-time associate of the Islamic Republic's former Police Chief, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf (Ghalibaf), also served as his deputy while he was the Mayor of the Iranian capital city, Tehran (2005-2017).

Qalibaf assumed the position of the Speaker of Majles (Iranian parliament) on May 28, 2020, despite the fact that his name has been associated with a string of corruption cases.

Issa Sharifi was arrested in September 2017 and was charged with "financial" crimes, after his boss Qalibaf lost his position as mayor.

The Chairman of the Tehran City Council, Mohsen Hashemi, announced on July 6, 2018, the head of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran had been assigned by the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader to investigate charges against Issa Sharifi and five others accused of a 100 trillion rials financial corruption, amounting to almost $3 billion at the time.

Hashemi maintained that the case was connected to financial transactions of an economic entity, Yas Holding, a subsidiary of the Sepah (IRGC) Cooperative Fund.

However, the Armed Forces Judiciary, which is investigating Mr. Sharifi's case, announced on June 25 last year that he had been charged with "espionage."

Nonetheless, the Judiciary officials have not yet commented on the details of the charges.

In his press briefing on Tuesday the spokesman Esmaeili also mentioned a case of 650 billion rials (about $15.5 million) financial corruption, which some journalists believe is related to Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

The case was initially revealed by a prominent conservative, Mostafa Mir Salim who was recently re-elected as a representative of Tehran to parliament, the Judiciary spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the Judiciary "invited" Mir Salim to come forward, which he accepted, testified, and delivered his evidence and documents to the authorities.

In a radio interview on May 27, Mir Salim said that one of the chairmen of the parliamentary commissions received the 650 billion rials to take back a motion concerning probe and investigation into the financial corruption case.

While Mir Salim refrained from mentioning details many journalists believe that the case is related to a motion presented to the previous parliament for investigating financial corruption in Tehran's municipality under Qalibaf. The motion, the journalists say, was taken back and shelved in March 2016.

In the meantime, a fundamentalist media activist Mohammad Mohajeri has written in a brief note that "Mr. Qalibaf's opponents have targeted him and blamed him," therefore, the case should be clarified transparently.

"If such an accusation is true", he said, "Qalibaf would resign from parliament."

Nevertheless, Qalibaf has not yet personally commented on the matter.

In one of the most recent cases revealed by Tehran City Council member Morteza Alviri, it was said that the Iranian judiciary is investigating twelve corruption cases dating back to Qalibaf's term of office as Tehran's mayor. One of these cases, Alviri said, involves at least 200 trillion rials (about $4.8 billion). Some of Qalibaf's aides are currently in jail on charges of financial crimes.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/former-deputy- mayor-of-tehran-being-tried-for-billion -dollar-corruption/30663204.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Las Vegas Police Assistant Sheriff Chris Jones stands by a photo of Metro Police officer Shay K. Mikalonis, 29, a four-year veteran of the department, during a media briefing at police headquarters in Las Vegas on June 2, 2020. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Officer Shot During Vegas Protest May Spend Rest of Life on Ventilator: Family

The Las Vegas police officer who was shot in the head during a protest on June 1 may need the support of a ventilator for the rest of his life, relatives said.

Shay Mikalonis, 29, was shot in the Las Vegas Strip area in the wake of George Floyds May 25 police custody death in Minneapolis.

Police were trying to disperse a group of protesters near the Circus Circus casino because of concerns about the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus when a shot rang out and Mikalonis went down on the casino-lined Las Vegas Strip.

Mikaloniss family said on June 9 they hope and pray that in the future he may leave the Las Vegas University Medical Centers trauma facility and start his rehabilitation, where they can work on Shays quality of life.

Shay is on a ventilator and will be for the foreseeable future or perhaps the rest of his life, his family posted on Twitter, which was retweeted by Captain Carlos Hank with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

We believe in the power of prayer & continue to ask that you lift up Shay in your prayers. Shay is a fighter & we have faith his situation will continue to improve. Thank you for all your support for Shay & his family!#BAC #BACFAM #LVMPD #Pray4Shay #PrayForShay #LasVegas #Vegas pic.twitter.com/KiwZ5fLrVW  Bolden Area Command (@LVMPDBAC) June 9, 2020

We just want everyone to know that Shay is a fighter, but he has a long hard fight ahead of him! The level of care he has received at UMC is the best and has gotten him this far, an amazing feat from where Shay was a week ago, the post reads.

Police said Mikalonis was with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for four years. So far, he had successful surgery to repair a shattered jaw, a police union leader told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

His family said Mikalonis is still in a very critical condition. But the officer has regained conscience and is awake and appears to recognize his family.

Mikaloniss family also thanked the LVMPD who has been very supportive and appreciated the Las Vegas community, who continued to send their love and support for the injured officer.

Police stand in formation at the entrance to Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas, on June 1, 2020. (Ronda Churchill/AP Photo)

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said the day after Mikalonis was shot that he is praying for him and all of the communities across Nevada who are experiencing grief and pain.

I am committed to doing all I can. I am praying for the LVMPD officer who was senselessly shot last nightthere is no place for this behavior in Nevada, Sisolak said. Violence has no place in our communities and we must all work toward peaceful solutions together. As your Governor, I am committed to listening, heeding calls to action, and healing.

Edgar Samaniego, 20, of Las Vegas was identified by video and investigators tracked him down to a motel across the street from where the shooting occurred. He was taken into custody on suspicion of the shooting and has been charged with attempted murder.

Edgar Samaniego. (Clark County Detention Center/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

Its not clear if Samaniego was involved in the Floyd protests, which have spread in major cities nationwide after the death of Floyd in police custody. At least 17 people have been killed so far in the proteststhe ages of those who died range from 18 to 77.

An attorney who represented Samaniego in a personal injury lawsuit in 2016 declined to comment, saying he was not immediately representing him on the criminal charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Seven Lee Bullock  who was one of three teens who brought a gun to Lebanon High School in May 2018  has been lodged at the Linn County Jail after being charged Wednesday with numerous sexual crimes involving a young girl.

According to Linn County District Attorney records, Bullock, 18, of Sweet Home, who is also known as David James Lybarger, was charged with two counts of first-degree sodomy, four counts of first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree rape and first-degree unlawful sexual penetration.

Two counts each of first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse charges stem from alleged crimes against an elementary school aged-girl between Feb. 24, 2014, and Feb. 23, 2016, at a home on Tennessee School Road in Lebanon.

Bullock faces first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse charges for alleged crimes against the girl between Feb. 24, 2016, and Feb. 23, 2017.

He also faces charges of first-degree sexual penetration and first-degree sexual abuse for alleged crimes against the girl for events on March 6, 2016, at a residence on Bohlken Drive in Lebanon.

On May 18, 2018, Bullock  then 16 and known as David James Lybarger  and two other male teens passed around a stolen handgun at Lebanon High School.

Their actions forced the school district to initiate a campus lockdown.

The gun scare occurred on the same day as a mass shooting at a school in Santa Fe, Texas, in which 10 people were killed and 13 others wounded.

In June 2018, Bullock was sentenced to up to seven years in a youth correctional facility. His sentence reflected Lybarger admitting to fourth-degree assault and strangulation in a separate case.

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The Delhi High Court has restrained the police from circulating any information regarding allegations and evidence collected against any accused in the riots cases with any person, including those in the media or on social media platforms.

"The respondent is restrained from issuing any such statements or circulating information regarding allegations and evidence allegedly collected against the petitioner or other accused, to any person, including to the media or on social media platforms," said a single judge bench of the high court presided by Justice Vibhu Bakhru.

The order was passed while the court was hearing a petition filed by PinjraTod activist Devangana Kalita through advocates Adit Pujari and Kriti Awasthi seeking the court's direction to the Delhi Police to not leak any allegations pertaining to the Petitioner to the media pending investigation, and thereafter during trial.

"The petitioner alleges that the Crime Branch of Delhi Police has been selectively leaking certain information regarding the allegations made against the petitioner and the evidence allegedly collected against her," Devangana said in her plea.

The court issued notice to the Delhi Police and has asked the concerned DCP of the Crime Branch to file a personal affidavit affirming whether any such information as is mentioned in the present petition has been circulated by the officials of the Crime Branch to third persons, journalists or on social media.

"Let the counter-affidavit along with affidavit of the concerned DCP as directed, be filed within a period of two weeks from today. Rejoinder, if any, be filed within a period of one week thereafter, the bench said while posting the matter for further hearing for July 9.

During the course of hearing, Devangana told the court that the information circulated by the police is selective and also misleading.

Petitioner's counsel Adit Pujari referred to a note allegedly circulated by the Crime Branch and contended that the Crime Branch is leaking out such selective information and evidence to persons from the media.

Initially, Devangana was nabbed for Jafrabad violence case, north-east violence case and then for Daryaganj violence case. However, the Delhi Police filed a charge sheet against her and co-accused Natasha in Jafrabad violence case on June 2.

The police said that both Natasha and Devangana were actively involved in hatching the conspiracy to cause riots near Jafrabad Metro Station in Delhi.

"They were also part of a larger conspiracy and were found to be connected to the 'India Against Hate' group and Umar Khalid. The message, found in the phone of an accused, on Whatsapp chat, reveals the conspiracy and the extent of preparation for causing riots," the statement by the police added.
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. Georgia will send doctors to Armenia to help fighting the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said at the Cabinet meeting.

The PM said no country can overcome the COVID-19 crisis alone.

PM Gakharia said Georgia is discussing the issue of helping Armenia, and the respective task has been given to the ministry of health.

We should provide mutual support to one another. As you know, the situation in our neighboring countries has become tense recently. I personally hold daily contact with the Prime Minister of Armenia. We have already identified what assistance our neighbors need. Here the mutual support is very important. The health ministry already has a task to prepare the support which Georgia can show to neighboring Armenia. As it seems, it first of all will be a help with the medical staff, the Georgian PM said.

566 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been registered in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 14,669, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

240 more patients have recovered and were discharged from hospital. The total number of recoveries has reached 5,466.

18 people have died in one day, raising the death toll to 245.

The number of active cases stands at 8,876.

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
H ereditary Tory peer and author Matthew Ridley has said we need a drains up look at how the Covid crisis has been handled.

We have done badly in this country. Our biggest mistake was letting it get into hospitals and care homes and not realising it was spreading within these institutions. The wave of deaths has been the people in the care system already mostly, not people coming into it. So weve misread the epidemic quite badly in epidemiological terms  at an early stage.

But the former chairman of Northern Rock told Conservative Home that he fears people are busy covering their tracks now. Problem that weve got is that both politicians and scientists are frantically putting stuff out there to help them in a forthcoming inquiry rather than to solve the problem I suspect.

He also thinks the Government is being too cautious about the next phase. I find it baffling that the Government is so reluctant to ease lockdown. It is doing so based on public opinion because its finding people are still scared. Well of course they are scared. Its very easy to scare people, its not so easy to unscare them.

Although perhaps people are scared because of the death toll?

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From bean-counter to scribbler: Mark Carney (Photo: Peter Summers - WPA Pool/Getty Images) / Getty Images

Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England, is writing a book claimed to be a forward-looking manifesto. Value(s): Building a Better World For All is due out next spring. Carney says that because of coronavirus we have a chance to create a dynamic economy that works for all. News of this manifesto wont quell rumours about Carney running for Canadian PM.

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Calling on the government: Pippa Bennett-Warner (Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Zimmermann) / Dave Benett/Getty Images for Zim

Pippa Bennett-Warner, who plays Eileen in the BBCs acclaimed Windrush drama Sitting in Limbo, tells us the Government should all watch the show and needs to acknowledge the plight of Black people, the sacrifices made by us for this country and the strength and importance of equality ... this is a systemic problem. A parliamentary screening beckons...

SW1A

Theresa Mays ex-chief of staff Gavin Barwell writes on Conservative Home that the DUP might prefer Keir Starmer to Boris Johnson because the PM agreed a separate arrangement for Northern Ireland in the Withdrawal Agreement. Stranger things have happened.

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Speaking out: Sarah Champion (Photo: Parliament)

Labour MP Sarah Champion says she feels for the staff trapped in Parliament. She added: its not fair and not right  social distancing almost impossible in such an old, overcrowded estate. Chamber of horrors.

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Rory Stewart reminds people he called for a lockdown on March 10, prompting his old colleague David Gauke to say he would have made a very fine Prime Minister. We wonder how many Tory MPs are nursing quiet regrets?

Spread the word  big changes are coming

Julia Roberts shared her Instagram account with Kahlana Barfield Brown. Next, Barfield said, is the critical stage: ACTION. Gwyneth Paltrow also said she was sharing her Instagram with friend Latham Thomas. Presenter Reggie Yates said big changes feel closer than ever  keep going people. And comic Aisling Bea confessed shes been horsing coconut chin chins into my face for five days now.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - Anadolu

Tayyip Recep Erdogan, the Turkish president, has been accused of setting up local militias after the Turkish parliament passed a bill that will allow neighbourhood watchmen to carry guns and arrest residents.

The so-called Night Eagles were revived by the president in the wake of an attempted military coup in 2016 and ordered to patrol their communities in search of suspicious behaviour.

Now, the countrys parliament has approved a law put forward by Mr Erdogans ruling AK party that will grant major new powers to the neighbourhood watch, such as the right to carry out arrests, order people to identify themselves and in some cases use lethal force.

In effect, members of the Night Eagles will have nearly the same powers as Turkish police officers but without the same levels of training and experience.

Critics of the new law say there is a risk that the Night Eagles will abuse their new powers, while one opposition figure accused the president of creating a militia.

This law is not about protecting the people or the district. It is a law to protect the state from the people, said Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a member of parliament from the Peoples' Democratic Party, which opposes Mr Erdogan.

They are using the institution of night watchmen to set up a militia," claimed Mahir Polat of the Turkish Republican Peoples Party.

Other opponents have warned that the watchmen will not receive enough training to do their job properly.

One senior opposition figure, Engin Altay of the Republican People's Party, said: "You cannot give someone a gun and send them into the street with broad authority after 40 days of training.

A security employee wearing a thermal imaging VF helmet monitors passengers as they wait for to board a flight in Turkey - Reuters

However, Turkeys interior ministry, which oversees the Night Eagles, has defended the nights watch and says it has led to a 41 per cent decrease in burglary.

With more than 28,000 members, the Night Eagles institution has grown substantially after an attempted military coup in July 2016 against Mr Erdogan.

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The parliamentary debate on the new laws, which took place on Tuesday, became so heated that at one point MPs exchanged blows, according to local media reports.

But the bill passed comfortably due to the AK partys 337-seat majority, which includes 46 allies from the nationalist party MHP.

Since the attempted coup, Turkey has jailed tens of thousands of people and suspended or sacked more than 100,000 civil servants and security staff.

Opponents of Mr Erdogan have accused him of launching a crackdown on political dissent and independent journalism, but he insists the measures are in the interests of public safety.
Daily scheduled flights between Turkey and the UK will resume as of June 11, the British Embassy in Ankara announced on Twitter, Trend reports with reference to yenisafak.com.

"Turkish Airlines will operate 1 daily flight from Istanbul Airport to London Heathrow. Anadolu Jet will be operating 1 daily flight from Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport to London Stansted," the embassy said.

It noted that there is no confirmation of whether non-citizens or non-residents are allowed to travel to Turkey.

"All passengers arriving into Turkey will be subject to temperature checks using thermal cameras or remote thermometers, on exit from the aircraft /and or inside the airport terminal," it added.

Anyone showing symptoms will be directed to the medical units.

All arrivals are also required to self-isolate at home for a period of 14 days.
Photographer: Levi MandelRestrictions: Editorial and internal use only. No advertising or print allowed.

If there's one thing we can say about kids universally, it's that they're curious as all get out. Whether they're asking you embarrassing questions in the grocery store parking lot or they're pestering you about where babies come from, answering tough questions is an inescapable aspect of parenting. Given your little ones' natural instinct to get answers to their burning questions, it wouldn't be unusual for them to ask about different types of relationships.

.

While some families have a mom and a dad, there are many that don't. We tapped Shawnese Givens, a family and marriage therapist who splits her time between New York City and Philadelphia, PA, to help us answer questions about same-sex couples, gender identity, and relationships.

What if my child asks about an LGBTQ+ couple when we're out in public?

Being as straightforward with kids as possible starting at a young age about various types of relationships is usually parents' best bet. And just because they might not have an LGBTQ+ couple in their immediate or extended family doesn't mean they can't grasp the dynamic.

"Children are learning about the world from us," Shawnese told POPSUGAR. "So when we normalize and affirm that all relationships are valid relationships, they follow our cues. So say things like, 'Yep, those two people are a couple. They're a couple just like Mommy and Daddy are a couple.' Most kids are going to say OK and move on to the next thing."

What If My Kid Questions Their Own Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity?

While some parents tend to brush off their little kid's feelings, it's quite possible your child will know who they are and to whom they're attracted to from a young age. Sure, that can certainly change over time, but it's important to take these conversations about sexuality and identity seriously.

"It's absolutely possible for a young child to know who they are and who they're drawn to at a young age," said Shawnese. "Certainly, I think that sometimes those things change, right? Some people are of the opinion that kids couldn't possibly know who they are now and will be forever at [age] 5."

Story continues

As for young children telling you they want to be male even though they're biologically female or vice versa? Keep the conversation casual in the beginning. "I think what's important is to make space for the possibility," she explained. "There's not going to be any harm done by saying, 'Oh, OK, tell me more about that,' and just making room for that conversation. And if your child's feelings eventually change, say, 'Oh, OK, thank you for letting me know.' That's the most supportive way that you can parent a child who's letting you know that they may be a different gender than what they were assigned at birth."

How do I deal with relatives who downplay LGBTQ+ relationships?

Dealing with someone who is willing to downplay LGBTQ+ relationships can be tricky, but the conversation is absolutely necessary if there's a child involved. For example, if you're at a family dinner with your daughter and she asks whether or not her cousin Samantha lives with her partner Tara, be honest. And if someone tries to drop the "Oh, they're just friends" card, kindly correct them.

"In this situation I'd say, 'Oh, actually, they're dating,'" advised Shawnese. "It's a teaching moment for both the child and the other person involved. I would want to be very gentle - and again - normalize that they are dating just like some people are girlfriend and boyfriend. There's also nothing wrong with saying, 'Oh, actually, I think you've got that wrong. Let me just clarify that for you.'"

As for people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community? Feel free to obviously tackle the issue head-on, especially if you're in earshot of the comment. "Say something like, 'I actually want to circle back to this and let you know that we don't see any reason to hide who we are from the children,'" said Shawnese. "'We think it's perfectly normal and natural to be in all kinds of relationships, and we want them to see that. So just so you know, going forward, that's what we're going to be doing.' And if there are feelings to be talked about there, then you can do that."

What do I say to my child if they encounter people who make homophobic comments?

"Honestly, I think that it's important to be transparent with children," said Shawnese. "Let them know that there are going to be people in the world who don't think that LGBTQ+ relationships are OK. Give them some tools and ways that to respond if you're not there. Tell them you want them to know that just because some people say that, it doesn't mean it's true."

As for the language to give children in these situations? Shawnese suggests keeping it simple. "You want to work with your child to find something to say, but it's not like they have to memorize it," she explained. "It's the idea you want to help them with the wording rather than giving them the exact wording."

If you're a parent in the LGBTQ+ community, Shawnese recommends having your child say, "My parents are just as good as anybody else's parents and what you're saying isn't true." It's even OK for children to set boundaries and say, "I don't want to hear you saying things like that about my parents. If you want to talk about that more, you can speak to my mom about that."
A social media post from a passenger on board a charter plane that crashed on a remote far north Queensland beach this year noted that the nearby runway had not been visible because of heavy rain.

The pilot, three government workers and a contractor were on board the twin-engine Cessna that went down on a beach east of Lockhart River, about 750 kilometres north of Cairns, on March 11.

One of the images recorded by passengers on the plane during its two failed landing attempts. Credit:Australian Transport Safety Bureau

The plane had been travelling at "relatively high speed" when it hit the ground about six kilometres shy of the aerodrome on its second attempt to land, a preliminary report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found.

Though no warnings were in place for the flight, police believed weather may have been a factor. Intermittent rain from a tropical low moving across the cape was recorded by radar on the morning of the crash.
A 42-year-old Massachusetts woman died Wednesday after her SUV was struck by a large tire and rim in Fitchburg.

The woman, who lives in Templeton, was not publicly identified by Massachusetts State Police.

Troopers assigned to the Leominster barracks responded to a report of a serious crash on Route 2 westbound at Mt. Elam Road in Fitchburg around 1 p.m.

The troopers located a Jeep SUV that had been struck in the windshield by a large tire and rim.

The driver of the Jeep, the woman from Templeton, was seriously injured and rushed to Leominster Hospital. She was eventually flown by medical helicopter to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester where she died.

At this time the exact cause and circumstances of the crash are actively under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police, authorities said. The investigation seeks to determine what vehicle the tire and rim came from, and whether it came off the axle or was being transported and became unsecured.

Around 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, state police said they identified the driver of a truck who may have been involved in the crash. State police then later said that information was inaccurate and they were still looking to identify the driver.

4 Mass. State police looking for truck after tire struck car in Fitchburg

We have identified another vehicle that was in that area but at this time we have not determined whether that vehicle or another still unidentified vehicle was the source of the tire and rim, state police said late Wednesday.

Anyone who may have seen the crash or has any information that may be helpful is asked to call Massachusetts State Police at 978-537-2188.
Mi 10 and Oppo Find X2 are among the first non-Google phones confirmed to receive the latest Android 11 public beta update.

Android 11 Beta is coming soon to Xiaomis latest premium phone, Mi 10. Right now, there is no word on exact roll-out date for the latest update.

Super excited to announce that @Andriod 11 Beta 1 will soon be available for the incredible #108MP flagship - #Mi10! Stay tuned to @XiaomiIndia and @MIUI_India pages for more information! wrote Xiaomi VP Manu Kumar Jain in a tweet on Thursday.

Google on late Wednesday announced the launch of the first public beta of Android 11. The first list of compatible devices, however, included Googles own Pixel smartphones including the likes of Pixel 2 and Pixel 3.

As of now, Xiaomi is one of the first non-Google brands to confirm the availability of Android 11 beta on one of its smartphones.

This morning, Oppo announced it will roll out ColorOS Android 11 Beta version later this month on the upcoming OPPO Find X2.

With a user base of over 350 million, ColorOS is one of the key partners for Google globally. Our consumer insights reveal that users find the ColorOS experience closer to stock Android while welcoming additions we customize for ColorOS specifically Our close partnership with Google guarantees ColorOS gets updated with each years latest Android version, said Manoj Kumar, Senior Principal Engineer, ColorOS, OPPO in a release.

Just a quick recap: Googles Android 11 Beta 1 is the first of many public preview versions which are going to be rolled out in the coming weeks. Top features available in the preview versions usually make it to the stable version, which is likely to launch later this year.

Googles Android 11 Beta 1 comes with a slew of new features along with interface enhancements and improvements to the existing features. This years Android update focuses on giving users more privacy controls and making the software more user-friendly. For information about the Android 11 Beta 1 update, read the list of our top features.

If you want to try out the new Android version, heres our step-by-step guide to download Android 11 Beta on your phone.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  The coronavirus pandemic has claimed yet another West Michigan festival: ArtPrize 2020.

The organization announced Wednesday that the global health emergency created many obstacles, ranging from artist and tourist travel to possible venue restrictions, that prevented ArtPrize from hosting an impactful and safe event.

ArtPrize 2020 was scheduled to take place from Sept. 16 to Oct. 4.

Everyone had hoped to find modifications that would enable us to host the exhibition safely, ArtPrize board member Marc Schwartz said in a June 10 statement.

We initially shifted plans to focus on outdoor spaces and large indoor venues. However, after analyzing the situation further and considering the unknowns, we realized that hosting such an event was not the best course forward. Although very disappointing, we believe it is the best decision to ensure the well-being of our constituents.

ArtPrize also announced that it was pausing its overall operations as a result of the 2020 cancellation, and that it would take time to evaluate the possibility of future events.

The organization did not immediately respond when asked for more information about its decision to evaluate hosting future events.

ArtPrize, first held in 2009, brings scores of artists from around the world to Grand Rapids each fall to participate in what it has billed as the worlds largest art prize.

In its inaugural year, that prize totaled $250,000. The total grew to $500,000 in 2018, with the juried and public vote winners each taking home $200,000 grand prizes.

Business and civic leaders as well as several Grand Rapids residents said they were disappointed when they learned about the events cancellation. While they understood ArtPrizes reason for doing so, they said the downtown restaurants, retailers and hotels that benefited from the event would no doubt be hurt by its absence.

Our small businesses are taking another hit, said Doug Small, president and CEO of Experience Grand Rapids, the countys convention and visitors marketing agency. Weve had COVID, social unrest and now this. How many times can they keep taking these hits and survive?

ArtPrize estimates it brings a half a million visitors and millions of dollars to Grand Rapids each year.

Margaret Becker, of Ada, says she has gone to ArtPrize several times. She said she was disappointed but not surprised the event is being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

I always enjoyed it, she said. It was a fun event to bring friends and family and connect with the community.

ArtPrize has transformed in recent years.

Event organizers in 2018, the last time ArtPrize was held, announced that they were changing ArtPrize from an annual event to one that would be held every other year.

Last fall, in ArtPrizes place, a scaled back public art exhibition with no cash prizes, known as Project 1, was held. ArtPrize was to return this fall.

From a business aspect Im crushed, especially after COVID-19 and being closed for months, said Traci Lawson, owner of Apothecary Off Main, which sells candles, lotion, deodorant and other products.

Not only did (ArtPrize) bring in people around downtown that didnt know we were here but also people from all over the country ... it drove people to our website.

Lawson estimated that the most recent ArtPrize made up about 30 percent of her business. She said she was busier during the event than the Christmas shopping season.

As late as mid-May, ArtPrize officials said they were still planning to move forward with the event this fall.

During a May 13 meeting with the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority, ArtPrize Artistic Director Kevin Buist said his organization would work to ensure the safety of attendees by focusing on outdoor exhibits and limiting the size of crowds at indoor venues.

Officials with ArtPrize did not respond to request for further comment.

The news release issued Wednesday by ArtPrize said factors that contributed to the cancellation include concerns regarding artist and tourist travel, uncertainty regarding venues and possible restrictions, unpredictability regarding permitted gatherings in the State, and other safety, health and planning uncertainties.

Rick Baker, President & CEO of the Grand Rapids Chamber, said he understood ArtPrizes reasons for canceling the event. He said the loss of visitors the event brought to Grand Rapids will be felt by many businesses.

Its almost like a Christmas for them, so to speak, Baker said, when asked about the economic boost ArtPrize provided to retailers. It brings in a lot of traffic, a lot of people. The retail stores really benefit from the exposure.

Tim Kelly, president and CEO of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., said ArtPrize brings a vibrancy and strong economic boost to downtown Grand Rapids.

That its not happening this year will be another challenge and another thing well have to work to overcome, he said.

Supporters of local art were equally disappointed by the news.

Angela Nelson, of Grand Rapids, says she is not shocked about the announcement but added that is unfortunate. She said it would have been difficult to enforcing safe social distancing if the event were to occur.

I hope we can use this time to promote local artists and give them a platform to promote their work in an innovative way, she said. ArtPrize has always been about creating conversation and dialogue and I think we can still achieve that.

Reporter Jada Fisher contributed to the reporting of this story

Read more:

Prosecutor will retry Michigan woman convicted of killing husband in house fire

80 mph wind gust reported at Lake Macatawa as thunderstorms hit West Michigan

Muskegon restaurants buzz with life as dining restrictions ease across the state
Ill never forget. You saw the scene on that road  they were lined up. Man, they just walked straight. And yes, there was some tear gas and probably some other things, Trump said in opening remarks at a roundtable on policing and race. And the crowd dispersed and they went through. By the end of that evening, and it was a short evening, everything was fine.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved a proposal to strip Confederate names from military bases and other Defense Department facilities within the next three years, setting up a possible clash with President Donald Trump on the issue.

While a number of Republicans, including committee Chairman Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, expressed some concerns about the way the changes would be implemented, the proposal passed by voice vote Wednesday with only a handful of dissenters.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., offered the proposal as an amendment to the massive National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes funds and sets policies for the military every year; the broader bill was approved by the committee in a 25-2 vote. If the language survives the floor vote and is also included in the House version of the package, the president would have to veto the entire bill in order to prevent the names from changing.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Friday that he backed the proposal and would put it into effect if elected.

"I fully support Senator Warrens bipartisan effort to form a commission to rename Defense Department facilities named after Confederate leaders in the next three years, and look forward to implementing the commissions work as president," he said in a statement.

But Trump said Wednesday that he would not even consider renaming Army bases that honor Confederate leaders, despite a nationwide reckoning over racial discrimination in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. The Army has 10 military posts named after Confederate military officers, including Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Benning in Georgia and Fort Hood in Texas.

The president tweeted Thursday that Republican senators hopefully wouldn't "fall for" supporting Warren's proposal, first reported by Roll Call.

The proposal would set up a commission to make recommendations on the name changes to bases and other military assets, which would be completed within three years, getting input from states and local governments where the bases are. And there are exceptions, including headstones at Arlington National Cemetery and any assets named for Confederates who later served in wars as part of the U.S. Army after the Civil War.

Story continues

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told reporters he voted against the amendment. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., also voted no. A source familiar with his decision said Cotton wanted an exception for memorials clearly dedicated to Confederate war dead, and no exception was made.

But Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said that while he agreed that U.S. history should not be forgotten, the bases shouldn't be named for those "who fought against our country."

"And so I think this is a step in the right direction, this was the right time for it, and I think it sends the right message," Rounds said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at her weekly news conference Thursday that the base names, as well as Confederate statues in the Capitol, "have to go."

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said at his own news conference later Thursday that he is "not opposed" to renaming bases, but said he wanted to wait to see how the defense authorization bill shaped up.

Image: The entrance to Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., in 2014. (Chris Keane / Reuters file)

Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy had said in a statement Wednesday that he was open to having a bipartisan conversation regarding the renaming of Army bases," adding that "no decision has been made at this time.

The Pentagon had also said that the secretary of Defense and the secretary of the Army were open to a bipartisan discussion on the topic.
Tan France has officially become an American citizen and the member of Queer Eye has been delighted with his new citizenship. Tan France is originally from England, according to a news portal, and he had been trying to get an American citizenship for a long time. Now, the day finally arrived and the designer was joyful about it.

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Queer Eye's star Tan France becomes an American citizen

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The fashion designer took to Instagram to share a series of pictures of himself from when he was at the oath-taking ceremony. Tan France wrote in his caption that he had been chasing this moment for close to 20 years and therefore the moment is monumental for him. He even added that all of it made him quite emotional due to the years he had put in to get to the citizenship phase. On a talk show, Tan France spoke about the oath-taking moment and mentioned that despite it taking a very long time, it was lovely.

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He called the moment a beautiful one which was filled with several emotional experiences. Tan France maintained the fact that he is not someone who would cry very often but admitted the whole process made him feel a little emotional. Tan continued that it was a moment in which he felt truly powerful to be an American. Further on, France spoke a bit about the political scenario in America and said that it feels like a relief to him that he no longer can be kicked out of the country, now that he is a citizen. On the show, Tan also added that it was a constant fear he lived with that one day he might be separated from his husband; however, now that things are set in place and he is happy. Tan France also expressed his desire to cast his vote and be part of the system. He said that it feels perfect for him due to the current scenario as each vote will count, he believes. Tan further added that the timing for him to become an American citizen could not have been more perfect. France said that he feels powerful, as in how he can exercise his rights as a citizen and vote to make an actual change in the country.

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Ms Callaghan said Will was still a bit confused on Thursday morning, but had been watching his favourite show Thomas the Tank Engine, which had helped calm him down. Doctors say Will is in a good condition and he is expected to return home later on Thursday. "This is a massive ordeal for him, but for him it was probably just an adventure as well and he is just happy I'm there and he slept very well last night, a lot better than I did," Ms Callaghan said. Will Callaghan, in his stepfather's arms, after being found. His mother Penny follows close behind. Credit:Justin McManus "He has demonstrated what an amazing person he is. What probably surprised me about him is he stayed in the area  he was off the track but didn't go too far. He was waiting to be rescued and I want to give him a million hugs but he won't like that ... [I was able to] steal a kiss or two."

One of the biggest search efforts in Victoria's history, which included almost 500 volunteer and professional searchers on foot, horseback and motorbikes, ended in elation when Will's mother was reunited with her son shortly after 1pm on Wednesday. SES volunteers searching for Will on Tuesday. Credit:Chis Hopkins Ms Callaghan said she had been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community, especially the autism support workers who had rallied together to help with the search. "These supporters have been with the family since Will was two, he had a diagnosis around that age and it was mind-boggling, overwhelming and it's been a massive journey," she said. "What do I do now, tether him to me so this doesn't happen again? It's terrifying and it may happen again, I'll do the best I can to not make that happen.

William Callaghan with his mother shortly after being found. Credit:AAP "In so far as how a parent can cope with that, it is tricky, but you're switched on all the time, on alert all the time and that's where it gets tiring and you need good support." Loading She said the NDIS provides some funding, but it was also important to make people aware of what autism was and how best to support those living it. Peter Campbell, a field organiser from Bush Search and Rescue, said the discovery of Will's discarded shoes about midday on Wednesday was key to finding him.

"There was some concern growing," he told ABC radio on Thursday morning. "[Then] we actually found some shoes, one of the search teams found his shoes, so that narrowed it down. "We had a number of teams in the area where he was found  but we were lucky one of the community volunteers spotted him." Acting Inspector Christine Lalor said it was "hard to know" if Will would have survived another night in the bush.

Obviously as time goes on, the risk increases but Penny and myself and the team were all quite optimistic we should find him and for some reason, whether it was wishful thinking, I just had a feeling we were going to find him that day," she said. She praised the actions of Mr Gibbs as extraordinary, as she thanked volunteers and the wider community. Police and SES searching for Will in the forest surrounding Mt Disappointment on Tuesday. Credit:Chris Hopkins The officer of 30 years said telling Ms Callaghan they had found her son was a career highlight. "I kept going, 'Are we sure it's him? Are we sure it's him? Can we tell Penny and the family?' And letting them know was probably one of my career highlights. It was so exciting to deliver that news," she said.

Its a great news story. Its given everyone a little boost, it's been a tough three months, from bushfires to COVID." Loading Mr Gibbs found Will about 20 minutes from a single walking track, not far from the summit. He found Will, standing in the thick undergrowth, barefoot, with his hands over his ears to block the noise of a helicopter searching above. "He was really angelic, just standing there," Mr Gibbs said.
Libyas warring parties have returned to the negotiating table in hopes of brokering a permanent cease-fire, the United Nations mission in the country said today.

The UN Mission in Libya said productive talks have been held during which the delegations discussed the latest developments on the ground and to receive their comments on the draft cease-fire agreement. The mission held the first set of talks with the Libyan National Army on June 3 and the second set with the UN-recognized Government of National Accord on Tuesday. Both sets of talks were conducted via remote connections.

The UN said in a statement that while the UN mission commends the seriousness and the commitment" of the parties, "it calls on them to de-escalate to avoid further civilian casualties and new waves of displacement.

The talks come after the Libyan National Army, led by eastern-based commander Khalifa Hifter, suffered a massive setback in Tripoli at the hands of the Government of National Accord, which announced last week it had regained full control of the capital city after more than a year of fighting.

For the past six years, the oil-rich country has been embroiled in conflict between the two administrations and their array of foreign backers, which have flooded the country with illegal arms. In a press briefing today, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the agreement by the Government of National Accord and the Libyan National Army to reenter talks a good first step.

Quick and good-faith negotiations are now required to implement a cease-fire and relaunch the UN-led intra-Libyan political talks, he said.

The UN said today it was especially concerned about reported hostilities near the city of Sirte. Between Friday and Monday, the UN documented at 19 civilian deaths, including three women and five children, caused by airstrikes and Grad rockets outside the city.
Health experts say the novel coronavirus is mutating at a slower rate than several other respiratory viruses.

The virus has already undergone about two dozen genetic changes, leading many to fear that an even deadlier strain is around the corner.

However, scientists say that the mutations don't vary much from the virus that originated in Wuhan, China, nor are they more severe.

This means that once a vaccine is readily available, it would provide protection against both the original virus and mutations - and for several years.

Coronavirus (pictured) has mutated only about two dozen times meaning strains that have hit Europe and the US are very similar the original virus that originated in Wuhan

This is giving researchers time to time to develop a vaccine that won't have to be adapted every year. Pictured: Intensive care unit staff members communicate through a windowed door as they care for a COVID-19 patient at St Joseph's Hospital in Yonkers, NY, April 20

'The virus has had very few genetic changes since it emerged in late 2019,' said Dr Peter Thielen, a molecular biologist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in a statement.

'Designing vaccines and therapeutics for a single strain is much more straightforward than a virus that is changing quickly.'

Thielen and his colleagues have been sequencing the virus's genes to get a better understanding of its composition.

Coronavirus - also known as SARS-CoV-2 - is an RNA virus, which means it has RNA as its genetic material.

These viruses enter the cells through a receptor found on the surface, and then make hundreds of copies of themselves that can infect cells throughout the body.

RNA viruses, such as the flu, often mutate, unlike DNA viruses, which include herpes and chickenpox.

The flu, for example, mutates every year, which is why researchers have to develop vaccines to protect us against the most prevalent strains.

However, SARS-CoV-2 has produced just a few variations, meaning the virus that originated in Wuhan is similar to the strain in the US.

However, it has been able to spread quickening, sickening more than two million Americans and killing 112,000.

'It isn't going to be possible for us to truly be able to return to normal until we have a vaccine,' said Dr Winston Timp, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering.

'The low mutation rate of the virus means it should be possible to generate a successful vaccine.'

The lack of mutation isn't just good news on the vaccine research front, but it also helps those trying to develop potential treatments for the disease.

Currently, research has focused on the the 'spike' protein, the part on the outside of the virus that it uses to enter human cells.

In more than 20,000 samples sequenced around the world, there have been no changes seen to the spike protein, according to the Johns Hopkins team.

'A vaccine that blocks the virus's ability to infect a cell would be highly effective, since there would be no ability for the virus to generate an active infection to cause or spread disease,' said Thielen.

'There are very small regions of the spike protein that make direct contact with the receptor on a human cell, and these are the highest likelihood targets for vaccine developers.'

Although it remains unclear how long someone would have immunity for against the virus - be it through antibodies or an inoculation - the team hopes it will be for years.

In turn, this will be hopefully lead to so-called 'herd immunity', in which 80 to 95 percent of the population becomes immune so that, if a disease is introduced, it is unable to spread.
He also admitted to twice misdiagnosing an Air Force veteran in 2014 with types of cancer the man did not have, and falsifying records to claim that his deputy had concurred with his diagnosis. That prompted doctors to give the veteran, who was not named during the hearing, the wrong treatment before he died five months later.
Facebook has launched its messenger application (app) - Messenger Kids - across Sub-Saharan Africa.



The app, which is a special version of Facebook's messaging app aimed at kids under 13 years of age, was first launched in December 2017 in the United States alone.



It was expanded to more than 70 countries in April this year and on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 it was rolled out in Sub-Saharan Africa.



The video chat and messaging app help children to safely connect with friends and family in a fun when they cant be together in person.



It also gives parents the opportunity to supervise their childrens online activity.



It is available to download from the Apple App and Google Play Stores, and Facebook has explained that the Messenger Kids has been designed for children between the ages of 6 to 12 years, with the app including two new features aimed at helping kids connect with their friends and family.



Facebook explained that to help shape the Messenger Kids app, it worked closely with Youth Advisors over the years, made up of experts in online safety, child development and media.



Ahead of its launch Wednesday in Sub-Saharan Africa, Facebook also consulted with child safety advocates and educators across Africa to ensure that it was providing a service that balances parental control with features that help kids learn how to connect responsibly online.



Messenger Kids is made for Kids but controlled by parents as the app is full of features for kids to connect with the people they love.



Once their account is set up by a parent, kids can start a one-on-one or group video chat. The home screen shows them at a glance who they are connected to, and when those contacts are online.



Some fun features available in the app, include:



Playful masks, emojis and sound effects bring conversations to life.



In addition to video chat, kids can send photos, videos or text messages to their parent-approved friends and adult relatives, who will receive the messages via their regular Messenger app.



A library of kid-appropriate and specially chosen GIFs, frames, stickers, masks and drawing tools to let them decorate content and express their personalities.



Commenting on the launch, Kojo Boakye, Facebook Public Policy Director, Africa said: We know that parents are turning to technology more than ever to help their kids connect with friends and family online. With privacy, security and parental control at the heart of the app, Messenger Kids provides a safe, fun space, controlled by parents to do exactly that.



Safety expert Evelyn Kasina, Family IT Consultant, Eveminet, added: "It is our responsibility to ensure online safety for our children. The greatest sign of success is when our children display responsible independence during their online interaction.



The launch of Facebook Messenger Kids is an amazing stride toward child online safety because our young children will enjoy and participate on social media on child developed platforms that have safety parameters to keep them safe.



Through the Parent Dashboard, parents can control and monitor their childs activity enabling them to:



Monitor recent contacts, chat history, and reported and blocked contacts: including who your child is chatting with, whether they are video chatting or sending messages and how frequently those conversations happened over the past 30 days. Youll also see a list of the contacts your child has blocked and/or unblocked, if they have reported any messages as well as any contacts theyve reported and the reason for their action. Parents will continue to be notified via Messenger if their child blocks or reports someone.



See a log of images and videos in chats: See the most recent photos and videos your child has sent and received in their inbox. If you believe an image or video is not appropriate for your child, you can remove it from your childs message thread and report it.



Enable Supervised Friending: This feature will enable parents to choose to allow their kids to also accept, reject, add or remove contacts, while maintaining the ability to override any new contact approvals from the Parent Dashboard.



When a kid takes a friending action, parents will be notified through Messenger and can override any new connections made by going to the Parent Dashboard, where they will also be able to see a log of recent activities.



Remote Device Logout: See all devices where your child is logged in to Messenger Kids and log out of the app on any device through the Parent Dashboard



Download your childs information: Request a copy of your childs Messenger Kids information, similar to how you can download your own information within the Facebook app. The download will include a list of your childs contacts as well as the messages, images and videos they have sent and received.



Your child will be notified through the Messenger Kids app when you request this information.



More Information on Messenger Kids



There are no ads in Messenger Kids and your childs information isnt used for ads.



It is free to download and there are no in-app purchases.



Messenger Kids is also designed to be compliant with the Childrens Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA).



Facebook continues to work with parents, safety and security experts to improve Messenger Kids and have also announced new ways to help parents connect kids with their friends.



For more specific information about the app, visit messengerkids.com (http://messengerkids.com/).



For the latest on how to use Messenger Kids, visit our Help Center (https://www.facebook.com/help/messenger-app/213724335832452?ref=newsroom)

Source: Daily Graphic









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Geojit's report on Agri Picks

The southwest monsoon current has covered the whole of Tamil Nadu and reached northeastern states, the India Meteorological Department said. Acreage under cotton across India so far in 2020-21 (Jul-Jun) is higher by 24% at 1.7 mln ha as farmers in the northern states have brought more area under the fibre crop. These states include Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Officials from India and Pakistan are likely to meet later this month to chalk out a plan to tackle the menace of locusts in both the countries, a senior official with the Locust Warning Organization said. Already hurt by weak demand from global markets over the past few quarters, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation for the guar industry all the more stickier. The Centre has agreed to take back over 1.0 mln tn of rice procured by the Chhattisgarh government in the central pool, senior government officials said. The food ministry has requested the Prime Minister's Office to extend the buffer stock subsidy scheme for sugar by a year to 2020-21 (Aug-Jul), a senior government official said. The government has allocated 40 bln rupees to states for increasing the efficient use of water through micro irrigation technologies in farms. The allocation will come through the 'Per Drop More Crop' component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana in 2020-21 (Apr-Mar). The government procured 730,052 tn of mustard harvested in 2019-20 (Jul-Jun) across five states as of Monday under the price support scheme, a government official said.

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Zoom Suspends US-Based Chinese Activists Account After Tiananmen Square Anniversary Event

Video-conferencing app Zoom temporarily suspended the account of a group of U.S.-based Chinese activists just over a week after they used the platform to hold an event to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

The three-hour event, hosted on May 31 by Humanitarian China via a paid account on the video-conferencing platform, was joined by over 250 people worldwide, the activists said in a statement.

Held to mark the 31-year anniversary of the June 4 crackdown, the conference was also streamed on social media by more than 4,000 people, many of whom were from China.

The account was then shut down on the evening of June 7, and multiple attempts to log back into the account were unsuccessful, Humanitarian China said in a statement Wednesday, noting that Zoom has so far declined to explain why the account was shut down.

The 1989 pro-democracy protests that were brutally suppressed by the Chinese regime are a taboo subject in mainland China. The regime routinely blocks or censors content related to the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Zoom, which can be accessed from within China without a VPN, confirmed the U.S.-based account had been suspended but had now been reactivated. It claimed the account was shut down because people who participated in the event from China had violated local laws.

When a meeting is held across different countries, the participants within those countries are required to comply with their respective local laws, it said in an emailed statement.

We aim to limit the actions we take to those necessary to comply with local law and continuously review and improve our process on these matters.

It is not clear why Zoom reactivated the account on Wednesday.

Update, the account was reactivated, most likely after the publication of Bethanys article on Axios, but ZOOM hasnt sent us any communication, our calls were answered. We still want to know why our account was closed.

Its not clear whether Lee Cheuk Yans account is restored.   Fengsuo Zhou (@ZhouFengSuo) June 10, 2020

Humanitarian China said in a statement that the platform was essential for reaching Chinese audiences remembering and commemorating Tiananmen Massacre during the coronavirus pandemic.

The move has raised concerns that the U.S. company behind the video-conferencing app has bowed to pressure from Beijing.

It seems possible Zoom acted on pressure from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to shut down our account. If so, Zoom is complicit in erasing the memories of the Tiananmen massacre in collaboration with an authoritarian government, Humanitarian China co-founder Zhou Fengsuo said in a statement.

Zoom, which has exploded in popularity amid the CCP virus pandemic as millions of Americans work from home, has also recently drawn scrutiny over privacy and security concerns.

The U.S.-based company owns three companies in China that develop its software, and in April, watchdog group Citizen Lab found after examining Zooms encryption that keys for encrypting and decrypting meetings were transmitted to servers in Beijing.

Taiwans government also banned official use of the platform on April 7 citing security concerns, which marked the first time a government had imposed a formal action against the company.

Reports that @zoom_us shuttered the account of a Chinese activist group requires an immediate explanation. Zoom cannot act as the long arm of the Chinese government, says our CEO @SuzanneNossel. https://t.co/z095jWAOxg  PEN America (@PENamerica) June 10, 2020

U.S. nonprofit literary group PEN America condemned Zooms decision to suspend the groups account.

Zoom portends to be the platform of choice for companies, school systems, and a wide range of organizations that need a virtual way to communicate, especially amid global lockdown, the groups CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement Wednesday. But it cant serve that role and act as the long arm of the Chinese government.

Frank Fang and Reuters contributed to this report.
Transportation operators in South Korea, Turkey, and China will rely on Thales signalling technology to improve and update the performance of their metro networks.

Thales will install its SelTrac Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) systems on Istanbuls Stage 1 of the M10 Line, Nanchangs (China) 1st phase of the Line 4 and Incheon-Seouls Line 2 capacity increase.



Thales will provide its SelTrac Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling solution in South Korea, Turkey and China, after signing three urban rail signalling contracts. Despite the current Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the globe are committed to progressing forward with crucial public transportation developments and Thaless technology will be an important part of these projects.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005010/en/

(Photo: Thales)

Incheon Metro, Line 2 Capacity Increase

Incheon Subway Line 2 is part of the overall Seoul Metropolitan Subway network, which is currently undergoing modernisation to improve the performance and reliability of the network.

Thales has signed a contract with DaeaTi, a leading Korean railway signalling technology player, to provide new signalling equipment for the Incheon Line 2 depot capacity increase, which will address the need to park the six new driverless trains safely. The trains will be delivered in 2021 with Thales Vehicle On Board Controller (VOBC) which were separately contracted with train contractor Woojin Ind in 2019. Since the start of revenue service of Incheons L2 metro in July 2016, passenger flow has doubled from 90,000 to 180,000 a day, prompting the need for six additional trains to cope with the increase.

Thales has been working with Incheon City and Incheon Transit Corporation since 2009 on the Incheon Line 2, focusing on better serving the public transit users of Incheon as their common goal.

Istanbul Metro, Line M10

The M10 Line will be the first metro line to the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, the second busiest airport in Turkey, on the Asian side of Istanbul and will comprise 7.5km of track and four stations. Gulermak-YSE Joint Venture is the main project contractor, and Thales has been contracted by Celikler Taahhut, a major construction company, to install their SelTrac CBTC system on the new M10 Line in Istanbul Turkey, connecting the Kaynarca district and the Sabiha Gokcen Airport. The M4 line is already equipped with Thaless SelTrac solution and the new contract will extend the existing technology onto the new line.

Upon completion, the new line will allow connectivity between the Airport and major cities, taking 13 minutes from the airport to Kaynarca, 46 minutes to Kadikoy and an hour to Yenikap, on the European side. This project is part of the Government of Turkeys key priorities to improve transportation in major cities, with a strong focus on connectivity between transportation hubs.

Nanchang Metro, Line 4

Thales SEC Transportation System Company Limited (TST), Thales Joint Venture with Shanghai Electric, will provide the signalling for the first phase of the new metro Line 4 in Nangchang, the capital and largest city of the Jiangxi Province in eastern China. The first phase of the Nanchang Metro Line 4 will expand from Baimashan Station to Yuweizhou Station, passing through the main area of Nanchang to connect five districts. The first phase of the Nanchang Metro Line 4 has a total operational length of 39.6km, with 34.1km underground, 5.5km elevated and 29 stations, making it the longest metro line in Nanchang, with the largest number of stations. .

TST is familiar with the network as they have previously delivered signalling systems to the Line 1 and Line 2 of the Nangchang Metro. This project will allow the Nanchang Metro to continue to support the rapidly growing population of Nanchang.

In parallel in China, on April 23rd, Hangzhou Metro Line 16, connecting Hangzhou downtown with Linan District, entered into revenue service smoothly. This very fast metro line relies on Thales SEC Transport signalling system technologies for maximum safety and efficiency, ensuring everyday pleasant and reliable journeys for local passengers and showing Thales commitment to China ground transportation.

During the Covid-19 period, we are continuing to work together with our global partners in major cities such as Incheon, Istanbul, and Nanchang. Thales is committed to providing state-of-the-art SelTrac CBTC signalling technology. No matter the network or city, we continue to tailor our solution to meet the needs of the customer and provide reliable transportation solutions for their passengers.  Dominique Gaiardo,Vice President and Managing Director for Thales urban rail signalling business.

About Thales

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global technology leader shaping the world of tomorrow today. The Group provides solutions, services and products to customers in the aeronautics, space, transport, digital identity and security, and defence markets. With 83,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales generated sales of 19 billion in 2019 (on a pro forma basis including Gemalto over 12 months).

Thales is investing in particular in digital innovations  connectivity, Big Data, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity  technologies that support businesses, organisations and governments in their decisive moments.

PLEASE VISIT

Thales Group

Transportation

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005010/en/
Jerry Falwell apologizes for racially insensitive tweet; Liberty U staffers resign

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Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. has apologized for a racially insensitive tweet he posted last month making fun of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's blackface controversy after some staffers resigned and African American alumni demanded an apology.

I understand that by tweeting an image to remind all of the governors racist past  I actually refreshed the trauma that image had caused and offended some by using the image to make a political point, he tweeted on Monday.

Based on our long relationships, they uniformly understood this was not my intent, but because it was the result  I have deleted the tweet and apologize for any hurt my effort caused, especially within the African American community.

On May 27, the 57-year-old head of the Virginia-based evangelical institution posted a tweet joking that he created a face mask featuring a school photo of Northam in blackface.

The photo in question surfaced last year and caused major controversy for the governor and Falwells tweet was seemingly a jab at the Democrat politician for issuing a face mask requirement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Falwell initially refused to remove the tweet or apologize but has since deleted the controversial tweet.

His apology came after a group of 35 African American Liberty alumni signed an open letter to Falwell denouncing the tweet and his overall political rhetoric and activism.

The June 1 letter accused Falwell of defending inappropriate statements and behaviors of politicians, belittling staff, students and parents as well as disrespecting people of other faiths.

Pastor Chris Williamson of Strong Tower Bible Church, the lead signatory of the letter, sent a follow-up letter to Falwell commending him for the apology and expressing optimism that healing and reconciliation can occur.

Liberty deserves leadership that is Christlike in its actions and rhetoric, for you and those under your leadership, read the new letter, a copy of which was emailed to The Christian Post.

The advice, counsel, and spiritual covering of pastors was important to your father [Liberty founder Jerry Falwell Sr.] and we believe it would also serve you and your leadership well.

According to The Washington Post, at least three African American Liberty staffers resigned after Falwells tweet. But Falwell told the newspaper in an interview that he was unaware of the resignations.

Among the resignations is the universitys former director of diversity retention, LeeQuan McLaurin. McLaurin told The Washington Post that Falwells tweet was tipping for larger racial issues he experienced at Liberty and has contributed to a drop in the university's residential African American enrollment from 2007 to 2018.

Keyvon Scott, a former online admissions counselor, announced on Twitter Monday that he also resigned Liberty University.

I cannot in good faith encourage people to attend a school with racially insensitive leadership and culture, Scott tweeted. It is a poor reflection of what Jesus Christ requires of us.

Falwells apology came after he met with African American members of Liberty's board of trustees and some alumni on Monday.

Among them was Allen McFarland, a black pastor and vice-chair of the Libertys board of trustees.

I just wanted to get with him today with my heart, McFarland told The News & Advance without going into too much detail about the conversation.



Williamson told The Christian Post in an earlier interview before Falwell apologized that he was "disappointed" by Falwells actions.

"I am just disappointed, like many other graduates, about his rhetoric and statements over the last several years because I believe they're a poor representation of Jesus and the mission of Liberty University," said Williamson.

"This alumni letter is not about Gov. Northam, it's about Falwell using racist imagery like that as a joke and an opportunity to attack a political opponent. That is the behavior of a political candidate, not a Christian leader of one of the largest evangelical institutions in the world.

Williamsons follow-up letter after the apology implored Falwell to have more ethnically diverse pastors and advisers in leadership roles at Liberty and consider creating an advisory council that meets with you frequently for prayer, spiritual exhortation, and accountability.
Stassi Schroeders fiance Beau Clark was seen out in Los Angeles on Wednesday in his first public outing since her firing from Vanderpump Rules amid a series of racist occurrences - most notably, lying to police to get a black costar in trouble with the law.

Clark, 40, wore a dark shirt and black shorts as he was seen in the City of Angels on a scorching hot weekday, topping off things with a maroon Los Angeles Dodgers ball cap.

Clark, who works as a commercial casting director, wore patterned Vans and kept to himself amid the scandal involving Schroeder, who along with Kristen Doute, 37, was fired for filing a misleading police report against former co-star Faith Stowers two years ago.

On the move: Stassi Schroeders fiance Beau Clark was seen out in Los Angeles on Wednesday in his first public outing since her firing from Vanderpump Rules amid a series of racist occurrences - most notably her efforts to get a black costar in trouble with the law

Clark and Stassi have been linked for two years, according to Page Six, and he proposed to her last summer. They were engaged in a cemetery with a ring the outlet estimates as being worth around $100,000.

Earlier Wednesday, Schroeder's mother Dayna Schroeder joined her brother Nikolai in campaigning for Vanderpump Rules to rehire her.

Dayna on Wednesday referred an Instagram user to account titled, 'standupandsupportstassi,' an account which features content supporting the return of the 31-year-old to Bravo's airwaves the day after her termination, Page Six reported. A tagline on the page read: 'We support Stassi Schroeder and believe every human being makes mistakes and can grow, learn, and change. This page is for fans only!'

The change.org petition as of Wednesday had more than 3,500 signatures with a goal of 5,000. Addressed to 'Bravo, NBCUniversal, Vanderpump Rules & Lisa Vanderpump,' the petition argues that rehiring both of the women would give viewers a chance to see them 'learn from their mistakes.'

In the summertime: Clark dressed in shorts and a shirt on a searingly hot day in Southern California

Reaction: Stassi Schroeder's mother Dayna Schroeder joined her brother Nikolai campaigning for Vanderpump Rules to rehire the star in the wake of her firing from the Bravo series amid a litany of racist occurrences

Controversy: An Instagram page titled StandupandsupportStassi has been started following her termination from the Bravo series

Family effort: Schroeder's mother was on the site a day after her younger brother Nikolai posted a video on Tuesday, hours after his sister and three other Vanderpump Rules cast members were fired over their past racist actions

In regards to Stowers' account, the page read: 'While no one condones this behavior, we also believe their actions were not racially motivated.'

Among the hopes of the page's organizers are that both Schroeder and the also-fired Kristen Doute, 37, will get their old jobs back; and voice their opposition to Metro Public Relations, Stassi's ex PR agency that cut her loose amid the career crisis.

Schroeder's mother was on the site a day after her younger brother Nikolai posted a video on Tuesday, hours after his sister and three other Vanderpump Rules cast members were fired over their past racist actions.

'This goes out to Lisa Vanderpump, Vanderpump Rules, Bravo TV, anyone that has been involved with Stassi getting fired,' Nikola, 15, began his Instagram video on Tuesday night, which has since been deleted.

Stassi, 31, has come under fire for a disturbing racist stunt, along with racially-insensitive remarks she has shared online in recent years. Her fellow cast members Doute, Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni were also axed by Bravo.

Nikolai continued in his video: 'I want everyone to hear me out because my sister is one of the most loving people you will ever meet in your life. She deeply apologizes for what she said and I'm so desperate for her to succeed I just want her to go as far as she can.'

Stassi and Kristen, 37, have starred on the reality show since its inception in 2013 while Max, 27, and Brett, 31, were newcomers on the most recent season eight.

The outspoken blonde has since been dropped by her agent, publicist and several sponsors after her and pal Kristen's racially-driven stunt against black co-star Faith Stowers came to light.

Support: Stassi Schroeder's younger brother Nikola posted a video hours after his sister and three other Vanderpump Rules cast members were fired for making racist comments.

Stassi's brother continued his plea in his video saying: 'I'm asking for another chance for her, and she'll show everyone how good of a person she is and how much she cares about everyone.

'She likes entertaining people, that's why she does all this TV stuff. My family is heartbroken from what's been going on with her. Everything's been taken away from her.'

Nikolai then asked Faith directly in the video, if there was anything she could do about the situation.

They're out: Vanderpump Rules stars Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute have been fired by Bravo after their racially-charged prank that targeted co-star Faith Stowers

Speaking out: Stassi said she's refocused her mentality amid the career crisis, which has seen her lose sponsors and admit to 'racially insensitive comments'

'Faith, please, is there any way that she can fix anything or do anything that can benefit both of you guys  to get her career back and to make you live the best life ever?'

'Is there anything that we can do for you? Please. I don't want to see my sister like this anymore. I love all you guys, but please, one more chance to forgive her.'

On Tuesday afternoon, Faith said she felt 'vindicated' after their firing, in a new interview with Page Six.

'I feel so vindicated studios and production are able to see blatant racism and make these positive changes and help move the race forward - help with the fight forward,' Faith told the outlet.

Most damning: Stassi called the cops on her black former costar Faith Stowers  whom she didn't like  in an effort to get her in trouble on a previous season of the show; Faith is seen in 2016 above

The 31-year-old star continued: 'I was in the middle of prayer and I felt a sense of - I know it sounds corny - I felt a sense of glory. I felt God's presence and I'm seeing now [that the news has been revealed] maybe that is what that was.'

Adding: 'He gave me a sign of optimism meant to be hopeful and showing that all of this was worth it.'

Faith said that she 'was ready to put myself in the line of fire because I don't know what will happen if I don't say anything, but I'm glad I did.'

Apologetic: Newcomers Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni have also been dropped by Bravo. They apologized last week for past racist tweets on the Vanderpump Rules reunion

'Now I'm seeing Bravo follow suit, releasing women that have given crazy ratings for them because they want to be on the right side of history and I'm seeing people are finally hearing us,' Faith said to Page Six.

She also said that she hopes networks and production companies are 'ready to hire casting directors and producers of color to make sure there changes are not just a one-time thing.'

Faith added: 'I hope they use this time that they have now to educate themselves to why this happened to them and try to use [their] voice later for real change.'

After losing several endorsement deals over the past week, Stassi has now been forced to part ways with both her agent and her publicist, Variety reported Monday.

Stassi was vocal online recently about her support for the Black Lives Matter movement; however, the gestures seemed significantly different to her output from three years ago.

Scandal: Stassi parted ways with both her agent and her publicist after previous racist remarks and behavior has resurfaced

She claimed that black people demanded special treatment in her March 2, 2017 podcast in which she talked about the lack of diversity of Academy Award candidates, referred to on social media as #OscarsSoWhite.

'Maybe you weren't nominated because you didn't do that great of a job in your movie,' said Stassi. 'Like it's not about race. It's literally like not about what you look like at all. It's like your acting ability, so like, what the actual f***?'

The New Orleans-born reality star said on the podcast (which she later deleted from her site, according to UsWeekly) of black people: 'When they get upset, everybody has to go above and beyond to then make them happy.

'I'm like, really sick of everyone making everything about race - I'm kind of over it.'

Despite the take on race, Stassi had plenty more to say about the topic: 'Like, everyone giving their impassioned speeches about race and all of that stuff, I'm like, "Why is it always just about African Americans?''

'Like why aren't the Asians like, "We're not represented? Why aren't ... Native Americans and Latinos not like, "We're not represented?" Why is it always just "that"?'

'And then when they get upset, everybody has to go above and beyond to then make them happy. And I hate saying the word 'them' because I'm not ... not everybody's the same.'

She said that black people were 'the ones that are out there b****ing about things.'

She implied that Moonlight's victory over LaLa Land was racial 'politics' in play, noting that she 'didn't f--kin see' the movie, but that 'the reason why it won was because it was like, "The message."'

She added: 'It's groundbreaking because of 'the message'. Winning Best Picture to me isn't about the f***ing message - like it's not church.'

Stassi said that she was 'not allowed to say that' as her opinion was marginalized as 'a white, privileged, blonde 28-year old.'
China launches HY-1D satellite to monitor maritime environment

Global Times

By Deng Xiaoci Source:Globaltimes.cn Published: 2020/6/11 2:57:12

China successfully sent a newly developed maritime environment monitoring satellite into orbit at 2:31am on Thursday.

The satellite, codenamed HY-1D, was developed by the state-owned space giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), and will form a network with the HY-1C.

The network will be mainly used to obtain dynamic ocean environment data, such as sea surface temperatures, and monitor environmental changes in China's coastal waters and coastal zones in key global regions as well as marine vessel information, Global Times has learned from the space authority.

It will also provide services including oceanic environment monitoring and forecasts, maritime disaster early warning, maritime right protection and law enforcement, and scientific research.

The satellite was launched by the Long March-2C carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi Province.

The launch mission also marked the 334th flight of the Long March rocket family.

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By PTI

LONDON: An Indian-origin husband-wife doctor couple have launched judicial review proceedings against the UK government over what they say is a refusal to address safety issues around personal protective equipment (PPE) for doctors and healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Nishant Joshi and his pregnant wife, Dr Meenal Viz, had initiated the legal action in April with a pre-action letter seeking answers from the UK's Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England.

They decided to push ahead with the case in the High Court in London on Wednesday because they feel they are 'no longer willing to wait'.

'We don't want to be doing this. We didn't plan on doing this. We're doctors in a pandemic. We want to focus on saving lives and stitching this country back together,' the couple said in a statement.

'But we have been pushed into taking action by the government's refusal to address the issues we have raised,' they said.



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Their law firm, Bindmans, said the judicial review challenge highlights the 'mismatch' between the government's guidance on PPE and the guidance set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO), including in respect of when 'full' PPE is required, as well as with respect to the reuse and reprocessing of PPE - which includes items such surgical gowns, face visors and gloves.

The doctors' case claims that the government's guidance also fails properly to warn healthcare and social care workers of the risks they face with different levels of PPE and their legal rights to refuse to work when inadequate PPE is available.

'As frontline doctors, Dr Viz and Dr Joshi understand the operational pressures faced by government better than most, but they, along with all other health and social care workers, remain entitled to lawful and transparent guidance on the use of PPE and the risks they are facing on the frontline of responding to this national crisis,' said Jamie Potter, Partner at Bindmans LLP and solicitor for Dr Viz and Dr Joshi.

'Accordingly, we have today [Wednesday] filed judicial review proceedings seeking to challenge that guidance with a view to bringing into line with WHO guidance as well as human rights legislation. This is important not just in the current crisis, but also to any 'second spike' or future pandemic,' he said.

The couple highlight that a disproportionate number of the COVID-19 victims are from ethnic minority backgrounds, and the challenge also raises the government's failure properly to consider the impact on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) health and social care workers across the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).

'The government have also refused to allow Dr Viz and Dr Joshi to publish their initial responses to the pre-action correspondence so that others can assess the adequacy of their approach to PPE. Our clients will push in any proceedings to ensure such documents are made public,' their law firm said.

The couple's online crowdfunding initiative for the legal case has raised over 61,000 pounds in pledges.

Viz, who is eight months pregnant, has also been leading protests outside Downing Street and last month she and her colleagues observed a 237-second silence - one second for every healthcare worker who died in the line of duty during this pandemic in the UK.

The Department of Health said it cannot comment on 'ongoing legal proceedings' but has in the past stressed that safety factors have been taken into account with its guidance.
The brave and pioneering Independent Jewish Voices was the first to cry Whoa, boy! at Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeaus pusillanimous response to Israels projected annexation of much of the occupied West Bank. Given Trudeaus frankly disappointing record on the Israeli-Palestinian file, IJV said cynically, we are relieved to some extent that he even went so far as hinting at concerns over the annexation plan. But it wasnt much of a hint.

Maybe Trudeau, the liberal dream, the clean new voice of Canada which followed the long and dark years of Conservative rule under Stephen Harper  who equated even criticism of Israel with antisemitism  is worried about Donald Trump. Or too deep in the toils of Covid-19. But all hes done since the Benjamin Netanyahu-Benny Gantz revolving-chair premiership in Israel, which promises to gobble up even greater tracts of Arab land for colonisation, is to congratulate the happy pair on their political marriage. And waffle a bit about  ahem  the rules-based international order to which Canada is supposedly committed in the Middle East.

International Jewish Voices-Canada  whose courageous defence of human rights in what was Palestine is second to none  has stated quite baldly that Netanyahus annexation plan is an attempt to see how far Israel can push its immunity on the world stage. Given the EUs pitiful reaction to the colonial ambitions of Netanyahu and Gantz  much huffing and puffing about labelling products from Jewish settlements and the possibility of cuts in scientific funding  its therefore a relief to find that IJV is not alone.
Trump Hotel housekeeper claims she was fired for refusing to work Sundays, sues

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A former housekeeper is suing the operator of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, claiming the business engaged in religious discrimination by firing her because she refused to work on Sundays.

Sonia Perez, 56, filed a lawsuit against Trump Ruffin Commercial Inc., the company that oversees the Trump hotels. She claims that the company required her to work Sundays after employees unionized in 2018.

The case is known as Torres v. Trump Ruffin Commercial LLC. The case was filed last Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

According to Bloomberg, Perez worked for the hotel from 2010 until 2015 without a problem since her schedule allowed her to take Sundays off to attend her non-denominational church.

But following the unionization of employees, her shift was changed so that she had to work Sundays. The lawsuit states that Perez refused to work on Sundays due to her sincerely held religious belief.

Perez maintains that she initially used attendance points she accrued to make up for her absences on Sundays. The complaint alleges that after Perez ran out of attendance points, she was fired for her Sunday absences.

The Christian Post reached out to the Trump Organization for comment. A response is pending.

Last year, a jury in Florida awarded a hotel dishwasher a $21 million settlement after she claimed to have been fired for missing work on six Sundays to attend church.

In February, an evangelical former postal carrier in Pennsylvania sued the U.S. Postal Service on accusations the agency punished him when he couldnt work on Sundays.

Perez's lawsuit comes as President Donald Trump, who owns the Trump Organization, has championed himself as a staunch proponent of religious liberty. His administration has pursued efforts to broaden religious freedom both domestically and abroad.

Following an executive order signed by Trump in 2017, federal departments have issued guidelines on how their agencies can best protect the First Amendment rights of Americans.

In May, the Department of Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia issued a directive calling for the department to uphold religious liberty for Americas workforce. The directive acknowledges the the central role that religion and religious freedom play in civil society.

Last week, the president issued an executive order telling the U.S. State Department to, among other things, budget $50 million annually to advance religious freedom internationally.

Trump also released an official message on June 1 in commemoration of the second annual Global Coptic Day observance, which is aimed at spreading awareness of the persecution faced by Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Critics have argued that Trumps religious freedom focus has been selective. They point to administration efforts, like the attempted curbing of refugees from some Muslim-majority nations and the decrease in the total number of refugees being resettled to the U.S. by the Trump administration.

A report by the Pew Research Center released last month found that many Americans believe that Trump has helped evangelical Christians more than any other social group, while also hurting Muslims more than any other group.

The Pew report found that while 43% of respondents believed that the administration had helped evangelicals, 48% of respondents believed that Trump has hurt Muslims more than others.
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SEATTLE  The second of two portions of the Quiring Monuments property, at 9608 Aurora Ave. N., sold for $2.8 million, according to King County records.

The seller was the Quiring family, of Quiring Monuments, which had owned the property for decades. The business has moved to Kent.





. . .
Prioritize the Health of Black Americans

Public health concerns have taken a backseat in conversations about reopening our economy and returning to what we fondly remember as normal life. Memorial Day historically signals the unofficial start of summer and because COVID-19 cases were on the decline, many hoped it would also mark the beginning of a return to normalcy. Even before the Governor and Mayor began lifting restrictions, some residents dismissed the stay at home orders. On Memorial Day weekend, people flocked to beaches and parks in droves, hosted gatherings with more than ten people in attendance, and did so without wearing protective face masks.

The rescinding of statewide stay at home orders has more establishments open for business and more Angelenos seeking relief outdoors. Additionally, residents are processing the senseless deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police. Between people outside seeking solace and others expressing outrage, it is unclear how these events will influence the spread of COVID-19.

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The rush to reopen the economy is complicated. COVID-19 has ravaged so many small businesses in South LA and due to the lack of access to federal support, many wont survive, said Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. The historic economic hardship that has haunted our communities has only intensified with a global health and economic crisis. However, we know that as the curve flattens in white communities, it continues to spike in ours. On Memorial Day weekend, residents sought outdoor solace for recreation, this weekend we saw people also out in numbers demanding justice for the senseless murder of George Floyd. We know that these actions may cause a spike in COVID-19 cases and must be prepared to respond with the resources necessary.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it takes two to three weeks from the time of exposure to test whether one has contracted COVID-19. Its prudent to question the safety of reopening more businesses and public spaces before we fully understand the impact of these prior events. With COVID-19 disproportionately impacting communities of color, it is clear that South LA cannot afford to see a rise in positive cases.

Stay at home restrictions have slowly but surely been relaxed in Los Angeles County, with beaches, bike paths and parking lots reopening and stores at indoor malls operating now with curbside service, dining at restaurants is limited. According to Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, The curve has not flattened nearly enough for communities that are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, such as South LA, to compromise their health and safety during this time. We cannot afford to lax restrictions like other affluent communities.

South Los Angeles continues to be the center of COVID-19 cases, as many residents do not have the luxury of staying safe at home or access to sufficient healthcare. Race Counts reported that by the second week of April, the growth of cases in poorer communities accelerated faster than in wealthier areas, and the gap continues to grow.

Councilmember Harris-Dawson is investing resources to expand COVID-19 testing in South LA communities. The council district 8 office is contracting Shared Harvest, a Los Angeles-based social enterprise to bring culturally sensitive COVID-19 antibody testing to South LA. The testing locations will be safe spaces that account for the distrust many residents have towards public institutions. Registration is recommended, not required and there will be no police at the testing locations to remove barriers that dissuade Black and Brown residents from accessing testing.

Community based organizations are also working to keep public health at the forefront of this conversation. On Saturday, May 30, the Community Coalition hosted a zoom forum to reframe the conversation around reopening Los Angeles as a Public Health conversation. The forum engaged South Los Angeles residents with a panel of health and data experts from Race Counts, LA County Department of Public Health, the Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, and UMMA clinics. According to Dr. Ferrer from the LA County Department of Public Health, Among black and latinx residents, the death rate is 2 times higher than it is among white residents. She continued to say that I think some of the disproportionality comes from exposure in the workplace. Not only are communities like South LA still suffering from this pandemic, but these communities are also suffering at the expense of carrying out the essential work necessary for other communities to sustain themselves during this time.

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Nationally, There has been a major push from the White House, Congress and local leaders to reopen the economy despite clear warnings from public health officials. These voices have successfully shifted the conversation away from public health and centered on the economy, ignoring the dire consequences these decisions will have for many residents.

Locally, LA County has announced the reopening of restaurants, barbershops, and salons. But now lies the question  whos backs will this economic push be carried on? Just one glimpse at history can answer that question. South LA cannot afford to prioritize an economy that excludes and exploits many residents during a public health crisis that is disproportionately killing Black and Brown people.
The NFU has warned there is a 'significant lack of information' on the standards of imported grain amid fears of lower-quality goods arriving in the UK post-Brexit.

Calls have been made for greater transparency on the standards of grain imports as the UK negotiates trade deals with the US and others.

Now farming leaders have warned that grain could be allowed into the country produced using chemicals illegal in the UK.

While UK grain producers are held to account by both regulatory standards and farm assurance standards, there is a lack of information about the standards to which imported grain is produced.

Over the past ten years, grain imports have almost doubled. The UK typically imports close to 4m tonnes of grain annually, dominated by wheat and maize.

But NFU President Minette Batters said that British farmers had 'no information' about how the products they were competing against had been produced.

"This has caused a serious knock in confidence for British grain producers," Mrs Batters said.

As we embark on new trading opportunities around the world, it is essential that a level playing field is established."

Many farmers had also been 'struggling' to grow key crops since the ban of products like neonicotinoids and chlorothalonil, she noted.

And now farmers faced a 'double whammy' of a trade policy that allowed food which had been produced using the 'very products that are now illegal' in the UK.

"Yes, the domestic grain market needs imports to meet public demand, but transparency is crucial if we are to ensure producers arent undercut by sub-standard imports," the NFU president said.

We also have to consider our climate change responsibility. British farmers are on the front line of climate change  much of this years crops have already been impacted by the extremes of severe flooding closely followed by the recent dry weather."

Transparency around food imports is the 'first step' to ensuring the UK does not undermine its ambition to be world leaders in nature-friendly food, Mrs Batters said.

Considering the impacts of Covid-19 and the long term challenges of climate change, we must reflect on food supply both domestically and around the world.

"We want our farmers and the public to be confident that the food available on supermarket shelves has been produced to world-leading standards, no matter where it has come from.

It comes as more than three quarters of a million people have signed the NFUs petition on ensuring British food standards are kept in the event of any trade deal.
A 10-year veteran of the San Antonio Fire Department was fired after posting racist and threatening comments and images on Facebook about the recent protests, according to a news release from the city Thursday. They employee was not identified.

"The City of San Antonio and the SAFD consider these posts absolutely unacceptable and reprehensible," city officials said the news release. "This type of conduct will not be tolerated, and employees that choose to engage in such behavior will be dealt with swiftly and severely. The City of San Antonio and the SAFD remain committed to protecting the residents and visitors of our diverse, inclusive and multicultural community."
(Photo : Pixabay) Study Showed Performing CPR is Safe During Coronavirus Pandemic; Black Men 4.6x More Likely to Die Than White Men (Photo : Pixabay) Study Showed Performing CPR is Safe During Coronavirus Pandemic; Black Men 4.6x More Likely to Die Than White Men

The coronavirus pandemic has led to many restrictions across many countries with people no longer allowed to do things that require close physical contact, especially with a stranger. CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), for example, is one of the first safety measures a medical professional will do if they see a person in medical distress. However, this practice requires close contact with the individual.

According to CNN's latest report, performing CPR is still safe during the pandemic and, in fact, is strongly encouraged by a study conducted by a group of Seattle emergency room physicians. The results of the study were published in the journal Circulation. It claimed that an individual is a hundred more times likely to save a dying man's life than to die from the coronavirus by coming to that person's aid.





Study shows performing CPR is still safe to perform; Black men more likely to die from the coronavirus than white men

Only 10% of the 1,067 individuals were diagnosed with COVID-19 after they were admitted to the hospital. Emergency medical services in King County, Washington responded to the cases of cardiac arrests occurring outside of a hospital setting from January 1 until April 15.

From the data gathered, a CPR safety calculation was made by the researchers by cross-referencing a would-be rescuer's own risk of dying from their act of compassion in a life and death situation.

"Given a 1% mortality for Covid-19, approximately 1 rescuer might die in 10,000 bystanders CPR events," said the researchers. "By comparison, bystander CPR saves more than 300 additional lives among 10,000 patients with (out-of-hospital cardiac arrest)."

Meanwhile, another study claimed that black men are more likely to than from COVID-19 disease compare to white men. According to US News's latest report, a reader in clinical biochemistry and toxicology at the University of East Londo, Winston Morgan, said that the data gathered by the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics is erroneous since it is mainly based on a loose definition of ethnicity on skin color, while genetic mutations that vary among some ethnic groups may play a part in the immune response.

The data the ONS suggested is that black males are 4.6 times more likely to succumb from the coronavirus compared to white males, while Pakistans are 4 times more likely to die compared to Indians, and Chinese individuals which are 2.5 times more likely to succumb to the virus.

"Yet, at least in the U.K., COVID-19 can apparently separate Indians and Pakistanis, suggesting genetics have little to do with it," said Morgan, arguing that higher infection rates among minorities may be linked with structural racism.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Statues targeted by Black Lives Matter protestors will not be protected by the police if it means putting themselves or the public at risk, a police chief has said.



Essex Police Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said it was up to operational commanders to make decisions on whether officers should step in to stop damage to monuments but said people's safety would be prioritised over property.

He said: 'What we will do is have appropriate plans and of course the officers will be there looking to make sure that people don't get hurt in the first instance, trying to protect property if that's the right thing to do, but people come first, making sure officers and those taking part are safe.'

Mr Harrington, the National Police Chiefs' Council's lead on public order, said more than 155,000 people across the UK had taken part in almost 200 demonstrations, with 137 arrests.

Last weekend the statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, was brought down by protestors in Bristol.

Statues glorifying slave traders and colonialists have come into sharp focus in recent days, as part of a broader movement inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests that started in the United States following the death of George Floyd on May 25.

A police chief has said the force won't stop statues being toppled if it poses a safety risk

Last weekend, Black Lives Matter protests turned violent with clashes between protestors and police officers in London. This officer was bloodied after being struck by protestors

It has been revealed that more than 130 officers have been injured during the various protests

Police chief Ben-Julian Harrington (pictured) said intervention from police will be assessed on a case-by-case basis

Mr Harrington said: 'We will not tolerate violence in our communities, whether that's against people, whether it's against property or, indeed, against police officers, and if this kind of disorder occurs, we will act.

'It's unacceptable that so many officers were injured in London over the weekend. And I think any criminality will be thoroughly investigated and action will be taken against those who commit offences.'

National Police Chiefs' Council chairman Martin Hewitt said more than 130 officers have been 'injured in one way or another' in protests triggered by the death of George Floyd.

Some 137 people have been arrested, while others have been fined for breaches of Covid-19 lockdown rules, which prohibit gatherings of more than six people.

Further clashes are expected this weekend, with groups setting out to 'defend' the statues from attack by Black Lives Matter protestors.

The removal of Edward Colston's statue in Bristol has sparked a wave of questions as to whether statues of other questionable figures should remain in parts of the UK

The 17th-century slave trader was toppled and thrown into Bristol harbour last weekend

Police say they were outnumbered in Bristol and unable to prevent the chaos that unfolded

Police forces in Avon and Somerset have come under fire for being unable to prevent protestors from tearing down the statue of Colston in Bristol last weekend, with Home Secretary Priti Patel said to have had a 'firm' talk with police chiefs from the area.

Since Colston's removal last weekend, there have been calls for local authorities to intervene and determine whether monuments of historical figures should be removed based on questionable background related to the colonial era.

Mr Harrington added that police forces are supporting councils in assessing whether a statue should be removed, in a bid to avoid scenes such as those in Bristol last weekend.

Up to 78 statues have been identified as targets for removal across the country

On Tuesday, a statue of Robert Milligan was removed in London due to links to slavery

There are fears that protestors could clash with groups 'defending' statues this weekend

The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police has seen swathes of protests take place across the United States, UK and the world over, with the issue of systemic racism being shone under a spotlight.

Topple The Racists' website has named 78 statues and monuments that 'celebrate slavery and racism'.

On Tuesday, workmen tore down a statue of 18th-century slave trader Robert Milligan from its spot on West India Quay in London's docklands.

That same day, over 1,000 demonstrators in Oxford demanded the removal of a statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes, an imperialist who provided philanthropical support to Oriel College in Oxford University where the monument stands.

Huw Thomas, leader of Cardiff Council, backed the removal of a statue of Sir Thomas Picton, a slave holder and military leader. He described the monument to the former governor of Trinidad as an 'affront' to black people.

Edinburgh council leader Adam McVey said he would feel 'no sense of loss' if a statue to Henry Dundas, who delayed the abolition of slavery, was removed.

Plymouth council said a public square named after slave trader Sir John Hawkins would be renamed and the University of Liverpool will redesignate a hall of residence dedicated to William Gladstone.

The Edward Colston statue was today lifted out of Bristol Harbour and will be put on display in a local museum.
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COVID-19 has created an unprecedented disruption in the market, hitting sectors and stocks across the board.

Experts and analysts expect a change in market leadership in the post-COVID world in which telecom, healthcare, speciality chemicals, and rural consumers may dominate other sectors.

"Every crisis creates opportunities for certain segments, which often creates new market leaders. Post COVID-19 pandemic, some of the themes or sectors we believe could emerge as leaders are telecom, healthcare, speciality chemicals, while one can look at rural consumer space as a recovery play," said Siddharth Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

With the lockdowns and work from home, telecom as a sector has seen a rising usage of phone and data.

Moreover, a higher transaction of subscribers from 2G to 4G has also been witnessed which will lead to a rise in ARPUs.

"With consolidation phase over in telecom, we can expect improving tariffs and ARPUs along with low CAPEX going ahead to support financials over the next 2-3 years. Bharti Airtel is our preferred pick in the space followed by Jio through Reliance Industries," Kemka said.

Healthcare is a defensive play. Though the sector had been under pressure for the last few years, the pandemic has opened up a lot of opportunities for the sector.

"We have not only seen an improved regulatory environment but also higher demand. We like diversified players like Dr. Reddys. Some unique plays would be API manufacturers (Divis Lab, Alkem), diagnostic labs (Dr. Lal Pathlabs) and medical insurance (ICICI Lombard) in the overall healthcare space," said Khemka.

Indian specialty chemical manufacturers are benefiting from the increasing trend of de-risking of procurement from China by global chemical leaders. Besides, depreciation of the rupee and sharp correction in crude prices are also expected to benefit the sector.

"We like companies like PI Industries and SRF in this space," Khemka said.

The rural economy is looking attractive due to various leavers such as good Rabi crop season, forecast of a normal monsoon, urban migrant labourers going back to the villages, government spending and an increase in MSP.

"These factors are likely to boost demand for the rural economy. Within the rural plays one can look at segments such as tractors (Mahindra & Mahindra), two-wheelers (Hero MotoCorp), and select FMCG (Hindustan Unilever and Britannia)," said Khemka.

Jyoti Roy, DVP, Equity Strategist, Angel Broking believes while it will take some time for the urban economy to recover from the COVID-19 impact, the rural economy will continue to do well.

"We expect sectors like agrochemicals, chemicals, pharma, telecom and tractors should continue to do well going forward given better revenue visibility," Roy said.

Here are 12 stocks from the above-mentioned sectors that can give double-digit returns in one year.

Analyst: Pankaj Pandey, Head  Research, ICICI direct

Sumitomo Chemical India | Buy | LTP: Rs 267.90 | Target price: Rs 315 | Upside: 18%

"We believe with the recent integration of Excel Crop into the company, the company can achieve revenue synergies with the help of wider distribution reach across different parts of the world. Additionally, Excel Crop manufactures a few technicals captively, which will allow the merged entity to reduce dependence on imports and increase captive consumption. This should expand gross margins in medium to long term," said the analyst.

"Apart from this, we believe with the recent pandemic, majority of the sectors are impacted due to demand and supply-side challenges, while agri sector is immune to a certain extent and this should benefit the players like Sumitomo Chemical. Further, recent locust impact along with a rise in few technical prices, which Sumitomo manufactures, should translate into better performance going ahead," the analyst said.

Dabur | Buy | LTP: Rs 462.20 | Target price: Rs 520 | Upside: 13%

Dabur India derives nearly 45 percent of its sales from rural India. The company is increasing its direct distribution presence to 60,000 villages (currently 52,000).

The analyst highlighted that some of the immunity-boosting categories like Chawavanprash and honey are popular in smaller cities and towns. Moreover, with increasing health cautiousness, these products are gaining traction. Further, the company also launched five new products in the healthcare space along with an immunity booster kit.

The company stated a 400 percent surge in Chyawanprash demand and 80 percent growth in honey in the last few months inducing it to expand the capacity of these products to meet the current demand.

"We believe health supplements would be driving the growth and could see structural demand improvement given increasing consumer awareness about health and immunity. The company with a strong product portfolio and new lunches are best positioned to leverage the opportunity. Moreover, villages and smaller towns have been relatively less impacted by lockdowns, which should benefit to drive earnings," said the analyst.

Ajanta Pharma | Buy | LTP: Rs 1,494 | Target price: Rs 1,730 | Upside: 16%

The overall FY20 performance was robust, both on the sales and margins with the growth of 26 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

While African tender business remains volatile, the core branded business continues to register healthy growth.

"Calculated focus, healthy margins and return profile and lighter balance sheet are some key differentiators for Ajanta. The company remains a play on global branded generics space. In a recent update, we arrived at our target price of Rs 1,730 based on 24 times FY22E EPS of nearly Rs 72," said the analyst.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories | Buy | LTP: Rs 4,120 | Target price: Rs 4,615 | Upside: 12%

As per the analyst, notwithstanding Q4 related gyrations, the overall narrative of calibrated launches and focus on sustained cost rationalisation, especially on SGN&A front and R&D spend continues.

"We expect continuum in operational improvement due to strong growth from branded markets, control on overheads and reduction in regulatory spend, now that most facilities including Srikakulam API plant (VAI) are out of USFDA embargo," said the analyst.

Strong FCF generation and a healthy balance sheet are some legacy strongholds for the company.

"Despite the recent rally, the expected margin expansion and earnings upgrade still leave scope for upside. We recently upgraded the stock to buy and arrived at a target price of Rs 4,615 based on 22 times FY22E EPS of nearly Rs 209.7," said the analyst.

Analyst: Vikas Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities

Bharti Airtel | Buy | LTP: Rs 567.45 | Target price: Rs 720 | Upside: 27%

The company remains the beneficiary of being an emerging duopoly with a large subscriber base and regular price hikes, higher data consumption due to work from home, digital payments and OTT platforms.

Lesser CAPEX requirements in the near future are also among the key positives for the stock.

"It has scaled an all-time high breaking its 10-year range with strong volumes and recent correction provides a good opportunity for a target of Rs 720 levels over the next year," said the analyst.

Biocon | Buy | LTP: Rs 390.90 | Target price: Rs 470 | Upside: 20%

Biocon is one of the innovation-led companies and has developed and commercialised a differentiated portfolio of novel biologics, biosimilars, and complex small molecule APIs in India and several key global markets, as well as, generic formulations in the US and Europe.

"It is one of the consistent outperformers in the pharma space and we believe it will continue to outperform as new revenue streams, subsidiary companies innovations would drive growth in earnings and continue to enjoy superior valuations," said the analyst.

Aarti Industries | Buy | LTP: Rs 933 | Target price: Rs 1,100 | Upside: 18%

A leading speciality chemicals company in benzene-based derivatives with integrated operations; its plants are located in western India with proximity to ports and diversified into the pharmaceutical segment as additional growth.

"Multi-year contract with an agrochemical major and other contracts would contribute strong revenues and earnings growth in the coming years," said the analyst.

Hindustan Unilever | Buy | LTP: Rs 2,119 | Target price: Rs 2,520 | Upside: 19%

Hindustan Unilever remains one of the strong rural consumer companies with multiple products across segments.

The recent merger with Glaxo Consumer has further boosted its product pipeline. Integrating its existing supply-chain management for incremental revenues with minimised cost structure will increase profitability.

"Debt-free balance sheet with a shorter working capital cycle, higher ROE, and 25-30 percent market share for its various products are the key positives to own the stock after a 20 percent correction from its all-time high," said the analyst.

Analyst: Jyoti Roy, DVP, Equity Strategist, Angel Broking Ltd

IPCA Labs | Buy | LTP: Rs 1,595.45 | Target price: Rs 1,900 | Upside: 19%

The company derives 54 percent of its revenues from domestic generic and API business.

"We expect the company to outperform the Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) by 8-10 percent per annum over the next few years," said the analyst.

PI Industries | Buy | LTP: Rs 1,621.15 | Target price: Rs 1,784 | Upside: 10%

PI Industries is a leading player in providing custom synthesis and manufacturing solutions (CSM) to global agrochemical players.

The CSM business accounted for 66 percent of the companys revenues in FY19 and is expected to be the key growth driver for the company in the future.

Coromandel International | Buy | LTP: Rs 669.15 | Target price: Rs 735 | Upside: 10%

Coromandel International is Indias second-largest phosphatic fertilizer player, engaged in the business of fertilizers, specialty nutrients and crop protection.

Covid-19 impact on the company's business has been minimal as its business is part of essential services.

"IMD forecasts of normal monsoon bode well for its business given that sowing is up by 13 percent in its addressable market. Enhanced sowing during the Rabi season in the south has led to good demand for agri inputs in the companys key markets," said the analyst.

Analyst: Bhavesh Gandhi, Lead Analyst  Institutional Equities, YES Securities

Alembic Pharma | Buy | LTP: 858.50 | Target price: Rs 1,100 | Upside: 28%

"We rate Alembic Pharma as a conviction buy as the company brings solid visibility of revenues and profits and is a justified candidate for rerating against peers," said the analyst.

Alembic is set to monetize Rs 2,000 crore worth of CAPEX which would drive a 20 percent CAGR surge in ex-Sartans US revenues.

Key risks include deceleration in US business and slower than expected domestic growth which would adversely impact margins.

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
The EUs diplomatic chief on Thursday voiced serious concern at moves by President Donald Trump to sanction any International Criminal Court officials who investigate US troops.

Ramping up pressure for the Hague-based court to stop its probe of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, Trump issued an executive order to block all US property and assets of anyone involved in probing or prosecuting American forces.

For sure this is a matter of serious concern because we as the European Union are steadfast supporters of the International Criminal Court, EU foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell told reporters.

The court has been playing a key role in providing international justice and addressing the gravest international crimes  it is a key factor in bringing justice and peace. It must be respected and supported by all nations.

Borrell said he would study Trumps order further to assess its implications, and the matter may be discussed by EU foreign ministers when they hold video talks on Monday.

Washington has never accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration would not let US forces be threatened by a kangaroo court.
HMRC data shows over 15,000 people furloughed in Wrexham

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jun 11th, 2020

New data released by HMRC says since the launch of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the UK Government has supported the wages of 19,100 jobs in Wrexham.

The CJRS and SEISS were announced by the Chancellor, and are run by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), as part of a package of support measures for businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Stats released by HMRC today say businesses have furloughed 15,100 jobs in Wrexham up to 31 May 2020, since the CJRS was launched on 20 April 2020. With UK Government saying that is to help UK employers who have been severely affected by coronavirus to retain their employees and protect the UK economy.

An announcement was made on 12 May 2020, that the scheme will run until the end of October to continue the support for jobs and businesses as people return to work.

The SEISS was rolled out ahead of schedule in May and has financially supported 4,000 self-employed individuals in Wrexham who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak and paid grants worth a total of 11,100,000 up to 31 May 2020.

On 29 May 2020, the Chancellor announced an extension to this scheme. Those eligible to claim the SEISS grant will be able to claim a second and final grant in August of up to 6,750.

Commenting on the news today, Sarah Atherton MP, said: As well as supporting our vital health and social care workers, it was essential that this historic support was given to those businesses and the self-employed that had to close their doors or stop working to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

We will make it through this pandemic and we must ensure that the economy is ready to fire on all cylinders, when were are allowed out of lockdown and have defeated this virus.

Im delighted that the UK Governments schemes have been able to help 9,600 people in Wrexham and this is why it is vital that we remember that Wales is stronger being a part of the United Kingdom.

Commenting on the news, Simon Baynes MP said: The support by the UK Government for Clwyd South workers and businesses has been unprecedented and historic. Im proud that the UK Government provided this support to support local people and stop the spread of the virus.

As we start to look beyond COVID-19, businesses can start to plan a return, safe in the knowledge that they have been supported  and continue to be  by the UK Government.

Im proud of the take-up of both the CJRS and SEISS and pleased weve been able to help almost 11,000 people in Clwyd South. As always, if you live in Clwyd South, and theres anything I can do to help, I urge you to get in touch with me at simon.baynes.mp@parliament.uk. 

Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: The UK Government is doing everything we can to protect jobs and businesses in Wales and across the UK during the crisis. Our unprecedented job retention and self-employment support schemes have supported the livelihoods of millions and will help ensure our recovery is as swift as possible.

Simon Hart, Secretary of State for Wales, said: The UK Government said it would do whatever it took to support the people and businesses of Wales through the pandemic and we have produced an unprecedented package of measures to deliver on that promise.

So far, 316,500 Welsh jobs have been supported by the job retention scheme while 273m has been provided to support 102,000 self-employed people. People and businesses in Wales have also benefited from UK-wide schemes such as VAT deferral, company loans and Universal Credit, while the Welsh Government has been allocated an additional 2.2 billion in direct coronavirus funding.

The UK Government has provided certainty for employers and workers to ensure that Waless economy is ready to bounce back from the pandemic.

Further guidance on both schemes will be available tomorrow (Friday 12 June 2020) at GOV.UK.

The below is the HMRC data for Wales, released earlier this morning:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A decades-long push to let California's public universities and government agencies consider race when making admissions and hiring decisions passed its first test Wednesday as more than two-thirds of the state Assembly voted to put the question on the ballot in November.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/6/2020 (590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FILE - In this June 11, 2019, file photo, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, speaks at a rally at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. California lawmakers are debating whether to let voters decide if the state should overturn its ban on affirmative action programs. Weber, who authored the proposal, said what happened to George Floyd showed "the symptoms of a much larger problem." "I hope that this Legislature would no longer be complicit in the status quo," she said. "We will not idly sit back and rest with gender and racial inequality." (AP Photos by Rich Pedroncelli, File)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A decades-long push to let California's public universities and government agencies consider race when making admissions and hiring decisions passed its first test Wednesday as more than two-thirds of the state Assembly voted to put the question on the ballot in November.

California has banned affirmative action-type programs since 1996 when 55% of voters agreed to amend the states Constitution to ban "preferential treatment" based on race, sex, colour, ethnicity or national origin.

That amendment has withstood multiple legal challenges and legislative attempts to change it. But this year, worldwide protests over racial injustice sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis have given supporters a boost in their quest to bring affirmative action back to California.

"Im so grateful I didn't have to convince you that racism is real, because George Floyd did that," Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a Democrat from San Diego and the author of the proposal, told her colleagues moments before the vote.

The Assembly voted 58-9 to let voters decide whether to repeal the amendment. If the state Senate concurs by June 25, the question would be added to the November ballot  further intensifying an election year that already includes a presidential contest.

Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, rests her head on her hands as she listens to lawmakers discuss her measure to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot to let voters decide if the state should overturn its ban on affirmative action programs, during the Assembly session at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, June 10, 2020. California has banned affirmative action-type programs since 1996 when 55% of voters agreed to amend the stateAos Constitution to ban Aupreferential treatmentAu based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin..(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

One Republican  Tom Lackey of Palmdale  joined 56 Democrats and one independent to put the amendment on the ballot. The nine "no" votes all came from Republicans. Twelve lawmakers did not vote.

The repeal effort faces strong, organized opposition among some in the Asian community. Wenyuan Wu, director of administration for the Asian American Coalition for Education, said Asian American students "have always been labeled as over represented in good schools."

"We worry that the bill, once the bill is passed, that will give the state universities in California ample reason to use racial balancing to discriminate against us," she said.

Assemblyman Steven Choi, a Republican from Irvine who was born in South Korea, said he opposed the measure because it would "legalize racism and sexism."

"I do not want to live in a state where the colour of my skin or my race or my sex or my national origin determines my qualifications for a position, a job or entering to a college," he said. "I came here to this country to get away from ideologies like that."

The opposition made for a tough vote for members of the Assembly's Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus. Democrat Evan Low, who is of Chinese descent and shares an apartment with his police officer brother, said he received more than 3,000 emails and phone calls from his constituents urging him to vote against the repeal.

But in an interview with The Associated Press, Low said he voted for the bill because "injustice to one is injustice to us all."

"How do you go to a Black Lives Matter rally and say, Yes, I am with you, but then all of a sudden say, Oh, well, not here, not on that part," he said.

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Californias ban of affirmative action was inspired in part by a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed public universities to use race as a factor in their admissions decisions. That case originated from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.

Since the 1996 amendment, at least seven other states have adopted similar policies: Washington, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, New Hampshire and Oklahoma. A constitutional amendment in Colorado failed to pass in 2008.

"This is not the same California that voted on this 25 years ago," said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, a Democrat from Los Angeles.

California is the nations most populous state, and its also one of the most diverse. Hispanics surpassed whites in 2015 as the states largest ethnic group. As of 2019, Hispanics make up 39% of the states population while whites account for 36.8%, according to the U.S. Census. Asians account for 15.3% while African Americans make up 6.5% of the states population.

California State University, the nations largest four-year public university with 23 campuses and nearly 482,000 students, has a student body that is nearly 75% people of colour. Hispanics account for 43% of the students while whites account for 22.4%. Asians account for 15.7% and black people make up 4% of the student population.

At the University of California system, Asians account for 30% of the undergraduate and graduate student population, followed by whites at 24%, Hispanics at 22% and blacks at 4%.
Statues honoring Christopher Columbus were destroyed and disfigured in Boston and Richmond, Va., overnight Wednesday - the latest in a wave of attacks on historic monuments by George Floyd protesters.

Most of the vandalism has been aimed at Confederate memorials in cities across the South, including Richmond, Birmingham, Ala., Charleston, S.C., and Raleigh, N.C. But Columbus, once celebrated for "discovering" the New World, is reviled for brutalizing the indigenous people he found there.

On Wednesday at 12:30 a.m., Boston Police Department officers responded to a call about vandalism to the city's Columbus statue, Sgt. Detective John Boyle told The Washington Post.

A member of the media went to check on the statue and noticed that it had been beheaded, he said. Fragments of the structure were nearby.

Area detectives and the civil rights unit of the department are investigating the destruction. Boyle encouraged members of the public to come forward with any information and noted that they can remain anonymous.

In Virginia, a few dozen people gathered in Richmond's Byrd Park to see a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus submerged facedown on the edge of Fountain Lake.

"I'm not going to say I approve, but I'm not going to say I disapprove either," said Ronald Johnson, 33, who has marched five nights in Richmond over the past 12 days.

Johnson was with at least 100 people at the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee - which Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, has said he plans to put in storage - when word spread that the Columbus statue had been torn down. A "massive cheer" went up, he said, and he drove over to Byrd Park to see it for himself.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the idea for the statue came from the city's Italian American community in the early 1920s. It was dedicated in December 1927, the newspaper reported.

Columbus statues and the holiday have become increasingly controversial in recent years. Many cities have junked Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Former Sale of the Century star Alyce Platt is back on TV screens tomorrow in a guest role on Neighbours.

She briefly reprised her role as Olivia Bell last month with her former flame, Dr Karl Casanova Kennedy (Alan Fletcher).

But now she returns to rock the usually unfazed Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne), with a tell-all book about evil Finn Kelly (Rob Mills), which points the finger directly at the Ramsay Street matriarch as the instigator behind Kellys chaos.

Singer and actress Platt is best known for her years on Sale of the Century from 1986 to 1991, but has screen credits in Sons and Daughters, Elephant Princess, City Homicide, Seven Types of Ambiguity, Satisfaction, Blue Heelers amongst others.

6:30pm weeknights on 10 Peach.
The coronavirus that has been pushed to the awareness sideline by a watershed moment in U.S. race relations reached 2 million U.S. infections.

The Johns Hopkins virus dashboard counted more than 27,000 new cases Wednesday, a day that saw almost 1,000 U.S. deaths. More than 113,000 Americans have died since the virus emerged here a few months ago.

As the nation slowly reopens after months of lockdown, the pandemic that paralyzed the global economy is still very much among us. Despite a decline in U.S. deaths for six weeks in a row, Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said the USA must be prepared for 100,000 victims in the next few months.

"The pandemic is still here. Between 800 and 1,000 people are dying a day," Jha tweeted. "We can't become immune to this. We can't."

Ogbonnaya Omenka, a public health expert and assistant professor at Butler University, said that if there is a resurgence in the fall, the numbers might be even higher.

"Although we have been dealing with the problem for months, we do not know how challenging a second wave may prove to be," Omenka told USA TODAY. "Conventional wisdom indicates the second wave would present more difficulties than the first."

States see a sudden increase in cases: Experts have more than one answer

How the pandemic spread in the USA: A timeline of how COVID-19 unfolded

Even the eye-opening, 2 million infections is a lowball number, said Melissa Nolan, an infectious disease expert and professor at the University of South Carolina. The latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that for every four symptomatic cases, there is one asymptomatic case, which would suggest that the true infection burden nationally would be about 2.4 million, she said.

Omenka said even that is conservative, and some estimates indicate the "actual number of cases probably exceeds 7 million."

Story continues

While good news on the numbers emanates from New York and Chicago, states such as Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina are seeing surges. A record 1,698 new cases were announced Thursday by the Florida Department of Health.

It's not just the USA. Globally, more than 7.4 million cases have been reported, and there have been more than 418,000 deaths. India reported a spike: nearly 10,000 new cases Thursday. South Korea, the world's success story for its triumphant effort to flatten the curves for new cases and deaths, is seeing a worrisome infection boom.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said Thursday that it anticipates global deaths "into the millions" by October.

Social media video shows a pool party in Lake of the Ozarks on Memorial Day weekend, challenging social distancing guidelines.

U.S. health experts understand the urgency in reopening the U.S. economy. About 1.5 million Americans filed first-time applications for unemployment insurance last week, pushing the tally over the past 12 weeks to a record-smashing 43 million people.

Tell us your coronavirus story: What does your summer look like?

But reopening comes at a cost. Nolan said the nation is seeing more cases related to Memorial Day and summer vacation travel, gatherings for a wide variety of events ranging from the historic protests sweeping the nation to pool parties.

Nolan said the protests will not necessarily fuel the pandemic. Omenka agreed, although he acknowledged that information about the spread of the virus indicates public gatherings of any kind could have an impact.

"But nothing about this virus is conventional," Omenka said. "With the protests, perhaps the summer temperatures, people wearing masks, the younger age of many of the participants and the mobile, active nature of a lot of the public gatherings might play important roles."

After months of lockdowns, then a slow reopening amid the mass demonstrations, it's not clear whether Americans are prepared to continue making social distancing sacrifices that could be needed to stem the outbreak.

Crisis far from over: The USA is 'slightly' past its first peak, but expert says the pandemic is far from over

The next two weeks will provide an indication of whether a full-scale second wave of infections  which would mean an exponential growth in cases  is occurring or whether it's a "flare-up" that shows itself as a short-term spike, Nolan said. Either way, the solutions are hand-washing, social distancing and related measures that public health officials have preached for months.

"The next year will be a new normal for us all," Nolan said. "We are going to see some transitions that will hopefully with time allow us as a nation to eventually return to life as we knew it."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: US hits 2 million cases and 100,000 more people could die
The latest slice of bingeworthy escapism from Netflix is the teen drama "Outer Banks." The mystery is set among the barrier islands along the coast of North Carolina, where a group of young friends hunt for the sunken ship called the Royal Merchantand its lost treasure.

And, as luck would have it, there are also plenty of real estate gems to uncover in the area.

Although the show was filmed in Charleston, SC, we were drawn to the idea of spending summer months in one of the Outer Banks beach towns, which the series depicts.

The sandy getaway is an easy drive from most points on the East Coast. That ease of access could make the area a popular spot this summer for East Coast vacationers who want to avoid getting on a plane.

As we browsed through the listings, we learned that you dont have to be a massively rich kook (North Carolina slang for a wannabe surfer) to buy a home here.

A wide variety of homes are available, at a variety of price points. And most of these beach houses can serve as rental-income generators when you're not able to be at the beach yourself.

So join us on our real estate treasure-hunting quest, as we uncover intriguing homes in the Outer Banks. Grab your swimsuit and your sunscreen, and have a look at seven homes ideal for a lazy summer at the beach...

Price: $2,139,000

Treasure trove: Built in 1994, this six-bedroom place has been totally redone and appears brand-new. The living room and dining room offer ocean views, and the home includes a den that can be closed off as a media room.

Upstairs, the top-floor master bedroom features ocean views, access to its own deck, and a gas fireplace.

The ground floor features a game room, home theater, a bunk room, and sliding doors out to the pool. The space also comes with multiple decks, as well as a private path to the beach.

The area is known for its wild horses, and this home is a short drive from Corolla's shops and restaurants.

Corolla, NC realtor.com



Price: $729,000

Treasure trove: The spectacular semi-oceanfront four-bedroom home has just been updated and boasts ocean views.

For a buyer who can't decide where to sleep, this place has two master suites. A midlevel den area allows for plenty of space to lounge.

A wide-open great room looks into the dining and kitchen areas and offers views from multiple windows. The updated kitchen features granite counters, and other perks include a stone fireplace, wet bar, and sundecks.

Beach access is just across the street, and the town's shops and restaurants are minutes away on foot.

Duck, NC realtor.com



Price: $675,000

Treasure trove: Located on Hatteras Island, Rodanthe is the location of the 2008 movie Nights in Rodanthe, starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks.

You can be prepared to stage your own sudsy romance in this beautiful five-bedroom beach home, which has water views from almost every room. Enjoy multiple decks, an open kitchen, and a dining and the living room for entertaining or relaxing by the gas fireplace.

Rodanthe, NC realtor.com



Price: $1,899,900

Treasure trove: The oceanfront abode features six beds, six full baths, and two powder rooms.

The layout comes with an elevator, heated pool with outdoor kitchen, and a bar area. Indoors, the vaulted great room features unobstructed ocean views, plus a wet bar.

The open kitchen includes granite countertops, a custom tiled floor, and double ovens. And for those in search of investment property, this ones a smart betknown as Palm Villa, it's considered a rental machine.

Southern Shores, NC realtor.com



Price: $799,000

Treasure trove: This five-bedroom home features a reverse floor plan with an upgraded kitchen, living, and dining room on the top floor, along with a screened-in porch.

The midlevel floor offers three bedrooms, each with an updated bathroom and access to a covered deck.

Meanwhile, the first floor has an additional living area and half bath. The home has a fresh coat of paint on the exterior and the decks, and has served as a popular rental.

Kitty Hawk realtor.com



Price: $679,000

Treasure trove: This waterfront, three-bedroom residence offers fabulous outdoor space and views.

Enjoy watching the sunset from the spacious second- and third-level decks or the large patio in the back. You can catch views of the water from just about everywhere on the main level.

The kitchen comes equipped with new stainless-steel appliances and a fireplace. Other perks include a game room with pool table and poker table.

Kill Devil Hills, NC realtor.com



Price: $550,000

Treasure trove: Built in 1977, this four-bedroom property designed for beach lovers offers direct access to the beach. It's also close to the Outer Banks Fishing Pier.

The living area boasts an open floor plan, and there's an outdoor shower to rinse off pesky sand.

Improvements made last year include new HVAC units, new roof, gutters, and siding.

Nags Head, NC realtor.com

The post Ode to 'Outer Banks': 7 Intriguing North Carolina Beach Homes You Can Buy Right Now appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
Research on protein nanowires, a new electronic material with unique properties that is produced with bacteria, may provide green components for sustainable electronics - and avoid the harmful environmental effects associated with man-made materials.

Work by University of Massachusetts at Amherst microbiologist Derek Lovley has been recognized with the Mahoney Life Sciences Prize. The low-cost, sustainable green material has been developed in the Geobacter laboratory in the College of Natural Sciences, where Lovley and his colleagues say their advances hold great promise for a wide range of practical applications in sustainable energy generation, as well as in the production of electronic products such as biomedical sensors and memory storage devices.

The new material demonstrates a versatility not found in similar materials such as silicon nanowires or carbon nanotubes. It holds promise as a way of using bacteria to produce electrical wires.

According to Lovley, protein nanowires require much less energy to produce and do not require harsh chemicals or dangerous conditions to create. They are also biodegradable.

These findings have many exciting applications, and the more time we invest studying the possibilities, the more we will understand how we can help the electronics industry be more sustainable and forward-thinking, Lovley said.

The professor expressed gratitude for the prize, which is awarded after a close review by a panel of life science industry scientists and executives. It recognizes one CNS faculty member who is the principal author of peer-reviewed research that meets the broader goals of the Mahoney Life Sciences Prize, including advancing connections between academic research and industry.

The $10,000 prize is usually featured at an awards ceremony on campus, but this years event has been postponed due to COVID-19.

We are proud to support the expert research being carried out by UMass researchers through the Mahoney Life Sciences Prize. It is critical that we do all we can to strengthen and promote the links between scientific innovation and industrial applications that solve critical problems and improve peoples lives,'' said Richard Mahoney, former chairman and CEO of Monsanto Company.

"Dr. Lovleys research is representative of those efforts, and he leads the state, nation and world in his area of microbiological research. The incredible breakthroughs that happen locally at UMass Amherst continue to place UMass at the forefront of research institutions everywhere.

The Mahoney brothers all received their chemistry degrees from UMass Amherst. They went on to become leaders in their own industries and have served as high-level alumni advisers to the university and as mentors to students.

Lovleys research has been featured in Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Nature, and other national and international media outlets. His colleagues in this award-winning research include Toshiyuki Ueki, David J.F. Walker, Pier-Luc Tremblay, Kelly P. Nevin, Joy E. Ward, Trevor L. Woodard and Stephen S. Nonnenmann.
NEW DELHI: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Thursday expressed serious concerns over rapidly increasing coronavirus cases in the national capital. Addressing an online press briefing, the Health Minister said there were 32810 COVID-19 cases in Delhi on Wednesday, out of which 1500 are new cases.

The minister informed that there are 19581 active cases and nearly 5200 people under treatment in various hospitals.

In view of the rising number, Jain said that the Delhi government is planning to prepare 15000 additional beds at the Banquet Hall and Stadium by June 30.

We have 11 thousand beds at present. Preparations are underway at Baquet Hall, Community Hall, Stadium etc to prepare more beds on a large scale, Jain said.

Replying to a question on the high number of deaths in Delhi, Jain said, corona patients are doubling in 2 weeks. Cases are constantly doubling that is why it is visible.

On complaints of patients not getting proper treatment, the minister said, Proper care is being given to every patient. We have said that if the report has not come and the condition of the patient is bad then we will have to admit him. Corona cases are being treated in 90 private hospitals in Delhi. Five hospitals of Delhi Government have been made fully COVID-19 Hospitals. There are 10000 beds at the moment.

Replying to a question that private hospitals do not want to keep corona patients with other patients in hospitals, he said both types of treatment are being done in hospitals like RML Safdarjung.

When asked to admit if there is community transmission in Delhi, Jain said, All the scientists and experts are with the central government, they will tell whether there is a community spread or not.

When asked about viral videos showing corpses at LNJP Hospital, the Minister said, We need to understand such videos are also watched by doctors, nurses and other medical staff. They are being demoralised by such videos. I know many people myself who have not been home till many months and have been working day and night .. There are also people who we say go home in 15 days but they refuse .. They have given their life to fight the virus. I have also seen that video. If someone dies, it is sad. But there is a proper process to cover those dead bodies for their proper disposal. If such allegations continue, then the whole health system will collapse.

The minister also assured that he will look into the mater.

Responding to a question on elderly deaths due to COVID-19, the Minister said, This is why we are repeatedly telling them not to get out. If someone has major illnesses like cancer, respiratory disease or heart problems, then more attention is needed. If we save these people, then the need for hospitalization will be less and deaths will also be reduced..

The reaction from Delhi Health Minister came on a day when India reported nearly 10K fresh COVID-19 cases, 357 deaths in a day.

Five months since the first case was reported in India, 9,996 COVID-19 cases were reported in a day, as deaths due to the Coronavirus crossed the 8,000-mark with 357 people succumbing to the pandemic within 24-hours, the data released by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday.

For the second consecutive day, the number of recoveries (1,41,028) remained higher than the active ones (1,37,448) as 2,243 persons were cured and discharged during the day, even as the total Covid toll in the country reached 8,102, more than 70 per cent due to comorbidities.

With a whooping total of 2,86,579 cases, India remained the fifth worst-hit nation as the US topped the chart with 20,00,464 cases. Brazil is second (7,72,416), then Russia (4,93,023) and United Kingdom (2,91,588).

Maharashtra remained the worst hit state in the country with total inching close to 95,000 mark with 94,041 total cases including 3,438 deaths and 44,517 recoveries. It is followed by Tamil Nadu (36,841) and the national capital on the third number.
A serial rapist was caught in a child's bedroom after carrying out 40 sex attacks in 12 months in one Nigerian town, according to police.

Police arrested 32-year-old Muhammad Alfa in Kwanar Dangora, on the outskirts of Kano in north west Nigeria on Tuesday.

Officers say he confessed to having raped more than 40 women in a year, including girls as young as 10, married women, and an 80-year-old woman.

It comes as Nigeria's Minister of Women's Affairs called on law enforcement to speed up rape investigations after an 'alarming' spike in cases during the country's coronavirus lockdown.

A serial rapist was caught in a child's bedroom after carrying out 40 sex attacks in 12 months in one Nigerian town (file image)

The Kano State Police Command's public relations officer, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, said the suspect was apprehended after a mother, from the northern town of Dangora, caught the man in her child's bedroom.

The man ran away but neighbours chased him and caught him.

Haruna added that the community was happy after receiving the news that the serial rapist had been arrested by the police.

The chief of the town, Ahmadu Yau, also said the arrest was a welcome development, after residents told how they have been living in fear for the last year after hearing about a series of rapes.

The chief of the town, Ahmadu Yau, also said the arrest was a welcome development (file image)

'We can now sleep with our eyes closed,' one woman told the BBC.

Nigeria's Minister of Women's Affairs Pauline Tallen said at a government meeting on Wednesday: 'There has been an outcry against the rape epidemic because of the lockdown.'

She said that rape cases had recently increased by a factor of three, because 'women and children are locked down with their abusers'.

All 36 states in Nigeria were affected, Ms Tallen said.

Dangora is a small town in Kano state about 85 kilometres south-west of Kano city, making it difficult for police to access.

There has been a recent wave of rapes and killing of women in Nigeria, which have led to a national outcry, with thousands signing a petition and using the hashtag #WeAreTired.

In Lagos on Monday rights groups marched to parliament calling for it to declare a state of emergency on rape and sexual violence.

The march followed the death of 22-year-old student Uwaila Vera Omozuwa and the rape and killing less than a week later of another student, Barakat Bello.

Omozuwa died after she was attacked in a church in Benin City, while Bello was raped and killed during a robbery in her home in the southwestern city of Ibadan on June 1.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  When the tourists stopped coming in March, so did Lorin Lynchs paychecks from a Tampa Bay hotel. She burned through her savings while awaiting financial relief from Floridas unemployment office. It took nearly three months before the 26-year-old single mother finally got a check.

Even as Florida reopens for business, Lynch is still fuming over an unemployment system that was among the countrys slowest to respond to the economic calamity triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. The states own statistics show that about 40% of the 2.2 million claims it received remain unpaid.

Even with unemployment checks now arriving, Lynch said, Im honestly terrified about how Im going to feed my son each day and whats going to happen next.

That frustration is a problem for Florida Republicans as they try to secure their state again for President Donald Trump. Trumps path to winning reelection is exceedingly narrow without Floridas 29 electoral votes. The broken unemployment insurance system raises the prospect that thousands of out-of-work Floridians will bring their anger to the voting booth in a state where races are decided by the slimmest of margins.

Ive been a Trump supporter, but Im kind of questioning everything, said Lynch, who voted for him in 2016 when she lived in Minneapolis. She was initially impressed by his business acumen, she said, but is now questioning his leadership in crisis.

Much of her anger is directed at Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally. DeSantis has acknowledged that the unemployment system known as CONNECT was like a jalopy in the Daytona 500 being left in the dust.

To stem criticism and the political fallout, DeSantis beefed up staffing and ordered additional servers to help rescue the beleaguered system. He claims the system is now functioning and blames user error and fraudulent claims for some of the unpaid benefits.

As of Wednesday, state data showed more than 880,000 claims remain unpaid, while 1.2 million Floridians have received unemployment benefits totaling nearly $5 billion.

In Washington, the Senates top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, has asked the Labor Department for an internal investigation. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, recently assailed the system in a TV interview.

We have to make the unemployment system function, and your state isnt very functional, he told WFTV in Orlando, taking a shot at DeSantis. And that relates to management of the system.

Floridas unemployment woes add to the troubles for Trump five months from Election Day. Polling shows social unrest, the pandemic and the economic fallout have eroded his support among older people and in key battleground states.

Democrats in Florida have been handed a cudgel, said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida associate professor who co-wrote Politics in Florida.

There is a large pool of voters who might have their votes swayed because of this issue. The question is how many, Jewell said.

Protesters tried to draw attention to the systems woes Wednesday by holding rallies in Tallahassee, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and other communities.

Some of the hardest-hit counties lie along the states crucial Interstate 4 corridor, stretching from Orlando to Tampa Bay. In Orange County, home to Disney World, nearly a fourth of the workforce lost jobs. In nearby Osceola County, about a third of workers are unemployed.

Hundreds of thousands of Floridians in the Democratic strongholds of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties were also left reeling by job losses, and Democrats have begun highlighting the unemployment fiasco to boost party turnout.

Florida, like other states, has begun lifting the restrictions that caused its economy to sputter and unemployment to surge. In April, Floridas unemployment rate hit 12.9%, up from 2.8% in February. Figures for May havent yet been released.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported new jobless claims in Florida continued to fall as restaurants and retailers began calling people back to work. Some 110,000 Floridians filed for new jobless claims last week, according to the federal government, down from more than 207,000 claims the week before.

Its one of those things where once the issue is solved, its going to disappear, said Florida Republican Party chairperson Joe Gruters. I dont think anybody ever expected the wave of unemployment applications at the same time the way it did during this crisis.

Gruters mother was among those who couldnt get an unemployment check.

Someone should go to jail over that, Gruters tweeted in April.

Trump has blamed Democrats for any lateness in payments, saying he told them this would happen, especially with many states which have old computers, he tweeted in April. He did not elaborate.

Republicans have since turned to promising a rapid rebound. Theyve already built the best economy in Floridas history once, and they will do it again after they are reelected this November, the Republican National Committee said.

But Democrats arent likely to let it go. Theyve sought to cast the issue as the result of a long-standing Republican effort to weaken the social safety net in Florida.

They point to changes made under the previous governor, Republican Rick Scott, who won election to the U.S. Senate in 2018. Under his watch, Florida cut the number of weeks people could collect benefits and put it on a sliding scale  from 12 to 23 weeks  depending on the states unemployment rate.

Claimants in Florida currently get aid for up to 12 weeks  tied with North Carolina for the shortest period of any state.

Other changes made it more difficult for some to apply, including by eliminating paper applications and stiffening the required proof that recipients were actively looking for work. Critics say the changes were aimed at reducing payments, as well as artificially deflating unemployment numbers.

Carolina Nunez is registered as a Republican but in recent years has supported Democrats. When she lost her paychecks in March and struggled to claim benefits, she blamed Republicans.

So did her husband, Chris Kee, a sheriffs deputy in central Florida, who voted for DeSantis in 2018 and for Trump in 2016.

Despite uncertainty spawned by the coronavirus and anti-police brutality protests, Kee and Nunez are sure of one thing: They wont be voting for Trump in November.

We hear one thing coming from our governor and people who share his views, saying everything is fixed, he said. But everyone else who is going through the system, or is trying to receive benefits, is saying otherwise.

___

Associated Press writer Kelli Kennedy in Miami contributed to this report.
Condemning the Chinese intrusion in Ladakh, PoK leader Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri has said that a war between two nuclear powers with huge armies would be one of the largest and most destructive conflicts in Asia.

Exiled leader from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri has strongly condemned the Chinese intrusion in Ladakh. Kashmiri, the Chairman of the United Kashmir Peoples National Party (UKPNP), said the current standoff and escalating tension between Indian and Chinese troops at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh is very sensitive and dangerous to peace and security in the region.

He said, In 1947, the legitimate ruler of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir wanted independence but Pakistan did not respect and honor the right to self-determination of people. On October 22, 1947, it invaded Jammu and Kashmir which resulted in forced division and destruction that continues till date.

In 1950, China began constructing a road through Aksai Chin in the northeastern part of Ladakh. That road, now named NH 219, was a gravel pavement that China constructed during the mid-1950s. China kept expanding its presence in Aksai Chin. In 1962, China occupied more territory of Jammu and Kashmir during the India-Sino war, said Kashmiri.

In 1963, Pakistani military ruler, General Ayyub Khan, gifted thousands of square miles land of Jammu and Kashmir to China. The Sino-Pakistan Agreement (also known as the Sino-Pakistan Frontier Agreement and Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement) is a 1963 document between the governments of Pakistan and China establishing the border between those countries, Pakistan recognising Chinese sovereignty over hundreds of square kilometers of land in Northern Kashmir and Ladakh, which is a disputed territory according to United Nations resolutions.

The PoK leader said, Pakistan has no locus standi on Jammu and Kashmir. It must not involve in conspiracies of further division and occupation of our territories. Kashmiri said that China-Pakistan relations are simple and complicated at the same time. Indeed, Beijing never remained in a position nor was it willing to fight Pakistans wars. Nevertheless, Pakistans fractured relations with the United States enhanced its military cooperation, and now it is very much dependent on China.

He said, This is why Pakistan gave free hand to China to construct China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other mega projects in the disputed territories of Gilgit Baltistan and PoK. According to the Constitution of Pakistan, these areas are neither a part of Pakistan nor an independent entity but a disputed territory and part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistani authorities in Islamabad may accept Chinese assurances in order not to hurt Pakistan but practically it becomes the colony of China. Kashmiri expressed that Pakistan has always played a double-game with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Constitution of Pakistan, on the one hand, says that the future of Jammu and Kashmir shall be decided according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people, while on the other hand, it bars and denies the right of independence of the people of Gilgit Baltistan and PoK by imposing draconian acts and laws.

According to this Act 1974, No person or political party shall be allowed to take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to the ideology of states accession to Pakistan. This clause is a clear violation of the freedom and fundamental rights and contrary to claims of Pakistan itself at national and international levels.

We have serious concerns over the current China-India standoff in Ladakh but Pakistani officials and ex-military officers and defence analysts seem very happy and praising China for its aggressive move in Ladakh, said Kashmiri.

The PoK leader emphasised that India and China should resolve the issue through peaceful means and dialogues. A war between two nuclear powers India and China with huge armies would be one of the largest and most destructive conflicts in Asia. A war between the two powers would rock the Indo-Pacific region, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides and take a significant toll on the global economy, peace and security, he said.

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FILE PHOTO: Secretary General of UN Guterres speaks during a Security Council meeting about the situation in Syria at UN Headquarters in New York City

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - North Korea suggested on Thursday that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres might be pretending to act like a drunk as the country slammed comments by his spokesman on Pyongyang's decision to sever hotlines with South Korea.

Guterres regretted North Korea's announcement on the hotlines, warning that such channels "are necessary to avoid misunderstandings or miscalculations," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Wednesday.

"We cannot but express our astonishment over such reckless remarks - devoid of the common sense of judgment, let alone the basic knowledge of inter-Korean relations - coming out from the center of the United Nations," a spokesperson for North Korea's Foreign Affairs Ministry told KCNA state news agency.

Pyongyang's decision, announced on Tuesday, marks a new setback to stalled efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. For several days, North Korea had been lashing out at South Korea because it was not stopping defectors from sending leaflets and other material into the North.

"It is only the U.N. Secretary-General himself who would know whether he is pretending to blind himself to the articles of inter-Korean agreement on ceasing all hostilities against the other party or pretending to be knowingly drunken," the foreign affairs ministry spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the remarks from the U.N. "cannot be overlooked" and accused Guterres of siding with the United States by expressing inappropriate and biased views, adding: "We never pardon anyone who dares to point a finger at our most precious and sacred Supreme Leadership."

Dujarric declined to comment on the North Korean statement.

The United States said it was disappointed by Pyongyang's decision to cut the hotlines. North Korea said on Thursday the United States has no standing to comment on inter-Korean affairs, and it was in Washington's interest to stay quiet if it wants the upcoming presidential election to go smoothly.

North Korea has been subjected to U.N. sanctions since 2006. They have been strengthened by the 15-member Security Council over the years in a bid to cut off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Tom Brown)
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Russia has responded to NATO naval wargames in the Baltic Sea by sending a dozen combat jets to embark on practice strikes on marine targets in the area, its military confirmed.

The move comes just a day after NATO kicked off its annual military exercises in the Sea, in what will have been interpreted as a warning to Putin's forces stationed nearby.

And it appears Putin got the memo, after Russia's Baltic Fleet revealed in a statement that a dozen of its Su-24, Su-27 and Su-30 aircrafts practised the strikes on Thursday.

Relationships between Russia and the West have become increasingly fraught over the years, including after Russia seized the Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and following Moscow's support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow has also repeatedly voiced concern over the deployment of NATO forces near Russian borders, describing it as a threat to its security. Russia and the alliance have also blamed each other for conducting destabilising military exercises near borders.

The US and NATO allies have repeatedly said that Russian fighter jets have performed unsafe maneuvers while shadowing their planes - accusations that the Russian military has rejected.

The NATO exercises will see twenty eight ships and aircraft from 19 countries take part in ten days of exercises along with 3,000 personnel, which are designed to test their ability to work together to combat threats.

Included will be forces from the UK, US, France and Germany - but also Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are considered the most vulnerable to the threat of Russian invasion.

The exercise also comes in the shadow of Donald Trump's pledge to remove 9,500 US troops from Europe - which British politicians have warned will 'play into Russia's hands'.

For the first time in its 49-year history, the exercise will also not feature any ground troops because of the risk of transmitting coronavirus.

Instead, all exercises will take place at sea and the operation will also be commanded remotely from NATO's new Joint Operations Centre which is located in Lisbon, Portugal.

The annual exercise - dubbed BALTOPS and now in its 49th year - began on June 6 and will last until June 16.

It has been broken down into two phases, the first of which will train the militaries of different countries to work together, and the second of which will test their ability to respond to threats in a coordinated way.

NATO's annual training exercise in the Baltic Sea is underway - with 28 ships and aircraft, and 3,000 troops from 19 different countries taking part in ten days of drills (pictured, US Navy command ship USS Mount Whitney leads a formation comprised of frigates and supply ships from Germany, Canada, and Norway)

The exercise - dubbed BALTOPS - is NATO's largest in the Baltic Sea and includes drills in air defence, mine sweeping, anti-submarine warfare, and intercepting vessels at sea. Pictured from left to right are the USNS Supply, guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook, Norwegian frigate HNoMS Otto Suerdrup, German frigate FGS Luebeck, and oil replenishment ship FGS Rhoen

Pictured from the deck of the Lithuanian Navy's LNS Skalvis mine-hunting ship is the rear of German supply ship FGS Donau, as the pair complete a resupply mission while at sea

The exercises usually feature troops of Marines taking place in parachute and ground training, but this year the entire exercise will take place at sea to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus (pictured is the USS Mount Whitney leading a formation of ships in the Baltic)

The training has been split into two parts - the first of which will feature exercises designed to make sure the navies of 19 countries can work together, and the second part of which will test that ability in simulated real-world conditions

Unlike in previous years all the exercises will take place at sea to reduce the risk of transmitting coronavirus, while the operation will also be commanded remotely from NATO's new Joint Operations Centre which is located in Lisbon, Portugal

A German Mk88A Super Lynx helicopter is pictured flying above the Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney during training exercises in the Baltic Sea
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Europeans can look forward to quarantine-free trips across the continent as lockdown rules are relaxed - but British holiday makers remain trapped in isolation.

Tourists from Germany, France and Italy are among those who will shortly be able to go on holiday to dozens of resort locations in foreign countries, and can crucially return unhindered afterwards.

While British holidaymakers are welcome on the beaches of certain nations, Boris Johnson's government has scuppered the holiday plans of millions by insisting on two weeks of quarantine on their return to the UK.

Germans, French and Italians will be allowed into dozens of countries from next week. Tourists from Germany have been given priority access to Spain under a newly-unveiled pilot scheme to start taking down restrictions between countries that are nearing the end of their battles with the virus.

From Monday, up to 10,900 Germans will be allowed to visit the Balearic Islands including Ibiza and Mallorca without having to take a coronavirus test or quarantine for 14 days.

They will be the only visitors allowed into Spain until the country officially reopens its borders, due on July 1, as the country's mainland is still not being considered for reopening by officials.

A host of other European countries including Italy, France, Belgium and Poland are also set to drop restrictions next week, though Britons will not be welcome in all of them.

Analysis carried out by MailOnline suggests that - from next week - British tourists will be lagging far behind other major European nations in terms of the number of countries they can visit, but even in these cases they will be met by a 14-day quarantine period upon return.

Under current proposals put forward by foreign governments, people from the UK would be able to visit 10 nations from June 15/16 without having to quarantine on arrival - including Germany, Belgium and Italy.

But following guidelines set out by Home Secretary Priti Patel from June 8, travellers coming back into the UK from any country will have to isolate unless they are on a limited list of mainly occupational exceptions.

Bon voyage: The destinations Europeans will be able to travel freely between from next week - while Britain is left in isolation

Spain will remain shut to all overseas tourists until at least July 1 - except for Germans, who will be allowed to visit the Balearic Islands including Mallorca (pictured) and Ibiza under a 'pilot scheme' due to start on Monday

Those in Northern Ireland would additionally be able to visit Ireland without having to quarantine.

That is compared to 21 countries that will have dropped border restrictions with Germany, including Cyprus, Denmark, and Greece - where British tourists will not be allowed to go.

Meanwhile the French will be allowed freely into 14 countries, while tourists from Italy - once the worst-affected country in Europe - will be allowed into 13.

Part of the problem for Britons is that, while UK daily case and death tolls have been falling consistently for weeks, they are still the highest reported in Europe - convincing some countries to keep restrictions in place.

Another issue is that many countries - notably Germany - have negotiated deals with their immediate neighbours to drop restrictions. The UK, as an island nation, only shares a land border with Ireland

Finally, UK rules requiring all foreign arrivals to quarantine for 14 days has convinced some other countries to follow suit.

Announcing France's plans last week, French Prime Minister Eduoard Philippe said his country may impose like-for-like restrictions on visitors - which would mean quarantine for travellers from the UK.

Information on the French Consulate in London's website says that for countries like the UK who imposed quarantines in an 'uncoordinated fashion' would reciprocally by requested to do the same period of quarantine.

Though Germany will allow British passengers to arrive from next week, it 'strongly advises' its own citizens not to make the journey to the UK.

The UK Foreign Office continues to advise against all non-essential travel overseas, though there is no law to stop people from going - provided they can find tickets. All arrivals, including UK nationals, must quarantine on return.

Speaking about Spain's pilot scheme, Balearic Islands president Francina Armengol says she is happy with arrangement despite fears they could spread coronavirus.

German passengers will have to undergo temperature checks on arrival and fill out detailed questionnaires while in the air, but will not be subject to tests or quarantine.

Germany is set to drop its restrictions on foreign arrivals from June 16 including a requirement to quarantine on arrival, while its citizens will be allowed to visit some 21 European countries which have dropped restrictions

UK 14-day quarantine plan Q&A What will happen? Since June 8, all travellers arriving in the UK  by air, land or sea  have to fill in a form before being allowed into Britain. This will include British nationals coming home, as well as foreign visitors. You have to provide an address where you will be staying and self-isolate there for 14 days, with no visitors and no trips outside. Officials carrying out spot checks at addresses to ensure that people comply and public health officials will also carry out random checks by phone. How will it work? Passengers are able to complete a 'contact locator form' on the Government's website up to 48 hours before departure. There will be no paper versions of the form. Failing to complete it before travelling is a crime. However, the scheme has been criticised because checks for the forms will only be done at random, meaning some people could slip through the net. Will anyone be exempt? Yes. Haulage workers, medics who are helping to fight the virus and some seasonal agricultural workers. A full list will be published on the Government's website. This applies to foreigners from all countries, except Ireland, in order to protect the Common Travel Area. How long will these restrictions be in place? Home Secretary Priti Patel described them as 'temporary health restrictions' but, in reality, they will be in force for as long as coronavirus remains a threat. However, there is a glimmer of hope for tourists wanting to go abroad in that the scheme will be reviewed every three weeks. So the restrictions could be lifted in time for the high season if the virus is kept under control. Transport officials are also talking to other EU countries about the possibility of 'air bridges', which would allow the measures to be dropped for visitors returning from these places. Portugal, Spain and Greece have all expressed interest in creating these bridges at some point in the future. Advertisement

There will also be follow-up phone calls once the holidaymakers have arrived.

Originally, it was intended to ask all arrivals to take a coronavirus test and then put them into isolation for six hours to await the result.

Around 10,900 are expected to start arriving on Monday and Tuesday and will spend five nights in hotels, other accommodation or their own second homes.

According to reports in the Spanish press, requests to join in the experiment have been 'flooding' in. They will be staying in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.

Not everyone is happy about the experiment, however. The Canary Islands have stressed they won't be taking part in any similar plan unless visitors take coronavirus tests at source.

And the Andalusian government, which covers the Costa del Sol, says it wants to do something similar but is worried about the health checks planned by the Balearics.

Vice-president Juan Marin said: 'What if the Balearic experiment doesn't work? What if infections occur?

'If so, Andalusia is not going to be able to receive German tourism.'

Spain's Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said yesterday that the Government was 'open' to study the proposal of the Canary Islands to carry out PCR tests on tourists.

However, to implement the measure, reciprocity agreements would have to be reached with other countries.

The Spanish government also says other regions of Spain CAN put forward their own proposals for holiday pilot schemes in the time remaining between now and July 1st.

The German tourists heading to the Balearics next week will be given public health forms (Passenger Location Card, PLC) to complete on the plane.

Union sources have shown their 'surprise' at the change of plan over diagnostic tests for workers in contact with tourists but the Balearic government says all details of the plan have been approved by the central government.

This includes the numbers of 10,900 which has escalated from the original 6,000.

Elsewhere in Europe - Greece, which currently allows a limited number of people to travel into Athens only, is also set to relax restrictions starting on Monday.

Travellers from 29 countries will be allowed in without compulsory testing or quarantine restrictions, while Thessolinki Airport will also be reopened.

Tourists from countries deemed to be 'high risk', including the UK, will still be subject to tests and quarantine of at least seven days, even if they test negative.

France is also set to drop its border restrictions on Monday, though may impose like-for-like restrictions on foreigners, meaning Britons would have to quarantine for 14 days. Belgium is also set to follow suit

Switzerland will also drop all entry restrictions for European travellers from Monday.

Norway and Denmark also plan to drop travel restrictions on neighbouring countries the same day.

Cyprus, which has already opened its borders to 13 countries including Germany, will further relax restrictions on June 20 - adding another six countries to the list. The UK will not be among them.

European leaders have urged a return to normality within Europe as soon as possible as they try to salvage the continent's lucrative summer tourist season.

They have also urged countries to allow travellers from outside Europe back on to the continent from July 1.

The Commission, which has the power to make non-binding recommendations to EU states, said on Wednesday that it will publish guidelines for the reopening this week.

Josep Borrell, EU Minister of foreign affairs, said tourists will be allowed to enter subject to 'principles and criteria' - without outlining what those will be.

Europe was at one stage the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, and has reported more than 2.3million cases and 185,000 deaths so far.

However, lockdowns imposed across the continent in March have largely brought the disease under control, and it is now in remission in most countries.

Leaders have been gradually easing restrictions in recent weeks, and so far no country has reported a second wave of the virus.
June 7, 2020

Holy Trinity Sunday

Mr. President,

In recent months we have been witnessing the formation of two opposing sides that I would call Biblical: the children of light and the children of darkness. The children of light constitute the most conspicuous part of humanity, while the children of darkness represent an absolute minority. And yet the former are the object of a sort of discrimination which places them in a situation of moral inferiority with respect to their adversaries, who often hold strategic positions in government, in politics, in the economy and in the media. In an apparently inexplicable way, the good are held hostage by the wicked and by those who help them either out of self-interest or fearfulness.

These two sides, which have a Biblical nature, follow the clear separation between the offspring of the Woman and the offspring of the Serpent. On the one hand there are those who, although they have a thousand defects and weaknesses, are motivated by the desire to do good, to be honest, to raise a family, to engage in work, to give prosperity to their homeland, to help the needy, and, in obedience to the Law of God, to merit the Kingdom of Heaven. On the other hand, there are those who serve themselves, who do not hold any moral principles, who want to demolish the family and the nation, exploit workers to make themselves unduly wealthy, foment internal divisions and wars, and accumulate power and money: for them the fallacious illusion of temporal well-being will one day  if they do not repent  yield to the terrible fate that awaits them, far from God, in eternal damnation.

In society, Mr. President, these two opposing realities co-exist as eternal enemies, just as God and Satan are eternal enemies. And it appears that the children of darkness  whom we may easily identify with the deep state which you wisely oppose and which is fiercely waging war against you in these days  have decided to show their cards, so to speak, by now revealing their plans. They seem to be so certain of already having everything under control that they have laid aside that circumspection that until now had at least partially concealed their true intentions. The investigations already under way will reveal the true responsibility of those who managed the Covid emergency not only in the area of health care but also in politics, the economy, and the media. We will probably find that in this colossal operation of social engineering there are people who have decided the fate of humanity, arrogating to themselves the right to act against the will of citizens and their representatives in the governments of nations.

We will also discover that the riots in these days were provoked by those who, seeing that the virus is inevitably fading and that the social alarm of the pandemic is waning, necessarily have had to provoke civil disturbances, because they would be followed by repression which, although legitimate, could be condemned as an unjustified aggression against the population. The same thing is also happening in Europe, in perfect synchrony. It is quite clear that the use of street protests is instrumental to the purposes of those who would like to see someone elected in the upcoming presidential elections who embodies the goals of the deep state and who expresses those goals faithfully and with conviction. It will not be surprising if, in a few months, we learn once again that hidden behind these acts of vandalism and violence there are those who hope to profit from the dissolution of the social order so as to build a world without freedom: Solve et Coagula, as the Masonic adage teaches.

Although it may seem disconcerting, the opposing alignments I have described are also found in religious circles. There are faithful Shepherds who care for the flock of Christ, but there are also mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep over to be devoured by ravenous wolves. It is not surprising that these mercenaries are allies of the children of darkness and hate the children of light: just as there is a deep state, there is also a deep church that betrays its duties and forswears its proper commitments before God. Thus the Invisible Enemy, whom good rulers fight against in public affairs, is also fought against by good shepherds in the ecclesiastical sphere. It is a spiritual battle, which I spoke about in my recent Appeal which was published on May 8.

For the first time, the United States has in you a President who courageously defends the right to life, who is not ashamed to denounce the persecution of Christians throughout the world, who speaks of Jesus Christ and the right of citizens to freedom of worship. Your participation in the March for Life, and more recently your proclamation of the month of April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, are actions that confirm which side you wish to fight on. And I dare to believe that both of us are on the same side in this battle, albeit with different weapons.

For this reason, I believe that the attack to which you were subjected after your visit to the National Shrine of Saint John Paul II is part of the orchestrated media which seeks not to fight racism and bring social order, but to aggravate dispositions; not to bring justice, but to legitimize violence and crime; not to serve the truth, but to favor one political faction. And it is disconcerting that there are Bishops  such as those whom I recently denounced  who, by their words, prove that they are aligned on the opposing side. They are subservient to the

, to globalism, to aligned thought, to the New World Order which they invoke ever more frequently in the name of a

which has nothing Christian about it, but which evokes the Masonic ideals of those want to dominate the world by driving God out of the courts, out of schools, out of families, and perhaps even out of churches.

The American people are mature and have now understood how much the mainstream media does not want to spread the truth but seeks to silence and distort it, spreading the lie that is useful for the purposes of their masters. However, it is important that the good  who are the majority  wake up from their sluggishness and do not accept being deceived by a minority of dishonest people with unavowable purposes. It is necessary that the good, the children of light, come together and make their voices heard. What more effective way is there to do this, Mr. President, than by prayer, asking the Lord to protect you, the United States, and all of humanity from this enormous attack of the Enemy? Before the power of prayer, the deceptions of the children of darkness will collapse, their plots will be revealed, their betrayal will be shown, their frightening power will end in nothing, brought to light and exposed for what it is: an infernal deception.

Mr. President, my prayer is constantly turned to the beloved American nation, where I had the privilege and honor of being sent by Pope Benedict XVI as Apostolic Nuncio. In this dramatic and decisive hour for all of humanity, I am praying for you and also for all those who are at your side in the government of the United States. I trust that the American people are united with me and you in prayer to Almighty God.

United against the Invisible Enemy of all humanity, I bless you and the First Lady, the beloved American nation, and all men and women of good will.

+ Carlo Maria Vigano

Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana

Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America
Best Linen Sheets

13 Cool Linen Sheets for Warm Summer Nights

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

You know what sucks? A restless night. You know what sucks even more? A restless night as a result from being so hot you cant sleep. Air conditioner or no air conditioner, there are times all year long  but especially in the blazing summer months  when you just need sheets designed for hot, humid conditions.

RELATED: Your 2020 Summer Wardrobe in 11 Pieces

There are plenty of styles of sheets out there: bamboo, cotton, microfiber. But, when it comes to the best in just about any category, linen is going to be the winner. Natural, sustainable, and insanely comfortable, linen bedding has been around for a long, long time for a reason.

What Is Pure Linen?

Made from flax plant fibers  typically Belgian flax or French flax  linen fiber is an extremely durable and sustainable fabric. Thats likely why it has been used regularly for well over 6,000 years, with some estimates linking flax and linen as far back as 34,000 years ago, making it the first ever fabric used by humans.

Linen made from flax fiber thread and cloth could have been used for everything from fashioning garments for warmth, sewing leather pieces together, making cloths, and tying packs together that might have aided the mobility of our ancient ancestors from one camp to another.

But if a fabric is that old, surely there is something that has replaced it as far as comfort and durability, especially for our bedding right? Well, yes and no.

Why Linen Sheet Sets?

There are a lot of great synthetic fabrics out there you can find that wick moisture, feel soft, look great, and so on. But, if youre looking for a natural, sustainable fabric  like more and more millennial consumers are  you can see why the luxury textile is still alive and well.

Additionally, according to market research firm Grand View Research, the global home textiles market size is expected to hit $133 billion by 2025 (with almost $20 billion of that being from the U.S. alone). Translation? There is plenty of opportunity for linen to claim its place in race.

Once you add the actual properties that make linen great for bedding  its bacteria resistant, breathable, has superior moisture absorbing and evaporating properties, absorbs up to 20% of its weight in moisture before feeling wet, and dont forget its sustainability  it makes sense that it has seen a resurgence that coincides with environmental efforts.

Our Picks for Best Pure Linen Bed Sheets

Linen vs. Cotton

If you dont like wrinkles, you wont like linen. Aside from that well-known (and some might say under-appreciated) quality that linen has, there is a lot more that is different between two natural fabrics. In Diane Von Furstenbergs MasterClass on Building a Fashion Brand, she breaks down some of those differences:

Durability. Cotton has a little more stretch and flexibility than linen but is not as durable. Linen is much more rigid but lasts longer because the cellulose fibers in linen yarn are slightly longer and wrapped tighter than those in cotton yarn, which increases its strength and longevity.

Cotton has a little more stretch and flexibility than linen but is not as durable. Linen is much more rigid but lasts longer because the cellulose fibers in linen yarn are slightly longer and wrapped tighter than those in cotton yarn, which increases its strength and longevity. Softness. Cotton is softer to the touch than linen because flax fibers are rougher than cotton fibers. For example, cotton sheets are very soft right out of the box and can last around five years, but linen sheets become very soft after several washes and last longer, up to 30 years.

Cotton is softer to the touch than linen because flax fibers are rougher than cotton fibers. For example, cotton sheets are very soft right out of the box and can last around five years, but linen sheets become very soft after several washes and last longer, up to 30 years. Texture. Cotton is a smoother fabric, while linen has more of a rough, textured pattern as a result of the looser weave.

Cotton is a smoother fabric, while linen has more of a rough, textured pattern as a result of the looser weave. Appearance. Cotton pills more than linen as cotton fibers are weaker. Both cotton and linen wrinkle easily, as they are made from natural fibers, but linen wrinkles more due to the stiffness of the fabric.

Cotton pills more than linen as cotton fibers are weaker. Both cotton and linen wrinkle easily, as they are made from natural fibers, but linen wrinkles more due to the stiffness of the fabric. Hypoallergenic. Both cotton and linen are hypoallergenic; however, linen is slightly better for people with allergies as the lower thread count and the loose weave is less likely to trap dust and particles.

Both cotton and linen are hypoallergenic; however, linen is slightly better for people with allergies as the lower thread count and the loose weave is less likely to trap dust and particles. Absorbency. Both cotton and linen are very absorbent and water strengthens both linen and cotton fibers. Cotton is slightly more absorbent, as cotton can hold more than 25% of its weight in water while linen can hold up to 20% water.

Both cotton and linen are very absorbent and water strengthens both linen and cotton fibers. Cotton is slightly more absorbent, as cotton can hold more than 25% of its weight in water while linen can hold up to 20% water. Water wicking. Linen also has natural water-wicking qualities, which means it draws water (or sweat) out of the skin and dries quickly. Cotton also wicks moisture well, but it doesnt have the same natural wicking ability that linen has.

Linen also has natural water-wicking qualities, which means it draws water (or sweat) out of the skin and dries quickly. Cotton also wicks moisture well, but it doesnt have the same natural wicking ability that linen has. Breathability. Both cotton fabric and linen fabric are breathable, though the breathability of cotton depends more on the weave of the fabric rather than the fibers themselves. Some cotton weaves, like denim or canvas, are thicker and less breathable. Flax linen fibers, on the other hand, are hollow so air and water can easily circulate.

Both cotton fabric and linen fabric are breathable, though the breathability of cotton depends more on the weave of the fabric rather than the fibers themselves. Some cotton weaves, like denim or canvas, are thicker and less breathable. Flax linen fibers, on the other hand, are hollow so air and water can easily circulate. Warmth. Cotton does not conduct heat and it has similar insulating properties to fiberglass, the material used to insulate homes. Linen flax fibers are hollow, making it very cool for the summer, but should be layered in the winter months.

How to Care for Linen

Back in the day, it seemed like if you had something linen, it needed to be handled with kid gloves. Dry cleaned only and reserved for the rarest of linen-appropriate occasions. Oh how times have changed. It turns out, linen never needs to be dry cleaned.

Before you start, make sure you sort linen properly. As with other fabrics, you want to sort out white and light colors from dark colors to prevent color bleeding. Additionally, it is best to wash linen with other natural fibers, such as cotton and bamboo.

Pretreat stains: If there are visible stains on the bedding  hello dog dads  pretreat the area with the appropriate stain remover. Keep in mind, oily stains, blood, even vomit (hello again dog dads) each require a different type of stain removal treatment. Typically, youre safe using a very small amount of your regular laundry detergent directly to the stained area. Work the detergent in gently and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Then, you are good to go.

If there are visible stains on the bedding  hello dog dads  pretreat the area with the appropriate stain remover. Keep in mind, oily stains, blood, even vomit (hello again dog dads) each require a different type of stain removal treatment. Typically, youre safe using a very small amount of your regular laundry detergent directly to the stained area. Work the detergent in gently and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Then, you are good to go. Never use chlorine bleach: Its not great to use this on anything really, but were only human, and we like our whitest whites nice and bright, right? However, its more damaging to linen, as it can weaken the fibers aggressively, and with a looser weave, that means rapid wear-and-tear.

Its not great to use this on anything really, but were only human, and we like our whitest whites nice and bright, right? However, its more damaging to linen, as it can weaken the fibers aggressively, and with a looser weave, that means rapid wear-and-tear. Washing pure linen sheets: Linen bedding should be washed in warm or cold water using the gentle or permanent press cycle. Long washing cycles with high-speed spins cause more wrinkles and excessively high water temperatures can cause shrinkage  and no one likes shrinkage. Close any zippers or buttons to prevent snags or tears on the fabric. Dont overcrowd the tub as this can cause excess wrinkles.

Linen bedding should be washed in warm or cold water using the gentle or permanent press cycle. Long washing cycles with high-speed spins cause more wrinkles and excessively high water temperatures can cause shrinkage  and no one likes shrinkage. Close any zippers or buttons to prevent snags or tears on the fabric. Dont overcrowd the tub as this can cause excess wrinkles. Drying pure linen sheets: Linen bedding can be hung to air dry, but since we know that's probably not going to happen, opt for a timed drying cycle with a low to medium heat setting. Skip the fabric softener since it leaves residue on fibers which will diminish the superior breathability of linen, which is likely one of the main reasons you bought it in the first place. Instead, use wool dryer balls to speed up drying and reduce wrinkles.

Linen bedding can be hung to air dry, but since we know that's probably not going to happen, opt for a timed drying cycle with a low to medium heat setting. Skip the fabric softener since it leaves residue on fibers which will diminish the superior breathability of linen, which is likely one of the main reasons you bought it in the first place. Instead, use wool dryer balls to speed up drying and reduce wrinkles. Ironing pure linen sheets: We dont know. Weve never done it  And never will. But if we had to guess, always iron linen while it is slightly damp. If the fabric is already dry, mist it lightly with distilled water and press on the irons linen setting (likely a temperature of around 445 degrees). Allow freshly pressed linen to dry completely before using it to avoid increased wrinkling.

Now that youre armed on why linen is great, and how to take care of it to keep it that way, these are our picks for the best linen sheets to buy right now.

Best Linen Sheet Sets and Bedding

Brooklinen Linen Sheets

Linen often appeals to those who appreciate relaxed and rustic bedding, yet still like to have a superior sleep experience. Brooklinen focuses on quality linen bedding  hell, linen is in the name. Stonewashed for softness, it uses Belgian and French flax to create long-staple fibers. Offering some of the best colors with rotating limited edition styles, Brooklinen pays special attention to details such as interior ties and large buttons on its duvet covers to keep duvets in place and envelope pillow cases to keep annoying edges away. If you want to shop the cotton sateen offering, its available on Amazon. As for linen, you still have to go straight to the source. This sheet set includes a deep pocket fitted sheet, flat bed sheet, and two pillowcases.

From $249 at Brooklinen.com

Upstate Stonewashed Linen Sheet Set

These sheets are made from 100% stonewashed linen that is sustainably grown from rainwater  with zero waste  then spun and woven on traditional looms in the Guimaraes region of Portugal. This ensures a soft sleep experience from night one. The fitted sheet includes a trusty Top or Bottom tag indicator so you dont get the bed made just to realize you have to start over. Additionally, this sheet set includes a deep pocket fitted bed sheet, top sheet, and two pillowcases.

From $258 at Huckberry.com

Piglet Bedtime Bundle

You are in for a treat if you opt for this anything-but-basic bedtime bundle from Piglet. Available in over 10 colors, the casual marriage between neutrals of the oatmeal and white bedtime bundle really spoke to us. Piglet bed sheets offer cozy comfort and an easy, effortless look using signature fabric, made from 100% natural stone washed French flax. Using pre-washed linen allows for superior softness and keeps them from shrinking or losing their shape. Set includes a deep pocket fitted bed sheet, flat bed sheet, linen duvet cover, and four pillowcases. An edited Basic Bundle is available for around $150 less and includes a white fitted sheet, two pillowcases and a linen duvet cover.

From $535 at PigletInBed.com

Pottery Barn Belgian Flax Linen Contrast Flange Sheet Set

OK, if we were to iron any linen sheets, it would be these, as the fine design would certainly benefit from a crisp press. This Pottery Barn 100% pre-washed Belgian flax linen sheet set is Fair Trade Certified  which means it is made according to rigorous social, environmental, and economic standards  as well as Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX certified, so its free of substances that are harmful to people and the environment. This set includes a deep pocket fitted sheet, top sheet, and two pillowcases.

From $269 at PotteryBarn.com

CB2 Linen Sheet Set

Soft, simple, and sexy (yeah, we said it) these 100% linen sheets are crafted in Portugal and provide a great option of color to an otherwise neutral room. Whereas in person, the color skews a bit darker than it does on the CB2 site, it is still a hue that will go from steamy summer nights straight through to warm winter weekends. The weave feels a bit firmer than some others on the list, but still comfy AF. This set includes a deep pocket fitted bed sheet, a top bed sheet, and two pillowcases.

From $209 at CB2.com

Cultiver Linen Sheet Set

This 100% linen pinstripe sheet set may be one of our favorite variations on the classic pattern. The tight stripe makes for a sheet set that can pair with darker or lighter colors without missing a beat. If pinstripe isnt your jam (which we dont understand ) then any of the other muted, washed colors would work well with just about any home decor scheme. Each pillowcase includes a simple envelope closure. These fitted sheets are generous, with elastic all around while the flat sheets have an elegant border all around the edge. This set includes a deep pocket fitted bed sheet, a top sheet, linen duvet cover, and two pillowcases.

From $325 at Cultiver.com

Nest Luxury Line Sheet Set

The color palette may be limited, but if you are looking for your first (or second, or third) set of white linen sheets, Nest might just be your best bet. If youre looking for an entire new bedding situation, you might be interested in the brands Flip mattress, which, you guessed it, flips to satisfy both medium and firm sleepers. This set includes a deep pocket fitted bed sheet, a top sheet, and two pillowcases.

From $179 at NestBedding.com

Tuft & Needle Linen Sheets

Arguably the most affordable linen sheet on our list, these sheets are still soft, like the others, still comes pre-washed, like the others, is still OEKO-TEX certified, like some of the others  it just happens to come in at a lower price comparatively. Made from garment washed European flax, these sheets are great if you are looking to cut your teeth on the whole linen trend. Available in a selection of perfectly mix-and-matchable colors, we are big fans of the extra strong elastic and two year warranty offered by the brand. This set includes a deep pocket fitted sheet, a top bed sheet, and two pillowcases.

From $175 at TuftandNeedle.com

Garnet Hill Relaxed Linen Bed Sheets

OK, well be the first to admit Garnet Hill might be a surprise. The site your mom or sister shops for her maxi dress and palazzo pants also happens to be the site that offers some of the most elegantly modern, masculine, must-have linen sheets. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, well say we fell in love with the striped options offered by this sleeper hit (get it?). Be it bengal or broad, the stripes of these sheets are bold enough to add depth dimension to your bedroom without becoming a distraction or falling victim to trendy turnover. Crafted from 100% linen and made in Portugal, these OEKO-TEX certified bed sheets and linen duvet cover are available a la carte.

From $49 at GarnetHill.com

The Company Store Soft Linen Sheet Set

Yep. Another mom store for the win. What can we say? These are pre-washed, pre-shrunk, and woven from 100% pure European linen. Available in a selection of saturated colors, this collection includes a fitted bed sheet, a top bed sheet, pillowcases (sold in pairs), duvet cover, pillow shams (sold individually), and a bed skirt, with all items being sold a la carte.

From $50 at TheCompanyStore.com

Riley Home Linen Sheet Set

What makes Riley Home stand out? Well, crafted in Portugal with 100% premium Belgian linen, the Riley linen sheet set is lightweight, breathable, and perfect for any time of year. These sheets also include labels to indicate the top, bottom and sides and every pillowcase features a side-envelope closure that stays hidden from view. Certified Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX, these sheets are unique to all others on the list due to the cotton facing pillowcases and duvet cover, where the top side features linen and the reverse, a cotton percale. This set includes a deep pocket fitted bed sheet and two pillowcases. Add a top bed sheet, should that tickle your fancy.

From $169 at RileyHome.com

Primary Goods Complete Set

What the set lacks in color (the offering is slim at only three) it makes up for in design. While some folks cant stand a top sheet, others consider it a must-have. We can say, in all honesty, this is the set of sheets that can make everyone happy. How, you ask? The ingenious snap construction allows for (rather, insists) that the top sheep connect to the duvet cover. You read that correctly, the top sheet and duvet cover snap together. Making the bed every morning couldnt be easier  no matter which side of the flat sheet discussion you fall on. This set includes a deep pocket fitted bed sheet, a top bed sheet with snap, linen duvet cover with snap, and two pillowcases.

From $449 at PrimaryGoods.com

Parachute Linen Sheet Set

No list of linen sheets would be complete without Parachute. If you have ever listened to a podcast, you have probably heard of the luxury linen bedding brand. Crafted from European flax in Portugal  as you know by now, one of the best places in the world to source the fine fiber  these linen sheets are breathable, durable, and down right dapper. We love a solid set, but Parachute often offers limited run capsule collaborations with stylish brands, so its worth checking back more than you might with other line sheet set sites. This set includes a deep pocket fitted bed sheet and two pillowcases with the option to add a top sheet.

From $149 at ParachuteHome.com

Do you need linen sheets? No. But if you have a bed, you are going to be buying sheets anyway, so you might as well invest in some that will last you a very long time. We advocate buying two sets, in colors that mix and match, so you can always have a set on while the other is in the laundry. Bonus points if you store in a cotton or linen bag when clean and not in use (but we wont dock points if you dont).

Product photos from retailer site.

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Four workers were injured, two of them critically, when a fuel tank exploded at a steel plant in Chhattisgarhs Raigarh district, police said on Thursday.

The blast took place on Wednesday evening when the victims were cutting an old diesel tank with a gas cutter at a scrap yard in the premises of Jindal Steel and Power Limited in Patralapli village, located around 250 km from Raipur, Kotra Road police station house officer Yuvraj Tiwari said.

Police suspect there was some diesel or gas in the tank which may have come in contact with flame while it was being cut with the gas cutter, causing an explosion.

Four people received burn injuries in the blast. Two of them were critically injured and shifted to a hospital in Raipur. The other two have been admitted to a hospital in Raigarh, the official said.

An investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of the explosion, he added.

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Purdue University trustees on Thursday (June 11) approved the universitys 2021 fiscal-year operating budget, which makes safety from the COVID-19 virus its top priority and shifts millions in funding to provide it.

Chief among them is the strategic use of resources for the implementation of the Protect Purdue initiative to ensure a safe campus for students, faculty, staff and visitors when campus reopens for the fall semester amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As much as $50 million is being allocated for testing and tracing, instructional capacity, building and facility modifications, additional sanitizing and cleaning, personal protective equipment supplies and safety equipment and quarantine rooms for students.

Protecting our most vulnerable and reopening campus safely will require that the university expend funds for critical health and safety infrastructure, said Chris Ruhl, treasurer and chief financial officer. This, of course, is a must-do and a top priority for the fiscal-year 2021 budget plan.

Nearly $5 million will be earmarked for enrollment growth investments, including the hiring of 28 new faculty members (11 in the College of Science, 10 in the College of Engineering, four for the Purdue Polytechnic Institute and three in the Krannert School of Management).

To mitigate revenue declines from COVID-19, Purdue officials have strategically reduced nonessential spending, including deferring merit increases, reducing travel and purchases, deferring repair and rehabilitation expenses, and instituting a hiring freeze.

In our view, confronting this budget challenge head-on is preferable to hoping that it will go away, Ruhl said. By acting early and decisively, our hope is that decisions that are more painful can be avoided. Every week brings news of more colleges and universities announcing layoffs, furloughs, reduced pay, suspension of retirement contributions and other personnel actions for existing faculty and staff.

In February, Purdue President Mitch Daniels announced that tuition at the universitys flagship West Lafayette campus will hold at 2012 levels through 2021-22, marking the ninth straight year of no tuition increase. Room and board rates at the West Lafayette campus have seen no increase for eight consecutive years.

Tuition and fees at Purdue University Northwest and Purdue University Fort Wayne will follow the Indiana Commission for Higher Educations recommended increase of up to 1.65% each year. Trustees approved the reduction and reestablishment of its nonresident domestic tuition and fee levels for Purdue Fort Wayne undergraduate programs for students from the four states contiguous to Indiana (Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky) and for its online degree programs. Purdue Fort Wayne participates in the Midwest Student Exchange Program, which is a group of Midwest states and participating institutions that charge nonresident domestic students 150% of the residential rate. For Fort Wayne, the 2020-21 base resident undergraduate per credit hour rate is $291, and the base nonresident undergraduate per-credit-hour-rate is $698.70. A rate of 150% of the resident per-credit-hour rate is $436.50. This adjustment will help position Fort Wayne more competitively in the marketplace for recruitment of students.

The universitys all-funds operating budget for fiscal year 2021 supports educational, operating and strategic investment expenditures. Trustees endorsed the following total operating expenditures for fiscal-year 2021:

At the West Lafayette campus: $2.094 billion.

At Purdue Northwest: $139 million.

At Purdue Fort Wayne: $139 million.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.

Writer: Tom Schott, tschott@purdue.edu

Source: Chris Ruhl, ruhlc@purdue.edu
Richard Grenell joins IPS as a Senior Fellow

June 11, 2020

Richard Grenell, the former United States ambassador to Germany and former acting director of National Intelligence (DNI), has joined Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for Politics and Strategy as a senior fellow.



Grenell brings a decade of experience in diplomacy and international relations to Carnegie Mellon, where he will engage with students and faculty. He spent eight years as the United States spokesman at the United Nations before assuming the role of U.S. ambassador to Germany.



"The offices of the Institute for Politics and Strategy in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. have a proven track record for convening leaders throughout the world for research, teaching and discussion on some of the most pressing global problems," Grenell said. "It is an honor to join Professor Kiron Skinner and her IPS colleagues to help develop projects concentrating on the new Europe and the global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality."



President Donald Trump appointed Grenell as ambassador to Germany, presidential envoy for Kosovo-Serbia and as acting DNI in February 2020. In that role, Grenell oversaw the 17 agencies in the intelligence community and served as the principal advisor to the president and the National Security Council on intelligence matters. During his short tenure, Grenell dramatically reformed the Office of the DNI, moving it toward an agency that coordinates intelligence rather than functioning as a competing body.



"Ambassador Ric Grenell's role as acting director of the Office of National Intelligence has given him a unique understanding of the complexities facing the intelligence community and how to address them," said IPS Director and Taube Professor Kiron Skinner, the founder of the Institute for Politics and Strategy. "I am struck by the fact that Ambassador Grenell is especially interested in sharing his insights with our students and faculty as well as learning from them. I look forward to welcoming the ambassador to Carnegie Mellon University."



As U.S. ambassador to Germany from May 2018 until June 2020, Grenell pressed Germany to increase its defense budget to meet NATO guidelines and worked to ensure the security of shared intelligence as the nation fielded bids for 5G mobile-internet infrastructure.



"Ambassador Grenell joins the Institute for Politics and Strategy at a critical juncture in our nation's history," Skinner said. "Having served a decade at the State Department, representing the United States at the highest levels at the United Nations and later as ambassador to Germany, I could not think of anyone more qualified to help the nation think through 21st century diplomacy."



In 2004, Grenell was appointed as an alternate representative to the UN Security Council with full voting rights and privileges.

Grenell's service as UN spokesperson coincided with worldwide upheaval following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He crafted communications strategies related to the war on terror, Middle East conflict, nuclear proliferation and the security of Israel.



In 2010, Grenell founded the international consulting firm Capitol Media Partners. He has contributed to Fox News and written for The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, CBS News, CNN and The Washington Times. He previously taught at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications.



Grenell holds a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor's degree in government and public administration from Evangel University.
People across the globe were stunned when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle renounced their membership as senior working members of the British royal family. They made the unanticipated decision two years into the royal world and after Archie Harrison, their son's birth.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Prince Edward's wife, has given her opinion regarding life within the royal palace.

She wishes them happiness upon being questioned about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's renouncement of royal duties, Harpers Bazaar reported.

A new memoir will supposedly claim that Prince Harry and Markle were in talks of Megxit before their wedding.

They declared their plans of financial independence from the royal family in January early this 2020.

Queen Elizabeth issued a statement in support of the unanticipated declaration. The feelings of other members of the royal family and people in their inner circle were unclear for quite some time, according to Express.

The new memoir is wont to indicate that the Duke of Sussex was "deeply unhappy for a long time."

Prince Harry, 35, and Markle, 38, currently reside in the $18 million mansion of Tyler Perry upon officially renouncing royal engagements in March.

Assessing all the happenings Markle tolerated in her duration as a senior working royal, seemingly, Megxit rescued the Sussexes' married relationship, according to Showbiz Cheat Sheet.

From the get-go of Markle's association with the prince, the media and public chronicled her life history.

According to Sophie, she had a longer time to adapt to marrying into the royal family than Markle. She and Prince Edward were dating for 5 years leading up to their six-month engagement residing under one roof at Buckingham Palace. The countess said that they try to help new members of the royal family.

Also Read: Meghan Markle Accused of Stealing Princess Diana's Jewelry Worth $10M She Worn in her Wedding

Following the stunning declaration that the married couple was stepping down royal engagements, Prince Harry alluded his fury that fingers are pointed at the "Suits" actress for the decision.

"Once Meghan and I were married, we were excited, we were hopeful, and we were here to serve," according to Prince Harry at a charity event.

"For those reasons, it brings me great sadness that it has come to this. The decision that I have made for my wife and I to step back, is not one I made lightly."

Prince Harry and Markle relocated to Los Angeles with their one-year-old son Archie.

Prince Harry fled to his wife a couple of days prior to the quarantine measures' imposition after his final royal duty in Britain.

The biography "Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family" is slated to be released online and will ruminate on their journey to their big decision.

A source said that the memoir will make it transparent that the choice to renounce royal membership was far from an impulsive decision.

It can be recalled that Markle was the target of sexist and racist remarks with her acquiring labels including "gold digger" and "Me Gain." The former actress was said to have sacrificed many things beyond her privacy to be with Prince Harry.

Related Article: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Quarrel Regularly? Neighbors Allegedly Forced to Call Cops Over Massive Fight

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The parents of rare conjoined twins separated at a London hospital declared them 'almost reborn' as they made an emotional return to their homeland on Wednesday.

Brothers Yigit and Derman Evrensel, who will celebrate their second birthday on June 21, were born in Antalya, Turkey, with their heads joined to each other.

After doctors there contacted their counterparts in London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, the twins were taken to the UK last year and underwent three operations.

They were finally separated on January 28. Since then, they have been monitored and undergone further treatment at the British hospital.

The parents of rare conjoined twins separated at a London hospital declared them 'almost reborn' as they made an emotional return to their homeland on Wednesday

Brothers Yigit and Derman Evrensel, who will celebrate their second birthday on June 21, were born in Antalya, Turkey, with their heads joined to each other. Pictured: The brothers with their father Omer Evrensel and mother Fatma after the successful operation to separate them

Yesterday they were flown back to Turkey from Luton airport with their parents in a Turkish health ministry air ambulance.

After arriving at Esenboga airport in the Turkish capital Ankara, the twins' father Omer Evrensel said: 'Our babies have no problems.

'There is no problem in their eating and drinking, everything is normal. They'll start life again, they're almost reborn. We'll start everything from scratch.'

His wife Fatma also expressed her happiness as she told how when the boys were conjoined they were constantly bumping into things trying to crawl.

After doctors there contacted their counterparts in London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, the twins were taken to the UK last year and underwent three operations

They were finally separated on January 28. Since then, they have been monitored and undergone further treatment at the British hospital

Yesterday they were flown back to Turkey from Luton airport with their parents in a Turkish health ministry air ambulance

She said: 'I could never leave them for a second, but I also couldn't hug them or cradle them. I am overjoyed that their agony is over.'

Speaking before they boarded the flight back to Turkey, Mr Evrensel said: 'When I saw them separated, I burst into tears.

'This was our only dream. Now they can play, do whatever they want like their peers.'

The 1,775 mile flight home marks the start of a joyous new chapter in the twins' lives after a traumatic start.

Craniopagus twins - the term for twins joined at the head - are extremely rare. There is one set in every 2.5million births, and most do not survive more than a day.

Each case is unique, and separations have only been reported about 60 times since the first attempt in 1952.

After arriving at Esenboga airport in the Turkish capital Ankara, the twins' father Omer Evrensel said: 'Our babies have no problems. They'll start life again, they're almost reborn. We'll start everything from scratch.'

His wife Fatma also expressed her happiness as she told how when the boys were conjoined they were constantly bumping into things trying to crawl

Mr Evrensel said that he and his wife had been asked to abort the pregnancy before the birth once the twins' condition became clear but 'we never agreed to that as they were given to us by Allah'

The 1,775 mile flight home marks the start of a joyous new chapter in the twins' lives after a traumatic start

Mr Evrensel said that he and his wife had been asked to abort the pregnancy before the birth once the twins' condition became clear but 'we never agreed to that as they were given to us by Allah'.

He said: 'We were ready to live with that condition, but Allah showed us a path, gave us a remedy; we are thankful. Now we are happy to be able to go back to Turkey with healthy children.'

Mr Evrensel told state-run Turkish news agency Anadolu the operation could not be done in Turkey and they had been helped to come to the UK in December by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine.

Mr Evrensel told state-run Turkish news agency Anadolu the operation could not be done in Turkey and they had been helped to come to the UK in December by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine

He said Mrs Erdogan visited them when they were in Istanbul as they unsuccessfully searched for a hospital that could perform the procedure and 'showed great care on our children's condition'

He said: 'We were ready to live with that condition, but Allah showed us a path, gave us a remedy; we are thankful. Now we are happy to be able to go back to Turkey with healthy children'

Mr Erdogan had said that Turkey would cover the cost of the twins' surgery and treatment, but a Turkish businessman and Turkish doctors in the UK have agreed to lend money from their own pockets for the surgery, according to reports in the Turkish media

He said Mrs Erdogan visited them when they were in Istanbul as they unsuccessfully searched for a hospital that could perform the procedure and 'showed great care on our children's condition'.

At Great Ormond Street, the team treating the twins was led by neurosurgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani and included plastic surgeon Professor David Dunaway, Mr Evrensel said.

Last year the two doctors separated two-year-old sisters Safa and Marwa Ullah, from northern Pakistan, who were also joined at their heads, in a series of three operations at the hospital taking a total of 55 hours carried out over a span of four months and involving more than 100 members of staff.

The twins' surgery was funded by charity Gemini Untwined  founded by Dr Owase Jeelani who was the lead surgeon in the operation. The major donors for the procedure were businessman Murtaza Lakhani and his businessman partner Senol Bartin.
The nation is screaming for justice. The killing of George Floyd has caused the public to focus on police brutality and racism.

However, our focus cannot stop at policing. It must extend to all institutions responsible for administering justice. We must look closely at juries and the process used to select them. You should be disturbed by the fact that the current jury selection process is designed to allow black people to be excluded from jury service simply because of situations or beliefs that are associated with being black.

We forget that there was a time in the not too distant past when juries in California were made up exclusively of white men. The remnants of that racist structure still exist today in our current jury selection process.

Though the law prohibits formal exclusion of people of color from juries, in effect, that is still what is happening. Recently, the case of Curtis Flowers received national attention as the subject of the popular podcast In the Dark. Flowers, a black man, was tried six times for the same crime by the same prosecutor. The U.S. Supreme Court finally reversed his recent conviction concluding that the white district attorney violated Curtis constitutional rights by intentionally removing black people from the jury. In the six trials combined, the prosecutor removed 41 of the 42 black prospective jurors that he could have removed.

There is an African American lawyer in my office who has tried over 20 cases, and though most of her clients have been black, she can count on one hand the number of black jurors who have sat in judgment of those clients. Another lawyer in my office recently tried a case where the prosecutor kicked off three of the four Latinx men because they either distrusted the police or knew people that were involved in the criminal justice system. In a recent case from Contra Costa, the prosecution kicked six black women in a row off the jury.

What was once a formal prohibition of non-white people from sitting on juries has been driven underground.

In a criminal trial, each side is given a certain number of peremptory challenges they can use to excuse jurors. Current law dictates that those challenges cant be used solely based on race. Typically, a defense attorney contesting what it considers an improper excusal will have to show that the prosecutor challenged a juror based on race, and if the judge deemed that the defense made a proper showing, then the prosecutor would be allowed to explain why they challenged the perspective juror.

This has led to the development of euphemistic explanations that claim to be race-neutral but in practice, have simply covered racial bias and exclusion in acceptable clothing. Distrust of law enforcement, believing that police engage in racial profiling, a close relationship with people who have been stopped or arrested by police  even thinly veiled excuses such as a jurors neighborhood, having a child outside of marriage, receiving state benefits or personal appearance  these justifications are being used by prosecutors in California courtrooms every day to exclude black people from juries. They have become acceptable proxies for what the law prohibits: exclusion based on race.

Assemblywoman Shirley Webers bill, Assembly Bill 3070, which is currently being debated by the Legislature, would take important steps toward addressing these problems. The bill would prohibit a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of the prospective jurors race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin or religious affiliation. Once an objection is raised, the bill would require prosecutors to give their reasons for removing jurors when challenged as discriminatory. Critically, the bill would also designate a series of pretext excuses for kicking people of color off juries as presumptively invalid. The bill would rip away the cloak that currently covers racial bias in jury selection and expose it for what it is.

Blacks are excluded from jury service by peremptory challenges at a rate 2.5 times higher than jurors of any other race. In Alameda County, 48% of the inmates in our jail, the second largest in the state, are black. How can the community of people who are most affected by the criminal justice system have such as small role in juries, the most essential tool of fairness that the justice system has? How can the judgments of a system, one that claims to be race-neutral but still effectively keeps people of color from serving as jurors, have legitimacy?

A justice system is only as good as its juries. AB3070 will make the jury system in California stronger. The time for euphemisms and pretense is long past. It is time for juries that truly, finally speak for all of us.

Brendon Woods is the public defender of Alameda County. He is the first black chief public defender in the history of Alameda County and currently the only black chief public defender in the state.
Anuradha Goyal By

Eat Local, Wear Local, Consume Local has been an emerging trend, an undercurrent that was waiting for a trigger to become mainstream. Can the COVID-19 induced global pause be the kick it so desperately required? Hopefully, yes. We see a lot of debate about turning Swadeshi, for have we not just spent the last three decades trying to be global citizens? Was Swadeshi not what we read about in the Independence Movement chapter of our history textbook? In my opinion, going local is a global need this time. Every region in the world needs to go local, at least to a certain extent. Leaders of a nation or state or district can only promote local consumption in their area of influence, but if all leaders around the globe promote the same principle, we may inch towards a much-needed balance between local and global production as well as consumption.

Along with this, we need to revisit Small is Beautiful, and move towards having multiple smaller units spread across the country instead of a handful of big units catering to most of the consumption. This may not be possible in heavy industries like steel, but it can definitely be achieved in most consumer products that can be built in smaller units catering to local needs.

I propose a Local Balance Index or Santulan Soochak to be devised that takes into account the percentage of consumption from within the region and imports from outside. The index should take into the account the distance covered by the product from production to consumption. At a more granular level it should take into account the distance covered by the raw materials before they became a part of the product. This should be our indicator of the domains and verticals in a region that are good candidates, for moving towards self-reliance.

Today, when the big corporations declare their financial numbers, they talk about efficient cost structures and productivity parameters as inputs into their earnings. They hardly take into account the environmental and health cost that the society is paying for these efficiencies. We collectively pay the price but no one holds the responsibility to bring them down, not in practical terms.

So, if the Santulan Soochak indicates that your region is consuming too much processed food sourced from more than 500, 1,000 or 2,000 kilometres, you can look at options like choosing to produce it locally, choosing to produce and promote its alternatives, or campaign and encourage people to reduce consumption. Note that I am not proposing national boundaries but a parameter of distance to take these decisions.

The call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would definitely give rise to a sentiment of Going Local and supporting local producers. If the MSME schemes proposed by the government do reach the desired audience, that should give a lot of open ground for entrepreneurs to play around. However, they need more than just moral support and financial options.

For local entrepreneurs to spot the right opportunities, the government needs to put a lot of trade data in the public domain. An average Indian, especially beyond the metros, does not know what the consumption patterns and sourcing map of their region look like. It is nearly impossible for an entrepreneur to get data on potential products that can be produced locally. They obviously cannot invest into market research. Strong industry-academia linkages can potentially help.

Traditional Indian businesses operated in clusters, where each individual business was not too big but collectively, they were an industry concentrated in a small geographic area. This gave them the so-called economies of scale along with collective bargaining power. Handicraft-based small-scale industries operate in loosely organised clusters like ceramics at Khurja or glass bangles at Firozabad or the weaving clusters across the country. New age industries too need to build their focussed clusters.

Local governments can take a data-based approach to deciding which industries work best for them based on parameters like availability of raw material, local demand, talent and the Santulan Soochak Index.

Awareness about the available local products in local markets is abysmal. Big corporations score high with their well-researched, high-profile, targeted marketing and cross-media campaigns. Local businesses need focussed local campaigns to highlight their products and their local origin. Government agencies can also pitch in by public listing of local businesses and local products. A few decades ago, there were strong local food brands in almost every region of India, be it the bhakarwadi of Pune or the pedha of Mathura.

In recent years, they have all gone global with standardisation of their products, tweaking their recipes for global taste and longer shelf lives, making them easy to replicate for global competition. GI tags can help in terms of protection but they do not really help with new markets unless coupled with strong geo-tagged marketing.Data-driven soft infrastructure is as important in enabling local producers as the easy access to capital.

Anuradha Goyal

Author and founder of IndiTales

(Tweets @anuradhagoyal)
Philonise Floyd, brother to 46-year-old African American George Floyd, has made an appearance to Congress on Wednesday where he claims his sibling's death was "personal and premeditated."

According to Yahoo News, Philonise appeared to agree that tension between Derek Chauvin -- the defendant -- and his brother may have led to the killing. "For him to do something like that, it had to be premeditated - and he wanted to do that," he said.

Working Together

The statement comes after news broke that Floyd and Chauvin worked in security at a nightclub at the same time. David Pinney, a co-worker, claimed the two men had argued after the former police officer had become "extremely aggressive" to some patrons, as reported by HNGN.

On June 6, Pinney appeared in a 50-minute interview with CBS News where he asserted the two men knew each other. During the interview, Pinney said he kept a close relationship with George, who was responsible for planning the nightclub's security position.

Pinney, who was employed as a security adviser, worked with Floyd for half a year between late 2015 and early 2016. He remembered George as someone who was good at talking with people and could hold peace in the club.

He also said Floyd didn't regularly interact with Chauvin who often showed aggression to the victim. "George had me intervene and - interface with him instead of himself, just to be - just to get away from the conflict and keep it professional," Pinney said.

Maya Santamaria, the owner of the club, said she remembered Chauvin had treated black patrons unfairly. She further claims the ex-cop may have been afraid and intimidated by people of color.

Investigators are now looking into the relationship between Floyd and Chauvin.

On Police Brutality

During the hearing, Philonese also made a moving plea to Congress to enact changes to the country's law enforcement policies as means to end police brutality and systematic racism following the protests that swept across the nation.

In a report by the New York Times, Philonese recounted the agony he felt while watching footage of his elder brother gasping and dying while pinned under the knee of the former Minneapolis police officer for nearly ten minutes in a gut-wrenching testimony.

"I am asking you, is that what a black man's life is worth? Twenty dollars?" He asked Congress.

He also urged lawmakers to improve police accountability and honor George Floyd's memory. In his plea, Philonese asked Congress to enact policies that would teach law enforcement officers that deadly force should only be used sparingly and only when life is at risk.

The younger Floyd described Geroge as a caring and compassionate individual who sacrificed for his family. He remembered his brother as a gentle giant who always helped others. He closed his statement by asking the House Judiciary Committee to take steps to stop the waves of police violence and deaths involving the black community.



Want to read more?
(Natural News) The pro-LGBT author of the Harry Potter series has again offended LGBT sensibilities by asserting that biological sex matters.

(Article by Dorothy Cummings McLean republished from LifeSiteNews.com)

On Saturday, J.K. Rowling caused a firestorm when she mocked the headline of an article in online charity magazine Devex.com. The headline reads Opinion: Creating a more equal post-Covid 19 world for people who menstruate.

Im sure there used to be a word for those people, Rowling, 54, wrote in what is now a viral tweet. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?

Thousands of Twitter-users responded to the best-selling authors message, many accusing her of harming transsexual people. The American Gay & Lesian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) signaled there that its members stand with trans youth, especially those Harry Potter fans hurt by [Rowlings] inaccurate and cruel tweets.

GLAAD added, JK Rowling continues to align herself with an ideology which willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are trans. In 2020, there is no excuse for targeting trans people.

In a subsequent Twitter stream, Rowling indicated that the ideology she aligns with is better known as reality.

If sex isnt real, theres no same-sex attraction, she wrote.

If sex isnt real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isnt hate to speak the truth.

The author asserted that she respects every trans persons right to live any way that feels authentic to them but also that her own life had been shaped by being female.

I do not believe it is hateful to say so, Rowling stated.

The Devex.com article did, in fact, mention women and girls as well as the growing number of women and girls who identify as gender non-binary persons. The development magazine reported that over 500 million women worldwide do not have what they need to manage their menstruation. The humiliation of these women and girls is clearly of less interest to Rowlings critics than her refusal to bow to transgender ideology.

Rowling first attracted LGBT ire when she published a tweet defending Maya Forstater, a British tax expert who lost her job after opposing the legal definition of women to include men.

Among Forstaters tweets was her September 2, 2018 post expressing that radically expanding the legal definition of women so that it can include both males and females makes it a meaningless concept, and will undermine womens rights & protections for vulnerable women & girls.

On September 25, 2018, Forstater tweeted: Yes I think that male people are not women. I dont think being a woman/female is a matter of identity or womanly feelings. It is biology.

She was fired by her then-employer, the Centre for Global Development, for her statements, and a court decided that this decision was lawful. As a response to the judgment, J.K. Rowling tweeted, Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult wholl have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill.

Forstater is now one of the people defending Rowling against accusations that she is hateful. In response to a suggestion to the author that nobody is saying sex isnt real, Forstater linked to a post by transgender ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio. In it, Strangio informed media, Biological sex is not a fixed scientific concept but an ideological one usually designed to exclude trans people from spaces.

J.K. Rowling, who resides in Scotland, is Britains best-selling living author and an honored philanthropist. Between 1997 and 2007, she wrote the seven-volume Harry Potter series. Since her support of Maya Forstater, a constant theme of Rowlings online critics is how betrayed they feel by their onetime favorite author.

A woman calling herself Kate Beetle responded to Rowlings first controversial June 6 tweet by saying Harry Potter books had kept her from committing suicide, but now she feels antipathy for Harry Potters creator.

I decided not to kill myself because I wanted to know how Harrys story ended, she wrote. For a long time, that was all that kept me alive. Until I met my husband who helped me learn to love myself and to want to live. You just insulted him to my face. I hate you.

A transgender activist has even gone so far as to suggest that children are not safe around the author. Nicola Spurling, a Canadian former Green Party candidate, took down the libelous tweet after consulting lawyers.

Although many Christian parents forbid their children Rowlings wizard-themed books, the author is herself a member of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Her politics tend toward the left: she once gave a million British pounds sterling (approx. $1,266,025 U.S.) to the U.K.s Labor Party, and she also supported the Remain campaign against Brexit. However, she also voted against Scotland leaving the United Kingdom in the Independence Referendum of 2014.

Caroline Farrow of CitizenGO U.K. reminded LifeSiteNews that J.K. Rowling is not the only woman who has suffered for defending the definition of womanhood.

While I am glad that JK Rowling is standing up for biological reality in this way and drawing attention to the deranged insanity of the trans lobby, it ought to be remembered that there are many other women who have been banned from social media and faced real-life consequences and harassment as a result of stating identical views who dont have her resources or celebrity support, Farrow said.

It also demonstrates the division within the left when they are prepared to throw one of their own to the wolves.

Read more at: LifeSiteNews.com and GayMafia.news.
While weve made tremendous progress, the pandemic is far from over," Preckwinkle said at a virtual news conference. "We know that we are months, if not a year or more, away from a COVID-19 vaccine. As we move forward, its crucial that individuals who are exposed to the disease are notified so that they can isolate themselves, seek medical care if they need it and prevent further spread of the virus.
After a heavy fall of rain (downpour) with storms on 9th June 2020 which led to the removal of roofings of household buildings in a village called Tutukpene, in Nkwanta south district, Oti region.

This society has a good record of hostility and recreational facilities to visitors and strangers along the Nkwanta to Dambai stretch (Regional capital), eighteen miles away from Dambai, and nineteen miles away from Nkwanta, in the Oti Region.

The heavy rainfall started around the early dawns of Tuesday, of which many lost their properties, belongings, and injuries of some folks in the community. Amongst the tragedy the rainfall bewitched on the society is the popular Tutukpene Kindergarten block in the Nkwanta District, which was roofed off, some particular buildings which stand as the eye-saw of the community were also affected.

However, the greatest of it all was that lives were not taken away which obviously means that, in spite of the heavy storm and downpour caused, it was only properties that were lost at the expense of some hard-working members of the community.

Indeed it was a sorrowful and heart-disheartening situation to have witnessed.

One of the injured person that the roofings split-off a part of her head shared her experience/story when she was rushed to the community health center, after a thorough check-up and subsequently discharged. _I could not go out because outside was not safe and my building was not firmed to contain the vibrations, even though l saw the roofing lifted after hours of the storm, she added.

The NADMO Coordinator of Nkwanta south municipality, in the person of Mr. Larrey James in collaboration with the Assembly Member of Tutukpene electoral area, Honorable Adu Francis observed the affected buildings disrupted and filled a report to be checked for rehabilitation and maintenance of these properties.

As this has been an annual disaster and calamity to the society in these times of rainfall season, the duo urges the society to remain calm as they work to build a conducive and harmonious environment to ease the burden on the society.

Honorable Adu Francis urged the government and NGOs to come to their aid and assist the community with the rejuvenation of the stated buildings, most especially the public school (Kindergarten).
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 17:50:59|Editor: huaxia

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DHAKA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh Thursday reported 37 more deaths and 3,187 new COVID-19 cases, a senior health ministry official told a television media briefing.

Professor Nasima Sultana, additional director general of Directorate General of Health Services under the Ministry of Health, said the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh has reached 78,052.

With 37 new deaths, she said, the death toll due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country reached 1,049 on Thursday. Enditem
The statewide primary election held in Georgia Tuesdayone of five states holding contests on June 9turned into a debacle, with voters describing multiple breakdowns in precinct operations, mainly in the densely populated Atlanta metropolitan area.

Voters waited as long as four-and-a-half hours to vote, and in some cases found precincts closed or without ballots when they arrived. Local judges issued emergency orders to allow precincts to remain open past the 8 p.m. statewide closing time in 20 of the states 159 counties, including many of the most populous.

People line up to vote while social distancing in Georgia's primary election at Park Tavern on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

According to a summary by the Washington Post, problems at the polls included:

New poll workers brought in to replace those who declined to participate because of the danger of the coronavirus.





Relocation or closure of 10 percent of polling locations because of the coronavirus.





New ballot-marking devices that replaced a paperless system a federal judge had ruled was insecure.





Insufficient preparations to count the record 1.3 million mail-in ballots sent by voters.





A large increase in voter turnout overall, in part driven by the widespread protests over the police murder of George Floyd.

Voting rights advocates, civil rights groups and Democratic Party officials accused the Republican-run state government of deliberate voter suppression, noting that the problems were concentrated in the Atlanta area, which is heavily black and Hispanic. Republican officials cited the same figures to claim that local Democratic Party officials in Fulton County (Atlanta) and DeKalb County (Atlanta inner suburbs) had made insufficient preparations for the voter surge.

There are elements of truth in both explanations. One thing is certain: both local and state officials had ample time to make preparations, since the primary elections were originally set for March 24 and were postponed to May and then to June 9.

Besides Atlanta and its immediate environs, there were problems in Cobb and Gwinnett counties, further out from the center of the metropolitan area, and in Savannah. Gwinnett County, which is Republican-controlled, reported that polling equipment was delivered only on Election Day in 10 percent of precincts, forcing voters to cast emergency ballots while the machines were being set up. Many precincts ran out of these ballots.

Because of the coronavirus-related closure of schools and social clubs previously used as precincts, there was a consolidation in many areas into what one official called megaprecincts. But social distancing rules limited the number of voters to four at a time, causing long lines. Voting machines were repeatedly sanitized during the day, further slowing the process.

The crisis at the polling stations was compounded by delays in counting the torrent of mail ballots, far larger than in any previous election. The state mailed out ballots to every registered voter, and 1.3 million were returned by the deadline of Election Day. State officials apparently insured that the resources were available to count these ballots in rural counties, but did not supply sufficient support to counties that comprise the Atlanta metro area.

Representatives of both capitalist parties issued statements calling the vote results into question. Senior counsel Justin Clark, a Trump campaign aide, denounced the huge number of mail-in votes as illegitimate, claiming, The only way to make sure that the American people will have faith in the results is if people who can, show up and vote in person.

Biden campaign attorney Rachana Desai Martin told the Associated Press that the scenes in Georgia were a threat to democracy. We only have a few months left until voters around the nation head to the polls again, and efforts should begin immediately to ensure that every Georgianand every Americanis able to safely exercise their right to vote, she said.

Two former US senators from Colorado, both Democrats, went further, issuing a warning published by Politico that if the breakdowns in Georgia were repeated in the November 3 presidential election, Trump would make use of them to remain in power regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Tim Wirth and Gary Hart wrote, with protests sweeping the country and Trump encouraging a strong response from police departments and the National Guard, voters should be worried that Trump could encourage or impose curfews, postal service problems and a military presence at the polls that might dampen voter turnout on Election Day.

They warned that in the event of continuing or recurring civil unrest, Trump could declare a national emergency and federalize the National Guard, and deploy other parts of the military, to keep order in key cities and states on Election Day. Such a response could be seen as intimidating to liberal and minority groups, and would likely have the effect of dampening turnout Last, Trump could meddle with the US Postal Service, which could have a big impact on an election with so many ballots being cast through the mail.

Even without such intervention, the long delays necessitated by the hand-counting of mail ballotswhich cannot be easily mechanized for scanning because of the conditions in which the ballots arrivemay delay declaring results in a close election, leading to a protracted period of political uncertainty. The state of Pennsylvania did not resolve all contests from its June 2 primary until Monday, June 8, for example.

In Georgia, vote tabulation continued well into the day on Wednesday, leaving several contests undecided. Under Georgia law, if no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote for a Democratic or Republican nomination, there must be a runoff between the top two candidates. Several candidates were just short of the 50 percent mark needed to avoid a runoff set for August 11.

Jon Ossoff, the favorite of the Democratic Party establishment to challenge incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue, won 50.5 percent of the vote according to reports Wednesday night and will be the partys nominee for the US Senate in November. Ossoff narrowly lost a 2017 special congressional election in the Atlanta suburbs that, at more than $80 million, was the most expensive House of Representatives contest in US history.

Unusually, Georgia has two US Senate seats on the ballot in the same year. Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, named to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Senator Johnny Isakson due to failing health, faces a November 3 jungle primary against both Republican challenger Doug Collins, a sitting congressman, and several Democratic opponents, with a runoff likely in January.

All five states that held primaries Tuesday made extensive use of mail ballots. All five have Republican secretaries of state in charge of the election procedures, and three of the fiveGeorgia, Nevada and West Virginiasent out mail ballots to all or most registered voters, leading to a significant increase in turnout.

In one other result from Tuesdays voting, Paula Jean Swearengin, a supporter of Bernie Sanders, won the Democratic nomination for the US Senate from West Virginia, defeating former state senator Richard Ojeda, a former Army Airborne commander with backing from pro-military groups. Ojeda was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress in 2018.

Swearengin won 38 percent of the vote compared to 33 percent for Ojeda and 29 percent for Richie Robb, former mayor of South Charleston. Swearengin will run against incumbent Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who has raised more than $3 million for the race compared to Swearengins $29,000.
Thursday, June 11th, 2020 (7:50 am) - Score 2,784

Cityfibre has today announced a major recruitment and training drive, which over the next 3 years will see them create 10,000 jobs (engineers etc.). The move supports their 4bn investment (here) to roll-out a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across 8 million UK premises by around 2025.

Back in March 2020 Cityfibre confirmed (here) that, following their 200m acquisition of TalkTalks FibreNation business, they had increased their full fibre investment plan from 2.5bn to 4bn and boosted the roll-out plan. As a result the operator would seek to cover around 1 million premises by the end of 2021 and then 8 million premises across 100+ cities and towns (c.30% of the UK), which is expected to be substantially completed by the end of 2025 (i.e. the roll-out to 8m will continue past 2025 but we dont know for how long).

NOTE: The operator has so far only named 62 of their planned locations and the rest should follow once theyve completed the integration of FibreNations forward plan.

At the same time Cityfibre suggested that, outside London, their plans may eventually require up to 7,000 engineers (for the 62 named locations), although back then they had not yet announced a specific recruitment target. But todays decision to create 10,000 new jobs over the next 3 years makes it official (this includes those working on their network for related civil engineering contractors).

The recruitment programme will include the identification and training of thousands of unemployed UK residents as well as new job opportunities for qualified and experienced construction and telecoms workers. It will also seek to attract more women and individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

We know from other operators that it can take a long time (c.1 year), and a fair bit of money, to properly skill-up new fibre engineers, which is why its often wise to start such work sooner rather than later. The current lack of skilled fibre engineers in the UK market is an on-going issue, but on the bright side  post-COVID19  its also one of the few areas where new jobs are still being created.

Steve Holliday, Chairman at CityFibre, said: Were delighted to launch our training and recruitment programme creating up to 10,000 jobs in such a critical and vibrant sector. The programme will reach deep into our society to include some of those most in need of opportunity. Ultimately, it will ensure the skilled workforce is in place to get the job done and at the same time provide up-skilling and well-paid jobs across more than 100 towns and cities. In the wake of the Coronavirus, delivering the Governments target of full fibre nationwide by 2025 could not be more important. Of all the infrastructure projects and industrial policies under consideration, full fibre will have the biggest impact in the shortest time, and for the least public money. It will help ensure that the UK not only recovers economically, but that it swiftly transitions to a greener, smarter and fairer economy in which to thrive.

Oliver Dowden MP, UK Digital Secretary, said: Our 5bn commitment to bring faster, gigabit-speed internet to the whole country is key to ensuring everyone is better connected, creating jobs and powering the UKs economic recovery from coronavirus. Were working closely with firms like CityFibre and I warmly welcome their commitment to building a highly-skilled and diverse telecoms workforce which will boost growth right across the UK.

Recruitment campaigns to identify the first wave of trainees will begin later this month. Wherever possible, individuals will be recruited from the town or city identified for rollout, providing a much-needed boost to local employment and economies. The training and experience will also provide them with long-term career opportunities in a sector critical to the UKs future.

We note that Cityfibre are signatories to the Armed Forces Covenant and members of Business In the Community. Any individuals interested in training and career opportunities for this are encouraged to register their interest at www.cityfibre.com/buildfibre. A large proportion of trainees will also receive accredited training for Openreachs Duct and Pole Access (DPA / PIA), enabling the operator to increase their utilisation of existing underground cable ducts and poles to further boost its roll-out.

Cityfibre are continuing to ramp-up their FTTP roll-out and now expect to have awarded 1.5bn worth of construction contracts by summer 2020 (build is already underway in 28 cities and towns).
More than 3 million Americans have glaucoma, a serious eye condition causing vision loss. Using human stem cell models, researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine found they could analyze deficits within cells damaged by glaucoma, with the potential to use this information to develop new strategies to slow the disease process.

The study, published June 11 in Stem Cell Reports, focused on targeting genetic mutations within retinal ganglion cells, which serve as the connection between the eye and the brain. Researchers found that when differentiating pluripotent human stem cells into retinal ganglion cells, they were able to identify characteristics associated with neurodegeneration in glaucoma.

"Once you've identified a target like this--what's going wrong in the cells--this opens up a number of possibilities for the eventual development of therapeutic approaches, especially pharmacology approaches to slow down and reverse these degenerative phenotypes," said Jason Meyer, PhD, associate professor of medical and molecular genetics at IU School of Medicine.

The team of researchers was led by Meyer, along with the co-first authors of the publication, Kirstin VanderWall and Kang-Chieh Huang, graduate students from the School of Science at IUPUI in Meyer's lab, which is located within Stark Neurosciences Research Institute. Meyer's lab had previously been located within the School of Science.

When retinal ganglion cells degenerate through glaucoma, it leads to the loss of vision and eventual blindness. Researchers in this study derived pluripotent stem cells from a patient that had a genetic form of glaucoma, Meyer said. They then differentiated the stem cells into retinal ganglion cells to search for neurodegeneration deficits.

"One of the powerful things about (stem cell research) is when you get the cells from a patient that has a genetic basis for a disease, all of the blueprints are there in the cell's DNA to develop features of the disease," Meyer said.

They also used gene editing technology--CRISPR-Cas9--to introduce a genetic mutation commonly associated with glaucoma into existing lines of the stem cells for disease modeling, as well as to correct the gene defect in patient-derived cells.

"CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing approaches not only allowed us to study the disease, but using this approach we were also able to show how correcting the gene mutation reversed the disease, demonstrating the potential for gene therapy approaches as well," Huang said.

Meyer said the team discovered dysfunction in the process of autophagy, the body's way of removing damaged cells to regenerate healthy cells.

"We found that in the glaucoma patient cells, there are some deficits in this autophagy process, so you had too much cellular junk that was being built up," Meyer said, adding that those deficits correlated with the degeneration of the cells, which would shrivel up and eventually die off.

Using a pharmaceutical compound called rapamycin--which is known to boost the process of autophagy--Meyer said they found that many of the neurodegenerative characteristics they had previously identified slowed down and the cells seemed to recover and appear more normal.

Meyer said human stem cells are instrumental in studying human disease, especially neurodegeneration. Past studies on retinal ganglion cells and glaucoma as a degenerative disease using animal models suggest differences in how cells respond between species.

"Since they are human cells, it gives somewhat of a more representative model for us to test pharmacological compounds," VanderWall added, "and it gives us a better idea of how it could potentially be toxic or nontoxic to human cells compared to testing compounds in animals."

Meyer said having identified a target within the cells--the process of autophagy--the lab's ongoing work will focus on analyzing ways to use different types of pharmaceutical compounds for treatment of glaucoma. As is the case for many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, there are very few treatments, if any, and no cures.

"There is a dire need to try and identify new approaches to treat these diseases," Meyer said. Grant support for this research was provided by the National Eye Institute, the Indiana Department of Health Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Fund and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

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Two London Police Officers Attacked in Shocking Incident

Two London police officers have been attacked in an incident caught on film by members of the public, sparking condemnation from the UKs Home Secretary and the citys mayor.

Videos posted to social media appeared to show a male officer being pinned to the ground and kicked, before a female officer intervenes. A squabble then plays out for around a minute between the two officers and a group of men.

The incident on June 10 has drawn a sharp response from the UKs police association and Home Secretary Priti Patel, who wrote on Twitter that the attack was sickening, shocking & disgraceful.

We are not societys punchbags, the Metropolitan Police Federations chairman Ken Marsh added in a statement. On this occasion our colleagues are thankfully only reporting minor injuriesbut the reality is it could have been much worse.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Thursday that two men have been arrested.

Flares are thrown in the direction of police amid clashes with demonstrators in London, UK, on June 7, 2020. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Londons mayor, Sadiq Khan, said, Attacks on our police will not be tolerated. He added, These brave officers were doing their duty and assisting the publicI wish them a speedy recovery.

It comes following Black Lives Matter protests and riots across the UK on the weekend.

Khan has supported the protests, which saw tens of thousands take to the streets in London and other UK cities.

Metropolitan Police Federation Chairman Ken Marsh said he was very disappointed by the mayors response to riots in which more than 30 police officers were injured.

The CNN Wire and The Epoch Times staff contributed to this report.
And I am not immune," he said, noting the photograph of him at Lafayette Square. That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society. He expressed regret at having been there and said the lesson to be taken is that all in uniform are not just soldiers but also citizens.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum on Wednesday blasted one of his police department's top commanders after the officer denied there's systemic racism in law enforcement, then said African Americans "probably ought to be" shot more.

Tulsa Chief of Police Wendell Franklin, the first African American to hold that position, on Thursday also denounced the incendiary comments made by Major Travis Yates.

"Chief Wendell Franklin and the Tulsa Police Department want to make it very clear we do not endorse, condone or support Yates comments made on the show," a statement from the TPD said. "This matter has been referred to our Internal Affairs Unit."

Yates was on KFAQ on Monday, in a weekly segment called "Behind the Blue Line," when he said there's no institutional racism in policing.

All the research said  including Roland Fryer, an African American Harvard professor, Heather MacDonald and the National Academy of Sciences  all of their research says were shooting African Americans about 24 percent less than we probably ought to be based on the crimes being committed," Yates said.

Yates did not specifically cite which studies led him to this conclusion.

A representative for the National Academy of Sciences declined comment on Thursday.

Fryer, an economics professor cited by Yates, authored a 2016 paper on policing, published in The Journal of Political Economy. He found that African Americans and Hispanics were disproportionately targeted for use of force by officers  but said there were "no racial differences" in terms of officer-involved shootings.

"Our paper has three main findings: There are large racial differences in non-lethal use of force, those differences persist even among citizens who the police report are fully compliant, but we find no racial differences - statistically zero - in officer-involved shootings," Fryer said in a statement to NBC News.

"Yes thats what our paper makes clear. Big differences in lower level uses of force. No difference in shootings."

Story continues

Critics of Fryer's work said the professor leaned too heavily on self-reports from police and underplayed shooting "incidents that were legal but unnecessary."

In a Washington Post editorial in response to Fryer's work, writer Radley Balko listed several cases of police shootings that were deemed lawful but might have been avoidable with more careful work by officers.

"Again, none of this is to say this data is completely useless," Balko wrote. "We just need to be really cautious about how we use it, and realize that the numbers alone dont always tell the story.

MacDonald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of The War on Cops, penned an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last week insisting that a "solid body of evidence finds no structural bias in the criminal-justice system."

Data on police shootings, maintained by The Washington Post since 2015, has shown that African Americans are killed by police at more than twice the rate of whites.

For more than two weeks, protesters across the world have been demanding action against systemic racism and police brutality, following the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

"When you look at law enforcement contacts, If a certain group is committing more crimes, more violent crimes, and law enforcement is having to come in more contact with them, then that numbers going to be higher," Yates said.

Image: G.T. Bynum (Ann Hermes / Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images file)

Mayor Bynum demanded an apology and said the department is investigating Yates. The mayor said of Yates' radio interview: "Speaking of dumb comments."

"He does not speak for my administration, for the Tulsa Police Department, or the City of Tulsa," Bynum said in a statement. "And if he didnt mean to make the statement in the way it has been received, he owes Tulsans a clarification and an apology."

Lt. Marcus Harper, president of Tulsas Black Officers Coalition, said Yates comments send a chilling message throughout the department.

Hes in a position of power in the police department," Harper said. "His attitude is going to go downhill to that young, brand-new officer or that officer in field training right now.

Serving under Police Chief Franklin are three deputy chiefs, who preside over nine division commanders, who include Maj. Yates.

Yates, who supervises the Records Division, would be represented by the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police if the department takes action against him, according to union chairman Jerad Lindsey.

"It's not currently in the FOP's purview," Lindsey said. "We have not been told of any discipline yet."
You have to adapt. If you don't adapt, you're going to die, it's that simple.

Restrictions are beginning to ease for New Jersey restaurants as outdoor seating and to-go cocktails have recently been given the green light by Governor Murphy, the first stages of reopening the states food and beverage businesses. But with indoor dining still off limits and capacities limited, restaurant owners fear that this may not be enough for their businesses to survive. Meanwhile, New Jersey shore restaurants are hoping they can recoup some of their usual summer crowd by utilizing outdoor decks and patio areas. Chris Wood, owner and operator of Woodys Ocean Grille in Sea Bright and Tinton Falls, New Jersey understands both sides with his two uniquely different restaurants.

Guests flock to Woodys Ocean Grille in Sea Bright, a block off the ocean for southwestern creations and a comfortable neighborhood vibe. The Tinton Falls location, also featuring fine casual dining, an outdoor patio area and a warm atmosphere is a staple in the Monmouth county town  inland and nine miles away from the Sea Bright location. Both restaurant menus categorized as California Coastal Cuisine, offer the same dining concept. Wood was surprised to see how the global pandemic has affected both restaurants in vastly different ways.

While the Tinton Falls location just recently reopened for curb-side pick-up, the Sea Bright restaurant has remained open for the same service since the government mandated lockdown began in March, asking customers to pay what they can. We thought it was the right thing to do and make sure nobody has to choose between rent, utilities and food, said Wood. The decision to continue operating in Sea Bright was due to the good frontage and convenient walk-up area for pick-up orders while Tinton Falls larger venue made take-out not as easy. Luckily for Woods employees, he was able to keep most of his staff at both locations. We tried to balance out as many hours as we could for our kitchen staff in order to keep these guys liquid, said Wood.

As Wood prepares to open both restaurants outdoor dining areas, he is aware that many changes will need to be made including offering a temporary menu and adjusting the cost of certain goods. If we didnt have the revenue coming in from Sea Bright, wed be in a much different place than we are today in Tinton Falls, said Wood, who is also rebooting halted plans to put in new front doors and an air conditioning unit in the Sea Bright location. For Sea Bright, I think we did the town a great service by staying open and the community a great service by staying open, said Wood. In Tinton Falls, we had no other choice but to shut down [at the time]. Although he does agree with the states handling of the pandemic in the beginning, Wood admits that the lockdowns have gone on long enough. Our patience is wearing and I think we need to leave it up to the customer to make the decision themselves, said Wood.

Typically, Wood spends his days greeting and assisting customers face-to-face at both his restaurants, but since being limited to grab and go services, it has been a very different environment to adapt to, one that he predicts will last through late Fall, early Winter. I really do believe that this is going to take at least a year before we get back to levels that we were prior to Covid-19, said Wood. When the day comes when people can dine in his restaurants again, he is confident that his loyal customers will be back. You know who is sitting next to you 80 percent of the time, I think that gives people a comfort level, said Wood. Just like many other restaurant owners who have been on their toes waiting for an official reopening date, Wood has been preparing for what that will entail including constant sanitizing, cleaning restrooms and disposable menus. We were always a very clean restaurant to begin with, but I think were going to have to be above and beyond to meet the rules, said Wood. There are going to be absolute changes. Although a world where restaurants are allowed packed bars and dining rooms may be a long way off, business owners are continuing to navigate through this new normal. You have to adapt, said Wood. It you dont adapt, youre going to die, its that simple.

Chris Wood is a member of the Task Force assembled by Bielat Santore & Company, comprised of multi-unit restaurant operators that collaborate on ideas, procedures, strategies, and goals as they relate to the preparation for and the reopening of restaurants and other hospitality-based businesses in New Jersey. Bielat Santore & Company recently released its Restaurant Opening Playbook, a preparation and execution guide on how to successfully reopen restaurants with the hospitality industry. To join the firms email list and/or to request a copy of the Restaurant Opening Playbook, contact courtney@123bsc.com. For more information and to learn how to get involved in the Task Force, contact Richard Santore at 732.531.4200 or email ace@123bsc.com.

To view the full video interview, visit Bielat Santore & Companys website at http://www.123bsc.com, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/123BSC/, and Vimeo page https://vimeo.com/bielatsantore and stay tuned for the next Thursday Restaurant Rap interview.

About Bielat Santore & Company

Bielat Santore & Company is an established commercial real estate firm. The companys expertise lies chiefly within the restaurant and hospitality industry, specializing in the sale of restaurants and other food and beverage real estate businesses. Since 1978, the principals of Bielat Santore & Company, Barry Bielat and Richard Santore, have sold more restaurants and similar type properties in New Jersey than any other real estate company. Furthermore, the firm has secured in excess of $500,000,000 in financing to facilitate these transactions. Visit the companys website, http://www.123bsc.com for the latest in new listings, property searches, available land, market data, financing trends, RSS feeds, press releases and more.
Personal support worker and nurses account for nearly one in seven COVID-19 cases in Hamilton.

Most of them are women. Many are likely people of colour, say unions.

Statistics provided to The Spectator by Hamilton public health show nearly a quarter of all COVID cases in the city  180 of 747  involve health-care workers. A job-by-job breakdown shows personal support workers bear the highest burden with 57 cases and nurses the second-highest with 48.

None of the four health-care union and associations The Spec spoke with were surprised by the job statistics  or that most of those infected are women.

Is it surprising? No. Is it unfortunate? Yes, said Miranda Ferrier, president of the Ontario Personal Support Workers Association.

Ferrier said there are number of factors that put PSWs at greater risk of contracting COVID, among them the close-contact nature of their work, the fact they may work in congregate settings with outbreaks and staffing issues, and lack of access to personal protective equipment (PPE).

Sharleen Stewart, president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare, which represents more than 60,000 workers in hospitals, home care settings, nursing and retirement homes across Ontario, said front-line SIEU health-care workers in precarious roles are predominantly racialized and marginalized women.

White men are sitting in offices running the businesses and women of colour on the front lines, she said.

Stewart said COVID is shining a spotlight on the gender and race imbalance of precarious work. She noted that earning a low income, as many PSWs do, may also be an aggravating risk factor, with workers forced to take public transit and further exposing themselves to the virus.

The race of the infected health-care workers is unknown. Hamilton public health only recently started tracking race-based and socioeconomic COVID data. The findings havent been released.

However, a recent study from Toronto-based non-profit ICES showed Ontarians with confirmed COVID cases are more likely to live in neighbourhoods with precarious housing, lower incomes and a greater concentration of immigrants and visible minorities.

In Hamilton, the health-care data shows 82 per cent of infected workers are women.

Doris Grinspun, chief executive officer of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO), said that statistic makes sense, since the majority of health-care workers in Ontario are women. She noted that in the case of PSWs, many are also low-paid, people of colour and working more than one job.

These workers need to be better protected, she said, not only with better access to PPE but with good jobs that pay well and where people dont need to be struggling.

Michael Hurley, vice-president of CUPE Ontario, said the government needs to ensure health-care workers have better access to PPE, including N95 masks. Better protections could have prevented Ontario from reaching the mark of 5,000-plus COVID-positive health-care workers, he said.

As of Monday, an average of 53 Ontario health staff contracted the virus every day this month.

Of the 180 Hamilton health-care workers whove tested positive, nearly 50 per cent caught the virus on the job, with their case connected to a facility or institutional outbreak, a quarter of cases are community acquired, meaning public health doesnt know how they got sick, and another quarter caught the virus from a casual or close contact, such as someone they live with.

Three per cent of cases were likely connected to travel.
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan speaks before the Nasdaq opening bell ceremony in New York on April 18, 2019.

Zoom shut down the account of an activist who was holding an event on the video conferencing platform to commemorate China's Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The move has prompted accusations that Zoom, a U.S. company, has bowed to pressure from Beijing.

U.S.-based rights group Humanitarian China held an event on Zoom on May 31 to commemorate those who lost their lives in the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989. The topic is taboo in China and references to it online are heavily censored.

The account that hosted the event was shut down on June 7, according to Zhou Fengsuo, who founded Humanitarian China and took part in the 1989 protests as a student. The account has since been reinstated.

Zoom confirmed it had suspended the account.

"Like any global company, Zoom must comply with laws in the countries where we operate. We strive to limit actions taken to those necessary to comply with local law," a Zoom spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

"We regret that a few recent meetings with participants both inside and outside of China were negatively impacted and important conversations were disrupted. It is not in Zoom's power to change the laws of governments opposed to free speech."

The spokesperson added that in situations where local authorities "block communications for participants within their borders," Zoom is developing "additional capabilities that protect these conversations for participants outside of those borders."

Zoom did not lay out any details about what those additional capabilities would be.
Two LMP politicians have asked US actor Bruce Willis - the global face of the Hell Energy Group in a recent advertising campaign - to speak out against what they say will be an environmentally damaging hotel project planned by an affiliated company.

Avalon Center, which is associated with the Hell Energy Group, wants to build a 120-room luxury hotel on the shore of Oreg-to in Tata, western Hungary.



LMP MP Peter Ungar and co-president Janos Kendernay told Willis in a letter that the project would lead to severe ecological destruction in the surrounding area.
Monash researchers are part of an international collaboration applying 'twistronics' concepts (the science of layering and twisting 2D materials to control their electrical properties) to manipulate the flow of light in extreme ways.

The findings, published today in the journal Nature, hold the promise for leapfrog advances in a variety of light-driven technologies, including nano-imaging devices; high-speed, low-energy optical computers; and biosensors.

This is the first application of Moire physics and twistronics to the light-based technologies, photonics and polaritonics, opening unique opportunities for extreme photonic dispersion engineering and robust control of polaritons on 2D materials.

APPLYING TWISTRONICS TO PHOTONS

The team took inspiration from the recent discovery of superconductivity in a pair of stacked graphene layers that were rotated to the 'magic twist angle' of 1.1 degrees.

In this stacked, misaligned configuration, electrons flow with no resistance, while separately, each of the two graphene layers shows no special electrical properties.

The discovery has shown how the careful control of rotational symmetries can unveil unexpected material responses.

The research team was led by Andrea Alu at the Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center, CUNY, Cheng-Wei Qiu at National University of Singapore and Qiaoliang Bao formerly at Monash University.

The team discovered that an analogous principle can be applied to manipulate light in highly unusual ways. At a specific rotation angle between two ultrathin layers of molybdenum-trioxide, the researchers were able to prevent optical diffraction and enable robust light propagation in a tightly focused beam at desired wavelengths.

Typically, light radiated from a small emitter placed over a flat surface expands away in circles very much like the waves excited by a stone that falls into a pond. In their experiments, the researchers stacked two thin sheets of molybdenum-trioxide and rotated one of the layers with respect to the other. When the materials were excited by a tiny optical emitter, they observed widely controllable light waves over the surface as the rotation angle was varied. In particular, they showed that at the photonic 'magical twist angle' the configured bilayer supports robust, diffraction-free light propagation in tightly focused channel beams over a wide range of wavelengths.

"While photons - the quanta of light - have very different physical properties than electrons, we have been intrigued by the emerging discovery of twistronics, and have been wondering if twisted two-dimensional materials may also provide unusual transport properties for light, to benefit photon-based technologies," said Andrea Alu.

"To unveil this phenomenon, we used thin layers of molybdenum trioxide. By stacking two of such layers on top of each other and controlling their relative rotation, we have observed dramatic control of the light guiding properties. At the photonic magic angle, light does not diffract, and it propagates very confined along straight lines. This is an ideal feature for nanoscience and photonic technologies."

"Our experiments were far beyond our expectations," said Dr Qingdong Ou, who led the experimental component of the study at Monash University. "By stacking 'with a twist' two thin slabs of a natural 2D material, we can manipulate infrared light propagation, most intriguingly, in a highly collimated style."

"Our study shows that twistronics for photons can open truly exciting opportunities for light-based technologies, and we are excited to continue exploring these opportunities," said National University of Singapore graduate student Guangwei Hu, who led the theoretical component.

"Following our previous discovery published in Nature in 2018, we found that biaxial van der Waals semiconductors like -MoO3 and V2O5 represent an emerging family of material supporting exotic polaritonic behaviors," said A/Prof Qiaoliang Bao, "These natural-born hyperbolic materials offer an unprecedented platform for controlling the flow of energy at the nanoscale."

DEVELOPMENT OF TWISTRONICS AND MAGIC ANGLES IN GRAPHENE

Novel electronic properties in 'misaligned' graphene sheets was first predicted by National University of Singapore Professor (and FLEET Partner Investigator) Antonio Castro Neto in 2007, and the 'magic angle' of 1.1 degrees was theorised by FLEET PI (University of Texas in Austin) in 2011.

Superconductivity in twisted graphene was experimentally demonstrated by Pablo Jarillo-Herrero (MIT) in 2018.

THE STUDY

Topological polaritons and photonic magic angles in twisted -MoO3 bi-layers was published in Nature today, 11 June 2020 (DOI 10.1038/s41586-020-2359-9 ).

As well as support from the Australian Research Council, support was also provided by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, >Vannevar Bush Fellowship, Office of Naval Research, and National Science Foundation, as well as Singapore's Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), and China's National Natural Science Foundation.

Layering and twisting of 2D materials was performed at Monash University (Department of Materials Science and Engineering), while the topological polaritons was observed and characterised at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN), the Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF).

PHOTONICS AT FLEET

Experimental physicist Dr Qingdong Ou is a research fellow now working with Prof Michael Fuhrer at Monash University to study nano-device fabrication based on 2D materials, within FLEET's Enabling technology B.

Qingdong seeks to minimise energy losses in light-matter interactions, aiming to realise ultra-low energy consumption in 2D-material-based photonic and optoelectronic devices. He also studies highly-confined low-loss polaritons in 2D materials using near-field optical nano-imaging within FLEET's Research theme 2.

FLEET is an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence developing a new generation of ultra-low energy electronics.

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NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE: OUT) announced today an out of home offering for local businesses as reopening begins in various states across the country. OUTFRONT is offering static and digital billboard space at no to low cost in various markets as part of their #GrowStronger business stimulus program, to give local businesses support and promotion during the crisis recovery period.

The out of home assets provide businesses with an expansive platform to share tailored messaging and creative in strategic locations to reach both their new and existing consumers. As many businesses continue to struggle throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, this no to low cost opportunity was designed to kick-start their business, sharing that they are safely open with the community.

To date, 75 clients, ranging across twenty-five different categories, have taken advantage of the program. Many of which are already seeing indicators of success, including Robson Eye Institute, an eye facility in the Greater Tampa Bay Area, according to their public relations firm.

"They are a new healthcare group in a very competitive market space, and this mode of advertising has already set them apart [in] Tampa Bay," said Kristen McCullough, President of KAMCOM Media.

A media agency in Louisville believes the program shows the goodwill of the out of home company and reveals it has strengthened their clients' knowledge of the advertising medium.

"This is the kind of effort and thinking that really helps us sell Outdoor [Advertising] to prospects that are not as familiar with the medium," said Weaks McKinney-Smith, President & CEO of Media Venue.

One of their clients, The Flooring Gallery, a flooring company in the Louisville community is very grateful for the offering, as this should help promote the reopening of their stores in the city.

"At OUTFRONT, we're in the business of growth. Growing our partners' businesses, growing the places we touch, and growing our people. In times of hardship and uncertainty, we're committed to helping affected partners grow stronger," said Jodi Senese, Chief Marketing Officer at OUTFRONT Media. "Local businesses have been there for us and this program provides an opportunity for us to be there for them."

After the events of the past two weeks, OUTFRONT expanded the program to include an emphasis on African American run businesses, with the headline "Black Businesses Matter." One of the first clients running on this version of the campaign is Ponders Cleaners, an Atlanta based dry cleaner that has been part of the community for 40 years. After not receiving any COVID-19 relief funds, the business was in jeopardy of closing.

In addition, OUTFRONT STUDIOS is offering creative and design assistance for each of the businesses that are participating, if needed. For those interested in hearing more about the program or that want to apply, please visit www.outfrontmedia.com. Specific costs, inventory, and details vary by market location. Completion of application does not guarantee acceptance into the program. Offer subject to change or cancellation at any time.

About OUTFRONT Media Inc.

OUTFRONT leverages the power of technology, location and creativity to connect brands with consumers outside of their homes through one of the largest and most diverse sets of billboard, transit, and mobile assets in North America. Through its technology platform, OUTFRONT will fundamentally change the ways advertisers engage audiences on-the-go.

Contact:



Investors:

Media: Gregory Lundberg

Courtney Richards Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

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The national dialogue about racial injustice in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody has brought renewed attention to qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that some advocates believe has helped insulate police officers from accountability for misconduct.

But any major changes to that doctrine would also likely affect another group of government workers: public school educators.

Qualified immunity protects certain classifications of government officials from personal liability, including money damages, in civil lawsuits in federal courts, as long as the conduct in question does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.

The doctrine is available not just to police officersincluding school police officersbut to any government official exercising discretionary functions, and that includes teachers, principals, superintendents, and school board members. Some of the U.S. Supreme Courts most significant decisions outlining the contours of qualified immunity have come in K-12 school cases, and educators routinely invoke it when they are sued, sometimes successfully and sometimes not.

But qualified immunity is under growing criticism from scholars, advocates, and even Supreme Court justices on the left and right, and the high court is weighing whether to take up one or more of nine pending appeals that ask for a broad reconsideration of the doctrine. In the wake of Floyds death, the Democratic police reform bill in Congress would eliminate qualified immunity for police officers, and Republicans are also looking at the doctrine.

There is an unjust and indefensible double standard when it comes to accountability for law enforcement officers, educators, and other government officials, said Clark Neily, the vice president for criminal justice of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington that has helped lead the charge for doing away with qualified immunity.

This double standard has been a contributing factor in the anger and frustration spilling out into the streets, Neily said.

For education groups, the debate is a bit delicate. Most have issued statements recommitting their support for racial equality after the death of Floyd, but likely would be reluctant to have the protections of qualified immunity stripped from their members.

Several education groups contacted by Education Week to discuss qualified immunity, including AASA, the School Superintendents Association, and the National School Boards Association, declined an interview request on the topic, and others did not respond.

Qualified immunity is inherently a balancing act, said Thomas Hutton, the interim executive director of the Education Law Association, a group for professors who teach school law as well as lawyers and some K-12 educators

Hutton, a former staff lawyer for the NSBA and a former state charter school official in Hawaii, said care would need to be taken in eliminating or scaling back qualified immunity for educators.

Its good to have a healthy discussion of where to strike the balance between protecting individual rights and shielding officials from personal liability, he said. But if you are going to suggest that public servants can be sued personally when theyre just trying to do their jobs and where the law is debatable even among lawyers and judges, that bodes ill for how we provide government services.

Balancing Two Important Interests

Qualified immunity comes up when individual government officials are sued in federal court by someone asserting that his or her constitutional or statutory rights were violated under color of law. That right to sue comes from the Civil Rights Act of 1871, a Reconstruction-era law enacted in part to help battle the Ku Klux Klan. Such claims are known as Section 1983 claims for the laws place in the U.S. code.

The doctrine of qualified immunity became available much later, beginning with police officers in the 1960s and other government officials after that. In 1975, in Wood v. Strickland , the Supreme Court recognized qualified immunity under Section 1983 for a school board member who was sued over the expulsion of three students. And in 1982, in Harlow v. Fitzgerald, the court overhauled the doctrine and held that government officials performing discretionary functions had qualified immunity based on an objective standard that their conduct did not violate clearly established rights about which a reasonable person would have known.

In a 1986 decision involving the police, Justice Byron R. White summarized qualified immunity as protecting all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.

More recently, in a 2009 decision , Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. observed for a unanimous court that qualified immunity balances two important intereststhe need to hold public officials accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officials from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably.

Qualified immunity does not apply to school districts or other agencies often sued in civil rights cases. They have other immunities or defenses they can raise. And the federal doctrine does not apply in state court actions, though some states offer similar immunities to individual defendants.

Qualified immunity has figured prominently in some landmark school law cases in the Supreme Court.

In Morse v. Frederick , a 2007 case involving a student who displayed the infamous Bong Hits 4 Jesus banner, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. expressed dismay during oral arguments that the high school principal who had disciplined the student was denied qualified immunity by a lower court.

Your client wants money from the principal personally for her actions in this case, the chief justice told the students lawyer.

Ultimately, Roberts wrote the opinion for the court holding that schools could restrict pro-drug messages without running afoul of the First Amendment. Thus, the court held that it did not need to decide whether the principal was entitled to qualified immunity.

A 2009 Supreme Court decision illustrates a common situation in cases brought under Section 1983. A court may find a constitutional violation but go on to hold that the official who was sued merits qualified immunity because the law was not clearly established at the time of the infraction.

In Safford Unified School District v. Redding , Justice David H. Souter wrote for the court that a search of a middle school girls underwear for painkillers violated her Fourth Amendment right to be free from an unreasonable search, but because there is reason to question the clarity with which the right was established, the official who ordered the unconstitutional search is entitled to qualified immunity from liability.

Recent School Cases

A search of federal court records reveals that qualified immunity is regularly invoked by educators and officials in a range of school conflicts, a recent number of which involve school resource officers.

In a decision just last month, a federal district judge in Texas granted qualified immunity to a school resource officer who handcuffed and used his body weight to subdue an 85-pound 5th grader with autism who was acting out and would not leave his classroom at his teachers direction.

In tossing out the familys Fourth Amendment excessive-force claim, the judge wrote in Brown v. Coulston on May 29 that prevailing precedent shows that there is no clearly established law that a police officer may not handcuff or otherwise use his body weight to restrain a student, including a student who has special needs and is repeatedly disruptive, combative, noncompliant, and resisting the officers commands.

Last year, a federal district court in New Mexico granted qualified immunity to a school resource officer who shot his Taser in an attempt to restrain a 13-year-old student with autism who had begun to shut down and was wandering away from campus. The judge ruled in Gutierrez v. Albuquerque Public Schools that there was no unconstitutional seizure because the student continued to walk after being tased until he reached the car of a school aide, and thus the officer was entitled to qualified immunity.

However, a federal district judge in West Virginia earlier this year denied qualified immunity to a school resource officer who pinned a 14-year-old student to the floor of a school hallway with an elbow at his neck and a knee on his back for about 20 seconds while he searched for the students cellphone, which school officials thought might contain nude photos of a female student that had circulated. (A search of the phones contents found no such photos.)

Ruling on Jan. 29 in Z.F. v. Adkins , the judge held that the student provided enough evidence that the officer had used excessive force to send the case to a jury, and that a middle school student posing no imminent risk of harm has a right to be free from excessive force, and that the right was clearly established when the incident occurred.

In a case involving a school administrator, a federal appeals court ruled in February that a California principal was entitled to qualified immunity against allegations by an undocumented immigrant mother that the principal threatened to call immigration authorities if the mother complained again about the schools lunch policy.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in San Francisco, said in Doe v. Pasadena Unified School District that the principals alleged threat may be unseemly and unbecoming of a school principal. But the principal merited qualified immunity because under 9th Circuit case law, parents did not enjoy a clearly established right to be free from a school officials threats.

Critiques From Right and Left

These school cases are not among the group of nine pending petitions that ask the Supreme Court to reconsider the qualified immunity doctrine. The high court appeals mostly involve alleged police misconduct, including one case in which a 10-year-old child was shot in the leg by an officer aiming at the familys barking dog after police had chased an unarmed criminal suspect into a yard. Another involves a 17-year-old youth walking around a neighborhood with a gun who was shot and killed by police who feared, in part, he might be a threat to a nearby school.

In several of the cases, groups across the ideological spectrum have joined in a friend-of-the-court brief urging the justices to reconsider the scope of qualified immunity.

The groups include the Alliance Defending Freedom and Second Amendment Foundation on the right, the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund on the left, as well as the Cato Institute.

Qualified immunity is a textually and historically baseless doctrine that represents pure judicial policymaking, said Neily, of Cato. Our position is that the Supreme Court ought to, in effect, clean up its own mess.

Joining the advocacy groups are a number of scholars who have raised questions about qualified immunity in recent years. And members of the court have raised concerns about the doctrine.

In a 2017 case, Ziglar v. Abbasi , conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurrence to say that the courts qualified immunity rulings have gone beyond the common-law immunities that were available when the Section 1983 statute was adopted in 1871.

In an appropriate case, we should reconsider our qualified immunity jurisprudence, Thomas wrote.

In a 2018 decision in which the court summarily granted qualified immunity to a police officer involved in a fatal shooting, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented and said there was a disturbing trend of the court being quick to intervene to overturn lower-court rulings when officers were denied immunity.

The doctrine was being transformed into an absolute shield for law enforcement officers, Sotomayor said in Kisela v. Hughes , in an opinion joined by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Hutton, of the Education Law Association, said there is room for courts to improve the way they apply qualified immunity doctrine without eliminating it, such as by ruling on more underlying constitutional questions so that officials have a better sense of what has been clearly established.

I would have some caution here, he said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred Kanpur-based People's Co-operative Bank from granting fresh loans and accepting deposits for six months, due to its weak financial position.

The RBI also said no withdrawal of amount of a depositor will be allowed from the co-operative bank.

"As from the close of business on June 10, 2020, the bank shall not, without prior approval of RBI in writing grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits, disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise," the RBI said in a release.

The central bank has barred the co-operative bank from selling, transferring or disposing any of its properties or assets.

"In particular, no amount of the total balance across all savings bank or current accounts or any other account of a depositor may be allowed to be withdrawn," the central bank said.

These directions will remain in force for six months from the close of business on June 10 and are subject to review, it said.

The central bank, however, clarified that the directions should not be construed as cancellation of banking licence of the co-operative bank.

The bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves, it said.
Airline passengers should not take any hand luggage on flights as part of measures to slow the spread of Covid-19, government guidance says today.

The advice from the Department for Transport (DfT) insists travellers should check in all baggage before boarding, while they are also encouraged to wear masks in airports and stay seated as much as possible while in the air.

Eliminating the scramble to claim rucksacks, handbags and small suitcases from overhead lockers will 'minimise the risk of transmission', bosses say.

Airline passengers, such as these pictured in masks at Heathrow, are being advised by the Government not to take any hand luggage on flights

Airlines generally charge additional fees for putting luggage in the hold.

Checking in a 15kg bag for an easyJet flight from Gatwick to Glasgow on Monday costs an additional 23.99.

British Airways is charging 25 for putting a 23kg bag in the hold for passengers with the cheapest fare on a flight from Heathrow to the same destination on the same date.

The DfT guidance states: 'You are strongly encouraged to check in baggage to the aircraft hold and minimise any hand baggage.

'This will speed up boarding and disembarking, and minimise the risk of transmission.'

A separate document for airlines calls on them to use 'communication and incentive policies' to minimise hand luggage.

Other advice for passengers includes wearing face coverings in airports and remaining seated as much as possible during flights.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, pictured at Downing Street last week, said the new guidance was 'a positive next step'

Airlines are being encouraged to extensively clean aircraft, increase the availability of handwashing and hand sanitiser, and reduce face-to-face interactions between staff and passengers.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: 'Today's guidance is a positive next step towards ensuring a safer and more sustainable aviation sector.

'The Government's advice currently remains to avoid all non-essential travel, but today we are taking the necessary steps to ensure a framework is in place for the aviation industry to bounce back when it is safe for restrictions on travel to be lifted.'

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, which represents UK-registered carriers, said its members welcomed the new guidelines.

'They demonstrate how airlines can apply targeted and multi-layered measures to ensure air travel is safe for customers and crew.

'The guidelines pave the way for the introduction of air bridges, and there is no reason we shouldn't be getting clarity from Government on when and how these will be established over the coming days.'

Tim Hawkins, chief strategy officer at Manchester Airports Group, which owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports, said the guidance offers 'clear information for us, our passengers and our airlines on the steps needed to create a safe travel experience'.

He added: 'The guidance is the result of strong collaboration between Government and the aviation industry, drawing on advice from independent medical and scientific experts who have looked specifically at what safety measures are needed at each stage of the travel process.

If you are passing through Heathrow to complete essential travel, please follow our advice:

 Visit https://t.co/cCOklCwgRX

 Stay 2 metres apart if possible

 Wear a face covering at the airport

 Wash hands frequently throughout your journey pic.twitter.com/pJfGHuZ4Hp  Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) June 10, 2020

'With similar protocols being adopted in other countries, and a targeted approach to reopening travel to low-risk countries, we will have the elements in place to get our economy moving again and protect jobs throughout the whole aviation supply chain.'

It comes after a global report found coronavirus outbreaks have been worse in areas with major airports and large numbers of travellers passing through them.

The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) said the spread of the disease, which has killed more than 50,000 people in Britain, was 'highly correlated' with air travel.

It claimed the UK was a prime example of where constant flights, both domestic and international, had 'facilitated contagion'.

Ministers have throughout the crisis refused to shut the borders to travellers, opting instead only to advise people not to travel, which in turn hit airlines so hard they had to stop flights because they were losing money.

Other countries hit by coronavirus meanwhile, including China and Italy, closed their borders to all international visitors and sent them home or locked them in.

The public called for international travel to stop early on in the outbreak but officials refused and Government documents have since revealed it was because so many people in the UK already had the virus.

A rule that came into place this week now requires all people travelling into Britain to self-isolate for two weeks, while there has been talk of 'air bridges' to popular tourist destinations to allow people to travel freely.
Chris Taylor, President and CEO of Great Bear said, "Drill hole BR-137 has intersected the highest grade, widest gold interval at the LP Fault to date. It was completed in a 90 metre long previously undrilled segment of the LP Fault. Results include up to 18.5 ounces per tonne (576 g/t) gold over a metre, within a broader interval of approximately one ounce per tonne (31.33 g/t) gold over 20.55 metres. More importantly, all adjacent drill holes, both vertically on the same section and laterally along strike, are also strongly mineralized over significant widths, suggesting excellent continuity of high-grade gold mineralization."

The Company has completed 115 of approximately 300 planned drill holes into the LP Fault target, as part of its 5 kilometre long by 500 metre deep grid drill program. Current drill hole locations and results are provided in Figure 1 , and in Table 1 , respectively. An updated long section of the LP Fault drilling is provided in Figure 2 .

Drill Results Highlights:

New drill hole BR-137 on section 20000 was completed in a 90 metre gap in drilling. It intersected multiple mineralized intervals along 258.40 metres of core length, highlights of which include:

576.00 g/t gold over 1.00 metre , within a broader interval of 31.33 g/t gold over 20.55 metres . The total mineralized interval is 14.65 g/t gold over 45.10 metres . Figure 3 .





, within a broader interval of . The total mineralized interval is . Mineralization is present at the bedrock surface , and this is the widest, highest-grade gold interval drilled at the LP Fault to date.





, and this is the Intense alteration and deformation in BR-137 and surrounding drill holes includes strong silicification and partial to complete obliteration of primary rock textures. Gold mineralization occurs within disseminated planes or sheets that are parallel to the dominant structural fabric and appear to be vertically and laterally continuous between drill holes on the same drill sections, and across adjacent drill sections. Figures 4 and 5 .

Continuity of gold mineralization is suggested by deeper drilling on the same section as BR-137:

New drill hole BR-138 intersected the same mineralized zone 50 - 75 metres vertically below BR-137. Assays include 33.84 g/t gold over 2.40 metres, including 100.00 g/t gold over 0.50 metres, within a broader interval of 5.13 g/t gold over 26.00 metres. The total mineralized interval returned 3.52 g/t gold over 39.00 metres .





intersected the same mineralized zone 50 - 75 metres vertically below BR-137. Assays include including within a broader interval of The total mineralized interval returned . The LP Fault gold mineralized zone on section 20000 has currently been drilled from bedrock surface to 250 metres vertical depth, and remains open to extension.

High-grade gold has been extended at depth on the adjacent drill section to the northwest:

New drill holes BR-135 and BR-136 were completed 100 metres and 150 metres respectively vertically below previously released drill holes BR-133 and BR-134 ( June 8, 2020 ). All four of these drill holes are located on drill section 20050, 50 metres to the northwest of BR-137 and BR-138. Figure 6 .





and were completed 100 metres and 150 metres respectively vertically below previously released drill holes BR-133 and BR-134 ( ). All four of these drill holes are located on drill section 20050, 50 metres to the northwest of BR-137 and BR-138. . BR-135 intersected 35.56 g/t gold over 2.00 metres , within a broader interval of 5.19 g/t gold over 16.65 metres . The total mineralized interval returned 2.92 g/t gold over 32.50 metres .





intersected , within a broader interval of . The total mineralized interval returned . BR-136 intersected 24.22 g/t gold over 2.10 metres , which included 99.70 g/t gold over 0.5 metres , within a broader interval of 3.37 g/t gold over 39.00 metres . The total mineralized interval returned 1.95 g/t gold over 72.00 metres .





intersected , which included , within a broader interval of . The total mineralized interval returned . The LP Fault gold mineralized zone on section 20050 has currently been drilled from bedrock surface to 350 metres vertical depth, and remains open to extension.

Continuity of gold mineralization is also observed on the adjacent drill section to the southeast:



Drill section 19950, located 40 - 50 metres to the southeast of BR-133, includes previously reported drill hole BR-065 which returned 48.67 g/t gold over 8.70 metres ( December 16, 2019 ).

Approximately 185 drill holes remain to be completed as part of the Company's ongoing 2020 LP Fault drill program. Additional drill holes are also planned into the Dixie Limb and Hinge zones, in addition to other regional targets. The Company remains fully funded for this work and does not anticipate requiring further financing until 2022.

Webinar Today

The Company reminds interested shareholders that management is hosting a webinar detailing recent progress later today, June 11th at 11:15am PDT/2:15pm EDT. Management will be available to answer questions following the presentation. Online registration and participation details may be found at the following link:

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3408563418758052620?source=WS

For those unable to participate, a recording of the webinar will be posted to the Company's web site following the live broadcast.

Table 1: Current drill results. Drill sections are arranged from southeast (top of Table) to northwest (bottom of Table), corresponding to the map provided in Figure 1.

Drill Hole

From (m) To (m) Width* (m) Gold (g/t) Section BR-137

76.70 85.50 8.80 0.96 20000 and 169.90 173.00 3.10 8.38 including 171.40 173.00 1.60 16.08 and 178.00 223.10 45.10 14.56 including 202.55 223.10 20.55 31.33 and including 214.45 222.30 7.85 78.75 and including 214.45 217.95 3.50 174.59 and including 215.15 216.15 1.00 576.00 and including 215.15 215.65 0.50 766.00 and 301.00 335.10 34.10 0.58 BR-138

25.50 49.50 24.00 0.89 20000 including 36.25 47.25 11.00 1.66 and 208.00 247.00 39.00 3.52 including 216.50 242.50 26.00 5.13 and including 226.50 242.00 15.50 7.70 and including 237.00 242.00 5.00 19.35 and including 237.00 239.40 2.40 33.84 and including 237.50 238.00 0.50 100.00 BR-135

162.00 178.00 16.00 0.33 20050 and 196.00 205.00 9.00 1.00 including 204.00 205.00 1.00 6.52 and 313.00 345.50 32.50 2.92 including 313.00 337.00 24.00 3.82 and including 317.00 337.00 20.00 4.46 and including 321.00 337.65 16.65 5.19 and including 325.00 328.00 3.00 24.61 and including 325.50 327.50 2.00 35.56 and 446.00 447.00 1.00 6.59 BR-136

253.00 269.00 16.00 1.43 20050 including 254.00 259.00 5.00 4.08 and 332.50 404.50 72.00 1.95 including 365.50 404.50 39.00 3.37 and including 375.10 377.20 2.10 24.22 and including 375.60 376.10 0.50 99.70 and 394.05 401.00 6.95 6.43

*Widths are drill indicated core length, as insufficient drilling has been undertaken to determine true widths at this time. Average grades are calculated with un-capped gold assays, as insufficient drilling has been completed to determine capping levels for higher grade gold intercepts. Average widths are calculated using a 0.10 g/t gold cut-off grade with up to 3 m of internal dilution of zero grade.

Updated drill collar locations, azimuths and dips, together with an updated complete assay table for the LP Fault drilling to-date will be posted to the Company's web site at www.greatbearresources.ca. Drill collar locations, azimuths and dips for the drill holes included in this release are provided in the table below:

Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Depth Dip Azimuth BR-135 457555 5634100 359 669 -60 207 BR-136 457585 5634163 362 492 -62 209 BR-137 457564 5634013 355 477 -48 207 BR-138 457564 5634014 355 549 -60 207

About the Dixie Project

The Dixie Project is 100% owned, comprised of 9,140 hectares of contiguous claims that extend over 22 kilometres, and is located approximately 25 kilometres southeast of the town of Red Lake, Ontario. The project is accessible year-round via a 15 minute drive on a paved highway which runs the length of the northern claim boundary and a network of well-maintained logging roads.

The Dixie Project hosts two principle styles of gold mineralization:

High-grade gold in quartz veins and silica-sulphide replacement zones (Dixie Limb and Hinge) . Hosted by mafic volcanic rocks and localized near regional-scale D2 fold axes. These mineralization styles are also typical of the significant mined deposits of the Red Lake district.





. Hosted by mafic volcanic rocks and localized near regional-scale D2 fold axes. These mineralization styles are also typical of the significant mined deposits of the district. High-grade disseminated gold with broad moderate to lower grade envelopes (LP Fault). The LP Fault is a significant gold-hosting structure which has been seismically imaged to extend to 14 kilometres depth (Zeng and Calvert , 2006), and has been interpreted by Great Bear to have up to 18 kilometres of strike length on the Dixie property. High-grade gold mineralization is controlled by structural and geological contacts, and moderate to lower-grade disseminated gold surrounds and flanks the high-grade intervals. The dominant gold-hosting stratigraphy consists of felsic sediments and volcanic units.

About Great Bear

Great Bear Resources Ltd. is a well-financed gold exploration company managed by a team with a track record of success in mineral exploration. Great Bear is focused in the prolific Red Lake gold district in northwest Ontario, where the company controls over 300 km2 of highly prospective tenure across 4 projects: the flagship Dixie Project (100% owned), the Pakwash Property (earning a 100% interest), the Dedee Property (earning a 100% interest), and the Sobel Property (earning a 100% interest), all of which are accessible year-round through existing roads.

QA/QC and Core Sampling Protocols

Drill core is logged and sampled in a secure core storage facility located in Red Lake Ontario. Core samples from the program are cut in half, using a diamond cutting saw, and are sent to Activation Laboratories in Ontario, an accredited mineral analysis laboratory, for analysis. All samples are analyzed for gold using standard Fire Assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 10.0 g/t gold are analyzed utilizing standard Fire Assay-Gravimetric methods. Pulps from approximately 5% of the gold mineralized samples are submitted for check analysis to a second lab. Selected samples are also chosen for duplicate assay from the coarse reject of the original sample. Selected samples with visible gold are also analyzed with a standard 1 kg metallic screen fire assay. Certified gold reference standards, blanks and field duplicates are routinely inserted into the sample stream, as part of Great Bear's quality control/quality assurance program (QAQC). No QAQC issues were noted with the results reported herein.

Qualified Person and NI 43-101 Disclosure

Mr. R. Bob Singh, P.Geo, Director and VP Exploration, and Ms. Andrea Diakow P.Geo, Exploration Manager for Great Bear are the Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the accuracy of technical information contained in this news release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Chris Taylor"

Chris Taylor, President and CEO

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. The forward-looking information contained herein is provided for the purpose of assisting readers in understanding management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Forward-looking information are based on management of the parties' reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations, analyses and opinions, which are based on such management's experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, but which may prove to be incorrect.

Great Bear undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

SOURCE Great Bear Resources Ltd.
CONCORD, N.H. - Gov. Chris Sununu is allowing New Hampshires stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic to expire on Monday, June 15, and transition to a safer at home advisory with no social gathering limitations or distinctions between essential and nonessential businesses.

We feel very confident in taking some additional steps forward, Sununu said at a news conference Thursday.

The stay-at-home order had limited gatherings to 10 and under. There is no longer a group limit, but people are still encouraged to practice social distancing and wear masks in public, Sununu said.

Sununu also said a number of businesses would be able to open or expand under strengthened guidance and capacity limitations as of Monday, such as gyms, bowling alleys, tourist train and racetracks. Also added to the list are charitable gaming facilities, museums, and libraries.

Several businesses will be allowed to reopen on June 29 with limitations: indoor movie theatres, performing arts centres and amusement parks.

Sununu also announced the availability of the following coronavirus relief funds: $35 million for housing assistance; $50 million for broadband access; $15 million for homeless shelters; $10 million for private colleges and universities; and $2 million for partnerships with chambers of commerce.

___

ELECTION 2020

New Hampshire residents may vote by absentee ballot during elections this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, and applications for them should be distributed in places ranging from the local landfill to supermarkets, an elections advisory committee recommended.

The Secretary of States Select Committee on 2020 Emergency Election Support, in a report released Wednesday, also suggested secure dropboxes at town clerk offices to allow the return of absentee ballots after hours. It also recommends leasing more ballot counting machines.

Secretary of State Bill Gardner formed the committee in April to advise how to spend more than $3.1 in emergency election funds provided by the federal coronavirus relief package.

In-person voting will still be allowed. Gardner said in the report that his office is committing to provide protective gear to polling places.

Other developments in New Hampshire:

LAKE CRUISES

A boat that cruises around Lake Winnipesaukee will be back in business soon, with fewer outings and passengers.

The M/S Mount Washington will start offering lunch cruises on June 20, and dinner cruises on June 27.

One lunch cruise will be offered every day from Weirs Beach, including a first-time Fathers Day cruise on June 21. In the past, the holiday conflicted with Laconia Bike Week, which has been postponed. Dinner cruises will be offered on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. This will allow time to do additional cleaning between cruises.

The number of passengers on board has been reduced by more than 50%. Buffet service will be replaced by table service on all cruises.

___

UNEMPLOYMENT

A little over 6,000 initial unemployment claims were filed in New Hampshire last week, down slightly from the previous week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The latest number covers new claims through June 6.

The number of new claims in a week peaked at 39,000 in early April and has since been declining.

___

THE NUMBERS

As of Thursday, 5,209 people have tested positive in New Hampshire, an increase of 34 from the previous day. Seven new deaths were announced, for a total of 308.

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause more severe illness and can lead to death.

:




Haiti - Politic : 98 laureates engineers and architects will integrate the Ministry of the Interior





Within the framework of the State modernization program, the Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Communities (MICT) informs the communities and professionals concerned of the smooth progress of the stages for the integration into the public service of 98 executives to constitute the Corps of Civil Engineers and Architects (CICA).



Audain Fils Bernadel Minister of the Interior rejoices to see this process started on competition, in November 2018. He salutes the tenacity of the 98 laureates engineers and architects, selected from the 400 candidates for the CICA, who have successfully completed the course training to empower them to integrate this new structure.



The engineers and architects of CICA will have a coordinator at their head and will have to intervene for the first part at the level of the Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC), that of Territorial Collectivities (DCT) and the Directorate of Planning Studies and Departmental Follow-up (DEPS). In addition, a second part of CICA staff will work directly with municipalities throughout the territory, particularly those who have the most urgent needs in this area and who have requested them.



Thus, the Corps of Civil Engineers and Architects (CICA) will support local authorities and will be able to guide the decisions of local elected officials and authorizing officers, on buildings, building permits, town planning, cadastre, infrastructure development and spatial planning.



Interested parties who will soon receive their letter of appointment are also invited to come to the Ministry in groups of 5, starting Wednesday, June 10, in order to complete the formalities necessary for their assignment.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Russias first green tanker Vladimir Monomakh is ready for sea trials

Launched at the Zvezda Shipyard on May 12, the first Russian tanker of Aframax type Vladimir Monomakh is ready for sea trials.

The tests will include checking the reliability and vital functions of power generating systems, navigation equipment and deck machinery, as well as controllability, stability and other functions. Vladimir Monomakh was supplied with more than 300 tonnes of high performance green DMF type III fuel for sea trials and mooring tests. It contains no more than 0.5% of sulphur which is fully compliant with the requirements of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Fuel was produced at the Rosnefts Komsomolsk refinery. The bunkering of a vessel of this class was first performed by Rosneft Bunker. The tanker was refueled in compliance with all maritime and environmental safety regulations. Vladimir Monomakh is a powerful new-generation tanker designed to transport oil in unrestricted navigation. The vessel is designed in compliance with high environmental safety standards. The main and additional power supply units can operate on both traditional and green fuel, the liquefied natural gas, which meets new world environmental standards. A high level of environmental friendliness is the reason why the Aframax type tanker is called green. The length of the vessel is 250 metres, width 44 metres, deadweight 114 thousand tonnes, speed 14.6 knots, ice class ICE-1A. In total, there is a series of 12 tankers of the Aframax type in the order book of Zvezda complex. At the moment, four of them are under construction at the shipyard.




South Korea's presidential Blue House on Thursday warned of a "thorough crackdown" against activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, after Human Rights Watch denounced it as "shameful" for seeking to block such activities.

The leaflets -- usually attached to hot air balloons or floated in bottles -- criticise North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over human rights abuses and his nuclear ambitions.

Since last week Pyongyang has issued a series of vitriolic denunciations of the South over the leaflets -- something defectors do on a regular basis -- and on Tuesday it announced it was severing all official communication links with the South.

Moon is a former human rights lawyer and earlier this week lauded South Korean democracy activists, but his office expressed "strong regret" over the leaflet launches, adding the government would mount a "thorough crackdown" against them.

The campaigns are illegal and do not help the "efforts to achieve peace and prosperity of the Korean peninsula", said Kim You-geun, a national security official at the Blue House.

Seoul's unification ministry filed a police complaint against two defector groups Thursday over leaflet launches.

Human Rights Watch condemned the ministry's decision, accusing Seoul of "kow-towing" to Pyongyang's threats.

"Instead of proposing a blanket ban on sending balloons with messages and materials to the North, President Moon should publicly demand that North Korea respect freedom of expression and stop censoring what North Koreans can see," said Phil Robertson, the group's deputy Asia director, in a statement.

"President Moon and his colleagues fought for much of their lives and careers to protect human rights in South Korea," he added.

"It is shameful how President Moon and his government are totally unwilling to stand up for the rights of North Koreans."

Seoul's moves come after Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's powerful younger sister and key adviser, condemned the leaflet launches last week.

Pyongyang has since issued a series of statements and held several citizens' rallies on the subject, with the official KCNA news agency describing leaflet scattering as "an act of a preemptive attack that precedes a war".
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Pope Francis called George Floyd by name two times in a speech last week. And he offered support to an American religious leader who knelt in prayer during a Black Lives Matter protest.

Normally, the Vatican government might have shown a less direct reaction to killings by police officers and protests against racism and police abuse. But the intense support for the protests clearly signals where the Vatican wants American Catholics to stand before the November election in the United States.

Anthea Butler is a presidential visiting fellow at Yale Divinity School, a religious school of Yale University in Connecticut. She said Pope Francis wants to send a very clear message to Catholics who support President Donald Trump that this is just as much an issue as abortion is."

Butler, who is African American, said the Vatican is telling Catholics to pay attention to the racism that is happening and the racism that is in your own church in America.

The Vatican has long spoken out about racial injustice. And popes dating to Paul VI have voiced support for the civil rights movement in the U.S. and Martin Luther King Jr.s message of nonviolent protest. Francis spoke Kings words at length during his historic speech to the U.S. Congress in 2015. He also met with Kings daughter, as the pope before him had done.

Alberto Melloni is a church historian in Bologna, Italy. He said the attention that Francis and the Vatican have given to Floyds killing is unusual. It suggests it is a planned message aimed at Catholic churches in the U.S. that the Pope has long criticized for its political and ideological partisanship.

During his speech, the pope said, We cannot close our eyes to any form of racism or exclusion, while acting as if we are defending the value of every human life.

Francis has been unhappy that the American church is obsessed with abortion, birth control and gay marriage while ignoring churchs teachings on racism, immigration and poverty. And U.S. President Donald Trump is reaching out to Catholic voters with his anti-abortion policies.

The Pope spoke out after Trump had his picture taken in front of an Episcopal church near the White House. The picture happened after law enforcement had used tear gas to push protesters away from a nearby park.

A day later, the highest-ranking African American bishop in the U.S., Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., denounced Trumps visit at a religious place honoring St. John Paul II.

Last week, the pope called Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas after seeing a picture of Seitz kneeling in prayer at a Black Lives Matter protest. Seitz has also taken a leadership role in demanding fair treatment for migrants attempting to cross the southern U.S. border, a cause Francis supports.

The Vatican would likely not want to be viewed as choosing sides before the U.S. election. But Francis was not alone in making the Vaticans views known.

The Vatican City newspaper, LOsservatore Romano, had three Floyd-related stories on its front cover last Sunday. They were about peaceful protests, aggressive policing methods and injustices suffered by black Americans.

Natalia Imperatori-Lee is a professor of religious studies at Manhattan College in New York. She told the Associated Press that the Vaticans message is having an effect on American Catholics.

A poll from a religion research organization last week found a sharp drop between this and last year in the percentage of white Catholics with a high opinion of Trump. It was at 37 percent near the end of May 2020 compared with 49 percent across 2019.

Imperatori-Lee said the test will be if Catholic religious leaders are still speaking publicly about racism six months from now and what happens when Catholics vote in November.

Im Anna Matteo.

The Associated Press reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

kneel - v. to move your body so that one or both of your knees are on the floor or ground

fellow - b. an advanced student at a university who is given money to pay for food, housing and other things

abortion - n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus

church - n. A building that is used for Christian religious services

partisanship - n. The act of strongly supporting a particular leader, group, or cause

poll - n. an activity in which many people are asked questions to get information about what most people think about something

obsessed - adj. to think and talk about someone or something too much

bishop - n. a Christian official who is ranked higher than a priest and usually in charge of church matters in a geographical area

migrant - n. a person who goes from one place to another, especially to find work
Public dissatisfaction with the role that police play in communities  a concern brought into sharp focus by the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd on Memorial Day by a police officer there  played out Wednesday in cities across the Bay Area.

This included a march at dusk toward the home of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf that drew hundreds of mostly young protesters. But there also were events as disparate as a virtual town meeting in Redwood City on the topic of community policing and a pledge by nine mayors in Sonoma County to review their cities policies with regards to public safety.

We need to make swift and thoughtful changes to our police policies and we need to create an environment for productive community dialogue, Tom Schwedhelm, mayor of Santa Rosa, said at an afternoon press conference that included mayors and police chiefs from across the North Bay county.

Several hours later in Oakland, hundreds of people gathered in a parking lot at Fruitvale Avenue and Foothill Boulevard to prepare to march to Schaafs house.

Now Playing: Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, local artists and community members paint over boarded-up storefronts in Downtown Oakland. The grassroots project responds to the civil unrest over police violence and systemic racism, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Video: Caron Creighton

A flyer publicizing the protest on social media urged Schaaf to redirect police funding toward education and homelessness. Among the organizers was Shaylah Ellis, 23, a teacher at Skyline High School in Oakland.

A lot of people are thinking Defund the police means they dont get money, Ellis said. We still recognize they have to have some type of funding. I just feel other things could use better funding, rather than police getting almost 50% of the (city) budget.

A similar note was sounded by Jojo Williams, 38, who brought her daughters Aalayah, 13, and Aminah, 6, to the demonstration.

Now Playing: A protest / march to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff's home in Oakland, Calif. On Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Video: Matt Kawahara / The Chronicle

Put the money in the community for kids to have things to do, Williams said. She voiced enthusiasm as more and more young people arrived, saying it shows the new generation is not playing any games.

The march was supposed to leave at around 6:30 p.m., but it didnt get underway for nearly an hour later. A flatbed truck filled with protesters pulled onto Fruitvale Avenue while marchers began chanting, Were going to Libbys house.

Now Playing: Demonstrators light candles during a youth led protest to defund the Oakland Police Department in front of Mayor Libby Schaafs house in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Video: Sarahbeth Maney / The Chronicle

The march was peaceful and mostly festive, though chants like F the police rang out as well. The only strong show of law enforcement was the line of uniformed California Highway Patrol officers blocking access to Interstate 580 ramps as the march headed east.

As the flatbed climbed ever-narrower streets in the Oakland hills, protesters close behind, some neighbors lining the sidewalk clapped or held up fists. Yo, we in the gentrified Oakland, laughed the speaker using the trucks sound system.

It was nearly dark when the march came to a halt on Oakmore Road, outside the mayors house. Many marchers held lit candles. There was a moment of silence to memorialize people killed or brutalized by police and then speeches began.

The group broke up at around 9:15, many leaving signs or spent candles at the front door. If Schaaf was inside, she didnt make her presence known.

Sarahbeth Maney / The Chronicle

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The virtual town hall in Redwood City was more sedate, but a testament of its own to increasingly acknowledged concerns about the extent to which police exercise their authority.

More than 500 people tuned into the event on Zoom, Mayor Diane Howard said after 90 minutes of questions, most submitted in advance. Many came from supporters of the effort by Black Lives Matter to have cities restrict the ability of police to respond with force to what they characterize as threats. Advocates also want money in the police budget directed toward programs such as social services and mental health care.

In addition to the San Mateo County suburbs city council, police chief Dan Mulholland fielded questions.

As criticism of police department practices gained intensity during the past week, I got very defensive, and wanted to have a bunker mentality, Mulholland admitted.

Since then, the police chief said, hes come to realize that not every resident feels secure when they see a uniformed officer  or, he conceded, with an armored military vehicle given to the city by the federal government in 2014.

We view it as an insurance policy, one that we hope we will never use, Mulholland said. Weve come to understand that it scares members of our community.

Chronicle Staff Writer Anna Bauman contributed to this article.

Matt Kawahara and John King are Chronicle staff writers. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara @johnkingsfchron
I coined the term predatory cities to describe urban areas where public officials systematically take property from residents and transfer it to public coffers, intentionally or unintentionally violating domestic laws or basic human rights.

Ferguson, Mo., is one well-known predatory city. As a 2015 Department of Justice report showed, the police in Ferguson systematically targeted African-Americans and subjected them to excessive fines and fees. The U.S. Constitution does not allow judges to incarcerate defendants for unpaid debts without first determining their ability to pay. Nevertheless, local courts issued arrest warrants for unpaid fines and fees without these determinations. Minor offenses, like parking infractions, resulted in jail time, although lawmakers did not contemplate or approve such severe punishment. The Ferguson Police Department and courts prioritized revenue raising over public safety, transforming Ferguson into a predatory city.

New Orleans is another. In 2018, a Federal District Court ruled that the revival of debtors prisons in New Orleans violated the 14th Amendment. At the time, a key source of Orleans Parish Criminal District Courts funding was the fines and fees it collected. This created a structural incentive for judges to aggressively and erroneously pursue payment from those with no ability to pay, turning New Orleans into a predatory city.

Washington, D.C., is yet another predatory city. While civil asset forfeiture laws allow the police to seize property that they suspect was involved in a crime, in Washington, D.C., property owners had to post bonds of up to $2,500 in order to challenge the seizure. If the owner could not raise money in time, the D.C. Police Department sold the property, and the money went into its annual budget. In a two-year period, the Police Department made $4.8 million in profit by seizing money from over 8,500 people as well as seizing 339 vehicles. According to a federal court, this abuse of civil forfeiture laws was illegal.
By Richard Dool

Can you imagine an effective leader who is not an effective communicator? Maybe, but not for long. Nothing tests a leaders communication competency more than a crisis. We are living through a vivid, live leadership laboratory where we are witnessing those leaders who are seizing the moment and others who unfortunately have not.

There has never been a time in our history with so much scrutiny driven by the rise of social media and the multiplicity of outlets. Leaders no longer have private moments, everything they do and say is watched, analyzed and judged. This demands a level of consistency that seems to be hard for some leaders to achieve. They must be consistent in attitude, values, tone, words, actions and behaviors. Inconsistencies plant seeds of doubt.

We can argue the merits of this but when our president refuses to wear a mask or takes a medication that the FDA expressly recommends against as a health risk for his profile, or publicly contradicts his own experts, this is not leading by example. It is sending mixed messages.

Foremost, leaders must acknowledge the crisis in rational, appropriate and relevant terms. Some leaders seem to react to a crisis by denying, minimizing, rationalizing or even lying about the scale and scope. It is critical to be as transparent and honest as possible. We are seeing this in living color as some leaders have minimized the COVID-19 risk, distorted the facts, assailed the experts, and used the crisis for political gain. Our president has done this consistently as have others like Senate leaders Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell.

It is always best to communicate with purpose, intent and substance in a timely manner. Nothing will undermine credibility and confidence more than lying, distorting or exaggerating. There are leaders who have demonstrated how to effectively set the tone and foundation for an effective response. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Aderns early lockdown to curtail the pandemic is a good example. Her clarity and decisiveness are praised for saving New Zealand from the worst of the crisis. Others like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen have been widely praised as well. We have other local examples as well  New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani after 9-11 and Gov. Chris Christie after Super Storm Sandy.

In a crisis, leaders need to over-communicate. This is not a time to go quiet, be less visible or hide behind innocuous emails, press releases or statements. Some leaders seem to revert to an information is power or need to know modality. Both are mistakes. In times of crisis, leaders need to be out front, visible, active and fully engaged. However, this does not mean they are out there solely to be visible. They must be strategic, intentional and deliberate in their communication. They need to make it easy for stakeholders to have access to and consume critical messages in a palatable form. They leverage every communication medium.

Communication is also about creating dialog. The best leaders approach communication in a crisis as an interaction. They keep their finger on the pulse of their key stakeholders and seem to understand it is critical for them to hear what they need to hear versus want to hear. Too many leaders seem to be too much in love with their own voice. The best leaders know the critical need to create both formal and informal bi-directional and active feedback mechanisms. They listen, internalize, reflect and take appropriate action based on the varied input.

To help fuel dialog and also central to attitude is the leaders choice in tone, demeanor and words. To start, the word choices should not be chock full of I and me. Too many leaders seem to think this is all about them and are far too self-absorbed. The better leaders are deliberate in their use of us and we. They let us know they are in charge, but they balance this with an authentic use of we. They portray a tone of confidence, but with a dose of humility, realism and positive pragmatism. They create a balance between we will get through this with the pragmatic and practical challenges realistically presented. We do not want false hope or fake platitudes. Tell us straight, but in an open and positive framed manner.

To do this, they need to be deliberate in word choices and also to keep it simple. It is not about being eloquent or demonstrating intellectual prowess, it is about ensuring the leaders message is understood as the leader intended and appropriate actions and behaviors are activated.

In the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters, one representing danger and the other, opportunity. Leaders need to seize this moment and acknowledge the crisis, while also painting a picture of life after the crisis.

Richard Dool is a teaching professor and director of the Communication and Media Masters Program at Rutgers University-New Brunswicks School of Communication and Information.

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Indonesia's coronavirus case count could double to more than 60,000 infections in the next two weeks as testing becomes more widespread, according to Professor Amin Soebandrio, the director of Jakarta's Eijkman Institute of Microbiology.

Australia's near neighbour recorded more than 1000 cases for two days in a row, a new record, a little more than two weeks after the major religious holiday of Idul Fitri. The spike in cases has prompted epidemiologists to call on the national government to rethink the easing of social restrictions.

A boy waits to receive a coronavirus antibody test from health workers at a village in Bali, Indonesia. Credit:AP

While Indonesia's south-east Asian neighbours such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore appear to have the spread of the virus relatively under control, judging by the daily case numbers, Indonesia's infection rates are still climbing.

In the last two weeks, the country's health department has only once recorded fewer than 500 new daily cases. Case number records were made on Saturday, with 993 cases, then broken Tuesday with 1,043 and Wednesday with 1,241. On Thursday, another 979 infections were reported - just shy of the daily record.
The Member of Parliament for Assin Central in the Central Region Kennedy Ohene Agyapong who is also a businessman and philanthropist has run down the image and integrity of Prophet Nigel Gaisie who is the founder and Leader of Prophetic Hill Chapel.

The MP has recently been known for exposing the so called men of God whom he describes many as fake including the leader of Prophetic Hill Chapel Prophet Nigel Gaisie.

He said the fake prophet is a crook and a dirty womaniser.

He made these remarks when speaking on the "The Seat Show" Wednesday 10th June, 2020 on Net 2 television hosted by Kwaku Annan.

According to the Assin Central MP, he has a tall list of celebrities including television and radio presenters as well as actresses that Prophet Nigel Gaisie has bonked.

But was quick to praise Nana Aba Anamoah for "being smart and not falling for the antics of the fake prophet".

"I wonder why an important personality like President Mahama would associate himself with a person like Nigel Gaisie". I respect him a lot, God has blessed him so much that, I don't understand why he should be associating with such characters," the MP intimated.

He implored all the other siblings of President Mahama including Ibrahim Mahama to advise their brother, former President Mahama to dissociate himself from prophet Gaisie who he described as "fake, crook, extortionist and worse than Bishop Obinim".

Kennedy Agyapong promised viewers of the show to look for more expose with pictures and names of some celebrities Prophet Gaisie has slept with.
Foliage is a fine dining restaurant in Franschhoek where you're not subjected to an endless discourse on the provenance of the food and you do not need a microscope to see the contents of the plate. The food is recognisable and beautifully presented and, most important of all, absolutely delicious. So it was with dismay that I read that Chris Erasmus was not going to reopen Foliage as a fine dining restaurant when restaurants finally emerge from lockdown, but rather convert it to a deli and grocery store selling "stuff that people grow in their backyards and make at home".

 Claire Gunn

Restaurants like Foliage provide employment, facilitate the transfer of valuable skills to younger chefs who then often go on to start their own businesses, and they demonstrate excellence on a global level. And despite the perilous position most restaurants find themselves in now, one cant imagine a future where all restaurants, including fine dining, wont again hold worldwide appeal.

The gourmet capital

 Claire Gunn

The food capital

Whatever one may say about fine dining  the pretension, et cetera  these restaurants play a pivotal role in the South African culinary scene. They not only attract the big-spending types of tourists who fly all over the world to eat at buzzed-about spots; they put South Africa on the global radar in a purely positive way. And in a country where coverage about corruption, crime and government malfeasance runs rampant, that is no small thing. As described in a New Yorker profile of the famed American chef Mario Batali: Celebrity chefs sell more than food; they sell stories.Delis and small grocers supporting local community initiatives is a terrific idea, but whether one of those should replace one of the best restaurants in South Africa, Im not entirely sure about. Erasmus and fellow Franschhoek chef Margot Janses efforts during the lockdown to galvanise a collective effort to feed the local community is beyond admirable and continuing to spearhead a system that supports that community post-lockdown is inarguably important. She and Erasmus certainly walk the talk about feeding those who cannot feed themselves and sharing what they know.But why should that come at the cost of permanently shutting one of the best examples of contemporary South African cooking? A restaurant that is uniformly and consistently highly regarded, popular and successful. One that generates artistry, awards, international exposure and money. Is it not possible to do both?Erasmus worked with Janse for years at internationally lauded Le Quartier Francais. Janse is another wildly exciting and accomplished chef, not to mention an extraordinarily decent human being. At Le Quartier, where she ran the kitchen for 21 years, she was well-known for using indigenous herbs in her food: buchu and kapokbos (indigenous rosemary) among them, and celebrating where that food came from by highlighting it in the cooking techniques.So its no surprise that Erasmus is also big on foraging and using indigenous fynbos in his food, which only adds to the culinary and cultural appeal of Foliage. As Susan Huxter, the former owner of Le Quartier Francais said of Erasmus and foraging, hes taken it to another level.In addition to running Le Quartier, and making the supremely wise decision to hand over the kitchen there to Janse, Huxter was one of the original team whose idea it was to market Franschhoek as the gourmet capital of South Africa.People will go to a destination purely to eat, and we became one of those destinations, she said. Youve got all these young chefs who do really exciting food. The ingredients you get compared to when we started is different. Theres a food culture; theres an excitement about food.In the past couple of years, Ive been interviewing chefs and restaurant owners for a reporting-oriented take on the development of the restaurant culture in Cape Town, widely considered to be the food capital of South Africa (the Winelands being an extension of the citys restaurant scene).

Many attribute its start to Italian immigrants. Before they set up shop here, the only places to dine out were tearooms, clubs, hotels and pubs, where an a la carte menu was unheard of. Italians not only pioneered the modern way of eating out in the city, but they also introduced Capetonians to pasta and gelato and espresso: exotic commodities in the Cape Town of the 50s and 60s.



As local cookbook author Phillippa Cheifitz writes in Cape Town Food: In the 1950s, the Italians introduced cappuccino and lasagna in casual coffee bars to a society that was more familiar with the formality of hotel grill rooms and department store tea rooms.





But more than the sort of food and drinks they offered, they brought with them a new way of eating and drinking  that quintessential Italian way of socialising, where food turns a meal into a party. As John Dickie writes in Delizia! The epic history of the Italians and their food: Italian food is city food. Italy has the richest tradition of urban living on the planet, and the enviable way in which Italians eat is part of that tradition.

By 1976, according to the John Muirs Guide to Cape Town published that year, there were something like 200 restaurants in Cape Town: I also do not think it is fair to compare South African restaurants to the top restaurants in the international cities. However, you should be able to get good food, well prepared, effective service and an enjoyable atmosphere, he writes.



The foodie magnet

Well, that certainly is not the case anymore. Cape Town eateries regularly feature on international best restaurants lists and the coverage that follows in the international media is glowing and immeasurable.





 Claire Gunn

The Test Kitchen is possibly SAs most well-known fine dining restaurant and a regular item on these lists. The Test Kitchen is an essential stop for any epicurean exploring the city, and a peerless exemplar of how innovative South African cuisine can be, according to an article in the British Telegraph newspaper from 2017, after The Test Kitchen made number 63 on the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list that year (in the 51 to 100 category).The now Johannesburg-based David Higgs, who has put in his fair share of quality time at the helm of award-winning fine dining establishments in Cape Town and the Winelands, said the quality of the food is preeminent in fine dining. And the awards are judged that way.Its also about more luxury, more attention to personal service and the chef being there, he added. Taking a Caesar salad and reducing it to one bite  thats not what it is. The ambience, temperature, lighting, venue, food and service: you need to get all those things right  and thats not easy.Another celebrated Franschhoek chef, Reuben Riffel, who opened his first restaurant in 2004 in the Winelands town and now owns restaurants in the Cape and Johannesburg, said the Cape has always attracted more foodie tourists than Joburg. Here we get people that eat out all over the world, so here chefs can experiment and they can do different things, he said.From unoriginal, reportedly often unpalatable beginnings in formal dining rooms, restaurant food in South Africa has become a force to be reckoned with on an international scale, populated by sublimely talented individuals such as Janse, Higgs, Riffel and Erasmus.In a recent interview with Dennis Davis, former finance minister Trevor Manuel described a very smart restaurant sector that had developed organically from a time when you really battled to get a decent coffee shop anywhere in South Africa, and one that formed an important part of the economy.

You look at tourism in South Africa: At last count, and this could have been late last year, employed about 1.5 million people in the South African economy, contributed a large sum . . . generally around R250bn give or take contributions to GDP, Manuel said.



Restaurants are an integral part of that contribution. And what Chris Erasmus does is an integral part of the restaurant scene. For Erasmus and Foliage, not to be a part of that anymore would be a loss to South Africa in more ways than one.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Venezuelan authorities have jailed three local DirecTV executives under an arrest warrant issued after the Dallas-based company abruptly cut off services to the South American country last month, citing U.S. sanctions against the socialist government, the men's lawyer said Friday.

Carlos Villamizar, one of the three men, told reporters in his attorney's office before surrendering that he had no prior knowledge that the services were being ended and that he was innocent of any crimes.

It was a total surprise, he said, choking up with emotion over concern for his family and two young children. I'm innocent.

Villamizar said he was a victim along with at least 600 fellow DirecTV employees in Venezuela who lost their jobs under the decision made by the company's executives in the U.S. Villamizar then left the lawyer's office and surrendered at a feared Caracas jail called the Helecoide, where the other two men were believed to be held.

The two other executives, Hector Rivero and Rodolfo Carrano, were arrested Thursday, said lawyer Jesus Loreto, who is representing the trio. He called their detention unjust, saying the men had cooperated with authorities, appearing this week first at chief prosecutors office and then the Venezuelan Supreme Court.

All three of the men are Venezuelan citizens, said Loreto, adding that he didn't know the charges. Whatever the men were accused of was senseless," he said.

DirecTV, which is owned by Dallas-based AT&T, abruptly ditched its popular satellite TV service on May 19. It cited U.S. sanctions that prohibited DirecTV from broadcasting channels that were required by the administration of President Nicolas Maduro.

The administration of President Donald Trump has increased political pressure on Maduro in what it calls a maximum pressure campaign aimed at ending the socialist leaders rule, which it says has led the once wealthy oil nation into ruin.

Story continues

The abrupt end to DirecTV service caused an uproar among leaders in Maduro's government, who accused the company of denying its citizens rights to information.

Residents of Caracas for at least two nights following the announcement mounted protests from inside their homes, banging pots and pans in unison. They lost service in the middle of a quarantine order for the coronavirus pandemic, and many people in poor neighborhoods have no other form of receiving movies, news and sports.

Days after AT&T cut the service, Venezuelas high court ordered the nations telecommunications agency to seize satellite dishes and office space at transmission centers. It also said DirecTV programming should immediately return to the airwaves, in an order that was not likely to be heeded.

Officials in Maduro's government didn't comment on the arrests.

Lori Lee, CEO of AT&T Latin America, said in a statement that the arrests were inexplicable considering that the three executives in Venezuela had nothing to do with the shutting down of the service.

To the contrary, this decision was taken by AT&T executives in the United States, without the knowledge or participation of these individuals or any other former Venezuelan employees, Lee said.

AT&T joined a number of other U.S. companies  General Motors, Kellogg and Kimberly-Clark  that have abandoned Venezuela due to shrinking sales, government threats and the risk of U.S. sanctions.

AT&T hadnt made money from its Venezuelan operations for years due to strict government controls that keep the price of its packages artificially low  a few pennies per month. The situation has become so dire that DirecTV in 2012 stopped importing set-top boxes, choking its growth. In 2015, it wrote down its assets in the country by $1.1 billion.
Actor Amitabh Bachchans look in the upcoming film Gulabo Sitabo has uncanny similarities to a man photographed by Delhi-based blogger Mayank Austen Soofi. The original photograph was taken in 2019, in Old Delhi.

OH DAMN! Actor Amitabh Bachchans first look from the forthcoming movie Gulabo Sitabo is exactly the replica of an Old Delhi man whose portrait I clicked and posted on my Insta in Jan last yeardown to his scarf, beard, glasses! Soofi had tweeted on May 23. He had no further comment beyond his tweet, he said.

OMG, wrote photographer Dayanita Singh in the comments section of Soofis Instagram post, adding, And more power to your image making ability. Another commentor wrote, The resemblance is unbelievable!

In the film, directed by Shoojit Sircar, Amitabh plays a Lucknow man who is extremely possessive about his ancestral haveli. When a young tenant, played by Ayushmann Khurrana, attempts to take control of it, expecting Amitabhs character to die soon, a battle of wits ensues between the two men.

Shoojit claims that the reference for the characters look came from a pencil portrait a portrait by Russian artist Olga Larionova.

Also read: Gulabo Sitabo: Amitabh Bachchan corrects interviewer who described Ayushmann Khurrana as rising star

Gulabo Sitabo is the first high-profile Hindi release to debut directly on a streaming platform. The film will be released on Amazon Prime Video on June 12.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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For most of their history, Southern Baptists have opened their meetings with a gavel named for a slaveholder.

The president of the nations largest Protestant denomination now says that gavel should be retired.

Southern Baptists, I think it is time to retire the Broadus gavel, said J. D. Greear in a Wednesday statement. While we do not want to, nor could we, erase our history, it is time for this gavel to go back into the display case at the Executive Committee offices.

The gavel, first used by SBC officials in 1872, was named for John A. Broadus, a Confederacy supporter and a founding faculty member of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the SBCs flagship seminary.

The SBC president said he had felt uneasy using the gavel at the 2019 meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. He was aware of Broaduss racial views but also said he did seem to change some of his positions later in life.

Greear said the gavels presence was sending a mixed message from a denomination that was founded in 1845 in defense of missionaries who owned slaves.

Here we were, a convention of nearly 48,000 independent, autonomous churches, meeting in a city that has been filled with (a) horrific history of civil rights abuses, making historic moves in the areas of diversity, abuse, and mission, using a gavel named after a Southern Baptist who owned slaves and was deeply involved in our founding, he said.

Greear said he learned months after the Birmingham meeting that denominational presidents have a choice in what gavel they use. His office said no vote is required for that decision.

The Broadus gavel is the one that has been used continuously to open the convention since 1872, but others were incorporated as well, he said.

Greear is considering his options for which gavel to use next year but cited two named for missionaries.

According to a historical note in the denominations 1939 Annual, the Broadus gavel was given to the SBC at its meeting on May 9, 1872.

The Rev. J. A. Broadus of South Carolina, presented to the Convention a mallet for the use of the President, which he had brought from Jerusalem for that purpose, according to the note.

The Annual detailed the denominational presidents through whose hands the gavel had passed.

If this gavel had the power to tell us what it has witnessed, we should be thrilled by its story, reads the Annual. As numberless points of order have been raised and all sorts of tangles rose to the surface, it has sent forth its sharp, decisive, imperious mandates in obedience to the parliamentary umpires in the chair.

Greears statement came a day after he declared in an online addressthat replaced one he would have given at the now-canceled annual meetingthat Southern Baptists should say black lives matter.

Of course, black lives matter, he said. Our black brothers and sisters are made in the image of God.

Greear added, though, that he didnt align with Black Lives Matter, the organization founded in 2013.

I think saying bold things like defund the police is unhelpful and deeply disrespectful to many public servants who bravely put themselves in harms way every day to protect us, he said. But I know that we need to take a deep look at our police systems and structures and ask what were missing. Where are we missing the mark? And Ill say that we do that because black lives matter.

Greear was asked by Religion News Service in late May if there was any consideration of not using the Broadus gavel in 2020 or in future meetings.

I was planning on using the Judson gavel or the Annie Armstrong gavel this year in Orlando, he said in response. Adoniram Judson was a missionary that inspired me and I named my son after him. Annie Armstrong demonstrated the missionary spirit that I believe Southern Baptists should be about.

He added in his new statement that Armstrong fought to send the first female African American missionaries and Judson was one of the first missionaries to travel to Burma, working there 30 years translating the entire Bible into Burmese and planting numerous Baptist churches.
The Southwest Monsoon set in over Odisha on Thursday with several parts of the state receiving heavy rainfall, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Conditions are now favourable for the advance of the Southwest Monsoon into some parts of the Central Arabian Sea and Maharashtra, remaining parts of Telangana, west central and North Bay of Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim and, some more parts of Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal in the next 48 hours, the IMD indicated.

The Southwest Monsoon has set in over Odisha on Thursday. Widespread rainfall is expected over south and coastal Odisha districts and heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in Koraput, Malkangiri, in the next 24 hours, Director of IMD Bhubaneswar, HR Biswas said.

The monsoon has arrived in Odisha, the Bhubaneswar Met Centre also said in a tweet.

ALSO READ | Monsoon arrives in Maharashtra, coastal areas receive showers

With the advancement of the monsoon, heavy rainfall is likely to lash a few districts in Odisha over the next two days. The Met departments prediction that the monsoon is likely to be normal this year has brought some relief to farmers in West Bengal and Odisha, hit hard this year by severe cyclonic storm Amphan which damaged standing crops in both states.

The IMD Goa unit too announced on Thursday that the onset of monsoon in the state -- a week behind its schedule  had begun in parts of the Konkan coast and Maharashtra.

The northern limit of the monsoon, which is lying at Karwar in neighbouring Karnataka and south of Goa, has covered all of Karnataka and entered parts of Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the IMD said.

The onset of the Southwest Monsoon is usually declared after necessary conditions have been met such as westerly winds blowing at a speed between 30 and 45 kilometres per hour (kmph) and widespread distribution of moderate to heavy rainfall over certain areas during the last 24 hours.

IMD officials have also issued a red alert warning for Goa, as the state is expected to record extremely heavy rainfall measuring over 20.4 cm and 11.5 cm on Friday and Saturday, followed by an orange alert, or heavy rainfall, on Sunday.

The IMD authorities expect this years monsoon to be normal in Goa.
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A person armed with a knife attacked a primary school in the town of Vrutky in the north of Slovakia on Thursday, a deputy headmaster is dead, the police shot the attacker, the Slovak police said on its website

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2020) A person armed with a knife attacked a Primary school in the town of Vrutky in the north of Slovakia on Thursday, a deputy headmaster is dead, the police shot the attacker, the Slovak police said on its website.

Two adults and two children were injured, the police said.

According to TAZ broadcaster, the headmaster and several children have been injured,
Malaysia follows Indonesia in not allowing its citizens to visit Mecca and Medina for the annual pilgrimage.

Malaysia will not allow its citizens to make the Hajj pilgrimage this year due to concerns over the coronavirus.

Every year, Malaysia sends tens of thousands of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, home of Islams two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, for the annual event.

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Malaysia decided to bar citizens from making the trip this year due to the risks of contracting COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, and the lack of a vaccine to treat it, said Religious Affairs Minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, following in the steps of neighbouring Indonesia, which is also a Muslim-majority nation.

I hope the pilgrims continue to be patient and accept the decision, Zulkifli told a news conference broadcast on national television.

Saudi Arabia has suspended the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages until further notice in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Malaysian pilgrims can wait up to 20 years to make the trip due to a quota system negotiated with Saudi Arabia.

In a separate statement, the Tabung Haji board  which manages savings plans for prospective pilgrims  said the decision would affect approximately 31,600 people selected to make the trip this year.

Malaysia has reported 8,369 coronavirus cases so far, with 118 fatalities.

Last week, Indonesia  the worlds most populous Muslim-majority nation  announced it would not be sending its citizens for the pilgrimage this year.

Some 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world go to Mecca and Medina for the week-long ritual scheduled to begin in late July this year.

The pilgrimage is also a significant source of income for Saudi Arabia.
Photo credit: Astrobotic

From Popular Mechanics

During a June 11 press conference NASA announced that Astrobotic won a $199.5 million contract to ferry the agency's new lunar rover to the Moon.

The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) is set to explore the lunar surface in search of its most valuable resource: water.

NASA plans to launch the rover aboard Astrobotic's Griffin lunar lander in 2023.

NASA has selected Astrorobotic to ferry the agency's new lunar robot to the moon. In 2023, Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will blast off for the moon's south pole in search of water ice.

NASA made the announcement during an 11 a.m. press conference on June 11. The award is part of NASA's $2.8 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative; Astrobotic will receive a $199.5 million contract to deliver the robotic explorer, which NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., is developing.

"We've learned a lot from all of our missions, but maybe one of the most surprising findings of recent years was that water ice has accumulated in the extremely cold permanently shadowed regions of the moon," director of NASA's Planetary Science Division Lori Glaze said in the press conference. The India Space Research Office's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft discovered the presence of water ice when it sent an impactor to the lunar surface in 2008. NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument on the spacecraft confirmed the finding.

Photo credit: Astrobotic

Water ice will become a precious commodity as we explore and colonize the moon. Water molecules can be broken down, providing both oxygen for us to breath and hydrogen to use for rocket fuel. But there's still a lot to learn about the lunar resource. "We don't know how it's distributed or what form it's in," Glaze said referring to the moon's water. "It might be distributed as ice crystals or water molecules chemically bound to other materials."

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VIPER is designed to drill into the moon's surface and analyze samples of the lunar regolith for water molecules using the four science instruments on board. Over the course of its 100 Earth-day-mission, the rover will travel several miles charting the location and concentration of water ice, according to a NASA press release. Ultimately, the rover will play a key role in developing a global lunar water map, which the agency says will dictate where astronauts will land in the coming years.

Astrobotic's Griffin lunar lander, which can haul loads of up to 1,100 pounds, will be tasked with ferrying VIPER to the moon. Once Griffin lands, a ramp will unfurl and VIPER will roll onto the lunar surface, ready to explore.

"The moon can become a destination for refueling our spacecraft and to explore and maybe even go deeper into space," John Thornton, the CEO of Astrobotic said. "Understanding what that water is from a commercial perspective as well as from a science perspective could potentially truly unlock the solar system to exploration and science."

The Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic was founded in 2007. Last year, the company was selected to deliver 14 payloads to the moon aboard its Peregrin lunar lander. NASA awarded the company with $79.5 million to help them ferry materials to the moon's equator starting in 2021. And in July of last year, the company was awarded a contract for its autonomous rover, MoonRanger. The rover will explore and create 3D maps of the lunar surface.

A total of 14 companies bid on the VIPER project. Astrobotic beat out industry veterans like Lockheed Martin, Draper, and Sierra Nevada Corporation as well as flashier contemporaries like Blue Origin and SpaceX, which is coming off of the successful May 30 launch of its Crew Dragon capsule.

Firefly Aerospace Inc., Moon Express, Masten Space Systems, OrbitBeyond, Intuitive Machines LLC, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems and Deep Space Systems also put in a bid, but Astrobotic emerged victorious.

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Benchmark indices ended on negative note on June 11 on the back of weak global cues and Supreme Court's verdict on the AGR case.

At close, the Sensex was down 708.68 points or 2.07% at 33538.37, and the Nifty was down 214.20 points or 2.12% at 9902.

S&P BSE Telecom was down 4 percent at close on June 11 on the back of Supreme Court hearing on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case.

The hearing comes after the one held on March 18, where the apex court pulled up the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for allowing telcos to self-assess payable dues.

The top loser in the index was Vodafone Idea which tanked 13 percent followed by Bharti Infratel, HFCL, Tejas Networks, ITI and Bharti Airtel.

Shares of Reliance Communications and GTL Infra however jumped over 4 percent each while MTNL added a percent.

The case is being heard by a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and including Justices MR Shah and S Abdul Nazeer. The same bench, on March 18, held that no further objections would be allowed against payable dues.

On March 16, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the DoT had sought staggered payment over 20 years of AGR dues by telecom companies. The plea also asked that telcos not be charged a penalty and interests on penalty and principal beyond the date of the judgement.

For Bharti Airtel, the AGR dues as per DoT is Rs 35,500 crore whereas it is Rs 13,000 crore as per the company's self-assessment. So far, it has paid Rs 18,800 crore. As per DoT, it still has to pay Rs 17,500 crore.

For Vodafone Idea, DoT claims that the remaining payable is Rs 53,000 crore while the company claims it is Rs 21,500 crore. So far, the company has paid Rs 6,900 crore. As per DoT, it still has to pay Rs 46,100 crore.

The court had ordered telcos to clear total dues of Rs 1.47 lakh crore in line with the telecom department's estimate

Vodafone Idea, Tata Teleservices and Bharti Airtel owe the bulk of the dues.

Airtel has already paid Rs 13,000 crore, but this is less than half of the companys estimated liabilities. Meanwhile, Vodafone has so far paid Rs 3,500 crore out of the "self-assessed" liability of Rs 21,533 crore it estimates it owes, but much lower than the government demand.
Bill O'Reilly left Fox News Channel in 2017. (Richard Drew / AP)

ViacomCBS employees are asking the media company to drop a streaming channel carrying a new show by former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, the latest pushback against TV hosts and programming seen as insensitive to issues surrounding the death of George Floyd.

The conservative talk channel, called the First, is offered on Pluto TV, the ad-supported internet-based video service that ViacomCBS acquired last year for $340 million, The petition asks that the service remove the channel unless O'Reilly's program, which began running on the First on June 2, is dropped.

The petition, first reported by the Information website, says OReilly has a well-documented history of making racist comments, denying the existence of systemic racism, undermining the efforts of Black protesters and insulting Black public figures.

Numerous networks are being pressured to reassess their programming in response to simmering nationwide outrage and protests over the death of Floyd, the unarmed Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

ViacomCBS announced Tuesday that its Paramount cable network would no longer run the reality series "Cops," as pop culture portrayals of law enforcement are under close scrutiny. WarnerMedia has removed the 1939 classic film "Gone With The Wind" from its HBO Max streaming service until it can be presented with historical context on its depiction of Black people and slavery in the South.

O'Reilly was the most popular host in cable news and the tentpole of Fox News Channel's primetime lineup until a series of sexual harassment claims and settlements with female employees and contributors to the network surfaced in 2016. He was fired in April 2017 following an advertiser boycott of his program.

O'Reilly has been producing his own program, "No Spin News," in recent years and offers them for streaming on a subscription basis. The content from those programs is being reused on the First.

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In a statement to The Times, ViacomCBS said it has no plans to drop the First, saying the company does not interfere with the programming decisions of the channels carried by Pluto TV.

"Pluto TV, by design, is a service that makes available a wide variety of channels programmed by third parties, and we think it is critical to represent a diversity of viewpoints, even those we disagree with," the company said.

The company added that it is in the process of reviewing its standards for content and channels available on Pluto TV.

Pluto TV carries more than 200 channels and its offerings include left-leaning talk programs such as "The Young Turks."

ViacomCBS has the power to discontinue any channels now that it owns the Pluto TV service. But the service operates independently; "Cops" continues to air on its own streaming channel despite being dropped by Paramount.

The First channel, which reaches about 25 million households, is also carried by Xumo, an ad-supported streaming service that Comcast Corp. is acquiring. Xumo is a Pluto competitor.
Singapore, June 11 : Some 5,500 migrant workers from 40 dormitories in Singapore were cleared to resume working, following the completion of necessary preparations, a media report said.

They were among the first batch of 60 dormitories that the government declared clear of COVID-19 infection last week, The Straits Times report said on Wednesday.

The remaining 20 dormitories were still in the process of making the necessary arrangements that would allow their residents to resume work.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) also said that another 30 dormitories were added to the COVID-free list on Tuesday.

These 30 dorms include a purpose-built dormitory (PBD), 14 blocks of recovered workers in eight PBDs, and 29 factory converted dormitories and construction temporary quarters.

Once they make the necessary preparations as instructed by the government, their 8,400 migrant workers will be able to return to work.

They will join the 40,000 workers who have been cleared of COVID-19 and who may return to work, pending approval from the authorities.

The 5,500 workers who have received approval to resume work will now see a "Green" AccessCode on their SGWorkpass app, provided their companies have been given approval to resume work as well, The Straits Times reported.

The AccessCode feature shows a green status if a worker is coronavirus-free, their employer has been granted approval to resume operations, and the dorm they stay in has also been cleared.
Netflix and arts charity Support Act have announced the creation of a new COVID-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund to help the hardest hit workers in the television and film industry due to the production shutdowns caused by COVID-19 across all of Australia.

Netflix will donate AUD $1 million to launch the fund, which allows for a $1000 one-time grant to those most hardest hit.

Clive Miller, Support Act CEO said, The Board of Support Act recognises the huge impact that COVID-19 has had on production personnel across all of the creative industries, and the strong alignment that exists between the music industry and the Screen Arts. We congratulate Netflix on this initiative and we welcome the opportunity to partner with them to help deliver these funds at this extraordinary time of need.

Myleeta Aga, Netflix Director of Content for SEA and Australia, said: Were grateful to be able to work with Support Act to establish the Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund. We want to help those in the Australian screen industry who most need financial assistance, especially casual workers hit by the current crisis.

The grant is available to the most vulnerable below the line run of show and casual employees in the screen sector, who cannot work due to the near global production shutdown. Workers such as assistants, coordinators, technicians and operators from different production departments like camera, sound, music, art, make-up, costume design, locations and transportation, among others, many of whom are paid hourly wages and work on project-to-project basis, will be eligible to apply for the AUD$1,000 one-time benefit.

In addition to the Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund, Netflix is also making a donation to Support Act to assist its ongoing provision of crisis relief services to musicians, crew and music workers; and its mental health promotion activities which are now also available to arts workers across Australia.

The creation of this fund is part of an announcement Netflix made in March to set up a USD $100 million fund for those whose jobs have been affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has since been increased to $150M. Netflixs donation to Support Act, as well as to other organisations around the world (including India, Japan, UK, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Columbia), is part of the $30 million of the hardship fund that will be dedicated to providing emergency relief to out-of-work crew across the broader film and television industry in the countries.

Applications for the fund will open at 9AM on Monday 15 June. For more information about the fund, application process and eligibility criteria, please visit: https://supportact.org.au/apply-covid-19-film-and-tv-emergency-relief-fund.

About Support Act

Support Act is Australias only charity delivering crisis relief services to musicians, crew and music workers as a result of ill health, injury, a mental health problem, or some other crisis (such as COVID-19) that impacts on their ability to work in music.

It was established with support from founding members, ARIA PPCA and APRA AMCOS, and incorporated as a public company limited by guarantee on 7 August 1997. It was granted charity status in 2000.

The Support Act Wellbeing Helpline was established in June 2018 to provide free, confidential phone counselling to anyone working in Australian music who needs to talk about any aspect of their mental health. The service was expanded to all arts workers in May 2020 thanks to financial assistance from the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts. It can be accessed by calling #1800 959 500.
New York, NY, 10 June 2020In claiming lives and wreaking economic havoc throughout Africa, COVID-19 is placing an especially heavy burden on girls and women, primarily because their prominent role as caregivers (both in the workforce and at home) puts them on the frontlines of the pandemic response but also because they are more vulnerable to income and job loss as well as to domestic violence.

This is the fraught setting in which Women Deliver  a leading global advocate for gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women  announced today its 2020 class of Young Leaders.

Totaling 300 young changemakers, the class includes 117 individuals from 26 African countries, who are committed to advancing gender equality, with a focus on economic empowerment, political participation, education, climate, gender-based violence, and other issues. This class represents a deep commitment to adolescents and marginalized groups, with nearly a third of the total number of Young Leaders identifying as LGBTQIA+ and 20%belonging to a religious or ethnic minority group in their country.

The collective message of the Women Deliver Young Leaders from Africa is that, in the face of COVID-19 and other crises impacting women differently and often more severely than men, it is urgent and essential to mainstream gender in societys response, and this, in turn, requires dedicated and informed leadership  particularly among groups that have been traditionally excluded.

In Africa, the uneven damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to society and the economy demonstrates more dramatically than ever the need for a new approach to the continents growth and development  one that brings women and youth from the margins to the center of planning and action, said Vivian Onano, a Women Deliver Board Member and alumnus of the Young Leaders Program. The Women Deliver Young Leaders Program is an excellent example of how we must cultivate dedicated leaders who are capable of bringing about this shift.

The 117 Young Leaders from Africa focus on issues that range from sexual health to child trafficking in conflict zones. Among them are:

Olorunisola (Sola) Rebecca Abe, a 28-year-old Nigerian journalist who reports on influential women that inspire change and speaks to young girls about menstrual hygiene and management. With schools closed due to COVID-19, Abe has turned to her online social media platforms to share important stories and resources.

Liz Guantai, a 28-year-old Kenyan lawyer who trains and promotes participation and justice in human rights, HIV/AIDS, and gender equality issues with communities of faith, grassroots, and pastoral settings. With her in-person efforts postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19, she recently helped lead an online campaign around Menstrual Health Day  with joint multi-stakeholder efforts leading to a new Kenyan policy to address menstrual health challenges.

Joseph (Ekow) Amoako-Atta, a 22-year-old gender advocate from Ghana, who  inspired by his mother's entrepreneurship  wrote a novel and distributed it to young girls in rural communities. Since COVID-19, most of his advocacy efforts have moved online.

Divina Stella Maloum, a 15-year-old Cameroonian student who leads children's peace movements and advocates against child trafficking and exploitation in conflict zones. Since the pandemic, she's joined the African Youth Resilience Initiative Against COVID-19 to help mobilize children, youth, women, and civil society against the pandemic.

Yidnekachew Mogessie, a 24-year-old Ethiopian doctor advocating for gender equality and youth-friendly reproductive health services. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, he's been a volunteer advisor for the Ministry of Health's Adolescent and Youth Health Technical Working Group  helping to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on girls and women.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world that if we truly want to deliver health, wellbeing, and dignity for all, girls, women, and young people must be front and center in emergency responses, in social and economic recovery efforts, and in how we strengthen our health systems for the long term, said Katja Iversen, President/CEO of Women Deliver. As we witness young people responding to both new crises and old injustices, it's clear their leadership is fundamental to meaningful change. The Women Deliver Young Leaders Program is here to partner with young people, elevate their leadership, amplify their voices, and share knowledge and resources during this unprecedented time and beyond.

This was the program's most competitive application process yet, with more than 5,600 applications from 167 countries for 300 spots  nearly double the applications received in the previous round.

Women Deliver selected all the Young Leaders for their potential to have a lasting impact on the lives of girls and women. As a group, they have already driven tangible progress on a wide range of issues, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, LGBTQIA+ rights, peace and security, water and sanitation, gender-based violence, education, climate and environment, political participation, and youth engagement.

As in past years, the 2020 class will receive training and resources that extend their influence and enhance their capacity to shape programs and policies on the health and rights of girls, women, and young people. Since 2010, Women Deliver's Young Leaders Program has trained and supported 700 advocates, who are tackling the challenges that girls, women, and young people face in their communities and countries.



About Women Deliver:

Women Deliver is a leading global advocate that champions gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women. Our advocacy drives investment  political and financial  in the lives of girls and women. We harness evidence and unite diverse voices to spark commitment to gender equality. And we get results. Anchored in sexual and reproductive health, we advocate for the rights of girls and women across every aspect of their lives.

Started in 2010, the award-winning Women Deliver Young Leaders Program connects passionate young advocates with the platforms, people, and resources to amplify their influence on a larger scale. With an emphasis on sexual and reproductive health and rights, Women Deliver elevates the work of young people taking a stand for gender equality. The program has reached 1,000 young advocates from 148 countries.

Women Deliver is grateful to Global Affairs Canada, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Fondation Botnar, Novo Foundation, Oak Foundation, Unilever, and our entire community of supporters who provide the financial resources we need to advocate for the health and rights of girls and women everywhere. More information on our supporters can be found here.
Martin Gugino, 75, suffered brain injury after the incident in Buffalo, his lawyer says

The peace activist in Buffalo who was critically injured after being shoved by police has sustained brain injury, according to his attorney.

Martin Gugino, 75, is starting physical therapy after being hospitalized in intensive care following the incident last week, his attorney Kelly Zarcone told WNBC-TV on Thursday.

'As heartbreaking as it is, his brain is injured and he is well aware of that now,' Zarcone said in a statement.

'He feels encouraged and uplifted by the outpouring of support which he has received from so many people all over the globe. It helps. He is looking forward to healing and determining what his 'new normal' might look like,' she continued.

Zarcone didn't specify the type of brain injury sustained by Gugino, or whether the damage could be permanent.

Martin Gugino, a 75-year-old protester, lays on the ground after he was shoved by two Buffalo, New York, police officers during a protest on June 4

Gugino was injured last week as members of Buffalo's Emergency Response Team were ordering protesters to disperse shortly after the city's 8pm curfew went into effect.

Shocking video shows him being shoved backwards by officers and cracking his head on the pavement as he falls.

The two officers involved, Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe, have both been charged with felony assault. The ERT crowd control unit was effectively disbanded with the resignation of its nearly 60 other members in solidarity with their charged colleagues.

Legal experts unconnected to the case have said that the video of the incident may not be enough to convict them, given the legal requirements for conviction.

One of them went so far as to suggest the charges could be dismissed short of an indictment.

The two officers involved, Aaron Torgalski (left) and Robert McCabe (right) have both been charged with felony assault

In this 2016 photo, Martin Gugino, right, holds a sign reading 'Resist Racism,' in Washington, D.C., as part of a protest over the 2014 killing of 12 year-old African American Tamir Rice

'It might not even get out of the grand jury,' Rodney O. Personius, a criminal defense lawyer, told Buffalo News. 'I think there's an opportunity to take this to a panel of citizens. You might even have your client consider testifying before the grand jury.'

'Where was the intent to injure?' said Timothy W. Hoover, a Buffalo attorney who won acquittal for a Buffalo police officer two years ago. 'Looking at the video, I don't see any improper actions or any intent to injure.'

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump made the baseless claim that Gugino was an antifa agent trying to scan or disrupt police radios with his cell phone.

Gugino is a longtime Catholic peace activist in Buffalo, but White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump's claim.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump's claim that Gugino is a secret antifa agent who was trying to scan police radios with his cell phone

President Donald Trump made the baseless claim that Gugino was an antifa agent

McEnany faced the assembled media Wednesday for the first time since Trump claimed on Twitter that Gugino may have been part of a 'set up' and may even have deliberately staged his fall to smear police.

'It's not a baseless conspiracy  no not at all. I won't acknowledge that,' McEnany said, when pressed repeatedly about Trump's tweet.

'The president was asking questions about an interaction and a video clip that he saw and the president has the right to ask those,' she said, referencing video assembled by right win One America News that Trump referenced in the explosive tweet Tuesday.

'The president does not regret standing up for law enforcement men and women across this country,' she said.

'This individual had some very questionable tweets, some-profanity laden tweets about police officers,' McEnany said of Gugino, who was knocked to the ground by police officers in Buffalo

She characterized Trump's tweet  which also raised the possibility without evidence that Gugino was involved with antifa  as part of the obligation of media members and others to ask questions and parse information.

'In this tweet that he sent out he was in no way condoning violence. He was not passing judgement on these two officers in particular. But what he was saying is this: When we see a brief snippet of a video, it's incumbent upon reporters and those who are surveying a situation to ask questions,' she said.

Pressed on whether Trump should assemble facts before firing off a tweet, McEnany protested: 'The president did have facts.'

She said the nation is going through a moment when people are 'reflexively anti-police officer.'
[June 11, 2020] Mitsubishi Electric to Acquire Factory to Expand Power Device Business

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it will acquire buildings and land from Sharp Fukuyama Semiconductor Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sharp Corporation (News - Alert) located in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The acquired properties will serve as a new site where Mitsubishi Electric's Power Device Works will process wafers for the manufacture of power semiconductors. New production facilities scheduled to start up in November of next year will enable Mitsubishi Electric (News - Alert) to expand its power device business.

The demand for power semiconductors needed to control electric power with efficiency is rapidly rising in parallel with efforts to conserve energy and protect the global environment through carbon-reduction measures, including the ongoing electrification of automobiles worldwide.

To meet this growing demand, Mitsubishi Electric conducted a search for potential new manufacturing sites. As a result, the company has reached an agreement with Sharp Corporation to acquire buildings and land from Sharp Fukuyama Semiconductor.







New manufacturing site Location Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan Structure Three-story building (46,500m2 total floor space) Purpose Processing wafers for power semiconductors Investment About 20 billion yen

For the full text, please visit: www.MitsubishiElectric.com/news/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005252/en/

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As the majority of national parks opened earlier this month, Nick Schlachter was waiting in his truck at the front of the line to access Banff National Park's Lake Minnewanka, a picturesque glacial lake surrounded by towering mountains and lush forests near Banff, Alta.

He couldn't wait for the park to open for the first time this season and get his boat on the open water.

"It's been a long three months. Everyone has been cooped up, and it's time to get out and get some lake trout," said Schlachter, who lives in Canmore, Alta. "It's time to go."

The lake is a tourist magnet, but this year, the water will be noticeably quieter, as will the nearby bike paths, cafe and campground.

With international visitors staying away due to the pandemic and border restrictions, this will be a summer like no other and presents an opportunity for Canadians to rediscover the many world-renowned attractions and locations, such as Banff, Montreal and Victoria.

Dave Rae/CBC

Montreal and Victoria

Normally, the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal are jammed this time of year with slow-moving crowds of people stopping to snap photos with tablets and selfie sticks held high in the air.

The thought of navigating so many people is a strong deterrent for most locals to keep out of the area. Now, it might be refreshing to take a stroll through the greystone buildings and appreciate the Notre-Dame Basilica and other historical beauties.

The same can be said for cities such as Victoria, which won't see temporary population spikes as cruise ships dock and hundreds of thousands of travellers pour out into the city.

Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

Enjoy tourist-free situation

No matter the location, with so much space and privacy, this summer could be much more romantic, too, said travel blogger Karen Ung, pointing to how restaurants and campgrounds have reduced capacity.

She plans to take advantage of the tourist-free situation by spending more time in Banff than usual and exploring the Icefields Parkway, north of Lake Louise, which usually fills up with tourists who want to explore the glaciers.

Story continues

"There's so much here, and people come from all over the world to see it," she said.

"It's often way too packed for us to enjoy it, so I really avoid those places in the summer."

Dave Rae/CBC

Steep price for tourist sector

Earlier this spring, Banff's mayor acknowledged it was "odd" for a community that solely relies on the tourism industry to tell people to stay away because of the pandemic.

Now, the doors have swung open.

"We're so excited to welcome everyone back. We know that Canadians have always wanted to enjoy their national parks," said Mayor Karen Sorensen.

While there is a rare tourist-free opportunity this summer, the lack of international visitors comes at a steep cost for the tourism industry.

For instance, the business community in Banff expects revenue of between 30 and 40 per cent compared to last year, according to the mayor.

Banff National Park usually attracts about four million people a year, and more than half the visitors are from outside Canada.

"As you can see, we don't have anyone in the store at the moment," said Michelle Murphy of Rocks and Gems Canada, a jewelry and fossil store in Banff. "We get it in dribs and drabs, but we need that customer base."

Dave Rae/CBC

'Matter of mitigating our losses'

Around the corner from her shop is Coyotes Southwestern Grill, which can only seat a maximum of 20 customers because of health restrictions mandating physical distancing.

It's a stressful time in the industry, said chef and part-owner Lucas Johnson, as many restaurants rack up debt or slowly burn through their savings.

"We are mentally and hopefully, financially prepared to push through," he said. "We realize we are not going to make a buck until next summer. It's just going to be a matter of mitigating our losses between now and then, month by month."

Dave Rae/CBC

Many in the tourism industry see the reopening of the economy as a new beginning. While it may be trying times right now, the situation should improve as border restrictions eventually begin to ease.

"We are encouraging people to come out of lockdown, come out of their city centre and come into the big wide open spaces," said David Roberts, general manager of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and regional vice-president with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.

Dave Rae/CBC

These destinations may not hear the variety of languages to which they've become accustomed as they've welcomed travellers from Japan, Germany and dozens of other countries.

But those in the tourism business are eager to hear folks from across the country, if inter-provincial travel restrictions are eased. Banff's mayor is excited, too.

"We're now hoping that Canadians will take that big Canadian road trip with the family and come visit us here," Sorensen said.
SPRINGFIELD  Mercy Medical Center, part of Trinity Health Of New England, and Cooley Dickinson Health Care, in Northampton, as well as Heywood Hospital, in Winchendon, and Massachusetts General Hospital received a total of more than $2.5 million in investment awards from the Moving Massachusetts Upstream initiative to address through community partnerships such issues as food insecurity and economic disadvantages among populations.

An initiative among state agencies, the MassUP investment program is administered by the Health Policy Commission in partnership with the Department of Public Health. The DPH is contributing award funding, and technical assistance as well as conducting an evaluation of the program that looks to reduced health inequities across communities and populations by partnering with health care and other organizations.

The current awards of $650,000 to Mercy and $555,555 to Cooley are for food systems and security with Mercy addressing this social determinant that impacts health equity in Springfield and Cooley in Hampshire County.

The award of $649,547 to Heywood and of $649,499 to MassGeneral are for economic stability and mobility with Heywood addressing this social determinant in Winchendon and MassGeneral in Chelsea and Revere where it has healthcare centers.

Every day we witness racial injustice in our country and in our communities, and it is imperative that we find bold new solutions to address inequities experienced by communities of color and other disadvantaged groups, said Dr. Monica Bharel, DPH commissioner, in a statement.

The MassUP investment program is part of DPHs ongoing work to achieve health equity by supporting grassroots, community innovation that can lead to lasting change.

The awards were selected through a competitive application and review process with recipients working in conjunction with organizations in their geographic area.

According to the state website on the program, Cooley Dickinson Health Care will work to establish a Hampshire County Food Policy Council to strategically align organizations working to improve regional food security and address a systemic lack of access to healthy food.

Mercy in its partnerships will work to establish a Springfield MassUP Food Justice Steering Committee that will work to create a more effective food system to help residents lead healthier lives.

MassGeneral will work to establish a Cross-City Coalition to coordinate municipal workforce development efforts in the cities of Chelsea and Revere to increase skilled, benefitted jobs for residents.

Heywood Hospital through its award partners will work to improve health and wellbeing in the town of Winchendon through economic empowerment, focusing on building social, financial, and community assets.
On May 18, 2020, PREMIUM TIMES published the story under the caption, In rejigging FIRS, new chairman Nami recruits in violation of rules.

The story reviewed the decision by the Board of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to appoint four new directors in March 2020 in violation of relevant rules. The appointments followed the retirement of nine of directors of the agency who had attained eight years in office and above. Both decisions were announced by the new chairman of the FIRS, Mohammed Nami, who announced the retirement of the nine directors.

The report showed that the appointments were done not only in violation of the provisions of the Public Service Rules, but also in defiance of the FIRS Human Resource Policies and Processes (HRPP) handbook. It also showed that the retirement of nine directors was in defiance of a subsisting presidential directive issued since 2016, which suspended the Federal Government tenure limit policy of two terms of four years for directors and permanent secretaries in the federal public service.

In doing the story, PREMIUM TIMES contacted and received the response of the FIRS on all the issues, particularly clarifications on the legal and the procedural bases of both decisions.

However, since the publication of the story, FIRS has spent several millions of public funds on sponsored publications in the media to call to question the integrity of PREMIUM TIMES without addressing any of the issues raised.

In the latest of the series of its sponsored advertorials, the FIRS accused PREMIUM TIMES of blatantly twisting facts to create the impression that nepotism and tribalism are being entrenched in FIRS.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. No section of the report conveyed any meaning (real, imagined or implied) to suggest the imputations by the FIRS. As a reputable media institution, which FIRS acknowledged, known for its unrelenting pursuit of truth and a firm believer in the sacredness of facts and the supremacy of the rule of law, PREMIUM TIMES stands by every word of the story.

What the FIRS should do is provide answers to the key issues raised in the story. They are unmistakable. For the benefit of clarity, we have distilled those issues here into nine questions here. Sincerely answering them will help Nigerians sift the truth from falsehood.

QUESTION ONE: Did the employment of the four new Directors follow due process?

CLAIMS: FIRS said the employment of the four new Directors followed due process, as it was based on the provisions of Section 2.22 of the HRPP for contract staff.

FINDINGS:

Section 2.22 (1) of the HRPP says: Contract appointment shall only be made where the required skills and competence are not available within the Service. If there are no person(s) with the relevant experience, qualification, competence and skill from within the system to be appointed, the vacant positions must be advertised in the national newspapers for at least six weeks, if it is an external recruitment.

If the FIRS Board relied on the above provision in employing the four former contract staff as Directors, is the FIRS saying none of the almost 300 experienced chartered accountants at both Directorate and none directorate cadres in FIRS were qualified and competent to be appointed as Directors of Finance and Accounts; Internal Auditor as well as Head of Communications Departments?

Before being appointed Director and head of the Communications Department, Abdullahi Ismaila, was, as at December 2019, a contract staff hired by the new Chairman following his appointment. He was hired as Deputy Director and Special Assistant in the Executive Chairmans office.

At the time of his employment as a contract staff, Mr Ismaila was at the verge of completing his doctorate programme in English at the Ahmadu Bello University.

But, the then incumbent head of the Communications Department, Wahab Gbadamosi, a veteran journalist with many years of experience, was at the time already a deputy Director of many years.

Between December and March (barely three and a half months), Mr Ismaila, a green horn in Communication matters, was promoted and appointed Director and head of the Communications Department, while Mr Gbadamosi was posted out to the FIRS training institute, which the FIRS described in its publication as non-existent.

Was the FIRS Board aware of this irregular appointment? At best Mr Ismaila should be on probation for about six months before his confirmation of appointment and confirmation.

QUESTION TWO: Is the FIRS aware of the procedures for employment of contract staff in the public service?

Apart from the HRPP provisions for employment of contract, the PSR clearly spelled procedures for the appointment of persons into senior positions in the public service, whether in autonomous or non-autonomous entities in the public service.

Chapter 2, Section 2 of the PSR on Authority for appointment (Rule 02101) states: Permanent Secretaries/Heads of Extra-Ministerial Departments are authorized to make appointments to public offices on the authority of the Federal Civil Service Commission.

Rule 02102 on Appointment of Senior Posts says such appointments shall be made into available vacancies after due advertisement in the national dailies in consultation with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

By implication, the rule says appointment of persons into directorate positions can only take place where there are no qualified and competent personnel within the Service to fill such positions.

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If such competent personnel are not available within the service, the PSR stipulates that the agency concerned should advertise the vacant positions in the national newspapers inviting interested qualified candidates to apply, to give all Nigerians equal opportunity to be employed.

QUESTION THREE: Did the FIRS follow the procedure in the recruitment of the four Directors? If yes, was there any staff audit conducted to determine the directorate positions that needed to be filled?

Was the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance aware of that need? Were the vacant positions advertised in the national newspapers? Which newspapers, journals or magazines were the advertisements published? When were the advertisements published and for how long?

If the Federal Civil Service Commission was not involved, because of FIRS claim of not being a Civil Service organization, was the Federal Character Commission involved, to ensure the process was transparent and those hired at the end of the exercise emerged in conformity with the federal character principle in the Nigerian Constitution?

Onyema Omenuwa, the principal counsel of an Abuja-based law firm, Okwubedo-Utchi Chambers, insisted the appointment of the four new directors were in disregard for due process.

FIRS does not exist in a vacuum, as it is a creation of statute. Being so, the law setting it up always provides for the extent of its powers. Otherwise, it will be acting ultra vires its powers, he said.

One, theirs were external appointments, strictly speaking, because they were contract staff. Does it mean qualified persons dont exist internally to take up the appointments, in accordance with Public Service Rules?

Yet, if no qualified personnel exist, due process would still have been flouted by non-advertisement of the vacancies. What has played out is arbitrary exercise of appointment power by the FIRS. There should be sustained strident condemnation of it, Mr Omenua said.

QUESTION FOUR: Is the FIRS aware the employment of the four directors violated Federal Character principle?

CLAIM:

The FIRS said not all the four new directors are Nupes. But, it admits two are from Niger States, while the others are from Kaduna and Bauchi States.

FINDINGS: But, was the Board of the FIRS aware that even if the four Directors were not all from Nupe tribe, they, along with the Executive Chairman, come from the same North Central geo-political zone?

QUESTION FIVE: Does the FIRS appreciate the implication of having its Chairman; head of Finance & Accounts department; head of Communication & Liaison department; head of the Office of the Executive Chairman department, head of Internal Affairs & Efficiency department and head of Internal Audit department as well as other Coordinating and Special Assistants from one geo-political zone?

Apart from these key officials in top management positions from the North Central geo-political zone, the FIRS says there is no nepotism or tribalism in the service.

With persons from a particular section of the country occupying key management positions in FIRS, would Nigerians be wrong if they hold the view that any infraction could easily be covered up by the arrangement being entrenched in this strategic revenue agency?

QUESTION SIX: Was the retirement of the nine directors done in accordance with the rules, and followed due process?

CLAIM: The FIRS management said the retirement of the nine Directors was done in accordance with the rules and due process, because it approved by the Board.

FINDINGS: In taking the decision, the FIRS said the Board relied exclusively on Section 10.1(a)(iii) of the FIRS Human Resource Policies and Processes (HRPP) staff handbook, which deals with its staff exit policy and compulsory retirement.

The Section, like the PSR, pegs the compulsory retirement age for all grades of staff in the Service at 60 years, or 35 years of pensionable service, whichever is earlier.

Also, the Section adds:  a Director shall compulsorily retire upon serving eight years on the post.

However, Section 1.8.2 of the HRPP reads: All extant circulars, directives, notices, orders and other documents amending, giving further details and/or explanations to the provisions of this policy document (HRPP) hereto shall form part of the HRPP and shall equally be binding.

Also, Section 1.8.3 of the HRPP states: Where any matter is not provided for, or covered by this document (HRPP), recourse shall be made to the provisions of the Public Service Rule (PSR) in respect of such matter.

QUESTION SEVEN: In taking the decision to retire the nine Directors, did the Board read the provisions in Section 10.1(a)(iii) of the HRPP alone, or along with the ancillary provisions in Sections 1.8(2) and (3) above?

If the Board did the latter, it would have realized that its authority to order the retirement of the nine directors based on the eight years tenure policy enunciated in Section 10.1(a)(iii) was ousted by President Muhammadu Buhari directive via letter No. SH/COS/100/A/1462 of June 17, 2016 ordering the immediate suspension of the tenue policy in the public service.

On the strength of that directive, the then Head of Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, on June 20, 2016, issued memo No. HCSF/428//S.1//139 to all heads of federal ministries, departments and agencies of the development.

The memo signed personally by Mrs Oyo-Ita read: With reference to letter No. SH/COS/100/A/1462 dated 17th June, 2016, I write to convey Mr. Presidents directive that Tenure Policy in the Federal Civil Service is suspended with immediate effect. The notice is for the attention of all concerned for compliance.

Those copied in the memo were included Ministers of State, Permanent Secretaries, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Chairmen of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC); Federal Character Commission; Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Others were the Chairmen of the National Population Commission (NPC); Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission (ICPC) and Chief Executives of Parastatals and Agencies as well as Heads of Extra-Ministerial Departments, among others.

The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was 16th on the list of Chief Executives copied in the memo by the Head of Service.

As at March 20, when the retirement of the nine Directors was announced, PREMIUM TIMES was not aware, and FIRS has not produced any document to the contrary, of any other presidential directive, or legislation of the National Assembly, setting aside, annulling or overriding the subsisting presidential directive of June 20, 2016 on the issue.

QUESTION EIGHT: If the Chairman of FIRS was specifically listed among the Chief Executives of Parastatals and Agencies as well as Heads of Extra-Ministerial Departments the Head of Service sent copies of the memo on the suspension of the tenure policy, what purpose was that supposed to serve if not for him to be aware and ensure compliance?

Has the clarification above not showed the FIRS Board clearly disobeyed the presidential directive suspending the eight-year tenure policy it relied on to take the decision to retire the nine Directors?

The lead director, Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, said by virtue of the provisions of the HRPP above, the FIRS Board may have misled itself to believe it was on solid legal grounds to take the decision to retire the affected directors in defiance of the presidential directive suspending the tenure policy.

When that directive suspending the tenure policy in the Federal Service was given by the president, well-meaning Nigerians condemned it. To the best of my knowledge, unpopular as it was, I am not aware it has been reversed yet. To that extent, the FIRS Boards decision was illegal, Mr Onyekpere said.

QUESTION NINE: Is FIRS more autonomous than CBN?

CLAIMS: The FIRS claims it was established pursuant to FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007, as a Public Service and not a Civil Service; that Civil Service covers Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government without autonomous status, while Public Service includes, among others, FIRS, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), with autonomous status and functional Board of Directors.

As such, FIRS clams the circular by the Head of Service informing it of the Presidential directive on the suspension of tenure policy could not have been binding.

FINDINGS

If the content of the presidential directive was not meant for FIRS, or binding on its Board/management, why was its Chairman listed as No. 16 among the Chief Executives of Parastatals and Agencies as well as Heads of Extra-Ministerial Departments copied in the memo by the Head of Service?

Again, the Head of Service also sent the memo to autonomous institutions like the CBN, INEC, RMAFC and other parastatals and agencies as well as extra-ministerial departments with autonomous statuses and functional Board of Directors for their attention and compliance.
Meghan Markle would not have been able to give a speech supporting the Black Lives Matter movement if she was still a senior royal, the Queen's former press secretary has claimed.

Dickie Arbiter said it would have been 'pretty much impossible' for the Duchess of Sussex, 38, to make the speech she gave to her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, last week.

Speaking to Newsweek, the commentator and royal expert said: 'Had Meghan and Harry still been in the UK and working members of the royal family that speech couldn't have happened.

Meghan Markle, 38, would not have been able to give a speech supporting the Black Lives Matter movement if she was still a senior royal, the Queen's former press secretary has claimed. Pictured, in a screenshot of the video

'I'm talking about the whole speech, end of. It's highly politicised because of the very nature of what it is.

'And it's starting to voice opinions about the internal affairs of another country. I don't think the queen has to say anything.

Dickie, who was the Queen's press secretary from 1988 to 2000, added that it was a 'societal issue for the United States' and not the place for another head of state to voice an opinion.

In the clip released last week, the 38-year-old former actress, who attended the school from the age of 11 to 18, said: 'George Floyd's life mattered and Breonna Taylor's life mattered and Philando Castile's life mattered and Tamir Rice's life mattered'.

Dickie Arbiter said it would have been 'pretty much impossible' for the Duchess of Sussex to make the speech she gave to her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, last week. Pictured, in November on Good Morning Britain

On speaking out about Mr Floyd, she said: 'I wasn't sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that it would get picked apart. And I realised the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing'.

'I know you know that black lives matter': What Meghan told the students for graduation speech On Black Lives Matter: 'With as diverse, vibrant and opened minded as I know the teachings at Immaculate Heart are, I know you know that black lives matter' On the 1992 Los Angeles riots: 'I remember the curfew and I remember rushing back home and on that drive home, seeing ash fall from the sky and smelling the smoke and seeing the smoke billow out of buildings' On waiting to speak out: 'I wasn't sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that I wouldn't or that it would get picked apart. And I realised the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing' On African Americans killed by police: 'George Floyd's life mattered and Breonna Taylor's life mattered and Philando Castile's life mattered and Tamir Rice's life mattered, and so did so many other people whose names we know and whose names we do not know. Stephon Clark, his life mattered' On what her teacher once told her: 'One of my teachers, Ms Pollia, said to me as I was leaving for a day of volunteering, 'always remember to put other's needs above your own fears'. And that has stuck with me throughout my entire life' On people coming together: 'We are seeing people stand in solidarity, we are seeing communities come together and to uplift. And you are going to be part of this movement. Advertisement

Meghan made the six-minute virtual speech yesterday before the video was released to black women's lifestyle magazine Essence, which published it on its website today saying 'courtesy of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex'.

Since Mr Floyd's death, demonstrations have continued to build around the world after Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after white police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on his neck in Minneapolis on May 25 for nine minutes.

It comes as Meghan's best friend Jessica Mulroney said being the royal's 'closest friend' has 'deeply educated' her about race as she apologised after a 'white privilege' row with a black influencer.

In an emotional video posted on her Instagram page, Sasha Exeter, from Toronto, claimed Jessica, 40, had 'taken offence to a very generic call to action' posted online, and the two women argued about the importance of 'speaking up'.

Sasha said she felt Jessica 'threatened' her during argument, claiming the mother-of-three had said to her: 'I have also spoken to companies and people about the way you have treated me unfairly. You think your voice matters. Well it only matters if you express it with kindness and without shaming people who are simply trying to learn. Good luck.'

In a comment posted on the video clip, Jessica said she was 'unequivocally sorry', writing: 'As I told you privately, I have lived a very public and personal experience with my closest friend where race was front and centre. It was deeply educational.'

MailOnline has contacted Jessica Mulroney for comment.

In the video clip, which was shared with Sasha's 58,000 followers online earlier today, the influencer explained: 'Very early on in this, I was very vocal about wanting my peers with an online presence to speak up, stand up and use their voice for good to help combat what's going on with this race war.'

She said she had made an effort 'not to call out anyone directly', but said Jessica, who 'used to be an acquaintance', took 'offence to a very generic call to action'.

Sasha said Jessica went on to 'lash out' at her and said the 'very problematic antics' escalated until the stylist sent over what Sasha felt was 'a threat in writing.'

'I'm by no means calling Jess a racist, but she is very well aware of her wealth, her perceived power and privilege because of the colour of her skin.

'And that my friends, gave her the momentary confidence to come for my livelihood in writing. Textbook white privilege really.'

The influencer went on to claim she had been sent a private message from Jessica suggesting she would file a lawsuit against her
South Africa: NHLS working tirelessly to reduce test samples backlog

The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) CEO, Dr Karmani Chetty, says the institution is working around the clock to reduce the backlog of COVID-19 test samples.

While the backlog of unprocessed specimens was as high as 101 000 on 21 May 2020, Chetty told members of the health committees in the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces that the number has gradually gone down and that as of Wednesday, the backlog stood at 63 244.

Unprocessed specimens are samples that are older than three days after being registered at a laboratory without being tested.

Briefing the committees on Wednesday, Chetty said the laboratory service had a very difficult time dealing with the backlog during May.

It has been a very difficult period because the number of samples we were getting on a daily basis was increasing rapidly but as you can see, we have been processing those backlogs down and as we stand now, it has been 63 000 but we have been improving on that dramatically, she said.

Chetty said the NHLS has prioritised the Western Cape in tackling the backlog of unprocessed COVID-19 samples because of its high positivity rate.

She said that in the Western Cape, the laboratory service has reduced the backlog from 18 000 at the end of May, and that the backlog currently stood at 3 727 on Wednesday.

As a result, we have been giving them extra kits for them to reduce the backlog, she said.

NHLS prioritises tests for high-risk individuals

Chetty said the laboratory service was also prioritising testing for high risk individuals.

What we have done is we have testing priorities where we have prioritised testing for those with a medical need and clinical diagnosis, testing for high risk individuals, testing of critical frontline workers, she said.

She said the backlog has mainly been in community screening and that the in-hospital patients who are at risk are prioritised so that the backlog does not impact on them.

Strategy to upscale the number of tests

Chetty said experts have been working towards increasing the number of extraction equipment.

She said the NHLS was also looking at a more targeted and focused testing and also looking at using rapid diagnostic tests. She said type of rapid diagnostic test allows for a blood sample to be put into a machine to check for anti-bodies.

NHLS upscaling its testing capacity

Meanwhile, the laboratory service has upscaled its capacity at a national level in a short space of time to provide significant number of tests on a weekly basis.

We are trying to improve our capacity to ensure that we are able to meet that demand.

We have grouped together the provinces of the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape as priority ones because as you can see, the positivity rate is quite high in these provinces, she said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Biswajit Dhar By

The economic crisis that has besieged the world since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to some searching questions about the future of globalisation. Several Western commentators have been debating on whether the pandemic would threaten it. This question is hardly new: Since the middle of the 1990s, or from its very early days, many have had doubts about globalisations future. The Great Recession of 2008 brought fresh doubts about it with some narrowing the problem down to financial globalisation.

Uncertainties about the future of globalisation have arisen in the wake of the disruptions that the Great Lockdown has caused in all major economies, with the possible exception of China. The ongoing disruptions are reminiscent of the Great Depression of the 1930s, after which most economies turned protectionist. Given this context, the likely impact of the Great Lockdown on global trade volumes is another ominous sign. The World Trade Organization had predicted that global trade volumes could decline by 13-32% in 2020. The WTOs worst case scenario of trade volume decline is significantly worse than the impact of the Great Depression on trade; between 1929 and 1932, trade volumes declined by almost 25%.

In recent weeks, there have been attempts to view the challenges that the process of globalisation faces from several different perspectives. Several commentators have argued that the world economy is going through a phase of slowbalisation or even deglobalisation, but these tendencies are not likely to sound a death knell for globalisation. There are others who have pointed out that the global economy is facing multiple challenges, not least from the intense economic rivalry between the US and China, with both countries trying to gain ascendancy. How serious could all these developments be for the future of globalisation that the world has known for at least three decades?

There is hardly any doubt that globalisation has not evoked much confidence as many of its professed virtues have not been quite evident. The process was expected to create a robust global economy that would, in turn, benefit all participating countries. However, this expectation became distant as the worlds economy struggled to overcome the vestiges of the Great Recession. In the five years prior to 2008, the global economy had expanded annually by over 5%, but between 2010-19, the expansion had declined to 3.8%, and in the past five years, it was down to just above 3%.

The more worrying aspect for globalisation was that major economies have been showing signs of getting decoupled from the global economy. For all major advanced and emerging economies, their ratios of trade to gross domestic product (GDP), an indicator of openness, have declined. The largest trader, China, showed this tendency prominently. In 2008, Chinas trade to GDP ratio was close to 58%, but a decade later it was barely 38%. India too showed a similar tendency: its trade to GDP ratio reached nearly 56% in 2012 but was down to 43% in 2018. Yet another indicator of decoupling is the shrinking of the global value chains (GVCs) or production networks.

The GVCs have typified the era of globalisation as production lines were sliced and diced across national boundaries, increasing the interconnectedness between countries. Data provided by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that between 2005 and 2015, exports of major advanced and emerging economies have relied more on domestic value addition, or in other words, the import content of the exports have been on the wane. For instance, the domestic content in Chinas exports was close to 74% in 2005 and had increased to 83% in 2015.

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), who are among the most engaged in the GVCs, have also slowly but surely increased their reliance on domestic suppliers for fuelling their exports.If decoupling of economies from the global markets was already undermining the process of globalisation, the policy responses of several countries to bail their economies out the depths of the present crisis would surely pose greater threats. The US has led the way by adopting the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which provided $2.2 trillion, or about 10% of the countrys GDP, to stimulate the economy.

Subsequently, several US agencies have announced a slew of programmes, all of which are aimed at reviving domestic businesses. The expressed intent of these agencies is to support these businesses to enable them to compete with China in the global markets.But the factor that could ring alarm bells for globalisation is the revival of the Chinese economy, well before other major economies can get back to normalcy. There is thus a distinct possibility that China would be able to consolidate its position in the global economy further. If this possibility indeed becomes real, would the traditional backers of globalisation accept the new normal?

Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, JNU

(bisjit@gmail.com)
(Natural News) Weeks after reopening, several states are now seeing record numbers of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. This has caused experts to warn that a second wave of the pandemic is imminent.

There is a new wave coming in parts of the country, stated Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Its small and its distant so far, but its coming.

Texas reported 2,504 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, the states highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic.

Florida saw 8,553 new cases this week  the most of any seven-day period  just a month into its reopening.

Arizona recorded 1,187 new cases on June 2, an all-time high for the state.

Meanwhile, California saw hospitalizations due to the coronavirus rise in nine of the past 10 days, bringing the number to its highest since May 13.

Coronavirus cases surge in some states

Since the coronavirus arrived in U.S. shores early this year, more than 2 million people have been infected and over 112,000 have died.

After restrictions that stalled the spread of the virus, an increase in cases was expected as states reopened. This trend has been observed across 22 states in recent weeks. Though some states have only seen a slow and steady increase, others are seeing record-setting spikes in new cases.

In Arizona, the states Department of Health Services (DHS) urged hospitals to activate contingency plans in light of its surge. Talking to a Phoenix television station, DHS director Cara Christ stated that she was concerned about the rising number of cases and the high percentage of people testing positive for the coronavirus.

Valleywise Health has reported an increase in COVID-19 cases during the past two weeks. The Phoenix-based public hospital system had already expanded its intensive-care capacity and those beds are 87 percent full, with about half of them occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to Valleywise chief medical officer Micheal White.

In Texas, health officials reported a 4.7 percent jump in hospitalizations to 2,153  the fourth consecutive daily increase in the state. Prior to the states reopening, the highest number of hospitalizations it had seen was 1,888 patients back on May 5. (Related: Texas sees record coronavirus hospitalizations after early reopening.)

The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphias PolicyLab reports that mobile phone data from Texas shows that activity by residents is returning to pre-pandemic levels. According to the University of Pennsylvanias director of biostatistics, Jeffrey Morris, this could reflect a perception that the virus wasnt ever a big threat.

Texas health officials, however, have attributed the surge in cases in the state to increased testing.

Florida has done the same, with its health department also saying that their uptick is due to greatly expanding efforts in testing. In addition, it noted that the states overall positivity rate remained low, at about 5.5 percent.

Not every state that has reopened has seen a surge, baffling experts

Scientists, however, are still baffled by why certain states have experienced a second wave while others have not. As such, theyre still not sure if the surge is linked to increased economic activity.

States that have seen rapid increases in caseload, such as Arizona, stick out like a sore thumb in terms of a major problem, says Morris.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, where hair salons, tattoo parlors and gyms have been operating for a month and a half, case numbers have steadily dropped.

Theyve kind of held this fragile equilibrium, stated David Rubin, director of the PolicyLab.

Differences have also been observed within states. Well over half the new cases reported in California this week came from Los Angeles County. However, up north in San Francisco, no new cases have been reported for three days straight.

The high number of cases in the county has prompted Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County public health director, to comment that the region may not have even seen the end of the first wave. In addition, despite concerns about infections coming out of mass demonstrations in the city, she believes that reopening the economy will have a much bigger impact.

In a recent podcast, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said that the White House Coronavirus Task Force has yet to see any relationship between the reopened states and the increased cases of COVID-19.

Whether or not the reopenings will lead to the second wave, and whether it can be controlled, will take about a couple of weeks for experts to know, according to Toner. However, by then, its going to be pretty late to respond.

Visit Pandemic.news to learn more about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Sources include:

NYPost.com

Bloomberg.com

HHS.gov
Paso Robles: A central California sheriff's deputy was shot in the head early on Wednesday in an "ambush" attack by a gunman intent on harming or killing police, authorities said.

It follows two recent deadly shootings targeting officers in California.

A man has been found fatally shot near where the deputy was wounded after someone opened fire on a police station. Credit:AP

The shooter on Wednesday, who has not been captured, opened fire about 3.45am on a police station in Paso Robles, said San Luis Obispo County Ian Parkinson.

The deputy was struck while responding to the shooting and his partner dragged him to safety and returned fire, Parkinson said. The bullet remains lodged in his head and he's in serious condition, he said.
A lot of people on the internet were talking about glory holes yesterday.

This happened because the New York City Health Department recently dropped a new set of guidelines for having safe sex in the time of coronavirus, and this time, they want us to make it a little kinky, which is in fact a direct quote from the official advisory notice posted Monday.

Thats right. From the people who brought you You are your safest sex partner back in March comes a slew of new suggestions urging folks to mix things up in bed while practicing coronavirus-safe sex, including one advising COVID-era copulators to be creative with sexual positions and physical barriers, like walls, that allow sexual contact while preventing close face to face contact. Obvious translation: Glory holes.

Sometimes encouraged, sometimes banned and other times vaguely condoned, sex has been a topic of much confusion since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Now that the virus has dragged on for months and appears to be on the verge of an increasingly likely second wave, however, New York health officials have decided that we can all have a little sex, as a treat.

Sex is a normal part of life, the guidelines assured us. During this extended public health emergency, people will and should have sex, officials wrote, like parents trying to give their already sexually active teen what everyone involved knows is a too-late sex talk and pretending to be cool with it.

Essentially, the New York City Health Department is everyones trying-hard-to-be-cool parents. They know were going to have sex, and theyve got some opinions on exactly what kind of sex we should be having. In addition to the glory-hole guidelines, New York health officials have provided some helpful advice on everything from kissing to rimming to group sex.

Back in pre-COVID times, analingus as well as various other forms of butt play were still enjoying their 2010s surge in mainstream popularity. But according to the new COVID-19 sex advisory, our days of carefree rim jobs may be behind us. The new guidance doubles down on cautions against mouth-to-anus sex first issued back in March, warning would-be ass-eaters that the virus can be transmitted through feces.

Fortunately, the guidelines also suggest that sex-havers wear a face mask during intercourse  maybe its your thing, maybe its not  which should help prevent any accidental rimming. A mask will also keep you from kissing your partner during sex, a seemingly tame act which the guidelines warn can easily pass the virus. Avoid kissing anyone who is not part of your small circle of close contacts, the advisory urges.

Speaking of your small circle of close contacts: the New York City Health Department would very much like you to have sex with as few of them as possible, ideally sticking to ones you live with. But if you must find a crowd, the guidelines suggest keeping it intimate with a small guest list and hosting your orgies in larger, more open, and well-ventilated spaces.

None of this is to say that health officials have changed their minds about the joy and safety of masturbation. The new guidelines reiterate the famed You are your safest sex partner advisory, while also suggesting partnered masturbation  featuring masks and social distancing, of course  as a safer alternative to intercourse.

For those of us who usually have sex with strangers from the internet, the guidelines suggest taking a break from in-person dates in favor of video dates, sexting and other forms of remote sex. This advice was weirdly lumped into an extremely reductive advisory suggesting sex workers simply take their business online, which, as weve established, is much harder than influencers-turned-OnlyFans stars make it look.

The guidelines also threw in some general advice about safe sex in non-COVID times for good measure, including a few reminders to get consent as well as a refresher on preventing STIs and unwanted pregnancy.

In conclusion, the New York City Health Department knows youre going to have sex  and theyre totally cool with it! As long as it doesnt involve kissing, ass eating or anyone you dont live with. Glory holes, however, are strongly encouraged.

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The post New York Health Officials Have Some Kinky New Advice for Sex During Coronavirus appeared first on InsideHook.
An embryo-like model researchers created from stem cells can provide a 'blueprint' of the human body as it forms, a study has reported.

The development by researchers from the University of Cambridge will allow experts to study the so-called 'black box' period of human development, gastrulation.

Scientists are unable to directly observe this time in human development in the laboratory as a result of ethical and legal constraints on embryonic research.

The model may help reveal the causes of birth defects or diseases that begin during gastrulation and are often linked to alcohol, medications, chemicals and infections.

A better understanding of the gastrulation period in humans could also help shed light on other conditions including infertility, genetic disorders and miscarriage.

A human embryo-like model researchers created from stem cells, pictured, can provide researchers with a 'blueprint' of the human body as it forms, a study has reported

The development by researchers from the University of Cambridge will allow experts to study the so-called 'black box' period of human development, gastrulation. Pictured, a false colour comparison of a 20 day old human embryo, left, with the team's gastruloid model, right. The colouration represents the estimated similarity of gene expression profiles. The real human embryo is also surrounded by brain/neural folds and extra-embryonic tissues, uncoloured

'Our model produces part of the blueprint of a human,' said paper author and geneticist Alfonso Martinez-Arias of the University of Cambridge.

'It's exciting to witness the developmental processes that until now have been hidden from view  and from study.'

This 'black box' period, known as gastrulation, had previously been impossible to study in humans as legal restrictions prevent the culture of embryos in the lab beyond 14 days  the point at which the process begins.

This legal limit was selected as the threshold beyond which an embryo can no longer form a twin, but has stopped experts from observing the 'blueprint' of the human body as it is being drawn up.

During the gastrulation period, three layers of cells are formed  the ectoderm, the mesoderm and the endoderm  which go on, broadly speaking, to form the body's nervous system, muscles and gut.

In their study, Professor Martinez-Arias and colleagues placed embryonic stem cells into 'small wells' to create so-called 'gastruloids', which resemble human embryos during the early stages of development, at around 18-21 days after conception.

Treating the models with chemical signals, the researchers observed the gastruloids lengthening along their head-to-tail axis, turning on genes in specific patterns that exhibited a 'clear signature' of the process that forms different human body parts.

In a real embryo, this process would eventually give rise to such bodily structures as as thoracic muscles, bone and cartilage.

'This is a hugely exciting new model system, which will allow us to reveal and probe the processes of early human embryonic development in the lab for the first time,' said paper author and geneticist Naomi Moris, also of the University of Cambridge.

'Our system is a first step towards modelling the emergence of the human body plan  and could prove useful for studying what happens when things go wrong, such as in birth defects.'

In their study, Professor Martinez-Arias and colleagues placed embryonic stem cells into 'small wells' to create so-called 'gastruloids', which resemble human embryos during the early stages of development, at around 18-21 days after conception Pictured, a growing human gastruloid, seen here at 24 (left), 48 (middle) and 72 hours (right) after embryonic stem cell aggregation

Treating the models with chemical signals, the researchers observed the gastruloids lengthening along their head-to-tail axis, turning on genes in specific patterns that exhibited a 'clear signature' of the process that forms different human body parts. Pictured, a gastruloid differentiates  with the green section resembling the tail end of a real embryo and the magenta section becoming similar to developing heart cells

The model, the researchers hope, could help explain the causes of human birth defects and develop tests for these in pregnant women.

Around one in every 45 babies born in England and Wales suffers a birth defect, the most common of which are heart defects, Down Syndrome and spina bifida.

Until now, scientists have relied on model organisms like mice and zebrafish in order to study the gastrulation process  however, it has been uncertain exactly how similar these model are to human embryos when the cells start to differentiate.

Furthermore, animal models are known to respond differently to certain drugs  the anti-morning-sickness drug thalidomide, for example, passed clinical trials after being tested on mice, but leads to severe birth defects in humans.

For this reason, the researchers explain, it is important to develop better models of human development.

The model, the researchers hope, could help explain the causes of human birth defects and develop tests for these in pregnant women. Pictured, a scanning electron microscope image of a human gastruloid

According to University College London reproductive science expert Joyce Harper  who was not involved in the present study  gastrulation has been referred to 'as the most important stage of our life.'

'But up until now we have never been able to study it in humans,' she added.

'This exciting work will allow many key studies to be done so we can learn about early human development and when it goes wrong.'

'This will help us learn more about genetic diseases and infertility.'

Research using gastruloids will not be possible in all countries, however. In many countries  including the UK and Japan  work with embryo-like models is permitted because they do not have the potential to grow into individuals.

This is because gastruloids do not have brain cells, nor do they possess and of the tissues that would be needed in order to successfully implant them within a womb.

In the US, however, federal law prohibits the creation or destruction of such models in the same way that it restricts studies involving real human embryos.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Nature.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay have shown in their study, using a computer model, that a hotter and drier weather can lessen the chances of survival of the novel coronavirus on surfaces.

The study undertaken by them revealed that cities where cough or sneeze droplets took a shorter time to dry out due to higher temperatures and lower humidity, had a lesser spread of the coronavirus infection.

The findings may help governments come up with better sanitisation guidelines for public areas across the world.

Also Read: Warm, humid weather linked to slower spread of coronavirus, says MIT study

The study was undertaken by Professors Rajneesh Bhardwaj and Amit Agrawal of IIT-Bombay and published in the journal-Physics of Fluids. It evaluated the time a droplet, coughed out by a novel coronavirus patient, takes to dry and mapped it with daily infections in six cities across the world.

The study takes prominence as India witnessed a maximum surge in COVID-19 cases during May and continues to do so in June.

The study, however, has not yet been acknowledged by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The government body's Deputy Director Dr. Raman Gangakhedar has refuted the assumption time and again, saying that there is no established correlation yet between temperature and COVID-19 spread.

He added that novel coronavirus cases have instead peaked in the summer of May and the situation is likely to get worse in June.

Also Read: Coronavirus crisis: Hot summer unlikely to slow down virus; infection to be more frequent in winters

According to Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, the behaviour of the virus is still unknown and it would be premature to call the said assumption a fact as yet. He added that there is no evidence of coronavirus being airborne and its correlation with temperature.

Meanwhile, the IIT-Bombay professors also cautioned in their study that the approaching monsoon with strong humidity may worsen the situation in the states of Maharashtra and Kerala. According to Prof. Agrawal, "In Mumbai and Kerala, humidity is one of the key factors of fast spread, we could expect things to worsen."

Also Read: COVID-19 death toll may reach 200,000 by Sept, says Indian-American professor
The Supreme Court (SC) hearing on AGR dues has put Vodafone Idea in a sticky position.

According to the Department of Telecommunications estimate, Vodafone Idea owes over Rs 58,254 crore, of which the telecom player has paid Rs 6,354 crore.

Vodafone Idea pleaded that it does not have enough money to pay and should be given some time.

"We don't even have money to pay our employees so if we have 15,000 to 20,000 crore, we will pay it upfront," Vodafone Idea's counsel Mukul Rohatgi told the court.

The apex court will next hear the matter on June 18.

Also read: AGR order | A timeline of the Supreme Court proceedings so far

The DoT claimed that the outstanding amount is Rs 53,000 crore while the company claims it is Rs 21,500 crore.

As per the company's self-assessment, its AGR-related dues stand at Rs 21,533 crore. The SC had previously criticised self-assessment of AGR dues by companies, so the final verdict is likely to stick to the DoT's figure.

Justice Arun Mishra at the June 11 hearing asked if telecom companies are willing to provide bank guarantees.

On Vodafone-Idea's inability to make payments, further course on action will depend on whether the top court permits staggered payments, and the final pending payment decided by the court.

The apex court said staggered payments over 20 years cannot be done without any security.

With Jio lapping up investors and Airtel reportedly in talks with Amazon, Vodafone Idea needs to ensure it has a plan in place to absorb the AGR impact and stay afloat in India's fiercely competitive telecom market.
Defying the myth that COVID-19 primarily kills the elderly, young people who work in US-owned maquiladora factories in border towns such as Tijuana, in Baja California, and Juarez, in Chihuahua, are dying at alarming rates.

At least 83 workers in Baja California working in these plants have contracted COVID-19 and have died. In the city of Juarez, Chihuahua at least 25 deaths reported are tied to the maquiladora industry. While it is the case that Mexico, and Baja California in particular, have younger populations compared to the United States, health and government officials report that fatalities reflect the heavy toll coronavirus has taken on border factory workers, where the majority of workers are between 25 and 45 years of age.

According to findings by Mexican mathematician and computer scientist Dr. Raul Rojas, the majority of the young people who have contracted COVID-19 and have died in border cities like Tijuana and Juarez worked in maquiladorasfactories owned primarily by US companies to access cheap labor within special economic zones.

Workers manufacture car dash mats at a maquiladora belonging to the TECMA group in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Dec 2013. (AP Photo/Ivan Pierre Aguirre, File)

Dr. Rojas compared the death rates among various age groups to that of San Diego County, California, where the total population is similar, and which is located just across the Tijuana, Mexico border.

Rojas found that as of May 27, at least seven children from 0-19 years of age have died, 16 young people between 20 and 29 compared to two in San Diego, and 57 deaths for those aged 30-39 compared to three in San Diego. Those aged 40-49 are dying at a rate about 25 times higher in Baja California: 153 deaths versus six in San Diego, and among those aged 50-59, the number of deaths is nearly 10 times higher, with 207 deaths compared to 21 in San Diego.

Though likely a great underestimation, reports in Mexico indicate that the total COVID-19 cases have reached 124,000, and that the disease has claimed over 14,700 lives. Data analyst and software engineer Mario Romero Zavala analyzed death certificates in Mexico City, and reported to the Times that he found excess mortalitythe number of deaths above the historical averagewas 8,000 in May alone in Mexico City. Zavala said there is every reason to believe the real numbers are at least four times higher than what is reported, which would make Mexicos actual death toll around 60,000.

The gross underreporting is part of deliberate policy that is bound up with Mexican President Lopez Obradors back to work initiative, pushed by Wall Street and with the backing of Washington. Despite the fact that cases in Mexico continue to skyrocket, three weeks ago Lopez Obrador insisted that the country is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Sergio Moctezuma, the state labor secretary for Baja California, said that in the state, The vast majority of infected people are factory workers.

Thirty-three-year old Silvia Lorena Abrego Hernandez lost her 35-year-old husband Jose in mid-April. She told the Times that she halfway expected the hospital to call and say they made a mistake. Her husband, Jose Luis Cebrero Cisneros, worked long shifts as a truck driver for the maquiladora industry, bringing home $15 a day, or $90 a week. Like many other workers, his symptoms were overlooked despite being reported. He was ordered to continue his shifts visiting factories despite having a fever.

While life for millions is hanging by a thread, the factory industry is booming, employing over 3 million people. The industry accounts for some 25 percent of Mexicos GDP, and many factories have remained open. With the full approval of the Lopez Obrador government, and faced with pressure from car manufacturers and other industries in the United States, many maquiladoras have reopened or simply stayed open, defying orders, while death tolls in the factories continue to rise. Under these conditions, it is no surprise that there are major spikes in deaths in these areas, becoming epicenters of the disease within the country.

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico which shares a border with San Diego, California in the US, operates at least 600 maquiladoras60 percent of those in the stateand employs nearly 195,000 workers. Baja California has at least 5,784 confirmed cases and 1,200 deaths, giving it the second-highest number of cases next to the capital, Mexico City. In mid-May the health secretary of Northern Baja California announced that 432 of the 519 people who had officially died of the coronavirus in the state as of that date were maquiladora workers.

Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas in the US, is home to the majority of the maquiladoras in the state of Chihuahua. At least 300,000 workers are employed at the 160 largest maquiladoras in the city. The state has reported 633 deaths and a total of 2,713 cases. The border town of Juarez also is an epicenter within the state, with 376 deaths, or more than half of the deaths in the state.

Despite government orders in late March to close non-essential business, only a minority of the thousands of maquiladora factories halted operations, while most remained open and continued to produce for the automotive, electronics, aerospace, consumer products and medical device industries.

With the full approval of the Lopez Obrador government and faced with pressure from car manufacturers and other industries in the United States, those that were closed have reopened, relying on a desperate labor force willing to risk their lives to increase profits.

Jessica, a 25-year-old math teacher who lives in Tijuana, spoke to the WSWS about conditions of daily life for the majority of workers in the region. She began by noting that many people participate in the informal sector even if they have employment, as Mexicos minimum wage equates to a little over $6.50 per day.

A lot of people here in TJ work on the actual street or within the maquiladora factories which are foreign-owned. They dont want to pay for the labor so they come here. I have friends who work at the foreign-owned factories, and none of them wanted to close. People were getting sick with coronavirus and a friend of mine was so scared about infecting her family that she had to produce a false doctors note saying she had coronavirus symptoms to prevent her from getting fired when she refused to go in.

It isnt that people in Tijuana dont want to follow the rules or are not worried. They are very concerned, but people cant stop leaving their homes because of their job situation. There is no government assistance and so they are forced to go to work.

My friends father passed away. He was over 60 but they couldnt take him to any hospital. Everywhere the capacity is full. Meanwhile the maquiladoras are open because the US groups are just concerned about money for their business, but is that really worth more than a life?

Workers throughout Mexicos maquiladora industry and the world over are being sacrificed for the pursuit of profit. Auto plants have reopened across the US and Canada, with efforts to prevent the spread of the virus that serve to present the myth of safety. Additionally, workers, primarily immigrant workers, continue to die in large numbers in the agriculture, meatpacking, transit and health care industries.

From one country to the next, the virus is proving to be an illness of the poor, with the most vulnerable layers heavily affected.

The maquiladora industry draws tens of thousands of particularly young people from small, poor towns to work in factories operated by some of the richest corporations in the world, such as General Electric, Alcoa and DuPont. Overall this is a young population and some 60 percent of maquiladora workers are women and girls, many as young as 13 or 14.

Workers in Mexico must begin linking up with their counterparts throughout North America and the world. The capitalist governments, corporations and trade unions are working hand in glove to send them into deadly conditions for the pursuit of profit.

Workers must begin to take action to defend their lives, develop health and safety conditions at their job sites, and ensure that the safety and life of every single worker across their industries, which reach past borders and wrap around the planet, are prioritized over all other factors.

Immediately, this fight for the basic democratic right to life places workers up against the capitalist system.
Former President John Mahama has said his next government will be one that every Ghanaian, irrespective of their political persuasion, can freely express themselves or do business without fear.

Speaking at the flag-raising ceremony of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Accra on Wednesday, 10 June 2020 as part of the partys 28th-anniversary celebration, Mr Mahama said: As the leader and flag bearer of this great party, I come to you, the good people of Ghana, and on the occasion of our 28th anniversary, to once again confirm that the next NDC and John Dramani Mahama administration will guarantee you a stable, vibrant and safe democracy.

He noted: A democracy in which Ghanaians feel at peace to go about their daily duties without fear of arrest, harassment or death; a democracy in which Ghanaians can express themselves freely without fear of having their radio stations closed; a Ghana in which businessmen and women are not afraid of losing their businesses because they are perceived not to be supporters of the governing party.

Mr Mahama said: Ghana needs new jobs, new businesses, new ways of listening to one another and a new sense of unity, adding: Ghanaians are tired of the tensions associated with the parochial governance style of Nana Akufo-Addo.

My brothers and sisters, it is time to unite our country once again as one people, and resume our journey towards building our common future, the former president said.

Is that possible? I say Yes, he answered.

And I am leading the NDC to work together with you, all across this country, to deliver that and more.

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SAN DIEGO, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering has welcomed Rory Linehan to its civil engineering team. Joining the firm as of May 13, Mr. Linehan brings nearly two decades of experience as a naval officer and a civil engineer. As Latitude 33's newest Project Manager, his experience with military, residential, and commercial developments will be an asset for the firm. Latitude 33 serves clients in numerous sectors, including residential, educational, healthcare, commercial, civic, military, and hospitality throughout Southern California.

Mr. Linehan brings a wealth of experience to his new role with Latitude 33. For the past 14 years, he has worked in the construction and engineering fields, managing projects, performing and authoring drainage studies, preparing water quality technical reports, coordinating multiple contractors and vendors, and ensuring projects were in compliance with engineering and architectural plans. Additionally, Mr. Linehan serves in the Navy Reserves. During his active duty in the US Navy, he served in multiple roles, most recently as the Officer-in-Charge for the Naval Coastal Warfare Center at NAVSTA Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He also served as a Construction Manager and as an Engineering Division Officer. Mr. Linehan earned his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Cornell University and his Master of Science in Civil Engineering from San Diego State University.

For Latitude 33, Mr. Linehan will be working on an array of projects ranging from infill mixed-use developments to life science and hospitality projects. He will be tasked with leading a team of engineers and designers to assist in growing Latitude 33's portfolio of projects and technical capabilities.

Matthew J. Semic, PE, Principal with Latitude 33, says, "We're excited to find an individual with so many well-developed strengths. Rory's military background, impressive education, and engineering experience make him a really well-rounded addition to our team. We look forward to putting his knowledge to work and growing him into one of our great team leaders."

About Latitude 33

Founded in 1993, Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to design. The firm provides public sector planning, land use planning, surveying, public outreach, entitlement services and civil engineering design to public agencies, developers and property owners. The firm specializes in residential, education, healthcare, military, commercial/retail, civic and hospitality projects. For more information, visit latitude33.com.

Media Contact: Beth Binger

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Ive been of the opinion that Donald Trump will go down in history as the worst president of the USA. Im also of the opinion that every dark cloud has a silver lining. This may well become the greatest silver lining in over 800 years.

Donald Trump is a maverick who should have been stopped by the Electoral College, but it was shown to be a mere figurehead and it allowed him to become president. Trump is a megalomaniac narcissist like Adolf Hitler, but only his evil lived on after Hitlers demise.

Trump aligned his friendship with dictatorships like Russia and North Korea and has been a strong divisive force in the USA and has essentially removed it as the world leader of good world policy. He who pays the piper calls the tune and Trump has removed his countrys financial control and allowed less desirable governments to move in and take control of some world policy. Because of Trump, the USA is losing foreign holding.

King Trump acts like a tyrant and attacks anyone who criticizes him. He wanted to use the army against his own people. His followers are falling away and openly starting to disagree with him. Most importantly, Trump has set his neo-Nazi stance to condition the country to let Hitlers evil come out into the open; as he condoned their actions with a comment that there were fine people on both sides (Charlottesville). Like Hitlers Kristallnacht, the present-day neo-Nazis openly murdered one of an oppressed people, slowly; without care of being filmed on TV at the time. That took a lot of gall.

Now go back over 800 years to England. King John lost his lands in France. His determination to reconquer his lost lands led to poisoning relations with the English barons. The barons became increasingly disenchanted with him for his rising demands for taxation. He was accused of murder, extortion, and lechery. His unsuccessful reign ended in rebellion and civil war. The silver lining that came from this infamous king was the Magna Carta.

Come back over 800 years and we find much of the world in revolt against the evil of racism, institutionalized by Hitler and supported by Trump. God willing, this will continue and the silver lining in this cloud will be a move to equality for all people; like the Magna Carta gave us the roots of modern democracy. This may be one more step toward the utopia depicted in the series Star Trek.

I still think that Donald Trump should go down in history as the worst president of the USA, but may be remembered like King John.

Jerrilynn DeCock, Penticton
Police guarded Columbus Circle in New York City Thursday as statues seen as symbols of oppression were torn down across the United States.

Native American advocates have long raised concerns that Christopher Columbus spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.

Statues with racist connections have been targeted by protesters around the world speaking out against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death.

But New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he supports the statue of Christopher Columbus, saying its come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian American contribution to the state.

Cuomo, who is Italian-American, says he understands 'the feelings about Christopher Columbus and some of his acts, which nobody would support.'

A petition to rename the area in Manhattan has gathered more than 3,000 signatures. A statue of Columbus in Richmond, Virginia was torn down by protesters Tuesday and in Boston a similar figure was beheaded.

Police guarded Columbus Circle in New York City Thursday as statues viewed as symbols of oppression were torn down across the United States

Statues with racist connections have been targeted by protesters around the world speaking out against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd 's death

Governor Andrew Cuomo said he supports the statue of Christopher Columbus, saying come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian American contribution to the state

But Cuomo he added: 'I understand the dialogue that's been going on for a number of years, [but] the Christopher Columbus statue in some way represents the Italian American legacy in this country and the Italian-American contribution in this country.

'The statue has come to represent and signify an appreciation for the Italian-American contribution to New York.'

Marian U Pardo, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation said Thursday: 'We decry the news of the destruction and potential removal of Columbus statues throughout the United States.

'Ours has always been a positive agenda, especially in the celebration of Columbus as a symbol of accomplishment, which is emblematic of Italian Americans' own long fought and continuing battle with prejudice in American society.

'We are making this a public statement that expresses our support of peaceful protest and our condemnation of the destruction of Italian-American history. In addition, we are already working with city and state officials to ensure the protection of the Columbus monuments in our backyard.'

The toppling of statues comes amid national protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis on May 25.

In the weeks since Floyds death many Confederate monuments have been damaged or taken down, some toppled by demonstrators, others removed by local authorities.

The movement has extended around the world, with protesters decrying monuments to slave traders, imperialists and explorers, including Christopher Columbus, Cecil Rhodes and Belgiums King Leopold II.

Authorities in Alabama got rid of a massive obelisk in Birmingham and a bronze likeness of a Confederate naval officer in Mobile.

In Virginia, a 176-year-old slave auction block was removed in Fredericksburg, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy took down a statue in Alexandria.

Statues of Columbus across the nation are often vandalized on Columbus Day in October as the 15th century explorer has become a polarizing figure.

In Minnesota protesters pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus outside the State Capitol.

A rope was thrown around the 10-foot bronze statue Wednesday afternoon and they pulled it off its stone pedestal.

It followed a similar incident Tuesday night in Richmond, Virginia, where a statue of Christopher Columbus was torn down by protesters, set on fire and then thrown into a lake.

A statue of Christopher Columbus is shown vandalized at Bayfront Park in Miami, Thursday

The statue of Christopher Columbus lies on the ground after it was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capitol, Wednesda

Activists bring down the Columbus statue in front of the Capitol, Wednesday in St. Paul, Minn. A rope was thrown around the 10-foot bronze statue and it was pulled off its pedestal

A statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was also torn down along Richmond's famed Monument Avenue on Wednesday night by protesters.

The statue in the former capital of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11 p.m. and was on the ground in the middle of an intersection, news outlets reported. Richmond police were on the scene.

About 80 miles away, protesters in Portsmouth beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument on Wednesday, according to media outlets.

And in Boston the head of a Columbus statue located in a waterfront park near the citys traditionally Italian North End was found on the ground at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

Miami police say seven people have been arrested for vandalizing statues of Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de Leon.

The arrests happened Wednesday when several police cars pulled up and had a confrontation with protesters, the Miami Herald reported.

In Minnesota protesters pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus outside the State Capitol. A rope was thrown around the 10-foot bronze statue Wednesday afternoon and they pulled it off its stone pedestal

The pedestal where a statue of Christopher Columbus stands is seen vandalized at Bayfront Park in Miami, Thursda

Miami police say that several people were arrested for vandalizing the statue of Columbus

Some demonstrators in Bayfront Park had spray painted statues of Columbus and Ponce de Leon with 'George Floyd,' 'BLM' and a hammer and sickle.

Miami police say officers who responded to the scene were assaulted and a car was damaged. Video from the Herald shows police chasing protesters and several being shoved by police, some to the ground.

Police say in a new release there's 'zero tolerance' for property damage or hurting the public or officers.

Richard Dombroff, a demonstrator, told officers with a bullhorn: 'We've been peaceful all week long and you just broke that peace.'

The rally was held to honor 18-year-old Israel 'Reefa' Hernandez, who died after police used a stun gun on him in 2013.

Supporters of Confederate monuments have argued that they are important reminders of history, while opponents contend they glorify those who made war against the U.S. to preserve slavery.

Many of the statues across the South were erected decades after the Civil War during the Jim Crow era, when states imposed tough new segregation laws, and during the Lost Cause movement, in which historians and others sought to recast the Souths rebellion as a noble undertaking, fought to defend not slavery but states rights.
The death of George Floyd, a black man who died while in Minneapolis police custody, has led to weeks of protest against police brutality.

In San Antonio, the protests for Floyd have evolved to include calling for justice for three other African-American men  Marquise Jones, 23, Antronie Scott, 36, and Charles Roundtree, 18  who were killed by San Antonio police in three separate incidents within the last 10 years.

Protesters have demonstrated outside Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales's office this week after he announced that there was no new evidence to reopen the cases.

None of the officers involved were charged in the shootings. The following are the incidents that led to the death of the three men.

Marquise Jones

Jones was shot and killed by an off-duty SAPD Officer Robert Encina in 2014, who said he shot the 23-year-old in self defense.

Jones was the passenger of a vehicle that was involved in a small fender bender in the drive-thru of Chacho's located on Perrin Beitel Road. Encina, who was working security at the restaurant, was talking to one of the drivers when Jones stepped out of the vehicle.

Encina said Jones brandished a weapon and feared for his life so he fired his weapon, hitting Jones twice in the torso, according to police.

Witnesses said Jones attempted to run after he was shot but collapsed.

Police said a gun was found some distance from Jones' body, but it was never established if it was his, the Express News reported in 2017. Several witnesses testified they didn't see Jones with a gun.

An internal investigation found that Encina was justified in his use of force and in 2015, a Bexar County grand jury voted not to indict Encina. No criminal charges were brought against the officer, who had been with SAPD for six years at the time of the incident.

Jones' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2017 against the city of San Antonio and Encina, accusing SAPD of a cover-up and of not properly disciplining Encina after a previous incident led to a death.

Antronie Scott

Scott was killed by SAPD Officer John Lee in 2016 after the officer said he mistook Scott's cellphone for a gun.

On Feb. 4, 2016, the 36-year-old was in the car with his wife when he was being followed by undercover officers because he had two active felony warrants, police said. When Scott pulled up to the Wood Hollow Apartments just before 7 p.m., Lee approached him with his gun drawn and told him "let me see your hands," before almost immediately firing his service weapon, Chief William McManus said in 2016.

Lee said he feared for his life because Scott spun around quickly, police said. Scott was hit in the upper torso and died at the scene.

SAPD placed Lee on administrative leave and issued a contemplated indefinite suspension immediately after the shooting, but in March 2016, McManus decided not to fire Lee but to instead provide him with "additional training," the Express-News reported.

Charles Roundtree

Roundtree was 18 when he was shot and killed by SAPD Officer Steve Casanova in 2018.

Police were called to a reported drug house on Roberts Street around 1 a.m. on Oct. 17 for a possible assault. Inside Roundtree was with 24-year-old Davante Snowden and Taylor Singleton when police entered the residence. Police said Snowden allegedly reached for a gun in his waistband and ignored commands to drop the gun, which led Casanova to fire his weapon, hitting Roundtree in the chest after the bullet first hit Snowden in the buttock.

A Bexar County grand jury declined to indict Casanova and acquitted Snowden for his role in the death.

In 2018, Roundtree's family filed a federal lawsuit against SAPD and Casanova, accusing Casanova of failing to properly identify himself and using excessive force. The lawsuit also said SAPD failed to train and properly discipline him.

The lawsuit's narrative differs heavily from the police report and also accuses SAPD of lying to the media in a cover-up attempt.
SACRAMENTO  Legislators will vote on a new state budget Monday, even though they have yet to strike a deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom on a plan to close Californias $54.3 billion deficit.

The move could be largely procedural. State Senate and Assembly leaders said Wednesday that lawmakers plan to vote and then continue productive talks with Newsom, to meet a June 15 deadline for passing a budget or have their pay cut off.

Their plan is to take up a budget that legislative leaders announced last week, which differed in several respects from the version Newsom put forward in May.

Legislators were running out of time to reach a deal because of another deadline, this one requiring that the budget be in print for 72 hours before a vote. That means lawmakers have to produce the text of a budget by Friday.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood (Los Angeles County), and state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, suggested that the budget could quickly change as they negotiate with Newsom.

We will approve any amendments to the Legislatures version of the budget as soon as they are eligible for floor action, they said in a joint statement.

Newsom and legislative leaders have struggled to agree on a plan to erase the deficit that developed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The governor has proposed billions in cuts if the state doesnt receive a federal bailout.

Legislators alternative framework would delay those cuts for months in anticipation of a bailout. If it doesnt come, they would use more of the states reserve and delay payments to future years to avoid cuts to education, health care and safety-net programs.

Rendon and Atkins said they hope unions representing state workers agree to pay cuts, in case the federal government doesnt provide assistance.

Savings through the collective bargaining process are critical to maintaining the states fiscal health, in the event additional federal support does not materialize, they said.

Newsom has proposed that the states 234,000 workers take a 10% pay cut.

Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @dustingardiner
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Linkedin Budi Sutrisno (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 13:17 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdddf9fb 1 National Jokowi,coronavirus,COVID-19,new-normal,second-wave,large-scale-social-restrictions,PSBB,PSBB-Masa-Transisi,Transitional-PSBB,epidemiologist Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has warned of a second COVID-19 wave as the number of new cases continued to soar over the past few days, following the loosening of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in some regions.

However, experts say the governments warning of a second wave is premature since the first one has yet to reach its peak nationally.

I remind you that our large task is not over, conditions are still dynamic, the President said during a visit to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) office in East Jakarta on Wednesday. Dont let a second wave happen. Dont let the cases surge.

Read also: Hospitals more cautious, adjust services as Indonesia forges COVID-19 'new normal'

He added that regions should not ease restrictions without thorough evaluation.

The timing [of easing restrictions] is very important, it must be precise, he said.

Epidemiologist Panji Hadisoemarto from Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java, however, said such warnings were besides the point.

I think it is more appropriate to warn that we are under the threat of a case rebound in the first wave, Panji told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The Health Ministry has recorded a consistent spike of new COVID-19 cases in the past five days, starting with an unprecedented 993 new cases last Saturday, when the total number across the country reached 30,000, a day after the PSBB was eased in Jakarta.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the number of daily confirmed new cases surpassed 1,000 for the first time since the outbreak started.

Read also: COVID-19: What a second wave might look like

Announcing the PSBB easing last week, Governor Anies Baswedan claimed that the curves of new cases and deaths in Jakarta had reached its peak in April. After a relatively low rate in late May, the numbers recently went back up, with 232 new cases recorded on Tuesday.

Panji said he needed to check whether Jakarta had entered the second wave but he explained that a region, theoretically, could only see a new wave after reaching the bottom of the epidemiological curve, at the point where the first wave started.

The expectation of a single peak day to determine when the wave has turned might not be met given the lack of testing capacity that has frequently led to a backlog in laboratories.

The Health Ministrys disease control and prevention director general, Achmad Yurianto, has claimed that the record high numbers followed more aggressive contact tracing conducted by the central government.

However, although the number of specimens tested daily has surpassed the target of 10,000, the number of people tested daily has remained low, with 5,825 people tested on Wednesday.

The average number of people tested in the past week has also trended downward, even as the average number of new cases rise.

According to the official government count, Indonesia has recorded 34,316 confirmed cases with 1,959 fatalities and 12,129 recoveries as of Wednesday.
A string of Vietnamese banks, particularly state-owned lenders, are facing capital shortfalls but upcoming tie-up deals with foreign investors could give the financial sector some much-needed momentum.

A batch of major banks in Vietnam face gaps in succeeding with attempts to gain Basel II standard status. Photo: Le Toan

Vietnamese lenders will likely run into choppy waters in raising external capital. They have a 30 per cent foreign ownership limit, which constrains efforts to raise equity from overseas investors and makes them reliant on capital issuance in the shallow local market.

Previously, the Vietnamese government rolled out plans to allow state-owned lenders to pay dividends in shares or retain dividends in a bid to accumulate capital and meet regulatory minimum capitalisation thresholds.

However, thin capital buffers still ail several major banks. According to global rating firm Fitch Ratings, should Vietnamese banks continue to make timely provisions for newly impaired loans, some Fitch-rated local banks may fall up to $2.5 billion short of Basel II requirements. Basel II provides guidelines for calculation of minimum regulatory capital ratios and confirms the definition of regulatory capital and an 8 per cent minimum coefficient for regulatory capital over risk-weighted assets.

State-owned banks are expected to face the largest gap. For example, by late March, Agribanks capital adequacy ratio (CAR) was only 6.9 per cent, which failed to meet the minimum requirement of 8 per cent. Needless to say, Agribank is now falling short of the large capitalisation stipulated by Basel II for 2019-2021.

Despite being a wholly state-owned lender, Agribank has not increased its charter capital in the past nine years, which made the CAR plummet below the industry standards. The bank needs an injection of VND3.5 trillion ($152.2 million) from the Vietnamese authorities in 2020, said Nguyen Thi Phuong, deputy general director at Agribank.

Likewise, VietinBank seems to have been bogged down in its struggle to reach Basel II. Earlier this year, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) reduced its shares in VietinBank from almost 6.49 to 4.99 per cent.

At its latest general annual shareholder meeting, VietinBank signalled ambitions to preserve capital by only offering stock dividends this year, while reinvesting all profits into operations after paying taxes and setting aside the obligatory reserves for capital supplementation (5 per cent), financial reserves (10 per cent), as well as bonus and welfare funds.

VietinBank has agreed with the government and relevant ministries to add its earnings from 2017-2018 to its charter capital. The bank awaits amendments from state capital investment to clear legal hurdles before increasing paid-in capital, noted Harrison Kim, head of Equity Research at KB Securities.

In past years, stronger profitability and internal capital generation, amidst a benign economic environment, have helped some banks to raise their capital ratios recently. However, internally generated capital tends to be depleted by rapid credit growth, and many banks have resorted to issuing local tier-2 instruments to bridge the gap.

Surging overdue loans from the pandemic-induced economic fallout threaten Vietnamese banks earnings and capital accretion momentum, with many banks likely to face capital shortfalls should the weak economic conditions persist. Increased slack in the labour market is also putting mounting pressure on the quality of banks assets and profitability, especially given the rapid growth of the retail and consumer banking segment in recent years, Fitch Ratings said.

Looking on the bright side, many foreign lenders have expressed their eagerness to jump on the local bank bandwagon. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement are set to amplify European giants presence in Vietnam. After the trade deal comes into force, Vietnam will lift foreign ownership limits at local banks to 49 per cent in the next five years, with the exception of the four joint-stock commercial banks in which the state still holds a controlling stake.

Experts stated that some private lenders could gain the upper hand thanks to the EVFTA, such as Techcombank, ACB, VIB, or VPBank. Fortunately, these lenders have satisfied Basel II requirements, while still possessing strong retail banking arms and reporting upbeat performance. Some high-profile names from the European continent include BNB Paribas, Standard Charted, HSBC or Societe Generale SA, which also stand to see tailwinds from the deal.

Vuong Dinh Hue, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, said that 100 per cent foreign-owned banks would not be allowed to be established in Vietnam from 2020. Thus, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) seems to be the most feasible way for foreigners to enter the Vietnamese financial sector. Hue also encouraged strategic tie-ups between overseas investors and distressed local lenders, such as GPBank, Construction Bank (CBank), or OceanBank.

Japan-based J Trust Group has revealed intentions to partner with CBank in 2019, while Singaporean private investment group Clermont Group has expressed keen interest in the emerging Vietnamese financial segment. MARUHAN Group, a Japanese conglomerate which has broadened its banking subsidiaries in some Southeast Asian countries, has also been paying attention to Vietnam. Recently, commercial lender Ocean Bank was mulling the sale of 11 per cent of its charter capital to Japan-based Aozora Bank Ltd., which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange with around $3.16 billion of market capitalisation.

DGB Financial Group, a listed South Korean banking holding company, applied for a license in Vietnam last December, to prepare for extending its reach to the country, after hitting Cambodia and Laos.

We are looking for opportunities in Vietnam the way Shinhan Bank did, said DGBs representative, adding that there are a lot of cultural similarities between South Korea and Vietnam  which is one of the reasons why the group is seeking to launch services here. VIR

Celine Luu

VN banks upbeat about charter capital hike in 2020 Banks, especially State-owned banks, are expected to increase their capital significantly this year as they are allowed to retain profits or pay dividend in shares instead of cash as previously.
The town-owned property at 330 Cole Ave. will be transferred to Berkshire Housing Development Corp. for redevelopment as affordable housing.

Williamstown Transfers Former Photech Property, Housing Project to Start 'Within One Week'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  More than six years after the Select Board narrowly awarded development rights for the former Photech mill property to Berkshire Housing Development Corp., the town has formally transferred the property to the Pittsfield nonprofit.

At Monday's Select Board meeting, an enthusiastic board voted 5-0 to execute a deed for the property at 330 Cole Ave., to the Pittsfield-based non-profit, which plans to create 41 units of subsidized housing, utilizing the existing four-story structure and building new town houses.

Town Manager Jason Hoch told the board that the project is "funded and ready to begin" and that work at the site could commence soon.

BHCD President Elton Ogden confirmed that on Wednesday morning.

"We expect to close within one week and construction will start immediately thereafter," Ogden wrote in an email responding to a request for comment. "It's been a very long and challenging process, so it will be great to begin work on the new buildings."

Select Board Chair Jane Patton was excited the town was able to seal the deal.

"This is big news," Patton said on Monday. "This has been going on for a while. It's nice to get this piece moving."

Patton is the lone member of the Select Board remaining from that 2014 vote and had actually voted in the minority because she favored going with the recommendation of the town's Affordable Housing Committee, which shepherded the request for proposal that was answered by BHDC and Boston's Arch Street Development.

Arch Street submitted a more ambitious proposal that called for 60 units of housing on Cole Avenue and an additional 25 on the former town garage site on Water Street  answering both parts of the RFP developed by the housing committee.

Berkshire Housing proposed development only on the Photech site; at that time, it was contemplating 46 units of income-restricted housing. That plan has since been refined.

The Affordable Housing Committee reviewed both applications and recommended the Arch Street plan to the Select Board because it maximized the use of two town assets. Three members of the AHC resigned shortly after the Select Board went against its recommendation.

Berkshire Housing has spent the last six years operating on an option from the town to develop the site and applying for funding through the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development and other sources. In December 2016, Berkshire Housing received the blessing of the town's Conservation Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals , essentially making the project "shovel ready."

In May 2019, annual town meeting approved a grant of $200,000 of the town's Community Preservation Act funds toward the projected $16 million project on land being donated by the town.

Last December , Ogden was at town hall to ask for what he then hoped would be the last extension of BHDC's option on the land.

Hoch Monday assured the Select Board that the deed documents had been reviewed by town counsel and they included easements for the planned bicycle/pedestrian path that will run from the near the junction of North Street (Route 7) and Syndicate Road east to the Spruces Community Park.
[June 11, 2020] CoderPad Raises Growth Capital from Summit Partners

Summit Partners today announced that it has closed on a growth funding round in CoderPad, a leading platform for assessing technical skills. The new growth funding will help fuel hiring and continued expansion for the already-profitable company as CoderPad scales to meet increasing demand for remote technical interview solutions. Built by engineers, for engineers, CoderPad is on a mission to fix the technical interviewing process. The company offers a collaborative programming environment that helps hiring organizations efficiently and accurately assess technical skills of candidates. CoderPad launched in 2013. The company has been profitable since its start and has grown revenues 50% over the past year. The company serves over 1,700 customers, from startup organizations to some of the world's largest and most sophisticated technology employers, including Dropbox (News - Alert), Lyft, Spotify and Quora. Customers have conducted more than 2.5 million technical interviews on the CoderPad platform. "The traditional whiteboard-focused technical hiring process is becoming obsolete, and this trend has only accelerated as a result of the COVID pandemic," said Amanda Richardson (News - Alert), CEO of CoderPad. "At the same time, we're seeing more incredible technical talent entering the labor market than we've seen in a long time. CoderPad's platform is designed specifically to help organizations hire better candidates faster in a real-world setting, allowing the best technical candidates to demonstrate the depth of their skills and employers to efficiently identify and assess talent that can add value quickly." CoderPad creates a realistic software development environment that is designed to allow the interviewer to collaborate, in real time, with the code being written by a candidate and view the results when the code is executed. With buit-in video conferencing, the interview session is recorded for review by other hiring managers. CoderPad supports more than 30 programming languages for use during the interview process.



"Across end markets, we are seeing companies that are increasingly driven by software and technology, and organizations that require robust, remote, unbiased tools to identify, assess and attract top-tier technical talent. CoderPad is helping to fulfill that need with a platform that is used daily, at significant scale," said Colin Mistele, a Principal with Summit Partners who serves on the CoderPad Board of Directors. "The company's growth in customer count and revenues to-date has been impressive; the business is profitable and driving rapid growth in a highly capital efficient manner. We are excited to partner with Amanda and CoderPad's growing team to help invest in the product, scale the organization and drive continued leadership in what we believe is an increasingly important software category." "CoderPad is a product- and engineering-led company, committed to helping technical talent find their next opportunity - and helping development organizations identify their next great hire," added Amanda Richardson. "We're excited about the tremendous opportunity ahead for CoderPad as we build on this momentum, further develop the product and continue expanding our team."

About CoderPad CoderPad is a simple yet powerful online technical assessment software that makes it easy to interview in the candidate's language of choice so hiring managers can quickly get a quality signal of an engineer's skills. We empower customers around the world to screen and interview best-in-class engineers with our comprehensive and flexible technology, responsive customer success team, and devotion to a great candidate experience. Headquartered in San Francisco, CoderPad serves over 1,700 customers and has hosted more than 2.5 million technical interviews in 30+ languages. Visit www.coderpad.io for more information. About Summit Partners Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $20 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 500 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. These companies have completed more than 140 public equity offerings, and more than 190 have been acquired through strategic mergers and sales. Notable technology companies backed by Summit Partners include Avast, A Cloud Guru, Gainsight, Klaviyo, Podium and Smartsheet. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe, and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or on follow on LinkedIn. In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC (News - Alert)-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 11-12 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1JJ, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners' potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005141/en/

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 03:23:07|Editor: huaxia

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COPENHAGEN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Danish government has decided to reopen its border from June 15 for residents of German northernmost state Schleswig-Holstein without restrictions, announced Minister of Justice Nick Haekkerup on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, the government expanded the list of "recognizable purposes" that allow foreigners to enter Denmark.

Starting June 15, visits from lovers, grandparents, children, and for finances, business, and job interviews from other European Union (EU) and Schengen countries as well as the United Kingdom will be allowed to Denmark.

In addition, people residing in the EU and the UK who own holiday houses in Denmark or who can document that they are only being in transit in Denmark for vacation or tourism outside Denmark will also be allowed to travel in the country.

"We are trying to normalize the situation as much as possible so that the interaction that exists can hopefully find a level that is similar to what we had before the corona(virus) crisis occurred," said Haekkerup. Enditem
New Delhi:

Amongst raining war of words between Kejriwalss ministers and LG Najeeb Jung its the hapless people of Delhi who are bearing the brunt of Dengue and chikungunya outbreak as both diseases continue to strike with deathly ferocity. Latest report trickling in confirm 15 deaths due to Chikungunya alone in Delhi so far including two deaths reported on Saturday.

Two elderly persons, both aged above 70 and belonging to Delhi, died on September 15 of chikungunya complications at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH). One of them suffered from hypertension while the other had kidney problems, a hospital source said.

The number of deaths from chikungunya complications at SGRH has climbed to seven, the highest at any hospital in the city.

Out of the 15 deaths, Apollo Hospital has reported five, while AIIMS, Hindu Rao Hospital and PSRI recorded one death each.

Gulab Chand Gupta (70) from Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi, died on September 12, a family member yesterday said.

He was admitted at Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute (PSRI) in south Delhi on September 7 and succumbed to chikungunya complications on September 12. His medical report says he died of acute febrile illness with septic shock and multi-organ failure, his son-in-law Santosh Mangal said.

Chikungunya and dengue have claimed at least 33 lives and affected nearly 3,000 people in Delhi. 18 people have died of dengue which has affected over 1,100 people in the city.

The Centre had yesterday sought a detailed report from the Delhi government on deaths due to it and dengue, including medical history of the deceased.

We have asked for a detailed report on the deaths due to the vector-borne diseases in the city. Also, we have sought medical history of the deceased, whether they had any co-morbid conditions, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said on the sidelines of a symposium here on liver transplant.

Many of the patients diagnosed in Delhi are coming from the NCR region and so fever clinics could also be set up there. We are resolving this matter with Haryana and other governments in the NCR, he said.

Nadda had yesterday met Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain to discuss the situation and assured all support to the city government, while asserting that no patient is being turned away without treatment and there is no shortage of doctors and drugs.

The Delhi government has also asked private hospitals not to release data on vector-borne disease cases directly to the press, which may create panic.

In the wake of chikungunya outbreak, the Delhi government has initiated the process for declaring chikungunya as a notifiable and dangerous disease.

Doctors say that chikungunya is not a life-threatening disease in general, but in rare cases leads to complications that prove fatal, especially in children and elderly persons.

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CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday highlighted another outdoors-oriented stock that he thinks is sporting an attractive sell price.

Polaris, a manufacturer of snowmobiles, motorcycles, boats and other vehicles, is another way investors can play a leisure industry that has been turned on its head, the "Mad Money" host said.

"If you believe, as I do, that America is reopening rapidly but we're not exactly going back to normal  too much social distancing  then Polaris is indeed the kind of stock you should own," he said. "This is a company that benefits enormously from the V-shaped recovery thesis, and it also works with a slower recovery because the great outdoors is taking market share from every other form of recreation that involves crowded indoor spaces."

Cramer said he regrets not spotting the upside in the outdoor recreation industry months prior. Last week, he said that the camping and recreational vehicle companies are "back in a big way" in the age of Covid-19. Polaris, which finished Wednesday's session at $96.19, is still flashing a buying opportunity, he said.

Polaris shares have recovered all of their losses during the market meltdown that was triggered in February by the coronavirus outbreak. The stock fell about 60% from peak to trough and is now up more than 160% from its April lows.

The stock has pulled back 6% from the beginning of the trading week and is within $7 of its January closing high.

The camping and outdoor recreation space is catching Cramer's attention as an investment alternative to the airlines and cruise industries that face a boatload of new social distancing challenges to fill their crafts with passengers.

"Polaris is taking share, they're bringing in lots of new customers, and I think this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for this company," Cramer said.

Polaris appears to have taken a "genuine turn" after reporting first-quarter earnings in April, Cramer said. The company missed analyst estimates on the top and bottom lines during the coronavirus-plagued quarter, but later management presented information that Cramer saw as encouraging.

In late May, Polaris announced it saw a rebound in business and that it would stick to its dividend. Chairman and CEO Scott Wine said he saw "unprecedented demand for our brands and vehicles." The company also made moves to give its balance sheet some wiggle room.

Cramer highlighted that the stock is selling for 17 times next year's earnings, which he deemed was not a bargain but that it was attractive for the 2.5% dividend yield.

"Put it all together, you got an incredibly bullish business update, a confirmation that the dividend is staying put and a lot more financial flexibility," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 00:21:52|Editor: huaxia

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Wang Chen, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the China Law Society, addresses a meeting on a program featuring 100 seminars to be given by jurists in Beijing, capital of China, June 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese official on Thursday called for more efforts to popularize knowledge of the law among the public.

Addressing a meeting on a program featuring 100 seminars to be given by jurists, Wang Chen, director of the China Law Society, said improving publicity and education on the rule of law is of great significance for better protecting people's lawful rights and interests and creating a sound legal environment.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stressed efforts to raise awareness of legislation in key areas, such as the newly adopted Civil Code, and promote explanation of laws and policies concerning epidemic control and economic and social development. Enditem
New Delhi, June 11 : One can notice mobile clinics in the bordering areas of Himachal Pradesh whose primary job is to screen those coming in from other states. These mobile clinics have doctors at hand to help and are equipped to conduct 40 types of tests.

These clinics also carry photographs of Anurag Thakur, MP from Himachal's Hamirpur and also Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs. The mobile clinic concept is his personal initiative.

In the last three months, Thakur has arranged 17 such mobile clinics which carry medicines along with doctors, nurses and paramedics. More than 30,000 people entering the state have so far been tested by these clinics in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

This is part of Thakur's MP Mobile Health Service which he started two years ago. The initiative has helped in rendering health services to over 2 lakh patients in Thakur's Hamirpur constituency, which has several villages in hilly areas and where people face a lot of problems in getting hospital facilities.

He arranged such vehicles for each of the 17 assembly constituencies of Hamirpur. The ambulances were transformed into mobile clinics which are now deployed along the state borders to conduct corona screening of outsiders.

"These mobile clinics are active in five districts, 17 assembly constituencies, 800 panchayats of around 5,000 villages in Hamirpur parliamentary constituency. Forty tests including lipid profile, LFT/KFT, creatinine, uric acid, sugar glucose, hepatitis B/C can be conducted and medicines distributed for free-of-cost. Plus, these clinics also conduct corona tests for those who are entering Himachal Pradesh," Thakur told IANS.

He said the MP Mobile Health Service has so far conducted 30,000 primary tests for coronavirus, proving its worth. "All states and the Centre are working in coordination under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fight Covid-19. In such difficult times, these mobile clinics are doing their part in our state," said Thakur.
ICICI Bank's private equity arm-ICICI ventures and US-based Apollo Global Management Inc. are going to end their nine-year joint venture (JV) investment platform, AION Capital Partners Ltd. The two firms plan to make investments separately. Apollo Global is planning to start its own credit investment business in India.

The New York-based alternative investment manager is mulling to stop putting new money into AION Capital Partners and get out of its existing investments over the next few years, Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter. The two firms had started AION Capital in 2011 and mobilised capital worth $825 million for their first fund.

The JV has assets under management of $660 million as of March 31, offering a net internal rate of return of 5%, according to filings. Since the two firms' exclusive partnership has matured, they have agreed to change their relationship from April 1, the news agency quoted a representative of ICICI as saying in a statement.

Also Read: ICICI Bank share price gains over 4%; brokerages upbeat over outlook

It added that Apollo will continue to advise on AION investments until the end of the fund's term, but, both firms are free to pursue other business opportunities independently.

The US firm will continue to look for private equity, real estate, and credit opportunities in India, a representative for Apollo told the news agency.

The firm will invest in the country (India) from several pools, comprising its global flagship fund, where it can be "the most effective and opportunistic" and partner with "the largest groups in the country", Apollo said in a statement as cited by the news agency.

Meanwhile, starting a credit business could put the US asset manager in direct competition with ICICI Bank and several other domestic lenders, which help companies with their debts.

Also Read: ICICI Bank to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore via debt securities

The news agency reported this week that India is mulling a new category of an alternative investment fund, which will zero in on acquiring stressed assets directly from banks and NBFCs (non-banking financial companies).

The AION platform has made several substantial investments in India, such as the takeover of GE Capital's commercial lending and leasing business in India, acquisition of bankrupt steelmaker Monnet Ispat and Energy in partnership with the JSW group via the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process.
Ridership on the TTC bus network is already approaching levels the agency has said will make social distancing on its vehicles impossible, despite the fact the city has only reached the first stage of reopening from COVID-19 lockdown.

During the crisis, TTC use has plummeted by more than 80 per cent, and the agency has cut service by about 20 per cent.

But TTC officials have warned that once ridership returns to 30 per cent of pre-crisis demand, crowding will make it difficult for riders to stay the recommended two metres apart. That 30-per-cent threshold assumes the TTC ramping service back up to pre-COVID service levels, which it has no immediate plans to do.

While overall system ridership remains low, in an interview with the Star on Friday, TTC CEO Rick Leary said that as the city opens up following Ontario entering Stage 1 of its recovery on May 19, passengers are returning at different rates on different parts of the network. While demand on subway and streetcar lines remains at about 15 per cent of normal, bus routes are now at about 28 per cent, close to the 30 per cent threshold.

The CEO acknowledged that even prior to ridership creeping back up, the crowding standards the TTC has instituted during the pandemic are no guarantee physical distancing is always possible.

The agency has set a goal of carrying no more than 15 riders on a bus at one time. Leary said that number was a guideline based on ensuring nobody has to touch each other, and wasnt intended to ensure customers can always keep two metres apart.

Affording every passenger two metres would have required capping bus ridership at five people per vehicle, Leary said, which the agency determined wasnt reasonable.

The concept of the 15 (passenger limit) was a guideline, that didnt mean we were physically distancing on buses, Leary said.

In reality, 15 people is not physical spacing.

According to the TTC, about 11 per cent of its bus trips are now carrying more than 15 people, an increase from about 5.5 per cent in mid-April.

The agency has said most of the routes that have remained busy are lines outside of downtown used by shift workers at essential employment hubs like grocery distribution centres and industrial bakeries, as well as low-income residents dependent on transit for daily needs.

The TTC says it is taking steps to alleviate crowding, including monitoring ridership in real time and deploying vehicles to routes where the 15-passenger guideline is exceeded. The agency also instituted enhanced cleaning measures for buses in late January, weeks before the scale of the COVID-19 crisis became apparent.

The extent to which crowding on transit contributes to the spread of the virus isnt known. Toronto Public Health hasnt reported that any of the citys roughly 13,000 confirmed cases were contracted on the TTC.

TPH spokesperson Keisha Mair said Wednesday the nature of the virus makes it difficult to determine exactly where someone acquired their infection, but as much as 25 per cent of cases may be from community spread and everyone should be aware that COVID-19 may be circulating in many different locations in Toronto, including public transit.

Ashleigh Tuite, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto, said recent reports out of Japan show a dearth of outbreaks linked to crowded trains there, a possible indication transit isnt as effective in spreading the disease as some have feared.

Tuite said the fact that most transit riders dont engage in close conversation with one another and dont stay on the same vehicle for long could limit the spread of the disease even in enclosed spaces like buses.

As it becomes impossible to ensure social distancing on transit, Tuite said the TTC and its riders should focus on mitigating the risk through other means, like wearing masks.

According to Leary, the impracticality of social distancing on buses is why the TTC has launched a public relations campaign strongly recommending passengers wear face coverings on the system.

But unlike Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton, Ottawa, and others, Toronto has stopped short of making masks on transit mandatory.

TTC officials have said trying to enforce such a rule could cause conflict between transit employees and riders, and some passengers cant wear face coverings for medical reasons.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents most TTC employees, has called on the agency to require all riders to wear masks.

Frank Malta, assistant business agent for Local 113, said the TTC should also restore bus service to pre-COVID levels. As of June 6, 62 TTC workers had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Everything is opening up, and youre only going to get more and more crowding issues, Malta said.

The TTCs ability to add service is limited by the financial crisis COVID-19 has wrought. The agency has estimated that by Labour Day it will have incurred about $520 million in revenue losses and incremental costs from the pandemic.

Coun. Brad Bradford (Ward 19, Beaches-East York), a TTC board member, says he has a cost-effective way to alleviate bus crowding.

He plans to introduce a motion at next Wednesdays board meeting asking the agency and city staff to accelerate the installation of dedicated bus lanes on five busy routes. His motion says the lanes could be created quickly using paint, signage, and temporary barriers, coupled with traffic signals that give buses priority. His motion sets a target date for installation of Sept. 1.

Creating dedicated bus lanes on Jane Street, Dufferin Street, Finch Avenue, Steeles Avenue and Eglinton Avenue was already part of the TTCs five-year service plan, but Bradford says they should be expedited to help with Torontos COVID-19 recovery in the same way council fast-tracked the expansion of the bike network.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation for the Star. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr
Just days after Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia announced the long-awaited removal of the well-known Confederate monument of General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Judge Bradley B. Cavedo placed a 10-day injunction on Monday that stopped any further action to the statue.

The lawsuit is being pursued by local resident William C. Gregory. He possesses an 1890 deed signed by his great-grandparents, in which the state agreed to faithfully guard and affectionately protect the statue. [Gregorys] family has taken pride for 130 years in this statue resting upon land belonging to his family and transferred to the Commonwealth in consideration of the Commonwealth contractually guaranteeing to perpetually care for and protect the Lee Monument, NPR reports. How the words in the 1890 deed are interpreted in the court of law could sway the decision one way or another.

US-POLITICS-RACE-UNREST Photo: Getty Images/Ryan Kelly

At this time, final decisions have yet to be made, but Northams administration isnt backing down. Governor Northam remains committed to removing this divisive symbol from Virginias capital city, and were confident in his authority to do so, spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky said in a statement.

Moreover, protestors standing up for the recent unjust deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade due to police violence are taking matters into their own hands. On June 9, at around 9 p.m., a passionate group knocked down a Christopher Columbus statue, set it on fire, and threw it in a lake in downtown Richmond. "Anything that oppresses people of color needs to go," a speaker at the rally said to the crowd. Its clear where many stand regarding the future of their city. Unfortunately, rewriting history isnt that easy. The failure to enter an injunction would allow the commonwealth to breach its contract with impunity, Gregorys case states.

Interestingly enough, Lee himself was never in favor of these monuments. I think it wiser...not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered, he wrote in proposition of a Gettysburg memorial in 1869. Despite all the popular support, the court still has roughly one week to decide the fate of the statue.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Sun Papers new greenfield mill in Beihai

Sun Papers new greenfield mill in Beihai will eventually have a total pulp and paper capacity of 3.5 million tonnes annually.

Sun Papers new greenfield mill in Beihai will eventually have a total pulp and paper capacity of 3.5 million tonnes annually.

Valmet Oyjs press release on June 10, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. EET



Valmet will supply cooking and fiberline to Guangxi Sun Paper Co., Ltds new Beihai mill in China. The pulp mill will have a capacity of 800,000 air dried tonnes per year of bleached hardwood kraft pulp.

The order is included in Valmet's orders received of the second quarter 2020. The value of the order will not be disclosed.

Valmets delivery is part of Sun Papers new greenfield mill in Beihai, which will eventually have a total pulp and paper capacity of 3.5 million tonnes annually. This order complements the fine paper machine, automation and recovery boiler order which Valmet announced in April 2020.

Our overall target of the project is to build a world-class mill. We wanted to choose advanced and reliable technology that has little impact on the environment at the same time as it performs with high quality and efficiency and has low operating costs. We chose Valmet because they met our goals well in this project. We have also had good collaboration in all previous projects, says Yanjun Cao, Vice general manager, Sun Paper.

We had many discussions with the customer, and we managed to offer a concept that fits their needs well with a tight delivery schedule and long-term cooperation. All our earlier pulp mill references were also contributing factors to this important order, says Xiangdong Zhu, Area President, China, Valmet.

The cooking and fiberline will feature leading process technology, including the latest developments in our continuous cooking technology, to reach excellent efficiency in energy and raw material utilization. A high end-product quality with low effluent flows and high environmental performance will be secured with the latest generation of TwinRoll wash presses throughout the fiberline in combination with Valmets screening, oxygen and bleaching technology, says Eva Engelfeldt, Senior Sales Manager, Fiber Processing Business Unit, Valmet.

Story continues





Sun Papers new greenfield mill in Beihai will eventually have a total pulp and paper capacity of 3.5 million tonnes annually.

Information about Valmets delivery

The scope of Valmets supply includes main equipment and process design for continuous cooking, deknotting, screening, brown stock washing, oxygen delignification, and three stage ECF (elementally chlorine free) bleaching. Corresponding spare parts and site services are also a part of the scope.

Information about the customer Sun Paper

Sun Paper is one of the subsidiaries of Shandong Sun Holdings Group, which was founded in 1982. Currently Sun Paper has two mills in Chinas Shandong province. The company also operates a mill in Laos with a 300,000 tonnes/year dissolving pulp line and a 400,000 tonnes/year recycled pulp line. In July 2019, Sun Paper established a wholly owned subsidiary, Guangxi Sun Paper, to build an integrated pulp and paper mill in Beihai.

VALMET

Corporate Communications

For further information, please contact:

Xiangdong Zhu, Area President, China, Valmet, tel. +8613801795775

Eva Engelfeldt, Senior Sales Manager, Pulp and Energy business line, Valmet, tel. +46 706 80 52 19

Valmet is the leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers.



Valmet's strong technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bioenergy production. Our advanced services and automation solutions improve the reliability and performance of our customers' processes and enhance the effective utilization of raw materials and energy.



Valmet's net sales in 2019 were approximately EUR 3.5 billion. Our more than 13,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward - every day. Valmet's head office is in Espoo, Finland and its shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki.

Read more www.valmet.com , www.twitter.com/valmetglobal

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A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Wednesday:

ROAD MAPS QUESTIONED: House Appropriations Committee members Wednesday agreed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars next fiscal year for transportation purposes, but it was a $242,000 line item that drew the attention of Democratic state Rep. Mary Mascher of Iowa City.

Every other year, the state Department of Transportation produces thousands of state road maps  a longtime paper convenience for drivers but a throwback item Mascher thinks no longer is something taxpayers should fund in the age of phone-based GPS apps.

We could save those dollars and put them into other purposes in the transportation budget, especially during tight times, Mascher said.

If people want to buy a map of Iowa, Im fine with that, but nobody pays for my app on the phone. And so I look at that and think there are some inequities there. If people want those maps, I think they have the right to buy them. I dont think that the state should be footing that bill.

However, committee members decided to keep the line item in place.

The committee approved House Study Bill 711 and forwarded it to the full House for consideration.

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS CUT: House Appropriations Committee members approved a scaled-back spending plan Wednesday for fiscal 2021 infrastructure projects.

Rep. Jacob Bossman, R-Sioux City, said the Rebuild Iowas Infrastructure Fund bill normally is considered by legislators as the most fund part of the budget process, but not this year.

The subcommittee cut $25 million due to the shrinking amount of gambling tax receipts the state expects to receive for funding infrastructure projects in fiscal 2021, which begins July 1. Gambling revenues are expected to fall short of expectations because casinos were closed more than two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We tried to focus on the necessities. There were some things that needed to take a little bit of a haircut, he noted.

Bossman said legislators made some tough decisions in temporarily zeroing out some regent university projects and vacant buildings demolition and rehabilitation funds for next year, along with cutting $9 million in major and routine maintenance of state buildings.

House Study Bill 712, which passed 14-10, includes $5.2 million for water quality projects, $8 million for lake restoration, $5 million for Community Attraction and Tourism projects and $6.5 million public safety needs that include an improved communications system, an airplane and money to buy ballistic vests and bomb suits.

The $169.5 million bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

AG BILL SIGNED INTO LAW: Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law Wednesday a bill dealing with agricultural-related issues that was revamped last week to include a controversial provision to toughen penalties for trespassing in livestock confinement buildings and meat-processing plants.

SF 2413 deals with the powers and duties of the state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. It became a vehicle for legislators and farm groups seeking to bolster protections against would-be whistleblowers or animal-rights activists who enter agricultural production facilities without permission. The bill enhances the penalty for trespassing on farms and food operations to an aggravated misdemeanor, with a second offense being treated as a Class D felony.

Critics predict the bill, which they dubbed Ag-Gag 3.0, will be successfully challenged in court, but backers deny that claim. Opponents contend the measure would stifle Iowans First Amendment speech rights while protecting corporate agriculture and the factory farm industry. Similar bills passed in 2012 and 2019 were challenged in court as unconstitutional.

GOVERNOR APPLAUDS BROADBAND ACTION: Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday applauded legislative action intended to help businesses that provide communications services to expand access to reliable and affordable high-speed broadband to underserved and unserved parts of Iowa.

The Iowa Senate voted 49-0 to send Senate File 2400 to the governors desk for her expected signature.

If Iowa is to succeed, we always have to be forward-looking and nimble to the demands of the ever-changing 21st century economy, the governor said in a statement.

Expanding broadband connectivity connects Iowans in every corner of our state to the new opportunities that exist in telehealth, education, and telework. By empowering rural communities through broadband connectivity, we chart a course for Iowas continued growth and success.

Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg said the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of broadband connectivity in the everyday lives of Iowans. Senate File 2400 increases the maximum grant amount from 15 percent to 35 percent for communication service provider project costs that meet a minimum download speed of 100 Mbps per second and a minimum upload speed of 20 Mbps per second, and changes the definitions for underserved areas and what constitutes meaningful service. Grants of up to 15 percent would be available for projects offering broadband at lower download and upload speeds.

LAWSUIT JOINED: Attorney General Tom Miller joined a coalition of 51 attorneys general filing the third lawsuit stemming from an antitrust investigation into a widespread conspiracy by generic drug manufacturers to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition and unreasonably restrain trade for generic drugs sold across the United States.

The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut focuses on 80 topical generic drugs that account for billions of dollars of sales.

The complaint names 26 corporate defendants and 10 individual defendants. The lawsuit seeks damages, civil penalties and actions by the court to restore competition to the generic drug market.

The topical drugs at the center of the complaint include creams, gels, lotions, ointments, shampoos and solutions used to treat a variety of skin conditions, pain and allergies.

The complaint stems from an ongoing investigation built on evidence from several cooperating witnesses at the core of the conspiracy, a massive database of more than 20 million documents, and a phone records database containing millions of call detail records and contact information for more than 600 sales and pricing individuals in the generics industry.

The first two lawsuits are pending in U.S. District Court.

SENATE CONFIRMATIONS: The Iowa Senate voted 49-0 Wednesday to confirm 103 of Gov. Kim Reynolds appointments to state posts, boards and commissions.

Minority Democrats, however, opposed the nomination of Nicole Crain to the State Judicial Nominating Commission, saying her previous work as a lobbyist posed problems in confirming her to serve on a key position in the judicial selection process.

However, Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, said senators who opposed Crain in the 32-17 vote were being disingenuous and were being poor losers in a previous legislative battle that changed the commissions makeup.

Under Iowa law, a two-thirds affirmative majority decision (or 34 votes) is required for the Senate to confirm a gubernatorial appointee.

Senators did vote 49-0 to confirm Pella attorney Dan Huitink to the State Judicial Nominating Commission.

Minority Democrats also voted down Cheryl Arnolds nomination to serve as a member and chairwoman of the state Public Employment Relations Board by a 32-17 margin.

Senators also voted 37-12 to reconfirm San Wong as director of the state Department of Human Rights; 45-4 to confirm Brian Kane to the state Board of Education; and 47-2 to name former state legislator Lance Horbach to the state Racing & Gaming Commission.

Among the gubernatorial nominees who were approved in an en masse floor vote were Mary Junge to the Iowa Lottery Authority Board, Daryl Olsen to the state Racing & Gaming Commission and Ralph Haskins to the Iowa Board of Parole.

Senators also approved Jennifer Easler as the states consumer advocate and Judy Bradshaw to continue as director of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

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MACOUPIN COUNTY  A small plane that crashed near Carlinville, Illinois, last month, killing a St. Charles man and three of his friends, had entered a right descending spiral before smashing into farmland, according to a preliminary report from federal investigators.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, and no one was hurt on the ground. The plane was destroyed on impact.

The NTSBs preliminary report on the May 31 crash was released Wednesday. It found that the Michigan-bound pilot, Joshua Daniel Sweers, took off from Creve Coeur Airport at 3:18 p.m. and climbed in clear skies. Twenty-five minutes later, the airplane began a left turn, circled back on course until it again was heading northeast, then started turning right. At 3:45 p.m., the plane began its spiral before crashing. The plane broke apart near a pond and the debris field spanned 455 feet. There was no fire or explosion, the report said.

Terry Williams, a spokesman for the NTSB, said the boards final report, containing the probable cause of the crash, can take a year or longer. Federal investigators will be examining the wreckage for any signs of mechanical failure. They also will be looking at the pilots history and the planes maintenance history.

Among the items found in the wreckage was a GoPro camera, which federal investigators are reviewing for clues.

The victims previously were identified as pilot Sweers, 35, of Lansing, Michigan, and passengers Daniel A. Shedd, 37, of St. Charles, Daniel Schlosser, 39, of Michigan, and John S. Camilleri, 39, of New York.

Jose R. Ruiz, a professor in the Department of Aviation Management and Flight at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, read the NTSB report at the request of the Post-Dispatch. He said the preliminary report provides a snapshot of information gathered shortly after the crash and leaves many unanswered questions, such as pilot qualifications and if the aircraft was receiving air traffic control service at the time of the accident.

Ruiz questions why the aircraft, originally traveling northeast, took a gradual left turn to the southwest, then an abrupt turn before the steep spiral. This tragedy leaves us with more questions than answers, Ruiz said.

Moments before takeoff, Shedd had texted to his mother a photo taken on the plane of the four friends, who met in college as fraternity brothers. The family released the photo to the Post-Dispatch. The four men were in a Piper Cherokee PA 28-235 fixed wing, single-engine aircraft, a four-seater. Its registered owner, Cleared for Takeoff LLC, is based in Lansing, Michigan, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Shedd worked for the Defense Contract Management Agency at Boeing, where he was an engineer. He planned to go to Michigan with his friends to retrieve a motorcycle he had lent to Sweers a year ago. All four of the men were engineering graduates from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. They had all belonged to the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Shedds father, Charles Shedd of Chesterfield, said a public visitation for his son will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday. It will be held at Baue Funeral Home Cave Springs at 3950 West Clay Street in St. Charles. Baue requires that people wear facial coverings due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The funeral will be private but it will be livestreamed beginning at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. To view the service on Saturday, click on the Baue link.

All smiles, St. Charles man texts photo to mom minutes before plane crash Daniel Shedd and three others had departed the Creve Coeur area and were pronounced dead at the scene in rural Carlinville.

Kim Bell  314-340-8115 @kbellpd on Twitter kbell@post-dispatch.com

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GREENVILLE, S.C., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Duke Energy Foundation has awarded more than $240,000 in grants to five South Carolina organizations focused on building and enhancing strategic engineering initiatives that will help grow the energy industry's workforce of tomorrow.

"We have a long history of targeting investments to have the greatest impact for our communities," said Mike Callahan, South Carolina state president for Duke Energy. "This year has proven a challenge for many education organizations and programs across the state. That's why it is even more critical today to continue that tradition and help strengthen the workforce pipeline needed to fuel the Palmetto State's economic engine now and in the years to come."

The grants were awarded to the following organizations:

Associated Industries of South Carolina Foundation: In partnership with the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, the funding will help build a mobile skilled-trades workshop that will house simulators and be deployed to schools, career fairs, trade shows and public and private events throughout the state.

In partnership with the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, the funding will help build a mobile skilled-trades workshop that will house simulators and be deployed to schools, career fairs, trade shows and public and private events throughout the state. Florence County School District 2 : Supports the growth of the engineering pathway curriculum by adding a STEM club for girls in middle school and expanding Project Lead the Way engineering courses in high school.

: Supports the growth of the engineering pathway curriculum by adding a STEM club for girls in middle school and expanding Project Lead the Way engineering courses in high school. Town of Summerton : In partnership with Greenville Technical College , the grant provides funding for the Summerton Hemp House Project, a student-led, green building project that serves as a catalyst for green industry employment and training opportunities using affordable housing and the environment as a context for learning.

: In partnership with , the grant provides funding for the Summerton Hemp House Project, a student-led, green building project that serves as a catalyst for green industry employment and training opportunities using affordable housing and the environment as a context for learning. S.C. Independent Colleges and Universities : Provides nine $5,000 scholarships to junior or senior engineering students at qualifying independent colleges and universities in Duke Energy's service areas.

: Provides nine scholarships to junior or senior engineering students at qualifying independent colleges and universities in Duke Energy's service areas. Francis Marion University : Supports creation of an Engineering Makerspace that will provide a valuable resource giving students the opportunity to be creative while becoming familiar with contemporary design and manufacturing equipment in use in industry.

"Francis Marion University has thrived on partnerships in the community and few partners have made a greater impact on the university than Duke Energy," said Dr. Fred Carter, the university's president. "Duke Energy has helped with resources for everything from nuclear engineering labs to support for children's programming at the Performing Arts Center. This latest grant will help us construct a wonderful space on campus that will foster generations of innovative thinkers and future leaders who'll make our state and region a better place to live and work."

The Duke Energy Foundation funds more than $2 million annually to nonprofit organizations in South Carolina. In addition, the Foundation has focused on ways to assist customers and communities with more than $400,000 in direct COVID-19 relief in the Palmetto State. These funds support hunger relief, local health and human services, education initiatives and bill assistance for low-income customers.

More information about the foundation can be found at duke-energy.com/foundation.

Duke Energy Foundation

The Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation contributes more than $30 million annually in charitable gifts and is funded by Duke Energy shareholder dollars. More information about the Foundation and its Powerful Communities program can be found at duke-energy.com/foundation.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities, and 3,000 megawatts through its nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit.

Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve approximately 7.7 million retail electric customers in six states  North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to more than 1.6 million customers in five states  North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as well as energy storage and microgrid projects.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2020 "World's Most Admired Companies" list, and Forbes' 2019 "America's Best Employers" list. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: 800.559.3853

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After days of facing uncertainty in Mumbai, there was a sense of relief among the 180 migrant workers who arrived at the airport here on Thursday morning by a special flight arranged by megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

Migrants hailing from Gonda, Ambedkar Nagar, Unnao and other parts in Uttar Pradesh were looking forward to reach their homes.

Coming out of the airport after due testing, Abdul Jalil Khan of Gonda who lives in Bandra in Mumbai, said he had boarded the flight with his wife and children.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

Khan said he failed to register for a train journey and then came to know that Bachchan was making travel arrangements for migrants in the area.

"We were stranded there since the lockdown began and there was nobody to help. We came to know that Amitabh Bachchanji is making arrangements through Mahim trust and Haji Ali Dargah for helping people return home and we filled the form. I am an imam at a mosque and would pray for his long life," Khan said.

Unnao's Ilyas, who worked as a tailor in Bandra area, said he got to know about the flight from a friend and applied.

"There was no money and we were facing issues even for food. I was trying to get a train ticket but now, we got the chance to travel by air. Thank god and Amitabh saheb for sending me back to my family," he said.

Airport Director, AK Sharma, said 180 passenger arrived by the special flight.

There were six flights scheduled to take off from Mumbai and on Wednesday four flights with about 700 people took off for Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.

The remaining two flights left for Lucknow and Allahabad on Thursday, sources close to the actor said.

The flights were organised on Bachchan's directive by his close aide Rajesh Yadav, managing director of his home production company AB Corp Ltd, who collaborated with Haji Ali Trust and Mahim Dargah trust under 'Mission Milap' to send migrants home.

The actor originally wanted to book a train for the migrants but decided to arrange for special flights after logistics for train travel did not work out.

Yadav, on Bachchan's behalf, had also recently flagged off 10 buses for 300 migrants to reach their villages in Lucknow, Allahabad, Bhadohi and other places in Uttar Pradesh.

The coronavirus-triggered lockdown, which began on March 25, left lakhs of migrants stranded in different parts of the country. With no money and no work, many walked, cycled or hitchhiked their way to villages hundreds, sometimes thousands, of kilometres away.
JERSEYVILLE  Jersey Community High School has rescheduled its graduation ceremony for Aug. 1.

The school had planned to host a graduation ceremony June 19. In a letter to the students, Superintendent Brad Tuttle announced the event was rescheduled after he reviewed Gov. J.B. Pritzkers Phase 3 mandates with the school districts attorney, Jersey County Health Department officials and local police.

We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may create, Tuttle said. Information is fluid and seems to change almost daily. The health and safety of our students, families and employees are very important.

JCHS Principal Cory Breden plans to provide an update in the coming days on whether the ceremony will be modified to fit state directives.

In the same letter, Tuttle also said that behind-wheel driver education will begin later this week. Safety procedures and guidelines for training will be sent to students before classes start.
[June 11, 2020] OSKARE CAPITAL SAS Launches OSKARE Fund I Focusing on Innovative European Companies in the Medical Cannabinoid Industry

OSKARE CAPITAL SAS (News - Alert) today launches OSKARE Fund I together with cannabinoid industry veteran Bruce Linton. The EU based fund targets next generation cannabinoid therapies and related industry infrastructure, leveraging the expertise and track record of the founding team in medicine, engineering, chemistry, venture capital, and intellectual property. "Based on my partnership with the OSKARE CAPITAL team over the last 9 months, I am convinced that Europe has the optimal regulatory and research environment to build the future key players in the global medical cannabinoid industry," said Bruce Linton, Co-founder and non- Executive Chairman, OSKARE CAPITAL, and former CEO and Founder, Canopy Growth. "The OSKARE CAPITAL team's strong scientific background and proven track record in pharma, venture capital and IP protection leverages proprietary deal flow and knowledge of the ecosystem to be successful". The fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of companies with disruptive technology and strong barriers to entry. The team is supported by a highly experienced senior advisory board (https://oskarecapital.com/team/) that provides critical expertise and expands its network. OSKARE Fund I is ESG compatible. Medical grade cannabinoid-based products are already approved and used in Europe to treat conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and chronic pain. Now the science and the medical community are drivingopportunities in human as well as animal health and wellness.



The team at OSKARE CAPITAL has access to leading research teams and companies that have identified new cannabinoid molecules and formulations with therapeutic potential for medical conditions such as anxiety and depression, cancer, autism, ADHD, cardiovascular and inflammatory skin conditions, among others. The fund will invest in the entire value chain as well as look to valorise hemp and cannabis biomass for new sustainable material applications. The team has already performed a first investment in Denmark's Octarine Bio.

Innovation and R&D are at the core of EU and UK value generation and core to the Fund opportunity. Cannabinoids will disrupt global markets from food to pharma and OSKARE CAPITAL will be the early investor on this wave. About OSKARE CAPITAL SAS - oskarecapital.com OSKARE CAPITAL SAS is a French company which has the French status of CIF (Financial Investment Advisor), ORIAS number 20001206 and regulated by the AMF. About OSKARE FUND I OSKARE Fund I, advised by OSKARE CAPITAL SAS, is set up so that investors can readily access innovative opportunities in this space with the protection and transparency an AIFM compatible fund provides. Regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, Crossroads Capital Management Limited will act as an alternative investment fund manager. About Crossroads Capital Management Limited - www.crossroadscapital.ie Crossroads Capital Management Limited, majority owned by Hauck & Aufhauser Fund Services S.A., is authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as a UCITS management company and alternative investment fund manager (AIFM). This press release is not a marketing communication in the European Union member states or non-member states. This press release is not an offer of securities, products, instruments or services for sale in the United States. We do not make representation that information presented is appropriate for use in all jurisdictions. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005098/en/

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(Alliance News) - The EU's chief negotiator is "inclined to move" on key areas in Brexit talks, Michael Gove has claimed.

The UK Cabinet Office minister told members of Parliament that Michel Barnier has indicated progress can be made on fisheries and state aid, among other issues.

But some EU member states have been a "little more reluctant", Gove added.

The minister also insisted Britain will "under no circumstances" accept an extension to the Brexit transition and played down reports of a rift between himself and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Speaking in the Commons, Tory MP Robert Courts asked Gove what progress has been made in the talks.

Gove replied: "Well, progress has been made.

"And Michel Barnier, on a number of issues, on fisheries and on state aid, has indicated that he is inclined to move.

"Some EU member states have been a little more reluctant.

"I think it would be in everyone's interests, EU member states, the Commission, and of course the UK Government, if Michel Barnier were able to use the flexibility that he has deployed in the past in order to secure an arrangement that would work in everyone's interests."

Tory MP Sheryll Murray earlier urged the government not to "sacrifice access to our waters for any trade deal with the EU".

Gove replied: "Our excellent chief negotiator David Frost has made it clear to Michel Barnier that we will be an independent coastal statea we will control who has access to our waters and on what terms and access to our waters will be subject to annual negotiations."

Opening the Cabinet Office questions session, Gove also made clear the government's refusal to extend the transition period.

He explained: "The transition period ends on December 31 2020.

"Under no circumstances will the government accept an extension.

"Indeed, we have a domestic law obligation not to accept.

"Extending simply delays the moment at which we achieve what we want and what the country voted for, our economic and political independence."

Hilary Benn, Labour chairman of the Future Relationship with the EU Committee, highlighted growing warnings from business about the prospect of a no-deal scenario.

He said: "Now we all want a deal, but with British businesses already reeling from coronavirus, what does Gove propose to say to those businesses come January if the government's gamble doesn't pay off?"

Gove replied: "Well the government isn't gambling, the government is holding the EU to account for its commitment to secure a zero-tariff, zero-quota deal and to use its best endeavours.

"And I have confidence that the EU will do that."

Gove also confirmed there are no plans to change the size of the Brexit negotiating team, joking: "As Eric Morecambe said of Ernie Wise, it is small and perfectly formed."

Labour's Barry Sheerman said he was "very worried" about Gove, adding: "Isn't it a fact that there's a rift between him and the prime minister?

"The prime minister is not good on detail, there is a rift between him and the prime minister, does he need more help to overcome that?"

Gove said he was grateful for Sheerman's offer to "step in as a marriage counsellor", adding: "Notwithstanding my earlier reference to Morecambe and Wise, the prime minister and I, when it comes to everything, are like the Two Ronnies.

"And I have to say it's goodnight from him and it's goodnight from me."

By Richard Wheeler, George Ryan and Sophie Morris, PA Political Staff

source: PA

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) -- South China's island province Hainan is accelerating the construction work of the expansion project of Haikou Meilan International Airport to serve the development of its free trade port.

The second phase of the project in Haikou, capital of Hainan, is expected to be ready for operation in 2020, according to the Haikou Meilan International Airport.

The project is anticipated to better serve Hainan's development as an international trade hub and a free trade port with a comprehensive modern transportation system.

So far, the construction of the new runway, terminal, and airport transport facilities have all entered the final stage. The key works of the project are expected to be completed by June 30.

This under-construction second phase of the Haikou Meilan International Airport expansion project includes a 4F-level aircraft movement area, the highest level in China's civil aviation industry, which will be capable of handling the takeoff and landing of the A380 superjumbo jet.

The new project will help the airport achieve its annual throughput target of 4.2 million international passengers initially, and the number is expected to reach 10 million in the future.

On June 1, Chinese authorities released a master plan for the Hainan free trade port, which aims to build the southern island province into a globally-influential high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.

A free trade port system focusing on trade and investment liberalization and facilitation will be "basically established" in Hainan by 2025 and become "more mature" by 2035, according to the plan jointly issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

Advanced technologies, such as the seismic isolation technique, have been applied in the terminal construction.

The new terminal will offer passengers a unique travel experience through its design and decorations with local culture elements of the island province, such as the traditional architecture and boathouse.

In the new terminal, the Haikou Meilan International Airport will also create the country's largest tax-free airport shopping area.

The airport is exploring the civil aviation market to create an "aviation economic circle" with more flexible air services, both at home and abroad.

By the end of 2019, the Haikou Meilan International Airport had served 297 air routes, connecting 149 cities at home and abroad.

In 2019, the airport's annual passenger throughput exceeded 24.2 million, ranking 17th in the country's total of nearly 240 civil airports.

China's civil aviation authorities on Tuesday unveiled a plan to trial the "Seventh Freedom of the Air" in the Hainan free-trade port.

The trial means that some international routes in Hainan are now open to foreign airlines to operate here.

The number of Hainan's international routes reached 103 in 2020, up from five in 2003.
The face of Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise (MRHP) Physiotherapy Outpatient department has changed significantly in the past two months.

Staff within the department have up-skilled in relation to PPE, respiratory care and on-call competencies alongside changing rotas and working hours to prepare to deal with COVID-19.

Break times are also staggered to minimise staff group interaction in line with social distancing measures.

The structure of treating patients has seen significant changes within the department from our traditional approaches used up to this point.

A typical day in physiotherapy outpatients now looks as follows:

On arrival to the department our temperature is checked and we then change into our uniform, ready to begin the day.

As the majority of face-to-face patient clinics remain suspended, patient contact now occurs in new and innovative ways.

Through strong links with our physiotherapy colleagues in the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, weve identified strategies in managing high priority groups.

All priority referrals to the service are contacted by phone and a provisional assessment of the patients condition takes place. The majority of cases are now managed remotely over the phone or using online consultations using Teleheath.

In clinical situations where face to face contact is essential, patient and staff safety is paramount.

Our clerical staff have been excellent in relaying information to ensure patients understanding regarding safety to attend appointments.

Extra precautions are currently in place for staff and patients alike. We are using face masks and gloves, minimising time in close contact and ensuring social distance during the consultation and treatment process.

Follow up appointments are largely by phone or Telehealth.

The presence of Telehealth, or online consultations, has been accelerated within the health service during COVID-19. Our Physiotherapy Department has embraced the use of Telehealth to ensure continuity of service for patients that we are not in a position to see in person.

Through links with the School of Physiotherapy at the University of Limerick, final year physiotherapy students are assisting in rolling out Telehealth for patients. Telehealth has allowed patients to access advice, education and exercise programmes to target their personalised rehabilitation.

COVID-19 has been a challenge to all healthcare staff including the outpatient physiotherapy team in changing our traditional work practices.

We are mindful of monitoring and supporting each others mental and physical wellbeing.

We do this by checking in with one another and encouraging exercise at break time, mental health resources and have even managed to include the odd socially distanced Pilates class.

We have been inundated with delicious goodies from many local businesses which have lifted our spirits no end.

While COVID-19 has had a negative impact on so many people we would like to think that within our Physiotherapy Department we have strived to maintain our usual high standards of care supporting each other and the community albeit in a different manner that we traditionally will have.

Our focus now is to planning how outpatient clinics slowly return with the challenge of COVID-19 precautions to help keep our patients safe.
As protests throughout the nation seek justice in response to the killing of George Floyd, some Chicago restaurants are being blasted on social media with accusations of racism and abuse. Instagram exploded last week with stories and criticism from employees, both past and current, at some of the citys most well-known restaurants, calling them out variously for racism, abuse, sexism, cultural appropriation and for not supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
By Nancy Lapid

(Reuters) - The following is a brief roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Temperature, humidity affect how long virus 'survives' on surfaces

A new mathematical model adds to evidence that hotter, dryer conditions may diminish the amount of time virus-packed droplets remain contagious on surfaces. Once droplets emitted by an infected person dry, the virus particles inside it become inactive, researchers said on Monday in the journal Physics of Fluids. "The outdoor weather ... determines the duration of drying of respiratory droplets deposited on surfaces. The drying time is linked to the survival of the coronavirus inside the droplets," coauthor Rajneesh Bhardwaj of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay told Reuters. "This may not be the sole factor but definitely the outdoor weather matters ... and our study provides some evidence for this fact." Lower temperatures coupled with higher humidity would allow the virus to remain active for longer periods on surfaces, the report found. The researchers also calculated that certain surfaces foster longer virus-activity times. "Our study suggests that surfaces such as smartphone screens and wood need to be cleaned more often than glass and steel surfaces, because droplets form blob-like shapes on the former surfaces and the droplets evaporate slowly on such surfaces, thereby increasing the survival of the coronavirus," Bhardwaj said. (https://bit.ly/30qE8od)

C-section may be linked to worse outcomes for coronavirus patients

Cesarean delivery may increase health risks for women infected with the coronavirus, a small study from Spain suggests. Among 78 mildly or moderately ill mothers, 13.5% of the 37 who had cesarean deliveries required admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) afterward, compared with none of the 41 who delivered vaginally. About 5% of women who delivered vaginally developed an increased need for oxygen, compared with 21.6% of those who had cesarean deliveries. Cesarean birth was also linked to an increased risk of neonatal ICU admission for the newborn. "Women undergoing cesarean delivery may have been at higher risk of adverse outcomes," the researchers wrote on Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Even after taking everyone's risk factors into account, "cesarean birth remained independently associated with an increased risk of clinical deterioration," possibly because of the extra stress on the body from the surgery itself, researchers said. An observational study like this cannot prove that cesarean deliveries cause infected women to get sicker, however, and more evidence is needed from larger populations. (https://bit.ly/3haFTMx)

Story continues

COVID-19 patients safely share ventilators in tiny trial

Early in the coronavirus pandemic, with intensive care units overflowing with patients struggling to breathe and mechanical ventilators in short supply, doctors discussed the idea of "ventilator-splitting," or connecting two patients to a single machine. In late March, doctors at one New York City hospital were able to split a ventilator between two surgery patients with similar respiratory needs. Now doctors at the same hospital say they have successfully employed ventilator-splitting in three pairs of COVID-19 patients. Their results in only six patients need to be confirmed in larger studies. In this study, the ventilator-sharing experiment lasted just two days in each pair, whereas severe COVID-19 patients often remain on ventilators for weeks. "Ventilator sharing does not obviate the need for more ventilators," the research team wrote on Tuesday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. "This approach may be most useful when additional time is needed to relocate ventilators or patients to match supply with demand." They cautioned that when ventilator-sharing is necessary, it should only be done at medical centers with experience in the techniques. (https://bit.ly/3hc6Pv7)

Experimental vaccine from China shows promise in animals

A coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed by Chinese researchers showed promise in animal studies, triggering antibodies and raising no safety issues, researchers said. A human trial of the vaccine with more than 1,000 participants is underway. In monkeys, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits, two doses of the vaccine candidate, called BBIBP-CorV, induced so-called neutralizing antibodies that can block the virus from infecting cells, researchers reported in the journal Cell. BBIBP-CorV is one of five potential COVID-19 vaccines China is testing in humans. (https://reut.rs/2Ur8t2g; https://bit.ly/3hg56oM)

Antiviral drug remdesivir protects lungs in infected monkeys

Remdesivir, the first medication shown to benefit hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in clinical trials, prevented lung disease in a new study of macaque monkeys infected with the new coronavirus, researchers said on Tuesday in the journal Nature. Twelve monkeys were infected with the new coronavirus, and half were given early treatment with the Gilead Sciences' <GILD.O> antiviral. The macaques that received remdesivir did not show signs of respiratory disease and had reduced damage to the lungs. Also, the viral load, or amount of virus, in the lungs of remdesivir-treated animals was lower. The authors of the new study say remdesivir should be considered as a treatment as early as possible to prevent progression to pneumonia in COVID-19 patients. (https://reut.rs/2UpPfdt; go.nature.com/2Yj9xq2)

(Reporting by Nancy Lapid, Manas Mishra, Deena Beasley, Roxanne Liu, Tony Munroe, and Linda Carroll; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
As the world is still battling with coronavirus pandemic, there are some eye-opening facts about the Spanish flu that could change the way we see the current crisis. The Spanish flu that struck in the early months of 1918 killed nearly 50 million and supposedly infected over 500 million people across the globe, meaning one in every three people were affected by influenza. However, some facts about the Spanish flu that resurfaced again shows that the third wave of the disease outbreak was far more devastating.

Read: COVID-19 Crisis: US Records 1.5 Million New Jobless Claims, Total Reaches 44.2 Million

According to science journalist Laura Spinney, who studied the pandemic for her 2018 book 'Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World', the first mild wave of influenza in the northern hemisphere receded in the summer, then the second wave started in the latter part of August and receded by the end of the year. Then the third wave which started in the early months of 1919 was far deadlier as scientists believe that it had mutated into a different strain and was killing healthy people within days.

The Spanish Flu shows how devastating a second wave could be.



 Read more: https://t.co/HVaMcyD7xR pic.twitter.com/IRmvCXcBn5  World Economic Forum (@wef) June 11, 2020

Read: How COVID-19 Is Affected By Temperature, And How Risky Is C-section Amid Pandemic

COVID-19 vs Spanish flu

While there is no evidence that COVID-19 is mutating in the same way, experts believe that a second wave is inevitable because many countries are reopening the lockdown. The United States was the most affected country by the Spanish flu, where over 6,00,000 people died due to the disease. The United States is the country also most affected by the COVID-19 that has killed over 1,12,000 people in the country to date and rising continuously. The coronavirus has killed over 4,00,000 people across the world as of June 11 and has infected 7.3 million people. While Spanish flu was the deadliest pandemic in the 20th century, the coronavirus is the worst so far the world has seen in the 21st century.

Read: Varun Dhawan Gives Unique Twist To 'Coolie No 1' Poster Amid COVID-19

Read: COVID-19 Recovery Rate At 49.21%, Recoveries Higher Than Active Cases: Health Ministry

(Image Credit: AP)


America's IBM has ended its facial recognition business and raised concerns about how police forces might be using the technology.

IBM and other major technology companies have been developing facial recognition systems using machine learning methods and artificial intelligence, or AI.

Facial recognition systems are designed to identify individuals in photo databases or from video surveillance.

Facial recognition accuracy has greatly improved in recent years. The technology is used by police in several major cities and by some U.S. government agencies. Privacy groups and civil rights activists have criticized such use of the technology.

Several studies have shown the technology can have difficulties correctly guessing a persons race or sex. Critics say such failures could violate a persons civil rights. Activists have also warned that facial recognition systems could be used for mass surveillance of citizens.

IBMs CEO, Arvind Krishna, announced his companys decision on Monday in a letter to U.S. lawmakers. He said IBM would stop offering facial recognition software and end all research and development of the technology.

Krishna said IBM strongly opposes the use of any facial recognition technology to be used for mass surveillance, racial profiling or violations of basic human rights and freedoms.

Krishna wrote that responsible use of the technology can increase transparency and help police protect communities. But he added, it must not promote discrimination or racial injustice.

Ongoing protests across the United States have raised new questions about racial injustice and the use of technology by police to carry out surveillance on demonstrators and American neighborhoods.

The protests, which started after the death of George Floyd, have centered on police violence and racial inequality in America.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on May 25 after a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeled on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. The incident was caught on video.

Krishna wrote this week, We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies.

In the past, IBM had tested its facial recognition software with the New York Police Department.

Krishna sent his letter to a group of Democratic congressmen who have been working on police reform legislation fueled by the mass protests over Floyds death. The reform bill could include restrictions on police use of facial recognition technology.

Microsoft and Amazon have also developed facial recognition systems. However, Microsoft has joined critics in calling for restrictions on the use of the technology by government agencies.

In March, Microsoft president Brad Smith praised Washington state for passing a law to regulate the technology. The law requires testing and transparency measures and provides safeguards aimed at upholding civil liberties, Smith said.

Clare Garvie is a researcher at Georgetown Universitys Center on Privacy and Technology in Washington, D.C. She told The Associated Press that many U.S. law enforcement agencies use facial recognition software built by lesser-known companies. These include Japan-based NEC and European companies Idemia and Cognitec.

A smaller number of law enforcement agencies have partnered with Amazon, which has received strong criticism from privacy activists since it introduced its Rekognition software in 2016.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters, IBM and Microsoft. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

Quiz - IBM Ends Facial Recognition, Questions Police Use of Technology Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

artificial intelligence  n. the power of a machine to copy intelligent human behavior

surveillance  n. the activity of watching people carefully, often secretly, especially by an army or police force

accuracy  n. how correct or exact something is

racial profiling  n. to form an opinion about a person based on their skin color or ethnic background

transparency  n. openness

kneel  v. to put one or both knees on the ground

dialogue n. a formal discussion

domestic  adj. inside one country and not international

regulate  v. to make rules or laws that control something
The Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Jane Hume, says the coronavirus crisis has exposed structural weaknesses in Australia's retirement savings system and shown the urgent need for the superannuation funds industry to consolidate.

Senator Hume said the pandemic had highlighted the heavy concentration of some funds, whose membership is drawn from industries such as tourism, retail or hospitality. That left them vulnerable to the widespread layoffs impacting those sectors.

"It's a systemic risk and it's been hiding in plain sight for 30 years, but it's only just coming to the fore," Senator Hume told a Bloomberg webinar. "Diversification of the asset base is not just the only important issue, it's diversifying the membership base, too."

Senator Jane Hume says super funds need to diversify their membership base. Credit:Wayne Taylor

In a wide-ranging interview, the senator defended the government's decision to allow people to access their retirement savings early to stave off financial hardship, despite concerns it would adversely impact their future returns.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 18:01:20|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China plans to send a meteorological weather satellite into a dawn-dusk orbit, its developer said Thursday.

The satellite was designed and built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It will be the world's first polar-orbiting weather satellite in a dawn-dusk orbit.

According to the academy, the satellite is undergoing final tests and is expected to come out of the factory by the end of 2020.

A dawn-to-dusk orbit is a sun-synchronous orbit in which the satellite tracks but never moves into the Earth's shadow. Since the satellite is close to the shadow, the part of the Earth the satellite is directly above is always at sunset or sunrise. As the sun's light is always on the satellite, it can always use its solar panels.

China has launched four Fengyun-1 and four Fengyun-3 polar-orbiting weather satellites, which were also developed by the academy. Four more Fengyun-3 satellites are under development.

Once the satellite is put in a dawn-dusk orbit, China will be able to update its global polar-orbiting meteorological satellite data in four hours, improving its numerical weather forecast capacities, the academy said. Enditem
Hearing the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case on June 11, the Supreme Court of India has directed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to reconsider demands raised against public sector utilities that amount to over Rs 4 lakh crore.

The apex court will hear the case next on June 18.

The SC during the hearing questioned the DoT on what basis demand against PSUs was raised, when the courts judgements never dealt with PSUs.

The government admits to difference in licenses of PSUs and telcos. Our judgment could not have been made the basis of launching demand against PSUs. The DoT is thus directed to clarify raising of demands within three days of the orders, it said.

It further heard the Solicitor Generals plea on a 20-year timeline for staggered payment of AGR dues and directed telcos to file a reply on roadmap of payment, time to be allowed, and securities.

Stating: Have heard various telcos. Several issues which are to be considered such as reasonable time for staggered pay out. We also need to consider some security to ensure that telcos pay the AGR dues. Telcos are directed to file reply on roadmap of payment, time to be allowed, and securities.

On March 16, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the DoT had sought staggered payment over 20 years of AGR dues by telecom companies. The plea also asked that telcos not be charged a penalty and interests on penalty and principal beyond the date of the judgement.

Today's hearing comes after the one held on March 18, where the apex court pulled up the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for allowing telcos to self-assess payable dues. The case is being heard by a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and including Justices MR Shah and S Abdul Nazeer. The same bench, on March 18, held that no further objections would be allowed against payable dues.

AGR case update live | Undertakings must, can't allow staggered payout without security, says SC

There is a lot riding on this case. Company reports and Lok Sabha submissions give an idea of how much is at stake.

For Bharti Airtel, the AGR dues as per DoT is Rs 35,500 crore whereas it is Rs 13,000 crore as per the company's self-assessment. So far, it has paid Rs 18,800 crore. As per DoT, it still has to pay Rs 17,500 crore.

For Vodafone Idea, DoT claims that the remaining payable is Rs 53,000 crore while the company claims it is Rs 21,500 crore. So far, the company has paid Rs 6,900 crore. As per DoT, it still has to pay Rs 46,100 crore.

For Tata Teleservices (TTSL) the DoT bill is pegged at Rs 16,789 crore, of which it has so far paid Rs 4,197 crore in two installments. The balance amount due per DoT calculations is Rs 12,601 crore. However, the company's self-assessment has pegged Rs 2,197 crore - which was also its initial payment, as the due amount.

Case proceedings

As the hearing began, Solicitor General Mehta informed the SC that the Centre has examined the AGR issue and determined its impact on sectors if the amount is collected in one go. Some telcos may close operations. Limited porting abilities will hurt crore of customers and will impact quality of service, besides hindering migration of crore of customers, the SG said.

To this Justice Mishra has asked for details of the timeframe and how many years of staggered payments the government is asking for. What is the guarantee that telcos will pay as per timeframe? What is the security that telcos are ready to furnish? Are telcos willing to submit personal guarantees by directors? Mishra asked.

The Solicitor General has informed the court that telcos will have to provide some security to satisfy the court.

Justice Mishra also raised issue with the SC order being misused.

Our judgement was silent on public sector utilities (PSUs) as they were never an issue. So, who authorises demands to be raised against PSUs? What nonsense is being done in the name of our judgement Demand against PSUs must be withdrawn. How could demands have been issued when our judgment does not touch them.. Government must explain how our ruling is used for that purpose. This is misuse of judgement, he stated.

He further demanded that the government clarify if the demand order is revoked. Adding: There is vast differences in licenses of PSUs and licenses of telcos. Is the government trying to overwhelm us by raising surcharge demands?

The Solicitor General has however clarified that the thought was that the government was required to raise demands, so we went ahead. He pleaded with the court: Please empathise with the officers. They feared being targeted if they had not raised demands.

Mishra however was not in a relenting mood and reiterated that DoT officers need to explain the demands or action will be taken. Demands to the tune of 4 lakh crore is being raised with ulterior motives.

To this the Solicitor General responded that "PSUs were license holders is our justification" adding that necessary affadavits explaining the government's position will be filed.

On the 20-year staggered payment, the Solicitor General noted that the Cabinet has proposed the period due to various considerations, but Justice Mishra was unconvinced. Nobody has seen the next 20 years, can't allow extension based on a "gentleman's promise". How can 20 years be said to be reasonable?

Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi for Airtel has argued that the telco has already paid Rs 18,000 crore which is 70 percent of its Rs 25,600 bill from DoT. Argued that biggest reassurance is that our license can be cancelled if dont pay over the agree time period.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi for Vodafone-Idea also reiterated that best reassurance is that license, spectrum cancelled if we dont pay. Rohatgi told the court that the telco does not have enough money to issue bank guarantee for the balance Rs 50,000 crore due.

Justice Mishra has asked: Are telcos prepared to issue Bank guarantee? Are directors prepared to issue personal guarantee? Are there other securities that can be furnished as guarantee? Undertakings will have to be there, cannot allow such staggered pay out with securing government dues?

The SC in its order stated that todays hearing questioned the DoT on what basis demand against PSUs was raised, when the courts judgements never dealt with PSUs. Stating: The government admits to difference in licenses of PSUs and telcos. Our judgment could not have been made the basis of launching demand against PSUs. The DoT is thus directed to clarify raising of demands within three days of the orders.

The Order also directed telcos to file reply on roadmap of payment, time to be allowed, securities. Stating: Have heard various telcos. Several issues which are to be considered such as reasonable time for staggered payout. We also need to consider some security to ensure that telcos pay the AGR dues. Telcos are directed to file reply on roadmap of payment, time to be allowed, and securities.
For black members of the military, seeing confederate names on military barracks delivers a special sting, given that they lionize men who led a treasonous war.

I have been in every one of those barracks, said Stephane Manuel, another West Point graduate who served in the Army from 2011 to 2017. I studied in them and had friends there. I didnt like it. The military hasnt wanted to reconcile that the Confederate forces were traitors. I always felt from the mere moral standpoint of what they were fighting for went against what West Point stands for today.

On his deployments, the topic would come up now and then, Mr. Manuel said, often leaving him uncomfortable as his white colleagues defended the practice.

I felt it was best not to be political, he said, noting that his experiences led him to establish an education technology start-up, TrueFiktion, which uses comics to tell the untold stories of marginalized groups. I was often one of the few black officers. I felt it was better to leave my perspective at home.

For some middle-age and older veterans, particularly noncommissioned offices like Mr. Green, who retired from the Army in 1998, the realization of their indignities came later.

It wasnt anything that stayed on my mind and I think that was because I was young, he said. I dont ever remember ever having a conversation about it when I was on active duty. With my veteran friends, it later came more to light that African-American veterans were upset about it and it kind of enlightened me, too.
San Francisco, June 11 : In a bid to fight child exploitation online, Facebook on Thursday joined Google, Microsoft and 15 other tech companies to announce the formation of Project Protect to combat child sexual abuse on its platforms.

Project Protect is a renewed commitment and investment from the Technology Coalition expanding its scope and impact to protect kids online and guide its work for the next 15 years, the social networking giant said in a statement.

"Project Protect brings together the brightest minds from across the tech industry to tackle a grave issue that no one company can solve on its own - child exploitation and abuse. Facebook is proud to help lead this initiative," said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO.

Project Protect will focus on five key areas: tech innovation, collective action, independent research, information and knowledge sharing, and transparency and accountability.

Facebook said it has made its photo and video-matching technologies open source, which allows industry partners, developers and non-profits to more easily identify abusive content and share digital fingerprints of harmful content and allow hash-sharing systems to communicate with each other.

"We have also taken steps across our apps to make the broader internet safer for children. This includes running PhotoDNA on links shared on all our apps from other Internet sites and their associated content to detect known child exploitation housed elsewhere on the internet," said Antigone Davis, Facebook Global Head of Safety.

It also helps keep the broader internet safer as all violating content is shared with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) who work with local law enforcement around the world.

Last month, Facebook announced a new safety feature in Messenger that provides tips for spotting suspicious activity, encourages people under the age of 18 to be cautious when interacting with an adult they may not know, and empowers them to block or ignore someone when something doesn't seem right.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- During the coronavirus (COVID-29) pandemic, Nancy Nix, co-owner of Wicked Stitches was trying to find ways to serve the West Brighton stores loyal customers.

The custom embroidery gift shop was still receiving and shipping out online orders throughout the crisis, she said.

Ninety percent of our orders were being shipped. But for people in the neighborhood who wanted to pick up, I would have them text me and then I would bring the order to their car, said Nix, who opened the business in 2014 with Carolyn Aston-Reese.

Nix and Aston-Reese also kept busy during the pandemic by making surgical caps, which they donated to nurses across the Tristate area.

And now that Phase 1 of the states reopening plan -- which was launched on Monday -- allows curbside pickup, Wicked Stitches has expanded its pickup service to all customers.

Now it seems that more people want to come out; they just want to get out. Now we have a table by the door and people can pick up what they have already ordered online, she said. A lot of people want custom masks for birthday parties and other events, so we have been filing a lot of those orders.

Like Wicked Stitches, many Staten Island businesses are offering curbside pick-up in Phase I of New Yorks reopening plan following the coronavirus pandemic.

DEMAND FOR GIFTS

Janice Giacalone-Stoffers, owner of Hall of Frames, a custom framing and gift shop in Grasmere, said theres a heightened demand for gifts at this time. The shop, which has been open since 1972, is operating by appointment only, she said.

We have people calling, giving us a general idea of what they want, and we get back to them with a picture," said Giacalone-Stoffers. We have done our best to proof our shop for social distancing and safety, and we look forward Phase 2, to better serve our customers.

At Shamrock Paints, which was deemed an essential business, owners Peter and Julie Monzi have been doing curbside pickup and delivery throughout the pandemic. And now business at both stores -- in Castleton Corners and Greenridge -- has picked up since construction has been allowed to resume.

We have been busy since this started. ...We thank all the people who have been buying from us. Its been 99% retail business, because people have been stuck home, said Peter Monzi.

JEWELRY STORES OFFER IN-STORE PICKUP

John Buonocore, who owns Buono Jewelers, Grasmere, with his father, John Sr., said he was more than happy to learn that jewelry stores were allowed to reopen for in-store pickup during Phase I.

Since we are a jewelry store, we are allowed to have in-store pickup....We only let one or two people in the store at a time. And everyone has to wear a mask, said Buonocore, noting the store has been family-owned and operated for more than 40 years.

This hit us really hard. Everything was great, then boom, all of a sudden everything stopped. ...This was a big season for us -- with communions, confirmations, graduations -- that we missed out on, he added.

Cory Schifter, owner of Casale Jewelers, Dongan Hills, said even though the store is allowed to do in-store pickup, he has chosen to do curbside pickup and deliveries instead.

By the time they come here, we have everything ready for them -- wrapped and ready to go. So we really dont need to let them in the store at this time. Its safer this way, he said.

REDUCED HOURS

Many small businesses are operating on a reduced hourly schedule. Here are some store hours for curbside pickup.

Wicked Stitches: Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday, noon to 4 p.m.

Hall of Frames: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Shamrock Paints: Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Montalbanos Pool and Spa: Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Buono Jewelers: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m, to 5 p.m.

Casale Jewelers: Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Somrita Ghosh By

Express News Service

Could the Delhi government have failed to report as many as 1114 COVID-19 deaths? Data shared by Delhi's civic bodies indicates so.

In a meeting held on Thursday where Mayors of three Municipal Corporation Department zones  North, South and East - were present, the Standing Committee chairpersons stated that from March till June 10 2098 COVID-19 positive victims had been laid to rest. A further 200-plus among those cremated were suspected to have been COVID positive.

"While in South MCD zone there were 1080 bodies (cremated), there were 976 in North MCD and 42 in East MCD in the respective crematorium grounds. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) figures were low because the bodies were taken to Nigambodh Ghat. But now the crematorium grounds under EDMC are also being prepared," said Bhupinder Gupta, South MCD Standing Committee Chairperson.

ALSO READ | Coronavirus cases continue to soar in government offices in Delhi, NDMC worst hit

According to the Delhi government's health bulletin, the death toll was at 984 till June 9.

Last month also the MCD had put the death toll at 800 based on the number of bodies cremated at a time when Delhi government data only showed 250 deaths.

Meanwhile, to cope up with the increasing number of bodies, the Punjabi Bagh crematorium, under the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, has been dedicated only for COVID-19 fatalities. The East MCD's crematoriums at Seemapuri and Ghazipur have also been opened up to reduce pressure on Nigambodh Ghat.

The MCDs have now been allowed to use wood as well for cremations as the grounds were running out of CNG fuel since the number of COVID victims had increased.

ALSO SEE:
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

OPEC+ needs further enlargement, it needs more producing countries to join this initiative, said Azerbaijans Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov, Trend reports.

He made the remark during the webinar on post-pandemic energy issues organized by Azerbaijan-based Center of Analysis of International Relations.

The minister pointed out that during the pandemic, the oil market faced several serious problems.

The most important problems was the overall economic recession, lower oil demand and sharp drop in oil prices and missing the chance to come to an agreement in March, said Shahbazov, adding that one month was enough to understand that the international oil market needs adjustment mechanism in place.

Everyone understood the importance of OPEC+ in this situation. On April 12 OPEC+ reached an agreement and again put in place this adjustment mechanism, it started to work and the results are evident. We all recognize how important the role of OPEC+ in the future, said the energy minister.

However, Shahbazov said that the forecast indicators for 2020 are not encouraging. There can be lack of investments in the oil industry in the future. The production level of shale oil, which has been putting downward pressure on prices, is stimulating the price in the current conditions. If the prices remain $50 per barrel for a long time, there will be significant changes in the shale industry and world oil market.

Further, the minister pointed out that gas has become increasingly popular hydrocarbon resource.

This energy source is much more environmentally friendly. We have large gas reserves throughout the world and transportation issues have been resolved. The gas price is not as high as before. Therefore, this is one of the important components of the energy mix in the future, said the minister.

Nevertheless, he pointed out that global gas consumption is forecast to decrease by 4 percent in 2020.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
The hardships brought on by the coronavirus lockdown have fostered an inspiring amount of charitable endeavors across the Lehigh Valley.

Now that local businesses are reopening as counties enter Pennsylvanias yellow phase, some philanthropy is taking a different form.

Bethlehem-based architecture firm Alloy5 has started providing free lunches to its employees through June by establishing accounts with four of its West Bethlehem neighbors: Black Forest Deli, Broad Street Pizza, Orizaba and Pho Bowl.

This is our way to give back, said Michael Metzger, Alloy5 president. Were a small business, too, and we think its important that we support each other, especially now.

Metzger, along with business partner Randy Galiotto, thought of the idea when preparing for their 14 employees to safely return to the office. Alloy5 will be rotating employees, who will wear masks and undergo temperature checks, in shifts at the office, construction sites and telecommunicating.

We want to show our appreciation to our team who have been working hard during the stay-at-home order, Metzger said. But we know its not just us. This has been difficult for every business.

Besides supplying lunches to its employees, Alloy5 wants to help local businesses adjust to the new normal that the coronavirus has created. Bethlehem-based businesses may be eligible for free help from the firm to rearrange their spaces to comply with social-distancing guidelines.

When you own a business thats in a neighborhood, its very different than being in an industrial park, said Galiotto, of the firm, which is located on Broad Street. We see our neighbors and we know our neighbors. We want to help our neighbors.

Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Desmond Boyle may be reached at dboyle@lehighvalleylive.com.
Velma Jean Burroughs (Cookie), 63 of White Plains, Maryland passed away June 5, 2020 at her home. Velma was born August 3,1956 to the late Mary C. Hubbard of Charlotte Hall, Maryland and the late Lloyd W. Copsey Jr. (Bubba) of Hollywood, Maryland. She attended Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf, Maryland where she graduated in 1975 and met the love of her life, the late Robert Lee Burroughs. The two married June 22, 1975 and had 2 daughters, the late Nicole Lynn Burroughs and Kimberly Lynn Foster-Wilson. She was blessed with 2 grandsons, Collin Jay Foster and Ashton Ty Foster. Velma had a love for children and found great pleasure as a bus driver for 20 years working for H&H Bus Service in Bryans Road, Maryland for Charles County Public Schools. She adored all her student passengers and their families where she developed great relationships with them through the years. At the end of each school year she and her husband would host a picnic at the Marshall Hall Park for all her student passengers to attend. She also had the "Turtle Terrific" passenger award program on her bus, where she personally would purchase a bike for the winner. She had a great passion for singing and had a voice that would captivate anyone. She enjoyed traveling around the Southern Maryland area to have fun with family and friends singing Karaoke. She was best known for her ability to master Patsy Cline songs so perfectly. Time spent making memories with her family, especially her husband, daughters and grandchildren, from family vacations to cookouts, family dinners and holidays is where she found her most joy. She loved to surround herself with loved ones. After losing her husband and daughter Nicole she began to deal with some critical health issues and spent the last 10 years as a dialysis patient at the Fresenius Kidney Center in Waldorf, Maryland. The dialysis team and other patients were like family to her. Although her health slowed her down she continued to fight strong. She maintained her independence and shared her home with her furry companion Susie, who she adored and found great comfort in. Velma will be remembered best for her endurance, positivity, strength and most importantly her beauty and love for life, family and friends. There isn't anything she would not do to lend a hand to help those she loved. Velma is survived by her daughter Kimberly Foster-Wilson, son in law Rich Wilson, grandsons Collin Foster and Ashton Foster, her sisters Wanda Pasternak and Lisa Dye, her brother in law Rusty Dye, nieces Christina McGann, Kristy Maurath, April Bauman, Vicki Burroughs and nephews Travis Dye, Gordon Burroughs, Jason Burroughs, Jeff Burroughs, and Jeremy Pasternak . She is proceeded in death by both her parents, husband and daughter Nicole.
Officials of the Hyderabad district administration and the Greater Hyderabad municipal corporation (GHMC) have been put on notice on Wednesday by a three-member team from the Central government deputed to Telangana to help the state government gain some traction over efforts to control the spread of Coronavirus and the increasing number of Covid-19 cases.

Sanjay Jaju, joint secretary in the ministry of defence, who is heading the high-level central team, during a meeting with the district administration and GHMC officials, said the current rate of spread of Coronavirus in Telangana, if left unchecked, would result in a severe and serious crisis in the city and GHMC limits in the next 50 days or so.

With the lockdown practically non-existent, the situation will become extremely serious by July 31 if cases keep rising at the present rate, Sanjay Jaju said at the meeting, according to a GHMC news release.

Jaju, along with his team members Vikas Gowde and Dr Ravinder, met with GHMC commissioner, D.S. Lokesh Kumar, Hyderabad district collector, Dr Shwetha Mohanty, GHMC additional commissioner, B. Santosh, Covid-19 control rooms officer on special duty, D. Anuradha, and other officials and discussed Covid-19 control measures.

The release said that community involvement in control of the disease was among the topics discussed at the meeting between the officials and the central team.

The central team also sought GHMC circle and ward wise details of Covid-19 cases and talked about how private hospitals and labs in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai were conducting Covid-19 tests with them, discovering nearly 70 of cases in those cities.
An official of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said on Thursday (MCD) that there have been a total of 2,098 deaths due to coronavirus for which funerals have been held at its various MCD divisions. The toll is more than double of 984 reported by the health department of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government. It comes amid allegations against the Delhi government of hiding the real number of deaths in the national capital. "From March till 10th June, in all 3 Municipal Corporations of Delhi, there have been around 2098 COVID-19 death cases for which funerals have been held," news agency ANI quoted Jai Prakash, Chairperson of Standing Committee, North Delhi Municipal Corporation, as saying.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled MCD's three divisions, namely SDMC (South), NDMC (North) and EDMC (East) have reported 1080, 976, and 42 cremations of coronavirus patients, respectively.

According to the data released by the Delhi government health department on Thursday, the total number of coronavirus cases in the city stood at 32,810 with 984 deaths. Out of the 32,810 cases, 19,581 are active cases while 12,245 people have been cured. On Wednesday, Satyender Jain, Health Minister, Delhi, said: "Community spread is when there are cases in which the source (of infection) cannot be ascertained. Almost half of our cases are like this."

Meanwhile, Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has overruled Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's recent order that prohibited coronavirus patients from other states to get treatment at private and government hospitals, except those run by the Centre, in Delhi. In his capacity as the Chairperson of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, Baijal directed departments and authorities of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi to ensure that no coronavirus patient is denied treatment in hospitals on grounds of not being a resident of Delhi.

Also read: CBIC settles controversy around taxation; says no GST to be levied on directors' 'salary'

Also read: Infosys workforce increases 166% in 10 years but electricity consumption only 20%
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has blasted Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China, saying it is against Australia's national interest, and is urging Premier Daniel Andrews to scrap the deal.

The intervention will place further pressure on Mr Andrews, who is pushing ahead with his BRI deal with Beijing despite widespread concerns within senior ranks of the Australian government.

Scott Morrison says Daniel Andrews should back down on the BRI agreement. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The BRI is Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy agenda to bankroll infrastructure around the world, and has been criticised by some countries for engaging in "debt diplomacy" where developing nations are loaded up with unsustainable debts.

The deal with Victoria will allow for Chinese investment in the state and for Victorian companies to participate in Chinese government projects overseas.
The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts is defending its plan to have Carnival 2022 events on a limited basis.

This as the decision has been met with mixed reviews from stakeholders and members of the public.

In a release yesterday, the ministry said: To reiterate, the ministry has proposed a Taste of Carnival which would include specific types of Carnival activities for vaccinated persons only in safe-zone arrangements deemed to pose the least risk from a public health standpoint in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
the funding of Sesame Street in the 1970s;

the authorship of Wikipedia articles about women's suffrage in the US;

ideas of female monarchy in the Middle Ages;

the intellectual influence of the right after 1945 in various countries;

the recent immigrant rights movement in the US;

Fascist and Communist ideas of war during the Sino-Japanese conflict in the 1930s;

several populist episodes in recent American politics;

a panel discussion of historians and presidential misconduct;

various nonwhite feminist political movements;

a panel on the gender of power;

the politics of gun control;

women and religious liberty in early America;

a panel on writing the history of American conservatism under Donald Trump; and

human rights and state constitutions, 1796-1861.

I taught history from 1976 through 2013 at Harvard, Carnegie-Mellon, the Naval War College, and Williams College. The 37 years of my career coincided with a drastic change in the nature of history as it is taught in our colleges and universities. That led to an extraordinary decline in student interest in history, reflected in majors and course enrollments.In 2019, I published my autobiography, A Life in History . At the end of the book, I presented figures on changes in undergraduate history enrollments at a number of major institutions from 1965 through 2017. Harvard and Radcliffe together had graduated about 270 history majors in 1965, with about 30 full-time history faculty. In 2017 the department had 47 full-time members and graduated 45 history majors. Columbia history majors in the same years fell from 76 to 68 even though the graduating class increased from 569 to 1135. Swarthmore history majors fell from 33 to 22 (despite a 30 percent increase in the size of the class), and Wellesley fell from 53 out of 381 seniors to 12 out of 547.In all those institutions, the number of history faculty increased, while the total number of students they taught fell.I believe that the main reason for the decline in history is that students don't care for the product the faculty is offering. Most history courses are now too specialized and often politically slanted to interest them.The roots of what has happened to history go back to the 1960s, when the Vietnam War convinced a critical mass of college students that they could safely ignore whatever the older generation said. That war was indeed a catastrophe, but that single strategic mistake did not, as so many of my contemporaries thought, discredit the entire government, society, and intellectual tradition within which it took place.Many, however, decided that imperialism, not the defense of freedom, was the basis of American foreign policy; that universities were cogs in that imperialist machine, not sites to pursue knowledge for its own sake; and that racism was fundamental to American life, instead of an aberration our parents' generation had been working to eliminate.Many such young men and women went into academia and spent their lives elaborating on those themes. The nature of their new scholarship began to emerge in the 1980s.In 1985, Theodore Draper, then probably the leading historian of American Communism, reviewed a series of new books on that topic by younger historians in the New York Review of Books. All had several things in common. The authors identified themselves proudly as veterans of the New Left of the 1960s and argued that their politics allowed them to see things about American Communism in the 1930s and 1940s that older historians had missed.They claimed to be writing "social history," rather than older, antiquated "political history," and focusing on the lives, thoughts, and feelings of ordinary Communists. And they argued that the Communists they had discovered were not, as Draper and others had found, simple tools of Moscow, but rather representatives of "authentic American radicalism."One of the biggest problems in their work was that when one examined their sources for that last claim, one found that they didn't really prove it-often, indeed, they seemed to confirm Moscow's primacy.But Draper missed two things. First, he did not realize that this new approach was becoming the mainstream approach among historians of women and minority groups, who also argued that their own identity gave them insights that white males could not have. They also said it was more important to focus on "marginalized" men and women than on the leaders of political and economic institutions. Second, while Draper noted that the authors he was critiquing were just coming up for tenure, he didn't realize that their ideas would become totally mainstream within two decades.In the 1970s and 1980s, when social history became fashionable, its practitioners sold it as an attempt to learn more about workers, peasants, and other less-visible social sectors that traditional political history had tended to slight. Feminists and nonwhite scholars picked up that ball and ran with it, arguing that they represented identities that white male historians had ignored, and whose voices now needed to be heard.By the turn of the new century, even to study the political leadership of Western countries in detail had become suspect in history because it supposedly reinforced white male hegemony in society.The long-term impact of those changes emerges when one looks at what historians do study today. The program of the last annual meeting of the American Historical Association lists 300 different panels on different historical topics. Only 15 of those 300-2.5 percent-deal with political history.We must, however, look at those panels individually to understand what "political history" now means.The sessions dealt with:In short, only three panels touched on major national issues in the US, and not a single one deals with a Western European political issue of any kind. None dealt with presidential leadership, the passage and impact of a major piece of legislation, or the origins, course, and results of war.Because of this shift, we know much less about the politics and diplomacy of the last 40 years or so than we do about earlier periods. Whereas dozens of serious archival books had been written on the politics of the 1930s and 1940s by the time I was in graduate school, there are practically no serious studies of US political and diplomatic history since 1980 or so today.Almost no one is either trained to write them or given a tenure-track job for having done so.I had been teaching the history of warfare at the Naval War College for 16 years in 2006 when a political scientist at Williams College invited me to spend a year in a new chair in American diplomatic history that he had managed to create. I found later that when he initially floated his plans to the chair of the history department, she asked why he wanted to do that, since "that's not what historians do anymore."Yet, during my year there, the courses I taught on the US and the two world wars and on Vietnam were extremely popular, and some students regretted that there were not more of them available.Meanwhile, I saw the impact of the changes reflected in AHA programs on undergraduate curriculums. As departments became larger and faculty became more specialized, the distinction between undergraduate and graduate education was lost.A historian of gender and sexuality in France (to select a random example that does not refer to a specific individual) offered undergraduate courses on gender and sexuality in France, without feeling any obligation to educate students about critical political events. Such courses predictably drew small enrollments, but faculty didn't care.At departmental lunches, I heard faculty report that their class had half a dozen students in them without a shred of embarrassment-much less any analysis of whether their contribution to teaching was earning their salary.At one such meeting, a prominent faculty member plugged a talk by a visiting British historian about the significance of the powder puff in 1920s Britain. The talk was built around an arrest of a suspected gay man who was carrying a powder puff, and the presenter riffed on industrialization, consumerism, commodification, and transgressive sexuality.A few days later I asked a student who had been there what he thought about it. He had more traditional historical interests, but he said that 90 percent of the history courses at Williams were of that type.Now in retirement, I have embarked upon a new project: a political history of the United States based upon the inaugural addresses and State of the Union addresses of our presidents. I have been reminded that from Washington forward, American political leadership and the people saw themselves as conducting a great experiment in free, representative government, which might set an example for the world.One doesn't have to view American history uncritically or ignore our frequent failures to live up to our ideals to regard this story as a fascinating and inspiring one. Yet that is the story that most university history courses today choose to ignore, in favor of meditations that reflect the personal interests of the faculty rather than the needs or interests of the students.That is why history and the humanities have lost the central place they occupied in our universities a half-century ago, and why they will have so much trouble regaining it.
A mass wedding was held in the West Coast New Area of Qingdao, east China's Shandong province, on June 9, where 27 couples who contributed to the fight against the novel coronavirus got married.

The brides and grooms were all either medical workers, police officers or ordinary citizens, and had voluntarily postponed their original weddings to devote themselves to fighting against the epidemic.

With the epidemic gradually being curbed, the relevant government departments in the West Coast New Area of Qingdao decided to hold a mass wedding for them. (Photos/Zhang Jingang, Zuo Xiuguo)

(The photos are exclusively provided by photographers. Reprint is prohibited.)
If you want to read some good ghost stories Google Haunted Old South Pittsburgs Hospital. If you want to personally experience the intrigue and possible paranormal (supernatural) activity of the abandoned hospital in South Pittsburg you will want to schedule a tour and possibly an overnight stay that can be arranged by the current owners.

The hospital was built in 1959 by four physicians and closed in 1998, allegedly because it had been replaced by another hospital and was surplus property. Others claim that the facility was beset with supernatural happenings that included many acts of malpractices, murder and strange goings on involving shadowy spirts performing unusual and sinister acts in the abandoned medical facility located at 1100 Holly Avenue, South Pittsburg.

The haunted hospital has been featured on the Travel Channel on Destination Fear and several other television shows. The literature promoting tours and overnight stays at the premises described it as one of the most haunted places in Tennessee. Descriptions of what you will encounter at the hospital included contact with the Naughty Nurse in the basement who delights in touching and groping individuals on private parts of their anatomy and who also likes to whisper sweet words in their ears if they are brave enough to visit the ghost in her chosen domain.

If you would like to have an experience with a less sensuous spirit you might be fortunate enough to meet the reincarnation of the two-year-old toddler known as Buddy who is active and seems to enjoy playing or urging the visitors to play with him on the third floor. Other spirits that have been observed in this vacant hospital include a male described as a doctor and a janitorial spirit and another female nurse.

There have also been reports of a man approximately seven feet tall that may be one of the past surgeons that practiced in this medical facility. Witnesses have allegedly reported that this spirit warns the visitors to get out or leave the premises. Other attendees have stated that this ghost does not want to be associated with the living. With these comforting remarks, ghost busters or fans of the paranormal world are invited to participate in an overnight ghost hunting adventure for the strong and brave patrons of the life after death crowd.

Within the past few years new owners have taken over the facility after buying the property from the Internal Revenue Service and, according to South Pittsburg City Administrator Gene Vess, have corrected the problems incurred with the former owners and appear to be running a good business as reflected by the increasing sales tax revenue to the city. In an article listed in ghosthunterfans.com the earlier problems with the presence of mold and improper zoning have been corrected and out-of-town ghost seekers are regularly visiting the old facility that previously served as the hospital for South Pittsburg and the surrounding area.

Overnight tours and lodging are available for fans of the supernatural. A large number of spirit seekers have been coming up from Atlanta.

If you are brave enough to risk meeting the resident ghosts travel I-24 west to the South Pittsburg exit and turn right at Moss Motors. The hospital is located between 10th and 12th Streets on Holly Avenue up against South Pittsburg Mountain.

For more information or bookings contact: Old South Pittsburg Hospital Paranormal Research Center, 1100 Holly Avenue, South Pittsburg, Tennessee 37380, (423) 228-7082 or check them out on Facebook.

* * *

Jerry Summers

(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com
Why is it easier for our allies and partners to buy unmanned aerial vehicles from China than from the United States? The answer lies in U.S. export policy.

Since 1987, the United States has voluntarily adhered to the international nuclear nonproliferation export guidelines of the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR. These guidelines classify UAVs as nuclear-capable cruise or ballistic missiles  an assertion that does not align with pragmatic operational realities. Instead of making the world safer, the MTCR and U.S. export policy are opening the UAV market to irresponsible actors. The time has long come for U.S. policy to recognize and treat UAVs for what they are: aircraft.

UAVs are essential, high-leverage tools in modern military operations  from ISR to strike and beyond. As the nation now positions to compete against high-end peer threats, American success depends upon leveraging unmanned aerial systems across the spectrum of combat. This means that our allies and partners must also have access to these same systems.

Allies and partners are essential force multipliers for Americas national interests. They can provide a forward presence and deterrence in critical regions of the world, freeing U.S. assets for other global commitments or increasing force density where required. But they need the necessary tools. Thats why UAV exports are crucial for our allies, can deter adversaries and send a clear signal of Americas enduring commitment to areas of interest around the globe.

Building and sustaining successful coalition operations demands a U.S. policy shift for UAV exports. Just like it is important for cellphones to operate seamlessly across different networks and for apps to integrate seamlessly on an array of platforms, interoperability in the combat aviation arena depends on using equipment that can access U.S. military information enterprises and share data in a real-time, seamless fashion. That means allowing allies to procure and operate the same types of UAVs as the U.S. military.

Story continues

Unfortunately, the MTCR and U.S export policy have not kept pace in this dynamic field. The U.S. does not have a lock on UAV technology, so allies and partners blocked from procuring U.S. systems will turn to the international marketplace  which often means China.

Export potential: Turkeys homemade drones could boost local industry

The Asian superpower is exploiting this market vacuum to advance its global posture and empower its indigenous UAV innovation efforts. China does not impose restrictions on end use of its UAVs, and it has used sales to advance the quality and capability of its UAVs.

Chinese military analyst Song Zhongping observes that the United States restricting its arms exports is precisely what gives China a great opportunity. The sales are helping expand Chinese influence across a region vital to American security interests.

Chinese equipment erects barriers to more effective coalition operations because it poses a security liability. Left unchecked, Chinese UAVs create the opportunity for Chinese intrusion into U.S. systems and networks to observe or disrupt operations. Coalitions fundamentally rely on trust. That bedrock is rapidly eroded if the equipment used by U.S. partners is suspect.

Despite the Obama and Trump administrations modifications to UAV export policy in both 2015 and 2018, allies and security partners still face the strong presumption of denial when requesting UAV capabilities, thanks to the MTCR provisions. The State Department is currently in dialogue with the administration for another UAV export policy modification. If the past is any indication of progress, not much will change: These crucial relationships will still start at no. This will only continue to push critical regions into the arms of China.

Global security realities demand a change. Legislation is needed to provide a clear definition of UAVs as aircraft to align U.S. export policy with U.S. interests. Because this issue is cross-jurisdictional, both the Armed Services and the Foreign Relations committees should collaborate to craft language in 2021 that affirms the U.S. commitment to nonproliferation and defines UAVs as aircraft  not cruise missiles. As aircraft, these systems should not be subject to the MTCR export controls. This language should allow for co-development and co-production of UAVs with allies and partners, as well as any other privilege or consideration afforded to military aircraft.

Continuing to subject unmanned aerial vehicles to the guidelines of the MTCR harms critical relationships, U.S. interests and coalition operations. By defining UAVs as aircraft, America can strengthen its relationships, presence and leadership while simultaneously curbing the influence of China and other irresponsible actors. The time has come for the U.S. to define UAVs for what they are: aircraft.

Heather Penney is a senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. She served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 20 years, during which she flew the F-16 fighter jet. She also has over 10 years of defense industry experience.
PALO ALTO, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Armis , the leading enterprise IoT security company, announced today that the Armis Agentless Device Security Platform has been named a Leader by Forrester Research in The Forrester New Wave: Connected Medical Device Security Q2, 2020. The Forrester New Wave report is a ranking of the top providers in an emerging market.

According to Forrester's evaluation, the Armis Agentless Device Security Platform combines threat prevention and detection for the broadest ranges of devices and offers insight into medical device protocols like HL7, HLE, and DICOM. Armis has extensive device identification capabilities and threat research/analysis for complete device protection. The report also cited that Armis is best for companies seeking a security solution for clinical engineering and IT, which is useful for healthcare providers who want a security solution that can bridge the divide between IT and clinical engineering security teams.

"The use of connected medical and unmanaged devices are growing exponentially to drive better patient care, and healthcare organizations need an agentless platform to keep them secured," said Yevgeny Dibrov, co-founder and CEO, Armis. "As hospitals face challenges with increased ransomware attacks targeting their operations and new demands during the COVID pandemic, healthcare providers must be able to see all connected devices -- managed and unmanaged, clinical and IT -- to mitigate cybersecurity risk and prevent disruption to patient care. Armis has been on the forefront of securing some of the largest, leading healthcare delivery organizations as they adapt, supported by world-class threat research, and it's rewarding to be recognized by Forrester as a leader in their evaluation of this emerging market."

About Armis

Armis is the leading agentless, enterprise-class device security platform designed to address the new threat landscape of unmanaged and IoT devices. Fortune 1000 companies trust our real-time and continuous protection to see and control all managed, unmanaged, and IoT devices  from traditional devices like laptops and smartphones to new smart devices like smart TVs, webcams, printers, HVAC systems, industrial control systems and PLCs, medical devices and more. Armis provides passive and unparalleled asset inventory, risk management, and detection & response. Armis is a privately held company and headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn .

Additional Information

The Forrester New Wave: Connected Medical Device Security 2020, is available here.

Connected Medical Device Security 2020, is available here. To learn more about the Armis Agentless Device Security Platform, please visit: https://www.armis.com

Media Contacts

Armis

Susan Torrey

Head of Corporate Communications

[email protected]

650-492-1921

SOURCE Armis

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Malaika Arora reveals she worked and travelled through her pregnancy, says marriage was never a hindrance
An entrance to the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, Wash., on June 10, 2020. (Ernie Li/NTD Television)

Armed People at Seattle Autonomous Zone Checking IDs, Extorting Businesses: Police

People with guns are checking the identification of individuals trying to enter an area in Seattle run by far-left activists and groups such as Antifa, the Seattle Police Department stated.

We have been hearing from community members that they have been subjected to barricades set up by the protesters, with some armed individuals running them as checkpoints into the neighborhood, Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette told reporters on June 10.

While they have a constitutionally protected right to bear arms, and while Washington is an open carry state, there is no legal right for those arms to be used to intimidate community members.

Police officials have also heard of businesses and citizens being asked to pay a fee to operate in the area, which is known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone and includes about 500 houses. That would be the crime of extortion, Nollette said.

Anyone feeling threatened, intimidated, or extorted should call 911, she added.

The boarded up Seattle Police Department East Precinct inside the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle on June 10, 2020. (Ernie Li/NTD Television)

The takeover of the area was completed after police officers abandoned the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct after threats that it would be burned down.

Because the building is connected to apartment buildings and businesses, officials made the choice to board it up and secure it before relocating officers.

Nollette said police want to return to normal operations at the precinct, which would improve response times and capabilities within the neighborhood. But theres no set plan yet for how to return, she said.

Putting up barricades and blocking some people from entering isnt legal, the police official continued. However, in an effort to try to cooperate and collaborate, and move forward peacefully, were trying to get a dialogue going so that we can figure out the way to resolve this without unduly impacting the citizens and businesses that are operating in that area, she said.

Video footage shows assaults and other crimes taking place within the autonomous zone, including footage filmed by Raz Simone, a local rapper, showing a man being assaulted for putting graffiti on an outdoor wall.

A tent inside the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle on June 10, 2020. (Ernie Li/NTD Television)

Groups who have self-identified as being part of the takeover include the Seattle Democratic Socialists of America and Antifa, a far-left group that espouses violence.

The group has a lengthy list of demands, including abolishing the Seattle Police Department, reparations for victims of policy brutality, and a retrial of all minorities currently in prison for violent crimes.

Barricades viewed by a reporter with NTD Television, an affiliate of The Epoch Times, included the phrase, Public safety means no cops on our streets. Another slogan called for defunding the police.

The East Precinct building entrance sign was painted over to say Seattle People Department.

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best met with some of the occupiers on June 9, including Simone.

I heard some people say they were in support of SPD, but after this week they lost hope and they were angry, Simone told Best, according to a local outlet. I think a lot of the conversations you guys might want to have will be with the residents.

I think you are right. I am actually going to go around and talk to the residents about what they are feeling and what they saw. I agree that people felt traumatized in many ways, Best said.

The boarded-up Seattle Police Department East Precinct inside the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, Wash., on June 10, 2020. (Ernie Li/NTD Television)

Asked about the zone during a separate press conference on June 10, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, told reporters, Thats news to me, so Ill have to reserve any comment about it.

Whats happening, though, has drawn nationwide attention.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, said Inslee and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before.

Take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST! he wrote on Twitter.

Inslee told Trump in response that a man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington states business.

Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker, Durkan, a Democrat, added.
Students held an impromptu rally. Thousands signed an online petition. Faculty leaders voiced their support. And yet, for a moment on Wednesday, it seemed as if Wichita State University's president's job might still be in jeopardy, all over a speech by Ivanka Trump.

It was the latest sign of how fraught national politics are: In the midst of protests over systemic racism, even an innocuous congratulatory address to Kansas graduates set off a firestorm over free speech.

Late last week, the president of WSU Tech, an affiliate of Wichita State University, announced that Ivanka Trump would speak at the school's commencement. That was no surprise: President Donald Trump's daughter had visited the WSU Tech campus in the fall without much controversy, and Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had also been to WSU recently.

But the timing struck some students and faculty as odd: The virtual ceremony was just two days later, for one. And the Trump administration had just ignited a fierce free-speech debate by violently clearing peaceful protesters from near the White House to allow President Donald Trump to pose with a Bible in front of a nearby church.

An outcry came quickly from students, faculty members and alumni, said Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn, director of the Wichita State University music school and faculty senate president. "It was what was happening at this exact moment of time," he said, that made news of the speaker so discordant.

Jennifer Ray, an associate professor of photo media, took the debate to the campus newspaper, The Sunflower. "To many Americans, that administration has come to signify the worst of our country, particularly in its recent actions toward those peacefully protesting against racist police brutality," she wrote. Inviting Ivanka Trump sent a message to students of color that the school does not take diversity seriously, she wrote. "We owe it to our students to stand up for the right thing when and where we can."

WSU Tech's president, Sheree Utash, quickly relented, calling the timing insensitive and announcing that the school had revised the virtual ceremony to keep the emphasis on the students. The only speech would be from a graduate, she said, though other congratulatory addresses, including Ivanka Trump's, would be available to everyone.

So the next day, Ivanka Trump posted her recorded message on Twitter. She spoke of the impact of the pandemic, telling students they were "wartime graduates" whose hardship would breed innovation.

Some who saw it were upset that she didn't edit it to address what was happening in the nation at the moment, Sternfeld-Dunn said. Others were annoyed that her tweet suggested the speech had been canceled outright, rather than downplayed, with her reference to "cancel culture." #CancelIvanka messages flooded social media.

On campus, the move to make the speech optional mostly assuaged student and faculty critics. But then came the backlash to the backlash. Some prominent donors to Wichita State railed against what they perceived as a decision that stifled a conservative viewpoint, even accusing the school of downright censorship. Some pinned the blame on Wichita State's president, Jay Golden, who took responsibility for the decision. In fact, some donors said, they weren't sure they could continue to support WSU.

Among the donors is Steve Feilmeier, the chief financial officer and executive vice president of the political powerhouse Koch Industries. Speaking for himself only, he told The Wichita Eagle that he had not made a decision about whether to return to the WSU Foundation board. "WSU handled this situation incorrectly and the administration could have handled it very differently," Feilmeier told The Eagle.

He is not trying to get anyone fired, he said. But another prominent supporter of the university, David Mitchell, told The Eagle that there was reason to fire Golden because universities that didn't ensure that diverse viewpoints were represented could put their federal funding at risk. Mitchell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As the debate raged in Wichita, the Kansas Board of Regents called an emergency meeting for Wednesday and went into executive session, where it could privately discuss personnel matters. Students rallied on campus in support of Golden. An online petition - "WSU wants Dr. Golden to remain our President!" - garnered more than 8,000 digital signatures in less than 24 hours. Faculty leaders sent a letter of support for Golden to the board.

After its meeting, the board issued a statement supporting free speech, diversity and inclusion, and pledged to improve communications "during times of crisis."

"During these unprecedented times, our universities have been forced to make quick decisions and act swiftly without the normal process of including all our stakeholders in decision making," the regents said in a written statement Wednesday night. Representatives for Ivanka Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Koch will continue its commitments to WSU, Jessica Koehn, a company spokeswoman, said in a written statement, adding that Koch respects the university's independence in making employment decisions. But she signaled unhappiness with the decision: "Limiting access to unpopular speakers, viewpoints, and scholarship doesn't protect students, it cuts off the chance to engage, debate, and criticize," she wrote.

Ray, the professor, said the decision to shift Ivanka Trump's message from the keynote position in the ceremony to an optional element was wise.

"It responded to the concerns from the WSU community, while also making sure that students could watch her video if they chose," she said. "Dr. Golden's handling of the situation demonstrates that his loyalty lies with the students, as it should; he has broad support from the students and faculty."

In a statement Wednesday night on social media, the president of the student government association, Rija Khan, praised Golden for putting students first. "We are very excited to hear the news that Dr. Golden will remain in his position as president for our university," she said.

Golden issued a statement agreeing with just about everyone.

"I stand with the Kansas Board of Regents," Golden said in a written statement Wednesday night, "in its support for freedom of speech and for diversity and inclusion."
Niamey, Niger (PANA) - China on Thursday offered medical equipment, worth about 360 million CFA francs, to support Niger in its plan to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, according to official sources
Goa police was left stumped when their search for a man, absconding after testing positive for coronavirus upon his arrival from Delhi, led them to the discovery that he was also registered as a missing person in the national capital.

The man, who upon arrival in Goa gave a very vague address which led policemen to a taverna (bar) in the Panaji market, has yet not been traced.

There is one case which was found positive (who cannot be traced) Because that person has given a very vague address and when we have inquired into it we have not found the address to be a valid address. In a parallel development, because we had activated the police and they did the call tracing wherein the location of a sim card is traced they have got to know that in Delhi police there is a record that this person is officially registered as a missing person, Health Secretary Nila Mohanan said.

We have the self declaration form where he said he arrived here on a train from Delhi, Mohanan said.

For Coronavirus Live Updates

Earlier in the day, the Mayor of Panaji had claimed that the missing person was a waiter at a tavern. A person running a bar has tested positive and he has gone missing soon after he was informed about his status by the authorities, the mayor Uday Madkaikar, said.

This is the second instance of a person absconding after testing positive. In an earlier case, a person from Vasco da Gama fled to his native place at Bagalkot in North Karnataka no sooner than he received an sms confirming he was positive. The Goa authorities contacted their counterparts in Karnataka who ensured that he was admitted to a hospital in his home state.

The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19

The Panaji city corporation has announced four day shuttering of the Panaji municipal market until Monday following the detection of a positive case.

On Thursday, Goa added 30 fresh positive cases to take the tally of active cases in the state to 350. Goa is now adding an average of 30 cases a day to its Covid tally and has prompted the state government to requisition additional premises as Covid care centres where asymptomatic patients are being treated till they test negative. The states designated Covid19 hospital has been reserved for symptomatic patients.
Navsari:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the entire world is watching India with high expectations and the country cannot afford to have hota hai-chalta hai (casual) attitude anymore.

The Prime Minister stressed the need to bring in a drastic change in the way administrators respond to various situations.

Many a times, we do see things happening in front of our eyes but our response remains very casual or poor. I believe that a country like India cannot afford such an attitude. Days of hota hai-chalta hai-dekhenge are over, as the world is watching us with great expectations, the Prime Minister said.

Modi, who turned 66 today, was speaking at the Social Empowerment Camp organised here by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The event was organised to distribute financial aids and assisting devices to Divyang (differently-abled) citizens to mark the Prime Ministers birthday.

Modi expressed happiness over being the first Prime Minister to attend such camp and thanked the ministers for inviting him.

Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot along with three of his junior ministers - Ramdas Athawale, Vijay Sampla and Krishan Pal Gurjar - shared the dais with Modi.

A dozen Prime Ministers came in this 70 years of Independence. But, I feel very fortunate to be here, as I am the first ever Prime Minister to attend such an event, he said.

The Prime Minister said he has put this department (the Ministry) on the centre-stage.

He also took jibes at the past governments for not holding enough number of such camps where Divyangs (differently-abled) are given free aids.

Tri-cycle distribution is going on since 1990-92. But, only 57 such camps were organised during the tenures of all the past governments. While, we (NDA government) have organised 4,000 such camps in just two years. We have put this department (Ministry) on the centres-stage, he said.

Giving details of a new initiative by the Ministry, Modi said it has set up a special lab for developing common sign language for the visually-impaired.

Our government realised that there are many different sign languages in the country. As a result, one Divyang sometimes fails to understand the language of other. So, we have set up a lab to develop a common syllabus in line with international standards, so that our Divyangs do not face difficulty anywhere in the world, Modi added.

The Prime Minister also hailed Divyangs for winning four medals in the Rio Paralympics.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
RUTHERFORD, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Caymus Vineyards announced today the dismissal of its May 28, 2020 lawsuit against Governor Gavin Newsom and California State Public Health Officer Sonia Angell. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit alleged unfair and disparate treatment in the state's reopening plan for non-essential businesses. With Governor Newsom deciding to open tasting areas for all wineries, regardless of whether or not they serve food, Caymus has decided to dismiss its complaint.

When Caymus filed its complaint, California's reopening plan permitted a wide array of businesses to reopen, including retailers, restaurants, personal services, places of worship, and childcare. However, these same orders only permitted wineries that provide sit-down meal service to reopen tasting areas. The complaint alleged this disparate treatment made no sense and specifically harmed Napa County wineries, as county regulations prohibit wineries from offering full-meal service. The complaint alleged the Governor's plan violated the the Equal Protection, Due Process, and Takings Clauses of both the U.S. and California Constitutions.

However, on Friday, June 5, Governor Newsom revised his reopening orders and permitted winery tasting rooms that do not provide meal service, such as Caymus Vineyards and nearly all other Napa County wineries, to open to the public. The revised orders provide guidance on how wineries must operate but leave the discretion to local authorities on how and when wineries can reopen. Napa County immediately issued its own guidelines on how its restaurants, bars, and wineries could provide a safe and clean environment for their workers and customers.

"We filed this suit not just for ourselves but also in defense of the many great small wineries in our area and across the state that are struggling, and we are very pleased with this development, ensuring fair and equal opportunity for our local industry," said Chuck Wagner, founder and President of Caymus Vineyards. "We take our responsibility for the health and safety of our customers and employees very seriously and will follow or exceed all county and state guidelines. Most important to us is seeing all the happy faces of our staff and patrons, even through face coverings."

Caymus opened up its outdoor tasting areas on Saturday, June 6, the day after the new guidelines were announced, and Caymus is waiving all tasting fees for guests through the month of June. New protocols on distancing, face coverings, and cleaning and disinfecting in line with county and state guidelines have been implemented. Touchless solutions have been introduced.

"We said when we first filed this case was that all we wanted was to be treated fairly," said Michael Carlson, Vice President and General Counsel for Caymus Vineyards. "Now that the reopening plan has been changed to treat Napa County wineries just like all the others in the state, we are happy to dismiss the case and be back open."

About Caymus Vineyards

In 1972, Chuck Wagner started Caymus Vineyards with his parents, Charlie and Lorna, with a humble plan and an uncharted future. They were a family of farmers with deep roots in the Napa Valley dating back to the 1850s. Today, Caymus Cabernet is one of the region's most celebrated wines. Made from grapes farmed in 8 of Napa Valley's 16 sub-appellations, it has a signature style that is dark in color, with rich fruit and ripe tannins  as approachable in youth as in maturity. Chuck Wagner continues to make two world-renowned Cabernet Sauvignons  Caymus Napa Valley and Caymus Special Selection. Two of his children, Charlie and Jenny Wagner, now work alongside him, and the family offers a collection of wines sourced from premier winegrowing regions of California and beyond. They all feel extremely fortunate to be spending their days in pursuit of making extraordinary wine, year after year and generation after generation. For more information, go to https://www.wagnerfamilyofwine.com/.

Contact: Emily Seeley

[email protected]

Office: (202) 899-5840

Cell: (415) 517-7507

SOURCE Caymus Vineyards

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Indian ham radio enthusiast did not connect with SpaceX crew: NASA

The Quint reports: US space agency NASA has denied an Ahmedabad-based HAM radio enthusiasts claim that its crew aboard spacecraft Crew Dragon spoke with him earlier this month.

On Saturday, 30 May, SpaceXs automated spacecraft Crew Dragon rode NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley into space from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It marked the first time that US astronauts have been sent into space by a private company.

On 2 June, Adhir Saiyadh  a HAM radio enthusiast from Ahmedabad claimed that he got a response from SpaceX Crew Dragons astronauts while trying to connect with the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA now says that Saiyadhs claims are untrue as it is technically impossible for Crew Dragon to communicate through ham radio. Although, there have been instances of Ham radio enthusiasts establishing contact with the ISS.

However his daughter, Kashish Saiyadh said that her father never claimed that he connected with NASA or SpaceX astronauts.

Read the full The Quint article:

https://www.thequint.com/news/webqoof/did-gujarat-ham-radio-enthusiast-adhir-saiyadh-speak-to-crew-dragon-nasa-says-no-fact-check
MOSCOW, June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- An online auction of three stunning pieces of jewelry, created by Anna Hu, will take place from July 3 - 13 with proceeds going to support healthcare workers fighting against COVID-19.

The pieces will be sold by Diamonds That Care, the newly launched social responsibility initiative of Alrosa, the world's largest diamond mining company. The initiative's main idea is that every diamond should help those in need.

Ms. Hu created these unique pieces exclusively for this charity project using rich brown diamonds extracted by Alrosa in Yakutia, a region in the Siberian Far East.

Proceeds from the sale will assist healthcare workers who fight the pandemic. The project is organized in cooperation with the non-profit charitable organization Diamonds Do Good.

"We are living in a different world, where old divides are no longer important because we all face the same threat. By working with Christie's, which operates in all the regions affected by the coronavirus, and the brilliant Chinese jewelry artist Anna Hu, we are raising funds for a US-based charitable organization supporting activities in various countries. This project is a living example of how countries and stakeholders can unite in their efforts to help those in need," said Sergey Ivanov, CEO of Alrosa.

"Many people are in distress, and no one can remain indifferent to this pandemic. The world needs positivity, empathy, a sense of support, care and love. I hope to express all these feelings in my three pieces of jewellery. I was inspired and grateful to have received the opportunity to work on something larger than simply beautiful jewelry, something meaningful and with heart," Anna Hu commented.

Among the three spectacular pieces of jewelry that are being auctioned are:

A necklace with fancy color and colorless diamonds, centering a 27.02 carat Fancy Brown-Yellow diamond. It is manufactured with 18 k white gold and 18 k red gold.

white gold and red gold. A 18k red gold ring with fancy color and colorless diamonds, centering a 1.59 carat Faint Brown diamond.

red gold ring with fancy color and colorless diamonds, centering a 1.59 carat Faint Brown diamond. A pair of earrings made of 18k white gold and 18k red gold, with fancy color and colorless diamonds, each earring centering a pear shape 3 carat diamond.

"Anna Hu's works are characterized by elegant forms and color combinations. They are rarely sold at auction and when her pieces come to the secondary market, demand is high. As an artisan jeweler, Anna produces no more than thirty pieces a year, each a unique creation. Her involvement will create international excitement and we are pleased to offer our leading online platform and engage with our international clients to bid for this worthy cause," said Max Fawcett, Christie's Jewelry Specialist.

Board President of Diamonds Do Good, Anna Martin says: "We are honored to be associated with this project which will spread positivity and hope and show that diamonds truly do good."

Visuals: shorturl.at/mxFMV

SOURCE ALROSA

Related Links

http://www.alrosa.ru


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Defund the police is a catchy phrase, but some Americans hear it and imagine a home invasion, a frantic call to 911  and then no one answering the phone.

Thats not going to happen. Rather, heres a reassuring example of how defunding has worked in practice.

In the 1990s, both the United States and Portugal were struggling with how to respond to illicit narcotics. The United States doubled down on the policing toolbox, while Portugal followed the advice of experts and decriminalized the possession even of hard drugs.

So in 2001, Portugal, to use todays terminology, defunded the police for routine drug cases. Small-time users get help from social workers and access to free methadone from roving trucks.
A stolen artwork by Banksy which was painted as a tribute to the victims of the 2015 Bataclan theatre terrorist attack in Paris has been found in Italy.

Authorities in the city of LAquila unveiled the recovered artwork at a press conference on Thursday.

The piece - a black image appearing to depict a person mourning - had been painted on one of the Bataclan's emergency exit doors.

The L'Aquila prosecutors office said the artwork was recovered on Wednesday during a search of a home in Tortoreto, a city near the Adriatic coast in the Abruzzo region's Teramo province.

Italian authorities unveiled the stolen artwork at a press conference on Thursday / AP

It had been "hidden well" in the attic, prosecutors said in statement.

Authorities said they were still investigating how the artwork arrived in Italy and the role of the Italians involved. They said the discovery was the result of a joint Italian-French police investigation.

French officials announced the theft of the piece last year. The artwork was one of a series of murals painted in Paris and attributed to Banksy.

According to a police source at the time, thieves with a van had stolen the door on which the artwork was painted.

The artwork was found on Wednesday and was "hidden well" in an attic / AFP via Getty Images

The identity of Banksy has long been a closely-guarded secret, but that has not stopped him from becoming one of the most prolific artists of the 21st century, gaining attention for his politically-charged works.

Banksy - In pictures 1 /85 Banksy - In pictures PA AFP via Getty Images A new artwork painted by Banksy during lockdown, which has gone on display in a hospital corridor PA Banksys Girl With A Pearl Earring modified during Coronavirus @Anth0ny_Ward Stormzy performs on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 2019 wearing a vest designed by Banksy EPA Sotheby's employees pose with 'Love is in the Bin' by British artist Banksy during a media preview at Sotheby's auction house Jack Taylor/Getty Images Two men are sitting in front of a famous graffiti of British street artist Banksy, painted on a wall of a gas station in the West Bank city of Bethlehem Getty Images Banksy's homage to Pulp Fiction in East London Rex Features A new Banksy artwork in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter appears to have been vandalised days after it first appeared. The mural depicts two reindeer painted onto a brick wall appearing to pull along a bench PA Sotheby's host the first unauthorized retrospective exhibition of works by Banksy Curated by Steve Lazarides-Banksy's agent in the early years Alex Lentati Graffitti art by the 'guerilla' artist Banksy is seen on May 16, 2006 in Chalk Farm, London. The striking large scale spray-painted image entitled 'Sweeping It Under The Carpet' depicts a maid who cleaned the artist's room in a motel in Los Angeles. The piece commissioned by 'The Independent' newspaper edited on Tuesday by U2's frontman Bono, is intended to represent a metaphor for the west's reluctance to tackle issues such as Aids in Africa Getty Images Mural: the artwork before it was covered (Photo: PA) PA Banky's Les Mis artwork in Knightsbridge Jeremy Selwyn A piece of urban art by Banksy discovered on the wall of the Poundland store in Wood Green Nigel Howard A woman attacked by seagulls piece by Banksy, during the press view for the artistis biggest show to date, entitled 'Dismaland', at Tropicana in Western-super-Mare, Somerset PA Builders remove a sheet of wood covering a Banksy artwork moments after being told to take it down from the building opposite the French embassy Getty Images Banksy's Barcode Leopard Rex Features A migrant looks at the work by Banksy in the Calais migrant 'jungle' Banksy A blanket covers a mural by elusive street artist Banksy of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in a migrant camp on the outskirts of Calais. The piece has gained such popularity that people are being charged for the blanket to be lifted to that they can view it PA An employee holds Banksy's 'Girl and Balloon' which was painted on an Ikea frame at Bonhams auctioneers on March 23, 2012 in London Getty Images Dismal, and not how he meant it: Banksy's Dismaland PA Banksy, Brick Lane Rex Features Banksy - Love is in the Air street art, Soho, London Rex Features A graffiti titled "Art Attack" made by the British, guerrilla, graffiti artist Banksy is seen on Israel's highly controversial West Bank barrier in Ramallah Getty Images Sold: This Banksy on the Gaza Strip was bought for just 118 Banksy Banksy's provocative take on an iconic image from the Vietnam war Alex Lentati A stencil image of a Banksy rat in Haringey, London Jeremy Selwyn Children pose for their photo with an installation of British graffiti artist Banksy's art in New York in 2013 Reuters Art installation by British artist Banksy, a robot and a barcode, is seen on a wall in the Coney Island area of New York City Reuters Mobile Lovers by Banksy on Clement Street, Bristol PA Art Buff created by street artist Banksy in Folkestone, KenT PA Banksy's Walled Off Hotel in the Israeli occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem Getty Images Self-portrait by Banksy PA Grafitti by the illusive artist Banksy adorns a building August 28, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisian Getty Images Vulture Petrol Head Mural by Banksy at Dungeness Susan Pilcher British graffiti artist Banksy's artwork 'No Ball Games' EPA Banksy's Bronx Zoo at Yankee Stadium Reuters Banksy's Eton Posse PA Cardinal Sin by artist Banksy at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool PA A worker holding Banksy's portrait of Kate Moss (2005) at a press preview for the exhibition Banksy: The Unauthorised Retrospective, curated by Steve Lazarides, at S|2 Gallery in London PA A Banksy mural which was painted on the side of one of the classrooms at Bridge Farm Primary in Bristol during half-term PA A stencil image of a rat in Haringey, London Jeremy Selwym A dancer poses with a new installation of art by British graffiti artist Banksy painted on the front door of the Hustler Club in New York Reuters "Flower Girl," a delicate stencil on a massive brick wall by popular street artist Banksy, is displayed in a warehouse in the greater Los Angeles, California AP Brexit mural: The artwork on the side of an abandoned arcade in Dover Reuters Detail from an installation by artist Banksy, entitled Civilian Drone Strike, on display at the Art the Arms Fair art exhibition 2017 PA A man takes a photo of one of two new murals painted by the artist Banksy near the Barbican Centre in London PA Banksy's lost 'Snorting Copper' at it's original home on Curtain Road in Shoreditch Gareth Richman A woman passes one of two new murals painted by the artist Banksy near the Barbican Centre in London PA The painting 'Devolved Parliament' by the graffiti artist Banksy, which is on show at Bristol Museum PA A Banksy artwork on a bridge in Hull Banksy A man walks past an artwork by street artist Banksy in Paris AFP/Getty Images People gather around fences that have been erected to protect the latest piece of artwork by the underground guerrilla artist Banksy Getty Images A street stall with oil paintings creating an image of a yacht in the Venice canal with a sign reading "Venice in oil", set up by a person purporting to be British artist Banksy, in Venice Reuters A motorboat passes in front of an alleged work of British street artist Banksy 'The shipwrecked child', that appeared on the outer wall of a house overlooking the canal Rio de Ca Foscari in Venice, Italy EPA Banksy created Stormzy's Union Jack stab proof vest worn at Glastonbury in July 2019 @banksy Banksy hits Notting Hill Bronwen Weatherby A shopfront displays a mini exhibition by secretive British artist, Banksy with the sign 'Gross Domestic Product', in Croydon AFP/Getty Images Displays in a homeware store, Gross Domestic Product, that is being launched in South London by the graffiti artist Banksy PA Banksy turned a rough sleeper's bench into Santa's sleigh in a social commentary on homelessness at Christmas Banksy A new work of art on the side of a house on Marsh Lane, Barton Hill, Bristol PA A section of the new work he has created during lockdown, in his bathroom. The artist captioned the post "My wife hates it when I work from home Banksy via PA Banksys Girl With A Pearl Earring modified during Coronavirus @Anth0ny_Ward

Ninety people were killed at the Bataclan on November 13, 2015 when Islamic extremists invaded the music hall.

It was one of several targets hit in the city which killed a total of 130 people.
UPDATED: It may be impossible to trace all the close contacts of a protester who tested positive for coronavirus after attending Melbourne's Black Lives Matter protest, Victoria's top health official says.

The man, in his 30s, wore a mask to the protest last Saturday but developed symptoms in the 24 hours after the rally, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said on Thursday.

He is the first protester confirmed to have COVID-19 after the demonstration, which was attended by thousands of people.

Professor Sutton said it was unlikely the man contracted the virus at the protest but may have been infectious. It was not known if he had the COVIDSafe app downloaded or whether it was activated.

If he didnt, and the man spent an extended time near strangers, Professor Sutton said the department may not be able track down all his close contacts.

"If there are people around you, but you cant identify them, then they are impossible to identify," he said.

Click here to read the full story.
A review into the Ruby Princess fiasco has been slammed as 'weasel words, spin and bias,' but New South Wales Health officials believe it was an 'honest' assessment about what went wrong.

The cruise ship has been the largest source of COVID-19 cases around Australia, with links to at least 22 deaths.

More than 2,600 passengers were allowed to disembark at Sydney's Circular Quay on March 19 despite widespread respiratory illness on board, and before the results of two coronavirus swabs were known.

The NSW Health review into its handling of the debacle came under attack at a special commission of inquiry which continued on Thursday.

A review into the Ruby Princess coronavirus fiasco has been slammed as 'weasel words, spin and bias,' while New South Wales Health claim it was an 'honest' account of what went wrong

Some local residents came to wave off the Ruby Princess on April 23 (pictured) in Woolongong, as it finally set sail for the Philippines

The document, ordered by Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant and marked as 'draft' and 'confidential', was emailed to NSW Chief Human Biosecurity Officer Dr Sean Tobin, who suggested changes, the ABC reported.

Despite only half of the 48 influenza tests returning positive, the report claimed flu was the most likely cause of the illness on board, rather than COVID-19.

Commissioner Bret Walker SC blasted the report.

'Let me be blunt. Spin is a form of dishonesty. Half truth perhaps. Weasel words, certainly. But all with a bias to producing a particular intended effect on the reader, regardless of the merits,' Mr Walker said.

'Something that an impartial public servant would have nothing to do with. Do you agree?'

Dr Tobin insisted it was an 'honest' version of events, but admitted the wording could have been better.

The document read: 'The risk assessment process balanced the level of risk against the benefit of removing passengers from a cruise ship on which the virus could be circulating'.

At the time the Ruby Princess docked, 104 passengers were reporting signs of acute respiratory illness, associated with COVID-19, and two were awaiting test results

The report also suggested quarantining at home was 'a much safer option' than leaving passengers on a ship. Pictured: Day three of Ruby Princess crew repatriation in April

The report also suggested quarantining at home was 'a much safer option' than leaving passengers on a ship.

But Mr Walker found this to be 'distracting PR'.

At the time the Ruby Princess docked, 104 passengers were reporting signs of acute respiratory illness, associated with COVID-19, and two were awaiting test results.

Despite this, they were allowed to spill out into Circular Quay, potentially infecting thousands of people as the disease was spreading rapidly before most lockdown measures were put in place.
Amaravati, June 11 : Three lawyers resigned as Andhra Pradesh government pleaders in the state High Court on Thursday and their replacements were also announced.

Penumaka Venkat Rao, Gaddam Satish Babu and Habeen Sheik submitted their resignations.

It was not clear if they resigned on their own or the government asked them to put in their papers.

Their resignations came in the wake of a series of setbacks faced by the Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy state government in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

There has been criticism of the legal team of the government for failing to effectively defend the government's action on various issues.

Meanwhile, the government appointed Sumathi, Vaddiboyana Sujatha and Kiran Tirumalasetti as the new government pleaders in the high court.

According to a Government Order, they were appointed in consultation with the Advocate General.
LITCHFIELD  Police are continuing the investigation into the cause of Tuesdays fatal crash that took the lives of two Litchfield High School students.

Torrington police Detective Kevin Tieman asked news reporters and television outlets in an email Wednesday to be patient about seeking information about the accident in which Matthew Rousseau and Thomas Graveline, both 16, died.

There will be no further information released at this time, Tieman said.

The other three youths in the car were Camilla Seymour, 14, Anthony Caselas, 16, and Dylan Brocar, 16. They were taken to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center for treatment. According to Tieman, Brocar had surgery Tuesday night, and Caselas has been released.

Torrington police are handling the investigation because the 911 call came from a home on Rossi Road, over the city line, but close to Town Farm Road, where the crash happened.

A candlelight vigil for the boys was held Tuesday night, bringing more than 400 students and families to mourn their loss together on the Plumb Hill Fields next to the intermediate school. Funeral arrangements for the two young men, who were both juniors at Litchfield High School, have not yet been announced.

During Tuesdays vigil, Msgr. Robert Tucker, who has led St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Litchfield for many years, encouraged everyone to talk about their feelings and to remember their friends. He also asked the students to send notes of condolence to the teens parents, and to remember Rousseau and Graveline to keep their spirit alive.

Tucker has met with family members, and he has gotten phone calls from others, asking if he has time to meet with them.

After I left the vigil I went to see the Graveline family, he said. I told them to do three things: cry a lot, be loving, and dont listen to what everyone says.

People will do their best, and theyll say things they shouldnt, he said. I told the family, just let it be. In a thousand days, they might be better, but for the next six months its going to be just awful. I told them to cry, get it out, and talk.

Youve got to talk, laugh and share wonderful thoughts, Tucker said.
Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson is familiar with the left seat of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, where he will sit just inches from NASA astronauts Nicole Mann in the middle and Michael Fincke on the right as they launch into space. Its a setup hes become intimately familiar with after countless hours in a Houston simulator.

But now, thanks to a new partnership with a Helsinki, Finland-based virtual reality company, Ferguson can feel like hes sitting next to his colleagues while training from his office in Florida near NASAs Kennedy Space Center.

That company, Varjo, announced Thursday that its virtual reality headsets will be used to train astronauts for Boeings Starliner spacecraft. Its a high-profile order for the nearly 4-year-old company and a particularly exciting customer for co-founder and CEO Niko Eiden, who studied aeronautical engineering before pivoting his career to technology.

Recent launch: NASA, SpaceX pull off first astronaut liftoff from U.S. soil since 2011

Astronauts, he said, have one of the most extreme professions out there, and you have to be prepared for the unexpected.

The Varjo VR-2 virtual reality headset will allow astronauts to be remote but still interact with Boeings simulator. Ferguson, for instance, could wear the headset in Florida while Mann or Fincke are in the simulator in Houston. When Ferguson pushes a button in virtual reality, that same button is activated in the simulator.

It will be just like when hes sitting in the simulator, said Boeing spokesman Steven Siceloff.

Boeing is working to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station through NASAs Commercial Crew Program, the same program that recently partnered with SpaceX to launch astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station.

An uncrewed flight of Boeings Starliner capsule is expected in the fall (this is a repeated test as its first uncrewed flight in December had a software problem that prevented it from docking with the International Space Station) and then Boeing will launch Ferguson, Mann and Fincke.

Astronauts keep busy schedules  going to Russia to train on the countrys International Space Station components or working in Florida where the Starliner program is based. Boeing sought a headset that could help continue training while the astronauts are not physically in Houston. It has purchased two Varjo headsets for $4,995 apiece. The aerospace company has also contributed its own money to develop software that connects the headsets to the training simulator, but it declined to disclose those costs.

Should Boeing fly non-professional astronauts in the future, the headsets could help familiarize these customers with Starliner before they come to Houston for simulator training.

The headsets should still help astronauts develop muscle memory as they have to reach out to interact with the control panel, said Connie Miller, a software engineer in Boeings IT department who supports the companys space program.

The main difference is that astronauts wearing the headset will push the control panels buttons using a handheld controller. They wont get the same tactile feedback.

It certainly wont replace physical training, Miller said, but it will help augment it.

She added that Varjo solved a particularly challenging problem that had been plaguing Boeing: reading text on the control panel when in virtual reality. When using Boeings software on other headsets, users had to lean toward the control panel to read the text. This put them too close, and they couldnt see their hands to know if they were pushing the correct buttons.

The Varjo headset really was a game changer in this, Miller said. We just needed a headset with the resolution to let us see things in an optimal position.

Having high enough resolution to read text in virtual reality is challenging because the pixels are spread around a 360-degree view  and that lowers the resolution compared with a TV, where the pixels are more condensed in one area.

Eiden said the Varjo VR-2 headset solved this problem by concentrating pixels in the center field of vision, providing a sharp picture quality in the area the user is focusing on. As the user turns his or her head, the sharp center moves to follow the line of the user's gaze.

Varjo has roughly 130 employees. Its technology is designed for industrial use rather than gaming. At a nuclear power plant in Finland, the headset is being used to train workers on the plants control room.

Volvo Cars is using the Varjo XR-1 mixed reality headset that allows the user to see both his or her actual surroundings and virtual reality. Volvo used this to test a new vehicle design, shown in the headset, while driving an older vehicle on an actual road. The person wearing the headset could see the new vehicles interior. In addition, the vehicles new safety figures could be triggered by virtual items such as a fake moose crossing the street - which caused the actual vehicle to slow down.

Varjos next space endeavor will be adjusting its headsets to work in microgravity. Boeing would like to take a headset into space so astronauts could practice their reentry before returning home.

About the International Space Station: An orbiting home and lab for two decades

But this will create one more challenge. Right now, the headsets motion sensor is calibrated against the acceleration of gravity at Earths surface (9.81 meters per second squared, the speed at which something would free fall if it was only affected by gravity).

If the Varjo headset was taken to space as is, it would make users feel like they were hurtling along.

It would be very hard to stay still in space, Eiden said. It would think that its continuously accelerating in one direction.

But hell fix that before the Varjo headset is launched into space.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/a_leinfelder
U.S. companies are preparing to welcome employees back to their offices, three months after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted corporate operations worldwide. As with the outbreaks onset, companies find themselves in uncharted territory.

Businesses have never been under so much pressure to create safe environments for employees, with the caveat that there is no bullet-proof protection against a novel virus for which there is no vaccine. Still, its incumbent on companies to take every precaution.

IT departments are evaluating several technologies designed help lock down potential virus vectors and provide a safe working environment. Fifty-eight percent of 200 IT leaders plan to invest in smart personal hygiene devices, such as connected hand sanitizer stations, while 36 percent plan to invest in contactless sensors, according to a poll Insight Enterprises conducted in May. Thirty-five percent of IT leaders will buy infrared thermometers, while 25 percent plan to install thermal cameras.

Many enterprises are also deploying mobile and machine learning (ML) software, chatbots and other tools, experts tell CIO.com. Less clear is about whether and how companies will implement contact tracing to try to triage and identify connections between employees who may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Bringing IoT to bear on fever detection

Insight Enterprises has implemented thermal scanners in its Hanover Park, Ill., office that check peoples temperatures in real-time and fire off an alert if someone reads a little hot, according to Stan Lequin, general manager of digital innovation for the technology solutions provider.

Insight Stan Lequin, general manager of digital innovation for the technology solutions provider, Insight

The system, which scans up to 30 people at once, can be configured to ping the employee on their mobile phone, or notify security or an office manager if it flags them as exceeding the 99 degree threshold. It relies on other hardware sensors, as well as Insights Connected Platform, a software hub for collecting, routing and analyzing data from sensors. Were making sure were doing everything to protect our teammates, Lequin says.

Insight has also created a walk-up kiosk, which it is currently testing in its Tempe, Ariz., headquarters, that includes a connected thermometer for scanning employees temperatures. The kiosk includes a chatbot that will answer questions, based on information from CDC guidelines, employees enter via voice or typing about next steps they should take if their temp is elevated.

Another solution, designed to protect employees within the office, uses optical cameras and ML to detect whether people are wearing facemasks and are maintaining appropriate physical distance from each other. The app fires off an alert to an on-site manager when employees are within 6 feet of each other; the manager has the discretion over what action to take.

Interest in the solutions is keen, as Insight has fielded 70 calls from clients, Lequin says. The company is currently conducting 10 pilot tests.

Contact tracing is another tool under consideration at Insight. Lequin says that the firm is exploring whether to have employees install an app on their phone to track their movements relative to other people, or to integrate an RFID chip on employee badges to determine proximity to people. They devil is in the details; asking employees to install a mobile app on their phones to track their movements may be intrusive. An IoT-enabled badge? Perhaps less so.

If I was to work in the same facility and I get the virus, it would be valuable for HR to know what co-workers I came into contact with prior to the diagnosis to understand who else might be at risk, Lequin says.

Checking in to the office, from home

Most companies are simply grappling with how to welcome employees back. Okta is using mobile software that allows employees to notify the company before they come into work, says Armen Vartanian, senior vice president of the single sign-on software makers global workplace services business. The company will admit only 30 percent of the 2,000 employees who normally work in its San Francisco office during any work day. The software, from startup Envoy, allows employees to sign-in virtually the night before they plan to come in and is customized to cap capacity at 600 people.

Okta Armen Vartanian, senior vice president of global workplace services, Okta

Were not opening offices to the capacities we once had until there is an effective treatment for COVID-19, Vartanian says, adding that Okta is taking a phased approach to opening offices based on the regulations that govern each market.

Employees who are more likely to make it into the office include those who need to have face-to-face meetings, or whose work-from-home situations dictate it. Those who register via Envoys software will answer a short questionnaire to help screen for potential illness. Okta is conducting temperature checks of employees on entry.

Inside the office Okta employees desks have been reconfigured to ensure that employees are physically distanced by the recommended six feet and surfaces within the facility are being regularly sanitized, Vartanian says. The company is also limiting the number of people allowed on each elevator trip to two.

Okta is also currently evaluating contact tracing, which Vartanian says could help keep employees safe. But Okta is still considering what the implementation and process flow will look like with regard to tracking and tracing workers through smartphones. Envoy can provide some of these capabilities without being too onerous for employees, Vartanian says.

Why there may be no going back

The pandemic has also forced organizations to rethink whether they really need to revert to pre-pandemic procedures and protocols.

Schneider Electric, for example, is rethinking the importance of providing on-site tours of its manufacturing facilities, which it offered regularly before the coronavirus crippled airline travel. The company is ramping up virtual tours of its manufacturing execution systems in its facilities in St. Louis and Lexington, says Luke Durcan, director of the companys EcoStruxure business. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, only essential staff have been permitted to enter the building to operate and maintain the industrial robots, programmable logic controllers and other systems, which build distribution boards that power garage doors, safety switches and other electrical systems.

Schneider Electric Luke Durcan, director of EcoStructure, Schneider Electric

Schneider sales staff equipped with noise-canceling headphones and an iPhone perched on a gimbal walk the manufacturing floor, explaining how the various components work through the Microsoft Teams conferencing app. Participants, numbering as many as 12 per tour, ask questions at any stage.

In May, Durcan conducted two virtual tours within 10 days, though he expects Schneider may offer as many as six or eight per month. The virtual tour cant replicate some experiences. For instance, potential clients miss tours that are a popular part of Schneiders pitch, such as visiting Kentuckys famous whiskey stills.

Okta, meanwhile, has embarked on its own dynamic workplace journey, in which more employees may work permanently from home, claims Vartanian. The company has built a special WFH ecommerce store where employees can order ergonomic furniture, such as adjustable standing desks, webcams, monitors, keyboards and other equipment to enable an optimal working environment from home.

Weve told employees to think of Okta as a remote-first company, Vartanian says, adding the employees productivity scores have soared since the WFH relocation. Theres no big rush to enable people to come back to the office.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday it was 'the perfect time' for the 11 remaining Confederate statues on display on Capitol Hill to be sent packing.

'Public sentiment is everything,' Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. 'This is the perfect time for us to move those statues because other times people may think, "Oh, who cares, I never go there anyway, they all look alike to me, there are all these white men there" - that's what I think,' she said, as an aside.

'On the other hand, the timing may be just right,' she added.

The speaker timed a press release to go out Wednesday highlighting her work to get the remaining Confederate statues removed from Capitol Hill directly after President Trump announced his opposition to removing Confederate names from the nation's military bases.

'I want to tell you something, the American people know these names have to go,' she said Thursday. 'These names are white supremacists that said terrible things about our country.'

'You listen to who they are and what they said and then you have the president make a case for why a base should be named for them,' she continued. 'He seems to be the only person left who doesn't get it.'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that it was 'the perfect time' to send the remaining 11 Confederate statues on display around the Capitol Hill complex packing. She said during her first time as speaker she relegated the Robert E. Lee statue to the Congressional crypt

Confederate statues on Capitol Hill includes one of Jefferson Davis, which represents Mississippi in the collection and stands at the National Statuary Hall in the US Capitol Building. Jefferson was the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Before the American Civil War, he operated a large cotton plantation in Mississippi, which his brother Joseph gave him, and owned as many as 113 slaves

On Wednesday, Pelosi sent reporters a copy of a letter she addressed to the leaders of the Joint Committee on the Library that oversees the 100 statues in the National Statuary Hall collection - Sen. Roy Blunt, the chair and a Missouri Republican and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the committee's vice chair and a California Democrat.

Pelosi said Thursday she hadn't received a response from Blunt.

'No, but I think he's spoken in the public domain and saying it's up to the states,' she said. 'It may be up to states to send it here but it's not up to the states where it might be.'

She used that power before to move one prominent Confederate statue.

'Let me just say that when I was Speaker, I did do what I had the authority to do, which was to relegate Robert E. Lee to the crypt,' she said, speaking of her time serving as speaker between 2007 and 2011.

'I could move things around I couldn't take them out, that requires something else,' she explained, suggesting that removal of the statues may need a legislative fix.

In a statement out Thursday, Blunt cited the law as it's currently written.

'Under the law, each state decides which two statues it will send to the Capitol,' he said. 'As Speaker Pelosi is undoubtedly aware, the law does not permit the Architect of the Capitol or the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove a statue from the Capitol once it has been received.'

Blunt also pointed out that the states seemed to be moving in the direction of removing the last Confederates.

'Several states have moved toward replacing statues and others appear headed in the same direction,' Blunt said. 'This process is ongoing and encouraging.'

Later Thursday, Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, released language for a new bill that would allow states to contribute statues except of those 'who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.'

The current crop of statues would be removed and go to the Smithsonian Institution. States can also have their statues back if they pay for transportation, the bill said.

Also on Capitol Hill is General Robert E. Lee, a gift from the commonwealth of Virginia. Robert E. Lee was an American and Confederate soldier best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 until its surrender in 1865. Lee married into one of the wealthiest slave-holding families in Virginia and took leave from the army to run the family estate following his father-in-law's death. Documents show that he encouraged severe beatings for those who tried to escape

Commander Joseph Wheeler for the Confederate Army of Tennessee, left. He is known for having served both as a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and then as a general in the United States Army during both the SpanishAmerican War and PhilippineAmerican War near the turn of the twentieth century

Lawyer Uriah Milton Rose was an attorney who backed the Confederacy. In 1917, the state of Arkansas donated a marble statue of Rose to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection. Rose was the only delegate from Arkansas among the 75 lawyers who formed the American Bar Association in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1872. He was president from 1891 to 1892 and again from 1901 to 1902

Military officer Wade Hampton was a Confederate States of America military officer during the American Civil War and politician from South Carolina. He came from a wealthy planter family, and shortly before the war he was one of the largest slaveholders in the Southeast as well as a state legislator. During the American Civil War, he served in the Confederate cavalry, where he reached the rank of lieutenant general. At the end of Reconstruction, with the withdrawal of federal troops from the state, Hampton was leader of the Redeemers who restored white rule. His campaign for governor was marked by extensive violence by the Red Shirts, a paramilitary group that served the Democratic Party by disrupting elections and suppressing black and Republican voting in the state

Confederate Vice President Alexander Hamilton Stephens was a Confederate politician who served as the vice president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, and later as the 50th Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state of Georgia in the United States House of Representatives prior to becoming Governor

CONFEDERATE STATUES ON CAPITOL HILL AND THE STATES THAT GIFTED THEM Jefferson Davis - Mississippi James Zachariah George - Mississippi Wade Hampton - South Carolina John E. Kenna - West Virginia Gen. Robert E. Lee - Virginia Uriah Milton Rose - Arkansas Edmund Kirby Smith - Florida Alexander Stephens - Georgia Zebulon Vance - North Carolina Joseph Wheeler - Alabama Edward Douglass White - Louisiana Advertisement

The Confederates, Pelosi said, 'committed treason against the United States.'

The statue collection includes Gen. Robert E. Lee, a gift from Virginia, the Confederate president Jefferson Davis, which is a contribution from Mississippi and Alexander Hamilton Stephens, a statue given by Georgia.

Additionally Mississippi has a statue of Confederate James Zachariah George, Alabama has Joseph Wheeler, South Carolina has a statue of Wade Hampton, North Carolina has a statue of Zebulon Vance, West Virginia has John E. Kenna, Louisiana has Edward Douglass White and Arkansas gifted a statue of Uriah Milton Rose, an attorney who sided with the Confederacy.

The statue of Edmund Kirby Smith, a general in the Confederate Army, was already expected to be replaced.

Most of the Confederates in the collection are depicted in uniform.

Pelosi's demand comes amid a wave of anti-racism protests raging across America and the world, in which several statues that symbolize racial oppression have already been torn down.

In her letter, Pelosi quoted Stephens' 'corner-stone speech' in which the Confederacy's vice president said the 'assumption of the equality of the races' was something that was made 'in error.'

'Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition,' Stephens had said in the speech, Pelosi reminded the lawmakers.

She argued that the statues that are on display on Capitol Hill 'should embody our highest ideals as Americans.'

'Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals,' Pelosi said. 'Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage.'

'They must be removed,' she argued.

'While I believe it is imperative that we never forget our history lest we repeat it, I also believe that there is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honor across the country.'

The push to get rid of Confederate symbols has come in the aftermath of the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd, a Minneapolis black man, at the hands of a white police officer.

Edward Douglass White was an American politician and jurist from Louisiana. He was a United States Senator and the ninth Chief Justice of the United States. He served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1894 to 1921. After the war, White won election to the Louisiana State Senate and served on the Louisiana Supreme Court. As a member of the Democratic Party, White represented Louisiana in the United States Senate from 1891 to 1894.

John E. Kenna was an American politician who was a Senator from West Virginia from 1883 until his death. He rose from prosecuting attorney of Kanawha County in 1872 to justice pro tempore of the county circuit in 1875, and to the United States House of Representatives in 1876. While in the House he championed railroad legislation and crusaded for aid for slack-water navigation to help the coal, timber and salt industries in his state

Zebulon Baird Vance, a Confederate military officer in the American Civil War, the 37th and 43rd Governor of North Carolina. was a Confederate military officer in the American Civil War, the 37th and 43rd Governor of North Carolina, and U.S. Senator. A prolific writer, Vance became one of the most influential Southern leaders of the Civil War and postbellum periods. As a leader of the 'New South', Vance favored the rapid modernization of the Southern economy, railroad expansion, school construction, and reconciliation with the North

James Zachariah George was one of Mississippi's strongest white-supremacy statesmen in the Reconstruction era. He was an American lawyer, writer, U.S. politician, Confederate politician, and military officer. He was known as Mississippi's 'Great Commoner'

Edmund Kirby Smith was born into a wealthy slave-owning family in St. Augustine. He was a career United States Army officer who fought in the MexicanAmerican War. He later joined the Confederate States Army in the Civil War, and was promoted to general in the first months of the war. He was notable for his command of the Trans-Mississippi Department after the fall of Vicksburg to the United States

Who was Jefferson Finis Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America? Jefferson Finis Davis, the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, serving from 1861 to 1865. He was a slave and plantation owner, a politician and soldier born in Kentucky and raised in Mississippi. He graduated from his military academy in 1828, and went on to serve briefly in the Black Hawk War in 1832 before returning to his plantation. Davis later went onto become a Congressman and a Senator before he formally withdrew from the U.S. Senate on January 21, 1861 after Mississippi seceded from the Union. One month later, he was selected to become the provisional President of the Confederacy. Historians say his poor leadership skils may have played a part in the defeat of the Confederacy, and say he was a weak leader compared to Union counterpart, President Abraham Lincoln. He was captured in 1865, and accused of treason and imprisoned at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. However, he was released after two years without being tried. Advertisement

The 'Black Lives Matter' protests that followed have put renewed attention on issues like the Capitol Hill statues, flying the Confederate flag at certain events and renaming 10 U.S. Army bases, which currently are named after Confederate leaders.

On Wednesday, President Trump articulated that the U.S. bases would not be renamed under his watch.

Democrats had previously tried to get the Statuary Hall collection statues removed on the heels of the August 2017 protests in Charlottesville that pit KKK members, neo-Nazis and white supremacists against counter-protesters, one of whom was killed.

Republicans, at the time, responded by saying that the statue selections are up to each state.

Upon seeing the letter, Lofgren said she agreed with Pelosi that the Joint Committee and the Architect of the Capitol 'should expediently remove these symbols of cruelty and bigotry from the halls of the Capitol.'

'The Capitol building belongs to the American people and cannot serve as a place of honor for the hatred and racism that tears at the fabric of our nation, the very poison that these statues embody,' Lofgren said.

The longstanding debate over Confederate statues has come rushing back into the spotlight this month during the huge anti-racism movement following the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, an unarmed black man, died in Minneapolis police custody after a white officer knelt on his head for nearly nine minutes while arresting him.

Virginia governor Ralph Northam last week announced plans to take down a statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, although a judge has stalled this proposal.

Elsewhere, statues of Christopher Columbus have also become a target for protesters who say he unleashed centuries of genocide against Native Americans.

One Columbus statue was pulled down with ropes, set on fire and rolled into a lake at a park in Richmond on Tuesday night.

Another Columbus monument was beheaded in Boston, in a waterfront park near the city's North End.

However, Donald Trump says his administration will 'not even consider' changing the name of any of the 10 U.S. Army bases that are named for Confederate leaders.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper had indicated he was open to discussing such changes in the wake of Floyd's funeral.

But Trump weighed in on Wednesday night, saying: 'These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.

'The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.'
West Bengal: Picking up the pieces

June 11,2020 | Source: Daily Pioneer

While the rest of India and its neighbour Bangladesh might enjoy a full moon, the night of the poornima (full moon) with a luminescent lunar sky full of romantic fantasies in the Sunderbans, on both sides of the border, spells doom, death and destruction these days. After the fierce cyclone Amphan hit West Bengal, Odisha and Bangladesh on May 20, the huge delta region and the largest mangrove area in the world was hit the hardest, putting more than four million human lives on the edge yet again. The West Bengal Government alone estimated that the damages caused by the cyclone were to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore. And in Bangladesh, there were reports of tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed and many villages submerged by storm surges in low-lying coastal areas like Khulna and Satkhira.



Most of the people in the Sunderbans live on the abysmal margins of the economy in congested ghettos across this beautiful landscape surrounded by water and dense green forests, with the man-eating Royal Bengal Tiger and crocodiles a constant threat, even in the so-called buffer zones. Every time a destructive cyclone or storm begins to form in the turbulent waters of the Bay of Bengal, due to the increasing high surface temperature of the sea, it triggers fierce cyclones, often catastrophic, like the cyclone Aila, which hit Bengal and the Sunderbans earlier. Despite the ravages being witnessed in the destruction of water bodies, forests and the expanse of the mangrove green belt due to man-made construction and appropriation of forest land, it is the Sunderbans which bears the brunt of these fast-moving, high-speed cyclones, mostly protecting the mainland and the plains in the rest of Bengal and Bangladesh by assimilating the wind and stopping its speed.



Repeated appeals by environmentalists and experts to stop big thermal power projects and other forms of construction activity have fallen on deaf ears. Protests in Bangladesh against a recent coal-based thermal power project with Indian assistance in the Sunderbans, and that too almost in the core area, have not yielded any results as yet. Protests have been literally banned in Bangladesh and activists in Khulna told this reporter two years ago that even peaceful demonstrations or pamphlet-distribution are not allowed by the Bangladesh Government. This is despite the fact that top professors and eminent citizens in Khulna and Dhaka University have repeatedly given evidence to the Government that the entire green zone of this ecological hotspot and a world heritage location is being seriously threatened, so much so that even the Royal Bengal Tiger will be forced into displacement. Even journalists are not allowed to enter the area and report, close to Khulna.



Indeed, the tide is a regular feature in this undulating expanse of backwaters, rivers and water bodies across the cluster of many islands, some doomed to disappear and some which reappear as new, tentative spaces of human civilisation. This is almost like the areas close to the Brahmaputra river in Assam after the annual floods, which destroys and submerges vast tracts of land and forests, numerous villages and human habitations. Now, locals say, when the tide arrives on a full moon night, those who are living in tarpaulins under makeshift shelters surrounded by water, will yet again be doomed as the waters will rise, submerging their fragile homes.



Volunteers and journalists, however, say that the West Bengal Government and the local administration, after initial lethargy, have moved in with great speed to undertake relief operations in the aftermath of the cyclone Amphan and the destruction it left behind as thousands of trees were uprooted in the gales and electricity and telephone lines brought down and houses flattened. Many of Kolkatas roads are flooded and its 14 million people were left without power for days after the cyclone. But after the initial hiccups, the entire Public Distribution System (PDS) has been effectively activated and rice, pulses and other essential commodities are being given in the ration shops. Several independent doctors and health workers have moved in from Kolkata to help the locals, as they did after Cyclone Aila hit the Sunderbans.



Besides, the Government, students, young professionals, voluntary groups and others have collected food, medicines, torches and so on and are reaching out to areas where relief has not reached. Anustup Roy, a young freelance photographer in Kolkata, for instance, organised all his friends and well-wishers and moved into many areas like Mohanpur and Sandeshkhali with relief material.



The Jadavpur Commune of the Jadavpur University in Kolkata, which has been relentlessly working in the most remote parts of Kolkata providing dry rations, cooked food, sanitisers and medicines to cops, slum dwellers, homeless people, vendors and others since the lockdown, moved in from day one and travelled to Sunderbans to provide relief. The Bengal Relief Committee, in the first instance, almost immediately called for relief materials, such as tarpaulins, clothes, sanitary napkins, dry food, bottles of Zeoline, camphor, torches with batteries and so on.



They clearly stated that they wanted 10x12 feet tarpaulin sheets as a basic requirement. Several national and international NGOs have joined this effort by the Bengal Relief Collective, which also comprises students and teachers, including from JNU and other campuses. They used local fishermen, boatmen and others to move into north and eastern Sunderbans. They used launch boats while initially stocking the relief material at Hasnabad and Kwakdip.



It has been weeks since cyclone Amphan ravaged the Sundarbans, and yet the trail of destruction it left behind is stark. Many islands, where people subsist on fishing, farming and catching crabs, are still submerged under saline water, which rises and recedes with every tide, finding its way inland through broken embankments. Where flood waters have evaporated, tall trees with decaying leaves and ravaged farms and fields stand testimony to the excessive salt which has left large swathes of land barren, unfit for agriculture for at least the next few years. Almost all mud houses are broken  some have only a section of a wall, some just the pillars, and some, nothing at all except for a few broken, battered pieces of wood from frames. People in Sagar and Patharpratima islands said the fury of the storm was so massive, asbestos sheets and tiles of roofs were flying like birds.



Almost all of the Sundarbans is still under complete darkness. Electric poles and wires lie strewn around arterial roads, making movement of traffic difficult. Repair work began this week but electricity workers on ground said many of their colleagues have travelled back home during the lockdown, resulting in labour shortage, which would certainly delay restoration of power. Almost everywhere, panchayat pradhans and politicians are missing in action  people in several islands said they have not seen them even once since the lockdown began. In some villages, panchayat members have begun collecting identity documents from people who have lost homes and farms, so that they can be paid the compensation announced by the State Government. But allegations of corruption have also begun to surface at the same time. In some cases, ruling party cadres are accused of allegedly threatening Opposition party supporters who try to access relief or speak about corruption in relief disbursal. The BJP has done little on the ground except spread discontent against the State Government.



Several civil society groups like Bangla Sansktiti Mancha and Amphan Relief Network, NGOs like Mukti, Prameya and Praajak and individuals with near and dear ones in the Sundarbans have been working tirelessly through these last two weeks, distributing dry ration, tarpaulins, water, medicines and cooked food through community kitchens in numerous islands. The big relief is that the Government is moving in with the public distribution system, distributing rice and basic food to the marooned locals. One hopes that this relief moves at a war-footing in the days to come, said a journalist reporting from 24 Parganas.
(Photo : Paw Patrol's Official Twitter Page)

An article from The New York Times gave rise to wild reactions on social media about the apparent resentment of the "Paw Patrol" Nickelodeon cartoon show amid Black Lives Matter protests.

A New York Times journalist, Amanda Hess, wrote a piece for Paw Patrol on Wednesday, June 10, titled The Protests Come. She wrote about her thoughts about the criticism that people have had about the cartoon of famous children.

ALSO READ: Amazon 'Happy to Lose' Customers Who Oppose Black Lives Matter Stance After Jeff Bezos Shares Abusive Email

What Was The Criticism All About?

The criticism tended to concentrate on the cartoon's main character, a German Shepherd police dog called Chase. Internet reviews of the series and even others called the shows propaganda that showed off police officers as "good guys" in a positive way.

The demonstrators who were coming for Paw Patrol were unavoidable, according to The New York Times' Hess. She said the series had presented its main character Chase as one of the best dogs around.

Chase barks things such as "All in a police pup's day!" and "Chase is on the case!" while riding around saving kittens in his high-tech police car.

A couple of days ago, the Paw Patrol Twitter account tweeted that they mutated in solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement. The tweet conveyed that they wanted to hear the voices of black people, and they deserved amplification.

pic.twitter.com/NO2KeQjpHM In solidarity of #amplifymelanatedvoices we will be muting our content until June 7th to give access for Black voices to be heard so we can continue to listen and further our learning. #amplifyblackvoices  PAW Patrol (@pawpatrol) June 2, 2020

ALSO READ: Couple Who Got Married After Joining Black Lives Matter Protest Said They Planned for A Quiet Ceremony Until Their Wedding Went Viral

People On Twitter Regarding The Paw Patrol Hate

Many on Twitter were dissatisfied with the tweet given by the Paw Patrol.

Twitter users said the police dog needed euthanization. They decided to abolish the Paw Patrol.

Both dogs go to heaven when they die, both but the 'class traitors' in the Paw Squad, according to some Twitter users. One user questioned how much bail funds will be donated to the Paw Patrol.

The critic Hess said the demonstrations against police brutality and racial discrimination were going on long enough that the protestors started to speak out against fictional police officers.

As Hess herself suggested, she called the cartoon her pet peeve and tweeted that she didn't want a child to live in a world where they could watch Paw Patrol.

It's not clear if the tweet was sarcastic or not. But one thing is for sure. Social media was shocked at any outcry about Paw Patrol at all.

The Hill's Joe Concha "gave up," hinting a reference to Spaceball 's classic 1987 film. "I give up. Game over, man. Game over. Last one out turn out the lights. We've gone to plaid," he said.

Dana Loesch, the conservative radio host, warned that Paw Patrol had the raging mob coming for the cartoon.

Steve Krakauer, a media critic with Fourth Watch, tweeted a sentence, "Chase is on the case in 'Paw Patrol.' but as protests against racist police violence reach their third week, criticism of fictional cops is growing, too." For him, it is hard to believe this sentence came from a New York Times article.





Im sorry, I refuse to believe this is the New York Times, and not The Onion.pic.twitter.com/3D8sYY9aK2 "Chase is on the case in 'Paw Patrol,' but as protests against racist police violence reach their third week, criticism of fictional cops is growing, too."Im sorry, I refuse to believe this is the New York Times, and not The Onion. https://t.co/W9km3y4V8c  Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) June 10, 2020

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
HONG KONG, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has spent over 66 million Hong Kong dollars (around 8.5 million U.S. dollars) to repair public facilities including traffic lights vandalized during social unrest last year, Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan said Wednesday.

Chan said in a written reply to HKSAR Legislative Council lawmakers that from June last year to May this year, a total of 740 sets of traffic lights were vandalized to different extent, some 60 km of railings were removed, at least 177 CCTV cameras installed in government facilities and public places were damaged, some 22,000 square meters of paving blocks of footpaths were removed, and about 1,320 litter bins and 130 recyclables collection bins were sabotaged.

To guard against vandalism, Chan said relevant government departments have already implemented protective measures for traffic lights at some major road junctions which cost around 40 million Hong Kong dollars (5.1 million U.S. dollars).

Chan said the government also temporarily put up plastic chains to alert road users at locations where the railings have been removed, restored the damaged pavements, and provided new litter bins and recyclables collection bins.

To safeguard public safety, the government has installed temporary protective fencing on some of the public footbridges to prevent throwing of objects onto the nearby roads, especially trunk roads, Chan said.

Chan said if there is any illegal or violent act to harm public safety and order, the police will not tolerate and definitely enforce the law resolutely. The police will deploy suitable manpower to take all feasible and legitimate measures to prevent and detect crimes, especially serious violent crimes and cases of recklessly causing serious casualties.

Apart from enhancing intelligence gathering and conducting patrols at high risk locations, the police will also make timely arrest actions with a view to curbing the culprits, thereby averting incidents of serious casualties, Chan added.
Wealthy neighbours have launched a Court of Appeal bid to stop a celebrity architect from building a futuristic house in Kensington's millionaires row.

Sophie Hicks, former Tatler fashion editor and mother of models Edie and Olympia Campbell, had hoped to build a cutting-edge underground house in Holland Park.

However she faced opposition from seven neighbours who claimed the plans should be rejected on 'aesthetic' grounds due to the building's proposed glass entrance hall.

In the planning row, spearheaded by Maria Letemendia, 70, the neighbours' lawyers told London's High Court they wanted to block the building for 'aesthetic' reasons, stating: 'We do not all want to live next door to the creative and interesting.'

But Judge Mark Pelling QC ruled last year their objections on grounds of taste were 'unreasonable' and ordered them to pay legal costs of approximately 1 million.

The neighbours, who live in a Victorian townhouse next to the proposed site, have now asked Court of Appeal judges to reverse the ruling and give them the right to stop the 'unique and unconventional' development.

Former Tatler fashion editor Sophie Hicks (right with daughter Olympia) had hoped to build a cutting-edge underground house in Holland Park, but the development was contested by seven neighbours led by Maria Letemendia (left)

Neighbours living in the Victorian townhouse next door have asked the Court of Appeal to reverse the ruling and give them the right to stop the 'unique and unconventional' development on their doorstep

A street view design of the property shows how the entrance hall would be shaded by a tree

Award-winning architect Ms Hicks bought the land at auction in 2011 for 880,000 and her plans received approval from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council in 2015.

She had hoped to live in the house with other members of her extended family, but the face-off with her would-be neighbours meant work could not commence.

Residents of the 'millionaires' row' neighbourhood include the Beckhams, Elton John and Robbie Williams - and mansions can change hands for up to 30million.

Ms Letemendia is one of seven leaseholders in the Grade-II listed villa next to the site who own the freehold through a management company.

They believed they had the power to stop the proposal due to small print in a contract from when the site was first sold in the 1960s.

But in an earlier court clash between the neighbours and Ms Hicks in 2013, a judge ruled that their power as owners of the freehold must only be exercised 'reasonably'.

Sophie Hicks is the former Tatler fashion editor and mother of models Edie (left) and Olympia Campbell (right)

Ms Hicks bought the land (pictured) at auction in 2011 for 880,000 and her plans received approval from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council in 2015

Judge Pelling found the company through which the neighbours owned the freehold did not have rights which would 'entitle it to refuse approval based on aesthetics.'

Appealing the ruling in the Court of Appeal last week, the neighbours' barrister John McGhee QC said Judge Pelling ought to have found the firm 'reasonably' refused consent.

He argued Judge Pelling had been wrong in holding that the right of veto protected the company's interests and not those of the neighbours as individuals.

The clause itself had been drawn up in part to protect the interests of long leaseholders like the neighbours, he said.

Mr McGhee added the judge was wrong in holding that the 'aesthetic impact' of the house could not be taken into account when deciding whether or not to block the development.

Ms Hicks's model daughters Edie (left) and Olympia (right) pictured at a party in 2017 in Northamptonshire, while plans for the development are also shown

This picture shows the disputed land in Holland Park as it is now and Ms Hicks has already been given planning permission by the council to develop it

His ruling was also 'inconsistent' with earlier findings made by a judge during the 2013 case, he argued.

Philip Rainey QC, for Ms Hicks, however insisted Judge Pelling had 'rightly held that these were not good reasons for the appellant to refuse to approve the plans.'

'What the appellant means by "aesthetic considerations" is that some of the lessees say that, even though the proposed house has no effect on the value of their interests in the building, they happen not to like the look of it,' he told the court.

'A company cannot have a view on that sort of aesthetic issue... This type of aesthetic consideration, which is incapable of being objectively assessed, was rightly rejected.

'The judge was right. The court is respectfully asked to dismiss the appeal with costs.'

This image shows the street view of the new building, centre, with neighbours describing the entrance hall as a 'glowing glass box'

This image shows the layout of the home underground and how only the entrance hall will be above ground

Former fashion editor and esteemed British architect: The career of Sophie Hicks Sophie Hicks, 59, began a career in fashion at 17 - when she was hired as a guest editor for the first teenage issue of Harper's & Queens. She remained in fashion for more than 10 years, during which time she acted as fashion editor for Tatler and British Vogue. At 28, Hicks returned to education and studied to become an architect at the Architectural Association in London. She qualified as a chartered architect in 1994, and has since designed prominent buildings such as Paul Smith's flagship store in London. Hicks went on to design buildings for Yohji Yamamoto, Chloe and The Royal Academy of Arts. She was Vice President of the Architectural Association Council from 1997 to 1999. Last year, Hicks was awarded a RIBA London Award for a new build house in the Earls Court conservation area of central London. Hicks has built a series of other contemporary homes across the capital, including in Regent Square. Advertisement

Mr Rainey also pointed out that plans for a house which were approved by the original owner in 1968 'were for a large and uncompromisingly modern brick house that would today be regarded as an eyesore.'

He added that 'the site was a piece of weed-choked wasteground that had been left derelict and overgrown for decades' by the time Ms Hicks bought it.

'On aesthetics, the objection was that the lessees did not want any modern architecture near ... Holland Park,' he said.

'This was despite the fact that the house approved under the 1968 deed was a modern - and very ugly - house, and was despite the fact that [the Victorian townhouse] was already next door to a ten-story tower block from the 1960s.'

Appeal judges Lord Justice Lewison, Lord Justice Flaux and Lord Justice Holroyde reserved their decision on the case, which they will give at a later date.

During the trial last year, Jonathan Karas QC, representing the neighbours, told Judge Pelling that an objection on grounds of aesthetic taste was entirely reasonable.

Ms Hicks' house design 'is modern and shares none of the design language of the listed buildings of Holland Park', he said.

The architect had described her design for the house as 'creative and interesting, unique, imaginative, unconventional, a bespoke and contemporary house,' said the QC.

Mr Karas said: 'We do not all want to live next door to the creative and interesting, or to the unique or to the contemporary or the unconventional, or next to buildings which share none of the design language of the building in which one lives, nor next to gently glowing boxes.

'Every time one approaches or leaves [the house], one will see the glass box.

'One can reasonably take exception to what one sees as one leaves and approaches one's home.'
Marvin Mott has a notebook full of names of people who have traveled from around Texas and Louisiana to his shop in Spurger, 45 miles north of Beaumont, on a frequently fervent, quest.

Tucked away in the small town along pine-embraced Farm Road 92, Mott's Texas Knives and Collectibles has become a destination for knife collectors. It's one of the reasons Spurger was declared the Knife Capital of Texas in a resolution sponsored by state lawmakers James White and Robert Nichols and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Head-high, glass-fronted oak cases displaying more than 3,000 knives, including 1,750 from W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co., fill half the store. In the rest of the space, the utilitarian vies with the eclectic in a general-store miscellany of hardware, feed, auto parts and gourmet foods and coffee. Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and whole bean coffee are sold in bulk near jars of pickles, salsas and pickled quail eggs.

Mott stops to offer a cup of coffee to customers as they browse.

"There's not many of us small people left, and service is what's keeping us there," he said.

"People are so good to us. They drive from all over to Spurger," said Mott, whose customers find him through word-of-mouth and the Internet.

Kenny Weaver said he goes to the store, where "everyone's family," every morning to drink coffee and kibbitz with about half a dozen other men. His wife, Cindy, is the knife collector in the family, picking up 20 to 25 knives from Mott's store since they moved to town in 2008.

Dads often bring their children to the store to pick out their first pocket knife, Mott said. "It's a family event."

The business began in 1980 as a full-service Gulf gas station in "downtown Spurger," he said.

"We changed oil, greased cars and fixed flats. It was just whatever needed to happen," he said.

In 1992, the Motts moved and opened a hardware and feed store with a few knives for sale. In 1998, he got more serious about knives. His business has since grown into the largest retail display of Case knives in the country, he said.

Mott has a sense of romance about his objects of utility. He has commissioned a series of knives with handles made from bricks of local landmarks, including Beaumont's Pig Stand restaurant, South Park High School and the Newton County Courthouse.

The bricks are crushed and mixed with the acrylic used in the knives' handles. Mott and his wife, Kathy, choose the color combinations for the handles, like the green and white mixed with red brick for the South Park Greenies knife.

The blades are custom-inscribed as well. The clip blade on the South Park version is engraved "South Park Greenies, 1915-1986," and the spey blade contains the school motto in classic script: "The sun that sets may never rise, but Greenie fight never dies."

Other knives feature bricks from Read-Turrentine Elementary School in Silsbee and the former Kirbyville High School and Buna School buildings.

His customer base is as varied as his selection.

"We'll have hunters. We'll have people buying gifts," Mott said. "It's just a total hodgepodge of customers."

His most prized item is a small Case whittling knife he doesn't keep on display, though it has a price tag of $15,995. The knife is one of only seven that were made.

Mott said it symbolizes the growth of his store and the relationship he has with the Pennsylvania-based knife company whose wares fill his cases.

Mott once sold it to a collector, whose family sold it back to him after the man's death. He says he might sell it again for the right price but would "probably cry as it goes out the door."

RPelham@BeaumontEnterprise.com
Books and non-perishable food are available for the public at Georges Cupboard located at 444 Mark St. in East City in Peterborough.

Neighbours have repurposed a street mini-library into Georges Cupboard, named after George the dog.

Donations of books and food staples can be left on the front porch so that the exterior packaging can be disinfected to follow COVID-19 health requirements.

Jessica Gillett ,the owner of the former Hide-A-Way Restaurant, now Copper Spoons, on Romaine Street in Peterborough donated a street library to be repaired and reused as Georges Cupboard.

Lise, Rick, Claire, Sam and Fluffy Fines donated childrens books in French and English and tent pegs.

J. R MacLean donated shingles for the roof.

Pam Hart provided a collection of novels.

Paul Winacott at Carved Wood Signs designed the Georges Cupboard sign.
Mumbai, June 11 : The Reserve Bank of India has come up with a discussion paper on governance in commercial banks, whereby it has proposed to limit the term of a bank promoter to hold the position of a CEO or whole-time director.

According to the RBI paper, a promoter or major shareholder of a bank may continue as CEO or whole-time director for a maximum period of 10 years. After this term, they must shift back to professional management position.

The central bank also proposed that in the overall interest of good governance, a management functionary who is not a promoter or a major shareholder can be a whole-time director or CEO of a bank for 15 consecutive years.

Thereafter, the individual shall be eligible for re-appointment as whole-time director or CEO only after the expiration of three years.

During this three-year period, the individual shall not be appointed or associated with the bank in any capacity, either directly or indirectly, advisory or otherwise.

The discussion paper said that to build a robust culture of sound governance practice, professional management of banks and to adopt the principle of separating ownership from management, it is desirable to limit the tenure of the whole-time directors (WTD) and CEOs.

"Therefore, it is felt that 10 years is an adequate time limit for a promoter/major shareholder of a bank as WTD or CEO of the bank to stabilise its operations and to transition the managerial leadership to a professional management," it said.

It noted that the upper age limit for CEO and whole-time director of banks is 70 years. Beyond this, nobody can continue in the post. Within the overall limit of 70 years, an individual bank's board can prescribe, as an internal policy, a lower age limit for CEO and whole-time directors.

On the date of issuance of the guideline or directions on the matter by the Reserve Bank on the basis this discussion paper, banks with WTDs or CEO who have completed 10 or 15 years shall have two years or up to the expiry of the current tenure, whichever is later, to identify and appoint a successor, it said.

The RBI has also proposed clear demarcation of duties and responsibilities between the board and management of the bank.

Based on stakeholder feedback, it will issue necessary directions and guidelines and subsequently, if it considers necessary, issue clarifications in respect of any matter covered in the guidelines.

The new guidelines shall come into effect within a period of six months after being placed on the website of the Reserve Bank or April 1, 2021, whichever is later.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- A popular Ann Arbor coffee shop is permanently closing its doors due to the novel coronavirus.

Espresso Royale announced on its website that the company has not survived the pandemic and is closing locations in Ann Arbor, East Lansing and Madison. The company closed all cafes on March 20 and owners anticipated it would be temporary, according to the announcement.

However, as the closure continued, it became impossible for our company to remain viable, according to the announcement.. "Therefore we have permanently ceased all operations...as well as our roaster, bakeries, catering, grocery and online sales.

We thank our wonderful baristas, cafe managers, bakers and the entire Espresso Royale family for your excellent and tireless work. We thank our customers for favoring us with your business and friendship over the years. We thank our vendors, service providers and landlord partners for your consistent support of our business."

A message was left with Espresso Royale seeking further information.

The company opened its first Ann Arbor cafe in 1988 on State Street and later on Main Street, Plymouth Road in the Traver Village center, South University Avenue and Woodland Plaza. Espresso Royale closed its Main Street location in 2017 after not renewing its lease due to slow business.

Some would say that a company that goes out of business has failed; we dont think so. Since 1987, Espresso Royale has served excellent coffee to millions of customers, has provided good work for thousands of people, and has purchased millions of dollars of goods and services from businesses around the country. We think thats a success, according to the announcement.

The company suggests customers contact M-36 Coffee Roasters for roasted blends Espresso Royale served in its cafes.

Ann Arbors NSF International launches program to help businesses, schools and cultural institutions reopen

Ann Arbor bus system calls on employers, shifts to make adjustments, ease rush-hour crowding

Ann Arbors Aut Bar, longtime LGBT refuge, to close after 25 years
Jacom Stephens / Getty Image

SARATOGA SPRINGS - A 7-year-old boy was critically injured on Wednesday afternoon in an alleged DWAI crash on Route 50, Saratoga Springs police said.

The child, along with a 30-year-old male passenger who sustained a head injury, was transported to Albany Medical Center Hospital, police said. The driver, Paul Pike, 28, of Corinth, was allegedly impaired at the time of the crash.
If you were coping with the end of The Sopranos in 2007, you might have started hoping for a spinoff. Maybe something with A.J. (Robert Iler) trying to make it as an actor (or anything, really) in New York City? Or Tony (James Gandolfini) and the family living in witness-protection in Utah?

The list could go on and on, but 13 years after the last Sopranos episode aired fans had yet to see anything make it to the screen. Once the film prequel Many Saints of Newark finally arrives in theaters (likely in 2021), that will change.

Things might have been different had Sopranos creator David Chase developed an idea he had before the shows run ended. On the May 31 edition of the Talking Sopranos podcast, co-host Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) recalled Chase mentioning a spinoff idea.

Though it may not have gotten very far, Chase told Imperioli he was thinking of a comedy that would have featured Bobby Baccala (Talking Sopranos co-host Steve Schirripa) in the lead role.

David Chase had the idea of a sitcom with Bobby Baccala and Janice

Steve Schirripa, Richard Botto, James Gandolfini, and Sopranos creator David Chase | Theo Wargo/WireImage

RELATED: Even a Sopranos Director Didnt Know if Big Pussy Was the Rat in Season 1

There was no shortage of comedic characters on The Sopranos. Between Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico), Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt) and Baccala, the laughs kept coming. [Editors note: The reporter does not use the spelling Bacala because its neither the Italian word nor a shortened version of Bobbys last name, Baccalieri.]

Obviously, Chase and his writers had a brilliant comic touch. So its no surprise he considered taking Bobby and inserting him into a family sitcom with his bride Janice (Aida Turturro) and their children from previous partners. Imperioli recalled Chase discussing it with him.

David actually said to me once that he was considering a spinoff called The Baccalas,' Imperioli said on Talking Sopranos. It would be a half-hour sitcom about Bobby and Janice and their life. I think that could have been hysterical.

Schirripa wasnt going to argue with that take. That would have been great, he told Imperioli. When asked if he would have been up for it, Schirripa replied that he would. Oh sure, he said. Single camera  that would have been fantastic.

Both Bobby and Janice had so many laughs in their Sopranos roles

Steve Schirripa and Aida Turturro attend a Sopranos DVD release party in New York. | Duffy-Marie Arnoult/WireImage

Few Sopranos fans need a reminder about Baccalas greatest hits, but well point to his chat with Tony at a diner as a solid example. Quasimodo predicted all this, Bobby tells Tony. And when writing quarantine lines for his old characters in 2020, Chase hadnt lost the Baccala touch.

I said Quasimodo, T said Nostradamus, Chase had Bobby say (as read by Schirripa). My wife bought a Nostradamus book and I looked, and he didnt say anything about this. Weird thing is, though  my son Robert? He went to No-truh Dame.

Of course, Janice was no slouch. Turturro played that character with such convincing cluelessness she had one amazing punchline after another. The scene in which Janice suggests Tony envies Ralphie Cifaretto comes to mind. Youre just jealous of his style, she tells Tony. Collegiate.

Between the two of them, Janice and Bobby could have kept the laughs coming for years. But it wasnt meant to be  at least not then. Who knows, after Chase wraps up Many Saints of Newark, maybe someone will convince him to revisit the idea.

RELATED: Why the Sopranos Cast Couldnt Stop Laughing at Livias Funeral Reception
Iran's Guards Poised To Enter Country's $15 Billion Auto Industry

Radio Farda June 10, 2020

The Chief-Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' (IRGC) Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said on Tuesday, June 9, that the IRGC will transfer its research experiences to the automotive industry.

In January 2018, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khmenei had ordered the IRGC to reduce its role in the country's economy. Similar pronouncements were also made in 2019. The IRGC has a sprawling economic empire in Iran, controlling or having a stake in more than half of all businesses by some accounts.

At the end of the meeting with the caretaker of the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade (MIMT) and managing directors of the local automotive industry on Tuesday, Hajizadeh maintained that the IRGC's aim is to transfer its knowhow and experience in research activities to Iran's auto-making industry.

The caretaker of MIMT, Hossein Modarres Khiabani, for his part said at the end of the meeting that the IRGC's automotive industry-related technology and facilities in the field of missiles would be used in the local auto manufacturing.

While referring to the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader's (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) recent comments on defense and auto-making industries, Hajizadeh insisted that such remarks make the IRGC duty-bound to act.

On May 6, Ayatollah Khamenei had stated, "The mind and thought that can produce a satellite" can also produce a "vehicle using five liters (about 1.3 US gallons) of gasoline per hundred kilometers (approximately 62 miles)."

Iran's auto industry, already suffering from outdated technology, mismanagement and corruption, has been crippled by U.S. sanctions that have stopped collaboration with French and other automakers. The car makers owe government banks billion of dollars.

The IRGC so far has not had any activity in the field of manufacturing vehicles. In recent years, however, there have been suggestions for the elite military to step in the automotive industry.

Manouchehr Manteghi, the former CEO of Iran Khodro Company, the largest Iranian auto manufacturer, proposed in October 2009 that the shares of auto-makers SAIPA and Iran Khodro companies be transferred to the Sepah IRGC Cooperative Foundation.

Hajizadeh also said in October last year: "Given the [poor] quality of domestic cars, many people expect the IRGC to enter the industry and build quality vehicles."

"We (IRGC) own technological industries and are ready to transfer it to the automotive industry of the country. Relying on Iranian technical know-how and knowledge, we can manage the most complicated and sophisticated technologies," Hajizadeh maintained on the sidelines of his visit to Iran Khodro Industrial Group [IKCO] on Friday, May 29.

The IRGC's plans and inclination to enter the automotive industry comes at a time when there have been reports of the military forces withdrawing from the country's economic sector.

On January 20, 2018, Iran's Defense Minister, Amir Hatami, said that Khamenei had ordered the country's powerful IRGC to curtail its growing business empire and divest its commercial assets that are not relevant to its domain of work.

Furthermore, on May 19 a parliamentary investigation revealed that the involvement of the country's fearsome intelligence organs in Iran Khodro and SAIPA had increased corruption in the corporations, turning them into loss-making companies.

Therefore, it is not yet known why the parliament's warnings have been ignored, and the IRGC is set to dominate the country's auto industry, as well.

Based on the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers' data, Iran's annual car production in 2019 decreased by 25% compared with the previous year, dropping to 821,000 units, of which 770,000 units were sedans.

Despite the sharp decline in car production in Iran, the car market, valued at $ 12 billion to $ 15 billion a year, is still one of the country's most important and attractive sectors.

Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-s-guards- poised-to-enter-country-s-15-billion- auto-industry/30661956.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Press Release

11 June 2020

WTTC says Governments must act now to save the sector

Prolonged travel restrictions and lack of urgency will result in the loss of $5.5 trillion in T&T GDP

Worst-case scenario can be avoided if governments around the world follow four-point plan for recovery and start easing restrictions now, ahead of the summer

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London, UK -- More than 197 million jobs could be lost in the global Travel & Tourism sector if barriers to global travel, such as blanket anti-travel advisories and quarantine measures remain in place, according to new research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

The devastating figure comes from WTTC economic modelling, which looks at the impact faced by the Travel & Tourism sector amid local and global travel restrictions as a result of COVID-19.

In the worst-case scenario, where restrictions were lifted after the summer, the impact would be more significant, putting a total of 197.5m million jobs at risk. This represents an alarming 96 per cent rise from the most recent 100.8 million jobs WTTC had previously estimated to be under threat from the coronavirus pandemic.

The research shows that if these travel restrictions were removed sooner, it could save a staggering 99.3m jobs.

The impact of prolonged travel restrictions could also wipe out $5,543 billion in the sector's contribution to global GDP, equating to a 62% percent drop compared with 2019.

Meanwhile, in the worst-case scenario, global international arrivals will suffer a sharp decline of 73% and 64% for domestic arrivals.

Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said:"We are deeply saddened by the loss of so many lives and the devastating impact on families around the world because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This terrible virus has also had a crushing global socio-economic impact, which is threatening the jobs of millions of people who very livelihoods depend upon a thriving Travel & Tourism sector for their survival.

"Unfortunately, our new modelling reveals the depth of the long-term impact facing the global Travel & Tourism industry if travel restrictions continue for an extended period of time.

"Under our worst-case scenario, prolonged travel restrictions could put more than 197 million jobs under threat and cause a loss of more than $5.5 trillion to global Travel & Tourism GDP.

"The sector's recovery will be delayed by heavy-handed restrictions just as it emerges from one of the most punishing periods in its history - in addition to the airlines, the entire travel ecosystem will suffer including millions of SME's.

"Hotels, destinations, travel agents and others will all be devastated by the economic domino effect of prolonged restrictions on movement, plunging millions of travel businesses and their employees into financial ruin."

WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, carried out the extensive research this week and its expert analysis came up with three possible outcomes for the sector:

1. Worst-case scenario

Current restrictions starting to ease from September for short-haul and regional travel, from October for mid-haul and from November for long-haul.

In this scenario, 197.5 million jobs could be lost in the global Travel & Tourism sector, with a loss of $5,543 billion in global GPD. Meanwhile, global visitor numbers would drop by 73% for international arrivals.

2. Baseline scenario

Current restrictions starting to ease from June for regional travel, July for short-haul or regional travel; from August for mid-haul, and from September for long-haul.

In this scenario, a total of 121.1 million jobs could be lost in the global Travel & Tourism sector, with a loss of $3,435 billion in global GDP. Meanwhile, global visitor numbers would drop by 53% for international arrivals and by 34% for domestic arrivals.

3. Best-case scenario

Current measures starting to ease from June for short-haul and regional travel; from July for mid-haul and from August for long-haul.

In this scenario, a total of 98.2 million jobs could be lost in the Travel & Tourism sector, half the number in the worst-case scenario, with a loss of $2,686 billion in global GDP. Meanwhile, global visitor numbers would drop by 41% for international arrivals and by 26% for domestic arrivals.

While the best-case scenario would undoubtedly still result in a devastating blow for Travel & Tourism, this outcome avoids unnecessary additional harm to the sector as a result of prolonged travel restrictions and protects almost 100 million jobs around the world that could otherwise be lost.

This best-case scenario can still be achieved for the global Travel & Tourism sector if Governments around the globe follow WTTC's recommended four-point plan.

Firstly, the immediate removal and replacement of any quarantine measures, with 'air corridors' to countries with similar circumstances to stimulate the Travel & Tourism sector and the global economy, as well as the removal of travel advisories and bans on non- essential international travel, which prevent insurance protection cover for travellers.

Secondly, the adoption of global health and safety protocols, such as the 'Safe Travels' initiative recently launched by WTTC, to provide assurance to travellers that enhanced health and hygiene measures are in place and that it is safe to travel again.

Thirdly, the implementation of a rapid test and trace strategy to help contain the spread of the virus, while still allowing people to travel responsibly at home and abroad.

And finally, greater, and sustained collaboration between the public and private sectors to ensure a coordinated global approach to the crisis.

Guevara added: "The health and safety of both travellers and those working within the sector are paramount. That's why we have recommend the opening of 'travel corridors' between countries which have controlled the spread of the virus and provided immediate support for the entire Travel & Tourism ecosystem. This will be vital to kick-start the economic recovery and rebuild the livelihoods of millions of people."

According to WTTC's 2020 Economic Impact Report, during 2019, Travel & Tourism supported one in 10 jobs (330 million total), making a 10.3% contribution to global GDP and generating one in four of all new jobs.
The southwest monsoon arrived in Maharashtra on Thursday with rains lashing some coastal parts of the state, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official here said.

The IMD has forecast heavy rainfall in some parts of the state in next 48 hours.

The southwest monsoon has arrived in Maharashtra.

The onset line is passing over Harnai, Solapur, Ramagundum (Telangana) and Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), IMD Mumbai centres deputy director general K S Hosalikar said.

Conditions are favourable for further advancement in some more parts of Maharashtra in next 48 hours. Heavy rainfall warnings are issued, he said.

Rains lashed parts of the coastal Sindhudurg district, which is located at the southern end of Maharashtra, including Amboli, Vengurla and other neighbouring areas, since 11 am on Thursday, another official said.

In the last few days, pre-monsoon showers hit several parts of the state, including Mumbai and its suburbs.

The Mumbai civic body last week issued an advisory fearing rise in monsoon-related diseases in addition to the coronavirus infections.

It asked citizens to visit nearby clinics or inform community health volunteers if they experience symptoms like fever with chills, joint pains, rashes, cough, breathlessness, diarrhoea, vomiting and sore throat.

The civic body also appealed to citizens to keep premises of their residential buildings and surrounding areas clean to prevent breeding of mosquitoes in any disposed articles.

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Johnson & Johnson (J&J) moved up the start of human clinical trials for its experimental vaccine against the highly contagious coronavirus by two months to the second half of July as the drugmaker rushes to develop a prevention for COVID-19, the company said on June 10.

The acceleration should allow J&J to take part in the massive clinical trials program planned by the US government, which aims to have an effective vaccine by year end.

J&J shares rose nearly 2 percent to $148.69.

In March, J&J signed deals with the US government to create enough manufacturing capacity to produce more than 1 billion doses of its vaccine through 2021, even before it has evidence that it works.

There are currently no US-approved treatments or vaccines for the virus. A vaccine is seen as essential to ending the pandemic that has infected more than 7.2 million people and killed over 412,000 globally while battering economies worldwide.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

J&J initially expected safety trials to start in September. Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels told Reuters the company has been working closely with its US government partners to accelerate that timeline.

Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development, Stoffels said in a statement on Wednesday.

J&Js study will test the vaccine for safety and early signs of efficacy in 1,045 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years, and in those aged 65 and older. The trial will take place in the United States and Belgium.

The company is also in talks with the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases(NIAID) to start larger, late-stage trials ahead of schedule, depending on results of the early studies and regulatory approval.

The United States is planning to test a handful of coronavirus vaccine candidates in trials that will enroll up to 30,000 subjects with the aim of getting an answer on efficacy as quickly as possible. National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told Reuters that companies will need to complete their safety trials by the end of summer to be included in those studies.

Stoffels said last week that J&J hopes to have results of its vaccine efficacy trials in the first quarter of 2021. He added that the company is working hard to bring it back to the end of the year.

A lot will depend on how much virus is circulating at that time, he said.

If you have an incidence of 1% a year versus 4% a year, its totally different. And thats where these trials are so unpredictable, he said referring to the percentage of new cases occurring in the population at the time.

The company plans to test the vaccine in high-transmission regions within the United States. If the incidence is low, we will complement that with international sites to make sure that we reach enough endpoints quickly to prove the vaccine works, Stoffels said.

Moderna Inc, which is working in close partnership with NIAID, has started testing its vaccine candidate in a 600-subject mid-stage trial. The company expects to begin late-stage trials in July.

Modernas vaccine uses messenger RNA technology, an approach that has yet to produce any approved vaccines. J&J is utilizing the same technology used to make its Ebola vaccine, which won European regulatory approval late last month.

There are about 10 coronavirus vaccines in human testing. Experts have said a safe and effective vaccine could take at least 12 to 18 months from the start of development, which would shave several years off the typical vaccine development timeline.

[With agency inputs]
Government officials reiterate Quintana Roo beaches are still shut

Cancun, Riviera Maya, Q.R.  Although there has been a gradual reopening of many businesses in the northern region of the state, municipal heads along with the state governor are reiterating that all beaches remain closed.

The government of Isla Mujeres has made the announcement that after the gradual reactivation of various economic activities, the municipal government will keep beaches closed until the state and federal government determine that it is time to reopen, which relies on a yellow traffic light, something that has not yet been achieved.

Kerem Pinto Aguilar, director of the Federal Terrestrial Maritime Zone (Zofemat), explained that the prevention and containment measures for the coronavirus must continue and, despite the fact that some essential sectors have already opened their doors, beaches are classified, according to the orange traffic light, as an activity that cannot yet be opened.

Health will continue to be a prioritywhen the state and federal governments indicate the reopening, various preventive actions must continue to be carried out to minimize the impact of the virus in our municipality. We are going to have different protocols for this reactivation since it is essential to continue participating in hygiene and healthy distance measures, stressed the director.

Pinto Aguilar added that Zofemat brigades continue to keep beaches in optimal condition since they play a very important role in reviving the local economy. We maintain them at 100 percent so that when the time comes, they can be enjoyed to the fullest by both islanders and visitors.

She also noted that surveillance is still being carried out between Zofemat, Civil Protection and Public Security to invite those who go to the beach to return to their homes, since all the beaches remain closed.

Beaches around Cancun, Riviera Maya and Costa Maya remain closed but will reopen once the traffic light system reaches yellow

Isla Mujeres Tourism Director Gustavo Rodriguez Orozco also confirmed that even though essential activities have began, the beaches will continue to be closed until a change in the traffic light system.

The official acknowledged that the return to the new normal will be slow, but that the goal is to guarantee the safety of those who work in tourism and of those who arrive to visit.

He said that the restriction measure not only applies to Isla Mujeres, but to the entire state of Quintana Roo where the northern area remains orange and the southern zone remains red.

For hotels, the situation is not entirely clear because although hotels have begun to function, in the case of Isla Mujeres one of its greatest attractions is precisely the beaches. Offering hotel rooms without beaches is illogical for those of us who live in Isla Mujeres  commented one island businessmen.

He said that unfortunately many of the guests are looking for that, the beaches, and as long as the traffic light does not change and the enjoyment of the beaches is not allowed, it will be impossible to speak of a real economic recovery for this tourist destination.

The Governor of Quintana Roo Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez, shared a portion of the live broadcast in which he was asked about the reopening of beaches. He said that state beaches will reopen once the epidemiological traffic light turns yellow, which they are hoping, will be in a few weeks.

He explained that he has maintained communication with all state mayors to establish a strategy to allow visitors to once again, enjoy the Mexican Caribbean. Among the options proposed was to install spaces to maintain the healthy distance as well as allowing beach access individually and not in groups in order to avoid the risk of infection.

The problem is not the sea, but the coexistence on the beach itself through contact. Similarly, hotels cannot use public areas in a general way, but gradually.

Governor Carlos Joaquin specified that at this stage, the important thing is to reactivate the states economy while maintaining care for the people.
Two days after the Uttarakhand government issued guidelines for the first time for darshan at the Char Dham shrines and allowed only local residents to visit, the move has been opposed by the priests body because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The priests said they wouldnt support visits to the shrine even by locals due to the prevailing situation. Suresh Semwal, convenor of the Devbhoomi Tirtha Purohit Haqhakudhari Mahapanchayat, said the district administration was informed by the temple committees of Gangotri and Yamunotri that they werent in favour of pilgrims being allowed into the shrines.

The movement of pilgrims should be halted till the situation normalises. The Gangotri and Yamunotri temple committees have informed the district administration about priests not being willing to allow even locals to visit the shrines, said Semwal.

Vinod Shukla, president of the Teerth Purohit Samaj in Kedarnath, said he had conveyed to the district administration his opposition to starting the yatra even for local residents.

Brijesh Sati, spokesperson of the Devbhoomi Tirtha Purohit Haqhakudhari Mahapanchayat, said even allowing a limited number of pilgrims into the shrine might increase the risk of infections at places which have so far remained safe from Covid-19.

By allowing pilgrims into the shrine, if the chief priest or other priests get infected, then it will hamper the complete process of worshipping at these shrines, said Sati.

On Tuesday evening, the Uttarakhand government issued guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for darshan at the Char Dham shrines. The guidelines say pilgrims from outside the state wont be allowed in till June 30, and only residents of the districts where the temples are located will be permitted to make limited visits to the shrines.

Till June 30, a maximum of 1,200 local pilgrims a day will be allowed into Badrinath shrine, 800 for Kedarnath, 600 for Gangotri, and 400 for Yamunotri.

An order issued by Ravinath Raman, chief executive officer of the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board, said after discussions with magistrates of the districts where the temples are located, the priests body and local residents, it has been decided that Char Dham yatra will remain suspended for pilgrims from outside the state till June 30.

However, the priests and locals have agreed to allow pilgrims from within the district and nearby areas to visit the shrines following all norms, it stated.

Raman said, Till June 30, yatra has only been allowed for those who live in the districts where the shrines are located. Along with them, those who have their hotels, guesthouses, shops or government officials who want to continue their work there will be allowed to go.

Pilgrims would be allowed into the shrines between 7 am and 7 pm after they obtain a mandatory free token from counters. The SOPs state it will be mandatory for pilgrims to wear masks and maintain physical distance at the counters.

A fixed time and date will be mentioned on the token when pilgrims can go for darshan after joining the designated queue for entering shrines. The token will be checked at the entrance of the shrine. A queue of a maximum of 120 metres, with a minimum of 2 metres between each pilgrim, will be allowed for Kedarnath shrine, while for Badrinath shrine a maximum queue of 240 metres will be allowed.

According to the norms, a maximum of 80 pilgrims will be allowed into Kedarnath shrine every hour, while 120 pilgrims will be allowed into Badrinath shrine.

At Kedarnath, pilgrims will be given one minute for darshan while the time limit has been capped to 30 seconds for Badrinath shrine. Those who wish to offer special prayers will have to maintain proper social distance.
"First and foremost, I would like to extend an apology on behalf of the District and the Board of School Directors to the student who was involved and to his family. They did not ask for this incident to occur, nor do they deserve the negative attention that it has brought." - school board President Tina Stoll
President Andrzej Duda visited the southern Polish city of Bytom on Friday, where he met with rescuers from the Central Mining Rescue Station (CSRG) and firefighters from state and volunteer fire departments.

When addressing rescuers from CSRG, the president thanked them for their everyday service and said that CSRG is a place of great importance for the entire community of Upper Silesia, as those who bring help are on duty every day. He noted that mine rescuers help in the most difficult situations.

"This is a huge part of one of the most important traditions that have accompanied miners since the mid-nineteenth century, but which today belong to the iron canon of mining culture, traditions and identity," he noted.

Earlier, Duda laid a wreath at the monument located at the entrance of CSRG, which commemorates mining rescuers, especially those who lost their lives at work.

When addressing firefighters from the State Fire Service and Volunteer Fire Department in Bytom, the president highlighted the importance of the modernisation of the uniformed services and said that this is also a modernisation of Poland, building the pride of those who serve Poland every day.

During the meeting, a ceremony for the official opening of the City Headquarters of the State Fire Service took place. The President also gave 37 promissory notes to the Volunteer Fire Departments for the purchase of rescue and fire-fighting vehicles. (PAP)
Russia is all set to start giving its first drug approved to treat Covid-19 to patients after this week, its state financial backer told Reuters, a move that hopes to ease strains on the health system and speed the return of normal lives.

Representational Image -AFP

Russia hospitals can begin giving the antiviral drug to its patients which is registered in the name of Avifavir to the patients suffering from covid-19 from June 11 the head of Russias RDIF sovereign wealth fund told Reuters in an interview.

While in the interview he also mentioned that the company behind the drug would manufacture enough to treat around 60,000 people a month.

As of now, there is no vaccine for Covid-19, the human trials of several existing antiviral drugs have yet to show evident results.

A new antiviral drug from Gilead called remdesivir has shown some efficiency against the covid-19 disease and is being given to patients by some countries under emergency rules.

The drug Avifavir is genetically called favipiravir and it was first developed in the late 1990 by a Japanese company later bought by Fujifilm as it moved into the healthcare system.

Representational Image - AFP

The head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev said Russian scientists had modified the drug and also enhanced it and said that Moscow would be ready to share the details of those modifications within the period of two weeks.

Japan has been trialing the same drug, known there as Avigan. It has got praises from the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and $128 million in government funding, but is yet to be approved for further use.

Avifavir appeared on a list of approved drugs by the Russian government on Saturday.
Trends Market Research (TMR) delivers key insights on the global hand tools market in its latest report titled Hand Tools Market by 2025. The long-term outlook on the global hand tools market remains positive, with market value expected to increase at a CAGR of 3.9% by 2027. Among application, the household & DIY segment is expected to expand at a significant CAGR in terms of value over the forecast period. Among product type, the metal cutting tools segment is anticipated to witness higher CAGR in terms of value over the forecast period. Global sales offhand tools is estimated to be valued at US$ 15,642.8 Mn by the end of 2018, witnessing a Y-o-Y growth of XX% over the year 2018. North America is estimated to account for a value share of XX% in the global hand tools market by 2017 end and it is anticipated to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period.

Request For Report Sample@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3496

Hand Tools has been identified as one of the most profitable and consistently performing industry despite being low profile. Use of hand tools is largely affected by the demographic conditions with majority of consumers utilizing hand tools for several DIY (do it yourself) and remodeling activities. On the other hand, in industries use of hand tools has been largely characterized by companies looking for state of art technology to produce high quality products. To respond to the needs of industries, producers are aggressively focusing towards product innovation to satisfy the needs of different customers. One of the several areas of product innovation where companies are primarily focusing is ergonomic design of hand tools to make it more precise and comfortable to operate. Industrial expansion worldwide is primarily driving the demand for hand tools since adoption of hand tools for several maintenance purpose is continuously increasing. Further, emerging demand of hand tools from automotive repair and maintenance industry has also witnessed the growth of high precision hand tools.

However, the global hand tools market is expected to face certain challenges. Consumer shifting preference towards power tools mainly due to fast and easy operating feature is primarily restricting the growth of the market. Moreover, raw material price rise is also identified as the challenge for the companies to maintain price quality ratio of hand tools primarily during shifting trend toward adoption of power tools. The segment is anticipated to account for a market value of more than US$ XX Mn in 2018 and is anticipated to be valued in excess of US$ XX Bn by 2025 end, expanding at a CAGR of XX% during the projected period.

Vendor insights

The report highlights and presents the market value share of some of the top companies operating in the global hand tools market such as Stanley Black Decker, Apex Tools Group, Snap-On, Klein Tools, Akbar Tools Ltd., Wera Tools, Channellock, Inc., JK Files (India) Limited and Kennametal Inc.

Segmentation analysis

On the basis of product type, the general purpose tools segment is anticipated to continue to dominate the market in terms of value over the forecast period

On the basis of application, the industrial segment is anticipated to dominate the market in terms of value. This segment accounted for 59.9% value share in 2015

On the basis of sales channel, the online sales segment is expected to be the most attractive in terms of CAGR index. The growth of this segment is due to rising penetration of e-commerce and increasing demand for cross border products among consumers.

In terms of sales channel, retail segment is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period. Mass merchant retailers selling product at price below industry average in order to drive their sales is primarily fuelling the growth of this segment.

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Regional analysis

North America and Western Europe are estimated to collectively account for XX% value share in the global hand tools market by the end of 2017. The North America hand tools market is expected to remain dominant over the forecast period. Although power tools are continuously replacing hand tools in North America and Western Europe, increasing product innovations and companies aggressive expenditure in R & D is expected to propel the growth of the market. Mexico is expected to hold dominant revenue share in the Latin America hand tools market over the forecast period. This is primarily due to higher per capita consumption of hand tools. Sales of hand tools in APEJ is expected to increase to US$ XX Mn by 2025 end from US$ XX in 2018.
Governments must step up to lead the fight against a growing tide of false, inflammatory and misleading information that threatens to worsen the already harsh impacts of the COVID-19, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in a statement on Thursday.

By standing with their people to build a trusted relationship, governments can alleviate the worst threats of misinformation, and in turn more loss of lives and livelihoods, according to the statement.

The UNDP is working closely with national institutions, as well as with media and civic actors in fighting against the spread of disinformation and misinformation, including supporting initiatives to use social media and websites to circulate accurate information on COVID-19, continued the statement.

Advice about COVID-19 changes swiftly as medical understanding evolves, and this rapid evolution and the crippling impact on lives and livelihoods have led to a public thirst for information. Social media, informal news sources and fringe journalism have filled the void, often sowing fear, stigmatisation, discrimination and confusion, the UNDP said.

Learning the lessons from HIV and Ebola, we must join forces to reject misinformation and stigma, anchoring our responses and advocacy in science, evidence, human rights and solidarity. While many actors bear a responsibility to counter misinformation, real progress will not be achieved without government leadership, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said.

The UNDP cited the analysis carried out by researchers at the Bruno Kessler Foundation on 112 million public social media posts on the pandemic and found that 40 percent came from unreliable sources, and 42 percent of over 178 million tweets on COVID-19 were by bots.

Last week, the United Nations (UN) launched Verified, an initiative to combat the growing scourge of COVID-19 misinformation through uplifting the volume and reach of trusted, accurate information.

The initiative is expected to provide information around three themes: science, to save lives; solidarity, to promote local and global cooperation; and solutions, to advocate for support to impacted populations.

It will also promote recovery packages that tackle the climate crisis and address the root causes of poverty, inequality and hunger.

In partnership with the UNDP, other UN agencies, UN country teams, influencers, civil society, business and media organisations, the initiative will distribute accurate content and work with social media platforms to root out hate and harmful assertions about COVID-19.

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Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for dcpA few days ago, Madonna and some of her children marched in the streets of London against police brutality. Now, she's doing the same in Los Angeles.

The Queen of Pop shared a photo of herself protesting outside Los Angeles City Hall on Wednesday, standing between Black Lives Matter International Ambassador Janaya Khan and Insecure actor Kendrick Sampson. They and other activists were calling for District Attorney Jackie Lacey to be removed from office.

"Every Weds for the last few years Black Lives Matter LA, has gathered in front of City Hall to demand the resignation of D.A. Jackie Lacey and to grieve with mothers mourning the loss of their children to police brutality," Madonna captioned the image.

"I urge you to join them next Wed. And every Wed," Madonna continued.

"I did today and had the honor of meeting these two compelling and impassioned activists...I cried for two hours feeling the anguish of the mothers who spoke but at the same time I saw hope in the leaders of this generation."

According to L.A. Mag, the removal of Lacey has been a goal for activists even before the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests. Black Lives Matters says that during Lacey's time as D.A., more than 400 people have been killed by L.A. law enforcement, but just one LAPD officer has been charged by her office.

By Andrea Dresdale

Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday unveiled its version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a $740 billion bill setting policy for the Defense Department on everything from troop salaries and equipment purchases to great power competition with China.

The 2021 bill also wades into current controversies revolving around racial issues highlighted by protests after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, an African American.

The proposed NDAA, which is several steps from becoming law, backs renaming bases named after Confederate generals and bars the use of the military against peaceful protests.

This year's bill, like others in recent years, includes provisions focused on China, including creating the "Pacific Deterrence Initiative," a nearly $7 billion fund focused on competition in the Indo-Pacific.

It also includes measures to strengthen the U.S. supply chain, after the coronavirus crisis exposed companies' dependence on China, and extends limitations on integrating missile defense systems with those of China.

The NDAA authorizes $44 million for vaccine and biotechnology research, another response to the pandemic.

It requires new reports on risks posed by the use of technology from Huawei, a Chinese company regarded in Washington as a security threat but whose 5G networking products are widely used around the world.

The bill also authorized $9.1 billion for 95 F-35 aircraft, which are made by Lockheed Martin Corp. And it authorized the Air Force to modify six F-35s originally sold to Turkey. They were never delivered due to a disagreement over Ankara's purchase of a Russian missile defense system.

The Republican-led panel backed the bill by 25-2.

To become law for the 60th consecutive year, the 2021 NDAA must be reconciled with a version of the bill from the Democratic-led House of Representatives before it can pass Congress and be sent for Republican President Donald Trump's signature or veto.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Coronavirus-related restrictions should be lifted first with countries whose epidemiological situation is similar to the EU average.

The European Commission has explained the criteria that will be used to gradually reopen the external borders for third countries, including Ukraine, from July 1.

The decision to lift restrictions for a specific country should be based on the epidemiological situation and coronavirus response in that country, the ability to apply containment measures during travel, and whether or not that country has lifted travel restrictions towards the EU, the European Commission said on its website on June 11.

"Restrictions should be lifted first with countries whose epidemiological situation is similar to the EU average and where sufficient capabilities to deal with the virus are in place. Restrictions should remain in place for countries whose situation is worse than in the EU," it said.

Read alsoHealth officials in Ukraine mull "certain measures" amid record daily spike in COVID-19 cases

Given that the health situation in certain third countries remains critical, the Commission does not propose a general lifting of the travel restriction at this stage. The restriction should be lifted for countries selected together by Member States, based on a set of principles and objective criteria including the health situation, the ability to apply containment measures during travel, and reciprocity considerations, taking into account data from relevant sources such as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization.

Key criteria to be assessed in relation to a third country, based on available data from the country concerned, the ECDC and other sources, include: the number of new infections per 100,000 population; trend in new infection rate; and the country's overall response to COVID-19, taking into account available information on aspects such as testing, surveillance, contact tracing, containment, treatment, and reporting.

A precondition to lifting travel restrictions is the ability to ensure that containment measures, such as physical distancing, will be respected throughout a journey, from origin to destination, including during any possible transit via high-risk areas.

Another criterion is reciprocity and travel advice. Many third countries have also introduced travel restrictions to citizens coming from the EU. In order to have an equal treatment for EU citizens, the third country should also lift travel restrictions towards the EU in order to have the same or comparable travel arrangements with the EU. This should apply to all EU and Schengen States; it cannot be applied selectively.

Travel advice issued by Member States regarding the third country concerned should be taken into account, given that the reciprocal lifting of travel restrictions will likely lead to an increase of travel from the EU to the third country concerned. The epidemiological situation in the third country should be stable enough to exclude, with sufficient certainty, a large-scale repatriation of stranded citizens over the coming months.

The checklist is one more criterion, its purpose is to find common ground between Member States, and therefore a common approach within the EU+ area, with regard to the assessment whether the situation in a third country and measures taken to fight the virus are sufficient to lift the travel restriction on non-essential travel into the EU+ area.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has Created a Special Commission for Investors Protection. What will it work on?

Galina Yanchenko, MP, the Deputy chairman Faction of the political party "Servant of the People" in The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, The Deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy

Attracting foreign investment should be a top priority for all branches of Ukrainian authorities. It has been repeatedly emphasized on by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Now the parliament will also take an active part in such work.

On the 5th of June the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted the draft law 2601 On the Formation of the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada on protecting investor rights. It was supported by a constitutional majority of 319 parliamentarians votes.

In times of economic crisis caused by coronavirus foreign investments are badly needed for our country. Not only loans, but external investments could be a real rescue for Ukrainian economy. Actually, in order to engage the Parliament in this process we have launched the Temporary Special Commission.

In the format it will be a collegial Verkhovna Rada's body composed of 13 MPs from almost all deputy factions and groups. Two heads of committees and six deputy chairmen of committees are among them.

The members of the TSC will look like this: I have headed the Commission and Jaroslav Zheleznyak, the member of the Holos Faction, will be my deputy. The commission also included seven more MPs from the Servant of the People faction  Dmytro Natalukha, Andriy Kostin, Oleksij Krasov, Vladlen Neklyudov, Halyna Mikhaylyuk, Sergij Ionushas and Artem Kultenko.

Faction of the political party the All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna in TSC will be represented by Andriy Nikolayenko, the deputy Group For the Future Party - by Larisa Bilozir, the Dovira Group - by Robert Horvat, and Faction of the political party Opposition Platform by For Life - by our colleague Ihor Abramovich.

The Temporary Special Commission will be a professional body of the Ukrainian parliament. The main goal of its work will be creating a favorable investment climate in Ukraine.

The work of TSC will be carried out in two directions. The first one is reforming and developing Ukrainian investment legislation. Nowadays there is a real competition between countries for an investor. A simple and clear investment legislation could be our additional bonus and a competitive advantage.

The second major direction of TSCs work will be dealing with business complaints.

Unfortunately, we have to admit that in Ukraine there are still selected examples of interference in business activities of some individual government officials. The parliamentary TSC will be the body that could use the parliamentary control function to respond to complains and to come to aid as soon as possible.

Moreover, according to the results of consideration some business complaints the Temporary Special Commission will offer legislation amendments to prevent such situations in the future. If the problem is related to the human factor, the TSC will raise the issue of personnel shifts.

Based on business appeals we will bridge gaps and fix weak points of Ukrainian legislation. Our goal is to create a favorable investment reputation in Ukraine.

One of the first legislative initiatives that we will propose within the framework of the TSC will be a package of anti-raider draft laws. We will present it in the near future. The first ground work on this package have already been sent to representatives of Ukrainian and foreign business associations. We will hold public discussion on this matter soon.
It took Stafford County authorities eight months to track down Melody Bannister after she allegedly abducted her children and fled, and they werent about to let her get away again Wednesday.

Bannister, 34, was denied bond in Stafford Circuit Court by Judge Bruce Strickland. It was at least the second time her request for bond has been denied since her arrest in February.

A nationwide manhunt for Bannister began in July after she refused to bring her four childrenages 7 to 13back to Stafford. She took the children on a vacation in June and was supposed to return them after a week to their father, who was awarded custody.

Bannister claimed the children were being sexually abused by another family member in Stafford. Police and Child Protective Services investigated the claim and deemed it unfounded.

The nationwide search covered multiple states, including Wisconsin, Texas, Colorado, Kentucky, West Virginia and South Carolina. She was finally apprehended at a gas station in Plainfield, Ind., in February and has been in custody ever since.

Her attorney, Melissa Freeman, pointed out that Bannister had no prior criminal record and posed no danger to the children or the community.
A South Carolina couple made a surprising discovery while exploring the Stono River outside of Charleston  they found a prehistoric megalodon shark tooth larger than a human hand.

Jessica Rose-Standafer Owens and her husband, Simon Chandley Owens, were walking along a muddy riverbed when they spotted a pointy gray structure poking out of the ground that she was sure was a 'shark tooth.'

'If it's a tooth, it's going to be like biggest one we have ever found,' Jessica said during the video, while brushing away mud to reveal it was in fact a tooth.

The couple said the tooth is 5.75 inches from the tip to the root, weighs just under a pound and is three to five millions years old.

Scroll down for video

Jessica Rose-Standafer Owens (right) and her husband, Simon Chandley Owens (left), were walking along a muddy riverbed when she spotted a pointy gray structure poking out of the ground that she was sure was a 'shark tooth'

The couple posted a video highlighting the discovery on Facebook, where you can hear them both gasping with excitement when they saw the tooth laying in the mud.

'I am literally about to cry,' Jessica said holding the ancient tooth in her hands.

'If I never find another shark tooth, I will be just fine! And we may have just been a tad bit excited when we found it lmao,' she shared on her Facebook page.

The Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston had this to say about the couple's find: 'That's a great meg find - finds like that are why Charleston is known as the megalodon capital of the world!'

The couple noticed a gray structure poking out among the rocks. The couple posted a video highlighting the discovery on Facebook, where you can hear them both gasping with excitement when they saw the tooth laying in the mud. 'I am literally about to cry,' Jessica said holding the ancient tooth in her hands

'Well done, we can tell you were excited! As for an age, it's likely weathered out of the Goose Creek Limestone, so Pliocene in age (~3-5 million years old)'

Both Jessica and Simon were searching the river bed for shark teeth for 10 minutes before making the surprising discovery.

Megalodon is the largest shark species that ever lived, growing to 60 feet long, three times the size of the largest of today's great whites.

And the earliest megalodon fossils date to 20 million years ago.

South Carolina is home to millions of fossils, which attracts tourists from all over in search of the hidden treasures.

The first fossil found in the US was discovered in 1725 on a plantation when slaves dug up a tooth from a Columbian mammoth, which is now South Carolina's official state fossil.

In 2018, John Taylor claimed to have found an entire woolly mammoth skeleton in a river near Beaufort  but has refused to disclose where the remains are hidden.

A South Carolina couple (left is Simon Owens and right is Jessica Rose-Standafer Owens) is made a surprising discovery while exploring the Stono River outside of Charleston  they found a prehistoric megalodon shark tooth larger than a human hand.

The couple said the tooth is 5.75 inches from the tip to the root, weighs just under a pound and is three to five millions years old.

However, scientists were skeptical as complete mammoth skeleton were very rarely found and question whether it was another animal or just fragments of a mammoth.

If Taylor was right about his find it would be of huge scientific interest, especially if it was killed by humans and showed people were in the area at the same time.

Only scattered bones and teeth of the hairy, giant elephants that went extinct 10,000 years ago have so far been found in the state.
A Hudson school teacher has been identified as the victim of a fatal car crash in Fitchburg on Wednesday, authorities said.

Erin Beth MacKay, a first-grade teacher at Forest Avenue Elementary School in Hudson, died in the crash that was on Route 2 in Fitchburg at 1 p.m., Massachusetts State Police said.

Troopers responded to a report of a crash in the westbound lanes of the highway at Mt. Elam Road in Fitchburg, according to state police.

Authorities found a Jeep SUV, being driven by the 42-year-old Templeton woman, had been struck in the windshield by a large tire and rim, state police said.

MacKay was seriously injured. She was taken to Leominster Hospital and later flown via medical helicopter to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where she died, according to authorities.

In a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday, Forest Avenue Principal David Champigny wrote that MacKay was a beloved teacher, who will be remembered by her husband and two daughters.

Not only was Erin a mother to her own children, she was a mother to countless others in our school community. She was an amazing educator, and above all else, a kind and caring person, Champigny wrote. We are deeply saddened by this loss and know this will be a difficult time for our students, families, and staff. As a school community we are here to support Erins family and our larger school family.

Forest Avenue staff and counselors will be available to support those affected by MacKays death, the principal added.

Law enforcement is still trying to find the driver of the vehicle from which the tire came from, state police said Wednesday.

Multiple hours after Wednesdays crash, authorities claimed they identified the driver of a truck who may have been involved in the collision. State police later said the information was inaccurate and that they were still seeking to identify the operator.

At this time the exact cause and circumstances of the crash are actively under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police, officials said. The investigation seeks to determine what vehicle the tire and rim came from, and whether it came off the axle or was being transported and became unsecured.

State police urged anyone who was driving on Route 2 in the area of Mount Elam Road in Fitchburg early Wednesday afternoon and saw the incident or anyone who has a dashboard mounted camera in their vehicle to call investigators at 508-829-8326.
LONDON and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 11, 2020, a digital health technology company with a science-backed proprietary metric for physical activity, proudly announces its partnership to sponsor support of the All-Party Parliamentary Group For Longevity (APPG).



The APPG was established in 2019 and in February 2020 launched "The Health of the Nation - a Strategy for Healthier Longer Lives" to meet the UK government's goal of delivering five extra years of healthy life expectancy to all British citizens by 2035 while minimising health inequalities.

The mandate of the APPG is well aligned with PAI Health's own mission to improve health resilience by raising cardiorespiratory fitness levels of inactive populations. PAI Health's vision is to become the global health standard for physical activity guidance and measurement.

PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) is the first scientifically validated health score that measures the heart health impact of physical activity and guides people to a longer, healthier life. Derived from one of the most comprehensive health studies ever performed (the HUNT Study), maintaining a PAI score of 100 or more has been associated with a reduction of mortality risk from cardiovascular disease and other lifestyle diseases by an average of 25%, with potential to extend people's lives by an average of 5 years.

The PAI algorithm translates heart rate data from wearable devices into a simple, meaningful score that guides users as to how much activity is enough. The PAI Health app works with popular wearable devices, tracks any type of activity, and works for all fitness levels. The PAI Health API is designed for integrations into other apps and platforms, making it easy to complement and augment existing ecosystems.

"We are delighted that PAI Health is joining our growing list of supporters, especially as we are now setting in train one of the key recommendations in the Health of the Nation strategy: a Business Coalition for Healthier Longer Lives to incentivise socially-responsible business practices, products, and services for health, including the potential development of an index to measure contribution to the nation's health," says Tina Woods, CEO of Longevity International and Secretariat Director for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity.

"We are proud to partner and sponsor the critical work of the APPG. If there was ever a time for companies like ours to step forward, it is now. The goals of both organisations are directly aligned to the challenge. Motivating increased levels of physical activity can, and must, form part of the nation's preventative health strategy. New digital innovations like PAI make it possible today and with scientific validity," says Ben Perrin, VP EMEA at PAI Health. "We very much look forward to working with the APPG, along with other sponsors and contributors."

About PAI Health

PAI Health allows organizations to assess, monitor, and guide their people to better health to reduce risk and costs while providing individuals with motivational guidance on recommended physical activity levels for better health. Our mission is to optimize anyone's path to better health by making the science-backed Personal Activity Intelligence.

PAI Health Media Contact

Tricia Burton

pr@paihealth.com

About All-Party Parliamentary Group For Longevity (APPG)

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity will address the scientific, technological and socio-economic issues relating to our ageing demographic. It will coordinate a cross-disciplinary exchange on the benefits of longevity (as opposed to the 'problems' of ageing) within an ethical, citizen-centred framework to maximise the societal benefits of enabling healthier, more productive and purposeful lives. AI and data-driven solutions to increase healthspan and democratise access to the 'longevity dividend' for citizens will be a focus.

APPG Contact:

Tina Woods, CEO of Longevity International and APPG Secretariat Director, on

tina.woods@longevityinternational.org




A humpback whale that stole the hearts of Montrealers when it spent time in one of the citys ports  far from its natural habitat  was found dead in the St. Lawrence River on Tuesday.

The whale enchanted city residents and drew crowds to Montreals Old Port; it was first spotted there on May 30, CBC Montreal reports. The whale was last seen swimming near Pointe-aux-Trembles Sunday morning before it was found floating in the St. Lawrence River Tuesday morning about 19 miles downstream from the city.

Triste nouvelle, nous venons dapercevoir la baleine echouee dans le secteur de Varennes. Posted by Simon Lebrun on Tuesday, June 9, 2020

It was the first time a humpback whale made its way into Montreal waters, said Robert Michaud, coordinator for the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Network.

Experts had hoped the whale would return to its natural habitat in the Gulf of St. Lawrence when it began traveling downstream. Factors that may have contributed to the death of the healthy-looking whale include dehydration from swimming in fresh water and a possible collision with a shipping vessel, Michaud said.

Canadian officials are assessing what to do with the carcass, he said.

Humpback whales are among the worlds largest animals, they can be up to 52 feet long and weigh up to 66,000 pounds.
Britain's test and trace fiasco deepened again today after damning figures showed Number 10's flagship system has only tracked down the contacts of two thirds of Covid-19 patients.

Between May 28 and June 3, 8,117 people who tested positive for the coronavirus were referred to the NHS's flagship scheme. But shocking statistics show contact tracers could only get information from 67 per cent of them (5,407).

Hundreds did not respond to phone calls or refused to give details of people they had been in contact with, the Department of Health admitted in another blow to the scheme that has been described as 'shambolic' by workers.

Baroness Dido Harding  the head of the test and trace scheme  today admitted it wasn't yet 'at the gold standard we want to be'. She added: 'Is it completely perfect? No, of course it isn't.'

She added: 'We wont have got all of the contacts. Some were unreachable, some didnt want to provide contacts, some said "well, Ive already told my mates I tested positive".'

But officials say they are happy with test and trace's performance so far, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock this afternoon repeated his plea for people to use the system, saying it was the 'civic duty' of people to take part if they were contacted.

The data comes as feedback from the Isle of Wight suggested that the NHS's long-awaited coronavirus contact tracing app  which has yet to be rolled-out  could be an effective way to stop the spread of the disease.

Just two new cases of the illness have been discovered on the island since the app's initial trial ended on May 26  a noticeable drop on the 45 cases spotted during the trial, suggesting it stopped patients from infecting other people.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock previously promised the app, then considered a vital part of the government's test and trace strategy, would be ready to be rolled out across the UK by the middle of May.

He claimed today that the test and trace system is 'already helping to stop the spread of the virus'. The Health Secretary added the system was 'key to helping us to return to a more normal way of life.'

But repeated delays have meant the app  now considered the cherry on top of the cake  is still unavailable anywhere except the Isle of Wight.

Staff paid up to 27-an-hour to ring contacts of infected patients have described the test and trace scheme as 'shambolic', with call handlers warning the system was 'obviously not ready' when it was launched in England at the end of May.

In the first week of the service, 26,985 contacts were successfully reached and 85 per cent agreed to self-isolate for a fortnight. But it means that the army of 25,000 staff hired to only contacted one person each for the whole week, on average.

It is not clear how many of these contacts later tested positive for Covid-19 themselves because, controversially, people are not routinely tested after being contacted.

The same test rules that apply to the public continue to apply to them and officials said they did not have data to show how many people had reappeared in the system as patients.

Between May 28 and June 3, 8,117 people who tested positive for the coronavirus were referred to the NHS's flagship scheme. But shocking statistics show contact tracers could only get information from 67 per cent of them (5,407)

Of those people who were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, just over three-quarters (79 per cent) were contacted within 24 hours of their case being transferred to the Test and Trace system. Some 14 per cent were contacted between 24 and 48 hours, 3 per cent between 48 and 72 hours, and 4 per cent were contacted after 72 hours

The nationwide test and trace figures, released by the Department of Health this afternoon, cover the period between May 28 and June 3.

Overall 31,794 contacts were identified  the equivalent of almost six (5.8) for every infected patient. Only 26,985 of these contacts  85 per cent  were successfully tracked down and advised to self-isolate, the statistics revealed.

LONG-AWAITED NHS CONTACT-TRACING APP COULD CUT DOWN NEW CASES, ISLE OF WIGHT TRIAL SUGGESTS The NHS's long-awaited coronavirus contact tracing app could be an effective way to cut down new cases and stop the spread of the disease, a trial on the Isle of Wight has suggested. Just two new cases of the illness have been discovered on the island, which is home to around 140,000 people, since the app's initial trial ended on May 26. This was a noticeable drop on the 45 cases spotted during the trial, suggesting that it worked by tracking the spread of the disease early on and stopped those patients from infecting other people. Health Secretary Matt Hancock previously promised the app, then considered a vital part of the government's test and trace strategy, would be ready to be rolled out across the UK by the middle of May. But repeated delays have meant the app  now considered the cherry on top of the cake  is still unavailable anywhere except the Isle of Wight. Results from the island must be taken with a pinch of salt, however, because the numbers of patients are so small there is a large margin for error, and it may actually be an increase in testing capacity which has helped to contain the outbreak. Officials are now said to be reconsidering the importance they had placed on the app and instead focusing on 'traditional' contact tracing using human staff. Advertisement

The programme said the number of people reached includes those who provided details about recent contacts or whose cases have been investigated as part of an outbreak.

The number that were not reached includes those where contact details were unavailable or incorrect, or where there has been no response to text, email and call reminders. It also includes people who the service has been able to contact but who refused to hand over details of their contacts.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock today said that people had a 'civic duty' to work with the NHS Test and Trace system, describing it as the 'radar' for tracking coronavirus.

At the Downing Street press conference he said the system would continue to improve and he was 'confident it will be world class'.

Mr Hancock said: 'Testing for the virus and tracing how it spreads is critical for containing it locally, so that we can ease the national lockdown.

'It's by isolating the virus that we can control it and we can stop it spreading through our communities.

'In this plan to lift lockdown, test and trace is our radar, if you like, it helps us identify where the virus is and trace how it is spreading through the community.'

Contact tracers try 10 times to reach someone in the first 24 hours after they have been referred to the service, attempting to get through to them by email, phone and text.

Of those people who were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, just over three-quarters (79 per cent) were contacted within 24 hours of their case being transferred to the Test and Trace system.

Some 14 per cent were contacted between 24 and 48 hours, three per cent between 48 and 72 hours, and four per cent were contacted after 72 hours.

Finding people fast is vital for the system to work because the plan is for it to find potentially-infected people before they start to show symptoms and pass the virus on to other people.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's Shadow Health Secretary, said: 'Tracing is vital to the safe easing of lockdown.

'Though this is early data, Matt Hancock needs to explain at this evenings press conference why a third of people dont appear to have been contacted and what action they will take to rectify this.'

Professor Keith Neal, an epidemiologist at the University of Nottingham, said: 'Being unable to contact 33 per cent of diagnosed cases is a concern particularly as a mobile number is involved in requesting the test.

'Some of these are part of other investigations including those related to care facilities  this data should be obtainable and identifiable. Nearly 80 per cent of those reached were contacted in a timely manner.

'An absolutely crucial part of the test and trace system is the public committing to it  the system can not work without the publics involvement.'

Baroness Harding  who was chief executive of TalkTalk when it was rocked by a huge cyber attack in 2015  today admitted the system was not yet where she wanted it to be.

She said: 'We are not at the gold standard yet that we want to be, of isolating all contacts within 48 hours of someone requesting a test. But you can absolutely see the path of how we are going to get there.'

And she claimed the programme was 'where we said we would be, which is we have a functioning service', adding that it was 'fit for purpose' now and would continue to improve.

Baroness Harding said: Just as the infection rate is coming down in the country, so is our capability to test and trace growing. We have got real scale  this is a national-level service that has stood up in extraordinary time.

'Is it completely perfect? No, of course it isn't. Is there stuff that we all need to do better? Yes there is. But I think it's fit for purpose as we stand today and will get better through the summer.'

Baroness Harding also said the 'vast majority' of people wanted to play their part in the test and trace system. But she was unable to say how many people contacted and told to self-isolate had refused to comply with the request.

She said: 'This is not a mandatory process. I am a really firm believer in the good spirit and civic behaviour of the public and we have seen the public be extremely responsive and supportive.

'These are very good numbers for compliance and we want to encourage people to be part of the system rather than have them be fearful about what might happen to them as they go through it. The wonderful thing about the first week is that's what we have seen.'

The Department of Health said 79 per cent of contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases were reached within 24 hours and told to self-isolate

Statistics show that 26,985 out of a total 31,794 potentially-infected people were successfully contacted by NHS tracers

Baroness Harding was also unable to give a date for the launch of the app which will form part of the test and trace programme she leads.

She said: 'This is a multi-channel consumer service, it's online, it's on the phone, it's face-to-face in local communities and, in time, it will have an app.

TEST AND TRACE SETBACKS SO FAR Operating system failures On June 1, people working in the system said they had not contacted anyone in the two weeks since they started work. Employees said they were having to repeat training because glitches in the system meant they couldn't register that they had completed it already. Those keen to get started said they were left twiddling their thumbs and stuck in queues of over 350 people waiting for technical help. Sent laughing emojis by bosses who couldn't help them, contact tracers said the system was 'shambolic' when it went live. One source, based in the West Midlands, said: 'Each day we log in and it's the same thing over and over again. We ask what we are going to be doing today only to be told to hold tight and chill out and, "you're still getting paid".' 'Paid to watch Netflix' A contact tracer working in the NHS's test and trace system said she had watched nearly three series of a show on Netflix because she wasn't assigned any work in her first week. The worker, known only under the fake name 'Becky', told the BBC on June 3 she had worked 38 hours without engaging with any members of the public. She told the Victoria Derbyshire programme: 'It's frustrating to know that I'm sat idle when there's people that need contacting... 'I'm yet to make a single phone call or be assigned a case. 'I've had no contact from anyone. I've had no contact from supervisors. I've literally been on the system, refreshed the system, and entertained myself during that watching Netflix.' Will only cut infections 5%, scientists warned Royal Society scientists warned the Government's test and trace system would only cut infections by about five per cent. The scientists said that testing times were still too slow and there was a good chance many Britons do not adhere to self-isolation rules. They modelled what effect contact tracing would have on Britain' epidemic and found that, even if compliance is 80 per cent and the Government speeds up its testing, the number of new cases will only drop by up to 15 per cent. Currently, swabs can take up to five days to be carried out, posted to a laboratory and analysed. If this can be slashed to three days, then the Test, Trace and Isolate (TTI) programme could see infections fall by as much as 15 per cent, they said. Nobel Prize laureate Venki Ramakrishnan, chair of the DELVE committee, said the UK's scheme should by no means 'be considered as a silver bullet. Advertisement

'The app "is the cherry on the cake, it's not the cake itself and what you are seeing today is the first baking of the cake is going reasonably well".'

The number of people who were referred to the contact tracing system between May 28 and June 3 is significantly lower than the number of new positive tests announced by the Government during that time - 8,117 compared to 13,417.

In a briefing this afternoon Baroness Harding and Professor John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE, said this was mostly a problem with the testing figures.

Professor Newton said: 'Theres quite a lot of double counting in the numbers of positive tests that are reported daily.

'We are very confident that the 8,000 includes a very high proportion of the new cases.

'Of course, there will be new cases in the community who haven't had a test but we are confident that we have included all the people who have tested positive.'

Baroness Harding added that some of the positive tests announced by the Department of Health come from anonymous surveys, and there were also inaccuracies in both sets of data which would be ironed out over time.

When faced with concerns that contact tracers weren't doing enough work, averaging fewer than 1.1 contacts each in the first week, officials said having too many was better than having too few.

Baroness Harding said: 'We certainly have significant over-capacity in both testing and tracing but Im not going to apologise... we will, over time, need the capacity as we head towards winter.'

'I'd rather it was this way round,' she added.

Matt Hancock and Professor John Newton, a medical director at PHE, also said they were happy with how the service has gone so far.

Mr Hancock said in the House of Commons today: 'NHS Test and Trace is a new service on a scale never seen before, designed to help us control and contain this virus, and save lives.

'Backed by our rapid expansion of testing across the country, the new data shows how we are already helping to stop the spread of the virus with thousands of people booking a test, isolating and sharing their recent close contacts.

'The service is key to helping us to return to a more normal way of life.

'We need everyone's support and collaboration to ensure that we can continue to keep infections falling.'

Professor Newton said the Government was seeing 'high levels of compliance both from cases and contacts', and added: 'In general were very pleased to see these data... Were quite confident that what were doing is having a big impact.'

Data from the Isle of Wight shows that the app came at a time when the island was experiencing a surge in cases.

Having recorded only 154 coronavirus cases by May 7, the community then saw a 31 per cent surge in new cases when 45 were found in a month.

This outstripped the national outbreak in England, which grew by only 12 per cent in the same time, The Times reported.

Baroness Dido Harding  the head of the test and trace scheme  today admitted it wasn't yet 'at the gold standard we want to be'. She added: 'Is it completely perfect? No, of course it isn't'

This could be a sign that the app and testing contacts of confirmed cases had detected considerably more cases of the virus than were being diagnosed beforehand.

But the unique conditions on the island, and the fact that the population and number of new cases were so small, make it difficult to know whether it was the app and contact tracing that helped.

Being on an island gives the community there natural protection, especially at a time when people were not supposed to travel there from the mainland, meaning fewer cases of the illness were carried there by outsiders.

And a small population meant it would be easier for people to get tested.

The NHS app is considered a vital part of the Government's 'test, track, trace' programme for stopping a second wave of coronavirus infections in Britain

The NHS app, which is currently only available on the Isle of Wight, will rely on people accurately reporting whether they are ill or not, or have tested positive. Contacts will be advised to self-isolate while someone is tested

The Isle of Wight was chosen as the location for the NHS app trial because it is a self-contained island so the population was easy to monitor (Pictured: The village of Seaview on the island)

Professor Paul Hunter, a medicine lecturer at the University of East Anglia, told The Times: 'It is very hard to draw a definitive conclusion because the overall case numbers on the island are small which makes it hard to prove in a statistically significant way... But it does look promising.'

Officials in the Government are said to be toning down their enthusiasm for the app, which was hailed as all-singing all-dancing in its early development stages.

There are concerns that, although it seemed to work well on the sparsely-populated Isle of Wight, it may not be effective in busier areas and urban tower blocks.

London's deputy mayor for fire & resilience, Fiona Twycross, said at a meeting of the London Assembly: 'We can all imagine what will happen if you have a tower block where you are reliant on Bluetooth.

'You might get inaccurate readings from people who havent actually been in contact with people,' The Independent reported.

HOW THE APP WORKS: STEP-BY-STEP The user will download the app onto their smartphone once it becomes available in their area. To register someone must put in the first half of their postcode, which shows the town or borough they live in. They will then be asked whether they have a new, continuous cough or a fever - the two main signs of COVID-19. If no, nothing will happen. If yes, they will be told to order a coronavirus test. The user will be told to keep their Bluetooth switched on at all times and the app will run in the background without them doing anything. When they go out, the app will keep a log of every time it comes within Bluetooth range of another phone with the app. This will be anonymous, with each app registered to a code rather than a person or address. If and when someone develops COVID-19 symptoms they will be helped to order a test through the app and every code that their app has logged a contact with will be warned of a potential infection in their network. The people with those codes will be told to self-isolate until the test result comes back. If the result is positive, anyone who receives an alert because they have been close to the patient will be told to self-isolate for at least seven days and to order themselves a test if they start to feel ill. If the result is negative everybody will be told to carry on as normal. Notes: The app will rely on people being honest about whether they are ill. It is not clear what will constitute a close enough contact for someone to be notified about possible COVID-19 infection. The general rule is if you are within 6'6" (2m) of someone for 15 minutes or more, but the Department of Health said a 'complex risk algorithm' will decide. Advertisement

The focus may now be shifting towards human contact tracers, The Times reported.

Government officials reportedly said they had been 'too keen' to push the app and that actually other countries that have had success have focused on human staff.

One source told the newspaper: 'That doesnt mean the app doesnt have a role to play but it is not a single solution.'

Bob Seely, the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, said the results of the trial were promising but 'need to be studied carefully'.

The NHS Test and Trace programme has been dogged by reports of IT problems and many of the thousands of staff having little or no work to do.

And last week it was reported that hundreds of staff being paid up to 27-per-hour were being let go because there was nothing for them to do.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted yesterday that he still cannot say when the Government's coronavirus contact-tracing app - the third strand of the project - will be ready to launch.

Mr Hancock told the virtual CogX technology conference that trials of the app have been continuing on the Isle of Wight.

'The app is progressing and we will launch it when the time is right. I am not going to put a date on it,' he said.

He said however that persuading people to self-isolate if they had been in contact with someone with the disease was better done by a human contact-tracer.

'What really matters is the people. The technology is a facilitator for people to be able to do things better,' he said.

'Getting people actually used to the idea that if you are contacted by the contact tracer you do that (self-isolate). That is better done with human contact and hence the contact-tracing system that is up and running is working well.'

But while the app has been held up by technical issues, the human contact tracing scheme was also dogged with problems at the outset.

People working in the system, which was supposed to be fully operational by June 1, said at the start of this month that they did not contact anyone in the two weeks after starting work.

And employees said they were having to repeat training because glitches in the system meant they could not register that they had completed it already.

Those keen to get started said they were left twiddling their thumbs and stuck in queues of over 350 people waiting for technical help.

Sent laughing emojis by bosses who couldn't help them, contact tracers said the system was 'shambolic' and unfit for purpose.

There are also concerns test and trace won't work if Britons refuse to give friends or relatives' details, and one call handler revealed two of the three potentially infected contacts she rang went straight to voicemail.

One source, who was employed by Sitel from May 13 was still waiting on June 1 to make their first call while earning 75-a-day for doing nothing.

Experts say the success of the project is crucial to banishing the virus from our lives and a 25,000-strong army of 'test and trace' call-handlers have been recruited by companies like Sitel and Serco for the task.

The source, who is based in the West Midlands, said: 'Each day we login and it's the same thing over and over again. We ask what we are going to be doing today only to be told to hold tight and chill out and, "you're still getting paid".'

Who is Dido Harding? Baroness Harding of Winscombe was raised on a farm in Somerset, is former CEO of TalkTalk, an ex-jockey and married to Tory MP for Weston-super-Mare

The former chief executive of TalkTalk, who was at the helm of the company when it was hit by an 80 million cyber attack in 2015, is leading the UK's test and trace scheme to tackle the coronavirus.

Baroness Dido Harding of Winscombe, 53, was raised on a Somerset pig farm and is the granddaughter of Field Marshall Lord Harding, the commander of the Desert Rats who became the most senior soldier in the British army.

A former jockey, she studied Policy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, alongside David Cameron, and is the wife of John Penrose, the Conservative MP for Weston-super-Mare.

Upon graduating, she held a slew of roles at Thomas Cook, Woolworths, Tesco and Sainsbury's.

Baroness Harding was appointed CEO of TalkTalk in 2010, serving in the role for seven years, during which the company was the victim of a cyber attack that saw the personal and banking details of 157,000 customers accessed by hackers.

She was subjected to repeated blackmail attempts after the hack, with demands for Bitcoins in exchange for stolen data, which included customers' names, email addresses, mobile numbers, home addresses and dates of birth.

Baroness Harding is a former jockey, though she quit racing after hitting 40 and promising her husband she'd stop

In the aftermath, TalkTalk was fined a record 400,000 for security failings which allowed the data to be accessed 'with ease' in one of the biggest data breaches in history.

TalkTalk is thought to have lost 60million from the fallout with an estimated 100,000 angry customers leaving, mainly to BT, while 2015 profits halved to 14million and shares lost nearly two-thirds of their value.

Baroness Harding faced repeated calls to step down over the breach, but stayed on until 2017, when she resigned to focus on her 'public service activities'.

Later that year, she was appointed chair of NHS Improvement, responsible for overseeing all NHS hospitals.

A powerful figure, she refuses to believe her gender has ever held her back, nor will she endorse female quotas on company boards, which she sees as political meddling.

She also thinks that workers have too much maternity leave, despite admitting being the boss has allowed her to successfully juggle her own career with spending time with the two daughters she has with her husband.

She studied Policy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, alongside David Cameron, and is married to John Penrose, Conservative MP for Weston-super-Mare

She said in a 2015 interview: ' I have an enormously privileged position.

'I make a lot of money  a matter of public record  I have a huge amount of help, and Im more in control of the day and what I do than someone working shifts on the checkout, or running the produce department in a supermarket.'

Baroness Harding has also packed in a career as a jockey, which saw her appear at Cheltenham, Ascot and even the towering Grand National jumps at Aintree.

One particularly nasty crash over the sticks at Larkhill left her strapped to a spinal board - though she still managed to catch a flight to a conference in Thailand the next day.

As TalkTalk CEO, she was presented with the Daily Mail wooden spoon award for 'Worst Customer Service'

But, aged 24, she made a rash promise to her husband  she would give it all up at 40.

When the date came Penrose, who had not forgotten, made it clear breaching the bargain was a deal-breaker for the marriage.

Harding obliged, though does still race without jumps.

'I miss the racing hugely,' she previously admitted. 'If you told me I could go off and do it tomorrow afternoon I would. For me thats always been my way of shutting everything off and relaxing.'

Now, she is the leader of the government's coronavirus tracing programme.

The NHS Test and Trace system for England will see anyone who develops symptoms told to self-isolate and get tested, with the close contacts of those who are found to be positive for the disease then told to quarantine for 14 days even if they test negative and are not sick.

The system is being launched without its NHS contact tracing app centrepiece prompting concerns that without the new technology the Government could struggle to tackle the spread of the disease.

Experts immediately said the complexity of the programme meant there could be 'several points of failure' while the Government's political opponents said ministers should never have largely ditched contact tracing in the first place.

Mr Hancock said that adhering to self-isolation would be 'voluntary at first' but that he could 'quickly make it mandatory if that is what it takes'.

He told the daily Downing Street press conference: 'If you are contacted by NHS Test and Trace instructing you to isolate, you must. It is your civic duty, so you avoid unknowingly spreading the virus and you help to break the chain of transmission.'

The launch of the programme was announced by Boris Johnson during an appearance in front of the Liaison Committee this afternoon as he admitted the UK's testing capability was underpowered at the start of the outbreak because the 'brutal reality' was Britain did not 'learn the lessons' of previous pandemics.
THE Class of 2020 is the latest recipient of a signed letter penned by the Manitoba premier amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Class of 2020 is the latest recipient of a signed letter penned by the Manitoba premier amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Premier Brian Pallister has written a congratulatory note to all the provinces Grade 12 graduates  a rarity, if not the first of its kind  as they wrap up an unusual school year.

"The Class of 2020 may not be able to commemorate their graduation milestone as planned, and yet, the difficult context surrounding it ensures it will never be forgotten," wrote Pallister, in the letter dated June 2020, obtained by the Free Press.

In his note, the premier encourages graduates to look for job opportunities this summer to "build towards (their) dreams." He also touts the provinces summer student recovery jobs program, and his governments commitment to boost scholarship funding for post-secondary students.

The province sent the letter to divisions to distribute a copy to graduates alongside physical diplomas. Typically, Grade 12s only receive a diploma when they walk across the stage at convocation.

The Winnipeg School Division is still in planning discussions about how to distribute the notice, which was sent to the provinces largest division in both English and French. Meantime, the Seven Oaks School Division has asked schools to email the letter to students because convocations have been rescheduled for October.

Superintendent Brian OLeary said administrators received an "overwhelming response" from families in favour of postponement and the premiers letter was time-sensitive.

A senior at Maples Collegiate, Sierra Starr called the letter a "nice gesture" after she read it for the first time Wednesday, when contacted by the Free Press (she has yet to receive it from Maples).

"Im glad theyre encouraging businesses to hire young people in this difficult time," said Starr, 18.

Supplied The Class of 2020 is the latest recipient of a signed letter penned by the Premier Brian Pallister amid the coronavirus pandemic.

She did, however, note it does little to address her wish for a proper graduation celebration. Starr said it was a letdown to learn its June dinner and dance was cancelled and she wouldnt have anywhere to wear her black gown.

Provincewide, individual schools have taken convocation planning matters into their own hands; some are postponing events, others are altering them to fit public health protocols.

Manitoba hasnt issued a directive, unlike in Ontario, where the education minister has urged boards to reschedule festivities when its safe to do so.

On Wednesday, NDP Leader Wab Kinew criticized the Pallister government for doing little to properly address disruptions to convocation season.

"Manitobas Grade 12 students want to have a graduation ceremony; they dont want another political letter from the premier," Kinew said, adding hes heard from disappointed parents who want to mark the event.

Kinew noted divisions are expected to pay for distributing letters when those resources could be better spent hiring a band to play a Zoom concert for graduates or co-ordinating a social-distancing grad parade, among other things. The province should be taking a leadership role to guide divisions, Kinew said, adding a letter is no alternative.

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The premiers office did not respond to a request for an interview in time for publication; a spokeswoman also declined to provide the letter, citing the office wanting students to receive it first.

Manitoba seniors have already started to receive their signed letters from Pallister, which are accompanying their $200 COVID-19 expense cheques.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
German authorities believe they have evidence that Madeleine McCann is dead. (AP)

One of the prosecutors investigating the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann disappearance has claimed she died not long after she was abducted.

Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the probe into a 43-year-old convicted child sex offender named in German media as Christian B, told The Times that the toddler was killed after being taken from her familys apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

He told the paper: My private opinion is that he relatively quickly killed the girl, possibly abused her and then killed her.

We believe our suspect committed further crimes, especially sexual crimes, in Portugal possibly but also elsewhere like Germany.

Kate and Gerry McCann have always vowed to do 'whatever it takes for as long as it takes' to find their daughter. (AP)

The paper goes on to say that Christian B discussed the kidnap, rape and killing of a girl with another paedophile in a graphic online conversation.

It comes as German authorities said they have "some evidence" that Madeleine is dead.

Christian B, 43, is reportedly serving a seven-year prison sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in 2005  a conviction he is appealing.

MORE: Man bailed after rape of child near primary school in Manchester

However, he could be released from jail if granted parole for serving two-thirds of a 21-month sentence for dealing drugs, according to Wolters.

He added to The Times: The sooner we get evidence, the better for us to avoid the risk of him ever being released.

Christian B is known to have lived on the Algarve coast and his Portuguese mobile phone received a half-hour phone call in Praia da Luz around an hour before Madeleine, then three, went missing.

German authorities have previously said they believe Madeleine is dead and are investigating the suspect on suspicion of murder.

Wolters said on Monday that investigators have some evidence that Madeleine is dead but did not have enough for a trial.

He told Sky News: "The hard evidence we don't have, we don't have the crucial evidence of Madeleine McCann's body.

"We expect that she is dead, but we don't have enough evidence that we can get a warrant for our suspect in Germany for the murder of Madeleine McCann.

Story continues

"At the moment, we also don't have enough proof for a trial at court, but we have some evidence that the suspect has done the deed.

MORE: Statue of slave owner Robert Milligan removed

"That's why we need more information from people, especially places he has lived, so we can target these places especially and search there for Madeleine.

Meanwhile, German prosecutors are reportedly examining any links to the disappearance of two other children, and Wolters said he believes there are victims of related sex crimes who have not come forward.

Madeleine vanished shortly before her fourth birthday while her parents were eating dinner with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant, and would have turned 17 last month.
The Spanish Health Ministry reported on Wednesday that the number of new coronavirus cases had doubled in the previous 24 hours, reaching 167 infections. This is up from Tuesdays figure of 84, which was also nearly double the number from the day before. An uptick in cases, however, has come to be expected on Tuesdays due to underreporting over the weekends.

Although Spain saw a rise in the number of new daily infections, the weekly trend remained stable. For the past several days, this figure has remained at around 2,000 cases.

The Health Ministry has not yet updated the official total number of coronavirus victims, which remained at 27,136 on Wednesday for the fourth day running. Health authorities have changed the way they present the total number of victims, so that only fatalities that occurred the day before are added to the death toll. For the past 15 days, fatalities that took place at an earlier date, but were only recently reported to the Health Ministry, have not been included in the official count.

We are detecting small controlled and localized outbreaks that could lead to a rise in community transmission Fernando Simon, director of the Health Ministrys Coordination Center for Health Alerts

According to the latest figures, 40 coronavirus-related deaths were reported in the last week. Fernando Simon, the director of the Health Ministrys Coordination Center for Health Alerts, said on Wednesday that the number of daily fatalities had dropped significantly since May 11, when the new reporting system was introduced. While before Spain had reported between 95 and 100 daily deaths, in recent days this number had fallen to between two and five, explained Simon at a government press conference.

A total of 235 patients began experiencing coronavirus symptoms in the last seven days, a slight rise from the figure reported in previous days. More than half of these cases are concentrated in the regions of Madrid and Catalonia. All of Spains 17 regions, with the exception of Madrid and Navarre, reported less than one case per 100,000 inhabitants in Wednesdays report. Only the North African exclave cities of Ceuta and Melilla did not report a single infection.

Simon warned on Wednesday that Spain must remain on guard to prevent a spike in new cases. We are detecting small controlled and localized outbreaks that could lead to a rise in community transmission if the [infected] people and their contacts do not go into quarantine, he said. The health official pointed to the example of Portugal, which has had a significantly lower incidence of the virus than Spain, but reported 421 new cases on Tuesday.

In the last week, 137 coronavirus patients were hospitalized, 12 of whom required intensive care. These intensive care admissions were concentrated in six regions: Aragon, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Catalonia and Madrid.

Risk of imported cases

Simon also warned about the risk of imported cases, in other words people who were infected in another country and who traveled to Spain carrying the virus. Since May 11, Spain has recorded 96 imported cases, 24 of which were detected just between June 3 and 9. These cases come from high-risk areas such as the Americas, the Arabian peninsula, Southeast Asia and northern Europe. Every region has to make a significant effort when it comes to controlling and detecting cases in travelers and possible contacts, said Simon.

The risk of imported cases is likely to grow as Spain prepares to reopen to international tourists. More than 10,000 visitors from Germany will be allowed to visit the Balearic Islands from June 15, and the central government is discussing a similar pilot scheme with the Canary Islands.

Spain will officially welcome international tourists from July 1, when the compulsory 14-day quarantine for visitors will come to an end.

English version by Melissa Kitson.
IRVING, Texas, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Atos Public Safety LLC, a global leader in digital transformation and mission-critical communication systems, today announced it has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan with the 2020 North America Growth Excellence Leadership Award for its flexible, scalable and upgradable capabilities in Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) emergency services. Serving enterprises and institutions in over seventy countries, Atos Public Safety LLC has developed a comprehensive vision and robust portfolio of mission critical applications and public safety solutions and stands out for delivering end-to-end solutions that enable transformational IT projects at any scale.

In August 2019, Atos Public Safety LLC announced a 5-year contract with the State of California to execute a massive transformation of the state's 9-1-1 system, introducing new broadband communication platforms. As the prime network service provider for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), Atos Public Safety LLC oversees the management of all emergency call flow for the entire state, as well as the integration of standards and governance of four regional ESInets. The new system enables intelligent call routing to the proper public-safety answering point (PSAP) and supports a variety of real-time data exchanges, including text to 9-1-1.

"By winning the California contract covering a population of nearly 40 million, Atos Public Safety LLC has quickly emerged as a leading provider of NG9-1-1 in the United States," said Brent Iadarola, Vice President at Frost & Sullivan. "With their flexible infrastructure, California's public safety sector will not only be better equipped to support contemporary communications, but also to support a more diverse set of IP-based technologies."

"Receiving Frost & Sullivan's award is a testament to how Atos builds the relationships and trust required to deliver NG9-1-1 services for the public safety of first responders, emergency services and citizens," said Oliver Coste, Global Public Safety, Atos Public Safety LLC. "We aim to properly move the US forward in public safety by accelerating the transition from legacy to next generation 9-1-1 services in a fully managed, end-to-end solution."

A crucial component of the Cal OES contract win was the ability to build a flexible structure that is redundant and self-sufficient so no single system could potentially fail. It features a dispersed model that is highly resilient with instant failover, backup and restarts. The flexibility enables innovative features to link more available information with emergency 911 calls. In addition, Atos Public Safety LLC designed its NG9-1-1 platforms to enable integration with other 911 technologies and future upgrades over secure IP connections. The upgradable infrastructure allows decision-makers to lower the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of a managed NG9-1-1 deployment.

"The next 12 to 24 months will be a critical time for state and local 9-1-1 administrators to identify and secure the appropriate partners for their NG9-1-1 implementations. Success will depend on identifying partners with flexible platforms that can seamlessly evolve as technologies advance," noted Iadarola. "As the public safety industry transitions from legacy 9-1-1 to NG9-1-1, Atos Public Safety LLC is accelerating progress and reducing the complexity of NG9-1-1 deployments."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan bestows this award upon the company that demonstrates excellence in growth and customer value. It recognizes the superiority of the product/service, as well as the overall customer, purchase, ownership and service experience offered, which has resulted in the recipient company seeing above-market growth and a greater share of wallet. The award lauds the growth, diversification and sustainability strategies of the company.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

To learn more about how Atos Public Safety LLC is supporting state and local first responder communities, please visit Next Generation 9-1-1 services. To read the full details on the award, please visit here.

About Frost & Sullivan

For over five decades, Frost & Sullivan has become world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 110,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of  12 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos|Syntel, and Unify. Atos is a SE (SocietasEuropaea), listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.

The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

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Berklee College of Music has decided to ban Boston Police Department officers from school buildings after backlash from allowing some to use school restrooms during a protest.

Boston Police of course have jurisdiction over the roads and other public spaces around our campus, but not inside our buildings, College President Roger Brown wrote in a letter to the school. The decision to allow them into our facilities was ours. This was not a formal decision by the institution, but an informal one, made on the spot. Some have asked if the campus was used to house or stage activity of the Boston Police; it was not.

The protest in question was held on May 31. The BPD officers were allowed into the Berklee Performance Center by school public safety officers and allowed to use a restroom. Brown says people reached out to him personally and over social media channels to express anger, and the ban of officers from school buildings was in reaction to that.

Allowing police officers into the space was in no way meant to undermine Berklees support for Black Lives Matter, he wrote. We are deeply sorry for the impact this had on our community and for perpetuating feelings of oppression, silencing, and marginalization. We will make a more concerted effort to consider the effects of our actions.

The stance has drawn criticism for being an overreaction to police officers simply asking for, and receiving, permission to use a restroom. Dennis Galvin, a former state police major and president of the Massachusetts Association for Professional Law Enforcement, told the Boston Herald If the object here is to improve policing, that statement is completely irrational. Some people want to make war with police. This letter is just playing to peoples emotions.

Related Content:
Photo: Getty Images

In the first two weeks following the police killing of George Floyd, Republican leaders responded by encouraging the shooting of protesters; calling for the military to deploy to American cities to crack down on nihilist criminals; and describing violence at demonstrations initiated by police as provocation that was created deliberately for national television.

But as the country enters its third week of indignation, Republican lawmakers and President Trump have responded with delayed vows of reform  or at least lip service that shows theyve realized that the mass unrest is a new political reality.

Arkansas senator Tom Cottons comment on Tuesday is a bold example of the latter phenomenon. On Tuesday, Cotton reportedly told fellow Republican senators that young black men have a very different experience with law enforcement in this nation than white people and thats their impression and experience and we need to be sensitive to that and do all we can to change it. Cottons understanding of the black impression of police brutality in a country where African-American men are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white men has transformed in the past week. On Sunday, he was quoted in Politico saying that he does not think you can paint with a broad brush and say theres systemic racism in the criminal justice system in America. Days before, he urged President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to stamp out protests in an op-ed in the New York Times, while misrepresenting the strength of cadres of left-wing radicals like antifa infiltrating protest marches. But the senators near-acknowledgement of racial inequalities in the criminal justice system may not be as important as his financial interest in the past week: According to the Washington Post, Cotton has quintupled his usual fundraising numbers since his contribution to the Times, despite running unopposed in November.

As House Democrats answer to pressure from the left to defund the police with a moderate bill pushing policing reform, Senate Republicans are planning their own delayed response. On Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he had deputized South Carolina senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the chamber, to lead a group that is working on a proposal to allow us to respond to the obvious racial discrimination that weve seen on our television screens over the last two weeks. To keep the White House in the loop, Scott met with senior adviser Jared Kushner on Tuesday, who, as usual, may be over-leveraged and under-informed. On Monday, Kushner described police reform as if it had been enacted just by having conversations around the topic: The law-enforcement community heard the cries from the community, saw the injustices in the system that needed to be fixed, and they responded by coming together to fix it.

According to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump wants national reform for police accountability and use of force sooner rather than later, a weak signal that the president may be ready to change his historic approach to law enforcement and criminal justice. But its all too possible that his reformist spirit may get lost in the usual chaos of the administration, like his attempts at reforming gun-control legislation, health care, and vaping  which all fell by the wayside as immediate public pressure subsided and industry interest endured. Despite advisers efforts to help prepare the president for the enormous task at hand, he has not been able to maintain focus: On Tuesday, Trump forwarded an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory accusing a 75-year-old man who was brutalized by a police officer in Buffalo of being an ANTIFA provocateur.

Perhaps the most important sign of the Republican response to come was the reported decision for White House adviser Stephen Miller to write a forthcoming presidential speech on race relations. Seven months ago, leaked examples of the advisers correspondence showed he was even more well-versed in white nationalist rhetoric than previously known. It may not turn out to be a concessional moment from a man  sued by the Department of Justice for allegedly discriminating against black renters at Trump properties  whose effective entrance into the public conversations about criminal justice began with a highly publicized call for New York City officials to ignore accused offenders constant chants of police brutality.
WhatsApps Click to Chat feature was recently found to be leaking thousands of personal phone numbers on the open web. Phone numbers of the affected WhatsApp users were available on the web in plain text and were accessible through a simple Google search.

This potentially allowed complete strangers to find your number and then text or call you. Depending on your Whatsapp privacy settings, they could also get your profile picture, name, and profile status. This could lead to marketing executives, cybercriminals, and fraudsters targeting you. Or, in the worst case, lead to identity theft.

Athul Jayaram, an independent security researcher from India, recently discovered this privacy issue on WhatsApp. He said the issue may have exposed phone numbers of nearly 300,000 WhatsApp users around the world. People could also search for numbers from specific countries by using the country code.

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Athul reported the issue to Facebook using the bug-bounty scheme. While the company has acknowledged and fixed the issue, his application was dismissed as it merely contained a search engine index of URLs that WhatsApp users chose to make public.

All WhatsApp users, including businesses, can block unwanted messages with the tap of a button, a WhatsApp spokesperson said, suggesting that it wasnt that big an issue. Nevertheless, the issue has been patched and phone numbers of WhatsApp users are no longer searchable on the web.

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How the Click to Chat feature on WhatsApp works?

The Click to Chat feature on WhatsApp has been around for a long time now. This feature makes it possible for individual users or businesses to create a link through which people can send them a message on WhatsApp without having to save their phone number. They can simply click on the URL wa.me/<phoneNumber>  and start chatting.

However, some minor lapses in this feature mean it ended up exposing phone numbers of users on the web. Firstly, the links store phone number data in plain text, and not in an encrypted form. So if you share the link on a public platform, anyone who can see the link already has your phone number.

This would still be fine had Facebook used the noindex metadata on the web pages associated with those links. The https://wa.me URL also does not have a robots.txt file in its server root. This means Facebook could not stop Google or other search engines from crawling and indexing such Click to Chat links.

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As a result, phone numbers of around 300,000 WhatsApp users who used the Click to Chat feature ended up on the publicly accessible web.

Athul said some users have their messages leaked as well. They probably used the Web API to communicate and those links got crawled by search engines.

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Of course, it was a low-risk issue for many users. However, as Athul said, Click to Chat users were unaware that their phone numbers could be found with a simple Google search. Thankfully, they cant be anymore.

However, if you have used the Click to Chat feature in the past and shared the links on public platforms, you might want to delete those in order to avoid unwanted messages. You can also change your WhatsApp number and make your profile picture visible only to your contacts.
District Attorney Jackie Lacey Files Assault Charge Against LAPD Officer, Will Not File Charges for Curfew Violations, Failure to Disperse

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced this week that a Los Angeles police officer has been charged with an on-duty assault of a 28-year-old man in April.

This is a disturbing case of the illegal use of force at the hands of a police officer, District Attorney Lacey said. In this case, we believe the force was neither legally necessary nor reasonable.

Frank Hernandez (dob 5/8/71) was charged in case BA487734 with one felony count of assault under color of authority. Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

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The case was filed for warrant on June 8.

On April 27, Hernandez and his partner responded to a call of a trespasser in a vacant lot in Boyle Heights. During a confrontation between police and the victim, Hernandez is accused of illegally punching the unarmed man more than a dozen times in the head, neck and body.

District Attorney representatives worked closely with LAPD detectives who investigated the matter. The case was presented to the District Attorneys Office for filing consideration on June 2.

If convicted, the defendant faces a possible maximum sentence of three years in county jail.

The case is being prosecuted by deputy district attorneys assigned to the offices Justice System Integrity Division, which prosecutes crimes committed by law enforcement officers, judges, attorneys and other members of the justice system.

District Attorney Lacey also announced this week that she will not file charges against any protester for a curfew violation or failure to disperse.

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She directed her legal staff to decline to prosecute these cases in the interest of justice.

I believe whole-heartedly in free speech and support the right of protesters to demonstrate peacefully against historic racial injustice in our criminal justice system and throughout our nation, District Attorney Lacey said. I want to encourage the exchange of ideas and work to establish dialogue between law enforcement and protesters so that we may implement enduring systemic change.

The District Attorneys Office prosecutes all felonies in Los Angeles County and misdemeanors that occur in the unincorporated areas of the county and in most cities.

These 10 cities prosecute misdemeanors that occur in their jurisdictions: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Torrance, Burbank, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.
Boris Johnson is facing calls to investigate one of his most senior ministers over his role in approving a 1 billion property development for a media tycoon who donated money to the Conservatives.

Robert Jenrick sparked fury today as he sent a junior minister in his place to answer questions about his decision to allow the former Express owner Richard Desmond to build a 1,500-home development in East London

Figures from the Electoral Commission show that Mr Desmond donated 12,000 to the party in January after the Housing Secretary gave the green light to his plan to build on the former Westferry Printworks on the Isle of Dogs.

Mr Jenrick gave the last-minute go-ahead to the project after both the local council and the independent Planning Inspectorate had decided it should be refused.

His decision on January 14 came one day before Tower Hamlets Council approved a 'community levy' on developments that would have cost Mr Desmond's company Northern and Shell between 30million and 50million.

This afternoon Labour demanded that the Tories return Mr Desmond's cash.

Shadow Communities secretary Steve Reed said: 'The Conservatives have broken confidence in the planning system.

'They can only mend it by returning the donation to Mr Desmond and by Robert Jenrick immediately publishing all correspondence with Richard Desmond so the public can see the true reasons for his decision.

This afternoon Ed Davey the acting Lib Dem leader, wrote to Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill to ask for an investigation into whether the ministerial code had been broken.

'If this investigation finds that Mr Jenrick has broken the Code, then he must resign immediately,' Mr Davey said.

Mr Jenrick gave the last-minute go-ahead to the project after both the local council and the independent Planning Inspectorate had decided it should be refused

Labour raised an Urgent Question in the House of Commons over the matter today but instead of coming to the Despatch Box himself Mr Jenrick sent Chris Pincher, his deputy

It sparked Labour accusations that he was hiding from scrutiny, with shadow Communities secretary Steve Reed tweeting: 'He's sent a junior minister to do battle for him but apparently he's on the estate and has been spotted in the tea room...'

Labour raised an Urgent Question in the House of Commons over the matter today but instead of coming to the Despatch Box himself Mr Jenrick sent Chris Pincher, his deputy.

It sparked Labour accusations, denied by Mr Jenrick's team, that he was hiding from scrutiny, with Mr Reed tweeting: 'He's sent a junior minister to do battle for him but apparently he's on the estate and has been spotted in the tea room...'

Speaking in the chamber Mr Reed added: 'The Secretary of State will not have the public confidence he needs to overhaul the planning system until we have full transparency over his unlawful decision to force through the Westferry development.'

He added: 'The ministerial code requires ministers to act with integrity, so did the Secretary of State disclose his conversation with Mr Desmond to the department before he granted permission?

This afternoon Ed Davey the acting Lib Dem leader, wrote to Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill to ask for an investigation into whether the ministerial code had been broken

'And since these circumstances clearly raise a question of bias, why did the Secretary of State not immediately recuse himself from taking this decision?

'The Secretary of State gave the scheme consent one day before the community infrastructure levy came in to force, so did he know he was helping Mr Desmond dodge a potential 50 million tax bill?

Mr Desmond, who sold the Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers two years ago, wants to redevelop the former site of the Westferry Printworks on the Isle of Dogs as housing

'And will the Secretary of State now disclose what contact he or his representatives had with the developers about this tax?'

Downing Street later said it was 'appropriate' for Housing Minister Mr Pincher to answer a question about a housing matter, and said Mr Jenrick continued to have the confidence of the Prime Minister.

After the council mounted a legal challenge in the High Court, Mr Jenrick accepted that his original decision had been 'unlawful by reason of apparent bias', quashed the decision and said he would take no further part in decisions about the application.

In a statement in May, the local authority said the 'timing of the decision appeared to show bias' by the Cabinet minister as it was made a day before new infrastructure charges came into force.

Labour has accused Mr Jenrick of making the decision after he dined with Mr Desmond 'at a glitzy fundraising dinner'.

The former Channel 5 owner has donated to both the Tories and Ukip in the past.

Mr Desmond, who sold the Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers two years ago, wants to redevelop the former site of the Westferry Printworks on the Isle of Dogs as housing.

The proposal includes nine buildings of up to 36 storeys. Only 21 per cent of the development would have been affordable housing, significantly below the 35 per cent typically required.

Labour had requested Mr Jenrick attends the chamber but urgent questions do not compel a specific minister to attend.
Customers stand at a designated distance from bank tellers wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the coronavirus in a bank in Phnom Penh, March 31, 2020.

Exiled activists with Cambodias banned opposition party have launched a campaign to convince villagers to delay loan repayments during the coronavirus outbreak, saying the government has failed to take measures to protect those who have lost their income during the pandemic.

The activists with the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) told RFAs Khmer Service on Thursday that they are leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook to reach out to Cambodians about the movement, despite threats by Prime Minister Hun Sen to arrest anyone who advocates for nonrepayment of debt to the countrys banks and microfinance lenders.

We have observed during this difficult time that people cannot afford to pay back their debts because they lost their jobs and are unable to earn the same amount of money they used to, Rin Roth, a Thailand-based CNRP activist said.

Calling on people to suspend their payments is not illegal, as alleged by the government. Other countries are not only allowing people to suspend payments but are also providing money to those people who have lost their jobs.

Another activist named Pov Karuna said that he will be working on the debt campaign until a solution is reached, warning that Cambodians wont be able to survive if the banking sector forces them to pay down their debt during the crisis.

Cambodia will be hit hard economically because of the coronavirus and the loss of EBA status, he said, referring to a mid-February announcement that the European Union plans to suspend tariff-free access in August to its market under the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme for around one-fifth of Cambodias exports, citing rollbacks on human rights.

We are urging the people not to repay their debts until there is a suitable solution, he said, adding that the campaign is not part of a bid by the opposition to undermine the government.

The activists said they are following the lead of acting CNRP chief Sam Rainsy, who also recently urged villagers to stop their loan payments for at least six months in messages posted to social media from Paris, where he has lived since 2015 to avoid a string of what he says are politically motivated charges and convictions.

Sam Rainsys calls were met with rage by Hun Sen, who threatened to respond to the attempt to sabotage his government by adding to the nearly 20 CNRP opposition officials or activists who authorities have arrested and thrown in prisonmost without arrest warrantssince the beginning of the year.

Sector responds

Kaing Tongngy, spokesman for the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA), told RFA he was unaware of the CNRPs platform with regard to the campaign and refused to comment on it.

But he acknowledged that borrowers had been severely impacted by the outbreak, and said microfinance institutions had restructured loans for some 200,000 people and would continue to do so through the end of 2020.

We will restructure the loans of those in need, but not of those who have been unaffected by the coronavirus, as that is against the law, he said.

Cambodians are responsible people and understand their responsibilities to pay their debts.

Cambodia Bank Association spokesman Heng Koy said the CNRP campaign wont have any effect because Cambodians believe that repaying loans is an obligation, regardless of the circumstances.

He called on those negatively impacted by the outbreak to request a restructure of their loans and said that no one had boycotted repayments to date.

We are sending the message that banks and customers are long-term partners, he said.

A villager in Banteay Meanchey province named Sean Vy told RFA his microfinance lender had agreed to restructure his loan and allow him to pay only interest for six months.

But he said that he supports the CNRPs campaign to suspend all interest and principle payments for the next half year.

People have lost their jobs, so it would be best for the banks to suspend collection until the outbreak is over, he said.

However, we have no choice because [the bank] wont agree.

Sean Vy said he is working as hard as he can to pay off his debts, leaving him with barely enough food on the table.

Attempts by RFA to reach government spokesman Phay Siphan for comment on the CNRP campaign and the issue of loan repayments went unanswered Thursday.

Yong Kim Eng, president of the People Center for Development and Peace (PDP-Center), told RFA that he has urged the government to assist those people in need to prevent them from going broke during the pandemic.

Uptick in harassment

The launch of the CNRP campaign came as party activists still in Cambodia reported an increase of police surveillance and intimidation, which they said followed Hun Sens call on authorities to arrest more opposition members on charges of incitement.

Speaking to RFA on Tuesday, Sou Yan, the former CNRP councilor of the commune seat of Tboung Khmum province, said several plainclothes officers took pictures of him and his home a day earlier without providing a reason. He said that a handful of other activists have also faced similar harassment.

This kind of thing is the same as what they did to me last yearthey asked me to defect [to the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP)] and promised to give me a position, but when I refused, they arrested me, he said.

Sou Yan said that he and other activists have not reported the incidents to local authorities because they have lost faith in the police, citing political discrimination.

In September 2017 CNRP President Kem Sokha was arrested over an alleged plot to overthrow the government and his party was dissolved by the Supreme Court in November that year for its supposed role in the scheme.

The move to ban the CNRP was part of a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs, and the independent media that paved the way for the CPP to win all 125 seats in parliament in the countrys July 2018 general election.

Another activist named Tun Nimol, who is based in Kandal province, said he fled his home amid surveillance by the police and that his family had asked him not to return because they fear he will be arrested.

Tun Nimol urged authorities to stop monitoring him and to publicly state that he will not be arrested so that he can return home.

National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun denied that police had surveilled the activists, suggesting instead that they might have done something illegal and are afraid of their own shadows.

I wonder why they thought police were spying on them, he said. If theyve done nothing wrong, they shouldnt have to worry.

However, Soeung Sen Karuna, spokesman for local rights group Adhoc, told RFA his organization has received information that police are indeed monitoring CNRP activists.

He called such actions a form of intimidation and restriction of political rights, noting that authorities have continued to arrest CNRP members while 17 former and active opposition officials and supporters have been the victims of assault by unidentified men since the new year, and no arrests have been made in any of the cases.

If the threats continue, this will discourage people from participating in politics, he said.

The activists are concerned. There should be space for freedom in a democratic country.

Reported by RFAs Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Four people have been arrested by Thane Polices crime branch unit 1 on Thursday for stealing an ATM machine filled with cash at Shil Daighar. The accused robbed the machine filled with 17.9 lakh cash on Monday and carried it in a tempo. All four accused have been remanded in police custody for eight days.

The incident took place between 2am and 3am in Mori village of Shil Daighar, said police officers, adding the ATM had no security guards. The group had initially tried to break open the machine, but when they failed to do so, they took the entire machine with them in the four-wheeler.

The arrested accused are Atul Davane, 22, a mason from Turbhe; Suraj Mhatre, 29, rickshaw driver from Ambernath; Suraj Kamble, 24, a security guard from Belapur; and Phulaji Gaykar, 36, a Xerox shop owner from Ambernath.

The four accused were questioned on Tuesday. The main accused in this case is Bhim Nepali, a resident of Nepal. Based on a tip off that he has left for Uttar Pradesh in a bus, we informed the UP police who laid a trap and caught him. A team has left for Uttar Pradesh to get the accused here, said Sandeep Bagul, assistant police inspector.

Bagul said while the ATM machine has been recovered, they are yet to seize the stolen cash, and suspect it is with Nepali. The police are on the lookout for others involved in the crime.

All four have been arrested under sections 380 (theft) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
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A coalition of community activists and civil rights lawyers called on the L.A. Police Commission to ban the LAPD's use of less-than-lethal weapons against protesters, including rubber bullets and batons.

Black Lives Matter-L.A., the L.A. Community Action Network and the National Lawyers Guild of L.A. announced the demands at a Wednesday morning press conference on the steps of LAPD headquarters before the start of the police commission meeting.

During the protests over George Floyd's killing, LAPD officers overlooked their own training that said not to shoot rubber bullets directly at people, said the National Lawyers Guild's Cynthia Anderson-Barker, who helped put together the list of demands.

"We had numerous, numerous folks who were hit in the back as they were retreating, or in the shins, and on the neck," she said.

Videos have also surfaced of officers forcefully striking protesters with their batons.

Members of the police commission were not immediately available for comment. Last week, the commission released its own list of reforms, including completion of de-escalation and crowd control training for the entire department by the end of the year.

A spokesperson for LAPD declined to comment on the demands. In a statement, the LAPD said it's looking into allegations of misconduct and use of excessive force against protesters.

The department said it's assigned 40 investigators to the task, and reported a total of 56 complaint investigations, 28 of which involve alleged uses of force.

Multiple L.A. City Councilmembers introduced motions today asking for an investigation into LAPD's use of force on protesters, tactics like curfews, and how protesters were detained and handled after arrest.

"The growing number of reports of the use of force or other improper actions by law enforcement against peaceful demonstrators is alarming, and we demand a complete, thorough and impartial investigation -- not just of individual actions, but of policy, and of strategic and tactical decisions made during some of the protests," Councilman Mike Bonin, co-author of one motion, said in a statement.

Activists sued the LAPD last week, alleging excessive force and civil rights violations against peaceful protesters.

Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.
Tamu McPhersons journey from Kingston, Jamaica, to the heart of Milan just goes to show that you cant always pin your destination in advance. After leaving the Caribbean for the artistic enclave of Nyack, New York, as a child, she eventually moved to the Big Apple to study at Fordham Law, where she fell for an Italian-born student. After each had graduated, Milan was the clear place for them to build a home and, in her case, a hit lifestyle website. There the two had a son, and McPherson, with a trove of design at her fingertips, launched All the Pretty Birds in 2008, capturing the fashion worlds attention. Even amid the citys devastating COVID-19 outbreak, the stylesetter has continued to tell uplifting stories. Her weekly #prettylockdown Instagram posts from quarantine have juxtaposed inspiring outfits with her elegant apartment.

The family moved into the historic three-bedroom, dis- tinguished by wood paneling and mosaic floors, several years ago, though it wasnt new to her husband. His mother had purchased it nearly two decades prior as a place to reconnect with her two sons after the passing of their father. Its unique U-shape configuration allowed for mother and children to have their own wings, affording the 20-somethings a degree of independence. As time passed and the kids flew the coop, the apartment proved too big for just la madre. So when McPherson and her husband began searching for a larger place for themselves and their own son, she handed them the key.

McPherson credits her mother-in-law, an academic and aesthete, with opening many doors. She introduced me to life in Milan. I would go to the opera with her and her friends, sit in her box at La Scala. Signora also provided valuable decorating guidance, bequeathing vintage treasures by the likes of Le Corbusier and Carlo Scarpa and connecting McPherson with antiques dealer and interior designer Raimondo Garau, whom she enlisted to help furnish her home.

Story continues

Step Inside the Colorful Milan Home

My mother-in-law has spectacular taste, McPherson says. I didnt want to do a lot of work to the apartment. She and Garau started by painting the walls an elegant sage green, then set about layering antiques he procured with the existing furnishings, among them dining chairs sourced at Salone del Mobile and a credenza from the old Pirelli headquarters that they repurposed as a china cabinet. Our previous apartment was all Le Corbusier and everything you see now on Instagram, says McPherson. Raimondo told me, You need to introduce a new spirit and make this home your own. 

For McPherson, known for her vibrant ensembles, there is nothing more personal than color. My child- hood house in Jamaica was green on the outside, she says with a laugh. I grew up with color. Ive always loved it. In her living room, a magenta sofa by Knoll and a chocolate-brown one by Luigi Caccia Dominioni now surround a 1970s cocktail table accented with tiered blue-glass discs. Nearby, a pink Ettore Sottsass Shiva vase is displayed atop an antique Chinese armoire. The art on their walls also carries a certain sentimentality. Hanging in the entryway, for instance, is a Micaiah Carter photograph that shows a young womans braided hair in barrettes, reminding McPherson of little black girls growing up. And her biographical journey further reveals itself in the kitchen, where she has mastered Italian staples like risotto but proudly declares, We make our chicken soup with green plantains. In cooking, as in decorating, color adds personality.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijans Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov and UNDP resident representative for Azerbaijan Allessandro Fracassetti met via a video conference on June, Cabinet of Ministers press service reported on June 11.

During the videoconference, the sides exchanged views on measures taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Moreover, they have talked about UN program on assessment of socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in all countries, including Azerbaijan.

Deputy Prime Minister informed about work done in Azerbaijan to curb the results of COVID-19 on labor and employment, as well as to support self-employment and social security.

Furthermore, environmental and climate change issues were discussed at the meeting.

Ali Ahmadov noted that Azerbaijan systematically fulfils the commitments ensuing from the Paris agreement on the United Nations framework convention on climate change.

The Paris Agreement is the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate change agreement, adopted at theParis climate conference in December 2015.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:57:13|Editor: huaxia

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Members of a Chinese medical team and officials of the Sudanese government pose for a group photo at the Khartoum International Airport in Khartoum, Sudan, June 11, 2020. Sudanese officials and specialists highly praised the visit of a Chinese medical team, which on Thursday concluded a two-week mission of supporting Sudan's fight against COVID-19. (Xinhua/Ma Yichong)

KHARTOUM, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese officials and specialists highly praised the visit of a Chinese medical team, which on Thursday concluded a two-week mission of supporting Sudan's fight against COVID-19.

Nada Bakri, director of the General Administration of Therapeutic Medicine at Sudan's Federal Health Ministry, praised the visit of the Chinese medical team and China's support to Sudan's fight against the pandemic.

"There were deep discussions and consultations that were so beneficial and important to us," she said.

The Chinese experts have gained rich experience in dealing with the pandemic "whether at the levels of diagnosis or treatment or even decisions related to preventing and protecting the community against the disease spread," Bakri noted.

The Chinese team of medical experts have visited some hospitals and isolation centers in Sudan, she said.

She further noted that the Chinese experts also met with Sudanese counterparts tasked with mapping out the protocols and plans for COVID-19 prevention and treatment.

Omer Gamar-Eddin, Sudan's state minister for foreign affairs, hailed China's support to Sudan.

"We thank the friendly state of China for this medical assistance and for the visit of the Chinese medical team which visited a number of medical sites in Sudan," Gamar-Eddin, who saw off the Chinese medical team at the Khartoum airport, told Xinhua.

"We hope the China-Sudan ties would continue, and we hope to continue working with the People's Republic of China in its work to support Sudan in its development and in the fields of health, education, agriculture and others," he added.

Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Ma Xinmin, for his part, told Xinhua that China and Sudan, as close friends and strategic partners, have worked together to fight the virus.

"In the future, the Chinese government will provide more assistance to Sudanese friends," said Ma, expressing the hope that the two countries would strengthen their cooperation in the field of public health and disease control.

Meanwhile, Hamza Awadalla, a Sudanese epidemiologist and community medicine specialist, said the visit of the Chinese medical team would certainly help Sudan develop its capabilities in containing the COVID-19 spread.

"China maintains huge accumulative experiences in the field of combating COVID-19 and the Chinese medical experts have certainly shared those experiences with the Sudanese sides," Awadalla told Xinhua.

"It is not surprising that China has sent a high-level medical delegation of highly experienced experts in fighting the coronavirus," said Awadalla, adding that "China always expresses its positive stances towards Sudan and its people."

The Chinese medical team arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on May 28.

During their stay in Sudan, the experts exchanged with the Sudanese health officials, medical professionals and frontline medical workers the know-how and professional experience in COVID-19 prevention and containment, clinical treatment and coronavirus testing.

As of June 10, they have visited a total of 14 medical institutions, held 34 meetings, conducted on-site guidance seven times, trained 18 times, and trained more than 2,200 people.

In late March, the Chinese embassy in Sudan donated over 400,000 surgical masks to the Sudanese government.

On April 23, Chinese medical experts held a video conference with Sudanese counterparts to share China's experience in fighting COVID-19.

Sudan has so far reported a total of 6,582 COVID-19 cases, including 401 deaths and 2,202 recoveries. Enditem
Each year, the National Association of Biology Teachers presents awards to recognize biology and life science teachers for their expertise in specific subject areas, for contributions to the profession, and to recognize service to NABT, life science teaching, or leadership in learning communities.This years NABT Genetics Education Award went to Baylors Dr. Elizabeth Forrester.

The Genetics Education Award recognizes innovative, student-centered classroom instruction to promote the understanding of genetics and its impact on inheritance, health, and biological research. The award includes a $1,000 honorarium, a recognition plaque to be presented at the NABT Professional Development Conference, and one-year complimentary membership to NABT. The award is sponsored by the American Society of Human Genetics and the Genetics Society of America.

Outside the classroom, Dr. Forrester and Baylor colleague Dr. Dawn Richards, who are also Ph.D. research scientists, developed a testing protocol for COVID-19 and have provided testing for more than 10,000 local samples from Hamilton County health organizations in the Baylor lab since March 27. Dr. Forrester and Dr. Richards are trained in molecular biology and in working with viruses and have the necessary specialized equipment in their lab at Baylor. Dr. Forrester and Dr. Richards donated their time to the project.

The NABT named Dr. Forrester the recipient of Tennessee's Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for 2016-2017. The NABT gives annual Outstanding Biology Teacher Awards in each state, province, and territory.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Scientists are trying to develop antigen therapies over the next few months

Two are already in clinical trials; more are likely to reach this stage in a few weeks

Used to develop immunity injections from blood of recovered COVID-19 patients

Mass manufacturing is an issue, but can act as temporary vaccine

While vaccines that can permanently halt spread of COVID-19 are months away, scientists are pinning hopes on a temporary therapy by the end of the year - injecting antigens from cured patients, to arrest spread of the virus in human body. While two such therapies have entered the human clinical trial phase, more are expected in the coming weeks.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus vaccine: Johnson & Johnson to start human trials in July; Eli Lilly aims to release drug by Sept

From the first week of June, the US multinational drug maker Eli Lilly and its Canadian biotech partner AbCellera started the first phase of clinical trials of lead COVID-19 antibody treatment candidate, LY-CoV555, in 30 patients at medical centers in the US such as the New York University Grossman School of Medicine and Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. The scientists developed an investigational candidate within three months from the blood of COVID-19 recovered patients.

In this therapy, scientists use a cured COVID-19 patient's successful immune response to develop a drug and neutralise the viruses. Such drugs are not vaccines, but can temporarily give weeks or months of protection, especially to healthcare workers. But its limitations can't be ignored. The drugs for antigen therapy, used in development of many biologics, are complex to make. The technology for mass production is not available as it is for vaccines and these drugs may make sick people sicker, as scientists are yet to master the genetic constitution of the six-seven months old COVID-19 virus.

ALSO READ: Indian pharma companies Aurobindo, Glenmark, Lupin, Sun, Wockhardt dragged to court in US

A couple of days ago, Eli Lilly and its Chinese partner Junshi Biosciences of Shanghai, began the phase I clinical trial for a second COVID-19 antibody therapy. Lilly and Junshi Biosciences are jointly developing this candidate therapy, JS016. Lilly has exclusive rights for the therapy for the rest of the world. Another US biotech Regeneron is also planning to test its antibody cocktails in three different clinical programs starting from this month.

The US based Vir Biotechnology is developing two treatments -- VIR-7831 and VIR-7832 -- in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, which bought a stake in Vir for $250 million to access its COVID-19 biologics under development. The partners have a commercial supply arrangement for antibodies with Biogen and is hoping to push the candidates into trials soon. AstraZeneca, which licensed six neutralising antibodies from Vanderbilt University in the US, is also readying to test a combination of monoclonal antibodies within next few weeks. Berkeley Lights, GenScrip etc are some other biotech companies trying to develop antigen therapies.

ALSO READ: Centre orders CGHS hospitals to provide COVID-19 treatment to beneficiaries
Sun Exchange, the South African peer-to-peer, crypto-enabled solar leasing platform, has raised $3 million in fresh funding.

London-based private equity firm ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Africa Renewable Energy Fund invested the amount, marking the close of a $4 million Series A by Sun Exchange.

With the fresh capital in place, Sun Exchange plans to expand its services across Sub-Saharan Africa, grow its membership base, and hire more staff. The startup allows its members to own solar cells and sell the generated electricity to businesses and organizations such as schools, clinics, farms, and water plants.

One solar cell reportedly costs around $5, and Sun Exchange accepts payments in South African Rand and bitcoin. The startup generates revenues via margins on solar panel sales and fees on electricity generated and purchased.

Sun Exchange also has a reward token called SUNEX. It gives token holders some benefits, including discounted solar cell prices and priority access to solar projects.

The startup claims to have more than 17,000 members from 162 countries. Notably, its U.S. members do not receive any rental income and it is rather donated to charity. This is reportedly for avoiding securities laws in the U.S.

Sun Exchange was launched in 2015 and counts Adam Draper of Boost VC as one of its early investors.





 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
Mumbai, June 11 : AR Rahman will co-produce Nawazuddin Siddiqui's international film "No Land's Man", besides composing for the project.

Sharing the news, Nawazuddin Siddiqui wrote on Instagram: "It's a pleasure to have the Maestro of Music @arrahman Co-Producing and doing the music of my film #NoLand'sMan directed by @farooki_mostofa." The film has been directed by Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, who also took to Instagram to express his happiness.

"Honored to have you with us in this journey, Rahman Bhai! Thanks for showing your love for the film. We all know your magic is going to be transcendental here! But on top of everything, knowing you in person, sharing ideas with you, and all those conversations are a gift..." shared the director.

The film has been reportedly shot in the US and Australia, with some portions in India. Although the film is in English, it has a few Hindi and Urdu dialogues.

In the film, Nawazuddin Siddiqui features alongside debutante actress Megan Mitchell from Australia and Bangladeshi actor-musician Tahsan Rahman Khan.
The 2019-20 school year was not what anyone expected, and because of COVID-19, the next school year is guaranteed to look different as well. But the extent of the changes remains unknown at this point.

School districts across the country, and the world, have had to pivot quickly as schools closed, events were canceled or re-imagined, and learning went online. Looking ahead to the 2020-21 school year, Conroe ISD Superintendent Curtis Null said the district is still waiting for guidance from the Texas Education Agency and doesnt expect to see it until at least July.

At this time, CISD has no plans on changing its academic calendar but will adjust as needed next year. The first day of school is still Aug. 12.

Thats two months from now. When you think about how much the world has changed in the past two months, its a little hard to fully imagine what the world may be like in the next two months, Null said. Right now, we are in the process of planning many different options as we wait for TEA and the governor to give us more guidance on what the rules and guidelines may be.

Filling in the gaps

Planning for next year started before the district even closed schools this past year, Null said. The curriculum teams started working on a plan for 2020-21 to fill in any gaps due to this years closure and have been creating plans for both in-class and online learning, anticipating that there will be families who do not feel comfortable sending their students to the classroom.

Null anticipates that TEA will allow the district to continue online learning, but ultimately the district will need the states permission to do so. At this time, the district doesnt know what the TEA will decide, and the ever-changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic means that everything could look different two weeks from now, much less two months.

If the district is allowed to run two systems and decides that is the best thing for its students, Null said one of the biggest challenges will be to get a solid count of how may students will be doing online verse in-class instruction. The district expects to send out a survey as early as this week to start to gauge how many families would prefer online instruction. But these numbers are bound to change as well.

The way families see the world today may not be how they see it in two months, and we understand that, Null said.

Parallel systems

Building parallel systems to be equal will also be a challenge. One thing is for sure, though, online instruction for next year will not look anything like the distance learning of the past few months.

That was a system that we had to move into quickly, we had to make sure that every student had equal access and opportunity across the district regardless of their home situation and family situation, so that was different, Null said of the distance learning. The online option in the fall will be much more rigorous, much more robust. It will be comparable to the classroom-style education, meaning assignment expectations, grading practices, time commitments.

A survey will also be sent out to staff and teachers of the district to gather information about health and safety concerns. It cannot be discounted that some teachers and staff may not feel comfortable returning in the same capacity next year.

Guidance from the state during the pandemic has often come down close to the last minute. Regulations from TEA about graduation ceremonies were announced on May 5, allowing for graduation ceremonies to start as quickly as 10 days after for certain counties. In late May, the state released guidance for summer instruction programs, including in-class education, to start June 1.

Summer guidelines

The summer instruction guidelines have since been updated on June 9. While they originally only allowed for 11 people in a classroom at once (including students, staff, and teachers), the new rules allow for 22 people in a typical classroom space, each individual (teacher, staff, or student) must have a minimum of 45 square feet of space in the classroom, and student desks must be placed a minimum of six feet apart. If these rules are any kind of reflection of what the rules for next year will look like, it will be difficult for schools to have in-class instruction.

What the district has been able to prepare for is purchasing resources it knows it will need: technology, cleaning supplies, and hand sanitizer. Last weeks graduation ceremonies were a good test run for the sanitizing procedures that could be implemented next year that are also being recommended by the CDC.

Whatever the district faces next year, Null is confident that CISD and all of its staff and students will be prepared.

We are becoming very accustomed to facing tough challenges and learning how to overcome them, Null said. Weve reached a point now where I think we have that confidence that whatever is thrown at us we will formulate a plan, and we have all the right people to help put that plan in place.

jamie.swinnerton@chron.com
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 01:24:20|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The outbreak of COVID-19 in Pakistan has severely impacted the government's efforts to stabilize the economy, the Prime Minister Office said here on Wednesday.

In a meeting of the National Economic Council headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, held on Wednesday, it was observed that "upward trajectory of Pakistan's economy, which was made possible after huge efforts of the present government, was severely affected by COVID-19 pandemic," the Prime Minister Office said in a statement

The meeting appreciated the steps taken by the government for the revival of the economy especially for protecting the poor segments of society from the adverse impacts of the lockdown, the statement said.

Addressing the meeting, the prime minister stated that in the wake of the pandemic, the government's main priority is to focus on the sectors which will create job opportunities for the unemployed youth of the country, besides uplifting agriculture sector and upgradation of the public health system in the country.

Khan also underscored the need for employing technology to monitor the progress of the ongoing projects, and stressed the need for ensuring public participation in the development process through provision of real-time information and getting their feedback on implementation status of the projects, the statement added. Enditem
Peter Mutabazi, a single father from Charlotte, NC, knows firsthand what it's like to have a challenging childhood. After growing up in Uganda with limited resources and running away from home as a teen, he was taken in by a compassionate stranger. Eventually, he moved to the US and began paying it forward by fostering 12 children over a three-year span.

"I grew up among the poor of the poorest on the planet," Peter told POPSUGAR. "I wasn't sure of a meal everyday. I wasn't sure of the future. It's hard for a mom if they cannot feed you. I didn't have shoes until when I was 16. I only had one set of clothes. I went to fetch water that was three miles away, I made the three-mile walk to school - if there was any school; there wasn't really a hope for me in some way."

Related: The Hardest Part About Fostering Kids Is Challenging Your Own Belief System

Peter's experience drastically changed after he ran away from home as a teenager. He began trading labor for meals and eventually met a kind man from the nearby city of Kampala who put him on a new path. Although there's no official foster care system in Uganda, the man acted as Peter's sponsor and helped him enroll in college programs in Uganda, the UK, and eventually the United States.

"My sponsor and I didn't know each other at first," explained Peter. "I think he saw a kid who was not in the best shape. He saw some potential that I didn't see in myself. I was doing work for him, and then he gave me something to eat. That's how I got to know him, because he was kind."

After immigrating to the US, Peter was overcome by the amount of affluence he was surrounded by. Although Peter admits he wasn't particularly well-off at the time, he felt an overwhelming need to give what he could back to the community by fostering kids.

"I couldn't have a home with three extra bedrooms knowing there are [WERE] kids in the community who needed a place to stay."

Story continues

"I struggled living in affluence," he explained. "In Africa, it took a village to raise one another; we depended on each other more so than you might in the US. When I came to United States, I couldn't understand how people can be so wealthy but have no clue about the neighbor who lives across the street. I couldn't have a home with three extra bedrooms knowing there were kids in the community who needed a place to stay. I could not turn a blind eye, I could not use the excuse that I didn't have resources. I wanted to do for others like my sponsor did for me."

In 2017, Peter enrolled in classes to become a foster parent. Although he was determined to help children in need because he knew he could relate to the kids who would eventually walk through his door, he was nervous he wouldn't be selected as a foster parent because he was single. However, four months later, he had his first placement, and, as predicted, found it easy to find common ground with the kids.

"I understood the trauma that the children went through," said Peter. "I truly thought if I didn't help, I would be putting the person who helped me to shame."

In order to be the best foster parent he could be, Peter left a demanding job that required extensive travel for a local real estate position in order to be more present for the children he fostered. Now, he's involved in real estate and has been able to devote more time to the kids who stay in his home. "I had always made sure if they misbehaved at school, I could run there and deal with the issue or be present if they needed to go to the hospital," he said. "I had to do all that."

For the most part, Peter took in children who needed short-term placements. "In the beginning, it was a bit easier for me knowing I had them for three or six months," he shared. "Of course, no one prepares you for what the experience will entail because each child is different. There's no preparation. You just open your door and figure it out as you go."

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Peter was satisfied with simply fostering kids, but that all changed when received a call from a social worker in Jan. 2018 about an 11-year-old named Anthony who needed a temporary home after his adoptive parents left him at a hospital.

"I had just returned two children to their biological parents," said Peter. "It's really hard to say goodbye. It's emotionally draining, and it's mentally and physically taxing. Four days after the kids left, I got a phone call asking if I'd take in Anthony for the weekend. The social worker said, 'We have a kid at the hospital that needs a place to be.' I was like: 'No, I'm not ready. I don't feel it. I wasn't ready after the hurt I had gone through. But the social worker insisted that I bring him home for two days.'"

"If you had two parents who loved you and cared for you, could you do the same for someone else?"

Peter agreed to the temporary arrangement. But the boy who walked into his home was different than other children he had met. "I was shocked when he came in," he explained. "I told him to call me Peter, and he asked if he could call me dad. I was like, 'Wait, no, you can't.'"

When Monday came, Peter learned that Anthony's previous parents' parental rights had been terminated, meaning that Anthony was in need of a forever home. Despite his initial hesitations, Peter jumped at this chance. "I couldn't imagine someone giving up on me," he said. "My sponsor saw that I had a potential, he wasn't deterred from helping me. Some people say all teenagers or older kids are hard to foster. They're not. Anthony is a kind, sweet kid who was easy to get to know. He wanted to be in my home."

Related: This Supportive Dad Threw His 16-Year-Old Son a Party to Celebrate His Transition

On Nov. 12, 2019, Peter and Anthony officially became father and son. And two weeks later, Peter became a US citizen. Now, Peter is encouraging other adults to consider fostering and adopting kids, regardless of the type of upbringing they themselves may have had.

"If you had two parents who loved you and cared for you, could you do the same for someone else?" he said. "It goes back to the concept of looking back to what you've been given and asking, 'Hey, what can I do for someone else?' Each child comes in a different way, treat them as they come."
Washington:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has reignited another controversy by seeking to disarm the secret service body guards of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to "see what happens to her". "I think her bodyguards should drop all weapons. Disarm immediately. Take their guns away, let's see what happens to her," Trump said at an election rally in Miami, Florida.

"Take their guns away, OK? It'll be very dangerous," Trump said, stocking another controversy. While this is not for the first time that Trump has said this, but it is for the first time he said that such a move would be dangerous for Clinton. Trump's remarks came when he was criticising the gun policy of the Democratic presidential nominee.

Trump alleged that Clinton wants to destroy Second Amendment, referring to the US Constitution's clause that enshrines the rights of Americans to bear arms. The Clinton Campaign slammed Trump for such a remark, saying the real estate tycoon has a pattern of inciting people to violence. "Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President, has a pattern of inciting people to violence," said Robby Mook, campaign manager Hillary for America.

"Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of Commander in Chief," he said. "This kind of talk should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate, just like it should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate to peddle a conspiracy theory about the President of the United States for five years," Mook said.

"But we've seen again and again that no amount of failed resets can change who Donald Trump is. He is unfit to be President and it is time Republican leaders stand up to denounce this disturbing behavior in their nominee," said the Hillary Campaign manager. Trump also alleged that Clinton's campaign relies on the tired tactic of smearing opponents who question her policies as racists.

"Clinton's campaign relies on the tired tactic of smearing opponents who question her policies as racists," Trump said at an election rally in Miami, Florida. "It's the oldest play in the Democratic play book ? and Americans have had enough. They want solutions, and they want better lives not more petty attacks from failed and discredited politicians," he said. Trump told his supporters that while his opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, he calls them hardworking American patriots who love their family and country.

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THE Jack and Jill Childrens Foundation e-opened its charity boutique in Tullamore to members of the public on Monday.

The store, which is based at 3 O'Moore Street, had been closed due to the Government public health restrictions put in place to combat Covid-19.

The retail restrictions have now been eased and the store is once again open for business, selling ladies, gents and childrens clothing, as well as handbags, shoes, bric-a-brac and furniture. There are some big name brands available such as Vera Wang, Radley, Bulaggi, Heidi Higgins, Nine West, Mulberry and Dolce & Gabbana

Due to the closure of its nine shops around the country since March 16, and the cancellation of a raft of fundraising events, the Foundation has been facing a massive 500,000 funding shortfall.

However, now the Jack and Jill Childrens Foundation is hoping that members of the public will continue to be as supportive as they have always been, confident of the range of new measures put in place to ensure their in-store comfort and safety. The new Tullamore store opening hours are Monday to Saturday, from 10.30am to 5pm each day, with the first hour of trading until 11.30am prioritised for older persons and the vulnerable.

New Deliveries of Top LabelsStaff at the store have been busy in recent days taking delivery of container-loads of brand-new products kindly donated by high street retailers so shoppers will no doubt be thrilled to browse the very latest fashions and accessories.

Julie Mooney, Manager of the Jack and Jill charity boutique in Tullamore, is delighted to get back behind the counter, even if it is behind a Perspex screen!

We have been working hard in the build-up to this week to have everything in place to ensure a safe, comfortable and welcoming shopping environment for our wonderful customers.

People will immediately notice changes from when they may have visited previously. We will be limiting the number of shoppers in store at any one time. We will have new social distancing and directional signage, along with Perspex screens at our counters and hand sanitiser for customers use. Our changing rooms will be closed but, of course, we can facilitate the return of any items purchased as per our usual sales policy.

We have invested in new steamers so people can be assured that every garment will have been thoroughly steam-cleaned and disinfected before being put on display. We have new card payment facilities in place too so that there is no need to worry about handling cash.

So, knowing that they can expect a safe shopping environment, customers should also know that they can look forward to an exciting shopping experience too. With lots of brand-new arrivals in store, including fashion brands such as Vera Wang, Radley, Bulaggi, Heidi Higgins, Nine West, Mulberry and Dolce & Gabbana, there really has never been a better time to visit.

SOS Appeal

Today Jack and Jill supports 340 families across the island of Ireland, including eight families in Offaly. Over 2,400 families have been supported by the Foundation since it was established in 1997.

If you cant wait to go shopping but want to show your support to the Jack & Jill SOS Appeal now, you can make a donation by:

Visiting www.jackandjill.ie and for every 16 donated a local family will receive one hour of home nursing support

Texting WECARE to 50300 to donate 4. (Jack & Jill will receive a minimum of 3.60. Service Provider: LIKECHARITY. Helpline: 076 6805278.)
George Floyd's killing shocked America's conscience writes Elizabeth Drew.

It has been a calamity for the United States that, when two national tragedies  the Covid-19 crisis and the countrys legacy of racism  collided this spring, the occupant of the White House was an unstable person, totally unfit to govern.

President Donald Trumps inability to cope with the pandemic has so far led to more than 112,000 deaths, one of the worlds highest per capita mortality rates for Covid-19, with the coronavirus still spreading to areas not previously hit.

The public health crisis has also triggered the worst economic downturn in the US since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

As subsequent events have unfolded, it is no exaggeration to say that the American experiment  244 years old next month  is in serious danger, even more so than during the constitutional crisis caused by the Watergate scandal of the 1970s.

The pandemic coincided with the latest in a long series of race-related outrages, and it has caused the country to explode.

Millions of cooped-up Americans watched, over and over, the cold-blooded killing of an unarmed, handcuffed black man, George Floyd, by four Minneapolis police officers.

One, Derek Chauvin, casually kneeled on Floyds neck for nearly nine minutes until he lost consciousness; two others sat on Floyds back, further depriving him of oxygen; the fourth looked on, keeping appalled bystanders at bay as Floyd, struggling to live, cried out, Please, I cant breathe.

Floyds killing shocked the countrys conscience. It provided Americans with an unambiguous picture of the true meaning of police brutality.

After being shut in for weeks by lockdowns and social-distancing rules, people had considerable pent-up energy, which the recordings of Floyds death unleashed. Protests began in Minneapolis the next day and quickly spread across the country.

Tens of thousands of people of all races and ages participated.

Demonstrators who engaged in violence, looting, and property destruction (including setting police cars on fire) were catnip for Trump, whose brand of politics depends on stoking his supporters outrage.

His Nixon-like law and order rhetoric aimed to erase the distinction between the violent protesters and the far larger number of peaceful ones.

US Attorney General William Barr was, as always, ready to help Trump exploit the situation and accrue more power. Because Washington, DC, is not a state, Trump and Barr had leeway to impose their own solution.

They used various state national guards, the military-like arms of federal agencies, and, unnervingly, some unidentifiable forces. Washington became an occupied city.

Trump pretends to be a tough guy and is authoritarian to the bone. Yet, as the protests swelled outside the White House, he decided, or so he claimed, that it was time to inspect the presidents mammoth underground bunker.

A woman wears a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, reading "black lives matter," to a protest last Sunday near the White House in Washington, over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis. Picture: AP/Maya Alleruzzo

The White House itself had already become a bunker: during the chaos after Floyds murder, the height of the fence surrounding its grounds was nearly doubled.

True to his inclination to stir things up, Trump tweeted that, had demonstrators breached that fence, they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.

The deeply disturbing use of force to clear peaceful demonstrators from Lafayette Square across from the White House  a violation of their rights for which Barr initially took credit  also shocked the national conscience.

Trumps less-than-brilliant advisers  most prominent, his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner  had concocted a political stunt that involved Trump walking across the square to the boarded-up St Johns church, the basement of which had been set on fire. But they failed to think through what he would do when he got there.

Trump awkwardly waved a Bible, sometimes holding it upside down, for photos that only made him look foolish.

Moreover, Trumps advocacy of flooding Americas cities with active-duty US troops was met with widespread antipathy and scorn. A cascade of former high-ranking military officials, including James Mattis, the retired Marine general who was Trumps defense secretary until last year, openly denounced the president.

Mattis, who described himself as angry and appalled at the idea of using the troops to put down the demonstrations, said Americans were witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.

But those who saw in such statements the unraveling of Trumps presidency didnt factor in Republicans continued fealty. Faced with the choice between Mattis and Trump, nearly all elected Republicans stuck with the president.

They had defended him for so long, shared so many of his views, and become so dependent on him and his donors that they werent ready to break with him, despite knowing that current polls suggest he might go down in Novembers election  and take them down with him.

While the national uprising against racist policing will lead to some reforms, such as improved training and the prohibition of chokeholds and neck restraints like the one that killed Floyd, rethinking the role of the police alone, no matter how radical the results are, cannot eliminate racism, the great stain left on America by the founders compromise with slavery.

Governments can do nothing about the quotidian offences of living as a black person in America  the empty taxis that refuse to stop, being mistaken for employees in supermarkets, the myriad intentional and unintentional insults.

Many now in the streets wont be satisfied unless the result of this national spasm is improved schools, health care, and job opportunities for minorities  a fair shake for black people. What will happen when America once again falls short of honouring its professed values?

*Elizabeth Drew is a Washington-based journalist and the author, most recently, of Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixons Downfall.
With a global pandemic at our doorstep and world economy tumbling by the day, it's harder than ever to stay afloat. To counter this, some took up part-time jobs to make ends meet, while others resorted to switching careers altogether.

The latter is what Australia's first full-time female Supercars racer did after she faded away from the track sometime in 2016-17.

25-year-old Renee Gracie, whose career peaked in 2015 when teamed up with Swiss racer Simona de Silverstro at Bathurst 1000, has called it quits to pursue a career in the adult film industry.

Before the world could raise any eyebrows, the racer said she had no qualms about the nature of the job as the monetary benefit from her new career was more than ever.

"It has put me in a financial position I could never have dreamed of and I really enjoy it," Gracie told The Daily Telegraph Australia. "I am fine with whatever they want to call me. I am earning good money and I am comfortable with where I am at".

Soon after her revelation, the world that had once forgotten her took to Google to know "more" about her. The more here simply means "Renee Gracie hot".

Gracie, an Aussie national, has a newfound "fame" across the world. This is quite evident in the striking contrast in her name search on google.

Credit: Google Trends

Same was the case in the United States where people looked up "Renee Gracie videos", "Renee Gracie photos" besides other searches.

Credit: Google Trends

A similar search pattern was witnessed back in India where search terms ranged from "Renee Gracie latest" to "Renee Gracie first video."

Credit: Google Trends

Subsequently, Gracie's Wikipedia page found more footfalls and searches than ever since the former racer made her new career announcement to the world.

Gracie's racing career went off track owing to some poor performances and lack of funding. But now she is happier than ever and financially content with her new innings in life.
This Newfoundland real estate website is making it easier for you to search for houses for sale within specific school boundaries. Simply select your preferred schools name in the list below and search by your preferred school areas. Help ensure your kids receive the best education. Our search results will show you a list of properties and a map outlining the boundaries of the schools catchment area. Select a property 
Nemir Amin Kirdar was born in Kirkuk, the oil capital of Iraq, on Oct. 28, 1936. The third of five sons, he was born in the same grand old home as his parents, first cousins who traced their ancestry back to a tribal family in present-day Turkmenistan. While his father was a law school graduate and civil servant who served in parliament before the 1958 coup, his mother helped lead an Iraqi womens group and was the more ambitious of the two, Mr. Kirdar wrote in a 2012 autobiography, In Pursuit of Fulfilment.
RTHK: Top US general says wrong to appear with Trump

America's top general said on Thursday he was wrong to appear with President Donald Trump in a photo op near the White House last week, staged after the area was forcefully cleared of anti-racism protesters.

"I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of military involvement in domestic politics," General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said of the controversial June 1 incident.

Milley's comments appeared likely to further strain the already fraught relations between US military leaders and the White House.

Relations have frayed over Trump's move to involve the Pentagon in efforts to quell protests and looting around the country following the killing of African American George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Milley and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper were both strongly criticised for participating in what was widely seen as a political show by Trump, who walked with officials from the White House to pose in front of St John's Episcopal Church, holding up a bible.

Minutes earlier, hundreds of peaceful protesters were forced from Lafayette Park between the White House and the church by police and national guard troops firing smoke bombs and tear gas-like pepper rounds.

Milley's presence was particularly criticised as he was wearing his camouflage battle uniform.

Normally military officials wear their formal dress uniform when holding meetings in the White House, and for many it implied Milley's support for Trump's stated desire to deploy active duty US troops against protesters.

In a pre-recorded video message, Milley told new graduates of the National Defence University that pictures of him and Esper walking with Trump "sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society."

Trump had summoned Milley and Esper to the White House to discuss the extraordinary measure of using active military troops in addition to national guards to confront protesters.

Pentagon officials have said both had little time to prepare for the meeting, which caught Milley in his battle uniform and Esper as they were headed to a separate non-public meeting.

Nor did they know ahead of time that national guard troops were going to clear the park using chemical munitions to force the protesters out, Pentagon officials said.

Several former holders of Milley's position blasted him and Esper for accompanying Trump and allowing the military to be politicised.

"I am deeply worried that as they execute their orders, the members of our military will be co-opted for political purposes," said former Joint Chiefs chairman admiral Mike Mullen.

Two days later Esper announced that he would not support Trump's desire to invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to call up active troops to deal with the protests.

That, according to media reports, infuriated Trump who had to be convinced by White House advisers and senior lawmakers not to fire Esper.

In his speech on Thursday, Milley stressed that US citizens have the constitutional right to protest peacefully.

"We should all be proud that the vast majority of protests have been peaceful. Peaceful protests mean that American freedom is working," he said.

"We in the military will continue to protect the rights and freedoms of all American people," he added. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A top Pakistani health official asserted that the government is following a holistic strategy to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza, however, ruled out adopting World Health Organisations (WHO) recommendation of implementing a two-week strict lockdown, intermittently, to stem the exponential spike in the coronavirus cases.

We have made best sovereign decisions in the best interest of our people. We have to make tough policy choices to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods, Mirza said on Wednesday on the governments decision to ease lockdown when cases are increasing.

He said that Pakistan has consciously but gradually eased generalised lockdowns but at the same time has focused on enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in shops, industry, mosques and public transport.

Mirza said Pakistans choice of policies has been guided by the best evidence available about the disease spread and the best assessment of the fast deteriorating socio-economic conditions in the country.

WHO is a UN specialised technical agency on health... we understand that it is their role to provide recommendations to member states but understandably theirs is the health lens, whereas governments have to take into account a holistic picture and make decisions on relative risk assessment basis and this has been the case in Pakistan all along, he said.

Mirza said that the government has made wearing face masks compulsory. It has also developed a robust tracing, testing and quarantine policy to identify hotspots and cordon-off them, he added.

Several media outlets in Pakistan reported that the WHO had written a letter to the health minister of Pakistans Punjab province last week, in which the global health body said that the virus has spread all over the country, and a large number of cases had been recorded in big cities.

The letter appreciated Pakistans efforts in fighting Covid-19, but warned that recent statistics suggest its current strategy was not paying off.

It recommended that the government adopt a two-week-on, two-week-off lockdown, as it offered the most chance of continuing economic activities while ensuring public health, media reports said.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Wildcraft is producing 1 million pieces of reusable masks and hazmats

Anticipates big demand for its R&D led respirators and hazmats in export markets

Confident of becoming a Rs 1,000 crore company by the end of financial year .

Home-grown outdoor & adventure gear manufacturing company Wildcraft has made a foray into the Personal Protective Gear (PPG) segment. The company has launched re-usable PPE coverall (Hz Series of Hazmats) and re-usable face masks (respirators) for civil and medical uses.

Alongside using two of their own manufacturing units, one in Karnataka and one in Himachal Pradesh, the company has also tied up with 30 entrepreneurs across 63 factories in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh to cater to increasing demand of PPEs amid coronavirus outbreak.

"We fundamentally believe that there will be shift the way people will look at masks and we are banking on this category which we have been able swing into lifestyle product," says co-founder Gaurav Dublish. Wildcraft says that the company is currently one of the biggest producers, producing nearly 1 million respirators every day. The respirators can last up to 30 washes. Gaurav says that production can easily be ramped up to above 7 crore a month when needed.

The company has also reconfigured its distribution channels in the last two months going beyond online partnerships and other points of sale. To create accessibility, "We are now looking at places like Pharmacies, FMCG groceries stores for sale of our respirators. In mid-March we were at about 5,000 point of sales, today we are present at around 1 lakh point of sales," says co-founder Siddharth Sood.

The company which has secured export licence for its masks to Middle East, Europe, and Mauritius and will also start exporting to Americas shortly. Explaining that while medical grade masks and hazmats are still banned from exports, "With all the concerns of quality coming out of China, we want to make sure the Indian flag flying high, and, we believe that we have a world class product in our hazmat suits that we will start exporting once the ban is lifted," says Siddharth .

The other bright spot is also the defence sector. The company which has had a long standing relationship with the defence sector, had set up a tactical division in 2016 to design, develop and produce tactical gear for the Indian defence sector. It will start producing and delivering 90-liter technical rucksack starting July and close the order this financial year, which is a part of the Rs 80 crore order deal it won from the Defence Ministry last November. In 2011, Wildcraft had set a revenue goal of 1,000 crores by 2020 which the founders are confident of achieving. The company said it has been growing at 25-30% CAGR over the last few years.

Also read: Coronavirus outbreak: This textile firm plans to launch anti-viral garments in India
(Alliance News) - Anglo-Dutch consumer good manufacturer Unilever PLC said Thursday it intends to restructure itself by moving from a dual-headed legal structure to a single parent company.

The group will unified under Unilever PLC, which will be implemented through a cross border merger between Unilever PLC and Unilever NV. Unilever NV shareholders will receive one new Unilever PLC share in exchange for each Unilever NV share held.

Unilever will remain listed in London, Amsterdam, and New York, and the legal restructuring will not affect its operations, staffing levels or the manufacture and supply of products in both countries, the company emphasised.

The decision to form a single parent company stems from an ongoing strategic review of Unilever's tea business, which demonstrated the dual-headed legal structure can create disadvantages for the group, it said.

In particular, a demerger of the tea business is a potential outcome of the review, and under the current legal structure would be a more daunting prospect, the company noted.

Unilever believes that having a single parent company would increase its strategic flexibility for developing its portfolio, including through equity-based acquisitions or demergers.

Back in October 2018, the group had withdrawn a proposal to simplify under a Dutch entity and move its headquarters to Rotterdam from London, after the plan drew opposition from its UK shareholders. The stock would have dropped out of the FTSE 100 index, forcing index funds to sell.

The new restructuring plan is subject to shareholder approval, consultations with employee representative bodies and other regulatory consents, Unilever said.

Unilever has not given a date for the general meeting which will propose the resolution, but said it expects implementation of the legal unification to take place towards the end of 2020.

"Unilever's board believes that unifying the company's legal structure will create greater strategic flexibility, remove complexity and further improve governance. We remain committed to The Netherlands and the UK and there will be no change to Unilever's footprint in either country as a result of the proposed change to Unilever's legal parent structure. We are confident that unification will help Unilever deliver its vision of driving superior long-term performance through its multiple stakeholder business model," said Chair Nils Andersen.

Addressing the political sensitivities of its decision to pick the UK over the Netherlands this time, Unilever said: "Agri-foods is an important sector in The Netherlands. With the flexibility that unification provides, the Dutch government has also asked for reassurance that if Unilever should ever choose to list the Foods & Refreshment Division as an independent company, it would be incorporated and listed in The Netherlands.

"The Netherlands is an attractive headquarter location for business and provided it continues to be as such, Unilever is comfortable to make these commitments given the Division's already strong Dutch presence."

The Foods & Refreshment division will continue to be headquartered in Rotterdam, Unilever said, while the Beauty & Personal Care and Home Care businesses will continue to be headquartered in London.

Shares in Unilever were up 1.1% at 4,426.00 pence early Thursday in London.

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
British Gas owner Centrica has set out plans to cut 5,000 staff, almost 20 per cent of its workforce, as part of measures to slim down the struggling energy company.

More than half of the job losses will be in management roles as Centrica tries to cut bureaucracy and save 2bn by the end of next year.

Half of the firms 40-strong senior leadership team will step down by the end of August and most of the remaining job cuts will be completed by the end of 2020, Centrica said on Thursday.

The UKs largest gas and electricity company has lost more than 3 million customers in the past decade amid increasing competition from smaller rivals. The firm reported an 849m loss last year.

Chief executive Chris OShea said he regretted the difficult decisions that had to be taken.

However, the changes we are proposing to make are designed to arrest our decline, allow us to focus on our customers and create a sustainable company, he added.

The GMB union vowed to fight the cuts. A combination of the [energy price] cap and too little, too late management decisions have left a once proud brand crippled and weak, said national secretary Justin Bowden.

Slashing thousands more jobs is not the answer. You cannot just cut your way out of a crisis.

GMB will fight for every single job.

Earnings at British Gas more than halved over the past decade and its market share tumbled from 25 per cent in 2013 to 19 per cent in 2020.

Former chief executive Iain Conn left the company earlier than planned in March after five years at the helm. Mr Conn angered shareholders and unions when it was revealed last year that he had received a 44 per cent pay rise to 2.4m while British Gas was in the middle of cutting thousands of jobs.

His successor, Mr OShea, said the coronavirus pandemic had shown Centrica can be responsive to its customers needs.

However, I believe that our complex business model hinders the delivery of our strategy and inhibits the relentless focus I want to give to our customers, he said.

We have great people, strong brands that are trusted by millions and leading market positions, but the harsh reality is that we have lost over half of our earnings in recent years.

Now we must bring focus by modernising and simplifying the way we do business.
While America cries out for a Leader, the Leader of the free world cowards at protesters peaceful marches and values.

Inside the sanctuary of the walls of the White House, we see a President of the United States fearfully looking out, seeking refuge protection from his fellow American citizens in the seclusion of his basement bunker.

Outside of the White House, an American institution symbolizing liberty and freedom for all, there is a nation looking in who fearfully faced with the coronavirus pandemic, incomprehensible economic turmoil, anarchy in the streets, and hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters saying enough is enough with RACISM.

What does the leader of the free world do when faced with insurmountable pleas for wisdom and the right wordshe attacks peaceful marchers protesting RACISM so he can fulfill his desire for personal gratification and a meaningless photo shoot. Cowering behind the windows of a fortress protected by the most state of the art security protection, President Trump feels sorry for himself that he is not revered. This is no compassionate man of the people. An instance of his evil personality, he tweeted that if the protestors breached the White House fence, they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs and most ominous weapons I have ever seen. This goes far beyond not being compassionate. When your former general feels obligated by his self worth to express his indignation to what he sees, there is cancer.

General Mattis said in a statement emailed to reporters:

When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution; never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens  much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.

Mattis indictment of the Trump presidency:

I have watched this weeks unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words Equal Justice Under Law are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demandone that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our valuesour values as people and our values as a nation.

But what is our leader is incapable of living up to their values or, for that matter, living up to any morality values. What if this leader seeks prominence or seek self worth by trying to make others around him fee inadequate or small.

 From 2011 to 2016, Trump was a leading proponent of the already-debunked Birtherism conspiracy theory claiming President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

 Trump launched his campaign in 2015 by calling Mexican immigrants rapists who are bringing crime and bringing drugs to the US. His campaign was largely built on building a wall to keep these immigrants out of the US.

 He argued in 2016 that Judge Gonzalo Curiel  who was overseeing the Trump University lawsuit  should recuse himself from the case because of his Mexican heritage and membership in a Latino lawyers association. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who endorsed Trump, later called such comments the textbook definition of a racist comment.

 Trump has been repeatedly slow to condemn white supremacists who endorse him, and he regularly retweeted messages from white supremacists and neo-Nazis during his presidential campaign.

 Trump has repeatedly referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as Pocahontas, using her controversial  and later walked-back  claims to Native American heritage as a punch line.

 In a pitch to black voters in 2016, Trump said, Youre living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?

These are the very same American citizens seeking racial reforms and are being challenged by Trump with dogs!

 Trump stereotyped a black reporter at a press conference in February 2017. When April Ryan asked him if he plans to meet and work with the Congressional Black Caucus, he repeatedly asked her to set up the meeting  even as she insisted that shes just a reporter.

 In the week after white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, Trump repeatedly said that many sides and both sides were to blame for the violence and chaos that ensued  suggesting that the white supremacist protesters were morally equivalent to counter protesters that stood against racism. There were some very fine people among the white supremacists.

 Trump reportedly said in 2017 that people who came to the US from Haiti all have AIDS,

 Speaking about immigration in a bipartisan meeting in January 2018, Trump reportedly asked, about Haiti and African countries, Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?

 2005: Trump publicly pitched what was mostly The Apprentice: White People vs. Black People. He said he wasnt particularly happy with the most recent season of his show, so he was considering a fairly controversial idea  creating a team of successful African Americans versus a team of successful whites. Whether people like that idea or not, it is somewhat reflective of our very vicious world.

The list goes on and on and on into exhaustion.

 People with disabilities

 NFL players

 White supremacist protestors

 Immigrants

 Native Americans

 Black Lives Matters

An introspective look at President Trump sees a man that hates everyone, not kissing his rear end or putting a dollar into his pocket. A man who loves himself and no one or anything else. President Donald Trump is just not the right man, in the White House at this time in world history to do the job needed. We can only prey he doesn't break anything that can't be fixed by the next president. One Hundred forty-six days until the Election Day.










New Delhi, June 11 : Upping the ante against the Uttar Pradesh government over the alleged irregularities in 69,000 teachers recruitment and the fake teacher issue, the Congress on Thursday demanded a Supreme Court judge-monitored probe and job for the real Anamika Shukla, who is still unemployed.

Addressing a press conference through video conferencing, Congress leader Rajeev Shukla said, "Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been raising the issue of the teachers recruitment scam and she also spoke to the people who appeared for the examination while the government has not paid heed to the issue." Rajeev Shukla said, "we also witnessed the issue of Anamika Shukla, as over 25 people were doing jobs impersonating her name." "Meanwhile, the media highlighted that real Anamika Shukla is unemployed and she has no role in the entire issue. But despite that her documents were used to take jobs," Rajeev Shukla, a former Rajya Sabha MP said.

Priyanka Gandhi on June 9 had demanded the state government apologise to Anamika Shukla who is still unemployed. She had also likened the teachers' recruitment irregularity to the Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh. Real Anamika Shukla, in whose name a teacher in Uttar Pradesh was allegedly drawing salary from 25 places and had garnered more than Rs 1 crore came forward on June 9.

After the scam was unearthed, Anamika Shukla went to meet officials on Tuesday in Gonda where she said she applied at many places but could not attend counselling.

Rajeev Shukla alleged that the racket has been going on in Uttar Pradesh for quite some time and the Congress has been demanding justice for Anamika Shukla, and said that now the Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi has also accepted that a racket was going on in the state.

"Dwivedi also accepted that Anamika Shukla's name was used by many people to take jobs. So what action is the state government going to take now?" Rajeev Shukla asked.

"We demand a probe by a Supreme Court judge for teachers recruitment and fake teacher scam to find out who all are involved," the Congress leader said, adding that even the issue of fake teachers came up in Lalitpur and Shrawasti districts of the state.

"It is the tip of the iceberg, this scam has been going on and no action is being taken," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered that the Special Task Force (STF) will now investigate the scam in recruitment of assistant teachers in the state.
First-year students who paid deposits to attend Bloomsburg University this fall declined 19% from last year, the steepest decline of the 14 universities in Pennsylvanias state system.

Mansfield and East Stroudsburg Universities also showed declines greater than 10%, according to a breakdown released by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education on Thursday.

Overall, 17,277 students had paid deposits to attend the systems 14 universities as of this week, compared with 17,583 at this time last year, a decline of 1.7%, said Dave Pidgeon, a spokesperson for the system.

And thats because some schools saw large increases. Cheyney University, a historically black institution that has struggled with enrollment, led the way. It showed the largest increase  51%  in first-year students who paid deposits to attend in the fall, the system breakdown showed. Lock Haven and Kutztown also each showed an increase greater than 10%.

Obviously, there is an impact from the pandemic, Pidgeon said, referring to the overall decline.

But factors including an ongoing decline in high school graduates also continue to be pressure points, he said. The 96,000-student system has lost more than 20% of its enrollment since 2010 and is in the middle of a redesign.

Pidgeon said he did not have numbers on how many returning students planned to attend this fall. The American Council on Education has estimated fall enrollments nationwide could decline 15% because of the pandemic, including a 25% drop in international students.

 READ MORE: Reopening of Pennsylvania state universities will vary by campus

Daniel Greenstein, the Pennsylvania systems chancellor, announced this week that the universities intended to open for in-person classes in the fall, but that the models would vary by campus. West Chester, the largest in the system, with more than 17,000 students, announced Thursday that it would open on time and conclude in-person classes before Thanksgiving. Faculty office hours and advising will be conducted remotely, and the university will stagger personnel on campus to allow for social distancing. West Chester reported a 3.7% increase in deposits for fall.

Pidgeon noted that many of the schools have rolling admission and will continue to accept applications. Systemwide, completed applications are down 6.3% this year. They also varied by school. East Stroudsburg showed the sharpest decline, 31.7%, while California had the biggest increase in applications, 26.5%.

Schools also will have to contend with changes in student plans over the summer as the impact of the coronavirus continues and the financial toll mounts.

 READ MORE: Colleges holding on-campus classes in the fall? Maybe.

A lot of families are waiting to make a decision, and understandably so, Pidgeon said. They are facing a lot of uncertainty.

Many schools in the region extended their usual May 1 deposit deadline until June 1, and some are still accepting deposits.

In the current environment, with so much uncertainty caused by the pandemic, we expect more activity during the summer than usual, said Mary Allen, a spokesperson at Widener University in Chester, which reported a drop in freshman deposits and an increase in deposits from transfer students.

Some universities, including Villanova and Temple, said they reached their enrollment goal for the fall. Pennsylvania State University reported that as of last Friday, new-student undergraduate enrollment for the summer/fall class was 16,744, less than a 1% increase over last year, but cautioned that numbers could fluctuate. Thats better than projections seemed last month, when the school said it was 6.8% behind.

 READ MORE: As student deposits for fall lag, colleges extend deadlines; New Jersey universities look to keep students in state

Other colleges continued to report lower numbers.

Stockton University in New Jersey reported that freshman deposits were down 4% from last year. Thats an improvement from early May, when they were running 17% behind. The school noted that deposits continue to come in and that graduate student deposits are up, as is summer enrollment.

Rutgers University, meanwhile, said last week that it had 9,653 first-year students who enrolled, down 3.3% from last year. Thats an improvement from last month, when deposits were down 6%. Transfer students also are down by 2.1%, said spokesperson Dory Devlin.
To the Editor:

Re Trump Wont Allow Pentagon to Erase Confederate Names From Bases (news article, June 11):

As your article points out, a number of United States military bases are named for Confederate military officers. This naming occurred during our shameful acquiescence to Jim Crow oppression of black Americans in the South.

These Confederate leaders were traitors, seeking to break up the country to preserve slavery. They caused the death and wounding of hundreds of thousands of Americans who served the Union, not to mention their own troops.

The willingness of the U.S. military and its civilian leaders to consider renaming these bases is heartening. The fact that President Trump says he will refuse to go along is no surprise. He will always play to the most regressive factions in our country.
Researchers from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), the Universite de Toulouse and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) show how the microbial colonisation of the organism influences the interactions between living organisms, the environment and pathogens, using amphibians like frogs as examples. This is basic research for health prophylaxis.

Biotic and abiotic environmental factors have a strong influence on the dynamics of diseases in humans and animals. In their study, the researchers focus on an important component: the microbiome. The individual microbiome of a living being is a vital component of immunity. Especially on the skin and in the bowel, i.e. directly at the interface between the individual and pathogens, endogenous bacteria and viruses are highly active.

The international team presents the concept of a disease pyramid with the four cornerstones of environment, pathogen, host and microbiome. For the first time, the different functions of the microbiome are taken into account. The researchers illustrate this by using the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochochytrium dendrobatidis.

"The microbiome of living organisms is highly variable. It is only in recent years that researchers have succeeded in using genetic methods to determine the totality of microorganisms. We are now only gradually beginning to understand their role in health prophylaxis and how they interact, for example, with the environmental microbiome, pathogens and the host," explains IGB researcher Dr. Adeline Loyau, who led the study.

Diversity of microbiome and habitats strengthens resistance

The authors emphasise that more diverse microbiomes can make the host more resistant to pathogens because they are better able to keep potential pathogens at bay. The study also shows that individuals who inhabit complex and therefore species-rich habitats have a lower mortality rate. The team shows that the microbiome can act very specifically against pathogens: The symbiotic skin bacterium Janthinobacterium spp. forms an anti-fungal agent as a metabolic product and thus prevents infection with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

Climate change modifies the microbiome of amphibians

It is assumed that the adaptability of the microbiome can in turn increase the organism's adaptability to environmental influences. There are several examples of this in the animal kingdom. However, environmental changes such as climate change can also throw the microbiome out of balance: "A microbiome in equilibrium can protect against infection in changing environmental conditions," explains the study's first author, Adriana P. Bernardo-Cravo from the Universite de Toulouse and the UFZ.

"However, it is also shown that environmental changes - especially temperature - have a significant impact on the composition of the microbiome, and thus on the resistance of amphibians to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Climate change will significantly change the distribution of this fungal disease in amphibians," the ecologist predicts.

Axa-Professor Dirk Schmeller from the Universite de Toulouse, further explains: "We have to be aware that climate change and biodiversity loss are stress factors for ecosystems, for humans, for animals and for the microbiome. Our research shows that if the different axes of the disease pyramid are destabilised, new infectious diseases can be expected, including for humans." The presented concept of the disease pyramid is therefore trend-setting for research on human-animal-plant-environment interactions and the resulting risks for biodiversity and humans.

Supplementary information:

The decline of amphibians, the most endangered vertebrates, causes cascade effects in the food webs and can change the environmental balance in the long term, for example water quality or the occurrence of pests and pathogens. In some ecosystems, such as the North American arboreal forests, amphibians are the most common terrestrial vertebrates. There they help regulate the carbon balance. The fungus Batrachochochytrium dendrobatidis is responsible for the decline of over 500 frog species worldwide. It damages the amphibians' skin and disrupts its basic functions, which ultimately leads to cardiac arrest.

###
Eli Lilly and Co could have a drug specifically designed to treat COVID-19 authorized for use as early as September if all goes well with either of two antibody therapies it is testing, its chief scientist told Reuters on Wednesday. Lilly is also doing preclinical studies of a third antibody treatment for the illness caused by the new coronavirus that could enter human clinical trials in the coming weeks, Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky said in an interview. Lilly has already launched human trials with two of the experimental therapies. The drugs belong to a class of ...
[June 11, 2020] Teledyne LeCroy Announces Industry's First Protocol Exerciser/Analyzer for PCI Express 5.0

Teledyne LeCroy, Inc., the worldwide leader in protocol test solutions and business unit of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY), today announced the Summit Z58 PCI (News - Alert) Express (PCIe) protocol exerciser/analyzer for testing designs and products for the new PCIe standard, PCIe 5.0. The industry's first protocol exerciser/analyzer for PCI Express 5.0, the Summit Z58 features a unified single application for PCIe 5.0 traffic generation and analysis. PCIe is the leading interconnect technology in the computing and communication industries. With twice the speed of the prior version, PCIe 5.0 is ideal for the data center or cloud as the demand for online services have expanded significantly due to work-from-home efforts. The new Standard also can support Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications. Teledyne LeCroy protocol analyzers and exercisers have been at the forefront of PCI Express development over the past decade to provide the analysis features companies have needed for PCIe storage and IoT technology development. The Summit Z58 exerciser/analyzer helps developers deliver on the promise of PCIe 5.0 by enabling them to decode and debug serial data communications between devices and systems. "Teledyne LeCroy continues to lead the industry in protocol test support for the PCI Express architecture, and our long engagement in the PCIe protocol tool market has allowed us to develop and provide the most useful solutions that help shorten development and testing," said Michael Romm, General Manager, Protocol Solutions Group, Teledyne LeCroy. "Users who are moving to PCIe 5.0 with Teledyne LeCroy test solutions can appreciate the rich library of decodes and analysis capabilities that are available on all of Teledyne LeCroy's PCIe test tools." "The PCIe 5.0 Protocol Exerciser/Analyzer is the latest development in support of helping the industry make the technology transition to 32.0 GT/s," aid Dr. Debendra Das Sharma, Intel (News - Alert) Fellow, Director of I/O Technologies and Standards, Intel Corporation. "Development of new test solutions from companies like Teledyne LeCroy will help fuel the growth of the PCIe 5.0 ecosystem."



About the Summit Z58 The Summit Z58 exerciser/analyzer addresses the needs of PCIe developers by providing high performance 32 GT/s traffic generation on devices with link widths up to 8 lanes and protocol analysis featuring Teledyne LeCroy's industry standard CATC Trace. It features a unified single application that incorporates traffic generation and protocol analysis.

The protocol exerciser provides realistic traffic to devices under test and can also emulate complex host- or device-side traffic while the protocol analyzer acquires, records, decodes, analyzes and displays complex high-speed PCI Express I/O streams. Users will have access to the same analysis and reporting capabilities on which the PCIe industry has standardized. When using analyzers and exercisers together, developers can create powerful script-level traffic and can monitor the results of all tests. The Protocol Exerciser uses the new PXP-500A Test platform that feature both CEM and SFF-TA-1002 connectors to allow wider support of different PCI Express add-in-cards. The Summit Z58 PCIe 5.0 Protocol Exerciser/Analyzer is currently available to order. For additional information, contact Teledyne LeCroy at 1-800-5LeCroy (1-800-553-2769) or visit Teledyne LeCroy's web site at teledynelecroy.com. About Teledyne LeCroy Teledyne LeCroy is a leading manufacturer of advanced oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, and other test instruments that verify performance, validate compliance, and debug complex electronic systems quickly and thoroughly. Since its founding in 1964, the Company has focused on incorporating powerful tools into innovative products that enhance "Time-to-Insight". Faster time to insight enables users to rapidly find and fix defects in complex electronic systems, dramatically improving time-to-market for a wide variety of applications and end markets. Teledyne LeCroy is based in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. For more information, visit Teledyne LeCroy's website at teledynelecroy.com. About Teledyne Technologies Incorporated Teledyne Technologies is a leading provider of sophisticated instrumentation, digital imaging products and software, aerospace and defense electronics, and engineered systems. Teledyne's operations are primarily located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Western and Northern Europe. For more information, visit Teledyne's website at www.teledyne.com.  2020 by Teledyne LeCroy. All rights reserved. Specifications are subject to change without notice. PCI-SIG, PCI Express and PCIe are registered trademarks of PCI-SIG.

Summit and CATC Trace are trademarks of Teledyne LeCroy. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005653/en/

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When it comes to health care, this election cycle has been different than previous ones. Either it is Medicare for all or public option in the ACA, democratic candidates have shown support for some version of universal health care. As the health care costs, including prescription drug prices, keep rising, many Americans have started to advocate for universal health care coverage. At the same time, others still believe in the classical myth that universal health care is a form of socialized medicine. Politicians have failed to explain to the American public that universal health care simply means every American has access to health care. There are many ways of achieving it, and Medicare for all popularized by democrats, is simply one of them. A middle-ground way would be via a public-private partnership. Unlike the popular belief, Medicare for all is not a form of socialized medicine. In a socialized health care system, hospitals and health care institutions are owned by the government, and physicians are largely, although not exclusively, government employees. Examples include the British National Health Service and the American VA system.

Considering we are one of the richest countries in the world, it is unbelievable that 27.9 million Americans still dont have access to health care. In 2018, we spent $3.6 trillion on medical care, which is higher than any other developed country in the world. If we look at the health care expenditure per capita, there is over a 31-fold increase in health care spending in the last four decades, from $355 per person in 1970 to $11,172 in 2018. Our life expectancy is the lowest, and the infant mortality rate the highest among the developed nations. Isnt it evident that we have a highly inefficient health care system, which has a high cost, low quality, and poor access? Many other developed nations in the world have a lower GDP than us, yet they provide a right to health care for all their citizens. With this level of spending, shouldnt we be able to provide a right to health care to every American?

As far as the politics of health care is concerned, instead of debating endless hours on individual partys plan, we should first be true to our heart and answer the real question: Should health care be a privilege or right for Americans? If we believe that every American has the right to health care, then the only question left is how to get there. The path forward will still be difficult but absolutely doable. If we believe that health care is and should always be a privilege and not a right, then whats the rationale behind these superficial debates?

As a nation, we signed the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights in which health care is stated as a right; however, we have never abided by our own signature. I urge members of both parties to work together and create a comprehensive universal health care system via public-private partnership or other approaches, where every American has the right to health care.

Sagar Chapagain is a medical student.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan -- Sixteen Kazakh military officers and Defense Ministry officials have gone on trial over a series of explosions at an ammunition warehouse that killed four people in June 2019.

A military court in the southern city of Shymkent started the trial on June 11, almost a year after the fire in the town of Arys, 67 kilometers west of Shymkent, which sparked the blasts that lasted for four days, killing three and injuring dozens of residents.

The fourth victim, an 8-year-old boy, died weeks later in hospital.

Among the 16 defendants are military officers from Arys and some senior Defense Ministry officials. Six of the defendants are taking part in the trial via a video link from Nur-Sultan, the capital.

The charges against the defendants include negligence and violating safety regulations for storing arms and ammunition.

Some 35,000 residents of the town fled their homes for Shymkent and nearby towns, returning days later after the authorities lifted a state of emergency.

Kazakh officials said that 85 percent of the town's buildings, mainly private houses, had been damaged by heavy smoke, shock waves, and flying debris from the blasts.

The government has promised to rebuild the houses, but many residents, some of whom attended the trial on June 11, complained that the rebuilding efforts had been too slow.

After the blasts, hundreds of people rallied in Shymkent and blocked a major road demanding to be relocated permanently because they were afraid to go back as the June blasts were just the latest in a series of explosions to hit the depot since 2009.

President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, who won a controversial election less than three weeks before the blasts, has vowed to punish those responsible.
The energy infrastructure company that transports a fourth of the crude oil produced in North America is looking to increase investments in renewable energy projects as it prepares to have its asset portfolio reflect the global energy mix in the energy transition.

Calgary-based Enbridge, whose most valuable asset is the Mainline System carrying close to 3 million bpd out of Western Canada to the U.S. Midwest, aims to diversify more into natural gas and renewables projects. The firm has identified investment opportunities in offshore wind in Germany, the U.K., and France, Enbridges chief executive Al Monaco told the Financial Post in an interview published this week.

We think having a diversified approach, having a gradual approach to the transition through natural gas and renewables makes a lot of sense, Monaco said.

This is the latest push toward boosting investment in renewables by a major company in the oil and gas industry.

Integrated oil majors, especially those in Europe, have already started to increase their renewables portfolios, pledging to become net-zero energy companies by 2050 or sooner.

In the midstream segment, however, Enbridge is the exception rather than the rule of a company looking to reflect the growing share of renewable power generation worldwide in its portfolio.

Some midstream companies have started to use renewable energy to power their oil and gas operations, such as U.S. natural gas processing and transmission firm Williams, which is looking to develop solar installations on land it owns close to its existing facilities to power its operations with electricity from solar energy.

But as a whole, the oil and gas midstream industry hasnt been too keen to go into owning renewable energy projects, except for Enbridge.

Related: Iran To Reach Production Target At Worlds Largest Gas Field This Year

Theres still lots of runway for oil and natural gas but it makes sense for us to mirror that global supply picture. I think youll find most companies, or the vast majority of companies in our sector, are not positioned in that way, Monaco told the Financial Post. Enbridge first invested in a wind farm back in 2002, and since then, it has invested more than US$5.8 billion (C$7.8 billion) in renewable energy and power transmission projects currently in operation or under construction, the company says. Enbridge holds stakes in various operational offshore wind projects in England, Germany, and France, onshore wind farms in Canada and Texas, and solar projects in Canada and Nevada.

Enbridge, together with EDF Renewables and wpd, began construction of the Fecamp offshore wind farm off Frances northwest coast earlier this month. The commercial viability of the Fecamp wind farm is underpinned by a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) granted by the French authorities in June 2018.

The more attractive PPAs in Europe encourage Enbridge to look at additional offshore opportunities in Europe right now, instead of in North America. The United States could be a good opportunity in the future, Enbridges Monaco told the Financial Post.

At its Investment Community Presentation this month, Enbridge said that it had identified US$745 million (C$1 billion) in annual growth opportunities in renewables post-2020. This compares with US$1.5 billion (C$2 billion) yearly growth opportunities in the gas transmission business and another C$2 billion in its core Liquids Pipelines business.

Enbridge also plans to use adjacent solar installations to self-power compressor stations and to integrate renewables with existing gas infrastructure as part of its efforts to boost growth.

Related: The True Impact Of COVID-19 On Natural Gas Demand

Unusual as it may be for an oil pipeline operator to invest in renewable energy, the case for investing in clean energy has never been stronger, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Thanks to a decade of declining costs, renewable power has become increasingly cheaper than any new electricity capacity based on fossil fuels, IRENA said in a report earlier this month.

Between 2010 and 2019, solar photovoltaic (P.V.) costs dropped by 82 percent, solar concentrating power (CSP) costs fell by 47 percent, costs for onshore wind dropped by 39 percent, and offshore wind costs declined by 29 percent, according to IRENAs estimates.

Renewable power generation technologies are not just competing head-to-head with fossil fuel options without financial support, but increasingly undercutting them, in many cases by a substantial margin, the agency said.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Opposition candidate Luis Abinader has been sworn in as president as the Caribbean country confirms more than 70,000 COVID-19 cases.
A woman who was detained by police during Black Lives Matter protests in New Orleans was immediately released after hundreds of demonstrators surrounded the patrol car officers were going to take her away in.

The powerful Thursday video shows the moment right as the woman was released from the patrol car and warmly embraced by her loved ones as she sobbed in their arms.

It was not known what led to the woman's arrest or why she was eventually released from the patrol car, the Times-Picayune reports.

A woman who was arrested near a #neworleans #protest is released after hundreds of protesters immediately surrounded the #police car demanding for her to be released. This is the moment when she steps out of the police car. Video by Chris Granger #protests pic.twitter.com/g9naN9i4RR  Chris Granger (@chris_granger) June 11, 2020

It was not known what led to the woman's arrest or why she was eventually released from the patrol car during Thursday's demonstration in Duncan Plaza

In the brief clip, demonstrators can be seen clapping and cheering as the woman is released.

A man nearby tells her that he was not going to leave her and prepares to make way for her to get by.

'You wasn't going nowhere sis,' the man tells the woman as people wipe tears from her face.

The powerful Thursday video shows the moment right as the woman was released from the patrol car and warmly embraced by her loved ones

The woman continue hugging her loved ones as they are led through the crowd, with the clip coming to a close.

A woman approaches the released woman and the two engage in a loving embrace.

The two continue hugging as they are led through the crowd, with the clip coming to a close.

On Twitter, the New Orleans Police Department said that it was responding to a shooting incident in Duncan Plaza but that it was unknown if the people involved had been involved in the protests.

Police believe the incident is not protest related.

Protests in New Orleans have mirrored ones across the country, calling for an end to police brutality and racism following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
David Culver II in police custody: (Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio)

An Ohio man who hired a hitman to kill a social worker, has filed a lawsuit against the woman and her employer.

David Culver II pleaded guilty to hiring a hitman to kill social worker, Calista Garza, earlier this year, and is currently awaiting sentencing.

He is due to be sentenced on 15 July, after the original date in March was postponed, due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Mr Culver II was arrested in May 2019, after he contacted a man from Michigan, who had a significant criminal history, and said he wanted to get rid of someone ASAP, according to the Toledo Blade.

On 18 May, Mr Culver II met an undercover police officer, who was posing as the hitman, at a restaurant in Bryan, Ohio.

Mr Culver II told the undercover officer details about Ms Garza and gave them a down payment of $200 (158), towards the job. He was immediately arrested when he left the restaurant.

The 36-year-old, who is originally from Florida, filed a complaint against Ms Garza and her employer, the Williams County Job and Public Services Agency, on 3 June.

Mr Culver II claims that he has was discriminated against and harassed by Ms Garza and her employers, after the social worker and a colleague started investigating Mr Culver II and his wife, according to the outlet.

Mr Culver II claims in his complaint that when he was travelling to the familys new residence in Florida, he received a call from the social worker, who told him he would never see his children again.

In the lawsuit, he also claims that Ms Garza followed him repeatedly and called him 30 times in one day after he refused to give his children to her.

Mr Culver II added: I did make a report to the State of Ohio about her and to one of her supervisors and one to the courts and no one sounded interested in talking to her about it.

She also followed me to stores, to work, called my clients and told them false statements about me, as my clients would state, according to the Blade.

He is asking for $25,000 (20,453) in damages for physical and emotional distress.

Read more

Coronavirus: Ohio governor says schools may not open again this year
Congratulations, yashodahospitals.com got a very good Social Media Impact Score! Show it by adding this HTML code on your site:

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yashodahospitals.com is very popular in Facebook and Stumble Upon. It is liked by 18 people on Facebook, it has 3 twitter shares, it has 28 twitter followers and it has 1 google+ shares. Furthermore its facebook page has 945 likes.

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FACEBOOK PAGE LINK FOUND FACEBOOK PAGE www.facebook.com/YashodaHospital DESCRIPTION wards': 'Yashoda Hospitals is certified by ISO 9001:2000 LIKES 945 PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT 55 PAGE TYPE Health/medical/pharmaceuticals TIMELINE PAGE TIMELINE

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TWITTER PAGE LINK FOUND TWITTER PAGE twitter.com/#!/BrandYashoda DESCRIPTION ACCOUNT CREATED ON 09 Jul 2011 LOCATION Hyderabad TWEETS 46 FOLLOWERS 28 LISTED 0
Gov. Charlie Baker held firm on his timeline for when he learned about the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home, following a WBUR report suggesting one of his top officials may have known about the cases and deaths up to 24 hours earlier.

When asked if he still stuck to the timeline that he and other state officials first learned about the situation the night of March 29, a Sunday, Baker said, yeah, I do after touring the Greater Boston Food Bank Thursday afternoon.

Baker said the independent review led by Mark Pearlstein, a former prosecutor appointed to conduct an investigation, is nearing completion.

Im not going to comment on it beyond that before the report comes out because, in the end, I think thats going to be a far more comprehensive of what took place than sort of the bits and bites," the Republican governor said.

Brenda Rodrigues, president of SEIU Local 888, shared emails and call logs with WBUR showing she reached out to Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders after learning about the outbreak in the veterans home.

Call logs provided to WBUR show Sudders called Rodrigues back a half hour after she sent an email about the matter. They spoke for two minutes before the call was disconnected, but Rodrigues told WBUR that Sudders called her back immediately and spoke for nearly five minutes.

Soldiers Home in Holyoke Superintendent Bennett Walsh, who was suspended after state officials intervened, shared emails through his attorney last month showing he notified several Baker administration officials about the outbreak as early as March 22 after the first veteran resident tested positive. He said he reached out to Veterans Services secretary Francisco Urena; his chief of staff Paul J. Moran; Executive Office of Health and Human Services deputy secretary Daniel Tsai; Catherine Mick, undersecretary of the same office; and others that week leading up to the state intervention.

Walsh had initially been the subject of criticism as news spread that at least 11 veteran residents who tested positive for the coronavirus died in the Western Massachusetts facility. Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse texted Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito the night of March 29 informing her of the situation, raising concerns that management did not show a sense of urgency, according to records obtained by the Springfield Republican / MassLive.

Since then, 76 veterans living at the home have died after testing positive for COVID-19, and another 75 residents have tested positive.

Pearlsteins probe has become one of several investigation launched by state and federal officials to determine what led to the swift spread of COVID-19 and how various officials responded. Baker said last month that Pearlsteins report would soon be finished and released.

Related Content:
Minister stressed the need to consolidate efforts to prepare an ambitious Joint Declaration of the upcoming summit.

Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba has noted that the European Union, within the framework of the Eastern Partnership initiative, should take into account the interests of its Eastern partners, including Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Kuleba held a video conference call with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Ann Linde, MFA Ukraine's press service reports.

On the eve of a video conference of the Eastern Partnership foreign ministers, scheduled for June 11, the interlocutors discussed issues of Sweden's support for Ukraine's European integration aspirations.

Kuleba noted the importance of consolidating efforts to prepare an ambitious Joint Declaration of the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit on the principles of joint ownership and strategic nature of the initiative, taking into account the interests of Eastern partners.

Ukraine's top diplomat briefed his Swedish counterpart on the security situation in the country's temporarily occupied territories, about the developments in the Normandy Four negotiations, and the process of the implementation of Minsk agreements.

Read alsoNo constructiveness on Russia's side to achieve peace in Donbas  FM Kuleba

The foreign minister also noted that the issues of combating armed aggression by the Russian Federation and joint steps to de-occupy Crimea should remain a priority on the OSCE agenda.

"I am convinced that the high level of Swedish diplomacy will effectively and consistently protect the principles and norms that underpin the architecture of European security and the activities of the OSCE during the Swedish chairmanship in 2021," Kuleba emphasized.

In turn, the Swedish foreign minister noted progress in reform implementation in Ukraine, including the adoption of a law on the land market. The entry to the Ukrainian market of major Swedish brands, such as IKEA, is a testament to Ukraine's success on this path.

The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Sweden expressed their intention to deepen economic cooperation between the two countries and make efforts to minimize the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the international economy.

As UNIAN reported earlier, foreign ministers of the six members of the Eastern Partnership and the leadership of the European Union will hold an informal video conference on June 11.

In turn, the leaders of 27 countries  members of the European Union  and six states that are part of the Eastern Partnership will hold a video conference on June 18. At the same time, an in-person meeting of leaders within the summit's framework is scheduled for early 2021.

On April 21, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Eastern Partnership initiative of the European Union should contribute to Ukraine's gradual integration into the EU's internal market.
Press Release

June 11, 2020 De Lima seeks probe on rising number healthcare workers

infected with COVID-19 Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has expressed alarm over the spike in the number of cases involving healthcare workers getting infected with COVID-19 in the country. De Lima filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 442 directing the appropriate Senate committee to investigate the number of infected cases of healthcare workers to implement urgent corrective measures and minimize, if not eliminate, the risk of contracting COVID-19 in the course of the performance of their duties. "While keeping the number of infected cases at bay, the State must also mobilize its resources to strengthen our healthcare system tasked with the most important role of treating those who are infected," she said. On May 18, the number of healthcare workers who tested positive for the coronavirus rose to 2,314 from 1, 886 last May 7, with majority of infections reportedly seen in nurses and physicians. Last June 2, or a day after easing the lockdown measures in Metro Manila by placing it under a General Community Quarantine (GCQ), the Alliance of Healthcare Workers expressed fears that more healthcare workers may resign because health authorities fail to address the ever rising number of COVID-19 infected healthcare workers. Roughly two months prior, it can be recalled that the Filipino Nurses United lambasted Department of Health (DOH) Sec. Francisco Duque III for blaming the medical workers for their alleged bad habits in handling their PPEs as the reason why most of them get infected with COVID-19. The group of nurses argued that the inadequacy of PPE and long hours of duty without breaks have compromised their safety and health, making them much more vulnerable to COVID-19. De Lima said the sheer disregard for the situation and state of healthcare workers in the country and the continued complaints of the slow response of the government to the current public health crisis should not be tolerated and be appropriately addressed by the government by implementing immediate corrective measures and holding those responsible accountable. "The invaluable service and heroism of healthcare workers especially during a time where the risks that they are being exposed to are exponentially greater, should not be disregarded, but instead recognized by ensuring that their health and lives are likewise prioritized and protected," she said.
You know, psychiatric centers cant hold the patients. So we put them on the street. Call the police to deal with it, Anderson explained, as a couple of officers in the chain of men beside him nodded their helmet-heads in agreement. Theres a drug issue . . . police are called to assist with that drug issue. The community has allowed that. The community is not saying, Wait a minute, we cant put all this on police. 
The race relations crisis is changing how the world sees America, according to Japan's richest man.

"The very image of America is breaking," Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing, told CNN Business in an exclusive interview. "I truly hope that this will have a positive impact in the long term, just like the Civil Rights Movement."

Yanai, 71, is Japan's biggest billionaire and one of the world's wealthiest people. As the largest shareholder of Fast Retailing, Asia's biggest clothing retailer, his estimated net worth is about $31.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.

In recent weeks, the company's operations in US cities such as New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles have all been "hit hard" as protests erupt nationwide over the death of George Floyd, said Yanai.

"It shows just how devastated the US spirit is. The political situation is untenable. It's not working," he added. "There needs to be a stronger desire to take positive civic action when there are social problems. It's wrong to keep ignoring them like some are now."

Like many other companies, Fast Retailing is also using the ongoing crisis, as well as the coronavirus pandemic, as "a catalyst for change," the CEO said.

"What's essential? What's non-essential? Why are we in business? We're being asked these fundamental questions," he noted. "As a company, we are asking ourselves why we exist."
Thumbs up to the Williamson County Board passing two agreements related to building a casino and resort at Walkers Bluff. The first agreement spells out the details of the development of the casino resort and lists the parties involved in the development, which is required to be filed with the Illinois Gaming Commission. The second has to do with a road that needs to be built into Walkers Bluff property in order for the addition of a casino and resort to happen. The road project, which is estimated at $10 million, will be funded through gaming revenues Williamson County will receive, and not through the county general fund or taxpayer dollars. This comes at a time we need the revenue in the county. Its a good day for Williamson County, said County Board Chairman Jim Marlo. We couldnt agree more, and cant wait to see this project begin for Southern Illinois.

Thumbs up to the Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation and its COVID-19 Relief Fund grants. The foundation created the SIH COVID-19 Relief Fund to help during the pandemic, because, according to SIH System Director for Community Health Angie Bailey, unemployment, poverty, food insecurity, access to care issues, transportation and financial barriers adversely affect the health of people in Southern Illinois. We started the fund in mid-March when we recognized the devastating impact of COVID-19 on our community, SIH Foundation Director Jill Gobert said. There were a total of 18 agencies in the lower 16 counties that received funding in the first round of application review. Each agency will receive $1,000 to address social determinants of health and other COVID-19 related needs. The application period is open for the second round of grants, and will be accepted through June 26.

Thumbs up to Carbondale native Courtlin Jabrae, who, through his music, is trying to do more for his community. I need to get more involved in my community. Lets do more for Carbondale, Jabrae said in a story this week in The Southern. Jabrae, who has been making music since he went to Carbondale Community High School more than a decade ago, has received attention from BET as well as Vibe Magazine for his music. Jabrae has been releasing new songs and videos every week as part of his Jabrae Monday series. He described them as weekly check-ins with whats been on his mind. This past week, Jabrae released a remix of Kendrick Lamars Alright, which which became a protest anthem in the wake of Michael Browns 2014 death in Ferguson, Missouri. The week before, Jabrae did a remix of Eminems Stan, but, instead of the narrative following a fan writing to his favorite rapper, its Jabrae writing letters to the police.

Thumbs down to the fact that Southern Illinois Power Cooperative plans to retire its largest coal-fired generator on Lake of Egypt as early as this fall. The move is expected to save $125 million over a decade, but 26 of the plants 82 employees are expected to face layoffs. It was  and is  a difficult decision. But my responsibility is to ensure the long-term viability of SIPC to benefit our member-owners, which ultimately benefit those 80,000 members. And the savings of $125 million over the next 10 years is significant and important to those 80,000 members, said President and CEO Don Gulley. Its never an easy decision to lay off workers, and we hate to see it happen, especially at a time when so many people are without work.

Thumbs up to the fact that Illinois is on pace to enter the next phase of reopening later this month. Gov. J.B. Pritzker made the announcement Wednesday, and added that he doesnt expect a second surge of the virus in the fall as long as safety guidelines are followed. If you go to the (Illinois Department of Public Health) website you'll see that every one of the metrics, every one of the metrics by which the epidemiologists say we should be measuring our progress is going in the right direction. Every one of them, and it's because of what everybody has done across the state, he said. And, hes right. If we can keep following the rules best we can, well stay on track. Were doing our part, and it looks like we can see light at the end of the tunnel.

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The global aircraft health monitoring system market size is anticipated to reach USD 7.55 billion by 2026, according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, the hardware segment dominated the global aircraft health monitoring system (AHMS) industry, in terms of revenue. North America accounted for the majority share in the global market in 2017.

The increasing government regulations regarding safety, along with growing instances of aviation accidents majorly drive the market growth. The increasing volume of air traffic and rising safety concerns, especially from the defense sector, have increased the demand for real-time fault management, predictive maintenance, performance monitoring, thereby supporting the growth of Aircraft health monitoring system industry. Other factors driving the market growth include growing adoption of connected aircraft solutions, growing need of automation and reduction in operation costs, technological advancements, and increasing adoption of IOT. New emerging markets, upgradation and replacement of old aircraft with new generation aircrafts, and significant investments in research and development would provide numerous growth opportunities in the aircraft health monitoring system industry during the forecast period.

The aircraft health monitoring system is a collection of various tools and techniques which work together to monitor the lifecycle of the aircraft parts. This technology is also able to predict when a particular part or process might fail. Over-heating of engines, high vibrations, low oil pressure, hard landings are some examples of situations that require investigation and attendance. The technology enables proactive maintenance of the aircraft along with its engine and other intricate parts.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/aircraft-health-monitoring-systems-market/request-for-sample

North America is expected to dominate the global Aircraft health monitoring system market during the forecast period. This is due to rising number of commercial aircrafts and increasing air traffic in the region. Increasing safety concerns, and growing demand for safe travel experience boosts the aircraft health monitoring system industry growth in the region. Presence of global players in this region taps market potential and boosts the market growth. Increasing technological advancements and significant investments in research and development for development of advanced aircraft health monitoring solutions support the market growth in this region. The government regulations regarding aircraft safety, increasing adoption of connected aircraft solutions, and upgradation of old aircrafts further supports aircraft health monitoring solutions market growth.

The well-known companies profiled in the aircraft health monitoring systems report include Rolls-Royce plc, Airbus S.A.S., Rockwell Collins, Ultra Electronics Holdings PLC, Boeing Company, Honeywell International Inc., General Electric Company, RSL Electronics Ltd., Meggitt PLC, and Lufthansa Technik. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

Polaris Market Research has segmented the global Aircraft Health Monitoring System market on the basis of source, functionality, application, distribution channel and region:

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/aircraft-health-monitoring-systems-market

Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems Technology Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015  2026)

Detection

Diagnostics

Prognostics

Adaptive Control

Others

Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems End User Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015  2026)

Commercial

Defense

Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015  2026)

North America U.S. Canada

Europe Germany UK France Italy Spain Belgium Russia Netherlands Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific China India Japan Korea Singapore Malaysia Indonesia Thailand Philippines Rest of Asia-Pacific

Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Rest of LATAM

Middle East & Africa UAE Saudi Arabia South Africa Rest of MEA



Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/aircraft-health-monitoring-systems-market/request-for-discount-pricing

About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world.

Contact us-

Polaris Market Research

Phone: 1-646-568-9980

Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com

Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com
On May 20, the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled against unionized retirees from the Stadacona pulp and paper mill in Quebec City, which is owned by White Birch Paper. The Court rejected the retirees request for compensation from their former union, Unifor, for conspiring with the company behind their backs between 2010 and 2015 in a corporate restructuring that led to the liquidation of their pension fund.

The ruling represents the culmination of nearly a decade in which the courts provided pseudo-legal cover for White Birchs brutal assault on the workers. Conducted with the full complicity of Unifor, this assault is part of a big business drive to gut worker pension plans in Quebec, the rest of Canada and internationally.

In its decision, the Court of Appeal ignored or distorted facts to make a political judgment aimed at protecting the union bureaucracy from a growing sentiment of opposition, even rebellion, among rank-and-file workers.

White Birch's Stadacona pulp and paper mill in Quebec City's Limoilou district during its temporary closure in 2012

This judgment was made under conditions of an immense health and socio-economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the criminal negligence of capitalist governments around the world, including that of Francois Legault in Quebec and the federal Liberal government of Justin Trudeau in Ottawa.

With millions of Canadians having lost their jobs since March, the ruling class fears a social explosion. It depends more than ever on the pro-capitalist unions to contain and stifle working class anger and opposition. The ruling in defense of Unifor is the legal expression of this political alliance.

Stadacona is a newsprint and cardboard factory that has been in existence since 1927. In 2004, the mill was bought by White Birch Paper, a company controlled by multimillionaire Peter Brant (whose personal fortune was estimated at between US$500 million and US$800 million in 2010).

The transaction took place in the context of a global crisis in the pulp and paper industry. The rapid development of the Internet in the early 2000s led to a massive decrease in the circulation of printed newspapers and magazines and, therefore, in the demand for paper. This technological revolution, combined with the deepening of the global crisis of capitalism, particularly after the financial collapse of 2008, led to a wave of closures of pulp and paper mills and plants and massive jobs cuts.

In eastern Canada, about 43,000 jobs were lost in this sector between 2003 and 2017, or almost 45 percent of the workforce. Immediately following the purchase of Stadacona in 2004, White Birch made significant job cuts. Between 2004 and 2010, the number of employees at the plant fell from 1014 to 585.

However, job cuts are no longer enough for the ruling class. In a context of fierce international competition and declining profit rates, it demands ever-higher returns on investments requiring ever-deeper attacks on working conditions. These include the reopening of collective agreements and the destruction of existing pension plans.

Workers protesting outside White Birchs Quebec City Stadacona plant in March 2012 (credit: Karl Tremblay)

In the case of White Birch, a court-supervised restructuring was to provide the opportunity to take these steps from 2010 onwards. At the time, the company owned three paper mills in Quebec and one in the United States.

The employees pension funds, which had been heavily in deficit due to the companys failure to pay into them for several years, were immediately targeted.

In September 2010, the courts authorized an offer to buy White Birchs assets by a combination of its main creditors, the Black Diamond investment fund and Credit Suisse, and a new iteration of White Birch still controlled by Peter Brant. The new entity would be named BD White Birch (BDWB).

The $90 million BDWB bid was well below the market value of White Birch, which was valued at $200 million or more, and it was subject to several draconian conditions. New collective agreements had to be imposed; the workers defined-benefit pension plans had to be replaced by target-benefit or defined-contribution pension plans (whose benefits could decline with fluctuations in the financial markets); and the company had to be released from accumulated pension liabilities. Otherwise the transaction would not go ahead.

At the time of the restructuring, employees at the Stadacona plant were represented by four local unions, all affiliated with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP), which was to become Unifor after its merger in 2013 with the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers).

CEP/Unifor (to be referred to as Unifor in what follows) supported an aggressive company campaign to impose a major assault on jobs, wages and pensions, despite strong opposition from rank-and-file workers.

The Court of Appeal reported that in April 2011, the Quebec director of Unifor was summoned to Ottawa by its national director for a meeting attended by the principal executive of BD White Birch, Christopher Brant, son of Peter Brant. In collusion with Unifor, Brant demanded the winding-up of the defined-benefit pension plans in exchange for the payment of approximately $50 million into the new target benefit plans. The pension funds then had an accumulated deficit of about $250 million.

This was followed by a series of actions aimed at breaking the resistance of workers at Stadacona and other BD White Birch plants, who on several occasions had overwhelmingly rejected the sellout contracts that the union had brought before them for their vote.

In October 2011, BD White Birch temporarily closed the Stadacona plant in an attempt to blackmail the workers. In January 2012, BDWB announced the permanent closure of the plant, which was only averted by $35 million in financial assistance from the Quebec government. In February 2012, the company arranged with the unions to conduct separate negotiations for each of the three Quebec plants, a tactic that led to concession agreements at the other two plants.

Divided, exhausted and disorganized by Unifor, the Stadacona workers finally accepted BDWBs offer on March 24, 2012. The offer called for BD White Birch to pay a meagre $35 million into the new pension funds. Between the acceptance of this offer in March 2012 and its implementation in 2015, the company, with the full cooperation of Unifor, continued to put pressure on the workers to reduce its contribution. Following the final agreement reached with the union, BDWB contributed around $29.5 million to the new target benefit pension plans.

The White Birch restructuring has been a disaster for the Stadacona workers: 200 more jobs lost (just over 300 workers remain at the plant today), a 10 percent wage reduction, cuts in vacation and group insurance, and the liquidation of the old pension plans. Some workers have suffered losses estimated at $250,000 due to changes in their collective agreements. The situation is equally dire for retirees: unionized retirees have lost about 25 percent of their pensions and non-unionized retirees 47 percent.

Denied the right to vote on BD White Birchs final offer, the unionized retirees decided to take Unifor to court. They could not sue BDWB because, in a final act of betrayal, Unifor manoeuvred management and the courts to force all retirees to sign a full and final release of all claims against the company.

In 2018, the Quebec Superior Court recognized that Unifor had committed gross negligence towards the Stadacona pensioners and had breached its duty of representation by not consulting the pensioners regarding BDWBs offers. Despite this, the judge refused to order Unifor to compensate the retired workers, on the spurious ground that there was no causal link between the unions negligence and the loss suffered by the plaintiffs.

In its May 20 judgment, the Court of Appeal not only upheld the trial judges conclusion, but also reversed its decision on Unifors negligence. The Court of Appeal substituted its own politically biased and factually incorrect analysis of the evidence to rule that Unifor had not failed to consult or inform the plaintiffs and was not even under a legal obligation to do so.

Lessons must be learned from the bitter experience of the workers and retirees at the Stadacona pulp and paper mill. In its struggle to defend jobs and pensions, the working class faces the ferocity of big business, the complicity of the judiciary as an arm of the capitalist state, and the perfidy of the union bureaucracy.

It is not by turning to the courts that working people will be able to oppose the corporate onslaught and settle their accounts with the agents of big business in the union bureaucracy. Rather, they must build new organizations of strugglerank-and-file committees, completely independent of the pro-capitalist unions, that will mobilize the full social power of the working class to defend its social rights.

Such a struggle must be based on an internationalist perspective, in order to forge the unity of workers across national borders against transnational companies that are constantly seeking, with the help of the nationalist trade unions, to pit workers against each other.

It must be combined with the independent political mobilization of the working class on the basis of a socialist programthat is, the fight for a workers government that will radically reorganize the economy so as to make meeting the social needs of the population, not enriching a tiny cabal of investors, its organizing principle.
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Linkedin Kirsty Needham (Reuters) Sydney, Australia  Thu, June 11, 2020 10:00 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddcdd5f 2 World Australia,China,bilateral-spat,Scott-Morrison,bilateral-trade Free

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he would not be intimidated or give into coercion when asked on Thursday whether Australia would keep taking hits on exports from major trading partner China.

Diplomatic tensions between China and Australia have worsened after Australia called for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the coronavirus, angering Beijing.

The World Health Assembly last month voted to support an independent review into the pandemic after Australia and the European Union led lobbying.

On Tuesday, China's Ministry of Education said students should reconsider choosing to study in Australia, threatening Australia's fourth-largest export industry, international education, worth A$38 billion ($26 billion) annually.

"We are an open-trading nation, mate, but I'm never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes," Morrison told radio station 2GB on Thursday.

China has in recent weeks banned Australian beef imports and imposed tariffs on Australian barley.

The warning for students followed a similar warning last week from Beijing for Chinese tourists to avoid Australia.

In both cases, officials in Beijing said the warnings were due to racist attacks against Asians during the pandemic.

"That's rubbish. It's a ridiculous assertion and it's rejected. That's not a statement that's been made by the Chinese leadership," Morrison said in a separate interview on 3AW.

Australia lodged a protest with the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing, and the Chinese embassy in Canberra, about China's travel and student warnings, said a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The Australian government rejected the assertion it was unsafe to visit or study in Australia, a statement said.

"Australia provides the best education and tourism products in the world," Morrison told 2GB. "The ability for Chinese nationals to be able to choose to come to Australia [has] substantively been their decision. And I'm very confident in the attractiveness of our product."

The coalition representing Australia's elite universities, the Group of Eight, has said international education was "being used as a political pawn". China is Australia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth A$235 billion a year.
Demonstrators cross the Brooklyn Bridge on June 4, 2020. Justin Heiman | Getty Images

Corporate America has joined protesters in condemning the death of George Floyd at the hands of police and calling for action to confront racial injustices and racial inequalities in the United States. "There are in fact barriers that are faced by African Americans even though we don't have laws that separate people on the basis of race anymore. We still have customs. We still have beliefs. We still have policies. We have practices that lead to inequity," Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Data collected through surveys show how far companies need to come to be representative of the makeup of society at large, and before salaries are comparable across categories like race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. As a black man leading one of the nation's biggest companies, Frazier said on June 1, "Businesses have to use every instrument at their disposal to reduce these barriers that existed." The shocking video of Floyd laying on the ground during a Memorial Day arrest with a white Minneapolis police officer's knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes sparked police-reform and anti-racism demonstrations across the nation. "What the African American community sees in that videotape is that this African American man, who could be me or any other African American man, is being treated as less than human," Frazier said. Citigroup Vice Chairman Ray McGuire on "Squawk Box" on June 3 echoed Frazier's experiences. He said his 7-year-old son asked his wife about the video, saying, "'Mommy, is he going to do that to me? And Mommy, will he do that to you? Will he do that to Papa?'" McGuire, who is black and is chairman of Citigroup's banking, capital markets and advisory business, said Floyd is now part of the "innocent dead, from Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin to Ahmaud Arbery to Breonna Taylor to Eric Garner." McGuire said corporate America needs to have courage in the months and years ahead. He said charitable giving and statements alone "do not begin to get to the systemic racism." "We need to have the conviction to change the mindset," he said. As companies look to be part of the solution, former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns said business leaders can look internally to create change by diversifying their boards and being "affirmative" in their hiring practices. Burns, the first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company and now an Uber board member, told CNBC's "Closing Bell" on June 3: "Businesses leaders have to start to lead. What has happened in the past, they've trailed." Here are specific plans that U.S. business leaders offered in recent days to address racial inequality in the country.

'Time to put up the money,' BofA CEO says

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told CNBC the company was "doubling down" on its work to address racial inequality with a $1 billion commitment over four years to help communities, particularly those that also have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. "The reason for now is you're seeing two things come together. One is the long-held issues about opportunity and economic mobility and things that just have to be solved faster in this country," Moynihan said June 3 on "Squawk Box." "On the other side, you see a health-care crisis that affects those communities in a more adverse way than it's affecting the broader society. And we thought, instead of just talking, it's time to put up the money." Moynihan said the new pledge will build off BofA's existing programs and efforts. He singled out the following areas: health care that focuses on the Covid-19 crisis, housing, job skills and training, and support to minority-owned small businesses. For example, he noted that the bank already does $5 billion annually in financing for housing in low- and moderate-income communities. "The difference with this, in housing specifically, is there's money that's needed that's more of the equity, the harder money to find," Moynihan said. "There's a large infrastructure that builds housing, developers and other types of things, but the question is where do you get the equity? And sometimes where do you get the seed money and the expertise money? And that's what we'll be thinking about in housing."

'The Jordan Brand is us, the Black Community'

Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan responds to a question during a 2014 news conference at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C. Jeff Siner | Charlotte Observer | Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Michael Jordan and his company, Jordan Brand, have pledged $100 million over the next decade to groups working to end racial inequality. "The Jordan Brand is us, the Black Community," the company said. "Until the ingrained racism that allows our country's institutions to fail is completely eradicated, we will remain committed to protecting and improving the lives of Black people." Nike, which produces the Jordan Brand, has also announced a $40 million pledge to support black communities. In a memo to employees promising internal improvement on diversity, CEO John Donahoe said, "Nike needs to be better than society as a whole." "While we have made some progress over the past couple of years, we have a long way to go," he wrote.

PwC U.S. commits to transparency

Tim Ryan, the U.S. chair of financial services giant PwC, told CNBC he's heard from thousands of employees in the days following Floyd's death in late May. And employee input is an essential piece of PwC U.S.'s plan to combat racism, Ryan said. "They want a heck of a lot more than just saying, 'We condemn the killing of George Floyd or many others,'" Ryan said June 4 on "Closing Bell." Among the initial components of the PwC U.S. plan are a two-year fellowship program for some employees to work on policy issues that combat racial injustice and discrimination, and one week of paid time for its 55,000 employees each year to volunteer at nonprofits. A newly created diversity and inclusion advisory committee will have employees from all levels of the company. The committee will help establish the firm's larger strategy to combat racial inequality, Ryan said. Ryan added that PwC is committed to transparency around its diversity goals, sharing annually its progress that will include "the good and the bad and room for improvement." The business community and U.S. policymakers will have to work together to address racial inequality, which is part of why the company established its two-year fellowship program, Ryan said. "I'm proud about how our country is rallying now, but what we really need is a sustainable solution, and that is going to take business and government working together," he said.

Comcast to put 'words into ... sustainable action,' CEO says

Brian Roberts, CEO, Comcast David A. Grogan | CNBC

Comcast, parent company of NBCUniversal, has pledged $100 million over three years to fight injustice and inequality, CEO Brian Roberts wrote this week in an email to employees. Among Comcast's plans for the money: grants to organizations such as the Equal Justice Initiative and support to small businesses impacted by the pandemic, especially those owned by people of color. Internally, Roberts said the company will accelerate efforts on diversity and inclusion that includes bolstering its recruiting strategy. "While we recognize we don't have all the answers, we agree it's time that we start putting our words into real, sustainable action," Roberts said.

Walmart is seeking 'lasting change'

Walmart is investing $100 million over five years to create a new center on racial equity, CEO Doug McMillon said Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box." McMillon said the retailer's work will be concentrated in four areas: financial, health care, criminal justice and education. "To me, this all boils down to we've been wanting to do good work and we've been making progress, but we now have this moment here where everyone's attention is on these issues," said McMillon, who also is chairman of the Business Roundtable, which advocates for business-friendly policies. "We'd like to surge within Walmart, and more broadly, in a way that results in lasting change." McMillon said Walmart will be deploying its $100 million through grants at the community level. Two goals, for example, will be increasing access to capital and education. "We need to do everything we can do to help make the educational system in every community around the country more successful and more effective," he said.

KFC owner Yum Brands supports Louisville organizations

David Gibbs Stefanie Smith | CNBC

Yum Brands, whose holdings include KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, pledged $3 million to organizations such as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU, as well as social justice nonprofits in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is headquartered in Louisville, where 26-year-old black medical worker Breonna Taylor was shot to death in March in her apartment by police executing a no-knock warrant in a drug investigation. "The last few weeks have taught us that what we, as individuals and a community, choose to do at this time will define the world in which we live," CEO David Gibbs wrote in a LinkedIn post. Yum Brands, he said, is working to "be a force for positive change."

J&J pursues 'a better understanding' of injustice

Johnson & Johnson had already undertaken a more than $50 million effort to understand the racial disparities in health outcomes that have been crystallized by the Covid-19 outbreak, CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC on June 3. And now the pharmaceutical company is adding $10 million over the next three years focused on racial equity, he said on "Squawk Box." For example, Gorsky said, J&J will be working with the National Museum of African American History and Culture on its educational programs about the history of racism in the U.S. Gorsky, who is white, said it is important within J&J and the U.S. to "have these discussions and come to a better understanding" of racial injustice in the country. He also urged white men to do "more listening." "There's no way you can just move through a checklist without, I think, demonstrating empathy and an understanding of some of the deep-seated nature and experiences the [black] community has had and is currently experiencing."

Compass puts diversity standard on advisors
Johnny 'JJ' Baldwin, 24, drowned in the Tims Ford Boiling Fork Creek last Thursday as four officers watched on

Shocking video shows cops calling a drowning man a 'dumb ass' as he begs them to come to his rescue.

Johnny 'JJ' Baldwin, 24, died after wading into a river in Winchester, Tennessee in front of the four police officers last Thursday.

Baldwin had fled from his car on foot after being pulled over by the cops for a minor traffic violation, according to WKRN.

He ended up in Tims Ford Boiling Fork Creek, where he was swept away from dry land while the cops watched on.

Footage recorded on the officers' bodycams shows Baldwin begging for help at least three separate times.

'Then swim. Your dumb a** jumped in the river,' one officer replies in the video.

Another policeman can be seen contemplating jumping in to help rescue Baldwin, before a separate officer states: 'No, don't go in there with him, he's going to pull you down.'

After one of the cops noted that Baldwin had disappeared below the surface, the same cop claims: 'He's doing it on purpose'.

Baldwin's lifeless body was later pulled from the water.

Baldwin had reportedly fled from his car on foot after being pulled over by the cops for a minor traffic violation

The local police chief claims it was too dark for the officers - who were not trained in water rescue- to wade into the creek and help Baldwin

Winchester Police Chief Richard Lewis told ABC News that his officers made 'the right decision' by not going into the creek to rescue the victim.

Lewis said it was dark and therefore unclear how deep the water was. He believes it could have been a double tragedy if one of his policemen waded into the water.

'We are not trained in water rescue - we do not possess the gear to do that... You've got to have a flotation device tied off somewhere to the bank where they can rescue you if something happens,' he stated.

Officers had already called for back-up and a dive team were en route to the scene as Baldwin drowned.

But the bodycam footage has left Baldwin's family members livid.

Baldwin's cousin, Destiny, told ABC News that the footage 'sent straight anger through me'.

She and other relatives are calling for the cops to be fired, and they are hoping to press charges.

Baldwin's family have been left outraged by his tragic death, and are calling on the officers who watched him drown to be both fired and prosecuted

Meanwhile, GWC Injury Lawyers are currently investigating 'the facts and circumstances' surrounding Baldwin's death.

In an initial statement, the law firm offered a scathing assessment of the bodycam footage.

'While the investigation is in its early stages, the police body camera video shared on social media depicting Johnny's death is nothing short of revolting in its display of utter indifference on the part of these officers to the plight of a drowning man.'

Company attorney Lance Northcutt is quoted in the statement: 'What you hear on the video isnt the voice of fear from a frightened police officer. You hear childish taunting and ridicule.

'You don't stand idly by and mock a dying man because you are afraid, you do it because you are so unmoored from that person's basic humanity that you don't care enough to act... They made a calculated decision to let him die.'

Baldwin, who was a native of Chicago, will be laid to rest in Illinois next week.
By late April, it was clear to meatpacking workers at a Smithfield Foods plant in Missouri that their employer was putting their lives in danger. Smithfields workers were forced to come into the cramped planteven after at least eight workers showed COVID-19 symptomswhere they had no personal protective equipment, faced retaliation if they took sick leave, couldnt socially distance, and couldnt even cover their mouths to cough. Workers were forced to go hours without washing their hands and stand nearly shoulder to shoulder. Meanwhile, workers in the plant were hearing alarming reports of outbreaks at other meatpacking plants from Minnesota to Illinois.

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Smithfield didnt institute protective measures until after workers finally sued the meatpacking plant to demand a safe workplace. Those protections may have come too late for some. Thousands of meatpacking plant workers across the country have now tested positive, and at least 63 have died. But Senate Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it nearly impossible to make Smithfield and other companies pay workers damages for knowingly exposing workers.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellfollowing a lobbying offensive by the U.S. Chamber of Commercerecently announced that Senate Republicans top COVID-19 response priority is sweeping corporate immunity legislation that would make it nearly impossible to sue corporations for COVID-19-related legal claims by workers, consumers, or patients. Corporate immunity could give employers a free pass to flout worker safety laws, recklessly expose consumers to the virus, or ignore Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on stopping the spread of the coronavirus. On top of that, corporate special interests are also lobbying to get legal immunity from a wide range of critical worker protections, from minimum wage to disability rights laws. In other words, Senate Republicans are giving corporations a license to put workers and customers lives at risk.

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McConnell says hes concerned about a second pandemic of lawsuits against companies that gamble with workers and customers safety. But theres no evidence this is going to happennot least because workers already face steep barriers to sue their employers over workplace safety issues. As the real pandemic has killed more than 100,000 Americans and gotten tens of thousands of front-line workers sick, House Democrats voted earlier this month to invest in testing and contact tracing, establish worker safety standards, and provide hazard pay to essential workers. But Senate Republicans have refused to act on these measures. Instead, Mitch McConnell is holding further relief hostage unless Democrats agree to his sweeping, unprecedented corporate immunity demand. Senate Republicans arent just leaving the American people with inadequate protections from this deadly disease: They want to ensure that if we get sick because of their negligence, we will have no recourse.

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And there is plenty of evidence that corporations are already gambling with workers lives. Another Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, became the countrys biggest COVID-19 outbreak, with more than 640 cases before it finally shut downbut not before a company spokesperson tried to pin the blame for the outbreak on the large immigrant population. At a third meatpacking plant, management threatened to suspend workers who wore masks and refused to shut down for cleaning until the local press started calling them out.

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Most of these workers live paycheck to paycheck. The average meatpacking worker makes just $28,450 a year. These workers have no choice but to continue to show up every single day and put their lives on the line to support their families. But more than 18,000 meatpacking workers, who are disproportionately likely to be Black, brown, or immigrantshave tested positive for COVID-19 because the industry refused to take basic steps to protect workers. Kim Cordova, who leads a local union representing many meatpacking workers, told the Hill, any attempt to shield companies from liability is a potential death sentence for front-line essential workersputting all Americans at risk in the long term.

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And its not just meatpacking plants. Nearly half of the workers at retail stores, grocery stores, or coffee shops report that their employers dont provide gloves. Worse still, because of our nations long history of systemic racism, meatpacking, retail, restaurant, and food service workers are disproportionately Black, Latinx, and indigenous people. Dangerous workplaces, alongside health care discrimination and environmental racism, are driving staggering disparities in deaths between Black and white Americans. Data from 40 states and D.C. shows that Black people in America are more than twice as likely as white people to die of COVID-19and in some states, the gap is even greater. Thats a consequence of systemic racism, deeply rooted in a racist economic system in which 80 percent of Black workers cant work from home; Black workers are disproportionately likely to work in industries that are putting workers lives at risk; and a deep racial wealth gap means that Black workers are far less likely to have the resources to safely stay home.

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Less than a quarter of workers at Chipotle or Burger King say masks are required in the workplace or made available to workers. Less than 1 in 10 of workers at Walmart, the largest private employer of Black workers in America, could say the same. COVID-19 outbreaks have flared up at Amazon warehouses across the country, whose workers are disproportionately likely to be Black, as the retail company refused to temporarily close warehouses for sanitization after workers tested positive. At least eight Amazon workers have diedand the company still refuses to disclose how many workers have tested positive for the coronavirus or died without public reporting. Instead, Amazon executives evoked racist tropes to discredit a Black warehouse worker the company fired for leading a walkout for workplace safety protections. Amazon isnt alone. A recent survey found that Black workers were twice as likely to experience retaliation from employers when they spoke up for worker protections from the pandemic. As people march in streets to affirm that Black Lives Matter, Republicans are trying to give companies a free pass to kill Black and brown workers by negligently exposing them to COVID-19.

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If workers cant go to court, their rights probably wont be enforced at all. Working people have flooded the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration with thousands of COVID-19 safety complaintsfrom shortages of masks and gloves to being prohibited from wearing masks or forced to work within six feet of people who seem sick. But OSHA has, to this day, issued just one citation for safety violations. Lawsuits alone wont protect workers rights. But with no threat of OSHA enforcement and no threat of liability, corporations will have little incentive to take precautions if keeping workers safe costs money. And if corporations expose workers to COVID-19, workers will then expose customers, friends, and family members too, worsening community spread. Under McConnells corporate immunity plan, customers who get COVID-19 because companies cut corners while reopening wont be able to sue either, even if companies break state public health laws or flout CDC guidelines.

Businesses need the right incentives to protect workers from COVID-19. Corporate immunity would give them a free pass to gamble with workers lives.
Seven months ago at a forum in Oswego County, Francis Conole set up what is now his main argument against fellow Democratic congressional candidate Dana Balter  that she couldn't win in 2018 and can't beat Republican U.S. Rep. John Katko in 2020.

Conole, D-Syracuse, has mentioned Balter's 2018 performance in media interviews. His campaign sent a mailer to Democratic voters in the 24th Congressional District that falsely claimed national groups weren't endorsing Balter "because they know she can't win." The same sentence appears on two pages of the mailer: "This time, we can't risk it."

In interviews about her 2018 campaign, Balter, D-Syracuse, says she outperformed other Democratic nominees that ran against Katko. At the Oswego forum in November 2019, she noted that she is 2 1/2 points away from flipping the 24th district seat.

With the first edition of Campaign Context, The Citizen analyzes Balter's 2018 electoral results. Was it as good as Balter says it was? Or does Conole have a point?

2018

A "blue wave" swept across the country. Democrats won 22 of the 25 Republican-held House districts that Hillary Clinton won when she was the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.

The three seats that Republicans retained: Pennsylvania's 1st district, Texas' 23rd district and New York's 24th district. Katko, a Camillus Republican, has represented the 24th since 2015.

The aforementioned mailer sent by Conole's campaign quotes a teacher who commented that Balter "was the only Democrat to lose by more than 5 points in a district that Hillary Clinton won (in 2016)." (Clinton won the district by nearly 4 points in 2016.)

That's true. Katko defeated Balter by five percentage points. In the two other races, Pennsylvania's 1st and the 23rd in Texas, the Republicans won by 2.6 and 0.5 points. But it doesn't tell the whole story of Balter's 2018 electoral performance.

Despite the Democratic gains two years ago, Katko was a strong incumbent. He has been a prodigious fundraiser and he runs on his legislative prowess. He's won awards that recognize his bipartisan approach in Congress. His efforts to author and pass legislation, along with his willingness to work with Democrats, are part of what he pledged to do if elected in 2014  the year he challenged U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, a Democrat, in the 24th district.

Katko won that race by nearly 20 points. He followed that with a 21-point win in his first reelection bid in 2016. Entering 2018, other New York seats were on national Democrats' radar. Largely due to Katko's record and ability to win in the 24th, Democrats in Washington didn't make the race a priority.

That changed in October 2018. Balter announced she raised $1.5 million in a quarter  the most ever by a Syracuse-area congressional candidate. Her fundraising haul drew more attention to the 24th district race. Outside groups chipped in to support a last-ditch attempt to unseat Katko.

Ultimately, Katko survived. He won reelection. In his victory speech on election night, he praised Balter. He hoped that she "doesn't want to run again in two years, because she's tough."

The results

There are two main components when analyzing Balter's 2018 showing: Her head-to-head performance against Katko and how she fared compared to past Democratic nominees.

Balter pulled off a first for a Democrat in three campaigns against Katko: She won a county. She received 90,630 votes to his 86,333 in Onondaga County. When he won in 2014 and 2016, Katko won each of the four counties in the district.

Despite the loss in his home county, Katko won elsewhere. He won nearly identical percentages of the vote  60.44%, 60.78% and 60.47%  in Cayuga, Wayne and the western portion of Oswego County.

Katko received 136,920 votes, the third-highest total ever for a winning candidate in this Syracuse-area congressional district. Balter received 123,226 votes, the most by a losing midterm election candidate in the district's history.

Balter outperformed Katko's two other Democratic opponents in congressional contests. She received 47.37% of the vote compared to Maffei's 40.4% in 2014. She received 42,922 more votes than his total against Katko.

There is a similar story when comparing Balter to Colleen Deacon, who was the Democratic nominee in 2016. Deacon received 119,040 votes in a presidential election year  4,186 fewer than Balter garnered in the last midterm election. Deacon finished with 39.44% of the vote, the worst showing by a Democrat since the 24th district map was redrawn in 2012.

Balter fared better than Deacon and Maffei against Katko in the rural counties. In 2014, Maffei received 37.07% of the vote in Cayuga County, 30.59% in Wayne County and 36.51% in the western part of Oswego County. Deacon netted 33.24% in Cayuga, 31.6% in Wayne and 33.76% in Oswego. Balter's percentages: 39.56% in Cayuga, 39.22% in Wayne and 39.53% in Oswego.

It wasn't enough to beat Katko, but it was better than the GOP congressman's past Democratic foes.

In retrospect

As the primary reveals, Balter has some critics within the Democratic Party. They think Democrats missed an opportunity in 2018 to unseat Katko at a time when a "blue wave" swept the country. Some of the critics believe that Balter is too progressive for the 24th district.

But those arguments don't tell the whole story of what happened in 2018. The 24th district race wasn't a top target like it is two years later. Democrats had a real chance to win the neighboring 22nd Congressional District seat with Anthony Brindisi on the ballot. (They did.) A lot of the national Democrats' energy and money went into that race.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's independent expenditures totaled nearly $2.2 million in the 22nd district race. In the 24th, the total was $0. (House Majority PAC, which is aligned with Democrats, did spend $1.3 million in NY-24. The National Republican Congressional Committee spent $788,086 to oppose Balter, according to campaign finance records.)

It didn't help that Balter had a slow start on the fundraising front. Through March 2018, she raised a paltry $193,345. That paled in comparison to Katko's $1 million campaign war chest. Her fundraising started to improve before the primary and then she had the $1.5 million quarter. The financial figures were a big reason why national Democrats swooped in and persuaded Juanita Perez Williams to force a primary. Balter won the primary by 24 percentage points.

Balter's ideology was an issue in the 2018 campaign. Katko sought to define her as out of touch with the 24th district. He mentioned her stance on Medicare for all and ties to liberal activists. That may have been an effective message, especially in the district's three rural counties where he won by 20 percentage points. It didn't seem to affect her as much in Onondaga County, which she won.

It's true, as Balter says, that she outperformed other Democrats who ran against Katko. She did something they didn't (win a county) and made progress in the three rural counties. As Conole will quickly point out, though, that wasn't enough to win. And he thinks it's Balter who is to blame for the defeat.

Democrats in the 24th district will decide which direction they prefer. Do they think Balter can build on her 2018 performance and erase what's left of Katko's electoral edge to unseat him in November? Or do they think that Conole, the more moderate of the two candidates and a newcomer to politics, is better suited to challenge the GOP congressman?

Primary voters will have their say on June 23.

Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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During the three years of the visa-free regime with the European Union, Ukrainian citizens have made almost 49 million trips to the EU countries.

"Today, exactly three years ago, Ukrainian citizens with biometric passports were granted the right of visa-free travel to the European Union (except Ireland), as well as to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland which are members of the Schengen area but are not the EU members... Since the beginning of the visa-free regime (from June 11, 2017 till April 2020), Ukrainians have made a total of almost 49 million trips to EU countries with both biometric and non-biometric documents," the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine informs on the occasion of the third anniversary of the introduction of visa-free travel.

According to the State Border Guard Service, Ukrainians most often cross the border with Poland. The areas of the border with Hungary and Romania were also active, and to a lesser extent  the border with Slovakia.

As noted, Ukrainians increasingly used air travel, while sea travel was the least popular.

According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the flow of Ukrainians to the EU is growing every year. In particular, in 2018, the number of trips was 17.5 million, and in 2019 it was 18.65 million. The first months of 2020 were no exception, but the situation was affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which is why most countries have restricted entry and scheduled international air service was suspended. According to the analysis, in January and February this year, Ukrainians travelled to the EU 3 million times, while for the same period in 2019  2.3 million times.

"In the second year of visa-free travel, the number of Ukrainians who preferred visa-free travel (exclusively with biometric passports) increased 4.2 times compared to the first year," the State Border Guard Service noted.

As reported, the visa-free agreement between Ukraine and the European Union was signed in Strasbourg on May 17, 2017.

On June 11, 2017, visa-free travel for Ukrainians was launched.

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Google has started rolling out a new AI-powered noise cancellation feature on its video conferencing app to enable users to reduce the background noise significantly. To recall, Google announced this advanced feature in April for G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers. However, according to a report by Venturebeat, the noise-cancellation feature on Google Meet will be rolled out to the web users first, and then to Android and iOS users gradually.

A video produced by Venturebeat revealed that the new noise-cancellation feature quite seamlessly removes the sound of crackling cups, clicking pens, or even glass clinking. Interestingly, Google also mentioned that the new feature will also work on dogs barking or keystrokes when users take notes.

The new noise-cancellation feature will be on by default, and users won't have to turn on the feature beforehand or give any visual indication as such. Having said that, if anyone wishes to turn the feature off, this can be done through the audio menu in the Google Meet settings. Talking about how the feature works, the user's voice is first sent from the device to a Google data center, where it goes through the machine learning model capable of understanding the difference between noise and speech. Once it processes the sound, the voice is re-encrypted and sent back to the Google Meet call.

Although the feature is expected to be rolled out to G Suite users by the end of this month, Google hasn't given an exact timeline for it. But, if reports are to be believed, then the AI-powered noise cancellation feature will be rolled out to a larger group of users over time.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A&E has canceled Live PD, one of the most popular shows on cable, amid the growing movement against police brutality and racial injustice.

This is a critical time in our nations history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD, the network said in a statement to Deadline. Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.

The live show, which followed police officers across the country during a typical night shift in real time, was taken off the air last week out of respect for the family of George Floyd, the network said. But executive producer and host Dan Abrams assured fans on Twitter the show would return. That turned out to be premature.

Shocked & beyond disappointed about this, he tweeted late Wednesday. To the loyal #LivePDNation please know I, we, did everything we could to fight for you, and for our continuing effort at transparency in policing. I was convinced the show would go on.

Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy group, applauded the decision to cancel Live PD.

For years weve demanded networks remove harmful narratives about crime+dishonest depictions of policing on TV, the organization tweeted. If #BlackLivesMatter, prove it. Stop #NormalizingInjustice.

The show made headlines earlier this week when the Austin American-Statesman reported Live PD cameras were recording when Javier Ambler, a 40-year-old black man stopped for failing to dim his high beams, died after being held down and Tasered four times by police in March 2019. The footage never aired and A&E told the newspaper it was destroyed.

As is the case with all footage taken by Live PD producers, we no longer retained the unaired footage after we learned the investigation had concluded, Abrams explained on social media. As with all calls we follow, we are not there to be an arm of the police or law enforcement but rather to chronicle what they do and air some of that footage and our policies were in place to avoid having footage used by law enforcement against private citizens.

The cancellation of Live PD, which averaged about two million viewers per three-hour episode, followed Paramount Networks decision to end "Cops after 32 seasons.
Ontarios plan to reopen child care as early as Friday is half-baked, at best, say advocates and operators who are scrambling to meet new safety guidelines with little advance notice and no assurance of funding to support increased costs.

The government is assuming the nice ladies of child care will just go back to their programs, move some furniture around and make this work the way we always have, said Carolyn Ferns, of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.

But what I am hearing from the sector is different from what I have ever heard before. They are just beside themselves. They say this is insulting. The government is expecting them to do something that is just impossible without proper support.

Premier Doug Ford announced Tuesday that daycares across the province could reopen starting Friday as long as they follow strict safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The protocols, described in guidelines released late Tuesday evening, are similar to those for emergency child-care programs currently operating for front-line workers. They include screening of all staff and children, enhanced cleaning, a ban on visitors, a limit of 10 people  staff and kids  per room, and the removal of all toys that can easily spread germs.

Donna Spreitzer, executive director of Jackman Community Daycare in Torontos Riverdale area, said she was blindsided by the announcement and fears parents have been given a very false sense of hope.

Child-care supervisors are really committed to getting everything up and running ASAP, but parents need to understand  it cannot happen over night, she said Wednesday.

Ontarios current emergency order closing licensed child-care centres doesnt expire until June 19, and for the premier to suggest centres can open a week earlier seems like a political ploy, she said.

Doug Ford wants to look good to parents, she said. To suggest daycares could open in three days makes us look bad if we dont. Shame on him.

In Toronto, for example, the citys emergency child-care programs had two weeks to prepare before opening.

Due to the new smaller group sizes, most daycares likely wont be able to accommodate the same number of children as they did before they closed, advocates noted.

Spreitzer has 104 children from age two-and-a-half to 12 already signed up for care this summer. But with no clear rules on which families to serve first  apart from ministry guidelines that say centres may wish to consider giving priority to essential workers, those who have to work outside the home and children with special circumstances  centres will be forced to ask parents to write letters pleading their case, she said.

What a burden to put on an operator, she said. I can see lawsuits saying we didnt chose this family because of X.

Centres could use a lottery to choose parents, she suggested. But how would that be fair? What about child-care workers who need care themselves before they can return to work? Whose brain child was this?

Operating with fewer children also means less money from parent fees. And yet provincial guidelines say parent fees should remain the same as before the pandemic, Spreitzer added.

She isnt sure how her centre, which operates out of Jackman Ave. Junior Public School, can remain viable without more provincial funding.

It is an unsustainable model without the government stepping in with more fee subsidies, she said. They have been subsidizing every family in emergency child care at 100 per cent until now. I dont know whats changed.

As an example of what Spreitzer is up against, she usually runs two groups of 30 school-age children (ages six to 12) with three staff during the summer months.

Under the new rules, she will be able to provide only two groups of eight children and two staff.

Likewise, her 26-child kindergarten program with three staff will be reduced to just eight kids and two staff. The programs preschool group of 16 will also drop to just eight children and two staff.

Unless she gets permission to open more rooms in the school  assuming there is demand  her program will drop from 104 kids to just 36. While she may be forced to lay off staff  a prospect she dreads  her costs will likely remain almost the same, while her revenue from parent fees will drop by more than 60 per cent.

I know parents cant afford to pay the true cost, Spreitzer said. But who is filling that gap?

During Tuesdays news conference, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said centres can continue to use federal and provincial programs for rent and wage relief and his ministry will help operators on a needs basis to get them through this difficulty for help with things such as additional cleaning staff and personal protective equipment.

Were going to make sure theres flexibility in our support to really respond to challenges today, in the coming quarters, in the coming years, to make sure the sector is viable, (and) the parents can return to work  with confidence that their kids are going to be kept safe.

Parents who choose not to send their children back to daycare wont lose their spots and wont be charged, he added.

A ministry spokesperson was not able to point to new sources of funding for centres beyond Lecces announcement Tuesday.

The only mention of money during the announcement was a $1,000 fine per day for centres that dont follow the new safety protocols, Spreitzer noted.

They never mentioned early childhood educators either, which was disappointing, she said. But we are up to the challenge. Staff are eager to get back to work. We want to open our doors. But it will be several weeks before we can put all the safety measures in place.

These measures include ordering masks, gloves and gowns as well as extra cleaning supplies. Spreitzer has to remove all the plush toys, carpets, wooden blocks, cardboard boxes and other items that cant be sanitized and rent a storage locker at between $400 and $600 a month to store the items.

And all centres have to write policy and procedure documents based on the new guidelines to be approved by the ministry and local public health authorities.

But the biggest thing is to get staff ready and trained and up to date on the policies that havent been even written yet because Ive been waiting to get clarity on many of these things, Spreitzer said.

In addition to the childrens safety, I have to provide a safe workplace, she added. There is a lot on our shoulders. I wish that the premier hadnt given a false sense of hope to families and made it seem we can get this up and running in three days. Because we cant.

Toronto mother Christine Montes has mixed feelings about centres reopening.

On the one hand, working and still being present for my three-year-old has been very difficult over the past few weeks, she said. At the same time, I dont feel that the plan currently on the table by the government is well thought out.

She said while shes hesitant to return my child to daycare under any circumstances, I want some clarity around the potential risks in the decision to reopen and if families are going to have to shoulder a fee hike if operators continue to struggle financially.

Is the (provinces plan) sustainable? she asked. I dont think this is something that is going to go away in the next few months.

Her sons daycare sent out a letter saying costs to run the centre will be three to four times higher under COVID-19 protocols.

It doesnt say parent fees are going to increase  but who is going to incur that cost?

And if federal wage and rent supports end, what is the provinces plan to continue to pay and fund and support whats in place?

She worries that if those questions arent answered, especially around fees, families will make the tough decision for one parent to stay home and that is going to have a huge, disproportionate impact on women.

Former premier and education minister Kathleen Wynne slammed the province for what she called an unrealistic, ill-considered instruction that is bound to fail and said the government should have sought input from child-care providers beforehand.

Providers had expected that they would be given a longer lead time, that their recommendations would have been followed and that the government would have understood that new safety and staffing requirements would mean financial support, said Wynne, MPP for Don Valley West. Instead, they have been told to increase safety and screening protocols, increase staffing, in some cases find additional space without additional funding and within three days.

Wynne also said while the government expects few children to attend, if that is the case, how can businesses actually open without those workers, and how can child cares continue to operate without full enrolment  especially if the government refuses to provide adequate funding for these extraordinary circumstances?

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In the wake of the sensational statement adopted by the European Parliament, President of the Republican Party of Armenia, third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has addressed Donald Tusk with an official letter. This is what Vice-President of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan told 168.am.

Taking into consideration the fact that the Republican Party of Armenia is also a member of the European Peoples Party, and two of the three officials of the European Parliament  Traian Basescu and Zeljana Zovko  are members of the fraction of the European Peoples Party in the European Parliament, today, President of the Republican Party of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan addressed President of the European Peoples Party Donald Tusk with an official letter, he said.

As reported earlier, Members of the European Parliament have issued a joint statement on the construction of a new road between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The following is stated in the statement: This new road infrastructure will connect Kapan, in Armenia, with Hadrut, in Nagorno- Karabakh, passing through the districts of Qubadli and Jabrayil, which are also occupied. As a matter of principle, we support projects that foster regional cooperation, connectivity and people-to-people contacts in the Eastern Neighbourhood. That said, the decision to build this highway has been taken without the consent of the competent authorities of Azerbaijan in violation of international law.
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Sita, the technology provider for the air transport industry, sheds new light on how technology is helping airports and airlines safely resume operations and help implement new hygiene measures to restore passenger confidence after a lengthy shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking after the Aviation Week webinar event, Sebastien Fabre, Vice-President Airline & Airport, Sita said: The past few weeks have seen airlines across the globe tentatively take to the skies. This is reflected in a resumption in activity across our network and improved baggage volumes, up 55 per cent month-on-month in May where volumes were at a record low.

However, Fabre noted that recovery would be slow. Our industry must transform the passenger experience to increase traveller safety while balancing economic pressures from slow customer demand. To successfully walk this tightrope and navigate a return to the skies for viable volumes of passengers, airports and airlines need to assimilate new information from governments and health officials, adapt operations immediately and automate processes permanently.

Sita has introduced solutions that allow passengers to use their mobile device as a remote control for touchpoints such as self-bag drop and check-in kiosks, removing the need to touch any airport equipment. "For example, at San Francisco Airport, we have Sita Flex which enables a full mobile and touchless passenger journey. This means travellers can print bag tags from their mobile phone on self-service bag points, added Fabre.

He noted that technology would be fundamental in helping airlines and airports to be compliant with new and fast-changing regulations to restore passengers confidence in flying. New preventive measures aimed at limiting risk in the airport and onboard will require a new approach to passenger management.

Fabre stated that Sita was rapidly rolling out new solutions that addressed the above challenges, complementing short term hygiene measures such as the use of masks and gloves. These solutions centered on three key areas:

Distancing: Using real-time monitoring technologies along with predictive analytics, Sita can ensure appropriate distancing between passengers at key points across the airport. Predictive analytics will also support more proactive planning. There is also an opportunity to extend the boundaries of the airport where key steps such as check-in and bag drop are managed before arriving at the terminal through a passengers mobile.

Hygiene and Sanitation: Sita is helping reduce the risk of infection by avoiding contact at key touchpoints. Using a combination of biometric and mobile solutions, passengers no longer have to touch a kiosk or surface, managing their journey from their phone.

Health checks: In addition to integrating health or thermal checks into key touchpoints such as check-in kiosks, governments will  by leveraging Sitas risk management solutions  be able to use pre-boarding check (Advance Passenger Processing) and perform analytics on passenger journey data to identify and mitigate potential health risks.

He noted that for airports that are not equipped with the native mobile platform, Sita uses technology to remotely control self-service devices such as kiosks with a mobile phone, removing the need to touch any airport equipment.

Speaking at the webinar, Jeremy Springall, Vice President Border Management, Sita said: We are seeing specific regions wishing to allow limited movement within zones first, for example, the trans-Tasman bubble. For governments, this requires an information-driven approach based on real-time data and responsiveness to handle rapidly changing situations."

A critical element will be for governments to harmonise the approach to checking the validity of health status and sharing this information effectively. Many governments are taking a layered approach to border management, starting well in advance of travel, to identify high-risk passengers before arrival in the destination country, in turn easing the restrictions for low-risk travellers. Its crucial that health checks in terms of a health ETA or declaration are performed, perhaps up to 72 hours before departure. Were already starting to see this happen around the world in countries like Thailand and Singapore.

Springall noted that Sita has been supporting governments around the world to adapt their Advance Passenger Processing pre-clearance checks in support of Covid-19, for example with a South American airport during the early part of the pandemic, Sita was able to support them stop passengers from high-risk countries check-in to their flights.

Sita believes a harmonised approach to data management between governments is crucial for mitigating the risk of resurgence.

Springall highlighted how Sita has helped airports identify passengers arriving from high-risk areas who would then be asked to self-isolate at home for 14 days to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Later, Sita adapted operations to identify travellers who were sitting in the rows around these passengers during a flight so adequate protocols could be applied to those passengers as well. - TradeArabia News Service
The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)s request to seize landed property and cash of N120, 546, 042.02 and $228, 428.16 allegedly linked to a retired Air Force officer, Saliu Atawodi, and his wife, Winnie.

The judge, Anwuli Chikere, gave the interim forfeiture order in a ruling in an ex-parte motion argued by the EFCCs Lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho.

The judge ordered the anti-corruption to publicise the order of interim forfeiture to enable anybody interested in the affected property to appear before the court and show cause within 14 days why the property and fund should not be permanently forfeited to the federal government.

The judge, therefore, adjourned the case till June 30 for mention.

The EFCC, in a supporting affidavit, said the N120, 546, 042.02 and $228, 428.16 were currently standing as investment in favour of the 2nd respondent (Winnie) with an investment firm  ARM Investment Managers.

Named as third respondent in the motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/537/2020 is a firm, Vector Integrated Limited.

The EFCC said it was investigating allegation of public funds diversion perpetrated while Atawodi, a retired air vice marshal was the Chairman of the Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Safety and Security (PICOMSS)

The commission also gave details of how the retired Air Force chief allegedly syphoned states funds, using his wife, who was a manager with Union Bank of Nigeria Plc between 1982 and 2015.

It further stated, in the supporting affidavit, that the 1st respondent (Atawodi) was appointed the Chairman of PICOMSS in 2006.

He held the position between 2006 and 2012. In that capacity, he was administratively in charge of the day to day activities of the committee.

PICOMSS received its funding from federal government agencies like NIMASA, NPA, NNPC and ONSA.

For instance, between December, 2010 and October, 2011, a total sum of N12, 902, 833, 200.00 was paid to the Committee (PICOMSS) by ONSA.

As the Chairman of PICOMSS, the 1st respondent was a signatory to all the bank accounts of PICOMSS in Union Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Oceanic Bank Plc (Now Eco Bank Plc) and Skye Bank Plc (now Polaris Bank).

By a letter dated 12th November, 2010 and signed by the 1st respondent on behalf of PICOMSS, a contract for the sum of $32,337,163.00 was awarded to Xanatos Limited by PICOMSS.

Xanatos accepted the award of the contract and the agreement was reduced into writing between PICOMSS and Xanatos Limited.

Pursuant to the said contract, PICOMSS paid a total sum of N4,975,190,180.00 to Xanatos Limited between November, 2010 and October, 2011.

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After the first payment of the sum of N600,000,000.00 to Xanatos ltd by PICOMMS, the company transferred the sum of N300, 000, 000.00 to the 2nd respondents company, Auswee Investment Ltd in Union Bank on 20th December, 2010 and another N50, 000,000.00 on 7th January, 2011.

The said Union Bank account of Auswee Investment Ltd was opened on 21St December, 2010 and received the above stated N300, 000, 000.00 payment as its first credit.

According to EFCC, the Union Bank Plc account of Auswee Investment Ltd was opened in the Maitama Branch of Union Bank whose branch was under the administrative control of the 2nd respondent as the banks employee.

This account Auswee Investment Ltd was opened using a false Board Resolution dated 18th June, 2010 which was purportedly authorised and procured in the name of Chief Asiruwa Uhuango to be the sole signatory to the said companys account.

In 2011, the 1st respondent whilst still the chairman of PICOMSS personally invested the sum of $5,000,000 with Mr. Mohammed Jibrin the Managing Director of Suntrust Saving & Loans Ltd in cash.

The said sum of $5, 000,000.00 investment yielded interest of U551, 120, 000.00 and both principal amount and the interest were subsequently transferred to Asset & Resource Management Company Ltd (ARM Investment Managers) in 2013 for further investment in favour of the respondents.

Both 1st and 2nd respondents have largely invested these funds in acquisition of properties both locally and internationally.

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However, the sums of N120,546,042.02 and $228,428.16 sought to be forfeited are standing as investment in favour of the 2nd respondent in ARM Investment Managers.

Around the period in which the 1st respondent made the cash investments with the Mohammed Jubrin, a total cash withdrawal of N917,389, 500.00 was inexplicably made from PICOMSS bank accounts in the following manner: (a) cash withdrawal of N733, 889, 500 between 22/3/11 to 28/09/11 from the Union Bank account No. 001057733 (b) cash withdrawal of N183,500,000 between 1/9/11 and 29/9/11 from the Zenith Bank Account No. 1012681209.

The respondents who operated several bank accounts where billions of naira were deposited in local and foreign currencies did not explicitly explain the sources of the cash.

As a former public officer, the 1st respondent failed and refused to declare his assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau either while in service or upon leaving office.

As a banker, the 2nd respondent never declared her assets despite operating numerous bank accounts in her name, fictitious names as well as corporate names in Fidelity Bank, where funds running into billions of naira were deposited into the accounts (in local and foreign currencies while she was in the employment of the bank, the EFCC said.

(NAN)
The defacement of Bell Parks Christopher Columbus statue early Thursday with red paint and a cardboard sign reading Rip the head from your oppressor was an act of vandalism, not art.

Comments came fast and furious when I mentioned this on Facebook, from both sides of the prickly argument about how cities should handle historical monuments that have become offensive to people. Some were adamant that vandalism against the Columbus statue was a justified act of protest.

Artists do have other ways to consider the legacies of colonialism. Some express their views eloquently with the paintings, photography and mixed-media works in No Mans Land at Houstons Station Museum of Contemporary Art, which reopens June 13.

Conceived for this years FotoFest, No Mans Land has been hanging since March 14, but its opening reception was canceled, and the COVID-19 pandemic closed the museums doors for nearly three months. They open now to viewers who may be more woke, as they say, after weeks of protests against injustices that have also familiarized millions of Americans with the acronym BIPOC (for black, indigenous and people of color).

The shows artists are from four continents, including several who live in Houston. So along with their range of media, they bring diverse, global perspectives to the theme, especially as it relates to migration, diaspora and refugee crises.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Getting to know the Lost Boys of Sudan

Vincent Valdezs starkly elegaic painting Requiem I, which depicts a dead eagle in a sea of negative white space, is one of the first objects visitors see. This sets a tone for galleries of works by others that are by turns defiant, ironic, analytical and poignant. Its a stimulating show, dense with ideas and information.

Patrick McGrath Muniz paints colorful, classically-inspired scenes about how American consumerism and greed have impacted lives in his native Puerto Rico, especially after its recent natural disasters. Intricately embroidered cartographic drawings by Tiffany Chung examine how U.S. financial interests in Guatemala have contributed to refugee and immigration woes. She fills one wall with a monumental memorial embroidered with the names of people who have died trying to emigrate.

One room of objects introduces the story of the Carrizo/Comecrudos or Estok Gna, a tribe indigenous to South Texas Rio Grande delta that is not mentioned in history books. Photojournalist Fabiola Ferreros black and white photographs capture the blur of economic crisis, political violence and the grief in her homeland of Venezuela.

The biggest installation features photographer Marti Corns portraits of Sudanese residents of Africas multi-national Kakuma Refugee Camp, with whom she has worked for years; as well as art by young people she mentors there.

Beginning Saturday, the Station will be open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays; 1502 Alabama; free; face masks required; social distancing protocols; 713-529-6900, stationmuseum.com.

molly.glentzer@chron.com
SAN FRANCISCO, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyperledger, an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies, today announced the latest line-up of members joining its global enterprise blockchain community. Eight new organizations from markets around the world, including DB Systel GmbH, IOHK and IOVlabs, are now part of the multi-venture, multi-stakeholder effort hosted at the Linux Foundation .

Like many other organizations, in the last few months Hyperleger has pivoted to virtual community building with a new line-up of webinars, online events and networking and increased content, including a detailed case study by Chainyard and IBM Blockchain on the launch of Trust Your Supplier as a production network with 25 major corporate participants and counting. Even during this transition, the community has pushed ahead with strong member participation at Consensus and ramped up activity in Hyperledger SIGs and Working Groups. Hyperledger also recently announced its 16th project, Hyperledger Cactus , a blockchain integration tool designed to allow users to securely integrate different blockchains.

"While the dramatic developments over the last few months have created a new and unexpected set of challenges for all of us, the enterprise blockchain community has shown great solidarity and is now focused on new ways forward," said Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director, Hyperledger. "As a technology, blockchain is and will play an important role of adding trust and transparency to the most essential of transactions and communications. It's never been clearer that we are past the proof of concept stage for enterprise blockchain. As our line-up of new members underscore, the Hyperledger community is about putting blockchain to work in impactful ways around the world and across industries."

Hyperledger allows organizations to create solid, industry-specific applications, platforms and hardware systems to support their individual business transactions by offering enterprise-grade, open source distributed ledger frameworks, libraries and tools. General members joining the community are Atomyze by Tokentrust AG, Binarystar, DB Systel GmbH, IOHK, IOVlabs and Public Mint.

Hyperledger supports an open community that values the contributions and participation from various entities. As such, pre-approved non-profits, open source projects and government entities can join Hyperledger at no cost as associate members. Associate members joining this month include Global Blockchain Business Council and the InterWork Alliance.

New member quotes:

Atomyze by Tokentrust AG

"At Atomyze, we envision to facilitate the digitization and tokenization of commodities and enable them to be traded in a simple and secure way, as well as provide accessibility to illiquid markets. To make this a reality, we have strengthened key partnerships and are in development of a new and next-generation eco-system, with Hyperledger Fabric at its core. We are thrilled to be part of the Hyperledger community and look forward to the continued collaboration," said Bertalan Vecsei, CTO at Atomyze by Tokentrust AG.

Binarystar

"The Hyperledger community is building one of the most well-studied and well-regarded core blockchain technologies with practical use in large industries," said Junya Yamamoto, CEO of Binarystar. "Binarystar is happy to participate in the future of this journey by being in the center of the Japanese blockchain industry harvesting and delivering its content directly to over 3,000 and ever-growing base of Japanese members at our blockchain-exclusive business hub."

DB Systel GmbH

"We are excited to join the Hyperledger community, one of the largest frameworks for development and cooperation on setting up enterprise-grade blockchain solutions and standards," said Moritz von Bonin, Head of Blockchain & DLT solutions, DB Systel GmbH. "At DB Systel, Deutsche Bahn's digital partner, over the last few years we have been developing promising ways of deploying the blockchain technology for Deutsche Bahn and other companies. The diverse ideas range from mobility as a service platform, logistics supply chains through to blockchain-based rail control system. We look forward to contributing by exploring collaboration opportunities on multiple technological aspects and cutting-edge projects together with the community members."

IOHK

"The Hyperledger community has an exceptional wealth of shared knowledge and expertise, and we look forward to developing strong relationships with other members of the consortium in order to share our original research, build synergies with other blockchain providers and develop new industrial and business collaborations," Romain Pellerin, Chief Technical Officer at IOHK. "In particular, membership in Hyperledger will inform the development of our enterprise blockchain solutions and the work we're doing with governments in developing countries. IOHK is founded on the principles of open source software and decentralized networks, and we would never seek to patent any of our technological advances. It's great to be involved in an organization which shares that philosophy and is working towards utilising blockchain to create a better industry, and more open, accessible world."

IOVlabs

"We are thrilled to be part of the Linux Foundation, one of the leading organizations in the promotion of open source software and ecosystems. All of the software contributed to the RSK Network and Infrastrastructure Framework (RIF) by IOVlabs was open sourced and built together with the community. This is essential to provide transparency for the blockchain financial infrastructure we are building," said Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, IOVlabs CEO. "Harnessing the benefits of the Bitcoin Network with a suite of tools to create and protect the wealth of those more vulnerable in our society, we're planting the seeds for global financial freedom, and our membership in the Linux Foundation and Hyperledger will help us accelerate the development and adoption of blockchain platforms fostering opportunity, transparency and trust throughout the world.

Public Mint

"At Public Mint, we believe it's fundamental to have a frictionless, easy, accessible and open capability to move fiat locally and globally," said Halsey Minor, founder and CEO at Public Mint. "We're very excited to be part of the Hyperledger community, and we think this is a great opportunity to work together, addressing business processes in an effective and innovative way. Built on top of Hyperledger Besu, Public Mint is charting new territory as a fiat-native blockchain platform that allows anyone to easily create fiat accounts and transfer funds between any individual, business, device, application and bank. After 25 years of innovating in the enterprise, I can clearly see that with blockchain we are beginning the next major chapter in the incredible story of technology adding business value."

Members big and small are collaborating across company and country lines to ensure the success of Hyperledger business blockchain technologies, building products, services and solutions on top of Hyperledger code bases that are critical to their lines of business. Learn more about becoming a member of Hyperledger.

About Hyperledger

Hyperledger is an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. It is a global collaboration including leaders in finance, banking, healthcare, supply chains, manufacturing and technology. Hyperledger hosts many enterprise blockchain technology projects including distributed ledger frameworks, smart contract engines, client libraries, graphical interfaces, utility libraries and sample applications. All Hyperledger code is built publicly and available under the Apache license. The Linux Foundation hosts Hyperledger under the foundation. To learn more, visit: https://www.hyperledger.org/ .

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On Monday, IBM made a monumental announcement: the company is getting out of the facial recognition business, citing racial justice concerns and the need for legal oversight.

Racial and gender bias is at the heart of Shalini Kantayyas documentary Coded Bias, which investigates the corporate and societal implications of machine-learning systems when left unchecked. The film focuses on the work of several female mathematicians and data scientists  outsiders, by way of gender, race or sexuality. IBMs decision was influenced by research presented by Joy Buolamwini and coresearchers Deborah Raji and Timnit Gebru, who are all featured in the film.

Buolamwini, a Black Ph.D. student in MITs Media Lab, is the central character of the documentary, and focuses her research on issues of biases in facial recognition and artificial intelligence. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League, which pushes for greater data oversight for large companies using data to create AI systems with outsized influence.

The proof of this technology being racist was done by Black women, and done by the Black women in my film. Im really proud of them for making real change, Kantayya says. Im cheering on IBM, and Im challenging Amazon to do the same. Amazons made statements about them standing out against racism, while they continue to market and sell technology that is proven to be racist. [Late Wednesday, Amazon announced that they will ban police use of its facial recognition software for one year.] Until we know that this technology is unbiased, until we know that its fair, until theres some public schools in place to govern this technology from abuse, we need to press pause on facial recognition.

The documentary premiered at Sundance and will screen this week online as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and next week with the AFI Docs Film Festival. Kantayya teases a forthcoming announcement about wider distribution. Coded Bias is the Brooklyn-based filmmakers second feature documentary; her first, Catching the Sun, which was executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, looked at the clean energy movement.

Story continues

Kantayyas documentary got a boost from its Sundance premiere, where it was well received by film and tech insiders. I had someone who worked at Google say to me, Weve been having this conversation among ourselves, and you made a film that is a conversation that we can have with everyone. And I thought that was a really strong support of the film, she says.

Coded Bias makes the argument that math is being used as a shield for deceptive practices in machine learning, and questions blind faith in big data. At the same time, many of the data sets used to feed machine learning systems contain biases that exist in society. The issues highlighted in the film underscore the need for transparency and checks for accuracy and bias. Because the systems are opaque, it is difficult to discern whether someone has been the victim of systemic discrimination via algorithmic bias.

Were living in an age where if you say something, and a computer says something, youre obviously wrong, Kantayya says. Its this blind faith in big technology and the invisible automated decision-makers that are making massive decisions about who gets opportunities in life, that is deeply troubling.

She presents algorithmic justice issues as a human rights issue, and ground zero for the battle for civil rights and democracy in the 21st century. At the same time, theres a lack of public understanding. The implications of machine learning include what products and services are targeted to whom  aligned with standard marketing practices  to more troubling applications, such as using biometric data to create unique, individual profiles.

Left unchecked, systems created from data have the potential to automatically eliminate certain demographics from job searches or college admissions, determine health coverage, and make troubling criminal justice recommendations. In one example, Kantayya highlights how one AI recruiting tool used by Amazon was biased against women, penalizing graduates of womens colleges and resumes that mentioned female-centric clubs. (The tool has reportedly since been scrapped.)

Its going to roll back all of the civil rights advances that we made over 50 years, she says. I came to see how algorithm justice dovetails with basic freedoms weve been guaranteed in the Constitution: the right to assembly, the freedom to associate, she says. And so if we want to hold on to our civil rights and our democracy we really have to empower ourselves around these issues.

The film prominently features Weapons of Math Destruction author and data scientist Cathy ONeil and Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo. The organization is monitoring how facial recognition is being tested by the police on the streets of London  despite high rates of inaccuracy  to identify criminality. In one scene, Buolamwini captures the aftermath of a 14-year-old Black teen boy in a school uniform being wrongfully stopped by the police. The boy, one of several thousand to get mistakenly stopped because of the technology, is visibly confused as a Big Brother Watch activist attempts to explain why he was stopped by five plainclothes police officers.

If you live in New York, you know what the impact of stop and frisk has been on communities of color, Kantayya says.

The film also presents Chinas widespread use of biometric facial recognition and individual social scores in everyday life. The technology can be used to identify and jail protesters; in late 2019, government protesters in Hong Kong donned masks and destroyed CCTV cameras. With large numbers of protesters taking to the streets Stateside this month to speak out against police brutality, conversations around how facial recognition is used  and by whom  is more urgent than ever.

More than 117 million American faces are already included in police databases, which are being used to develop machine learning systems for use by the police, the FBI and ICE  so far, with no government oversight.

Later in the film, Buolamwini and her team present this information along with their research in front of politicians including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jim Jordan, a leading figure in the Republican Party, during a congressional hearing. Jordan expressed particular concern to the fact that American faces from police data bases are being used with no government oversight.

He was as terrified as any Democrat, which was crazy, Kantayya says. We need systems and legislature that understand these systems so we can govern them. Just a few companies are having an outsized amount of power in a society  thats not democratic.

As to what she hopes viewers will take away from watching her film, Kantayya identifies an easy starting point: people start questioning the technology they use everyday.

I hope that people will start to question this blind faith we have in technological systems, she says. And peel away that magic and see that technology is only as good as the human in it.

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Tokyo, June 12 : The Tokyo metropolitan government lifted its "Tokyo alert" that was issued on June 2 due to a sharp rise in the number of new COVID-19 cases detected in the capital.

Along with lifting the alert on Thursday, which was aimed at making Tokyo residents aware of the extent of new infections spreading in the capital, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Thursday that business restrictions in the capital will be further eased from Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have almost finished requesting companies to suspend their businesses. We are entering a new stage where we are able to fully carry out economic and social activities," Koike said.

From Friday, as the capital enters its next and final phase of easing business restrictions, restaurants and pubs will be allowed to stay open for longer, and karaoke boxes, game centers and pachinko parlors will be allowed to reopen for the first time since the virus-induced restrictions were imposed.

But Koike warned that residents need to remain vigilant and businesses should take the necessary anti-virus precautions as a second wave of COVID-19 infections at some point could not be ruled out.

"We need to take appropriate anti-virus measures to prepare for a possible second wave of infections," she said.

Koike had previously said that if the number of COVID-19 cases spiked again in the capital then the Tokyo metropolitan government would once again request businesses and people to restrict their activities.

According to the Tokyo government, there were 22 new infections confirmed on Thursday, rising from 18 recorded a day earlier.

While six of the new cases were connected to nightspots, 10 had unidentified transmission routes, the Tokyo government said.

The Tokyo metropolitan government issued the alert on June 2 as 34 new coronavirus infections were reported in the capital, marking the highest since the state of emergency over the virus was completely lifted for Japan a week earlier.

The spike in coronavirus cases in June marked the first time since March 14 that daily infections had breached the 30 mark in the city of about 14 million people.

Since mid-April, in Tokyo, the hardest-hit among all of Japan's 47 prefectures by the pneumonia-causing virus, the number of recorded daily COVID-19 cases had been decreasing, with multiple days of single-digit cases cases seen over a period of time through May, until the uptick in June.

Koike previously said that an alert for Tokyo will be issued if the number of new infections exceeds 20 a day or the ratio of the weekly new infection increases to more than one compared to the previous week.

She also said another barometer for issuing an alert would be if the ratio for unknown infection routes climbs to more than 50 per cent.
The Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (IP University) has once again extended the last date for submission of online application form for all courses from 10 June to 30 June. The deadline has been pushed back in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (IP University) has once again extended the last date for submission of online application form for all courses from 10 June to 30 June. The deadline has been pushed back in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

The dates for editing of submitted application form has also been extended by three days. Candidates will be allowed to make changes in their forms from 1 to 3 July.

Those who want to apply can do so by visiting the official website of IP University at http://www.ipu.ac.in/.

"However, the last date for submission of Online Application form for MBA through CAT Score was only up to 31st May 2020 and the said stands already expired and no further extension for submission of Online Application Form for MBA through CAT is granted," statement from the university said.

For facilitating candidates who are facing problems while filling the application, the university has issued helpline numbers and email. Candidates are also advised to keep visiting the varsitys website at regular intervals for any update.

The IP University has extended the deadline for the fifth time. Earlier, the last date for submitting application was extended from 25 May to 10 June. As per the previous notification, candidates could edit their forms from 11 June to 13 June.

The varsity has revised academic calendar for the ongoing session due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. The new academic session will begin from 3 August.

How to apply
Dr. Anthony Fauci has slammed the World Health Organization for claiming that Covid-19 transmission was 'very rare' among asymptomatic patients.

The senior US health adviser said Wednesday there was no evidence to suggest that transmission from an asymptomatic person to an infected person was uncommon.

It comes after the WHO walked back on its claims earlier this week that it is uncommon for aysymptomatic coronavirus patients to spread the virus after Harvard University scientists criticized the agency for creating confusion.

Dr Anthony Fauci has slammed the World Health Organization for claiming that Covid-19 transmission was 'very rare' among asymptomatic patients

Dr. Fauci blasted the WHO's claims on Wednesday, saying: 'What happened the other day is that a member of the WHO was saying that transmission from an asymptomatic person to an infected person was very rare.

'They walked that back because there's no evidence to indicate that's the case.

'And in fact, the evidence that we have, given the percentage of people, which is about 25, 45 percent of the totality of infected people, likely are without symptom,' he said.

'And we know from epidemiological studies that they can transmit to someone who is uninfected, even when they're without symptoms.

On Monday, the WHO said it's very rare that asymptomatic people spread coronavirus and that they are not a 'main driver' of new infection. Pictured: Dr Maria Van Kerkhove during a press conference, June 8

'So, to make a statement, to say that's a rare event, was not correct, and that's the reason why the WHO walked that back.'

On Monday, the UN health agency said it had doubts that the virus was difficult contain due to people without signs such as fever, cough or shortness of breath.

WHO officials said that symptomatic spread can occur, but it isn't the main avenue by which the disease is being transmitted.

Harvard's Global Health institute says the WHO 'created confusion' with its statement that those without symptoms are not readily spreading the virus. Pictured: Mourners arrive for a public visitation for George Floyd at the Fountain of Praise church in Houston, Texas, June 8

'From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,' Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said at a news conference.

'It's very rare.'

But researchers from Harvard say that a multitude of evidence suggests those without symptoms can, and easily do, spread coronavirus.

Later on Monday, the WHO called the statement a 'misunderstanding,' and admitted that people with no symptoms do, in fact, spread the disease.
LOS ANGELES and WEST CHESTER, Pa., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 90 high school seniors in California have officially graduated this year from Laurel Springs School, a leading pioneer in online K-12 education, ending a universally unconventional school year on a high note.

While the fully online school's graduation ceremony has traditionally taken place in-personoriginally slated this year for Anaheim, Calif.the Laurel Springs Class of 2020 was instead honored with a virtual ceremony on Thursday, June 4.

"We are incredibly proud to see another amazing group of students begin their next chapter after graduating from Laurel Springs," said Megan O'Reilly Palevich, M.Ed., Head of School at Laurel Springs. "Our school aims to provide students not only a rigorous curriculum, but also the skills necessary to foster the independence, self-advocacy, and confidence they will need to succeed in college and beyond. The Class of 2020 serves as an exemplar of the core values of Laurel Springs, our staff, and our educators."

The Class of 2020 is the largest in the school's 29-year history with more than 500 full-time seniors earning a diploma and matriculating to top colleges and universities, including Claremont McKenna College; Harvard University; Princeton University; Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Los Angeles; and the University of Southern California.

Members of the school's graduating class from California include:

Jamie Stephens , 18, of San Jose, Calif. , attended Laurel Springs for two years and aspires to become a professional ballet dancer after completing her training program at the San Francisco Ballet School in San Francisco, Calif.



" Laurel Springs has helped me to plan my time better, especially with my busy full-time schedule at San Francisco Ballet School," Stephens said. "I have learned to prioritize my work and become more organized. Laurel Springs has afforded me the flexibility to work around my schedule and the demands of balancing two full-time school programs at the same time."

Nick Williams , 18, of Mission Viejo, Calif. , has studied for seven years with Laurel Springs and will attend Arizona State University in Tempe , Ariz., where he plans to study Psychology and swim as a member of the University's NCAA Division I swimming team.



" Laurel Springs has prepared me for college and, as a competitive swimmer, gave me the flexibility I needed to give 100% to my training while in high school," Williams said.

This year's graduating class is expected to surpass the scholarship earnings of the previous year. Laurel Springs' Class of 2019 earned $9.7 million in scholarships.

Families interested in learning more about Laurel Springs are encouraged to visit the school's website or contact the Admissions team.

About Laurel Springs School

Laurel Springs School is a fully accredited private online school offering a challenging K-12 academic program that engages global learners and values students as individuals. Our school is designed for the college preparatory student who wishes to grow and excel academically and personally while maintaining a flexible schedule. Laurel Springs has an outstanding record of placing its graduates into selective colleges and universities of their choice in the U.S. and throughout the world.

To learn more about Laurel Springs School visit www.laurelsprings.com

SOURCE Laurel Springs School
Though Ghanas borders will be opened for final year foreign students to return to complete the semester, Vice-Chancellors Ghana says students who feel unsafe can still remain in their home countries and complete academic work.

Speaking to Citi News, the Chairman of Vice-Chancellors Ghana, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu said there will be special teaching and learning arrangements for persons who wish to remain outside Ghana.

Some tertiary institutions have transitioned to online learning because of restrictions brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

If for any reason, an international student just like any Ghanaian student feels he or she is safe wherever he or she is and has no problem with access, he or she is free to stay and go through the semester, Prof Owusu noted.

The details of foreign final year students have been made available to the government which has indicated its readiness to open the country's borders for final year foreign students.

The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said arrangements are being made with the Ministry of Education in this regard.

With more students waiting in the wings, Prof. Owusu also said the Universitys governing body is considering the use of more innovative teaching and learning approaches.

He explains that this will allow universities to make room for other students which constitute a significant majority of the tertiary education population.

We cannot be stuck in our old ways of doing things. The whole world is moving; running. If you decide to crawl, obviously you will never catch up, he cautioned.

---citinewsroom
On a day when the total number of people who have recovered from the coronavirus disease crossed the number of active cases in India, experts said that the data is as per global trends.

This should provide hope to the people of India at large who are having a mortal fear of the disease. But then this should not make them complacent and people should follow social distancing and sanitization guidelines, Dr Neeraj Gupta, professor in the Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, told news agency PTI.

Dr Gupta also said that 80 per cent are likely to have mild disease and make 100 per cent recovery.

The number of active cases in the country stands at 1,33,632, while 1,35,205 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the Union health ministry..

Thus, 48.9 per cent of the patients have recovered so far, an official said.

In the last week, an average of 4,529 new active cases have been added to the national tally every day, while 5,397 patients have recovered daily. If these trajectories continue, this gap is likely to widen in the coming days.

One of key factors for the number of recoveries catching up to active cases has been Indias low case fatality rate (CFR). Since 2.8 per cent of infected people have died so far, the number of active cases (calculated by subtracting the number of recovered patients and deaths from the total tally) has been steadily dropping, particularly from the end of May.

Active cases outnumbered the total recovered patients throughout the outbreak until Tuesday - the gap peaking on May 11, when active cases had a 23,511-case lead - according to Hindustan Times Covid-19 dashboard.

Recoveries soon picked up pace as patients, particularly the 155,668 new cases reported through May, started getting discharged. On May 29, India reported 11,707 new recoveries (highest in a single day so far), helped by Maharashtra that discharged 8,381 asymptomatic patients in one day.

Meanwhile, India reported 9,985 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday as the total count of cases crossed over 2.76 lakh with 279 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

The surge in cases over the last few days has prompted the Union health ministry to send central teams to assist state health officials in reviewing the public health measures being undertaken to combat Covid-19 in six cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru which are among the major contributors to Indias rising tally of coronavirus infections.

These teams will provide technical support and handhold the state health departments and municipal health officials for reviewing public health measures implemented for containment and management of COVID-19 outbreak in the six cities, the Union health ministry said.
Study Published in Brain Communications as Part of Collaboration with Scientists from Copenhagen University Hospitals, Lund University and Technical University of Denmark

Random Walk Imaging (RWI), a company developing novel software solutions for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), announced positive data today from a study in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients using its proprietary scanning method and software protocol. Data from the study, which was conducted at the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, demonstrated a significant improvement in the sensitivity of MRI images to disease induced changes in the brain's normal-appearing white matter. By enhancing MRI scanned images to the microscopic level, the unprecedented detail of the damage caused enabled the researchers to determine a stronger correlation to disease clinical and cognitive scores. The results were published in Brain Communications.

"The data from this study provide convincing evidence that microscopic mapping substantially advances the assessment of cerebral white matter degeneration in MS. Using the analysis tool from RWI, we were able to evaluate the damage to the white matter with remarkable detail, by separately analyzing tissue shape and orientation. This information, which cannot be seen using standard MRI techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), could provide a unique opportunity for precision imaging, leading to a more accurate diagnosis both in MS and other degenerative CNS diseases," said Associate Professor Tim Dyrby who led the study at the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre and Technical University of Denmark.

Multiple sclerosis attacks the nerve myelin and fibers of the central nervous system, leading to diffuse damage of the brain network. MRI scans are used to determine the extent of this damage and provide a tool for doctors to help with diagnosis and treatment. Apart from the visually detected lesions on the MRI scan, MS also affects the normal-appearing white matter. The degeneration of white matter can be measured with fractional anisotropy (FA), a metric that aims to assess the structural integrity of the nerve fibers. FA measurement is mapped with DTI on the MRI scanner. However, this standard FA metric also picks up physiological variations in how the white matter fibers are oriented. This dual sensitivity distorts and complicates the detection of disease-related damage in large parts of the cerebral white matter, where the fibers are oriented in many different directions. To resolve this ambiguity, RWI has developed a novel methodology for diffusion tensor MRI using a proprietary software algorithm. RWI's approach yields a microscopic FA (FA) metric that is not affected by regional variations in white matter orientation.

In the study, the researchers compared normal-appearing white matter of 26 patients with relapsing-remitting MS, 14 patients with primary progressive MS, and 27 age-matched healthy controls using standard FA to FA mapping using RWI's proprietary software protocol. Mean standard FA and FA of normal-appearing white matter was significantly reduced in MS patients relative to healthy controls, but FA significantly improved detection of disease-related white-matter alterations in the MS patient group.

In addition, the reduction in mean FA, representing degenerated fibers, showed:

a significant positive linear relationship with physical disability as reflected by the expanded disability status scale (EDSS), an internationally recognized measurement of MS disability;

a positive correlation with individual cognitive dysfunction, as measured with the symbol digit modality test (SDMT); and

a positive relationship with total white matter lesion load as well as lesion load in specific tract systems.

Standard mean FA was not able to reveal any of these relationships between normal-appearing white matter microstructure and clinical, cognitive or structural measures.

"These findings are highly interesting, and I hope that this new diffusion MRI analysis will prove valuable in diagnosing and monitoring treatment of MS in the future," commented Finn Sellebjerg, Professor of Neurology at the University of Copenhagen and head of the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Center.

RWI is currently conducting multiple studies in Australia, China and the US at leading research institutions in collaboration with MRI vendors to assess how the software can be optimized clinically for various anatomies.

"We see this study as significant validation of our approach and are developing our protocol into a stand alone, post-processing software product to support scientists and radiologists in their research of the brain as well as other anatomies, such as breast and prostate. The software, once launched, could be integrated as an in-line clinical tool compatible with most clinical MRI machines," said Peter Hoffmann-Fischer, Executive in Residence at Random Walk Imaging.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory condition of the central nervous system and is the most common, non-traumatic, disabling neurological disease in young adults. It is estimated that approximately 2.3 million people have MS worldwide. While symptoms can vary, the most common symptoms of MS include blurred vision, numbness or tingling in the limbs and problems with strength and coordination.

About Random Walk Imaging

Random Walk Imaging AB is developing a novel proprietary approach to multidimensional diffusion MRI that enables clinical researchers and radiologists to better visualise and analyse diffusion MRI data. By differentiating pathologies that are affected by changes in tissue microstructure, RWI's software solution introduces a level of specificity to diffusion MRI that is unprecedented. Based in Lund, part of the Swedish-Danish cross-border region of Medicon Valley, Random Walk Imaging has a broad intellectual property portfolio and unique translational expertise in advanced diffusion NMR and MRI methods. Further information can be found at www.rwi.se.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005668/en/

Contacts:

Random Walk Imaging

Dr. Greta Eklund

+46 708 758 555

news@rwi.se

Halsin Partners

Mike Sinclair

+44 20 7318 2955

msinclair@halsin.com
Cuba condemns terrorism and political manipulation



The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states its strong rejection of the slanderous inclusion of Cuba in a US State Department list of countries which are allegedly not cooperating fully with US efforts against terrorism that was made public on May 13, 2020 and that was strongly rejected by President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Bermudez.



It is a unilateral and arbitrary listing without any base, authority or international support whatsoever which, as it is known, only aids to the intentions to defame and pressure countries refusing to bend to the will of the US government in their sovereign decisions.



The main argument given by the US government was the presence in Cuban territory of the members of the delegation to the peace talks of the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Colombia.



As it is widely known, the delegation to the peace talks of the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Colombia are in Cuba because Ecuador suddenly renounced to continue being the venue of such talks and, at the request of the Colombian government and the ELN, the venue for the peace process was transferred to Havana in May 2018.



These peace talks had begun on February 7, 2017 in Quito, Ecuador. Cuba, together with Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela and Norway, has been a Guarantor of the peace process as requested by the Parties.



After Mr. Ivan Duque Marquez was inaugurated as president of Colombia on August 7, 2018, the representatives of his government, beginning on August 8 that year an until January 2019, had several exchanges with Cuba and the ELN delegation to the peace talks so as to continue the dialogues that had started during the Santos presidency --a process in which our country observed due discretion and acted strictly in its capacity as a guarantor.



Immediately after the bombing of the Police Cadet Academy in Bogota on January 17, 2019, the president of the Republic of Cuba and his minister of foreign affairs immediately expressed their condolences to the Colombian government and people and particularly to the relatives of the victims in the bombing, and they restated Cubas strong position of rejecting and condemning all terrorist acts, methods and practices in all their forms and manifestations.



Then the Colombian government took political and legal actions against the ELN delegation to the peace talks that was in Cuba and stopped the peace dialogue. Additionally, it decided to ignore the Protocol in Case of Rupture, thus openly abandoning and violating the commitments made by that State with the other six nations that had signed it.



The Protocol in Case of Rupture was signed in the framework of the peace talks held by the government of Colombia, the ELN and the guarantor countries on April 5, 2016. It states the safe return of the guerrilla delegation to Colombia in the case there is a cease of talks.



The Cuban government has stated and it continues to state today that, based on the agreed documents, the Protocol should be implemented. Such stance, which is widely supported by the international community and by circles committed with reaching for a negotiated settlement to the Colombian armed conflict, is an accepted universal practice which has been repeatedly ratified as it abides by international law and the commitments of the country that is a guarantor and the venue of the talks. It is due to the non-implementation of this Protocol that the members of the ELN delegation to the peace talks are still in Cuba.



The Colombian government has embarked on a series of hostile actions against Cuba, including public statements, threats and summons, through an ungrateful and politically-motivated manipulation of the unquestionable contribution of Cuba to peace in Colombia. Among such actions, there was a change in the historical position of Colombia in support of the Resolution that has been passed every year in the United Nations General Assembly demanding an end to the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba which is bringing damages and suffering to our people. Such action ostensibly changed the consistent and invariable position all Colombian governments had been assuming since 1992.



The same day the US announced Cuba had been included in the list of countries allegedly not cooperating fully with the US efforts against terrorism, the Colombian governments High Commissioner for Peace, Mr. Miguel Ceballos Arevalo, publicly stated that the decision by the State Department to include Cuba was a recognition of the government of Colombia and its repeated request that Cuba sends to it the members of the ELN delegation to the peace talks.



Those statements by Mr. Ceballos have been criticized in Colombia by many circles committed to peace and several Colombian politicians have demanded from the government an explanation about them and the way the Protocol in Case of Rupture is being ignored.



The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly rejects the statements of the Colombian high-ranking official.



What stems out of the comments by the High Commissioner for Peace is that the behavior of the government of Colombia has supported and facilitated the arguments for the aggressive aims of the United States against our nation and given its recognition to the infamous US actions against a Latin American and Caribbean nation.



Mentioning the presence of the ELN representatives in Cuba, on which the US accusation is based, is nothing but a senseless feeble and dishonest pretext facilitated by the ungrateful attitude of the government of Colombia if Mr. Ceballos statements are to be given any credit.



In any case, and even with that so-called assistance from the government of Colombia, the US accusation is totally and deliberately unfounded. There is concrete and, in some cases, very recent evidence of our bilateral collaboration with the United States in fighting terrorism and in joint law enforcement efforts and in actions of specific interest for the US, so the inclusion of Cuba in the list as announced by the State Department is a deliberate distortion of truth.



It must be remembered that Cuba as a country has been the target of many terrorist actions financed and carried out from US territory by groups and individuals who have enjoyed there the leniency and protection of the US government, a circumstance that is public knowledge. In the past, Cuba was also the victim of state terrorism perpetrated directly by the government of the United States, which sometimes acted in connivance with organized crime in that country. Due to such actions, 3478 Cubans have died and 2099 have been disabled in one way or another.



On April 30 last, the Embassy of Cuba in the United States was the target of a terrorist act. Since then, the US government has kept a complicit silence, without condemning or even rejecting such action, and it refrains from acting against terrorist individuals and groups based in US territory who are fueling violence against Cuba and its institutions.



As a result, after the terrorist attack against our diplomatic mission in Washington, threats have been made against the safety of Cuban diplomats and embassies both in the US itself and in Mexico, Costa Rica, Antigua & Barbuda, Canada, Cyprus, Austria and Angola, all of which has been reported to the respective government authorities.



The attitude of manifest complicity by the US government entails the peril of being taken as an approval of terrorism. It is consistent with the heightened policy of aggresion and instigation to violence against Cuba, which has been expanded even to countries where Cuban health personnel are working under bilateral cooperation schemes.



Cubas commitment with decisive actions against and

condemnation of terrorism is enshrined in its Constitution
A very minimal number of media representatives will be permitted to attend the first 'ghost races' in Austria and Hungary next month.

Those with permanent FIA media passes have been informed that the FIA will select the initial group of ten that will be confined to the Red Bull Ring's media centre.

The paddock will be "off-limits and personal interaction with drivers and other team personnel prohibited", reported the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

And driver and team personnel press conferences will be monitored by video only.

The report added that "only a few" photo agencies have been contacted with an invitation to travel to Spielberg and Budapest.

Normally, about 400 media representatives attend each grand prix, and even Formula 1's own broadcast staff will be limited.

"For the first time, we will produce a grand prix from Biggin Hill (UK) rather than the track," said the sport's broadcast chief Roberto Dalla.

"It means that instead of the usual 230 television people, only 100 will travel to Styria," he added. "Fewer people locally is not only cheaper, it is also more manageable when it comes to health checks."

Speed Week reports that the media representatives selected to travel to Austria and Hungary will also not be permitted to travel home between races.

A second small group of 10 media personnel will then attend the next races at Silverstone and Barcelona, with a third group set for Spa and Monza.

Journalists such as those working for major agencies like Reuters and AFP, and large-circulation newspapers, will get priority.

(GMM)
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey on Wednesday dismissed Egypt's proposal for a ceasefire in Libya, saying the plan aimed to save Khalifa Haftar after the collapse of his offensive to control the capital Tripoli, Hurriyet newspaper reported.

Turkey supports Fayez al Serraj's internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), whose forces have in recent weeks repelled a 14-month assault on Tripoli by Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia.

Egypt called for a ceasefire starting on Monday, as part of an initiative which also proposed an elected leadership council for Libya. Russia and the UAE welcomed the plan, while Germany said U.N.-backed talks were key to the peace process.

However, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu dismissed the proposal as an attempt to save Haftar following the losses he suffered on the battlefield.

"The ceasefire effort in Cairo was stillborn. If a ceasefire is to be signed, it should be done at a platform that brings everyone together," Cavusoglu told Hurriyet. "The ceasefire call to save Haftar does not seem sincere or believable to us."

Cavusoglu said Turkey will continue talks with all parties for a solution in Libya, but that such a solution would require the agreement of both sides.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed Libya in a call on Monday. Erdogan said the two agreed on "some issues" on Libya, and that the GNA would continue fighting to seize the coastal city of Sirte and the Jufra air base further south.

Cavusoglu said Erdogan and Trump had delegated their foreign and defence ministers, intelligence chiefs and security advisers to discuss possible steps in Libya.

Turkey's presidency said Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Libya in a phone call on Wednesday.

They also discussed developments in Syria's northwestern Idlib region, where Turkey says a three-month-old ceasefire reached by Moscow and Ankara is still holding, despite what Turkey says are attempts by radical groups there to disrupt it.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Dominic Evans and William Maclean)
A rare and once-endangered fish, which makes its home in a southern Oregon lake the can reach temperatures of up to 104 degrees, has made a full recovery and was removed from the endangered species list, according to federal officials.

The Borax Lake chub, which lives only in Harney Countys Borax Lake, was granted emergency protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1980 after its numbers dropped precipitously due to geothermal projects around the lake, shoreline degradation from off-road vehicle use and development.

Since then, government agencies have worked to protect land around the lake and acquired water rights to ensure water levels remained high enough for the species survival. The tiny fish, which measures about 2 inches fully grown, rebounded dramatically to the point it no longer qualified for federal protection, said Aurelia Skipwith, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Delisting the Borax Lake chub is a direct reflection of the great conservation work of our partners and our combined efforts to ensure this fish no longer faces the threat of extinction, she said in a statement. We are so proud of the progress being made in recovering Oregons native species. These successes exemplify the commitment and dedication of our local, state and federal partners to work together using the tools of the Endangered Species Act.

The Borax Lake chub population has rebounded since historic lows in the mid-1980s.

Borax Lake is fed by geothermal springs, accounting for the lakes extreme temperatures, and the lake also contains high levels of borax, arsenic and lead. Despite high levels of chemicals toxic to other animals, the Borax Lake chub thrived in the 10-acre lake, keeping to the edges where temperatures were more suitable. It is the only animal that is known to live in the lakes harsh environment.

Oregon has the only population of Borax Lake chub on the planet, and this minnow exists in one of the most unique habitats in our state, Curt Melcher, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a statement. We are proud to have been a partner in this successful effort conserving another native fish species in Oregon.

Stephanie Kurose, an endangered species policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, lauded the species recovery as a success of the Endangered Species Act.

The odds were stacked against this tiny little fish, but thanks to the Endangered Species Act the Borax Lake chub escaped extinction, she said. Its an amazing comeback for one of Oregons most imperiled creatures.

Officials said they will be keeping an eye on any plans for geothermal exploration in the area and theyll monitor the fish population for the next 10 years.

-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, investments in nature are in jeopardy as resources are diverted and tourism dollars supporting conservation dwindle. Most world travel destinations have experienced shutdowns as borders have been shut, visas restricted and quarantines enforced to limit the spread of the virus. National parks, game preserves and wildlife sanctuaries in Africa, Asia and beyond have closed. The closures have led to reduced protection for wildlife and lost incomes as rangers, guides, drivers, cooks, animal caregivers and others have been let go. The U.N. World Tourism Organization estimates a decline of international tourism of 60 to 80 percent by the end of the year compared with 2019, with trillions of dollars and millions of jobs lost.
New Delhi, June 11 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed a charge sheet against NSCN-IM 'Kilonser' ("Cabinet Minister") Alema Jamir and her accomplice Masasasong Ao, accusing them of raising terror funds through a maze of bank accounts and business entities on behalf of their group.

Jamir alias Mary Shimrang was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on December 17 last year at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) domestic airport and an amount of Rs 72 lakh was seized from her.

The NIA later took over the case from Delhi Police.

Resident of Dimapur, Jamir and her associate Ao, who subsequently arrested by the NIA, had entered into a criminal conspiracy and directly raised, collected and layered terror funds through a maze of bank accounts and business entities on behalf of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah, the agency mentioned in the charge sheet filed before a special NIA court here.

Ao and other members of the group helped Jamir in extortion and channelisation of terror funds and committed disruptive acts, the NIA said.

During investigation, the NIA said, many incriminating articles such as prohibited ammunition, prohibited wildlife articles, documents pertaining to modus operandi of extortion by NSCN-IM, drones, satellite phones, documents connected with land deals and cash amounting to Rs 2.70 crore was seized.

"Further investigation continues.

"Jamir and her associates have been charged under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Arms Act 1959 and other various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The focus on COVID-19 couldnt last forever. Yes, it is a life and death pandemic. Yes, it threatens not only the health of people all over the world but the global economy.

But there are other political forces at play. It was naive to think these would remain ignored.

This is the context in which the debate over the Canada Emergency Response Benefit is taking place.

When the CERB was inaugurated earlier this year, it was billed by politicians as part of an all-hands-on-deck effort to deal with an unprecedented crisis.

To curb the spread of the new coronavirus, governments forced entire sectors of the economy to shut down. That, in turn, left hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers without income. Unemployment soared.

The CERB was a desperate effort by Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Liberal government to get money into the hands of those Canadian workers.

Offering $500 a week for a short period of time to those who had lost work because of the pandemic, it was billed as a national effort. Even the opposition parties supported it.

At the time, the government downplayed any notion that some workers might make fraudulent claims.

We knew the risk was there, Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough told CBC in May. But it was calculated. And we also knew we had to get the money to Canadians. So we took the risk.

That, however, was then. Now the Liberal government has suddenly become worried about fraudulent misuse of the CERB.

More to the point, it worries that workers will find this $500 per week benefit so princely that they wont return to their old jobs  jobs that often pay less.

Economists say that the CERB de-incentivises work. Normal people might say it puts pressure on employers to pay a living wage.

However it is described, this is clearly not something the Liberals are willing to countenance. A draft bill they circulated this week would deny the CERB to workers who refuse to return to their old jobs or who refuse to accept reasonable new job offers.

Under the draft bill, hefty penalties, including jail time, could be levied against those who knowingly break the CERB rules.

For reasons that are far too complicated to pursue in this short space, the Liberal bill has been held up in the minority Parliament and may never see the light of day.

Nonetheless, it signals how the Trudeau government now views the pandemic. It is no longer seen as a unique threat to human existence on the planet. Rather, it is just one of those things  like the demands of the business lobby  that any savvy government looking to be re-elected keeps in mind.

The same logic lies behind Trudeaus somewhat puzzling decision to take part last week in a street demonstration protesting what he called the systemic racism of Canadian society.

I say puzzling because, as prime minister, Trudeau has the power to implement some of the changes demonstrators were demanding. In effect, he was protesting against himself  which is odd.

He was also breaking his own pandemic advice (and probably Ontario law) by taking part in a gathering of more than five people.

But as the prime minister explained later, the pandemic is no longer the sole determinant of political action. It is just one among many.

Or, as he put it: We are trying to balance very important competing interests.
NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the destruction and damage to several prominent statues of Christopher Columbus nationwide, the Columbus Citizens Foundation released a statement condemning the destruction of these monuments to Italian-American history.



President of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, Marian Pardo, had this to say:

"Columbus Citizens Foundation stands for the civil rights and respect of all residents of America regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, or anything else that hurtfully divides rather than positively unites all of our interests. We abhor and are outraged by the murder of George Floyd and the mistreatment of any person on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity or any other divisive identification. Ours has always been a positive agenda, especially in the celebration of Columbus as a symbol of accomplishment, which is emblematic of Italian Americans' own long fought and continuing battle with prejudice in American society. We have all experienced it, myself included. The latest assaults on our symbols of accomplishment are part of that prejudice.

We decry the news of the destruction and potential removal of Columbus statues throughout the United States. Removing Columbus statues is to be complicit in denying a real struggle for identity - which is an ally to current protests, not anathema to them.

Through this public statement, we wish to express our support of peaceful protest and our support of the civil rights of all, regardless or ethnicity, race, religion or any identification that can be used to divide us from one another."

Columbus Citizens Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the celebration of Italian heritage and the creation of opportunities for younger Italian Americans, organizes the Columbus Day Parade in New York City.

More About Columbus Citizens Foundation:

Columbus Citizens Foundation is a non-profit organization in New York City committed to fostering an appreciation of Italian-American heritage and achievement. The Foundation, through a broad range of philanthropic and cultural activities, provides opportunities for advancement to deserving Italian-American students through various scholarship and grant programs. The Foundation organizes New York City's annual Columbus Celebration and Columbus Day Parade, which has celebrated Italian-American heritage on New York's Fifth Avenue since 1929. For more information, contact [email protected]

PRESS CONTACT:

Jefferson Wilson

Director of Marketing & Communications

Columbus Citizens Foundation

Phone: (212) 249-9923 x242

Fax: (212) 737-4413

[email protected]

SOURCE Columbus Citizens Foundation

Related Links

http://www.columbuscitizensfd.org


Coexistence between black and Latino Americans hasnt always been easy. According to a 2008 study, while both communities view each other favorably, Latinos expressed skepticism about the extent to which black people face discrimination in the United States. That might be changing. For the Latino community, the outpouring of grief and outrage of the past couple of weeks has brought a reckoning.

Last Monday, in a landmark Miami Herald op-ed, more than 40 organizations, activists, and journalists acknowledged the Latino communitys omissions in combating racism. We have failed to grapple with anti-blackness that exists in our own community, the authors write. We have been raised in families who refer to blackness in the diminutive (morenita, negrita, prietita). We have remained silent when our tias have encouraged us to partner with people who have lighter skin than we do so we can mejorar la raza.

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Over the past few days, other voices have argued that Latinos should reflect on their own identity. In a piece for NBC News, Ana Sanz, a young Afro-Latinx protester, told reporter Nicole Acevedo that white-presenting Latinos should use this time to reconcile with the privilege their light skin gives them in systems tainted with white supremacy. Jasmine Haywood, an Afro-Latina scholar who has specialized in anti-black Latino racism, told Acevedo that Latinos must begin by acknowledging the common struggle they historically share with the black community. What Latinos need to realize is that our oppression is bound up and intertwined with the oppression of the black community, she said.

There are encouraging signs of this reckoning in an unlikely place: Los Angeles.

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Not many cities in the United States have a history of racism and police brutality quite like Los Angeles. In 1992, the city endured five days of riots after the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the brutal beating of Rodney King. The riots, which left 63 people dead and more than 2,000 injured, exposed the severity of the citys racism and the cruel methods of its police force.

As the citys reaction to the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis has proved, outrage over police brutality has, quite justifiably, never dissipated. The citys wounds are still raw. As a Hispanic, immigrant reporter, I found one of the most remarkable aspects of the protests to be the fervent solidarity of Latinos, most of them young, with the Black Lives Matter movement.

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There is a lot of repair to be done between these two communities and Im here with my tools to start the job, wrote Marlene Cordova, a California State University, Los Angeles senior, for the website EdSource. For young Latinos like Cordova, who also recognize their communitys failings but seek to make a difference in their own fight against prejudice in America, the protests seem to have become a turning point in a common struggle with the black community. Their solidarity appears both permanent and proactive.

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For some, the discovery of this sense of cohesion between the Latino and black American struggles against racism might be new. For others, the story is different. Within the protests, Univisions cameras found voices for whom the confluence of both identitiesand their strugglesis completely familiar. In Hollywood, reporter Salvador Duran crossed paths with a young Spanish-speaking black man, Carlos Vargas. I want to be able to call police and know they will help me, not hurt me, he said. We have a voice. Theres no skin color for us, theres only heart. We are here because of the injustice against my people, my two people: African Americans and Hispanics.

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As a toddler, Vargas had been adopted by a Mexican family in Southern California. A couple of days after the protests, he welcomed Duran to his mothers home. He came to me as a 2-year-old, but in one week he was dancing quebradita, said Maria Vargas, Carlos mother. He then introduced one of his siblings, a young white man who had also been adopted by the Vargas family. I dont see race. Hes my brother, and I love him, Vargas brother said, with Carlos by his side.

Last week, with protests on the move across Los Angeles, I spoke with Lamar Thorpe, a councilman in the city of Antioch in Northern California. I had read an honest and stirring account Thorpe had written about his experiences as a young black boy growing up in a Hispanic home during the Rodney King riots. Although Thorpe was never officially adopted by the Mexican family that welcomed him as a newborn, he grew up much like Carlos Vargas: He felt Mexican through and through. It wasnt until the riots that he realized that something was different. [The riots] didnt hit me as hard as it did others in school. They felt afraid. I didnt, he recalled. The fact that he saw the riots differently, he explained, had to do with the things he had heard growing up in a Hispanic area. While his own family never showed any prejudice against black people, his friends and neighbors did. I didnt like looking in the mirror because I was black, Thorpe told me. In college, Thorpe reconciled with his black identity. He now considers himself both Mexican and black.

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As the Latino community continues to figure out its role in this historic chapter in the struggle against racism in the United States, it would be wise to listen to voices like Thorpe and Vargas. Thorpe, for one, hopes the current protests become an opportunity to address the mistrust between the two cultures and to foster a new era of solidarity. Just like it hurts me to hear Latinos say, What are black people to us? it also hurts me to hear African Americans say, Why do we want these immigrants? They are here only to take our jobs,  Thorpe told me. We have similar stories. This violence has affected Latinos, African Americans, and other minorities in the country.

For more of Slates news coverage, subscribe to The Gist on Apple Podcasts or listen below.
Credit card issuer American Express on Thursday said it has pledged 9 crore for combating the Covid-19 pandemic in India.

 9 crore has been committed in various forms of financial support to back the tireless work of those on the front lines of this global crisis, the company said in a statement.

This includes contributions to the Prime Ministers Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES) as well as to local organisations in India, it said.

The grants will help provide protective equipment to frontline healthcare workers, support the development of vaccines and research and help feed people impacted in our communities, among other critical needs, it added.

Manoj Adlakha, Senior Vice President and CEO, American Express Banking Corp, India, said: While we are doing everything possible to keep our colleagues and their families safe, we are also constantly striving to make a positive contribution and meaningful connection with the communities in which we live and work. The company said it has also partnered for an initiative called, Hunger Heroes that will help distribution of dry ration and essential supplies to the families of 10,000 food delivery riders, severely impacted by the pandemic.

The proposed project would be implemented across India, with a specific focus in tier-2 and tier-3 cities where e-commerce logistics and online food delivery services have been affected the most due to Covid-19 lockdown.

All efforts have been complemented by partnering with NASSCOM Foundation for donation of 11,150 personal protective equipment (PPE) kits including N-95 masks to the hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Another partnership with Samhita (Collective Good Foundation) is enabling the company to procure PPE kits and other essentials for frontline healthcare and sanitation workers as well as isolation kits and beds for hospitals to support health infrastructure in NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune, it added.

As per the Health Ministrys data, the death toll due to Covid-19 rose to 8,102 and the number of cases climbed to 2,86,579 in India after it registered the highest single-day spike of 357 fatalities and 9,996 cases till Thursday 8 AM.
FOR Development and Peace-Caritas Canada, the pandemic couldnt have come at a worse time.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FOR Development and Peace-Caritas Canada, the pandemic couldnt have come at a worse time.

The organization, which operates international relief, development and social justice programs in the developing world on behalf of Canadian Roman Catholics, launched its major annual fundraising program two weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown began.

"Thats our most important fundraiser," said Romain Duguay, deputy executive director for the organization of Share Lent, which finds people contributing funds at church services during the period of Lent each year.

With Catholics unable to meet in person for worship services, the organization  known as D&P  moved the Share Lent fundraiser online, but it failed to generate the needed funds.

"The loss has had a direct impact on our programming," said Duguay, noting last years fundraiser brought in $6.7 million. "This year, the money just didnt come."

As a result, D&P has made $1.5 million in spending cuts to programs and will save an additional $1 million when it lays off its 70 staff for two months in the summer. Managers at the organization, which is headquartered in Montreal, will take unpaid leaves of absence.

The layoff will affect one staff person in Manitoba.

At the same time, D&P, which has 138 partners and 149 projects in the developing world, will slow down spending overseas and not start any new programs.

Although the cutbacks and layoffs due to the pandemic are difficult, Duguay is optimistic about the future of the organization.

Buoying this feeling is a new working relationship with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), which had previously expressed concern D&P was supporting partners in the developing world that didnt operate according to Catholic teaching.

Criticism by some bishops at the CCCB led to a fall-off in donations over the past few years, and also resulted in some temporarily withholding funds raised through churches for the organization.

"The good news is the disagreements are being resolved," Duguay said, noting the CCCB has been invited to place four bishops on D&Ps national council and participate in decision-making about which partners to support. Previously, the CCCB had no official representation on the council.

"Now they will be more involved in what we are doing," he said. "That will help with fundraising in the future."

Archbishop Richard Gagnon of Winnipeg, president of the CCCB, agrees it is a positive move.

Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

"Im glad for the new working relationship between D&P and the bishops," he said. "It is pointing us in the right direction. The bishops feel positive about this."

He also agrees having bishops more involved in setting direction for the organization will help with fundraising.

"It will be impactful for peoples support in the future," Gagnon said, at the same time, he realizes it is a challenging time for D&P, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017.

"Financially, it will be hard," he said, noting all Catholic parishes across Canada are struggling with the impact of the pandemic.

"It is hard to fundraise when we cant be together physically... Its not a super positive fundraising environment for anyone."

faith@freepress.mb.ca
The other countries involved are Ukraine, Canada and the United States.

Iran told the U.N.'s aviation agency on Wednesday that it would send black boxes from a downed Ukrainian jetliner to Paris for analysis, once countries involved in the investigation agree, two sources familiar with the matter said.

In March, Iran told the U.N.'s aviation agency that it would send the black boxes to Ukraine, but on Wednesday, June 10, a representative from Iran told a virtual meeting of the agency's governing council that Tehran would now send the heavily damaged recorders to France's BEA air accident investigation agency, Reuters said.

Read alsoUkraine not to let Iran shun responsibility for downing of UIA flight PS752  FM Kuleba

"Iran said they will send them to Paris soon subject to agreement of the states involved in the investigation," said one of the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The other countries involved are Ukraine, Canada and the United States. Canada previously pressed Iran to send the black boxes to France for analysis.

Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment. A spokeswoman for Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau declined to comment on discussion of the boxes being sent to Paris.

"Iran made a commitment in March. They showed an openness to transferring the black boxes but we want to see concrete action on their part to see it through," she said.

Under U.N. rules, Iran retains overall control of the investigation while the United States and Ukraine are accredited as the countries where the jet was respectively built and operated. Canada has also played a role as the home of many of the accident's victims.

Iran first refused to hand over the flight recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight, which was shot down on January 8 near Tehran by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, killing 176 people including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
EP Global Opportunities Trust plc (the "Company")

Total Voting Rights

As a result of the purchase of 50,000 Ordinary 1p shares placed into Treasury on 10 June 2020 and in conformity with Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 5.6.1A, the issued share capital and voting rights of the Company are as follows:

Class of share Total number of shares in circulation Number of voting rights attached to each share Total number of voting rights of shares in circulation Number of shares held in treasury (carrying no voting rights attached until issued) Total number of shares in issue Ordinary 1p Shares 40,187,725 1 40,187,725 24,321,917 64,509,642

The above total voting rights figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interest in EP Global Opportunities Trust plc under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

11 June 2020

LEI: 2138005T5CT5ITZ7ZX58

Enquiries:

Kenneth Greig

Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited

Tel: 0131 270 3800

The Company's registered office address is:

27-31 Melville Street

Edinburgh

EH3 7JF
Representational Image (Pexels)

Seeking asylum is a fundamental human right but to seek refuge or protection in the United Kingdom, one must first produce evidence that they are fearing persecution in their motherland.

All asylum seekers need to follow a set procedure to claim refuge in the UK. The guidelines for the same are listed below:

Any person who has fled the country of origin fearing persecution and wants to seek refuge in another country.It is not likely for persons residing in a country within the European Union (EU) to be granted asylum in the UK. Additionally, those who have already claimed asylum in an EU country before arriving in the UK may also not receive asylum.

The asylum seeker must be able to establish the risk of persecution in the home country. Not only should the reason behind the fear of persecution be well-founded, but it must be based on either race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of particular social groups (which could also be associated with a persons gender identity or sexual orientation).

Related stories Migrants stream into Austria, swept west by Hungary

The fear of persecution in the future could range from severe violation of basic human rights to denial of judicial redress.

One can seek asylum in the UK either immediately upon arrival or at a time a person feels it would be unsafe to return to their own country, while he or she may already be in the UK.

If one applies after arriving at an airport or seaport, a Border Force personnel must be informed immediately about the intention to claim asylum. They will then be screened, and the application will be registered.

If a person is already in the UK, he or she must arrange for screening the moment they become eligible to claim asylum. One can call the asylum intake unit to make an appointment.

The identity of each person seeking asylum will be verified by a screening officer, and the applicants will be asked to provide their personal details and proof of identification. Their photographs and fingerprints will also be taken.

After that, they will be interviewed, where they will have to justify the reason why they want to seek refuge. After the claim is registered, the asylum seekers will be given an Application Registration Card (ARC) to prove that their asylum claim is pending a decision.

After the screening, the claim is assigned to a caseworker, who decides if the person needs protection. Then comes the interview, which the applicant must attend along with the caseworker. Relevant documents (passport, birth certificate, medical records, school records, etc) and evidence must be carried in support of the application.

If a person is granted asylum in the UK, they will lawfully be able to stay there for a period of up to five years, following which they will have to apply for 'indefinite leave' if they wish to stay back.
The United States and Iraq were to begin a "strategic dialogue" June 11, held via video conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The dialogue was proposed in April by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Iraqi security officials said a Katyusha rocket hit the Green Zone the night of June 10, just hours before the talks were to kick off. No casualties were reported.

Although Iraq and the United States previously signed a security agreement that ended the presence of US troops in Iraq by the end of 2011, Iraq requested US military assistance in 2014 when the Islamic State (IS) occupied a third of Iraqi territory. Subsequently, the United States led a coalition in Iraq to help fight IS. After IS' defeat, the United States left about 5,000 troops help Iraq maintain security.

The escalation between the United States and Iraq reached its peak early this year with the US assassination of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, Iran's bombing of US troops at the Ain al-Asad base in Iraq and the vote by Shiite parties in the Iraqi parliament to end the US troop presence in the country. Kurds and Sunnis boycotted the parliamentary session in a sign of objection.

Following the parliament vote, then Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi asked the United States to enter into a dialogue with Iraq over the departure of US troops from the country. However, US President Donald Trump rejected the departure of US troops, threatening to impose sanctions on Iraq if it went ahead with such a decision.

New Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi included the strategic dialogue with the United States as part of his plan of action presented to the parliament. The plan, which was approved by the parliament, does not mention the departure of US troops from the country.

The Iraqi delegation for the dialogue includes five Iraqi diplomats and officials. They are Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Abdul Karim Hashem, former and current Iraqi ambassadors to the United States Lukman Faili and Fareed Yasseen, Higher Education Ministry Undersecretary Hamid Khalaf and Harith Hasan, an adviser to the prime minister.

Pompeo said that the US side was to be led by his Undersecretary for Political Affairs David Hale and that all strategic issues between two countries will be on the agenda, including the future presence of the United States forces in that country, and how best to support an independent and sovereign Iraq.

The dialogue will not be limited to the US military presence in Iraq and the security cooperation between the two sides, but also will include cooperation in financial, economic, social, political and energy dossiers.

The United States has given Iraq an additional 120-day exemption from US sanctions on importing natural gas and electricity from Iran, while at the same time expecting Iraq to find alternative energy sources. However, Iraq just signed an agreement with Iran to continue importing gas and electricity for the next two years. This could be a big barrier for the reaching of an agreement unless Iraq shows that it has started its search and has a clear timeline and plan.

Other difficult issues will be the subject of ending the presence of US troops and dismantling Iran-backed militias.

Pro-Iran militias in Iraq warned Kadhimi's government that the dialogue must focus only on the departure of US troops from the country and accused the government of making dubious choices in its selection of members for the Iraqi delegation.

On June 10, a few hours before the talks began, the Fatah parliamentary bloc affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) issued a statement about the dialogue.

"Starting from our legitimate and national responsibility, we find it obligatory for us to remind the head and members of the Iraqi negotiating delegation of the unanimous parliamentary vote that stressed the need for foreign forces to leave Iraq," the statement read, adding that implementation of the parliamentary recommendation is strategic goal of the Iraqi people.

The Fatah bloc also recommended that the Iraqi delegation "benefit from the experience of the Iraqi-American negotiations that took place in 2008 and ended with the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq."

On Jun. 8, Abu Ala al-Walai (also known as Hashim Bunyan al-Siraji), commander of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, tweeted, The primary task of the negotiating team in its current form, which was chosen by the Iraqi government following dubious specifications, is to delay the withdrawal of the American occupier to the end of the year, and this is totally unacceptable.

Abu Ali al-Askari, a security official for the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, tweeted, "We were surprised by the appointment of a group to negotiate with the American enemy where most of them are in line with the American project in the country."

Askari called for replacing some of the members who are known for their loyalty to the American enemy," calling for "the inclusion of one of the PMU leaders and a tribal figure within the negotiating team."

On the other hand, Ammar Hakims al-Hikma movement and former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis Nasr Coalition called for using the dialogue for the interests of Iraq in all aspects.

Hikma reminded the delegation about top Shite cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani's advice that the decision over ending the presence of US troops in Iraq be left to the next elected government.

Kurds and Sunnis have already expressed their objections to a hasty departure of US troop from Iraq, and have shown interest in further developing the relationship with the United States in various ways.

Under such circumstances, the strategic dialogue seems to be the beginning of a long-term negotiation that might find a way to end the US troop presence in the country.

This indicates that the strategic dialogue could continue until the end of the year as it tackles problematic issues, including the presence of US troops and the activity of Iran-backed militias in the country.
Chief Executive officer (CEO) of Speech Production, Enock Agyepong, has described as unfortunate activities of some leaders in Ghanas music industry, whose activities are contributing to the collapse of the industry.



Labelling such people as thieves and nation wreckers, Mr. Agyepong said the increasing rate of corruption in the music industry had gravely affected the lives of many musicians especially, aged ones, who were finding it difficult to make ends meet.



The music producer said the fight against corruption should not only target corrupt music stakeholders but also politicians and other leaders, whose corrupt activities had brought the industry to a standstill.



In an interview with BEATWAVES yesterday, Mr. Agyapong appealed to Ghanaian musicians to join in the campaign against corruption and other social ills by using their songs and stage performances to fight these.



The current crop of musicians should be at the forefront of the fight against corruption, he said.



He explained that corruption was one of the great problems, which was hindering service delivery in Ghana, as a lot of government funds had allegedly been misapplied by some leaders.



He said the government was fighting corruption but was beset with a lot of challenges.



He warned music stakeholders to desist from corrupt activities, which were likely to retard the industrys progress, adding we need the support of all and sundry to champion the war against corruption.



The music producer appealed to the government to develop interest in funding some of the activities of the creative industry especially, the music industry.



He said investing in music would help the industry break into the highly competitive global music market, which required not only talent, training and technological back up, but also funding.



Mr. Agyepong further urged Ghanaian businessmen to invest in the music industry in Ghana.



According to him, the government as well as business leaders have refused to invest in the music industry because of the bad perception they have about the industry.



He was of the view that if Ghanaian businessmen and organizations invested in the music industry, the country could use showbiz to create a positive image and project the country positively to the world.



He said despite the abundance of music talents in the country, there was its business aspect, which had so far not received much attention in the country, hence, the need for more investment.

Source: daily guide









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Latashia Perry is eager to get back to business.

Like other black business owners, Perry, of Flint, is trying to find solid ground as the state slowly reopens local economies. Meanwhile, protests for racial equality erupt around the world, with many people looking for ways they can get involved.

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The long march through the institutions ends in the university economics department. The digital mob, led by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Michigan professor Justin Wolfers, has arrived at the University of Chicago, where it is pressuring the school to remove Professor Harald Uhlig from his position as editor of Journal of Political Economy, after he criticized Black Lives Matter.

The left-wing economists were triggered (or, more likely, are pretending to be triggered) by an Uhlig tweet contending that BLM just torpedoed itself by supporting defund the police. Uhlig went on to argue that it was time for sensible adults to enter back into the room and have serious, earnest, respectful conversations about it all.

The horror!

It is almost surely the case that Krugman and his followers see an opportunity to appropriate and weaponize a cause to undermine those in the University of Chicago economics department who still cling to heterodox positions.

Wolfers, who demands academics talk about racial inequality in the manner he prescribes, says, I dont think its just or fair that Uhlig, as an editor at the @JPolEcon is an important gatekeeper for economists trying to make their mark. I dont think the professions resolve to look more deeply into racial justice will get a fair hearing under his editorship.

Listen, I dont think its fair that blinkered illiberal partisans are teaching economics to young minds at University of Michigan. Those are the injustices we accept in a free society. Wolfers certainly doesnt give Uhlig a fair hearing, and yet I would never think to join a digital mob demanding he be removed from his post, or in any way attempt to inhibit him from speaking his mind.

Krugman also grants that we have been endowed with the right to free expression, yet argues, it doesnt mean that your expressed opinions have no bearing on whether you should be editing a flagship journal, especially if they raise doubts about your objectivity. If objectivity were truly the prevailing standard for empowering gatekeepers and intellectuals, Krugman would be working the return counter at the Pawnee Walmart.

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It should also be noted that the mob offers no evidence that Uhlig has shown any lack of academic integrity. Uhlig  who, incidentally, Ive never met, spoken to, or read before this incident  simply refused to subscribe to groupthink outside of his editorial duties. This is exactly why things such as tenure and academic freedom were once championed by professors. When it was convenient, Krugman called this academic intimidation. Now he wants to punish an academic for failing to lockstep with the nations op-ed page consensus.

Worst of all, though, the petitions most serious charge is an utter lie. It accuses Uhlig for drawing parallels between the BLM movement and the Ku Klux Klan in a blog post. Uhlig did no such thing, not even close  and any person of good faith who reads the allegedly incriminating blog post knows it. Uhlig asked a theoretical question of those defending BLM flag protests on idealistic grounds. If acts of protest are truly about supporting the ideals of free expression, as so many had argued, would those people also defend the right of the Klan to protest? A bit clumsy, perhaps, but a legitimate query.

The answer, of course, is no. The Left seems increasingly incapable of living by neutral principles, an ideal that genuine liberals who fought to allow Nazis to march through the streets of Skokie, and so on, were once proud to do. These arent liberals anymore. Krugman and his minions have no interst in universally applied rights. They have no interst in academic freedom. (Unless it can be used to save a Leftist professor.) They have no interest in genuine debate.

There should be mass outrage among academics over this attack on speech. Only handful of professors though, as far as I can tell, have spoken up for Uhlig. But this isnt only about Journal of Political Economy. Krugmans mob wants academics to think twice about dissenting from the line that it has set.

More from National Review
The link between MS and EBV has been suspected for years. (Photo: Anton Vaganov/Reuters/File Photo)

Eli Lilly and Co could have a drug specifically intended to treat COVID-19 cleared for use as early as September, if everything goes well with either of the two antibody treatments the biotech group is testing, its head scientist told Reuters Wednesday.

In an interview, Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky said that Lilly is also doing preclinical tests of a third-party antibody treatment for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that can be applied to human trials in the coming weeks. Lilly has started human tests already with two of the experimental therapies.

The US-based Eli Lilly announced that its partner Junshi Biosciences has administered the first healthy volunteer with a dose in a trial of a potential neutralizing antibody treatment developed to contain the COVID-19 virus.

This investigational vaccine, referred to as JS016, is being co-made by Junshi Biosciences and Lilly, with Junshi Biosciences spearheading the development in greater China, Lilly disclosed on June 8 in a media release. Eli Lilly is also collaborating with AbCellera of Canada on one of the antibodies called LY-Cov555.

JS016 is a recombinant fully human neutralizing antibody, which has been redeveloped to lessen its so-called effector function. The antibody specifically binds to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding domain and effectively blocks the binding of viruses to the ACE2 host cell receptor, Lilly said.

These antibodies are already also being used to treat cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, among other ailments. The key will be whether around August or September subjects given the therapy are able to avoid being hospitalized, which could lead to their authorization for urgent use.

Under the best situations, one antibody would show its effectiveness, as opposed to a mixture, which means hundreds of thousands of vaccines could be ready by end of the year. Eli Lilly disclosed that it was willing to apply its manufacturing techniques to develop its competitor's treatments should its own fail during clinical tests.

Lilly said it has a strong preference to create a vaccine that can work effectively in coronavirus patients as a stand-alone, as making these kinds of medicines, which are usually taken through infusion, is a complicated method and capacity is limited.

Meanwhile, Lilly has exclusive rights and will start dosing patients in a complementary Phase 1 Study in the US in the next few days. The research aims to study the tolerability, safety, and immunogenicity of the JS016 in healthy subjects who have not been infected with the virus.
A LIMERICK county councillor saved a teenager from drowning by diving into the Shannon Estuary to rescue him.

The 16-year-old was swimming at Ringmoylan Pier when he got into trouble. Cllr Emmett OBrien -who had just got out of the water - jumped back in and pulled him to safety.

A member of the public, who witnessed the events, contacted the Limerick Leader.

It was fairly dramatic stuff. It was around 6pm last Wednesday. I saw two kids struggling in the water. I was going ringing 999 to get the emergency services but before I could Emmett OBrien jumped in.

The first kid scrambled to the ladder and was OK. The second kid was trying to hold onto the walls of the pier but was getting slammed against it with the waves. He was going under the water, said the eye witness, who didnt wish to be named.

Emmett grabbed him and pulled him around the head of the pier towards the slipway. A neighbour had swam out to assist as well. Hes a lucky boy because he was in trouble. He was disorientated and shook when he came out, they continued.

The person said they werent a supporter of Cllr OBriens.

I think I only gave him my number four or five in the local election this year but credit where credit is due. I dont want my name used but Emmett OBrien deserves to be recognised. You could be writing a very different story if Emmett hadnt been there, they said.

When contacted by the Limerick Leader, Cllr OBrien confirmed that the incident took place.

Anybody would have done the same thing. Look, everyone was safe and well but it just shows the river isnt to be trifled with, said Cllr OBrien, who is an experienced swimmer and triathlete.

Water Safety Ireland asks people to ensure where they swim is a designated bathing area that is known locally to be traditionally safe and that it has ringbuoys present.

Do not overestimate your ability or underestimate the risks. The same dangers that were present before Covid-19 are still present so please swim within your depth and stay within your depth.

Drownings typically occur when a person overestimates their ability and underestimates the risk, said Roger Sweeney, of Water Safety Ireland.

The Irish Coast Guard and Water Safety Ireland have also appealed to the public to be mindful of the drowning risk associated with the use of inflatable toys in open water.

Their joint appeal calls on parents and guardians never to allow inflatable toys to be used at rivers, lakes or beaches as the devices are vulnerable to the slightest breeze or current and can take a child away from shore and into danger.

Equally the temporary loss of such a device could attract children or adults to try and retrieve them from the water and thereby get into a life-threatening situation, said the spokesperson.

It follows the tragic drowning of a five-year-old child in Mayo last week who was playing with his siblings on a small inflatable.
Disinfection officials provide hygiene during the annual Red Square Book Fair held in Russian capital Moscow. Anadolu Agency

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia surpassed 500,000 on Thursday, and the rate of new daily cases remains high, but restrictions are being lifted quickly ahead of key political events. Experts say Russia is keen to lift unpopular lockdown measures ahead of two important political milestones which were rescheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic: Moscow's Victory Day Parade  Russia's annual show of military hardware  and a historic referendum on constitutional changes that would allow President Vladimir Putin to run for further terms in office. The Kremlin has insisted that the coronavirus crisis is under control and restrictions can be safely lifted. Russia's Covid-19 case tally hit 502,436 Thursday after a further 8,779 cases were reported. The country's coronavirus crisis center said a further 174 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 6,532. The number of new cases had risen from 8,404 reported the previous day, but the daily death toll was lower than Wednesday's 216 fatalities. Russia has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, after the U.S. (with over 1.9 million cases) and Brazil (with more than 739,000 cases), according to Johns Hopkins University data. Russia's low death toll has raised eyebrows with experts suggesting the true death toll could be much higher. The grim milestone of 500,000 cases and high number of daily cases (albeit declining slowly) comes amid a relatively swift lifting of coronavirus restrictions that were imposed in late March. Russia allowed manufacturing and construction industries to reopen in mid-May, followed by more non-essential retailers reopening on June 1, ranging from hairdressers to pet stores.

Moscow, where the majority of cases and deaths have been recorded, started lifting lockdown measures in early June. It then announced Tuesday that it would abruptly lift remaining restrictions, including those around self-isolation, digital travel passes and a system of scheduled walks that allowed citizens to leave their homes at certain times and in certain areas. The measures had been very unpopular with some Muscovites comparing the rules to George Orwell's "1984" and the Gulag labor camps during the Soviet era, according to the Moscow Times.

A worker in gloves wears a face protective shield over a medical mask at the Starlett beauty salon. Starting from 9 June, Moscow's beauty and hair salons, which were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reopen. Valery Sharifulin

Why are measures being lifted so quickly?

Analysts think the lifting of restrictions is coming deliberately early ahead of the June 24 Victory Day Parade in Moscow, an event that fosters national pride and seen as a key show of strength for President Vladimir Putin. They also think that restrictions are being lifted ahead of Russia's referendum on constitutional amendments on July 1. Among the changes being voted on is the amendments that would allow Putin to run for further terms in office beyond his current tenure that ends in 2024. Daragh McDowell, head of Europe and principal Russia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC Wednesday that "the Victory Day parade is a major symbol of legitimacy for the Kremlin and it was only reluctantly rescheduled. Pushing the parade back further from 24 June is not an option." In addition, Putin is looking ahead to the referendum on July 1 and lifting measures early could secure the public's approval in the vote at a time when his own approval ratings have fallen amid the crisis. "Putin is aware that the more the perception takes hold that the government has mismanaged the pandemic, and the more his own approval ratings decline, the more difficult it will be to secure a 'clean' victory in the vote without having to resort to outright manipulation," McDowell added.

S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile launchers are seen during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia on May 09, 2018. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

However, McDowell noted that the biggest factor behind lifting restrictions may simply be lack of capacity to sustain a lockdown, with evident failures around measures designed to limit the spread of the virus. "The tracing app released by Moscow city authorities ("Social Monitoring") has had major issues and has issued repeated fines to compliant users. Reliable data on voluntary compliance with other lockdown measures, including social distancing and mask wearing, is patchy but reportedly quite poor," he said. "In short, it appears the Kremlin can neither implement an effective lockdown by either persuasion or coercion. Continuing to try enforcing one would undermine not only make the government appear incompetent, it would undermine the Kremlin's image of unassailable power, which can be fatal for authoritarian states."

Moscow defends itself

While forthcoming political events are likely to be at the forefront of the Kremlin's mind as restrictions are lifted, it can be said that Russia, along with its European neighbors, is just eager to return to some kind of economic and social normality. Andrius Tursa, central and eastern Europe advisor at Teneo Intelligence, told CNBC Wednesday that, among other things, the lifting of restrictions reflected "mounting economic pressures," and was also just a response to an improving epidemiological situation in the city, in line with many other countries. "Although this raises the risk of renewed disease outbreak in the capital, Russia is no different from many other countries which have started lifting restrictions without seeing a significant drop in new infections," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a Victory Day military parade marking the 74th anniversary of the end of World War II. Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
From July 1, Anex Tour, the tour operator, will resume daily flight program to Turkey and Azur Air Ukraine will operate flights to Bodrum and Antalya, the tour operator's press service said on Wednesday, June 10.

The company said that following a phone conversation between the foreign ministers of the two countries, Turkey will open borders for tourists from Ukraine from July 1. The Turkish party said that it will create all the necessary conditions for the safe vacation of Ukrainian citizens in the summer."

"Turkey, which tops our destinations, will welcome guests from July 1 of this year. It has become an exemplary country in the world, which implemented all the necessary safety measures for tourists and tourism in general. Therefore, we are planning to launch charter flights with Azur Air Ukraine, surely, observing all the rules of safe air travel," the company's press service said, citing General Director of Anex Tour Ukraine Ilker Adguzel.
I know because as a local reporter I covered it for five years and discovered the lengths it would go to to conceal it.

On May 26, I sent a text message to a good friend and former colleague back in Minneapolis. She was busy, she told me, covering the reaction to the death of a man in police custody the day before.

I immediately searched for the story and found the video of George Floyd dying beneath the knee of a police officer. I was shocked by the brazen nature of it, shocked by the sound of bystanders begging for the officers to stop. I was shocked, but I was not surprised. After all, this was Minneapolis and I had learned that this kind of thing happens there.

Once I had started to process the shock, my next thought was that I recognised officer Derek Chauvin, the man who pressed his knee on Floyds neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. I had seen him before.

When he was identified as a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis police department, it confirmed what my memory had already told me  he had been there during the five years from 2002 to 2007 that I had covered the department as a young reporter on the police beat for the ABC Television station KSTP-TV.

Minneapolis is a beautiful, vibrant city, long considered a bastion of progressive politics. But brutality is deeply ingrained in the culture of the citys police department. Through three police chiefs, one district attorney and many complaints of brutality, I covered the department day in, day out.

There is a long history of complaints against the Minneapolis police. In fact, Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general and former US congressman, has been talking about the problems with the department for decades. He is now the lead prosecutor in the murder case against Chauvin and the aiding and abetting cases against the three other officers at the scene.

Like many other cases of police brutality against Black people in the US, Floyds death would have been buried if not for the fact that it was captured on video and then shared on social media platforms.

In fact, an attempted cover-up was already in progress hours before the first video of the incident went viral. Police sent out a press release titled: Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction. Of course, it failed to mention that the medical incident was a police officers knee on his neck. Thankfully, the mobile phone video corrected the record and exposed an extrajudicial killing.

That the police would have tried to cover it up did not surprise me. I learned during my time reporting on the department the lengths it would go to evade answering inconvenient questions.

Almost every story generated from the police beat becomes the lead story on the local evening news. I approached the beat like a print reporter  starting each day by going through the overnight police log. But unlike the print reporters, I was on the 10 oclock news every night, so the police officers knew exactly who I was.

This did not make me popular with the department leadership, and the distrust between us was mutual.

I managed to secure sources within the Third Precinct, where all of the officers involved in the Floyd case worked. They fed me documents and information the department did not want to make public, but the department had its ways of trying to hinder reporting.

Seventeen years before Minneapolis police killed Floyd, I met Keith Ellison, then a civil rights lawyer and state politician, on a north Minneapolis street in 2003. He told me about one of his clients.

Stephen Porter, a 25-year old Black man, had accused two white Minneapolis police officers of sodomising him with the handle of a toilet plunger during an arrest. The Porter case was like most others: an accusation by a Black man against white police officers. But unlike in the Floyd case, there was no video or witnesses, and no social media to draw worldwide attention to his story.

Even an eight-month investigation by the US Justice Department failed to produce criminal charges against the white officers accused of abusing Porter.

After the case against the white officers was closed, the white police chief and white mayor of Minneapolis, RT Rybak, celebrated, with the mayor calling it one of the happiest press conferences he had ever attended when the results of the FBI investigation were announced.

Then Porter agreed to speak to me from prison, where he was serving three years for drug possession. I knew I would be criticised for putting him on the news so I asked him difficult questions, but he calmly answered them all.

The police officers had sexually assaulted him and the Minneapolis police department had covered it up, he said.

He knew there would be some people who would choose to doubt his credibility because of his criminal record. I aint no angel, Ive dealt drugs, Ive [been to] prison before, but I would never come on television and lie about something like this, he told me. I believed him and the interview aired on the 10 oclock news.

If there were any doubts surrounding Porters credibility, there were damning facts about one of the accused officers. Jeffrey Jindra, who has since retired, racked up several complaints and lawsuits for excessive use of force over the years. In another highly publicised case, the city paid out $110,000 to a murder suspect who sued Jindra for brutality, alleging the veteran officer kicked him while handcuffed and broke his jaw in several places, requiring metal plates to be inserted, according to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

After the Porter case many other complaints by Black people against Minneapolis police officers landed on my desk. It was a constant drumbeat.

I started to see a pattern and realised the department had a cultural problem, but shining a light on it would not be easy. The department excelled at stonewalling, evading and deflecting the slightest suggestion of police brutality. And it was becoming increasingly intimidatory towards me.

A couple of years later, I covered the story of an unarmed Black teenager who had been shot and killed while running from the police. The department was furious at me for making a big deal out of it. Department leadership under chiefs William Mcmanus and Tim Dolan started to come after me; demanding retractions and apologies for what they insisted was unfair reporting.

I was not worried about losing my job, but I became concerned about my security after a captain in the department demanded I give up a source or be referred to the county attorney for prosecution.

My bosses valued aggressive reporting but did not much enjoy dealing with complaints about me. So they appeased the department by sending me on a training course about what police officers experience while placing suspects under arrest. It helped me to see that the police have a dangerous, high-pressured job and that there is no such thing as a routine stop.

I support the police and believe the vast majority are good. I have covered the St Paul police department, sheriffs offices in a number of Minnesota Counties, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. As a reporter in Austin, Texas and Hartford, Connecticut, I never heard about cases of police brutality. But Minneapolis is different. It is an outlier when it comes to brutality and it is endemic there.

The problem in Minneapolis runs deeper than just the police. During my time there the prosecutor was Amy Klobuchar, now a US senator being considered as a running mate for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Klobuchar declined to bring charges against multiple officers involved in police killings and acts of brutality.

She repeatedly sent the cases to a grand jury to decide whether to criminally charge officers  and, in most cases, the grand jury decided not to.

On May 29 she said she now regrets that. I think that was wrong now, she said in an interview on MSNBC. I think it would have been much better if I took the responsibility and looked at the cases and made the decision myself.

Still, the bottom line is that it is very hard to get convictions against the police in the US. They have all kinds of protections, a powerful union and prosecutors are often highly reluctant to go after them. After all, they are normally on the same team.

George Floyds death made obvious the national despair over racism in American society. Minneapolis appeared to be righting the ship when it selected Medaria Arradondo as the citys first black police chief. Arradondo was a rising star when I covered the department, so it was no surprise that he reached the top of the ranks.

Arradondo inherited a mess when he took over in 2017, but most recently he had been delivering on promises to repair relations with the African American community and reform police culture before Floyd was killed.

I did not abandon this department then and I will not abandon this department now, said Arradondo at an emotional news conference on Wednesday. History is being written now and I am determined to make sure we are on the right side of history.

Keith Ellison has been shouting to the rafters about police brutality in Minneapolis for 25 years. He is a hero of the African American community and should be seen in the same light by everyone in America. It is now up to him to get justice for George Floyd, and so many others.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
As the number of White Americans participating in the upcoming 2020 U.S. elections decline, efforts are allegedly being made to suppress the Latinos' right to vote. Hispanic groups across the country are now fighting to stop these efforts.

The Role of Latinos in the 2020 U.S. Elections

The 2020 Presidential elections will be happening barely five months from now. The Latinos and the black community are expected to play a very important role as they are the first and second biggest minority groups in the country.

According to the Pew Research Centre, there are around 32 million registered eligible voters from the Latino community, surpassing the black community which has 30 million eligible voters, for the first time in the U.S. elections.

However, either the Latino community is the biggest minority group or not, the picture is very clear that whoever from the Presidential candidates wins the heart of the Latino community will have a hope to be the country's next president.

Efforts to Suppress Latinos to Vote

As the election nears, there were many efforts to court the Latino or Hispanic community. In fact, Vice-President Mike Pence launched the "Latinos for Trump" coalition to unite the community to support Pres. Trump in the upcoming election.

However, it was also found out that there were many efforts made to suppress the Latino community to vote in the upcoming election. An example of this is in the Dodge City in the state of Kansas where the polling location that served around 13,000 voters was changed just in a short notice.

This action of the Ford County worried the Latinos. Dodge City is comprised of 60 percent of its total population and most of them are working in the meatpacking plants. According to the County, the action made was due to the construction but many were skeptical.

Hispanic Groups Fight Over the Suppression

What happened in Dodge City is just an example of the many tactics to suppress Latinos and Blacks to vote. It is expected that many suppressions are underway most especially that the number of White Americans is starting to decline.

It is for this reason that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kansas and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Kansas sued the County for changing the polling locations. However, a federal judge dismissed the case.

Arturo Vargas, president of NALEO Educational Fund, said that state governments are keeping people from voting in different ways. It includes requiring voters to have a specific photo or to purge voting rolls. There were instances as well voters were discouraged by cutting down the voting period early.

Vargas also said that more lawsuits will be filed that are related to as the 2020 U.S. election nears. ACLU and LULAC are the leading groups in the country that should ensure minority will have fair access during the election.

Moreover, LULAC filed a lawsuit last month against Texas officials. The oldest Hispanic organization argued that the state's vote-by-mail policies violate the constitution.
Shamima Begum is appealing a ruling that says she can't return to the UK to challenge a court decision. (PA)

Jihadi bride Shamima Begum should have her citizenship restored because she cannot have a "fair and effective appeal" against the government's decision to strip her of it, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Begum is embroiled in a legal battle with the government after her citizenship was revoked last year, preventing her from returning to the UK.

She was one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join so-called Islamic State (IS) in February 2015 and lived under its rule for more than three years.

Begum was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February last year, prompting the removal of her British citizenship later that month.

(Left to right) 15-year-old Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Shamima Begum, 15, at Gatwick airport in February 2015. (PA)

Begum was one of three schoolgirls who fled the UK to join the so-called Islamic State terror group in Syria in 2015. (PA)

Begum took legal action against the Home Office at the High Court and the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), a specialist tribunal which deals with challenges to decisions to remove someones British citizenship on national security grounds.

A decision to revoke someones citizenship is only lawful if an individual is entitled to citizenship of another country  in February 2019 SIAC ruled the decision to revoke Begums citizenship was lawful as she was a citizen of Bangladesh by descent at the time of the decision and had not been rendered stateless.

MORE: Shamima Begum says she was brainwashed by Isis and wants to return to UK for a second chance

Begum is now appealing a ruling that rejected her challenge to the Home Offices decision to refuse to allow her to enter the UK to pursue her appeal.

Opening Begum's case at a remote hearing on Thursday, Tom Hickman QC said the key issue in her appeal was whether the absence of "a fair or effective means of challenging the decision to deprive her of her British citizenship" made the decision unlawful.

He told the court: "It is a basic principle of our law that executive decisions cannot stand where the requirements of natural justice are not complied with."

Hickman said that "in the present case there is a manifest breach of natural justice", and that Begum's appeal against the deprivation of her citizenship should be allowed because her appeal "cannot be pursued in a manner that satisfies even minimum requirements of fair procedure".

Story continues

He also said that home secretary at the time Sajid Javid had been informed that Begum could not have a fair or effective appeal when he took the decision to revoke her British citizenship.

Hickman said Begum's case was "the first case in which SIAC has held that an appellant cannot have a fair and effective appeal".

MORE: How racist is the UK compared to other European countries?

He added that, nonetheless, SIAC "rejected the appellant's claim for leave to enter the country" to pursue her challenge to the decision to revoke her British citizenship and had "suggested... that the appellant's appeal might have to be stayed indefinitely or even struck out altogether".

"In other words," Hickman said, "the consequence of the appellant not being able to have a fair and effective appeal means that the Secretary of State's decision stands indefinitely and possibly forever without there ever having been a judicial decision on the merits (of Begum's appeal).

"That, we say, piles unfairness upon unfairness and is wrong in law."

Hickman pointed out that Begum, who remains in the al-Roj camp in Syria, was only 15 when she left the UK, saying: "She had not even taken her GCSE exams."

He added: "The only things that are clear are that Shamima Begum was a child when she left the UK and had been influenced to do so."

MORE: Locals line up to protect Robert Baden-Powell statue from protesters

Sir James Eadie QC, representing the Home Office, said in written submissions: "The fact that the appellant could not fully engage with the statutory appeal procedure was a result of her decision to leave the UK, travel to Syria against Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice and align with ISIL.

"This led to her being held in conditions akin to detention in a foreign state at the hands of a third party, the Syrian Defence Force.

"It was not the result of any action by the Secretary of State and the deprivation decision did not have any causative impact on the appellant in this respect."

(Left to right) Kadiza Sultana,16, Shamima Begum,15 and 15-year-old Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport, before they caught their flight to Turkey. (PA)

Sir James added that Ms Begum had been able to speak to her lawyers, and argued that "the fact that it might not be possible to mirror the level of access to legal advice that would be available if someone were at liberty in the UK does not mean the proceedings are unfair".

Begum left her home in East London at the age of 15 alongside Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, then 16 and 15 respectively, and travelled to Syria in 2015.

She claims she married Dutch convert Yago Riedijk 10 days after arriving in IS territory, with all three of her school friends also reportedly marrying foreign IS fighters.

She told the Times last February that she left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a one-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy, had both since died.

Her third child died shortly after he was born.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  State Sen. Steve Huffman, a Dayton-area Republican, has been fired from his position as an emergency room doctor after using racist language to question whether people of color are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus because of poor hygiene.

During a Tuesday hearing on declaring racism a public health crisis, Huffman asked Angela Dawson, executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, if the colored population were more susceptible to coronavirus because they do not wash their hands as well as other groups. A statement from TeamHealth, a health professional contractor who employed Huffman as an emergency room physician, said Thursday that Huffman had been fired for his line of questioning during the hearing of the Senate Health Committee.

Dr. Huffmans comments are wholly inconsistent with our values and commitment to creating a tolerant and diverse workplace, said McHenry Lee, a TeamHealth spokesman. TeamHealth has terminated Dr. Huffmans employment.

The word colored is almost universally considered offensive. A long-held racist characterization of black people and other minorities as dirty has long been used by racists as an example of white superiority.

Huffmans comments received immediate condemnation, especially as the country is currently engulfed in a debate over racial inequity. Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof and Huffmans office did not respond to a request for comment.

Huffman said earlier Thursday he phrased the question in an unintentionally awkward way.

"I was trying to focus on why COVID-19 affects people of color at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons, Huffman said.

The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Foundation called on Huffman to resign Thursday afternoon.

In a Facebook post later Thursday afternoon, Huffman apologized for his verbiage.

I had absolutely no malicious intent, but I recognize that my choice of words was unacceptable and hurtful, Huffman said. I apologize, and I make no excuses.

Huffman, of Tipp City, was first elected to the Statehouse in 2014 as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He won election to the Ohio Senates 5th District in 2018, which includes all or parts of Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Darke counties.

Read more cleveland.com politics coverage:

Dr. Amy Acton resigns as Ohio Department of Health director

Gov. Mike DeWine expands coronavirus testing to all Ohioans

Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown decries calls for business liability relief in COVID-19 legislation

Ohio lawmakers give final OK to $1.2B for construction projects, $350M in federal coronavirus aid
Walt Kotuba has not gotten inside Providence Care Center in Beaver Falls to visit his mother in three months since the Pennsylvania Department of Health implemented measures to restrict nursing home visitations amid COVID-19. Kotubas mother, Kathryn, is 84 and suffers from hereditary spastic paraplegia, a rare, painful disease that leaves her unable to do daily tasks on her own.

There's no way my mother's getting the same level of care. It's absolutely impossible, Kotuba said. She went from getting four to five hours of extra help from my family. Now shes not getting any of that.

Since the coronavirus outbreak, long-term care facilities across the state are barring visitations to slow the spread of the virus. A majority of positive coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania have been from long-term care facilities, and some nursing homes and retirement communities have been completely overrun by the virus.

Advocacy groups and facilities themselves are working to supply residents with cell phones, tablets, and laptops to help keep families connected while restrictions are still in place. But not all long-term care facilities are equipped with technology, and some residents have been subject to months-long isolation.

Kathryns small Beaver County nursing home has not yet had a positive case of COVID-19, but the same restrictions still apply. Kotuba lives in Ohio, only 4 miles from the Pennsylvania border, and said he would regularly make the hour-long drive to see his mother, along with his five other siblings who live in different parts of the state.

Hereditary spastic paraplegia is an inherited, lifelong disease that causes muscle spasms and weakness and stiffness in the legs. HSP is a general term for the broad group of hereditary paraplegia disorders. Kathryn had eight children, two of whom died as young adults, one from cancer and the other from a liver disease. Five out of the eight children have been diagnosed with HSP, including Kotuba.

Kotuba said he has spoken with his mother very little since the lockdown. He said his siblings would spend hours with their mother most days of the week and bring her food and help her move around. If he wants to speak with her now, he has to call the nurses station, which he said is sometimes busy or his mother will be sleeping.

I'd be very surprised if I ever see my mom alive again, Kotuba said.

Beaver County is among 12 counties that will enter the green phase of Gov. Tom Wolfs reopening plan on Friday. Nursing homes are allowed to lift visitation restrictions 28 days after the county reopens, but Kotuba said he suspects his mothers facility will choose to keep the restrictions in place.

As of June 10, long-term care facilities have seen more than 16,000 residents test positive for coronavirus and more than 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths among residents and employees, according to data from the DOH.

As of May 12, other restrictions and guidelines set forth by the state Department of Health include regular screenings for staff and residents and barring the use of communal spaces, including dining areas, until a county enters the green phase.

The department said in an email to PennLive that the state is working to provide long-term care facilities with more testing capabilities. A pilot study is underway at two long-term care facilities where every resident and staff member will be tested, and that test information will be used for cohorting.

The department on June 9 ordered that all nursing homes complete baseline testing of all residents and staff no later than July 24. Facilities not able to receive testing supplies must contract with an independent agency to comply with the universal testing order.

The department, working with commercial laboratories, has been coordinating with facilities that are implementing universal testing. We are receiving test swabs from the federal government to ensure our facilities have an adequate supply. In addition, the Pennsylvania National Guard is mobilizing to provide a mobile testing option for facilities that may not be able to test on their own, said department spokesman Nate Wardle in an email.

Margaret Bajaras, state long-term care ombudsman for the PA Department of Aging, works directly as an advocate for individuals in long-term care facilities. This week, she said her office partnered with Pennsylvanias AARP in purchasing cell phones and tablets to distribute to facilities.

Bajaras said the disruptions caused by COVID-19 in nursing homes has especially affected the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, such as individuals with dementia, because family members and other visitors who would often sit with these residents and help them throughout the week are no longer there.

[Day-to-day visitors] were replaced by brand new nurses who were brought in to help staff, and suddenly everyone's wearing masks, which can also be really scary for folks who have those kinds of cognitive challenges and don't understand what's going on, Bajaras said.

She said this is made even worse when residents are required to stay in their rooms, comparable to solitary confinement.

Bajaras said they have been able to purchase 100 phones and tablets so far, and they hope to partner with other independent agencies to expand their program around the state.

I always tell folks to just picture yourself in a skilled nursing facility, and there's only one phone, in some cases per floor with dozens and dozens of residents, Bajaras said. And that phone is at the nurse's station and the nurses are busy taking care of other residents and attending to their day-to-day care. They're not sitting around waiting to answer the phone.

Some long-term care facilities, such as Messiah Lifeways in Cumberland County, have been able to supply themselves with additional technology and create alternative ways for families to visit residents.

Kim Valvo, executive director of resident communities at Messiah Lifeways, said they are in the process of creating connection booths, or booths made with plexiglass walls, so visitors can sit across from their family member.

We now feel like were in a position where we can welcome people on campus in a scheduled format [later this month], Valvo said. We are going to welcome families so they can, instead of through a computer, see their loved ones through this connection.

Messiah Lifeways houses about 160 residents in both their skilled nursing and personal care facilities. Valvo said their facility has Chromebooks and other devices that residents can regularly use with nurse assistance to talk with loved ones.

Every resident and employee has been tested for coronavirus, Valvo said, and one staff member recently tested positive for the virus in an isolated case. This has been the only positive case in their facility since the outbreak.

Ive been impressed  residents, they persevere. Residents that we care for have lived through so much in their lifetime, and theyre not easily discouraged, Valvo said.

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Prince Harry with Map Ives of the Rhino Conservation Botswana (RCB). (PA Images/RCB)

Prince Harry has talked about how becoming a father has made him more determined in conservation efforts to preserve wildlife for generations to come.

Harry, 35, has shared his love for wild places in a letter in the annual report for African Parks, a charity which he is president of, as he praised the organisation for its work.

The prince, who is now living in Los Angeles with his wife Meghan and their son Archie, 13 months, said being a dad piled on the pressure he feels when it comes to conservation.

Harry said: Since becoming a father, I feel the pressure is even greater to ensure we can give our children the future they deserve, a future that hasnt been taken from them, and a future full of possibility and opportunity.

I want us all to be able to tell our children that yes, we saw this coming, and with the determination and help from an extraordinary group of committed individuals, we did what was needed to restore these essential ecosystems.

The Duke of Sussex has long been a supporter of conservation, and a frequent visitor to many African nations. He took Meghan to Botswana when the couple was first dating and they went back for her 36th birthday.

He spent the summer of 2016 working with African Parks as they relocated 500 elephants, and said that he wanted to get first hand experience of conservation.

Harry shown marking one of the young males while relocating elephants in Botswana - the spray paint disappears after a few days. (Kensington Palace/Prince Harry)

Read more: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'feeling' tensions in US as Black Lives Matter protests continue

Harry released pictures and comments about the work he had done, and last year wrote an article in The Daily Telegraph while in Malawi.

In September 2019, Harry said: I am personally driven by the desire to help restore the balance between humans and nature. It is being in Africa that makes me fully understand and appreciate this.

Nature teaches us the importance of a circular system, one where nothing goes to waste and everything has a role to play. If we interfere with it, rather than work with it, the system will break down.

Story continues

Conservation used to be a specialist area, driven by science. But now it is fundamental to our survival and we must overcome greed, apathy and selfishness if we are to make real progress.

Harry wrote: "This big bull (male) elephant refused to lie down after it had been darted with tranquilliser." (Kensington Palace/Prince Harry)

Before Harry and Meghan chose to step back as senior members of the Royal Family, there was speculation they would be given a role which would see them relocate to Africa.

In the letter released on Thursday, Harry also said: I have always been grateful for what wild places provide. Since my first trip to Africa as a young boy, I knew I would keep returning to this continent if I could, for its wildlife, for its people, and for its vast expanse.

He spoke about the coronavirus pandemic and how it came in the midst of an extinction crisis urging fellow supporters to make sure the gravity of the solution dont paralyse them.

Harry said fatherhood made his conservation work more urgent. (PA Images)

Read more: Meghan Markle's history of campaigning against racism  from her early acting days to royal court cases

He added: Conservation can only be sustained when people living closest to nature are invested in its preservation.

The letter was signed Harry and introduced as being from Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex as he and his wife Meghan no longer use their HRH stylings.

It comes after Meghan wrote a forward for one of her charities, Mayhew, in their annual report, where she revealed she had been sponsoring a dog kennel in the name of their son, Archie.

Archie turned one at the beginning of May and the family had to celebrate his birthday in lockdown.

They released a video of Meghan, 38, reading to him, in aid of Save the Children.
It is clear to me I have to do this this way if I want to get to the bottom of what happened, he said. I promise you, you will have your say in an appropriate fashion. . . . But youre trying to stop me from doing something I think the country needs to do. And Im not going to be stopped.
A study published in Molecular Psychiatry shows that patient-derived adult stem cells can be used to model major depressive disorder and test how a patient may respond to medication.

Using stem cells from adults with a clinical diagnosis of depression, the University of Illinois at Chicago researchers who conducted the study also found that fish oil, when tested in the model, created an antidepressant response.

UIC's Mark Rasenick, principal investigator of the study, says that the research provides a number of novel findings that can help scientists better understand how the brain works and why some people respond to drug treatment for depression, while others experience limited benefits from antidepressant medication.

"It was also exciting to find scientific evidence that fish oil -- an easy-to-get, natural product -- may be an effective treatment for depression," said Rasenick, UIC distinguished professor of physiology and biophysics and psychiatry at the College of Medicine.

Major depressive disorder, or depression, is the most common psychiatric disorder. Around one in six individuals will experience at least one depressive episode in their lifetime. However, antidepressant treatment fails in about one-third of patients.

In the study, the UIC researchers used skin cells from adults with depression that were converted into stem cells at Massachusetts General Hospital and then directed those stem cells to develop into nerve cells. The skin biopsies were taken from two types of patients: people who previously responded to antidepressant treatment and people who have previously been resistant to antidepressants.

When fish oil was tested, the models from treatment-sensitive and treatment-resistant patients both responded.

Rasenick says the response was similar to that seen from prescription antidepressants, but it was produced through a different mechanism.

"We saw that fish oil was acting, in part, on glial cells, not neurons," said Rasenick, who is also a research career scientist at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and president and chief scientific officer at Pax Neuroscience, a UIC startup company. "For many years, scientists have paid scant attention to glia -- a type of brain cell that surrounds neurons -- but there is increasing evidence that glia may play a role in depression. Our study suggests that glia may also be important for antidepressant action.

"Our study also showed that a stem cell model can be used to study response to treatment and that fish oil as a treatment, or companion to treatment, for depression warrants further investigation," Rasenick said.

###

Co-authors on the study are Jiang-Zhou Yu of UIC and Jennifer Wang, Steven Sheridan and Roy Perlis of Massachusetts General Hospital.

This study was supported by grant awards from the National Institutes of Health (R01AT009169, R41MH113398) and a VA Merit Award (BX00149). Patient cell line collection and derivation were supported by funding from the NIH (P50MH106933, R01AT009144). The authors noted relevant financial disclosures.
It is ironic that I was asked to pen this column on Sunday, May 31. I kept my annual tradition of watching the 2008 film Before they Die about the Tulsa Massacre and decimation of Black Wall Street. However, on this 99th anniversary about the burning, looting and killing of our ancestors and the desecration of this former prosperous Black community, I was distracted by recurring images of George Floyds murder.

As a proud, fourth generation Minnesotan, the distress and heartache caused by watching his demise at the hands of police who have sworn to protect and serve is still painful. Like many I have cried endlessly and have raged loudly about this horrible incident that has torn the scab off more than 401-plus years of abuse. Having lived in the south side of Minneapolis not far from brother Floyds death, my heart aches for all who live with the physical reminder that our neighborhood, city and lives have forever changed.

For too many decades to count many of us have been walking around numb, our survival depended on it. To relive or reminisce about previous similar incidents is so traumatizing we buried them deep to prevent depression, heart attacks and mental breaks. The ensuing national and worldwide protests have shed light on the way Black people have been marginalized and mistreated, and the culmination of so many acts of aggression has opened the well of emotions unexpressed, primarily anger.

Misinformation fed to generations about life for Blacks in this broken country has created systemic practices and cultural conditioning of policing that has permeated every facet of our lives. Black Americans are clear and fully aware of our history, disenfranchisement and the role many white Americans have played in it. We are fortunate to have griots in our communities that have shared events and history that stay in vines of communication extending from one generation to the next. Meanwhile, white America continues to revel in selective amnesia regarding any history that speaks to our enslavement, oppression and persecution by teaching anti-social studies and revisionist history.

Although brother George Floyds tragic transition changed the world, according to his daughter Gianna, this movement is about history because it is history that allowed those policemen to murder him. A history that begins with the stealing of our ancestors and raping of Mother Africas natural resources, both crimes committed to create wealth for generations of whites across the globe. To iterate a portion of that history to the unknowing, here is a partial list. It is because:

The involuntary enslavement and the selling and separation of our families, land stolen during Reconstruction and sharecropping as a created form of continued repression and poverty.

Jim Crow laws were enacted to incarcerate Blacks for nonexistent or minor infractions; the Red Summer of 1919when more than 25 white mobs incited riots, looted and killed Black communities from Elaine, Arkansas, to Annapolis, Syracuse, Washington, D.C. and Chicago and numerous other Black communities and cities. Where the atrocities and loss of life, homes and revenue was never recognized or recovered; and the practice of redlining by banks who accepted our deposits but would not issue home or business loans.

A cash bail system is designed to keep us in jail while more than 27% of Blacks live below poverty; and the history of police (slave patrols) for Blacks are built on persecution; because slavery still exists in our penal system and white corporations are making money on the continued incarceration of Black people; because nationally over 38% of inmates are Black and over 32% of our children are arrested.

Our natural hair loose or in locs keeps us from employment and in some instances graduation; the education to prison pipeline exists; and higher education is not affordable or accessible; Blacks account for 36% of COVID-19 cases and 35% of deaths; Blacks are 11.9% or the workforce but 17% of essential line workers and 16.7% of those unemployed.

Many of us live in food deserts; and access to health care and health disparities are real; and because of military service to a country that has never acknowledged our humanity, gerrymandering and Black voter suppression exists.

Every time we built self-sustaining communities they were burned and looted and its residents were murdered; the more than 4,000 recorded hangings of Black men, women and children; all of the victims named and unnamed that have suffered and died at the hands of police who are never charged.

The generational trauma caused by historical events have emerged in the form of mostly peaceful protests, but unless white Americans recognize their failure, nothing will intrinsically change. Unarmed protesters met with violent police, armed as if going to war, details the disparity of thought regarding the rights of Black Americans in many communities. We cannot legally bear arms or exhibit free speech without reprisal, just ask Philando Castiles family. To date, over 9,300 protesters have been arrested, and those who have died, lost eyes, limbs and have been hospitalized because of police violence is staggering, all because they hesitated to arrest four.

The revolution is being televised and it started in Minneapolis. The world sees you America, this multicultural, multi-generational worldwide movement is doing its part, however, now the responsibility is on white Americans in positions of authority to fix it or God forbid the consequences.

Judie Carmichael Brown is a native of Minneapolis who currently resides in Indianapolis and is the director of business development for Hudson and Associates. She is the proud granddaughter of the late Robert Archie and Mary Jones Sr. of St. Paul, and Burie W. and Louise Carmichael Sr. of Minneapolis, all who left an indelible legacy in the Twin Cities.
Washington: US Army General Mark Milley, the nation's top military officer, says he was wrong to have accompanied President Donald Trump on a walk to a church through Lafayette Square, where he was photographed in his combat uniform with the presidential entourage.

"My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics," Milley said. "As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it."

Army General Mark Milley, on the right in military fatigues, accompanied Donald Trump and the presidential entourage to the church. Credit:AP

The statement by the Joint Chiefs chairman risked the wrath of a President sensitive to anything hinting of criticism of events he has staged. Trump's June 1 walk through the park to pose with a Bible at a church came after authorities used pepper spray and flash bangs to clear the park and streets of largely peaceful protesters.

Milley said his presence and the photographs compromised his commitment to a military divorced from politics.
Nadeem Joseph and his family were attacked by Muslim neighbors after moving into the TV Colony of Peshawar, the capital of the Khybar Pakhtunkhawa province in Pakistan.

Salman Khan and his sons shot Nadeem Joseph twice in his stomach and his mother-in-law once in her shoulder. Both were admitted to the hospital as a result of the injuries.

"A month ago, I purchased a house in TV Colony. I still have to make the final payments to the seller, but Salman Khan, a Muslim in the neighborhood, has started harassing my family," Joseph shared in his hospital bed.

Muslim neighbors harassed Joseph and his family by damaging the doors of their homes and calling them "chooras" which is a derogatory term to denote Christians as untouchable.

Khan supposedly asked Joseph to leave the neighborhood as it was "meant for Muslim residents only" and proceeded to ask Joseph, "How dare a Christian family live amid Muslims?"

Joseph reported Khan discriminating against Christians with the statement, "Christians and Jews are the opponents of Muslims. Therefore you cannot stay in this house."

Police have not registered a First Information Report against the attackers, Khan and his family yet.

Pakistan is still experiencing religious intolerance and discrimination today and Christians in Pakistan face this discrimination on the daily.
Mr Gibbs spoke calmly to Will about Diesel, a character from the boy's favourite program Thomas the Tank Engine. He gave him chocolate, his jacket and his socks, and was able to return the teen into the waiting arms of his parents. "I just think we are all greatly appreciative he was able to be there," Mr Campbell said. At the end of the second day, we were getting more concerned about [Will's] welfare so we were very hopeful we would find him on that day and we did." Will's mother Penny Callaghan on Thursday thanked search crews. She said her son had eaten four large serves of McDonald's hot chips and some chicken nuggets and had gotten a good night's sleep. Will may have a broken foot and could need a cast, and also likely has an insect in his ear, she said.

"This is a massive ordeal for him, but for him it was probably just an adventure as well," Ms Callaghan said. The teen, who is non-verbal, doesn't like to be touched and communicates by tapping his chest. "He obviously can't tell me what has happened ... But it was quite amazing that under pressure he can find ways to communicate and he has often surprised me that way with his ability to let me know when he is struggling... "He has demonstrated what an amazing person he is," Ms Callaghan said. "What probably surprised me about him is he stayed in the area  he was off the track but didn't go too far. He was waiting to be rescued and I want to give him a million hugs but he won't like that. I managed steal a kiss or two." Ms Callaghan said a special thank you to Mr Gibbs.

Ben Gibbs, who found Will in the bush. Credit:Justin McManus "I can't wait to meet him, he clearly did all the right stuff, what an amazing guy," she said. "I would love to give him a hug and I'm incredibly thankful." The search for Will, one of the biggest in Victoria's history, included more than 450 volunteer and professional searchers on foot, horseback and motorbikes. It involved about 200 SES volunteers and staff from more than 25 units, from Craigieburn to Moorabbin. William Callaghan with his mother shortly after being found. Credit:AAP It required specialist equipment including marquees and lighting trailers, communications equipment and satellite phones, to be hauled up the mountain.

The theme tune of Thomas the Tank Engine was played through the loudspeakers of SES and police vehicles and locals were encouraged to cook onion and bacon on their barbecues to entice the hungry teen - just some of the many more unusual tactics searchers employed. "It's not usually the things we have done, but it was a good opportunity to learn a little bit more," said Jodie Griffin, the SES regional commander for the search. SES volunteers searching for Will on Tuesday. Credit:Chis Hopkins "Generally searchers are calling out for people, for example, but this is an opportunity to see the diversity of the population, and see the different techniques and learn new ones for the future." The SES are involved in about two searches a week in metro Melbourne, but this was "certainly the biggest search in a couple of years and one of the most high profile searches", she said.

It's still unclear how William managed to emerge from his ordeal relatively unscathed despite the cold and lack of warm clothing, Mr Campbell said. It is remarkable [he survived] considering he didnt have a tent or much in the way of warm clothing, so it is surprising he was in such good shape. It was a pleasant surprise for everybody. The advice is he had kept moving, and by doing that kept himself warm, and he is in good shape. If he stopped moving and tried to huddle down he would have got cold." Acting Inspector Christine Lalor, who led the search effort, said it was "hard to know" if Will would have survived another night in the bush.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  As a tribute to frontliners in the fight against the coronavirus, Ginebra San Miguel will be releasing this week its limited-edition commemorative labels placed at the back of its Kwatro Kantos bottles.

This will showcase the medical workers, the most prominent modern day hero of this pandemic.

The medical worker-inspired label design, was uploaded on the Ginebra San Miguel Facebook page last April 15.

Upon its posting, netizens and avid followers of Ginebra San Miguel clamoured to make it a label.

On May 1, to celebrate Labor Day, the gin company posted four other label designs to honor other frontliners  security personnel, pharmacists, grocery clerks and delivery people, individuals who helped the rest of us get through the lockdown.

The week after, the gin company made the decision to commemorate the sacrifice of health workers in the fight against covid-19 by serving the netizens requests for limited edition bottles with the label art that started it all.

In June, more than half a million of these Kwatro Kantos bottles will be made available in many parts of the country. Anyone can purchase the product and own this memento of overcoming in this most difficult of times. The company hopes the iconic bottle also becomes a cherished symbol of the Filipino spirit  matapang, lumalaban, ganado.

Apart from this tribute to frontliners, the gin company also donated 1.2 million liters of alcohol to different institutions when it temporarily suspended its operations to meet the growing demand for disinfectant last March.
In the wake of protests against police brutality, the state Legislature passed legislation to repeal the law that has long kept police disciplinary records private: Section 50-a. The bill now awaits Gov. Andrew Cuomos signature, who said he would sign it this week. While its undoubtedly a large victory for police reform advocates, roadblocks still remain in accessing what likely will soon be public information.

The bill repealing 50-a does not make the release of police disciplinary records compulsory. It does not require law enforcement agencies to create a searchable public database easily accessible to the general public. Nor does it state that departments must provide information directly upon request. Unless individual departments choose to be more forthcoming than required, records of misconduct, histories of complaints and internal trial transcripts will need to be requested through the states Freedom of Information Law. As anyone who has ever filed a records request in New York City knows, the process can be a long and arduous one.

According to state law, a government agency must provide the requested information, or deny a request, within five business days. However, information is hardly ever turned over that quickly in New York City, or at the state level. If more time is needed to locate the desired files or determine if they can be released, an agency can inform the filer it needs more time, usually no more than 20 days. But that goal post can keep shifting through continued extensions causing indefinite delays in receiving even the most basic information in apparent violation of the law. In 2017, The Village Voice wrote about how it took six months for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasios administration to release the materials it uses to train its media relations staff. It consisted largely of talking points meant for media outlets like The Village Voice.

And thats if an agency even grants the request. If a filer feels like their request was improperly denied, they have a lengthy legal battle ahead of them. It took NY1 and the New York Post three years and a court case to gain access to the series of City Hall emails now known as the agents of the city emails.

The New York City Police Department is particularly notorious for how it handles Freedom of Information Law, or FOIL, requests. The department only started accepting requests by email in 2017, even though the state law had required it since 2006. The NYPD is certainly not a stellar example of an agency when it comes to responding to FOIL, Michael Sisitzky, a lawyer who leads police transparency and accountability advocacy at the New York Civil Liberties Union, told City & State. He said the department frequently delays its responses and asks for more time than seems necessary. Its certainly likely that folks will see delays, Sisitzky said of 50-a requests. And given the history of how the NYPD has responded to any number of FOIL requests, theres a possibility that they may try to push for redactions or withholding of records.

An NYPD spokeswoman did not respond to criticisms of the departments FOIL procedures, but said it was reviewing the new legislation.

The NYPD has long-advocated for the reform of 50-a and the need for greater transparency while also balancing officer safety, Sgt. Mary Frances ODonnell said in a statement to City & State. We will review the final version of the legislation after it is signed by the Governor and utilize it in a manner that ensures greater transparency and fairness.

Sisitzky was quick to note that the imminent repeal of 50-a still represents a major policy shift by eliminating all past case law strictly restricting access to disciplinary records and making those records subject to records requests. And the bill includes well-defined criteria for when information can be redacted or withheld. Its limited to personal information like someones home address and medical records, and certain technical infractions for minor rule violations. This was a critically necessary component, Sisitzky said. It breaks down the complete barrier of secrecy that 50-a erected.

But the responsiveness to FOIL requests and overall transparency when 50-a is repealed will ultimately be up to the NYPD, which has said its committed to being more transparent. I think this is a great opportunity if they want to put that rhetoric into action, Sisitzky said. But its really on them to prove that they were serious about everything that theyve been saying the past few years.

De Blasio has long said hes committed to more transparency and profusely praised the passage of the bill to repeal 50-a. You can use a word like historic, and it can sometimes be overused, de Blasio said on Wednesday, This is historic. This is one of the moments where things change. But he would not say yet whether he would instruct the NYPD to quickly make that information when requested, instead of making filers go through the potentially lengthy Freedom of Information Law process.

Section 50-a has long stood in the way of accessing records related to police misconduct, but for decades, the NYPD would physically post daily disciplinary decisions in the press room at One Police Plaza, available for anyone in the public to see. But in response to a Legal Aid Society request for several years of disciplinary decisions, then-NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said in 2016 the NYPD had been in violation of 50-a by posting those decisions at police headquarters and stopped the practice immediately. A judge codified that interpretation in 2018 in response to an NYCLU lawsuit. De Blasio on Wednesday stood by his past assertions that he did not like the policy change in 2016 and that the decision was not his, but that his then-corporation counsel said it was the law.

New York Citys largest police union reacted sharply to the repeal of 50-a. The unfettered release of police personnel records will allow unstable people to target police officers and our families for harassment or worse, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said in a statement. A dangerous cop-hater only needs a police officers name, linked to a few false or frivolous complaints, to be inspired to commit violence.

Still, Sisitzky remained optimistic about the implications of the imminent repeal of 50-a, despite some potential setbacks with records requests. And while theres more work to be done to ensure compliance with the law and increase police accountability in other ways, there is no denying the newly passed legislation represents a monumental victory. It may end up being a long process in some cases, Sisitzky said, but the mere fact that this process is now available is something that is transformative.
New Delhi:

Asserting the governments supremacy in the Shahabuddin issue, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that law will take its course in the matter. There is a process of law. All I will tell you is that the law will continue to take its course, he told reporters.

Asked about comments of some RJD leaders, including gangster-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin, questioning his leadership, he said he does not pay attention to these.

The bail granted to murder convict Shahabuddin by the Patna High Court has prompted the BJP-led opposition to accuse the Nitish government of deliberately putting up a weak case to facilitate his bail.

The fanfare following the RJD leaders release from the jail had added to Kumars discomfort with leaders of his party JD(U) indicating that the government may move the Supreme Court to get his bail cancelled.

However, the government, in which RJD is a partner, has not spelt out a clear stand on the matter. Kumar has come to the national capital to meet Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

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SEATTLE  On the streets next to a police station in Seattles Capitol Hill neighborhood, protesters and officers spent a week locked in a nightly cycle of standoffs, at times ending with clouds of tear gas.

But facing a growing backlash over its dispersal tactics in the aftermath of George Floyds death in Minneapolis, the Seattle Police Department this week offered a concession: Officers would abandon their building, board up the windows and let the protesters have free rein outside.

In a neighborhood that is the heart of the citys art and culture  threatened these days as rising tech wealth brings in gentrification  protesters seized the moment. They reversed the barricades to shield the liberated streets and laid claim to several city blocks, now known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.
The killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers, at least one of whom had several previous complaints against him, in a department that has been considered a model of reform, raises serious doubt about the prospect of successful police transformation.

Like so many others, I feel rage, frustration, pain and fatigue at seeing the death of yet another unarmed black man at the hands of peace officers. Yet, I remain committed to the idea that we can transform the policing profession.

My perspective comes from many complicated and conflicting experiences. I grew up in Oakland and had a number of run-ins with the police during my own bouts of delinquency. Two such incidents resulted in my being beaten and bloodied by Oaklands finest. Years later, I would run a nonprofit in Oakland that advocated for reform of the juvenile justice system.

Then to the surprise of many, including myself, I decided to accept a position in the belly of the beast as a deputy director of the youth justice system in Washington, D.C. Eventually I landed back home, in Oakland, as the head of the probation department that had once supervised me.

The decade I spent working in the system was solely for the purpose of transforming it from the inside. I now facilitate reform in numerous criminal justice agencies across the country, including several police departments.

After many years of working to improve police and probation departments, I now count several police leaders as my friends. They are good people who acknowledge they work in a broken system.

The primary challenge in police agencies is the culture. Adrenaline-fueled young officers want to knock heads during their shifts. Many departments have the us vs. them outlook of an occupying army.

We must confront and transform this destructive culture, because policing should be about protection and service to the community. This will take effective communication, new recruiting and hiring strategies, transformative leadership, and an overhaul of the police academies.

It is slow and often unfulfilling work. But it can work.

Another significant structural reform we must advance in policing is shrinking its scope.

Officers are asked to do too much with too few resources. It is time for an alternative response network for all non-violent calls for service.

Similar to the community-based organizations that provide diversion programs for youth and adults who would otherwise be in the justice system, we need a new infrastructure of community safety and crisis response. Such a network must be vast and well-equipped, including 24-hour on-call social workers and community-based outreach workers.

This way, armed police officers can focus primarily on reducing serious violence.

Implement new policies, like limited use of force. There should be mandated verbal de-escalation strategies, community policing, and the elimination of stop-and-frisk techniques. Police should be provided with frequent, high-quality training on these policies.

Finally, hold all personnel accountable to demonstrating these policies in action.

Accountability is where many departments fall short. Rogue officers are rarely routed out of the department, thanks to police unions. Advocates, activists and policymakers must reduce these unions undue power. They are why so many states have laws that make it nearly impossible to convict murderous cops.

The city of Oakland is in a unique position to quickly implement reforms that could reduce the footprint of the police department.

Measure Z, a voter-approved ballot initiative, provides $9 million in annual funding for community-based violence prevention programs. Nonprofit organizations already conduct crisis response and provide case management to justice-involved youth and adults.

This network, along with an expanded partnership between the police department and the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department, should be used to significantly reduce the police response to non-violent service calls. The vast majority of police officer time is spent responding to these calls. With an alternative response network, Oakland can have a smaller police department focused on serious violence.

Reform has been so hard to come by that there have been calls for the abolishment of police.

This is a proposal that would take decades to achieve responsibly. But transforming policing, reducing its footprint, and reining in abuse and corruption is difficult, though doable. We can start now.

David Muhammad is executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, based in Oakland. He is a former Alameda County chief probation officer and the former deputy commissioner of probation in New York City.
Babies born to surrogate mothers in Ukraine were handed over to several Argentinian couples after the country's coronavirus lockdown prevented them from getting their children for two months. After self-isolation and testing negative on COVID-19, they received their infants on June 10 in Kyiv. Because of travel restrictions, a total of 125 babies born to surrogates across Ukraine had been awaiting their parents from abroad.
Washington:

The US is committed to build a strong partnership with India to combat terrorism, the White House said as it condemned the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmirs Uri town that killed 17 soldiers on Sunday.

The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian Army base in Kashmir during the early morning of September 18, the State Department Spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families, he said.

The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism, Kirby added. Meanwhile, the US Ambassador to India Richard Verma also condemned the attack.

We strongly condemn the terror attack in Uri, J&K. Our thoughts are with the families of the brave soldiers who lost their lives #UriAttack, Verma tweeted in New Delhi. The US statement comes in the aftermath of the terror attack at a army camp in Jammu and Kashmirs Uri town that killed 17 army soldiers and wounded 19 others, many of them critically.

Four heavily armed militants were also killed in the ensuing encounter.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
China, India move to reduce tensions along border: FM

Global Times

Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/10 19:53:40

China and India have taken steps to reduce tensions along the border in accordance with the consensus they reached, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference on Wednesday, in responds to questions on the withdrawal of troops along the border, where a standoff had reportedly taken place in recent days.

Through diplomatic and military channels, China and India had effective communications and reached consensus on dealing with relevant matters on the west section of the China-India border, Hua told the Wednesday press conference.

The Indian Express reported that Indian and Chinese troops have gradually started moving back from "standoff positions." It added that the move happened after military commanders from both sides met on June 6.

Division-level commanders of the two armies were scheduled to meet Wednesday, the Indian Express reported. No details of the meeting have been revealed as of press time on Wednesday.

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SEBEWAING  The show will go on. Despite the cancellation of the 56th Michigan Sugar Festival, a new Michigan Sugar Queen will still be crowned.

It will look different than years past, but we are crowning a queen, Director of Communications and Public Relations for the Michigan Sugar Company Rob Clark said.

Clark and his committee interviewed 11 finalists out of 15 applicants this year.

We have selected three that will serve on court, he said.

The lucky ladies are Haley Bell of Bay City, Alayna Celestini of Macomb County, and Shaelynn Lavrack of Montrose.

Bell, 19, is the daughter of Rob Bell and Melissa Scherf. She is a 2019 graduate of Bangor Township's John Glenn High School and attends Delta College, where she studies social work.

Celestini, 18, is the daughter of Jamie and Angela Celestini. She is a 2020 graduate of Dakota High School and plans to attend Michigan State University in the fall to study engineering.

Lavrack, 19, is the daughter of William Lavrack and Angela Youmans. She is a 2019 graduate of Hill-McCloy High School, currently attending Cornerstone University and majoring in broadcast communications.

In a traditional year, we would crown the Sugar Queen on the Friday of the Michigan Sugar Festival, Clark said. The festival was canceled, so we have gone to plan B.

The coronation of queen and announcement of two attendance is scheduled to take place on Friday, June 19 at 6 p.m. at Michigan Sugar Co. headquarters in Bay City.

It will be a private gathering, as opposed to public, Clark said. We are doing it for social distancing purposes.

The annual sugar parade would have taken place on Saturday, June 20, but was also canceled.

Instead, expect the newly crowned queen to roll through Sebewaing at 10:30 Saturday morning on a float. Accompanying her will be the two finalists, along with 2019 Michigan Sugar Queen Channon Turrell and attendants Lindel Bolle and Emily Jaremba. The ladies will be escorted by the Sebewaing fire and police departments.

It will look somewhat similar to a drive-by birthday party, Clark said. They will drive through the residential neighborhood.

The court will pass out 500 two-pound bags of sugar to its audience  village residents.

It is always special for the queen and court members, but also a lot about the community, Clark said.

Village of Sebewaing President Julie Epperson agreed that such an event was just what the town needed. Many were saddened to hear that the sugar festival was a no-go in 2020. Epperson hopes the mini-parade helps lift spirits and bring smiles to the faces of all those she serves.

As for the new queen, a scholarship for $2,000 will be given upon successful completion of her year-long duties. The two runners up will receive $1,000 scholarships.

The three are expected to serve from June 2020 through June 2021, as ambassadors for Michigan Sugar.

They will represent the company in and out of the community at parades, the state capital and among the state's agriculture leaders.

This includes a fun filled weekend at Mackinac Island, interacting with its front-runners. It is also an important one, since Michigan Sugar sponsors the islands fudge.

All the shops use Pioneer sugar, Clark said.

The girls will also engage in community service efforts, like reading to students and visiting nursing homes.

In the end, it is up to the queen to craft her year; one designed to enhance exposure in the sugar industry and experience in agriculture.

They gain a valuable agriculture background about how it all works, develop leadership and communication skills, Clark said. "It is an amazing opportunity to network with state leaders."

According to Clark, Michigan Sugar Company was founded in 1906 when six smaller sugar companies merged operations. In 2002, it became a grower-owned cooperative and merged with Monitor Sugar Company two years later to grow into the company it is today.

The first Michigan Sugar Queen was Mary Ann Hornbacher of Sebewaing  crowned in 1965.
The San Mateo County Sheriffs Office has ended the use of the carotid restraint, joining other law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area and California in response to community concerns of excessive force in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Sheriff Carlos Bolanos told The Chronicle Wednesday night he came to the conclusion to change his agencys policy after listening to concerned county residents, seeing other police departments make changes, and seeing the nationwide demonstrations that followed Floyds death, which he called a tragic incident.

He said dozens of emails from constituents asked him questions about the sheriff offices use of force policies and encouraged him to suspend the agencys use of the restraint, which involves applying pressure on someones neck, cutting off blood flow in the carotid artery to the brain.

I have to listen to the reasonable people who are telling us that there are some law enforcement tactics and techniques that they feel should not be used, Bolanos said. The only reason that I hadnt discontinued it before is as a sheriff, we run the jails. And in the jails  which is full of many people who can be violent  my deputy sheriffs and correctional officers are unarmed. So in the jail, I thought it was a valuable tool, but it doesnt make any sense for me to allow it in the jail and not allow it outside the jail.

The restraint method was discontinued across the agency on Monday or Tuesday, he said. Bolanos said he communicated the change with the sheriffs office union, then followed up with an agency-wide memorandum.

San Mateo County Supervisor David J. Canepa called Bolanos decision a sweeping move... that at the end of the day will protect lives.

The carotid restraint is designed to stop the flow of blood to the brain and can cause death, Canepa said. Its time to focus on de-escalation and limit the use of force by police that can have deadly consequences.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Bolanos said that while the sheriffs office employs other de-escalation tactics, the carotid restraint was always considered to be one of the most lethal methods of subduing a person.

If I remember correctly, the carotid restraint was almost like right before deadly force, so weve always recognized how serious it is, Bolanos said. I think its incumbent upon all of us in law enforcement to continue to listen to what our residents say, and make changes whenever they make sense and whenever they endanger the public.

Bolanos, who said he has served in law enforcement for 41 years, said he was trained to administer the carotid restraint in 1979. While he could not immediately recall how long the restraint has been allowed in the Sheriffs Office, he said that it is rarely used tool but that, in general, it has been a part of law enforcement for many, many years.

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez
SAN DIEGO, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA) (the "Company"), the first-ever publicly traded cannabis company in the United States that launched the world's first-ever cannabis-derived nutraceutical products, brands and supply chain, announced today that Raul Elizalde and Caroline Heinz, co-CEOs of its subsidiary HempMeds , have been invited to speak at The Global Cannabis Summit. This virtual conference will take place on June 27-29.

Together, Elizalde and Heinz will speak on the cannabis industry landscape throughout Latin America and how they plan to apply their experience pioneering change there to spearhead legislation and sales efforts in the U.S. and around the world in their new roles.

"While we have made great progress around the world, there are still many families without crucial access to hemp-based cannabidiol (CBD). I am humbled for this opportunity to continue educating audiences on the regulatory landscape of cannabis across Latin America and how we can work together to create lasting change," said Raul Elizalde, co-CEO of HempMeds.

Elizalde served as President of HempMeds Mexico and Latin American operations for several years prior to his promotion to co-CEO of HempMeds. In that position, he significantly grew the Company's presence and sales throughout Latin America, especially in Mexico. Notably, in 2017, he played a key role in legalizing the import of CBD into Mexico.

"Education is a key missing element in the global movement for CBD legalization. Through events like this one, we are able to continue sharing our knowledge and advocating for expanded access to CBD," said Caroline Heinz, co-CEO of HempMeds.

Heinz joined the Company in 2014 as Vice President of HempMeds Brasil when HempMeds' Real Scientific Hemp Oil was approved as Brazil's first-ever legally imported hemp-derived CBD product. With the help of numerous families using CBD, Heinz helped pass legislation to get the Brazilian government to subsidize CBD for several indications.

The Global Cannabis Summit is one of the largest virtual cannabis events this year with over 5,000 expected attendees and talented speakers from over 20 countries.

To learn more about The Global Cannabis Summit, please visit https://greenmedianetworks.com/ .

About Medical Marijuana, Inc.

We are a company of firsts . Medical Marijuana, Inc. ( MJNA ) is a cannabis company with three distinct business units in the non-psychoactive cannabinoid space: a global portfolio of cannabinoid-based nutraceutical brands led by Kannaway and HempMeds ; a pioneer in sourcing the highest-quality legal non-psychoactive cannabis products derived from industrial hemp; and a cannabinoid-based clinical research and botanical drug development sector led by its pharmaceutical investment companies and partners including AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. and Kannalife, Inc . Medical Marijuana, Inc. was named a top CBD producer by CNBC . Medical Marijuana, Inc. was also the first company to receive historic import permits for CBD products from the governments of Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Paraguay and is a leader in the development of international markets. The company's flagship product Real Scientific Hemp Oil has been used in several successful clinical studies throughout Mexico and Brazil to understand its safety and efficacy.

Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s headquarters is in San Diego, California, and additional information is available at OTCMarkets.com or by visiting www.medicalmarijuanainc.com . To see Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s corporate video, click here .

Shareholders and consumers are also encouraged to buy CBD oil and other products at Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s shop.

FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Medical Marijuana, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein.

FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) DISCLOSURE

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

LEGAL DISCLOSURE

Medical Marijuana, Inc. does not sell or distribute any products that are in violation of the United States Controlled Substances Act.

CONTACT:

Public Relations Contact:

Andrew Hard

Chief Executive Officer

CMW Media

P. 858-264-6600

[email protected]

www.cmwmedia.com

Investor Relations Contact:

P. (858) 283-4016

[email protected]

SOURCE Medical Marijuana, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.medicalmarijuanainc.com


Children Born to Unmarried Mothers in North Korea Excluded From UN-Sponsored Immunization Initiatives

2020-06-10 -- North Korea excludes children of single mothers from vaccination and nutritional programs sponsored by the United Nations because local law forbids registering out-of-wedlock births, RFA has learned from sources inside the reclusive country.

North Korea depends on aid programs from UNICEF and other U.N. agencies to maintain the health and nutrition of children. In a country with a crumbling medical infrastructure that started a precipitous decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union almost three decades ago, the vaccinations and food supplements for children are highly prized by parents.

"Every year, infants and children who have been vaccinated with the help of the United Nations are made safe from polio and other diseases. So when the vaccination project, which people call 'UN shots,' is announced, people scramble to go to the hospital," a resident of South Pyongan province, who requested anonymity to speak freely, told RFA's Korean Service Tuesday.

"Last week, local hospitals in our province provided nutritional supplements to infants younger than one-year-old and toddlers five and younger. They also gave shots to prevent polio and tuberculosis," the source said.

But not all children are eligible for this type of immunization, because there is no mechanism to legally register the births of children born out of wedlock, leaving them without legal protections.

"Babies born out of wedlock were not included on vaccination lists after last year because their births have not been registered," the source said. "Only children whose birth certificates are confirmed by the health authorities are included on the vaccination list."

Another source, a resident of North Pyongan province who requested anonymity to ensure security, told RFA that the problem is becoming more common along with changing attitudes on premarital sex.

"These days, young people in urban areas are more sexually open, so more and more unmarried women are giving birth to children," the second source said.

"Newborn babies that have parents who did not register their marriage are not legally allowed to register their births because their biological parents are not identified," said the second source.

North Korea does not release statistics on unwed mothers and single-parent families. Although single mothers may be more common these days, the stigma against them remains strong in a traditionally conservative society cut off from most outside culture and media for decades, with even the primary youth organization fueling discriminatory perceptions of them.

"The Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League label single mothers as ideologically corrupt women," the second source said.

"Parents of young single mothers often secretly raise their [grandchildren], but when the story gets out in the neighborhood, they are accused of [enabling] morally corrupt [behavior]," the source added.

"Because of this, single mothers can't even vaccinate their babies."

"The authorities should not only advertise that they value human life, but also establish a legal protection system for children born by single mothers, as they are [people too]," the North Pyongan province resident added.

The first source, from South Pyongan province, said parents have turned up at hospitals begging to at least be given nutritional supplements for their children.

"Unmarried mothers pleaded with a local hospital doctors to provide the nutritional supplements for their babies, as they are famous for their healthful effects, but they were rejected," said the source.

"Doctors said they were not allowed to give them anything because they were only provided enough supplements and vaccines for the number of registered children. They told [the mothers] to appeal to upper leadership to get it," the source added.

UNICEF, along with the World Vaccine Immunization Alliance (GAVI), provides major immunizations for diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, and hepatitis B for infants and toddlers under 6 years old in North Korea.

RFA requests for comment from UNICEF on medical assistance they provide for single mothers and their children in North Korea received no reply.

Reported by Hyemin Son for RFA's Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Copyright  1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content June not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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More than 100 companies are competing to be first in the race to get a COVID-19 vaccine to market. Its a race against time, not because the death rate is climbing but because it is falling  to the point where there could soon be too few subjects to prove the effectiveness of the drug.

So says Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company that is a frontrunner in the race. Soriot said on May 24th, The vaccine has to work and thats one question, and the other question is, even if it works, we have to be able to demonstrate it. We have to run as fast as possible before the disease disappears so we can demonstrate that the vaccine is effective.

If the disease is disappearing of its own accord, why throw billions of dollars at developing a vaccine? The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already agreed to provide up to $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca and another $483 million to US frontrunner Moderna to develop their experimental candidates. As American taxpayers, we are justified in asking why, writes William Haseltine in Forbes.

Both companies have attracted billions from private investors and dont need taxpayer money, and the governments speculative bets are being made on unproven technologies in the early stages of testing. The profits will go to the companies and their shareholders, while the liabilities will be borne by the public. Vaccine manufacturers are protected from liability for vaccine injuries by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and the 2005 PREP Act, which impose damages instead on the US government and US taxpayers.

Long-term systemic effects including cancer, Alzheimers disease, autoimmune disease, and infertility can take decades to develop. But the stage is already being set for mandatory vaccinations that will be deployed by the US military as soon as the end of the year. The HHS in conjunction with the Department of Defense has awarded a $138 million contract for 600 million syringes prefilled with coronavirus vaccine, individually marked with trackable RFID chips. Thats enough for two doses for nearly the entire US population.

COVID-19, like other coronaviruses, is expected to mutate at least every season, raising serious questions about claims that any vaccine will work. A successful vaccine has never been developed for any of the many strains of coronaviruses despite 30 years of effort, due to the nature of the virus itself. In fact vaccinated people can have a higher chance of serious illness and death when later exposed to another strain of the virus, a phenomenon known as virus interference. An earlier SARS vaccine touted as effective because it produced antibodies to the virus never made it to market because the laboratory animals contracted more serious symptoms on re-infection, and most of them died. In reports from China and South Korea, even people who have previously recovered from COVID-19 have become re-infected with the virus. If antibodies created naturally in response to the wild virus dont protect against future infections, the weaker vaccine-triggered antibodies wont work either.

Researchers working with the AstraZeneca vaccine claimed success in preliminary studies because its lab monkeys all survived and formed antibodies to COVID-19, but data reported later showed that the animals all became infected when challenged, raising serious doubts about the vaccines effectiveness. But these concerns have not deterred the HHS, which is proceeding at Warp Speed to get the new technologies on the market.

Fast-tracking Modernas mRNA Vaccine

Biotech company Moderna, the US frontrunner, has been allowed to skip animal trials altogether before rushing to human trials. It has gotten fast-track approval from the FDA for its messenger RNA vaccine, an innovation that has never been approved for marketing or proven in a large-scale clinical trial. The major advantage of mRNA vaccines is the speed with which they can be deployed. Created in a lab rather than from a real virus, they can be mass-produced cost-effectively on a large scale and do not require uninterrupted cold storage. But this speed comes at the risk of major side effects.

In a 2017 TED talk called Rewriting the Genetic Code, Modernas current chief medical officer Dr. Tal Zaks said, Were actually hacking the software of life . As explained by a medical doctor writing in The UK Independent on May 20th:

Modernas messenger RNA vaccine  uses a sequence of genetic RNA material produced in a lab that, when injected into your body, must invade your cells and hijack your cells protein-making machinery called ribosomes to produce the viral components that subsequently train your immune system to fight the virus.  In many ways, the vaccine almost behaves like an RNA virus itself except that it hijacks your cells to produce the parts of the virus, like the spike protein, rather than the whole virus. Some messenger RNA vaccines are even self-amplifying. There are unique and unknown risks to messenger RNA vaccines, including the possibility that they generate strong type I interferon responses that could lead to inflammation and autoimmune conditions.

As noted in Science Magazine, RNA that invades from outside the cell is the hallmark of a virus, and our immune systems have evolved ways to recognize and destroy it. To avoid that, Modernas mRNA vaccine sneaks into cells encapsulated in nanoparticles, which arent easily degraded and can cause toxic buildup in the liver. A lab-created self-amplifying virus that evades the cells defenses by stealth sounds inherently risky. In fact stealth viruses are classified as bioweapons.

While long-proven, cheap coronavirus treatments with decades of safety testing are being described as dangerous and unproven for treating COVID-19, no one seems to be looking at the risks of the novel vaccines being rushed to market as the only viable alternative for getting the economy back to work.

Why the Need for Haste?

The argument originally advanced for fast-tracking a COVID-19 vaccine was that the magnitude of the pandemic required shutting down the whole economy until a vaccine was found. But earlier dire projections have now been heavily revised downward. The 3.4% coronavirus mortality rate put forward by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at the start of the pandemic was downgraded by the CDC in May to between 0.2% and 0.3%, less than one-tenth the original estimates. The computer-modeled projection of 2.2 million US deaths issued by Imperial College London in March, which triggered shutdowns across the United States, has also been found to be wildly overblown. In fact researchers writing in the UK Telegraph on May 16th called it the most devastating software mistake of all time. They wrote that we would fire anyone for developing code like this and that the question was why our Government did not get a second opinion before swallowing Imperials prescription.

Here is a chart of the actual death rate from COVID-19 in Sweden, which did not lock down its economy, versus the rate projected by the Imperial College model without lockdown:
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 16:25:59|Editor: huaxia

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SHARAN, Afghanistan, June 11 (Xinhua) -- A district police chief was killed and four police officers were wounded during clashes with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province on Wednesday night, a provincial police spokesman confirmed Thursday. Enditem
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is marking its two-year anniversary with Celebrating Community: A Virtual Open House comprised of several timely community-focused online events. This milestone comes as the Cohen Clinic at CU Anschutz continues to offer vital mental health services through the COVID-19 pandemic via CVN Telehealth, face-to-face video therapy. The clinic is part of the Cohen Veterans Network, one of 16 mental health clinics across the country offering care to all post-9/11 veterans, including National Guard and Reserves, their families and the families of active duty service members.

Taking place Tuesday, June 16th and open to all, Celebrating Community: A Virtual Open House consists of several online events developed to support a number of needs that currently exist within the community, including:

Family Improv, 11am  Break up your kids' day with a fun, family-friendly improv class. Partnering with the Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids, this workshop will encourage creativity and imagination. Families can come together to learn something new, while exploring themes of hope and connection.

Break up your kids' day with a fun, family-friendly improv class. Partnering with the Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids, this workshop will encourage creativity and imagination. Families can come together to learn something new, while exploring themes of hope and connection. Community Connections Panel, 12:30pm - Where do job opportunities exist? How can you protect your finances? A panel of experts offer real time advice for current challenges related to careers, personal finances, legal affairs and relationships.

Where do job opportunities exist? How can you protect your finances? A panel of experts offer real time advice for current challenges related to careers, personal finances, legal affairs and relationships. Boundaries Discussion, 2pm - Finding it difficult to keep a healthy work-life balance at the moment? Cohen Clinic at CU Anschutz Clinician, Dr. Sonia Izmirian , will explore how to set and maintain both professional and personal boundaries.

Attendees can register here for the various events.

"From the onset, in addition to providing vital mental health services, our clinic has been a hub within the community hosting timely workshops, seminars, partner gatherings and family events." said Cohen Clinic at CU Anschutz Director, Kammy Bishop, LPC, CAC II. "As we mark our 2-year anniversary, we remain committed to serving Colorado veterans and military families well into the future, providing them with high-quality, accessible mental health care and connecting them with any additional necessary resources on their journey back to better."

Since its grand opening in spring of 2018, the Cohen Clinic at CU Anschutz has provided mental health services to more than 400 clients, treating conditions such as posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, transition issues and children's behavioral issues. Half of all clients served have been veterans with female veterans making up 20% of this group. That is nearly double the female veteran population in the United States. Adult family members of veterans or service members make up 34% of all clients served, while 14% of clients have been children or adolescents. Services are available regardless of discharge status, role while in uniform or combat experience.

"This is a proud moment for us as we reflect upon the deep impact our clinic has had in improving the lives of veterans and military family members across Colorado," said Matt Mishkind, Ph.D., executive director of operations. "As we look forward, we remain dedicated to serving our clients and community partners as we evolve to meet their needs."

The Cohen Clinic represents a $9.8 million partnership between the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the Cohen Veterans Network, a non-profit philanthropic organization with a national footprint of 16 mental health clinics for veterans and military families.

ABOUT THE STEVEN A. COHEN MILITARY FAMILY CLINIC AT UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS The Cohen Clinic strives to save lives, save families and save futures. Through a partnership between the Cohen Veterans Network, a national non-profit organization, and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, we provide high quality evidence-based, culturally competent, mental health care to post-9/11 veterans, their families and the families of active duty service members. The clinic opened in March of 2018 and is located in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Services are available regardless of discharge status, role while in uniform or combat experience. We focus on whole mental health to include not only evidence-based treatments, but also prevention programs, life skills classes, education and training events, military-to-civilian transition assistance, peer support and family fun events. denvercohenclinic.org

For Cohen Clinic at CU Anschutz B-roll, click here.

SOURCE Cohen Veterans Network
After all, from a reactionarys point of view the past three weeks have been a nightmare. Not only are marginal people who are supposed to know their place standing up for justice, theyre overwhelmingly winning the battle for public opinion. Thats not how things are supposed to work!

One response to this reactionarys nightmare has been denial. Trump keeps tweeting LAW & ORDER! as if saying the magic phrase enough times will turn the clock back to 1968. The Trump campaign responded to an unfavorable CNN poll, not by reconsidering its message, but by demanding that the network retract the poll and apologize.

Another response has been wild conspiracy theorizing. On the right, its a given that mass popular demonstrations have been orchestrated by antifa radicals, though theres not a shred of evidence to that effect. And Trump, famously, suggested that a 75-year-old man knocked over by the police  weve all seen the video of him bleeding out on the sidewalk  was an antifa provocateur who somehow engineered his own assault.

Most frightening, however, has been the palpable desire of powerful figures on the right  not just Trump  to find a way to meet Black Lives Matter protests with state violence.

On any rational assessment, it never made any sense to demand a military response to overwhelmingly peaceful protests marred by only a small amount of opportunistic looting. Do right-wingers believe their own claims that were beset by mobs of violent cretins? I doubt it.

For reactionaries, however, the horror of the situation isnt the possibility that protests might turn violent. Its the fact that the protests are happening at all.

And thats why people like Trump and Tom Cotton have been so eager to send in the military. They arent concerned about keeping the peace; if that mattered to them, they would have reacted harshly to the spectacle of armed right-wingers threatening Michigans State Legislature. Instead, Trump tweeted his support.
Over the last 24 hours, Russia-backed militants have violated the ceasefire in Donbas 14 times, using weapons of calibers prohibited by Minsk agreements. This was reported by the press service of Ukraines Defense Ministry.

Thus, the enemy attacked Ukrainian positions in the area of the Joint Forces operation with 120-mm and 82-mm mortars, grenade/rocket launchers, large-caliber machine guns, and small arms.

The occupiers opened fire near Pavlopol, Taramchuk, Marinka, and twice near Avdiivka (Donetsk region). They also attacked the Ukrainian positions near Khutir Vilnyi, Troitske, and Popasna (Luhansk region).

Two servicemen of the Joint Forces were wounded in the enemy shelling.

As we reported earlier, the self-proclaimed Luhansk Peoples Republic stated that it was not going to open the checkpoints in Donbas despite the intentions of the Ukrainian side.

As the official representative in the humanitarian group, I publicly declare that the checkpoint in Stanytsia Luhanska will not work tomorrow. We consider the statement of Ukraine as another provocation. It was the unilateral statement, so-called representative of the militants Olga Kobtseva stated.
Those reforms need to kick in  now. If that happens, good officers will get the support they need to do their jobs well. And the public will get a transformed police force that is more respected and trusted. One of the results should be safer neighborhoods in the places that need it the most because residents who trust the police will be more willing to cooperate with officers and help them prevent and solve crimes, including shootings.
The entire nation is not just fighting Covid-19 but also facing multiple challenges, prime minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. PM Modi stated that every citizen of the country has resolved to turn this crisis into an opportunity. We have to make this a major turning point for this nation. What is that turning point? A self-reliant India, he said.

PMs comments came during the inaugural address on the occasion of 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on Thursday. The ICC is one of the top bodies representing businesses and industries in the eastern and north-eastern India.

The prime minister said that the entire world is fighting Covid-19 and so is India. Other adversities are also arising amid these trying times, the PM said.

Also read: No time for conservative approach - PM calls for bold moves to spur economy

Every citizen of this country has resolved to turn this crisis into an opportunity. We have to make this a major turning point for this nation. What is that turning point? A self-reliant India: PM Narendra Modi on 95th Annual Day of Indian Chamber of Commerce. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/RDXmYcvY8p  ANI (@ANI) June 11, 2020

From locust attacks plaguing parts of the country to reports of earthquakes and cyclone occurrences in the past few months, the prime minister said that the country has faced many challenges amid the coronavirus crisis.

We all have come together to withstand these challenges, he said.

Mann ke hare haar, mann ke hare jeet - it means that only our firm resolve and determination can decide our future, the PM said.

During his address, PM Modi reiterated the significance of developing the country into a self-reliant one and take bold decisions to drive economic growth. He called for the need to ditch conservative approach and go vocal for local.

We have to revive the historical excellence of Bengal in the manufacturing sector. Weve always heard What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. We have to take inspiration from this and move forward together, the prime miister added.

PM Modi started his address by congratulating the Chamber of Commerce for achieving the milestone of completing 95 years.

The ICC has stood the test of time and contributed immensely to the growth trajectory of the country, he said.
When New York City became the national epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, its once-sacrosanct practice of sorting thousands of children into selective public schools suddenly collapsed: The metrics that dictate admissions evaporated as schools shuttered.

Then, the city erupted in protest over the killing of George Floyd, and the fact that the proudly progressive city is home to one of the nations most racially divided school districts took on fresh urgency.

New York is now inadvertently running an experiment in how to operate without high-stakes admissions screens. Some hope that a looming decision on how schools will admit students into top schools this fall could lead to integration long after the pandemic ends and the protests ebb.

The city has an opportunity to zoom back out to 40,000 feet and think about whether this system weve created over the last few decades serves the system and its students well, said Stefan Lallinger, a fellow at the left-leaning Century Foundation and the grandson of the civil rights leader Louis L. Redding. I would argue that it doesnt.
Industry super funds offered to help in the nation's economic recovery at the height of the coronavirus crisis, asking Treasurer Josh Frydenberg how they could best utilise their $700 billion of funds under management.

The chairman of lobby group Industry Super Australia, Greg Combet, wrote to Mr Frydenberg on March 24, extending the sector's support and offering to put together a group of senior executives to engage with the government.

Industry Super Australia chair Greg Combet noted the sector helped stabilise the national economy during the global financial crisis and said industry funds "can play this role again". Credit:Louie Douvis

Mr Frydenberg told The Australian Financial Review on Tuesday industry and retail superannuation funds needed to be "put to work on domestic infrastructure assets more than they have been" and had a major role to play in the recovery.

Industry super sources, who declined to be named, expressed frustration with Mr Frydenberg's comments, saying the sector had been offering to assist in the revival for months.
Prosecutors in Santa Cruz County on Thursday filed murder and attempted murder charges against the Air Force staff sergeant who allegedly killed a sheriffs deputy and wounded another in an attack over the weekend in Ben Lomond, according to court records.

In all, Steven Carrillo, 32, was charged with numerous felonies that include murder, attempted murder of other law enforcement officials, explosion with intent to murder and assault upon a firefighter, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Santa Cruz County district attorneys office.

Carrillo is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon. It was unclear Thursday whether he had a lawyer.

Court records indicated he had been assigned a public defender, but the county public defenders office said Carrillo or his family had hired a private attorney and that the office did not plan to be involved in Fridays court appearance.

Federal authorities are also investigating whether the slaying of 38-year-old Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller on Saturday was connected to the May 29 killing of a federal security officer standing watch at a federal courthouse in Oakland as protests took place blocks away.

An FBI spokeswoman said Thursday that no arrests had been made in connection to the Oakland shooting. She said she could not release more information as the investigation is ongoing.

The criminal complaint offered another glimpse into the extent of Carrillos alleged rampage. He is accused of murdering Gutzwiller while lying in wait.

There was an intent to kill said victim, prosecutors wrote in one of numerous special allegations in the charges.

Carrillo, who was on active duty at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, is also accused of attempting to murder other law enforcement officials.

Earlier this week, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart did not identify the injured officer. But he said the deputy was in a hospital as of Monday.

Hart said Carrillo ambushed the officers Saturday, shortly before 2:30 p.m. at a remote home in Ben Lomond. Hart said Carrillo came upon the officers as they exited their vehicles on the driveway, taking advantage of the high ground and tossing multiple improvised explosives.

They had no idea they were about to get into a firefight, Hart said.

The deputies originally responded to a 911 call around 1:30 p.m. Saturday about a suspicious van near Jamison Creek in the town of about 6,000 in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The caller reported seeing firearms and bomb-making materials inside the van, but when deputies arrived, the van left the area and led them to a home on Waldeberg Avenue, officials said.

Gutzwiller was killed and a second deputy was apparently shot in the chest, Hart said, but his vest stopped the bullet. The injured deputy also took shrapnel and was hit by the suspects car as he fled the scene.

Also, a California Highway Patrol officer was shot in the hand when the suspect engaged with CHP officers, officials said. That officers condition was unknown.

Federal authorities found pipe bombs, bomb-making equipment, a large amount of ammunition and multiple firearms at the scene, Hart said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Hart said Carrillo was shot at some point.

Officials said Carrillo fled the shootout with deputies but made it only a short distance to a small retail area along the two-lane Highway 9, where he allegedly attempted to carjack multiple people.

Two employees of a marijuana dispensary said they spoke to the armed Carrillo in a parking lot and he asked them for their keys. After turning him down, the pair said, Carrillo entered the drivers side of a parked car, only to immediately exit after the passenger screamed and he apologized.

Carrillo then walked about 50 feet to the unnamed residents house, where he finally was subdued.

On May 29, investigators said someone drove a white van past the federal building in downtown Oakland and a passenger fired a weapon from the sliding door of the vehicle, killing David Patrick Underwood, 53, of Pinole in an ambush. Initial reports by the FBI indicated the Ben Lomond van Carrillo allegedly drove was white.

Gutzwiller was a married father of one, with another child on the way. He grew up in the area, graduating from Aptos High School and beginning work at the Sheriffs Office in 2006.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Matthias Gafni contributed to this story.

Alejandro Serrano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alejandro.serrano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @serrano_alej
From the Archive A Tribute to Maung Thaw Ka

Maung Thaw Ka (standing, left) accompanies Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (with microphone) during her first-ever speech to the Myanmar public, delivered outside Yangon General Hospital on Aug. 24, 1988, two days before her historic address to a huge crowd outside the citys Shwedagon Pagoda.

Maung Thaw Kaa brilliant mind and a true Myanmar patriot in the words of veteran Myanmar watcher Bertil Linterwas among the three prominent intellectuals (along with U Win Tin and U Moe Thu) who persuaded Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to enter politics in the wake of the governments massacre of pro-democracy protesters in 1988, and went on to become a founding member of the National League for Democracy. A navy veteran, author, editor, poet, translator, satirist and celebrated wit, he was renowned for his ability to get away with poking fun at those in power. That all changed when Maung Thaw Ka was arrested during a crackdown on government critics in July 1989. Sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor and badly beaten during his interrogation, he died at the age of 62 in a barren cellto which he had been confined without food as punishment for supporting a protest by political prisonersin Insein Prison on June 11, 1991. To mark the 29th anniversary of his passing today, we republish this 2014 tribute to him by Lintner, a personal friend of Maung Thaw Ka.

It is generally assumed that Daw Aung San Suu Kyis first public appearance was at the Shwedagon Pagoda on Aug. 26, 1988, when hundreds of thousands of people came to hear her speak. But she had actually appeared in public two days before that historic event. On Aug. 24, she stood on a makeshift platform outside Yangon General Hospital, made a brief speech and announced that a rally would be held at the Shwedagon. A photograph taken at the time shows her with a microphone in hand, some curious nurses looking out through a window in the hospitaland a tall man in a striped shirt and with a slightly bent back standing behind her. Beside her is a young woman, the famous film actress Khin Thida Htun.

The man in the striped shirt was Maung Thaw Ka, a well-known writer who, together with the journalist and editor U Win Tin and film director U Moe Thu, had persuaded Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to become involved in the movement for democracy. After the military had gunned down thousands of demonstrators on Aug. 8-10, the movement needed a leader, a voice that everyone could rally behind. Maung Thaw Ka, U Win Tin and U Moe Thu went to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They knew Gen. Aung Sans daughter was in town because they had seen her picture in the paper, laying a wreath on her fathers grave on Martyrs Day, July 19. They were not sure, however, that she could speak Myanmar. She had been abroad for many years and, in her native country, few outside the immediate family knew her.

But it was worth a try and the three intellectuals ventured over to her house on University Avenue. It soon became clear to them that her spoken Myanmar was excellent. But she was not interested. She had come back only to nurse her ailing mother, Gen. Aung Sans widow Daw Khin Kyi, she said. The trio persisted and paid a second visit to University Avenue. This time she agreed. She realized that as her fathers daughter, she could not remain silent when the country was in upheaval. The rest is history.

U Win Tin is still active, writing, making speeches and giving interviews to journalists despite his advanced age. He will turn 85 on March 12. U Moe Thu is making a movie about Gen. Aung San together with Zagarnar. But Maung Thaw Ka passed away on June 11, 1991, shortly before his 63rd birthday. He was a dear friend of mine and I met him in Yangon when I was there in February 1989, my last visit to the country until my name was taken off the blacklist in 2012.

In the late 1980s, he had a small photo shop near the Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon, where he sold film and people could have Photostat copies made. We spent a couple of days together, and he gave me a vivid account of the massive demonstrations that had shaken Yangon less than half a year before. And he took me around Yangon in his car, a small pickup truck, to see the places where the killings had taken place. We became good friends, and without Maung Thaw Kas help I would never have been able to write my account of the uprising, Outrage: Burmas Struggle for Democracy.

Maung Thaw Ka was actually his penname. He was born Ba Thaw in 1928 in Shwebo. His other name was Nur Marmed. He and his family were Muslims, and that was not an issue when he, U Win Tin and U Moe Thu, two Buddhists, went to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in August 1988. It was before some fanatics began to try to drive wedges between people of different faiths.

In 1947, a year before independence, he joined the navy as a cadet. He was later promoted to commander of the Myanmar Navys ship 103. That was going to change his life forever. While patrolling the southeastern coastline of Myanmar in November 1956, the ship sank. Lieutenant Ba Thaw, as he was then known, and 26 of his crew escaped in two rubber life rafts. One of those with nine men onboard was never seen again. The others were rescued by a passing Japanese ship 12 days later. By then, seven of the 18 men in Ba Thaws raft were dead, and another died on the Japanese ship.

After that tragedy, Lt. Ba Thaw left the navy and became Maung Thaw Ka the writer. The first book he authored was called Taikyeyin 103, or Battleship 103. It was a gripping account of the shipwreck and the crews struggle to survive on the open sea. He wrote short stories and poems and translated Shakespeare, John Donne and Percy Bysshe Shelley into Myanmar. He was also the translator of William Cowpers The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk, verses about the Scottish seaman who was shipwrecked on an island in the Pacific, and on whose life Daniel Defoe based his famous novel Robinson Crusoe.

Apart from his poetry, Maung Thaw Ka was best known for his satirical wit. He had a wonderful sense of humor and, although he became the editor of Forward, a government-run monthly in Myanmar and English, he never ceased poking fun at people in power. And even under the harsh rule of the Burma Socialist Program Party, he got away with it. He was after all a national hero because of his background in the navy and then, of course, Battleship 103. Some of his satires were collected as Ya Ma Kar Lu Lin, or The Alcoholic. What appeared to be the ranting of a drunkard were, in reality, biting criticism of the corrupt, established order. Sometimes he was blunter. In her Letters from Burma, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi recalls: On being told that a fellow writer believed in ghosts, Hsaya [teacher] Maung Thaw Ka riposted: He believes in anything, he even believes in the Burma Socialist Program Party!

Maung Thaw Ka became one of the members of the Central Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy when it was set up on Sept. 27, 1988. And like all the other pro-democracy leaders, he was arrested when intelligence chief Gen. Khin Nyunt cracked down on the movement in July 1989. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor. His crime? He had tried to split the armed forces, the judge said. He had actually written a letter to his old friends in the navy asking for their support and urging them not to take part in the killings of unarmed demonstrators. Maung Thaw Ka was badly beaten during his interrogation, which made his rather frail physical condition worse. He already suffered from spondylitis, or inflammation of the vertebra, which he had contracted while drifting around in that life raft in 1956 and had left him with a bent spine.

According to the official version, Maung Thaw Ka became unwell and was transferred to hospital, where he died. But one of his former fellow inmates in Insein Jail tells a different story. Maung Thaw Ka was already dead when his body was taken to hospital. He had been kept in a barren cell without food following his support for a hunger strike among the political prisoners in Insein. It would have looked very bad if a well-respected person like him had died on the concrete floor in his cell, so the authorities had to come up with a blatant lie. Maung Thaw Ka was, in fact, murdered.

Maung Thaw Ka was laid to rest in the Sunni cemetery in Yangon, beside his brother Ba Zaw, or Gholam Marmed, a captain in the infantry who had died from natural causes in 1980. The cemetery was swarming with military intelligence agents when Maung Thaw Kas coffin was brought there in 1991. During my last visit to Myanmar, I went to Maung Thaw Kas grave to pay my respects to him, a dear friend, a brilliant mindand a true Myanmar patriot.
In this uncertain time, the highest priority of businesses is to assure employees and customers their workplaces have been thoroughly sanitized and are safe for reopening.

Total Sanitize today launched a proprietary three-stage service for disinfecting and cleaning Bay Area businesses, homes, and schools from the viruses and bacteria.

The company specializes in disinfecting and sanitizing viruses and bacteria, utilizing multiple-stage processes recommended for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and other viruses and bacteria.

In this uncertain time, the highest priority of businesses is to assure employees and customers their workplaces and places they visit have been thoroughly sanitized and are safe for reopening. Total Sanitize's highly skilled team has the ability and equipment to disinfect and clean locations large and small, meeting or exceeding CDC, EPA, and county guidelines and regulations.

Against the coronavirus, and contrary to general belief, even a janitorial service deep cleaning is not enough. Viruses and bacteria must be neutralized with disinfectants on all surfaces people may touch.

Total Sanitize's proprietary three-stage disinfection process optimizes disinfectant dispersal for maximum application, including hard-to-reach places such as the underside and backside of surfaces, as well as high-touch and/or complex surfaces like doorknobs, point-of-sale terminals, phones, light switches, faucets and more.

A guide to preparing for facility reopening is available at: https://www.totalsanitize.com/blog/Sanitization-and-Disinfection-Guidance-in-Conjunction-with-COVID-19

Specialized services are available for retail shops and stores, medical offices and hospitals, daycare, hair salons, law offices, schools, restaurants, malls and other businesses in the six-county San Francisco Bay Area.

Total Sanitize offers both single visit and recurring service. Using a professional disinfection and cleaning service for a home or integrating it into a company's facilities operation can help mitigate risk and reduce exposure to liability. Total Sanitize's completion of services documentation is audit ready, and provided signage for public places helps increase ease of mind of customers and employees.

Total Sanitize's services may be scheduled immediately for Santa Clara and San Mateo counties with appointments in July for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Francisco counties. Discounted pricing is available for very small businesses, non-profits, and for recurring service.

Book Total Sanitize now at http://www.totalsanitize.com or call us at 855-680-0260 any time.

Total Sanitize is a trademark of Total Sanitize, an OREADY Company.

Contact: press@totalsanitize.com
A jet tanker drops retardant as it flies through Pontatoc Canyon as wildfire crews continue to fight the Bighorn Fire which has spread along the western side of the Santa Catalinas, on June 11, 2020.
Rajasthan: Congress sniffs a plot to destabilise its government

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Jaipur, June 11: The Rajasthan Congress has alleged that there is a plot to destabilise its government in the state.

The party has moved its MLAs along with the Independents who are supporting the Congress a resort on the outskirts of Jaipur ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls to be held on June 19.

The party made the move after it received information that the Congress MLAs were being approached with attractive offers. The legislators will be kept at the resort until June 18.

Rajya Sabha polls: Congress shifts 21 Gujarat MLAs to Rajasthan

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

It may be recalled that the Congress chief whip in the assembly, Mahesh Joshi had approached the anti-corruption bureau seeking a probe into the charges of inducements being offered to his party MLAs. He has however not named anyone.

In the Rajasthan Assembly, out of the 200 seats, the Congress has 107 MLAs, including the six who defected to the party from the BSP. Further, Congress also has the support of 13 independent MLAs.
Cops bust Lashkars narco module in Jammu and Kashmir

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, June 11: The Jammu and Kashmir police has busted a huge narcotics terror module which was sponsored by elements in Pakistan.

Kashmir narco-terror plot busted, 21 kg drugs recovered: Watch| Oneindia News

The module was busted in Kupwara. The police has arrested three operatives of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in connection with the case. The trio has been accused of peddling drugs and raising funds for terror-related activities.

The three operatives were in contact with their handlers in Pakistan, according to Dr G V Chakravarthy, the Superintendent of Police, Handwara. During the raid, the police seized 21 kilograms of heroin and Indian currency worth Rs 1.34 crore.

ISI charges Rs 10 lakh per kilogram of narcotics that a Khalistan terrorist sells

The officer said that the module was smuggling drugs to fund the terror activities of the Lashkar. The police say that this was a major module and was involved in big operations.

The police further told the media that the trio were peddling drugs to help the Lashkar-e-Tayiba raise funds in Jammu and Kashmir.

Further, the operatives were using hawala channels to transfer the money to their sources, the police also said. The prime accused has been identified as Iftikhar Indrabi. He is a well known drug smuggler and has several pending cases against him. The second and third operatives have been identified as Momin Peer and Iqbal-ul-Islam.
Shoe lovers have another reason to splurge at Kurt Geiger when its stores reopen next week  it is donating its entire first month's profit following lockdown to the NHS.

The footwear and accessories retailer, which was forced to shut its doors when lockdown began at the end of March, will open 24 of its 57 UK shops on Monday.

All profits made over the next month will go to NHS Charities Together.

Actress Joan Collins is pictured with one of Kurt Geiger's 'We Are One' tote bags which are being sold to raise money for the NHS

Kurt Geiger, which started life in the 1960s on London's Bond Street, has already been giving away free shoes worth a total of around 5million to frontline health workers.

It now plans to raise 1million in cash to donate to the NHS by the end of the year.

To help it reach this total, it will sell 'We Are One' tote bags, T-shirts and face masks, profits from which will also be donated.

Chief executive Neil Clifford, who has stopped taking his 500,000 salary while the stores are shut, said: 'We want to keep recognising the staggering efforts made by our incredible NHS.'
IRVINE, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With the support of Zymo Research products, two California-based companies, Fulgent Genetics located in Temple City and Curative Inc. based in Menlo Park, have received Emergency Use Authorizations from the US Food and Drug Administration for their rRT-PCR tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in specimens collected from individuals. All three of these companies are using their resources to help COVID-19 testing efforts by providing accessible solutions to laboratories that want to be involved in testing.

Zymo Research continues to collaborate with a variety of companies around the world to support COVID-19 testing efforts. Their contributions include sample collection, high-throughput automated solutions for viral RNA purification, and their own FDA EUA authorized workflow for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2.

The Fulgent 'COVID-19 by RT-PCR test' is intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in upper and lower respiratory specimens from individuals suspected of COVID-19 infection. This test is also for use with nasal swab specimens that are self-collected at home or in a healthcare setting by individuals using an authorized home-collection kit when determined to be appropriate by a healthcare provider. The Fulgent 'COVID-19 by RT-PCR test' utilizes Zymo Research's Quick-DNA/RNA Viral Kit for sample processing. These kits provide rapid isolation of high-quality viral RNA from a wide range of biological sources. "What Fulgent and many other companies have accomplished in such a short time is truly a testament to the importance of working together during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr. Harry Gao, Fulgent Genetics Chief Scientific Officer and Lab Director.

The Curative-Korva SARS-Cov-2 Assay is also a real-time RT-PCR test intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from the SARS-CoV-2 in oropharyngeal (throat) swab, nasopharyngeal swab, nasal swab, and oral fluid specimens from individuals suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider. "Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, we faced many challenges, the biggest of which was enabling broad access to testing in the face of an overburdened supply chain," said Fred Turner, CEO and Founder of Curative Inc. He continued, "A critical part of Curative's success developing and scaling our easy-to-use oral fluid COVID-19 test for widespread use across the country has been our ability to identify alternative resources like Zymo Research's reagents. We're so pleased to have a strong partner in Zymo as we continue to deliver testing resources to communities across the country, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Delaware, Texas, and more."

Dr. Larry Jia, Founder and President of Zymo Research noted, "Zymo Research is happy to support Fulgent's and Curative's diagnostic efforts with our sample collection and viral RNA extraction kits. It is inspiring to see companies working together at such a critical time."

Zymo Research is collaborating with companies around the world to support COVID-19 testing efforts. Zymo's contributions include sample collection, high-throughput automated solutions for viral RNA purification, and their own FDA EUA authorized workflow for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2.

To learn more about Zymo Research's COVID-19 efforts and partnerships, read more here or email them at [email protected].

About Zymo Research Corp.

Zymo Research is a privately owned company that has been serving the scientific community with state-of-the-art molecular biology tools since 1994. "The Beauty of Science is to Make Things Simple" is their motto, which is reflected in every product they produce, from their epigenetics to DNA/RNA purification technologies. Historically recognized as the leader in epigenetics, Zymo Research is breaking boundaries with novel solutions for sample collection, microbiomic measurements, and NGS technologies that are high quality and simple to use. Follow Zymo Research on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Trademarks:

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The Zymo Research Corp. trademark, with its design elements including the stylized three-shaded ovals (budding yeast), and the words "The Beauty of Science is to Make Things Simple", DNA/RNA Shield, and Quick-DNA/RNA are trademarks of Zymo Research Corp.

SOURCE Zymo Research Corp.
[June 11, 2020] Chatmeter Launches Mobile App to Streamline Customer Engagement and Support Real Time Reputation Management

Chatmeter, the leader in local search marketing and reputation management, today announced the launch of its new mobile app. The app brings key features from the Chatmeter LocationHQ reputation management and local SEO platform to mobile devices - providing marketers with the necessary tools to optimize local brand reputation from anywhere. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005273/en/ Chatmeter Mobile App (Photo: Business Wire) For the first time in the digital marketing industry, brands can now update listings information directly from a mobile device, helping them maintain trust and loyalty particularly as businesses reopen and regulations vary across state and county lines. Coupled with in-app review management and response capabilities, these hyperlocal marketing and real-time customer engagement strategies are paramount to helping businesses rebuild post-crisis and thrive long-term. Key Features and Benefits: Streamlined Interface: Users can access key features of the LocationHQ dashboard from a smartphone, including listing management on the go, direct access to customer ervice and more.

Users can access key features of the LocationHQ dashboard from a smartphone, including listing management on the go, direct access to customer ervice and more. Listings Information: Keeping location information up-to-date is easier than ever before with Chatmeter's Mobile app including hours changes, updating photos, and any other listings adjustments across sites like Google (News - Alert), Facebook, Yelp, and more all in one place.

Keeping location information up-to-date is easier than ever before with Chatmeter's Mobile app including hours changes, updating photos, and any other listings adjustments across sites like Google (News - Alert), Facebook, Yelp, and more all in one place. Rapid review responses: Immediately take action on customer reviews so your brand can always provide superior customer service. The mobile app is a cohesive extension of the Chatmeter dashboard - utilizing real-time alerts, brand verified response templates, and seamless approval systems.



said Collin Holmes, CEO and Founder of Chatmeter. "Marketers are having to do more with less - especially resources right now. Yet, the digital marketing demands are even higher with the amount of changes in business data. This mobile tool allows a marketer to have a centralized, on-the-go solution to address these issues." To learn more about how your company can improve the customer experience and improve revenue, check out our blog.

About LocationHQ Chatmeter's all-in-one online Reputation and Local SEO management software helps multi-location brands and agencies stay in control of every location. Real-time monitoring of all reviews, social media pages, and listings makes it easy to take action where you need it most. About Chatmeter Consumers have high expectations for brands to deliver accurate information with convenience. Chatmeter (www.chatmeter.com) gives multi-location brands the tools to manage the online to offline customer journey by focusing on improving online reputation, business listings and local SEO rankings. Established in 2009, Chatmeter now analyzes billions of customer reviews, social media mentions and sentiments from hundreds of sources to help businesses keep a pulse on all of their locations. Fortune 5000 companies rely on Chatmeter's expertise in multi-location brand management to make confident business decisions that provide a competitive advantage at every location. From search rankings to business listings, store pages and more, Chatmeter is the trusted solution for driving traffic and revenue to local businesses in over 40 industries including retail, healthcare, financial services, real estate, food services, and automotive. Chatmeter is the recipient of top accolades including the Inc. 5000, Entrepreneur 360 and Street Fight Local Visionary Awards, as well as local San Diego recognition as a Top Workplace by the Union-Tribune. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005273/en/

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The Mayor of Middlesbrough has defended statues of Captain James Cook that are being targeted for removal by the 'Topple The Racists' campaign.

Andy Preston has said Teessiders are proud of the 18th-century explorer and statues of him in Great Ayton, Whitby and London should not be torn down.

A 'Topple The Racists' website listing controversial memorials to historic figures angrily describes Cook, a major navigator and cartographer, who 'discovered' New Zealand for Britain, as a 'colonialist who murdered Maori people in their homeland'.

The site is supportive of the Black Lives Matter campaign, which has seen thousands of people take to Britain's streets in anti-racism demonstrations.

Members of the public have been invited to draw up a list of statues and monuments 'that celebrate slavery and racism' that should be toppled or renamed, after a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was thrown into Bristol Harbour at the weekend.

Now the Mayor of Middlesbrough has now waded into the national debate, saying he is 'absolutely against' the removal of memorials dedicated to Captain Cook.

Statues of Cook are in Middlesbrough, Great Ayton and Whitby, as well as near Admiralty Arch on The Mall and in Greenwich in London.

In Middlesbrough, a primary school, hospital and road are all named after Cook, and there is a dedicated memorial to the famous seafarer.

Statues dedicated to Captain James Cook are being threatened with removal by the 'Topple The Racists' campaign (left, in Great Ayton; right near Admiralty Arch in London)

The 'Topple The Racists' website describes Cook as a 'colonialist who murdered Maori people in their homeland' (left, in Whitby; right, in Greenwich, London)

Andy Preston has said Teessiders are proud of the 18th-century explorer and statues of him in Middlesbrough, Great Ayton and Whitby should not be torn down

Mr Preston described Cook as 'probably the greatest ever and certainly the most successful Teessider in history' and called on local politicians to publicly oppose 'the whitewashing of Cook's name from the history books'.

The 53-year-old politician said: 'Cook was probably the greatest ever and certainly the most successful Teessider in history and the vast majority of us are rightly proud of his achievements on his great voyages of discovery.

'Cook was a genuine working class hero who rose from being a labourer's son to the most celebrated man in Europe.

'Of course, they were very different times and I'm sure that a modern day Captain Cook would not act in the way that he did back then, when values, standards and beliefs were very different to modern thinking.

'Teesside, and Middlesbrough in particular, rightly celebrates Cook's historic achievements in discovering and charting lands across great areas of the world.

Last night Mayor Andy Preston tweeted: 'I'm calling on Tees politicians to join me to protect Captain Cook's legacy after campaigners called to remove statues of our famous explorer'

A 'hit list' of 78 statues and memorials to some of Britain's most famous figures has been created by an anti-racism group urging local communities to remove them

The next in line? BLM supporters have pinpointed a list of their next targets, but the most widely shared are (top left to bottom right) 1) Lord Nelson - tried to stop abolition (Nelson's column) 2) Sir Thomas Picton 3) Thomas Guy - London, Guy's Hospital 4) Sir Robert Peel 5) Sir Francis Drake 6) William Beckford 7) Henry Dundas 8) Clive of India 9) John Cass 10) General Sir Redvers Buller 11) Lord Kitchener 12) Ronald Fisher 13) Lord Grey - Grey's Monument - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Grainger Street 14) Oliver Cromwell - Statue - London, Houses of Parliament 15) Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde - Statue - Glasgow, George Square 16) William Ewart Gladstone 17) William Leverhulme - Statue - Wirral, outside Lady Lever Art Gallery 18) William Armstrong - Memorial - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eldon Place 19) King James II - Statue - London, Trafalgar Square 20) General James George Smith Neill, Wellington Square, Ayr

From humble beginnings to national hero: Captain Cook James Cook (1728-1779) was an explorer, navigator, cartographer and captain in the British Royal Navy. He was born in Marton, Yorkshire, and was the second of eigh children of a Scottish farm labourer. His father's employer paid for him to attend school, and aged 16 moved to Staithes to be apprenticed as a shop boy. Eighteen months later, Cook moved to port town Whitby and was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice. In 1755, he joined the Royal Navy, seeing action in the Seven Years' War and surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This came at a crucial time in his career and in the direction of British overseas exploration, and led to his commission as commander of HM Bark Endeavour in 1766 for the first of three voyages. Cook sailed thousands of miles across then uncharted areas of the world, mapping lands from New Zealand and Hawaii and surveying and naming features and recording islands and coastlines on European maps. His critics in Australia and New Zealand regard him as the dispossessor of the indigenous peoples, argue that his name is synonymous with the advent of European colonialism, and believe too much emphasis is placed on him in their own national narratives. Cook was attacked and killed in 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap the Island of Hawaii's monarch in order to reclaim a cutter stolen from him. Advertisement

'So I'm calling on all of my fellow Teesside politicians to state publicly that they would not support the whitewashing of Cook's name from the history books - and that they would be absolutely against the removal of any of the statues that celebrate his incredible achievements.'

Mr Preston said he believed new information, explaining the modern context of what Cook did, could be placed alongside the statues.

Whitby MP Robert Goodwill said that a local statue of a young James Cook would only be removed by anti-racist demonstrators 'over my dead body'.

Mr Goodwill said: 'The statue of Captain Cook in Whitby would only be removed over my dead body. This is a ridiculous suggestion.' The Tory MP added: 'If they decide to remove the Great Ayton statue then I am sure we would find a second location in Whitby for it.'

In Great Ayton, parish council chairman Ron Kirk also opposed removing the statue in the village, which is the statue targeted on the website. He said: 'Cook, for his day, was probably well-advanced.'

Today, former scouts have vowed to defend the seaside statue of Robert Baden-Powell due to be hauled down later after Black Lives Matter protesters branded him racist, homophobic and fascist as the campaign to remove historic monuments in Britain hurtles on.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council leader Vikki Slade, a Liberal Democrat, says the statue on Poole Quay facing Brownsea Island where the first scout camp was held in 1907 will be taken down immediately and put in 'safe storage'. But there is fury over the statue's planned removal today with former Queen's Scout Len Bannister, 79, guarding it this morning declaring: 'If they want to knock this down - they'll have to knock me down first'.

He told ITV News: 'It's absolutely crazy. Who's it that actually wants to do it? I'll fight them off. I'm actually very angry - and I'm not a protester.

'I've had a lot of enjoyment because of him in my life because of him'.

Local Tory MP Conor Burns tweeted earlier: 'The removal of the statue of Lord Baden Powell from Poole is a huge error of judgement. Very concerned by the idea it is on advice from @dorsetpolice'. He added: 'Are we going to follow the example of the Met and Bristol and let the mob rule the streets?'

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council leader Vikki Slade says the statue on Poole Quay facing Brownsea Island where the first scout camp was held in 1907 will be taken down immediately and put in 'safe storage'.

But there is fury over the statue's planned removal today with local Tory MP Conor Burns tweeting: 'The removal of the statue of Lord Baden Powell from Poole is a huge error of judgement. Very concerned by the idea it is on advice from @dorsetpolice'.

The Scouts have released a statement this morning, and although they refused to condemn the decision they said they hoped it would be 'temporary'.

BCP council, run by an alliance of Lib Dem, Labour, Green and Independent councillors, took the decision after Dorset Police advised them to remove it 'to minimise the risk of any public disorder or anti-social behaviour' after chaos in Bristol when a bronze of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down on Sunday.
As people around the world join together to take action in protest of anti-Black racism and police violence, many institutions  including universities and governments at all levels  are looking with fresh eyes at measures to address some of the longstanding issues and disparities at the roots of this historic moment.



That holds true for Dalhousie University as well.



A joint statement issued last Monday (June 1) from President Deep Saini and Vice-Provost Equity and Inclusion Theresa Rajack-Talley condemned the racist acts that have inspired such outrage and social action; reinforced Dals commitment to confronting systemic anti-Black racism alongside all forms of discrimination and intolerance; and emphasized the need to engage students and the broader Dal community in critical thinking and research on the causes and consequences of racial violence and subsequent actions needed.



A significant step in that regard occurred on Monday (June 8), with the Dalhousie Senate voting to approve efforts to establish a new academic program and a new research institute, both focused on Black studies.



Towards a major and new research institute in Black studies





The motions approved by Senate were:



The office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic will work with Faculty-based leaders to establish a committee, appropriately resourced, to develop a proposal for an interdisciplinary major/honors program in Black and African Diaspora Studies; to be presented for consideration by Senate no later than April 30, 2021.



The office of the Vice-President Research and Innovation will work with Faculty-based researchers and leaders to establish a committee, appropriately resourced, to develop a proposal for a research institute for Black Studies in Canada; to be presented for consideration by Senate no later than April 30, 2021.

The motions were put forward by Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, the James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, who noted the important role academia has to play in understanding and addressing the complicated and interconnected realities of anti-Black racism.



One of the reasons anti-Black racism  and I would add police brutality  persists in Canada is because of the faulty belief that Canada is a haven of racial tolerance, said Dr. Dryden, speaking to Senators in the virtual meeting on Monday. There is more of a commitment to that belief than there is actually confronting the gross inequalities Black communities continue to face.



Addressing those inequalities is cross-disciplinary work, she explained, with lenses that can be applied in the sciences, the arts and humanities, health sciences, data research and many other disciplines.



If we are truly committed to developing and producing well-rounded and critical scholars in each of our faculties, we must centralize the discussions of colonialism and anti-Black racism and foreground the intersectional methods of decolonization and Black Studies, said Dr. Dryden. In order for all lives to matter, Black lives must matter.



Supporting university-wide efforts



The motion received enthusiastic endorsement from Senators and administration, with President Deep Saini committing to supporting the Provost, the Vice-President Research and the broader community in bringing the two motions to life. Dr. Saini said he sees this as a pivotal time for Dalhousie when it comes to moving forward with concrete action on anti-Black racism and equity, diversity and inclusion in general.



We have strong policies and have established initiatives and resources in place, and our faculty, staff and students have made  and continue to make  vital contributions to aid our understanding and to help shape the path forward, said Dr. Saini, speaking to Senators.



However, we must do more. We must all be accountable and drive for continuous improvement, added Dr. Saini, who pledged to work together with Senate Chair Kevin Hewitt, Vice-Provost Rajack-Talley and others on determining immediate next steps for Dal to take further action. The time to act in a resolute way is now.



Dr. Hewitt opened the meeting with a moment of silence for the lives lost from anti-Black racism, and thanked Dals academic community for the statements of solidarity and support that have come from various departments and Faculties in the past couple of weeks. I hope we can all make this moment an inflection point in the long arc of our history, he said.



Work across the university



A full major in Black and African Diaspora Studies will build on Dals existing minor in the same subject, which was launched in 2016. The development of such a major was highlighted in the Lord Dalhousie Report, released last year, which provided recommendations on ways Dal could work to address anti-Black racism and the legacy of its founders intersections with the legacy of slavery.



Some of the other work underway to address the findings of the Lord Dalhousie report include a joint academic conference with the University of Kings College on the history of slavery, expanding partnerships with historically Black universities and colleges in the U.S. and Caribbean, and continued work in developing a full African Nova Scotian strategy for the university.



Theresa Rajack-Talley, who also spoke at Mondays Senate meeting with an update on development of a racialized violence policy for Dal (expected to be available for consultation this fall), says this collective work speaks to the institutions core values.



As an institution of higher learning, we have an obligation to provide an education and a community that works together to address systemic anti-Black racism and all forms of discrimination and intolerance, says Dr. Rajack-Talley.



Showing solidarity



This week also saw members of the Dal community in Halifax take part in a march and rally in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and broader efforts to address systemic racism.



The march was part of a broader campaign named named #ShutdownAcademia and #ShutdownSTEM, a one-day event focused on collective action from within the higher education community. An estimated 300 academics, students and community members took part in the rally, which took place on the Halifax Commons.

Tim Bardouille, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, organized the Halifax event.



The academic strike for Black Lives Matter gave me the time I needed to process the difficult emotions that occur when racist police brutality highlights the systemic racism all around us, he explains. This rally was a chance to bring people together to express those emotions together.



Im thankful to Barb Hamilton-Hinch, OmiSoore Dryden and John Lincoln for their amazing expression of important messages. Im glad that I was able to share the experience of non-violent resistance with hundreds of people. It is one step on a long path, but every step matters.



Also this week:
In a desert wilderness in Mali, close to the Algerian border, pitted with isolated rocks and weighed by oppressive heat, French special forces and combat helicopters begin an operation.

At its climax, they claim one of the greatest successes of Frances deployment in the Sahel region of north Africa -- the killing of the head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Abdelmalek Droukdel.

The French military, for the first time, provided details on Thursday of how late last week it neutralised the man it has called the third deputy of Al-Qaedas leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Officials describe the death of the Algerian Droukdel as the fruit of meticulous intelligence work.

This was concluded by a military intervention in broad daylight, about ten kilometres (6.2 miles) from the Algerian border, east of the Malian town of Tessalit.

A source close to the operation said about fifteen French special forces were dropped by at least two transport helicopters, as well as a Tiger combat helicopter and a Gazelle multipurpose helicopter, with a drone in support.

The capture of Droukdel was not possible, said the source, who asked not to be named.

The goal is not necessarily to kill, said the official. But in combat, the men see just rocks with combatants cowering behind them. They dont know who is behind the gun. The source added: This type of individual does not surrender.

- Building intelligence -

The army is not giving details of the exchanges that took place during the operation, merely confirming that fighting took place at close quarters.

We knew that there was a target of interest in the region for two days. After that, it was all a work of mutual support, between the different sources of intelligence, said the source.

It is a case of building it up, said the official, without revealing the origin of the information but confirming the help of the United States.

Once the objective was identified and located, conditions in northern Mali at the beginning of the rainy season slowed down the progress of forces on the ground.

In the operation, one individual was captured and handed to the Malian authorities after being interrogated by the French forces.

But the soldiers also seized important digital material, including phones, cards and computers. Analysing them may help explain what Droukdel, who was usually very discreet, was doing in the region.

- Buried at the scene -

There has for some time been major fighting between groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda with those of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS).

These have been violent fights with losses on both sides, according to the French source.

It is has not been ruled out that this could have prompted Droukdels presence in the area.

Its a real question, said the source, expressing hope that analysis would shed more light on this.

The IS-GS was designated in January as the number one enemy of Frances 5,000 strong anti-jihadist force Barkhane and its G5 Sahel allies of Mauritania, Chad, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso.

But, in the end, it was an Al-Qaeda figure who was killed in this operation.

The fact that today we have focused a certain number of our forces on the most virulent and urgent threat has not distracted us from the surveillance of other branches, said the source.

Once the operation was finished, the special forces applied the standards of armed conflict: the enemy combatants were buried at the scene.

Meanwhile the prisoner taken will answer for his actions before the courts, said the source.

The official praised the operational efficiency of the French forces on the ground and in the air, saying they were capable of deploying in a clandestine situation in full gear in temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

In military terms, these are extremely rustic conditions, said the source.
President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow has denied the existence of systematic racism.

Kudlow, responding to a reporter's question Wednesday on whether he believes systematic racism exists in the US answered, 'I do not.'

He repeated his answer twice when the reported pressed him on his answer which comes as thousands have marched in protest across the US against police brutality in the wake of the cop-related slaying of George Floyd on Memorial Day in Minneapolis.

'I will say it again. I do not,' Kudlow told the reporter in footage taken of the Q&A. 'I think the harm comes when you have some very bad apples on the law enforcement side.

President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow has denied the existence of systematic racism. He is pictured making his denial when answering a reporter's question

'I will say it again. I do not,' Kudlow told the reporter when pressed on the question in footage taken of the Q&A. 'I think the harm comes when you have some very bad apples on the law enforcement side

However, Kudlow then acknowledged the police-related slaying of George Floyd on Memorial Day, reports CNN.

Floyd, a 46-year-old black father-of-two was killed by police in Minneapolis during an arrest caught on video by a bystander. The footage has sparked three weeks of demonstrations that many say have helped shine a light on systematic racism in the US.

Floyd was alleged to have passed a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes when Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, pressed down on the man's neck with his knee for almost 9 minutes, causing his death.

'What was done to Mr. Floyd was abysmal. Abysmal,' Kudlow tells the reporter who questioned him. 'I believe that everyone in this country agrees with that.'

Kudlow, 72, is director of the United States National Economic Council. He's held the position since 2018, since taking over for Gary Cohn.

Prior to politics, Kudlow had been an economics commentator for the National Review and also was host on several shows for CNBC.

George Floyd (left), 46, was killed by former Minneapolis Police Derek Chauvin (right) during an arrest caught on video by a bystander. The footage has sparked three weeks of demonstrations that many say have helped shine a light on systematic racism in the US

Kudlow also drew attention in a previous unrelated comment where he said that even though the second quarter of fiscal year 2020 will be worse than the first, he believes the 'worst is nearly over' of economic depression from coronavirus.

'That gives me hope that working cooperatively we can get through this,' he told CNBC in an interview May 1.

'I believe  yes, I am an optimist, always  I believe we can get through this. I believe the worst is nearly over. I hope and pray that that is the case. And I think as this infection rate comes down, it's an omen that America is not far from getting to the other side,' he explained.

Kudlow drew attention in a previous unrelated comment where he said that even though the second quarter of fiscal year 2020 will be worse than the first, the 'worst is nearly over' of economic depression from coronavirus. He is pictured alongside President Donald Trump

He also admitted that the economy would continue to suffer as the pandemic entered another month.

'You probably saw in the GDP, a 13 per cent saving rate in the first quarter. That's a remarkable number, that just shows you there's pent up demand up there. The second quarter's going to be worse numbers, no question about it,' Kudlow said.

He made this claim as more than 30 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits at the time  meaning that at least 4 per cent of Americans are unemployed.
With Joe Biden officially securing the Democratic nomination, and with no primaries next week, the newsletter will be taking the next few days off. Live every day like it's Flag Day.

- - -

On Wednesday afternoon, Teresa Tomlinson announced that Georgia's hard-fought Democratic primary for Senate was going to a runoff. The ballots were in, "most have been counted," and it looked to her that they'd get an August rematch.

"It appears that for the third time in his political career, Jon Ossoff has failed to break the 50 percent [of the vote] needed to avoid a runoff," Tomlinson said.

Within two hours, more ballots were counted - and Ossoff had cleared 50 percent. Before the sun had set, the Associated Press had called the race for Ossoff. A primary that had been delayed twice due to the covid-19 pandemic had, as many people worried, led to a confounding election, punishingly long lines and voters who did not get absentee ballots. Ossoff said he initially declined to declare victory or respond to Tomlinson, because doing so would have distracted from all of it.

"You have to hold election officials accountable to count every vote, all the way through the finish," Ossoff said in an interview. "The message me and my team were driving on Wednesday was not about winning, it was about making sure the votes were counted, because what happened on Tuesday was an embarrassment."

The herky-jerk transition by many states to a largely mail-in voting system has led to delays of vote counts for a week or more. The widely watched troubles of in-person voting, which were at their worst in Georgia, have piled on more delays. Provisional ballots were distributed in Georgia to voters at sites where new machines did not work; some voters in Georgia and Nevada were in line until the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The prospect of a November election that can't be called for days is growing more likely, and even Democrats who fret about the president misleading voters about the count have struggled with the reality of slowly counted ballots.

"People need to be educated on this, because other people are going to try to convince them that it's fraud when late results don't look exactly like early results," said Ben Tribbett, a Democratic strategist who watched the Associated Press make an early call against one of his Georgia clients. The call had not been retracted, but "If you count the ballots that were returned first, you typically are seeing an electorate that's older and more white. That doesn't mean the ballots are reflective of what happened when people turned in votes later, or at the last minute."

Democratic strategists are already wrestling with the challenge of getting some of their most reliable voters, younger and nonwhite, used to voting by mail. The voter access group iVote will spend $20 million to promote the new options in just five states: Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Younger voters, said iVote spokeswoman Rachel Thomas, frequently told researchers that they did not know where to get the stamps needed to send out their ballots. States that had already replaced in-person voting with mail ballots had to deal first with massive confusion; Colorado, for example, had 18,000 disqualified ballots in 2014, its first all-mail election year.

June's primaries, held across states that had months to prepare for pandemic conditions, have revealed just how slowly ballots can come in when many people vote absentee. While 14 states and the District of Columbia have held primaries this month, the count was finished on Election Day in only a handful of them. Idaho waited until two weeks after its ballot return date to tally them up. Maryland, which voted June 2, was still tabulating votes Thursday morning. So was Pennsylvania, seen by both Democrats and Republicans as a pivotal November state.

"We might not know who won Pennsylvania until a month after the election," Joe Biden pointed out in a Wednesday interview with "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah, echoing a common Democratic worry: that the president would declare victory while there are hundreds of thousands of ballots yet to be counted. "What do you think this is about for Trump?"

Biden and other Democrats now take for granted that a slow count in November would be exploited by the president to suggest that the election was being stolen. Biden said as much to Noah, and President Donald Trump has hinted as much throughout his political career, seeing any electoral system that does not report all results quickly as potentially rigged. When Election Day ended in 2018, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona trailed in the count for that year's Senate race. By Nov. 9, tens of thousands more ballots had been counted, pushing Sinema ahead and drawing a rebuke from Trump.

"In Arizona, SIGNATURES DON'T MATCH," Trump wrote , repeating local Republicans' unfounded claims about flaws in returned absentee ballots. "Electoral corruption - Call for a new Election? We must protect our Democracy!"

The slow count in Arizona wasn't unusual, nor was the late trend toward Democrats. A majority of Arizonans were voting by mail even before the pandemic, and for years, races called on Election Day tightened a bit in the following week. But the president has typically answered questions about absentee voting by suggesting that ballots could be manipulated or manufactured.

Most Republicans have linked their losses in 2018's close congressional races in California to the Democrats' superior ballot-chasing operation; the president has suggested, without evidence, that Democrats won because ballots were added to make them win.

"We had seven elections for Congress and they were, like, tied and they lost every one of them because they came and they dropped a whole pile of ballots on the table," the president said last month. "But you don't think they rip them out of mailboxes?"

That anecdote, sourced to a California Republican activist, doesn't reflect what analysts have seen in absentee voting. A study by The Washington Post and the Electronic Registration Information Center found just 372 possible cases of double voting, or voting on behalf of deceased people, out of the 14.6 million mail votes cast in the 2016 and 2018 elections.

Presidential suspicion is not enough to challenge an election's results, and no serious allegations of fraud were made in any of these races. But changes made to allow more absentee voting have confounded traditional analysis of election results. In Georgia, the Associated Press declared runoffs in two Democratic House primaries late Tuesday, in the 7th and 13th districts. In the 7th, the gap between the second- and third-place finishers was far smaller than the amount of outstanding ballots. In the 13th, the AP had to retract its call that Rep. David Scott would go to a runoff, as absentee ballots boosted his vote above 50 percent. In the first race, the result could change. In the second, the call has already been retracted, after nearly a day of reporting that assumed Scott would face another election in August.

In an email, an AP deputy managing editor said that the 13th District race was called too early and that the newswire's system for calling races took each state's election process into account.

"The nature of the vote count in Georgia didn't affect how we called races that night, because our process assumes the vote tabulation will be uneven," said David Scott, the deputy managing editor. "There is no uniform system for conducting elections in the U.S."

The confusion over slow ballot counts has already led to skewed interpretation of results. Last week, the New York Post published an analysis of Biden's "enthusiasm problem" based on returns in Pennsylvania that seemed to show Republican turnout surging past Democratic turnout.

"With almost 98 percent of districts counted, Republicans have cast more than 861,000 ballots for Donald Trump, with 734,000 Democrats voting for Joe Biden," wrote Salena Zito, a Pittsburgh-based reporter who writes about Trump's base.

That percentage did not reflect the hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots that had not been counted, most of them from Philadelphia and its increasingly Democratic suburbs - as the state had warned would happen. By Thursday morning, Biden had won 1,161,290 votes to Trump's 1,031,640 votes, but the idea that the president had blown his rival away in a swing state had circulated widely.

It's not unusual for campaigns to declare victory as soon as possible in close races, positioning themselves for recounts or legal challenges by creating the impression that they won already. But Trump's skepticism about absentee and late-counted ballots has given Democrats pause.

After initially predicting that the runoff was set, Tomlinson said in an interview last night that she had no questions about the vote count and saw no reason to doubt that late-arriving ballots were legitimate. She had looked at the numbers and assumed, incorrectly, that the last-minute votes from suburban Atlanta would not dramatically change the outcome.

"I have little to nothing in common with the president when it comes to that kind of rhetoric," Tomlinson said. "I just don't speak that way, particularly about governmental processes. I don't cast doubt on things such as the justice system, or the governmental system, and I would not do so when it comes to a voting system."

On Wednesday night, after the Associated Press called the race for Ossoff, Tomlinson conceded. Only then did Ossoff declare victory, using the speech mostly to warn what would happen if the state held another election under these conditions.

- - -

While some big states continue to count ballots from this month's primaries, we've got full results from a series of presidential primaries and a few key down-ballot races. (In every state mentioned, the Democratic presidential contest remained competitive by the time their 2016 primaries were held.)

The presidential contests had no surprises but a few insights into the protest votes still being cast against Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In South Dakota, Democratic turnout was basically flat from 2016, with 53,004 votes cast that year and 52,650 votes cast in June.

Both parties saw higher turnout in New Mexico, too. Democrats cast 246,539 votes this year, up from 214,307 votes in 2016, while Republican turnout rose from 104,029 to 157,289. That had a lot to do with this year's wider range of contests, as the safely blue 3rd Congressional District saw its first Democratic primary in years, while Republicans had a competitive Senate primary and a bitter race in the 2nd Congressional District.

In both of those states, Bernie Sanders crossed the 15 percent threshold required by DNC rules for candidates to win delegates. He narrowly did so in Rhode Island, too, by a handful of votes. While Sanders won nearly a third of votes cast in person, most Democrats cast mail ballots, and they broke overwhelmingly for Biden. Turnout was down from 2016, when the primary was held in late April, falling from 121,253 votes to 101,409 votes. The Republican decline was steeper, from 61,179 votes to 21,184 votes, with nothing else on the ballot to push turnout.

It was another story altogether in West Virginia, where decades of conservative voters moving from the Democratic Party to the GOP led, for the first time, to Republicans casting more votes in a presidential primary. (Registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin in the year 2000, and are essentially tied now.) That meant the end of a recent Democratic tradition: a backlash by disgruntled voters against their party's looming nominee. While Biden won 65.3 percent of the vote, just 180,459 Democrats took part in their primary, compared with 241,016 in 2016. Republican turnout rose from 202,880 in 2016 to 206,320 this week.

While more than a third of West Virginia Democrats opposed Biden, they scattered behind 11 challengers, preventing any from grabbing delegates. Sanders, who had for years pointed to his 2016 West Virginia win as proof that his agenda could motivate white working-class voters, got just 12 percent of the vote. Both he and Biden did worst in the state's historically Democratic southwest counties.

In McDowell, where Sanders held a nationally televised 2017 town hall, he won just 138 votes, down from 1,453 in 2016. Biden carried the county, as he did every county, but with overall Democratic turnout falling from 2,616 to 1,660. The decline in nearby Mingo County was even steeper: Turnout fell from 5,018 to 2,223, and Biden won just 41 percent of the vote, as one in five Democrats went for David Rice, a perennial candidate who ran no campaign after securing a ballot line.

Hundreds more Democrats left the presidential line on their ballots blank, while voting in other primaries. In the party's gubernatorial and Senate races, that led to a mixed outcome: Sen. Joe Manchin III's preferred candidate for governor pushed past a liberal challenger, while Manchin's liberal challenger in 2018 secured the Senate nomination. That candidate, Paula Jean Swearengin, won 68,888 votes, around 38 percent of the total, up from the 48,594 votes she'd won against Manchin. And while liberal Stephen Smith lost the party's gubernatorial nomination, candidates aligned with his "Rise Up West Virginia" project did well, while teacher Amy Nichole Grady unseated the Republican leader of the state Senate.

- - -

Ad watch

- Jeff Sessions,"Jeff Sessions Took Action." The former senator, who faced no opposition when he last won this seat, has been weakened politically by the president's anger at his recusal during the Russia investigations. Sessions nonetheless has something his opponent, Tommy Tuberville, can't have: a tough immigration record from nearly two years in the Justice Department. "Far too many people say they want to do something to fix the border but don't have the commitment to do so," Sessions says. The key achievement touted in the ad is the "zero tolerance" policy that backfired on the administration after it led to mass family separation. Sessions's bet, backed up by polling, is that Alabama Republicans supported it.

- Republican Majority Fund,"Confused Joe Biden." Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas raised more than $200,000 in the days between the New York Times publishing his op-ed about using military resources to shut down unrest and the Times parting ways with its op-ed page editor. That money went right into this spot, which like Cotton's first anti-Biden ad focuses both on China and whether Biden is mentally fit for the presidency. "Biden doesn't know what day it is," a narrator says. "He doesn't even know what office he's running for."

- Manny Sethi,"Leftwing Lockdown." One of the many Republicans running for Tennessee's open Senate seat, Sethi, a medical doctor, captures some frustrated conservative sentiments about how months of shutdown were followed by gigantic anti-police brutality protests. "Opening a business is a crime. Burning a business is not?" Sethi. "You got a problem with any of that? You're a racist, and you want to kill Grandma."

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Poll watch

The biggest news in polling this week was not a fresh set of numbers, but a cease-and-desist letter sent by the Trump campaign to CNN. It was the first, according to the network, that a campaign had ever sent about a poll, and it argued that the CNN-SRSS survey was "a phony poll [designed] to cause voter suppression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the president." The network rejected that claim; CNN had not changed its methodology since the previous poll, which was touted by some Republicans as it showed the president leading in a subgroup of battleground states.

Do you approve of the job President Trump is doing? (Gallup, 1,034 adults)

Approve: 39% (-10)

Disapprove: 57% (+9)

Gallup, which stopped polling the presidential horse race after 2012, has seen some wild swings when asking voters about the president's performance. These are the worst numbers for the president since October 2019 and by far his weakest approval ratings since Joe Biden secured the Democratic nomination. More ominously, when asked about the president's handling of the economy, the president has his lowest ratings since November 2017, the period when he was presiding over the passage of tax reform and was still seen by most voters as presiding over the economy left behind by President Barack Obama.

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In the states

One of the biggest results in Georgia's primaries was easy to call, with conservative activist Marjorie Taylor Greene securing a spot in the runoff for the Republican nomination for the 14th District. The business executive, who spent at least $700,000 on a campaign that included a pro-Trump bus tour and viral advertising, had 41 percent of the vote by Thursday afternoon; neurosurgeon Jon Cowan won 21 percent of the vote and will face Greene in August.

"I can't give 'em brain transplants or a stiffer spine," Cowan joked of Washington insiders in his pre-primary ad, which ended, as many safe-seat Republican ads now do, with him shooting a semiautomatic weapon.

Yet Cowan may be the more mainstream Republican in the race. Greene, as the Daily Beast's Will Sommer and others have reported, has advanced numerous fringe ideas, saying last year that some of the claims by "Q," the anonymous chat board figure at the center of the QAnon conspiracy theory, "have really proven to be true." (Among other things, QAnon adherents believe that mass arrests are coming, any day now, of top liberal and Democratic Party figures who regularly commit murder.)

Greene is one of several QAnon-curious candidates to emerge from primaries this year, but she's the first to do so in a race where the Republican nomination is tantamount to victory. Greene earned that: She has jumped into many conservative causes, traveling to Washington last year to urge the impeachment of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat "for crimes of treason" and saying on a webcam video that the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas may have been staged to build support for gun control.

"I don't believe Stephen Paddock was a lone wolf," Greene said. "I don't believe that he pulled this off all by himself, and I know most of you don't, either. So, I am really wondering if there is a bigger motive there, and does it have to do with the Second Amendment?"

Greene raced into the final days of the primary with broad, well-known support, touting endorsements from Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. The runoff will choose a nominee on Aug. 11, and there was no official Republican condemnation of Greene in the 36 hours after her primary win.

- - -

Candidate tracker

After a three-month hiatus, President Trump plans to return to the campaign trail with a rally in Tulsa on June 19. There's more symbolism assigned to that date and location than at most MAGA events, as Tulsa was the site of an anti-black massacre 99 years ago, and the date is celebrated by black Americans as "Juneteenth," the day that the Emancipation Proclamation was finally delivered in every state.

Before that, on Wednesday, the president appeared with black political commentators at the White House to talk about his agenda, returning to familiar themes - opportunity zones, criminal justice restructuring and an economy that was growing for black Americans before the pandemic.

"I think that the economy will be, next year, will be maybe the best it's ever been," Trump said. "You can already see it with the stock market, how it's been going up, because you have a lot of smart people that are betting on exactly what I'm saying. The stock market is almost as high as it was prior to the plague floating in from China."

On Wednesday, Joe Biden appeared remotely with NAACP members, talking about his own agenda for black America but growing defensive (as he has before) when asked why many young voters did not support him.

"I've been told all along that young people think I'm not in the right place," Biden said. "There is no polling to sustain that. There is no voting that has sustained that." While Biden leads Trump with younger voters, the lead is smaller than the one Hillary Clinton had at similar points in 2016, and voters under 30 broke heavily against Biden in the primary.

On Thursday, Biden held an economic roundtable in Philadelphia, where he reiterated a plan to hire at least 100,000 contact tracers to keep track of coronavirus infections and warned that the president was not creating the conditions for recovery.

"Trump has basically had a one-point plan: Open businesses. Just open," Biden said. "But it does nothing to keep workers safe."

Cable TV networks ignored the roundtable, a sore point for the Biden campaign, which has gotten only a few of its events covered live. After the event wrapped, and after the Trump campaign had clipped audio of Biden tripping over one of his points, the campaign jokingly asked networks to cover Biden live, accusing them of a "failure to expose the American people to these rambling displays of incoherence, ineptitude and forgetfulness."

Of the women most frequently named as potential running mates for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris has proven to be the biggest fundraiser. A Tuesday Harris-Biden event raked in $3.5 million, continuing to expand the donor network for a candidate who won the party's nomination while lagging behind in cash.

Elizabeth Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, succeeded in getting its GOP majority to pass an amendment that would start the process of potentially renaming bases currently named for Confederate military leaders. "Hopefully our great Republican senators won't fall for this!" tweeted the president, hours after the voice vote succeeded. (The amendment could still be stripped by the full Senate.)

Florida's Val Demings got an unwelcome profile from the American Prospect, which noted that she sponsored "Blue Lives Matter" legislation that has fallen out of favor with Democrats. Stacey Abrams appeared on "The View" to continue attacking Georgia's election management, rejecting the idea that Democratic county leaders, not the secretary of state, had failed.

"We allow counties to do the direct implementation, but it's the responsibility of the secretary of state to make sure they know how to do it and that they have the resources to get it done," Abrams said.
When Malcolm and Mary Ellen Maupin received word Wednesday that their sons remains may have been located after 20 years, they were overcome by mixed emotions. Malcolm said he is grateful that Kent has finally been found, but angry that he had to find out from a newspaper reporter.

Kent Maupin, 20, and Mark Brashier, 21, joined about 20 others from Pasadena on a weekend in early September, 1979 to dive in Jacobs Well near San Marcos. Though still young, Kent had been diving since he was 12 years old, was a certified dive instructor and a very experienced scuba diver for his age. Apparently, however, age may have contributed to Kents death as he and his friend, with the confidence of youth, ventured beyond the realm of safety.

Maupin and Brashier arrived at the campground around 11:30 p.m. on Sept, 9, determined to make a dive while others were settling into their campsite for the night. According to those who were there that weekend, the two boys were not alone in the well at the time, and were seen by other divers going into the dangerous fourth chamber.

The first chamber of the well drops straight down approximately 25 feet. The second descends another 35 feet, and the third chamber slopes gently down, narrowing to a depth of 75 feet. At the end of the third chamber is an opening, leading to the fourth chamber. At the time, the entrance to that chamber was only about 18 inches wide and about 15 feet long. Several who had previously entered the fourth chamber had not returned alive.

Around midnight that night, the two young men were seen at the entrance to the chamber, backing into the opening and pulling their tanks behind them. Joe Moye, a diver who said he was stunned to witness the scene, remembered that the two had no backup lights and no safety line. In a Texas Monthly report from 1980, Moye said he flashed his light back and forth, trying to get Brashiers attention, who had gone in last, but Brashier would not look up at him.

Moye remained submerged as long as he could, hoping the two divers would come back out, but finally ran out of air and was forced to head for the surface. He said at that time, he knew the boys were dead.

Sarah Cargill, an employee at the Pasadena Citizen, was at Jacobs Well with her family that weekend and said she remembered getting the news that Maupin and Brashier had not surfaced.

It was just horrible, she said. We had been on other dives with Kent and knew his family, and we just couldnt believe it had happened.

Cargill said while her family came back to Pasadena the next morning, the Maupins made the trip to the river and waited desperately for the recovery of their sons body.

Kents parents stood on the banks of that river for a week, waiting for his remains to be brought up, she said. Over a week later, after extensive effort, the recovery work was called off when entry into the corridor was proven to be impassable.

Don Dibble, one of the main recovery divers on the case, was seriously injured in his attempt to locate the remains. At that time, Malcolm said he didnt want anyone else injured in order to find his son.

I didnt want them to continue trying to get to him, the elder Maupin said. I told Don I was afraid somebody else might get hurt or even die, and I just didnt want that to happen.

Dibble later went back to the well with a team of divers and cemented a grate over the lower portion of the cave to prevent anyone from entering the dangerous area.

Ten years after the fatal accident, most of the remains of Brashier were discovered, but Maupin was never found. Now, almost exactly 21 years later, Kent will finally be laid to rest  and his family can receive the closure they have sought for all these years.

Closure is such an over-used word, said Mary Ellen Maupin, but thats the only way to describe the relief Kents father and I feel now that Kent has been found.

Wade Parham, with the San Marcos Area Recovery Team (SMART) who discovered the remains on a routine mapping expedition, said Maupins remains were happened on by the divers and were easily discovered. He also said, whether removed or washed away, the grate placed over the area by Dibble is no longer there.

The owner of the property has declared the well off-limits, Parham said. He also said he would prosecute anyone trespassing on the property, but the well is still accessible and remains a danger. It is not a place for recreational diving and, in my opinion, should have a grate placed over it.

Sitting in their Pasadena home where Kent and his sister, Pamela, were raised, the elder Maupins are surrounded by seashells and other nautical reminders of their years scuba diving as a family. Award-winning, underwater photographs taken by their son line the walls along with Kents Eagle Scout Award and diving certificates.

His voice cracking with emotion, Malcolm said, Its so hard to relive it after so long. I wish I had been there that night. Our family went on a lot of dives together over the years, and I never would have let him go in there. I might still have a son if I had been there.

Or, I might have lost a son and a husband, Mary Ellen quickly countered. Daddy was Kents favorite diving partner, but there is no way to know what would have happened if things had been different.

The Maupins are awaiting final word from the San Marcos Medical Examiner to determine that the remains are, in fact, their son. After that, they say, they can finally bury the past and spend the rest of their years enjoying memories of their son, Kent.
First came the personal bankruptcies of Aldo Martino and the late John Martino in December 2002.

All they claimed to be left with were $10,000 each in personal effects and household property. Yet combined, their families still had access to four homes, five sport utility vehicles, three Mercedes, a Hummer and a 42-foot cabin cruiser.

A month after the personal bankruptcies came the collapse of the Martinos Royal Crest Lifecare chain in January 2003, the largest nursing home bankruptcy in the provinces history.

Then came the scrutiny and the troubling questions about the Martinos business practices as the court-appointed receiver combed through the Royal Crest wreckage.

Seventeen years later, the Martino families are again facing scrutiny and troubling questions about the serious problems plaguing the eight retirement homes and residential care facilities they continue to operate in Hamilton.

The epicentre of concern is the Martinos Rosslyn Retirement Residence on King Street East, site of the citys worst COVID-19 outbreak.

Fourteen Rosslyn residents have died and more than 60 people from the home were hospitalized when the home was evacuated May 15.

Former staff members and families of former residents have raised disturbing allegations about the conditions and management of the Rosslyn, ranging from chronic infestations of bedbugs and mice to a lack of proper care for dementia residents.

They claim it was not uncommon to see bedbugs crawling up the legs of residents. They claim a secure unit for dementia residents didnt exist and that dementia residents were not supervised around the clock. They claim dementia residents wandered away unattended from the Rosslyn, which is owned and operated by members of the Martino families.

And people will ask: How was this allowed to happen?

How can the Martino families, authors of the Royal Crest collapse in 2003, still be operating homes plagued with problems 17 years later?

All eight of the Martinos Hamilton homes are either now subject to orders to comply by the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority (RHRA) or the citys public health department, have been cited for rules violations by the RHRA or public health in the past six months, or both.

Members of the Martino families did not respond to a request for comment and have not responded to repeated requests for comment since the outbreak began at the Rosslyn.

The citys public health department and the RHRA have issued three orders against the Rosslyn in the past three weeks for deficiencies related to pest infestation and infection prevention and control.

Until the orders are complied with, the home will not be permitted to reopen.

In the past 18 months, the citys bylaw enforcement department has registered a total of 28 violations of property standards against the Martinos eight care homes in Hamilton.

Most of the bylaw violations have been corrected but compliance is still outstanding for several items.

Five of the Martinos retirement homes in Hamilton  Rosslyn, Cathmar Manor, Dundas Retirement Place, Montgomery Retirement Home and Northview Seniors Residence  are licensed by the RHRA, which enforces Ontarios Retirement Homes Act.

Among its powers under the act, the RHRA can revoke a homes licence or impose financial penalties.

Since 2015, the RHRA has issued 14 orders to revoke a retirement homes licence in Ontario. The most recent one was issued against a St. Jacobs home on Jan. 17.

A spokesperson for the RHRA said the agency conducted an inspection of the Rosslyn in mid-May and is restricted in what it can say about the home at the moment.

Weve finished our information gathering as a result of that inspection, said Kathryn Chopp, the RHRAs director of communications. The home is not in compliance.

I cant speak to anything related to this home at this time, she added.

As an organization our job is to put the residents first and thats our mandate, said Chopp. We take that very seriously. We are very committed to making sure the residents are protected.

The Martino families also operate three residential care facilities in Hamilton  Victoria Manor I and II and Emerald Lodge  which are licensed by the city.

Since 2017, Hamilton taxpayers have provided nearly $4 million in subsidies to homes operated by the Martino families.

The city has never revoked a licence for a residential care facility, according to information provided by the city, although the city has declined on occasion to renew a licence when it has expired.

Its not like there isnt a history here to follow.

Brothers Aldo and the late John Martino built Royal Crest Lifecare Inc. into a chain of 11 long-term care and six retirement homes across southern Ontario through the 1990s. By 2002, however, the chain was in financial trouble.

Two major unions claimed in the summer of 2002 that the company owed its workers significant amounts of money in pensions, union dues and vacation pay.

On at least two occasions, Royal Crest had ignored awards made by an arbitrator in favour of the employees. At one point, the provincial arbitrator even described the companys actions as sinister.

In August 2002, Ontarios health ministry revoked Royal Crests licence to operate the Oakville Lifecare Centre, citing more than 100 instances in 57 categories where there had been breaches of the service agreement related to patient care.

In December 2002, the Martino brothers each filed for personal bankruptcy and in January 2003, Royal Crest collapsed in bankruptcy with nearly $200 million in liabilities and $18 million owed to taxpayers.

A lengthy Spectator investigation throughout 2003 raised a number of serious questions about the bankruptcies and the Martinos business affairs.

When the Martino brothers both filed for personal bankruptcy in December 2002, they each listed $10,000 in personal effects and household property as their only assets.

But the combined assets being used by the two Martino families several months after the bankruptcies painted a much different picture.

There were four homes worth an estimated total of $2.7 million at the time. Five sport utility vehicles. Three Mercedes. A Hummer. A 42-foot cabin cruiser.

With a couple of exceptions, the homes and vehicles used by the Martino families were registered in the names of John and Aldo Martinos spouses or a company that is owned by Aldo Martinos children which acted like a private family trust.

The court-appointed receiver of the Royal Crest bankruptcy discovered the company paid $600,000 in dividends to the Martino brothers in the year leading up to bankruptcy despite owing millions of dollars to banks, employee pension funds and the federal tax department.

The receiver also discovered that from July to September 2002, at least $347,000 was transferred out of residents trust accounts to Royal Crests general operating accounts and then replaced at later dates. The receiver suggested the residents money was being used as bridge financing to help the company meet its growing debt obligations.

About $19,000 was missing from residents trust accounts at the time of bankruptcy, according to the receivers report.

The Spectator subsequently learned that two years earlier, the health ministry had already once ordered Royal Crest to stop its improper use of resident trust accounts but took no formal action against the company.

When the receiver took control of Royal Crests office on King Street East in early 2003, they discovered a listening device had been installed and accounting files were missing from the Royal Crest computer server.

According to a court report filed by the receiver, the initial assessment indicated that the accounting records had been deleted from the computer the night before the interim receivers appointment.

The Martinos denied at the time having any knowledge about a listening device and denied that Royal Crest material was deleted from any computer.

In the late 1990s, the Martinos decided to expand their operations into the U.S.

They purchased a retirement home in Carson City, Nev., and two homes in Kansas, but by early 2002, the Martinos American operations were also crumbling.

Just minutes before a hearing was to begin to appoint a receiver for the Carson City home on Apr. 1 2002, the Martinos Nevada company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a legal manoeuvre that forestalled receivership and a potential foreclosure sale of the property because of mortgage default.

In Kansas, two of the Martinos companies also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2002, listing more than $20 million (U.S.) in liabilities against $6 million (U.S.) in assets.

The similarities between the Martinos operations in Kansas and Nevada were striking.

According to documents filed in Nevada bankruptcy court, the Martinos Carson City company didnt file any income tax returns for the four years they owned the property up until the time they filed for bankruptcy protection.

Meanwhile, documents show the Martinos companies also didnt file income tax returns for the three years they were involved with the nursing home in Emporia, Kan.

The companies accounting records were in complete disarray, said one court affidavit.

Another court affidavit was more blunt.

Under Martinos management, taxes were not paid, vendors were not paid, sometimes employees were not paid, large sums of money were transferred to Martinos Canadian bank accounts for no apparent consideration, no capital improvements were made and there was only the bare minimum in maintenance, it stated.

The Martinos strongly objected at the time to the statements in the affidavit, stating they were based upon hearsay and distort the truth.

According to the Martinos personal bankruptcy documents from December 2002, the brothers indicated that their American operations owed the U.S. Internal Revenue Service more than $2.6 million.

Members of the Martino families have not responded to a request to identify the individuals who now own the various companies that operate the Martinos eight Hamilton homes.

In Ontario, theres no legislation requiring companies that arent publicly traded to reveal the names of their owners.

Three of the Hamilton homes now controlled by the Martino family were part of the original Royal Crest bankruptcy in 2003  Cathmar Manor, Victoria Manor I and II.

Those three homes, along with Hillview Seniors Residence on Concession Street, were purchased out of bankruptcy in 2004 by Joe Melo, a friend of the Martino brothers who formerly acted as an independent contractor to Royal Crest and another Martino company called North American Living Centres.

At the time of the purchase, Melo told The Spectator his ownership and operation of the four homes had no connection to the Martinos.

In August 2010, Melo was found dead in an east-end pharmacy he co-owned. The homicide case remains unsolved.

At the time, the Royal Crest bankruptcy was the largest nursing home collapse ever in Ontario. The provinces second-largest nursing home collapse belonged to John and Aldo Martinos older sister, Annette.

Annette Martino, also known as Annette Gammon, and her partner, Elizabeth Hutton, also known now as Elizabeth Fife, started operating boarding houses in Hamilton in the late 1970s.

Former Rosslyn staff members and families of former residents indicate Annette Martino (Gammon) and Elizabeth Hutton (Fife) have been involved in the operation of the Rosslyn Retirement Residence until recently.

The two women lived in Hamiltons historic Ravenscliffe Castle at one point, and a Spectator article from 1981 noted that their numbered company was fined $600 for operating an unlicensed lodging house out of the mansion.

Eventually, Martino and her partner turned that small start into a chain of 10 nursing and retirement homes that operated across Ontario as UltraCare Management Inc.

By January 1991, Annette Martinos company was facing serious financial pressure from its creditors.

Not long after, Annette Martino and her partner walked away from about $43 million in debts that had built up.

In a scenario that sounds eerily similar to the Royal Crest saga, UltraCare owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the federal tax department and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, as well as another half a million dollars owed to union pension funds, according to published reports.

Annette Martino and Elizabeth Hutton relocated to Florida and picked up where they had left off in Canada by starting another chain of nursing homes.

Like her brothers, Annette Martino and her partner created a vast array of companies to operate everything from nursing homes to auto body shops.

By 1998, most of Annette Martino and Elizabeth Huttons Florida companies had filed for bankruptcy protection, with accumulated debts of more than $30 million (U.S.).

The pair were also facing a U.S. lawsuit launched in March 1998 by two ex-employees alleging that the women had inappropriately acquired Medicare funds for their homes.

The suit alleged that Medicare money had been improperly received by Martino and Hutton for billing, management and other services performed by companies that werent at arms length from the two women.

A year later, the lawsuit was dismissed because the two plaintiffs were unable to serve the suit on Martino and Hutton.

Even in the midst of the bankruptcy proceedings, Annette Martino and her partner purchased a historic St. Petersburg, Fla., mansion for $1.4 million in the summer of 1998.

Within a couple of months, the mortgages were in default.

Several family members of former residents of the Rosslyn and former staff members say they contacted various agencies, including the city, to complain about the conditions of the home but received either no response or an unsatisfactory response.

Heather Poyner, whose 90-year-old great-aunt lived at the Rosslyn in 2019, said she was disgusted she didnt receive help from the city when she complained about a bedbug infestation.

They basically just shrugged me off and got almost irritated on the phone, said Poyner.

Carl Garbett, a former Rosslyn maintenance worker, said he called public health about the homes infestation problem, but hes not sure if anything happened with his complaint or not.

A city spokesperson said the public health department has received complaints about the conditions at the Rosslyn Retirement Residence over the last 24 months, primarily related to rodent and bedbug issues.

The city says inspections were conducted as a result of the complaints, on-site corrections were made as appropriate and additional directions were provided to the operator by the attending public health inspector.

The public health department will now apply a more progressive enforcement approach going forward in order to address some of the persistent pest control challenges at the Rosslyn and other homes operated by the Martino families.

Former staff members at the Rosslyn say a big problem is that the regulatory agencies often give the operators of the home advance notice that an inspection will be conducted, allowing them to make slapdash efforts at cleaning up the property.

They will do what theyre told right now and three months when the spotlights off of them, they will go back to the way they were, said a nurse who formerly worked at the Rosslyn. If they were doing this 17 years ago and theyre still doing it now, nothing will ever change.

They dont care about these residents, the former Rosslyn nurse added. The only thing that they care about is the money.

Read Part One of this series here.
By Nathan Layne (Reuters) - The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from contract talks with the officer union as it seeks to end relationships that have 'eroded trust' in the community and overhaul the force following George Floyd's death, its chief said on Wednesday. Chief Medaria Arradondo, at a media briefing, also said he would implement a new early-warning system to identify police officer misconduct, allowing supervisors to intervene more quickly to get problematic officers off the street. The decision to cut off negotiations with the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis comes a few days after a majority of the city council pledged to dismantle the police force, raising pressure on the chief to take action.

By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) - The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from contract talks with the officer union as it seeks to end relationships that have "eroded trust" in the community and overhaul the force following George Floyd's death, its chief said on Wednesday.

Chief Medaria Arradondo, at a media briefing, also said he would implement a new early-warning system to identify police officer misconduct, allowing supervisors to intervene more quickly to get problematic officers off the street.

The decision to cut off negotiations with the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis comes a few days after a majority of the city council pledged to dismantle the police force, raising pressure on the chief to take action.

"What our city needs now more than ever is a pathway and a plan that provides hope, reassurance and actual measures of reform," Arradondo said. "This work must be transformational but I must do it right."

He said he would bring in advisers to conduct a review of how the contract could be restructured for "greater community transparency and more flexibility for true reform," adding that the main focus was not on wages and benefits.

"This is further examining those significant matters that touch on such things as critical-incident protocol, our use of force, the significant role that supervisors play in this department and also the discipline process."

The May 25 death of Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes, sparked two weeks of nationwide protests putting a spotlight on minorities killed by police.

Derek Chauvin, the former officer who knelt on Floyd's neck, has been charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers at the scene, including two rookies, were also charged with aiding and abetting in his death.

(reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Conn.; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Matthew Lewis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
(Natural News) A new claim is circulating that the people rioting and looting across America are not the Antifa terrorists they appear to be but rather white supremacists in disguise. But even the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) vehemently disagrees with this absurd notion.

According to the SPLC, there is no clear evidence to suggest that those donned in black garb carrying backpacks and various weapons of war are in any way linked to so-called white supremacy.

In a report published by The New York Times, the SPLC basically admits that these domestic terrorists everyone is witnessing terrorize American cities day in and day out are just that: domestic terrorists.

I have not seen any clear evidence that white supremacists or militiamen are masking up and going out to burn and loot, stated Howard Graves, an SPLC research analyst who keeps track of white supremacist activities.

The SPLCs statement comes in response to a recent hit piece by Politico that erroneously blames all of this far-left terrorism on conservative white people, adding insult to injury in an already extreme anti-white social climate.

Politico made this claim based on an intelligence memo issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that cited the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in warning that an alleged white supremacist group had called on its followers to stage acts of violence.

Issued on May 27, this memo, which was marked unclassified but law enforcement sensitive, the so-called Telegram channel had allegedly incited followers to engage in violence and start the boogaloo, boogaloo being a term used by some violent extremists to refer to the start of a second Civil War.

Listen below to The Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, talks about how these riots are all engineered and represent full-scale war by infiltrators against the United States:

Neither FBI nor DHS ever said white supremacists were staging riots

While this Telegram message allegedly told followers to frame the crowd around you in order to engage in undercover violence, at no point are white supremacists identified as perpetrators. If anything, these were just more white-skinned Antifa terrorists plotting to infiltrate otherwise peaceful protests in order to cause trouble.

But this is not how Politico framed the situation in an attempt to once again smear white people and blame them for something that a small subset of actual domestic terrorists is guilty of doing.

Even an unnamed spokesperson from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety told the media that authorities in the state cannot say we have confirmed we have cells of white supremacists, meaning Politico is once again guilty of spreading anti-white fake news.

CNN is also joining in on the fun by spreading its own fake news about white supremacists infiltrating and wreaking havoc, even though there is no actual proof to legitimize this.

While early-on reporting that white supremacists may be infiltrating, local Minneapolis paper Star-Tribune later backed off from this false narrative after it was exposed as a fraud.

At this point, I dont have any credible evidence of any specific group being here in Minnesota, announced Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington in a statement to the Star-Tribune.

Despite all of this, the Times is still falsely claiming that some individual members of far-right groups are dressing up in Hawaiian shirts and promoting a second Civil War. At the same time, they are probably loosely based and not part of any organized effort to incite violence, the paper also claims.

To keep up with the latest news about the war taking place throughout the streets of America, be sure to check out CivilWar.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com
Body of a 30-year-old Uttarakhand man, who was under home quarantine, was found in suspicious circumstances in his village in Bageshwar district on Thursday, police said. He had returned to the state from Mumbai.

We arrived on the information of villagers and found the body of the man was lying near a nullah (drain). The body of the deceased has been sent for post-mortem to ascertain the cause of his death, said Pankaj Joshi, in-charge, Baijnath police station in Bageshwar district.

Jitendra Singh Negi, a resident of Bund village under Baijnath police station in Bageshwar used to work in a resort in Mumbai. He had returned home in the last week of May due to the lockdown imposed in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. After his return, he was put in institutional quarantine in Kausani by health officials for 14 days, police said.

Also Read: Uttarakhand health dept starts preparing for dengue outbreak

After completing the quarantine, he returned to his village on Tuesday, where he was again put under home quarantine for another 14 days. On Thursday, his body was found near a nullah close to his own house, said police.

We are still waiting for a complaint from his family. Action will be taken as we receive the complaint and the post mortem report, said Joshi.
The House of Representatives on Thursday, during plenary, honoured a deputy commissioner of police, Abba Kyari, for his hard work and outstanding performance over the years in the Nigeria Police Force.

Mr Kyari is the commander of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team.

The police officer and his team became popular after the successful arrest of some notorious criminals across the country.

Notable amongst their successful arrests were that of notorious kidnap kingpins, Chukwudi Onwuamadike (also known as Evans) and Bala Hamisu (aka Wadume).

Others are killers of the late chief of defence staff, Alex Badeh, and kidnappers of President Muhammadu Buhari ADCs father-in-law.

The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the green chamber chose to honour Mr Kyaris outstanding performances in spite of the challenge facing the force.

According to him, it is not what they do all the time and for everybody but for those who have distinguished themselves in various fields of service.

This is also to show Nigerians that despite the not too good image of the Nigerian police, there are very good officers in the force, he said.

This is the greatest honour, because this is the only institution where all Nigerians are represented. This is not an award from the house of reps alone but an award from the entire people of Nigeria.

The chairman, house committee on police affairs, Bello Kumo, commended the House for recognising the officer.

He commended Mr Kyari for his gallant efforts in the fight against criminality.

Another lawmaker, Shehu Koko (APC-Kebbi), said as a former policeman, he is impressed by the works of Kyari and his team.

Mr Shehu said that Mr Kyari had worked across the nation and had done so well in addressing high profile cases.

The House spokesperson, Benjamin Kalu (APC-Abia), while commending Mr Kyari urged him to train other officers to his standard.

He said it was necessary for the force and indeed Nigeria to have more Kyari sin the fight against insecurity and to reduce the burden on Kyaris shoulders.

Another lawmaker, Khadijat Bukar (APC-Borno), said the members of her constituency were proud of their son Kyari.

She called on the federal government to confer on him a national honour in recognition of his selfless service to the nation.

In his response, the police officer said he was humbled by the recognition.

He said the police was doing all it can to ensure the security of lives and property.

Mr Kyari said the gesture of the House would go a long way to boost his morale and that of his team and spur them to do more.

For the rest of my life, I will never forget this day, this indeed is the greatest award because it is coming from all Nigerians.

This has passed a message to me and my team and other young officers and they will work hard knowing that the house of reps is watching.

The only problem we have is funding, if we do have enough funding, we can do a hundred times more then what we are doing now.

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I will urge the house to look into this matter, he added.

With over 80 high profile arrests nationwide to his belt, Mr Kyari has, perhaps, earned the title of the most decorated police office in Nigeria.

His exploits did not escape the attention of President Buhari, who honoured him with the presidential medal for courage in April 2016.

His gallantry was also rewarded with the commendation medal for courage, three years in a row by the Inspectors General of Police in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

In the same vein, he is also a three-time recipient of Lagos State Governors Award for Gallantry, Leadership and Service excellence in 2011, 2012, 2013, in addition to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police Commendation Award for Courage in 2011.

He was declared Africas Best Detective in 2018. He also bagged the best police officer of the decade award recently including the 2018 hero of the year award by the Silverbird Group.
Police are our society's sheep dogs who protect us from the wolves among us. No civilized society can tolerate a sheep dog that uses his or her teeth on the sheep, other sheep dogs, or even the wolves once the latter are in custody. Regardless of "Gentle Giant" George Floyd's rap sheet, and of whatever (if anything) he had done to result in his arrest, the police were responsible for his safety once he was handcuffed and on the ground, and this duty of care was apparently not fulfilled. Disciplinary action and criminal charges are therefore entirely appropriate based on what we currently know.

Sorry, Your Race Card has Been Declined

Have we stopped to consider, however, that much of the "Justice for George Floyd" movement is based on the totally unproven proposition that what happened to him was racially motivated? I have yet to see any evidence of a racial motive, and two of the officers involved are not Caucasian. Maybe Floyd gave Chauvin trouble and he reacted with (allegedly until proven) excessive force while getting his companions to support his actions, or at least do nothing to intervene. Chauvin did have multiple complaints against him in the past, although only one resulted in disciplinary action.

The motives of the arresting officers do not make what happened right. Policies, procedures, and training need to be reviewed and changed throughout the nation to ensure that similar incidents do not happen in the future. The Left's race card should however be declined until such time as it is proven that Chauvin's actions were racially motivated. Now let's address those who are rioting, looting, burning, robbing, and murdering (with numerous African-Americans on the receiving end of so-called #justiceforgeorgefloyd), and vandalizing synagogues, churches, and even a memorial to Civil War African-American Soldiers, in the name of George Floyd.

"Viva Fernando y Vamos Robando!"

This phrase is from C.S. Forester's The Gun, which later became The Pride and the Passion with Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, and Frank Sinatra. The story is about a band of Spanish guerrillas who acquired a massive siege gun and used it (unsuccessfully in the book, successfully in the movie) to attack a French-occupied fort during the Peninsular War.

"Long live [King] Ferdinand and let's go robbing" related to purported guerrillas who used their purported resistance to French invaders to steal from other Spaniards. It is easy to imagine these bandits invading homes and farms, "requisitioning" horses, money, and even women from the occupants, and asking anybody who objected, "Are you an Afrancesado (French sympathizer) whose throat we should cut?" It was, after all, a lot safer to steal from Spanish peasants than from Napoleon's marshals. This is not to say that genuine guerrillas did not fight the French, but rather that bandits often found it convenient to call themselves guerrillas while they practiced their usual trade. Crusaders, under color of fighting for Jesus, similarly sacked Constantinople with the excuse that the occupants were the wrong kinds of Christians. The armies of the Thirty Years War often robbed and raped their own employers' subjects to supplement their pay. "Justicia para Jorge Floyd y vamos robando" is simply the same old garbage from a brand-new dumpster.

The looters, rioters, and robbers (not protesters) who are acting under color of #justiceforgeorgefloyd probably ask anybody who objects to having his or her property stolen, vandalized, or set on fire, "Are you a racist who needs a good beating?" If the looting or robbery victim is African-American, they may demand instead, "Are you unwilling to make a small donation, like the contents of your entire store, to the Cause?" They do not care about justice for George Floyd or justice for anybody, they do not care about Black lives or anybody's lives, and all they care about is an excuse to engage in common banditry.

Police exist to enforce the law and not take it into their own hands, e.g. with excessive force. The rioters, looters, arsonists, robbers, and killers who have clearly proclaimed, "Justice for George Floyd and let's go robbing" are on the other hand the absolute dregs of our society who have crawled out of their holes for no purpose other than self-gratification with loot, violence, and mindless vandalism of synagogues and churches. The Left appears largely silent about the latter, which most people would normally call hate crimes. There are even videos of looters robbing each other of their loot, much as stronger Spanish "guerrilla" bands might have robbed weaker ones under color of resisting Napoleon.

Why Aren't We Protesting This Instead?

Breonna Taylor was a law-abiding citizen who was killed in her own home by police who raided the wrong location with a no-knock warrant. Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker believed, and reasonably, from what I have read, that he was dealing with home invaders, opened fire on them, and wounded one. The police officers returned the fire from what they believed to be drug dealers and killed Taylor.

Walker was arrested but the charges against him were dropped, and rightly so, as far as I am concerned. Even if the police announced themselves as police while they forced entry, Walker and Taylor were law-abiding citizens who had no reason to expect police to invade their residence. They might have therefore suspected reasonably that home invaders were falsely identifying themselves as police to gain time to kill them. The police had, on the other hand, been told that they were raiding a drug house so they believed reasonably that they were taking fire from drug dealers.

We therefore had a situation in which both parties seem to have had reasonable (as defined by law) cause to fire upon one another and were therefore guiltless in doing so. This does not change the fact that an innocent civilian is dead and a law enforcement officer has been injured, because of the fiasco in question. There is however no evidence that this incident was racially motivated either, as the wrong address could have been anybody's. This is but one of many similar incidents that have proved deadly for civilians and police alike. The consequences are in fact no different than those of a "swatting" incident that goes bad. Somebody ought to be investigating why the officers were sent to the wrong location in the first place, and also what changes need to be made to ensure that it never happens again to any civilian or law enforcement officer.

Civis Americanus is the pen name of an American Thinker contributor who remembers the lessons of history and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way.
Michigan Connections Academy Celebrates Class of 2020 Graduating from high school is among the most important milestones in our lives, so we wanted to make this event special for the Class of 2020, especially in light of the challenges our students and families have faced surrounding the global pandemic.

More than 100 students from Michigan Connections Academy, a public, tuition-free online school serving students statewide in grades K-12, recently took to the stage  a virtual stage  as part of their graduation celebration.

Graduating from high school is among the most important milestones in our lives, so we wanted to make this event special for the Class of 2020, especially in light of the challenges our students and families have faced surrounding the global pandemic, said Michigan Connections Academy superintendent, Bryan Klochack. We are proud of our seniorsa class full of independent learners and creative problem-solvers who are ready to embark on their next adventure.

With more than 1,500 students enrolled, Michigan Connections Academy is an established online school that gives children the support they need to grow academically and develop socially and emotionally so theyre prepared to succeed now and as they progress through college, career, and life. According to its latest parent satisfaction survey, more than 90% of parents would recommend the school to other families.

I have been a student at Michigan Connections Academy for the past seven years and have experienced what virtual education looks like at the elementary, middle and high school levels, said recent Michigan Connections Academy graduate, James Bowser from Blissfield, Michigan. Virtual learning has allowed me to build relationships that will last a lifetime while developing real-world skills that will help me in college and in my career.

Among Michigan Connections Academy graduates are athletes, philanthropists, future paramedics and students with plans to pursue graduate school. Offering an individualized learning model to meet the unique learning style of each student, Michigan Connections Academy is a tight-knit school community offering all the services and resources needed to create a well-rounded student experience. Students can participate in engaging electives, Career and Technical Education courses, as well as fun clubs and activities to connect with their peers.

For more information on online learning or to enroll your child, visit http://www.MichiganConnectionsAcademy.com.

About Michigan Connections Academy

Michigan Connections Academy (MICA) is a tuition-free, K12 online public school, also known as a virtual charter school, that students attend from home. The school is authorized by Ferris State University Charter Schools Office. Michigan Connections Academys online school program is provided by Connections Education, a leading provider of online and blended learning. MICA is accredited by AdvancED, a non-profit organization that conducts rigorous, on-site reviews of a variety of educational institutions. The combination of state-certified teachers, a proven curriculum, engaging electives, technology tools, and community experiences creates a supportive and successful online learning opportunity for families and students who want an individualized approach to education. For more information, call 517-507-5390 or visit http://www.MichiganConnectionsAcademy.com.
SPRINGFIELD  Progress continues to occur on Springfields plans for a new consolidated school in the Mason Square area, including the governors recent approval of a needed park land transfer.

Gov. Charlie Baker signed the land transfer bill Friday that is needed for the consolidation of William Deberry School and Homer Street School into a new consolidated school on the Deberry site, said Peter Garvey, the citys director of capital asset construction.

The park is being relocated to a new site that includes land being purchased from Springfield College for $100,000, officials said. The City Council will consider approving the college land purchase at its next regular, remote meeting on June 22, Garvey said.

In related news, the Massachusetts School Building Commission will meet on June 24, to consider approving the schematic design plans for the new consolidated Deberry-Homer Street school, Garvey said.

Were cruising right along, Garvey said. Its moving seamlessly despite the pandemic.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said the progress on the consolidated school and park is great news for the school system and for the neighborhood.

It will result in a state of the art school and enhance and improve the neighborhood, Sarno said.

The new park project on Wilbraham Avenue near King Street is expected to begin in July and take approximately one year to complete, Garvey said.

There has been phenomenal community input on both the school and the park projects, Garvey said.

Once the schematic design is approved by the state, the city will immediately move into the final design phase, he said.

The current schools are considered aging and outdated. The Homer Street School was built in 1897.

The newly signed state act specifically allows the city to use the current site of Deberry Park for a new elementary school and to replace it with additional park land in the city of Springfield.

Sarno said he is grateful to Baker and local legislators for their work to move and approve the legislation.
A team of researchers in the UK has discovered that some individuals of the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), particularly those affected by myocardial fibrosis, have a rare small bone called os cordis in their heart.

The presence of an os cordis is a regular finding in large ruminants such as cattle, ox, water buffalos and sheep. Otters and camels sometimes have this bone too. But this is the first time that the os cordis has been discovered in a great ape.

Cartilage (cartilago cordis) can also be present within the cardiac skeleton of individuals of other animal species such as horses, pigs, dogs, cats, mice, rats, snakes, white rhinoceros and Syrian hamsters.

Although the exact localization, size and number of the os cordis varies, in all species it lies within a band of fibrous tissue called trigonum fibrosum.

Its function is unclear but it is believed to serve as a pivot and anchoring support for the heart valves.

The discovery of a new bone in a new species is a rare event, especially in chimps which have such similar anatomy to people, said studys senior author Dr. Catrin Rutland, a researcher in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham.

It raises the question as to whether some people could have an os cordis too.

Dr. Rutland and colleagues compared the structure and morphology of 16 hearts from chimpanzees which were either healthy or affected by myocardial fibrosis, a type of heart disease found in chimps and people.

To study the organs, the researchers used X-ray microtomography (microCT), a non-destructive X-ray imaging technique that produces 3D images from 2D trans-axial projections.

They found the os cordis bones, measuring a few millimeters in size, and cartilago cordis in four hearts. Their presence was not associated with age nor with sex.

Looking for ways to help chimps with heart disease is essential, said first author Dr. Sophie Moittie, from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham and Twycross Zoo.

Understanding what is happening to their hearts helps us manage their health.

This research has brought together researchers and veterinary professionals, working on a common aim to advance chimpanzee health and conservation, Dr. Rutland said.

The discovery is described in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.

_____

S. Moittie et al. 2020. Discovery of os cordis in the cardiac skeleton of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Sci Rep 10, 9417; doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-66345-7
More than 50 people, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, died when a boat carrying migrants bound for Italy sank off Tunisia, a health official said Thursday in an updated toll.

Another 17 bodies were recovered, raising the total to 52 since the authorities were alerted by fishermen near the port city of Sfax on Tuesday.

At least 24 women were among the victims.

Burials were held Thursday for some of those killed, said Sfax region's health director Ali Ayadi.

The boat's captain, a 48-year-old Tunisian, was among the dead, according to the authorities.

Witnesses had told authorities the victims were believed to be passengers on a boat that set off for Italy a week ago with 53 people on board.

Illegal crossings from Tunisia to Europe jumped by more than 150 percent in January to April compared with the same period last year, according to the UN's refugee agency.

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LA JOLLA--(June 11, 2020) A significant site of damage during COVID-19 infection is the lungs. Understanding how the lungs' immune cells are responding to viral infections could help scientists develop a vaccine.

Now, a team of researchers led by Salk Professor Susan Kaech has discovered that the cells responsible for long-term immunity in the lungs can be activated more easily than previously thought. The insight, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine on June 11, 2020, could aid in the development of universal vaccines for influenza and the novel coronavirus.

"Inside our lungs exist long-lived killer T cells that recognize specific viruses and protect us against re-infection, should we encounter the virus again. Our results have elucidated the manner by which these cells 'see' the virus upon re-infection and provide rapid immunity," says Kaech, director of Salk's NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis. "It also may help us understand long-term immunity as it relates to coronavirus."

When we are first exposed to bacteria or viruses, such as influenza, one type of our immune cells, known as killer T cells, destroy infected cells to prevent the spread of the disease. Once the pathogen is cleared, these experienced killer T cells (also called killer "memory" T cells) remain in our body long-term, and "remember" previous invaders. These killer memory T cells enable our immune systems to more rapidly respond to a second attack and effectively provide long-term protective immunity against the invader, a fundamental concept behind vaccination.

Scientists know a lot about how killer memory T cells get activated in lymphoid organs (such as lymph nodes). Immune messenger cells called dendritic cells present fragments of the virus to the killer memory T cell, similar to a handler presenting a scent to a hound, to license their killer function.

But prior studies had not examined this interaction in vital organs, such as the lung. The lung is a frequent entry site for pathogens such as influenza and coronavirus, so the team set out to confirm whether this long-held dogma applied to killer memory T cells that reside in the lungs.

Kaech and then-graduate student Jun Siong Low, first author of the paper, assumed that dendritic cells would be required to reactivate killer memory T cells to fight a second viral attack. So, they deleted various types of messenger cells one at a time in mice to see if the killer memory T cells would still recognize a second influenza infection. The researchers used a green florescent reporter protein to make the killer memory T cells glow if they recognized the virus. However, each time the researchers deleted a specific cell type, the killer memory T cells in the lungs continued to glow.

"At first, our results were disappointing because it didn't seem like our experiments were working; the killer memory T cells in the lungs continued to recognize the virus after the deletion of many different messenger cell types," says Low, now a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) at the Universita della Svizzera Italiana, in Switzerland. "Soon, we realized that these lung-resident killer memory T cells were special because they were not reliant on any single type of messenger cell. Instead, they could 'see' the second influenza infection through a variety of different messenger cells, including non-immune cells like lung epithelial cells, which was a remarkably exciting finding."

In contrast, when the researchers examined the killer memory T cells in the lymph nodes--glands that swell during infections--they found that the killer memory T cells needed dendritic cells to recognize the second viral attack. This suggests that the anatomical location of the killer memory T cells dictates how they get reactivated, challenging the long-held dogma that killer memory T cells require dendritic cells for reactivation. The results help to reshape the paradigm of killer memory T cell activation.

Because lung-resident killer memory T cells can be quickly reactivated by nearly any cell type at the site of pathogen entry, identifying vaccines that can create these lung-resident killer memory T cells will likely be critical for superior immunity to viral infections of the lungs.

"We will take this knowledge into our next study, where we will examine whether lung-resident killer memory T cells form after a coronavirus infection," says Kaech, holder of the NOMIS Chair. "Since not all infections induce killer memory T cells, we will determine if these cells form after a coronavirus infection and whether they can be protective against future coronavirus infections."

###

Other authors included Yagmur Farsakoglu of Salk; Esen Sefik, Christian C.D. Harman, Ruaidhri Jackson, Justin Shyer, Xiaodong Jiang, and Richard A. Flavell of the Yale University School of Medicine; Maria Carolina Amezcua Vesely of the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, in Argentina; Joseph B. Kelly of Stony Brook University and Linda S. Cauley of the University of Connecticut Health Center.

The work was supported by the NOMIS Foundation; the National Institutes of Health (R01 AI123864, R37 AI066232, S10 OD020142, P30 CA106359-39); A*STAR National Science Scholarship PhD; a Swiss National Science Foundation Early Postdoc Mobility Fellowship (P2BEP3_178444); a George E. Hewitt Foundation fellowship; the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; the Yale Center for Research Computing; the Yale Center for Genome Analysis; and the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Core at Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:

Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu.
Resident Mark Siegars argues his point at Tuesday night's town meeting. Lanesborough Elementary School gymnasium set up with chairs 6 feet apart for Tuesday's annual town meeting. Town Moderator Chris Dodig speaks with Town Secretary Diane Stevens prior to the meeting's start. The town had emergency medical technicians on hand for Tuesday's meeting. PreviousNext

Lanesborough OKs Articles at 'Socially Distanced' Town Meeting



EMT Jen Weber takes lead custodian Glen Storie's temperature. All attendees could have their temperatures taken before entering the building and they wore masks while inside. LANESBOROUGH, Mass.  Voters spent nearly five hours at Lanesborough Elementary School on Tuesday night to pass all 22 articles on the annual town meeting warrant.

The gymnasium was set up to meet all current social distancing guidelines put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Town Moderator Chris Dodig kicked off the meeting by explaining the town's thought process in deciding to have the meeting at all despite the novel cooronavirus pandemic that has wreaked havoc on the municipal budget process across the state and forced many towns to postpone meetings and even some to go so far as to consider holding them outdoors.

"It was a tough decision to even hold town meeting but some factors and some calmer voices convinced me that it would be OK and looking out at the audience and seeing everyone with masks and 6 feet apart makes me feel much better about it," he told the gym filled with about 80 people. "We can't just avoid town meeting, we can postpone it for 30 days at a time, or the moderator can, but eventually we have to do it and there's no real certainty that any time is going to be better than now."

Many towns, including Lanesborough's partner in the Mount Greylock School District, Williamstown, have pushed town meetings past the end of the fiscal year on June 30, resulting in them having to adopt a 1/12th budget process where the budget is based on the prior year's numbers. Town leaders must approve a spending plan each month to be blessed by the state's Department of Revenue.

The first issue the meeting dealt with was indeed a motion to postpone the meeting for a month made by a voter. She cited some people feeling forced to decide to participate in the process versus protecting their health, going so far as saying "it might be illegal" because they were being denied the right to participate based on a medical condition.

After some explanation from the moderator and Town Counsel Jeffrey Blake assuring no laws were in danger of being broken, and comments for and against from other voters, the vote was in favor of continuing the meeting.

Despite the meeting's length there were no close votes on any of the 22 warrant articles.

The town's operating budget will see a drop of roughly 5 percent from $10,795,329 to $10,268,474. Most of this is from debt for the Lanesborough Elementary School projects coming off the books.

The Mount Greylock Regional School District assessment was approved at $5,761,836, which is a drop of $7,413 from this year. Superintendent Kimberley Grady was in attendance and said the district is prepared to change its plans should state aid numbers come in lower than expected and that she is confident none of those changes would affect curriculum.

Revenue numbers from the state have not been released yet so municipalities setting hard budgets are doing their best to estimate what those cuts might be. It was mentioned by Grady and the town leaders that another town meeting would be very likely in the fall should state aid numbers come in drastically different than what they're expecting.

The meeting voted 65-5 to spend $225,000 to buy a new rescue truck for the Fire Department. Fire Chief Charlie Durfee said the current truck is 34 years old and has simply passed its useful lifespan. The funds will come from a combination of town stabilization funds and the Baker Hill Road District fire truck fund.

The vote also was heavily in favor of the purchase of a new police cruiser to the tune of $50,864.92. Those funds will also be split between the town and the Baker Hill Road fund.

Article 5 passed 50-10. This article authorized the Board of Selectmen to accept a donation of property along Route 8 at the former Vacation Village. The spot has been looked at as a potential site for a new police station. The parcel very recently went under contract for traditional sale but if that does not go through it is expected the Selectmen will accept the donation.

Article 6 saw the town approve an appropriation of $75,000 from free cash to purchase a roughly 5 acre parcel on Ore Bed Road. The town wants to use the plot to replace the current gravel bed, which is getting low.

The meeting almost unanimously accepted $240,740 from the Baker Hill Road District to fund two police salary positions plus expenses for fiscal 2021. The funds are an annual appropriation and stem from the now shuttered Berkshire Mall's opening in 1989.

Lanesborough Elementary School will see the balance of its sidewalks repaired this fiscal year. The town approved up to $58,000 for the project by a vote of 40-16.



New electronic voting devices were used for the first time. The largest article outside of the budget itself was the transfer of $276,000 from free cash to stabilize the tax rate in anticipation of a shortfall in Unrestricted General Government Local Aid from the state. The article passed 49-3.

Articles 19-21 were citizens' petitions and dealt with marijuana bylaws. The first looked to limit both the number of inside cultivators and manufacturing facilities to two each. Several people spoke out against the petition, saying it unnecessarily restricted new revenue opportunities for the town. It was defeated 41-9.

Article 20 asked the town to impose a 3 percent gross sales tax on marijuana retailers. The town has two potential retailers lined up who would be affected by the tax. The meeting took no action as the town had already adopted the 3 percent tax at a prior meeting.

The last article of the night wanted to amend the zoning bylaws related to marijuana on issues including odor, site plan review, setback requirements, and several other topics. After open consultation from Planning Board Chairman Jamie Szczepaniak, voters decided to postpone action indefinitely with an eye toward bringing back a different petition at a later town meeting.
ALBANY, N.Y.  Albany Countys COVID-19 linked death toll increased to 117. During his daily press brief Thursday, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy confirmed a woman in her 80s had died overnight.

Additionally, there have been 1,813 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Albany County as of Thursday, an increase of four since Wednesday. Plus, there are 469 people under mandatory quarantine and five people under precautionary quarantine.

Thus far, 5,130 people have completed quarantine, with 1,553 of them having tested positive and recovered.

Presently there are 13 people hospitalized, ticking the hospitalization rate up to 0.71%.

McCoy also commented on the latest reopen efforts.

The latest guidance from the Governors Office allowing restaurants and bars to expand their outdoor dining on land it controls adjacent to their business in Phase 2 without prior approval is a huge win for our residents, our business community and municipal and county governments whose budgets have been devastated over the last nearly three months since the shutdown began, McCoy remarked.

In addition, McCoy urged more creative steps for businesses as the Capital Region advances toward Phase 3 of the reopen.

Im encouraging municipalities to work with businesses and develop plans to utilize sidewalks and even streets for expanded space. These two policies will ensure smaller restaurants can bring in more customers and, in general, will ensure customers and workers can maintain proper social distancing, stay safe and have a greater peace of mind, McCoy added.

Businesses interested in expanding their outdoor dining space, which are licensed by the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) can do so utilizing contiguous open-air land that it controls via deed, lease, management agreement or any other agreement.

Yet, they also must submit a diagram showing any alterations to the SLA at their email temporaryalterations@sla.ny.gov.

Municipalities choosing to let businesses to expand onto municipal-owned land, can do so through a Municipal Extension, and submitting a plan and the two required forms to the SLA. The plan must be completed before any alterations are made utilizing municipal space.

According to McCoy, State Department of Motor Vehicle locations will be able to reopen in Phase 3, which is currently slated for June 17. People should schedule in-person transactions ahead of time.

Plus, recent guidance was made available by the Governors Office allowing for garage and yard sales in Phase 2. Those hosting sales cannot allow any more than 10 people in a given space.

Finally, McCoy highlighted that the Small Business Development Center of New York will be hosting two webinars on Phase 3 reopening Friday, June 12. The first focuses on food services at 1 p.m., and the second details personal care services at 3 p.m.
Sea-level rise likely to swallow many coastal mangrove forests

Posted on 11 June 2020 by Guest Author

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by new regular contributor Jeff Masters

Coastal mangrove forests arent adapting rapidly enough to escape rising sea levels, and many could disappear by 2050 in much of the tropics, according to recent research published in Science.

Authors of a study reported June 5 used sediment cores from 78 sites on five continents to determine when mangroves first appeared over the past 10,000 years, as sea-level rise had slowed once Earth fully emerged from the Ice Age. They found that mangrove ecosystems did not develop unless relative sea-level rise was less than 6 to 7 millimeters* per year. (The term relative is used because the rate of sea-level rise is determined by the increase in water volume of the oceans plus subsidence or uplift of coastal land).

Sea-level rise is accelerating

The global rate of sea-level rise has doubled from 1.8 millimeters per year over the 20th century to approximately 3.4 millimeters per year in recent years. In many coastal areas, the rate of relative sea-level rise is much higher as a result of subsidence resulting from human causes, such as groundwater pumping and fossil fuel extraction.

For example, the Mekong Delta of Vietnam is subsiding at a rate of 6 to 20 mm/year and the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta by 1 to 7 mm/year. At the same time, sediment supply to the coast has declined as a result of damming of rivers and mining and export of sediment, further increasing the vulnerability of mangroves to sea-level rise.

Coastal wetlands act as natural levees against storms as a result of their ability to reduce water velocity and wave turbulence. Moreover, wetlands accumulate sediments that provide protection against rising sea levels and local subsidence. In the U.S., per square kilometer, wetlands save $1.8 million per year in storm damages.

A March 17, 2020, study in PNAS, Coastal wetlands reduce property damage during tropical cyclones, showed just how valuable wetlands are in reducing storm damage. The researchers analyzed property damage caused by 54 tropical storms and 34 hurricanes hitting the U.S. between 1996 and 2016. They found that counties with more wetland coverage experienced significantly less property damage: a 1% loss of coastal wetlands was associated with a 0.6% increase in property damage. (Side note: a 1% increase in wind increased damages by 7%, and counties on the storm paths right side experienced 140% more damage than those on the left.)

The expected economic value of the protective effects of wetlands varied widely, averaging that $1.8 million per square kilometer. Wetlands conferred relatively more protection against weaker storms and in states with weaker building codes. Wetland losses of 2.8% in Florida between 1996 and 2016 are estimated to have increased property damage from the 2017 Hurricane Irma by $430 million.

Figure 1. Annual county-level marginal value (the value gained from either consuming or producing one additional unit of a good or service) of coastal wetlands for storm protection in (A) northeastern coastal counties, (B and C) eastern and southeastern coastal counties, and (D) coastal counties from Texas to Florida. The highest-value wetlands were located in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Credit: Sun et al., Coastal wetlands reduce property damage during tropical cyclones, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 2020, 117 (11) 5719-5725; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1915169117.

Mangroves in Louisiana and Texas in trouble

In the U.S., mangroves grow along much of the Florida coast and along large portions of the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. Most of the mangroves in those two states are experiencing rates of relative sea level that will threaten their existence. The NOAA Tides & Currents website indicates that six out of seven coastal tide gauges between Rockport, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana, over the past 40 to 50 years had rates of relative sea-level rise exceeding 5.8 mm/year:

Figure 2. Distribution of mangrove forests in the U.S. Credit: Osland, M.J. N. Enwright, R.H. Day, and T.W. Doyle. 2013. Winter climate change and coastal wetland foundation species: salt marshes vs. mangrove forests in the southeastern United States. Global Change Biology 19:1482-1494

9.6 mm/yr: Eugene Island, Louisiana

9.1 mm/yr: Grand Island, Louisiana

6.6 mm/yr: Galveston, Texas

6.0 mm/yr: Sabine Pass, Texas

5.8 mm/yr: New Canal, New Orleans, Louisiana

5.8 mm/yr: Rockport, Texas

A 2017 analysis of wetlands change at 185 sites across the Mississippi Delta found even higher rates of sea-level rise since 2006: 13  9 mm per year. About 65% of these sites were able to keep up with this rate of sea-level rise over that relatively short period of time. The situation is more encouraging in Florida: The highest rate of relative sea-level rise at NOAA tide gauges along Floridas mangrove forests is 3.8 mm per year, in the Florida Keys.

The results of the June study support the findings of a May 22, 2020, paper in Science Advances, Tipping points of Mississippi Delta marshes due to accelerated sea-level rise. That research presented an 8,500-year-long sediment record from 355 boreholes in the Mississippi Delta marshes of Louisiana. It showed that at rates of relative sea-level rise of 6-9 mm per year, marsh conversion into open water occurs in about 50 years. Even at slower rates of relative sea-level rise of 3 mm per year, the researchers found that marshes in 80% of cases transitioned to open ocean in a few centuries, and they concluded that drowning of the Mississippi Delta marshes is inevitable.

An excellent analysis of this paper at NOLA.com details provisions in Louisianas coastal master plan  a $50 billion effort to defend the coast against rising sea levels  to help deal with the threat.

Commentary: Think Scooby-Doo Ruh-Roh

Mangrove forests provide a U.S. coastal population of more than 200 million people with services like protection from intense storms and waves, reduction of coastal flooding, sequestering of carbon, improved water quality, and preservation of biodiversity and fisheries.

Some might say its something of a Scooby-Doo Ruh-roh moment to see science predicting the loss of much of the worlds mangroves in just 30 years. Human development and sea-level rise have already led to the loss of one-fifth of the worlds mangroves between 1980 and 2010; Tampa Bay, Florida, has lost almost half of its mangroves in the past century.

Nonetheless, the Trump administration has torpedoed a major Obama administration regulation protecting wetlands: On June 22, new EPA regulations substantially reducing the number of water bodies and wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act are to take effect.

Orrin Pilkey:  we can walk away methodically, or we can flee in panic.

Sea-level rise is expected to cause massive upheavals to civilization in coming decades:

 forcing millions of people to abandon the coast as rising seas inundate populated areas and major cities;

 opening the way for climate change-amplified hurricanes to drive higher storm surges farther inland;

 knocking out transportation systems and sewage treatment plants;

 swallowing prime agricultural land and barrier islands; and

 infiltrating aquifers with salt water.

But the impacts of sea-level rise are not limited to future decadestheyre happening right now. Hurricane Sandys storm surge in New York City in 2012 caused an extra $2 billion in damage as a result of higher water levels the city experienced from 20th century sea-level rise. Nuisance flooding has become a growing problem in places like Miami Beach, Norfolk, and San Francisco. And in Maryland, for instance, both Annapolis and Baltimore now get more than nine times the number of flood days they experienced in the 1960s. (I review many more examples in a December 2017 review of Jeff Goodells must-read book on sea-level rise, The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World.)

In response to news that a long-predicted acceleration of sea level is already underway, one does well to heed the words of Duke University sea-level rise expert Dr. Orrin Pilkey and co-authors in their 2016 book, Retreat From a Rising Sea: Hard Choices in an Age of Climate Change:
Nepal's parliament is set to vote at the weekend on a new map of its border with India, an official said on Thursday, underlining the Himalayan nation's determination to press its case in a land dispute that has strained ties with its giant neighbour.

Nepal published the revised map in May showing the sliver of land on its northwest tip as its territory, a move rejected by India, which controls the area and says the land belongs to it. The government has tabled the new map in parliament, seeking to amend the constitution and remove the old version.

"A house meeting has been scheduled for Saturday when the amendment is expected to be debated and put to vote," parliamentary official Dashrath Dhamala told Reuters.

Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had earlier said he has sought talks with India to seek to resolve the dispute over the small stretch of land, which includes the areas of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani.

"We have told (them) that we want to resolve this through diplomatic talks ... And the solution is that our land should be returned to us," Oli said in parliament on Wednesday.

There was no immediate comment from India on Oli's latest statement.

But New Delhi rejected Nepal's map when it was published in May, calling it a "unilateral act" that was not based on historical facts or evidence.
Children may suffer long-term mental health, social and educational problems because of a decision to shut schools to protect old people, a top scientist warns.

Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a member of government advisory group SAGE, said youngsters' lives had been 'put on hold' to benefit the middle-aged and elderly.

As a result, he said, millions of children have faced a 'whole series of harms', missing out on education and friendships, and vulnerable children have lost the safety net that going to school each day provided.

Schools have been closed to the majority of pupils since March 20 in order to curb the spread of a virus which hardly affects them, and is significantly more likely to kill people over the age of 40.

Professor Viner said some children have found themselves in 'pressure cooker' while in lockdown at home, with crowded houses and difficult family arrangements.

The long term impacts of the pandemic will affect young people just as much as adults, the paediatrician said.

There are concerns children from poorer and black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds will disproportionately suffer from the impacts of the pandemic.

Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, suggested the decision to protect the elder generations has come at a cost to children

Schools have been closed to the majority of pupils since March 20 in order to curb the spread of the virus. Pictured: Children at L'Ecole des Petits, a school in Fulham, London, using hoops to keep their distance from others

Speaking at a Royal Society of Medicine webinar, Professor Viner said: 'You could almost argue that children and young people we have put their lives on hold, their education, they had a whole series of harms, because of what we have done to benefit the middle aged and older.

'We need to think about equity across generations over the coming years.'

All UK schools closed by 20 March for an indefinite period of time, except for children of key workers, three days before the full lockdown.

That decision and a wave of other interventions were put in place to stop the coronavirus spreading and infecting millions.

Scientists advising the government knew at the time that those over the age of around 70 were more likely to get severely sick with Covid-19, with the risk increasing for every year of age.

It has become increasingly clear over time that children themselves are less likely to pick up the virus or get severely ill with it if they do.

CORONAVIRUS DANGER TO CHILDREN IS LOW, SCIENTISTS SAY The government's SAGE experts have suggested children are at low danger from coronavirus - and warned the 'shock' of school closures are blighting a generation. Although the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies admit there is no certainty, a raft of papers suggest that children are less likely to be infected and infectious than adults, and teachers do not seem at heightened risk. The documents, prepared in the weeks up to May 1, float the idea of splitting classes in half and having children attend schools alternate weeks, saying that could slash the effect on the coronavirus 'R' number. Unions insisted the SAGE evidence, published before Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed schools would be opening on June 1, was 'inconclusive' and demanded delay. Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has said reopening schools was likely to push the R rate up. But he stressed that was the case for any change to lockdown, and schools were 'not a high risk area for R'. Speaking at the Downing Street press briefing on May 22, Sir Patrick said coronavirus was a 'long term epidemic' and 'schools have to get back for education for our young people at some point'. Sir Patrick said: 'The risk for children (from coronavirus) is much lower - we know that. 'They are at low risk but not zero risk and there have been some serious cases of children, of course, but very few compared to adults and older age groups. 'The broader risk in terms of opening schools is that as soon as you introduce any contact, you put pressure on the R and you put pressure on numbers, and that's true of anything we are going to do in terms of changes to contact.' Advertisement

According to Professor Viner, no more than 500 children have been in hospitals with Covid-19, most of whom had mild symptoms, and there have been 11 deaths in under-18s.

Those 11 deaths came from a population of approximately 15.6million people under the age of 19 in the UK.

However, children's role in Covid-19 transmission is less clear. Scientists are not sure how infectious children are and whether they contribute to new cases as much as adults do.

Professor Viner said: 'People often ask what the evidence of transmission in schools and nurseries. And actually there is very little evidence of much transmission.

'Countries that have re-opened schools - Denmark, Germany, Norway and others - they are not seeing rise in population R [rate of reproduction] or outbreaks in schools and elsewhere.'

Ministers fear fully re-opening schools will lead to a resurgence of the virus and a second wave that could be larger than the first.

And teaching unions have fiercely opposed schools re-opening because it puts the lives of staff and their families at risk of the coronavirus.

At the forefront of the argument to open schools are concerns for a generation who will miss out on classroom learning.

On top of that, Professor Viner said schools offer a place of protection and welfare for children.

He said: 'Schools themselves provide places of peer support, friendships, and early mental health problems are picked up and dealt with.

'We know the school and protective system put around schools and young people were withdrawn early. Health visiting stopped, the direct visiting from social workers has often stopped except from exceptional circumstances.

'[Many children] are enjoying being off school. But we know other groups are what in you might call pressure cookers, in really crowded families, sometimes where there is domestic violence - we know thats gone up - or another range of issues, particularly deprivation.'

Professor Viner, who sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to help ministers make decisions during the pandemic, said discussion around children has 'ebbed and flowed'.

'But now as we turn to a longer term response, there is increasing evidence that this group will be affected potentially as much as any others,' he said.

'A real concern for the college and a huge number of groups and was raised very early on... We should be concerned about children and young peoples mental health.

'The long term impacts of children and young people will affect those of black and Asian ethnicity more.'

Ethnic minority people are more likely to live in poverty, meaning their home lives may be less comfortable if their families struggle to afford to feed them where they once got free meals, for example.

But BAME adults are also more likely to become seriously ill or die if they catch the coronavirus.

Because of this, the Local Government Association (LGA) has called for schools in areas where there is a higher proportion of BAME residents to open later than in whiter areas.

There are particular concerns for disadvantaged children who do not have laptops to study from, rely on free school meals, or who live in family arrangements that make them vulnerable.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said: 'The poorest children will be the ones who fall further behind if we keep school gates closed.'

A report published today warned privately educated pupils almost twice as likely to have online lessons than their state school counterparts.

The gap between the most affluent and the poorest pupils will double to three school weeks, according to an Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Pictured: Children maintain social distancing measures while taking part in a lesson at Earlham Primary School yesterday

Children have now been out of education for almost three months and won't return until September, No10 says.

The Government ensured every primary pupil would attend school for at least a few weeks before the summer holidays, with Year 1 and Year 6 returning on June 1.

It came after a long battle with angry trade unions who said the move was 'reckless'.

However, the Government U-turned earlier this week on its 'ambition' to get all primary school pupils back before the summer holidays.

Ministers admitted social distancing and smaller class sizes made a wholesale return unfeasible after teachers had flagged the problem for weeks.

The move has been met with outrage - Sir Keir Starmer accused the Government of having a 'blind spot' on education which is harming the long term life chances of the current generation of school children.

Writing in The Telegraph, he said there had been 'no plan, no consensus, no leadership' on reopening schools as he warned children must not be allowed to go six months without proper classroom learning.

Meanwhile the head of Ofsted has told teachers they need to adopt a more 'can do' and 'optimistic approach' to reopening schools.

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools, today piled the pressure on teachers to do more to get children back into the classroom as soon as possible.
Police have charged three men, including the owner of a boat, after an alleged arson attack at a Gold Coast marina last week saw four other vessels go up in flames.

A breakthrough in the case came after one of the men allegedly seen throwing petrol on the vessel at Hope Harbour Marina about 11.15pm on June 2 sought medical treatment for "fairly significant burns" as a result.

Police say nobody was injured in the blaze. Credit:Nine News

Police divers searched two sunken boats after the blaze, when the owners could not initially be contacted. Five boats in total sustained varying degrees of fire and heat damage.

Detective Inspector Chris Ahearn told reporters on Thursday that there had been some "communication" between the group before the incident, which left one with burns to their legs and back.
Sentinel Exclusive: Governor Reimagines Policing with Criminal Justice and Policing Reforms

Gov. Gavin Newsom outlines his plan to ignite positive change in law enforcement arena

Erasing all doubt about actions needed following the killing of George Floyd, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his unequivocal support for criminal justice and policing reform on June 5.

According to Newsom, his staff will work towards developing a statewide standard for policing peaceful protests and ending the carotid hold, the major factor leading to Floyds death on May 25.

Video footage and witness statements revealed that Floyd died during an arrest where Derek Chauvin, a White police office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeled on Floyds neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The video went viral, sparking international protests and marches against police brutality, especially against African Americans.

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As the demonstrations erupted, Newsom said he met with elected officials, community leaders, social justice activists and law enforcement members to discuss how to attain real reform during what he called, a unique and special responsibility here in California to meet this historic moment head-on.

He spoke with the Los Angeles Sentinel on June 8, to outline how he hopes the state can move forward by reimagining policing.

Explaining his vision for reimagining criminal justice reform, Newsom said, One thing I dont want to see happen is that we revert back to our original form; that somehow, we dont recognize that people have lost patience and that people are demanding a sense of urgency at this moment. What they want is real, not rhetoric.

I think the foundational principle reflected is the commitment to advance reform, in real time, because people have lost not only patience, but theyve lost trust and there is nothing more precious than trust, Newsom said.

We can meet this moment head-on and seize this moment of justice to the cries from millions of Americans, [who] for decades, that have suffered with apathy and with neglect from people in positions like myself and others across this country. Thats the spirit that drove the comments and our pointed decision-making as it relates to making immediate reforms.

His proposal will follow the strategy that Newsom and his staff joined with Assemblymember Shirley Weber to win approval last year of AB 392, the nations strongest standard for police use of deadly force. The bill redefined the circumstances that peace officers can employ to defend against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury. The legislation resulted from collaborations with the California Legislative Black Caucus, the California Latino Legislative Caucus, national experts, community leaders, law enforcement and journalists.

Last year, we proved that we can get something done despite a lot of opposition. This last year [there] was some progress in the state, but there is a deeper sense of urgency to move forward in the next weeks, months, and years, said Newsom.

Another factor in reimagining policing lies in changing how culture views the issue of public safety, he said. The governors goal is to lead society towards making a phone call to the police a last resort instead of the persons first action when confronted with social issues such as mental illness or homelessness.

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Were having conversations on de-militarizing local and state law enforcement. This goes to a broader de-funding movement that I think goes to what we want from law enforcement and what can public safety look like without a law enforcement focus first, noted Newsom.

What can we do on the social service side that change the worlds of responsibility, not just the worlds of engagement, so that law enforcement is not the first phone call, but the last phone call with someone dealing with the crisis of addiction and mental health.

Admitting that some members of law enforcement may resist his plan, Newsom said that his staff he would reach out the various factions, which included police unions, involved in the passage of AB 392 to bring law enforcement to the table and build a bridge of trust to work out those differences.

Other objections may come from the Black community and their supporters, insisting the new reforms are not enough, and in response, Newsom wholeheartedly agrees with that opinion. Theyre likely to be right and that doesnt make our efforts wrong, but it furthers the conversation, the governor said.

I have deep respect for people who say, Good enough never is. When we passed these laws last year, we didnt end the distrust in community policing or the use of force against the Black and Brown community, particularly the Black community, noted Newsom.

So, we have to change the culture. This is a long-term commitment, not just a passing interest  a commitment to resolve and aggressively apply our ideals. Program passing is not problem solving. We have to foundationally change the way we conduct ourselves.

Also, Newsom acknowledged that more action is needed, noting that additional reforms around police practices, educational equity, economic justice, health equity and more must be addressed with urgency.

All of these issues about disparities intersect, particularly in the Black community. All of these issues run concurrent. We cannot just focus on criminal justice reform. We have to deal with these foundational issues in a much more comprehensive manner. These are systemic issues that be have to met head-on as well, he said.

In response to what he is expecting from African Americans to move these issues to the forefront, the governor insisted that the responsibility to change is not on the Black community.

The Black community doesnt need to change, he said, we need to change, our institutions need to change, and our leaders need to change the way we conduct ourselves. So, I ask for nothing from the Black community except to hold us to account and a higher level of expectation. Nothing more.

The Black communitys conducted themselves in such extraordinary ways that it would be demeaning for me to suggest that I expect anything from the community. I need to do better and to be more bold and all I ask from the community is to expect nothing less than that.

Criminal justice reform has been a key priority of Newsoms first year in office. He placed a moratorium on the death penalty, citing racial and economic disparities in how it was applied. He proposed to close the Division of Juvenile Justice and proposed closing two state prisons.

In his May Revision budget, Newsom proposed expanding opportunities for rehabilitation and shortening prison time for offenders participating in treatment programs, in education programs and otherwise engaging in good behavior; as well as increasing access to higher education for young people who are incarcerated.

Managing Editor Brandon I. Brooks contributed to this report.
Days after 15,000 demonstrators marched to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to protest racial inequality, the iconic Winnipeg institution says it is confronting its own issues of racism in the workplace.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/6/2020 (590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Days after 15,000 demonstrators marched to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to protest racial inequality, the iconic Winnipeg institution says it is confronting its own issues of racism in the workplace.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / FREE PRESS FILES "I'm accountable to make sure we do better," John Young said.

"We will be hiring an external person to review and listen to the personal experiences of any current and former staff person, including the experiences shared on social media, and to offer other ways to participate," CMHR president and chief executive officer John Young said in a statement Wednesday.

For days, current and former employees had railed on social media against museum officials for not addressing complaints of racism made by Black, Indigenous, and people of colour staff. Some said when they tried to get management and human resources to act, they were ignored, chastised or singled out as troublemakers.

"Black employees have been bringing forward these issues to every level of management since the opening of the museum," Thiane Diop said on Facebook.

As part of the museum's response, Young wrote on the CMHR's Facebook page: "Too often, voices breaking the silence on racism are marginalized, ignored or dismissed. As an institution dedicated to human rights, the museum seeks to amplify those voices. But it is also the museums responsibility to listen when issues are raised about its own practices and take action to address them."

The statement outraged former employee Julie White.

"I remember being in a typical, highly tense CMHR meeting with management HR, yourself and the V-P, and your V-P actually told me that when we brought up concerns about racism, it made them feel unsafe," White posted on Facebook. "I had to remind them that it was not our responsibility to make them feel safe, it was the other way around."

On Wednesday, both White and Diop said they weren't prepared to be interviewed by media.

"I'm accountable to make sure we do better," Young told the Free Press in an interview Wednesday,

Young said he'd heard about "a few" of the workplace complaints of racism, but not all of them. He said he didn't want to get into details about specific cases.

The Winnipegbased museum plans to "transparent throughout, sharing with all staff the results of the investigation and audit and the action plan."

"Some of these complaints have come up through human resources," he said. "We have a process that responds to them. The process is similar across institutions.

A sample of CMHR complaints One Indigenous employee spoke about a volunteer questioning how she got her job and telling her it was likely due to her race. Another said a white coworker couldn't find their cell phone and looked in her purse to see if she had taken it. click to read more One Indigenous employee spoke about a volunteer questioning how she got her job and telling her it was likely due to her race. Another said a white coworker couldn't find their cell phone and looked in her purse to see if she had taken it. An employee who was reading the book Why I'm no Longer Talking about Race to White People during a break at a training session recalled being "hauled into a meeting" days later with their white manager and supervisor and told how personally offended and hurt the supervisor was by the title of their book. "I was asked to apologize because she felt my reading it was targeted at her and others. I wish I was joking." One said the CMHR's Kairos blanket exercise - a participatory history lesson developed with and led by Indigenous Elders and educators to foster reconciliation among Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples often wasn't led by anyone Indigenous. "The program was often led by a non-Indigenous person and delivered to Indigenous kids, some coming from reserves. I'll never forget the looks on these beautiful brown babies' faces as a white man said out loud 'imagine if this had happened to your people' when it did literally happen to them." Sara Anderson, the assistant manager for the KAIROS Blanket Exercise program who lef the training for Canadian Museum for Human Rights staff in 2017, said KAIROS does require Indigenous leadership for each exercise. "We were not aware of concerns that the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was not complying with our protocols," she told the Free Press Wednesday. "We reached out to the former employee and spoke with her about her concerns, and we will be following up with the museum." sources: Instagram, Facebook Close

"Our action going forward is to have a review of those processes."

When asked why he didn't act if he knew about the complaints and how they were being handled, Young said any corporation or institution has a distribution of job responsibilities, but the buck stops with him.

"I hold myself accountable," he said. "We have a high standards and expectations."

Complaints by former and current employees on social media "are outcomes of frustration and kind of a call to action," Young acknowledged.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES "We need to heal and the CMHR needs to face the truth out in the open," said Armando Perla, a curator who was one of the CMHR's co-founders.

The CEO said the museum is hiring an external organization to do a comprehensive audit of workplace practices and policies around diversity, respect, anti-racism and non-discrimination. It will use the results to develop an action plan.

"I want to be clear that while accountability for this plan lays with the leadership team, its development and implementation will be done in partnership, working with people," Young said in a statement issued late Wednesday.

The Winnipeg-based museum plans to "transparent throughout, sharing with all staff the results of the investigation and audit and the action plan."

Lack of diversity in Canadian museum leadership decried Click to Expand Armando Perla left the CMHR earlier this year to work at the Museum of Movements in Malmo, Sweden Armando. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files) Posted: 7:00 PM Oct. 23, 2019 The lack of diversity among decision makers at museums needs to be addressed for the institutions to stay relevant, says a curator who was among the co-founders of the Winnipeg-based Canadian Museum for Human Rights. "Museums are some of the whitest institutions in the Western world," said Armando Perla, who left the CMHR earlier this year to work at the Museum of Movements in Malmo, Sweden. That's a problem because implicit bias and white privilege can seep into the way people's stories are told or not told, said Perla, who co-authored an article published Tuesday in the journal Museum Management and Curatorship. Read Full Story

In October, the Free Press asked Young about the lack of diversity in management at the CMHR, following a report in the journal Museum Management and Curatorship. The 16-page article said of the 26 managerial and executive positions on the CMHR website, just one was occupied by a person belonging to a visible minority.

At the time, Young said the CMHR was actively trying to recruit and retain a diverse staff  as are many other institutions and corporations, and it is an "important issue."

In an Instagram post Wednesday, one of the authors of the museum journal report called for the CMHR to launch "a truth and reconciliation process led by past and present Black and Indigenous employees who have been victimized by the institution," and to include other people of colour.

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"We need to heal and the CMHR needs to face the truth out in the open," said Armando Perla, a curator who was one of the CMHR's co-founders, in an Instagram post. Perla declined a request for an interview on Wednesday. According to his social media posts, Perla, who identifies as a queer man, experienced homophobia while employed at the museum in Winnipeg and was marginalized for speaking up.

Young said he hopes those with grievances will be willing to take part in the museum's review process.

"I think it's important that we acknowledge the statements made and we need also to acknowledge the frustrations and courage demonstrated. We do intend to seek the opportunity to include a variety of perspectives," he said.

"It would be a perfect world if we could solve these challenges tomorrow. It's a long road."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
TUSD has adopted an alternative curriculum for families who dont want their kids to get sex education in school.

The curriculum focuses on giving students the tools to manage, understand and process emotions.

Unlike Tucson Unified School Districts recently adopted Family Life curriculum, which includes sex education and lessons on consent, and gender identity and expression, the alternative program touches on topics like self-confidence, personal advocacy, media influence, bullying, cyber bullying, hygiene and communication.

What we want to do is make sure we give our children enough skills so that they understand what is right for them and how to make good choices in their lives, says Tammy Hille, coordinator for the districts counseling department. Those are the biggest things that we really want to focus on.

The lessons might be taught by counselors and social workers, Hille said.

The Family Life curriculum was hotly debated, with some arguing that sex ed should not be taught in schools at all, despite the fact that parents and guardians need to opt in for students to take the classes.
A police officer stands amid smoke and debris as buildings continue to burn in the aftermath of a night of protests and violence following the May 25 death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Radical Call to Defund Police Emerges From Protests

WASHINGTONAs the smoke clears from a national two-week frenzy of rioting, looting, and arson, a substantial far-left push is underway to defund or radically transform police departments, under the premise that theyre systemically racist.

Initially, protests were peaceful and called for justice for George Floyd, the black man who died in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis. However, rioting escalated in Minneapolis, and curfews did little to help, until the National Guard and state and local police used tear gas and pepper spray to break up crowds and chase rioters away. Parts of the city were reduced to piles of burning rubble.

Critics say calls to defund police ignore the bigger issues and the need for societal change. One issue is a disproportionately large amount of black crime, which often stems from the breakdown of black families and lack of positive messages to empower young African Americans.

It is absolute taboo to talk about the fact that blacks commit crime at exponentially higher rates. [And] blacks are victimized by crime at exponentially higher rates, said Heather Mac Donald, fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of The War on Cops.

Black Lives Matter (BLM), which has been the most visible presence in protests across the nation, has been leading the push to defund police, and the group is sponsoring a Defund Police petition on its website.

Officials in New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis have been quick in pledging to either defund or divert money from their local police forces.

Kailee Scales, the managing director for Black Lives Matter, wrote during a June 8 question-and-answer session on Reddit that the call for defunding the police force is based in simple facts. She wrote: Modern-day policing institutions have their roots in slave-catching. These systems were created to hunt, maim, and kill Black peopleand are the result of centuries-old anti-Black attitudes codified into law.

Other black leaders are drawing attention to another perspective.

Former civil rights activist Bob Woodson told The Epoch Times that a police brutality problem against black people simply doesnt exist. Unequivocally no, he said. It is just not true that this is a crisis, that somehow black men are being slaughtered by the police. Its just patently untrue.

Woodson, also the founder of The Woodson Center, said young black people are being taught by other blacks that theyre exempt from personal responsibility because every problem that you have is somehow related to what white people have done in the past, and therefore, your condition cannot improve until white people change.

Thats the ultimate form of white supremacy, he said. Its almost mental slavery. Its even worse than slavery. At least slavery was imposed from outside. Mental slavery comes from within.

The Numbers

Woodson said the statistics dont support the BLM claim and the fervor around the idea that Americas police are systemically racist.

About 7,500 black people are killed by homicide each year in the United States, according to Mac Donald.

Nine unarmed black men were killed in police shootings in 2019.

And of the approximately 1,000 victims of police shootings who were armed or otherwise dangerous, 235 were blackabout one quarter. Although thats about twice the proportion of the black population, it doesnt mean police are shooting blacks out of racism, Mac Donald told The Epoch Times on June 8.

What predicts officer use of force is the rate at which officers encounter violent and resisting suspects. And the rate at which officers killed blacks is actually far less than what their crime rates would predict, Mac Donald said.

She said blacks commit about 60 percent of all homicides and robberies in the largest counties in the United States, and commit gun homicide at about 10 times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined.

Calls to Defund

Democrat politicians in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and New York have embraced the calls to divert funding away from policing. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) called the police a cancer.

Nine of the 12 members on the Minneapolis City Council have vowed they will work to end policing as the city currently knows it. When asked by CNNs Alisyn Camerota who she should call if her home were broken into in the middle of the night, City Council President Lisa Bender responded: Yes, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors. And  I know that that comes from a place of privilege.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has so far rejected the councils calls to disband its police forces.

Omar, whose district covers Minneapolis, said the citys police department should be scrapped because it is rotten to the root.

I will never stop saying not only do we need to disinvest in police, but we need to completely dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department, Omar said during a rally on June 7.

Los Angeles is slashing its police budget by $100 million to $150 million as part of a larger $250 million budget cut for the city, according to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

The money cut from the police and elsewhere would be invested in jobs, in education, and healing, Garcetti said at a press conference.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to divert funding from the NYPD to youth and social services.

The local police union leader said police officers are currently under extreme pressure.

We are portrayed in the press and everywhere else as the enemy, and we want people to know that we take our jobs seriously, were professional, and the vast, vast majority of the time we act appropriately and honorably, Police Benevolent Association President Mike OMeara said in a press conference on June 10.

The notion that police are not investigated, and were some wild organization out there doing what we wish is just a falsehood.  We need people to understand that we are under scrutiny.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors announced a new racial justice working group on June 8 that will address police violence and patterns of racial discrimination.

On a federal level, the Congressional Black Caucus introduced a sweeping 134-page police reform bill on June 8 that addresses issues from body cameras to lynching. Top Democrats have rejected calls to defund police departments, however.

Police Pulling Back

Mac Donald said police officers already encounter an unbelievable degree of hatred in minority neighborhoods, and the renewed talk about defunding or reducing entire police forces, along with the violent targeting of police officers, gives officers the message theyre not wanted in those communities.

She predicts a repeat of what happened in 2015 and 2016 when the police pulled back from doing their jobs following the riots in Ferguson, Missouriwhat she calls the Ferguson Effect.

Officers pulled back from discretionary proactive policing. Another 2,000 black males were killed in 2015 and 2016, compared to earlier levelsthe largest two-year increase in homicide in 50 years. So more black lives will be lost, she said.

Increased attrition rates and the growing difficulty in recruiting new officers are compounding the issue. Sixty-three percent of respondents in a 2019 survey of police agencies said recruitment has decreased over the last five years.

Mac Donald said policing has been reforming itself for several decades and is now much more professional and data driven. Within some departments, unions are too strong, which makes it difficult to fire the small handful that shouldnt be police officersbut thats not true everywhere.

Better training is an ongoing need, she said, especially more hands-on tactical training.

I would like to see more de-escalation training. I would like to see more training in controlling stress. But those are changes at the margins, she said. As long as black crime remains as high as it is, officers are going to be disproportionately deployed to minority neighborhoods.

Black Lives Lost

The BLM movement has never turned its focus to black-on-black crime, which is astronomically higher than any other grouping.

They dont give a damn about black lives, Mac Donald said of BLM.

She said in 2016, 4,300 people were shot in Chicagoone person every two hours, and virtually all were black.

Two dozen children under the age of 12 were shot. A boy was shot on Fathers Day and is now paralyzed for life. A 3-year-old and a 10-year-old shot on Labor Daythe bullet ripped through his pancreas and spleen. Nobody knows their names, because they dont fit the narrative. Black kids killed by black gangbangerswho cares? Mac Donald said.

When black kids are killed, nobody looks, they look the other way. Why? Because America is so racially guilty, it doesnt want to talk about black crime.

Black Lives Matter has not returned a request for comment on whether their movement is also determined to focus on black-on-black crime.

New York former gang member and community leader KingFace said BLM should be about all lives.

We cant just be coming out when a white person or a cop kills a minority.  We have to be coming out for every situation of a black death that was unjust, he told The Epoch Times. All black lives matter.  I want to be able to prevent and preserve all black lives.

KingFaces focus now is on mentoring kids in his community.

Weve been indoctrinated and taught that as a black person, when you have this skin color, that you have disadvantages. Thats a lie.  We have equal opportunity, but we dont have equal outcome.

Woodson said his organization is transforming troubled neighborhoods by working with residents and local leaders.

Ive seen evidence that even those who started life in a troubled situation have become re-moralized and began to go on to live a successful life, Woodson said. I believe in the re-moralization of people.

He said his organization supported a program at the Kenilworth Parkside public housing estate in Washington.

The residents there decided that they were tired of the destruction, and they began to discipline themselves, they began to study hard, they began to encourage their children. And in 10 years, they sent 700 children from this one public housing project onto college and eliminated teen pregnancy, Woodson said.

Its an example of people who  began to take responsibility for the rebuilding of their lives and their communitywith phenomenal success.

Mac Donald said the reknitting of the black family is key.

How do we reach a positive resolution? You cant without the truth. As long as Americans are too scared to talk about black crime, there will be no positive resolution, because we keep blaming the messenger, she said.

The cops are not the problem in this country; criminals are.
Kilkenny music fans are needed to assist with a new television documentary.

National broadcaster RTE has put the call out for Johnny Cash fans who may be able to help with their forthcoming project. They are looking for any home-movie film footage of Johnny Cash from his tour of Ireland in 1963. They want people who may have filmed Johnny Cash, or saw him perform across the country in 1963, to get in touch.

While big names now fill out massive stadia, the Johnny Cash tour took the legendary performer to a number of smaller venues across the country. One of those was the Carlton Ballroom, which rocked to Cash's music in October 1963.

He travelled the national highways and byways to play ballrooms that year, stopping for other shows in Cavan, Dundalk, Mallow, Limerick, Mullingar, Athy, Galway and Rush, as well as the National Stadium Dublin.

At that stage of his life Johnny Cash had already sold 11 million records and had played the biggest venues throughout America - so why did he choose to play 12 concerts to small audiences in ballrooms across Ireland? RTE are asking people to relive the gigs, to tell them what was it like to see this international country music star perform in their locality.

Cash toured Ireland with the love of his life June Carter, who he later married, and supporting them were the Showband, Eileen Reid and The Cadets.

If you think you have film footage of Johnny Cash or any mementoes of the 1963 tour, contact RTE at docresearch@rte.ie or phone 01-2083519.

To help jog memories, the venues and dates for Johnny Cash's tour were:

October 9, 1963 - Granada, Kingscourt, Cavan

October 11, 1963 - The Hangar, Salthill, Galway

October 13, 1963 - Adelphi, Dundalk

October 15, 1963 - Lakeland, Mullingar

October 17, 1963 - Jetland, Limerick

October 18, 1963 - Majestic Mallow

October 19, 1963 - National Stadium

October 19, 1963 - Palladium, Rush

October 20, 1963 - Carlton Ballroom, Kilkenny

October 20, 1963 - Dreamland, Athy
Top job: Donal McCarthy, Sisk COO (Ireland & Europe); Hannah Ward, Sisk health and safety officer; Hines MD Gary Corrigan and Brian Moran, senior MD at Hines. Photo: Naoise Culhane

Hines yesterday capped off its first major apartment block at Cherrywood in south Dublin.

The first tenants will begin moving into the new development early next year.

International real estate firm Hines and its partner in the project, APG, along with building contractor Sisk began construction work on the 431-unit complex 18 months ago.

It is the first set of new apartment blocks to be built in the new town  located adjacent to the Cherrywood Luas Green Line stop.

The site currently employs over 400 people and aims to deliver 1326 new apartments over the coming 3 years.
Talks begin on a potential easing of the US military presence in Iraq.

The future for more than 5,000 US soldiers in Iraq is about to become clearer.

Since joining the fight against ISIL (ISIS) in 2014, Washington has provided about $5bn in military aid to Baghdad.

But discussions are now being held on how much longer the troops will be there.

Al Jazeeras Simona Foltyn reports from Baghdad.


SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Amazon announced a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial recognition technology, Rekognition, to give ample time to the governments to implement stronger regulations for racial equality and justice.



The decision comes amid the intensified protests in the killing of African American George Floyd and the campaign BlackLivesMatter that arose with the protests seeking racial justice.



The e-commerce giant in a blog post said it has advocated that governments should implement stronger regulations to govern the tool's ethical use.



Amazon added, 'We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.'



According to the firm, the Congress appears ready to take on this challenge in recent days.



Meanwhile, the company will continue to allow organizations like nonprofit Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics to use Amazon Rekognition. This would help them to rescue human trafficking victims and reunite missing children with their families.



The surveillance technology, which can be used by the governments to spy on anyone, has been under scrutiny for years now.



Privacy activists such as American Civil Liberties Union or ACLU has been demanding stricter regulation of the technology for years over concerns that the tool is being used for racial discrimination.



ACLU in 2018 had conducted a trial with Rekognition, in which 28 members of Congress were found to be incorrectly matched with other people who were arrested for crimes.



Responding to ACLU's blog about the trial, Amazon then said the results were misrepresented. The company also stated machine learning as a very valuable tool to help law enforcement agencies and asked the government to take steps to apply it correctly.



Amid the ongoing protests for racial equality, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna on June 8 wrote a letter to Congress stating that it would no longer develop or research facial recognition technology. He said the company firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms.



He also urged to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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A 'sneaky' California man tried to steal a neighbor's package by wearing his t-shirt over his face.

Footage from a Ring Doorbell Camera taken June 2 shows a young man and his dog walking onto an apartment complex floor after appearing to take a walk in Upland, California.



The man walks towards his flat, but his eyes are fixated on the neighbor's small package sitting outside their front door.

A man in Upland, California (pictured), appeared to be walking his dog before spotting his neighbor's unattended package on June 2

Although the man seems to notice the Ring Doorbell Camera, and was filmed during the encounter, he decides to try his hand at package theft anyway.

He disappears behind a wall for a few moments, before suddenly emerging with his blue shirt pulled over his face.

The misguided porch pirate, who's still holding his dog on a leash, then snatches the package and rushes back into his own home.

The porch pirate appeared to enter his own apartment, but returned minutes later with his t-shirt pulled over his face as a makeshift mask

The man picked up the stolen package and ran off into his apartment thinking he'd outsmarted the Ring Doorbell Camera

The neighbor said the man has been cited with petty theft and the leasing office has been contacted about a potential eviction

The package owner told Viral Hog that they called on local authorities and the leasing office to use disciplinary action against their neighbor.

'We have lost lots of packages within our community. I found my neighbor doing something stupid,' they wrote.

'I've called the police and they cited him as a petty thief. I also reported him to the leasing office asking for eviction.'
SAVANNAH, Georgia, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawkeye Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: HWKE), a technology holding company focused on pandemic management products and services, is pleased to announce its joint venture partnership with Ikon Supplies, of New York City. The joint venture will develop, market and sell various Personal Protective Equipment ("PPE"), including masks, gloves, gowns and sanitizer.

Hawkeye Systems is responsible for developing and providing any technology surrounding the bio-surveillance, anti-viral masks or other technology related aspects.

Ikon is responsible for providing current best practices for sourcing, funding and distributing PPE in conjunction with Hawkeye and will create a go to market plan collaboratively with Hawkeye Systems.

Corby Marshall, CEO of Hawkeye stated, "We are thrilled to partner with Ikon Supplies to develop, market and sell various PPE. We continue to see new opportunities and partners to accelerate our growth with our pandemic management products and services business. We look forward to working with Ikon in being able to provide critical safety protection and equipment to commercial businesses and individuals."

About Hawkeye Systems, Inc.

Hawkeye Systems, Inc. is a technology holding company focused on cutting edge technology, pandemic management products and services. The Company is committed to leveraging its extensive resources in support of its ongoing mission to help our government and medical infrastructure keep civilians safe.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to the body camera system, the potential success of the body camera system, our growth strategy and product development including that of the body camera system, acquisition of Radiant Images, and any other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated are: risks related to our growth strategy; risks relating to the results of research and development activities; our ability to obtain, perform under and maintain financing and strategic agreements and relationships; our dependence on third-party suppliers and partners; our ability to attract, integrate, and retain key personnel; the early stage of products under development; our need for substantial additional funds; government regulation; patent and intellectual property matters; competition; as well as other risks described in our SEC filings. Important factors that may cause the actual results to differ from those expressed within may include, but are not limited to: the success or failure of Hawkeye's efforts to successfully market its products and services as scheduled; Hawkeye's ability to attract and retain quality employees; the effect of changing economic conditions; increased competition; the ability of Hawkeye to obtain adequate debt or equity financing. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.

For more information, please contact:

Corby Marshall, CEO

Number: +1 (800) 531-8799

Email: [email protected]

Website: hawkeyesystemsinc.com

Investor relations - [email protected]

SOURCE Hawkeye Systems, Inc.
The father of a toddler killed when she was accidentally run over in her family's driveway vows never to take life for granted again.

Preston Ellis built a simple, heartbreakingly-small wooden coffin in his Perth garage as a last act of love for his 19-month-old daughter Aurora.

As he hammered and sanded with tears in his eyes, his thoughts were haunted by mental images of the little girl lying dead in front of him.

Mr Ellis' wife Lara is inconsolable - she was behind the wheel of the family's Toyota Land Cruiser as it backed out of their driveway about 5.15pm on Saturday.

Preston Ellis mourned the death of his 19-month-old daughter Aurora, who was killed when her mother accidentally ran her over in their driveway

The shattered tradie begged friends and family to appreciate the life they have and not 'sweat the small stuff', as it can be gone in a minute.

'Today please breathe, please appreciate the air in your lungs,' he said in a heartbreaking tribute on Thursday morning.

'Please slow down and notice everything the rain drops on leaves the warmth from a cup of coffee. Please hug who you love and hold them so very tight and kiss their heads for me.'

Mr Ellis called Aurora's death a 'bulls**t tragic accident' and detailed the trauma it wreaked on his young family.

'My memories are haunted with images of my baby no parent should have ever seen,' he said.

'I built my lady's coffin yesterday, my last act of love. I'm glad I could but it sucks that I had to.'

Mr Ellis built a simple, heartbreakingly small wooden coffin in his Perth garage as a last act of love, while haunted by mental images of the little girl lying dead in front of him

Mr Ellis said Aurora's death brought life into perspective for him, and promised it would compel him to live a better one.

'Today don't let the smalls**t get to you please, I beg you. I let the some small s**t get to me but now I wont,' he said.

'Love like its your last hug cause like me it just might be. Be good to each other.

'May my Aurora be my aurora in my night sky and yours, illuminating all yours and my darkness. Spread love please not hatred, even if just for one day.'

It is believed the toddler walked out on to the driveway in the eastern Perth suburb of Bayswater but was not seen by the her mother behind the wheel.

Mr Ellis only last September shared a poignant Father's Day post detailing the emotions he felt becoming a dad, and the joy his two little girls brought him.

He praised what his wife went through to deliver his first child Indy, and how Aurora was 'my illumination of magic dancing in the darkest of nights'.

Aurora's dad's poignant Fathers' Day post months before her death Well, f**k, I'm a dad. I never thought I'd be one. I never thought I'd be responsible enough to look after another life let alone look after me. When my wife fell pregnant we had only been trying for a few weeks. She told me and my exact words were 's**t hey'. Responsibility of the the rest of my life came crashing down on me like a jackhammer to my cortex. I was overwhelmed. The next nine months passed without issue or drama. In a guys eye we are a bit disassociated from it. We see our wife just getting bigger where as the woman can feel the life growing and embrace it fully the good and bad . The day came and my wife was in agony I cried I was helpless there was nothing I could do to fix her. She wanted no pain meds do it completely with her own strength. She is a warrior. All you mums are warriors. Seeing what my beautiful bride went through gave me a new appreciation for women, you are all bats**t crazy but absolutely amazing walking miracles. It is believed Aurora walked out on to the driveway in the eastern Perth suburb of Bayswater but was not seen by the her mother behind the wheel Push push breathe push I'm a wuss, I couldn't stand blood guts and gross so I'm standing at the head end. But I was in total awe so I went down and saw my daughter being born. My wife had turned into a banshee screaming her soul in agony hot and cold so a blanket when she was cold, a wet flannel when she was hot, it was all I could do. I can fix anything -build a house with my eyes closed but I was useless here and now. My wife was running the gauntlet of hell and I all had a was a wet flannel. Indy was born I took my shirt off to have skin to skin I was covered in blood and liquid and chunks all sorts but the beauty in that moment is engraved on my soul. In that moment everything became real, Lara made me a dad, I was a father and it was perfect. It's an honor to be a dad I am great full, then to be lucky enough to be a second time dad to another perfect happy healthy lil life Aurora my illumination of magic dancing in the darkest of nights. Happy Fathers' Day, gentlemen, I hope you all have a splendid day, a day you deserve. Advertisement

Matt Rann, a friend of the toddler's parents Preston and Lara, created a GoFundMe page on behalf of the devastated family.

'Preston and Lara are the most genuine, giving and caring people around and now it's our turn to help them in the most generous way we can,' he wrote.

The fundraising page was launched to ease the financial burden on the family. It has has raised more than $35,000 in just three days.

'This beautiful family need time to mourn and surround each other in love, without having the financial burdens of daily life and work commitments weighing on their minds,' Mr Rann wrote.

'We are hoping to raise enough money to help them celebrate Aurora's life and help pay the bills so they can grieve together, for as long as is needed.'

Mr Rann referred to Roman Mythology, where Aurora is known as the 'goddess of dawn'.

'May you continue to be light wherever there is darkness, and every sunrise be powerful reminder of your existence for the whole world to see!' he wrote.

The little girl's mum was reversing her Toyota LandCruiser Troop Carrier (pictured) on Saturday

Mr Rann said Mr Ellis described his one-year-old daughter 'the little sun that shines so bright', Perth Now reported.

'She was known as Dad's little tradie assistant, he referred to her as, with her name meaning 'goddess of the dawn,' he referred to her as his little star, or his little sun, that shines so bright,' Mr Rann said.

Western Australia Police said the death was not being treated as suspicious. A report will be prepared for the coroner.
WELLSTON  Debi Bair wants to bring a twist on primitive camping to the Wellston area this summer: cannabis-friendly camping.

Bair bought 20 acres near Tippy Dam with some hardwoods and some red pines and she is turning it into Camp Happy Trees near the corner of Hoxeyville and Fawn roads.

The campgrounds introduction on its Facebook page describes it as being nestled amongst towering pine trees in the magnificent Manistee National Forest."

When asked about the name of the new campground, Bair said it is because we are cannabis friendly and they are happy trees. And were surrounded by massive red pines.

She said there arent many cannabis-friendly campgrounds available to campers and she plans for the space to be a relaxed place.

With 420 allowed, theres only two KOAs in the state of Michigan that allow 420 usage and they want you to stay in your tent or in your camper. You cant walk around freely, Bair said. Im somebody thats camped a lot.  Smoking in tents is not a good idea, its very dangerous.

Bair also wants to help ease long held stereotypes about cannabis.

I dont want the shame with it. This is medication, its legal, and I want people to be able to not feel awkward or weird. I want them to be safe, she said. I love camping  Its a whole different vibe. Its calm, it isnt rushed. You can just go sit by a tree and just relax.

Bair is hoping to open Camp Happy Trees next month but said there is still work to do, and the pandemic has slowed the camps opening as it awaits a driveway and other work.

But for now, she is seeking people who want to camp and clean up for a discounted deal.

Im offering workaway weekends where you can come out and you clear two sites, you get one for free, she said. And its basically raking, moving sticks and isnt anything major.

The campground will be accessible to tent camping and RV camping, though Bair added that the location does not have electricity.

She said Camp Happy Trees will plan to have shower passes for campers who wish to take showers at neighboring campgrounds that have shower facilities.

Bair said she hopes to create a relaxed vibe that also features meditation and off grid living presentations at the campgrounds once it is established.

Bair noted that Camp Happy Trees is not the place to get drunk and be loud.

There will be a community bonfire area as opposed to individual fire pit options at the beginning. She also said there will be a food truck with things like kebabs, hot dogs and hamburgers that will be on site during events as well as a campfire cafe.

Camping is $25 per night for rustic sites.

Bair plans to later be listed on thedyrt.com and hipcamp.com for people seeking camping options and detailed information. She also plans to have some glamorous camping sites, commonly known as glamping, listed on Airbnb.com when the sites are completed.

To arrange a workaway experience, contact Bair on Camp Happy Trees Facebook page.




A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy was rushed to hospital after being forced to sit on hot plate by his stepmother.





The toddlers father Trust Maganga, 27, and his wife Yvonne Chifamba, 23, were detained at Waterfalls Police Station on Tuesday.





Yvonne is alleged to have forced the boy to sit on a hot plate stove following a misunderstanding with Maganga accusing him of infidelity.





The two later sought medical treatment without a police report. Deputy provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Webster Dzvova confirmed the arrest.





The Zimbabwe Republic Police would like to confirm the arrest of a Waterfalls couple in connection with a case involving a minor, said Ass Insp Dzvova.





Circumstances were that that the step-mother of the child had a misunderstanding with the father accusing him of infidelity.





During the debate the step mother is alleged to have grabbed the minor and placed him on a hot stove and the couple are reported to have agreed to conceal the act.





Investigations have since begun and we would like to thank members of the public for supplying information that led to the arrest of the two.





Police continue to urge members of the public to report any criminal activities within their





communities to police for the law to take its course, said Ass Insp Dzvova.





One of the family members told H-Metro that mother of the child released the child in April after being approached by Maganga.





We want the law to take its course because we strongly suspect that the step mother had planned to fix the minors mother, said the family member.





Mwana akapiswa uyu anezera nemwana wemukadzi akapisa uyu nekuti vose vakabata pamuviri mwedzi mumwechete saka mukadzi akapisa uyu akakasira kutizira nekudaro makakatanwa achiripo. H Metro




A woman who falsely accused a vet of overcharging her after being handed a $457 bill for treating her beagle has been ordered to pay damages amounting to $25,000.

Carrie Parker-Klein, from Brisbane, took her dog 'Valentine' for stitches after he was attacked by other dogs.

The injured pooch needed two stitches and a course of antibiotics but Ms Parker-Klein felt she had been overcharged.

She took to Twitter and accused vet Allen O'Grady of marking up the antibiotics and other drugs by 400 per cent, The Courier Mail reported.

Mr O'Grady and his businesses Albion Vet Surgery and Eatons Hill Vet Surgery were awarded the damages by District Court Judge Suzanne Sheridan on Wednesday.

Queensland woman Carrie Parker-Klein, (pictured) has been ordered to pay a vet $25,000 after defaming him online

Ms Parker-Klein posted the messages on social media after being handed a bill for $427 by vet Allen O'Grady (pictured is Ms Parker-Klein's dog Valentine)

Miss Parker-Klein admitted to posting seven comments across Facebook, Twitter and True Local in 2014 but denied they were defamatory toward Mr O'Grady.

'The vet is a very grumpy (sic) who should not be dealing with people or animals,' she wrote in one comment on October 15.

She also posted a Tweet referring to the vet on the same day.

'Shame on you #albionvet  400 per cent mark-up on #pet drugs after #dogattack,' Miss Parker-Klein wrote.

Mr O'Grady said the comments resulted in him 'receiving nasty emails, phone calls, even abuse over the phone', and eventually leading to him to close one of his surgeries.

Ms Parker-Klein said she had researched dog antibiotics online which led to her comments, but this was rejected by Judge Sheridan.

The court found the claims the vet grossly overcharged, had a lack of morals, lacked compassion and took advantage of clients, were false and defamatory.

Ms Parker-Klein was also barred from posting any further comments online about Mr O'Grady or his business.
Shares in Shaftesbury tumbled after the West End landlord reported a 287million loss.

The firm's dive into the red during the six months to March 31 came after the values of its properties dropped by 300million.

Just a year ago, it had reported a profit of 38.7million. But the coronavirus crisis has hammered its portfolio, with lockdown measures forcing stores to close and leaving some tenants unable to pay rent.

Landlord Shaftesbury, which owns large parts of London's Chinatown (pictured), managed to collect just 27.6 per cent of quarterly rents due for properties from March

It sent its shares falling 5.1 per cent, or 33p, to 615p yesterday.

Shaftesbury, which owns shops, restaurants and offices in central London, said its Chinatown properties had been affected by the pandemic from February and the rest of the West End from March.

It managed to collect just 27.6 per cent of quarterly rents due for properties it owns completely and has predicted it will only collect 50 per cent of those due from April to September.

Brian Bickell, the chief executive, said the landlord would have to support many tenants 'not just through lockdown but through recovery as well', which could last 'well into next year'.

Stock Watch - Global Ports Holdings Shares in Global Ports Holdings cruised higher despite first-quarter losses widening. The ports operator said losses grew from 12.6million to 18.8million in the three months to March 31, as revenue grew from 20.7million to 21.4million. But passenger numbers rose from 500,000 to 1.3m, after a major expansion into the Caribbean. It said it was well-placed to survive the Covid-19 crisis, and would not need to raise cash until 2022. Shares rose 0.2 per cent, or 0.2p, to 95p.

'The traditional lease model is falling apart,' he added.

Shaftesbury said the value of its 15.2-acre portfolio had fallen from 3.8billion to 3.5billion.

It announced the suspension of the dividend in March, although bosses said they hoped to resume payouts 'as soon as the board considers prudent'.

The turmoil on the High Street was underlined by a separate announcement from the owner of Frankie & Benny's, which said it was closing 125 outlets across the UK.

Shares in The Restaurant Group dipped 0.8 per cent, or 0.55p, to 70p after it said it was seeking approval from landlords for a deal that would let it reduce the number of restaurants it runs, and negotiate lower rents for many of those left over.

Those affected are principally Frankie & Benny's restaurants, it added. The company also owns the pan-Asian chain Wagamama, Mexican chain Chiquito, and runs several pubs and concessions in airports.

If landlords approve the proposals, known as a company voluntary arrangement, it will leave the company's leisure arm with about 160 sites.

Photobooth operator Photo-Me plans to restructure its UK business because of the pandemic.

Shares slumped 3.7 per cent, or 2.1p, to 55.2p after it warned that expected revenues for March and April 'did not materialise' because falling international travel meant fewer customers used its booths to take pictures for documents.

Premier Inn hotels owner Whitbread has raised 900million from shareholders to help it grapple with the pandemic, but shares fell 5.7 per cent, or 152p, to 2501p.

Whitbread, which also owns the Beefeater restaurant chain, said the money would give it more flexibility after it had to shut sites.

Boss Alison Brittain said the move means that the firm is in 'a position of strength to continue to invest, increase market share, support our colleagues and guests and create significant value for shareholders'.

Whitbread has 18 open hotels in Germany and 49 open hotels in the UK.

It is now ready to reopen the rest of its UK hotels as soon as it is given the go-ahead to do so by the Government.

But the broader picture was still gloomy after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said there were some signs of a recovery as lockdown measures lifted but warned it was 'reasonable' to expect some long-term damage to the economy.

Britain's FTSE 100 stayed underwater after the announcement, dipping 0.1 per cent, or 6.59 points, to 6329.13, while the FTSE 250 fell 0.8 per cent, or 149.79 points, to 17605.46.
At least one person died in a single-engine plane crash in Alabama.

The crash happened at 4:37 p.m. Wednesday in a rural, remote Dallas County area five miles south of Selma, according to Dallas County Coroner Alan Dailey.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the Piper PA-32 crashed two miles southwest of Craig Field. Two people were on board the aircraft, but the coroner would only confirm it was fatal. The FAA said it will be up to local authorities to release the names and conditions of those aboard.

The FAA responded to the scene and will release the aircraft registration information at the appropriate time, Bergen said. The National Transportation Safety Board will determine the probable cause of the accident.
Two more Atlanta police officers accused of excessive force against two college students during protests in the city late last month have been fired, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

Sgt. Lonnie Hood and Officer Armon Jones were fired Wednesday, Atlanta police spokesman Sgt. John Chafee said in an email, bringing the total number of police officers fired so far to four.

Six police officers, including the four who have been fired, have been criminally charged for force, including a stun gun, used against Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim during protests May 30.

"The investigation into the incident remains open," Atlanta police spokesman Sgt. John Chafee said in an email.

Hood is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and is accused of using a Taser stun gun against Young and Pilgrim, and he is charged with simple battery and accused of pulling Pilgrim out of the car, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said June 2.

Jones is charged with aggravated battery and accused of pulling Young from the car, and he is also charged with pointing a gun at Young, Howard said.

The incident was captured on body camera video.

Image: Armon Jones (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced on May 31 that two officers, Ivory Streeter and Mark Gardner, would be immediately fired after what she called "an excessive use of force."

Streeter and Gardner have sued in an effort to get their jobs back. The court document alleges that they were denied due process in being fired, among other claims.

Video showed officers forcibly pulling the college students from their car around 9:40 p.m. May 30 during protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Pilgrim is heard in video asking officers what is going on and crying that she is trying to get out before a stun gun appears to be used against her. Young, who also had a stun gun used on him, was yanked from the car and suffered a fractured arm, Howard has said.

Pilgrim, the owner of the car, was handcuffed with zip-ties but was not charged, and Young was charged but the charges were dismissed at the order of the mayor.

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Streeter is charged with using a Taser stun gun against Pilgrim and is accused of pointing a handgun at Young. Gardner is charged with aggravated assault and accused of using a Taser stun gun against Pilgrim.

Image: Lonnie Hood (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)

The two other officers charged are Willie Sauls and Roland Claud. Sauls is charged with aggravated assault for allegedly pointing a Taser stun gun at Pilgrim and is accused of allegedly striking the driver's side window of Pilgrim's 2017 Mazda with a baton.

The suit seeking the reinstatement of Streeter and Gardner says that "their use of force was proper and in compliance with the law, the policies of the Atlanta Police Department, prevailing standards of law enforcement, and the training provided to them through the City of Atlanta Police Department and the State of Georgia."

Young is a student at Morehouse College and Pilgrim is a student at Spelman College.

Pilgrim said last week that "we felt like we were going to die in that car," according to video from NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta. "This has probably been one of the hardest things that I've ever experienced," Young said.
Courtney told multiple private companies he was a covert CIA operative and that they needed to hire him as cover for his secret CIA activities. He convinced the companies to sign nondisclosure agreements about their work with him and created fake letters claiming to grant blanket immunity to participants in the classified program. He claimed his identity and many of his actions were highly classified, according to the statement of facts. The task force he made up was called Alpha214 or A214.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 04:36:11|Editor: huaxia

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ISTANBUL, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish security forces detained four suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Istanbul for planning terror attacks, state-run TRT broadcaster reported Wednesday.

Istanbul Police Department teams launched simultaneous operations across the city upon a tip-off, which said the suspects entered Turkey illegally after serving in the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, TRT said.

Police believed that the suspects, who are all Syrians, were seeking occasions to carry a terror attack, it added.

Police also seized many organizational documents and digital equipment in the raids, according to TRT.

The PKK, which has been fighting against the Turkish army for more than 30 years for setting up an autonomous region in the southeastern part of the country, is listed as a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The Turkish government has considered the YPG the Syrian offshoot of the PKK. Enditem
Photo credit: David Ryder - Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

Members of the U.S. Senate will propose new restrictions to the Department of Defense program that gives away military equipment to local law enforcement agencies.

The program, enacted in 1997, has transferred $7.4 billion from the armed services to civilian police agencies.

The transfers include mine-resistant, ambush protection armored vehicles that have figured prominently at police responses to recent protests.

Members of the U.S. Senate want to curb transfers of Department of Defense equipment to America law enforcement agencies. The equipment includes items as varied as flashlights, chairs, assault rifles, and mine-resistant armored vehicles. Critics believe the transfers, which have amounted to billions of dollars of equipment over the past two decades, contribute to a military mindset among police.

The effort is being spearheaded by Senator Byron Schatz, a Democrat representing Hawaii. It is clear that many police departments are being outfitted as if they are going to war, and it is not working in terms of maintaining the peace, Schatz told The New York Times. Just because the Department of Defense has excess weaponry doesnt mean it will be put to good use.

Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky appeared to support Schatzs position. Schatz and Paul collaborated in 2015 and 2017 on the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act , which proposed increasing transparency and limiting transfers of military equipment to police across the U.S. The transfers were scaled back by the Obama Administration but restored by the current administration.

The equipment transfer program is known informally as the 1033 program, a reference to the section of the 1997 defense budget that authorized the program. The program is run by the Defense Logistics Agency, which approves transfer requests from law enforcement agencies and delivers the equipment. Most transfers cost little to nothing except for the cost of shipping. The initial value of equipment the DLA has transferred over the years is $7.4 billion .

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The program predates 9/11 but the most visibleand controversialtransfers took place after the end of the Iraq War. Thousands of Mine Resistant, Ambush Protection (MRAP) vehicles, large wheeled personnel carriers purchased to protect U.S. forces from improvised explosive devices, were declared surplus and given away to U.S. allies around the world and to local police across the United States. MRAPs have become the public face of the 1033 program, used by police departments to face down protesters, including peaceful protests.

In 2014, The Marshall Project listed some of the equipment transferred to law enforcement agencies around the country. One of the most egregious examples: Since 2006, police in Winthrop Harbor, Ill., a village of 6,700 along the shore of Lake Michigan, has received 10 helicopters, one mine-resistant armored vehicle and two Humvees, and other equipment, worth more than $6.5 million.

Other equipment transferred to the police has included 5.56 millimeter rifles, 7.62 millimeter rifles, night vision goggles, reflex sights, a tracked mortar carrier vehicle, bayonets, and survival vests. The city of Santa Maria, California, population 99,000, received a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a sound cannon designed to disperse crowds by blasting a loud, painful noise.

Source: The New York Times

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Kuwait announced Wednesday non-Kuwaitis will no longer be hired in the Gulf countrys Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its subsidiaries for the remainder of the year till next year.

Minister of Oil, Acting Minister of Electricity and Water, Khaled Al-Fadhel, unveiled the policy Wednesday during a parliamentary committee session.

Fadhel also indicated that the number of special contracts for foreign workers would be cut while warning that he would not be inactive towards the layoff of Kuwaiti citizens serving in national petroleum companies.

The Gulf oil-rich country has embarked on a large scale policy to reduce the number of expat workers in the public sector.

Non-Kuwaitis represent about 3.4 million of Kuwaits 4.8 million people.

Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Al-Sabah last week said his government expects to reduce the expatriate population.

The ideal population structure is to have Kuwaitis being 70 percent and non-Kuwaitis 30 percent, so we have a big challenge in the future, which is to address the discrepancy in the population, he told editors of local newspapers.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would 'dominate the streets with compassion' as he prepares to release his plan for police reform in the wake of national protests after the death of George Floyd.

Trump traveled to the Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas, for an economic roundtable on the state's reopening amid the coronavirus crisis. But police reform took center stage after Black Lives Matter protesters demanded action after Floyd, a black man, died as the result of a white police officer kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes.

President Trump, in his first remarks on police reform since Floyd's death, described his response to the protests as 'dominating' but with 'compassion.'

'We are doing it with compassion, if you think about it. We are dominating the street with compassion,' he said.

President Donald Trump said he would 'dominate the streets with compassion' as he prepares to release his plan for police reform

The top Dallas law enforcement officials were not invited to the event: Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown, and Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot

Notably, the top Dallas law enforcement officials were not invited to the event. All three - Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown, and Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot - are African American.

The roundtable included African American leaders from the fields of religion, law enforcement, and small business owners.

The president announced he was taking four steps on police reform, including one that would 'finalize an executive order that will encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current professional standards for the use of force and that means force but force with compassion.'

The other steps include fostering economic development in minority communities, addressing healthcare disparities by race and providing more school choice.

Speaking at a campaign-style event, Trump also said his administration would invest more in police training.

President Trump repeatedly stated his support for police and said progress would not be made by calling millions of Americans 'racists.'

'In recent days, there has been vigorous discussion about how to ensure fairness, equality and justice for all of our people,' Trump said.

'Unfortunately, there's some trying to stoke division and to push an extreme agenda - which we won't go for - that will produce only more poverty, more crime, more suffering. This includes radical efforts to defund, dismantle and disband the police,' he added.

He was repeatedly cheered on by the crowd - his reference to the coronavirus as 'the plague from China' drew both laughs and applause. The audience sat next to one another in disregard for social distancing guidelines. Most did not wear masks.

Near the church was a large group of Trump protesters with signs reading 'Dump dumb Trump,' 'F*** Trump' and 'F*** your orange Cheeto looking a**.'

There was also a group of Trump supporters with signs that said 'Women for Trump' and 'Trump 2020.'

There were some local law enforcement at the event, including Vernell Dooley, the Police Chief of nearby Glenn Heights and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

There were also two police union officials at a time when police unions' conduct is under increasing scrutiny: Michael Mata, President of the Dallas Police Association, and Manny Ramirez, the President of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association.

After the Trump administration used force to remove Black Lives Matter protesters from Lafayette Square - the area around the White House - President Trump was criticized by Democrats, some Republicans and several prominent retired members of the military.

Protesters greeted President Trump when arrived at the Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas, including one with the sign 'F*** your orange Cheeto looking a**'

Protesters also expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement

Trump was particularly scrutinized for his photo-op at St. John's Episcopal Church, where he held up a bible for photos after law enforcement officers used chemical agents and rubber bullets to clear the area of peaceful protesters.

The administration claimed the church was burned but it only suffered a small fire in its basement during the protests.

But his action was praised in Dallas.

'When you raised that bible up after those folks burned out that church, we are in a spiritual warfare,' one of the black reverends at the event told him.

Pressure is on for the president to deliver police reform measures after polls show Americans disapprove of his handling of the protests.

A new Washington Post-Schar School poll out Monday found 74 per cent of Americans say they support those protests while 69 per cent say the killing of Floyd represents a broader problem within law enforcement.

The same poll found 61 per cent disapprove of how Trump handled the protests while only 35 per cent approved, while November election polls show him far behind Joe Biden, raising alarm in the GOP Senate that their majority is at risk too.

Senate Republicans, tired of waiting on Trump, have started their legislation with Senator Tim Scott, the only black GOP senator, taking the lead on crafting it.

Scott told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday that he was looking to reveal a bill early next week. Democrats released theirs on Monday.

Democrats' legislation outlaws chokeholds, makes it easier to sue police officers, prohibits racial profiling, makes lynching a federal hate crime and ends no-knock raids.

Trump was a bastion of tough talk in the wake of Floyd's death. He's presented himself as the 'law and order president,' and, on Wednesday, he sent a controversial tweet that touted the debunked idea that a 75-year-old Buffalo man, knocked down by police during a peaceful protest, might be antifa.

The Gateway Church was crowded and people did not obey social distancing guidelines

Trump received cheers and applause from the friendly crowd

Many people in the church were not wearing masks

Meanwhile, Philonise Floyd gave emotional testimony on Capitol Hill Wednesday, the day after his brother George Floyd, 46, was buried in Houston.

Philonise Floyd pleaded with lawmakers to pass police reform.

'They lynched my brother. That was a modern day lynching in broad daylight,' he said of the Minnesota police officers. 'People was out there pleading, please get off, he can't breathe. People were video recording. Nobody cared. Nobody.'

The video of George Floyd's arrest and of Chavuin kneeling on his neck  as Floyd said 'I can't breath' and asked for his mother  went viral, leading to a nationwide demonstrations to support the Black Lives Matters movement and a call for police reform.

'I'm tired. I'm tired of the pain I'm feeling now and I'm tired of the pain I feel every time another black person is killed for no reason. I'm here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain. Stop us from being tired,' Philonise Floyd said.

He asked lawmakers to listen to the protests that spung up around the country in the wake of his brother's death and the calls to reform police.

'George's calls for help were ignored. Please listen to the call I'm making to you now, to the calls of our family, and to the calls ringing out in the streets across the world. People of all backgrounds, genders and race have come together to demand change. Honor them, honor George, and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution  not the problem,' he said.
The retail market has taken a pounding from the pandemic, but rapid change will create winners as well as losers.

For an insight into the current issues, I chatted with Larry Brennan, a veteran of the Irish retail market, and head of European retail agency for Savills.

There is no definitive pattern to how retailers are coping across Europe, he says.

Each country has had a different timescale for locking down and re-opening, with varying restrictions on travel distances, store sizes allowed to re-open, and wide-ranging regulations regarding capacities, trying on clothes etc.

Nor is there consistency in the approach taken by landlords to tenants who have been unable to trade.

Some landlords are allowing rent holidays, some will negotiate - for example, the swapping of a future break-clause for a rent reduction - and others take the view that governments are supporting tenants' businesses, but not landlords, so why aren't you paying your rent?

Online retailing has had a massive boost, as more shoppers were forced online, such as cocooners. The question is, how much of that spend will come back to re-opened shops?

The food and grocery sector has been the big winner, with sales up 25pc to 30pc.

Local shops have done very well, and my local fruit and vegetable shop and butchers are reporting trade steadily at 25pc above pre-pandemic levels.

That has been partly due to the restrictions on travel, partly because people feel safer in smaller shops, and there has been a trend towards supporting local. Will that trend continue into the future?

Convenience stores have had a huge boost. Habits, apparently, take three months to become engrained, and as the lockdown eases, it will be interesting to see how many of us revert to driving past our local shops in order to go to large-scale shopping centres.

Larry Brennan reports that his teams are still very busy across Europe, with new mandates and searches for properties.

He says that there are four channels bucking the trend:

1) The "AthLeisure" sector is booming - that is fitness clothing, exercise equipment, bicycles etc.

Global retailers selling online into Europe, such as Lululemon and Sweaty Betty, are acquiring stores and, this week, Savills won a mandate to secure stores in Europe from a US retailer.

2) There has been a surge in demand for physical stores from online retailers that have traded well in the pandemic, partly because they see value and a mix of "bricks and clicks" as optimal. Online electronics retailer Coolblue has just taken a 2,000 sq m store in central Brussels.

3) The technology/consumer goods sector has performed well and is augmented now in Europe by strong demand, for example, from Chinese mobile phone companies, who have seen Asian markets recover well.

Another driver is the roll-out of electric car showrooms.

4) Luxury goods markets have rebounded strongly and the brands are pushing ahead with deals in Europe.

Across Europe, the most damage is being done in the "high street" fashion sectors and for large-scale shopping centres too big for catchment areas reduced by travel restrictions.

Retailing will continue to evolve, and we should support Irish retailers, particularly online. I've also bought shares in the makers of cardboard boxes.
(Natural News) A Chinese propaganda outlet paid millions of dollars to The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to run advertisements that look to some like news reports. (Article by Zachary Stieber republished from TheEpochTimes.com)

China Daily paid more than $4.6 million to the Post and nearly $6 million to the Journal since November 2016, new documents filed with the U.S. Department of Justice show. China Daily, an English-language newspaper, is overseen by the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) Publicity Department, the governmental agency in charge of disseminating propaganda.

Over the past few years, it has spent millions running supplementscalled China Watchcontaining propaganda disguised as news, in major U.S. newspapers including the Journal, The New York Times, and the Post.

Scholars researching Chinese influence activities in the United States said in a 2018 report (pdf) that its hard to tell that China Watchs material is an ad.

While China Daily has in the past submitted financial information under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the new filing (pdf) is the first to include a breakdown of how much the propaganda outlet is paying U.S. media outlets.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, Washington Post Vice President of Communications Kristine Coratti Kelly said that the China Watch supplement was clearly labeled advertising.

It is no longer running in The Postthe last advertising insert ran last year, she added.

The Journal didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the FARA filing, China Daily also paid to insert propaganda into The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Des Moines Register, and CQ Roll Call.

China Daily spent just over $11 million in total on advertising in newspapers in the United States.

The newspaper registered as a foreign agent under FARA in 1983. That law requires registered foreign agents to provide the DOJ with copies of all propaganda circulated among two or more persons. It also requires registrants to submit to the department, twice a year, an itemized report of spending inside the United States.

China Daily is part of the Chinese regimes global propaganda efforts, a campaign that the CCP has committed $6.6 billion to since 2009, according to a letter sent by dozens of U.S. lawmakers to the Department of Justice earlier this year. The regime has, according to FARA filings, spent $35 million on China Daily alone since 2017, not including the new filing.

The articles that run in U.S. publications serve as a cover for Chinas atrocities, including its crimes against humanity in the Xinjiang region and its support for the crackdown in Hong Kong, the lawmakers wrote.

Earlier this year, the State Department designated China Daily, along with four other Chinese state-run media operating in the United States, as foreign missions over their role as propaganda organs of the CCP. It also slashed the number of Chinese staff allowed to work at the outlets U.S. offices.

Read more at: TheEpochTimes.com
By Associated Press

COLOUMBIA: The co-owners of a family-owned Missouri newspaper resigned from their positions in protest Wednesday after the publication of a racist syndicated cartoon that depicted a black man stealing a purse from a white woman while hailing funding cuts to police.

The cartoon published in the Washington Missourian shows a white woman asking for someone to call 911, but the masked black man says, 'Good luck with that, lady...we defunded the police.'

The cartoon was published amid protests across the nation against police brutality and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Some protesters are pushing to 'defund the police' a wide-ranging catch-all term for shifting law enforcement resources - over the death of Floyd and other black Americans killed by law enforcement.

Washington Missourian owners and sisters Susan Miller and Jeanne Miller Wood said in an apology that the newspaper's publisher 'their father' made the decision to run the cartoon and didn't let them know in advance.

'As co-owners we believe it was racist and in no circumstance should have been published,' they wrote of the cartoon.



ALSO READ | George Floyd murder: Amazon bans police use of its face recognition for a year

'We apologize to our readers and our staff for the obvious pain and offense it caused. For the record, we abhor the sentiment and denounce ANY form of racism.'

Publisher Bill Miller, Sr., subsequently wrote in a column that the cartoon was meant to convey opposition to defunding police but was' racially insensitive.

"It was poor judgement on my part and for that I sincerely apologize," he wrote.

The co-owners said they resigned in protest because they don't have editorial control to prevent something like this happening again.

They also said the publication of the cartoon hits close to home because it was their father who chose to run it.

'Many families have been having these painful discussions in the privacy of their homes,' they wrote.

"We unfortunately have to have this debate in a more public way." It's not clear what the sisters' resignations mean for their ownership of the newspaper.

The cartoon was distributed by Creators, which in a statement said: "Black Lives Matter. Black voices matter. We condemn racism in all forms."

The company has pulled the cartoon and says it's not aware of it being published anywhere else.

"As a media distributor, Creators neither controls nor censors the content we receive from our writers and artists," the company's statement said.

However, in this instance, this editorial cartoon should not have been sent and we have pulled the cartoon from all distribution platforms.

"Cartoonist Tom Stiglich, who made the cartoon, told St.Louis television station KSDK-TV that the nation needs" more law and order right now, not less.

"The rioting and looting was extremely disheartening," he told the station.

"That cartoon was based solely on violent crime numbers here in the US. To ignore that would be doing a disservice to the reader."Racis
When Bollywood movies are made, it is not just the script that entices the audience but also the costumes, backdrop and so many other things that make it a big success. Bollywood movies have invaluable items and these items are then auctioned to raise money for various charitable causes. They are purchased at exorbitant amounts, which shows that the craze around Bollywood memorabilia is just unbelievable. Check this out.

1. Aamir Khan's Bat For Lagaan

 Aamir Khan Productions

Lagaan is a timeless film, with an incredible cast, script, and screenplay. The movie went extra miles as it was also nominated for the Oscars. In this movie, the bat that was used by Aamir Khan and his team was signed by him and auctioned for a whopping cost of Rs 1,56,000. It is said that the money was raised for charitable causes.



2. Madhuri Dixit's Lehenga

 Mega Bollywood Pvt LTD

Most of the movies under Sanjay Leela Bhansali banner are extravagant and that's true even for the costumes used in the movies. So in Devdas, the lehenga that was worn by Madhuri Dixit in the song Maar Daala was also auctioned and the final bid for the same was an enormous amount of Rs 3 Crore. Yes, and it was purchased as well!



3. Akshay Kumar's Suit From Oh My God

 Grazing Goat Pictures

The Khiladi Of Bollywood, Akshay Kumar is not just known for his brilliant performances but also for his good deeds. In one of the scenes from Oh My God, Akshay flaunted a suit that went on a giant retail site and was auctioned for Rs 15 Lakh. The amount was raised for the Muktangan education institution's budget. He made the announcement on Twitter so that people would come forward and fund the cause.



4. Salman Khan's Towel

 Nadiadwala Grandson

It's not just costumes that have been auctioned but also Salman Khan's towel that he used in Jeene Ke Hai Char Din song from Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. Undeniably, whatever Bhai touches or uses, counts as precious to his fans. This towel went on an online portal and was auctioned for Rs 1,42,000 and the funds went to an NGO. But a used towel?



5. Shammi Kapoor's Jacket

 YouTube

Remember Shammi Kapoor wearing a jacket in Chahe Mujhe Koi Junglee Kahe? Yes, even the jacket was put up for auction and was sold at a whopping price of Rs 80,000. As per reports, the items were sold to the perfectionist of Bollywood, Aamir Khan.



6. Shah Rukh's Doodle Painting

 Twitter/Iamsrk

A doodle painting that the King Of Bollywood, SRK owns is claimed to be an artwork that was made by one of his fans. This was put up for auction at a whopping price of Rs 2 Lakh. The artwork was all set to go for auction at 'Osian's The Greatest Indian Show' and had a unique insight into the world of Bollywood featuring all things like France like Voltaire, Concorde, Eiffel Tower etc.



7. Sunny Leone's Lingerie

 Clockwork Films Private ltd

After the shooting of Jism 2, director Pooja Bhatt made an announcement that Sunny Leone's lingerie from the movie, along with clothes worn by other actors will be put for auction. Whatever the reasons or controversies, the auction was put up online for a charitable cause.


The coronavirus pandemic couldn't stop the local chapters of the Son's and Daughter's of the American Revolution from holding the flag raising ceremony at the 103-year-old Brainerd Mission Cemetery, an almost 90 year tradition. Due to COVID-19 concerns, they did choose not to make it such a formal or public event this year.



Officials said, "Before there was a Chattanooga, Tennessee, there was the Brainerd Mission. In 1817, in a small clearing in the wilderness, Brainerd Mission was founded on 25 acres among the Cherokee Indians by the American Board of Foreign Missions.

The original grounds included a schoolhouse, mission house, gristmill, sawmill, orchard, barn, dormitories and a cemetery. This Board secured the assistance of the United States government and established a mission and a school at Brainerd for the education and Christianization of the Cherokee. During the 21 years of its existence, the mission at Brainerd drew many prominent people as visitors, including some from Europe. Among them was James Monroe, president of the United States, who spent the night of May 27, 1819, at the mission."The mission closed its doors in 1838, at the time of the removal of the Cherokees west of the Mississippi. The one acre cemetery stands as a reminder not only of the important roles that individuals can have in effecting good in our society, as well as a symbol of the sacrifices that many men and women made on behalf of the community, the state and the United States."Since Sept. 26, 1933, when Henry H. and Dorothy D. Hampton deeded the overgrown cemetery land to the local chapters of DAR and SAR, our organizations have cared for this beautiful sacred acre that is rich in history. At the request of the DAR in 1933, a Chattanooga-based architect designed the cemeterys Colonial Revival landscape. A Georgian-styled geometric pattern of boxwoods, trees, paths, and cemetery furniture was installed in and around the remaining original tombstones. A stone wall with vertical capstones to enclose and protect the cemetery was constructed. This design of 1933 remains largely intact today. The six chapters who own the property provide annual dues for upkeep, and members convene at least three times a year to rake leaves and ensure that the grounds are well-kept.

"On the second Wednesday in June, the Annual Flag Raising takes place at the cemetery  a meaningful ceremony to all DAR and SAR members in our district, as well as to those of Cherokee heritage, community leaders and many long-time residents of Brainerd.



"The mission and its history have become the keystone to the revitalization of the Brainerd community."



The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Regents Council of Chattanooga and the Tennessee Society Sons of the American Revolution John Sevier Chapter hosted the annual Flag Raising event, which featured a contingency of the Tennessee Sons of the American Revolution Color Guard members from the John Sevier Chapter of the SAR to raise the new flags.
VANCOUVER, BC, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bold Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has expanded its COVID-19 collaborations to include four more academic researchers: Francois Jean, PhD and Ted Steiner, MD, both researchers from the University of British Columbia; Stephen Barr, PhD, a researcher at Western University; and Len Seymour, PhD, a researcher at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. These new collaborations significantly expand Bold Therapeutics' COVID-19 consortium. In April, the company announced a collaboration with Marc-Andre Langlois, Faculty Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and Canada Research Chair in Molecular Virology and Intrinsic Immunity.

BOLD-100 is a first-in-class anti-resistance ruthenium-based small molecule drug which selectively inhibits stress-induced upregulation of GRP78  an important resistance, survival and proliferation pathway common across cancers. In addition, there is extensive and rapidly growing literature suggesting that GRP78 plays a critical role in host recognition, viral entry and viral replication.

"Our research team, supported by some of the brightest scientific minds in the space, continue to generate data elucidating the potentially broad antiviral utility of BOLD-100," added E. Russell McAllister, CEO of Bold Therapeutics. "In the past couple of months, we have engaged with numerous potential COVID-19 development and commercialization partners and generated significant positive feedback on our innovative antiviral program. BOLD-100 appears to have potentially broad application not only against SARS-CoV-2, but against other single-strand RNA viruses such as Dengue, West Nile, and Zika  and, potentially other yet-to-be-discovered pathogens."

In collaboration with Francois Jean, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and founder of the UBC Facility for Infectious Disease and Epidemic Research (FINDER), one of the largest university-based containment level-3 (CL3) facilities in the world, Bold Therapeutics has initiated a Mitacs Accelerate project entitled: "Antiviral properties and mechanism of actions of BOLD-100 against SARS-CoV-2 in 2D and 3D cell culture systems."

Bold Therapeutics has also initiated a parallel Mitacs Accelerate project with Theodore Steiner, MD, Professor and Division Head, Division of Infectious Diseases at UBC entitled: "Cellular inflammatory and antiviral effects of BOLD-100, a novel therapeutic agent in development for COVID-19."

Bold Therapeutics also established a collaboration with Stephen Barr, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Western University. Dr. Barr is testing BOLD-100 against SARS-CoV-2 isolates using in vitro assays, with initial data expected later this month.

Extending its consortium of COVID-19 researchers outside of North America, Bold Therapeutics is also collaborating with Len Seymour, PhD, Director of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, who will be testing BOLD-100 against different isolates of SARS-CoV-2 using in vitro assays.

"We are focused on a data-driven COVID-19 development strategy, and this impressive international network of collaborators allows us to generate the data necessary to support our further clinical development of BOLD-100 as an antiviral," stated Jim Pankovich, Executive Vice President, Clinical Development. "We expect initial data from these partnerships in the next month, and, in parallel, we are working to secure funding so that BOLD-100 can progress rapidly into human clinical trials."

For more information, please visit the COVID-19 section on Company's website at www.bold-therapeutics.com/covid-19.

Media contact:

E. Russell McAllister

[email protected]

(604) 262-9899

SOURCE Bold Therapeutics Inc.
With the close collaboration between National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) and European Space Agency (ESA), ESA's world-leading interactive celestial atlas, ESASky, has now been translated into Chinese.

Alongside its English and Spanish language versions, this makes ESASky available to nearly one quarter of the world population in their native tongue. The ESASky in Chinese is scheduled to be available on June 11, 2020 (UST).

NAOC and ESA have long-time collaboration in science research and scientific data open access. NAOC is the host institute of China's National Astronomical Data Center (NADC) and Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO), an online astronomical research and education environment that provides seamless, global access to astronomical information. The ESASky in Chinese is one of the latest achievements between the two partners.

ESASky is a discovery portal that provides full access to the entire sky. It is a web-based application allowing users to zoom in on any celestial object they may be interested in. Once there, they can look at data collected from more than fifty space missions and ground-based observatories across all frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Containing data collected since 1978, ESASky now contains more than half a million images, almost nine and a half million spectra and catalogues that list around three billion sources. With a source inventory that ranges from planets, moons, asteroids and comets in our Solar System to stars, the interstellar medium that pervades our Milky Way galaxy and external galaxies far beyond our own, ESASky is rapidly becoming the go-to interface to visualize and access astronomical data taken by any mission in space or by any large ground-based observatory.

The application is under the responsibility of the ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC), based at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Madrid, Spain.

"We'd been getting feedbacks from users of our astronomy archives that they'd like one easy interface to access all data," says Deborah Baines, ESA's Astronomy Archives Science Lead.

"More and more astronomers are working in multiple wavelengths now. So they need data from all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, but they often don't have the time to go to the specific archives and reduce the data and so on. They want to be able to find science-ready data," says Baines.

Traditionally, astronomers have concentrated their research in individual wavebands, for example, specializing in radio astronomy or X-ray astronomy. They would learn how the data was collected with the specific instrumentations of that particular field, and how to process the raw observations into useable 'science-ready' data, a process called data reduction. However, the archives team noticed that as more and more mission data became available, this traditional workflow was disappearing.

"An astronomer doesn't always care if the data has been taken by an ESA space mission or a ground-based observatory, they just want to be able to get the data easily, and fast," says Baines. The easier it is for an astronomer to find the data needed, the easier it is for progress to be made.

So, in 2014, the ESA Archives team put together a prototype of ESASky. With the feedback they received from users, they developed and adapted the app to the point of first release in 2016.

As well as being a hit with professional astronomers, it has also become a resource for amateur astronomers and members of the general public who like to 'browse' the wonders of the Universe. They constituted more than a third of all ESASky visitors last year and their numbers continue to grow. To help them, the team invested effort to make the app's design responsive so it can be used on mobile devices.

Since ESDC is based in Spain, translation into Spanish was an obvious next step, with native Spanish speakers on the team who could handle translations on the fly. The current Chinese translation came about because twice a year the team attends meetings of the InternationalVirtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA).

The IVOA has been meeting twice a year since 2000 and creates standard for astronomical data formats, allowing different observatories and missions to more easily swap data.

"It's what made ESASky very easy to develop. We can link with other data centres and access their data because we're all using the same standards," says Baines.

The ESASky team was offering to incorporate data from China's Large Sky Area Multi Object Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), when their Chinese counterparts offered to translate the app. "The ESASky project brings together data and astronomers from all over the world. It is a valuable asset on many levels, from astronomy to space science, from professional users to education and public outreach, from basic research to Big Data and cloud computing leading information and communications technology," says Dr. CUI Chenzhou, a research professor at NAOC and Executive Director of NADC.

In the future, the ESASky team will be adding more datasets from ESA, NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and other major astronomical data centers. Thanks to the data protocols set by the IVOA, the app can now access information taken by ground based observatories such as the European Southern Observatory, and can integrate data from NASA's Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC).

"The big aim is to make ESASky a gateway for astronomers to find all data that's been taken," says Bruno Merin, Head of the ESAC Science Data Centre.

The ESASky in Chinese can be accessed at https://sky.esa.int/?lang=zh

###
The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Boves, France, on Aug. 8, 2018. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

Amazon Bans Police Use of Its Facial Recognition Software for 1 Year

NEW YORKAmazon banned police use of its face-recognition technology for a year, making it the latest tech giant to step back from law-enforcement use of systems that have faced criticism for incorrectly identifying people with darker skin.

The Seattle-based company didnt say why it took action now.

Protests across the United States following the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis have focused attention on racial injustice and how police use technology to track people.

While law enforcement agencies use facial recognition to identify suspects, critics say it can be misused. A number of U.S. cities have banned its use by police and other government agencies, led by San Francisco last year. On June 9, IBM said it would get out of the facial recognition business, noting concerns about how the technology can be used for mass surveillance and racial profiling.

It isnt clear if the ban includes federal law enforcement agencies; Amazon didnt respond to questions about its announcement.

Civil rights groups and Amazons employees have pushed the company to stop selling its technology, called Rekognition, to government agencies, saying that it could be used to invade privacy and target people of color.

In a blog post June 10, Amazon said that it hoped Congress would put in place stronger regulations for facial recognition.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, speaks at The Economic Club of Washingtons Milestone Celebration in Washington, on Sept. 13, 2018. (Cliff Owen/AP)

Amazons decision is an important symbolic step, but this doesnt really change the face recognition landscape in the United States, since its not a major player, said Clare Garvie, a researcher at Georgetown Universitys Center on Privacy and Technology. Her public records research found only two U.S. agencies using or testing Rekognition.

The Orlando police department tested it, but chose not to implement it, she said. The Washington County Sheriffs Office in Oregon has been the most public about using Rekognition, but said after Amazons announcement that it would suspend its use of facial recognition indefinitely.

Studies led by MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini found racial and gender disparities in facial recognition software. Those findings spurred Microsoft and IBM to improve their systems, but irked Amazon, which last year publicly attacked her research methods. A group of artificial intelligence scholars, including a winner of computer sciences top prize, last year launched a spirited defense of her work and called on Amazon to stop selling its facial recognition software to police.

A study last year by a U.S. agency affirmed the concerns about the technologys flaws. The National Institute of Standards and Technology tested leading facial recognition systemsthough not from Amazon, which didnt submit its algorithmsand found that they often performed unevenly, based on a persons race, gender, or age.

Washington County Sheriffs Office Deputy Jeff Talbot demonstrates how his agency used facial recognition software to help solve a crime, at their headquarters in Hillsboro, Ore., on Feb. 22, 2019. (Gillian Flaccus/AP Photo)

Buolamwini called Amazons announcement a welcomed though unexpected announcement.

Microsoft didnt respond to a request for comment June 10.

Amazon began attracting attention from the American Civil Liberties Union and privacy advocates after it introduced Rekognition in 2016 and began pitching it to law enforcement. But experts such as Garvie say many U.S. agencies rely on facial recognition technology built by companies that are not as well-known, such as Tokyo-based NEC, Chicago-based Motorola Solutions, or the European companies Idemia, Gemalto, and Cognitec.

Amazon isnt abandoning facial recognition altogether. The company said organizations, such as those that use Rekognition to help find children who are missing or sexually exploited, will still have access to the technology.

This weeks announcements by Amazon and IBM follow a push by Democratic lawmakers to pass a sweeping police reform package in Congress that could include restrictions on the use of facial recognition, especially in police body cameras. Though not commonly used in the United States, the possibility of cameras that could monitor crowds and identify people in real-time has sparked bipartisan concern.

The tech industry has fought against outright bans of facial recognition, but some companies have called for federal laws that could set guidelines for responsible use of the technology.

It is becoming clear that the absence of consistent national rules will delay getting this valuable technology into the hands of law enforcement, slowing down investigations and making communities less safe, said Daniel Castro, vice president of the industry-backed Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which has advocated for facial recognition providers.

Angel Diaz, an attorney at New York Universitys Brennan Center for Justice, said he welcomed Amazons moratorium but said it should have come sooner given numerous studies showing that the technology is racially biased.

We agree that Congress needs to act, but local communities should also be empowered to voice their concerns and decide if and how they want this technology deployed at all, he said.

By Joseph Pisani and Matt OBrien

The Associated Press and The Epoch Times staff contributed to this report.
New Delhi:

Lt Governor Najeeb Jungs office has strongly rebutted the charges made by Arvind Kejriwals two ministers Satyendra Jain and Kapil Mishra that he refused to meet them. A statement issued by the Dellhi LGs office said Jung came to know about their visit only through the media.

Minister Satyendra Jain and Kapil Mishra came to the LGs office at 11:45 AM without either seeking prior appointment from the LG or intimating him of their visit, the statement said.

ALSO READ: AAP ministers Kapil Mishra and Satyendra Jain knock at LG's door but Jung refuses to meet



However, LGs secretary met the two ministers since the LGs office is operational on all days of the week, the statement added.

The LG office said that the elected AAP government was trying to politicise the issue when Delhi is facing serious public health crisis.

The LG office said that it was keeping a close watch on Delhis health situation and getting regular updates from the chief secretary and secretary.

ALSO READ: Manish Sisodia is not Delhi LG's 'health secretary', says Somnath Bharti

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

Monthly trade deficit contracting at much faster clip - $1.86 billion in March far cry from all-time high of $5.86 billion in January, 2018

Likely contraction of Indian economy in FY21 may have an even deeper impact on business with China as government pushes for Atma Nirbhar Bharat

China's role in the spread of coronavirus across the world and the economic distress to global economy has caused backlash among business communities and consumers across India

Trade deficit with mainland China now under $50 billion mark for the first time in 5 years. Mainland China was India's largest trade partner until US overtook in FY19

Calls for complete boycott of Chinese products that have risen in India from time to time in the past have become shriller

Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has called for boycott of 3,000 Chinese products for local substitution

Growing cold vibes and changing dynamics of economic ties between India and China have crashed bilateral trade. India's trade with mainland China and Hong Kong declined by over 7 per cent to $109.76 billion in FY20, its steepest fall since FY13. It is a sharp reversal from the 3.2 per cent growth in trade in 2018-19 and the more robust 22 per cent jump in FY18, signalling the prevailing anti-China sentiment in the country. A lot of business with Mainland China is also conducted via Hong Kong.

Import substitution of electronics going into TVs, refrigerators, ACs, washing machines and mobile phones caused a $1.5 billion drop in imports from China in FY20. Other items that registered a decline include mineral fuels, mineral oils, pharma and chemicals.

Bilateral trade with mainland China alone registered a 6 per cent decline in FY20 to $81.86 billion. This was the first time ever that trade with Mainland China declined for the second consecutive year. In the previous year, it had declined by 2 per cent. The rate of contraction in bilateral trade in FY20 was the steepest since 2012-13 when it had declined by 10.5 per cent.

At the same time, bilateral trade with Hong Kong - another big trade partner for India, fell by an even sharper 10.17 per cent in FY20. Like in the case of mainland China, this was again the steepest decline since FY13 when it had fallen by over 14 per cent. It has come after a period of three years of high double digit growth in trade between the two partners.

The fall in trade with mainland China has also resulted in a narrowing of the trade deficit between the two. It is now under $50 billion mark for the first time in 5 years at $48.66 billion. Mainland China was India's largest trading partner between fiscals 2014 and 2018 but became number two in 2018-19 when US overtook it. Unlike US though where India enjoys a trade surplus - $17.4 billion in 2019-20, the massive trade deficit with mainland China was always a concern for India. In 2017-18, deficit between the two countries had hit a high of $63 billion.

In fact, monthly trends show the deficit is contracting at a much faster clip. In March, it stood at just $1.816 billion, which was the lowest level ever in a month since December 2010 when the deficit was $183.7 million. It is a far cry from January 2018 when monthly trade deficit had hit an all time high of over $5.8 billion. In the last 20 years, India has enjoyed a trade surplus with China in only three months.

The deficit in the case of Hong Kong is a bit peculiar. Unlike mainland China, India enjoyed a trade surplus in the past largely due to high value export of diamonds and other gems and jewellery, which account for over 86 per cent of India's exports to the island. The surplus turned into a deficit for the first time in fiscal 2019 due to the slowdown in the gems and jewellery sector in India. It has widened a bit in 2019-20 (see table).

Yet, in outright value terms, when mainland China and Hong Kong are taken together, the deficit has only narrowed from $59 billion in 2017-18 to $58 billion in 2018-19 and now more sharply to $54.62 billion in 2019-20. Further, like in the case of China, the deficit with Hong Kong in March 2020 of $220 million was the lowest since February last year when India had a surplus of over $620 million.

ALSO READ: Traders to boycott Chinese goods; cut imports by Rs 1 lakh crore by Dec 2021

"Ever since China joined WTO (December 2001), our trade deficit with them has only increased and it's not because they are very efficient but because they have been dumping goods on us. This dumping has destroyed our industries," says Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convener, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an organisation that promotes indigenous goods and has close ties with the government in India. "There is a change happening around the world. Earlier countries were supportive of goods and services moving freely from one country to the other, in the concept of global supply chain etc. But now they are all rethinking. In the new global emerging scenario we also need to rethink. Countries are worried about China's motives."

China's role in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic across the world and the economic distress that it has caused in the global economy has resulted in a significant backlash among business communities and consumers across India. The calls for a complete boycott of Chinese products that have risen in India from time to time in the past have only become shriller. On Wednesday India's largest trader body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) that has over 7 crore retailers and wholesalers under its wing gave a call for a complete boycott of Chinese products and has prepared a list of 3,000 items where it would actively scout for a local substitute.

ALSO READ: Shortage of migrant workers delays JSW Steel's plant expansion project

"Our target is by December 2021, we should reduce imports from China by upto Rs 100,000 crore ($13.3 billion)," said Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general, CAIT. "The Indian consumer does not want to buy Chinese goods anymore. He is concerned with the spread of the virus and its impact on the Indian economy as also with the transgressions by the Chinese army on our border. We support them in this cause and will encourage them to buy local products."

With projections of a contraction in the Indian economy in fiscal 2021, its overall trade with the world will also see a fall this year. The impact on business with China however, is likely to be much deeper.

ALSO READ: Wildcraft bets big on PPE, hazmat suit exports; to counter defective Chinese products
British rapper Stormzy performs live on stage during a concert at the Columbiahalle on February 20, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Frank Hoensch/Redferns)

Stormzy and his company are set to donate 10 million over the next ten years to organisations, charities and movements engaged in the fight for racial equality and social justice.

The rapper released a statement through his #Merky company on Thursday.

He said: "The uncomfortable truth that our country continuously fails to recognise and admit, is that black people in the UK have been at a constant disadvantage in every aspect of life  simply due to the colour of our skin.

Read more: Lucasfilm backs John Boyega and Black Lives Matter

Im lucky enough to be in the position Im in and Ive heard people often dismiss the idea of racism existing in Britain by saying If the countrys so racist how have you become a success?! and I reject that with this: I am not the UKs shining example of what supposedly happens when a black person works hard.

There are millions of us. We are not far and few. We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us and designed for us to fail from before we are even born.

Stormzy at the Black Lives Matter protest rally in Parliament Square, London, in memory of George Floyd who was killed on May 25 while in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis. (Photo by Helen William/PA Images via Getty Images)

Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.

He added further information on the pledge would be released in due course and urged others to also pledge to support similar causes.

The move comes in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the US, with his death sparking protests across the world. The rapper attended the Black Lives Matter protest in Parliament Square, London at the weekend.

The 26-year-old launched a scholarship scheme back in 2018 to cover tuition fees for two black students to attend Cambridge University. The scholarship was later extended in 2019 to support two more students.

With additional reporting by PA.
A Romanian people trafficker who tried to smuggle two Albanian nationals into the UK hidden in a specially adapted minibus has been jailed for more than two years.

Border Force officers at the Port of Dover stopped a Romanian registered minibus that had arrived on a ferry from Dunkirk on the evening of May 5.

The vehicle was being driven by Razvan-Iulian Petraru, 34, who was the only visible occupant.

Customs officers found two Albanians hidden in a crawl space in the roof of a Romanian-registered minibus that arrived in Dover in May. The men, circled, were hidden behind a sheet of plywood

The crawl space was only 25cm deep. Both men were locked in place for the duration of the crossing. Customs officers discovered the hiding space after they scanned the van with an x-ray machine

The minibus had been split between a seated passenger area and a rear secret void - partitioned off by a wood panel - which was loaded with tyres.

An x-ray scan of the vehicle revealed two people hidden in a false roof concealment.

The hiding space had been screwed in place and was just 25cm deep, leaving just enough room for the men to lie in the hiding space. There was no way the men could have accessed the void without assistance.

When removed from the vehicle the men both produced passports that identified them as Albanian nationals with no permission to be in the UK.

Razvan-Iulian Petraru, 34, pictured, was jailed for 27 months at Canterbury Crown Court

Petraru was then arrested on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration into the UK and the investigation was passed to officers from Immigration Enforcement's Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) team.

In subsequent interviews Petraru, of no fixed address, declined to answer any questions put to him by CFI officers.

On Monday at Canterbury Crown Court, Kent Petraru admitted charges of assisting unlawful immigration to the UK.

He was sentenced immediately to 27 months in jail.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: 'Criminals like Petraru, who perpetrate heinous acts like this, have no consideration for the safety of the people they are smuggling - in this instance trapped inside a cramped partition with no means of independent escape.

'The message is clear, if you are involved in immigration related criminality you will be caught and jailed.'

The two Albanians found in the minibus are being dealt with in line with the immigration rules.
Regional

Assam oil well blaze: 7,000 shifted, 35 houses destroyed

At least two fire fighters of Oil India Ltd (OIL) were killed and four others including one from ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) were injured.

Guwahati/ TINSUKIA/ DIBRUGARH/ Jun 11 (IANS) | Publish Date: 6/11/2020 12:16:06 PM IST

Around 7,000 people have been evacuated while the inferno completely and partially burnt more than 35 houses as the fire fighters, NDRF, and engineers intensified their efforts to douse the oil well fire in Assam for the third day on Thursday, officials said.

At least two fire fighters of Oil India Ltd (OIL) were killed and four others including one from ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) were injured near the oil well blowout site in Assams Tinsukia district on Wednesday.

The inferno was so intense that it could be seen from as far as 10 km away.

OIL spokesman Tridiv Hazarika said that Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a review meeting with the crisis management team and OIL officials through video conferencing on the fire in the OILs gas well. It has been reported that except at the well plinth area, the fire around the site has mostly extinguished. However, the burning of gas at the well mouth would continue till the well is capped.

The fire in around 200 meters periphery has completely burnt about 15 houses, while another 15 houses have been partially affected.

Over 7,000 inhabitants adjoining the oil well fire site have been shifted to the 12 relief camps set up by the OIL, Hazarika told IANS.

A senior official of the Tinsukia district administrations said that it would take at least four weeks or a month to completely control the blaze.

The massive fire broke out at the leaking natural gas producing well of the state-owned OIL in Tinsukia district on Tuesday even as an expert team from a Singapore-based emergency management firm was trying to plug the leakage of gas and oil condensate for the past 16 days, prompting the state government to seek the Indian Air Forces help to douse the blaze.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday dialed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him about the latest developments regarding oil well explosion incident. The Prime Minister assured all help towards the people in the affected area, an Assam government release said.

The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) tweeted that Modi discussed the situation in Baghjan fire tragedy in a telephonic conversation with Sonowal and assured all possible support from the Centre.

Sonowal had on Tuesday spoken to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh seeking help from the IAF to douse the blaze, officials said. An OIL spokesman said that the fire has been kept controlled in a 1.5 km radius but it is still raging as the uncontrollable natural gas is being fed by the wells oil.

Local people said that the inferno has left a trail of devastation in the adjoining areas, including a famous lake. Farmlands with standing crops, as well as ponds and wetlands in the adjoining villages have also been badly affected and the threat is growing with every passing day.

Experts, environmentalists and wildlife activists are worried as the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, known for its feral horses, is less than two km away.

Central paramilitary troopers, NDRF, OIL and ONGC engineers and experts are on a war-footing exercise to douse the fire.

The oil well at Baghjan in Tinsukia, around 550 km east of Guwahati, had been leaking gas accompanied by oil condensate since May 27, causing enormous damage to the regions wildlife, wetlands and biodiversity. OIL Chairman-cum-Managing Director Sushil Chandra Mishra had a detailed discussion with Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, who is camping at Tinsukia, in the presence of Deputy Commissioner (Tinsukia) Bhaskar Pegu, and appraised the latest status of the blowout and actions initiated by OIL.

Protests erupts as minister downplays tragedy

Protests were held across Tinsukia district of Assam on Thursday and effigies of state minister Chandra Mohan Patowary were burnt, a day after he tried to downplay the fire incident at Oil India Limiteds gas well in Baghjan.

While interacting with the affected people at a relief camp, Patowary said on Wednesday night that the fire incident at Baghjan was nothing compared to oil blaze in countries such as Russia and Iran.

In Russia, a massive fire continued to burn for almost 80 days. This is nothing in comparison to Russia. Such fires have taken place in Iran also, he told the aggrieved people at one of the relief camps. Though no journalists were accompanying him, one of the villagers made a video of his interaction with the people and shared it with some local reporters on Thursday.

In oil, this is not the only fire. Tripura had a bigger fire than this. In 2012, we had a similar fire in Dibrugarh districts Dikam, the industries and commerce minister said. In the video, people can be seen requesting the minister not to compare the Baghjan tragedy with that of any other country.

Sir, please do not compare it with others. How the Russian government will compensate, the Indian government will not do that, one of the villagers said.

Assam CM orders high-level probe

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday ordered a high-level inquiry into the circumstances that led to a blowout at a gas well of Oil India Limited (OIL) in Tinsukia district and the subsequent fire, a day after the bodies of two firefighters were found in a wetland abutting the site, officials said. Meanwhile, the blaze on the periphery of the well that started on Tuesday has been put out, and three experts from the US and Canada will reach Assam on Saturday to assist in the efforts to extinguish it completely, an official of the state-run company said.

The probe will be conducted by Additional Chief Secretary Maninder Singh, who has been asked to submit the report within 15 days, a senior official at the Chief Ministers Office (CMO) told PTI.

Two officials of the OIL have already been suspended for alleged negligence of duty, while a show cause notice has been issued to John Energy Pvt Ltd, the outsourced private operator of the well.

A PIL was filed at the Gauhati High Court on Wednesday against OIL, John Energy, the Centre and the state over the blowout and the subsequent fire.

Fire in gas well periphery doused

The fire in the periphery of Oil Indias gas well in Assams Tinsukia district has been doused after sustained efforts of fire fighters and at the moment only flowing gas is burning at the mouth of the well, a senior official of the PSU said on Thursday.

Though no peripheral burning is taking place at the moment at the wells site at Baghjan, the company has declared an area up to 1.5 km radius as red zone to avoid any untoward incident and harm to the general public. Now only the flowing gas is burning at the mouth of the well. We have declared an area with 1.5 km of radius as a red zone so that no outside person comes near the site. It is being done as a safety measure, Oil India Ltd (OIL) Senior Manager (Public Affairs) Jayant Bormudoi told PTI.

The official said three more foreign experts from the US and Canada will reach Assam in two days to control the blaze caused by a major blowout at the gas well on Tuesday.

Currently, three experts from Singaporean firm Alert Disaster Control are working at the site since Monday to stop the gas leak.

We have contacted three more experts and they will be joining us the day after tomorrow. Two of them are from the USA and one is from Canada, Bormudoi said.

The visa and all other regulatory approvals are completed and they will be flying very soon from their respective places, he added. Bormudoi informed that the gas is flowing uncontrollably at a pressure of 4,500 psi (pounds per square inch) and it is very very high to control the leakage.

When asked about repeated tremors felt by people in the area Wednesday night, the OIL official said it was not from underground sources but produced overground.
[June 11, 2020] Hoosier Families Determined to Walk - From Their Own Homes: Indiana Digital Learning School Celebrates 2020 Graduates with Online Commencement Ceremony

Indiana Digital Learning School (INDLS), of Union School Corporation, an online public school serving K-12, will cap off their school year by celebrating the Class of 2020 with an online commencement ceremony on June 13th. INDLS is inviting all families and friends worldwide to join the celebration. As part of Union School Corporation's innovative approach to serving Indiana students, INDLS has been serving fully online students statewide since 2017. This year, INDLS will graduate over 100 students representing its first senior class. Graduating students have participated in career preparations pathways including Criminal Justice, Agriculture, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Early Childhood Education, and Visual Communication. 2020 Seniors have earned college credit while attending INDLS from Ball State, Ivy Tech, and Indiana University (News - Alert). "Hoosier families are a detemined bunch, and while it's been a very challenging year for all Indiana students, we are excited for the opportunity to help our students celebrate their graduation online," said INDLS Head of School Elizabeth Sliger.



Hannah Miner will serve as Valedictorian and Cameron Wade will be Salutatorian, and they join our 10 Academic Honors Graduates in representing excellence. These students, as well as Ms. Sliger, will be available for media interviews. Students enroll in virtual school for a number of reasons, including those looking to escape bullying, those looking to get back on track academically, or those looking for an alternative to the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom setting. INDLS students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects and a host of electives and attend live virtual classes every day taught by state-certified teachers.

Details of the graduation ceremonies are as follows: WHAT: Indiana Digital Learning School 2020 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Graduation Ceremony - Saturday, June 13, 2020, 11:00 AM

CONTACT: For any questions, please contact 765-204-2224 About Indiana Digital Learning School Indiana Digital Learning School (INDLS) is an online public-school program of the Union School Corporation, serving students across the state of Indiana. INDLS is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the engaging curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of proprietary K-12 curriculum and online education programs. For more information about INDLS, visit indls.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005011/en/

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The Playstation 4 was undeniably the best selling console of the previous console generation. In fact, Sony's Playstation brand is now one of the biggest names in the video game market. Sony recently announced the release of their next console generation, The Playstation 5, aka PS5. Sony is now ready to reveal the PS5 at an online event on June 11, 2020, 1 PM US Pacific Standard time. In India, the time for the PS5 event will be June 12, 2020 at around 1.30 am. Here is the PS5 event time in Singapore.

ps5 event time in Singapore

Also Read | PS5 Event Time In South Africa; At What Time Can The PS5 Release Be Watched On June 11?

On June 08, 2020, The PlayStation Twitter account handled by Sony announced that PS5 launch event would be conducted on June 11, 2020, at 1:00 PM Pacific Time. So in Singapore Time, the PS5 launch event will begin at 4 AM in the morning on June 12, 2020. Singapore is 15 hours ahead of the US Pacific Standard Time.

PS5 expected price

Also Read | PS5 Event Time In Australia: Details About The Price, Where To Watch & More

PS5 will soon be available for preorder in the month of July and August. The console will be available for purchase sometime in late 2020. The cost for a single PS5 unit is speculated to be around $470 to $500 approximately. In INR, the value for a single PS5 will be around 35,802 to 38,088. In Singapour Dollars, the console will cost around s$653.25 to s$694.49.

What to expect with the new PS5 online reveal?

Also Read | PS5 Event Time In US: How And Where To Watch The PS5 Release?

The event will be streamed live at 1080p and 30 frames per second. However, the reveal video that will be released later will be of poorer quality to save time. Moreover, Sony has also asked viewers to use headphones as the event will feature amazing audio work that cannot be detected by direct audio.

Jim Ryan, the Chief Executive officer of PS5, revealed that PS5's pricing will be fair due to the new features that have been added in this next-gen console. Moreover, he claimed that the event will definitely satisfy consumers. The live event will also give a detailed look at the console's external and internal features.

Also Read | How Much Was The PS4 At Launch And What Will Be The Price Of Sony PS5?
Curiosity drives innovation. It is an impulse to pursue a thought, find a solution, seek new possibilities or keep on a path to see whats around the next bend. Driven largely by Elon Musks relentless pursuit of curiosity, SpaceX just became the first private company to send people in a spacecraft to the International Space Station and is on a path to making space tourism a reality in our lifetimes.

According to Mario Livio, an astrophysicist, and author of the book Why? there are two types of curiosity. During a 2017 podcast appearance for Knowledge@Wharton, Livio stated, There is perceptual curiosity. Thats the curiosity we feel when something surprises us or when something doesnt agree with what we know or think we know. That is felt as an unpleasant state.... On the other hand, there is epistemic curiosity, which is a pleasurable state associated with an anticipation of reward. Thats our level of knowledge. Thats what drives all scientific research. It drives many artworks. It drives education and things like that.

No less than Albert Einstein once similarly, succinctly remarked, "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."

Curiosity and Entrepreneurship

Curiosity has been a driving force for Ben Lamm, CEO and founder of Hypergiant, throughout his career, leading to massive success across multiple diverse disciplines.

As a child, Lamm traveled frequently to Africa with his family, and at an early age, he saw the stark contrast between life on that continent versus suburban Texas, where he grew up. He saw that the world operated in a multitude of ways and that within those differences, opportunities lay. This led him to question things that most people accepted, even his own thoughts and assumptions.

Self-exploration and questioning are part of perceptual curiosity, something many of us lose as we grow more stable and confident with our life decisions. Yet for Lamm, that self-exploration led to early successes in the form of personal growth. He became a better student, a better friend and a better hustler.

Now, five companies in, Lamm is on to his most ambitious startup yet with Hypergiant, a modern-day Stark Industries servicing the space-company industry with advanced AI, autonomous satellite command and control systems, Intergalactic internet, an Iron Man-inspired space helmet, an AI-powered bioreactor that converts CO2 into algae and more.

For most people, these innovations sound straight out of a sci-fi movie, but with a tagline like Tomorrowing Today" and a leader like Lamm at the helm, these innovations are natural outcomes that come from a culture that encourages a passionate pursuit of curiosity in all areas of life and work.

The Beginners Mind

Shoshin, also known as beginners mind, is a concept that comes from Zen Buddhism and refers to having a lack of preconceptions about a subject. That openness to new concepts is something children have naturally. Children exude curiosity in everything they do; they are the perfect embodiment of beginners mind because they are not yet corrupted with prejudice, assumptions or a historical framework that dilutes what they are observing.

Practicing beginners mind also means that even when we know enough on a topic to be considered an expert, we are constantly learning new things, and at any point, those learnings could create a tidal shift in what we believe.

Lamm practices Shoshin with all the subjects he pursues, learning by being as deeply curious as a wayward child, asking, Why? The question of why is always a focus, whether that is why a business decision makes sense, why there isnt a regulation in place or why is there a need for a certain tool. Asking those questions is one of Lamms keys to cultivating an attitude of beginning over and over.

Born to Be an Entrepreneur

Experiencing a vast array of cultures and customs around the world gave Lamm the gift of seeing things differently from the rest and an instinctual ability to spot market opportunities. Lamm believes it is important to look at diverse customs, cultures and ideas in order to ensure you are seeing multiple sides to every situation and spotting opportunities where others have not.

As someone with a natural inclination to question the norm, entrepreneurship for Lamm was not just a path, it was his destiny. As he puts it, I truly believe entrepreneurs are born and not made. I was always destined to be an entrepreneur. Lamm was fired from every job he had in high school and launched his first company with his college professor as a junior in college. Now on his fifth startup following four successful exits with three of those companies being sold to publicly traded companies, its safe to say entrepreneurship is in Lamms blood.



Beginning Again and Again

While Lamms career path may look erratic, his commitment to a path of curiosity and fluid thinking means he is constantly shifting his observations about the world and how he works in it. Every time I create my career anew," he explains, "Im doing it as someone who is peering out to the world as a beginner and again asking how I want to see the world. I often say one of my superpowers is admitting what I don't know, which is weird in this world. I am fine with saying I don't know or don't understand something with the goal to be open and continue to learn.

That vulnerability allows Lamm to be open to new insights and to be taught by his peers, employees, experts, friends and the world on a variety of topics. Lamm practices being a beginner by never being afraid to begin again, and with an openness to being shown other ways. This manifests itself through another tenet of Buddhism that Lamm embodies, which is the lack of a possessive attachment to any of his ideas.

He recalls a line from the movie Heat, which he saw as a kid, in which Robert De Niro waxes poetic about what to do when the pressure gets too hot: You should be able to walk away from anything in less than 30 seconds if you feel the heat coming on.

Lamms not running from the law, and the mafia isnt turning the heat up on him, but his practice of non-attachment by way of not forming ties too deeply with any idea means that he can shift his thinking when presented with overwhelming evidence that contradicts what he believes to be true. The ability to accept ones own fallibility that comes with a curious mind also propagates a spirit of courage and fearlessness.

Fearlessness Through curiosity

With age and wisdom comes a belief of having figured things out. That sense of security tends to reduce our curiosity about how things work. Curiosity is in part a biological response to fear. Having a willingness to ask about things you dont know or fully understand can be an act of courage. For Lamm, that fear drives him to look deeper for answers, to push into those areas of discomfort and willingly engage in difficult conversations.

To cultivate a curious mindset is to live with a comfortable amount of fear," he offers. "I believe curiosity lives somewhere between fear and wonder.

Lamms ability to live in fear and wonder and balance his perceptual and epistemic curiosity is a a powerful tool for an entrepreneur, and he credits it as being the single most important aspect of his career success.

Nothing Is Off-Limits

Lamm can dive deep into ancient aliens one day and into cutting-edge nanoscience research the next. Hell spend an entire day learning about NASAs plans for lunar living and the next day all about rewilding theory in Scotland. Knowing a lot about a lot of subjects helps to spike his curiosity further. He can then ask questions like: How can we cultivate within lunar bases a sense of the wild worlds around us? How can we use nanotechnology to challenge the idea of ancient aliens?

His insatiable curiosity means he never stops learning and consuming new ideas. Lamm believes you should pull inspiration from as many sources as you can. His search for knowledge never satisfied, he avidly consumes documentaries, science fiction movies and non-fiction as well as art, philosophy, music and pop culture. Some of the visionaries Lamm is particularly drawn to include people like Matti Suuronen, who built the Futuro houses, and photographers like David Yarrow, who creates intricate worlds.

Im really drawn to an aesthetic perspective," Lamm confirms. I find Kanye [West]s work to be interesting and astounding in its diversity and drive. And, yet, I also am really drawn to the work of people like Livio. who is examining how and why humanity works.

Encouraging Curious Minds

While there is no doubt that curiosity is a driving force for Lamm, he clearly knows he can not come up with all the ideas needed to build a successful company. For Lamm, cultivating curiosity in the workplace is the most important thing. He relies on a team of people around him who are also smart, curious people capable of bringing new insights to the world. To cultivate that curiosity, Lamm actively encourages people to engage in and pursue outside passions. Hypergiant frequently brings in a lot of speakers, thinkers and activities into the workplace and doubles down on culture. The idea is to create a soup of ideas, stories, beliefs and insights that will naturally spur people to be curious about why and how these ideas impact their work. Creating an open-floor plan for ideas, the company pushes a variety of things into the ether of its culture, with the knowledge that the intersection of those ideas will result in novelty.

Lamm's lifetime of curiosity and openness to receiving inspiration and new ideas from any source, along with the ability to be a vulnerable and empathetic leader, has fueld his success in bringing the future to today. Where will your curiosity take you?

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Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's virtual address to the Plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, he reached out to a major business chamber for the second time in less than 10 days.

PM today said our economy is facing unprecedented challenge but is determined to convert them into an opportunity. "Mann ke haare haar, mann ke jeete jeet"  meaning, it is our will power and grit that decide how we deal with crises.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 20)  Over 21 million kinder to high school students have enrolled for the coming school year.

Authorities are considering proposals to allow limited face-to-face classes in low risk areas. But for the most part, classrooms will remain empty due to safety concerns.

There will be no face-to-face classes and sessions until we are assured of the safety of our children and teachers, Education secretary Leonor Briones said on May 28.

Instead of physical classes, the Department of Education will implement distance or remote learning.

This method delivers lessons through various ways, including online, television, radio, and printed materials.

Colleges and universities are also shifting to distance learning, affecting over three million higher education students.

The new set up is drawing mixed reactions from students.

Matututo naman po kami kung focus kami sa ginagawa namin, senior high school student Sittie Macunte tells CNN Philippines.

[Translation: We will learn as long as we focus on what we're doing.]

Junior high schooler Aaron Matsui, however, prefers the traditional classroom set up.

Sumasagot po ako lagi. Tapos dito po sa bahay to be honest, laro lang po ako nang laro, he explains.

[Translation: I always answer. But at home, to be honest, all I do is play.]

Some youth groups are urging officials to defer the school opening, noting that thousands of students lack access to the internet.

DepEd and CHED literally have students begging for money online just so they dont get left behind with their academics, which is simply unacceptable considering the situation we are in, the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan spokesman John Lazaro said in a statement.

Parents worry about extra expense

For some parents, distance learning seems impractical as it could mean spending more time and money on their childrens education.

They worry about online requirements, and having to pay for internet regularly.

Sari-sari store owner Rowena Matsui is one of them. She has two sons in high school.

Eh paano kung halimbawa every day yung mga anak ko? Mabigat para sa amin, Matsui said.

[Translation: What if my children go every day? That will be difficult for us.]

In private schools, parents are demanding lower tuition since students will be studying from home.

However, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Institutions or COCOPEA says recurring costs cannot be waved, particularly maintenance fees.

We are now at this crossroads where we dont know whether we will invest on flexible learning and make that permanent or we still need to maintain our physical facilities for our accredited and permit status, COCOPEA managing director Noel Estrada explained during a meeting of the House Committee on Basic Education and Higher Education last July 9.

Education officials have set up web-based platforms where stakeholders can share learning materials.

For kinder to high school students, there is the DepEd Commons, which can be accessed free of data charges through a partnership between the DepEd and telcos.

The Commission on Higher Education, meantime, is developing the PHL Connect website.

It contains text, audio, video, and other digital content that can be used for teaching and research.

No ifs, no buts, learning must continue. We learn as one, we are ready, CHED chairman Popoy De Vera declared during a press conference on July 10.

Remote learning means more work for teachers

Teachers believe distance learning will require making the extra effort to reach students.

Elementary school teacher Jenny Yabut says some students have no way of communicating thru the internet.

That means printed learning materials will have to be delivered to them.

Yung module na gagamitin ng mga bata ay libreng ipapamahagi at kung kelangan silang puntahan sa bahay gagawin po namin, Yabut said.

[Translation: The module to be used by the children will be distributed for free and if home visits are needed, we will do it.]

They now have to create more educational content.

These should contain essential lessons but at the same time, simple enough for students to digest on their own.

Hindi ganon kahanda ang mga teachers sa pagbabagong ito. But as a teacher, kailangan natin mag-adapt, high school teacher Shirley Buenrostro tells CNN Philippines.

[Translation: teachers are not fully prepared for this change. But as a teacher, we have to adapt.]

Whether or not distance learning will be effective, even officials cant say for certain. But they insist on trying to make it work rather than do nothing.
I dont want anything to talk about it rn. So stressful. Because this too shall pass.



On topic, please WEAR masks and be socially distancing at all the time. It aint optional to opt out. Lets wait it out until vaccinated and shit like that.

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and if a vaccination takes ten years....this pipe dream that a vaccine where we have never had one for this type of virus before in a few months needs to stop

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Yeah theres been a talk in that case it might end up "colonized". No question the govt tells you there might be some area that are mask optional and youd be exposed to it. So nah, yall can wear masks forever until further notice. Thats that.



Edited at 2020-06-11 07:46 pm (UTC)

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this all sound like a huge insurance nightmare

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We're gonna get so many animated movies out of this, ugh.

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That's what I was thinking.

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there's so many shows that will just feel really weird if nobody is kissing or touching at all. cutting back on that kinda stuff, sure, but eliminating it all together? good luck.

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This is all a horrible idea

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They really just need to count their losses and do what is need to recoup the money next year. This would be a fantastic time to invest in newer filmmakers and their projects, because that's less to lose, but that ain't gonna happen

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"because you can't force an actor to do something that they're not comfortable with."



I wish that were true but there have been many times people have been pressured to do scenes they didn't want to.

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Right??? Thinking of all the female actors who were coerced into nude scenes...like, Hollywood has a major abuse problem and it disproportionately affects female actors and POC.

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Honestly with tv, film and theatre its all or nothing. Its stupid to produce a sub-standard piece of work.



I think the only area of entertainment that can and is continuing are late night show hosts, musicians recording albums and animated stuff. I dont see how other areas can resume unless its completely safe to do so.



Edited at 2020-06-11 07:36 pm (UTC)

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"because you can't force an actor to do something that they're not comfortable with."



*sucks female teeth*

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Surely it's never happened in Hollywood before! They would NEVER make cast or crew uncomfortable.

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Honestly, just the implication of it.

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I really don't want Covid storylines being written into shows. Medical dramas maybe, but not much else.

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So all tv shows and movies are going to fucking suck for awhile? Cool.



Honestly, I'd rather NOT have new episodes at all than have weird flashback CGI episodes that are all working around the fact that no one can film together or be near each other. Every show is basically going to be the 4th season of Arrested Development when no one could film at the same time, but WORSE.

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I agree. I don't even want to see shows do scenes from zoom either.

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god dont remind me of the atrocity that is AD s4 lol. soooo fuckin awkward. i'd rather just push back all releases and prioritize new licensing of old content or something than have it come to that

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Mythic Quest had the GOAT quarantine episode

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Studio and network execs must rethink their choices, too: Some are looking to their own libraries for contained shows that might be worth rebooting, while others are exploring potential series add-ons where only a couple of characters are needed.





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Depressing and terrifying as shit. Its unreal. Is this what we humans come to?

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And those guidelines are only for union shoots! Smaller non-union productions are just going to start up probably without any real safety protocols in place because people need to go back to work :(



I wonder how long until a studio forces a show's cast/crew to all quarantine together so this won't be a problem for them. Seems like something that would be easy for them to do especially for shows that film in Canada. :/

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Smaller non-union productions are just going to start up probably without any real safety protocols in place because people need to go back to work.



Yeah, mte, and I can't see that ending well.

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Yeah our in BC our provincial WorkSafe organization announced all their guidelines late last week as it is expected productions will resume in later June/July. The provincial guidelines only require quarantining upon entry to the country but studios have to develop their own guidelines as well. There's also an industry organization for film/tv here in BC that is about to announce additional guidelines developed with government input so we should find out whether that will be recommended in the next week or so.

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yeah, I work in non-union reality tv and it's a mess. Some shows are getting by with having their talent film themselves, but that creates it's own set of logistical problems and puts a lot of strain on post production staff since they have to maintain quality control. Some companies are trying to start filming in the field again, paying some poor fucker PA rates to be the "COVID-19 enforcement officer" smdh.

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The way the general public is acting as if Covid is over and doing what they want, makes me believe all of this stress about film and tv is for nothing.



Things will go back to normal except crew positions will be cut to make sets have as little exposure as possible. More people will have to take on multiple roles to get the final product finished.

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RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and the chiefs of credit rating agencies met on Wednesday to discussed major factors affecting credit ratings in the current context and its solutions.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday held a meeting with chiefs of credit rating agencies to discuss the macroeconomic situation and outlook on various sectors of the economy. The meeting, through video conference, was attended by deputy governors and other senior officers of the central bank.

It came a day after Standard and Poors affirmed its rating on Indias long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit at the lowest investment-grade level but retained a stable outlook on the economy. Indias long-term rating was affirmed at BBB-minus with a stable outlook while the short-term rating was held at A3.

On June 1, Moodys had downgraded the governments foreign-currency and local-currency long-term issuer ratings to Baa3 from Baa2. It said the coronavirus outbreak has amplified existing vulnerabilities in Indias credit quality. The RBI officials gathered assessment of credit rating agencies on macroeconomic situation and outlook on various sectors of the economy, including the financial sector.

Also Read: Equities fall by 2 pc, telecom and banking stocks under pressure

Also Read: Covid-19 impact on automobile industry: Registrations in May plummet down 89%, zero retails in April

They also listened to the perspectives on the overall financial health of the entities rated by credit rating agencies, the RBI said in a statement. Officials also discussed major factors that affect credit ratings in the current context besides ways to further strengthen the rating processes and engagement with key stakeholders.

Also Read: Taj rated as Indias strongest brand by Brand Finances Brand Value report India 2020

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday sounded cautious about the idea of letting schools across the nation shut again in the event a second wave of novel coronavirus infections hits the country.

"If certain conditions are met, the government will issue a coronavirus state of emergency again, for some regions, and consider requesting schools there to close," he said at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councilors in response to a question from Teruhiko Mashiko of the major opposition Democratic Party for the People.

But Abe added, "Whether to ask schools across the nation to shut is a different matter."

The prime minister said his request in late February for nationwide school closures had "a certain effect."

"Only a few countries had adopted across-the-board school closures at the time, but the measure is now being utilized by most countries to prevent infection," he added.

Following Abe's request, many schools in Japan closed from the beginning of March. Many are starting to resume classes while taking infection prevention measures.
Flight operations on the Navy's newest aircraft carrier were cut back during recent at-sea trials after the new high-tech system that launches aircraft from the flattop's flight deck went down.

The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford's Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, known as EMALS, broke June 2 during the ships biggest carrier air wing embark to date. The Fords leaders had just announced the carrier was underway when EMALS went down.

Read next: Trump Shuts Down Proposal to Rename Army Bases Honoring Confederate Fighters

There were about 1,000 members of Carrier Air Wing 8 aboard the ship as the Ford ran post-delivery test and trials operations in the Atlantic. In a call with reporters the day before the EMALS went down, Capt. J.J. Cummings, the ship's commanding officer, called the air wing embark a historic moment for the Ford.

The air wing qualified more than 50 fleet and student pilots, he said, and launched and trapped hundreds of flights from the flattop while operating at sea.

But the next day, the EMALS went down, according to a Navy news release that was issued late Sunday night. That "curtailed flight operations to some extent."

"But the Strike Group, ship, and air wing team still accomplished significant goals scheduled for the Ford-class aircraft carrier," the release added.

The root cause of the EMALS failure remains under review, said Capt. Danny Hernandez, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.

"The fault appeared in the power handling system, during a manual reset of the system," he said. "This section is independent of the high pulsed power section to launch aircraft and is not a safety of flight risk. The Navy is reviewing procedures and any impacts on the system."

Any findings and corrective actions they take will be key to ensuring the Ford is ready to support the warfighter when it enters the fleet, Hernandez added.

The Navy has faced pressure from politicians -- on Capitol Hill and the White House -- on delays in getting several new systems running smoothly, including the EMALS. President Donald Trump once called the system the "crazy electric catapult" and said sailors he spoke to on the Ford complained it wasn't reliable.

"I'm just going to put out an order -- we're going to use steam," Trump said last year, referring to the legacy system used to launch aircraft on older carriers.

The Ford returned to port Sunday, and Hernandez said the crew was supported by a team of experts who developed an "alternative method to launching the air wing off" the ship.

The Ford has completed nearly 3,500 launches and recoveries using the EMALS. Hernandez called that quite an achievement, but added that it's an insufficient number to draw conclusions about the system's reliability.

"As flight operations on [the new carrier] continue, interruptions will be tracked, systematically reviewed and addressed with design and procedural changes aimed at achieving operational requirements for the rest of the Ford class," he said.

James Geurts, assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition, said shipbuilders remain on the Ford, working to resolve problems with new systems. That includes getting all the Ford's 11 weapons elevators up and running. Five are now working.

The Government Accountability Office noted the Navy's struggles to demonstrate reliability of the Ford's key systems, including the EMALS, in a recent report.

"Although the Navy is testing EMALS and [the advanced arresting gear] on the ship with aircraft, the reliability of those systems remains a concern," the report states. "If these systems cannot function safely by the time operational testing begins, [the Ford] will not be able to demonstrate it can rapidly deploy aircraft -- a key requirement for these carriers."

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.

Related: 'A Failure of the Navy:' Next CNO Addresses Problems with New Carrier
Suspect in kidnapping of son of Russian lawyer arrested

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

11:58 11/06/2020

MOSCOW, June 11 (RAPSI)  A man suspected of kidnapping of a 17-year son of attorney Konstantin Skrypnik has been arrested, the press service of the Moscow Region Directorate of the Investigative Committee reports.

Reportedly, the arrested suspect is an assistant to the Moscow lawyer Eduard Gladilin.

According to case papers, on June 5, the 17-year Moscow resident was with his parents in their cottage in the Moscow Region. He went for a walk but failed to come back. Later, his parents received messages containing threats.




Former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker says he is disappointed with the position of Germany and France that seek to avoid accusations against Russia regarding non-compliance with the Minsk agreements.

"Unfortunately, the United States has not played much of a role in supporting this process since I stepped down in September. I think that's a real loss, and as a result, it is really now on the shoulders of France and Germany," Volker said during an online conference on the current situation in Donbas organized by the Atlantic Council on June 10, an Ukrinform own correspondent reports.

In this context, he noted that he had a "great disappointment" with the fact that "France and Germany do not clearly state that Russia is in violation of the Minsk agreements."

Russia is a signatory and it is a party to the agreements, it's not an outside observer, the diplomat stressed.

"It [Russia] is a protagonist in the conflict and it is a signatory to the agreements and it has not fulfilled the obligations that it undertook. And I think that is one of the most significant things," Volker said.

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WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has signed an executive order authorizing new sanctions against prosecutors and officials of the International Criminal Court after the body approved investigations of alleged war crimes by U.S. service members and intelligence officers in Afghanistan.

In an unprecedented display of administration firepower, the secretaries of state and defense, along with the attorney general and the national security adviser, jointly announced sanctions against officials of what they called a "corrupt" and "politically motivated" court manipulated by Russia and other U.S. adversaries.

The announcement escalates a long-standing dispute with the Netherlands-based court, established 18 years ago under the Treaty of Rome. The United States has never ratified the treaty or recognized the court's jurisdiction.

The Trump administration has taken a particularly tough stand against what it calls the court's attempts to violate U.S. sovereignty and pose a national security threat. In 2018, when he was national security adviser, John Bolton vowed that the United States would not cooperate with the court and declared, "For all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us."

The measures announced Thursday include economic sanctions against any ICC officials involved in efforts to investigate "allied personnel without that ally's consent" and an extension to family members of visa restrictions already in effect against those officials.

"Imagine an American soldier, sailor, airman, Marine or an intelligence officer is on leave with his or her family, maybe on a beach in Europe," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a brief appearance with the others at the State Department. "And over the course of two decades or more, this soldier honorably defended America in Anbar province, in Kandahar, taking down terrorists. Then suddenly, that vacation turns into a nightmare."

"We cannot, we will not stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court," he added.

Standing at his side, Defense Secretary Mike Esper said, "We will not allow American citizens who have served our country to be subjected to illegitimate investigations." The U.S. military and civilian justice systems are fully capable of taking "appropriate action" against alleged misconduct, including "alleged abuse of detainees or any other misconduct," Esper said.

Pompeo also called a proposed ICC investigation of Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip a "mockery of justice."

The ICC is designed as a court of last resort, used only after countries are unable or unwilling to take action against their own citizens accused of war crimes. The United States has prosecuted troops for criminal conduct committed during the war in Afghanistan. Human rights groups have complained the numbers are relatively small and have not included high-level officers and U.S. officials who may have issued orders.

Trump has intervened in several cases involving war-crimes accusations despite opposition from military justice experts and some senior Pentagon officials.

The ICC investigation will not focus solely on allegations against U.S. troops. Lead prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants to investigate possible crimes committed by the Taliban and other groups between 2003 and 2014, including alleged mass killings of civilians, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser degree, by U.S. forces and the CIA.

Attorney General William Barr said a March decision by the court to authorize the investigation of U.S. operations in Afghanistan "validates long-standing concerns" that the ICC is "little more than a political tool employed by unaccountable international elites . . . to manipulate and undercut the foreign policy" of the United States and its allies.

Barr said the Justice Department has launched its own investigation of "a long history of financial corruption and malfeasance at the highest levels of the office of the prosecutor of the ICC," including information that "may well have a bearing on current investigations" by the court.

Human rights groups expressed concerns that the executive order was overly broad and vague and could put human rights researchers at risk in countries allied with the United States, such as the Philippines.

"This is yet another instance of the Trump administration taking action that will alienate many of America's closest allies while contributing to an atmosphere of impunity for the world's worst human rights abusers," said Rob Berschinski, vice president for policy at Human Rights First.

Daniel Baston, advocacy director for Amnesty International USA, said the United States could achieve more by working to reform multilateral institutions rather than attacking them.

"The administration has done nothing in that realm," he said.

All the speakers at the State Department on Thursday, including White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien, noted that successive administrations have never recognized the court and said that U.S. citizens are not subject to its jurisdiction.

The officials finished their remarks and abruptly left the room, taking no questions from reporters assembled for the announcement.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba Reuters

On June 10, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is set to make the procedure for obtaining Ukrainian visas for foreigners more convenient and modern, as well as to increase the safety of travelers. This was announced by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the press service of the ministry reports.

In particular, the innovations will allow foreign diplomatic missions to issue Ukrainian visas using modern digital technologies for collecting biometric information (digitized fingerprints and digitized facial images).

"Acquaintance with Ukraine of a foreigner, who is planning a trip, begins with the obtainment of a Ukrainian visa. Sometimes this is the first meeting with Ukraine. Impressions from this meeting should be as positive as possible. It should be a meeting with a modern progressive country. At the same time, the new procedure will increase the safety of travelers, Kuleba stated.

As we reported earlier, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry expects the visit of Canadas mission, which will estimate the possibility of the conclusion of the agreement on a simplified visa regime for the Ukrainians.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Los Angeles, United States  Thu, June 11, 2020 13:07 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddde9eb 2 News Disneyland,theme-park,travel,destination,coronavirus,COVID-19 Free

Disneyland in California announced plans Wednesday to reopen next month -- but at "significantly limited" capacity, and with no opportunities to hug Mickey Mouse or high-five Donald Duck for the time being.

Under the plans -- which still require government approval -- the resort near Los Angeles, including Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, would welcome visitors back beginning July 17.

Disneyland is the world's second-most visited theme park, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each day, but it closed in mid-March due to coronavirus concerns.

The move comes on the heels of the successful reopening of Shanghai Disneyland last month, and follows a similar timetable to the restart of Disney World in Florida, which has already received government approval.

Theme parks provide a significant portion of the Mouse House's revenue. Last month, Disney said the division's quarterly operating income fell 58 percent from a year earlier, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

When the California parks reopen, all guests will need to book reservations in advance, and social distancing measures mean no parades or "nighttime spectaculars" until a later date.

Read also: Disney World in Florida reopens a bit, but no rides yet

"While character meet-and-greets will be temporarily unavailable, characters will be in the parks in new ways to entertain and delight guests," Disney said in a statement.

Hotels at the site would reopen the following week under the scheme.

The plans were unveiled as calls on social media and a Change.org petition grew for Disney's parks to rebrand their "Splash Mountain" rides.

The popular log flumes are based on the controversial 1946 Disney film "Song of the South" -- a movie long accused of peddling racist tropes about the post-Civil War South, and never released on home video in the United States.
Union leaders have told Al Jazeera manufacturing is on the brink of its biggest collapse in generations because of government inaction.

In the United Kingdom, union leaders have told Al Jazeera that manufacturing is on the brink of its biggest collapse in generations because of government inaction.

Every week, thousands of jobs are being lost in sectors like aerospace and car manufacturing.

Al Jazeeras Laurence Lee reports.
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin walks to the meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (not pictured) during negotiations on a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) relief package on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 23, 2020. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Treasury Secretary Says US Cant Shut Down the Economy Again

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said local and state governments should not close down businesses and schools if another CCP virus outbreak occurs in the near future.

We cant shut down the economy again. I think weve learned that if you shut down the economy, youre going to create more damage, Mnuchin said in an interview on Thursday.

It comes as several states, including Texas and California, reported a spike in COVID-19 cases in recent days. Over the past several weeks, governors have allowed more and more businesses to reopen after remaining shuttered to stop the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. The United States has reported more than 2 million cases of the virus.

And not just economic damage, but there are other areas and weve talked about this: medical problems and everything else that get put on hold, Mnuchin told CNBC. I think it was very prudent what the president did, but I think weve learned a lot.

Mnuchin said he is prepared to head back to Congress to push for additional funding to stimulate the economy after millions upon millions of people lost work due to the outbreak.

A customer walks out of a U.S. Post Office branch and under a banner advertising a job opening, in Seattle, Wash., on June 4, 2020. (Elaine Thompson/AP Photo)

We have the Fed program, we have Main Street [lending program], which is going to be now up and running, and were prepared to go back to Congress for more money to support the American worker, he said. So were going to get everybody back to work. Thats my No. 1 job working with the president and were going to do that.

In March, the bipartisan CARES Act was passed and signed into law, sending out more than 100 million payments to Americans, expanded unemployment insurance, provided relief to local governments, and other measures.

Mnuchin told a Senate panel this week that more direct payments are likely going to be needed.

I think were going to seriously look at whether we want to do more direct money to stimulate the economy, Mnuchin said. But I think this is all going to be about getting people back to work, and we look forward to working with the entire Senate on this.

But he stipulated that the bolstered unemployment insurance, which proves $600 per month, will most likely be done away with. He said, Were going to need to fix unemployment.

A bill is needed to encourage businesses to rehire people, especially in areas that have been most impactedwhether its the travel, leisure, restaurants, he said. You cant get hotel capacity back up to speed without hiring people first.
Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

The global LiDAR market size is expected to reach USD 2,154.2 million by 2026 according to a new study published by Polaris Market Research. The report LiDAR Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Component; By Installation; By Range (Short Range LiDAR, Medium Range LiDAR, Long Range LiDAR); By Application (Urban Planning, ADAS & Driverless Cars, Corridor Mapping, Environment, Engineering, Exploration, Others); By Region, Segments & Forecast, 2019  2026 gives a detailed insight into current market dynamics and provides analysis on future market growth.

In 2018, the corridor mapping segment dominated the global market in terms of revenue. Regionwise, North America is expected to be the leading contributor to market growth globally. LiDAR, which represents Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote detecting strategy that utilizes light as a pulse beat of laser to quantify ranges to the Earth. These light pulses joined with other information recorded by the airborne frameworkcreate exact, three-dimensional data about the state of the Earth and its surface attributes.

Get sample copy of this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/lidar-market/request-for-sample

A LiDAR instrument mainly comprises a laser, a scanner, and a particular GPS collector. Planes and helicopters are the most generally utilized stages for getting LIDAR information over wide territories. The developing requirement for 3D imaging from different parts and expanding selection of aerial LiDAR frameworks has supported the appropriation of LiDAR arrangements. Expanding government interests in defense, agriculture, and city arranging supports the selection of LiDAR. Furthermore, the expanding interests of LiDAR from mining and transportation ventures have upheld market development throughout the years. Expanding fund raising by sellers in technological pursuits combined with expanding improvement of self-sufficient vehicles and merging of cutting-edge safety systems in vehicles would hasten development of the LiDAR market. Developing interest from rising economies and technological headways are relied upon to give various development openings in the coming years.

North America created significant income in the market in 2018 and is relied upon to lead the worldwide market all through the forecast period. The development of modern mechanization and technological headways in metrological applications has quickened the selection rate of LiDAR innovation in North American area. In airborne applications, LiDAR innovation has displayed remarkable favorable circumstances over Radar technology, for example, improved precision, ongoing mapping capacity and better perception, accordingly, driving the LiDAR market in every one of the nations in North American area. Asia-Pacific is relied upon to develop at the most elevated CAGR during the forecast period attributable to developing interest from rising nations, for example, China, Japan, and India.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/lidar-market

The rising interest for 3D images in different application regions, for example, military and defense, land studies, structural designing, and corridor mapping, is relied upon to fundamentally drive the market over the forecast period. Finished 3D imagery is connected in different applications, for example, 3D mapping, city planning and photo-realistic flights. The establishment base of cutting-edge safety highlights is expanding exponentially. Accident data recorder systems, liquor start interlocks, and emergency call systems are just a section n of the instances of advancements where a future interest is relied upon to stimulate the overall market.

The key players in the market include Trimble Navigation limited, Faro Technologies, Inc., Quantum Spatial Inc., Velodyne LiDAR Inc., Sick Ag, Teledyne Optech, Riegl Laser Measurement Systems, Leica Geosystems Inc., GeoDigital and Beijing Surestar Technology.

LiDAR Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Component Navigation and Positioning Systems Laser Scanners Cameras Others

LiDAR Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Installation Ground-Based Airborne

LiDAR Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Range Short Range LiDAR Medium Range LiDAR Large Range LiDAR

LiDAR Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Application Urban Planning ADAS & Driverless Cars Corridor Mapping Environment Engineering Exploration Others

LiDAR Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Region North America US. Canada Mexico Europe Germany UK France Italy Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia-Pacific Latin America Brazil Middle East & Africa



Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/lidar-market/request-for-discount-pricing

About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities.

Contact us-

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Phone: 1-646-568-9980

Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com

Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com
A little white dog has become a big internet star in China after footage of it waiting with its young owner for her school bus went viral.

The loyal pet from central China 'escorts' the five-year-old girl to her bus stop every morning to make sure she gets on the vehicle safely.

It then returns to the same spot in the afternoon to 'pick up' the kindergarten pupil before walking home with her.

Trending footage shows the loyal dog wagging its tail excitingly when a yellow school bus turns the corner and drives towards the girl in the city of Xinyang in central China's Henan

The heart-warming friendship between the child and her devoted animal companion is captured by a series of videos uploaded by the girl's mother to Chinese short-video platform Douyin.

One clip, uploaded on Monday, shows the dog wagging its tail excitingly when a yellow school bus turned the corner and drove towards the girl.

After the vehicle stopped, a teacher came down to help the girl get on the bus while the dog walked around the pair happily.

Another clip shows the pooch watching the girl get on the bus and then looking at the vehicle as it drives off before leaving the bus station. The girl's mother says the dog does it every day

The girl's mother, who calls herself 'Yu Xi Ma Ma' on Douyin, said she filmed the video to show her followers how the faithful pet protected her daughter.

The parent from Xinyang, Henan Province, had uploaded another video a few days earlier, which shows the pet watching the girl getting on the school bus and looking at the vehicle when it slowly drove off.

'Although it is just a little dog, [it] can distinguish the sound of a school bus. It does this every morning and afternoon for my daughter,' the mother wrote.

She said her family had kept the dog for about half a year.

The latest footage shows the excitedly pet trying to get onto the bus when the girl comes home. Videos of their special bound have amassed more than 400,000 clicks and many fans

The latest footage, posted today, shows the pooch approaching the school bus while it was expecting its owner to return. When the girl walked off the bus, the dog was so thrilled it stepped onto the bus to welcome her.

The three clips have amassed more than 400,000 'likes' and tens of thousands of fans.

One highly rated comment said: 'Dogs understand everything. They just can't talk.'

Another viewer praised: 'Fur-kids are smart and loyal. You give them food, and they stay loyal to you the whole life.'

A third supporter gushed: 'The dog is so clever. It would only leave after the bus drove away.'
The US Senate Armed Services Committee said on Thursday it had authorized $9.1 billion to produce 95 F-35 aircraft in its version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, an annual bill setting policy for the Department of Defense.

The F-35 is made by Lockheed Martin Corp. The Senate committee also authorized the US Air Force to modify six F-35s originally sold to Turkey.

The jets were never delivered to Turkish soil due to a disagreement over Ankara's purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system the Pentagon said was "incompatible" with the stealthy F-35 jets.
South Africa: Cabinet considers recommendations regarding Level 3

Cabinet, at its ordinary meeting on Wednesday, has received an updated report from the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC).

The NCCC tabled several recommendations about the enhanced risk-adjusted alert level 3 of the national lockdown. South Africa entered level 3 lockdown on 01 June 2020.

South Africas infection rate increased by 2 430 to 55 421 on Wednesday, as the country ramps up testing for COVID-19. The country has tested close to a million people, an increase of 30 330 tests in the past 24 hours.

Cabinet decided to defer approval of the recommendations pending a full health assessment report from the Ministerial Health Advisory Committee on COVID-19.

The NCCC is expected to receive the full presentation by early next week.

"The recommendations are based on submissions made by various sectors and deliberations by the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure, the Cabinet statement said.

This was among recommendations by Cabinet during its virtual meeting on Wednesday, according to the statement issued by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) on Thursday.

In the meantime, Cabinet said it was still appealing to all South Africans to adhere to measures put in place to combat the spread of COVID-19.

The measures include regular washing of hands, social distancing and the wearing of masks when in public.

Gender-based violence

At the meeting this week, Cabinet also approved the Gender-Based Violence policy framework in Post-School Education and Training System that seeks to respond to the increased number of cases at institutions of higher learning.

The policy framework provides guidance on structures, mechanisms and processes that institutions of higher learning must put in place to prevent incidents of GBV in their campuses.

In addition to providing oversight structures, it also compels such institutions to create awareness on their GBV policies, said the statement.

National Petroleum Company

Cabinet approved the proposed appointment of a professional restructuring company that specialises in mergers to investigate the most viable model of this single National Petroleum Company.

The rationalisation will result in three subsidiaries, that is, PetroSA, Strategic Fuel Fund and iGas merged into one single National Petroleum Company.

Cabinet said this gives effect to the announcement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address on 13 February 2020, to repurpose and rationalise some state-owned enterprises to support growth and development.

Resistance and Liberation Movement Museum

Cabinet approved the feasibility study report on the establishment of the Resistance and Liberation Movement Museum (RLMM) to contribute towards conserving the history of the resistance and liberation struggle in South Africa.

The study, which Cabinet approved in 2015, was commissioned within the context of the Resistance and Liberation Heritage Route (RLHR) Project. The RLHR contributes towards the development and transformation of the South African heritage landscape.

The museum is said to conserve a series of heritage elements and provide common narrative, memory and experiences relating to the liberation struggle in the country once completed.

National Khoi and San Heritage Route

Cabinet approved the implementation of the National Khoi and San Heritage Route, which is a national legacy project, the Cabinet statement said.

The route will identify, highlight, conserve and promote the heritage of the Khoi, Nama, Griekwa, Khorana and San, while addressing the previously neglected and marginalised South African history.

It also gives effect to the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act, 2019 (Act 3 of 2019), which legislate for the recognition of the Khoi and San traditional leaders.

Designs of 2021 and 2022 commemorative coins

Cabinet further approved the designs of the 2021 and 2022 commemorative circulation coins which are issued by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and the South African Mint Company.

The R5 commemorative circulation coin and the R5 sterling silver, gold plated collectors coin will be issued in 2021 to celebrate the Centenary of the SARB.

The fourth Decimal Coin Series of South Africa, which will be issued in 2022, will consist of 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, R1, R2 and R5 coin.

Financial Sector Laws Amendment Bill of 2020

Cabinet approved the submission of the Financial Sector Laws Amendment Bill of 2020 to Parliament.

The Bill proposes to designate the SARB as the Resolution Authority and enhances the SARBs regulatory tools for discharging its statutory mandate of ensuring the stability of the financial system.

The Bill proposes a new framework to resolve financial institutions, primarily banks when they enter a period of financial distress. It also introduces South Africas first comprehensive deposit insurance scheme that will ensure that depositors are paid their funds when a bank fails.

Cabinet said such a scheme will protect the vulnerable depositors and ensure minimal disruptions to the financial system and broader economy when such institutions enter into financial distress.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The protesters were studying the structure less as a forbidding obstacle than as a makeshift art installation. It was evidence that cries for help like those of Mr. Floyd, who gasped for air and called out to his dead mother as a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, can transform into rallying cries. Or that an eyesore can become an icon.

It was unclear how long the actual fence would remain here. The National Park Service said on Tuesday that the structure would be gone on or about Wednesday, but then said on Wednesday that it was in discussions with the Secret Service about the fencing around Lafayette Park.

As of midday Wednesday, the fence and concrete barriers enclosing the Ellipse on the south side of the White House had been removed and hauled out by big, yellow trucks. But the fence on the northern perimeter that kept people out of Lafayette Square was still there.

Several people who had attended protests here said the fence had become a must-see attraction for them, a monument to how random citizens can reclaim a democratic space  how the so-called Peoples House can be animated from all sides.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 04:54:25|Editor: huaxia

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AMMAN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday that the EU supports the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and rejects any annexation plans.

Maas made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi in Jordan's capital Amman.

"We are worried about the repercussions of the (Israeli) annexation decision," he said, adding the priority is "to bring the two sides to the negotiating table."

For his part, Safadi warned that any Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories, which is a flagrant violation of international law, may lead to institutionalized apartheid in Palestine.

"Jordan will continue working with international partners to prevent the annexation and save the region from drowning in further conflict," he said.

Maas also announced Germany's decision to expand its anti-terrorism aid in Syria and Iraq.

On the efforts to combat the coronavirus, the German minister expressed his country's keenness to "continue bilateral and multilateral work to end the COVID-19 crisis." Enditem
Kelly Passek has thought up a way to get kids to read this summer: deliver library books by drone.

Passek, a middle-school librarian, was one of the first customers of a drone delivery service launched in Christiansburg, Va., last year by Wing, a company owned by Google parent Alphabet. After seeing how quickly her household goods and meals were delivered, she petitioned the company to take on library books, too. The company said yes, and the first books fly out this week.

"I think kids are going to be just thrilled to learn that they are going to be the first in the world to receive a library book by drone," said Passek, who works for Montgomery County Public Schools.

Drone delivery has been an anticipated promise from tech companies since Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos showed off a surprise prototype during a "60 Minutes" interview in 2013. Other companies jumped on the bandwagon shortly after, but nearly seven years later, the service is only available in limited tests in a few areas of the world, bogged down by regulatory hurdles. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Domino's partnered with drone company Flirtey to deliver a pizza by drone in New Zealand in 2016, but the service hasn't taken flight outside the country. And UPS received federal approval to test delivering some packages by drone in the United States last year.

Wing received federal approval last year to deliver by drone in Virginia, beating Amazon's Prime Air to the public testing milestone. The company also delivers packages, which can weigh up to about three pounds, in Helsinki and two Australian cities.

The tests serve relatively small numbers of people and expansion plans in the United States hinge on the Federal Aviation Administration approval.

Wing started delivering household goods and meals from Walgreens and local restaurants to a limited area of the southwest Virginia town that covers several thousand homes last October.

The company has seen a jump in demand during the pandemic as people are increasingly staying home and avoiding crowded spaces like grocery stores, said Keith Heyde, head of Virginia operations for Wing. The company reached a high of 1,000 deliveries globally in a single week this spring, he said.

Heyde, whose mom is a librarian, noted that Wing had already brought on more local merchants during the pandemic, and the company wanted to help kids get books as well.

Passek began pushing for book delivery last fall as soon as she saw how quickly her Wing orders were being flown to her house. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and her cause became more immediate.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Wing will start delivering books to students of the school district this week, given they live in the company's Christiansburg delivery area. Passek is doing much of the work on the back end - she'll receive students' book orders via a Google Form, seek out the book from any of the district's libraries, package it up, and bring it to Wing's facility to deliver.

Passek has already helped students get books this spring after they were sent home from school to finish the year remotely because of stay-at-home orders. District librarians sent library books to students' homes on school buses that made daily rounds to bring breakfast and lunch to every district student.

Now the school year is over and that book delivery program has ended. It's time for the drones.

Students aren't able to visit school libraries during the summer months anyway, but the pandemic has made it especially hard for many families to keep getting free reading material until public libraries reopen. Wing's library book delivery service is available to any of the roughly 600 students in the district who live in the delivery area. They won't have to return the books until school starts up again in the fall, Passek said.

"I'm hoping that we get our students that are already readers and students who are thinking its going to be really excellent to get books delivered by drone," she said.
Bloom Intelligence is the best-in-class marketing and customer intelligence platform. The addition of SuperFi enables us to extend our reach and better serve our customers, while complementing our strategy that is focused on innovation and expansion, said Robin Johnston, COO of Bloom Intelligence.

Bloom Intelligence announced today it has successfully acquired SuperFi, a WiFi marketing company that provides professional email marketing services with advanced segmentation and analytics. As a leading enterprise omni-channel WiFi marketing and customer intelligence platform for brick-and-mortar locations, Bloom Intelligences most recent purchase advances its expansion by fueling the companys growth. Bloom previously acquired Omaha, Nebraska-based Gazella WiFi, Inc., a WiFi marketing and analytics platform for digital agencies, in December 2019.

Joining forces with Bloom Intelligence is an excellent opportunity as we share the same vision which is to establish a large global footprint, said Bryce Kaspar, CEO of SuperFi. Were excited about the future and were well positioned to achieve the powerful common goal of growth and continued client success.

The addition of SuperFi enables us to extend our reach and better serve our customers, while complementing our strategy that is focused on innovation and expansion, said Robin Johnston, COO of Bloom Intelligence. This investment represents our continued commitment to building a world class analytics and marketing platform for physical locations.

Blooms most recent acquisition of SuperFi continues to fulfill its leadership strategy of conquering the WiFi marketing space by creating exceptional digital relationships between physical locations and their customers. This singular focus has allowed Bloom to create a world class enterprise analytics and marketing platform that saves at-risk customers, builds and manages online reviews, while increasing customers frequency.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

About SuperFi

Jacksonville, Florida-based SuperFi is a WiFi marketing company that provides professional email marketing services with advanced segmentation and analytics. It makes affordable business WiFi easy and allows companies to gain emails, get expert email marketing, increase reviews, give loyalty offers and benefit from advanced WiFi analytics. Visit https://getsuperfi.com/ for more information.

About Bloom Intelligence

Bloom Intelligence is the best-in-class marketing and customer intelligence platform. It helps brick-and-mortar locations collect and clean customer data across platforms to create customer profiles which are used to understand customer behavior, personalize a customers experience, save at-risk customers, build online reviews, and increase customers frequency. Visit https://bloomintelligence.com to learn more.

Media Contact for Bloom Intelligence

Ria Romano, Partner

RPR Public Relations, Inc.

Tel. 786-290-6413


Current U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco departs the U.S. Supreme Court after a 2016 case in Washington

By Jan Wolfe and Sarah N. Lynch

(Reuters) - The U.S. government's top advocate before the Supreme Court, Noel Francisco, who defended President Donald Trump's policies, including the travel ban on people from mainly Muslim countries, is expected to resign, according to a person familiar with his plans.

That would mark the second departure of a senior Justice Department official in two days, following Wednesday's news that the top prosecutor overseeing its criminal division, Brian Benczkowski, is leaving his post early next month.

The Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr have faced criticism for recent moves seen as prioritizing Trump's close friends and allies, including its ongoing effort to drop a criminal charge against Michael Flynn a former top adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Since 2017, Francisco has led the Office of the Solicitor General, a division of the Justice Department that defends government policies against legal challenges.

Francisco, like Benczkowski, had been planning to leave his post this summer for quite some time, according to the person familiar with his plans, who asked to remain anonymous because it has not been publicly announced yet.

Franciscos top deputy, Jeff Wall, is expected to serve as acting solicitor general while the White House searches for a replacement, the person added.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Francisco's planned departure comes as the Supreme Court nears the end of a term that began in October 2019.

Francisco won a notable victory in defending Trumps travel ban on people from six predominantly Muslim countries entering the United States, which the court upheld in 2018 in a 5-4 decision.

Francisco also argued in favor of Trump's bid to dismantle a program that protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants - dubbed "Dreamers" - who entered the United States illegally as children. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in that case in the next month.

Story continues

Francisco is a longtime Washington lawyer with strong conservative credentials.

The 50-year-old, who is of Filipino descent, is the first Asian-American to hold the job of solicitor general.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Truro, Massachusetts, and Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)
Uber and Lyft drivers are classified as employees, the California Public Utilities Commission has officially ruled. The regulator, which oversees ride-hailing companies, declared its decision in an order published on Tuesday. It said a person providing labor or services for remuneration shall be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor under AB5, the states new law covering gig work, which became effective on January 1st, 2020.

In its order, the Commission mentioned that Uber filed a lawsuit in federal court to prevent its drivers from being classified as employees under AB5. It also noted that Uber and Lyft successfully placed on the November 2020 ballot a measure that would exclude all app-based drivers from AB5. The lawsuit and ballot dont affect the Commissions authority over ride-hailing services, though, so their drivers are presumed to be employees. That means the regulator must ensure that ride-hailing services comply with those requirements that are applicable to the employees of an entity subject to the Commissions jurisdiction.

Just last week, the regulator also warned the companies that they have to provide workers compensation for their employees by July 1st. If they dont comply, it could revoke their operating authority under state law. As NBC News notes, its unclear if this ruling can compel Uber and Lyft to formally reclassify their drivers. In a statement sent to the organization, Uber spokesperson Davis White said it remains committed to expanded benefits and protections to drivers. However, he also said that:

If California regulators force rideshare companies to change their business model it would affect our ability to provide reliable and affordable services, along with threatening access to this essential work Californians depend on.

As for Lyft, a spokesperson simply told NBC News that the commissions presumption is flawed.
In a move marking the second collaboration between the UK and Australian ViacomCBS-owned free-to-air broadcasters, Channel 5 and Network 10 are to co-fund the production of a new eight-part series, The Royals Revealed.





Produced by UK indie Back2back Productions and will be deficit financed by Parade Media Group, the series will take viewers on a journey through all aspects of the British Monarchy, past and present. Focussed on the most influential Royal family members, the series will unpick their personal stories to explore what the producers says are the bigger issues at the heart of the monarchy.It will aim to examine the tension between love and duty, the changing face of the monarchy and the private side of the family, the series will bring fresh perspectives to key events and relationships. The series is set to air on both networks later this year.The British Monarchy is an endlessly fascinating subject, evidenced by the success weve had so far on Channel 5 with our other royal strands. Being able to provide a fresh angle on some of the best-known royal events and sagas is something we know will appeal to our audience, commented Cherry Yeandle, senior manager, acquisitions and co-productions, Channel 5. The project is also enabling us to build on our relationship and synergies with Network 10 in Australia. Back2back Productions founder/managing director, David Notman-Watt added: We are delighted to be partnering up with Parade Media Group, on The Royals Revealed, an ambitious and timely series that will shed new light on some of the most important events in recent Royal history.Channel 5 and Network 10s announced their first joint co-funded production in the form of a scripted mini-series in December 2019.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV:CCE)(FSE:D7H) (the "Company" or "Commerce") is pleased to provide an update on the Phase II development work on the Ashram Project's fluorspar by-product with the objective to produce saleable acid-spar concentrate. The flowsheet development is being carried out by Hazen Research, CO, USA.

The Phase I work focused on demonstrating the process methodology and resulted in an upgrade of the deposit's fluorspar head-grade (~7.5% CaF 2 ) to a concentrate of greater than 97% CaF 2 (see news release dated February 28, 2020). A grade of at least 97% CaF2 is the typical base fluorspar content for saleable acid-grade product, assuming the appropriate tolerances for impurities have been met.

The Phase II test work will utilize standard physical separation techniques for impurity removal to achieve the desired specification, and will use concentrates produced by way of the flowsheet developed in Phase I. This will include rougher flotation and magnetic separation to reject mineral impurities (sulphides, carbonates, apatite, and monazite). Target specifications for several of the typical acid-spar impurities have already been achieved and include SiO2, Al2O3, Cl, Be, and Cd.

The recovery of fluorspar as a by-product from the Ashram Deposit has been approached as a secondary objective to the primary rare earth element ("REE") recovery. As such, the overall flowsheet does not require a complicated secondary recovery circuit for fluorspar. Instead, a front-end "bolt on" circuit (as described above), using simple and conventional methods, will be utilized to recover the coarser and more liberated fluorspar grains before entering the primary REE recovery circuit. The majority of the remaining fluorspar will later be recovered passively as a tailings stream in the primary REE recovery flowsheet. As the reject fractions of Phase II's fluorspar concentrate will enter the REE recovery circuit, the loss of REEs due to fluorspar recovery is expected to be less than 0.5%.

In addition to being one of the largest rare earth deposits globally, the Ashram Deposit is also one of the largest fluorspar deposits globally. The production of REEs and fluorspar are currently dominated by China, placing Ashram in a unique position to potentially address the supply concerns of these two critical commodities.

In addition to today's news, the Company would like to remind its shareholders and stakeholders that they are invited to attend a Zoom meeting with Chris Grove (President) and Darren Smith (Ashram Project Manager).

This is an excellent opportunity for shareholders and interested investors to ask questions in order to gain a more detailed understanding of the important work currently underway towards PFS completion.

To join the online meeting, simply click the below link on Thursday, June 11, 2020 beginning at:

8:00 AM Vancouver time (PST)

11:00 AM Toronto time (EST)

5:00 PM Frankfurt time (CET)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4114438947?pwd=Zm8raXFjbmgxaDAvMXRla2V2R1dudz09

Meeting ID: 411 443 8947

Password: 561595

Fluorspar Market

Fluorspar is an essential raw material to the steel, aluminum, and chemical industries and is consumed during use and therefore cannot be recycled, resulting in new production being required over time to meet global demand.

Acid-spar (>97% CaF 2 ), accounting for roughly two-thirds of the market, is primarily used to manufacture hydrofluoric acid (HF) and subsequent fluorochemicals, which are used in a variety of modern consumer products including an estimated half of all new medicines (Roskill, 2019). Acid-spar is also used in the production of aluminum metal, to reduce process temperatures and energy consumption, and is also a key raw ingredient of materials used in enhancing the operational performance of lithium-ion batteries.

Met-spar (>60% CaF 2 ), accounting for roughly one-third of the global fluorspar market, is primarily used as a flux in the steel making process to lower the melting temperature, as well as to reduce slag viscosity and remove impurities. Met-spar is also used as a flux in the cement industry to speed up the calcination process.

Similar to the prevailing dynamics for rare earth elements, China was historically the largest exporter of fluorspar. However, in the last 3 years, China has become a net importer. This has caused significant price appreciation for fluorspar, and market interest from industry in new sources.

NI 43-101 Disclosure

Darren L. Smith, M.Sc., P.Geo., Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd., a Permit holder with the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

About Commerce Resources Corp.

Commerce Resources Corp. is an exploration and development company with a particular focus on deposits of rare metals and rare earth elements. The Company is focused on the development of its Ashram Rare Earth Element Deposit in Quebec and the Upper Fir Tantalum-Niobium Deposit in British Columbia.

For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.commerceresources.com or email info@commerceresources.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

COMMERCE RESOURCES CORP.

"Chris Grove"

Chris Grove

President and Director

Tel: 604.484.2700

Email: cgrove@commerceresources.com

Web: http://www.commerceresources.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information which is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this press release include that the majority of the remaining fluorspar will later be recovered passively as a tailings stream in the primary REE recovery flowsheet; As the reject fractions of Phase II's fluorspar concentrate will enter the REE recovery circuit, the loss of REEs due to fluorspar recovery is expected to be less than 0.5%.. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Risks that could change or prevent these statements from coming to fruition include changing costs for mining and processing; increased capital costs; the timing and content of upcoming work programs; geological interpretations based on drilling that may change with more detailed information; potential process methods and mineral recoveries assumption based on limited test work and by comparison to what are considered analogous deposits that with further test work may not be comparable; testing of our process may not prove successful and even it tests are successful, the economic and other outcomes may not be as expected; the availability of labour, equipment and markets for the products produced; and despite the current expected viability of the project, conditions changing such that the minerals on our property cannot be economically mined, or that the required permits to build and operate the envisaged mine can be obtained. The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Commerce Resources Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593514/Commerce-Resources-Corp-Updates-Impurity-Removal-Program-to-Achieve-Final-Acid-spar-Spec-Ashram-Deposit-Quebec
The British Business Bank (BBB) has had to grow up very fast in the pandemic. Marginal at best until lockdown, it was thrust to centre stage when Chancellor Rishi Sunak rolled out assistance for small and medium sized firms.

It is also the keeper of the Future Fund, which will provide up to 250million of loans to cash-strapped, mainly innovative enterprises, that will convert into equity if there are repayment issues.

An early change of leadership in the midst of the Covid-19 response, with chief executive Keith Morgan stepping down, does not suggest great confidence in his stewardship in Whitehall or among the banks.

The British Business Bank was thrust to centre stage when Chancellor Rishi Sunak rolled out assistance for small and medium sized firms

The BBB failed miserably at first with the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) when its clunky systems failed to match up with the commercial banks'.

To solve the problem, Sunak came up with the Bounce Back scheme for the smallest enterprises and, eventually, the 100 per cent bank indemnity against losses.

BBB rose to the challenge and in the 11 weeks of lockdown helped to push through 35billion of loans to 830,000 firms.

Its bureaucratic response has been contrasted with the swift interventions by the more developed Small Business Administration (SBA) in the US and Germany's KfW, which together managed to dish out loans in billions of pounds (trillions in the case of the SBA) in super-quick time.

Interim leadership passes to Catherine Lewis La Torre. She, along with Alison Rose, at RBS, and Debbie Crosbie, at TSB, becomes the third woman to head a financial group at the heart of the UK's recovery hopes. Lewis La Torre currently runs the BBB's two commercial lending offshoots.

The Business Bank has a big role to play in Britain's escape from the pandemic scarring. It will need the very smartest of commercial leadership if the taxpayer is not to be short-changed.

China syndrome

Commercial relations with China will be critical to Britain's post-Brexit, post Covid-19 future. It is strange to see the very same voices who robustly supported the UK's divorce from the EU, under the slogan 'Global Britain' now demanding the country curtails dealings with Beijing.

A distinction must be drawn between dealings with China which impinge directly on the City and Hong Kong and those that pose potential national security threats.

One suspects the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would not be directly targeting HSBC for criticism were Bank of America or JP Morgan principal financial players in Hong Kong marshalling trillions of dollars of transactions.

It is easy sitting in Washington, or at the desk of Aviva's governance guru David Cumming, to tell HSBC that it was wrong to express support for China's new security law.

In doing its 'kowtow' HSBC had to think about the impact on staff across greater China and investors in Hong Kong and London, many of whom will own HSBC through pension funds.

All manner of Western companies are dependent on collaborating with China. But few have as deep roots as HSBC. It is after all in the name: Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Telecoms group Huawei and Chinese participation in next-generation UK nuclear plants represent a different threat.

Vodafone has a powerful case for supporting Huawei and warns of having to tear down already-built facilities and slowing the 5G transformation.

But allowing information-thirsty Chinese entities access to our telephone networks is a step too far.

Similarly, the idea of China as a direct participant in nuclear power generation is alarming. Realpolitik caused HSBC and Standard Chartered to support tougher security in Hong Kong.

The sharp rise in HSBC shares since its intervention tells a story that we can all understand.

Handy Andy

It must feel like old times for Restaurant Group boss Andy Hornby.

In the financial crisis he crashed the hopes and dreams of investors and employees at HBOS when it was rescued by Lloyds Bank and the Government.

Now, as the boss of the owner of Frankie & Benny's, he is placing the chain in voluntary liquidation, closing 125 outlets and 3,000 jobs are on the line.

Doubtless Hornby, still under investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority, will be fine.

Isn't life grand?
ALTON  YWCA is accepting gently used clothing, shoes, purses, toys and small household items 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through June 17 for a pop up thrift store.

Donations will be accepted at the YWCA entrance on Alton Avenue between East 3rd and 4th streets. Soiled or damaged items will not be accepted.
Interpol has reportedly busted popular Nigerian Instagram celebrity Raymond Igbalodely, also known as Hushpuppi.

Hushpuppi was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday at the United Arab Emirates, according to Nigerias Daily Mail reports.

He was alleged to have been nabbed after allegedly diverting coronavirus funds up to the tune of $35 million.

The real estate agent and his alleged fraud syndicate were said to have been on the radar of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) for a while now.

However, some Nigerians have expressed their different opinions on the reported arrest of Hushpuppi.

I'm happy that Hushpuppi has been caught. A lot of young people wanted his levels of questionable wealth, at least, now they know there are consequences, one @aproko_doctor tweeted.

Did you think his money was legit? If you do, I have one cream to sell to you that enlarges your penis with one single rub, another concerned Nigerian added.

Another Twitter user @Tee_Classiquem1 had a different opinion saying, Everyone wants to drag Hushpuppi because we already paint a narrative in our minds that he's a fraudster even before this day, the sugar daddy that sleeps with you, do you know his source of income? The chief that you befriend on your street, do you know how he's making his cash?
The microfibers the researchers collected were consistent with the kinds of textiles used in making clothing and in producing carpeting and industrial coatings, as well as outdoor gear like tents and waterproof clothing. That means emissions from park users may contribute to the observed deposition rates, particularly in national parks with high visitation rates, though the researchers concluded that those sources did not produce a large portion of the overall samples.

Chelsea M. Rochman, an assistant professor of ecology at the University of Toronto who co-authored an accompanying commentary to the new study, said in an interview that the paper was not the first to show microplastics in atmospheric deposition, or even the atmospheric deposition of microplastics to remote places. But she added that the researchers seemed to be the first to ask through their research, the basic science question: why and how is this happening.

The commentary stated that the idea of plastic in rain is the kind of discovery that can strain ones imagination.

Understand the Latest News on Climate Change Card 1 of 3 Hitting a wall Some Democrats want to forge ahead with a stand-alone climate bill, but their solution could mean abandoning other parts of President Bidens agenda. Climate health risks The first nationwide study on rising temperatures and younger Americans found that hotter days were associated with more visits to emergency rooms. The Tonga volcano The explosion probably wont cool the planet as some previous eruptions have done, but it could affect weather in the short term.





Dr. Brahney added that the phenomenon could contribute to environmental disruption of microbial communities and cause broader ecological damage. Humans could be at risk, as well, she said; The presence of so many fine particles in the air means were breathing it, too. The health effects of taking in plastic particles is not well known, though the sizes of the particles detected are consistent with the size of those that accumulate in lung tissue, she said.
Hyderabad, June 11 : In a major goof-up, authorities at state-run Gandhi Hospital here handed over the body of a man who died of Covid-19 to another family which performed the last rites.

The incident came to light on Thursday after relatives of a 37-year-old man, who had succumbed at the hospital on Wednesday, found that his body was missing.

The frantic search involving police led to shocking revelation that his body was handed over to the family of another man, who too had died of Covid-19. The burial took place at Pahadi Shareef on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Wednesday.

The 37-year-old died in the early hours of Wednesday. "The hospital staff called us to identify the body but it was not there. We kept searching all over the hospital with the help of police and today, we came to know that the body was handed over to another family and they performed the last rites," a relative of the deceased told IANS.

The family of the other deceased was called back to the hospital on Thursday and it was found that the body of their relative was still lying in the mortuary. After taking the consent of the relatives of the 37-year-old man, the body was handed over to them.

"My uncle was 37 while the other man who had passed away was 40. Since they were almost of the same age and built, the other family probably mistook it for the body of their relative," he said.

"The entire incident is very shocking for us. We are planning to lodge a complaint against the hospital administration," he said.

This is the latest in a series of controversies to hit Gandhi Hospital, the state nodal centre for treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Two days ago, hospital authorities had handed over somebody else's body to a family who had lost their relative to Covid-19.

The incident had come to light when the body of the 48-year-old was brought to a graveyard in Begumpet area and his wife who was called to have a last look at the body realized that it was someone else. It led to a heated argument between the family and the police and officials of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

The body was then shifted back to Gandhi Hospital and after a search, the family found the body of their relative.

Earlier, a woman claimed that her husband went missing from Gandhi Hospital where he was admitted for treatment of Covid-19. The hospital authorities, however, said he had died while undergoing treatment and he was cremated by the GHMC as no one from the family came forward to receive the body.

The woman and her two daughters, who were also under treatment at the same hospital, claimed after their discharge that no one from the family was informed about his death. The woman last week approached the Telangana High Court seeking a probe.

Last month, authorities at a government hospital in Kurnool town of Andhra Pradesh had swapped the body of a Covid patient with a non-Covid patient.

The issue came to light when relatives of a 66-year-old man found that the body of someone else was handed over to them. The investigation revealed that they were given the mortal remains of another man who had died of Covid-19 at the same hospital. The 66-year-old was cremated as per the protocol meant for the last rites of those succumbing to Covid-19.
Hamidou, 14, an internally displaced Burkinabe, pictured in Kaya, Burkina Faso, February 2020.  UNHCR/Sylvain Cherkaoui

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency is alarmed over escalating violence in the Sahel region which has seen hundreds of innocent civilians targeted in recent weeks, triggered more displacement and is seriously hindering humanitarian activities.

Attacks by armed groups and ensuing counter-security operations have led to more people fleeing their homes for security and put even more pressure on stretched host communities, already facing immense hardship from dealing with those displaced, often relatives from previous violence.

The latest attack on the Binedama village in central Malis volatile Mopti region, on June 5, killed 26 civilians.

Armed groups also targeted a refugee hosting area at Intikane in western Niger and killed two refugee leaders and one leader from the local community on 31 May. This resulted in more than 10,000 people seeking shelter further inland around Telemces where UNHCR and partners have assisted in the rapid provision of some 1,180 temporary shelters. Nevertheless, living conditions there are deplorable with water and health major concerns.

The continuing attacks on civilians in the Sahel which have crippled life in the border towns and areas are unfathomable, incomprehensible. People are being displaced multiple times and are in desperate need of our help. We are doing the best we can to bring in assistance inspite of the challenging times said Millicent Mutuli, UNHCRs Regional Director for West and Central Africa, in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and some of the limitations which arise from the response.

Refugees finding themselves in the Liptako-Gourma, the border triangle where Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger converge, are seeking safety in areas that are also plagued by violence and poverty. Many have been displaced several times.

In response, UNHCR has provided shelter assistance to over 25,000 families and aims to conclude the distribution of relief items to 16,500 families by the end June 2020. However, humanitarian activities are seriously hampered by escalating insecurity, the impact of COVID-19 and a lack of adequate resources.

Since an initial outbreak in northern Mali in 2011, armed conflict has spread to central Mali, to Niger, to Burkina Faso.

Now one of the fastest growing displacement crises in the world, millions have fled indiscriminate attacks by armed groups against civilians such as summary executions, the widespread use of rape against women, and attacks against state institutions, including schools and health facilities.

In Burkina Faso in particular, the number of IDPs rose from 560,000 in early February to 848,000 at the end of April, representing 288,000 additional people in approximately three months.

The humanitarian situation is extremely dire in the central Sahel. Displaced families live in overcrowded sites, access to basic services is minimal and we are racing against time to scale up our response in the face of new needs growing faster than available resources, UNHCRs Mutuli added.

To highlight the immense needs in the region and continue the ongoing response to the deepening crisis, UNHCR will be launching its Sahel Crisis Appeal this Friday, 12 June.

UNHCR staff working with partners and the authorities in the region are assisting desperate populations, but increased insecurity and COVID-19 measures mean our ability to reach all in need in the remote parts of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali is extremely challenging.

All three countries have weak social infrastructures, which means shelter, food, health and delivery of water to refugees and displaced people remains a priority. Many arrive without any belongings and welcomed by host communities  which despite their generous welcome are at a breaking point and need support to survive.

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A man aged 20 who was shot in west London and died while screaming 'help me' has been pictured for the first time.

Alexander Kareem was found with gunshot wounds in Shepherds Bush at 12.40am on Monday.

Despite desperate attempts to save him from onlookers and paramedics, he died at the scene, sparking the 50th murder probe in the capital this year.

Witnesses said they heard someone screaming 'help me, help me' in the wake of the shooting.

It is believed Alexander had visited a convenience store and was walking towards his home, also in Shepherds Bush, when he was shot.

A white Range Rover, seen in the area before the shooting and later found burned out nearby, is being traced by police as 'a key line of inquiry'.

Detectives would also like to hear from anyone who may have captured either the shooting or the Range Rover on dash cam. No arrests have yet been made.

Alexander Kareem was found with gunshot wounds in Shepherds Bush, west London at 12.40am on Monday and died at the scene

Mr Kareem's killing was initially counted as the 48th London murder of the year. However, two deaths of two sisters in Wembley on Sunday have since been upgraded to murder.

A 69-year-old resident in Shepherds Bush, who did not want to be named, said she was laying in bed at about 12:30am when she heard 'two or three' gunshots before Mr Kareem was found.

'I heard shots and somebody calling 'help me, help me',' she said. The woman called the police and watched the nearby scene from a window.

She said: 'I saw a man laying in the street, sort of in the gutter in front of the bus stop, and several cars had stopped and the people were trying to help and one of them was trying to give CPR.'

The woman was later informed by police officers knocking at her door that the victim had died.

The local resident said the incident 'didn't make me feel that I'm in danger'. She added: 'I'm concerned that this happened, it's terrible for somebody to be killed.'

A 42-year-old mother-of-two, who did not want to be named and who lives close to the spot where the man was fatally shot, said it was a 'strange and traumatic experience' for it to happen so close to home.

She had been falling asleep when she heard a noise and looked outside to see a man lying on the ground being helped. Only later was she told he had been shot and died.

A white Range Rover Evoque that was seen in the area where Mr Kareem was shot dead

Police investigate in Shepherds Bush, West London, on Monday morning after a man was shot dead

The victim was gunned down in Shepherds Bush at 12.40am and pronounced dead at 1.26am

LONDON MURDERS 2020 Where the 50 murders across the capital this year have happened William Algar, 53, Jan-03, Barnes

Takieddine Boudhane, 30, Jan-03, Finsbury Park

Krasimir Kartikov, 60, Jan-13, Croydon

Harinder Kumar, 22, Jan-19, Seven Kings

Narinder Singh, 26, Jan-19, Seven Kings

Baljit Singh, 34, Jan-19, Seven Kings

Tahereh Pirali-Dashti, 40, Jan-20, Barnet

Beverley Denahy, 61, Jan-22, Chingford

Unnamed man, 60s, Jan-24, Clapton

Louis Johnson, 16, Jan-27, Croydon

Eraj Seifi, 46, Jan-29, Queens Park

Unnamed man, 33, Feb-12, North Finchley

James Dowdell, 54, Feb-17, Chelsea

Sundeep Ghuman, 36, Feb-18, Thamesmead

Lennox Nigel Alcendor, 42, Feb-21, Cricklewood

Li-Qing Wang, 35, Feb-25, Waltham Forest

Tyler Roye, 24, Feb-26, Croydon

Archie Beston, 19, Feb-29, Kingston

Asante Campbell, 24, Feb-29, Hendon

Shanur Ahmed, 16, Mar-03, Newham

Ricardo Fuller, 24, Mar-07, Ilford

Vanita Nowell, 68, Mar-08, Southwark

Damani Mauge, 17, Mar-08, Croydon

Cameron Murfitt, 18, Mar-15, Greenwich

Tracey Kidd, 57, Mar-17, Hackney

Shadika Mohsin Patel, 40, Mar-19, Newham

Abdullahi Mahmoud, 29, Mar-19, Enfield

Stefan Melnyk, 54, Mar-22, Acton

Kelly Stewart, 41, Mar-26, Barking

Tomas Macionis, 35, Mar-31, Walthamstow

Sonia Teresa Burton Calvi, 56, Apr-01, Stockwell

Edgar Aguilera Daza, 59, Apr-01, Stockwell

Maryan Ismail, 57, Apr-06, Edmonton

Ralph Gibson, 42, Apr-15, Putney

Denise Michelle Keane-Barnett-Simmons, 26, Apr-16, Brent

Mark Baker, 62, Apr-19, Walthamstow

Jay John, 27, Apr-25, Hackney

Baljit Singh, 37, Apr-25, Hayes

Pavinya Nithiyakumar, 1, Apr-26, Ilford

Nigish Nithiyakumar, 3, Apr-26, Ilford

David Gomoh, 24, Apr-26, Newham

Anthony Rooks, 79, May-04, Holloway

Yonas Haile, 32, May-05, Hammersmith

Francois Kablan, 19, May-13, Southwark

Jemal Ebrahim, 23, May-13, Haringey

Chad Gordon, 27, May-18, Haringey

Oluwamayowa Adeymi, 21, Jun-05, Hackney

Nicole Smallman, 27, Jun-07, Wembley

Bibaa Henry, 46, Jun-07, Wembley

Alexander Kareem, 20, Jun-08, Shepherd's Bush



WHERE THE 50 MURDERS IN LONDON DURING 2020 HAVE BEEN COMMITTED # NAME AGE DATE INCIDENT TIME STREET LOCATION 1 William Algar 53 Jan-03 4.57pm Nowell Road Barnes 2 Takieddine Boudhane 30 Jan-03 6.50pm Charteris Road Finsbury Park 3 Krasimir Kartikov 60 Jan-13 8.50am Whitehorse Road Croydon 4 Harinder Kumar 22 Jan-19 7.38pm Elmstead Road Seven Kings 5 Narinder Singh 26 Jan-19 7.38pm Elmstead Road Seven Kings 6 Baljit Singh 34 Jan-19 7.38pm Elmstead Road Seven Kings 7 Tahereh Pirali-Dashti 40 Jan-20 11.50am Henlys Corner Barnet 8 Beverley Denahy 61 Jan-22 11.35pm Waverley Avenue Chingford 9 Unnamed man 60s Jan-24 11.29pm Mount Pleasant Lane Clapton 10 Louis Johnson 16 Jan-27 4.45pm East Croydon station Croydon 11 Eraj Seifi 46 Jan-29 2.44pm Bravington Road Queens Park 12 Unnamed man 33 Feb-12 3.20pm High Road North Finchley 13 James Dowdell 54 Feb-17 6.50pm St Marks Grove Chelsea 14 Sundeep Ghuman 36 Feb-18 8.00pm HMP Belmarsh Thamesmead 15 Lennox Nigel Alcendor 42 Feb-21 6.45am Anson Road Cricklewood 16 Li-Qing Wang 35 Feb-25 11.52am Magnolia Close Waltham Forest 17 Tyler Roye 24 Feb-26 0.15am Stroud Green Way Croydon 18 Archie Beston 19 Feb-29 3.40am Wood Street Kingston 19 Asante Campbell 24 Feb-29 9.00pm Parson Street Hendon 20 Shanur Ahmed 16 Mar-03 8.38am Atlantis Avenue Newham 21 Ricardo Fuller 24 Mar-07 5.05am Ilford High Road Ilford 22 Vanita Nowell 68 Mar-08 6.30am Blakes Road Southwark 23 Damani Mauge 17 Mar-08 8.30pm Whitehorse Lane Croydon 24 Cameron Murfitt 18 Mar-15 3.30pm Woolwich Common Greenwich 25 Tracey Kidd 57 Mar-17 4.45pm Charnwood Street Hackney 26 Shadika Mohsin Patel 40 Mar-19 12.45am Barking Road Newham 27 Abdullahi Mahmoud 29 Mar-19 4.35pm Hertford Road Enfield 28 Stefan Melnyk 54 Mar-22 12.50pm Salisbury Street Acton 29 Kelly Stewart 41 Mar-26 3.09pm Barking Road Barking 30 Tomas Macionis 35 Mar-31 10.55pm Alexandra Road Walthamstow 31 Sonia Teresa Burton Calvi 56 Apr-01 4.00pm Dorset Road Stockwell 32 Edgar Aguilera Daza 59 Apr-01 4.00pm Dorset Road Stockwell 33 Maryan Ismail 57 Apr-06 6.04pm Plevna Road Edmonton 34 Ralph Gibson 42 Apr-15 5.35pm Huntingfield Road Putney 35 Denise Michelle Keane-Barnett-Simmons 26 Apr-16 2.15am Alric Avenue Brent 36 Mark Baker 62 Apr-19 11.57pm Peacock Close Walthamstow 37 Jay John 27 Apr-25 12.25pm Trinity Close Hackney 38 Baljit Singh 37 Apr-25 10.56pm Station Road Hayes 39 Pavinya Nithiyakumar 1 Apr-26 5.30pm Aldborough Road North Ilford 40 Nigish Nithiyakumar 3 Apr-26 5.30pm Aldborough Road North Ilford 41 David Gomoh 24 Apr-26 10.25pm Freemasons Road Newham 42 Anthony Rooks 79 May-04 7.20pm Dalmeny Road Holloway 43 Yonas Haile 32 May-05 7.50pm Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith 44 Francois Kablan 19 May-13 5.28pm Great Dover Street Southwark 45 Jemal Ebrahim 23 May-13 8.13pm Russell Road Haringey 46 Chad Gordon 27 May-18 8.22pm Wiltshire Gardens Haringey 47 Oluwamayowa Adeymi 21 Jun-05 11.30pm Brackenfield Close Hackney 48 Nicole Smallman 27 Jun-07 1.08pm Slough Lane Wembley 49 Bibaa Henry 46 Jun-07 1.08pm Slough Lane Wembley 50 Alexander Kareem 20 Jun-08 0.40am Askew Road Shepherd's Bush

'A very traumatic experience I must say, I've never seen anything like that before,' she said.

The woman added: 'Probably what I heard was gunshots but I didn't realise it was that because I've never heard it before.'

She said the incident left her questioning 'how safe can you feel?'.

Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley, said: 'Alexander was just 20 years old when his life came to an end in such a tragic way. We are determined to bring those responsible for this unnecessary and terrifying violence to justice.

'We continue to appeal for witnesses who may have seen or heard what happened to come forward. The white Range Rover seen in the area and later found burned out is also a key part of the investigation.

'We send our heartfelt condolences to Alexander's family at this time.'

Any witnesses or anyone with any information should call 101 quoting CAD 224/08June, or tweet @MetCC.
Dimas Ardian | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Indonesia's ride-hailing start-up Gojek is helping small businesses in the country survive the ongoing economic crisis by moving online, and it wants to bridge the gap between them and global tech companies, a senior executive told CNBC. Gojek started in 2010 as a ride-hailing company in Indonesia and has since branched out into other business areas including food delivery, digital payments and logistics. It is now present across 207 cities in five Southeast Asian countries. Last week, Gojek said it secured funding from Facebook and PayPal  investments the company said would help ramp up its payments and financial services in Indonesia and the broader region. "When global companies want to come in into Indonesia and access the potential of the market, it's not like you can do some big enterprise deal," Aldi Haryopratomo, CEO of Gojek's payments business, GoPay, told CNBC in a recent interview. "Our market is comprised fundamentally of small and medium-sized businesses." Experts say for global tech companies to succeed in Southeast Asia, they require deep local knowledge of each market  something that Gojek can provide for Facebook.

Mass migration online

The coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 7 million people worldwide, has disproportionately affected many small business owners who saw their revenue sources dry up as more people stayed indoors  either voluntarily or due to state-mandated lockdowns. Haryopratomo explained that in Indonesia, the current situation has forced many business owners to move their brick-and-mortar businesses online  under normal circumstances, that might have taken tens of years, but the pandemic expedited the process.

The start-up said that over the past three months, around 100,000 micro, small and medium-sized businesses across the region that previously sold in physical stores moved online using Gojek's services and platform. In comparison, before the pandemic, that number was over 500,000 businesses in the last two years. Not all of the businesses moving online necessarily have the ability, or tools, to access large swathes of customers on the internet and accept a wide variety of digital payments. Gojek wants to provide that access through its own gamut of services, as well as its collaboration with global tech, according to Haryopratomo.

I can say we are in a really good position to continue to grow and really serve our merchant partners and drivers. Right now what's important is to make sure that you build the right foundations. Aldi Haryopratomo CEO, GoPay

"What we want to do, as Gojek and GoPay, is be that person that helps these merchants, or that organization ... that helps them get through this crisis  whether it's providing food delivery services for them, logistics services, payment services and even access to these platforms," he said. "These merchants want access to Google, Facebook, PayPal, and then we become the bridge between the small merchant on the street to some of the world's global tech companies," he added. Go-Jek is valued at $10 billion and has prominent backers, including Google, China's Tencent, and Singapore state investor Temasek.

Digital payments

The move from offline to online presents an opportunity for digital payments services to process more transactions. Forrester analyst Meng Liu said last week after Gojek's announcement that the payments sector in Southeast Asia, particularly in a large market like Indonesia, is still under-serviced and the opportunity is worth billions of dollars. Liu explained that Gojek would be able to embed Facebook's digital wallet on its platform, while the social media network will take the first steps to expand its payments and financial services to Indonesia, and even more broadly, to the region. Gojek's digital payment service, GoPay, is currently available only in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. About 50% of the transactions made on Gojek's platform in Indonesia are processed by GoPay while, more than half a million local retailers in the country accept it as a mode of payment in physical stores, according to Haryopratomo. In recent years, the start-up acquired a number of financial technology companies including payment gateway Midtrans and point of sales firm Moka.

Bike passengers wearing Helmet with Gojek logo. afif c. kusuma | iStock Editorial | Getty Images
A statue of Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell is to be temporarily removed from a spot in Dorset amid concerns it could be targeted by protesters as pressure to take down controversial monuments in parts of the UK grows.

Here we look at the history of the man behind the now world-famous Scouting movement and why he might be seen as contentious.

 Who was Robert Baden-Powell?

He was born in London in 1857, the son of an Oxford University professor, and was later awarded a scholarship to Charterhouse School.

It was there and during the summer holidays that he began to pick up skills and crafts as he enjoyed the great outdoors, according to the Scouts website, which described him as a young adventurer.

Lieutenant-General and Inspector General of Cavalry Robert Baden-Powell in 1909 (PA)

 What did he do after school?

The would-be Scout founder joined the Army, coming second in the entrance exam out of several hundred who applied, and was commissioned into the 13th Hussars, the Scout website notes.

He was a lieutenant general in the British Army in the late 19th century and trained his men with competitions and games to complement traditional Army training.

The highlight of his military career was the defence of the South African town of Mafeking during the Boer War.

Baden-Powell only had a few soldiers and used local boys to help with first aid, carry messages and run errands.

Boys at Robert Baden-Powells experimental camp on Brownsea Island in Dorset in August 1907 (PA)

 When did he start the Scouts?

When he returned home from South Africa, he realised boys in the UK could benefit from the same sort of activities as the boys in Mafeking and he organised an experimental camp at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, in August 1907.

He went on to write his ideas in a book called Scouting For Boys, published in 1908.

The movement got fully under way when boys organised themselves into groups and used Baden-Powells ideas in his book as the basis for camps, treks and other activities.

They persuaded adults to become their leaders and Scouting was born, initially for boys over 10 years of age.

Story continues

He retired from the Army in 1910 to focus on the Scouts.

 Where does the controversy come in?

The Baden-Powell statue in Poole Harbour, Dorset, where the Scout movement was started, had been targeted by campaigners due to his associations with the Nazis and the Hitler Youth programme, as well as his actions in the military.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council leader Vikki Slade said: Whilst famed for the creation of the Scouts, we also recognise that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powells life that are considered less worthy of commemoration.

The statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset (Andrew Matthews/PA)

In 2009 documents relating to an inquiry into the conduct of Baden-Powell during the execution of an African chief were sold at auction.

The papers suggest that he had ignored a pledge to spare the life of a leader of the 1896 Matabeleland rebellion.

Baden-Powell, who was tasked with protecting 3,000 farming settlers in what is now Zimbabwe, who had come under attack from rebels hiding in caves, was later cleared by the inquiry.

At the time the papers were sold, auctioneer Chris Albury said: What is striking is the black and white certainty of British Imperial justice in all this and the Boys Own sense of adventure in some of it.

It seems that Baden-Powell should not have tried and executed prisoners of war and one written statement used in the trial states that Uwini did surrender so was legally a prisoner of war rather than a captive subject to British mercy.

The character witness statements give a strong sense of the old school tie network banding together and making Baden-Powell a hero rather than a villain.

A group of Boy Scouts sitting around a camp fire in 1910 (PA)

In 2010 newly declassified MI5 files revealed that Lord Baden-Powell was invited to meet Adolf Hitler after holding friendly talks with Hartmann Lauterbacher, chief of staff of the Hitler Youth, about forming closer ties with the organisation.

A hand-written note on the MI5 file states: Lauterbachers visit was a success, especially his interviews with Baden-Powell leading to removal on bar on wearing uniforms in Germany for English groups.

There is no evidence that Baden-Powells meeting with Hitler ever took place.
Biblical Scholars and Comic Book Geeks have a similar skill set. I realised this when I began the biblical studies portion of my theological degree. I have never forgotten this, though I have struggled to explain it. Then I started reading a book about Batman and it all came into focus. This is a big one. Get ready.

The Great Bat Crusade

The Caped Crusade by Glen Weldon covers the many years of Batman in comics, movies, television and gaming. Weldon is the cue for my realisation of how my academic and geek worlds unite. For this we need to revisit the history of Batman on television. The groovy 1966 Batman played by Adam West.

West either ruined Batman or mildly poked fun at the source material. For the fans who had grown up reading Batman, West in his grey and blue tights, was heresy writ large. As Weldon writes (so many times) the majority of fans consider Batman to be a Badass!. In their minds Batman is not a civic-minded law abiding bat-dad. No. Batman is a violent, brooding, nightmare fuelled justice machine.

By 1966 the comic fans were already organising the many years of comics into a canon. Weldon uses the term Talmudic to describe the acts of these fervent fans. These were faithful readers seeking a consistent timeline to a serialised character that started in 1939. It is an act that began in bedrooms, fanzines, and, lives large on the internet.

The Biblical comparisons to comics when you consider the compilation of Christian Canon and the Scholarship that continues to this day are not that far removed. In most cases the similarities are incredibly uncanny.

Biblical Scholarship in the Christian setting is a lot of goyim (non-jews) analysing the written output of Jewish writers. Comic fandom is a lot of goyim reading and writing about the characters written and drawn by American Jews.

This is true for Batman. Kanes original name was Robert Kahn born of Eastern European Jewish immigrants like so many comic book creators. Superman (Siegel and Shuster), Captain America (Jack Kirby), The Fantastic Four, The Hulk (Jack Kirby and Stan Lee) and so many more. And that is just the historical similarity.

Reboots and Canon

Christianity is oft described as the worlds biggest book club. Christian biblical history is one of assembling and critique. Throughout Christian history there are those books that are questioned. Revelation is still questioned by many. Jewish texts like the Maccabees and Judith are ok for Catholics but not protestants. Then there are texts such as The Shepherd of Hermas which has been part of biblical canon only to be removed.

Comic canon shifts to the whims of commercial and editorial influences. DC comics (Batman and Supermans publisher) has since the 1980s rebooted their entire universe many times. These reboots or Crises were initially meant to bring order to a company that owned characters that originated from multiple publishers.

DC wanted to create a single universe. It did not last. The last few reboots were set to streamline the content, much in the way the protestant canon removed Jewish apocryphal texts. Merely cosmetic alteration or something else? I do often wonder.

Retcon and Documentary Hypothesis

Those who have studied biblical texts should know about the documentary hypothesis. J, P, E and D are the titles given to sources which have been charted through the Jewish text. Each letter describes a group who edited the text.

Sometimes they are subtle changes others are not. It can be spotted when one looks at the translated words used for G-d. Elohim, Adonai and Yhwh. It is a huge part of the scholarship as it charts the development of the text that has become the Jewish scriptures.

For comics and especially Batman redaction is regular. As Glen Weldon poses the changes for Batman follow a familiar path. Badass Loner, Genius Detective and Bat-Dad. Robin is killed. Robin comes back. Batman joins the Justice League. Batman goes off on his own. Rinse and repeat.

Contextual Discussions

The similar connections between comic and bible are more than just a realisation that literary scholarship is a huge part of Christianity. Because we need to see the contextual connections that this gives us. Connections that are derided by both geekdom and christianity.

You see it in the faces of people when you try to explain these parallels. Both comic book geek and devout christian will not want to see their texts muddied by the possibility that there could be connections between them. Which stymies the possibility of dialogue.

A certain dialogue has begun from those who read and write comics. A dialogue that is my favourite, and only, podcast. Apocrypals. Where two non-believers read through the bible and try not to be jerks about it. It is the perfect union where the fan and the faith collide. It could not fit me any better than it does.

Apocrypals and Teenage Peter

Benito Cerino and Chris Simms read through Christian and Jewish texts. Both write comics and are uber fans. In Glen Weldons Caped Crusade Chris is thanked for being the Batmanologist that he is. Benito writes at Grunge.com and is a Santa Fan. No, really, he is a huge fan of Santa Claus. Benito and Chris bring their love of story and their differing viewpoints with Benitos Literature and Latin studies and Chris curiosity and playfulness.

Listening to this podcast has brought for me a new love for those texts not in biblical canon. Also a new view of the characters in canon. In covering the gospels their view of Peter as a teenager just makes so much sense. Peters impetuous nature in the Gospels and the way in which he runs from crisis to success and crisis befits a younger man. Seriously just think about it.

The Challenge

Israel means he who wrestles with God. To truly engage with the text be it comics or scripture you must wrestle with it. To accept it without question is just as much of a problem as denying it. To begin a dialogue with others requires being able to accept that which is shared over that which divides us.

As people who believe we must rise to the challenge. Because like Jacob, we wrestle not just with man and a text but also with God. If we really believe that we have a message that is relevant. That brings change in ourselves and the world then we have to find ways to begin the dialogue. I have found this connection, where do you find yours?

The Caped Crusade: Batman and the rise of nerd culture. Written by Glen Weldon

Apocrypals posts new episode fortnightly. Next Release Monday June 1st 2020.

https://apocrypals.libsyn.com/

@Apocrypals on twitter

Bentio Cereno can be found on tumblr and if you want to twitter

https://benito-cereno.tumblr.com/

Chris Simms can be found online Chriss Invincible Superblog

http://www.the-isb.com/
The American leviathan swimming in the turbulent economic-political waters needs a Mark Chagall of our time to artistically decipher its image.

The agility of America is stunning. At will, it can stop its enormous  the world's largest  economy under the threat of COVID-19, and at will, it can restart it again, with a bang like the pop of a champagne cork. How else can one describe the recent unemployment drop and Dow rise in an almost V-shaped reversal after a deep economic/employment "kneeling" in the face of that invisible enemy?

The robust American economy is not the only one that can perform such a comeback trick  many of its people can, too. A few days ago, Jacob Frey, the liberal mayor of Minneapolis, took a "knee" at the coffin of a man who died while in police custody, George Floyd. Why he and other officials like him did not kneel or even mourn at the death of black police captain David Dorn from St. Louis, or other police officers killed by rampaging "protesters," is another question. Still, Frey demonstrated a little character when he resisted the irrational calls to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.

In addition, what about the captain of that leviathan called America, President Trump? By watching him through clouds of smoke at last week's pogrom-style protests, I saw a prophetic image. This impression was underscored by his sober posture while walking toward a burning church with a Bible in his hands. This vision resonates with the images of Moses, holding up the tablets of the Ten Commandments and facing his wayward followers, in the famous paintings of Marc Chagall. Among these symbolic images, there is also a place to honor the police officers, the selfless public servants, the overwhelming majority of whom will be there to help you and save you in critical situations. I have learned that experience a number of times.

In our humdrum daily life, as the world hustles and bustles around us, we oftentimes take for granted the unenviable but vital job of our police brothers; we tend to forget about the multiple challenges of the police profession that is disproportionally associated with the risk to life. In NYC, because of the latest riots, nearly 750 police were injured, some severely. While some corrections in the modus operandi of the police force may be overdue, they will probably have little effect on the black-on-black violence in some neighborhoods that even per leading black figures such as Shelby Steele from Stanford University or civil rights attorney Leo Terrell and others is the predominant source of black homicides. The grim statistics show that 96% of black homicide victims were killed by other blacks. Specifically, per this study, there were almost 6,000 blacks killed by other blacks in 2015. By contrast, only 258 blacks were killed by police gunfire that year.

The lives of police officers and their "customers" will be less safe if the cabal of leftists and extremists of various hues prevail in defunding police departments.

Val Dunaevsky, Ph.D., MSME is the author of the biographical/autobiographical memoir A Daughter of the 'Enemy of the People' (Xlibris, 2018) about life in the USSR in the middle of the last century.
The worldwide demand for cyber expertise at the business level has already begun to skyrocket. It is not an IT problem anymore; it is the number one business issue that must be addressed immediately.

Pace Universitys Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems https://www.pace.edu/seidenberg/ announced its new Cybersecurity Certificate Programs in conjunction with Cyber Intelligence 4U https://cyberintelu.com/about. The new programming is available in-person and online and can be tailored for individual and organizational needs.

The curriculum fills the gap between the business and technology perspectives and prepares students for new roles in cybersecurity that are needed across the organization. The programs include:



Enterprise Cybersecurity  Cybersecurity for non-technical roles

Executive Cybersecurity  C-Level and BoD use cases for effective cyber strategies

Offensive and Defensive  Gamified Challenges for the Security Team

Vendor Cyber Risk Management  For Vendor, Procurement and Cyber Managers

Cloud Security  Best practices for the Security Team

Mobile Security Best practices for the Security Team

Cybersecurity Sales  Transforming sales people into Trusted Cyber Advisors and providing Custom Sales Training

The worldwide demand for cyber expertise (https://www.pace.edu/seidenberg/cybersecurity) at the business level has already begun to skyrocket, said Jonathan Hill, Dean of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University. It is not an IT problem anymore; it is the number one business issue that must be addressed immediately.

We're excited to these offer cutting-edge courses at Pace, commented Faculty Chairperson and Cyber Expert Ariel Evans. We have over 4,000 graduates in the New York Tri-State area over the past two years. Course content is created and taught by unparalleled subject matter experts from leading companies.

Online cohorts are running through the summer, with fresh opportunities for students to participate available. The first in-person cohorts will be in fall 2020.

Pace University recently launched a Master of Science in Cybersecurity, beginning in fall 2020. https://www.pace.edu/seidenberg/cybersecurity-ms

To learn more about the program and partnership between Pace University and Cyber Intelligence 4 U, visit the Cybersecurity Certificate Programs page. https://pages.services/pacecertificateprogram.cyberintelu.com/pace-certificate-program/

About the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University

At Pace Universitys Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, students experience a best-of-breed technology education at one of the first comprehensive schools of computing in the nation. Strategically located in the heart of NYCs tech scene, the Seidenberg School places students on the doorstep of New Yorks most promising companies, whether they are established tech giants or exciting new start-ups. Through partnerships with leading corporations, banks, federal agencies, and global entities, the School's curricula and programs are designed to give students the latest in computer science theory and invaluable hands-on practice to ground it. The faculty includes numerous cybersecurity experts who operate labs and centers providing students with practical experience and connections that lead to impressive internships and jobs.

ABOUT Cyber Intelligence 4U

Cyber Intelligence 4U is an educational services company that provides cybersecurity educational programs that fill the gaps in traditional education to universities, organizations, and individuals. The mission of Cyber Intelligence 4U is to increase the cyber resiliency of organizations by training and developing the skills and knowledge of the individuals and enabling them to make strategic decisions regarding cybersecurity management. Cyber Intelligence 4Us intellectual property is based upon 3 years of research with the Fortune 1000 and cyber insurance industry and curriculum approaches cybersecurity risk from a business perspective. Cyber Intelligence 4Us Enterprise Cybersecurity Program has graduated over 4,000 students in under two years and is utilized at major universities and organizations worldwide. The technical program offerings provide cybersecurity training and workforce enhancement training for individuals to significantly augment their current cybersecurity skill level.
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A new virtual reality headset designed for mobility will serve as an entry point into a new virtual world, its maker announced Tuesday.

The US$599 Mova headset from XRSpace, founded by former HTC chief Peter Chou, will support 5G and be the exclusive on-ramp to Manova, a social reality platform that aims to defy the boundaries of space and time to bring people together.

Users can roam Manova as full-body avatars with a users personal features to socialize, work and play in a number of public and private spaces, according to XRSpace.

The battery-powered Mova headset is built around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. The unit comes in two colors, white and orange. It is 20 percent lighter than any other VR headset on the market, XRSpace claims.

It pairs a set of optical sensors with proprietary scanning technology that allows hand gestures to control objects and navigate virtual worlds.

Gestures are getting better and are a more natural way to control the headset, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research, a high-tech research and advisory firm based in Phoenix, Arizona.

XRSpace touts the absence of wires and controllers in its promotional material for Mova, but its likely that controllers will be introduced later to provide the more accurate control needed for some games and detailed work, he told TechNewsWorld.

Mova also has space scanning applications for creating real world physical locations inside the device.

Our mission is to bring people together through the power of 5G XR, surpassing the limited experience of smartphones today, Chou said. The singular goal of XRSpace is to take XR to the masses by redefining how people connect, socialize, and collaborate by simplifying the hardware and user experience.

Not Priced for Masses

There are some doubters about XRSpace taking virtual and augmented reality to the masses, considering the Movas $599 price tag.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

VR is already a niche market, said Tuong Nguyen, senior principal analyst atGartner, a research and advisory company based in Stamford, Connecticut.

Six hundred dollars will limit the headset to niche adopters, so XRSpace is going for a niche within a niche, he told TechNewsWorld. I dont expect it to get much traction.

VR is having a moment right now, as people look for new experiences due to the isolation wrought by the pandemic over the past few months, observed Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City.

However, that moment could be fleeting.

In general, it hasnt reached the mainstream, Rubin told TechNewsWorld. Part of that is due to price, so this is not going to be a democratizing headset.

Big Gamble

Introducing an expensive VR headset at this time could be risky business for XRSpace.

I think it is a big gamble. The trend is toward relatively less expensive headsets to hit more mainstream adoption price points, Krewell said.

Its a huge gamble to go with a new hardware release, maintained J. P. Gownder, principal analyst at Forrester Research, a market research company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Although the founder has a background in hardware at HTC, VR is a terribly tricky  and disappointing  market for consumers, he told TechNewsWorld. Oculus and HTC Vive have spent years honing their offerings and, as importantly, their relationships with developers.

Developers can make or break headset sales, Tirias Krewell noted.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

XRSpace has to face off with more established VR competitors who already have a pretty good library of content, he said. As weve seen with the launch of Half Life: Alyx, good content can drive more headset sales.

Made With Mobility in Mind

The addition of 5G to Movas repertoire may be a mixed bag for the device.

5G eventually will be a boon for virtual reality because it will deliver high bandwidth and massive collaborative experiences with low latency, Gartners Nguyen noted.

If you look at where we are in 5G, were barely getting started. Including 5G is reasonable, but how many people who buy the headset are going to be able to use 5G? he wondered.

Its hard to judge how 5G will appeal to consumers, said Krewell. 5G is just rolling out, but its important to the sales channels of the wireless carriers. The Mova headset may well be sold bundled with a 5G data plan subsidy.

The Mova clearly is designed with mobility in mind, observed David MacQueen, executive director for the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics, a research, advisory and analytics firm based in Newton, Massachusetts.

The inclusion of 5G and using gesture control as the default means you dont have to carry controllers around, he told TechNewsWorld.

AR, VR Convergence

Its unusual that Mova was launched with a single, consumer-focused application, suggested MacQueen.

The use-cases for VR which require mobility tend not to be consumer, and are more in the prosumer and enterprise areas, for uses such as drone control, he explained.

There is an opportunity for the headset with mobile carriers, MacQueen noted. Many carriers are looking to VR to demonstrate the benefits of 5G, and as one of the first headsets to feature VR connectivity, Mova could see some traction amongst carriers.

How the carriers position the device likely will depend on their local markets, he explained. In China, where home PC and console ownership is very low, and carriers often have well-developed consumer content plays, a standalone device with built-in connectivity may fare well. In North America and Western Europe, it might struggle as a consumer device.

The price point of the headset is high, MacQueen acknowledged, but the component cost must be relatively high, too. The 5G connectivity module is likely to be the main driver of the high price relative to the competition right now.

Many VR headsets will have 5G in the future, Rubin said.

It makes sense for augmented reality because that experience can take place anywhere, he pointed out.

For virtual reality, because its a more immersive experience that tends to take place in the confines of a room, 5G may not be as critical, Rubin said.

Its widely accepted by companies on both VR and AR sides of this technology that the two will converge, he continued.Today we think of VR as this thing where you have blinders on, and youre creating a world unto itself, whereas augmented reality takes place in the real world with overlays of digital objects. In the future, there will be more of a spectrum of experiences.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia said on Thursday its citizens would be barred from making the haj pilgrimage this year due to concerns over the new coronavirus, following in the steps of neighbouring Indonesia, which is also a Muslim-majority nation.

Every year Malaysia sends tens of thousands of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. Malaysian pilgrims can wait up to 20 years to make the trip due to a quota system negotiated with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has suspended the haj and umrah pilgrimages until further notice in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, though it has begun easing some restrictions on movement and travel.

Malaysia decided to bar citizens from making the haj this year due to the risks of contracting COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, and the lack of a vaccine to treat it, said Religious Affairs Minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri.

"I hope the pilgrims continue to be patient and accept the decision," Zulkifli told a new conference broadcast on national television.

In a separate statement, the Tabung Haji board - which manages savings plans for prospective pilgrims - said the decision would affect around 31,600 people selected to make the trip this year.

Malaysia has reported 8,369 new coronavirus cases so far, with 118 fatalities.

Last week Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, announced the cancellation of the haj for up to 221,000 pilgrims this year.

(Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Gareth Jones)
A Sweet Home man pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree sex abuse last week in Linn County Circuit Court.
New Delhi: Even as the Southwest monsoon is moving towards South India at its own pace, it has hit northern parts of Maharashtra on Thursday. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Southwest monsoon was predicted to hit northern parts of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

"Monsoon has arrived in Maharashtra today. Conditions are favourable for further advancement in some more parts of the state, in the next 48 hours," said KS Hosalikar, Dy Director General, IMD Mumbai. "Heavy rainfall is expected in Marathwada and central Maharashtra in the next 4-5 days," he added.

It has also stated that conditions are likely to become favorable subsequently for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of Maharashtra; remaining parts of Karnataka, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Bay of Bengal and northeastern states, entire Sikkim and some parts of Odisha and West Bengal during subsequent 24 hours.

"Conditions are becoming favourable for further advance of Southwest monsoon into some more parts of Central Arabian Sea, Goa; some parts of Maharashtra; some more parts of Karnataka and Rayalaseema; some parts of Telangana and Coastal Andhra Pradesh; some more parts of Central and North Bay of Bengal and some more parts of Northeastern states during next 48 hours," the IMD statement had said on Wednesday.

Heavy rains have been predicted in many districts of Maharashtra, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh during this time. Notably, several states including Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh are getting intermittent rains due to pre-monsoon activities.

It further stated that the SW Monsoon advanced into the remaining parts of Tamil Nadu, some more parts of west-central and north Bay of Bengal, adding that most parts of Mizoram and Manipur and Tripura and some parts of Assam and Nagaland.

The low-pressure area over East-central and adjoining Westcentral Bay of Bengal persists. The associated cyclonic circulation extending up to mid-tropospheric levels tilting southwestwards with height also persists. It is likely to move west-northwestwards and become well marked during the next 24 hours.
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Scott Morrison has sparked outrage by saying there was no slavery in Australia despite shocking images showing Aboriginal people in chains in the 19th century.

In an interview on Sydney radio 2GB, the Prime Minister was asked whether statues of Captain James Cook should be removed in response to a movement in the UK to topple monuments to slave traders.

He rejected the idea and said: 'It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia.'

Thousands of activists have pointed out that although slavery was never legal Down Under, convicts, Indigenous Australians and Pacific Islanders were all victims of forced labour.

Mr Morrison's critics said he should 'read a book' and shared images of chained-up Aboriginal people from a Western Australia state library collection which resurfaced earlier this year.

Scott Morrison has sparked outrage by saying there was no slavery in Australia despite shocking images showing Aboriginal people in chains in the 19th century

Shocking black and white photos show how aboriginal people were treated in 19th century Australia

Groups of Aboriginal men and boys are pictured chained together, standing or sitting, wearing just a cloth around their waist, as white policemen and 'Aboriginal trackers' stand beside them with four rifles

Aboriginal prisoners (pictured) were chained and forced to lay a railway near Derby, Western Australia, about 1897

The images show Aboriginal prisoners - many of whom were accused of petty crimes such as killing cattle - shackled with heavy chains around their necks, guarded by white men armed with rifles.

Sometimes police were paid per indigenous prisoner they caught and brought them into jail using chains. Some prisoners were put to work on boats while others were forced to lay railways.

Even Aboriginal people not accused of crimes were illegally used as unpaid labour until the 1970s, particularly in the agricultural industry, with only rations and a bed to show for their toil.

Last year the Queensland government agreed to pay 10,000 aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a total of $190million for wages unpaid between 1939 and 1972.

Before then, convicts shipped to Australia from Ireland and the UK were treated as slave labor. They were subject to 'assigned service' where they were leased out to rich landowners to use as a cheap workforce.

And from the mid-19th century, around 60,000 pacific islanders were illegally kidnapped from their homes and taken to Australia by colonialists who forced them to work on farms in a practice known as 'blackbirding'.

Emelda Davis, President of the Australian South Sea Islanders, wrote in a 2017 article for The Conversation: 'The treatment of the Islanders was atrocious, exploitative and akin to slavery.

'When plantation owners went bankrupt, the workers were transferred as an asset with the sold property.'

Some Aboriginal prisoners were put to work on a boat (pictured) while other prisoners were forced to lay railways

Police were paid per indigenous prisoner and cruelly brought them into jail using chains where they were forced to work

In early Australia, incarceration was used as a tool to weaken the Aboriginal people and were often arrested for petty crimes

The haunting collection of photographs shows Aboriginal people chained. This image was captioned 'Native Prisoners on N.2' and was taken in about 1930

A chilling image shows one lonely Aboriginal man (pictured) standing in chains as he leans against a tree with a piece corrugated iron at the stump of the tree as well as a hat and pile of cloth

Another image shows white man dressed in shirt and trousers holding a chain connected to two elderly Indigenous prisoners

Hundreds of Aboriginal prisoners were captured and chained, forced to work on many projects including laying rails

Author and historian Bruce Pascoe slammed the Prime Minister's comments.

He wrote: 'When you capture people, and put chains around their necks, and make them walk 300 kilometres and then set them to work on cattle stations, what's that called?'

'That's what happened in Western Australia and in the [Northern] Territory and in Queensland.'

'It doesn't matter what you call it. It's brutality and I think a lot of Australia are in denial about the real history of the country.'

Shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said: 'The Prime Minister's comments demonstrate a need for a greater understanding and awareness of our nation's history.

'We cannot achieve meaningful progress on matters such as Reconciliation if, as a nation, we are not aware of the historical context of the challenges we face in the present.

'One of the crucial elements of the Uluru Statement was a national process of truth-telling.'

Two white men are pictured with three horses, with one of them leading an aboriginal man by a chain to his neck

At least 20 Indigenous Australians were photographed standing in a shallow river, all chained together (pictured)

Haunting photos show the disturbing history and abuse of Aboriginal people in the early twentieth century (this picture was taken in 1930)

One decade ago, the declaration was passed to combat the discrimination, marginalisation and human rights violations of the 370 million Indigenous people living in more than seventy countries today

A line of Indigenous men were photographed at the turn of the century wearing chains during their transit to jail (pictured)
The Political Working Group discussed aspects related to the consolidation of the special status of certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Heidi Grau has updated on the outcome of the first TCG meeting in Minsk where Ukrainians representing Donbas participated.

"The meetings of the Trilateral Contact Group and its Working Groups were held through video conferencing," Grau said in a statement.

According to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, the number of ceasefire violations has considerably decreased since the previous TCG meeting two weeks ago.

"Besides assessing the general situation in the conflict zone, the Security Working Group considered issues related to disengagement of forces and hardware, including the identification of additional disengagement areas, as tasked by the Normandy Four leaders in Paris in December 2019," she said.

According to her, the Political Working Group discussed aspects related to the consolidation of the special status of certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (CADR and CALR) in the Ukrainian legislation.

Read alsoUkrainians representing Donbas to take part in Minsk talks on a regular basis  Zelensky's Office

"The modalities of local elections in CADR and CALR were also considered, as stipulated by the Minsk Agreements," she said.

The discussions of the Working Group on Humanitarian Issues focused on further mutual release and exchange of conflict-related detainees. The participants also discussed the issue of providing the necessary security guarantees for the preparatory works in view of the simultaneous opening of additional entry-exit crossing points (ECCPs) on the line of contact in Luhansk region.

Besides, the Working Group debated issues related to re-opening of existing ECCPs in the course of lifting restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"I welcome the sides' readiness re-open ECCPs, which is for the benefit of the population. I would like to emphasize that the relevant decisions shall be based on mutual understanding to ensure a smooth crossing of the line of contact," she said.

As agreed by the participants, the TCG meeting will continue on Monday, June 15.

As UNIAN reported earlier, a scheduled video conference of representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the OSCE took place on June 10. Representatives of certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Russia-occupied Donbas) were present as part of the Ukrainian delegation.

In particular, Ukrainian journalists Denys Kazansky and Sergiy Garmash acted on behalf of the certain areas of Donetsk region, while Chairman of NGO Luhanske Zemliatstvo (Luhansk Community) Vadym Goran and doctor Kostiantyn Libster represented the certain areas of Luhansk region.
Anunt de selectare a participantilor si participantelor la cel de-al doilea curs de instruire din cadrul Programului educational pentru dezvoltarea competentelor lucratorilor de tineret
Grant Hilliard, 58, is a sommelier who taught himself to butcher, then set up a boutique meat shop. His partner, graphic designer Laura Dalrymple, 56, later came on board. When she was hit by serious illness, their lives were thrown into chaos.

Laura Dalrymple and Grant Hilliard. "The only way to work together is to have our own territory. If we try to do the same things, theres blood on the walls," says Laura. Credit:Joshua Morris

GRANT: I grew up in suburban, middle-class Melbourne and left home at 19, working for a wildlife refuge in NSW and, later, in community cinema in Britain and as a life model in Japan. In 1989 I moved back to Melbourne, then Sydney, to study communications, majoring in film production.

Laura and I met after being set up at a mutual friends birthday in 1992. There was an attraction and we dated, in a coy way  so coy she thought I wasnt interested or was gay. But I felt, Im going to know you for years, so theres no rush. We moved in together in 1996.

I was studying part-time and working in restaurants. I developed a keen interest in wine and became a sommelier at Seans Panaroma in North Bondi. By 2003 Id begun sourcing produce such as garlic and olive oil for Seans. Around 2005 I heard a radio interview about Southdown lamb, which intrigued me. On the menu at Seans, the lamb dishes were the one thing not differentiated by breed. I wondered why, and this led me to sourcing Southdown lambs.
Hong Hong-keum and her husband examine ripening bananas at a greenhouse in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, June 9. Yonhap





Trees are laden with bananas at a greenhouse in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, June 9. Yonhap



By Jung Min-ho



Jeju Island was long considered the only warm-enough region in Korea for commercial banana farming, but climate change is now turning the mainland into a producer of the tropical fruit.



Hong Hong-keum, a farmer in Haenam, the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, told The Korea Times Wednesday that she and her husband are looking forward to their first  and Haenam's first  banana harvest next month.



They planted 470 banana trees last year to adapt themselves to "changing circumstances" as the impact of climate change on agriculture was felt among many farmers, she said.



According to the agricultural technology center in North Chungcheong Province, the number of people investing in banana farming has surged in recent years.



"There are about 40 banana farms in Korea, including two (at Cheongju and Chungju) in our region," Park Eui-kwang, a researcher at the center, said. "Another farmer in Jecheon recently contacted the center for support before starting banana farming later this year.



"Climate change is obviously affecting Korea's farming industry."



About 99.7 percent of all bananas consumed here are imported, mainly from the Philippines, and most of the rest is produced on Jeju. But with more farmers exploring the field, this soon could change.



The researcher says the commercial potential of "Korean bananas" is high as samples from there show a higher sugar content than that found in imported ones.



In 2015, the Rural Development Administration under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs set up a department dedicated to researching new agricultural and floricultural fields to prepare for the expected effects of climate change. Local governments across the country also offer support for farmers who break fresh ground in their businesses.



Papaya, another tropical fruit known for its sweet orange and juicy pulp, has been produced by farmers across the country, including in Andong, Gokseong and Miryang.





A farmer inspects ripening papayas at a greenhouse in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, Jan. 21. Yonhap







Lee Yong-kwon, who made headlines last year after successfully cultivating bananas from 10 trees in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, said he has been farming other tropical fruit, including papaya and guava, as well as coffee and olives this year.



Local governments are hopeful that tropical fruits could boost farmers' incomes. But some experts say farmers should tread carefully because change may not be as fast as they expect.





A farmer checks the growth of bananas at a greenhouse in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Dec. 3, 2019. Yonhap
The fire at the natural gas well of Oil India Limited (OIL) at Upper Assams Baghjan in Tinsukia district is still raging on Thursday amid fears of widespread damage to the eco-sensitive area, two days after a blaze broke out and claimed two firefighters lives while attempts were underway to plug uncontrolled gas and condensate release.

The fire billowed to nearly 100 feet above the well, located barely a kilometre away from the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and the eco-sensitive Maguri Motapung wetland, situated a few hundred metres from the site.

While the fire had spread to a nearby village and destroyed over 50 houses and many trees on Tuesday and Wednesday, the blaze was largely contained on the third day, according to OIL authorities.

The extent of the fire has been contained to the well. No flash fire is reported from nearby areas on Thursday, OIL said in a statement on Thursday.

The well, which had a blowout  an uncontrolled release of gas or oil when pressure systems fail  on May 27, caught fire on June 9 and two firefighters, who were engaged in spraying water to the well to prevent the uncontrolled release of gas and condensate from catching fire, lost their lives.

The OIL statement said that the team of experts from the Singapore-based firm, Alert Disaster Control, which specialises in controlling blowouts, is preparing a road map to control the fire and plug the uncontrolled release of gas.

The experts had arrived on Monday, a day before the fire broke out.

The area near the well has to be first cleared. One option is to drill another well close to the site and connect it with the blowout well to divert the gas. Then, a blowout preventer (BOP), a large valve weighing up to three tonnes, can be used to cap the old well, said a retired drilling expert, requesting anonymity. The process could take several weeks, he added.

Earlier in 2005, when an abandoned oil well of OIL caught fire in Assams Dikom, it took around six weeks to control it.

OIL officials said that it would take about four weeks for the blowout to be plugged.

The process required a large amount of water, which needs to be poured on the wellhead to control the spread of fire.

The officials said that a high discharge water pump would be placed to contain the spread of the fire.

On Thursday, the Assam government ordered an inquiry into the blowout and subsequent fire.

Maninder Singh, additional chief secretary (ACS), Assam, has been asked to submit a report within 15 days.

We want the inquiry to ascertain how did the blowout happen and if there was a human error, which led to it, and the subsequent fire that broke out, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Thursday.

The industrial disaster has led to protests by local student organisations, who have alleged that OILs mismanagement triggered the blowout, forcing the state-run oil firm to suspend their drilling operations at three locations and no work could be carried out in eight sites across Assam on Wednesday.

OIL lost 467 metric tonnes of crude oil production from 59 producing wells on June 10 due to blockade by local people and various student organisations, an OIL statement said.

The incident has raised questions about the role of John Energy, a Gujarat-based company that was conducting a workover operation at the well under the supervision of OIL when the blowout occurred.

Workover is an intervention in an existing oil or natural gas well that requires invasive techniques such as wireline, coil tubing, or snubbing.

The Baghjan well was producing one lakh standard cubic metre per day (SCMD) of gas at a depth of 3,870 metres. The blowout occurred when the workover operation was underway to produce gas from new sand (oil and gas-bearing reservoir) at a depth of 3,729 metres.

An OIL employee alleged on condition of anonymity that when the blowout occurred several senior and mid-level officials and senior employees of John Energy were not present at the site.

On Wednesday, OIL authorities had suspended two officials on charges of dereliction of their duties during the blowout.

The company is carrying out an internal inquiry and two officials responsible for the well have been placed under suspension. The probe will reveal if they were responsible or not, said Tridiv Hazarika, spokesperson, OIL.

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'Indian diplomacy faltered amidst multiple failures of statecraft.'

'The functionaries responsible must be held to account for their abject failure,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

IMAGE: An Indian soldier stands guard in Ladakh. Photograph: PTI Photo

The good thing about the nihilistic Indian media narratives -- relentlessly negative -- over the military standoff in eastern Ladakh is that the government largely disregarded them.

Hopefully, a de-escalation of tensions is on the cards.

Nihilists and cynics are best shunned.

Especially when they also happen to be Sinophobes with a tunnel vision of the contemporary world situation who blithely overlook that China is a major player in the superpower league.

Some narratives even demanded that Indian Army should give a 'bloody nose' to the Chinese PLA.

The assumption appears to be that the current US-China tensions catapult India into a position of great strategic advantage at a time when China stands 'isolated' and its internal politics is in disarray.

Unsurprisingly, some American analysts, who wielded influence in the Beltway in the bygone pre-Trump era, have also jumped into the fray (external link) to hustle India, counselling we shouldn't waste anymore time to 'join the rest of Asia in figuring out how to deal with the newest turn in China's salami-slicing tactics, which now distinctively mark its trajectory as a rising power.'

However, the Indian leadership held a steady line so far to seek a peaceful resolution of the tensions on the northern border.

Over a month ago, when the Chinese build-up began, National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval spotted it like a 'a cloud, as small as a man's hand', as the Bible says, and post-haste engaged with Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi, reportedly on May 6.

No doubt an inflection point has been reached -- a time of significant change in the direction of the curvature ahead of Sino-Indian relations.

Significantly, Doval didn't wait for President Trump's mediatory offer (which sailed into view only three weeks later) to contact Beijing directly at the highest possible level next only to Xi Jinping.

Trump said Washington had 'informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute.'

Now, it is a stunning offer.

By offering to mediate, Trump displayed his interest in being objective and impartial.

He signalled he won't take sides -- stretching further, he doesn't intend to wade into the India-China tensions as such or get entangled in it.

The Indian analysts who are raring to give a bloody nose to the PLA -- many of whom also happen to be cheerleaders of the US-Indian 'partnership' -- failed to understand the meaning of Trump's mediatory offer: if India takes 'police action' (as Nehru once vowed), it will have consequences no less disastrous than what faced six decades ago.

Today, 'police action' against China means war with a superpower where India will not be at liberty to prescribe its parameters or timeline.

Don't our 'China experts' read newspapers?

The prognosis worldwide is that India is cruising toward the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, while on the other hand, the World Bank says the Indian economy is due to shrink over 3 percent by the year-end.

Besides, there is another side to all this -- the unpredictability and inconstancy of US-China relations, which has profound implications for Indian policymaking.

Prima facie, nothing would suit Trump better than to join his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's roadshow on the Chinese Communist Party and make India's Ladakh tensions a golden opportunity to lock India in as a US ally to confront China.

But Trump is disinterested.

This can only mean that Trump takes a 360-degree view of the US-China relationship.

Stephen Roach at Yale, formerly chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and a noted China specialist, wrote a thoughtful essay in Bloomberg (external link) how the tension between saving and the current-deficit in the US economy is assuming a new criticality with the pandemic, as the crisis-related expansion of federal deficit is galloping away by far outstripping the fear-driven surge in personal saving.

Roach sees a tipping point ahead and the domestic saving plunging -- that is, if the US-China trade tensions effectively tax beleaguered US consumers, which, combined with a weaker dollar would make external funding of saving deficit impossible to sustain, and, if Trump indeed presses ahead with his 'poorly timed wish for financial decoupling from China.'

Quite obviously, Trump's statement of May 29 on Actions Against China (external link) -- which was, interestingly, made after the disclosure of his mediatory offer on Ladakh -- was high on rhetoric while he followed up with only a few symbolic moves to 'punish' China -- and he steered clear of any references to trade with China -- so much so that the stock market got thrilled, taking it as signalling an easing of US-China trade tensions!

Suffice to say, our narratives on China need to be co-related with the international environment.

Even senior Cabinet ministers began harbouring fanciful notions that US companies are exiting China in droves and heading toward India to set up production centres! Knowledgeable business friends of India in the US have had to step in to disabuse us of such notions.

Sure, China is not having an easy time as it enters the big league in global politics.

But that's how it has been in history, as entrenched powers do their utmost to keep out aspiring powers.

China has problems with not only the US but also with Europe (external link).

Nonetheless, a point has been reached where big powers realise that a modus vivendi with China (external link) has become necessary in a multilateral world order.

When it comes to India's predicament, the tragic downhill slide toward the 1962 War cannot be forgotten.

That conflict also stemmed largely out of fantasies.

There is a world of difference between a Line of Control and a Line of Actual Control.

An earthy realism and pragmatism is needed to survive and thrive.

Geopolitical circumstances are such today that it is not possible to sequester the tensions in Ladakh and regard them merely as a territorial dispute.

Wuhan, Chennai -- Prime Minister Modi can do only so much and no further.

But the question must be asked: What about strategic communication during the interim between informal summits? Our China policy has been adrift.

We failed to take China's warnings seriously in the downstream of the decision over J&K last August, and we complicated matters further by proclaiming Aksai China to be an integral part of India, and crossed the red line by drawing a map to affirm our long-term intentions.

Meanwhile, we dissimulated a strategic coupling with the US over a medieval virus to humiliate Beijing, and began contemplating ministerial visits to Taiwan.

And all this at a most critical juncture in regional and world politics, which is at a transformative stage.

Indian diplomacy faltered amidst multiple failures of statecraft.

The functionaries responsible must be held to account for their abject failure -- due to incapacity, inertia, disinterest or whatever -- to sustain strategic communication with Beijing, which is undoubtedly the most consequential relationship India would have for decades to come.

Even in the most difficult years of the Cold War, there was no let-up in the Soviet-American communication.

Whereas, Indian diplomacy relishes only joyful company -- Brazil, America, Israel, Australia.

Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar served the Indian Foreign Service for more than 29 years. He has served as India's ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan and has been a contributor to Rediff.com for well over a decade.

Production: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
A police officer is facing disciplinary action over 'misconduct', but will keep his job, after a mother was wrongly told that her Peaky Blinders actor partner had never been reported for domestic abuse - weeks before he battered her.

Hairdresser Lyndsey Yarwood had made enquiries into her partner's past using Clare's Law but a member of Wiltshire Police's domestic violence disclosure team told her he was clean.

However this was wrong - wannabe actor Oliver Cox, who was an extra in Peaky Blinders, had actually previously assaulted an ex-girlfriend and attacked a woman on a night out in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Just weeks after her enquiry, steroid-pumped Cox, then 33, brutally assaulted Lyndsey, then 35, on December 15, 2018, and left with two black eyes and bruises to her body.

Days before attacking Lyndsey, the brute had even shared a post on Facebook praising Clare's Law as something that not only helps women but can 'defend men who have been labelled'.

Lyndsey only discovered Cox's history after speaking out about her ordeal on social media and being contacted by his victims.

Police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct [IOPC] last week confirmed a member of Wiltshire Police's domestic violence disclosure team had a case to answer for misconduct.

She was told that Cox had no record of violence against woman, which was incorrect

Just weeks later, Cox inflicted a brutal attack on the mother, leaving her with black eyes

But Lyndsey is outraged that they will simply be retrained - along with another member of staff - on how to perform the checks properly and face 'management action'.

Lyndsey has had to move house, change her car and phone number but claims she hasn't received 'a letter or apology' from the force.

Furthermore, Wiltshire Police realised their error in January 2019 but failed to refer the case to the police watchdog until April 2019.

Clare's Law, also known as Domestic Violence Closure Scheme, was introduced in 2014 and allows police to disclose information about a partner's previous history of domestic violence or violent acts.

Lyndsey has expressed her outrage that the officer in question will just be retrained by police

WHAT IS CLARE'S LAW? Clare's Law provides information that could help protect a person from being a victim of attack. The scheme, also known as Domestic Violence Closure Scheme, allows the police to disclose information about a partner's previous history of domestic violence or violent acts when requested. The law is named after Clare Wood, a 36-year-old who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2009. Advertisement

Lyndsey, from Melksham, Wiltshire, said: 'It's taken a long time [for the report to be published].

'Hopefully it'll encourage other police to check properly - including any name changes and on the internet.

'This will save lives. People won't be able to slip through the net as easily.

'I feel 100 percent let down by Wiltshire Police. I haven't had a letter, an apology or any correspondence. I could have died because of their negligence.

'I could have lost my life or my kids. Considering the results have been published, I did think they'd give me an email or something.'

Despite pleading guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, Cox's 18-month sentence was suspended for two years, meaning he walked free from court.

Lyndsey has moved on since her attack and worked hard to rebuild her life, but she has been forced to make a lot of changes for her own safety as Cox continues to walk free.

While her physical wounds have healed, her 'anxiety' has remained and she has been left 'too scared' to enter into a new relationship.

Lyndsey said: 'It's really good to see [the police] are finally going to change something - that there's things that are going to be put in place.

'The future is bright. I'm happy. I haven't got any of that stress or worry.

'I've moved house, I've sorted out everything. I have a normal life now, really, but the scars are still there.

'I have a new house, new surroundings, no one knows where I live. I have a new car, new phone number.

'I never publish where I am on social media until I've been there.

'I'm too scared to have a new partner now. I don't believe anything anyone says.'

Cox met women online and wooed them with grand romantic gestures - including turning up at the airport when they landed from holiday and proposing after just a month.

Peaky Blinders actor Cox was handed a suspended sentence, meaning he walked free

However his charming persona would quickly change and he ditched the rose petal baths in favour of terrifying attacks that left some victims needing restraining orders to keep him away.

Cox allegedly concocted an elaborate web of deceit around his victims - claiming to be an actor, a boxer, a CBD oil company owner and even posing as one of the women's jealous exes online.

Lyndsey first met Cox on Plenty of Fish in early 2018 and he appeared like 'everything you see in rom-coms' and just a month after they had met face-to-face in August that year, he proposed.

Just three months later, Lyndsey was violently assaulted in a hotel room and Cox was arrested.

Wiltshire Police were aware of Lyndsey's attack in January 2019 and there was a 'significant delay' in the force referring the issue to the watchdog, according to the IOPC's report.

Lyndsey says she suffers anxiety and is too scared to find a new partner due to trust issues

In January this year, the IOPC's investigation was concluded but the police force again took five months to accept its findings.

In response to Wednesday's report, Wiltshire Police have agreed to retrain two staff and one member of the force will be given 'management action'.

However 'management action' can simply include 'showing the officer how their behaviour fell short of expectations' and 'identifying expectations for future conduct'.

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said: 'We can confirm that this initial complaint was referred to our Professional Standards Department in the first instance and a review was carried out to determine what happened in this case and why a disclosure was not made.

'Following this, the complaint was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

'The IOPC conducted an independent investigation into the case which found that one member of police staff had a case to answer for misconduct and they have since been given additional training on how checks of this nature should be conducted.

'As the report states, as a result of this incident we have since proactively updated and amended the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme process so that all 'right to ask' applications now result in a face to face meeting.

Cox was an extra on hit television series Peaky Blinders (pictured in Peaky Blinders costume)

'This enables the DVDS team to build a rapport with the applicant and provides an opportunity for further, more in-depth questions to be asked.'

In response to the IOPC report, a spokesperson for Refuge, the national domestic abuse helpline, claimed 'women need to feel empowered by the criminal justice system, not disappointed by it'.

Sandra Horley CBE, chief executive of Refuge, said: 'All too often, domestic abuse is seen as a 'private matter,' happening behind closed doors. But the statistics alone should be enough to make domestic abuse everyone's concern.

'One in three women in England and Wales aged 16 to 59 will experience some form of domestic abuse during their lifetime.

'The majority of survivors still don't feel able to report domestic abuse and even when they do, the statistics show us that it's unlikely the perpetrator will be arrested and charged.

'What sort of message does this send to survivors? Women need to feel empowered by the criminal justice system, not disappointed by it.'
 Flash

The visiting Chinese medical experts on Thursday began meeting with Palestinian health officials and counterparts, kicking off their mission to assist the Palestinian fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

A meeting was held by the Chinese team at the Palestinian Ministry of Health with Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila.

After that, the Chinese experts joined a panel discussion for four hours, during which they listened to a presentation by the ministry's preventive medicine and public health departments in to explain the pandemic situation in Palestine.

So far, there were 665 cases confirmed in Palestine, including five deaths and a recovery rate of nearly 88 percent.

Osama Najjar, head of the Palestinian Health Ministry's paramedics unit, told Xinhua ahead of the discussion that it would focus on sharing the Palestinian side's information and listening to the Chinese experts' experiences in containing the coronavirus.

"It will focus on the lab tests problems, the taking of samples, the treatment regime that we follow here in quarantines and hospitals, and what they do with their patients, especially the patients who have other diseases," Najjar said.

The Chinese experts would also share their experiences of treating the coronavirus patients in their hospitals, labs and epidemiological centers, he said.

Hu Peng, head of the Chinese team, said that his team was interested in the "comprehensive recovery and the treatment and diagnosis of the COVID-19 all over Palestine," as positive results have been achieved by the Palestinian medical staff.

"I shall avail this opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views with the medical institutions together with the medical staff to learn how this success was reached," he added.

The team, which was put together by China's National Health Commission, includes experts from various departments such as respiratory and infectious diseases, traditional Chinese medicine, epidemiology and nursing.

The Chinese experts are scheduled to hold a series of meetings and pay visits to quarantine and treatment centers in the West Bank until June 17.
Recently, the 35th escort taskforce of the Chinese PLA Navy organized ship-borne helicopters to conduct the cross-day-and-night flight training over the waters off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. "The training has been scheduled to focus on commanding, coordination and technology development, as well as the troops will building. We have achieved the expected training purposes by now," introduced Xiao Gaoshang, head of the helicopter team.

In the double-helicopter cooperative training, the team carried out targeted training on anti-piracy such as patrol, guard, reconnaissance, and evidence gathering in accordance with the traits of escort missions.

"Ship-borne helicopter features quick response and high maneuverability, and plays an important role in verification and counter-piracy operations", added Xiao Gaoshang. "Taking each flight as the first flight and taking each subject as the most difficult is the slogan for our training."

During the landing training at 6:30 pm, it was suddenly cloudy followed by rain shower, and the meteorological conditions were complicated. Without external reference object, it was difficult to judge the altitude and speed of flight. The pilot could only rely on the instrument to maintain the current state and land on the ship with the aid of ship-borne landing aids. This is a great test for the pilot's mental toughness and operation level.

"Determine whether the landing conditions are met", Xiao Gaoshang hinted at the young pilot. After confirmation, the young pilot flew into the landing route. At 6:36 pm, the helicopter landed steadily on the sign circle in the flight deck center of the guided-missile destroyer Taiyuan (Hull 131).
Tech companies have formed an alliance in a bid to stamp out online child sexual abuse content.

All 18 companies in the Technology Coalition, formed in 2006, have pledged to support the mission, dubbed 'Project Protect'.

It features tech companies of various sizes, including giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Snapchat.

The firms say improving the cross-industry approach will aid in eradicating child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) content appearing online.

Tech companies have formed an alliance in a joint bid to stamp out child sexual abuse content online. All 18 companies in the the Technology Coalition, formed in 2006, have pledged to support the mission, called 'Project Protect' (stock photo)

What firms are in the Technology Coalition and 'Project Protect' Adobe Amazon Apple Cloudfare Dropbox Facebook Flickr GoDaddy Google Microsoft PayPal Roblox Snapchat twitter Verizon VSCO Wattpad Yubo Advertisement

The project includes a 'five pillar' plan designed to clamp down on the heinous content.

It includes: a focus on innovation in technology to detect and stop such content; encouraging more collective action; funding more independent research; increasing information sharing; and greater transparency and accountability.

Last week, industry experts told MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee that social media firms were not doing enough to stop the spread of online child abuse.

Robert Jones, from the National Crime Agency (NCA), and Susie Hargreaves, from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), called on the sector to do more.

They argued there was no reason more was not already being done given the detection technology available to the major platforms.

Mr Jones told MPs the response of social media firms was being 'hampered by a lack of regulation' while both the experts said the Government's proposed Online Harms regulation would be an essential tool in the fight against child abuse.

The proposed increased regulation would slap firms with larger penalties if they fail to protect their users.

Project Protect will also establish a multi-million pound research and innovation fund dedicated to creating new tools to prevent the spread of CSEA content.

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Snapchat are some of the firms joining Project Protect and they say improving the cross-industry approach will aid in eradicating child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) content appearing online (stock photo)

World's biggest database of 'digitally fingerprinted' child sex abuse images will be created by UK and US internet watchdogs The UK's Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is to work with a US counterpart to create the biggest database of hashed child abuse images in the world to help fight the spread of such content. The IWF will work with the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US to share known content with each other  helping internet companies stop the upload, sharing and storing of such content. Hashing is a form of digital fingerprint  a unique numerical code that allows an image to be identified the moment someone attempts to upload it. Combined, more than 3.5 million hashes will be in the expanded database  which will be used by online firms to help stop images and videos of abuse being uploaded to their platforms. The IWF identifies and removes online images and videos of child abuse, as well as offering a place for the people to report them anonymously. The agreement will see a new database created in the NCMEC's CyberTipline hub, which is also used to report instances of the online sexual exploitation of children. Advertisement

Home Secretary Priti Patel welcomed the steps taken by the firms, which firms up voluntary vows made earlier this year.

'The sexual abuse of children online is sickening and we must all work collaboratively to eradicate this crime,' she said.

'I welcome this step from the Tech Coalition and hope this drives meaningful change to protect our children.

'The voluntary principles to counter online child sexual exploitation and abuse is a landmark blueprint to keep our children safe online.

'Myself and the Five Country partners have been clear that technology companies need to work quickly and go further to address the critical issues that could leave children vulnerable to online predators.'

In a blog post announcing the plans, the group said advances in technology and social media had 'added to the challenge of keeping the internet a safe place'.

However, they say consultation with experts had 'renewed investment and ongoing commitment to our work seeking to prevent and eradicate online CSEA'.

The coalition said it was also working with The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children (EVAC) and the WeProtect Global Alliance as part of the project.

On the new plans, IWF chief executive Ms Hargreaves said: 'I'm delighted to see a renewed commitment by the technology industry to fight child sexual exploitation and abuse online with the launch of Project Protect.

'It's imperative that companies come together and fight this in partnership in order to gain real results, for children.'

Google senior vice president of global affairs Kent Walker said the scheme will help firms share 'progress, learnings, and cutting-edge tools' to help fight the problem, adding that 'no company can fight this problem alone'.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, said the project 'brings together the brightest minds from across the tech industry to tackle a grave issue' while Twitter's head of trust and safety Del Harvey said the firm welcomed the 'renewed effort to collaborate with our peers'.
2020 Mazda CX-30 Premium Package AWD Review by David Colman +VIDEO

It's agile and nimble but it has some quirky features

By David Colman

Special Correspondent to THE AUTO CHANNEL

If you want a Japanese built Mazda, the CX-30 crossover, newest addition to the model line, isn't the one to buy. Its engine is constructed in Mexico, its transmission is from Thailand, and final assembly takes place in Salamanca, Mexico. Only 15 percent of the vehicle comes from Japan. So is the build quality of the CX-30 up to Mazda's long standing high level of construction? If the all-wheel-drive CX-30 with Premium Package we tested is any indication, this newest addition to the Mazda family is up to par on all quality fronts.

The exterior design is clearly Mazda, with a gently triangulated snout, long hood, short cab and evocatively sculpted side profile. Mazda designers have a gentler idea about finish and proportions than their flamboyant fellow stylists at Toyota and Nissan. Inside, the cabin layout hits above its price point of $28,200, with welcome gestures of unexpected finery. The black leather interior consists of comfy and supportive front seats with perforated leather seating surfaces. The tiny perforations reveal a brown underlayment that infuses the normally boring black leather with visual excitement. The chocolate motif carries into the rest of the interior panels, with a mocha dash topper, and coffee colored door panel inserts. For a bargain priced mini-SUV, the CX-30 looks decidedly more expensive than it is. Mazda's dedication to artful design exemplifies the company's Kodo design philosophy, which means art in motion.

The 8.8 inch color display screen atop the dash is also artistically configured, with lovely rounded corners and a tilt to the vertical edges that makes the unit look italicized. Too bad that the "Multi-Function Commander Control" for the 12-speaker AM/FM Bose Premium Audio isn't equally lovable. After attempting to program a play list for SiriusXM Satellite Radio (3 month free trial), I gave up in despair as I kept hitting dead ends in the logic sequence. So I turned the effort over to my wife, who is I-Phone savvy and up-to-date on tech matters. She too was unable to discover a workable sequence for establishing favorite channels. Later in the week we finally stumbled on a series of illogical steps that allowed us to accomplish this task, but the whole episode proved so frustrating it clouded our appreciation of Kodo design.

Mazda powers the CX-30 with a 2.5 liter, 4-cylinder engine that produces 186hp and yields 27MPG in overall driving. The AWD CX-30 weighs 3,353 pounds so the power-to-weight ratio of 18lbs/hp indicates that acceleration is adequate rather than invigorating. In practice, that's exactly how the CX-30 behaves. If you just select Drive from the 6-speed automatic transmission, you will quickly discover that you won't be doing much passing on two-lane back roads, because the engine performance is less than scintillating. So let's say you want to improve acceleration by resorting to manually shifting the "Skyactive Drive 6-Speed Sport Mode" automatic by utilizing the tiny paddles affixed to the leather-rimmed steering wheel. That's when you discover that the transmission ratios Mazda has selected are antithetical to improving performance. Second gear is so low as to be virtually useless for overtaking, with a top speed of barely 30mph at 5000rpm. But if you upshift to third gear, you lose all your momentum because engine rpm falls precipitously by 1500rpm. This lets the very peaky, 13.1:1 compression ratio Skyactive motor fall flat on its face, since peak torque is not achieved until 4000rpm and peak horsepower doesn't compute until 6000rpm.

Handling of this newest Mazda keeps alive the company's long tradition of building agile, nimble vehicles with a sporting bent that surprises you. Equipped with artfully constructed 18 inch alloy rims shod with Bridgestone Turanza EL440 radials (215/55R18), the CX-30 is well equipped to carve back road apexes with the kind of finesse you would expect to find in an MX-5 Miata. You can thank standard G-Vectoring Control for the stability, as well as the ability to select sport mode from the available driving choices. If you tackle off road excursions, the CX-30 offers "off-road traction assist" for AWD, available at the flick of a button.

Of course, the full suite of safety insurance measures is standard on this Mazda, with radar cruise control with stop and go, smart brake support, and lane departure warning. Lane Keep Assist, which will fight you at the steering wheel if you make a lane change without signaling first, is also included in the nanny package. Unfortunately, it reasserts itself each time you restart the Mazda, and must be deleted manually if you wish to forego this obnoxious assistance.

2020 MAZDA CX-30 PREMIUM PACKAGE AWD



ENGINE: 2.5 Liter inline 4, DOHC with VVT

HORSEPOWER: 186hp@6000rpm

TORQUE: 186lb.-ft.@4000rpm

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 25MPG City/32MPG Highway

PRICE AS TESTED: $29,245

HYPES: Restful, Well Finished Interior

GRIPES: Gearing Splits, Inexplicable Commander Control

STAR RATING: 7 Stars out of 10
SEATTLE  Following days of violent confrontations with protesters, police in Seattle have largely withdrawn from part of a neighborhood where protesters have created a festival-like scene that has President Donald Trump fuming.

Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan about the situation on Twitter and said the city had been taken over by anarchists. Take back your city NOW. If you dont do it, I will, Trump tweeted.

The president continued his complaints in a Thursday interview with the Fox News Channel. If we have to go in, were going to go in, Trump said. These people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city.

The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone stretches over a couple city blocks and sprung up after police on Monday removed barricades near the East Precinct and basically abandoned the structure after officers used tear gas, pepper spray and flash bangs over the weekend to disperse demonstrators they said were assaulting them with projectiles.

The president has sparred before with Inslee and Durkan  both liberal Democrats. Inslee previously sought his partys presidential nomination.

Inslee tweeted Thursday that state officials will not allow threats of military violence from the White House. The U.S. military serves to protect Americans, not the fragility of an insecure president, he tweeted.

The zone set up by protesters stretches a portion of Capitol Hill, where dozens of people show up to listen to speakers calling for police reform, racial justice and compensation for Native groups on whose land the city of Seattle was founded.

Signs proclaim You are entering free Capitol Hill and No cop co-op along sidewalks where people sell water and other wares. On Thursday, speakers used a microphone to discuss their demands and how to address the police presence after they visited the precinct during the day. Down the street, artists continued painting a block-long Black Lives Matter mural on the street.

The people that you see here have all come together because we see injustice in our system and we want to be part of the solution, said Mark Henry Jr. of Black Lives Matter.

Henry said Trumps rant about the gathering was unfounded. Donald Trump can call us a terrorist if he likes to, but what you see out here is people coming together and loving each other, he said.

Over the weekend, police were sharply criticized by City Council members and other elected leaders. Since officers dialed back their tactics, the demonstrations have largely been peaceful.

Police officials say they are looking to reopen the precinct. At a news conference Wednesday, Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette said the barriers were removed from the front of the building after it became a flashpoint between officers and protesters.

Nollette said the precinct has been boarded up because of credible threats that it would be vandalized or burned. She offered no details about the threats and no fires have been reported at the site.

She said protesters have set up their own barricades, which are intimidating some residents.

Police Chief Carmen Best posted a video message to officers Thursday in which she said the decision to leave the Capitol Hill precinct wasnt hers and she was angry about it. She also reiterated that police had been harassed and assaulted during protests.

Ultimately, the city had other plans for the building and relented to severe public pressure, Best said.

At a Thursday news conference neither Best nor Durkan made it clear who decided that police should leave the precinct.

Durkan said regarding Trumps statements about Seattle that one of the things the president will never understand is that listening to community is not a weakness, but a strength.

A real leader would see nationwide protest, the grief in so many communities of color, particularly our black communities, and the call to be an anti-racist society, as an opportunity for America. An opportunity to build a better nation, she said.

Protesters have said they want to see the precinct turned into a community center or used for purposes other than law enforcement.

City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant disputed accounts of violence or intimidation by protesters within the area on Capitol Hill and said it was more like a street fair with political discussions and a drum circle.

The right wing has been spreading rumors that there is some sort of lawlessness and crime taking place at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, but it is exactly the opposite of that, said Sawant, a socialist and a critic of Durkan and the police.

Sawant said she wants the precinct to be converted into a public resource that will actually be helpful to society.

___

Associated Press writer Lisa Baumann contributed from Seattle.
General Mark Milley, Americas top military officer, on Thursday expressed regret for accompanying President Donald Trump on his controversial walk through a park outside the White House violently cleared of peaceful protestors on June 1 by law enforcement forces.

I should not have been there, Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said in a pre-recorded video commencement address to National Defense University. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper had earlier sought to distance himself from the controversial walk that some are saying will be a watershed moment for the Trump presidency.

President Trump had strode out of the White House accompanied by a large entourage of officials and walked through a park swept clean of protestors with the heavy use of pepper spray canisters, tear gas shells and flash-bang grenades, to pose for pictures in front of a church damaged in protests earlier. He had just held up a copy of the Bible, but said nothing.

Esper, Milley and Attorney General Willam Barr were in the presidents entourage. Milleys presence in military fatigues, which he wears every day to work, had attracted a lot of criticism as it was taken to indicate the US military was taking sides in a political event, contrary to its standing as an apolitical, non-partisan institution.

That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society, Milley said. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

We who wear the cloth of our nation come from the people of our nation, and we must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our republic, he added.

US military leaders have differed with the president also on the issue of renaming army bases names after general of the confederate army, in the wake of countrywide protests triggered by the death of George Floyd and the fierce debate that is under way to deal with persisting racism in the country. Esper and Milley were open open to discussions about renaming these bases. But the president shut it down in a string of tweets.
U.S. video conferencing company Zoom issued a statement on Thursday acknowledging that the Chinese government requested that it suspend the accounts of several U.S.- and Hong Kong-based Chinese activists for holding events commemorating the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

The big picture: Zoom claims that it only took action because the Chinese government informed the company that "this activity is illegal in China" and that meeting metadata showed "a significant number of mainland China participants." Zoom said it does not have the ability to block participants from a certain country, and so it made the decision to end some of the meetings and suspend the host accounts.

The statement from the company comes one day after Axios revealed the suspensions, prompting widespread backlash from lawmakers and human rights activists.

Zoom has faced growing scrutiny over security concerns and its ties to China. China forbids free discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement.

What they're saying:

"We strive to limit actions taken to only those necessary to comply with local laws. Our response should not have impacted users outside of mainland China. We made two mistakes:

We suspended or terminated the host accounts, one in Hong Kong SAR and two in the U.S. We have reinstated these three host accounts.

We shut down the meetings instead of blocking the participants by country. We currently do not have the capability to block participants by country. We could have anticipated this need. While there would have been significant repercussions, we also could have kept the meetings running."

 Zoom blog

What's next: Zoom said that it will no longer allow requests from the Chinese government to impact anyone outside of mainland China, and that it is working on technology that will allow it to remove or block participants based on geography.

The bottom line: The statement indicates that Zoom is agreeing to China's demands to construct an in-company censorship apparatus to prevent mainland users from accessing sensitive meetings.
BAGHDAD - The United States and Iraq launched much-anticipated strategic talks Thursday that are to span the gamut of their bilateral relations, with Washington prioritizing the issue of the future of its forces in the country while Baghdad is expected to focus on the nations dire economic crisis.

The talks, which began with an initial meeting in the afternoon with participants tuning in online because of the coronavirus measures, are expected to drag out over several months. They come against the backdrop of soaring tensions following the U.S. airstrike in January that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani just outside the Baghdad airport. Irans expanding influence in Iraq is also expected to be an underlining topic in the talks.

Along with the Iranian general, the January airstrike also killed Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Outraged, Iraqi lawmakers spurred by Shiite political factions, passed a non-binding resolution to oust U.S.-led coalition forces from the country following the attack.

However, relations have improved since new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi took over the helm of Iraqs government last month, marking a new chapter in Iraq-U.S. relations following the exit of Adil Abdul-Mahdi, under whose administration ties had cooled. Some parties, notably parliaments Iran-backed Fatah bloc, continue to call for the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

The first stage will try to set the tone and agenda for the talks and lay on the table some of the urgent issues up for discussion, said Sajad Jiyad, an Iraqi analyst and visiting fellow with the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. But it may prove to be a long uncertain process punctuated by U.S. presidential elections in November, he said.

Thursdays session was held virtually due to flight restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus. Iraq has seen a recent flare up in cases, with authorities having reported over 16,600 infections so far and at least 457 deaths.

David Schenker, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said that the session was productive. He that said a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops was not discussed and that the Iraqi government pledged to get control of the country and unify the security services.

The U.S. team was led by David Hale, undersecretary for political affairs, and pressed issues such as the future of the U.S. forces in the country and security concerns spawning from armed militias in Iraq, early elections and violence against protesters.

Iraqi and U.S. officials said they support a scheduled withdrawal of forces from Iraq, but questions remain over time-frames and the scope of the threat posed by the Islamic State group. Officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The talks will focus on the need for Iraq and America to fight IS, in light of that we will make a decision, al-Kadhimi told reporters on Wednesday.

The Iraq team, lead by Abdul Karim Hashim, the deputy minister for foreign affairs, outlined Iraqs economic concerns at a time when oil prices have reached historic lows, leaving the crude-dependent state struggling to pay public wages.

Probably the most important thing for the vast majority of Iraqis is how can the U.S. can assist Iraq in this very difficult period, said Jiyad. And on the American side, whether they see value in supporting Iraq apart from security.

Schenker said the U.S. would support the new government through international financial institutions to help meet the parallel challenges of the pandemic and plummeting revenues from oil sales.

In a sign of support for al-Kadhimis administration, hours after he was sworn in, the U.S. approved a 120-day sanctions waiver enabling the country to continue importing Iranian gas and electricity to meet its power needs. Iraqs progress in becoming more gas independent is also on the agenda as future waivers depend on Baghdad reducing its reliance on Tehran for energy needs.

Iraqi officials have said plans are being drawn up to capture associated gas currently being flared in oil fields in Iraqs south. However, Baghdad last week signed a two-year contract with Iran to continue importing Iranian electricity.

On the American side as well, I think, particularly with the Trump administration, a lot of this is about Iran, whether they admit it or they dont admit it, said Renad Mansour, senior research fellow at Chatham House. In particular, he said, the U.S. concern has been whether Iraq can prosper as a country without being drawn into Iranian influence.

Late Wednesday, a Katyusha rocket fell just a few hundred meters (yards) from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdads fortified Green Zone, the latest of several incidents targeting the American presence in Iraq in recent months. The U.S. has repeatedly blamed Iran-backed Iraqi militias for the attacks.

Schenker said the rocket attack the previous night highlighted why the strategic dialogue is necessary, adding it was not normal for states to have their embassies routinely attacked. He said the Iraqis had committed to moving ahead and undertaking their obligations.

Iran-backed Shiite militias remain a significant problem and challenge for the al-Kadhimi government, he said.

Tackling the issue of militia groups operating outside of the state is complicated, said one Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. We have communicated that to the Americans.

___

Associated Press writer Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Beauty store boarded up as a result of looting on Germantown Ave. Leaders of a Philadelphia beauty business store owners' group say 32 of their approximately 100 members reported damages from vandals, looters and arsonists who ran through neighborhood business districts unprotected by police, after protest marches May 31 following the killing of George Floyd while under arrest in Minneapolis. Read more

Store owners that bet big on the resurgence of retail in U.S. cities were prime victims of the burst of looting and vandalism that accompanied the initial protests over police violence against black people.

Will they rebuild? Many chains have already reopened most of their damaged outlets, where sales had been poor to nonexistent all spring due to coronavirus closures. Long-term prospects, and the future of local and independent stores, are less assured, as owners and insurers count claims and weigh the challenges facing retail trade.

One observer with a wide-lens perspective is Sheldon Yellen, whose Michigan-based business employs 9,200 people cleaning up storm, accident, and other disaster scenes in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Yellen is upbeat, at least about the prospects for national firms.

A lot of people are immediately rebuilding, he says. The bigger chain organizations say, Get us dried out, make sure theres no mold, clean us up for COVID, get us new glass.

Yellen said big operators are discounting fears of renewed riots. He points out that lawlessness and property damage abated quickly even as protests continued.

Dunkin says no fewer than 40 of its 113 coffee-doughnut-sandwich stores in Philadelphia were damaged in looting. Most have cleaned up and reopened. As for long-term plans, the franchisees who run local stores are solely responsible for making their own business decisions, including safety and security practices, spokeswoman Michelle King said.

DTLR Villa, a Baltimore-based chain that sells clothing and footwear, says 93 of its 244 stores nationwide were damaged by looters, including four that were burned down  in Philadelphias Olney section, as well as in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Richmond, Va.

The plan is to reopen all of them, minus the ones that burnt down. We have to assess those situations, said Jeff Bowden, executive vice president. Were in communities we want to work with.

His company, like other retailers and the insurers who pay their claims, is expected to reveal more about damage and plans after June 30, as public companies begin informing stockholders about spring sales.

Starbucks, whose coffee shop outside City Hall was among the first sites burned as protests spread May 30, said Wednesday that it has decided to close as many as 400 company-owned stores primarily in U.S. urban markets, while opening others in different locations." Its statement didnt mention the looting. Starbucks operates 10,000 stores nationwide and closes and opens several hundred stores annually.

Foot Lockers in several sections of Philadelphia and in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and other cities were reported stripped of merchandise. The company didnt return calls seeking comment.

I could understand, to a degree, why a Foot Locker could be looted: the overpriced shoes, and the way children have killed each other for them, for the past 30 years, said the Rev. Mark Tyler, pastor of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, after witnessing looting. He said attacks on neighborhood small businesses were harder to understand.

CVS Health says 400 of its nearly 10,000 U.S. drugstores across the nation were hit by looters. Fewer than 40 remained closed as of Tuesday, and most of those were expected to reopen this week, spokeswoman Amy Thibault said.

Rite Aid said it was still assessing the damage after city stores from Hollywood, Calif., to Philadelphias Germantown section were stripped of drugs and merchandise.

Philadelphia-based Five Below saw its Philadelphia stores on Chestnut Street and on Aramingo Avenue looted. The company had experienced a lot of disruption related to the protests that impacted sales," chief executive Joel Anderson told investors in a conference call Tuesday, He said he was still reviewing both coronavirus and looting losses.

Sweden-based H&M was another chain that saw its store targeted in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Afterward, the firm declared it would give donate $550,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and other groups. We also acknowledge our past mistakes and they have made us acutely aware of how much we still need to learn, it said on its website.

The looting followed almost three months of coronavirus shutdowns that have already left retailers far behind for the year. Insurers have said they expect coronavirus losses will be significantly greater than looting and arson and related business-interruption claims, because the pandemic closings went on for months. The insurance industry posture has been that it will cover looting damage, but not the far greater toll from the virus.

All the damage has meant dollars for a few specialized businesses. Among them is Yellens Belfor Property Restoration, the international cleanup company.

His crews of up to four workers have "hung somewhere around 1,500 heavy four-foot-by-eight-foot sheets of plywood on businesses in Center City and elsewhere in the city since May 31, said Yellen, the chief executive. Belfors offices serving the Northeast states are in Exton.

While major national firms are largely bulling ahead, Yellen said smaller firms are more hesitant.

People are still not over the COVID-19 issue, he said. "Then, you got the pressure of, what is retail going to look like? We all know what online retail is doing to storefronts. And when youre talking about entrepreneurs, its, Can I keep going, or do I need to do something else to feed my family?

Retail chains took a step back but they arent giving up," said Rob Almond, co-owner of NEST (Negative Express Systems Technology), a 200-employee firm in Gloucester City that arranges cleanups.

Hes not worried about large, well-funded chains such as his client Party City, but about the many smaller retailers whose sales were already down.

There are bankruptcies left and right," Almond said. "There will be some more.

A lot will depend on insurers. Companies are speeding to adjust claims, handicapped a bit by lingering coronavirus restrictions on their activity, said Sean Brogan, managing director at Graham Co., a Philadelphia-based commercial insurance brokerage.

Brogan is urging clients to document everything, to take pictures and videos, and note the loss of inventory and building damage  just as they might for a storm-damage claim.

Whats not clear, he added, is whether insurers will push urban stores to invest in expensive new security measures to reduce future claims. Such extra-careful underwriting is more likely, because the U.S. property insurance business has already faced three years of huge catastrophic losses from storms and other large claims, Brogan added.

Philadelphia at-large Councilmember David Oh, a Republican whose political base includes many storekeepers who are relatively recent immigrants, says hes worried that many wont reopen.

A lot of store owners are older, he told me. Having a small business is really taxing. You get up early. You stay up late. You have the stress and the crime. And you are coming off COVID-19, when not even the criminals were making money. And now their stores have been damaged. Will they come back?

About a third of the 100-member Korean Beauty Supply Association reported damage to stores after the recent protest, says Sharon Hartz, president of the Korean American Association of Greater Philadelphia. We have no people injured," she said. "But the looters took everything, and some owners are not sure they want to return.

Hartz recalls calling police over four days, from May 31 to June 3, because looters were targeting stores on Cheltenham Avenue. But no one came," she said. So owners in outlying neighborhoods "are afraid. What can they expect for the future?
ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Systems Definition, Inc. (SDI), a leading provider of fireground accountability solutions, today announced the U.S. Air Force has awarded the firm an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract as a follow-on to the successful Phase I effort completed earlier this year.

SDI will serve as the Prime Contractor working with Centauri's The Design Knowledge Company (TDKC) to jointly execute key software development and technologies integration. The developed capabilities to be field-piloted encompass Air Force First Responder base activities and disaster relief efforts.

"Phase I examined the feasibility of integrating SDI's Advanced Personnel Accountability Application (APAA) technologies into an Air Force Common Operating Picture (COP)," said Brendan Adams, Principal Investigator at SDI. "We're excited to move forward to the second phase of this project and build out an accountability solution that brings enhanced situational awareness and personnel accountability capabilities to the DoD environment."

The goal of Phase II over the next 15 months is to adapt and integrate SDI's APAA technology into an Air Force COP to enable field trials of developed prototype baselines. These activities will evaluate and assess migrating APAA capabilities into the COP for Event Response Situational Awareness (COPERS), a representative of the Air Force Disaster Response Force (DRF) COP. COPERS integrates data from multiple sources to enhance situational awareness and comprehension and was developed by AFRL and TDKC.

SBIR is a competitive awards-based program enabling small businesses to explore technology potential within the defense arena. Sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and in conjunction with AFWERX, these two organizations have partnered to streamline the SBIR process in an attempt to speed up the experience, broaden the pool of potential applicants, and decrease bureaucratic overhead. Beginning in SBIR 18.2, and now in 19.3, the Air Force has begun offering 'Special' SBIR topics that are faster, leaner, and open to a broader range of innovations.

About Systems Definition, Inc.

Headquartered in Alexandria, VA, Systems Definition, Inc. (SDI) provides innovative software applications for the First Responder community, as well as technical services and software engineering to federal agencies, DoD contractors, public sector agencies, and commercial organizations. Our activities support initiatives for Defense, First Responder safety and accountability, aerospace, custom applications, and web technologies. We deliver a comprehensive suite of fireground accountability applications which are used daily by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and other fire departments across the United States. For more information, please visit http://www.firegroundaccountability.com/.

About TDKC/Centauri Corporation

TDKC, located in Dayton OH, was acquired by Centaur in December 2019. Centauri is a high-end engineering, intelligence, cybersecurity, and advanced technology solutions company headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia with offices Nationwide. Centauri works with customers in the intelligence and national security communities, helping them solve their most difficult challenges. Centauri's agile, mission-first approach empowers advanced technical and operational teams to meet the real-time demands and high-impact missions of national defense agencies across land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace.

Contact:

Frank Briese/SDI

President

703-717-0222 ext. 114

[email protected]

SOURCE Systems Definition, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.systemsdefinition.com


Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of US President Donald Trump and his grandson went on a hunting trip to Mongolia in 2019 and it cost US taxpayers over $75,000.

Using taxpayer's money

According to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or CREW, Donald Trump Jr. traveled to Mongolia to hunt and he shot a rare mountain sheep. Most of the taxpayer's money goes to their Secret Service protection and the Trump family takes 12 times as many trips as the Obamas.

The CREW also reported that the Trump family drains the finances of the Secret Service because they have an average of 1,000 trips for the year, and many of those trips are for leisure.

The author of the report concluded that Donald Trump Jr.'s trip to Mongolia is just one example of the expenses that the Trump family is incurring with the taxpayer's money.

The fact that one hunting trip of Donald Trump Jr's already cost about $75,000, imagine how much taxpayer's money was used on their thousands of trips per year. An employee of Donald Trump Jr. told CNN that the trip that he took in August 2019 for eight days was privately paid for except for his security detail.

Trump Jr. can use the Secret Service for his protection, but it is not required. The CREW also reported that Donald Trump Jr. is entitled to Secret Service protection because he is the son of the president and that he should be protected too.

However, American taxpayers deserve to know how much of their money is being used to facilitate his hunting trips and meetings with foreign leaders and political donors.

According to an investigation done by ProPublica in 2019, Trump Jr. shot a rare Argali mountain sheep and he only secured hunting permission from the Mongolian government. ProPublica also showed evidence that Trump Jr. was with a Republican donor who works in the gas and oil industry when he went hunting.

Also Read: Protesters in Washington D.C Sued the Trump Administration After Being Tear-Gassed for Photo-Op

The Argali sheep is a rare specie and it is famous for its longhorns. According to the Red List of Threatened Species, it is considered as near-threatened. Aside from hunting, Trump Jr. also met with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga, just a month after President Donald Trump met President Battulga at the White House.

During the hunting trip, Trump Jr. posted pictures of himself while horseback riding. He also posted a picture of him and his son outside a traditional yurt and praised Mongolia's pristine land.

According to CREW, the exact cost of the whole trip was $76,859.36 after two Freedom of Information Act requests were submitted to the Secret Service.

The cost of Trump's trips

CREW says that the first document that was provided to them claimed that Trump Jr.'s trip only cost $17,000. The group called it an undercount because it did not include the flight costs or the meeting of Trump Jr. with the president of Mongolia.

The second document added $60,000 to the cost to American taxpayers, and the group stated that they are still investigating other aspects of the hunting trip such as whether the US Department of Interior granted a permit to bring the sheep that he shot back to America or the US State Department was involved in the trip.

Donald Trump Jr. does not hold any official government position, unlike his sister Ivanka Trump and his brother-in-law Jared Kushner.

Related Article: Kanye West's Support for Donald Trump: Was It An Act to Get Black People Out of Jail?

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A study led by the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) has found significant differences in disease risk perception and channels of information about Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Guinea, West Africa

A study led by the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) has found significant differences in disease risk perception and channels of information about Ebola virus disease (EVD) in rural areas and urban centres of Guinea, West Africa.

Findings were established after researchers investigated residents' opinions of the wildlife potentially posing a risk for EVD transmission to humans, wildmeat consumption before and during the 2013-2016 EVD outbreak in Guinea, and the ways in which EVD transmission risks were communicated during the outbreak.

The research led by Dr Tatyana Humle (DICE) alongside colleagues from Beijing Forestry University, China and other international institutions, found that rural people mainly received information about EVD through awareness-raising missions, especially in villages, as opposed to urban respondents who also gained their information through newspapers and radio.

Bats, chimpanzees, monkeys, warthogs, crested porcupines, duikers and cane rats were perceived as potential transmitters of EVD, but only bats and chimpanzees were reportedly consumed less often during the epidemic period even though a wildmeat ban was in place. Reduced consumption of bats and chimpanzees and an increase in domestic meat consumption revealed influenced consumption behaviour based on perceived disease risk. Yet many respondents in rural areas still did not strongly believe that wildlife could act as vectors of EVD, underestimating the risk associated with handling, capturing, butchering, and transporting infected wild animal carcasses.

Respondents who believed that EVD is not natural blamed developed countries for its spread. These individuals tended to maintain their wildmeat consumption habits and potentially mistrust information conveyed. The high cost and low availability of domestic meat were also cited as barriers to alternative meat protein consumption, especially in rural areas.

Dr Humle said: 'Our research indicates that future public health and behavioural change campaigns must use carefully developed messaging in relation to the risks of zoonoses. There should also be a bigger focus on raising awareness of affordable and accessible alternative protein resources. This will be more beneficial to residents than imposing bans or restrictions. In regions such as West Africa, the relationship between socio-economic context, food security, and public health is so important and requires greater attention.'

###

Their paper, 'Consumer perceptions and reported wild and domestic meat and fish consumption behavior during the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, West Africa' has been published by PeerJ. DOI: http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9229
Bullied nine-year-old Quaden Bayles has been hit with more online abuse over attending an Australian Black Lives Matter protest.

Quaden made international headlines in February when his mother filmed him saying he wanted to die after kids picked on him at school.

In footage shared in February, Quaden - who has the most common type of dwarfism called achondroplasia - is seen sobbing into the camera and saying he is suicidal from being relentlessly bullied.

The nine-year-old, his activist mother Yarraka and sister Guyala all attended a Black Lives Matter rally in Brisbane on Saturday.

Bullied nine-year-old Quaden Bayles (pictured with Goodna rapper Lisi) has been hit with more online abuse for attending an Australian Black Lives Matter protest

Quaden Bayles and his mother Yarraka were spotted at the Brisbane Black Lives Matter rally on Saturday

The nine-year-old, his activist mother Yarraka (pictured) and sister Guyala all attended a Black Lives Matter rally in Brisbane on Saturday

Quaden shared a series of pictures from the event on Instagram including a snap with well-known Goodna rapper Lisi who he saw at the event.

'Was so happy to meet this guy at the #BLM march today,' the caption read.

'Love listening to @lisi4300. I used to live in Goodna with my dad and brother who used to go to Kruger Park.'

Hundreds of comments flooded the nine-year-old's Instagram posts with horrific racists remarks which Daily Mail Australia felt were too vile to publish.

Ms Bayles captioned the photos of her family protesting 'Freedom fighters', and also shared a photo of protesters in the U.S. in support

An aerial shot of protestors at the Black Lives Matter rally in Brisbane on Saturday where an estimated 30,000 people attended

Many of Quaden's 468,000 followers came to his defence and slammed the vicious trolls and bullies.

'Please leave the comments off. I am so sick of seeing grown ass adults bully a CHILD with special needs! It just hurts my heart,' one user said.

'Anyone who is posting and commenting hate is disgusting and need to get lives,' another said.

'I can't believe people like you still exist. It's sickening.'

Quaden Bayles, from Brisbane, made international headlines in February when his mother Yarraka filmed him saying he wanted to die after being bullied at school

The protest Quaden attended was sparked by the death of Minnesota man George Floyd, a black man in the US who died on May 25 after a police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes during an arrest.

Quaden made headlines after footage shared in February went viral of him sobbing and saying he was suicidal because he had been relentlessly bullied.

He told his mother: 'Give me a rope, I want to kill myself.'

'I just want to stab myself in the heart... I want someone to kill me.'

Quaden also scratched at his neck and said: 'I want to die... I want to scratch myself'.

Ms Bayles shared the video publicly on Facebook in a bid to raise awareness about the impact of bullying.
[June 11, 2020] United Health Foundation Pledges $500,000 to Support Vulnerable Arizona Residents Amid COVID-19 Emergency

The United Health Foundation has committed $500,000 to provide urgent assistance to Arizona residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The support for the Arizona Food Bank Network (AzFBN) is part of UnitedHealth Group's (NYSE: UNH) more than $75 million commitment to fight COVID-19 and assist those directly impacted, including health care workers, hard-hit communities, seniors and people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. The $500,000 grant will support AzFBN, a private, nonprofit organization that serves all 15 Arizona counties. Funding will provide access to meals and adequate nutrition for Arizonans through the state's network of nearly 1,000 food pantries and organizations, some of which have experienced a demand up to five times greater than usual due to COVID-19. Additionally, AzFBN will work with schools to ensure students and families are provided meals during the summer months. "Many Arizonans are facing unprecedented hardships during the COVID-19 public health emergency and reliable access to food is paramount in keeping people healthy and safe," said Joe Gaudio, chief executive officer, West Region, UnitedHealthcare Community & State. "Our support for the Arizona Food Bank Network has bee long-standing and our recent investment will help address food insecurity across the state and complements efforts initiated by Governor Doug Ducey to provide aid for at-risk communities during the pandemic."



"We know that Arizonans are struggling right now and will be facing a long recovery. We need to make sure there is help available when they need it," said Angie Rodgers, president and chief executive officer, Arizona Food Bank Network. "Thanks to the United Health Foundation's commitment to Arizona, we can support organizations that help feed hungry people across the state." UnitedHealth Group, including UnitedHealthcare, Optum and the United Health Foundation, has a long history of addressing food insecurity - a key determinant of health among vulnerable populations in Arizona and across the country. The United Health Foundation has recently invested more than $4 million through national partnerships with the Feeding America network of member food banks, Meals on Wheels America, and several state-based organizations as part of UnitedHealth Group's commitment to fight COVID-19 and support impacted communities.

About UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is a diversified health care company dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and helping to make the health system work better for everyone. UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through two distinct platforms: UnitedHealthcare, which provides health care coverage and benefits services; and Optum, which provides information and technology-enabled health services. For more information, visit UnitedHealth Group at www.unitedhealthgroup.com or follow @UnitedHealthGrp on Twitter (News - Alert). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005167/en/

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 03:11:39|Editor: huaxia

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JERUSALEM, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel's central bank recommended imposing a carbon tax to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report released by the bank on Wednesday.

The proposed tax is expected to be imposed on polluting energy sources such as vehicle fuels, as well as gas and coal used to generate electricity.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, Israel has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 10.1 tons per capita in 2015, to 8.8 tons in 2025 and 7.7 tons in 2030.

According to the bank, Israel can meet these goals if coal-fired power plants are converted to gas by 2024 and if the rate of electricity generation from renewable energy reaches 30 percent of total electricity generation.

The bank noted that toughening greenhouse gas emissions targets in the coming years in the European Union and others may require further significant reduction actions in the Israeli economy as well.

These actions could include, according to the bank, the imposition of taxes, the transition to the use of electric vehicles and the expansion of energy use from renewable sources.

The bank, together with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, also announced the plan for a joint expert workshop to discuss global warming, its potential impact on the Israeli economy, and possible mechanisms for reducing emissions. Enditem
CAIRO - Police raided the houses of two uncles of an Egyptian-American activist who recently sued a former Egyptian prime minister in a U.S. court, accusing him of crimes against humanity, an international rights group said on Thursday.

Human Rights Watch quoted a member of Mohamed Soltans family as saying that more than a dozen uniformed and plainclothes police on Wednesday searched the houses of two of Soltans uncles in the Delta province of Menoufeya.

The security forces also looked at passports, phones and laptops before asking about Soltan, a dual U.S.-Egyptian citizen, and whether the family had been in touch with him, according to the statement released by the New York-based group. Nobody was arrested and nothing was confiscated, the statement said.

This is a shameless retaliatory act of aggression against my family in Egypt, and an abundantly clear attempt to deter and silence me from my pursuit of justice, said Soltan, adding that his family members, including young children, were held at gunpoint during the raid. I will not be intimidated, and I refuse to be silenced.

Soltans lawyers at the Washington-based firm of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss amended his civil case on Thursday by presenting a new declaration to the court that detailed the threats against his family. It said Soltan would seek appropriate relief through the American justice system.

The security raids at the homes of (Soltans) relatives in Egypt follows a clear pattern of targeting relatives of dissidents abroad, said Joe Stork, HRWs Middle East and North Africa deputy director.

On June 1, the 32-year-old Soltan, now living in Virginia, filed a lawsuit against Egypts former Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, accusing him of targeting him for attempted extrajudicial execution and torture while he was in detention in Cairo between 2013 and 2015.

Soltan invoked a 1991 U.S. statute that allows for victims of torture and extrajudicial killings committed by foreign officials abroad to seek damages through the U.S. court system.

Mohamed Soltan took recourse in a U.S. court because he has had zero opportunity to pursue justice or accountability in Egypt for torture and police abuses, said Stork.

El-Beblawi currently lives in Washington, where he works as an executive director of the International Monetary Fund.

In the summer of 2013, after the military-led ouster of the countrys first democratically elected but divisive president, Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian security officers descended on a protest camp in Cairo, packed with his Islamist supporters, and killed hundreds. Soltan, an Ohio State University graduate and the son of a prominent member of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was shot in the arm while working as a reporter for Western news organizations at the time in the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

He was eventually arrested by security forces and sentenced to life in prison on charges of spreading fake news in a mass trial widely condemned by rights groups.

In Cairos maximum-security Tora prison complex, Soltan said he endured torture overseen by el-Beblawi and other high-ranking officials. He said he was denied medical care for his bullet wound, beaten to unconsciousness, held in solitary confinement and forced to listen to the sounds of his father being tortured in a nearby cell. He lost 160 pounds over the course of a 16-month hunger strike to protest his imprisonment.

Under pressure from the Obama administration, Egypt released Soltan in 2015, although his father remains in prison.

The lawsuit names President Abel Fattah el-Sissi, intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and three other former senior security officials as culpable, arguing they should be served if they set foot in the United States.
[June 11, 2020] What's Next Innovation Challenge Sponsored by AARP Innovation Labs Names Finalists; Expert Judging Panel Will Determine Winners June 25 with Virtual Audience

BERKELEY, Calif., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the hallmarks of the What's Next Longevity Summits are the competitions where entrepreneurs in the $8.3 trillion longevity economy vie for prestige, seed money and distribution partner opportunities. Produced by Mary Furlong & Associates since 2003, this year's annual What's Next Longevity Venture Summit will take the competitions to a new level with virtual judging panels and audience participation using an innovative online platform, Countable. The finalists in the What's Next Innovation Challenge sponsored by AARP Innovation Labs are: AudioCardio, Alango  Wear & Hear; Active Life Hearing Loops, LLC; Asius Technologies, LLC; Yes Hearing; and Singular Hearing Inc. Chosen from a large field of applicants, these six companies offer the most disruptive solutions to drive adoption and usage of hearing aids for the millions over age 50 who have hearing impairment in the U.S. "We're excited to sponsor the What's Next Innovation Challenge again this year and discover how entrepreneurs can help transform the lives of millions of older Americans living with hearing loss," said Jacqueline M. Baker, vice president of Startup Programming for AARP Innovation Labs. "Our mission is to empower people to choose how to live how they want as they age. We look forward to seeing who the top winners are who share this dream." "There is no better event for these entrepreneurs helping to solve hearing loss that impacts one in three Americans between ages 65-74," said Mary Furlong, serial successful entrepreneur, author and producer of the What's Next Longevity Summits. "The entrepreneurial talent from this competition not only gets the attention from event attendees who can fund or distribute their innovation and help scale their business, but also gets the chance to go on to ntional awareness thanks to our sponsor, AARP Innovation Labs."



Each finalist will make their pitch to the expert judging panel consisting of longevity experts and investors: Dave Blanchard  Hamilton CapTel, Abby Levy  Primetime Partners and Jeannee Parker Martin  LeadingAge California. The judges will vote collectively to determine the winner who will earn a spot at the AARP Innovation Labs Grand Pitch Finale in Washington, D.C. later this year. The 2020 theme for the What's Next Longevity Venture Summit Business Plan Competition is "Technologies to Support the Needs of Older Adults in the Time of COVID-19." A panel of top investors in Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C. and corporate ventures will select the winning plan which receives $10,000 seed funding to pursue their innovation. Interested entrepreneurs still have time to submit their application by the deadline of Tuesday, June 30 at 11:59 pm PST here.

A select number of top entrepreneurs will be chosen to participate in the annual Pitch for Distribution competition. These entrepreneurs are given a 4-minute pitch to a panel of potential distribution partners for their innovation. The judging panel decides on whether or not to take a follow-up meeting with each entrepreneur. Given the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic, the What's Next Longevity Venture Summit event will be a 3-day virtual event with on demand content including: more than 70 speakers, thought leader panel discussions, analyst research presentations, best practice and investor case studies and networking possibilities with leading investors, businesses, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, authors, analysts, media and marketing experts will join the virtual event powered by Countable. The Countable platform reimagines a dynamic digital experience for event organizers and Participants as a content-first platform architected for actionability, audience engagement and measurable impact. "Countable was founded to activate audiences and expand the ways in which we receive and engage with critical information and resources," said Bart Myers, founder & CEO of Countable. "We're thrilled to collaborate with Mary Furlong on the What's Next Longevity Venture Summit to deliver a unique experience to participants and sponsors in this year's event, and to do so in a manner that extends lasting value and engagement opportunities long into the future." See the event agenda and full list of speakers and sponsors at: https://www.boomerventuresummit.com/ Media Contact:

Lori Bitter

[email protected]

415-652-9884 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/whats-next-innovation-challenge-sponsored-by-aarp-innovation-labs-names-finalists-expert-judging-panel-will-determine-winners-june-25-with-virtual-audience-301074371.html SOURCE Mary Furlong & Associates

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President Donald Trump ruled out renaming US military bases that are named for Confederate leaders on Wednesday even as NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its races and Democrats sought the removal from Capitol Hill of statues of people representing the pro-slavery South in the 1860s Civil War.

With Americans more conscious about race issues in the wake of the death of African American George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, Trump drew a line in favour of keeping the names of 10 military bases from Virginia to Texas that are named for Confederate military leaders.

Trumps announcement via tweet basically slapped down those Pentagon officials open to discussing the issue, which has emerged as a way of achieving racial reconciliation.

In the past few days, officials have said that the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, was open to having a bipartisan conversation about renaming the Army bases named for Confederate leaders.

In a series of tweets, Trump argued the bases have become part of a Great American Heritage.

The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations..., Trump wrote in a tweet.

The issue of the enslavement of African Americans tore the United States apart when Southern states broke away to form the Confederate States of America to protect slavery. Northern states defeated the South in the Civil War to restore the Union.

But slaverys legacy continues to haunt race relations in America. In recent history, controversies over symbols of the Confederacy, such as statues of its leaders and its battle flag, have erupted. Those arguing for their removal say they symbolize racism and oppression, while those opposing such action call them signifiers of Southern heritage and pride.

NASCAR, whose races frequently feature fans waving the Confederate battle flag, said on Wednesday it would ban the stars and bars flag from its events.

On Capitol Hill, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Congress to immediately take steps to remove from the US Capitol 11 statues representing Confederate leaders and soldiers. Among the statues is one of Confederate military commander Robert E. Lee.

Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed, Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a letter to leaders of a congressional committee in charge of managing the statues on display at the Capitol.

US military bases named for Confederate military leaders are all located in former Confederate states. Many of those states helped elect Trump in 2016, and he is counting on them again for the Nov. 3 election.

In an article published Tuesday in The Atlantic, retired General and former CIA chief David Petraeus called for renaming the bases, pointing out that the men they are named for committed treason, however much they may have agonized over it by fighting for the Confederacy.

At a news briefing Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany noted that the HBO Max streaming service had withdrawn the Civil War movie Gone with the Wind and asked Where do you draw the line?

Should George Washington and Thomas Jefferson be erased from history? she said of the first and third American presidents, both of whom owned slaves.

She said renaming the bases was an absolute non-starter for the president.
A 44-year-old New Jersey man struck up an online relationship with at least four minors and traveled to the Philippines on multiple occasions to try to have sex with them, authorities said.

James A. Diggs, of Somerville faces decades in federal prison after being charged Wednesday with one count apiece of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and foreign travel to engage in criminal sexual activity, the U.S. Attorneys Office for New Jersey said in a statement.

Diggs, who traveled to the Philippines seven times between 2015 and 2019 told law enforcement that he paid a minor for sex during an October 2018 trip, according to charging documents. He also admitted to exchanging sexually explicit text messages with three other juveniles, and and tried to have sex with at least two of them during trips abroad. One of the victims was 17. The ages and genders of the others are not disclosed.

He bought the victim he had sex with a cellular phone and also offered to purchase the minor shoes, a jacket, a polo shirt, and sexy underwear, according to court documents. On another occasion he tried to negotiate by text a price to have a sexual encounter in a public bathroom, court papers state.

Diggs resided in Middlesex County when he was communicating with the juveniles using an online messaging app  mainly from September 2018 to February 2019. Prosecutors didnt disclose a town.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Good morning, Bay Area. Its Thursday, June 11, and San Franciscos police union and Muni are at odds amid protests over police brutality. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

Santa Clara County on Wednesday issued new orders demanding Kaiser Permanente and other health care providers ramp up their coronavirus testing capacity to carry more of the burden that so far has fallen primarily on public health services.

The new order, which takes effect June 15, requires that all hospitals and their associated clinics in the county offer testing to members who have symptoms of COVID-19 or have had contact with someone who tested positive, along with all frontline workers who may be regularly exposed to the coronavirus.

As Erin Allday and Catherine Ho report, Kaiser, the Bay Areas largest health care provider, specifically has been criticized by officials in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties for not providing enough testing to its members. Other large providers, including Sutter Health, also fall short, officials have said.

More:

 Antibodies from people who recovered from SARS may be critical to fighting COVID-19, a new study says.

 San Francisco Latinos ask the mayor for help as the coronavirus soars in that group.

 Are U.S. cities reopening ahead of the Bay Area seeing surges in coronavirus cases?

Twitter spat over police brutality

San Franciscos police union started a social media spat over police brutality with the citys transportation agency on Wednesday, telling Muni it can look elsewhere for help when a crime occurs on one of its buses or light-rail cars.

The bold words  made on Twitter  came after the Municipal Transportation Agency announced in a series of tweets that it would no longer transport SFPD to anti-police brutality protests. Muni also halted service across its lines Tuesday for eight minutes and 46 seconds to honor George Floyd, who died May 25 when a Minneapolis police officer put his knee on Floyds neck for that amount of time.

In response to Munis tweets, the San Francisco Police Officers Association told Muni officials to lose our number in a post Wednesday morning.

Alejandro Serrano, Rachel Swan and Megan Cassidy report on the controversy.

Also:

 Otis R. Taylor Jr.: Violent cops didnt concern Vallejo city leaders until it was trendy.

 Rage gives way to grief and hope in Bay Area protests.

 All nine cities in Sonoma County pledge to review police department policies and support reform.

Coronavirus concerns at Tesla

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Tesla told Alameda County officials that some of its Fremont workers have tested positive for the coronavirus - but details are scant, and some employees in the sprawling manufacturing facility say the electric car maker is not sharing information internally about the infections.

Concern about the cases spread among plant workers after the Washington Post reported that two workers tested positive for the virus last month. It was not clear if the workers had acquired the infection on the job or elsewhere.

Employees working in various Tesla departments at the plant told The Chronicles Chase DiFeliciantonio they had received little to no communication from the company about the infections. The worst thing they can do is not say anything, said materials handler Branton Phillips.

Amendment to overturn Prop. 209 advances

California lawmakers advanced a constitutional amendment Wednesday to overturn Proposition 209, the affirmative action ban approved by state voters in the 1990s that critics say perpetuates inequality for women and people of color.

By a vote of 58-9, the Assembly passed ACA5, which would strip language from the state Constitution prohibiting the consideration of race and sex in public education, employment and contracting.

As Alexei Koseff reports, it is the first major step toward rescinding the law, a decision that would ultimately be left to California voters. If approved in the Senate by a two-thirds vote by June 25, the measure will appear on the November ballot, giving the state a chance to weigh in on the issue for the first time in a generation.

Why some S.F. dinner reservations may have to wait

Josh Edelson/Josh Edelson / SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Bay Area diners may be excited by the news that San Francisco restaurants can finally reopen for outdoor dining Friday  but most restaurants wont be ready right away, and many wont bother at all.

The citys often unfriendly summer weather is causing major hurdles for restaurant owners hoping to take advantage of outdoor dining after months of forced closure or limited operations during the coronavirus shutdown. That, combined with the homelessness crisis and cars zooming down busy streets, has led many to decide outdoor dining isnt worth the investment  especially when San Francisco is on track to allow indoor dining next month.

Read more from Janelle Bitker.

Also: Santa Cruz and Monterey counties are poised to reopen to tourists Friday.

Around the Bay

 Ruling on ride-hailing: California regulators say Uber and Lyft drivers are employees under AB5, the states new gig-work law.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

 S.F. renter protection: Landlords in San Francisco will be permanently barred from evicting tenants if they cant pay rent due to coronavirus-related issues, under legislation passed Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

 Utility changes: PG&E Corp. announces 11 new board members as part of its bankruptcy overhaul.

 Ups and downs: The weather roller coaster of hot weeks followed by cool weekends is expected to continue for the Bay Area.

 Transportation deal: Muni rolls back fare increases after pressure from San Francisco supervisors.

 MLB draft: Buster, Bart, now Bailey - the Giants select another catcher in the first round. Meanwhile, Petalumas Spencer Torkelson is drafted first overall by the Detroit Tigers.

Datebook: The end of a classical S.F. era

Brigitte Lacombe

When the San Francisco Symphony announced plans for its 2019-20 season  the 25th and final year featuring Michael Tilson Thomas as music director  it was conceived as a triumphal march culminating this month in programs demonstrating how Thomas has put his stamp on the orchestra and American classical music.

The COVID-19 pandemic wiped it all away in an instant. Now, the final month of Thomas tenure is being carried out online, with a live-streamed grand finale set for June 28.

While Thomas recently told Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman that he feels nostalgic sadness, he also sounded an upbeat note: Whoever becomes a musician and has a 40- or 50-year career, and at the end of it find your soul is in a more nurtured and enlightened place than it was when you started  well, thats what I call a successful life.

Read more of The Chronicles tribute to Thomas and his legacy:

 Secret ingredient in Thomas artistic leadership: The element of surprise.

 Peers pay tribute to a conductor who pushed the limits.

 Vividly capturing Michael Tilson Thomas and the S.F. Symphony on disc.

 Details of the S.F. Symphonys 25-day virtual celebration of Thomas quarter-century as music director.

 Making history together: A timeline of Michael Tilson Thomas and the S.F. Symphony.

Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact Brown at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com.
By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company transported 25 more citizens of Kazakhstan back to their country, local media reported with reference to the companys press service.

According to the information, 25 citizens of Kazakhstan, 9 citizens of Azerbaijan with residence permits in Kazakhstan and 1 citizen of Georgia, who remained in Azerbaijan due to coronavirus pandemic and closure of borders, were transported to Kazakhstan.

The passenger were transported on Mercury-1 ferry from Baku port on the evening on June 10 to Kazakh port of Kuryk.

Before departure, all passengers passed coronavirus test, the results of which were negative.

Earlier, on June 3, embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan has sent a letter to ASCO, where expressed their gratitude for companys contribution to solidarity between two countries in the fight against coronavirus pandemic.

It should be noted that from May 13, Kazakhstan approved a new procedure for crossing the state border for the period of quarantine restrictions, according to which the Kazakh port "Kuryk" resumed acceptance of citizens of Kazakhstan and other countries with the right to enter the country.

During May and June, 53 Kazakh citizens and 14 foreign nationals departed from the Baku port.

Azerbaijan first introduced special quarantine regime on March 24 and the fourth stage of quarantine regime easing came into force May 31.

On June 9, a decision was taken to impose a two-day nationwide quarantine regime in Baku, Ganja, Lankaran, Sumgayit, Absheron, Yevlakh, Ismailli, Kurdamir and Salyan regions, that will be effective from 00:00 on June 14 to 06:00 on June 16.

As of June 11, Azerbaijan has registered 8,530 COVID-19 cases and 102 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of recovered patients is 4,720.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Kanpur : , June 11 (IANS) She 'met' him on Facebook during the lockdown and then travelled alone for 150 kilometers in a truck to marry him.

Pooja, 23, of Shankarpur village of Jalaun district, became friends with Brijesh of Chautarahar village of Kannauj district on Facebook.

The two started exchanging notes, their friendship soon blossomed into love and the couple decided to get married.

However, Brijesh's family did not approve of the match and wanted the boy to marry another girl.

When Pooja learnt about this, she decided to visit Brijesh's family and convince them for their marriage.

She covered the distance in a truck and walked around 20 kms to meet Brijesh's family in Chautarahar village over the weekend.

Brijesh's family turned down her request to marry their son and Pooja staged a sit-in in front of Brijesh's house.

Brijesh's family asked her to go back home but Pooja remained unrelenting.

Local residents informed the village head, Jai Singh, who intervened in the matter and a panchayat was convened and finally Brijesh agreed to marry Pooja.

According to sources, she showed their Facebook and WhatsApp messages to the panchayat members.

"The panchayat has now asked Brijesh's family to prepare for the wedding that will be held later this month," said Jai Singh.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Fearing coronavirus, the body of a 45-year-old man was taken to the mortuary in a garbage van by the municipal employees in Balrampur district in central UP.

A video of the incident, which went viral on social media, shows the municipal workers dumping the body into the garbage van in the presence of three cops in uniform.

The deceased, identified as Mohammed Anwar, was a resident of Sahzora village under Sadullahnagar police station in Balrampur. He had gone to a local government office where he collapsed and died later near the gate.

Fearing #COVID19, the body of a 45-year-old man was dumped into a garbage van, in the presence of three cops in uniform and taken to the mortuary. pic.twitter.com/Nj92sFqdlH  The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) June 11, 2020

Taking cognizance of the video, Balrampur district administration and the police authorities suspended three police personnel including a Sub-Inspector and four municipal workers. District Magistrate Krishna Karunesh has ordered a probe into the incident.

The sources claimed that fearing the coronavirus, the cops and ambulance staff had refused to touch the body.

Expressing shock and awe, Balrampur SP Dev Ranjan Verma called it extremely insensitive and inhuman. He also issued a warning and instructed all the cops to revise the lessons on sensitivity.

We have a standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with the cases involving bodies. Usually, UP 112 PRVs are informed which have a kit for keeping the body and carrying it to the mortuary. Following COVID -19 scare, PPE-kits have been given to each police station for wearing while on frontline duties and also while handling bodies, he said.
She is used to showing off her sizzling figure on social media.

And Olivia Buckland was up to her old tricks once more on Wednesday evening as she sizzled in sexy lingerie in her latest smouldering snap.

The Love Island alum, 26, looked phenomenal in a sexy push-up bra with matching bottoms as she pulled her sexiest pose for the camera.

Hot stuff: Olivia Buckland was up to her old tricks once more on Wednesday evening as she sizzled in sexy lingerie in her latest smouldering snap

Olivia was hotting up social media for her 2.3million Instagram followers.

She added a caption on the snap reading: 'Dont value your BODY over your BEING Im always & forever about confidence building from the inside out...

'Of course it helps when you get to the out part to add a vibrant lingerie set like this one from for a sexy little confidence boost - I told you I was loving pink at the moment'.

It comes after Olivia and husband Alex Bowen were revealed to be worth 4.5million after their brief stint on reality TV.

Throwback: It comes after Olivia and husband Alex Bowen were revealed to be worth 4.5million after their brief stint on reality TV

The couple, who shot to fame during the second series of the popular ITV2 show in 2016, have made their new-found fortune through modelling contracts, club appearances and TV roles.

Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, Olivia said: 'We have definitely been lucky but there is no guarantee that you will strike it rich from going on Love Island.

'We know people who have gone back to their normal jobs after the show and nothing has changed for them.

'You have to be really savvy to achieve longevity. You have to work hard and make the right decisions.'

Stardom: The pair, who now charge 2,000 for a single social media post on Instagram, used their fortune to fund a 100,000 wedding at Gosfield Hall, Essex, in August 2018

Since leaving the show, Alex, 28, landed modelling deals for BoohooMAN, Hype and Gym King in deals thought to be worth around 200,000 as well as banking more than 700,000 from club appearances.

Olivia has similarly earned around 200,000 through a modelling contract with Rocky Star, landing a presenting role on TLC's Second Chance Dresses and releasing a clothing range with MissPap.

Before the show Olivia, who was on a salary of 18,000 per year as a sales executive, lived in a council flat and said she was reliant on her credit cards and overdraft.

New-found fortune: It comes after Olivia and husband Alex Bowen were revealed to be worth 4.5million after their brief stint on reality TV

Alex earned 400-a-week as a scaffolder in Wolverhampton and lived with his mum while paying off a 5,000 pay day loan.

The pair, who now charge 2,000 for a single social media post on Instagram, used their fortune to fund a 100,000 wedding at Gosfield Hall, Essex, in August 2018.

And most recently they purchased a 1million five-bedroom home in Essex, which Olivia says is all thanks to Love Island.




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South Africa: DWS condemns water tanks torching

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) says the torching of water tanks in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, is a major setback in efforts to provide water to communities in need.

The department is placing water tankers and tanks in communities around the country in response to President Cyril Ramaphosas call to ensure that water-stressed communities have access to clean water supply to fight the spread of the killer Coronavirus.

Following the Presidents call, the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu, directed the department to immediately act on the Presidents call to alleviate the plight of needy communities across the country.

DWSs Gauteng Provincial Head, Sibusiso Mthembu, in a statement expressed disappointment at the torching of the water tanks, saying this was running counter to the objective of ensuring that communities were not negatively impacted by the virus.

Mthembu said many people are desperate for the assistance the department is providing in the form of water tanks and tankers, and that the actions of some community members are unjustified and utterly unacceptable.

He said: Coronavirus is spreading at a rapid rate and communities need water to wash their hands. These acts of wanton destruction of property are infringing upon the rights of access to water of other members of the community. We condemn such acts as they demonstrate disregard for other peoples lives.

To date, the department has provided a total of 2 232 water tanks to the Cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, as well as the Sedibeng District and West Rand District Municipalities.

Mthembu said communities which lack access to water are particularly at risk during this time. He said the intervention of the department will go a long way to ensure that needy communities are able to practice proper hygiene by washing hands with water and soap to stay healthy.

He urged communities to look after water infrastructure, reiterating that its destruction only sets back whatever strides government is making to guarantee communities are safe from the Coronavirus.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Egypt will extend a night-time curfew by a further two weeks in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Information Minister Osama Heikal said Thursday, as infections rise.

Heikal told a news conference the measure would be enforced from 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) to 4:00 am, from Sunday June 14 until the end of the month.

Working hours for shops will be until 6:00 pm, instead of 5:00 pm, he said.

"Tourism and flights to coastal cities with the lowest infection levels will be restarted from July," the minister added.

It is not clear when flights to the capital, Cairo, will resume.

Heikal also said the government will look into reopening places of worship in cities with low infections starting next month.

Since March, authorities have halted air traffic, shuttered schools and closed tourist and religious sites to slow the spread of the virus among Egypt's 100 million people.

The health ministry has so far recorded 1,342 deaths out of 38,284 confirmed cases.

Since late last month, it has been reporting more than 1,000 new cases a day.

The government has been seeking to gradually loosen lockdown measures, allowing hotels to partially reopen and resuming some public services it had suspended.

Last month, Egypt's doctors union warned that a major COVID-19 oubreak could trigger a "complete collapse" of the country's health system.
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As lockdown 5.0 eases restrictions on religious places, All India Catholic Union (AICU) has thanked the government for the decision. This was communicated by AICU in a webinar on Wednesday.

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Inaugurated by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the webinar was attended by Pete Machado (Bangalore Archbishop), Allan Brooks (spokesman of the church in North East India), Elias Vaz (AICU vice president), Lancy D Cunha (AICU national president) and Vibhuti Patel (Mumbai social worker), apart from other members of the union. Moderator AC Michael noted that religious practices differ widely between faiths, and sometimes even within different sects and rites of religions. Also, minority religions differ in various districts and blocks of the country, many of which have not been as severely impacted as metropolitan cities. In such a scenario, regulations imposed may be entirely unnecessary in most rural areas and small town, and possibly also impractical.

President Cunha discussed these impacts of imposed isolation on worshippers as having created psychological, psychosomatic and spiritual challenges for the people, reminding that it is imperative on the spiritual leaders to address this on an urgent basis. On that note, she highlighted that worship cannot be done on television or using information technology, and on behalf of AICU, she extended her thanks for government to allow the reopening of shrines and religious places.

Cunha continued that churches in the country had implicitly followed the government guidelines in the lockdown other than contributing greatly in extending medicare, relief and other assistance to people impacted by unemployment, hunger and homelessness. AICU vice president Vaz added that many churches have also been converted to COVID care wards, refugee centres and food distribution points and that bishops, clergy, nuns and volunteers were closely involved in relief and distress amelioration operations at all levels, down to small towns and villages.

AICU also outlined its role in addressing the biggest humanitarian crisis of these times apart from the spreads of the disease  the migrant crisis in that the churches were at the forefront of all aspects of the amelioration of the hardships of the migrant workers and their families. Food, medical attention and in many cases such as those going to Jharkhand, all forms of transport were arranged free of cost, AICU informed.

The church is committed to taking all measures needed to prevent the spread of disease and for personal hygiene, iterated AICU meet. It said that assessment of current management must be done and local Bishops and priests must come up with detailed systems management. Cunha added that the Catholic Bishops Conference and its counterparts had given detailed guidelines to their clergy and Laity in this regard.

The AICU webinar also discussed issues arising out of the long closure of schools and assured that children who have had to relocate because of the pandemic and the migrations, will be given admissions in Catholic schools to the full possible extent.

In its endnote, AICU remarked that the silence of the pandemic had also made Corona community alive to issues of human rights, constitutional values and civil liberties, thus establishing that religious institutions are an important part of the civil society, involved not just in reaching to people that are out of coverage of government programmes, but in helping build a strong spirit of citizenship. Hence, leaders of all religious institutions must be consulted before Union and state governments take radical decisions and impose rules on the opening of places of worship.

President Cunha concluded that the church would observe its responsibility for maintaining all possible safety measures and would act as a partner in nation-building in the post-COVID era.
United States President Donald Trump has announced to resume his election rallies from Oklahoma, followed by a series of others in the states of Texas, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina.





Due to the coronavirus pandemic, he had suspended his election rallies for the past three months.

Trump, 77, is seeking his re-election in the November presidential elections. Former US Vice President Joe Biden is his main challenger from the opposition Democratic party.



"We're going to start our rallies back up now. We've had a tremendous run at rallies," he told reporters at the White House.

"I don't think there has been an empty seat since we came down on the escalator," the US President said on Wednesday, referring to his historic flight down the escalator along with First Lady Melania Trump at the Trump Towers in New York in 2015 announcing the launch of his 2016 presidential campaign.



"It's been an amazing thing to behold, and we're going to be starting our rallies. The first one, we believe will be probably -- we're just starting to call up -- will be in Oklahoma, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a beautiful new venue, brand-new," he said.



"We're going to be coming into Florida, do a big one in Florida, big one in Texas. They're all going to be big. We're going to Arizona. We're going to North Carolina at the appropriate time," Trump said.

The 45th president of the United States has been the biggest crowd puller of his Republican Party and so far has drawn much larger crowd that his main rival Biden.



Biden, 77, the Democratic presidential nominee, is, however, leading the average of major national polls by more than eight percentage points, according to Real Clear Politics.



Traditionally, Republican leaders and the Trump Campaign have doubted the reliability of major national polls, given that in 2016 presidential polls every major poll had written him off against his then main rival Hillary Clinton.

During his White House interaction with reporters, Trump was critical of the Democratic Governor from North Carolina, where the Republican Party is scheduled to hold the National Convention in August. The North Carolina Governor, he said, is slow in opening the state from coronavirus.



"The governor is a little backward there. He's a little bit behind, and unfortunately we're going to probably be having no choice but to move the Republican Convention to another location. That will be announced shortly, but we'll have no choice," he said.

"We wanted to stay in North Carolina very badly. We love it. It's a great state, a state I won. Many, many friends, many relatives, frankly, that live there. And we'll see how it all works out, but the governor doesn't want to give an inch, and what he's doing is losing hundreds of millions of dollars for his state. But we'll probably have no other recourse but to move it to another state," he said.



Trump said several states want to host the convention, prominent among them include Texas, Georgia and Florida.



The US president is scheduled to travel to Dallas in Texas on Thursday for a major fundraiser, his first in person campaign event. His last election rally was in Charlotte on March 2, after which he has more or less remained inside the White House, except for a few occasions.
The next steps for an ambitious and collaborative project which aims to improve how inshore fisheries are managed in the UK have been published.

The industry-led steering group of the Future of Our Inshore Fisheries project has released both a report, detailing discussions from a conference held last year and an action plan, which sets out the first stage of practical actions to reform the management of UK inshore fisheries. At the heart of the project is the desire to establish an effective inshore fisheries management system that can deliver a viable and profitable inshore fishing industry that supports flourishing coastal communities.

The two-day Future of Our Inshore Fisheries conference, which took place in October 2019, brought almost 180 representatives together to discuss the challenges faced by UK inshore fishermen. Participants included sixty active fishermen together with industry leaders, policy makers, regulators, researchers and representatives from environmental groups.

Conference attendees heard examples of fisheries management solutions and best practice from around the world and considered their relevance to the UK's inshore fisheries. Seen as the first milestone in the delivery of the project, the conference set out to ensure that the vital expertise and experience of active inshore fishermen set the priorities for the project's next phase and inform its upcoming work.

The Future of Our Inshore Fisheries conference report details the conference presentations, the findings from group discussion sessions and the results of live polling. While the report does not make specific recommendations, it does outline the key themes which emerged and captures the priority areas identified by participants. The report concludes by recognizing that the scale of change which is wanted and needed is significant, and that developing and implementing solutions will take time.

Based on the report's findings, the steering group has identified five themes that will shape future work: co-management; collaborative science; credible fisheries management; rights and access; and effective compliance. The action plan is the first attempt to set out clear, deliverable actions across these themes that will be progressed over the next 1218 months.

A series of pilot studies will be used to test and refine the various initiatives. This will ensure that the experience and expertise of fishermen will directly inform the project, every step of the way. This project will also act as a focal point for a range of wider initiatives taking place across government and industry that will ultimately contribute to improved fisheries management.

Commenting on the publication of the report and action plan, steering group chair Michel Kaiser, Professor of Fisheries Conservation, and Chief Scientist, at Heriot-Watt University, said: "At the conference we heard about approaches to inshore fisheries management from around the world. Crucially, we also considered how well they might apply at home. With this next phase of work, we will start developing and testing some of the solutions to see what will work best for UK fisheries."

"The action plan is wide ranging and reflects the complex nature of the task ahead of us. Transforming how our inshore fisheries are managed will not be easy, will take time and there may well be mistakes along the way. Too often reasons have been found not to start this work, but with the industry and government collaborating we have an opportunity to get this right now.

"I firmly believe that the conference was a success because we had active fishermen in the room contributing their vital expertise and experience. This is the ethos we will maintain as we undertake this critical project and I am very pleased that we have inshore fishermen represented on the steering group."

Explore further Still time for Scottish fishing industry to adapt to climate change

More information: The full report, action plan and further information are available online: The full report, action plan and further information are available online: www.seafish.org/article/future  ur-inshore-fisheries
A statue of Christopher Columbus was removed from a park in Bostons North End on Thursday after it was vandalized and its head removed a day earlier, news outlets reported.

Erected in 1979, the statue, which has been damaged before, was beheaded early Wednesday morning, WCVB reported.

Statues of figures who have been lambasted for their ties to slavery and other human rights atrocities have been targeted by protesters in recent weeks amid demonstrations against systemic racism following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer.

On Wednesday night, protesters in Richmond, Virginia knocked down a statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. The monument was one of several dedicated to Confederate officials that had stood in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, The New York Times reported.

Another statue of Columbus was also torn down and thrown into a lake in Richmond on Tuesday evening. Protesters had gathered for a protest to support Indigenous people, according to the Timess report.

Columbus is seen by many as a problematic figure for violently abusing Indigenous people, launching the transatlantic slave trade and introducing several fatal diseases to the Americas. People have also condemned him for the genocide of Native Americans that followed the colonization of the Americas by Europeans.

The North End parks statue has been vandalized multiple times in recent years. In 2015, the monument was covered in red paint, with Black Lives Matter spray painted onto its base, and the statue had been beheaded before, in 2006. Its head remained missing for several days.

Early Thursday morning, multiple workers took to Christopher Columbus Park in Boston to take the headless statue off its base and put it in storage, WBZ reported.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told the news outlet the statue will be subject to discussions about its historic meaning." Officials will talk about whether the statue should be put back up.

This particular statue has been subject of repeated vandalism here in Boston. Given the conversations that we are certainly having right now in our city of Boston and throughout the country, we are going to take time to assess the historic meaning of the statue, Walsh said.

The park itself was opened as Waterfront Park in 1976. It was later renamed Christopher Columbus Park.

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[June 11, 2020] Turning the Tassels on the Pandemic: Oregon Virtual Academy Celebrates 2020 Graduates with Online Commencement Ceremony

Oregon Virtual Academy (ORVA), an online public school serving students in grades K-12 throughout the state for the last 12 years, will cap off their school year by celebrating the Class of 2020 in an online commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 13 at 11:30 a.m. ORVA is inviting all families and friends worldwide to join the celebration. This year, ORVA will graduate 190 students, many of whom have been enrolled at ORVA for their entire high school career. Thirty students will graduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. Collectively, the school reports having students that have been accepted to colleges and universities across Oregon and beyond, including Portland State University, Oregon State University, University of Idaho, and Central Washington University. Numerous students are attending Oregon Community Colleges such as Rogue Community College, Portland Community College, Lane Community College, Clackamas Community College, and Oregon Coast Community College. "We all know that school has changed because o the coronavirus, and it's been a very challenging year for all Oregon students," said ORVA Head of School Nicholas Sutherland. "Normally, we love to give our online students an in-person graduation, but, given the times, we are excited for the opportunity to do what's right and celebrate with them online."



Luke Steward is the Valedictorian and has been accepted at Portland State University while still considering other schools. Srikar Valluri is the Salutatorian and is attending Oregon State University. These students, as well as Mr. Sutherland, will be available for media interviews. Kevin P. Chavous, K12's President of Academics, Policy, and Schools will be the keynote speaker. Students enroll in virtual school for a number of reasons, including those looking for a safer learning environment free from bullying, those looking to get back on track academically, or those looking for an alternative to the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom setting. ORVA students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects and a host of electives and attend live virtual classes every day taught by state-certified teachers.

Details of the graduation ceremony are as follows: WHAT: Oregon Virtual Academy 2020 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Saturday, June 13, 2020, 11:30 a.m.

CONTACT: For any questions, please contact Megan Caldwell at 541-294-4351 About Oregon Virtual Academy Oregon Virtual Academy (ORVA) is an online and blended public charter school authorized by the North Bend School District which serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade throughout the state of Oregon. As part of the Oregon public school system, ORVA is tuition-free, and gives families the choice to access the curriculum provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs. For more information about ORVA, visit orva.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005002/en/

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New Delhi, June 11 : Migrant smuggling incidents involving Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Malaysia by sea have increased threefold from March to April 2020, said France-headquartered Interpol on Thursday, urging member countries to be on alert as migrant smuggling continues around the world amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Interpol, a police organisation with 194 countries as members, said traffickers are now using smaller boats to cross water-borders and migrants are being dangerously concealed in the compartments of trucks, freight vehicles, and cargo trains to cross land borders.

About Rohingya, the Interpol said the sudden increase of smuggling started likely due to the fear of Covid-19 contagion in refugee camps fostered by migrant smugglers to boost demand for their services.

Interpol said Covid-19, and measures being taken by countries to control its spread, are impacting crime around the world, including migrant smuggling and human trafficking.

While some of the preventive measures have effectively hindered certain criminal opportunities in the short-term, smugglers and traffickers, as well as their victims, have sought and found ways to overcome them.

Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are particularly affected by geo-political and socio-economic factors which vary greatly by region and in the ways they drive vulnerable communities in those regions to migrate.

The economic consequences will significantly impact people's desire and ability to migrate, as well as the incentive and opportunities for criminals to profit from illegal migration, which is also expected to increase.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has not blunted the determination of organized crime groups to prey on the vulnerable and make a profit from these crimes, which all too often cost the victims their lives," said Interpol Secretary General JArgen Stock in Lyon.

"We see misinformation being used by human traffickers to convince desperate people to use their services, and at an even higher personal and financial cost because of increased difficulties in completing a journey due to travel restrictions. It is essential that law enforcement continues to cooperate and communicate internationally to maintain our vital work in protecting desperate men, women and children from potentially becoming victims of human slavery," said the Interpol chief.

Interpol stated that at the end of March, 64 male migrants were found dead, likely from asphyxia, inside a shipping container loaded on the back of a lorry, while crossing into Mozambique from Malawi. Fourteen surviving migrants, who were also travelling in the container, were rescued and treated at a local hospital.

Smuggling continues: The near cessation of international travel in March and April meant that migrant smuggling by air, notably intercontinental smuggling, stopped entirely. Restrictions on the maritime sector also had a short-term impact on smuggling routes by sea, such as those crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.

Despite these immediate declines, migrant smuggling by land and sea continues around the world, and in ever more perilous conditions.

Key land migration routes, for example, those connecting Central America to North America and the Horn of Africa to South Africa, have remained active as smugglers monitor border management in order to evade controls.

Europe and North America, the most frequent destination countries for irregular migration and migrant smuggling, have also been among the most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Information strongly suggests that migrants have not been discouraged from reaching, or attempting to reach, these destinations despite the risks of the contagion.

Overall, while border closures and lockdowns may have temporarily stalled or stranded migrants en route, these same restrictive measures have also opened opportunities for smugglers and traffickers willing to take on the increased risks for increased premiums.

In Central America, several countries have seen a steep fall in the detection of irregular migrants. One country went from detecting an average of 150 irregular migrants per day to zero during the last week of March.

Migrants stranded in South and Central America are likely to converge on Central American countries, such as Guatemala, where organized crime groups involved in smuggling remain responsive to the demand of migrants to move north.

Despite border closures in destination countries, the human trafficking in the region continues.

Most African countries have implemented some travel restrictions on their borders to prevent the spread of Covid, however, these have not been sufficient to dissuade smugglers or migrants in certain regions. The land route from the Horn of Africa to South Africa continues to show signs of activity where the evasion of border controls has, in some cases, taken a fatal toll on the lives of migrants.

Migrants are still arriving in smuggling hubs in the Sahel region, and with deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Libya due to ongoing conflict, it is almost certain that attempts to migrate to Europe will continue in spite of the pandemic.

With access to desired destinations being increasingly difficult, smuggling networks will be likely seeking new means of entry and charging premium prices for their so-called services.

Alternative, and potentially more dangerous, maritime routes will continue to be explored and increased militia activity in Libya likely to see an increase in smuggling activities Nearly all the estimated 23 million migrant workers in the Gulf countries are employed in sectors which are very likely to be disproportionately impacted by the economic effects of COVID-19.

A new wave of irregular migration from Asia and the Middle East is likely to hit Europe in the mid-term as the post-pandemic economic crisis comes into full force.

Similar to other regions of the world, travel restrictions enforced across Europe to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have impacted and largely disrupted migration flows by air, land, and sea in the short-term.

The number of detections of migrants illegally crossing all external borders into Europe fell by 85 per cent from March to April 2020.

Smugglers are now using smaller boats to cross water-borders, such as the English Channel, and migrants are being dangerously concealed in the compartments of trucks, freight vehicles, and cargo trains to cross land borders.

Migrants departing mainly from Western Sahara have continued to arrive in the Spanish Canary Islands along the highly perilous Atlantic route in unseaworthy vessels.

As long as the travel restrictions remain in place and authorities mobilized to enforce them, the number of irregular migrants arriving, particularly along Eastern and Western land and maritime routes, is likely to remain low.

Human trafficking, whether for sexual or labour exploitation, is already complex to detect in 'normal' times. The novel coronavirus pandemic has only pushed human trafficking deeper into the dark and its victims further from possible detection and assistance, it added.

(Sumit Kumar Singh can be reached at sumit.k@ians.in)
The appointment of Mr. Greenwood to this position will support Brennan's recent announcement concerning its Corporate Real Estate Solutions (CRES) initiative. Through CRES, Brennan seeks to help corporations improve industrial supply chain efficiencies by purchasing surplus assets, entering into sale leaseback transactions and constructing new facilities. "Tod's role places him at the tip of the spear for global supply chain reconfigurations," commented Michael Brennan, Chairman of Brennan Investment Group. "Whether caused by geopolitical factors or the rapid advance of applied technology that bolsters e-commerce and manufacturing reshoring, the supply chains of tomorrow will bear no resemblance to their current form."

Mr. Greenwood has a long history in development, beginning in 1997 at the Trammell Crow Company, where he led their industrial development business in Houston. After Trammell Crow, he ran the day-to-day development operation for Crosswell Greenwood, a regional retail development company.

Most recently, Mr. Greenwood completed build-to-suit projects in Austin, Houston, Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Londonderry, New Hampshire.

For build-to-suit inquiries please contact Mr. Greenwood at [email protected].

About Brennan Investment Group

Brennan Investment Group, a Chicago-based private real estate investment firm, acquires, develops, and operates industrial properties in select major metropolitan markets throughout the United States. Since 2010, Brennan Investment Group has acquired over $4 billion in industrial real estate. The company's current portfolio spans 29 states and encompasses 44 million square feet.

Brennan Investment Group co-invests with private and institutional capital to achieve outstanding risk-adjusted returns. The firm's management team is among the most accomplished in its industry, having invested in over 4,000 properties covering more than 60 cities throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

For more information on Brennan Investment Group, go to brennanllc.com

SOURCE Brennan Investment Group, LLC
Credit card issuer American Express on June 11 said it has pledged Rs 9 crore for combating the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

"Rs 9 crore has been committed in various forms of financial support to back the tireless work of those on the front lines of this global crisis," the company said in a statement.

This includes contributions to the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES) as well as to local organisations in India, it said.

The grants will help provide protective equipment to frontline healthcare workers, support the development of vaccines and research and help feed people impacted in our communities, among other critical needs, it added.

American Express Banking Corp Senior Vice President and CEO Manoj Adlakha said: "While we are doing everything possible to keep our colleagues and their families safe, we are also constantly striving to make a positive contribution and meaningful connection with the communities in which we live and work."

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

The company said it has also partnered for an initiative called, 'Hunger Heroes' that will help distribution of dry ration and essential supplies to the families of 10,000 food delivery riders, severely impacted by the pandemic.

The proposed project would be implemented across India, with a specific focus in tier-2 and tier-3 cities where e-commerce logistics and online food delivery services have been affected the most due to COVID-19 lockdown.

All efforts have been complemented by partnering with NASSCOM Foundation for donation of 11,150 personal protective equipment (PPE) kits including N-95 masks to the hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Another partnership with Samhita (Collective Good Foundation) is enabling the company to procure PPE kits and other essentials for frontline healthcare and sanitation workers as well as isolation kits and beds for hospitals to support health infrastructure in NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune, it added.

Follow our coverage of the coronavirus crisis
Health officials in missouri are studying the safety measures used by two hairdressers who served 140 people while displaying coronavirus symptoms but appeared not to infect a single customer.

County health officials revealed Monday that there were no further coronavirus cases linked to the stylists at the Great Clips salon.

Forty-six people out of those potentially exposed tested negative while the remaining group were asked to quarantine and monitor their condition.

The incubation period for coronavirus has now passed and no other cases have emerged.

Two hairstylists at this Great Clips in Springfield, Missouri, potentially exposed 140 clients to COVID-19 when they worked for up to eight days despite showing symptoms of the virus. The health department announced Monday that no further cases had been linked to the stylists

Director of Springfield-Greene County Health Department Clay Goddard said that officials were hoping to learn about the spread of coronavirus by looking at the safety measures taken

The news comes as coronavirus cases in Missouri reach 15,187. Cases in the state continue to rise, however. The graph above shows that new daily cases remain at the same level

The infected hairdressers wore masks and implemented other safety measures as they worked, and the health department is now examining the situation to learn more about how the coronavirus spreads.

Officials say the case is a positive reinforcement for the importance of wearing masks and for social distancing to combat the spread of coronavirus.

'This is exciting news about the value of masking to prevent COVID-19,' said Director of Springfield-Greene County Health Department Clay Goddard.

'We are studying more closely the details of these exposures, including what types of face coverings were worn and what other precautions were taken to lead to this encouraging result. We never want an exposure like this to happen, but this situation will greatly expand our understanding of how this novel coronavirus spreads.'

Great Clips was forced to close its Springfield locations amid uproar after it emerged that one of the hairdressers had continued serving clients even after they had taken a coronavirus test.

The stylist, described as an older woman, served 84 clients over eight days in mid-May while experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.

A co-worker of that stylist also fell sick, and the health department said 56 other clients were potentially exposed by the second stylist from May 16 to May 20.

All 140 clients and seven co-workers have been given the all clear, however, after the time period passed for them to being to show coronavirus symptoms.

They had all been offered testing, but some chose to quarantine.

The health department closely monitored the people who were potentially exposed and did not get tested, calling them twice a day to check in on whether they had begun to display symptoms.

The county health department said that the salon, pictured, had implemented social distancing between chairs and staggered its appointments among other measures

As some people do not show symptoms, it is possible that other clients were infected but did not fall ill.

The stylists have also been released from isolation.

Great Clips, which has thousands of franchises across the U.S. and Canada, welcomed the news.

'All customers who were tested for Covid-19 after visiting a franchised Great Clips salon in Springfield have confirmed negative test results.,' it said in a statement to KYTV.

'Together with our 1,100 independent franchisees, we care deeply about the well-being of customers, salon staff and the communities we serve, and we are grateful for the health of these individuals.'

Goddard noted that the salon had safety measures in place that will now be studied to reveal the extent to which they may have prevented the spread.

The measures included distancing of salon chairs, staggering appointments and masking.

Officials said the case also showed the importance of contact tracing as the salon kept meticulous records that allowed the department to reach the clients who may have been exposed.

Salons could reopen in Missouri under Gov. Mike Parson's order that went into effect May 5, despite concerns from some about the close proximity required for barbers and hairstylists to work with their clients.

Great Clips closed its Springfield locations after receiving threats because of the potential coronavirus exposure, however.

The owner of Great Clips came to the defense of the first stylist who had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, saying that she immediately went to a local urgent care after returning from a trip.

She was treated for allergies and sent home without having a COVID-19 test offered to her or being told to quarantine.

According to the unnamed woman's attorney speaking to KY3, less than a week after her May 12 visit to the urgent care center, his client noticed that her senses of smell and taste was off, which prompted her to go to her local health department to get tested for COVID-19.

But while waiting for her test results, the stylist went back to work.

'She wasn't told by the health department whenever she had her test that she wasn't supposed to cut hair, at all,' said attorney Bill Robb.

The health department issued a statement saying that anyone who comes in to get tested for the coronavirus is required to sign an agreement that stipulates, among other things, that the person must stay home and self-isolate.

Robb said his client, whom he described as an older woman with an autoimmune condition, is fearful because of the threats being made against Great Clips.

Some of the customers involved argued that the woman should have stayed at home.

Erik Chase told MSNBC that he got a haircut at a Great Clips location in Springfield on May 17.

About a week later, he was contacted by health officials telling him he had come in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, and instructing him to quarantine for six days, take his temperature twice daily and check in with the health department every day.

'They should have stayed home,' Chase said of the symptomatic stylists. 'I also think the employer had a great responsibility that if one of their employees wasn't feeling well, especially with this pandemic, [they] should've sent the employee home.'

Greene County, which includes Springfield, has had 183 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths during the pandemic, according to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.

There have been a further 20 probable cases and one probable death.

Missouri also continues to see an increase in their coronavirus cases with a jump of 6.1 percent in cases in the past seven days. The graph above shows cumulative cases in the state

The number of daily deaths in Missouri, as shown above, as dropped dramatically

The county health department continues to keep a close eye on potential exposure and on Wednesday announced that a COVID-19 positive individual had recently visited a local Walmart and Lowe's store, calling on those who were at those locations to monitor for symptoms.

Missouri also continues to see an increase in their coronavirus cases with a jump of 6.1 percent in cases in the past seven days, according to the state's department of health.

As of Wednesday, there are 15,187 cases in the state and have been 848 deaths.

The jump in cases has been put down to the increase in testing, with the governor highlighting that the rate of positive tests is lowering.

'The more testing we do the more knowledge and data we have and the more confidence and reassurance we can give Missourians that it is OK to move forward,' Parson said.

Hospitalizations are not decreasing in any significant manner, however, with an increase on Wednesday to 540 hospitalizations.

This has dropped from 984 since May 5.

Hospitalizations have not been below 500 since April 19.

The health department has put the increase in cases down to increased testing. In the graph above, the gray bars show the number of negative tests a day while purple shows positive tests

The number of hospitalizations has not dipped below 500 since April 19 but has dropped from over 900 in the beginning of May when the state began to reopen

Gov. Parson extended the first phase of his reopening plan through June 15 after phase two was initially set to begin on May 31.

The Republican governor declared a state of emergency on March 13 which is also set to continue until mid-June.

It looks possible that Gov. Parson will allow the state to enter into phase two from Monday.

He said Missouri has surpassed the goals he laid out in early May when phase one began.

They included ramped up testing for COVID-19, adequate supplies of personal protective equipment, hospital capacity and data.

'We have not only met these pillars, but we have exceeded them,' Parson said.

The first phase of the plan requires social distancing, typically six feet of space, though with some exceptions. Some businesses also are required to put limits on indoor occupancy.

The governor has not yet outlined what the next phase will entail.
[June 11, 2020] Cloud Computing Market 2019-2023 | Increase in Cloud Orchestration to Boost Growth | Technavio

Technavio has been monitoring the cloud computing market and it is poised to grow by USD 190.32 billion during 2019-2023. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005773/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Cloud Computing Market 2019-2023 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is moderately concentrated, and the degree of concentration will accelerate during the forecast period. Adobe (News - Alert) Inc., Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services Inc., Google LLC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., Salesforce.com Inc., and SAP (News - Alert) SE. are some of the major market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. The increase in cloud orchestration has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. Cloud Computing Market 2019-2023: Segmentation Cloud Computing Market is segmented as below: Service SaaS (News - Alert) IaaS PaaS

Geographic Landscape APAC Europe MEA North America South America

To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download latest free sample report of 2020-2024: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR32028 Cloud Computing Market 2019-2023: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, syntheis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our cloud computing market report covers the following areas:



Cloud Computing Market size

Cloud Computing Market trends

Cloud Computing Market industry analysis This study identifies the rise in edge computing and the shift toward serverless computing as one of the prime reasons driving the cloud computing market growth during the next few years. Cloud Computing Market 2019-2023: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of vendors operating in the cloud computing market, including some of the vendors such as Adobe Inc., Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services Inc., Google LLC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, IBM Corp., Microsoft (News - Alert) Corp., Oracle Corp., Salesforce.com Inc., and SAP SE. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the cloud computing market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Cloud Computing Market 2019-2023: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2019-2023

Detailed information on factors that will assist cloud computing market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the cloud computing market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the cloud computing market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of cloud computing market vendors Table Of Contents: PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT 2.1 Preface

2.2 Preface

2.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem

Market characteristics

Market segmentation analysis PART 04: MARKET SIZING Market definition

Market sizing 2018

Market size and forecast 2018-2023 PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY SERVICE Market segmentation by service

Comparison by service

SaaS - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

IaaS - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

PaaS - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Market opportunity by service PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

North America - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Europe - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

APAC - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

South America - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

MEA - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Key leading countries

Market opportunity PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers

Market challenges PART 11: MARKET TRENDS Strategic partnerships and collaboration among market participants

Increase in cloud orchestration and cloud management software

Rise in edge computing and shift toward serverless computing PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview

Landscape disruption

Competitive scenario PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered

Vendor classification

Market positioning of vendors

Adobe Inc.

Alibaba Cloud

Amazon Web Services Inc.

Google LLC

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

IBM (News - Alert) Corp.

Microsoft Corp.

Oracle Corp.

Salesforce.com Inc.

SAP SE PART 14: APPENDIX Research methodology

List of abbreviations

Definition of market positioning of vendors PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005773/en/

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A teacher has been stabbed to death and two children wounded in a knife rampage at a Slovakian school.

The 22-year-old attacker, a former student at the school in the north-western town of Vrutky, was shot dead by police after fleeing from the scene this morning.

Brave staff tried to stop the knifeman after he smashed through a glass door and forced his way into the building.

He killed the deputy principal and knifed several others, including a caretaker, a female teacher and two pupils, but was eventually gunned down by police around 600ft from the school.

A teacher has been stabbed to death and multiple children wounded in a knife attack at a Slovakian school. Police are pictured outside the school in Vrutky this morning

The assailant stabbed and killed the deputy principal and injured several others, including a female teacher and two children. An ambulance is pictured outside the building

The attack in Vrutky, 110 miles northeast of Slovakia's capital, Bratislava, took place at the town's United School which operates for children up to high school age.

He is said to have targeted one classroom before fleeing.

'He broke the glass door to get in, the staff tried to stop him and he used a knife he had brought with him,' Slovak police chief Milan Lucansky said on his official Facebook page.

'He dealt a lethal injury to a deputy principal and injured the caretaker, then he got inside the building where he caused a serious injury to a female teacher and then injured two kids with multiple stab wounds,' he said.

'He then tried to escape with the caretaker running after him. A policeman chased him, but he tried to defend himself with the knife so they used their guns and killed him.'

Police had no immediate comment about the motives of the attacker. The injured were taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Martin

Prime Minister Igor Matovic conveyed his 'sincere condolences' to the family of the victim. Pictured: a police officer outside the school today

Police had no immediate comment about the motives of the attacker, a former student at the school.

The injured were taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Martin.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said she felt great sorrow and offered her condolences to the relatives of the victims and support for those who were wounded, teachers and police.

'Unfortunately, there are crazy people living among us and we're not able to prevent such a situation,' Prime Minister Igor Matovic said.

The interior minister was flying to the scene, Matovic told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of central European leaders in the neighbouring Czech Republic.

Slovak elementary schools began reopening on June 1 under an easing of coronavirus lockdown measures.
North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (ASX: LLO) ("Lion One" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its #2 diamond drill has commenced drilling at a newly defined high-grade target called Biliwi within the new Navilawa tenement. In a news release dated February 19th, 2020, Lion One discussed discovery of high-grade surface samples at Biliwi that included 60.4 g/t Au over 0.40 m, 94.8 g/t Au over 0.40 m, 17.90 g/t Au over 0.75 m and 83.60 g/t Au over 0.45 m. The first hole has been planned to test the Biliwi lode at a depth of approximately 55 m below surface. Further step-out holes are planned at Biliwi subsequent to successful interception of the targeted lode.

Surface sampling has recommenced within the Navilawa tenement since beginning of the dry season a couple weeks ago with current effort focused around the Banana Creek prospect where surface samples collected earlier this year yielded 19.4 g/t Au over 0.85 m, 10.83 g/t Au over 1.00 m and 35.30 g/t Au over 0.45 m. Lion One believes Banana Creek is emerging as a very high priority greenfields target in need of near-term drill testing. Further work is planned at the Matanavatu prospect where earlier surface samples returned 32.30 g/t Au over 0.65 m, 35.88 g/t Au over 0.60 m, and 53.60 g/t Au over 0.13 m. Lion One anticipates testing multiple new high priority greenfields drill targets within the Navilawa tenement this dry season which continues until late-year.

At Tuvatu, the #1 diamond drill is currently drilling hole TUDDH497 at the same azimuth but 6 degrees steeper than recently completed hole TUDDH496. Both of these holes test the east-west trending Murau lodes, part of the Tuvatu West lode network. Stephen Mann, Managing Director of Lion One commented "We are very excited by the structures identified in the last few holes (TUDDH 494, 495, 496 and 497). We have clearly demonstrated that the structural corridors highlighted in the CSAMT geophysical survey are real and are the host of mineralising fluids. The intervals drilled into these structural corridors have intersected zones of very good alteration including pyrite, carbonate and alkaline feldspars, as well as traces of base metals which have proven to be good pathfinders. In addition, several very fine specks of visible gold have also been recognised. The lodes at Tuvatu West have returned previously reported very high grade intersections including TUDDH371 14.99m @14.28 g/t Au (see News Release 15th July 2013), TUDDH365 4.31m @ 14.95 g/t Au, and TUDDH364 6.43m @12.74 g/t Au (see News Release 15th May 2013), and it is expected that TUDDH496 and 497 will add significantly more geological information in the area." Assays from both of these holes will be reported to the market once they have been finalised.

Upon completion of hole TUDDH497, the #1 rig will return to the same drill pad as deep drill holes TUDDH494 and TUDDH495. Following a review of the core in both TUDDH494 and 495 by the Lion One geologist and the Company's drilling team, it has been determined that re-entering those holes as planned was too high a risk for loss of equipment. Consequently, an adjacent hole will be completed to test the depth extent of TUDDH495 following the completion of TUDDH497. The Company now has received the smaller diameter NQ drill rods ensuring the target depth of around 1000m is attainable. Both TUDDH494 and TUDDH495 targeted deep parts of the main north-south trending Tuvatu lode system. Lion One believed these holes would begin to confirm the presence of deep-seated lodes and lode feeders in this area. Additional deep drill holes are planned under the Tuvatu resource area to further elucidate the lode system at depth.

In a news release dated April 30 th, 2020, Lion One announced it has purchase a third drill rig. The arrival of this drill rig into Fiji has been delayed overseas due to the current pandemic and is now expected to be shipped late July. The addition of this rig will enable Lion One to successfully complete its goal of drilling in excess of 20,000 m of diamond core across the entire Tuvatu gold project over the next 12 months.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed, prepared, and approved by Mr. Stephen Mann, P. Geo, Managing Director of Lion One, who is a qualified person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI-43-101).

About Tuvatu

The Tuvatu gold deposit is located in on the island of Viti Levu in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji. The mineral resource for Tuvatu as disclosed in the technical report "Tuvatu Gold Project PEA", dated June 1, 2015, and prepared by Mining Associates Pty Ltd of Brisbane Qld, comprises 1,120,000 tonnes indicated at 8.17 g/t Au (294,000 oz. Au) and 1,300,000 tonnes inferred at 10.60 g/t Au (445,000 oz. Au) at a cut-off grade of 3 g/t Au. The technical report is available on the Lion One website at www.liononemetals.com and on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

About Lion One Metals Limited

Lion One's flagship asset is 100% owned, fully permitted high grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project, located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Lion One envisions a low-cost high-grade underground gold mining operation at Tuvatu coupled with exciting exploration upside inside its tenements covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, an underexplored yet highly prospective 7km diameter alkaline gold system. Lion One's CEO Walter Berukoff leads an experienced team of explorers and mine builders and has owned or operated over 20 mines in 7 countries. As the founder and former CEO of Miramar Mines, Northern Orion, and La Mancha Resources, Walter is credited with building over $3 billion of value for shareholders.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of

Lion One Metals Limited

"Walter Berukoff"

Chairman and CEO

For further information

Contact Investor Relations

Toll Free (North America) Tel: 1-855-805-1250

Email: info@liononemetals.com

Website: www.liononemetals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release may contain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57644
Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested six persons, including gang members and male Iranian nationals, over a fight over turf around the popular aScramble Crossinga in Shibuya Ward earlier this year, reports Fuji News Network (June 10).

In April, Shoichi Nukariya (34), Ryo Osumi (33), both members of the Yamaguchi-gumi, and two others allegedly fought with two male Iranians at the famous crossing in front of JR Shibuya Station.

The two Iranian nationals deny the allegations. Police did not reveal whether the other four suspects admit to the charges.

Prior to the incident, one of the Iranian suspects called out to Osumi and asked, aDo you need drugs?a He responded, aIf you want to deal kakuseizai [stimulant drugs] here, you have to pay mikajimeryo [protection money].a

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many bars in the area that Nukariya typically receives protection money from have shut down, which was another factor in the dispute, police said.

Police are continuing to intensify patrols for drug dealing in that part of Shibuya.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump has authorized economic sanctions against members of the International Criminal Court who are investigating possible war crimes by American personnel during the war in Afghanistan, the White House announced Thursday.

The new move is part of a concerted campaign against the international court and its probe into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by U.S. and other forces in that conflict.

"This administration will not allow American citizens who have served our country to be subjected to illegitimate investigations," Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Thursday at an event announcing the action.

Human rights advocates denounced the Trump administrations decision as "reckless," charging the U.S. with trying to evade accountability for alleged torture and other war crimes.

"The ICCs investigation is only necessary because the U.S. has failed to meaningfully investigate or prosecute its own forces for human rights abuses," said Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the Global Justice Center, a New York-based organization that promotes the enforcement of international human rights laws.

The court has confirmed that this investigation clearly falls under parameters of the statute that established the ICC, she said. The U.S. is not a party to the statute, but Afghanistan is, and the U.S. cannot escape accountability just because it commits crimes in other countries.

Esper was joined Thursday by Trump's other top national security advisers  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General Bill Barr and National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien  in what was billed as a news conference. But they did not take any questions, instead, reading prepared remarks and leaving.

O'Brien alleged the ICC was being "manipulated" by Russia in pushing its war crimes probe, but he provided no evidence to support that claim. Barr said the Department of Justice had information about "financial corruption and malfeasance at the highest levels" of the ICC prosecutor's office but provided no details or substantiation.

Story continues

Trump signed an executive order Thursday to authorize the sanctions, but it does not specify individual members of the ICC. Pompeo said the sanctions would be imposed on a case-by-case basis against ICC officials "directly engaged" in the investigation of U.S. or allied forces and others who have supported the probe.

The Trump administration had already imposed visa restrictions on officials from the ICC so they could not come to the United States as part of the probe. In announcing the visa restrictions last year, Pompeo said they were intended to get the ICC to drop its probe. On Thursday, he said the visa prohibitions would be expanded to family members of the ICC.

President Donald Trump

"We cannot allow ICC officials and their families to come to the United States to shop, travel and otherwise enjoy American freedoms as these same officials seek to prosecute the defender of those very freedoms," Pompeo said.

The ICC has provided few details about its investigation, launched in 2017. The ICC's prosecutor's office has said it has "found a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity were and continue to be committed by members of Afghan and foreign government forces and by anti-government forces such as the Taliban."

A closer look at the court: What's the International Criminal Court and why are countries bailing?

Action against probe: Pompeo says US will take 'all necessary measures' to bar war crimes probe of military

After Pompeo announced the visa restrictions, the ICC issued a statement saying it would "continue to do its independent work, undeterred, in accordance with its mandate and the overarching principle of the rule of law."

The ICC has long been controversial, and conservatives in the U.S. have suggested it's a threat to American sovereignty. Supporters say the Netherlands-based court offers recourse for victims of genocide and other war crimes in lawless countries.

It was first envisioned in 1998 by the Rome Treaty as a tribunal to prosecute genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity. The ICC calls itself a court of last resort" that seeks to "complement, not replace" domestic judicial systems.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump seeks sanctions on ICC members over Afghan war probe
America's Largest Vertically Integrated CBD Company Now Has Distribution Through More Than 21,000 Unique Retail Doors

BOULDER, Colo., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc. ("Charlotte's Web" or the "Company") (TSX: CWEB) (OTCQX: CWBHF), the company behind the world's most trusted hemp extract, and Abacus Health Products, Inc. ("Abacus") (CSE: ABCS) (OTCQB: ABAHF), a leader in over-the-counter topical products combining active pharmaceutical ingredients with hemp extract, are pleased to announce that they have completed the previously-announced plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement"). Pursuant to the Arrangement, Charlotte's Web acquired all the issued and outstanding subordinate voting shares of Abacus (the "Abacus Shares"). All the outstanding proportionate voting shares of Abacus were converted into Abacus Shares prior to closing of the Arrangement. Pursuant to the Arrangement, holders of Abacus Shares received 0.85 (the "Exchange Ratio") of a common share of Charlotte's Web for each Abacus Share held at the time of closing.

Charlotte's Web is America's largest vertically integrated hemp-derived CBD company. Combined, the companies distribute to more than 21,000 unique retail locations with limited shelf overlap due to adjacent but complementary positions across the ingestible and topical CBD product categories. Recently Charlotte's Web added 1,100 new drug stores, more than 700 pet stores, and Abacus added more than 5,000 retail doors with the signing of a new retail partner.

Joining the Charlotte's Web family of brands are Abacus' consumer brands CBD MEDIC and Harmony Hemp, and for professional practitioners, Abacus' CBD CLINIC brand. Substantial product cross selling opportunities are available through each company's respective distribution network. Starting in July, multiple Abacus topical products will be available for purchase through Charlotte's Web's leading Direct to the Consumer (DTC) ecommerce platform.

"The addition of Abacus Health cements a market leading position in both topical and ingestible products in the CBD category, representing approximately 33%1 market share of the U.S. CBD food/drug/mass retail channel," said Deanie Elsner, Chief Executive Officer of Charlotte's Web. "We thank the founders and team members of both Charlotte's Web and Abacus for their vision and hard work to build our respective vital brands. We are now one dynamic team and mission-driven company."

Perry Antelman has been the CEO of Abacus since 2016 and will join Charlotte's Web, effective today, as Executive Vice President and President of Topicals.

Following the closing of this acquisition, on June 11, 2020, Charlotte's Web has 90,287,520 Common Shares outstanding and 92,455.5775 Proportionate Voting Shares convertible at 400:1, for an effective equivalent of 127,269,751 aggregate Common Shares outstanding.

With the completion of the Arrangement, the Abacus Shares and common share purchase warrants of Abacus listed under the symbol "ABCS.WT" on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "Abacus Warrants") are expected to be de-listed from the Canadian Securities Exchange at the close of trading on or about June 11, 2020. On close of the Arrangement, each Abacus Warrant outstanding immediately prior to closing was exchanged for a common share purchase warrant of Charlotte's Web (the "Replacement Warrants") that entitles the holder to acquire common shares of Charlotte's Web in lieu of Abacus Shares, subject to adjustment in number and exercise price to give effect to the Exchange Ratio. Charlotte's Web has applied to list the Replacement Warrants on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") and it is anticipated that, subject to satisfaction of the TSX listing requirements, the Replacement Warrants will begin trading on the TSX under the symbol "CWEB.WS" at market open on or about June 15, 2020.

In order to receive the consideration in exchange for their Abacus Shares, registered shareholders must complete, sign, date and return the Letter of Transmittal that was mailed to each registered shareholder of Abacus. The Letter of Transmittal is also available from Abacus' depositary, Odyssey Trust Company. Non-registered holders of Abacus Shares whose Abacus Shares are registered in the name of a broker, investment dealer, bank, trust company, trustee or other intermediary or nominee should contact that intermediary or nominee for assistance in depositing their Abacus Shares and should follow instructions of such intermediary or nominee in order to deposit their Abacus Shares.

Further information about the Arrangement is set out in the Abacus' management information circular dated May 4, 2020, which can be accessed online under Abacus' issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

[1] Nielsen AOD HBC and Pet Care CBD: 52 weeks ending May 16th, 2020

ABOUT ABACUS HEALTH PRODUCTS, INC.

Abacus is engaged in the development and commercialization of over-the-counter (OTC) topical medications with active pharmaceutical ingredients and which contain natural ingredients, including a cannabinoid-rich hemp extract. Abacus' products are aimed at the rapidly growing markets for topical pain relief and therapeutic skincare and are based on proprietary patent-pending technologies developed by Abacus. Abacus' formulations combine advanced science with organic and natural ingredients to provide safe relief. Abacus currently offers three lines of products: CBD CLINIC, marketed to the professional practitioner market, and CBDMEDIC and Harmony Hemp, marketed to the consumer market. Abacus' products are offered across the United States and are produced by a contract manufacturer in an FDA registered and audited manufacturing facility. To learn more about Abacus, visit www.abacushp.com

ABOUT CHARLOTTE'S WEB HOLDINGS, INC.

Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc. is the market leader in the production and distribution of innovative hemp-derived cannabidiol ("CBD") wellness products. The Company was founded by the Stanley Brothers on a mission to unleash the healing power of botanicals through compassion and science to benefit the planet and all who live upon it. The Company's premium quality products start with proprietary hemp genetics that are responsibly manufactured into hemp-derived CBD extracts naturally containing a full spectrum of phytocannabinoids, including CBD, terpenes, flavonoids and other beneficial hemp compounds. Charlotte's Web product categories include CBD oil tinctures (liquid products), CBD capsules, CBD topicals, as well as CBD pet products. Charlotte's Web hemp-derived CBD extracts are sold through select distributors, brick and mortar retailers, and online through the Company's ADA compliant website at www.CharlottesWeb.com.

Subscribe to Charlotte's Web news.



Forward-Looking Information

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking information"). In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.

This news release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Charlotte's Web, Abacus or their respective subsidiaries to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to expectations with respect to the outcome of the Transaction; and the listing and anticipated timing of the listing of the Replacement Warrants.

Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including assumptions as to the necessary regulatory approvals; the disruption to the functioning of the regulatory bodies that provide the necessary regulatory approvals or any business disruption, anticipated or otherwise, due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); the ability of Charlotte's Web to satisfy, in a timely manner, the conditions to listing of the Replacement Warrants; and such risks contained in Charlotte's Web's annual information form dated March 27, 2020 and in Abacus' annual information form dated April 29, 2020 and filed with Canadian securities regulators available on Charlotte's Web's and Abacus' respective issuer profiles on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive.

In respect of the forward-looking statements and information concerning the anticipated benefits and completion of the Transaction and the anticipated timing for completion of the Transaction, Charlotte's Web and Abacus have provided such statements and information in reliance on certain assumptions that they believe are reasonable at this time. Although Charlotte's Web and Abacus believe that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information or forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The forward-looking statements and information included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and Charlotte's Web and Abacus do not undertake an obligation to publicly update such forward-looking information or forward-looking information to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities laws.

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Moscow court detains former Novgorod vice-governor on fraud allegations

 flickr.com/ Marco Verch

13:00 11/06/2020

MOSCOW, June 11 (RAPSI)  Moscows Presnensky District Court on Thursday ordered detention of the fomer vice-governor of the Novgorod Region Victor Nechayev in a large-scale fraud case until August 9, RAPSI learnt in the courts press office.

According to case papers, the defendant promised his acquaintance to job him into the post of the Moscow Regions governor for 35 million euros.

Reportedly, Nechayev pleaded guilty giving himself up.

In 2016, Nechayev was convicted and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for embezzling 6.5 million rubles (about $100,000). His accomplices Sergey Aleksandrov and Ulyana Zhuravskaya received a 3-year suspended sentence each. During pretrial investigation all accused persons pleaded guilty; Nechayev compensated 6.5 million rubles embezzled from a victim, according to the statement.

According to investigators, between July 30, 2013 and August 10, 2013 Nechayev and Aleksandrov promised a local woman to release her prosecuted husband from jail and help him receive a suspended sentence. Thus, the defendants got 6.5 million rubles by fraud. Moreover, between July and August 2015, Nechayev along with Zhuravskaya conspired to embezzle $47,000 from a man for assistance in closing criminal case against him. However, defendants could not manage the money because they were arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB).




Today, there are an estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. living with HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With drugs such as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) made available to help treat and prevent the spread of HIV, the number of people diagnosed with the disease has decreased. The annual number of new diagnoses declined 9% from 2010 to 2016 in the U.S.

But the outlook wasn't always this hopeful.

"It was completely unexpected. Everybody was baffled by this," Guy Vandenberg, who worked as a nurse helping patients with AIDS during the 1980s epidemic, told "Good Morning America." "It was a mystery initially as to what this lethal thing was. And when you dont know what something is, its extra scary."

From unknown to epidemic

PHOTO: Guy Vandenberg cares for a hospice patient in 1988. (Courtesy Guy Vandenberg)

In 1981, the first cases of what would eventually become known as AIDS started to arise on the West Coast of the U.S. By 1985, there were an estimated 558,000 people diagnosed with AIDS living in the country.

At the beginning, medical professionals were uncertain what caused the disease and exactly how it was spread.

The uncertainty resulted in a great deal of fear. Many medical personnel refused to give care for fear of being exposed. Others felt that in order to give care, it was necessary to wear protective gear, referred to as "space suits."

"The space suits originally came into existence to protect patients who were severely immunocompromised," Vandenberg explained. "And then in some hospitals, it got turned around because health care professionals got so scared that they wanted to wear them for their protection."

PHOTO: Guy Vandenberg is pictured at a pride parade in 1992. (Courtesy Guy Vandenberg)

At the time, the majority of AIDS patients were men who had sex with other men, leading many to believe it was a disease contained to the gay community and was often referred to as "gay cancer."

"From the beginning, this was not a gay epidemic," Vandenberg said. "Yes, there were a lot of gay men who were infected, but this virus doesnt discriminate."

Story continues

Vandenberg says the misconception led to many gay patients -- regardless of being infected with the virus or not -- receiving lower levels of care than other patients. Vandenberg, who himself is gay, experienced this firsthand when hospitalized in the 1980s.

"The food tray was shoved into the room and everything was covered in plastic," he said. "Then everything was put in biohazard bags when it was taken out. People were fully gowned when they came in, even just to talk with me."

The power of touch

PHOTO: San Francisco General Hospital's Ward 5B caregiver Rita Rockett visits with a patient. (Ken Kobre via RYOT Films)

While hospitals around the country were frightened of patients with the disease, San Francisco General Hospital decided to take a different approach to the care provided to AIDS patients by embracing the power of touch.

In 1983, SFGH founded the worlds first in-patient AIDS ward, known as 5B. It was dedicated solely to the care for patients with HIV and AIDS, and the staff was made up of health care providers who volunteered to be there.

5B stood out from other hospitals because staff treated patients like any other and were not afraid to touch them.

"We knew enough to know that this wasnt casually transmitted," Vandenberg said. "We didnt have the absolute certainty to back that up, but if this had been airborne or transmitted through casual contact, we wouldve seen something really different."

The recently released film "5B," produced by Verizon Media Company, shares the stories of nurses such as Vandenberg, who worked in the ward and documents how the 5B changed the way patients were cared for.

Vandenberg began his nursing career in the late 1980s working with AIDS patients in hospice care, an area of the medical field where nurses are trained to care for patients with compassion. He would later take these skills to SFGH when he transferred to the AIDS ward in the early 1990s.

"5B combined this approach of doing what you could to help a person survive with the approach that we had in hospice of human touch, and recognizing that theres a human being behind all of those tubes and gadgets," he said.

"People need human touch. If theyre not accepted in society, if theyre not accepted in their family, then theres nurses, theres volunteers. Its not the biological family...its the logical family."

Continuing the fight against HIV/AIDS

PHOTO: Guy Vandenberg and his husband Steve Williams pictured in 1995. (Courtesy Guy Vandenberg)

In 1998, Vandenbergs life would change forever when his partner, Steve Williams, became severely ill and hospitalized. Initially, Williams was tested for cancer, but would later be diagnosed with HIV.

"I was angry that HIV had come so close because I had been working in it a number of years and I somehow felt that I was entitled to a reprieve or something like that," Vandenberg said.

Williams was admitted to SFGH, where he would recover from the severe illness. Now, the pair have dedicated much of their time to "paying it forward" by travelling the world to help areas that are greatly impacted by HIV and AIDS.

PHOTO: Guy Vendenberg, center, stands with reporter Hank Plante, actor Keiynan Lonsdale, Steve Williams, Dan Krauss, Alison Moed and Cliff Morrison during a photocall for the film '5B' at Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 16, 2019. (Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images)

With recent medical advancements, Vandenberg is hopeful that HIV will soon be eliminated but recognizes there is still much work to do.

"On the one hand, I feel very hopeful that we now have so much that we can do," Vandenberg said. "Medical advances are incredibly important and Im glad that theyre happening. But with these medical advancements, we have to also make sure that they get implemented."

"Dont wait for a leader. Dont wait for someone to show you the way," he adds "Dont wait for the right presidential candidate to show up. Its you and me. Its right now. Its right here. You are as prepared as you need to be."

Editor's note: This was originally published on June 27, 2019.

A nurse who cared for AIDS patients during the 1980s epidemic explains why the fight against the disease is just as important today originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Novartis AG NVS announced that the FDA has approved a label update for ophthalmology drug, Beovu (brolucizumab), to include additional safety information regarding retinal vasculitis and retinal vascular occlusion.

The update to the label includes the addition of a sub-section dedicated to retinal vasculitis and/or retinal vascular occlusion under Warnings and Precautions. It also specifies that these adverse reactions are part of a spectrum of intraocular inflammation rates from the phase III HAWK & HARRIER studies.

The label update comes after Novartis decided to evaluate post-marketing cases reported as severe vision loss, retinal artery occlusion and/or vasculitis with Beovu.

Thereafter, the company initiated its own internal review of these post-marketing safety case reports, including the establishment of an external Safety Review Committee (SRC). The SRC recently issued a report of its unmasked, independent analysis of HAWK & HARRIER adverse events, wherein it found that cases similar to those reported post marketing were present in the HAWK & HARRIER clinical studies.

We remind investors that Beovu was approved by the FDA in 2019 for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), based on findings from the late-stage HAWK and HARRIER studies, in which the drug demonstrated non-inferiority compared to Regeneron REGN and Bayers BAYRY Eylea.

The drug was touted to pose stiff competition to Eylea and Roches RHHBY Lucentis with its less frequent dosing schedule. However, a few cases of vasculitis casted a shadow on the drugs safety profile.

The stock has lost 4.8% in the year so far against the industrys gain of 1.3%.

After having gone through a series of restructuring moves, Novartis looks to strengthen its core pharma business. Solid performance of key drugs like Cosentyx and Entresto and contributions from gene therapy, Zolgensma, have boosted performance, lately.

Story continues

New launches like Piqray and Beovu too were projected to boost growth. However, it remains to be seen the growth trajectory Beovu takes up following this label update.

Novartis currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Observing that historically India has been a very tolerant, respectful country for all religions, a top Trump administration official has said that the US is "very concerned" about what is happening in the country in terms of religious freedom.

The remarks of Samuel Brownback, the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, came hours after the release of the '2019 International Religious Freedom Report' on Wednesday.

Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of the violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.

India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

Brownback, during a phone call with foreign journalists on Wednesday, said India has been a country area that spawned four major religions itself.

"We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions," he said.

The trendlines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence, Brownback said.

"We're seeing a lot more difficulty. I think really they need to have a, I would hope they would have an, interfaith dialogue starting to get developed at a very high level in India, and then also deal with the specific issues that we identified as well.

"It really needs a lot more effort on this topic in India, and my concern is, too, that if those efforts are not put forward, you're going to see a growth in the violence and of the increased difficulty within the society writ large," said the top American diplomat on international religious freedom.

Responding to a question, Brownback hoped that the minority faiths are not to be blamed for the COVID-19 spread and that they would have access to the healthcare and the foods and the medicines that they need during the crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised any form of discrimination, saying the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally.

"COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood," Modi said in a post on LinkedIn in February.

The Indian government, while previously rejecting the US religious freedom report, had said: "India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion".

"The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities. It is widely acknowledged that India is a vibrant democracy where the Constitution provides protection of religious freedom, and where democratic governance and rule of law further promote and protect the fundamental rights.

"We see no locus standi for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in June last year.

Earlier in the day, the US State Department in its India chapter of the report said that there were reports of religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, discrimination, vandalism and actions restricting the right of individuals to practice and speak about their religious beliefs.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data, 7,484 incidents of communal violence took place between 2008 and 2017 in which more than 1,100 people were killed, it said.

The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations (FIACONA) in a statement welcomed the US annual religious freedom report.

FIACONA President Koshy George said that his organisation finds the list of incidents affecting the rights of the people to believe and practice their faiths as reported to be accurate though there are a few more thousand such incidents that have taken place in India during the reporting period.
Donald Trump says his administration will not even consider changing the name of any of the 10 US Army bases that are named for Confederate Army officers as anti-racism protests continue across the country.

Hours after the US leader made the comments, demonstrators forcibly removed a statue of Confederate former president Jefferson Davis on the popular Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia.

Local media reported the statue was left on the ground in the middle of an intersection, while 80 miles away in Portsmouth a marching band played as a crowd beheaded then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument.

The statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, splattered with paint, after it was toppled (Dylan Garner/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

It comes days after Defence Secretary Mark Esper indicated he was open to discussing such changes and in the wake of the funeral of black man George Floyd, whose death prompted calls for changes to police practices and an end to racial prejudices.

Mr Trump tweeted: These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.

The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.

Name changes have not been proposed by the army or the Pentagon, but Mr Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy on Monday told reported reporters that they were open to a bipartisan discussion of renaming bases such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Georgias Fort Benning.

Supporters of disassociating military bases from Confederate Army officers argue that they represent the racism and divisiveness of the Civil War era and glorify men who fought against the United States.

Mr Trumps press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, read his tweets to reporters in the White House briefing room, adding he is fervently opposed to changing the base names and believes that doing so would amount to complete disrespect for soldiers who trained there over the years.

Story continues

It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020

It comes as the presidents most significant foe in Congress called for Confederate statues to be removed from the streets of the countrys capital.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to a House-Senate committee with jurisdiction over the topic that such monuments pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed.

Mrs Pelosi lacks the authority to order the removal of the 11 statues honoring Confederates, but is urging the little-noticed Joint Committee on the Library to vote to remove them.

Also on Wednesday, Mr Floyds brother challenged Congress to ensure George would not be just another name on a growing list of those killed during interactions with police.

Philonise Floyd told a House hearing: Im here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain, Mr Floyd told the silenced hearing room.

Choking back tears, he said he wants to make sure that his brother, whom he called Perry, is more than another face on a T-shirt. More than another name on a list that wont stop growing.

He directly challenged politicians to step up. The people marching in the streets are telling you enough is enough. Be the leaders that this country, this world, needs. Do the right thing, he said.

The hearing came as Amazon announced a one-year ban on supplying its facial recognition technology to police, to allow Congress time to come up with ways to regulate its use.

House judiciary committee chairman Jerrold Nadler started Wednesdays session as Democrats review the Justice in Policing Act, a far-ranging package of proposals amid a national debate on policing and racial inequity in the United States.

Politicians were also hearing testimony from civil rights and law enforcement leaders at the congressional hearing on proposed changes to police practices and accountability after the Minnesota mans death in police custody and the worldwide protests that followed.

Today we answer their call, Mr Nadler said.

Republicans are rushing to draft their own proposal but also criticising calls from activists across the country who want to defund the police  a catch-all term for reimagining law enforcement, but one that President Donald Trump and his allies have seized on to portray Democrats as extreme.

Philonise Floyd as he describes the pain of losing his brother during a House Judiciary Committee hearing (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

For hours, witnesses described what one called a lynching over what happened to Mr Floyd on May 25, and others placed his death alongside those of other African Americans that have created a tally becoming difficult for Congress to ignore.

Representative Karen Bass, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is leading the legislative effort, said the proposed changes reflect a nation coming to grips with a history of racial injustice.

This is about the kind of America we all want to see, said Ms Bass.

The Democrats legislation would create a national database of police misconduct, ban police choke holds and loosen qualified immunity to make it easier for those injured to seek damages in lawsuits, among other changes.

The proposals do not go as far as some activists calls to defund police departments for other community services. They do, however, make available grant money for states to reimagine ways of policing.

Republicans as well as Democrats have called for a national registry of use-of-force incidents, so police officers cannot transfer between departments without public awareness of their records.
This is the shocking moment a woman is robbed in the street and dragged along the road with her hair trapped in the mugger's moped.

The incident happened in Loma Hermosa on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina on Monday and was captured on CCTV.

The 46-year-old victim, identified as Celia Chaparro, is targeted as she makes her way home from the shops.

The 46-year-old victim, identified as Celia Chaparro, is laid on the ground with her hair caught in the motorbike wheel during the incident that happened in Loma Hermosa on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina

She is confronted by a young man aboard a Zanella moped who she says tried to steal her wallet.

'He asked me to give him everything, I don't know if he pushed me or I fell. I had my handbag in one arm and the (shopping) bag in the other. When he accelerated and turned he grabbed my hair,' Ms Chaparro said, speaking on local Channel 13.

Footage shows Ms Chaparro as she is dragged along the road by her hair, tangled in the rear wheel of the motorcycle, as the suspect tries to make off.

She clings to the man's ankle and he kicks her as he tries to get himself and the moped clear.

Ms Chaparro is confronted by a young man aboard a Zanella moped who is allegedly trying to steal her wallet

Local residents rush to her rescue after hearing screams. Celia Chaparro kept hold of the suspect's ankle throughout

Groceries fall out of her bag and are strewn in the road as she is dragged.

Neighbours rush out of the nearby properties to help Ms Chaparro after hearing her screams.

The attacker then runs off after abandoning the moped.

Ms Chaparro suffers head injuries. The attacker leaves the scene on foot

Local reports say he managed only to steal her mobile phone.

Ms Chaparro suffered head injuries and scratches all over her body and was taken to hospital and later discharged. She had her hair cut from the wheel of the bike.

Gonzalo Federico 'Pochi' Sandoval, 23, has been arrested as a suspect in the incident.
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Linkedin M. Taufiqurrahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 18:45 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddfeaf1 1 Opinion women-in-politics,COVID-19,coronavirus,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,Reisa-Broto-Asmoro,feminism,Achmad-Yurianto,#commentary Free

To the chagrin of feminists and average self-respecting men and women, looks and physical appearance are making a big comeback in politics today.

In recent years, more and more politicians and people in power have been unable to refrain from making politically incorrect and sexist comments about women.

While making sexist comments has been a long-standing problem in politics, there is a small subset of politicians who have joined an exclusive club of judging women based only on their appearance.

In the neighboring Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has long earned a reputation for making off-color remarks about women, which range from talking about shooting the genitalia of female guerilla fighters to calling women at a female empowerment event whores.

Of all his sexist comments, what takes the biscuit could be his statement that he "cured" himself of being gay with the help of beautiful women.

Another controversial politician known for his sexist comments is populist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who made headlines in 2019 for endorsing a sexist Facebook post about the physical appearance of Frances First Lady Brigitte Macron.

When his supporters posted a meme mocking the appearance of Macron and comparing her unfavorably with Brazil's first lady Michelle Bolsonaro with the tagline: "Now you understand why Macron is persecuting Bolsonaro?", the far-right leader replied: "Do not humiliate the guy, ha ha," referring to France's President Emmanuel Macron.

On the other side of the Atlantic, there is another political leader who could lend credence to the suggestion that populism does have an inscrutable obsession with looks and physical appearance.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson may have found a higher purpose in life after he survived COVID-19, but he has long been known for his penchant for denigrating women.

In the 2005 general election, in a bid to win over supporters, Boris promised that "voting for the Conservative Party will cause your wife to have bigger breasts." In 2007, Boris compared then Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton to "a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital" in a column for the Daily Telegraph.

And of course, sitting at the top of the list we have misogynist-in-chief Donald Trump, who has a long history of making comments that demean women based on their looks.

A former owner of the Miss Universe Organization, Trump has gone on record attacking women based on their looks and often comparing them to animals. Trumps vocabulary when referring to women has included "horseface" (for pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels with whom he had an affair), "dog" and "pig."

On a debate stage during the 2016 presidential primary, he attacked rival Carly Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, by saying: "Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?

Trump described television star Rosie O'Donnell, with whom he has had a long-running feud, as having "a fat, ugly face."

Once in office, President Trump has insisted that key officials in his administration, both men and women, must be telegenic and that they look great on live television.

Trump never took a liking to his national security adviser Lt. Gen. HR McMaster and berated him as looking like "a beer salesman." In 2018, soon after Trump fired his special aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, he attacked her on Twitter referring to her as a "dog."

Those who have survived the longest or have been promoted in Trump's inner circle are those who have the looks, people like Hope Hicks, Trump's former communications director, who continues to be close to the president since leaving her job in the White House.

Currently, the face of Trump's White House is a rail-thin blonde former cheerleader whose skill for obfuscation is second to none.

It is certainly unfair to prejudge the quality of work of female professionals based on their looks, but with politicians like Trump we can see a pattern that the pretty faces are mostly dispatched to mask and sugarcoat what is basically a disastrous performance.

We certainly hope that is not what happened when the National COVID-19 task force appointed television personality Reisa Broto Asmoro as its new spokesperson.

We sincerely expect that the new spokesperson, with her ravishing good looks, can draw the attention of more people to important health messages as we enter what the government has touted as the "new normal".

We can also hope that the new spokesperson will be an effective communicator, especially with her beauty pageant cadence and careful choice of words.

After all, she took part in the Puteri Indonesia beauty pageant in 2010 and has appeared in numerous commercials that have aired on local television. With her CV, making regular appearances on national television should come naturally for her.

As for those who suspect that a cabal of misogynist old men at the Health Ministry cooked up a plan to put a pretty face on what is basically a spotty record in the fight against COVID-19, they need look no further than her medical background. Soon after graduating from the School of Medicine at Pelita Harapan University, she joined the National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati.

The new task force spokesperson gained her reputation as a television doctor when she co-hosted the Indonesian version of The Dr. Oz Show on Trans TV, a stint which may turn out to be a good training ground for her current position.

More people will certainly tune in to the daily briefing now and that, surely, is a good thing.
Police in California are searching for a gunman who attacked the Paso Robles Police Department in the early hours of Wednesday, shooting a sheriff's deputy in the head before fleeing and killing a homeless man.

San Luis Obispo Sheriff Ian Parkinson described the incident as an 'unprovoked attack on law enforcement' by a suspect 'laying in ambush' at the police department. He said it was 'the act of a coward.'

Downtown Paso Robles was on lockdown on Wednesday as authorities searched for the suspect, identified as Mason James Lira, a 26-year-old transient from the Monterrey area.

The shooting comes at a time of heightened tension between police departments across the country and the communities they serve, following the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by police and the subsequent protests against police brutality.

Police in California are searching for Mason James Lira, 26 (left and right), who is accused of shooting a sheriff's deputy and killing a homeless man during a Wednesday morning attack

Police released photos of the suspect in pre-dawn shooting at Paso Robles Police Department

The suspected gunman wearing a cross was captured on camera at two hotels in the city

He was seen at two Paso Robles hotels - the Piccolo hotel and Street Side Ale House - leading to suggestions that he could have been staying there.

Sheriff's spokesman Tony Cipolla declined to say whether the suspect stayed at the hotel.

Surveillance photos released by the authorities show Lira in a gray sweater wearing a chain with a large cross pendant around his neck.

According to officials, Lira opened fire at the police department at 3.45am on Wednesday.

Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis said a dispatcher monitoring the department's security cameras saw a suspicious person walking around the building and then start shooting.

Paso Robles police then called for help from other agencies as they responded to the shooter outside.

'The suspect began firing at police cars as they entered the downtown area, where the police building is located,' said Sheriff Parkinson.

'We feel that this was an ambush, that he planned it, that he intended for officers to come out of the police department and to assault them.'

The gunman shot a sheriff in the head and killed a homeless man before fleeing, police said

He said two San Luis Obispo sheriff's deputies who responded to the call were searching the area where the shooter was last seen when they came under fire, at 4:19am.

One of the deputies was shot in the face. The wounded officer's partner was abvle to drag him to safety and return fire, Parkinson said.

The struck deputy, a two-year veteran of the department, was later airlifted to a hospital in another county and remains in a serious but stable condition.

The bullet remains lodged in his head and the police chief said 'he's not out of the woods.'

Several hours later, at 7am, the body of a homeless man who had been camping in the area was found near the Amtrak tracks in the area of 8th and Pine streets in Paso Robles.

The 58-year-old victim had been shot in the back of the head.

A shelter-in-place order was issued for the city as the manhunt continued.

The order was lifted at 3pm, but Chief Lewis asked people to continue to avoid the downtown area as officers were still processing at least five different locations that were considered part of the crime scene.

Lira is said to be a transient from the Monterrey, California, area. He has a criminal record

Online records indicate that Lira has been in trouble with the law before, most recently in May 2020, when he was charged with threatening with intent to terrorize.

His Facebook page, which has been dormant since 2018, includes images of guns, pictures of owls and a string of incoherent posts.

One status update from September 2018 ominously stated: 'Your all like me, except im not a coward, you all think you can kill someone and come back and live. Ive never raped, Ive never murdered.'

Lira appears to have self-published at least four books on Amazon. One of them, titled 'I Am James Part 1,' has the following description: 'The following story of James is of a past incarnation regarding the death of his life. Being a supposedly true story having found his hidden grave in Pogonip Park, Santa Cruz California. The story gets better in the end.'

Paso Robles is an unlikely spot for such violence.

Paso Robles police department, where the gunman began his rampage early on Wednesday

Sheriffs are seen searching for the gunman, who has not been identified by investigators

The bustling community 175 miles northwest of Los Angeles is a tourist destination and centerpiece of the wine industry on California's Central Coast.

The violence came just five days after another unlikely location, the community of Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County farther north on the California coast, was the scene of an ambush on police.

Santa Cruz sheriffs Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, was killed and another deputy injured Saturday in an attack allegedly carried out by an Air Force sergeant armed with homemade bombs, an AR-15 rifle and other weapons.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said the suspect, Steven Carrillo, was intent on killing officers.

The FBI is investigating whether Carrillo, 32, has links to the killing of a federal security officer who was shot outside the U.S. courthouse in Oakland during a protest against police brutality on May 29.

The FBI also is assisting the San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles departments with their investigation into Wednesday's shooting rampage.

Authorities said Lira is considered armed and dangerous. If he is seen in public, individuals are advised not to make contact with Lara and should instead call 911 and report his location to law enforcement.
Bollywood actor Sonu Sood has emerged as a Messiah helping migrants stranded in Maharashtra reach their hometowns during the coronavirus outbreak in India. He has left no stone unturned in helping migrant workers and has even launched a helpline number for them.

From chartered flights to rescue migrants to daily buses, Sood has emerged as a hero for the migrant workers and he doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. When questioned about his intentions, Sood clarified that he does it purely out of love and because he too was a migrant when he came to Mumbai.

According to reports, Sood has helped over 18,000 migrants till date. His Twitter feed is filled with people mentioning him in tweets and asking for help. Till date, Sood hasn't let anyone down.

Now, two young girls, pretending to be anchors for 'Corona TV' have thanked Sood to express gratitude. In a video that was uploaded by Twitter user Shikha Misra, two girls can be seen addressing the camera with a microphone in their hands. They thank Sood for his tireless efforts and wish him good health in the future.

Sood also shared the video and wrote, "Cutest anchors ever. No one can beat the trps of your Channel."

Cutest anchors ever. No one can beat the trps of your Channel. https://t.co/DnWec8C42u sonu sood (@SonuSood) June 10, 2020

The video has now gone viral on social media. Here's how people reacted to it:

what a talent of cute anchers Adarsh Ashish (@AdarshAshish10) June 10, 2020

So sweet  Amit Singh Congress (@Amit_S405) June 10, 2020
Police officers on the scene of a demonstration in Houston, Texas, on June 2, 2020. (Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

Man Charged After Hurling Brick Through Police Car Window During Riots: Police

A Washington state man was charged with engaging in civil disorder after a police officer witnessed him throwing a brick through a marked police car in Wilmington, Delaware, prosecutors said.

Adrian Wood, 21, faces up to five years in prison, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware said.

Protesters gathered in downtown Wilmington during the afternoon of May 30 to protest the death a week prior of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Protesters marched around and blocked traffic on I-95.

Later in the day, a number of people damaged and looted businesses on Market Street, including restaurants, bars, and retailers.

Wood was observed throwing a brick through the back window of a Wilmington Police Department (WPD) police car that was being operated by a police officer at the time. The projectile, launched around 7:10 p.m., shattered the back window, according to a criminal complaint (pdf).

Wood was observed using his cell phone later that night, appearing to record photographs and videos and send or receive messages.

The protest grew increasingly violent, the complaint stated.

Around 11 p.m., Wood was spotted walking along King Street. An officer stopped him and asked him to identify himself. Wood initially provided a false name and date of birth but eventually confirmed his true identity. The officer who saw Wood launch the brick arrived at the scene and positively identified Wood as a culprit.

Wood was arrested.

Officers found a 6-inch fixed blade knife, a lock picking kit, and a backpack full of fireworks. Wood later told officers he meant to sell the fireworks to other people at the protest and denied picking any locks. Woods mother told police she was at the protest for a period of time with her other son before they left. Woods mother said he had, at one point, fireworks, Roman Candles, Ground fireworks, and possibly leftover mortars.

Wood is one of dozens of people nationwide charged with actions allegedly taken during the riots that took place late last month and early this month.

In recent days, protestors throughout Delaware have lawfully exercised their First Amendment rights in sympathy with those seeking criminal justice reform. But peaceful protest does not extend to the lawless destruction of private or public property, David Weiss, U.S. attorney for the district, said in a statement.

Thankfully, the defendants violent actions did not result in physical harm to the WPD officer driving the police car attacked by the defendant.

Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy added, I am glad that none of our officers were injured, and that our collaborative, investigative efforts have been successful in holding this individual responsible for his actions.

And Jennifer Boone, FBI special agent in charge, said that people have the right to peacefully assembly but that authorities cannot allow violence committed by those who try to take advantage of peaceful demonstrations to pursue their own agendas to stand.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 04:43:57|Editor: huaxia

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Airport workers transport a shipment of Chinese medical aid to Libya at Tunis-Carthage International Airport in Tunis, Tunisia, on June 10, 2020. The Chinese Embassy to Libya said on Wednesday that a shipment of Chinese medical aid will reach Libya in a few days to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical aid has arrived at Tunisia's Tunis-Carthage International Airport and is expected to be transported to Libya in a few days, according to the embassy. (Chinese Embassy to Libya/Handout via Xinhua)

TRIPOLI, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy to Libya said on Wednesday that a shipment of Chinese medical aid will reach Libya in a few days to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The medical aid has arrived at Tunisia's Tunis-Carthage International Airport and is expected to be transported to Libya in a few days, according to the embassy.

"The aid includes 834 nucleic acid diagnostic kits, 5,000 medical protective suits, 15,000 N95 masks, 100,000 surgical masks, 5,000 goggles and 5,000 pairs of medical gloves," the embassy said.

According to Libya's National Center for Disease Control, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the North African country has reached 359, including 58 recoveries and five deaths.

In order to fight the virus, Libyan authorities closed the country's borders as well schools and mosques, banned public gatherings, and imposed a curfew.

The first COVID-19 case in Libya was reported in March, while the first death was announced in April. Enditem
Simi Stone was feeling restless and helpless and just plain "going crazy."

The tragedies "hit me so hard - three people killed," she says. Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Breonna Taylor in Kentucky. Then George Floyd in Minnesota. "I couldn't do anything for a while," says Stone, the musical and visual artist born Simantha Sernaker, from her home in Woodstock, N.Y. But Stone's boyfriend urged her with four words: "Protest on the canvas."

Stone broke out the pastels she had long set aside and was inspired to render a portrait of Floyd, who died last month beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. As she drew, all of her feelings "came gushing out" into the artwork, she says, "with an initial burst of creativity from a real place."

In doing so, she joined thousands of people who have created powerful art in response to Floyd's death and the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations to protest police violence. From street murals near the White House to editorial comics created near where Floyd died, artists are delivering political messages through often stark imagery.

Stone chose bright tints that make Floyd look luminous. "I was haunted by what had happened to him, so I wanted to draw him in beautiful colors" instead of in black chalk, she says. "I needed to have another way of seeing him for me to feel OK."

Stone, a founding member of the Afro-punk movement, posted the portrait she calls "the George" on Instagram and soon saw it attract a flurry of likes, including from a member of her band, the New Pornographers, and fellow musicians such as Neko Case and Lumineers bassist Byron Isaacs.

She also added the tag #GeorgeFloydPortraitProject, a social media effort started by Baltimore portraitist and designer A.J. Alper.

An artist gets to respond as a witness to history, Stone says, noting she is also moved by the larger social movement.

"I'm feeling a strange sense of relief that the systemic racism is being acknowledged," says Stone, 40, who grew up in Woodstock, the daughter of a Jamaican-born father and a Jewish mother from New York and Florida. "Being a brown girl and growing up knowing these things" about racism, she says, "you take it as the status quo."

This time, she believes the protests and heightened awareness are "going to change policies." Between the response to police violence and the pandemic, she says, "our whole society shifted in front of our eyes."

Like Stone, the Washington-based artist Trap Bob, 28, says she is creating work that is both personal and political.

The Black Lives Matter protests "tackle a centuries-old issue that I personally have dealt with my entire life," she says. "On top of that, we are already in unprecedented times due to the pandemic and quarantine, which leaves us reflecting and questioning everything. People also now have the time to fight back and are fed up in many ways about where we are as a society."

Trap Bob, whose real name is Tenbeete Solomon, likes making activist art, including posters for the Women's March in 2017. Prompted by the current protests, she created a "Fight the Power" mural at an &Pizza storefront - a few blocks from the yellow "Black Lives Matter" street slogan authorized by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) - that features a proud, pink-haired woman. "I'm all about bold, eye-catching designs that inspire and bring light to my audience," she says, "especially in darker times."

"My work is always women-centric, and I aim to push boundaries and labels," the muralist says. "In all the discussion about police brutality, a lot of times women are overlooked in these situations. As much as drawing women is a form of expression for me, I am also representing us all and making sure we are heard."

At other sites around the city, dozens of volunteers painted more than 3,000 square feet of boarded storefronts as part of the #Cre8Change initiative. These Black Lives Matter murals are coordinated by Design Foundry, a Maryland-based event company, and the Denver Smith Foundation, named for a black Southern University student fatally shot by authorities amid campus unrest in 1972.

One poignant #Cre8Change mural said "Denver Smith Matters" in bright-blue letters and told Smith's tragic story.

"The '8 in our hashtag honors the last eight-plus minutes of Mr. Floyd's life," says Denver Smith's nephew, Denver Terrance, who launched the foundation last year in part to "bring attention to the fact that the killing of unarmed black people on camera with no justice has been happening for over 40 years."

In the spirit of Washington's yellow street slogan, colorful "Black Lives Matter" wording was painted on a street in Charlotte - each letter its own thematic work of art. And in Sacramento, a yellow and black "Black Lives Matter" was painted on the median of the Capitol Mall, steps from the seat of power.

Other artists are depicting the protests through a journalistic lens. Ruth Tam, a Washington-based illustrator and reporter, created live artwork Saturday to accompany her prose for a DCist article.

Sketchbooks in tow, Tam drew demonstrators and was struck by the protest signs. "The very first sign I saw was at the base of the Lincoln Memorial: 'When does our American Dream begin?' " she says. "To ask this question, on the National Mall of all places, feels very provocative to me. It's a reminder that for many Americans, the ideals memorialized in our national monuments are not applied equally."

Malaka Gharib interviewed Washington protesters to hear their concerns about potentially contracting the coronavirus at a demonstration and converted them into a comic for the Nib, titled "Stay Safe Out There: Protesting in a Pandemic." The website also published "The Fight Isn't Over: On the Streets in the Twin Cities" by Minneapolis cartoonist Lupi McGinty, based on interviews with protesters there. ("This is what we look like serving our community," says one resident.)

"At the time I was working on the comic, the riots and looting had started, a police precinct burned down, white-supremacist groups were rolling into town and, adding to the chaos, every minute seemed to bring some new drama," McGinty says. "There was an overwhelming amount of information to sort through.

"It's impossible to give a complete overview in just a handful of panels, so I just focused on amplifying black voices and showing how smart, engaged and resilient people can be," the cartoonist says. "I wanted to share viewpoints and show off some of the grass-roots efforts that might not make the evening news."
Those who organized the petition described Halperns response as a good, first step" but said they would not expect any of the signers to be performing there without surety that the core demands had been addressed. They also said they needed what Bustamante described as a specific timeline for further changes, including a decolonized curriculum and a thorough investigation and removal of teachers, staff and administrators guilty of any racial violence, cultural appropriation, and abuse towards Black students and performers.
The Digital Marketing Playbook launches today as an interactive tool, which is freely available. It provides straight-forward and easy-to-implement digital marketing tactics that are proven to deliver results. A wide range of measures to increase sustainable customer engagement and optimize ROI in cross-channel marketing are listed. The tool covers areas including website personalization, email automation, mobile and social media, paid media and in-store activities.

The Playbook helps marketers and agencies prioritize their digital marketing activities by creating a clear roadmap in three simple steps:

1. Explore and shortlist tactics

Browse and explore a list of 100 digital marketing tactics that are tested and proven. The Playbook explains the practical use of each tactic and illustrates how this has already been successfully implemented by other brands. Gain expert tips on what you can do to improve your existing activities.

2. Score and prioritize

Prioritize the tactics which you would like to focus on and create a clear roadmap of marketing improvement opportunities based on effort, value, and investment. Re-prioritize tactics as your business objectives change.

3. Share with your team

Share the list of priorities with your team and agencies to ensure that everyone is aligned on what to focus on.

Ricardas Montvila, Senior Director, Global Strategy, Mapp, comments: "There are many things you can do to improve your digital marketing. It can be mind boggling to identify the opportunities that will provide the greatest uplift with the least amount of time and generate the biggest ROI. This Interactive Playbook was created to inspire marketers and agencies, as well as to guide you through the prioritization process."

The Digital Marketing Playbook can be accessed here:

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The Playbook, and it's 100 tactics, is also available as an eBook:

https://mapp.com/resource/the-digital-marketing-playbook-100-tactics-to-acquire-nurture-grow-retain-customers/

About Mapp

Marketers and data specialists should be able to focus on what will make a difference for their business, instead of spending all their time taming the technology behind it. With the insight-led customer engagement platform Mapp Cloud, they can focus on what really counts  and the exciting insights that come with it. Thanks to customer intelligence and marketing analytics, companies can easily and effectively gain data-driven customer insights across all channels in order to trigger highly personalized marketing activities. Customers benefit from AI-supported forecasting models that enable targeted and self-optimizing cross-channel campaigns. Automated messages are sent via the most suitable marketing channel, at the right time, with the optimal contact frequency. Thanks to advanced one-to-one personalization, the highest levels of engagement and long-term customer loyalty are achieved.

Mapp has global offices in six countries. Mapp's digital marketing platform helps more than 3,000 companies break away from the pack by uncovering missed opportunities, including Xerox, PepsiCo, LG, Qantas, Flixbus, MyToys, ING, Infinity and Lloyds Banking Group.

Press contact:

PR Agency: The PR Network

Matt Cartmell

+44 (0)7930 485 333

[email protected]

https://www.thepr.network

SOURCE Mapp

Related Links

https://mapp.com


Unsure about how to start this column about a topic that is on a lot of peoples minds these days, I asked my wife:

What do you think about when you hear the phrase white privilege?

For a Mexican woman born in Guadalajara who has lived in the United States most of her life, the phrase is about cluelessness.

It means being in the dark about what people of color experience, she responded. That includes how your kids are treated in school, people asking you where you were born or mentioning your accent. They never have to worry about joining the club because theyre automatically part of it.

Itll be difficult to improve on that, but Ill try.

The killing of a black man named George Floyd while in the custody of four now-former police officers in Minneapolis has sparked yet another national conversation about race in America.

In truth, Americans never stop talking about race. The problem is that we dont hear one another about race.

And one thing that white people dont want to hear about is white privilege. For them, the concept is just another way to penalize them for being white and dismiss whatever they accomplish in life.

The privilege deniers include Rush Limbaugh. The nationally syndicated radio host registered his outrage over Floyds death after seeing the video of the 46-year-old man taking his last breath. It makes me so mad, I cant see straight, Limbaugh told his audience.

A few days later, Limbaugh invited onto his show the African American co-hosts of the Breakfast Club, a morning radio show.

While Limbaugh gave the co-hosts  Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy and Angela Yee  credit for their success, the black hosts were not so gracious. The way they see it, Limbaugh has had it easy. Thats not so. But thats how they see it.

How are you going to use your privilege as a white male to combat this prejudice? asked Charlamagne tha God.

I dont buy into the notion of white privilege, Limbaugh responded. Thats a liberal, political construct. Its designed to intimidate and get people to shut up and admit theyre guilty of doing things they havent done. I dont have any white privilege.

See, there. The first sign that you have white privilege is when you can say: I dont have any white privilege. Its like when someone who has money assures you that money isnt important.

Charlamagne snapped back at Limbaugh: You know what white privilege is? White privilege is that what happened to George Floyd would not have happened to a white man.

Incorrect. White people do, in fact, die after a confrontation with police. In July 2011, two police officers in Fullerton, Calif.  Cpl. Jay Patrick Cicinelli and Officer Manuel Ramos  were accused of beating to death Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old white man who was homeless and suffered from schizophrenia. Cicinelli was charged with excessive use of force and involuntary manslaughter, and Ramos was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Both were acquitted at trial, but the city did pay $4.9 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by Thomas family.

At the same time, Limbaugh is wrong that white privilege is a liberal, political construct that doesnt really exist.

Some white people think that because they personally havent had it easy in life, or because they grew up poor, or because theyve lost jobs or homes that they dont qualify for white privilege. What they miss is that white privilege is not about how life has treated you but how society and its institutions  like the police  treat you.

For me, white privilege means going to elementary school and not being tracked into less challenging classes because of your surname or skin color, and not being subjected to a disproportionate amount of discipline. It means going to high school and not having your guidance counselor try to dissuade you from applying to an Ivy League school because he doesnt think youll get in, or  when you do get in  having white friends gripe that you were only accepted because of affirmative action. It means going to a prestigious and predominantly white university feeling at ease, confident you belong there, and not feeling like you have to educate white classmates about the minority experience. And finally, in the workforce, it means being paid what youre worth, promoted like white people, and not being treated as second-class by both liberals and conservatives who want to put you in your place.

White privilege. The struggle is real. And if you cant see that, then youve got it bad.

ruben@rubennavarrette.com
Russian army fires anti-tank artillery shells at oil well to extinguish fire

Russia said it was able to stop a fire at a Siberian oil well on June 8 by firing anti-tank artillery shells at the wellhead. Officials called in the Russian army to help extinguish the blaze in the countrys Irkutsk region after an Irkutsk Oil Company well caught fire on May 30.

An MT-12 Rapira anti-tank gun was flown to the well site where it was used to fire several rounds at the wellhead from around 200 metres away. The aim was to break the wellhead from the well, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a press release. It added: This helped set up the blowout prevention equipment to then seal the well and put out the fire. Footage of the night-time operation was circulated and can be seen in the accompanying video.



According to its website, the Irkutsk Oil Company is one of the largest independent oil and gas producers in Russia, producing over 9 billion tonnes of oil and gas condensate. It has discovered 13 oil and gas fields in Irkutsk and Sakha. The affected well in the remote Ust-Kutsky district which caught fire is not thought to be a significant part of the oil companys operations.



Explosives have been used before to fight oil well fires, most notably during the First Gulf War in Kuwait when retreating Iraqi forces set fire to hundreds of oil wells in 1991. To extinguish some of the fires, explosives were used to create blast waves which pushed oxygen away from the fire.
This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

Whether studying algae at the New York Aquarium or creating underwater-life exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History, Eva Konrad Hawkins found a refuge in New York City as a marine scientist.

A Jew who grew up in Hungary, Dr. Konrad Hawkins had lived through the Holocaust and the Hungarian uprising of 1956 and then fled Communist oppression for the United States. There she also conducted research and taught biology at the University of Pennsylvania, Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and City College in Harlem.

She died of Covid-19 on April 18 at a nursing home in the Bronx, family members said. She was 90.

Her brother was the writer and sociologist Gyorgy Konrad, a prominent Hungarian dissident during Communist rule who died in September. Though the siblings survived the German occupation, relatives and classmates were murdered in concentration camps. Their house was looted and their synagogue ransacked.
Sussex Police has launched a new rural crime unit after farmers and rural businesses complained that they felt 'abandoned' and 'forgotten about'.

The specialised team will aim to crack down on unlawful behaviour in isolated and rural communities across Sussex.

With 62% of its area dedicated to farming and a significant proportion being in the South Downs National Park, Sussex is defined as significantly rural by Defra.

Sussexs Police and Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne said she held consultations with local farmers and the NFU.

She highlighted that since the Covid-19 lockdown, there had been 'many disturbing reports' of fly-tipping and expensive equipment theft.

"I want to reassure our rural residents that these crimes will not be ignored and are being taken extremely seriously," Ms Bourne said.

This expanded team will have the specialist knowledge, skills and training that is vital to police our rural communities, successfully investigate and prosecute crimes made against them."

The special rural team will have a specialist focus on agricultural, equine, wildlife and heritage issues - with an overall aim to increase rural confidence.

Made up of two sergeants, eight constables and six police community support officers (PCSOs), the team will be operating out of bases at Midhurst and Heathfield.

The impact of rural crime has become more apparent in recent years and this is reflected with the implementation of the national Rural Affairs Strategy in 2018, from the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC).

Chief Inspector Steve Biglands, Sussex Polices rural crime lead, said the county had a 'substantial' number of rural residents and businesses, and they 'deserved protection'.

We are keenly aware of the significant impact that these types of crimes have on our remote communities, and the implementation of this new team is designed to provide a direct link between those more isolated and the police.

"We want to encourage reporting of rural crimes, because with this insight, we are able to deploy the team to where they are most needed in order to protect the most vulnerable," he said.
She's been keeping busy by working throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

And Amanda Holden proved there's no rest for the wicked as she was pictured leaving Global Studios in Leicester Square on Thursday after hosting Heart Breakfast.

The TV and radio presenter, 49, commanded attention in a plunging polka dot dress by Forever Unique as she shielded herself from the rainy weather under her favourite rainbow umbrella, in celebration of Pride Month.

Busy bee: Amanda Holden proved there's no rest for the wicked as she was pictured leaving Global Studios in Leicester Square on Thursday after hosting Heart Breakfast

Catching the eye, the Britain's Got Talent judge looked typically sensational in her monochrome ensemble, which featured a low-cut neckline.

Amanda's black court heels gave her added height, while her chain-strap, crossbody bag by Burberry injected even more glamour into her outfit.

The media personality highlighted her naturally radiant complexion with matte make-up, while her blonde tresses were styled into waves.

Vibrant: The TV and radio presenter, 49, shielded herself from the rainy weather under her favourite rainbow umbrella, in celebration of Pride Month

Looking good: The Britain's Got Talent judge commanded attention in a polka dot dress by Forever Unique, which featured a plunging neckline

Amanda recently revealed her husband Chris Hughes helps to keep her 'sane' when she is targeted by trolls on social media.

The TV judge has learned to cope with the nasty comments over time and has hailed the influence of record producer Chris.

Amanda - who is mother to Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, with Chris - told the Daily Star: 'I'm so lucky that when I started out, social media wasn't invented because I might not have got through it.

Standing tall: Amanda's black court heels gave her added height, while her chain-strap, crossbody bag by Burberry injected even more glamour into her outfit

'It's difficult but I am very lucky because I've got a very strong relationship.

'I've got a very strong husband who is very sensible and not like me in any way. He cuts through all the bull***t and keeps me sane.'

Amanda and Chris have been married since December 2008 when the couple tied the knot at Babington House in Somerset.
[June 11, 2020] Fuze Empowers Mobile Workforce with New Patent for Multi-Modal Communication

Fuze, the leading cloud-based communications provider for the modern global enterprise, today announced that it has been awarded a new patent on how to create a unified history for multi-modal communication across chat, voice, video, and meetings. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued Fuze U.S. Patent No.10306071 on May 28, 2019 The patented approach provides users with a unified communication history across multiple modalities such as chat, phone, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), SMS, video calls, and meetings. The communication history also extends across multiple device types, including hard desk phones, mobile phones, desktops, fax machines, conference rooms, software softphones, and browser-based softphones.



"As the global workforce becomes increasingly distributed, workers must communicate across multiple devices, including apps for web, tablets, and smartphones, from any location at any given time," says Rob Scudiere, president and chief operating officer at Fuze. "This new patent reflects our commitment to empowering mobile workers, providing a unified history of communication that enables them to stay organized as they alternate between multiple device types." About Fuze

Fuze is a global cloud communications provider for the enterprise. Our intuitive unified communications and contact center platform enables seamless transition between calling, meeting, chatting, and sharing powered by the industry-leading intelligent cloud architecture. Fuze empowers the digital and distributed workforce to communicate anywhere, anytime, and across any device. Founded in 2006, Fuze is headquartered in Boston, MA with offices around the world. For more information, visit fuze.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005493/en/

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11) Groups and persons planning to join physical protests on Independence Day should think twice before hitting the streets, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield said Thursday as it warned that mass gatherings are still discouraged under quarantine measures.

JTF COVID Shield commander PLGen Guillermo Eleazar urged protesters to consider other platforms to voice out their concerns, citing possible health risks amid the pandemic.

Unang una, we would like to advise 'yun pong mga magra-rally to think twice. May pandemic pa rin tayo, at ang ating pino-problema diyan, baka mamaya maipasama sila sa statistics, magkakaroon ng infection, Eleazar told CNN Philippines The Source.

[Translation: First of all, we would like to advise those who are planning to join rallies to think twice. We are still in a pandemic. What were wary of is that they may soon be part of the statistics, they may get the infection. We dont want that.]

Meron tayong protocol ngayon, at sana, ito ay kanilang ipagpaliban. Sinasabi nga natin, meron pang ibang paraan para gawin ito, through online Kung sakali man na gawin nila iyon (physical), it is a violation of mass gathering, he added.

[Translation: We have a protocol now, and I hope, they will just set this aside. What weve been saying is there are other ways to do this, through online If they do that, it is a violation of mass gatherings.]

Some activist groups and collegiate organizations earlier announced plans to stage rallies for Fridays Independence Day celebrations  with some netizens labelling it as a mananita protest.

The term was derived from the controversial birthday feast of National Capital Region Police Office chief Maj Gen Debold Sinas, who drew flak for holding a celebration in May despite Metro Manila being on strict lockdown measures.

RELATED: Duterte keeps confidence in Sinas amid birthday party flak

Mananita protest or not, Eleazar believes it is still not the right timing to hold physical protests, as the risk of spreading the infection remains high. He added it would also put to waste all the sacrifices made over almost three months of quarantine restrictions.

Philippine National Police chief Archie Gamboa, for his part, also appealed to the public to refrain from staging huge gatherings, citing health protocols enforced by the countrys COVID-19 inter-agency task force.

Independence Day rites earlier received the green light from officials, but only 10 persons can participate in such events, according to PNP.

However, National Union of Peoples' Lawyers president Edra Olalia said the right to peaceably assemble is not incompatible with making sure public health is not compromised.

Kahit naman yung World Health Organization ni-recognize yung important right of assembly. Sinabi nila basta meron lang observance ng basic safeguards para doon sa quarantine, he told CNN Philippines News Night.

[Translation: Even the World Health Organization recognizes the important right of assembly, as long as there is observance of basic safeguards under the quarantine.]

He added the group sees no applicable ordinance or criminal law that could warrant the arrest of or impose punishment on those who will take part in the rallies.
Demand for reverse mortgages will likely accelerate in September or October when the big banks six-month payment deferral programs begin tapering off, according to Yvonne Ziomecki, executive vice president of marketing and sales at HomeEquity Bank.

Much of this pent-up demand will stem from older business owners whose ventures were adversely affected by the government-mandated lockdowns and social distancing measures.

Seniors who have previously bet on the stock market, and are now wrestling with the consequences of the coronavirus-induced crash, will likely borrow using their homes, as well.



These people need to find a way to get through three to six months and then figure out if theyre going to be able to stay in business or get a job, Ziomecki told Global News.
North Koreas Rodong Sinmun newspaper highlights the anger whilst Pyongyang cuts off all inter-Korean communication lines because of anti-North propaganda leaflets. For some experts, Kim jong-un is giving his sister room to gain concessions later on. In South Korea, President Moon Jae-in is attacked by the opposition for his conciliatory policy.

Seoul (AsiaNews)  North Korea's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun lashed out today at South Korea over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by defectors and other activists into the communist state, saying "the whole country is ablaze with fury."

Yesterday, the North cut off all inter-Korean communication lines as retaliation against the propaganda leaflets, which were dropped from giant balloons. For Pyongyang, Seoul violated a 2018 agreement on easing tensions, and consequently should be treated as an enemy.

Last week, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, threatened further action such as dismantling the Kaesong industrial park, which was shut down in 2016 after North Korea carried out a nuclear test.

The 2018 military tension-reduction agreement with North Korea is seemingly at risk. However, South Koreas Defence Ministry said that, despite Kim Yo-jongs threats, Seoul is committed to fully implement it.

Officially, Kim Yo-jong is viewed as primary player in inter-Korean affairs. According to several observers, her latest statements are a sign of her growing influence in the Norths ruling circles.

Between April and May, when rumours claimed that Kim Jong-un was either dead or seriously ill, she was mentioned as a possible successor to her brother.

By contrast, some analysts believe that Kim Jong-un is using her for tactical purposes. He is giving his sister some leeway to up the ante against South Korea in order to intervene at a later date to obtain greater concessions in negotiations with Seoul.

The two Koreas are technically still at war since they have never signed a peace treaty to end the Korean War (1950-1953).

Faced with Pyongyang's increasingly bellicose language, the South Korean government has taken action to appease the North, calling for an end to dropping leaflets on North Korea, and introducing legislation to ban it.

To this end, South Koreas Unification Ministry today announced that it was filing a complaint with the police against two groups of North Korean dissidents responsible for sending the leaflets.

However, in his attempt to appease Kim Jong-un, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has exposed himself to attacks by his political adversaries at home.

South Koreas conservative opposition has accused Moon of bowing to Pyongyang's demands, and is calling for an end to his conciliatory approach, which follows the Sunshine Policy adopted by his liberal predecessors 20 years ago.
Lawyer and the Member of Parliament for Akatsi South constituency, Hon Bernard Ahiafor before the passage of C.I 126 into law, argued that the C.I 126 which gives legal backing to the Electoral Commission to compile a new voter's register should have been annulled.

The new C.I 126 prohibits the use of a driver's license and the existing voter identification card as evidence of identity in the registration of a voter as contained in the existing Constitutional Instrument C.I 91 but only permits the use of Ghana Card and passport for registration as a voter.

The lawmaker in his presentation before Parliament on Tuesday 9th June, 2020 indicated that the Supreme Court of Ghana clearly spelt out that one cannot prevent anyone from using the existing voter ID card which is the EC's own document or the Driver's license for registering to vote.

He rubbished the EC's argument that the exclusion of the existing Voter ID card as a proof of citizenship has to do with the fact that some people registered with NHIS card.

According to him, it will be erroneous for somebody to suggest that the current register still has names of people who used NHIS to register when the court in the run-up to the 2016 general elections ordered such names to be expunged from the voter' register under the Mahama administration.

Whilst accepting that there is separation of powers, he also alluded that all arms of government ought to respect each other.

To support his argument, he cited that the Supreme Court in the Abu Ramadan case did not accept the Plaintiff's request to exclude the existing voter ID card and Driver's license as a source of document for the new registration. And called on the house to annul the C.I 126 in respect of the dignity and decision of the Supreme court in the Abu Ramadan case.
ATLANTA, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Atlanta City Councilmember Alex Wan, a long-time Morningside homeowner and civic leader, conceded the race for Georgia House District 57 after a hard-fought contest. Ultimately, former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Evans prevailed.

Wan and his campaign had paused briefly after polls closed to ensure absentee ballots and provisional ballots were accounted for, noting they wanted "to ensure every vote was counted, every voice heard."

Alex Wan

"While we did not achieve the result we wanted in yesterday's election," Wan says, "I am proud of the race we've run and will be eternally grateful for the breadth and diversity of support on this journey. Whether it was with their time, dollars, wisdom or other resources, many people made this campaign possible and I am honored by and appreciative of their contributions.

"I have congratulated Stacey and wish her well in representing the District. I have also very much enjoyed getting to know Kyle Lamont and Jenne Shepherd, who are both impressive community leaders," he says.

Wan announced his bid to represent Georgia State House District 57, following the December announcement by State Rep. Pat Gardner that she will retire after the 2020 General Assembly.

"While I will not be representing my neighbors in the legislature, this in no way ends my commitment to community and political engagement and activism," Wan says. "There were already so many ways to be involved and make a difference. This period of immense change in which we are currently living only heightens those opportunities.

"Of course, the failures we witnessed and experienced this election cycle were many and catastrophic," he says. "And, not because I think the outcome of this race would have been different, addressing these processes will certainly be among my areas of focus going forward. In particular, ensuring our state is better prepared for voting in general, including better equipment testing and training. We cannot overwhelm people and systems with absurd ratios of people-to-voting machines. We need more in-person early voting locations. We need to enhance, streamline and promote mail-in and absentee voting, and ensure transparency and accountability for that process and all others around voting -- the very heart of our democratic process."

"For now, I want to thank the poll workers who did the best they could in the circumstances they were thrust into through no failure of their own," Wan says. "I thank the good Samaritans who brought water, snacks, ponchos and good cheer to voters in the long lines. And I thank those engaged in the election process on all sides - candidates, campaign team members and others working hard to support their causes.

"Finally, I would like to note the many young people engaged in these campaigns and who we saw throughout this election process," he says. "It is heartwarming and encouraging. I applaud the lengths they and others went to to make their voices heard via our election process. Together - and to honor them - they and we should make that process more accessible, more efficient and more trustworthy.

"With that, I end this campaign just as I began it - a neighbor grateful for the opportunities I have had to serve my community and still committed to doing the work to move our communities forward together," Wan concluded.

He served as an Atlanta City Council member for Council District 6 (2010-2017). Since that time, he has continued his community service as the Fulton/Atlanta citizen representative on the Atlanta Regional Commission Board and as a member of the Mayor's LGBTQ Advisory Board.

Wan was the first Asian American and first openly gay man elected to the Atlanta City Council. His professional experience includes the private, public, non-profit and higher-education sectors. He is Executive Director of Horizons Atlanta, a nonprofit that provides tuition-free summer enrichment programs for children from traditionally underserved communities.

He holds a Bachelor's in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and a Finance MBA from Wharton Business School and has completed educational programs at Dartmouth and Harvard. www.AlexWanForAtlanta.com .

Media inquiries

B. Andrew (Drew) Plant

[email protected]

678-637-5532

SOURCE Alex Wan

Related Links

http://www.alexwanforatlanta.com


The number of people being treated in isolation for coronavirus surpassed 1,000 again for the first time in a month as infections surge in the Seoul metropolitan area.

A total of 1,015 people had been placed in isolation as of Wednesday. Health officials have said 1,000 people in isolation is the threshold for a manageable epidemic.

A computer programmer working for Hackers Academia, a top crammer in Seoul, tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, prompting health officials to close seven other branches. A cleaner at Samsung's semiconductor factory in Suwon south of Seoul also tested positive, forcing 1,200 employees to work from home.

Jeong Eun-kyeong, the head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "Mass infections have been spreading in the Seoul metropolitan region after social-distancing rules were eased. If we fail to break the chain of infections, we can't rule out a major resurgence."

The government sent out messages cautioning the public against enclosed or crowded places as well as gatherings, urging them to wear face masks and maintaining social distancing.


Prosecutors in Belgium have today reopened an investigation into the 1996 murder of a German teenager because of a possible link with paedophile Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case.

Carola Titze, 16, vanished on the morning of July 5, 1996 while holidaying with her parents in De Haan, West Flanders. Her body was found six days later.

In the days before her disappearance, she was allegedly seen at a disco with a German man, who police tried and failed to track down.

Now the public prosecutor's office in Bruges 'is indeed reopening the file relating to this murder,' a spokesman told AFP without giving more information.

Carola Titze vanished on the morning of July 5, 1996 while holidaying with her parents at a Flemish resort in West Flanders. Her body was found six days later on sand dunes

Belgian authorities previously told local media they were probing the possible connection between Carola's death and 43-year-old Brueckner, following his naming as the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case.

Since Brueckner became the main lead in the disappearance of three-year-old Maddie from Portugal in 2007, he has been linked to two other vanishings.

The family of German six-year-old Rene Hasse, who went missing in the Algarve in 1996, revealed police are re-investigating the case for the first time in 20 years.

And prosecutors have also re-opened the suspected abduction case of five-year-old Inga Gehricke - dubbed Germany's Madeleine - in Saxony-Anhalt in 2015.

Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old British girl who vanished from her hotel room in Praia de Lug in May 2007. Christian Brueckner (left) is the prime suspect in her case

Since Brueckner became detectives' main lead in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine from Portugal's Praia de Lug in 2007, he has been linked to two other vanishings (Rene Hasse, five, left and Inga Gehricke, six, right)

The case into Carola's disappearance in 1996 went cold in 2016.

Mayor Wilfried Vandaele of De Haan said: 'A shockwave went through our community when the body of Carola Titze was found in woodland in the dunes in 1996.

'Of course, we too want the perpetrator to be found at long last. Let's hope the German investigation can provide greater clarity.'

Only a few weeks before Carola's disappearance, six-year-old Rene also vanished from Amoreiras beach in the Algarve.

The infant from Elsdorf, Germany, was on holiday with his family in Aljezur - just 25 miles from Praia da Luz, where Bruenecker was living.

Rene was last seen running towards the sea on a crowded beach before his mother lost sight of him. Only his clothes were later found by the water.

The boy's grandparents insisted their grandson would never have wandered into the sea by himself and said 'his footprints stopped in the middle of the sand'.

Carola vanished on the morning of July 5, 1996 while holidaying with her parents at a Flemish resort in De Haan, West Flanders. Her mutilated body was found six days later on sand dunes

Last week his father Andreas said there 'could be a connection' with Bruenecker, telling his local newspaper that an investigator from the Federal Criminal Police Office phoned him to say they were re-investigating the case.

It comes after prosecutors re-opened the investigation into whether Brueckner abducted five-year-old Inga Gehricke after she was grabbed from Diakoniewerk Wilhelmshof in Saxony-Anhalt during a family outing five years ago.

Her disappearance on May 2, 2015 - almost eight years to the day after Madeleine vanished in Portugal on May 3, 2007 - was only 48 miles away from where Brueckner lived on the five-acre site of a box factory in the isolated of village of Neuwegersleben, south-east of Hanover.

One day before Inga went missing, Brueckner's vehicle was in a minor crash at a service station close to where she wandered away.
Ewan McGregor and his wife of 22-years, Eve Mavrakis have finalised their divorce.

The actor, 49, filed for a divorce from his wife, 53, in January 2018, and The Blast claimed on Wednesday that the process has been completed.

According to legal documents obtained by the outlet, the former couple submitted 'a judgment package to the court laying out details of their financial settlement.'

Finalized: In a report published by The Blast on Wednesday, Ewan McGregor and now ex wife Eve Mavrakis have finalized their divorce and submitted 'a judgment package to the court laying out details of their financial settlement'; Ewan and Eve pictured in 2015

This comes nearly a year after the pair's eldest daughter Clara, 24, referred to Ewan's girlfriend Mary Elizabeth Winstead, 35, as 'a piece of trash' on Instagram.

Ewan and Eve - who wed back in 1995 - also share daughters, Jamyan, 19, Esther, 18, and Anouk, nine.

The couple confirmed they had split in October 2017, and Eve was pictured without her wedding ring for the first time.

He was allegedly contributing money to his estranged wife and children 'voluntarily,' though he frequently took issue with the amount he was being expected to put forth.

French production designer Eve attempted to counter Ewan's argument by claiming the Star Wars alum was not paying her or her children nearly enough.

Attack: This comes nearly a year after the pair's eldest daughter Clara, 24, referred to Ewan's girlfriend Mary Elizabeth Winstead, 35, (pictured) as 'a piece of trash' on Instagram

Daughter Clara fired verbal shots at Winstead in July of last year after a fan of the actress tagged her in a photo of Ewan and Mary sharing a kiss at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in 2014.

In the post's caption, the fan had referred to Winstead as 'the most beautiful and talented woman on earth' - something Clara was more than ready to refute.

'Most beautiful and talented woman on earth??? Oh man y'all are delusional. The girl is a piece of trash :),' wrote Clara in the post's comment section.

Soon after her vicious reply, another Winstead fan urged her to 'say it to [Winstead's] face not [on] social media.'

They added: 'It took TWO to undo this marriage. If a man OR woman is happy w/ their marriage no outside interference can destroy that!'

Too much to bare: Clara fired verbal shots at Winstead in July of last year after a fan of the actress tagged her in a photo of Ewan and Mary sharing a kiss at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in 2014; McGregor and Winstead pictured in 2018

To the fan's surprise, Clara firmly agrees with their assessment. 'Yup it took two!! Mary & my father :),' she wrote.

In an interview with British newspaper The Times, Clara openly acknowledged the immaturity of her Instagram banter, but claimed that her rage was justified.

'It wasn't the most mature way to go about things, but I was angry and upset.'

According to Clara, there were things going on behind-the-scenes that became 'a lot to deal with' and eventually sent her over the edge.

'There had been a lot building up to it and a lot to deal with - not to make excuses or anything - but, yeah, it wasn't my finest moment,' she admitted.

Tension: 'There had been a lot building up to it and a lot to deal with - not to make excuses or anything - but, yeah, it wasn't my finest moment,' she admitted; Ewan and Eve pictured in 2016

She also explained that she kept 'being tagged in the photograph' and was 'seeing negative things about [her] mom.'

'I said how I felt and I didn't want to apologize for it. It wasn't the right way to go about things, but it's a hard thing to wrap your head around when you feel you had this idea of what the family unit is and then to have that shift. It's very weird.'

As for getting to know Winstead on a personal level, Clara stated that she was 'good' with keeping her distance from the Birds Of Prey star.

'I wish them all the best, but I'm staying out of that, for sure,' she concluded.

Eve is known for her work on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Imagine Me & You and Bandit Queen.

She married Ewan on July 22, 1995, after meeting on the set of ITV's Kavanagh QC.
The House of Representatives is meeting with heads of security agencies in the country over the spate of insecurity in the country.

The series of attacks in the country also informed the decision of the Senate on Thursday to schedule a meeting between the leadership of both chambers, the service chiefs and the president.

This comes a week when attacks were recorded in Katsina and Kaduna. On Tuesday, over 81 people were killed by Boko Haram in Gubio village of Borno State.

The earlier attacks made the green chamber to last week summon the service chiefs, the inspector-general of police, the director-general of the State Security Service and the national security adviser.

The summons were a sequel to a motion moved by Sada Soli (APC-Katsina), over the increasing attacks by bandits in the northern swathe of the country.

The lawmaker said cases of kidnapping, killings and armed banditry have become rife across the country, especially in Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina states.

Mr Soli said the presidential directives had not helped to drastically reduce cases of kidnapping, killings and banditry in the country.

This is due to lack of sustained tempo in the intervention, these criminals have continued to regroup in different camps in the government reserve forests and surrounding villages across the country.

The magnitude of the attacks on various communities have reached an alarming rate as these criminals have continued to perpetuate their criminal acts unabated.

Any deferment by the security agencies to abridge the continuous horror and inhumanity will result in an enormous loss of lives, destruction of properties and immobilise the Socio-Economic and Educational activities of various communities, he said.

The calls by Nigerians as well as the resolution of the House of Representatives for the sack of the service chiefs who are due for retirement have remained unanswered by the president.
With theaters closed around the country, some companies are making their productions available online. Below, you'll find our weekly update of productions, videos, and other theater-related streaming content from across the US and elsewhere. Some streams are free, while others may charge a fee or request a donation. Either way, you're sure to find something to scratch your theater itch. Theaters may be dark, but the shows go on.

This Weekend



Multi-hyphenate performer and creator Dyllon Burnside will celebrate Pride month by hosting a virtual conversation series that will feature Dyllon's friends and influential community leaders such as Billy Porter, Alphonso David, Janet Mock, and Mayor Steven Reed beginning on Thursday, June 11 at 6pm ET on Instagram LIVE at @dyllonburnside.





* PBS will offer a stream of Anna Deavere Smith's drama Twilight: Los Angeles through August 7. Filmed by Marc Levin in 2001, Smith stars in a solo show that explores the aftermath of the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. To watch, click here.

Anna Deavere Smith

(courtesy of PBS)

* The New York Times will present Offstage: Opening Night, an event celebrating the Broadway season that was (and wasn't), Thursday, June 11, at 7pm ET. Across the expansive live program, the stage's biggest stars gather virtually to perform and discuss songs, scenes, and stories that defined a year like no other. For more information, click here.

* National Theatre at Home is streaming the Nottingham Playhouse's The Madness of George III, starring Mark Gatiss in the title role, beginning Thursday, June 11 at 2pm ET. The production, which you can watch below, will stream for free for a week. Donations are encouraged. Watch below:





* NBC's 2015 television broadcast of The Wiz Live! will stream for free this weekend on the Shows Must Go On Youtube page. Shanice Williams leads the company as Dorothy, alongside Queen Latifah (The Wiz), Mary J. Blige (Evillene), David Alan Grier (Cowardly Lion), Ne-Yo (Tin-Man), Elijah Kelley (Scarecrow), Uzo Aduba (Glinda the Good), Amber Riley (Addaperle), Common (Bouncer), and Stephanie Mills (Auntie Em). The stream will kick off on Friday, June 12, at 2pm ET and will be available for 48 hours here.

David Alan Grier, Shanice Williams, Ne-Yo, and Elijah Kelley star in NBC's The Wiz Live!







* Jimmy Award finalist J.R. Heckman is producing a virtual benefit concert for Josh Groban's Find Your Light Foundation, which supports underserved music and arts education programs across the country. The concert will stream on Friday, June 12 at 7pm ET and will feature Cleveland theatrical talent and Broadway professionals such as Michael McElroy, Telly Leung, and Crystal Monee Hall. To watch, click here.

* Broadway's Julie Halston host a new cocktail hour livestream Virtual Halston, taking place on Fridays at 5pm ET. Upcoming guests include Linda Lavin (June 12), Santino Fontana (June 19), and Judy Gold (June 26), with more to be announced. Donations are encouraged, with proceeds going to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation'''. To watch, click here.

* On Friday, June 12 at 3pm, the Sheen Center will host "Poetry in America - Live featuring 'Finishing The Hat' by Stephen Sondheim," a live steamed discussion with musical performances from Sunday in the Park With George, with Melissa Errico, Tedd Firth, and Adam Gopnik, hosted PBS's "Poetry in America" host Elisa New. To watch, click here.





* Texas-based ZACH Theatre will present a free stream of Anna Deavere Smith's Notes From the Field, filmed live at the venue in 2019. The play stars Michelle Alexander, Zell Miller III, Carla Nickerson, and Kriston Woodreaux, and explores racial injustice in America through the lens of the school-to-prison pipeline. The stream is free through Sunday, June 14, at midnight.

* Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will present a virtual 5K event during the weekend of June 13-14. Participants can "run, walk, hike, bike, leap or jete to reach 5K, as long as they move to make a difference. There is no fee to register, and each participant has a suggested minimum fundraising goal of $250." Anyone venturing outside is encouraged to follow local health and safety directives. Register here.

* The Cherry Orchard Festival presents Boston's Arlekin Players Theatre with State vs. Natasha Banina, a newly conceived live Zoom interactive theater art experiment. Performances will take place on Sunday evenings: June 14, 21, and 28 at 8pm live on Zoom. For information or to reserve a Zoom spot, visit www.CherryOrchardFestival.org. All performances are free and Zoom registration is required. Suggested donations will support COVID-19 emergency relief effort for the Actors Fund.

Upcoming



* On June 15 at 6pm Jelani Alladin hosts the High School Theatre Festival, which showcases the ongoing excellent theater work currently taking place in NYC public high schools, as well as highlights the positive effects of theater study on skills for the stage and in life: collaboration, artistry, discipline, focus, literacy, student voice, self-awareness, presence, active listening, and empathy. Watch the event here:





* In honor of Bloomsday, June 16, Austin Pendleton will perform a virtual staged reading of Joseph Beck's James Joyce: A Short Night's Odyssey From No to Yes. Bloomsday commemorates James Joyce's novel Ulysses, which takes place on June 16, 1904. The day is celebrated around the world by fans of the novel. Tickets for the reading range from free to $25. For more information, click here.

* Usdan, Summer Camp for the Arts will host a virtual fundraiser on Wednesday, June 17 at 6pm ET, honoring alum Seth Rudetsky and Long Island theater Ruthie Pincus of Stage the Change. The event is free, but donations are encouraged, with proceeds used to repair the camp's Lemberg Theater building. To reserve a spot, click here.

Broadway Black, the multimedia organization highlighting the achievements of Black theater artists, will announce the winners of the inaugural Antonyo Awards, celebrating the best of the Black Broadway and off-Broadway theater season. The streamed ceremony will begin at 6pm ET on Juneteenth (June 19), the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in America. The event will include a virtual red carpet, musical numbers, and live award presentations. Click here to see a full list of nominees and to cast your vote (through June 12).

The Antonyo Awards will begin at 6pm on June 19.







* MCC Theater will present a virtual edition of its beloved Miscast event on Saturday, June 20 at 8pm ET. During the show, Broadway's hottest stars will take the online stage and perform songs from roles in which they would not traditionally be cast. Participants are still to be announced.

* Bedlam will present a live virtual play reading series to raise funds and awareness for the #BlackLivesMatter movement and associated organizations working toward eliminating race-based discrimination. Upcoming readings include The Long Christmas Ride Home by Paula Vogel on Tuesday, June 23; Coriolanus by William Shakespeare on Tuesday, July 21; Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw on Tuesday, August 4, and Othello by William Shakespeare on Tuesday, October 13. All proceeds from these readings will go directly to organizations fighting for equity and justice. For a complete list of readings, and for more information on how to donate, click here.

* NY Classical Theatre will present a free virtual zoom reading of William Shakespeare's King Lear on Thursday, June 25 at 8pm, as a fundraiser for an intended full production later this year. For details or to register for the event, click here.

Raul Esparza and Samira Wiley will star in a live-streamed production of Moliere's Tartuffe, directed by Lucie Tiberghein. The broadcast will take place live on Saturday, June 27 at 2pm EST and 7pm EST. It will be available through Wednesday, July 1 at 2pm EST on MIP's YouTube channel. Viewing is free. Reserve a spot here.

Raul Esparza and Samira Wiley

( David Gordon)

* Payson Lewis and Jonah Platt will star in an online reading of the new musical Walt and Roy. The virtual performance will be on July 9 at 8pm ET, with all money received from ticket sales being donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway for Racial Justice. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 12, and will be available for purchase here.

Payson Lewis and Jonah Platt

(images provided by Stacy Morgan PR)

Streaming Channels

* Spike Lee directs a filmed version Antoinette Nwandu's provocative play Pass Over, which tells the story of two young black men (Jon Michael Hill and Julian Parker) dreaming of escape from a racist world. A startling and disturbing riff on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Pass Over now streams on Prime Video. Read our critic's review here.

Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over streams on Prime Video.

( Amazon Studios)

* In Dominique Morisseau's play Pipeline, a public school teacher (Karen Pittman) must face the trauma of her son (Namir Smallwood) as a young black man when an incident threatens to get him expelled from a prep school. Pipeline streams on BroadwayHD. Read our critic's review here.

* Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee Anna Deavere Smith wrote and stars in Notes From the Field, her solo play in which she probes the lives of students, parents, and teachers caught in the school-to-prison pipeline. The show streams on HBO.

* Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, and Eugene Lee reprise their Broadway roles in American Son, the story of an interracial couple anxiously awaiting word of their son's whereabouts while dealing with a racist cop in a police station. Tony winner Kenny Leon directs. American Son streams on Netflix.

Available for a Limited Time



* Philadelphia's Wilma Theatre has released an archival recording of James Ijames's Kill Move Paradise as a fundraiser for Black Lives Matter Philly. The 2018 production will be available until Sunday, June 21, with a donation of any size allowing you access to the streaming link. The play is inspired by the ever-growing list of slain unarmed Black people, telling the stories of four Black men who are stuck in a cosmic waiting room in the afterlife. Avery Hannon, Anthony Martinez-Briggs, Brandon J. Pierce, and Lindsay Smiling star in Blanka Zizka's production.

* Tickets for a streaming version of the musical comedy Menopause The Musical are available through June 21. To join the virtual sisterhood, click here.

Menopause The Musical is streaming through May 24.

(courtesy of Menopause The Musical)

* Geffen Playhouse has extended The Present, its world-premiere live, virtual, and interactive theatrical experience written and performed by master illusionist, storyteller, and Geffen alum Helder Guimaraes. The show will now run May 7-October 10. A mystery package will be sent to you inside a USPS Priority Mail box before the show, so you must purchase tickets at least seven days in advance. To purchase tickets, click here.

* The world premiere of The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, written by Darren Murphy specifically for digital media in reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, premiered on Wednesday, May 27 at 6pm ET and will remain online through October 2020. For more information, click here.

* The Actors Fund and People magazine is streaming the 2015 benefit concert of Bombshell, the musical within the short-lived television drama Smash. Watch it here:





* Tony-winning dancer Scott Wise has launched the new Wise Conversations talk show series, benefiting Fineline Theatre Arts, in New Milford, Connecticut. Future conversations will take place on Saturdays at 4pm and Wednesdays at 7pm. Recommended donation is $10 for students and $20 for adults. For more information, visit Fineline's Facebook page.

Always Available

Alex Newell and the Sounds of Zamar came together for a moving rendition of "I Know Where I've Been," from Hairspray. AIDS Walk New York posted the video on its YouTube channel after postponing its "Live at Home" event "in response to the murder of George Floyd, the systemic racism it reflects, the ongoing police abuses, and in solidarity with Black Lives Matter." Hairspray co-writer Marc Shaiman lent his keyboard to the rousing tribute. Watch Newell and the Sounds of Zamar here:





* Geraldine Inoa's Scraps chronicles how the family and friends of a black teenager shot by a white police officer struggle to cope in the aftermath. The Matrix Theatre Company has made its production available here.

* The global family of Rent paid tribute to the frontline heroes of New York City. Watch their rendition of "No Day But Today" here:





* Theater producer and playwright David Lan has a conversation with longtime artistic collaborator Stephen Daldry celebrating Lan's new memoir, As If By Chance: Journeys, Theatres, Lives. The conversation, a part of BAM's ongoing series of digital programs Love from BAM, can be seen here.





* More than 70 cast members from various international productions of Maury Yeston and Peter Stone's musical Titanic have gathered to record a socially distant version of the ballad "We'll Meet Tomorrow." Watch it below:





* Idina Menzel and Ben Platt perform "A Whole New World" from Disney's Aladdin as part of "The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II." Watch the video below:





* In celebration of our nation's healthcare workers and 2020 Year of the Nurse, the Resilient Project released their "Resilient" video.

* Wicked celebrates first responders on the front lines of the public health crisis with a video featuring stars Lindsay Pearce (Elphaba) and Ginna Claire Mason (Glinda) singing the anthem "For Good."

* Brandon Victor Dixon performed a powerful ballad inspired by the Netherlands Carillon, the bell tower at Arlington Cemetery, on May 23 for '''Fleet Week Follies''. Will Swenson and Audra McDonald introduced him. Watch his performance here:





* Composer Charles Strouse, the last surviving writer of the musical Annie, has tried to help bolster optimism by recording a video of himself performing the show's beloved anthem, "Tomorrow."

* From their homes in Ireland, the UK, the United States, Canada, Spain, Australia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia, as well as those dancers who have swapped their dancing shoes for scrubs, the Riverdance cast have come together while being apart to say thank you to all frontline and essential workers, as well as the people at home who continue to do their part in the fight against COVID-19.



* Six fans from across the globe joined the cast for a special performance in isolation.

* Abrons Arts Center has made all of its performance documentation public on its Vimeo page, alongside contact and donation information for the artists whose work you are viewing.

* TriviaMania co-host and Broadway star Ellyn Marie Marsh has teamed up with Patrick Hinds for a brand-new true-crime podcast Obsessed With: Disappeared, which will recap episodes of Investigation Discovery Channel's hit series "Disappeared" in a comedic and witty tone, with perpetrators always the butt of the joke. It will be available May 27.

Postponed

* The New 42 Virtual Gala 2020 was scheduled to be broadcast on June 1 at 5:30pm ET to raise critical funds for the performing arts engagement and education programs of New 42 and its signature projects, New 42 Studios and New Victory Theater, which recently launched New Victory Arts Breaks, a series of digital performing arts curriculum for families and teachers to adapt to kids learning spaces at home. Tony winners Laura Benanti and Celia Keenan-Bolger were set host.

* The Public Theater's stream of We Are One Public was scheduled to be broadcast on June 1. The evening was to be hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, with appearances and performances by Antonio Banderas, Anne Hathaway, Sting, Claire Danes, Glenn Close, Oscar Isaac, Sandra Oh, Audra McDonald, Danielle Brooks, Elvis Costello, Danai Gurira, and more.


SEPA Instant Upgrade & ISO27001 Re-Certification

Melbourne, June 11, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - iSIgnthis Ltd ( ASX:ISX ) ( FRA:TA8 ) is pleased to advise that it has met its certification requirements with the Central Bank of Lithuania for SEPA Instant thresholds to be lifted from EUR15,000 per transaction to EUR100,000 per transaction limit, as from 1st July 2020.- ISXPay(R)'s SEPA Instant now certified for EUR100k transaction limit- Probanx(R) features SEPA-Instant Instant Notifications (SIIN) as an alternative to cardsSEPA instant is cleared between sender and beneficiary accounts within 15 seconds of confirmed transmission.The Probanx(R) CORE Banking platform has been enhanced to provide real time notifications via API to our customers CRM's, cashiers, trading platforms or ecommerce carts upon receipt of a SEPA instant payment into an account held with iSignthis. This further enhances the ecosystem comprising Paydentity(TM), ISXPay(R) and Probanx(R).The SEPA-Instant Instant Notification (SIIN) is a viable alternative to card scheme payments, as it allows merchants to update payment status instantly within their system, upon receipt of funds. Typically, banking systems require reconciliation of transactions via batch updates to CRM's, cashiers, trading platforms or ecommerce carts, as opposed to cards and SIIN which provide real time notifications.The benefits of SEPA instant include advantages over cards such as instantly cleared and settled funds versus deferred card payment settlement, no chargebacks and reduced fees for merchants.Customer funds are held at iSignthis settlement account at the Central Bank, which is integrated to SEPA Core credit transfer and offers no value limit per transaction with multiple batch windows per day.ISO27001iSignthis Ltd is also pleased to disclose that it has been re-certified to ISO / IEC 27001 Information Security Management System, for management of personal data of its end user customers.The ISO27001 audit was conducted by BSI, and complements the Company's Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 accreditation for all major card schemes which was recently recertified in March 2020.The Company's Probanx(R) core banking systems also comply with APRA CPS234, and the security and open banking requirements of the European Union as required under the Payment Services Directive.About iSignthis Ltd

iSignthis Ltd (ASX:ISX) (FRA:TA8) is a hybrid monetary financial institution and also a RegTech leader in remote identity verification, payment authentication with deposit taking, transactional banking and payment processing capability. iSignthis provides an end-to-end on-boarding service for merchants, with a unified payment, electronic money and identity service via our Paydentity(TM) and ISXPay(R) solutions.

By converging payments and identity, iSignthis delivers regulatory compliance to an enhanced customer due diligence standard, offering global reach to any of the world's 4.2Bn 'bank verified' card or account holders, that can be remotely on-boarded to meet the Customer Due Diligence requirements of AML regulated merchants in as little as 3 to 5 minutes. Paydentity(TM) has now onboarded and verified more than 1.5m persons to an AML KYC standard.

iSignthis Paydentity(TM) service is the trusted back office solution for regulated entities, allowing merchants to stay ahead of the regulatory curve, and focus on growing their core business. iSignthis' subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney Ltd, trades as ISXPay(R), and is an EEA authorised eMoney Monetary Financial Institution, offering card acquiring in the EEA, and Australia.

ISXPay(R) is a principal member of Mastercard Inc, Diners, Discover, (China) Union Pay International and JCB International, an American Express aggregator, and provides merchants with access to payments via alternative methods including SEPA, Poli Payments, Sofort, PRZ24 and others.

Probanx Solutions Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of iSignthis Ltd, provides API based access to CORE Banking solutions, SEPA Core, SEPA Instant and SEPA business scheme, for neobanks, banks, credit unions and emoney institutions, and provides a bridge to the Eurosystem's Central Bank of Lithuania's CENTROLink service.
(Natural News) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci has warned that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is far from over. Fauci made the warning as some of the worst-hit states have started reopening their economies.

In a period of four months, it has devastated the whole world, Fauci said to executives at a video conference hosted by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. And it isnt over yet.

But Dr. Fauci is no longer trusted by most of America, as his often-contradictory information has led to horrible decisions about the durations of lockdowns which have caused severe economic damage across the nation.

As of reporting time, the coronavirus has infected 7,238,611 people and left 411,277 dead, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Many countries, including the U.S. where almost 2 million people have been infected, are now relaxing restrictions despite infection rates that continue to rise in some areas.

Thats millions and millions of infections worldwide. And it isnt over yet. And its condensed in a very, very small time frame, said Fauci.

Coronavirus rapid spread caught Fauci by surprise

In the videotaped discussion, Fauci said that he had known that an outbreak like the current pandemic was a possibility. However, the speed of which the coronavirus spread throughout the world caught him by surprise.

According to Fauci, an efficiently transmitted disease would usually take six months to a year to spread worldwide. The coronavirus, however, took about a month. He attributed the rapid spread both to the contagiousness of the virus, as well as to extensive world travel by people infected by the virus.

Its a testimony to not only the extraordinary capability of transmission but of the extraordinary travel capability we have, he said. I mean, it started in a very well-defined place in a city in China called Wuhan. And China is a big country. A lot of people travel all over the world. They travel to the United States. They travel to Europe.

Fauci also made comparisons between the coronavirus and other recent public health crises, stating that the former differed significantly from Ebola and HIV.

I mean, Ebola was scary. But Ebola would never be easily transmitted in a global way, he explained. HIV, as important as it is, was drawn out over an extended period of time. I mean, I think the ultimate impact of AIDS almost certainly will be greater than anything were talking about now.

Experts are only beginning to understand the coronavirus

In regards to how the disease works and how it attacks the body, Fauci conceded that much of what experts know is a work in progress.

Fauci, who spent much of his career studying HIV, said that AIDS  the disease caused by the virus  is really simple compared to whats going on with COVID-19. He noted that the latter has a broader range of severity, from having no symptoms at all to critical illness and death. In between, patients have to deal with intense immune response, lung damage and even clotting disorders that can cause strokes even in young people. In addition, the virus also causes a separate inflammatory syndrome causing severe illness in children.

Were still at the beginning of really understanding, he said.

States are reopening even though cases are going up

Faucis warnings come after some states reported increases in coronavirus cases after having reopened.

On Monday, health officials in Texas, one of the first states to reopen, reported an increase in cases and a record-setting 1,953 hospitalizations due to the coronavirus. Before this, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the state had hovered between 1,400 and 1,800.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stated most of the new cases came from coronavirus hotspots where testing had been ramped up.

Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pointed to surges in coronavirus cases other states while urging New Yorkers to continue to take precautions as he slowly opened the state up.

We know as a fact that reopening other states were seeing significant problems, he said Tuesday. Twelve states that reopened are now seeing spikes. This is a very real possibility. Countries across the globe that reopened are seeing spikes.

Cuomo specifically pointed to Florida, which saw a resurgence of the virus since reopening. On June 6, the state reported about 1,400 new confirmed coronavirus cases, the most ever recorded in a single day since the state started tracking data on the outbreak in March.

Arizona too has seen a surge in cases. On June 1, the count of daily new cases in the state went past 1,000 cases for the first time, before hitting 1,168 the next day.

Nationally, confirmed cases have been trending upward since Memorial Day. While cases arent spiking on a national level, data from Johns Hopkins shows that theyre hovering at around 20,000 confirmed cases per day.

Sources include:

FT.com

Coronavirus.JHU.edu

NYTimes.com

CNBC.com
Coronavirus tests for Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott have come back negative.

The two were tested Wednesday after Education Minister Stephen Lecce, who also had a negative test Tuesday, came into contact last week with someone who has the virus.

It went smoothly. I stand up here every single day  I tell everyone to go get tested, so I thought, through an abundance of caution, I better go get tested and I skipped my press conference went there and got tested, Ford said Thursday.

Its quick and didnt hurt  and you get a little water in your eyes as everyone knows when they go there. But I encourage anyone that feels that theyve been around someone that contacted COVID, then go get tested, the premier said.

CP24 published a photograph of Elliott shopping at the LCBO store on Dupont St. in the Annex on the same day as she was tested. The minister was wearing a mask while purchasing Ontario VQA wine.

Minister Lecces results came back negative before I went for testing. And so while there was no real need for me to go to be tested, I had made a public commitment to do so and so thats where I went, she said.

While I was at the assessment centre having the test, I was advised that because I had not directly been in contact with anyone with COVID that I did not need to self-isolate, said Elliott.

That was the medical advice that I was given and that is what I did  and my test results came back negative, of course.

There is a COVID-19 assessment centre at Womens College Hospital less than 200 metres from the Ontario legislature so testing can be done quickly.

Fords test came after his nephew, Michael Ford, a 26-year-old Toronto city councillor, disclosed that he has coronavirus.

This morning I was made aware that I have tested positive for COVID-19, the councillor wrote in a statement Tuesday night.

The premiers office said Ford has not seen his nephew in about two weeks.

I have been self-isolating and will continue to do so over the next 14 days as I work from home to participate virtually in city business and committee meetings, and to continue serving the residents of Etobicoke North, said the younger Ford.

I am feeling well and will continue to remain in constant contact with Toronto Public Health.

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Iran has told the United Nations aviation agency that it will send the black boxes from a downed Ukrainian passenger jet to Paris for analysis after it secures agreements with countries involved in the investigation, Reuters reported.



Iran has refused to hand over the flight recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines flight, which was shot down on January 8 near Tehran by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, killing 176 people.



Nearly half of the people killed were Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada, which has pressed Iran to send the black boxes to France.



The other countries involved in the investigation are Ukraine and the United States.



In March, Iran told the UN's aviation agency that it would send the black boxes to Ukraine.



But on June 10, a representative from Iran told a virtual meeting of the agency's governing council that Tehran would now send the heavily damaged recorders to the BEA air accident investigation agency in France, according to two sources quoted by Reuters.



"Iran said they will send them to Paris soon subject to agreement of the states involved in the investigation," said one of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.



A spokeswoman for Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau declined to comment on the question of the boxes being sent to Paris, but referred to the commitment Iran made in March.



"They showed an openness to transferring the black boxes but we want to see concrete action on their part to see it through," the spokeswoman said, according to Reuters.



Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment, the news agency reported.



Under UN rules, Iran retains control of the investigation, while the United States and Ukraine are accredited as the countries where the jet was built and operated, respectively.

Based on reporting by Reuters
At a meeting on Wednesday, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah presented a report to Prime Minister Imran Khan, which said: "Despite the challenges of the task assigned and concerns pertaining to internal security, the ministry was able to deliver by meeting the majority of the requirements of the FATF and taking some kinetic and non-kinetic measures including legislative amendments," reports The Express Tribune.

Islamabad, June 11 (IANS) Pakistan has met most of the conditions set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Paris-based global watchdog against financial crimes, a Minister has said.

The FATF formally placed Pakistan in its grey list in June 2018, asserting that the country has failed to take necessary measures against terror financing on its soil.

The global body gave the country 15-month-time to implement its 27-point action plan.

In October 2019, the organisation gave four more months to Islamabad to avoid its blacklist that could result in a freeze of capital flows to the country and slow progress in refinancing and re-profiling loans from major bilateral creditors.

On February 21, 2020 the global financial watchdog decided not to blacklist Pakistan and give it four more months till end June to complete its action plan as a "vast majority of FATF members recognised Islamabad's enormous efforts to improve its counter-terror financing regime".

Shah's report also stated that the Interior Ministry proscribed two main and 11 affiliated organisations as well as froze 976 movable and immovable properties of proscribed outfits.

Without mentioning the total number, it said, the Ministry took over schools, colleges, hospitals, dispensaries, ambulances etc, of the proscribed organisations into government's control.

Conviction of 200 plus main individuals and supporters as well as recovery of funds amounting to 2,400 million PKR for management of taken over facilities were also listed as achievements in the report.

--IANS

ksk/
Global Pharmaceutical Laboratory Services Company Appoints Two Seasoned Industry Executives to Board of Directors

KAISERAUGST, Switzerland, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Solvias, a world leader in contract research, development and manufacturing, today announced that it has completed an agreement with strategic health care investors, Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners, to fully acquire and invest in growing Solvias. The agreement is the next step in Solvias' expansion focused on building the company into a global leader of high-quality pharmaceutical laboratory services.

Solvias will engage Water Street and JLL's industry expertise and network of resources to extend the company's capabilities into new and complementary areas and expand its global reach. Solvias also announced today that the health care firms helped recruit two seasoned pharmaceutical services executives to join its board of directors. Solvias has appointed Michael J. Lehmann and Mario L. Rocci, Jr., PhD to join Karen J. Huebscher, PhD, chief executive officer and director of Solvias, on the company's board:

Michael J. Lehmann , chairman, is the former chief commercial officer and president of global pharmaceutical development services for Patheon N.V., where he was instrumental in Patheon's transformation to a high-growth contract development and manufacturing organization. Mr. Lehmann also spearheaded global early development for Covance Inc. Most recently, he served on the board of BioAgilytix Labs.

Mario L. Rocci Jr. , director, has more than 30 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical services industry and is the former president of ICON plc's early phase clinical, laboratory, and scientific services division. Dr. Rocci also served as chairman of the Product Quality Research Institute and president of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.

"We're thrilled to be growing Solvias in partnership with our new investors and board," said Dr. Huebscher. "Since Solvias' founding, we have continuously innovated and expanded our platform of testing, specialized pharmaceutical manufacturing products, analytical kits and services to offer our customers the highest level of scientific expertise and technical capabilities. These newest initiatives support our goal of bringing greater value to our customers and positioning Solvias at the forefront of our industry."

Founded in 1999, Solvias has grown to serve more than 600 biotech, medical device, cosmetic and top multinational pharmaceutical companies. In recent years, the company has extended its testing and analytical services to address biopharmaceutical products and emerging cell and gene therapies. Solvias has remained fully operational during the current pandemic crisis, providing critical services to customers, including supporting their work to develop therapeutic options and vaccine candidates for COVID-19.

"Solvias is highly regarded for its outstanding quality of work, scientific expertise and commitment to continuous innovation. Its work is critical to supporting organizations with bringing important, life-saving products to market. I'm honored to work with Karen and her team to support their goal of building Solvias into a global industry leader," said Mr. Lehmann.

About Water Street

Water Street is a strategic investor focused exclusively on health care. The firm has a strong record of building market-leading companies across key growth sectors in health care. It has worked with some of the world's leading companies on its investments including Humana, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Walgreen Co. Water Street's team is comprised of industry executives and investment professionals with decades of experience investing in and operating global health care businesses. The firm is headquartered in Chicago. For more information about Water Street, visit http://waterstreet.com.

About JLL Partners

JLL Partners is a middle market private equity firm with over three decades of experience transforming businesses in the healthcare, specialty industrials, and business services sectors. The firm is dedicated to partnering with companies that it can help build into market leaders through a combination of strategic mergers and acquisitions, organic growth initiatives, and operational enhancements. The JLL Partners team is comprised of seasoned investment professionals and operating partners who are focused on driving long-term value creation across its portfolio. Since its founding in 1988, JLL Partners has committed over $5 billion of equity capital across eight private equity funds, with over 50 platform investments and more than 190 add-on acquisitions. For more information, please visit http://www.jllpartners.com

About Solvias AG

Solvias is a world leader in contract research, development and manufacturing. The industries the company serves include pharmaceuticals, biotech, medical device and cosmetics. Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland, Solvias employs more than 550 highly qualified team members who work together to understand their customers' needs. Solvias takes pride in delivering innovative solutions that meet the highest quality standards. With its excellent infrastructure and unrivalled expertise, Solvias develops, analyzes and tests a wide range of biological and chemical substances and products. The company also offers one of the largest proprietary ligand portfolios for catalytic transformations and a suite of related custom synthesis and catalysis technology services. Drawing on the company's well-established scientific experience and proven track record, Solvias provides integrated services, products and technologies to help its customers bring safer and better products to market faster.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1178347/Solvias_Lab.jpg
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 00:25:10|Editor: huaxia

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BUDAPEST, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Hungary will reopen all crossings along its border with Croatia from Friday, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

Hungarians and Croatians will be allowed to cross at all seven border crossings without being required to go into quarantine, according to the minister.

"For us, protecting the lives and the health of the Hungarian people is the most important consideration. However, as the Hungarian people have been particularly disciplined in the recent weeks and months during the peak of the pandemic in Hungary, we have the opportunity to lift previous restrictions," he underlined.

Szijjarto said that previous lifting of restrictions for travel from Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic had not caused a spike in new cases. Enditem
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11) The controversial Philippine Depositary Receipts or PDRs issued by the holding companies of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation and GMA Network, Inc were allowed and registered with the government, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.

In an online House hearing on ABS-CBN's bid for a fresh 25-year franchise, SEC Commissioner Ephyro Amatong said that when the ABS-CBN Holdings Corporation issued PDRs in 1999, and later in 2013, "the prevailing opinion was the PDRs were not evidence of ownership."

Amatong did not go into detail as the issue is among reasons cited by Solicitor General Jose Calida in his petition asking the Supreme Court to void ABS-CBN's franchise, which expired in May. The network was forced to go off air following a cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission.

READ: SC to take up next month ABS-CBN's petition vs NTC's cease to desist order

Amatong said before Calida's petition and the House hearings, no complaints were raised with the SEC about the PDRs, so the regulatory body did not look into possible constitutional violations. Insofar as SEC regulations are concerned, ABS-CBN did not violate any, he said.

Rep. Lawrence Fortun asked if the issuance of PDRs by ABS-CBN Holdings Corporation were "in good faith" considering that it was allowed by the SEC.

"I would say, both ABS-CBN and GMA-7, your honor," Amatong said.

Fortun said the matter "should not be taken against ABS-CBN because ABS-CBN relied on the expert opinion of the very agency that regulates all transactions involving PDRs."

'Foreign ownership ban never breached'

ABS-CBN has repeatedly explained that the PDRs were not the same as shares of stock and do not accord its holders voting rights. The Constitution limits mass media ownership to Filipinos.

READ: Gabby Lopez is a Filipino  DOJ

PDRs can be converted into shares of stock, but Amatong said the Philippine Stock Exchange will never allow foreign nationals to do so.

"The PSE has a mechanism that non-Filipinos cannot acquire the shares of media companies," Amatong said.

"As far as we know, there has been no instance where the nationality restrictions for any of our companies that are engaged in fully nationalized or partially nationalized companies have been breached and this is due to the mechanism put in place in the PSE," he added.

ABS-CBN, GMA: PDRs allowed by SEC

Should the Supreme Court later decide against the issuance of PDRs, it will surely provide guidelines "on how to deal with situations where the interpretations of law have changed," Amatong said.

ABS-CBN President and CEO Carlo Katigbak said the company is willing to comply with any new government order concerning PDRs.

"Our sentiment is that we acted in good faith by going to the SEC to secure approval before offering it to the public and at the time the SEC agreed that the instrument was legal," Katigbak said.

"[But] if the SEC, a court of law, or even Congress wishes to disqualify the use of PDRs equally across the entire media industry then ABS-CBN will be willing to modify alter or comply with the order if so directed," he added.

GMA Network, in a separate statement, said the issuance of PDRs on its part was legal and compliant with the rules of the SEC and PSE. It committed to provide related documents as requested by the House committee on legislative franchises.
Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kourtney Kardashian, and Ashley Graham are among the white female celebrities who turned over their Instagram accounts to prominent Black women on Wednesday in an effort to magnify their voices.

The #ShareTheMicNow social media campaign was started by Endeavor chief marketing officer Bozoma Saint John, author and podcast host Luvvie Ajayi Jones, author and Together Rising founder Glennon Doyle, and Alice + Olivia founder Stacey Bendet.

'The intention of this campaign is to magnify Black women and the important work that theyre doing in order to catalyze the change that will only come when we truly hear each others voices,' according to a press release.

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Using their platforms: Julia Roberts and Kourtney Kardashian were among the nearly 50 white female celebrities who turned over their Instagram accounts to Black women on Wednesday

Goal: The #ShareTheMicNow social media campaign was started to 'magnify Black women and the important work that they're doing'

As part of the campaign, 46 Black activists, celebrities, and content creators took over the accounts of 46 influential white women.

'When the world listens to women, it listens to white women. For far too long, Black womens voices have gone unheard, even though theyve been using their voices loudly for centuries to enact change,' campaign organizers explained on Instagram.

'Today, more than ever, it is NECESSARY that we create a unifying action to center Black womens lives, stories, and calls to action. We need to listen to Black women. This is why we created #ShareTheMicNow.'

The campaign comes amid the worldwide protests over the death of George Floyd  an unarmed Black man  at the hands of the police.

Old friends: Roberts, 52, relinquished her account to fashion and beauty editor Kahlana Barfield Brown, whom she has known for 10 years

Helpful: Brown shared resources and actionable items With Roberts's 8.8 million Instagram followers that they can use to fight racial injustice in America

Introduction: Kardashian, 41, handed her Instagram over to businesswoman Bozoma Saint John, telling her 94.1 million followers that she is 'so awesome'

Commentary: The CMO of William Morris Endeavor talked about 'seeing beauty in blackness' in one post shared on Kardashian's page

The initiative has four goals: 'To form a social media campaign that magnifies Black womens lives and stories. To form relationships among Black women and white women so that our future activism is born from relationships. To create a network of disruptors who know and trust each other. To create action that could make change.'

Roberts, 52, celebrated the social media takeover on Wednesday by introducing her longtime friend, fashion and beauty editor Kahlana Barfield Brown.

'Today, I am thrilled to #ShareTheMicNow with my friend @kahlanabarfield I have know Kahlana for over 10 years and she has always been a source of not only great wit and intellect but compassionate insight,' Roberts captioned a photo of herself with Brown.

'She has some truly thoughtful and thought provoking views to share. I will be tuned in. Hope you will be listening too! The time is now. #iloveher.'

Brown shared resources and actionable items With Roberts's 8.8 million Instagram followers that they can use to fight racial injustice in America.

End result: One of the goals of the initiative is to form relationships among Black women and white women so that future activism is born from relationship

Passing it a long: Gwyneth Paltrow, 47, handed over her account to Latham Thomas, a doula and founder of womens health company Mama Glow

Just do it: Thomas called for Paltrow's 7.1 million followers to identify 10 black-owned wellness brands and start supporting them

Stats: The doula also discussed maternal mortality and morbidity in the U.S., which disproportionately affect Black women at a higher rate than white women

'Next is the most critical stage  ACTION,' she wrote in one post. 'We must continue to educate ourselves and contribute to the fight against police brutality and systemic racism.'

Paltrow, 47, relinquished her Instagram to Latham Thomas, a doula and founder of womens health company Mama Glow.

'I admire Lathams dedication to education and advocacy, and we can all learn from her 20+ years of experience in fertility, pregnancy, birth, motherhood, and reproductive justice,' the Goop founder said.

'Lathams book Own Your Glow: A Soulful Guide to Luminous Living And Crowning the Queen Within is available in paperback on Tuesday. For the rest of today, I hand over my Instagram to @glowmaven for all her wisdom. Lets welcome her with open arms. Xo, GP.'

Thomas called for Paltrow's 7.1 million followers to identify 10 black-owned wellness brands and start supporting them. The doula also discussed maternal mortality and morbidity in the U.S., which disproportionately affect Black women at a higher rate than white women.

Making a change: The campaign comes amid the worldwide protests over the death of George Floyd  an unarmed Black man  at the hands of the police

Your turn: Ashley Graham, 32, passed the mic to Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi

Activist: 'Im humbled to be alive to serve as a steward in this moment in history. I know well that we are navigating some deep and necessary things,' Tometi said

Spreading the word: The social media campaign reached hundreds of millions of Instagram users

Warm welcome: Busy Philipps, 41, shared her platform with journalist Cari Champion

Call to action: The duo hosted an Instagram Live together, and Champion also talked about the importance of white people being disrupters right now

'We should all be furious that Black women are dying from preventable pregnancy-related causes,' she wrote. 'Until black maternal health is front and center as a human rights issue- it will only be seen as a black issue. If you consider yourself a feminist, an ally  this is your issue too.'

Kardashian, 41, handed her Instagram over to businesswoman Bozoma Saint John, telling her 94.1 million followers that she is 'so awesome.'

'I really want to share the mic and give over my account to her so that you can hear what she has to say because I think right now it is so important that we can continue to educate ourselves,' she said in an Instagram video introducing Saint John.

The CMO of William Morris Endeavor talked about 'seeing beauty in blackness' in one post shared on Kardashian's page.

'In this time of racial unrest, we need to change the way we see Blackness: its value, its diversity, its depth, its history, its potential,' she explained. 'Lets open our eyes and see beyond the superficial biases that we have, and gain a deeper appreciation because #BlackLivesMatter.'

Graham, 32, passed the mic to activist and Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi, whom she met in 2016 when she was honored with a Glamour Women of the Year award for her work.

Full list: Dozens of of others lent their platforms to Black women as part of the campaign

'I have been so inspired by her strength, intelligence, passion and ability to use her voice to impact change,' she shared on Instagram. 'I am humbled to be magnifying her work and so excited for all of you to have the opportunity to listen to and learn from her today.'

Tometi hosted an Instagram Live Q&A session with Graham's 11 million followers.

'Im humbled to be alive to serve as a steward in this moment in history. I know well that we are navigating some deep and necessary things,' she wrote in a post.

'It will make us better. Weve been long overdue for a transformative movement in this country, and Im glad to see it finally happening!'

Busy Philipps, 40, shared her platform with journalist and Brown Girls Dream founder Cari Champion, admitting that she didn't know her until a couple of days ago.

'Now I'm in love with her,' Philipp's said in a video introducing Champion. 'She is just an incredible support of women.'

The duo hosted an Instagram Live together, and Champion also talked about the importance of white people being disrupters right now.

'When you see that next black woman working with you, when you see that black woman in your space at work or at home or wherever you may see her, know she's very much the same as you are,' she said. 'And we need you to be disrupters. We need you to call people out when they're not being fair.'
The West Bengal government on Thursday said it will provide students of state-run schools with masks and soaps along with other items as part of the midday meal scheme from July to help them protect themselves from coronavirus.

These students are getting rice and potato during the lockdown and from next month they will also receive daal, soybean, mask and soap, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters.

These items will be handed over to guardians of students from their schools.

The minister said the government will also provide free text books, exercise books and pencils to students in Amphan-affected areas of the state.

Chatterjee also requested private schools not to hike tuition fees in this academic session as people are facing financial hardship because of the lockdown.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had yesterday urged you (private schools) not to hike your fees this academic session. I am only repeating what she said," he said.
Ontario colleges and universities can open their campuses this summer for a pilot project aimed at students who missed out on lessons they needed to complete in class after the COVID-19 pandemic forced learning online.

Schools across the province  including all 24 public colleges  have already confirmed they will take part in the pilot, meant to help those studying health care, nursing or the trades, which call for practical, hands-on experience to graduate.

At Queens Park on Wednesday, post-secondary Minister Ross Romano said hes been in touch with the schools presidents since mid-March, and we have had one principle goal in mind and that was to ensure the academic continuity for all of our students, to ensure that no one lost a year of study, provided we could do so in a way that would not in any way compromise the health or the safety of anyone on campus.

Calling them academically stranded students, Romano said they are in high labour market demand areas that would have graduated by now if only they could have attended in person on their campuses to complete some final lab or practicum requirements.

He estimated about 10,000 students across the province could take part.

If you think of a program like welding, we cant expect somebody to be able to pull their welding kit out in the middle of their living room floor to be able to complete those course requirements, Romano said. So those students in that type of a situation would have to attend in person. We have nurses, for instance, nursing students who have a mere 12 hours left that they must complete in practicums in their campuses and they would be working today. So these students would be permitted into the program.

The pilot, which can start as early as July 2, will also serve as a test run for schools as they look at how to safely reopen for the next school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Linda Franklin, president of Colleges Ontario, called it great news for students and for employers who will be seeking highly qualified graduates to help rebuild Ontarios economy. Programs such as nursing, personal support work, engineering, child care and construction will be part of the pilot, she added.

Colleges that plan to take part include Durham, Algonquin, Mohawk and St. Lawrence.

Algonquins in-person classes will include massage therapy, forestry, automotive technician and a number of health programs.

Michael Conlon, executive director of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, said health and safety committees at individual institutions must be included in planning the pilot.

The reality is that the situation in Kingston or Thunder Bay is different than Toronto, he said. We want to be involved in those dialogues about what is safe.

Members have questions about policies for professors with underlying health conditions and those over 65.

The concern is that we havent seen any comprehensive plans from universities  its all very vague, Conlon said.

Romano said all students and faculty will be screened before being allowed into buildings and social distancing rules will be in effect, as well as extra cleaning.

He also said a unique element will be trained peer monitors to help enforce the social distance protocols.

The province has about 800,000 post-secondary students in total.

This fall, colleges and universities are planning for online instruction or a hybrid of virtual and in-class lessons.

MPP Chris Glover, the NDPs post-secondary critic, said while this is a relief for some students who will now be able to complete their degrees  (there are) too many unanswered questions.

He also said schools need more financial support to handle the extra costs of the pandemic.

With the general unpopularity of online courses compared to on-campus classes, worries about enrolment have surfaced.

Clearly were in a situation where COVID is a very challenging time, and its going to be difficult for so many different sectors and areas and businesses and colleges and universities, Romano said.

Included in the summer pilot are colleges, universities, Indigenous institutes and private career colleges. Participation is voluntary.

The province also plans to take the next few months to consult over improving and modernize online and in-class learning and training at post-secondary institutions.
By Fanny Potkin and Gayatri Suroyo

SINGAPORE/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian motorcycle taxi driver Aji chain-smokes and checks his smartphone constantly while waiting for orders by the roadside in downtown Jakarta on a hot June morning, but is staring at the prospect of another fruitless day.

Before the coronavirus outbreak hit, the 35-year-old father of four would ferry at least 20 passengers for a daily income of between $13 and $20 as a driver for homegrown ride-hailing app Gojek.

But when transportation services halted under a city lockdown, Aji considered it a good day if he got more than two food delivery orders, which pay him $0.70 each time. On some days, he has had none. Even with restrictions eased this week, he is struggling to feed his family.

"The situation is that there are many drivers but orders are few," he said, asking to be identified only by his first name.

Eleven drivers for Gojek and Grab, which is backed by SoftBank Group <9984.T>, in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand told Reuters they've similarly struggled, with income slashed by more than half as the pandemic batters Southeast Asia.

And, disappointingly, for both drivers and the companies, an increase in food deliveries - forecast as a major growth area for both firms - has come nowhere near compensating for the losses in transport.

Even in Vietnam, seen as a recovery success story, drivers are reeling.

"The pandemic may cost me and many colleagues our vehicles, which we had bought using borrowed money," said Grab car driver Tung in Hanoi, fearing that lenders may repossess the vehicles.

Unions representing Gojek and larger Singaporean rival Grab, Southeast Asia's most highly valued startup at $14 billion, say thousands of drivers are in the same situation, especially in Indonesia, both firms' largest market.

CORE PROMISE

Their plight threatens a core promise of both companies: that they can improve the lives of tens of millions of people across Southeast Asia even as they provide big paydays for their blue-chip corporate and financial investors.

Story continues

Southeast Asian governments have warned millions could end up jobless as a result of the outbreak.

The two firms told Reuters they are supporting drivers with measures ranging from food packages and vouchers to low-interest bank loans and car rental rebates. But the crisis has also led them to cut the subsidies that have fueled their growth.

Doubts have also crept up about the ride-hailing model globally and on whether investors will continue pumping in massive funds into the startups.

Even before the pandemic, Grab and Gojek - like Uber <UBER.N> and Lyft <LYFT.O> in the United States and other ride-hailing firms around the world - were operating at a steep loss.

Grab co-founder Tan Hooi Ling has warned the company may potentially face a "long winter".

Both companies still have plenty of cash. One source with knowledge of the matter said Grab has $3 billion in reserves. Sources familiar with Gojek's finances said it was finalising an over $3 billion investment round at a $10 billion valuation; Facebook <FB.O> and Paypal <PYPL.O> announced investments in Gojek's fintech arm just last week, and it also counts Google <GOOGL.O> and Tencent <0700.HK> among its backers.

Each has avoided major layoffs so far, though Grab is implementing voluntary unpaid leave for staff and Gojek is reviewing its services. In the United States, Uber, whose Southeast Asia business was bought by Grab, said it would cut 23% of its workforce.

"Transport has fallen off a cliff, food has held steady, while logistics went through the roof and online payments are high... so having a portfolio of products helps," said Gojek Chief Operating Officer Hans Patuwo. "If we were only a transport company, I'd be quite bowled over."

Executives and investors at both firms point to the resurgence of orders at Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing as cause for optimism.

"The rate of recovery will be mostly dependent on when government lockdowns end," said Grab Operations Managing Director Russell Cohen, noting Grab's transport business had previously been profitable in several markets.

The crisis has revived speculation among investors about a merger of the two firms, which sources say has been discussed in early 2020, but not led to serious talks.

Gojek said any reports of a merger are inaccurate. A Grab spokesman declined to comment.

FOOD DELIVERY

Grab and Gojek have long touted the fast-growing food delivery industry as a big opportunity. But with platforms taking only a 20%-30% commission that is shared with drivers, margins are slim. And growth did not materialise in every market during the lockdowns.

A restaurant chain CEO in Jakarta said food delivery had not picked up in Southeast Asia's largest economy due to people cooking more at home and as most orders traditionally consisted of lunches for office workers, who are now at home.

Aji described food delivery in Indonesia for Gojek as a "fight", with "sometimes 50 drivers for one order", with Grab Vietnam drivers recounting similar experiences.

Even in Thailand, where orders jumped for both Grab and Gojek, profitability remains distant.

According to an April interview with local media by then Grab Thailand chief Tarin Thaniyavarn, food delivery was fast-growing but loss-making during the pandemic, with costs mounting and competition steep.

Tarin said Grab Thailand lost more than $22 million in 2018, while rapid growth led to losses nearly doubling in 2019.

"Imagine last years loss-making business growing rapidly in a short period of time, while the business that used to make profits for us is nearly gone," he said.

(Reporting by Fanny Potkin in Singapore and Gayatri Suroyo in Jakarta; Additional reporting by Tabita Diela, Maikel Jefriando and Angie Teo in Jakarta; Patpicha Tanakasempipat in Bangkok; Phuong Nguyen and Khahn Vu in Hanoi, Sam Nussey in Tokyo; Writing by Fanny Potkin; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Bidens campaign published an open letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday calling on the company to fact-check politicians ads in the two weeks ahead of the US presidential election in November.

The letter also demanded that Facebook promptly remove false, viral information and that there be clear rules applied to everyone, including Donald Trump  that prohibit threatening behaviour and lies about how to participate in the election.

In a blog post, Facebook said no.

We live in a democracy, where the elected officials decide the rules around campaigns, the company said.

The Biden campaigns move adds to pressure on Facebook, which exempts politicians content from its third-party fact-checking programme, to alter its rules on political ads and speech.

Zuckerberg last week promised a review of Facebooks content policies after the company faced backlash over taking no action on a post by Republican President Trump that was labelled by Twitter as in violation of that companys rules on glorifying violence.

Twitter also for the first time last month used a fact-checking label on a tweet by Trump about mail-in ballots, causing him to accuse the company of censorship.

The American people can think for themselves. They dont want big tech companies telling them how to think, said Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for Trump campaign, in response to the Biden letter.





In its blog post, Facebook said: Two weeks ago the President of the United States issued an executive order directing Federal agencies to prevent social media sites from engaging in activities like fact-checking political statements.

This week, the Democratic candidate for President started a petition calling on us to do the exact opposite, it said, referring to an executive order that aimed to scrap or weaken a law that shields internet companies from liability for users content.

Biden, who previously clashed with Facebook when it refused to take down a Trump advertisement he said contained false claims about his son Hunters dealings with Ukraine, has also called for the law, known as Section 230, to be revoked.

On Thursday, the Biden campaign emailed supporters asking them to sign a petition for Facebook to crack down on misinformation in ads. It also used the hashtag #MOVEFASTFIXIT, a play on Facebooks early move fast and break things motto.
Two corrections officers at the Bradley County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19 and have been placed on medical leave until cleared by the Bradley County Health Department. The Bradley County Health Department confirmed positive test results on June 10 and 11, and has worked very closely with the BCSO since the diagnosis.



We will continue following the proper guidelines that have been provided to us by the CDC and Bradley County Health Department, says Captain Jerry Johnson, newly appointed jail administrator. We are very serious about keeping our inmates and employees healthy, and that is exactly what we intend to do.



We have worked hard to prevent this from happening, and will continue to do everything in our power to prevent any further spread, says Sheriff Steve Lawson. I will be directing all of our corrections staff to be tested at the Health Department, upon their own discretion.



Sheriff Lawson goes on to say, I am working very closely with the Bradley County Health Department, Tennessee Corrections Institute and federal marshals to have all of our inmates tested. Should any of our inmates test positive for COVID-19, they will be immediately quarantined and treated by our medical staff.



"The BCSO has followed proper prevention procedures provided by the CDC and Bradley County Health Department since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, paying special attention to the jailing facilities," officials said. "These guidelines have included the mandatory use of PPE to be worn by all employees in the jail, regular area cleanings and employee health screenings; they will be followed until no longer deemed necessary by the proper healthcare authorities.

"The BCSO will continue working closely with the Bradley County Health Department, Tennessee Corrections Institute and federal marshals until this incident is fully resolved."
Goobjoog Media journalist, Abdiaziz Gurbiye released from jail on bail on 18 April, 2020 but can not write about Covid-19. | Photo: Courtesy/SJS.

11.06.2020 LISTEN

MOGADISHU, Somalia 10 June, 2020  Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and the Somali Media Association (SOMA) call for Somali Attorney General and Somali Presidents Office to drop their charges against Goobjoog Media Groups deputy director, Abdiaziz Ahmed Gurbiye after nearly two months since he was released on bail on 18 April, 2020 as we welcome the freedom of SAAB TV journalist in Hargeisa on Tuesday 09 June, 2020.

Gurbiye was arrested on 14 April 2020 a day after he wrote on his Facebook that Somali president had taken away a donated ventilator from a local hospital amid Covid-19 pandemic. He was charged with article 220 of the Somali Penal Code which states offending the honour or prestige of the head of the state. Following his release, Mr. Gurbiye has been banned from writing about Covid-19 and any thing critical on the government making him impossible to practice his profession under the bail.

It is now almost two months and journalist Abdiaziz Gurbiye is not able to exercise his journalism, Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said We call for the Office of Somali President and the Office of the Attorney General to drop their charges against Mr. Gurbiye and allow him to resume his journalism work without fear of persecution.

In the aftermath of journalist Gurbiyes arrest and following series of attacks and threats against journalists for covering Covid-19, independent journalists and media houses in Somalia are unwilling to cover Covid-19 or have resorted to self-censorship for fear of arrest or persecution.

On May 3, Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo stated that journalists should not be used in the future with the outdated Somali penal code. With that being officially said by the president, Goobjoog journalist Gurbiye remains to be a victim of such outdated law and is charged with the Penal Code on behalf of the Somali president, Mohamed Abduwahab Abdullahi, the Secretary General of Somali Media Association (SOMA) said.

SOMA and SJS jointly call for the Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo to instruct the Attorney General to withdraw the charges against Gurbiye in the respect to the presidents statement issued on May 3.

Separately, SOMA and SJS welcomed the release of the privately owned independent SAAB TV journalist Ali Fahad Jama, who was detained after reporting a road accident involving a police vehicle in Hargeisa on Monday 08 June. According to Ali Fahad who spoke to SJS today he was released on the morning of Tuesday 09 June after spending one night in the police detention. He was not charged.

Meanwhile Radio Hiigsi editor, Mohamed Abduwahaab Nuur (Abuuja) had on Sunday 07 June appeared before the military tribunal and was transferred to Mogadishu central prison after the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) held him incommunicado for three months. The journalist is yet to be charged but SOMA and SJS have hired two lawyers to defend him before the court of the law once his case is brought to the court.
An Indigenous activist has been fighting for three years to have the Aboriginal flag flown on Sydney's Harbour Bridge 365 days a year - instead of its current 19 day stint.

Cheree Toka, 29, has now taken it upon herself to raise the $300,000 needed to raise the flag after suffering constant setbacks by the NSW Government.

She had nearly won her battle when she handed a 140,000 signature strong petition to Parliament last year only to be told the construction of a third flag was 'too costly'.

The Harbour Bridge currently flies the Australian flag and the NSW state flag, with the Aboriginal flag making rare appearances on days such as Australia day and National Sorry Day on May 26.

Indigenous activist Cheree Toka, 29, has been fighting for three years to have the Aboriginal flag flown permanently on Sydney's Harbour Bridge

Currently the Aboriginal flag flies alongside the Australian flag just 19 days of the year

Within the last week, Ms Toka has launched a new petition and fundraiser to change the government's mind.

'I was stunned by the final hurdle in respectfully recognising the land the bridge is built on came down to cost,' Ms Toka said.

Poll Should the Aboriginal flag be up all year round? Yes No Should the Aboriginal flag be up all year round? Yes 10 votes

No 34 votes Now share your opinion





'The solution, I will pay for it myself.

'It will send a clear and powerful message to NSW leaders that Australians won't settle for anything less.'

Ms Toka said most people were 'stunned' to learn the flag wasn't not always flown on Sydney's most iconic landmark.

'To see it fly permanently alongside the Australian and New South Wales flags will recognise and celebrate our indigenous heritage each and every day,' she said.

Her GoFundMe page to cover the cost of the flag has raised more than $18,000 in a week.

Ms Toka's issue was debated in parliament last year but was knocked back due to the construction of a third flag being 'too costly'

The 29-year-old admitted she thought the battle would be 'easy' but is still fighting three years later

She has also started a Change.org petition which has so far gained more than 162,000 signatures.

During the time her issue was debated in parliament, she was ultimately knocked down by Transport Minister Andrew Constance.

'I'm sick of telling them how I feel. I've made every argument there is to make. Let's just get it moving,' Ms Toka previously told SBS News.

The 29-year-old initially thought her mission would be 'easy' and that the government were 'bound to say yes' to a young Aboriginal woman representing her culture.

'They want me to give up so I shut up. That's not going to happen,' she said.

'What can we do to ensure these tragedies, these families who've lost everything are never forgotten? Honour them.'

Within the last week, Ms Toka has launched a GoFundMe to help raise the $300,000 funds needed to construct the flag

The NSW government has previously said they have no plans to raise a third flag on the bridge.

NSW Transport have said that a third flag would not fit as it could obstruct views to an aircraft navigational beacon tower that sits between the two current flags.

But one ally has emerged, with Liberal candidate for the Lord Mayor of Sydney Christine Forster, saying she will support the cause.

Ms Forster said he hoped the flag would be flown 'sooner than later'.

The Aboriginal flag is flown in place of the NSW state flag during National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee week, Reconciliation Week, Australia Day and National Sorry Day - a total of 19 days.
The grandparents of Lori Vallow's son Joshua 'JJ' Vallow were overcome with grief as they visited the site where investigators found him and his sister Tylee Ryan buried in the backyard of the home owned by the 'cult' mom's husband.

Larry and Kay Woodcock have spent the better part of the past year desperately hoping that the children would be found safe after they disappeared last September.

But on Wednesday they received the news they've been dreading, when authorities confirmed that two sets of human remains recovered on Lori's husband Chad Daybell's property in Salem, Idaho, had been identified as JJ, who would have turned eight last month, and Tylee, 17.

The grandparents arrived in Idaho from Louisiana within hours. As the sun set on one of the worst days of their lives, they looked upon the grave where the children were buried.

'That's the scene where JJ was,' Larry told Fox13 at the scene, getting choked up as he spoke.

He paused and looked away at the ground for a moment as his eyes filled with tears, then turned to look back at the field.

'My little man,' he said.

Meanwhile, the police department is refusing to answer questions on why it took so long to find the children's remains.

Scroll down for video

Larry Woodcock broke down in tears when he visited the site where his grandson, Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, and the boy's sister, Tylee Ryan, were buried in their stepfather Chad Daybell's yard

My little man. Larry and Kay Woodcock visit the spot where police found the remains of their grandson, JJ Vallow. Larry talked about wanting to mend fences. Larry is an incredible soul with such a loving heart. I just cant imagine their pain over losing JJ. #JJVallow pic.twitter.com/oH7e7HyjoE  Lauren Steinbrecher (@LaurenSnews) June 11, 2020

Larry and Kay Woodcock have spent the better part of the past year desperately hoping that their grandson would be found safe. But on Wednesday they received the news they've been dreading, when authorities confirmed that two sets of human remains recovered on Lori's husband Chad Daybell's property had been identified as JJ and Tylee

Members of the tight-knit community in Fremont County who'd also spent months clinging to hope that the children would be found alive decorated the fence outside Chad's property with flowers and signs and T-shirts that read: 'Bring JJ and Tylee home.'

Larry and Kay had repeated that slogan many, many times over the course of the seven-month investigation.

They were the ones credited with launching the search by requesting a welfare check at Lori's home in neighboring Rexburg in late November after they hadn't seen or heard from JJ in months.

During that welfare check on November 26, authorities say Lori lied and told police JJ was with relatives in Arizona.

Officers returned the following day with a search warrant and found that Lori and her new husband Chad - whom she'd married two weeks earlier - had fled.

At the same time they discovered JJ's older sister Tylee also hadn't been seen since September.

Authorities confirmed that two sets of human remains were found on the property of Lori Vallow's husband Chad Daybell

Chad Daybell, 51, is facing two felony charges in the disappearance of his wife Lori's children. Lori is currently behind bars on charges of neglect and desertion

JJ and Tylee are seen in the first photos released by investigators back in December, three months after they vanished

Members of the tight-knit community in Fremont County who'd also spent months clinging to hope that the children would be found alive decorated the fence outside Chad's property with flowers and signs and T-shirts that read: 'Bring JJ and Tylee home'

Timeline of JJ and Tylee's disappearance July 11, 2019: Lori Vallow's husband, Charles Vallow, is killed by her brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona. Police initially rule that Alex acted in self defense but reopen the case months later after the children are reported missing. August: Lori moves children JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho, where her future husband Chad Daybell lives with his wife Tammy. September 8: The last time Tylee is seen during a trip to Yellowstone National Park with Lori, JJ and Alex. In the following weeks she tells people who ask where Tylee is that she's studying at Brigham Young University's Idaho campus. September 23: The last time JJ is seen at his school in Rexburg. Lori emailed the school the following day and claims she is moving the family to California for a new job. October 2: Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Lori's niece Melanie Pawlowski, is targeted in a drive-by shooting in Arizona. Police identify the vehicle carrying the shooter as a Jeep registered to Charles Vallow, Lori's late husband. October 19: Chad's wife Tammy, 49, dies at their Idaho home. An obituary states that she passed away peacefully in her sleep. Chad declines an autopsy and her death is listed as natural causes. October 25: A friend of Tylee receives a vague 'miss you' text from her phone but says that it didn't sound like the teen. November 5: Lori and Chad tie the knot on a beach in Kauai. Receipts indicate that Lori purchased her own wedding ring from Amazon nearly three weeks prior to Tammy's death. November 26: Out-of-state relatives ask Idaho police to perform a welfare check on JJ. Lori and Chad claim he is in Arizona with relatives. Police soon learn that no one has seen JJ, or his older sister Tylee, since September. November 27: Police execute a search warrant related to the children at Lori's home and discover that she and Chad have fled Idaho. December 11: Tammy's body is exhumed from a Utah cemetery and her death is reclassified as suspicious. December 12: Lori's brother, Alex Cox, is found unresponsive in Arizona and dies. Months later an autopsy determines he died of natural causes while he had Narcan in his system. December 21: Rexburg police issue the first press release about JJ and Tylee, revealing they believe their disappearance could be linked to Tammy's death. December 24: Lori and Chad issue a statement through an attorney saying they love their son and daughter and look forward to addressing 'allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor'. December 30: Police accuse Lori and Chad of lying to investigators and say they believe the couple know where the kids are or what happened to them. January 3, 2020: Police search Chad's home in Salem and remove 43 items, including tech devices and journals. They also comb over sections of the snow-covered yard with rakes and metal detectors. January 26: Lori and Chad are seen for the first time in months as police serve them with a court order to produce the children to authorities in Idaho in five days. January 30: Lori misses the court deadline to produce the children to Idaho authorities. February 20: Lori is arrested in Kauai and charged with two felony counts for desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, and one misdemeanor count each for resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime, and contempt of court. March 5: Lori is extradited to Idaho, where she is held on $1million bond at Madison County Jail. April 9: Authorities reveal they are investigating Lori and Chad for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in connection with Tammy's death. June 9: Police search Chad's home in Salem for the second time and discover human remains in the backyard. Chad is taken into police custody and charged with destruction or concealment of evidence. Advertisement

Lori and Chad were named persons of interest in the children's disappearance after investigators said they believed the mother knew where her children were or what happened to them.

The case captured nationwide attention with the revelations that police are also investigating three mysterious deaths linked to the couple, as well as family members' claims that the couple are members of a dangerous doomsday cult.

Frustrated with the pace of the investigation, the Woodcocks put up a $20,000 reward for information on the children's whereabouts in early January.

Police tracked Lori and Chad down in Hawaii on January 25, and Lori was jailed on charges for child abandonment and obstruction of justice the following month.

Chad was arrested on Tuesday after investigators dug up the children's bodies in his yard.

He is now being held on $1million bail at Fremont County Jail on two felony counts for destruction or concealment of evidence.

Speaking at the grave site on Wednesday, Larry said he wasn't thinking right now about who is behind the children's deaths, and that he would let the justice system take care of the person responsible.

Several of Chad's family members were seen moving furniture out of his home on Wednesday night when the Woodcocks visited.

Larry said he wants to mend fences with Chad's five adult children and potentially get to know them.

'I'm not coming in hostility in any way,' he said. 'I come with trying to be the peacemaker, and that's all I want. I just want to be a peacemaker. Let's all get along here.'

The children experienced similar grief last fall when their mother Tammy Daybell, Chad's first wife of nearly 30 years, died at the Salem home on October.

The 49-year-old's death was initially ruled as natural after Chad declined an autopsy, but was reclassified as suspicious when the case was reopened after JJ and Tylee were reported missing.

The results of Tammy's autopsy have not yet been released.

Chad tied the knot with Lori on a beach in Kauai less than three weeks after Tammy died.

Receipts showed that Lori had purchased her own wedding ring from Amazon weeks before Tammy's death.

Chad's parents, Jack and Shelia Daybell, and his brother, Paul Daybell, issued a statement about the grim development in the case on Wednesday night.

'It is with heavy hearts and extreme sadness, that we wish to express our love and condolences to the families of JJ and Tylee,' it read.

'We especially want to convey our sorrow to Larry and Kay Woodcock and Colby Ryan [Tylee's brother] for the pain and suffering they have endured for many months and especially at this time.

'We have hoped and prayed over the many months for the safety and well-being of JJ and Tylee and we are devastated by their passing.

'We also continue to mourn for Tammy, who has been a daughter and sister to us and part of our family for nearly 30 years. She was the sweetest and kindest person and a wonderful mother to her children.

'The lives of her children have been devastated since she passed away and through the events of the past months and recent days.

'We empathize and know that for every family and loved one involved, healing may take a lifetime.'

Chad made his first court appearance on Wednesday morning, where his bail was set at $1million.

During the arraignment prosecutor Rob Wood described how one of the two children's remains were disposed of in an 'egregious' way.

What led authorities to find the bodies seven months after the children were first reported missing, and six months after they first searched Chad's property, remains unclear.

Video showed investigators using a backhoe to dig up dirt near a barn in the yard.

It appeared that they knew exactly where in the yard to locate the remains, thanks to help from cadaver dogs.

It's also unclear whether Lori will face additional charges in light of the body discovery.

Several of Chad's family members were seen moving furniture out of his home on Wednesday night when the Woodcocks visited

Chad's wife Tammy Daybell (pictured together left) was found dead under suspicious circumstances at their home in Idaho in October. Chad married Lori less than two months after her children vanished. The couple are seen right during their wedding on the beach in Kauai

Chad Daybell and his attorney John Prior are seen during a video court appearance on Wednesday

What took them so long? Police searched Chad's home back in JANUARY but found nothing

The house where Lori's missing children's remains were found this week was searched by police in January but cops found nothing, which adds to the questions over why it has taken so long for the kids to be found and their mother and stepfather charged.

One Foot In The Grave: Chad Daybell penned book about how 'rewarding' it was working as a grave digger but that it's 'sad to bury babies' Years before he was linked to the disappearance of Lori Vallow's missing children, Chad Daybell worked as a 'cemetery sexton' - or grave digger - while studying at Brigham Young University in Utah in the mid-1990s. Chad described the job in an interview with the Deseret News in 2001. 'Taking care of the graves is rewarding, as well as helping widows and grieving family members deal with the trauma,' he said. 'Sad times are always when you have to bury babies. That's always a poignant moment.' Chad published an entire nonfiction book about his experiences that same year, entitled: One Foot in the Grave: Secrets of a Cemetery Sexton. He left that job soon after the book was finished and went on to publish more than 25 other titles, many of them about near-death experiences and the end of the world. Chad briefly reprised his sexton role years later in 2008 by working part time at a cemetery in Springville. Advertisement

JJ and Tylee were last seen alive in Idaho in September but they weren't reported missing until November and their mother fled to Hawaii the first time she was questioned by police.

She married Chad Daybell, a former grave digger and doomsday fanatic, and the pair evaded police, refusing to answer questions on where the children were, for months. Lori was finally arrested in December on charges of neglect.

The case stalled again then until this week, when the Rexburg Police Department in Idaho suddenly carried out a search warrant on Daybell's property in Salem that allowed them to bring cadaver dogs for the first time.

The police department is refusing to answer questions on why it took so long to arrest Lori and find the children's remains.

The search warrant has been sealed, which shrouds the case in further mystery.

In January, police seized several items from Chad's home after executing a search warrant but it was believed to have been in connection with his ex-wife's death and not the children's disappearance.

Legal experts say they must have some form of new evidence which led them to believe the children's bodies were buried there, and that the force did not want to put a foot wrong in the complex investigation because it could jeopardize a future trial.

'I don't have any idea why it took that amount of time. There are so many legal issues that have to be dealt with prior,' Jennifer Shen, former cop and crime lab manager, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.

'I don't know when it was the police would have gotten the information from that there were bodies on that property but they can't do any of that without probable cause.

'It's called fruit of the poisonous tree. If you wind up finding evidence but not legally, that evidence can be thrown out, all the evidence could be no longer useful they have to do it the right way. It could have catastrophic consequences.'

Shen added that the case was 'tragic' but 'really complicated'.

'[It is] one of the most bizarre cases from start to finish.

'This case has got dead bodies everywhere - you have to do things the right way,' she said.

Frank Montoya Jr, who retired from the FBI in 2016 after serving since 1991, previously explained to DailyMail.com that the authorities in Idaho had been forced to hold off until there was any evidence of a crime which was more difficult to produce than before.

He gave an interview in February - before the kids bodies were found - and said it 'wasn't enough' at the time that Lori simply was not cooperating with the authorities.

'When the parent herself is not cooperating.. it isn't enough to arrest them.

'What's the charge? If it's just child endangerment and she refuses to talk, how do you prove the children have been harmed or more tragically if they're dead? You can't.

'A judge and jury have no choice but to say there's no evidence to hold her in cases like this you'll hugely dependent,' he said.

Chad's home in Salem is seen in January, when police executed an earlier search warrant
President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized sanctions against any official at the International Criminal Court who investigates US troops, ramping up pressure to stop its case into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. In an executive order, Trump said the United States would block US property and assets of anyone from The Hague-based tribunal involved in probing or prosecuting US troops. "We cannot -- we will not -- stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement to reporters. "I have a message to many close allies around the world -- your people could be next, especially those from NATO countries who fought terrorism in Afghanistan right alongside of us." The court responded by stating that its president O-Gon Kwon "rejects measures taken against ICC," calling them "unprecedented" and saying they "undermine our common endeavor to fight impunity and to ensure accountability for mass atrocities." US Attorney General Bill Barr alleged, without giving detail, that Russia and other adversaries of the United States have been "manipulating" the court. Using Trump's "America First" language, Barr said the administration was trying to bring accountability to a global body. "This institution has become, in practice, little more than a political tool employed by unaccountable international elites," he said. - 'Contempt' for rule of law - European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell voiced "serious concern" and said the court "must be respected and supported by all nations." Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said he was "very disturbed" by the US move, and said The Netherlands supported the court on its soil. "The ICC is crucial in the fight against impunity and upholding international rule of law," Blok wrote on Twitter. Human Rights Watch said Trump's order "demonstrates contempt for the global rule of law." "This assault on the ICC is an effort to block victims of serious crimes whether in Afghanistan, Israel or Palestine from seeing justice," said the group's Washington director, Andrea Prasow. But the move was hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of Trump's closest allies, who has been angered by the ICC's moves -- strongly opposed by Washington -- to probe alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories. In a reference to Israeli settlements, Netanyahu accused the court of fabricating accusations that Jews living in their historical homeland constitutes a war crime. "This is ridiculous. Shame on them," Netanyahu told reporters. Trump has been tearing down global institutions he sees as hindering his administration's interests, recently ordering a pullout from the World Health Organization over its coronavirus response. - Long-running US anger - The Trump administration has been livid over the International Criminal Court's investigation into atrocities in Afghanistan, America's longest-running war. The administration last year revoked the US visa of the court's chief prosecutor, Gambian-born Fatou Bensouda, to demand that she end the Afghanistan probe. But judges in March said the investigation could go ahead, overturning an initial rejection of Bensouda's request. Under Trump's order on Thursday, visa restrictions will be expanded to any court official involved in investigations into US forces. The United States argues that it has its own procedures in place to investigate accusations against troops. "We are committed to uncovering, and if possible holding people accountable, for their wrongdoing -- any wrongdoing," Barr said. Trump, however, used his executive powers last year to clear three military members over war crimes, including in Afghanistan. Among them was Eddie Gallagher, who had been convicted by a military tribunal of stabbing to death with a hunting knife a prisoner of war from the Islamic State group in Iraq. Gallagher had become a cause celebre among US conservatives, although Trump's action troubled some in the US military. Founded in 2002, the International Criminal Court immediately ran into opposition from Washington, where the then administration of George W. Bush encouraged countries to shun it. Former president Barack Obama took a more cooperative approach with the court, but the United States remained outside of it. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses reporters on the International Criminal Court alongside Attorney General William Barr Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo arrives at the courtroom prior to the opening of a hearing of the International Criminal Court in February 2020 A wounded Afghan National Army soldier rests inside a hospital after an attack a base in Paktia province in May 2020
The New York Philharmonic canceled its fall season because of the coronavirus pandemic and has moved up the start of Geffen Hall's reconstruction to take advantage of the orchestra's absence.

Philharmonic President Deborah Borda said Wednesday that she hopes to resume performances on Jan. 6.

While the Vienna Philharmonic resumed performances in Austria last weekend with just 100 people in the audience, U.S. orchestras can't afford to perform without ticket revenue.

"People say, well, the European orchestras are doing this, how come the American orchestras aren't? European orchestras are basically funded by their governments," she said. "They can actually give concerts with 100 people in the hall and it's covered. That is certainly not the case for American arts institutions."

Changes already are being contemplated.

"How can we keep our audience safe? How do we get them into the hall and out of the hall safely? How do we test the ushers?" Borda said. "We would probably be doing things like concerts without any intermission. We won't give out programs. They'll be available online. We'll ask people to wear masks."

A $550 million renovation is planned for Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center that will reduce capacity by more than 500 seats, eliminate two-thirds of the third tier, cut the orchestra from 43 rows to 33 and increase the auditorium floor rake. The hall originally had been slated to close for construction from May to October in 2022, then again from May 2023 until February 2024.

 Associated Press

Rowling's comments rile LGBTQ community

"Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling said she refuses to "bow down" to criticism about her recent comments on transgender people.

Rowling published a lengthy post on her blog website Wednesday in response to the backlash and her concerns over "new trans activism." She has been under hefty scrutiny about her thoughts on transgender identity from the LGBTQ community, Eddie Redmayne and Daniel Radcliffe, who starred in the "Harry Potter" film franchise.

"I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode 'woman' as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it," she said.

Rowling drew outrage Saturday on Twitter when she criticized an opinion piece published by the website Devex, a media platform for the global development community, that used the phrase "people who menstruate." Rowling implied it should have said "women."

The famed author continued with another thread speaking about the concept of biological sex. She said she felt compelled to tweet her thoughts about her experience with domestic abuse and sexual assault.

"I stand alongside the brave women and men, gay, straight and trans, who're standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the rights and safety of some of the most vulnerable in our society: young gay kids, fragile teenagers, and women who're reliant on and wish to retain their single sex spaces," she said in her post Wednesday.

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Rowling's tweets caused a firestorm of responses from the LGBTQ community and others who were upset with her words.

Redmayne, who starred in two Fantastic Beast" films of the "Harry Potter" prequel films, disagreed with Rowling's comments on Twitter. The Oscar-winning actor said that his transgender friends and colleagues are tired of the "constant questioning of their identities."

On Monday, Radcliffe published a lengthy essay about Rowling's tweets on a website for a nonprofit organization dedicated to crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ people. He said "transgender women are women."

 Associated Press

Top officials at Poetry Foundation resign

Two top officials at one of the country's leading poetry organizations have stepped down amid criticism over its response to the protests against police violence and racism.

The Poetry Foundation announced Wednesday that its president, Henry Bienen, and board chairman, Willard Bunn III, had resigned, effectively immediately. The foundation did not announce any plans for succession or refer specifically to recent events.

Last weekend, more than 1,000 poets and foundation supporters issued an open letter calling for Bienen and Bunn to leave and be replaced by someone with "a demonstrated commitment to both the world of poetry and the project of creating a world that is just and affirming for people of color, disabled people, trans people, queer people, and immigrants."

- Associated Press
By PTI

RANCHI: BJP leader Babulal Marandi on Thursday urged Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to distribute smartphones among students of government schools so that it helps them in online learning during coronavirus crisis.

In a letter to the chief minister, Marandi said that poor students should not lag behind in academics amid the coronavirus pandemic due to lack of digital technology.

In the changing times, providing resources for studies is the need of the hour, the BJPs Legislative Party leader said in his letter.

"Students of private schools are in tune with the times, and it should not be that students of government schools lag behind in studies due to lack of resources (gadgets)," Marandi said.

Noting that online studies cannot be an alternative to offline studies, Marandi said, reopening of schools is not likely till August.
The location of COVID-19 cases in Hamilton is being made public for the first time since the virus landed in this area three months ago.

The soon-to-be released data shows no region of Hamilton has gone untouched by the virus, although some individual census tracts have had zero cases.

The interactive map going online Friday at 3 p.m. was created by public health and shows the total number of cases, as well as the rate per 100,000 population for each of Hamiltons 142 census tracts. Hamiltons medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, will speak about it at a briefing at 3:30 p.m. on Friday that can be viewed on the citys YouTube channel or on Cable 14.

Since the first case landed in this area March 11  an oncologist who lived in Burlington and worked in Hamilton at Juravinski Cancer Centre  public health hasnt provided details of how the virus has spread throughout the city.

The map being released this week is not dated, but its totals nearly match the 747 confirmed and probable cases in the city as of Wednesday.

It shows nearly half of Hamiltons cases have been in the lower city which has had 342 people infected. It also has the largest population at roughly 173,400.

Just over one-quarter of cases have been on Hamilton Mountain, with 199 cases for a population of nearly 157,000.

More than one in 10 cases have been in Stoney Creek, which has had 93 infected among its population of almost 69,500.

Nearly five per cent of cases have been in Ancaster, which has had 35 cases among its population of nearly 40,600.

Another close to five per cent have been in Flamborough, with 34 cases for its population of nearly 42,700.

Glanbrook has had 23 cases among a population of nearly 29,900.

The lowest number of cases has been in Dundas, which had 20 people infected among its population of nearly 24,300.

The numbers can be skewed by outbreaks in certain areas. Rosslyn Retirement Residence on King Street East had 64 people who lived there test positive. Cardinal Retirement Home on Herkimer Street had 47 residents infected.

The rate per capita also tells a slightly different story.

The lower city is still the highest with roughly 197.3 confirmed and probable cases per 100,000 population.

But Stoney Creek is second with a rate of 133.9, followed by Hamilton Mountain at 127.

Ancasters rate is 86.3, while Dundas is 82.3 and Flamborough is 79.7.

The lowest rate is in Glanbrook at 77.

Richardson said June 5 that the map doesnt reveal any particular hot spots in the city.

We havent seen anything geographically in terms of hot spots, she said. We dont see a tight correlation either in terms of seeing the number of positives in areas of the city that have lower income like Toronto saw when they did their maps.

Instead, Hamilton has seen a spike in the last 10 days among those aged 20 to 29. Young adults have made up 43 per cent of recent cases which is a trend also being seen in other parts of the province.

Spread is still happening in Hamilton with 40 per cent of cases in the last 10 days acquired in the community.
India is not in the community transmission stage, said Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava at a press conference on Thursday.

"India is not in community transmission. It is only a term which is used... there is a debate around this term but WHO has not also defined this term," Bhargava said in the online press briefing.

The ICMR's statement comes amid India recording its biggest single-day jump in new coronavirus cases with 9,996 fresh infections and 357 patients dying, taking the total tally to nearly 2.86 lakh cases. This is the ninth consecutive day that the country -- fifth worst-hit by the pandemic -- reported over 9,000 Covid-19 cases.

He also talked about the increase in Indias testing capabilities. From one lab in January, we now have over 850 laboratories conducting tests. We have gone about it in a calibrated manner. We are now testing 1.51 lakh tests per day and have a capacity to conduct up to 2 lakh tests per day, Bhargava said, adding that till a couple days ago, over 50 lakh tests to detect Covid-19 had been conducted.

Bhargava also briefly discussed the findings of the first Sero survey done by the research department.

News18 had earlier reported on the findings of the survey one of which said that nearly 30% of the population in several containment areas may have acquired the disease and recovered.

The survey also found that the risk of people getting infected from COVID-19 were higher in urban areas (1.09%), higher in urban slums (1.89%) than it was in rural areas. NITI Aayog member VK Paul called it the largest epidemiological survey in the world.

The ICMR chief said the survey, which has reported on the situation as it was by the end of April or five weeks after the lockdown was implemented, found that less than 1% of the population was affected by the virus and the fatality rate from the infection was quite low at 0.08%.

The data, Bhargava said, also showed that large sections of the population were still vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.

So we need to protect the high-risk groups, maintain social distancing. A large percentage of the population is still susceptible. States cannot lower guard, need to maintain surveillance and containment, he added.

Paul said the two big findings of the report were that  the country has been successful in containing the virus and vigilance against the Covid-19 virus had to be maintained for months to come.

Responding to questions on hospitals turning away patients, Health Ministrys Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said most of such complaints had been received from Mumbai and Delhi.

He also said the ministry had urged people to call state helplines to get advice on how to get tested and admitted. There have been some gaps but we are trying to get, with the help of states, more streamlined in our processes, Agarwal added.
ALBANY  While the region looks to continue to open up business, one of the pandemic's youngest victims here died overnight in Schenectady County.

Schenectady officials announced that a woman in her 30s died after contracting COVID-19, bringing that county's death toll to 36.

In May, 29-year-old Dennis Bradt, an Albany County resident, lost his battle with the virus  that county's youngest victim. Before he got sick, Bradt was healthy and worked as an addiction technician at Conifer Park, a private, inpatient chemical dependency treatment facility in Glenville.

COVID-19 also killed another person in Albany County Wednesday night  a woman in her 80s, bringing Albany County's death toll to 117.

While there were two deaths overnight, new positive coronavirus cases remained low, with less than 10 new cases reported in the immediate four-county region.

Schenectady County provided no identifying details Thursday about the woman who died.

Meanwhile, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said the state has given the go-ahead for garage sales to start back up.

Attendance at any sales should be limited to 10 people at a time, and people should wear masks and continue to try and be socially distant as part of pandemic precautions.

McCoy said he learned the information on the nightly regional control room call he has with state officials and other leaders from Capital Region counties. Garage sales are also allowed across the state in other regions. The Broome County Executive Jason Garnar told media outlets that he learned the same thing Wednesday.

Representatives from the State Liquor Authority were also on the Wednesday night call to update officials on what kind of outdoor dining can be done at restaurants. Businesses that serve food can erect tents adjacent to their restaurants and bars  as long the tents are on their own property or on land that can be leased from a neighbor. The local municipality must also allow such tents, according to the new requirements posted online. A hand-drawing of where tents will go is also required to be submitted to the state SLA.

The tents would serve as alternatives to indoor dining which cannot open up with restrictions in the Capital Region until Wednesday at the earliest. McCoy is trying to convince the Cuomo administration to allow the region to begin phase three this weekend rather than on June 17, as it is currently scheduled.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Even after phase three, restaurants must only allow 50 percent capacity inside, have servers wear masks, and put in place other precautions to try to stop the spread of coronavirus.

"A variety of restaurants have already done it. Its legal. You have five business days to submit your diagram, they just need to have it on record," McCoy said.

The tents have to be open on all sides, and outdoor tables must be spaced out in accordance with social distancing rules. McCoy said he has already seen restaurants in Albany and Colonie putting up tents.

In terms of other possible new coronavirus cases, Albany County is still awaiting lab results from 78 tests that were done last week. The tests that were made available for people who might have been involved in Black Lives Matter protests, which gathered massive crowds around the region.

"The numbers are encouraging. But one thing I can say with certainty is the numbers  despite their improvement  do not indicate that coronavirus is gone," said Albany County Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen. "The best strategies are the continued widespread use of testing."

More for you Colonie man lived a joyful life, but COVID-19 ended it at 29

Albany County still has mobile testing available in the city of Albany, as well as the drive-thru site at the University at Albany, the SEFCU arena at UAlbany for essential workers, and testing available at the Rite Aid on Central Avenue. Go here to learn more about testing that's near you.
Andhra Pradesh government has given the nod for cabinet sub-committee recommendation for a CBI probe into the irregularities that took place during the previous TDP term in AP Fibernet and other schemes. Briefing media after the cabinet meeting here on Thursday, Minister for I & PR Perni Venkatramaiah said that the Cabinet sub-committee, which probed into the irregularities during the TDP term, has submitted its report recommending a CBI inquiry into the blatant irregularities in AP Fibernet (Optic Fibre Grid) project and purchases made for Chandranna Sankranti Kanuka, Ramzan Tofa and Christmas Kanuka schemes.

In the primary investigation, it was found that a large number of irregularities, including nepotism, have taken place in the AP Fibernet Project. The project was allotted to people who are not qualified for carrying out the project and corruption of nearly Rs 700 crore has taken place in the project. It was allotted to Terra Software, a company owned by Vemuri Harikrishna Prasad, who is very close to the TDP leadership.

There were irregularities galore during the TDP term right from allotting the contract to Fibernet project to the software company, owned by the close associate of TDP leadership, who was accused in EVM tampering case. Misappropriation added to corruption and nepotism took place right from acquiring set top boxes to appointment of officials and showing favouritism while implementing contract. The contract was given to Terra Software setting aside the bid of a central government institution, though it was the lowest bidder.

Also Read: India China stand-off: Chinese army build-up from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Army increases troop deployment

Also Read: ICMR denies Covid-19 community transmission in India

Even during the distribution of set top boxes, four companies were called and the government agreed to share the contract, but only the Terra Sofware was given the entire distribution of work in reality.

Similarly, in welfare schemes like Chandranna Sankranti Kanuka, Ramzan Tofa, and Christmas Kanuka, irregularities were found during the procurement of supplies, where nearly Rs 150 Crore of corruption was identified in primary investigation. Purchases, including milk products, were made in an arbitrary manner and on all these irregularities, the cabinet has ordered for CBI enquiry for further investigation, the minister said.

Also Read: Sabarimala Temple wont be open for public for monthly pooja, its festival stands cancelled, says Kerala minister Kadakampally Surendran

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[June 11, 2020] European Deep-tech Champion IQM Receives More Than 20M of New Funding

ESPOO, Finland, June 11, 2020 /CNW/ -- IQM Finland Oy (IQM), a leading European company for quantum computer hardware, was just awarded a 2.5M grant and up to 15M of equity investment from the EIC Accelerator program for the development of quantum computers, benefiting the industry and the society at large. Together with Business Finland grants of 3.3M that IQM received so far, the company is on a fast run with more than 20M more raised in less than a year from its 11.4M seed round, summing in total to 32M. IQM has experienced amazing growth, set up a fully functional research lab in record time, and also hired the largest industrial quantum hardware team in Europe. With the help of this new 20M, IQM will hire one quantum engineer per week and take an important next step to commercialize the technology through co-design of quantum-computing hardware and applications. "Quantum computers will be funded by European governments, supporting IQMs expansion strategy to build quantum computers in Germany," says Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM. Last week, the Finnish government announced they will support the acquisition of a quantum computer with 20.7M for the Finnish State Research center VTT. "It has been a mind-blowing forty-million past week for quantum computers in Finland. IQM staff is excited to work together with VTT, Aalto University, and CSC in this ecosystem," rejoices Prof. Mikko Mottonen, Chief Scientist and co-founder of IQM. This announcement was followed by the German government with 2b and to immediately commission the construction of at least two quantum computers. IQM sees this as an ideal point to expand its operations in Germany. "With our growing team in Munich, IQM will build co-design quantum computers for commercial applications and install testing facilities for quantum processors," states Prof. Enrique Solano, CEO of IQM Germany. Quantum computing will radically transform the lives of billions of people. Applications range from ame-changing invention of medicine and novel materials to the discovery of economic models and sustainable processes.



"We are witnessing a boost in deep-tech funding in Europe, very important now. For a healthy growth of startups like IQM, we need all three funding channels: (1) research grants to stimulate new key innovations, (2) equity investments to grow the company, (3) early adoption through acquisitions supported by the government. This allows to pool the risk while creating a new industry and business cases," says Dr. Goetz. IQM is focusing on superconducting quantum processors, which are streamlined for commercial applications in a novel Co-Design approach.

"With the new funding and immense support from the Finnish and the European governments, we are ready to scale technologically. This brings us closer to quantum advantage thus providing tangible commercial value in near-term quantum computers," adds Dr. Kuan Yen Tan, CTO and co-founder of IQM. IQM ranks in the top 2% of all European deep tech startups applying for the highly competitive EIC Accelerator program Thanks to its strong technology and business plan, IQM was one of the 72 to succeed in the very competitive selection process of the EIC. Altogether 3969 companies applied for this funding. "The 15M equity component of the EIC can be an ideal contribution to IQM's Series A funding round." says a beaming Dr. Juha Vartiainen, COO and co-founder of IQM. The new funding also supports IQMs recent establishment of its new underground quantum computing infrastructure capable of housing the first European farm of quantum computers. IQM provides the full hardware stack for a quantum computer, integrating different technologies, and invites collaborations with quantum software companies. Brilliant quantum software engineers are also welcomed to join IQM. About IQM:

https://www.meetiqm.com/company/#aboutus IQM videos:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvjqSqZiJ715XVH3O3IF93Q About EIC Accelerator (SME instrument) program:

https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/news/eic-accelerator-offers-new-blend-grants-and-equity About Business Finland:

https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/for-finnish-customers/about-us/in-brief/ IQM PR CONTACTS IQM Contacts for questions and comments: Dr Jan Goetz

CEO, IQM

email: [email protected]

tel. +358 505 666?483

(English & German) Prof Mikko Mottonen

Chief Scientist, IQM

email: [email protected]

tel. +358 505 940?950

(English & Finnish) Dr Kuan Yen Tan

Chief technology officer, IQM

email: [email protected]

tel. +358?504?778?091

(English & Chinese) View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/european-deep-tech-champion-iqm-receives-more-than-20m-of-new-funding-301073859.html SOURCE IQM Finland Oy

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Aboriginal sites dating back 15,000 years are set to be destroyed in a multi-billion-dollar mine expansion aiming to create more than 3,000 new jobs.

Traditional owners in Western Australia's Pilbara region are deeply opposed to BHP's South Flank iron ore mine but are powerless to stop the move under state law.

So far Ministerial consent has been given for 40 heritage sites to be destroyed as part of the $4.5billion project.

But the miner has identified a total of 86 rock shelters, stone arrangements and cave art sites that are standing in the way of the proposed development.

The news comes just a week after Rio Tinto was forced to apologise for blasting 46,000-year-old Indigenous rock shelters with explosives in a incident they described as a 'misunderstanding'.

BHP's South Flank mine (pictured) in Western Australia's Pilbara region is one of the world's largest iron ore hubs

Banjima people are pictured at the native title ceremony where the Indigenous group signed an agreement with BHP

The Banjima people - the native title holders - are restricted from lodging legal objections or even raising concerns publicly under section 18 of the Western Australian Aboriginal Heritage Act.

Traditional owners signed a native title settlement with BHP in 2015, giving the resources giant the power to expand their operations.

The Banjima's archaeological advisor said they 'in no way support the continued destruction of this significant cultural landscape,' The Guardian reported.

In a document to the Western Australian government in April, they claim there will be 'impending harm' to the area resulting in 'significant cumulative loss to the cultural values of the Banjima people'.

But a spokesman for BHP told Daily Mail Australia the business 'works in partnership with traditional owners to ensure that each stage of development is informed by their views.'

The spokesman vowed not to disturb the sites without 'further extensive consultation with the Banjima people.

That consultation will be based on our commitment to understanding the cultural significance of the region and on the deep respect we have for the Banjima people and their heritage.'

This research will include further scientific study and discussion on mitigation and preservation, the spokesman said.

'We have a strong relationship with the Banjima community built over more than 20 years of engagement and consultation in the Pilbara. This relationship is of fundamental importance to our organisation.

Banjima traditional owners and brothers, Maitland and Slim Parker are pictured with BHP iron ore president Jimmy Wilson (right) and BHP's Margaret Beck (left) at the native title agreement ceremony in 2015

In a 2019 report, BHP said it has taken into account the views and recommendations of the Banjima representatives but decided it was 'not reasonably practicable for BHP to avoid the 86 potential archaeological sites'.

Instead, the company wants to excavate, salvage and deconstruct archaeological sites where possible and 'digitally capture' stone arrangements.

BHP said in an assessment report they will hire 'a suitably qualified expert to digitally capture the extent and form of each stone arrangement using DPGS drone footage, with a view of creating a three-dimensional computer model and video'.

'Any cultural material salvaged as part of these programs shall be stored in the cultural repository at the BHP Mulla Mulla Heritage Office until a different location is nominated by the Banjima people.'

Western Australian Minister for Aboriginal affairs, Ben Wyatt, gave approval for the expansion to go ahead on May 29, only three days after the shocking Rio Tinto incident in the Pilbara.

Rio Tinto was forced to apologise for destroying the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge in a 'misunderstanding' that saw Indigenous rock shelters blasted with explosives

'I have asked BHP to work with Banjima to do what it can to avoid or minimise the impact on this site, regardless of the section 18 approval,' Mr Wyatt said.

'As with any agreement, some circumstances can change including the understanding of heritage values of particular sites.

'I urge parties to such agreements to cooperate on management of those changed circumstances.'

In a statement, BHP said: 'We value the strong relationship with the Banjima people that has developed over many years, including through 10 years of consultation and scientific research at South Flank.'

'As part of our ongoing engagement, we speak regularly with the Banjima community and have reiterated our commitment to working closely with them through the lifecycle of the South Flank development to minimise impacts on cultural heritage.'

The South Flank project is expected to create about 2,500 jobs during the construction process and 600 ongoing roles when completed.
China Increased Detentions For 'Extremist' Religious Behavior in Xinjiang in 2019: Report

By Joshua Lipes 2020-06-10 -- Authorities in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) ramped up detentions of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities last year to implement "counterterrorism" measures that severely violated religious freedoms, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report released Wednesday.

According to U.S. government estimates, more than 1 million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Hui, and other Muslim groups have been detained in a vast network of internment camps in the XUAR since April 2017, the State Department's 2019 International Religious Freedom Report said, although many nongovernmental organizations believe the number is much higher.

Detainees were subjected to "forced disappearance, political indoctrination, torture, psychological and physical and psychological abuse, including forced sterilization and sexual abuse, forced labor, and prolonged detention without trial because of their religion and ethnicity" at the camps, which RFA's Uyghur Service has reported may number around 1,300 facilities and have held up to 1.8 million people.

The report, which included a separate section on the XUAR this year due to "the scope and severity of reported religious freedom violations specific to the region," said that amidst the detentions, "the whereabouts of hundreds of prominent Uighur intellectuals, doctors, journalists, artists, academics, and other professionals, in addition to many other citizens, who were arrested or detained remained unknown."

"The government intensified use of detentions in furtherance of implementing a Xinjiang counterextremism regulation that identifies 'extremist' behaviors (including growing beards, wearing headscarves, and abstaining from alcohol) and the National Counterterrorism Law, which addresses 'religious extremism,'" the report said.

In particular, authorities punished people for praying or studying the Quran, and donating to mosques; demanded that individuals remove religious symbols from their homes, and barred youths from taking part in religious activities.

They also banned several categories of people from fasting during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan and considered observing the Ramadan fast and participating in the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca to be suspicious behavior. The report noted that satellite imagery indicated that the government destroyed "numerous mosques and other religious sites," and monitored others.

Additionally, authorities maintained what the State Department called "extensive and invasive security and surveillance," in part to document the religious adherence and practices of individuals. Some of the monitoring included behavioral profiling and forcing Uyghurs to accept government officials living in their homes and to install mandatory spyware applications on their phones.

Many of these measures were undertaken in the name of eradicating the "three evils" of "ethnic separatism, religious extremism, and violent terrorism"a longstanding pretext used by the government to justify its restrictions in the region.

In late 2019, several internal government documents were leaked that described the government's mass detention and surveillance programs, including a manual for how to operate internment camps, keep their existence secret, and methods of forced indoctrination. Another document showed that the government initially interned or extended internment of individuals on religious grounds in four camps in one county in Hotan (in Chinese, Hetian) prefecture.

Uyghur Muslims also continued to endure significant societal discrimination in employment and business opportunitiesin addition to suppression of language, culture, and religious practiceswhile authorities promoted the Han Chinese majority in political, economic, and cultural life.

The report comes as the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020which makes possible U.S. sanctions on Chinese government officials responsible for arbitrary incarceration, forced labor and other abuses in the XUARawaits signing by President Donald Trump.

TAR and other parts of China

In the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and other Tibetan areas of China, authorities continued to engage in "widespread interference in religious practices," especially in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, the report said, noting reports of forced disappearance, torture, physical abuse, prolonged detention without trial, and arrests of individuals due to their religious practices.

Government and ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and government-approved monks were appointed to manage religious institutions, while authorities continued to restrict the size of Buddhist monasteries and other institutions, evict monks and nuns from monasteries, and prohibit them from practicing elsewhere. Monasteries were forced to display portraits of CCP leaders and the national flag.

In July, Wang Neng Shang, vice minister of the TAR and director general of the People's Government Information Office, said the selection of the next Dalai Lamathe Tibetan spiritual leaderwas not the current Dalai Lama's decision to make, and instead must be recognized by the central government in Beijing.

In other parts of China, a State Department-designated Country of Political Concern (CPC) since 1999, the government exerted control over religion and restricted activities and personal freedom of religious adherents when it perceived them as threatening state or ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interests, the report said, while only state-sanctioned religious groups were permitted to hold worship services.

The government also continued a campaign of religious "Sinicization" to bring all religious doctrine and practice in line with CCP doctrine, adopting a formal five-year plan on Jan. 7.

The State Department noted reports of deaths in custody and that the government tortured, physically abused, arrested, detained, sentenced to prison, or harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups for activities related to their religious beliefs and practices.

Myanmar

In Myanmar, the State Department noted continued violence, discrimination, and harassment against ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine state in the aftermath of an "ethnic cleansing" campaign against the group in 2017 that resulted in the displacement of more than 700,000 refugees to Bangladesh.

"Rohingya remaining in Burma continued to face an environment of severe repression and restrictions on freedom of movement and access to education, healthcare, and livelihoods based on their ethnicity, religion, and citizenship status," it said, citing the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Those who fled Myanmar during 2019 reported ongoing abuses in Rakhine state, while others spoke of continuing government pressure to participate in a residency verification campaign, which they stated they did not trust.

In November the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved a request from prosecutors to investigate allegations of certain crimes committed against the Rohingya, while in that same month, The Gambia filed a case at the International Court of Justice stating Myanmar's actions against the Rohingya violated the country's obligations as a signatory to the 1948 United Nations genocide convention.

Several U.N. entities spoke out or released reports on the Rohingya crisis in 2019, with a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission concluding in September that "the threat of genocide continues for the remaining Rohingya." The government denied the mission permission to enter the country and publicly disavowed the report.

A second attempt by the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to initiate a return in August was refused by Rohingyas, who said they would be subjected to rights abuses if they returned without a guarantee of citizenship.

Meanwhile, government and military officials continued to use anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim rumors and hate speech circulating on social media in formal meetings, public speeches, and other official settings, it said. Facebook removed hundreds of accounts, pages and groups linked to military leadership for propagating hate speech, including anti-Muslim rhetoric.

In addition to the Rohingyas, non-Buddhist minorities throughout Myanmara Buddhist majority country that has also been on the CPC list since 1999reported restrictions on religious practice, denial of freedom of movement, closed places of worship, an inability to obtain permits for religious buildings and repairs, and discrimination in employment and housing.

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CASEVILLE  Parrotheads, the suspense is almost over: A final decision on the fate of the 2020 Cheeseburger in Caseville festival is expected next week.

Caseville Chamber of Commerce President Steve Louwers said the chamber board will meet sometime during the week of June 15 to discuss its options and make a final decision about this years festival. Louwers stressed a final decision has not been made either way, but safety of festival-goers is a primary concern.
[June 11, 2020] Revitalization Partners Expands Corporate and Board Advisory Practice

Revitalization Partners adds Rod Stevens, a seasoned executive who has successfully turned around complex commercial real estate projects on behalf of high net worth individuals, financial institutions, development firms and municipalities, to the Seattle-based corporate advisory firm. He will serve as Senior Director. During a nearly 40-year career that spans four recessions, Mr. Stevens has specialized in the structuring and restructuring of commercial real estate finance loans. He is well known for his expertise in turnarounds, working with clients to find equitable resolutions to distressed projects. Among his high-profile successes: resolving thorny legal, political, and environmental issues that cleared the way for Microsoft (News - Alert) co-founder Paul Allen's reuse of a polluted waterfront site as the training center for the Seattle Seahawks. Mr. Stevens was instrumental in the re-development of Kenmore Village, a town center project that attracted more than $100 million ofinvestment in new office buildings, apartments, restaurants, and public space. He also managed the turnaround of a 180-acre master planned community west of Portland, and the turnaround of a waterfront condominium complex with twin 20-story buildings.



His resume includes tenure as Vice President of Wyse Investments in Portland. There he negotiated and invested capital on behalf of high net worth individuals and the pension funds of the Stoel Rives law firm, Les Schwab Tires, and other regional firms. Mr. Stevens' educational background includes a BA in history from Stanford University and an MBA from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business.

The economic disruption caused by the global pandemic has placed numerous real estate projects and portfolios in peril, leaving stakeholders scrambling to mitigate risks. Revitalization Partners principals Al Davis and Bill Lawrence said Mr. Stevens' experience in advising corporate boards and senior management will help them safety navigate those challenges to stabilize and position their investments for future growth. About Revitalization Partners Revitalization Partners specializes in improving the operational and financial results of small and mid-market companies nationwide and abroad. Whether the situation calls for interim management, business valuation or assessment, revitalization, re-engineering or managing through the receivership/bankruptcy process, the firm focuses on finding the best resolution in the shortest amount of time - with the highest possible return. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005857/en/

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Protesters have defaced a statue of Philadelphia abolitionist Matthias Baldwin, dousing the statue with paint and spray-painting the word colonizer on the pedestal.

It was not immediately clear if the protesters were part of an organized group such as Antifa. The graffiti has since been cleaned off the statue, as Joe Walsh, a member of the Friends of Matthias Baldwin Park, told National Review in an email. The statue itself stands outside Philadelphia City Hall.

Ok, so why was the statue of Matthias Baldwin defaced like this? He was an abolitionist who funded schools for black children out of pocket. No genocide there. pic.twitter.com/ACqq1iSS16  Eric Ernerstedt (@ericernerstedt) June 11, 2020

The statue was vandalized at some point during the days of demonstrations that occurred in Philadelphia, a spokesperson for the mayors office said in an email.

Born in 1795, Baldwin moved to Philadelphia from New Jersey at the age of 16 and rose from an apprenticeship at a local jeweler to establish a successful business manufacturing train locomotives. Baldwin argued for the right of African Americans to vote in Pennsylvania during the states 1837 Constitutional Convention, and helped establish a school for African American children where he paid teachers salaries for years.

He hired blacks in his shops when that was not the norm, Walsh said. He was BLM [Black Lives Matter] before there was a slogan.

Protesters also defaced Philadelphias Civil War Soldiers and Sailors monument with graffiti reading BLM. That monuments inscription reads, All who have labored today in behalf of the Union have wrought for the best interests of the country and the world not only for the present but for all future ages.

The irony of vandalizing a monument to those who died to end slavery is lost on the morons who dont know their history, Walsh said.

Story continues

Protests and demonstrations have appeared across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers. Some demonstrations have led to riots and looting, and protesters have also defaced or toppled various monuments to historical figures, including Christopher Columbus and southern secessionist leader Jefferson Davis.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that the Baldwin statue was defaced on Wednesday, June 10, when in fact the vandalism occurred some days beforehand. The exact date on which the vandalism took place is unknown.

More from National Review
Lucknow, June 11 : Six teachers have been served notices for the recovery of Rs 1.37 crore paid to them during their tenure of employment in Uttar Pradesh.

The teachers were sacked by the Yogi Adityanath government last year after they were found using fake papers to get the job and FIRs were filed against them.

One of them is in jail, one has got bail while the remaining four are absconding.

Earlier, similar steps were taken to recover Rs 95 lakh from four teachers in Bahraich.

The notices were issued by Omkar Rana, the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) of Shravasti district.

He issued notices to six teachers - Manoj Kumar of Etah (Rs 4.8 lakh), Ram Kumar of Firozabad (Rs 13.6 lakh), Shobhnath of Sant Kabir Nagar (Rs 33.3 lakh), Rajiv Upadhyaya of Gorakhpur (Rs 33.4 lakh), Kanhaiya Singh of Balrampur (Rs 32.7 lakh) and Ajit Kumar Shukla of Bahraich (Rs 19.1 lakh).

Rana said, "All these six teachers were caught working with fake documents last year, after which they were sacked and FIRs were lodged against them." According to officials, of the six teachers, Ajit Shukla had produced a fake certificate of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) to get the job.

He was sacked, and later arrested but is currently on bail.

Rana said, Ram Kumar is related to the 2004-05 BEd degree scam where candidates used fake degrees in the name of Agra University. Others were terminated in different cases of using fake documents. Of the remaining five, Shobhnath is behind bars while four are absconding.

Together, these six teachers had taken Rs 1.3 crore as salary and other allowances for which recovery notices have been served.

If they fail to deposit the amount by June 20, the recovery of revenue will be done by initiating legal action, the notices said.

Over 4,000 teachers across the state were found using fake degrees of the Agra University in a SIT probe. Action has been initiated against all of them.
Sinn Fein has been blamed for blocking the publication of eligibility guidelines for a pension for Troubles victims at the last minute - a move that could scupper the scheme for a year.

Secretary of State Brandon Lewis was due to publish draft guidelines yesterday, but they failed to materialise.

The Northern Ireland Office has said this will now happen at a later date.

At the same time the Prime Minister was telling MPs that the controversy-hit compensation scheme is a "fair, balanced and proportionate way" of helping those injured during the violence. He urged Sinn Fein to "allow the scheme to go forward as soon as possible".

The scheme was supposed to open to applications on May 29, but has been delayed as Sinn Fein and the DUP argue over who can receive the pension.

While it excludes anyone injured by their own actions, it would potentially cover other people who had terror convictions.

However, a judge-led panel will be set up to examine on a case-by-case basis whether payments would be appropriate for people with convictions for serious offences.

Sinn Fein rejected the revised draft guidelines presented to all the political parties this week, saying they discriminate against former prisoners and go beyond what is in the legislation.

The Executive and the UK Government are also in a stand-off over who will pay for the scheme, estimated to cost around 100m.

Ulster Unionist justice spokesman Doug Beattie MLA said: "If we are at a stage where the Northern Ireland Office and Secretary of State won't release the guidance notes because of Sinn Fein's objections, what on Earth chance have we to get this victims' payment scheme moving forward?

"The solution is clear. If Sinn Fein is not willing to nominate a lead department to take this forward then the NIO should return the scheme back to themselves.

"The scheme is pointless if it's not being delivered and this is going to turn into a political argument that nobody wants.

"The only people suffering here are the victims, and with no end in sight we could be arguing about this for another year."

DUP Westminster leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson raised the matter with Boris Johnson during Prime Minister's Questions yesterday.

Speaking in the Commons, Sir Jeffrey appeared to be under the impression that the guidelines had just been published. He said: "The Prime Minister will be aware that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has today published the guidelines for the special payments scheme for severely injured victims linked to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

"The Prime Minister will also know that this House passed legislation which excludes those injured by their own hand. But the innocent victims have not yet been able to benefit from this scheme, not least because of the actions of Sinn Fein.

"Will the PM have his Government now commit to do all that they can to move this matter forward?"

Mr Johnson replied: "I think this scheme provides a fair, balanced and proportionate way of helping all those who suffered most during the Troubles and it's very important that Sinn Fein, along with all other parties, allow the scheme to go forward as soon as possible."

Kenny Donaldson, spokesman for Innocent Victims United, said: "If there continues to be a refusal to implement the law then sanctions must follow, or failing this, the UK Government must take a grip of this issue."

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Louise Haigh said yesterday that it was "deeply disingenuous" of Mr Johnson to lay all of the blame for the delays in the pension scheme at Sinn Fein's door.

"This UK-wide scheme should be financed by the UK Government, but they haven't put up a penny," she tweeted.
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EXCLUSIVE: UPDATE, 12:45 PM: Looks like both Randall Miller and the family of Sarah Jones will have to wait a while longer to discover if the Midnight Rider director could be going back to jail or not.

A hearing (exclusively revealed by Deadline last week) on the possible probation violation by the once again working filmmaker that was scheduled for June 17 at the at the Wayne County Courthouse in Jesup, Georgia and online has been moved to July 22.

More from Deadline

Technical issues was the reason given for the more than a month long delay.

This postponement comes as prosectors and lawyers for Miller have already de facto clashed outside the courthouse on whether a warrant should be issued for the Californian-based director. However, the shift today from the court clerks office does give Miller some significant breathing room over if his helming of the comedy Higher Grounds overseas last year was out of bounds or not.

Having served a year behind bars for after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter over the 2014 death of 27-year old camera assistant Jone on the set on Midnight Rider, Miller was released on probation in mid-2016.

The same day that Mille got out, Judge Anthony Harrison set out probation rules that stated Miller is prohibited from serving as director, first assistant director or supervisor with responsibility for safety in any film production for a decade. Millers side claim there is a grey area in those restrictions that allowed him to actually direct again. The County D.A.s office and the family of Sarah Jones dont see it that way  both parties were shocked when informed by Deadline last month that Miller had made another movie.

Story continues

Judge Harrison is on the docket to oversee next months hearing, for now.

PREVIOUSLY, JUNE 10 PM: Randall Millers lenient interpretation of his probation is about to face some hard truths in a Georgia courtroom.

Nearly six and a half years after Sarah Jones was killed on the set of Midnight Rider, Miller and his lawyers are going to be figuratively back in front of a Peach State judge in a hearing to determine if the director violated the conditions of his probation when he helmed the comedy Higher Grounds last year.

Partially at the Wayne County Courthouse in Jesup, Georgia and partially remotely, the hearing will be held on the morning of June 17, weve learned.

Facing a requested arrest warrant and likely extradition from California back to Georgia for the disgraced director, Millers attorneys have been fighting for the hearing in front of Judge Anthony Harrison as an alternative to the dispute. The immediate purpose of next weeks hearing will be to decide if such a warrant for probation violation should be issued or not.

We will be fully prepared to a presentation at the hearing to show why no warrant for violation of his probation should be issued, Millers lead lawyer Ed Garland told Deadline today of the order for hearing made official yesterday. We will make the arguments set forth in the brief which we filed, he added.

The defense urges the court to deny the application for a warrant, proclaims a June 2 memorandum from the Atlanta firm of Garland, Samuel & Loeb that was made public on June 5, as Deadline reported.

Wayne County Assistant District Attorney John Johnson told Deadline on May 29 that in his opinion Miller clearly violated his probation by directing the Serbia, UK and Columbia shot Higher Grounds. That day the D.A.s office asked Georgias Department of Community Supervision to issue a warrant for Miller.

Back at the end of May, ADA Johnson said that if after a hearing before a judge, Miller is found to have violated his probation then the time remaining on his probation could be revoked and the Golden State-based director could be returned to jail in Georgia.

When reached today, ADA Johnson had no comment on the hearing date now being set.

Also first exclusively reported by Deadline on May 27, the Higher Grounds gig came with less than six years remaining on Millers 10-year probation (expiring on March 8, 2025) for the 2014 death of 27-year-old camera assistant Jones on the first day of filming Midnight Rider, a biopic of Greg Allman.

Prior to receiving probation, Miller had spent a year in jail after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Jones case. He was released from jail on March 23, 2016

That same day, the same Judge Anthony Harrison who will be overseeing next weeks hearing laid out probation rules that stated the filmmaker is prohibited from serving as director, first assistant director or supervisor with responsibility for safety in any film production. (Read Millers probation document yourself here.)

After several unsuccessful attempts to tweak his probation, Miller was given unsupervised probation from the Brunswick Judicial Circuits Department of Community Supervision in November 2018.

In the opinion of Millers lawyers, including one who ended up as an EP on the Miller produced Higher Grounds, that is what allowed him to travel to overseas to film the coffee-based comedy.

To handle safety matters, the production starring Glow actress Kate Nash as a vegan barista employed Jason Allen as the pics Assistant Director and Associate Producer in Charge of Safety. Allen was given complete authority to oversee safety on the set by the DGA, and to stop production if scenes proved dangerous. However, there werent any action scenes in the film.

dga director's guild of america

Once discovering that Miller was back behind the camera, something that believed he would never be able to do for many years, the parents of Sarah Jones have asked the Directors Guild of America end Millers long membership.

To us, his actions were blatantly defiant and egregiously disrespectful to the entire creative community, to the six crew members who were injured while filming Midnight Rider, and to the memory of Sarah Jones, who died on Mr. Millers set as a direct result of the unsafe conditions that he willfully and illegally created, said Richard and Elizabeth Jones in a statement to Deadline on May 27.

The DGA has not responded to either the Jones or Deadline on this matter. However, from what sources have told us, Randall Miller is still a member in good standing at the DGA.

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India asks UK not to consider any request for asylum by Vijay Mallya

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, June 11: India on Thursday said it has asked the UK not to consider any request for asylum by fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya as there appeared to be no ground for his persecution in the country.

Last week, the UK government indicated that Mallya is unlikely to be extradited to India anytime soon, saying there is a legal issue that needed to be resolved before his extradition can be arranged.

Legal issue needs to be resolve before Vijay Mallya's extradition: UK govt

Delhi: Jama Masjid to remain shut till June 30th amid increasing cases of Coronavirus| Oneindia News

"We have been in touch with the UK side for his early extradition. We have also requested the UK side not to consider his asylum, if requested by him, because there appeared to be no ground for his persecution in India," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing.

In May, Mallya lost his appeals in the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to India to face money laundering and fraud charges. Srivastava said India has been in touch with the UK after Mallya's application for leave to appeal to the UK's Supreme Court was rejected.

The UK top court's decision marked a major setback to the 64-year-old businessman as it came weeks after he lost his High Court appeal in April against an extradition order to India.

A spokesperson in the British High Commission here said last week that there was a legal issue that needed to be resolved before Mallyas extradition can be arranged. "Under United Kingdom law, extradition cannot take place until it is resolved. The issue is confidential and we cannot go into any detail. We cannot estimate how long this issue will take to resolve. We are seeking to deal with this as quickly as possible, the official had said.

Mallya has been based in the UK since March 2016 and remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017. The High Court verdict in April upheld the 2018 ruling by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at the end of a year-long extradition trial in December 2018 that the former Kingfisher Airlines boss had a "case to answer" in the Indian courts.
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Tunisian Defense Minister Imed Hazgui formally denied here Thursday the presence of a foreign military base in Tunisia, saying the country would not allow any of the parties to the conflict to use its soil for military operations in Libya
The Tamil Nadu government has been transparent in reporting COVID-19 deaths and no one can hide the information, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Thursday, rejecting claims of under-reporting of fatalities.

IMAGE: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami addresses the media. Photograph: Anantha Krishnan / ANI Photo.

He also asserted there was no community transmission of coronavirus in the state, which has reported 1,500 plus fresh cases for four successive days till Wednesday with the tally crossing the 36,000 mark.

"Where is the difference in deaths? ... There is no ground to conceal deaths and nobody can hide deaths," the chief minister shot back when reporters asked him about under-reporting of COVID-19 deaths.

A day after the government set up a reconciliation committee to look into alleged mismatch of COVID-19 deaths, Palaniswami said it was issuing a COVID-19 bulletin on a daily basis furnishing data on aspects including testing, recoveries, active cases and deaths.

The data on fatalities reflected deaths from both government and private hospitals, he said during the media interaction after inaugurating infrastructure projects, including a bridge named after late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

Also, the chief minister wondered how it was even possible to under-count deaths and project it on the lower side.

"How it (deaths) could be shown less ? If somebody dies of COVID-19, the media shows (visuals) and people come to know. This cannot be hidden. For the government, it serves no good (purpose) by hiding deaths," he said.

Palaniswami reiterated that there was no community transmission of the deadly virus in Tamil Nadu and maintained that the spread was through contacts.

Population density, congested neighbourhoods were among the reasons for the high number of cases in Chennai, he said.

The capital city remains the hotspot of the virus spread with 25,937 cases out of the state's tally of 36,841 as of Wednesday.

Following claims of discrepancies between the register of COVID-19 deaths of Greater Chennai Corporation and the data of state government's health authorities, the government set up the 'reconciliation committee' on Wednesday.

Comprising doctors from the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services and Directorate of Medical Education and the city corporation, the panel would look into the question of alleged discrepancies in deaths.

The reconciliation initiative was taken up by the government also in the wake of a complaint by an NGO to authorities claiming that three COVID-19 deaths were not recorded.
Pune police crime branch officials arrested six persons, including an Indian Army personnel, during an operation that led to the seizure of fake Indian and foreign currency notes with a face value of at least Rs 43.4 crore and fake US dollars worth Rs 4.2 crore, said a senior official aware of the developments on Wednesday evening.

The joint operation carried out by the Pune police and the Military Intelligence (MI), had been conducted at Sanjay Park in Vimannagar. According to the official, the operation to count the counterfeit notes is still underway. 

After detailed planning with the MI team, a joint operation was carried out today (Wednesday) in which six persons including one serving military person has been detained with multiple denominations of fake Indian and foreign currency. Counting of currency is going on as per the procedure, read a statement by Bachchan Singh, deputy commissioner of police, Crime, Pune. 

The arrested six men have been identified as Indian Army jawan Shaikh Alim Gulab Khan, and civilians Sunil Badrinarayan Sarda, Ritesh Ratnakar, Tufail Ahmed Mohammad Ishaq Khan, Abdul Gani Rehmtullah Khan, Abdul Rehman Abdul Gani Khan, according to the police.

After counting, Indian currency of various denominations worth Rs 43.4 crore and US dollars worth Rs 4.2 crore has been seized. The quality of the notes will be checked in due course by experts. Many of the notes are marked Children Bank of India, read a police statement. 

The information about the fake currency operation was provided by officials of military intelligence, according to the police. The fake currency notes were in different denominations, including Rs 1,000, which has been demonetised by the central government in 2016.

Some of these currency notes carried the stamp of Children Bank of India and may have been printed before 2016 when the government made the denominations of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 invalid, said a defence official aware of the developments on the condition of anonymity.

The amount (Rs 43.4 crore and Rs 4.2 crore) is excluding the worth of Rs 1,000 notes seized. In most of the notes, instead of Reserve Bank of India, it says Childrens Bank of India. The purpose seems to be cheating. In the bundle of US dollars, the first note is genuine, the rest are counterfeit. These six men had been working together. The person whom they had offered the fake currency, had informed us, said Ravindra Shisve, joint commissioner of police, Pune.

A statement released earlier on Wednesday evening by the defence spokesperson, stated, Southern Command Intelligence wing along with crime branch Pune carried out a successful joint operation in Vimannagar and busted a fake currency racket on June 10. Six people, including five civilians and a soldier, were apprehended with fake Indian and foreign currency to the tune of approximately Rs 10 crore. At least Rs2 lakh in Indian currency, US dollars equivalent and one fake pistol was recovered during the operation. Individuals have been handed over to the crime branch Pune for interrogation and further investigation is under progress.

According to Singh, there were two parties involved. One party was seeking American dollars while the other party had a supply of Indian (counterfeit) currency. They decided and met at the spot from where they were intercepted, said Singh.

The source of the currency is part of the investigation, said police officials. 

Officials of Unit 4 of the Pune police crime branch along with the Anti-Narcotic Cell (West) worked with inputs provided by officials of Military Intelligence.

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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that legislators did not violate the state constitution by allowing construction of an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, clearing the way for the project to proceed unless another court intervenes.

A three-judge panel affirmed a ruling last November by the Michigan Court of Claims, which upheld a law authorizing a deal between former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian pipeline company Enbridge.

They had negotiated a plan to drill the tunnel through bedrock beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lakes Michigan and Huron and divides Michigans upper and lower peninsulas.

It would house a pipeline that would replace a four-mile-long (six-kilometre-long) underwater segment of Enbridges Line 5, which carries crude oil and natural gas liquids used in propane between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario.

Lawmakers approved the agreement during a lame-duck session in December 2018 over objections that the measure was drafted sloppily and rushed to enactment before Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, who criticized the deal, took over for Snyder the following month.

The handout to Enbridge allowed the company to avoid the normal vetting process of a project of this magnitude  cutting out public comment and input, said Beth Wallace, conservation partnerships manager for the National Wildlife Federations Great Lakes office.

Snyder and Republican legislators said the deal was struck after years of public discussion.

Attorney General Dana Nessel, also a Democrat, issued an opinion in March 2019 that the authorizing bill was unconstitutional because its provisions far exceeded what its title specified.

Enbridge requested a ruling from the Court of Claims, where Judge Michael Kelly found that lawmakers had adequately followed the constitutional requirement to express a bills general purpose or object in its title.

Appeals judges Thomas Cameron, Mark Boonstra and Anica Letica  all appointed by Snyder  agreed.

We conclude that the title ... does not address objects so diverse that they have no necessary connection, they said in a written opinion Thursday.

The ruling was a victory for Enbridge, which says it plans to finish the tunnel by 2024.

We look forward to working with the state to make a safe pipeline even safer, spokesman Ryan Duffy said. We are investing $500 million in the tunnels construction  thereby further protecting the waters of the Great Lakes and everyone who uses them.

Whitmers office is reviewing the decision, spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said.

Nessel will ask the Michigan Supreme Court to take the case, spokeswoman Courtney Covington said.

While we are disappointed by the Court of Appeals decision, we stand by our position that (the law) is unconstitutional, she said.

The constitutions provision about titles is intended to prevent deception about what bills would do.

The disputed measures title was lengthy, authorizing state boards to acquire and operate the planned tunnel and perform numerous other duties. Even so, Nessel argued that the bill went well beyond what the title indicated.

But the appeals judges found that neither the legislators nor the public were deprived of fair notice of the contents.

Nessel is pursuing a separate lawsuit that seeks to shut down Line 5  long a goal of environmentalists who say a rupture could devastate waters and shorelines in a sensitive area home to endangered species and prized by tourists.

The 67-year-old underwater segment consists of two pipes that carry a combined 23 million gallons (87 million litres) daily. Enbridge says the lines are inspected regularly and are in good condition. But protective outer coating has worn away in some spots and erosion has required the installation of steel braces. A barge and tugboat anchor struck the pipes in 2018.

This daily threat must end regardless if any oil tunnel is ever constructed, said Sean McBrearty, campaign co-ordinator for the group Oil & Water Dont Mix.
President Trump lives in a monstrously dangerous alternate reality; he observes the world as he wants it to be, not as it is.

Trump hasnt done anything to calm the nationwide anger of the Minneapolis white policemans murder of African-American George Floyd. Instead Trump went to war against America when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square in front of the White House.

In response to that event, former Trump Defense Secretary James Mattis said of Trump, He tries to divide us. The Nazi slogan for destroying uswas Divide and Conquer. Our American answer is "In Union there is Strength.

Trump, in his alternate reality, exaggerates his nonexistent successes. He squandered critical time, by ignoring the Obama Administrations pandemic handbook. He suggested that injecting bleach like disinfectants into people would kill COVID-19. He asked the Supreme Court to declare the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) unconstitutional and then announced it could wait until after the November election. He shut down our federal government for 35 days, without gaining anything.

I believe in order to be reelected, Trump is endangering our lives. He wants us to falsely believe that epidemiologists dont know what they are doing, while insisting he does.

Everyone understands the importance of returning to work; school, places of worship, and leisure activities. Most people realize COVID-19 is relentlessly opportunistic. In close quarters, it spreads quickly.

Do we want our children, middle-aged and senior citizens to be sacrificed on the unholy altar of Trumps too soon reopened America, just to get him reelected to an even more catastrophic second term?

If Trump is defeated in November, will he accept it and congratulate his opponent? Or maniacally unhinged, refuse to leave office, claiming he is the victim of a deep state conspiracy?

Larry Larsen, Mandan

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The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District has stopped irrigation deliveries for some farmers and has exhausted Rio Grande water in storage from last year.

The water were seeing in the river today would be good for August, but its not good for early June, water operations manager David Gensler said at Mondays board meeting.

The district will struggle with water supply this summer if monsoon season isnt sufficient, Gensler said.

In late May, MRGCD announced a curtailment of water bank irrigation deliveries because inflow of the river had dropped below a 950 cubic-feet-per-second threshold.

Farmers on the water bank, who pay a yearly irrigation fee, have three options to continue irrigating during a curtailment, said district CEO and chief engineer Mike Hamman.

One is setting up Alternate Curtailment Locations, or ACLs, in their contract. An ACL is a land parcel that farmers can choose not to irrigate during curtailment so they can keep other lands  some of which may be water bank properties  in production.

Some (farmers) who dont know the background or the specifics of that persons contract may make an assumption that others are doing something shady or cheating the system, Hamman told the Journal. Its always been a controversy. People get upset when there are shortages.

Farmers may also work with the State Engineer to transfer their pre-1907 water rights onto a water bank-irrigated property, sometimes via an emergency declaration. They can also lease back water rights from municipalities.

Miguel Cordova, a third-generation farmer in Valencia and Socorro counties, told the Journal last week that the workarounds only help major players.

Everybodys not playing by the same rules, said Cordova, who grows alfalfa, corn and oats. A bunch of us are watching our neighbors irrigate farms that have been dried up since 1987. Whos going to throw us a bone? Because we dont have that option.

Some district staff met last week in Belen with Cordova and 30 other farmers.

Board member Stephanie Russo Baca said many farmers didnt want an equal solution, but an equitable solution. The district should educate more about irrigation options, she said.

MRGCD has resumed some water bank deliveries in the Socorro division.

Irrigation System Operators, or ditch riders, are tasked with ensuring farmers follow district water bank contracts or relevant state permits.

Policing and enforcing this is a nightmare for our field staff, Gensler said, adding that it can take hours to track down water transfer paperwork on just one property.

If the district confirms illegal irrigation, it can issue warnings, lock or weld irrigation turnouts or even void water bank contracts.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
Sales assistants, truck drivers and childcare workers have topped the list for the most in-demand jobs as Australia moves to ease more coronavirus restrictions.

The National Skills Commission found an average of 18.7 per cent of the nation's employers were looking to recruit between April 10 and June 5.

The fresh data, released on Friday, also revealed receptionists, delivery drivers and managers were among the most in-demand jobs following the unprecedented health crisis, The Australian reported.

Sales assistants, truck drivers and childcare workers have topped the list for the most in-demand jobs as Australia moves to ease more coronavirus restrictions. Pictured: Early childhood educator Josephine wipes down tables and bench tops with disinfectant at the Robertson Street Kindy Childcare Centre in Helensburgh south of Sydney

TOP 10 IN-DEMAND OCCUPATIONS Retail sales assistants Truck drivers Child carers Receptionists Delivery drivers Sales representatives Managers Checkout operators/office cashiers Metal Fabricators/welders Motor Mechanics SOURCE: National Skills Commission Advertisement

In early April, 38 per cent of employers reported difficulty recruiting workers. The number has now dropped to 26 per cent.

Employment and Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash said the figures - which were gathered through 2,400 interviews with businesses - showed businesses were slowly emerging from the COVID-19 restrictions.

'As restrictions ease, we are starting to see some signs of recovery across the country,' Senator Cash said.

'The data shows businesses are starting to hire again, in many industries and at all skill levels, with the highest number of jobs in demand having no requirement for a formal qualification.

'As restrictions ease, we expect this trend will continue. While Australians, and the economy, have a long way to go in terms of a full economic recovery, this data shows we are on the right path.'

Due geographic constraints, employers in regional areas were struggling to fill vacancies more than those in capital cities, the survey found.

In the Northern Territory, 50 per cent of employers are recruiting workers, while 23 per cent a searching in South Australia and 21 per cent in Tasmania.

In Queensland, 20 per cent are on the hunt, followed by 19 per cent in Victoria and 17 per cent in NSW.

Pictured: A Queensland Transport Inspector signals to a truck driver at the Queensland border in April, 2020

The Australian Bureau of Statistics are expected to release the labour force figures for May next week.

Australia's jobless rate jumped to 6.2 per cent in April.

On Tuesday, Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy told a parliamentary committee the unemployment rate is expected to rise to eight per cent by September when the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme is legislated to end.

'I think the unemployment rate won't go as high as previously thought,' Dr Kennedy said.

'I think the rate by September will likely be in the order of 8 per cent. Business and consumer confidence is returning.'

The fresh data, released on Friday, also revealed receptionists, delivery drivers and managers were among the most in-demand jobs following the unprecedented health crisis. Pictured: A Woolworths home delivery man is seen dropping off an order

Treasury figures show Sydney and Melbourne unsurprisingly top the list of businesses claiming the JobKeeper wage subsidy.

The federal government has ordered a review into JobKeeper payments that will be released on July 23.

Earlier this week, the government unexpectedly announced childcare workers would lose their JobKeeper payments from next month.

Mr Frydenberg insists the childcare sector is a special case.

A survey of 2,300 company directors found 81 per cent would prefer to see a cautious phasing out of stimulus policies such as JobKeeper, rather than a rapid wind-down, even at the cost of government deficits and debt.

Employment and Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash said the figures - which were gathered through 2,400 interviews with businesses - showed businesses were slowly emerging from the COVID-19 restrictions. 'As restrictions ease, we are starting to see some signs of recovery across the country,' Senator Cash said

While the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme dominated politicians' return to Canberra this week, the boosted and renamed JobSeeker dole payment was the elephant in the room.

There are 1.6 million people on the unemployment allowance of about $1,100 a fortnight, now double the rate before the pandemic.

While the wage subsidy scheme is helping about three million fewer than first predicted, there are still 3.3 million people surviving on $1,500 fortnightly JobKeeper payments.

The new and improved safety nets are slated to end in September.

The almost five million Australians being supported through those two programs represent about a third of people enrolled to vote.
A Los Angeles police officer yells at a protester in the Fairfax district last month. (Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: Recent articles in the L.A. Times on police brutality show just how widespread and deeply ingrained the problem is.

As a retired union organizer reading these stories, I am reminded of one of the first things I learned as a new trainee: You don't organize around issues, you organize around a problem. Given the deep feelings on police and race, we will have to organize around racial disparity in city councils, civil service boards, police commissions and corporate boards.

We can raise the racial records of politicians as they stand for election. We can analyze police functions and determine more sophisticated ways to render public safety.

Perhaps we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission similar to that used in South Africa to address apartheid.

William Lloyd Roberts, Redlands

..

To the editor: As a former police officer with relatives who are currently police officers, I cannot believe the willingness of public officials in Los Angeles to ignore the "rule of law" when it comes to prosecuting people who defied curfew or unlawful assembly orders.

None of this makes any sense in light of the fact that dozens of businesses were charged with violating the unconstitutional stay-home order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Where is the outcry from all these voices over those prosecutions?

We have spent the last few months staying home to avoid transmitting COVID-19, so mass protests on any issue should not be allowed. Otherwise, the last few months have been a hypocritical joke.

Richard Hamilton, Oceanside

..

To the editor: I am appalled at the behavior of our Los Angeles police, which shows an attitude of spite and contempt toward peaceful protesters. This was more important than stopping people who were looting or starting fires?

The attitude of our police must change.

Catherine Cory, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: The foolish but ingrained police tactic of blocking the progress of protesters must stop.

Instead, police should escort protesters through the city after determining their intended destination. A mobile force ahead and behind the march and police deployed on sidewalks alongside the march or at intersections can deal with any would-be looters.

I'd rather see two squad cars leading a march than 200 police trying to block it.

F.K. Baldwin, Los Angeles
The coronavirus has killed one senior care home employee in Oregon, state data published Wednesday shows.

The Oregon Health Authoritys weekly summary noted that a person who worked in a congregate care setting has died from the coronavirus.

The state wont say where the employee worked to protect their privacy, the health authority said, and released no other information.

But while the congregate care category includes mental health facilities and child foster homes, the state has reported COVID-19 deaths only at senior care homes.

The publication comes after weeks of state refusals to provide detailed case and death data for long-term care homes, even as other states published similar data and the Oregon ombudsman and two state senators called for disclosure of the information.

Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, said the news of the employee death reinforces how important it is that workers in all care settings have access to protective equipment and a robust testing protocol.

One death is too many and reminds us that front line workers and residents in congregate care settings are at very high risk of exposure and death during the pandemic, Gelser said.

The states new data confirms for the first time that federal numbers showing eight staff deaths in Oregon nursing homes, published last week, were wrong. The federal numbers relied on information sent in directly by nursing homes. An Oregon home accidentally reported eight worker deaths.

More than half of all coronavirus deaths in Oregon -- 92 -- are connected to senior care homes, an Oregonian analysis of state data shows.

Of those deaths, about a third are associated with just one place -- the Southeast Portland nursing home Healthcare at Foster Creek. The nursing homes license is currently suspended while the state moves to revoke it altogether.

Oregon health officials publish facility-level case and death data for places with more than two cases or at least one death, but the numbers lump together residents, staff, close contacts and other unspecified categories.

The states latest senior care facility report shows 77 new coronavirus cases since the report a week ago, most of them connected to outbreaks at the Marquis Hope Village Post-Acute Rehab in Canby, The Springs at Willow Creek assisted living home in Salem and High Lookee Lodge, a Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs assisted living home.

Oregons cumulative senior care home case count now stands at more than 630. The state overall has reported more than 5,000 coronavirus cases.

Data Specialist David Cansler contributed to this report.

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com

desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event about the U.S. economy at Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware, U.S. June 5, 2020.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden issued an open letter to Facebook on Thursday, calling on the social media giant to fix several policies ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, including removing false information.

"Tens of millions of Americans rely on Facebook as a news source," the Biden campaign wrote. "But the company continues to amplify misinformation and lets candidates pay to target and confuse voters with lies."

In the letter, Biden called on Facebook to take four specific actions:

Promote authoritative and trustworthy news sources, rather than bad actors and conspiracy theorists.

Promptly remove false information.

Stop allowing political candidates and political action committees from using paid ads to spread misinformation.

Establish clear rules about how all Facebook users, including the president, can participate in the election.

Almost immediately, Facebook issued a response, arguing that it's up to elected officials to determine regulations for what social networks can and cannot allow.

"Just as they have done with broadcast networks  where the US government prohibits rejecting politicians' campaign ads  the people's elected representatives should set the rules, and we will follow them," the company said. "There is an election coming in November and we will protect political speech, even when we strongly disagree with it."

Biden's letter comes after a turbulent time for Facebook, after its own employees and business partners criticized the company for taking no action on a post by President Donald Trump in which he said that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," in reference to Black Lives Matter protesters. Employees who protested the decision not to remove or moderate the Trump post argued that it violated Facebook's community standards, which prohibit language that incites serious violence.

Twitter, by comparison, placed a label warning users about the president's rhetoric, which they have to dismiss before they can view the tweet. Twitter is also preventing users from liking or retweeting the tweet. Trump denied he was intending to incite violence.

Biden's letter also refers to a Facebook policy that allows politicians to include misinformation in paid advertising on the social network. That policy has come under scrutiny, with activists protesting outside Facebook's headquarters in January.
In this time, as in any other, government officials must pause to remember their own high duty to the Constitution and to the rights it secures, the letter said. We are gratified that you have done so with respect to the freedom of assembly, and we urge you to do the same with the freedom of religious exercise.
She's in the midst of a contentious split from husband Kyle Newman, the father of her two sons.

But while her personal life is in turmoil, Jaime King's career has taken a leap.

On Wednesday, Deadline.com reported that the 41-year-old actress has been cast to star opposite Bruce Willis in the movie Out Of Death.

Big deal: On Wednesday, Deadline.com reported that Jaime King, pictured left in January, has been cast to star opposite Bruce Willis, pictured right in 2019, in the movie Out Of Death

It's a major boost for King who most recently has been seen in the small screen shows Hart Of Dixie on The CW and Netflix's Black Summer.

According to Deadline, Out Of Death centers on a woman, played by King, who, while out for a hike, witnesses four strangers commit a crime.

As she runs through woods in fear they will come after her, she encounters a retired forest ranger, played by Willis, and asks him for help.

The movie will be the first of three Willis has agreed in a deal with Emmett/Furla Films.

Principal photography will begin once Willis completes work on the drama Midnight In The Switchgrass which has begun shooting in Puerto Rico in March before being halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

And before she can start filming with Willis, King is expected to complete production on the second season of Black Summer on which she also serves as a producer.

New role: Willis, 65, will play a forest ranger who comes to the aid of a hiker, played by King, who has witnessed four strangers commit a crime

Priority: Before she can start filming with Willis, King is expected to complete production on the second season of Netflix's Black Summer on which she also serves as a producer

Popular: King is best known for her show Hart Of Dixie that aired on the CW from 2011 to 2015, Dye's pictured with co-stars Brandi Burkhardt, left, and Kaitlyn Black, right

King and her now estranged husband Newman met in 2005 on the set of Fanboys that she was starring in and he was directing.

They married in November 2007 and went on to have two sons, James Knight, now six, and Leo Thames, now four.

On May 18, King filed for divorce claiming she has been the victim of verbal, emotional and physical abuse for years during her marriage. She also alleged that Newman has been keeping their sons from her.

Newman counter-filed alleging the actress is an addict with 'chronic' issues that affect her ability to be a parent and claimed she had used drugs while pregnant with their youngest son.

The two boys are currently living with their father in Pennsylvania pending a court hearing.
A quiet battle of wills is developing between Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff on one side and the VIA Metropolitan Transit board on the other over money that both dearly want to shore up services devastated by the COVID-19 crisis.

Nirenberg and Wolff sent a letter to the VIA board last week reiterating what both had said previously: that the 1/8-cent share of city sales tax that now pays for protection of the Edwards Aquifer should continue to be devoted to city needs and programs rather than spent on a VIA bailout.

At least for now.

Nirenberg and Wolff said they do not support putting before voters in November a proposal to transfer the tax money to VIA. Nirenberg has said that a vote in May 2021 seems more logical, given the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Both men said they are committed to an efficient local transit network. But in the wake of a pandemic that has grossly exposed the cracks in our communitys foundation, they wrote, we believe we must adjust the order of operations in the equation of our regions growth, health and success.

On Wednesday, VIA CEO Jeff Arndt met with the San Antonio Express-News editorial board and made an impassioned pitch for the 1/8-cent share of the sales tax. He cited forecasts showing that because of dramatic declines in bus fares and other revenue, VIA will confront a budget deficit of $126 million in five years.

Without the 1/8-cent portion of the sales tax, estimated to bring in $30 million to $40 million a year, one-third of VIAs 90-plus routes would be cut, 150,000 San Antonians would lose walking-distance access to buses and 40,000 jobs would be outside the reach of transit riders, according to Arndts presentation.

Without additional funding, the VIA pitch continued, a bus network of the kind that existed before COVID-19 is no longer possible and service reductions will impact our most vulnerable populations.

After the meeting, Arndt said: Were recasting our strategic plan to support economic mobility and recovery. Were focused on preserving access to core services, access to jobs and training, access to basic goods and services, and greatly expanding our mobility-on-demand options.

Arndt said he is committed to finding consensus with the city and county leadership. But theres no mistaking the sense of urgency in his pitch.

A November vote would make (VIAs) future clear, he wrote in an e-mail. A May vote could make it necessary to make changes within a very short time frame. If the community votes in November to rededicate the 1/8-cent to transit, we would start receiving funds in or around mid-2021.

Since the pandemic struck, all the nations transit systems have been crippled by loss of riders. VIA has received $93 million in federal stimulus funds, but even that will not be enough to keep the agency in the black, Arndt said.

Nirenbergs and Wolffs position on VIA funding has shifted dramatically since COVID-19 hit San Antonio in March.

Previously, the two energetically supported a plan to divert sales tax revenue from aquifer protection to VIA to fund a plan called VIA Reimagined, which would bring a fleet of new buses to high traffic areas at reduced wait times of seven to 12 minutes.

In November, Nirenberg, Wolff and then-VIA chairman Rey Saldana appeared before the Express-News editorial board to support the diversion of the sales tax money.

The citys overall sales tax rate is 8.25 percent, the maximum allowed by state law. VIA receives a half-cent of that tax. Under VIA Reimagined, the transit agency would also have captured the 1/8-cent share now directed to the Edwards Aquifer.

That money pays for land purchases and conservation easements to protect sensitive areas that funnel rainwater into the aquifer, source of 80 percent of the drinking water delivered to customers of the San Antonio Water System.

The aquifer protection program has been popular with San Antonio voters, who have approved the 1/8-cent sales tax by healthy margins four times since 2000.

bselcraig@express-news.net
Actor Raveena Tandon has spoken about how she was cast opposite Salman Khan in 1991s Patthar Ke Phool, and the series of events that led her to make her acting debut. In an appearance on Kiran Jonejas online chat show, Raveena said that she never wanted to become an actor, but when destiny wants something to happen it all happens simultaneously.

She said that she was working with Prahlad Kakkar as a college student, and had done a few modelling projects for him. She said, When I was interning with Prahlad Kakkar people used to ask me what was I doing behind the cameras and why I was not acting in front of the cameras. I was a free stand-in model for Genesis, the company, and every time a model would not turn up theyd say, Hey, Raveena ko costume pehna ke khada kar do (Put Raveena in a costume and make her stand there)!

Also read: Raveena Tandon on Salman Khan: He told everyone that he knows me since the last 120 years

She said that on one such day, when she was shooting in Bandra, a friend of hers called Bunty, who happened to be a friend of Salmans as well, called her up and asked her if she was around. He told her to come outside and say hi, because he was in the neighbourhood. When Raveena went out to meet him, she saw that none other than Salman Khan was sitting in the car with Bunty.

Salman, at the time, was looking for a new girl to star in a new movie for producer GP Sippy, and her friend told him that he must look at Raveena. She continued, I said yes, my friends were more excited that I was doing a film with Salman Khan and they said, Iske baad tujhe picture nahi karni toh na bol de par yeh to kar (If you dont want to do another movie after this its fine, but at least do this one).

In an earlier interview to Mid-Day, Raveena, who is a judge on Nach Baliye 9, had spoken about the episode in which Salman, the shows producer, had appeared. She said, He told everyone that he knows me since the last 120 years. Theres a comfort factor with him. We spoke non-stop on the set, but when the episode was telecast, I realised that they had edited out a major chunk due to time constraints. We then told each other, Why did we talk so much?

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A Mexican-themed coffee shop in Simcoe is collecting food for hundreds of migrant farm workers from Mexico who are in quarantine after a COVID-19 outbreak.

The menu at Sabor Espresso is inspired by co-owner Brenda McCoys Mexican homeland. These days, a table inside the cafe is piled high with non-perishable food items that will end up in the hands of workers from Scotlynn Group once they leave self-isolation and get back to the Vittoria farm.

We know a lot of Mexican people come into this community and are doing great things in the fields. When we heard about this (outbreak) it sort of tugged at our heart  what can we do? said Sabor co-owner Robert McCoy.

Donations will accepted until June 19, at which point volunteers from the health unit will deliver the food to the farm.

We put it out on social media and we got a response immediately, McCoy said, adding that they will use any cash donations to buy Mexican food items from a specialty store in Simcoe.

Its a small gesture that we can do. Anything that saves them from having to worry about going out, he said.

McCoy said the food drive is also a chance to recognize the importance of migrant workers, who have been the subject of some negative commentary on social media in light of the outbreak at Scotlynn, the source of which is still unknown.

I think its really unfortunate how its being spun. Now is really not the time to blame and point fingers, McCoy said.

(The workers) are being looked after right now, but when they get back, they might not have the essentials back at the bunkhouses. And they might not be as willing to go to the supermarket because of how people are making comments.

Migrant workers perform the tough farm work most Canadians dont want to do, while making a major contribution to the local economy, he added.

They bring a lot of money into this area. They spend a lot of money, they send products home, and theyre buying it from this community. Theyre not going into the city, McCoy said.

Its definitely a benefit to have them here, and I hope people realize there are a lot of good things that come out of having them work in our community.
Hayes Valley

Signage outside Dobbs Ferry's Gough Street entrance. | Photo: Andrew D./Yelp

When the shelter-in-place order came down in March, Hayes Valley bar and bistro Dobbs Ferry (409 Gough St.) planned to only shutter temporarily. But after nearly three months with no revenue and a failed renegotiation with its landlord, the nine-year-old eatery is closing permanently.

The restaurant opened a takeout window in mid-March, said Lee Ann Frahm Izzo, who owns Dobbs Ferry with her husband, Steve Izzo. But the couple discontinued it after a couple of weeks, hoping to fix their online ordering platform, and never brought it back.

March 31 was the last time the restaurant brought in any revenue. The couple received a small loan, but it wasn't enough to cover rent on a space in the heart of pricey Hayes Valley.

"We worked with our landlord to renegotiate the lease," Lee Ann said. "But we were unsuccessful with that."

And though it's been boarded up, the restaurant was also broken into at the end of last month. The thieves got away with a "bunch of stuff," Steve said.

Lee Ann Frahm Izzo and Steve Izzo, pictured at Dobbs Ferry's takeout window on St. Patrick's Day. | Photo: Dobbs Ferry SF/Facebook

Named for a small town in New York's Westchester County, Dobbs Ferry was first opened by Scott Broccoli and Danny Sterling in 2011. The Izzos, alumni of Embarcadero seafood restaurant Waterbar, took over in 2018.

The restaurant served "casual, rustic and approachable" food like meatballs, chili-roasted brussels sprouts and buttermilk fried chicken. It was also notable for its dual entrances onto Gough and Hayes streets, leading into the restaurant and bar, respectively. (Chez Maman, on the corner, is wedged between them.)

While San Francisco is allowing outdoor dining starting tomorrow, Lee Ann said it likely wouldn't have been an option for Dobbs Ferry, considering Hayes Valley's narrow sidewalks. Had the Izzos reached an agreement with their landlord, they would have probably waited for indoor dining to be allowed again, and continued with takeout in the meantime.

"Outdoor dining is a very different business," Lee Ann said. "You can't just move a bunch of tables outside ... you need different equipment, different silverware."

Story continues

The Hayes Street entrance (pictured in mid-May) has been boarded up with a mural that reads "We are brave, we are hopeful, we are resilient, we are San Francisco." | Photo: Dobbs Ferry SF/Facebook

The Izzos, who live in San Francisco, say they're sad to leave Hayes Valley, where they "really enjoyed the neighborhood and all the regulars." But this may not be the end for Dobbs Ferry.

The couple are working with a broker to find a new space to "keep our dream alive," though they know "it's an unprecedented situation with COVID-19."

Instead of a restaurant, they're looking at opening a retail shop with a wine bar attached, which would allow them to host smaller groups and adhere to health regulations while remaining profitable.

The Izzos said that it will be a real challenge for hospitality businesses like Dobbs Ferry to stabilize themselves in the months to come. Federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans are especially challenging, Lee Ann said, because they do not consider individual, complex landlord and financial situations.

"In the next two years, everyone [in the hospitality business] is gonna be challenged to pay the bills," said Steve, who has worked in the industry since 1996. "For hospitality, there has never been a worse time."
During an extraordinary general meeting held yesterday Harmony Gold's shareholders approved a $200 million fundraise.

Funds will be used to pay for the acquisition of AngloGold Ashanti's South African business, which was announced in last month.

Harmonys chief executive officer, Peter Steenkamp, said the business acquistion will help Harmony add 350,000 addtional gold ounces per year.

We successfully increased the value of our asset portfolio over the past 4 years by acquiring 100% of Hidden Valley (approximately 190 000 ounces of gold) in Papua New Guinea and then adding a further 250 000 quality ounces of gold through the acquisition of Moab Khotsong in South Africa. The planned acquisition of Mponeng and Mine Waste Solutions will further enhance Harmony's near-term production by adding annual gold production of approximately 350 000 ounces of gold," said Steenkamp.

"Section 11 approval (in terms of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act) of the transaction is now the only condition precedent outstanding. Once approved, the integration of these assets will allow Harmony to further unlock value for its shareholders through increased grades and stronger margins.
President Donald Trump praised the use of tear gas and other force to disperse Minneapolis protesters, calling it a "beautiful scene" and describing the National Guard's actions "like a knife cutting butter."

"I'll never forget. You saw the scene on that road . . . they were lined up. Man, they just walked straight. And yes, there was some tear gas and probably some other things," Trump said in opening remarks at a roundtable on policing and race. "And the crowd dispersed and they went through. By the end of that evening, and it was a short evening, everything was fine."

Trump's event at a conservative, evangelical and predominantly white church in Dallas on Thursday afternoon came as the White House has yet to announce what new measures it might support in response to the protests against racial injustice that have gripped the nation since the killing of George Floyd by a police officer.

Trump did not mention Floyd by name in his remarks but suggested the work of confronting bigotry and prejudice will "go quickly and it'll go very easily."

"But we'll make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racist or bigots," the president said.

He has largely criticized the protests that took place in cities across the United States, including Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed. Minnesota's Gov. Tim Walz activated its National Guard after three nights of protests and violent riots; on Thursday, Walz endorsed a package of sweeping police reforms.

In response to the national reckoning over police brutality and America's systemic racism, Democrats unveiled sweeping police reform legislation, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican member of the Senate, is spearheading proposals in his chamber.

Trump offered some broad outlines of the steps he might embrace to answer the national demand for action. He told the roundtable participants he was working on an executive order to "encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current professional standards for the use of force, including tactics for de-escalation."

He defended police officers and slammed calls to "defund" them, saying it means people want to get rid of law enforcement. Most advocates use the term to mean the reallocation of police budgets to social services including housing and education.

"We have to respect our police. We have to take care of our police. They're protecting us. And if they're allowed to do their job, they'll do a great job," Trump said. "And you always have a bad apple. No matter where you go, you have bad apples and there not too many of them."

Hours after the event, Trump weighed in on the debate in more provocative terms. "The Radical Left Democrats: First they try to take away your guns. Then they try to take away your police!" he tweeted.

The president's more concrete actions in the past 24 hours appear aimed at his political base rather than the multiracial nation he governs.

That includes publicly rejecting the idea of renaming military bases whose names honor Confederate military figures - an idea that had been under consideration at the Pentagon - and threatening a federal response to "ugly Anarchists" protesting in Seattle.

Trump's campaign released an ad Wednesday focused on his self-proclaimed credentials as a law-and-order president while seeking to cast Biden as overly supportive of those who have protested Floyd's death.

"Antifa destroys our communities. Rioting. Looting. Yet Joe Biden kneels down," the narrator says, as footage of Biden kneeling at a church in Wilmington, Del., is superimposed over images of violent protests.

Biden, who held an event Thursday in Philadelphia related to recovering economically from the coronavirus crisis, issued a statement ahead of Trump's trip to Dallas questioning the president's motives.

"For weeks we've seen President Trump run away from a meaningful conversation on systemic racism and police brutality," the former vice president said. "Instead, he has further divided our country. Today's trip to Texas won't change any of that. President Trump is more interested in photo ops than offering a healing voice as our nation mourns."

At the event, Biden criticized Trump for planning a campaign rally next week in Tulsa, the site of a race massacre in 1921, one of the worst episodes of racial violence in American history. Trump's rally is set to take place on Juneteenth, a holiday marked on June 19, 1865, when Maj. General Gordon Granger in Texas read an order freeing all slaves.

"He's going down to Texas on Juneteenth right?" Biden said, although Trump is going to Tulsa. "The first major massacre, literally speaking, of the Black Wall Street, years ago. And he's gonna have a rally, gonna have a rally. And he doesn't wear a mask . . . I mean come on."

Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said Biden "completely botched his lines" and "doesn't know what he's talking about."

"As the party of Lincoln, Republicans are rightly proud of what Juneteenth represents and of President Trump's excellent record of achievement for Black Americans," she said.

After Thursday's roundtable, Trump was scheduled to attend a high-dollar fundraiser at a private residence in the city before heading to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.

- - -

The Washington Post's Matt Viser contributed to this report.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: A city magistrate court on Thursday granted bail to Amulya Leona in a sedition case against her for raising pro-Pakistan slogans. Amulya (19) was arrested by the Upparpet police for allegedly shouting Pakistan Zindabad slogans at an anti-CAA protest held at Freedom Park in February in which Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi had taken part.

While the 60th Additional City Civil and Sessions Court judge Vidyadhar Shirahatti had dismissed her bail petition on Wednesday, the 5th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) court granted her bail as the police had not submitted the chargesheet to the court within the stipulated 90 days.

Police sources said that Amulya, who is lodged at Bengaluru Central Prison in Parappana Agrahara, was not released as the bail formalities were not yet completed. The process may be completed on Friday and she may be released by evening, a police officer said.

Amulya, a journalism student from Chikkamagaluru, has been lodged in jail for over four months. Her counsel Prasanna R had moved the bail plea on June 2 as the police had not submitted the chargesheet and had argued that she was eligible for default bail. Police submitted the chargesheet on June 3.
He hopes his resignation report will be considered soon.

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, who has recently resigned as leader of the Holos (Voice) Party, is stepping down as a lawmaker.

"Today I registered a statement on stepping down as a Ukrainian lawmaker. It is registered, and I hope it will be duly considered in the near future," he told a briefing at Kyiv's Mariyinsky Park on Thursday, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

According to LB.ua, a number of aspects led to the lawmaker making such a decision. In particular, Vakarchuk refused to sign the submission on the immediate dismissal of Arsen Avakov from the Interior Ministry, and his party members were not happy about it. However, MPs referred to this as "working discussions." At that moment, Vakarchuk was in the city Lviv visiting his mother.

Meanwhile, Vakarchuk retains his presence in the Holos Party.

Read alsoZelensky still in lead of presidential rating, despite some slide in positions  poll

According to sources, he disengaged from participation in parliamentary and party life after Kira Rudik was elected leader of Holos Party.

Also, sources in the party link Vakarchuk's decision with the approaching local elections: "some of us believe Holos needs more stringent positioning, and Svyatoslav's position is thwarting this."

As UNIAN reported earlier, Vakarchuk had already resigned from parliament a year after his election as an MP of the Our Ukraine  People's Self-Defense Party in 2007.

During the parliamentary campaign in 2019, Vakarchuk repeatedly said he was joining politics "seriously and for long."
Hong Kong police arrest 53 rioters during new protest

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 5:10 AM

Police in Hong Kong have arrested 53 rioters during a protest against the passage of a national security bill in the global financial hub.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets and blocked roads in Hong Kong's Central district on Tuesday evening, one year since often violent protests erupted over another bill.

Police fired pepper spray to disperse the protesters, who had defied a ban on gatherings of more than eight people introduced by the Hong Kong government to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus disease.

"A large group of protesters gathered in Central last night. They blocked roads repeatedly and behaved in a disorderly manner," police said in a statement early on Wednesday.

A total of 36 males and 17 females were arrested for offenses, including unlawful assembly, police said.

Last month, semi-autonomous Hong Kong's legislature debated and passed a law that potentially criminalizes sedition, secession, and subversion.

Beijing insists that the new law does not pose a threat to Hong Kong's autonomy and the interests of foreign investors, noting that it is merely meant to prevent terrorism and foreign interference there, which were evident in the violent riots there against the government last year.

Authorities in Hong Kong have also said there is no cause for concern and the legislation will target a minority of violent rioters.

The details of the security law have yet to be revealed.

Hong Kong had been rocked by turbulent protests since June last year, when the government of the semi-autonomous territory proposed a bill that would have reformed the city's extradition law. The bill was later withdrawn, but protests continued and took on violent forms.

They largely subsided when the coronavirus pandemic began, but the introduction of the new law has rekindled the protests.

The Chinese government says the United States and Britain fanned the flames of the unrest in Hong Kong by supporting rioters.

Hong Kong has been governed under a "one-country, two-system" model since the city  a former British colony  was returned to China in 1997.

China expresses concern to Japan over prime minister's remark

Meanwhile, China says it has expressed grave concern to Japan over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent remarks about Hong Kong.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that Hong Kong was China's internal affairs and foreign countries did not have a right to interfere.

Hua's remarks came after Abe said Tokyo wanted to take the lead among the Group of Seven (G7) countries to issue a statement about the situation in Hong Kong.

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In tribute to the memory of George Floyd, who died at the hands of the Minneapolis police, and in support of the worldwide outcry over his death, PWs comics editors have compiled a list of graphic titles about African American life and history. The titles listed here are primarily nonfiction graphic works that address topics including the Civil Rights Movement, hip-hop, gentrification, white supremacy, the criminal justice system, police brutality, and the lives of black women. In addition the list also offers several works of fiction that offer insights into similar topics via their settings and skillful characterizations. We welcome suggestions for other titles to add to our list.

Black Life and History

A Black Woman Did That by Malaika Adero and Chante Timothy (Downtown Bookworks)

A lively compilation of illustrated biographical profiles of 42 dynamic black women whose accomplishments have transformed the world, including such figures as Michelle Obama, Ida B. Wells, Serena Williams, Ava DuVernay, and Stacey Adams. For young readers.

Bingo Love by Tee Franklin and Jenn St-Onge (Image).

Hazel and Mari, two black teen girls, meet at a bingo hall in 1963 and fall in love but must hide their feelings and go separate ways, only to accidentally reunite decades laterafter marriage and raising childrenin a lovingly rendered fictional tale about second chance queer love.

Black History in Its Own Words by Ronald Wimberly (Image)

A collection of inspirational quotations from black leaders and artists throughout American history accompanied by Wimberlys evocative drawings.

Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence by Geoffrey Canada with art by Jamar Nicholas (Beacon)

This vivid graphic adaptation of Canadas acclaimed memoir marks his emotional evolution as he moves through escalating levels of neighborhood violence while growing up poor in the Bronx.

Ghetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker by Julian Voloj with art by Claudia Ahlering (NBM)

The true story of Bronx legend Benjy Melendez, son of Puerto-Rican immigrants, who founded the notorious Ghetto Brothers gang in the 1960s before establishing peace between the warring gangs in the 1970s in what was a prelude to the Hip-hop era.

Hip Hop Family Tree by Ed Piskor (Fantagraphics)

This massive 4-volume graphic history of Hip-hop beginning in the 1970s in the Bronx covers four decades of musical, visual, and literary innovation that has transformed music and youth culture around the world.

Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers (Drawn & Quarterly)

Flowers offers a series of poignant and insightful graphic stories that explore the lives of black women, the cultural complexities around their hair, and issues of race and class in the U.S. and in Africa.

Kindred by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and John Jennings (Abrams ComicArts)

Recreated graphically, Butlers acclaimed 1979 novel tells the story of an -African American woman from the 1970s who travels back in time to slavery and meets an unlikely ancestor.

Nat Turner by Kyle Baker (Abrams)

Bakers powerful graphic work depicts the life and times of the self-educated African American preacher who led a slave revolt in Southampton County, Va., in 1831, believing that God wanted him to free the slaves.

Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm by Percy Carey and art by Ron Wimberly (Vertigo)

The true story of the life of legendary Hip Hop MC Percy MF Grimm from his time as child actor on Sesame Street, then as a drug dealer who uses a wheelchair after a murder attempt, and his eventual rise to become an underground rap star.

Showtime at the Apollo: The Epic Tale of Harlems Legendary Theater by Ted Fox and James Otis Smith (Abrams ComicArts)

Foxs history of the famous venue surveys the personalities and social issues that have impacted the theater and the Harlem neighborhood that surrounds it, over the course of 85 years.

Six Days in Cincinnati: A Graphic Account of the Riots That Shook the Nation a Decade Before Black Lives Matter by Dan Mendez Moore (Microcosm)

An account of an uprising that engulfed Cincinnati in 2001 after 19-year-old Timothy Thomas was killed by the police, as told from the viewpoint of a participant in the civil disobedience.

Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History by Joel Christian Gill (Fulcrum). The lives of little known figures in black American history such as Box Brown and Bass Reeves are featured in biographical stories that bring them back to life.

Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse (First Second).

A pioneering queer/civil rights graphic novel based in-part on Cruses life, it is the story of a young gay white man growing up in the Jim Crow south and his complex relationships with queer and straight members of the African American community in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement.

Yummy: the last days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri and Randy Duburke (Lee and Low)

A YA graphic novel based on the life and death of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, an 11-year-old gang member from Chicago's Southside who was killed by members of his own gang.

Civil Rights Movement

March Trilogy by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (TopShelf)

The three volumes covering the life of Rep. John Lewis offer a gripping and panoramic narrative of the Civil Rights Movement across the arc of Lewis heroic social activism and public service.

King: A Comics Biography by Ho Che Anderson (Fantagraphics)

The final deluxe hardcover compilation edition of a pioneering and critically acclaimed graphic biography of Martin Luther King Jr. has been praised for its expansive and creative depiction of Kings life.

Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story by Fellowship of Reconciliation, Alfred Hassler, Benton Resnick (Fellowship of Reconciliation)

The landmark 16-page 1957 comic book account of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Rosa Parks details the tenets of the philosophy of nonviolence as well as the tactics used to battle Jim Crow segregation on city buses.

Criminal Justice

Big Black: Stand at Attica by Frank Big Black Smith and Jared Reinmuth, art by Ameziane. (Archaia)

A graphic memoir by the late Frank Big Black Smith, a former Attica prison inmate later turned prisoner-rights advocate, who was an inmate leader during the four-day 1971 Attica prison uprising, a landmark event in the history of mass incarceration.

Race to Incarcerate by Marc Mauer with art by Sabrina Jones (New Press)

Maurer and Jones adapt Maurers landmark examination of four decades of the explosive and socially corrosive expansion of the American prison population into a graphic work.

The Real Cost of Prisons Comix edited by Lois Ahrens (PM Press)

This anthology of comics looks at the economics, racial disparity, and racist social impact around financing and building prisons.

Race and Social Justice

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet by Ta-Nehesi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze (Marvel)

The classic Marvel black superhero, the Black Panther TChalla, King of the Afrofuturist African domain of Wakanda, has been reimagined for a new generation by National Book Award winner Coates.

BTTM FDRS by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore (Fantagraphics)

An irresistible combination of satire and horror in a quirky graphic exploration of urban gentrification, racial tropes, and class among the young and insufferably hip in a former working class Chicago neighborhood.

I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Media with art by Stacey Robinson and John Jennings (Lee and Low)

This complex and inspirational graphic novel is aimed at young adults and memorializes a number of victims of police violence (among them Eleanor Bumpurs, Amadou Diallo, and writer Henry Dumas), while also probing the issues surrounding police brutality and Black Lives Matter.

Your Black Friend and Other Strangers by Ben Passmore (Silver Sprocket).

These thoughtful and dazzlingly illustrated short stories and graphic essays focus on contemporary responses to race, prisons, police brutality, gentrification, radical politics, and more.
Facial recognition technology, a controversial piece of software criticized for its inaccuracies and potential to violate peoples civil liberties, will not be used by Amazon or IBM any time soon, the companies said this week.

Amazon Rekognition, the companys face identification technology that launched in 2016 and has been sold to multiple U.S. government agencies, will not be used by law enforcement for at least a year, the business said in a statement.

The companys one-year moratorium on the softwares use by police does not apply to organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Marinus Analytics. Those groups can use the software to help rescue human trafficking victims and reunite missing children with their families, according to Amazons statement.

Technology that uses artificial intelligence to identify people based on their facial features, using databases of photographs to do so, has been condemned by activists, public officials and even some police officers for its capacity to intrude on personal privacies.

Opponents of the software have also claimed it has been abused by totalitarian governments like China and frequently misidentifies individuals, especially people of color.

Despite concerns surrounding facial recognition and other forms of biometric surveillance, the technology remains largely unregulated at the state and national levels. However, activists and technology business leaders have noted it is likely Congress may restrict law enforcements use of facial recognition soon.

Weve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge, Amazon said in its statement. We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.

IBM was more vocal in its condemnation of the technology. In a letter sent to congressional leaders, CEO Arvind Krishna noted his business no longer offers general purpose facial recognition or analysis software.

The U.S.-based computer hardware company firmly opposes using any technology, including facial recognition software, for mass surveillance, racial profiling and the violation of basic human rights and freedoms, Krishna said.

We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies, the CEO wrote in his letter. "Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool that can help law enforcement keep citizens safe.

But vendors and users of Al systems have a shared responsibility to ensure that Al is tested for bias, particularity when used in law enforcement, and that such bias testing is audited and reported.

The two companies announcements come amid nationwide outrage over the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 and a half minutes, even after Floyd lost consciousness.

Floyds death has sparked hundred of protests throughout the world, many of which have called for an end to systemic racism and an overhaul of the policing model in the United States.

In his letter to Congress, Krishna wrote that the horrible and tragic killings of Floyd, as well as Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and too many others, are a reminder that the fight against racism remains urgent.

To that end, IBM would like to work with Congress in pursuit of justice and racial equity, focused initially in three key policy areas: police reform, responsible use of technology, and broadening skills and educational opportunities, the CEO said.

He suggested that Congress try more police misconduct cases federally, create a national registry of officers wrongdoing and make modifications to a Supreme Court-issued doctrine called qualified immunity that shields governmental officials, like police officers, from being sued for discretionary actions performed on the job.

The CEO also urged congressional leaders to increase transparency and help police protect communities by legislating technologies like body cameras, modern data analytics techniques and facial recognition.

To date, no state has passed a law banning the software, though a bill in the Massachusetts State House remains under consideration that, if passed, would place a moratorium on government agencies use of facial recognition technology.

As state and federal legislation governing the softwares use is lacking, many towns and cities throughout the country have taken it upon themselves to pass municipal bans of the technology.

In Massachusetts, such restrictions have been signed into law in Brookline, Cambridge, Northampton, Somerville and, most recently, Springfield. City councilors in Boston and Easthampton are also considering banning the software.

The majority of the communities in the commonwealth that passed ordinances prohibiting the use of facial recognition did so in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which started a campaign last summer called Press Pause on Face Surveillance to bring awareness to the issue.

The group has been critical of Amazon Rekognition and conducted a test last year of the facial recognition software to identify 188 New England athletes. The test misidentified 28 of the players, matching them to mugshots in an arrest photograph database.

The digital rights group Fight for the Future has also lambasted Amazons technology. The organization, which was founded in Worcester but is based now in Boston, has fought for facial recognition to be completely restricted on college campuses and elsewhere.

In a statement Wednesday, the group called Amazons one-year moratorium on its facial recognition software nothing more than a public relations stunt and a sign that the technology has become increasingly politically toxic.

Amazon knows that facial recognition software is dangerous. They know its the perfect tool for tyranny. They know its racist - and that in the hands of police it will simply exacerbate systemic discrimination in our criminal justice system, Evan Greer, deputy director of Fight for the Future, wrote in her statement.

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J oe Gebbia, co-founder of home-sharing giant Airbnb, has spent lockdown with his sister and her two kids. So Ive seen firsthand what its like to have kids in the middle of all of this madness. Its a feat to have kids and work from home, its pretty incredible, he tells the Standard.

Airbnb, like most other travel companies, has had a rough few months. The global pandemic meant it had to cut 1,900 jobs - or 25 per cent of its workforce, in early May. At the time, fellow co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky called coronavirus the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime in an email to employees.

But the company is making a comeback - and domestic travel will be a big focus for the foreseeable. Today, the home-sharing platform is launching an initiative called Go Near which will see a major update to its homepage and app and a push to support local economies.

We know through our data and through consumer behaviour that there is increasing demand for domestic travel, Gebbia continues.

Between May 18 and 31, there were more nights booked for domestic travel on Airbnb globally than there was in the same period in 2019. Were seeing this incredible boost in domestic bookings and this is global - its in the US, Germany, Korea, New Zealand, Portugal, Netherlands.

Gebbia attributes the boost to people being stuck at home for the past few months and wanting a change of scenery and says his current wishlist on the platform (titled Quarandream) is made up of scenic locales like Big Sur, Sea Ranch and Napa Valley, all close to his San Francisco base.

He adds: Whats really exciting is that you dont have to go far - its going to be all about staying near and taking your family, your loved ones or your partner and getting out for the weekend.

Cleanliness will also be a big push in the coming months, Gebbia says, and Airbnb will increase its standards on cleanliness going forward. The company has even partnered with former US surgeon general Vivek Murphy to design new sharing standards for homes with really robust cleaning protocols.

But will guests want to share spaces with hosts in the future, given everything thats happened? Gebbia thinks that hosts have every incentive to make sure their places are clean but theres something nice about the space and privacy that an entire home affords you.

And as for pandemic-proofing the business for the future, so hosts dont lose out on months of revenue, he says: The first thing we can do is update our cleaning standards, which we have done and are very excited about. I think that its important for hosts to think about themselves as a small business, which is really what they are. And just to look into all the things that, as a small business, they can do to insure and protect themselves as a small business.

Staying with a host is investing in a small business.

Gebbia adds: As consumers are waking up to travel again and looking at options, looking at Airbnb, when you travel with Airbnb youre kind of supporting small business in a way. Staying with a host is investing in a small business. So when people are booking these rural trips and these scenic getaways, theyre stimulating the economy again, theyre putting money back into small businesses.

In April, the Financial Times reported that Airbnb had lowered its internal valuation by 16 per cent to $26 billion (20.5 billion). Airbnb takes a 3 per cent host service fee and a 14.2 per cent guest service fee, this jumps to 20 per cent for its experiences. Despite London having a 90-day cap on entire home listings, a 2018 article from Wired found that the capital can see up to 20,000 Airbnb bookings per week, with each host earning an average of 106 per night. These small businesses have created an Airbnb effect on local housing markets around the world, Forbes says, and while it can benefit local economies, research from the Harvard Business Review found that Airbnb is having a detrimental impact on housing prices and rent.

While UK Airbnb bookings are currently on hold until July 4, Gebbia says when it does return it will work with tourist agencies to bring back travel in a responsible way and that the impending recession will be a great time for people to become hosts.

Obviously this is a very interesting economic time, so we know - kind of like after the Great Recession - when we first launched in 2009 and 2010, people are looking for incredibly affordable places to stay, theyre looking for deals, Gebbia continues.

If the Great Recession was any indication, this is a great time for people to become hosts. This is a great time for people to earn some income with the extra spare room down the hall or the empty space they have that you can convert to host guests. We have to admit that our early growth was on the back of an economic downturn, so I think that youll see more options pop up on Airbnb in the next month and the next year or so.

Looking ahead, Gebbia thinks staycations and weekend getaways are the way forward. I dont think people are ready to get back on planes, he says. That will come back eventually of course, travel is inherently part of being human, even after any of the public health concerns over the past few decades, travel always bounces back. It actually bounces back stronger than before whatever the situation was. Its not a question of if, its a question of when people will get back on planes.

Rural destinations will be trending, Gebbia predicts, as people will want to get away from big cities. People will want to get out to more scenic and less dense destinations. And were seeing that in some of the places people are booking now. These are like second or third-tier cities, smaller populations, a bit more rural in their nature and just a chance to get outdoors.

Virtual experiences, which the platform introduced back in April , are here to stay, too. During lockdown, Gebbia had a virtual experience with a Japanese monk, where he learnt the history of monks in Japan and meditated along with the seven others on the call.

This is one of the most exciting things that has come out of this whole experience, Gebbia adds. I didnt have to go to Japan, Japan came to me.

For guests and people working its something interesting to do, its very low effort, its very easy to try out and super affordable too. Were seeing incredible uptick and excitement and its making a significant impact on our hosts and at this time it means the world to them.
A statewide ban on evictions of renters remained in place Wednesday, as California judicial leaders, seemingly prepared to lift the moratorium they imposed two months ago, abruptly put the issue on hold to give lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom time to create a new plan.

The Judicial Council, which makes policy decisions for the states courts, had scheduled a vote Wednesday on a proposal to allow evictions to resume after Aug. 3. But about an hour before the vote was to have been announced, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the council chair, announced a change of course.

After discussions with the governor, legislative leaders and Judicial Council members  as well as hearing from residents with many different viewpoints  I have suspended for the time being the vote on the emergency rules dealing with evictions and judicial foreclosures, Cantil-Sakauye said. I believe the executive and legislative branches will need more time to sort through various policy proposals.

In a separate action, the council voted 17-2 Wednesday to repeal another order it issued in April that required courts statewide to release without bail defendants arrested for misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies. Exceptions were for felonies involving domestic abuse, stalking, sex crimes or drunken driving.

The tabling of the eviction vote highlighted an unexpected difference of opinion among the 21 council members, who include judges, lawyers and legislators.

The Judicial Councils administrative director, Martin Hoshino, had said the councils emergency order had served its purpose and was no longer needed.

These rules achieved their goals: to reduce harm, save lives, and help flatten the curve of the pandemic by allowing people to remain in their home, Hoshino said.

But state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, a Judicial Council member, argued for keeping the eviction ban and said the council should give lawmakers time to address the issue. The council told tenants in April that they would not face eviction for nonpayment of rent until 90 days after the emergency was over, and it certainly isnt over, Jackson said in an interview.

The councils order, which took effect on April 13, halted legal procedures used by property owners to initiate and enforce evictions  in particular, the summons that requires tenants to respond within five days. While Newsom had previously ordered a two-month halt on evictions of tenants unable to pay rent because of the pandemic, an order due to expire July 27, the councils order applies to all evictions regardless of cause.

Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill Wednesday to bar evictions throughout the pandemic. If approved, AB1436 would take effect next year.

San Francisco supervisors endorsed a similar measure Tuesday for evictions within city limits.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Debra Carlton of the California Apartment Association said any such legislation would harm property owners by depriving them of rent payments. The association supports SB1410 by Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, which would provide state funds to landlords whose tenants were unable to pay rent because of the pandemic.

Those owners will struggle to pay their own bills, resulting in foreclosures at many properties and the loss of much-needed rental housing, Carlton said.

Nettie Atkinson and her husband own a duplex in San Franciscos Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood and rent the upstairs apartment to a family. She spoke of her work in the community  raising money for a playground at her childrens elementary school, working at the local food bank during the pandemic  and of rents that barely cover the interest on their mortgage, leaving the principal still unpaid.

Atkinson pointed out that renters who are shielded from eviction still owe landlords their rent, whether they can pay it or not.

How are they going to pay back their rents? Atkinson asked. What these people need is rental assistance.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Photo: @pgarapon

By David Crawford

At the end of the Second World War, during the Nuremburg war crime trials, it was learned how soldiers and guards at extermination camps felt they were unable to say no to the orders they received.

Orders which would have been abhorrent to a civilian (Shoot this prisoner) could not, in the soldiers minds, be disobeyed. It was an order from a superior. Orders must be obeyed. Ergo sum, the prisoner was shot. The Jews and Gypsies were loaded onto trains to Auschwitz. I am doing what I was told to do.

A lawful order could not be disobeyed, on pain of being executed yourself. Questioning an order was unthinkable.

Orders are orders.

This attitude ultimately led to most western democracies adapting their laws and codes of conduct such that soldiers, police officers, firefighters, anyone, is allowed to deny an order if they believe it to be illegal. Similar to being able to not work in an unsafe workplace.

Moral superiority was achieved. Soldiers would never be robots, murdering the masses under the auspices of lawful orders. The sadists were restrained.

Fast forward to today.

The moral outrage being exhibited by most of the world over the death of George Floyd is considerable, and righteous.

But the outrage is not shared by all.

Police still wade into peaceful protesters, swinging truncheons and aiming pepper spray, because they have been told to do so. Would they do this if they were alone, and out of uniform? Where is their moral bravery then?

Helicopter pilots still hover over crowds, dispersing peaceful protesters with their rotor downwash. Why did the pilot not say, No?

A U.S. Defence Department official resigns in protest because the Secretary of Defence sided with the idiot Donald Trump in his church publicity stunt.

Good for them. Good for all whistleblowers.

My question is  where is everyone else?

Why only one whistleblower over the Ukraine scandal? Why only one defence official resigning after the little man held up his Bible with his boss alongside?

Where are the hordes of those who have morals and outrage and shock at what is happening?

They sit in silence.

And here is why I get scared, actually fearful for my friends in the United States.

The streets are filled with those willing to say it like it is, and to express their outrage. And the leader of their country wants to roll out the tanks to stop them. The bayonets are clicking onto rifles of their own army.

The telling thing about American society is that the halls of power are silent. Enablers and supporters of this fascism lay quiet in their cubicles, unwilling to disobey orders or make waves  because they enjoy being close to power, or are fearful of repercussions, or need the pay cheque.

Silence reigns. And it is deafening.

I believe these silent ones are just as guilty, just as abhorrent, as those who are murdering our black friends.

If you think for one instant that the United States is morally superior to WWII Germany, if you think there is no way any good American could ever find themselves at the end of a smoking gun, standing over a death pit, look no further than the officers harassing and killing black people who are just living their lives. Or the ones herding children into fenced cages along the southern U.S. border. Or the ones typing the policy memos for what law enforcement should do.

These people are not, or werent, monsters. They truly believe they are being good, upstanding Americans as they aim their rubber bullets or load magazines of real ones, or click shut the locks on fences.

But blind, unfailing allegiance to a morally corrupt administration and an idiot for a commander-in-chief tells the real story.

Orders are orders.

The teenagers strangling 'dissidents in Cambodias killing fields were not psychotic deviants. They were raised to believe that doctors and teachers and anyone educated were evil and must be rooted out and exterminated.

People able to think for themselves were the enemy. They pledged their Oath of Allegiance every morning, just like any good citizen. And then they went to work.

If you think Americans could never descend into this kind of madness, you havent been paying attention.

The airport screener who demands little old ladies in wheelchairs stand up to be scanned because they might be a terrorist and orders are orders, youve just found your first SS recruit.

If you need more, look at the police officers and their mob mentality as they wail on protesters.

Look at staffers in the White House not picking up the phone to reporters.

They are all just following orders. Or, even more disgusting, they are just going along, saying nothing. Not making waves. Turning a blind eye.

Not looking at the knee on the neck. Not wanting to know where the trains are going.

Or that is what theyll claim in their cowardly defence when or if the legal consequences hit the fan for them and their ilk. Who could have known this was going on? What a terrible thing! Id better wring my hands in sympathy

The cognitive dissonance of knowing, or claiming to know, what is right and just, yet still following orders, or actively ignoring what you see, will not and should not wash.

The helicopter still flies.

The protesters still get pounded.

George Floyd still gets killed.

America has lost its way, and it saddens me. I am not without hope, however, so keep marching, keep shouting, keep holding your vigils and peacefully holding the high moral ground.

It may, I hope, bring out the people who are just going along, and encourage the ones on the front lines to say, No!
Thomas Lane, one of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged over the killing of George Floyd, has left jail after posting $750,000 bail, according to reports.

The 37-year-old was released from the Hennepin County jail shortly after 4pm on Wednesday, the Star Tribune reported, citing a Sheriff's Office spokesperson.

Mr Lane is charged with aiding and abetting in the 25 May killing of Mr Floyd, as are two other former police officers, Tou Thao and J Alexander Keung.

Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Mr Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes as he begged for mercy and onlookers pleaded with him to stop, is charged with second degree murder and manslaughter.

Mr Lane's attorney, Earl Gray, was quoted as saying that his client had accepted bail with conditions. He said that his whereabouts were being kept secret for his protection.

Police mugshot of former Minneapolis officer Thomas Lane following his arrest over the killing of George Floyd (via REUTERS)

However, he said he was preparing to file a motion to dismiss the charges against him.

Mr Lane's next court appearance is scheduled for 29 June.

He is believed to have held down Mr Floyd's legs while Mr Keung held him down on his back and Mr Chauvin knelt on his neck. Mr Floyd was arrested on suspicion of passing a bad cheque for $20.

His death has sparked weeks of protests across the United States and in cities around the world including London, Paris and Berlin, focusing on police brutality against people of colour and racial justice.

On Wednesday his brother, Philonise Floyd, during an appearance at a congressional committee, called on politicians to "stop the pain".

He said: "George called for help, and he was ignored. Please listen to the call I'm making to you now, to the calls of our family, and the calls ringing out on the streets across the world," he said.

He added: "It's my job to comfort my brothers and my sisters, [George Floyd's] kids, and everyone who loved him. And that's a lot of people. I have to be the strong one now because George is gone."
- The GCC's Largest Consumer Survey Rewards the Region's Most Innovative FMCG and Service Brands

DUBAI, UAE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Established in France in 1987, Product of the Year (POY), the world's largest consumer-voted award for product innovation, celebrates its 8th edition this year in an unprecedented way. With Covid-19 putting a halt to physical events around the world, POY, the advocator of innovation, rises above the situation's challenges and stays true to its yearly mission.

For the past three decades, POY has been pushing the boundaries of innovation for thousands of brands, contributing to brand storytelling and sales growth in the 45 countries it operates in. This year, it pushes its own boundaries, finding opportunity in crisis to digitize its award ceremony.

On June 10 and in the presence of all winners, POY held an online announcement event where this year's consumer-voted products were celebrated for their innovation, attractiveness, and purchase intent.

"Today more than ever, the POY logo adds a stamp of credibility to products. In times of health and economic crisis where the consumer's uncertainty is at its peak, the logo comes to add a considerable value to brands' recognition and distinction," said Ms. Dory Kfoury, CEO, Product of the Year, Middle East & North Africa. He adds, "Being voted BY the consumer FOR the consumer, the POY logo has established itself as the genuine expression of satisfaction and trust that helps companies stand out in a highly dynamic and competitive market."

Shortlisted by an expert committee, the 2020 finalists were submitted to a national consumer survey conducted by Nielsen, a global leader in consumer research. Based on the votes of thousands of consumers, the top new products were defined in 17 FMCG and service categories, including:

Personal Care: Gilette Skinguard, Betadine Feminine Cleanser.

Food & Beverage: NADEC Fresh Juice, Nai Iced Tea Range, Rabea Karak Team, Hellmann's Sauce Range.

Baby Care : Arla Baby & Me Organic Baby Milk, Arla Baby & Me Organic Porridge, Pampers Pants, Kabrita Infant Milk.

: Arla Baby & Me Organic Baby Milk, Arla Baby & Me Organic Porridge, Pampers Pants, Kabrita Infant Milk. Fabric Care: Ariel Pods.

Services: Waafer Saving account by SABB Bank, Mobile App by Mobily, Marriott Bonvoy Card by Emirates NBD Bank, MySeva Credit Card by Finance House.

Mobile: Energizer Mobile E24S1, Lifetime Cable.

To view the full details of winners, click here: http://www.poymena.com/gulf/winners-2020/

Zeina Estwany, Chief Commercial Officer Middle East at Product of the Year asserted: "The POY is proud to be the only award that is 100% voted by consumers. This award aims at instigating brands to be consumer-driven and constantly surpassing themselves to answer the needs for exceptionally unique products. In times when trust in products is becoming controversial, we are happy to contribute in granting brands leverage they can build on."

About Product of the Year

Product of the Year is the world's largest consumer-voted award for product innovation. Established 1987 in France, POY now operates in over 40 countries around the world with the same core purpose: to guide consumers to the newest products in the market, and to reward manufacturers and service providers for product and marketing innovation.

Relying on a transparent voting process by the consumers to the consumers, the company serves as a shortcut for shoppers by recognizing the products that showcase unique and creative features. By bearing the Product of the Year logo, the winning products carry the solid promise of integrity and the proven results of marketing and awareness efficiency.

To learn more about Product of the Year: www.poymena.com / www.poyworldwide.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1176389/POY_GULF_2020_GROUPSHOT.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1176388/POY_GULF_Logo.jpg
UK businesses are already 'on the floor' because of coronavirus and cannot handle the double whammy of no trade deal with the EU, Boris Johnson was warned today.

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, the outgoing head of the CBI, warned the PM that firms have used up large amounts of their cash and stockpiles and will be battered if the transition period ends in December without an agreement.

It came as talks designed to agree a deal from 2021 remain totally stagnated, with the UK and EU at odds over issues including fishing waters and financial services rules and regulations.

Opposition parties have demanded that the two sides agree to extend the transition period in to 2021 to allow both sides to begin to recover from the pandemic before making a deal.

But addressing MPs this morning, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the UK would 'under no circumstances' extend transition past December 31 - even if no deal was agreed.

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, the outgoing head of the CBI, warned the PM that firms have used up large amounts of their cash and stockpiles and will be battered if the transition period ends in December without an agreement

Speaking to the BBC today Dame Carolyn said: 'The resilience of British business is absolutely on the floor.

'Every penny of cash that had been stored up, all the stockpiles prepared have been run down.

'The firms that I speak to have not a spare moment to plan for a no trade deal Brexit at the end of the year - that is the common sense voice that needs to find its way into these negotiations.'

However, Dame Carolynn has also spoken out against extending the transition period.

Last week she said businesses will not support any further delay to the Brexit process and want to get on with leaving the EU even if it risks exiting without a trade deal at the end of this year.

The CBI opposed Brexit and has previously voiced support for a longer transition, which could theoretically be extended until the end of 2022.

'We have left the EU politically, ee do now need to leave the EU economically,' Dame Carolyn told Newsnight last week.

'Business does not have any interest in delaying that because that is uncertainty magnified.

'Most businesses  not all, but most  still recognise the importance of getting to a conclusion.'

Dame Caroly is stepping down in November and will be succeeded by Tony Danker, the current chief executive of Be The Business.

She had expected to complete her five-year term in September but agreed to extend it to see through the work of the CBI during the current crisis.

On Friday EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier accused the UK of backtracking on a key agreement in post-Brexit trade talks today, as British officials revealed they have have abandoned plans to walk away from the negotiations by the end of the month.

Boris Johnson intimated in February that June would be the time for reflection' on whether a deal with Brussels was possible befoe the transition period end in December.

But as talks between the two sides remained mired in deadlock today, the UK Government indicated it wanted talks to continue into July to allow an agreement to be reached.

Addressing the Commons today Mr Gove said: 'The transition period ends on December 31 2020. Under no circumstances will the Government accept an extension.

'Indeed, we have a domestic law obligation not to accept.

'Extending simply delays the moment at which we achieve what we want and what the country voted for - our economic and political independence.'
A mother who was convicted of the attempted murder of her then-13-year-old son is seen protesting her innocence while awaiting trial in a new documentary.

In 2018, Danita Tutt, 44, from Texas, was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of lying about her son Colton's medical condition and subjecting him to unneeded surgeries, as well as intentionally depriving him of food and water.

Colton survived, despite being admitted to a hospice when doctors said there was nothing more they could do for him.

Appearing in the Crime+Investigation documentary series Accused: Guilty or Innocent? - filmed while she was being held on a $25,000 bond in 2016 - the mother told how the accusations were like someone 'stabbing her in the heart'.

Danita Tutt, 44, from Texas, was charged in 2016 with serious bodily injury to her son and found guilty of attempted murder

She was found guilty of lying about her son's medical condition and subjecting him to unneeded surgeries, as well as intentionally depriving him of food and water. She is pictured with son Colby

'Me and that accusation don't go in the same sentence,' Danita explained. 'I can't even wrap my head around it. It destroys me as a mother. It destroys me as a human being.

'It feels like someone took a knife, stabbed me in my heart and is stabbing me in the heart over and over.'

'My whole world is Colby, I know what's been said about me and I'm frightened that I won't get a fair trial.'

Danita's two children remain in the custody of their maternal grandparents after the CPS and Tutt reached a settlement agreeing to dismiss the suit to remove her parental rights in 2017.

Colby suffers from heart and kidney issues as well as low bone density. Over the last 15 years he has been under constant medical supervision and has endured 17 surgeries.

Danita was sentenced to five years in prison for the attempted murder of her son Colton.She is pictured during her trial

In 2015, his stomach and colon issues worsened and he became dangerously malnourished. He had two surgeries to try and improve his condition, which were unsuccessful.

According to the documentary, doctors said there was no more they could do for Colby and referred him to a hospice.

FAKING IT: WHAT IS MUNCHAUSEN'S? Munchausen's syndrome is a psychological disorder where someone pretends to be ill or deliberately produces symptoms of illness in themselves. Their main intention is to assume the 'sick role' so that people care for them and they are the centre of attention. Any practical benefit in pretending to be sick  for example, claiming incapacity benefit  is not the reason for their behaviour. Munchausen's syndrome is named after a German aristocrat, Baron Munchausen, who became famous for telling wild, unbelievable tales about his exploits. Munchausen's syndrome is complex and poorly understood. Many people refuse psychiatric treatment or psychological profiling, and it's unclear why people with the syndrome behave the way they do. People with Munchausen's syndrome can behave in a number of different ways, including: pretending to have psychological symptoms  for example, claiming to hear voices or claiming to see things that are not really there

pretending to have physical symptoms  for example, claiming to have chest pain or a stomach ache

actively trying to get ill  such as deliberately infecting a wound by rubbing dirt into it Some people with Munchausen's syndrome may spend years travelling from hospital to hospital faking a wide range of illnesses. When it's discovered they're lying, they may suddenly leave hospital and move to another area. People with Munchausen's syndrome can be very manipulative and, in the most serious cases, may undergo painful and sometimes life-threatening surgery, even though they know it's unnecessary. DIAGNOSIS Diagnosing Munchausen's syndrome can be challenging for medical professionals. People with the syndrome are often very convincing and skilled at manipulating and exploiting doctors. TREATMENT Treating Munchausen's syndrome can be difficult because most people with it refuse to admit they have a problem and refuse to co-operate with treatment plans. Some experts recommend that healthcare professionals should adopt a gentle non-confrontational approach, suggesting the person may benefit from a referral to a psychiatrist. Others argue that a person with Munchausen's syndrome should be confronted directly and asked why they've lied and whether they have stress and anxiety. People who have Munchausen's are genuinely mentally ill, but will often only admit to having a physical illness. If a person admits to their behaviour, they can be referred to a psychiatrist for further treatment. If they do not admit to lying, most experts agree the doctor in charge of their care should minimise medical contact with them. This is because the doctor-patient relationship is based on trust and if there's evidence the patient can no longer be trusted, the doctor is unable to continue treating them. SOURCE: NHS Advertisement

However, it was later discovered by hospice nurse Connie Koehler that Colton was not dying and was able to consume solid foods and liquids - leading her to report Danita.

Danita was accused at the time of being an 'attention-seeking type person' who enjoys 'the attention she gets for having a medically fragile child'.

However the mother was never officially diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a medical condition in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under his or her care.

Danita was found guilty of lying about her son's 'terminal illness' which led doctors to perform unnecessary surgeries and prescribe unnecessary pain medications to her son.

The surgeries included the placement of a central line which later led to a life-threatening blood infection, police alleged at the time.

The mother was found to be refusing to feed and provide water for Colby and had made funeral arrangements for him - even going as far as to buy him a coffin.

She was charged with three counts of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury and one count of attempted murder, but was found not guilty on the first two counts.

Fort Worth police began investigating after being contacted by CPS, who had taken emergency custody of Colby that same day.

The allegations against Danita were laid out in an indictment, which was read out to the mother ahead of her trial by her defense lawyer Terri Moore (pictured)

Reflecting on the case, Terri said: 'What's horrible is defending someone who with every bit of your being, you believe is innocent'

Hospice workers had reported to the agency that the mother had removed Colby from their care the night before without the doctor's permission - and in disregard for his heath and well-being.

The allegations against Danita were laid out in an indictment, which was read out to the mother ahead of her trial by her defense lawyer, Terri Moore.

'I know you've never been on trial before, for anything,' Terri explained. 'You've never even been in a courtroom or seen a real trial happening. You're going to need to be strong.

'The most hurtful thing is people are going to say things about you that will go to your core.'

Reading the indictment to Danita, Terri continued: 'His mother refused to have any food or drink brought to Colby, stating eating or drinking would only delay the inevitable.'

The mother, who is pictured at a fundraiser for her son, said the accusations were like someone 'stabbing her in the heart' and that her child is her 'whole world'

Referring to allegations she gave him unnecessary pain medication, she said'I just wanted him not to feel the pain, where he could enjoy himself and feel good'

'That's what she told me,' Danita snapped back, 'Connie told me that eating and drinking is prolonging him. I didn't know what prolonging the inevitable was until she said it to me.'

She then referred to allegations she had previously made funeral arrangements for her son, and had asked for pain medication to make him 'go to sleep and not wake up'.

'We would have never known what to do', she insisted, 'All the stuff she said I did, was all direction from her, she would tell us "I'm in control, we have the final say".'

'I just wanted him not to feel the pain, where he could enjoy himself and feel good.'

Reflecting on the case, Terri said: 'My view of Danita is that she is absolutely innocent of these charges I would far rather defend someone who is guilty, it doesn't feel weird defending someone who is guilty.

'What's horrible is defending someone who with every bit of your being, you believe is innocent.'

Accused: Guilty or Innocent? airs on Crime+Investigation on Tuesday 16th June
Reforms and not fiscal stimulus will bring the Indian economic growth back on the expected track, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18 the ratings agency noted that measures to liberalise labour market, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) reforms would be important to support the economy.

Beyond next year we are forecasting GDP growth of 6-7 percent for India. The countrys fiscal deficit this year is 11 percent of GDP, and there is need to see if the government can pull back deficit to below 10 percent next year. Will have to watch closely if fiscal debt-to-GDP shoots higher than 11 percent, the agency said.

Also Read: S&P rating affirmation gives only breathing space to Indian policymakers

It further added that so far there is no indication that India would look at direct government debt monetisation, stating that it would thus would be critical to look at nature and pace of government bond purchases by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Will need to look at circumstances under which the RBI decides to buy government bonds, it told the channel.

On the coronavirus outlook, S&P expects the pandemic to be contained by the end of this year. We expect global growth to come back on path of recovery by 2020-end.

It however added that there could be risks to the economy if situation is not addressed by a reform process. Since there is no indication that India would look at direct government debt monetisation, we see risks to the economy if not addressed by a reform process.

Also Read: Despite several measures, stress still visible in certain areas of financial markets, says RBI

It noted that IBC has helped alleviate issues in the banking sector; and the government lowered the corporate tax rate to boost private investment; the rate cuts should also be helpful in attracting foreign money.

Adding, Government measures should help non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) tide over this patch. We do see a decline in growth during a period of healing.

It also however noted that public sector investment would be difficult given that debt is at 80 percent of GDP.
Burkina Faso - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Sydney, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just released, this edition of Paul Budde Communications focus report on Burkina Faso outlines the major developments and key aspects in the telecoms markets.

Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Burkina-Faso-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

The telecom sector in Burkina Faso continues to be stymied by slow regulatory procedures and insufficient mobile spectrum, compounded by the poor condition of fixed-line networks which has held back the development of fixed-line internet services and rendered such services among the most expensive globally. The fixed-line incumbent Onatel is now 61%-owned by Maroc Telecom. It operates the countrys fixed-line network as well as one of the three mobile networks, Telmob.

Mobile telephony has experienced strong growth since competition was introduced in 2000. There has been some fluidity in ownership, with Zain having been acquired by Bharti Airtel before being sold on to Orange Group in 2016. Although market penetration remains below the African average, is continues to grow steadily.

Onatels FasoNet is the countrys leading internet service provider, offering DSL and EV-DO services. Internet penetration is extremely low, exacerbated by the high cost of connectivity despite price cuts introduced since 2011 in the wake of improved international bandwidth via fibre links through adjacent countries. These links provide access to the regions international submarine cables. Although about 50 ISPs have been licensed, only three compete with FasoNet, and collectively these have fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

As a result of poor fixed-line infrastructure the mobile operators have become significant players in the internet sector, accounting for most connections.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

Story continues

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments:

Main One to increase broadband bandwidth with new fibre cable;

Government begins computer subsidy program for university students;

Burkina Faso joins G5 Sahel countries to eliminate roaming fees;

Orange Burkina Faso launches LTE-A services, extends Orange Money services;

Maroc Telecom increases its stake in Onatel to 61%;

Government prepares to amend legislation to improve regulations and the legal framework governing the telecom sector;

SES Networks renews contract to provide satellite services for government agencies;

Government proposes technology-neutral licences to boost mobile broadband connectivity;

Huawei starts phase one of a new national fibre backbone project;

Government progresses with XOF23.6 billion project to provide metropolitan fibre-optic infrastructure;

Vodafone Wholesale and Huawei complete cable to Ghanaian border;

International internet bandwidth increases to 17.7Gb/s;

Report update includes the regulator's annual reports and market statistical data to 2017, telcos' financial and operating data to Q1 2020, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Onatel, Telmob, Bharti Airtel (Zain, Celtel), Orange Burkina Faso, Moov (Telecel, Etisalat), FasoNet, ZCP, Delgi, Cenatrin, CFAO Technologies, River Telecom, Net Access, Maroc Telecom, Vivendi.

Key statistics

Regional Africa Market Comparison

Country overview

COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector Economic considerations and responses Mobile devices Subscribers Infrastructure

Telecommunications market Market analysis

Regulatory environment Regulatory authority Fixed-line developments NICI development plan Market liberalisation Second fixed-line and fourth mobile licence Universal Service Fund Mobile network developments Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Roaming

Mobile market Market analysis Mobile statistics Mobile data Mobile broadband Major mobile operators Orange Burkina Faso (formerly Airtel, Zain, Celtel) Telmob (Onatel) Moov (Telecel) Mobile infrastructure 4G (LTE) 3G Other infrastructure developments Mobile content and applications m-payment m-health

Fixed-line broadband market Introduction and statistical overview Broadband statistics Public Internet access locations Computer program Other ISPs Fixed-line broadband technologies Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks Other fixed broadband services WiMAX Broadband via satellite

Digital economy E-government E-education

Fixed-network operators Onatel

Telecommunications infrastructure Overview of the national telecom network National telecom network Wireless Local Loop (WLL), CDMA2000 1x National fibre backbone Cloud-based services International infrastructure

Appendix  Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1  Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Burkina Faso  2020 (e)

Table 2  ICT parameters by service  2010  2018

Table 3  Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Burkina Faso  2010  2018

Table 4  Mobile operator market share of subscribers  2011  2017

Table 5  Mobile market revenue, investment  2013  2017

Table 6  SMS traffic  2010  2017

Table 7  Active mobile broadband subscribers  2013  2018

Table 8  Mobile internet subscribers  2011  2017

Table 9  Orange Burkina Faso mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Table 10  Orange Burkina Faso financial data  2016  2020

Table 11  Onatel mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Table 12  Fixed internet subscribers  2010  2018

Table 13  Fixed-line broadband subscribers  2016  2018

Table 14  Public telecentres  2009  2017

Table 15  DSL subscribers  2005  2017

Table 16  Onatel fixed broadband subscribers  2016  2020

Table 17  Onatel subscribers by service  2010  2020

Table 18  Fixed-line market revenue, investment  2013  2017

Table 19  Fixed-lines in service and teledensity  2010  2019

Table 20  CDMA subscribers  2015  2017

Table 21  Burkina Faso's international internet bandwidth  2010  2017

Table 22  Historic - ICT parameters by service  2004  2009

Table 23  Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Burkina Faso  1999  2009

Table 24  Historic - SMS traffic  2003  2009

Table 25  Historic - Orange Burkina Faso mobile subscribers  2006  2009

Table 26  Historic - Onatel mobile subscribers  2007  2009

Table 27  Historic - Onatel revenue  2011  2014

Table 28  Historic - Onatel annualised ARPU  2011  2015

Table 29  Historic - Onatel mobile subscribers  2007  2009

Table 30  Historic  Telecel mobile subscribers  2007  2010

Table 31  Historic - Internet users and penetration rate  1999  2009

Table 32  Historic - Fixed internet subscribers  2006  2009

Table 33  Historic - DSL subscribers  2005  2009

Table 34  Historic - Onatel financial data  2011  2016

Table 35  Historic - Wireless broadband subscribers  2007  2013

Table 36  Historic - Fixed-lines in service and teledensity  1999  2009

Table 37  Historic - CDMA lines in service  2009  2014

Table 38  Historic - Burkina Faso's international internet bandwidth  2002  2009

List of Charts

Chart 1  Overall Africa view - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita  2018

Chart 2  West Africa - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita  2018

Chart 3  Africa  Middle-tier Telecoms Maturity Index (Market Challengers)  2018

Chart 4  West Africa Telecoms Maturity Index by country  2018

Chart 5  West Africa mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration  2018

Chart 6  West Africa fixed and mobile penetration rates  2018

Chart 7  Mobile subscribers and penetration rate  2005  2018

Chart 8  Mobile operator market share of subscribers  2011  2017

Chart 9  Onatel subscribers by service  2010  2020

Chart 10  Fixed-lines in service and teledensity in Burkina Faso  2005  2018

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1  Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment

Exhibit 2  West Africa - Key Characteristics of Telecoms Markets by Country

Exhibit 3  Map of Burkina Faso

Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Burkina-Faso-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses
All of the governing fashion week bodies insist that the September and October shows are going to go ahead as planned, though no one is willing to say exactly what form theyll take.

New York Fashion Week will showcase both mens and womens wear shows. So will Milan.

The British Fashion Council confirmed in July that London Fashion Week will take place as planned from Sept. 17 to 22. Both mens and womens wear designers will show on the schedule, and the BFC said in a statement that there would be digital presentations as well as some physical events, held in accordance with social distancing guidelines. For now, however, details are few and far between.

So far only Burberry has come out of the gate with a (still somewhat vague) curtain raiser for what to expect from them on Sept. 17: a live show (on real models!), set somewhere in the wild British outdoors, but without an audience, that will be immersive and digitally available for the world.

Fendi is also having a live show on Sept. 22, though not in Milan. Instead, it will unveil its collection at its Rome HQ, with maybe some actual guests in attendance. Yup, you read that right: actual guests. Its unclear how many, though, or how far apart they will be sitting, from one another or the models.

The Paris dates will be Sept. 28 to Oct. 6, and the Chambre Syndicale, which runs the thing, announced that it will comply for its implementation to the recommendations of public authorities. So thats a lot clearer, then.

Some big brands will be missing: Dries Van Noten The designer said he did not expect to embark on a fashion show again until February 2021, although whether he would then plan to show spring in spring, or stick with the traditional rhythm of showing fall-winter six months ahead of time is still unclear. Off-White New Guards Group, which owns the license for Off-White, has announced that Off-White will no longer be part of Paris Fashion Week but will instead introduce its next collection, for spring 2021, in stores in February. Thereafter, the company said, The collections will be organized by monthly installments and will satisfy any commercial need, leaving Virgil Abloh all the creative space he needs.

Potentially showing in some form, but perhaps later in the fall, and not during the official Milan shows: Gucci. But when it does, it will show mens and womens wear together.

Despite fears of new spikes in virus cases, Florence is laying plans for what the Pitti Uomo organizers called a major event in September. Physical remains essential in a digital world, said Raffaello Napoleone, the chief executive of Pitti Immagine, the fairs governing body.
GTI Statia extends terminal towage contract with Svitzer in St. Eustatius, the Caribbean

Svitzer, global towage operator and part of Maersk, announced a three-year extension of their marine service contract with GTI Statia (GTIS), one of the largest independent crude and refined product storage terminals serving the U.S. Gulf Coast and Caribbean markets.

The extension that went into effect on 1 March 2020 supports GTI Statias storage facility with two tugs performing berthing and unberthings for tankers, as well as various safety standby services. This contract is in addition to the tug and barge contract that Svitzer holds to support the terminals operational needs.



GTI Statia, located on the island of St. Eustatius, is comprised of 60 commercial tanks with extensive marine infrastructure and a total storage capacity of 14 million barrels that can store various grades of crude and refined petroleum products. Furthermore, the facility safely handles more than 90 million barrels of products per year.



The Svitzer team in Statia is in the reliable hands of Contract Manager, Theo van der Meer, who coordinates directly with the terminals Senior Marine Manager, Capt. William De Gannes, to handle the berthing and unberthing operations.



John Roller, President and CEO of GTI Statia said: "GTI Statia is pleased to continue our long standing relationship with Svitzer. Svitzer is a world class organization and has proven to be aligned with GTI Statia in operating safely, providing value to our customers and giving back to the St. Eustatius community. We look forward to enhancing our partnership over the next three years."



Commenting on the extension, Arjen Van Dijk, Managing Director, Svitzer Americas, said: "We are very pleased that GTI Statia has chosen Svitzer as their preferred marine services partner for three more years. We are equally very proud of the strong and solid relationship we have with GTI Statia and we look forward to continuing working with them. At Svitzer, we are continuously looking to stabilise and expand our operations and we are committed to support our customers and determined to grow our business in the region over the coming years. Our strategy for the Americas is to pursue further growth within a careful selection of projects and ports that fit our portfolio and capabilities well, and where our multi-local presence will make us a more efficient and reliable partner to our customers."



With this agreement, Svitzer delivers on its promise of commitment to customers and operations in the Caribbean while positioning them well to grow their regional presence over the coming years. In the Americas region, Svitzer employs 835 people, delivering marine services to global and regional customers across 14 countries.




Click here to read the full article.

Cash, once king, has become controversy.

Critics believe physical currencys days are numbered, especially as a possible vector for contagion in the coronavirus era. But now the protests going on in the U.S. could mean some retailers have no choice but to accept it.

Protests across the country over the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police were marred on the sidelines by destruction and looting of businesses across the U.S. But even as the national conversation shifted from COVID-19 to the protests, the risks from the health crisis itself never actually went anywhere, except potentially up.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the foremost authority on infectious diseases in the U.S. and a key member of the White Houses Coronavirus Task Force, has repeatedly discussed the need for social distancing. Most recently, he told the Journal of the American Medical Association that pictures, photos and TV clips of people very much congregated, no masks together, very closely congregated on a boardwalk, on a beach, in a pool, has been and continues to be a concern to me.

Fauci was cautious about remarking on the packed protests taking place in hundreds of cities across the country, saying only that the impact from those gatherings wont be known for weeks.

By then, retailers may find themselves in a difficult spot: They may survive the turmoil, only to face a resurgent pandemic and tighter safety protocols. Whether that will include touch-free transactions is an open question  because its not at all clear whether damaged, hurting businesses can afford to turn away cash sales. But amid a resurgent pandemic, would they be able to afford not to?

Its complicated.

Is It Time for Touchless?

It may be hard to remember that as little as two weeks ago, the key conversations about public safety revolved around business reopenings.

At the time, stores from Saks Fifth Avenue to the Gap were moving to resume business in most American cities and establish safety protocols. Some of those standards were common to all: Masks are a must, hand sanitizer will be available throughout the premises, and management will urge shoppers to use contactless payments. In the leadup to its reopening, even Disney World said that the most magical place on earth would be rolling out touchless payments.

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The measures were designed to protect people from the coronavirus, which is believed to live for a while on paper money. And that need wont go away anytime soon. In fact, the need may be even more pressing.

Unfortunately, theres no consensus on whether ridding cash is the right thing to do, with health experts and fintech companies at odds with state and municipal legislators.

In March, a World Health Organization representative said it was possible that paper currency could spread the coronavirus, adding that, when possible its a good idea to use contactless payments.

The WHO clarified that this was not an official advisory, but the sentiment speaks to a fundamental concern: A 2002 study published in the Southern Medical Journal discovered pathogens on 94 percent of dollar bills tested, and the money can transport a live flu virus for up to 17 days.

It looks like consumers got the memo. In the first quarter of the year, Mastercard saw a 40 percent surge in contactless payments covering solutions such as tap-to-pay and mobile payment technologies.

Chief executive officer Ajay Banga believes thats just the beginning. He told analysts during the companys earnings call that we are seeing an increase in the use of contactless transactions, and we think this trend will continue after the pandemic.

Likewise, Apples first-quarter 2020 earnings call shed light on Apple Pay momentum as the health crisis started to emerge. The company reported that Apple Pay revenue and transactions more than doubled year-over-year, with a run-rate exceeding 15 billion transactions a year. Today, Apple Pay is live in more than 50 markets globally with over 6,000 bank partners.

Other companies, such as Klarna, have been tracking rising demand for their contactless payment solutions.

What weve seen recently is a massive surge in interest in our virtual card, ceo Sebastian Siemiatkowski said about the offering, which links to Apple Pay or Google Pay for shopping. Weve definitely seen a jump. People are nervous about reopening, and theyre looking to do social distancing.

Klarna  which does business in 20 countries and launched support for brick-and-mortar stores in Europe a year ago and in the U.S. roughly six months ago  has seen a spike in interest from both merchants and consumers.

Online, it serves clients such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Asos, The North Face, Overstock, Sephora, Zadig & Voltaire, Timberland and Toms, to name a few, with H&M, Good American and Planet Blue signed on for both online and in-store. Klarna projects hitting 10 million app and merchant checkouts in the U.S. by the end of the year.

Siemiatkowski sees the trend being driven by customers. Consumers are changing their behaviors toward contactless, he explained. People dont learn from what we tell them  what actually changes behavior is experiences. And what were seeing is one of the most extreme experiences that people can have.

Mobile payment apps are just one option among many. Minimizing physical retail interactions can range from using Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay to QR codes and buy online, pick-up in store  also known as BOPIS  services, among others.

In May, PayPal was working to speed up the rollout of its in-store digital payments, and its been pushing QR code payments in several markets worldwide. The latter would allow anyone, even cash-only businesses, to accept digital payments without having to change equipment.

There has never been a greater need for digital payments and were not going to be using cash nearly as much in the future, said Dan Schulman, PayPals president and chief executive officer. People want to use QR codes so they dont handle cash, or pick up a pen or sign on a touchscreen at checkout.

Visa is a major proponent of tap-to-pay, but lately it has been extolling the virtues of BOPIS as a way to avoid checkout counters altogether.

The credit card issuer framed its Visa Tokenization Service as useful for enabling the curbside pick-ups. VTS uses tokens or bits of encrypted data that enable secure online transactions, and it boasts a convenience feature that automatically updates stored card details if the customer loses the card or it expires.

The idea is to make it easier for retailers to accept stored Visas and facilitate their curbside pickups. Visa just signed 28 new payment tech partners in May, expanding the global availability of VTS.

The thing that is so notable, in light of the pandemic, is that its not about groceries. It is across every single vertical retail segment that we report  from workout, apparel and supplies to make-up to fashion, said Carleigh Jaques, a Visa senior vice president and general manager of CyberSource, a Visa solution.

Visa serves clients in every sector and, according to Jaques, the pandemic has had everyone tapping into buy online, pick-up in store. It truly is a massive phenomenon. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. consumers choose to store a card-on-file or have recurring billing set up with merchants, according to Visa.

In other words, a large portion of the population is primed to ditch cash. But not all  and thats precisely why some regions have prohibited stores from refusing physical currency, at least in the U.S.

Why Cashless Hits Home For Some, But Not All

Weve been advising payment processors to work with their merchants to help them get on board with contactless payments as quickly as possible, said Ramon Llamas, a research director at IDC. Weve been advising credit card and debit card issuers to make sure that the cards they have in the field are contactless enabled. We encourage issuers to make sure that all of their programs are compatible with the mobile contactless wallets  the Google Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay  to give people more options for that.

Llamas noted that in the U.S., QR codes are fairly nascent and niche, though it depends on the different merchants. [But its] not as prevalent as it is in other markets, particularly Asia Pacific, where QR codes just took off to a significant degree a couple years ago, he said.

Proponents of contactless payment technologies like to point to other areas of the world, such as China and Sweden, as evidence of a global cashless movement. Theyre not wrong.

In a national 2010 survey, 40 percent of Swedes said they used cash for a recent purchase. By 2018, the figure shrank to just 13 percent. At the end of that same year, Pew Research Center reported that roughly 70 percent of U.S. adults used cash in a typical week.

Sweden  birthplace of companies like Ericsson, Skype, Spotify and Klarna  is known for cultivating digital tech innovators and serves a tech-savvy population that enjoys extensive broadband coverage. Culturally, its people have tended to be ripe for tech-forward solutions.

A lot of it has to do with just the payment infrastructure. And actually its very different in Europe than it is in Asia, Llamas continued. In Europe, contactless cards took off quite big within the last few years. And that was mainly driven by some regulatory changes and some rules that were put in place by the card brands that said, if you use the contactless payment, there is no requirement for other authentication, if the value is below a certain threshold.

But when it comes to cashless societies, Asia tends to be a leader, where a huge population now relies heavily on their mobile devices.

In Asia Pacific, there was very little infrastructure in place to handle electronic payments. And so mobile phones became a very simple path to create a way to get around the lack of the robust infrastructure that you might find in the U.S. or Europe, Llamas added. And so they gravitated towards that very quickly.

Chinas cashless society is often a key talking point for contactless payments. Consumers there have massive mobile tech adoption numbers and embrace solutions like QR code payments, biometrics and others. That all feeds into todays WeChat-driven society, where citizens rely on the app as a central lifestyle, communications and shopping hub.

According to early 2020 statistics from the Peoples Bank of China, the countrys banks registered 62.1 billion electronic payments, 30.7 billion of which were on mobile, for a year-over-year increase of 73.6 percent. In March, China reported 776.08 million mobile payments users.

But while places like China and Sweden are racing toward a cashless future, various U.S. lawmakers view the trend with concern.

Last year and in early 2020, cities and states like San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts voted to protect cashs place in retail as scores of stores and restaurants began to stipulate they only took credit or debit cards.

However at one point, Rhode Island appeared to be rethinking its rules  at least in the days before the recent protests, when COVID-19 was the only major upheaval in the spotlight. Despite having recently passed legislation banning cashless establishments, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo urged restaurants to accept contactless payments during the announcement of her phase one reopening plan.

Kristen Regine, a professor of marketing at Johnson & Wales Universitys College of Business, saw the governors announcement as good news.

COVID-19 has forced us all to look at everything differently, she told WWD. People are now wondering: Who and how many people have touched that dollar bill that I am now putting into my wallet?

Beyond public health, she also views laws that force stores to cling to cash as putting these businesses at a disadvantage on the global playing field.

There is no going back; cash is no longer king, she said. Our elected leaders must be forward thinking in their efforts to address the emerging consumer behavior of cashless transactions, especially now living in the world of the coronavirus.

WWD reached out to officials in other areas, such as New Jersey and New York City, and so far, none are officially reconsidering the rules, even in light of the pandemic.

The reason is to protect financially vulnerable members of the public. There are many New Yorkers who do not have access to banks or debit or credit cards and rely on cash to buy what they need, Julia Arredondo, deputy press secretary in Mayor Bill de Blasios office, told WWD, and that is still true during the pandemic.

New Yorks City Council passed its bill earlier this year, and the bill lapsed into law in February; it will be going into effect in October, she said.

The decision is often colloquially referred to as a cashless ban, but Arredondo pushed back against that notion. The bill only requires [that] stores accept cash as a form of payment, it does not require that people must only use cash, she added.

In other words, stores can offer touchless payment options. But it cant be the only option.

One key criticism of digital payments is that the vast majority are tied to a savings, checking or credit card account. That leaves out a large portion of consumers. In 2018, the U.S. Federal Reserve estimated that as many as 55 million Americans were unbanked or underbanked.

Those figures and more underscore the loaded issue of cash. Even the imagery emerging from the past two weeks during the Black Lives Matter protests puts a finer point on it. Broken ATM machines lie in the streets. Looters, often unrelated to the otherwise peaceful protests, stole merchandise from stores ranging from Apple to Walmart. Even the event that preceded it all  George Floyds murder at the hands of Minneapolis police  came about because of the victims alleged attempt to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a store.

Now theres an added dimension to the coronavirus pandemic: The lootings could cause many retailers to permanently close their stores rather than reopen, lessening the choice in those neighborhoods.

Those circumstances could fuel arguments on both sides of the cashless debate. An escalation of the public health emergency may create new hot spots that demand a hands-off approach when it comes to cash. Others could argue that, with fewer retail options available, its even more important for stores to be as inclusive as possible.

How Retail Is Meeting the Contactless Moment

While leaders and academics debate the issues of immediate urgency versus long-term business, many retailers on the ground are hedging their bets.

Walmart raced to ditch the onscreen interactions in its Walmart Pay solution, making it touchless.

During the pandemic, we were able to make Walmart Pay contact-free within a matter of a week or so. Same thing for pickup and delivery, which became contact-free, said spokeswoman Molly Blakeman.

But the chain doesnt want to alienate any of its budget-shopping clientele, so it will still accept cash.

[Contact-free is] really important right now, but by no means saying that it is the only way to pay, she explained. Were focused on making sure that we have options that make customers feel comfortable and allow them to pay in the way that makes sense for them and their finances.

Fast-fashion retailer Rue21 wont forego cash either, and its data explains why: Seventy percent of its shoppers pay by physical currency or debit card. Specifically, about 40 percent prefer to use cash, according to Mary Blodgett, senior vice president of store operations.

The apparel retailer reopened hundreds of stores across the country from April to May, and Blodgett noted that it didnt seem to bother customers to pay by cash.

In this case, the details matter. Rue21 caters to budget shoppers looking for fast fashion. While the company was heartened to see fans flock to its online channels during the store closures, more than 90 percent of its business hinges on physical retail.

The retailer partnered with Klarna on an interest-free pay-by-installments offering. But the deal also allows Rue21 to pivot, if things change, and implement touchless payments. In short order, shoppers would be able to download an app and immediately pay on the spot.

Im in Texas, where they have signs up that say, Please, no cash. But I havent seen much, in terms of no cash accepted,' said IDCs Llamas. I suppose its possible, and theres no prohibition on it here. But nobody wants to turn away business. So theyve adapted their protocols for accepting payments in general  theyve got glass; people wear gloves; they try not to handle things; theyve done away with signatures. So there are a lot of things you can do to reduce contact.

A Tough Spot

While it appears that the coronavirus may be hastening cashs demise in the U.S., it is far from dead, and it may not be in the foreseeable future.

Whether thats good news or bad depends on whom one asks. It also sets up yet another potentially loaded digital and social divide  one sharpened by health worries, deepened by economic disparities and complicated by varying rules, all set against a backdrop of social unrest thats leaving some communities with few options.

The implications are deep and varied. Residents in a city like Beverly Hills, which has no cashless ban in place, might see stores that offer contactless checkouts exclusively as safer and be thrilled to shop them.

But in other areas  like parts of New York City, New Jersey and the Bay Area  plenty of residents would be left out of that scenario. That may matter now, more than ever.

Stores that are fighting to survive wont be able to reject any sales, cash-based or not. So they may have to keep accepting those crumpled bills and coins. It is, in a figurative and perhaps literal sense, a matter of life and death.

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South Korean producers sign agreeement to reduce NOx emissions

11 June 2020

South Koreas nine cement producers have agreed to work with the Ministry of Environment to lower NO x emissions, according to The Korea Times. Representatives of companies including Sungshin Cement and Hanil Cement, alongside officials from the ministry and the National Institute of Environmental Research, gathered at Ssangyong Cement's factory in Donghae, Gangwon Province, to sign the partnership.

Cement production generates the second-highest amount of NO x emissions in the country, claiming 32 per cent of the overall NO x emitted in 2019. The agreement will see stakeholders reduce NO x emissions by installing high-efficiency filters, upgrading existing filters or improving the cement production process.

Companies will also set reduction goals, so the necessary funding can be allocated. NO x -reduction technologies, such as SCR or SNCR, will be developed and tested by the Korea Environmental Industry Technology Institute, with KRW3.5bn (US$2.93m) of investment. The ministry estimates that the steps may cut emissions by 40,000t across the country.

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An $18-million provincial program aimed at enabling child-care professionals to start home-based programs has only doled out $45,000 since March, a freedom of information request by the Opposition NDP has revealed.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An $18-million provincial program aimed at enabling child-care professionals to start home-based programs has only doled out $45,000 since March, a freedom of information request by the Opposition NDP has revealed.

The temporary child-care service grant, established March 20 in partnership with the Winnipeg and Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, was created with the intention of expanding services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of May 26, 15 centres had successfully applied for the one-time, $3,000 grants, establishing 111 new spots in home-based centres. However, the uptake by child-care providers has been minimal compared with its budget commitment, critics say.

"Instead of investing $18 million in our publicly-run centres," NDP child care critic Danielle Adams said Thursday in a release, "(Tory Premier Brian Pallister) has implemented a failed program that doesnt actually help parents."

In response, Heather Stefanson, Manitoba minister of families, defended the program, saying in an emailed statement the province had created "over half the number" of home-based spots it had established in the last two years.

In recent months, some industry stakeholders had questioned whether the money allocated to start home-based programs would have been better used to support existing programs (with equipment, facilities, and trained staff), which were struggling financially due to pandemic restrictions.

Health and safety concerns were also voiced over whether many child-care professionals would feel comfortable starting a service out of their homes during a pandemic.

In an open letter sent April 8, the Manitoba Child Care Association urged the province to consider redistributing the temporary grant funds toward existing centres.

Association director Jodie Kehl said Thursday those centres have incurred additional operating costs during the pandemic, and the home-based centres which have opened have likely had to spend more on startup costs than normal.

Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

While the provinces continuation of its existing operating grants to centres that remain open and federal subsidies have been helpful, she said programs are still losing money. With that considered, Kehl hoped the province would consider shifting gears.

"There are existing licensed programs that have been open since March 20, so it seems illogical to be expanding the system while existing spaces are still available," she said.

In her statement Thursday, Stefanson said there are currently 764 child-care centres open in the province, with 11,206 spaces  of those, 2,636 remain vacant.

She touted her governments investments in child care since the pandemic began, which she said total nearly $50 million.

 with files from Carol Sanders

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca
LOUISVILLE, Ky.  Nearly three months after Louisville Metro Police officers fatally shot Breonna Taylor in her apartment, the department released the incident report from that night.

It is almost entirely blank.

The four-page report lists the time, date, case number, incident location and the victim's name  Breonna Shaquille Taylor  as well as the fact that she was a 26-year-old black female.

The report redacts Taylor's street number, apartment number and date of birth  all of which have been widely reported.

It lists her injuries as "none," even though she was shot at least eight times and died on her hallway floor in a pool of blood, according to attorneys for her family.

It lists the charges as "death investigation  LMPD involved" but checks the "no" box under "forced entry," even though officers used a battering ram to knock in Taylor's apartment door.

Demonstrators take to the streets of Louisville, Ky., on June 5 to protest the death of EMT Breonna Taylor, who was shot eight times by police during a raid. The officers involved have not been fired.

'She's gone': Breonna Taylor's death sparks outrage

'They saved me': How protesters protected a lone cop, a moment captured in powerful photos

It lists under the "Offenders" portion of the report the three officers who fired in Taylor's apartment: Sgt. Jon Mattingly, 47; Myles Cosgrove, 42; and Brett Hankison, 44.

The "narrative" of events March 13 says only "PIU investigation." The rest of the report has no information filled in at all.

The police department acknowledged errors in the report that it said were the result of the reporting program creating a paper file.

"Inaccuracies in the report are unacceptable to us, and we are taking immediate steps to correct the report and to ensure the accuracy of incident reports going forward," a statement said.

Mayor Greg Fischer issued a statement Wednesday night calling the report "unacceptable."

"Full stop. Its issues like this that erode public confidence in LMPDs ability to do its job, and thats why Ive ordered an external top-to-bottom review of the department," he said. "I am sorry for the additional pain to the Taylor family and our community."

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Taylor was at her apartment around 12:40 a.m. local time when the three plainclothes officers used a no-knock search warrant signed by District Judge Mary Shaw to enter her home as part of a narcotics investigation.

Officers said they announced their presence, but Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, and several neighbors said they did not. Walker said he thought intruders were trying to break in and fired a shot that struck Mattingly in the leg.

Mattingly, Hankison and Cosgrove are on administrative reassignment pending the investigation. The detective who requested the warrant, Joshua Jaynes, was also reassigned, LMPD announced Wednesday.

This document is proof that LMPD continues to make a mockery of transparency, said Jon Fleischaker, counsel for the Louisville Courier Journal of the USA TODAY Network and one of the principal authors of the states open records law that requires the release of public documents in all but extremely rare circumstances.

Under the Fischer administration, there has been a consistent policy and practice of refusing to tell the public what is going on with the police, regardless of how inappropriate the officer conduct has been," Fleischaker said.

Breonna Taylor Incident Report

Fleischaker said city leaders "are refusing to honor their obligations to disclose the basic information necessary for the citizens of Louisville to have a meaningful debate about what needs to change."

"How can we even seriously debate police reform if the police wont engage and the mayor wont stand up to them?" he said.

The Courier Journal sued LMPD, seeking the immediate release of the department's investigative file in Taylor's shooting.

Police refused to release the file, saying it is an ongoing investigation.

The Courier Journal filed an appeal with the state attorney generals office in May to object to open records decisions Louisville public agencies made refusing to release records underlying the Taylor case, including the incident report, 911 calls made in the incident and Taylor's autopsy report.

The city has since released Walker's 911 call  but only after an attorney for Taylor's family gave it to news media hours earlier.

Follow reporter Tessa Duvall on Twitter: @TessaDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Breonna Taylor case: Louisville police incident report nearly blank
Police in Derry have identified the gun used in the murder of Lyra McKee.

The gun was recovered by police during searches in the Ballymagroarty area of the city last Friday and Saturday.

Following forensic testing police identified that the gun, a Hammerli X-Esse pistol, was the same one used in the killing of Ms McKee during rioting in the Creggan area on April 18, 2019.

Dissident republican group the New IRA admitted responsibility for her murder.

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Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy, who is leading the investigation into Ms McKee's murder, said one line of inquiry was that the gun had been stolen "some time ago".

"I also know that that gun was used a number of times prior to Lyra's murder, but at this stage because those matters remain under investigation I cannot confirm any further details," he said.

Detective Superintendent Murphy said that "a number of New IRA figures were involved in producing the gun that night".

"I know who they are and the public know who they are and also I know who the gunman is," he said.

Detective Superintendent Murphy said that further forensic testing was planned on the gun and that the investigation was far from over.

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Lyra's partner Sara Canning and the rest of her family were informed of the identification of the gun on Thursday.

Detective Superintendent Murphy said they were "grateful and relieved" to hear the news.

He appealed for the public to continue to support the investigation.

"For the New IRA the net is tightening, one positive result will have significant consequences for the New IRA," Detective Superintendent Murphy said.

"If you know anything about the gun now is the time to talk to us."

Derry man Paul McIntyre, 52, who is currently in custody in Maghaberry Prison, is charged with murdering Ms McKee.

He denies the charges.
Trending on social media at the moment is the story of a mother who has accused her two-year-old daughter for allowing herself to be raped.



The mother described her toddler as an 'ashawo' to wit prostitute, because the baby kept going to the man.



She subjected her daughter (victim) to severe beatings when she caught the grown man raping her.



According to the woman, she has on several occasions warned her two-year-old daughter to stop going to the 'rapist' but her warnings always fell on deaf ears.



The news which was first posted by GistLoversBlog on Instagram has gone viral with many social media users commenting on the issue.



The mother who is alleged to be a headpotter was spotted in the video speaking the Yoruba language while narrating to a passerby who was concerned about blood stains on the little girl's dress.



The incident happened in Idumata in Nigeria.



Read and follow the conversation in the blogger's post below. Swipe for more:







Source: ghanaweb









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Demonstrators march past the Lincoln Memorial during a protest against police brutality and racism takes place on June 6, 2020 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer

Companies have expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement in recent weeks. But many advocates say now is the time for action  in the form of pay equity for nonwhite workers. "It's important that individual employers have a reckoning as it relates to pay and equality by race, ethnicity and gender, but it's going to require broader and more systemic changes to really bring it down," said Valerie Wilson, director of the Economic Policy Institute's Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy. However, all too often after the protests end, nothing actually happens. "We've seen unrest; we've seen people who are angry and rising up and saying it's a problem," said Maria P. Vallejo, partner at Chasan Lamparello Mallon & Cappuzzo in Secaucus, New Jersey. "But after all the protests, the statements, people lay back down again and business resumes," she said. Over the last two weeks since George Floyd's death in police custody, protests against systemic racism and excessive force have sprung up across the country, spanning from Los Angeles to New York to even small towns like Loganville, Georgia. The outcry against violence has spurred Congress into action, as Democrats in the House and Senate have proposed a police reform bill. Corporations, including General Motors and Ford, have also spoken up since Floyd's death. In a letter to GM employees, Chair and CEO Mary Barra said the automaker will "commit to inclusion," "unequivocally condemn intolerance" and "stand up against injustice."

But firms will have to do more than speak up on these issues, financial and academic advocates say. They must follow through by addressing pay inequity in the workplace. Consider that regardless of education, white workers out-earn their black colleagues. Among workers with advanced degrees, the average hourly wage for whites was $44.46, compared with $36.23 for African Americans, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards

There is also a persistent racial wealth gap. In 2016, the net worth of a typical white family was $171,000 in 2016, compared with $17,150 for a black family, the Brookings Institution found. Even among high-income families, the difference persists. Among those in the top 10% for income, the median net worth for white families is nearly $1.8 million, versus $343,160 for African Americans, Brookings found. "There is some acknowledgement that the same root cause behind incidents of brutality and violence against black people is the same root cause behind the persistent racial disparities we've seen in this country for centuries," Wilson said. "And that is racism."

Changes that matter

Diversity initiatives fall flat when companies fail to go beyond hiring people of color to entry-level positions. "Statements are performative, but we want this work to go deeply," said Rachel Robasciotti, principal at Robasciotti & Philipson, a San Francisco investment advisory firm that specializes in social justice investing. "It's not just about diverse hires," she said. "You want to keep them. The way to do that is to do your internal work as an organization." Inclusion, in the context of diversity, means that these workers feel like they're a part of the team  that they have a path toward advancement and mentorship to help them ascend into leadership posts. "I want to see more women, more minorities, more people of color in the boardroom," said Ayesha Hamilton, an employment attorney in Princeton, New Jersey. "I want to see them in leadership roles. This is how you build back the trust."

Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards

Tackling the issue of pay equity, however, is a whole other herculean feat. While laws like the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act forbid discrimination based on gender and race, employees can have a hard time proving that they're being offered fewer opportunities at work. "Most individual workers don't have the information they need to prove the case or the resources that it takes to file a claim against the employer," Wilson said. "There are also issues of retaliation  you might be stigmatized as a troublemaker." In short, you won't know you're being underpaid unless you ask your peers how much they're making  a topic that's still taboo. "Employees used to be prohibited from talking about their salaries," Hamilton said. "We still have a cultural hurdle to overcome of employees distrusting their employers and feeling nervous about speaking to each other about salaries."

Beyond good intentions

mihailomilovanovic
Russia, China should stand up to US' conspiracy: Iran's President

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 10 June 2020 / 14:36

Tehran (ISNA) - Appreciating the efforts of Iran's medical and hospital staff in combatting COVID-19 over the past four months, the President said that with the exception of a few provinces that are in red conditions, we have reached the stage of controlling coronavirus in the country, adding, "The resilience of the Iranian people in the simultaneous fight against coronavirus and the severe, illegal US sanctions is well-known today and will be recorded in the history of the country".

Dr. Hassan Rouhani stressed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the health of the people is still our number one priority, and the need for close monitoring by the supervisory bodies, as well as the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and the implementation of medical protocols by the people and business owners and guilds.

Dr. Rouhani said, "In the field of coronavirus, due to the reopening that has been done gradually over the past two months, we should naturally be able to deal with the potential dangers of this virus with more caution and self-care".

The President added, "Today, with the efforts made, we have succeeded in controlling this virus in the country, with the exception of a few provinces, and in these few provinces, double efforts are being made to get out of the red situation and create a good situation".

Dr. Rouhani said that the capability of the Ministry of Health is still much higher than the pressure of this virus in the country, adding, "In the current situation, we are doing other things besides the healthcare reform plan, that is, we are trying to treat patients and find a vaccine for this virus".

"Also, for the needs of the country in terms of health and treatment, the manufacturing sectors, especially the knowledge-based companies, have made great efforts, and in this regard, we are even exporters in some of our products, and some countries apply to buy health and disinfection facilities from Iran," added Rouhani.

Dr. Rouhani said that in fighting coronavirus, people have cooperated from the beginning, adding, "We once again ask people to help us in this regard and I am sure that with people's help and unity, the rest of the provinces will enter the virus control stage".

In another part of his speech, Dr. Rouhani stated that coronavirus is not over yet, addressing the people, "We have no choice but to change our lifestyle, that is, as long as the virus exists, and as long as the world finds a definite vaccine for coronavirus, there is no second way".

"We have no choice but to change our lifestyle until coronavirus completely eradicated, which could take for months," said the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Dr. Rouhani added, "The second point that I want to emphasize is that the people are aware that our country has faced unprecedented severe sanctions by the White House rulers since the beginning of year 1397 (early 2018), and unfortunately they forced other countries to cooperate in some cases".

Stating that coronavirus was added to these problems, he said, "We are facing more difficult conditions. Everyone should pay attention to the situation in which we are managing the country".

The President pointed out, "The government has many inaugurations every week, and in this week, on Thursday, 4.8 trillion tomans of industrial and mining plans and projects will be inaugurated. Of course, the inauguration is not for Thursdays only, and every day various projects are inaugurated throughout the country, and this means the vitality and activity in the country despite all these pressures".

"Under these circumstances, we will do our best for boosting production and opening major projects by the end of the year," the president said.

Referring to the government's efforts to revive Lake Urmia, Dr. Rouhani said, "Lake Urmia was the first promise of the government to the people of Azerbaijan and the western part of the country, which was of special environmental importance. In these difficult sanctions, the government will complete 36 kilometres of tunnels to bring water into Lake Urmia".

Restoring Lake Urmia is largest environmental project in the country's history, said Rouhani, adding, "90 per cent of the dust in Lake Urmia has been controlled during the 11th and early 12th administrations, and 10% will be controlled by the end of this year, and this is the greatest environmental work done in the country's history".

Emphasizing that the development of e-government should be pursued closely in the current situation, the President said, "We have no choice but to change our lifestyle based on coronavirus outbreak and an important part of this change is the style of doing things and services in cyberspace. In the current situation, we must try to provide people with services through cyberspace".

Dr. Rouhani stated, "The government will mobilize all its facilities for the development of e-government so that the services people need will be provided to them through the cyberspace day by day. This is a very important principle for fighting coronavirus and for a new lifestyle".

In another part of his speech, Dr. Rouhani referred to the criminal actions of the United States, adding, "The US administration was an unreliable government and it became more unreliable in this new administration; a government that violated all international and environmental regulations, UNESCO, and the rights of the oppressed Palestinians, and even violated many of the agreements it had with its friends".

Dr. Rouhani added, "The United States has been the worst country in the world in fighting coronavirus to date, and in this regard, it has chosen the worst way and caused the most casualties and problems for its own people, while showing that it does not have the proper management skills to run this big and great country".

"Such actions in recent weeks have been accompanied by intense violence against their own people, which means that the military and the police are carrying out pressure and killing people at the order of the White House," the president said.

Dr. Rouhani stated that the policy of the United States in the past has been the policy of "knee on throat", saying, "Throughout history, these people have put their knees on the throats of every oppressed person they run into to destroy them. This is their policy, not the policy of a police officer in a city, but basically the policy of the entire United States regime".

Emphasizing that the great nation of Iran has broken this knee and the American policy, the President said, "They wanted to do the same policy in 2018 and brought their knee closer to the throat of the Iranian nation, but the dear nation of Iran beat this knee with the big sledgehammer of national unity and shattered it, and now they no longer have the knees to put pressure on the Iranian nation's throat".

Dr. Rouhani said that the Americans are still looking for a conspiracy against the Iranian nation, adding, "Since we are approaching a point where all Iran's arms embargo are being lifted based on Resolution 2231, they are angry and upset about this important day in the history of Iran's defence and intend to prepare a resolution and take it to the Security Council".

"We expect the four permanent members of the Security Council to stand up to this conspiracy because of the interests and stability of the world and the interests that were predicted in the region and the world by the nuclear deal," he said, adding, "Especially from our two friendly countries, Russia and China, we expect them to stand up to this conspiracy".

Dr. Rouhani emphasised, "We are confident that since all kinds of conspiracies that the United States has hatched against the Iranian nation to date have failed, this conspiracy will not succeed as well, and we will increase our defence capabilities with all our might".

"The Americans need to know that no matter what they do, Iran's defence capabilities will be developed under all circumstances, and we have designed the best air defence systems in difficult conditions under sanctions, and in the recent years that we have been in difficult conditions, we downed the American drone with the same system".

Addressing the people, Dr. Rouhani said, "People should know that the government will make every effort in the economic field to reduce the pressure on them".

End Item

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The second round of early voting in New York gets underway on Saturday for local and state primary races.

Voters will sign in using an electronic polling book, then proceed to fill out a paper ballot and feed it into a ballot scanner machines. The ballots will be counted with all other ballots at the conclusion of Primary Day, June 23.

For those not wishing to vote in person, the counties will be mailing absentee ballots to registered voters to return by mail as ordered by the state due to the coronavirus pandemic. In-person polling will also be available from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 23 at select polling locations. Voters are reminded if they vote early they will not be eligible to vote on Primary Day.

Across the region, Democrats will vote in the presidential primary as well as voting for six delegates, from a field of 30, to attend the National Convention.

Warren County

In Warren County, Democrats, Conservative and Independence parties will vote in the county court judge and surrogate race.

Gregory Canale is seeking the Democratic and Conservative lines, Nikki Moreschi is seeking the Democratic and Independence lines and Robert Smith is seeking the Independence and Conservative lines.

In Warrensburg, Republicans will choose between Pamela Lloyd and Ilana Laney Morgan for a town clerk candidate.

Early voting in Warren County will be held in the Human Services Building on the first floor located at 1340 State Route 9.

Polls are open as follows:

Saturday, June 13: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday, June 14: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Monday, June 15: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Tuesday, June 16: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Wednesday, June 17: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday, June 18: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, June 19: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, June 20: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday, June 21: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saratoga County

Early voting will conducted at the Saratoga County Board of Elections Office, on the first floor of 50 W. High St., Ballston Spa. All voters may vote at this polling site.

Hours for early voting will be:

Saturday, June 13: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday, June 14: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Monday, June 15: noon to 8 p.m.

Tuesday, June 16: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Wednesday, June 17: noon to 8 p.m.

Thursday, June 18: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, June 19: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, June 20: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday, June 21: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The 49th state Senate District Democratic Primary will be decided, which includes the towns of Ballston, Charlton, Clifton Park, Corinth, Day, Edinburg, Galway, Hadley, Malta, Milton, Providence and Saratoga Springs in the districts 7, 19, 20 and 21.

Voters in the 49th Senate District will vote between two candidates from Schenectady, Thearse McCalmon or Donovan McRae to challenge incumbent James Tedisco, R-Glenville.

Washington County

Democrats will vote in the presidential primary and will choose six delegates for the Democratic National Convention from a field of 30 candidates.

Early voting will be held at the Board of Elections Office located at 1153 Burgoyne Ave. Fort Edward during the following times:

Saturday, June 13: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday June 14, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Monday June 15, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Tuesday June 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Wednesday June 17, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday June 18, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday June 19, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday June 20, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday June 21, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Essex County

Early voting will be held at the Essex County Public Safety Building at 702 Stowersville Road in Lewis.

Hours will be as follows:

Saturday, June 13: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday, June 14: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Monday, June 15: noon to 8 p.m.

Tuesday, June 16: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Wednesday, June 17: noon to 8 p.m.

Thursday, June 18: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, June 19: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, June 20: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday, June 21: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Adam Colver is the online editor at The Post-Star. He manages The Post-Stars Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and poststar.com. He can be reached at acolver@poststar.com.

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KIGALI, Rwanda - Its president dead, Burundi on Thursday turned to the constitutional court to help fill the power vacuum ahead of the expected August swearing-in of the president-elect chosen in Mays election.

The abrupt death of President Pierre Nkurunziza this week of what the government called a heart attack has left the East African nation with new uncertainty after a 15-year rule marked by deadly repression.

Evariste Ndayishimiye won the election as the ruling party candidate, but Pascal Nyabenda, the speaker of the national assembly, was said to be Nkurunzizas preferred successor.

Nyabenda could be installed as interim president until August. Ndayishimiye could be sworn in right away, but this is a question that was not provided for by the constitution and one the court could consider, said Burundian lawyer and activist Janvier Bigirimana.

Thursdays emergency meeting of the council of ministers decided to formally notify the court of the vacant post and await its guidance.

Nkurunziza died Monday after falling ill on Saturday and hours of efforts to revive him failed, the government said. He was last seen in public watching a volleyball match on Saturday.

The government has not responded to questions on whether Nkurunziza died of COVID-19. His administration had been accused of not taking the pandemic seriously as it cited divine protection and allowed large campaign rallies ahead of the election.

Photos of Thursdays meeting posted on social media showed the countrys ministers not wearing face masks.

The council of ministers noted Burundis seven days of official mourning and decided that activities should continue as normal, though everyone should understand the particular circumstances in which the country finds itself.

Keeping that in mind, the statement said, all music in bars, nightclubs and karaoke is suspended until the official mourning is over.

___

Kaneza reported from Nairobi, Kenya.
Workers go about their duties at a section of the Leishenshan Hospital in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province, on Feb. 18, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Wuhan Field Hospital Construction Workers Marooned After Finishing Work

Leishenshan Hospital located in Wuhan city, Hubei Province, is an emergency specialty field hospital built in response to the CCP virus pandemic. After it was closed on April 15, when the regime claimed its victory in containing the virus, its construction workers remained to defend their rights and fight for their unpaid compensation.

Yi Xiang (an alias) is a 26-year-old man from Shiyan city, Hubei Province. In February of this year, he applied for a mysterious construction job. Not until the day the work started did he realize that he was hired to build the field hospital.

According to Yi Xiang, not only were their wages siphoned off by subcontractors of various levels, but also the quarantine allowance promised by the contractor had never been paid. Instead, they have been treated with beating and suppression by security guards and police.

Temporary Relief for a Hubei Native

A Hubei native, Yi Xiang was having a hard time finding a job. No one from the province at the epicenter would be hired, even those who were actually nowhere near the epicenter during the pandemic. He was then living in Shenzhen, southeastern China.

In February, he answered a job ad on WeChat. It was construction work in Wuhan with room and board, and a 14-day quarantine after completion. Other than wages, no further information was given.

In mid-February, Yi Xiang arrived at the construction site along with a dozen other workers in a vehicle arranged by the contractor. According to him, everything was kept a strict secret. Not until they arrived at the destination did he learn that it was the Leishenshan Hospital construction site. He was shocked because supposedly the construction had been completed on Feb. 8.

Patients Already Admitted to the Hospital

Yi Xiang worked at the construction site from Feb. 20 to Feb. 27. Every day he had to work past 9 p.m.

Many patients had already been admitted to the hospital. The workers were all worried but they had nowhere else to go.

Where can you go? Lockdown policy had been enacted. Theres no transportation. No one else was there. We could only just bite the bullet and get it over with, he said.

Every day, there were more than a dozen ambulances coming to the hospital, at least 30 or 40 people would arrive, most of them were elderly aged 60 or 70. Some of them were seriously ill. The construction workers tried to stay away from the patients, but often they had to just stand beside them.

One time, he saw two nurses with protective gear removing a dead patient with a piece of white cloth covering the face. He saw the white hair underneath the cloth.

He also witnessed protests near the hospital. The hospital was built in proximity to a residential area where hundreds of property owners who had just paid their first down payments to China Poly Group. Their new homes were to be used as quarantine sites without their consent. The protest ended with several homeowners arrested by the police.

Yi Xiang said that when he arrived at the construction site, there were at least 500 workers on the scene.

Wages Siphoned Off by Agents, Quarantine Allowance Not Paid

Yi Xiang said that he was paid by cash at a day rate of 600 yuan ($84.85). When he joined a WeChat group, he realized that workers were paid differently, some received 2,500 yuan ($353.48), 1,800 ($254.50), and 1,000 ($141.39).

That depends on who hired you. The more subcontractors there were, the less youd get paid he said.

After the work concluded on Feb. 27, the workers were isolated for 14 days. The contractor, China Construction Third Engineering Bureau (CCTEB), promised a daily quarantine subsidy of 300 yuan ($42.40), which would be paid when the quarantine ended.

However, things didnt go as planned.

At the end of the quarantine period, 14 days later, the Wuhan authorities did not allow workers to leave because of the city lockdown. CCTEB stated that workers would get a subsidy of 300 yuan a day. But they actually refused to pay.

Until March 27, hundreds of workers had been isolated. Starting March 14, fights had taken place between the workers and the CCTEB.

The CCTEB hired security guards, some with wooden sticks and steel plates to fight against the workers. Police arrived and arrested some. The next day the same thing would happen again. They just refused to payso the conflicts were never resolved, said Yi Xiang.

Finally, conflicts between the workers and the CCTEB were exposed online.

Whitewashing Propaganda

The Secretary-General of the Wuhan Municipal Chinese Communist Party Committee visited the conflict site along with reporters from state broadcaster CCTV on March 28. However, none of the workers were aware of the visit until the news was released on April 1.

The so-called manager and the two workers they interviewed were not one of us, said Yi Xiang.

Hubei native workers were left wandering on the streets.

By the end of March, when workers from other provinces had left and local workers had also returned home, Yi Xiang and another six or seven Hubei workers became homeless.

We cant leave, no one would hire us. Going home could only get the family into trouble, said Yi Xiang.

The CCTEB drove them out of the quarantine site.

Yi Xiang told The Epoch Times that even though the CCTEB has agreed to negotiate, no action was taken.

They made money by taking advantage of a national disaster and they wont allow anyone to expose it. They handle this whole thing by harassing and illegal detention, he said.

When the workers were sick or having a fever, we would just get removed. We were the ones fighting on the front lines, and this is how they treat us. Built in less than two weeks by 15,000 workers, Leishenshan Hospital has 1,402 beds in 32 wards and started to receive patients on Feb. 8, according to Chinese state-run media Xinhua.
The NDC believes in Ghanas future. We have always had a vision to build a country that will be a Regional Powerhouse, providing economic and social opportunities for all Ghanaians and not just a few relatives and friends.

As leader and flagbearer of this great party, I come to you, the good people of Ghana, and on the occasion of our 28th Anniversary, to once again confirm that the next NDC and John Dramani Mahama administration will guarantee you a stable, vibrant and safe democracy.

A democracy in which Ghanaians feel at peace to go about their daily duties without fear of arrest, harassment or death.

A democracy in which Ghanaians can express themselves freely without fear of having their radio stations closed.

A Ghana in which businessmen and women are not afraid of losing their businesses because they are perceived not to be supporters of the governing party.

Ghana needs new jobs, new businesses, new ways of listening to one another and a new sense of unity. Ghanaians are tired of the tensions associated with the parochial governance style of Nana Akufo-Addo.

Source: John Dramani Mahama/facebook









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Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized Thursday for his participation in President Trump's photo op at St. John's Church last week.

Why it matters: Milley's comments come as tensions remain high between Trump and the Pentagon over the incident, which was preceded by the clearing of peaceful protesters from the area.

"I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics," Milley said during a prerecorded commencement address to National Defense University.

"As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from."

The big picture: The president has also clashed with Defense Secretary Mark Esper on the topic, prompting chatter that he was losing favor with Trump.
PROVIDENCE, R.I., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE: UNFI) will participate in next week's Oppenheimer Consumer Conference. UNFI's President and Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Testa, and Chief Financial Officer, John Howard, will participate in a fireside chat beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on June 16, 2020.

A link to the live audio webcast will be available on the investor relations section of the Company's website at www.unfi.com via the "Events and Presentations" link.

About United Natural Foods, Inc.

UNFI is North America's premier food wholesaler delivering the widest variety of products to customer locations throughout North America including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, ecommerce retailers, and food service customers. By providing this deeper 'full-store' selection and compelling brands for every aisle, UNFI is uniquely positioned to deliver great food, more choices, and fresh thinking to customers everywhere. Today, UNFI is the largest publicly-traded grocery distributor in America. To learn more about how UNFI is Moving Food Forward, visit www.unfi.com.

Investor Contact

Steve Bloomquist

952-828-4144

[email protected]

SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.unfi.com


The Columbus statue was torn down and then dragged into a nearby lake in Richmond, Virginia.

By Kaniehtonkie

Statues have become a target of protesters since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

A statue of Christophe Columbus has been torn down and another was beheaded. The statute of Columbus in Bryd Park in Richmond Virginia was...
PRINCETON, N.J., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc., USA (SPII) "Sun Pharma" today announced 25 data abstracts from its dermatology portfolio will be presented at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Virtual Meeting Experience 2020. The data presentations will highlight key clinical insights on ILUMYA (tildrakizumab-asmn), ODOMZO (sonidegib) and LEVULAN KERASTICK (aminolevulinic acid HCl) + BLU-U. The virtual meeting will take place from June 12 to June 14, 2020.

Click to Tweet #NEWS: @SunPharma_Live announces 25 abstracts revealing clinical insights from its dermatology portfolio to be to be included in #AADVMX2020. Read more: bit.ly/30l6SPx

"For decades at Sun Pharma, we have been developing innovative dermatologic treatments because we seek to make a difference in the lives of people who struggle with dermatological conditions," said Abhay Gandhi, Chief Executive Officer, Sun Pharma, North America. "The breadth of research that we are presenting at this year's AAD Virtual Meeting Experience demonstrates our commitment to healthcare providers who care for these patients by offering ongoing clinical support and continued development of our dermatological treatments."

ILUMYA (tildrakizumab-asmn) Abstracts for Moderate-to-Severe Plaque Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis:

Response Levels to ILUMYA for Moderate-to-Severe Plaque Psoriasis

Early and Maintained Response Levels in Psoriasis Patients Treated with Tildrakizumab (Abstract #17113). E-Poster.

*Tildrakizumab provides early predictability of response in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis: results from reSURFACE 1 and reSURFACE 2 phase 3 trials (Abstract #13634). E-Poster.

*Efficacy of tildrakizumab in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis according to disease duration: pooled analysis from reSURFACE 1 and reSURFACE 2 phase 3 trials at week 28 (Abstract #15807). E-Poster.

*Time to relapse in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis who were tildrakizumab responders at week 28: post-hoc analysis through 64 weeks from reSURFACE 1 trial (Abstract #13677). E-Poster.

Efficacy and Safety of Tildrakizumab 100 mg for Plaque Psoriasis in Patients Randomized to Treatment Continuation vs Treatment Withdrawal with Retreatment upon Relapse in reSURFACE 1 (Abstract #12883). E-Poster.

Cost-Effectiveness of ILUMYA

Comparative Cost-Effectiveness for Tildrakizumab and Other Targeted Therapies for the Treatment of Moderate-to-Severe Plaque Psoriasis in the United States (Abstract #17139). E-Poster.

ILUMYA in Different Types of Patients (Metabolic Syndrome, Elderly, Head Plaque Psoriasis)

Effect of Metabolic Syndrome on Efficacy and Safety in Patients with Psoriasis Treated with Etanercept or Tildrakizumab: Post Hoc Analysis of 2 Phase 3 Clinical Studies (reSURFACE 1 and reSURFACE 2) (Abstract #15914). E-Poster.

Tildrakizumab Efficacy by Metabolic Syndrome Status in Psoriasis: Post Hoc Analysis of 3-Year Data from the Phase 3 reSURFACE 1 Study (Abstract #15938). E-Poster.

Safety of Tildrakizumab in Patients with Preexisting Metabolic Syndrome: Long-Term Data from the Post Hoc Analysis of 2 Phase 3 Clinical Studies (reSURFACE 1 and reSURFACE 2) (Abstract #15960). E-Poster.

Relationship of Serum Glucose to Efficacy and Safety of Tildrakizumab Treatment for Psoriasis in Patients with and without Metabolic Syndrome from reSURFACE 1 and reSURFACE 2 (Abstract #15920). E-Poster.

Tildrakizumab Efficacy by Metabolic Syndrome Status in Psoriasis: Post Hoc Analysis of 3-Year Data from the Phase 3 reSURFACE 2 Study (Abstract #15950). E-Poster.

*Long-term safety of tildrakizumab in patients 65 years of age or older with moderate-to-severe psoriasis: pooled analysis through 3 years (148 weeks) from reSURFACE 1 and reSURFACE 2 phase 3 trials (Abstract #13632). E-Poster.

Clearance of Head Involvement in Plaque Psoriasis with Tildrakizumab Treatment in the Phase 3 reSURFACE 1 Study (Abstract #15953). E-Poster.

Long-Term Use of ILUMYA for Moderate-to-Severe Plaque Psoriasis

Efficacy and Safety of Long-Term Tildrakizumab for Plaque Psoriasis: 4-Year Results from reSURFACE 1 (Abstract #15904). E-Poster.

Efficacy and Safety of Long-Term Tildrakizumab for Plaque Psoriasis: 4-Year Results from reSURFACE 2 (Abstract #15910). E-Poster.

Rates of Malignancies Through 5 Years of Tildrakizumab Exposure in 2 Phase 3 Clinical Trials. (Abstract #15966). E-Poster.

ILUMYA for Psoriatic Arthritis  Phase 2 Data

Tildrakizumab Efficacy for Psoriatic Arthritis: 24-Week Analysis of Swollen and Tender Joint Counts and Pain (Abstract #15994). E-Poster.

Safety of Tildrakizumab in Psoriatic Arthritis: An Interim Analysis from a Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Phase 2b Trial (Abstract #15989). E-Poster.

Trial (Abstract #15989). E-Poster. Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multiple-Dose, Phase 2b Study to Demonstrate the Safety and Efficacy of Tildrakizumab, a High-Affinity AntiInterleukin-23p19 Monoclonal Antibody, in Patients with Active Psoriatic Arthritis (Abstract #15964). E-Poster.

Real World Data

Real World Dermatology Visit in Moderate-to-Severe Plaque Psoriasis Patients Treated with Biologics or Apremilast (Abstract #17141). E-Poster.

ODOMZO (sonidegib) Abstracts for Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma:

Effect of concomitant common cardiovascular medications on efficacy of sonidegib 200 mg daily in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma: Results of the 42-month randomized, double-blind BOLT study (Abstract #15146). E-Poster.

Effect of concomitant medications on efficacy of sonidegib 200 mg daily in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma: Results of the 42-month randomized, double-blind BOLT study (Abstract #16306). E-Poster.

Investigator assessment of the efficacy of sonidegib 200 mg once daily and concordance rates with assessments by central review in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma: Results of the 42-month randomized, double-blind BOLT study (Abstract #16321). E-Poster.

Duration of response and progression-free survival with sonidegib 200 mg once daily until disease progression or start of new antineoplastic therapy in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma: Results of the 42-month, randomized, double-blind BOLT study (Abstract #16334). E-Poster.

LEVULAN KERASTICK (aminolevulinic acid HCl) + BLU-U Abstract for Actinic Keratoses:

Efficacy of ALAPDT in the Treatment of Actinic Keratoses on the Upper Extremities: A post hoc analysis of a Phase 3, randomized, vehicle-controlled trial (Abstract #13568). E-Poster.

The 2020 AAD Virtual Meeting Experience is accessible via registration here.

*Abstracts sponsored by Almirall who markets tildrakizumab-asmn in EU

About Sun Dermatology

Sun Dermatology (the branded dermatology division of a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.) is committed to expanding its dermatology portfolio to bring healthcare providers and patients around the world more treatment options and ongoing support for conditions like moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., along with its subsidiaries, is ranked second in dermatology prescription volume within the U.S. per IQVIA and is the fourth largest specialty generic pharmaceutical company globally. In addition to ILUMYA, Sun Dermatology is comprised of several branded products with a focus on various dermatologic conditions.

About ILUMYA (tildrakizumab-asmn)

ILUMYA (tildrakizumab-asmn) is a humanized lgG1/k monoclonal antibody designed to selectively bind to the p19 subunit of interleukin-23 (IL-23) and inhibit its interaction with the IL-23 receptor, leading to inhibition of the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. ILUMYA is indicated for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy, in the United States. ILUMYA has also been approved for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in Australia and under the brand name ILUMETRITM in Europe.



IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Please click here for Full Prescribing Information and Medication Guide.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

ILUMYA is contraindicated in patients with a previous serious hypersensitivity reaction to tildrakizumab or to any of the excipients.

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS:

Hypersensitivity: Cases of angioedema and urticaria occurred in ILUMYA-treated subjects in clinical trials. If a serious allergic reaction occurs, discontinue ILUMYA immediately and initiate appropriate therapy.

Infections: ILUMYA may increase the risk of infection. Treatment with ILUMYA should not be initiated in patients with a clinically important active infection until the infection resolves or is adequately treated. Consider the risks and benefits of treatment prior to prescribing ILUMYA in patients with a chronic infection or a history of recurrent infection. Instruct patients receiving ILUMYA to seek medical help if signs or symptoms of clinically important chronic or acute infection occur. If a patient develops a clinically important or serious infection, or is not responding to standard therapy, closely monitor and consider discontinuation of ILUMYA until the infection resolves.

Pretreatment Evaluation for Tuberculosis: Evaluate patients for tuberculosis (TB) infection prior to initiating treatment with ILUMYA. Do not administer ILUMYA to patients with active TB infection. Initiate treatment of latent TB prior to administering ILUMYA. Consider anti-TB therapy prior to initiation of ILUMYA in patients with a past history of latent or active TB in whom an adequate course of treatment cannot be confirmed. Patients receiving ILUMYA should be monitored closely for signs and symptoms of active TB during and after treatment.

Immunizations: Prior to initiating therapy with ILUMYA, consider completion of all age-appropriate immunizations according to current immunization guidelines. Patients treated with ILUMYA should not receive live vaccines.

Adverse Reactions: The most common (1%) adverse reactions associated with ILUMYA treatment that were more frequent than in the placebo group are upper respiratory infections, injection-site reactions, and diarrhea.

About ODOMZO (sonidegib)

ODOMZO (sonidegib) is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma (laBCC) that has recurred following surgery or radiation therapy, or those who are not candidates for surgery or radiation therapy. Recommended dose is 200 mg orally once daily taken on an empty stomach, at least one hour before or two hours after a meal.

ODOMZO works by inhibiting a molecular pathway, known as the hedgehog signaling pathway, which is implicated in the origination and development of basal cell carcinoma when the pathway malfunctions. By blocking the hedgehog pathway, ODOMZO may halt or slow the growth of cancerous lesions. ODOMZO was acquired by Sun Pharma from Novartis in December 2016.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

WARNING: EMBRYO-FETAL TOXICITY

ODOMZO can cause embryo-fetal death or severe birth defects when administered to a pregnant woman. ODOMZO is embryotoxic, fetotoxic, and teratogenic in animals

Verify the pregnancy status of females of reproductive potential prior to initiating therapy. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment with ODOMZO and for at least 20 months after the last dose

Advise males of the potential risk of exposure through semen and to use condoms with a pregnant partner or a female partner of reproductive potential during treatment with ODOMZO and for at least 8 months after the last dose

Verify pregnancy status prior to initiating ODOMZO. Advise females to use effective contraception and not to breastfeed, due to the potential for serious adverse reactions in breastfed infants, during treatment and for at least 20 months after the last dose. Report pregnancies to Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. at 1-800-406-7984.

Advise males to use condoms, even after a vasectomy, and to not donate semen during treatment and for at least 8 months after the last dose to avoid potential drug exposure in pregnant females or females of reproductive potential.

Advise patients not to donate blood or blood products while taking ODOMZO, and for at least 20 months after the last dose because their blood or blood products might be given to a female of reproductive potential.

Musculoskeletal adverse reactions, which may be accompanied by serum creatine kinase (CK) elevations, occur with ODOMZO and other drugs which inhibit the hedgehog (Hh) pathway. Obtain serum CK and creatinine levels prior to initiating therapy, periodically during treatment, and as clinically indicated. Temporary dose interruption or discontinuation of ODOMZO may be required based on the severity of musculoskeletal adverse reactions.

ODOMZO is not indicated for use in pediatric patients. Premature fusion of the epiphyses has been reported in pediatric patients exposed to ODOMZO and other Hh pathway inhibitors. In some cases, fusion progressed after discontinuation.

Avoid concomitant administration of ODOMZO with strong and moderate CYP3A inhibitors. If a moderate CYP3A inhibitor must be used, administer for less than 14 days and monitor closely for adverse reactions, particularly musculoskeletal. Avoid concomitant administration of ODOMZO with strong and moderate CYP3A inducers.

There was a higher incidence of serious adverse events, Grade 3 and 4, and events requiring dose interruption or discontinuation in patients 65 years compared with younger patients; this was not attributable to an increase in any specific adverse event.

The most common adverse reactions occurring in 10% of patients were muscle spasms (54%), alopecia (53%), dysgeusia (46%), fatigue (41%), nausea (39%), musculoskeletal pain (32%), diarrhea (32%), decreased weight (30%), decreased appetite (23%), myalgia (19%), abdominal pain (18%), headache (15%), pain (14%), vomiting (11%), and pruritus (10%).

Please see U.S. Full Prescribing Information for ODOMZO, including Boxed WARNING regarding Embryo-Fetal Toxicity

About LEVULAN KERASTICK (aminolevulinic acid HCl)

LEVULAN KERASTICK (aminolevulinic acid HCl) for topical solution, 20%, plus blue light illumination using the BLU-U Blue Light Photodynamic Therapy Illuminator is indicated for the treatment of minimally to moderately thick actinic keratoses of the face or scalp, or actinic keratosis of the upper extremities.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Contraindicated in patients with cutaneous photosensitivity at wavelengths of 400450 nm, porphyria, or known allergies to porphyrins, and in patients with known sensitivity to any of the components of the LEVULAN KERASTICK topical solution.

Application of LEVULAN KERASTICK topical solution should involve lesions on the face or scalp, or upper extremities. Multiple lesions can be treated within a treatment region, but multiple treatment regions should not be treated simultaneously.

Do not apply to the eyes or to mucus membranes. Irritation may be experienced if LEVULAN KERASTICK topical solution is applied to eyes or mucous membranes. Treatment of upper extremities is approved after an incubation time of 3 hours under occlusion. Excessive irritation may be experienced if this product is applied under occlusion longer than 3 hours.

Transient amnestic episodes have been reported during postmarketing use of LEVULAN KERASTICK in combination with BLU-U Blue Light Photodynamic Therapy Illuminator. Inform patients and their caregivers that LEVULAN KERASTICK in combination with PDT may cause transient amnestic episodes. Advise them to contact the healthcare provider if the patient develops amnesia after treatment.

After LEVULAN KERASTICK topical solution has been applied, the treatment site will become photosensitive and patients should avoid exposure of the photosensitive treatment sites to sunlight or bright indoor light (e.g., examination lamps, operating room lamps, tanning beds, or lights at close proximity) for 40 hours. To avoid unintended photosensitivity, LEVULAN KERASTICK topical solution should be applied by a qualified health professional to no more than 5 mm of perilesional skin surrounding each target actinic keratosis lesion.

Advise patients to wear a wide-brimmed hat or similar head covering of light-opaque material or a long-sleeved shirt and/or gloves to shade the treated actinic keratoses from sunlight or other bright light sources until at least 40 hours after the application of LEVULAN KERASTICK topical solution. Sunscreens will not protect against photosensitivity reactions caused by visible light. The patient should be advised to reduce light exposure if the sensations of stinging and/or burning are experienced.

LEVULAN KERASTICK topical solution has not been tested on patients with inherited or acquired coagulation defects.

It is possible that concomitant use of other known photosensitizing agents such as St. John's wort, griseofulvin, thiazide diuretics, sulfonylureas, phenothiazines, sulfonamides and tetracyclines might increase the photosensitivity reaction of actinic keratoses treated with the LEVULAN KERASTICK topical solution.

During light treatment, both patients and medical personnel should be provided with blue blocking protective eyewear as specified in the BLU-U Blue Light Photodynamic Therapy Illuminator Operating Instructions.

The most common local adverse reactions (incidence  10%) were erythema, edema, stinging/burning, scaling/crusting, itching, erosion, hypo/hyperpigmentation, oozing/vesiculation/crusting, scaling and dryness.

In clinical trials, severe stinging and/or burning was reported by at least 50% of face and scalp patients and 9% of upper extremity patients at some time during treatment. However, less than 3% of subjects receiving treatment for face or scalp lesions discontinued light treatment because of stinging/burning. No subjects discontinued light treatment in the trial for upper extremity lesions.

Please refer to the Full Prescribing Information for complete discussion of the risks associated with LEVULAN KERASTICK (aminolevulinic acid HCl) for topical solution, 20%.

Disclaimer

Statements in this "Document" describing the Company's objectives, projections, estimates, expectations, plans or predictions or industry conditions or events may be "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied.

Contacts:





U.S. Media:

Vinita Alexander

Tel Direct +1 609-720-8197 Mobile +1 732-258-6725 E mail [email protected]

SOURCE Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.
Protests against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis are planned throughout New Jersey over the next several days.

There have been hundreds of protests against police brutality in New Jersey over the last two weeks, as rallies and marches over Floyds death have continued to spread across the nation.

The four police officers at the scene of Floyds death have been fired, and one, Derek Chauvin, is charged with second-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder in the case. Three other officers were charged with aiding and abetting.

In New Jersey, all 21 N.J. county prosecutors offices have called images of Floyds death deeply disturbing and said police are not exempt from law. State PBA President Pat Colligan also condemned Chauvin and the four officers also at the scene, saying "nobody in law enforcement can look at that video and justify the actions of those officers.

Gov. Phil Murphy joined protests in two towns on Sunday. He marched with protesters in Hillside and spoke at a rally in Westfield.

Among the protests, marches and rallies planned in New Jersey this week:

THURSDAY, JUNE 11

Residents of Park Ridge and the surrounding area will gather at 3:30 p.m. Thursday followed by a rally at 4 p.m. The march will begin at 18 Sulak Lane and end at Monument Park at Depot Square.

FRIDAY, JUNE 12

A rally is planned at 3 p.m. Friday at the Wall Township Municipal Complex. The march will begin at Wall High School and move toward the Wall Police Department.

The Newark Water Coalition is hosting a march beginning at 2 p.m. Friday. The march will begin at University High School at 55 Clinton Place in Newark.

There will be a second rally from Rahway to Clark beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Two South Brunswick High School alumni are hosting a march that will begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday. The march will start and end at South Brunswick High School at 750 Ridge Rd and will be approximately 3.3 miles. Speakers at the demonstration include South Brunswick School District Superintendent Scott Feder, New Jersey General Assembly member Andrew Zwicker and more.

There will be a demonstration at the corner of Grove and Hessian Ave. in National Park beginning at 5 p.m. Friday. Demonstrators will stand at the intersection and, if the crowd is too large, will be relocated to the fields across from Pats and Heritages.

The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations will join the New Jersey branch of the INCA Council for Social Justice, the Council of Imams in New Jersey and the Muslim American Society in New Jersey for a 5 p.m. joint press conference in Newark. The conference will be held at Robert Treat Hotel at 50 Park Place in Newark.

SATURDAY, JUNE 13

There will be a protest held in Franklinville, where a group mocked George Floyds killing as protestors marched by earlier this week, beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday. The march will begin at the Franklinville library and will end at the Veterans of Foreign Wars building at 2179 Delsea Dr.

There will be a protest in Buena beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday. Demonstrators will meet at 1501 S Central Ave. and march to Bruno Melini Park.

The city of Plainfield will host a protest between 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. For more information contact blmplainfieldnj@gmail.com

The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations will join the New Jersey branch of the INCA Council for Social Justice, the Council of Imams in New Jersey and the Muslim American Society in New Jersey for a rally at 2 p.m. in front of Newark City Hall at 920 Broad St.

There will be a social justice rally held at Community South Park in Princeton. The rally will be held between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. at 380 Witherspoon St. in Princeton. All volunteers can reach out via email at Katrell.shariese@gmail.com.

Metuchen leaders and activists are hosting the Metuchen Rally for Social Justice beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday. The event will be led by various community organizations including the Metuchen Human Relations Commission, the Metuchen-Edison chapter of the NAACP and local organizers with Speak Up NJ. Demonstrators will meet at Martin Luther King Park at 480 Middlesex Ave.

There will be a youth-led march in Florham Park and Madison beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday. The march will begin at Madison High School and will finish at the Florham Park Gazebo.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14

There will be a protest held at Warinanco Park in Roselle Sunday. Demonstrators are asked to gather at 1 p.m. as the program, coordinated by community leaders, will begin at 2 p.m.

The Cranbury Candlelight Vigil will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Cranbury Heritage Park at 57 S Main St. The event will feature a musical performance as well as speeches from Cranbury Township Mayor Matthew Scott, Reverend Bob Moore of the Coalition for Peace Action and many more.

FRIDAY, JUNE 19

A county-wide Juneteenth protest will be held in Bergen County. The demonstration will begin at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Teaneck High School track and will march to the Teaneck Public Library.

There will be a Juneteenth/protest march held in Somerville. Demonstrators will meet at the Somerset County Courthouse at 3 p.m. and walk down Bridge St. towards Rt. 22 and Rt. 206 and kneel for 8 minutes, 46 seconds before walking back to the courthouse.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Caroline Fassett contributed to this report.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Andrew Koob may be reached at akoob@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
On 2 June, as police officers across the country deployed brutal tactics in response to protests over the killing of George Floyd, the former secretary of labour Robert Reich announced that his old vocabulary  crowded already with harsh words for President Donald Trump  was making way for a new addition

On 2 June, as police officers across the country deployed brutal tactics in response to protests over the killing of George Floyd, the former secretary of labour Robert Reich announced that his old vocabulary  crowded already with harsh words for President Donald Trump  was making way for a new addition.

I have held off using the F word for three and a half years, but there is no longer any honest alternative, Reich tweeted. Trump is a fascist, and he is promoting fascism in America.

Reich wasnt alone. Until last week, journalist Masha Gessen was also a sceptic. Gessen had just published Surviving Autocracy, which lists fascism among the words that get thrown about in the American political conversation without sufficient precision. The day after the books publication date, Gessen wrote a short essay for The New Yorker commenting on what it meant when the president  enamoured already of military parades and masked men in combat attire  told governors to crack down on protesters. Whether or not he is capable of grasping the concept, Gessen wrote, Trump is performing fascism.

It was a notable turn. The word fascism is so loaded that even some of the presidents most vociferous detractors had long been reluctant to use it.

Derived from the Italian for bundle or group, fascism was born at the end of the First World War in Italy, adopted by the Nazis in Germany and soon became such a widespread epithet that George Orwell decided the closest synonym to this much-abused word was bully. Ever since Trump became the Republican Partys standard-bearer in 2016, the term has been floated and then dismissed for being too extreme and too alarmist, too historically specific or else too rhetorically vague.

Some observers countered that it would be reckless to write off the possibility of a nationwide slide into fascism, even if, in the initial years of the Trump presidency, it was too early to tell. A number of books published in 2017 and 2018 essentially told Americans to watch out. The ham-fisted slogans, the crude racism, the lurid nationalism, the venal corruption  all of it could lay the groundwork for what the historian Timothy Snyder, in On Tyranny (which he followed with The Road to Unfreedom a year later), called a confused and cynical sort of fascist oligarchy.

Even the positive reviews of Snyders books exuded a certain discomfort with his conclusions, finding them so unthinkable that they were surely exaggerated and overwrought.

But when Jason Stanley, a philosophy professor at Yale, published How Fascism Works in 2018, he suggested that not being worried enough was itself a worrying sign. Trumps rhetoric was alarming, yes, but his administration was also separating migrant children from their parents and placing them in detention centres that were hidden from public view, which Stanley compared to concentration camps in Germany in the 1930s.

The word fascist has acquired a feeling of the extreme, like crying wolf, Stanley writes  not because Americans are so unfamiliar with fascist tactics but because we are becoming inured to them. Normalization of fascist ideology, by definition, would make charges of fascism seem like an overreaction. Our senses have been dulled by exposure. The United States has had a long history of pro- or proto-fascist sentiment, including the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, the America First movement of the interwar years and the Jim Crow laws that Hitler cited as an inspiration. Fascism is not a new threat, Stanley writes, but rather a permanent temptation.

Writing in The New York Review of Books last month, the historian Samuel Moyn took issue with Stanleys book, and with fascism analogies in general. Moyns argument, like a recent op-ed by Ross Douthat in The New York Times, rests on a straightforward premise: If the president were truly keen to crush democracy and impose a dictatorship, then a global pandemic should have provided him with the ideal opportunity. The president, they argue, had chosen instead to do basically nothing. It is surely fodder for some future ironist that, after our era of fearing Trumps actions, Moyn writes, he appears set in the current pandemic to go down in history for a worse sin of inaction.

Its true that the president has so far shown no interest in the kind of painstaking, collaborative, scientific action that would stand a chance of arresting a public health crisis. But the observation that he was squandering a chance to consolidate power seemed to assume a particular understanding of power, more attuned to shortages of N95 masks than enthralled by helicopters and pepper balls. It also played down what he did do during the pandemic, such as restrict immigration even further and fuel attacks on Asian-Americans by insisting on the term Chinese virus.

Not to mention that the timing for Moyns essay was unfortunate; it appeared on 19 May, nearly two weeks before the president was on a call with governors, threatening to send in the military if they didnt dominate protesters who were calling for an end to police brutality. That call happened to take place on the same day that protesters were tear-gassed so that the president could pose in front of a church.

But the critique of fascism analogies runs deeper than whatever it is the president says or does. Moyn suggests that crying fascism obscures the extent to which Trump is a thoroughly American creature while also exonerating the establishment rot that allowed him to flourish in the first place. Corey Robin, in an updated edition of his book The Reactionary Mind, has argued something similar.

Both Robin and Moyn seem animated by a similar suspicion  that fascist analogies ultimately serve centrists trying to gin up fear among the Left, pushing progressives to settle for expedient political choices by overstating the strength of a floundering Right.

Robin cites a modern classic by the historian Robert O Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism, to attest that what made the fascism of Mussolini and Hitler so potent was its youth and its novelty, an advantage forsaken by a lumbering and nostalgic Trump. But one of the most striking aspects of Paxtons book, which was published in 2004, is how much attention he shines on the circumstances that allowed for fascisms emergence in the early 20th Century and its subsequent rise.

Paxton wasnt labouring under the same conditions as current writers, who get drawn into endless debates over whether the president is a fascist. Historically, fascist movements hardened into fascist regimes when given the opportunity by enfeebled conservative elites trying to cling to power, who resort to bringing in an outsider to rile up the base. It was only after the Nazis started losing electoral support that Hitler cut a back-room deal to be appointed chancellor.

Like a vampire, Hitler had to be invited into the house.

And maybe its telling that Americans have traditionally been so preoccupied with a nightmare scenario that has the coverlet of European fascism draped over it, as Gerald Early put it recently in the journal The Common Reader. Early was reflecting on the novelist Sinclair Lewis, whose fictional depiction of Nazism in the United States  with all its brutal and arbitrary violence, police state surveillance and unrelenting incarceration  bore more than a passing resemblance to the historical reality of American slavery.

Lewis had a keen awareness of race in America and was probably thinking ironically when he decided to call his 1935 novel It Cant Happen Here, Early writes. He knew, as any aware American must, that it already had.

Jennifer Szalai c.2020 The New York Times Company
Apostle Kwabena Owusu Adjei has tested positive for Tramadol and Tetrahydrocannabinol after a urine sample test conducted by the Police Hospital in Accra after his arrest on Tuesday, June 9, 2020 by National Security Operatives.



The 56-year-old man tested positive for Tramadol and Tetrahydrocannabinol in a test conducted and results signed by Supt/Dr. Adwoa Nuro-Panin, MWACP (Psychiatry) and sighted by Peacefmonline.com.



The self-styled preacher, Apostle Kwabena Owusu Adjei who was seen in a viral video threatening and castigating President Akufo-Addo and the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa has been arrested.



He arrogantly displayed that if the voters' register is allowed to be changed, the Electoral Commissioner will die, adding that Ghana will not allow a small family to dictate to the nation.



Arrest



In a video seen by Peacefmonline.com, the Apostle was arrested on Tuesday morning at what appears to be his home (coded location) during a live interview with Accra based Hot FM.



He was apprehended by the plain cloth security personnel immediately he started ranting again during the interview.



The officers with an arrest warrant interuppted the interview and whisked him away in a black vehicle.



Indian Hemp



In another video seen in an office where he was taken to after the arrest, the Prophet in handcuff was seen holding a substance suspected to be Indian Hemp wrapped in a brown paper and being search thouroughly by the security personnel.



Remand



The accused person pleaded not guilty to threat of death, contrary to Section 75 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace and possession of narcotic drugs.



He has been remanded by the court to reappear on June 23, 2020.





Watch his arrest below





Tests Conducted

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) battle against COVID-19 has come at a heavy cost with 55 of its warriors losing their lives.

According to the BMC, 1712 employees got infected during the course of their duties in Mumbai on various fronts, of which 1040 employees were cured and discharged.

Of the 55 deaths, it has been confirmed that 44 are due to the coronavirus while the reports of the other employees are yet to come.

The health department is the most vulnerable in this fight. As many as 15 employees of the health department lost their lives, while six were from the fire brigade, five from the BMC security department and the rest from other departments of the BMC, it stated in a report.

Mumbai has reported 52,445 COVID-19 patients and 1855 deaths, while 23,693 patients have been cured and discharged. There are a total of 26,897 active COVID-19 cases in Mumbai.

Apart from the BMC, the Maharashtra police have also born the brunt of the battle, losing 31 personnel. 195 police officers and 1304 other police personnel have been infected with COVID-19 across Maharashtra.

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has said that if any COVID-19 warrior has symptoms, they should immediately report to the dedicated centre for further treatment. The Maharashtra police have also made it clear that it's not mandatory for security personnel aged above 50 or with co-morbidities to report for field work. They can instead work from police stations.

BMC officials said as Mumbai is the epicentre of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, they are more exposed to the virus. Our staffers are taking care but those who come in regular contact with COVID-19 patients are more vulnerable like the health, fire brigade and security departments. We are happy that BMC has announced Rs 50 lakh insurance cover to its employees, said a senior BMC official.
More than 130 officers have been injured during anti-racism demonstrations, it has been claimed. (AP)

More than 130 officers have been injured during anti-racism demonstrations, the National Police Chiefs Councils (NPCC) chairman has claimed.

The figures come as a police chief warned forces will not tolerate violence in our communities and pursue people who damage monuments and statues.

Although protesters, brought out by the death of George Floyd in the US, have largely been peaceful, some people clashed with police during last weekends demonstrations in London.

A statue of 17th-century slave trader Thomas Colston was also pulled down by a crowd in Bristol.

NPCC chairman Martin Hewitt said more than 130 officers had been injured in one way or another but did not give further details.

The statue of slave trader Thomas Colston was pushed into Bristol harbour. (Getty Images)

The scale of support Black Lives Matter protests has also become clearer, with Essex Police chief constable Ben-Julian Harrington saying more than 155,000 people had taken part in 200 demonstrations.

They were started in response to the death of Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck to pin him to the ground as he pleaded for air.

It has also been revealed that 137 people have been arrested, while some were fined for breaches of the coronavirus regulations which ban gatherings of more than six people.

Harrington said: We will not tolerate violence in our communities, whether thats against people, whether its against property or, indeed, against police officers, and if this kind of disorder occurs, we will act.

Its unacceptable that so many officers were injured in London over the weekend.

And I think any criminality will be thoroughly investigated and action will be taken against those who commit offences.

Discussing damages to monuments and statues, he said police will seek to bring people to justice.

However, he added: Its not a matter for the police, unless a criminal offence is committed, this is a matter for those people that own or are the guardians of the statues wherever they may be, and dealing with those people who feel very strongly about appropriateness or otherwise of those statues.

Story continues

Avon and Somerset Police received criticism for not intervening when protesters tore down the statue of Colston, who made much of his fortune off the slave trade.

The statue has now been recovered and will be placed in a museum.

The Avon and Somerset chief said he had put peoples safety first and backed his officers decision not to intervene.

Harrington said: What we will do is have appropriate plans and of course the officers will be there looking to make sure that people dont get hurt in the first instance, trying to protect property if thats the right thing to do, but people come first, making sure officers and those taking part are safe.
An Indian restaurant owner forced a female employee to work with no pay for one-year by threatening violence and deportation, a court has heard.

Farok Shaik, who owned six restaurants in Victoria, pleaded guilty to causing a person to enter into or remain in forced labour, Macedon Ranges Leader reported.

The 47-year-old, who appeared in the County Court on Thursday, hired his victim through Gumtree in late 2012 and said he would pay her $42,000 a year plus super, visa sponsorship and accommodation.

But the woman - who was promised a unit to stay in with her husband - was forced to live in a storeroom above Indian Tandoor Restaurant in Yarrawonga, about 265 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.

Farok Shaik, who owned six restaurants in Victoria, pleaded guilty to causing a person to enter into or remain in forced labour

The couple's furniture could not fit in the tiny space so Shaik took their belongings 'under his control' in a separate room.

The victim begged to be paid for her work but her pleas were refused by the restaurateur, who threatened to 'kill or hit' her if she kept asking for money, the court heard.

Shaik also told the woman that she would be kicked out of the country if she stopped working at his restaurants.

She worked at Wardens Indian Tandoori Restaurant in Beechworth and Spice Your Life in Bendigo, as well at the Yarrawonga restaurant.

The victim said she felt 'very helpless' because she was reliant on Shaik for food, accommodation and 'the visa'.

When her husband collapsed, Shaik would not led her stop working and take him to hospital for treatment, the court heard.

He also stopped the victim from taking up a second job as a carer.

The victim went to the police in 2012 but was advised to take the matter to the Fair Work Commission.

The 47-year-old, who appeared in the County Court on Thursday, hired his victim through Gumtree in late 2012 and promised to pay her $42,000 a year plus super, visa sponsorship and accommodation

Shaik was reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman after the woman's visa application was refused.

She was stuck working for Shaik until October 2013.

Shaik was prosecuted by the commission in 2015 and was ordered to pay the woman and her husband $50,000. She was in fact owed $85,000.

Anti-Slavery Australia referred the restaurateur to Australian Federal Police, who raided his house in August 2016.

Pay slips and an employment contract were seized but Shaik maintained his innocence.

Shaik is facing a maximum nine years behind bars and will return for sentencing on June 22

He was charged in 2017 and pleaded guilty last November.

Shaik's motive was 'he couldn't pay the wages so he chose not to', the court was told.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said she was in 'fear feeling withdrawn from others' and she and her husband both contemplated committing suicide.

Shaik owned a restaurant since 2014 but assists his wife at her restaurant.

Shaik was a big sponsor of the local CFA during the same year he offended against his victim.

He is facing a maximum nine years behind bars and will return for sentencing on June 22.
PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2020) There are no hospitalized patients with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in hospitals in Slovakia, 101 people with positive test results receive treatment at home, the illness in these people is mild, Health Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Eliasova told reporters.

"Since the beginning of March, 1,533 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Slovakia, of which 1,404 people have recovered, 28 have died," Eliasova said.

"Currently, 101 people have positive test results, these people have a mild illness, so they are being treated at home. Not a single patient with COVID-19 is left in the republic's hospitals," the spokeswoman said as quoted by online tv channels.
While it may be the end of the month before retirees are allowed back at Kirtland Air Force Base because of restrictions caused by the coronavirus outbreak, that is not the case with other Air Force installations in New Mexico.

Retirees were given limited access at Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis this week. And beginning next Wednesday, June 17, all Department of Defense ID card holders, including retirees, will be allowed full access to Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, according to a news release.

Retirees at Cannon Air Force Base are allowed access to the commissary, base exchange and medical facilities, according to a post on the installations Facebook page.

They will be allowed on base from 1-4 p.m. daily. They will be asked to wear masks or face coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Retirees and other DOD ID card holders at Holloman will have access to the base exchange, commissary and gas station, the release says.

Those entering the base will continue to be screened to see if they have tested positive for COVID-19, been in contact with someone who has tested positive or have traveled outside of New Mexico in the past 14 days.

They will also be asked to wear masks or face coverings when shopping and to maintain social distancing.

Our retirees for example are a vital part of our community, said Col. Ryan Keeney, 49th Wing commander, in the release. We are thrilled that the current data supports us getting them back on base, and re-starting more of the services our local community depends on.

Restrictions are tighter at Cannon, with social gatherings of 10 or more forbidden. Travel for military and DOD personnel is still restricted to a 250-mile radius from the base.

Kirtland has a larger retiree population than the other two bases. There are about 27,000 military retirees in the Albuquerque metro area. The base is using a phased-in approach with five two-week increments. Barring outbreaks in or near the base, phase three will begin next week. Retirees are expected to be among those allowed on base during the fourth and fifth phases of the reopening.
Elizabeth Hurley marked her 55th birthday by posing naked in a bubble bath, as you do.

The model enjoyed her lockdown birthday yesterday by treating herself to a relaxing bubble bath and her fans to a picture of the moment.

Elizabeth Hurley celebrated her 55th Birthday yesterday. Photo: Getty Images

Sharing the image of her unwinding in the tub, hair tied up in a messy bun and arms up in the air in celebratory gesture, the Gossip Girl star acknowledged her special day in the accompanying caption.

Happy Birthday to me, she wrote. This is the fifth birthday weve celebrated during lockdown amongst my little group - including my mothers 80th and my sons 18th.

Grateful to be happy & healthy and to have the best family & friends. Heres hoping real life starts again one day, she added.

After sharing the image, the actors followers were quick to wish her a happy birthday in the comments, with many sharing their surprise at her age.

One wrote: Happy birthday to you! 55 has NEVER looked this good before!!

Have a very happy 39th!! (Though you can still pass for 36...), another user joked.

The stars teenage son, Damian, also shared a birthday message for his son on his own Instagram platform.

Sharing an image of the mother/son duo holding hands as she gets out of a car surrounded by paparazzi, he wrote: Happy birthday to my twin!! My partner in crime forever. I love you mama xxxxxx

Last month Hurley stunned fans by posing in a Versace dress she first wore 21 years ago.

The model shared the image of her wearing the shiny, pink mini dress while lounging on her bed during the coronavirus lockdown.

A scroll of previous pap pictures suggests Hurley previously wore the shimmering Versace dress in 1999 at the American Fashion Awards in New York, when she was dating actor Hugh Grant.

Story continues

As she hinted in her birthday message, Hurley seems to be yearning for life pre-lockdown.

She has been isolating in the UK with her son Damian, but clearly longing for coronavirus-free times she posted a throwback snap of her posing in a teal coloured bikini in the Maldives.

Sharing the picture for her 1.6million followers alongside the caption: No- Im not in the Maldives, Im weeding my rose beds in Blighty, but this was me in Feb (seems like a lifetime ago)

The model has been spending lockdown with her son, Damian. (Getty Images)

Back in March, the model revealed she had been too busy caring for loved ones in coronavirus lockdown to spend time on herself.

Hurley admitted to finally washed her hair and put on make-up after eleven days looking after seven family and friends at her home - some of whom are vulnerable.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed shock over Tuesdays mass killing by Boko Haram in a Borno village which resulted in the death of 81 residents.

On Tuesday, the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP), a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, launched one of its deadliest attacks in recent times on the residents of a village in Gubio local government.

The attack came days after the countrys Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, met with President Buhari in Abuja and briefed him on the successes the army have made against insurgents in the last few months.

Reacting to Tuesdays incident, President Buhari said in a statement released by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, on Wednesday, that he is deeply shocked by the brutal killing of tens of people by the Boko Haram/Islam in West Africa Province (ISWAP) in Gubio village, Borno State.

The president, who said he was expecting a detailed briefing by the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, said he was particularly shocked by the primordial nature of the killings because it happened not long after the Ramadhan and Eid, and the country is preparing to celebrate the Democracy Day.

Condemning the incident, Mr Buhari charged the armed forces to sustain their recent string of successes against the terrorists to extract a heavy price from the attackers, and bring back all those they kidnapped as well as a large number of cattle rustled.

President Muhammadu Buhari [PHOTO: Presidency]

Mr Shehu said the president expressed the sincere condolences of the government and people of Nigeria to the bereaved families, communities and the government and people of Borno State.

The president, according to the statement, awaits the outcome of the Borno governors visit to the affected communities.

Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, visits Gubio village, told 81 died, village head, 6 others abducted. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official Twitter account of gov. Zulum]

Governor Zulum had earlier on Wednesday visited Gubio village to empathise with the people over the sad incident.

The villagers informed the governor that 81 persons were killed during the attack, while others, including a village head, were abducted by the insurgents.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian military in a separate statement also confirmed the development even as it said the victims were mostly women and children.

Acting Director, Nigeria Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, said in a statement that the Army is deeply saddened by the unfortunate incident.

Mr Musa, a colonel, said the attack was carried out by suspected retreating Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists with a few sleeper cells within communities.

He said the insurgents ambushed and killed innocent women and children in Faduma Koloram village, Gubio LGA of Borno State.

PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier that Governor Zulum was briefed by a male survivor of the attack that insurgents invaded their community in three trucks, surrounded them and opened fire on them.

Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, visits Gubio village, told 81 died, village head, 6 others abducted. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official Twitter account of gov. Zulum]

Mr Sagir said a large contingent of military personnel have been deployed to the area to track and apprehend or neutralize the perpetrators.

We have also mandated the Theatre Command, Operation LAFIYA DOLE to enhance security, dominate the area and reassure the affected communities of the Nigerian Armys commitment to protect the population, the army spokesperson said.
Cronkite News

SCOTTSDALE  Federal funding has reached the Navajo Nation, and President Jonathan Nez is urging tribal leaders to move quickly to approve the distribution of $50 million in funds from the CARES Act.

The proposed legislation would help the tribe distribute services and equipment, Nez said in a virtual town hall meeting Tuesday. The legislation, which must be approved by the Navajo Nation Council, would fund crucial water infrastructure projects, personal protection equipment, hazard pay for Navajo workers and other services.

We need your help, Nez said during the virtual meeting. Talk to your delegates.

According to a petition in favor of the legislation , which had more than 600 signatures at the time of this storys publication, the bill creates a unified approach to developing plans for much-needed water infrastructure that will bring clean water to thousands of Navajo families, elders, and high-risk tribal members.

Navajo leaders also encouraged those living on the reservation to take care of the older population.

Weve spent $1.6 million on funerals, Vice President Myron Lizer told the town hall. We cant just blame the government, we are all part of this.

Lizer and Nez said caring for ones relatives, especially older Navajos who are at higher risk for COVID-19 infection and complications, is the responsibility of the Navajo people.

We have to shield them from this monster that is taking over our land, Nez said.

As of June 9, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported 28,296 cases of COVID-19 and 1,070 deaths in the state. It said 409,174 tests for COVID-19 have been completed in public and private labs in Arizona, and 6.915% of tests have come back positive for the virus. To date, 5.7% of Arizonans have been tested.

Arizona among 14 states seeing surge in cases

Arizona has hit its highest seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Nation-wide protests, relaxed stay-at-home limitations and reopenings could play a role in increasing numbers, according to The Washington Post . Data from the Post shows that although cases originally were rising in metropolitan areas, increases now are occurring in more rural areas. Because those regions have smaller population sizes and fewer health care resources, experts worry they will struggle to track and treat new cases.

How to help

The Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund has raised more than $4.7 million to help support Navajo and Hopi communities since it was created March 15, according to a press release. Donations made to the groups GoFundMe page are used to purchase healthful foods and cleaning supplies. The nonprofit offers regular updates on its GoFundMe and social media pages.

Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News and is published via a Creative Commons license . Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University

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By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian aid to 20 citizens stranded in Turkey due to the closure of borders amid COVID-19, the State Committee for work with the Diaspora reported on June 8.

Aid has been provided to 20 Azerbaijani citizens temporary residing in the Muratpash region of Antalya, where they are treated from thalassemia and other diseases, with the support of the Antalya Azerbaijan association of culture and solidarity.

The members of the association distributed food to the citizens from the Antalya Muratpash municipality and wished them strong health in an early future.

Moreover, the members of the board of the association keep in touch with students studying in Antalya, as well as compatriots who were visiting there temporarily, and faced difficulties to return back due to the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 infection.

Earlier, Azerbaijan sent financial aid to 90 citizens stranded in Uzbekistan due to the closure of borders amid COVID-19.

Over 20.000 citizens have already been repatriated to the country. The citizens have been repatriated from Moscow, Istanbul, Kyiv, Minsk, Iran, Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Riga (Latvia), among others.

Azerbaijan first introduced special quarantine regime on March 24 and the fourth stage of quarantine regime easing came into force May 31.

On June 9, a decision was taken to impose a two-day nationwide quarantine regime in Baku, Ganja, Lankaran, Sumgayit, Absheron, Yevlakh, Ismailli, Kurdamir and Salyan regions, that will be effective from 00:00 on June 14 to 06:00 on June 16.

As of June 11, Azerbaijan has registered 8,530 COVID-19 cases and 102 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of recovered patients is 4,720.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Kettering University "These videos tell the story about our commitment not only to our students but also to the community where we are located. The stories are true, and our impact is real. We are very proud of the contributions made by our University and students.

Three Kettering University videos spotlighting its environmental efforts, support of Flint children impacted by the water crisis and success of its Kettering University Online graduates recently received bronze awards by an industry body of global video, production and television experts.

In its 41st year, the Telly Awards spotlight outstanding achievement by animators, directors, producers and other talent video and television production across a variety of mediums. More than 200 industry experts and past winners judged more 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents were submitted this year for excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials as well as non-broadcast video. Sony Music, HBO Latin America, ESPN Films, BBC, iHeart Media, Warner Bros. and Disney were just a few of the other top winners across multiple categories.

At Kettering, we take pride in the content we produce, said Dr. Christine M. Wallace, Vice President for Kettering Global. But these videos are much more than just content. These videos tell the story about our commitment not only to our students but also to the community where we are located. The stories are true, and our impact is real. We are very proud of the contributions made by our University and students.

The three bronze award-winning videos produced within the past year by Kettering Universitys Creative Media Studios and Kettering Global partner Keypath Education are:

Kettering University and Educare Flint  Serving the Flint Community (General  Non-Broadcast)  Documentation of how Kettering University partnered with Educare Flint (Michigan) to provide children with a variety of developmental toys designed by the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering graduates to meet the needs of those impacted by the Flint water crisis.

Solar Panels (General  Non-Broadcast)  A behind-the-scenes look at how Kettering University merged art and science to install three environmentally-friendly solar trees on its campus.

Kettering University Online 2019 Graduation Video (General  Branded Content)  Insight into how Kettering University Online is playing a pivotal role in shaping the careers of students through innovation, expertise and leadership.

About Kettering University Online

Kettering University Online is dedicated to support business and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) professionals achieve the extraordinary through technological innovation, leadership and service. Its programs link transformative experiential learning opportunities to rigorous academic programs in MS Engineering-ECE-Advanced Mobility Focus, Engineering Management, Lean Manufacturing, Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, and MBA, as well as its new MS Data Science program. Kettering University Online also has consistently earned top-seated national recognition year-over-year for its degree programs by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, go to online.kettering.edu.

About Kettering University

Kettering University, formerly known as GMI, is a Flint, Michigan-based private, nonprofit university recognized as one of the nations premier science, technology, engineering and business leaders in higher education. Dedicated to offering a curriculum that uniquely integrates classroom learning with experiential co-operative opportunities, Kettering consistently ranks in U.S. News & World Reports listing for elite specialty schools. The University has more than 27,000 square feet of lab and research space used by faculty, students and industry collaborators, and boasts the only ABET-accredited applied physics program in the world. It also houses the first and only FIRST Robotics Community Center on a college campus in the United States. According to a 2019 analysis of federal data ranking 4,500 schools nationwide, Kettering University degree holders have the highest lifetime return on investment (ROI) in the state of Michigan. The University celebrated its centennial year in 2019. For more information, go to kettering.edu.


SPRINGFIELD  No injuries were reported after a car crashed through a fence and onto the handicap access ramp to a home on Westford Circle late Wednesday night.

The incident occurred about 11 p.m. when the driver lost control, hit a stop sign, passed through a chain-link fence and onto the ramp at 111 Westford Circle, police and fire officials said.

Police, who talked with the driver at the scene, are still investigating the crash, Ryan Walsh, spokesman for the department said.

Springfield Fire spokesman Capt. Drew Piemonte said the crash damaged the ramp.
A former Veterans Affairs pathologist who the agency says botched 3,000 cases, including at least 15 in which patients died, admitted in court Thursday that he schemed to cover up a substance abuse problem and twice misdiagnosed a cancer patient who got the wrong treatment and died.

Robert Morris Levy, 53, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and another of involuntary manslaughter - which together carry a maximum possible prison term of 28 years, though federal sentencing guidelines might call for something less. He had been charged last year with 31 counts in total, and had been scheduled for a Sept. 8 jury trial in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark.

Because of public health restrictions stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, the plea hearing took place through video, with Levy appearing in a cell in the county jail. He wore a gray, striped prison jump suit and a black mask that covered his nose and mouth, answering most of Judge Timothy Brooks's questions with a simple, "Yes, your honor."

Levy confirmed that, while he was facing regular drug and alcohol monitoring for being caught drunk on the job, he used a substance that mimicked alcohol's effects, but was untraceable with normal tests.

He also admitted to twice misdiagnosing an Air Force veteran in 2014 with types of cancer the man did not have, and falsifying records to claim that his deputy had concurred with his diagnosis. That prompted doctors to give the veteran, who was not named during the hearing, the wrong treatment before he died five months later.

"I plead guilty, your honor," Levy said, as the judge asked him about each of the two charges. He is expected to be sentenced in several months.

The plea begins to bring to a close a rare criminal case against a government physician whose misconduct led to more than 3,000 misdiagnoses, at least 15 deaths and medical harm to dozens of veterans, VA officials have acknowledged to members of Congress and investigators.

Levy read almost 34,000 pathology slides from aging veterans during 12 years as chief pathologist at the VA hospital in Fayetteville and in leadership roles on oversight boards and medical committees. He did not properly diagnose cancers and many other serious illnesses, investigators have said, mistakes that delayed medical care for an unknown number of veterans and led to unnecessary treatment for others.

"Amen," Eva Chick said on Wednesday when she learned that Levy planned to plead guilty to manslaughter. Her father-in-law, Robert Thomas Chick, died in 2017 at age 70 of a lung cancer that Levy had missed two years earlier, investigators determined.

When Chick finally was diagnosed - weak and his breathing labored - the cancer had metastasized. He died five months later.

His daughter-in-law said she wishes that Levy "would have gotten more than what he's getting."

"He killed all those people," she said. "Why did they get him for just one death?"

Within months of Chick's death, the VA gave Levy a bonus for stellar performance after he completed a three-month, inpatient alcohol treatment program, one of several missteps in his supervision, records show.

Kelly Copelin, a retired Air Force master sergeant, was prescribed antibiotics for an earache in 2015 after a biopsy Levy read came back negative.

Thirteen months later, Copelin's neck and throat cancer was discovered at Stage 4 - and the treatment that saved his life was so invasive that today he cannot swallow food. He eats intravenously because of the damage to his throat.

"Does it surprise me? No," Copelin said of Levy's plea bargain. "Does it upset me? Yes. Look at everybody he's hurt. They're focusing on one case. It's a slap in the face."

The VA fired Levy from the Fayetteville Medical Center in 2018 after an arrest for allegedly driving under the influence. The arrest prompted an 18-month review of his cases dating back 12 years. It discovered that almost 10% of his diagnoses involved clinical errors, more than 10 times the normal misdiagnosis rate of 0.7% for pathologists.

Levy's termination followed a tumultuous tenure during which his colleagues in the pathology lab complained that they witnessed erratic behavior from him while on the job.

Inspector General Michael Missal began an investigation of Levy's actions and of agency missteps in overseeing and addressing his behavior. In their indictment last year, prosecutors alleged that the complaints against Levy went unheeded.

After an earlier incident of erratic behavior, Levy had entered a program for impaired physicians in Mississippi in 2016 and returned to work. A year later he appeared at a meeting of fellow pathologists and oncologists, was unable to stand and slurred his words, according to documents and interviews.

His medical privileges were suspended, but he continued to perform administrative work until his DUI arrest.

To avoid detection of his severe substance abuse problem, Levy used his knowledge of toxicology and the science of blood testing and urinalysis to devise a dangerous solution, prosecutors said.

He routinely took a substance called 2-methyl-2-butanol (known as 2M2B), which he bought over the Internet, to mask the alcohol level in his blood, prosecutors said. The substance, which is not approved for individual use, cannot be detected in routine tests for drugs and alcohol. And it can be lethal if too much is taken.

VA officials have called Levy's misconduct an isolated case. But the case drew attention to what investigators, Congress and veterans groups have called a lax system of oversight of poor-performing physicians who often are reassigned rather than dismissed.

The agency said it has added oversight of small specialty staffs across the system - as was the case in Fayetteville - to ensure "independent and objective oversight."

The Fayettville VA hospital director, Kelvin Parks, said in a statement before Levy's court appearance, "The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks is thankful this now former, fired employee will be brought to justice, and hopes that today brings some closure to Veterans and their families."

Parks said VA has implemented a systemwide policy that requires hospitals with two or fewer doctors in a given specialty to have outside providers conduct peer reviews of their work to ensure "independent and objective oversight," among other changes.

The hospital said it has settled tort claims with five veterans or families that were hurt by Levy's conduct.

Bryan Smith, a Memphis, Tenn.-based attorney representing about 15 families whose loved ones either died or suffered medical harm, said the agency has offered some settlements. "But the offers have not been much, and we haven't resolved any of the claims," said Smith, of counsel to the Whetstone Law Firm in Little Rock.

He said the VA has rejected some claims on the premise that even if Levy misread their pathology slides, other physicians outside the VA system soon caught their cancers or other illnesses, so no medical harm was done.

Smith said he rejects that premise. "For many of these veterans, there would have been less radical treatment options if Levy had not misread their slides," he said.

The inspector general's office has not issued a report on the Levy case. Such investigations are typically deferred until a criminal case is completed.
(Newser)  An Ohio state senator is accused of showcasing systemic racism in a hearing to determine whether racism should be declared a public health crisis. State GOP Sen. Steve Huffman, an emergency room doctor on the Senate Health Committee, was questioning Ohio Commission on Minority Health chief Angela Dawson on Tuesday when he asked why black people were harder hit by COVID-19 than white people, per the Washington Post. "I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and it makes them more susceptible to death from COVID," the white senator told the black witness before pondering why the group is more likely to contract the virus. "Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves?"

story continues below

Dawson responded to Huffman, saying that was "not the opinion of leading medical experts." The audience also cringed at the remark, State Sen. Cecil Thomas, a Democrat on the committee, tells the Dayton Daily News: "He's an example of why we have to have this discussion about racism and how it impacts people." Rep. Stephanie Howse, the Democratic president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, agrees, noting African Americans don't receive adequate care in hospitals. "Do you think that someone who acknowledges the 'coloreds' is going to give the love and care that people need when they come through those doors?" Huffman now tells the Post that his remark was "taken out of context." "Anybody that comes into any emergency room, I give them the very best care regardless of what race they are," he adds. (Read more racism stories.)
Zara Tindall with her horse, High Kingdom, during the Horse Inspection before the Team Eventing Jumping Final at the London Olympic Games. (PA Images)

Zara Tindall has said she feels lucky to have her horses with her during lockdown as she keeps her hope of competing in the Olympics again alive.

Zara, the Queens oldest granddaughter, is silver Olympic medal-winning equestrian and hopes to represent Team GB in the next games.

She and her grandmother are appearing in the same edition of Horse & Hound magazine, as the Queen gave a rare approved interview about her favourite horses of the years.

Zara, 39, said: I love riding for my country; those have been the best experiences of my career.

To get your horse to that level is what its all about and what we all strive for.

I love the big occasion because I love the pressure  sitting on a horse that you know is good enough, you are fully prepared, riding for your country, its what your dreams are made of.

Zara was considered something of a long shot for the 2020 Olympic Games which were to be held in Tokyo and have had to be postponed.

But she is pinning her hopes on Class Affair as a team horse.

Zara Phillips (right) celebrating with the team after finishing second in the Team Eventing at the London Olympic Games

Read more: Queen-approved interview gives rare insight into her favourite pastime

Zara has been disappointed by not being able to compete at the Badminton Horse Trials, which was cancelled in May because of the pandemic.

She added: Having horses like Class Affair and Watkins to aim at Badminton was exciting and gave everything a focus; now those goals arent there, its quite weird and you have to deal with the disappointment.

Those of us who have been able to spend time with our horses during lockdown are so lucky  a lot of people havent and thats incredibly tough for them.

Zaras interview is in the same edition of the magazine as the Queens revelation on her favourite 13 horses over the years. She gave the list and a rare approved interview with her racing team for special royal edition.

Mother-of-two Zara lives with her husband Mike Tindall, a former England rugby captain, and their daughters Mia and Lena on the Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.

Story continues

They live close to Zaras mother, Princess Anne. Prince Charless Highgrove home is only six miles away too.

Zara Tindall riding Gladstone competing at the Land Rover Gatcombe Horse Trials on the estate of the Princess Royal.

Read more: Mike Tindall jokes about relief at daughter's return to school following coronavirus lockdown

The estate has been Annes home since 1976 when it was bought for her by the Queen as her private residence. The value of the home wasnt disclosed at the time but was estimated to be between 500,000-750,000.

Its the equivalent of something like 3.2million now.

The Tindalls moved into one of the houses on the estate in 2013, and Zaras older brother Peter Phillips has a home there too.

Peter previously lived with his wife Autumn and their daughters Savannah and Isla, on the estate, but the couple split earlier this year. Its thought they will stay nearby and possibly both on the estate but in separate homes.

Gatcombe Park is a working organic farm and until last year was the home to the annual Gatcombe Horse Trials.

Gatcombe Park near Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, where Anne lives as well as Mike and Zara Tindall. (PA Images)

Read more: Queen makes her first video call as she tells carers 'I'm very impressed'

In 2014, Anne spoke to Countryfile about her home, saying: It's really nice to come back and just be yourself in an area like this. Being able to take on a place like this  for me, Ive got to make it work.

This is not something that comes free, this has got to pay its way, otherwise I cant stay here.

Last year she held the last of the Horse Trials, which she previously admitted were often a close-run thing and did not turn a large profit.

She said: People think youre making money out of these things, but its a close-run thing. We dont make enough money.

Even picking up peoples hay and other rubbish from their [horse] lorries could threaten our organic status.

However the Festival of British Eventing, which is organised by her former husband, Captain Mark Phillips, and her son is still held each summer.

This year the event is scheduled for 7-9 August and organisers are still hoping to run it.
Candidate filing begins next month in Friendswood ISD a Nov. 3 election in which four of the school boards seven positions will be on the ballot.

Meanwhile, as district officials ponder possible scenarios for the next school year amid the coronavirus pandemic, trustees have approved a tentative plan designating which dates on the calendar would be used as makeup school days if needed if closures occur because of the coronavirus pandemic or other reasons.

Candidate filing starts in July

Incumbents whose terms are set to expire in November are Laura Seifert in Position 1, Denise Ruiz in Position 2, board secretary Rebecca Hillenburg in Position 3 and president Tony Hopkins in Position 4.

The filing period for candidates is July 18 through Aug. 17.

Also on the Nov. 3 ballot is a $128.275 million school construction bond package.

The package would fund construction and renovation projects at almost every campus in FISD and could ultimately result in an estimated 18 cent increase in the districts property tax rate, which is now at about $1.23 per $100 property valuation.

The two propositions to be on the ballot are: Proposition A to provide $127.275 million for land purchases and facility, maintenance and safety and security improvements, and Proposition B to provide $1 million for technology improvements.

That package was originally slated for a May 2 election but was moved to November due to the pandemic.

Potential makeup days

As approved in December, Friendswood ISDs class schedule for the 2020-2021 school year will still begin Aug. 19 and end May 27.

The first three off days that could be lost are, in order, Jan. 4, April 23 and Nov. 9. All three are listed as professional learning days for teachers, which make them holidays for students.

Jan. 4 is the only makeup day that would shorten an extended break. The other two are stand-alone off days.

Also, if needed, the board has earmarked May 28 and June 1-4 as days that could be added to the calendar if the school year needs to be extended due to lost time.

Texas public schools are required to have a school calendar at least 180 days long or have a total attendance time of 75,600 minutes.

John DeLapp is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at texdelapp@gmail.com.
Tensions have heightened between the City of Winnipeg and people living in encampments on Henry Avenue and Austin Street as the city rolled in dumpsters on Wednesday morning and doled out orders to vacate.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/6/2020 (590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tensions have heightened between the City of Winnipeg and people living in encampments on Henry Avenue and Austin Street as the city rolled in dumpsters on Wednesday morning and doled out orders to vacate.

Those living in the camps, and their advocates, maintain the land is home and they have no plans to walk away.

Over 50 protesters, led by Aboriginal Youth Opportunities, surrounded the front doors of the Manitoba Metis Federation building Wednesday afternoon in response to the MMF threatening to take legal action against the city if the camps near its building at 150 Henry Ave. werent removed.

"We're here to hold the Manitoba Metis Federation and David Chartrand accountable for trying to displace our houseless relatives," an organizer said through a bullhorn during the rally. "Who are you to displace Indigenous people on Indigenous land?"

Chants of "No evictions on stolen land" rose in front of the building and caught employees' attention. At least 10 people peeked through office blinds to watch the protests.

Mark Reshaur, Assistant Chief of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, hands Desirae Whitehead a pamphlet detailing the order to vacate the homeless camp by Friday while Rick Lees with the Main Street Project looks on. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

Earlier in the day, Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service Assistant Chief Mark Reshaur, accompanied by Main Street Project's executive director Rick Lees, hand-delivered notices to residents of the camps, mandating that they dismantle shelters and vacate the property by noon on Friday.

The city sent large dumpsters and tractors to begin clearing garbage from the area. The camps are home to approximately 30 residents, though the population fluctuates throughout the year and has begun to dwindle in recent months.

"We've gone to each home on the two encampments and presented them both with a list of service options and so on that we're willing to work with them to do, and also the notice, which was their request," Lees told media.

"The process is to start by assisting folks here in just cleaning up garbage that they'd like to see removed anyway."

Residents of the long-standing encampment cleaned garbage and moved shelters amid the city's requests, but maintained they have no plans to permanently vacate the site they call home.

"We're not homeless, we don't consider ourselves homeless. We build tiny homes out of people's trash, we build little communities," said one resident, Desirae Whitehead.

A city crew is stopped by protesters from removing debris at the Point Douglas homeless encampments Wednesday morning. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

"We have a sense of leadership here, fellowship, friendship  and people come in and just run through it as if it's garbage."

During the rally, organizers took turns speaking through the bullhorn to lead chants and make speeches. One organizer read off eight principles from the National Protocol for Homeless Encampments in Canada before moving on to more chants.

"The third principle. Prohibit forced eviction of homeless encampments," the organizer said, followed by a big applause from the group.

The order to vacate stated that the camp presented "a clear immediate threat of fire resulting in injury or death to occupants," and listed several fires at the camp that fire department crews have responded to since January. Crews attended to two fires Wednesday morning as residents pushed back against city orders to leave.

The decision to issue eviction orders this week came as a result of ongoing concerns for people living in the camp, not as a result of pressures from the MMF, Lees said.

"This is not about the moral debate of encampments, this is about life safety; if people choose to want to continue to camp in other areas, we just want them to do it safely," he said.

Brielle Beardy-Linklater gets protesters chanting in front of the Manitoba Metis Federation building Wednesday to show support to the homeless people being evicted from a camp on the MMF property. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press)

Camp residents are skeptical of the renewed push to evict, noting the city's safety concerns have existed for months and have not been met with adequate supports for the residents.

"This is months and months ago. If it was life threatening why didn't they come then? Why are they coming now?" said Robert Russell. "What's going to happen? Where are people going to go? We'll have to figure that out."

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Lees said he is optimistic residents will not choose to stay and assumes many living at the encampment will choose to join other camps along the river and in the Point Douglas neighbourhood. When asked why those camps, which are supported daily by Main Street Project staff, would be allowed to remain while the Henry Avenue and Austin Street residents were ordered to vacate, Lees cited fire department complaints about the frequency of incidents at the camp.

"This encampment is here because there's no better place to be. EIA (the Employment and Income Assistance Program) is not giving us any place that's really liveable. Doesn't matter how many times we've said this before, there was nothing done," said Russell.

The protest in front of the MMF building ended with a song on the drums and further chants of "No evictions on stolen land." After the song, protesters marched to city hall to demand the city stop the evictions.

 with files from Kellen Taniguchi

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers
This week, statues of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus were damaged in Virginia, Minnesota and Boston in the United States amid George Floyd protests as protesters continued to direct their anger and frustration with systemic racism towards monuments and statues.

George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after being arrested by the police outside a shop in Minneapolis in the US on May 25. Footage showed a white officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes while he was pinned to the floor. He was pronounced dead later in the hospital, triggering widespread protests across the US.

His death triggered widespread furore as people across nations went up in arms against police brutality and racism. In fact, all fifty states of the USA took to the streets, even amid the coronavirus pandemic, to fight for basic civil rights which the African American communities have been denied for generations. The #BlackLivesMovement, however, has now culminated into something bigger - something that was a long time coming.

Protesters around the world are now turning towards statues and monuments of famed world leaders, like former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill or Columbus - "icons" whose racist histories have been ignored for decades to glorify them as leaders, explorers and politicians. Protesters have been tearing down these monuments of people who are emblematic of racism as a mark of protest against systemic racism.

READ: Twitter Cheers on as BLM Protestors Bring Down Christopher Columbus Statues

READ: Why Hundreds Have Signed Online Petition for Removal of Robert Clive's Statue in UK

"Columbus represents genocide"

In Boston, a statue of Columbus was beheaded. The broken pieces of the head were found in an area a little way off. A very powerful photo of the headless statue was taken by photographer Mark Garfinkel, and later tweeted by NBC.

In Virginia, another statue of Columbus was torn down, set on fire and thrown into a lake. Protesters came all guns blazing, with signs that claimed Columbus represented genocide. In Minnesota, Columbus' statue was attacked too, the head was torn down as protesters danced around it.

Why so much anger against Columbus? Isn't he the "founder" of the Americas? Well it was because it was Columbus who brought racism to America when he apparently discovered it in 1492.

Columbus' legacy is as murky as his activities when he came to the 'new world'. He launched the trans-Atlantic slave trade two years after his arrival, initiated slavery and exploitation of the indigenous peoples in America. The Native Americans had welcomed Columbus and his men to their land, but little did they know that they were inviting their own ruin. Columbus and his crew went on a mass killing spree, captured land and the rest is history.

To have statues of Columbus, who initiated genocide in America, is to glorify violence and racism.

"Churchill was a racist"

Winston Churchill was the former Prime Minister of Britain. He was considered to be a war hero and had led Britain for years. But he was also a racist who is largely held responsible for the Bengal Famine of 1943 which killed over four million people.

Thus when when his statue in London's Parliament Square was defaced with "Churchill" crossed out with black marker pen and the words "is a racist" were written underneath, many breathed a sigh of relief.

"Robert Clive is a symbol of British Colonialism"

On Monday, hundreds of people signed a petition to remove the statue of Robert Clive in Shrewsbury, western England. Clive served as the first Governor of Bengal Presidency under the East India Company in the 18th century, earning the title 'Clive of India'.

With time, however, Clive's reputation has largely been as the man who single-handedly established British rule in India. "Clive as a symbol of British colonialism is significantly offensive to Indian, Bengali and south-east Asian descent and to attempt to justify it as a celebration of British pride and nationalism is only justifiable if one revels in the persecution and murder of millions of innocent people," the petition reads.

The petition came just hours after former slave trader Edward Colston's statue was dragged down and thrown into a river in Bristol on Sunday. Colston, who was born in 1636 to a family of wealthy merchants, became involved in Englands official slaving company back then, the Royal African Company. Now, almost three centuries after his death, Colston has become the symbol of racism during the 'Black Lives Matter' protests in UK.

Why should Kings be spared?

Not just the UK, the resonating voices of the protesters tearing down statues of racist leaders have reached Belgium as well. The former King of Belgium, Leopold II ruled for more than forty years at a time when European countries were busy colonising parts of the world they considered "weak." Leopold, however, was the most ambitious of the lot and had his eyes on the Congo basin in Africa. He carried out one of the biggest genocides the world has seen in Congo, killing over millions of people.

Interestingly, the phrase, 'Crimes Against Humanity' was first used to describe Leopold's deeds.

Yes, it was that bad. Naturally, when the world world is speaking up against racism, it seemed only right to demand that his statues, erected all over Belgium, be pulled down. And so it was.

On June 9, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced that all statues of world leaders who celebrated slavery or racism in some form or the other would be pulled down. This came after anti-racism activists drew up a list of more than 60 statues in the UK that should be removed.

The George Floyd protests have given birth to an awakening for millions around the world - an epiphany of sorts that was long due. Most of us see these statues and monuments but seldom do we actually pause to think what they represent. Every statue of Columbus or Clive or Colston is a reminder of what they did and the people who died because of their actions, even if it was centuries ago. It is a reminder of how racism and caste-based discrimination is intricately linked to our very existence.

And if we're crying 'Black Lives Matter' and resisting racism in all its devious forms, it is time we stop looking at these world leaders through rose-tinted glasses and see them for who they really were and what they represent even today. With that realisation dawning upon us, their statues don't have a place in the world anymore.
KEY WEST, FLORIDA  Two Chinese nationals who were students at the University of Michigan will spend time in prison after pleading guilty to illegally entering a restricted military base and taking pictures of naval infrastructure in Florida.

Yuhao Wang, 24, and Jielun Zhang, 25, were sentenced June 5 to 12 months and nine months in prison, respectively, followed by one year of supervised release, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Southern District of Florida.

Wang and Zhang were arrested for entering Sigsbee Annex Naval Air Station in Key West, Florida and photographing defense installations on Jan. 4. They drove up to the guard station at the entrance and spoke with a U.S. Navy Security Forces Master At Arms who requested military identification, which they could not provide, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant made by FBI Special Agent J. Chris Klettheime.

The Master at Arms told the two they were not authorized to enter the base, provided instructions for them to make a U-turn and asked for a drivers license, Klettheimes affidavit said.

Zhang provided a license to the Master at Arms, but continued driving onto Sigsbee Annex, prompting the Master at Arms to radio other Navy security forces to locate the vehicle, the affidavit said.

After about 30 minutes on restricted property, U.S. Navy security forces located the vehicle and found Wang and Zhang were in possession of cellphones, while Zhang also had a Nikon camera, according to the affidavit.

U.S. Navy Security Forces obtained consent to look at the devices and observed photographs taken on the Sigsbee Annex property, including U.S. military structures on Fleming Key, the affidavit said.

When questioned, Wang and Zhang told agents they read and understand English, according to the complaint filed against them. Wang agreed to waive his rights and speak with agents, acknowledging they continued to drive onto the base despite not being able to provide military identification, officials said.

According to the complaint, Wang acknowledged he eventually parked the vehicle and took photos with his cellphone, voluntarily showing agents photos he took. Zhang provided the same story, according to the complaint, voluntarily showing agents photographs and videos he took on a camera and cellphone.

At the time of their arrest, both Wang and Zhang were enrolled at the university, UM spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald said, but neither are currently enrolled.

University of Michigan students accused of taking photos on restricted naval base

A third person, Lyuyou Liao, 27, was also sentenced in a separate case June 5 to one year in prison, followed by one year of supervised release for taking photos and video of property on the Truman Annex of the station.

According to their judgment documents, all three will be surrendered to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after they serve their prison sentences for removal proceedings. If they are removed, they cannot reenter the United States unless they have prior written permission from the Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 01:50:11|Editor: huaxia

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BUDAPEST, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Domestic tourism in Hungary restarted operations in May thanks to the gradual lifting of the COVID-19 restrictions, the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTU) said on Wednesday.

"Thanks to the fast and coordinated government measures, the 2020 domestic tourist season restarted in May," the MTU said in a statement. "Based on the data so far, the annual domestic turnover may exceed previous years," it added.

In May of this year, 134,000 guests stayed at Hungary's tourism establishments spending 433,000 guest nights. Due to the international travel restrictions, domestic travel was dominant in May: 94 percent of the guests were domestic visitors, who spent 82 percent of the total number of guest nights, according to the MTU.

"International arrivals for tourism purposes were almost completely missing in May," the MTU said.

The coronavirus has had a demonstrable effect on Hungary's tourism industry as tourist groups have not left China for European destinations, the MTU said last month.

"Chinese tourists represented 5-6 percent of the total guest traffic, most of whom arrived in Budapest in groups," the MTU recalled.

According to the China National Tourist Office in Budapest, 277,389 Chinese tourists visited Hungary in 2019, an 8.36 percent increase year-on-year. Enditem
WASHINGTON  Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco, the Justice Department official responsible for defending the Trump administration before the Supreme Court, has told the department that he plans to leave, a person familiar with his decision said late Wednesday.

Mr. Franciscos top deputy, Jeff Wall, will most likely step in as acting solicitor general as the White House searches for a replacement.

While it is not unusual for solicitors general to leave as the Supreme Court winds down its term, Mr. Francisco would be the second high-ranking official to depart in the coming months.

On Monday, Brian A. Benczkowski, the head of the departments criminal division, announced that he would leave in July. While at the department, he has worked to stem the nations opioid crisis and handled the politically charged referral of a whistle-blower complaint about President Trumps dealings with Ukraine.
The Catholic Bishops of Ghana grant the government use of 13 Church-owned structures scattered across the country as Covid-19 treatment centres.

By Fr. Benedict Mayaki, SJ

Ghanaian Bishops have put thirteen Church-owned buildings at the disposal of the government for transformation into isolation centers for Covid-19 patients in the country.

The Bishops made this announcement recently as part of their contribution to support government efforts to provide treatment for infected people in the coronavirus pandemic, which has over 200,000 confirmed cases in Africa.

According to the West African Bishops Conference website, the facilities are located in nine of Ghana's sixteen regions: four in the north, four in the east, and one in the south.

Efforts against Covid-19

The donation continues the trend of the Churchs involvement in the fight against the Covid-19 coronavirus.

In May, the Bishops of Ghana donated 70,000 cedis (approximately US$ 12,200) to the national Covid-19 trust fund.

The Bishops had also earlier launched a coronavirus response fund to support Catholic health workers, the elderly and vulnerable social groups.

Meanwhile, at the local level, parishes and Catholic charity organizations actively provide support for people affected by the pandemic.

As of Thursday, Ghana reportedly has 10,358 confirmed coronavirus cases, making it the fourth most-affected country in Africa, and the second most-affected in West Africa.
Adding that officials have been working closely with the Lake County Health Department to break barriers and have as little red tape as possible (for patients), DeMarco said the hospitals programming is based on community need, so more or different services could be added in the future.
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Linkedin Zaky Muzakir and Indrie Grace Margaretha (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 09:01 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc64e3 3 Lifestyle GDP-Ventures,social-media,consumer-behaviour,digital-marketing Free

Anonymity can be a blessing in communicating via the internet. The use of gadgets and computers enables people to communicate with each other without exposing their true identity.

In the past, people who prefer to remain anonymous were perceived as those who had bad intentions. This is not an unsubstantiated claim, as anonymous accounts are often used for sinister behavior, from bullying to criminal acts such as fraud.

Recently, however, anonymous communication has begun to shed its poor image. One factor contributing to its surge in popularity is anonymous story sharing (ASS), where people share stories online without revealing their identity.

Its popularity is clear in social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Quora. On Instagram, accounts such as @cerminlelaki, @cermindramatis, @overheardselingkuh and @overheardfwb accommodate stories from their followers regarding personal relationships, including stories of sexual nature. Followers usually send stories through the direct message feature, and the stories are published with their identities hidden.

Specialized platforms

Alongside the social media giants, several digital platforms were created for ASS. Plurk, Secret and Whisper, to name a few, are designed to uphold anonymity.

In Whisper, users can anonymously post images and videos, along with texts. Stating ones identity is not mandatory. The MediaLab-owned Whisper currently has 250 million monthly users in 187 countries, with average monthly pageviews of 17 billion. According to founder Michael Heyward, Whisper is popular among young people as a place to share stories, from relationship problems to eating disorders, without disclosing their identities.

User characteristics

Sharing stories anonymously can also be done without the help of a specialized platform like Whisper. Instagram accounts @cerminlelaki or @overheardselingkuh can help users share stories without exposing their identities.

A study by Germanys Max Planck Institute for Software Systems and Brazils Federal University of Minas Gerais revealed that the content characteristics in Whisper differ from those in popular social media, such as Twitter.

Whisper users are proven to be more likely to share stories about their feelings of shame and do not mind talking about private issues, such as level of income, domestic problems and personal debts. Interaction in Whisper contain more emotions, such as sadness, anger and hope. Whisper also contains more sexual content than Twitter.

According to experts and reinforced by various psychological literature, an anonymous environment encourages people to behave differently. Users tend to be free from doubts, more expressive and more prone to sharing private stories.

Based on the content of story-sharing accounts like @overheardselingkuh, users tend to share stories they find embarrassing or ones that would generally be frowned upon.

Some questions linger: Do people send their stories anonymously because they want their stories to be heard? Do they wish for happiness upon reading other peoples responses in the comments section? Or perhaps both?

More credible?

As a communication strategy, ASS is still being examined. Stories shared by way of ASS have higher potential to be believed by an audience, especially those on personal shame.

When someone shares information in a forthright way, the audience tends to assume that he or she is being honest. A statement such as I did something wrong would sound more sincere than I am not the culprit.

The anonymous aspect in ASS contributes heavily to protecting the storytellers interests from public judgement. For the same reason, however, the stories can be seen as leaked information.

With both sides in mind, ASS can be used as an effective communication method. In theory, disseminating shareable content is easier through ASS. On a practical level, ASS can be used in a campaign that seeks to change public opinion on sensitive issues. The ethical standpoint, however, calls for an entirely different discussion, and one that must be addressed not anonymously. (wng)

***

Zaky Muzakir started his career as a journalist at Liputan6.com and spent more than eight years there. He then joined the communication team of a political party for five years. Currently, Zaky leads the analytic and report team at SAC, a marketing, branding and creative consulting firm.

Indrie Grace Margaretha is a social media person through and through. She has been at SAC for nearly eight years, where she currently helps the analytics and reporting team to track and crack insights about what people do online.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Its being called an Antiracism Campaign for the Adirondacks.

A series of virtual Listen-in and Teach-in sessions focusing on mobilizing the greater Adirondack community on the issues of racial equity and justice begins next week. The series is being offered by the Adirondack Diversity Initiative in partnership with the Adirondack North Country Association.

The series, said organizers, is in response to peaceful protests across northern New York in recent weeks, as people and communities seek ways to engage in the broader national movement for racial justice.

The first Listen-in session,Antiracism 101: Checklist for white allies and activitists, will feature Nicky Hylton-Patterson, director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative and a panel of black activist-scholars from across the region for a talk about the black experience in America. The online session will take place via Zoom and is scheduled from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday.

We are witnessing an unprecedented wave of passion and support for racial justice across the nation and here in the North Country, said Hylton-Patterson. Our hope is that ADIs new Antiracism Campaign will educate and empower white allies and activists so they can understand and combat systemic racism within their own communities and social networks.

Hylton-Patterson will be joined Monday by Dr. Michelle Cromwell, vice president for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at SUNY Plattsburgh; Dr. M. Nicole Horsley, assistant professor at the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity (CSCRE) at Ithaca College; and Clifton H Harcum, diversity officer in the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at SUNY Potsdam.

Each session will provide language, tools, techniques, as well as strategies to identify, understand and build more racially just and equitable communities in the North Country.

Hylton-Patterson explained that Listen-ins are rooted in the African oral history tradition of passing down knowledge. These forums allow experts to discuss topics and share information with an engaged audience without interruption. She described Teach-ins as informal lectures and discussions on a subject of public interest. Participants are free during the teach-ins to ask questions.

Participants were initially advised to register for Monday nights Zoom session on the either the Adirondack North Country Association or the Adirondack Diversity Initiative websites.

However, six hours after the link went up, a total of 90 people signed up and registration was closed. To accommodate more listeners, those who want to listen in can still go through the registration process online but will be directed to a link to register for a Youtube live stream of the session, Hylton-Patterson said.

The session will also be recorded and available on the Adirondack Diversity Initiative the following day. Hilton-Patterson said she hopes to release a complete schedule of the meetings in the series next week.

The Adirondack Diversity Initiatives mission is to develop and promote strategies to help the Adirondack Park become more welcoming and inclusive of all New Yorkers, both visitors and permanent residents. Hylton-Patterson was hired last December to lead its efforts.

Wednesday, Hylton-Patterson said she hosted a virtual meeting during which 35 African American residents from various areas of the Adirondacks participated. They were ages 20 to 80. The name of the session was Black like me: A Healing and Support Group for Black People in the Adirondacks.

The session was slated to last one hour, but lasted two, she said. There was a lot of emotion, frustration and fear expressed.

People think were making this stuff up, Hylton-Patterson said. But we experience the beauty of the Adirondacks different from you.

She added she hopes to start an oral history project, where black Adirondack residents can share their stories about race relations in the Adirondacks.
In light of COVID-19, an MIT study looks at tradeoffs between economic value and public health, across different types of retail

Banks and bookstores. Gyms and juice bars. Dental offices and department stores. The Covid-19 crisis has shuttered some kinds of businesses, while others have stayed open. But which places represent the best and worst tradeoffs, in terms of the economic benefits and health risks?

A new study by MIT researchers uses a variety of data on consumer and business activity to tackle that question, measuring 26 types of businesses by both their usefulness and risk. Vital forms of commerce that are relatively uncrowded fare the best in the study; less significant types of businesses that generate crowds perform worse. The results can help inform the policy decisions of government officials during the ongoing pandemic.

As it happens, banks perform the best in the study, being economically significant and relatively uncrowded.

"Banks have an outsize economic impact and tend to be bigger spaces that people visit only once in a while," says Seth G. Benzell, a postdoc at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) and co-author of a paper published Wednesday that outlines the study. Indeed, in the study, banks rank first in economic importance, out of the 26 business types, but just 14th in risk.

By contrast, other business types create much more crowding while having far less economic importance. These include liquor and tobacco stores; sporting goods stores; cafes, juice bars, and dessert parlors; and gyms. All of those are in the bottom half of the study's rankings of economic importance. At the same time, cafes, juice bars, and dessert parlors, taken together, rank third-highest out of the 26 business types in risk, while gyms are the fifth-riskiest according to the study's metrics -- which include cellphone location data revealing how crowded U.S. businesses get.

"Policymakers have not been making clear explanations about how they are coming to their decisions," says Avinash Collis PhD '20, an MIT-trained economist and co-author of the new paper. "That's why we wanted to provide a more data-driven policy guide."

And if the Covid-19 pandemic worsens again, the research can apply to shuttering businesses again.

"This is not only about which locations should reopen first," says Christos Nicolaides PhD '14, a digital fellow at IDE and study co-author. "You can also look at it from the perspective of which locations should close first, in another future wave of Covid-19."

The paper, "Rationing Social Contact During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Transmission Risk and Social Benefits of U.S. Location," appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, with Benzell, Collis, and Nicolaides as the authors. Benzell is about to start a new position as an assistant professor at Chapman University; in July, Collis will become an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin; Nicolaides is also a faculty member at the University of Cyprus.

Cumulative risk

To conduct the study, the team examined anonymized location data from 47 million cellphones, from January 2019 through March 2020. The data included visits to 6 million distinct business venues in the U.S. The 26 types of businesses in the study accounted for 57 percent of those visits, meaning the study covers a broad swath of the economy.

By examining the location data over an extended time period, the scholars were able to determine what the typical crowding level is for all business types in the study.

The study also used payroll, revenue, and employment data from U.S. Census Bureau to rate the centrality of different industries to the economy. Businesses in the study represented 1.43 million firms, 32 million employees, $1.1 trillion in payroll, and $5.6 trillion in revenues. The researchers also added a survey of 1,099 people people to gauge public preferences about different types of business.

A key to the researchers' approach is recognizing that during the pandemic, many consumers are trying to limit trips that generate interaction with strangers, while still needing to get essential and useful transactions done.

As Benzell notes, "The idea was, how can we think about rationing social contacts in a way that gives us the most bang for our buck, in terms of meetings, while keeping the risk of Covid transmission as low as possible?"

The study also rates risk on the basis of aggregate public exposure, per business type. On an individual basis, spending a couple of hours in a movie theater with strangers might seem quite risky. But in February 2020, movie theaters had about 17.6 million consumer visits in the U.S., whereas sit-down restaurants had almost 900 million visits in the same month. As a business category, sit-down restaurants would likely generate much more total transmission of Covid-19.

"It's not danger per visit, but it's a cumulative danger," Nicolaides explains. "If you look at movie theaters, they seem dangerous, but not that many people go to the movies every day ... and restaurants are a good counter-example."

Outlier: Liquor stores staying open

In many cases, the researchers say, policymakers have made reasonable decisions about which types of businesses should be open and closed. But there are exceptions to this. Take liquor stores, which have been deemed an "essential" business in many U.S. states.

"What really jumps out at us is liquor and tobacco stores," Benzell says. "Most states have allowed liquor stores to remain open. This is a bit of a bad call from our perspective, because liquor stores don't create a lot of social value. If you ask people which stores they want to be open, liquor stores are near the bottom of that list. They don't have that many receipts or employees, and they tend to be these small, crowded places where people are up against each other trying to navigate."

In the study, liquor stores rate 20th out of the 26 business types in economic importance, but 12th highest in risk.

By contrast, the researchers are more bullish about the public health dynamics of college and universities, which they rank 8th out of the 26 business types in economic importance, but just 17th in terms of risk. If campus living arrangements could be made more safe, the researchers think, the other parts of university life could offer relatively reasonable conditions.

"Colleges and universities actually have the potential to offer pretty good social contact tradeoffs," Benzell says. "They tend to be places with big campuses, they tend to be [composed of] consistently the same group of young people, visiting the same places. When people are worried about colleges and universities, they're mostly worried about dormitories and parties, people getting infected that way, and that's fair enough. But [for] research and teaching, these are big spaces, with pretty modest groups of people that produce a lot of economic and social value."

The scholars note that the study contains national ratings, and acknowledge that there might be some regional variation in effect as well.

"If a local government would like to apply this paper [to their policies], it may be a better idea to put in their own data to make decisions," says Nicolaides. That said, the study did not indicate significantly different results for urban and rural settings, something the researchers evaluated.

To be sure, some businesses are adapting to the pandemic by using new protocols or safety measures, such as limited customers in hair salons or safety partitions at supermarket checkout counters. Studying business venues with such safety measures in place would also be valuable, the scholars note.

"Moving forward, an interesting exercise would be to see how dangerous these locations are once you implement these mitigation strategies." Collis says. "Those are all interesting open questions, seeing which business adapt. And some of these adaptations will probably be temporary changes, but other business practices may stick in the Covid age."

###

Research support was provided by MIT's Initiative on the Digital Economy.

Written by Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office

Additional background

Paper: "Rationing Social Contact During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Transmission Risk and Social Benefits of U.S. Location" https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/09/2008025117
Car sit idle at the Hertz Rent-A-Car rental lot at San Francisco International Airport on April 30, 2020 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Bubbly price moves in the stocks of bankrupt companies, a jump in the number of bullish investors and surging activity by small investors in stock options are all signs that the stock market may have run too far, too quickly. There's even been a big rally in stocks trading under $1 per share, which racked up an average gain of nearly 80% in the past week. With the S&P 500 more than 45% off its low, analysts have been seeing signs the market is overbought and could be ready for a rest. But the market's strong gains are also a magnetic lure for some retail investors, who feel like they haven't been invested enough, and for others who are finally beginning to trust the market's comeback. "Now you have frothy retail behavior on top of stretched sentiment on the part of professional investors, and it's definitely a warning sign," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment strategist at Bleakley Advisory Group. "Does it really matter today, or does it matter two weeks from now? But from strictly a contrarian standpoint, it's got to be a red flag. It's not making a long-term statement. It's not telling you it's the end of the bull market. It just tells you right now, at this moment in time, there's a lot of speculative behavior that should be heeded in the short term."

Stocks skidded sharply in early trading Thursday as some of that froth began to unwind. Hertz was down 13% on Thursday morning following a 39% drop on Wednesday. Boockvar said Investor's Intelligence data now shows a reading for bulls at 56.9%, from 53.5% last week, the highest since January and even more than the 54.7% when the S&P hit its all-time high in February. Bears have fallen to 22.5% from 22.8% last week, and 41.7% in March. The spread between bulls and bears at 36.3 is now the widest since mid January.

Options trading, bankrupt companies

According to Sentiment Trader, small-lot options traders are in a "frenzy," and their activity also dwarfs the amount of trading at the market highs in February. Sentiment Trader points out that the smallest traders, with volume of 10 contracts or less, bought to open 7.5 million call options on stocks at the market peak in February. This week, they bought 12.1 million of similar contracts. Add to that some pretty wild trading in the stocks of bankrupt companies like Hertz and Whiting Petroleum. Hertz stock hit a bottom of 40 cents on May 26, four days after its bankruptcy filing, but its stock hit a high of $6.25 since then. On Wednesday, it fell sharply to $2.52 per share, a decline of 40%. Whiting was also hit hard Wednesday, along with bankrupt retailer, J.C. Penney. "There's always speculation, the hot sectors, the hot areas of the market," said Jeff Rubin, head of research at Birinyi Associates. "In every bull market, there have been periods of speculation that in hindsight look foolish." But Rubin said the frothy action does not necessarily carry a warning. "Two years ago, anything related to cryptocurrencies were super hot, and after that it was anything related to the pot stocks that were super hot," said Rubin. He also mentioned Pets.com, the poster child for bubbly internet stocks in the late 1990s that no longer exists. Citadel Securities Institutional Equity Derivatives team, in a note obtained by CNBC, studied the 29 stocks in the small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 with a share price less than $1. In five trading days through Monday, the group was up an average of 79%. Denbury Resources, Noble Corp., and Palatin Technologies are some of the stocks that were trading below $1 per share in the Russell 2000. "This all amounts to what seems like a retail short-squeeze feeding frenzy that has reached blow-off top proportions," the Citadel Securities Institutional Equity Derivatives team said in the note.

'Not easy to play'
India on Thursday said it has asked the UK not to consider any request for asylum from businessman Vijay Mallya, currently on bail pending his extradition, as there are no grounds for his persecution in the country.

A week ago, the UK had said a confidential legal issue was holding up Mallyas extradition but that it is trying to deal with the matter as quickly as possible. Britains stance gave rise to speculation that the 64-year-old businessman, wanted in India to face charges of financial irregularities, could have applied for asylum in the UK.

Asked about the possibility of Mallya applying for asylum on humanitarian grounds and a timeline for his extradition, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a weekly news briefing: After Vijay Mallyas leave to appeal to the [UK] Supreme Court, that application was rejected, we have been in touch with the UK side for his early extradition.

And we have also requested the UK side not to consider his asylum, if requested by him, because there appear to be no ground for his persecution in India.

Mallya lost his appeal against the 2018 order to extradite him in the UK high court in April. Last month, the high court also refused Mallya permission to appeal in the UK Supreme Court.

He is wanted in India to face charges of financial offences involving Rs 9,000 crore borrowed by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines from several Indian banks.

People familiar with developments, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the UK side had no further comments on Mallyas case beyond the statement made by the spokesperson of the British high commission on June 4, and this position was in line with long-standing policy.

The British missions spokesperson had said that there is a further legal issue that needs resolving before Mr Mallyas extradition can be arranged. The spokesperson had added, Under United Kingdom law, extradition cannot take place until it is resolved. The issue is confidential and we cannot go into any detail.

The spokesperson had also declined to estimate how long this issue will take to resolve, and said: We are seeking to deal with this as quickly as possible.

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The following editorial appeared in Thursday's Japan News-Yomiuri:

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The results can be said to represent stern views on relations between Japan and South Korea spreading among the people in both countries. For the time being, Japan has no choice but to continue cooperation in necessary fields and minimize negative impacts.

According to a poll jointly conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun and The Hankook Ilbo of South Korea, 84% of Japanese respondents and 91% of South Korean respondents said the current bilateral relationship is "bad." The poll began in 1995, but the figure for Japanese respondents was the third worst, while that for South Korea was the worst.

The majority of respondents in both countries answered that they cannot trust each other. The Japanese side has been increasingly frustrated by South Korea persistently dredging up historical issues.

The administration led by South Korean President Moon Jae-in bears a heavy responsibility. Since South Korea's Supreme Court ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to former requisitioned workers from the Korean Peninsula, the administration has not presented a feasible solution.

The Japanese government maintains that the issue regarding the former requisitioned workers has been resolved by the 1965 Agreement on the Settlement of Problems concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Cooperation between the two countries and the supreme court ruling violates international law.

As to the claim by the Japanese government, 79% of Japanese respondents answered that it is "convincing," while 81% of South Korean respondents replied that they "cannot agree to it." There is a wide gap.

Based on the supreme court ruling, assets of Japanese companies have been seized. If the seized assets are converted into cash, the companies would suffer a direct disadvantage. This is a situation that Japan can never accept.

The Moon administration must be aware of a possible serious blow to the bilateral relations and take measures to make a breakthrough. If it insists that compensation for former requisitioned workers is necessary, it is reasonable that the South Korean government takes the lead to proceed with the compensation.

The hardening of South Korean public sentiment is seen as a reaction to Japan's tighter export controls toward South Korea. The South Korean government has announced that it will resume procedures to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization, accusing Japan of an action violating WTO rules.

The Moon administration is gaining confidence as the public has a high opinion of its efforts to combat the novel coronavirus. The ruling party won a landslide victory in the general election in April. Under the current situation in which the administration has strengthened its base, it cannot be expected that the hard-line policy toward Japan will be largely revised.

The important thing is to stop the bilateral conflict from spreading to fields such as security that need cooperation between Japan and South Korea.

In the poll, as to a question about which country the respondents feel threatened by militarily, with multiple answers allowed, 79% of Japanese respondents and 63% of South Korean respondents mentioned "North Korea," the highest for both countries. About 80% of the respondents of both countries said that China was "unreliable."

North Korea has repeated provocative actions, such as the launching of missiles, while China continues its military buildup. For the sake of stability in Northeast Asia, it is necessary for Japan and South Korea to maintain a cooperative framework centered around the United States.
NetJapan becomes Actiphy

On July 1st, 2020 NetJapan, A Leading Publisher Of Backup, Disaster Recovery, And Virtualization Software Becomes Actiphy, Inc.

Our state-of-the-art backup, disaster recovery, and virtualization technology, has been a leading software solution for nearly a quarter century. In changing our name to Actiphy we will expand our sales network with a renewed focus on global markets.

Background

Founded in 1996, we began developing and distributing an image-based backup software solution. Since that time, we've introduced a number of leading-edge technologies to the Japanese markets. Our flagship product, ActiveImage Protector has since become a major backup and disaster recovery solution in the global markets.

As the use of big data accelerates, networks evolve, malware proliferates, AI, and IoT technologies emerge, the value of data backup and recovery increases exponentially. By taking advantage of our broad range of technologies, we will continue to innovate upon our existing data protection solutions.

As we continue to take on new challenges in the development of one-of-a-kind technologies to make a differece in the world we want our new company name, Actiphy, to reflect our determination to remain "Swift (News - Alert), Active and Reliable".







The New Name

Actiphy is a portmanteau of the words Active and Rectify. Active meaning "engaged in progress, motion or action" and rectify meaning to "set right or make correct."

The New Logo

Actiphy_Logo

The logo color, "Fireman" red, is associated with rescue and disaster recovery.

References

New company name video presentation.

https://youtu.be/oO3TegriNRU

For more product information and system requirements, please visit:

https://www.netjapan.com/en-us/backup-company/

Copyright 2020 NetJapan, Inc. All rights reserved. All product names, trademarks, and registered trademarks are property of NetJapan, Inc. or their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005907/en/
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Vietnams Masan Resources Corporation (MSR) has completed the legal procedures to acquire the tungsten arm of a German high-tech tungsten carbide and powder manufacturer.

The finalization of the deal between MSR Masan Tungsten Company Ltd. and the Munich-headquartered H.C. Starck Group GmbH was announced on Wednesday, one year after an agreement had been reached by the two sides.

An MSR representative said that the transaction is a strategic step in executing the corporations vision of becoming a leading global vertically-integrated high-tech industrial materials platform.

The deal will also enable the company to expand its addressable market by 3.5 times, from US$1.3 billion to $4.6 billion, the representative said.

The transaction aims to create a global high-tech industrial company of scale in Vietnam and, more importantly, enhance the countrys competitive edge in the global tungsten market.

It will also offer the local workforce an opportunity to develop engineering skills in the high-tech manufacturing space as part of MSRs globalization plan.

MSR, owned by Masan Group Corporation  one of Vietnams three largest private sector in terms of market capitalization  operates in the mining industry, mainly engaging in the quarrying, beneficiating and wholesaling of minerals, such as wolfram, copper and bismuth, as well as fluorite.

Meanwhile, Starck has production facilities in Europe, North America, and China, and customers across the globe, as well as ownership of 105 patents and patent applications and other intellectual property to manufacture innovative products such as ultrafine-sized tungsten compounds.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Crime

By Ls Cohen Published: June 11 2020

Robert Roden, 33, also has explosive devices in his home, police found later.

Suffolk County Police reported that they arrested a man after he brought an explosive device into Stony Brook Hospital.

Robert Roden walked into the emergency department on Tuesday night at Stony Brook Hospital and caught the attention of an NYPD detective who was off-duty at the time. According to a tweet by NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison, Detective Salvatore Billigmeier of the 107th Detective Squad noticed Roden arguing with a hospital worker.

A seperate report says that Billigmeier was at the hospital visiting his father at the time.

That same individual later returned with a large backpack, prompting the detective to follow the suspect and call SUNY Police Department, Harrison said in a follow up tweet.

When officers arrived, they found Roden to have suspicious items inside his backpack and took him into custody.

Those items turned out to be three bombs.

According to a police report, the discovery of the explosive devices was made by Suffolk County Emergency Service Section Bomb Squad and Canine Unit officers.

As a precautionary measure, two floors of the hospital, including the Emergency Room, were evacuated, the report said. No injuries were reported and the Emergency Room was reopened at 1:30am on Wednesday.

The NYPD statement on Twitter said additional items were discovered on Roden, including multiple 9mm magazines and an imitation firearm. This was not confirmed by Suffolk Police.

A search at Rodens home in Mastic Beach on Wednesday found Roden to have multiple explosive devices at the residence.

See photo evidence of the investigation released by SCPD here.

The search was conducted jointly by multiple agencies including SCPD Arson Section detectives, with assistance from the Suffolk County Emergency Service Section Bomb Squad and Canine Unit officers, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the State University Police at Stony Brook.

The devices are being evaluated by the FBI.

According to court records, Roden had been arrested before in December 2019 and charged with menacing with a weapon. A temporary order of protection was issued and he was released on his own recognizance.

For this incident, Roden, 33, was charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon 2nd Degree, Criminal Contempt 2nd Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 3rd Degree. Additional charges are pending.

Roden is expected in court on Thursday.
As the debate rages over when and how quickly Illinois should reopen from the statewide coronavirus pandemic restrictions, a group of Republican lawmakers want the state to advance to the next step  which is phase four of five  by the end of the week. That would be two weeks ahead of schedule.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 00:47:09|Editor: huaxia

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BRATISLAVA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- A man armed with a knife attacked a school on Thursday in the town of Vrutky in northern Slovakia, which led to two deaths, including a deputy headmaster and the assaulter, and five others injured, local media reported.

According to the reports, Ladislav Kerekes, spokesman of the National Labor Inspectorate (NIP), said the deputy headmaster died of his fatal injury suffered when he tried to prevent the man from attacking students.

The attacker was later shot by the police.

According to the report by news website Teraz.sk, five others were wounded, including one teacher, two members of the Police Force and two students of the school.

Katarina Kapustova, spokeswoman for Martin University Hospital, was quoted as saying that a teacher with serious wounds was hospitalized at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Two policemen had minor injuries.

She added that of the two students, a girl was admitted to the intensive care unit of the children's and adolescent clinic. The other was a boy who has been hospitalized with serious injuries at the pediatric anesthesiology and intensive care clinic.

Slovak Interior Minister Roman Mikulec said that the life of the wounded is out of danger. Enditem
Plastics really can be broken down, and researchers at Aarhus University have started to hunt for the unique enzymes that can do the job. The project could be ground-breaking for the plastics issue, and it opens up for a completely new field of research

Plastics really can be broken down, and a number of researchers at Aarhus University have started to hunt for the unique enzymes that can do the job. The project could be ground-breaking for the plastics issue, and it opens up for a completely new field of research.

A team of researchers from the Department of Engineering at Aarhus University has just received funding from Independent Research Fund Denmark to find one of nature's most elusive secrets: enzymes that can actually break down plastic.

The project is based on a recent scientific breakthrough, in which a joint research team from Stanford University and Beihang University found a number of microorganisms from wax moths and worms that can break down polyethylene (PE).

"Polyethylene is a kind of polymer that is very difficult to break down, and that we have previously believed cannot be broken down naturally. Now, a micro-organism has been identified that can actually break down the otherwise very strong carbon-carbon bonds that form the backbone of this type of plastic. This is why we're looking for the enzymes that do the job for the micro-organisms," says Associate Professor Zheng Guo, who is heading the project.

80 per cent of all plastics produced contain this very strong carbon-carbon backbone. Today, incineration and landfilling are the most common methods for disposing of plastics, but this does not solve the problem, as plastics production has increased dramatically over the past decades.

In 2017, 348 million tonnes were produced globally, and by far the majority is very difficult to break down.

This causes major pollution problems, as plastics are used for almost everything. Plastics are an indispensable part of modern life, but they are a powerful source of pollution of the environment and the world's oceans, because the strong hydrophobicity, high chemical bond energy, and large molecular weight make them extremely difficult to break down.

This is why there is such an urgent need for a solution, explains Zheng Guo.

"Not only researchers and industry, but the entire world is eagerly scouting for ground-breaking new research within the enzymatic degradation of plastics. This means there's massive motivation for this project, which marks the first milestone on the way, and if we're successful, the project will open a completely new field of research within the development of polymer-destructive enzymes."

The project is being supported with almost DKK 3 million from Independent Research Fund Denmark, and it will start around September 2020. The project is being headed by the Department of Engineering at Aarhus University, but it involves researchers from several different disciplines.

###
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By The Associated Press

Jun. 11, 2020 | LOUISVILLE

By The Associated Press Jun. 11, 2020 | 01:27 PM | LOUISVILLE

An incident report released by Louisville Police on the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor is mostly blank, with few details of the incident that spurred days of protests in the city.



The report dated March 13, the day of the shooting, cites a police-involved death investigation and identifies Taylor, 26, as the victim. But it provides few other details, and some are incorrect.



Taylor was shot eight times by narcotics detectives who had a warrant to enter her apartment. A man inside the home with her, Kenneth Walker, fired once and struck an officer. There is no mention of Walker in the incident report.



The report, released this week, also has a box to check for forced entry, which was checked No, and it also said none in a space for the victim's injuries. In the notes/narrative section, it simply said PIU investigation," which is the department's Public Integrity Unit.



Louisville Police did give more details about the shooting in a media briefing held on March 13, hours after the shooting. Officials said the officers knocked, announced themselves and then forced their way into Taylor's apartment, where they were met with gunfire. They released details about the officer who was shot, Jon Mattingly. They also announced the arrest of Walker but did not give Taylor's name, only saying at the time that a woman in the apartment was fatally shot.



Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer called the released report unacceptable.



Its issues like this that erode public confidence in LMPDs ability to do its job, and thats why Ive ordered an external top-to-bottom review of the department, he said in an emailed statement. I am sorry for the additional pain to the Taylor family and our community.



The three officers involved in the shooting, Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove, have been placed on administrative reassignment while the shooting is investigated. This week the detective who requested the warrant, Joshua Jaynes, also was reassigned.



Walker was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but that charge was dropped by prosecutors in May. Walker told police he didn't know who was coming into the home and that he thought he was acting in self-defense. Mattingly was shot in the thigh and recovered.



The release of Walker's 911 call on May 28 marked the beginning of days of protests in Louisville, fueled by Taylor's death and the death of a black man in police custdy in Minneapolis, George Floyd.
A truck driver who was allegedly intoxicated when he struck and killed two pedestrians on the side of a highway was ordered released from jail pending trial.

Eduardo E. Villasenor-Aguilar, 61, of El Paso, Texas, was driving a tractor trailer southbound on Interstate 295 in Carneys Point Township on May 30 when he veered onto the shoulder and struck two people working on a car.

Desiree Pulliam, 29, of New Castle, Delaware, and Heber Barreiro-Lopez, 30, of Philadelphia, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Villasenor-Aguilar was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated.

In a virtual court hearing on Tuesday afternoon, Salem County Assistant Prosecutor David M. Galemba argued for his pre-trial detention, noting that he is a flight risk and a danger to others.

Villasenor-Aguilar told police he fell asleep at the wheel, and troopers reported that his speech was slurred and he failed field sobriety tests.

He told investigators he began driving around 3 a.m. that day  the accident happened just after 4 p.m.  but he could not recall what town or state he was in when he departed, Galemba said. He initially said he drove for 12 hours straight, but then became evasive in his answers and offered conflicting accounts of his travels.

He described getting lost when he arrived in New Jersey and having to turn around to head south on I-295. He said he didnt see the two cars stopped on the side of the roadway. One of the victims had apparently driven to the scene to help a friend.

He stated that Just for a second, I closed my eyes and when I opened my eyes I was on the cars. He said he closed his eyes because he was tired, the prosecutor stated. He also stated that he pushed himself to drive so he could make the delivery in time.

Villasenor-Aguilar either couldnt or wouldnt tell police his destination, Galemba said.

When police asked if he drank or took medication before driving, he admitted taking only prescription medication for a medical condition. He is diabetic, according to court testimony.

Toxicology results are pending.

While a court public safety assessment recommended his release pending trial, Galemba noted that Villasenor-Aguilar faces a potentially long prison sentence and has no ties to New Jersey, making him a flight risk. He also described a 2007 failure to appear warrant from Arizona that wasnt resolved until eight years later. His driving record includes four speeding violations out of Arkansas, Texas and Idaho, and an unsafe operation citation in California.

He has failed to appear on court matters in the past and this case is, of course, much more serious than those other matters, Galemba said, and theres two families here who have been severely impacted by the defendants actions. They deserve to have an expeditious resolution  without having to worry about the defendant potentially falling off the radar because of the fact that he lives far away.

Court officials also acknowledged that Villasenor-Aguilar isnt a U.S. citizen.

Not knowing the full circumstances of his immigration status, that does give the state concern if he were to be removed prior to the state being able to proceed with this case, Galemba said. It is a serious risk for flight if that were to cause ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to get involved.

Public Defender Eric McKinley argued that the judge should follow the recommendation of the public safety assessment.

With regard to flight risk, there is nothing in the record to suggest that hes gong to fail to appear in this particular case, McKinley said.

As for his clients immigration status, that shouldnt factor in whether he is a flight risk, the attorney said, since Aguilar has no control over what immigration officials might do.

McKinley also asked the judge to consider his clients health in making her decision.

I would note as a 61-year-old man with diabetes who is far away from home and now incarcerated, I think the COVID-19 argument is particularly compelling for Mr. Aguilar, in light of his age, in light of his health, the attorneys said.

In the end, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic was a factor in deciding to order his pre-trial release.

Superior Court Judge M. Christine Allen-Jackson noted that his age and health condition puts him at increased risk for COVID-19. Officials have been trying to reduce jail populations where possible to limit the spread of the virus.

The judge was unswayed by the prosecutions arguments over risk of flight.

The long arm of the law does allow the court to extradite someone from Texas, Allen-Jackson observed. Hes not a citizen and the fact that he is not a citizen is not a factor in and of itself, and whatever position ICE takes is up to the immigration court.

The court had no record of an immigration detainer for Villasenor-Aguilar.

Under terms of his release, he was ordered to report to the court via phone every two weeks until his next hearing.

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Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com.
Companies legally blocked from holding their AGMs remotely will be stuck in a Catch-22 until a new government is in place - or lockdown restrictions end.

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) spelled out the few options available after the Institute of Directors in Ireland (IoD) called for legal safeguards permitting firms nationwide to hold remote AGMs for the rest of the year.

Nearly three out of 10 firms polled by the IoD say they cannot amend their constitutions without holding a physical AGM first.

"There is a growing and added sense of urgency about this matter as, for many companies that have already postponed their AGMs, the clock is ticking down," said IoD chief executive Maura Quinn. "Business leaders want to continue to run their businesses meeting their legal and fiduciary duties."

While firms face a risk of fines if they fail to hold this year's AGM within 15 months of the previous meeting, DBEI said it still was awaiting a recommendation "shortly" from the inter-departmental Company Law Review Group.

The IoD first wrote to the DBEI, as well as the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, seeking action on this issue in late April.

"Any amendment to the Companies Act in this regard would need to be made by way of primary law and would therefore require a Bill to go through the Oireachtas," the DBEI told the Irish Independent. "Any changes to primary legislation could only be made with a new government in place."

Ms Quinn said quicker action by Government should be possible.

"We need a provisional solution to this during the current crisis," she said. "We believe it is appropriate to make virtual AGMs acceptable across the board for an initial period, possibly until the end of the year at least, and their decisions and motions should be legally binding and effective."

The DBEI said a legal exception existed for firms with no dissenting shareholders.

These firms could avoid an AGM if "a unanimous written resolution is passed by the members after they have had sight of the financial statements that would have been presented at the meeting.

"Members must acknowledge that there is nothing in controversy that would have arisen at the meeting and that the outgoing auditors are being retained," the DBEI said.
The Peel Region police officer who fatally shot a 26-year-old man at a Brampton home in April has so far refused to be interviewed by the Special Investigations Unit.

DAndre Campbell was shot and killed by Peel police after officers were called to his home for a domestic incident on April 6, the SIU said. Campbells family has said it was Campbell who called the police and that he had a history of mental illness.

Soon after entering the home, officers encountered Campbell in the kitchen. During the incident, two officers used Tasers on him before one officer shot him multiple times, according to an earlier SIU statement.

In a Thursday update on its investigation, the police watchdog said SIU investigators have interviewed four Peel police officers as witnesses, as well as four family members.

The subject officer was invited for an interview, but he has not yet submitted to the interview nor has he provided his notes, the release says.

An officer is designated a subject officer when he or she is the focus of the investigation. A subject officer cant be legally compelled to present themselves for an interview and doesnt have to submit their notes to the police watchdog.

From the scene, SIU investigators recovered a knife, two conducted-energy weapons and firearm-related evidence, and took possession of the subject officers firearm.

Many of these items of evidence were submitted to the Centre of Forensic Sciences for analysis, the release said.

A post-mortem was also conducted, and the SIU is awaiting that report.

The question of whether a subject officer should have to give an account of their actions to the SIU is largely centred on preserving the officers right to silence in an investigation that could result in criminal charges against him or her. Witness officers are required by law to provide the SIU with statements and their notes.

If you compel a suspect to give a statement, it will never be admissible in court because they are being forced to give evidence against themselves, said Ian Scott, the SIU director between 2008 to 2013.

This does not mean they will never have to explain themselves, he said. A subject officer can be compelled to testify at an inquest or compelled to provide notes and a statement in disciplinary hearings where there are no criminal consequences.

Former SIU director Howard Morton said he understands the legal basis for that position, but believes it is outweighed by the need for the public to have confidence that the SIU conducted a thorough investigation. Otherwise, public trust in both the police and the SIUs ability to hold police accountable is undermined, he said.

Morton, the SIUs second permanent director from 1992 to 1995, said it should be mandated in law that subject officers must provide their notes and a verbal account of what occurred, and if they do not comply, they should be fired.

They are public servants who interact with the public on a daily basis and are often required to use various degrees of force. And if that results in a serious injury or death then they ought to be required to give their account of what they say happened, he said.

Scott said there were a number of times during his tenure where subject officers did come forward voluntarily to provide a statement and notes, often after consulting with a lawyer, and it was often helpful to the investigation.

The subject officer in the death of 29-year-old Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto has been interviewed by the SIU. So has the officer who fatally shot a 28-year-old man in Mississauga in January. Both cases remain under investigation.

The SIU investigated a total of 40 deaths in 2019, 69 deaths in 2018 and 35 deaths in 2017. Some of the investigations were ended after an initial inquiry. No charges were laid in any of the remaining completed investigations.

Days after Campbells death, Peel Region police chief Nishan Duraiappah issued a statement expressing condolences for the family of the victim and acknowledging issues of trust in policing.

Although Duraiappah said he couldnt comment on the details given the ongoing SIU investigation, he acknowledged that the lack of information around the incident deeply affects public confidence.

Campbells aunt, Rosalie Coote, started a GoFundMe page which initially was to pay for funeral costs, but now being used to launch a foundation to commemorate the life of DAndre Anthony Campbell by supporting youth in our community who struggle with mental health.

Nearly $40,000 has been raised of the $100,000 goal.

With files from Jacob Lorinc and Tom Yun.
HARVEY, La., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Growing concerns over personal safety in the African American community are leading many to take action. Online ammunition retailer Ammo.com, which has just celebrated the three-year anniversary of their partnership with the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA), provides unique insight into the ammo buying habits of NAAGA members following the death of George Floyd.

NAAGA Bass Reeves Gun Club

Founded by Phillip Smith in 2015, NAAGA started with one chapter in Atlanta, and just 30 members. It now has 112 chapters in most U.S. states as well as the District of Columbia, with approximately 40,000 gun-toting members  more than 10,000 of whom joined this year alone. 90% of NAAGA's members are African American, more than half of them women, and over 1,000 are law enforcement and military.

"2,000 people joined NAAGA in 36 hours after George Floyd," said founder Philip Smith. "That broke our records. We're getting a ton of folks from all over."

Ammo.com's sales to NAAGA members reflect this spike. On May 26th, the day following the death of George Floyd, the online ammunition retailer saw a 260% increase in traffic from NAAGA members.

When compared to the two weeks before May 25th (May 10 to May 24) versus the two weeks after (May 25 to June 8), Ammo.com saw the following increases from NAAGA members:

Revenue: 425% increase.

Transactions: 350%

Conversion Rate: 104%

The most popular calibers purchased by NAAGA members during this time frame were:

These increases come in the wake of a record-setting first quarter for Ammo.com's Freedom Fighter Support donations, which saw over $9,000 donated to pro-freedom organizations at the end of March 2020  their largest quarterly amount ever.

"The right to self defense is natural, color-blind, and enshrined in our Constitution," said Alex Horsman, marketing director at Ammo.com. "That is why in 2017, we selected the NAAGA Scholarship Fund as one of the several pro-freedom organizations to which we voluntarily donate one percent of our sales. NAAGA is in good company among the Second Amendment Foundation, the Institute for Justice, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership."

Horsman continued, "Our recent sales spike to NAAGA members reflects the larger trend of minorities getting their concealed carry permits  which has continued to accelerate since 2007. We're proud to serve NAAGA members and to support the NAAGA Scholarship Fund in the process, which goes solely to exceptional African American students coming from single-family households."

ABOUT AMMO.COM

Ammo.com is an American retail online ammunition store that offers great prices, fast shipping, and live American customer support. It also uses a real-time inventory management system that keeps the site constantly up-to-date on stock, ensuring no surprises come checkout.

The company provides an array of information and resources in its Resistance Library. Ammo.com's mission is to arm Americans, both physically and philosophically, to fulfill the Founding Fathers' intent with the Second Amendment, to protect the country from its government by keeping the state in check. That's why it's known as America's Pro-Freedom Ammo Source. Follow Ammo.com on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Media Contact:

Alex Horsman

Ammo.com

1901 Manhattan Blvd.

Building D PMB #300

Harvey, LA 70058

https://ammo.com

800-604-1094

[email protected]

SOURCE Ammo.com
A top official at a global human rights organization criticized South Korea for trying to shut down two activist groups who sent anti-Kim Jong Un leaflets by balloon across the border into North Korea.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said a decision by South Korea to revoke the licenses and seek prosecution for the groups is a blow against the campaign to hold North Korea accountable for its human rights violations for the sake of political expediency.

The moves against the activists are a blatant violation of freedom of association that cannot be justified with vague appeals to border security and relations with the North, he said in a statement Thursday.

His comments came the day after South Koreas Unification Ministry said the government plans to cancel the licenses of two groups -- Fighters for Free North Korea and KeunSaem -- that sent balloons with leaflets across the border, and ask prosecutors whether they can bring charges on suspicion of violating an inter-Korean exchange law. Officials from the groups have not responded to requests to comment.

Wicked Act

While millions of leaflets have been flown across the border for more than a decade, Pyongyang in recent days slammed South Korean President Moon Jae-in for letting groups that include North Korean defectors send the leaflets into its territory.

On Tuesday, it cut off communications links set up with its neighbor about two years ago, in an expression of its anger. Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Koreas leader, previously accused South Korea of tolerating a sordid and wicked act of hostility.

North Korea Cuts Off Communications With Seoul Over Leaflets

Moons office expressed deep regrets over activists groups that send leaflets condemning Kim Jong Un toward North Korean territory and will actively seek legal procedures to punish them, Kim You-geun, a senior official at the National Security Council, said at a Thursday briefing.

South Koreas Unification Ministry in a text message Thursday said its official position hasnt changed from the previous day, when it announced it would seek legal action against the two groups.

Rather than kowtow to threats from Kim Jong Uns sister, South Korea should call for Pyongyang to open uncensored and unrestricted channels for communication between people across the 38th parallel, Robertson said.

Moon, a former human rights lawyer, has made a fresh push to restore economic and other exchanges with North Korea after his ruling progressive camp scored a supermajority in parliamentary elections in April.

But Moon doesnt have much he can offer North Korea without prompting a blowup from the Trump administration, which has repeatedly rejected Seouls calls for sanctions relief. The US has refused to relax United Nations penalties and other measures against the regime without greater commitments on arms reduction from Kim Jong Un.

The United Nations special rapporteur for North Korea has said the country systematically abuses the rights of its citizens and denies them basic freedoms, while the US State Department accuses Pyongyang of a brutal campaign to crush dissent through political prisons, torture and executions.

South Korean activist groups have accused Moon of downplaying abuses north of the border so as not to upset relations with Kim Jong Un.
Editor's Note: This story first published in 2015.

FORT HOOD - A Fort Hood soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday to a long list of charges stemming from a scheme he hatched to run a prostitution ring using young female soldiers.

Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen, a non-commissioned officer, faced 21 specifications of misconduct stemming from the prostitution scandal. He pleaded guilty to 15 of them, including allegations that he worked with another soldier to bring at least two low-ranking women into his prostitution ring, but denied complicity in six other charges, including sexual assault.

If convicted, McQueen could get get a maximum sentence of 40 years and six months.

It isn't clear if anyone ever had sex. A soldier said she had sex with Master Sgt. Brad Grimes at a Killeen hotel, but a jury did not find him guilty of that.

A 20-year veteran accused of pandering, conspiracy, maltreatment of a subordinate, abusive sexual contact and adultery, McQueen was the second soldier to go to trial at Fort Hood in the case.

A military jury last March found Grimes guilty of conspiring to patronize a prostitute and solicitation to commit adultery. He was given a reprimand and reduced to sergeant first class.

The panel found Grimes not guilty of adultery and patronizing a prostitute.

The charges were lodged in the wake of a series of high-profile incidents in which military personnel were accused of sexually assaulting or abusing women both in and out of the military.

Prosecutors have tried a long string of cases at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland amid allegations of misconduct involving instructors, recruits and students in technical training school.

So far, 35 basic training instructors have been investigated for misconduct with 68 recruits and technical school students since 2011. In the last trial, Master Sgt. Michael Silva, 44, was given 20 years on Jan. 30 in the rapes of two women  his wife and a recruit he trained two decades ago at Lackland.

Fort Hood officials couldnt say if there had been another pandering case in the posts 72-year history, but South Texas College of Law professor Geoffrey Corn called it a very rare occurrence that merited prosecution.

I would have been disappointed with any other disposition, said Corn, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former military lawyer. Not only is risk of significant punishment necessary for this misconduct, but there is an important deterrent message here. We entrust subordinates to leaders to make them better, not to exploit them.

*Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story included photos of a person that is not McQueen. A Fort Hood liaison misidentified Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen to journalists gathered prior to the hearing for the non-commissioned officer.

sigc@express-news.net
The world is talking about police brutality and systemic racism in America.

Even in Vallejo, a city that failed to address complaints of excessive use of force by the Vallejo Police Department for more than a decade, public officials are raising their voices and embracing reform.

Dont be fooled.

Before a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd last month, Vallejos leaders didnt seem to care that residents in their own city were being killed by police under questionable circumstances.

Nobody wanted to intervene until it was popular, said Melissa Nold, a civil rights attorney who represents people whove been beaten, dragged and killed by Vallejo officers. Were well aware that this is something that became trendy. And its unfortunate, because if this wouldve been trendy 10 years ago, theres a lot of people that would still be alive.

Last Friday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced a review and reform agreement with the city of Vallejo to investigate use-of-force procedures, anti-bias community policing, officer accountability and more.

Ive been reporting on intimidation by police against Vallejo residents for three years, and Ive learned that its been going on since before the city went bankrupt in 2008. Becerra told me on a conference call that his office would investigate the allegations of intimidation.

Im certain that we will be collecting information with regard to some of that activity that you raised, he said. I have no doubt.

According to a news release, Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams first met with the Department of Justice on Nov. 18, six days after he was sworn in last year. Williams and City Manager Greg Nyhoff met with state Deputy Attorney General Nancy Beninati on Jan. 13, according to the release.

I was told this week that Nyhoff was unavailable to comment, and Mayor Bob Sampayan hasnt responded to my recent emails.

The agreement is presented as a collaboration with the states Department of Justice. Why did it take Floyds death, nationwide unrest and the June 2 fatal shooting of Sean Monterrosa, a 22-year-old San Franciscan, for city leaders to publicly address police violence?

Chris Preovolos / Hearst Newspapers

Why werent city leaders already speaking out for the families of the black and brown men fatally shot by Vallejo officers?

I think why now is that phrase, It takes a village, said City Councilman Robert McConnell, who has advocated for reform. Finally, the village of the United States is awoken, and its unfortunate it took the death of a Midwesterner to make Bay Area people pay attention.

Ive seen members of the public sobbing through screams at Vallejo City Council meetings, their bodies trembling as council members fidgeted and frowned. Instead of empathy, city leaders have used armed Vallejo police officers to usher grieving families out of council chambers because they were disrupting city business.

It shouldve been the citys top priority to address the abuses residents complained about.

Vallejo knew about excessive use-of-force problems before police officers fatally shot three people in six months in 2012, including Mario Romero, who was struck 30 times as he sat in his car. The police refused to release his body to his family for a month, and the family had to protest at a news conference to get the Police Department to update them.

The city shouldve requested a collaboration after Adrian Burrell, a Marine veteran, was slammed against a wall in January 2019 for using his cell phone to record an officer detaining his cousin in the driveway of the home Burrell owns. Yes-or-no question: Is it wrong that a black man standing on his own property was assaulted by a police officer because he was using his phone?

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The city shouldve been jumping for help after Ronell Foster was fatally shot in February 2018 by an officer who claimed that he wanted to teach Foster a lesson for riding his bike at night without a light.

Like the families showing up to council meetings, the city shouldve begged for help after police fired 55 shots at Willie McCoy as he slept in a fast-food drive-through lane in February 2019.

Instead, this is what Vallejo did: Days after McCoys death, the City Council voted 5-2 to approve the Police Departments new waterfront headquarters. Council members Robert McConnell and Rozzana Verder-Aliga voted against the proposal. And days after the release of the troubling body-cam video of McCoys death, the council voted unanimously to appoint Andrew Bidou, the retiring police chief, as interim chief, in a move that wouldve allowed him to collect his pension and a salary.

But Bidou was forced to back away from the arrangement, and it wasnt because city leaders stood up for Vallejoans. No, its because the deal violated a provision in the California Public Employees Retirement System.

At least the city managed to dodge a bullet with that one. Im so upset that I cant say the same about Monterrosa, the 22-year-old who was fatally shot on June 2 by an officer responding to alleged looting. The officer had three other shootings on his record. Thats why its so critical that the Department of Justice look into the issues the city has looked past.

There is this tendency among political leaders to discount these kinds of events, to accept the official narrative of what has happened, said Jerry Threet, a former San Francisco deputy city attorney who, as law enforcement auditor of Sonoma County, combed the countys use-of-force complaints for three years before his retirement last year. What the community sees is usually more a valid source of information than what the official story is, but its mostly discounted until something that cant be denied comes to the surface.

May your soul rest in peace, Big George.

Editors note: An earlier version of the column misstated the vote count for the councils approval of the new police headquarters.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays and Thursdays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr
Russia Spotted 32 Foreign Spy Jets Close to National Airspace Over Past Week

Sputnik News

02:35 GMT 10.06.2020

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A total of 32 foreign aircraft conducted reconnaissance activities along Russia's borders in the past week, the military's official newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda reported on Wednesday.

A weekly infographic published by the outlet showed that Russian fighter jets had been scrambled four times to intercept foreign jets.

Within this period of time, Russia has also spotted four unmanned aerial vehicles, which were carrying out reconnaissance missions near the Russian borders.

No violations of Russia's airspace have been reported.

The United States and NATO countries often send aircraft and drones to perform reconnaissance activities along Russia's borders in the Baltic, in the Black Sea off Crimea and Krasnodar. Russian air defence forces regularly monitor, target, and track hundreds of NATO aircraft operating close to the border, and occasionally scramble fighter jets to escort foreign military aircraft away from Russian airspace.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned US and NATO drone flights and bomber drills near its borders, saying such behaviour sparks tensions. The alliance has so far ignored these objections.

A Sputnik

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Irish Water has been told to step up to the mark and provide a new trunk water main on a stretch of road between Mohill and Gorvagh which is impacting hugely on local residents and businesses.

Continuous bursts on the old trunk water main on the R202 at Gortfadda Cross towards Sratrissaun, Gorvagh near Mohill is causing considerable disruption and annoyance to homeowners and businesses alike and is leaving the road in a very dangerous condition, according to Cllr Sean McGowan.

Speaking at Monday's meeting of Carrick-on-Shannon Municipal District Cllr McGowan said that particular section of pipe has had over 20 bursts in the past few months.

I don't know what Irish Water are at. It's appalling we are left like this with no plan in place. I'm calling on them to provide a new trunk main for 3-5 kms, that's the only answer to it, he said.

He added that the road has been patched so much now that it is actually dangerous and locals are fearful there will be an accident on it.

Other members fully supported the call with Cllr Paddy Farrell saying they have all received calls about it and he called on Irish Water to replace the old pipe as soon as possible.

Cllr Thomas Mulligan said people are now at their wits end due to the continuous bursts and called for it to be dealt with quickly.

It's an awful disturbance in a household to be left for a day without water. It's so annoying and gone beyond reasonable of what's expected, he said.

Cllr Des Guckian supported the sentiment but said a survey should be carried out of all mains in the county and repair them all and get the money from the national government to do it.

A reply to the motion stated, We are experiencing regular bursts on a section of the trunk water main between Gortfadda and Gorvagh on the R202 north of Mohill town. This is due primarily to the age of this old asbestos cement pipeline which was installed over 50 years ago and is now passed its serviceable life.

In order to make a repair we have to shut down the trunk main which may take between 4-6 hours to repair.

Because of the concentration of bursts on this section of trunk main unfortunately the same supply area is experiencing repeated disruption to supply with bursts occurring approximately three to four times a month.

The replacement of this particular section of trunk main is top of our list of priorities for mains refurbishment and we continually make representations to Irish Water to invest in these projects.

Leitrim County Council will contact Irish Water to request that they approve for construction of a new trunk main at this location Gortfadda to Sratrissaun to replace the existing defective main.

Permanent road reinstatements of previous road openings made along the R202 at burst locations has been ordered and these works will be undertaken this month (June).

In reply to Cllr McGowan, Darragh O'Boyle, area engineer, said the maintenance and repair of a road has to be carried out by Irish Water under their contract.
Barnier accuses UK of 'cherry picking' at talks

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 5:58 PM

In the latest blow to post-Brexit trade talks, the European Union's chief negotiator has accused the UK of making excessive demands on the bloc.

In an unusually strident intervention, Michel Barnier has told the UK he will not countenance "cherry picking" in bilateral negotiations on a future trade deal.

Barnier has accused the UK of seeking a future relationship with the EU that is very close to that of an EU member, but freed of the costs of membership.

"Britain is demanding a lot more from the EU than Canada, Japan or other parties", Barnier quipped.

The EU chief negotiator's latest pessimistic comments come on the heels of last week's failed negotiations, with Barnier complaining of a lack of "significant" progress.

The UK formally left the EU at the end of January after 47 years of membership and is currently in an 11-month transition period, which ends on December 31.

The two sides have just over six months to negotiate a free trade agreement and finalize the terms and conditions of their future relationship.

British and EU negotiators' last hope of a breakthrough before the end of the summer rests on a high-level virtual meeting (via video link) involving Prime Minister Boris Johnson, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and possibly David-Sassoli, president of the European Parliament.

The video call summit is expected to take place later this month.

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[June 11, 2020] Spectrio Welcomes Daniel Babb as Senior Vice President of Technology

Spectrio, one of the nation's leading providers of customer engagement solutions, announced the appointment of Daniel Babb as Senior Vice President of Technology of the Tampa-based company that serves more than 100,000 customer locations nationwide. With a background that includes digital marketing and technology leadership and strategic organizational growth, Babb plans to leverage his expertise as he oversees Spectrio's (News - Alert) internal systems, infrastructure, and customer-facing products and technology. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005567/en/ Daniel Babb, Spectrio SVP of Technology (Photo: Business Wire) Before joining Spectrio, Bab was Chief Operating Officer at Advice Local, an award-winning local presence management company located in Dallas-Fort Worth. In his role, Babb was responsible for establishing functional areas, departmental objectives, and driving accountability, quality, and performance for the company, which serves more than 250,000 customers. Prior to his tenure at Advice Local, Babb was Vice President of Technology at TEGNA.



"Daniel's diverse background in leading and growing large scale technology teams, integrating acquisitions, and building SaaS (News - Alert) products will bring a unique context to Spectrio's technology department," said Dax Brady-Sheehan, Spectrio CEO. "As we continue to grow our technology and software engineering teams, we are excited to have Daniel's knowledge and experience guiding us along the way." Spectrio continues to build upon its technological capabilities as Babb comes aboard. Throughout the first half of 2020, Spectrio completed integrations with major brands, development of a new mobile application, and the release of SpectrioCloud, an online account and content management portal. The company also became the first digital signage and interactive kiosk provider to engage in an integration with Shutterstock, which allows Spectrio's clients to access more than a half-million stock images for use on their digital signage or interactive kiosks.

Babb leads a Spectrio team that recently responded to a critical communication need during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team completed the rapid development of its new SHARE mobile application which integrates with its digital signage solution, helping residents in senior living communities engage and connect with their families and their communities while face-to-face interaction is limited. "I am excited to be joining a company that is committed to improving the customer experience using unique technology and content," said Daniel Babb, Spectrio SVP of Technology. "I look forward to continuing along that path to further evolve Spectrio's solutions to meet client needs and develop integrations that help clients communicate with their customers." About Spectrio Spectrio is one of the nation's leading customer engagement technology providers. Known for cultivating unique brand experiences powered by professionally-produced content and marketing technology, Spectrio's solutions create a holistic customer journey with Digital Signage, Interactive Kiosks, Wi-Fi Marketing, In-Store Music and Messaging, On-Hold Marketing, and Scent Marketing. Spectrio serves more than 100,000 client locations, ranging from individually-owned businesses to Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit www.Spectrio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005567/en/

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The issue of Armenian citizens on the Azerbaijani territory was and remains in the focus of the attention of the Armenian MFA, FM Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said during Thursday's debates on the 2019 state budget performance report.

According to him, on June 28, 2019, Armenia unconditionally returned to Azerbaijan the latter's citizen, who illegally crossed the state border on March 16 of the same year, and Azerbaijan handed over an Armenian citizen, who on June 21, 2017, appeared in the Azerbaijani territory, under unclear circumstances.

The minister noted that reducing escalation in Karabakh is the most important area of diplomatic activity for Armenia. According to him, Armenia clearly formulated its approaches to the resolution of the Karabakh issue, and they were voiced at different sites.

During the past year, the FM also pointed to the strengthening of cooperation between Armenia and Karabakh in different directions.
China has too many unmarried men due to its severe gender imbalance: 30million by 2050 to be exact.

And one professor has called on authorities to consider letting women have two or more husbands at the same time to help resolve the long-standing social issue.

Prof Yew-Kwang Ng, a 77-year-old economist, said that his proposition could be a way to help the nation's army of bachelors find their better half as well as happiness.

An estimate 15 million Chinese men between the ages of 35 and 59 won't be able to find a wife by 2020 and by 2050 the number could be nearly 30million. The file photo shows a group of middle-aged and elderly men gathering at a rural village in Guizhou Province, China

Prof Ng, a Special Chair Professor at the School of Economics of Fudan University, stressed that single Chinese men would have more and more difficulties in securing an ideal partner in the coming years due to growing competition.

The idea was proposed by Prof Yew-Kwang Ng (pictured), a Special Chair Professor at the School of Economics of Fudan University

Unwed middle-aged men would have to compete with much younger rivals to win the heart of a limited pool of single women, the Malaysia-born expert said.

'[If a man's] natural biological and psychological needs cannot be met appropriately, it will certainly bring a substantial negative impact on his happiness,' Prof Ng noted in an opinion piece published on June 2 through popular Chinese outlet NetEase.

In the column, he put forward two possible solutions.

One is the legalisation of prostitution, and the other is polyandry, a form of polygamy that allows a woman to take two or more lawful husbands.

Neither practice is permitted by Chinese law.

Prof Ng said while prostitutes might satisfy men's urgent biological needs, they would not be able to provide life companionship as wives would.

He went on to explain the history of polyandry, especially in Tibet, before clarifying that he proposed the method not to promote the notion, but to find a fix for the Chinese society.

An economist from a Chinese university has said the government should consider allowing women to have multiple lawful husbands to help deal with the nation's gender gap (file photo)

'If it weren't for the serious imbalance of the male and female ratio, I would not think of polyandry at all,' he argued.

'Secondly, I do not promote or encourage polyandry. I only think that faced with [the problem of having] more men and fewer women, [the government] may perhaps consider polyandry.'

He suggested that many men, such as him, would agree to share a wife with others than running the risk of having no wife at all.

Prof Ng is not the first expert who has come up with unconventional ideas to help unmarried Chinese find their significant other.

A renowned scholar, previously said the government should allow more foreign women to live in China in the hope that some of them would end up marrying its 'leftover men' (file photo)

Mao Shoulong, a renowned scholar, said in 2017 that the government should allow more foreign women to live in the country in the hope that some of them would end up marrying its 'leftover men'.

He wrote: 'It could be an advisable tactic to aptly improve the reformation of the immigration policy and let more foreign women come to live and work in China to relieve the "bachelor crisis".'

Traditionally, baby boys are preferred by Chinese parents because of their ability to carry forward the family name.

Decades of illegal baby gender selection, prompted by the one-child policy, has caused the country to suffer from a severe gender gap.

The gender ratio between baby boys and baby girls has reached 1.3 to 1 at its highest.

Around 15 million Chinese men between the ages of 35 and 59 won't be able to find a wife by 2020 and by 2050 the number could be nearly 30million, it is estimated.

Many Chinese bachelors, mostly from southern China, have paid high prices to marry Vietnamese women after failing to find a Chinese partner, prompting human-trafficking concerns.
Several hundred people individually called on Portlands elected officials to cut as much as $50 million slated to be spent on police starting in July and instead invest it in community-driven initiatives.

The need to expand how the city views public safety to protect black, indigenous and other Portland residents of color was at the center of nearly five hours of public testimony Wednesday on the citys annual budget. Two more hours of testimony could be heard Thursday, when the City Council is scheduled to propose amendments and vote on its adoption. The next fiscal year begins July 1.

The council tentatively approved the budget last month at $5.6 billion. But since then, the question of how much of it should go to the Portland Police Bureau has dominated public discourse in the wake of international unrest and demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Portland has seen 14 days of protests, including one across the street from City Hall that began about an hour before the virtual city budget hearing.

On Monday, then-Police Chief Jami Resch announced that she was accepting a demotion as a step toward renewing public trust in the police agency. Then-Lt. Chuck Lovell, who has been a Portland police officer since 2002, was named chief. The city also has recently been sued over how police officers have used tear gas on demonstrators during protests.

Most of the hundreds of speakers at the hearing echoed demands made recently by anti-racist advocacy groups Unite Oregon and the Portland African American Leadership Forum, including cutting $50 million from the police budget, ending all sweeps of homeless camps and reinvesting the money to help black, indigenous and other populations of color historically harmed by disproportionate policing.

The institution of policing has to drastically change and be recreated from the ground up, said Yoko Silk, a City of Portland employee who read a letter signed by two dozen colleagues saying they stood in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and others calling for racial justice. Its well past time to create a truly community-oriented public safety program that focuses on support rather than incarceration.

Nearly 750 people signed up to give testimony on the budget, according to city staff.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said her office alone received 61,300 emails on the topic, more than all the messages she has received on city issues combined over her year and a half on the council.

Hardesty thanked the public for keeping us on track and for pushing us to be braver than we thought we could be. She acknowledged that tensions are high, that the public is still immersed in the coronavirus pandemic and that more peoples eyes have been open to systemic racism in policing and other areas of everyday life.

We have a whole system built on white supremacy that we must change, she said. If not now, when?

Laurie Palmer, a black community activist, said her family is made up of six generations of Oregonians who have seen officers time and time again come into communities with black families with little concept of their struggles or lived experience.

She said she felt more city money should be devoted to helping fund local African American-led grassroots organization and youth education programs, such as on drug and alcohol prevention.

I have worked in the social service field for 27 years. Ive sat at many tables. Ive noticed that the programs and the agencies that receive the money for designs for change are created people that dont even look like us or know our culture, Palmer said. Your budget has given money to all of these change agents without our input.

Hyung Nam, a teacher and a budget advisory committee member for the police bureau, said he supported cutting $50 million and that it should be reinvested into the community.

We cant police our way out of deep social (and) economic problems and traumatize people while externalizing the costs that perpetuate cycles of incarceration and poverty, Nam said.

In the current draft of the citys budget, the police bureau is slated to receive $244.6 million. The police bureaus current budget is $241.5 million, and the agency requested around $248.3 million for the upcoming year, mostly from increased general fund and recreational marijuana tax fund dollars, city records show.

In the days since Portland protests, Hardesty, Mayor Ted Wheeler, and Commissioner Chloe Eudaly have said they support removing funding for and disbanding Portland polices gun violence reduction team and its school resource officers unit as well as the bureaus stake in the multi-agency transit police division. All three have cited years-long vocal community concerns over those units impacts on the citys marginalized population, including communities of color.

Hardesty, for example, on Wednesday cited a 2018 city audit that found 59% of traffic stops made by members of the gun violence reduction team, then known as the gang enforcement team, were of African American drivers. The citys black residents make up 6% of the population.

Wheeler was absent from city meetings Wednesday due to the death of his mother, Leslie, on Tuesday evening. In a letter read by Hardesty, the mayor said he was prepared to help lead the city through this period of reform and that the city was calling on partner local jurisdictions and agencies to make changes to other aspects of the justice system.

Our community is counting on us to reimagine what public safety looks like in our community, Wheeler wrote. They are demanding transformation.

The mayor on Tuesday vowed to make changes such as diverting $12 million in city funds, including $7 million from the police bureau, into programs directly benefiting the citys communities of color, reforming the use of consent searches in traffic stops and banning officers from using chokeholds for any reason.

Proposals from Hardesty and Eudaly have also included diverting $4.8 million from the gun violence reduction team and reallocating cannabis tax revenue away from police traffic enforcement. They have said that money should flow to restorative justice grants, a fund dedicated to leadership development of the citys black youth, more resources for the houseless population and an expanded pilot of the Portland Street Response, a program designed to decrease police interactions with homeless people by having an emergency medical technician and mental health worker respond to 911 calls.

They both are also in favor of cutting up to 122 police jobs, 50 of them that are vacant. The bureau has around 950 officers.

These amendments dont go as far as I would like, but collectively with additional council action, they will significantly reallocate resources and re-envision the role of Portland police in our community, Eudaly said.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz hasnt publicly laid out any police reform ideas and made no public statements on the matter Wednesday. She said she intends to do so during Thursdays meeting and wanted to listen to the public before then.

As currently written, next years police budget calls for nearly $6.6 million for the gun violence reduction team, close to $4.4 million for transit police and almost $4 million for school resource officers. The gun violence reduction team is primarily responsible for responding to and investigating shootings. The transit unit is made up of staff from 14 law enforcement agencies in the metro area that TriMet contracts to patrol its public transit system.

Portland has led the unit, but Wheeler said Tuesday that all city staff would be pulled from the regional team by January. He has also said he would like to see transit police officers moved to patrol units.

-- Everton Bailey Jr; ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey

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They delightedly reunited in California last month after spending weeks living in different countries.

But with coronavirus travel restrictions still firmly in place, Harry Jowsey, 23, has now explained that he and his fiancee, Francesca Farago, 26, are back to square one and living apart again.

Speaking to WHO about the romance, the Australian hunk - who proposed to the social media influencer with a ring pop during a Too Hot to Handle reunion special - admitted that not being able to see his future wife has been 'difficult'.

'Haven't seen her': Too Hot to Handle's Harry Jowsey, 23, has explained that he and his fiancee Francesca Farago, 26, are living apart again after briefly reuniting in LA last month

Harry - who is from the coastal town of Yeppoon in Queensland - has been staying put in Los Angeles since the lockdown measures came into effect, while Francesca has been back home in her native Vancouver.

Discussing their living logistics, the reality star revealed they'd spent 'a couple of days' together when Francesca was in LA for work related to her bikini brand.

'Apart from that, we haven't really been able to see each other at all,' he added. 'It's been really difficult.'

On May 16, the lovebirds - who have been dubbed the 'horniest couple' on the hit Netflix show - were pictured packing on the PDA during a steamy workout session in California shortly after reuniting.

Back to square one: Speaking about the romance, the Australian hunk admitted that not being able to see his future wife has been 'difficult' for him

Apart: Harry has been staying put in Los Angeles since the lockdown measures came into effect, while Francesca has been back home in her native Vancouver

The couple became engaged via Zoom during Too Hot to Handle's reunion episode, which was released on Netflix last month.

Harry proposed with a lollipop ring, but the model and fashion designer has said she expects a proper ring in the coming months.

The couple, who briefly split and got back together after filming Too Hot to Handle, said last month they wanted to have children.

'Francesca and I are better than ever, we took a bit of a break in between but now we are full steam ahead,' Harry told The Mirror.

'I can't wait to start travelling and we can put some babies in her belly!'

Isn't that sweet?! Harry proposed to the social media influencer with a ring pop during a Too Hot to Handle reunion special last month

And late last month, the besotted pair sent tongues wagging as they hinted at potential baby news with a cryptic Instagram post.

Francesca shared a photo of herself wearing a face mask, skintight dress and white sneakers, which she described as her 'keeping safe outfit'.

Harry commented below the post: 'Wish I was that mask.' He later wrote, 'Lil mummy', adding the fire emoji.

While it's possible he was simply complimenting his girlfriend, he may also have been hinting at a forthcoming announcement.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the couple's agent for comment.
New Delhi: The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on Thursday released the Monthly Vehicle Registration Data May 2020 that showed that all vehicle categories registered unprecedented de-growth Year on Year basis.

The vehicle registration for the Month of May plummeted by -88.87% as India continues to battle with Covid-19 and Nationwide lockdown, FADA said. 2-Wheeler declined by -88.8%, 3-Wheeler by -96.34%, CV by -96.63%, PV by -86.97% and tractors registrations fell by -75.58% respectively, the FADA report added.

For the first time in history, the month of April witnessed Zero Retails. While lockdown was gradually relaxed beginning May, Auto Dealerships and workshops opened for the first time after 40 days in many cities, FADA President Ashish Harsharaj Kale said.

He said, At the end of May, out of 26,500 outlets about 60% showrooms and 80% workshops were operational across the country. May registrations are hence not indicative of the demand situation as the Lockdown still continued in many parts.

FADA said that demand Trend in first 10 days of June shows extremely weak consumer sentiment. Fear of Covid-19s community spread and a second lockdown keeps customers away from purchases.

First 10 days of June witnesses extremely low demand despite most dealerships which are now open for business. Weak consumer confidence especially in urban areas continue to haunt as customers stay away from concluding their purchase due to threat of community spread and return of complete lockdown persists, Kale said.

FADA has appealed to the Government to stimulate demand in the short term and support Auto Industry and millions of jobs which it provides.
THE Limerick Civic Trust has appealed for help after the heritage group took ownership of remnants of historic buildings in the city.

David OBrien, the chief executive of the Trust, based at the Bishops Palace at Church Street, is hoping people might come forward to provide a truck with a hoist, and storage space.

We have acquired a load of cobblestones, original red brick, some of its early Victorian. So its in pristine condition. We have a lot of cut-stone, chippy pieces, original guttering. Its the complete package. We have an awful lot more coming too, he said.

The salvage has come from a number of prominent buildings being redeveloped.

The Limerick Civic Trust will hold the salvage and donate it to buildings needing these materials.

David said: Theres nothing on the cards at the moment, but itd be stupid not to take it because as soon as you get another building,youre going to need materials The closer to the original materials you can go, the better. If you can help, please call 061-313399.
Days after two African-American journalists say they were taken off the George Floyd story by their Pa. publication, a major grocery store chain says it will no longer sell the newspaper in its stores.

The fast-moving journalism story is unfolding in Pittsburgh, where the Giant Eagle grocery store chain, dominate in western Pa., announced on Facebook it was halting sales of the embattled Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The story was first reported by WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh.

The move by Giant Eagle comes after two black journalists held a press conference of their own earlier this week to announce they were pulled by senior newspaper management from covering local protests over George Floyds death at the hands of Minneapolis police.

BREAKING: Pa. township official criticized for comment on Dr. Rachel Levine: Im tired of listening to a guy dressed up like a woman

Post-Gazette journalists Alexis Johnson and Michael Santiago said they were both taken off any assignments related to recent protests in the area. The decision was made by leaders at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, they said.

In light of this, Giant Eagle posted on Facebook, saying in part, "In western Pennsylvania, we have also made the decision to halt sales of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette due to recent actions by the publication. It is critical that we uphold the values that have defined Giant Eagle for nearly 90 years. These measures will remain in place until the publication demonstrates an equal commitment to all those in the communities it serves.

The full Giant Eagle statement is here:

Further details from WPXI and KDKA:

During Mondays news conference, Johnson said she was taken off after the paper claimed she showed bias in a tweet last week.

The tweet read: Horrifying scenes and aftermath from selfish LOOTERS who dont care about this city!!!!! . oh wait sorry. No, these are pictures from a Kenny Chesney concert tailgate. Whoops.

The tweet included photos contrasting protest aftermath with that of the mess left after past Chesney concerts.

Johnson defended the tweet as appropriate on Monday:

I do think so because I didnt say Pittsburgh. I didnt name the city. I didnt say look what happened in Pittsburgh. Those Kenny Chesney pictures couldve been pulled from anywhere Kenny Chesney travels across the country honestly, and I absolutely dont see anything wrong with what I said, she said.

Michael Santiago said he was pulled from protest coverage without explanation: I havent heard from management about why I was taken off. I got a phone call on Friday from a coworker and all she said was that I was off, and if I had any issues with it, to just reach out to our editors, he said.

Newspaper guild president Michael Fuocco blasted the newspapers decision to pull Johnson and Santiago from George Floyd coverage as unconscionable.

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Pa. parents charged with manslaughter after son, 2, shoots himself in head with gun from toy basket

3 men accused of forcing Pa. woman to perform sex acts to pay off debt: cops
Following a nearly year-long investigation into the company's business practices, the European Commission (EC) plans to announce formal antitrust charges against Amazon, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper reports the charges will likely come sometime within the next two weeks. When they do, they'll reportedly accuse Amazon of using data collected from third-party sellers on its platform to compete directly against them.

The company declined to comment on the report when asked by the Wall Street Journal. "Amazon appears to use competitively sensitive information about marketplace sellers, their products and transactions on the marketplace," the European Commission said when it first launched its probe into the retailer.

If the Wall Street Journal's reporting is accurate, the charges from the EC will be the latest instance of Amazon getting in trouble over its seller practices. Amazon's problems started in earnest following an April Wall Street Journal report. More than 20 former Amazon employees told the paper the company had used proprietary seller data to help design and price its in-house products. At the time, the retailer said it "strictly prohibt[s]" employees from using private seller data. It also said it had launched an internal investigation into the matter.

However, Amazon's promise to hold itself accountable wasn't enough for US lawmakers. In May, the House Judiciary Committee called Jeff Bezos to testify before Congress. More so than the fact the company may have abused its position as the country's largest online marketplace, what may end up hurting Amazon the most is that it may have misled the government. In an earlier testimony before the House Antitrust Subcommittee, Nate Sutton, Amazon's associate general counsel, told lawmakers, "we do not use any seller data to compete with [third-party sellers]."

Bezos has yet to testify before Congress and may not end up doing so. As of May 16th, the company said it would make the appropriate executive available to answer questions from the House Judiciary Committee.
WESTFIELD  The citys controversial termination of three firefighters  the subject of a civil service appeal, a state division of labor relations proceeding, and three lawsuits  hit a roadblock this week.

A Hampden County Superior Court judge on Monday ordered the city to reinstate the terminated Fire Capt. Rebecca Boutins injured-on-duty benefits until further Order of this Court, saying Westfields actions ran contrary to law.

According to Judge David M. Hodges decision, city officials had no right to cut off Boutins benefits when they fired her late last year. He issued a preliminary injunction barring the municipality from withholding the benefits.

Also of significance to this Courts analysis is the fact that . . . the alleged employee misconduct the Defendants relied on in the instant case to terminate the Plaintiff does not involve any allegations whatsoever of illegal conduct by the Plaintiff. Moreover, there is nothing contained within the language of Section 111F to suggest that termination from employment alone will disqualify a person from receiving Section 111F benefits who otherwise meets the criteria for eligibility of said benefits, the judge wrote

The defendants are the city of Westfield, current Fire Commissioners Albert Masciadrelli, C. Lee Bennett and Jeffrey Siegel and former commissioners Patrick Olearcek and Carlo Bonavita.

David Kennedy, who was a Westfield firefighter until he was also terminated on Dec. 18, subsequently retired from the force, but at a reduced rate.

Depending on whether his lawsuit is successful, will Kennedy could be entitled to the maximum 80 percent of his former salary.

Kyle Miltimore is the third Westfield firefighter the city terminated.

The trios termination is being heard by the state Civil Service Commission.

The commission will determine whether or not the city acted lawfully when it fired them, and whether they should remain terminated or be reinstated.

The Division of Labor Relations case will decide whether or not the city engaged in unfair labor practices against the three and if an investigator the city hired, attorney Dawn McDonald acted improperly during her interview of Boutin.

Westfield City Solicitor Susan Phillips hired McDonald back in 2018 to determine whether an anonymous letter the city received in February of 2018  that accused then Deputy Chief Patrick Egloff of sexual harassment  was written by Boutin or Kennedy or Militimore, and whether allegations against Egloff were true.

McDonald produced a 30-page report for which the city paid the law firm Cooley Shrair, PC, where McDonald worked at the time, $46,000 for her work.

The city claims they were justified in firing the trio, while they claim the accusations are false and defamatory against them.

McDonalds report says the three wanted to destroy Egloff's reputation, while they says the report indicates Egloff engaged in what he was accused of, and deny writing the anonymous letter.

Egloff was promoted to chief in January last year.
Innovative facility at Terminal B to reshape customer journey beginning Saturday, June 13

NEW YORK  This week, American Airlines will welcome customers to the new, state-of-the-art Arrivals and Departures Hall at LaGuardia Airports Terminal B. The new space will offer a clean, comfortable, efficient experience for travelers and provide an upgraded workplace for thousands of the airlines New York-area team members.

Beginning Saturday, June 13, the new Terminal B Arrivals and Departures Hall will serve as Americans main arrival and departure facility at LaGuardia Airport (LGA), including ticketing, check-in, security screening and baggage claim. Light and bright in design, it hosts expanded dining and shopping options, along with direct connections to all concourses.

As more customers take to the skies, American is ready to welcome them to New York in this reimagined facility, launched by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and developed in partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and LaGuardia Gateway Partners, said Jim Moses, Vice President of Northeast Hubs and Gateways for American Airlines. By centralizing our operation, we can better care for our customers  delivering an intuitive, seamless experience from curb to gate.

Scheduled for completion in 2022, the LGA Terminal B redevelopment project is part of a comprehensive $8.2 billion effort to transform the airport into a modern, unified facility, featuring improved ground transportation access, additional taxiways and best-in-class amenities.

The opening of the first new Arrivals and Departures Hall is a major milestone in delivering on Governor Cuomos vision for a brand new, world-class, 21st century LaGuardia Airport that the region deserves, said Rick Cotton, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. We thank the contractors, subcontractors and union construction workers who worked thorough the pandemic to deliver this extraordinary building on time and on budget. Todays opening should be a shining symbol of the regions potential for a strong economic recovery with the vitality of New York before COVID-19.

Developed and managed by LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the Terminal B Arrivals and Departures Hall is the latest milestone in the modernization project  connecting customers via pedestrian bridge to gates 4059 in a new eastern concourse, which opened in December 2018.

As one of the first tenants in LaGuardia Airports history, were excited to continue to work with American Airlines as we progress into this new, modern era for LaGuardias Terminal B, said Stewart Steeves, Chief Executive Officer of LaGuardia Gateway Partners. We look forward to providing an exceptional guest experience for all of Americans NYC passengers.

Many flights will continue to operate from the B, C and D gates in the original Central Terminal Building. After checking in at the new Arrivals and Departures Hall, customers will be able to reach all B, C and D gates via a temporary walkway.

In response to improving demand for air travel, American plans to fly 55% of its domestic schedule in July 2020 compared to the same period last year. This includes 95% more flights at LGA compared to May 2020.
In a text message obtained by The Washington Post and verified by the departments spokesman, Richmond Police Chief William C. Smith said the monuments have a short life span, given the councils plans to remove them. But he also said police, who were initially responding to reports that protesters were trying to pull down the Lee statue, attempted to reach the Davis monument in time to stop the vandalism.
In an effort to boost testing facilities and provide portable oxygen facilities, Anant National University has designed a compact, mobile and contact-free Covid-19 testing and oxygen facility in a cargo autorickshaw.

The Gujarat-based university has created three variations of the rickshaw. One is an oxygen response facility with a stretcher that can act as an emergency response vehicle, one with contact-free swab testing facilities for two patients, and one with x-ray testing and swab-collection facilities.

While the first two cost 4.25 lakh and 5.4 lakh respectively, the rickshaw with x-ray facilities will cost 11.4 lakh.

The autorickshaws are also fitted with a stretcher on the side to transport patients to the hospital. A large number of patients have not been able to access ambulances and hospitals in Mumbai in the past few days.

These are compact autorickshaws that can reach the narrow lanes of slums and facilitate door-to-door testing. The interiors of the facility are also partitioned in three chambers, one for the driver, one for healthcare provider and one for the patient, said Dr Miniya Chatterji, Director, Anant Centre for Sustainability, and CEO of Sustain Labs.

The vehicle for swab testing is contact-free as it is fitted with two windows from which healthcare providers can collect swab samples.

The university is in talks with local governments in Maharashtra and Gujarat where the facilities are expected to roll out soon, said Chatterji. To run the equipment 24x7, a diesel generator is fitted on top of the vehicle.

Professor Dhaval Monani, Director of Affordable Housing and Associate Professor, Anant National University who designed the rickshaws, said in order to maintain high standards of sanitation, the patient area comes with an automated sanitiser spray that is activated by four jet nozzles that thoroughly disinfect the area each time a patient leaves the chamber.

We found two challenges in the country with Covid-19. One is that the testing costs are high and the second is that patients are not able to make it to the hospital in time owing to shortage of ambulances. Therefore, in consultation with different medical practitioners, we re-engineered the autorickshaw so that the facility can reach all patients, Monani said.

The university had earlier designed cardboard beds that have been utilised in quarantine facilities in Mumbai.

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President Muhammadu Buhari said he was deeply shocked by the brutal killing of 81 people by the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in a village in Gubio, Borno state.

The president made his feelings known in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Buhari condemned the massacre and charged the armed forces to sustain their recent string of successes against the terrorists.

He urged them to extract a heavy price from the terrorists and bring back all those they kidnapped and a large number of cattle rustled.



President Buhari said he was expecting a detailed briefing by Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno on the outcome of his visit to the affected communities.

The primordial nature of the killings is particularly shocking because it happened not long after the Ramadan and Eid, and the country is preparing to celebrate the Democracy Day, President Buhari said.

He also expressed the sincere condolences of the government and people of Nigeria to the bereaved families, communities and the government and people of Borno.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 19:11:35|Editor: huaxia

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LUSAKA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- As COVID-19 continues to cause economic upheavals to many sectors of the global economy, in Zambia entities in the tourism and artifact businesses are now barely surviving while others have been forced to close their businesses.

A visit to Kabwata Cultural Village, one of Zambia's cultural heritage sites and a tourist place known for curios and a range of handcrafted products situated in the nation's capital Lusaka, revealed that business has been very slow if not nonexistent.

The place that is known to be a hive of activity almost throughout the year and particularly busy from April to September is now noticeably quiet and deserted with huts that serve as stands for merchandise abandoned.

The traders at the site who are involved in the making and selling of a range of handicraft depicting Zambian and African culture and wildlife complained that the business worsened in the past three months.

"The situation is dire. The majority of traders whose only source of income is either the making or selling of handicrafts are at the brink of destitution," lamented Memory Mwenda, a trader specializing in the sale of handmade jewellery.

And a sculptor, Eddie Muyunda said that the only thing that has kept him going is his passion for making the carvings, something he has been doing for the past 40 years, and from which he has been deriving his sustenance.

"I have not been able to sell anything for over a week now. The other week I only managed to sell a small piece of artefact which was worth about K50 (about three US dollars)," Muyunda said.

However, both Mwenda and Muyunda expressed hope that with the attainment of strategic marketing skills which they hope to obtain through training in digital marketing, the situation would improve and their business is revived. Plans are underway to have e-commerce training for traders at the site to enable them to manage their businesses better.

Other traders at the site also indicated that learning how to conduct business using internet-based tools would help revive their businesses and looked forward to learning new ways of selling their products and acquainting themselves with internet marketing skills.

Craftsman Bonwell Kalilakwenda is optimistic that with the right information and skills, handicraft traders can still manage to make headway in their respective businesses further stating his team is working on modalities of e-trade sessions.

Kalilakwenda also implored the Zambian government to encourage more local tourists by putting in measures that encourage locals to take an interest in exploring the country's arts and culture.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly brought to light the fact that our tourism industry has been supported largely by visitors from outsiders. We need to begin to aggressively encourage more local people to enjoy what the country has to offer," Kalilakwenda said.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, tourism is currently one of the most affected sectors with vulnerable groups within the sector being among the hardest hit.


By Ricardo Hausmann





CAMBRIDGE  Suppose you knew that a hurricane was coming, but meteorologists were uncertain if it would make landfall as a Category 2 or a Category 5 storm. Which scenario should you prepare for?



The problem you face reflects the costs of assuming that it is a Category 5 when it is only a Category 2 and vice versa. The latter scenario implies deaths and destruction that could have been avoided through evacuations, well-supplied shelters, and precautionary shutdowns. The first scenario implies unnecessary preventive costs. In the case of hurricanes, we all agree that it makes sense to err on the side of caution for the same reason that it is better to be five minutes early when catching a train than five minutes late.



In most emerging and developing countries, COVID-19 is causing an economic hurricane. It looks increasingly like a Category 5, but the international community and many national governments prepared for a tropical storm. To marry my metaphors, this is a recipe for a train wreck.



It did not start that way. Arguably, on the epidemiological front, the world acted quickly: more than 80 countries imposed lockdowns between March 9 and April 2  some, like El Salvador, before they had their first confirmed case. The strategy, in Tomas Pueyo's evocative terms, was to hit the coronavirus with a "hammer" (the lockdown) and then to "dance" with it by adopting much less stringent policies that can contain its spread while permitting a return to a semblance of normality.



The strategy worked remarkably well in places as diverse as Albania, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Tunisia, Costa Rica, Belize, Uruguay, Thailand, and Namibia  so well that a strategy based on testing and contact-tracing became both feasible and effective. But it did not prevent deadly peaks in Italy, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States that have been very slow to subside. Declining support for continuing the lockdown means that these countries are trying to reopen with many infectious people around.



Moreover, lockdowns failed to stop the exponential growth of cases and deaths in countries such as India, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, South Africa, and Djibouti. These countries are now between a rock and a hard place: They cannot reopen safely, but they cannot sustain lockdowns for much longer.



Beyond their varying epidemiological effectiveness, lockdowns have been economically devastating. The wreckage in advanced economies is bad enough: The U.K. is facing its worst recession since 1706, and 36 million Americans have claimed unemployment compensation since March.



Now add to that the fact that 25 percent of workers in Lima, Peru, have lost their jobs, but cannot rely on their government for help because it cannot borrow at the scale of the U.S. and the U.K. Emerging and developing economies around the world will shrink by 20-40 percent in the second quarter, with double-digit contractions for the year. They and the international organizations fear announcing such projections because they may spook markets and make matters worse.



More bad news: The post-lockdown period will not be one of strong recovery, because economic activity will remain severely constrained by the need to contain COVID-19. For example, truck drivers coming from neighboring countries caused outbreaks in countries like Jordan and Namibia, which had been highly successful at suppressing COVID-19, prompting a further tightening of controls.



Travel and tourism will not recover at least until a vaccine is widely available. Companies now realize that operating under social-distancing protocols is harder than they expected. Capital has been flowing out of emerging markets, and credit rating agencies are on an unprecedented downgrade spree.



As a result, most emerging and developing economies will have financial needs that will be hard to meet. First and foremost, they need money just to fund huge collapses in tax revenues caused by the shrinking economy. In addition, they will be asked to help hospitals, households, and firms, just as in advanced countries.



They will not find the needed finance domestically, because everybody at home is hurting. It must come from abroad. In the past, smaller shocks have led to triple whammies: currency, debt, and banking crises. Recovery has taken not a year but a decade.



All this adds up to the worst financial crisis that the Bretton Woods institutions have ever experienced in their 76-year history. Their response so far has been both admirably fast and utterly inadequate. They wish they could do more, but the existing rules and funding parameters are inadequate to the task.



For example, the International Monetary Fund has been giving countries Rapid Financing Instrument loans equivalent to 100 percent of quota  a formula-determined number that typically adds up to less than 1 percent of a country's GDP. If the number was 800 percent of quota, and this amount was disbursed in the next 18 months, it would start to make a difference.



The World Bank has a woefully insufficient balance sheet, and the regional development banks even more so. They should be recapitalized rapidly, but this is unlikely to happen, because the development banks have become another area of U.S.-China rivalry.



In addition, as I argued earlier, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank should include emerging-market bonds in their asset-purchase programs. Mauricio Cardenas, Colombia's former finance minister, has proposed a plan that should make this more palatable by pooling credit risk.



Moreover, this crisis is bound to require many countries to restructure their pre-pandemic debt to bring claims on future income in line with unexpectedly worsened expectations. Harvard's Carmen M. Reinhart  recently appointed as vice president and chief economist of the World Bank  and co-authors have documented how long and cumbersome restructurings have been in the past.



This may have been made intentional, to dissuade borrowers from abusing the option to restructure. The world now would be better served by a more efficient and expedited mechanism, such as the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism that Anne O. Krueger, then the IMF's first deputy managing director, proposed in the early 2000s, before the U.S. Treasury quashed the plan.



For humanity, this is a "whatever it takes" moment. To treat it as a "whatever makes us look good enough" moment would be a Category 5 mistake.





Ricardo Hausmann, a former minister of planning of Venezuela and former chief economist at the Inter-American Development Bank, is a professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of the Harvard Growth Lab. His article was distributed by Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).




The NSW Supreme Court has ruled a refugee rally planned for Sydney on Saturday afternoon is prohibited, which could open up attendees to prosecution.

The rally, organised by the Refugee Action Coalition, was taken to court by NSW Police over concerns relating to COVID-19 and public gatherings. Justice Michael Walton ruled on Thursday night that the rally at Town Hall in the CBD was a prohibited public assembly.

Demonstrators at a Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney last weekend. Credit:James Brickwood

The organiser of the rally said the protest will still go ahead. Approximately 200 people were expected to attend.

Justice Walton said public health issues and the right to free speech are "competing public interests" which are "of great importance" but ultimately the health risks outweigh freedom of speech "in the present context".
Legislation to Watch

This week the House has been extremely busy debating numerous pieces of legislation in committee and on the House floor. There were several notable bills that I wanted to share, and publicly state my position. HJR 0809, introduced by Rep. Keisling, requests the United States Congress convene an Article V Convention to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution reforming our campaign finance system. HJR 0809, after a spirited debate on both sides of the aisle, ultimately failed with 14 Ayes, 77 Nays, and 5 Present Not Voting. I had several concerns with the Resolution that lead me to vote against it. First, I was highly concerned with the possibility of a runaway convention that could completely change our constitution. Second, there is no way of telling when precisely the convention will take place as it would require other states to pass a similar resolution.

If you recall in the last newsletter, I reflected on the tragic death of George Floyd. The members of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, which includes myself, are happy to announce that his death will never be forgotten in the State of Tennessee. On Monday, the House passed HJR 1212, memorializing and honoring the memory of George Floyd. While the passage of this Resolution symbolizes the strong condemnation of unchecked police brutality, I want to be clear, this is not the end of the road. The passage of HJR 1212 marks the first step in long over due criminal justice reform. Follow the link below to read the full House Joint Resolution.

www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Bill/HJR1212.pdf

In addition, I am also happy to announce that I voted in favor of HB2601, HB2586, in which I am a co-sponsor, and HB1651, HB2872. HB2601, by Rep. Cochran, requires public institutions of higher education to provide certain information to students about available financial aid, including loans and work-study funds, to enable students to assess the impact of borrowing better. HB2586, by Rep. Littleton, designates that Aug. 18 to be "Women's Suffrage Day." HB1651, Rep. Lamar, requires a physician to provide prenatal and postpartum medical care to pregnant prisoners and detainees; requires correctional institutions to provide pregnant prisoners nutritionally appropriate meals and supplemental provisions. HB2872, by Rep. Cooper, authorizes a Local Educational Agency hat develops its own adverse childhood experiences training program for the LEA's school personnel to offer that program partially or wholly online.



On Monday, I presented my bill HB2093 to the Judiciary Committee. HB2093 requires the department to publish the guidelines for the best practices for identifying and reporting signs of child abuse, child sexual abuse, and human trafficking in which the victims are a child on the Department of Children's Services website. After talking with several committee members and the department as to whether the legislation would be necessary or the department could update their policy, I concluded that the best path forward would be to require, through legislation, that this information be added to their website. HB2093 passed out of the Judiciary Committee and has been placed on Monday's regular calendar.

Absentee Ballots

In a major win for voting rights in the State of Tennessee, Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, ruled that the state's limits on absentee voting during the pandemic constitutes "an unreasonable burden on the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution." Her ruling mandates that the State of Tennessee must give all eligible voters the option to vote by mail in the upcoming 2020 elections because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the following day the State of Tennessee filed a motion to stay the Chancellor's order along with a motion for interlocutory appeal, which would allow a direct appeal to the Court of Appeals before the Chancery Court makes its final ruling on the injunction.

On election day, if there is a dispute on your ability to vote you can request and cast a Provisional Ballot.

This is an evolving situation. Be sure to check back next week for more information.

COPY AND PASTE THE BELOW LINK FOR VOTER REGISTRATION INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PROCESS



https://ovr.govote.tn.gov/



COPY AND PASTE THE BELOW LINK FOR ABSENTEE BALLOT INFORMATION AND APPLICATION



https://sos.tn.gov/products/elections/absentee-voting

New COVID-19 Testing Sites in Chattanooga

On May 21, the Hamilton County Health Department announced the opening up four new COVID-19 testing sites located at Brainerd High School, East Lake Academy, Hardy Elementary, and Orchard Knob Elementary. The announcement comes after the Health Department's decision to no longer continue COVID-19 testing at that Bonnyshire Emissions Testing Center due to vehicle emission testing returning in certain parts of the state. It is important to note that TESTING WILL NOT OCCUR INSIDE THE SCHOOL BUILDING. These testing centers were strategically placed within the most populated areas of the county to ensure easy accessibility by everyone and maximum testing. All testing at these locations will be performed in a drive-through and walk-in tents around the school's parking lots. Testing at all four sites will take place between 7-11 a.m. Physician referrals, appointments, and present symptoms are not required to get tested. ALL COVID-19 TESTING IS FREE. The new COVID-19 testing sites will operate through July.

For questions about COVID-19 testing and information, call the COVID-19 hotline at 209-8383.

TESTING DATES MONDAY - SUNDAY

Hardy Elementary School - 2100 Glass St, Chattanooga, TN 37406

May 26-May 31

June 8-14

June 22-28

July 6-12

July 20- 26

East Lake Academy of Fine Arts - 2700 E 34th St, Chattanooga, TN 37407

May 26-29

June 8-12

June 22-26

July 6 -10

July 20-24

Brainerd High School - 1020 N Moore Rd, Chattanooga, TN 37411

June 1-7

June 15-21

June 29-July 5

July 13-19

July 27-Aug. 2

Orchard Knob Elementary School - 2000 E 3rd St, Chattanooga, TN 37404

June 1- 5

June 15-19

June 29-July 3

July 13-17

July 27- 31

Tips on How to Wear a Mask and Social Distancing

To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the CDC recommends wearing a cloth face mask. To properly wear a face mask, the mask should fully cover the nose and mouth. Wearing a cloth face mask over the nose and mouth prevents a person who may not be aware that they have COVID-19 from spreading the virus. Face masks should not be placed on kids younger than age 2, or on people who have a hard time breathing or can not remove the mask themselves. Caution should be taken if you choose to wear a mask during any physical activity.

If you choose to leave your home, it is imperative that you practice social distancing, follow good hygiene practices, and wear a face mask. COVID-19 most commonly enters our system when we touch our eyes, nose, and mouth after touching infected surfaces. Because of this, it is crucial to avoid touching shared surfaces as well as your face and to wash your hands frequently.

Department of Labor:

Unemployment

If a Tennessee business closes to help slow down the spread of the COVID-19 and has to lay off employees temporarily, those workers can collect unemployment benefits, if they meet other eligibility requirements. For more detailed information on unemployment, please copy and paste the link provided. https://www.tn.gov/workforce


Renovations on the interior of historic Barton Academy began today. The new school, under the leadership of the Mobile County School district, will serve students under the title of Barton Academy for Advanced World Studies starting August 2021.

The specialized school will offer students a unique opportunity in assisting to close the gaps in society, said Robert E. Battles Sr., Mobile County School Board commissioner for District 4.

Its been a long time comin', Battles said.

The academy was named for Alabama Rep. Willoughby Barton, author of the bill that created a public school system in Mobile. Renovations on the academy began recently with $14 million in support from a host of donors, the school system and the city.

The academy -- the first of its kind for the state of Alabama -- will enroll 300 students in grades six through nine. The focus of their education: Solving real-world problems rather than learning solely through textbooks.

The exterior of the building has been restored with $4.2 million to its original state, but the interior will include collaboration labs, state-of-the-art learning technology and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) labs for students studying to enter a particular field.

The building has seen many stages of operation since opening as a schoolhouse. It was used as a hospital for Union soldiers in 1864, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. From the 1960s until 2007 it served as the central office for the Mobile County Public School System. The central office eventually vacated the historic building and it has been clear of any operation since then.

When Barton first opened, Battles said, no African Americans had any participation in its founding or operation as the first public school in Alabama. He and many others expressed their excitement about the structure returning to education with a new emphasis on all students.

The fundraising by the Barton Academy Foundation had many layers. Here are the top donors that will lead to the opening of the school next year:

- The Mobile County Board of School Commissioners invested $4.2 million in 2015 for the exterior renovations.

- Barton Academy Foundation raised $5.2 million in cash and pledges including a $1.27 million challenge grant from the Ben May Charitable Trust. The J.L. Bedsole Foundation and the Hearin-Chandler Foundation each gave $500,000. Other gifts of $200,000 or more were from Crampton Trust, Daniel Foundation of Alabama, Mobile City Council, Mobile County Commission, Dr. Monte L. Moorer Foundation and the Wayne D. McRae Fund of the Community Foundation of South Alabama. Almost 450 other foundations, businesses and individuals contributed.

- $8 million of tax credit equity from New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC), Federal Historic Tax Credits and State Historic Tax Credits helped the foundation reach its $14 million goal. AMCREF Community Capital served as tax credit advisor, with tax credit funding partners United Bank, USBank and Brownfield Revitalization.

- The AlabamaSAVES Program, sponsored by the Energy Division of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, provided $2 million in financing for energy conservation measures including LED lighting, energy-efficient HVAC systems and energy-efficient water heaters for the cafeteria.

We are looking forward to returning to Barton Academy to its original purpose as a school, said Superintendent Chresal Threadgill. We know it will be a world-class school that will make the entire Mobile region proud.
As the Republican Party's only African American senator, Sen. Tim Scott has routinely spoken passionately on matters of racial injustice - decrying the 2015 murder of a black man at the hands of a police officer in his South Carolina hometown, detailing on the Senate floor a lifetime of experience with racial profiling a year later, and then denouncing President Donald Trump's "both sides" equivocation on a violent 2017 rally of white supremacists.

Now - with the nation on edge and, in some places, in flames - he is in a prime position to do something about it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other GOP leaders are counting on Scott to assemble legislation this week that at least begins to address an epidemic of impunity and pervasive racism in the criminal justice system that the party has long downplayed or ignored entirely.

The effort comes as Democrats have unveiled a sweeping bill of their own that is expected to pass the House later this month and as public opinion rapidly shifts in favor of action to hold police accountable for abuses in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.

His race aside, the 54-year-old Scott is an odd choice to play the lead role in a Republican effort to address a fundamental issues with law enforcement. A former small-business owner, he has focused much of his legislative effort on tax policy and entrepreneurial issues. He does not sit on the Judiciary Committee that handles criminal justice matters, but rather on the Finance, Banking and Small Business committees.

But in Scott, McConnell has tapped not only his conference's lone black member, but one with trust and relationships that span the political spectrum, as well as a record of working diligently with colleagues to deliver significant victories - including playing a role in the passage of a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill in 2018.

"He's a relatively young man whose wisdom, I think, is double his age," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., praising Scott's quiet, collaborative and effective leadership style. "Anytime people like you, anytime people like working with you, it gets easier to get things done, and he's someone everyone respects and likes here. . . . He's ideally suited for this issue."

Those talents stand to be strained, however, by the rapid effort to address centuries of American racism and redeem a string of failed legislative efforts dating back decades aiming to reform policing abuses at the federal level. And some have noted the irony of tapping the Senate's only black Republican to address a problem rooted in the racism of the white majority.

Scott said Wednesday he had heard worse than that on social media after McConnell announced his new leadership role, including accusations of being a "token" or "used" by white Republicans.

"Let me get this straight . . . you DON'T want the person who has faced racial profiling by police, been pulled over dozens of times, or been speaking out for YEARS drafting this?" he tweeted.

In a brief interview Wednesday, Scott expanded on his frustration with "intra-discrimination" inside communities of color: "If you want us to root out racism on the other side, be careful on what you have in your own heart," he said, pledging to assemble legislation that "brings our country together and solves some underlying issues."

Scott brings a lifetime of credibility to the debate over racial bias in policing, starting with a childhood growing up poor in a single-parent household in North Charleston. After putting himself through college and building a small insurance and real estate business, Scott entered politics as a rare, unapologetic black conservative - and rocketed in the span of five years from the Charleston County Council to the U.S. Senate.

Less than a year and a half after joining the Senate, Scott's hometown was rocked by a pair of racially explosive tragedies - the April 2015 videotaped killing of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man unrelated to the senator, by a North Charleston police officer, following by the June 2015 murders of nine African Americans at a historic Charleston church by a 21-year-old white supremacist.

Scott stood alongside other black leaders - virtually all Democrats - in South Carolina and shared his grief on the Senate floor. Later that year he introduced his first piece of policing legislation, the Walter Scott Notification Act of 2015, which would require states to track deadly shootings by police officers to receive federal law enforcement assistance grants and share the date with the FBI for publication. It attracted only one co-sponsor.

What Scott did not initially do was speak frankly about his own experiences with law enforcement. That changed on July 13, 2016, as the nation dealt with a fresh paroxysm of outrage over police shootings, as well as the targeting of police themselves by a gunman in Dallas.

Scott went to the Senate floor and described being repeatedly stopped by police officers over the course of his life - including seven times in one year - "the vast majority of the time . . . for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood or some other reason just as trivial."

That profiling, he said, extended to Capitol Hill, where he recalled a Capitol Police officer stopping him after five years of congressional service and demanding to see ID despite wearing his Senate pin.

"While I thank God I have not endured bodily harm, I have felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted," he said, urging those who have not felt the sting of racism to empathize with those who have. "I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness, and the humiliation that comes with feeling like you are being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself."

According to an aide, that targeting has not abated since: Scott was most recently pulled over in April near his South Carolina home after an officer said he waited too long to signal a turn.

The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about the incident.

Scott's prominence as a black Republican became even more fraught as Donald Trump began his rise to the presidency and made a series of racially insensitive comments - ranging from accusing a Mexican American judge of being biased against him due to his ethnicity to the culmination in 2017 with his defense of the racist Charlottesville, Va. protests.

Scott minced no words after that latter episode, declaring Trump's comments "indefensible" and that his moral authority was "compromised." The spectacle of having the only black Republican senator publicly criticizing the president prompted Trump to invite Scott to the White House for an Oval Office exchange that, according to Scott's account, involved him educating Trump on "hate groups who over three centuries of this country's history have made it their mission to create upheaval in minority communities as their reason for existence."

The meeting ended amicably, however, and the two men have continued to enjoy a friendly relationship. Later that year, Scott left a major stamp on Trump's major domestic legislative achievement - the 2017 tax overhaul bill, which included the senator's pet "opportunity zone" legislation meant to funnel investment into underprivileged communities.

Scott has, at times, dissented from the president - notably blocking two Trump judicial nominees due to racially problematic items in their background files. But Scott has otherwise heavily praised Trump's economic record and has continued to advocate inside the administration for more attention to minority communities, including at a White House visit last month.

"You're helping people because they're Americans, and you don't care whether they're Democrats or Republicans, whether they're black or white, whether they're up or they're down, whether they're rich or they're poor," he said to Trump there.

What remains to be seen is whether Scott will assemble legislation that Trump will ultimately support. The White House signaled tentative support for his efforts Wednesday, but Scott has insisted he is on a separate track from the administration. Meanwhile, Trump himself has continued tweeting unalloyed support for law enforcement, while outside parties influencing the president - notably Fox News host Tucker Carlson - are warning him against embracing any reform effort.

Scott pointed to his previous collaborations with Trump on opportunity zones and criminal justice reform as a model: "He's said yes to the vast majority of the legislative proposals I've brought to him, and I'm appreciative of his support and I'm hoping that we get it this time."

The tentative framework for Scott's bill overlaps partially with the broader Democratic effort, which would institute a federal ban on police chokeholds and restrict "no-knock" search warrants, mandate a federal database of law enforcement misconduct, allow private citizens to more easily sue abusive cops, among other measures.

Scott's proposal, according to a summary circulated Tuesday on Capitol Hill, would adopt a less coercive approach, using the leverage of federal grant funding to encourage states and local jurisdictions to improve their training, track police misconduct, use body cameras and more.

"I basically shy away from telling local law enforcement, you shouldn't do that or you can't do this," he told reporters Tuesday. "I would support some of the outcomes that [Democrats are] looking at. The way to get there, I would not."

Democrats are viewing Scott's efforts with cautious optimism. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., one of two African American Democrats in the Senate and a close friend of Scott's, said Scott is bearing a burden that each black senator, regardless of party, has frequently had to shoulder when racial issues come to fore.

"We're often the go-to people in our parties for a lot of issues," he said. "It's a tough burden always to have to be the person that is turned to, that has to carry these issues. You know, we'd get to a place of greater justice in America when more of us are speaking up . . . because we see other people's justices and realities interwoven with our own."

Booker recalled then-Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada sending him a note of apology for having him repeatedly address the racial unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and the nascent Black Lives Matter movement inside private caucus meetings as the only black Democratic senator at the time. But Booker said Scott was capable of bearing that burden.

"Tim is an extraordinary human being," he said. "We obviously disagree vastly on policy issues, but there have been more than one occasion that my staff and I have thanked God that he's a United States senator."

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. - the most powerful black politician on Capitol Hill and a fellow South Carolinian - said he was hopeful Scott would bring his personal history to bear on his fellow Republicans.

"We are no more or less than what our experiences allow us to be," Clyburn said, referencing Scott's vivid recounting of his encounters with police. "I would hope that those experiences that he's had will inform him in carrying out his duties and responsibilities related to this, and if so, I think I'd be very pleased with what the result would be."
In this May 29, 2020, file photo, amid concerns of the spread of COVID-19, an employee has their temperature checked before starting their shift at the city owned waterpark in Grand Prairie, Texas. Coronavirus cases are rising in nearly half the U.S. states, as states are rolling back lockdowns. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

States are rolling back lockdowns, but the coronavirus isn't done with the U.S.

Cases are rising in nearly half the states, according to an Associated Press analysis, a worrying trend that could worsen as people return to work and venture out during the summer.

In Arizona, hospitals have been told to prepare for the worst. Texas has more hospitalized COVID-19 patients than at any time before. And the governor of North Carolina said recent jumps caused him to rethink plans to reopen schools or businesses.

There is no single reason to explain all the surges. In some cases, more testing has revealed more cases. In others, local outbreaks are big enough to push statewide tallies higher. But experts think at least some are due to lifting stay-at-home orders, school and business closures, and other restrictions put in place during the spring to stem the virus's spread.

The virus is also gradually fanning out.

"It is a disaster that spreads," said Dr. Jay Butler, who oversees coronavirus response work at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It's not like there's an entire continental seismic shift and everyone feels the shaking all at once."

In this May 27, 2020, file photo, visitors to the River Walk pass a restaurant that has reopened in San Antonio. Coronavirus cases are rising in nearly half the U.S. states, as states are rolling back lockdowns. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

The virus first landed on the U.S. coasts, carried by international travelers infected abroad. For months, the epicenter was in northeastern states. More recently, the biggest increases have been in the South and the West.

The AP analyzed data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer organization that collects coronavirus testing data in the United States. The analysis found that in 21 states as of Monday, the rolling seven-day average of new cases per capita was higher than the average seven days earlier.

Here's what's driving increases in some of the states with notable upticks:

ARIZONA

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey ended Arizona's stay-at-home order on May 15 and eased restrictions on businesses. Arizona residents who were cooped up for six weeks flooded Phoenix-area bar districts, ignoring social distancing guidelines.

The state began seeing a surge of new cases and hospitalizations about 10 days later.

In this May 18, 2020, file photo, Jason Nichols, facilities operation manager at Life Time, disinfects hand weights at the Life Time Biltmore as it opens for business after being closed due to the coronavirus in Phoenix. Coronavirus cases are rising in nearly half the U.S. states, as states are rolling back lockdowns. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

"It seems pretty clear to me that what we're seeing is directly related to the end of the stay-at-home order," said Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association.

It wasn't just that the order ended: There were no requirements to wear face masks, no major increases in contact tracing to spot and stop evolving outbreaks, and no scale-up of infection control at nursing homes, he said.

"Those are missed opportunities that, if implemented today, could still make a big difference," said Humble, a former director of the state Department of Health Services.

Testing has been increasing in Arizona, which increases the chance of finding new cases. But the proportion of tests that come back positive has also been on the rise.

The AP analysis found Arizona had a rolling average of fewer than 400 new cases a day at the time the shutdown was lifted, but it shot up two weeks later and surpassed 1,000 new cases a day by early this week. Hospitalizations have also risen dramatically, hitting the 1,200 mark last week.

The state also passed another grim milestone last week, recording it's 1,000th death.

In this April 24, 2020, file photo, Regina Nelson, left, is tested for the coronavirus by Gina Johnson, a nurse tech, at the Bono Family Medical Clinic drive-thru testing site in Bono, Ark. Coronavirus cases are rising in nearly half the U.S. states, as states are rolling back lockdowns. (Quentin Winstine/The Jonesboro Sun via AP, File)

Meanwhile Arizona hospitals on Tuesday reported they were at 83% of capacity, up from 78% the previous day. That could force affected hospitals to cancel elective surgeries. Rules established under an executive order Ducey issued in April said hospitals wanting to resume elective surgeries had to have at least 20% of their beds available.

NORTH CAROLINA

In North Carolina, more testing plus more people out and about during reopening seem to be the main drivers of recent case upticks, said Kimberly Powers, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina.

On Saturday, the state recorded its highest single-day increase, with 1,370. While testing has grown in the last two weeks, so has the rate of tests coming back positive.

"These trends moving in the wrong direction is a signal we need to take very seriously," said North Carolina's top health official, Mandy Cohen, who along with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has urged the public to take precautions to protect themselves.

But some state residents are not on board.

In this May 22, 2020, file photo, Tyler Page, a technician with 6 & Fix, Inc., help disinfect and protect Sharky's Place in Raleigh, N.C. Coronavirus cases are rising in nearly half the U.S. states, as states are rolling back lockdowns. (Robert Willett/The News & Observer via AP)

"I think they should start opening stuff a little bit more," said Jason Denton, an electrician from Greenville who said one of his main concerns was getting to the gym.

"That's like my therapy," he said.

TEXAS

Few states are rebooting faster than Texas, where hospitalizations surged past 2,100 on Wednesday for the first time during the pandemic. That's a 42% increase in patients since Memorial Day weekend, when restless beachgoers swarmed Texas' coastline and a water park near Houston opened to big crowds in defiance of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's orders.

Texas' percentage of tests coming back positive has also jumped to levels that are among the nation's highest. State officials point to hot spots at meatpacking plants and prisons in rural counties, where thousands of new cases have cropped up, but have not offered explanations for a rise in numbers elsewhere.

Abbott, who has recently begun wearing a mask in public, has shown no intention of pumping the brake on reopening a state where conservative protesters in May pressured him to speed up the timeline on getting hair salons back in business.

In this May 23, 2020, file photo, a vehicle arrives at COVID-19 testing site at Steele Indian School Park, in Phoenix. Coronavirus cases are rising in nearly half the U.S. states, as states are rolling back lockdowns. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

On Friday, Texas is set to lift even more restrictions and let restaurant dining rooms reopen at nearly full capacity.

ALABAMA

In Alabama, outbreaks in nursing homes and poultry plants helped drive state numbers upward, though there was a drop more recently. But that may changethere is evidence of community transmission in the capital, Montgomery, which has become an emerging hot spot, said State Health Officer Scott Harris.

"I think reopening the economy gave a lot of people the wrong impression ... that, 'Hey everything is fine. Let's go back to normal,'" Harris said. "Clearly, it is not that way. Really, now more than ever we need people to stay 6 feet apart, wear face coverings and wash their hands."

Montgomery hospital intensive care units are as busy as during flu season.

"I can assure you that Montgomery's cases are not going down, and if our community does not take this seriously, the virus will continue to spread, and at some point, our medical capacity will reach its limit," Dr. David Thrasher, director of respiratory therapy at Jackson Hospital, said in a statement.

In this May 29, 2020, file photo, Jessica Ciaramitaro, Daryn Feenstra and Nicholas Soriano mix drinks while wearing face masks at the bar at San Pedro Brewing Company in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles. Coronavirus cases are rising in nearly half the U.S. states, as states are rolling back lockdowns. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

ARKANSAS

Arkansas has also seen increasesin cases, hospitalizations and the percentage of tests that come back positive. But the state's situation is a complicated story of different outbreaks at different times, said Dr. Nate Smith, director of the Arkansas Department of Health.

After a peak in April, levels were low until spikes began about three weeks agomainly in the cities of Rogers and Springdale in the northwest and in De Queen further south. The cases have been concentrated among Hispanics and those who work in chicken production facilities.

The chicken plants never were closed, Smith said. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday said the state will move into a new phase of reopening, starting Monday.

LOOKING AHEAD

Experts are wondering what will happen in the next week or so, in the wake of nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.

In this May 15, 2020, file photo, Walmart employees conduct COVID-19 testing for pre-registered individuals in the parking lot of the Ramsey Street Walmart in Fayetteville, N.C. Coronavirus cases are rising in nearly half the U.S. states, as states are rolling back lockdowns. (Julia Wall/The News & Observer via AP, File)

The protests were outdoors, which reduces the likelihood of virus spread, and many participants have worn masks and taken other precautions. But it's a lot of people close together, chanting, singing and yelling.

"Hopefully we won't see a big spike. But those data aren't in yet," Humble said.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
State governments are considering making Australians returning from overseas pay for their own hotel quarantine after forking out millions of dollars for the 14-day stays.

Queensland is leading the push to charge travellers but the two biggest states, NSW and Victoria, insist they will continue picking up the bill on behalf of taxpayers.

Returning travellers have been put into enforced hotel quarantine for two weeks, with the states picking up the bill. Credit:Edwina Pickles

National cabinet will meet on Friday, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison will push for states to agree on a date in July to open their borders and further ease restrictions.

Mr Morrison on Thursday warned protests over the weekend had put "the whole track back to recovery at risk".
The Electoral Commission (EC) is asking media houses to desist from using the old logo of the Commission when carrying their stories.

In a statement, the Acting Director of Public Affairs, Mrs Sylvia Annoh said on Tuesday 4th December 2018, the Commission unanimously decided to revert to the original logo of the institution.

Even though the statement did not point to which particular old logo, the fact is that there are two old logos of the Commission including the one introduced by the Charlotte Osei administration which was later reverted to the first logo.

By this, the old logo the Commission may be referring to is the one that was introduced by the Charlotte Osei EC-led administration with multiple colours.

And according to statement, the original logo reflects the Coat of Arms of Ghana with a ballot box at the centre. It also depicts a hand casting its vote.

Read full statement below:

ELECTORAL COMMISSION GHANA

1 1 th June, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ORIGINAL LOGO OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION

I bring you warm greetings from the Electoral Commission.

It has come to the attention of the Commission that a number of media houses continue to use the old logo of the Commission when carrying stories on the Electoral Commission.

This comes to inform you that on Tuesday 4th December 2018, the Commission unanimously decided to revert to the original logo of the institution.

The original logo reflects the Coat of Arms of Ghana with a ballot box at the centre. It also depicts a hand casting its vote.

Kindly find attached the image of the Commission's logo.

We trust that going forward your media house will use this logo when carrying out stories on the Electoral Commission.

Thank you for your kind attention.

MRS. SYLVIA ANNOH

Ag. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

E199/ 28th Avenue Ridge  P. O. Box M 214, Accra, Ghana

Tel: (0)233 303 968 750  Fax: +233(0) 302 221 007  email: [email protected]  website: www.ec.gov.gh
Kinshasa, DR Congo (PANA) - The UN High Commission for Refugees (HCR) Wednesday expressed fears for refugees and internally displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
With protests taking over the streets and a federal election looming, coronavirus has been nudged from the headlines in the United States  but the country has surpassed another grim milestone.

The official US coronavirus count has topped 2 million, according to a rolling tally by Johns Hopkins University.

While experts say the real number is certain to be many multiples more, epidemiologists are warning that the country - which still has the most official cases in the world - should brace for more pain to come.

Across the country new infections are rising slightly after five weeks of declines as states emerge from lockdown.

Ohio woman Christine Bevington holds a photo of her stepfather as they said goodbye on a video call before he passed away from COVID-19 last month. Source: Getty

Some states are worse than others. In California cases have yet to reach a plateau and have continued to trend up since the outbreak began, while Arizona has seen a large spike with hospitals reportedly at 83 per cent capacity on Wednesday (local time).

Meanwhile North Carolina has also seen a spike in hospitalisations in recent weeks that has reportedly left the White House worried.

Part of the broader increase across the country is due to more testing, which hit a record high on June 5 of 545,690 tests in a single day but has since fallen, according to the COVID-Tracking Project in the country.

Recent increases in cases are likely a result of more people moving about and resuming some business and recreational activities as all 50 states gradually reopen, while nationwide Black Lives Matter protests could also increase community transmission.

So far in June, there have been an average of 21,000 new cases a day compared with an average of 30,000 a day in April and 23,000 a day in May, according to a Reuters tally.

Total coronavirus-related deaths in the United States have surpassed 112,000, also a world-leading figure.

Arizona is one a few US states that has seen a recent spike in cases and hospitalisations. Source: COVID-Tracker Project via New York Times

US still a long way from natural herd immunity

Despite Americas unenviable position, Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota says things will get a whole lot worse for the country if a vaccine isnt produced.

Story continues

Medical experts say 60 per cent of a given population needs to be immune from a virus, either from a vaccine or through having antibodies from beating the disease, for that population to achieve so-called herd immunity.

At most, perhaps five per cent of people have been infected, Mr Osterholm told The Guardian.

If all that pain, suffering and economic destruction got us to five per cent, what will it take to get us to 60 per cent? Thats a sobering thought. All of that suffering and death is just getting started. People havent quite got that yet.

COVID-19 patients arrive at a medical centre in New York at the height of the pandemic. in April. Source: Getty

On May 12, the World Health Organisation (WHO) advised governments that before reopening, the rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus should remain at five per cent or lower for at least 14 days.

US rates of positive test results have fluctuated between four per cent and seven per cent and have not met those guidelines although many individual states have.

Some states were still reporting positive rates above the WHO threshold last week, with Maryland at eight per cent, Utah, Nebraska and Virginia at nine per cent, Massachusetts at 11 per cent and Arizona at 12 per cent.

At the peak of the US outbreak in April, 25 per cent to 50 per cent of tests came back positive.

No virus spike from protests yet, says US Vice President

US Vice President Mike Pence says there has been no sign yet of an increase in coronavirus cases from two weeks of nationwide protests over police misconduct and racism.

"What I can tell you is that, at this point, we don't see an increase in new cases now, nearly two weeks on from when the first protests took effect," Pence said in an interview on Fox Business Network on Wednesday, local time.

"Many people at protests were wearing masks and engaging in some social distancing," he said.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the White House coronavirus task force that Pence chairs, said on the weekend the mass protests were a "perfect set-up" for spreading the virus.

with Reuters

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William Luther /Staff

A group of women are planning to gather at the Alamo to encircle the Cenotaph on Saturday.

A demonstration organized by AlamoDescendants.com and Alamo Defenders Descendants Association are calling on others with ancestral ties to the fortress, which they recognize as a cemetery, to show up at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The event promoted on Facebook comes during protest activity downtown, which prompted temporary fencing and barriers to be installed around the historic site.
Amazon is facing charges from the European Union's antitrust watchdog over its treatment of third-party sellers, according to sources.

The European Commission, the EU's top antitrust regulator, is planning to file charges against the e-commerce giant as early as next week or the following week, sources told The Wall Street Journal.

The charges relate to allegations that Amazon has been using data from its third-party sellers to make its own similar, private-label products to compete against them.

This comes amid a two-year probe from the EU into the retail giant and following an expose by the Journal back in April that found Amazon staff were using information from sellers to develop competing goods.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. Amazon is facing charges from the European Union's antitrust watchdog over its treatment of third-party sellers, according to sources

The EU charges, called a statement of objections, will focus on Amazon's dual role as both a seller of its own products and an operator of the marketplace, the Journal reported.

One source told the Journal the case team has been drafting the charge sheet for a number of months.

Amazon could be slapped with a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual revenue if it is found to have violated EU antitrust laws.

It would be able to appeal the fines.

The charges are a culmination of a two-year probe, after EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager launched an investigation into Amazon's alleged mistreatment of sellers on its platform back in 2018.

Vestager questioned third-party sellers on the platform to determine whether Amazon used data from the merchants to its own advantage.

Allegations resurfaced this April, when a Journal investigation found Amazon employees had taken seller information to inform the company's own private-label product strategy.

The charges are a culmination of a two-year probe, after EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager (pictured) launched an investigation into Amazon's alleged mistreatment of sellers on its platform back in 2018

The investigation, which involved interviews with more than 20 former employees of its private-label business and access to internal documents, found that information was used to help Amazon decide how to price items, which features to copy, or whether to enter a product category at all.

In one case, staff said they accessed data about a popular car-trunk organizer from a third-party seller including total sales, marketing and shipping costs, and how much Amazon made on each sale, before introducing its own highly similar, competing product.

Amazon has long insisted it does not use information from its third-party sellers when making its own products.

It has denied accusations it abuses its power and said many retailers sell both their own-label goods and competitors' goods.

Following the Journal investigation, the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee last month called on founder Jeff Bezos to testify to the panel about the allegations.

In a letter to Bezos signed by Democratic and Republican members of the panel, the lawmakers questioned whether Amazon committed perjury by denying using third-party sellers' data to make its own products in sworn testimony to Congress last year.

The European Commission is planning to file charges against the e-commerce giant as early as next week or the following week, sources told The Wall Street Journal. The charges relate to allegations that Amazon has been using data from its third-party sellers to make its own similar, private-label products to then compete against them

A Journal investigation in April found Amazon employees used information gleaned from a top-selling third-party vendor's car-trunk organizer (left) to make its own competing version (right)

'If the reporting in the Wall Street Journal article is accurate, then statements Amazon made to the committee about the company's business practices appear to be misleading, and possibly criminally false or perjurious,' the letter read.

At issue are statements made by Amazon's associate general counsel, Nate Sutton, who denied under oath in July and in written testimony that Amazon carried out such practice.

The lawmakers threatened to issue a subpoena to summon Bezos if he does not attend voluntarily.

'We expect you, as Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, to testify before the Committee,' the letter said.

'Although we expect that you will testify on a voluntary basis, we reserve the right to resort to compulsory process if necessary.'

Amazon said it would 'make the appropriate executive available', but has not provided more details over when Bezos will testify.

The company also said it was launching its own internal investigation and insisted any employees using seller information to make private-label decisions would be in violation of company policies.

Amazon's associate general counsel, Nate Sutton, denied under oath in July and in written testimony that Amazon carried out such practice

An Amazon fulfillment center. Amazon could be slapped with a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual revenue if it is found to have violated EU antitrust law

The EU charges mark another blow for the company as it is currently addled by multiple antitrust and anticompetition probes on both sides of the pond.

In the US, Amazon is already facing antitrust probes by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, and the House Judiciary Committee is carrying out an antitrust investigation into several tech firms, including the retail giant.

Meanwhile the EU is also investigating whether Amazon broke competition laws.

The European Commission has gone after several of the Silicon Valley tech giants in recent years.

Google was slapped with more than $9 billion in fines for breaking competition rules in three separate investigations, and probes into alleged anti-competitive behavior are still ongoing at Google and Facebook.

Vestager is poised to roll out proposals for new regulations for tech firms later this year.
PHILADELPHIA (AP)  Joe Biden on Thursday released a plan that he says can jump-start an economy in free fall from the coronavirus pandemic and said he is better positioned than President Donald Trump to safeguard businesses and their employees and create jobs without taking unnecessary health risks.

Trump's Democratic challenger is promising to guarantee testing for the virus and protective equipment for people called back to work, use federal money to ensure paid leave for anyone who becomes sick and oversee thousands of new hires to help track the spread of illness.

Trump has basically had a one-point plan: open businesses, Biden said at an event in Philadelphia with business owners and Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa. It does nothing to keep workers safe, to keep businesses able to stay open, and secondly it does very little to increase consumer confidence.

After remaining home for months during a campaign frozen by the virus, Biden has begun holding public events within driving distance of his house in Delaware. Unlike Trump, he has yet to schedule rallies. His campaign says it plans to do so when public health officials say it's safe.

Biden's plan would seek to protect from discrimination older people, those with disabilities and others at high risk of infection from the coronavirus. He envisions a safer shoppers program intended to make consumers feel more secure. It would provide state and local officials with money to certify when businesses are complying with testing rules and conducting spot checks as necessary" to prevent the spread of the coronavrius.

He also wants to make more money available for small businesses and provide dollars for schools and child care centers reopening.

Biden announced the plan a day after saying that his chief worry is that Trump will attempt to steal the November election, and the Democratic challenger says he's even considered the possibility that the Republican incumbent would refuse to leave the White House should he lose.

My single greatest concern: This presidents going to try and steal this election, Biden said on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, which aired Wednesday night. This is a guy who said all mail-in ballots are fraudulent, voting by mail, while he sits behind the desk in the Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in the primary.

Biden was asked whether hes considered what would happen if Trump refused to vacate the presidency in the event he wasn't reelected. I have," Biden said, before suggesting that the military could step in to ensure a peaceful transition of power.

"I am absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch, the former vice president said.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded that Biden was taking a ridiculous proposition.

This presidents looking forward to November, McEnany told Fox News Channels Americas Newsroom. This presidents hard at work for the American people. And leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories.

President Donald Trump walks in the rain on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, June 11, 2020, before boarding Marine One for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and then on to Dallas. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)AP

Biden's comments come as Trump has intensified his claim that absentee voting, which many states are expanding to avoid large crowds at polling places during the coronavirus pandemic, increases the possibility of fraud. There is little evidence to support that assertion; Trump himself has voted by mail in the past.

Trump on Thursday planned to resume in-person fundraising events after a three-month hiatus as his campaign tries to maintain a steep cash advantage over Biden. The president has scheduled a campaign rally in Oklahoma next week.
(Natural News) Another incident of Black Lives Matter protesters posing as police officers has surfaced, this time in Paris where three men were reportedly arrested for impersonating cops in an attempt to portray them as racists.

Early reports suggested that the three men dressed up in fake police uniforms and conspired with a director and cameraman to film a contrived incident in which the three pretended to arrest a black African man in front of a supermarket. The scene was set up to show a white thief stealing products and being let go while the black man was targeted simply due to the color of his skin.

Investigators who arrested these three impostors say that the uniforms they had on were real, and were connected to a Paris police officer who is believed to have lent the garments to them as part of this staged smear effort.

Some malicious people try to use this drama to bring the French national police into disrepute, stated Loic Walder, a delegate from the UNSA Police union who oversees the 3rd district. Walter responded negatively to video footage of the fake incident.

It is really important to be extra vigilant about content we view online, Walder added in a statement.

Walder went on, however, to falsely accuse American police of engaging in this type of discrimination, and made a point of differentiating how French police supposedly behave.

The national police exercise their profession with professionalism, seriousness, and discernment, Walder stated. The rare abuses are systematically punished.

Director of fake incident told left-wing newspaper it was meant to be a tribute to George Floyd

When approached about this deception by the fact-checking website Check News, which is run by the left-wing newspaper Liberation, the director of the film tried to say that it was designed to pay tribute to George Floyd rather than intentionally deceive the public about acts of discrimination by police.

The goal is to send a message of peace, the 22-year-old hilariously claimed following his arrest.

The idea, this same individual added, was hatched as part of an alleged attempt to portray an original scenario similar to the one that supposedly occurred with George Floyd. It even went so far as to have the fake white police officer drop a knee on the fake black thiefs neck  so original.

At the last minute, one of the men involved in the film suggested that they change the scenario even more to depict a black man being falsely accused and arrested for the crimes committed by a white man. None of these scenes were ever filmed, however, because real police caught up with what was going on and put an immediate stop to it.

When the police arrived, they didnt want to know anything, and they didnt let us explain, one of the films creators whined. One of the extras also expressed himself poorly: when a police officer asked him to explain what the video was, he replied that it was a racist video.

The group of men staging this whole thing then tried to claim to real police officers that the film was supposed to be a tribute to George Floyd. But they didnt want to hear us, one of the men explained, disappointed that he was unable to get away with it.

Not long after these men were arrested, the city of Paris erupted into riots of its own with protesters swarming the streets in solidarity with George Floyd and the black people he apparently represents. People also marched in remembrance of Adama Traore, a black man who is said to have died in French police custody back in 2016.

To keep up with the latest news about BLM and Antifa hoaxes designed to make police look bad, be sure to check out Hoax.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com
A senior American source told Israels public radio Kan on June 11 that if Israels government opts for limited annexation of West Bank lands, the Trump administration might go along with it. The source said that in such a case, Israel would have to present the administration with a detailed map and explain why it is in Israels interest to proceed that way. The final decision is obviously Israels, said the source, who specified that the joint Israeli-American mapping committee tasked with drawing up the borders of the Trump peace plan has not yet completed its work.

The source was referring to recent reports indicating that Israel is considering a phased annexation plan. According to these reports, Israel would propose, as a first step, to annex only the West Bank towns of Maale Adumim and Ariel and the Etzion settlement bloc near Jerusalem. Netanyahu would initially announce the annexation of these three blocs but not the Jordan Valley or other settlement areas, it was claimed.

The unity deal signed between Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz enables the prime minister to start pushing his annexation plan and bring it to vote as early as July 1. Still, it seems that the members of the mapping committee have been out to the field only once since the unveiling of President Donald Trumps plan at the end of January. That was in February, just ahead of the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, the committee is unlikely to complete its work by the beginning of next month. Another meeting of the team members is expected next week.

Netanyahu has repeatedly promised to implement Israeli sovereignty over all West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley as soon as the agreement with Gantz enables him, subject to American approval. At a meeting he held with settlers June 8, Netanyahu confirmed his intention to declare settlement annexation on July 1, but also acknowledged that annexing some other West Bank lands also allocated to Israel under the Trump peace plan will likely take more time.

The Israeli media reported today that the Civil Administration has started preparing for the possibility of conducting a population census for Palestinians living in West Bank Area C, which is under Israeli control. The idea is to collect data on the number of Palestinians living in lands designated for annexation and also to prevent Palestinians from moving there ahead of the annexation with the aim of gaining some sort of a status in Israel.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (File image: Reuters)

A war of words broke out on Twitter between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Ramchandra Guha with the minister asking the historian not to worry about economy as it is in "safe hands".



"Gujarat, though economically advanced, is culturally a backward province... . Bengal in contrast is economically backward but culturally advanced".

Philip Spratt, writing in 1939.

 Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 11, 2020

Earlier in the day, Guha tweeted quoting British writer Philip Spratt's comment in 1939 that Gujarat was economically strong but "culturally backward".

Sitharaman then posted a weblink to an article published in September 2018 about the Poland government organising event to honour former Jamnagar king, Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja, for giving shelter to 1,000 Polish children during World War II.

"In 1939, when Philip Spratt, from Britain, belonging to the Communist International wrote, (who @Ram_Guha quotes) this was what was happening in Gujarat: Jamnagar... Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja... saved 1,000 Polish children #Culture," Sitharaman tweeted.



In 1939, when Philip Spratt, from Britain, belonging to the Communist International wrote, (who @Ram_Guha quotes) this was what was happening in Gujarat: Jamnagar...Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja...saved 1000 Polish children #Culture https://t.co/5XsY2cL1WZ  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) June 11, 2020





Earlier it was the British who tried to divide and rule. Now it is a group of elites who want to divide Indians.

Indians wont fall for such tricks. Gujarat is great, Bengal is great...India is united. Our cultural foundations are strong, our economic aspirations are high. https://t.co/9mCuqCt7d1  Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) June 11, 2020

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani also responded to Guha's tweet saying that Indians would not fall for "tricks" of dividing them.

Soon after, Guha tweeted: "I thought it was only the Gujarat CM, but now it seems even the FM is obsessing about a humdrum historian's tweets. The economy is surely in safe hands."



I thought it was only the Gujarat CM, but now it seems even the FM is obsessing about a humdrum historian's tweets. The economy is surely in safe hands. https://t.co/bBpcK85Hel  Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 11, 2020





The economy is very much in safe hands; worry not, Mr. Guha. Taking cognisance of thoughts in current national discourse+responsibly doing my job arent mutually exclusive. Either way, an interest in history is a plus. Surely an intellectual such as yourself should know that . https://t.co/speBC2bggv  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) June 11, 2020

Taking a swipe at Guha, Sitharaman tweeted late in the evening: "The economy is very much in safe hands; worry not, Mr Guha.Taking cognisance of thoughts in current national discourse+responsibly doing my job aren't mutually exclusive. Either way, an interest in history is a plus. Surely an intellectual such as yourself should know that.
New Delhi, June 11 : In relief for telecom companies grappling to clear the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed them to file affidavits on the time-frame and medium to ensure they clear the dues to the government, and also the security arrangements they can furnish.

A bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, S. Abdul Nazeer and M. R. Shah said: "Firstly, the reasonable time-frame, secondly, how to ensure the payment of the amount even within that time-frame and what kind of securities, undertakings and guarantees should be furnished to ensure that the amount is paid by the telecom service providers." The court noted that the telecom companies prayed for time to file a joint affidavit with respect to their proposal to secure the amount "which is to be paid under the orders passed by this Court". "Let a joint affidavit be filed within five days from today. List the matters on June 18," said the bench.

During the hearing, the Department of Telecom (DoT) informed the apex court the Central government has extensively examined the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) matter, and then it has come out with a bail-out package.

It will be difficult for companies to pay in one go, said the DoT.

At this, the bench queried Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the DoT: "What is the guarantee telecom companies will pay in that time-frame (decided by the Centre)?" Justice Mishra said: "Everyday, I think about how our judgement (AGR matter) has been used and misused." Mehta replied the government has examined the impact on the economy if telecom companies were to pay the entire amount in one go.

"Seeking all telecom dues in one go might create distrust among telecom service providers, if some operators shut down operation," he argued. He also contended that if the court objected to the time-frame developed by the Centre, then it will adversely impact the telecom sector, affect the network and ultimately, the consumers will suffer.

The bench sought a time-frame from the Centre on the payment of the AGR dues. "What if one of the companies goes into liquidation, who will pay then?" queried the bench.

The top court also noted that the demand of Rs 4 lakh crore dues raised against PSUs like GAIL, Oil India Ltd, Powergrid, and Gujarat Narmada Valley Project was not reasonable.

"How the demand was raised on the basis of our judgment with respect to public sector undertakings when the licences were different and the judgment never dealt with the issue of public sector undertakings and their agreements are quite different," the bench asked the SG.

The bench noted that it is apparent that the licences are different and the October 2019 judgment in this case could not have been made the basis for raising the demand against PSUs. Even otherwise, the PSUs are not in the actual business of providing mobile services to the general public, added the bench.

"In the circumstances, let the Department of Telecom reconsider the demand that has been sprung, within three days from today, and on the next date of hearing report the compliance of the action taken on the basis of this order," said the court.

Nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore dues have been calculated by the Central government, which is yet to be cleared by many telecom companies.
Businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome, has disclosed that he once worked with former Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.

In an interview on Citi TVs Face to Face program, Mr. Woyome revealed that he was inspired by his uncle to work with the Libyan revolutionist and leader.

He explained that as a pan-Africanist, he took an interest in studying intelligence and counter-intelligence as a subject, hence the opportunity to prominently work with Muammar al-Gaddafi.

I am a pan-Africanist, that took me to Libya. I worked with the late Colonel Gaddafi prominently. Intelligence and counter-intelligence most inspired me. I was inspired by my uncle Captain Tsikata. I wasnt involved in espionage. Intelligence and counter-intelligence is a good subject.

Gaddafi paid for my tertiary education, training  Woyome

Mr. Woyome, also said the cost of his tertiary education was borne by Muammar Gaddafi, of blessed memory.

I stayed with Muammar Gaddafi and I was the coordinator for Ghana in the International General People's Congress after being trained in many of the tertiary institutions, some to be talked about openly and some not to be talked about openly. I had my career development from there. I left here (Ghana) after the sixth form and had my tertiary education there. A lot of money was spent on my education by the Gaddafi regime in Europe and other places.

Watch Mr. Albert Agbesi Woyome recount his experience in Libya in the video below:

----citinewsroom
ABC NewsBy QUINN SCANLAN, ABC News



(WASHINGTON) -- Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, said Thursday that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger "showed a deliberate indifference to the needs of Georgia voters" after Tuesday's primary election faced numerous problems, from lack of poll workers to issues with the voting machinery.



"(Raffensperger) refused to exercise his responsibility to oversee our elections," Abrams said. "In fact, he said that he had no responsibility for what went wrong, that it wasn't his fault that he paid for $170 million worth of machinery that he didn't train people adequately to use."



Abrams and the voter protection organization she founded, Fair Fight Action, were collecting voter testimonials all throughout Election Day and during an election night media availability, she said litigation would be coming and that it would be coming soon.



Georgia's primary election was plagued by problems that left many voters waiting in line for hours, particularly in the state's largest county, Fulton, which is home to most of the city of Atlanta. On election night, Rick Barron, the director of elections for the county, said they hadn't "seen anything like this since 2012 in terms of issues on election day."



Barron said many poll workers never showed up and there were several new poll workers. The county was using brand new voting equipment, and Barron said that because of the coronavirus, officials were unable to do sufficient in-person training and instead relied mostly on virtual trainings. That meant the people tasked with operating the new machines weren't able to get their hands on the equipment, which Barron said led to a lot of confusion on Election Day.



He also said sometimes the ballot scanners would jam, and other times it seemed too many machines were plugged into the same circuit, leading to power issues.



Barron said the county would be doing "a good post-mortem on this election," adding, "There will be a lot of room for improvement." But he also echoed Abrams and others in the Democratic Party who are saying there needs to be accountability from the state's top election official. Barron said Raffensperger "can't wash his hands of all the responsibility."



Mid-day Tuesday, Jordan Fuchs, the deputy secretary of state in Georgia, chalked Fulton County's machine issues up to poll workers' lack of training, saying she would go with inspectors to investigate and find that the equipment worked fine, but the poll workers didn't understand how to use it properly.



Raffensperger has skirted nearly all responsibility for the problems on Election Day, saying it's up to the counties to conduct a successful election. In the midst of Election Day, he called for an investigation into both Fulton DeKalb Counties' problems, and then on Wednesday he announced he would be proposing legislation to the state legislature that would give his office "greater authority to directly intervene."



"We are here to protect every voter. Republicans, Democrats and Independents deserve well run elections. That is why we are proposing to the General Assembly legislation that will enable the state to intervene and look into failing elections offices, when its clear there are continued failures," Raffensperger said in a statement.



Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA)  The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has said it is pleased to announce that both, Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) delegations, are fully engaged in the third round of talks of the (5+5) Joint Military Commission (JMC)
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on people with obesity as they struggle to manage their weight and mental health during shelter-in-place orders, according to research led by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and UT Southwestern.

The study, published today in the journal Clinical Obesity, surveyed 123 weight management patients at the UT Southwestern Weight Wellness Program and a community bariatric surgery practice.

Everyone was told to stay home to protect themselves from infection and this was especially important for people with severe obesity, who are more likely to have serious complications and higher risk of death with the coronavirus. But these are also patients who often have comorbidities such as heart disease and diabetes that need consistent care. This was the first assessment of this patient population to see the effects of the upheaval of their daily lives on their health behavior and well-being." Sarah Messiah, PhD, MPH, study's senior author and professor of epidemiology, human genetics, and environmental sciences at UTHealth School of Public Health in Dallas

The study revealed that nearly 73% of patient experience increased anxiety and close to 84% had increased depression. Nearly 70% reported more difficulty in achieving weight loss goals, while 48% had less exercise time, and 56% had less intensity in exercise. Stockpiling of food increased in nearly half of patients and stress eating was reported in 61%.

Two of the patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, but nearly 15% reported symptoms of the virus. Almost 10% lost their jobs and 20% said they could not afford a balanced meal.

"You don't have to contract the virus to be adversely affected by it. The major strength of this study is that it is one of the first data-driven snapshots into how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced health behaviors for patients with obesity," said Jaime Almandoz, MD, MBA, first author and an endocrinologist and assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern. Almandoz is also medical director for the UT Southwestern Weight Wellness Program, a multidisciplinary weight management and post-bariatric care clinic.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 42% of American adults are obese. Obesity-related health conditions include heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer that are some of the leading causes of preventable, premature death.

Almandoz pointed out that many patients with obesity already struggle with access to appropriate fresh, healthy foods. Some reside in food deserts lacking grocery stores, where the only options are fast food and processed foods from convenience stores.

"Unchecked diabetes, hypertension, and other obesity-related comorbidities will create a huge backlog of needs that will come back to haunt us. When you throw in disruptions like social isolation, coupled with losing your job and insurance coverage, a potential disaster is waiting to unfold," Almandoz said.

With clinics across the country reporting a decrease in patient visits, Messiah said that people with obesity are potentially missing medical appointments, surgeries, and medications due to the pandemic. People who lost their jobs, and thus their health insurance benefits, may now experience less access to care.

"We don't yet know how many additional lives will be lost to heart disease and diabetes simply because people did not receive care during COVID-19," said Messiah, who is the director of the Center for Pediatric Population Health. "Unfortunately, many of these are ethnic minorities who are already hit hard with disease burdens."

The researchers believe their work can inform clinicians and other health professionals on effective strategies to minimize the physical and psychosocial health impacts from COVID-19 among adults with obesity.

"Those with obesity and severe obesity are already at the highest risk of death from COVID-19. We're concerned that they can be severely affected if a second wave hits in the fall," Messiah said.

The study data came from an online questionnaire conducted April 15 through May 31, 2020. The study population was racially and ethnically diverse, had a mean age of 51, and 87% were women. The mean body mass index for these patients was 40.
In some confined mine sites, Congolese workers report having insufficient food and water and inadequate accommodation.

Mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo must end mandatory mine-site confinement policies, a group of 11 civil society organisations said in a letter to 13 of the DRCs biggest copper and cobalt mining companies on Thursday.

Sealing mine sites off is an extreme measure taken by mining firms in the DRC and elsewhere as they seek to avoid COVID-19 outbreaks which could force them to shut down.

At many mines in the DRCs southern copper- and cobalt-rich region, workers have been told by managers to either stay and work or lose their jobs, the organisations said, citing workers and union representatives.

Companies should give workers the choice to continue commuting to work while living at home, and those who decide to stay on a confined site must be given adequate compensation, including bonuses, they said.

The current situation should not be used as a pretext to infringe these rights and circumvent your responsibilities, the international and Congolese organisations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and RAID, said.

At some confined mine sites, Congolese workers reported being given insufficient food and water and inadequate accommodation, while at others they had no adequate personal protective equipment or handwashing facilities, the organisations said.

Even if companies do not end confinement entirely, they should at least ensure any confinement is as short as possible and regularly reviewed in consultation with workers and unions, the organisations said.

Companies should also provide confined workers with free means to contact family members daily, they said.

The DRC is the worlds biggest producer of cobalt, accounting for 70 percent of the global supply of the metal used in batteries for phones and electric cars. It is Africas top producer of copper.

Glencore, which runs the Kamoto Copper Company and Mutanda mine sites in the DRC, said: The operational workforces of KCC and Mumi (Mutanda) are not confined to site.

Our teams in the DRC are working closely with the local government, unions, health agency and other key responders to provide effective local solutions to COVID-19, a Glencore spokesman said in emailed comments.

This includes temperature screening, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment including face masks), hand sanitisers/wash stations, medical facilities and social distancing to help protect our workforce.

Eurasian Resources Group, Chemaf, Huayou Cobalt, and Ivanhoe Mines did not immediately reply to emailed requests for comment.
Sundrop Carter, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, stands for a portrait in Center City Philadelphia. PICC helps coordinate the PA Immigrant Relief Fund, an effort by a group of organizations to offer emergency assistance to immigrants who could not receive federal COVID-19 stimulus money. Read more

A new fund aims to provide direct cash assistance to undocumented immigrants across Pennsylvania who have been excluded from federal coronavirus aid programs.

More than 40 advocacy groups have joined to create the PA Immigrant Relief Fund, which is helping residents who receive no stimulus money because of their own immigration status or that of a family member, according to a news release from the organizations. People without official papers also are ineligible for unemployment benefits under state and federal regulations.

We all decided to take it on because it was necessary, and nobody else was doing it, said Sundrop Carter, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, based in Philadelphia. Congress made a very intentional decision to exclude people in the middle of a pandemic. It basically told the immigrant community, Youre worth nothing. 

That decision, she said, has forced people to seek whatever jobs they can find at the same time that government authorities try to enforce stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of the virus.

The fund was launched with $500,000 from the Douty Foundation, which helps child and youth organizations in Philadelphia and Montgomery County.

 READ MORE: With the pandemic, a possible end to a program that gives immigrants a fighting chance in court

Organizers hope to raise $4 million by June 30 to provide 5,000 immigrants with one-time cash payments of $800. So far, major philanthropies have been slow to respond, and most of the roughly $75,000 in additional money has come from individual donors, many of whom contributed their stimulus checks.

Assistance of $800 may not be much, Carter said, but could be the difference that helps someone pay the rent or buy groceries.

In the first round of distribution in May, money was provided to immigrant-advocacy groups that then made payments to 580 people. The application process for organizations wishing to join the program will be announced in a few weeks, organizers said.

This fund has the potential to positively impact so many immigrant residents in Philadelphia and beyond, Mayor Jim Kenney said in the news release.

In the United States, immigrant communities have been left out of philanthropic giving. Nationally, only 1% of major-foundation grants go to organizations that support immigrants and refugees, even though they make up nearly 14% of the population, according to the NonProfit Times and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy in Washington.

In May, California became the first state in the country to provide COVID-19 relief to undocumented immigrants, with eligible families getting up to $1,000 per household. The state intends to contribute $75 million, but efforts to privately raise $50 million more have fallen short, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Pennsylvania is home to about 170,000 undocumented immigrants, including 50,000 in Philadelphia  all part of a national population of roughly 11 million. Many work and pay taxes, and advocates say their exclusion from unemployment benefits and stimulus payments hurts not just them but the U.S.-citizen children in their families.

If theres anything we should be learning from COVID-19 and from the recent uprisings, Carter said, its that excluding segments of our community is not what we should be doing. We should be investing in black communities, and in the work to address systematic issues around police brutality. Immigrant communities are suffering. Both should be funded fully.

 READ MORE: Immigrant health-care workers fight the pandemic as possible deportation looms

The fund is hosted by PA is Ready!, a community grant-maker housed within Philadelphia Foundation, a philanthropy that supports programs and endeavors across the region. (The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, which owns The Inquirer, operates under the auspices of Philadelphia Foundation.)

"In early March, we began seeing hundreds of families in our Asian communities lose business, places of employment, and having to make hard choices to work in unsafe conditions, said Alix Webb, executive director of Asian Americans United in Philadelphia. This fund is the first we know of to offer direct financial support  for food, rent, supplies, for safety.

 FAQ: Your coronavirus questions, answered.

Donations can be made through PICC at http://paimmigrant.org/pa-immigrant-relief-fund/ and via Philadelphia Foundation at https://www.philafound.org/give-now/. Every dollar contributed will be distributed as assistance.

I barely have words for how much this can help, said Sara Dickens-Trillo, program director of Mighty Writers Kennett, an education and cultural organization that supports Spanish-speaking families around West Grove, Chester County.

For months, she said in a statement, she has seen families lose jobs and face eviction, struggling even for food.

This money will change their lives, she said. It doesnt seem like a lot to us, but to them, it is like a million bucks right now. They can pay their rent and sleep easy for a change.
New indigenous trainer jet conducts first test flight in Taichung

ROC Central News Agency

06/10/2020 02:25 PM

Taichung, June 10 (CNA) The first test flight of Taiwan's new indigenous advanced jet trainer (AJT) was conducted in Taichung on Wednesday when a prototype of the trainer flew for around 20 minutes.

The AJT, named Yung Yin () or "Brave Eagle," took off from Ching Chuan Kang Air Base around 9 a.m. accompanied by two IDF fighter jets and kept its landing gear down the entire flight before landing successfully.

The first-ever test flight of the ATJ drew a crowd of aviation enthusiasts outside the airbase eager to get a first look at the Brave Eagle in the air.

Wednesday's test was the first of three days of tests being conducted by the Air Force before an official test flight is held on June 22 at the air base.

The Air Force has previously said the AJT has already cleared the required pre-flight dynamic and static tests, enabling the test flight to be conducted sometime later this month.

Su Tzu-yun (), a research fellow at the military-affiliated Institute for National Defense and Security Research, previously told CNA that military flight tests are normally completed within 20 minutes, and serve to collect data and information needed to calibrate the system and make improvements.

The ATJ project was initiated in 2017 to replace the military's decades-old AT-3 trainer aircraft and F-5E/F lead-in fighter trainers, and a prototype of the jet was first unveiled publicly in September 2019.

According to the military, it will take delivery of 66 AJTs by 2026 as part of the country's efforts to become more self-reliant militarily.

(By Su Mu-chuan and Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/ls

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File image: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discus the COVID-19 situation in the national capital with him on Wednesday. The chief minister said Shah has assured him of all cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus.

"Met Sh Amit Shah, Hon'ble HM. Discussed the situation on corona in Delhi in detail. He assured of all cooperation," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said in a tweet.

Delhi recorded 1,501 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the tally of such cases to over 32,000 the national capital, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 984, authorities said.
Israel's top court annuls West Bank settlement legalization law, draws praise from rights groups

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 7:40 AM

Israel's Supreme Court has struck down a controversial 2017 law that would have allowed the regime to expropriate private Palestinian land, where thousands of settler units have been built, drawing praise from advocacy groups.

In a vote of eight to one, the nine-judge panel of the court ruled that the so-called Law for the Regularization of Settlement in Judea and Samaria "was unconstitutional and ordered it nullified."

The law did not "provide sufficient weight" to the status of "Palestinians as protected residents in an area under belligerent occupation," read a court statement.

It also "violates the property rights and equality of Palestinians, and gives clear priority to the interests of Israeli settlers over Palestinian residents [of the West Bank]," the statement added.

In February 2017, the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) approved the contentious measure, which allowed settlers to remain on land if they built there without prior knowledge of Palestinian ownership, or if homes were constructed at the Tel Aviv regime's direction.

It was meant to retroactively legalize about 4,000 settler units on privately owned Palestinian land.

However, soon after passage, the law was frozen while the court heard petitions filed by several rights groups against it.

B'Tselem, an Israeli rights NGO, praised the court's decision, but expressed regret that it does little to stop the regime's larger settlement project.

"All lands in the West Bank are Palestinian, and even after today's HCJ (High Court of Justice) ruling Israel will continue to take over more and more Palestinian land. This reality of ongoing land theft by ... Israel does not fundamentally change today, nor does it diminish the Israeli HCJ's role in legitimizing it over the years," it said.

The Peace Now settlement watchdog said, "We have curbed the unsuccessful attempt to expropriate private land of people living under occupation by a government they did not choose for the benefit of new settlements aimed at foiling a political agreement [to end the conflict]."

Reacting to Tuesday's ruling, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party said it was "unfortunate" that the court had intervened on what it called "an important law for settlement activity and its future," vowing to work to re-enact it.

On the contrary, the centrist Blue and White political alliance, Likud's coalition partner, explained that the formulation of the settlement legalization law "contravened Israel's constitutional situation and the legal difficulties it posed were known back when it was passed in the Knesset."

"We respect the court's decision and will work to ensure that it will be respected," it noted in a statement.

Israeli lawmaker Nitzan Horowitz, the head of Meretz party, denounced the 2017 law as "racist" and "contravening of the most basic moral standards."

He further warned that Netanyahu's looming plan to annex large parts of the West Bank "will create a much greater injustice."

Israel's new coalition, led by Netanyahu, plans to impose its "sovereignty" over West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley  some 30 percent of the West Bank  as of July 1.

US President Donald Trump gave Tel Aviv the green light for the land grab in his self-proclaimed "deal of the century," which was unveiled in January with the aim of legitimizing Israel's occupation and re-drawing the Middle East map.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 11:03:38|Editor: huaxia

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Lin Bingliang (front), a member of the Chinese medical expert team, also an epidemiologist from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sun University, speaks at a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, June 10, 2020. After spending almost three months in Serbia helping fight the COVID-19 epidemic there, the Chinese medical expert team departed from Belgrade airport early Thursday with good wishes from Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. A sendoff for the six-strong team was held on Wednesday evening when they met with Brnabic, who later personally escorted them to the airport. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

BELGRADE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- After spending almost three months in Serbia helping fight the COVID-19 epidemic there, the Chinese medical expert team departed from Belgrade airport early Thursday with good wishes from Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.

A sendoff for the six-strong team was held on Wednesday evening when they met with Brnabic, who later personally escorted them to the airport.

Brnabic said that the Chinese expert team served in Serbia for 82 days and thanked China and its leadership, as well as the medical team for playing "a key role in Serbia's battle against COVID-19" by transferring their knowledge and experience.

The team arrived on March 21, just 15 days after Serbia confirmed the presence of the virus, she recalled. The plane they travelled in also carried much-needed medical supplies including protective gears and ventilators for Serbia.

The Chinese experts "came here to transfer their knowledge and their experience, and to invest here their enormous energy and love, touring the country and managing to hold 150 meetings and activities with our healthcare workers in our facilities," said the Serbian head of government.

Lin Bingliang, an epidemiologist from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sun University, said that the team worked hard to justify the trust of Serbian people and visited 22 cities and more than 70 institutions.

Noting that the number of difficult cases and the death toll in Serbia have been low compared with the global situation, he said he was satisfied with the results.

However, he warned of the remaining risks that require prevention and control measures in the future.

"Although we are leaving Serbia and returning to our homeland, our hearts will remain with Serbia. We will continue to look after each other and mutually support each other. We wish all the best to Serbia and its people," he said.

Chen Bo, Chinese ambassador to Serbia, said that the Chinese medical expert team successfully fulfilled its mission and shared their experience in prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19.

"Wherever there was a hotbed, our experts were there - from Subotica to Vranje and from Loznica to Zajecar, across more than 20,000 km. We can say that the medical expert team has become a symbol of solidarity between our people in the battle against COVID-19," she said.

For their dedicated work, all members of the team were previously awarded military memorial medals.

The COVID-19 epidemic in Serbia started on March 6. The country lifted the state of emergency on May 6 due to a low ratio of infection among tested people.

Currently, there are 432 active cases of COVID-19 in Serbia. Some 250 people died of the disease since the epidemic began.
Ebola is likely to re-emerge in different regions across Africa in the future considering that it is a water-borne disease, Ngoy Nsenga, a leading expert at the World Health Organisations (WHO) Ebola response team has said.

Mr Nsenga, who made this known in an interview with Sputnik, said that the likelihood of the re-emergence of the virus had made broader vaccination imperative.

Ebola will appear again somewhere, but we need to be ready to circumvent that outbreak and avoid that it expands to the magnitude of the outbreaks that we had in the past.

Well have this kind of cases popping up from time to time.

The big deal is how do we prevent it, even if we have few cases, from expanding and having a huge outbreak that expands even beyond the border of the (Democratic Republic of the Congo) DRC, Mr Nsenga warned.

The expert added that vaccination would be a key solution to the health crisis.

Vaccination will definitely be a way to go, but at this point, I dont think this vaccine is given outside of the outbreak.

Its only provided to people who had contact (with infected people) when the outbreak occurs, Mr Nsenga noted.

DRC Health Minister, Eteni Longondo, said on June 1 that a new Ebola outbreak had been reported in the city of Mbandaka, located in the countrys northwest.

The epidemic began in August 2018 and has claimed more than 2,200 lives.

(Sputnik/NAN)
TUNIS (Reuters) - Libya's warring sides have begun to engage in a new round of ceasefire talks, the United Nations said on Wednesday, after rapid gains by the internationally recognised government ended with heavy fighting around the central coastal city of Sirte.

The Government of National Accord (GNA), which is backed by Turkey, and the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), backed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt, have each met separately with U.N. negotiators, the U.N. Libya mission said.

It follows the sudden collapse of the LNA's 14-month offensive to capture the capital Tripoli, the seat of the GNA, and its retreat from most of its territory in northwest Libya.

A GNA effort from Monday to push further east and capture Sirte, effectively wiping out all the LNA's gains since the start of its Tripoli campaign in April 2019, was repulsed with air strikes, an LNA military source said.

"The Mission is particularly concerned by reports of escalation and mobilization in and around the city of Sirte", the U.N. Libya mission said in its statement announcing the talks were under way.

It said it had verified at least 19 civilian deaths in Sirte.

(Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Alaa Swalim |Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Heinrich)
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said Thursday that the goal is to get the resort's casinos reopened by the Fourth of July Weekend.

Thats the governors call. I know that the goal is by Fourth of July weekend, Small said during a press conference on the future of Trump Plaza.

Gov. Phil Murphy has said he would like to see Atlantic Citys nine casinos reopened by July 4, but, thus far, has not made any formal decisions. Murphy ordered the casinos closed March 16 to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.



The number of positive cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey has increased by 539, bringing the total to 165,816, Gov. Phil Murphy said. There have been 70 additional deaths, bringing the state total to 12,443.

Today marks 100 days  hard to believe  since the first case of COVID-19 in New Jersey was confirmed, Murphy said during his daily briefing with other state officials. And in some ways its hard to believe that its been 100 days, and in other ways its hard to believe its only been 100 days, and its equally hard to fathom the impact this virus has had on our state, our communities, our economy, and frankly on our nation and the world.

There are 1,512 people hospitalized across the state, including 445 people in intensive care and 319 people on ventilators, Murphy said. Between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 10 p.m. Wednesday, 169 residents were discharged from hospitals, while 27 people entered hospitals.

In South Jersey, there were 27 new hospitalizations, Murphy said, with 44 discharges.

Murphy called the new hospitalization numbers for north and central part of the state as a data hiccup, adding that they needed data from those regions.

So far, Atlantic County has reported 2,498 cases with 173 deaths and 1,209 cleared as recovered. Cape May has reported 665 cases with 435 designated off quarantine. The deaths of two women, ages 84 and 92, bring the county's total to 55. Cumberland County has reported 2,293 cases with 103 deaths.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Also during the briefing, Murphy announced the One Jersey Pledge, which Murphy called a pact that lays out that all residents share a responsibility to see the restart and recovery through.



Cape May County officials announced Thursday that the Cape May County Zoo will reopen Saturday.

The zoo will reopen to the public at 10 a.m. with new safety precautions in place to keep visitors, staff and the animals safe from COVID-19, according to a news release from the county. During this time that the zoo was closed, in accordance with an Executive Order from Gov. Phil Murphy, the zoo staff continued to maintain the zoo and take care of the animals following strict safety protocols.

Our guests have been waiting for the day that we could reopen the Zoo, said Freeholder E. Marie Hayes, liaison to the zoo. The staff has done a wonderful job in the time we have been closed caring for the animals and creating dozens of Virtual Zoo videos for schools. But there is no substitute for the real thing. People will now be able to go back to our zoo this weekend.

Tree to Tree Adventure Park is also reopening at the zoo, which is an aerial adventure and zip line park, according to the release.

It is a proud day to say that we are reopening the Cape May County Zoo, said Freeholder Director Gerald M. Thornton. I was talking daily with the Governors Office and Freeholder Hayes on this issue. I want to commend Freeholder Hayes, who was a strong voice in reopening the Zoo, and the entire Zoo staff, for the hard work they have put into getting reopened and the plans put in place to keep everyone safe.

Some of the safety measures being put in place now include asking every guest over the age of 2-years-old to wear a mask when visiting, according to the release. This is for the protection of both the guests and animals, as some of the species are known to be the susceptible to the virus.

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Guests are asked to maintain social distancing from other groups and families when visiting, according to the release. A one-way directional flow throughout the zoo has been set up to reduce the amount of interactions between guests where possible. Capacity of the zoo will be watched closely to ensure it doesnt get overcrowded with guests. Also, the Aviary and Reptile House will remain closed at this time.



Atlantic County health officials announced 30 more residents have been cleared as recovered from COVID-19 for a total of 1,209 of the 2,498 who have tested positive, according to a statement from the county.

The 2,498 total includes 16 new cases confirmed today among three males, ages 51-84 and 13 females, ages 12-66.

The county also reported the death of three elderly long-term care residents of Northfield from complications of COVID-19. The three women, ages 85, 92 and 97, all had pre-existing health conditions that put them at higher risk for the disease that has claimed the lives of 173 county residents.



Courts across the state will begin to reopening later this month, after being closed since March to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The New Jersey Courts Post-Pandemic Plan, which has been approved by the state Supreme Court, details a gradual return to courthouses and court facilities starting June 22, according to a news release from the judiciary.

Many court staff have been working from home, while cases have been either postponed or held via video of telephone conference.

Between 10% and 15% of judges and staff will be onsite to start, according to the reopening plan, and that will increase through two additional staggered phases.

Ahead of the reopening, all employees will receive training on COVID-19 safety, appropriate cleaning policies will be implemented, and thermal scanning may start, among others.

Most criminal hearings, like first appearances and detention hearings, will continue to be handled remotely, according to the plan.

For more information, visit njcourts.gov.



State officials scheduled a 1 p.m. briefing Thursday to update residents on the spread of COVID-19.

Appearing for the briefing will be Gov. Phil Murphy, Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, Department of Health Communicable Disease Service Medical Director Dr. Edward Lifshitz, State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan and Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo.

So far, Atlantic County has reported 2,482 cases with 170 deaths and 1,179 cleared as recovered. Cape May has reported 664 cases with 53 deaths and 435 designated off quarantine. Cumberand County has reported 2,293 cases with 103 deaths.

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness or death.

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An Emmerdale crew member has been tested for coronavirus after turning up on set with symptoms.

The unnamed staff member was sent home after arriving for filming with a temperature, ITV's Head of Soaps and Continuing Drama John Whiston has confirmed.

The Emmerdale boss revealed the news as he outlined the new testing procedures put in place to protect the cast and crew.

Emmerdale became the first British soap to resume filming with a 'phased back' return last month, featuring special lockdown episodes.

Revealed: An Emmerdale crew member was recently tested for coronavirus after turning up to filming with symptoms

Amid the return following the government's easing of lockdown rules, soap bosses issued guidelines on set, which included strict two-metre distancing and temperature testing.

In an online chat, soap boss John Whiston revealed a member of the Yorkshire-based show was advised to get tested after it was flagged that they had a high temperature.

When asked what would happen if someone turned up to work with symptoms, he replied: 'This has happened on Emmerdale already.

'So somebody has come in and had a high temperature, theyve gone home and logged on to the NHS, got a test done and they come back negative.

Cautious: The staff member was sent home to be tested after arriving on set with a temperature, it's been reported (It is not known which crew member was tested for coronavirus)

'I think that is reassuring and in most cases that will probably be what happens. Weve got protocols if somebody does test positive for it and protocols for the governments track and trace.'

He added that it was 'concerning' if somebody did test positive, but that they had 'thought it all through' so as to keep everyone 'as safe as possible.'

It is not known which crew member was tested for coronavirus.

The rural outdoor set for Emmerdale has been dramatically revamped so that actors can be filmed from above now that socially distanced filming has begun.

Rules: Amid the return to filming following the government's slight easing of lockdown rules, Emmerdale have issued guidelines on set, which includes strict two metre distancing and temperature testing

Scaffolding platforms have been put up around houses in the village where the show is filmed so that cameramen can shoot the cast from up high.

The soap has begun a phased return in order to minimise risk of infection at the studio, with Nicola Wheeler and Eden Taylor Draper among the first to return.

New safety measures have been put in place at ITV studios including medical screening, safe-distance queuing and ambulances on set amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The area around the studio appeared to be well-signposted and notices advised the cast and crew to keep a safe distance as well as informing them about medical screenings.

Symptoms: 'This has happened on Emmerdale already. So somebody has come in and had a high temperature, theyve gone home and logged on to the NHS, got a test done and they come back negative (It is not known which crew member was tested for coronavirus)

The channel's Health and Safety team and medical advisers have been working closely with the government to consult on social distancing guidelines to ensure the team are working in accordance with return-to-production protocols.

This means that filming units are staying together while working in designated studios, and the crew are using their own equipment which has been sanitised in advance while office staff continue to work from home.

ITV also revealed that they would not have any shoots on location, while scripts have been adapted to include fewer scenes and a small number of actors so that the cameras don't need to be moved on a regular basis.

Safety first: The channel's Health and Safety team and medical advisers have been working closely with the government to consult on social distancing guidelines
Iconic Aussie drama Prisoner had so many fans around the world, they included Princess Di and Sarah Ferguson.

Star Val Lehman recalls learning the news during a fan tour of the UK.

I knew that Di and Fergie watched it because some of the fans who actually worked in Buckingham Palace told us. I remember going on the Underground when a chap would come up with a bowler hat, briefcase and brolly saying Oh I say, I think youre splendid in that show!' she said.

For the 30th anniversary a man who had written a book about being in Alcatraz (wrote a letter) and said Thank you to the women of Prisoner for changing peoples attitudes and sympathies towards prisoners. And I suppose the show did do a lot of that.

Lehman along with actor Amanda Muggleton and musician Allan Caswell discussed the series in On the Inside: A Prisoner Celebration, which will screen for free online on Friday 19 June.

The Q&A event was held by the National Film and South Archive of Australia in Canberra last year to mark the 40th anniversary of the iconic Aussie drama. Online audiences will now be able to hear what really went on behind the scenes at Wentworth Detention Centre.

Join Val Lehman (Bea Top Dog Smith), Amanda Muggleton (Chrissie Latham) and musician Allan Caswell (creator of the theme song, On the Inside) as they discuss their involvement in Prisoner and its ongoing impact on audiences across the world. The presentation includes rare clips from the NFSA collection, as well as a live performance by Allan Caswell.

Following its premiere on 27 February 1979, Prisoner ran on Network Ten for eight years and a total of 692 episodes. Thanks to its enormous success in Australia, the Grundy production also became an international hit. Prisoner inspired numerous spinoffs and remakes, including the ongoing award-winning Foxtel series Wentworth.

In addition to On the Inside: A Prisoner Celebration, the NFSA website also features an online collection dedicated to the show, which includes rare clips from the 1981 male spinoff Punishment (starring Mel Gibson) and 1991 US remake Dangerous Women. It is available now at: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/prisoner .

NFSA Live presents: On the Inside: A Prisoner celebration

When: 6pm AEST, Friday 19 June 2020

Where: https://live.nfsa.gov.au

Tickets: Free online event; register now to receive a reminder before the event starts: https://ontheinside.eventbrite.com.au

Sponsored post.
Georgias voters had low expectations, and Tuesdays primary did not meet them. In many parts of greater Atlanta, voters brought their own lawn chairs to the polls, expecting long lines and not wanting to stand in the heat.

Fulton County pushed its poll closing time from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., but some voters in Union City, a suburb south of Atlanta that is 88 percent black, waited in line until 12:37 a.m. to vote.

As a black person I was actually sad. I was thinking to myself, How long do we have to be going through this? said LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of Black Voters Matter, who documented the Union City voting line on Twitter. This is supposed to be a new system but we continue to see old problems.

Much of the trouble that plunged Georgias voting system into chaos Tuesday was specific to the state, stemming from the rollout of new voting machines and an electronic voter check-in system, which some elections experts had been sounding alarm bells about for months.

Poll workers proved to be tragically unfamiliar with the system. And a number of the most seasoned poll workers in the Atlanta area, many of whom are older, chose to sit the election out to avoid exposure to the coronavirus.

At the same time, the state had encouraged more voters to avoid in-person voting altogether and vote using absentee ballots. With Covid-19 concerns in mind, elections officials sent an absentee ballot application to every eligible voter in the state in active status  meaning they had voted in the past several years.

But a number of voters who filled out those applications never received a ballot. Some of them spoke Tuesday night at a Zoom meeting of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, saying that they ended up having to vote in person after their ballots didnt show up.
Mr Seth Kwame Acheampong, MP for Mpraeso and Chairman of the Committee on Defence on Wednesday, reacted to issues involving the arrest of Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei, the General Overseer of Hezekiah Prayer Ministries.



He also addressed the investigations into security matters involving Kwame Baffoe, alias D C Abronye and Major (rtd) Boakye Djan and others.



Apostle Agyei, who is facing charges of threat of death, offensive conduct, breach of peace and possession of Narcotics, was on Tuesday, arraigned at an Accra Circuit Court.



He has been placed in custody.



Apostle Agyeis arrest follows comments he allegedly made, in a social media video, in which he urged the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Jean Mensa to suspend the compilation of a new Voters Register or die.



In the video, which has gone viral, Apostle Agyei reportedly said: Apostle Agyei reportedly said further: "I'm telling Jean Mensa today... If Jean Mensa thinks she was not born of a woman but came from some other angel, she should go ahead and do the new register. She will die 12 mid-day. She will die just like that. Nonsense" !



He also said: Let me tell them (Akyems) something. On June 4, people were crying let the blood flow.



 It was only military people whose blood flowed Today, as I hear let the blood flow, it is the blood of the Akyem Mafia that will flow I saw Akyem Kyebi palace, I saw it on fire and people were saying: let the blood flow.



He also reportedly warned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to keep the nation's borders shut.



He is also being investigated on the threats and allegations he made against President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo regarding the murder of the Abuakwa North MP, J.B. Danquah-Adu.



He was picked up by National Security operatives on Tuesday.



However, a Ranking Member on Defence and Interior and MP for Builsa North, James Agalga, addressing a press conference at the Parliament House, Osu-Accra, impugned that the manner of arrest infringed on the rights of the suspect.



Describing the conduct of the security operatives as unprofessional, Mr Agalga alleged that party hoodlums, vigilantes and faithful, recruited into agencies were the ones exhibiting these unprofessional behaviors.



Citing the investigations involving Kwame Baffoe alias D C Abronye and Major (rtd) Djan, Peoples National Convention Chairman Bernard Mornah, Mr Agalga accused the ruling government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the security agencies of being discriminatory in their arrests.



He asked why NPPs Deputy General Secretary Nana Obiri Boahene had also not been arrested by the National Security for making similar comments.



Reacting, Mr Acheampong said the state institutions were a creature of the 1992 Constitution, and they must be made to work without interference.



For clarity, the National Security did not just get up and arrest the gentleman, the Apostle, as we presently know him. The National Security secured an arrest warrant and search warrant from the courts of the Republic of Ghana, equally a creation of the Constitution of Ghana, and by that authority, they arrested the gentle person, Mr Acheampong said.



He debunked news making the rounds that the operatives planted a substance on the suspect, and said his information was that the substance was found on the suspect, and it was not planted by any person.



Im sure in due time, the mandated state institution will come out with better and further particulars I want to state that no state institution did that.



Furthermore, the MP said the suspect was arrested in the presence of Mr Agyemang Duah, a former District Chief Executive of Kwaebibirim,who was also a member of the NDC, and begged members of the Minority to be clear on the matter, as the modus operandi of the Security Services varied with each case.



On the matter involving DC Abronye, he said Abronye subjected himself through the process, under which the CID took statements from him, and went through the rituals and he was allowed bail.



The same body went to a former President of the Republic, President John Dramani Mahama to take similar statements. This is work in progress and its a matter before the system.



Additionally, Lawyer Nana Obiri Boahen, the Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party was invited, his statement taken and granted bail.



Mr Acheampong said he was however, unclear on why the Minority mentioned Major (rtd) Boakye Djan, a commissioned officer of the Ghana Armed Forces, who had studied Law, explaining that because of his ill health and condition, the Police rather went to his home and took a statement from him, after which he was granted him bail.



Mr Acheampong advised against denigrating mandated state institutions, saying they must be allowed to work without stampeding them and drawing them into any public bashing.



He assured the nation that the Government would ensure that state institutions worked to ensure stability and peace of the state.



Mr Acheampong said he was in no way justifying any excesses the security operatives might have engaged in.

Source: GNA









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Twitter users in Pakistan were highly active on Tuesday (June 9) night with several users claiming that Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets had crossed the Line of Control and were seen flying near Karachi.

Some social media users in Pakistan claimed that the arrival of IAF jets in Karachi led to a blackout in the city. The blackout in Karachi instilled fear in the minds of many Pakistanis with several recalling the the Balakot airstrikes carried out by the IAF in 2019.

Waj Khan, a journalist in Pakistan, tweeted, Dear @IndianPakistan, rumors are rife about Indian Air Force incursions into Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the Sindh-Rajasthan sector. Recommend you put out a statement to clarify. Also, recommend that everybody chill and enjoy the week.

Dear @IndiainPakistan, rumors are rife about Indian Air Force incursions into Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the Sindh-Rajasthan sector. Recommend you put out a statement to clarify. Also recommend that everybody chill and enjoy the week.  Waj Khan   (@WajSKhan) June 9, 2020

Extraordinary air activity on #Pak_India border has been observed. #Pakistan security forces are alert.  Tariq Mahmood Malik (@TM_Journalist) June 9, 2020

It's probably after 27th Feb 2019 that I have heard so many PAF jets patrolling the sky. I hope nothing serious is happening or expected to happen.  Wajahat Kazmi (@KazmiWajahat) June 9, 2020

Breaking: IAF Jets went close to Karachi (as per locals), blackout announced. Panic grips Southern parts of Pak with many reportedly saying its Feb 2019 like situation.  FrontalAssault (@FrontalAssault1) June 9, 2020

Some users clarified that the jets seen in Karachi were in fact of the Pakistan Air Force and tge IAF fighters were near the border in Rajasthan.

It is to be noted that Pakistan Armed Forces are yet to issue an official statement over rumours.
The Trump administration is considering a range of measures to inject more money into the economy, which is facing its deepest downturn since the Great Depression as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion pandemic relief bill last month, but Senate Republicans and the White House have dismissed that as dead on arrival.

Negotiations between the White House and lawmakers are expected to get underway next month. Mr. Mnuchin has said he would prefer additional stimulus to focus on specific industries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, but direct payments to individuals would have the benefit of raising consumer spending more broadly.

Its a very efficient way for us to deliver money into the economy, Mr. Mnuchin said in a briefing with reporters on Thursday, noting that for people who still have jobs, the money is akin to a tax cut.

Mr. Mnuchin said he remained optimistic that the economy would rebound during the second half of the year and he played down gloomy projections from the Federal Reserve this week that predicted that the unemployment rate could be close to 10 percent at the end of the year. The Treasury secretary said that traditional economic models are poorly equipped to predict the impact of a pandemic.

The Treasury secretary said he believed that it was unlikely that the economy would be shut down again if there was a second wave of the virus, but he acknowledged that there was more work to be done to get businesses back on track. He pointed to the need for additional incentives such as tax credits to get firms to hire workers and tax deductions that would entice workers to eat out at restaurants.

High unemployment is unacceptable, Mr. Mnuchin said. We have more work to do.

Instacart, benefiting from pandemic demand, raises $225 million.
Jennifer Whitney/For the San Antonio Express-News

The city is trying to help downtown businesses bounce back by taking the hassle out of paying for parking.

From June to August, parking is free Monday to Friday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. and all day Saturday and Sunday at city-owned garages, pay stations and meters. The City of San Antonio website has a map of lots and garages in the downtown area where there is free parking.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:31:30|Editor: huaxia

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HELSINKI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The development, production and deployment of a vaccine against COVID-19 requires international cooperation and solidarity, said Paivi Sillanaukee, director general at the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, at a press conference here on Thursday.

She said that the current international cooperation on vaccine development is already unprecedented.

However, she stressed the importance of solid international arrangements for the distribution and administration of any future vaccine. "Availability will be a practical question. Talks have taken place under the World Health Organization about the availability in the EU (European Union) and worldwide," she said.

According to Sillanaukee, the capabilities of the health care systems in different parts of the world are crucial, saying "It is those health care providers that will then vaccinate the population."

Finnish officials present at the press conference also discussed plans to produce a vaccine domestically. Finland ceased domestic production of vaccines some 15 years ago on cost grounds and has since relied on imported vaccines. However, Esa Heinonen, director at the Finnish Medicines Agency, said there are biomedical companies in Finland that would be able to start production if required.

Sillanaukee noted that Finland has yet to decide whether the whole population or just select groups should be vaccinated. She said she expected a vaccine to be available late this year or in early 2021. The final decision about Finland's vaccination policy rests with the country's parliament.

According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, as of Thursday afternoon, Finland had confirmed 7,064 COVID-19 infections, of which 24 were new. The death toll has reached 325, with one new fatality reported in the past 24 hours. Some 6,200 patients have recovered, representing 85 percent of the confirmed cases. To date, 211,900 people have been tested in Finland. Enditem
The Supreme Court Thursday termed as totally impermissible' the demand by Department of Telecom for dues of Rs 4 lakh crore. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday termed as totally impermissible' the demand by Department of Telecom for dues of Rs 4 lakh crore in Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) from PSUs (public sector undertakings) and said DoT must consider withdrawing it.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah raised questions on the demand raised by the government from the PSUs and said that its verdict in the case was misinterpreted as the issue of their dues based on AGR was not dealt with by the apex court.

This is wholly and totally impermissible, the bench said, while referring to the demand raised against the PSUs.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for DoT told the bench that it would the file the affidavit explaining as to why the AGR demands were raised against the PSUs.

The bench also asked private telecom operators to file affidavits giving details as to how they will pay the AGR dues.

On May 18, the top court had lashed out at Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other mobile phone operators for self-assessing their outstanding telecom dues, saying they need to pay past dues with interest and penalty -- an estimated amount of Rs 1.6 lakh crore.

The apex court had also came down heavily on the DoT for allowing companies to re-assess what they owed to the government, and said its order passed on October 24, 2019 on revenues for calculating dues was final.
President Donald Trump will hold his first campaign rally in months in Tulsa, Okla., on June 19  a move that raised eyebrows due to the significance of the location and date in light of the killing of George Floyd and subsequent worldwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism.

June 1 marked the 99th anniversary of the "Tulsa race massacre," an event that saw mobs of white supremacists attack black residents and businesses in Tulsa's Greenwood District. Called "Black Wall Street," the district was the wealthiest black community in the United States at the time, and the event has been deemed "the single worst incidence of racial violence in American history" by historians. The massacre has received increased attention in recent months after being prominently featured on HBO's "Watchmen" miniseries and in the wake of George Floyd's death.

The Trump campaign is holding the Tulsa rally on June 19, or "Juneteenth"  a day that signifies the emancipation of the last remaining slaves in the Confederacy in 1865. While some questioned whether the holding the rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth was a "dog whistle" to white supremacists, California Sen. Kamala Harris took it a step further.

"This isn't just a wink to white supremacists," the senator tweeted. "He's throwing them a welcome home party."

American Urban Radio Network White House reporter and CNN analyst April Ryan has reported that the president plans to deliver a speech on race relations at the rally. Ryan reports the speech is being written by advisor Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration's hard-line immigration policies. Miller was accused of being a white supremacist by former Breitbart editor Katie McHugh, who had multiple interactions with Miller in 2015 and 2016. Miller has denied the accusations.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the decision to hold the rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth, and said the president will have a message for the African American community.

"The African American community is very near and dear to his heart," she told reporters Thursday. "At these rallies he often shares the great work he has done for minority communities... He's working on rectifying injustices ... So, it's a meaningful day to him, and it's a day where wants to share some of the progress that's been made as we look forward and more that needs to be done."

Trump campaign senior advisor Katrina Pierson also defended the timing.

"As the party of Lincoln, Republicans are proud of the history of Juneteenth, which is the anniversary of the last reading of the Emancipation Proclamation," she said in a statement. "President Trump has built a record of success for Black Americans, including unprecedented low unemployment prior to the global pandemic, all-time high funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and criminal justice reform. Joe Biden spent last Juneteenth raising money at a private fundraiser and defending comments he made celebrating his work with segregationist senators.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting
GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirnaomics, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics, today announced a corporate technology spinoff establishing an independent biopharmaceutical company, RNAimmune, Inc. This new entity is focusing on and specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) based therapeutics and vaccine development, with exclusively licensed Polypeptide-Lipid Nanoparticle (PLNP) delivery technology and large scale GMP manufacturing knowledge from Sirnaomics, plus a proprietary artificial intelligence Algorithm for Epitope Prediction and Validation (ALEPVA).

As a clinical stage RNAi therapeutics company, Sirnaomics' proprietary polypeptide-based delivery technology has been validated in various preclinical and clinical settings, for both local and systemic drug administrations, especially the process development know-how for large scale GMP manufacturing of the drug products, with a global exclusive right. Further evaluation and validation of these technologies including PLNP delivery technology with mRNA vaccine and drug product candidates warrant an expansion of the technology into mRNA delivery beyond siRNA drug products, which led to the creation of RNAimmune earlier this year. Sirnaomics is providing RNAimmune with the increased independence and will have the right to retain an equity investment in RNAimmune.

"This is a remarkable development for Sirnaomics, further leveraging our robust technology platform and early-stage product opportunities while maintaining our primary focus on our growing RNAi product clinical pipeline," stated Patrick Lu, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sirnaomics, Inc. "RNAimmune is developing a new class of potentially transformative medicines to treat and prevent diseases caused by protein dysfunction and pathogen infections. We continue to believe that our PLNP delivery technology offers advantages over other approaches, especially for the large-scale manufacture, long term storage and remote transportation. We are excited about the robust mRNA delivery effort underway and the promise of further leveraging Sirnaomics broad RNA technology."

"The decision to spinoff RNAimmune as an independent company is the logical next step to unlock value, which will facilitate the ability of RNAimmune to fund itself primarily from sources outside Sirnaomics. After evaluating a variety of approaches, we have concluded that spinning off our mRNA-based therapeutics platform as an independent company offers Sirnaomics the best opportunity to accelerate the development of this exciting technology while enabling additional value creation for its stakeholders from the intellectual property and proprietary technology assets that we have accumulated over the years," said Allan L. Shaw, Chief Financial Officer, Sirnaomics, Inc.

RNAimmune expects to emerge as one of the leading groups for vaccine development against COVID-19 with unique mRNA vaccine design and effective mRNA delivery, under the leadership of Dong Shen, MD & PhD, founder, president and CEO of RNAimmune. Dr. Shen has extensive drug development experience in AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, having led projects across multiple therapeutic areas with high unmet medical need. He has held leadership across early and late programs in the areas of infectious disease, oncology and rare disease. Dr. Shen received numerous awards, including Johnson & Johnson's Leadership Award in 2018 and Innovation Award in 2017. He received his PhD in molecular oncology from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and MD from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

About Sirnaomics, Inc.

Sirnaomics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company for discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics, is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, with subsidiaries in Suzhou and Guangzhou, China. The company's mission is to develop novel RNAi therapeutics to alleviate human suffering and advance patient care in areas of high unmet medical need. The guiding principles of the company are: Innovation, Global Vision with a Patient Centered focus. Members of the senior management team have a great deal of combined experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, financial, clinical and business management in both the USA and China. The company is supported by funding from institutional investors and corporate partnerships. Sirnaomics has developed a strong portfolio of intellectual property, a world leading RNAi delivery platform, with an enriched product pipeline. Among its multiple ongoing clinical programs, the company's leading therapeutic compound STP705, has demonstrated recently with a top line therapeutic readout for treatment of Squamous cell carcinoma in situ in a clinical phase 2a study. The company's therapeutic areas of focus include oncology and anti-fibrotic diseases. Learn more at www.sirnaomics.com.

About RNAimmune, Inc.

RNAimmune is a leading biopharmaceutical company in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. RNAimmune leverages mRNA as a data carrier to instruct the human body to produce its own proteins capable of fighting a wide range of diseases. RNAimmune is a spin-off venture from Sirnaomics, receiving a global exclusive right of the proprietary PLNP technology for mRNA delivery, and proprietary know-how for large scale cGMP production of its mRNA products, possesses an in-house developed proprietary AI algorithm (ALEPVA) for antigen prediction and vaccine design. The company's leading product candidate for mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), and currently is under a collaborative effort with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for evaluation of its anti-COVID-19 activity with animal models. The Company also believes its technology is applicable to a broad range of diseases: the prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza; cancer therapeutics with neoantigen vaccine and antibodies; and rare diseases. The company's headquarters locate in suburban Maryland. Learn more at www.RNAimmune.com.

CONTACT:

Sirnaomics, Inc.

Allan Shaw, CFO

917-741-1856

Sirnaomics, Inc.

[email protected].

Westwicke, an ICR Company

Investors:

Stephanie Carrington

Tel: +1 646 277 1282

Email: [email protected]

Media:

Mark Corbae

Tel: +1 203 682 8288

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Sirnaomics, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.sirnaomics.com


Another 44 migrants were today picked up in small boats off the Kent coast - meaning nearly 2,000 migrants have now reached Britain this year.

They were rescued in three boats this morning and were seen being taken into the Port of Dover by the Border Force vessel Seeker around 11am.

One vessel is thought to have been carrying 13 refugees, another 15 and the third was holding 16. The migrants were mostly men.

A breeze and a drop in temperatures at sea mean they would have been very cold as they made the trip across the perilous Dover Strait shipping lane.

The crossings - which come a day after 40 people in three boats arrived in the UK - will take the years total to 1,980, eclipsing the 1,850-odd who landed in the whole of 2019.

Some 44 migrants were rescued in three boats this morning and were seen being taken into the Port of Dover by the Border Force vessel Seeker around 11am

One vessel is thought to have been carrying 13 refugees, another 15 and the third was holding 16

A breeze and a drop in temperatures at sea mean they would have been very cold as they made the trip

Of that figure, 1,609 have illegally crossed the Channel since lockdown.

So far in June, 250 migrants have reached Britain by boat - including a record single-day figure of 166 last week.

On Wednesday, four migrants were dramatically rescued three miles off the French coast - after they tried to paddle across the Channel on two windsurf boards tied together with rope and using shovels as oars.

The group, who were picked up by a French patrol boat at 6.35am after attempting the crossing in a make-shift vessel, had used shovels as oars.

They were picked up around three-miles from the Calais coast after being spotted in difficulty by the crew of cross-channel ferry Dunkirk Seaways.

A Prefecture de Maritime spokesman said: 'Arriving in the area at 6.45am the VCSM Escaut took charge of the four shipwrecked people and their boats in tow.

Four migrants were rescued by French authorities in the Channel yesterday after they tried to paddle from France on two windsurf boards tied together with rope

'They were actually two interconnected "windsurfing" boards, which they tried to propel with shovels as oars.'

The four men were taken to Dunkirk suffering from mild hypothermia, where they were taken in by the border police.

The latest crossings will nudge this year's tally closer to the 2,000 mark. Of the figure, 1,525 have illegally made it to Britain since lockdown began in March. Last month 741 reached the UK - a record for a single month.

The staggering milestone is a body blow to Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has repeatedly vowed to clamp down on crossings since taking up her post last year.

The Home Office has pumped millions of pounds into security measures to prevent migrant crossings from France, funding drones to patrol the country's coastline - but the crisis has continued to worsen.
Illa Ishmael an alleged land guard who collapsed after an Accra Circuit Court remanded him into Police custody has now been granted bail.

Ishmael was admitted to bail after his lawyers had filed an application for bail and argued same out.

The court after listening to the arguments of the defence team and the prosecution, admitted Ishmael to bail in the sum of GH100,000 with four sureties, one to be justified and that the sureties must also be in gainful employment.

Ishmael who was among a gang of 14 land guards were arrested by the Police for allegedly terrorizing residents of Pantang near Abokobi in the Greater Accra Region and brought before court.

The others are: Bashiru Abdul Latif, Christian Atsu, Ali Sulemana, Augustine Agornyo, Samuel Baah, James Okyere, Foster Nii Odoi, Mohammed Abubakari, Masawudu Sowala, Gafari Gyima, Yusif Assilfi, Aminu Musa and Emmanuel Yarbi.

They are expected to reappear on June 17 before the court presided over by Mrs Ellen Ofei Ayeh.

When they initially appeared before the court, Ishmael was remanded into Police custody whiles the other 13 were admitted to bail.

Ismael after the directive of the court collapsed but was resuscitated and provided with water to drink and thereafter, handcuffed and escorted by armed Police men into a waiting Police van.

The 14 land guards are being held on the charges of conspiracy to commit crime, prohibition of activities of lands guards and two counts of assault.

Ishmael has additionally been charged with possession of arms and ammunitions and use of narcotic drugs.

All the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

After a team of seven lawyers had argued for bail, the 13 were granted bail in the sum of GH100, 000 with four sureties each. One of the sureties is to be justified.

The Court accepted the defence counsel's suggestion that if they were unable to secure their justifications, the accused would post a GH100,000 as security deposit.

Prosecuting Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr. Alex Odonkor, said the complainant Jonas Adu, was an employee of Jeleel Estate Developing Company, Accra.

The Prosecution said all the accused persons are land guards who terrorizes people on their land sites within the vicinity.

Chief Superintendent Odonkor said on May 30, this year, the complainant and his colleagues were working on their legally acquired company's land at Pantang when Ishmael on board an unregistered Toyota vehicle, led the other accused also on board another Toyota Hilux with registration number WR 1642-15, and an unregistered Toyota Sienna to the site.

The Prosecution said the accused attacked and assaulted Kwaku Prah, Laryea Issaka, Jelilu Spam, Fosu Emmanuel, Bright Frimpong, Yaw Boakye, Eric Asante, Samuel Kuma, Enoch Obeng and Joseph Okyere on the land without any provocation.

Chief Supt. Odonkor said in the process the Police received a distress call and proceeded to the scene.

The Prosecution said the attackers on seeing the Police rushed into the cars and escaped but they were apprehended by the youth in the area who blocked the road.

He said a search in Ishmael's vehicle revealed AK47 Rifle with 12 rounds of ammunitions, two pistols with ammunitions, a knife and dried leaves suspected to be cannabis.

The Prosecution said additionally, two knives and three wraps of dried leaves suspected to be cannabis were found in the Toyota Hilux, while in the Toyota Sienna vehicle, a knife and a wrap of cannabis were retrieved.

Prosecution said the accused claimed they were contracted by GN Bank and Sarah Ama Forkuo Samampa Company to guard the land for them.

---GNA
Unilever, partnered with Wunderman Thompson Singapores Lux team, launched their #StayBeautifulStayStrong campaign last week.

#StayBeautifulStayStrong comes at a time where we are all called to show resilience in times of a crisis. The campaign shows that even in lockdown, creativity flourishes and beauty blooms.

Armed with the insight that women all over the world were embracing beauty as a means of expression and comfort, Wunderman Thompson Singapore created a film to show how beauty can be a source of strength.

Lux believes that beauty is a source of strength and that has never been more true than in these tough times. As a flagbearer of unapologetic femininity, we wanted to send out a message of hope to all, by celebrating those who keep their chin up, their lipstick on and their faces smiling as they go about managing their work, family and so much more, said Severine Vauleon, Global Brand VP of Lux, Unilever.

The film was produced in a week, with composed music and sourced User Generated Content. Wunderman Thompson Singapores Director of Integrated Content Gerri Hamill shared, With COVID-19 social distancing in place, we have adapted with creative and production solutions. We tapped into the one resource that we had in great abundance  UGC created and shared by women all over the world showing solidarity and strength in such a difficult time. What better way to create a video about strength, than to showcase real content from real life glam women?
Advocacy groups slammed Amazon's announcement that it's implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial recognition software as a "public relations stunt" from the e-commerce giant.

As issues of systemic racism in U.S. policing have been thrust into the spotlight after the killing of George Floyd and protesters across the country demand change, Amazon announced Wednesday it is banning police use of its facial recognition software, Rekognition, for one year.

MORE: After federal study finds racial bias in facial recognition tech, advocates renew calls for ban

"Weve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge," the company said in a statement.

"We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested," the company added.

Police use of facial recognition software has long courted controversy as an increasing body of evidence emerges that many of these tools may exhibit racial bias.

PHOTO: Nicole Hardy-Smith with the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office, uses a facial recognition software tool to provide identity resolution on cold cases, May 22, 2018. (Carline Jean/Sun Sentinel/TNS via Newscom, FILE)

A sweeping federal study published late last year by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology found much higher rates of false positives among the faces of people of color within 189 facial recognition software products, which encompasses a majority of the industry.

MORE: Over 80% of facial recognition suspects flagged by London's Met Police were innocent, report says

Also in 2019, a study commissioned by Scotland Yard and researchers from the University of Essex in the U.K. found that 81% of suspects flagged by facial recognition technology used by London's Metropolitan Police were innocent.

Digital rights group Fight for the Future, which has long called for a ban on government use of facial recognition software, said Amazon's one-year moratorium does not nearly go far enough.

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"This is nothing more than a public relations stunt from Amazon," the group's deputy director Evan Greer said in a statement. "But its also a sign that facial recognition is increasingly politically toxic, which is a result of the incredible organizing happening on the ground right now."

Greer claims Amazon has to be aware the technology is "racist," and that "in the hands of police it will simply exacerbate systemic discrimination in our criminal justice system."

"The last sentence of Amazons statement is telling. They 'stand ready to help if requested,'" she added.

Greer said Amazon's calls for the federal government to "regulate" facial recognition also appear self-serving, "because they want their corporate lawyers to help write the legislation, to ensure that its friendly to their surveillance capitalist business model."

"Theyll spend the next year 'improving' the accuracy of their facial recognition algorithms, making it even more effective as an Orwellian surveillance tool," she said. "Then theyll unleash their army of lobbyists to push for industry-friendly 'regulations' that assuage public concern while allowing them to profit."

Amazon declined ABC News' request for comment on the advocate's assertions, saying they would not comment further than what was published in a statement on their blogpost.

Despite the temporary police moratorium, Amazon said it will continue to let organizations such as the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children use the software to "help rescue human trafficking victims and reunite missing children with their families."

Advocacy groups call Amazon's 1-year ban on police use of facial recognition tech a 'public relations stunt' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
AFTER a two-year digitization process, the Winnipeg-based Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada has made two of its major collections  oral histories and newspaper archive  available for online research and browsing.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AFTER a two-year digitization process, the Winnipeg-based Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada has made two of its major collections  oral histories and newspaper archive  available for online research and browsing.

"The two main reasons for doing it are accessibility and preservation," Stan Carbone, director of programs and exhibits, said of the goal of the project (www.jhcwc.org/search-the-archives).

"We wanted to make it as easy as possible to access these significant collections about Jewish history, and to preserve these historical documents."

People around the world can now access the oral history collection at the centre, consisting of 200 audio clips by rabbis, businesspeople, professionals, politicians, Holocaust survivors and others. They were recorded between 1968 and 2011.

Online visitors can also delve into the newspaper collection, which dates back to the early 1900s and includes Der Yiddishe Vort (Israelite Press), a Yiddish-language newspaper published in Winnipeg; the Jewish Post, an English-language weekly founded in 1925; and Western Jewish News, also founded in 1925.

According to Carbone, there was a special urgency for digitizing the newspapers, due to severe deterioration.

"The paper is degrading," he said of some of the oldest newspapers in the collection. "Sometimes, it crumbles in your hands when you turn the pages."

The many items in the two collections document much of the Jewish community experience in Winnipeg over the past century, Carbone said.

"It is often the only source of information about individuals and organizations and events," he noted, adding "it could all be lost if not digitized."

Although the collection will be of primary interest to members of the Jewish community, its also a way for others to learn about how multiculturalism in Canada evolved over the years, he said.

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"It provides perspective on what Canada was like as a country, how it treated minorities, how it evolved," Carbone said.

Photos in the collection are of family life, work and Jewish organizations. "People who have used it have found photos of ancestors theyve never seen before," he said.

One interesting aspect of the newspaper collection is how it provides a glimpse into ways Winnipegs Jewish community dealt with the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, such as creating mutual aid societies and operating social and medical services to help members of the community.

The digitization is even more important now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the physical archive is closed and people cant visit in person to do research, Carbone noted. "This makes materials much more accessible today."

The digitization project cost $50,000. It was made possible by support from the Thomas Sill Foundation, the Jewish Foundation of Winnipeg, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority and by donations from Richard Kroft and the late Mark Bernstein. The collections can be found at https://www.jhcwc.org/search-the-archives/

faith@freepress.mb.ca
Mumbai: Former IAF pilot Gunjan Saxena has penned a note praising actress Janhvi Kapoor and film's director Sharan Sharma after the teaser of "Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl" was released.

Janhvi took to Instagram and shared a note written by Saxena, who said that the teaser brought back memories.

"Very rarely have old memories flashed in front of me in such a sweet manner as was experienced after watching my montage with the voice-over of Janhvi Kapoor. I guess it is the time for the culmination of an enriching journey which started with Sharan Sharma three years back. And what a journey it has been with Sharan. I have always admired his honesty, sincerity and sensitive compassion while portraying my life on big screen," Gunjan wrote.

Gunjan calls herself lucky as Sharan and Janhvi are narrating her story.

"Everybody at my age has a story to tell. Lucky few like me have Sharan and Janhvi to narrate my story. None of the life journeys is a walk-in-park and mine was no different. But at times a one-track mind on goal does help. During my tenure in IAF, whatever little I could achieve was with the help of men and women in blue uniforms."

Janhvi captioned the image: "It's an honour to know you let alone have the privilege to be able to understand your journey and share it with the world. Hope we make you proud Gunjan Maam."

"Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl" is inspired by the life of Indian Air Force combat pilot Gunjan Saxena, and stars Janhvi in the titular role. Saxena entered the war zone during the 1999 Kargil War.

Directed by Sharan Sharma, the cast also features Pankaj Tripathi, Angad Bedi, Viineet Kumar, Manav Vij and Ayesha Raza.
THE surge of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in Cebu City in the past few days was due to backlogs of specimen testing and test results in two laboratories last May, a regional health official said.

This was not caused by the easement of restrictions in the citys general community quarantine status, which has been implemented since June 1, 2020, said Dr. Jaime Bernadas, director of the Department of Health (DOH) 7.

Cebu City is on GCQ status until June 15. And the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has yet to decide whether to extend the GCQ status of the city or lower it to modified GCQ status.

The residents can move and report to work, and essential services in barangays are allowed under GCQ.

Under modified GCQ, movement is not restricted but mask wearing, physical distancing and other health protocols are enforced by authorities.

Cebu City Health Officer Daisy Villa said the delay in the release of the results also caused a delay in tracing the persons who tested positive for Covid-19.

Lab woes

In early May, Bernadas said there was a problem of the availability of reagents, extraction kits and extraction machine. This resulted in limited testing of specimens or swab samples.

The backlogs surfaced when the swab samples kept on coming and the problems were not fixed yet.

In Central Visayas, the swab samples are tested at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center-Subnational Laboratory and the Department of Health TB Reference Laboratory. Both laboratories are located in Cebu City.

After the problems at the laboratories were fixed, these have been functioning well since the later part of May.

There were days that we had a low number of cases because the machine had problems, Bernadas said in Cebuano.

After the laboratories went on full swing, the testing of samples pushed through and the DOH 7 recorded several positive cases, said Bernadas.

Derailed tracing

Villa said the city health workers failed to conduct contact tracing in time because of the delay in the release of the results.

Story continues

If the reading is delayed, the action is also delayed, she said in a mix of Cebuano and English.

When some results of the swab tests came out in the last week of May, the health workers doubled their efforts in locating persons who were in close contact with the Covid-19 patients.

Villa reminded the public to still practice the minimum health protocol such as wearing of masks, proper hygiene and physical distancing. / JJL
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - The Securities and Exchange Commission's New York Regional Office will host an educational telephone town hall about avoiding scams related to COVID-19 on June 23, 2020, from 5 to 6 p.m. ET. The call is free and open to all investors and those planning for their financial future. Joining the high-ranking SEC officials to share their insights will be the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey and the President of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Foundation. Please see the event invitation for more information about the speakers.

To participate, go to SEC.gov between 4:30 and 5 p.m. ET on June 23, 2020 and click the event link on the home page to join the call. Investors can submit questions for the speakers before the call by emailing SECNYOutreach@sec.gov and are encouraged to share information about this event with family and friends.

"As many of us are focused on supporting our families, friends and neighbors during this difficult time, some fraudsters are seeking to use the COVID-19 crisis as a basis for investment scams," said Marc P. Berger, Director of the SEC's New York Regional Office. "We look forward to sharing our insights about how investors can better protect themselves."

The SEC has halted trading in dozens of stocks in connection with COVID-19 and has brought charges in several alleged coronavirus scams, including allegations of misleading claims, manipulative trading schemes, and other scams. The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Division of Enforcement's Retail Strategy Task Force encourage investors to read the Investor Alert on frauds relating to COVID-19 to learn about the red flags of such schemes.
[June 11, 2020] Leading Virtual Care Platform Conversa Health Raises $12 Million as COVID-19 Accelerates the Need for Digital Health

Conversa Health, a leading virtual care and communication platform that delivers personalized, automated patient engagement, has closed $12 million in a Series B funding bringing the total raised to over $26 million. Co-leading the round are Builders VC and Northwell Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Northwell Health, New York's largest healthcare provider with 23 hospitals and 800 outpatient facilities. Joining the round are P5 Health Ventures, Nassau Street Ventures and UH Ventures, the venture arm of University Hospitals, a health system in Ohio with 18 hospitals. Both Northwell Health and University Hospitals are active users of Conversa's Virtual Care and Communication Platform, helping patients and care teams across a wide range of use cases, including COVID-19. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005501/en/ (Graphic: Business Wire) Conversa enables health systems to virtually engage, monitor and manage patients more effectively and efficiently than ever before-for chronic care, acute discharge, perioperative, oncology, OBGYN, prevention and wellness, and more. Conversa's automated care platform engages patients at high frequency and scale, while triaging to higher touch/cost care venues when necessary, optimizing and improving the use of telehealth e-visits, phone calls and in-person consults. Conversa customers experience significant clinical and operational benefits, some of which include: Improved patient satisfaction and engagement-97% of patients feel Conversa helps them manage their care and 87% feel better able to follow their care plan;

Lower total cost of care-hospital readmission rates 32% lower in patient cohorts using Conversa;

Increased revenue-over 70% reduction in procedure no show/cancellation rates; and

Enhanced care team coordination and productivity-82% of care team members using Conversa would recommend it to a colleague to help them deliver care. Accelerating the future of care The COVID-19 crisis illustrates the power of Conversa to help hospitals increase care delivery capacity by automating the outreach to and monitoring of vulnerable patient and employee populations. Conversa's suite of COVID-19 Virtual Care Programs is being used by innovative organizations like UCSF Health, Northwell, UNC Health, Prisma Health and University Hospitals to provide symptom checking and triage, provide check-ins with quarantined patients, deliver lab results and screen employees, patients and visitors. These programs have been made available to millions of patients and have been used for hundreds of thousands of employee screens over the last month. Also, Conversa was first to help America return to work safely with its Employee HealthCheck program for large employers in many sectors of the economy, including retail, manufacturing, universities and other businesses.



Northwell Health has been at the epicenter of the COVID-19 response, having cared for 50,000 COVID-19 patients, more than any health system in the country. "Even before COVID-19, we have been expanding our work with Conversa throughout our organization over the last few years as they are a critical component of Northwell Health's vision for virtual health, further strengthening the provider-patient relationship through personalized, insightful engagement," said Joseph Schulman, Senior Vice President, Population Health, Business Transformation, for Northwell Health. "We have been successfully using Conversa to scale our communications and care for thousands of COVID-19 patients with programs focused on lab results, quarantine, antibody tests and more. Conversa has been an extraordinary partner!" Based on Conversa's strong performance and the growing importance of virtual health, the venture capital community is joining leading health systems in backing the company. Builders VC partner Mark Goldstein has joined the Conversa board of directors. "With its game-changing platform that delivers proven results for leading health systems, Conversa's moment is now," said Goldstein, who also is Chairman of UCSF Health Hub. "With COVID-19, Conversa is even more mission critical. Hospitals recognize that ongoing remote patient engagement, monitoring and data analysis, via telehealth and integrated smart apps, is essential to reduce costly, in-person interactions and improve outcomes." Additionally, P5 Health Ventures joined the round as it specializes in supporting digital health companies that are redefining how health is perceived, achieved and delivered. "In addition to being a proven enterprise virtual care platform, Conversa uniquely collects and utilizes valued patient-generated data to make the patient-provider relationship more meaningful than ever before," said David Eigen, Managing Director, P5 Health Ventures.

University Hospitals has deployed Conversa's chronic disease programs across UH's Accountable Care Organizations and for patients concerned about or symptomatic for COVID-19. "As a patient-centered organization, University Hospitals is intent on meeting our patients where they are," said Dr. Eric Beck, Chief Operating Officer of University Hospitals Health System. "Conversa is a trusted partner in our digital engagement strategy-it enables UH to scale our ability to connect with our patients, using data and automation to address their concerns in real time, and offers our patients the support they need to manage their care at home." Positioned for virtual health's emergence With the surge of virtual care, Conversa continues to evolve and grow to meet the needs of providers and health systems, payers and pharmaceutical companies. Conversa is also announcing that Murray Brozinsky has been appointed CEO. West Shell III, Conversa's co-founder, will remain actively engaged as Executive Chairman. Brozinsky joined Conversa in June 2017 as president and chief strategy officer. "I have had the privilege of working with Murray as CEO of 5 companies-over the years, his brilliant strategic insights and multifaceted leadership skills have been instrumental to our growth and success," Shell said. "We are excited to appoint Murray as CEO while I transition to Executive Chairman to maximize the effectiveness of our team and accelerate our healthcare system's transformation to data-driven virtual care. In this Series B round, we are thrilled to continue to attract funding from a syndicate of top healthcare investors and partners who believe in our mission and are committed to contributing the resources to support our growth." "I've long said virtual health is inevitable, but it will likely require a catalyst to get it to the tipping point. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is that catalyst," Brozinsky said. "The pandemic has laid bare the vulnerabilities of our health system. Conversa addresses many of these: access, capacity, provider burnout and cost. Our automated conversations empathetically capture patient wisdom and combine it with electronic medical record and sensor data to understand the full picture of a patient's health at any given moment-we then apply behavioral science to improve their care, experience and health. I'm honored to work with our talented team of caring, data-driven, passionate, proactive problem solvers-and our partners on the front lines-to help create the 'should be' healthcare system of the future." About Conversa Health Conversa is a leader in automated, personalized patient engagement at scale. The Conversa Virtual Care and Communication platform utilizes its proprietary patient profiling and health signals engine, and an extensive library of clinically intelligent engagement programs, to help healthcare organizations effectively and efficiently risk stratify and manage patients across the care continuum. Leading health systems, payers, employers, and pharmaceutical companies are using Conversa to develop meaningful relationships and drive better health outcomes. To learn more, visit conversahealth.com, follow @ConversaHealth or text HELLO to 77877. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005501/en/

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Councils challenged to be innovative and creative as Welsh Government offer assistance to adjust town centres to deal with pandemic

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jun 11th, 2020

Councils across Wales are being urged to be innovative and creative in making town and city centres accessible for visitors both during and after the pandemic.

Speaking yesterday Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates said the Welsh Government would assist councils wherever it could.

He also cited research that indicates 60 per cent of people are still too nervous to leave their own homes.

During the last Welsh Government review two weeks ago First Minister Mark Drakeford indicated that businesses in Wales should use the next few weeks to prepare for reopening.

Although no firm date has been given yet, as part of a traffic light roadmap released by the Welsh Government in May it was stated that adaptations would need to be made to the public realm  such as town centres  to allow for social distancing as and when restrictions are reduced.

Last week we reported that that the Leader of Wrexham Council, councillor Mark Pritchard had said the Welsh Government would need to fund steps to help reopening the town centre.

When we asked what changes the local authority would need to put in place to ensure people are kept safe when businesses are given the go ahead to reopen, and giving a few examples of whats happening elsewhere, Cllr Pritchard said there hadnt been a discussion on providing hand-sanitisers as the town centre hasnt opened and that money would be needed from the Welsh Government and Westminster to fund any alterations to the public realm.

We have been told that a walk around of the town centre with senior councillors and officers took place later that day to look at what steps could be taken locally.

Across the border in Chester changes have already been made to the public realm in preparation for when shops reopen on June 15th in England  not Wales. These include widening pavements to provide more space to social distancing, one way systems in place, plus advice in a ten point plan  all being lead by the ChesterBID team. Wrexham does not yet have a BID after missing a round of Welsh Government funding, however there are steps being taken to get one going locally.

Up the road Chester council are implementing pop-up measures to help with social distancing could be a common sight more locally as public realms change. https://t.co/lAE8slGVI0  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) June 8, 2020

At yesterdays Welsh Government briefing we asked Mr Skates in his view what practical steps should councils be taking to reopen towns and cities safely during the pandemic and how far into the planning should councils be.

We also asked for clarity if there would be any further funding from the Welsh Government to support and pay for such changes.

Mr Skates said the role of councils in making sure the public realm is safe for people to access again is critical and that there are councils across Wales who have done an enormous amount of work.

He said: I dont underestimate the effort that has to go into the process of making public places safe, but the Welsh Government is working with local authorities.

Were also making available a significant sum of money for road reprioritisation measures, that could include installing temporary active travel and bus dedicated lanes, the infrastructure thats required for active travel on buses.

It will also entail looking at how we can make physical adaptations to town centres and high streets to support potentially the hospitality sector and the retail sector to use road space where it is deemed appropriate by local authorities.

I do recognise and all of my colleagues recognise the enormous financial pressure that councils are under right now and we wish to assist wherever we can.

But were also looking to local authorities and to town and community councils, to be creative, to be innovative and to provide us with ideas on how we can adjust to a new normal.

Thats why Im keen to work with my colleagues Hannah Blythen in housing and regeneration to ensure that we make the most of that innovation and creativity in town councils and local authorities, and support them in taking advantage of lower volumes of traffic, to support high streets, town centres and vitally important hospitality businesses.

Last month Mr Skates had pointed to a Covid Kitemark style accreditation idea to help reassure people visiting businesses in the new pandemic world. Yesterday we asked if that idea for standards and reassurance had progressed, and if there was any work with UK Government on the idea, and if not, is it an idea being progressed in Wales.

The Minister replied, Well, it is progressing, but it is not progressing the UK level as far as I am aware.

I still believe that the kitemark could give confidence to citizens in accessing business premises. Its something I am keen that sectors themselves, sector bodies, look at. I know that some sector bodies in particular have been very enthused by the idea, and I welcome any form any adjusted existing kite mark or new kitemark that would give confidence to the general public.
Daniel Itai  The Zimbabwe Daily

Lilongwe, Malawi  Malawians will be headed for fresh Presidential polls come June 23 following the nullification of the 2019 Presidential polls by the countrys Constitutional Court earlier on this year.

Although the goverment is disagreeing with the motion Malawis Parliamentarians have agreed that 23 June is the date for fresh elections.

Malawis President Peter Mutharika, is seemingly not happy with the new date rather insisting that it be furthered a bit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Malawis controversial former President Joyce Banda, has rubbished the claims that the country is gripped with COVID-19.

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We are hearing in the news that there is a Coronavirus outbreak in the world, we thank God for favoring our country as we dont have it here, they are faking it, said the former President.

She further accused the government of embezzling COVID-19 funds for their own personal upkeep.

We are therefore demanding all the funds which have been pumped into Malawi in the name of COVID-19 to the rightful owners and be used for development projects, said Banda.

To date, Malawi has recorded over 400 COVID-19 cases and 4 deaths. Earlier on this week, Tanzanias President John Magufuli also claimed that the East African country is now COVID-19 free largely due to answered prayers.

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The World Health Organization hopes to work side by side with the United States to contain an outbreak of Ebola in Congo, its chief said on Wednesday, despite their differences over the new coronavirus.

President Donald Trump said last month he was ending the US relationship with the WHO over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

But WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had met U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar last week. The meeting appeared to be the first sign of high-level cooperation between Tedros and the Trump administration since the president said he was cutting ties.

We had a very good discussion with the secretary as of last week and he assured me of U.S. continued commitment to support in the fight especially against Ebola, Tedros said.

The WHO said on Monday 12 people had been infected with Ebola in the outbreak of the deadly disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tedros said the meeting with Azar did not mean the WHO was receiving money directly from Washington, until now its top donor.

Its not about the money. The relationship (with the United States) is more important, he said.

It is not clear when Trumps decision on cutting ties will come into effect and the WHO has not confirmed receiving official notification of withdrawal.

Trump has accused the WHO of issuing bad advice on the coronavirus and pandering to China, where the pandemic was first reported. The WHO has defended its handling of the crisis.

Mike Ryan, head of the WHOs emergencies programme, said on Wednesday there were equipment shortages for fighting the coronavirus in some regions including Central and South America.

Asked about a Harvard Medical School study using satellite images that suggested the coronavirus might have been spreading in China in August 2019, he urged caution.

Its really important that we dont speculate too much, he told the virtual briefing.
Nine of the 12 members of the Minneapolis City Council announced over the weekend that they would begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department but have not presented a plan for how to do it. Mayor Jacob Frey has repeatedly said he does not support abolishing or defunding the police, saying Wednesday that he wants deep structural reform instead.
Matt Damon went shirtless after catching some waves during a successful surfing session on Thursday in Malibu.

The 49-year-old Jason Bourne star appeared at ease while he ran out of the water with his surfboard and soaked up the sunshine after months of quarantine.

His wife Luciana Barroso joyfully chatted away with two female pals, who wore wide-brimmed hats on the summery day.

Sunshine: Matt Damon went shirtless after catching some waves during a successful surfing session, as he joined his family and friends on the shore in Malibu on Thursday

Before the Oscar-winning star paddled out to the ocean, the longtime spouses enjoyed some quality time together next to their makeshift oasis for the day, which included a number of umbrellas, towels and snacks.

The group seemed prepared to hunker down at the beach all afternoon, as they came with multiple coolers, books and activities.

Damon, Barroso and their daughters Isabella, 13, Gia, 11, and Stella, nine, appeared to be making up for lost time, after getting stuck in Ireland for two months once a travel ban was introduced on March 27 due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Prepared: Before the Oscar-winning hunk paddled out to the ocean, the longtime spouses enjoyed some quality time together next to their makeshift oasis for the day, which included a number of umbrellas, towels and snacks

Catching waves: The 49-year-old Jason Bourne star appeared at ease, while he ran out of the water with his surfboard and soaked up the sunshine after months of quarantine

Matt was originally in the country for filming when the lockdown was put in place, but continued to gush about his 'fairytale' life in the Irish suburb of Dalkey.

The family jetted home on May 28 after residing in a lavish $8.6million pad in the luxury area.

Matt first spoke about living in lockdown in the Emerald Isle during an interview with Graham O'Toole and Nathan O'Reilly on Ireland's Spin 103.8's Fully Charged.

Back in LA: Damon, Barroso and their daughters Isabella, 13, Gia, 11, and Stella, nine, appeared to be making up for lost time, after getting stuck in Ireland for two months after a travel ban was introduced on March 27 due to the coronavirus lockdown

During the interview the star also revealed that his daughter Alexia, 21, had made a full recovery from coronavirus while living in New York City.

Alexia is his wife Luciana's daughter from a previous relationship however he referred to her as his 'eldest daughter.'

He said: 'Our oldest daughter is in college, she's in NYC. She had Covid really early on, along with her roommates and got through it fine. But everybody's OK.'

Normalcy: Since returning to the Los Angeles, he's been hitting the beaches and also spent time catching up with his childhood friend Ben Affleck

'For Lucy's mum and my mum, it's scary for that generation. I think we've all got the message now, everyone's doing the isolation and social distancing and hand-washing and everything we can to mitigate this but it's frightening, certainly for our parents.'

Since returning to the Los Angeles, he's met up with childhood friend Ben Affleck for walks and, most recently, the Good Will Hunting costars honored Breonna Taylor.

The fathers brought their children to a memorial for Taylor, a black EMT worker from Louisville.

Change of plans: Matt was originally in Ireland for filming when the coronavirus lockdown was introduced on March 27, and had since gushed about his 'fairytale' life in the Irish suburb of Dalkey

Friday marked what would have been her 27th birthday of Breonna, who was gunned down by police in her own home in March.

Affleck and Damon took their kids out for the sign of respect as Hollywood celebrities have been moved this week to take to the streets along with many others in protest of Taylor's killing, as well as countless other unarmed black people including George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

Ben also took to both his Twitter and Instagram on Friday on the occasion of Breonna's birthday, with hyperlinks to actionable items his followers could click on to support causes connected to social justice and racial equality.
D onald Trump has said he will "not even consider" changing the name of Army bases named for Confederate officers, as anti-racism protests continue across the country.

The president made the comments days after Defence Secretary Mark Esper indicated he was open to discussing such changes and in the wake of the funeral of black man George Floyd.

Mr Floyds death at the hands of a white police officer prompted calls for changes to police practices, an end to racial prejudices and sparked protests all over the world.

Mr Trump tweeted: "These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.

"The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations."

Mr Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy on Monday said they were "open to a bipartisan discussion" of renaming bases such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Georgia's Fort Benning.

Supporters of disassociating military bases from Confederate Army officers argue that they represent the racism and divisiveness of the Civil War era, glorifying men who fought against the US.

Mr Trump's press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, read his tweets to reporters in the White House briefing room, adding he is "fervently" opposed to changing the base names.

He believes that doing so would amount to "complete disrespect" for soldiers who trained there over the years, Ms McEnany said.

The possibility of renaming the bases is "an absolute non-starter" for the president and Mr Trump would not sign legislation requiring name changes even if Congress were to pass it, she added.

It comes as the president's most significant foe in Congress called for Confederate statues to be removed from the streets of the country's capital.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to a House-Senate committee with jurisdiction over the topic that such monuments "pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed".

Mrs Pelosi lacks the authority to order the removal of the 11 statues honouring Confederates, but is urging the little-noticed Joint Committee on the Library to vote to remove them.
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Theres No Way Around It, California. You Owe Descendants of Enslaved Black Americans

Last year, I read a book titled The Color of Law. Every Californian should read it, too  especially if you truly care about Black lives.

A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, the book subtitle reads. It is written by Richard Rothstein, a fellow at the Haas Institute in Berkeley.

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Ive made a note to myself to write the publisher. Ill ask them to swap the word forgotten in the subtitle with un-acknowledged. That switch in the books name would reflect just how little most of us Californians really know about our shared American and state history, and the state-created discrimination African Americans have endured. Black people suffering is central to our collective American story.

I was convinced of this when some tone-deaf comments a handful of elected officials made about African Americans and Affirmative Action reached my ears. The lawmakers going around bandying those hurtful, racially-coded and untrue opinions, so far, have been mostly White and Asian American politicians who are opposed to Assembly Constitution Amendment (ACA) 5, not realizing the benefits they themselves have gained from Affirmative Action programs.

They repeat that worn-out, beat-up and shortsighted line youve heard too many times. Any policy in California, they argue, that would consider race in college admissions, employment or contracting is itself racist, and it would, by design, reward benefits to people who dont deserve them based on nothing more than the color of their skin.

Thats where their argument falls short. Yes, Affirmative Action is about race but it is also about much more than skin color.

It is about deplorable current circumstances that grew directly out of specific historical experiences. It is about equaling opportunity for descendants of enslaved Africans in the United States who were denied access to full citizenship rights both by law and custom. It is about compensation for unpaid labor and explicit discriminatory anti-Black, anti-former slave laws cooked up for nearly four centuries in city halls and state Capitols across this great country, including Sacramento.

If the Assembly and Senate vote yes on ACA 5, the measure will appear on the California ballot in November. If voters approve ACA 5, it will once again make it legal in California to consider race in public employment, education, contracting and even in state data reporting.

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The Color of Law documents in clear and unsparing detail how city councils, state legislatures and the federal government crafted law after racist law, and adapted other public policies with built-in racial biases. These policies were created to intentionally exclude Africans and rob them of economic opportunity afforded others for centuries.

This is not make-believe. This troubling history is all documented.

Those same governments, here in California and around the country, extended hand-up after hand-up, using all of our tax dollars, exclusively to White Americans. These targeted economic programs improved the financial standing of millions of White Americans and contributed to the establishment of a strong and expansive White middle class in the country by the 1950s. Some of those same policies, way too many to list here, also contributed to the geographical segregation, by race and rail track, that persists in our cities and towns across the country.

And, no, The Color of Law is not only about states located below the Mason-Dixon Line in the old Confederate South  that all-too-notorious region of our country where slaverys most infamous profiteers and their surrogates degraded, beat and slaughtered African Americans while whole families of us toiled in the fields without pay for centuries harvesting tobacco, cotton and rice.

The Color of Law also includes numerous examples of racist legislation right here in California.

Our state and its cities and towns  from our founding in 1850 to the minute youre reading this sentence  have passed minor local ordinances and sweeping state laws on everything from public housing to the War on Drugs that have negatively impacted the pockets and peace of Black Americans.

In fact, so many of our cities created adjacent unincorporated areas where a majority of African Americans lived and received no municipal services for their tax dollars.

Today, African American Californians have the least household income and wealth among all other races, including many new immigrants, who have come and joined our multiracial American family, and benefited from the civil rights advances Blacks have shed blood and died to make available to all in this country and state.

Our children perform the worst on the states standardized tests among their peers of other races and ethnicities. We are arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison more than any other group in California, and we make up the lions share of the states homeless population.

By every study, we are stigmatized, racially profiled and discriminated against the most. This happens in every arena from hiring and hairstyles to apartment hunting and home buying.

In our UC and CSU schools, African American college students are the only group whose percentage of students enrolled is less than our representation in the states population.

Yet, so many of our fellow Californians of other races deny the impact state-created, sanctioned and implemented anti-Black policies have had on our lives and living conditions.

By the time I got to the last page of The Color of Law, I cant say the book opened my eyes to the brutal history of anti-Blackness, enforced segregation, and legalized discrimination in California and around this country. I was born and raised in Jim Crow America in a former slaveholding state, North Carolina, where local elected officials always kept steps ahead of the federal government, rolling out their own counterforce laws to pull back on any national legislation that attempted to advance the rights of the descendants of slaves. I have plenty of anecdotal evidence.

The book did supply, however, a trove of concrete examples that confirm just how deliberate, deep-seated and un-American those policies that excluded African Americans for centuries have been.

So how can some of our fellow Californians turn a blind eye to our state and countrys role in contributing to the desperate and disparate conditions from which Black Californians have yet to recover?

This week, as our states lawmakers of all races and backgrounds prepare their hearts and hands to vote on ACA 5 in our state legislature, I urge each one of you to take an honest look at the cruel under-told and understudied history of American policies that have negatively contributed to the current economic and social conditions of Blacks here in California and across the United States.

I ask each one of you to pose some questions to yourself: Why do we keep confronting the same untreated racial problems decade after decade in our beloved Golden State? Why does it take the violent beating or murder of a Rodney King, Tyisha Miller, Oscar Grant, Stephon Clark or George Floyd to shock us out of our complacency? Why dont we seek lasting solutions from the same hallowed chambers of representative government that have for centuries now too often been the birthplace of policies that have limited the rights of Blacks as Californians and American citizens.
New Delhi:

A policy advocacy body has termed the Supreme Court's directive to the Centre to do away with sterilization camps within three years as a "landmark" judgement. It said that it will help in strengthening the implementation and monitoring of the family planning programme.

"PFI welcomes the SC judgement which we consider a landmark one. Providing quality services to and upholding the dignity of women will now be placed strongly on the national agenda.

"This judgement will help in ensuring that at the state and district levels as well, the judgement is taken seriously. This will also help to strengthen the implementation and monitoring of the family planning programme," said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India (PFI).

The apex court had recently directed the Centre to do away with sterilisation camps within three years and strengthen the primary healthcare centre system, saying, "It is time that women and men are treated with respect and dignity and not as mere statistics in the sterilisation programme."

Referring to the Bilaspur sterilisation camp incident in 2014 where 16 women lost their lives, Muttreja said that a PFI report had demonstrated evidence on why the camps' approach should be ended and instead fixed date services instituted asthe norm for sterilisation services.

"Since Bilaspur, we have seen a very collaborative and supportive government at the Centre.

"In December 2014, the Health Ministry issued a directive to all principal secretaries for health at the state level toadhere to the guidelines and protocols to deliver qualityfamily planning services in a spirit of voluntarism and withina rights and accountability framework," Muttreja said. She noted that there were several positives as a resultof the judgement and the Ministry has been encouraged topromote gender equity in the family planning programmes.

"It has made clear that family planning is not just aboutwomen but also about men and the need for their increasedinvolvement in family planning, that the sterilisationprogramme cannot be primarily targeted towards women but mustalso actively include men as well.

"Looking at the bigger picture, the judgement makes astrong case for India to address itself to gender equity,directing it to ensure strict adherence to the guidelines andstandard operating procedures that it has issued in variousmanuals," Muttreja said.

She said the best part of the judgement is that itfosters collaboration between the Centre and the states tofind remedies to problems and improve the well being of itspeople and has the potential to to shape India's familyplanning program into a program of national significance.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
When Euan Blair, son of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, warned about his countrys obsession with university this week, it struck a chord.

The COVID-19 pandemic has left our own universities at an unhappy turning point, one where, my experience as an academic teaches me, we risk our own such obsession in pursuit of university enrolment dollars.

Universities could argue its not their role or responsibility to provide careers advice to every one of their tens of thousands of enrolling students. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Euan Blair, CEO of an apprenticeship-focused tech firm, directly contradicted his fathers famous 1999 pitch to get half of all UK young people to university. Instead, he warned of a potential skills crisis because of Britain's preoccupation with university education above all else.

In my nine years teaching journalism at a university  four-and-a-half as a sessional lecturer and tutor and four-and-a-half as a full-time lecturer  I met many unmotivated and bewildered young students who were obviously in the wrong course, some for whom university itself was clearly the wrong choice.
Satellite imagery of Africa. Credit: Public Domain

The speed the new coronavirus jumped from 100,000 to 200,000 confirmed cases in Africa shows just how quickly the pandemic is accelerating on the continent, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

According to an AFP tally, Africa topped the 200,000 mark on Tuesday.

"It took 98 days to reach the first 100,000 cases, and only 18 days to move to 200,000 cases," Doctor Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director for Africa, told a video briefing hosted by the UN press association in Geneva.

"Even though these cases in Africa account for less than three percent of the global total, it's clear that the pandemic is accelerating."

The novel coronavirus has infected nearly 7.4 million people worldwide and killed at least 416,000 since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

Africa has reached 5,635 deaths from 210,519 confirmed cases, according to AFP's count at 1100 GMT on Thursday.

In Africa, "the pandemic is still concentrated in and around capital cities but we are seeing more and more cases spread out into the provinces," Moeti said.

She said that in most countries on the continent, the virus entered capitals through international flights from Europe.

South Africa worst affected

"Ten of the 54 countries in Africa are currently driving the numbers," Moeti explained, with those states accounting for 80 percent of cases.

South Africa accounts for nearly 25 percent of the continent's total cases.

"The majority of countries still have fewer than 1,000 reported cases," said Moeti.

"There is community transmission in more than 50 percent of countries, however."

Meanwhile more than 70 percent of the deaths have occurred in just five countries: South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and Sudan.

Moeti said that while it was possible that some asymptomatic and mild cases were going undetected, WHO Africa believed that large numbers of severe cases and deaths were not being missed on the continent.

Africa's relatively young population compared to other continents, and in-built experience of dealing with disease outbreaks have been cited as reasons why Africa has not so far seen the death rates experienced on other continents.

Moeti said early action by African countries had helped keep the numbers lowbut constant vigilance was still needed.

Asked by AFP how she saw the pandemic developing in Africa, Moeti said the continent had not seen the sustained exponential rise in cases previously witnessed in Europe and the United States.

"Until such time as we have access to an effective vaccine, I'm afraid we are probably going to have to live with a steady increase in the region, with some hotspots having to be managed in a number of countries, as is happening now in South Africa, in Algeria, in Cameroon, which really require very strong public health measures," she said.

"We're hoping very much not to see health systems overwhelmed with large numbers of people who are ill," she said.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 AFP
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to save family-owned restaurants by pledging just $3 million in funds, just weeks after infuriating struggling small business owners when he insisted they were 'hanging on' during lockdown.

De Blasio proudly announced the launch of New York City's Restaurant Revitalization Program in his daily press briefing Thursday, saying he was 'saving' just 100 of the roughly 27,000 restaurants in the Big Apple.

The mayor said the money will cover wages for 1,000 restaurant workers who have lost their jobs during the pandemic - providing relief to a meager 0.6 percent of the 167,000 New Yorkers who rely on the industry for a paycheck.

The announcement has been met with outrage from experts who say the mayor is 'dangling short term monetary relief to financially devastated restaurants in exchange for long term financial disaster', weeks after he insisted small businesses were prepared to stay closed for 'months' as the city's lockdown rumbled on.

Devastating research from the Independent Restaurant Coalition is now warning that a staggering 85 percent of all independent restaurants across the US could be out of business by the end of 2020, as the effects of the pandemic linger.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (pictured in the press conference Thursday) has promised to save family-owned restaurants by pledging just $3 million in funds, just weeks after infuriating struggling small business owners when he insisted they were 'hanging on' during lockdown

The mayor's wife and head of the coronavirus racial taskforce Chirlane McCray joined de Blasio at the press conference to unveil the plans that they said would support family-owned restaurants and 'unemployed and underemployed restaurant workers'.

The program will direct a $3 million investment into saving 100 restaurants across the city, with the funds coming from NYC Opportunty, Mayor's Fund to Advance NYC and One Fair Wage.

The 100 chosen restaurants - which are being selected based on whether they offer free or reduced cost meals to New Yorkers affected by COVID-19 - will have access to a grant of up to $30,000 each to subsidize wages of $20 per hour for at least 6 weeks.

This will pay for the salaries of around 1,000 restaurant workers who lost their jobs when restaurants were forced to shutter during the pandemic.

Restaurants must commit to $15 minimum wages on top of tips within five years of returning to regular business under the program.

Workers at the restaurants can also apply for a one-time grant of $500.

'For the mom and pop stores, the family businesses and the businesses that have been there for so many generations - it defines something so powerful,' de Blasio said of local NYC restaurants.

'[They're] where people go to and feel connected to everything they hold dear... we know it goes a lot farther than the food.'

The mayor's wife and head of the coronavirus racial taskforce Chirlane McCray (above) joined de Blasio at the press conference to proudly announce the launch of New York City's Restaurant Revitalization Program

The program will 'save' just 100 of the roughly 27,000 restaurants in the Big Apple and cover wages for 1,000 workers who have lost their jobs during the pandemic - providing relief to a meager 0.6 percent of the 167,000 New Yorkers who rely on the industry for a paycheck

'As we move closer to reopening the city economically we must tend to the small businesses at the heart and soul of our neighborhoods especially our restaurants,' added McCray.

'These are family neighborhood places where personal history has been written. When you're there it feels like you're in your own kitchen.'

But experts have denounced the program as 'shocking' and blasted the mayor for pushing the 'political agenda' of the Restaurant Opportunities Center - a nonprofit that was plagued by controversy back in 2007 when it was sued by its worker-owners for forcing staff to lobby for its own political causes.

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, told DailyMail.com Thursday that the wage requirements of $20 - $5 higher than the minimum wage - put an additional burden on already struggling restaurants.

'It's shocking that the Administration is pushing the political agenda of the controversial Restaurant Opportunities Center by dangling short term monetary relief to financially devastated restaurants in exchange for long-term financial disaster, by forcing them to sign on to their misleading wage campaign, which has been rejected by restaurant owners and workers throughout the city and state.'

Rigie added that the move would saddle small restaurants with heavier financial burdens in the long run.

'It's pay to play politics with an organization that has a very controversial history in the restaurant industry,' he said.

Dudley's bar and restaurant in New York is shuttered due to the pandemic. The mayor's announcement has been met with outrage from experts who say the mayor is 'dangling short term monetary relief to financially devastated restaurants in exchange for long-term financial disaster'

Restaurant workers in Little Italy offer takeout and delivery to try to keep Caffe Palermo afloat. Devastating research is warning that a staggering 85 percent of all independent restaurants across the US could be out of business by the end of 2020

'Like so many who have stepped up to support local restaurants during this crisis, the Administration has also made very important efforts lately but today's announcement sets restaurants back.'

A new report from the Independent Restaurant Coalition also warned Wednesday that - unless urgent action is taken - a staggering 85 percent of independent restaurants will be out of business by the end of the year.

It states that the lingering effects of the pandemic are ravaging mom-and-pop diners, neighborhood joints, and local fine dining staples across America - which contribute $760 billion to the economy and directly employ 11 million people.

Independents, which comprise 70 percent of all restaurants, have been hardest hit by the closures over the last three months because they rely more heavily on dine-in service, it added.

For New York City restaurant boss Amanda Cohen, the troubles continue to rage on.

'I think it's going to be a long haul to get back to where we were,' Cohen, who runs vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy, told Business Insider.

'I still have most of the same bills that I had before I closed. I still have to pay electricity and gas and purveyors. And I don't think I will have enough customers to keep my business going.'

De Blasio's one-time cash injection of $500 will also do little to support individual New York restaurant workers - many of whom have been out of work since mid-March when restaurants and bars shuttered across the city.

Closed Tartine in Manhattan's West Village. De Blasio sparked outrage in may when he insisted small businesses were prepared to stay closed for 'months' as the city's lockdown rumbled on

A closed sign on a restaurant in New York. Hundreds of small New York businesses joined together to form a coalition to reopen the city back in May as lockdown continued

While New York has an eviction moratorium meaning tenants cannot be evicted from their rental properties if they are unable to pay, rent has not been forgiven so many are faced with the impossible task of making back payments for missed months.

In the city, average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $2,909 in May - something a $500 grant will not even put a dent in.

Hundreds of small New York businesses joined together to form a coalition to reopen the city back in May as lockdown continued amid the rest of the state reopening, with some defying the ongoing stay-at-home order to try to salvage their ailing businesses.

While desperate business owners told how they were struggling to survive, de Blasio fueled further outrage by insisting he had spoken with many local businesses who said they were prepared to stay closed for 'months'.

In an interview with WNYC radio on May 22, de Blasio claimed: 'Ive talked to lots and lots of business leaders, especially the smallest businesses.

'Theyre very worried about their futures understandably, but they also are hanging on and they know it can be a matter of months until theyll be back in action.'

The mayor was blasted a 'liar' by furious business owners while Senator Simcha Felder, the Democratic State Senator for New York's 17th District, said: 'Small business owners are bleeding and dying.

'I have yet to hear the Mayor's explanation. Small businesses cannot last another day let alone 6 months. Maybe if I was renting out 2 Park Slope homes I'd understand.'
New economy strengthened by banking industry

By:Wu Qiong | From:english.eastday.com | 2020-06-11 14:36

Dingdong Maicai, one of Chinas fresh food e-commerce apps, has become a hit due to the coronavirus outbreak. While delving into the enterprises success, you will find many banks behind it. This is a vivid example of how new industries and new industrial forms in Shanghai are bolstered by the banking industry.





Smart healthcare and elderly care, cloud computing, supply chain and new infrastructure will be the major launch points for the citys financial institutions while seeking new opportunities.

In crisis, the citys financial institutions are looking for opportunities, by using the power of capital to spur the development of new industries and new industrial forms.

Facing the challenge posed by COVID-19, Shanghais banking industry has formulated a series of financial service solutions in smart healthcare and smart elderly care, to elevate the level of informatization of the medical and elderly care sectors and satisfy residents increasing demands for health and elderly care.

At the same time, more customized services will be launched for the cloud computing industry. Banks are also tapping their clients demands for Merger & Acquisition financing, and providing supportive financial services like M&A loans, funds and bonds.

The epidemic has also hastened the development of 5G, AI, IoT, big data, long-distance education, remote working and online shopping. According to the citys three-year action plan for promoting the online new economy, around 100 application scenarios will be created with 100 innovative enterprises, 100 brand products and 100 key technologies.

By matchmaking with e-commerce platforms including Dingdong Maicai, Pinduoduo and Xiaohongshu, banks are also seeking financial services in those business scenarios. In the future, banks should work with online new economy enterprises to create innovative products en masse by building different scenarios, said Gu Jianzhong, president of Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB). For instance, while utilizing the big data of Dingdong Maicais supply chain, SRCB is able to provide precise financial services for the upstream suppliers.
Global insurance standards body aligns data exchange assets with Lloyd's and leading vendors for benefit of worldwide industry ecosystem

LONDON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ACORD, the standards-setting body for the global insurance industry, today announced that it has mapped the existing ACORD Data Messaging Standards and ACORD Digital Solutions to the Lloyd's API Factory placement specifications published earlier this week.

ACORD Standards enable digital data exchange across 36,000 participating organisations, accounting for more than half of the world's written premiums, and nearly 75% of London Market transactions. Its London Advisory Board includes representatives of all major London Market associations, including IUA, LMA, LIIBA and LIMOSS, as well as leading brokers, reinsurers, and syndicates, including Lloyd's.

"Because we are owned by the industry, ACORD has a commitment to enabling efficient data exchange throughout the global insurance ecosystem," said Chris Newman, ACORD's Managing Director, Global. "Aligning the Lloyd's API Factory with proven ACORD assets will allow thousands of stakeholders worldwide to seamlessly leverage existing capabilities, realising the value of digitisation and connectivity with minimal disruption."

ACORD undertook this alignment effort in order to preserve existing industry investment, as well as reduce the time, cost, and risk for stakeholders to comply with the proprietary Lloyd's API specifications.

"Data standards are critical to the London Market and global markets," said Dave Matcham, Chief Executive, International Underwriting Association. "The fact that ACORD has been able to work with both Lloyd's and PPL so quickly to connect brokers and carriers with the Placing Platform is good news for everyone. This alignment not only makes it easier for vendors and self-builders to participate, but also protects the investment that many of our members have already made in the use of the ACORD Data Standards."

"We very much hope this will assist LIIBA members in their use of the available technologies in the most efficient way to assist them in continuing to provide the highest level of service to their clients," said James Livett, Associate Director, London & International Insurance Brokers Association. "Data standards are key to the London and international markets, and ACORD offer the only truly cross-market international body to manage them. We will continue to work with ACORD to develop standards, solutions, and services which are owned and managed by the global industry."

Leading solution providers including DXC, Sequel, and Eurobase, as well as others, will interact with Lloyd's proposed API Factory through ADEPT (ACORD Data Exchange Platform & Translator). ADEPT accelerates digitisation across the insurance value chain by enabling stakeholders to integrate with niche platforms and proprietary models, using ACORD Standards in XML, JSON, and other formats, as well as bespoke or semi-structured data. ADEPT supports direct data exchange and straight-through processing with the London Market Bureau, Lloyd's, and other global, regional, or national platforms.

"We developed ADEPT at the urging of the industry, to serve as a universal adaptor and single entry point for the global ecosystem," Newman said.

"As the 'platform of choice' for a significant portion of London Market stakeholders, DXC understands the importance of digitisation and interoperability of market solutions," said John Taylor, DXC's Account General Manager for the London Market. "By working with ACORD to leverage their standards and solutions across our portfolio, we are able to ensure that our clients will be able to conduct business effectively and efficiently no matter what changes occur in the market environment."

"Access to multiple global platform interfaces via a single connection from an industry-owned global standards body to manage the connectivity will contribute to a more efficient model for our group and customers," said Ian Summers, CEO, Sequel, a Verisk business.

Joe Locke, CEO of Eurobase, commented, "We are pleased to see this alignment between Lloyd's and ACORD. It is essential that all market participants benefit from recognised industry standards and APIs to ensure seamless passing of data. As a solution provider we recognise the importance of supporting such APIs, particularly as the availability and adoption of digital messaging by the market will only increase, and to meet the continued drive for efficiency by removing so much unnecessary and repetitive manual entry of data."

"Our members understand that interoperability across the insurance value chain is key to future success," Newman added. "Having a unified set of industry-governed standards and solutions is critical to this vision."

ABOUT ACORD

ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) is the global standards-setting body for the insurance and related financial services industries. ACORD facilitates fast, accurate data exchange and efficient workflows through the development of electronic standards, standardised forms, and tools to support their use. ACORD engages thousands of insurance and reinsurance companies, agents and brokers, software providers, financial services organisations and industry associations in more than 100 countries. ACORD maintains offices in New York and London. Learn more at www.acord.org.

CONTACT: William Mutton

WilliamMutton@luther.co.uk

+44 7827 903973

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Britain's coronavirus death toll today jumped by only 151 in the lowest increase on a Thursday since March 19, as the outbreak continues to fade.

Department of Health statistics reveal the number of daily laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 fatalities is 14 per cent lower than the 176 recorded last Thursday, and down on the 245 registered yesterday.

The official number of victims now stands at 41,279  but separate grim figures that take into account suspected and confirmed fatalities say the actual death toll has already surpassed 50,000.

Northern Ireland recorded one Covid-19 death today, spelling an end to its four day spell of having no coronavirus fatalities.

Figures released today also showed there has now been more than 291,000 cases diagnosed since Britain's crisis began to unfold back in January, including 1,266 yesterday.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock also tonight confirmed both the numbers of hospital admissions (462) and Covid-19 patients in intensive care on ventilators (440) are continuing to fall.

Mr Hancock said in this afternoon's Downing Street briefing the number of deaths in the past week is the lowest since the week ending March 28, before the lockdown, and that the 'downward trend' is continuing.

He was joined by Baroness Dido Harding, head of the test and trace scheme, after damning data released today showed a third of Covid-infected Brits refused to give details of contacts or couldn't be tracked down.

Analysis by researchers at the University of Oxford shows that one in five hospital trusts in England (19 per cent) have now not reported a single death from the coronavirus in the past seven days.

Professor Carl Heneghan and Dr Jason Oke found that 26 trusts have counted no deaths for a week, while 64 have recorded none in the past 48 hours. They took the data from a total of 131 major NHS trusts.

In other coronavirus developments in Britain today:

A former government chief scientist said if Boris Johnson triggered lockdown a week earlier the death toll could have been as low as 10,000;

The NHS Test and Trace system has only tracked the contacts of two-thirds of Covid-19 patients, damning figures show as the head of the system admitted it was not yet 'gold standard';

Rishi Sunak heaped pressure on the Prime Minister to ease the two-metre social distancing rule amid a major Tory revolt over fears the rule could sink tens of thousands of businesses;

Research from a symptom-tracking app ran King's College London suggests cases of Covid-19 in the UK have halved in one week with less than 5,000 new infections per day.

Analysis of the coronavirus deaths data by Professor Carl Heneghan and Dr Jason Oke, at the Centre of Evidence-based Medicine, found that more than two dozen hospitals in England have now not recorded a Covid-19 fatality in a week or more.

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE REALLY DIED? Department of Health: 41,279 Department of Health bosses this afternoon revealed the death toll had jumped to 41,279 across all settings, including care homes. The daily data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours  it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities. It also only takes into account patients who tested positive for the virus, as opposed to deaths suspected to be down to the coronavirus. Individual health bodies: 32,191 The Department of Health has a different time cut-off for reporting deaths, meaning daily updates from Scotland as well as Northern Ireland are always out of sync. Wales is not affected, however. NHS England today revealed it has registered 27,789 lab-confirmed deaths across the country. But the figure only applies to hospitals  meaning fatalities in care homes are excluded from this count. Scotland has recorded 2,439 coronavirus deaths among patients who have tested positive for the virus, followed by 1,425 in Wales and 538 in Northern Ireland. These tolls include fatalities in all settings. National statistical bodies: 51,175 Data compiled by the statistical bodies of each of the home nations show 51,175 people died of either confirmed or suspected Covid-19 across the UK by the end of May. The real number of victims will be even higher because the tally only takes into account deaths that occurred up until June 7 in Scotland and May 29 in the rest of Britain, meaning it is up to 10 days out of date. The Office for National Statistics yesterday confirmed that 46,421 people in England and Wales died with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 by May 29. The number of coronavirus deaths was 754 by the same day in Northern Ireland, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). National Records Scotland  which collects statistics north of the border  said 4,000 people had died across the country by June 7. Their tallies are always 10 days behind the Department of Health (DH) because they wait until as many fatalities as possible for each date have been counted, to avoid having to revise their statistics. Excess deaths: 63,708 The total number of excess deaths has almost reached 64,000. Excess deaths are considered to be an accurate measure of the number of people killed by the pandemic because they include a broader spectrum of victims. As well as including people who may have died with Covid-19 without ever being tested, the data also shows how many more people died because their medical treatment was postponed, for example, or who didn't or couldn't get to hospital when they were seriously ill. Data from England and Wales shows there has been an extra 57,961 deaths since the outbreak took hold, as well as 4,808 in Scotland and 939 in Northern Ireland. Advertisement

There were 26 out of 131 major NHS trusts which have not announced a death for the past seven days, they said.

These NHS trusts are Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Dorset County, East and North Hertfordshire, East Sussex, Guy's and St Thomas', Homerton University Hospital, James Paget University Hospitals, Mid Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, North Middlesex, Northern Devon, Oxford University Hospitals, Poole, Royal Cornwall, Royal Surrey County, RUH Bath, Salisbury, Stockport, Taunton and Somerset, The Hillingdon, The Princess Alexandra, Queen Elizabeth Hospital (King's Lynn), Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch, Torbay and South Devon, Weston Area Health and Whittington Health.

Almost half (48.9 per cent) have not recorded a death fro 48 hours, but this is likely to come down as more fatalities are confirmed in the coming days.

Department of Health data released today showed that 197,007 tests were carried out yesterday, a figure that included antibody tests for frontline NHS and care workers.

But bosses again refused to say how many people were tested, meaning the exact number of Brits who have been swabbed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a mystery since May 22.

Other data released by the Department of Health and presented at last night's Downing Street press conference showed 1,266 more people tested positive for Covid-19. It means the official size of the UK's coronavirus outbreak now sits at 291,409 cases but the true scale of the crisis is estimated to be in the millions.

The daily data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours  it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities.

The data does not always match updates provided by the home nations. For example, the Scottish government today announced five deaths  but the DH's geographical breakdown has yet to be released.

The Department of Health has a different time cut-off, meaning daily updates from Scotland as well as Northern Ireland are always out of sync. Wales is not thought to be affected.

NHS England today recorded 83 lab-confirmed Covid-19 deaths in hospitals. Scotland registered five victims in all settings, followed by six in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.

The further 151 fatalities today came as Sir David King, who was the government's chief scientist from 2000-2007, said the UK's coronavirus death toll could have been just 10,000 if Boris Johnson had triggered lockdown a week earlier.

Sir David said today: 'I believe that we could have emerged at this point with no more than 10,000 deaths by just going into lockdown a week earlier. My second point is that I think the government position was made clear a few times.

'Once the PM made a speech about how we would ride through lockdown while other countries were going into lockdown, our economy would grow and we would emerge like Superman.

'What he was referring to was a policy of herd immunity. I do believe that the government was favouring this idea that we should allow the disease to spread but no more than the NHS could manage to cope with the cases.'

The comments, in an interview with ITV's Good Morning Britain, came after Professor Neil Ferguson, a key figure on SAGE at the beginning of the outbreak, made a similar bombshell claim to MPs yesterday.

Professor Ferguson, dubbed 'Professor Lockdown', said that, in hindsight, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if the lockdown had come a week earlier.

Mr Johnson imposed the lockdown on March 23 on the back of the Imperial College London scientist's grim modelling, which predicted 500,000 people could die if the virus was left unchecked.

Between May 28 and June 3, 8,117 people who tested positive for the coronavirus were referred to the NHS's flagship scheme. But shocking statistics show contact tracers could only get information from 67 per cent of them (5,407)

Of those people who were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, just over three-quarters (79 per cent) were contacted within 24 hours of their case being transferred to the Test and Trace system. Some 14 per cent were contacted between 24 and 48 hours, 3 per cent between 48 and 72 hours, and 4 per cent were contacted after 72 hours

The Department of Health said 79 per cent of contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases were reached within 24 hours and told to self-isolate

Statistics show that 26,985 out of a total 31,794 potentially-infected people were successfully contacted by NHS tracers

At the Downing Street briefing last night, Mr Johnson batted away questions over whether the government had made serious mistakes in the pandemic.

'At the moment it is simply too early to judge ourselves,' he said. 'We simply don't have the answers to all these questions.'

Professor Ferguson also claimed that Britain missed 90 per cent of its coronavirus cases because it was not screening passengers at airports, in a thinly-veiled jab at the Government.

The epidemiologist told MPs at a virtual House of Commons Science and Technology Committee briefing.: 'The epidemic was doubling every three to four days before lockdown interventions were introduced.'

Research published today estimates fewer than 5,000 people are getting the virus every day in the UK. It suggests the outbreak has almost halved - down 48 per cent - in one week, considering there were 9,400 new cases per day last week.

DEATH TOLL COULD BE HALF THE 50,000 RECORDED, SAYS SCIENTIST Britain's actual coronavirus death toll could be half of the 50,000 already recorded, according to one expert. Professor Karol Sikora, a former World Health Organization (WHO) cancer adviser who has gained a huge Twitter following during the crisis, claimed doctors are sometimes too keen to mention the disease on death certificates. He told The Telegraph the disease would sometimes be named when there was 'any hint' it could have been the cause of death, despite having firm proof. For example in care homes, which have been ravaged by the disease, residents have largely gone untested for the coronavirus. If they died, a doctor may say the cause was Covid-19 because their death occurred at the same time the care home had recorded an outbreak. During the height of the pandemic when doctors were very busy, they were allowed to verify deaths over the phone if they needed to. In comparison, Germany  which has recorded fewer than 10,000 deaths  is much stricter about classifying fatalities as being down to Covid-19. German medics can only say a death is down to Covid-19 if the clinical team involved in the end-of-life care certify that's what they believe was to blame. Professor Sikora described the UK's system of recording deaths as 'woeful' because it still uses pieces of paper which are passed around a lot of people. He said: 'The data collection in Britain is hampered compared to other European countries. It's not really computerised. It's bits of paper changing hands... It's never had an integrated system.' Professor Sikora said the problem of recording deaths is affecting the exit from lockdown strategy, which takes into account how many people are dying. He said if the deaths are mainly made up of people who were going to die this year anyway  because they were old  the statistics would need to be re-assessed. Professor Sikora's claim came has come under fire online, with Australian epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz saying on Twitter: 'What an atrocious take. If anything the evidence runs in the opposite direction.' Other experts, including Professor Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, University of Oxford, fear the number of Covid-19 deaths are being under reported. Speaking at an science media conference on Tuesday, when the latest ONS figures were released, he said: 'I think there are ways of looking at some of the death certificates of the non Covid to start to understand whether its under recording, or excess deaths from other reasons.' Advertisement

The estimate from researchers at King's College London does not include Northern Ireland or care homes, where the virus is still thought to be spreading, meaning the true rate could be much higher.

The figures were based on a sub-group of 1million people who use the COVID Symptom Tracker app, of whom 12,872 carried out swab tests when they began to feel unwell.

The results of these swabs, taken between May 24 to June 6, were extrapolated to the wider population of 66.6million.

New infections fell 49 per cent in the North West, where 820 people are being struck down every day  down from 1,608 last week. The South East has seen a 46 per cent drop (365 from 674), followed closely by a 43 per cent decrease in the South West (162 from 284).

The North East and Yorkshire is reporting the highest number of new infections per day, while the South West is seeing the least, according to the estimate.

But the number fell from 1,965 to 1,275 a reduction of 35 per cent, suggesting that the situation is improving across all regions.

Cases are still lower in London than the north or east of England. Some 790 people are becoming infected per day, a drop of 27 per cent from last week.

And the R rate  the number of people an infected person passes the virus to  was predicted to be below 1 across all regions.

The estimate is in line with a government-run surveillance sample but is three times lower than Public Health England's projected figure of nearly 17,000 a day.

Lead author of the King's College London study, Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology, said: 'Whilst the numbers are falling, thousands of cases of COVID are still very much in the population so measures such as social distancing, regular swab testing, wearing of gloves and face masks in public and maintaining high levels of personal hygiene should be followed closely if we want to keep the numbers low going forward.'

It comes as damning figures today showed Number 10's flagship contact tracing system - considered a crucial part of the puzzle for avoiding a second wave - has only tracked down the contacts of two thirds of Covid-19 patients.

Between May 28 and June 3, 8,117 people who tested positive for the coronavirus were referred to the NHS's flagship scheme.

Although this is significantly lower than the number of new positive tests announced by the Government during that time - 13,417 - Professor John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE, said this was mostly a problem with the testing figures.

Professor Newton said: 'Theres quite a lot of double counting in the numbers of positive tests that are reported daily. We are very confident that the 8,000 includes a very high proportion of the new cases.'

But shocking statistics show contact tracers could only draw information about close contacts from 67 per cent of them (5,407).

Hundreds did not respond to phone calls or refused to give details of people they had been in contact with, the Department of Health admitted in another blow to the scheme that has been described as 'shambolic' by workers.

Data from the COVID Symptom Tracker suggested there were 9,400 new infections occurring every day across the UK last week. But the estimate  which involves researchers at King's College London  has been revised and has now dropped by 48 per cent in seven days

The number of people catching the coronavirus each day in England has dropped from almost 10,000 in the middle of May, to around 7,400 each day last week, to 4,500 now

NHS statistics show 79,573 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England in April 2020  60 per cent down from 199,217 in April 2019

BRITAIN'S TEST AND TRACE FAILURE: DATA SHOWS A THIRD OF COVID-INFECTED BRITS REFUSED TO GIVE DETAILS OR COULDN'T BE TRACKED DOWN Britain's test and trace fiasco deepened again today after damning figures showed Number 10's flagship system has only tracked down the contacts of two thirds of Covid-19 patients. Between May 28 and June 3, 8,117 people who tested positive for the coronavirus were referred to the NHS's flagship scheme. But shocking statistics show contact tracers could only get information from 67 per cent of them (5,407). Hundreds did not respond to phone calls or refused to give details of people they had been in contact with, the Department of Health admitted in another blow to the scheme that has been described as 'shambolic' by workers. Baroness Dido Harding  the head of the test and trace scheme  today admitted it wasn't yet 'at the gold standard we want to be'. She added: 'Is it completely perfect? No, of course it isn't.' She explained: 'We wont have got all of the contacts. Some were unreachable, some didnt want to provide contacts, some said "well, Ive already told my mates I tested positive".' The data comes as feedback from the Isle of Wight suggested that the NHS's long-awaited coronavirus contact tracing app  which has yet to be rolled-out  could be an effective way to stop the spread of the disease. Just two new cases of the illness have been discovered on the island since the app's initial trial ended on May 26  a noticeable drop on the 45 cases spotted during the trial, suggesting it stopped patients from infecting other people. Health Secretary Matt Hancock previously promised the app, then considered a vital part of the government's test and trace strategy, would be ready to be rolled out across the UK by the middle of May. He claimed today that the test and trace system is 'already helping to stop the spread of the virus'. The Health Secretary added the system was 'key to helping us to return to a more normal way of life.' But repeated delays have meant the app  now considered the cherry on top of the cake  is still unavailable anywhere except the Isle of Wight. Staff paid up to 27-an-hour to ring contacts of infected patients have described the test and trace scheme as 'shambolic', with call handlers warning the system was 'obviously not ready' when it was launched in England at the end of May. In the first week of the service, 26,985 contacts were successfully reached by someone on the army of 25,000 tracers, meaning the staff, on average, only contacted one person each for the whole week. Advertisement

Overall 31,794 contacts were identified  the equivalent of almost six (5.8) for every infected patient. Only 26,985 of these contacts  85 per cent  were tracked down and advised to self-isolate, the statistics revealed.

Of those people who were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, just over three-quarters (79 per cent) were contacted within 24 hours of their case being transferred to the Test and Trace system.

Some 14 per cent were contacted between 24 and 48 hours, three per cent between 48 and 72 hours, and four per cent were contacted after 72 hours.

Finding people fast is vital for the system to work because the plan is for it to find potentially-infected people before they start to show symptoms and pass the virus on to other people.

Baroness Dido Harding  the head of the test and trace scheme  today admitted it wasn't yet 'at the gold standard we want to be'. She added: 'Is it completely perfect? No, of course it isn't.'

Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Professor Newton said they were happy with how the service has gone so far.

Professor Newton said the Government was seeing 'high levels of compliance both from cases and contacts', and added: 'In general were very pleased to see these data... Were quite confident that what were doing is having a big impact.'

Contact tracers try 10 times to reach someone in the first 24 hours after they have been referred to the service, attempting to get through to them by email, phone and text.

The data comes as feedback from the Isle of Wight suggested that the NHS's long-awaited coronavirus contact tracing app  which has yet to be rolled-out  could be an effective way to stop the spread of the disease.

Just two new cases of the illness have been discovered on the island since the app's initial trial ended on May 26  a noticeable drop on the 45 cases spotted during the trial, suggesting it stopped patients from infecting other people.

Mr Hancock previously promised the app, then considered a vital part of the government's test and trace strategy, would be ready to be rolled out across the UK by the middle of May.

But repeated delays have meant the app  now considered the cherry on top of the cake  is still unavailable anywhere except the Isle of Wight.

Baroness Harding was also unable to give a date for the launch of the app which will form part of the test and trace programme she leads.

She said: 'This is a multi-channel consumer service, it's online, it's on the phone, it's face-to-face in local communities and, in time, it will have an app.

'The app "is the cherry on the cake, it's not the cake itself and what you are seeing today is the first baking of the cake is going reasonably well".'

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces mounting pressure to reduce the two-metre rule from Tory backbenchers.

There are increasing signs that the PM is preparing to shift on the crucial issue, with Downing Street sources saying he 'instinctively' wants to free up business but fears a second peak.

Between May 28 and June 3, 8,117 people who tested positive for the coronavirus were referred to the NHS's flagship scheme. But shocking statistics show contact tracers could only get information from 67 per cent of them (5,407)

Of those people who were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, just over three-quarters (79 per cent) were contacted within 24 hours of their case being transferred to the Test and Trace system. Some 14 per cent were contacted between 24 and 48 hours, 3 per cent between 48 and 72 hours, and 4 per cent were contacted after 72 hours

CANCER TIME BOMB FEARS AS DATA SHOWS 60% DROP IN URGENT REFERRALS IN APRIL Thousands of cancers could have been missed due to a huge drop in referrals amid the coronavirus crisis, shocking figures today suggested. NHS statistics show 79,573 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England in April 2020  60 per cent down from 199,217 in April 2019. Cancer charity MacMillan says roughly 210,000 people should have been referred in April this year, suggesting roughly 130,000 people were missed. Around 7 per cent of those would usually require cancer treatment, meaning around 9,000 people might have went undiagnosed. Experts told MailOnline today 'it's not that there are less people with cancer, it's that they are not being diagnosed because of a bottleneck in the NHS'. The health service is facing a shocking backlog of cases as it tries to return to normal after shutting down most of its services to cope with the pandemic. Leading charities estimate 2.5million cancer patients have missed out on vital tests and treatment this year because of the crisis. Figures also showed the number of people waiting over a year for NHS treatment trebled in April, magnifying the damaging knock-on effect of Covid on the nation's health. Advertisement

MPs and businesses warn that keeping the restriction in place could sink tens of thousands of businesses. Campaigners say it stops schools reopening properly while pubs and restaurants fear going bust.

The World Health Organization recommends a one-metre restriction  guidance followed by countries such as France, Denmark and Singapore.

However, most of the government's scientific advisers are thought to want to stick to two metres until infections fall further.

Rishi Sunak has now joined the major Tory revolt - the Chancellor held a 90 minute session with the 1,922 committee of Tory backbenchers yesterday where he is said to have backed calls to slash the two-metre rule.

He warned that 3.5million jobs could be lost unless people start going back to shops.

Mr Sunak highlighted warnings from business about the dire consequences of the limit, and pointed out dozens of countries have already relaxed it to one metre.

He said he was 'sympathetic' to concerns that sectors of the economy cannot get up and running until the situation changes.

Former Tory Cabinet minister Damian Green insisted other countries had managed safely with one metre.

'I would combine it with much greater mask-wearing,' he said. 'If we don't do this it will be the end for many pubs and restaurants.'

Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader, said: 'The number one and single most important priority to unlock the economy is getting the distance down to one metre.

'The difference between one and two metres is the difference between opening the economy properly and seeing it bump along at the bottom without being able to bounce back. The hospitality sector simply can't make a living at two metres.

'It's restrictive at one metre but at least they can come close to making it work. And it's impossible to run public transport properly at two metres.'
A technical-level meeting between India and Pakistan to discuss the issue of locust menace has been proposed for June 18, the Ministry External Affairs said on Thursday.

MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that last month India had taken an initiative to develop regional cooperation to control locusts and as part of this cooperation it has dispatched 20,000 litres of pesticide to Iran.

This pesticide is expected to reach Iran at the port of Chabahar on June 15, he said.

"As regards Pakistan, we had proposed to them that we can activate the technical-level meetings in the run up to the main meetings and these technical-level meetings could take place between the locust warning organizations," he said.

"We had also proposed that we can undertake joint locust control operations and we could facilitate the supply of pesticides. We have not received any formal response from Pakistan, but we understand now that the technical-level meeting is proposed on June 18," he said.

India had proposed to Pakistan and Iran for a coordinated approach in dealing with the alarming threat of fast-increasing desert locusts in the region.
In 2017, prison inmate Ray Anthony Miles threatened to use a "shank" to stab a female prison guard, according to Shawnee County District Court records.

A Shawnee County prosecutor wants a judge to grant admission of the planned attack as evidence when Miles, 56, is tried in the 2019 attack of a female Shawnee County corrections specialist, who suffered severe injuries.

Miles, who is acting as his own defense attorney, is charged with attempted first-degree murder of Corrections Specialist Kourtney Renae Flynn and aggravated battery of Flynn.

The attack occurred on July 31, 2019, inside a module in the Shawnee County Jail. The charges are felony counts.

In a letter received by the Hutchinson Correctional Facility warden's office on July 6, 2017, Miles allegedly threatened to kill a specific female guard because he said she wouldn't bring him his legal mail, according to the motion filed in May by Shawnee County Deputy District Attorney Roger Luedke.

"If she don't bring me my legal work, the next time I get close to her I'm going to do my best to end her life," the prosecution motion quoted the letter signed by Miles said.

The woman "is trying to provoke me to try to kill her," the letter said.

When Miles was interviewed by detectives, Miles "admitted" his plan was to lure the Hutchinson officer into a shower area, which doesn't have security cameras, then stab the officer with a "shank," the prosecution motion said.

In the Flynn attack, the attacker used a ball point pen as a "shank" to thrust at Flynn, the motion said.

If the judge considers Miles' statements to be "prior crimes or civil wrongs," they should be admissible because they are relevant to show the intent and planning," the motion said.

"This evidence is relevant to the instant case because the similarity of the defendant's actions to his statements tend to show that he intended to kill C.S. Flynn," the motion said. "The defendant took actions in this case that were very similar to the method he described he would use to kill the Hutchinson officer."

Miles' statements to detectives "are relevant to intent and planning and should be admitted as evidence in this case," Luedke wrote.

Flynn has testified earlier that she was struck 10 to 15 times, her head was slammed into the floor, and the attack lasted about a minute. She suffered a closed head injury, a closed fracture of the nasal bone, a displaced tooth, bruised orbital socket bones, a large knot on the back of her head, and multiple scratches to her head and neck, a court affidavit said.

The attack on Flynn started as she tried to retrieve a cordless phone from Miles' cell, the affidavit said.

When Flynn was beaten, Miles was serving the remaining 12 months of his sentences tied to his convictions in 2012 in the attack of four employees at WIBW-13.

In that incident, Miles was convicted by a jury of three counts of aggravated battery and one count of making a criminal threat, which are felonies, and misdemeanor counts of battery and criminal damage to property.
File photo of attacks in Borno state (AFP or licensors)

The death toll on Wednesday from an attack by suspected jihadists in northern Nigerias Borno state rose to 69. The gunmen also razed a village to the ground.

By Vatican News

Gunmen attacked the village of Faduma Koloram, in the Gubio district of Borno state, on Tuesday afternoon.

In their rampage, they shot and killed residents, stole cattle and camels and razed the village to the ground.

Witnesses described how the attackers took people off guard, saying there was nowhere to hide and they couldn't escape.

Giving a dramatic account, a community leader said the attackers had mown down the 69 villagers including children as they watched over their cattle.

Its suspected that the fighters were from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) a splinter faction that broke away from Boko Haram in 2016.

Reuters reported that the militants suspected villagers of sharing information about their movements to security forces.

In recent months ISWAP has been blamed for an increase in attacks on civilians.

The decade-long conflict has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in Nigerias northeast.
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Jodie Kelley, CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), testified before the House Financial Services Committee Task Force on Financial Technology on the role of the modern payments industry in delivering stimulus dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The unprecedented challenges caused by the pandemic have appropriately caused policymakers not only to move quickly to address the immediate crisis but also to ask how we can position ourselves to do even better in the future. And that is a particularly important question when it comes to those who are most vulnerable," Kelley said. "When the CARES Act became law and state and federal policymakers began to look for ways to get stimulus money to consumers and businesses as quickly and securely as possible, ETA members immediately offered the tools of the modern payments industry to help to deliver stimulus money to Americans."

In her written remarks, Kelley highlighted how the pandemic has brought a sharp focus on the importance of access to affordable and secure payments and financial services. Digital payments products are being deployed today to assist with the delivery of the (as of June 6) $266.8 billion in EIP and $511 billion in PPP, along with the $260 billion in unemployment insurance allocated under the CARES Act.

General Purpose Reloadable Prepaid Cards

For those Americans without a bank account, many of whom are among the most vulnerable, funds are being disbursed, in part, on general purpose reloadable prepaid cards (prepaid). Specifically, states are currently delivering the unemployment benefits expanded in the CARES Act electronically using prepaid cards. Additionally, the Treasury Department and the Social Security Administration turned, in part, to two long-standing prepaid card programs - Direct Express and US Debit - to distribute over $9 billion in EIP's to 5.7 million Americans.

P2P Services

Peer-to-peer payment systems  also known as P2P payments or money transfer apps  are also distributing stimulus dollars. While final numbers are not yet available, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of EIP stimulus dollars were sent to P2P accounts directly. P2P services  like PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, and Cash App  thus made it possible for individuals to securely and quickly receive stimulus money and then immediately use it to make needed purchases, or transfer money to a family member or friend.

Distributing Stimulus to Small Businesses

ETA members - both traditional and Fintech participants - used modern lending tools to help the Small Business Association process and disburse $659 billion in Paycheck Protection Plan loans. As of June 6, the SBA disbursed $511 billion to over 4.5 million businesses.

Mobile Wallets, Contactless Payments and COVID-19

The use of contactless payment methods has risen dramatically during the pandemic because they allow consumers to pay without touching anything other than their own card or phone.

Stimulus dollars sent to prepaid cards or bank accounts linked to digital wallets allow consumers to not only use their funds easily, but also securely through the use of biometrics and PINs to unlock a phone and tokenization of transactions enabled through a mobile wallet.

A recent Mastercard Global Consumer study found that between February and March, contactless transactions grew twice as fast as non-contactless transactions in grocery and drug stores. Visa reports that from March 2019 to March 2020, there has been a 150% increase in contactless payments.

"ETA members are already working on the next generation of digital payment tools and services," stated Kelley. "We are keenly mindful of how important that is, and proud that we are successfully helping to address this critical need."

About ETA

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is the global trade association representing more than 500 payments and technology companies. ETA members make commerce possible by processing more than $21 trillion in purchases worldwide and deploying payments innovation to merchants and consumers.

SOURCE Electronic Transactions Association (ETA)

Related Links

https://www.electran.org


DENVER, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Benelinx has formally announced the launch of its new software solution for employee benefits agency management. Benelinx automates the insurance life cycle in a single, intuitive platform to help agencies leverage real-time data, build greater trust with clients and carriers, and stand out from competitors in today's crowded marketplace.

The global pandemic has disrupted brokers' typical communications and client service models. In April, a Gallup Panel reported that 62 percent of employed Americans have worked from home during the crisis, a figure that doubled since mid-March. Despite the nation's steps toward reopening, this number is likely to remain high in coming months, spotlighting the insurance industry's need for technological solutions to optimize a virtual workplace.

Beyond the shift to remote work, COVID-19 has caused sweeping changes in the healthcare industry, from the rise of telehealth to the movement away from traditional employer-based health insurance. These trends will certainly impact benefits brokers, especially as they move into open enrollment season. Now more than ever, it's critical for brokers to be proactive, helping clients navigate this new landscape.

"In this swiftly changing world, Benelinx offers brokers a better way of doing business," said Benelinx CEO & founder Rachel Zeman. "When it comes to technology, it's no secret our industry is behind the curve. Our goal is to drive innovation to help empower the industry at every level  from brokers and agencies to their employees and clients."

Benelinx functions as a "virtual CIO", harnessing data to inform strategy and help agencies scale faster. A streamlined workflow equals increased efficiency and greater value delivered to clients.

Key features include:

Workflow Automation

Systems Integration

Executive Dashboards

Embedded Quoting Engine

Self-service Client Portal

Custom Branded Proposals

Commissions Management

Benelinx has leveraged Salesforce's proven CRM to build an affordable and accessible agency management system. A turnkey solution for both new and current users, Benelinx integrates seamlessly with a variety of Salesforce licenses, providing instant access to all existing data processes and workflows.

To learn more about Benelinx or request a free demo, visit benelinx.com .

About Benelinx

Founded in 2019 by a seasoned broker, Benelinx is a complete agency management system for the employee benefits industry. Benelinx consolidates data and workflow in a centralized hub to help brokers stay connected, and improve relationships with staff, clients and carriers. Powered by Salesforce , the leader in CRM and secure cloud-based business applications, Benelinx provides instant access to real-time data from any location, anytime. Visit benelinx.com for more information.

SOURCE Benelinx

Related Links

https://www.benelinx.com


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Parole petition of mastermind of 1998 murder of Russian MP withdrawn

 RAPSI

16:46 11/06/2020

ST. PETERBURG, June 11 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov)  The Dzerzhinsky District Court of St. Petersburg has granted a motion to withdraw a parole petition filed by Mikhail Glushchenko, a former State Duma lawmaker sentenced to 17 years in prison for the murder of fellow parliamentarian Galina Starovoitova, RAPSI has learnt from the United press service of St. Petersburg courts.

According to the statement, Glushchenko has lodged a petition for parole not serving out a term required for the early release. Therefore, his motion was to be dismissed; and a new one he could file in six months.

The convict filed for parole on May 20. A hearing was scheduled for May 25 but later postponed until June 15. Glushchenko decided not to wait for the hearing and lodged a new motion to withdraw the previous one.

In August 2015, the Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg convicted and sentenced Glushchenko to jail. The court also imposed a 300,000-ruble (about $4,500) fine on him. However, he is still held in a detention center of the regional directorate of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Starovoitova was killed in St. Petersburg in November 1998. Her assistant Ruslan Linkov was wounded in the attack.

Eight suspects, including Yury Kolchin, a former employee of Russias military intelligence service (GRU), were charged with taking part in the assassination. In June 2005, a court in St. Petersburg sentenced all the men to prison terms varying from 11 to 23.5 years.

In 2004, a witness in the murder named Glushchenko as one of its masterminds.

As part of his plea agreement, Glushchenko reportedly agreed to testify against Vladimir Barsukov, who is believed to be a leader of one of the countrys most powerful criminal syndicates.

Barsukov, who changed his name from Kumarin earlier, went on trial on charges of attempted murder. He was sentenced in November 2009 to 14 years in prison for illegal corporate raiding, extortion and fraud, among other crimes. The sentence was reconsidered in March 2012, and Barsukov received 15 years in prison.

Glushchenko was also charged in another criminal case with extortion and sentenced in March 2012 to eight years in prison.




Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Health Care Workers Kneel in Moment of Solidarity for the Black Community

Health care workers across Kaiser Permanente Southern California, including hundreds in the West Los Angeles service area, gathered for a moment of silence to call for an end to racial injustice and discrimination and to express support for the Black communities across the region.

On Friday, June 5th, at 12:40 p.m., physicians, nurses, leaders, technicians and other health care workers joined in silence and knelt or stood for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to pay tribute to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others before them whose deaths have sparked a call for greater action to be taken against racism and discrimination in the U.S. Many held signs with messages such as We Stand Against Injustice and Discrimination, Black Lives Matter and End Health and Human Inequities.

Dr. La Tanya Hines, an obstetrician-gynecologist, was one of many physicians who joined the moment of solidarity at the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw medical offices.

Here was an opportunity to stand with my colleagues for humanity, said Dr. Hines. [To stand] for the humaneness of what it is like to be a black woman in America, to be a black female physician, to be a black mother of a black son. To stand up for all those things and to have people standing next to me who believe the same things.

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Dr. Hines, who practices at the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Medical Offices, added, We are not just Kaiser Permanente in the community; we are Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw. [We are] there specifically to address the needs of health care disparities in our community and bring to bear all the resources that Kaiser Permanente has to mitigate some of the issues of racism that affects our health care.

Physicians and staff also participated at the new Playa Vista medical offices, which is slated to open on June 16, 2020. Dr. Rathin Vora, physician in charge, Kaiser Permanente Playa Vista Medical Offices, knelt in silence to acknowledge the injustice and suffering.

Our Kaiser Permanente family stands strongly against all forms of racism, bigotry and discrimination, said Dr. Vora. I stand hand in hand to protest the injustices against so many, especially amongst our black communities.

He added, I am extremely proud to be a part of our Kaiser Permanente team. We share a common vision to do all we can in our power to right this wrong and stand up against any form of injustice. All human beings deserve a right to thrive.
Nelson Mandela would not have wanted colonialist Cecil Rhodes' statue to be taken down, the vice-chancellor of the Oxford college where it stands has claimed.

After thousands of anti-racism protestors gathered outside Oxford University's Oriel College with the simple message 'Rhodes Must Fall' on Tuesday, vice-chancellor Prof Louise Richardson said the former South African president would have disagreed with the clamour.

'I think [Mr Mandela] was a man of deep nuance who recognised complex problems for what they were. And I don't think he sought simplistic solutions to complex problems,' she told The Daily Telegraph.

Taking down the statue would be 'a refusal to acknowledge history', Prof Richardson said.

Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela would not have wanted colonialist Cecil Rhodes' statue to be taken down, a university boss has claimed. Pictured: Mr Mandela during a visit to Oxford University in 1997

Mr Mandela joined forces in 2003 with the Rhodes Trust - the charity set up by Cecil Rhodes' widow to fund educational scholarships - to form the Mandela Rhodes Foundation to help build a 'better future' for disadvantaged Africans.

Standing in London's Westminster Hall at its launch, anti-apartheid leader Mr Mandela declared it a 'symbolic moment in the closing of the historic circle'.

'In this, I am certain, Cecil John Rhodes and I would have made common cause,' Mr Mandela said at the time.

Rhodes, the industrialist and colonial-era political leader for whom the country Rhodesia, present-day Zimbabwe, was named, has become a controversial and divisive figure in the decades since his death in 1902.

Mr Mandela's move to associate with the charity bearing his name was therefore seen as 'extraordinarily generous', according to Prof Richardson, and was to show an ability to look past the horrors of the colonial era to the future.

After thousands of anti-racism protestors gathered outside Oxford University's Oriel College with the simple message 'Rhodes Must Fall' on Tuesday, vice-chancellor Prof Louise Richardson said the former South African president would have disagreed with the clamour

'I think he was a man of deep nuance who recognised complex problems for what they were. And I don't think he sought simplistic solutions to complex problems,' she told The Daily Telegraph

'He said that we have to acknowledge our past, but focus on the future.

'Hiding our history is not the route to enlightenment. We have to understand our history and we have to confront our history.'

This week, the long-running battle to remove a statue of Rhodes from atop Oriel College was reignited by demands for dozens of monuments at risk of being torn down in the name of anti-racism following Black Lives Matter protests across the country.

The University's Chancellor, Lord Patten, accused protestors of 'hypocrisy', stating that a scholarship created by Rhodes had benefitted hundreds of scholars, with a fifth coming from Africa.

Lord Chris Patten (pictured left), who has no power to remove the Rhodes statue (pictured right), located at Oxford University's Oriel College, said a trust set up after the mining magnate's death pays for the education of more than a dozen African students at the prestigious college each year.

Rhodes Must Fall: A timeline of events March 2015: Students at University of Cape Town begin protest to remove statue. April 2015: After a vote by the university's council, the statue is removed May 2015: A vote is held at Rhodes University, South Africa, to change the name of the university. The vote is defeated. January 2016: Vote held by Oxford students in Oxford Union, not affiliate to Oxford University, vote to remove the statue. January 2016: Leaked report reveals the university faces huge funding loss if it removes the statue. June 2020: The Rhodes Must Fall campaign is thrown into the spotlight among growing anti-racism protests by the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of American George Floyd. It gains particular attention following the toppling of a statue to slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Advertisement

'For me there is a bit of hypocrisy in Oxford taking money for 100 scholars a year, about a fifth of them from Africa, to come to Oxford, and then saying we want to throw the Rhodes statue in the Thames,' Lord Patten told the BBC.

'For all the problems associated with Cecil Rhodes's history, if it was all right for Mandela, then I have to say it's pretty well all right with me.'

Asked if Mandela would have opposed the removal of the Rhodes statue, a spokesman for the Mandela Rhodes Foundation said: 'The partnership with the Rhodes Trust underlined Mr Mandela's message and approach of reconciliation and reparation  of taking hands across historic divides that others may deem unbridgeable.'

It comes as Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London revealed it would consider removing a statue of its founder Sir Thomas Guy, who made his fortune in the 17th and 18th centuries as a major shareholder of a company selling slaves to the Spanish colonies.

A statue of the slave trader Robert Milligan was removed by a JCB digger from outside the Docklands Museum of London on Tuesday evening.

Next for removal is likely to be a statue of Sir Thomas Picton, the former governor of Trinidad who died at the Battle of Waterloo, after Cardiff city council's leader branded it an 'affront' to black people.

London Metropolitan University also dropped the name of 17th-century merchant Sir John Cass from its Art, Architecture and Design School in recognition of his links to the slave trade, while Imperial ditched a motto from its emblem over what is said was links to 'colonial power and oppression'.

Statues under fire: Map shows the 78 'racist' monuments from Orkney to Truro that 'Topple The Racists' campaign wants torn down in wake of Black Lives Matter protests

The campaign to tear down monuments in towns and cities across Britain gathered pace today as a 'hit list' of statues and memorials deemed to be 'celebrating racism and slavery' reached 78.

A website called 'Topple The Racists' has controversially identified dozens of landmarks from Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert's Bodmin Beacon to Lord Kitchener's memorial in the Orkney Islands that they say need to be removed 'so that Britain can finally face the truth about its past'.

Organisers have said they were inspired by the 'direct action taken by Bristolians', referring to the tearing down of slave trader Edward Colston's statue on Sunday in the city, before it was thrown into the harbour.

In details showing how statues are chosen, the website says the hit list includes 'cases where there is responsibility for colonial violence', adding that 'judgement calls' had been on cases where history is more 'complicated'.

Memorials to monarchs such as King Charles II and King James II make appearances on the list, as well as Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.

Monuments have been targeted in 39 towns and cities, with 12 located in London, and six in Bristol. Five of the one in Bristol celebrate Colston, including two schools, a tower and a renowned music venue which is set to change its when it reopens in the autumn.

Responding to the suggestions that some buildings built with the profits of the slave trade could be torn down, the group said they can 'just be renamed'.

A 'hit list' of 78 statues and memorials to some of Britain's most famous figures has been created by an anti-racism group urging local communities to remove them because they 'celebrate racism and slavery'

The next in line? BLM supporters have pinpointed a list of their next targets, but the most widely shared are (top left to bottom right) 1) Lord Nelson  tried to stop abolition (Nelson's column) 2) Sir Thomas Picton 3) Thomas Guy - London, Guy's Hospital 4) Sir Robert Peel 5) Sir Francis Drake 6) William Beckford 7) Henry Dundas 8) Clive of India 9) John Cass 10) General Sir Redvers Buller 11) Lord Kitchener 12) Ronald Fisher 13) Lord Grey - Grey's Monument - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Grainger Street 14) Oliver Cromwell  Statue - London, Houses of Parliament 15) Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde  Statue - Glasgow, George Square 16) William Ewart Gladstone 17) William Leverhulme  Statue - Wirral, outside Lady Lever Art Gallery 18) William Armstrong - Memorial - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eldon Place 19) King James II  Statue - London, Trafalgar Square 20) General James George Smith Neill, Wellington Square, Ayr

Yesterday, anti-racism protestors forced the removal of 18th Century slave dealer Robert Milligan from outside the Museum of London in West India Quay, Docklands.

Boris Johnson's Business and Industry Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Iraq and moved to the UK with his Kurdish parents aged nine, has since said there should be no statues of slave traders in Britain.

Mr Zahawi said they should not be torn down illegally like Edward Colston's in Bristol, but said: 'Any slave trader should not have a statue. But I wouldn't be breaking the law to take statues down, it should be done through our democratic process. It should be up to local people to decide what they want to do. If the majority of people decide that we want the statues down, then they should be taken down'.

There are at least five statues of two-time British prime minister Sir Robert Peel also under threat because his MP father, also called Robert Peel, campaigned for slavery to continue. His son is considered the father of the modern police, after setting up the Met as Home Secretary in 1829. Some BLM supporters are also angry because of his links to policing.

Internationally-renowned Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London has revealed it will consider whether to remove a statue of its founder Sir Thomas Guy - but will not change its name - as a senior minister backed a Black Lives Matter campaign to topple upwards of 70 monuments to slave traders.

Sir Thomas helped set up the hospital near London Bridge in 1721 having made his fortune in the 17th and 18th centuries as a major shareholder of a company selling slaves to the Spanish Colonies.

Today Guy's and St Thomas' welcomed Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's review of statues and street names in the capital and said the future of its own monument to its founder outside the Guy's building should be considered.

A spokesman said: 'We recognise and understand the anger felt by the black community and are fully committed to playing our part in ending racism, discrimination and inequality', adding: 'There are no plans to change the name of the hospital'.

The removal of a statue of the so-called 'Tyrant of Trinidad' Sir Thomas Picton from Cardiff city hall is nearing success as all of Labour's 130 UK local authorities agreed to draw up a list of controversial statues in their communities which could be ripped down after Edward Colston's was destroyed in Bristol on Sunday.

Cardiff City Council's leader Huw Thomas has backed the campaign to rip it down calling it an 'affront' to black people in the Welsh capital because he executed dozens of slaves. He was even put on trial in England for illegally torturing a 14-year-old girl - extremely rare at the turn of the 19th century - but after being convicted he successfully appealed.

While noting Picton's statue commemorated his part in the Napoleonic Wars and being the highest ranking officer to die at Waterloo, Councillor Thomas said: 'The growing awareness and understanding of the brutal nature of his governorship of Trinidad and his involvement in slavery makes it, in my view, very difficult to reconcile his presence in City Hall'.

A 25ft obelisk dedicated to him on the outskirts of Carmarthen town centre, which has been there since 1888, is also subject to a petition for removal. It stands on Picton Terrace, which also faces calls to be renamed.

A statue of Sir Thomas Guy, sits outside Guy's Hospital, which he founded in 1721 with 19,000 of his own money, equivalent to 2million today. Today the NHS Trust admitted it would consider its removal in a review set up by Sadiq Khan demands it because he made his money from slavery. Former bookseller Thomas Guy made his fortune through the ownership of shares in the South Sea Company, which had a monopoly on trafficking slaves to Spain's colonies in South America in 1713

The next to fall? This tribute to Sir Thomas Picton in Cardiff City Hall is expected to fall after the council's leader also demanded its removal. There are at least five statues of two-time British prime minister Sir Robert Peel (right in Parliament Square) also under threat because his MP father, also called Robert Peel, campaigned for slavery to continue

An aerial view of the Sir Thomas Picton obelisk on Picton Terrace in Camerthen, Wales, which is also on the BLM supporters' hit list. Picton was known as the 'Tyrant of Trinidad' owing to his brutal regime as governor of the Caribbean island. In 1806 he was convicted of ordering the illegal torture of a 14-year-old girl, Louisa Calderon. A charge that was later overturned.

In Edinburgh SNP city council leader Adam McVey said he would feel 'no sense of loss' if a statue to Henry Dundas, who delayed the abolition of slavery, was removed, amid mounting calls for action in the Scottish capital.

Also in Scotland a memorial to General James George Smith Neill, which stands in Wellington Square, Ayr, is also under threat. General Neill served during the Indian rebellion of 1857 and accused of ordering the deaths of many Indians following the Bibighar massacre.

Plymouth council said a public square named after slave trader Sir John Hawkins would be renamed while in nearby Exeter council chiefs will review the future of the city's statue of General Buller, who is rumoured to have had a hand in the introduction of concentration camps seen during the Boer War.

A debate has erupted over the legacy of 19th century prime minister Sir Robert Peel after those calling for his statues to be removed were accused of targeting the wrong man.

Lancashire-born Sir Robert, who is best known for founding the Metropolitan Police, is immortalised in a number of statues across the north of England and Scotland.
It's no secret Rebecca Judd is a fan of sweets and snacks.

And on Thursday, the AFL WAG, 37, was treated to 10 blocks of her favourite chocolate bar - Cadbury Caramilk.

She posted a clip on her Instagram Story showing off the limited edition treat she was gifted from her friend, Emma Pellicano.

Someone's got a sweet tooth! On Thursday, AFL WAG Rebecca Judd got her hands on 10 blocks of her favourite limited edition chocolate, Cadbury Caramilk

'You are the BEST,' she wrote on the post, directed at her pal.

Rebecca's clip comes after she recently revealed the contents of her snack drawer after it was replenished with her family's favourite snacks.

The mother-of-four shared the video on her Instagram story on Wednesday showing the drawer brimming with tasty treats inside the kitchen of her $7.3million Brighton mansion in Melbourne.

Thanks! She posted a clip on her Instagram Story showing off the 10 blocks gifted from her friend, Emma Pellicano

The stunning influencer announced in the footage: 'My favourite day of the week is definitely grocery delivery day.'

'Check it out, snack drawer full. Love it,' she added, as she gave her fans a tour.

The drawer was overflowing with Arnott's Savoy crackers, Peckish crisps, muesli bars, Cobs Natural Popcorn and sea salt flavoured Red Rock Deli chips.

Delicious: The drawer was filled with Arnott's Savoy crackers, Peckish crisps, muesli bars, Cobs Natural Popcorn and sea salt flavoured Red Rock Deli chips

Yummy: There were also packets of Parker's pretzels, Tiny Teddy biscuits, microwave popcorn, Thins chips and more

There were also packets of Parker's pretzels, Tiny Teddy biscuits, microwave popcorn, Thins chips and what appeared to be healthy probiotic bites.

The well-heeled media identity stamped the at-home extravagance: 'Snacks make me so happy.' Before adding, 'And cheese. And rose. And margaritas.'

Rebecca is mother to son Oscar, eight, daughter Billie, six, and twins Tom and Darcy, both aged three, who she shares with former AFL star husband Chris.
Dallas: US President Donald Trump led a discussion in Dallas on race and policing that excluded the three top law enforcement officials in the county  a police chief, sheriff and district attorney who are all black  and that felt much like a campaign rally, albeit far smaller than usual and with everyone seated.

The President drew cheers time and again from hundreds of supporters at Gateway Church as he forcefully rejected complaints about widespread police brutality and mocked "radical efforts to defund, dismantle and disband the police."

President Donald Trump speaks in Dallas. Credit:AP

"You always have a bad apple. No matter where you go you have bad apples, and there are not too many of them" among police, he said. "What happens late at night when you make that call to 911 and there's nobody there? What do you? What are you doing, whether you're white or black or anybody else? ... There is no opportunity without safety."

Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown and District Attorney John Creuzot were not invited. The White House defended the snub, insisting the President would still hear a diverse range of views, including from the police chief of Glenn Heights, a town of 11,000 south of Dallas.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create uncertainty in the economy and public health, starting a new school year will be a high-stakes challenge for educators who must help get students back on track after extended school closures.

That was the message a panel of education administrators and an advocate for educational equity shared with the Senate education committee Wednesday as they testified in a hearing focused on reopening schools shuttered to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Overcoming those hurdles will often involve adopting a hybrid approach that combines remote and in-person learning, costly uncharted territory for most schools, the witnesses told lawmakers.

The challenges include logistical issues associated with keeping students healthy; equity in areas like internet access; providing adequate compensatory services for special education students; and accomodating employees and students at elevated risk for severe illness from the virus.

I am concerned that the economic impact of the pandemic will result in necessary and sustained cuts in my states K-12 education funding to exceed 20 percent, while at the same time our costs of providing multiple platforms for learning will increase the need for teaching staff time, Nebraska Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt said. This is a perfect storm as we face increased needs and decreased resources.

Calls for More Federal Aid

The hearing came as education groups and Democrats push for additional federal relief for states and local governments that they say is necessary to help them avoid steep cuts to school spending.

Committee Democrats like ranking member Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut stressed the need for help schools face unprecendented needs, like helping ensure special eduction students arent left behind after interrupted learning.

This is my great worry, said Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat. In a moment when we should be investing, we are going to be seeing cuts because Congress apparently feels no urgency ... as schools are trying to get ready for what is arguably the most important beginning of a school year that will happen in a lifetime.

While Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn said her state had committed to fulfilling its K-12 funding formula, others, including Denver Superintendent Susana Cordova, warned that revenue shortfalls may force states to make cuts that could challenge their ability to maintain programs and staff.

The Association of School Business Officials and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, estimated this week that the average school district will rack up an additional $1.8 million in expenses just to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions guidelines for reopening schools. That includes items like providing masks and hand sanitizer and hiring additional employees for student health screenings. It does not include costs associated with remote learning or other challenges districts may face.

In a letter last week, a group of more than 100 House Democratic lawmakers said Congress should set aside a $305 billion stabilization fund for K-12 education in the next coronavirus relief package, based on estimates from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The latest House coronavirus aid bill the HEROES Act, provides far less than that, and it has been rejected by Republicans in the Senate.

Education advocacy groups have called for at least $250 billion for K-12 and higher education in the next stimulus bill.

Committee Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., asked if money allotted through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act would be sufficient to cover additional costs. The CARES Act provided $13.5 billion for school districts and another $3 billion for governors to direct to K-12 and higher education needs at their discretion.

But some analyses have said that funding may not be enough to offset anticipated state funding cuts.

John B. King Jr., the CEO of the Education Trust and a former secretary of education in the Obama administration, said future relief bills should include requirements to ensure new federal money adds to previous state revenue levels, rather than backfilling areas that are cut.

Controversy Over Private School Students

Murray and several other Democrats said U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos should testify before the committee about her nonbinding equitable services guidance for CARES Act relief money, which instructed public school districts to direct a portion of the federal aid to private school students.



What [schools] dont need is for Secretary DeVos to use this crisis to push her privatization agenda and compound the difficulties that they are experiencing, Murray said.

That directive has spurred controversy and resistance from some states. Blomstedt asked the committee for further clarification about how it would be applied. Alexander recently said that he differs from DeVos interpretation of equitable services under CARES.

DeVos said in late May she will create a new federal rule that could require districts to follow whats now nonbinding guidance. She has not yet released that rule.

Equity in Technology

All of the witnesses flagged uneven access to the internet, personal devices, and computers as a concern.

Thats because many schools may have to adopt rolling closures if the virus surges in their areas, they said. And many will keep portions of their students home several days a week, providing instruction remotely to avoid crowding in classrooms.

But in some families, multiple students are sharing one device to complete lessons, King said. Rural families often lack access to broadband internet, and low-income families may not be able to afford it.

In my state and in many rural states, internet is spotty at best, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

And while education advocacy groups have called for more funding for E-Ratethe federal program that helps cover school technology costsschools need additional flexibility to use that money to cover technology in students homes, she said.

In addition to technology, states are working to help schools prepare teachers for continued online instruction through professional development and guidance. Tennessee will release 20 toolkits next week to help districts navigate those and other reopening challenges, Schwinn said.

Adding to those challenges? Many staff members and students may have health vulnerabilities that make attending school in-person too risky.

The CDC guidance calls for schools to accomodate individuals at high-risk through telework and remote learning.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration should release guidance for schools on meeting those workers needs before the start of the new school year.

Testing, and More Testing

Alexander emphasized that frequent virus testing and contract tracing will be necessary to reopen schools safely and to contain exposure to COVID-19 so that school closures can be more limited in the new year.

In Tennessee, which has one of the highest per-capita testing rates in the country, education officials are working with officials coordinating the states testing efforts to involve schools, Alexander noted.

The question for governors, school districts, teachers and parents is not whether schools should reopenbut how, he said. Any teacher can explain the risk of emotional, intellectua,l and social damage if a child misses a school year. Schools need to assess how this years disruption has affected our children and get student learning back on track.

Follow us on Twitter @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Politics K-12 reporters @EvieBlad @Daarel and @AndrewUjifusa .
Militants Shell Towns in Syria's Idlib, Hama, Russian Military Says

Sputnik News

02:13 GMT 10.06.2020

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Militants from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* terrorist group have conducted numerous attacks in the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Hama, Rear Admiral Alexander Shcherbitskiy, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's centre for Syrian reconciliation, said on Tuesday.

"We have registered one shelling on the settlement of Dadikh in the province of Idlib, one shelling on the settlement of Tanjara in the province of Haman from the positions of Jabhat al-Nusra* terrorist organization", Shcherbitskiy said, adding that a group of unidentified people tried to obstruct the movement of the Russian military police patrol near the village of Kobane.

An explosive device planted under the vehicle detonated when the patrol car was turning back. Shcherbitskiy noted that no one was hurt and the servicemen returned safely to the base. He added that there had not been any confirmed attacks by the armed groups controlled by Turkey.

On 5 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed on a ceasefire in Idlib, which started at midnight. The sides also agreed to create a security corridor six kilometres (3.7 miles) north and south of the M4 highway in Syria, which connects the provinces of Latakia and Aleppo. Under the ceasefire agreement, Moscow and Ankara conduct joint patrols along the M4 highway, which is currently controlled by militants.

Militants remain in control of a small pocket of the Idlib province in northwest Syria.

*Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries.

A Sputnik

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British Airways has written to travellers belong to its loyalty scheme to offer them an extra years membership.

Executive Club members have been told: We all love to hear some good news every now and then. And so today, we wanted to tell you something that we hope will make you smile.

As the world prepares to fly once more, we know there is still a long road ahead, and we wanted you to know that we'll be right there with you every step of the journey.

Members have been given an extra 12 months in recognition of their loyalty and support.

In addition the airline has cut the number of tier points required to reach or retain elite status by a quarter.

For a silver card, giving lounge access, the traveller must take 37 eligible flights.

British Airways is also allowing an extra six months to use gold upgrade vouchers, companion vouchers and travel together tickets that have been earned through one of the airlines branded credit cards.

The airline is in the process of making 12,000 of its 42,000 staff redundant, and is seeking to renegotiate the contracts of those who remain.
Queen Elizabeth IIs husband, Prince Philip turned 99 years old on June 10 and is the longest-serving and oldest consort in history. He celebrated his historic birthday at Windsor Castle where he and the queen have been self-isolating for months.

The Duke of Edinburgh has made it to an age many can only hope to get to so in honor of his 99th birthday were revealing a few little known facts about the prince and the inventions that came about before he was born.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh | Yui Mok  WPA Pool/Getty Images

RELATED: Prince Philip Mistaken for Gardener and Unrecognizable in Tattered, Worn Clothing

Interesting facts about the Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip did not have an easy childhood. Shortly after his birth, his family was forced into exile and fled to France. His mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and eventually committed to an asylum. His father, Prince Andrew of Greece, then took up residence in Monte Carlo with his mistress and didnt much contact with Philip growing up.

In 1947, Philip married then-Princess Elizabeth who is his cousin. The royal couple are second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark and also third cousins as they are both direct descendants of Queen Victoria who was their great-great-grandmother.

There is another interesting fact about Prince Philip that not many people are aware of and that he is worshiped by a tribe in the Pacific island country of Vanuatu.

Coorey Sikor Natuan, the son of the local chief, holding portraits of Prince Philip | TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP via Getty Images

Sky News reported that the Prince Philip movement is a religious sect followed by the Kastom people in the Yaohnanen village. Legend has it that the prince was born to fulfill an ancient prophecy as the son of an ancient mountain spirit which would one day take the form of a light-skinned man, travel overseas, marry a powerful woman, and eventually return to the island with his wife.

When the queen and Philip visited Vanuatu in 1974 those who observed the respect given to the monarch by the colonial officials became convinced that her husband was the man referred to in the legend.

Things older than Prince Philip

The Office for National Statistics noted that the average life expectancy in the U.K. is just under 80. Prince Philip has long surpassed that and is said to still be in very good health. In his 99 years, the prince has seen a lot of changes and inventions that many never thought possible.

According to the U.K. History Learning Site, some of the notable inventions that were around long before Philip was born include air conditioning, electrocardiograms, windshield wipers, neon lights, electric washing machines, and vacuum cleaners. The inventions of crossword puzzles, bras, and Brillo pads came about in the 1910s.

Other things you probably didnt realize were around for more than 99 years are hairdryers and Band-Aids. They were both invented one year before Prince Philip was born.

RELATED: The Real Reason Queen Elizabeth IIs Husband, Prince Philip, Isnt King
Police force demonstrators away from St. John's Church across Lafayette Park from the White House on June 1, clearing the way for a Trump photo op. (Associated Press)

They don't look like the police on traditional patrol: helmeted and protected by bulletproof vests, firing tear gas canisters and flash grenades from behind Plexiglas riot shields, accompanied by mine-resistant armored vehicles as they advance in military order upon street demonstrators .

But they are police. They've been equipped with military hardware and trained to treat every outbreak of civil disorder as if it's tantamount to a terrorist attack. And they've often been shielded from discipline and oversight by union contracts granting them procedural protections they might not accept if granted to criminal suspects.

The result has been a string of violent attacks by law enforcement officers on civilians peacefully demonstrating against police brutality and racism  creating a flood of graphic images and videos on social media, cable news channels and newspaper web pages.

We're at a moment right now where so many more things are possible than we imagined three weeks ago.

Karen Sheley, ACLU of Illinois

There are signs that the May 25 death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police has triggered a decline in public trust and support for police beyond communities of color, where trust has often been low. The militaristic response to protests has not helped.

The spotlight has been focused as never before on two contributing factors in the evolution of local police into quasi-military forces: union contracts that delay and complicate discipline and oversight, and a flood of battlefield equipment provided by the Defense Department to police forces ill-trained to deploy it, but incentivized to use it in civilian communities.

House Democrats have introduced a bill that would make it easier to pursue complaints of police misconduct in court and pare back the distribution of military weaponry. Senate Republicans are working on another version.

"People see that this issue is not an issue that only affects, and should only be responded to, by Black people, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told my colleagues Jennifer Haberkorn and Sarah D. Wire. That really pushes the country to an inflection moment where maybe we can actually accomplish something significant.

Story continues

Police unions, like other public sector unions, have retained their strength even as private sector unions have slid in stature. But they're increasingly seen by other unions as outliers in the labor movement  as obstacles to social reform and racial equality, rather than supporters of those goals.

That has produced a split among major unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The Assn. of Flight Attendants passed a resolution on June 5 calling on police unions to "immediately enact policy to actively address racism in law enforcement and especially to hold officers accountable for violence against citizens, or be removed from the Labor movement." The resolution cited approvingly a Seattle-area labor coalition's demand for the Seattle Police Officers Guild to move to stamp out "systematic racism" in its ranks or be kicked out of the coalition.

Among other AFL-CIO member unions calling for the ejection of police unions is the Writers Guild of America-East, which voted Monday to ask the AFL-CIO to expel the International Union of Police Assns. on grounds that police unions wield their collective bargaining power as a cudgel, preventing reforms and accountability.

But public opinion may already be writing police unions out of the labor movement. A group of civil rights organizations and other public advocates has publicly called on the AFL-CIO to expel the IUPA. The advocates asserted that as they have "fought to equalize the playing field, the one voice that obstructed reform  through vicious attacks and fear mongering tactics  has been the police unions."

In Los Angeles, as my colleague Emily Alpert Reyes reports, local politicians have started to shun contributions from the local police union, the L.A. Police Protective League, which they once welcomed by the millions of dollars.

These actions place AFL-CIO leaders in a tight spot, since the police unions can point to procedural protections for the members as the product of collective bargaining, which organized labor hardly wishes to undermine. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka declared recently that his preference is to "engage with our police affiliates rather than isolate them, adding: "Collective bargaining is not the enemy.

Concerns that union contracts have erected walls of unaccountability around police misconduct have been rising for years. A 2017 study of 178 police union contracts by criminal law expert Stephen Rushin found that nearly 90% included at least one provision that "could thwart legitimate disciplinary actions against officers engaged in misconduct."

Those provisions included limits on anonymous complaints, delays of as long as 10 days before an accused officer could be interviewed, restrictions on consideration of prior discipline, and limits on civilian oversight. About half of the contracts allowed disciplinary records to be expunged after a certain period.

Not all the provisions are controversial or unfair. Some contracts guarantee accused officers the right to counsel or protection against abusive interrogations. But of provisions requiring that accused officers be provided with witness statements and other evidence before they can be questioned, Rushin observed: "Most experienced police officers would balk at such hindrances to their ability to interrogate criminal suspects."

Police unions have been especially adept at shielding members from public scrutiny, as Katherine J. Bies, currently a law clerk for a federal appeals court, observed in a 2017 study. The unions stand in the way of reforms that would "replace secrecy with accountability and transparency," she wrote, ascribing their power to their ability to "strategically frame any opposition to their agenda of secrecy as endangering public safety and harming the public interest."

Police union leaders have been stepping up their fight against change. "Over the last several years, there's been a shift deeper into rhetoric against reform from police union presidents," says Karen Sheley, director of the police practices project at the ACLU of Illinois.

But while the rhetoric has become "frankly more dangerous," she says, union policies have remained the same  make it harder for civilians to bring complaints about police behavior, and easier for officers to avoid being brought to account.

That rhetoric has become even more heated in recent weeks, as union leaders speak out in defense of members facing discipline or criminal charges in connection with alleged assaults on demonstrators.

Bob Kroll, head of the Minneapolis police officers union, called Floyd a "violent criminal," and complained that the four officers who were present when he died were fired "without due process." (Floyd had served time for aggravated robbery, but was not being stopped for a violent crime. Nor was he armed or acting violently at the time of his arrest.)

Some union leaders acknowledge that the attacks on demonstrators could undermine public support for the police.

"We led the statewide effort through legislation for California to require that all police agencies have a minimum-use-of-force policy and to address things like de-escalation, and a duty to intercede when you see a fellow officer engaging in excessive use of force," Robert Harris, a board member of the L.A. Police Protective League, told me. The rules were enacted last year.

"The bedrock of interactions between police and our communities is mutual respect and trust," Harris says. "When the perception is that law enforcement is the problem, that's dangerous."

That brings us to the other side of the misconduct coin: placing battle-ready equipment in the hands of officers without adequate training or oversight.

The militarization of police was rooted in the war on drugs of the 1980s and 1990s. It originated in Section 1033 of a 1989 defense budget measure, which authorized the Defense Department to donate surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies for "counterdrug activities," later expanded to include "counterterrorism activities."

While the equipment was free, local forces had to pay for its transport and maintenance. They were also required to put the equipment to use within a year, creating a powerful incentive for police departments to deploy assault weapons and armored vehicles in civilian neighborhoods.

As the American Civil Liberties Union observed in a June 2014 report, American policing had become infused with "weapons and tactics designed for the battlefield." The impacts of the trend were disproportionately visited on people of color, and had taken place "in the absence of any meaningful public discussion."

The ACLU report was prescient. That August, only weeks after its publication, the city of Ferguson, Mo., erupted in protests and riots over the shooting of Michael Brown, a Black resident, by a white police officer.

Video reports in real time showed police shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators, delivering to the American public a graphic display of militaristic tactics.

Once police had such equipment in hand, they were generally inclined to put them to use anyway.

"As agencies get more militarized, they may start to use the means of violence more often," Ryan Welch, an expert in the program at the University of Tampa, told me. "It's the law of the instrument: When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

The incursion of paramilitary tactics into local policing was popularized by the creation of the LAPD's SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams by the department's future chief, Daryl Gates, in the years following the 1965 Watts Riots.

SWAT teams soon came to be deployed beyond special situations. They became common in the execution of search warrants, especially in drug cases.

Almost always they were unnecessary. In a 2018 paper, Princeton political scientist Jonathan Mummolo determined that more than 91% of SWAT deployments in Maryland in 2010-2014 were for search warrants. Fewer than 5% involved barricaded suspects, in which brute force might be necessary.

The 1033 program was characterized by extreme sloppiness, with few records available about the value of equipment being sent to local departments.

In 2017, the Government Accountability Office reported that it had acquired $1.2 million in military equipment through a fictitious agency it had created to test the Pentagon's control of where its surplus goods were sent. The hoard included "night vision goggles, simulated rifles, and simulated pipe bombs, which could be potentially lethal items if modified with commercially available items," the GAO said.

President Obama banned the transfer of some equipment in 2015, including tracked armored vehicles, grenade launchers, bayonets and large-caliber weapons and ammo. He also required that the receiving agencies train their personnel in the use of transferred weapons and set rules on when they could be deployed against civilians.

But Obama left much of the 1`033 program in place. When Donald Trump took office in 2017, he rescinded Obama's limitations. The House police reform bill would restore them.

A recent poll from the Washington Post and George Mason University found that in the few weeks since the death of George Floyd, Americans have come to recognize that racism is institutionalized in policing and more needs to be done to eradicate it.

"We're at a moment right now where so many more things are possible than we imagined three weeks ago," says Sheley. "Cries for justice are going to be heeded, because if they're not there are going to be political consequences."
Congress provided this additional funding for the primary purpose of improving conditions for migrants at the border and ensuring migrants were receiving adequate health care after the deaths of multiple children in custody, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement Thursday. This callous disregard for the law is yet another example of this administrations continuing failure to carry out its duty to provide humane conditions and medical care for migrants in its care.
He has, fairly or unfairly, earned a reputation for being difficult to work with.

And it's something Sean Penn himself alluded to when he accepted the Best Actor Oscars for Milk at the 2009 Academy Awards, telling the audience: 'I did not expect this... and I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often.'

On Wednesday, Howard Stern asked the actor about it and Penn, 59, acknowledged that he has butted heads with directors who he believed did not deliver on what they had promised him.

Sean Penn acknowledged Wednesday that he has a reputation for being difficult but explained it's due to butting heads with directors who failed to deliver on what they had promised him

'Thereve been several times Ive worked with directors who I felt might have found a different job description, and perhaps werent the storytellers that their initial meetings with each of us actors might have indicated,' Penn explained to Stern on the shock jock's SiriusXM show.

'Actors are kind of canaries in the coalmine emotionally, and you have to go to whatever place is necessary inside yourself. If you dont have somebody there who at least respects that  most of what I was referring to is that the arrogance goes further than charm,' he said.

Penn added: 'I am aware that I can be a difficult person to like from afar.'

The actor, 59, made his candid comments during an appearance on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show

Stern asked him about his Oscar acceptance speech for Milk in 2009 where he said: 'I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often.'

'Thereve been several times Ive worked with directors who I felt... perhaps werent the storytellers that their initial meetings with each of us actors might have indicated,' Penn said

In Milk, Penn starred as openly gay activist Harvey Milk who was elected to the San Francisco Board Of Supervisors in 1977 and was assassinated in November 1978 along with the city's mayor George Moscone.

The film, released to critical acclaim in 2008, was directed by Gus Van Sant.

Penn won his first Academy Award in 2004, taking home the Best Actor Oscar for Mystic River.

He had previously been nominated three times in the category - for 1995's Dead Man Walking, 1999's Sweet And Lowdown and 2001's I Am Sam.

Penn is currently focusing on the work of his nonprofit organization Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) which is administering free COVID-19 tests across the US during the pandemic.
The German government Wednesday said it has received official confirmation from the U.S. of plans to reduce the number of American forces in Germany.

German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters in Berlin the government had been informed the U.S. is considering reducing its forces in Germany but said there is no final decision. There has been no U.S. confirmation.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal newspaper first reported that U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to pull some 9,500 of about 34,500 U.S. troops from Germany.

Earlier this week, Germany's defense minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, suggested that plan could weaken not only the NATO alliance but the U.S. itself.


T he vice-chancellor of Oxford University has warned against "hiding our history" after protesters gathered to demand the removal of a controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes from one of its colleges.

A large demonstration was held outside Oxfords Oriel College on Tuesday evening as part of a long-running campaign to get rid of the statue.

Speakers called for the college to remove the statue from the High Street entrance of the building and put it in context, as well as protesting against racism across society following the death of George Floyd in the United States.

Professor Louise Richardson said universities should face questions about who they accept money from and their responsibilities with it, but described issues as complex and said they are likely to be debated for decades to come.

"We need to confront our past, we need to learn from it," said Prof Richardson told the BBC. "My own view on this is that hiding our history is not the route to enlightenment.

Protesters took to the streets outside the Oxford college on Tuesday / AP

"We need to understand this history and understand the context in which it was made and why it was that people believed then as they did."

She added: "This university has been around for 900 years. For 800 of those years, the people who ran the university didn't think women were worthy of an education. Should we denounce those people?

"Personally, no - I think they were wrong, but they have to be judged by the context of their time."

Prof Richardson said the university, which has separately just announced the renaming of its newest college to Reuben College, has benefited enormously from having the Rhodes scholarship.

TODO: define component type apester

She said: This is the kind of issue I think that, you know, universities are designed for. We should be having questions about who should we accept money from, what are our responsibilities with that money, how do we judge people, what lens do we use to evaluate people ethically? Today? In the past?

These are all really important debates and the whole Black Lives Matter debate is a critically important one and Im delighted to see our students engage in it.

But these are complex issues. The kind of issues that colleges are designed for, the kind of issues that I expect people for decades to come will be sitting around tables in Reuben college debating and disagreeing with one another and reasoning and back and forth and so we should.

Protesters are calling for the removal of the statue / Getty Images

Earlier this week, governors at Oriel College said the institution abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms but that the college continues to debate and discuss the presence of the Rhodes statue.

Meanwhile, Prof Richardson said efforts to diversify the student body at Oxford, which has long faced criticism for a lack of diversity, are continuing as she welcomed an 80 million donation from the Reuben Foundation, announced on Thursday.

Part of the funding will go towards a scholarship programme for disadvantaged students.

Weve made progress," she said. "Its slow but its steady. The number of BAME students for example has increased from 14.5 per cent to 22.1 per cent in five years. The number of black students, admittedly from a low base, has gone up 100 per cent.

Meanwhile, the universitys chancellor Lord Patten warned that the row over the statue should not overshadow a focus on addressing inequality.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme on Wednesday: It should be taken seriously and there should be a proper and engaged argument.

I hope it isnt an argument about symbols and so on, which doesnt avoid an argument about far more fundamental issues which touch on Black Lives Matter, like education, like public housing, like public health.

Lord Patten said the fate of the statue was a matter for Oriel College, and claimed there was hypocrisy among critics of the statue who had also benefited from Rhodes scholarships.

For me there is a bit of hypocrisyin Oxford taking money for 100 scholars a year, about a fifth of them from Africa, to come to Oxford, and then saying we want to throw the Rhodes statuein the Thames.

But a vice-chancellor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) in London has called for the removal of the statue.

Baroness Valarie Amos told BBC Breakfast: We shouldnt airbrush history but I dont think you need a statue of Cecil Rhodes to help you to have a conversation about that history. I would take it down.

This is a man who was a white supremacist, an imperialist. He founded a company that made money through slave labour in the mines, and youre telling me that we have to put up a statue of this person, glorify their memory, to have a conversation about our history?

Baroness Amos, who will become the first black head of an Oxford college in August, added: A statue is a memorial. It is a symbol of something. We say that our country is about values  those are not the values that we should be promoting.

The news comes as the statue of 17th-Century slave trader Edward Colston was removed from Bristol Harbour by the council.

The statue was thrown into the water on Sunday by anti-racism protesters after being removed with ropes and dragged through the streets to the harbour.

The council tweeted a video of the statue being hoisted out of the water alongside the caption: Early this morning we retrieved the statue of Colston from Bristol Harbour.

"It is being taken to a secure location before later forming part of our museums collection.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is grappling with growing internal turmoil over how it will treat the LGBTQ and Muslim communities, as well as demands for a stronger response to the case of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody.

Staffers concerns are driven in large part by the recent hiring and promotion at USAID of a handful of political appointees with deeply conservative views and a history of making anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim and even anti-democracy statements.

Staff members are urging USAIDs new acting administrator, John Barsa, to take substantive steps to assure them and overseas partners that the agency opposes discrimination on religious, sexual and other grounds. But Barsa has sent mixed signals, insisting he wont tolerate discrimination but defending his controversial aides.

Given the broader context  the coronavirus pandemic, an ongoing reorganization at USAID and the arrival of a new leader  the tensions are palpable, several current and former USAID staffers told POLITICO, nearly all on condition of anonymity.

"There's a lot of angst and a lot of confusion, a feeling that there's floundering and no leadership," said Dave Harden, a former senior USAID official. He added that some of the new political appointees could hurt the agency's integrity. "We work in a very diverse world, and we have to be able to have credibility and effectiveness with diverse audiences, he said.

Its a very anxious time, and its overwhelming, added one senior USAID official.

A man walks past boxes of stockpiled USAID humanitarian aid meant for Venezuela at a warehouse in Colombia.

In a statement sent after this article was first published, Barsa stressed that USAID policy forbids discrimination and urged employees who believe they may have been targeted unjustly to file a complaint. Leadership will take appropriate action to hold accountable any employee, regardless of hiring mechanism, who is found to have engaged in discriminatory or harassing behavior, Barsa said.

The latest pressure on Barsa, who took the reins two months ago, comes from a letter being circulated among staff that urges him to do more to address racism within and beyond the agency.

Story continues

The letter asks Barsa, among other things, to issue a public statement affirming that Black Lives Matter; devise a strategy for improving minority recruitment; and meet with the secretaries of State and Defense to discuss ways to end structural racism within the U.S. national security apparatus.

Our adversaries are eagerly exploiting perceived American hypocrisy and fractures in our society; we cannot message our way out of this, the letter, dated Thursday, states. A person familiar with the effort said it already had more than 1,000 signatures, all USAID employees.

In recent days, a Change.org petition also has emerged demanding that Barsa fire a handful of aides with histories of making incendiary comments. That petition, which has gathered more than 1,500 signatures  though its not clear how many are from USAID staffers  appears to have been sparked by a ProPublica article about one particular hire, Merritt Corrigan.

ProPublica noted that Corrigan, USAIDs new deputy White House liaison, has in the past alleged that America is in the clutches of a homo-empire that pushes a tyrannical LGBT agenda.

In another online post, ProPublica reported, Corrigan has claimed that liberal democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself.

Corrigan also has worked for the Hungarian Embassy and called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban the shining champion of Western civilization. Orban is an autocrat whose accumulation of power recently led NGO Freedom House to declare that Hungary is no longer a democracy.

Other top USAID officials whose hiring and promotion have stirred concern are Bethany Kozma, who has spoken derisively of trans people and was recently named deputy chief of staff; and Mark Kevin Lloyd, a new USAID religious freedom adviser who has reportedly slurred Islam, calling it a barbaric cult in at least one instance.

Barsa has tried to walk a fine line in responding to the concerns.

On June 2, he sent a lengthy email to staffers bemoaning Floyds death. We dont tolerate any form of discrimination or prejudice in our ranks and we dont tolerate it in our work overseas, Barsa wrote.

Two days later, he issued a statement celebrating Pride Month, observed each year by the LGBTQ community.

But a few days later, Barsa issued a terse public statement decrying recent news article attacks on Kozma, Corrigan and Lloyd, subtly distancing himself from their hiring but not addressing any of the concerns about those aides past comments.

Political appointees are appointed at the discretion of the White House to carry out the presidents foreign policy agenda at USAID, Barsa said. I have full confidence that each political appointee at USAID has and will continue to implement the presidents policies and agenda to the best of his or her ability.

That statement alarmed many staffers at USAID, some of whom said it basically negated Barsas other assurances on non-discrimination.

Because so many USAID officials work in countries with large Muslim populations, and given that promoting democracy is a major reason for USAIDs existence, some staffers fear that the mixed messaging from Barsa will undermine their work.

The person familiar with the letter on the fallout from Floyds death said it avoids getting into the issues brought up by the political appointees because organizers feared touching on that would shut down any chance at a successful conversation.

And while the letter nods to Barsas June 2 email, the person said, many of us felt it didnt go far enough to acknowledge the present moment.

Barsas predecessor, Mark Green, was widely respected by members of both political parties, and he managed to stay largely under the radar while also launching a reorganization of the agency.

Many observers of USAID were surprised that Barsa was tapped as the acting administrator. Previously, hed served as USAIDs assistant administrator for the bureau dealing with Latin America.

His elevation  and the hiring of Corrigan and others, which are more likely the White Houses decision than Barsas  signaled that USAID might stake out more controversial territory than it did under Green.

Already, Democrats are livid over Barsas decision to send a letter to the United Nations warning it not to promote abortion as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Barsa suggested that the U.N. is cynically promoting abortion under the cover of sexual and reproductive health services.

I urge you to stop politicizing the historically bipartisan humanitarian assistance the United States provides and ensure that comprehensive life-saving assistance is continued, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) wrote in a rebuttal to Barsa.
New York City first lady Chirlane McCray speculated that an NYPD-free city would be Nirvana, in a Tuesday interview with Time magazine.

That would be like a nirvana, a utopia that we are nowhere close to getting to, McCray said. When asked whether New York would follow Minneapolis in attempting to disband its police department, McCray responded, They can do things that would not be possible in a large city like New York.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said in the same interview, Could the human race evolve to a point where no guardians, no structures are needed? I guess in theory, but I dont see that in the future were going to live the next few generations.

De Blasio on Sunday told reporters that an unspecified amount of funds will be redirected from the NYPD to youth and social services, and credited McCray with the idea behind the initiative.

The NYPD had a budget of $6 billion in 2019, while City Comptroller Scott Stringer has recommended diverting $1 billion from the police to other programs.

Calls to defund the police have grown in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers. At the same time, massive demonstrations sparked by Floyds death have led to instances of rioting and looting.

The NYPD has been called out in force to quell rioting throughout New York City, with looters targeting wealthy neighborhoods in lower and midtown Manhattan as well as sections of Brooklyn and the Bronx. De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have criticized the departments performance in handling the demonstrations.

The legislators, the press, everybodys trying to shame us into being embarrassed about our profession, shot back Mike OMeara, head of the New York Association of Police Benevolent Associations. Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect.Weve been left out of the conversation, weve been vilified  its disgusting.

Story continues

De Blasio has also appointed McCray to co-chair the citys coronavirus racial inequality task force.

More from National Review
China and Russia were blamed for spewing out false and misleading online information about Covid-19 in a European Union report that seeks to stem the unprecedented spread of fake news amid the pandemic.

The two nations are among foreign actors that sought to undermine democratic debate and enhance their own image through targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns around Covid-19 in the EU, the blocs executive authority said in the report published on Wednesday.

It would be too dangerous not to act, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova told reporters in Brussels. She said the pandemic showed us that false information could do serious harm, could kill citizens even and could undermine the public authorities response and therefore also weaken the measures taken.

The commission has in recent months stepped up pressure on platforms such as Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. to help stem the flow of misleading content about the virus, vaccines or alleged cures on their sites. Its part of a broader goal to fight hate speech and disinformation online that could lead to new EU regulation to make tech giants more accountable and responsible.

The EU said in the report theres been an unprecedented infodemic that has fed on peoples most basic anxieties as most of them were forced to stay socially confined and revert to an increased use of social media to access information. Given the novelty of the virus, gaps in knowledge have proven to be an ideal breeding ground for false or misleading narratives to spread.

Propaganda Campaign

The EUs findings on China and Russia are based on a separate study by the commissions foreign and diplomatic wing, which said it had evidence of a coordinated push by official Chinese sources to deflect blame for the coronavirus pandemic and promote its response to the virus. EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell, who heads the service, has worked with Jourova over the last few weeks on the latest plans.

The accusations against Russia and China reflect EU efforts to find an external enemy to paper over European divisions exposed by the pandemic, Leonid Slutsky, head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian lower house of parliament, said according to state news service RIA Novosti. Chinas foreign ministry didnt respond to a request for comment.

State-sponsored foreign propaganda preys on peoples fears and doubts, said Jourova. A geopolitical EU can only materialize if we are assertive and name the issues we face. But we also have to put our own house in order and beef up our own strategic communication to prevent others from claiming this space online.

Online platforms will have a key role to play by being more transparent about whats happening online and where misleading information is coming from. A code of conduct on disinformation that five tech giants, including Twitter, Facebook and Google, signed up to so far, is only a first step, said Jourova, adding that ByteDance Ltd.s social media app TikTok said they also plan to sign up to the code, and that the EU is in negotiations with Facebooks WhatsApp too.

Not Good Enough

We only know as much as platforms tell us and this is not good enough; platforms have to open up, she said.

Companies that are part of the code will have to publish monthly reports that include data on policies aimed at limiting ad placements related to Covid-19 disinformation, both on their own sites and on third-party websites, the EU said. While the commission is unlikely to propose hard legislation to regulate harmful disinformation, its working on a more balanced proposal, Jourova said.

The report comes as Hungary -- an EU member state -- faces criticism for preparing a national survey that includes a question on a coronavirus crisis proposal by investor George Soros that experts say will force nations into debt slavery.

In the national consultation due to be mailed to all Hungarian citizens, the government asks whether people should reject George Soross plan, which would in-debt our homeland for an unforeseeable long time.
OTTAWA  Manitobas sole cabinet minister, Saint BonifaceSaint Vital MP Dan Vandal, is blaming the province for a lag in infrastructure projects, while acknowledging issues with the Liberals commercial-rental subsidy, and getting caught off-guard by COVID-19.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Manitobas sole cabinet minister, Saint BonifaceSaint Vital MP Dan Vandal, is blaming the province for a lag in infrastructure projects, while acknowledging issues with the Liberals commercial-rental subsidy, and getting caught off-guard by COVID-19.

"We were not as prepared as we should have been," Vandal said Wednesday, during a virtual chat with the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce.

He said western countries need to craft better pandemic plans after the novel coronavirus passes, to avoid repeating the dramatic impact of shutting down their economies.

Loren Remillard, head of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, told Vandal many of the citys businesses could fold if the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program for small businesses isnt fixed.

"The need is so pressing, and for so many companies, that will be the determinant as to whether they will be viable post-COVID," Remillard said.

CECRA has Ottawa and the province split the cost of half a business monthly rent, if the tenant agrees to pay a quarter and the landlord forgives the rest.

Businesses have told the Free Press eligibility is too narrow for those starting to recover, while others cant convince their landlords to take up the program.

When asked, Vandal did not have data on the local uptake, and did not say whether Ottawa would flow funds directly to landlords. However, he acknowledged "it hasnt been 100 per cent" successful.

"We are working closely with the provinces to try to make this program a better program," Vandal said. "The federal government really has no jurisdiction over landlords in this, and were working with the province."

On Tuesday, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said he is working with Ottawa to redesign the program to lower "some of the landlord reluctance" and also provide more stability for commercial tenants.

Despite that collaboration, the years of sparring between the Trudeau and Pallister governments has endured the pandemic.

Vandals strongest comments came after MCC head Chuck Davidson asked about Manitobas perpetual delay in getting projects approved through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).

Manitobas $3-billion fund is shared by both levels of government, for a decade of projects.

ICIP requires projects match one of four quota streams, which Davidson said is a problem when community needs are "not necessarily fitting into all the right slots."

Vandal defended the "hotly debated" process of using streams and requiring provinces to initially approve and prioritize projects before Ottawa approves them.

The Liberal MP said it ensures projects better respond to local needs. "But I think we need to also put the onus on the provinces and the cities, to make sure that theyre doing all they can to bring those projects forward."

He noted none of the $112 million in federal cash allocated for Manitobas northern and rural needs has been allocated since the province signed the deal two years ago.

"In my eyes, there is absolutely no reason why this program is 100 per cent unallocated," Vandal said, noting communities such as Churchill are expecting far less tourism.

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In response to similar criticism from the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, the Pallister government has said it intends to submit projects to Ottawa by "late spring" and it is in the process of consulting.

Vandal added his government is working on "a post-COVID infrastructure program thats going to look closely at shovel-ready projects."

The chambers also urged the federal Liberals to direct money to cities, which are losing cash from transit and fees and effectively cant run deficits. Vandal acknowledged the need. He also said the recovery gives the chance to make Canadian businesses more green, digital and equitable.

Vandal gave the example of "absolutely unacceptable" deaths in long-term care homes, which he said need to pay above the minimum wage.

"Clearly, we have to rebuild our society," he said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
AN 82 year old woman was knocked to the ground and left badly shaken after a cyclist tried to snatch her handbag.

Gardai have appealed for witnesses to the shocking incident which occurred at Merchant's Quay, just metres from Cork city centre, around lunchtime on Wednesday.

The pensioner was walking home having been in the city centre to do some essential shopping.

As she walked along Merchant's Quay - just metres from St Patrick's Street - a man on a passing bicycle tried to grab her handbag.

In the ensuing struggle, the woman was knocked to the ground.

Pedestrians in the busy area ran to her aid.

The cyclist then fled without the woman's handbag.

The woman was said to be very shocked at the scene and had suffered minor cuts and bruises.

She was taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH) as a precautionary measure but was later discharged into the care of her family.

One garda said the incident represented "a very nasty crime" which targeted a vulnerable person.

Gardai have now appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident or the movements of the robber afterwards to contact them.

The robber was described as a young man wearing a grey hoodie-type top and was on a bicycle.

Gardai are now studying CCTV security camera footage from a number of city centre premises and are hopeful they will be able to identify the individual involved.

Officers are now appealing for anyone who was around the Merchants Quay area around 12 midday on Wednesday, particular road users with video footage, to contact Anglesea Street Garda Station on (021) 4522000.
As Mexicos coronavirus death toll soars, Al Jazeera visits an ICU where doctors are working hard to save lives.

Mexico has reported a record daily rise of more than 4,800 cases of the coronavirus and more than 15,300 people there have died.

Doctors and nurses on the front lines have been protesting over a lack of training and protective equipment as they treat patients.

Al Jazeeras John Holman reports from an intensive care unit in Mexico City.
By PTI

AHMEDABAD: Under the Indian Navy's 'Samudra Setu' operation, naval ship 'INS Shardul' on Thursday brought back 233 Indians to Gujarat from Iran, where they were stranded due to travel restrictions in view of the coronavirus -induced lockdown.

The ship set sail from Bandar Abbas port of Iran on June 8 with these 233 Indians, mostly fishermen from Valsad district of the state, and arrived at Porbandar port on Thursday, said defence PRO for Gujarat, Puneet Chadha.

"The ship is docked at Porbandar port and passengers are being deboarded. The local administration has made arrangements to send them to their respective native places," said Chadha.

INS Shardul arriving at Porbandar with 233 Indians from Iran under Operation #SamudraSetu. Most of them are fishermen belonging to Valsad. #IndiaFightsCorona | #VandeBharatMission pic.twitter.com/w6iZ2iX8m0  All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) June 11, 2020

He said safety protocols, including pre-boarding health check-up and social distancing during the journey, were followed on the ship to stop the spread of coronavirus.

He added that doctors and nutritionists along with life-saving equipment were kept on the naval ship to deal with any emergency during the journey.

Earlier, naval ships 'Jalashwa' and 'Magar' had evacuated 2,874 Indians from the Maldives and Sri Lanka to ports of Kochi and Tuticorin under 'Samudra Setu' operation, launched to bring back Indians stranded abroad following the lockdown.
Athens, GA (30605)

Today

Light snow this evening will give way to some clearing late. Some mixed winter precipitation possible. Low 26F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%..

Tonight

Light snow this evening will give way to some clearing late. Some mixed winter precipitation possible. Low 26F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%.
General Milley said "I should not have been there" - Chip Somodevilla /Getty

America's top general has apologised for appearing alongside Donald Trump when he posed with a Bible outside a church in Washington DC, the latest military official to distance themselves from the US president's handling of the protests over racial inequality .

Mr Trump was roundly condemned for walking across Lafayette Square for what critics called a photo opportunity after officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area of peaceful protesters.

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared alongside the president during the event, triggering a fierce debate over the military's role in quelling the civil protests.

In a video address to students at National Defense University, Gen Milley acknowledged the controversy around the photocall saying: I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

"We must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the essence of our republic".

It was the general's first public comments since law enforcement officials attacked peaceful protesters outside the White House so that Mr Trump could pose with a Bible outside St John's Episcopal Church, whose basement was set on fire during protests on May 30.

The photo call was interpreted as a message of defiance to the protests but led to fierce rebukes from several Christian leaders, including the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese to which the church belongs.

Gen Milley was reportedly unaware that he had been summoned to the White House to participate in the photo opportunity, instead believing he would be accompanying Mr Trump to review the National Guard members and other agents stationed outside Lafayette Square.

Watch Gen. Mark Milley, the countrys top military official, apologize for his role in President Trumps walk across Lafayette Square for a photo op after authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area of peaceful protesters.



Read more. https://t.co/5ytpwCd3HF pic.twitter.com/mfDmWh4OMI  The New York Times (@nytimes) June 11, 2020

The general was said to be furious about his involvement in the photo take, particularly because he was in his combat dress at the time, leading to a heated discussion with Mr Trump, according to the New York Times.

Story continues

His remarks on Thursday mark the latest fissure between Mr Trump and his military chiefs. Yesterday Mr Trump rebuked the US Army Secretary after he suggested he was open to renaming military bases named after Confederate soldiers. The US president tweeted that his administration would "not even consider" the idea.

It comes after Mr Trump's Defence Secretary, Mark Esper, broke with the president to publicly state his opposition to deploying active-duty troops on the streets to counter demonstrations, just days after Mr Trumps threatened to do just that.

Both Mark Esper, left, and Gen Milley, appear to have broken with the president in recent days - Kevin Lamarque /Reuters

Mr Esper's predecessor, Jim Mattis, also issued a blistering condemnation of Mr Trump's handling of the anti-racism protests and calling the incident in Lafayette Square an abuse of executive authority. Mr Mattis, a respected former four-star general, said: We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.
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Since its hard to pillage while pushing a loved one in a wheelchair, its a good bet that few of the rioters were family caregivers.

The incessant need to rage withers under the strain of caring for a disabled family member. Dealing with a developmentally disabled child repeatedly screaming through the night curtails the ability to head downtown and light fires. A spouse facing her 80th surgery overrides the need to loot Macys, steal a Gucci purse, or deface a treasured monument. A mentally-ill family member cursing and striking you, or a father with dementia who seems to have bowel movements in every room except the restroom  leaves little strength for vandalizing. Stressing over an addict/alcoholic circling the drain consumes too much of the day to allow for rioting.

Some of Americas 65 million caregivers could probably work in a peaceful protest. The caregiver and loved one can simultaneously get some fresh air, participate in a good cause, and get some exercise. Burning down the system, however, simply takes too much energy. Its all about the math  the number of hours one logs in the emergency room is in direct proportion to how much time can be allotted to destroy the property of others.

Plus, after the riot, youre still a caregiver  except now the local pharmacy smolders in an ash heap, the ambulance services grow sparse, and the nearest grocery is in ruins. With too much to destroy and so little time, rioters cant be bothered with that type of perspective. Quotas of carnage must be met, otherwise there will be trouble at the home office of Antifa.

Suffering, heartache, and injustices come in many forms. Slow deaths are still deaths. Fomenting professors dont include this kind of reality in a syllabus, and instead give class credits for anarchy. While so many in the media seem to goad the fighting over who gets custody of the cow, the political class grab their stool and bucket and milk that bovine for all its worth.

All the while, the slow tide of age, disability, mental illness, and addiction rises around us  regardless of our colors, ideology, or economics.

Many of those hurt in the riots look at a lifetime of caregiving needs. Those who lost businesses and life savings face aging and decline without financial resources. Those who lost their lives at the hands of looters now leave families to deal without a family member or provider to help with inevitable caregiving needs.

Who do those caregivers loot and rage against? There is no Tomb of the Unknown Caregiver for them to desecrate.

As rioters and anarchists don their uniforms and punch their clocks while heading to another day of marauding, someone might want to give them a heads up. A stealthy and inevitable challenge approaches. Its called reality, and it is no respecter of persons.

Plunderers might want to save up their energy, because that reality states, If you love someone  youll probably be a caregiver. If you live long enough (particularly after a tough day of ransacking), youll need one.
China's threats spurred visit to Taiwan: Czech Senate president

ROC Central News Agency

06/10/2020 11:40 AM

Berlin, June 9 (CNA) The president of the Czech Republic's Senate, Milos Vystrcil, said Tuesday that threats from China and a desire to uphold democratic values strengthened his intent to visit Taiwan.

The visit is planned for Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, Vystrcil announced at a press conference Tuesday, saying that China's threats toward him and his predecessor were one of his main motivations for the trip.

Vystrcil's predecessor Jaroslav Kubera, who died of a heart attack in January, was a long-time supporter of Taiwan and was planning to visit the country in February.

At the time, Czech media reported that the Chinese embassy had sent a letter threatening repercussions on Czech businesses if Kubera went through with the trip. His family later said the letter contributed to his death.

At the press conference, Vystrcil said he was dismayed by the letter and found the influence China exerts over his country unbearable.

During a meeting in March, when top Czech government officials discussed issues related to China, they took great care to avoid offending the country, Vystrcil said.

It made him realize just how powerless Czech officials were in the face of China, and that the two countries were not equal partners, Vystrcil said.

China also warned Vystrcil against congratulating President Tsai Ing-wen () on her inauguration for a second term in May and protested when he thanked Taiwan for its donation of surgical masks, he said.

Also contributing to his decision to visit Taiwan, Vystrcil said, was the Czech Republic's history of siding with the values of freedom, democracy, independence and the rule of law over financial gain.

"I am inclined to uphold morals and values instead of counting money. Otherwise, sooner or later, we will realize we have nothing," he said.

During his visit to Taiwan, Vystrcil will be accompanied by political, business and scientific leaders, he said, adding that his predecessor's widow, Vera Kuberova, has also agreed to accompany the delegation.

As Senate president, Vystrcil ranks second only to the head of state in the Czech Republic, which would make him the highest ranking Czech official to ever visit Taiwan.

(By Lin Yu-li and Chiang Yi-ching)

Enditem/ls

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Iran, Iraq reach initial deal on building 354km highway: Minister

06/11/20

Source: Press TV

Iran's minister of transportation says an initial deal has been reached with the neighboring Iraq to build a long highway that would ease traffic across the border and would help boost trade between the two neighboring countries. Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday that the 354-kilometer highway would connect the city of Mehran on the western Iranian border to the holy city of Najaf in central Iraq.

"The Mehran-Najaf Highway could be a high-potential road for transit and trade exchanges between the two countries in addition to the function it would have for transporting the pilgrims," said Eslami.



The minister added that Iranian and Iraqi officials had concluded "initial talks" for building the key road.



A study by the Iranian parliament shows that nearly two million Iraqis visit Iran each year for pilgrimage purposes. The number of Iranians visiting Iraq for a similar reason is around 700,000 although over two million Iranians arrive in Iraq during the Arba'een period, a special religious occasion which takes place in the second month of the Islamic calendar.



Iran and Iraq have massively expanded their trade relations over the past years mainly as a result of deepening political ties between the two neighbors.



Iraq is only second to China in Iran's list of top export destinations with more than $12 billion worth of goods and services purchased from Iran each year.



Iran has embarked on a series of major transportation projects to facilitate trade with Iraq, including a railway that would connect cities on the southwestern border to the Iraqi port city of Basra.
A day after George Floyd was laid to rest in Houston, more than 100 San Antonians marched to condemn police brutality and demand justice for two African-American men fatally shot by local police in separate incidents in 2014 and 2018.

It was the 12th consecutive day of protests in San Antonio sparked by the death of Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Standing under a sweltering sun Wednesday, the crowd called on Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales to reopen investigations into the shootings of Marquise Jones and Charles Chop Roundtree. It was the second day in a row that protesters gathered in front of Gonzales office after he announced he wouldnt reopen the cases.

It took the death of someone like Mr. Floyd to be televised, to be shown all over social media, for cities to look at their police departments under a microscope, said Deborah Bush, Jones aunt. When it was just randomly black people being killed or brown people being killed, it was like society didnt care.

Jones, 23, was killed in 2014 by Officer Robert Encina, who was working off-duty as a security guard for Chachos and Challucis restaurant on the Northeast Side. Jones car had rear-ended another car in the drive-thru, and Encina said he approached Jones vehicle to detain the driver.

Testifying in the familys unsuccessful civil lawsuit, Encina said Jones jumped out of the passenger side of the car and began running, at one point brandishing a gun. A gun was found some distance from his Jones body, but it was never established that it was his.

Encina fired eight shots, killing Jones.

A Bexar County grand jury declined to indict the officer.

You were supposed to be in fear of your life  and you fired blindly and couldve killed someone else, said Bush, with Jones tearful mother at her side. They never indicted (Encina), and he went about his life.

Bushs voice boomed over a microphone set up outside the district attorneys office, where people raised signs, reading Silence is violence and Justice for Marquise Jones. Others had decorated umbrellas with messages that included Black trans lives matter and Abolish police.

Two poster boards and a pile of markers lay on the ground in the center of the crowd. Protesters were urged to write messages for the grieving families. Before long, the white cardboard was covered in notes and drawings: We stand with you. You did not die in vain. We will not forget you, and will fight until the day MLKs dream comes true.

After listening to community activists and Jones family members for an hour and a half, about 100 participants marched a mile to the Bexar County Jail.

Police on motorcycles lined the way. Arrest Steve Casanova! one of the marchers shouted as he passed officers preventing traffic from entering the intersections.

In 2018, Casanova shot and killed 18-year-old Roundtree. Casanova had been responding to a complaint about an assault when he arrived at the house where Roundtree was staying with friends.

According to body camera footage obtained by KENS-5, Davante Snowden, then 24, stood up as the officer approached the screen door and put his hands in his pants. Casanova believed Snowden was reaching for a gun and fired at him, investigators said.

The shot went through Snowden and struck Roundtree in the chest as he sat on the couch, killing him. A grand jury declined to indict the officer.

Earlier this week, Gonzales said he had examined the fatal shootings of Jones and Roundtree and believes there was no criminal conduct on the part of the officers involved. There is no new information that would warrant reopening the cases, Gonzales said.

Gonzales said the two cases were very different from that of Floyd, who died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, ignoring Floyds cries that he couldnt breathe. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Gonzales said that in the Jones and Roundtree cases, officers had to make a split-second decision when they fired, and in a situation where they believed they had to use deadly force.

Protesters chanted Roundtree and Jones names as they made their way to the jail.

Look at the street were walking on  and we spend most of our budget on the cops! said Matthew Alonzo, a teacher who joined the march on a bicycle.

Black women matter! Black men matter! Black children matter! the marchers chanted when they arrived at the jail. As the protesters poured into the concrete pavilion outside, inmates rushed to the windows. In orange jumpsuits, they huddled together, waving at the protesters. One used a marker to write, Black lives matter on a piece of paper that he pressed against a window.

Your lives matter! the crowd shouted, with fists raised in the air. After a few rounds of chanting, the crowd quieted.

Lets keep coming together as a community black people, white people, gays, straight, young and old  lets be the change, activist Akeem Best, 33, boomed over the microphone. This is our moment in history. If we dont seize this moment in history, this will happen again.

Marina Starleaf Riker is an investigative reporter for the San Antonio Express-News with extensive experience covering affordable housing, inequality and disaster recovery. To read more from Marina, become a subscriber. marina.riker@express-news.net | Twitter: @MarinaStarleaf
Sabarimala temple will remain closed for devotees when it opens for the monthly puja on June 14. Only rituals will be held at the moment and the temple will be closed on June 19.

The decision was taken at a meeting held among the Kerala Devaswom Minister, Travancore Devaswom Board president and the temples tantri in view of the rise in coronavirus cases across the country.

The "aarattu" festival at Sabarimala that was scheduled to begin on June 19 and end on June 28 has been postponed. It was initially supposed to be held in April.

Tantri Kandararu Mahesh Mohanaru said that there is no differences of opinion between him and Travancore Devaswom Board, adding that he was consulted before and after a recent meeting held with Chief Minister Pinaray Vijayan on the issue.

Following the rise in coronavirus cases in the state, Mohanary had written to the Devaswom Board to reconsider the decision on opening the temple.

"The situation is not like how it was last month. Cases are increasing. If anyone tests positive, then the priests too would have to go into quarantine and the festival will have to be stopped. It is better to not have the festival at this time. It was me who suggested that we can have the festival in June," the thantri said.

Earlier, it was decided the temple would be allow visitors from June 14 after the central government issued guidelines on opening places of worship.

Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said, "Opposition parties and the BJP were continuously asking why the government is not opening up places of worship. They kept saying that the government is consciously delaying opening up of places of worship. The leader of Opposition had himself urged us to reopen temples following restrictions. It was in this backdrop that the CM held discussions with representatives of various religious organisations."

Surendran said most of the devotees come to Sabarimala from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana all of which have seen rapid rise in cases over the past few days.
By the time New Yorkers return to traveling on planes, they may forget they ever hated La Guardia Airport.

The airport famously derided as third-world by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will take a big leap forward on Saturday when its cramped, 56-year-old Central Terminal is jettisoned for an airy, art-filled $4 billion replacement.

It will be a notable milestone for an airport long maligned as dingy and decrepit.

But there will not be many travelers around to enjoy the new arrivals and departures hall in Terminal B because the coronavirus pandemic has brought air traffic to a near standstill.

The number of passengers using La Guardia and the other airports that serve New York City has dropped by about 95 percent since the virus swept through the region. Airlines have slashed their schedules, tourist attractions have been shuttered and businesses have grounded their employees.
Wes Williams knew that there were protests going on in downtown Dallas, where he lives and works. George Floyd had died a few days earlier after a Minneapolis police office knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, and people all over the country were taking to the streets to protest racism in America. But it wasn't just protests. There were incidents of vandalism and looting happening, too. "I knew that that evening that there was going to be a protest and historically there is always the good possibility that a protest can shift to a riot," Williams tells CNBC Make It. So at about midnight on Saturday, May 30, Williams made the five-minute drive from his home to Dallas' Historic West End to check on his restaurant, a hamburger franchise called Burgerim Westend. Everything looked fine, as it did when he went back at 2 a.m. Then 3 a.m. rolled around. Williams got a message from a former employee that his restaurant's front windows had been smashed. So Williams, 38, drove back to his restaurant for a third time. He swept up the glass and boarded up the broken windows. He understood why his windows were broken: "A protest is a collective cry for help, but when that cry goes unheard, then it becomes a riot," he says. So before he went to sleep, Williams posted pictures on his Instagram and Facebook accounts to let his followers know that, while the store had been vandalized, he would still be open for business. "It's all good, I'm still rockin' ... Burgerim West End shall be open today/this Saturday...," Williams posted. "I call this a luxury tax," Williams wrote of the smashed windows. When he woke up three hours later, his post had gone viral.

'I call this a luxury tax'

"I was about to start my day and my phone was jumping off the dresser," Williams says. People were commenting with "thank yous" and "words of encouragement in regards to my statement about the situation, in just the way that I handled it. And so once again, for that I was humbled and I'm thankful," Williams says about the response. By the time Williams got to the restaurant at 11 a.m., it was flooded with customers looking to show their support. "There was already a line down the block," Williams says. One of those customers was billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Mark Cuban, with Burgerim Westend owner Wes Williams Photo courtesy Wes Williams

Cuban tells CNBC Make It he waited in line for three hours for a veggie burger and onion rings because "I wanted to show my support" for one of the only black-owned business in that part of town. Williams was "great with all his customers. His service was good. Most importantly he brilliantly turned it into a block party so that those waiting in the heat enjoyed their time," Cuban says. Cuban also tweeted the the food was "incredible."

An especially tough few months

Williams grew up on the west side of Detroit where he worked as a firefighter. But in 2007, he moved to Dallas, where, on Halloween in 2019, he opened his Burgerim franchise as an investment. As a firefighter and EMS technician, as well as a restaurant owner, his life and business were upended by they Covid-19 pandemic before the wave of protests began. Williams was on the front line handling patients, and he pivoted his burger joint to curbside pick-up and delivery only during the pandemic. In March, he had to furlough his 10 part-time employees, so in between his fire and EMS shifts (he works 24 hours on, then 48 hours off) he delivered burgers himself. Burgerim's manager did the cooking and Williams "got in my own personal vehicle and I delivered food. ... [It was] just my way of investing back in the customer and just saying, 'Hey, I appreciate you still patronizing my business,'" Williams says. While his Burgerim team was furloughed, Williams ran what he called the "Burger and Bottles" campaign, where profits from the namesake order (two burgers, one french fry and a pint of Nue vodka for $20) went directly to the back of house and cook staff. And with help from a Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program loan, Williams was finally able to start putting his team back on the schedule by May 2, he says. It was just weeks later that Burgerim's windows were smashed. But despite having worked very hard to get the restaurant open, Williams isn't angry. "Just as I could say that my windows have been busted out, there's a gentleman who lost his life," he says, referring to Floyd. "And I understand the bigger picture of what was going on, the climate that we were dealing with. "Given the history of my culture and the things that we've dealt with in regards with police brutality and just the injustice towards African Americans  an individual from my culture is no longer here and the manner that he was killed and just how things played out. It would be disrespectful for me to have an attitude or be mad or feel some type of anger behind my window being busted."

A path forward with help from the community
The independent watchdog ousted by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that a high-ranking State Department official tried to bully him in part because of his review of last years emergency arms sale for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick told lawmakers that Undersecretary of State for Management Mike Bulatao had sought to dissuade him from conducting a review of the $8 billion emergency arms sale that Trump and Pompeo approved last year, according to a transcript released today.

Why it matters: Linick said Bulatao had told him it wasnt appropriate to look into the emergency arms sale certification for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates because it was a review of policy. The ousted watchdog countered that the inspector general has the authority to review how policy is implemented.

We were not judging whether the policy was good or bad, said Linick. We are nonpartisan. We just look at how policies are carried out and whether they comport with applicable regulations and law.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee had asked Linick to review the $8 billion emergency sale, which reportedly factored into Pompeos decision to recommend removing the inspector general. Congress passed three resolutions to block the sale to the Saudis and Emiratis amid concerns over the Yemen war, but lawmakers did not have enough votes to override Trumps vetoes. Pompeo, who refused Linicks request to do an in-person interview about the sale, doubled down on his denial that the removal was retaliatory today, deriding the former inspector general as a bad actor.

The transcript shows Linick to be in Republican crosshairs over allegations that the inspector generals office leaked an investigation concerning Brian Hook, the State Departments Iran policy coordinator, to the press. Media reports on the inspector generals rebuke of Hook for reassigning a staffer of Iranian descent emerged last year before the watchdog officially issued the report. Linick said that Bulatao was very upset over the advance press reports and that he resisted the undersecretarys attempts to have the State Departments Bureau of Diplomatic Security investigate the leak.

Whats next: Despite the ongoing review into last years emergency arms sale, the Trump administration is preparing another large Saudi weapons deal.

Know more: The Trump administration and Congress are also embroiled in another fight over Saudi policy. Democrats are launching a bid to force the intelligence community to declassify a report listing every Saudi official complicit in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Bryant Harris reports.


Pacific Gas & Electric named a slate of new directors on Wednesday, a move it was forced to make by Gov. Gavin Newsom of California as the company looks to resolve its bankruptcy.

All but three of the 14 appointees will be new to the board, and six are Californians. The members will fill their positions on or before the company exits bankruptcy, which is expected this summer.

PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection in January last year after amassing $30 billion in liability for wildfires started by its equipment. The most devastating of those fires, the Camp Fire in 2018, killed scores of people and destroyed the town of Paradise. The company has agreed to plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with that fire.

Mr. Newsom demanded that PG&E appoint a new board, replace its chief executive, improve safety policies and make other changes to qualify to take part in a $20 billion wildfire fund that will help utilities cover the cost of future fires. PG&E has already replaced its chief executive.
BOSTON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyros Law Offices is alerting investors of SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG), now (NYSE:D), that it is filing legal claims against the company on behalf of investors.

The company has recently agreed to settle a shareholder lawsuit filed against it by investors for over $192 million dollars.

SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG) investors that purchased between 10/27/2015 and 12/20/2017 are urged to contact our law firm immediately to protect their rights. Visit our SCG Lawsuit Settlement website or call 1-800-934-2921 to speak to someone about your case. Your legal rights will be affected whether you act or do not act. If you do not act, you may permanently forfeit your right to recover on this claim.

After failing its V.C. summer nuclear project, American based power and energy company Dominion Energy has agreed to pay upwards of $192.5 million to its shareholders and investors to settle allegations of violations of US securities law. Dominion Energy merged with SCANA effective January 2, 2019, upon which SCANA common stock was converted into Dominion Energy common stock.

SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG) investors that purchased between 10/27/2015 and 12/20/2017 are urged to contact our law firm immediately to protect their rights. Visit our SCG Lawsuit Settlement website or call 1-800-934-2921 to find out if you have a claim.

Receive alerts about potential class action lawsuits that may affect you by visiting the Class Action Lawsuit Center website .

Kyros Law specializes in a wide range of complex litigation, mass torts, and corporate governance matters, including the representation of whistleblowers, shareholders and consumers in securities fraud, false claims act and class actions. Our lawyers have been responsible for recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients throughout the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe. Visit our website to learn more about our firm.

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If there is some confusion about whether the state legislature can force Gov. Tom Wolf to end the coronavirus-prompted emergency declaration, or if Wolf has the power to override Tuesdays action by the General Assembly, theres a good reason.

Its never happened before.

Whether or not the General Assembly has the authority and power to terminate the declaration is a matter of first impression -- it hasnt been raised before in the history of the Commonwealth, said attorney Marc Scaringi, who has been leading a legal fight against the governors stay-at-home and business-closure orders over the last few months.

While other legal experts say its clear the Pennsylvania Constitution backs Wolfs ability to overturn the General Assemblys concurrent resolution  much like a veto  the final say will likely come from the courts.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly on Tuesday passed a concurrent resolution that directs Wolf to issue a proclamation or executive order to end the COVID-19 disaster emergency that the governor declared on March 6 and renewed on June 3.

While Republican lawmakers are adamant that the governor has no power to veto their resolution, that is exactly what Wolf has vowed to do if it is presented to him. Its not clear, however, that lawmakers will even put the bill on his desk.

And at a news conference on Wednesday, Wolf reiterated that the emergency disaster declaration will stand, and said he plans to take the matter to court.

Neil Makhija, lecturer in law at Penn Law, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, said, it seems to me like the legislature is trying to usurp the governors power.

The emergency disaster declaration statute says that, by concurrent resolution, the House and Senate can terminate an emergency declaration and the governor shall issue a proclamation or executive order to end it, he said. But the governor still has a veto-like power, he said.

Thats because the Pennsylvania Constitution overrides any statutes.

The statute may have gotten around it, but you cant get around the Constitution by statute, he said.

Any order, resolution or vote has to go through the governor, and the state legislature cannot override his veto without a two-thirds majority, he added.

Scaringi, who has a pending case in the U.S. Supreme Court and one in the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania challenging Wolfs orders, said the bottom line is its not clear either way who has the better position under the law in Pennsylvania.

In the meantime, the safest thing for business owners to do is to continue to comply with the governors orders to avoid fines and license suspensions, he said.

But as he continues his fight against those orders, hell be keeping an eye on this case.

The General Assembly is following to the letter of the law the Emergency Management Services Code, Scaringi said.

Thats the code that says that if the General Assembly passes a concurrent resolution to terminate a state of emergency, the governor shall issue an executive order or proclamation ending it, which "is pretty strong language in the code that the General Assembly is hanging its hat on, he said.

But, like Makhija, Scaringi said the Article III, Section 9 of the state constitution says before a concurrent resolution takes effect, it should be approved or disapproved by the governor  essentially a veto  which is the heart of the legal dispute.

And Michael Dimino, professor of law at Widener University Commonwealth Law School, says that will be a tough argument for the state legislature should this go to court.

The statute on which the General Assembly is relying authorizes what is known as a legislative veto, which is flatly inconsistent with the state constitution, Dimino said.

A legislative veto is a mechanism in which the legislature delegates authority to the executive, but retains the power to disapprove of the way the executive exercises the delegated authority, he explained.

It is unconstitutional because the legislature does not have any control on the execution of the laws, Dimino said. It is permitted to make the laws, but if it is unhappy with the way the executive exercises the delegated power, it has to pass a new law reining in the governors power.

The General Assembly does have an argument in its favor, he said, but its a long shot.

If the legislative veto is unconstitutional, is it likely that the law giving the governor authority to declare an emergency would have been passed in the first place? he asked. One could argue that if the legislative veto is unconstitutional, then the entire statute should be struck down, presumably rendering the governor unable to declare an emergency. I would not bet on such an argument succeeding, but it is plausible.

In the meantime, enforcement of the existing orders, including business closure and health and safety measures, will continue, the governor said Wednesday. He advised businesses to continue doing everything they can to protect customers and employees.

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New Delhi: As Indian and Chinese military commanders are busy in talks to end the border standoff in eastern Ladakh, a Global Times report has revealed that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) 75th Group Army recently received delivery of a batch of new weapons.

These new weapons include China's most advanced vehicle-mounted howitzer, the PCL-181, as identified by Chinese military enthusiasts in photos showing the commissioning ceremony when its troops were conducting exercises in northwestern China amid border tensions with India, according to Global Times, which cited the official WeChat public account of the 75th Group Army.

A brigade under the PLA 75th Group Army is reported to have held a commissioning ceremony of new weapons and equipment during field exercises in northwestern China's desert areas, Nanjiang Haojiao, or Horn of the Southern Border. The official statement released on Tuesday also attached photos of several PCL-181 vehicle-mounted howitzers.

The public debut of this type of 155-millimeter caliber wheeled howitzer was done during the National Day military parade in Beijing on October 1, 2019. China Central Television (CCTV) reported that the new weapon weighs only 25 tons, making it much lighter and faster and with longer endurance than the previous self-propelled howitzer, which uses crawler tracks and weighs more than 40 tons.

The lightweight weapon reportedly has an edge in high altitude areas when the lack of oxygen could impact the power of the engine. It would also have digitalized control panels in the howitzer's cab, and this system would allow artillery gun deployment with the press of a button, automatic gun calibration and semi-automatic ammo reload.

The PCL-181s were dispatched to the PLA Western Theater Command during the Doklam standoff with India in 2017, and contributed to the safeguarding of peace at the border, said the report citing Shanghai-based news website eastday.com. The new weapon was reportedly commissioned before the positive border talks between China and India on Saturday.

Notably, China and India are "properly handling" and taking actions to ease the situation at the border based on the "consensus" reached recently during their diplomatic and military level talks, a PTI report quoting senior Chinese official said on Thursday.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson's remarks reportedly came a day after the Indian and Chinese military commanders held "productive" talks to end the border standoff in eastern Ladakh.


Figure 1: An overview of the Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service

TOKYO, June 11, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Limited today announced the launch of Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service equipped with the latest technologies and delivery models, offering comprehensive support for the customer's Hybrid IT environment including their mission-critical systems. With the new solution in Japan, the company can accelerate the digital transformation (DX) of customers while contributing to a prosperous and sustainable society in the new normal era.About the Fujitsu Hybrid IT ServiceCustomers are facing many challenges with the recent acceleration of DX and their mission-critical systems shifting to the cloud. Such challenges include the complex and highly demanding construction and operation of various IT infrastructures such as cloud and on-premise environments, the optimal placement of business systems and applications in accordance with service and security levels, as well as the ongoing optimal investment in IT assets and services.Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service is a portfolio of solutions that combine services and technologies related to the cloud, data center, network, security, systems operation and maintenance, that Fujitsu has provided to its customers for many years. The Service will now be available in new delivery models such as prefixes and subscriptions. As a high-quality IT infrastructure supporting customers' businesses, Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service will bolster its service capabilities, including mission-critical systems, in an integrated manner, reducing operational load and related costs.By creating a hybrid IT environment optimized for customers' businesses and offering operation services, the new solution can reduce the operational burden on IT systems by 20-30%, lower the total cost of ownership by 20~30%, and shorten the delivery time by 30-40%.1. Managed ServicesThis will offer a set of services including assessment, consulting, migration, construction, and operation, which are necessary for customers to migrate their existing systems to the optimal hybrid IT environment. Based on its extensive experience and know-how, Fujitsu will take in account the customer's current situation and purpose as it offers services such as non-disruptive cloud migration.2. Digital Application Platform (New: planned to be available in Q2, 2020)This will deliver a combination of industry-standard OSS, ISV, and Fujitsu middleware, along with a container platform based on OpenShift(1). Fujitsu will also help in developing cloud-native applications and migrating existing applications to containers in an open and highly reliable environment without vendor-dependence.3. Digital Infrastructure PlatformFujitsu Hybrid IT Service FJcloud (Enhance: available on June 11, 2020 in Japan)Fujitsu Cloud Service for OSS/VMware will be revamped as a Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service FJcloud, offering a new line of public and private resources that can be centrally managed through a single portal. The combination of the convenience and agility of public clouds and the security and flexibility of private clouds will bring the customers with the optimal hybrid IT environment.Digital enhanced EXchange (DEX) network (New: planned to be available in Q2, 2020)The newly developed network infrastructure that connects between the cloud and data center enables the smooth integration of the latest technologies and services into customers' Hybrid IT environment without the complex network design that connects their business systems to each service infrastructure.Integrated Management Portal (New: planned to be available in Q1, 2020)A new management portal will be implemented to integrated control, visualize, and automate the construction and operation of different IT infrastructures such as multi-cloud and on-premise environments. Fujitsu will accelerate the construction and operation of the customers' hybrid systems while reducing the operational burden and cost.Integrated Security Operation Center (SOC) (New: planned to be available in H2, 2020) Fujitsu provides flexible and economical security measures by integrating complicated information management and system operations in the cloud in order to meet the security requirements set for each of various data and system owned by customers.Integrated Service Desk (Enhance: planned to be available in H2, 2020)By unifying contact points for various services across the customer's core and business systems, and by using chatbots for the primary receipt of inquiries, the operational burden can be reduced and problems can be resolved quickly.Fujitsu will provide these services and related technologies in the following new delivery models:Prefix service (New: planned to be available in Q2, 2020)Customers can easily and quickly use services as specifications and prices of construction and operation services are presented in advance and offered as a set menu.Subscription services (New: planned to be available in H2, 2020)In addition to cloud services, Fujitsu will offer products and services in an integrated contract and billing model. Customers can optimize the overall cost by using services when and as much as needed.Sales PlanFujitsu plans to achieve the sales of one trillion yen in businesses related to the Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service by fiscal 2022 (the company's fiscal year ends on March 31st).Availability (in Japan only)https://bit.ly/37jTFrl(1) OpenShift Enterprise-ready, Kubernetes-based container platform software offered by Red Hat K.K.About FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 130,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.9 trillion yen (US$35 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.Source: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2020 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson has hit back at the Prime Minister's calls for all future Black Lives Matter protesters to be charged.

A protest is planned in Perth on Saturday after other rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane last weekend sparked fears of a mass outbreak of coronavirus.

This morning Scott Morrison said police should charge anyone attending future protests with breaching public health orders.

'I really do think they should, you can't have a double standard here,' he told Melbourne radio 3AW.

Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson (pictured) has hit back at the Prime Minister's calls for all future Black Lives Matter protesters to be charged

Scott Morrison said plans for more protests over the coming days are 'completely unacceptable'

But Commissioner Dawson said it would be impossible to charge 10,000 people.

'I can't wrap a super man cape around myself and issue 10,000 infringements. I'd run out of infringement books,' he told reporters.

'We will be there and we will be ensuring people's safety.

'It's an imperfect answer. The alternative is not one that I want... and that is hundreds of people being arrested and grappling with police.'

On Thursday a man who took part in the Black Lives Matter march in Melbourne last weekend tested positive to COVID-19.

The man in his 30s marched with thousands through the city on Saturday and developed symptoms 24 hours later.

The protester wore a mask and was not symptomatic at the time of the demonstration.

Health officials have said anyone who came face to face with the protester for 15 minutes or more will be asked to quarantine as part of the normal process.

Mr Morrison told 3AW's Neil Mitchell that despite the good intentions of their cause, protesters behaved selfishly over the weekend.

'Millions of quiet Australians have done the right thing (while protesters) didn't seem to be that concerned about their health, or their businesses, or their jobs,' he said.

More than 60,000 Australians marched attend in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Adelaide to campaigning against racism and police brutality. Pictured: Sydney Town Hall Black Lives Matter Rally on Saturday

Mr Morrison said those who breach public health orders to attend rallies should be charged. Pictured: Protesters at Central Station the Black Lives Matter rally on Saturday

'People who would turn up to a rally this weekend wold be showing great disrespect to their neighbours.

'It's a free country and we have our liberties but the price of that liberty is exercising it responsibly.'

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, who warned people not to attend the rally, said: This case is unlikely to have been acquired at the protest but we were all concerned about the possibility of transmission occurring at that protest.'

Dr Sutton urged people not to attend any future demonstrations.

'We don't want people gathering in groups larger than 20 in Victoria because of the risk to others, it is my strong recommendation not to go and it is the law,' he said.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said protesters put the broader community's health at risk.

His no-holds-barred approach to rallies comes just hours after a Melbourne man who took part in the Black Lives Matter march in tested positive to COVID-19

'That was the obvious message from the medical experts about those rallies. And it was very unfortunate that they proceeded in the way that that did,' he said on Thursday.

On Thursday NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the force will challenge an application to host a refugee protest in Sydney on Saturday.

The upcoming protest, hosted by the Refugee Action Coalition, is set to have 1000 attendees.

'We know that the organisers can't control the numbers,' Mr Fuller told 2GB's Ben Fordham on Thursday morning.

'We know that they can't meet the health obligations that are in place for everyone else.'

NSW Police said in a statement that the commissioner will apply to the Supreme Court 'to prohibit the assembly'.

'The NSW Police Force recognises and supports the rights of individuals and groups to exercise their rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, however; the first priority for NSW Police is always the safety of the wider community.'
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government is open to reconsidering few of the 1018 new names, which are phonetically in sync with their original Tamil name, said K Pandirajan, Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture. Pandirajan said the state government has received a few requests pertaining to some names and that they would be considered. The new names were released as a part of a list to rename the districts and towns based on Tamil phonetics.

We have not re-created a new name, we have only modified the existing ones as per Tamil phonetics. We have only changed the English version of the name. From the Central Committee, we received a list of 3500 names that had to be modified and we cut it down to 1018," he told Zee Media.

"In our state, many of the existing names are British legacies and are in English. In certain cases (as seen in the notification), the central committee has approved the names suggested by the district collectors and in certain cases, they have suggested new ones, he added.

There has been widespread discussion on social media that existing districts and places would get new names such as - Coimbatore to Koyampuththoor, Tuticorin to Thooththukkudi, Vellore to Veeloor etc. On Wednesday, a complete notification pertaining to the renaming was circulated.

While social media users have had a field day, thanks to the new, rather unusual spellings, many scholars and historians have partially welcomed the renaming move.

Author and Historian V Sriram said that this is a good move and that the names must reflect what is correct as per the Tamil language, as colonially the names have been subjected to a lot of corruption. However, he also pointed out the need for consistency in renaming and looking at the historical correctness.

This is a good move, but its implementation could have been better. As per the new names, two words with the same pronunciation are spelled differently. Also, we must look at the historically correct names if we are trying to set history right. Mylapore, historically speaking is only Mylai, but the new name is Mayilappoor. However, Im quite happy that they are trying Tamil names. For places in France or England, they have a different pronunciation(from what is written), but we learn to pronounce those names, V Sriram told Zee Media.

Some social media users say that the move is an attempt to appease the Tamil population ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.

Pointing out that name changing is nothing new, veteran journalist and Tamil scholar S. Sampath Kumar said that it looks cosmetic and cannot be projected during the polls. He added that it wont attract much attention as it is not a livelihood issue that concerns the people. Stating the examples of how Calcutta become Kolkata, he said renaming has been quite normal.

Chennai was being used in Tamil media much before the new name replaced Madras. Virudhupatti, as it was called earlier was renamed Virudhunagar. Now, it's not just English that is being replaced, but also Sanskrit. Srivaikundam and Srirangam will henceforth be called Thiruvaikundam and Thiruvarangam respectively. But in due course of time, the new names will also be gradually accepted, he said.

While the names of over 1000 smaller towns and districts are being reverted to their Tamil form, some have raised questions about the very names(current) of the state and its capital city.

Political Analyst Dr Sumanth C Raman said that the timing of the announcement was not very apt as it has come in the middle of the pandemic. Tamil Nadu is facing a tough time with over 38,000 total Covid-19 cases, of which over 27,000 are in Chennai.

We should ensure that the new names are easy, not very long and convenient to write down. Going by the pattern of phonetic renaming, why not call the state Thamizh Nadu? Many also point out that the capital citys name(Chennai) isnt a pure Tamil word, he added.
J eremy Corbyn has paid tribute to Diane Abbott on the 33rd anniversary of her becoming the UK's first ever black woman MP.

The MP for Hackney North was first elected in the June 1987 general election. She was one of three black MPs to be elected in what was a landslide victory for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative party.

The other two black MPs elected in that poll were Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant, both also Labour.

Ms Abbott served as the Shadow Home Secretary of the Labour party during Mr Corbyn's leadership and the pair are old friends.

Mr Corbyn tweeted: "It's 33 years since @hackneyabbott was elected to Parliament as Britain's first black woman MP.

"She is an inspiration, a great friend and brilliant advocate of the ideals of equality, justice and socialism. Solidarity to Diane!"

Keith Vaz also made history that day as the first Asian MP to be elected to the House of Commons.

Mr Corbyn called his colleague 'an inspiration' / AFP/Getty Images

In a statement today, Labour leader Keir Starmer heralded the achievement of those trailblazing politicians.

It was a historic moment and we must recognise the achievement of these great pioneers", he said.

"In 33 years progress has been made."

However Mr Starmer added that the UK still had "a long way to go".

But this year the anniversary comes as worldwide events have exposed the fact that racism discrimination and social injustice are all rife in our society" he said.

The reality of anti-Black racism, the impact of Covid-19 particularly on Black and Asian communities, and societys inbuilt racial inequalities have shown that weve still got a long way to go.
After statues of Christopher Columbus were defaced around the country this week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he supports keeping Manhattans statue of the Italian explorer, saying it represents the Italian-American legacy in America.

Asked by a reporter at his daily coronavirus press briefing whether it is time for the 14-foot marble statue in Columbus Circle outside Central Park to go, Cuomo responded that while he understands the feelings surrounding the controversial historical figure, he supports keeping the monument.

I understand the dialogue has been going on for a number of years, Cuomo said. The Christopher Columbus statue represents in some ways the Italian-American legacy in this country and the Italian-American contribution in this country.

I understand the feelings about Christopher Columbus and some of his acts, which nobody would support, continued the Democratic governor, who is of Italian heritage. But the statue has come to represent and signify appreciation for the Italian-American contribution to New York, so for that reason I support it.

Statues of Columbus in Virginia, Massachusetts, and Minnesota were targeted on Tuesday night as protests continue against racism and police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis. Protesters decapitated the Columbus statue in Boston, according to Boston police. A Columbus statue in Richmond was torn down, set on fire, and thrown into a lake after demonstrators covered the base in graffiti. Some protesters in Virginia held signs reading Columbus represents genocide. Outside the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul on Wednesday, protesters threw a rope around a statue of Columbus and pulled it to the ground.

Vanessa Bolin of the Richmond Indigenous Society spoke to protesters in Richmond earlier in the day and likened the struggles of African-Americans to those of indigenous peoples in the U.S.

Story continues

This continent is built on the blood and the bones of our ancestors, but it is built off the backs and the sweat and the tears and the blood and the bones of Africans, Bolin said. Were not here to hijack your movement. Were here to stand in solidarity.

Some cities and states have scrapped Columbus Day in recent years and replaced it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

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Which forces and mechanisms determine the height of mountains? A group of researchers from Munster and Potsdam has now found a surprising answer: It is not erosion and weathering of rocks that determine the upper limit of mountain massifs, but rather an equilibrium of forces in the Earth's crust. This is a fundamentally new and important finding for the earth sciences. The researchers report on it in the scientific journal Nature.

The highest mountain ranges on Earth - such as the Himalayas or the Andes - arise along convergent plate boundaries. At such plate boundaries two tectonic plates move toward each other, and one of the plates is forced beneath the other into the Earth's mantle. During this process of subduction, strong earthquakes repeatedly occur on the plate interface, and over millions of years mountain ranges are built at the edges of the continents.

Whether the height of mountain ranges is mainly determined by tectonic processes in the Earth's interior or by erosional processes sculpturing the Earth's surface has long been debated in geosciences.

A new study led by Armin Dielforder of GFZ German Research Centre for Geoscience now shows that erosion by rivers and glaciers has no significant influence on the height of mountain ranges. Together with scientists from the GFZ and the University of Munster (Germany), he resolved the longstanding debate by analysing the strength of various plate boundaries and calculating the forces acting along the plate interfaces.

The researchers arrived at this surprising result by calculating the forces along different plate boundaries on the Earth. They used data that provide information about the strength of plate boundaries. These data are derived, for example, from heat flow measurements in the subsurface. The heat flow at convergent plate boundaries is in turn influenced by the frictional energy at the interfaces of the continental plates.

One can imagine the formation of mountains using a tablecloth. If you place both hands under the cloth on the table top and push it, the cloth folds and at the same time it slides a little over the back of your hands. The emerging folds would correspond, for instance, to the Andes, the sliding over the back of the hands to the friction in the underground. Depending on the characteristics of the rock, tensions also build up in the deep underground which are discharged in severe earthquakes, especially in subduction zones.

The researchers collected worldwide data from the literature on friction in the subsurface of mountain ranges of different heights (Himalayas, Andes, Sumatra, Japan) and calculated the resulting stress and thus the forces that lead to the uplift of the respective mountains. In this way they showed that in active mountains the force on the plate boundary and the forces resulting from the weight and height of the mountains are in balance.

Such a balance of forces exists in all the mountain ranges studied, although they are located in different climatic zones with widely varying erosion rates. This result shows that mountain ranges are able to react to processes on the Earth's surface and to grow with rapid erosion in such a way that the balance of forces and the height of the mountain range are maintained. This fundamentally new finding opens up numerous opportunities to study the long-term development and growth of mountains in greater detail.

###

Original study: Dielforder, A., Hetzel, R., & Oncken, O.: Megathrust shear force controls mountain height at convergent plate margins. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2340-7
(Photo : LAWRENCE BRYANT/REUTERS) Looting has become a massive problem amid the protests happening across the US.

The protests across the United States continue and has now become a global outcry against racism, but despite peaceful demonstrations in many areas, a few cities have seen utter destruction, especially the business sectors after looters use the protests as an excuse to steal trespass closed shops and steal a handful of items.

Looter From Chicago Brags About Theft on Facebook

One such place was Illinois, wherein businesses were destroyed, and items were looted amid the otherwise peaceful protests that have been going on.

According to the Daily Mail, the looting reached its peak on Sunday.

After a week, CBS Chicago began investigating the lootings and found one woman who was boasting about the theft and was selling the stolen items she got through Facebook.

The unnamed woman also showed a video that she captured of the looters in a local shopping mall with people running away from the stores they busted open, carrying various items on their hands.

Later on, she even showed her looting: several unopened goods and some full crates of Remy Martin cognac.

The woman showed another video where she was bragging about her deed and confirmed that yes, she looted, but after her viewers began condemning her for her actions, she replied and said she doesn't care and that it wasn't her first time looting, either.

Read Also: Couple Whot Got Married After Joining Black Lives Matter Protest Said They Planned for a Quiet Ceremony Until Their Wedding Went Viral

Police Departments and FBI Investigating

CBS has already handed the footage to the Chicago police department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who are investigating all tips they acquire.

"The FBI is currently reviewing all tips to help us identify actors who are actively instigating violence in the wake of George Floyd's death. If you witness an unlawful, violent encounter, you can help by submitting photos or video," they said, encouraging people to come forward if they have any information.

Meanwhile, Chicago police department chief David Brown disclosed on Monday, June 8, that in the last nine days, they have already made 788 arrests involving looting.

The police have also arrested 2,665 people over "civil unrest and disorderly conduct," as well as recovered 529 guns.

According to WBEZ, a local NPR affiliate, the worst day of the protests happened on May 31, wherein they have recorded 15 homicides, which was the most in the last 36 years.

New York Also Sees Massive Looting

Besides Illinois, New York City has also seen a huge number of cases related to looting and violence amid the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests in different parts of the city.

In an interview with CNN, New York Police Department Chief of Patrol Fausto Pichardo confirmed that over 50 establishments had been burglarized in the SoHo district of Manhattan during the protests.

Among the shops' looters have attacked is the Nintendo store.

A tweet went viral, saying that looters were able to steal the massive Donkey Kong statue that stands inside the store, but the company quickly dismissed the tweet and said that the statue was not stolen.

The NYPD was able to seize one car that a looter owned that had more than $17,000 worth of products inside.

Read Also: George Floyd: After 33 Seasons, 'Cops' Now Dropped by Paramount; Brooklyn Nine-Nine Expects New Plot on Season 8

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Woodies DIY owner Grafton Group has said it remains too early to judge whether an initial sales surge from the recent reopening of its retail and builders merchants outlets will last or was merely an initial release of pent-up consumer demand.

Dublin-based Grafton  which generates the bulk of its revenues from its builders supplier operations in the UK  said total group revenue fell 26% to 810.9m (910m) in the first five months of the year, due to the Covid-induced disruption to business.

In April, alone, group revenue fell 80%, year-on-year, but May showed a 38% year-on-year sales drop as more outlets reopened.

Here, Woodies reopened on May 18 to a surge in consumer demand. The DIY retailer saw revenue for the last two weeks of May comfortably exceed what was generated in the full month of May last year, Grafton said.

The overall level of trading during the short period since reopening, while encouraging, was influenced by a range of factors including pent-up demand and may not be indicative of ongoing activity levels, Grafton said.

Industry body Retail Excellence last month warned of a two-step economic journey following the reopening of outlets; where an immediate boost in spending and sales gives way to consumer hibernation after initial demand eases.

Grafton CEO Gavin Slark said the Covid restrictions had a significant effect on the groups trading since the second half of March, but early trading indications since the reopening have been encouraging.

However, while he said Grafton will emerge from the crisis well-positioned for future growth, Mr Slark said there remain many challenges to be overcome in the months ahead.

Grafton is continuing to hold off on giving any forecasts for its financial performance for this year given the continued uncertainty around Covid-19 and its impact on the wider economy and construction activity in particular.

Two-thirds of Graftons builder supply outlets in the UK have reopened, with the remainder due before the end of this month.

Grafton has continued to impress in terms of cash management, with the group showing little cash burn and having liquidity levels of 578m (641.9m) as of the end of May.

It said its excess liquidity will allow it to repay part of its revolving loan facilities this month.

Mr Slark said the group  which also operates in the Netherlands  is in a strong financial position and has a resilient portfolio of businesses.
FLUSHING TWP, MI -- Stephanie Breznau had seen the sky the same way before.

A Florida native, Breznau has been through a hurricane in the Sunshine State.

The sky was very very gray, it was raining extremely heavy, but then all of a sudden the wind started up more than normal, she said of the weather system passing over her familys home in the Ponderosa subdivision in Flushing Township.

Breznau ran upstairs to grab her 3-year-old son Carson, while her 11-year-old son Hudson and 8-year-old daughter Everlynn ran down to the basement.

I was super scared but running to get Carson and my kids down to the basement was all I could think about, she said. The trees were bending, and it was just going wild and then thats when we heard a loud crack.

Looking outside, a 50 to 60-foot tall tree in the front yard had collapsed, crushing the familys Dodge Ram pickup truck in the driveway and partially landing in the corner of the house where Carson was sleeping.

After all the children were settled in the lower level of the home, Breznau headed back upstairs to call 911.

The truck is totaled. We dont know about the house yet, Breznau said. I dont even want to think about where that tree would have landed if the truck wasnt there.

No one was inside the truck at the time of the incident.

A line of storms roared across mid-Michigan Wednesday afternoon, leading to dozens of 911 calls for downed wires, fallen trees, and flooded roads.

Trees down, flooding reported as strong line of storms moves across Genesee County

Wind gusts reached 43 miles per hour shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday at Flint Bishop Airport, per the National Weather Service.

The truck was in the driveway where the familys van is normally parked, but Breznaus husband Michael, the pastor at Mayfair Bible Church in Mt. Morris Township, had taken the vehicle for the day.

Breznau thanked a pair of neighbors who headed over to check on the family and help out after the storm had passed.

The family is still evaluating what damage took place to the home and if they can stay there Wednesday night.

We definitely feel blessed and thank God we are OK, she told MLive-The Flint Journal. You can replace a truck and a house, but you cant replace lives.

More on MLive:

Severe weather hits Saginaw, Bay counties, leaving many without power

70 mph+ gusts, a few tornadoes likely as severe risk upped to 4 on 5-step scale

Power outages across Michigan at 210K and rising after fast-moving storm
COLUMBIA  With his defeat of three little-known GOP challengers behind him, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is officially embarking on the next phase of his quest for a fourth term: a general election matchup with Democrat Jaime Harrison already on pace to become the most expensive in South Carolina history.

And, just hours after Graham's victory in Tuesday's GOP primary, Harrison laid down a challenge to the veteran lawmaker, asking him to participate in a series of four debates across South Carolina, including one at a historically black college or university.

"All South Carolinians deserve the opportunity to hear from their candidates for U.S. Senate," Harrison wrote in a letter to Graham.

Harrison faced no primary opposition on Tuesday. Graham, 64, bested fellow Republicans Duke Buckner, Michael Lapierre and Joe Reynolds in Tuesday's primary election. Two Libertarians and one Constitution Party candidate also filed to seek the seat.

Graham's popularity among Republicans in his home state has recently fluctuated along with his relationship to President Donald Trump, who is supporting his reelection bid and campaigned with him in the state in February. A year ago, all of South Carolina's statewide-elected officials endorsed Graham, as has Vice President Mike Pence, who helped kick off Graham's reelection campaign last year.

Following his victory, Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was "just getting warmed up" for the November election, which he said would "provide voters with a stark choice between the Democrats' socialist agenda or security and prosperity through free enterprise and security."

On Tuesday, the 44-year-old Harrison congratulated Graham but said in a news release that South Carolina voters are "fed up with Lindsey taking this seat for granted, and they are demanding a senator who will put their needs ahead of his own."

Harrison, an associate chairman with the Democratic National Committee and former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, has from the start aimed to draw national attention. That has helped him to spur the fundraising and grassroots organizing that is crucial to flipping a Senate seat in the deeply red state.

He received backing from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee last spring and has since gotten support from former Vice President and presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, as well as former 2020 hopefuls U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker.

Both Graham and Harrison have posted record-setting fundraising hauls in recent quarters. Over the course of the campaign, Harrison has raised nearly $15 million, mounting aggressive email fundraising campaigns and holding virtual events during the coronavirus outbreak.

Graham has taken in a total of $21 million, according to Federal Election Commission records. Despite holding no fundraisers during Trump's impeachment trial and suspending two weeks of fundraising because of the pandemic, Graham's campaign said he had the third-highest fundraising total among all Republican senators during this year's first quarter.

U.S. Army veteran Bob Barnwell, a self-avowed Graham supporter, voted absentee for the senator ahead of Tuesday's primary, in part because of the outbreak. The 72-year-old retired nurse was recently released from the hospital, where he was treated for several weeks after contracting COVID-19.

"Lindsey Graham is an outstanding senator, military veteran, retired Army judge, Christian man and native South Carolinian who loves this state," Barnwell told The Associated Press on Thursday evening. "He is a powerful voice in the U.S. Senate for the right to life for the unborn and older citizens."

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Joey Orlosky was born with two congenital heart defects.

After three open heart surgeries and countless other procedures, Joey, now 12, got the news hes always been hoping for. His cardiologist gave his mom the green light to take him to Disney World in Florida.

So in early February, Joeys mom Lauren Orlosky, booked the trip for Joey, her daughter Gizelle, 10, and herself for June 8.

But as the coronavirus spread across the country, Orlosky quickly realized the trip might not happen.

Then Disney shut down, refunding all Orloskys money.

But the airline, Frontier Airlines, refused a refund for the $559.90 air fare.

Frontier did offer a travel credit around March 17 but its worthless to me, Orlosky said.

The biggest issue, she said, is that the credits must be used by June 20. She doesnt have to travel by then, but thats her deadline to make a reservation.

I thought things would be back to normal by now but its not safe to travel and theres no place to go, she said. Ive asked for a full refund, partial refund, bag refund and/or a one-year credit extension like March 2021, but the airline declined and offered no resolution.

Plus, Florida is requiring travelers from New Jersey to quarantine, at their own expense, for 14 days when they arrive.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

Its not a matter of convenience for this family. Its about Joeys health.

My son is scared to travel right now. The idea of getting sick in his eyes is the biggest risk that he could take, Orlosky said. At a very young age, Joey knew that if he got sick that he will end up at the doctors. If he gets sick enough, there is a good chance he will end up in the hospital.

Joey, Gizelle (left) and Lauren Orlosky celebrating Joey's birthday. The family is asking Frontier Airlines for a refund after a trip to Disney was canceled.

With medical experts predicting a second wave for the coronavirus, planning a trip for an at-risk child isnt something Orlosky is ready to do.

She said Joeys oxygen saturation levels are easily affected by his heart condition. While a healthy child can run up the stairs and keep going, for example, Joey needs to take a break when he gets to the top, she said.

Joeys risk of contracting this virus is life-threatening. The doctors say he is doing well, but nothing is guaranteed, she said, noting he could need a heart transplant someday. We will not be able to travel until they figure out a cure or other safeguards.

ASKING FOR HELP

We asked Frontier Airlines to reconsider Orloskys situation.

It was a big dud.

The company said it sincerely apologizes to customers.

We are working with our customers to adjust travel plans and as a courtesy due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we waived cancellation fees and provided a full travel credit for non-refundable tickets booked April 15 or prior, the company said.

Additionally, it said customers can book flights through September 2021 because Frontier extended its booking schedule, and it has a flexible change policy which allows customers to make a no-fee change to their reservation 60 days or more prior to their flight.

Customers dont have to travel immediately, but they have to book by their credits expiration date, the company said.

We want our customers to feel comfortable and protected flying again and Frontier has taken a multi-layered approach to health and safety, including mandating face coverings for passengers and crew members, temperature screenings for everyone flying and elevated aircraft cleaning and sanitizing procedures, it said.

In Orloskys case, Frontier said she voluntarily cancelled the reservations and as a courtesy due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we waived the cancellation fees and provided a full travel credit for the non-refundable tickets, which is valid for 90 days from its issuance.

Orlosky isnt the only unhappy customer.

Mary and Matthew Riches booked tickets for a May 6 Frontier flight so they could visit Marys 92-year-old aunt who lives in an assisted living facility. The facility was shut down to visitors because of coronavirus, so the couple canceled the trip.

They paid $383.60.

They said you can cancel for COVID-19 if your flight was leaving during the state of emergency, but they were only offering a credit, Riches said, noting the new flights would have to be booked by June 26. I just have no desire to fly. We are thinking of driving instead of flying to visit her when it is all open.

Frontier didnt respond to our request to review the case in time for publication.

As for Orlosky, shes hopeful that someday the family can make Joeys Disney wishes come true.

When the time is right, then we can just go and have no worries or limitations, she said.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at bamboozled@njadvancemedia.com.
As a result of the coronavirus epidemic, in April 2020, the number of guest nights spent at commercial accommodation establishments fell by 97%, according to data released by the Central Statistical Office.

Compared to the same month of the previous year, both the number of foreign guests and tourism nights fell by 99%, with 3,000 guests spending 17,000 tourism nights in Hungary.



Guest turnover was negligible for all accommodation types and regions, with the number of tourism nights not reaching 1% of the April value of the previous year in Budapest and the Balaton region.



Some 18,000 domestic guests (down 96% compared to April 2019) spent 52,000 tourism nights (down 95%), with boarding houses accounting for nearly half of all tourism nights, showing a below-average 81% decline.



Total gross sales revenues were down by 97% (to HUF 1 billion) at current prices.



Approximately half of the 1,297 operating commercial accommodations in the country did not receive guests.



In January-April 2020, compared to the same period of the previous year.



Compared to January-April 2019, 43% fewer, a total of 4.2 million tourism nights were registered during the first four months of this year.



International guests spent 44% and domestic guests 42% fewer tourism nights (2.1 million and 2.1 million, respectively).



Total gross sales revenues decreased by 39% at current prices, amounting to HUF 83 bln.
BRUSSELS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson of the Chinese Mission to the European Union (EU) said on Wednesday that EU's joint communication on COVID-19 disinformation refers to China selectively, and hopes EU could address the relevant issues in a fact-based, unbiased and rational manner.

The European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy sent a joint communication on Wednesday to other organs of the bloc, mentioning China as engaging in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns.

The Chinese spokesperson said China is always opposed to the fabrication and dissemination of disinformation by any individual or organization and China is a victim of disinformation.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, China has made tremendous efforts in fighting the virus, and has successfully turned the situation around and effectively protected people's safety and health. In response to the pandemic, China and the EU have helped and supported each other in a humanitarian and friendly spirit. These are facts and truth that merit due respect and recognition.

The spokesperson said China and the EU are not systemic rivals, but comprehensive strategic partners. While remaining firmly committed to the path of its own choice, China has no intention to export its system and development model, nor to participate in any "battle of narratives."

Under the current circumstances, spreading disinformation and trading accusations will do nothing to help the global fight against the pandemic, said the spokesperson, noting that the international community should jointly reject disinformation and work together in good faith, with a view to overcoming the pandemic at an early date and jointly safeguarding global public health security.

The spokesperson said that the joint communication refers to China selectively, and does not mention a single word about those who fabricate genuine disinformation that is anti-China and anti-science. "We hope that the EU could address the relevant issues in a fact-based, unbiased and rational manner."
President Trump's supporters who want tickets for his Tulsa rally next Friday have to agree not to sue the president's campaign and other entities if they contract COVID-19.

'By clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present,' the form said.

It goes on to say that by attending the June 19 rally 'you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President ... liable for any illness or injury.'

Supporters of President Trump (pictured) had to promise not to sue the president's campaign if they contracted COVID-19 by attending his first campaign rally back on the trail, scheduled next Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma

President Trump's supporters who want tickets for his Tulsa rally have to agree not to sue the president's campaign and other entities if they contract COVID-19. The language is at the bottom of the ticketing form

The Tulsa, Oklahoma event marks the first official campaign rally for President Trump since the U.S. shutdown businesses due to the spreading coronavirus

By obtaining tickets through the form, rally attendees are also not able to sue the Bank of Oklahoma Center, the venue for the rally, ASM Global, which is the venue's management company and 'any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers,' the disclaimer said.

The Trump campaign officially announced the Tulsa, Oklahoma rally Thursday afternoon, after Trump discussed the event Wednesday at the White House.

Trump's Wednesday announcement made waves after the nation has seen two weeks of protests over the death of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man, at the hands of a white police officer.

The date is significant because it's Juneteenth, which marks the day the last slaves were informed of their freedom via the Emancipation Proclamation.

The city is signficant because Tulsa was where one of the worst racial episodes in U.S. history occurred 99 years ago.

On May 31 and June 1, 1921, white residents attacked and killed black residents in the Greenwood district of Tulsa that was referred to at the time as 'Black Wall Street.'

Stores and homes were looted and burned. White assailants even used airplanes to drop firebombs, some eyewitnesses said.

There's a continued search for mass graves.

Younger audiences learned this piece of horrific American history last year when it was depicted on the HBO show 'Watchmen.'

President Trump addressed a crowd in Texas Thursday about the 'Transition to Greatness' as the country tries to reopen after closing down to stop the spread of coronavirus

In Texas Thursday, the president - and the U.S. surgeon general - spoke before a packed audience in Dallas where few people wore masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19

'This isn't just a wink to white supremacists - he's throwing them a welcome home party,' Sen. Kamala Harris said in reaction to the rally plans, according to the Associated Press. Harris, a California Democrat, is a vice presidential contender.

Sherry Gamble Smith, the president of the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce, named after the neighborhood that was attacked, said, 'Tulsa is outraged.'

'To choose the date, to come to Tulsa, is totally disrespectful and a slap in the face to ever happen,' Gamble Smith told the AP. She suggested at the least the Trump campaign should 'change it to Saturday the 20th.'

The Trump rally could attract more 'Black Lives Matter' protests, which have had public health officials concerned could contribute to the coronavirus spread.

And at the rally itself, the Trump campaign has not announced any social distancing plans, though spokesman Tim Murtaugh told DailyMail.com, 'There will be health precautions.'

On Thursday, the president traveled to Dallas, Texas for an event that touched on policing, race relations and COVID-19.

And despite Surgeon General Jerome Adams sitting alongside Trump and touching on best practices to combat the virus - including wearing masks - the auditorium's seats were filled and only a few attendees sported faceware.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  The head of Task Force Bangon Marawi has expressed confidence the rehabilitation of the war-ravaged city will meet its December 2021 deadline for completion.

"I was assured by all implementing agencies that we are on the right track, still, ano, despite itong nangyaring three months na di tayo nakapagtrabaho masyado," said task force chairman and housing czar Eduardo del Rosario in a Laging Handa virtual briefing on Thursday. "Continuous ang trabaho sa Marawi City kahit during the COVID (pandemic) contrary to the mga batikos na tayo'y tumigil din ng pagtrabaho."

[Translation: I was assured by all implementing agencies that we are on the right track despite us being able to work less in the past three months. The work in Marawi City has continued even during the COVID(-19 pandemic) contrary to criticisms saying we also stopped working.]

However, work slowed down during the period as workers were unable to enter the area and the transport of construction materials was impeded by the lockdown, he noted.

"I was assured by (Marawi City) Mayor (Majul) Gandamra that full blast ang ating gagawing construction activities starting ngayong July kasi na-release na ng mahal na Pangulo ang pondo na 3.6 billion last month. At ngayon ay nagmo-mobilize na para magamit itong 3.6 billion to provide our contractors the capability to start construction," explaineddel Rosario.

[Translation: I was assured by Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra that our construction activities will be on full blast starting this July, especially with the President already having released our 3.6 billion fund last month. And now, we are mobilizing so that this fund can be used to provide our contractors the capability to start construction.]

Government officials have earlier pushed to fast-track the rehabilitation of the city, with the Marawi siege marking its third anniversary last May 23.

In the briefing, Gandamra also noted that the pandemic has also given the city's residents a hard time, especially since they haven't fully recovered from the siege yet.

"[I]to naman pong pandemya na ito ay isang pagsubok muli sa ating mga kababayan dito sa Lanao del Sur and Marawi City. But I believe that Maranaos are resilient people at handa po namin lagpasan ang mga pagsubok na ito," the official said.

[Translation: This pandemic is another challenge for our fellow Filipinos here in Lanao Del Sur and Marawi City, but I believe that the Maranaos are resilient people and we are ready to overcome these challenges.]
A migrant worker at Scotlynn Group in Vittoria has gone public with what he says is a story of negligence at the Norfolk County farm grappling with a widespread COVID-19 outbreak.

The worker, identified as Edgar, spoke during a press conference organized by the Migrant Worker Alliance for Change (MWAC), an advocacy group that this week released a report detailing what it describes as widespread mistreatment of temporary foreign workers in Canada.

In an account translated by MWAC member Sonia Aviles, Edgar said supervisors at Scotlynn did not act on reports that workers at the farm were showing flu-like symptoms, and that the workers themselves had to call an ambulance for one of their coworkers  who Edgar says was too sick to get out of bed.

Edgar, who hails from Mexico City and is in his first season at Scotlynn, said ill workers were not sequestered within the bunkhouses, where workers sleep in bunk beds and up to 45 workers share eight bathroom stalls.

The conditions on Scotlynn Farms and other farms lend themselves to precisely the kinds of outbreaks we have seen in the last week and a half, said MWAC member Karen Cocq.

Very few or no measures were taken to protect workers from COVID-19, and the conditions make it possible for the disease to spread like wildfire on farms.

Edgar said workers reports of illness and requests for medication were brushed off, with supervisors not checking in on the welfare of workers who were confined to their bunkhouse.

Despite pleas from workers for support for health care to treat sick workers, the priority of the employer was ensuring that the work was getting done, not the health and safety of the workers who were doing it, Cocq said.

Scott Biddle, president and CEO of Scotlynn Group, has denied the allegations of mistreatment of workers but could not be reached for further comment.

In a statement to CTV News, Biddle said as far as he knew, workers were taken to hospital immediately upon falling ill.

Speaking with The Spectator prior to the reports release, Biddle said workers who have been coming to his farm for years should know that getting sick wont affect their wages.

Even if theyre sick, they know theyll be paid, he said.

The alliance is pushing for migrant workers to be granted permanent resident status, arguing that they would then be able to leave farms with poor working conditions and seek employment elsewhere without fear of being deported and blacklisted from the offshore worker program.

MWAC member Kit Andres said workers fear reprisal if they complain.

Theyre less likely to speak out when there are abusive conditions because their presence here is dependent on their employment with this one employer, Andres said.

Workers need to have a stronger collective voice.

Andres could not provide any examples of farm workers being fired or deported due to illness or speaking out about poor conditions on the farm. But she said the threat was enough to keep workers silent.

Without permanent status, the threat of deportation is always present, Andres said.

Temporary status ensures workers are living in fear and uncertainty. Employers dont actually have to act on these threats for them to have the desired effect of controlling the workers, which is why permanent resident status is the only way for workers to assert control over their own lives.

The report detailed 180 complaints made from March 15 to May 15 to a bilingual hotline operated by the alliance. Farm workers spoke of wage theft and inadequate food during their government-mandated quarantine period, being told to work in groups while awaiting the results of COVID-19 tests, poor housing, and a lack of personal protective equipment.

Some reported working for weeks without a day off as farmers scrambled to make up for labour shortages.

Workers are feeling like, Im putting my health, my life, my safety at risk by coming up during a pandemic, and theres no benefit. Were not being honoured for the essential workers that we are. Were still being treated like were disposable, Andres said.

Along with permanent resident status, the alliance wants to see a national housing standard for temporary foreign workers.

The outbreak at Scotlynn infected 164 of 216 migrant farm workers, with seven needing hospitalization. The latest update from the health unit had four workers still at Norfolk General Hospital, with two in the intensive care unit.

The alliance says one worker had been put on a ventilator.

The hospital did not return a call on Wednesday looking for an update on the workers condition.
ABBOTSFORD, BC, June 11, 2020 /CNW/ - Canadians value a safe and clean environment. Environment and Climate Change Canada's enforcement officers enforce the laws that protect Canada's wildlife, air, water, and natural environment.

On May 21, 2020, Scamp Industries Ltd., a fuel supplier based in Western Canada, was fined $200,000 in the Provincial Court of British Columbia after pleading guilty on June 17, 2019, to five counts of transferring petroleum products into a storage-tank system where storage-tank-system identification numbers were not visible. This action is contrary to subparagraph 29(b)(i) of the Storage Tank Systems for Petroleum Products and Allied Petroleum Products Regulations, made pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. The penalty will be directed to the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund.

In March 2015, Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers inspected several gas stations on federal and Indigenous land in the south-central area of British Columbia, including the Kamloops and Salmon Arm areas, to monitor compliance with the Regulations. During these inspections, the enforcement officers found that Scamp Industries Ltd. had been delivering fuel to a number of unregistered tank systems and a number of tank systems that did not display the required identification numbers.

In January 2013, Scamp Industries Ltd. was issued a written warning for delivering fuel to a gas station in Chilliwack, which had not registered its storage-tank systems with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has created a free subscription service to help Canadians stay current with what the Government of Canada is doing to protect our natural environment.

Quick facts

The Storage Tank Systems for Petroleum Products and Allied Petroleum Products Regulations , which came into force in 2008, help reduce the risk of releases of petroleum products from storage-tank systems located on federal or Indigenous land (referred to as aboriginal land in the Regulations) and from systems operated by or that provide a service to federal works or that are operated or owned by the Crown.

, which came into force in 2008, help reduce the risk of releases of petroleum products from storage-tank systems located on federal or Indigenous land (referred to as in the Regulations) and from systems operated by or that provide a service to federal works or that are operated or owned by the Crown. The Regulations apply to storage-tank systems with a capacity of more than 230 litres, which contain petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, and home-heating oil, or allied petroleum products.

The Storage Tank Systems for Petroleum Products and Allied Petroleum Products Regulations require that owners identify their storage-tank systems to Environment and Climate Change Canada before operating the system.

require that owners identify their storage-tank systems to Environment and Climate Change Canada before operating the system. The Federal Identification Registry for Storage Tank Systems is the online database where storage-tank system owners enter information about their storage-tank systems to receive an Environment and Climate Change Canada identification number.

The Environmental Damages Fund is administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada. It was created in 1995 to provide a mechanism for directing funds received as a result of fines, court orders, and voluntary payments to priority projects that will benefit our natural environment.

Associated links

Environment and Climate Change Canada's Twitter page

Environment and Climate Change Canada's Facebook page

SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

For further information: Media Relations, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll-free), [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.ec.gc.ca


The city will relocate its two Confederate statues next week, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Thursday, following calls from activists to remove the landmarks as America faces a national reckoning over racism.

The statues  one of which is engraved with a commemoration to all the heroes of the South who fought for the Principles of States Rights  will be removed by June 19, Turner said.

June 19 is Juneteenth, the state holiday marking the day in 1865 that slaves in Texas first learned they had been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier.

The mayors announcement came hours after U.S. Sen. John Cornyn compared taking down Confederate statues and renaming military bases to tearing pages out of history books.

"I dont think we can go back and erase our history by removing statues," said Cornyn, R-Texas. "What happens next? Then somebody says you cant teach about the Civil War or slavery in your textbooks."

The killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis has sparked nationwide calls to rename military bases and reignited the debate over whether to remove Confederate statues and monuments, many of which were built by white supremacists in the early and mid-1900s as a response to black civil rights efforts.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected calls to rename military bases, saying on Twitter: These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.

The Spirit of the Confederacy statue in Sam Houston Park, which was erected in 1908 by the Robert E. Lee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, will be moved to the Houston Museum of African American Culture. The Houston Endowment has provided funds to transfer the statue, according to Turners office.

Houstons other Confederate monument, a marble statue of former Confederate soldier Richard Dick Dowling, is expected to be moved to the Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site in Port Arthur. The executive committee of the Texas Historical Commission, which oversees the site, has voted to accept the statue. The full commission will cast a final vote to complete the transfer at a meeting on June 17.

Turners announcement surprised Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bill Bartie, who said he would attempt to block the Dowling statue from being moved to Sabine Pass. The mayor said he became aware of the plans when contacted by a reporter.

I think thats totally disrespectful for some society to make a decision for something to be placed here during a time that we are in civil unrest, Bartie said. I would wish that they would rethink that. Im speaking for the people of Port Arthur  not just blacks, for whites and browns and everybody.

Turner established a task force in August 2017 to recommend what to do with the citys Confederate monuments. The group determined that the statues should be removed from city property, according to a report dated March 2018. Turner said the city began working on a plan with partner organizations and funders to identify new locations to place the statues after the task force submitted the report.

"While we have been working on a plan for some time, I have decided to move forward now considering the events of the past several weeks, Turner said in a release Thursday. "Our plan for relocating Confederate statues from public parks to locations more relevant to modern times preserves history and provides an opportunity for our city to heal.

City officials will place the statues in temporary storage until the museum and historic site are ready to receive them, Turner said.

The move comes more than two and a half years after advocates renewed their demands for the statues to come down in the wake of the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Earlier that year, Houston city council renamed Dowling Street  the Third Ward thoroughfare initially named after the same Confederate officer as the statue  to Emancipation Avenue.

The change was approved on a 16-1 vote over the objections of Councilmember Mike Knox, who noted Dowlings history as a member of a group that later became the Houston Fire Department. The former Confederate officer enlisted as a lieutenant in the Jefferson Davis Guards, and later led the defeat of an invading Union force that attempted to take Sabine Pass, a key port for Confederate shipments during the Civil War.

Ashton Woods, the founder of Black Lives Matter Houston, said the statues should have been removed earlier. And by moving the statues elsewhere, he said, the city is just tossing the ball to another entity instead of obliterating symbols of oppression.

Took way too long and they are making moves now because they dont want any more civil disobedience, Woods said. They should be destroyed.

Turner said in a statement that moving the statues would prevent vandalism.

Woods was among the protesters who called for the Spirit of the Confederacy to be removed in August 2017. A year later, a 26-year-old Houston man was sentenced to more than six years in prison for attempting to blow up the Dowling statue.

Monuments across the nation have been vandalized amid protests over police violence and the death of Floyd, the longtime Houston resident who died in Minneapolis police custody after an officer kneeled on his neck. The trend spread to Houston on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, when someone plastered red paint on the hands and head of a statue of Christopher Columbus.

The intensified debate over Confederate monuments has played out in council chambers and state capitols since Charlottesville, including during the last session of the Texas Legislature when state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, authored legislation that would have made it harder for cities to relocate Confederate monuments.

Creightons bill, which would have required approval of a supermajority of city council to move city monuments 25 years or older, passed the Senate but never received a vote in the House.

On Thursday, Creighton said he opposed Turners move to relocate the statues, in part because the mayor did so without a vote of approval from city council.

"I don't believe there's a place for racism in America. But at the same time I don't think we should run from our history, good or bad," Creighton said. "...As a kid, I didn't have the money to travel to museums that were 40, 50 miles away. All I had were free parks and public grounds to learn history by walking through those parks with my family."

Reporters Kaitlin Bain and Benjamin Wermund contributed to this story.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
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Linkedin Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 17:52 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddf738e 1 National COVID-19,surabaya,East-Java,COVID-19-in-East-Java,COVID-19-death-toll,#COVID19 Free

Almost unnoticeably, sometime in early May, the coronavirus crept into a house in Indonesia's emerging COVID-19 epicenter of Surabaya and ensnared four members of the family who lived there.

The father of the family, 68, died on the morning of May 30 before being tested, less than a day after he was admitted to an isolation room at a Surabaya hospital along with his 61-year-old wife.

Later that day, in a different hospital, surgeons operated on the couple's eldest daughter to remove her unborn child, whose heart had stopped beating. The woman who lost her child had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been on a ventilator for days before the operation.

In the early morning of May 31, hours after the burial of the familys father and the unborn child, which the bereaved family could only witness from inside their cars, the eldest daughter died.

The youngest daughter begged the nurses to let her see her dead sister, a 34-year-old who had been married for two years, by video call.

On June 2, the mother of the family died before she was tested, an hour after she told her youngest daughter by phone that she could no longer bear her breathing difficulties. She passed away unaware that her eldest daughter had died before her.

Their stories were shared by the family's youngest daughter, 27-year-old Dea Winnie Pertiwi, who spoke with the media after rumors about the family made the rounds on WhatsApp groups.

The deceased family members are survived by Dea, her middle sister, as well as her brother-in-law and his 17-month-old child.

"Thank God that during the last burial, which was my mothers, I could bathe her body and join her funeral even though I had to have full personal protective equipment [PPE] on," Dea told The Jakarta Post, referring to a common Islamic funeral rite that has all but ceased under the pandemic.

Dea and her family spent the following days separately in mandatory isolation. They were united only by their grief. There was no takziyah (vigil) nor funeral for the deceased. The graves were left plain, with simple wooden mounds displaying the deceaseds names and the hospitals where they had died.

Dea herself was waiting for test results as she had developed a cough and had lost her sense of smell.

"My parents never left the house. In fact, my father was very disciplined about [health protocols]," Dea said.

Like nearly half of those over 60 years old in the country, Dea's parents lived in a three-generation household, consisting of themselves, two of their daughters, a son-in-law and a grandchild. Dea lived further away in the suburbs of Surabaya.

Surabaya had recorded 3,439 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday  making up half of East Java's cases  with 923 recoveries and 300 deaths. The city also had 3,426 patients under surveillance (PDPs) and 4,002 people under observation (ODPs). Eastern Surabaya, the downtown area where Dea's parents resided, has recorded the highest numbers of cases and deaths.

Read also: COVID-19 leaves lab workers grappling with unprecedented testing scale

In mid-May, Dea's brother-in-law started developing COVID-19 symptoms a day after he took his wife, who was eight months pregnant, to a monthly prenatal check-up. This was followed by Dea's middle sister, who developed breathing difficulties. The family brushed it off as a seasonal flu.

A few days later, Deas eldest sister developed a fever and breathing difficulties. Her pregnancy had limited the medicine she could take, and by the time she was admitted to the hospital on May 26, it was too late. Her condition had worsened, and she had suffered a miscarriage.

"I've brought my sister to the emergency room twice. The first time we asked for her to be hospitalized, the doctor said the hospital was overloaded and that there were no isolation rooms for pregnant women, Dea said. My mother also requested hospitalization twice, but the hospital advised her to self-isolate first.

Why were patients who had personally requested hospitalization because home treatment was not sufficient rejected by the hospitals?"

At Dea's mothers first visit to the hospital on Idul Fitri, the chest X-ray showed white spots on her lungs. Her rapid antibody test indicated the presence of COVID-19, but the more conclusive swab test would only be available a week later, and its results would take even longer, Dea said.

Within five days, the white spots had multiplied, Deas mothers second X-ray showed, and only then was she admitted to an isolation room with her husband, who had become too weak to walk.

Both died as PDPs before they were swabbed. Dea was told that this was because the lab was closed on Sunday and June 1 was a national holiday, coupled with a lengthy waiting list for swab testing.

"COVID-19 is real, Dea said. Many people seem to underestimate it, but that is because they have not experienced it themselves,

Her case gives a glimpse of the problems haunting Surabaya's efforts to contain the outbreak: overloaded hospitals and a lingering testing backlog. These problems remain even as the city begins to ease restrictions to address economic concerns. Meanwhile, new cases continue to soar.

Read also: Indonesia records spike in COVID-19 cases as govt eases restrictions

East Java COVID-19 task force tracing team head Kohar Hari Santoso said that although hospitals had been "relatively full", there were rooms available for new patients.

He also pointed to a newly opened emergency hospital in the city, which had a capacity of 271 beds that could be gradually increased to 512 beds. The hospital, however, only aimed to treat mild cases so as to not overwhelm the city's 20 referral hospitals.

"[Surabayas health care system] was already overwhelmed before restrictions were loosened. [...] If transmission continues, patients will not be able to be treated optimally  or will not be treated at all  and the death rate may increase, epidemiologist Windhu Purnomo said.

The city, he said, should add more lab workers to allow labs to operate non-stop.




File photo

Palpable fear has enveloped Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State following recent mysterious deaths taking place in the state.

This is as the number of burials have increased in various cemeteries across the council area.

According to Nigerian Tribune, a source close to the biggest cemetery along Zaria Road in the local government revealed that the number of the dead brought for burial in the past three weeks has suddenly increased and given the attendants serious concern.

One of the gravediggers who spoke with Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity declared thus: We dont know the cause of the deaths, but we are worried about the sudden increase in recent time. In the past three weeks, the rate of burial in this cemetery alone is more than double compare to the previous rate. Today alone we have buried five persons, we may still bury more.

Though those in charge of the burial ground did not allow Tribune Online to have access to the records, a source said the figure was far above 50 in the past three weeks.

The chairman of the local government, Shehu Bala Usman, who confirmed the surge in the number of deaths in the area declared that: What you observed is true. Right now, we have opened a register in all cemeteries within the local government. Before it has been a tradition that corpses must be registered with the appropriate authority, before burial but these days people dont follow the protocol again.

What we do now is to open register so that corpses can be registered at cemeteries before they are buried. This will enable us to evaluate what is happening, before we can establish that there is a mysterious death in a large number, there must be data and indices to back up the claim.

But now, any corpses for burial within this local government will have to be registered before they are buried. We would look at the present figure and compare it to the previous ones he said.

On coronavirus pandemic, Hon. Usman said the council has stepped up its awareness campaign and took it to the ward level since it has become a community issue and called for a change of attitude towards the pandemic.

He said the council in the past three months has been complementing the efforts of the State government in taming the COVID-19 adding that his council will not relent in its efforts to arrest the situation.
Just Eat Takeaway has sealed a 5.8billion merger with Grubhub that will hand the European delivery giant a slice of the lucrative US market.

If both companies' investors give their approval, the resulting behemoth will have more than 70m users ordering takeaway curries, pizzas and the like in 25 countries.

The deal would be completed by swapping shares  meaning no cash actually changes hands  and would give Grubhub a 30 per cent stake in the enlarged group.

Just Eat has has sealed a 5.8bn merger with US rival Grubhub to create a food delivery giant with more than 70m users ordering takeaway curries, pizzas and the like in 25 countries

The desire for another tie-up may at first seem surprising, given that Dutch group Takeaway was only given the final all-clear from UK authorities for its 6.2billion takeover of Just Eat back in April.

But the ability to gain a toehold on the other side of the Atlantic and fending off competition from Uber Eats seem to be major attractions.

The tie-up was completed in a matter of weeks after Just Eat Takeaway boss Jitse Groen got wind that Uber Eats was eyeing up Grubhub.

Stock Watch - Keras Resources Mining minnow Keras Resources jumped after its three board members scooped up shares. Non-executive chairman Brian Moritz, chief executive Russell Lamming and non-executive director Dave Reeves bought 11m shares between them, though they did not disclose the purchase price. Reeves is still the biggest investor, with a 17.7 per cent holding. AIM-listed Keras, which has an 85 per cent stake in a manganese project in Togo, saw its stock rise 19.2 per cent, or 0.02p, to 0.16p.

As well as seeing a lucrative  if crowded  market in the States, Groen also sees Grubhub boss Matt Maloney as his 'kinfolk', describing them both as 'the remaining food delivery veterans in the sector' because they both started their businesses on different continents in the early 2000s.

While management clearly still has an appetite for blockbuster takeover deals  at a time when the industry has seen a surge in orders during lockdown  it's not yet clear if the investors feel the same.

Activist shareholder Cat Rock praised the arrangement as 'clever and sensible', but shares in Just Eat Takeaway fell 3.1 per cent, or 234p, to 7392p last night.

The wider FTSE 100 was also in the red, led by fresh sell-offs in some of the travel stocks that have been worst-hit by the coronavirus crisis.

The Footsie shed 4 per cent, or 252.43 points, to 6076.7 as the latest downward turn in the market wiped 12 per cent, or 164.5p off cruise company Carnival, which closed at 1190p, while Easyjet fell 7.1 per cent, or 58.2p, to 760.2p, and plane engine-maker Rolls-Royce slid 9 per cent, or 31.7p, to 321.6p.

The FTSE 250 also lost ground, falling 3.6 per cent, or 631.79 points, to 16973.67.

Mid-cap engineering group and submarine maintainer Babcock sunk 7.7 per cent, or 31.4p, to 376.6p after swinging to a 178million loss in the year to March 31.

The Ministry of Defence contractor took one-off costs of more than 500million, including a write-down of the value of its business that flies oil and gas workers out to offshore oil rigs and a fine in Italy. The year before it made a profit of 235million.

In addition to falling into the red, it has scrapped any financial guidance and deferred making a decision on its dividend until later in the year.

It wants to see whether short-term contracts  which make up about 20 per cent of revenues  will be affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Elsewhere, sub-prime lender Amigo confirmed that its chairman Stephan Wilcke will leave next week after pressure from investor Richmond Group, which is owned by Amigo's founder James Benamor.

And chief executive Hamish Paton will depart next month.

Board director Roger Lovering will take over as acting chair until the business finds a permanent replacement.

Amigo's shares fell 5.6 per cent, or 0.88p, to 14.9p, as the boardroom played musical chairs.

Over on AIM, Bahamas Petroleum dived 21.8 per cent, or 0.72p, to 2.6p, and Columbus Energy fell by 18.8 per cent, or 0.45p, to 1.95p, after the pair struck a 25million all-stock merger to form a Caribbean and Atlantic 'champion'.
Xie Yiyi lost her job last Friday, making the 22-year-old Beijing resident one of millions of young people in China left unmoored and shaken by the coronavirus.

So that same day, heeding the advice of one of Chinas top leaders, she decided to open a barbecue stall.

Many people in China would say selling spicy mutton skewers was a step down for an American-educated young person like Ms. Xie  or, really, for anybody in the worlds second-largest economy. Street vendors are seen by many Chinese people as embarrassing eyesores from the countrys past, when it was still emerging from extreme poverty. In many Chinese cities, uniformed neighborhood rules enforcers called chengguan regularly evict and assault sidewalk sellers of fake jewelry, cheap clothes and spicy snacks.

But Li Keqiang, Chinas premier, had publicly called for the countrys jobless to ignite a stall economy to get the countrys derailed economy back on track. In the process, he laid bare Chinas diverging narratives after the coronavirus epidemic. Is China an increasingly middle-class country, represented by the skyscrapers and tech campuses in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen? Or is much of it still poor and backward, a country of roadside stalls in back alleys?
BARTLETT, Ill., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 16, 2020, in an effort to protect financial and continuing-care guarantees to its residents, Clare Oaks, a senior living community near Chicago, will formally oppose a reorganization plan proposed by its bondholders. The virtual hearing will take place before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, at which time the Court also will consider a competing plan from the Clare Oaks Creditors Committee filed on June 5, 2020.

Clare Oaks, a not-for-profit continuing care retirement community (CCRC), seeks to honor its contractual obligations to its residents, whose average age is 87. The residents stand to lose refunds ranging from $109,350 to $299,433, which were guaranteed when they moved into independent living residences, and which represent a significant portion of their life savings for many of these older adults.

The bondholders are West Coast private equity firm Lapis Advisors, LP, which focuses on distressed assets, and Boston-based Amundi Pioneer Asset Management, Inc. Their plan raises the prospect that most of the 225 Clare Oaks residents would be stripped of their savings and could be forced out of their homes during a global pandemic.

In addition, the bondholders' plan would remove the guarantee of continuing carea pledge included in residents' independent living contracts and enshrined in judicial precedentlikely forcing some of them onto Medicaid. Clare Oaks is among the most respected CCRCs in Illinois, rated at the highest level with five stars by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and ranked by U.S. News & World Report in the top 12 percent of short-term stay rehab and skilled nursing care communities nationwide.

Clare Oaks maintains that the bondholders' plan elevates their own financial gain at the expense of older adults by terminating the contractual agreement to refund 90 percent of entrance fees. This agreement is typical of CCRCs. The bondholders' position is contrary to decades of judicial precedent, which hold that such agreements are sacrosanct.

In essence, the bondholdersin an attempt to protect themselves from losses incurred by their own investment strategieshave proposed a plan that would steal from the senior citizens who invested their life savings to avoid burdening their children and society when they needed future care.

How entrance-fees work

When independent living residents move into a CCRC, they pay a one-time entrance fee and receive the contractual promise that a significant portion of that fee (usually 90 percent) will be refunded when they leave the community. Until then, the CCRC uses the entrance fees to pay other resident refunds, bond debt, capital improvement and some operating expenses.

The need for financial restructuring

In December 2012, bondholders burdened Clare Oaks with bond debt of $89 million, a sum wildly out of step with market expectations. In 2018, Clare Oaks initiated attempts to discuss solutions prior to filing for bankruptcy, but bondholders chose not to restructure the agreement. This unwillingness to explore options led to Clare Oaks declaring bankruptcy in 2019.

Clare Oaks has not mismanaged any funds and, by instituting important but responsible cost-cutting measures, has been able to meet all obligations, including debt payments and entrance-fee refunds from December 2012 to April 10, 2019, relying solely on cash from operations.

National implications for seniors

If the bondholders obtain approval of their plan, it will open the door for other investors to abandon the rights of older adultsa possibility that would devastate the security of more than 600,000 older adults who are living in nearly 2,000 CCRCs in the United States.

FYI

Learn more and how to register to listen via telephone to the June 16 Court hearing at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xy70jwea9cshz0u/AAAmxFw4HMvMpG7ZkPv-v_kXa?dl=0

SOURCE Clare Oaks
MINNEAPOLIS, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Livio Health (Livio) and Minnesota Oncology, a practice in The US Oncology Network (The Network), today announced an agreement that will create an enhanced, patient-centered experience for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) Medicare Advantage members.

Through this collaboration, Livio nurse practitioners, social workers and nurse care coordinators will serve as an extension of the Minnesota Oncology care team, providing additional medical support virtually and in patients' homes to address quality of life and acute symptoms.

As a result of COVID-19, Livio quickly developed a virtual care model to protect at-risk oncology patients from exposure, while adhering to all social distancing guidelines established by public health officials.

"During the COVID-19 health crisis, the Livio care team has quickly transitioned to providing many of these important supportive care services via telehealth until it is safe to begin delivering in-home care for this at-risk population," said A.R. Weiler, CEO of Livio Health. "People with serious illnesses receive treatment for their diagnosis, but their broader needs  from physical, cognitive and emotional, to social and spiritual  are often unmet. As part of the value-based agreement between Blue Cross and Minnesota Oncology, Livio will meet these broader needs with no additional cost to the member. This is an example of how we're transforming the healthcare delivery model, delivering better outcomes, providing an unparalleled patient experience and addressing affordability."

Physicians, nurses, social workers, nutrition therapists and genetic counselors all play an important role in Minnesota Oncology's comprehensive care model, which also includes remote symptoms monitoring, advance care planning, palliative care and survivorship support. As an important piece of this care model, Livio provides patients with 24-hour access to symptom management, as well as emotional and spiritual support and advance care planning guidance. The two teams are working together to stay connected on patients' needs and create a coordinated experience for patients and their families. This collaboration will evolve and expand over time.

"Studies have shown that cancer patients who receive supportive care early on in their diagnosis are more likely to experience a higher quality of life with less stress placed on themselves and their families," said John Schwerkoske, MD, president and medical oncologist at Minnesota Oncology. "We also see a reduction in the number of hospital and emergency room visits for these patients, which usually means a higher level of physical and financial well-being."

Collaboration between Minnesota Oncology and Livio developed following a September 2019 agreement that made Blue Cross and Minnesota Oncology jointly accountable for the overall cost of cancer care provided to Blue Cross members. Livio works closely with Blue Cross  Minnesota's largest non-profit insurer  to deliver supportive, virtual and in-home medical care for members with serious illnesses.

Livio and Minnesota Oncology are continuously monitoring guidance from state and federal public health officials to determine the appropriate timing for moving forward with in-home care delivery as part of this agreement.

About Minnesota Oncology

Minnesota Oncology is dedicated to providing compassionate care for various types of cancer and blood disorders in 12 convenient Twin Cities metro locations, as well as several satellite locations. Minnesota Oncology provides high-quality cancer care in a community setting, allowing patients to stay close to the comfort of home and family. Its mission is to combine the strength of hope with the power of science, one patient at a time.

Minnesota Oncology is a practice in The US Oncology Network (The Network). This collaboration unites the practice with more than 1,350 independent physicians dedicated to delivering value-based, integrated care to patients  close to home. Through The Network, these independent doctors come together to form a community of shared expertise and resources dedicated to advancing local cancer care and to delivering better patient outcomes. The Network is supported by McKesson Corporation, whose coordinated resources and infrastructure allow doctors in The Network to focus on the health of their patients, while McKesson focuses on the health of their practices. Minnesota Oncology also participates in clinical trials through US Oncology Research, which has played a role in more than 95 FDA-approved cancer therapies.

About Livio Health

Livio Health provides supportive medical care for people with serious illness through in-home, phone and video visits. Livio's care teams work alongside specialists and primary care teams to provide care tailored to patients' values and aspirations. Livio gives patients access to 24/7 medical support and a team of experts, including physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers and nurses. At Livio, we help patients and families focus on more good days.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St. Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota's first health plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today: to promote a wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota. A nonprofit, taxable organization, Blue Cross is the largest health plan based in Minnesota, covering 2.9 million members in Minnesota and nationally through its health plans or plans administered by its affiliated companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago.

SOURCE Livio

Related Links

http://www.liviohealth.com


On June 10, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said his office launched a criminal investigation regarding a May 31 incident involving Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers and a woman.

The incident, which was caught on camera by News 8 reporter Richard Essex, involved several IMPD officers beating a woman with a baton soon after curfew began May 31. The video was brought up several times during a June 10 meeting of the city-county councils Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee.

IMPD Chief Randal Taylor said the video and the actions of the officers made him uncomfortable, but added the actions taken were not necessarily illegal, saying the woman was resisting arrest.

Councilor Leroy Robinson challenged Taylor on this claim.

You mentioned resisting arrest, Robinson said. She clearly had her arms to her side, she clearly did not move.  Im sure you saw that but I just wanted to put that out there.

Taylor responded by saying, from the video he saw, it looked like the woman was resisting arrest.

Mears said his office launched its investigation June 9 after IMPD completed a separate internal affairs investigation.

We owe it to the officers to investigate that and, trust me, if there is something that comes out of that investigation, they will be disciplined, Taylor said. And now we have the possibility of criminal charges if thats what Mr. Mears decides to do.

The officers involved in the incident have been reassigned to a different detail.

News In Brief
She is set to reunite with her fiance, Harry Jowsey, in LA in the coming days, after they were forced to self-isolate in different countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And Too Hot to Handle star Francesca Farago offered her partner a taste of things to come on Wednesday when she posted a racy video to Instagram Stories.

The 26-year-old swimwear designer posed braless in a wet white T-shirt while filming a selfie video at her home in Vancouver, Canada.

Ready for a reunion: Too Hot to Handle star Francesca Farago offered her fiance, Harry Jowsey, a taste of things to come on Wednesday when she posted a racy video to Instagram Stories

She suggestively lifted up her top to reveal her toned midriff, and also highlighted her slender thighs in a pair of red knickers.

'Wet T-shirt contestant,' she captioned the cheeky post.

Francesca later changed outfits, slipping into a tight white singlet and beige bikini bottoms for another clip.

In a follow-up post, she revealed she would be in 'LA in four days', presumably to reunite with Australian-born Harry, who is based there.

Looking good, eh! The 26-year-old swimwear designer posed braless in a wet white T-shirt while filming a selfie video at her home in Vancouver, Canada

Playing dress-up: Francesca later changed outfits, slipping into a tight white singlet and beige bikini bottoms for another clip

Travel plans: In a follow-up post, she revealed she would be in 'LA in four days', presumably to reunite with Australian-born Harry, who is based there

Harry - who is from the coastal town of Yeppoon in Queensland - has been staying put in Los Angeles since the lockdown measures came into effect, while Francesca has been back home in her native Vancouver.

Discussing their living situation, Harry revealed this week they'd spent 'a couple of days' together last month when Francesca was in LA for work related to her bikini brand.

'Apart from that, we haven't really been able to see each other at all,' he told WHO magazine. 'It's been really difficult.'

'Haven't seen her': Harry (right) has been staying put in Los Angeles since the lockdown measures came into effect, while Francesca (left) has been back home in her native Vancouver

The couple, who were known for their frisky antics on Too Hot to Handle, became engaged via Zoom during the reunion episode, which was released on Netflix last month.

Harry proposed with a lollipop ring, but the model and fashion designer has said she expects a proper ring in the coming months.

The couple, who briefly split and got back together after filming the raunchy dating show, said last month they wanted to have children.

'Francesca and I are better than ever, we took a bit of a break in between but now we are full steam ahead,' Harry told The Mirror.

'I can't wait to start travelling and we can put some babies in her belly!'
IT1P  PAYE Income Tax Return 2020/2021  Released August 2020

The Income Tax Office is modernising and streamlining its services and aims to launch an online tool both for income declarations for the 2019/2020 tax year and the corresponding claim for allowances.

Whilst preparations are underway to provide an improved e-service, the Income Tax Office will not issue the IT1P PAYE Individual Tax Return at the start of the tax year, as is usually the case. Updates will be provided on how this may affect reporting requirements and the way in which returns are completed this tax year.

In anticipation of the transition to e-services, blank copies of tax returns will no longer be available from Income Tax Office website.

For further enquiries or to request a tax return copy, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call +350 200 74924.

Anyone requesting a tax return copy will need to provide an updated mailing address to facilitate a direct response.
Donald Trump still views his widely panned walk to St. John's Church on June 1 via a path cleared of peaceful protesters by tear gas and rubber bullets as a PR tour de force.

He tweeted on June 11:

"Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe how easy it was. 'A walk in the park,' one said. The protesters, agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handled VERY easily by the Guard, D.C. Police, & S.S. GREAT JOB!"

The president might want to rethink his use of S.S., which is not how the Secret Service refers to itself. The Schutzstaffel (SS) was the paramilitary organization that Adolf Hitler used in Nazi Germany and Europe during World War II. We are certainly not at the point where the Secret Service is Trump's paramilitary force.

The same day that Trump was basking in the memory of the Battle of Lafayette Square, the New York Times reported that the National Guard is investigating its crackdown on the DC demonstrators.

Jittery senior Army leadership urged the Guard to take aggressive action against the protestors because they feared Trump would order troops from the 82nd Airborne, which was positioned just outside of DC.

Trump's beautiful bible photo-op also took a hit from General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who apologized for being part of Trump's publicity stunt.

He told graduates at the National Defense University:

"I should not have been there. My presence in that moment in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it."

The General also expressed "outrage by the senseless and brutal killing of George Floyd. His death amplified the pain, the frustration, and the fear that so many of our fellow Americans live day in and day out."

As America digested the words from its top military officer, the president was off to Dallas for a $10M fundraiser and a talk about policing and race in America.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the police chief of Glenn Heights, a town of 11,000 south of Dallas, was to participate in the discussion.

The top three law enforcement officers in the county, though, were not invited. Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown and District Attorney John Creuzot were not invited.

They are Black.
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I was not planning to write about this topic when the week began. There are lots of issues that I could address, particularly, the ubiquitous COVID-19 crisis, how it has impacted our lives and our livelihoods. and how we have responded to it. But beneath the COVID news have been numerous and disturbing reports of the consequences of another virus  American racism.

The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer is a brutal reminder that black Americans cannot  in fact, do not  presume a sense of safety when in the presence of peace officers even when doing seemingly innocuous activities like jogging, sleeping, playing, driving, selling mix tapes or entering your own home. The disease of racism is the most difficult American conversation.

If the killing of Mr. Floyd was the only event to remind us of this fact, we should look at some recent similar examples. In 2015 alone, police or self-styled vigilantes killed over 100 unarmed black Americans. Here is a list of some recent high-profile killings:

Trayvon Martin (Sanford, Fla., 2012)

Tamir Rice (Cleveland, 2014)

Sam Dubose (Cincinnati, 2015)

Freddie Gray (Baltimore, 2015)

Philando Castile (St. Andrews, Minn., 2016)

Terrance Crutcher (Tulsa, Okla. 2017)

Alton Sterling (Baton Rouge, 2016)

Jamar Clark (Minneapolis, 2015)

Walter Scott (North Charleston, S.C., 2015)

Michael Brown (Ferguson, Mo., 2014)

Eric Garner (New York City, 2014)

Sandra Bland (Walker County, Texas, 2015)

Mubarak Soulemane (West Haven, Conn., 2020)

Ahmaud Arbery (Brunswick, GA, 2020)

Briana Taylor (Louisville, 2020)

If the Memorial Day murder of George Floyd over a $20 dispute by a Minneapolis policeman does not move America to recognize that racism is also a deadly virus that infects both victims and victimizers, perhaps nothing will. It is easy to see the damage racism does to black Americans. In most instances, racism is not deadly. Take the case of the Central Park woman who called the NYPD on a black man upset that her privilege was not working so she needed backup.

It is more difficult to see the damage it does to the white Americans who perpetrate racism. Racists and white supremacists cannot see the world as it is. They are blind to the reality that there is but one human race. Racists simply do not  cannot  process facts. This makes them susceptible to unfounded conspiracy theories. This makes them oppositional to science. This makes them vulnerable to place the blame for their unsatisfactory existence on those who do not look like them. Racists need an other that they can point to that proves their superiority despite the facts. Most unfortunately, racists pass on this sickness to their children and their grandchildren just as it was passed on to them by their parents and grandparents. Fortunately, most white Americans are not racists.

Racism is deeply woven into American culture and society. Racists are in the armed forces, they are in corporations, they are in universities, they are in the public and private schools, they are in Hollywood, they are in our churches and synagogues, they are in the media, they are within the judiciary, they are within Congress, they are clearly in the police force, and they are, regrettably, in the highest offices in government. They are our neighbors. They are Americans.

What must we do to stamp out the virus of racism? Martin Luther King believed that undeserved suffering by the victims and non-violent resistance was the balm that forced racists to confront their demons and change. This approach changed laws, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 are examples of those victories. But unfortunately, I am feeling a profound sense that we have failed to purge this virus from our system. In Martin Luther Kings Letter from a Birmingham Jail he said:

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

The cure for the virus of racism lies with white Americans not with its victims. It is up to you to fix. The question is: Are you up to the challenge?

Fred McKinney is the Carlton Highsmith Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and director of the Peoples United Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Quinnipiac University School of Business. He is on social media at @drfredmckinney.
UPDATE: N.J. puts Asbury Park, others defying coronavirus lockdown rules on notice. Enforcement coming, Murphy says.

In a move that runs contrary to Gov. Phil Murphys latest executive order, Asbury Park will allow its restaurants to have limited indoor dining for the first time since the states eateries were banned from allowing patrons to dine inside during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Asbury Park City Council approved a resolution Wednesday evening allowing restaurants to allow indoor dining at 25% of the buildings capacity or 50 people, whichever is lower, beginning Monday.

The measure was part of a larger resolution outlining plans for establishment to allow outdoor dining and outdoor retail display areas.

Asbury Park Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn shared the news on her Facebook page on Wednesday evening by posting an article written by local newspaper, The Coaster, which first reported the story.

Unless the governor shuts it down, our businesses have a lot to do before Monday, June 15, Quinn said.

Murphy announced Tuesday that the states limit on indoor gatherings was changed from 10 to 50 people or 25% of a buildings capacity, whichever is lower, effectively immediately, under a new executive order. All attendees must still wear face coverings and stay six feet from each other, the governor said.

While outdoor dining at restaurants and bars will be allowed allowed starting Monday, with limits, as Stage 2 of the states multiphase reopening plan begins, Murphy specifically said indoor dining was still not given his approval.

I hope well get to indoor dining sooner than later, but were not there yet, he said.

A spokesman from Murphys office could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday evening.

Murphy has not outlined specific benchmarks the state has reached as he has incrementally lifted his orders in New Jersey, home to the second-most COVID-19 deaths and cases in America. Instead, he has pointed to an overall drop in the number of new cases, deaths, and hospitalizations, as well as a steady decrease in the virus rate of reproduction.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
A local authority in England has postponed the removal of a statue of Robert Baden-Powell, as residents vow to protect it from protesters.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council had announced that the statue of the founder of the Scout Movement  in Poole Quay, Dorset  would be temporarily taken down after it was put on a target list.

However, the planned removal has been delayed after the council realised the operation would require uprooting its deep foundations and heavy-lifting equipment.

The authority also announced it would be providing the statue with 24-hour security.

Campaigners had highlighted Baden-Powells associations with the Nazis and the Hitler youth programme, as well as his actions in the military.

Council leader Vikki Slade tweeted the decision to remove it was taken following a threat, adding: Its literally less than 3m from the sea so is at huge risk. A crowd of local residents gathered around the statue on Thursday, vowing to protect it and to stop the council from removing it while also launching a petition to save it.

Mark Howell, the local authoritys deputy leader, said the statue would only be removed to protect it, with the aim of it permanently remaining in its position overlooking Brownsea Island where Baden-Powell held his first experimental camp in 1907.

Locals show their support for a statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset today. Pic: Andrew Matthews/PA

He told the PA news agency: In terms of its long-term future, this statue stays here, Baden-Powell did an enormous amount of good, he created an organisation that brought people from different religions, ethnic backgrounds and races together.

He added: We know that local people feel proud of Lord Baden-Powells and the Scout Movements links with Poole, and that some people feel that we would be giving in to the protesters by temporarily removing the statue.

However, we feel it is responsible to protect it for future generations to enjoy and respect.

We will not be removing the statue today as the foundations are deeper than originally envisaged and we need further discussions with contractors on the best way to remove it safely.

Although we cannot say when any temporary removal may take place, we will be providing 24-hour security until it is either removed or the threat diminishes.

The target list emerged following a raft of Black Lives Matter protests across the UK, sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis last month.

Len Banister, 78, a former scout, said of the Baden-Powell statue: He is the reason I am still here, the pleasure he gives to so many people, they shouldnt take it down, I will fight them off.

Len Banister shows his support for the statue today. Pic: Andrew Matthews/PA

Rover Scouts Matthew Trott and Christopher Arthur travelled from Cwmbran in Wales to express their support for the statue.

Mr Trott, 28, said: He is my hero. Id rather see the statue placed in a box in a warehouse for the moment rather than at the bottom of the harbour.

The Scouts said in a statement: We look forward to discussing this matter with Poole Council to make an informed decision on what happens next.

Baden-Powell was the founder of the Scout movement. Currently, there are over 54 million Scouts in the world and we operate in almost every nation on earth, promoting tolerance and global solidarity.
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) bans the use of WeTranfer after the file-sharing company refused to cooperate with authorities. WeTransfer was being used to share content in the name of senior Delhi police officials and other government servants.

Delhi Police had asked WeTransfer to share details of two links that were sending malware to people using fake emails of senior Police officers. We Transfer refused to cooperate in the investigation.

To stop the further spread of such malware to people using Delhi officers' fake emails, the Police asked DoT to block this platform. As it stands, DoT has implemented that order.
New Delhi:

The AAP on Friday alleged involvement of BJP and RSS in the assault on three persons, including a madrasa teacher, by suspected cow vigilantes in the city and raised the issue with the National Commission for Minorities.



The party said the incident, which took place on September 14 in Kanjhawla area of outer Delhi, laid bare the "hollowness" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal against any such act and proved that it was a "mere rhetoric".



Kirari MLA Rituraj Govind wrote to the National Commission for Minorities stating that the accused, who brutally thrashed the victims, had identified themselves as "gau rakshaks".



A few elements were deliberately trying to give the incident a communal angle, he said.



"The Muslim community is extremely angry over the incident and a climate of tension is prevailing in the area...since staging these incidents are impossible without the political patronage of BJP and RSS, they should also be acted against as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal," he wrote.



AAP Delhi Convenor Dilip Pandey said the hooligans going around with weapons and thrashing people on the pretext of "gau rakshha" were only getting emboldened with time which, he said, was "ominous" for the country.



"PM Modi had famously said shoot me if you want. Was that drama? It has turned out to be another 'jumla'," Pandey said.

Three persons, including a minor, were allegedly thrashed by a group of men when they were going to dispose of animal entrails and hide after Bakra Eid in Kanjhawla area.



Referring to the alleged gangrape of two girls, including a minor, in Aman Vihar, Govind said the area has earned the dubious distinction of being the "most unsafe" in the absence of a robust law and order machinery.



"There is one police station for a population of five lakh. And instead of augmenting security, the Centre which controls the police is busy arresting AAP legislators," he said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
33-year-old COVID-19 patient hangs self in isolation ward after escape episode

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

Thiruvananthapuram, June 10: A COVID-19 patient, brought back after escaping quarantine from the medical college hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, was found hanging in his isolation ward on Wednesday, police said.

The personhad hanged himself in the ward when the nurse went to give him medicines. He was taken to the ICU immediately but could not be saved, the police said.

Coronavirus crisis: India records 9,996 new COVID-19 cases; Total tally at 2.87 lakhs

China says reached positive consensus with India on border issue | Oneindia News

The 33-year-old patient was to be discharged on Tuesday after being tested negative twice, but he escaped from the hospital on the same day and was caught near his house, the they said.

After bringing him back to the hospital, he was given counselling and other awareness sessions. "Preliminary investigation by the medical college officials had indicated the patient to be a tippler and has escaped quarantine due to non-availability of liquor. The surveillance team has started the process of tracing his contacts," a press release from the Collectorate had said.

"We have registered acase," police said, adding: The hospital authorities are being interrogated in connection with the escape. The patient is suspected to have travelled by a state-run bus to his native place in Thiruvananthapuram district.

COVID-19 in India may have originated from EU, Middle East: IISc study

Officials said the district administration was trying to gather details of those who travelled by the bus.

Meanwhile, another 38-year-old man, under observation in the same hospital, also committed suicide by hanging himself. He belonged to Nedumangadu near here. He was placed in quarantine after he reached the state from Tamil Nadu. Kerala Health minister K K Shailaja has ordered a probe into both the cases.
About 18 months after Nigeria signed into law the prohibition of discrimination against persons with disabilities bill, the federal government says it is set to create a National Commission for persons with special needs.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will partner with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs in the establishment of the new commission.

The Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, disclosed this in a statement he issued on Thursday shortly after a meeting with the humanitarian affairs minister, Sadiya Farouq.

Mr Ojukwu said although the establishment of the Disability Commission is within the powers of the ministry, the rights commission would play a significant role in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

The statement, however, did not state the focus and objective of the commission in protecting the rights and interests of disabled persons.

A report by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank in 2011, said 25 million people in Nigeria have one form of physical disability or the other. The figure accounts for at least 15 per cent of Nigerias current population of over 200 million, according to the UN estimates.

In 2018, the national population commission estimated that no fewer than 19 million Nigerians are living with one form of disability or the other.

The law prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities was signed last January last year, after over 20 years of advocacy by notable Nigerians.

According to section (1) of the law, anyone found guilty of discriminating against a person with a disability would be liable to a fine N100,000 in the case of an individual or N1 million in the case of an institution or a term of six months in jail or both.

The law also provides for the Nigerian government to establish institutions that will enhance its implementation such as the commission for persons with disabilities.

Long road

But even after the signing of the law, many Nigerians living with disabilities say the journey towards legal recognition and respect by Nigeria is still ahead. The government that approved a new law has literarily helped violate it.

While the law says at least five per cent of all public appointments must go to people with disabilities, governments at various levels have so far not complied. President Muhammadu Buhari appointed no person with a disability into his 43-member cabinet last August.

Also, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world and ascertaining the percentage of those with learning disabilities is next to impossible as official data is non-existent. As such, any educational plan will most likely not address the needs of those with disabilities, pushing them further to the margins of society.

Also, the lack of awareness on learning disabilities in Nigeria is another hurdle special needs children encounter.

New measure

Meanwhile, Mr Ojukwu, in the statement, said mainstreaming human rights into governance would yield better results in the quest for a better deal for special needs people.

We believe that if human rights are mainstreamed in all government operations, it will be more successful, there will be fewer criticisms, there will be no stigmatization. It will be more inclusive and people will be more patriotic and Nigeria will be better off.

According to the statement, Mrs Farouq expressed readiness to work with the NHRC on the establishment of the commission.

The minister was quoted as saying her ministry is seriously concerned about the issue of people with disabilities and will do all in its powers to give them the best that they deserve.
Christian teen cut into pieces by radicals in India 3 years after conversion

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A Christian convert teenager in the Odisha state of India was killed last Thursday by a group of religious fanatics in the Hindu-majority country, who reportedly cut up his body into pieces, according to the interdenominational ministry Persecution Relief.

Pastor Bijay from the Malkangiri district told the nonprofit serving persecuted churches in India about how a group of suspected Hindu radicals (some of whom did not live in the village) ganged up last Thursday to kidnap Christians in the remote Kenduguda village.

As a result, seventh-grader Samaru Madkami was killed by the perpetrators, who were said to have cut his neck and crushed his head with a rock. The suspects are also alleged to have cut the teenagers body into pieces and buried him in a pit.

Madkamis father, Unga Madkami, is a member of Bijays Bethel house church who also serves as an elder in the congregation, according to Persecution Relief. He is a widower who lost his wife a few years back and was raising his children on his own.

Bijay explained that he reported to local police last Friday that the teen went missing after he was taken from the home the night prior. Madkamis kidnapping came after a series of attacks on Christians in the area.

The father claimed in his police report filed last Friday that a group of villagers picked up Madkami at around 11 p.m. and told him that they needed him for a meeting in the jungle, according to Persecution Relief.

The suspects were alleged to have come back to the house about an hour later to try to kidnap Madkamis father. However, they were unsuccessful as Unga Madkami was able to escape to the police station, where he filed an earlier complaint.

According to a police report filed by the victims father, he and his son became Christians about three years ago and faced harassment.

Samaru was a passionate Christian, Bijay told Persecution Relief. He always shared from the Bible with youth and children from the village.

Bijay added that Madkami recently told him that he would take up the ministry should anything ever happen to the pastor.

Inspector of Malkangiri police station Ramprasad Nag told Hindustan Times that Madkamis body was exhumed three days after his killing.

According to Nag, police arrested four people thought to be connected with Madkamis killing.

Police accused Deba Madkami, Budra Muchaki, Aaita Kabasi and Ram Madi of calling Madkami and two other boys to leave their homes on June 4 under the pretext of the so-called meeting.

The three were boys taken to the outskirts of the village to be killed, the news outlet reports.

However, Nag said two others were able to escape while Madkami was beaten to death on accusations he practiced witchcraft.

Persecution Relief Founder Shibu Thomas said in a statement that Madkamis case is by far the most disturbing case of Christian persecution he has seen of the 1,500-plus cases he has been involved with throughout his career.

The hate and aggression in the minds of the religious fanatics and the brutal nature of this crime leaves me dumbfounded! Thomas wrote. My mind has been gripped by the thoughts of an innocent child who desired to serve Jesus Christ, in spite of the pain and challenges of losing his mother at a very tender age. This vicious cruelty exposes the tainted mentality and attitude of religious fanatics of this day and age.

Although Persecution Relief states that Madkami was 14 years old, the Hindustan Times reports that Madkami was 18.

India ranks as the 10th worst country in the world for Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA. Since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, Open Doors reports that incidents of persecution against Christians by Hindu nationalists have increased with little or no consequences.

According to Hindustan Times, killings over accusations of witchcraft are not new in Odisha and there have been at least 17 tribals killed in the last three months. In February, another tribal person from the Maklangiri district was killed by a neighbor over suspicion that he practiced black magic.

Bijay told Persecution Relief that there have been at least four other assaults against Christians in his village this year alone.

According to Bijay, there was one incident in which radicals stuffed three Christians into jute bags and tried to throw them into a river. In another incident, he said, radicals tried to set two Christians on fire.

This frightening and contagious crusade of religious intolerance has now peaked at new inhuman levels, Thomas stressed. Both nationally and internationally, the government of India has been called out numerous times to introspect and arrest the intensifying antagonism towards religious minorities. Somehow, we have become accustomed with being ignored and side-lined because religious nationalism has been prioritized over the lives of the citizens.

In April, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom called on the U.S. State Department to label India as a country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating systemic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

The recommendation was rejected by the Indian government, which accused USCIRF, an independent bipartisan government commission, of being biased.
NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 8th, China's largest retailer, JD.com , announced that transaction volume on its platform for imported brands, JD Worldwide, increased over 150% year-on-year on JD PLUS Day, the designated promotion day for premium membership (JD PLUS) users .

Brands from 22 countries achieved transaction volume growth of over 100% year-on-year on the day, among which brands from Chile, Poland, Israel, Monaco and other niche markets saw growth of over 500%, demonstrating the robust growth opportunity that JD's 618 Grand Promotion gives to international brands of all sizes.

Established by Richard Liu (Liu Qiangdong), JD.com's founder, chairman and CEO , 618 was originally a celebration of the founding of JD on June 18th. Today, 618 has turned into China's largest nationwide mid-year shopping event that lasts from June 1st to June 18th, celebrated not only by online e-commerce players but countless offline stores as well.

This 618 marks JD's 17th Grand Promotion sales event. This year, JD Worldwide will offer products from 20,000 brands hailing from more than 100 countries, and launch 30,000 new products . NIKE, Perrier, French skincare brand Clarins, Japanese skincare brand DECORTE, German baby milk formula brand Aptamil are among the brands that will offer new products to JD customers. In the first half of 2020, over 600 overseas brands launched over 3,000 products on JD Worldwide.

"Represented by JD PLUS members, consumers of international products on JD continue to demonstrate high-quality spending power," said Frank Yu, Head of Marketing and Operations at JD Worldwide. "As the first national shopping festival after the epidemic in China and one of the largest shopping festivals of the year, JD's 618 Grand Promotion will effectively boost China's consumption market."

On PLUS Day, JD Worldwide's PLUS users and user transaction volume increased more than 300% year-on-year, among which several categories, including alcohol, household, toys and musical instruments, bags and leather goods, shoes and boots, and digital products increased more than 300%. Beauty products saw the highest transaction volume, led by Estee Lauder, Shiseido and Anessa. At the same time, Farfetch, a diversified global fashion boutique platform, ranked first in terms of all stores on JD Worldwide.

JD Worldwide has helped to shorten customs clearance time for goods in bonded warehouses to just minutes, enabling customers in 153 cities across 19 provinces to enjoy same- or next-day delivery.

About JD

JD.com is China's largest online retailer, its biggest overall retailer, and the country's biggest Internet company by revenue. JD's focus on technology and its own controlled logistics and supply networks position the retailer to be a valuable asset for the Chinese population in this uncertain time .

Contact: [email protected], +86 10 8911-6155

SOURCE JD.com
Finland - Mobile Infrastructure, Broadband, Operators - Statistics and Analyses

Sydney, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just released, this edition of Paul Budde Communications focus report on Finland outlines the major developments and key aspects in the telecoms markets.

Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Finland-Mobile-Infrastructure-Broadband-Operators-Statistics-and-Analyses

Finland has developed one of most advanced mobile markets in Europe, and just as it was in the forefront of LTE developments so has it emerged as one of the pioneers in 5G. The regulator has auctioned spectrum in the 700MHz, 3.5GHz and 26GHz bands to enable network operators to extend the availability of LTE and 5G services nationally5G in Finland is crucial to realising the governments roadmap for providing data of at least 100Mb/s by 2025.

Growth in the number of mobile subscribers has slowed, in line with the high penetration, while the market has shifted to mobile data and mobile broadband. To this end the network operators have concentrated on network upgrades, providing improved mobile broadband services to the 99% of the population already covered by LTE. Although market competition and regulated tariffs and termination rates have put pressure on operator revenue.

This report provides statistics and analyses on the Finnish mobile market, including key regulatory issues, a snapshot of the consumer market, the growth of mobile data services and the development of emerging technologies and networks such as HSPA, LTE and 5G.

Key developments:

Regulator conclude 26GHz auction for 5G services;

Telia Finland launches a commercial 5G network;

DNA upgrades core and regional networks in preparation for 5G;

Telenor completes its acquisition of DNA;

Nokia and Telia deploy NB-IoT using spectrum in the 800MHz band;

Telia and DNA make progress with joint mobile network to deliver services in Northern and Eastern Finland;

Report update includes the regulator's market data to December 2018, telcos' financial and operating data to Q1 2020, recent market developments.

Story continues

Companies mentioned in this report:

Telia, DNA, Elisa, Digita.

Market analysis

Mobile statistics General statistics Operator market shares Mobile data Short Message Service (SMS) Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) Mobile broadband

Regulatory issues Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions 450MHz 700MHz 800MHz 900MHz 1.8GHz 2.6GHz 3.5GHz 26GHz Roaming Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) Network sharing

Mobile infrastructure Digital networks 5G 4G (LTE) 3G Other infrastructure developments Machine-to-Machine (M2) Internet of Things (IoT)

Major mobile operators Telia Finland DNA Elisa Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

Appendix  Historic data

Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1  Mobile data subscriptions by type  2006  2018

Table 2  Proportion of mobile data subscriptions by speed (Mb/s)  2014  2018

Table 3  Development of Telia Finlands mobile service revenue  2010  2020

Table 4  Development of Telia Finlands blended ARPU  2010  2020

Table 5  Change in the number of Telia Finlands mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Table 6  DNA annualised postpaid monthly ARPU  2007  2020

Table 7  Change in the number of DNAs mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Table 8  Growth in DNAs mobile revenue, by type  2013  2019

Table 9  Growth in DNAs mobile data traffic  2013  2019

Table 10  Change in Elisa Groups revenue  2010  2020

Table 11  Change in the number of Elisas mobile subscribers in Finland and Estonia  2010 - 2020

Table 12  Elisa mobile churn and proportion of data revenue  2008  2019

Table 13  Elisa mobile voice, SMS and data traffic  2008  2020

Table 14  Elisa mobile voice, SMS and data traffic  2008  2020

Table 15  Change in Elisas annualised ARPU  2010  2020

Table 16  Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate  1995; 1997; 1999  2009

Table 17  Historic - Mobile revenue as proportion of total telecom revenue  1998  2009

Table 18  Historic - SMS messages sent and annual change  1999  2009

Table 19  Historic - Telia Finland mobile financial data  2005  2009

Table 20  Historic - Telia Finland blended ARPU  2003  2009

Table 21  Historic - Telia Finland mobile subscribers  2002  2009

Table 22  Historic - DNA annualised postpaid monthly ARPU  2007  2009

Table 23  Historic - DNA mobile subscribers  2007  2009

Table 24  Historic - Elisa mobile financial data  2004  2009

Table 25  Historic - Elisa mobile subscribers in Finland and Estonia  2004 - 2009

Table 26  Historic - Elisa annualised ARPU  2008  2009

List of Charts

Chart 1  Growth in the proportion of mobile revenue to total telecom revenue  2010  2018

Chart 2  Change in mobile network revenue  2006  2018

Chart 3  Change in mobile network tangible investment  2011  2018

Chart 4  Mobile subscribers and penetration rate  2009  2024

Chart 5  Calls and call minutes originating in mobile networks  2006  2018

Chart 6  Change in average mobile ARPU  2014  2018

Chart 7  Prepaid subscribers and proportion to total  2011  2018

Chart 8  Mobile market share of subscribers by operator  2006  2018

Chart 9  Growth in mobile data traffic  2006  2020

Chart 10  Growth in mobile data traffic  2009  2018

Chart 11  Decline in SMS messages traffic, annual change  2010  2018

Chart 12  Change in MMS messages traffic, annual change  2003  2018

Chart 13  Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers, and penetration  2009  2024

Chart 14  MTRs by operator  2005  2020

Chart 15  Growth in the number of M2M connections  2012  2018

Chart 16  Development of Telia Finlands mobile service revenue  2010  2020

Chart 17  Development of Telia Finlands blended ARPU  2010  2020

Chart 18  Change in the number of Telia Finlands mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Chart 19  DNA annualised postpaid monthly ARPU  2010  2020

Chart 20  Change in the number of DNAs mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Chart 21  Growth in DNAs mobile revenue, by type  2013  2019

Chart 22  Growth in DNAs mobile data traffic  2027  2019

Chart 23  Change in Elisa Groups revenue  2010  2020

Chart 24  Change in the number of Elisas mobile subscribers in Finland and Estonia  2010 - 2020

Chart 25  Elisa mobile voice, SMS and data traffic  2008  2020

Chart 26  Change in Elisas annualised ARPU  2010  2020

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1  700MHz auction results  2016

Exhibit 2  2.6GHz auction results  2009

Exhibit 3  3.5GHz auction results  October 2018





Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Finland-Mobile-Infrastructure-Broadband-Operators-Statistics-and-Analyses

Nicolas Bombourg

nbombourg@budde.com.au



Within Australia

(02) 8076 7665



Outside Australia

+44 207 097 1241


Photo: The Canadian Press

Queen Elizabeth II has taken part in her first public video conference call to chat to four carers about the challenges they face looking after people close to them during the coronavirus pandemic.

As part of Carers Week in the U.K., the 94-year-old monarch showed once again that she's adept at meeting the challenges posed by new technologies.

Interesting listening to all your tales and stories and I'm very impressed by what you have achieved already, she said in part of the call that was posted Thursday on the royal family's social media accounts.

I'm very glad to have been able to join you today, she added.

Elizabeth was last to join the call and the first to leave  one piece of royal protocol that Buckingham Palace opted to preserve.

The queen, who has been isolating with her 99-year-old husband, Prince Philip, at Windsor Castle over the past three months, was on the call for around 20 minutes after logging in online from the castle's Oak Room. The call took place on June 4.

During the call, she heard about the isolation and difficulties carers have been facing through the pandemic.

What was really nice was that, while you could tell she had never done that kind of call for work before, she really took it in her stride," said one of the people on the call, 24-year-old Alexandra Atkins, from the Welsh city of Swansea.

There are around 7 million people across the U.K. caring on an unpaid basis for an ill or frail family member or friend. Most have no real experience; they just do it because they are husbands or wives, sons or daughters, or even a neighbour who wants to help out.

The queen was also joined on the call by her daughter, Princess Anne, who has been President of The Carers Trust since it was launched in 2011, and Gareth Howells, the trust's chief executive.
Nine French citizens, adopted as children in Mali in the 1990s, have filed a complaint against French non-profit Le Rayon de soleil (RSEE), for fraud and breach of trust in the way it carried out their adoptions.

The events, uncovered by Le Monde daily and broadcaster TV Monde, go back to the period 1989 to 1996 during which time nine Malian children, the youngest aged five, were adopted by French families.

Now in their 30s, they accuse RSEE and one of its senior employees, Danielle B, of lying to both their biological and adoptive parents.

Rayon de soleil tricked the biological parents, telling them their children were going to France for a limited period  to get a better education, for example for example  but that most would return to Mali, Joseph Breham, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers told RFI.

The non-profit used a procedure in Malian law known as adoption-protection which means parents can temporarily hand over parental authority in times of difficulty.

While some Malian families, often on low incomes, believed they were conferring their children to French families for a few months or years, all contact between them and their offspring was severed.

Illiterate families

That kind of 'adoption-protection' cannot be transformed in France into plenary adoption, Breham continued. So to mislead the French judge the NGO made the parents  who generally couldn't read and write  sign an act by which they agreed to abandon all their rights over the children.

This allowed the French courts to pronounce a plenary adoption. But as Breham points out, there was also an inadequate knowledge of the Malian legal system which at the time didn't allow plenary adoption [at all].

Malian media had already voiced concerns over RSEE's adoption procedures in the 1990s.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs believe there may be other alleged victims of fraud and expect them to come forward.

On its current website RSEE denies taking part in any human trafficking of any nature whatsoever and is ready and willing to provide French courts with all documents relating to these adoptions.

The NGO maintains that the families concerned were told they were permanently severing all links with their children when they gave them up for adoption.
By Peter Nurse

Investing.com - European stock markets pushed higher Wednesday, helped by gains in the banking sector, but trading ranges have been tight ahead of the conclusion of the latest policy meeting of the Federal Reserve.

At 4:00 AM ET (0800 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.7% higher, France's CAC 40 rose 0.8%, while the U.K.'s FTSE index was up 0.6%.

These gains are continuing the positive tone of late, largely based on optimism over a global recovery from the coronavirus crisis, as well as coordinated monetary and fiscal stimulus from central banks and governments.

The European Central Bank is now looking at a scheme to cope with potentially hundreds of billions of euros of unpaid loans in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reported.

The project is aimed at shielding commercial banks from staggering amounts of debt that is considered unlikely to be repaid, particularly if rising unemployment chokes off the income needed to do so.

The banking sector responded positively to this, with Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) up 2.7%, Credit Agricole (PA:CAGR) up 2.6% and Santander (MC:SAN) gaining 2.2%.

Earlier Wednesday, the French government said it is considering whether to end all emergency health measures imposed to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic on July 10.

This comes as the countrys industrial production slumped by 20% in April, following a drop of 16% the previous month.

Investors will also be keeping a keen eye on the Federal Reserve as the U.S. central bank concludes its policy meeting later in the day.

While no major policy announcements are expected, investors will scrutinize its remarks on the health of the economy, the worlds largest, particularly after the recent upturn in jobs numbers.

In corporate news, Inditex (MC:ITX), the Spanish fashion giant, said Wednesday that it swung to a first-quarter loss and recorded a big sales decline, citing the impact of the coronavirus.

Oil prices sold off Wednesday, weighed by the American Petroleum Institutes surprise estimate of an 8.4-million-barrel build for the week ended June 5 late Tuesday, prompting renewed fears of a supply glut.

Story continues

Investors will now look closely at the Energy Information Administrations prediction, due later in the day.

At 2:00 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 2.3% lower at $38.05 a barrel. The international benchmark Brent contract fell 1.9% to $40.40.

Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,725.80/oz, while EUR/USD traded at 1.1362, up 0.2%.

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She found fame in the 1980s as one third of aerobics icons The Rancan Sisters with her twin siblings, Adele and Lisa.

And on Wednesday's Big Brother, Marissa Rancan proved she's still got it as she stripped off into a tiny string bikini.

The 62-year-old flaunted her incredibly fit figure and washboard abs in a bright yellow two-piece.

She's still got it! Aerobics icon and Big Brother star Marissa Rancan, 62, (right) showed off her fit figure and washboard abs in a tiny string bikini on Big Brother on Wednesday

Marissa looked incredible in her costume, as she chatted in the green room with co-star Hannah Campbell, 26.

At the start of the episode, Marissa showed she still works hard for her figure during an early morning circuit session.

She's fit! Marissa looked great as she roamed around the house in her itsy bitsy yellow bikini

Giving the younger ones a run for their money! Marissa also wore the costume as she chatted in the green room with co-star Hannah Campbell (pictured left)

Get it girl! At the start of the episode, Marissa showed she still works hard for her figure during an early morning circuit workout

She hilariously woke up her housemates when she repeatedly slammed a weighted ball into the ground during a set at 6am.

Marissa showed off her trim figure as she worked up a sweat, wearing tight black shorts and a matching T-shirt.

'Queen s**t,' everything Marissa does is golden,' one fan tweeted as a reaction to her morning workout.

Another fan tweeted throughout the episode: 'Team FKN Marissa!!! Go off GURRRLLLLL,' adding a flame emoji.

She's got fans! One fan Tweeted during the episode: 'Team FKN Marissa!!! Go off GURRRLLLLL,' adding a flame emoji

Marissa, who now works as a makeup artist in Sydney, found fame in the 1980s as one third of aerobics icons The Rancan Sisters with her twin siblings, Adele and Lisa.

'We were the first three to bring aerobics to Australia. It started back in 1983 and we were known for our morning TV appearances,' Marissa explained last month.

In her Big Brother promotional video, Marissa said of her showbiz career: 'We were like a household name. We had a cult following and would train celebrities.'

She's back! Marissa, who now works as a makeup artist in Sydney, found fame in the 1980s as one third of aerobics icons The Rancan Sisters with her twin siblings, Adele and Lisa

The Rancan Sisters opened their first aerobics studio in Cremorne, Sydney in 1981.

As the business grew, they appeared daily on Channel 10's Good Morning Australia, and stars such as Nicole Kidman headed to their gym for a workout.

These days, Marissa works as a makeup artist in Sydney and enjoys a quieter life.
To the Editor:

Re America, This Is Your Chance (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, June 8):

Michelle Alexander is absolutely right  this may be our last chance.

I am a white person, and I probably know as much as a white person can about being black in America. Mine was the only white family on East 145th Street in Cleveland in the 1950s; I was one of three white children at Robert Fulton Elementary School.

I was at the sit-ins that integrated the Woolworths lunch counter and was arrested for demonstrating against de facto segregation in the Cleveland school system  and yet I know nothing. Its because knowing, in the sense of being informed, is completely different from experience. And as poorly as whites understand black experience, we understand white experience even worse.

I look back over nearly 70 years and find not one instance in which I was aware of the advantage my white skin was giving me. White privilege is pervasive and invisible. This means that in order to finally realize the ambitions outlined in our founding documents, white people are going to have to summon the imagination and the empathy to embrace changes with which we will be deeply uncomfortable, because no matter how much we know, we will not have lived it.

David Berman

New York

To the Editor:

Re White Allies, Dont Fail Us Again, by Charles M. Blow (column, June 8):

As a white female law professor who has published scholarship illustrating that federal tax policy and the state and local tax laws of all 50 states are immoral, I offer kudos to Mr. Blow for his prescient insight imploring liberal whites to engage in greater sacrifice once the marches subside.
Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

Market Reports on India Provides the Trending Market Research Report India Ethanol Market: Plant Capacity, Production, Operating Efficiency, Technology, Process, Demand & Supply, Grade, Source, Purity, End Use, Distribution Channel, Region, Competition, Trade, Customer & Price Intelligence Market Analysis, 2015-2030under Chemical Category. The report offers a collection of superior market research, market analysis, competitive intelligence and Market reports.

India Ethanol market demand grew at a CAGR of 12.50% during 2015-2019 and is anticipated to achieve a healthy growth rate during the forecast period. The Indian Ethanol (also called Ethyl Alcohol) market is projected to expand aggressively in the forecast period on the back of increased Ethanol consumption in fuel additives and beverages. Moreover, heavy investments made by the Government of India towards converting excess sugar to Ethanol, further strengthened by governments vision to create an Ethanol Economy will accelerate the Ethanol demand in the forecast period.

With the start of National Biofuel Policy 2018, which has put forth an Ethanol blending target of 10% by 2022 and 20% by 2030 from the current rate of 2-3%, Ethanol demand is set to grow by leaps and bounds in the period of forecast. Over the past five years, the Indian government has been encouraging Ethanol capacity expansion to cut its dependency on imported crude oil and channelize the excess sugar inventories into Ethanol production. These factors will further propel the growth of Ethanol market in India.

Request a free sample copy of India Ethanol Market Report

http://www.marketreportsonindia.com/marketreports/sample/reports/2084967

Ethanol is also a prominent alcoholic beverage, mainly found in beer, cider, wine and spirits. Hence factors such as changing lifestyle along with growing adoption of the western culture are likely to drive the demand for Ethanol in the country. The increasing production of wine and other alcohol beverages would further contribute to the growth of the Ethyl alcohol market during the forecast period.

Because of its broad-spectrum germicidal properties, Ethanol also finds several applications in disinfectants and has been strongly recommended by WHO as an important constituent in alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Increasing demand for disinfectants with rising health consciousness among people will further escalate the Ethanol demand in the coming years.

However, COVID-19 outbreak rendered an unprecedented slump in the fuel demand as transportation and logistics remained hit due lockdown measures taken to contain the virus spread. Despite crash in fuel demand, Ethanol players remained opportunistic as demand from the hand sanitizer segment broke records since the pandemic hit the country. Ethanol is an essential ingredient in the production of alcohol-based hand sanitisers and has been recommended by WHO in potentially deactivating the virus. Hence, there was a sudden boost in domestic Ethanol demand in Q4 FY20, causing several sugar mills such as Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and All India Distiller Association (AIDA) to increase their produced Ethanol volumes.

India currently aims to achieve an E10 blend by 2020 and E20 by 2030. Countrys Ethanol Blending Program highlights procurement of Ethanol produced directly from B-heavy molasses, sugarcane juice, and damaged food grains. A surplus sugar season coupled with financial incentives to convert excess sugar into ethanol is expected to boost the Ethanol produced volumes over the years ahead.

Moreover, Indias resolve to reduce pollution and dedication towards fulfilling its COP-21, the UN Climate Conference commitments, would drive the Ethanol industry in the long-term. Also, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in FY19 approved Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana for providing financial support to integrated bio-ethanol projects using lignocellulosic biomass and several renewable feedstocks. These factors would highly favor the growth of Indian Ethanol industry in future.

Years Considered for this Report:

Historical Years: 2015  2019

Base Year: 2020

Estimated Year: 2021

Forecast Period: 2022  2030

Objective of the Study:

The primary objective of the study was to evaluate and forecast Ethanol capacity, production, demand, inventory, and demand  supply gap in India.

To categorize Ethanol demand based on application, end use, grade, source, purity, region and sales channel.

To study trade dynamics and company share in India Ethanol market.

To identify major customers of Ethanol in India.

To evaluate and forecast Ethanol pricing by grade in India Ethanol market.

To identify and profile major companies operating in India Ethanol market.

To identify major news, deals and expansion plans in India Ethanol market.

Some of the major players operating in the Indian Ethanol market are India Glycols, Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar, Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd., Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd., Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd., Mawana Sugars Ltd., HPCL Biofuels Limited, Jeypore Sugar Company Ltd., Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd., BSM Sugar and E.I.D Parry India Ltd. Hefty investments in the expansion of Indian Ethanol Industry can potentially make India one of the largest Ethanol producers in the world. Indian Oil and SunLight Fuel are planning to foray into Ethanol production with over INR 2,500 crore greenfield investment. Several other private sugar mills and cooperatives are planning to follow the suit to address the issue of excess sugar production. INR 100 crore investment plan of the UP government to upgrade cooperative sugar mills to produce Ethanol along with sugar, is yet another venture into the countrys Ethanol market.

Despite steady increase in Ethanol production, India is still a net importer of Ethanol. In FY20, US remained the single-largest Ethanol supplier to India. In FY20, Ethanol prices were assessed at USD XXX per MT on bulk contract basis. In Q3 FY20, the government announced to increase the prices of different grades of Ethanol under the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme for the forthcoming Ethanol procurement season 2019-20.

To extract data for India Ethanol market, primary research surveys were conducted with Ethanol manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, wholesalers and end users. While interviewing, the respondents were also inquired about their competitors. Through this technique, Chem Analyst was able to include manufacturers that could not be identified due to the limitations of secondary research. Moreover, Chem Analyst analyzed various end user segments and projected a positive outlook for India Ethanol market over the coming years.

Chem Analyst calculated Ethanol demand in India by analyzing the historical data and demand forecast was carried out considering the end use industries growth. Chem Analyst sourced these values from industry experts and company representatives and externally validated through analyzing historical sales data of respective manufacturers to arrive at the overall market size. Various secondary sources such as company websites, association reports, annual reports, etc., were also studied by Chem Analyst.

Key Target Audience:

Ethanol manufacturers and other stakeholders

Organizations, forums and alliances related to Ethanol distribution

Government bodies such as regulating authorities and policy makers

Market research organizations and consulting companies

The study is useful in providing answers to several critical questions that are important for industry stakeholders, such as Ethanol manufacturers, distributors and policy makers. The report also provides useful insights about which market segments should be targeted over the coming years to strategize investments and capitalize on growth opportunities.

Report Scope:

In this report, the India Ethanol market has been segmented into following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below:

Market, by Grade- Food Grade, Industrial Grade, Pharmaceutical Grade, and Lab Grade

Market, by Source- Sugar & Molasses Based Ethanol, Second Generation & Grain Based Ethanol

Market, by Purity- Denatured & Undenatured

Market, by End Use- Industrial Solvent, Fuel & Fuel Additive, Beverages & Others

Market, by Sales Channel- Direct/Institutional Sales, Retail Sales, Other Channel Sales

Market, by Region- North, West, East and South

Competitive Landscape

ChemAnalyst offers detailed analysis of major players including basic company details, Segmental/product information, financial matrices, growth strategies, expansion plans, collaborations, SWOT analysis etc.to give a comprehensive and meaningful insights on the respective product market.

Available Customizations:

With the given market data, ChemAnalyst offers customizations according to a companys specific needs.

Browse our full report with Table of Content : http://www.marketreportsonindia.com/marketreports/india-ethanol-market-plant-capacity-production-operating-efficiency-technology-process-demand-supply-grade-sou/2084967

About Market Reports on India:

Market Reports on India is an excellent source to obtain top quality market research reports that helps you to understand the business in the Indian market. We cover various industries, identifying and understanding key macro and micro-economic trends, insights and futuristic growth opportunities. To help achieve all this and more, Market Reports on India is the answer to all your business needs.

Contact us at:

Market Reports on India

Tel: +91 22 27810772 / 27810773

Email: info@marketreportsonindia.com

Website: www.marketreportsonindia.com

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This Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a statement warning that hackers were targeting mobile banking apps trying to take away the money of numerous people. These cybercriminals have jumped on the opportunity since more people are relying on online banking due to the global pandemic.

Are Mobile Banking Apps Safe?

The FBI has said that they are expecting hackers to find security loopholes in various mobile banking apps and they'll try to exploit the ones they find.

Entire states, cities, and local governments are urgently mandating people to practice social distancing, which has people resorting to using mobile banking as opposed to going to banks in person.

The FBI is expecting cybercriminals and hackers to look for people that are new to mobile banking and exploiting them. Their techniques vary from fake banking apps to app-based banking trojans.

Americans have the FBI urging them to be careful and examine apps closer when downloading them on smartphones and tablets.

Read Also: How Does an Online Auction for Stolen Youtube Accounts Go? Here's a Peek and Tips Against Hacking

Banking trojans are used by cybercriminals to target people's banking information. The banking trojans are malicious programs that pretend to be another app like, for example, a tool or game. When the person with the banking trojan opens a genuine banking app, the banking trojan detects it and then releases the trojan onto the device.

The banking trojan replaces the authentic login page of the banking app with an infected version, which looks almost perfectly identical to the real thing.

When the user puts in their login credentials into the infected login page, the banking trojan relays their credentials to the authentic page and logs them into the app normally. The user won't notice that they were compromised since it still logged them in normally.

Some hackers made entire infected banking apps that pretend to be ones that major financial institutions use. The banking apps made by the cybercriminals get the user to enter their credentials, which the hackers can use once the user has logged in.

The fake banking apps will show an error message when the user tries to log in and it will use various smartphone permission requests so that it can get through the security code authentication process that the user would usually go through.

Many security research organizations in the United States reported that there were more than 60,000 fake banking apps found on major app stores. The fake banking apps are one of the smartphone-based's fastest-growing sectors.

Mobile banking security tips

According to the FBI, people can fight these threats by only downloading banking apps from the bank's websites or official app stores. Users should enable two-factor authentication on their bank accounts and use secure passwords.

When you stumble upon a suspicious app, ensure you're cautious and notify the financial situation that the suspicious app is imitating. Financial institutions will ask for your bank PIN, but they won't ask for your log-in credentials while on the phone.

Read Also: Beware Of This Fake Ransomware Decryptor. It Makes Things Even Worse!
A pair of restaurants are delivering hundreds of pizzas to NHS staff on the frontline against Covid-19, paid for by customer donations.

Simon Leaver, 52, and Theo Lewis, 37, who own Theos Pizzerias in Camberwell and Elephant and Castle, started delivering free food in late April to show their appreciation of the heroic staff at Kings College Hospital.

At first they paid for the pizzas themselves, but then they began asking customers if they wanted to donate money on top of their orders  raising 6,000.

All the money goes on ingredients. So far more than 1,000 pizzas have been delivered and the money raised will provide 30 pizzas a day for months.

Mr Leaver said: Were so grateful to the local community for backing us.

"We had initially started this on our own and from our own pockets but after we let the public know how they could get involved, almost every customer that walked past the shop came in to donate.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11) Quarantine measures along with anxieties associated with the health crisis may take a toll on many, but Filipinos are still urged to remain vigilant amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking to CNN Philippines, Joint Task Force COVID Shield commander PLGen Guillermo Eleazar warned the public against possible quarantine fatigue or burnout which may take place after months of strict restrictions.

He reminded citizens to still abide by the recommended health protocols, following the reported complacency of some residents due to relaxed lockdown policies.

The point is, may restriction pa rin tayo [we still have restrictions], Eleazar told The Source.

Itong mga minimum requirement wearing of facial mask pati physical distancing, eto yung sinasabi natin na wag tayong ma-uta, wag tayong maumay, Wag tayong magkaroon ng quarantine fatigue o burnout even after lifted na ang ating community quarantine, he added, noting how residents should follow protocols even without authorities checking.

[Translation: This minimum requirement of wearing facial mask, as well as the physical distancing, this is what weve been telling the public not to get tired of. Lets not have quarantine fatigue or burnout even after the community quarantine is lifted.]

Eleazar said decreased sensitivity to rules and warnings may prove to be disadvantageous in the future, as the risk of spreading the viral disease remains high.

He stressed that a possible new wave of infections may only prompt the government to revert back to stricter lockdown measures.

Metro Manila and other COVID-19 high-risk areas eased quarantine protocols in June in a bid to restart the economy and help workers affected by the crisis. Local governments, however, still have the freedom to impose localized lockdowns in their respective areas, if deemed necessary.

Experts around the globe have also reported same incidents of COVID-19 quarantine fatigue also coined as caution fatigue.

Jacqueline Gollan of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine told CNN that caution fatigue "occurs when people show low motivation or energy to comply with safety guidelines. This unintentional phenomenon may lead to a lower sense of immediacy among citizens.

"It's reflected when we become impatient with warnings, or we don't believe the warnings to be real or relevant, or we de-emphasize the actual risk And in doing that, we then bend rules or stop safety behaviors like washing hands, wearing masks and social distancing, Gollan said.

Experts said one can combat quarantine fatigue with self-care, conversations with loved ones, and shifting of mindsets so following guidelines seems rewarding instead of dreadful.

READ: Quarantine fatigue: Why some of us have stopped being vigilant and how to overcome it
Watchdog fired by Trump tells Congress he was looking into Mike Pompeos approval of an $8bn arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

A former independent watchdog at the United States State Department who was fired by President Donald Trump has said top department officials tried to bully him and dissuade his office from conducting a review of a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia.

Former Inspector General Steve Linick told Congress last week that two senior officials sought to block an inquiry into the arms deal, according to a transcript of the interview made public on Wednesday by Democrats leading an investigation into his dismissal.

Linick, who had been inspector general since 2013, was looking into previously reported allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife may have misused government staff to run personal errands and several other matters. Trump abruptly fired him late on May 15 with what Linick said was no warning or cited cause.

I was in a state of shock because I had no advance notice of anything like that, Linick said, recalling his reaction when he was informed of Trumps decision. I had no indication whatsoever.

A bad actor

Shortly after the transcript was released, Pompeo called Linick a bad actor who had been acting inappropriately and not in the best interests of the State Department.

Pompeo did not address the allegations of attempted bullying. He stood by his recommendation that Trump fire Linick, one of several inspectors general whom the president has recently dismissed.

Linick said he had opened a review of last years $8bn arms sale to Saudi Arabia at the request of legislators who claimed Pompeo had inappropriately circumvented Congress to approve the deal. Linick said the State Departments top management officer Brian Bulatao, and legal adviser Marik String tried to stop him.

Bulatao said that we shouldnt be doing the work because it was a policy matter not within the IGs jurisdiction, Linick said, adding that both Bulatao and String were of the same mind on the matter.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes a question from a reporter during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, DC [File: Andrew Harnik/AP Photo]

Linick said in the interview that he believed the Saudi review, which is continuing, was appropriate because it looked at whether proper procedures and regulations were followed. He said he had requested an interview with Pompeo on the matter but had never received a response. Linick acknowledged that Pompeo did respond in writing to questions.

All I can say is its ongoing and their report is ongoing, he said of the Saudi arms sale review.

Alleged leak

Linick testified that he repeatedly clashed with Bulatao, a former business associate and close friend of Pompeo, over other issues as well. I would say that sometimes the relationship was professional; at other times, he tried to bully me, he said.

Pompeo, Bulatao and others have said Linick was dismissed in part because of inappropriate actions but also because of the alleged leak of one of his offices reports into accusations of political reprisals by Trump appointees against career State Department officials.

Linick denied his office was responsible for the leak. He said an investigation into the alleged leak by the Defense Department inspector general cleared him and his office.

Linicks office has been highly critical of such retaliation but had also criticized Democratic officials during the Obama administration, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons use of a private email server.





At a State Department news conference, Pompeo questioned the validity of the leak investigation and said he and others still had questions about the origin of information that was critical of the administrations top envoy for Iran, Brian Hook.

We have asked for a more thorough investigation than Mr Linick asked for, Pompeo said. Were determined to figure out how that information escaped to harm someone who works here.

In addition to the Saudi arms deal and Pompeos use of government staff, Linick said that at the time of his removal, his office had open reviews into several other matters. They included issues related to the conduct of the former chief of protocol who was dismissed last year, the curtailment of visas for former Afghan and Iraqi translators who served with US forces, and a controversy over a rescinded Global Women of Courage award.
The Ghana Railway Company Ltd. (GRCL) has refuted claims that the Accra-Nsawam railway line is a new construction by the Akufo-Addo government.

According to the company, the project that was carried out on the narrow-gauge line from Accra to Nsawam was a rehabilitation of the rail line.

The company seeks to make the clarifications to settle the issue on whether or not the government has reconstructed the rail line.

In a statement copied to Peacefmonline.com, the company noted that the Accra to Nsawam railway forms part of the Eastern railway line and was started in the year 1910 and completed in 1912.

''The line had since not undergone any major repair works until the recent rehabilitation project which started in May 2018. It is on record that in time past all such intervention (rehabilitation) had been carried out by Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) workers, with the recent one being track rehabilitation project that was undertaken by GRCL, between Achimota and Asaprochona from the year 2006 to 2010 after which the line was commissioned for train operation to start.

''Due to the successful implementation of the track rehabilitation between Achimota and Asaprochona by GRCL workers, the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) awarded a contract to GRCL to undertake track rehabilitation works from Accra to Nsawam and Kojokrom to Nsuta. This afforded GRCL the opportunity to employ over 500 workers to enable the early completion of the project. 15 railway engineers were directly involved in the rehabilitation after they had undergone training in China and South Africa.''

Project Background

The Accra-Nsawam railway line, which stretches a distance of about 40km, is part of the Eastern Railway Line.

It has been used purposely for passenger rail services for the past ten (10) years providing transport services.

In July 2017, it became necessary that the railway line from Accra to Nsawam be examined due to its deteriorating state which had made it unsafe for commuters.

The Ministry of Railway Development constituted a team of experts to examine the state of the rail line and rolling stock.

A decision was made by the Ministry, after reading the findings by the experts, to close the Accra-Nsawam line to allow for a complete track rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation Plan and Timelines

Preliminary works, which included clearing of weeds, removal of worn-out rails, and ballast opening, commenced in October 2017.

After obtaining all the procurement approvals, actual work was scheduled to commence on Monday, May 21, 2018, but delayed till early July, 2018.

On Tuesday, January 1, 2019, a locomotive was cleared to successfully travel on the railway line from Accra to Nsawam.

But, during the maiden trial, the engineers discovered portions of the track formation bed between Amasaman and Kotoku had been compromised as a result of illegal sand winning activities and also encroachers along the Pokuase section had their wastewater channeled onto the railway line.

To safeguard the passengers using the railway line, a detailed track rehabilitation and ancillary works were undertaken.

The project was finally completed in November 2019 and a joint inspection of the rail line was conducted by the GRCL and the Ghana Railway Development Authority to determine the suitability of the track for operations.

This was followed by a free passenger service during the 2019 yuletide.
Two administrative law judges recommended this week that KIPP co-founder Mike Feinberg be allowed to keep his educator certification after state officials failed to meet their burden of proving he sexually abused a student in Houston in 1999.

In a 56-page recommendation released Wednesday, the judges found that there were simply too many inconsistencies in the students account, as well as enough evidence favorable to Feinberg, to warrant revoking his Texas certification.

The recommendation now goes to the State Board of Educator Certification for a final ruling. No date has been set for the boards decision.

The findings mark the first legal ruling on the merits of allegations against Feinberg, who was fired from KIPP in February 2018 after a two-decade run with the organization he helped build into a pre-eminent charter school network.

Im grateful to the state of Texas for exonerating me and restoring my status as an educator in good standing, Feinberg said in a statement Thursday. When judges finally heard my case, I was vindicated, as I have maintained all along.

Texas Education Agency officials moved in March 2019 to revoke Feinbergs certification after allegations that he inappropriately touched and sexually violated a female fifth-grade student two decades earlier at Houstons KIPP Academy. The allegations first surfaced publicly in 2017, when a relative of the former student disclosed them to officials at the charter school network, and triggered two additional complaints of sexual harassment against Feinberg.

While KIPP leaders could not definitively prove the three allegations against Feinberg, they said their lawyers found credible evidence to substantiate the claims after two investigations. Feinberg has denied all the allegations.

At a licensing hearing in February, the former student told administrative law judges Beth Bierman and Robert Pemberton that Feinberg abused her on two occasions in his campus office. The former student said Feinberg reached under her shirt and ran his hand down her chest and back and later directed her to undress and briefly inserted a Q-tip into her vagina.

At the hearing, the former students mother recalled her daughter telling her in 1999 about the two incidents. The former student testified that they did not tell KIPP or law enforcement officials at the time out of fear that the girls father would blame me for it and hit me and that her allegations would not be believed because of her Hispanic ethnicity.

Feinbergs lawyers highlighted inconsistent statements made by the former student in recent investigations and legal proceedings, including the time the student first disclosed the allegations to her mother. They also presented evidence suggesting that it was implausible that Feinberg could have abused the girl during school hours in his office, which had a window that could be seen through by administrative assistants stationed in front of it.

The two administrative judges ultimately sided with Feinbergs lawyer, finding that state officials did not meet their burden of proof  a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not.

We need only conclude that even if one credits (the former student) with a good-faith belief in the truth of her testimony, there are simply too many inconsistencies within her own recollections, and also with the evidence of what would have been the circumstances surrounding the incident, to establish that (Feinberg) more likely than not abused her sexually, the judges wrote.

The administrative hearing in Austin did not include the two allegations of sexual harassment, which involved two former employees accusing Feinberg of offering them money in exchange for sex in the early 2000s. KIPP officials deemed the allegations credible, while Feinberg has denied them and accused the charter schools leaders of conducting unfair investigations of him.

Immediately after Feinbergs firing, KIPP officials said critical facts about these events may never be conclusively determined but that Feinberg at a minimum put himself into situations where his conduct could be seriously misconstrued.

In a statement Thursday, KIPP Director of Media Relations Maria Alcon-Heraux said the judges recommendation does not change the circumstances of Mike Feinbergs departure from KIPP.

Feinberg sued KIPP for defamation in 2019, but a judge in Harris County dismissed the lawsuit in March.

After his firing, Feinberg founded the Texas School Venture Fund, a nonprofit that works to support the expansion of charter schools nationally.

KIPP operates 242 schools in 28 regions throughout the country, including 34 in the Greater Houston area.

This story has updated to correct the timeline of harassment allegations against Feinberg.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com
The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday decided to order a probe by the CBI into alleged corruption in various schemes during the previous Chandrababu Naidu dispensation, causing a loss running into hundreds of crores of rupees.

The state Cabinet, which met today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, approved the recommendations made by a Cabinet subcommittee. The subcommittee, headed by Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath, conducted a preliminary inquiry into schemes like 'Chandranna Tohfa', 'Chandranna Christmas Gift', 'Chandranna Sankranti Kanuka' and also the AP Fibrenet project and submitted its report.

"The Cabinet approved the subcommittee report and decided to order a detailed investigation by the CBI," said Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah.

A minister claimed over Rs 150 crore was swindled in the name of various "festival gift" schemes by the previous regime.

In the AP Fibrenet project, which was meant to provide internet and telephone services to all households, costs were inflated and a person with fake certificates appointed as head of the project, the minister alleged. Also, inferior quality set top boxes were purchased from different companies, sidestepping the lowest bidder (a South Korean firm) that came forward to supply high-end STBs at a lower price, it was alleged.

"This alone cost hundreds of crores of rupees to the exchequer while the project remained accomplished," a minister pointed out.

Venkataramaiah said the fibre grid project was allotted to unqualified companies and about Rs 700 crore of corruption has taken place. He added that the project was allotted to Terra Software, a company owned by Vemuri Harikrishna Prasad who is very close to the TDP leadership and also accused in a case of EVM tampering.

The contract was given to Terra Software setting aside the bid of a central government institution although it was the lowest bidder. The sub-committee also found irregularities in procurement and distribution of set top boxes, he added.

The CBI will also be asked to probe the payments made to Heritage Dairy, owned by Chandrababu's family, for supplying buttermilk.

(With inputs from PTI)
CLEVELAND, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, in collaboration with Morgan Stanley GIFT (Global Impact Funding Trust) Cures, today announced 12 award winners in the COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative. These award recipients will receive grant funding and expert drug development support to advance novel therapies, next-generation vaccines and vaccine alternatives to fight COVID-19 and avert future pandemics. The winners were selected from among hundreds of applications submitted by physicians and scientists at 122 universities and health systems across the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

The call for proposals is part of a major initiative to galvanize the institute's transatlantic network of academic institutions, foundations, and philanthropic partners to rapidly respond to the global pandemic. In further action, Harrington Discovery Institute will seek to organize development of COVID-19 therapies derived from academia broadly, accelerate breakthrough treatments within its portfolio, and raise capital to resource this effort through Morgan Stanley GIFT Cures, its philanthropic partnership with Morgan Stanley.

"The response to the call for proposals has far exceeded our expectations. The quality of science and potential for clinical impact are truly remarkable. Frankly, there are probably 50 projects here that show promise to protect the nation and the world," said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President, Harrington Discovery Institute, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation and Professor of Medicine at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.

Four types of projects are represented in the portfolio:

Novel therapies to prevent causes of Coronavirus mortality.

Broad-spectrum antiviral therapies.

Next generation vaccines and vaccine alternatives to avert pandemics.

Emergency countermeasures/prophylaxis strategies for first responders and emergency medical personnel to be administered either once or short term.

"Our next step will be to build drug development teams around the awardees and to work with urgency to advance these treatments. We are hopeful that many of these novel therapies will be in clinical trials shortly," stated Dr. Stamler.

The award recipients, their organizations and forms of therapy are:

Michael Barry, PhD  Mayo Clinic

Novel Vaccine Against COVID-19

Katherine Fitzgerald, PhD  University of Massachusetts

Fumarate Based Therapeutics and Clinical Trial for Lung Injury

Benjamin Gaston, MD  Indiana University

Novel Agent To Accelerate Ventilator Weaning for Patients With COVID-19 Lung Infection

Jeffrey Glenn, MD, PhD  Stanford University

Single Dose Antiviral Therapeutic for COVID-19

Anastasia Khvorova, PhD  University of Massachusetts

Multi-Virus Therapy for COVID-19 and Other Pandemic-Causing Viruses

Yulia Komarova, PhD  University of Illinois

Novel Therapy for Acute Respiratory Distress

Anne Moscona, MD  Columbia University

Intranasal Agent to Block COVID-19 Infection

Michel Nussenzweig, MD, PhD  The Rockefeller University

Human Antibodies to Prevent and Treat COVID-19

James Reynolds, PhD  University Hospitals Cleveland /Case Western Reserve University

First Multipurpose Drug to Improve Lung and Heart Function in COVID-19 Patients

Joseph Vinetz, MD  Yale University

Antiviral Clinical Effects of Camostat Mesylate in Early COVID-19+ Outpatients

James Wells, PhD  University of California, San Francisco

Novel Multi-Target Antibodies for COVID-19 Infection

James Wilson, MD, PhD  University of Pennsylvania

Novel Intranasal Vaccine Alternative for COVID-19 Prophylaxis

Since its founding in 2012, Harrington Discovery Institute has supported more than 120 drugs-in-the-making from 54 institutions and has expanded its model into Canada and the United Kingdom.

About Harrington Discovery Institute

The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland, OHpart of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Developmentaims to advance medicine and society by enabling our nation's most inventive scientists to turn their discoveries into medicines that improve human health. The institute was created in 2012 with a $50 million founding gift from the Harrington family and instantiates the commitment they share with University Hospitals to a Vision for a 'Better World'. For more information, visit: HarringtonDiscovery.org.

About Morgan Stanley GIFT Cures

Morgan Stanley GIFT Cures powered by Harrington Discovery Institute offers philanthropists the unique funding opportunity to bridge the gap in the valley of death and greatly impact the development of cures.

By supporting the world's most promising research, philanthropists can directly advance Harrington Discovery Institute's portfolio of hundreds of breakthrough discoveries that are being de-risked and developed into novel therapies for patients suffering from chronic and rare diseases. For more information, visit: MSGIFTCures.donorgift.org.

SOURCE Harrington Discovery Institute
Chubu airport in central Japan will resume some international flights from next Tuesday after operations were suspended for more than two months due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the operator said Thursday.

Philippine Airlines plans to fly three round-trip flights between the airport and Manila in June and continue the service into July, although the schedule has yet to be decided, Central Japan International Airport Co. said.

The airline has not flown to or from Chubu airport in Tokoname, south of Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture since March 23.

Finland's Finnair is also scheduled to restart flights to and from the airport in July, the airport's operator said.

All international flights have been suspended at the airport since April 1 due to the virus outbreak. The airport logged 486 weekly international flights in January, its largest number ever, but the number began declining in February with services to China canceled or reduced.
Young Egyptian women with thousands of followers each on the popular TikTok app have become the latest target of state authorities who accuse them of spreading "immorality" in society.

Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power in 2014, hundreds of journalists, activists, lawyers and intellectuals have been arrested and many websites blocked in the name of state security.

But in recent months a popular group of female social media "influencers" has also drawn the ire of the government, and several have been arrested in a crackdown cheered by many in the deeply conservative country.

University student Haneen Hossam in April posted a three-minute video clip telling her more than 1.3 million followers that girls on the social media platform could make money working with her.

"You will get to know new people and form friendships in a respectful manner ... but please keep it clean," she said, smiling cheekily from under a red veil.

"The most important thing for me is my reputation," she stressed, adding that participants who collaborate with her, depending on the number of clicks, could earn thousands of dollars.

Following allegations from online users that she was promoting prostitution, Egyptian police arrested Hossam on April 21, with a court only ordering her release on bail this week.

'Iron fist'

In May, another influencer was arrested, Mowada al-Adham, who rose to fame posting satirical clips on TikTok and Instagram, where she has two million followers.

The prosecutor-general said both women were charged with "attacking the family values of Egyptian society" through their inflammatory posts.

The young women also drew a storm of sexist and hateful comments online.

"This is excellent," wrote one user about the arrests, arguing that Egyptian justice must safeguard "the morals of the Egyptian street and society ... It needs to do it with an iron fist."

An even more shocking case followed later in May.

Internet penetration has reached over 40 percent of Egypt's youthful population of over 100 million. By Khaled DESOUKI (AFP)

A sobbing Menna Abdel-Aziz, 17, her face battered and bruised, posted a TikTok video in which she said she had been gang raped by a group of young men.

The authorities' response was swift: she was arrested, along with her six alleged attackers, and all were charged with "promoting debauchery".

"She committed crimes, she admitted to some of them," the prosecutor-general said in a statement. "She deserves to be punished."

The non-government Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights called for her immediate release, the dropping of all charges and for the teenage girl to be "treated as a rape victim and survivor".

Only this Tuesday did prosecutors announce that she had been transferred from custody to a rehabilitation centre for female victims of abuse and violence.

'Tech revolution'

Human rights lawyer Tarek al-Awadi said the recent arrests show how a deeply conservative and religious society is wrestling with the rapid rise of modern communications technology.

Internet penetration has reached over 40 percent of Egypt's youthful population of over 100 million. Online communications were a key instrument in the Arab Spring protests almost a decade ago.

"There is a technological revolution happening and legislators need to take into account a constantly changing environment," Awadi said.

He said that while "there are crimes that must be punished," many "incidents fall squarely within the realm of personal freedoms".

Helwan University sociologist Inshad Ezzeldin agreed that "traditions and rituals trump the law" in Egypt, at a time when "the younger generations have access to, and knowledge of, everything now.".

The latest arrests fits into a wider pattern of the state targeting dissent online, said Joey Shea, a non-resident fellow researching cyber security at the Washington-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.

"This is yet another attempt to increase and legitimise surveillance of digital platforms," she told AFP, pointing to laws criminalising "fake news" that are used to restrict freedom of expression.

The feminist Ghadeer Ahmed argued the latest crackdown is also about class and status.

"Young women used the internet to create different opportunities for themselves that are ordinarily unavailable because of their class," she said on Facebook.

In the eyes of many Egyptians, she said, this "is contrary to the behaviour expected of women hailing from poor classes".
The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, appeared via videolink for the remand hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.

Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, was remanded in further custody until July 9 by a UK court on Thursday.

The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, appeared via videolink for the remand hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.

He was remanded in further custody until July 9 as part of the regular 28-day call-over hearing.

"The next hearing will be a similar videolink call-over towards the next stage of your extradition proceedings scheduled for September 7, District Judge Samuel Goozee told Modi, who spoke only to confirm his name and nationality.

Last month, Judge Goozee presided over the first part of the extradition trial, held in a partial remote setting due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, with the second part scheduled for a five-day hearing from September 7.

"I hope Mr Modi by the time we get to September, the current restrictions on movement from prisons have been eased and you can be in court in person to follow the proceedings, the judge had told Modi, at the end of a four-day partial hearing of the case on May 14.

Modi had been following the court proceedings from a room at Wandsworth Prison and could be seen taking notes during the course of the trial.

The first part of the case focused on establishing a prima facie case against him but the schedule had to be re-timetabled as the government of India submitted a further set of documents as corroboratory evidence.

The judge allowed the additional evidence to be introduced but agreed that Modi's defence team would require enough time to digest them.

Therefore, a hearing already planned to deal with a second extradition request, made by the Indian authorities and certified by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel earlier this year on two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death, has been effectively extended to conclude the prima facie case arguments.

The judge has indicated that the two requests are inextricably linked and therefore he would be handing down an overall judgment at the conclusion of the second hearing, scheduled between September 7 and 11.

The charges against the diamond merchant centre around his firms Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds making fraudulent use of a credit facility offered by the Punjab National Bank (PNB), known as letters of undertaking (LoUs).

Modi's team has sought to counter allegations of fraud by deposing witnesses to establish the volatility of the gems trade and that the LoUs were standard practice.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian government, have been laying out the case that a number of PNB staff conspired with Modi to ensure LoUs were issued to his companies without ensuring they were subject to the required credit check, without recording the issuance of the LoUs and without charging the required commission upon the transactions.

This resulted in a fraud amounting to nearly $2 billion.

Photograph via Facebook
Mr Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) has said the Secretariat has a mission to make sure the benefits of the continental trade hub cascaded into all segments of the society across the African Continent.



He said young Africans, women in trade, multinational African corporations, small and medium enterprises were expected to drive the agenda, a promise for Africas development.



Mr Mene, who was speaking in a virtual programme on operationalisation of AfCFTA from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia monitored by the Ghana News Agency said the overriding objective of the AfCFTA was to boost intra-African trade to become a reality for everybody.



Mr Mene regrettably said because of COVID-19, member states were facing unprecedented challenges, which had delayed the operationalisation of the Secretariat that became operational on April 1, 2020.



We remain determined in the fight against the pandemic to re-prioritize and to re-look at our agenda as we respond to COVID-19.



He said the Secretariat was working closely with the African Unions Trade Ministers on the trade response to the pandemic and devising tools that would mitigate the effects of the crisis on African countries.



The Secretary-General said the continental hub was proposing the creation of trade corridors for essential goods to transit through the borders especially goods intended to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in order that such goods would move swiftly to get to the millions of Africans.



Mr Mene proposed a temporary moratorium to be placed on duties on those products to make them more affordable for Africans as being set-off by the Secretariat in response to fight the pandemic.



He said that would complement the efforts that the Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of States under the Chair of President Cyril Ramaphosa based on the advice of the African Unions Centre for Disease Control.



We therefore look forward to normalisation of the situation, so that we as Secretariat can continue our work and can continue to discharge this noble responsibility of serving Africa.

Source: GNA









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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reviewed the progress of the ongoing reconstruction and development work at the Kedarnath shrine through camera-mounted drone via video-conferencing from New Delhi. He also sought information about the progress Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat during.

According to the senior government functionaries in the state, PM Modi took stock of the reconstruction work in and around the Kedarnath temple area including caves being constructed in the vicinity of the shrine, samadhi sthal (mausoleum) of Adi Shankaracharya, Saraswati Ghat, Aastha Path, bridge on the path towards Bhairav temple, the bridge over Mandakini river and ghats being built at the confluence of Mandakini and Saraswati rivers in the area.

During the video-conference, PM Modi said that information about the historical, spiritual and religious legacy of Kedarnath shrine and pilgrimage should be put on the path from Rambada to Kedarnath so that pilgrims become aware of the same. He said that more spirituality-related works could be undertaken in the area, on which the state government should pay attention.

The Prime Minister said that the caves should be developed in a proper way so that they look attractive.

Stressing that the reconstruction work could be expedited, PM Modi said that the state government should identify the things which need to be completed on a priority basis. He said that Centre will provide all possible help for reconstruction and development work in Kedarnath and Badrinath areas.

PM Modi also said that a development plan should be framed for the Badrinath Dham, keeping in mind the next 100 years.

The Prime Minister also sought information about the Char Dham yatra this year. Rawat apprised him that yatra (pilgrimage) was being allowed for the locals only for the time being in a limited way, with devotees asked to wear face masks and follow social distancing.

The chief minister also requested PM Modi that state government needs Rs 200 crore for various construction works in the Kedarnath area.

During the video-conference, chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh apprised PM Modi about the progress in various reconstruction work in the Kedarnath area. He informed the Prime Minister that samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya will be completed by December 31, 2020, Saraswati Ghat by June 30, 2020, the bridge on Mandakini river by March 31, 2021, and three caves around the shrine by September 2020. He added that bridge on the path towards the Bhairav temple has already been completed.

The chief secretary also informed PM Modi that the state government is planning to construct an open museum in the Kedarnath area. The construction of 73 houses for priests of the shrine, to be developed in five blocks, two of which have been already completed, will be completed in September this year

In October 2017, PM Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stones of five major reconstruction projects at the Kedarnath shrine. The reconstruction projects for which he laid the foundation stone included improved facilities for devotees, construction of retaining walls and ghats at the Mandakini and Saraswati rivers, an approach road to the shrine and reconstructing the Samadhi Sthal of Adi Shankaracharya, an early eighth-century seer and the founder of the Vedanta school of philosophy.

PM Modi had visited Rudra meditation cave in Kedarnath in May last year. He had spent a day meditating at the cave, which is nearly a kilometre from the Kedarnath shrine. Following PM Modis visit, the cave received a significant number of bookings from across the country for meditation. He had also visited the Badrinath shrine in May last year.

Kedarnath and Badrinath, along with Yamunotri and Gangotri, collectively called Char Dham, are one of the most revered pilgrimages in the Hindu tradition and attract lakhs of pilgrims each year. Kedarnath shrine is located near the Mandakini river in Rudraprayag district. According to tradition, the shrine was built by Pandavas and revived by Adi Sankaracharya. The shrine was the worst affected area during the 2013 flash floods, with Kedarnath town suffering extensive damage. Badrinath is located along the banks of the Alaknanda River in Chamoli district at a height of over 10,000 feet.

This year on April 29, when the portals of the Kedarnath shrine were opened, the first prayers were offered on behalf of PM Modi to help the country fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Key companies profiled are HARMAN International, Simco Ltd., Delphi Automotive LLP, Pricol Ltd., DENSO Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, Magneti Marelli S.p.A, Calsonic Kansei Corporation, Visteon Corporation, among others

PUNE, India, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Instrument Cluster Market size is projected to reachUSD 13.77 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.4% during the forecast period. Increasing preference for digital dashboards among car buyers will be the central force pushing the growth of this market, finds Fortune Business Insights in its recent report, titled "Instrument Cluster Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Cluster Type (Analog, Digital, and Hybrid), By Vehicle Type (Passenger Cars, Light Commercial Vehicle, Heavy Commercial Vehicle, and Electric Vehicle), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026".

Digital clusters have been swiftly replacing the conventional analog clusters in vehicles over the past decade. This change in consumer preference has opened up new areas of creativity for automakers as digitized dashboards can be made to look more sporty and attractive. For instance, in September 2018, BMW launched the revised version of its BMW Cockpit powered by the new BMW Operating System 7.0. The new features are designed to keep the driver fully informed of the car's performance, with significant upgrades in the areas of gesture control and voice recognition. Thus, digitalization of instrument clusters in high-end cars is set to emerge as one of the top instrument cluster market trends in the coming years.

Browse Summary of This Research Report with Detailed Table of Content:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/automotive-instrument-cluster-market-102850

COVID-19 Impact Analysis:

The emergence of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We understand that this health crisis has brought an unprecedented impact on businesses across industries. However, this too shall pass. Rising support from governments and several companies can help in the fight against this highly contagious disease. Some industries are struggling and some are thriving. Overall, almost every sector is anticipated to be impacted by the pandemic.

We are making continuous efforts to help your business sustain and grow during COVID-19 pandemics. Based on our experience and expertise, we will offer you an impact analysis of coronavirus outbreak across industries to help you prepare for the future.

Get Sample PDF Brochure with "Short-Term and Long-Term Impact of COVID-19" on Instrument Cluster Industry,

Please Visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/covid19-impact/automotive-instrument-cluster-market-102850

According to the report, the market value stood at USD 7.20 billionin 2018.

The report also shares the following information:

Key insights into the major growth drivers of the market;

Comprehensive overview of the industry trends and future outlook;

Detailed assessment of the challenges facing the market; and

Thorough research into the regional developments and competitive landscape of the market.

Market Driver

Development of Instrument Clusters for Electric Vehicles to Augment Market Potential

The International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed that deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) rose by an astonishing 63% in 2018 from 2017 levels, with the global EV fleet surpassing 5 million in 2018. Thus, the production of EVs is speedily catching up with demand. The increasing inclination toward EVs, mainly prompted by rising pollution and oil prices, is creating new growth avenues for automakers around the world. Many manufacturers are now designing and developing digital instrument clusters tuned to the requirements of an EV.

For instance, in November 2018, Visteon announced that it will be supplying instrument clusters for Renault's new electric variant of its entry-level Kwid model. Integrated dashboards for EVs are critical because drivers need to know exactly how long the car battery will last, availability of the nearest battery recharge station, and software updates from the OEM. Thus, rising demand for EVs across the globe will fuel the market for specialized digital instrument clusters.

Regional Analysis

Asia-Pacific to Establish Commanding Hold on the Market; Europe to Grow Impressively

Asia-Pacific is anticipated to dominate the instrument cluster market share during the forecast period mainly owing to the surging demand for passenger cars in the burgeoning economies of India and China.

Moreover, China has become the largest market for electric vehicles, which is further propelling the market in the region. In addition to that, Japan is home some of the largest automakers in the world such as Toyota, which is likely to have a considerable impact on the market. The market size of Europe in 2018 stood at USD 1.43 billion and is expected to emerge as the second-largest region as a result of the strong presence of top carmakers such as Audi and Mercedes.

Speak to Analyst: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/automotive-instrument-cluster-market-102850

Competitive Landscape

Innovation-Centric Collaborations by Key Players to Spur Competition

According to the Instrument Cluster Market analysis, major competitors in this market are collaborating with other tech-driven companies to develop innovative cockpit solutions. Such joining of forces is enabling companies to expand their product portfolio and entrench their position in this market.

Industry Developments:

June 2019 : Continental AG, the German automotive technologist, partnered with the Silicon Valley Company Leia to develop an innovative 3D-based cluster display in vehicles called the 'Natural 3D Lightfield Instrument Cluster'. Continental aims at taking human-machine interaction within vehicles to the next level as the new system enables more comfortable 3D depth perception and provides the driver will real-time information.

Continental AG, the German automotive technologist, partnered with the Silicon Valley Company Leia to develop an innovative 3D-based cluster display in vehicles called the 'Natural 3D Lightfield Instrument Cluster'. Continental aims at taking human-machine interaction within vehicles to the next level as the new system enables more comfortable 3D depth perception and provides the driver will real-time information. September 2018 : The American automotive electronics specialist Visteon Corporation's SmartCore application made its debut in Daimler's newest variant of the Mercedes A-Class. The state-of-the-art solution blends an intuitive and seamless human-machine interaction (HMI), allowing the driver to get a personalized driving experience through a smooth touchscreen display and steering-mounted controllers.

List of Key Players Covered in the Instrument Cluster Market Report are:

HARMAN International

Simco Ltd.

Delphi Automotive LLP

Pricol Ltd.

DENSO Corporation

Robert Bosch GmbH

Magneti Marelli S.p.A

Calsonic Kansei Corporation

Visteon Corporation

YAZAKI Corporation

Continental AG

Quick Buy - Instrument Cluster Market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/102850

Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction

Research Scope



Market Segmentation



Research Methodology



Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers



Market Restraints



Market Opportunities

Key Insights

Merger, Acquisitions, and Partnerships



Distributor Analysis - For Major Players



Growth and Penetration Analysis



Porter's Five Forces Analysis



PEST Analysis



Vendor Landscape

Global Instrument Cluster Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2015-2026

Key Findings / Summary



Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast - By Cluster Type



Analog





Hybrid





Digital



Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast - By Vehicle Type



PC





LCV





HCV





EV



Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast - By Region



North America





Europe





Asia pacific

pacific



Rest of the World

TOC Continued!!!



Get your Customized Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/automotive-instrument-cluster-market-102850

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(Natural News) Things will someday get better. This left-wing moral panic will pass. Just not anytime soon. And not before things get worse  most especially in Democrat-run cities.

(Article by John Nolte republished from Breitbart.com)

Please do not fool yourself into believing the rioting and mayhem and blacklisting and canceling will quickly burn itself out. It wont. The radical left is emboldened, and when the radical left is emboldened, cities burn, violent crime explodes, good men die, people and content are disappeared and blacklisted, and human rights are violated  all as the corporate media propagandize these obscenities as progress and virtuous.

As I wrote earlier, the Woke Taliban are literally toppling statues, literally rewriting history, literally creating their own caliphate, literally renaming streets, literally forcing people to their knees, and literally blacklisting and desecrating art.

And they are just getting started

But it is in the Democrat-run cities where things are going to get especially awful.

We are already seeing this play out in Seattle, where the left-wing terrorist group Black Lives Matter have established their own caliphate or confederacy.

With the help of a city council member, Black Lives Matter briefly took over Seattles City Hall and have now created a permanent Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), a six-block zone blocked off by barricades and signs that read, You are now leaving the USA.

The police are banned from this zone and have, at least for now, agreed to abandon the area to armed protesters and terrorists.

Within this six block area are 500 residential homes.

It will only be a matter of time before criminals prey on these helpless residents.

Freedom is dead in this zone. Just try wearing a MAGA hat or hanging a Confederate flag or watching The Jeffersons where everyone can see you. Just try questioning or challenging your new overseers

This is a caliphate.

So how was this allowed to happen?

In a word: Weakness.

Few mayors have sought to appease the left-wing terrorists in Antifa and Black Lives Matter more than Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. Weakness not only invites aggression, it also increases demands for fealty. The terrorists who took over city hall and those six blocks are holding Durkans resignation as a form of ransom.

Whatever her shortcomings, she was legally elected by the people of Seattle. But the Woke Taliban want her gone, and now they have essentially recalled her by creating their caliphate.

As we have seen over the past two weeks, weakness is a problem in all of these Democrat-run cities. Another problem is that Democrat politicians cannot defy the monsters they created without being devoured by them. The bind they are in, and by extension the bind they have put their city residents in, is that if you defy the Woke Taliban, you will be attacked as a racist and find yourself under fire by a corporate media that has also been taken over by the Woke Taliban.

In other words, you can either abolish, defund, and otherwise weaken police protections, or you will be voted out of office, recalled, or worse Your city will be relentlessly besieged with disruptive protests and riots: blocked traffic, damaged property  the extortion of chaos and mayhem.

Of course, these Democrats will give in and are already giving in. Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York, and a host of Democrat-run cities have already agreed to abolish, defund, or otherwise weaken the police  even though there is no question this will lead to a dramatic increase in every imaginable crime, including rape, murder, armed robbery Street gangs and cartels will again own streets.

There is no way out for Democrats.

And there is no way out for the idiots who live in these cities and vote for Democrats.

You can either weaken the police and suffer through the increase in violent crime and lawlessness that will follow, or you can subject your city to the unceasing disruption of protests and riots.

Of course, Democrat politicians could do the right thing and uphold the law, but they are not capable of that They are almost all radicals themselves, and they want to remain in power

So what does this mean for the average citizen in Democrat-run cities?

In a word: blight.

The return of urban blight.

Dirty streets. Crime. Collapsing property rates. Boarded up storefronts. High taxes. Homeless. Terrible schools. Living in fear. Bars on windows.

We tried to warn you.

But you idiot Democrats still voted to make a communist the mayor of New York, an appeaser the mayor of Seattle, and an open Antifa supporter the attorney general of Minnesota.

You get what you vote for, and Democrats are about to get exactly what they deserve

Read more at: Breitbart.com
Unilever is calling time on its dual Anglo-Dutch structure in favour of a single base in London less than two years after an ill-fated plan to move to Holland.

The consumer goods giant said the decision  which scraps a structure that has been in place since 1930  will give it greater strategic flexibility.

Unilever  the group behind household names such as Marmite and Ben & Jerrys ice cream  gave assurances that its strong presence in both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom will remain unchanged, with no plans for staffing, operations or activities to be affected.

But the move will see it ditch its legal base in the Netherlands, with London instead becoming the single site for its legal and corporate HQs.

Unilevers London HQ (Philip Toscano/PA)

It comes after Unilever was forced into an embarrassing U-turn on previous plans to switch its headquarters from London to Rotterdam in 2018 following widespread shareholder anger.

The groups former chief executive, Paul Polman, and previous chairman, Marijn Dekkers, both quit soon after the botched plan.

Unilever said that, following the switch to a single legal structure, it will have its primary stock market listing in London, with a secondary listing in the Netherlands and the US.

It hopes to remain in the European index despite no longer having a primary listing in the Netherlands.

Delighted to see Unilevers proposals to become a fully incorporated UK company  a clear vote of confidence in the UK.#BackingBusinesshttps://t.co/KJ7ggSHMJc  Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) June 11, 2020

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said in a tweet that the single structure decision was a clear vote of confidence in the UK.

Story continues

Unilever  one of the biggest in Londons FTSE 100 Index  hopes the single legal structure will allow it to be more nimble for takeovers as well as demergers, such as the potential spin off of its tea division.

Unilever said it is clear that the Covid-19 pandemic will create a business environment in which having as much flexibility and responsiveness as possible will be critically important.

But it raises questions over the possibility of a split of its food arm, which has its headquarters in the Netherlands, from its UK-based home care and beauty and personal care divisions.

Chairman Nils Andersen insisted the move is about preparing for the future and not pre-empting any immediate plans for share divestments, listings or acquisitions.

We do not know what the future holds  we havent any plans at the moment, he said.

He added: We remain committed to the Netherlands and the UK and there will be no change to Unilevers footprint in either country as a result of the proposed change to Unilevers legal parent structure.

Unilever said it had given assurances to the Dutch government that if it was to spin off its food and refreshment arm, it would do so as a Dutch-listed firm  as long as the Netherlands remains an attractive headquarter location for business.

Unileve also revealed that it had not canvassed shareholders over the single structure plans, but said a lower threshold of investor votes was needed to pass the move than for its previous proposal to switch to Rotterdam.

Unilever employs around 6,000 people in the UK and some 2,500 in the Netherlands.

Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: Any move that contributes to Unilever becoming a more agile machine is a step in the right direction  particularly as coronavirus has accelerated the challenges being seen by a lot of the big brands.
Photo: The Canadian Press Chantel Moore

The young Indigenous woman who was shot and killed by police in Edmundston, N.B., last week was remembered Thursday as a kind soul who united family from both sides of the country.

A private funeral service for Chantel Moore, 26, was held in the New Brunswick community where she had moved three months ago to be near her mother and six-year-old daughter.

A picture of Moore sat atop her casket as firekeepers sang a healing song and family members consoled each other.

"We remember your gentle face and warm smile," said Mary Martin, Moore's grandmother. "You always had a kind word for everyone around you."

Martin said Moore's passing had left an enormous hole in their hearts.

"You will never be forgotten. You will always be remembered as the sweetest soul who now watches over us. No one will ever replace you," she said.

A dozen family members from British Columbia arrived earlier this week to support family in New Brunswick.

Members of the Wolastoqey people in New Brunswick expressed their sympathies at Thursday's service and said a prayer to celebrate Moore's life.

A paddle, which was a gift to the family, was placed near the casket as a show of the connection between family in British Columbia and New Brunswick.

Much of the ceremony was focused on healing, and a number of healing walks are planned for a number of communities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on Saturday in memory of Moore.

One of the firekeepers said "love is the key and that is what this family has shown."

"Chantel was love. She was sunshine," he said.

According to her obituary, Moore leaves behind her parents Eugene Moore and Martha Martin, her six-year-old daughter Gracie, her brother Mike Martin, and sisters Courtney and Kaylee Martin.

Her death is being investigated by Quebec's independent police investigation agency, the Bureau des enquetes independantes.

Edmundston police have said the shooting occurred after an officer performing a wellness check allegedly encountered a woman with a knife.

There have been calls for a broader inquiry to examine systemic bias against Indigenous people in the province's policing and criminal justice systems.

New Brunswick's minister of Aboriginal affairs backed the call for the inquiry Wednesday, saying the province has a problem with systemic racism toward Indigenous people.

Jake Stewart said he believes a separate inquiry to examine systemic racism in policing and the justice system could begin before the BEI files its report.

He said such an inquiry would be separate from the investigation into Moore's death and said he would bring the idea to cabinet.
As governments, companies, and investors mobilize massive resources to combat Covid-19, leaders have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take bold action against global climate change, said the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in a new report.



By focusing on the climate agenda, even in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, leaders can direct investments toward sustainability, rebuild businesses for environmental resilience, and contribute to solving two crises at once, according to BCGs report Climate Should Not Be the Viruss Next Victim.



In the wake of the pandemic, global carbon emissions are expected to decline by 5% to 10% this yearthe largest drop since World War II. But this decline in greenhouse gas emissions wont halt climate change if the global economy reverts to the status quo.



The global community is facing a clear choice, said Michel Fredeau, a BCG managing director and senior partner and a co-author of the report. We can go back to how things were, or we can seize this moment to build a greener, more resilient economy.



Governments, companies and investors should invest in climate resilience



Covid-19 offers a dramatic illustration of what happens when leaders ignore early warning signs, but it also highlights what we can achieve, individually and through cooperation, when truly pressured to act for the greater good.



Governments, companies, and investors now have an important role to play in orchestrating a recovery that addresses the current crisis, while building a strong foundation to tackle climate change, said Veronica Chau, a BCG partner and director and a co-author of the report.



The report outlines key actions for governments, companies, and investors:



 Governments should link stimulus funding to a green recovery, structure relief packages to prioritize sustainable business models and climate disclosure standards, and manage a just transition of the workforce toward a net-zero economy.

 Companies can systematically reduce carbon emissions while reducing costs, streamline supply chains, and decarbonize their business and product portfolios.

 Investors should continue to emphasize the importance of climate in investment allocation and stewardship, integrate climate risk into credit models, and invest in a green recovery by leveraging green bonds and other climate-friendly initiatives.



Initiatives to address climate change were driving positive action around the globe prior to the ongoing pandemic, said Joerg Hildebrandt, BCG managing director & senior partner and a co-author of the report.



This includes the GCC, where widespread endeavours were coming to fruition with a view to drive sustainability in areas including water scarcity and quality, marine and costal area pollution, and desertification. Moving forward, it is essential to adapt to the current situation and capitalize on the opportunities to make further progress on the path towards a carbon-neutral and environmentally resilient future.



An opportunity to fuel economic growth and rebuild for the future



Before Covid-19, climate change was on a positive trajectory: CO2 emissions had levelled off in 2019, companies and investors were increasingly placing climate at the top of their agenda, and governments were revisiting their climate plans ahead of COP26.



The world was not prepared for this pandemic, but the climate crisis is entirely predictable, said Patrick Herhold, a BCG managing director and partner and a co-author of the report. The question is: Will we look back in ten years and see that we used this moment to launch a green economic recoveryor that we missed the chance? If the latter outcome sadly proves to be the reality, we will be forced to reckon with an even more devastating and permanent global crisis.  TradeArabia News Service
S ir Keir Starmer has said the national curriculum should be broadened to include more black history after the toppling of the slave trader statue in Bristol.

The Labour leader said it was a great shame that the curriculum had been narrowed over recent years and that Brits ought to learn about slavers such as Edward Colston from school age.

The statue of the 17th-century slave trader was dumped in the harbour by Black Lives Matter protesters on Sunday before being pulled out by the council this morning .

Sir Keir has said it was completely wrong for protesters to topple the statue but added it should have been taken down a long, long time ago.

The statue was toppled in Bristol / PA

The Labour leader told the Standard: I do feel that the focus on tests and exams  whilst important  has narrowed the curriculum. I would like to see it broadened in a number of respects.

A broader look at our history and in particular black history because the fact that a lot of people are understanding  sometimes for the first time in recent days  what characters like Colston were really up to in the slave trade demonstrates that it should be part of our teaching in schools.

We ought to understand that part of our history. Thats why Colston should not be on a statue but in a museum.

The statue has been moved to a secure location before becoming a museum exhibit, the council said.

Edward Colston statue recovered from Bristol harbour 1 /8 Edward Colston statue recovered from Bristol harbour PA PA PA PA PA Bristol Council

Sir Keir added: That bit of history ought to be something that we know about from school, it shouldnt be something that we are learning because something has happened last weekend. It should be something we all know about as part of the curriculum.

The MP for Holborn and St Pancras, who backs votes for 16-year-olds, said he would also like to see more of a focus on citizenship in schools.

He made the comments after a virtual meeting with residents in Barnet in which he was quizzed on everything from knife crime to business. It is part of a series of virtual meetings he is holding across the UK.

He told the participants: The purpose of the meeting is to let me hear your views.

"Ive just been elected as leader of the Labour Party. Im acutely aware that the Labour Party lost the last election badly in December and that weve lost four elections in a row.

There is a huge amount of trust that needs to be re built in the Labour Party as force for good and force for change.
Washington

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration will "not even consider" changing the name of any of the 10 Army bases that are named for Confederate Army officers. Two days earlier, Defense Secretary Mark Esper indicated that he was open to a broad discussion of such changes.

"These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom," Trump wrote. "The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations."

Name changes have not been proposed by the Army or the Pentagon, but on Monday, Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy indicated in response to questions from reporters that they were "open to a bipartisan discussion" of renaming bases such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia.

Supporters of disassociating military bases from Confederate Army officers argue that they represent the racism and divisiveness of the Civil War era and glorify men who fought against the United States.

To amplify Trump's view, his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, read his tweets to reporters in the White House briefing room. She said he is "fervently" opposed to changing the base names and believes that doing so would amount to "complete disrespect" for soldiers who trained there over the years.

The possibility of renaming the bases, McEnany said, is "an absolute non-starter" for Trump. If Congress were to pass legislation requiring name changes, he would not sign it, she said.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The U.S. military recently began rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, including the Army base names, mindful of their divisiveness at a time when the nation is wrestling with questions of race after the death of George Floyd in police hands. The Navy and the Marine Corps are now banning public displays of the Confederate Army battle flag on their installations, casting their decision as necessary to preserve cohesion within the ranks.

Ten major Army installations are named for Confederate Army officers, mostly senior generals, including Robert E. Lee. Among the 10 is Fort Benning, the namesake of Confederate Army Gen. Henry L. Benning, who was a leader of Georgia's secessionist movement and an advocate of preserving slavery. Others are in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana. The naming was done mostly after World War I and in the 1940s, in some cases as gestures of conciliation to the South.

Paul Eaton, a retired two-star Army general and a former commanding general of Fort Benning, said Trump's statements go against ideals for which the Army stands.
As a Black man, father, son and husband, I continue to grieve the violent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Dreasjon Reed, and the countless black men, women and children whose lives have been taken so senselessly. Like so many Black men and women, these murders, as well as the events of the last week, conjure ancestral pain that words often cannot begin to describe.

Looking for hope in these dark times, my family and I turned to our faith, and joined one of the multiple peaceful protests in downtown Indianapolis. That afternoon, the faith community and elected leaders stood shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with a community in mourning. I pray that our state and city leaders heard the call that abusive law enforcement practices are killing Black people. These practices must stop!

The days events began at the Indiana Statehouse, where less than a hundred years ago the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was so powerful it declared itself to be the law in Indiana. We passed by Monument Circle, where the only statue of a Black man inside the Mile Square silently watched over the weekends protests  a slave, newly freed, but still wearing his broken chains. Indianapolis is proud to call itself No Mean City, but rarely pauses to acknowledge its shameful past.

That same KKK-controlled state legislature also controlled the seats of the very same Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners that I sit on today. At the time, the school board, in cahoots with city and state officials implemented policies that systematically guaranteed that Black children would never share a classroom with their white peers, receive adequate financial resources, or realize full rights guaranteed to them as citizens. Though these policies are no longer explicitly in practice today, we still bear witness to their ramifications daily. For some, these past actions have been missed or purposefully dismissed.

For example, 65% of IPS students qualify for free and reduced services, and current lack of resources have prevented the district from implementing a full e-learning plan. In the district that I serve 6.7% of Black children (in grades 3-8) are considered proficient in both English and math according to the Indiana Department of Education, scoring over 25 percentage points behind their white peers. (IDOE 2018-19 ILEARN).

We need and deserve local school governance willing to acknowledge the shortfalls of our K-12 institutions and will commit to change. It is time for school board members and educational leaders across our city to implement transformative policies and procedures that seek to disrupt and dismantle systemic racial inequities across our school systems. It is also past the time to install policies that shine a light on the racial disparities that burden academic performance, disproportionality in student discipline, social and emotional learning, resource allocations, hiring and retention and purchasing. Our children deserve policies that support and sustain learning environments that honor equity and inclusion. The IPS board and administration are developing this framework now and remain committed to its implementation. We should inspect what we expect and leverage our community allies to establish quantifiable goals and priorities and ensure that progress is reported annually.

As school board members and educational leaders, we have to be willing to do the deep and personal work ourselves too. We risk coming up short in our efforts to drive equitable policy and accountability without examining our own racial biases and prejudices  present company included. In my tenure on the board I have received the gift of time and wisdom from so many who have challenged my own prejudices and I am grateful they did, because I want to be the best version of myself  for my community and fellow commissioners, but most importantly, for every student in IPS.

A wise elder shared with me that systemic racism resides in both the crop yield and the soil and the only way to dispose of it is to till and replace with fresh soil, fertilize and water diligently and protect the new beds so that they can grow and realize its fullest potential  then repeat. This illustration describes how we as school board members should approach our work too.

I am a Black man who proudly serves on a board whose members a century ago would not have considered me a citizen worthy of equal rights. Every day I work to get us further and further away from that narrative. We are not there yet, but I am committed to continuing to work toward dismantling systemic racism in our school district and this city.
Santa Ana, CA-based CNI College was awarded the 2020 California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) Excellence in Community Service Bronze Award (https://www.cappsonline.org/scholarships-awards/community-service-awards/). This award recognizes CNI Colleges community service initiatives, service learning, and civic engagement by the schools administration and students. CNI Colleges contribution to the greater Orange County community was demonstrated through their 2019 Year of Giving and has been an integral part of the school culture since its inception in 1994.

CNI College Founders Jim and Colleen Buffington had a vision to provide excellence at every opportunity within their community and made this a foundation of the institution, instilling this core value in each student. The Buffingtons wanted to make a difference in Orange County by educating and preparing their students and graduates with the knowledge and skills they will need for their careers to bring healing, wholeness and compassion to the patients and their entire families throughout the healthcare industry.

Our vision for CNI College graduates, as they become employed as BSNS, ADNs LVNs, MRI Techs, Surgical Technology Techs, and Medical Assistants, is they have the character and maturity to identify the needs in their own community and carry on the mission to serve, said Colleen Buffington, Vice President, CFO and Co-owner. One of my highest hopes is that students and graduates of CNI College become involved in giving back and touching lives through the various services, opportunities, and this would become a part of who they are, and therefore create a ripple effect throughout the local community, the state, the country, and the world.

Throughout the year, CNI Colleges community initiatives range from fundraising and volunteering for the American Heart Association Orange County Heart Walk, the Orange County Ronald McDonald House, the OC Rescue Mission, Operation Gratitude, Earth Day, the American Red Cross, Charity on Wheels, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Superhero Day at HealthBridge Childrens Hospital, Coastal Clean Up Day, and Patriots and Paws. The variety of charities and opportunities brought awareness, an assortment of volunteer experiences, and raised funds. A video of CNI Cares initiatives can be viewed here (https://youtu.be/sLfMItgWEBE).

The impact of these experiences on the faculty and students of CNI College is immense. The spirit of giving is an integral part of the school culture that extends the schools core values to the greater community in a meaningful way. A few examples from the school community:

Raquel Carrasco, Director of FA stated that, Volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House was a great experience, to be able to assist in a small way the families and kids was humbling. I loved the opportunity to sit and converse with the families, to get to know how the Ronald Mc Donald House has had such a big impact in their lives by lessening their struggles of everyday life and for them to be able to concentrate on the well-being of their child.

Sam Pham, student, stated that, I never knew programs like the Orange County Rescue Mission existed. It gave me insight to how determined people are willing to change after being involved in drug abuse. I value the program for making all their residents work and do their part, not only to save the organization money, but to help build their future career. It was inspiring to see their ethics and friendliness since they seem like regular friendly people. I see hope for drug abusers now and know that there is always second chance for everyone.

Daisy Aispuro, faculty, stated that the Ronald McDonald house was a great experience, serving the families of sick children was an extremely rewarding and fun place to volunteer. It felt good to be able to help meet the needs of each family during this very difficult time for them. It was a great experience, especially with me being in the medical field. I talked with families to help them cope with the situation they were going through. It helped me develop great relationships with the families. I enjoy the experiences I have gained working within a nonprofit. It is reassuring to know that the work I am doing is a having a greater impact on the community!
San Francisco, June 11 : After IBM and Amazon, Microsoft President Brad Smith who is known as the torchbearer always vouching for an ethical and responsible AI on Thursday said the company would not sell its facial recognition technology to police.

In an interview with The Washington Post Live, Smith said Microsoft has already been taking a "principled stand" on the ethical use of this AI technology.

"If all of the responsible companies in this country cede this market to those that are not prepared to take a stand, we won't necessarily serve the national interest or the lives of the black and African people of this nation as well. We need Congress to act, not just tech companies alone. That's the only way we will guarantee that we will protect the lives of people," Smith was quoted as saying.

"As a result of the principles that we've put place, we do not sell facial recognition technology to police departments in the US today," Smith added.

Smith said the company will not sell facial recognition until there's a "national law in place grounded in human rights that will govern this technology".

On Wednesday, Amazon announced to apply the brakes on its facial recognition technology called 'Rekognition' for police for one year, in the wake of potential misuse of the technology by the cops as racial protests gain steam in the US after the death of Afrrican-American George Floyd.

"We're implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of Amazon's facial recognition technology. We will continue to allow organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics to use Amazon Rekognition to help rescue human trafficking victims and reunite missing children with their families," Amazon said in a statement.

Technology giant IBM this week terminated its general purpose facial recognition and analysis software products.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a letter to the US Congress that users of Artificial Intelligence-based systems have a shared responsibility to ensure that Al is tested for bias, particularity when used in law enforcement.

Often touted as a tool that can help law enforcement agencies to quickly track criminals, facial recognition technology has courted controversy for the enormous potential of its misuse and lack of regulation.

Facebook in January agreed to pay $550 million to settle a 2015 class-action privacy lawsuit against its use of facial recognition technology in a US state.

New York-based Clearview AI recently said in a legal filing that it will not make its facial recognition app available to non-governmental customers anywhere.
The national reaction to the brutal killing of George Floyd has propelled the issue of police reform to the top of the political agenda.

Congressional Democrats have already filed legislation, Republicans are in the process of crafting theirs, President Donald Trump is expected to announce executive orders soon and Gov. Greg Abbott said discussions with lawmakers ahead of next years session are in progress to make sure that we prevent police brutality like this from happening in the future in Texas.

Harris County and the city of Houston also are considering proposals designed to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability to law enforcement agencies.

Given the unknowns of the coronavirus pandemic, the pressures of the economic downturn and the dynamics of an election year, its difficult to say how long the political will to act on police reform will last. But local officials can make one thing a priority to assure that whatever new policies are adopted will be properly enforced and maintained.

It is past time for Houston and Harris County to have truly independent and effective law enforcement oversight boards with powers to properly monitor, thoroughly investigate and to recommend the discipline of officers who fall short.

For Houston, that means upgrading and strengthening an Independent Police Oversight Board that is too often stretched thin, short of resources and lacking authority to truly investigate. For Harris County, it means creating a new panel to oversee the sheriffs office and the eight constables, all of whom are independently elected.

It wont be easy and it will almost certainly cost more money. But it could save lives, boost public confidence in law enforcement and help departments remove or avoid hiring bad officers.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner signed an executive order on Wednesday requiring officers to de-escalate confrontations, give a verbal warning and exhaust all options before using deadly force. It also mandates that officers intercede when they witness misconduct, bans the use of choke-holds and firing at moving vehicles, which were already HPD policies but now cannot be changed without the mayors consent.

Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved 10 police-related items, including a promise to study how to create a civilian oversight board with subpoena power, adopt a countywide use-of-force policy for officers and establish a database of use-of-force incidents.

These are good starts, but only good starts. Truly independent oversight of police conduct is a necessity.

The police killing of Eric Garner in New York, the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the suffocation of Floyd in Minneapolis, among many others, have led to civil unrest in part because of frustration and mistrust in the criminal justice system.

Police review boards have been around since 1948 with various approaches from strongly investigative to monitoring and advisory and hybrids in between.

The Houston Independent Police Oversight Board was created in 2011 by Mayor Annise Parker, partly in response to the public outcry after surveillance video showed police officers beating then-15-year-old high school sophomore Chad Holley during an arrest in 2010.

The board is made up of 29 members appointed by the mayor, reflecting the demographic and geographic diversity of the city ... experts in criminal justice, including retired judges and prosecutors, civil rights attorneys and academic experts or scholars.

Although Parker said the board would help restore trust in the police department, skeptics have long complained that its volunteer makeup and lack of financial support have made it ineffective. A budget amendment proposed by At-Large Councilmember Letitia Plummer that would have given the board subpoena power in 2021 failed Wednesday when Turner said he would not support it and no other council member joined her cause. Turner is mistaken. These changes are needed.

The board doesnt receive direct complaints, but reviews internal Houston Police Department investigations that include issues of excessive force, misconduct, discharge of a firearm and events involving serious bodily injury or death and the mistreatment of citizens. That too often leaves the board reviewing the departments version of events without the resources or subpoena power to dig deeper.

That is particularly troubling in light of how many cases we have seen across the nation in which the official report is contradicted by video evidence, either body cams or cellphone images taken by private citizens.

The volunteer model is appropriate for a civilian review board, but that part-time nature makes it difficult to be proactive in reviewing everything from recruitment and hiring to issues of bad behavior and mistreatment of the public. It is time to invest in a paid executive and staff to make the board truly effective.

Police reforms are overdue and welcome, but they wont accomplish much if no one is making sure they are being implemented and enforced. Law enforcement has a long way to go to restore the publics trust.

The residents of the Houston region deserve a police watchdog with teeth.
Zoom took down a U.S.-based Chinese activists' account after they celebrated the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. According to Los Angeles Times' latest report, the videoconferencing provider, Zoom, confirmed it closed a U.S-based account of the group of prominent Chinese activists after discovering they held an event using the video platform commemorate the 31st anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

pic.twitter.com/ap2OHKO2WE Zoom briefly shuts account of activists who met to mark the anniversary of China's crackdown in Tiananmen Square, raising alarm over free speech https://t.co/G2UDY0j2nO  AFP news agency (@AFP) June 11, 2020

The event was held on a paid Zoom account, associated with Humanitarian China, by the founder of U.S. based nonprofit Humanitarian China Zhou Fengsou on May 31, as reported in a statement of Zoom acquired by Axios. Zhou participated in the historic protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square as one of the student leaders.

Also Read: Facebook Creates Special News Feed Without Posts from Friends or Family

The anniversary event was joined by about 250 people, including the parents of protesters who were killed and other protest organizers. A notice stating that it had been shut down was received by the U.S.-based Zoom account associated with Humanitarian China.

The U.S.-Based account of Chinese activists was closed

According to Axios' latest report, a spokesperson of the Zoom video platform confirmed that the account was shut down to comply with local law, but it had now been re-activated.

"Just like any global company, we must comply with applicable laws in the jurisdictions where we operate. When a meeting is held across different countries, the participants within those countries are required to comply with their respective local laws," the spokesperson said.

"We aim to limit the actions we take to those necessary to comply with local law and continuously review and improve our process on these matters. We have re-activated the US-based account," Zoom added.

Zoom confirmed that the Chinese activists' account was already re-activated on Wednesday, June 10. Although Zhou confirmed the account's reactivation, Humanitarian China said that it had not heard the confirmation directly from Zoom, saying that the video platform company refused to respond to the repeated request for an explanation.

"This is not acceptable. How many accounts are targeted during this anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre? We want answers," Zhou wrote in an email.

Axios reported that Zoom announced that Chinese-based users will no longer be provided with free accounts starting in May. Zoom became popular when corporate meetings, in-person social gatherings, conferences, and religious services were halted because of the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus.

Also Read: Beware! Illegal Streaming Service Offered to 2 Million Users Busted for Netflix and HBO Piracy

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Hearst Connecticut Media file

BRANFORD  The town will be paving the roadway and making improvements to the parking lot at Parker Memorial Park Friday. Residents are advised that there will be no parking access to Branford Point Beach that day, the town said in a news release.

The road and parking area will reopen Saturday.
ALBANY  New York lawmakers want to repeal protections enacted earlier this year by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that shield nursing homes and long-term care facilities from lawsuits arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

The amendment to a section of the state Public Health Law protects hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities from medical malpractice or other legal liability even if they make errors that lead to fatalities, unless a defendant can prove the facility erred in a way that was grossly negligent, reckless, willful or criminal in nature. It also shields facilities from lawsuits alleging willful misconduct due to resource and staffing shortages.

The immunity was enacted in the state budget in April and in an executive order issued by Cuomo on March 23.

State Assemblyman Ron Kim, D-Queens, and Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, D-Bronx, on Thursday introduced legislation that would repeal the protection, a move that the lawmakers say will allow families to pursue legal action that could uncover evidence of poor care.

Nearly 6,000 of the states more than 24,000 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, were residents in nursing homes. Cuomo has taken heat for his handling of the infectious disease in those facilities, where those most vulnerable people to the virus live.

Biaggi said over 700 people living in nursing homes and senior living facilities in the Bronx have died from the coronavirus.

"While it is abundantly clear that nursing homes have not received the full support that they need to weather this pandemic, that does not mean we completely strip away their responsibility for the care of our loved ones, she said.

Initially, the state had required nursing homes to take coronavirus-positive residents, a policy that critics have suggested exacerbated the outbreaks and deaths at those facilities. On May 10, Cuomo revised that requirement, ordering nursing homes to only accept hospital patients who tested negative for coronavirus. Cuomo has defended his initial order, arguing that his administration was only following federal guidelines.

Existing state and federal regulations require nursing home facilities to only accept patients to whom they can provide adequate care.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

A Times Union review of 10 nursing homes in the Capital Region with the largest or deadliest known coronavirus outbreaks found many have struggled to maintain adequate staffing or have been cited for infection control issues over the years. Nursing home leaders disputed any suggestion that those issues were factors in the scale of their outbreaks, and instead pointed to the controversial state policy on admitting COVID-19 patients and a lack of state assistance that left homes to fend for themselves.

Biaggi and Kim will host a virtual rally at 12:30 p.m. Friday with advocates and impacted family members to discuss the legislation.

When are we going to draw a line at the amount of pain and suffering ... this government body is willing to endure without action," Kim said in a news release. "How we treat our elders and our children used to be the priority of government. Repealing (the immunity protection) allows families to pursue a process in which they can be heard and seek corrective actions so their loved ones didnt die in vain.
This article is published through a partnership with New York Medias Strategist . The partnership is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected by New York Media. If you buy something through our links, Slate and New York Media may earn an affiliate commission.

Nothing heals dry hair better than a great haircut, says Brooke Jordan, master stylist at the Birdhouse salon in Gowanus. But given thats not really an option right now for many of us, products are all weve got. Fortunately, there are plenty of ultrahydrating shampoos, conditioners, oils, and leave-in treatments that can revive your hair if its looking a little dull (or possibly even a bit broomlike), and keep it in good health until your next cut. We heard from Jordan and five other stylists about the products they trust to smooth and moisturize their clients hair, as well as their own.

Shampoo and conditioner for dry hair

R+Co Television Perfect Hair Conditioner A great moisturizing shampoo and conditioner is the best first line of defense for dry hair, says Jordan. She particularly likes R+Cos versatile line of products. Im in love with R+Co right now because its nontoxic, vegan, and all of its products are super multitaskers (theyre all, for instance, UV protectant), and it has shampoo and conditioner sets for every hair texture, she says. If you have thin to medium-thick hair, choose Television. The Television shampoo and conditioner have juniper-berry extract, which helps to keep scalp oils in balance and adds moisture to hair without weighing it down, plus glycerin, which is known to help fight dryness in skin and hair, and babassu-seed oil, a lightweight and deep-conditioning oil. $32 from Amazon



Stephanie Louis, owner of Stylebox Salon in Prospect Heights, told us that one way to think about dry hair is in terms of porosity, which refers to how quickly your hair absorbs water and how long it holds onto it. If you find that your hair absorbs water like a sponge, but then dries out fairly quickly, you likely have hair with high porosity. For high-porosity hair, Louis suggests SheaMoistures coconut-oil line, which, she says, locks moisture into hair in a longer-lasting way (meaning added silkiness wont disappear as soon as the hair dries after the shower). In addition to nourishing coconut and shea oils, it has argan oil, aloe, and rose-hip oil, all known for softening hair and skin (not to mention smelling lovely).

On the other hand, your hair might have low porosity, meaning that it doesnt hold water well, and generally feels dried out almost immediately after you step out of the shower. To add moisture to low-porosity hair, youll first need to get the strands wet in the shower to open then up, and then use products that quickly get the oils inside your strands, says Louis. Verbs Ghost Shampoo and Conditioner is perfect for this, because they absorb easily and infuse hair with moisturizing moringa oil. Theyre also safe for use on color-treated hair, and protect against UV damage.

If your hair is on the finer side, Mirjam Bayoumi, who has a namesake salon on the Upper East Side, suggests intensely hydrating products from Swedish hair-care line REF. All of its products are made especially for fine hair, with light ingredients like strengthening quinoa protein and coconut oil, she says.

Another shampoo-conditioner combo for those with thinner hair comes recommended by Shirley Hagel of Spoke & Weal salon. My all-time favorite shampoo and conditioner for dry hair is Avedas Sap Moss shampoo and conditioner, she says. It provides weightless hydration for all hair types. Hagel, who says she has pretty fine, dry hair uses it herself, and says that it has plenty of moisturizing ingredients that dont weigh hair down. Sap Moss is so good for dry hair because it uses a blend of Iceland moss and larch-tree-sap extract, both products that add hydration without excess stickiness. And there are none of the questionable ingredients you might find in other shampoos that can damage hair further: Its free from parabens, silicone, gluten, mineral oil, and petrolatum, Hagel says.

For hair thats thicker or coarser, Jordan says to go with R+Cos Atlantis shampoo and conditioner. Both the shampoo and conditioner are packed with B5, which is a vitamin that coats strands to add hydration, and nettle extract, which fights frizz, moisturizes the scalp, and helps strengthen hair to protect against further breakage. According to Jordan, the Atlantis line is moisturizing enough for even extremely dry or damaged hair. (Read: if you tried to bleach your own hair at home and it went horribly wrong, says Jordan.)

And for very damaged and dry hair, it doesnt get any better than Olaplex, a line known for being one of the most moisturizing out there. Its bonkers good and incredibly healing, says Jordan, who notes that its so moisturizing that you might want to skip using it for every wash (It can become too heavy if used every wash, she says. Both the shampoo and the conditioner have the lines patented bond-building technology, which means that they can actually help repair broken hair, in addition to preventing new breakage that can come with dryness.

Best leave-in treatments for dry hair

Aveda Nutriplenish Leave-in Conditioner If you want to try a leave-in conditioner, Hagel recommends Avedas Nutriplenish Leave-in, which she uses on her finer hair. Its truly my favorite leave-in, she says. Its meant to be used in damp hair, but its light enough to mist on dry hair, as well. Hagel uses it on both wet and dry hair, and says it especially comes in handy if she wants to add a little moisture on day two or three after shampooing. Hagel recommended the conditioner to us when we asked her about the best detangling products, as well, and she chalks its versatility up to the ingredient list. It has organic pomegranate-seed oil and ginger, which help revive dry hair, she says. Its truly my favorite leave-in. $37 from Nordstrom



Kiehls Damage Repairing & Rehydrating Leave-In Treatment This is a great product for damaged and dry hair because it strengthens your hair over time, so the more often you use it the more your hair will benefit from it, says Dhiran Mistry, hairstylist at David Mallett salon. The hydration comes from hyaluronic acid, which Mistry says will nourish the scalp leaving soft, flake-free roots, and smooth and shiny strands. The leave-in also has moringa oil, which boosts keratin production, meaning stronger hair with less breakage, and zinc, an ingredient Mistry says is essential for maintaining healthy hair because it helps oil glands at the root of the hair function properly, reducing hair loss. $25 from Kiehls



Kerastase Discipline Fluidissime Complete Anti-Frizz Care Spray If youre blow-drying hair, consider giving it a spritz of this leave-in first: Mistry says the spray protects hair from heat damage and controls frizz, thanks to the inclusion of xylose, an ingredient that keeps hair safe from high temperatures and the sun. It also adds shine to hair, and can help make a frizzy mane a little more sleek. $23 from Amazon



Hair oils for dry hair

Now Foods Grapeseed Oil In the summer, when hair can be a bit drier from sun exposure (or time on the beach), grape-seed oil is one of the best natural products out there to restore hydration, says Sara Jane Booth, a hairstylist at Ion Studio in Soho. My hair is very dry and frizzy, and since grape-seed oil is so affordable, I can douse my hair in it if Im headed to the beach without worrying about wasting product, she says. The oil is packed with antioxidants, and is high in oligomeric proanthocyanidin complexes (OPCs) that also help with hair loss, says Booth. Its also a great option if you want moisture without fragrance: I love it because It practically has no scent, so you can add your own scent or mix it with other products, says Booth. $7 from Thrive Market



The Body Shop Polynesian Monoi Radiance Oil If you do want something with fragrance, Booth says the Body Shops Polynesian Monoi Oil, which contains a mixture of Brazil nut oil, coconut oil, sweet almond, and sesame oil, just feels and smells luxurious  its so light and fresh. Booth told us that despite being very sensitive to smells herself, she finds this oil really calming and light, and not at all overpowering. For those with thinner hair, a little goes a long way: If youre using it daily and have fine hair, I would suggest using a pea-size amount on your ends when your hair is wet, says Booth. Those with thicker or frizzy hair can use as much as they like  and whatever your hair texture, you can also use the oil as a body or massage oil. I absolutely love this product, says Booth. $20 from The Body Shop



Pattern JoJoba Oil Hair Serum According to Louis, Patterns Jojoba Oil hair serum is a great pick for those with curly hair to use on days between washing, when you want to add a little extra moisture. The serum is formulated to work on all curl patterns, and can also be used to massage and relieve an itchy scalp. Not to mention that it smells wonderful: The serum is infused with rose-hip oil, safflower oil, and lavender. $25 from Pattern



Shu Eumera Essence Absolute Nourishing Protective Oil Another oil that you can use as a pre-shampoo treatment (meaning you apply it before shampooing and then wash it out) is Shu Eumeras Essence Absolute Nourishing Protective Oil, which Mistry says he has used and loved for years. Part of the appeal is its versatility: It can be used as a leave-in oil, pre-shampoo treatment, or mixed into shampoo and conditioner, he says. It can be used on all hair types, and is a great heat-protectant oil also. The ingredient list counts camellia oil, which helps soften dry hair and is even used in skin care to speed up the healing time of wounds. $28 from Sephora



R+Co Two-Way Mirror Hair Oil For dull hair, Jordan suggests trying R+Cos Two-Way Mirror Hair Oil. It contains Bixa orellana seed oil, which she says is super hydrating and can actually create a glowing effect in your hair. The oil also has antioxidant vitamin E and fights environmental damage, which is part of what causes hair to be dry in the first place, says Jordan. $32 from Amazon



Sachajuan Intensive Hair Oil Youve probably heard of argan oil as a reliable source of moisture for dry hair, and according to Jordan, Sachajuans Intensive Hair Oil contains the trustworthy ingredient, as well as sea-buckthorn oil, which is known for supporting scalp health. Jordan says argan oil is her absolute favorite oil to moisturize even the most stubborn dry hair. It works well for dry skin too: I use argan oil after every shower on my terribly dry skin, she says. Basically I just lather myself in it, head to toe! $53 from Dermstore



Brazilian Blowout Acai Dry Oil Acai is another one of those classic moisturizing, antioxidizing ingredients, according to Bayoumi, who recommends this dry oil. Its a hydrating oil for daily application that helps prevent frizz and dryness, she says. If you are using it daily, you can apply it sparingly: Just a few drops is enough, says Bayoumi. $26 from Amazon



Best masks for dry hair

OUAI Treatment Masque This makes any hair soft and manageable, even extremely dry hair, says Bayoumi. I would use it once a week and leave it on for ten minutes. And if you really want to get the most of the mask, you can try applying it before working out or sitting in a steamy bathroom: The heat will make your hair cuticles open more, allowing the mask to absorb deeper before you rinse it out in the shower. It makes hair exceptionally shiny and healthy-looking, says Bayoumi. $32 from Sephora


June 11, 2020 / 10:57 PM IST

Coronavirus India News LIVE Updates: Today is the seventy-ninth day of Indias nationwide lockdown, meant to curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. A number of activities are being allowed to resume in a phased manner over this month as part of 'Unlock 1.0'. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in India stand at 2,86,579. The death toll from the outbreak in India is at 8,102. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi

and Gujarat have reported the highest number of cases.Globally, there have been over 73.6 lakh confirmed cases of COVID-19. At least 4.1 lakh people have died so far. The United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom are the most-affected countries.
(Natural News) After left-wing terrorists seized six city blocks of downtown Seattle, declaring it an autonomous zone that defies all the laws of Washington State and the United States of America, the power vacuum didnt last very long. Now, an actual warlord has risen to power there  since Democrats hate police, remember?  and according to online comments, hes, a man who beats women, forces them into sex work and punishes them if they do not obey.

As BigLeaguePolitics reports:

A Seattle rap artist appears to be establishing his authority as the de facto warlord of a self-styled leftist state in the citys downtown. Reports from the scene of the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone indicate that Raz Simone, a Seattle rapper, has increasingly staked himself out as something of an authority figure within the jurisdiction. Witnesses describe Simone as asserting his authority over graffiti artists that attempted to paint over existing graffiti, threatening to shoot the street artists if they failed to obey his commands regarding new graffiti.

This is the new rule of law in Democrat-controlled cities, and Governor Inslee has today declared that he has no knowledge that six city blocks in downtown Seattle were seized. Democrats are suddenly learning what happens when you dont say no to Black Lives Matter protesters who seize buildings (or city blocks) and issue a list of demands. As long as you allow the terrorists to control everything, they will keep asking for more.

Imagine their surprise when they escalate to seizing the state capital building and come to find out the Democrats have already looted everything. Theres nothing left to loot!

Hey white libtards living in Seattle, bow down to your new leader. When you demanded abolishing the police, this is what you get instead:

As BLP explains:

ANTIFA operatives describe seeing Simone assault individuals present within the autonomous zone at least two times. One claimed that he is becoming the very thing people didnt want to begin with.

Video footage of the incident seems to have been caught on camera. Chaz appears far more willing to engage in the use of force than many of the American police the Seattle leftists are pointing to as their oppressors.

Policing in the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone by @RazSimone. There appear to be no body cameras, reports, or oversight and accountability. This was an attempt at de-escalation for spraying paint onto a building which resulted in an alleged assault. #chaz #FreeCapitolHill pic.twitter.com/dI1J6QNcpn  TheWholeStory (@TheWholeStory6) June 10, 2020

In left-wing Seattle, run by spineless Democrats, the rule of law has been replaced with a third would country warlord scenario, much like Mogadishu. Notice that theres no call among the Mayor or the Governor to send in a SWAT team and shoot these terrorists? If the terrorists were white, they would have already been shot and killed by authorities.

Thats why this bizarre scene is black privilege on parade:

Via ZeroHedge.com:

Soundcloud rapper Raz Simone and his entourage have claimed the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) as their territory  and have already been filmed regulating when a man wouldnt stop spraying graffiti over an urban art installation, telling him We are the police of this community now!

The Capital Hill Autonomous Zone, world's most ambitious anthropological experiment, has received its first warlord. Took only one day for the "monopoly on violence" to be discovered what will happen next? pic.twitter.com/eFWlQPSumd  MIYA BLACK HEARTED CYBER ANGEL BABY  WIRED_GOD (@BPD_GOD) June 10, 2020

I am exposing a man who beats women, forces them into sex work and punishes them if they do not obey. Brb. And yes, @RazSimone, Im talking about you.  Sincerely, a black woman who will absolutely clock your shit. #seattleprotest #seattle #seattleprotests  REPARATIONSWORK (@soultypechild) June 9, 2020

Meanwhile, homeless people who were invited to CHAZ stole all of their food. Antifa are calling for vegan supplies

72 hours after the establishment of the #CapitalHillAutonomousZone, there are apparently already food shortages. pic.twitter.com/HBlCynDQYH  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 11, 2020

Gotta say Im impressed, it usually takes Marxists at least 3-4 months to achieve starvation, said one Twitter user.

All isnt lost in the republic of CHAZ, however, as the group has apparently organized its own trash collection while hosting regular free speech circles, according to the New York Post.

Inhabitants of the CHAZ are calling for defunding the Seattle Police Department as well as other demands published in a 30-point list online.

This is no simple request to end police brutality, organizers wrote. We demand that the City Council and the Mayor, whoever that may be, implement these policy changes for the cultural and historic advancement of the City of Seattle, and to ease the struggles of its people.

They continue, This document is to represent the black voices who spoke in victory at the top of 12th & Pine after 9 days of peaceful protest while under constant nightly attack from the Seattle Police Department. -New York Post

Sadly, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has no clue about the autonomous zone whatsoever.

Gov. Inslee on so-called "autonomous zone" on Capitol Hill: "That's news to me". pic.twitter.com/L3LT86Zxgq  Rebecca Perry (@Rebecca_Perry) June 10, 2020

So, the governor of Washington doesnt know that a six-block area, in the largest city in his state, was seized by Antifa after driving the police and National Guard out following a violent confrontation Sunday night.

What else is news to you, @GovInslee? Or do we even want to know?  Ron Coleman (@RonColeman) June 11, 2020

Trump should step back and allow this lunatic left-wing experiment to run its full course

Watching black-privileged warlords take over downtown Seattle is endlessly entertaining, and we should encourage Trump to avoid intervening and giving the lunatic Left a new narrative of oppression. Instead of sending in the National Guard, just let Seattle Democrats stew in their own s##t for a week or two, just to experience a taste of their progressive utopia.

Let them oppress themselves and burn their own cities to the ground.

Let the Democrats in Seattle experience a week or two under the rule of a woman-beating warlord, completely absent any police response or police accountability. Find out how quickly everybody becomes pro-Second Amendment.

Let them find out what happens when you give up your right to arm yourself in self-defense, only the find yourself surrounded by violent gang bangers while your elected Governor (a Democrat, of course) pretends the whole thing isnt actually happening, because hes a clueless white fool who cant stand up to obvious terrorists because of the color of their skin.

Let them see with their own eyes what happens when you abandon the rule of law and allow deranged groups of thugs and hoodlums to seize control over society while making demands for reparations and the abolishing of police.

This is a teachable moment for America, and we should all watch and observe how this chaos unfolds in Seattle (and now spreading to Portland) because this is a sign of things to come if Democrats gain political power.

If you love being ruled by violent, black warlords who reject societys laws and declare themselves to be dictators, vote Democrat at every opportunity.
A G.O.P.-led Senate panel votes to require renaming of military bases honoring Confederates.

A Republican-led Senate committee voted behind closed doors on Wednesday to require the Pentagon to rename military bases and other assets named after Confederate officers and generals within three years, just as President Trump publicly declared he would not tolerate such a move.

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved adding the measure to its annual defense authorization bill, according to lawmakers who were present.

The endorsement of the proposal, from Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, came as the White House said the president would go so far as to veto the sweeping defense legislation if Congress tried to force his hand on the issue.

Inclusion of the provision raises the prospect of an election-year Senate vote on whether to honor Confederate military personnel amid a national outcry against historical symbols of racism that has gained extraordinary speed, fueled by protests of police brutality against black Americans.

I never thought I would get a chance to go back in time to vote against the Confederacy, Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, tweeted on Wednesday, but ok.

It also came on a day when Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California called for the removal of 11 statues of Confederate soldiers  including Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens, the president and vice president of the Confederate States of America  from display in the Capitol.

The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation, Ms. Pelosi said. Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage.
DUBLIN, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Healthcare Analytical Testing Services - Global Market Outlook (2018-2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Healthcare Analytical Testing Services market accounted for $3.82 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $11.67 billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of 13.2% during the forecast period. Increasing number of clinical trials, and rising outsourcing of analytical testing by pharmaceutical companies are driving the growth of the market. However, lack of skilled professionals is restraining the growth of the market.



Healthcare analytical testing services are widely used by pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and medical device manufacturers that support throughout the stages of their drug development. These services provide support in the process of drug development started from discovery through clinical development or clinical trials to commercial use. The primary objective of performing healthcare analytics is to gain insights into patient records, costs, hospital management, and diagnosis in order to systemize the process and obtain required data for the development of the overall healthcare sector. Furthermore, analytical testing plays a critical role in the end-to-end process of drug development and manufacturing



Based on end user, the Pharmaceutical & biopharmaceutical companies is likely to a huge demand in the forecast period due to the tremendous amount of analytical testing required to support a product from discovery, development, and clinical trials, through manufacturing and marketing. On the basis of geography, Asia Pacific has a growing prominence due to the lower production costs and growing favorability of the regulatory environment.



Some of the key players in Healthcare Analytical Testing services Market include Almac Group, Anacura, Charles River Laboratories, Element Materials Technology, Eurofins Scientific, Frontage Labs, Icon, Intertek, Labcorp, Lgc Limited, Medpace, Merck KGAA, Pace Analytical, PPD, PRA Health Sciences, SGS, Source Bioscience, Steris PLC, Syneos Health, and Wuxi Pharmatech.



Types Covered:

Bioanalytical Testing Services

Physical Characterization Services

Method Development & Validation Service

Raw Material Testing Services

Batch-Release Testing Services

Stability Testing Services

Microbial Testing Services

Environmental Monitoring Services

Samples Covered:

Raw Materials

In-Process Samples

Finished Products

Environmental Samples

Sales Channels Covered:

Aftermarket

Manufacturer/Distributor/Service Provider

End Users Covered:

Medical Device Companies

Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Companies

Contract Research Organizations

Regions Covered:



North America

US

Canada

Mexico

Europe

Germany

France

Italy

UK

Spain

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

Japan

China

India

Australia

New Zealand

Rest of Asia Pacific

South America

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Rest of South America

Middle East & Africa

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Qatar

South Africa

Rest of Middle East & Africa

What our report offers:

Market share assessments for the regional and country-level segments

Strategic recommendations for the new entrants

Covers Market data for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2027

Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)

Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis, etc.

Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations

Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends

Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments

Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements

Key Topics Covered:



1 Executive Summary



2 Preface

2.1 Abstract

2.2 Stake Holders

2.3 Research Scope

2.4 Research Methodology

2.4.1 Data Mining

2.4.2 Data Analysis

2.4.3 Data Validation

2.4.4 Research Approach

2.5 Research Sources

2.5.1 Primary Research Sources

2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources

2.5.3 Assumptions



3 Market Trend Analysis

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Drivers

3.3 Restraints

3.4 Opportunities

3.5 Threats

3.6 End User Analysis

3.7 Emerging Markets

3.8 Impact of Covid-19



4 Porters Five Force Analysis

4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

4.3 Threat of substitutes

4.4 Threat of new entrants

4.5 Competitive rivalry



5 Global Healthcare Analytical Testing Services Market, By Type

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Bioanalytical Testing Services

5.2.1 Virology Testing

5.2.2 Biomarker Testing

5.2.3 Cell-Based Assays

5.2.4 Immunogenicity & Neutralizing Antibody Testing

5.2.5 Pharmacokinetic Testing

5.3 Physical Characterization Services

5.3.1 Surface Area Analysis

5.3.2 Thermal Analysis

5.3.3 Laser Particle Size Analysis

5.3.4 Image Analysis

5.4 Method Development & Validation Service

5.4.1 Process Impurity Method Development & Validation

5.4.2 Cleaning Validation

5.4.3 Stability-Indicating Method Validation

5.4.4 Technical Consulting

5.4.5 Analytical Standard Characterization

5.4.6 Extractable & Leachable Method Development & Validation

5.5 Raw Material Testing Services

5.5.1 Wet Chemistry Analysis

5.5.2 Karl Fischer Analysis

5.5.3 Complete Compendial Testing

5.5.4 Container Testing

5.5.5 Heavy Metal Testing

5.6 Batch-Release Testing Services

5.6.1 Elemental Impurity Testing

5.6.2 Disintegration Testing

5.6.3 Friability Testing

5.6.4 Dissolution Testing

5.6.5 Hardness Testing

5.7 Stability Testing Services

5.7.1 Drug Substance Stability Testing

5.7.2 Accelerated Stability Testing

5.7.3 Comparative Stability Testing

5.7.4 Formulation Evaluation Stability Testing

5.7.5 Photostability Testing

5.8 Microbial Testing Services

5.8.1 Sterility Testing

5.8.2 Endotoxin Testing

5.8.3 Microbial Limit Testing

5.8.4 Water Testing

5.8.5 Preservative Efficacy Testin

5.9 Environmental Monitoring Services

5.9.1 Air Testing

5.9.2 Wastewater/Etp Testing



6 Global Healthcare Analytical Testing Services Market, By Sample

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Raw Materials

6.3 In-Process Samples

6.4 Finished Products

6.5 Environmental Samples



7 Global Healthcare Analytical Testing Services Market, By Sales Channel

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Aftermarket

7.3 Manufacturer/Distributor/Service Provider



8 Global Healthcare Analytical Testing Services Market, By End User

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Medical Device Companies

8.3 Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Companies

8.4 Contract Research Organizations



9 Global Healthcare Analytical Testing Services Market, By Geography

9.1 Introduction

9.2 North America

9.2.1 US

9.2.2 Canada

9.2.3 Mexico

9.3 Europe

9.3.1 Germany

9.3.2 UK

9.3.3 Italy

9.3.4 France

9.3.5 Spain

9.3.6 Rest of Europe

9.4 Asia Pacific

9.4.1 Japan

9.4.2 China

9.4.3 India

9.4.4 Australia

9.4.5 New Zealand

9.4.6 South Korea

9.4.7 Rest of Asia Pacific

9.5 South America

9.5.1 Argentina

9.5.2 Brazil

9.5.3 Chile

9.5.4 Rest of South America

9.6 Middle East & Africa

9.6.1 Saudi Arabia

9.6.2 UAE

9.6.3 Qatar

9.6.4 South Africa

9.6.5 Rest of Middle East & Africa



10 Key Developments

10.1 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures

10.2 Acquisitions & Mergers

10.3 New Product Launch

10.4 Expansions

10.5 Other Key Strategies



11 Company Profiling

11.1 Almac Group

11.2 Anacura

11.3 Charles River Laboratories

11.4 Element Materials Technology

11.5 Eurofins Scientific

11.6 Frontage Labs

11.7 Icon

11.8 Intertek

11.9 Labcorp

11.10 Lgc Limited

11.11 Medpace

11.12 Merck KGAA

11.13 Pace Analytical

11.14 PPD

11.15 PRA Health Sciences

11.16 SGS

11.17 Source Bioscience

11.18 Steris PLC

11.19 Syneos Health

11.20 Wuxi Pharmatech



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/gf96r1

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

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Chinese scientists have been exploring space manufacturing using 3D printing to contribute to the construction and operation of Chinas space station and deep space exploration.

Wang Gong (R2), head of the CAS Key Laboratory of Space Manufacturing Technology under the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reviews the 3D printing experiment in the prototype of China's new-generation manned spacecraft with his colleagues in their office. (Photo/Sun Zifa)

The scientists had conducted the first in-orbit stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing experiment in the prototype of Chinas new-generation manned spacecraft, launched in early May. This marks the first time scientists have managed to use metal-ceramic composite materials to print ceramics in space to a high level of accuracy.

The experiment was conducted by the CAS Key Laboratory of Space Manufacturing Technology under the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Wang Gong, head of the lab, and his colleagues had spent years preparing for this experiment. In 2015, they planned the first SLA 3D printing experiment in microgravity conditions. Wang and his team combined powder and resin to ensure that materials can be easily controlled in microgravity. They completed Chinas first ceramic 3D printing experiment with a specially-designed SLA 3D printer on a parabolic plane in 2018.

This time, eight samples were printed through SLA 3D technology in the experimental spaceship. The in-orbit experiment showcased the space manufacturing teams research achievements over the past few years, Wang said.

Wang said his team sees 3D printing in space as one of the methods of space manufacturing, and is also exploring other methods, adding that this success in SLA 3D printing marks a new beginning for his team.

He also revealed that his team would improve in-orbit 3D printing technology, provide in-orbit manufacturing services for the construction and operation of Chinas space station, and contribute to Chinas lunar and Mars exploration programs.

According to Wang, space manufacturing can be divided into three stages: manufacturing of small components, manufacturing and in-orbit assembly of large-scale space devices, and more comprehensive manufacturing activities in deep space such as the moon and Mars.

We are still in the first stage and have a lot of work to do on this front, he said, adding that the next generation may be able to build a factory in space.
Alberta RCMP deputy commissioner Curtis Zablocki on Wednesday became the latest person in authority to dismiss the idea of systemic racism.

He told a news conference in Edmonton he also doesnt believe racism is systemic through policing in Alberta or Canada.

Its a statement that flies in the face of my decade of reporting on Indigenous Peoples  and 150 years of Canadian history.

Ive heard countless stories from Indigenous Peoples across this country who have had run-ins with the RCMP and other police forces.

There are injustices like the recent allegations that RCMP beat Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations Chief Allan Adam over an expired licence plate in Fort McMurray, Alta. Theres the killing of 26-year-old Chantel Moore of the Tia-o-qui-aht First Nation, who was shot five times by police in Edmundston, N.B., last week. Theres the fact that in April, Winnipeg police officers shot and killed 16-year-old Eisha Hudson, then, less than a day later, Winnipeg police shot and killed 36-year-old Jason Collins. Ten days later, the same police force shot and killed 22-year-old Stewart Kevin Andrews.

All of them were Indigenous.

I could fill books with the names and stories of Indigenous Peoples whose lives have been cut short due to systemic racism in this country.

The North-West Mounted Police, which eventually became the RCMP, has as its foundation an agenda of racism that widely plays out today.

In 1873, the NWMP were created to advance the agenda of the newly established dominion of Canada. In other words, the force was created to stop any opposition to its vision of a successful colonial state.

As authors Brown and Brown wrote in An Unauthorized History of the RCMP, It (NWMP) was designed to keep order in the North West, to control the Aboriginal and Metis populations, and to facilitate the transfer of Indigenous territory to the federal government with (in theory) minimal bloodshed.

The NWMP and then the RCMP helped to force First Nations onto reserves  tracts of land designated for them by the Canadian government  then made sure they didnt leave unless they got permission.

The pass system, which ran from 1885 to the 1940s in Canada, gave power to an Indian agent to decide whether a First Nations person could leave the reserve. It was made into law by John A. Macdonald and enforced by police. The Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples cites reserves began to resemble prisons.

The final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) published June 3, 2019 highlights testimonies from family members who lived through the pass system.

Rande C., said of RCMP enforcement during this period: I think about the early stories from that time when my gran said chiefs (were) dragged out of their homes and thrown on the ground and forced to shovel, like, pig shit and stuff like that, and beat, and RCMPs  just like, standing around everyday waiting for them to even just say one word in our language so they could beat them and throw them and haul them to jail or whatever. You know, never allowed to leave the reserve, never allowed to shop in the same stores, never allowed to do anything. And my gran said that was her reality of her whole life growing up.

The report also states Metis Peoples suffered brutally under the Mounties, who frequently paraded through native settlements in order to intimidate the people and remind the natives they had to stay in their place.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the report says, many Metis families in Manitoba lived on the urban edges of cities called Shantytowns or in rural communities along government road allotments; living in the marginal spaces at the edge of Canadian society known as road allowances.

Road allowance communities were established by Metis in the aftermath of the failure of many families to receive their lands guaranteed by the Manitoba government. Metis living there were considered squatters, and the report says witnesses attested to many communities being destroyed by the RCMP  in fact, some Metis Elders vividly recall the day their community was burned to the ground, and when people escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs.

For more than 100 years, the RCMP has enforced the Indian Act for the federal government. RCMP ripped Indigenous children from their parents arms and forcibly took them to attend residential schools designed to assimilate them into the mainstream culture.

The central goals of Canadas Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal Peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious and racial entities in Canada, said the Truth and Reconciliation of Canadas final report, describing it as cultural genocide.

Thousands of Indigenous children were severely abused and thousands died attending residential schools. The last of these schools closed in 1996. This isnt ancient history.

Audrey Siegl, Musqueam activist, expressed, to the MMIWG Commissioners, Safety and justice and peace are just words to us. Since its inception, weve never been safe in Canada. The RCMP was created to quash the Indian rebellions. The police were created to protect and serve the colonial state.

The MMIWG Final Report states Canada is committing race-based genocide against Indigenous women and girls when it comes to enabling systemic violence through the crisis of MMIWG. The RCMPs role and actions, in our eyes, have made them contributors to the genocide.

Report commissioners also said the RCMP has not proven to Canada theyre capable of holding themselves to account and cites numerous truths, testimonies of witnesses who speak to ongoing issues of systemic and individual racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination that prevent honest oversight from taking place.

How are Indigenous Peoples supposed to take seriously the supposed assurance from a high-ranking commissioner that Alberta, or Canada, for that matter, isnt racist?

The RCMP regularly enforce Crown-granted injunctions obtained by corporations to trample Indigenous rights like we recently saw when members of the Wetsuweten were forcibly removed from their homelands to make way for a pipeline.

In Canada, compared to all other categories of accused persons, Indigenous people continue to be jailed younger, denied bail more frequently, granted parole less often and released later in their sentence, over-represented in segregation, overrepresented in remand custody, and more likely to be classified as higher risk offenders.

As of January 2020, Indigenous Peoples make up more than 30 per cent of the inmates in federal custody despite making up just five per cent of the overall population. Dr. Ivan Zinger, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, suggested this indicates a deepening Indigenization of Canadas correctional system and referred to those trends as disturbing and entrenched imbalances.

Both federal prisons in Zablockis home provinces capital city of Edmonton have higher than a 50 per cent Indigenous population.

Denying the truth of systemic racism within the policing forces in Canada is further oppressive and adds fuel to the fire of racist violence and beliefs toward minorities. Its also not helpful to the process of reconciliation. Maybe Zablocki needs to understand that truth before hes ready to face whats really going on.

Brandi Morin is a French/Cree/Iroquois award-winning journalist from Treaty 6 in Alberta. She is passionate about showcasing stories of injustice, human rights, environment, culture, tradition and resilience from an Indigenous viewpoint. You can follow her at Twitter.com/songstress28

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The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday, June 11, stressed that it had communicated the country's strong opposition to Nepal over altering its map. Addressing a press briefing, MEA official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava stated that India's bilateral relations with Nepal had increased in the recent years. Maintaining that India has been providing assistance to Nepal amid the COVID-19 crisis, he said that the supply of essentials had continued. Moreover, he reminded that the Centre had repatriated Nepalese citizens from India during this period.

Anurag Srivastava remarked, "We have made opposition clear on Nepal issue. Our relations and bilateral relations with Nepal has increased in the recent years. India has been reaching out to friendly nations including Nepal. We are providing assistance to Nepal amid this virus pandemic. We have ensured that this supply dont stop. We have also repatriated Nepalese from India."

Nepal incorporates Indian territories in the new map

On May 18, Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli chaired a Cabinet meeting in which the new map of the country featuring the Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura was approved. As per reports, Nepal's new map has been drawn on the basis of the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 signed between Nepal and the then British Indian government and other relevant documents. Addressing the Parliament on May 19, the Nepal PM claimed that India had made the aforesaid territories "disputed" by stationing its Army there. He vowed to reclaim these territories from India through diplomatic efforts.

Reacting to Nepal incorporating parts of Indian territory in its official map on May 20, the Ministry of External Affairs slammed this "unilateral act". Maintaining that this move was not based on historical facts and evidence, MEA official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava observed that this was contrary to the understanding between the two countries to resolve boundary disputes through dialogue.

Read: Nepal PM's Big Claim On New Map Showing Indian Territory: 'Indian Forces There Since 1962'

House of Representatives endorses the proposal

In a massive development on Tuesday, lawmakers across party lines in the House of Representatives endorsed a proposal for considering a Constitutional Amendment Bill to validate Nepal's new map. Thereafter, the members were given 72 hours to suggest amendments after which the final voting will take place. The constitutional amendment shall have to be approved by 2/3rd majority in both Houses of Nepal's Parliament. However, it is expected to be smooth sailing for the KP Sharma Oli-led government as the main opposition party Nepali Congress has also backed the new map.

Read: Congress Expresses Concern Over Strained Ties With Nepal After Country Releases New Map
The Unification Ministry announced Wednesday that it will file a complaint with police against two organizations of North Korean defectors for sending balloons carrying propaganda leaflets across the border on May 31.

The balloon campaign prompted a hysterical outburst from North Korea.

The government, which has been desperate to appease the volatile regime, cast about for grounds to ban the practice since then and finally alighted on the claim that it somehow breaches an inter-Korean military pact and threatens the safety of South Korean residents near the border.

The government has also started the process of revoking the organizations' charitable status. The move comes a day after North Korea cut off all communication lines with South Korea in response to the leaflet campaign.
What seemed like a crazy slogan on the far left  Defund the Police  is threatening to become a reality in some cities around the country. The president of the Minneapolis City Council announced that a two-thirds majority of the council now supports ending the Minneapolis Police Department. Council members said they will be taking intermediate steps toward ending the MPD through the budget process and other policy and budget decisions over the coming weeks and months.

The announcement was the latest progress of the growing Defund the Police movement. The slogan appears to create great excitement on the progressive left. But does anyone know what Defund the Police actually means?

We recognize, the Minneapolis council members wrote, that we dont have all the answers about what a police-free future looks like, but our community does. In fact, there seems to be great confusion about what a police-free future would look like.

Recently The Associated Press published a story headlined, When protesters cry defund the police, what does it mean? The article discussed some of the political factors at work, and it quoted one anti-police group in Minneapolis talking about strategically reallocating resources, funding and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support and prevention. But the article gave readers no idea what that might actually mean in practice.

CNN published an article  Theres a growing call to defund the police. Heres what it means  that was even less enlightening.

Neither discussed what seems to be the basic question of a police-free future: What would happen when a crime is committed? Say there is a murder, which happened 40 times in Minneapolis last year and 492 times in Chicago. Or say there is an armed robbery. Or an aggravated assault. What happens then? Does a social worker go to the scene? Do strategically reallocated resources solve the crime?

The Defund the Police movement has grown without seriously addressing that scenario, some version of which is guaranteed to happen multiple times on the first police-free day of the police-free future in any medium-sized or big city.

Indeed, a CNN anchor asked the president of the Minneapolis City Council, Lisa Bender, who supports ending the police department, What if, in the middle of night, my home is broken into? What do I call?

Yes, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors. And myself, too. And I know that that comes from a place of privilege, Bender said. Because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm is done.

Perhaps Bender has not thought through the implications of her position. Her argument seemed to be that cities should put all citizens in danger rather than fix those areas where there are problems with the police.

Some of the Defund the Police movement comes from a 2017 book The End of Policing, by a Brooklyn College sociology professor named Alex Vitale. In a recent appearance on NPR, he, too, did not seem eager to talk about what his policies might mean for victims of crime.

People ask the question, without police, what do you do when someone gets murdered? asked NPRs Leah Donnella. What do you do when someones house gets robbed? What do you say to those people who have those concerns?

Well, Im certainly not talking about any kind of scenario where tomorrow someone just flips a switch and there are no police, Vitale began. What Im talking about is the systematic questioning of the specific roles that police currently undertake, and attempting to develop evidence-based alternatives so that we can dial back our reliance on them. And my feeling is that this encompasses actually the vast majority of what police do. We have better alternatives for them.

Youll notice there was no answer in Vitales answer. He continued: Even if you take something like burglary  a huge amount of burglary activity is driven by drug use. And we need to completely rethink our approach to drugs so that property crime isnt the primary way that people access drugs. We dont have any part of this country that has high-quality medical drug treatment on demand. But we have policing on demand everywhere. And its not working.

Vitale never addressed the serious crime question. And thats important, isnt it? Looking over some of his other interviews, it is amazing how often the question of crime has not come up. But if momentum continues to grow for defunding the police  and certainly if some bold municipality actually tries it  people will want to know what happens if a government defunds the police and crime still happens.

And Vitale never said what would happen in the event of a murder. Do social workers show up to solve the crime? Whats the evidence-based alternative?

Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.
After sixteen days of mass protests against police brutality and systemic racism, Grinnell College released a plan for institutional support of racial justice, but some students remain frustrated by the limits of their response. The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis Police Department custody sparked an outpouring of rage and sorrow that has lasted for weeks as protesters took to the streets in cities and towns across the world. *

In an email announcing the plan, the College said that it would donate $50,000 to the organization Black Lives Matter and set up a community matching fund in collaboration with the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation. The fund will match donations up to $30,000. The email also outlines a number of initiatives and panels to address racial justice, which the College will arrange in the upcoming weeks.

Already, Chinyere Ukabiala, Ombudsperson and Leslie Bleichner 07, director of Education Professions Career Community led an event called Processing Space for Black Grinnellians on Tuesday, June 9.

We acknowledge that Grinnell College has a lot of work to do around racial justice and that these messages came too late for too many, wrote President Raynard Kington and Dean Anne Harris in an email announcing the plan.

These institutional commitments build on the messages Kington and Harris released earlier this month, both of which focused on the link between education and changing the world. Protesters nationwide have demanded concrete actions from powerful institutions to divest from the police and address systemic racism within their institutions. The Colleges plan represents a step in that direction, albeit delayed.

However, some students remain critical of not only the delay in response but of the commitments the College has made.

Malcolm Davis 21 said that while he was pleased to see that the College will be making donations to racial justice organizations, he would like to see more use of that money within the institution and use of that effort to support Black and Brown students on an institutional level, rather than something that seems to be about saving face and exporting money.

Previous to the release of this plan, the only official communication from the College on the topic of George Floyd and the protests were the aforementioned letters and a post by the Grinnell College Instagram account about a memorial for George Floyd outside of the Grinnell United Church of Christ that was organized by Dr. Kesho Scott, sociology and American studies. Scott did not host the event in affiliation with the College.

At the time of the Instagram post, students and alumni expressed their frustration about the Colleges lack of commitment to anti-racist work in the comments. The photo was hashtagged #changemakers, #GrinnellianVoices, #socialjustice and expressed solidarity with victims of racial violence and injustice. Out of the 128 comments left on the post as of 4:17 p.m., June 10, the vast majority demanded that the College do more.

The Office of Communication uses social media to call attention to the work and accomplishments of faculty, students and staff. The Instagram post of June 9 was consistent with that practice, wrote Debra Lukehart, vice president of communications. There were many responses to that post.

Your response to this revolution is the most disappointed I have ever been in this institution, commented Tess Kerkhof, whose Instagram username is @theliberalfarts. You make no mention of reparations, divestment from the prison-industrial complex you support, or what steps youll take to remove the police force from campus. Your silence speaks volumes about what you truly do and dont care about.

Kerkhof said that she mostly stands by her comment, even after todays email. Money is better than nothing, but Id rather hear them say defund the police and remove the police from campus, she said.

The Grinnell Police Department (GPD) aids Campus Safety with emergency response procedures as determined by Campus Safety officers. Police officers are legally allowed to enter campus whenever they like. Private institutions are classified differently than private residences, and officers do not need a warrant to enter.

Davis and his cousin Jelani McCray 21 are currently working on building what they describe as a less centralized student-based movement targeting the Grinnell Police Departments connection to the College and the current form of campus safety. They say that the College must disaffiliate from GPD.

Davis said that in order to truly disaffiliate from the police, the College must change their policy of calling GPD when campus safety finds narcotics in a students room.

Grinnell College does not have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Grinnell Police Department. MOUs serve to codify the relationship between two organizations, which can be used to regulate involvement of local police departments within educational institutions.

The Colleges 2019 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, which in part outlines Campus Safety policy, states that Campus Safety Officers address, alone or in conjunction with local law enforcement personnel, violators of state law, federal law, and College policy. Violators of state or federal laws are reported to local law enforcement authorities.

Davis demand aligns with that of protesters who are calling for cities to defund the police and allocate funding to emergency response or harm reduction personnel who, many argue, are better equipped to address issues of drug abuse and mental health.

The College has also sponsored various programs over the years which invite GPD officers to socialize with students in the campus Dining Hall and Spencer Grill. Davis said that these events have a detrimental effect on the safety, comfort and confidence of students of color on campus, particularly Black students.

I would like the College to realize that those are valid reasons not to work with police as an institution, regardless of how comfortable and safe the presence of the police makes the administration of Grinnell, said Davis.

Through a sustained series of actions, protesters have pushed the Minneapolis City Council to abolish and defund their police departments due to endemic violence towards Black communities across the country. Schools like University of Minnesota and Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts have cut ties with local police departments.

Addison Marsh 22, in collaboration with Davis, wrote an email to President Kington asking that he enact anti-racist policies on campus and commit to ending police presence on the campus in any shape or form.

In his response to Marsh on June 5, which Marsh shared with The S&B, President Kington wrote that he refused to demonize all police officers because some in their profession do bad things. Kington wrote that this type of thinking was antithetical to Grinnells approach to the world.

Kington directed any students with negative experience with the GPD or the Office of Campus Safety to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion or the Ombuds Office.

Marsh said that he was disappointed in Kingtons response, and remains skeptical of the racial justice plan announced by the College. Kington did not respond to The S&Bs request for a comment.

Marsh said that the donations and plans were a step in the right direction and that positive change could be achieved if the administration listens to students. He added, however, that he doesnt have much confidence in the administrations ability to respond to student demands after witnessing their treatment of the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers in the fall of 2019.

While Grinnell touts its institutional value of social justice in admissions material and on its website, in recent history, the College has opposed many student-activist movements, from the divestment from fossil fuels campaign of 2017-18, to the campaign to cut ties with the prison industry which Davis and McCray led in 2018.

If Grinnell wants to say that theyre for inclusion, that theyre for justice, that theyre for equity, all the things that Grinnell wants to talk a lot about  they need to stop buying into a system that disenfranchises people like me, people like my Black and Latinx peers, that uses them in what is really just a new form of chattel slavery, said Davis. The idea that thats not more obvious to the people that run Grinnell is kind of embarrassing.

Davis said that his and McCrays campaign, tentatively named Liberate Grinnell, will continue to focus on the fact that the College has historically maintained a contract with Iowa Prison Industries, a company which provides dorm furniture and renovations and employs prison labor.

In Iowa, racial disparities in arrests and incarcerations are some of the worst in the country.

According to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union, in 2018 Black Iowans were arrested at a rate of 776 per 100,000 of the Black general population in Iowa. White Iowans were arrested at a rate of 107 per 100,000. The disparity is particularly prevalent in marijuana arrests: a Black person in Iowa is 7.3 times more likely to be arrested for possession than a white person, even though studies show there is little difference in rates of usage. That makes Iowa the fifth-worst state in the country for racial disparities in marijuana arrests.

Davis outlined the implications of this disparity.

Black men, for minor possession of marijuana, would be sent to a mandatory prison sentence. This prison sentence they can serve at a large state prison in Iowa, he said. They can get a good job there making about 60 to 80 cents an hour for Iowa Prison Industries, and they can end up on Grinnells campus moving furniture or cleaning out dorm rooms.

Davis said that he thinks many Grinnell students who attended the school looking to engage with activism in an environment which values social justice feel swindled due to the contrast between the Colleges messaging and the administrations stance on issues. He said this statement remains unchanged in light of the Colleges current plans.

That money is less than what one student will pay at Grinnell in their entire time there, said Davis.

The yearly comprehensive fee for Grinnell College is $70,544.

Editors notes:

*Multiple autopsies have ruled Floyds death a homicide and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has charged MPD officer Derek Chauvin with second degree murder. Journalistic standards require that a killing not be attributed to any person(s) until they have been convicted in a court of law.

Earlier this week, The S&B reached out to Vice President for Communications Debra Lukehart for comment on student and alumni frustration with the Colleges lack of commitment to institutional anti-racist work. Lukehart responded to our questions after the College released their Racial Justice Response and Donations plan.

The S&B also reached out to Dean of Students Sarah Moschenross on this issue. Moschenross replied to our request after the College released their plan, indicating that the email constituted her response.
New Delhi [India], June 10 (ANI): Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has pumped massive online content through its websites in its attempts to reach and instigate the "like-minded" to launch "lone wolf" attacks on the government, security agencies, businesses, Hindutva leaders and "certain categories of persons" in India.



AQIS has also pushed a large team of Bangladesh-based Islamic scholars and clerics to create content that they are broadcasting using similarly named profiles on web-based platforms, according to recent intelligence inputs.

According to the intelligence input shared with heads of all security agencies the Bangladesh Chapter of AQIS appears to have recently uploaded series of videos on a website (name withheld).

These videos provide a detailed strategy for planning and executing successful 'Lone Wolf attacks in furtherance of Global Jihad."

"Similar content is regularly uploaded on their online forums, magazines and social media channels to reach like-minded persons in Bangladesh and India, and instigate them to launch Lone Wolf Attacks," the input reads.

After receiving the input security forces have beefed up security and have asked all units tasked with VVIP security to keep a strict check on visitors.

"Personnel have been asked not to panic in case of any such attack and work as per predefined contingency plan," another input released after input of lone wolf attack says.

In 2014 the Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri announced the creation of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) with India-born Asim Umar as its leader. It aims to fight the governments of Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. (ANI)
At Sticky Institute, which reopened its CBD shop in the Degraves Subway on Wednesday to a steady stream of customers, theres a glut of new stock on the shelves.

There have been so many zines made in the past few months, its completely crazy, said coordinator Luke Sinclair, who has volunteered at the community-run space since it first opened in 2001.

Luke Sinclair is the coordinator of long-running zine shop Sticky Institute. Credit:Joe Armao

With roots in punk rock, a zine is like a DIY, low-fi version of a magazine  typically hard copy, printed by photocopier, and often free.

Zines have really had their time over the last few months with people working from home with very little materials, which is what zine-makers generally do already.
At least 23 civilians, including 15 children and 2 pregnant women, were killed on February 14 in the village of Ngarbuh.

Three soldiers have been charged with murder after a massacre earlier this year in western Cameroon where security forces are fighting Anglophone separatists.

The three Cameroonian soldiers have been placed in provisional detention in Yaounde military prison, army spokesman Colonel Cyrille Atonfack Guemo told AFP news agency, adding they had been charged with murder.

At least 23 civilians, including 15 children and two pregnant women, were killed on February 14 in the village of Ngarbuh, in what the United Nations, called a shocking episode in the ongoing crisis that has afflicted the countrys Northwest and Southwest regions for the past three years.

The military initially denied any role in the killings and said the deaths resulted from an unfortunate accident that happened when fuel containers exploded in the crossfire between separatists and troops.

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As the international outcry amplified, President Paul Biya ordered an investigation.

The preliminary conclusions, published in mid-April, found three uncontrolled soldiers who disobeyed orders killed 10 children and three women with the help of local auxiliaries from the Fulani ethnic group.

The troops then tried to hide the facts by setting fires before submitting a bogus report, according to the probe.

The killings were so outrageous, the abuses so blatant, and evidence so damming, Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

The incident occurred in a remote part of the Northwest region  one of two English-speaking regions gripped by the conflict sparked by demands for independence from majority-Francophone Cameroon.

The Northwest and neighbouring Southwest region were once part of British colonies in West Africa. They joined French-speaking Cameroon after it gained independence from France in 1960.

Conflict between Cameroons army and English-speaking fighters seeking to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia began after the government cracked down violently in 2017 on peaceful protesters complaining of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority.

Rights groups have accused both sides of atrocities in the conflict, which has left more than 3,000 dead, closed schools and clinics, and forced 700,000 people to flee their homes.
M att Hancock today accused Labour MPs of playing "identity politics" as he gave a fierce defence of his colleague Priti Patel.

Home Secretary Ms Patel said she would "not be silenced" after dozens of Labour MPs accused her of "gaslighting" other ethnic minorities when she spoke out about her own experiences of racism.

Asked about the row in the daily Downing Street briefing, Health Secretary Mr Hancock said: "Of course Priti Patel was not wrong to talk of her personal experiences of racism.

"I have seen this letter and I abhor this divisive identity politics that's being levelled at Priti Patel.

PRU/AFP via Getty Images

"I am incredibly proud to be part of the most diverse government in history.

"I am very proud to be part of that with Priti and Rishi [Sunak] and Alok [Sharma] and Nadhim [Zahawi] and Kemi [Badenoch] and Ranil [Jayawardena] and James [Cleverly] and Suella [Braverman] and all the rest.

"We don't think that there's such a thing as the wrong type of BAME, we think that people are equal.

"That's what we need to see as a society, everybody seeing others as equal."

A group of 32 Labour MPs wrote to Ms Patel today saying she should "consider the impact" she had on black communities when she refuted criticism over her comments on Black Lives Matter protests.

Labour's Naz Shah penned the letter which said Ms Patel was not "an authority on all forms of racism".

It said: "We write to you as Black Asian and Ethnic Minority Labour MPs to highlight our dismay at the way you used your heritage and experiences of racism to gaslight the very real racism faced by Black people and communities across the UK.

"We all have our personal stories, of the racism that we have faced, whether it has been being defined by the colour of our skin or the faith we choose to believe in.

"We ask you to reflect on your words and to consider the impact it had towards black communities in the UK trying to highlight their voices against racism."

But the Home Secretary accused Labour MPs of "dismissing the contributions of those who don't conform to their view of how ethnic minorities should behave".

The row was sparked after Vauxhall MP Florence Eshalomi suggested Ms Patel had failed to understand the "anger and frustration" felt by people of colour when she criticised "thuggery" during violent skirmishes at Black Lives Matter protests last weekend.

Ms Patel told MPs in the Commons: Well, on that basis, it must have been a very different Home Secretary who as a child was frequently called a Paki in the playground, a very different Home Secretary who was racially abused in the streets or even advised to drop her surname and use her husbands in order to advance her career."
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Linkedin Eisya A. Eloksari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 14:41 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdde75ad 1 Business Alibaba-Cloud,digitalization,cloud,native-cloud,COVID-19,coronavirus,large-scale-social-restrictions,physical-distancing Free

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Chinas Alibaba Group, has announced the launch of two cloud-native services in Indonesia as demand from businesses is on the rise with the COVID-19 pandemic boosting digitization efforts.

Alibaba Cloud Indonesia launched Wednesday relational database AsparaDB for PolarDB and real-time warehousing service AnalyticsDB, which are expected to boost data processing and storage capabilities in digitizing Indonesian enterprises.

Alibaba Cloud Indonesia solution architect head Max Maiden Dasuki said there was increasing demand for digitalization in Indonesia, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing.

The gaming and media industry are among those that reached out to us to provide them with a cloud solution, he said during a press briefing on Wednesday. The gaming industry, for example, is experiencing an increase in users during the social distancing period and they are using our PolarDB service.

Read also: Homegrown gaming companies thriving amid pandemic

Indonesia introduced large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) at the end of March. Since then, regional administrations have prohibited people from going to public areas except for essential needs.

ApsaraDB for the PolarDB cluster has a maximum storage space of 100 terabytes and is compatible with other relational database management systems such as MySQL, PostgreSQL and Oracle.

Meanwhile, AnalyticsDB is a real-time data warehousing service that can process petabytes of data, enabling the fast processing of tens of billions of data queries and the creation of online statistical reports and multi-dimensional analysis solutions.

We are seeing great potential for further cloud database adaptation in the e-commerce industry, education and finance, the performances of which have been booming in the past few months, Max said.

Read also: Google Cloud to open first data center in Indonesia in coming months

Indonesian startups such as e-commerce platform Akulaku, Investree and Kopi Kenangan have tapped into Alibaba Cloud technologies.

"By leveraging Alibaba Cloud technology, Investree completed the re-architecture of its system and shortened its app development time, reducing IT and resources expenditures," said Investree CTO Daniel Armanto.

Alibaba Cloud Indonesia country manager Leon Chen said that multi-cloud storage adaptation would become a trend in the future but that it would take time for Indonesia to adapt as the market was still in its early stage.

Alibaba established two data centers in Indonesia in 2018 and 2019. Chen said the company was open to the possibility of opening a third data center.

Read also: In challenging times, digital economy and e-commerce can chart a path toward recovery

In recent years, other tech giants, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, made plans to build data centers in Indonesia. Responding to the competition, Chen said that having more data centers was a good sign.

This means that our decision was right to set the first data center in Indonesia, he said. More data centers means more solutions for Indonesias growing market.

Alibaba Cloud reported a 62 percent revenue growth year-on-year to US$5.6 billion by the end of its fiscal year in March. Alibaba Group said that up to 70 percent of its businesses ran on Alibaba Cloud with the expectation of reaching 100 percent in the next two years.
India said it sees no locus standi for a foreign entity to pronounce on the state of our citizens constitutionally protected rights.

New Delhi: Just hours after the adverse comments on India by Samuel Brownback, the United States Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, and release of the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report in the US, India on Thursday said it sees no locus standi for a foreign entity to pronounce on the state of our citizens constitutionally protected rights.

New Delhi further said there is robust public discourse in India and constitutionally mandated institutions that guarantee protection of religious freedom and rule of law.

Interestingly, the US itself is a facing a major crisis at home regarding treatment of its own racial minorities due to incidents of police brutality that have resulted in massive social unrest among African-Americans and racial tensions.

According to news agency reports from Washington, Brownback expressed concerns eroding religious freedoms in India. Mandated by the US Congress, the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report documents major instances of violation of religious freedom across the world and was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, as per news agency reports from Washington.

In its reaction, the MEA on Thursday said, The report on international religious freedom for 2019 published by the United States department of state ... is published annually by the department of state as part of its legal requirement to the US Congress and is an internal document of the US government.Indias vibrant democratic traditions and practices are evident to the world.

The MEA added, The people and government of India are proud of our countrys democratic traditions. We have a robust public discourse in India and constitutionally mandated institutions that guarantee protection of religious freedom and rule of law. Our principled position remains that we see no locus standi for a foreign entity to pronounce on the state of our citizens constitutionally protected rights.

It may be recalled that in April this year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had singled out India in its Annual Report for 2020, saying there has been a sharp downward turn and deterioration in religious freedom in India and recommending to the US State Department that India be designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) along with a few others.
Dating before the pandemic, two people on a first encounter might discuss where they see their future going or if they are also seeing other people. Dating in the time of coronavirus has demanded a different dealbreaker: What are their social distancing practices?

Governments, which often already champion monogamy through tax structures and other policies, are consequently similarly concerned about promoting the integrity of couples due to a shared interest: containing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Behold the "support bubble," as the British prime minister has dubbed it, the world's latest dating fad - or so some public health experts hope.

Starting Saturday, single-adult households in England will be able to form a so-called "support bubble" with one other household, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday, as part of the country's easing of coronavirus restrictions.

"Support bubbles must be exclusive, meaning you can't switch the household you are in a bubble with or connect with multiple," Johnson said. "All those in a support bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household, meaning they can spend time together inside each others' homes and do not need to stay two meters apart."

This new category includes the elderly, single parents and single people. The move is likely to help elderly citizens who have been struggling with living alone. Under the new rule, a lonely grandparent can meet with family or have grandchildren over to their house.

It's a - relatively - permissive directive compared to an earlier change in coronavirus rules this month that made it illegal for two or more people from different households to meet up indoors or spend the night in private together. That regulation attracted widespread mockery of what many dubbed a "sex ban" on social media.

"Singletons can hook up at last!" exclaimed the front page of Thursday's Metro newspaper. "Boris Johnson lifts lockdown sex ban," wrote the Sun.

Canada, though, seems to have done it first. Back in early May, some Canadian jurisdictions began allowing two separate households to pair up in "double bubbles," leading to hurt feelings among those who were left out.

The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, known as RIVM, has similarly tried its hand at matchmaking meets sex therapist.

Single people in need should find a "cuddle buddy" or "sex buddy" with whom they can safely partner during the pandemic, it recommended in mid-May.

"Discuss how best to do this together," RIVM suggested, according to the Guardian's translation. "For example, meet with the same person to have physical or sexual contact (for example, a cuddle buddy or 'sex buddy'), provided you are free of illness. Make good arrangements with this person about how many other people you both see. The more people you see, the greater the chance of [spreading] the coronavirus."

The health institute further cautioned that people should refrain from physical relations with someone suspected to have the virus, which spreads easily through close contact and enclosed spaces.

"Don't have sex with your partner if they have been isolated because of [suspected] coronavirus infection," RIVM said. "Sex with yourself or with others at a distance is possible."

Denmark, where coronavirus cases have remained relatively low, has been even more laissez faire. "Sex is good. Sex is healthy," Soren Brostrom, director general of the Danish Health Authority, said in April when discussing social distancing guidelines, according to the Local DK. "We are sexual beings, and of course you can have sex in this situation."

Neighboring Sweden, in contrast, has struggled more to contain its outbreak. In late May, Sweden's Public Health Agency shared its own guidance on the do's-and-dont's of sex and relationships during a global pandemic spread through viral respiratory droplets.

"Closeness, intimacy and sex are good for well-being and public health," it observed, according to the Swedish version of the website, the Local SE. "In relationships, where people are still meeting and are close to each other, sex is no obstacle if you and your partner, or partners, show no symptoms of illness."

At casual dating, though, the government drew a line. "Dating and temporary sexual relationships with new partners, on the other hand, pose a risk of getting infected or infecting others," the official guidance warned.

In the United States, city and local governments have similarly drafted recommendations urging people to limit their circle of sexual partners as a coronavirus precaution.

This week, the New York City Department of Health released a document called "Safer Sex and covid-19 laying out its ground rules.

"You are your safest sex partner," the health department said, reminding people to wash their hands before and after masturbation. "The next safest partner is someone you live with," it continued. The city government urged people to "limit close contact - including sex - with anyone outside your household," while also suggesting ways to limit mouth-to-mouth proximity, like wearing a mask or trying new positions.

"Maybe it's your thing, maybe it's not, but during covid-19, wearing a face covering that covers your nose and mouth is a good way to add a layer of a protection during sex," the health department suggested.
Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo on Thursday called for strict surveillance against illegal entry, his office said, following the military's security failures over illegal Chinese entrants on small boats.







During his visit to the Army's Second Operations Command in the southeastern city of Daegu, the defense chief ordered the military to "intensively" carry out a series of measures to prevent similar incidents from recurring.







Last month, eight Chinese arrived in the western coastal city of Taean undetected on a 1.5-ton leisure boat and fled. The military and the Coast Guard were unaware of the incident until civilians reported the boat, which was left unattended for days.







After an investigation, the military said soldiers in charge of monitoring failed to detect the boat though the military radar captured it six times.







Their arrival was also captured by coastal CCTVs and thermal observation devices, but troops failed to report the case, thinking that it was an ordinary boat used by civilians for leisure.







Separately, five Chinese also crossed the Yellow Sea border from China to Taean on the same type of boat in April unhindered, authorities said.







Following the incidents, the military decided to upgrade surveillance equipment in the coastal regions, improve capacity of troops monitoring such equipment and strengthen cooperation with other related agencies, including the Coast Guard.







"Due to various reasons, such as the COVID-19 situation, the methods of illegal entry have been changing recently," Jeong said, urging troops to be aware of the seriousness of the situation. (Yonhap)


Hyderabad, June 11 : Telangana's Minister for Industries K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday said that he is pleased to know that all the three Indian companies selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to manufacture VITAL ventilators to treat Covid-19 patients are operating from Hyderabad.

Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bharat Forge Ltd and Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, which are among 21 companies picked up worldwide by NASA to manufacture Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally (VITAL) ventilators to treat critically-ill Covid-19 patients.

"Absolutely a pleasure to see all three entities having operations in Hyderabad #USIndia collaboration is vital to both nations' strategic interest and growth," tweeted Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, re-tweeted the earlier tweet by Joel Reifman, US Consu General in Hyderabad.

"Congratulations indeed, not surprised to see all three of these companies manufacturing @NASA 's 'VITAL' ventilators have operations in #Hyderabad, while Medha Servo Drives is headquartered here. #USIndia collaboration makes both our countries stronger. #DostiUnitesUs," the US Consul General tweeted.

Reifman tagged a tweet by the US State Department account for the Bureau of South and Central Asian (SCA) Affairs.

"Congrats to the 3 Indian companies @NASA selected to make a ventilator specifically designed to treat COVID19 patients. Only 21 licenses were granted worldwide - a testament to the grantees and the importance of the US-India partnership to combat Covid 19," the SCA tweet said.

According to a tweet by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, manufacturers were selected to make Covid-19 specific ventilator VITAL. "It's simpler and more affordable than traditional ventilator, freeing the latter for more severe symptoms. Its design can be used in the field hospitals."
The 80-year-old former amateur boxer long ago turned fighting into his political call sign. He titled one of his books The Good Fight and, on the day Democrats elected him leader, he declared that he knew how to dance and how to fight. Over 12 years as leader, eight in the majority, he danced and boxed his way to a vast legislative legacy.
Melbourne, Australia, June 11, 2020 - (ABN Newswire) - iSIgnthis Ltd (ASX:ISX.AX - News) (HAM:TA8.F - News) is pleased to advise that it has met its certification requirements with the Central Bank of Lithuania for SEPA Instant thresholds to be lifted from EUR15,000 per transaction to EUR100,000 per transaction limit, as from 1st July 2020.

- ISXPay(R)'s SEPA Instant now certified for EUR100k transaction limit

- Probanx(R) features SEPA-Instant Instant Notifications (SIIN) as an alternative to cards

SEPA instant is cleared between sender and beneficiary accounts within 15 seconds of confirmed transmission.

The Probanx(R) CORE Banking platform has been enhanced to provide real time notifications via API to our customers CRM's, cashiers, trading platforms or ecommerce carts upon receipt of a SEPA instant payment into an account held with iSignthis. This further enhances the ecosystem comprising Paydentity(TM), ISXPay(R) and Probanx(R).

The SEPA-Instant Instant Notification (SIIN) is a viable alternative to card scheme payments, as it allows merchants to update payment status instantly within their system, upon receipt of funds. Typically, banking systems require reconciliation of transactions via batch updates to CRM's, cashiers, trading platforms or ecommerce carts, as opposed to cards and SIIN which provide real time notifications.

The benefits of SEPA instant include advantages over cards such as instantly cleared and settled funds versus deferred card payment settlement, no chargebacks and reduced fees for merchants.

Customer funds are held at iSignthis settlement account at the Central Bank, which is integrated to SEPA Core credit transfer and offers no value limit per transaction with multiple batch windows per day.

ISO27001

iSignthis Ltd is also pleased to disclose that it has been re-certified to ISO / IEC 27001 Information Security Management System, for management of personal data of its end user customers.

The ISO27001 audit was conducted by BSI, and complements the Company's Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 accreditation for all major card schemes which was recently recertified in March 2020.

Story continues

The Company's Probanx(R) core banking systems also comply with APRA CPS234, and the security and open banking requirements of the European Union as required under the Payment Services Directive.



About iSignthis Ltd:

Australian Securities and Frankfurt Stock Exchange listed iSignthis Ltd (ASX:ISX.AX - News) (FRA:TA8.F - News) is the global RegTech leader in remote identity verification, payment authentication with deposit taking, transactional banking and payment processing capability. iSignthis provides an end-to-end on-boarding service for merchants, with a unified payment and identity service via our Paydentity(TM) and ISXPay(R) solutions.

By converging payments and identity, iSignthis delivers regulatory compliance to an enhanced customer due diligence standard, offering global reach to any of the world's 4.2Bn 'bank verified' card or account holders, that can be remotely on-boarded to meet the Customer Due Diligence requirements of AML regulated merchants in as little as 3 to 5 minutes. Paydentity(TM) has now onboarded and verified more than 1.5m persons to an AML KYC standard.

iSignthis Paydentity(TM) service is the trusted back office solution for regulated entities, allowing merchants to stay ahead of the regulatory curve, and focus on growing their core business. iSignthis' subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney Ltd, trades as ISXPay(R), and is an EEA authorised eMoney Monetary Financial Institution, offering card acquiring in the EEA, and Australia.

ISXPay(R) is a principal member of Visa Inc, Mastercard Inc, Diners, Discover, (China) Union Pay International and JCB International, an American Express aggregator, and provides merchants with access to payments via alternative methods including SEPA, Poli Payments, Sofort, Trustly, WeChat, AliPay and others.

UAB Baltic Banking Service, a wholly owned subsidiary of iSignthis Ltd, provides API based access to SEPA Core, SEPA Instant and SEPA business scheme, for neobanks, banks, credit unions and emoney institutions, and provides a bridge to the Central Bank of Lithuania's CENTROLink service.

Contact:

Investor Relations

Chris Northwood

Investor Relations Director

iSignthis Limited

chris.northwood@isignthis.com

+61 (0) 458 809 177

Media Enquiries

Mark Hawthorne

Director

Civic Financial Communications

mark.hawthorne@civicfinancial.com.au

+61 (0) 418 999 894

Investor Relations Europe

Dr Eva Reuter

Friedrich Ebert Anlage 35-37

Tower 185

60327 Frankfurt

e.reuter@dr-reuter.eu

+49 (0) 69 1532 5857

Source:

iSignthis Ltd

Copyright (C) 2020 ABN Newswire. All rights reserved.
A woman walks past signage for Australian universities in Melbourne's central business district on June 10, 2020. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Regimes Latest Racism Salvos Against Australia an Attempt to Divert Global Attention From Hong Kong

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has extended its racism row with Australia issuing warnings of multiple incidents of racial discrimination against Asian students during the CCP virus pandemic. The accusation comes as the Chinese regime attempts to leverage recent race riots to divert global attention away from its political moves related to Hong Kong.

On June 9, the CCPs Ministry of Education issued a warning to Chinese international students that Asians in Australia were experiencing multiple incidents of discrimination.

While a few days before, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism claimed there was a significant increase in discrimination and violence against people of Chinese or Asian descent.

Australian ministers have rejected the accusations, with Minister for Education Dan Tehan issuing a statement, saying: We reject Chinas assertion that Australia is an unsafe destination for international students.

People walk past signage for Australian universities in Melbournes central business district on June 10, 2020, (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia is a popular destination for international students because we are a successful, multicultural society that welcomes international students and provides a world-class education, said Tehan.

Michael Shoebridge of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute told The Epoch Times that in light of the recent anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre (June 4), the communist regimes calls of racism were particularly hollow and hypocritical.

Until Beijing atones for its military massacre of its own citizens, it cannot expect credibility in criticising others, said Shoebridge.

In June last year, the Chinese regimes defence minister, General Wei Fenghe called the massacre a correct policy.

At the end of May, Beijing faced international condemnation and heavy sanctions from the United States in response to its passing sweeping national security laws over Hong Kong.

Shoebridge said Beijing would be relieved at the recent global outcry and civil unrest over George Floyds death in Minnesota, as it has given the CCP a chance to be on the front foot.

However, he said, Its all a bit too nakedly self-serving from Beijing to have a real impact.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement on June 6 lambasting the CCP, saying its attempts to leverage the protests were laughable propaganda and should not fool anyone.

In China, when a church burns, the attack was almost certainly directed by the CCP, he said. In America, when a church burns, the arsonists are punished by the government, and it is the government that brings fire trucks, water, aid, and comfort to the faithful.

On May 30, the Chinese state-owned media, Global Times, a vocal commentator on regime-related issues, published a commentary titled, Watch out! Beautiful sight in HK is spreading across the U.S.

The Global Times has recently set its sights on Australia. On June 10 it published alleged evidence of racism in the country, claiming Chinese business owners were targeted and found racist slogans outside their shops and restaurants and their properties vandalised.

The publication also claimed it interviewed a dozen Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities, and they detected an obvious racist trend through social media and were reconsidering their study plans. They deemed the education alert quite reasonable.

The ministry and Global Times statements are the latest episodes capping off a long-running dispute with Australia involving various trade actions taken against the country.

The issues began when Foreign Minister Marise Payne called for an inquiry into the origins of the CCP virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, in April.

Australian ministers, however, have been at pains to handle the myriad of trade and diplomatic issues separately, and avoid linking them together. Nor do they want Australia to engage in tit for tat politics with the CCP by implementing counter-sanctions.

Yet, the Global Times published an editorial on June 9 attempting to lay the blame at Australias feet, saying Australias unfriendly attitude is what will really scare away Chinese tourists and students.

From its push for a US-led inquiry into COVID-19, to its interference in the Hong Kong affair, and the upcoming overhaul of its foreign investment rules that are expected to tighten scrutiny over foreign investment, Australian politicians are demonstrating their antipathy toward China, wrote the editorial team at the Global Times.

If Australia wants to retain the gain from its economic ties with China, it must make a real change to its current stance on China, or it will completely lose the benefits of Chinese consumers, the Global Times wrote.
Nineteen AT&T employees who worked in a San Antonio call center have sued the company for unpaid overtime, alleging they were permitted or required to work off the clock.

The allegations were made in three lawsuits, filed Saturday in San Antonio federal court, against AT&T Services Inc. and Southwestern Bell Telephone LP.

AT&T spokesman Jim Kimberly in an email disputed the allegations, saying the telecommunications company complies with wage and hour laws.

The plaintiffs worked in the eight-story AT&T building at 4119 Broadway. Its not clear if any still work there. AT&T continues to operate a call center in the building, which the University of the Incarnate Word acquired last fall.

On ExpressNews.com: AT&T selling land, building near University of the Incarnate Word

No move-out date has been determined for AT&T, university spokeswoman Margaret L. Garcia said in an email. The university intends to move into the building in phases over several years, starting as early as next spring.

The telecommunications giant moved its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas more than decade ago.

At least a dozen of the 19 plaintiffs in the complaints were part of a class-action lawsuit in Dallas against AT&T Services. The suits class-action status was decertified two months ago by a federal judge.

The parties in the litigation last year had agreed to conditionally certify the class, which involved 285 current and former hourly employees who worked in five call centers. Besides San Antonio, the action involved now-shuttered centers in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Kansas City.

In September, AT&T filed a motion to decertify the complaint. Kimberly didnt address the reason for AT&T reversing its position on the certification.

AT&T argued in a court filing that litigating all of the class claims will inevitably deteriorate into hundreds of mini-trials that are neither manageable for the Court nor fair to AT&T Services.

The plaintiffs didnt oppose the decertification, saying they instead intend to pursue each of their claims for weekly and daily unpaid overtime in individual actions, or in small groups of less than 10 employees.

In addition to the San Antonio lawsuits, four complaints involving about 30 plaintiffs were filed last week in Dallas federal court.

J. Derek Braziel, a Dallas lawyer for the plaintiffs, didnt respond to a request for comment.

Texas Inc.: Get the best of business news sent directly to your inbox

According to the AT&T court filing, the call-center workers  known as revenue management representatives  primarily handled incoming calls from customers with billing and collection issues.

One of the San Antonio lawsuits alleges workers regularly performed work before the start of their scheduled shift, after their shift ended and during unpaid meal breaks. The workers estimate they each worked one or more hours each week of unpaid overtime. The lawsuit didnt specify when that occurred.

Customer calls typically last 5 to 30 minutes, and workers can still be on a call when they reach the end of their scheduled shift. AT&T prohibits workers from disconnecting before the call is completed, even if it extends beyond the end of their shift, the suit says. Follow-up work on calls often is required.

How closely employees adhered to their scheduled work hours affected their performance evaluations, though, the suit adds.

If a call center associate reports incidental overtime or trade time  a/k/a time worked outside their scheduled shift hours  that reporting negatively impacts their overall job performance review and can lead to their losing the opportunity to apply for obtain higher-paying evening hours schedules, job transfer requests, and can even lead to termination of employment, the suit says.

AT&T said in its September court filing that it recognizes calls can run past scheduled shifts and into lunch breaks. For that reason, it said it established a robust process to account for such incidental time.

AT&T Services clearly articulated policy is that employees are to report and will be paid for all time worked, including any incidental time worked outside their scheduled shift, it said in the filing.

Its up to workers to report the extra time they worked, AT&T says. In fact, it says they did so on many occasions.

Plaintiffs claimed injury is that they were not paid for other instances when they allegedly worked outside their schedule but for some reason (often purely personal) did not report the time, the company alleges.

The workers are suing under the federal Fair Labors Standards Act. The suits dont specify how much they are seeking in damages.

Patrick Danner is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering banking and civil courts. To read more from Patrick, become a subscriber. pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD
A meeting of the national and county governments convened Wednesday by President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi agreed on a raft of Covid-19 response measures to be put in place ahead of the gradual re-opening of the countrys economy.

The measures which are aimed at safeguarding Kenyans against the adverse health and socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19 include the attainment of a national 30,500 isolation bed capacity within one month.

The third extra-ordinary session of the national and county governments co-ordination summit set the target of 300 isolation beds for each county so as to deal with the rising cases of infections, currently in 35 of the countrys 47 counties.

In addition to raising the isolation bed capacity, the meeting which was also attended by Deputy President Dr William Ruto tasked county governments to review their fiscal and strategic plans for the 2020 to 2021 financial year to include Covid-19 prevention and control measures.

To address the growing public pressure to re-open places of worship including churches and mosques, the summit agreed to involve the Council Governors in the ongoing consultations being undertaken by an inter-faith council.

So as to ensure the smooth reopening of schools and other institutions of learning, the summit agreed to involve the Council of Governors in the ongoing education sector stakeholder consultations.

The consultations led by Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha will lead to the issuance of a new school calendar in line with the recent Presidential directive to re-open schools in September this year.

To keep track of todays resolutions, the summit resolved to reconvene on Wednesday next week to among other matters, review: guidelines for the gradual re-opening of the economy; containment measures currently in place; and protocols for the progressive re-opening of places of worship.

In his remarks, President Kenyatta urged the two levels of government to work very closely with each other so as to find proper solutions to the Covid-19 economic and health crisis.

The President said the framers of the 2010 Constitution understood the desire for Kenyans to have proper and well-equipped health services closer to them and thats why they decided to devolve healthcare.

However, the Head of State pointed out that the same drafters of the constitution were aware that as a country, in times of crisis, the two levels of government would need to sit down and come up with solutions for emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

When this summit sits, its only business is Kenya. No party affiliations; no political distancing; and no ethnic divisionism. The summit becomes the soul of Kenya. That is why the pronouncements of this gathering, whenever we meet, become articles of our faith in Project Kenya, President Kenyatta said.

He said the Covid-19 health crisis offers the best opportunity for the improvement of healthcare in the country.

 this opportunity is also a blessing in disguise. We must embrace it and grow it. If we fight Coronavirus from the ground up; from the County up to the National levels, we cannot fail. We will succeed, the President said.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe applauded Governors for working closely with his ministry in the fight against Covid-19, saying cooperation is key in ensuring the country succeeds in dealing with the health crisis.

Mr Kagwe urged the County bosses to emulate Machakos County which he said has commissioned Jua Kali artisans to fabricate Covid-19 isolation beds.

The Ministry of Health will continue to work very closely with County Governments so as to ensure we have win-win outcomes in every part of the country, CS Mutahi said.

Treasury CS Ukur Yattani said his ministry was in the process of assessing the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the economy.

In his technical briefing, acting Director General of Health Dr Patrick Amoth said community preparedness is crucial in defeating Covid-19.

Homecare as prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) is the way to go now so as to ease the strain of the rising infections on our health facilities.

WHO has provided guidelines on how to go about it (homecare), that we are translating into Swahili so as to ensure Mwananchi understands what is required of them, Dr Amoth said.

-PSCU
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Wednesday raised objection in the Delhi High Court over maintainability of a plea seeking to declare PM CARES Fund as a 'public authority' under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Justice Navin Chawla, who conducted the hearing through video conferencing, was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented PMO, that he will file a response explaining why this petition should not be entertained.

The high court listed the matter for further hearing on August 28. The high court was hearing a plea by Samyak Gangwal challenging a June 2 order of the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), PMO, refusing to provide documents sought by him on the ground that PM Cares Fund is not a public authority under the RTI Act.

The plea sought direction to set aside the CPIO's order and to provide the documents as sought by him in the RTI application. The petition, filed through advocates Debopriyo Moulik and Ayush Shrivastava, said as a measure to combat COVID 19 pandemic, the PMO on March 28, through a press note announced the creation of a public charitable trust by the name of Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund).

In the press release, the PMO appealed to the citizens of the country to generously donate to the PM CARES Fund in light of severe health and economic ramifications of the COVID 19 pandemic, it said, adding that the donations in the fund would qualify as CSR and exemption from tax. On May 1, the petitioner filed an RTI application seeking a copy of trust deed of PM CARES Fund, document or letter vide which the fund was constituted and copy of the entire file including note sheets, letters, communications office memos or orders wherein the decision to constitute the fund was taken.

However, on June 2, the CPIO of PMO refused the information on the ground that PM CARES is not a public authority under the ambit of RTI Act, the plea said while challenging this decision. It said the PM CARES is a body owned or controlled by the appropriate government as its trustees include the Prime Minister, ministers of Defence, Home Affairs and Finance.

Meanwhile, another petition on PM CARES FUND, which came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan was declared dismissed as withdrawn as the petitioner approached the high court without preferring an RTI application in this regard. Advocate Surender Singh Hooda, who filed the petition, had also sought direction to the PM CARES Fund to divulge information under the RTI Act as it is a public authority and asked for details of money received and utilised.

The petition had said that after two months of its creation, the total corpus of the fund stands at approximately Rs 10,000 crores and the amount has been so collected upon strength of prestige lent by the office of the Prime Minister. The plea, filed through advocate Aditya Hooda, referred to reports published in newspapers on May 31 that the PM CARES fund has refused to divulge information sought by one Harsha Kundakarni under the RTI Act, 2005 by claiming that the fund is not a 'public authority' within the ambit of Act.

"Therefore, the petitioner's or anybody else's application would also meet the same fate and hence the exercise of exhausting the remedy by filing another application and then filing appeal before the statutory authority may be dispensed with in the interest of justice," it said.

Also read: India may lose Rs 10-lakh crore revenue due to coronavirus: Gadkari
On June 7, Shiv Senas Rajya Sabha MP and the executive editor of partys mouthpiece Saamna  Sanjay Raut  accused actor Sonu Sood of being a prop of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In his weekly column Rokhthok in Saamana, Raut wondered whether Soods continuous efforts to help the migrant workers stranded in Mumbai travel home during the lockdown was a political move supported by the BJP to weaken the Thackeray government.

Later the same night, Sood sought CMs meeting at the latters residence and thanked the state government for its support to help migrant workers reunite with their families.

Was a pleasure. Thank you for all the support offered to help my migrant brothers reunite with their families. https://t.co/nNpAcPYwOI  sonu sood (@SonuSood) June 7, 2020

After the meeting, Raut sarcastically tweeted that Sonu Sood had finally found the address of Maharashtras CM.

       ..     Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) June 7, 2020

With 88,528 total confirmed cases and 3,169 deaths as of June 8, Maharashtra has been Indias top-most affected state. In this scenario, Sood has emerged as an unlikely hero for his ongoing efforts to help Mumbais migrant workers travel back to their respective home states on buses, trains and flights. His efforts have highlighted the incompetence of the Maharashtra government to help the migrant workers.

This entire exercise of June 7  from Rauts op-ed in Saamna to Soods meeting with the CM and the tweets thereafter  hinted at Senas attempt to let Sood know who the real boss is. The chain of events points at the slow reemergence of Senas traditional political manoeuvers when such tactics were the partys modus operandi under the leadership of its late supremo Balasaheb Thackeray.

The makeover

Since the passing away of the senior Thackeray, the Shiv Sena under the father-son duo of Uddhav and Aaditya has constantly tried to repackage the partys image. They have consciously tried to shift Senas primary focus from its age-old Marathi versus the non-Marathi plank to a wider but softer Hindutva ideology combined with progressive and reformist politics.

Whenever the Saamna editorials have raised controversy, the Thackerays have maintained that they are Rauts views and not theirs. (Photo: PTI)

In this shift, Aaditya Thackeray emerged as the face of the party. He quickly gained prominence as a millennial politician advocating for a vibrant Mumbai nightlife and opposing the cutting down of trees in Aarey Colony for a metro car shed. The latter gained more traction for its indirect opposition to Devendra Fadnavis, who was the CM at that point in the Sena-BJP government.

While the father-son duo indulged in partys image makeover, the partys mouthpiece Saamna continued to be its usual self  sharp, sarcastic and sticking to the core ideas of the Shiv Sena and its beloved sainiks. Saamna has always been known to be the voice of the party chief and its words are known to be sacrosanct for the Sainiks.

Thus, Saamna was used to project views which the father-son duo couldnt utter in the public. So while the duo appeared to be breaking away from their hardliner past to reach out to a new set of voters, Raut-led Saamna was used to keep its core voters intact. According to journalist Haima Deshpande, whenever the Saamna editorials have raised controversy, the Thackerays have maintained that they are Rauts views and not theirs.

It is this fine balancing which allowed the father-son duo to grab the throne of power in Maharashtra after the state assembly elections of 2019. The Shiv Sena came to power by forming a coalition government under the aegis of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Indian National Congress (INC).

The MVA government released a Common Minimum Programme (CMP)  a core principled document that binds the alliance  which emphasises on upholding secularism. This denotes Senas slow shift away from its firebrand Hindutva politics. Thus, the formation of the Sena-led MVA government concluded the image makeover process started by the Thackeray duo.

The successful image makeover led to Shiv Sena receiving a lot of plaudits from people who seem to have conveniently forgotten the original version of the party. It has received widespread support from countrys opposition parties which have preached the same brand of secular politics and left-liberal agenda and have today conveniently forgotten Senas communal past and hardline Hindutva.

Similarly, it has also been celebrated time and again by Bollywood  which the Bal Thackeray-led Shiv Sena once kept under its thumb. A possible explanation of this convenient brain-fade lies in the lesser of the two evil principle, which is to choose the Sena over the BJP.

What led to the reemergence?

Currently, the Sena-led state government is facing immense pressure for its handling of the crisis and is fighting constant speculation of weakening of their alliance. Further, there are constant rumours of BJPs attempt to reboot its Operation Lotus  its strategy to grab power in states where it doesn't have enough seats to form the government, by poaching opposition MLAs.

Sonu Sood sends 200 migrant workers back home to Tamil Nadu from Mumbai.

The BJP-led opposition on its part has been proactive to milk this opportunity. This was highlighted when Sood received appreciation from Governor BS Koshyari, who is mistrusted by the Thackeray government. Sood was also praised by Union Minister Smriti Irani at a time when the Centre was facing flak for its inaction. While the BJP was proactively reaching out to Sood, June 7 was the first time when the Thackerays had a meeting with the actor. After the meeting, Uddhav posted a simple tweet informing about his meeting with Sood without any words of appreciation for the actor.

While Sood might not ever be a political threat to the Thackerays and their government, his actions will be. His proactiveness highlights the incompetence of the state government. Even if the Thackeray administration overcomes BJPs rumoured Operation Lotus, it is bound to face difficulties in next years civic polls of Mumbai. Maharashtras realigned politics will witness its first major battle during these polls as the new coalition, named Maha Vikas Aghadi, will face an uphill battle against the powerful machinery of the BJP. In this context, the state governments dismal handling of the Covid-19 crisis in the state and especially in the city of Mumbai and Soods actions will become a part of the electoral discourse. To cover its bruises, Shiv Senas recent actions against Sood seem to be a clear case of showcasing who the real boss is.

Also read: What keeps Sanjay Raut in news?
Chad Davis Appointed CEO of RedRock Technologies, Inc.

Irvine-based RedRock Technologies, Inc. (RedRock) announced today the appointment of the companys Executive Vice President Chad M. Davis to the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Davis will play a critical role in restructuring and rebranding the company to focus on the most dynamic and profitable sectors of its business, including Public Safety/DAS, Security, and Design/Build opportunities. At the same time, the company will accelerate its investments in new, higher-growth and more compelling revenue and profit opportunities in the Wireless Services market, including Cellular DAS, Small Cell, Wi-Fi and Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS).

To better signal to its customers, partners and suppliers its commitment to this shift in strategic intentions and efforts, the company has officially changed its name from RedRock Security & Cabling, Inc. to RedRock Technologies, Inc.

Prior to joining RedRock, Mr. Davis was most recently Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration with TAE Technologies, Inc., (TAE) a privately-funded fusion energy technology development company. During his more than eight years of service, TAE successfully raised more than $500M to design and construct the worlds most technologically advanced prototype fusion reactors.

"We welcome Chad to his new position as CEO," said RedRock Founder and CRO Tom Swanecamp. "The world has forever changed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while the challenges are many for ourselves and our customers, we have total faith Chad will successfully execute the companys new long-term strategy that will ultimately preserve and strengthen our business.

Initial announcements from RedRock reflecting this new strategy include the expansion of the companys wireless division to add enterprise mobility solutions for its clients. Details are expected to be released this month.

About REDROCK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

REDROCK TECHNOLOGIES is a leader in the design, installation and maintenance of Data/ Voice Cabling, Security systems including CCTV, Security, Intrusion Alarm and Access Control, DAS/Emergency Responder Radio Coverage Systems, Fire Alarm Systems, WiFi Systems, Cellular Enhancement Systems, Sound Masking and AV Systems. Since its founding in 2002, RedRock has completed more than 7,000 projects servicing the commercial development, tenant improvement, multi-family residential, education, and hospitality markets. REDROCK TECHNOLOGIES is headquartered in Irvine, CA and has offices in San Jose, CA and El Cajon, CA. For more information, visit http://www.itredrock.com
MALTA  America's computer chip makers, including locally based GlobalFoundries, got a huge boost from the U.S. Senate on Wednesday with a massive subsidy program proposal designed to help them compete against China's growing manufacturing influence.

The $25 billion proposal, which would include state funding that would be used to build new chip factories in the U.S., is well short of the $37 billion program that had been pitched by the chip industry.

The industry pushed the proposal as the coronavirus pandemic showed how the nation's reliance on chip technology from China and Asia could easily disrupt the electronics industry in the U.S. It also came as the Trump administration floated plans to entice a foreign company, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., GlobalFoundries' biggest competitor, to build a factory in Arizona with federal subsidies.

The proposal, worth between $22 billion and $25 billion, would include generous tax breaks for the purchase of new equipment at chip factories and matching grants for state subsidies for new or expanded computer chip plants in the U.S. The legislation was introduced by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, whose state has a vibrant chip manufacturing industry. He was joined in introducing the bill along with Virgina Senator Mark Warner, D-Va.

The bill is called the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors, or CHIPS, for America Act. The House of Representatives was planning to introduce the bill as well on Thursday.

This legislation would help stimulate advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities domestically, secure the supply chain, and ensure the U.S. maintains our lead in design while creating jobs, lowering our reliance on other countries for advanced chip fabrication, and strengthening national security," Cornyn said in a statement.

SEMI, a San Jose, Calif. trade association that represents chip factory suppliers, said it "strongly supports" the new CHIPS bill, which would also provide billions of new federal dollars for chip research.

"The robust, refundable investment tax credit for semiconductor manufacturing equipment and facilities will quickly close the cost gap and provide certainty for investments in new and expanded fabs, creating thousands of jobs. Increased research funding will drive semiconductor innovation and growth, yielding new technologies that will improve our lives," Ajit Manocha, SEMI 's CEO, said in a statement. Manocha had previously served as CEO of GlobalFoundries and knows the U.S. chip industry well.

GlobalFoundries employs 3,000 people at its Fab 8 computer chip factory in Malta as well as thousands more at two other former IBM factories it operates in East Fishkill and in Essex Junction, Vt.

GlobalFoundries received roughly $1.5 billion in state tax and cash subsidies to establish Fab 8, which has cost the company $15 billion to build and expand the past 10 years. The company has sought additional federal support to strengthen its role as a chip manufacturer for the Defense Department.

"We welcome the Senators recognition that onshore advanced semiconductor manufacturing is vital to U.S. economic and national security," GlobalFoundries spokeswoman Erica McGill told the Times Union. "This legislation reflects the growing consensus that investment and policy changes are needed now to restore American manufacturing strength and technology leadership. Semiconductors are the DNA embedded in critical tools that touch every aspect of our lives  the more we produce at home the better for the U.S. economy and our national security."

She said the company would "urge Congress to move quickly" to pass the bill "to secure the high-tech supply chain and recapture U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing."
Congratulations to former law enforcement officer Ram Ramzan on his excellent article  "Policing is a service, not a force" (Comment, 9/6). He makes a good point about positive recruitment discrimination to ensure a wider, socially cohesive body of policemen and women, in which there is protection from bullying and racism. My few encounters with the police have been very positive and I am always shocked when I see or read about police brutality. This does a huge disservice to the whole force. There is simply no need for "widespread mistrust in the uniform". Ramzan's warning about making changes so that we do not end up in the position the United States finds itself in is very timely. As he says, the time to act is now. Kristen Chisholm, Warrandyte Importance of respect between officers and citizens The need for the police to roughly handle citizens during arrests will be reduced only when both groups show more respect for each other. Changed attitudes are required by both sides and it is not just a problem for the police to address, as claimed by demonstrators last weekend. People need to respect the police, and the police need to respect the rights of those they arrest.

Harley Powell, Elsternwick We need a new body to investigate police Nik Dimopoulos, the innocent man who was seriously hurt when police mistakenly raided a gay community bookshop last year, is suing the state government for compensation for his physical and mental injuries (The Age, 11/6). The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission cleared police of wrongdoing, with IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich finding officers had "reasonable grounds" at the time to raid the property. This was despite the fact that the Critical Incident Response Team raided the wrong address and seriously injured an innocent man who feared for his life. It shows why a truly independent body is needed to oversee police. Good luck to Nik Dimopoulos. I hope the payout is big enough to force some real change to occur. Anthony Hitchman, St Andrews

THE FORUM We're paying the price I am an ex-trade commissioner whose postings included Hong Kong, helping lead the charge of universities into international students and doing nearly a decade on a university council helping manage the vice-chancellor. Many Australian universities obtain half to two-thirds of their student enrolments from overseas. In contrast, some countries and universities limit international student enrolments for reasons that include diversifying market risk, social cohesion, teaching quality and national security. Australian governments have not set limits, and encouraged universities to do likewise, to maximise revenue. We are now paying a price for that yet it was foreseeable and inevitable. China is an atypical customer in many ways, so it needs to be treated differently commercially. It also confronts us with trading off many policies that do not normally influence trade and investment  espionage, knowledge theft, human rights and more. Putting the same amount of human and financial capital into other countries normally produces higher rewards that are more secure and demand less ongoing corporate energy.

If the decision were mine, I would limit total international students to one-third of enrolments, and any one country to one-third of the total. Richard Gould, West Melbourne Don't underestimate China Simon Birmingham and Marise Payne are rank amateurs when it comes to dealing with China. It has 3000 years of experience in diplomacy and warfare, and in dealing with invaders, such as the Huns (Xiong Nu) and Mongols, who went off to devastate Europe. And China has the capacity to devastate two of Australia's main exports, tourism and education, amongst others. It has the technology to find substitute suppliers. Does Australia have the capacity to find substitute producers? One possible outcome is that with the decline of the Australian university sector, China will build its own universities and employ disaffected Australian academics. Thus an export becomes an import.

Andrew Leung, Richmond A dangerous partner Last weekend we witnessed democracy at work in the form of the Black Lives Matter march despite a strong message from the government to stay at home. How can the Victorian government deal with, and allow decisions to be made by, the government of a country which intimidates its own citizens and uses threats, infiltration and military means to subserve other nations? When questioned about the why and the opaqueness of deals to be made, we receive the trite response of "jobs and investment". The Chinese Communist Party is anti-democratic and as ruthless as any one-party state inevitably becomes. Just ask the Victorian barley farmers. Alexander Gillies, Hawthorn

A Chinese housing deal As Daniel Andrews is so keen to "go even stronger" on links with China (The Age, 10/6), the next phase of the Belt and Road deal could be a huge investment in social housing for Victoria. We are desperately short of it and it looks like we will never catch up. Every $100billion would build 40,000 home units, so you can see how $500billion would go a long way to get over just the initial waiting list. Henk van Leeuwen, Elwood Health before economy Thank you for the front-page reminder to Victorians to "stay vigilant" (The Age, 10/6). For the last couple of weeks, it has been troubling that almost everything our governments have been discussing in relation to COVID-19 has been economic rather than health-related. For months the number of cases locally and globally was front-page news but as cases locally became more controlled, we heard less about it.

Yes, economic recovery is the next challenge, but there will be no economic recovery if we allow our awareness of managing the root cause, the health risk, to lapse. We cannot afford for the virus itself to become "yesterday's news". Claire Merry, Wantirna Hearts all aflutter Coming out of isolation is like the development of a new romance: a walk in the park, drinks at the pub, dinner at a restaurant and then a weekend away in the country. Next dates: the footy, a movie and a concert. A brave new world. Sandra Torpey, Hawthorn

Increasing bush safety A great result in finding 14-year-old Will Callaghan who was missing for two days and two nights (The Age, 11/6). Well done to the rescuers. The rescue raised the question of bushwalkers carrying tracker devices which would make finding lost hikers so much easier. If it is compulsory for sailors to go to sea with a personal EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), surely bushwalkers could adopt a similar practice. Just think of the money that would be saved in mounting expensive rescue missions. Shaun Lawrence, Richmond Why not ask the women?

I wonder how many women were around the table when the decision was made to cut childcare workers from the JobKeeper scheme. I suspect the same number that were around the table when the decision was made to throw money at the male-dominated construction industry. The spirit of "we are all in this together" seems to be gender specific. Jennifer Mansfield, Melbourne Fully fund the ABC The impending loss of jobs from the ABC will equate to an equally grave loss for trusted news in Australia. The ABC operates at the highest standard of journalism and unites us in times good and bad by making us aware of what is happening across our country. It should be fully funded to keep its vital place in our nation. Elaine Hopper, Blackburn

Too valuable to lose Seen on a Bellarine Highway sign: "In an emergency tune to 774 am". It is hard to see commercial radio picking up the slack if the conservative zealots destroy the ABC. Rob Warren, Ivanhoe Yes, Australia had slavery Perhaps The Age could send Scott Morrison a copy of the 1882 editions of its newspaper that exposed the slavery trade that was operating in Australia. I am sure journalist George Morrison would be appalled that the prime minister is ignorant of Australia's disturbing historical slave trade.

Christian Grieves, Kew Futile sanitisation of arts HBO's decision to remove the 1939 film, Gone With the Wind, from its catalogue is a futile attempt to support the Black Lives Matter movement (The Age, 11/6). History has shown that the censorship of art does nothing to address systemic issues and yet we continue to support this pseudo progressive sanitisation of the arts. Why don't we go through the entire history of cinema until all that is left to watch is Pollyanna? Ben Peach, Parkville Plaques with the truth

I am wary of the tearing down of statues of citizens who, hundreds of years ago, believed and indulged in behaviour which is considered abhorrent today. These statues are still part of our lived history. Cecil Rhodes, Edward Colston, Francis Drake, Robert E. Lee and a great many others from many countries  not excluding the monarchs of England, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, etc  were once lauded as leaders and their exploits were admired. Many made fame and fortune by subjugating peoples, considered to be inferior, from foreign lands and sanctioned by "God" as only suitable for exploration by the righteous. Perhaps we could use their metaphorical "fall from grace" to make a statement of what we now stand for. Leave them on their plinths but give each of them an attendant plaque with a truthful explanation of their exploits and noted achievements. This would be much better than erasing an inconvenient truth. Cushla McNamara, Richmond Different destructions

Trevor Nock's equating of the destruction of the indigenous site in Western Australia with the destruction of the statue in Bristol is preposterous. In the former case, unique and irreplaceable residues and evidence from the dawn of humanity were destroyed for the sake of short-term profit. In the latter case, a memorial glorifying imperial criminality was ditched to strike a blow against the deadly persistence of racist attitudes. Colin Smith, Glen Waverley Waiting for PM's comment Last week Scott Morrison said he could not comment on the Rio Tinto debacle as he had not received "detailed briefings". Is there any chance that he has, by now, sought a briefing and he might find time to comment on this wanton act of destruction? He seemed to have plenty of time to make frequent comments demonising those who took part in the Black Lives Matter protests. Vera Boston, Fitzroy North

Our eroding coastline On my drive to Lorne on Sunday, I visited Eastern View beach. I was shocked. The tide is now rising so high that the sandbank (only held together by small roots from above ground vegetation) is being eroded  while I was watching. This is happening only metres from the Great Ocean Road. Whoever is responsible must act immediately. Sue Sweetland, Melbourne Hey, I know that word I learnt about gneiss metamorphic rock in first year university geology in 1960. Sixty years later, gneiss finally came in handy for the Target puzzle (The Age, 11/6).

Ted Keene, Burwood East Too precious to lose Last Saturday we missed Jane Sullivan's column in Spectrum and hope her absence is temporary. Each week we look first for Leunig's wisdom and then to Turning Pages. That column is always interesting, thoughtful and often provocative, and last weekend was not the same withoutit. Ed and Diana Cherry, Marysville AND ANOTHER THING

Politics How can a fake president call journalists from reputable news organisations "fake"? Michael McNeill, Bendigo Andrews' silence on China's push into the South China Sea, Taiwan, India's Himalayan border and Hong Kong is deafening.

Simone Martin, Balwyn If Beijing intends to damage Australia, it will unavoidably damage Chinese-Australians. Rod Matthews, Fairfield PM, I'd rather be a Chinese tourist in Australia than a Uighur in China. Roger Mendelson, Toorak

When you're choosing trade partners, Dan, make sure you have a long spoon. Christine Hurwood, Newport If Morrison attends the G7, will he and his entourage be required to self-isolate when they return? Pauline Murtagh, Ballarat The ABC

Please save our ABC. We need its great news coverage. Judy Scott, Eltham The only service that projects Australia as it truly is to the world, particularly the South Pacific. Increase its funding. Paul Werner, Thornbury The Liberal alphabet will never include the ABC.

John O'Callaghan, Research Furthermore Business-biased blokes back billionaires. Compassionate childcare concerns cancelled. Chris Trueman, Blackburn Stop whingeing about losing free childcare. Australia voted against this policy at the last election.

Michael Brinkman, Ventnor A warm welcome home, dear, sweet William. Tris Raouf, Hadfield William, you really did make my day. Gerry Lonergan, Reservoir
Kolkata, June 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged India Inc to come forward and convert the ongoing COVID-19 crisis into a turning point for the industries to make India a self-reliant nation.

Addressing the inaugural speech on the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) via video conferencing, the Prime Minister said: "India is facing a lot of challenges -- be it COVID-19 pandemic, locust swarms invasion, cyclone Amphan, mild tremors and recently the gas well explosion in Assam's Tinsukia. Corona pandemic would be the turning point for all of us as India becomes self-reliant due to this crisis. Time has come to become self-reliant and we must turn this crisis into an opportunity." Harping on the issue of speedily implementation of policies declared to make India self-reliant, he said that "Aatmanirbhar" (being self-reliant) lessons start at home and it is high time that India becomes 'vocal for local'. He said that self-reliant India is based on self-confident Indians.

"People of India have always lived the aspiration to be self-reliant. Crisis has always helped strengthen our will power. Our industries should take advantage of the trust factor developed towards India as the world is now looking for a reliable partner. Our industry players will have to think on how they will turn India into the next exporters' hub," Modi said, adding that it is only possible when we execute things unitedly.

He said that it is a testing time for Indians, but how we fight out the crisis would determine the future course of the country. The Prime Minister said that Indians are saving a total of Rs 19,000 crore due to usage of the LED bulbs. Carbon emissions have also reduced significantly due to the same.

"We have to take Indian economy out of 'command and control' mode and take it towards 'plug and play'. We must not take a conservative approach. It's time for bold decisions and bold investments. It's time to prepare a globally competitive domestic supply chain," the Modi said to India Inc.

To remember Swami Vivekananda, Modi said that the simplest method to be worked upon at present is to induce Indians to use their own produce and get markets for the Indian art works in other countries. He said that the manufacturing sector in West Bengal needs to be revived with bold investments.

"We need to revive the historical excellence of West Bengal in the manufacturing sector and jute industry. We've always heard the adage 'what Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow'. Time has come to make it happen. We have to take inspiration from this and move forward with a resolution," he added.

As recent decisions taken by the Centre for farmers have freed agriculture economy from years of slavery, Modi said that like Sikkim there is a huge opportunity lying in the entire Northeastern region to be developed as a hub for organic farming.

"The NE region can be turned into an organic capital. If members of the ICC can think on this line it can snowball into a huge organic movement with a global identity. People-centric and planet-friendly development has always been the key priority of our governance. We have empowered our farmers to a great extent. We need to take benefit of the present situation," the Modi said. He said that Kolkata can also emerge as a leader in the entire region taking lessons from its past.

The Prime Minister said that the banking services have also reached the poorest sections of the society. The economy has also become cashless due to the UPI usage. Modi urged the ICC to set big targets to be achieved by 2025 when the business body will celebrate its 100-year anniversary.

Earlier on June 2, Prime Minister Modi had also addressed the annual general meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), through a similar video conference.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
OTTAWA - Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says all federal agencies, including police, must understand that systemic racism is a problem, but advocates say they want more than the minister's acknowledgment that there is a problem.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/6/2020 (590 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Chrystia Freeland arrives for a news conference on Parliament Hill amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says all federal agencies, including police, must understand that systemic racism is a problem, but advocates say they want more than the minister's acknowledgment that there is a problem.

"It's paying lip service," said Dieulita Datus, the co-organizer of an anti-racism group in central Alberta.

"We are beyond simply understanding. We are beyond simply having conversations. What we need now is change  systematic change."

Freeland's comment came in response to media questions Wednesday about the commanding officer of the Alberta RCMP saying there is no systemic racism in Canadian policing.

"It is very important for all federal government institutions, including the police, to operate from an understanding that systemic racism is a problem for us here in Canada, to not be complacent about that, and we have to work together against it," she said.

Freeland added that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair had spoken to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki about acknowledging racism.

"We know that a really big challenge for our government and for all of us is, first of all, of course, to acknowledge that this systemic racism exists and to take concrete action to work against it and, ultimately, to dismantle it," Freeland said.

Later Wednesday, in an story published in The Globe and Mail, Lucki disputed that there's systemic racism in the force and that the problem is unconscious bias of a minority of officers who fail to follow RCMP values.

"I really struggle with the term systemic racism," Lucki was quoted as saying. "I think that if systemic racism is meaning that racism is entrenched in our policies and procedures, I would say that we dont have systemic racism."

On Monday, Alberta Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki said Canada is different than the United States, in response to a question about the wave of protests around the world following the death of a George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis last month.

"I don't believe that racism is systemic through Canadian policing. I don't believe it's systemic through policing in Alberta," Zablocki told reporters in Edmonton.

But he did say that racism is "prevalent" in all aspects of society, including in police services.

Calgary police Chief Mark Neufeld weighed in Wednesday, saying that he had thought there was no systemic racism within his department until he talked to Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

"Two weeks ago, I might have told you, 'No.' And I thought that was the case," Neufeld said.

"I think when we listened downtown, when we were hearing the community talk about situations they've experienced, it does make you stop and think."

Datus, who co-founded Ubuntu  Mobilizing Central Alberta in Red Deer, Alta. with Sadia Khan, said Zablocki's comment is naive and shows a lack of dialogue with communities of colour.

Khan, however, added that Freeland's response also shows a lack insight about what demonstrators are asking for: real action on racism.

Simply recognizing systemic racism exists is not sufficient for a federal minister anymore, said El Jones, a community activist in Halifax.

"If (Freeland) wants to deal with racism, she could deal with migrant work conditions. If she wants to deal with racism, she could talk about federal prisons. She has the power to do all those things," Jones said.

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She added that many reports and inquiries could have been acted on prior to recent demonstrations. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls called for policing reforms, including teaching officers about the "history of police in the oppression and genocide of Indigenous People."

Jones said people are not going to the streets to see politicians take a knee or recognize issues that Black and Indigenous people have always experienced. They want a promise and action.

"What does it mean to acknowledge racism exists?" she asked.

"The only reason it means something is if you are then prepared to do something about it."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2020.

 By Kelly Geraldine Malone in Winnipeg, with files from Bill Graveland in Calgary
The UCLA professor suspended after refusing a request for lenient marking of black students' exams says he was 'the sacrificial lamb used to placate the angry mob'.

Gordon Klein said he was following a 'directive' from the university that they 'should absolutely continue the traditional policy' and give the exam as scheduled.

A student had written to Klein to suggest the final for Klein's principles of taxation course might be canceled, shortened or graded differently for black students in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of police on May 25 in Minneapolis.

But the accounting professor at the university's Anderson School of Management replied and denied their request for leniency. He is now said to be under Malibu police protection in the wake of threats following his decision.

Klein was placed on involuntary leave after students slammed him as being racist and dismissive. He believes it was 'easy' for the university to 'simply jettison' him to 'placate the angry mob'.

The professor told Fox News om Wednesday: 'I was [easy] to sacrifice when they're weighing the principle of standing on equality of treatment for all students irrespective of color versus trying to placate the angry mob.

'It was easy for them, at least they believe it was easy for them, to simply jettison me.'

Gordon Klein was suspended after refusing a request for lenient marking of black students' exams; he told Fox News he was 'the sacrificial lamb used to placate the angry mob'

He added: 'I got a directive, as did my colleagues, that we should absolutely continue the traditional policy [of] the university, and give the exam as scheduled with only the normal excuses, such as you're in a car accident, you had a death in the family.

'I followed the specific direction my boss gave me and the school knows it.'

Professor Klein added: 'I can leave it to others to figure out why I was the one who was chastised for the action.

'In my case, I've been there 39 years. I've always been outspoken as an advocate of equal treatment of all students. I've always been noted for compassion. But I'm somebody who's on the verge of retirement.

'The best I can figure out, they needed the sacrificial lamb. That's what my colleagues have told me.'

A Change.org petition calling for him to be fired attracted more than 20,000 signatures

A petition calling for his reinstatement has now gathered more than 40,000 signatures

A Change.org petition calling for him to be fired has attracted more than 20,000 signatures.

The petition calls for support in having Klein's employment terminated for his 'extremely insensitive, dismissive, and woefully racist response to his students' request for empathy and compassion during a time of civil unrest'.

Bur a petition calling for his reinstatement has now gathered more than 40,000 signatures.

The saga unfolded on June 2 after students, who described themselves as 'non-black allies', requested a 'no-harm' final exam that could only benefit students' grades, for shortened exams and extended deadlines for final assignments and projects.

The students wrote that, in light of recent 'traumas, we have been placed in a position where we much choose between actively supporting our black classmates or focusing on finishing up our spring quarter'.

'We believe that remaining neutral in times of injustice brings power to the oppressor and therefore staying silent is not an option,' they wrote.

Klein replied and denied their request for leniency.

'Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota,' he wrote.

'Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we've been having online classes only?

His email also questioned how biracial students, if there are any in the class, should be treated, asking, 'Are there any students that may be of mixed parentage, such as half-black-half Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?'

He also asked if any white students from Minneapolis might be going through their own trauma, worried they would be seen as racist because of what happened in their city and how they should be handled.

Klein said he meant nothing offensive in any of the remarks.

Klein said the student, whom he declined to identify, wrote back to apologize, adding he didn't mean to be offensive.

The two had known each other from a previous class, and in the student's first email, he'd thanked Klein for providing him and others with 'anti-racist resources.'

By the next day, however, Klein's email was trending on Twitter, an online petition demanding he be fired was launched by another student and the dean of UCLA's Anderson School of Management, where Klein has taught for 39 years, was demanding answers.

Some of those responding to the online petition were most offended by his emails closing remarks, in which he paraphrased Martin Luther Kings famous statement that people should be judged not by the color of their skin but the content of their character.

The accounting professor at the university's Anderson School of Management is now said to be under Malibu police protection in the wake of threats

In a brief statement Wednesday, UCLA said, 'The lecturer is on leave from campus and his classes have been reassigned to other faculty'

Klein, who is white, said he did that as an admirer of King.

Klein said Wednesday: 'I cited in my email my belief in Martin Luther King's principles. I called Minnesota a tragedy.

'The school simply doesn't care. They want to placate the angry mob.

'And it's a tragedy for the future of education because historically, the faculty code of conduct [says] You must not have a choice. You must grade people based on merit.

'The school is disregarding its own policies in favor of the squeaky wheel, those who threaten to riot.'

Klein say he is now receiving threats and wants his 'reputation restored' after what he calls unfounded allegations of racism.

In a brief statement Wednesday, UCLA said, 'The lecturer is on leave from campus and his classes have been reassigned to other faculty.'

The statement added that UCLA is 'committed to creating a learning, working and living environment that is free from discrimination, harassment or retaliation' and that the university investigates all allegations involving those issues.

Protesters gather near the Federal building before briefly taking over the 405 Freeway in Westwood, California

Students had written to Klein asking him to effectively cancel final exams for their black peers following civil unrest across the US in the wake of George Floyd 's death at the hands of police on May 25 in Minneapolis

Klein said he plans to defend himself vigorously and has enlisted the aid of the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which has accused UCLA of violating his free-speech rights.

'I would like to get my reputation restored, and I will engage in all lawful means from our legal system to ensure that occurs,' he said, adding, 'It is the height of ludicrosity for anyone to suggest that a single bone in my body is racist.'

After a brief phone call with his dean the day after the emails, Klein learned he was being placed on involuntary leave until June 24.

Klein holds a law degree, is a certified public accountant and the author of the textbook 'Ethics in Accounting: A Decision-Making Approach,' according to his UCLA bio.
A Bengaluru court has granted bail to a college student, Amulya Leona Noronha, who was accused of sedition after she said: Pakistan zindabad at an anti-Citizenship Act (CAA) rally on 20 February.

A Bengaluru court granted bail to college student Amulya Leona Noronha, who was charged with sedition after raising 'Pakistan zindabad' slogan at an anti-Citizenship Act (CAA) rally on 20 February, NDTV has reported.

The development comes only a day after Leona was denied bail after the court observed that she is likely to engage in similar offenses that may hamper peace at large, or may also abscond if released.

"If the petitioner is released on bail, she may abscond or she may be involved in a similar offence, which affects the peace at large," the 60th additional city civil and sessions judge Vidyadhar Shirahatti was quoted as saying in a PTI report, adding that the bail petition of the petitioner is most likely to be rejected.

However, NDTV quoted Leona's lawyer on Thursday, who confirmed that the 19-year-old college student has been granted bail. Leona's advocate, Prasanna R, told NDTV that the delay of the state in submitting a chargesheet in the case beyond the stipulated time meant she was eligible for "default bail".

The journalism student was in jail since the past three months.

"The default bail application was moved before the magistrate under whose jurisdiction the alleged crime was committed. The chargesheet has not been submitted by the state within 90 days. So default bail has been granted. We had moved the default bail plea on 26 May and again on 29 May when the court told us the earlier mail IDs had been disabled. A physical application was filed on 2 June. The state filed the chargesheet on 3 June," the lawyer told the publication.

Amulya's bail plea had been delayed because of the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown. The Bengaluru Police did not file a chargesheet against the 19-year-old student during the lockdown, according to The Indian Express.

On 20 February, earlier this year, Amulya had raised 'Pakistan zindabad' slogan at an anti-CAA rally organised by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi in Bengaluru. A case was almost immediately registered against her under Section 124A (Offence of sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

The organisers had invited her to address the gathering soon after Owaisi came on stage. Later on, Owaisi, who addressed the gathering later, said he did not agree with the woman, whom he described as "so-called liberal".

In one of her Facebook posts on 16 February, Amulya had hailed all south Asian countries, including Pakistan. She said that every citizen of a country is entitled to basic benefits and rights and that the government is responsible for every one of them equally.

Amulya Leona has been granted default bail by a magistrate court under the provision of CrPc 167(2). The original bail plea, which was heard by the sessions court, was denied on Wednesday.<
Pierre Nkurunziza was to step down in August after his surprise decision not to run in an election last month.

Burundi convened an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday to discuss a way forward after the sudden death of President Pierre Nkurunziza, who took office following a bloody civil war in 2005.

Nkurunziza, who died on Monday aged 55, had been due to step down in August after his surprise decision not to run in an election last month won by the ruling partys handpicked successor.

But his death has raised uncertainty and fears of a power struggle in a country that has witnessed violent political upheaval, a refugee exodus and a bloody civil war in its recent history.

The government called a ministerial meeting to discuss the management of the situation following the unexpected death of Nkurunziza, who according to the government, died of a heart attack after feeling unwell for two days.

We will in particular sign the referral to the constitutional court to declare the presidency definitively vacant, a ministerial source told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity. The meeting will be chaired by the first vice president, Gaston Sindimwo.

Crisis committee

200611065705550

Under the constitution, the president of the National Assembly, Pascal Nyabenda, should take over on an interim basis before President-elect Evariste Ndayishimiyes swearing-in in August.

Nelleke van de Walle, from the International Crisis Group, said Nyabenda was chosen to rule by Nkurunziza and it could mean trouble ahead in a struggle for power.

[President-elect] Evariste was chosen by other generals so this could indicate there might be infighting in the coming weeks with different generals backing different candidates, she told Al Jazeera.

The path forward will be determined not by the ministers but an innermost crisis committee answering to the presidents office, the source said.

This group is made up of powerful generals who, like Nkurunziza, ruled for 15 often tumultuous years, emerging from the ethnic Hutu rebellion during Burundis long civil war that ended in 2005.

In reality, it is not the council of ministers that will decide what will happen  Everything has been decided within the crisis committee that sits with the presidency, said the source.

Personality cult

A ruling CNDD-FDD official said the government was leaning towards accelerating the investiture of the president-elect instead of making interim arrangements.

It will be legitimate, and not at all shocking, and above all will spare General Ndayishimiye a long period of uncertainty and immobility that is synonymous with danger, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Nkurunziza, an evangelical who believed he was chosen by God to rule the East African nation, fostered a personality cult around his leadership.

The ruling party declared him a visionary and supreme guide for patriotism, and some officials likened his death to a catastrophe.

But he did not wield power alone, and analysts say his death could provoke a power struggle among the upper echelons of government.

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Nkurunziza had wanted Nyabenda to succeed him, but the generals opted for Ndayishimiye who won the May 20 election. While also a general, Ndayishimiye is not a regime hardliner, and Nkurunziza was expected to continue to play a significant role.

His 2015 run for a third term in office sparked protests and a failed coup, with violence leaving at least 1,200 people dead while some 400,000 fled the country.

A climate of fear marked by a crackdown on the opposition and media settled over Burundi in the years following.

Rumours swirled on social media about his death, with some suspecting he had been infected by the coronavirus.

His wife, first lady Denise Bucumi, who was recovering from the coronavirus in a Nairobi hospital, flew back to Bujumbura late on Tuesday.
Ethiopia said Thursday it wants to limit the role of outside parties in revived talks over its Nile River mega-dam, a sign of lingering frustration over a failed attempt by the US to broker a deal earlier this year.

The Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam has been a source of tension in the Nile River basin ever since Ethiopia broke ground on it nearly a decade ago.

Ethiopia sees the dam as essential for its electrification and development, while Sudan and Egypt see it as a threat to essential water supplies.

The US Treasury Department stepped in last year after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi put in a request to his ally US President Donald Trump.

But the process ran aground after the Treasury Department urged Ethiopia to sign a deal that Egypt backed as "fair and balanced".

Ethiopia denied a deal had been reached and accused Washington of being "undiplomatic" and playing favourites.

On Tuesday Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan resumed talks via videoconference with representatives of the United States, the European Union and South Africa taking part.

The talks resumed Wednesday and were expected to pick up again Thursday.

In a statement aired Thursday by state-affiliated media, Ethiopia's water ministry said the role of the outside parties should not "exceed that of observing the negotiation and sharing good practices when jointly requested by the three countries."

The statement also criticised Egypt for detailing its grievances over the dam in a May letter to the UN Security Council -- a move it described as a bad faith attempt to "exert external diplomatic pressure".

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reiterated Monday that his country plans to begin filling the dam's reservoir in the coming weeks, giving the latest talks heightened urgency.

The short window makes it "more necessary than ever that concessions are made so a deal can be struck that will ease potentially dangerous tensions," said William Davison of the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organisation.

One solution could involve Ethiopia "proposing a detailed cooperative annual drought-management scheme that takes Egypt and Sudan's concerns into account, but does not unacceptably constrain the dam's potential," he said.

The EU sees the resumption of talks as "an important opportunity to restore confidence among the parties, build on the good progress achieved and agree on a mutually beneficial solution," said spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson.

"Especially in this time of global crisis, it is important to appease tensions and find pragmatic solutions," she said.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has removed Kanpurs Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College (GSVM) principal Dr Aarti Dave Lalchandani from her post in the wake of a controversial video that went viral last week.

As per the order, Dr Lalchandani has been attached with the office of Director General, Medical Education. Dr RB Kamal has replaced Dr Lalchandani as officiating principal of the medical college on Thursday.

Last week also there were rumours that Dr Lalchandani was transferred to Jhansi Medical College but later it was denied.

Notably, the axe has fallen on Dr Lalachandani following a video in which she was seen purportedly launching a diatribe against the members of Tablighi Jamaat and had accused the state government of pursuing the politics of appeasement and wasting resources on them as they were responsible for the surge in the COVID-19 cases in the state. She was even seen comparing the jamatis with terrorists.

It may be recalled that Markaz of Tablighi Jamaat, the Islamic missionary movement, in Delhi in late March had emerged as a huge COIVD-19 cluster. According to the UP health department, at one point of time, over 50 per cent COVID-19 cases in the state were linked to Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts.

According to sources, the action against Dr Lalchandani was taken after Kanpur District Magistrate Brahm Dev Tiwari submitted his report on the controversy to Principal Secretary (Medical Education) Rajneesh Dube. The Kanpur DM had ordered a probe into the veracity of Dr Lalchandanis video which, as per her claim, was shot stealthily around 70 days ago.

Following the controversy, Lalchandani claimed that the video was morphed by a local journalist in Kanpur who had been allegedly trying to use it to extort money and draw administrative favours.

Claiming that she did not use words such as Tablighi or Muslims in the video, Lalchandani had said she would get an FIR registered against the journalist for filming the video and blackmailing her. However, no FIR has been registered till date.

After the controversy broke out, Lalchandani had released a video statement saying that she had special love for the minority community and had taught many Muslims students. She also said that many Muslim patients thanked the staff after their recovery. She had also released a letter apologising for hurting the

feelings of Muslim brothers and sisters.
A statue of Robert Baden-Powell will receive 24-hour security instead of being removed after it was placed on a target list by anti-racism protesters, a council in England has said.

On Thursday, a group of local residents vowed to defend the statue of the founder of the Scout Movement in Poole Quay, Dorset, after the council said it would be temporarily removed.

The monument had been included on a list of statues to be toppled due to Baden-Powells associations with the Nazis and the Hitler youth programme, as well as his actions in the military.

Vikki Slade, leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, earlier tweeted the decision to remove it was taken following a "threat", adding: "It's literally less than 3m from the sea so is at huge risk.

The council later changed its mind and decided to keep it in place after the council realised the operation would require uprooting its deep foundations and heavy-lifting equipment.

A person with a sign protesting 'British History Matters' alongside the statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset. (PA)

A crowd of local residents gathered around the statue on Thursday, vowing to protect it and to stop the council from removing it.

Len Banister, 78, a former Scout, said of the Baden-Powell statue: "He is the reason I am still here, the pleasure he gives to so many people, they shouldn't take it down, I will fight them off.

Spencer Tuck, 35, said: "Unfortunately he was in fascist times but there is more to it and this statue is nothing to do with racism, it's to do with the heritage of Poole.

MORE: 'We're not society's punchbags' say police

Sharon Warne, 53, suggested controversial statues should have information panels installed explaining the positive and negative points about the figures they depict.

She said: "He had a bad past but he was the founder of the Scouts which today is a great organisation and it's ridiculous to get rid of him."

Mark Howell, the local authority's deputy leader, described the statue as much-loved and said it had been at risk of damage or destruction.

We know that local people feel proud of Lord Baden-Powells and the Scout movements links with Poole, and that some people feel that we would be giving in to the protesters by temporarily removing the statue, Cllr Howell said.

Story continues

However, we feel it is responsible to protect it for future generations to enjoy and respect.

We will not be removing the statue today as the foundations are deeper than originally envisaged and we need further discussions with contractors on the best way to remove it safely.

Although we cannot say when any temporary removal may take place, we will be providing 24-hour security until it is either removed or the threat diminishes.

Rover Scouts Chris Arthur and Matthew Trott pose in front of a statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset. (PA)

Local residents gather round a statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset. (PA)

Locals drape the Robert Baden-Powell statue with flags as they defend its removal. (PA)

The target list  that includes Nelsons Column in London  emerged following a raft of Black Lives Matter protests across the UK, sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis last month.

A statue of slave owner Robert Milligan in West India Quay has already been removed over public safety fears, while graffiti was daubed over a Queen Victoria monument in Leeds.

A mural of George Floyd by the street artist Akse in Stevenson Square in Manchester's Northern Quarter. (PA)

The Scouts said in a statement: "We look forward to discussing this matter with Poole Council to make an informed decision on what happens next.

"Baden-Powell was the founder of the Scout movement. Currently there are over 54 million Scouts in the world and we operate in almost every nation on earth, promoting tolerance and global solidarity.

"The Scout movement is resolute in its commitment to inclusion and diversity and members continually reflect and challenge ourselves in how we live our values."
We thought it was a fixed feature of our new era. We thought that objective reality didnt matter anymore, if it even existed at all. We thought we were so entrapped by our information silos that nothing could penetrate. LOL. Nothing matters ran the Twitter meme.

What weve learned in the past two weeks is that we were wrong. Reality reasserts itself. Minds can change. Just weeks ago, Black Lives Matter was regarded as a fringe movement, a response to a real problem perhaps, but a vastly exaggerated one. Today, the slogan emblazons 16th Street in front of the White House. As Politicos Tim Alberta reports, in 2014, after Eric Garner was choked by police, only 33% of Americans believed that blacks were more likely to be mistreated by police than others. Only 26% of whites thought so. Today, 57% of Americans, including 49% of whites, believe police are more likely to use force against African Americans. This week, the 2012 Republican nominee for president marched in solidarity with Black Lives Matter in Washington, D.C. The last two-term Republican president released a statement using the term systemic racism, which curled the toes of some right-wing commentators but comports with the views of more than 80% of Americans. An eyebrow-!

raising 29% of Republicans say President Donald Trump has mostly increased racial tensions, along with 92% of Democrats and 73% of independents. The conservative Drudge Report website, once a redoubt of Trump enthusiasm, hawked Justice for George Floyd T-shirts.

After the president tweeted, When the looting starts, the shooting starts, Trumps approval rating among independents dropped 10 points, from 40 to 30%. His handling of the Floyd murder aftermath has cost him even among Republicans, 83% of whom rated him favorably in May, compared with 90% in April. White evangelical Christians, the constituency that inspired Trumps Bible semaphore in front of St. Johns Church, have also soured a bit on the law and order president. In May, 62% rated him favorably, down from 77% in April.

The country is executing a dramatic turn on questions of racial justice. That vile video of depraved police suffocating a handcuffed man has penetrated our armor-plated opinion silos. Coming after other high-profile outrages, it has ignited a movement. And while some have allowed the moment to overwhelm their judgment, calling for example, not just to reform the police but to defund the police (which will. not. happen.), it will be interesting to see where this leaves the Republican Party.

Have a look at this email I received from Amanda Chase, the first announced Republican candidate for Virginia governor in 2021. Help me save the Robert E. Lee statue! she pleads. Thats what the Republican Party of Virginia now stands for?

One extremist does not a party define. True enough. But the Republican Party of Virginia previously nominated Corey Stewart for a U.S. Senate seat. He defended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, and had previously made a name for himself by defending Confederate monuments, or taking back our heritage as he put it, which is odd because Stewart grew up in Minnesota, the first state to send volunteers to quell the rebellion in 1861.

The Republican Party of Alabama nominated Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate. Aside from his predation on young teenage girls, Moore was an enthusiastic birther. The Republican Party of Oregon has nominated Jo Rae Perkins, a promoter of the QAnon conspiracy, for the U.S. Senate.

The list goes on and on. The alt-right and the nutty right have made inroads into the Republican Party with only occasional pushback, as when the Republican caucus denied committee assignments to defeated Iowa Rep. Steve (When did white supremacist become offensive?) King.

The party of Lincoln has assented to the pardon of Joe Arpaio. It found nothing much to say about the smearing of Mexicans as drug dealers and rapists. When the president said an Indiana-born judge could not be fair because his parents were from Mexico, one prominent Republican, Paul Ryan, called that classic racism. Hes gone now. When the president told four darker-skinned members of Congress to go back where you came from, (three were born here), the Republican Party had nothing.

Most Republicans are not extremists or conspiracists or racists, but they look at their shoes and kick the dirt when those elements succeed in their party. Now the country is reevaluating questions of policing and race, finding previously elusive agreement on the need for reform, and exposing just how lost the Republican Party has become.

Mona Charen is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

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New Delhi: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Thursday launched the much awaited Mi Notebook 14, Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition in India.

The Mi NoteBook 14 will come at inaugural price starting Rs 41,999. Xiaomi said that the inaugural price will be vaild only till July 16. The Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition has been launched at starting price of Rs 54,999 for the Intel Core i5 model. The notebook with Intel Core i7 option is available at Rs 59,999.

Buyers can also get Rs 2,000 instant discount on both laptops from HDFC Bank cards. The laptops will go on first sale on June 17 on Mi.com, Amazon, Mi Home and Mi Studio.

The Mi NoteBook comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows10 Home Edition. Mi fans will also get a 1-month free trial of Office 365 on the Mi NoteBook, Xiaomi said.

Weighing just 1.5kg the Mi Notebook 14 has 14 inch Full HD Anti-glare Display. Equipped with the latest Intel Core i5-10210U Comet Lake processor, NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics, 8GB DDR4 RAM, stereo speakers combined with the DTS audio processing app.

Mi Notebook 14 Horizon comes with 10th Generation Intel Core i7 / 10th Generation Intel Core i5. The 14 inch Full HD (1920x1080) Anti-glare Display laptop has 178 Wide-viewing Angle with 81.2 % screen-to-body ratio. The 1.35kg laptop comes with 2x2W Stereo Speakers.

In terms of I/O, the laptops feature 2 USB 3.1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, a USB Type-C port, headphone/microphone combo jack, and an HDMI 1.4 port.

MiNoteBook 14 Horizon Edition key specs at a glance

1.35kg ultra-light

10th Generation Intel Core i7/ 10th Generation Intel Core i5

NVIDIA GeForce MX350

8GB 2666MHz DDR4 RAM

Super Thin Bezels & Ultra Light

35.56cm (14 inch) FHD Anti-glare Horizon Display

512GB PCI Express Gen 3 NVMe SSD/512GB SATA 3 SSD

Windows 10 Home

Up to 10 hours of Battery

Mi Notebook 14 key specs at a glance

10th Generation Intel Core i5

NVIDIA GeForce MX250

512GB SATA SSD

8GB DDR4 RAM

Full HD Anti-glare Display 35.56cm (14 inch)

1.5kg Light & Sleek

10-hour battery

Mi Webcam HD included


Megan Blake Irwin has been forced to address the age difference between herself and American actor boyfriend Skeet Ulrich.

The Australian model responded to a comment from a fan who pointed out that she was younger than the Riverdale star.

'I'm 28 and my boyfriend is 50. There is NOTHING wrong or weird about this AT ALL,' Megan hit back on her Instagram.

'There is nothing wrong or weird about this!' Australian model Megan Blake Irwin, 28, has addressed her relationship with Riverdale star Skeet Ulrich, 50, and defended their 22-year age gap

Before adding: 'If anyone has a problem or has anything to think or say about that than please unfollow us both and go on about your OWN lives.

She then declared: 'LOVE IS LOVE. I hope and wish everyone finds real love in life.'

Megan's defiant message about their relationship comes after she recently sparked rumours of an engagement In May.

Defending their love: She responded to a fan on Instagram: 'I'm 28 and my boyfriend is 50. There is NOTHING wrong or weird about this AT ALL. If anyone has a problem or has anything to think or say about that than please unfollow us both and go on about your OWN lives'

Something to tell us? Megan's defiant message about their relationship comes after she recently sparked rumours of an engagement. She posted a black and white photo of herself cuddled up to Skeet while wearing a diamond ring on her wedding finger

She shared a black and white photo of herself cuddled up to Skeet, who plays FP Jones in Riverdale, while wearing a diamond ring on her wedding finger.

'Always & forever mine,' she simply wrote in the caption, alongside a love heart emoji.

Megan made sure to show off her ring finger in the photo by resting her palm on top of Skeet's hands.

Early days: Megan was first linked to Skeet back in May on 'moving day' at her Los Angeles home

She also shared several photos of herself posing with the ring on Instagram.

'Mine forever,' she wrote next to one photo of the couple sweetly cuddling.

Megan was first linked to Skeet back in May when they were seen kissing on her social media on 'moving day' at her Los Angeles home.
Two new studies from University of Utah researchers show what can be learned from a short seismic checkup of natural rock arches and how erosion sculpts some arches--like the iconic Delicate Arch--into shapes that lend added strength.

A study published in Geophysical Research Letters begins with thorough measurements of vibrations at an arch in Utah, and applies those measurements to glean insights from 17 other arches with minimal scientific equipment required.

The second study, published in Geomorphology, compares the strength of arch shapes, specifically beam-like shapes versus inverted catenary shapes (like Delicate Arch or Rainbow Bridge).

A seismological stethoscope

The Geohazards Research Group at the University of Utah measures small vibrations in rock structures, which come from earthquakes, wind and other sources both natural and man-made, to construct 3-D models of how the structures resonate.

Find the group's 3-D models here.

Watch (and listen - turn up your speakers!) how Moonshine Arch near Vernal, Utah, moves here.

Part of the reason for these measurements is to assess the structural health of the rock feature. In studying 17 natural arches, doctoral candidates Paul Geimer, Riley Finnegan and their colleagues set seismometers on the arches for a few hours to a few days. The data from those measurements, coupled with the 3-D models, gave important information about the modes, or major movement directions, of the arches as well as the frequencies for those modes of vibration.

"This is all possible using noninvasive methods," Geimer says, "that form the first step in improving our ability to detecting and identifying damage within arches and similar features." The noninvasive nature of the tests--with the seismometers sitting on the arch's surface without damaging the rock--is important, as many of Utah's rock arches are culturally significant.

The studies of the 17 arches used just one or two seismometers each, so with permission from the National Park Service, the researchers went to Musselman Arch in Canyonlands National Park to verify their earlier measurements. The arch is flat across the top and easily accessible, so they dotted it with 30 seismometers and listened.

"This added wealth of information helped us to confirm our assumptions that arch resonant modes closely follow simple predictive models, and surrounding bedrock acts as rigid support," Geimer says. "To my knowledge, it was the first measurement of its kind for a natural span, after decades of similar efforts at man-made bridges."

All of the arches studied exhibited the property of low damping, Geimer says, which means that they continued to vibrate long after a gust of wind, for example, or a seismic wave from a far-off earthquake. The results also help researchers infer the mechanical properties of rocks without having to drill into the rock to take a sample. For example, the stiffness of the Navajo Sandstone, widespread in Southern Utah, seems to be related to the amount of iron in the rock.

Find the full study here.

Sculpted for stability

Natural arches come in a range of shapes, including beam-like spans that stretch between two rock masses and classic freestanding or partly freestanding inverted catenary arches. A catenary is the arc formed by a hanging chain or rope--so flip it upside down and you've got an inverted catenary.

"In its ideal form, the inverted catenary eliminates all tensile stresses," Geimer says, creating a stable curved span supported solely by compression, which the host sandstone can resist most strongly. The idea that inverted catenary arches are sculpted by erosion into strong shapes is not new. But the U team's approach to analyzing them is. Returning back to their 3-D models of arches and analysis of their vibration modes, the researchers simulated the gravitational stresses in detail on each arch and calculated a number, called the mean principle stress ratio, or MSR, that classifies whether the arch is more like a beam or more like an inverted catenary.

The structure of the rock in which the arch is carved can also influence its shape. Inverted catenary arches are more likely to form in thick massive rock formations. "This allows gravitational stresses to be the dominant sculpting agent," Geimer says, "leaving behind a smooth arc of rock held in compression." Beam-like arches typically form in rock formations with multiple layers with varying strengths. "Weaker layers are removed by erosion more quickly," he adds, "leaving behind a layer of stronger material too thin to form a catenary curve."

While the inverted catenary shape can lend an arch stability in its current form, Geimer and associate professor Jeff Moore are quick to point out that the arch is still vulnerable to other means of eventual collapse. "At Delicate Arch," Moore says, "the arch rests on a very thin easily eroded clayey layer, which provides weak connection to the ground, while Rainbow Bridge is restrained from falling over by being slightly connected to an adjoining rock knoll."

Still, the MSR metric can help researchers and public lands managers evaluate an arch's stability due to its shape. The Geohazards Research Group is continuing to study other factors that can influence rock features' stability, including how cracks grow in rock and how arches have collapsed in the past.

###

Find the full study here.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 16:13:25|Editor: huaxia

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BISHKEK, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyzstan Thursday confirmed 36 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 2,129.

The country's Deputy Health Minister Nurbolot Usenbaev told a news briefing that 2,162 laboratory tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, which detected 36 new COVID-19 cases.

According to the deputy minister, of the newly confirmed, 19 cases were close contacts of the infected, 13 were unknown sources and four were imported, he said.

Of all the cases, 28 percent were imported and 72 percent were locally discovered.

Usenbaev said the epidemiological situation remained tense because the number of imported cases has increased when Kyrgyz nationals returned from abroad, said Usenbaev.

Among the newly infected, 10 patients are medical workers, bringing the total number of contracted medical staff to 419, including 312 recoveries.

The official reported 58 recoveries in the past 24 hours. In all, 1,630 have fully recovered.

Currently, 473 patients remained hospitalized, and two are in intensive care.

In addition, 1,438 people who have had contact with infected patients are under medical observation and another 9,024 people are in home quarantine under the supervision of doctors.

No death was recorded in the last 24 hours. The total number of fatalities stood at 26. Enditem
The chair is hopeful that continuing the bipartisan spirit that weve had on some many other things that perhaps this one (HB594) can be passed on a bipartisan basis, Moore said.

Cooper cited in his HB536 veto that it contained language that would hamper his ability, as well as that of local government leaders, to reimpose a shutdown of bars and clubs in the event of a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Gunn said the insertion of the Council of State requirement was meant to address the concern of some Democratic senators that the bills lack a safety switch for responding to a COVID-19 spike.

Gunn said the latest version allows local health directors to institute emergency public health orders on their own authority for imminent public health threats and hazards.

Sen. Wiley Nickel, D-Wake, questioned how quickly Gunn and other Republican senators actually want to help the business sectors given the likelihood of a Cooper veto of HB594.
There might be trouble in paradise for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reportedly living in Tyler Perrys mansion in Los Angeles now that their exit from the royal family is official. The couple had grand plans for their life outside of the royal spotlight, but a royal expert says that their dream of finding happiness in LA is now in tatters.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Karwai Tang/WireImage

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry start their new lives in LA

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Harry moved from Canada to LA back in March. Now that their exit from the royal family is official, the two will be splitting their time between LA and the United Kingdom while becoming financially independent from the crown.

Although they are currently living in Perrys mansion, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reportedly looking to purchase a home of their own in the area. Living in LA gives them plenty of opportunities to build their new brand and also puts Meghan closer to her mom, Doria Ragland.

It is still unclear what Meghan and Harry plan on doing for a living, though they certainly have plenty of options at their disposal. Meghan has already completed a deal with Disney for some voiceover work and could certainly return to acting in the near future.

RELATED: Prince Harry and Meghan Markles Biographer, Omid Scobie, Has Been Secretly Working on Finding Freedom for Over 2 Years

Harry, meanwhile, has secured a few public speaking gigs, something that he was constantly doing as a member of the royal family. Harry and Meghan also have their new brand to promote, Archewell, which could also make them money.

While Meghan and Harry are exploring their options, one royal expert believes their dream of finding happiness in LA are all but over.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pump the brakes on their new plans

Meghan and Harry moved to LA right before the coronavirus pandemic shut down most parts of the country. But due to the current crisis, they have been unable to launch Archewell and get their new foundation off the ground.

According to Express, royal expert, Russell Myers, believes the delays are weighing heavily on Meghan and Harry. Not only is the couples plans up in the air, but their hopes of launching Archewell is now in tatters.

They had huge plans once they settled in Los Angeles to set up their own foundation and now obviously these plans are in tatters, Myers shared.

Myers added that Meghan and Harry were going to launch themselves into the corporate world and get involved in public speaking. They expected to earn millions of dollars booking gigs around the country, but those plans are a no-go amid the pandemic.

The Sussexes, of course, have not commented on the reports surrounding their future plans in LA. But until the current crisis is over, they will have a difficult time getting anything up and running.

Sophie Wessex opens up about Megxit

While we wait to see what is next for Harry and Meghan, Sophie Wessex recently shared her thoughts on their exit from the royal family. During her visit to South Sudan, Sophie was asked if her workload will be increasing in light of Megxit.

In response, Sophie revealed that she has not received any kind of notice that she should be increasing her workload. According to Town and Country, Sophie explained how her current schedule is very busy and she doesnt really have time to expand it.

Weve all got our own little portfolios. I dont see anything changing, but if were asked to do more  I dont know because it hasnt really happened, she stated. I am pretty busy already, so Im not sure how much more I can do.

RELATED: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Have Reported Multiple Security Threats To the LAPD

Meghan and Harry have remained silent on the many rumors surrounding their departure. The two announced their exit at the beginning of the year and spent a few months ironing out the final details.

It is unclear when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will return to London, but the royals are set to re-examine their exit in one year. Until then, we can only hope that Meghan and Harry continue to update fans on their plans as they establish themselves in LA.
Iraqi militia factions expected the usual cash handout when the new head of Irans expeditionary Quds Force made his first visit to Baghdad earlier this year, succeeding the slain Gen. Qassim Soleimani. Instead, to their disappointment, Esmail Ghaani brought them silver rings.

For his second visit, Ghaani had to apply for a visa, something unheard of in Soleimanis time  a bold step by Baghdads new government effectively curtailing Irans freedom of movement inside Iraq.

The episodes, relayed to The Associated Press by several Iraqi officials, illustrate Irans struggles to maintain sway over Iraqi militias six months after America assassinated Soleimani and top militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike.

Iran at the same time is grappling with the economic fallout from US sanctions and the coronavirus outbreak.

Without imposing figures like Soleimani and al-Muhandis to unify disparate factions, divisions have emerged in the Popular Mobilization Forces, the umbrella group of mainly Shiite forces.

Their deaths also disrupted a trajectory to institutionalize the militias, which al-Muhandis had been meticulously planning with Soleimanis blessing.

With al-Muhandis gone, there is an absence of an anchor around which (PMF) politics revolves, said Fanar Haddad, an Iraq researcher.

Among Iraqs Shiite political and militia factions, Soleimani, a chief architect of Irans proxy groups across the region, held almost legendary status.

Charismatic and a fluent Arabic speaker, his rapport with Iraqi officials was unmatched. He slipped in and out of Iraq regularly to plan, mediate and give out cash assistance. One surprise visit by him was sufficient to broker agreement between rival factions, officials said.

Since his death, Shiite factions have shown discord, arguing over a premier candidate twice before they settled on Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Soleimanis successor as Quds Force commander, Ghaani, is less familiar with Iraqi militia leaders and speaks to them through an interpreter. Meetings in Iraq have increasingly been handled by Iranian Ambassador Iraj Masjedi, himself a former Quds Force member.

Ghaanis gift of silver rings  symbolically important in Shiite Islam  rather than cash came during a meeting in April with leaders of several militia factions, according to three officials.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Ghaani told them that, for the moment, they would have to rely on Iraqi state funding, they said, a sign of Irans economic crisis.

The PMF are paid primarily through the state  $2 billion in the 2019 budget  but the funds are not dispersed equally.

Smaller Iranian-backed groups rely on other informal means of revenue and receive extras from Iran, roughly $3-9 million, two Iraqi officials close to the militias said.

The PMF was created in 2014 as a framework to organize and pay the thousands who volunteered to fight the Islamic State group after a fatwa by Iraqs top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Since then, its political and military might has soared. Under the staunchly pro-Iranian al-Muhandis, it became a channel for Tehrans influence.

His death opened the door for factions opposed to that influence  particularly ones associated with al-Sistani  to break from the PMF leadership. Militias complain that Iran-friendly groups receive preferential treatment.

The man seen as al-Muhandis likely successor, Abdulaziz al-Mohammadawi, known as Abu Fadak, met opposition from factions who saw him as the Iranian-backed choice. He has not been officially recognized by the prime minister, though he has assumed some administrative duties, according to officials.

Some of the most Iran-friendly militias under the PMF have shown signs of splintering.

Attacks against US forces in March were claimed by a purported new group, Usbat al-Thairen, believed to have emerged from the powerful Kataib Hezbollah, which the US accused in previous attacks.

Recently, four militias affiliated with the shrines connected to al-Sistani said they would take orders directly from Iraqs premier, bypassing the PMF leadership.

A senior official from Kataib Hezbollah said the move has weakened the PMF and its legitimacy among the public. For many Iraqis, the groups credibility is derived from al-Sistanis fatwa.

The fissure was plain to see when, weeks into his leadership, Prime Minister al-Kadhimi visited the PMF headquarters. To his right, sat figures friendly with Tehran, to his left, those affiliated with al-Sistani.

It marks a major wrench by the Shiite establishment led by al-Sistani into Irans broader plans, said Randa Slim, director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute.

They are basically saying we do not want an organ that takes its orders from Iran, she said. (AP) CPS
Latino groups in San Francisco are urging Mayor London Breed to provide financial and social assistance to end long-standing inequities that have made Latino residents particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Nearly 60% of people with a known ethnicity who have tested positive for the coronavirus in San Francisco are Latino, though they make up just 15% of the citys population, according to the most recent data from the citys Department of Public Health. Similar disparities have been reported in counties across the Bay Area and California.

A coalition of more than 30 organizations  including the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District, the Central American Resource Center and the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts  asked Breed to set up regular meetings with them, and to have the city formally classify low-income Latinos as a vulnerable population.

The coalition also asked the mayor to provide Latinos with better access to food, health care, affordable housing and job services, among other resources, as the health crisis wears on.

Such significantly higher infection and hospitalization rates among San Franciscos low-income Latinos, occurring as a result of long-standing social inequities, heightens vulnerability, the group said in a June 5 letter to Breed.

When those conditions are not addressed and persist, they continue to place individuals at significant risk for COVID-19. The data confirming vulnerability among San Franciscos low-income Latinos is stark and demands a focused effort by the city of San Francisco to fully address its socioeconomic origins and impact.

Todd Trumbull

Low-income Latinos have often been unable to socially distance during the pandemic because they typically work in low-wage jobs deemed essential and may live in crowded living situations.

Health experts and advocates say those myriad factors  and the fear of deportation that has led some Latino immigrants to avoid seeking medical care  have caused coronavirus infections to soar among Latinos.

Breeds office said Wednesday that the mayor has not yet responded to the coalitions requests. But spokesman Jeff Cretan defended the administrations handling of the crisis, saying the mayors office has been helping the Latino community throughout.

Cretan said the city has created several programs to assist low-income residents with food security, temporary housing and financial assistance in response to the pandemic. These include the Give2SF Fund, which provides funding for $200 Safeway gift cards to roughly 2,500 low-income, undocumented San Franciscans for online or in-person purchase of food, he said.

A team within the citys Emergency Operations Center also focuses on outreach, connecting residents to services and investing in programs that help people disproportionately impacted by the virus, Cretan said.

On June 2, city public health officials expanded the definition of vulnerable populations to include Latinos, immigrants and other marginalized groups that may experience systemic inequities. These populations are prioritized for programs and services in response to the virus, including access to hotel rooms for self-isolation, Cretan said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Meanwhile, the coalition began drafting its letter before the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on May 25. But the resulting protest movement and its demand that society rethink deep-rooted inequities prompted the coalition to raise similar issues about the health disparities unfolding for Latinos in the COVID-19 pandemic, said Norma Garcia, director of policy and advocacy at the Mission Economic Development Agency, a member of the coalition.

The silver lining of the pandemic is it makes absolutely clear what we felt and knew to be true  this is what happens when inequities are allowed to persist, Garcia said. We have an opportunity and an obligation to change the status quo.

The coalition also sent the letter to several city agencies and state and federal politicians.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Joaquin Palomino contributed to this report.

Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez
Army has cordoned off the area as the fire continues to rage in the gas well of Oil India Limited at Baghjan in Assam's Tinsukia district.

Tension has gripped the area after the fire damaged a stretch of the adjoining forest, houses and vehicles, provoking an attack by the locals on OIL employees.

Two firefighters of public sector major OIL were found dead in a wetland abutting the site of a major blaze on June 10.

Here is all you need to know about the gas tragedy and developments so far:

> The gas well, located adjacent to the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, has been spouting gas and condensate droplets for the last 15 days and eventually caught fire, affecting forested areas and human habitations in a radius of one km.

> About 7,000 people from areas near the gas well have been moved to 12 relief camps, company and government officials said.

> Thick plumes of black smoke shooting into the sky can be seen in areas 30 km away from the blazing well, posing a serious threat to the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, known for its biodiversity.

Also Read: In pics | Massive fire at Assam's Baghjan oil well

> Two staffers of the OIL have been suspended for alleged negligence of duty in the gas well blowout, according to a company official.

> A five-member inquiry committee has been formed and actions will be initiated on employees of the company if there was any prima facie evidence of human error, OIL Chairman and MD Sushil Chandra Mishra has said.

> The company has also issued a show-cause notice to John Energy Pvt Ltd, the outsourced private operator of the gas well, according to OIL Chairman and MD Sushil Chandra Mishra.

> Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal of all possible assistance to the victims and to resolve the situation. Sonowal called up the PM and apprised him of the situation arising from the gas blowout and the subsequent fire, according to a CMO official.

> Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held an emergency video conference with its staff at the company's field headquarters in Duliajan and the site in Baghjan. He took stock of the ground-level situation and advised Oil India to take immediate action to provide all necessary support to the affected people besides taking all steps to control the spread of the fire.

> Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has announced that the last rites of the two firefighters killed in the Baghjan gas well incident will be held with full state honours.

> Apart from fire tenders of the OIL, Army, Air Force, IOC and Assam Gas Company are trying to prevent the fire from expanding further.

(With inputs from PTI)
This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 -- also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19 -- isolated from a patient in the US. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. The spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles give coronaviruses their name, crown-like. Credit: NIAID-RML

Brazilian officials on Thursday announced an agreement with China's Sinovac Biotech to produce its coronavirus vaccine in the state of Sao Paulo, where tests involving 9,000 volunteers are to begin next month.

Brazil has the world's second-highest coronavirus caseload after the United States, with more than 770,000 confirmed infections and nearly 40,000 deaths.

Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria told a news conference that the Butantan Institute, Brazil's leading research center, had reached a technology transfer agreement with Sinovac Biotech.

"The studies show that the vaccine could be distributed by June 2021," if tests prove conclusive, Doria said.

"This agreement would allow us to produce at large scale and immunize millions of Brazilians."

Sinovac Biotech, one of four Chinese laboratories authorized to conduct clinical vaccine trials, said a month ago that it was prepared to produce 100 million doses of the vaccine under the commercial name Coronavac.

In Sao Paulo, 9,000 volunteers will be injected with doses of that vaccine beginning in mid-July, in the third and final phase of testing.

Last week, Sao Paulo State University announced that a vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford will be tested among 2,000 Brazilian volunteers beginning in mid-June.

Doria used the unveiling of the Sinovac Biotech deal, which he described as "historic," to criticize President Jair Bolsonaro.

"We have had to overcome Brazil's disagreements with China, with other countries and with organizations like the WHO," he said, referring to criticism of China by several of Bolsonaro's cabinet ministers.

In March, one of the president's sons accused the Chinese "dictatorship" of hiding what it knew about the coronavirus, prompting Beijing to demand an apology.

Bolsonaro in recent days has also threatened to withdraw Brazil from the World Health Organizationas the United States did last monthaccusing it of "ideological bias."

Alluding to the controversy, Doria said, "The politicization of disease has never saved a life, to the contrary."

Since the onset of the pandemic, Bolsonaro has clashed with state governors over stay-at-home measures that they've adopted to prevent the spread of the virus.

He has continued to press for a resumption of economic activities even though infections continue to rise.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 AFP
Wyandotte County DA launches law enforcement accountability effort KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree on Wednesday announced an "expansion" of his department's Conviction Integrity Unit in an effort to hold law enforcement accountable. With its new independent investigative arm, the unit will be renamed the Community Integrity Unit.

Let's not forget that this prosecutor has suffered constant rebuke from police during his tenure . . . However, take a glimpse at his latest move that's likely to earn support amid the #BlackLivesMatter era.Read more:
A branch of the famous gym, Anytime Fitness, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin is facing major backlash after it released a new workout routine called "I Can't Breathe" and it included an image of a person kneeling.

Mocking George Floyd's death

The controversial workout routine comprises of a 35-minute drill of burpees and row exercises. The workout routine was written on a board and at the bottom, it read "And don't you dare lay down."

One of the patrons of the gym took a photo of the board and posted it on social media. It has received criticism from those who accused the gym of mocking the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer by kneeling on his neck for almost 9 minutes.

The incident happened on May 25 and was caught on video. Floyd can be heard telling officers that he can't breathe.

Derek Chauvin, the officer who had his knee on Floyd's neck, was immediately fired from the police department of Minneapolis and he is currently facing a second-degree murder charge and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers who were on the scene were also fired and they are facing charges too.

A Twitter user posted the photo of the workout routine and wrote that it is concerning that Anytime Fitness is mocking the death of George Floyd, it only proves that racism is alive in Wauwatosa, Milwaukee. Another Twitter user wrote that the whole workout routine idea is disgusting and jaw-dropping.

Anytime Fitness is one of the most popular fitness centers in the world, with over 4,000 franchised locations in 50 different countries.

Also Read: George Floyd and Derek Chauvin Knew Each Other, Reports Claimed They Had Clashed Numerous Times

On June 10, the management issued an apology and stated that they were devastated and shocked over the workout routine.

The statement read that no matter what the intent is, they do not condone the illustrations, words, or actions that the picture represents. They added that to their employees, owners, and their members, they are truly sorry for the incident.

The co-owner and the general manager of the Wauwatosa location, Jen Dunnington, posted an apology on Facebook for the deeply offensive words, illustrations, and actions in the picture.

Anytime Fitness added that they realized they still need to work on training the franchise owners in order to lead the branches with love, empathy, and respect and they will use this incident to show other franchise owners why it is insensitive and offensive.

The statement read that they will remain committed to working to inform and educate the owners and employees worldwide to stand for the black communities including the members and employees.

Other incidents

Unfortunately, the insensitive workout routine of Anytime Fitness is not the first incident where the gruesome death of Floyd was mocked and ridiculed. Earlier this week, a group of white men in New Jersey mocked the Black Lives Matter protesters as they marched in the streets of Franklin Township.

The counterprotesters reenacted the way that George Floyd died, with one man on the ground and the other with his knee on his neck. The "Trump 2020" banner was displayed as well as a placard that says "All Lives Matter".

There was also a flag with a thin blue line displayed on the truck that a counterprotester owns. The two men in the viral video have since been fired from their respective jobs.

Related Article: White Men Mocked George Floyd's Death In Front of Black Lives Matter Protesters

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Build A Movement

Racism is Americas original sin. Racism that built this nation using the free labor of enslaved Africans. Racism embedded in our original Constitution, claiming that my Black ancestors held only 3/5 of value compared to a white person. Racism that led to racial segregation and discriminatory laws in education, housing and employment. Racism that created a system of law enforcement designed to disproportionately incarcerate Black Americans. For over 400 years, America has used racism to build a wall around Black Americans. This wall has kept Black Americans excluded from opportunities to learn, to work and to vote.

Enough. It is time for Americas wall of racism to come down.

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The murder of George Floyd by now former Minneapolis police officers is the latest, but sadly, not the first example deadly police tactics against unarmed African American males by some in law enforcement. Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Philando Castille, Walter Scott, Oscar Grant, Amadou Diallo, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice and Stephon Clark have become mournfully familiar names in our community. Each death a reminder of failed leadership and a call to fix our broken system.

Change is difficult, change can be painful  but change is necessary now more than ever. As a former Assemblymember and State Senator, I experienced my fair share of resistance on policies that are widely accepted today. In 2014, I successfully authored legislation to ban the sale or display of the Confederate flag on state property. But that wasnt before a number of my colleagues attempted to stop or weaken the legislation. We fought on. We organized. We would not compromise. And in the end, we won. Following our victory, nine states and the District of Columbia banned the display of the Confederate flag. Our actions started a movement to ban images of hate across the nation and is a lesson we should remember today.

Tearing down the wall of hate against Black Americans will take the work of us all. For the past several weeks, Black Americans, white Americans, Asian-Pacific Islander Americans, Latinx Americans, LGBTQ Americans and Americans of every faith have marched  from the steps of the White House to street corners in towns and cities across this country. From every intersection of this nation, cracks in Americas wall of racism are showing up in the most unlikely of places. Peaceful acts of protest and occupied city squares in urban and rural America demanding justice for Black victims of law enforcement violence continue. We must do more than march  we must demand action.

Action like ending law enforcement use of choke holds and carotid restraint. Action like requiring all law enforcement officers to wear body cameras while on duty. Action like strengthening our use of force standards to promote de-escalation. Action like ending racial profiling by law enforcement. Action like requiring independent investigations of officer involved shootings. Action like restoring voting rights for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated citizens. Action like rethinking the role, responsibility and culture of law enforcement away from further militarization and towards peaceful resolutions of conflict. Action like funding economic and social empowerment programs for the youth and future leaders of our community. These actions will not be easy, but they are necessary to help tear down the wall of racism and build trust between Black Americans and law enforcement.

Black lives matter is not a slogan; it is our nations call to action. It is a reminder of the sacrifice of our Black ancestors. It is a wake-up call for our nation to atone the sins of our past. It is a unifying movement to tear down the wall of racism against Black Americans. It is a demand to end systematic violence against African Americans. We must seize this moment and act. The lives of Black Americans depend on it.
The Socialist Equality Party (Australia) is holding an online lecture this Tuesday, June 16, reviewing the immense contemporary significance of the founding of the Fourth International in 1938.

The establishment of the world party by Leon Trotsky ensured the continuity of Marxism and the fight to build a revolutionary leadership in the international working class. Trotsky, who had led two revolutions and built the Red Army that defeated the imperialist attempts to overthrow the USSR, described its founding as his greatest achievement.

It was carried out amid the betrayals of mass working class struggles by the Stalinist Communist Parties in virtually every corner of the world. Within Russia, the Soviet bureaucracy was conducting mass purges of all those who had played a significant role in the 1917 October Revolution, above all targeting the Trotskyists. Abroad, its secret police murdered Trotskys collaborators including Rudolf Klement, who was to serve as the Fourth Internationals founding secretary.

Despite the repression, a founding congress was convened in Paris. It adopted a Transitional Program drafted by Trotsky, which began by declaring: The world political situation as a whole is chiefly characterised by a historical crisis of the leadership of the proletariat.

These words sum-up the political situation today, no less than in 1938. The working class is again entering into major social and political struggles, as shown by the mass international protests triggered by the US police murder of George Floyd. The decisive question is arming the emerging movement with a revolutionary perspective, based on the lessons of history, and providing it with a leadership. That means building the Fourth International that Trotsky established and that is today led by the International Committee.

The lecture will be delivered by Max Boddy, a national committee member of the SEP (Australia).

The event, which is part of a series of six weekly lectures, is on the Zoom platform at 7 p.m. (Australian Eastern Standard Time), June 16. To participate, download the app or join on a web browser, and click on this link before the lecture begins:

https://zoom.us/j/95335270123
The Prince of Wales will join the tributes on Friday (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The Prince of Wales is to join commemorations led by pipers playing a tribute to thousands of Scots who were killed or captured during the forgotten Dunkirk 80 years ago.

The Second World War battle led to 10,000 mainly Scottish soldiers from the 51st Highland Division being captured at St Valery-en-Caux in France.

They continued the fight on the continent in support of the French after the Dunkirk evacuations had been completed, and a flotilla of ships sent to rescue the troops was unable to reach them due to fog and the proximity of German artillery above the town.

More than 450 pipers from around the world have have so far signed up to take to their doorsteps and play the pipers march Heroes Of St Valery at 10am on June 12 in memory of those caught up in the conflict.

On the eve of #StValery80, we are honoured that His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, will be joining our commemorations. He will take the salute from a piper at Birkhall and has issued this message of support. Join us tomorrow LIVE on Facebook for a special day @ClarenceHouse pic.twitter.com/BAw6JdXzJA  Poppyscotland (@poppyscotland) June 11, 2020

Charles, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, will take the salute from a piper at his Scottish home of Birkhall.

He said: On 12th June 1940, after a gallant stand, the 51st Highland Division with supporting arms and services, including elements from English regiments, was forced to surrender to the German army at St Valery-en-Caux on the Normandy coast of France.

At 10am, on this years 80th anniversary, pipers throughout Scotland and further afield will be on their doorsteps playing the celebrated march, the Heroes Of St Valery, in honour of the fallen and to remember a battle in which those of the Division displayed the greatest courage and tenacity.

He added: I warmly encourage all pipers, whether skilled or learning, to take part in this moving tribute to one of the United Kingdoms most legendary fighting formations.

We remember all who served and who sacrificed so much.

Pipers from as far afield as Peru and Kathmandu will be performing the Heroes Of St Valery, which was composed by Donald MacLean, who was captured at St Valery in June 1940 and spent four years as a prisoner of war.

Three Scottish armed forces charities  Legion Scotland, Poppyscotland and Royal Caledonian Education Trust: Scotlands Armed Forces Childrens Charity (RCET)  have joined forces to organise the tribute.

Expand Close Pipe Major Ben J Duncan is among those who will be taking part in the tribute (Mark Owens/Poppyscotland/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Pipe Major Ben J Duncan is among those who will be taking part in the tribute (Mark Owens/Poppyscotland/PA)

The days events will include a tribute concert at 9pm, featuring performances from Celtic-rock stars Runrig, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and many others who have recorded tracks especially for the St Valery commemorations.

There will be a live broadcast featuring pipers across the world performing at 10am and a virtual classroom lesson for schoolchildren broadcast at 11am, while at 3pm there will be an online screening of the play The Beaches of St Valery.

Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin, president of Royal British Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland and a vice-president of RCET: Scotlands Armed Forces Childrens Charity, said: St Valery represents a hugely significant moment in our nations history, and it is quite right that the bravery and fortitude of the great 51st Highland Division should be marked in this moving way.

It is a great honour for us all that His Royal Highness, The Duke of Rothesay, will take the salute, especially given his own close association with so many of the Highland regiments that served in the 51st Highland Division. 

Scotlands veterans minister Graeme Dey said: There is barely a town or village in the Highlands that was unaffected by the events at St Valery in June 1940, yet many people today dont know of the incredible bravery shown by the soldiers of the 51st Highland Division.

Eighty years on from such a significant date in Scotlands history, it is vitally important that the heroic stance the 51st Division took that day is remembered, not only today but in the years to come.
Saigon Investment details below some comments made by Dr. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), on implementation of the PPP law.

Eliminating barriers

The implementation of the PPP law shows that even in favorable economic conditions, mobilizing public investment capital and private capital for infrastructure development is always a difficult challenge in most of the developing countries. In the present scenario affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, almost all economic activities have been paralyzed, which has greatly reduced revenue in the government coffers. Simultaneously, the cost of containing and tackling the pandemic in a heightened social security situation is indeed very high, leading to a huge budget deficit and directly affecting Government investment resources in the next quarter.

Investors are currently cautious about further investing in infrastructure development projects given the unpredictability of the Covid-19 pandemic. In order to implement PPP projects, they must be more open and transparent now, have no barriers obstructing their implementation, ensure more flexibility and high resilience and the benefits must be much more for all concerned. Therefore, it is not necessary to have the minimum number of projects in PPP, because this will miss small-scale PPP projects that are meant to promote socio-economic conditions in many localities. On the other hand, restrictions on PPP investments are also a barrier to attracting private investment in other infrastructure fields. The expansion of the investment fields in the form of PPP do not mean that the State resources should be scattered.

The expansion or not restricting the field of investment in the form of PPP plays an important role in maximizing the mobilization of financial, technological and technical resources of the private sector to meet the diverse needs of infrastructure and public services of the country in the near future. To promote investment in the PPP model, five areas have been proposed by the drafting committee as priority areas for PPP projects. Other areas, except for those areas that may affect national defense and security, may call for PPP investments according to their specific requirements and conditions.

Change in guidelines

During the current Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns and social distancing resulted in almost zero use of transport infrastructure, and far less consumption of electricity and water, and thereby far less revenue from many projects. Given this practice to attract private investment in long-term infrastructure projects, the PPP Law should be considered a framework law, not on how the State shares its risk ratio. The detailed provisions of some types of government guarantees for PPP projects as in the bill are both redundant and insufficient. They are redundant because they do not provide flexibility for both public and private sectors in various PPP projects. They are lacking when considering other risks that require State participation, for example, guarantee for contract performance in the context of low national credibility.

Based on the framework law, depending on the orientation of policies and national resources in each period, the Government will set specific guidelines and regulations. In case the National Assembly still decides to introduce specific risk-sharing measures, I support the plan to increase and decrease revenue, not to share profits. I also suggest that, in order to share risks, it is necessary to supplement an important measure, which is to guarantee the contract performance responsibilities of state agencies. At present, a major risk in contract performance is the phenomenon of state agencies not respecting PPP contracts. This is a top concern of private investors, so I suggest adding this to the bill.

Preparing projects seriously

The PPP bill should supplement regulations or encourage ministries and localities to seriously consider preparation prior to implementation of projects, as well as formulate a professional project development unit, prepare new generation PPP projects methodically, and create a balance of interests and risks of the project participants. This can be said to be a concern of private investors, so I suggest adding this to the bill, because good project preparation has guarantee of at least 50% success.

Specifically, in order to overcome the current difficulties when the state budget for project preparation is very limited, I suggest adding Clause 1, Article 73 to allow the mobilization of other reasonable capital sources, apart from the state capital source. This will help to prepare timely and high quality projects for investment. Along with that, encourage private investors to actively prepare and propose projects with state agencies.

Quang Ninh has implemented the PPP law very well, and not only large projects but also small and medium-sized infrastructure and public service development projects have over 62% of private capital from the private sector. Particularly for PPP projects, VND 1 of State investment capital entails VND 8 to VND 9 in capital investment from the private sector. This is a very good model for localities to replicate and raise capital for infrastructure projects for local development.

Dr. Vu Tien Loc Chairman, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)
An attempt to establish the number of people here who have contracted Covid-19 to date faces failure due to the low prevalence of the virus here, with 5% of the population set to give a false positive for coronavirus antibodies.

The first study aimed at establishing how prevalent Covid-19 has been across the country as a whole is due to start in Dublin and Sligo later this month, according to the HSE.

It said that the test will involve a random sample of several thousand people, who will be invited to submit a blood sample.

However, a recent seminar given by the Irish College of General Practitioners for its members heard that there is a mistaken belief that there is a reliable blood antibody test to see if you have had Covid.

The seminar, given by a consultant immunologist at a Dublin hospital last week, heard that the test to be administered by the Irish population is likely to return with a false positive rate of 5%.

Taking Irelands population of 4.9m that would see a return of roughly 240,000 false positive cases involving people who have not actually been infected with the virus.

Assuming those figures are taken at face value, it could lead to a situation in which six out of seven people are falsely marked as having at some stage contracted coronavirus.

The ICGP had not responded to a query at the time of publication as to whether or not it considers the antibody test to be fundamentally unreliable.

The issue of false positives could explain why the National Virus Reference Laboratory, which is charged with conducting the initial seroprevalence study, has opted to conduct the test in the Leinster and Connacht counties, as these counties represent the regions with both the highest and one of the lowest prevalence rates for the virus, thus enabling a comparison to evaluate how effective the antibody test is in practice.

The same seminar also heard that there is no evidence that presenting with antibodies to the virus indicates that the person in question is either immune to the virus or that they are no longer infectious.

Recently the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) heard from its expert advisory group that people who have recovered from the virus can thereafter be considered to be immune for a period of three months.

Seroprevalence [the level of a pathogen in a population, as measured in blood serum] has come to be interpreted as a means of allowing the public to return to a semblance of normality while living alongside the virus.

One GP told the Irish Examiner: Its just a mess. People are holding their breath for things that are going to make us be able to return safely to normal life. I dont think were there yet."




IN a bizarre suspected ritual killing, a 25-year-old woman was sawn in half and part of her body was mutilated and stashed into a drum filled with acid in Bulawayo.





Part of the body, from the waist going down, is still missing while breasts and palms appeared to have been sliced off.





Police yesterday arrested a suspect, Tawana Ngwenya (20), the son of a caretaker where the woman lived. He was arrested in Harare where he had allegedly fled.





Tawana allegedly had a message from a sangoma based in South Africa which instructed him on how to kill Ms Thabelo Mazolo so he could get rich.





Mazolos sister secured employment for Ngwenya at a company in Bulawayo and he was staying in Matsheumhlophe suburb at a guest house where Mazolo worked, with his father Mr Buzwani Ngwenya (60) who was the caretaker.





You must cut yourself and spill your blood onto a mirror. Gaze into the mirror and say out loud that you are selling your soul for riches. After that you must open the door for my boys to go out, read part of the message that allegedly had additional instructions on rites that Ngwenya was supposed to perform on the body.





Sources who told the Chronicle about the message said they freaked out and have not been able to eat or sleep, since the body was discovered on Wednesday morning.





Mr Ngwenya said Mazolo moved to Bulawayo from Harare just before the national Covid-19 induced lockdown.





He last saw Mazolo alive on May 29 when she said she was visiting someone in Sizinda suburb.





On June 1, he received a message from Mazolos phone informing him she would be away for about a week.





Tawana told him she could have visited friends after he discovered she had not been home since May 29.





He said Tawana disappeared from home on Tuesday when he asked him if he knew Mazolos whereabouts and he switched off his phone. Thabelos phone had stopped ringing. On Wednesday there was a strong smell of something rotting from the main house. I called the police. We opened the door with a spare key and found the body in a blue drum in the toilet. It had been cut up and some of Thabelos clothes appeared to have been used to wipe up plenty of blood, said Mr Ngwenya.





He said Tawana was the last of three children who was always quiet and had never shown homicidal tendencies.





Mr Benny Moyo, Mazolos uncle, said the family had tried to locate her when she suddenly became unreachable on her phone.





I went to her workplace and each time I would be told she is busy or had just left. We are devastated to learn she has been killed. We hear the suspect was arrested in Harare today. We may have more information when the police complete investigations, said Mr Moyo.





Miss Nomathemba Ndaba, Mr Ngwenyas employer, choked on her words in an interview.





At least Tawana who is suspected to have done this horrible thing has been arrested, she said. We are very sorry for Thabelos family but we want to warn young people against partaking in rituals. He may die in jail after this. Young people must be careful who they play with.





Chronicle went on the ground yesterday and unearthed grisly details of what could have happened.





Tawana who did his O-Levels at Allan Wilson High School in Harare was said to be a loner. He allegedly borrowed a hacksaw from a neighbour on May 25 saying he wanted to prune some trees and cut a drum.





It is suspected the hacksaw was used to cut up the body. Neighbours said around that time, he said he was looking for sulphuric acid.





He allegedly made inquiries at a company along Khami Road but was told it was out of stock.





Tawanas colleagues said he seemed spooked and was reluctant to have them spend time at his home with him.





He was acting weird. It was as if he expected someone to suddenly appear behind him and harm him. He was furtive and withdrew further into himself. When he left, he said he was going to Mutare. We heard a relative had seen him in Kadoma. We are all shocked that he killed someone, said a friend who declined to be named.





There were heart-tugging moments when some neighbours burst into tears as they talked about Thabelo.





We had known her for a short time but she was nice to all of us, said a woman who asked not to be named.





Tawana was slim and looked frail. If he did it, he could not have done it alone because Thabelo was significantly bigger than him. I doubt he could have lifted the body and put it into the acid drum by himself, said the neighbour.





Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said police were investigating the killing.





The informant last saw the deceased on 29 May 2020 at around 11AM when she was going to town. On 1 June 2020 the now deceased sent a message to the informant advising him that she was going out of town and will be back on Sunday 7 June 2020, said Inspector Ncube.





He said when Mr Ngwenya called the police, they found Thabelos body inside a blue 200 litre drum in the bathroom in a decomposed state.




New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers the inaugural address of the 95th annual plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) via video conferencing. Amid many challenges that the country is facing, PM Modi reiterated his dream for self reliant India and said that Indians must now work to turn the crisis at hand into an opportunity.

"I see people thinking kaash (I wish) we were self-reliant in medical equipment, I wish we were self-reliant in manufacturing PPE kits, I wish we were self-reliant in defence production, I wish we were self-reliant in manufacturing all that we buy or consume. I see countless such kaash in Indians today. The solution to all this can only come from atma nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India)," said Narendra Modi during the session.

PM Modi said that the government has reformed many sectors, it is now time for industry and youth to come forward and take benefit of those reforms.

"When we buy something from our local traders, we dont only encourage Indias self-reliance, we value the labour as well, also self-reliance starts from family. Every child is told to become self-reliant once they reach the age of 18," said PM Modi.

"Have to take steps to ensure that products which we are forced to import from elsewhere are manufactured in India," said PM Modi.

Speaking at the event, PM modi said that every Indian has been dreaming of self- reliance in various sector such as aviation, defence etc.

Prime Minister said that the Digital India initiative has helped India's have nots category as they now have access to DBT accounts etc.

India is currently challenging multiple challenges such as coronavirus, cyclones, earthquakes etc, he said.

Earlier this month,the prime minister delivered the inaugural address on the occasion the 125th anniversary of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). During the session, PM Modi said that India is on the path to regaining economic growth as the country enters the phase of Unlock-1 to gradually lift Covid-19 lockdown measure and boost economic activity.
IQM has experienced amazing growth, set up a fully functional research lab in record time, and also hired the largest industrial quantum hardware team in Europe. With the help of this new 20M, IQM will hire one quantum engineer per week and take an important next step to commercialize the technology through co-design of quantum-computing hardware and applications.

"Quantum computers will be funded by European governments, supporting IQMs expansion strategy to build quantum computers in Germany," says Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM.

Last week, the Finnish government announced they will support the acquisition of a quantum computer with 20.7M for the Finnish State Research center VTT.

"It has been a mind-blowing forty-million past week for quantum computers in Finland. IQM staff is excited to work together with VTT, Aalto University, and CSC in this ecosystem," rejoices Prof. Mikko Mottonen, Chief Scientist and co-founder of IQM.

This announcement was followed by the German government with 2b and to immediately commission the construction of at least two quantum computers. IQM sees this as an ideal point to expand its operations in Germany.

"With our growing team in Munich, IQM will build co-design quantum computers for commercial applications and install testing facilities for quantum processors," states Prof. Enrique Solano, CEO of IQM Germany.

Quantum computing will radically transform the lives of billions of people. Applications range from game-changing invention of medicine and novel materials to the discovery of economic models and sustainable processes.

"We are witnessing a boost in deep-tech funding in Europe, very important now. For a healthy growth of startups like IQM, we need all three funding channels: (1) research grants to stimulate new key innovations, (2) equity investments to grow the company, (3) early adoption through acquisitions supported by the government. This allows to pool the risk while creating a new industry and business cases," says Dr. Goetz.

IQM is focusing on superconducting quantum processors, which are streamlined for commercial applications in a novel Co-Design approach.

"With the new funding and immense support from the Finnish and the European governments, we are ready to scale technologically. This brings us closer to quantum advantage thus providing tangible commercial value in near-term quantum computers," adds Dr. Kuan Yen Tan, CTO and co-founder of IQM.

IQM ranks in the top 2% of all European deep tech startups applying for the highly competitive EIC Accelerator program

Thanks to its strong technology and business plan, IQM was one of the 72 to succeed in the very competitive selection process of the EIC. Altogether 3969 companies applied for this funding.

"The 15M equity component of the EIC can be an ideal contribution to IQM's Series A funding round." says a beaming Dr. Juha Vartiainen, COO and co-founder of IQM.

The new funding also supports IQMs recent establishment of its new underground quantum computing infrastructure capable of housing the first European farm of quantum computers. IQM provides the full hardware stack for a quantum computer, integrating different technologies, and invites collaborations with quantum software companies. Brilliant quantum software engineers are also welcomed to join IQM.

About IQM:

https://www.meetiqm.com/company/#aboutus

IQM videos:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvjqSqZiJ715XVH3O3IF93Q

About EIC Accelerator (SME instrument) program:

https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/news/eic-accelerator-offers-new-blend-grants-and-equity

About Business Finland:

https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/for-finnish-customers/about-us/in-brief/

IQM PR CONTACTS

IQM Contacts for questions and comments:

Dr Jan Goetz

CEO, IQM

email: [email protected]

tel. +358 505 666 483

(English & German)

Prof Mikko Mottonen

Chief Scientist, IQM

email: [email protected]

tel. +358 505 940 950

(English & Finnish)

Dr Kuan Yen Tan

Chief technology officer, IQM

email: [email protected]

tel. +358 504 778 091

(English & Chinese)

SOURCE IQM Finland Oy

Related Links

http://meetiqm.com/contact/






Haiti - News : Zapping...





Arrest of "Tilo" of the "Ti Grif" Gang

On Tuesday, Frantz Mervil (42), aka "Tilo", presumed to be one of the leaders of the "Ti Grif" Gang operating in Savien (Department of Artibonite), was arrested by agents of the Departmental Maintenance Unit of 'Order (UDMO) assigned to the Liancourt Police Station.



Return to the USA, no authorization from the Embassy required

When flights are available, U.S. citizens should work directly with the airline to make reservations & purchase tickets. Passengers do not require boarding letters or permission from the U.S. Embassy.



Jacmel : symbolic funeral of Georges Floyd

On Tuesday, nearly a hundred citizens of Jacmel paid tribute to the African-American Georges Floyd who died of police brutality during a symbolic funeral ceremony.



Foot : "NeriGol" and "Corventina" in the list of best players

The Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) published earlier this week a list of the best U-20 players in the area from 2004 to 2020. Nerilia Mondesir aka "NeriGol" (2015 ) and Melchie Daelle Dumonay aka "Corventina" (2020) are on this prestigious list.



7 employees of the National Ambulance Center contaminated

7 employees of the National Ambulance Center (CAN) have been tested postive at Covid-19 and placed in residential quarantine confirmed Didier Herold Louis, Director General of CAN.



The EU and the WB help Haiti pay its risk insurance premium

In order to take into account the economic impact Covid-19 on the finances of the Caribbean countries, the EU delegation in Haiti and the World Bank contributed up to 11 million to the CCRIF SPC (formerly the Catastrophe Caribbean Risk Insurance Facility) to reduce the amount of premiums that these countries have to pay to this insurance system, in the case of Haiti it is $1.7 million



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21157-haiti-security-cdb-will-once-again-pay-insurance-premiums-for-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18910-haiti-politic-the-ccrif-will-pay-more-than-$20-to-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17545-haiti-security-grant-to-pay-haiti-s-insurance-premium.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Local governments can decide whether to open public pools and playgrounds, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

Cuomo said local officials will have to use their own judgment about safety as the regions reopen.

Cuomo said Central New York could enter phase three of New Yorks plan to restart business after the coronavirus shutdown.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh has said the challenge with opening city pools goes beyond Covid-19. The city already has furloughed 104 people and is looking at millions of dollars in lost revenues.

Earlier this month, Walsh said he was looking for a way to open three of the citys eight pools.

MORE ON CORONAVIRUS

Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources

Cuomos office explains why Destiny USA cant reopen yet

Restart CNY, Phase 3: Whats opening, whats closed?

From hair salons to gyms, experts rank 36 activities by coronavirus risk level

Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com

Contact Michelle Breidenbach | mbreidenbach@syracuse.com | 315-470-3186.
LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday the decision on the timing of the coronavirus lockdown was made on the basis of scientific evidence and it was too early to say whether restrictions were brought in too late.

Earlier on Wednesday, Neil Ferguson, a former member of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said Britain's death toll from COVID-19 could have been halved if lockdown had been introduced a week earlier.

"We made the decisions at the time on the guidance of SAGE, including Professor Ferguson, that we thought were right for this country," Johnson said.

"Of course we've got to learn lessons, but I just think that it is at this stage premature, there's still too much that we don't know." (Reporting by William James and Costas Pitas, writing by Alistair Smout; editing by Stephen Addison)
Guwahati, June 11 : Around 7,000 people have been evacuated while the inferno completely and partially burnt more than 35 houses as the fire fighters, NDRF, and engineers intensified their efforts to douse the oil well fire in Assam for the third day on Thursday, officials said.

At least two fire fighters of Oil India Ltd (OIL) were killed and four others including one from ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) were injured near the oil well blowout site in Assam's Tinsukia district on Wednesday.

The inferno was so intense that it could be seen from as far as 10 km away.

OIL spokesman Tridiv Hazarika said that Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a review meeting with the crisis management team and OIL officials through video conferencing on the fire in the OIL's gas well. It has been reported that except at the well plinth area, the fire around the site has mostly extinguished. However, the burning of gas at the well mouth would continue till the well is capped.

The fire in around 200 meters periphery has completely burnt about 15 houses, while another 15 houses have been partially affected.

"Over 7,000 inhabitants adjoining the oil well fire site have been shifted to the 12 relief camps set up by the OIL," Hazarika told IANS.

A senior official of the Tinsukia district administrations said that it would take at least four weeks or a month to completely control the blaze.

The massive fire broke out at the leaking natural gas producing well of the state-owned OIL in Tinsukia district on Tuesday even as an expert team from a Singapore-based emergency management firm was trying to plug the leakage of gas and oil condensate for the past 16 days, prompting the state government to seek the Indian Air Force's help to douse the blaze.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday dialed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him about the latest developments regarding "oil well explosion incident". "The Prime Minister assured all help towards the people in the affected area," an Assam government release said.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tweeted that Modi discussed the situation in Baghjan fire tragedy in a telephonic conversation with Sonowal and "assured all possible support from the Centre".

Sonowal had on Tuesday spoken to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh seeking help from the IAF to douse the blaze, officials said. An OIL spokesman said that the fire has been kept controlled in a 1.5 km radius but it is still raging as the "uncontrollable" natural gas is being fed by the well's oil.

Local people said that the inferno has left a trail of devastation in the adjoining areas, including a famous lake. Farmlands with standing crops, as well as ponds and wetlands in the adjoining villages have also been badly affected and the threat is growing with every passing day.

Experts, environmentalists and wildlife activists are worried as the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, known for its feral horses, is less than two km away.

Central paramilitary troopers, NDRF, OIL and ONGC engineers and experts are on a war-footing exercise to douse the fire.

The oil well at Baghjan in Tinsukia, around 550 km east of Guwahati, had been leaking gas accompanied by oil condensate since May 27, causing enormous damage to the region's wildlife, wetlands and biodiversity. OIL Chairman-cum-Managing Director Sushil Chandra Mishra had a detailed discussion with Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, who is camping at Tinsukia, in the presence of Deputy Commissioner (Tinsukia) Bhaskar Pegu, and appraised the latest status of the blowout and actions initiated by OIL.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with residents on the square of the Jinhuayuan community of Litong District in Wuzhong City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

-- Xi said no single ethnic minority group should be left behind in the country's building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

-- Xi called for continuous efforts to make progress in the battle to keep skies blue, waters clear and land pollution-free and to push forward eco-environmental protection.

-- Xi required continuous efforts to fully implement the regular COVID-19 containment measures and accelerating the return of normal work and life order, stressing stable employment and people's livelihood.

YINCHUAN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed efforts to secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicating poverty.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection tour in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Xi underscored fully implementing the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee, working hard to overcome the impact of COVID-19 and giving priority to ensuring stable employment and people's livelihood.

Efforts are needed to continue building a beautiful new Ningxia with economic prosperity, ethnic unity, beautiful environment and well-off residents, he said.

During his inspection trip from Monday to Wednesday, Xi visited places including the cities of Wuzhong and Yinchuan to learn about efforts to coordinate regular epidemic containment with economic and social development, consolidate achievements in poverty alleviation, strengthen ecological and environmental protection, and promote ethnic unity and progress.

Visiting a poverty relief workshop in the village of Hongde in Wuzhong Monday afternoon, Xi talked with villagers producing cartons.

Such workshops were set up for poverty alleviation, and they should lean toward needy people in terms of employment, Xi said.

Compared with migrating to cities to work, the villagers employed near their homes may not earn as much, but they can save on accommodation, food and transportation costs and are able to take care of their families, Xi added.

At the house of Liu Kerui, a villager of the Hui ethnic group, Xi took a good look at the courtyard, living room, bedrooms, kitchen and cowshed, and asked Liu and his wife if they had any difficulties and what they planned for the future.

Xi expressed his hope that the villagers could keep going and create better lives for themselves.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about efforts to advance poverty alleviation in Hongde Village of Wuzhong City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Visiting a section of the Yellow River, Xi learned about the river's ecological conservation.

He said the Yellow River is China's "mother river" and called on Ningxia to take good care of it.

Visiting the Jinhuayuan residential community, where people of several ethnic groups live together, Xi said no single ethnic minority group should be left behind in the country's building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

It represents the fine tradition of the Chinese nation and the great strength of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics to enable people of all ethnic groups to walk hand in hand into a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Xi added.

On Tuesday afternoon, Xi visited a rural ecotourism park in Yinchuan to learn about the development of modern agriculture in Ningxia and the operation of agricultural cooperatives to help farmers raise income.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits a rural ecotourism park to learn about the development of local signature agriculture in Helan County, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

He stressed upholding a people-centered philosophy of development and putting the interests of farmers first in developing modern agriculture and cultural tourism.

Xi required continuous efforts to fully implement the regular COVID-19 containment measures and accelerating the return of normal work and life order.

While visiting a vineyard in Yinchuan near the Helan Mountains, Xi said the mountains constitute crucial shields for ecological security in the northwestern part of China. He demanded resolute measures to strengthen the ecological conservation of the mountains.

Xi said the wine industry has promising prospects as the living standards of Chinese people continue to rise.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits a vineyard near the Helan Mountains to learn about the efforts on strengthening the ecological conservation of the mountains, in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

On Wednesday morning, Xi heard work reports of the Ningxia regional committee of the CPC and the regional government, and gave his acknowledgment of the progress Ningxia has achieved in various aspects of work.

Xi stressed unremitting efforts to push for high-quality development, accelerate the transformation of economic growth mode, speed up industrial transformation and upgrading, and expedite the replacement of old growth drivers with new ones.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, waves at villagers as he visits Hongde Village in Wuzhong City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 8, 2020. Xi inspected Ningxia on Monday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Policies designed to reduce tax burdens on companies and measures aimed at expanding domestic demand should be implemented fully, he said.

Xi said innovation should be given full play to in driving growth and enabling industries to achieve high-end, green, smart and integrated growth.

He urged efforts to speed up the establishment of industrial system, production system and management system of modern agriculture, so that more signature farm produce of Ningxia will hit the market.

New breakthroughs in reform and opening-up should be achieved, Xi said, calling for targeted reforms and enhanced assessment of reform measures.

He called on Ningxia to seize the opportunities in the cooperation on Belt and Road Initiative, foster an open economic environment and promote higher-quality growth through greater openness.

Xi stressed resolutely winning the battle against poverty by addressing the prominent problems and weak links and sparing no effort to ensure poverty alleviation goals are accomplished on schedule.

Xi called for continuous efforts to make progress in the battle to keep skies blue, waters clear and land pollution-free and to push forward eco-environmental protection.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about efforts to strengthen ecological protection of the Yellow River at a section of the river in Wuzhong City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, June 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

On protecting the Yellow River, Xi called for efforts to build a pilot zone for the ecological conservation and high-quality development of the river.

Stressing the people-centered philosophy of development, Xi demanded solid efforts in ensuring employment for key groups such as laid-off workers, college graduates, rural migrant workers and demobilized military personnel, and in promoting balanced development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas and improving the public health system.

Xi called on all Party members, especially leading officials at various levels, to stay true to the Party's founding mission, remain clear-headed and maintain the political orientation.

He asked them to unwaveringly uphold and strengthen the Party's leadership, uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive for the great goal of national rejuvenation.

"We must persevere in carrying forward the great cause that our revolutionary forefathers had fought for," Xi said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 13)  Butchoy is now a tropical storm and already exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration's (PAGASA) latest update.

Signal No. 1 has also been lifted in all areas.

The center of Butchoy was last seen at 415 km west northwest of Dagupan, Pangasinan or 380 km west of Sinait, Ilocos Sur at 10pm.

It has maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour and a gustiness of up to 80 kph.

PAGASA also said that light to moderate rains at times heavy rains will be experienced in Zambales, Bataan, Pangasinan, the northern portion of Palawan including Calamian and Cuyo Islands, and Occidental Mindoro, between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Metro Manila will have improved weather conditions by Sunday or Monday, the bureau earlier noted.

The tropical depression made landfall yesterday over Polilio Islands and Infanta, Quezon.

Rainy days are here

It is official. The rainy days are here.

PAGASA declared Friday the onset of the rainy season.

The occurrence of scattered thunderstorms, Tropical Depression BUTCHOY and the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat) during the last five days have brought significant amount of rains over the western sections of Luzon and Visayas," the bureau said in a statement, adding that "this satisfies the criteria of the start of the rainy season."

But PAGASA weather forecaster Ana Clauren said in a media briefing that the country would still experience dry periods or monsoon breaks.
Hyderabad, June 11 : In the biggest ever single-day jump, Telangana reported 208 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, pushing the state's tally to 4,320.

The state also continued to see a surge in fatalities. Nine deaths were reported during the last 24 hours ending 5 p.m. on Thursday. The death toll mounted to 165.

Barring one, all Covid-19 cases reported were locals. The virus spread continued unabated in Greater Hyderabad as it accounted for 175 of the new infections.

The remaining cases were reported from 11 other districts including Medchal and Ranga Reddy bordering Greater Hyderabad.

According to the director of public health and family welfare, 1,993 people have so far recovered and discharged. The number of active cases stands at 2,162.

Meanwhile, the strike by junior doctors at state-run Gandhi Hospital continued for a third day on Thursday. They had gone on a flash strike on Tuesday night after relatives of a Covid-19 patient attacked a doctor following his death at the hospital.

More than 300 junior doctors have been on strike, demanding tight security for healthcare professionals treating Covid-19 patients, and decentralisation of Covid-19 nodal hospital among others.

The Telangana Junior Doctors' Association decided to continue the strike following the failure of talks with Health Minister E. Rajender.

The officials had announced on late Wednesday that the doctors called off their strike after the minister promised to consider all their demands. However, TJUDAS vowed to continue the strike till concrete steps are taken on their demands.

The strike by medicos, however, has not affected the treatment of Covid-19 patients. Professors and faculty members ensured continuation of the service.

Gandhi Hospital is the nodal hospital for Covid-19 cases in Telangana and TJUDA is demanding that the patients be treated in other hospitals as well.

The junior doctors went on a flash strike on Tuesday night after two relatives of a Covid-19 patient assaulted a doctor on duty following the death of the patient.

Police have already arrested two persons involved in the attack.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
In February, the economy fell into a deep recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the association of economists that is the official arbiter of recessions. The Federal Reserve estimated Wednesday that the economy will shrink 6.5% this year. That would be, by far, the deepest annual contraction on records dating to World War II.
Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa

Chandigarh: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar has been ranked as the top State Public University of Punjab and 51 among all the central, public and private universities which participated in NIRF-2020 rankings.

Besides this, GNDU has been ranked 18th among the State funded universities in the country. The National Institute Ranking Frame (NIRF) - 2020 rankings were released by Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at New Delhi.

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Tript Rajinder Singh BajwaThe Punjab Higher Education Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa has congratulated GNDU for this achievement. The Minister said that this would encourage and motivate the students for studying in State Public Universities of the state.

Further disclosing about this the Higher Education Secretary Rahul Bhandari said that this year two State Public universities of Punjab are ranked among the first 100 in NIRF-2020 rankings.

The Guru Nanak Dev University improved its ranking from 55th to 51st position and Punjabi University, Patiala has also improved its ranking from beyond 100 last year to 64th rank.

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NIRF ranks the various institutes on the basis of 5 parameters namely Teaching and Learning Resources, Research and Professional Practice, Graduation outcome, Overall Inclusivity and Perception.

Guru Nanak Dev UniversityThis year, Guru Nanak Dev University has improved in 3 out of these 5 parameters (Research and Professional Practice, Graduation Outcome and Perception). These improvements point to the existence of an excellent research environment and great higher education and placement opportunities for the graduates of this university.

A good ranking in NIRF enables the universities to get several prestigious grants from federal funding agencies. Guru Nanak Dev University has been consistently improving its ranking since the last 3 years.
Somerville, MA mayor imposed restrictions on churches much stricter those required by Governor Baker, public health recommendations

SOMERVILLE, Mass., June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Liberty Institute and the Massachusetts Family Institute today sent a letter to Somerville, Massachusetts Mayor Joseph Curtatone informing him that several churches in the city will immediately resume in-person church services on June 14, 2020. The letter was sent on behalf of four churches: Igreja Comunidade Batista Shalom Internacional, Christian Fellowship of Boston, International Church, and Safe House Baptist Church, each represented by First Liberty.



You can read the letter here .

Mayor Curtatones restrictions on churches would prevent even Jesus and the twelve disciples from lawfully gathering in Somerville, said Jeremy Dys, Special Counsel for Litigation and Communications for First Liberty Institute. If thousands of people can peacefully protest in the streets under the First Amendment, certainly churches are able to safely resume in-person religious gatherings.

It is time for government officials to stop these discriminatory orders that single out churches, Andrew Beckwith of the Massachusetts Family Institute said. Churches in Massachusetts are vital to our communities and just want to be treated with respect and fairness.

Despite Governor Bakers clear direction, Mayor Curtatone arbitrarily requires all places of worship in Somerville to limit attendance to no more than 10 congregants. On May 18, 2020, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker issued Order 33 providing that churches and other places of worship may open [their] premises to workers . . . and the public so long as such places of worship followed specific health and safety guidelines and limit to 40 percent occupancy. Further, Governor Bakers order clearly states that [n]o municipal or other local authority should adopt or enforce any workplace health or safety rule to address COVID-19 that is in addition to, stricter than, or otherwise in conflict with any COVID-19 workplace safety rule adopted in [Order 33].

Story continues

According to the 4-page plan submitted to Mayor Curtatone by Somerville area churches on Wednesday, they will meet in-person this Sunday under 40% of their maximum permitted occupancy level. Masks or face coverings will be required for those attending and persons not of the same immediate household will be required to remain at least 6 feet apart at all times. The churches will also instruct members and staff that if they are feeling sick or have been exposed to someone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 that they should not attend in-person.

About First Liberty Institute

First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.

To arrange an interview, contact Lacey McNiel at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the Maharashtra government on two petitions seeking separate probes by the CBI and the NIA into the alleged lynching of three people, including two seers, in the state's Palghar district in April.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the Maharashtra government on two petitions seeking separate probes by the CBI and the NIA into the alleged lynching of three people, including two seers, in the state's Palghar district in April.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, which heard the matter through videoconferencing, agreed to hear the petitions, including the one filed by sadhus of ''Shri Panch Dashban Juna Akhara'' and relatives of the deceased seers. Their plea alleged that the investigation by the state police was being carried out in a biased manner.

The other plea, seeking an NIA probe into the incident, has been filed by Ghanshyam Upadhyay.

The bench, also comprising justices MR Shah and V Ramasubramanian, has posted these matters for further hearing in the second week of July.

Besides the Maharashtra government, one of the petitions has arrayed the Centre, CBI and the director-general of police of Maharashtra as respondents in the matter.

The three victims from Kandivali in Mumbai were travelling in a car to attend a funeral at Surat in Gujarat amid the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown when their vehicle was stopped and they were attacked and killed by a mob in Gadchinchile village on the night of 16 April in the presence of police.

The victims were identified as Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri, 70, Sushil Giri Maharaj, 35, and Nilesh Telgade, 30, who was driving the vehicle.

While hearing a separate plea seeking a CBI probe in the case, the top court had on 1 May directed the Maharashtra government to submit a status report on the investigation in the matter.

The fresh plea filed by ''sadhus'' of ''Shri Panch Dashban Juna Akhara'' has sought transfer of the probe to the CBI, claiming that there is "reasonable apprehension of bias" if Maharashtra police proceeds with the investigation.

"Several video clippings have emerged on social media and news reports which very clearly demonstrate the active involvement of the police present, who can be seen handing over the three persons to the unlawful assembly of persons gathered," the plea has claimed.

"The entire incident and its handling raise several questions which remain unanswered till date and as the petitioners apprehend, shall never be answered unless they are investigated by an independent, unsullen and reputed arm of the central agencies," it said.

It has also sought a direction to the authorities to "favourably decide" the 28 April representations of the petitioner which has sought allotment of land at the site of the killing for setting up a memorial.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for one of the petitioners claimed before the bench that witnesses in the case were committing suicide and there were reasons to believe that investigation was not taking its course.

The counsel appearing for another petitioner told the court that they have apprehension that evidence might disappear in the case.

The counsel appearing for the Maharashtra government opposed both the petitions and said that similar pleas are already pending before the Bombay High Court.

One of the petitions has also sought a direction to the authorities to pay compensation to the families of the victims. The police have arrested over 100 people in connection with the case.
A hot potato: Not for the first time, certain tech terms are being called outdated and racist. As Black Lives Matter protests take place around the world, many in the industry want words such as blacklist, whitelist, master, and slave changed.

The word blacklist, which is used to describe a list containing banned, disallowed, or undesirable elements such as passwords, spam emails, websites, applications, etc. has been under scrutiny for years. Some find the term problematic, especially as whitelist describes everything that is allowed, or good.

Both blacklist and whitelist have been banned by the UKs National Cyber Security Center, while Google engineers have stopped using the terms in Chromium.

White hat and black hat, which refer to an ethical hacker and one who hacks for personal gain, respectively, have also faced calls to be replaced with ethical and unethical.

I refuse to use whitelist/blacklist or master/slave terminology for computers. Join me. Words matter.  Leah Culver (@leahculver) June 6, 2020

Master and slave have been familiar terms among computer enthusiasts for decades. Theyre also part of the terminology in the world of database storage, music recording, software, vehicles, trains, and more. As note by CNET, Python developers dropped the words in 2018, while the team behind Drupal replaced them with primary/replica in 2014. In 2013, LA County asked suppliers and contractors to stop using "master" and "slave" on computer equipment.

An academic study from the University of Limerick claimed terms such as blacklist, whitelist, and black sheep do not merely reflect a racist culture, but also serves to legitimise and perpetuate it.

The death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests have once again put these terms under the spotlight. Some believe they are racially insensitive and should be replaced, while others say doing so would make no difference, and other actions, such as donating to a cause, would have a more positive effect.
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Cataract is the clouding of the eye lens. Cataract is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. Intraocular lens is a synthetic artificial lens placed to replace natural lens. Intraocular lenses are used for the surgical treatment of cataract. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2010, approximately 20 million cataract surgeries were performed and are expected to reach approximately 32 million by 2020. Several types of intraocular lenses implants are available to improve vision. Monofocal intraocular lenses are best choice for limited budget. Whereas, premium intraocular lenses are specifically designed to reduce patients need for glasses. Tronic intraocular lenses, multifocal intraocular lenses and accommodating intraocular lenses are some of the premium intraocular lenses.

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North America dominates the global market for intraocular lens due to large number of aging population and availability of reimbursements. Asia is expected to show high growth rates in the next five years in the global intraocular lens market. China and India are expected to be the fastest growing intraocular lens markets in Asia-Pacific region. Some of the key driving forces for intraocular lens market in emerging countries are large pool of patients and rising government funding.

In recent times there is increased use of intraocular lens due to increasing prevalence of cataract in aging population. Rise in adoption of premium intraocular lens such as accommodating intraocular lens and multifocal intraocular lens and increasing government initiatives are some of the key factors driving the growth for global intraocular lens market. In addition, increasing healthcare awareness is also fuelling the growth of global intraocular lens market. However, high cost related with surgical procedure and post-operative complications such as refractive errors are some of the major factors restraining the growth for global intraocular lens market.

You Can Buy This PMR Healthcare Report From Here @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3290

Availability of advance technologies such as micro-incision cataract surgery and femtosecond lasers would develop opportunities for global intraocular lens market. The trend for global intraocular lens market is multi-distance vision capabilities. Some of the major companies operating in the global intraocular lens market are Alcon, Inc., Abbott Medical Optics, Inc., Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Rayner Intraocular Lenses Limited, Eyekon Medical, Lenstec, HumanOptics AG, STAAR Surgical Company and Hoya Corporation.
When the coronavirus forced California State University (CSU), the largest four-year public university system in the nation, to transition all 23 campuses to virtual learning in March, Chancellor Timothy P. White had just 10% of courses available online.

Three months later, hes successfully moved roughly 80,000 courses to the digital space, but he faces a slew of new challenges: a potential hit to enrollment, depleting state funds, and rising costs associated with increased COVID-19 testing and contact tracing to ensure a safe environment.

Were anticipating a $400 million a year, permanent reduction, which translates to 10% of what state appropriation typically is, White said. We put in a hiring freeze, so positions that are not absolutely vital will not be filled ... We stopped traveling. We are looking at projects that are costing money that can delay their start on hold for a while when the economy gets better. We also worked hard to build a reserve for a rainy-day fund. Well guess what, its raining now.

CSUs financial challenges mirror those universities across the country face, as students reconsider enrolling in fall courses, uncertain about what those classes will look like.

While White announced plans to conduct classes almost exclusively online for the upcoming semester, most universities remain undecided, prompting students to reexamine their fall plans.

I could learn most of it from YouTube

Audrey Labovitz graduated from Rye High School in New York to pursue a mechanical engineering degree at Carnegie Mellon University. Now shes questioning the value of a $75,000 annual tuition, if classes are limited to remote learning.

The value of college is often more about meeting people than learning things. Because with the internet now, I can learn anything without any help, Labovitz said. It would be helpful if I had professors, but if I really wanted to, I could learn most of it from YouTube.

That hesitation and the financial stress brought on by COVID-19 closures threatens to unleash a wave of school closures for an industry that was already struggling from demographic shifts, high tuition costs, and reduced funding.

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The large absence of international students, who pay full tuition, have complicated the economic picture. Many are unable to return to the U.S. because of visa and travel restrictions, adding to declining revenue.

More than half a dozen colleges have announced closures since March.

What we have is thousands and thousands of individual institutions. The economic model for many of which is sort of a 19th century economic model, and it's not going to do very well going forward, said Dr. Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University (ASU). If you're running a small college in central Kansas, and your tuition keeps going up and up and up, and you're unable to adjust or to adapt to the speed of change around in the rest of the world. That's going to be a very difficult model.

TEMPE, AZ/USA - APRIL 10, 2019: Unidentified individuals on the campus of Arizona State University.

Were seeing a lot of hesitation

ASU is preparing for a hybrid semester, rotating between remote classes conducted on Zoom (ZM) and in-person lectures with reduced capacity. Crow said the university has invested significantly to ensure testing for every student, widespread contact tracing, and developed an app to help students track their health status.

The university expects record enrollment for the fall, but Crow admits the real test will come in August.

Were not seeing any diminishment in demand, Crow said. Were seeing a lot of hesitation as to how best to execute. But as soon as we articulate how best to operate a healthy and safe campus, I think a lot of families will take comfort in that.

Colleges eager to attract students, have countered potential enrollment declines with incentives. The University of Nebraska is waiving tuition and fees for in-state students who are eligible for Pell Grants and come from families making less than $60,000 a year. The College of William & Mary rolled back a planned 3% tuition hike, while Thomas University in Georgia is offering a 30% discount to students who have lost jobs to the pandemic.

Dec 27, 2019 Mountain View / CA / USA - Coursera headquarters in Silicon Valley; Coursera is an American online learning platform that offers massive open online courses, specializations, and degrees

Fewer college campuses by a wide margin

Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda says the disruption brought on by COVID-19 marks a tipping point for higher education and the business models most institutions have come to rely on. The online learning platform has worked closely with universities around the world to accelerate their digital transitions, while also opening its entire course catalogue to college students for free this summer. Nearly a million university students have signed up for the platform since March.

I think people are starting to realize that even if the pandemic magically went away and we have a vaccine, its not clear that the old model for higher education was the best way to do it, Maggioncalda said. Online learning has a lot of really valuable and cost effective contributions it can make and I think the future of on campus learning will include online learning.

Maggioncalda says that is likely to transform the four-year college degree into a more fragmented experience. Students may increasingly opt for online community college courses to fulfill general education requirements, while smaller liberal arts universities may look to share resources in the face of tight budgets.

The education system and credentials will almost all ubiquitously be available online, and certain universities, far fewer than today will add into that residential experience, Maggioncalda said. I think there will be fewer college campuses in the United States that people go to, maybe by a wide margin.

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita
Horrifying footage has emerged of a 15-year-old girl taunting a fellow student before dragging her to the ground by her hair and repeatedly punching her.

The two girls, aged 14 and 15, were walking through a car park at Pacific Fair shopping centre on the Gold Coast on Tuesday afternoon.

Both girls, students at Merrimac State High School in nearby Mermaid Waters, were still wearing their school uniforms.

Vision of the brutal attack shows the moment a 15-year-old grade 10 student, egged on by her friends, approached a 14-year-old in grade nine as she was walking alone.

There appeared to be a verbal altercation as one of the girls tried to walk away from the crowd.

Daily Mail Australia has been told the girls fell out after a nasty rumour was spread about the younger girl.

One student, wearing tracksuit pants and white sneakers repeatedly tried to pull the other's handbag away, while the apparent victim pleaded to be left alone

The older student, wearing tracksuit pants and white sneakers, repeatedly tried to pull her handbag away, while the apparent victim pleaded to be left alone.

'Get off me. Let me go,' she said before trying to walk away again.

But the situation escalated quickly when the 15-year-old, followed by a group of boys including the one filming, trailed behind her.

The girl appeared to quickly look back at the crowd, who at this stage were laughing, before chasing the other student down.

'Just smack her,' one male voice off camera said.

Within an instant, the instigator grabbed the younger girl by the hair from behind and slammed her into the concrete before repeatedly punching her in the head.

The victim curled into a foetal position on the ground and attempted to protect her head during the ordeal

The instigator grabbed the other girl by the hair from behind and dragged her backwards (pictured: her back arching to the ground) into the concrete before repeatedly punching her in the head

The victim curled into a foetal position on the ground and attempted to protect her head during the ordeal.

Midway through the fight, the boys who were laughing minutes earlier asked her to take it easy.

'Oi, oi, oi, that's enough,' one said. 'That's enough. Stop.'

She allowed the victim to pull herself up off the floor before smacking her again a few times in the face.

'And I'll do it again,' the girl shouted as the victim dusted herself off and walked away without so much as another word.

Daily Mail Australia understands the grade 10 student who was filmed in the fight was later expelled from school after concerned members of the community flagged the footage with authorities.

But other students have 'leapt to the bully's defence' since her expulsion, a source told Daily Mail Australia.

She said some of the 15-year-old's friends had shared and spread horrific rumours about the 14-year-old in an attempt to justify the footage.

It is not clear what, if any, injuries the teenager suffered in the ordeal.

Merrimac High School and the Department of Education have been contacted for comment.

A spokesman for Queensland Police told Daily Mail Australia they are aware of the incident and investigating.

'Detectives from the Child Protection Investigation Unit are actively investigating the matter,' the spokesman said.

Officers are also appealing for anybody with further video footage to contact police.

The victim curled into a foetal position on the ground and attempted to protect her head during the ordeal
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. Deputy prime minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan assesses the governments measures aimed at eliminating the economic and social consequences of the novel coronavirus as highly effective.

The speed and intensity through which we implemented the socio-economic assistance programs, are very impressive. At least in terms of pace and target, we can state that we have implemented very effective measures, he told reporters in the Parliament.

The Armenian government approved a total 19 measures to eliminate the economic and social consequences caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) has notified activist Serhiy Sternenko of suspicion of premeditated murder and illegal possession of knives, the SBU press service said.

"Today, taking into account the materials of the case and the examinations, as agreed with the Prosecutor General's Office, Sternenko was informed of a suspicion of a crime under Part 1 of Article 115 (intentional unlawful causing death to another person) and Part 2 of Article 263 of Ukraine's Criminal Code (carrying a cold weapon without permission provided by law)," the SBU press center said in a statement.

The SBU emphasizes that the people who attacked Sternenko in Odesa in 2018 intended to intimidate him and cause bodily harm, so their actions are qualified under Part 4 of Article 296 of Ukraine's Criminal Code (hooliganism).

"Defending himself, Sternenko fended off punches with his left hand and stabbed with his right. As a result, Isaikul received a cut wound to the anterior abdominal wall, and Kuznetsov received a penetrating stab-cut wound to the abdomen. We note that such actions by Sternenko may correspond to the concept of necessary defense. However, his further actions cast doubt on the aforementioned version. Since Kuznetsov fled the scene, the attack on Sternenko is considered to be over. Nothing threatened his life and health. However, Sternenko ran after Kuznetsov, caught up with him and inflicted several wounds, in particular, a blow with a knife to the heart, which led to his death," the SBU said.

The report states that according to the investigation, Kuznetsov's body was found almost 100 meters from the site of the first collision.

"That is, statements that Sternenko wounded Kuznetsov during self-defense, and subsequently did not inflict any wounds, are untrue. An examination conducted during the pre-trial investigation confirmed the version of the intentional murder," the SBU said.

The intelligence service also said "Sternenko's words look dubious that he inflicted mortal wounds with a knife, which he allegedly took from Kuznetsov and Isaikul. Serhiy personally confirmed ownership of the knife on his own online broadcast on Facebook from the scene."

The SBU draws attention to the fact that reporting suspicion of a crime is a requirement of the law, which is valid regardless of information campaigns and political convictions of those who violated it.

"Given the public outcry, the SBU notes that it impartially approaches the investigation of any crimes and is guided exclusively by the norms of the law ... No investigation can be stopped due to the patriotic views of its defendants," the SBU said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:33:23|Editor: huaxia

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LISBON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Thursday lauded the strong cooperation from Portugal in the preparation for air travel resumption on June 15, the Portuguese Lusa News Agency reported.

"We have great contact with the Portuguese national aviation authorities and they fully support our guidelines and procedures. I have no doubt that we will not have any problems with Portugal," said EASA's executive director Patrick Ky in an interview with Lusa.

"The situation in Portugal is stable so far" due to the "strong cooperation with national authorities" of aviation, he said.

To ensure health security, EASA has defined uniform rules and guidelines with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, including physical distance in all areas of the airport (except inside the aircraft), the use of a mask, frequent hand hygiene and the accountability of passengers who embark feeling symptoms.

"Aviation is an international and, in this case, European sector, and it would not make sense to have a type of procedures in Lisbon that were different from those in Brussels and that would not help to recover the confidence of passengers, creating difficulties for airlines, passengers and airports," Patrick Ky was quoted as saying. Enditem
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka will hold an online public meeting, titled The international wave of struggles against the killing of Floyd in US and plans for capitalist dictatorship, on Sunday, June 14 at 3 p.m. local time. The event will be live-streamed via the partys official Facebook page.

The SEP meeting is being held as hundreds of thousands of people in the US and around the globe have been protesting over the police murder of Floyd on May 25. Large multi-racial and multi-ethnic demonstrations taken place in the US, as well as in Europe, and other cities in Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Mexico.

Although the trigger for this social upheaval was Floyds murder, its root cause lies in the immense intensification of social tensions and the political anger of the masses against the sustained attack of the ruling class on basic social and democratic rights. It is a reaction to decades of war abroad, the devastation of living standards and a massive concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny layer of the financial oligarchy.

In response to the social uprising, President Trump has deployed heavily-armed police forces to curb the protests and threatened, in breach of the constitution to deploy the military to take control of the cities. His declarations amount to a coup detat to establish a dictatorship based on the military.

Like his counterpart in the US, President Gotabhaya Rajapakse in Sri Lanka, presiding over a worsening economic and social crisis, is rapidly moving towards a military dictatorship. His regime has indicated its readiness to brutally suppress the struggles of the working class and oppressed masses.

These menacing developments underscore the necessity for the urgent intervention of the working class internationally to defend democratic rights. The global character of the growing struggles shows the objective conditions exist for building an international movement of the working class to fight against capitalism, which is the source of state repression and social inequality, on the basis of socialism.

We invite workers, youths, intellectuals and WSWS readers to participate in our online meeting that will discuss the need for an internationalist and socialist program.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:39:40|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Thursday hailed Chinese technology firm Huawei for boosting its Information Communication Technology (ICT) skills.

Kenya's ICT Authority said in a statement issued in Nairobi that Huawei has been a key partner in the DigiTalents program, which is the presidential digital talent program (PDTP) that seeks to develop and expand the ICT talent pool in the country.

The ICT Authority has begun recruitment for its fifth cohort of DigiTalents and has called upon Huawei to help to provide the latest cutting-edge training to the students.

Huawei has currently over 30 universities and institutes certified as training partners, and so far more than 1,200 students from the PDTP program have been trained.

After completing their testing, the participants will have access to free Huawei learning resources and tools including eNSP, Fusion Computer and different AI models.

They will also become Huawei Certified ICT Associates and will be fast-tracked for future job interviews and hiring by Huawei and its partners.

Philip Apodo Oyier, was one of the university lecturers helping train the students, said it was an honor to facilitate certification training for the PDTP group which was his first experience with the program coordinated by Huawei and ICT Authority.

"We had 21 interns in the class from varied backgrounds, thus the training approach was to build up from basic concepts to advanced topics, and emphasize the practical labs.

"The start was slow, but with encouragement from ICT Authority and Huawei, attendance improved with time. Students with programming challenges shared their screens, and the whole class participated in finding a solution," he said.

"I really appreciate the opportunity granted to be part of the program and help share my skills with these future leaders of Kenya," Oyier added. Enditem
Activists say account was suddenly shut a week after event in move that has raised concern about freedom of speech.

Zoom said on Wednesday that it had temporarily shut down a US account belonging to activists who held an online discussion to mark the anniversary of Chinas 1989 crackdown on peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square, raising alarm about free speech.

US-based rights campaigners turned to Zoom, which has become a way of life for many people during the coronavirus lockdown, to connect more than 250 people to remember the brutal crushing of the weeks-long protests on June 4.

The group, Humanitarian China, said it had brought in numerous participants from inside China, which has tried to erase all memory of the bloodshed, and that its paid Zoom account was shut down without explanation one week later.

The shutdown was first reported by the news site, Axios.

Zhou Fengsuo, a co-founder of the group who was number one on Beijings most-wanted list after the Tiananmen crackdown, told AFP that the Zoom account was re-activated on Wednesday.

Zoom acknowledged that it had shut down and restored the account.

Just like any global company, we must comply with applicable laws in the jurisdictions where we operate, a Zoom spokesperson said.

When a meeting is held across different countries, the participants within those countries are required to comply with their respective local laws.

We aim to limit the actions we take to those necessary to comply with local law and continuously review and improve our process on these matters.

The activists voiced outrage, saying that the company may have been under direct pressure from Chinas communist leaders.

If so, Zoom is complicit in erasing the memories of the Tiananmen Massacre in collaboration with an authoritarian government, Humanitarian China said in a statement.

It called Zoom an essential resource in reaching audiences inside China, which enforces rigorous censorship.

Beijing has developed the so-called Great Firewall that is designed to keep out news that could be damaging to the leadership.

Authorities go to extraordinary lengths each year to ban commemorations of the Tiananmen massacre, in which the military killed hundreds of unarmed protesters  by some estimates, more than 1,000  who had packed the capital to seek reform.
Kakao's gift shop selling luxury items / Screen captured from Kakao Talk



By Kim Jae-heun



The "big three" international luxury brands  Hermes, Chanel and Louis Vuitton  are unlikely to sell products on Kakao's mobile e-commerce platform, despite the increasing number of users flocking to it.



The Kakao platform is being successfully used by 1.5- and second-tier luxury brands, and local retailers such as Lotte Tops that have been selling designer boutique items such as clothes and bags. More specifically, the retailers sell gift coupons for nearly 30 brands, including Gucci, Prada and Yves Saint Laurent. However, the top brands' items are not available via the coupons.



Hermes, Chanel and Louis Vuitton are well-positioned to use the channel run by the country's top mobile app operator. But it's fair to say that these top brands are not weighing in on any move as they want to keep "loyal customers" by exclusively selling the products through their own channels.



Regarding any possibility of using the platform, all three brands downplayed this, although Kakao remains quite hopeful.



"Nothing specific has yet to be decided, however, we aren't ruling out the possibility of selling the three brands' items on our platform," a Kakao official said. He added that the platform has seen a considerable rise in the sale of luxury items such as jewelry and cosmetics. "Those in their 20s are our biggest customers," the official said.



As the COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading in South Korea and people remain indoors, businesses that have traditionally relied on "physical sales" have actively taken to online platforms helping them increase revenue and sales.



Even after the outbreak, however, the top three brands in Korea were reluctant to use online shopping malls despite the fact that sales at offline stores were falling.



Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermes said their management philosophy lies in inviting customers to boutiques and letting them experience items before purchasing them. However, some analysts say they will have to take their words back "sooner or later" and join the emerging trend by opening online shops as soon as possible.



When Kakao started selling gift coupons for Gucci, Prada and Celine, earlier, some market watchers thought it had made a poor business move and that no one would purchase coupons with a face value of several thousand dollars to give as gifts. However, Kakao's sales during the first quarter jumped 217 percent in the luxury goods category, year-on-year.



Lee Jae-suk, a chief buyer at Lotte Tops managing the imports of luxury items sold on Kakao said it saw 31 percent sales growth in May this year from January. Lotte Tops is a select shop operated by Lotte Shopping that imports luxury goods from French fashion houses' headquarters. Starting in March, it has expanded its sales item options by 20 percent on Kakao to now sell 350 luxury products and plans to increase its range even further.


Three people tested positive for Covid-19 in Mohalis Dera Bassi, taking the districts count to 143.

The patients are a 57-year-old Preet Nagar resident, a 25-year-old resident of Shivam Complex and a 22-year-old woman, who is a resident of Bhera village.

Mohali civil surgeon Dr Manjit Singh said the 25-year-old patient had returned from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh on June 8, while the 22-year-old woman reported to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. We are yet to trace the contacts of the 57-year-old patient. We will collect samples of his family members. All three have been moved to Gian Sagar Hospital in Banur.

All patients are stable and responding well to treatment, he said.

So far, the district has reported 143 total cases, of which 112 have recovered, three have died and 28 are active cases.
Sky Lagoon to open near Reykjavik along the ocean's edge in spring 2021

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pursuit unveiled plans to expand its collection of unforgettable and inspiring travel experiences with the development of a premium oceanfront geothermal lagoon.

Located in Karsnes Harbour, Kopavogur, just minutes from Reykjavik's vibrant city centre and iconic urban landmarks, Sky Lagoon will showcase expansive ocean vistas punctuated by awe-inspiring sunsets, Northern Lights and dark sky views.

"We are thrilled to unveil plans to develop a remarkable geothermal lagoon experience along one of Iceland's most stunning oceanfront locations," says Dagny Petursdottir, General Manager, Sky Lagoon. "The rejuvenating and relaxing retreat, situated against the dramatic backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean yet so close to Reykjavik's vibrant urban centre, will enable guests to connect with mind, body and spirit through the radiant powers of geothermal waters while taking in such impressive ocean views."

The lagoon's design draws inspiration from the breathtaking and cinematic landscapes of Iceland, creating an oasis within the city. Its un-obstructed 70-metre (230 ft) infinity-edge will produce a visual effect that will blend into the ocean landscape. Further design elements are influenced by Icelandic culture, creating a distinctive guest experience modeled after Icelandic turf houses and its restorative spa-like ritual rooted in Icelandic tradition.

"Spending time relaxing in natural geothermal waters is an integral part of our culture here in Iceland. Sky Lagoon's multi-sensory oasis will feature an ocean-side infinity-edge design in addition to cold pool and sauna experiences. Additional amenities will include an in-lagoon bar, dining experience and unique retail offerings," said Petursdottir.

Pursuit will operate Sky Lagoon through the Icelandic entity Atlantic L ehf. ("Atlantic") in co-operation with Nature Resort ehf., an Icelandic company. The facilities around the geothermal lagoon experience are in construction, anticipated to open spring of 2021.

"At Pursuit we are focused on connecting guests to iconic places through unforgettable and inspiring experiences," says David Barry, President, Pursuit. "Iceland is one of those authentic and remarkable places that has the power to excite and inspire. Following the recent launch of our visually stunning FlyOver Iceland experience, we are thrilled to announce our continued commitment to Iceland with the inclusion of Sky Lagoon to our collection of world-class travel experiences."

Iceland recently announced plans to reopen its borders closed by the global health crisis on June 15.

For more information on the Sky Lagoon visit skylagoon.com

View renderings here | Sky Lagoon by Pursuit

Watch the video here.

About Pursuit

Pursuit is an attractions and hospitality company that provides a collection of inspiring and unforgettable experiences in iconic destinations. From world-class attractions, distinctive lodges and engaging tours in stunning national parks and renowned global travel locations, to our growing collection of FlyOver flight ride experiences in the vibrant cities of Vancouver, Reykjavik, Las Vegas (expected opening 2021), and Toronto (expected opening 2023), Pursuit's elevated hospitality experiences enable visitors to discover and connect with these iconic destinations. With a strategic direction to build an expanding portfolio of extraordinary travel experiences, Pursuit remains focused on delivering unforgettable and inspiring experiences in iconic locations worldwide. Pursuit is part of Viad Corp (NYSE: VVI). For more information visit pursuitcollection.com.

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Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has granted amnesty to 28 inmates of the Nigeria Correctional Custodial Centres in the state.

Olusegun Ajiboye, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, in a statement in Akure on Thursday, said the gesture was in commemoration of the 2020 Democracy Day celebrated on June 12.

Mr Ajiboye said this was in exercise of the powers conferred on the governor by Paragraph (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 212 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.

Governor Akeredolu ordered that 13 of the inmates be discharged out of the facility accordingly and forthwith.

While 10 on death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment and 5 on life imprisonment were commuted to various terms of imprisonment.

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The 13 inmates serving various terms of imprisonment were pardoned, having served substantial portions of their sentences.

In the same vein, the 10 condemned inmates had been duly convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, while 5 were equally, duly convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, he said.

Mr Ajiboye further said Mr Akeredolu advised the pardoned inmates to make good use of the opportunity offered them by their release to turn a new leaf and abandon a life of crime.

(NAN)
Art attack: A woman wearing a mask walks past a wall with graffiti depicting a cleaner in protective gear spraying viruses with the face of Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro. PHOTO: GETTY

Britain's death toll from Covid-19 could have been halved if the lockdown had been introduced a week earlier, a former member of the UK government's scientific advisory group said yesterday.

Britain has an official death toll from confirmed Covid-19 cases of more than 40,000, rising to more than 50,000 cases when deaths from suspected cases are included.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed the lockdown on March 23.

Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson told lawmakers that Britain had taken the right measures but too late.

"The epidemic was doubling every three to four days before lockdown interventions were introduced. So had we introduced lockdown measures a week earlier, we would have then reduced the final death toll by at least a half," Mr Ferguson said.

"So whilst I think the measures... were warranted... certainly had we introduced them earlier, we would have seen many fewer deaths."

Mr Ferguson, a professor at Imperial College in London, produced a model which influenced Britain's response to the pandemic, but later stood down from Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) after he was accused of breaking lockdown rules.

His comments echo those of another scientific adviser, John Edmunds, who said at the weekend that Britain should have gone into lockdown earlier.

Mr Johnson said it was too early to say what regrets he had or lessons he could learn over the handling of the pandemic.

"We made the decisions at the time on the guidance of Sage, including Professor Ferguson, that we thought were right for this country," he told reporters.

Meanwhile, a group representing relatives of people who died of Covid-19 in Bergamo, one of Italy's hardest-hit cities, asked prosecutors yesterday to investigate possible criminal responsibility in the management of the pandemic.

Consuelo Locati, a lawyer for the group, said around 40 requests were filed over the handling of the outbreak in Lombardy, the northern region which includes Bergamo and accounts for around half of Italy's 34,000 deaths.

"People want an explanation," Ms Locati said. "They have given a signal to the justice system and they want to have confidence in the justice system because there's a moral obligation in this."

The aim was to identify those responsible for managing the response and determine whether criminal charges could be raised, she said, adding that once lawyers had time to prepare a case a separate wave of civil lawsuits would be likely in September.

Regional authorities in Lombardy have faced criticism for failing to set up special isolated "red zones" quickly enough, and for leaving open a major hospital that became an early centre of infection.

Bergamo prosecutors have already questioned Lombardy's president Attilio Fontana and its health chief Giulio Gallera over a decision not to seal off badly affected areas in the city's hinterland early in the outbreak.

They will question Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and top ministers tomorrow.

In the US, birthday parties and funerals have been blamed for a spike as figures showed 21 US states have seen a rise in cases in the last fortnight since the country began easing lockdown.

Health officials had warned that the US could be facing a second spike of the virus after Americans were pictured in their thousands sunning themselves on crowded beaches and swimming pools over the three-day weekend for Memorial Day on May 25.

More than a dozen states and the US territory of Puerto Rico have recorded their highest seven-day average of new cases since the pandemic began. In at least nine states, hospitalisation rates have also seen a steady increase

Texas had seen a decline in the number of new daily cases until May 25, when the numbers began to sharply rise once more after businesses reopened. Figures from the most recent day, June 9, show the state reported 1,945 new cases, up from 445 on May 25.
Reopening as infections surge

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide is rising faster than ever and the global peak may be months away, but many countries are choosing to end their lockdowns and reopen their economies.

At the beginning of the outbreak, governments rushed to impose lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus, then watched as their economies withered. World leaders, particularly in developing countries, say that continuing the lockdowns may result in economic catastrophe, particularly among their poor citizens.

So the thinking has changed: Instead of ordering people inside, governments have decided to reopen and accept a greater amount of illness and death.

Our colleagues across the world are already witnessing the shift. In hard-hit countries like Mexico, Russia, Iran and Pakistan, reporters are seeing fuller streets and a sharp increase in close contact among people. Our correspondent in New Delhi, Jeffrey Gettleman, told us that traffic in the Indian capital was back, along with the dreaded air pollution, which had disappeared during the countrys lockdown.
A soldier died and a civilian got injured in shelling carried out by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir late Wednesday, officials said.

A soldier lost his life in the line of duty late Wednesday night when Pakistani troops opened heavy fire in Tarkundi sector that runs along Rajouri and Poonch districts. India retaliated strongly to the unprovoked firing and shelling by the adversary, defence officials said. The deceased was identified as Naik Gurcharan Singh, a resident of Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. His body has been moved to Rajouri hospital for autopsy.

A civilian, named Nayamtullah (35), of Rajdhani village was also injured in Pak shelling last night. Chandan Kohli, Senior Superintendent of Police, Rajouri district said that the victim was hit by splinters of a mortar shell.

Also read: Encounter breaks out between security forces and terrorists in J-Ks Budgam

He was immediately evacuated to a hospital and is out of danger, said Kohli.

Besides this, a fresh encounter erupted between security forces and terrorists in the wee hours of Thursday in central Kashmirs Budgam district. The police said two to three militants could be trapped in Pathanpora village of Budgam. The operation was launched at around 2 am on Thursday.

This is the fourth encounter in Kashmir since Sunday. As many as 14 militants have been killed in the previous three encounters that took place in South Kashmirs Shopian district.
Mr Benjamin Kpodo, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho Central Constituency has presented 10, 000 nose masks to people in the Constituency to stem the spread of Covid-19.



He described the presentation as a rescue mission to empower my people to move about freely and fully protected with nose masks against COVID19."



The MP commended dressmakers and tailors for producing the masks to the standard of the Ghana Health Service and urged residents in the Municipality to observe the health safety protocols to limit the spread of the diseases.



Mr Kpodo said as a result of the deployment of the Municipal task force to ensure the compulsory wearing of nose masks in the Municipality, some people were not able to go out due to lack of masks, hence the donation to empower such people to go about their daily activities fully protected.



He urged members of the task force to exercise moderation and carry out their duties with a human face devoid of, inflicting brutalities on our people."



The MP said it was important for the informal sector players to remain at work to promote the growth of the local economy, thus the need for the task force to conduct its duties in a manner that would not scare the traders to abandon their businesses.



Dr Kwasi Dzokoto, Deputy Regional Director of Health in charge of Public Health, commended the MP for the gesture, saying it was going to improve the situation in the Municipality.



He said one measure in curbing the spread of the virus the world over, was the use of nose masks and, key to it compliance is the availability of the nose masks" therefore the donation was a very critical intervention.



Dr Dzokoto said Ho was becoming an epicenter looking at the recent number of cases recorded and urged residents to observe the health safety protocols.



He said the Municipality was likely to record multiplication of current cases if extra preventive measures were not put in place to curb the spread of the virus.



Dr Dzokoto was grateful to all stakeholders including the media and health workers for the support in the fight against the novel coronavirus.



The nose masks are to be given to Assembly members and chiefs for distribution to the people.



The MP, since April this year, donated several wash stations, gallons of sanitizers, packs of tissue paper, and nose masks to identifiable groups, including media houses and markets to stop the spread of COVID19.



Meanwhile, the positive case count of COVID-19 in the Volta Region has jumped from 126 on Sunday, June 07 to 162 on Monday, June 08, 2020.



Out of the 162 cases, 122 are on treatment, 37 recovered and three dead.



Ho, the Regional capital is leading with 62 cases having overtaken Ketu South, which has 40 cases.



Adaklu, South Dayi, and Kpando Municipal have two cases each while Agotime-Ziope, Akatsi South, and Keta, a case each.



Anloga, eight cases, Central Tongu, nine cases, Ho West, six cases, Hohoe, eleven cases, Ketu North, eight cases, North Tongu, three cases, and South Tongu, six cases.



A COVID19 Daily Situational Report made available to the Ghana News Agency said a total of 1,167 cumulative contacts had been listed with 1,132 cumulative samples taken.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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LIMERICK Council has signalled it may row back on proposals to part-pedestrianise Catherine Street after concerns from traders.

In a week where the majority of city centre shops opened after lockdown measures were eased, there is a sharp division among traders and politicians over the councils post-pandemic plan, which would see a temporary ban on cars and parking in Catherine Street, and a number of other satellite thoroughfares.

Although more than 100 retailers from right across the city centre signed a petition in opposition, a group of business people have also come out in support of the proposals.

Now, economic director Vincent Murray has said the blueprint for Catherine Street will be revised.

Speaking at this weeks economic committee meeting, he acknowledged pedestrianisation is a controversial aspect of the plan.

We have met a lot of traders and theyve highlighted how this could be damaging to businesses as they recover. So some of the proposals will be revised on account of these. Maybe more limited closures might emerge out of it in the short term, Mr Murray said.

Retailers gathered for a socially distanced meeting at the Peoples Park organised by Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely, who is set to be elected metropolitan district leader next week.

Her council colleague Emmett OBrien, who was also there, said traders were apoplectic with what they feel is a lack of consultation over plans to lose parking from the site.

The meeting was final straw stuff, the Independent councillor said, Traders in Catherine Street who are only just holding on have said enough is enough, they need to be listened to.

While you need footfall in the city, you cant have 1,000 people spending 1 while turning away 100 people spending 100, he said, suggesting that many people who would park on streets are doing just this.

And he criticised what he sees as a very pronounced campaign on social media which dismisses traders very legitimate concerns out of hand.

These are the people who pay rates, rates is money, money pays for these lofty projects. To dismiss these concerns as being regressive or backward looking, or holding onto the past is absolutely outrageous, Cllr OBrien added.

But local TD Brian Leddin, whose Green Party is championing the temporary proposals, said many businesses depend on streets which are less hostile to pedestrians.

He claimed that multi-storey car parks in the city, some of which have up to 2,500 car spaces, are only sparsely used.

So if we are talking about losing 30 parking spaces for the sake of pedestrianisation when there are 2,500 under-utilised what are we arguing about, he asked, Limerick is not a small town, its an ambitious city. The idea that you must be able to drive right up to the shop.. you wouldnt get that in Galway, you wouldnt get that in Cork, you wouldnt get that in Dublin. So why are we pushing it in Limerick?

Donal OConnell, who now runs OConnells Menswear, and was one of the traders who signed the petition, said: The level of the traffic on the street is very little and businesses are struggling as it is to get back open and deal with the new normal. Reducing cars in the city is not the way to go. While we all like to be green, the car is the safest mode of transport into the city.

Kevin Hogan, Melt Cafe, added its only the Catherine Street closure traders object to.

Access through the middle of the city would be restricted completely. With buses being restricted with the number of people they can carry, we need our cars. Access to the multi-storey car park [in Anne Street] is a huge concern too. All the small independent businesses depend on it to pick up their shopping, Mr Hogan said.

However, not all traders feel the same way. A group of 20 shop owners, largely drawn from the hospitality sector, have pointed to the 2018 Street Feast which saw Catherine Street closed as evidence pedestrianisation works.

In a statement, they wrote: All the studies tell us the same thing: pedestrianisation works for business. Research by the Living Streets charity has shown that making places better for walking can boost footfall and trading by up to 40%. We are also satisfied that the temporary proposals dont impact the flow of traffic from main routes into the city centre and that all access to multistorey car parks is retained. The off-street car parking spaces ensure all transport are accommodated.
It is gratifying that despite opposition from the United States, the Buhari government not only remained resolute in its support for the re-election bid of Dr Akinwumi Adesina as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), we were told that with the aviation sector in both Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire (where Adesina is based) still under lockdown, Buhari reached out to the Ivorien authorities for special landing permit, and despatched a presidential jet to fetch the AfDB president to hear his own side of the story in the allegations levelled against him, which the banks Ethics Committee investigated and dismissed. I felt proud to be a Nigerian with that level of support.

In the same vein, Buhari also nominated Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, a two-time Minister of Finance, and former Managing Director (Operations) of the World Bank, to be the countrys candidate for the post of Director General of the World Trade Organization despite protests from Egypt, which had nominated Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh for the same position. While we do not know the reasons behind Buhari withdrawing support for the candidacy of Yonov Frederik Agah, Nigerias permanent representative to WTO, for the same position, the switching of support to Okonjo Iweala gels with what people would call optics in governance. While Dr Okonjo Iweala is eminently qualified for the post  as Yonov Frederik Agah is also- with her nomination to such a very visible and powerful global position, Buhari plays to three critical constituencies at the same time - the Igbo who feel the Buhari government is wilfully relegating them to the background, the South-south and the womenfolk who feel the Buhari government could be more gender sensitive.

It should be recalled that when Prof Gambari emerged as the Chief of Staff to President Buhari following the death of Abba Kyari, he mentioned that his primary job would be to serve the President (and by extension the country) and to help safeguard Buharis legacy. Buharis passionate support for the candidacies of Drs Adesina and Okonjo-Iweala for the two top global positions runs counter to his perceptions as clannish and sectional. It is not just that both Adesina and Okonjo-Iweala do not share the same ethnicity, region and religion as Buhari, they also served the PDP government that Buhari defeated to come to power. This raises the suspicion that the passion with which the President is supporting the candidacies of both technocrats could be part of a second re-invention, which remarkably coincides with the emergence of Professor Gambari as Buharis new Chief of Staff. While we may never know whether Professor Gambari, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and a distinguished international diplomat, is driving this second re-invention or not, what is clear is that it presents another golden opportunity for Buhari to broaden his support base and ensure a national legacy when he is no longer around.

There are several observations to be made from Buharis supposed clannishness and suspected second re-invention:

One, Buharis first re-invention was during the run-up to the 2015 presidential election. It should be recalled that up till the 2015 election Buhari had serious image problem in most parts of the South  largely on allegations of Northern and Islamic biases. Largely because of these, he was not able to gain 25 per cent of the votes in any of the states in the Southern part of the country until he went into alliance with some regional political parties led by Tinubus Action Congress of Nigeria in the run-up to the 2015 elections. As the partys presidential candidate, APC strategists sought to re-invent Buhari by emphasizing that some of the negative narratives that followed him from his time as military Head of State were concocted or dictated by the nature of military regimes. They also emphasized that he had become a born-again democrat. And to countenance the narrative of being clannish, Buhari was dressed in the traditional attire of different ethnic groups during the campaign  and even in Western jacket! My favourite of those attire re-inventions was where he was dressed in a pair of jacket, (without his trademark Shagari cap) and with a new pair of glasses which made him look every inch like a disciplinarian school principal. In every region he visited, the leaders of the community were mobilized to welcome him like a statesman and hero. I wrote at that time that whatever might be the outcome of the election, that Buhari had already won an important symbolic victory. In fact if Buhari did not win the 2015 election, he would have become perhaps the greatest living political saint across many parts of the country. In most parts of the South, he quickly transited from pariah to hero. This is one of the reasons many people were disappointed that he did not build on that hugely successful re-invention as he settled down to govern.

Two, though the Buhari government has done quite a couple of things that ordinarily deserve national applause such as its investments in infrastructure development, its support for agriculture, its response to the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa and its empathic response to the Onitsha fire incident in October 2019, these often come in spurts or with the government quickly relapsing to its suspected comfort zone of targeting the applause of only a narrow constituency of its support base. This raises the question of whether the remarkable support given to Dr Adesina and Ngozi Okonjo Iweala will be the beginning of a second re-invention, and if so, whether it can be sustained.

Three, while it is true that political appointments are merely an elite game that rarely benefits the common people (what for instance does an Igbo farmer gain from Ngozi Okonjo Iweala being the DG of WTO?), a perception that a government is fair to ones constituency is salutary to development and facilitates the nation-building process. Similarly though ethnicity is merely a mask used to camouflage the competition for power and environmental resources between the various ethnic, regional and religious factions of the political elite, over time it has acquired an objective character. This means that it now exists on its own independent of the competition for any environmental resource. In essence, ethnicity and other forms of identity politics are critical prisms used by the generality of Nigerians for framing political discourses and filtering realities from the Nigerian socio-political environments. This is why we have ethnic watchers across all the ethnic groups - to see how their ethnic in-group is favoured or disfavoured by any regime. It is therefore unhelpful for anyone to pretend to be above ethnic and religious considerations because from identity studies we know that any identity that is perceived to be under threat, is the one most vociferously defended. This means that even the most cosmopolitan, once he feels that one of the mosaic of identities that he bears is under threat, the person will automatically rise up in defence of that identity. This is precisely why it is important that governments pay attention to the optics of governance.

Four, remarkably criticisms of Buharis supposed clannishness  a past time of many Nigerians, especially those from the South - paradoxically exposes many of us as hypocrites. For instance while a number of South-west politicians and public intellectuals lead the charge in accusing the North of born-to-rule mentality, they find nothing wrong in elements from the same South-west zone positioning themselves to succeed Buhari in 2023, despite the fact that the zone produced the President of the country for eight years (i.e. Obasanjos presidency 1999-2007) and the Vice President for another eight years (i.e. Osinbajo, 2015-2023) in the current democratic dispensation. Similarly, in many of the states in the South-East (which uses Igbo marginalization to frame national political discourse), no one sees anything wrong in some senatorial zones in some states being effectively shut out from having a shot at the governorship. In the same vein there are some local governments in the zone (and also across the country) where the most populous towns or ones with the most connected people feel a sense of entitlement to monopolize the chairmanship of the Local Government Area.

In Anambra state for instance, there is currently an ongoing discussion on whether zoning and power rotation should be applicable in the 2021 governorship election in the state or not. Remarkably people take positions in this debate not on the basis of justice (as you would expect people who use marginalization to frame national political discourse) but on expediency - basically which position will butter their bread more NOW. Across the country the story is more or less the same: the Tivs feel it is OK to monopolize the right to produce the Governor of Benue State  just as the Igalas did in Kogi (until fate made Yahaya Bello Governor).

In essence as we speculate on Buharis possible second re-invention, it is also germane to examine whether four of our fingers are pointing accusingly at us  as we point one at Buhari.
MOHALI

A local court on Thursday extended the police remand of a man arrested for supplying arms to Khalistani terrorists till June 16.

Javad was nabbed by the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of the UP Police from Meerut on June 7. The special operation cell of Punjab Police brought the arms supplier on a production warrant to Mohali and produced before duty magistrate Amit Bakshi, civil judge (junior division. The court had earlier remanded Javed till June 11.

The special operation cell pleaded that they have to ascertain Javeds links with other terrorist groups, the source from where he procured arms and ammunition and funding.

Javed was wanted in Punjab for his alleged involvement in supplying of arms and ammunition to Dharminder Singh, alias Gugni, of Ludhiana and a member of the banned Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), who was involved in the murder of a senior RSS leader Jagdish Kumar Gagneja.

Javeds accomplice Ashish was arrested earlier. Dharminder is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.

In November 2019, Javed on the instructions of Dharminder, gave three pistols to his aide, the ATS said in the statement.

Ina joint operation by the UP ATS and Punjab Police, in May this year, Tirath Singh, a suspected terrorist owing allegiance to the Khalistan movement, was arrested from Thapar Nagar in Meerut. He was handed over to Punjab Police after interrogation.

In February this year, the UP-ATS arrested Ashish, a key arms supplier of the Khalistan Liberation Force members from Haridwar. In November 2019, the ATS arrested a man and his accomplice from the states Shamli district for their alleged involvement in supplying arms and ammunition to pro-Khalistan terror groups.
A Black Lives Matter protester has tested positive for coronavirus after attending a rally in Melbourne, sparking fears of second wave of the virus in Australia.

The man in his 30s marched with thousands through the city on Saturday and developed symptoms 24 hours later.

The protester, who is not indigenous, wore a mask but health officials still fear he may have given the virus to others.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the case could be the start of a mass outbreak. 'This realises our worst fears,' he told Sydney radio 2GB.

'Now we could slip back into a second wave like other countries have.'

A Black Lives Matter protester has tested positive for coronavirus after attending a rally in Melbourne. Pictured: The protest

People hold up placards at a Black Lives Matter protest to express solidarity with US protestors in Melbourne on June 6

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it was unlikely the man caught the virus at the protest because if he had he would not be showing symptoms already.

'This case is unlikely to have been acquired at the protest but we were all concerned about the possibility of transmission occurring at that protest,' he said.

'It's obviously helpful that the individual wore a mask but masks are not 100 per cent protection.'

Contact tracing is under way and anyone who came face to face with the infected protester for 15 minutes or more will be asked to quarantine as part of the normal process.

Dr Sutton, who warned people not to attend Saturday's rally, also urged people not to go to any future demonstrations.

'We don't want people gathering in groups larger than 20 in Victoria because of the risk to others. It is my strong recommendation not to go and it is the law,' he said.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also condemned the protesters, saying: 'People shouldn't have gathered in those numbers for those rallies. In doing so, they put the broader community's health at risk.

Critics said the protesters put Aboriginal people at risk because they are more vulnerable to the deadly virus

'That was the obvious message from the medical experts about those rallies. And it was very unfortunate that they proceeded in the way that that did.'

Black rights protests sprung up around the western world in response to American demonstrations following the death of black security guard George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Thousands of aboriginal rights activists attended rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide on Saturday despite health officials warning they could cause COVID-19 outbreaks.

This morning Prime Minister Scott Morrison slammed the protesters and said he wanted anyone attending future rallies to be charged with breaking public health orders.

'I think they should. I mean, I really do think they should, because they'll be kind of a double standard here,' he told Melbourne radio 3AW.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Australian cities in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Pictured: A protest in Sydney on Tuesday

'I think the issues of last weekend were very difficult, but I think people carrying it on now, it's not about that.

'It's about people pushing a whole bunch of other barrows now, and it puts others lives and livelihoods at risk.'

Mr Morrison added: 'I saw some people say, when they attended this rally, 'oh I knew the risk I was taking by attending'.

'They were talking about themselves, they weren't talking about the Australians who weren't there, you know, millions of quiet Australians who have done the right thing.'

The Prime Minister said protesters had prevented more restrictions being lifted as health officials wait two weeks to see if the demonstrations cause a spike in cases.

'By all means raise your issue. But by doing this, they have put the whole track to recovery at risk,' he told Sydney radio 2GB.

As state leaders face growing calls to lift more restrictions, Mr Morrison said: 'The rally last weekend is the only legitimate blocker.'

Deputy chief medical officer Professor Michael Kidd said it was too early to tell if the protests will cause a spike.

'The incubation period for COVID-19 is five to seven days, up to 14 days. So we will only start seeing new cases occurring if that transmission had occurred on the weekend over the days ahead,' he told ABC News this morning.

'We're continuing to be very cautious and obviously we need to see what happens over the next few days.'

In total Victoria reported eight new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, two in hotel quarantine and six from community transmission.

New South Wales reported zero new cases and Queensland reported one, a returned traveller.
Outdoor dining returns to Harrisburg June 13 with more restaurants and expanded hours.

Saturday Nights in the City are held during June in portions of the city. The dining events, organized by the City of Harrisburg and Downtown Improvement District, are designed to give people a chance to get out of the house, while helping restaurants increase their capacity.

A handful of streets are closed to accommodate tables, which are spaced apart for social distancing. The first dining event was held June 6.

"We are pleased with the success of the first event last weekend,  said Mayor Eric Papenfuse in a statement. This program is a great way for us to support our city restaurants, and I encourage residents to come out again this upcoming Saturday night.

This weeks event will run two hours longer from 5-10 p.m. on portions of North Second Street, Third Street, State Street, North Street and Conoy Street.

Because Dauphin County is in the states yellow reopening phase, restaurants can only serve outside.

During the events, diners are invited to order carryout food and drink and sit at tables. However, establishments with liquor licenses such as Stocks on 2nd, Cafe Fresco, Federal Taphouse and Cork & Fork cordon off dining areas on the street in front of the individual establishments. Some of the restaurants accept reservations.

It reminds me a lot of when you go to Miami or somewhere, it really does. Its really cool. Just to look up and down the street and see everybodys tables, the way they are set up," said Brian Fertenbaugh, co-owner of Cafe Fresco, last week.

Participating restaurants includes El Sol Mexican Restaurant, Stocks on Second, Carleys Ristorante and Piano Bar, Cafe Fresco, Taco Solo, Ad Lib Craft Kitchen and Bar, Sawyers, Bourbon Street Saloon, Zembies, McGraths, Aroogas, Taste Buffalo, Cork & Fork, Federal Taphouse, Rubicon, Mangia Qui, BurgerIM, Bollywood, The Brick Haus, Los Tres Cubanos, Second Street Shawarma, JB Lovedrafts and The Vegetable Hunter.

The following streets will be closed from 3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on June 13:

North Second Street from Market to Pine

State Street, from Church to North Second Street  westbound

North Street, from Susquehanna to Third Street  westbound, Second to Buttonwood

Conoy Street

Third Street from Market to Chestnut streets

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Aspirin reduces colorectal cancer risk by half in individuals at high genetic risk. Preventive efficacy is prolonged for 10-20 years after treatment with aspirin.

Long-term results of an international multi-center trial CAPP2 showed that 600 mg of aspirin daily reduced colorectal cancer risk by half compared to those on placebo. Eight hundred and sixty-one genetically susceptible patients were randomized to have either aspirin or placebo for 2-4 years and followed up for 10-20 years. Of those on aspirin, 40 had colorectal cancer, while 58 of those on placebo got colorectal cancer during follow-up.

- The results are statistically interpreted that aspirin reduced the risk by about 50%, and the efficacy lasted for 10-20 years after taking the medication, says Professor Jukka-Pekka Mecklin from the University of Jyvaskyla and Central Finland Hospital District.

The finding is similar to what has been observed after large cardiovascular studies performed in general population previously.

- Tens of thousands of patients had aspirin in placebo-controlled trials to prevent cardiovascular events. After reviewing the data afterwards, those on aspirin had significantly less colorectal cancer than those on placebo, says Mecklin.

Lynch Syndrome causes an increased lifetime risk of multiple cancers

The participants of the current study were identified carriers of Lynch Syndrome. They carry a gene that causes a defect in DNA mismatch repair. Lynch syndrome is the most common predisposition for cancer, the prevalence of which is 1:250 in general population. Most are unaware of their genetic condition.

- Lynch Syndrome gene have often cancer at young age, most often in bowel, womb, bladder, ureter or biliary tract. Genetic testing is beneficial to provide surveillance and targeted prevention to those at risk. If there are multiple cancer in the family at relatively young age (50-60 years), or some individuals have had several cancer in these organs, the relatives should seek for genetic counselling, Mecklin advises.

High doses of aspirin may cause bleeding and gastric ulcer, which the reason the CAPP research group is currently conducting another study with three different doses (100, 300 and 600 mg daily).

The results were published in a distinguished medical journal The Lancet. From Finland, 149 participants, and researchers from Central Finland Central Hospital, University of Jyvaskyla, HUS and University of Helsinki, contributed to the study.

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The Importance of the State CDO During Crises

Arkansas Creates Tech Advisory Board to Help Combat COVID-19

Baltimore Office of Performance and Innovation Looks to Hire Analyst

Code for America (CfA), the nonpartisan and nonprofit group in the vanguard of U.S. civic tech work, has decided to move all of its in-person events for 2020 online, CfA officials announced via email this week.As COVID-19 continues to transform all our lives, our team is working hard to enable ways to support each other and our community from afar, CfA wrote in the email. With safety as a top priority, Code for America has decided to move all in-person events for 2020 to a virtual format. Were committed to adapting events we all know and love  like National Day of Civic Hacking in the fall  to a virtual format, while exploring new events to bring to our community.With that in mind, the group rolled out a full slate of digital programming through the end of this month, including four events related to technology as it applies to community and government.Those events include three next week, which are Exploring Design Distortions in Government Power to Flys Diversity Reboot 2020 , and How Can Data Science Support an Inclusive Recovery? ; as well as a fourth event on June 25, which is People Power: Connecting Community to Government During COVID-19 , a panel that will feature Code for Americas brigade network of localized civic tech groups the nation over.Moving forward, CfA will be rolling out upcoming virtual programming for the rest of the calendar year via its events page . What makes this move significant is that it seems likely to influence the rest of the civic tech community to keep things online as well, with so many localized groups being part of the CfA Brigade Network.The Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University is emphasizing the importance of the state CDO role amid crises.In a press release this week, the center noted, The COVID-19 pandemic and recent protests against police brutality highlight the unique position the state government plays and how it directly impacts peoples lives. Data is already in the spotlight and will be critical in how states recover from the pandemic and address systemic racism if leveraged properly.In the service of those ideas, the Beeck Center, which is host to the 25-member State CDO Network, has worked to put together a framework it hopes can help guide states in creating and supporting successful data programs.This framework is primarily supported by a pair of tools. The first is a report entitled The Evolving Role of the State Chief Data Officer , and it is intended to help decision-makers and others involved with state data work shape the roles and responsibilities of state CDOs, whether they have that position already or are looking to create it.The second is a guidebook entitled State Data Policy Option Guidelines , and it comes equipped with examples of legislation from states across the country that support the data program framework. With this tool, the center notes that it expects the policy options will grow over time as states continue implementing effective solutions.This sort of best practices and support work is something that has existed at the city level for some time and is now starting to become more mature at the state level, supported as it is in large part by the Beeck Center and the State CDO Network.Arkansas has created a state-level tech advisory board to make recommendations for how technology can be used to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.Dubbed the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Board , the new group was announced via a press release from Gov. Asa Hutchinsons office, with the governor noting in a recent press release that the goal of this is to review and evaluate new technologies as the states public health agencies develop strategies for testing and contact tracing.Hutchinson created the board via an executive order, and he has tapped Dr. Austin Porter III as the chair. Porter currently serves as the deputy chief science officer within Arkansas Department of Health. Using tech to accomplish successful contact tracing was a key part of why the governor said he created this board, given the fast-changing nature of contact tracing technology.In total there are 12 members of the board, and the expertise they bring is a diverse mix of technology, medicine, health care and science.Finally, the Baltimore Office of Performance and Innovation is looking to hire a new CitiStat analyst.The posting can be found here . Primarily, this is a role that will do data work for the city, including supporting data-driven services, integrating modern analytics tools with policy, helping elected leaders use data to inform decisions, and supporting a data-driven culture within Baltimore.
President Trump demanded that Republicans in Congress reject stripping Confederates' names off of Army bases despite Senate Republicans already voting in favor of an amendment pushed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

'Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars,' Trump wrote. 'Hopefully our great Republican Senators wont fall for this!'

The president was late by nearly a day, as Republican senators in the Armed Service Committee voted Wedensday night in the affirmative for the amendment, according to Roll Call. It gives the military three years to rename bases and other entities currently using names related to the Confederacy.

The vote was taken behind closed doors and was a voice vote, adding the measure to the annual Pentagon policy bill - the Defense Authorization Act. The act must still be approved by the full Senate and also by the House.

President Trump lashed out at Sen. Elizabeth Warren for pitching an amendment that would rename military bases named after Confederate figures. The president then demanded that Republican senators follow his lead, after a number of them already voted in favor of Warren's proposal

In committee, just one Republican would have needed to vote with Democrats to approve the amendment - the panel is 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats - but the absence of a roll call vote suggests many more did.

The vote came hours after Trump tweeted furiously that he will 'not even consider' renaming Forts Bragg, Hood, Lee and others.

The move puts the Republican senators on a collision course with Trump, who White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany suggested would veto any legislation that renamed the bases. She claimed it was an insult to people who had served abroad to rename bases that they left from.

Settting up a White House-versus-Congress showdown, the top House Republican, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, said he Thursday he was 'not opposed' to renaming the bases.

Trump has put a battle of the bases at the center of an escalating culture war.

He is facing accusations of insensitivity by planning his first comeback rally on Friday 19, date of the Juneteenth commemoration of the end of slavery, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, scene of a horrific racist massacre in 1921.

The 10 bases are named for a group that includes slave owners, officers who left the U.S. Army to join the rebels, and at least one general who ordered the execution of unarmed prisoners.

The president made his stance known in a tweet, again calling Elizabeth Warren 'Pocahontas' a controversial nickname he gave her when she was running for president

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (left) proposed an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act that would give the military three years to rename bases, ships, planes and other entities that were named after figures who fought against the United States in the Civil War

President Trump sent out a trio of tweets just before Wednesday's White House briefing saying he was against renaming 10 Army bases that are currently named for Confederate leaders

Vote: Elizabeth Warren pushed the move to remove the Confederate generals' names in the Armed Services Committee, whose Republican majority includes Trump ultra-loyalist Tom Cotton, a former soldier who suggested sending in troops with illegal orders to quell protests

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, said Thursday that he's 'not opposed' to a line in a defense appropriations bill making its way through Congress that would compel the military to rename bases and other entities currently named for Confederates

President Trump also tweeted this Thursday, likely referring to the push to take down Confederate monuments and rename bases currently named for Confederate figures

MEMBERS OF THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE REPUBLICANS Sen. James Inhofe (chair) - Oklahoma Sen. Roger Wicker - Mississippi Sen. Deb Fischer - Nebraska Sen. Tom Cotton - Arkansas Sen. Mike Rounds - South Dakota Sen. Joni Ernst - Iowa Sen. Thom Tillis - North Carolina Sen. Dan Sullivan - Alaska Sen. David Perdue - Georgia Sen. Kevin Cramer - North Dakota Sen. Martha McSally - Arizona Sen. Rick Scott - Florida Sen. Marsha Blackburn - Tennessee Sen. Josh Hawley - Missouri DEMOCRATS Sen. Jack Reed (ranking member) - Rhode Island Sen. Jeanne Shaheen - New Hampshire Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand - New York Sen. Richard Blumenthal - Connecticut Sen. Mazie Hirono - Hawaii Sen. Tim Kaine - Virginia Sen. Angus King (independent) - Maine Sen. Martin Heinrich - New Mexico Sen. Elizabeth Warren - Massachusetts Sen. Gary Peters - Michigan Sen. Joe Manchin - West Virginia Sen. Tammy Duckworth - Illinois Sen. Doug Jones - Alabama Advertisement

It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc.,' Trump tweeted Wednesday, minutes before the White House briefing.

'These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom,' Trump tweeted. 'The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars,' the president continued.

'Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations,' Trump said.

But later on Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is Republican-controlled, voted the opposite way.

Its Republican members include Tom Cotton, the Arkansas senator and former Army officer who caused outrage by demanding 'sending in the troops' with illegal 'no quarter' orders to quell protests.

But they also include a series of senators facing strong Democratic challenges, including Iowa's Joni Ernst, Arizona's Martha McSally, North Carolina's Thom Tillis and Georgia's David Perdue.

A voice vote indicates that the amendment passed without objection, but it also means there's no accounting for who on the committee voted aye and who voted nay, if anyone.

If all the Democrats voted in the affirmative, they'd need just one Republican for the amendment to pass, however passage via a voice vote indicates a larger group of senators said yes.

But the identity of those senators was unclear as of Thursday afternoon as a number declined to say which way they voted on the amendment.

CNN reported that Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee wouldn't say how she voted, neither would Sen. Deb Fischer, nor Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, and Cotton didn't support the amendment, they told CNN.

The 'Black Lives Matter' protests that have taken place all across the nation in the aftermath of George Floyd's death have renewed discussions on the appropriateness of memorializing Confederate figures.

Currently 10 Army bases are named after Confederate leaders.

Southern states that joined the Confederacy during the Civil War-era did so in order to keep their status as slave states.

On Monday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told Politico that he was 'open' to renaming these 10 facilities.

Politico reported that Defense Secretary Mark Esper - who has been at odds with Trump over how to deal with the 'Black Lives Matter' demonstrations - also supported the discussion.

The Warren amendment, according to CNN, would extend further than renaming the 10 bases and would create an independent commission that would develop a plan to remove the name of Confederates from bases, installations, facilities, ships and planes.

One of the ships in the Navy's fleet, for example, is called the Chancellorsville and was named after the battle of Chancellorsville, a Civil War engagement that was considered Robert E. Lee's greatest victory, according to the Navy Times.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany opened up her Wednesday briefing reading a statement from Trump that mirrored his tweets, which he had pushed out minutes before she took to the podium.

McEnany was asked if the president supported the Navy's move to ban Confederate flags from flying at its bases and on ships.

She said she wasn't sure of his position on that.

'He does, as I noted at the top of the briefing, fervently stand against the renaming of our forts,' McEnany answered.

McEnany said that the 'great American fortresses' were important because they respresented the last places war dead spent time in the U.S. before fighting in battles in 'Europe and Afghanistan and Iraq.'

'And to suggest that these forts are somehow inherently racist and their names need to be changed is a complete disrespect to the men and women,' she argued. 'For the last bit of American land that they saw before they went overseas and lost their lives were these forts.'

McEnany was also asked if the president would veto a bill from Congress that changed the name of a base from a Confederate general to a Union general, the side that won the Civil War, and represents the modern-day United States.

'The president will not be signing legislation that will be renaming American forts,' she said.

A reporter then pointed to an op-ed writtten by Gen. David Petraeus, who had argued that bases shouldn't be named after people who fought against the United States.

Petraeus also pointed out that many of the Confederates honored, like Gen. Braxton Bragg, were notoriously bad at their jobs.

'Fort Bragg is known for the heroes within it,' McEnany responded.

The president has long sided with the 'heritage' argument to keep Confederate monuments and memorials erected.

This is how he got in hot water in August 2017, standing up for demonstrators - made up of neo-Nazis, KKK members and other white supremacists - in Charlottesville, Virginia, who wanted the city's Robert E. Lee statue to remain.

'You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides,' Trump told reporters referencing, first, the Unite To Right protesters, and then the counter-protesters who came out.

One of the counter-protesters, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, had been moved down on the streets of Charlottesville by a neo-Nazi, who is now serving a life-long prison term.

'You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue,' Trump said of the Lee monument.

The president then compared Lee to George Washington, the country's first president who led the Revolutionary War troops - but who was also a slave-owner.

Trump has put a battle of the bases at the center of an escalating culture war.

While the country has been in discord over the death of Floyd, the president has been accused of dog-whistling racists. Beyond his support for the Confederate-named bases he announced Wednesday that campaign rallies would begin again.

The first would be held next Friday - Juneteenth - which marks when the last slaves, in Texas, were read the Emancipation Proclamation, the document that informed them they were free.

The campaign rally will take place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city known for one of the country's most horrific episodes of racial violence.

'Who will get erased next?': Trump's press secretary warns Washington or Jefferson could be next... or Biden White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Trump's refusal to strike Confederate leaders' names from military bases by asking where the country should draw the line. 'Should George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison be erased from history? What about FDR and his internment camps? Should he be erased from history? Or Lyndon Johnson? Who has a history of documented racist statements,' McEnany asked reporters. She also pointed at comments presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden made about working with segregationist senators - and suggested he could be impacted by the fallout too. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Trump's decision to refuse to rename military bases named after Confederate leaders by asking where the country should draw a line 'And finally what about people that are alleged by the media to be segregationists?' McEnany said referencing Biden and the news coverage that came after he made the controversial comments last June. McEnany also brought up the decision to pull the Civil War-era drama 'Gone with the Wind' from the HBO Max library. 'I'm told that no longer can you find on HBO "Gone with the Wind," because that is somehow now offensive,' McEnany said. She went on: 'Should George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison be erased from history? What about FDR and his internment camps? Should he be erased from history? Or Lyndon Johnson? Who has a history of documented racist statements. 'And finally what about people that are alleged by the media to be segregationists?' She then used the opportunity to focus the press' attention back on Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee, for his work in the Senate with segregationists. Biden got himself in political hot water last June when he boasted about being able to work with people who didn't share his values, including some of the segregationists that remained in the U.S. Senate. Rival Cory Booker, a black U.S. senator from New Jersey, along with a number of other Democrats, criticized the former vice president for his remarks. At the June Democratic debate in Miami, Sen. Kamala Harris, who is black, also took Biden to task for his position on busing. McEnany left the podium asking reporters if the Biden center should also be renamed. Advertisement

Ft. Hood Military Base in Fort Hood, Texas, headquarters of III Corps. Named on opening in 1942 for General John Bell Hood

Kayleigh McEnany even brought up Joe Biden, who got in political trouble last June for boasting that he'd been able to work with segregationists while in the U.S. Senate

Racist past of Confederate generals with bases named after them including Leonidas Polk who owned 400 slaves, KKK leader John Brown Gordon and Henry Benning who feared a 'land in possession of the blacks'

Henry L. Benning (pictured) owned at least 89 slaves on his 3,000 acres of land

HENRY L. BENNING - FORT BENNING, ALABAMA-GEORGIA BORDER

The home of the United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning was named in 1917 for plantation owner and Confederate general Henry L. Benning.

Benning was a Georgia lawyer who became an outspoken defender of slavery and advocate for secession in the lead-up to the Civil War.

His father owned more than 100 slaves, and tax records from 1863 show that he owned at least 89 slaves himself along with more than 3,000 acres of land.

These investments gave him a total wealth of more than $150,000, and one historian has described him as 'devoted to slavery'.

In early 1861 he took his secessionist campaign to Virginia, where he complained to the legislature that the abolition of slavery would lead to 'black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything. Is it to be supposed that the white race will stand for that?'

Fort Benning, Alabama/Georgia 'Home of the Infantry.' Named in 1917 for plantation owner Henry L. Benning, who argued for secession from 1849, and railed against 'black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything'

He also predicted that 'the land will be left in the possession of the blacks, and then it will go back to a wilderness and become another Africa or Saint Domingo'.

Imagining a world in which former slave Frederick Douglass became President, Benning said: 'I say give me pestilence and famine sooner than that.'

Benning also made explicit that Georgia was fighting for slavery, saying secession had come from 'a deep conviction that a separation from the North was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery'.

During the Civil War he became a colonel in the Georgia militia and was promoted to brigadier general in 1863, fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg later that year. He died in 1875.

Braxton Bragg (pictured) bought a plantation in Louisiana which came with 105 slaves

BRAXTON BRAGG - FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA

Fort Bragg is home to more than 50,000 troops and hosts the Army's Special Operations Command. It was named after Confederate general Braxton Bragg in 1918.

Born in North Carolina, Bragg moved to Louisiana in 1856 where he and his wife bought a sugar plantation for $152,000 - which came with 105 slaves.

The Army says the base is named for Bragg's actions during the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, but Bragg was also a Southern general described as 'the most hated man of the Confederacy'.

Although he was skeptical about secession, he defended the South's right to do so and seized a Union arsenal in Baton Rouge in January 1861.

Fort Bragg is named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, who was known for being notoriously bad at his job. In the past, Gen. David Petraeus had argued that the 10 installments named after Confederate officers should be renamed since they fought against the U.S.

Beginning the war as a major-general in Louisiana, he rose to become a general and commander of the Confederate Army of Mississippi.

However, he preded over a series of Confederate defeats and was disliked by his subordinates because of his bad temper and combative personality.

One officer called him him 'self-willed, arrogant and dictatorial,' while another soldier labelled him 'obstinate, haughty and authoritative'.

Historians have said that Bragg 'did as much as any Confederate general to lose the war' because of his string of military losses.

Bragg resigned as a commander in 1863 but continued to serve as a military adviser to Jefferson Davis and remained in the Confederate cabinet until its defeat.

John Brown Gordon (pictured) owned a 14-year-old girl as a slave

JOHN BROWN GORDON - FORT GORDON, GEORGIA

Fort Gordon, established during World War II, was named for Confederate lieutenant-general John Brown Gordon.

Gordon supported secession and owned slaves as a young man, investing in coal mining operations in Georgia and Tennessee.

In 1860, the census showed him owning one 14-year-old girl as a slave, while his father owned four slaves.

When war broke out, he returned home to Alabama and became a colonel - impressing Robert E. Lee by promising to hold his ground 'until the sun goes down'.

Later promoted to brigadier-general, he led a brigade of Georgia regiments during the Gettysburg campaign in 1863.

Although he led a failed assault on Fort Stedman in the final months of the war, Gordon has been called 'one of the most successful commanders' in Lee's army.

After the war he entered politics, becoming both a US Senator from Georgia and the Governor of the same state.

He was also rumored to be a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, and one historian said it was 'almost certain' that he was head of the KKK's Georgia branch.

Gordon also served as commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans. He lived until 1904.

Leonidas Polk (pictured) is thought to have had as many as 400 slaves on plantations

LEONIDAS POLK - FORT POLK, LOUISIANA

This base was named after Leonidas Polk, who was both a bishop in the Episcopal Church and a major-general in the Confederate Army.

Polk, a cousin of 11th US President James Polk, is thought to have had as many as 400 slaves on sugar plantations in Tennessee.

His family owned more than 100,000 acres of land and he initially went to West Point, but diverted to religious life and became Bishop of Louisiana in 1841.

Although he had no military experience, he had trained with Jefferson Davis at West Point and used this connection to become a major-general in the Confederate army.

Polk also supported the secession of the Southern states by withdrawing his own ecclesiastical diocese from the national church.

Known as the 'Fighting Bishop', he blundered early on by ordering troops into neutral Kentucky - prompting the border state to ask for Northern help.

He later clashed with the above-mentioned Braxton Bragg, who accused him of disobeying orders during the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.

Polk was killed in action in 1864 while fighting at Pine Mountain, Georgia.

Robert E. Lee (pictured) inherited slaves from his father-in-law in 1857

ROBERT E. LEE - FORT LEE, VIRGINIA

Fort Lee, 25 miles south of Richmond, is named after Confederate general-in-chief Robert E. Lee.

Lee fought in the Mexican-American War and spent three years as a superintendent at West Point, training some of the men who would later serve under him.

He owned slaves from the age of 22, when he inherited several families of black people after the death of his mother Ann Lee.

In 1857, his father-in-law left him 189 slaves who worked on the estates of Arlington, White House, and Romancoke.

The will provided that the slaves should be freed after five years, but Lee tried multiple times to resist this and keep the slaves under his control.

Although he was 'not a pro-slavery ideologue' according to one historian, Lee was known to use 'violence typical of the institution of slavery' and some slaves tried to escape his discipline. Some were recaptured and beaten on Lee's orders.

He did not finally free the slaves until three days before Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation would have done so anyway.

Lincoln had offered Lee the command of Union forces in 1861, but Lee defected instead and became a general in the Confederate army.

Lee's Army of Northern Virginia did battle with Grant's federal troops in some of the defining battles of the war, which ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865. Lee died in 1870.

P.G.T. Beauregard (pictured) grew up in a slave-owning household in Louisiana

P.G.T. BEAUREGARD - CAMP BEAUREGARD, LOUISIANA

A National Guard training facility, this base was initially named Camp Stafford but renamed after Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard in 1917.

Beauregard was a U.S. Army officer who served in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, but defected to support the Confederacy when Louisiana seceded in 1861.

Born on a sugar plantation outside New Orleans, Beauregard had grown up in a slave-owning household and later rented slaves for himself while in the military.

Commissioned as a Confederate brigadier-general in 1861, Beauregard commanded the defenses of Charleston during the bombardment of Fort Sumter which marked the start of the Civil War.

Beauregard commanded Southern troops throughout the war, including at the 1862 Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee and during the defense of Petersburg in 1864.

But by 1865 he was among the generals who persuaded Confederate president Jefferson Davis to surrender and end the war.

After the war he wrote that 'in seventy-five years the colored race [would] disappear from America along with the Indians and the buffalo', although for tactical reasons he advised his fellow white Southerners to accept black voting rights.

In later life he became wealthy in his own right by promoting the Louisiana Lottery. He died in 1893.

Ambrose Powell Hill (pictured) quit the US Army to join the Confederacy

AMBROSE POWELL HILL - FORT A.P. HILL, VIRGINIA

A US Army training center in Virginia, this base was established during World War II and named after Confederate general Ambrose Powell Hill.

Hill was not a slave owner, but quit the US Army in 1861 to join the 13th Virginia Infantry at the outbreak of the Civil War.

He rose through the ranks from colonel to brigadier-general, then major-general and finally lieutenant-general after the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.

However, he was criticized for his 'less than stellar' performance on the first two days of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Hill reputedly said that he did not want to survive the fall of the Confederacy - and indeed he did not, although he only missed Lee's surrender only by a few days. Hill was killed in action in April 1865, shot by a Union soldier during a battle in Petersburg, Virginia.

John Bell Hood (pictured) was from a neutral state but chose to fight for the South

JOHN BELL HOOD - FORT HOOD, TEXAS

Fort Hood is the Army's 'premier installation to train and deploy heavy forces', and is named after Confederate general John Bell Hood.

Hood was from Kentucky, which declared itself neutral in the war, and had previously served in the US Cavalry after graduating from West Point, where he met Lee.

The Hood family owned seven slaves in the 1830 census and had 11 slaves by 1840, and Hood himself had a fortune of nearly $10,000 by the end of his life.

In 1861, he chose to fight for the South in the Civil War and had been promoted to brigadier-general by 1862.

On one occasion he gave orders to procure thousands of slaves - demanding the 'services of 4,000 negroes' for his army.

By 1864 he was leading Confederate forces in defense of Atlanta, but failed to stop Sherman advancing through Georgia with his Union troops.

After the war he wrote a memoir called Advance and Retreat described as the 'bitter attempt of a soldier to rebut history's judgment of himself'. He died in 1879.

George Pickett (pictured) came from a family which owned dozens of slaves

GEORGE PICKETT - FORT PICKETT, VIRGINIA

This National Guard facility is named after George Pickett, the Confederate general responsible for Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg.

His Virginia family owned 42 slaves in 1830 and 23 slaves in 1850, when his father was recorded as having a wealth of $50,000.

Pickett graduated from West Point in 1846 - although he came last in his class - but defected to the Confederacy at the outbreak of war in 1861.

His charge at Gettysburg proved a disaster when he lost more than half of his command to death, injury or capture.

In 1864, he signed off the execution of 22 Union soldiers from North Carolina after they were captured at New Bern.

However, he escaped justice from a military tribunal after Ulysses Grant - a former West Point classmate - intervened to protect him.

He was also saved by President Andrew Johnson's 1866 proclamation that the rebellion was over, allowing him to return from exile in Canada. He died in 1875.

Edmund Rucker (pictured) served under Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest

EDMUND RUCKER - FORT RUCKER, ALABAMA

Home to the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, Fort Rucker was originally named Ozark Triangular Division Camp but was later renamed after Confederate general Edmund Rucker.

Rucker served under General Nathan Bedford Forrest during the Civil War and was appointed as an honorary general himself.

Rucker was in Forrest's cavalry during the Fort Pillow Massacre in 1864 when hundreds of African-American troops were killed by Confederate forces.

After the war he became an industrialist in Alabama, working as president of a railroad firm and director of an iron and steel company. He lived until 1924.

Nancy Pelosi says it is 'the perfect time' to rid the Capitol of Confederate statues including Jefferson Davis as Republicans say it's up to states which donated them to decide

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday it was 'the perfect time' for the 11 remaining Confederate statues on display on Capitol Hill to be sent packing.

'Public sentiment is everything,' Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. 'This is the perfect time for us to move those statues because other times people may think, "Oh, who cares, I never go there anyway, they all look alike to me, there are all these white men there" - that's what I think,' she said, as an aside.

'On the other hand, the timing may be just right,' she added.

The speaker timed a press release to go out Wednesday highlighting her work to get the remaining Confederate statues removed from Capitol Hill directly after President Trump announced his opposition to removing Confederate names from the nation's military bases.

'I want to tell you something, the American people know these names have to go,' she said Thursday. 'These names are white supremacists that said terrible things about our country.'

'You listen to who they are and what they said and then you have the president make a case for why a base should be named for them,' she continued. 'He seems to be the only person left who doesn't get it.'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that it was 'the perfect time' to send the remaining 11 Confederate statues on display around the Capitol Hill complex packing. She said during her first time as speaker she relegated the Robert E. Lee statue to the Congressional crypt

Confederate statues on Capitol Hill includes one of Jefferson Davis, which represents Mississippi in the collection and stands at the National Statuary Hall in the US Capitol Building. Jefferson was the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Before the American Civil War, he operated a large cotton plantation in Mississippi, which his brother Joseph gave him, and owned as many as 113 slaves

On Wednesday, Pelosi sent reporters a copy of a letter she addressed to the leaders of the Joint Committee on the Library that oversees the 100 statues in the National Statuary Hall collection - Sen. Roy Blunt, the chair and a Missouri Republican and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the committee's vice chair and a California Democrat.

Pelosi said Thursday she hadn't received a response from Blunt.

'No, but I think he's spoken in the public domain and saying it's up to the states,' she said. 'It may be up to states to send it here but it's not up to the states where it might be.'

She used that power before to move one prominent Confederate statue.

'Let me just say that when I was Speaker, I did do what I had the authority to do, which was to relegate Robert E. Lee to the crypt,' she said, speaking of her time serving as speaker between 2007 and 2011.

'I could move things around I couldn't take them out, that requires something else,' she explained, suggesting that removal of the statues may need a legislative fix.

In a statement out Thursday, Blunt cited the law as it's currently written.

'Under the law, each state decides which two statues it will send to the Capitol,' he said. 'As Speaker Pelosi is undoubtedly aware, the law does not permit the Architect of the Capitol or the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove a statue from the Capitol once it has been received.'

Blunt also pointed out that the states seemed to be moving in the direction of removing the last Confederates.

'Several states have moved toward replacing statues and others appear headed in the same direction,' Blunt said. 'This process is ongoing and encouraging.'

Also on Capitol Hill is General Robert E. Lee, a gift from the commonwealth of Virginia. Robert E. Lee was an American and Confederate soldier best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 until its surrender in 1865. Lee married into one of the wealthiest slave-holding families in Virginia and took leave from the army to run the family estate following his father-in-law's death. Documents show that he encouraged severe beatings for those who tried to escape

Commander Joseph Wheeler for the Confederate Army of Tennessee, left. He is known for having served both as a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and then as a general in the United States Army during both the SpanishAmerican War and PhilippineAmerican War near the turn of the twentieth century

Lawyer Uriah Milton Rose was an attorney who backed the Confederacy. In 1917, the state of Arkansas donated a marble statue of Rose to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection. Rose was the only delegate from Arkansas among the 75 lawyers who formed the American Bar Association in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1872. He was president from 1891 to 1892 and again from 1901 to 1902

Military officer Wade Hampton was a Confederate States of America military officer during the American Civil War and politician from South Carolina. He came from a wealthy planter family, and shortly before the war he was one of the largest slaveholders in the Southeast as well as a state legislator. During the American Civil War, he served in the Confederate cavalry, where he reached the rank of lieutenant general. At the end of Reconstruction, with the withdrawal of federal troops from the state, Hampton was leader of the Redeemers who restored white rule. His campaign for governor was marked by extensive violence by the Red Shirts, a paramilitary group that served the Democratic Party by disrupting elections and suppressing black and Republican voting in the state

Confederate Vice President Alexander Hamilton Stephens was a Confederate politician who served as the vice president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, and later as the 50th Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state of Georgia in the United States House of Representatives prior to becoming Governor

CONFEDERATE STATUES ON CAPITOL HILL AND THE STATES THAT GIFTED THEM Jefferson Davis - Mississippi James Zachariah George - Mississippi Wade Hampton - South Carolina John E. Kenna - West Virginia Gen. Robert E. Lee - Virginia Uriah Milton Rose - Arkansas Edmund Kirby Smith - Florida Alexander Stephens - Georgia Zebulon Vance - North Carolina Joseph Wheeler - Alabama Edward Douglass White - Louisiana Advertisement

The Confederates, Pelosi said, 'committed treason against the United States.'

The statue collection includes Gen. Robert E. Lee, a gift from Virginia, the Confederate president Jefferson Davis, which is a contribution from Mississippi and Alexander Hamilton Stephens, a statue given by Georgia.

Additionally Mississippi has a statue of Confederate James Zachariah George, Alabama has Joseph Wheeler, South Carolina has a statue of Wade Hampton, North Carolina has a statue of Zebulon Vance, West Virginia has John E. Kenna, Louisiana has Edward Douglass White and Arkansas gifted a statue of Uriah Milton Rose, an attorney who sided with the Confederacy.

The statue of Edmund Kirby Smith, a general in the Confederate Army, was already expected to be replaced.

Most of the Confederates in the collection are depicted in uniform.

Pelosi's demand comes amid a wave of anti-racism protests raging across America and the world, in which several statues that symbolize racial oppression have already been torn down.

In her letter, Pelosi quoted Stephens' 'corner-stone speech' in which the Confederacy's vice president said the 'assumption of the equality of the races' was something that was made 'in error.'

'Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition,' Stephens had said in the speech, Pelosi reminded the lawmakers.

She argued that the statues that are on display on Capitol Hill 'should embody our highest ideals as Americans.'

'Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals,' Pelosi said. 'Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage.'

'They must be removed,' she argued.

'While I believe it is imperative that we never forget our history lest we repeat it, I also believe that there is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honor across the country.'

The push to get rid of Confederate symbols has come in the aftermath of the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd, a Minneapolis black man, at the hands of a white police officer.

Edward Douglass White was an American politician and jurist from Louisiana. He was a United States Senator and the ninth Chief Justice of the United States. He served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1894 to 1921. After the war, White won election to the Louisiana State Senate and served on the Louisiana Supreme Court. As a member of the Democratic Party, White represented Louisiana in the United States Senate from 1891 to 1894.

John E. Kenna was an American politician who was a Senator from West Virginia from 1883 until his death. He rose from prosecuting attorney of Kanawha County in 1872 to justice pro tempore of the county circuit in 1875, and to the United States House of Representatives in 1876. While in the House he championed railroad legislation and crusaded for aid for slack-water navigation to help the coal, timber and salt industries in his state

Zebulon Baird Vance, a Confederate military officer in the American Civil War, the 37th and 43rd Governor of North Carolina. was a Confederate military officer in the American Civil War, the 37th and 43rd Governor of North Carolina, and U.S. Senator. A prolific writer, Vance became one of the most influential Southern leaders of the Civil War and postbellum periods. As a leader of the 'New South', Vance favored the rapid modernization of the Southern economy, railroad expansion, school construction, and reconciliation with the North

James Zachariah George was one of Mississippi's strongest white-supremacy statesmen in the Reconstruction era. He was an American lawyer, writer, U.S. politician, Confederate politician, and military officer. He was known as Mississippi's 'Great Commoner'

Edmund Kirby Smith was born into a wealthy slave-owning family in St. Augustine. He was a career United States Army officer who fought in the MexicanAmerican War. He later joined the Confederate States Army in the Civil War, and was promoted to general in the first months of the war. He was notable for his command of the Trans-Mississippi Department after the fall of Vicksburg to the United States

Who was Jefferson Finis Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America? Jefferson Finis Davis, the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, serving from 1861 to 1865. He was a slave and plantation owner, a politician and soldier born in Kentucky and raised in Mississippi. He graduated from his military academy in 1828, and went on to serve briefly in the Black Hawk War in 1832 before returning to his plantation. Davis later went onto become a Congressman and a Senator before he formally withdrew from the U.S. Senate on January 21, 1861 after Mississippi seceded from the Union. One month later, he was selected to become the provisional President of the Confederacy. Historians say his poor leadership skils may have played a part in the defeat of the Confederacy, and say he was a weak leader compared to Union counterpart, President Abraham Lincoln. He was captured in 1865, and accused of treason and imprisoned at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. However, he was released after two years without being tried. Advertisement

The 'Black Lives Matter' protests that followed have put renewed attention on issues like the Capitol Hill statues, flying the Confederate flag at certain events and renaming 10 U.S. Army bases, which currently are named after Confederate leaders.

On Wednesday, President Trump articulated that the U.S. bases would not be renamed under his watch.

Democrats had previously tried to get the Statuary Hall collection statues removed on the heels of the August 2017 protests in Charlottesville that pit KKK members, neo-Nazis and white supremacists against counter-protesters, one of whom was killed.

Republicans, at the time, responded by saying that the statue selections are up to each state.

Upon seeing the letter, Lofgren said she agreed with Pelosi that the Joint Committee and the Architect of the Capitol 'should expediently remove these symbols of cruelty and bigotry from the halls of the Capitol.'

'The Capitol building belongs to the American people and cannot serve as a place of honor for the hatred and racism that tears at the fabric of our nation, the very poison that these statues embody,' Lofgren said.

The longstanding debate over Confederate statues has come rushing back into the spotlight this month during the huge anti-racism movement following the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, an unarmed black man, died in Minneapolis police custody after a white officer knelt on his head for nearly nine minutes while arresting him.

Virginia governor Ralph Northam last week announced plans to take down a statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, although a judge has stalled this proposal.

Elsewhere, statues of Christopher Columbus have also become a target for protesters who say he unleashed centuries of genocide against Native Americans.

One Columbus statue was pulled down with ropes, set on fire and rolled into a lake at a park in Richmond on Tuesday night.

Another Columbus monument was beheaded in Boston, in a waterfront park near the city's North End.

However, Donald Trump says his administration will 'not even consider' changing the name of any of the 10 U.S. Army bases that are named for Confederate leaders.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper had indicated he was open to discussing such changes in the wake of Floyd's funeral.

But Trump weighed in on Wednesday night, saying: 'These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.

'The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.'
Doug Ford has drawn praise amid the COVID-19 pandemic, partly by doing the opposite of what Doug Ford would usually do: pushing for regulation, valuing public health, listening to experts. Specifically, the premier loves referencing his health command table. Which in a pandemic sounds, to be clear, great.

Maybe in the future, maybe that is one of the cracks in the ship. By no means am I a medical professional, health professional, Ford said back on April 22. I have confidence in our health table, and yes, do I push them? One hundred per cent I push them, but Im not a medical professional. I rely on them to move things forward.

Ontario has bumbled along into a better place of late, with case counts finally declining, despite shoddy underlying epidemic response architecture. But bafflingly, the government wont say who exactly is at the command table. And in the health crisis of a generation, knowing who is giving the advice doesnt seem an unreasonable ask. Thats where we got the old Doug.

Well, weve brought out a number of doctors, a lot of doctors, personally, they dont want their names out there, said Ford, who was tested for COVID-19 Wednesday after Minister of Education Stephen Lecce was exposed to someone with the virus, and tested negative. Ford named Dr. Vanessa Allen from Public Health Ontario, chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, and the coroner, for example.

Everyones trying, said Ford. Absolutely everyone. We have a host of doctors and those doctors talk to other doctors. And so, thats the reason. But weve rolled out the health team, you know, the names. But to say every single doctor involved, Id give you a list of over 100 doctors and certain privacy, they dont want the names out there.

Uh, the public can probably handle a list of 100 doctors. But: privacy? They dont want their names out there? Sorry, what? And, why?

There is no reason I can think of, says Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto, and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network.

If you were proud of the people on your command table, why wouldnt you make it public? said one prominent member of the Toronto medical community, who asked not to be named. And if (members have requested anonymity), that tells us theyre ashamed of the decisions being made.

That seems less likely. But it doesnt make obvious sense for Ford to hide the list, even for a government so habitually secretive that when it announced the decision Tuesday to reopen child care on Friday, child-care centres werent alerted.

Why not trot out all the voluminous expert advice youre getting? They named Dr. Jane Philpott when she joined the team. Maybe its this: when Ford holds off on opening, he can use the health table as a shield. When he wants to do something like reopen without any public epidemiological or public health thresholds being met  which was the case for both Stage 1 and Stage 2  he can use them as a support.

I think it belies a bigger question, said another prominent member of the Toronto medical community, who has been asked to give advice on at least one occasion but who is not on the command table itself. Which is, whos in charge? Whos responsible? Obviously, the premier makes all the decisions, but is it tied to anybodys advice? Who gave the advice? When they opened daycares, who made that decision? What about churches?

When everybodys in charge, nobodys in charge. Theyve asked half of us in the province. The individuals on the committees are good people who want to help. Theyre smart. This has not been a partisan shell game. I think the biggest thing is they havent had a Bonnie Henry in charge.

Indeed, with Williams half-sidelined and unintelligible, there isnt a single trustable public health voice for the entire province as we all enter completely new areas of risk management, in an entirely uncertain world.

There is, however, the mythical health command table, whoever they are. Those familiar with it say it can exceed 80 people with government officials included, which cant make for an efficient Zoom call. There are believed to be consultants, including from KPMG. There are not believed to be many epidemiologists, or doctors who still see patients regularly. It is chaired by Dr. Williams, Ontario Health CEO Matt Anderson, and deputy minister of health Helen Angus. Its not clear its meeting every day, anymore.

Following a CBC story, Elliott named six current or former medical officers of health who are on the public health measures table, in a tweet: Dr. David McKeown, former medical officer of health for Toronto; Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, the MOH for Eastern Ontario; Dr. Chris Mackie, MOH for London; Dr. Andrea Feller of Niagara, Dr. Marlene Spruyt of Algoma, and Dr. Charles Gardner of Muskoka-Simcoe. They hadnt been named before, even as big-city MOHs essentially revolted against the provinces all-in-one reopening plan, which was then adjusted.

And in an email to the Stars Megan Ogilvie, the province named the medical leaders responsible for co-ordinating operation support to long-term-care homes. But theyre just hospital presidents, and theyre not being credited with policy decisions.

Either way, when the province misses  on long-term care, or new Canadians, or the homeless, or the working poor  maybe it would be good to know whether the medical advisers werent diverse enough in experience or race to see it coming?

If all the people come from the same system, then you can miss out on those diverse views, says Morris.

In British Columbia, Henry has become the single most celebrated and trusted public health figure in the country, and part of it was about transparency.

I am well aware that the recriminations, the class-action lawsuits, and the public inquiries have yet to come, she told the Star last week. We will be questioned in all those things, and thats the other thing that I think is very important: being able to justify why we made those decisions, and having that ethical framework explicit.

The vast majority of people, and I believe this, if you tell people what you need them to do, you tell them why you need them to do it, they understand. And thats why were so open to providing data and being transparent.

It wouldnt be hard. It shouldnt be damaging. Whoever is helping to steer Ontario through the pandemic, the public has a right to know.

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The Tomball ISD school board adopted a $157.7 million general fund budget for 2020-2021, including a general pay increase of 2% for employees and staffing the soon-to-open Grand Oaks Elementary.

Tomball ISD employees to see raises: School board approves general pay increase of 2% for 2020-2021 school year

During the June board meeting held through Zoom, Tomball ISD Chief Financial Officer Jim Ross said the estimated revenue for the general fund is $157.7 million, which is 6.77%  or $10,000,000  higher than last year.

This includes an M&O tax rate of .94 cents based on the appraisal districts certified estimate and it also has local sources of 74% (total funding) and the state now has a share of 24.5%, Ross said.

Ross said that before Texas House Bill 3, local sources were 83% of the total, changing by almost 10% as far as the states assumption of funding responsibility.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas schools will look different come August. Heres how.

The general funds estimated appropriations are a balanced amount of $157.7 million, Ross said, which contains the general pay increase of 2% with equity adjustments to retain a competitive pay structure compared to surrounding districts, as well as added staff district-wide and for the opening of Grand Oaks Elementary School in August.

It increases the general fund budget by $12 million or 8.24% over the prior year, Ross said. I feel very conformable with that percentage increase considering all the new facilities were opening and the additional cost of the equity adjustments for the salary increases.

The budget appropriations for the debt service budget are $43 million with estimated revenues of $43 million, according to Ross.

This is an increase over the previous year because we sold bonds this last April and that increase was $7 million in the total bonds, Ross said. The total interest & sinking tax rate required for the 2020-21 year is .35 cents.

Ross said they were forced by HB3 to reduce the maintenance & operations tax rate by .03 cents, which gives them room to move the I&S tax rate up .03 cents, keeping the total tax rate at $1.29.

Last years M&O tax rate was .97 cents and the I&S tax rate was .32 cents for a total tax rate of $1.29.

We are keeping our tax rate flat but theres still going to be an increase in taxes and thats because valuations increased overall and the taxable value has gone up about $10,000 on average, Ross said.

Ross said the budget appropriations for food service were $7,664,160 with estimated revenues of $7,869,430 for a surplus of $205,270. He added that the surplus is important because the district had a difficult year this past year when they closed facilities and were no longer serving lunch.

The majority of our income in our child nutrition department is local revenues and therefore we have lost those revenues, Ross said. We are likely to have a fairly significant, Id say about a half a million-dollar, deficit in food service this year. We need to restore that fund balance if possible.

Ross said that the district does not know the financial impact that COVID-19 may have at the beginning of the school year.

Right now, weve put in as if everything starts normal on August the 18th, Ross said. And if it was the case then that would be revenue that were estimating that we would earn during that time period. If it does come and we have a surplus, we do need that for the loss that weve had this year.

Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora said TISD has served 286,124 meals to over 29,723 students while schools have been closed during the pandemic.

It opened our eyes as educators that even though we are a destination excellence there are a lot in our community that have needs that perhaps we werent fully aware of, she said. The need of families to come and to continue to come even now is still there. We made sure as a district that we provided to all families.

She said they have recently surveyed parents because they have some difficult decisions to make about the upcoming school year based on guidelines from the governor and TEA.

To the ability that we can will continue to have as much new normal as we can in the future, Salazar-Zamora said. There will be some form of hybrid learning with the potential for alternating schedules, but we want to make sure that our calendar remains the same.

alvaro.montano@chron.com
J&K Police on Thursday busted a narco-terror module and arrested three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) workers with 21 kg of heroin, estimated to be worth Rs 100 crore, and Rs 1.34 crore cash.

Those arrested are Abdul Moomin Peer and Islam-ul-Haq Peer of Waskura, Handwara, and Syed Iftikhar Indrabi of Laribal Rajwar, Handwara.

Handwara SSP GV Sundeep said Rs1.34 crore, heroin and a cash counting machine were found in their possession.

Other members of the module, who are absconding, have been identified. The module was in close contact with Pakistan-based terror handlers. They were providing financial aid to active terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT, the SSP said, adding the raid had exposed the nexus of drug dealers and terrorists.

This module was working for LeT outfits who are misguiding the local youth of the Valley and encouraging them to join ranks of militants, he said.

A case has been registered at the Handwara Police Station. A special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the accuseds ties with terrorist outfits, radicals, smugglers and other anti-national elements.
[June 11, 2020] Avaya to Support American Red Cross Disaster Recovery and Humanitarian Relief Capabilities with Cloud Communications and Mobile Solutions

The American Red Cross has proudly served communities for almost 140 years, helping to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.? In adapting to meet the changing needs of the communities they serve, the Red Cross telecommunications team is working with Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE:AVYA), a global leader in solutions, to enhance and simplify Red Cross communications to better leverage the benefits of mobility and cloud innovation. To achieve its humanitarian mission and provide assistance to people and communities when they need it most, the Red Cross, as part of its One Contact Center initiative, is transforming 12 separate contact center platforms with differing technologies to the Avaya (News - Alert) OneCloud CCaaS cloud-based platform. "Every day, people turn to the American Red Cross for relief and hope in the face of emergencies," said DeWayne Bell, vice president, Information Technology Engineering, American Red Cross. "It is vital that we can communicate easily and effectively with the people we serve to quickly address their needs. We believe that this transition to a single contact center will help us improve experiences for those we serve, while increasing the productivity of our employees and boosting our overall organizational efficiency." The Red Cross has commenced this transition with the move of its critical toll-free 1-800-RED-CROSS number and several other mission critical inbound numbers over to Avaya Mobile Experience. This solution will handle inbound mobile calls to help people in need during a disaster, help individuals donate much needed blood and blood products, and handle donation services. We expect that the change will allow these mobile callers to get needed information and support faster with reduced wait times, and that contact center agents will be able to use additional call context to provide better service to mobile callers in current and future interactions. "The American Red Cross mission is consistent with Avaya's focus of service and support to our customers and our global communities," said Frank Ciccone, Senior Vice President, North America Sales, Avaya. "We are proud to help the Red Cross transform their contact center communications infrastructure and client experiences with a cloud-based solution that empowers their workers with the tools, support and capabilities they need to serve their comunities."



Additional Resources Learn more about Avaya OneCloud, Avaya Mobile Experience and Avaya CPaaS solutions

If you need help or are interested in volunteering or donating, visit RedCross.org

To find out more about how you can give blood, visit RedCrossBlood.org. About Avaya

Businesses are built on the experiences they provide, and everyday millions of those experiences are built by Avaya (NYSE: AVYA). For over one hundred years, we've enabled organizations around the globe to win - by creating intelligent communications experiences for customers and employees. Avaya builds open, converged and innovative solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration - in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of both. To grow your business, we're committed to innovation, partnership, and a relentless focus on what's next. We're the technology company you trust to help you deliver Experiences that Matter. Visit us at http://www.avaya.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This document contains certain "forward-looking statements." All statements other than statements of historical fact are "forward-looking" statements for purposes of the U.S. federal and state securities laws. These statements may be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "our vision," "plan," "potential," "preliminary," "predict," "should," "will," or "would" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the Company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond its control. The factors are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC (News - Alert)") available at www.sec.gov, and may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The Company cautions you that the list of important factors included in the Company's SEC filings may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release may not in fact occur. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. Source (News - Alert): Avaya Newsroom View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005390/en/

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June 11 : Legendary actor Rekha is known for her defying looks. The evergreen beauty is the attraction of many youngsters. Comedian and host Maniesh Paul is one of them. Taking down to the memory lane Manish shared a video of award nights on his Instagram handle.

In the video it can be seen that Manish is overwhelmed as he sees Rekha on stage. Before he could speak anything Rekha hands over her pallu to him. Paul feeling too mesmerized and special sings the song from Rekhas film Ye Kaha Aa Gaye Hum yuhi saath saath chalte. The host accompanying the lady till the end of the stage expressed, wished he was born as Rekha.

Missing the award nights and the moment spent with Rekha, Manish captioned his Instagram feed, What a moment with Rekha mam!! I miss award nites...the fun...this was special...when rekha mam herself gave her pallu for me to hold!!!She is sooooo graceful!! evergreen beauty!! and so kind (Video courtesy @colorstv) #mp#show#awards

Meanwhile, on the personal front, Maniesh Paul is a host, anchor, and actor. Starting as a radio jockey and VJ, he moved to act before taking up stand-up comedy and hosting. In 2011, he won the Best Anchor award for Zee TV's Dance India Dance Li'l Masters. Paul has also hosted Science of Stupid on National Geographic. Over the years, Paul has hosted numerous award shows. In 2019, he hosted Sony TV's Indian Idol 10.

On the work front, at the moment, Manish, who was seen hosting the dance show, is soon coming to tickle people with his fun anchoring on a comical Bollywood game show. But due to coronavirus pandemic, the show has been postponed.
MUNISING, MICH. -- Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore has announced the latest update in the parks phased re-opening after many operations and amenities had been shut down on account of COVID-19 precautions.

Park officials announced this week that the parks Little Beaver and Twelvemile Beach campgrounds, as well as all backcountry camping, would re-open on Friday, June 12.

The remaining campground, Hurricane River, is currently closed for maintenance and will be open by June 20.

Reservations are required for all camping at Pictured Rocks and must be made through www.recreation.gov.

Our staff has done a phenomenal job opening this incredible park and we are happy to be welcoming campers back, Park Superintendent David Horne said.

The parks visitor center and Au Sable Lighthouse remain closed for the time being, with visitor services provided on information boards and over the phone.

Meanwhile, businesses that operate within Pictured Rocks are slowly re-opening as well. Pictured Rocks Cruises will begin offering their shoreline boat tours on June 15. Other park tour operators, such as kayak guides and guided hiking services, can be found online here.

RELATED: Pictured Rocks Cruises to set sail for summer season on June 15

In light of the pandemic, park officials are asking visitors to adhere to current health guidelines regarding social distancing and face masks, to practice Leave No Trace principles, and to avoid crowding when possible. The Centers for Disease Control has guidance for outdoor recreation here.

Further updates about Pictured Rocks return to normal operations will be posted on the parks website, nps.gov/piro, and on the parks Facebook page. Updates about National Park Service operations are being posted on nps.gov/coronavirus.

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New Delhi, June 11 : Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia, despite witnessing massive political protests and clashes recently followed by the wrath of the COVID-19 pandemic, has succeeded in maintaining its prestige, after it secured a spot in the top 10 universities in India, that too for the first time.

The varsity for the first time secured a spot in the top 10 of HRD ministry's National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) India Ranking Report 2020 released by Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Thursday.

JMI has been ranked at the 10th position in the country in universities category, improving its position from 12 last year. In the overall category the university has been placed at 16th position, jumping three spots up from its 19th rank last year. Top institutions like IITs, IIMs, IISc, other top technical institutions and universities are included in the overall category.

"The achievement is all the more significant because of the challenging time the university has faced recently and also in the light of increased competition in the ranking," said JMI Vice Chancellor Dr Najma Akhtar expressing her delight over the performance of the varsity.

JMI's Faculty of Law has been ranked at 9th position, Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics at 10th, Faculty of Dentistry at 19th, Faculty of Engineering & Technology at 28th and Faculty of Management at 34th position in the country by the NIRF-2020. The said rankings are given on the basis of parameters that include teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity and perception.

She added that this achievement was possible because of the relevant and focused research of highest quality and teaching by its dedicated and devoted faculty members. Akhtar also attributed the achievement to the improved perception about the university with regard to teaching, placements, research etc and hoped to do better in the coming years.

JMI maintained its position for third consecutive year in the coveted Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2021 released last Tuesday. JMI retained its rank at 751-800 even as number of universities getting ranked by QS increased this year.

Recently, JMI was ranked at 15th position amongst Indian institutions which includes IISc and IITs also. Among the universities JMI is at 6th rank in the country as per QS World University Rankings.

JMI's Engineering and Technology improved its rank in London-based Times Higher Education (THE) Subject Ranking 2020. It enhanced its position from 601-800 last year to 401-500 this year, a jump of 200. Within India its rank is 11 among all higher education institutions while among universities it is at second position.
Nearly three years ago, after renting with roommates, Tano Holmes bought a 900-square-foot, two-bedroom condominium in the South Bronx.

Mr. Holmes had been working as a chef at the Waldorf Astorias massive banquet kitchen, a union job that paid well. Many colleagues were older people who achieved the American dream for themselves, he said.

They were from the west coast of Africa or the Dominican Republic, and they made enough to buy homes in the outer boroughs and send money home to their families, he added. It really inspired me.

He was renting his second bedroom to a young man from Texas, and one day his roommate announced that a cousin would be visiting from Austin. In walked Clarissa Martinez. We hit it off, Mr. Holmes said.

[Did you recently buy or rent a home in the New York metro area? We want to hear from you. Email: thehunt@nytimes.com]

Soon after, he quit his job and moved to Austin to be with Ms. Martinez, an elementary school teacher. When the school year ended, the couple drove to New York and were married in the fall of 2018.

Mr. Holmes, 29, now owns William Street Catering and works as a real estate agent with his uncle at a brokerage in Jamaica, Queens, while Mrs. Holmes, 25, teaches at a charter school in East Harlem.

A two-bedroom condo, while great for me as a bachelor, was not as conducive to both of our happiness, Mr. Holmes said. Clari is used to big, open spaces and yards.

When a neighbor in their condo building left a note on their door expressing interest in buying their two-bedroom, the couple decided it was a good time to sell and upsize.

Being from Texas, I felt claustrophobic, Mrs. Holmes said. I am used to big backyards, swimming pools in the yard, driveways. While we loved our two-bedroom condo, I missed having the space. I couldnt picture myself raising a family in it.

With a budget of up to $800,000 for a two-family house or $1 million for a three-family, they went on the hunt for a place in the South Bronx, which they liked for its prices and proximity to Harlem and Queens. Mr. Holmes was interested in a multifamily house that could produce rental income, but many of the three-family homes they saw were in poor condition.

Their criteria included a yard for their two Pomeranians and a parking spot. Mrs. Holmes was concerned about dealing with children and strollers in the street when she parked. In Texas, everyone drives and you dont have to worry about pedestrians nearly as much, she said.

A Bronx house would likely come with a yard, but some dont have a parking spot, said Victor Banks, Mr. Holmess uncle, who is a broker at Century 21 Milestone Realty, in Jamaica, and served as their agent.

When Mrs. Holmes was growing up, she said, If anything broke, my dad would fix it. Tano isnt naturally a handyman. He is, like, I am going to be calling someone. I didnt want to be living in a construction zone and to rely on Tano to get things done.

So they focused on homes that were recently renovated and flipped, or otherwise in good condition. A finished home would be better for us, because I would not be the guy to install new drywall, Mr. Holmes said.

Among their choices:
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) have shown for the first time, the mental health significance of hallucinations in people with a history of seizures.

In a study published today (Thursday, June 11th, 2020), findings show that 8% of individuals with a history of seizures report hallucinations, including experiences of hearing or seeing things that are not based in reality. And, most importantly of that 8%, 65% also met criteria for one or more mental health disorders and 53% had one or more suicide attempt.

The study is published in leading journal Epilepsia. As part of one of the longest running studies of mental health in the general population, researchers assessed a wide range of physical and mental health factors in 15,000 people living in the UK. Hallucinations are known to occur in a proportion of adults with seizures but may be erroneously viewed as 'incidental' symptoms of abnormal electrical activity in the brain and nothing more. The findings of this study tell us that these symptoms are not just incidental in people with seizures; they are important markers of risk for mental ill health and for suicidal behaviour.

Dr Ian Kelleher, Research Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity and Senior Author of the study said:

" People with epilepsy are known to be at increased risk of suicide. But among individuals with seizures, it's hard to pick out who is most at risk. What this research shows is that people with seizures who report hallucinations are a particularly high-risk group for suicidal behaviour - about half of these individuals had one or more suicide attempt. So, it's important in epilepsy clinics to ask about hallucinations - and where someone endorses these symptoms, to carefully examine their mental state."

In an Irish context, anecdotal evidence tells us that auditory and visual hallucinations are not routinely assessed in epilepsy clinics.

Kathryn Yates, RCSI, Study Author said:

"It's not surprising that individuals with seizures have a higher rate of hallucinations - almost any disease that affects the brain is likely to increase risk of hallucinations. However, it's important to recognise that hallucinations don't simply reflect abnormal electrical activity in individuals with epilepsy; they're important markers of risk for mental health problems and suicidal behaviour."

Dr Kelleher concluded:

"We'll need further research to fully understand the significance of hallucinations in people with seizures. But what's clear from this work is that, for clinicians working with people with seizures, asking about auditory and visual hallucinations should be a routine part of their assessment."

###

You can read the full article from Epilepsia here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/epi.16570

Note: this link will be live when the embargo has been lifted, 00:01 GMT, Thursday 11th June 2020.

Dr Ian Kelleher

Research Associate Professor of Psychiatry

School of Medicine

Trinity College Dublin

IanKelleherTCD@gmail.com

Ciara O'Shea

Media Relations Officer

Public Affairs and Communication

Trinity College Dublin

COSHEA9@tcd.ie | + 353 86 787 0746
By Akbar Mammadov

Azerbaijan supports the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the Open-Ended Virtual Extraordinary Meeting of the OIC Executive Committee on June 10.

The virtual meeting of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) Executive Committee has been held at the Level of Foreign Ministers on the Threats of the Israeli Occupation Government to Annex Parts of State of Palestines territory Occupied in 1967.

As we have convened to address critical developments affecting the Occupied Palestinian Territory, I would like to reaffirm Azerbaijans full support to the brotherly people of Palestine in their efforts for achieving statehood, peace, stability, and sustainable development, Mammadyarov noted.

Furthermore, Mammadyarov expressed Azerbaijans concern over the reports on possible actions aimed at annexing parts of the West Bank of the Jordan River.

Therefore we call on the parties to refrain from taking unilateral steps in violation of international law that may further damage the peace negotiations, the minister added.

Foreign Minister Mammadyarov pointed out that as the current chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, Azerbaijan is committed to promoting efforts to realize the inalienable rights and legitimate national aspirations of the Palestinian people, including self-determination and freedom in a sovereign and independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The minister also noted that Azerbaijan reaffirms its support for efforts to achieve fair, lasting and peaceful solutions at all aspects of the issue of Palestine including the Palestinian refugees issue, in accordance with international law, the Charter of the United Nations and relevant UN resolutions.

Noting that the world is currently suffering from the pandemic, he said that the fight against the consequences of the pandemic requires to hold intensive international cooperation and assistance between international organizations and countries.

In this conjunction, Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian aid to a number of countries, the minister noted.

Mammadyarov reminded that the use of force to acquire territory is inadmissible under the international law, adding that all states bear obligation not to recognize as lawful the situation resulting from the occupation of the states, nor render aid or assistance in maintaining that situation.

In this regard, the minister said that Azerbaijan, of which internationally recognized territories are still under the occupation for almost thirty years, fully sympathizes with the feelings of the Palestinian people.

---

Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Authors and publishers eagerly await each Wednesday's advance look at the weekly New York Times bestseller list. The list for June 21, which dropped yesterday, is a vivid new snapshot of an America where race is suddenly at the center of the conversation.

Why it matters: Amid a pandemic where African Americans are suffering disproportionately, and a global eruption following the death of George Floyd, the culture is now alive with fresh voices.

Check out the top 10 entries on the Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction list:

"White Fragility," by Robin DiAngelo. "So You Want to Talk About Race," by Ijeoma Oluo. "How to Be an Antiracist," by Ibram X. Kendi. "Me and White Supremacy," by Layla F. Saad. "The New Jim Crow," by Michelle Alexander. "The Color of Law," by Richard Rothstein. "Between the World and Me," by Ta-Nehisi Coates: "A meditation on race in America." "Untamed," by Glennon Doyle: "The activist and public speaker describes her journey of listening to her inner voice." "Stamped from the Beginning," by Ibram X. Kendi: "[A]nti-black racist ideas and their effect on the course of American history." "Just Mercy," by Bryan Stevenson: "[D]ecades of work to free innocent people condemned to death."

And at No. 11: "Becoming," by Michelle Obama.

The Times' Paperback Nonfiction list opens with six of the titles above, then picks up with:

7. "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" by Beverly Tatum: "The president emerita of Spelman College examines whether self-segregation is a problem or a coping strategy."

by Beverly Tatum: "The president emerita of Spelman College examines whether self-segregation is a problem or a coping strategy." 8. "Born a Crime," by Trevor Noah: "A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of 'The Daily Show.'"

by Trevor Noah: "A memoir about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa by the host of 'The Daily Show.'" 9. "Raising White Kids," by Jennifer Harvey.

by Jennifer Harvey. 10. "White Rage," by Carol Anderson.

Topping the Hardcover Fiction list in its debut week is "The Vanishing Half," by Brit Bennett:

"The lives of twin sisters who run away from a Southern black community at age 16 diverge as one returns and the other takes on a different racial identity but their fates intertwine."

And No. 1 on the Young Adult Hardcover list:
ShareChat, the Indian social media platform, today announces the launch of #PledgeToDonate campaign to spread awareness around blood donation. The campaign also aims to encourage its employees and 60 million monthly active users to pledge and engage with blood donation initiatives and address Indias blood shortage problem.

According to a research conducted by medical journal The Lancent, India has the world's largestshortage of blood, with all states together battling a huge shortfall of 41 million units and demand outstripping supply by over 400%.The 4 day campaign starting 11th June 2020 would focus on demonstrating its users their sense of belonging and responsibility towards the nation by donating blood. It would also invite users to share positivity on the platform around blood donation with a selfie campaign.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr Farid Ahsan, COO, ShareChat said We, being an Indian platform designed for Indian audiences, it's our moral responsibility to stand for our country. With #PledgeToDonate campaign, we aim to inspire the thought of belonging for the nation among our users. We hope the campaign would motivate millions of Indians to come forward and contribute to the nation by taking a pledge to donate blood. We would also educate people on various safety measures, which is of utmost importance in todays time.

We believe this would offer immense support to our medical infrastructure, especially during the pandemic situation. We are confident that this campaign would turn out to be a success and help the nation to take the leap towards the future, he added

ShareChat has activated the Webcard on the platform with a Pledge button, asking users to pledge by clicking the button. Users are expected to join the follow up campaign #IHavePledged, starting June 13th, with selfies. ShareChat will also spread awareness among its users with tips, suggestions, advisories and also, myth-busting facts. The campaign will be activated across 15 Indian languages on ShareChat.
NYPD Police officers listen as Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York President Pat Lynch and representatives from other NYPD and law enforcement unions holds a news conference at the Icahn Stadium parking lot on June 9, 2020 to address the "current anti-law enforcement environment." in New York. Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images

Repeated police killings of black Americans have sparked the widest push for law enforcement reform in years. The nationwide movement fueled by George Floyd's death last month has already kick-started change in cities and states. The coming months will help to determine just how far officials go in reshaping departments  and whether Congress will join state and local lawmakers in taking steps to overhaul policing. Policymakers across the country have targeted several major areas in their reform discussions, including: Ensuring more transparency about police use of force and disciplinary records

Banning chokeholds

Making it easier to sue or prosecute officers who commit abuses Activists and some Democratic officials want to reimagine the system to root out structural racism, calling to redirect chunks of police funding to social services or even replace whole departments with a new public safety system. As municipalities start to respond to sustained demonstrations against police brutality  including violence against protesters  significant reform at the national level is far from assured. Democrats and Republicans who want to make policing changes will have to contend with a president often reluctant to criticize officers or excessive use of force.

Reform and defund efforts take shape in cities

Certain U.S. cities have moved to either remake or cut money from their police departments as activists argue incremental changes have failed. While officials across the country have identified similar problems with the justice system, early actions indicate state and local governments could take drastically different paths as they overhaul law enforcement. In Minneapolis, where Floyd died after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, most of the city council told demonstrators they wanted to begin the process of dismantling the city's police department amid longstanding public distrust. It will likely take Minneapolis years to decide how it would replace the police force. Other cities have taken the step of pledging to cut police funding as they face pressure for over-policing communities of color while neglecting key programs. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would cut an unspecified sum from the country's largest police force and redirect it to youth and social services. But de Blasio has so far not provided specific plans, which has rankled activists frustrated by the mayor's handling of police violence and reform in recent years. Communities United for Police Reform, a coalition of organizations pushing to end discriminatory policies by the NYPD, wants the city to cut the department's $6 billion annual budget by $1 billion in fiscal year 2021 by targeting areas such as new hiring and counterterrorism. "It's very clear that in a pandemic New Yorkers need social services more than policing," said Anthonine Pierre, deputy director of the Brooklyn Movement Center, one of the organizations that is part of Communities United for Police Reform. She added that "times have shifted and the need for policing has shifted," especially after the coronavirus devastated the city. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also announced plans to put $250 million into health care and youth jobs programs while cutting as much as $150 million from the city's police budget. Many who want to reform a flawed justice system have warned against large-scale police budget cuts. "Indiscriminate cuts" that do not target specific problems in a police department budget "may actually undercut efforts" to improve law enforcement, said Taryn Merkl, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law and a former federal prosecutor. As New York City grapples with how to reshape its police department, a flurry of activity in the state legislature this week could foreshadow changes around the country. State lawmakers voted this week to repeal a law known as 50-a, which barred the release of police disciplinary records. Advocates such as Communities United for Police Reform have sought to roll back the measure in a push for transparency. It came under scrutiny when New York City said it could not disclose the disciplinary file of Daniel Pantaleo, the officer fired five years after his chokehold led to Eric Garner's death in Staten Island. Pierre called the bill's passage a "step forward for the rest of the country." The state legislature also approved a bill to criminalize police use of chokeholds. The NYPD already banned the practice, but officers such as Pantaleo continued to use it. During a memorial service for Floyd on Tuesday in Houston, where he lived much of his life, the city's mayor, Sylvester Turner, said he would sign an executive order banning chokeholds and requiring police officers to give a warning before they fire a weapon.

The role Congress can play

At the federal level, congressional Democrats have already introduced sweeping changes designed to reduce violence and address systemic racism  without cutting police funding. But it remains to be seen whether the Republican-held Senate or President Donald Trump will agree to substantive reforms. Congress can control the practices of federal law enforcement officers. While U.S. lawmakers have limited influence over city and state police departments, they can still affect policy by tying conditions to federal funding or grants. A bill introduced by House and Senate Democrats this week would make various reforms without shaking up the foundations of the U.S. police structure. It would change "qualified immunity" rules for officers in an attempt to remove a hurdle for victims of abuses or their family members who try to recover damages. The legislation would change the federal standard for criminal misconduct to make it easier to prosecute cops. It would also create a federal registry of police misconduct and make states report uses of force to the Justice Department. The bill would tie federal funding for state and local departments to several reforms, such as banning chokeholds and carotid holds, stopping "no-knock" search warrants and requiring racial, religious and implicit-bias training. Calls to stop no-knock warrants, under which police can enter a home without notifying residents, have increased following the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who Louisville police shot dead in her apartment in March. As of now, Republicans appear reluctant to embrace many of the reforms in the Democratic plan. Sen. Tim Scott, one of three black senators, is leading a Republican group working on its own policing plan.

The South Carolina senator has not released a full proposal but could do so this week. As of Tuesday, the bill would require states that get federal money to report police shootings, including information such as the age and race of the victim, according to NBC News. It would not bar chokeholds or no-knock warrants but instead aim to collect information on both practices, NBC reported. Like the Democratic legislation, it would classify lynching a federal hate crime. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has held up a House-passed, standalone anti-lynching bill in the Senate.

How Trump and Biden view reform
Joe Biden, Emissary of Grief

His entire political career has been marked by personal loss. His allies say that makes him uniquely capable of leading a nation grappling with death.

June 11, 2020

An overstuffed binder sat in Joe Bidens Senate office, holding the raw materials of his grief.

It was a master collection, aides recalled, with remarks, notes and drafts of eulogies Mr. Biden had given through 2008  for childhood friends, prominent senators, his own father. The table of contents was long enough to use every letter of the alphabet. It included a section of favored passages, often deployed in his remembrances, labeled Quotable Quotes: Death.

Death is part of this life, one such axiom read, and not of the next.

And it has been, in many ways, the defining part of Mr. Bidens.

The compilation, never before detailed publicly, is the sort of trove that few but Mr. Biden could amass, or even think to  a meticulous testament to the mixture of mourning and resilience that has shaped virtually every aspect of his personal and political history.

Mr. Biden has been linked to matters of death and recovery since the minute he was sworn in as a United States senator, from the hospital where his two toddler sons were recovering after the 1972 car crash that killed his first wife, Neilia, and their daughter, Naomi. One of those sons, Beau, died of cancer at 46, five years ago last month.
The Los Angeles Police Department has launched an investigation into 56 alleged instances of officer misconduct during protests over George Floyd and police brutality.

Of the 56 investigations currently underway, 28 involved alleged use of force, according to the LAPD in a statement on Wednesday.

Video footage taken during anti-racism protests in Los Angeles, as well as other cities like Minneapolis and New York City, have showed disturbing clashes between law enforcement and civilians.

Incidents have sparked further anger at authorities, who've become increasingly criticized over what appeared to be excessive force during several instances.

Residents in Los Angeles have called for Police Chief Michael Moore to resign over remarks made about George Floyd and have demanded the police department be defunded.

The Los Angeles Police Department revealed that there are 56 investigations of officer misconduct during protests against police brutality. Pictured: Protesters gather from behind the fence in front of the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters

Officials revealed that 40 investigators have been assigned to review the misconduct complaints.

The LAPD maintained that it will 'look into every complaint thoroughly and hold every officer accountable for their actions.'

So far, seven officers have been reassigned to non-field duties.

'The Los Angeles Police Department continues to investigate allegations of misconduct, violations of Department policy, and excessive force during the recent civil unrest,' the department said.

'Any person who believes they were wrongfully accused of a crime, unjustly injured, or experienced misconduct on the part of an officer can make a complaint with the Department's Internal Affairs Group hotline at 1-800-339-6868.'

Police forces across the United States have faced increasing criticism for using excessive force against peaceful protesters

The LAPD added that complaints specifically related to protests can be emailed to ProtestResponse2020@lapd.online, or residents can make complaints to the Office of the Inspector General.

At a news conference outside the LAPD headquarters, protesters held canisters they said were left in the streets after police used them to fire rubber bullets at crowds, ABC 7 reports.

'This case is about the irony of people in the streets protesting against police brutality, and they're met with police brutality,' attorney Jorge Gonzalez said.

One alleged incident involves Officer Frank Hernandez of the LAPD, who was allegedly seen on video repeatedly punching a handcuffed suspect accused of trespassing in May.

The officer can be seen punching the man repeatedly in the head and body, despite the fact that he did not appear to be struggling or armed

He's since been charged with assault and an internal affair investigation was launched over the 'serious nature of the alleged misconduct.'

Last Friday, police chief Michael Moore said he was concerned after seeing a number of videos appearing to show officers using batons and excessive force against protesters.

Moore said the incident is being investigated.

'Were investigating each of those instances each of those video reports as an independent investigation,' said Moore, according to The Los Angeles Times.

'I dont have all the facts and circumstances behind each of those depictions, and watching those videos does give me concern in instances of understanding why baton strikes or violence, in the sense of the use of  less-lethal munition was used,' he added.

LAPD Chief Michael Moore (far left) said officer force could be justified under certain circumstances, including threats against police and property damage

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (pictured) vowed to divert some of the LAPD's massive funding and redistribute it to African-American health and education

Moore claimed that his officers could be justified for using aggressive force because of threats of violence, attacks on police officers or destruction of property.

He claimed LAPD officers were being pelted with projectiles like rocks and bottles.

Moore has faced calls to resign over his handling of the situation and for his comments that looters are just as responsible as police for the death of George Floyd.

'So what that tells me is that two things: We didnt have protests last night, we had criminal acts. We didnt have people mourning the death of this man, George Floyd. We had people capitalizing,' Moore said.

'His death is on their hands as much as it is those officers,' the chief added. 'And that is a strong statement but I must say that this civil unrest that we are in the midst of, we must turn a corner from people who are involved in violence, people who are involved in preying on others.

He later apologized. 'I misspoke when I said his blood was on their hands, but certainly their actions do not serve the enormity of his loss and cannot be in his memory,' said Moore.

Two City Council members and Police Commission President Eileen Decker have urged the LAPD to conduct a review of how officers used force during protests these last three weeks.

Additionally, US Rep. Ted Lieu wrote a letter to Decker asking that the civilian commission investigate how the department handled demonstrations in Fairfax area.

'Folks who loot or commit arson or assault police officers are committing crimes and that cannot be condoned or tolerated,' he said.

'At the same time, you cant attribute what some folks did on one day, and then deal with peaceful protesters on a different day and hit them with batons.

'They are a different set of people, so its not a justification to say just because some people did some looting, therefore were going to treat all protesters the same.'

Amid calls to dismantle law enforcement entities, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that he will seek up to $150million in cuts to be diverted from the police budget.

The money will instead go to African-American community health and education in the area.

The LAPD, which currently has 9,985 officers, has a budget of $1.8billion.

But the mayor will not back up supporters who want to defund the police department.

Pictured: LAPD Commander Cory Palka discusses with a protester holding a banner reading 'Defund and Disarm the police' in front of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's

Pictured: Protesters rally on Tuesday in Mesa, Arizona, demanding police reform amid protests against police brutality

Similar calls to defund, dismantle and disband police departments have overtaken the city of Minneapolis, where 46-year-old, George Floyd died on Memorial Day.

Cell phone footage showed a white police officer, 44-year-old Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd's next for nearly nine minutes while he yelled 'I can't breathe' and eventually lost consciousness, He later died.

Minneapolis City Council members announced on Sunday that they would disband the 'toxic' police force despite objections from Mayor Jacob Frey.

Instances of alleged police brutality and excessive force from Minneapolis police, who were joined by the National Guard for a time, sparked outrage among protesters.

Journalist Jard Goyetter and the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis, as well as state law enforcement, over allegations of excessive force.

The lawsuit claims Goyetter was threatened with a gun and shot with rubber bullets while covering demonstrations, The Cut reports.

An African-American woman named Annette Williams also filed a civil complaint against the Minneapolis Police Department for similar allegations.

Williams claimed she was 'peacefully protesting police tactics against communities of color' with her daughter when a police vehicle began to spay 'a chemical respiratory irritant' at the crowd of protesters from the window.

Footage of the incident was shared by Star Tribune columnist Jennifer Brooks.

Well THAT was uncalled for. pic.twitter.com/Qdu4LyrZ9U  Jennifer Brooks (@stribrooks) May 29, 2020

Williams alleged that it was pepper spray and several protesters were forced to 'remove their face masks worn to protect against the transmission of COVID-19' before 'coughing uncontrollably.'

According to the data, which was compiled by The New York Times, nearly 60 per cent of the time African-Americans are subjected to force.

'But when the police get physical  with kicks, neck holds, punches, shoves, takedowns, Mace, Tasers or other forms of muscle  nearly 60 percent of the time the person subject to that force is black,' the New York Times wrote.

They added that since 2015, Minneapolis police have documented using force about on African-American residents at least 6,650 times.

Force has alternatively been used about 2,750 times against white residents in the area.

during nearly 60 per cent of violent incidents, Minneapolis officers use force against black people, who only make up about 20 per cent of the city's population.

This means force is being used against black people at seven times the rate force was used against white.

Council President Lisa Bender told CNN on Sunday that there are no plans to get rid of the police force 'in the short term', but that city leaders are committed long-term 'to dismantling policing as we know it... and to rebuild with our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe.'

Councilors do not have direct control over the police force but they do have control over the way the department is funded, meaning they could effectively shut it down by removing funding.

'We're here because we hear you. We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police,' said Bender.

'We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe.

'Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period.'

A joint statement issued by the council members read: 'Decades of police reform efforts have proved that the Minneapolis Police Department cannot be reformed, and will never be accountable for its action.

'We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department and creating a new transformative model for cultivating safety in our city.'

This comes after Mayor Jacob Frey was booed out of a Black Lives Matter protest after refusing the disband the Minneapolis Police Department.

The crowd chanted 'Go home, Jacob' and 'Shame, shame, shame' as he walked through the crowd of dozens of demonstrators.

He later doubled down on his stance, despite swift backlash, and said he would not abolish the police department.

'Im not for abolishing the entire police department, I will be honest about that,' he said.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (center) was booed out of a Black Lives Matter protest after refusing to defund the city's police department on Saturday

On the other hand, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota was fiercely adamant that the police should indeed banded.

'The Minneapolis Police Department is rotten to the root,' Omar continued. 'And so when we dismantle it we get rid of that cancer and we allow for something to rise. And that reimagining allows us to figure out what public safety looks like.'

The Minneapolis Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about current officer misconduct investigations.

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City revealed part of the announced on Monday that he would cut part of the New York Police Department's $6billion budget amid officer investigations.

The money will be redistributed to youth programs and social services within minority communities.

'We will be moving funding from the NYPD to youth initiatives and social services. I want people to understand we are committed to shifting resources to ensure the focus is on our young people.,' said de Blasio, 59, during a press briefing.

Pictured: NYPD officers arrest protesters during a demonstration against the killing of George Floyd

'And I also will affirm that when doing that, we will only do it in a way that we are certain will ensure the city will be safe.'

One alleged incident involved a 20-year-old woman who was roughly shoved by an NYPD officer to the ground during a protest.

The officer had allegedly called her a 'stupid f***ing b***h' before pushing her.

The victim, Dounya Zayer later shared updates from the hospital saying she suffered a seizure and a concussion from the attack.

An investigation has since been launched and the officer was charged with assault.

The following day, a second officer was caught on video yanking down a man's coronavirus mask to pepper spray him.

The man had been among a massive crowd of demonstrators in Brooklyn and had been holding his hands up.

Footage showing NYPD cruisers intentionally edging towards protesters in the street and clips shared to social media have furthered eroded the public's trust in authorities.

One NYPD officer was caught on video yanking down a man's coronavirus mask to pepper spray him

The family says Jahmel was tased three times and is in danger of losing all of his teeth

The most recent incident happened in the Bronx last week after a 16-year-old Jahmel Leach was allegedly tased three times and beaten by an officer during a protest.

They say Jahmel had been on the sidelines of a protest that had spiraled out of control on Fordham Road, where businesses were being targeted by looters and fires were being ignited on the street.

The teenager was tased in the head, leg and shoulder and allegedly struck by an officer before being taken to St Barnabas Hospital and later into custody, without the knowledge of his parents despite him being a minor.

A statement released by the family also alleges the officer told his mother: 'I'm sorry he is so tall I thought he was an adult when I took him down.'

De Blasio said on Twitter that he was 'really troubled' by the event and said an investigation has been launched.

The New York Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about current officer misconduct investigations.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the New York Police Department, Minneapolis Police Department and Los Angeles Police Department for further comment.
As a string of cop shows are pulled from TV schedules in the wake of nationwide protests against police brutality, sarcastic calls to defund Paw Patrol and cancel the childrens cartoon have created a stir among conservatives online.

The amusing demands were made after the shows official Twitter page issued a heartfelt statement last week calling for Black voices to be heard following the tragic death of George Floyds death in Minneapolis, and amid the unrest that has rippled out across the country in the more than two-weeks since.

But the animated show - which follows the day-to-day heroics of a squad of essential-worker canines, including Chase, a German Shepherd police dog - likely never could have envisioned the responses its message would garner.

Euthanize the police dog, demanded the faux outrage mob. Defund the paw patrol, echoed others in jest.

As a string of cop shows are pulled from TV schedules in the wake of nationwide protests against police brutality, sarcastic calls to defund the paw patrol and cancel the childrens cartoon have created a stir among conservatives online

The amusing demands were made after the shows official Twitter page issued a heartfelt statement last week calling for Black voices to be heard in the wake of George Floyds death in Minneapolis, and the unrest that has rippled out across the country in the more than two-weeks since

One meme even parodied the animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven, insisting that all pooches do indeed reach the Pearly Gates, except the class traitors in the Paw Patrol.

Some called the show pro-law enforcement pawpaganda; others demanded Chases resignation from the Adventure Bay Police Department.

How much will Paw Patrol be donating to bail funds?, asked one user.

While the calls to cancel Paw Patrol have been purely satirical, they come at a time when relations between the public and real-life law enforcement have become incredibly fractured - with protests against police violence entering their third week in the US this week.

The ire has been cast against fictional and reality TV cops too, with A&E announcing the cancellation of its flagship series Live P.D. on Wednesday.

This is a critical time in our nations history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD, the network said in a statement to Deadline.

Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.

The cancelation of Live P.D. comes a day after Paramount Network pulled the plug on another docuseries featuring the police, the long-running show Cops, which was axed after 32 seasons yesterday.

The fact, though, that there could be any disdain levelled toward Ryder and his wrangle of upstanding, problem-solving pups, stirred alarm for some on social media.

Now the left wants to cancel Paw Patrol, tweeted the president's son, Eric Trump. These people are truly insane...

The rage mob is coming for PAW PATROL, conservative radio host Dana Loesch warned.

Im sorry, I refuse to believe this is the New York Times, and not The Onion, Fourth Watch media critic Steve Krakauer tweeted.

Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly added that the fanfare was beyond parody.

That view was shared former presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, who said 'The absurdity knows no end.'

The hashtag he accompanied the message with, 'CancelCultureTargetsCartoons', failed to catch on, however, with only others bucking the trend.

The official Paw Patrol page has so far refrained from wading into the controversy.

But the anguish of Kelly follows from comments she made earlier Wednesday, admonishing HBO Max from removing Gone With the Wind from its streaming platform, amid criticisms the movie glorifies the antebellum South.

'Are we going to pull all of the movies in which women are treated as sex objects too? Guess how many films well have left? Where does this end?' she asked as part of a tweeted thread.

The journalist sarcastically argued that if movie giants and streaming sites start to pull down controversial shows and films that means hits like Friends, Game of Thrones, and Law and Order must be taken down too.

'Ok @hbomax  lets do this  every episode of Friends needs to go right now. If not, you hate women (& LGBTQ ppl), who also dont fare well on "Friends". Obviously Game of Thrones has to go right now. Anything by John HughesWoody Allencould go on & on & on & on' she said.

Megyn Kelly is slamming HBO Max for temporarily pulling the classic film Gone with the Wind following criticism that it romanticizes slavery, saying 'Where does this end?'

The lawyer turned journalist shared a slew of tweets slamming the removal of movies and shows that have fallen foul with the public saying if all the films that portray women as sex objects were taken down, there would be very few movies left

HBO said it would temporarily remove the film to start a 'discussion of its historical context and a denouncement' of its portrayal of black people and slavery.

The film starred Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett OHara and is based on a novel written three years prior by Margaret Mitchell.

Controversial depictions of racism and slavery, from Hollywood blockbusters to Confederate monuments, have become a hot topic of debate amid protests decrying racism and the police killing of black man George Floyd.

Kelly denounced the move to remove the film saying it would trigger a domino effect and lead to the removal of a slew of other TV shows and movies.

'"Live PD" is consistently one of the highest rated shows on cable. But now it may go away bc even watching a police show is somehow offensive to some. (Secret option #2: if you dont like it, dont watch.)' she said on the news that the long-running show was cancelled in light of protests against police brutality.

One Twitter user replied to her criticism saying: 'We can say goodbye to Tarantino or Scorsese movies.'

'Totally. Forgot those guys. Lets keep it going until all we have left is The Queen and Captain America,' she replied.

Kelly said that books, music and art don't need to be censured even if they portray controversial views of race, sex, and bias.

'For the record, you can loathe bad cops, racism, sexism, bias against the LGBTQ community, and not censor historical movies, books, music and art that dont portray those groups perfectly,' she said.

'Ppl understand art reflects life... as we evolve, so do our cultural touchstones,' she added.

On Tuesday HBO announced theyd remove the 1939 epic Gone With the Wind (above) that tells the story of a turbulent romance during the Civil following criticism that it glosses over the horrors of slavery

She continued to list shows that could be cut for being insensitive to women and the LGBTQ community like Friends, Game of Thrones, and Woody Allen films

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz similarly tweeted: 'Is this real? First Gone with the Wind, now this? STOP the censorship, you Orwellian statists!'

The reignited controversy over Gone with the Wind started on Monday when John Ridley, screenwriter for 12 Years A Slave, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the film should potentially be removed.

'It doesn't just 'fall short' with regard to representation,' he wrote.

'It is a film that glorifies the antebellum south. It is a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color.

'It is a film that, as part of the narrative of the 'Lost Cause,' romanticizes the Confederacy in a way that continues to give legitimacy to the notion that the secessionist movement was something more, or better, or more noble than what it was  a bloody insurrection to maintain the 'right' to own, sell and buy human beings.'

The film was controversial from the beginning.

African American film critic Earl J. Morris, who wrote for the black Pittsburgh Courier newspaper, urged readers to write to the Motion Picture Producers Association and demand that the 'n-word' be removed from the script, because it featured heavily in the novel.

Morris also reported that many black actors refused to take the demeaning roles, but added that 'we cannot criticize' the black actors, 'for they are economic slaves.'

When the movie was released in January 1940 the NAACP criticized McDaniel, who played Mammy, as an 'Uncle Tom.

HBO said on Tuesday the film's removal was only temporary.

'Gone With the Wind is a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society,' the company said in a statement.

'These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible.

'These depictions are certainly counter to WarnerMedia's values, so when we return the film to HBO Max, it will return with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions, but will be presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.

'If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history.'
Bord Gais Energy employees are not at risk from plans by the companys parent, British energy utility Centrica, to cut 5,000 jobs as part of a cost-saving restructuring programme.

It is understood that there are no plans for redundancies at the Bord Gais business and that the bulk of Centricas cuts will occur in its operations in the US and the UK, where it owns British Gas.

Centrica said it is looking at a significant restructuring which will result in a simpler, leaner group.

That will involve the removal of three layers of management, with the groups current 40-strong senior leadership team being halved by the end of August.

Centrica said the bulk of the restructuring will take place during the second half of this year and that more than half of the job cuts will come from management positions.

I believe that our complex business model hinders the delivery of our strategy and inhibits the relentless focus I want to give to our customers, said Chris OShea, who took over as Centrica CEO in March.

We have great people, strong brands that are trusted by millions and leading market positions, but the harsh reality is that we have lost over half of our earnings in recent years," he said.

Now we must bring focus by modernising and simplifying the way we do businessthe changes we are proposing to make are designed to arrest our decline, allow us to focus on our customers and create a sustainable company.

Centrica has seen the Covid-19 pandemic curb energy demand and has had to adapt to a price cap imposed in 2019 on the most common energy tariffs in its core market of Britain.

Earlier this year it canceled its dividend for 2019 and warned of an increase in non-payments by UK customers.

"Since becoming chief executive almost three months ago, I've focused on navigating the company through the Covid-19 crisis and identifying what needs to change in Centrica. We've learnt through the crisis that we can be agile and responsive in the most difficult conditions and put our customers at the heart of our decision making, Mr OShea said.

In addition to the proposed new organisational design, Centrica has also started consultation to simplify terms and conditions for employees in the UK.

In Ireland, Centrica employs more than 300 people at Bord Gais Energy. While those jobs are safe, management changes are occurring here too.

Existing managing director Catherine OKelly is to leave and take up a leadership role with Centrica in the UK.

Ms OKelly will be replaced at Bord Gais Energy by the companys former managing director Dave Kirwan, who will also serve on Centricas group executive committee.

Mr Kirwan returns to Ireland having completed a term as managing director of the UK Home business at Centrica.

As we emerge from the Covid-19 lockdown, energy supply to businesses, homes and communities will be a vital enabler of Irelands economic recovery, he said.

-Additional reporting Reuters
Coronavirus cases are expected to spike in September across the United States but stay flat in Connecticut, according to one of the most often cited transmission models.

Both deaths from COVID-19 and identified cases are expected to rise slowly in the United States at least, based on projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

But those projections show deaths and cases spiking in September. There should be 391 deaths each day from COVID-19 in late August, and then more than 1,000 a day by the end of September.

I think it's a mistake to talk about a second wave because the fact is, we're still having thousands or tens of thousands of new infections a day around the country with case rates increasing in many communities, former CDC Director Tom Frienden told Hearst Connecticut Media. People have just begun saying that they're just tired of staying at home.

The University of Washington projections do offer a range: the best-case scenario shows fewer than 100 deaths per day in the United States by Oct. 1  or as many as 4,382.

But not in Connecticut. There have been, as of Thursday evening, a total of 4,146 deaths in Connecticut from coronavirus, with 44,461 confirmed cases. The University of Washington models show those numbers rising only incrementally for the foreseeable future.

The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Connecticut is expected to fall between 4,174 and 4,402 by Oct. 1.

Connecticut has seen a continued decline in confirmed cases, deaths and hospitalizations from coronavirus, even while the United States topped 2 million cases by Thursday morning.

Many states have seen a sharp increase since deciding to end lockdown protocols. Arizona health officials said there was a huge spike in cases about 10 days after Gov. Doug Ducey ended his states stay-at-home order and allowed businesses to reopen.

It seems pretty clear to me that what were seeing is directly related to the end of the stay-at-home order, Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, told the Associated Press.

Texas saw a 42 percent increase in hospitalizations since Memorial Day weekend, with 2,100 patients in the hospital for the virus, the most since the pandemic began.

North Carolina, Alabama and Arkansas, as well as other states, have seen a surge in cases and hospitalizations in recent days.

It's quite valid to consider the economic impact of COVID control, Frieden said. The economic and social considerations are quite valid to consider in terms of decisions of how and when to reopen. But there are tough, tough decisions in terms of what gets opened when and how.

The IHME model is not the only one predicting a surge in COVID-related deaths and cases by the end of summer. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told the Today Show that the numbers are concerning.

It is about two weeks after Memorial Day that were seeing this and this is what we were worried about, he said.

The IHME model was one of those used by the White Houses Coronavirus Task Force, and was cited by Dr. Deborah Birx during a press conference on March 31.
Relying solely on social distancing could lead to a second surge of coronavirus that kills more people and lasts twice as long as the first, a study suggests.

Modelling by a mathematician found easing lockdown by 50 per cent would cause cases to spike to around 350,000 a day by August.

Dr David Glass, of Ulster University in Northern Ireland, likened a 50 per cent easing in restrictions to the measures seen in the UK a week before lockdown.

On March 16, officials banned large gatherings, promoted stringent handwashing and 'encouraged' people to work from home wherever possible.

Dr Glass said reverting to this level of preventative measures would be 'disastrous' and could lead to around 75,000 more deaths in a second wave that lasts twice as long as the first.

He claimed the UK's current loosening of lockdown would keep cases falling but any further easing may cause cases to creep back up.

Dr Glass told MailOnline: 'I dont think we need to reintroduce more restrictions but I think the scope for further relaxations is very limited at the moment.'

He said the current measures in Britain equate to about a 10 per cent easing of the full-scale lockdown enforced on March 23.

The effect on the daily number of confirmed cases (hospital numbers for the UK) of keeping the lockdown fully in place (fine dotted line), relaxing it by 25% (dotted line) and relaxing it by 50% ( black line). Shaded regions represent 95 per cent confidence intervals. In each case the relaxation is assumed to take effect by June 30

The model is based on the assumption easing lockdown by 50 per cent will directly increase the reproduction 'R' value of coronavirus by 50 per cent.

R represents the average number of people an infected patient passes the disease onto, and keeping it below 1 is key to containing its spread.

Dr Glass estimates the UKs R value was hovering at around 2 before lockdown and has since fallen to 0.9  which he says is 'higher than would have been hoped'.

Dr Glass also modelled the effect of easing lockdown in four other European countries - including France (left) and Germany (right). He estimates the R in these countries is 0.66 and so a second wave would take longer to hit

Italy would be the second worst-hit country after the UK because its R is sitting at 0.88, his model predicted (left). Spain's R is thought to be in the region of 0.7

...WHILE SEPARATE STUDY SUGGESTS MARCH 16 MEASURES WOULD HAVE STAVED OFF OUTBREAK WITHOUT LOCKDOWN Britain's coronavirus outbreak may have been under control before lockdown was enforced, according to a study that throws into question whether the draconian measures were ever needed. Data modelling by a mathematician at Bristol University suggests the spread of Covid-19 throughout the UK had peaked days before Boris Johnson introduced the unprecedented curbs. The calculation is based on a growing body of data that indicates the average Covid-19 victim dies 23 days after being infected. The darkest days in the UK's outbreak were on April 8 and 9, when more than 2,000 people passed away from the virus, official figures show. Professor Simon Wood believes most of these patients were infected between March 18 and 19 - 23 days earlier - and five days before the country locked down. He claims that banning large gatherings and telling people to keep two metres apart would have been sufficient to keep the virus under control. The study throws into question whether Britain's lockdown was needed amid claims social distancing policies announced on March 16 curbed the crisis on their own. Advertisement

The mathematician predicts that easing lockdown by half would result in the UKs R rising to at least 1.4, which would cause cases to increase exponentially.

For example an R rate of 1.4 would mean every 10 people who became infected would pass the virus onto 14 more people. Those 14 would, in turn, infect 20 people who would then pass the disease on to more than 27, and so on.

The true number of daily infections at the height of Britains crisis is unknown because of a lack of widespread testing.

Swabs were reserved for only the very sickest Covid-19 hospital patients until May, when the epidemic was already on a downward spin.

Official records show cases peaked on April 11, when 8,700 people were diagnosed with the viral disease in 24 hours.

But estimates by Public Health England and Cambridge University researchers suggest 360,000 Britons were infected in a single day on March 23 in England alone.

Dr Glass' study, which has not yet been published in a scientific journal or reviewed by other scientists, claims cases would soar to this level by August if lockdown was eased by 50 per cent on June 30.

Left unchecked, the disease would race through the population once again and kill another 75,000, he claims.

But Dr Glass concedes this would be unlikely to happen because the UK government would revert back to lockdown before the crisis could spiral back out of control.

Writing in the paper, he said: 'The model was used to investigate potential consequences of relaxing the lockdowns towards the end of June.

'The results indicate that there is a substantial difference between 25 per cent and 50 per cent relaxations.'

Dr Glass did not reveal what a relaxation scenario might look like if lockdown was loosened by 25 per cent.

He continued: 'The results suggest that the latter would be disastrous and could lead to a second peak that is higher and lasts longer than the earlier peak in each country, if no further measures were put in place.

'While the former would not be so serious, it would halt the decline in numbers. A relaxation of around 10-15 per cent, which translates into the level of interactions within society, would be recommended if numbers are to continue to decline.'

Separate modelling by Bristol University's Professor Simon Wood shows the spread of the virus had already peaked several days before the draconian curbs were imposed and was falling. The grey line marks March 23, when the UK locked down. The darkest days in the UK's outbreak were on April 8 and 9, when more than 2,000 people passed away from the virus. Professor Simon Wood believes most of these patients were infected between March 18 and 19 - 23 days earlier - and five days before the country locked down

Of course, this only applies to society as a whole and particular measures would need to be put in place to protect more vulnerable groups.

Dr Glass estimates that the UK's current easing of lockdown equates to under 10 per cent. He believes loosening them more than 15 per cent would cause cases to creep up.

He told MailOnline: 'My approach does not attempt to model specific relaxation scenarios, but to look at the overall picture.

'Based on the data, there is no indication the relaxations introduced so far have led to an increase in numbers in the UK as a whole.

'But for the most recent relaxations we wouldnt expect to see any effect in the data for a couple of weeks, so we need to keep monitoring the situation.

'In summary, I dont think we need to reintroduce more restrictions, but I think the scope for further relaxations is very limited at the moment.'

Reacting to the study, Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, said: 'My own view is that if there is a second wave it will be a blip not a major outbreak.

'I know what the maths says but I think the situation now is very different to three months ago and I dont think all of these effects are accurately incorporated into the models.'

Professor Jones said there were five main reasons a second outbreak would not be nearly as lethal as the first.

He added: 'People are now far more aware of the virus and take precautions that they otherwise would not, the hand washing and distancing. Even if not perfect it has a percentage effect on transmission.

'Its warmer and dryer and it is generally accepted that transmission will be less in these conditions, another percentage effect.

'At least some of the population, up to 15 per cent in some areas although much less in others, is now immune and cannot catch or transmit the virus. We do not have herd immunity but we have some when previously we did not, yet another percentage effect.

'Other outbreaks like the 2009 flu pandemic spiked in June but then almost disappeared before returning in the winter. There were plenty of susceptible people around but still the virus faded away in the summer.

'Countries who have exited lockdown but also still have a large percentage of the population susceptible have not seen a large rise in cases. I cannot see why the UK will be any different.'
We are incredibly proud of Jason and Daniela. These well deserved honors showcase their commitment to exceptional client service, attorney development, and community involvement, said Philip R. Sellinger and David Jay

Litigation Shareholder Jason Kislin and Corporate Associate Daniela Krinshpun, of global law firm Greenberg Traurig LLPs New Jersey office, will be honored at New Jersey Law Journals (NJLJ) Professional of Excellence Awards. According to NJLJ the awards recognize lawyers who have left an indelible mark on the legal community in New Jersey and beyond through their unwavering dedication to the profession.

Kislin will be honored as a Mentor, a category for attorneys who take those around them to the next level, according to NJLJ. Krinshpun will be honored as a New Leader of the Bar, which according to NJLJ is for attorneys under 40 who bring both notable achievements and outstanding potential to the table.

We are incredibly proud of Jason and Daniela. These well deserved honors showcase their commitment to exceptional client service, attorney development, and community involvement, said Philip R. Sellinger and David Jay, co-managing shareholders of the firms New Jersey office.

Kislin focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation on behalf of clients in a broad array of industries. He has experience with class action defense, securities litigation, business litigation, shareholder litigation, restrictive covenants, employment litigation, real estate litigation, and alternative dispute resolution. He serves as outside counsel to entrepreneurs and start-up companies in a myriad of sectors. Additionally, Kislin provides guidance to companies and individuals in Kazakhstan and other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States in various matters including those related to US laws and practices.

Krinshpun focuses her practice on multijurisdictional financing matters, particularly leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, restructurings, and real estate transactions. She advises banks and hedge fund clients in both secured and unsecured financing transactions. She is also experienced with preparing mortgage and related security documents for large real estate financing transactions.

About Greenberg Traurigs New Jersey Office: Established in 2002, Greenberg Traurigs New Jersey office has attorneys practicing in the areas of Complex Commercial and Class Action Litigation, Hatch-Waxman Litigation, Corporate, Restructuring & Bankruptcy, Construction Law, Franchise & Distribution, Immigration & Compliance, Intellectual Property & Technology, Labor & Employment, Real Estate, Tax, and Private Wealth Services. As a significant contributor to the firm's international platform, the New Jersey office includes a team of nationally recognized attorneys who provide legal advice to international, national and local business and technology clients. The team offers clients both the dedication and responsiveness of a local firm with the combined know-how and geographic reach of a global law firm.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2,200 attorneys in 41 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.
Image: Facebook/@BaruSahibHP

Be it a natural disaster, such as the Kerala floods, a pandemic, or protests  against the Citizenship Act in India, or against racism in the United States  the Sikh community has always been in the forefront of providing meals.

Langar, the practice of preparing and serving a free meal, is an essential part of Sikhism, and promotes the tenet of seva or selfless service.

Even as religious places had been closed in the US in view of the coronavirus-driven lockdown, a gurudwara in New Yorks Queens Village has served more than 1,45,000 free meals in 10 weeks to hospital workers, to the poor or anyone in need.

Now, members of the gurudwara have taken to providing meals to those who have been protesting against the killing of George Floyd by a white cop in Minneapolis on May 25.

Last week, a dozen Sikh volunteers or sevadars served 500 portions of matar paneer, rajma chawal and 1,000 bottles of water and cans of soda to demonstrators in Sunnyside, The New York Times reported. Add to it, they also offered kheer, or sweet rice pudding, for dessert.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

The pictures from the langar seva were shared by Kalgidhar Trust - Baru Sahib on their official Facebook page.

Himmat Singh, a coordinator at the World Sikh Parliament, said, Where we see peaceful protest, we are going. We are looking for justice, we support this.

A similar story has emerged from Fremont, California, where Sikhs handed out several hundred bottles of water to protesters as a show of solidarity.

Another gurudwara in Los Angeles served 700 portions of red-sauce pasta and 500 bottles of water to protesters camping at the Pan Pacific Park.

Gurjiv Kaur, a volunteer at the gurudwara, said, It is our duty to stand up with others to fight for justice.

Langar at its core is a revolution  against inequality and the caste system, she added.
As many as 250 people can gather in certain indoor settings beginning next week, according to revised public health orders released Wednesday that continue the states rolling wave of relaxed coronavirus-related restrictions.

Gov. Mark Gordon announced the changes in a news release Wednesday afternoon. The new orders, effective June 15, allow for 250 people to gather in indoor events where social distancing is possible. In more confined indoor settings, up to 50 people can gather. The newly relaxed restrictions, originally put in place in mid-March, also allow for schools, colleges, trade schools and the University of Wyoming to reopen for in-person instruction for as many as 50 students in a group.

School districts across the state, including in Natrona County, have been drafting their reopening plans for the fall. Officials in Casper said earlier this week that the state Department of Education will release a reopening plan template next month. On Wednesday, the universitys board approved a plan to reopen campus in the fall. The university will require $25 million to do mass testing, reopen facilities and take other measures intended to keep the coronavirus at bay.

Wyoming has made outstanding progress to date, Gordon said in the news release announcing the new orders. Folks need to remember that it is important to remain vigilant, but because we have been so successful, I am confident we can continue lifting the very few remaining public health restrictions.

For the non-confined spaces, both indoor and outdoor, that can have up to 250 people, the order requires social distancing. The events that would qualify include rodeos, speedway motor races, outdoor concerts, sporting events, track and field races, farmers markets, fireworks shows, weddings and other similar events. Groups of separate households must be kept apart, staff must wear face coverings and other protective equipment, and attendees must be screened for coronavirus symptoms, among other restrictions.

Previously, groups of 25 were allowed indoors, though theaters and venues that could social distance were exempt from the limit.

The new orders, effective through the end of June, largely extend previous restrictions, including those mandating social distancing, sanitizing and mask-wearing at restaurants, barbershops, tattoo parlors and other public-facing businesses.

The updated orders allow for parades to happen, provided appropriate social distancing takes place. However, that wont change things for the Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo parade, which was canceled last month at the same time as the rodeo and carnival.

Tom Jones, the general manager of the Casper event, said there were still too many restrictions to reasonably hold the parade, which he said can draw a crowd of 30,000.

He also said the parade wouldnt be the same without being able to host the annual fair and rodeo, which is canceled this year amid the pandemic.

The parade to us is the kickoff to our fair, Jones said. If we cant have the fair, why do it?

As of Wednesday afternoon, the state had confirmed 768 cases of the novel coronavirus, along with 212 probable cases. Of the combined 980 known and likely patients, 804 have recovered. Eighteen Wyomingites have died from COVID-19.

Of the six metrics that the state tracks to gauge the severity of the virus presence in Wyoming, five are marked yellow for stabilizing. Those five are new cases, percent of cases attributed to community spread, total hospital admissions related to the virus, hospital bed availability and ICU bed availability.

The sixth metric  percent of all tests that are positive  is rated as green, for improving. Of the more than 30,000 tests processed by state and private labs, just 2.5 percent have been positive.

The new orders are the most significant loosening of orders yet, with larger crowds and gatherings now allowed indoors. In-person schooling has been prohibited since mid-March, after Gordon recommended and state health officer Dr. Alexia Harrist later ordered that K-12 buildings be closed. The university and several community colleges all also announced that they were moving their instruction online.

The wave of loosened orders began a month ago, when Gordon and Harrist allowed barbershops, tattoo parlors and other, similar businesses to reopen in limited capacities. Theyve since reopened restaurants to indoor and outdoor dining, allowed for larger outdoor and indoor gatherings and cleared the way for religious services, among other things.

To limit the virus spread, Gordon and Harrist began implementing tight restrictions in mid-March, including the closures of schools and many businesses and limitations on gatherings. The state did not, however, issue a shelter-in-place order, as most other states did.

Staff writer Morgan Hughes contributed to this report.

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ATLANTA, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- To help the busiest airport in the U.S. return to pre pandemic traffic and run cleaning operations more efficiently TRAX Analytics (TRAX), the data-driven provider of innovative information technology (IT) solutions for airports and other public venues, announced today a full expansion of its smart restroom solution throughout Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

The TRAX Analytics software and mobile application will operate in tandem with the current facility manager and other airport implemented initiatives, to monitor airport staff location performance and ultimately connect the restrooms, workforce and the facility together. Touchless technologies including digital signage are incorporating data available to the public in reference to cleaning information and post pandemic precautionary messaging.

"Restroom cleanliness has always been a key factor in passenger satisfaction at airports," said Tracy Davis, president and CEO, TRAX Analytics, LLC. "COVID has put increased attention on sanitation and cleanliness, so providing travelers with a renewed sense of comfort has become top priority. Our smart technology is helping Hartsfield-Jackson take the steps to ensure their facilities are sanitized and at their cleanest for travelers."

As part of the airport's massive modernization program that aims to improve the traveler experience for the over 100 million passengers a year, the expanded airport wide contract with TRAX includes an initial 34 technologically advanced restrooms that will utilize throughput sensors to monitor traffic flow, display cleaning information via digital signage outside each location, monitor restroom and staff status on a facility map and send real-time alerts to custodial staff to let them know when a restroom requires service through the TRAX mobile app. Atlanta will be able to run quality control and cleaning inspections through the TRAX mobile application as they continue to expand to the other restrooms.

"The Atlanta Airlines Terminal Company (AATC), which provides ATL with facility management solutions brought TRAX on as an additional partner to assist in solving the unique challenges that go into keeping airport restrooms clean 24/7. TRAX will also help keep passenger interaction areas operational and at the highest quality and sanitization levels, especially during the busy travel seasons," said Kofi Smith, President and CEO of AATC. "We've been working with TRAX for over a year and they have helped us continue down our path of creating the smart restroom of the future that passengers demand and deserve."

The project builds on the successful TRAX facility analytics system pilot program, where ATL experienced an improvement in cleanliness, and increased customer satisfaction levels.

"We have seen such drastic improvement in customer experience, customer satisfaction, and the cleanliness of our facilities since we started this smart restroom effort in partnership with TRAX Analytics almost three years ago," said Steve Mayers, director of customer experience, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. "We are excited to expand it airport wide and confident the use of this technology will continue to bring travelers comfort that the airport and its partners at AATC are taking the best possible measures to ensure the cleanliness of our facility."

TRAX Analytics Smart Restroom technology has been deployed in airports across the country such as Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), and Houston Airport Systems' (HAS), George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), combining cutting-edge technological innovation with a unique design aesthetic to solve the critical problems of cleanliness and efficiency of public restrooms.

For more information, please visit www.traxinsights.com.

ABOUT TRAX ANALYTICS, LLC.

TRAX Analytics, LLC. is a leading provider in innovative smart solutions for enterprises, facilities and restrooms. The platform uses sensors, APIs, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to provide predictive, real-time and historical data analysis to better manage and improve facility cleanliness and custodial operations. TRAX Analytics' smart technology provides real-time notifications and information that corrects and solves problems on demand.

Media Contact:

Kylen Musil

TRAX Analytics, LLC.

[email protected]

SOURCE TRAX Analytics, LLC.

Related Links

http://www.traxinsights.com


New Delhi:

In a shocking incident of road rage in Bihar, Kunal Pratap son of a senior RJD MLA Birendra Sinha on Friday reportedly stabbed a youth for 'refusing' to let him overtake his car. The incident happened at Obra in Aurangabad district.

The victim was rushed to a government hospital in Patna where his condition is stated be critical. However, RJD MLA Birendra Sinha rubbished all the charges against his son. The lawmaker claimed this is a political conspiracy and things will be clear soon.

Meanwhile, the incident sent ripples across the state and the opposition demanded stern action against the accused. The opposition termed such incidents as Jungle Raaj returns.

The accused was detained on Friday for questioning and sent to jail for further investigation. On Saturday morning a large number of RJD supporters gathered at Police Station demanding to release Kunal.

The victim said Pintu Kumar said Kunal wanted him to follow his orders as his father is an MLA.

Earlier, JDU legislator Manorama Devi's son Rocky Yadav shot dead a youth Aditya in Gaya for overtaking his care on May 7. Rocky intercepted his car killed him with his Italy-made Baretta pistol for his "audacity" to overtake his vehicle. He was later arrested from his hideout by the Bihar Police.

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The total number of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai has reached 52,445. In the last 24 hours, about 1,500 cases and 97 deaths have been reported.

Over 1,500 more COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths were reported in Mumbai on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases to 52,445 in the city, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. According to the official data, the total number of cases includes 23,693 recovered/discharged, 26,897 active cases and 1,855 deaths. The Mumbai has reported 1,567 more COVID-19 cases today. The total number of cases in the city is now at 52,445, including 23,693 recovered/discharged, 26,897 active cases and 1,855 deaths, BMC stated.

Meanwhile, 435 new COVID cases and 7 deaths were reported in Pune in the last 24 hours which took the total number of cases to 10,394 in the city. Pune reports 435 new COVID-19 positive cases and 7 deaths in the last 24 hours. Total number of cases stand at 10,394 and death toll is at 449, City Health Department said.

Maharashtra reported 3,254 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and the total count of cases in the state has gone up to 94,041. The state Health Department said 1,879 coronavirus patients were discharged on Wednesday and the total number of those discharged stands at 44,517.

Also Read: Pakistan violates ceasefire in J-Ks Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua districts

Also Read: Karnataka bans online classes for students up to class V

India recorded the highest single-day spike of 9,996 more COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 2,86,579, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. With as many as 357 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll has increased to 8,102. Out of the total number of cases, 1,37,448 are active, while 1,41,029 have been cured/discharged/migrated.

Also Read: PM Modi to address 95th annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce today

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Last weekend, thousands of Israelis protested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria beginning on July 1. The protest was organized by the far-left Meretz party and the communist wing of the Arab Joint List Party (Hadash). The heads of both parties called the sovereignty bid apartheid. In a video statement, Bernie Sanders opposed the plan and, again, falsely accused Israel of occupation. Sanders has an abysmal record when it comes to Israel.

Despite all the naysayers, Netanyahu has a clear mandate for applying sovereignty, which is Israels inalienable right. Israelis support this move in large numbers (50.1 percent according to an Israel Democracy Institute poll, versus 30.9 opposed and 19% not knowing/refusing to answer) and over 60 percent, according to a recent Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security poll. After three years of political deadlock, Netanyahu now leads a unity government that supports sovereignty. By boldly moving forward, Netanyahu can gain a legacy as one of the greatest Israeli prime ministers.

What the Greater Sovereignty Plan Should Look Like

Netanyahu should submit a bill containing the following to the Knesset:

This bill should argue that Israel 1) retain as much of Judea and Samaria as possible and practical and 2) absorb the smallest number of additional Arabs in order to maintain its strength and its Jewish and democratic character. There are several ways to implement these parameters, which include scenarios for citizenship status of the Arabs remaining in Judea and Samaria but outside of Israels new borders. At the very least, the amount of land Israel applies sovereignty to should be larger than the 30 percent envisioned in President Trumps Peace to Prosperity plan, and closer to the Yamina partys proposal, which calls for Israel to establish sovereignty over the at least 60 percent of Judea and Samaria known as Area C.

A Bold Sovereignty Play Would Unify the Israeli Right

Such a bold move would unify the right under Netanyahus unity government. The leaders of Judea and Samaria now appear to be perfectly split between support and opposition for the Peace to Prosperity plan. Seven leaders of Judea and Samaria, including Efrat Regional Council leader Oded Revivi and Ariel mayor Eli Shaviro, support the plan, while seven others oppose it, including most vocally Samaria Regional Council leader Yossi Dagan and Jordan Valley Regional Council leader David Elhayani.

Opponents have voiced concerns that the plan would include a settlement freeze, would create vulnerable Israeli enclaves within a Palestinian entity, could lead to at least 15 Jewish communities comprising approximately 14,200 people total being uprooted, and allow for the creation of a Palestinian terror state. Other critics maintain that 25 small towns, altogether 2,000 people, will be left out of Israel entirely. However, many disagree minimally on the amount of territory. Three alternative maps made by the opposition call for Israeli sovereignty over 32.5, 35.0, and 38.5 percent of Judea and Samaria. An even bolder sovereignty move from Netanyahu would alleviate these concerns and increase chances of support from current adversaries, including MK Ayeled Shaked (Yamina), David Elhayani, and Yossi Dagan.

The U.S. Administration Would Likely Support Greater Sovereignty

While this sovereignty plan would be significantly different from that envisioned by the U.S. administration, it is likely that the U.S. would not oppose it. For example, even though the Peace to Prosperity plan calls for a conditioned establishment of a Palestinian state, actions by the Palestinian Authority since the unveiling of the plan in January have rendered this moot. The PA has already rejected the plan: President Abbas has said We say a thousand times, no no no. Abbas even went as far as to personally insult President Trump as a dog and the son of a dog. On top of that, Abbas has decreed that the PA has absolved itself of all agreements with Israel (which, interestingly, includes the Oslo Accords which served as the basis for the creation of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria). The PA has continued to engage in its hysterical anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda campaign, now containing defamatory accusations that Israelis and the Jews are infecting Palestinians with coronavirus despite Israels massive coronavirus aid. Given these tantrums, why should Israel be expected to adhere to the exact parameters of the plan? And why should the United States continue to offer the Palestinians the benefits laid out in the plan?

Further, the administration is likely preoccupied with reopening the country following the coronavirus shutdowns and domestic unrest. U.S.-Israel relations are much more likely to emphasize the need for cooperation on Iran and China and increasing ties with the Gulf States.

Some Arabs will Chose Pragmatism over the Palestinians

While the idea of Israeli sovereignty has been met with the usual veiled threats of violence from the PA, others in the Arab world likely value the benefits of increased ties with Israel, including cooperation against Iran, over concerns over where Israel builds its houses and draws its border. While the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and the Arab League vocally oppose Israel extending sovereignty, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have reportedly signaled that they are okay with it privately. Jordan, Egypt, and reportedly the United Arab Emirates and even possibly Kuwait have reached out to Israel for assistance in fighting the coronavirus. Traditional fault lines in the Middle East have changed, and there is an increasing rivalry pitting Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Qatar against Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. Israel would be a great asset to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates in that rivalry.

Despite murmurings that Jordan will re-evaluate its peace treaty with Israel, it is unlikely that even a robust sovereignty move will materially change the Israeli-Jordanian relationship. While this strategic partnership has faced its challenges, Israel has given Jordan invaluable security benefits, including saving it from invasion (and possible extinction) by Syria in 1970, gifting Cobra helicopters for the fight against ISIS, and vouching to protect it against ISIS. Also, Jordan is regretting its 2019 decision to reorganize the Wakf in Jerusalem and allow Turkish Islamist organizations to gain clout on the Temple Mount. Jordan therefore needs to maintain close ties with Israel to roll this back. To this end, Saudi Arabia is reportedly in talks with Israel for a role in the Wakf to counter Turkeys growing influence there. Jordan is also reportedly considering revising its peace treaty with Israel to allow for Israeli sovereignty of the Jordan Valley.

Sovereignty Would Be Yet Another Bold Yet Wise Move from Israel

Israel has made some of its most consequential decisions when faced with enormous pressure. David Ben-Gurion declared Israels independence in 1948 despite opposition from U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall. In 1967, when faced with mobilization of the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Iraqi armies against it, Israel struck pre-emptively and emerged victorious in the Six Day War. Even though Israel faced international condemnation following extended sovereignty to eastern Jerusalem in 1980 and the Golan Heights in 1981, Israel still has sovereignty over these territories to this day. Despite intense pressure from the Bush administration, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon moved forward with Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, marking the beginning of Israels victory over the Second Intifada. Israel has also destroyed the nuclear reactors of its Baathist archenemies Iraq and Syria, in 1981 and 2007, respectively. A robust sovereignty move would add to this list, and earn Netanyahu the legacy of being one of Israels best prime ministers.
The new leader of the Methodist Church declared that "black lives matter" as he called on the US authorities to "stand up against the evil of racism" following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Speaking prior to his installation as president last night, former US oil company lawyer Rev Dr Tom McKnight said he had been "deeply saddened by the heartrending death of George Floyd".

The ceremony in Belfast's Assembly Buildings made history because it was the first time in just over a week that two Irish Church leaders had been installed in the Presbyterian Church's headquarters.

Rev McKnight said: "I feel that now is the time for the powers that be in my home country to stand up against the sin of racism, especially in the areas of law enforcement and justice. My hope is that those with access to the levers of power should learn from this and instigate much-needed reform."

He backed reform of the police and said that those involved with the Black Lives Matter campaign were right to protest. However, he added: "I am worried about the lack of social distancing during some of these protests, and given the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, I think that the best way for people to protest at the moment is to do so through a communal effort online."

Asked his view of President Donald Trump (right), Dr McKnight replied: "I note that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said that she would pray for Donald Trump, and I can do no better than that also.

"However, I do think that the series of events following Mr Floyd's death could have been handled better and with more sympathy than has been shown."

Yesterday the ministerial session of the conference accepted a strongly-worded resolution calling on Methodists to stand against "the sin of racism in the wake of the cruel and needless death of George Floyd and the widespread cry for an end to the 'polemic of racism'".

It added: "Let us not just condemn the wicked actions of others... but let us examine our own hearts and attitudes. Like the related evil of sectarianism, racism can be deeply ingrained and yet hidden under a veneer of respectability."

Born in Dallas, Dr McKnight, minister of Donaghadee Methodist Church, came to Northern Ireland in 1981 for a one-year internship but married local woman Elizabeth Bell the next year and has stayed here ever since. They have two grown-up daughters, Beth and Katherine.

He was installed last night as his brother Monty, sister Mary, cousin Jeanie, a former United Methodist Church missionary, and their families watched the live video-streamed ceremony from Belfast.

In his address Rev McKnight said: "I doubt that our Church - I doubt that society - will ever be the same again. Covid-19 should teach us that to meet together we don't always need to travel with the time, expense and harm to the environment which that entails.

"Also the protests following the death of George Floyd should remind us that we must not limit our understanding of God's grace to those like ourselves, and that - as has been often repeated - black lives matter."

Those taking part in last night's ceremony in the Presbyterian Church's Belfast headquarters included outgoing President Rev Sam McGuffin; Rev Dr Heather Moore, secretary of the Methodist Conference, and Hazel Loney, who was installed as the new lay leader in succession to Lynda Neilands.

A number of leading clerics from British Methodism, the Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian Church watched via video-link.

On June 1 the Very Rev David Bruce was installed in the same building as the new Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday (June 11) busted a huge narcotics-terror module sponsored by neighbouring Pakistan and arrested three Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist associates in Handwara town of Kupwara district. The police also recovered 21 kg heroin and Rs 1.34 crore Indian currency, total worth over Rs 200 crore, from the possession of Lashkar operatives.

Dr GV Sundeep Chakravarthy, Superintendent of Police, Handwara told media that the module was in contact with their handlers based out of Pakistan and was involved in drug trade and assisting financially to active terrorists of proscribed terror outfit Lashkar. It was actively working for LeT outfit to strengthen their activities in the valley besides misguiding and motivating the local youth to join terror folds.

The SP said that the drugs were procured from across the Line of Control (LoC) and were to be sold in different states to promote terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

Investigation so far revealed that these drugs were on way to Punjab. Further probe is on to identify other links, the SP added.

According to the J&K Police, busting of latest hawala-based narco terror module is one of the biggest to have been busted. "The three, who were arrested, were peddling drugs to financially help the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. It's a very big hawala racket where the money is transferred without money movement and financed for terrorist activities," the Handwara SP told media.

The police said all three LeT operatives have been identified and are being grilled. The main accused, identified as Iftikhar Indrabi, is a notorious drug smuggler with several FIRs registered against him. The second man is his son-in-law Momin Peer and the third is Iqbal-ul-Islam.

A Special Investigating Team (SIT) of Jammu Kashmir Police has been constituted to investigate the matter so that more links of module can be known. Police have been conducting raids across Kashmir after the interrogation of arrested terrorist associates.

The police added that more arrests will take place in the case.
Dozens of police officers last night surrounded the home of a 'suspected paedophile' as they attempted to hold back a crowd of vigilante protesters chanting 'beast.'

Police Scotland descended on a tower block in Royston, Glasgow at around 7pm yesterday after more than 100 people gathered in a protest.

It was rumoured an alleged sex offender who lives inside the building had been confronted on his doorstep ahead of the gathering, the Daily Record reported.

One witness claimed a crowd of 150 people had surrounded the high-rise chanting 'beast' and 'peado' before a swarm of police arrived.

He added that once police were inside the building 'they must have had him out ... and into a car in 20 seconds.'

Police Scotland officers descended on a tower block in Royston, Glasgow at around 7pm on yesterday after more than 100 people gathered in a protest

Police Scotland confirmed they arrested a 58-year-old man at the scene after receiving a report of indecent communication being made online at 5.35pm.

A spokesperson added the force arrived to find 'a number of people gathered at the property' and an officer was hurt as a result.

Another man, 39, was arrested in connection with the injury.

Footage from the incident shows dozens of officers gathered in a car park next to the crowd, who were stood on grass near to the building.

A clip filmed inside the high rise also shows Police Scotland officers as they form a human barrier around the tower block in an attempt to hold back the crowd.

At least ten police cars and vans were spotted on the scene, with witnesses also reporting dog squads present.

Footage from the incident shows dozens of officers gathered in a car park next to the crowd, who were stood on grass near to the building

A clip filmed inside the high rise also shows Police Scotland officers as they form a human barrier around the tower block in an attempt to hold back the crowd

One man said: 'Everyone was saying there was a peadophile in the building and that the police were coming to take him away.

'Basically the people outside wanted to crucify the guy and the police did a great job in keeping it calm. People were chanting "beast" and "peado".'

Another witness added the crowd largely left the area after the alleged peadophile left the building with police.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'Around 5.35pm on Wednesday, June 10 police received a report of indecent communication being made online.

'A 58-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with this. He is due to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court today, Thursday, June 11.

'A number of people gathered at the property in Charles Street, Royston and an officer was hurt as a result. A 39-year-old man was arrested in connection with this. A report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.'
But when the news of Mr. Floyds death prompted protests across the country and trained the nations focus on policing, there was no question that Ms. Bass would lead the way for Democrats. Not only was she the chairwoman of the 50-plus-member Black Caucus and the Houses subcommittee on crime and terrorism, but she was also one of the few lawmakers in Congress with the background and the authority to hold together a fragile coalition of elected Democrats, civil rights groups and protesters on the streets demanding change.

She comes through it all with the greatest gentility and strength, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Californian, said in an interview.

Still, it has been a tricky endeavor.

Ms. Bass has had to pull along moderate white colleagues, for whom support of the police has been a political imperative, scheduling conference calls with the Blue Dogs and other centrist groups to ensure they understand the measure and can embrace it. She also toiled to persuade prominent civil rights groups, who wanted a bill that would be tough on the police, to accept the package.

A letter with some 400 signatures from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights laid out eight demands  all of them measures to hold officers accountable or ban certain uses of force. Later, they insisted that no new funds be sent to departments, according to senior aides who helped draft the bill, a condition that Democrats embraced. Even so, they held off on offering public support for the bill. Ms. Bass worked the phones until they agreed to do so at the 11th hour.

All the while, Ms. Bass was keenly aware that the legislation could collapse if Democrats allowed it to be lumped with growing calls to defund and dismantle police departments, as President Trump and leading Republicans repeatedly try to falsely paint all Democrats as espousing that approach. She insisted that the bill also include programs and proposals to incentivize departments to get better.

Defund the police became a slogan in the last few days, she said in an interview. Nobody was even thinking about that when we were putting the bill together.
The United Nations voiced "horror" after reports of the discovery of eight mass graves in an area recently seized by the Government of National accord (GNA) after the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces lead by general Khalifa Haftar withdrew.

"UNSMIL notes with horror reports on the discovery of at least eight mass graves in past days, the majority of them in Tarhuna," the UN mission said in a statement on Twitter.

"International law requires that the authorities conduct prompt, effective & transparent investigations into all alleged cases of unlawful deaths," it added.

Several presumed mass graves have been discovered near Tarhuna, southeast of the capital Tripoli, since it was seized by forces loyal to GNA on June 5.

An AFP journalist on Thursday was granted access to a site where several bodies had been discovered and exhumed by the Libyan Red Crescent for identification the day before.

Scraps of clothing were scattered around the site near graves covered with fresh soil.

The director of Tarhuna's public hospital, Aburawi al-Buzeidi, said 160 bodies were discovered in the morgue by GNA forces upon their arrival in the city.

The bodies "were transferred to Tripoli and Misrata by the Red Crescent," he told journalists, giving no further details on the bodies.

UNSMIL also welcomed a decision on Thursday by the justice minister to establish a committee to investigate the finds.

"We call on its members to promptly undertake the work aimed at securing the mass graves, identifying the victims, establishing causes of death & returning the bodies to next of kin," it said.

Tarhuna was the main rear base for a year-long offensive by eastern-based LNA forces to recapture the capital from the GNA.

The fighting between Libya's warring sides that has left hundreds dead and forced 200,000 to flee their homes.

In recent weeks GNA forces, reinforced with Turkish drones and air defences, have staged a pounding counter-attack to regain control of the whole of the country's northwest.

LNA forces this month abandoned their remaining positions in the southern suburbs to advancing government troops.

The US, EU and other foreign powers have called for a ceasefire.

But the resurgent GNA has vowed to push on for Sirte, Kadhafi's hometown and the last major settlement before the traditional boundary between western Libya and Haftar's stronghold in the east.

The GNA's counter-assault is the latest round of fighting in years of violence following the 2011 toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a Western-backed uprising.

* This story was edited by Ahram Online

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Ross Kemp has said it has been deeply upsetting to see Dame Barbara Windsors condition deteriorate following her diagnosis with Alzheimers.

The 82-year-old actress, who played Kemps on-screen mother, Peggy Mitchell, in EastEnders, was diagnosed with the disease in 2014.

Kemp, 55, told the Sun: I see her as often as I can  every couple of months before the lockdown  and the deterioration in her condition has been shocking and, to those of us close to her, deeply upsetting.

In new ITV series Ross Kemp: Living With Dementia, Kemp, who played Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, chatted to Dame Barbaras husband, Scott Mitchell.

Don't miss the first part of ITV's Ross Kemp: Living with Dementia this Thursday. In the show, he finds out how the disease has impacted the life of his long-time screen colleague, Dame Barbara Windsor, & meets with her husband, & friend of Alzheimer's Research UK, Scott Mitchell pic.twitter.com/Lyjuo9yZzw  AlzheimersResearchUK  (@AlzResearchUK) June 8, 2020

Mitchell says: Its not the Barbara that I knew. Its not my wife Barbara any more.

Im Barbaras carer, Im still her friend, you know, I still love the bones of the woman but its not the Barbara I knew that I live with.

Earlier this year, Mitchell said the ex-Carry On stars condition had deepened.

He told the Sunday Mirror: I have to remember she doesnt always realise its me. Sometimes she will say Where is Scott? Do you know where my husband Scott is?

Mitchell has been campaigning to raise more awareness about Alzheimers.

Video of the Day

Dame Barbara delivered a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson last year to call for better care for fellow sufferers.
We've all heard it many times: Wear a face covering  indoors, outdoors, on trains and buses. At work, in the supermarket and at church.

But now a new modeling study out of Cambridge and Greenwich universities suggests that face masks may be even more important than originally thought in preventing future outbreaks of the new coronavirus.

To ward off resurgences, the reproduction number for the virus (the average number of people who will contract it from one infected person) needs to drop below 1.0. Researchers dont believe thats achievable with lockdowns alone. However, a combination of lockdowns and widespread mask compliance might do the trick, they say.

We show that, when face masks are used by the public all the time (not just from when symptoms first appear), the effective reproduction number, Re, can be decreased below 1, leading to the mitigation of epidemic spread, the scientists wrote in the paper published Wednesday by the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

The modeling indicated that when lockdown periods are combined with 100% face mask use, disease spread is vastly diminished, preventing resurgence for 18 months, the time frame that has frequently been cited for developing a vaccine. It also demonstrated that if people wear masks in public, it is twice as effective at reducing the R number than if face coverings are only worn after symptoms appear.

The masks dont have to be top-of-the-line surgical or respirator masks. Homemade coverings that catch only 50 percent of exhaled droplets would provide a population-level benefit, they concluded.

As has been well-publicized, wearing a mask primarily protects others from yourself, rather than the other way around. It is not a sign that you consider others a danger.

Science Focus quoted the studys lead author, Dr Richard Stutt, as saying, Our analyses support the immediate and universal adoption of face masks by the public.

Stutt is part of a team that usually models the spread of crop diseases at Cambridges department of plant sciences.

Alameda County and San Francisco city health officials require residents to wear face coverings any time they leave home and get within 30 feet of anyone not living in their household.

In San Francisco, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Sonoma counties (plus the cities of Pleasant Hill and Fremont) people must use basic nonmedical, cloth masks, including scarves and bandannas, to cover their noses and mouths when they leave home to go to essential places like the supermarket, drugstore or doctor.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here.



Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate
Big Brother's Chad Hurst and Sophie Budack are certainly seizing any opportunities that come their way.

On Wednesday, it was announced the reality co-stars had signed up with the same talent agency, Lucky Ent.

It comes amid reports the genetically-blessed pair will hook up on this year's season of Big Brother.

Rising stars: Big Brother's Chad Hurst (left) and Sophie Budack (right) are certainly seizing any opportunities that come their way

Chad's signing was announced first, with the talent agency posting about it on their Instagram page.

'We are excited to announce another new member to the Lucky Family - welcome @chad_hurstt!' they wrote, adding a photo of the 27-year-old model.

They added that he'd be available for public appearances from July onwards, and teased, 'More housemates to be announced soon'.

New opportunities: Chad's signing was announced first, with the talent agency posting about it on their Instagram page

Hours later, Sophie, 25, was also revealed to be a new addition to the agency's portfolio.

'Here's another one! We're excited to welcome @sophiebudack to the Lucky Crew!' they announced, revealing she's also available for appearances from July.

It comes amid reports Chad and Sophie will hook up in the Big Brother house, after she admitted to being attracted to him in a teaser trailer for an upcoming episode.

Making the most of it: Hours later, Sophie was also revealed to be a new addition to the agency's portfolio

In the trailer, Sophie is shown sitting in the diary room, when Big Brother asked her what she thought of Chad.

'[The first time] I saw him I was like 'hot damn',' she admitted of her first impression.

She added: 'Stop it, I feel like I'm in school again!'
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A program being launched by the city plans to immediately invest in restaurants citywide that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Restaurant Revitalization Program will focus on 27 communities that were hit the hardest by COVID-19, beginning immediately with 100 restaurants with a focus to those that offer free or reduced cost meals to residents impacted by the pandemic.

Staten Islands Community District 1 is among the hardest hit communities citywide.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray announced the program Thursday.

Small businesses represent culture and perseverance and nowhere is that more true than restaurants, de Blasio said. They have been dealing with immense challenges since before this pandemic.

NYC Opportunity, the Mayors Fund to Advance NYC and One Fair Wage will provide the $3 million for the program, de Blasio and McCray said.

Restaurants that have been selected will receive a grant of up to $30,000 each in order to subsidize wages of $20 per hour for at least six weeks. All restaurants must then commit to a $15 minimum wage for workers before tips within five years of returning to regular business post-pandemic.

The program will support at least 1,000 restaurant workers.

We must tend to the mall businesses and restaurants that are at the heart and soul of our neighborhood, McCray said.

Additionally, workers will be eligible for a one-time $500 cash assistance payment from One Fair Wage, she said.

Toya Williford, executive director of The Mayors Fund to Advance NYC, said in order to have a fair and just city workers must receive the aid.

Restaurants can apply by filling out an application here.

STATEN ISLAND RESTAURANTEURS DEMAND OPENING

Restaurants across Staten Island have repeatedly said theyre tired of waiting to reopen, citing the delivery and curbside pickup model as unsustainable.

Recently, a handful of borough restaurant owners formed the Independent Restaurant Owners Association Rescue, and penned a letter to lobby Albany to be a part of the states Phase 1 reopening.

New York City began Phase 1 on Monday, June 8.

The letter to Albany also demanded for immediate reopening at 50% indoor capacity.

Were not criminals. We just want to go back to work. We want to open safely and responsibly. If were not heard, something is going to happen. Were talking about mass openings, citywide protests," said Rob DeLuca, owner of DeLucas Italian Restaurant in Tottenville.

There will be tens of thousands of people outside City Hall next week if the mayor and governors offices wont get on the phone with us." he added. We want a reopening date thats not going to change. Were tired of the goal post being moved. Were tired of being pushed aside.

DeLuca said We want to open June 22 at 50% capacity. Thats the level of conversation right now.

The 22nd is when food trucks, concessions and restaurants can open for alfresco dining with certain guidelines.

FOLLOW KRISTIN F. DALTON ON TWITTER.
Photo credit: Jonathan Moore - Getty Images

From Esquire

Growing up, we were an Earnhardt house. Dale Sr., specifically.

In East Tennessee, about two hours from Bristol Motor Speedway, where I'm from, it wasnt rare to have a NASCAR driver that your whole family supported. So every Sunday (and the occasional Saturday night) we would watch stock cars making laps around a steep speedway, occasionally crashing and spinning out in pursuit of a trophy that would come some 500 miles later. The cars would blur and whirr around the track as we shared Sunday lunch in front of the TV, but often when cutting to commercial breaks, the camera would pan to infield and show a confederate flag, flopping just inches away from the American one.

The flags were everywhere really: on cut-off tank tops, beer koozies, and bumper stickers. The confederate flag was a fixture of my childhood. Though my family never owned one, it was ever present on the people and in places I visited. As I got older and came to understand what the flag represented, my relationship with NASCAR became strained. I listened to countless one-sided arguments in Wal-Mart parking lots. My adolescence was riddled with conversations on tailgates about how that flag was about heritage, not hate." But how could it not represent hate? It stands for a chapter in our nation's history in which white people bastardized humanity, arguing that people could be owned. To hoist that flag onto a pole, right next to the flag of our nation is to suggest that it still holds that importance. For these parking lot crusaders, it glorifies a country they have no memory of, and yet they suggest a flag so marred in racism deserves to carelessly flap inches from the one that stands for America, because it's comforting to see it there.

Then, Wednesday, NASCAR released a statement that aims to shift the sport forever: The display of the confederate flag will be prohibited from all NASCAR events and properties. In my whole life, I never imagined a statement like that could ever be made. Because for everything I loved about NASCAR, I also knew that the confederate flag was ingrained in its culture. And yet, with a swift declaration, it no longer has to be. With one statement, NASCAR joined the ranks of every other sports league in banning the flag. NASCAR's statement argues that someones alleged heritage does not supersede someones humanity, even in the deep South.

Story continues

Its a declaration so seismic, yet simple. It suggests that this deeply campy, bombastic, Americana tradition can exist on its own, divorced from the notion that it has to live in the shadow of a racist symbol. And make no mistake, the flag that the leagues only black driver, Bubba Wallace, has been forced to drive under is a racist symbol. The move reminds me of the great Toni Morrison's powerful question: What are you without racism?

For the people I grew up around, seeing a flag taken away is painful because they exist in a world where they never felt like they had much privilege at all. So they cling to the cloth, racist and dehumanizing as it comes, fearful that its removal could also signal the entire collapse of themselves. In my NASCAR heyday, I was an elementary school student. My family lived in a single wide trailer that theyd moved into the year I was born. One day, my parents told me that we would be moving out of the trailer, and in its place, a new home would be built. I did not want to leave. I loved that trailer. I loved lining up my Power Rangers on the rusty hitch that it once rolled in on. I loved the wood paneling that lined its walls. In my mind, this is where I would live forever. But as much as I protested, as the trailer rolled away, I saw it literally start to fall apart. It shouldnt have been so revelatory, and yet, I couldnt see it for the liability it was. I never imagined something I believed to be so integral could be so removable. So fragile. And in its place, the land held something better than I ever imaginedthe home where my parents still live, though we dont watch NASCAR much anymore.

Photo credit: Chris Graythen - Getty Images

Next, we'll probably see a campaign to #BoycottNASCAR. Fans will say they wont be tailgating. That Bubba Wallace, whose advocacy for this move is perhaps the bravest demonstration in the sports history, has ruined racing. We'll hear requests to "keep politics out of sports." This, despite the fact that many of those confederate flags often had a third TRUMP 2020 flag waving alongside them. And NASCAR will continue on, whether or not the boycotters prohibited from flying racist propaganda will return.

The fact that NASCAR has moved to remove the confederate flag from its ground does not even approach a remedy for the deeply racist past that the sport carries. Over the past half-century, there has only been one black driver. This year, that driver will helm a car with Black Lives Matter written boldly on it. But he will no longer be driving it in the proximity of a symbol that suggests hes less than. And the deep irony is that the removal of a flag does so much and so little at the same time. But the power of the flag's absence is less a reflection of NASCAR, but of the person assessing it. The person who now must ask himself, who am I without racism?

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Ajith Kumar aka Thala Ajith's highly anticipated 61st project has been tentatively titled as Thala 61. The speculations regarding the director of Thala 61 has been doing rounds on social media from the past few weeks. If the reports are to be believed, Ajith is planning to join hands with one of his favourite directors for the project.

As per the latest updates, the Thala of Tamil cinema will once again join hands with the popular filmmaker Vishnuvardhan, for his 61st outing. To the uninitiated, Ajith and Vishnuvardhan have earlier joined hands for the Billa, which was released in 2007 and 2013-released movie Arrambam in the past.

The reports regarding Thala Ajith's third collaboration with the popular filmmaker has totally excited the actor's diehard fans, who were eagerly waiting for the duo's comeback. However, there is no official confirmation on the speculations yet. An official update on Ajith Kumar's 61st project is expected to be made very soon.

Earlier, it was reported that Thala Ajith might reunite with Siva, the hitmaker once again for his 61st outing in Tamil cinema. According to the rumour mills, the project which marks the actor-director duo's fifth collaboration is supposed to be bankrolled by Sathya Jyothi Films. However, the latest reports suggest that the Ajith-Siva project will happen as the 62nd outing of the actor.

Ajith Kumar was shooting for his upcoming project Valimai before the all India lockdown began. The actor is said to be playing the role of a police officer in the movie, which is directed by H Vinoth. The shooting of the project, which marks Ajith's 60th outing in Tamil film industry, will restart immediately after the lockdown ends.

The movie, which was originally slated to be released in the second half of 2020, is now rescheduled to be released in May 2021 on the occasion of Ajith Kumar's 50th birthday. Huma Qureshi and Yami Gautham appear as the female leads in Valimai, which is produced by Boney Kapoor.

Also Read:

Valimai: Here Is An Official Update On The Thala Ajith Starrer From Producer Boney Kapoor!
Swarms of desert locust have entered farm land in Nagpur in Maharashtra and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, even as the worst affected Rajasthan has decided to send agriculture officers to districts to monitor the damage to crops and prepare for the next round of locust attack expected by mid-July.

Over the past two to three days, the wind direction has been favourable for the pests to move towards farmlands adjoining forests towards Nagpur, said Locust Warning Organisation deputy director KL Gurjar.

In UPs Prayagraj, a swarm entered the villages of Koraon and Meja development blocks. We are trying our best to chase them away, said Akansha Rana, SDM, Karchana.
OKOTOKS, AB, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - (TSX: MTL) Mullen Group Ltd. ("Mullen Group", "We", "Our" and/or the "Corporation"), one of the leading suppliers of trucking and logistics services in Canada providing a wide range of service offerings including less-than-truckload, truckload, warehousing, logistics, transload, oversized and specialized hauling transportation, today provided a mid-quarter update due to the unprecedented economic circumstances associated with COVID-19.

"In the midst of one of the largest health care crisis ever witnessed, large portions of the economy were ordered to 'shutdown' leading to massive layoffs, something we all hope will only be temporary, as well as significant declines in economic activity. Our business was not spared over the course of the last two months as the demand for logistics services slowed. However, due to the diversity of our service offerings along with the fact that trucking and logistics was deemed an essential service by all government bodies we maintained a healthy level of business activity. Consolidated revenues for the last two months are trending down by 22.0 percent year over year, which appears to be consistent with the vast majority of our competitors and the railways, indicating that our second quarter revenues are now on track to be in the range of $240.0-$260.0 million. On the margin front the news is even better with earnings from operations1 declining by approximately 15.0 percent. We are seeing the benefits of adapting quickly and decisively to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only did our Business Units implement effective measures at controlling costs, several actually gained market share and improved margins. As a result, there is a good chance that earnings from operations1 for the quarter will be approximately $40.0 million. In addition, the wage subsidy programs announced by the Canadian Government should generate an additional $10.0 million, all of which suggests our overall profitability levels could be very similar to last year," commented Mr. Murray K. Mullen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

"Clearly COVID-19 will be with us for a while however, the economy is in the early stages of 'opening up'. Consumers are once again active, plants and factories are reopening which points to a recovery in the demand for logistics and trucking services. And to this point we have already recalled about 20.0 percent of our workforce from temporary layoff. It certainly appears we have weathered the worst of this crisis and we are very well positioned to capitalize on future opportunities. Our current cash position stands at $115.0 million, up quite nicely since the end of the last quarter," added Mr. Mullen.

We have scheduled a conference call and webcast as follows:

Date: June 12, 2020



Time: 12:00 p.m. ET



Conference Call Dial-in: 1-800-319-4610 or 1-855-658-2585 (for participants in North America)

416-915-3239 (Toronto or Overseas participants)



Webcast: www.mullen-group.com



1 Earnings from operations means operating income before depreciation and amortization which is defined as net income before depreciation of right-of-use assets and of property, plant and equipment, amortization of intangible assets, finance costs, net foreign exchange gains and losses, other (income) expense and income taxes. Please refer to our Annual Financial Review dated February 12, 2020 available at www.mullen-group.com or www.sedar.com.

About Mullen Group Ltd.

Mullen Group is a company that owns a network of independently operated businesses. The Corporation is recognized as one of the leading suppliers of trucking and logistics services in Canada providing a wide range of service offerings including less-than-truckload, truckload, warehousing, logistics, transload, oversized and specialized hauling transportation. In addition, we provide a diverse set of specialized services related to the oil and natural gas industry in western Canada, water management, fluid hauling and environmental reclamation. The corporate office provides the capital and financial expertise, legal support, technology and systems support, shared services and strategic planning to its independent businesses.

Mullen Group is a publicly traded corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MTL". Additional information is available on our website at www.mullen-group.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Contact Information

Mr. Murray K. Mullen - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President

Mr. P. Stephen Clark - Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Richard J. Maloney - Senior Vice President

Ms. Joanna K. Scott - Corporate Secretary & Vice President, Corporate Services

121A - 31 Southridge Drive

Okotoks, Alberta, Canada T1S 2N3

Telephone: 403-995-5200

Fax: 403-995-5296

Disclaimer

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, forward-looking information and future-oriented financial information (collectively referred to as "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, about our current expectations, estimates and projections about the future, based on certain assumptions made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends. Although Mullen Group believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Forward-looking information in this document is identified by words such as "anticipate", "committed", "continue", "expect", "focus", "forecast", "on track", "opportunity", "outlook", "plan", "position", "potential", "priority", "promising", "target", "good chance", "will" or similar expressions and includes suggestions of future outcomes, including statements about: future revenues, future earnings from operations, benefits of government wage subsidy programs and capitalizing on future opportunities.

Developing forward-looking information involves reliance on a number of assumptions and consideration of certain risks and uncertainties, some of which are specific to Mullen Group and others that apply to the industry generally. These forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analysis made by Mullen Group in light of our experience and our perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. These assumptions include but are not limited to the following: (i) Mullen Group's expectation as to how our current Business Units will perform in the second quarter of 2020; and (ii) that the Corporation will qualify and be approved for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

Additional information about risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors that could influence Mullen Group's actual results is provided in Mullen Group's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2019 and its MD&A for the period ended March 31, 2020 as well as its Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2019 (all available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and Mullen Group's website at www.mullen-group.com).

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists are not exhaustive and are current only to the date hereof and prepared solely for the purpose of providing our reasonable estimates and expectations for the time period indicated. This forward-looking information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Events or circumstances could cause Mullen Group's actual results to differ materially from those estimated, projected, expressed, or implied by the forward-looking information. Mullen Group undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information except as required by law. Mullen Group relies on litigation protection for forward-looking information.

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UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has called for immediate action to avoid a global food emergency, saying more than 820 million people are hungry, some 144 million children under five years old are stunted, and that the Covid-19 pandemic is making things worse.

He said there was more than enough food to feed the world's 7.8 billion people but our food systems are failing.

The UN chief launched a policy briefing on the impact of Covid-19 on food security and nutrition on Tuesday which said before the pandemic more than 820 million people were chronically food-insecure, with 135 million at crisis levels or worse.

That number could nearly double before the end of the year due to the impacts of Covid-19, the briefing said.

And Mr Guterres said some 49 million extra people may fall into extreme poverty due to the pandemic and its impact.

Noting forecasts of a global economic downturn this year, he warned that every percentage point drop in global GDP means an additional 700,000 stunted children.

According to the briefing, measures to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic are affecting global food supply chains.

Border restrictions and lockdowns are, for example, slowing harvests in some parts of the world, leaving millions of seasonal workers without livelihoods, while also constraining transport of food to markets, the UN briefing said.

It pointed to the forced closure of meat processing plants and food markets in many locations because of serious Covid-19 outbreaks.

Agnes Kalibata, the UN special envoy to a food systems summit scheduled in 2021, said that from the US to India, produce is rotting in the fields as lockdowns keep people from harvesting and planting crops.

That means less income for desperately hungry people to buy food and less food available, at higher prices, she said in a statement. And this is happening across the world.

Ms Kalibata also said millions of litres of milk were being dumped in the United Kingdom for lack of buyers while in Colombia families hang red flags outside their windows to indicate they are hungry.

The briefing said high levels of unemployment, loss of income, and rising food costs are also making access to food difficult.

To address food security during the pandemic, Mr Guterres said food and nutrition services must be designated as essential, and food workers must be protected.

He said countries must ensure access for the most vulnerable to safe, nutritious foods, particularly for young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, older people and other at-risk groups.

And he urged investment in food systems that better address the needs of food producers and workers and provide more inclusive access to healthy and nutritious food so we can eradicate hunger.

Mr Guterres also called for re-balancing the relationship between food systems and the environment.

We cannot forget that food systems contribute up to 29 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, including 44 per cent of methane, and are having a negative impact on biodiversity, he said.

Ms Kalibata, the UN envoy, said: Countries face an agonising trade-off between saving lives or livelihoods or, in a worst-case scenario, saving people from Covid-19 to have them die from hunger.

Associated Press
Kate Middleton is one of the people facing backlash on Twitter on Wednesday, after posting what appears to be a heartfelt video plea on one of her charities.

Some called the video a PR stunt.

The Duchess of Cambridge featured a video for "Action on Addiction" on her social media, where she was taken on a virtual tour of Cloud's House, which is based in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

"The worrying this is, it is all those people who aren't necessarily reaching out who are struggling, who perhaps don't feel they can reach out, or the fact that maybe they haven't realized that addictive behavior has sort of established, particularly if it's the first time and it's those people who aren't necessarily being vocal about it," Kate Middleton said on the video.

"It's making sure that they know they can reach out and that you are there to help and support them in this very difficult time," she revealed.

In the video, the 38-year-old mom smiles and sends her congratulations to the staff who were at the facility and thanked them for their essential work.

"Well done to all of you who are continuing to provide the most life-saving, crucial support to all those who you look after. And particularly now, at such a difficult time. So, huge congratulations to all of you."

Elsewhere in the clip, the Duchess of Cambridge seems to be emotional as the person carrying the camera shows her all the staff waving outside Cloud's House.

The video was posted on Kate Middleton and Prince William's official Twitter account and captioned it with, "The Duchess of Cambridge goes on a virtual tour."

After publishing the tweet, Kate Middleton was then getting some harsh backlash with some people branding the video a "PR stunt," because the Duchess of Cambridge hasn't visited the facility in years.

One Twitter user said, "A whole eight years since she visited them, but she needs them now for PR. No wonder her patronages are closing from lack of funds."

Another one tweeted, "She last visited them in 2012. Duchess-Do-Little. Royalty is so out of touch of reality"

Despite not visiting Cloud's House in years, the Duchess of Cambridge has actually visited the charity, and its related organizations, in the past couple of years.

She has been a patron of Action on Addiction since 2012.

But not everybody agreed that it was a PR stunt. Some came to Kate Middleton's defenses.

One Twitter user said, "What you see is who she is. Kate is the real deal."

Another person said, "Ahhh, this is amazing."

Kate Middleton and Prince William have always been open, excited, and happy to introduce their new patronages to the world.

Because of the pandemic, it is hard for them actually to go out and visit each and one of them.

That is why once the coronavirus pandemic ends, one royal expert believes that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would "take a leaf from Diana," in the way they return to their public duties from lockdown.

Royal author Night Cawthorne thinks the couple will follow what Princess Diana did during the AIDS epidemic in their approach.

"At the time, shaking hands couldn't transmit the virus, and their mother made a point of doing so to counter the stigma and spread comfort."

The expert believes the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge can show how life can "resume normality while sticking to the safety rules on transmission further," such as washing hands frequently and wearing of face mask.

READ MORE: Meghan Markle Meanness Revealed: She Blames 'Uptight' Kate Middleton For Everything!
The Oklahoma City Police Department this week released video of the arrest of a black man last year in which he can be seen pinned on the ground, saying, I cant breathe, and an officer replies, I dont care. The man died in custody shortly afterward.

The man, Derrick Scott, 42, was arrested on May 20, 2019, when officers confronted him after receiving reports that someone was brandishing a firearm, Capt. Larry Withrow said at a news conference on Tuesday. Mr. Scott had a loaded gun in his pocket, Captain Withrow said.

A medical examiners report released in August lists Mr. Scotts probable cause of death as a collapsed right lung, and cites physical restraint, recent methamphetamine use, heart disease and emphysema as contributing factors. The manner of death is unknown, it says.

Video of the arrest, captured by police body cameras, was released this week after Mr. Scotts family and a local Black Lives Matter group demanded more details about his death.
South Africa: Man appears in court for illegal tobacco sales

A 29-year-old male has appeared at the Ngcobo Magistrates Court on charges of contravening the Disaster Management Act regulations.

Members of the Tactical Response Team (TRT) deployed in Ngcobo, Eastern Cape, followed up intelligence information, which led to the arrest of the suspect on 9 June 2020.

During the execution of a search warrant at Ebumnandini Hardware, which also operates as a supermarket, the following successes were achieved.

One male suspect, aged 29 years, was arrested after he was found selling tobacco. He was also found in possession of a firearm, a magazine and several rounds of ammunition, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said on Wednesday.

The suspect faced charges ranging from Contravention of Disaster Management Act Regulations and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

"It is possible the suspect could face additional charges due to the nature of his businesses and his status in the country," SAPS said.

Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant, General Liziwe Ntshinga, commended the members for enforcing the law and compliance with Disaster Management Act Regulations.

We appeal to business owners to comply with the regulations by adhering to the items they are allowed to sell during each level of the national lockdown and we urge the community to also comply with the regulations. In doing that, we can all assist in flattening the curve of Coronavirus infections," Ntshinga said. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-06-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 01:10:05|Editor: huaxia

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DAR ES SALAAM, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzanian on Thursday unveiled its budget for 2020-2021, saying it plans to spend 34.88 trillion Tanzanian shillings (about 15 billion U.S. dollars).

"Out of that amount, 22.1 trillion shillings is allocated for recurrent expenditure and 12.78 trillion shillings for development expenditure," The Finance and Planning Minister Philip Mpango told parliament in the capital Dodoma.

In his budget speech to parliament on estimates of government revenue and expenditure for 2020-2021, Mpango said recurrent expenditure included 10.48 trillion shillings for servicing government debt.

He added that 7.76 trillion shillings will be used for paying wages and salaries and 3.74 trillion shillings for other charges.

Mpango said development expenditure of 12.78 trillion shillings comprises 10.04 trillion shillings from internal sources and 2.74 trillion shillings from external sources.

Mpango also said 2.1 trillion shillings has been allocated for the standard gauge railway project, 1.6 trillion shillings for Julius Nyerere hydropower project at Rufiji River, 823.7 billion shillings for railway, water and rural electrification, 490 billion shillings for higher education students' loans, and 298.1 billion shillings for fees for the free basic education. Enditem
The city of Beijing has recorded a new confirmed COVID-19 case after the Chinese capital reported no fresh coronavirus infections for 56 days.

City officials reported the new infection of a 52-year-old local resident today at a press conference.

The capital city has activated an emergency response following the new case, including sealing off the residential complex where the patient lived.

The city of Beijing has recorded a new confirmed COVID-19 case after the Chinese capital reported no fresh coronavirus infections for 56 days. Pictured, a group of visitors wear protective mask as they tour the Tiananmen Square in China's capital city Beijing on May 24

The picture taken on May 26 shows people wearing face masks to protect themselves against the novel coronavirus as they ride bicycles in the central business district in Beijing

Renowned tourists attractions across Beijing have reopened to the public as the city reported no new infections. Tourists visit the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China on May 1

It came three days after the authority announced that only one coronavirus patient was still being treated in hospital, a sign that the city had largely contained the outbreak.

The capital city reported zero new cases between April 16 to June 10. Local officials also lowered Beijings emergency response to normalised epidemic control on Saturday.

Renowned tourists attractions across Beijing, including the Great Wall and Forbidden City, reopened their doors to the public as the city claimed to be virus-free for nearly two months.

But the new case could spoil the citys progress towards a post-virus recovery.

Miao Jianhong, a deputy district mayor in Beijing, revealed details of the new infection on Thursday.

Medical workers wearing full protective gear take swab samples from journalists to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus at the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing on May 28

The new case could spoil the citys progress towards a post-virus era. Large crowds of tourists wearing protective face masks are seen walking in Nanluoguxiang alley in Beijing on May 1

Tourists are pictured wearing face masks as they visit the Forbidden City in Beijing on May 28

The patient, a local male resident from the citys Xicheng district, went to hospital on Wednesday after suffering fever symptoms.

The man said that he had not left the city for the past two weeks. He did not have close contact with anyone travelling in Beijing.

It remains unclear how the patient contracted the killer bug.

The resident was diagnosed as a confirmed case after testing positive for coronavirus.

The official said that the patient cycled to the hospital by himself and was wearing a face mask the whole time.

Two family members of the patients have been quarantined for observation.

As of today, Beijing city has reported a total of 595 confirmed coronavirus infections and nine deaths. This picture taken on May 12 shows commuters walking to the subway in Beijing

Nationwide, China reported 11 new imported cases today, bringing the infection tally to 83,057. People are pictured on May 1 watching flag-raising ceremony at the Tiananmen Square

The residential compound where the man lived has been put under lockdown. Nearby areas will also be disinfected and monitored, according to Mr Miao.

The Beijing official said that they would announce any further updates to the public.

As of today, Beijing city has reported a total of 595 confirmed coronavirus infections and nine deaths. Nearly 200 of those cases came from passengers travelling from abroad.

Nationwide, China reported 11 new imported cases today, bringing the infection tally to 83,057. The death toll still stands at 4,634.

Sixty-two coronavirus patients are currently being treated in hospitals across the country, according to official figures.
Popular Kannada actor Chiranjeevi Sarjas untimely demise has left his cousin, music composer Suraj Sarja, numb with shock. In an Instagram post, he said that he could not come to terms with the news.

Chiranjeevis last Instagram post before his death featured his brother, actor Dhruva Sarja, and cousin Suraj. It was a collage of their childhood picture and recent photos, with the caption, Then and now.. we r still the same... what say guys..??

Suraj shared the post on his own Instagram account and wrote, Still cant digest the fact that he is left us and this being last post. Will miss you a lot brother. Just no words to explain.

Chiranjeevi breathed his last on Sunday at a private hospital in Bengaluru. He was 39 years old. Reportedly, he complained of breathlessness and severe chest pain on Saturday and consulted a doctor.

Also read: TV actor Nupur Alankar in financial distress, friend Renuka Shahane posts plea for help

At around 2.20pm on Sunday afternoon, Chiranjeevi was rushed to a hospital in an unresponsive state. The hospital told IANS in a statement that he was shifted to an emergency room for treatment. The doctors unsuccessfully tried to revive him till 3.48pm.

During the course, intravenous medications, inotropes and advanced airway was used, pulse was achieved three times, later continued to be asystolic. He was declared dead at 3.48 pm, the statement said.

Chiranjeevis last rites were performed on Monday near Bengaluru. Kannada stars Yash, Shiva Rajkumar and Kiccha Sudeep were seen paying their last respects. Pictures doing the rounds online showed the late actors wife, actor Meghana Raj, breaking down at the funeral.

In 2009, Chiranjeevi forayed into films with Vayuputra. He had appeared in a number of films such as Chirru, Ram-Leela, Whistle, Aadyaa, Khaki, Ajith, Sinnga and Amma I Love You. His last release, Shivarjuna, opened in theatres in March this year.

Chiranjeevi also had films such as Rajamarthanda, April, Kshatriya and Ranam in various stages of production.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:32:42|Editor: huaxia

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Undated photo shows the construction site of the Pan-European 5C corridor expressway project in Chaplina section of Bosnia and Herzegovina. China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) has been awarded the Enterprise Of the Year Award by Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) mainstream media Evening News, becoming the only foreign company among the 10 winners, Chinese Embassy in BiH told Xinhua on Thursday. CSCEC is undertaking the construction of the Pan-European 5C corridor expressway project in Chaplina section of BiH. (CSCEC/Handout via Xinhua)

SARAJEVO, June 11(Xinhua) -- China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) has been awarded the Enterprise Of the Year Award by Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) mainstream media Evening News, becoming the only foreign company among the 10 winners, Chinese Embassy in BiH told Xinhua on Thursday.

CSCEC is undertaking the construction of the Pan-European 5C corridor expressway project in Chaplina section of BiH.

Presenting the award, Denis Lasic, federal minister of transport and communications of BiH, said that the award was given to CSCEC in recognition of its great contribution to the progress of the project in the face of COVID-19, according to the embassy.

The minister emphasized that the pandemic has hit global economy hard, while the construction of the project has not been interrupted but has been speeded up.

Chaplina section of Pan-European 5C corridor expressway is a two-way four-lane expressway, with main line length of over 10 km.

The CSCEC project team arrived in BiH in July 2019 for preliminary work, and the main project was officially launched in November. Enditem
Entire communities once flocked to witness the arrival of the circus. Times and tastes change. After 146 years of oohs and aahs, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus went dark in 2017.

Is the auto show next?

Some believe that the auto show era is going the way of the circus. The events were already in trouble. It costs automakers a fortune to display vehicles. Some (mostly European) brands have abandoned shows for independent offsite events or online unveilings. Millennials, a huge market, have proved to be a difficult demographic. Internet shopping for cars is ascendant. But the knockout blow, at least for most shows in 2020, is the coronavirus pandemic.

The Geneva International Motor Show in March was canceled because of the virus, as was Detroits blockbuster event. The Detroit show would have begun this week, as it had already been moved to warmer fan-friendly dates this year after decades anchoring the late-winter calendar. Los Angeles organizers, however, say their November show must go on.

These are dark times, but talk to show producers and theres a cautious confidence they can hold their relevance.
One undocumented immigrant who had been robbed at gunpoint refused to testify in Brooklyn because he feared federal immigration enforcement officers would detain him if he went to court.

Federal officers threw another immigrant against a wall as he left a Brooklyn courthouse, then pushed him into a car with no license plates as a bystander, afraid the man had been kidnapped, called 911.

In another case, agents took a Uruguayan defendant into custody just minutes before a hearing on a proposed guilty plea that would have required him to serve more than three years in prison in a sexual and domestic violence case. He was deported and continued to harass his victim on social media, boasting about getting away with his crimes.

The three cases were detailed in a 2019 lawsuit filed by New York State authorities who sought to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, from arresting people for immigration violations in or near state courthouses.
Maria van Kerkhove said, Some estimates of around 40 percent of transmission may be due to asymptomatic (cases), but those are from models.'

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has come under fire again after its technical head dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic made a statement regarding the transmission of the virus from asymptomatic patients. Since that day, the top health institution has retracted their statement and tried to clarify the misunderstanding. However, the damage is done and a lot of health experts have spoken out about this incident.

Here is the detailed chronology explaining the events:

"It's very rare"

On Monday, during a regular press briefing, Maria van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist and WHOs Technical Lead on the Coronavirus pandemic, said that many countries are undertaking contact tracing and had identified asymptomatic cases, but were not finding what caused the further spread of the virus.

"From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual, said Van Kerkhove from the United Nations agencys Geneva headquarters. Its very rare. She also said the pre-symptomatic spread of the virus is very rare.

(Also Read: WHO calls transmission by asymptomatic persons 'very rare', then walks back remarks)

What we really want to be focused on is following the symptomatic cases. If we actually followed all of the symptomatic cases, isolated those cases, followed the contacts and quarantined those contacts, we would drastically reduce" the outbreak, CNBC reported Van Kerkhove.

International confusion

These statements led to an international outcry among other scientists and health experts who have been saying the exact opposite.

I was quite surprised by the WHO statement, said Liam Smeeth, a professor of clinical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told Reuters. It goes against my impressions from the science so far that suggest asymptomatic people - who never get symptoms - and pre-symptomatic people are an important source of infection to others.

Smeeth and other experts said understanding the risks of transmission among people with mild or no symptoms is crucial as governments begin to ease the lockdown measures they imposed to try and reduce the pandemics spread and gradually replace them with case tracking and isolation plans.

This has important implications for the track/trace/isolate measures being instituted in many countries, said Babak Javid, a Cambridge University Hospitals infectious diseases consultant told Reuters.

Some experts say it is not uncommon for infected people to show no symptoms.

Clarifications galore

WHO's technical head has tried to clear up what they term as misunderstandings about comments she made during a live Q&A on WHO's social media pages held on Tuesday. Mike Ryan, WHO Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director conducted the session along with Van Kerkhove.

She insisted that she was referring only to a few studies, not a complete picture. CNBC reported that Van Kerkhove said that asymptomatic spread is a really complex question and a lot is still unknown.

We dont actually have that answer yet, she said.

I was responding to a question at the press conference. I wasnt stating a policy of WHO or anything like that. I was just trying to articulate what we know, she said. And in that, I used the phrase very rare, and I think that thats a misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare. I was referring to a small subset of studies. I also referred to some data that isnt published."

Some estimates of around 40 percent of transmission may be due to asymptomatic (cases), but those are from models. So I didnt include that in my answer yesterday but wanted to make sure that I made that clear, she said.

While six to 41 percent of COVID-19 infected people may not show symptoms, many of them may transmit the disease, Van Kerkhove said.

Disease-modelling studies are used to help inform decisions about health care and policy. A model is an analytical methodology that accounts for events over time and across populations, that is based on data drawn from primary or secondary sources and in the context of health care-evaluation.

The LiveMint reported that Van Kerkhove said that 'while its known there are some asymptomatic patients who can transmit the virus, it needs to be better understood how many of the people in the population dont have symptoms and separately, how many of those individuals go on to transmit to others.' She also said 'asymptomatic patients tend to be younger and without underlying medical conditions.'

Damage control

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom during a media briefing also touched on this topic. He said that they are still learning about this new virus and there is a lot that they do not.

He said, "communicating complex science in real-time about a new virus is not always easy, but we believe its part of our duty to the world."

Adhanom said what they do know about transmissions is that "finding, isolating and testing people with symptoms, and tracing and quarantining their contacts, is the most critical way to stop transmission. Many countries have succeeded in suppressing transmission and controlling the virus doing exactly this."

"Asymptomatic people can transmit COVID-19," he said. But they "need more research to establish the extent of asymptomatic transmission."

Fauci steps in

Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government's top infectious-disease expert, says the WHO had to backtrack on its statement about the asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus being rare because that simply was not correct.

Weighing in on Wednesday, Fauci said the range of ways symptoms manifest is extraordinary in that some infected people have no or barely noticeable symptoms while others have more severe symptoms that require them to be hospitalized in intensive care.

Fauci was speaking to ABC's Good Morning America.

He said, What happened the other day is that a member of the WHO was saying that transmission from an asymptomatic person to an uninfected person was very rare."

He continued: They walked that back because there's no evidence to indicate that's the case. And, in fact, the evidence that we have, given the percentage of people, which is about 25, 45 percent of the totality of infected people, likely are without symptoms."

"And we know from epidemiological studies that they can transmit to someone who is uninfected, even when they're without symptoms. So to make a statement  to say that's a rare event  was not correct. And that's the reason why the WHO walked that back", he added.

With input from agencies

Also Read: WHO calls transmission by asymptomatic persons 'very rare', then walks back remarks
The Supreme Court today directed telecom companies to provide details with respect to three key points: the roadmap for payments in terms of the period required to repay AGR dues; timeline of payment, and security they can provide to guarantee payment. The Supreme Court was giving its verdict on a plea from the telecom department to allow companies to make staggered payment for their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

Telecom AGR case highlights:

Are telcos prepared to issue a bank guarantee?Are directors prepared to issue personal guarantees?

Are there other securities that can be furnished as guarantee?

He noted that undertakings will have to be there and that the court cannot allow staggered payout without securing government dues.

Justice Arun Mishra said, nobody has seen the next 20 years, can't allow extension based on a "gentleman's promise". How can 20 years be said to be reasonable? he asked referring to the government demand that staggered payment be allowed over a period of 20 years. The Solicitor General had earlier said the cabinet has proposed a period of 20 years for the payment of dues keeping in mind various considerations.

Telco counsels: On Justice Mishra's doubts about the guarantee that telecom companies will make the payment, Vodafone Idea counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Bharti Airtel counsel Mukul Rohatgi said the court can go ahead and cancel their licences if the companies do not pay up within the stipulated period.

Rohatgi also pointed out that Bharti Airtel has already paid Rs 18,000 crore, 70 percent of the Rs 25,600 crore received by DOT from all companies.

PSU AGR dues highlights:

Questions were raised on how the department made demands from oil PSUs when the judgement never dealt with PSUs.

Demands to the tune of Rs 4 lakh crore are being raised with ulterior motives, Justice Mishra said, ordering that the demand against PSUs be withdrawn.

What nonsense is being done in the name of our judgement?

How could demands have been issued when our judgment does not touch them?

The government must explain how our ruling is used for that purpose, adding, this is a misuse of judgement.

He noted that there are vast differences in the licenses of PSUs and licenses of telcos. The government must clarify if demand order has been revoked, he said. "Is the govt trying to overwhelm us by raising surcharge demands," he asked.

Court order on PSU dues: DOT is directed to clarify raising of demands within 3 days of the orders.

The Solicitor General told SC that 'PSUs were license holders is our justification'. He said they will file necessary affidavits to explain their position.

COVID-19

The court also noted that telecom companies have also not contributed enough toward COVID-19 relief.

The next hearing in the telecom AGR dues case is scheduled for June 18.

This hearing comes after the one held on March 18, where the apex court pulled up the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for allowing telcos to self-assess payable dues.

The case was heard by a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and including Justices MR Shah and S Abdul Nazeer. The same bench, on March 18, held that no further objections would be allowed against payable dues.

On March 16, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the DoT had sought staggered payment over 20 years of AGR dues by telecom companies. The plea also asked that telcos not be charged a penalty and interests on penalty and principal beyond the date of the judgement.

The hearing is likely to address the solicitor generals plea seeking reasonable time to resolve payments.

Company reports and Lok Sabha submissions give an idea of how much is at stake.

For Bharti Airtel, the AGR dues as per DoT is Rs 35,500 crore whereas it is Rs 13,000 crore as per the company's self assessment. So far, it has paid Rs 18,800 crore. As per DoT, it still has to pay Rs 17,500 crore.

For Vodafone Idea, DoT claims that the remaining payable is Rs 53,000 crore while the company claims it is Rs 21,500 crore. So far, the company has paid Rs 6,900 crore. As per DoT, it still has to pay Rs 46,100 crore.

Here is a timeline of the case so far:

> The DoT in October 2019 issued bills to major telecom operators seeking payment of licensing and spectrum dues as per the AGR.

> The companies included telcos such Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, BSNL and non-telcos which had revenues from telecommunication services such as ONGC and SAIL, etc.

> Telcos disputed the adjusted amount demanded by the Centre, post which the DoT approached the Supreme Court for redressal of the matter.

> The apex court had on October 24, 2019, ruled that the statutory dues need to be calculated by including non-telecom revenues in the AGR of telecom companies. It had upheld the DoT's definition of AGR and termed "frivolous" the nature of objections raised by the telecom service providers.

> The court had ordered telcos to clear total dues of Rs 1.47 lakh crore in line with the telecom department's estimate.

> After this, many telcos let the date slip by citing economic slowdown and poor finances, due to which the SC in February 2020 rapped DoT and telcos for ignoring court orders

> The SC on March 18 held that no further arguments against the dues owed would be heard

> Vodafone Idea, Tata Teleservices and Bharti Airtel owe the bulk of the dues.

> Airtel has already paid Rs 13,000 crore, but this is less than half of the companys estimated liabilities

> Meanwhile, Vodafone has so far paid Rs 3,500 crore out of the "self-assessed" liability of Rs 21,533 crore it estimates it owes, but much lower than the government demand.
Vineyard FrontRunner station opens this spring

Since the golden shovels were turned May 13, 2021, on the new FrontRunner Station in Vineyard, the construction project has been moving at beeline pace. Located in downtown Vineyard, close to the Vineyard Connector Overpass, the station will service residents, students and commuters traveling the FrontRunner route between Provo and Ogden, with the anticipation of going all the way to Payson. The Utah Transit Authority, and contractor Stacy and Witbeck, began construction in June 2021. The project is on-track for a completion date in March 2022, with expected service starting in ...
Richa Sharma By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: While coronavirus cases are heading towards the three-lakh mark, Union health ministry does not have countrywide data related to daily COVID-19 testing capacity of the Centre and states, according to an RTI reply from the ministry.

The ministry, under the National Health Mission (NHM), has released Rs 4,114 crore so far for COVID-19 activity to states, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu getting the highest share, revealed the RTI filed by Vikrant Tongad, Founder of Social Action for Forest & Environment (SAFE).

He had sought information related to details of daily testing capacity of the Government of India and states, the Centres for Covid-19 testing and detail of testing kits in the country.

In response to the RTI, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said: Data across the country is not available with the NCDC and the lab at the NCDC has capacity to test 200-300 samples for COVID-19 daily.

While the ministry cited unavailability of data, reports quoting ICMR officials said a total of 50,30,700 samples were tested across the country till June 6 and testing capacity has been increased to 1.4 lakh per day.

The Indian Council of Medical Research is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

Tongad had also sought state-wise break-up of the funds allocated by the health ministry for Covid-19 fight.

The ministry informed that Rs 1114.5 crore was allocated to states during the Financial Year 2019-20 and Rs 2999.99 during FY 2020-21 under NHM. Maharashtra, which has the highest COVID-19 burden, got the highest Rs 468 crore, followed by Uttar Pradesh (Rs 368 crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 360 crore).
Regional air operator Alliance Aviation will buy 20 to 25 new planes - expanding its fleet by about half - as it aims to grow its share of the charter flight market and fill a void left by Virgin Australia.

The ASX-listed carrier said on Thursday it would raise $122 million in fresh capital to take advantage of opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alliance Airlines says it could fill the void left by Virgin Australia. Credit:Jason South

The global health and economic crisis has devastated airlines around the world, but Alliance's fortunes have risen thanks to growing demand for mining industry flights.

Executive director Lee Schofield said Alliance would use the fresh capital to buy 20 to 25 second-hand aircraft at discount prices from struggling airlines, adding to its existing fleet of 42 Fokker jets.
We were going to call ourselves something like Springdale, or something, but names are so hard to come up with, Kelley said in an interview last year. I was like, Man thats a beautiful Antebellum house, and thats cool, maybe theres a haunted ghost or something in there like Lady Antebellum. We all thought it sounded cool, like southern rock, and there was a southern rock kind of song we had written, and the Beatles was taken.

Haywood said previously that the name just feels kind of country and nostalgic.

Lady Antebellum went on to become one of the most popular groups in modern country music, selling more than 10 million albums across eight releases and winning five Grammy Awards, including record of the year and best country album for the 2009 hit Need You Now.

But the trios name has long raised eyebrows, with one critic writing in Ms. magazine in 2011, saying that it seems to me an example of the way we still  nearly 150 years after the end of the Civil War, nearly 50 years after the Civil Rights Act; and in a supposedly post-racial country led by a biracial president  glorify a culture that was based on the violent oppression of people of color.

The switch to Lady A comes at a time of mass reckoning across politics and popular culture following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month and the subsequent protests against racism and police brutality. Television shows like Cops and Live P.D. have been canceled; the streaming service HBO Max pulled Gone With the Wind, a film long charged with romanticizing the antebellum South; and NASCAR said on Wednesday that it would ban the Confederate flag from its races, as monuments depicting Confederate figures were being torn down or reconsidered nationwide.
Chandigarh, June 11 : Punjab Police on Thursday foiled a major attempt to smuggle weapons into the Kashmir Valley for carrying out terror attacks with the arrest of two Jammu and Kashmir-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives.

Ten hand grenades, along with one AK-47 rifle with two magazines and 60 live cartridges, were seized from the suspected militants, identified as Aamir Hussain Wani, 26, and Wasim Hassan Wani, 27.

The duo, actively involved in transporting automatic weapons and hand grenades from Punjab to the valley, were nabbed by the Pathankot police, who intercepted a truck on the Amritsar-Jammu highway.

Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said the search of the truck led to the recovery of the weapons and ammunition, and the accused, during preliminary investigation, revealed that they had been directed to collect this weapons consignment from Punjab by Ishfaq Ahmed Dar, alias Bashir Ahmed Khan, a former constable.

Currently an active militant of LeT in the valley, Dar had absconded in 2017.

The duo further said they had collected the consignment from two unknown persons early this morning at a pre-arranged location on the Maqboolpura-Vallah road near the vegetable market in Amritsar.

They had then concealed the consignment in the truck, which they had brought ostensibly for the purpose of loading vegetables and fruits from the market in Amritsar, said the DGP.

Aamir Hussain Wani has revealed that, on his earlier trips to Punjab in his truck, he had collected more than Rs 20 lakh of hawala money at the behest of his handlers --Ishfaq Ahmed Dar and Rameez Raja.

He also said during previous trips to Amritsar, he had ferried two armed militants - one each of the Hizbul Mujahideen and LeT - from Punjab to the Valley.

Incidentally, both are now dead. They were identified by Aamir as Hizbul Mujahideen's Saddam Ahmed Paddar and Jasim Ahmed Shah of LeT.

Gupta said that the arrests had corroborated recent intelligence inputs indicating that the Pakistan ISI has been pushing weapon consignments and infiltrating militants from across the border into Punjab and further to the Kashmir Valley for carrying out terror activities.

On April 25 Punjab Police had arrested another Jammu and Kashmir based youth, Hilal Ahmed Wagay, who had come to collect drug money from Amritsar on the instructions of now slain Hizbul Mujahadeen Commander Riaz Ahmed Naikoo.

In that case also, Wagay had used a truck for ferrying the drug money.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Acquired assets expected to deliver attractive payback and achieve a production rate of 1,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of the third quarter of 2020

Reiterating commitment to value creation and growing via multi-industry holding company strategy

Exploring a potential near-term uplist to a national exchange

FRISCO, Texas, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ecoark Holdings, Inc. ("Ecoark") (ZEST), announced that it has completed an acquisition of certain energy assets from an energy company, whose identity will be released in the future, in the process of bankruptcy reorganization. The all-cash transaction, with a projected short-term payback, includes the transfer of 262 total wells in Mississippi and Louisiana, approximately 9,000 acres of active mineral leases, and significant drilling and production materials and equipment. The 262 total wells include 57 active producing wells, 19 active disposal wells, 136 shut-in with future utility wells, and 50 shut-in pending plugging wells. Included in the assignment are four wells in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) formation. The acquired assets are expected to achieve a production rate of 1,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) by the end of the third quarter of 2020 when considering the acquired assets current production, planned production, and planned re-entry projects.

We are excited to complete this highly opportunistic transaction as we grow our asset portfolio and extend our industry diversification strategy while maintaining a consistent and intense focus on value creation, said Randy May, Chairman Chief Executive of Ecoark. This transaction is a continuation of our recent acquisition of the energy assets of Banner Midstream and our ongoing focus on growing through select energy investments to further strengthen our position as a holding company and support our long-term success. The current energy landscape is providing resourceful companies like Ecoark with access to deal flow and unique prospects to selectively invest in the long-term success of domestic energy markets at a highly opportunistic time. We remain committed to expanding Ecoarks energy portfolio and are currently evaluating the potential acquisition of other high-quality assets under bank or credit ownership.

Story continues

To maximize the value of our latest acquisition, we plan to immediately deploy our existing workover rigs to re-enter some of the shut-in with future utility wells with the most immediate expected production impact and highest economic returns, said Brad Hoagland, CFA, Principal Financial Officer of Ecoark. We expect that these actions focused on advancing our production profile, combined with modest additional investments, will generate approximately six-month payback on the growth capital deployed. The current positive free cash flow generated from the acquired active producing wells and the minimal capital expenditure estimated to bring additional production wells back online is expected to drive further improvement in Ecoarks overall profitability. As commodity price volatility subsides and we establish a reliable production baseline, we will explore implementing hedging instruments to efficiently manage risk and consider initiating earnings guidance for our energy operations.

With the actions we have taken to date, Ecoark has advanced its position as a growth-oriented, opportunistic holding company, continued Mr. May. Today, we maintain a portfolio of three active, wholly-owned operating subsidiaries spanning a range of sectors including technology, financial services, and energy. We remain fully committed to each of our operating businesses and believe that each business will drive value creation through our diversified industry strategy.

We have analyzed the various standards to uplist to a national exchange and feel that the company currently unequivocally exceeds, or can exceed, all minimum criteria, continued Mr. Hoagland. We are working diligently to complete the filing of our March 31, 2020 Form 10-K and will immediately initiate the various steps to uplist upon the completion of that filing.

About Ecoark Holdings, Inc.

Founded in 2011, Ecoark is a diversified holding company. The company has three wholly owned subsidiaries: Zest Labs, Inc. (Zest Labs), Banner Midstream Corp (Banner Midstream) and Trend Discovery Holdings (Trend Discovery). Zest Labs, offers the Zest FreshTM solution, a breakthrough approach to quality management of fresh food, is specifically designed to help substantially reduce the $161 billion amount of food loss the U.S. experiences each year. Banner Midstream is engaged in oil and gas exploration, production, and drilling operations on over 20,000 cumulative acres of active mineral leases in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Banner Midstream also provides transportation and logistics services and procures and finances equipment to oilfield transportation services contractors. Trend Discovery invests in a select number of early stage startups each year as part of the funds Venture Capital strategy; we are open-minded investors with a founder-first mentality. Trend Discovery LP has an audited track record of uncorrelated outperformance of the S&P 500 since inception.

Forward Looking Statements

In addition to historical information, this release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this release that address activities, events or developments that are expected or anticipated to occur in the future are forward-looking statements and are identified with, but not limited to, words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "plan", "outlook", and "project" and other similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions). Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations, including all statements regarding financial guidance, anticipated future growth, business strategies, competitive position, industry environment, potential growth opportunities and the effectiveness of the technology discussed in this release and the effects of regulation. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other important factors, many of which are outside management's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, without limitation, the risk of increased competition; the potential inability to grow and manage growth profitably, including that the collaboration between AgroFresh and Zest may not yield the results expected, the technology described herein may not perform as intended, risks associated with acquisitions and investments, changes in applicable laws or regulations, commodities prices, and the possibility of adverse economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Additional risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in each company's filings with the SEC, which are available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

ZEST FRESH and Zest Labs are trademarks of Zest Labs, Inc.

Contact:

Investor Relations:

John Mills

ICR

646-277-1254

John.Mills@icrinc.com




A chief executive officer (CEO) or whole-time director (WTD) of a bank could work till she or he turned 70, and any promoter or major shareholder should not continue as CEO for more than 10 years, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reiterated on Thursday.

But if the CEO or WTD is not a promoter or major shareholder, the person can stay in office for 15 years. The person stands a chance for re-appointment only after three years, the period in which there should be no association with the bank in any capacity. This will not only help in achieving the separation of ...
STORY LINK GBP to JPY Exchange Rate Sheds Most of Last Weeks Gains as Safe Haven Demand Surges

GBP Exchange Rates Pressured as UK Government Once Again Rules Out Brexit Extension

The lockdown was complete in April, and that will likely show in GDP figures. The economic calendar shows expectations for a collapse of 18.4% in activity, a record-breaking month.



...



Worse than forecasts: A crash worth 20% or more would already trigger doom and gloom headlines, sinking sterling. It could change estimates for the next months, especially as Britain's lockdown has hardly been loosened

JPY Exchange Rates Surge in Reaction to Federal Reserve Gloom

The risk of a second wave outweighed the Feds zero forever message and the FX market took a distinctly risk-off mood, with a typical reaction

GBP/JPY Exchange Rate Forecast: Safe Haven Demand Could Continue to Push Pair Lower

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Market demand for riskier assets has led to weeks of Japanese Yen losses, but the British Pound to Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) exchange rate is slumping again this week. Risk-sentiment paused earlier in the week, and is now slumping in reaction to a more dovish than expected Federal Reserve policy decision yesterday. As a traditional safe haven currency, the Japanese Yen has been one of the currencies to benefit most from the Federal Reserve news.Last weeks GBP/JPY gains were huge, with the pair surging over five Yen from 133.06 to 138.83. On Friday, GBP/JPY even touched on a high of 139.70. This was the best level for the pair in over a quarter  since the end of February.However, GBP/JPY has already lost most of those gains due to the Pounds lack of drive and the Japanese Yens rebound on safe haven demand. At the time of writing on Thursday, GBP/JPY is trending in the region of 135.15 again.Investors had already been hesitant to buy the Pound this week. The Pound is a currency that is increasingly correlated to risk-sentiment due to concerns about Britains economic and political stability.Sterling has been unable to even benefit much from the markets recent risk-sentiment, due to concerns over how the Britains government has been handling the coronavirus pandemic, as well as returning Brexit fears.As a result, returning safe haven demand left the Pound especially unappealing against traditional safe havens like the Japanese Yen.As the Yen surged on safe haven demand, the Pounds appeal continued to see deeper pressure.Today, UK Minister Michael Gove reasserted that the government would not seek to extend the Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020.On top of this, Sterling is being pressured by concerns that Britains economy could have been even harder hit by the coronavirus lockdown than expected. Key UK data is due for publication tomorrow and analysts are expressing caution.According to Yohay Elam, Analyst at FXStreet:The Japanese Yen is a traditional safe haven currency  a currency that is widely considered to be a safe investment in times of global uncertainty.As a result, it is one of the currencies that has benefitted most strongly from this weeks worrying Federal Reserve news.The Federal Reserve indicated that the US economy would continue to contract over the coming year. On top of this, the bank also said that its near zero monetary policy would remain near zero until the end of 2022.According to Marshall Gittler, Head of Investment Research at BDSwiss Group:Concern over the US governments handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the Feds dovishness have limited the US Dollars appeal as a safe haven currency.As a result, the Japanese Yen has benefitted even more strongly as the US Dollars rival.Market demand for safe haven currencies has been limited lately, at least until this weeks Federal Reserve news shocked investors.If investors remain anxious about the global economic outlook due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemics lasting impact in major economies like the US, then safe haven demand could continue to rise.In the event that investors continue to look for safe havens, the Japanese Yen is likely to keep surging.The Pound, on the other hand, will lack much drive to avoid losses due to concerns surrounding Britains economy and the Brexit process.On the other hand though, if more economies show signs of returning to normalcy from the coronavirus pandemic, this may overshadow US economic concern.This could help risk-sentiment to recover, which would boost the Pound to Japanese Yen exchange rate again.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

TAGS: Pound Yen Forecasts
MIAMI, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Haber Law is pleased to announce that seven of the firm's attorneys have been named Florida Super Lawyers and Rising Stars for the year 2020. The recognitions include a cross-section of the firm's expertise, spanning construction law, real estate litigation, general litigation, and business litigation.

The following Haber Law attorneys appeared as Florida Super Lawyers and Rising Stars:

David Haber - Top Rated Attorney in Construction Litigation

- Top Rated Attorney in Construction Litigation Roger Slade - Top Rated Attorney in Business Litigation

- Top Rated Attorney in Business Litigation Frank Soto - Top Rated Attorney in Construction Litigation

- Top Rated Attorney in Construction Litigation Lauren Fallick - Rising Star in General Litigation

- Rising Star in General Litigation David Podein - Rising Star in Real Estate Litigation

- Rising Star in Real Estate Litigation Katrina Sosa - Rising Star in Business Litigation

- Rising Star in Business Litigation Rebecca Casamayor - Rising Star in Business Litigation

Additionally, Shareholder Roger Slade has achieved the prestigious milestone of 10 years as a Super Lawyer.

"The Firm is honored to continue our legacy of having multiple lawyers awarded this distinction," said Managing and Founding Shareholder, David B. Haber. "This honor is reserved for attorneys who exhibit excellence in practice, and our work supports that achievement."

Florida Super Lawyers is an attorney rating system owned by Thompson Reuters. Each year, Super Lawyers recognizes the top lawyers in Florida using a patented multiphase selection process involving peer nomination, independent research, and peer evaluation. No more than 5% of licensed attorneys can be designated a Super Lawyer and no more than 2.5% can be Rising Stars. The process is designed to find the best attorneys in their field of practice.

For more information on Super Lawyers, visit www.superlawyers.com .

About Haber Law

Haber Law is a 14-attorney boutique law firm based in Miami, Florida that focuses on construction law, including design and construction defects litigation, complex business litigation, condominium and homeowners association law, and all aspects of real estate law. Additional practice areas include aviation law, bankruptcy and creditors' rights, and family law. The firm is committed to its core values of integrity, service, dedication, innovation, diversity, and success. Haber Law is located on the internet at www.haber.law and can be reached at 305-379-2400.

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The five regions moving into phase three of reopening on Friday are: North Country, Mohawk Valley, Southern Tier, Finger Lakes and Central New York. Cuomo said a team of "global experts" went through the data, including hospitalization rate, intensive care capacity, testing capacity and other indicators, to make the decision.

As of Wednesday, there were 2,042 total Covid-19 hospitalizations in the state, Cuomo said, the lowest since March 21. He added that 36 people died of the disease on June 10, down from the state's peak of nearly 800 fatalities per day in mid-April.

"We've had the most science-based, the most informed reopening, I think it's fair to say, in the country," Cuomo said at a news briefing. "It is nothing about intuition, nothing about politics. Look at the numbers. Follow the numbers."

The news comes as the coronavirus continues to spread more rapidly in some states that were among the first and most aggressive to reopen, such as Texas and Arizona. New York has continued to see a decline in new cases as the state gradually reopens.

New York will allow five central and upstate regions to move to phase three of reopening on Friday, permitting restaurants to reopen for indoor dining as well as other businesses, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday.

Under phase three guidelines, restaurants can open for indoor dining at 50% capacity along with some other modifications meant to reduce the risk of spread. Personal care facilities such as tattoo parlors, nail salons and spas can reopen as well, also with capacity limited to 50% and other restrictions.

Cuomo urged business owners to abide by the state regulations, adding that "you can lose your right to operate" if a business is found to be violating the state's requirements.

"I know businesses are anxious to open. Everybody is anxious to get the economy going. Please follow the guidelines and do what is permissible to do," Cuomo said. "Covid is still out there."

The decision on whether to reopen public swimming pools and playgrounds will be left to local officials, he added.

While the spread of the virus has continued to decline in New York, it has spiked elsewhere. Cuomo pointed to an array of other states that have recently seen an uptick in cases or hospitalizations since they began to reopen. He said 21 states have seen an increase, and 14 have reported record high numbers of daily new coronavirus cases.

"We are the exception. To date, we are the exception. And that can change and that can change overnight," he said. "It's the same story. 'We want to reopen, we want to reopen. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine.' No, it's fine until it's not fine."

Public officials are watching for a potential rise in cases following massive protests over George Floyd's killing and systemic racism. Cuomo said the state might see an uptick in infections in a couple of weeks related to the protests and increased movement due to the state's reopening.

The key, he said, will be to track new infections back to the source so health officials can identify and isolate people who might be infected. He said the hope is that by gradually reopening parts of the state, New York can avoid another outbreak such as those now seen elsewhere.

Texas, which began to reopen on May 8 and expanded its reopening on May 18, reported Thursday that it has 2,008 Covid-19 patients currently in hospitals, a drop from the state's all-time high of 2,153 on Wednesday.

Hospitalization numbers better reflect a state's reopening performance since it's more difficult to skew than the number of confirmed cases, which fluctuates depending on how many tests are being run.

The outbreak also appears to be expanding in Arizona, which began to reopen in mid-May. The Arizona Republic reported Monday that the state health director sent a letter on June 6 to hospitals asking them to "fully activate" their emergency plans to ensure they continue to have adequate capacity. Arizona's largest health-care system, Banner Health, told CNBC on Monday that its number of Covid-19 patients on ventilators has quadrupled since May 15.

North Carolina, which began to reopen on May 8 and expanded its reopening on May 22, reported Thursday that a record number of Covid-19 patients, 812, are in hospitals across the state.

"Our hospital members are attributing the recent increase mainly to people moving about more after restrictions were relaxed and the state moved into phase 2 of reopening and then again after Memorial Day weekend," Cynthia Charles, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Healthcare Association, said Wednesday in a statement to CNBC.

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC earlier Thursday that spread in such states appears to be "more pervasive." He added that the surge is not quite a "second wave" because many of these states "never really got rid of the first wave."

"I think we should be concerned," he said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "The more concerning part is they haven't been able to isolate what the source of the infection is."

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer and biotech company Illumina.
OTTAWADuring the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions work to illuminate the horrors of Canadas residential schools, Ry Moran remembers watching members of the churches that ran them grapple with the systemic and brutal harm perpetrated in the name of their God. It was a very painful process of atonement and almost moral loss, he said.

And now  in the face of a growing anti-racism movement that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday is an awakening that has gripped national leaders  Moran said it is past time for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other major institutions to do the same.

Look at yourselves from our eyes. See what we see. Thats very, very powerful, said Moran, director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg.

That will create a bit of a moral crisis within these institutions, and so it should. Because they need to see the harm, and they need to see the pain. And they need to feel it, and they need to know about it, and then they need to do something about it  right away.

Morans call for introspection and change comes as a global anti-racism movement sweeps across Canada, with demonstrations in major cities that have drawn large crowds  and the prime minister himself  even during the worst health crisis in living memory. In recent days, attention has zeroed in on police treatment of Indigenous peoples, after a series of incidents, including the death of 26-year-old First Nations woman Chantel Moore during a police check at her apartment.

On Thursday, Green MP Elizabeth May declared the RCMP is a racist institution, citing recent instances in which an Alberta chief alleged he was assaulted by officers who stopped to check his licence plate, as well as police arrests of Wetsuweten demonstrators opposing a pipeline project in British Columbia.

And while RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told several media outlets this week that she does not believe the RCMP is fundamentally racist, Trudeau and his top lieutenants have insisted systemic racism is pervasive and real in Canada. The prime minister also defended Luckis tenure at the top of Canadas police force, and told reporters she will push ahead with needed reforms to remove racism from the RCMP.

Were facing a really important time in our country right now, where we are recognizing what many Indigenous Canadians and racialized Canadians have known for a long time, that there is systemic discrimination right across our country, in every part of our country, and in our institutions. And recognizing that is difficult, Trudeau told reporters Thursday.

I have confidence in Commissioner Lucki, and I know that the changes that she has already begun to bring to our national police force, and the work that were going to be doing together in the coming months is going to make a huge difference, he said.

For Catherine Richardson, director for the First Peoples Studies Program at Concordia University, the strained relations between the RCMP and Indigenous peoples date back to the origins of the police force. Created in 1874 as the North West Mounted Police, the force patrolled and enforced Canadian law in the West after the Metis resistance was crushed by troops sent by Ottawa to confront them.

Richardson described how the Canadian government wanted to open the west for European settlement and the construction of the continental railroad, a project that coincided with policies that included  as University of Regina professor James Daschuk writes in his 2013 book, Clearing the Plains  authorities withholding food from starving First Nations.

This police force, the RCMP, was designed to make sure they didnt have uprisings, they didnt ask for too much and that they stay out of the way of settlement, Richardson said. The history was all about repressing.

As Moran explained, that history continued into the 20th century, when RCMP officers helped enforce the federal governments Indian Act  which outlawed cultural practices, restricted movement and more  and served as truant officers who tracked down and returned children who ran away from residential schools.

These are all long-standing historical issues that have resulted in broken trust, Moran said.

In an interview with the Star this week, Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, blamed governments for killing our people by failing to repair that trust with policing reforms.

Dating back at least to 1991, when the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry published its final report, there have been numerous studies with recommendations to improve how police forces work with  and for  Indigenous peoples in Canada. A 2015 study by the Ontario Human Rights Commission found racial discrimination in policing is a serious concern for many Indigenous peoples. In 2018, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director  a civilian police oversight body in Ontario  released a report on the Thunder Bay police called Broken Trust that called for a range of reforms.

And one year ago, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls delivered its final report to Trudeau, whose promised action plan in response to 231 demands for change remains a work in progress.

Richardson pointed to certain reforms she would welcome, included increased civilian oversight of major police forces and better screening of recruits for racist and misogynistic attitudes. But she added that such changes cant alter the fundamental situation for Canadas Indigenous peoples, who live with a range of documented disadvantages  like disproportionately high incarceration and poverty rates  as police enforce the laws of a colonial society.

Thats why, in Morans view, lasting change must come from wider transformation of this relationship to achieve the true equality and fairness that defines reconciliation.

These problems arent going away. We cant keep turning a blind eye to it, or sweeping it under the rug, he said. This is real, and many people are demanding and calling for change.

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Linkedin Artyom Smirnov and Andrea Palasciano (Agence France-Presse) Norilsk industrial district/Moscow, Russia  Thu, June 11, 2020 08:13 590 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddc3962 2 World Russia,oil-spill,environmental-damage,environment,environmental-issues Free

Russian investigators on Wednesday detained three staff of a power plant over a huge fuel spill in the Arctic, as response teams warned a full clean-up would take years.

The spill of over 21,000 tons of fuel took place after a fuel reservoir collapsed last month at a power plant operated by a subsidiary of metals giant Norilsk Nickel in the city of Norilsk.

It is the largest ever to have hit the Arctic, say environmentalists.

Those working at the site have already seen the first effects of the spill on the local ecosystem, said Viktor Bronnikov, general director of Transneft Siberia oil and gas transportation company involved in the clean-up.

They included dead muskrats and ducks, he said.

The Investigative Committee looking into the accident said it had detained the director of the power station, Pavel Smirnov, and two engineers on suspicion of breaching environmental protection rules.

If convicted, they would risk up to five years in prison.

"The company considers this measure to be unjustifiably harsh," Norilsk Nickel said in a statement to AFP, citing vice-president Nikolai Utkin.

All three "are cooperating with law enforcement authorities and now they would be much more useful at the scene of the clean-up operation", he added.

'Years' to clean up

At the scene at a remote area in the Norilsk industrial district, Bronnikov of Transneft Siberia said that the situation was stabilizing, but that the clean-up team had seen animals and birds apparently killed by the spill.

"Today I myself saw dead muskrats," he told AFP, adding that workers had seen ducks killed by the fuel.

"If a bird lands on the diesel fuel or a muskrat swims through it, it is condemned to death," he said.

He added however that he had not seen "a huge number" of any animals dying there.

Workers in waterproofs were using booms to contain the reddish-brown diesel on the surface of a river and pump it into tanks on the bank.

"We will be removing diesel fuel from the Ambarnaya River for at least eight to 10 days," Bronnikov said.

"We will need years to completely clean up," he added.

The teams have set up tents on the river bank and are using helicopters to bring in equipment and survey the vast flat area of grass and sparse trees.

After this "mechanical" stage, other methods will have to be used to absorb the rest of the diesel or cause it to break down, Bronnikov said.

Kara Sea threatened

Norilsk Nickel head Vladimir Potanin said the company would pay for clean-up efforts estimated at $146 million after President Vladimir Putin backed a state of emergency in the Arctic city.

The Investigative Committee said the power plant's fuel tank had required major repairs from 2018 but the suspects "continued to use it in breach of safety rules."

"As a result, the accident occurred," the investigators' statement said.

Norilsk Nickel said that the fuel reservoir was built in 1985 and underwent repairs in 2017 and 2018 after which it went through a safety audit.

Regional officials have said that despite efforts to contain the fuel leak using booms on the river surface, it has now reached a freshwater lake that is a major source of water for the region.

The pollution could now flow into the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia, which Greenpeace Russia expert Vladimir Chuprov told AFP would be a "disaster."

But in a conference call on Wednesday, Norilsk Nickel's first vice president Sergei Dyachenko denied the spill had reached the lake, saying the company had not found contamination there.

The metals giant has said the accident could have been caused by global warming thawing the permafrost under the fuel reservoir.

It has acknowledged it did not specifically monitor the condition of permafrost at its sites in the past and said it would do a full audit shortly.

The massive clean-up involves nearly 700 people, according to the emergencies ministry.
Statues of Christopher Columbus, the 15th century Italian explorer, have been torn down in three US cities amid raging Black Lives Matter protests triggered by George Floyd's killing in police custody.

According to reports, a 6-feet-high statue of Columbus made of Italian marble was beheaded in Boston. In Richmond, Virginia, another statue of Columbus was set on fire and then thrown it into a lake following another a similar incident in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where Floyd was killed by a cop by choke-holding him.

The tearing down after Columbus'statue comes after several statues of different colonizers and supremacist leaders from history have been taken down across places, to rise against the mass genocide and racism they had once caused once.

Columbus' statues have been revered in different US states for his great explorations of America. But the European explorer's role in killing and looting around the Caribbean islands and the American mainland in the 15th century, has always triggered controversies around his persona.

In the wake of the present situation of anti-racism protests, viral images of the incidents have flooded Twitter, where netizens have come out to express that every Columbus statue must be thrown and taken down from US soil and people should remember him for who he really was, marked by his actions of 'spurring centuries of genocide against indigenous people'.

throw every christopher columbus statue in the ocean and let that dizzy bitch think he discovered atlantis ziwe (@ziwe) June 10, 2020

Christopher Columbus was a brutal, genocidal enslaver who also sex-trafficked pre-teen girls. This brute should never have EVER had a statue on US soil, let alone a federal holiday. He never once set foot on what would become the US. https://t.co/o5H1NaEcYG Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) June 11, 2020

Churchill killed 3m Indians. Leopold killed 10m Africans. Gowon killed 3m Biafrans. Columbus killed 5m native Indians. Rhodes killed 2m Africans. Stalin killed 25m Russians. Pol Pot killed 10m Cambodians. Hitler killed 6m Jews.The history of humanity is filled with carnage. Femi Fani-Kayode (@realFFK) June 11, 2020

Beautiful.Christopher Columbus was a genocidal maniac who tested the sharpness of his swords by cutting off the limbs of random Indigenous people. https://t.co/aI9jvaQOeX Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) June 11, 2020

Christopher Columbus statue outside Minnesota State Capitol pulled down by the indigenous community. You love to see it. pic.twitter.com/u1KUqSxtKg Hasan Patel  (@CorbynistaTeen) June 11, 2020
Suspected jihadists attacked a frontier post on Ivory Coast's border with Burkina Faso overnight, killing around 10 people, security sources said Thursday.

It is the first jihadist assault on Ivorian soil since March 2016, when a raid on the southeastern beach resort of Grand-Bassam left 19 people dead.

The raid "targeted an Ivorian frontier post at Kafolo," where an anti-jihadist operation had just ended, one Ivorian source said, in an account confirmed by a Burkinabe source.

An Ivorian source said 12 people were killed -- 11 soldiers and a gendarme -- while six people were injured and two were listed as missing.

Another Ivorian source put the toll at nine dead, while a Burkinabe source said 10 troops, a gendarme and an assailant had been killed, and two people were missing.

Security analysts have long worried that a jihadist revolt in the Sahel that began in Mali in 2012 is spreading towards coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea.

Ivory Coast shares a 550-kilometre (340-mile) border with Burkina Faso, where jihadist violence has claimed nearly 1,000 lives and forced 860,000 people from their homes over the past five years.

The latest attack began at around 3 am, and took place in the same zone of northeast Ivory Coast where the two countries last month launched a ground-breaking joint operation to flush out jihadists.

"Operation Comoe," named after a river that flows through the two countries, led to the death of eight suspected jihadists, the capture of 38 others and the destruction of a "terrorist base" at Alidougou in Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast army said on May 24.

The operation was launched after jihadists were spotted last year to the north of Ivory Coast's Comoe national park.

Security sources say they are jihadists operating in Burkina Faso who hole up in Ivory Coast.

The Grand-Bassam attack four years ago was claimed by Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

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Authorities clearing an intersection near the Minneapolis 5th Police Precinct on May 30 in Minneapolis.

AP Photo/John Minchillo

A lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks compensation for Linda Tirado, a journalist who was blinded in her left eye after covering a protest in Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd.

The suit names the city of Minneapolis and unnamed police officers, along with others, and accuses the police of firing a "non-lethal" projectile that struck her face and damaged her eye.

"There is some hope that I recover some vague light and shadow, but the idea of being able to restore my vision is a bit of a pipe dream," Tirado told Business Insider.

Tirado is represented pro bono by Tai-Heng Cheng, a partner at the high-powered corporate law firm Sidley Austin.

"Law firms have made commitments that Black lives matter, and now it's time for us to act," Cheng said in an interview.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A journalist who was blinded in her left eye after being shot in the face with a "non-lethal" projectile is suing the city of Minneapolis, telling Insider that she hopes the litigation will lead to better standards for law enforcement and safer protests for members of the media and others exercising their right to free speech.

Linda Tirado, a journalist who has written best-selling books and articles for The Guardian and The Daily Beast, was prepared for the worst when she drove from her home in Tennessee to Minnesota following the death of George Floyd. But she says her personal protective equipment  goggles around her eyes, credentials around her neck announcing her as "PRESS," and a professional-grade Nikon in hand  proved incapable of safeguarding her from the Minneapolis police.

"I was winding up a shot  it was police cars behind tear gas," Tirado said in an interview, recounting how she had just encountered protesters running from the direction of the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct. The gas created a "kind of horrific purple-orange rainbow spectrum," she said. "I was lining up that establishing shot when I felt the impact on my face. My goggles came off, so I immediately got hit with tear gas."

Story continues

She also immediately started bleeding. "I just kind of closed my eyes and started yelling, 'I'm press, I'm press,'" she recalled.

It was protesters, not the police, who offered her emergency medical care, she said. "They gave me a patch for the laceration, drove me to the hospital  I was in surgery within an hour of the injury," she said.

In the hospital during the early-morning hours of May 30, Tirado learned she had become permanently blind in her left eye.

"There is some hope that I recover some vague light and shadow, but the idea of being able to restore my vision is a bit of a pipe dream," Tirado said. "I've had two surgeries already. They're telling me that I'll probably need two or three more."

And that, she said, is just on the physical side of things: As the mother of two children, she's also concerned about her ability to make a living.

She's also still not sure what hit her  just that it was a projectile such as a tear-gas canister or rubber bullet fired by local law enforcement. Nor can she say for sure whether she was intentionally fired upon  the police had earlier shot a "tracer" round at her backpack that left a streak of green identifying her as a target  or whether she was the victim of indiscriminate fire.

"I kind of go back and forth on which, morally, would be more satisfying," Tirado said. "Both of them are terrible options."

Tirado's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court, names as defendants the city of Minneapolis, the unnamed police officers who fired on her, and, among others, Bob Kroll, the head of the local police union.

A representative for the city of Minneapolis said it was "not commenting on the lawsuit at this time." The Minneapolis Police Department did not respond to an inquiry.

In addition to damages  she says reading and writing are both difficult, cooking is near-impossible without depth perception, and photography is currently out of the question  Tirado is seeking a public declaration from the defendants that the use of excessive force at protests violates the US Constitution.

Tai-Heng Cheng, Tirado's attorney, also hopes the litigation process itself will shed light on police actions and aid the cause of reform.

Police officers blocking a road on May 29 in Minneapolis.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

"Through discovery, we will find out if these officers were acting on orders against the journalists," he said, or whether they "had received instructions that basically allowed them to be indifferent towards well-being."

Cheng is a partner at the high-powered corporate law firm Sidley Austin. This case is far different from his usual, paid work on international arbitration. But, outraged by the killing of Floyd and the treatment of those who protested in response, he decided to take on the case pro bono, viewing it as crucial to the defense of free speech and the ability of journalists to report on social movements.

One monitor counted more than 100 attacks on members of the media during the first four days of protests sparked by the Floyd killing. The day before Tirado was attacked, the Minnesota state police arrested a television crew from CNN  live, on the air.

"It's crucial for the functioning of our democracy for news like this to get out, for Americans exercising their First Amendment right to be heard," Cheng said. It's also crucial, he argued, for those in corporate America to back up their asserted support for diversity and social justice with demonstrable actions.

"Law firms have made commitments that Black lives matter, and now it's time for us to act," he said. "Donating our time and expertise, pro bono, to help with legal claims is one way in which law firms can really step up."

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

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Tomi Coker, Ogun state commissioner for health, says 104 of the 108 COVID-19 cases recorded in the state on Tuesday are from one company...

Tomi Coker, Ogun state commissioner for health, says 104 of the 108 COVID-19 cases recorded in the state on Tuesday are from one company in Sagamu area of the state.





The state recorded its highest daily toll on Tuesday night.





According to The PUNCH, the commissioner said all the new cases are asymptomatic.





104 cases are from a single site and they are all asymptomatic. 108 new cases, 104 from Sagamu, three from Abeokuta south and one from Yewa south, Coker was quoted to have said.





Remmy Hazzan, special adviser to the government on public communications, who also confirmed the incident reportedly said some members of staff of some companies in Sagamu were made to undergo COVID-19 test when it was discovered that they were flouting the safety guidelines issued to curtail the disease.





He reportedly said the surge in the number of cases in the state was not a reflection of community spread of the virus.





Asked if the recent cases would change plans to reopen worship centres in the state, Hazzan was quoted as saying the government will not go back on its plan.





Dapo Abiodun, the governor, had said the state would review suggested guidelines on the reopening of religious centres.





Abiodun said the government had recently taken written submissions and met with religious leaders to discuss modalities for the reopening of the worship centres.





He said a sub-committee would review the submissions and it was expected to submit its report on or before June 12, and that he would unveil the reports and suggested guidelines of the committee to the public in his next briefing.





The June 12 deadline for the submission of the guidelines is to enable the gradual opening of religious activities to tentatively commence on June 19, subject to the review of preparedness by our churches and mosques to the new normal, he had said.





A total of 475 cases have been confirmed in Ogun. So far, 214 patients have recovered while 13 people have died from complications of the disease.




Top official explains why COVID-19 deaths are occurring in Karnataka

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Bengaluru, June 11: Most COVID-19 deaths in Karnataka occur when infected elderly people, those with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) or any other symptoms delay reaching designated hospitals, a top official said.

Munish Moudgil, chief of COVID-19 War Room in the state, said most of those infected with the virus is brought to COVID-19 designated hospitals at a very late stage and recovery then becomes extremely tough.

Unlock 1.0: Karnataka issues guidelines for reopening of temples, asks people above 65 to avoid

Jalgaon Hospital: Mother dies waiting for ICU bed, grandmother's body rots in toilet| Oneindia news

He said that about 65 per cent of deceased patients are those who suffer from SARI and are aged above 60. The death rate due to SARI is 43 per cent for those in the 40-60 age group, he said, releasing data on coronavirus deaths, to reporters. In the same age group, the mortality due to Influenza-like Illness (ILI) was 17.4 per cent, whereas it is 11.1 per cent among people aged above 60.

He also said that 25 per cent of symptomatic patients aged above 60 succumb to the virus, while it was 10.7 per cent in the 40 -60 age group.

The fatalities among those aged 60 are high even if they are asymptomatic, said Moudgil, who is the secretary in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms. He said the average number of days spent at these hospitals by those who recovered is about 15 days, compared to 3.5 days for those who died of the virus.

"Hence persons who are elderly and who have comorbidities or who have SARI must reach designated COVID-19 hospitals at the earliest," Moudgil said.

As of date, Karnataka has reported 69 COVID-19 deaths As many as 6,041 people have tested positive for COVID- 19, including 2,862 discharges and 3,108 active cases.
The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders have taken a toll on many facets of physical and mental health in recent months. But according to new University of Colorado Boulder research, one silver lining may exist.

Some of us are sleeping better.

"Even though we are living through this incredibly stressful time which is changing our behaviors drastically, we are seeing changes to sleep behaviors that are for the most part positive," said lead author Ken Wright, an Integrative Physiology professor and director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory.

For the study, published online June 10 in the journal Current Biology, Wright and co-authors at the University of Washington set out to assess how student sleep habits were changing in the wake of widespread stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines put into place in mid-March.

Wright had already collected sleep data from 139 CU Boulder students for a week from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4 as part of a class project. When all instruction switched to online learning March 16, he saw a once-in-a-lifetime research opportunity.

"This is an unprecedented time for research, but when it comes to sleep, not a lot of people have access to data on what people were doing before," he said. "We did."

When Wright repeated the week-long survey in the same students from April 22 to 29, researchers found that, on average, the students were devoting 30 more minutes per weekday and 24 more minutes per weekend to sleep. Those students who had been skimping on sleep the most pre-pandemic saw the greatest improvements, with some sleeping as much as two more hours nightly.

The students also kept more regular sleep and wake times and experienced less "social jetlag," or that groggy feeling that occurs when people stay up late and sleep later on the weekends and must resume an earlier schedule on Monday.

Post pandemic, significantly more students - or 92% - also got the minimum seven hours per night of sleep as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Typically, about one-third of U.S. college students fail to sleep that much.

He said that sleep is particularly critical now, as studies have shown that inadequate sleep weakens the immune system, leaving people more vulnerable to viral infections and less responsive to vaccines.

"We know that when you don't meet the recommendations for sleep it can contribute to a lot of negative health problems," said Wright, noting that insufficient and irregular sleep and social jetlag have all been shown to boost risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and mood disorders.

"The fact that a lot of these sleep measures are improving is a good sign."

One finding, however, was not so good.

Compared to February, students are going to bed about 50 minutes later during the week and 25 minutes later during the weekend and waking up later, too.

"Generally, later sleep timing is associated with poor health outcomes," said Wright, who advises people to try to shift their wake-sleep cycle earlier by getting bright light exposure in the morning and dimming the lights two hours before bedtime.

More research is necessary to determine whether similar shifts are occurring among the general public and, if so, why. Wright did note that Boulder residents, generally speaking, are better sleepers to begin with. One prior study of the largest 500 cities in the U.S. found that pre-pandemic, Boulder had the lowest percentage of adults who got fewer than seven hours of sleep per night, or ~25%.

Wright suspects the new findings likely do apply more broadly to college students nationwide.

The key now: To identify ways to keep those good sleep habits going once school resumes in person again.

###
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The health department found itself in a tight spot on Wednesday as two persons committed suicide at the Covid isolation ward of the Government Medical College Hospital here.

Unni, 33, a Covid-19 patient who fled from the hospital and was brought back on Tuesday, was found hanging at 11.30 am and later, around 5pm, Murukeshan, 38, who was under observation for the infection, killed himself. Health Minister K K Shailaja ordered a high-level probe into the suicides. What happened was very unfortunate. The health secretary has been asked to probe the matter immediately. If there are lapses, strict action will be taken, she said.

Meanwhile, the State Human Rights Commission registered a suo motu case and sought responses from the hospital superintendent and Medical Education Department director within three weeks.The hospital sources said Unni, having recovered from Covid, was set to be discharged on Wednesday. He had breakfast and returned to the isolation room. When the nurse went to the room to hand over a prescription, she found him hanging from the fan, a hospital source said.

A native of Anad near Nedumangad, he was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit immediately, but could not be saved, sources said. They said he was suffering from acute withdrawal symptoms and did not cooperate with the medical staff. After being brought back from his home on Tuesday, he was given medical counselling.Murukeshan, also a native of Nedumangad, was admitted to the MCH after returning from Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. He worked at a farm there for a few months.

Murukeshan did not inform authorities

Allegedly , Murukeshan did not report to the authorities though his family insisted him to do so and went to a public waiting shed near his residence. It is learnt that he was in an inebriated condition at the time and suffered a bout of vomiting. After the locals dialled the Disha helpline, he was moved to the MCH by 10.30pm in an ambulance.

While it is yet to be determined if he was infected, as his swab samples were collected only on Wednesday, the exact trigger for the extreme step also remains uncertain. Hospital sources said he was behaving normally through the day, but during a routine check in the evening he was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room.

Kerala covid death toll rises to 18

Kannur: Kerala recorded its 18th Covid death on Wednesday. P K Mohammed, 70, a native of Payanchery in Iritty, Kannur, breathed his last on his way to the hospital. He tested positive earlier in the day. Mohammed had returned from Muscat, Oman, on May 22. His son had contracted the virus earlier. Meanwhile, the 87-year-old man from Engandiyur, Thrissur, who had died while being shifted to the MCH on June 7, was confirmed with infection earlier in the day.
Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

DANBURY  Protesters will march in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on Friday at Western Connecticut State University.

Marchers will meet at 11 a.m. on the quad of the Midtown Campus. At noon, the group will walk toward the Science Building and around the campus, ending near the gates on White Street, university spokesman Paul Steinmetz said. Speeches will then be held.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 12)  A day before the country celebrates its 122nd Independence Day, President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a telephone conversation Thursday night on the countries mutual COVID-19 response.

According to a statement released by the Chinese Embassy in Manila, the two leaders recognized that both countries helped each other during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrating the brotherly friendship of mutual help.

"I am glad to see that under your leadership, the Philippines has introduced a series of strong prevention and control measures and achieved positive results," Xi told Duterte during the phone call.

Xi added that Beijing will continue to provide firm support to Manila in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which started in the Chinese city of Wuhan last January.

China upholds the concept of a community of shared future for mankind, provides funds, experience and confidence for global prevention and control, and extends a helping hand to countries in need, said Xi.

The Duterte administration has been vocal in thanking Beijing for its support in the country's COVID-19 response, and is even counting on the Asian giant to develop the vaccine against the disease.

Last May 10, China donated 100 ventilators, 150,000 testing kits, 70,000 medical protective suits, 70,000 N95 medical masks, 1.3 million surgical masks and 70,000 medical protective goggles to the Philippine government to aid its fight against the virus.

The Philippines earlier donated surgical face masks, protection suits, medical gloves, sanitation products and goggles to the Chinese province of Hubei, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his letter addressed to Xi sent last June 9 to mark the 45th anniversary of the Philippines-China diplomatic relations, Duterte called for stronger ties between the two countries amid the global crisis.

READ: Duterte calls for 'further strengthening' of PH-China relations

"We must forge on and ensure that the potential of our special ties is fully realized," Duterte said.

Duterte reiterated that China "is a close neighbor and valued friend," and that the Philippines remains committed "to preserve and build on the gains of our close partnership for greater peace, progress and prosperity for our nations."

Manila and Beijing have been embroiled in a territorial dispute over some islands in the West Philippine Sea, which the latter claims almost its entirety.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration sided with the Philippines in its claims over the West Philippine Sea.

However when Duterte assumed presidency in that year, he agreed to shelve differences with China to pursue joint oil and gas exploration in disputed areas.

Despite the international arbitration ruling, China has been aggressive in reclaiming disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea and turning those into military outposts.

The Duterte government also filed diplomatic protests over China's declaration of two new reclaimed districts called Sansha City in the West Philippine Sea and a Chinese warship's pointing of a radar gun at a Philippine Navy warship last year.
In a sunny temple courtyard in Vietnam, Le Van Thang pushes an iron rod hard against his eye socket and tries to make it bend -- his dizzying strength honed through years of practising centuries-old martial art Thien Mon Dao. Thang, 28, is one of an increasing number of Vietnamese to find refuge in a sport that grew out of a need to protect the country from invaders, but now offers a route to mental wellbeing in the rapidly changing Communist nation. Practitioners of Thien Mon Dao have long taken pride in the incredible shows of strength that form part of their routines. The eye-popping feats include bending metal against their bodies, carrying heavy objects using their throats and lying under the path of motorbikes. Now many say they also take pleasure from how the sport -- which includes elements of self-defence, kung fu and weapons training -- has steered them on a new course. Thang, a furniture seller who first began practising eight years ago, said he used to get into fights in high school and was also a gambler. "Once I stole money from my family but after that, I was brought to Thien Mon Dao by my family and I changed," he told AFP. "There are so many benefits: I learned how to express my ideas, how to walk properly and behave." Thien Mon Dao has roots going back to the 10th century, according to master Nguyen Khac Phan, whose school trains in the complex of an ornate temple on the outskirts of Hanoi. But he says the first official practice of the sport was recorded in the 18th century. In recent years it's seen a surge in popularity, he adds, with up to three new clubs set up in the capital each year. Vietnam currently has around 30,000 Thien Mon Dao practitioners across the country, Phan estimates, with occasional public performances helping boost the sport's appeal. "People come for different purposes but mostly they want to improve their health and mental health," added Phan, who has been teaching the sport since the early 1990s. "Learning martial arts can help people see life in a better way, improve their strength... give up their mistakes to aim for better things," he said. From tiny children who have barely started school to people in their eighties, Thien Mon Dao embraces anyone who wants to kick their way up through 18 different levels and seven belts. Sixteen-year-old Vu Thi Ngoc Diep, one of around 10 women training at the temple compound, said the sport had also given her a way to fight gender stereotypes. "Southeast Asian people think that girls should be gentle and not suitable for learning martial arts," she said. "But I see it differently."
By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Russia and China have started making the case at the United Nations against Washington's claim that it can trigger a return of all sanctions on Iran at the Security Council, with Moscow invoking a 50-year-old international legal opinion to argue against the move.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Chinese government's top diplomat, Wang Yi, both wrote to the 15-member council and U.N. chief Antonio Guterres as the United States threatens to spark a so-called sanctions snapback under the Iran nuclear deal, even though Washington quit the accord in 2018.

Lavrov wrote in the May 27 letter, made public this week, that the United States was being "ridiculous and irresponsible."

"This is absolutely unacceptable and serves only to recall the famous English proverb about having one's cake and eating it," Lavrov wrote.

Washington has threatened to trigger a return of U.N. sanctions on Iran if the Security Council does not extend an arms embargo due to expire in October under Tehran's deal with world powers to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Kelly Craft said last week that a draft resolution on the embargo would be circulated soon.

Council veto-powers Russia and China have already signaled they are against reimposing an arms embargo on Iran. If they block the U.S.-drafted resolution, then Washington will have to follow through on its sanctions snapback threat.

"The United States, no longer a participant to the JCPOA (nuclear deal) after walking away from it, has no right to demand the Security Council invoke a snapback," Wang wrote in his June 7 letter.

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal, enshrined in a U.N. resolution, allows for return of sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo, if Iran violates the deal. U.S. President Donald Trump quit the deal in 2018, branding the accord from Barack Obama's presidency as "the worst deal ever."

Story continues

Lavrov cited a 1971 International Court of Justice opinion, which found that a fundamental principle governing international relationships was that "a party which disowns or does not fulfill its own obligations cannot be recognized as retaining the rights which it claims to derive from the relationship."

Iran has breached parts of the nuclear deal in response to the U.S. withdrawal and Washington's reimposition of sanctions.

The United States argues it can still trigger the sanctions snapback because the 2015 U.N. resolution still names it as a participant. Diplomats say Washington would likely face a tough, messy battle.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jonathan Oatis)
The Nokia 9.3 PureView will not use a kooky camera setup from Light. In fact, no other phone will either as the company behind the penta-camera of the previous PureView model is pulling out of the phone business.

It looks like Light is refocusing on the car industry where the superior depth perception of its cameras is a boon for self-driving vehicles.

As for HMD Global, it will have to look for a new partner to develop a camera worthy of the PureView name. Rumors from January say that its already doing that, likely having been informed of Lights plans earlier.

In early 2019 Xiaomi also partnered with Light to develop smartphone cameras, but that never bore fruit. Sony was also a partner, but it was just looking for a venue to sell its sensors rather rather than trying to build a PureView-like phone.

Speaking of the PureView, the new model has been delayed yet again. This is allegedly due to COVID-19s impact on the supply chain and likely not because of Lights change in strategy. If all goes well, we should finally see the Nokia 9.3 PureView in September or October (along with the 6.3 and 7.3), but after so many delays we know not to trust such deadlines.

For better or for worse, the Nokia 9 PureView will remain the only phone to use a Light camera.

Source
Burma Villagers Killed and Wounded By Myanmar Military Shelling After Alleged Bazooka Attack

An unexploded shell found near Amyint Kyun village. / Aaung Khin Linn

Sittwe, Rakhine State  A civilian was killed and four villagers, including a police officer, were wounded when a Rakhine State village was hit by artillery shells at around 1 am on Wednesday.

A 90-year-old woman died, and three civilians  her 40-year-old daughter, a 13-year-old girl and a 42-year-old man  were injured in Amyint Kyun village. The village police chief, Lieutenant Myo Thet Tun, was also injured.

We were sleeping and were woken up by a sound like thunder. We didnt know what had happened. We woke the children, ran downstairs and lay flat. After the children arrived downstairs, my husband came down injured, said Daw Phyu Che, the wife of U Kyaw Myint who was hit in his waist.

We only heard gunshots and did not know what had happened as it was nighttime. We saw fireballs flying over the houses and some fell beside my house. At first, I didnt notice my daughter was injured. She said she felt dizzy and only then I noticed that she was bleeding from her throat, said U Kyaw Kyaw Win, the father of Ma Nandar Win who was hit in her neck.

Villagers claimed Myanmars military or Tatmadaw was responsible for the shelling. A villager, who asked for anonymity, said Arakan Army (AA) troops might have attacked two naval vessels heading from Sittwe to Rathedaung along the Minchaung River from a bridge near their village, prompting the ships to return fire.

When we looked in the morning, people said the AA shot at the naval vessels from the bridge. So they returned fire, said the villager.

Lt Myo Than Tun was injured at his police station.

The chief of Amyint Kyun police was injured. He said he was hit after inspecting dugouts in the police compound, Lieutenant Colonel Maung Maung Soe of Rakhine State police told The Irrawaddy.

Myanmars military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said the vessels heading from Sittwe to Ponnagyun returned fire after they came under attack by the AA near Amyint Kyun.

The AA attacked the vessels with RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] near Amyint Kyun at around 1 am on June 10 and the vessels returned fire. I dont know about civilian casualties. But one of our personnel was slightly injured in the attack, said Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun.

As the government has declared the AA a terrorist organization, The Irrawaddy was not able to contact the armed group for a comment.

The village is at the border of Sittwe and Ponnagyun townships, around 30 minutes drive from Sittwe with approximately 500 households.

U Kyaw Myint and Ma Nandar Win are receiving treatment at Sittwe Peoples Hospital while the police officer is being treated at the military hospital in Sittwe. Another woman, Daw Ma San Yi, was only slightly injured and received treatment in the village.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

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T he FTSE-100 Index tumbled more than 100 points today, hit by a bleak economic outlook by the Federal Reserve in the US last night.

The index closed 223.36 points lower at 6,105.77, representing its sharpest daily fall since March. The German Dax decreased by 4.47%, while the French Cac moved 4.71% lower.

The Fed projected the US economy to shrink 6.5% in 2020 and signalled it plans years of extraordinary support for an economy facing a long road back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones dove by 880 points after the bell as sentiment took a nosedive from the optimism which had driven it to a three-month high just days earlier.

"The pessimistic outlook from the Fed was not unexpected, but right now investors are looking at potential declines further because markets are spooked by the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus infections," said Joshua Mahoney, markets analyst at IG Group.

Engineering and manufacturing firms were hard hit, with Melrose and Rolls-Royce plunging lower once again.

Catalytic converter manufacturer Johnson Matthey sank after it told investors it is cutting 2,500 jobs following a major hit from coronavirus.

The FTSE 100 firm also revealed plans to halve its dividend to shareholders as it announced the redundancies, which will remove more than a sixth of its workforce over the next three years.

Shares in the company dropped by 148p to 2,043p after it revealed it took a 60 million hit to profits from the virus.

British Gas owner Centrica also lost share value after it announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs as part of a major turnaround plan.

More than half of the job losses will come from the businesss leadership roles, as Centrica revealed it would strip out three layers of middle managers, in a bid to cut bureaucracy.

Shares in the company slipped 1.71p lower at 40.12p at the end of trading.

Tui dropped lower after it extended the suspension of holidays for customers from the UK due to coronavirus travel restrictions. Shares fell by 41.7p to 444.6p.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Polymetal, up 32p at 1,536p, Fresnillo, up 8.8p at 776.2p, LSE, up 28p at 8,094p, and Tesco, up 0.7p at 227.7p.

The biggest fallers of the day were Carnival, down 164.5p at 1,190p, Melrose, down 12.65p at 111.15p, ITV, down 7.72p, and Rolls-Royce, down 31.7p at 321.6p.
Taiwan is gearing up to welcome Hong Kong people fleeing their city as China tightens its grip, but the island has little experience of handling refugees and is scrambling to prepare and to keep out any Chinese spies who might try to join the influx.

Year-long anti-government protests in Hong Kong have won widespread sympathy in democratic and Chinese-claimed Taiwan, which has welcomed those who have already come and expects more.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen last month became the first government leader anywhere to pledge measures to help Hong Kong people who leave due to what they see as tightening Chinese controls, including newly introduced national security legislation, smothering their democratic aspirations.

China denies stifling Hong Kong`s freedoms and has condemned Tsai`s offer.

Taiwan, for decades just as wary of the mainland as many in the former British colony of Hong Kong are, is working on a humanitarian relief plan for the expected arrivals, officials say.

"Hong Kong no doubt is a priority for Tsai," a senior government official familiar with the president`s thinking told Reuters, adding that the administration was setting aside resources to handle Hong Kong people.

The plan would include a monthly allowance for living and rent and shelter for those unable to find accommodation, said a second person with direct knowledge of the preparations.

It is too early to gauge how many might come but Taiwan does not expect the number to be more than the thousands of people who came from Vietnam from the mid-1970s, most fleeing the communist takeover of what had been U.S.-backed South Vietnam.

Nearly 200 Hong Kong people have fled to Taiwan since protests flared last year and about 10% have been granted visas under a law that protects Hong Kong people who are at risk for political reasons, said Shih Yi-hsiang of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.

For now, anyone thinking of making the move has to wait as Taiwan has barred Hong Kong people as part of its effort to block the novel coronarvirus but Shih expects the number to jump once the ban is lifted.

`VERY COMPLICATED`

With little experience of refugees since the 1970s and with worries that China could infiltrate spies posing as activists, the government was urgently looking for experts to vet backgrounds, the second source said.

"This is a very complicated scenario that Taiwan government has never dealt with," said the source who declined to be identified as the information about plans has not been made public.

"We didn`t think such things would happen in Hong Kong even in our dreams."

China`s Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment.

A Taiwan government panel including security officials would scrutinise applications and issue visas allowing Hong Kong people to study or work in Taiwan, the second source said.

Shih said the government also needed experts in areas from case management to counselling.

A senior Taipei-based Western diplomat said Taiwan was most likely to get the most radical protesters and the less well-off, as those with the means would probably choose to go to countries such as Canada or Britain.

Tyrant Lau, 26, released last month from an eight-month sentence in Hong Kong for possession of weapons, welcomed Tsai`s offer and said he aimed to make Taiwan home because of its democracy and low cost of living.

"It`s the only hope for protesters who can`t afford moving to other places," Lau said in Hong Kong as he waits for the border to open.

"I hope I can live a normal life in Taiwan. I`ve forgotten what a normal life is like."
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 03:00:41|Editor: huaxia

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Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca (C) reports the COVID-19 situation to the WHO via online meeting in Ankara, Turkey, June 10, 2020. The Turkish authorities have started COVID-19 antibody tests on 153,000 people across the country, Koca said Wednesday. Turkey's COVID-19 cases increased by 922 on Wednesday, raising the total cases to 173,036, Koca said. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ANKARA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish authorities have started COVID-19 antibody tests on 153,000 people across the country, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Wednesday.

"With this study, we will know the level of our immune status in society," Koca said at a press conference.

Turkey sees a partial increase in the number of COVID-19 in central Anatolia, as well as in eastern and southeastern parts of the country, he noted.

Turkey's COVID-19 cases increased by 922 on Wednesday, raising the total cases to 173,036, Koca said.

Meanwhile, 17 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 4,746, the minister said, adding Turkey conducted 36,521 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 2,451,700.

A total of 2,241 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 146,839 in Turkey since the outbreak, Koca said, noting 631 patients are being treated at the intensive care units and 280 intubated.

The average age of the new cases is 36, and the average age of deaths is 71, the minister said.

Turkey reported the first COVID-19 case on March 11 and stepped up the normalization process by easing restrictions as of June 1.

Turkey and China have supported each other in the fight against COVID-19.

The leaders of the two countries held a phone conversation on April 8, pledging to cooperate on combating the pandemic and deepen the bilateral ties.

China has facilitated the procurement of medical supplies by Turkey. On April 10, Chinese doctors and medical experts held a video conference with Turkish counterparts to share China's experiences in treating coronavirus patients, protecting medical workers, and controlling the spread of the virus. Enditem
Volga-Dnepr Group has flown more than 3,000 breeding pigs to China from France this year. The animals -- transported 6,450 miles (10,400 kilometers) in wooden crates in the hold of a Boeing 747 cargo plane -- are being used to restore local livestock levels to help mitigate shortages in the worlds largest pork market after an outbreak of African swine fever decimated Chinas hog herds.

Measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus amplified those swine shortages and accelerated attempts to boost the population of domestic herds. China imported a total 254,533 tons of pork in the first four months of the year from the US, which overtook Europe to become Chinas largest pork supplier. Thats already more than the 245,000 tons China bought for the whole of 2019.

The cargo is a sign of the shifting demand that Isaykins company -- known for transporting everything from satellites to emergency bridges -- is experiencing as the pandemic reshapes his industry.

The company is also shipping masks, hazmat suits, medical equipment and even street-disinfecting vehicles to countries like Russia, France and Germany as they battle to contain the virus. Volga-Dneprs sales rose 32% to $630 million this year through April compared with the same period in 2019.

Global aviation is going through its most challenging time ever, but for cargo carriers like us its a chance, Isaykin said in a Zoom interview from Moscow. Previously, more than half of all aviation cargoes were carried in the luggage compartments of passenger planes. With this supply vanishing from the market, demand for cargo airlines surged and prices more than doubled.

While demand for air freight dropped 28% in April compared with a year earlier, capacity fell by 42%, according to the International Air Transport Association. Isaykins stake in closely held Volga-Dnepr is estimated to be worth around $700 million, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Russian companys revenue may increase by a third this year to $2 billion, Isaykin predicts.

Expanding Geography

The overall rise in sales has come even as some revenue streams shrink. Shipments for the aerospace industry have fallen by about a third compared with last year, Isaykin said.

Medical goods now account for more than half of global air freight, with e-commerce cargo for firms like Amazon.com Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. another growing category.

Volga-Dneprs footprint is also shifting, Isaykin said.

The geography of our shipments is expanding, following the spread of coronavirus, Isaykin said. We just started shipping Chinese medical goods to Africa and are getting first inquiries from Latin America. I think India will be next.

Some of this demand may prove to be short-lived. Freight rates have started to decline, and the market for shipping health-related cargo may drop in the second half of the year, Isaykin said. Still, he expects volumes and prices to stay above the pre-virus level with fewer passenger planes expected to be flying.

Some new business may herald lasting changes to the world economy. While his carrier is shipping pigs to China, its also ferrying assets the other way. The company recently transported a production line for making masks to Russias Tatarstan region from China.

An interesting trend is gaining traction now -- we call it the medieval period of the 21st century -- when strategically important production facilities are being relocated to reduce dependence on China, Isaykin said. I am expecting this trend to accelerate toward year-end.
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Let us take you on a fantastic flight of fancy.

These are MailOnline Travel's pick of the 50 images shortlisted in a contest called #Aerial2020 run by photo app Agora. It asked photographers around the globe to send in their best bird's-eye shots.

In total, 9,018 photos were submitted, with the competition judges whittling them down to 50 finalists. Agora users were then asked to vote for their favourite and overall winner.

High-flying entries include a mesmerising shot of castle ruins in Austria, a jaw-dropping image of a tiny island off the coast of Spain, a beautiful Barcelona sunset snap and a vertigo-inducing picture taken from cable cars in a Chinese national park.

Octavi Royo, Agora's CEO & co-founder, said: 'When you see the world from above, you realise how important that point of view can be. These 50 works of art turn us into birds to admire the planet earth from above.'

Scroll down to feast your eyes on the amazing shots - you'll find the winning image at the bottom...

Austrian Michael Harding is behind this beautiful image of castle ruins in his home country. He said: 'This region has so much history and a lot of old castles! This castle was built around 1100AD and I find it really impressive that there is still so much left of this old buildings'

On the left is an amazing image by Italian photographer Matteo Mangano of a tiny island off the coast of the Basque Country in Spain. Matteo said: 'A tiny island joined to the mainland by a bridge clinging to rocks and stacks - one of the best places Ive ever visited! That day was super windy. I flew my drone about three kilometres away to get this shot and I was so worried that I would never see it again. Fortunately, it came back and it was definitely worth it.' On the right is an image by Dutch photographer Sjoerd Bracke. It shows the cable cars inside Zhangjiajie National Park in China. He said: 'During our ride, it was a misty and cloudy morning, which is why this scenery looks even more mysterious. We couldn't believe our eyes when we rose above the clouds and this view appeared. I absolutely love the result and the feeling it transmits because when I look at this photo I get this mysterious feeling and wow-effect back immediately'

British photographer Jonny Rogers is behind this charming aerial shot of Budapest he took on a warm summer's evening

On the left is an aerial shot of Barcelona that was captured at sunset by Spanish photographer Alvaro Valiente. He said: 'It took me a whole year to get this shot right. I waited patiently for the sun to set in this exact position, so the light creates a path straight to the Sagrada Familia.' On the right is a jaw-dropping image showing the Central and Western District of Hong Kong that was captured by Jacky Woo, who is based in the city

French photographer William Markezana captured this amazing scene of a crowded Dameisha beach in China. He explained: 'This is a public beach next to a five-star hotel. The hotel had its own private beach right next to it, which was empty. I was initially interested in capturing that contrast. The crowd density was so high, I had to gain quite a lot of altitude to make it fit in the frame. At that point, those indistinguishable people started to create a pattern that I found even more powerful and fascinating'

On the left is an image by Ester Turri, from Italy, who captured this misty morning on Seceda, an 8,200ft (2,500m) mountain in northern Italy. She said: 'It was a moody summer morning, just how I like them.' Pictured right is a serene scene at Lago di Braies in the Italian Dolomites captured by UK-based photographer James Theo. He explained: 'The Dolomites area is full of picturesque landscapes, and no trip would be complete without a visit to Lago di Braies. I arrived in the hope of a sunset, but that did not happen. Instead, I was greeted with some moody conditions with loads of low clouds. I enjoy shooting in challenging conditions and I was still determined to get some shots of this beautiful place'

This image is called 'Life on Mars' and was snapped by Dutch photographer Tom Franklin de Waart in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Tom said: 'I wanted to show that our planet has landscapes that look like they are out of this world. We dont need to go to Mars to find these kinds of landscapes. Like in most of my photos, I want to make people realise we can find beauty on this planet. We need to take care of nature. Many times you see that when a location gets popular, tourists overcrowd the place and basically ruin it. If you decide to visit these kinds of places just leave nothing but footprints!'

On the left is a mesmerising image by a Spanish photographer, known as @rakia10 on Instagram, of a winding road on Tianmen Mountain, China. Pictured right is an aerial view across a rice terrace in Bali taken by fellow Spanish photographer Carles Alonso. He explained: 'I had to wake up at 5.30am to take this shot. The early morning light bathing the rice terraces with the two volcanoes in the background made my day'

German snapper Arnold Maisner is shortlisted with this beautiful image of the famous Mont Saint-Michel in France. He said: 'It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen: it was a cold sunrise, but certainly worth it. On top of the rock, you can see a church overlooking the village of 70 residents. The strongest tides in Europe rule here, with the water going back kilometres'

French photographer Ghislain Fave took this incredible shot of Mount Bromo in Indonesia. He called the image 'Sunrise on Gunung Bromo'. Ghislain explained: 'We hiked on the rim of Java's Mount Bromo before sunrise, in almost pitch darkness, surrounded by rumbling sounds coming from the volcano. As the sun rose, we observed a cloud of smoke coming from a crater and felt suddenly so small in the front of nature. I did this hike with my three-year-old daughter on my shoulders!'

Pictured left is a cloudy scene over central Hong Kong captured by Chinese photographer @jsrpixel. He said: 'A city without clouds is like a musical without music. I captured this shot during the sea of clouds season, which only happens once a year. One has to wake up super early and keep monitoring the latest weather forecasts for a chance to capture such low clouds floating through the city. Hong Kong is like a magical dream: I want to show the world that this city is not just a cold concrete forest, but a city with a warm, beautiful soul.' On the right is a stunning image of the IFC building in Hong Kong shot by British photographer Blair Sugarman. He explained: 'Aligning the sun and the building gives a Lord of The Rings vibe. This is one of the most iconic buildings in Hong Kong, and it looks spectacular at sunset. This is the building that Batman leapt off in The Dark Knight and it has become a recognisable point of interest for this reason'

Photographer Yee Lee, from Malaysia, travelled to the Mojave desert in the United States to take this image of retired aircraft. She called her picture 'Retired From Service'

On the left is an amazing shot of a surfer riding the waves in Perth, Australia, by Canadian photographer Blake Hobson. The haunting image on the right is by Greek photographer Odysseas Chloridis, who snapped it in Thessaloniki, Greece. He said: 'I wanted to convey some nostalgia, mystery and of course the grandeur of mother nature. Look at how small the car is in front of the beauty of our Mother Earth'

This night time picture showing the Hong Kong cityscape was snapped by British photographer Lee Mumford

The bizarre image on the left of Whampoa in Hong Kong is by Russian snapper @poletaev.photo. He said: 'This is one of the weirdest scenes I've ever imagined. Yes, it is a shopping centre, but from above it looks like a boat in the middle of countless identical residential blocks [in fact it resembles a boat on the ground, too].' On the right is an image taken by fellow Russian photographer Mikhail Derevyanov using his drone of rooftops in Barcelona. He said: 'As a photographer, I love shooting city landscapes. I have always dreamed about seeing the famous architecture of Barcelona and its symmetrical neighbourhoods. Over the years I've seen a lot of aerial photos of the city, so I thought I had an idea of what was awaiting me, but when I flew my drone to see it for myself it just caught my breath. Barcelona is truly an amazing place that is unlike anywhere else'

This amazing drone shot was taken by Dutch photographer Mark Cure. It shows the Dutch Pyramid of Austerlitz in Woudenberg, in the Netherlands

Photographer Michelle Wandering, from the Netherlands, snapped this aerial image of a market in Bangkok. She said: 'Nearby this market was a parking garage. We climbed almost to the top and were amazed by its beauty from above. The lesson to learn from this photo: if you're in a place to do some photography, don't just stay at the location itself. Do some research beforehand and look around the area to find unique points of view'

On the left is an aerial image, called 'Bridge Top Down', which was snapped by Russian photographer Vitaly Tyuk in the city of Vladivostok. Pictured right is the epic landscape of New Mexico in a shot by British photographer Joel Friend. He said: 'This has to be one of the highlights of my US trip. Shooting this rock with the drone was pretty epic. I had to fly it directly into the wind for three kilometres to capture this'

The overall winning image, by Dutch photographer Ewold Kooistra. It's called 'A Magic Morning in the Netherlands' and was taken at Zaanse Schans in Zaanstad. He said: 'I was waiting for a long time to capture this typical Dutch scene with low fog. And finally, on May 10, the weather forecast looked perfect: no wind and low night temperatures are the ideal ingredients for low fog. My alarm went off at 4am to drive to the Zaanse Schans. When I got there, the fog was everywhere except around the windmills. I decided to check first some other spots. After an hour I came back and wow! I had only 50 per cent battery left on my drone and took off to find a unique angle to capture this place. When I looked on my phone to see the drone view it was like a dream!' As well as earning the title of #Aerial2020 Hero, Ewold also scoops the $1,000 top prize

For more on Agora visit agoraimages.prowly.com.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deer Horn Capital Inc. (CSE:DHC) (the Company or Deer Horn), announces that its Indigenous partner Cheona Health is preparing to import COVID-19 test kits and other related equipment to Canada to help Indigenous peoples and all Canadians manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, management of Cheona Health is launching discussions with the Province of British Columbia to supply accurate, reliable and affordable COVID-19 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test kits, for which Cheona Health has exclusive access to over 1 million kits, ready for shipment, through an approved South Korean supplier. The kits are Canada Health approved and also cleared to market under the FDAs Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Under Provincial and Federal laws, management of Cheona Health has registered officially to present procurement proposals to government bodies.



Cheona Health, in which Deer Horn holds a 49% interest, was formed to help Canada and Indigenous communities achieve better health and well-being. Cheonas current focus, and urgent mission, is to work with NGOs and responsible suppliers to reduce the spread of COVID-19, while facilitating convenient and effective testing and protection for the disease. Cheona Health is led by Indigenous Elder Allen Edzerza, whose passion for improving Indigenous peoples lives, communities and environmental health is well known amongst government and Indigenous peoples.

Mr. Edzerza, who is currently leading mining reform discussions with the Government of British Columbia on behalf of the First Nations Energy and Mining Council, is a prominent Indigenous leader and spokesperson in Canada. For over 25 years, he has also served as Lead Negotiator for the Tahltan Central Council, Chief Negotiator for the Kaska Nations and held several senior positions within the Government of Canada. Mr Edzerza has served as a Premiers Special Advisor on Indigenous issues. In this capacity, Mr. Edzerza assisted the Province to foster a better working relationship with Indigenous peoples by improving communications and coordination between the two parties.

Story continues

Mr. Edzerza has worked with the Gordon Foundation to develop an IBA (Aboriginal Impact and Benefits Agreement) Community Toolkit, and he assisted in conducting workshops with Indigenous peoples on the IBA community Toolkit across Canada.

From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Edzerza served as an Advisor and Chief Negotiator for the Premier and Cabinet for the Government of the Yukon.

We see Cheonas exclusive agreement for supplying these high-quality kits as a win-win for BC and for Deer Horn, said Deer Horn President and CEO Tyrone Docherty. Cheonas intent is to bring the approved kits into Canada at fair prices that provide a tangible, long-term solution to the current crisis.

Added Docherty, Long term, we believe our partnership with Cheona Health will greatly benefit Deer Horns shareholders, both financially and in our ability to make a positive difference for Indigenous peoples and all Canadians.

About Deer Horn Capital

Through its network of partnerships, Deer Horn Capitals unique business model is to generate revenue and value through strategic partnerships, mineral discovery, project development, project generation and cooperative access to untapped mineral regions in Indigenous territory with sustainable exploration.

Our polymetallic Deer Horn Project in British Columbia anchors a diversified search for metals, working in alliance with Indigenous peoples, NGOs, governments and leading metals buyers. We believe this is the future of mineral exploration: generating revenue by exploring responsibly and leveraging diverse partnerships.

Deer Horn responsibly and ethically explores for metals in British Columbia and Yukon. Deer Horn proudly adheres to and supports the principles and rights set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and in particular the fundamental proposition of free, prior and informed consent.





On behalf of the board of directors of

Deer Horn Capital Inc.



Tyrone Docherty

Tyrone Docherty

President and CEO



For further information please contact:



Tyrone Docherty

604.789.5653

tyrone@deerhorncapital.ca





Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulations services accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking information

All statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Companys control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated event.




This is the terrifying moment a swimmer was dragged underwater by a crocodile before his friend saved him by poking the creature with a selfie stick.

Footage taken near the Kaliasot Dam in Bhopal, central India, shows the moment the croc clamped its jaw around the right thigh of 30-year-old Amit Jatav.

But his friend Gajendra Yadav came to the rescue and used a selfie stick to push the animal away.

Jatav was then given 30 stitches in the hospital after a chunk was taken out of his thigh.

Footage taken near the Kaliasot Dam in Bhopal, central India, shows the moment the croc clamped its jaw around the right thigh of 30-year-old Amit Jatav (left). But his friend Gajendra Yadav (right) came to the rescue and used a selfie stick to push the animal. The pair are pictured just before the attack

They were playing in the shallow waters of the dam and taking videos when the crocodile attacked Jatav from below and pulled him deeper into the water

Jatav, who works in a shop, said he and Yadav headed to the lake after becoming bored during lockdown.

They were playing in the shallow waters of the dam and taking videos when the crocodile attacked Jatav from below and pulled him deeper into the water.

'I could feel it biting down on my thigh. It was dragging me under. I thought this is it - I'm dead.

'Had it not been for my friend I'd have been killed for sure,' he told The Times of India from his hospital bed.

Yadav said he realised instantly that it was a crocodile attack and his actions were a reflex reaction.

Jatav was then given 30 stitches in the hospital after a chunk was taken out of his thigh (pictured are the injuries to his leg)

He says that the creature had dived around six feet under the water and was heading to the deeper part of the dam.

He then took the pole and dived after it, swimming in the same direction with his eyes closed. He then touched something scaly and realising it was the crocodile, poked the pointed end of the pole into its body.

The animal then released its grip on Jatav's leg and swam away. He then dragged his friend back to shore and called for an ambulance.

Jatav said his mother started crying when he told her what happened and that she was in shock.

The region's forest department said they will cover the expenses of the hospital treatment. They added that swimming is forbidden in the Kaliasot Dam.

This is the third crocodile attack in Bhopal in nine years. In June 2011, 17-year-old Sanjay Singh was attacked and killed by a crocodile when he was swimming with a friend.

In September 2014, a 46-year old man was attacked at the Kaliasot Dam when he was fishing.
On the morning of April 1, Dr. Priya Khanna inched her way from the bedroom to the front door, using walls, doors and railings to hold herself up long enough to get to the stretcher waiting outside. She had been battling COVID-19 for five days and was struggling to breathe.

Her mother, also COVID-positive, watched helplessly as EMTs in full personal protective equipment guided Priya into the ambulance. Priya waved to Justin Vandergaag, a childhood friend walking alongside her. "I'll see you later," he said.

Ten days earlier, a similar scene unfolded when Priya's father, Dr. Satyender Dev Khanna, was hospitalized for COVID-19.

The Khannas would soon suffer the most appalling of fates, as the two doctors from the same family encountered an illness against which they were fatally powerless.

Their story reveals the conundrum facing health care workers, who care for their patients while exposing themselves and their loved ones to risk. And it underscores how unprepared U.S. hospitals still were more than a month after news of community transmission of COVID-19 was first detected in the country.

COVID-19 has hit New Jersey hard, particularly in the north where the Khannas live. According to a database maintained by The New York Times, the state has recorded nearly 165,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 12,300 deaths.

News of the pandemic had unsettled Priya, a 43-year-old nephrologist in the town of Glen Ridge. She suffered from a rare autoimmune disorder called small-cell vasculitis, and the medication she took to treat it compromised her immune system. She knew that if she contracted COVID-19 she would become very ill.

Priya, which means "beloved" in Hindi, had decided in college to become a doctor and graduated from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in 2003. Both her sisters were also doctors. She became certified in both internal medicine and nephrology, opened her own practice and was the director of two dialysis centers.

"She navigated the world with kindness and delight," said a childhood friend, Laura Stanfill. She was "extremely selfless, a fiercely devoted friend and loyal," said another, Melissa Auriemma. She gave long bear hugs and loved Lizzo, Hello Kitty, designer purses and anyplace with a beach.

Priya's father fell ill in early March; the family is unsure how. Satyender, 78, was an immigrant from India who came to the U.S. with a medical degree and so little money that he did not know if he could afford the taxi ride to the hospital where he was to start his internship. In the 1980s, he became one of the first doctors in New Jersey to perform laparoscopic surgery, and was a trauma and general surgeon his whole career.

Five days after Satyender became sick, Priya's mother, Kamlesh, a retired pediatrician, did, too. Priya, who lived with her parents, immediately isolated herself from them. She grew worried about her own health after a patient coughed directly in her face.

On March 20, Satyender was hospitalized, and a day later was placed on a ventilator. As a courtesy to Priya's mother, the ICU physicians let her see her husband at the hospital he had worked at for more than 35 years. She suited up in her own personal protective equipment (PPE) and held his hand for a few minutes before being ushered away. It was a few weeks before what would have been their 50th anniversary.

"That was the last time she physically saw him alive," said Dr. Anisha Khanna-Sharma, Priya's younger sister and a pediatrician. "After that, we could only virtually see him on the iPad."

Priya herself was taken to Clara Maass medical center, the 427-bed facility where her father was being cared for, on April 1. Because her sister Sughanda, an ER doctor, had her own full-body protective suit, she was able to gain better access than most visitors and found a situation reminiscent of a war zone.

There wasn't enough proper PPE. Sughanda recalled intervening when the registration clerk, not wearing protective gear, leaned into Priya's face to ask her questions. Priya didn't receive a blanket or a pulse oximeter, and was not continuously connected to a patient monitor, the family said.

Sughanda and Anisha took turns FaceTiming with Priya. She was having trouble breathing, despite receiving 100% oxygen, and almost urinated on herself because she was too weak to walk to the common bathroom. She asked for a commode but never got one.

"They didn't feed her," said Anisha. "My sister didn't get a meal at the hospital for the first 2 days." Instead, Anisha and Sughanda asked a nurse they knew to deliver food to her, and raised the alarm with hospital executives.

In a statement to The Guardian, RWJBarnabas Health, which operates the hospital, said it adhered to the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the proper use of PPE.

"Providing high-quality patient care is our priority, and that has never wavered even as we continue to treat those who are suffering from the coronavirus," said spokesperson Stacie Newton. "While we do not comment on individual patients, we can assure you that all of our patients are treated with the utmost dignity and respect and any family concern is treated with attention, discretion, and privacy."

Priya was weak but still reviewed patient files and texted with her replacement physician up until she went on a ventilator. Meanwhile, her sisters tried valiantly to find treatments. They put Priya and her father on a waitlist for the COVID-19 drug remdesivir. They sought and found hundreds of matches for an experimental treatment in which blood plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 is administered to patients.

Yet there were numerous bureaucratic delays. By the time the sisters were able to administer units to Priya and Satyender, it was too late, they said. Although it remains unclear at what point in the course of the illness the unapproved therapy is most helpful, Priya's sisters are convinced their family could have benefited from earlier treatment.

"I think the doctors and nurses and staff did a phenomenal job in terms of doing what they could with what they had," Sughanda said. "Was the hospital prepared for this? Absolutely not. Did they have enough resources to treat? Absolutely not. They did not have enough of anything to cover the surge of patients that were coming through the hospital."

On April 13, Priya passed away, followed by her father on April 21.

After Priya died, Sughanda and Anisha both received packages in the mail of clothing Priya had bought for their children.

Every now and then, Auriemma, the childhood friend, rereads messages she sent Priya while she was in the hospital to cheer her up.

We gotta go to Oregon.

We gotta go out for lunch.

We gotta do our movie date.

"She was an excellent nephrologist. But it was short-lived," said Kamlesh, Priya's mother. "She touched so many lives, I can't even tell you. She was the kindest, sweetest person I ever met in the whole world. I think that's why God took her away from us. She was an angel."
Educators, parents, students and community members continue to voice outrage over the layoffs of all arts, music, and physical education (PE) teachers, along with five social workers and six K-8 guidance counselors in Randolph, Massachusetts public schools. In nearby Brookline, the district has announced that as many as 362 teachers and up to 300 paraprofessionals will receive pink slips for the coming school year. Over 36,000 workers and young people have signed a petition to save the threatened programs, and a protest was held on Wednesday.

See the WSWS earlier coverage of these districts here and here.

The state, reeling from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, is threatening to cut 10-20 percent from K-12 education for the 2020-21 budget. Boston was the site of the nations first public school in 1635 and Horace Mann, a founder of the common school movement, made the states school system a national model. The state has long been considered among the finest school systems in the world, but now finds itself imposing existential educational cuts alongside every other US state.

A high school teacher in a nearby Massachusetts school district reached out to the World Socialist Web Site to voice his support for the struggle in Randolph and Brookline. The following are all his comments, as he spoke at length on the fight in defense of public education, the mass international protests against police violence and social inequality, and his thoughts on the way forward.

Like many all over the country, my job is in jeopardy due to drastic cuts in state aid. The union is weak at my school. Basically, the administration and school committee tell the union that were getting a close haircut, and the unions only role is to help choose which hairs exactly will be lopped off.

Our union leaders take the view that the whole country is suffering, and we have to bear our share of the burden, or risk alienating the community. Theyre very proud of this role. At the very least, teachers [in my district] are facing a pay freeze [instead of 2 percent increases], multiple furlough days, and cuts of up to 50 percent for supplies and materials. Most likely, there will be layoffs in addition.

The district and state are forecasting cuts for fiscal year 2021, using a model of 10 percent. That is substantial. But even members of the school committee agree that that is an underestimation and they dont know what it will be. Right now, they are claiming with furlough days, pay freezes and cutting funding for books and resources, that they could prevent RIFs [Reductions in Force] this year. I believeand even they believethat number is going to be above 10 percent. I hear 10-20 percent. My job could definitely be eliminated.

It is also almost certain that teachers will get zero reimbursement for furthering their education. Some of these teachers have already signed up for courses over the summer with the expectation that the district would at least partially cover those costs. Thats not going to happen this year, and from what Im hearing, that will be sacrificed for years to come.

The cuts in Randolph are insane. Ive worked in Randolph before. I know the area. It will be devastating for the students who really need those programs and for their families. It is a devastating blow to a community that really cant absorb it. They have already been hard-hit.

The schools are a source of a lot of services for the community, not just education. Parents and community members rightly see the school as their common ground, something that serves them.

People see [Wall Street] assets and stocks back above the original [pre-pandemic] level, and yet theres no real significant aid to state and local budgets. Because theyve delayed help to this point, districts are forced to issue these RIFs, creating a source of tremendous anxiety. We see that mismatch; it adds to the wound. We see its not a shared burden around the country. I think people really recognize that.

I was very inspired by the strikes that began in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Los Angeles and Oakland, California, and more. At that point, it confused me that these were wildcat strikes and not pushed by the official [union] organizations. But now, based on my limited experience at my school, I am starting to understand. The unions see themselves as working with their districts. Since 2008, the unions see economic hard times and dont question that the schools would have to get hit. They dont see that the actual losses are only experienced by a certain segment of society. I dont trust that they have the teachers interests in mind.

Now we have the prediction of drastic budget reductions for next year, and there is no effort by the unions to take real action. Even communication has been sparse. They dont really want independent action by the mass of teachers, they want to control it.

What their motives are exactly, Im still learning. But one of the problems is that their contacts are too high up in the chain, not connected with what teachers, students and families are experiencing. They are more or less in lockstep, they trust the system. In other words, they trust people I dont trust.

I dont have a ton of confidence in the unions, I think we need rank-and-file committees. Teachers, however they identify politically, want to be involved in the decision-making and planning. For example, the push to open up the economy depends on schools and daycare centers reopening. The guidelines they have would indicate theyve never met a two- or three-year-old kid. The CDC guidelines are full of if feasible. This is insufficient. Id rather see a committee of teachers at my school give the okay, or not, to any plans for reopening.

We know about Randolph and Brookline because there is an arbitrary deadline in June to tell teachers in some districts if theyll have a job. But without that deadline, the news will come later, Im hearing August. Every other district is in the same boat.

I went to one of the union meetings about this. I was shocked, thinking, Is this all you can do, just explain the budget process? There was no outrage. I was disillusioned. I didnt expect wonders, but at least some indignation about what is happening more broadly. They said everyone will have to tighten their belts and well try to save personnel if we can. They would not put up any resistance to deep cuts.

The pride in our educational system is strong in Massachusetts. We have great teachers and therefore our students are strong as well. There is an expectation of high quality education and people dont want to lose it. When you have a taste of a functioning system that benefits the majority, you know what youre missing if it starts to deteriorate. There will be outrage.

Teachers know the history. Public education was a revolutionary idea and teachers take pride in the fact that this region was the cradle of public schools.

Of course, its not perfect, segregation in Boston and suburbs may be worse than in the 1960s. The inner-city schools are struggling and theres a lot more charter schools in the city. Theres a lot of inequity. Brookline is a METCO district [Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, a state-run voluntary busing program for minority students]. Black families in Boston try to get these few spots to attend a receiver school [in a better district.] They basically put their children on a wait list when they are born. Most cant get in, probably less than one percent.

Oakland teachers strike in 2019

METCO should be for everyone who is impoverished, not just minorities. One thing the World Socialist Web Site gets across is the racialization of the narrative within the media. Poverty, police violence and attacks on workers are being racialized. The discourse is about white privilege and white silence. They call for more black police officers. This has its impact even among teachers, with self-recrimination among white teachers, rather than seeing all of us as workers. I fear well-intentioned people are getting channeled into a dead-end. The WSWS is very good at highlighting these things, I read the 1619 interviews and they were excellent, summed it all up. I dont think enough people see through that type of politics.

I also want to raise a disturbing suppression of speech that seems to be directed from the local police department. This isnt limited to my district. As you probably know, an African American English teacher in Milton was suspended by the administration for the outlandish suggestion that there are racist police officers in this country.

With regard to my high school, our principal has been pushing this idea, which obviously comes from the police, that the police are our friends, and that the real threat to society is antifa and anarchists. Our principal sent out a newsletter to families in the district in our name. In my view, its purpose is not only to spread police propaganda, but also to threaten teachers who might have it in their heads to teach historical and present realities about state violence in America.

I was really troubled about the vague and nefarious reference to antifa. I am fearful about this way of talking about the uprising, which is what it is. They are attempting to smear the movement. It could be dangerous. This is far-right police culture.

David North said something very interesting [during the online meeting Revolution and Counterrevolution in America] about the supposed outside agitators. He said, What are they outside of? The planet? You cant be outside of this, its affecting everybody. Not just Donald Trump is attacking demonstrators, but also the Democratic leadership. People are coming in from the suburbs [for these demonstrations], thats good! It means all types of people are starting to understand the problems. They are forced to understand due to the growing crisis on a number of fronts.

The rhetoric about antifa, anarchism and outside agitators is building a case for violence. Its already a counterrevolution, a preemptive one. We see that physically in the streets and I see it reflected verbally in the newsletter.

The stories of teachers will continue to trickle into the consciousness of everybody in the state and across the country, especially with the WSWS on top of it. This type of news is just beginning.
California State Capitol Building View Photo

Sacramento, CA  After being forced to recess for a couple of months due to COVID-19, California lawmakers are pushing forward a bill that will allow for remote voting during emergencies.

The measure passed in the Assembly and now moves to the Senate. It would also require a 2/3 vote of the public during the November General Election, as it would amend the states Constitution.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, California lawmakers were unable to meet throughout much of March and April. Some lawmakers voiced concerns about the power the governor had to make decisions during the early weeks of the pandemic, and lawmakers were unable to provide any oversight.

The bill must be approved by June 25 in the Senate in order to move forward to the November ballot.
11.06.2020 LISTEN

The University Of Cape Coast School Of Business has organized the 3rd session of the e-seminar series on the topic Coronavirus Pandemic: Implications for Entrepreneurs and Enterprise Development.

In his introductory statement, the Dean of the University of Cape Coast School of Business, Prof. John Gatsi said before the Coronavirus Pandemic, SMEs and Entrepreneurs were facing challenges in accessing finances including trade finance from various sources to finance their creativity, ideas and businesses. He explained that Some SMEs were not in position to meet their repayment obligations to financial institutions thereby contributing to non-performing loan profile of financial institutions. Prof. Gatsi indicated that the Coronavirus Pandemic has increased the risk of access to finances by entrepreneurs and small businesses. He said  Available and affordable access to different sources of finances to incentivize entrepreneurs and enterprises to scale up their activities to create new businesses and expand existing ones have become crucial demanding innovative and sustainable funding solutions. Prof Gatsi believes

entrepreneurs can reach their ultimate entrepreneurial potentials when the right environment is created. He therefore called for reshaping of the entrepreneurial environment to avoid temptation that this is not the time to invest in innovation, new ways of doing business and research and development . He encouraged all the state holders in the entrepreneurial space to reduce their risk aversion and increase investment in innovation and create opportunities.

The Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprise Development at the School of Business, Dr ( Mrs.) Mavis Serwah Benneh- Mensah advised micro and small business owners and entrepreneurs to do what is feasible and join hands with other entrepreneurs as a strategy to overcome the difficulties imposed on them by the coronavirus pandemic

Dr. (Mrs.) Mavis Serwah Benneh-Mensah explained that, the mandate of CESED is to provide entrepreneurial training and strengthen SMEs to play a critical role in the economy. She noted that even before COVID-19 SMEs are vulnerable and needed protection in terms of finances, markets, and business development processes. She further advised small businesses to engage in cost restructuring and embrace continuous entrepreneurial education to survive and remain relevant.

Dr. Benneh - Mensah expressed the willingness of University of Cape Coast Incubator to assist entrepreneurs proving research based TIPS to survive.

On his part , Mr. Saka Addo-Mensah, who is an entrepreneur highlighted the challenges he and his colleagues in the property business are facing. He said rental properties are now empty because foreigners have lost money and cannot travel to the country as a result of closure of borders and airports coupled with social distancing protocols. He said before the coronavirus pandemic face-to face tour of the rental properties was the norm but now they have to invest in virtual tour of their properties to attract investors. He explained that he doesnt want to participate in the interventions provided to business by the government because of politicization of such schemes and difficult inherent in the procedures.

He said he is more interested in identifying opportunities provided by the COVID-19 and not overly fixated about profits but safety as he has lost about 30% of business due to the pandemic.Mr. Saka Addo- Mensah explained that the nature of his business requires that he develops a new payment schedule and delivery date and re-negotiate with various stake holders to stay safe in business.

Professor Ogo Nzewi, the Head of Department of Public Administration from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa provided policy perspective to entrepreneurship and small enterprises. She explained that globally tax reliefs, social reliefs and small business fund have been provided as intervention. However, in many cases these interventions have been slow in coming and discriminate against the very people and businesses that are in dire need of the support. She said large businesses are now competing with micro and small businesses for such supports which crowd out micro and small businesses of the access . SHS explained further that while so many businesses were dead before the pandemic all these businesses are in line competing with those that were destroyed by the pandemic and unfortunately adverse selection has taken place already.

Prof. Nzewi said the inequality in access to these interventions to especially the women who are in need could be traced from past policy structures or legacies where policy benefits are distributed based on factors such as political affiliation, what political authorities expect from groups that benefit from the intervention. She further advised businesses to seek for correct information from the right governmental and non-governmental institutions. She appealed to entrepreneurs and businesses to take TIPS from business associations and government institutions during the pandemic.

Prof Nzewi advised businesses to have more open communications and re- evaluate their capacity to adapt quickly and embrace innovation .

Mr. Nii Kpani, Deputy Director of the Sekondi - Takoradi Chamber of Commerce explained that the coronavirus pandemic is affecting demand of many businesses but indicated that those involve in poultry especially egg production are experiencing over supply because they planned their production and invested in it using demand forecasts from schools across the country to do their investment but now the schools are not in session to buy the eggs. He also explained that demand for some food items, Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) and medicines are inevitable so the demand is going up. Mr. Kpani explained that businesses that embraced virtual tools for their work are able to cope whiles those who are not able to embrace virtual tools are finding it difficult.

On the Ghc6Million government intervention for SMEs, Mr. Kpani encouraged small businesses who are facing challenges completing the forms to contact the Chamber of Commerce to support them to complete the forms. He said given the number of businesses interested in the intervention the amount is not sufficient.

He advised entrepreneurs to incorporate technology into their business processes and build financial buffers to lower liquidity risk during times of difficulties. He further asked small business and enterprise owners to focus on business sustainability through innovations, creativity and quickly adapting to new ways of doing business.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 03:21:44|Editor: huaxia

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Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (from L to R) attend a joint press conference in Lednice of the Czech Republic, June 11, 2020. The prime minister of the Visegrad Group (V4), consisting of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, on Thursday called for a "fair" distribution of the European Union (EU)'s recovery fund. (Photo by Dana Kesnerova/Xinhua)

PRAGUE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The prime minister of the Visegrad Group (V4), consisting of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, on Thursday called for a "fair" distribution of the European Union (EU)'s recovery fund.

The appeal came at a meeting among them in Lednice of the Czech Republic. The main topic of the meeting was the preparation of a common position on the future European budget and the (EU) multiannual financial framework, according to a press release from the Czech government.

The prime ministers -- the Czech Republic's Andrej Babis, Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki, Hungary's Viktor Orban and Slovakia's Igor Matovic -- agreed that an effort should be made to support the European economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We will enter into negotiations with a clear common goal -- to ensure that the next EU budget is set correctly, that it is fair and that the recovery plan after the coronavirus crisis meets the needs of our economies," Babis said.

According to the prime ministers, the pandemic hit all member states of the EU. but not every state has the ability to manage the situation fully.

"We are, of course, very keen for these funds to help all member states and get out of this crisis as soon as possible. But it will probably take a while. We have discussed these issues today -- about the fact that these additional funds should be distributed fairly, " Babis noted.

Babis reiterated that unemployment should not be a main criterion for allocating funds because these figures, if taken into account for the past several years, are irrelevant to the current economic crisis. Instead, Babis proposed using a fall in gross domestic product as a key indicator.

The Czech prime minister also recommended that member states have freedom in allocating these funds to where they best believe it will help their respective economies. Enditem
The school academic session in Kerala started on June 1, and due to COVID-19, the sessions have been online. Unable to attend the sessions as she neither had a television nor a smartphone at home, a Class 9 student in Malappuram district, in Kerala, allegedly committed suicide by setting herself on fire. A similar case was witnessed in Punjab when a 17-year-old hung herself upset over not having a smartphone to use for her online classes.

In the weeks since March 25, with the COVID-19 pandemic necessitating school closures around the country, much has been written about online education and its potential to revolutionise Indian education. The education sector has witnessed a dramatic shift during this time with homeschooling and virtual tutoring becoming buzzwords, and classes on Zoom, WhatsApp and Skype becoming the norm.

The government, too, seems to have woken up to the potential of online learning with the Ministry of Human Resource Development launching Bharat Padhe Online (India studies online) in April, in a bid to push for a shift to virtual education. Apart from promoting apps such as Diksha and e-Pathshala, work is also progressing on dissemination of lessons through radio and television.

What has been ignored in this mad rush to go digital are the needs of millions of learners from Indias poor and rural backgrounds who, having little or no access to digital technology, are getting deprived of their fundamental right to education.

Digital Divide

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

In itself, using technology to further the cause of education is a great idea, given everyone has access. In this regard, lets look at a few basics. To access a virtual classroom or lecture, you need at least two things  access to electricity and an Internet connection. In India, this access is patchy and reserved for the privileged few.

Access to 24/7 electricity is important to power devices and to connect to the Internet. According to data collected under the Saubhagya scheme, 99.9 percent of homes in India do have a power connection. However, that doesnt mean that they receive a constant supply of electricity. The reality of the access is captured better by the national survey of villages conducted under Mission Antyodaya, according to which 16 percent of Indias households receive one to eight hours of electricity daily, 33 percent receive 9-12 hours, and only 47 percent receive more than 12 hours a day.

The data on Internet access doesnt inspire much confidence either.

According to the National Sample Survey, only 27 percent of households in India have some member with access to the Internet. It has to be pointed out that access to the Internet does not necessarily mean that a household actually has Internet, as less than half of the households that have any access to the Internet own a computing device.

Access to the Internet is further determined by class, gender and location. For example, in rural households (which make up for 66 percent of the population) only 14.9 percent have access to the Internet, and only 8 percent of all households with members aged between five and 24 have both a computer and an Internet connection. Among the poorest 20 percent households, only 2.7 percent have access to a computer and 8.9 percent to Internet facilities.

The access varies across states too. For example, the proportion of households with access to a computer ranges from 4.8 percent in Andhra Pradesh to 14.3 percent in Maharashtra.

This lack of basic infrastructure means the scope of virtual schooling as things stand today, remains non-existent. This then is the sobering reality of our online education dream.

Access to the Internet impacts everyone, but the penalty low-income students bear for it goes beyond just learning. Situations such as a disaster or a crisis usually witness an increase in school dropouts, and there is therefore a real fear among experts that the longer schools remain closed in India, the greater the chances that students, especially girls, will be made to drop out of schools.

Girls are likely to bear a disproportionate cost of this access, since lack of access and forced dropout from schools also increases their chances of an early marriage, violence and loss of reproductive and sexual rights.

Not being in school also means no midday meal, no weekly iron and folic acid supplementation, no sanitary napkin distribution and no immunisation  things that students from poor socio-economic backgrounds depend upon from schools, beyond education.

Real vs Remote School

In the rush to go digital, we have also circumvented discussion on an aspect that affects every school-going child in India: teaching. As we have all come to see in the last few months, schooling may have gone online, but the jury is still out on the quality of teaching. The fanciest bells and whistles can't replace good teaching, and thats just the unadorned truth.

Students dont just require an instructor, they require a real, tangible person for mentorship and guidance. They go to school not just to study, but to also learn valuable interpersonal and social skills  things that cannot be taught sitting in front of a screen in isolation.

Virtual tutorials and Skype lectures may be in vogue right now in absence of viable alternatives, but they barely scratch the surface of duplicating the experience of a real classroom environment.

In any country, school isnt just a physical place, but a place of discovery, socialisation, care and community. Online education may have the scope of becoming an equaliser someday, but as things stand today, it cannot be a replacement for the traditional classroom.

Instead of pushing for virtual classrooms, governments should instead focus on getting all students back to schools - so that learning can continue unabated.
Dublin, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Saudi Arabia Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020 - 2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The market in Saudi Arabia was valued at USD 342.0 million in 2019, and it is projected to reach USD 402.5 million by 2025, at a CAGR of 2.7% during the forecast period. The drivers identified in this market are growing government support to the sector, rapid increase in demand, and increasing sale of fish via social network platforms. The restraints identified in this market are extreme meteorological and hydrological conditions, fishing bans in the country, and decline in employment by the fisheries sector.



Key Market Trends



Unprocessed Fresh/Chilled Fish Dominate the Market



The aquaculture market in Saudi Arabia is in the nascent stage of development, as compared to other Middle Eastern countries. In 2019, the fresh/chilled unprocessed fish segment in Saudi Arabia was estimated at USD 151.8 million and happens to be the largest segment by type. The segment is projected to reach USD 177.1 million by 2025, with a CAGR of 2.6% during the forecast period.



Processed Fish Segment is likely to Witness Significant Growth



Saudi Arabia is mostly dependent on the developing countries in South and Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa, toward meeting its domestic demand for fish and fish products. Processed shrimps, lobsters, caviars, and cuttlefish are mainly imported from Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, and Argentina. According to the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences, as most of the seafood in the Kingdom is imported from other countries, their prices are usually high. In 2019, the market for processed fish in Saudi Arabia was estimated at USD 80.8 million, and it is projected to reach USD 101.1 million by 2025, with a CAGR of 3.8% during the forecast period.



Key Topics Covered:



1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Study Assumptions & Market Definition

1.2 Scope of the Study



2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY



3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



4 MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Market Drivers

4.3 Market Restraints

4.4 Market Demand Analysis

4.5 PESTLE ANALYSIS



5 MARKET SEGMENTATION

5.1 Type

5.1.1 Unprocessed

5.1.1.1 Fresh, Chilled

5.1.1.1.1 Market Size (USD million)

5.1.1.1.2 Domestic Production Overview

5.1.1.1.3 Domestic Consumption Overview

5.1.1.1.4 Import Value and Volume

5.1.1.1.5 Export Value and Volume

5.1.1.2 Frozen

5.1.1.2.1 Market Size (USD million)

5.1.1.2.2 Domestic Production Overview

5.1.1.2.3 Domestic Consumption Overview

5.1.1.2.4 Import Value and Volume

5.1.1.2.5 Export Value and Volume

5.1.2 Processed

5.1.2.1 Market Size (USD million)

5.1.2.2 Domestic Production Overview

5.1.2.3 Domestic Consumption Overview

5.1.2.4 Import Value and Volume

5.1.2.5 Export Value and Volume



6 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kky4l2

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(Newser)  Democrats and black activists are saying Georgia's botched primary election was no mistakeit was by design, and someone needs to pay. "There's always some sneaky trick that's played," Democratic activist Bobby Fuse, 68, tells CNN. "This time, they had a whole bunch of sneaky tricks." Problems, no question: long lines, confused workers, defective voting machines, too few provisional ballots, and mail-in ballots that arrived late or not at all, forcing more people to line up. Now Democrats and Republicans are blaming each other as election experts say their worst fears came true about using new equipment amid the coronavirus. Among the reactions:



Not my fault: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said the voting "in certain precincts in Fulton and DeKalb counties is unacceptable" and his office has "opened an investigation," per NBC News. He also blamed county officials, saying "every other county faced these same issues and were significantly better prepared to respond so that voters had every opportunity to vote."

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'Indifference' : But ABC News reports that Stacey Abrams, the state's Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2018, says Raffensperger "showed a deliberate indifference to the needs of Georgia voters" and failed to "train people adequately" in using new machinery.

: But ABC News reports that Stacey Abrams, the state's Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2018, says Raffensperger "showed a deliberate indifference to the needs of Georgia voters" and failed to "train people adequately" in using new machinery. Just 2 counties? Guy Cecil, a liberal activist, adds that it wasn't just two counties. "There were 20 counties that had to extend their voting hours," he tells CBS Atlanta. He calls it "a systemic problem" that "either comes from an intentional desire to suppress the vote, or it comes from incompetence, or some awful combination of the two."

Guy Cecil, a liberal activist, adds that it wasn't just two counties. "There were 20 counties that had to extend their voting hours," he tells CBS Atlanta. He calls it "a systemic problem" that "either comes from an intentional desire to suppress the vote, or it comes from incompetence, or some awful combination of the two." Clinton's tweet : With longer lines in black neighborhoods, some Democrats dismissed the notion of mere incompetence. "What happened in Georgia yesterday was by design," tweets Hillary Clinton. "Voter suppression is a threat to our democracy."

: With longer lines in black neighborhoods, some Democrats dismissed the notion of mere incompetence. "What happened in Georgia yesterday was by design," tweets Hillary Clinton. "Voter suppression is a threat to our democracy." Perfect storm : But election experts have been warning for months that new voting machines and an electronic voter check-in system could screw up Georgia's primary election, the New York Times notes. Not to mention that experienced poll workers, who are often older, sat out the election to avoid the coronavirus.

: But election experts have been warning for months that new voting machines and an electronic voter check-in system could screw up Georgia's primary election, the New York Times notes. Not to mention that experienced poll workers, who are often older, sat out the election to avoid the coronavirus. Long story : Forbes touches on Georgia's "messy" history of voter disenfranchisement, including allegations that now-Gov. Brian Kemp won the 2018 election by nefarious means. "As a black person I was actually sad," Black Voters Matter co-founder La Tosha Brown tells the Times. "I was thinking to myself, 'How long do we have to be going through this?'"

: Forbes touches on Georgia's "messy" history of voter disenfranchisement, including allegations that now-Gov. Brian Kemp won the 2018 election by nefarious means. "As a black person I was actually sad," Black Voters Matter co-founder La Tosha Brown tells the Times. "I was thinking to myself, 'How long do we have to be going through this?'" 'Alarm bells' : What does it mean for the November election? David Daley writes in the Guardian that "we are in deep, deep trouble and seemingly completely unprepared for this November's elections. The alarm bells keep ringingfirst in Ohio and Wisconsin, then in Pennsylvania and now Georgia. Yet we hurtle heedlessly toward chaos."

: What does it mean for the November election? David Daley writes in the Guardian that "we are in deep, deep trouble and seemingly completely unprepared for this November's elections. The alarm bells keep ringingfirst in Ohio and Wisconsin, then in Pennsylvania and now Georgia. Yet we hurtle heedlessly toward chaos." 'Record turnout': But Jordan Fuchs, a top Georgia election official, tells ABC News the election was "successful" for having a "massive amount of turnout in the middle of a pandemic." Indeed, over a million voters cast absentee ballots, and Abrams tells the Times that "we have record turnout. People want to be heard."

(Read more election stories.)
An employee of Transport for London sprays Zoono-71 surface sanitizer during a deep clean operation of a train used on the Victoria Line of London Underground network.

Brexit is back on the agenda in the U.K. as the country starts to emerge from a three-month coronavirus lockdown.

Trade talks with the EU have made little to no progress in recent months and there are growing fears that the U.K. could be heading back toward a "no-deal" scenario at the end of the year, compounding the economic uncertainty posed by the coronavirus crisis.

Fundamental differences remain between the EU and the U.K. over fishing rights and the so-called "level playing field" ensuring fair competition between the two sides, on matters like taxation and rules on state aid, for example. Progress also needs to be made on checks on goods entering Northern Ireland (whose border with the Republic of Ireland is porous, and will be the only land border between the U.K. and EU) from Britain.

On Wednesday, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier re-emphasized the EU's often-repeated position that it won't allow Britain to "cherry-pick" the advantageous elements of EU membership that it would like to retain when the transition period ends.

"Britain is demanding a lot more from the EU than Canada, Japan or other partners," he said Wednesday, Sky News reported. Speaking to a forum in Brussels, Barnier added that, "in many areas it is looking to maintain the benefits of being a member state without the constraints," Reuters said. "It is looking to pick and choose the most attractive elements of the (EU) single market without the obligations."

The U.K. government has insisted it won't extend the transition period beyond 2020 and has insisted it wants to strike a deal before that time. Despite the assurances, business groups are worried about the limited time left to strike a deal, and what a no-deal Brexit could mean on top of the unprecedented economic hit expected from the coronavirus crisis.

On Thursday, the outgoing head of the U.K. industry body, the CBI, told the BBC that businesses have no space, or resources, to cope with a potential no-deal departure from the EU customs union and single market (membership of which guarantees standards and tariff-free trade) at the end of the year.

"The resilience of British business is absolutely on the floor," Carolyn Fairbairn told the broadcaster. "Every penny of cash that had been stored up, all the stockpiles prepared have been run down."

"The firms that I speak to have not a spare moment to plan for a no-trade deal Brexit at the end of the year  that is the common sense voice that needs to find its way into these negotiations."
Two Midland restaurants have temporarily closed their doors because of exposure to the coronavirus, both announced Wednesday afternoon on their Facebook pages.

Pi's Asian Express, 5015 Eastman Ave., and Genji Midland, 2929 S Saginaw Road, both owned by the Pi restaurant chain, said they were closed "due to exposure of COVID-19" and hoped to reopen June 20, "if we are 100% certain of all staff members and customers safety."

The restaurants posted similar messages on their Facebook pages.

"We have been taking diligent measures in accordance with local, state, and federal guidelines to ensure the safety and health of our employees and customers," the Asian Express statement reads.

"Therefore, all of our staff have had access to appropriate and immediate testing.

"Additionally, during this time, sanitizing and disinfecting the entire restaurant will be prioritized and we will be working closely with the Midland County Health Department."

Midland County Public Health Director/Health Officer Fred Yanoski lauded the restaurants for shutting down their operations.

"I applaud anyone who is proactive to mitigate the disease," he said. "The health department did not close any facilities. Anyone who closed did so voluntarily."

He said if there was any threat to the public health on any coronavirus case in Midland County, the health department would announce that.

Any business with a COVID-19 positive employee is supposed to report it to the local health department, he said. Some businesses have employees who live outside of Midland County; the local health department is aware of Midland County residents who test positive.

Yanoski encourages people to eat out at restaurants but advises continued social distancing, mask wearing and washing of hands.

"Most cases are transmitted from person to person by respiratory droplets," he said. "Restaurants or takeouts have not proven to be high risk."

Midland County has recorded 16 new confirmed coronavirus cases in three days after going an eight-day stretch with only one new case.

Five of those positive cases are from the Dow Diamond drive-through mass testing event conducted May 30-31 in Midland, Yanoski said. The other 11 are mostly part of a cluster of infections associated with each other that the health department is currently investigating, he added.

A vast majority of the 2,435 tests administered at the Dow DIamond event are in, he said, and letters are being sent out to those who tested negative.

"We can't let our guard down," Yanoski said. "We still have disease in the community."
People queue up outside a Centrelink office for government payments in Melbourne on April 20, 2020. (William West/AFP via Getty Images )

Scott Morrison Apologises for Robo-Debt

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has apologised for his governments controversial robo-debt scheme, saying he deeply regrets any hardship caused by the unlawful program.

I would apologise for any hurt or harm in the way that the government has dealt with that issue, he told parliament on Thursday.

Of course, I would deeply regretdeeply regretany hardship that has been caused to people in the conduct of that activity.

The government is paying back $721 million to 373,000 people chased for debts through the unlawful program.

The scrapped scheme matched Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink data to claw back overpaid welfare payments.

It is now the subject of a class action challenge.

Mathias Cormann, the governments leader in the Senate, backed Morrisons apology.

That is appropriate for the prime minister to do, he told the upper house.

Senator Cormann said the prime minister spoke for the government, but stopped short of apologising in response to three questions from Labors Senate leader Penny Wong.

Of course, it should not have happened in a way that was unlawful, he said.

Labors government services spokesman Bill Shorten said the robo-debt scheme caused psychological trauma to the thousands of people issued debt notices.

This was a very arbitrary exercise in crude and thuggish standover fundraising by the government on the most vulnerable Australians, he told parliament.

What we need to recognise here is this is a scandal and the greatest shame of all is we dont know how much its going to cost taxpayers.

Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said government debt collection programs would restart eventually.

We will do it sensibly, we will do it engaging all people and we will do it in a very transparent manner, he told parliament.

Robert said about 939,000 Australians owed the government a collective debt of more than $5 billion.

Government ministers have previously refused to apologise.

By Daniel McCulloch, Matt Coughlan and Finbar OMallon
MILAN (Reuters) - France's Orange <ORAN.PA> is close to signing a contract to use Open Fiber's network in Italy to provide business broadband, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Open Fiber is a broadband operator owned by Italian utility Enel <ENEI.MI> and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Orange, which has a division serving business clients in Italy, and wholesale-only operator Open Fiber were finalising the commercial contract.

Orange and Open Fiber had no comment.

As the coronavirus emergency underlines the importance of fast connections for businesses, sources familiar with the matter said last week French mobile operator Iliad <ILD.PA> was in final talks with Open Fiber over a deal to offer fixed-line data services in Italy.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes and Elvira Pollina in MILAN; additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain in PARIS; editing by Barbara Lewis)
Health Minister Arsen Torosian insisted on Thursday that the Armenian health authorities are still able to cope with the continuing spread of the coronavirus after they reported the deaths of 23 more people infected with the disease.

The authorities said that 18 of those deaths were primarily caused by the coronavirus. They were added to the official death toll from the COVID-19 epidemic which rose to 245.

According to the Armenian Ministry of Health, 82 other infected people have died as a result of other, pre-existing diseases. Five of these fatalities were recorded on Wednesday.

The ministry also said that 566 people tested positive for the virus in the past day, raising to 14.669 the total number of confirmed cases in the country of about 3 million. It reported lower daily numbers of new infections earlier this week.

Torosian downplayed this increase, arguing that the health authorities conducted more coronavirus tests on Wednesday.

The percentage of positive test results remains approximately the same: 25 percent, compared with 24 percent registered the previous day, he said during a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.

Torosian also stressed that only 32 of the newly infected patients require hospitalization and that they all will receive adequate medical aid. More importantly, he said that there are still vacant intensive-care beds at Armenian hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

My overall assessment is that the situation remains tense but  this tension is offset by an increase in our [hospital] capacity and our treatment skills, he told Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and fellow cabinet members.

The health minister warned on June 4 that Armenias healthcare system is now so overstretched that hospitals may soon be unable to admit all infected citizens in need of urgent treatment. Pashinian said two days later that about 200 patients are waiting for their turn for hospitalization because of a lack of hospital beds.

The Ministry of Health announced afterwards that several more hospitals are now preparing to join the fight against the epidemic. It said they will make a total of about 350 new hospital beds available for coronavirus patients.

As well as insisting that the coronavirus crisis in the country remains under control, Torosian stressed the importance of toughening the enforcement of anti-epidemic rules set by the Armenian government.

Pashinian agreed but cautioned that punitive measures alone cannot force all Armenians to practice social distancing, wear face masks in all public areas and frequently wash their hands. The government will therefore continue its coronavirus-related dialogue with the public, he said.

I continue to believe that administrative measures can work if actions punishable by such measures are taken by 10 percent or at most 20 percent of the population, said the premier. But if such actions exceed 20 percent, 30 percent or 40 percent there is no administrative body in the world that can keep the situation under control with such methods.

Pashinian made a similar argument on June 6 when he spoke out against re-imposing a nationwide lockdown. He claimed that Armenians would not comply with renewed restrictions on their movements.

The government issued stay-at-home orders and shut down most nonessential businesses in late March following the first coronavirus outbreaks in Armenia. It began easing those restrictions already in mid-April and lifted virtually all of them by the beginning of May.

The number of coronavirus case has increased sharply since then, fuelling growing calls for a fresh lockdown. Critics of the government say that it never properly enforced the March-April lockdown and ended it too soon.
Wholly-owned subsididary CannaCure Sciences releases new essential oil blend with antibacterial and antiviral properties

SHERDAN, WY / ACCESSWIRE / June 3, 2020 / Imperalis Holding Corp. (OTC PINK:IMHC), a premium cannabinoid wellness company, is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary CannaCure Sciences has launched a new product in light of the current situation and the growing demand to protect ourselves and those around us from viruses.

Antiviral Guard Essential Oil Blend is a proprietary blend of Tea Tree oil, Eucalyptus oil, Cinnamon oil, and Lemongrass oil. Each one of these pure essential oils contains anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties and when combined acts as an essential oil antiviral blend that can be used in a cool mister also known as a diffuser.

Viruses tend to begin in the nose and then move to the throat before they start attacking the whole body. Essential oils are known to be natural anti-viral agents and by using them in a vaporizer with hydrogen peroxide and water, they can help coat the nose and fight viruses. These oils have also been shown to positively support our immune system by, enhancing its ability to ward off infecting microbes.

According to a study, a number of essential oils have been shown to have anti-viral activity, and these essential oils are rich in a class of molecules called monoterpines'. They are effective in inactivating enveloped viruses. (1) The virus which causes the flu each year is an enveloped virus.

While tea tree oil is known mostly for its antibacterial action, research in the medical journal Molecules discovered in a laboratory setting, these essential oils also prevents influenza viruses from entering test cells, which could reduce the likelihood of getting sick. Cinnamon essential oil has also been found to be effective against multiple virus strains. A study published in the medical journal MicrobiologyOpen, found that cinnamon essential oil was effective against flu viruses when combined with eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils. (2)

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"This is a time of great unease that has currently surrounded our health and wellness as a whole. The current pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time. Many of us are now more vigilant than ever about our health. It is the company's desire to provide consumers with an added line of defense for home or office spaces that may help them fight off viruses, including the flu. This is in no way a cure to the coronavirus. According to the CDC, there is no specific antiviral treatment recommended at this time. Numerous scientific studies however have shown that essential oils can be effective antiviral agents," commented Vincent Andreula, CEO Imperalis Holding Corp.

"For years aromatherapy and essential oils have yielded some promising results when it comes to fighting viruses and bacteria. Furthermore these oils have shown to be effective for multiple health and wellness problems, as well as emotional distress disorders" Andreula added.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate essential oils or their use, therefore the company's new product has not been FDA approved.

About Imperalis Holding Corp.

Imperalis Holding Corp. (the "Company") is a cannabinoid wellness company, born in the great state of New Hampshire. The company has a wholly-owned subsidiary called CannaCure Sciences that believes that everyone has the right to pure, natural skin and hair care products; free of harsh chemicals and preservatives. CannaCure Sciences CBD is a full-spectrum hemp extract rich in cannabinoids to promote wellness from the inside out. Our CBD is completely THC free and is legal in all 50 states. Our products are crafted by hand, using only natural ingredients like coconut oil, hemp oil, black seed oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter. Considering that the average person uses 6-12 products with over 168 different chemicals in them every morning, the company has made it their mission to provide you with alternative products to help you cut down on the amounts of potentially harmful substances entering your body on a daily basis. For more information, please visit our website: https://cannacuresciences.com/

You can view this and all of our products on our site https://cannacuresciences.com/

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned that all forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any assumption could be inaccurate and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion should not be regarded as a representation by the Company or any other person that the objectives and plans of the Company will be achieved.

Contact:

Investor Relations

888-662-8444

info@cannacuresciences.com

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19653195

2. https://www.alive.com/health/the-top-9-antiviral-essential-oils/

SOURCE: Imperalis Holding Corp.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/591468/Imperalis-Holding-Corp-IMHC-Launches-New-Antiviral-Guard-Essential-Oil-Blend-to-Help-Fight-Off-Viral-Infections




When might there be a vaccine? Should I move to avoid a second wave of infections? Will I get another job? Americans anxious from the upheaval caused by the coronavirus crisis are turning to astrologers for answers about an uncertain future.

Stargazers and tarot card readers in the United States are reporting an uptick in business due to COVID-19 as people seek advice and comfort for their disrupted lives amid sometimes chaotic messaging from leaders.

Michele Bell, 54, hired New York City-based astrologer Jenny Lynch after the virus killed her mother in April.

Bell had spent seven years caring for her mom and was now at a loss about what to do with her life. "I was caught in a very toxic energetic field," Bell told AFP.

After studying Bell's chart based on her date, time and location of birth, Lynch told her her horoscope suggested 2021 would be a good time to fulfil her dream of living abroad. "She really gave me some new personal growth to navigate to," said Bell.

Almost 30 percent of Americans believe that the movement of stars and planets impacts human lives, a 2017 Pew Research Center poll found.

Americans spent $2.2 billion on "psychic services" in 2018, according to market research firm IBISWorld.

As US residents started to grapple with the new world of social distancing and political leaders sent contradictory signals amid an unprecedented, fast-changing situation, traffic to some astrology sites increased slightly, according to media analytics company Comscore.

Visits to Astro.com, Cafe Astrology and Astrology Zone were up in March, when America's epidemic broke out, compared to February, Comscore said.

Lynch, 70, quickly picked up ten new clients after New York went into lockdown on March 22. "Some are out of work and want to know what to expect. Some of them want to start their own business. And a lot of people want to leave cities right now.

"Everybody is in a state of transition," she told AFP.

Lynch -- a practitioner of astrology for half a century -- has clients from across the world, including Spain and Saudi Arabia.

'Resurgence'

She charges $150 for a one-hour reading on Zoom, Skype or WhatsApp, but prefers the old normal when she could sit with clients in person, both of them looking at her computer.

"In person is better because I can show the movements of the planets on the screen. They see that it's mathematical and I'm not just making it up," said Lynch.

Anne Ortelee, another prominent NYC astrologer, estimates that her billings have risen 25 percent since the virus crisis erupted.

She says people are asking themselves whether they trust their political leaders. "Are they leading you into something happy or are they trying to kill you by injecting yourself with Clorox?" Ortelee said, referring to President Donald Trump's infamous suggestion that injecting disinfectant may help kill the virus.

She says stargazers knew a major disaster was coming this year because Pluto and Saturn came together in Capricorn in January. The arrival of Jupiter later in the year spells further volatility.

"All these planets meeting in the same part of the sky is very rare," Ortelee told AFP, before sounding an ominous warning.

"There's going to be a resurgence of the virus. It's going to make everything we've had now look like kindergarten," she said.

The 65-year-old says families would be wise to stock up on 120 days of food, even though politicians consistently warn against panic buying.

She predicts it could be two years before a vaccine is found. With pharmaceutical companies working flat out, the US government has said it is possible by the end of this year.

Psychic Derek Calibre foresees a global recession "much deeper" than that of 2008, which major economists also predict. But his tarot cards also offer wilder predictions.

"Now that everyone has had a taste of incarceration, I see prison reform, with more efforts toward rehabilitation programs.

"The handshake will go for a number of years but come back later like a fashion trend," he told AFP.
Firefighters gather to prepare for disinfection works at the Wuhan Railway Station in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 24, 2020. (Photo by He Hanqiu/Xinhua)

Chinese doctors and scientists have pointed out the many flaws of a Harvard Medical School study that used satellite images of hospital parking lots in Wuhan to conclude that the coronavirus may have emerged as early as autumn last year. They believe the flawed paper, which has not even been peer reviewed, is yet another poorly organized attempt of the US to throw mud at China's hard-won battle against the virus.

They rebuked the points of the paper, saying they didn't experience a surge of cars parked in the hospital parking lot or patients with COVID-19 symptoms in Wuhan last autumn as the paper claims. Chinese experts also said the satellite images, which support the whole paper, was deliberately taken from different angles to highlight the sharp contrasts.

The fact that such a preposterous paper was published by the world-renowned Harvard University has stunned the Chinese public, with many netizens and experts saying the university's kowtowing to the US political conspiracy against China is a destruction of its time-honored fame in China and will obscure its reputation among Chinese students.

Solid evidence against baseless claim

Researchers from Harvard and Boston universities came to the conclusion after analyzing satellite images of hospital parking lots in Wuhan, and queries in China's Baidu search engine about symptoms such as coughing and diarrhea.

"We observe an upward trend in hospital traffic and search volume beginning in late summer and early fall 2019," Elaine Okanyene Nsoesie, together with John Samuel Brownstein, professor of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School and several other researchers, wrote in a paper released online but was not peer-reviewed.

The Harvard scientists extracted data for Wuhan hospital parking volumes between January 2018 and April 2020 and found a steep increase in traffic that began in August 2019 and peaked in December.

Three doctors from Wuhan's Zhongnan Hospital and Wuhan Tongji Hospital, which were cited in the Harvard paper, all rejected the paper's claim that they received more patients with fever or diarrhea symptoms than usual last autumn.

"This is totally inconsistent with the facts. If what the paper said was true, that the virus was circulating earlier, the outbreak would also have emerged earlier given the virus' highly contagious nature," Peng Zhiyong, the director of the intensive care unit of the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, told the Global Times.

Those doctors also denied there had been a sudden surge in traffic around the hospitals.

The study also posted a picture of traffic conditions at the Hubei Maternal and Child hospital, where an area in front of the main building that appeared empty in 2018 was filled with vehicles in autumn 2019.

A source familiar with the area told the Global Times that the hospital in question, which was captured by satellite image filled with cars but empty in 2018, had been undergoing construction since 2019 to expand its parking area.

An employee from the hospital confirmed with the Global Times that the spot shown on the satellite map is a parking lot, and had just finished construction recently.

Photo: Screenshots from US media reports

Comparing those satellite images, the number difference in the 2018 and 2019 pictures is only a few hundred. Chinese netizens questioned if a difference of a few hundred vehicles meant anything in a city with 10 million residents.

Wuhan authorities said the number of motor vehicles in the city was 3.2 million as of March 2019, an increase of 278,000 compared to that in 2018.

Analyzing satellite pictures taken in 2018 and 2019, satellite experts told the Global Times that some of those pictures were not taken from the same angle. Take the ones taken at Zhongnan Hospital as an example. Fewer vehicles can be seen on the 2018 photo because it was obviously taken from an angle of inclination. Thus, many cars were blocked by buildings and couldn't be seen in this picture, while the 2019 picture was taken from a vertical angle, which gives viewers a clearer view of vehicles.

Photo: Screenshots from US media reports

An anonymous expert told the Global Times that the satellite picture was taken by RS Metrics, who used a satellite system which transits China around 10am, while a 2018 picture of Wuhan's Tongji Hospital suggest it was taken by Worldview-1 satellite, whose transit time is around 1pm.

Comparing satellite images of traffic taken at different time is below par, as the number of patients in the morning obviously outnumber that in the afternoon, the expert said.

As for searches for coughing and diarrhea on Baidu, a Global Times reporter logged into Baidu's search tracing system and found no obvious changes in searches of those keywords compared with the same period in the last two years.

Tracing back the search of "cough" and "diarrhea" in the Baidu system dating back to June 2017, there was a steeper upward curve of searches of those two words in September to November 2017 and 2018 than the same period in 2019. However, the Harvard paper used only 2019 data and then jumped to the conclusion that the upward curve in autumn 2019 meant more people were contracted with the virus.

Photo: Screenshot from Baidu

Brownstein did not reply to the Global Times as of press time.

Mounting accusations

But as soon as the Harvard paper was published, it was used as ammunition by certain Western politicians, such as US President Donald Trump, to attack China. Soon, his son, Donald Trump Jr., and Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, a key anti-government figure in Hong Kong and founder of Apple Daily, weighed in as well.

Ironically, Western media, including ABC, CNN and BBC, have been giving wide coverage of the paper without mentioning the obvious flaws.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying dismissed the findings when asked to comment at a daily press briefing on Tuesday. "To derive these conclusions from phenomena such as road vehicle traffic . . . is preposterous," she noted.

A medical worker with the Hanyang district center of disease control takes a throat swab sample for a COVID-19 nucleic acid test from a construction worker on Thursday in Wuhan, Central Chinas Hubei Province. The tests will enhance public health security as the city resumes production. Photo: cnsphoto

After it was published, it was snubbed by academicians as not solid and cannot stand scrutiny.

Keith Neal, emeritus professor of the epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Nottingham, pointed out to the Reuters that one of the two hospitals in the study was the Children's hospital of Wuhan. But relatively few children have been hospitalized with COVID-19. "The comment that children's hospitals were affected  suggests this probably was not COVID-19," he said.

"The paper is a far cry and based on a lot of speculation and guessing," Bjorn Nashan, a former president of the German Organ Transplantation Society, told the Global Times, adding that those papers are published at a special time to attract attention. "It's coronavirus time, it's Harvard and the normal review process does not exist. So, a lot of ridiculous stuff was published."

"From this, we can see that US politicians and certain academicians are so short of materials to attack China with, they even used this unverified and cheesy fake paper to throw mud at China," Peng said.

Public discontent simmered over the publication, with many China's net users accusing Harvard of damaging its time-honored reputation. One net user said: "Since when have satellite pictures of vehicles and search results can be used to support for studies about viruses? I guess now we can count on the day when we consult on search engines to cure diseases for us."

"How could such a top-notch university downgrade itself and fall into the US politicians' finger-pointing game? It actually shows that everything in the US, from politicians to academicians, are engaged in this blame game."
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has said about 80 per cent of cases are being managed outside the isolation centres designated for treatment.

The National Coordinator of the PTF, Sani Aliyu, while speaking at the daily PTF briefing on Thursday said this is due to lack of adequate bed spaces in isolation centres across Nigeria.

I know about 80 per cent of those that are positive in the country are currently being managed outside isolation facilities.

The availability of beds varies across states. Some states have a lot of capacity in terms of beds. I know Kano, Lagos have run out of beds,  he said.

The federal government had earlier hinted that the country lacks adequate bed spaces to accommodate COVID-19 patients in isolation centres across states.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the country was considering home-care treatment for COVID-19 patients.

To further free up isolation centres, the government said it may consider discharging COVID-19 patients earlier than their required treatment and isolation period, even though they are still positive.

READ ALSO:

It also said schools and hotels may be used as isolation centres for COVID-19 patients if the need arises

As of June 10, a total of 13,873 COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in Nigeria. Although 4,351 persons have been successfully treated and discharged,382 deaths have been recorded.

Testing

Meanwhile, at the briefing, Mr Ihekweazu said GeneXpert machines would be used to test for COVID-19 cases beginning from June 14.

We are ready to do that GeneXpert labs in locations and will start functioning on June 14.

We have been working hard over the last two weeks to distribute the cartridges to the first seven centres to train them to make sure they are ready and on the 14th they will start testing, he said.

He however decried the poor turnout of test samples from all states in the country.

He noted that although the available laboratories could test up to 10,000 samples per day, they were only working at about 10 to 20 percent of their capacity.

Our labs are working at 10 to 20 percent capacity, we can test about 10,000 samples per day probably more if we had pushed hard.

The labs are there, the samples are not coming in as sufficiently as we want. We have this weekend for every state to push harder, he said.

Increasing cases

On rising COVID-19 cases, Mr Ihekweazu said the development was not unusual but expected, due to the eased restriction of movement in parts of the country.

As we have eased the restriction that we have instituted across the country, we have expected the numbers to increase. We have announced it several times to expect an increase in numbers. So, this increase in numbers is not unusual.

As we increase testing and relax the lockdown, this is a virus that goes from one individual to the other, therefore, it is most likely that we will see an increase in numbers. Whether that increase continues or not depends on our collective action.

Sometimes, these numbers are necessary to remind us of the reality,  he said.
ALPENA COUNTY, MI  Michigan State Police have identified a 16-year-old who was killed in a rollover crash in Alpena County.

Caliber Kowalski of Alpena was killed when he lost control of his vehicle as it traveled through a series of small hills on Taylor Hawks Road near Rogers Road in Wilson Township at approximately 3:43 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9.

Kowalski, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash remains under investigation and speed is believed to be a factor. Anyone that may have witnessed the crash is asked to call the MSP Alpena Post at 989-354-4101.

Troopers and deputies were assisted by the Michigan DNR, Green Township officials and the Alpena Fire Department.
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The settlement of the dispute between Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) over promoter shareholding limit has put the spotlight on such large shareholders of other private lenders. The central bank and Kotak Mahnidra Bank called a truce in January and promoter Udak Kotak recently sold part of his stake in a bulk share deal to comply with RBI rules.

Top of the list are the Hindujas, the promoters of IndusInd Bank, who have made no secret their desire to raise their stake beyond the permitted 15 percent limit in the bank.

In an interview to the Economic Times in March, Ashok Hinduja, Chairman of the Hinduja Group of companies, said given that KMB got special dispensation, it makes sense for the promoters of IndusInd Bank to approach the RBI for permission to increase stake in the bank to 26 percent from 15 percent.

When I saw that KMB has got a dispensation, we also thought of writing to them. Why not give us that dispensation as well? Lets see how they respond, Hinduja was quoted as saying.

But RBI is apparently not in favour of permitting the Hindujas to increase their stake in IndusInd Bank. The promoters made a case to increase the holding but it will cut no ice with the RBI, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The view is that this request wont be allowed, said the person, requesting anonymity. RBIs view could change in future if the regulator feels that the banks promoters have a compelling case.

RBIs rules on promoter holding in private banks have changed from time to time. IndusInd Bank secured a banking licence in 1994 and KMB got one a decade later.

The new bank licensing norms in 1993 didnt specify rules on promoter holding separately. Promoters must have a minimum paid-up capital of 40 percent and this will be locked in for a period of five years, according to the rules issued that year.

In 2013, when the RBI issued another round of private bank licensing guidelines, the regulator stipulated a Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC) model. The RBI said a NOFHC shall initially hold a minimum of 40 percent of the paid-up voting equity capital of a bank which shall be locked in for five years and brought down to 15 percent within 12 years.

The rules were changed three years later. In August 2016, when fresh guidelines on universal on-tap licensing were issued, RBI insisted that promoter shareholding had to be cut down to 40 percent within five years of operations, 30 percent within 10 years and 15 percent within 15 years of receiving the licence.

The rationale behind RBIs rule on promoter holding is that it wants promoters to keep an arms length from banking institutions, which are essentially guardians of public money.









According to the RBI norms, Kotak had to pare promoter stake below 20 percent before December 31, 2018 from around 30 percent. In August 2018, the bank announced the completion of perpetual noncumulative preference share issue (PNCPS), which it interpreted as cutting the promoter stake to 19.7 percent.



The bank claimed it is complying with the RBI licencing norms through this deal but RBI didnt buy it. The regulator said preference share allotment route wasnt sufficient to meet promoter dilution rule requirement. But the banks legal argument was PNCPS was part of the paid-up capital. With the impasse continuing and deadline for stake dilution fast approaching, KMB finally decided to move High Court of Bombay.











Not long after the new rules were issued, the promoter shareholding issue put KMB in the crosshairs of the RBI. A courtroom battle followed.

In January, the RBI let KMB retain the 26 percent promoter stake with some riders.

The RBI let the promoters, Uday Kotak and family, retain 26 percent stake but capped the voting rights at 15 percent by April. KMB withdrew the case subsequently and some interpreted this as a win for Uday Kotak. In June, Kotak sold 5.6 crore shares for more than Rs 6,900 crore in a block deal, bringing down his stake to 26.1 percent, inching closer to the RBIs stipulated level.

RBI also pursued Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank on the promoter stake issue. Even after five years of inception, Bandhan Financial Holding, the non-operative financial holding company, which is the promoter entity, still holds about 61 percent stake in the bank. The bank promoter is supposed to lower the stake to 40 percent. The promoter holding was actually 82 percent before the acquisition of GRUH Finance last year.

In September 2018, RBI imposed punitive actions on Bandhan Bank. This included withdrawing permission to open branches and freezing the remuneration of the Managing Director and CEO of the bank at the existing level until further notice. However, in February, RBI allowed the bank to open branches without its approval but with a rider that at least a quarter of the branches should be opened in unbanked rural areas in a year.

This relaxation was given after RBI noted that it is impressed with banks efforts to comply with the licensing rules. While the RBIs logic is unclear, till date, the shareholding stands at 61 percent.

The Hindujas approached the RBI to settle the matter soon after the central bank and KMB called a truce.

But it is unlikely that the regulator will take a favourable stand on this demand. To begin with, the Hindujas are asking for increasing the promoter stake from existing regulatory limit (of 15 percent) whereas in the case of KMB, it was relating to lowering the promoter stake to the prescribed level. At a time when the RBI is insisting all private bank promoters pare down their stake to the prescribed levels, why would the regulator permit an individual promoter to hike their stake?

There could be other issues as well. Ultimately, the decision lies with RBIs comfort level on a case-to-case basis. According to a senior banking consultant, who requested anonymity, the issue is RBIs comfort, or lack of it, with the background of promoters. It is up to the central bank to decide if they are comfortable with a certain promoter. In KMBs case, RBI allowed for settlement also because the promoter is not an industrialist and is a financial services professional. This isnt, of course, the case with Hindujas, said the consultant.

The Hinduja group has interests ranging from oil to banking to gas and power. The group is led by billionaire brothers Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja, who often find their named in list of wealthiest people.

IndusInd Bank recently wrote to exchanges saying the promoters have communicated their intention to acquire additional shares from the bank. But considering the existing regulatory cap, the promoters  IndusInd International Holdings and IndusInd Bank  can pick only 0.32 percent additional stake. They own 14.68 percent of the paid-up share capital of the bank.

Bank promoters can of course make a case for higher shareholding citing the prevailing guidelines at the point when they secured a bank licence, which were changed from time to time. The Hindujas could use this logic to make their case.

They could argue with the regulator that they should be allowed to hold higher stake because the terms under which IndusInd Bank was given a licence have changed radically. But that may not be enough to sway the RBI.

This sets the stage for another protracted legal battle between the regulator and a bank.
The Air Force is now active over the South China Sea with spy drones deployed to keep watch on the Indo-Pacific and act as a deterrent if needed against the Chinese fleet.

Among the assets flown by the air force are B-1B bombers and Global Hawk spy drones, that is part of the US strategy in dealing with the Chinese despite the tensions.

Reports confirm that B-1Bs are on sorties from Guam, and supporting the Indo-Pacific Command with missions over the South China Sea to bolster US presence in the region. One of their missions is flying the Global Hawk. As part of the bomber mission, they are placed in rotation to remind China that the US is everywhere, according to Fox News.

All the Global Hawk missions are from the Air Base in Yokata, Japan. Japan is one of America's allies in the region. As a reaction, the reports that China has been in exercises with the Shandong and Liaoning in the SCS, the Global Hawks will have bigger importance in monitoring the PLAN. Also, Taiwan is not happy with these Chinese exercises that might lead to a Chinese invasion, confirmed by National Interest.

Global Hawk Misssions

These drones are unmanned and use for monitoring with these devices that have advance algorithms that allow them to fly autonomously. What makes the system versatile is the robotic craft that can manage itself and follow mission objectives to carry out the mission on their own.

One advantage of the drones is that US commanders can have longer missions anywhere it is needed, and the problems of distance in the Pacific.

Also read: US Navy Deploys Reagan, Nimitz Carrier Strike Group for Operations

How does the Global Hawk function?

According to Scott Winship, the system works with the Distributed Autonomy Responsive Control (DARC), that links up with other systems to connect like a spider's web of air and ground nodes that gives it the ability to decide what to do without a human guiding it. According to Northrop that made the system, it will program what is needed to be performed, and the drone will comply, reported in the Warrior, mentioned Intellasia.

The system will manage itself by linking to cells and follow its programming automatically, and it carries out the mission parameters in real-time, the AI controls all function autonomously. Drones are efficient and cost-effective with minimal loss of human life.

Achieving surveillance on the South China Sea

Instead of using spy planes like before, they were usually manned missions but with a drone and newer technology. The US Air Force and other military service efforts getting intel is more cost-effective.

The drone can sift through large amounts of data that it collects called ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) that will be analyzed by operators to make a decision, Global Hawk can process vast data for all its missions.

What the aerial surveillance gives is a way to monitor tracts of the Indo-pacific with drones that are not dependent but autonomous. This can help them win the conflict and get information from the enemy that is anywhere in the Indo-Pacific.

Winship stressed that the data gathered is immense. Unwanted data is purged from the system while keeping what is needed immediately. These systems talk in clusters to decide better than any human can, confirmed by Express.These spy drones dispatched by the US Air Force is a layer of watchfulness that keeps an eye in the SCS.

Related article: Guided-Missile Destroyer USS Russell Crosses Taiwan Strait After Chinese Aircraft Carrier Went for Sea Trials

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A city court has rejected the bail plea of Amulya Leona, who raised 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans at an anti-CAA rally at Freedom park here in February.

Rejecting the bail plea of 19-year-old Amulya Leona on Wednesday, the 60th additional city civil and sessions judge Vidyadhar Shirahatti observed that the probe has not been completed and the investigation officer has not yet filed the charge sheet.

"If the petitioner is released on bail, she may abscond or she may be involved in a similar offence, which affects the peace at large," the judge said adding the bail petition of the petitioner is liable to be rejected.

A student activist and college student, Amulya Leona had raised pro Pakistan slogans during the protest meeting against CAA, NRC and NPR organised by Hindu Muslim Sikh Isaai Federation on February 20.

All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and its Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad, Asauddin Owaisi, who was present on the occasion, tried to stop the gritty Amulya from repeating the pro-Pakistan slogan.

The dramatic incident, which embarrassed Owaisi and the rally organisers, occurred when Amulya was called on the dais to address the gathering in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) under the banner of "Save Our Constitution".

Amulya was then detained by the Karnataka Police, which arrested and produced her before a local magistrate court here after which she was sent to 14-day judicial custody on sedition charges under Section 125A of the IPC.

Earlier, opposing the bail petition, the prosecution argued that by raising the pro-Pakistan slogan several times the woman has attempted to create animosity between different communities and has affected the unity and integrity of the nation.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 01:29:55|Editor: huaxia

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NICOSIA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus' Health Ministry has expanded the list of countries from where travelers are allowed to enter the eastern Mediterranean island as the coronavirus pandemic restrictions are being eased and the country's airports are reopened.

"Category A" in the list now includes 18 countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Travelers arriving in Cyprus before June 20 from these countries must present a health certificate. After that date they will be allowed to enter the country without restrictions.

The countries listed in "Category B" are Israel, Poland and Romania. Travelers from these three countries are required to present a negative COVID-19 certificate upon arrival.

The countries in "Category C," from where travelers are still not allowed to enter Cyprus, are Belgium, Ireland, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In these countries, the risk of infection is assessed to be the highest, the Health Ministry said.

The ministry explained that the current categorization of the countries of origin is subject to change as the pandemic evolves and the epidemiological data change.

The ministry said its categorization is based on the listed countries' main epidemiological indicators, such as the actual coronavirus reproduction number; the number of new diagnoses and of laboratory tests; the mortality rate per 100,000 inhabitants; the estimated coronavirus prevalence; and the classification by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In another move aimed at boosting Cyprus' air connectivity, the government on Wednesday approved an incentive scheme worth 6.3 million euros (7.15 million U.S. dollars).

Transport, Communications and Works Minister Yiannis Karousos said the scheme will apply for up to six months. Enditem
A STUDENT has launched a petition calling on MPs to support the anti-racism movement.

Freddie Stretch, from North Stoke, has acted following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody.

Mr Stretch, 22, said: The work of Black Lives Matter and all the recent examples of political mobilisation around the issue of systemic racism has been inspirational. It is these inspirational movements which have also caused the creation of petitions like this as a form of collective action for positive change.

While it may seem like an issue concentrated in the United States, we need not look too far back into our own history to find examples of the systemic racism present within the UK, including the horrific murder of Stephen Lawrence. Our Government must recognise racism does exist in the UK and that it is affecting almost every aspect of life, from attainment gaps in education to whitewashing of our school curriculum, to the fivefold increase in maternal mortality in black mothers.

MPs, including [Henley MP] John Howell, must recognise this and start listening to their black constituents. Simply denying the problem is not enough.

The petition, which has been signed by nearly 500 people, asks for a public inquiry into the disproportionate use of stop and search measures on black and Asian groups by the police.

Mr Howell said: Throughout my life, I have tried to ensure that discrimination plays no part in society. Any sort of discrimination is unacceptable. However, the recent violence of the protests in Parliament Square and Whitehall was inappropriate, while calls by the organisers to adhere to the covid-19 regulations were too little and too late. This has made trying to promote the aims of the protests all the more difficult.

Mr Floyds death has rightly sparked outrage across the world and I am pleased to see that the charge against the police officer in question has been upgraded to second-degree murder.

I also understand that the three other officers who were present but did nothing to stop the killing of Mr Floyd will now also face charges relating to aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. I support this decision.

To see the petition, visit shorturl.at/bwEGW
Bengaluru, June 11 : The Karnataka government is mulling to issue caste and income certificates to Brahmins though they are in a minority, accounting a mere three per cent of the southern state's seven crore population, an official said on Thursday.

"Though Brahmins are in a 'minority' in terms of their population across the state, they need caste and income certificates to benefit from the welfare schemes as in the case of the SC, ST and OBC groups," an official told IANS here.

The Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board was set up in March 2019 as a state-run company with Rs five crore authorized capital and Rs five crore equity and is registered with the Registrar of Companies.

"The Board has petitioned the state government to implement the 10 per cent quota for the economically weaker sections, as its benefit is being given by the central government jobs and in admissions to the national educational institutions," said its chairman H.S. Sachidananda Murthy.

Responding to the demand, state Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said the state government would consider issuing caste certificates to the Brahmins so that they too can benefit from the state's various welfare schemes.

"Though Brahmins belong to the forward community, they are economically weaker and need financial support," said Yediyurappa on Wednesday after unveiling the Board's official website for all its stakeholders here.

Brahmins whose gross annual family income is less than Rs eight lakh per annum will be eligible for the benefit schemes.

"The Board will soon be authorised to issue caste and income certificates to the members of the Brahmin community so that they can also benefit from the schemes," said the chief minister on the occasion.

Noting that every community has people who are forward and backward economically for various, including historical reasons, Yediyurappa said the Board would be empowered to serve the Brahmins.

"The Board also proposes to provide interest-free loans to the financially weaker sections of the people in the Brahmin community," added Murthy.

The community members urged the Chief Minister to provide 10 per cent of the state government jobs and seats in state-run educational institutions, including professional collages.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
George Pickett, traitor and war criminal. Photo: Library of Congress

Someone on social media commenting on my article yesterday about the Army reversing its prior opposition to renaming bases to get rid of the names of Confederate traitors told me I was being too optimistic in assuming it would actually, finally happen. I responded with the old Dylan lyric: You dont need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. But I was wrong. I somehow forgot the identity of the commander-in-chief.

It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc, Trump tweeted on Tuesday. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom. The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations. Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!

Now, its possible Trump is just flexing his super-patriotism muscles in the run-up to Independence Day and anything anybody says that suggests our armed services or country needs to change is going to provoke a hate-rage. But given the topic and the context  is keeping the name of a traitor on a military facility what makes it magnificent and fabled?  its just as likely that in this difficult time, he is retrieving the especially ugly side of his character he displayed during the 2017 disturbances in Charlottesville, when he lectured those angered by Confederate memorials to cherish our history and made the many fine people on both sides claim in the debate after the fact. It wasnt a good sign when he announced the day and location of his first full-on, post-pandemic Trump rally: June 19 in Tulsa.

It's a really, really weird thing where it's equally possible no one in WH saw symbolism of a Trump rally on Juneteenth at a city famous for a race riot or just didn't care.  Jonathan Nicholson (@JNicholsonInDC) June 10, 2020

Trump is erratic enough that it didnt occur to his secretary of Army to run it by the boss before expressing an openness to the base name changes. And he may well be ill-informed enough that he has no idea that, far from connoting power and winning, some of these base names indicate the opposite. Fort Pickett was named after an inept commander who was charged with war crimes. Fort Bragg was named for another incompetent general known for pettiness and cruelty. Fort Gordon was named after a Ku Klux Klan leader. Every damn one of them was a loser in a bad cause. And their names were attached to military facilities not to honor their courage or skill but to support the big lie of the neo-Confederacy, the whitewashing of the lost cause in order to perpetuate Jim Crow and the terrorism that created and maintained it.

At the time of his Charlottesville remarks, I concluded that Trump had basically joined the neo-Confederates. Is going back down that road his next step? If he pitches a fit over NASCAR banning the display of the Confederate flags at its racetracks, well know for sure.
BUENOS AIRES (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th June, 2020) The Bolivian authorities will close down the northern city of Cobija with a population of more than 50,000 on Monday due to the coronavirus outbreak, Luis Adolfo Flores, the governor of the Pando Department, said on Thursday.

On June 1, the north-central city of Trinidad with some 100,000 residents was put on lockdown for the same reason.

"From Monday on we will close Cobija and together with the medical teams we will 'clear it up' ... I hope we will be able to contain the infection," the governor said as broadcast by the Unitel channel.

Flores noted that both Cobija and the Pando Department neighbor Brazil, with many Bolivians crossing the border in search of work, which is illegal.

"We had 12 cases in 38 days, but we knew that there would be problems because people often cross the border with Brazil, where there are many cases of infection ... Now we have 130 cases and 300 are suspected," the governor said.

The department lacks tests and facilities to cope with the pandemic. The intensive care unit has only 12 beds and six lung ventilators. Local authorities have asked for additional equipment, but it has not yet arrived.

In total, Bolivia has recorded 15,281 coronavirus cases, 2,261 recoveries and 512 fatalities.
A violent husband who tried to kill his estranged wife and her infant son when she refused to give their marriage another chance has been jailed for life.

Rehan Khan, 27, stabbed the 11-month-old baby repeatedly with a kitchen knife in anger and then delivered a series of blows to mother Salma Sheikh when she threw herself in the way as a human shield.

Peterborough crown court heard Ms Sheikh, then 32, had ended her relationship with Khan after repeatedly falling victim to violent bouts of domestic abuse, and attempted to cut off contact with him over worries for the safety of her family.

Khan, who feared deportation to Pakistan if his marriage ended, refused to accept the breakdown of the relationship, deluging Ms Sheikh with texts and calls to try to convince him to take him back.

On the day of the attack, he took Ms Sheikh hostage in her own home in Feltham for three-and-a-half hours before carrying out the shocking knife attacks.

Ms Sheikh went into a "spiral of depression" after the attack, the court heard, and died in September last year from an accidental overdose of morphine she had been prescribed to cope with the pain of her injuries.

In a statement written before she died, Ms Sheikh wrote: He has destroyed me completely, I feel I have nothing left to live for now.

Sentencing Khan this afternoon to two life sentences with a minimum prison term of 16 years, Judge Sean Enright said: Anger and rage lay at the heart of all of this.

He found Khan had exaggerated mental health symptoms while in custody in a bid to get a lesser sentence and he poses an ongoing risk to the safety of women.

If at liberty, this pattern of events would repeated, perhaps not with the same utterly tragic outcome, he said. It was obsessive and controlling behaviour.

He told Khan: You stabbed the child in anger for purely selfish reasons and stabbed the mother out of anger because she would not comply.

One neighbour on the Oriel housing estate, said: It was like when youre watching a horror film" / Jeremy Selwyn

The court heard Ms Sheikh had been in a previous relationship before meeting Khan, who she married in an Islamic wedding ceremony in 2017.

Prosecutor Felicia Davy said Khan became volatile in the relationship, hitting Ms Sheikh with a mobile phone in December 2017, subjecting her to regular beatings, ordering her to stop speaking to her ex-husband, and threatening to throw the baby out of a fourth-floor window.

She left him but agreed to give the relationship another chance in January 2018 - primarily because he told her he would be deported if she did not said the prosecutor - but she moved to Feltham the following month to get away from him.

Neighbours described the horrific moment they heard the womans blood-curdling screams / Jeremy Selwyn

Ms Davy said she repeatedly told Khan the relationship was over, saying she loved him but she would no longer risk what might happen ... when he got angry.

Khan was convicted of assaulting Ms Khan and ordered to stay away from her in May 2018, but ignored the restraining order and carried out the attack on mother and baby on June 4, 2018.

Having forced his way into the family home three-and-a-half hours prior to the attack, he set about tormenting Ms Sheikh, culminating in a sudden violent attack, said Ms Davy.

They were both stabbed multiple times by Rehan Khan, his intention being to kill them.

(The baby) was stabbed first, followed by the mother as she user her body as a human shield to try to protect her baby from further attack.

She added that the chance intervention of a friend and police conducting a welfare check may have saved the babys life.

Khan fled from the home after the knife attack but handed himself in to police two days later. He pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder in May last year, on the first day of his trial.

Khan, of no fixed address, sat with his head bowed for much of todays sentencing hearing. His barrister, Bernard Richmond QC, said: However monstrous the things that day were, he is not a monster. He has spent a significant amount of time in the last two years trying to work out whats gone on.

Khan must serve 16 years of a life sentence in prison before being considered for release.




Sydney, June 11, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Alligator Energy ( ASX:AGE ) and unlisted public company Samphire Uranium Ltd (Samphire) have signed a Binding Terms Sheet for the purchase by Alligator of Samphire's subsidiary, S Uranium Pty Ltd (SUPL). SUPL owns the following key uranium resource and exploration assets (Samphire Project):o Blackbush Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (JORC 2012) comprising 64.5 million tonnes at a grade of 230ppm eU3O8 containing 14,850 t (32.7 mill lbs) U3O8 at a 100ppm cut-off grade;o Plumbush Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (stated in compliance with JORC 2004) of 21.8 million tonnes at grade of 292ppm eU3O8, containing 6,300t (13.9Mlbs) of mineralisation at a 100ppm eU3O8 cut-off grade;o Exploration Target - Host geology and anomalism extend beyond the current known mineralisation envelope with uranium intercepts obtained in drill holes up to 3km distant. A conceptual Exploration Target of 20-30Mt of sediment hosted mineralisation at 250 to 350ppm has been estimated.The Exploration Target and potential tonnages and grades are conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.In consideration for the acquisition of SUPL, Alligator will issue 679,561,608 AGE shares to Samphire who plan to immediately in-specie distribute the AGE shares to its shareholders. Samphire has share capital of 226,520,536 ordinary shares, hence each Samphire shareholder will receive three AGE shares for every Samphire share they hold. Upon successful completion of the transaction (subject to certain conditions precedent, including regulatory and both Company's shareholders approvals) the current 1,650 Samphire shareholders will collectively hold 32% of the expanded capital structure of AGE. Alligator has used on-market valuations of similar status uranium resource projects to inform the consideration agreed to acquire the Samphire Project.The Directors of Samphire have advised that, upon completion of the in-specie distribution, they intend to wind up the company.The OpportunityAlligator believes the abovementioned uranium resources provide positive value for AGE Shareholders and an opportunity to advance further work as follows:- The grade-tonnage table for the Blackbush Inferred Mineral Resource (see Table 1*) indicates the opportunity to increase cut-off grade for a higher resource grade. For example, a cut-off grade of 300ppm eU3O8 gives a contained resource of 6,750 t (14.9 Mlbs) U3O8 at a grade of 654 ppm (similar to Boss Resources' Honeymoon Project planned restart average grade - ( ASX:BOE ) release dated 21 Jan 2020).- The Blackbush deposit and other mineralisation lies at a shallow depth of around 60 m in permeable sands, providing further support to its potential future extraction through either InSitu Recovery (ISR) or open pit methods depending on uranium market and price;- Samphire (through its previous owner UraniumSA) undertook high quality laboratory testwork indicating high uranium leachability, and also undertook initial co-development work on resin extraction processes. Recent advances by ANSTO on continuous Ion Exchange (IX) and resins suitable for saline water environments indicate the likelihood of a future viable extraction flowsheet;- The acquisition strongly augments Alligator's current and planned work on exploration for potential ISR style mineralisation on the Big Lake Uranium project in the Cooper Basin region.- The Samphire transaction will more than double AGE's shareholder base, including investors interested and focussed on uranium projects and broadens the Company's overall exposure to uranium projects in supportive and stable jurisdictions.Mineral Resource Estimate footnotes in Summary section:1. See ( ASX:USA ) release 27 Sept 2013 for which the Competent Persons were Mr Russell Bluck and Mr Marco Scardigno.2. This information was prepared and first disclosed under the JORC Code 2004. It has not been updated since to comply with the JORC Code 2012 on the basis that the information has not materially changed since it was last reported. See ( ASX:USA ) release 27 Sept 2013 and 1 Oct 2019 Samphire Annual Report for which the Competent Persons were Mr Russell Bluck and Mr Marco Scardigno. Refer also to Cautionary Statement in Appendix 1*.Greg Hall, Alligator CEO said "We are very pleased to have concluded this Binding Terms Sheet with Samphire and we will work closely with the Samphire team to undertake all tasks to conclude the transaction.""Alligator has used the combined experience and capacity of our team and advisors to review the Samphire Project and evaluate the potential within them for the future. The work previously undertaken on the resource, exploration targets and met testing has indicated the potential to move a possible project forward at the right time in the uranium price cycle, plus to look at expanded exploration potential in the area.We will continue to advance our key exploration activities within the Alligator Rivers and BLU, our northern Italy nickel and cobalt opportunities, and further review additional external project opportunities within the uranium space. As the recent uranium spot price increase has shown, there is great uncertainty around the required uranium supply growth over the medium to long term, which is expected to ultimately translate through to higher prices on a sustained basis.""Alligator Energy has one of the few Board, management and advisory teams that have discovered world class uranium projects, taken uranium projects through the public and political approval process within Australia, undertaken resource definition and into development, and managed and operated uranium mines."Martin Janes, Non-Executive Director for Samphire Uranium stated: "The Directors of Samphire Uranium are pleased to able to present this opportunity to its shareholders. It has been nearly 4 years since Samphire Uranium was established to hold the Samphire Project as an unlisted spin off from UraniumSA and now that the sentiment in the uranium market is improving, the Directors of Samphire believe that it is timely for the Samphire Project to be combined with a portfolio of other uranium assets under a Board and management team that has serious uranium credentials."*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Alligator Energy Ltd

Alligator Energy Ltd (ASX:AGE) is an Australian, ASX-listed, exploration company focused on uranium and energy related minerals, principally cobalt-nickel.

Alligator's Directors have significant experience in the exploration, development and operations of both uranium and nickel projects (both laterites and sulphides).
ALBANY  On Wednesday, I went to see Albany's newest attraction: The massive "Black Lives Matter" mural painted on Lark Street.

For some, the work is already a point of pride. When I was there, people were taking selfies with it  which isn't easy to do, given that the words stretch for two city blocks  and happily celebrating its existence.

The mural is only one symbol of something dramatic that's happening in this country, a remarkable turn in public opinion that's shifting the ground beneath us. Terrible laws like 50-a, which for decades shielded cops in New York from accountability, are suddenly up for repeal, while cities across the country are banning chokeholds, reconsidering policing strategies and listening, finally, to the long-voiced concerns of black residents.

This much is clear: The protests held in the wake of George Floyd's death are working. They are forcing lawmakers to pay attention, and they are overwhelming the political power of police unions that have long been roadblocks to change.

Is everybody happy with what's happening? You know the answer: Of course not.

It's about eight miles from Lark Street to the Kennewyck subdivision in Guilderland, a relatively affluent neighborhood off Dr. Shaw Road. That's where Michelle Chan and Paula Parsons, stepsisters and the daughters of Kwok Pong Chan and Marietta Angelotti, recently grabbed some chalk and drew a little mural of their own.

On their driveway, they wrote Floyd's name and the names of other black victims of police brutality or brutal racism, both from recent days and decades past. Breonna Taylor, Emmitt Till, Trayvon Martin, Timothy Stansbury and many more. "Say Their Names," wrote the girls, both ninth-graders.

The next day, an unsigned letter appeared in the family's mailbox.

"Dear Neighbor," it started, innocently enough. "Your driveway isn't big enough and you don't own enough chalk to list the names of the police officers who have died in the line of duty protecting your stupid liberal values. Who are you going to call when they smash your windows?"

Under the cowardly cloak of anonymity, it went on: "Albany has a memorial with all the names of fallen officers. Say their names."

More Information Contact opinion columnist Chris Churchill at cchurchill@timesunion.com or 518-772-8068. See More Collapse

The family found the letter unnerving, to put it mildly. It hinted at violence and indicated hostility. They had only moved to the neighborhood months ago, when Angelotti and Chan married.

"It really scared me," Angelotti said. "I thought, 'Oh my God, why do we live in this neighborhood? Why did we move here?'"

OK, in the greater scheme, the letter is a small thing. It certainly doesn't compare with the brutality black Americans so often face. Nor does it compare to the violence recently directed at some protesters.

But the letter implies that you can't care about the victims of racist violence and also care about fallen police officers. It suggests we must choose sides, as if the Albany Black Lives Matter mural is for one group and the New York Police Officers Memorial, which is two blocks away at Empire State Plaza, is for another.

That's stupidly simplistic. You can be angry at the systemic racism of policing while acknowledging that cops have a difficult and dangerous job. You can demand police reform while appreciating that police patrol while we sleep.

Some of you believe the phrase Black Lives Matter is inherently divisive. On Facebook and elsewhere, there is fury at Albany's "racist" new mural, with many insisting it should say "All Lives Matter" instead.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

But the empty "All Lives Matter" trope misses the point and, perhaps intentionally, strips Black Lives Matter of its power. What supporters of the movement want is for black lives to matter as much as white lives already do. They want equality. They want black lives to matter so that all lives really do matter.

We've come a long way in the fight against racism, but the ugly truth is that black lives still don't matter as much in this country. C'mon, you know it's true.

Officer Derek Chauvin wouldn't have pressed his knee into a white neck for nearly nine minutes; the other officers would have stopped him. We wouldn't put up with a criminal justice system that gave white men nearly a 30 percent chance of going to prison during their lifetimes, as it does for black men; we'd rightly see that system as intolerably totalitarian.

Nor would we accept a system that made white voters wait hours to vote, as routinely happens to black voters, including in Georgia on Tuesday; we'd demand better. I could go on with examples, but you get the point.

What's remarkable about recent weeks is how many Americans are finally seeing the truth and are ready for change. We're at an inflection point, and this country will never be the same. We're going to be so much better.

Out in Guilderland, the family decided not to let the anonymous letter intimidate them. If it was intended to keep Angelotti, Chan and their daughters quiet, it failed.

When the rain washed their work away, the girls went back out to the driveway and replaced it. They wrote the names of black victims such as John Crawford, Ahmaud Arbery, Jonathan Ferrell, Eric Garner, George Floyd and so many more.

Say their names, the girls wrote.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
The NFU is encouraging farmers to continue the industrys progression towards its 2040 net-zero goal amid the launch of the new global Race to Zero campaign.

The COP26 campaign aims to mobilise leadership and support businesses. It will run until COP26 takes place in Glasgow, scheduled for 1-12 November 2021.

COP26 President Alok Sharma has urged companies, cities and regions to join the campaign and 'unite behind a green global recovery'.

In particular, the campaign aims to drive a new growth in support of a more inclusive and resilient economy following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now the NFU has urged UK farm businesses to consider how they could play their part in the national race for a net-zero economy.

Deputy president Stuart Roberts explained that farmers were already seeing the impacts of climate change, as the last six months had seen severe flooding to recent crippling dry spells.

This year has been unlike any other and we have seen challenges we never anticipated," Mr Roberts said.

"Farmers are still working to overcome the obstacles caused by Covid-19, and while things are unlikely to return to normal any time soon, we cannot put aside our net zero ambition."

He urged farming businesses to 'take action now' so the industry could reach its ambition of producing the 'most climate-friendly food in the world'.

Climate-friendly farming makes sense for our businesses, and while making changes and investments might not be practical for many right now, we can still work to increase our productivity and measure our progress.

This campaign is an opportunity to show the world that we are serious about our vision for a world-leading sustainable British farming sector, even in times of great and unprecedented challenges, Mr Roberts said.

Farmers are aiming to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions across England and Wales by 2040 as a contribution to a new target of 2050 for the whole of the UK.

It comes as the Committee on Climate Change published its report last year calling for the UK to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to zero over the next three decades.

The recommendations aim to slash emissions by 80% what they were in 1990. But major changes were needed to meet the new target, the report said.

These include a supply of low-carbon electricity, the introduction of electric vehicles, stopping biodegradable waste going to landfill, increasing tree planting and measures to reduce emissions on farms.
WASHINGTON - Brian Benczkowski - the Justice Department's criminal division head who was involved in several high-profile cases and made the decision last year not to open a campaign finance investigation into President Donald Trump over his Ukraine-related dealings - will step down from his position next month.

Benczkowski announced his departure in an email to staff Wednesday. He will be replaced by Brian Rabbitt, a former White House lawyer, senior policy adviser at the SEC and chief of staff to Attorney General William Barr who had been working as Benczkowski's principal deputy since March, according to Benczkowski's email.

"It truly has been the honor of my professional career to serve at the department once again, and to lead the men and women of the Criminal Division," Benczkowski wrote in the statement to staff announcing his departure. "Their work ethic and steadfast commitment to the cause of justice, the rule of law, and vindicating the rights of victims, have inspired me every day."

Benczkowski's leaving comes at a busy time for the criminal division, which has been helping investigate a raft of fraud stemming from the coronavirus crisis. The division's Public Integrity Section also is leading the high-profile investigation into whether former intelligence committee chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., broke the law in stock trades he made as the U.S. was bracing for the pandemic.

Benczkowski's departure takes effect July 3. It is unclear what he will do next.

"The decision to leave is my own and has been in the works for some time," Benczkowski wrote. "It is part of a long-planned transition that began late last year, when the Attorney General asked each Assistant Attorney General to begin preparing for the coming year. At that time, I told Attorney General [William P.] Barr that I intended to remain in my position until the summer of this year, and he graciously agreed to that timetable."

In a statement, Barr said Benczkowski had "served the Department with distinction"

"This was his sixth senior leadership role at Justice, and the entire Department benefitted from his managerial expertise, institutional knowledge, and sound judgment," Barr said.

Benczkowski was confirmed as head of the criminal division in July 2018 after a lengthy partisan fight, as Democrats contended his representation of a Russian bank while in private practice and lack of prosecutorial experience made him unfit for the job. He was well respected in conservative legal circles, however, having served in the Justice Department before and having led the entire Justice Department transition as Trump prepared to take office. He was a top aide to Jeff Sessions, Trump's first attorney general, when Sessions represented Alabama in the Senate.

Justice Department criminal division lawyers, along with U.S. attorneys, oversee all criminal matters, approve when to apply to the courts for the use of electronic surveillance and advise the attorney general on criminal enforcement policy.

During Benczkowski's tenure, the division was notably involved in winning a conviction at trial of the notorious drug lord known as "El Chapo," in bringing indictments indictments against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and members of his inner circle on narcoterrorism charges, and in cracking down on doctors who mis-prescribed opioids.

The division also helped bring the case against four members of the Chinese military for a 2017 hack at the credit reporting agency Equifax, and it helped Malaysia recover more than $620 million in assets stolen from a sovereign wealth fund there in a scandal that has come to be known by the shorthand "1MDB."

But Benczkowski's most scrutinized move was likely his decision not to open a campaign finance investigation into Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about investigating former Vice President Joe Biden. The communications would ultimately lead House Democrats to impeach Trump, though he was acquitted in the Senate.

Some legal analysts said Trump could have been examined for possibly violating the ban on seeking a contribution from a foreigner - which would violate campaign finance laws - or for a broader corrupt bargain in which Zelensky would get a White House meeting or other help in exchange for digging up dirt on Trump's political foe.

Justice Department officials, though, looked only at whether Trump might have violated campaign finance laws, not federal corruption statutes, and because they ultimately rejected opening a case, they relied almost exclusively on scrutinizing a transcript of the call.

Senior Justice Department officials have defended their handling of the matter. They have said that campaign finance laws required them to "quantify" the value of what Trump was seeking for his campaign, and that was impossible to do with the investigations Trump had requested. Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said in a statement at the time that Benczkowski determined "there was no campaign finance violation and that no further action was warranted."

"All relevant components of the Department agreed with his legal conclusion," she said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he would not be intimidated or give into coercion when asked on Thursday whether Australia would keep taking hits on exports from major trading partner China.

Diplomatic tensions between China and Australia have worsened after Australia called for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the coronavirus, angering Beijing.

The World Health Assembly last month voted to support an independent review into the pandemic after Australia and the European Union led lobbying.

On Tuesday, China's Ministry of Education said students should reconsider choosing to study in Australia, threatening Australia's fourth-largest export industry, international education, worth A$38 billion ($26 billion) annually.

"We are an open-trading nation, mate, but I'm never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes," Morrison told radio station 2GB on Thursday.

China has in recent weeks banned Australian beef imports and imposed tariffs on Australian barley. The warning for students followed a similar warning last week from Beijing for Chinese tourists to avoid Australia.

In both cases, officials in Beijing said the warnings were due to racist attacks against Asians during the pandemic.

"That's rubbish. It's a ridiculous assertion and it's rejected. That's not a statement that's been made by the Chinese leadership," Morrison said in a separate interview on 3AW.

Australia lodged a protest with the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing, and the Chinese embassy in Canberra, about China's travel and student warnings, said a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The Australian government rejected the assertion it was unsafe to visit or study in Australia, a statement said.

"Australia provides the best education and tourism products in the world," Morrison told 2GB. "The ability for Chinese nationals to be able to choose to come to Australia (has) substantively been their decision. And I'm very confident in the attractiveness of our product."

The coalition representing Australia's elite universities, the Group of Eight, has said international education was "being used as a political pawn".

China is Australia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth A$235 billion a year.
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Linkedin Riza Roidila Mufti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 14:41 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdde6dd1 1 Business aviation,health-protocol,passenger,Airlines,INACA,Garuda-Indonesia,COVID-19 Free

Airlines are seeking to regain passengers' confidence to fly through the enforcement of health protocol during the new normal period as the industry seeks to recover from the pandemic.

The aviation health protocol is based on Circular No. 13/2020 issued recently by the Transportation Ministry, which also refers to the International Civil Aviation Organizations (ICAO) recent guidance, covering mandatory procedures from pre-flight to post-flight to reduce the risk of virus transmission.

The measures include physical distancing, intensified cleaning and sanitation inside the aircraft, the use of face covering, disinfection of areas with potential human contact, health screening and more. The new protocol is intended to provide safety for passengers as the government relaxes the large-scale social restriction (PSBB) and reopens the economy.

The circular could help regain peoples trust to travel again, Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) chairman Denon Prawiraatmadja said.

In principal, there are two things that can restore passengers confidence in traveling. First, it depends on how the Health Ministry and COVID-19 task force can reduce the transmission of COVID cases, and the second [aspect] is how airlines and each operator in aviation can provide security and safety for passengers, he said on a press briefing on Tuesday.

The pandemic has severely impacted the aviation industry, hitting demand for air travel and forcing airlines to ground their fleets as losses mount.

However, Denon warned that the high number of COVID-19 cases will likely to hold passengers from travelling.

The recent relaxation of the PSBB measures come at a time when COVID-19 cases in Indonesia have continued to increase, with 1,241 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, surpassing the all-time-high of the previous day. The new cases bring the total to more than 34,300.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia president director Irfan Setiaputra also pledged to prioritize the health aspect in its flights, citing that this was currently the most important consideration for passengers.

With the new protocol, the airline conducts routine disinfection on its aircraft, while reduces physical interaction on board. It has also switched to using disposable food packaging and water bottles for its in-flight meals to prevent indirect transmission through contaminated surfaces and objects.

We want to make sure that passengers can fly safely, Irfan said on Tuesday.

Garuda also boasts the high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) technology on its fleet to ensure the removal of contaminants in the air circulating inside the plane.

There will also be a rapid test service to equip passengers who have not been tested prior to the scheduled flight, he added.

The new regulation increases the allowed passanger number per flight to 70 percent of the respective aircrafts capacity, up from previously 50 percent, opening the possibility for airlines to get additional revenue.

However, Irfan said, the move would not immediately boost Garuda's revenue, as the demand might not recover in short-term.

Garudas flight traffic dipped 83 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the January to April period, while its number of passengers plummeted by 45 percent yoy, according to the companys recent statement.

Other airline, such as Lion Air Group, have also begun to resumed flights on June 10, after temporarily suspending operations on June 5.

In its statement, Lion Air Group spokesperson Danang Mandala Prihantoro reminded passengers to adhere to health protocol such as using masks before the flight, during the boarding process and until they leave the airport, as well as maintaining physical distancing in the airport.

The government claimed that the new health protocol for the aviation industry covered all aspects in detail.

For example, for in-flight [protocol], we regulate how passengers interact with other passengers and with crew members, and how cabin crews serve meals, Transportation Ministry Civil Aviation Director General Novie Riyanto said.

Meanwhile, aviation observer Arista Atmadjati said that while the health protocol might add costs for airlines, the procedures were necessary to protect passengers and workers.

The [airlines] homework now is to disseminate this information to passengers, because based on my observation, the dissemination process of the regulation is still weak, as many passengers are still misinformed, he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding that the airlines should utilize available technology to do so.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 19:00:33|Editor: huaxia

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DAKAR, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Senegal on Thursday reported 119 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total in the country to 4,759.

A total of 1,164 tests were carried out in the past 24 hours, said Marie Khemesse Ngom Ndiaye, director-general of public health at the Ministry of Health and Social Actions, adding that 102 follow-up contact cases and 17 community-transmission cases were detected.

As infection cases in the West African nation keep rising, China is sending in more medical supplies to the country. According to the Chinese Embassy to Senegal, a new batch of medical supplies donation from the Chinese government is scheduled to arrive on June 17.

According to Senegal's Ministry of Health and Social Actions, for the second consecutive day, no additional imported cases was reported.

Total recoveries rose to 2,994 after 109 more patients were discharged from hospital, while the number of deaths related to COVID-19 reached 55 since the country reported its first confirmed case on March 2.

The Senegalese government has eased some restrictive measures imposed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, but the country is still in a state of emergency, and all international air travel are suspended until June 30. Enditem
University vice-chancellors have warned it could take more than five years for international students to return in pre-pandemic numbers as tensions continue between Australia and its biggest market, China.

They urged state and federal governments to act quickly to develop a "safe corridor" for some students to return in early 2021, or risk wasting Australia's advantage over rivals Britain and the United States as a COVID-safe destination.

The comments come as Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday responded to China's move to warn students against studying in Australia, citing racist incidents during the coronavirus pandemic.

Vice-chancellors warn it could take five years for international student numbers to recover. Credit:Shutterstock

"The ability for Chinese nationals to be able to choose to come to Australia is substantively their decision," he told 2GB radio. "Im never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes."
Less than a month after MobileNOW! went out of business May 18 due to revenue losses from the COVID-19 shutdown, the Lehigh Valleys cities have a new parking app lined up.

ParkMobile describes itself as the No. 1 parking app in the United States, with over 18 million users in 400-plus cities, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Harrisburg and State College in Pennsylvania.

Allentown and Bethlehem are joining their ranks, Atlanta-based ParkMobile said in a news release last week. Wednesday night, Easton City Council approved a contract with ParkMobile, as well.

It was a collaborative effort, said Allentown Parking Authority Executive Director John Morgan. We all had MobileNOW! so we were all basically left high and dry on that Monday morning.

ParkMobile's 25-cent user fee per transaction is the same that was charged by MobileNOW!, Morgan said. That's for users who put money in advance into the Parkmobile Wallet; for those who pay as they go, the fee is 45 cents.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said Wednesday night some MobileNOW! customers lost as much as $20 when the company shut down, and that he lost $14 himself. MobileNOW!, however, says on its website it expects to automatically refund any balance due to customers via the credit card on file.

Easton City Council approved the contract, effective June 4, by unanimous vote, after balking initially at a clause allowing ParkMobile to "increase fees upon sixty (60) days notice ... via email, web portal or other method."

"Do we really want to go with a service that can raise fees to whatever they see fit?" asked Councilman Peter Melan.

Easton City Administrator Luis Campos said the city tried to get that changed through negotiations, but he noted ParkMobile says it hasn't increased its fees "for some time."

"We really did try to negotiate a lock-in on the fees," city Solicitor Joel Scheer said, adding that the city was able to negotiate an option for either ParkMobile or the city to cancel the contract within 30 days, down from 60: "We ended up with the one provision so we could back out if all of a sudden they change fees."

Allentowns been using ParkMobile for a little over a week, and motorists used it 170 times this week as of Thursday afternoon, Morgan said. Its not rolled out just yet in Bethlehem, but that citys parking authority says to check its website, bethpark.org, for updates.

The Bethlehem Parking Authority is looking forward to continuing to offer a contactless mobile payment option to the many visitors and residents of Bethlehem," authority Executive Director Steven Fernstrom says in the June 3 news release from ParkMobile.

ParkMobile says its app offers all the same features and functionality as MobileNOW! and is available in many more locations. Other differences include ParkMobiles 24/7/365 customer service and additional payment options like PayPal and ApplePay.

To pay for parking with the ParkMobile app, a user enters or scans the zone number posted on the existing MobileNOW! stickers and signs around the meter. New ParkMobile signs will be added in the coming weeks across the Lehigh Valley, but the meter numbers will remain the same, the company says. The user then selects the amount of time needed and touches the Start Parking button to begin the session. The user can also extend the time of the parking session on their mobile device without having to go back to the meter.

We understand the importance of having a contactless payment option in our cities right now so we moved very fast to find a replacement to MobileNOW!, Morgan says in ParkMobiles news release. ParkMobile will be able to get our cities up and running very quickly so all of our residents and visitors can safely and conveniently pay for parking.

The ParkMobile app is available through both the Apple App Store and on Google Play.

The companys news release announcing Allentown and Bethlehem joining also notes that Reading is now participating, too.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
Adelaide, AUS, June 11, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - Agilex Biolabs, Australia's largest specialist bioanalytical laboratory for clinical trials, encouraged biotechs to consider Australia for their clinical trials during a presentation at BIO Digital 2020.Watch the BIO Digital 2020 presentation here:https://www.bio.org/events/bio-digital/sessions/search?name=AgilexThe presentation by CEO Jason Valentine and moderated by VP Business Development Julia Jones details the current trials landscape in Australia and why biotechs wanting to avoid delays caused by COVID-19, can move their trials to Australia.Australia's impressive COVID-19 management and the world's most attractive rebate on clinical trials costs are just a few of the reasons that make it an ideal location to restart delayed trials, according to Agilex Biolabs.CEO Jason Valentine said:"Australia has a group of proven top-tier trial providers that regularly work together so are fully engaged and in sync with processes and each other's requirements and capabilities. We have worked with all the trials service provider companies so can advise on which ones are the best fit for each study."The Agilex Biolabs team can offer an unbiased approach and advice depending on specific trial requirements. Our world-class bioanalytical facilities have OECD GLP Recognition with NATA (Australian Government OECD GLP Compliance monitoring authority) and ISO 17025 Accreditation for global recognition."Please Book a Briefing with us before you start your next clinical trial. https://calendly.com/agilexbiolabs/15minAustralia: +61 8 8302 8777 | China: +86 21 8036 9483 | South Korea: +82 80 812 1255 | USA: +1 800 247 1909Agilex Biolabs has launched a News Video Update about COVID-19 and clinical trials in Australia. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/vZuHAYZ-GiEAbout Agilex Biolabs https://www.agilexbiolabs.comAgilex Biolabs, Australia's leading bioanalytical laboratory, has more than 20 years' experience in performing regulated bioanalysis, including quality method development, method validation and sample analysis services. We have successfully supported hundreds of preclinical and clinical trials around the world where customers choose Australia for the streamlined regulatory process and access to the world's most attractive R&D rebate of more than 40% on clinical trial work conducted in Australia.Agilex Biolabs specialises in bioanalysis of small molecules and biologics for PK, immunogenicity, biomarkers and immunological pharmacodynamics assessments utilising LC-MS/MS, immunoassay (Mesoscale, Gurolab, Luminex) and flow cytometry (BD FACSymphony A3, 20 colour cell analyser). Agilex offers pharmacodynamics services including immunobiology services using the latest state-of-the-art technology to support immunology, cell biology and mode of action assays, incuding Immunophenotyping, Receptor occupancy, and Cytokine release assays (whole blood or PBMC stimulation assays) and cytokine/biomarker profiling PBMC assays and cellular mechanism of action assays (ie ADCC).Agilex Biolabs, the only FDA-inspected lab of its type in the region, is located in Adelaide, South Australia in a science and biotech specialist hub. The biolabs has more than 65 dedicated laboratory staff, and annually support more than 80 clinical trials. This year they will analyse more than 60,000 samples for pharma/biotechs from US, Europe and APAC.The company has just expanded its labs by more than 30% to accommodate biotech demand from APAC and the USA.See us featured in Endpoints https://tinyurl.com/uqmkzcuMedia Contact:Kate NewtonMedia@AgilexBiolabs.comSource: Agilex BiolabsCopyright 2020 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
JACKSON, MI  A Jackson man arrested at the scene of his girlfriends fatal shooting has been charged with her murder.

Rodney Stevenson, 33, was arraigned Thursday, June 11, before Magistrate Judge Fred Bishop on one felony count each of open murder and felony firearms for the shooting death of Shameka Oliver.

Oliver, 30, was found dead outside her home in the 1200 block of Chittock Avenue at about 7 a.m. May 28, by police checking a report of gunfire being heard in the area, Jackson Director of Police and Fire Service Elmer Hitt said.

Oliver was pronounced dead at the scene. She suffered a single gunshot wound, Hitt said.

Woman found shot, killed outside Jackson home

Stevenson was at the home at the time of the shooting and suspected of killing Oliver, police said.

He was arrested the day of the shooting and taken to the Jackson County Jail where he was lodged on a bond violation while detectives continued to investigate the shooting, Hitt said.

Stevenson was on bond for eight open felony cases involving home invasion, drugs and felonious assault charges assigned to Circuit Judge John McBain, court records show.

The Jackson County Prosecutors Office issued murder charges against Stevenson on June 10, leading to his arraignment on Thursday.

Stevenson is scheduled for a probable cause conference on June 19 and a preliminary examination on June 25. He is being held without bond.

Open murder allows a jury to decide the degree of murder a defendant is guilty of if convicted.

Oliver, a mother of four, graduated from Jackson High School in 2008 and aspired to work in the medical field, starting a career as a supervisor at Renaissance Northland Home assisted living, according to her obituary.

Stevenson was discharged from the Michigan Department of Corrections in March 2016 after serving eight years in prison for third-degree home invasion and aggravated stalking committed in 2008, MDOC records show.

More from The Jackson Citizen Patriot:

Jackson libraries slowly reopening, offering no-contact pick up

Public transit resumes regular schedule in Jackson, no fare changes

Thousands in Jackson County still without power after storm rips through southeast Michigan
Yesterday, I was asked by a friend: "What are President Trump's chances in getting re-elected? Do you think he could overcome the racial stigma from the black community?"

Many have been convinced that African-Americans, holding a demographic and political leverage  of the estimated 330 million Americans, 12.7% of them are of African origin  will make the difference in Donald Trump's defeat by Joe Biden in November. Trump's classification as a racist  if any recent U.S. president was a racist, it was Barack Hussein Obama, who had been formed by his personal friend Rev. Jeremiah Wright; the latter's preaching frequently slandered whites, Jews, and America itself  has been exploited by the left as a result of the George Floyd murder and the police handling of the riots. Even though President Trump ordered the Justice Department and FBI to investigate within two days of Floyd's death, the impression communicated by the mainstream media is that the black community, along with sympathetic white Americans and others classified as "minorities," is fed up with the president.

The truth of the matter is that according to the latest Rasmussen tracking poll, 41% of black Americans more or less approve of the president's overall all job performance; it was 40% in the fall of 2018. As reported by the Washington Examiner, according to a Monmouth University poll:

72% of African-Americans are satisfied with their local police departments;

21% of African-Americans are very satisfied with the local police;

Only 17% of the public says that the actions of protesters, including the burning of a police precinct, sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, are fully justified;

37% say they are partially justified.

It must be acknowledged, as per a June 9 article in the Wall Street Journal, that African-Americans were finally finding some financial stability. Unemployment had reached record lows, and their wages had begun rising modestly. Just like for Hispanics, employment had been the highest in more than half a decade.

Yet the left-wing crusade is to crush President Trump in painting him as a protagonist of racial discrimination. This cannot be farther from the truth, as explained by those who know him best, such as former president of Manhattan Borough Andrew J. Stein.

In a piece he wrote in the Hill in 2019, "Donald Trump's No Racist, as Past Acts and Presidential Record Prove" (2019), Stein stated:

Donald Trump is no racist[.] ... When I was Manhattan Borough president and president of the New York City Council, I asked him numerous times to help black or Hispanic groups, and he always came through, many times without publicity. When a hurricane ravished [sic] Puerto Rico in the mid 1980s, I asked many big companies to give various forms of assistance  but the problem was how to get all of this aid down to Puerto Rico. I called Donald Trump, and he provided us with a 727 jet to take all of the donated material down to the island, and he didn't ask for any publicity for that generous act.

Stein added:

One day I met an African American woman on the street with her two adorable young kids. She was homeless, and I gave her some money  and then asked Donald to get her into some low-income housing in Queens. He came through, and did so without any fanfare.

He also pointed out that the president had pushed through criminal justice reform and has created empowerment zones that help economically distressed communities  and their poorer residents  through tax incentives and grants. In short, he has done more for minorities in three years than President Obama did in eight, and he deserves credit instead of rebuke.

The "minority community" can in fact be the deciding factor in November, which is why the left is trying to convince minorities that they would be better off casting their ballots for the Democrats. Not just liberals, but so-called conservatives have jumped on the anti-Trump bandwagon. Senator Mitt Romney has said he will not support Trump's re-election bid; former secretary of state Colin Powell stated that he will vote for Joe Biden. Some conservative online journals have gone so far as to already declare Biden the winner. Well, not so fast!

As House representative Vernon Jones (D-Ga.) said: "Why has my party become so anti-Trump [that] they've become pro-nothing? Why are they so actively rooting for America's failure? Our unemployment rate is on the decline. This is something to celebrate, not diminish. Thank you @realDonaldTrump," wrote Vernon Jones, referring to President Trump's Twitter handle.

In April, the black American lawmaker tweeted: "I'm a Georgia state representative and lifelong Democrat. But in this election, I'll be casting my vote for @realDonaldTrump. I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The Party left me." And he is not the only one  there are numerous other former black Democrats who will be casting their ballots for Trump.

Perhaps Jones and so many other Americans of African descent were not shocked when Joe Biden questioned their "blackness" if they did not support him when he said last month: "If you don't vote for me, you ain't black!" As an American of Italian and Latin descent, I find it repulsive that race is made an issue. Our being good Americans does not depend on the color of our skin or our ethnic origins, but on the upholding and promotion of the freedoms our Founding Fathers provided. And this is what is at stake.

President Ronald Reagan once said:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

In the end, those who vote for Trump will not necessarily vote for him so as to not give their vote to Biden. They will hopefully do so based on what he has done for the United States: the lowest unemployment rate (before the COVID-19 pandemic), being the first Western leader to halt flights from China to keep the coronavirus from entering the U.S., fighting against abortion, filling the federal courts with well-balanced conservative justices, taking on rogue regimes like Iran, not taking America to war as his predecessors have done, etc.

Trump is not perfect because no one but God is perfect. Nevertheless, notwithstanding any misgivings, as we all have as human beings, his reelection becomes more vital than his election victory in 2016.
Riders step off of the Route 109 bus on Friday, April 17, 2020. SEPTA has changed services during the coronavirus pandemic, but some members of the Transit Workers Union believe the agency is not sufficiently protecting workers. Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the important role workers of all kinds play to make our society function. Essential workers have put themselves and their families at great personal risk delivering our packages, stocking grocery shelves, tending to the sick, and much more. Public transit workers are especially important, as they help get essential workers to and from their jobs, and help those without cars complete necessary errands. Nationally, this group of workers is also among the most likely to become infected with the deadly virus.

In Philadelphia, over 200 SEPTA employees and Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 234 members have tested positive for the virus. Tragically, seven have died. The union is demanding that SEPTA provide death benefits for the families of workers who have died from COVID-related illnesses. SEPTA needs to accept this demand as just recognition of their workers putting their lives on the line to serve the public.

Because of how slow SEPTA was to act on keeping workers safe at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, TWU threatened a potential work stoppage just to get basic safety measures put in place. While SEPTA claimed the changes it eventually made were not in response to union demands, the agency only added these measures after TWU pushed. The measures, such as backdoor boarding and no onboard fare collection, improved safety for not only employees but passengers, too. SEPTA has also required riders to wear masks as of Monday, implemented some in-house testing procedures, and proposed a more thorough cleaning schedule. However, these measures came too late  and after many workers were already infected.

Kelly Cofrancisco, a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney, said: Health-care workers and other essential staff are relying on SEPTA more than ever, and its critical that we work together to ensure public transportation is accessible to those who need it. This was part of their offices pushback against TWUs threatened job action, when Cofrancisco echoed Kenneys belief that it would jeopardize many lives.

Words of support for transit workers ring hollow if they are not backed up with the money these workers and their families deserve. What employees are asking for should not be seen as a privilege or fringe benefit. Its the least employers can do to show their respect and gratitude.

Fortunately, the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority has shown that its possible to give some compensation to the family members of lost MTA employees for the pain and instability they have been put through. Families of MTA workers who died from the coronavirus will receive twice the usual amount of line-of-duty death benefits. The funds will come from the MTA operating revenues and additional funds they received from the federal stimulus. At SEPTA, however, families of employees who have died from COVID-related illness dont even receive standard death benefits.

 READ MORE: Fare breaks are great, but SEPTAs funding future still cloudy | Editorial

SEPTA received $643 million in federal coronavirus aid. While thanking essential workers is welcome, putting a portion of this aid money toward death benefits for the families of fallen SEPTA employees shows real appreciation. They are now taking on risks far beyond what they originally envisioned. As President John Costa of the Amalgamated Transit Union said: We didnt sign up to die on these jobs. While Philadelphia enters the yellow phase and quarantine restrictions are relaxed, the danger for SEPTA employees is far from over, and may even increase in the coming months.

SEPTAs general manager, Leslie Richards, can safely work from home, a luxury obviously not afforded to those who operate our citys busses, subways, trolleys, and trains. Richards takes home a salary of $330,000 per year, much more than the average SEPTA employee. Yet she has remained silent on the proposal for a one-time payment of $500,000 to the families of employees who die from COVID-related illnesses.

When Richards confirmed the deaths of two SEPTA employees at the beginning of May, she stated: Together, we will help each other through this. But how will the families of SEPTA workers get through the death of their loved ones without financial support? SEPTA needs to put its money where its mouth is and show its employees how much they value the extreme risks workers are taking to keep our city running.

Paul Prescod is a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and co-chair of the Philly DSA Labor Commission.
The decision followed a recent IMF disbursement.

The European Commission has green-lighted EUR 500 million in the second tranche of the fourth Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) for Ukraine after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the first disbursement under a new cooperation program with the Ukrainian authorities.

"The European Commission has provided a EUR 500 million resource to Ukraine within the framework of the 4th Macro-Financial Assistance," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Twitter on June 10. "Grateful to the EU for the positive assessment of the reform process in Ukraine. The received funding will enable strengthening [of] our economy amid the global crisis."

@EU_Commission has provided a 500 million resource to  within the framework of the 4th macro-financial assistance. Grateful to the #EU for the positive assessment of the reform progress in . The received funding will enable strengthening our economy amid the global crisis.  Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) June 10, 2020

"Successful cooperation with the IMF has translated into an approving response from European partners on the allocation of the next tranche under the program," Shmyhal said on Telegram on the same day.

"Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions for implementing reforms, which clearly strengthened its status as a responsible state. The funds to be received will be channeled into the national budget to cover spending on handling COVID-19 consequences," he added.

Read alsoUkraine-IMF new cooperation program provides for no raise in retirement age  PM Shmyhal

The Ukrainian Finance Ministry's press service, in turn, said that the tranche is a loan at 0.125% per annum with a maturity date of June 10, 2035.

"The funds will be used to finance state budget expenditures, help reduce external financial pressure on Ukraine, and improve the country's balance of payments," the ministry said on June 10. "Considering the state budget needs to finance immediate areas to counter the spread of COVID-19, receiving these funds will contribute to maintaining financial stability in Ukraine."

As UNIAN reported earlier, the IMF Executive Board on June 9 approved an 18-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Ukraine, with access equivalent to SDR 3.6 billion (about US$5 billion, or 179% of quota).
Anyone who likes the A-10 Warthog will know that the Su-25 Rook is one of the most resilient flying tanks, but the Republic of Georgia will re-tool and roll the plane for takers!

Reports reveal that Georgia is about to begin and power up a factory capable of building the Su-25 in numbers for anyone willing to arm up their wings with these rugged anti-tank busters, reported by Forbes.

There will not be a flood of Rooks to glut the warplane industry because the small country with a total number of 3.7 million people may not have the money to get the Su-25. Another is whether nations are willing to spend on the outdated plane too.

According to the Georgian minister of defence Irakli Gharibashvili, their nation has all the resources to build the plane, restore, and make more Su-25s for customers.

Compared to supersonic jets, the slower plane that comes as simple and survivable used to be on the frontlines of several air forces. About 485 of them are maintained in 24 nations air wings and is the 3% of piloted and with a fixed-wing, ground combat specialist.

It is a flying tank with thick armour with a straight wing for slow flying, and maximized for a low-level ground attack on light ground infantry.

Su-25-aged airframe still in service

Soviet Russia enters the Su-25 with the Soviet air force in 1981, soon after the A-10 was fielded as a ground attack and tank killer, both planes came into service during the US-Russian cold war. They were made to deal with tank forces on each side, flying iron tubs, according to Popular Mechanics.

Also read: Italian Minister of Defense Declares Commitment to Acquire Advance F-35s After Others Call to Stop Purchase

Americans upgraded, the Soviets downgraded

In the start, both were roughly equivalent but the A-10 got modernized with a new electronics suite. It was also toplined with a counter-measures and laser guides ordnance like the Hellfire missiles. Compared to this, the Su-25 used obsolete systems, poor ECM or no countermeasures, no laser guide weapons in the 80s and 90s. Pound for pound, the A-10 just outclassed the Rooks which were easy to shoot down, even by infantry.

The Su-25s were made by the Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing that was located in a factory based in the Georgian capital during the Soviet era. About 800 rooks rolled out starting in 1978.

The Soviet Union ceased to be in 1991, Georgia got the factory used to build the Rooks was left untouched. Siberia became the new factory to make rooks and upgrade them, though they were upgrading their Su-25s on their own.

Only a few Rooks were assembled to add more planes to their air force. They offer to update 300 of Russia's Su-25s at their plant.

But in 2008, the two nations had hostilities with the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia. Georgia sent 10 Rooks up against Russian but retreated due to Russian air superiority, noted in CBS News.

Georgia troops were attacked by the plane they help make, but three enemy Su-25s were shot down too, confirmed by Eurasia Net.

The outdated Georgian missiles were not detected by the updated Rooks, causing ECM failure and they were shot down.

Russia Rooks were not updated enough for the modern battlefield and very disadvantaged as the Georgian Rooks.

Despite Irakli Gharibashvili come-ons to get Georgian Su-25 Rook Ground Attack Planes, many of them are lying around with more facilities to update them as well.

But don't expect Georgian Su-25s to suddenly become a hot item on the domestic or export markets. There are hundreds of old Su-25s lying around in warehouses, bunkers and factories. Several facilities possess the expertise to upgrade them.

Related article: Russia Getting New Su-34 Fighter Bombers to Replace Su-24 After Turks Shot It Down

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CHANGZHOU, China, June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 10, Trina Solar Co., Ltd became the first Chinese PV product, PV system and smart energy company to trade on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Science and Technology Innovation Board (Trina Solar; code: 688599), also known as the STAR Market.

At the listing ceremony, Gao Jifan, Chairman and General Manager of Trina Solar, struck the gong, witnessed by assembled VIP guests.

Gao said: "Global warming and environmental pollution are growing problems, making energy transformation an extremely urgent issue. This will significantly impact our ability to leave a beautiful living environment to future generations, to find a balance among environmental, economic, and social benefits, and to achieve development that is comprehensive, balanced and sustainable. Inspired by the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and the Million Solar Roofs Initiative of the United States, I founded Trina Solar in 1997. For more than 20 years we have made great strides in the photovoltaic industry by focusing on innovation, branding, globalization and digitalization. This has enabled us to gradually become the world's leading provider of PV and smart energy total solutions."

Innovation is one of Trina's most important assets, a key component of its development strategy and the driving force of its growth. Trina Solar is home to a State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology, accredited by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and, backed by this state-level research platform the company has set world records for solar cell conversion efficiency and module output on 20 occasions. This has made a major contribution to PV price parity and has further consolidated and enhanced the world-leading status of Chinese PV companies.

Trina Solar's innovative development has enabled it to capitalize on the rich opportunities that the PV industry offers. It has established three major business segments  PV products, PV systems and smart energy segmentsBy the end of 2019 Trina Solar's global operations had produced module shipments totaling more than 45 GW and had grid-connected capacity of more than 3 GW, in addition to a large pipeline of high-quality projects. The company has also established end-to-end sales channels and networks worldwide, with more than 40 branches, and product operations covering more than 100 countries and regions. The company is committed to creating greater value for customers, continuing its pioneering innovation, expanding globally and seeking new market opportunities to provide ever-improving returns to shareholders, investors, customers and society.

Image Link: https://www.trinasolar.com/sites/default/files/01_0.jpg

Image Caption: Trina Solar issues first A-Shares on Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Board

About Trina Solar

Trina Solar is a world leading and total solutions provider for solar energy. Founded in 1997, Trina Solar develops proprietary smart PV solutions for large power stations as well as commercial and residential solutions, energy storage systems and photovoltaic modules. As the world's leading provider of integrated solar energy solutions, Trina Solar has also taken the lead in the world of energy IoT (internet of things). It is committed to becoming a global leader in this new and emerging sector. For more information, please visit www.trinasolar.com.

SOURCE Trina Solar Co., Ltd

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When Gov. Doug Ducey allowed Arizona's stay-at-home order to expire on May 15, 340 patients were in intensive care units statewide due to the novel coronavirus - the largest number since the beginning of the pandemic. Public health experts at the University of Arizona spent the week before publicly pleading with Ducey to postpone reopening, suggesting cases in the state were still projected to grow.

About two weeks later, the maximum amount of time it takes the virus to incubate, Arizona began seeing a precipitous rise in cases and a flood of new hospitalizations, straining medical resources and forcing the state's top medical official to reissue a March order urging all hospitals to activate emergency plans.

What Arizona is experiencing could be an ominous sign. More than a dozen states are showing new highs in the number of positive coronavirus cases or hospitalizations, according to Washington Post data, a few weeks after lifting restrictions on most businesses and large gatherings.

The spikes provide disturbing data points for the ongoing tug-of-war between federal, state and local officials weighing the economic costs of restrictions meant to stop the spread of the virus with the human cost of lifting them.

"Worse times are ahead," said Joe Gerald, an associate professor and public health researcher at the University of Arizona who has been part of an academic team providing projections to the state health department. "The preponderance of evidence indicates community transmission is increasing."

Texas, Arkansas, South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, Oregon, Florida and Utah all set new highs in seven-day rolling case averages Wednesday, according to Post data.

Montana, Arkansas, Utah, Arizona and Texas have all seen coronavirus hospitalizations rise by at least 35 percent in the weeks since Memorial Day.

Some states are pressing forward with reopening even as local officials point to data that suggests an increase, not a reduction, in the risk of transmission. The uptick may not directly correlate to reopenings in all states, as more robust testing or other localized factors could play a part.

Officials have also expressed concern that the virus could have spread among thousands of people protesting against police brutality, but experts said it is too early to determine the impact on case numbers.

Texas will begin allowing restaurants and businesses to operate at 75 percent of their normal capacity on June 12. The state set a new high in coronavirus hospitalizations for the third straight day on Wednesday and now has 2,153 patients hospitalized with the virus - more than at least 15 states have reported for the entire pandemic, according to The Post's data.

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, let his state's stay-at-home order expire April 30. As he lifted restrictions, Abbott said he was keeping a close watch on hospitalizations and the rate of positive cases as the state rapidly expanded testing capacity.

"Every Texan who needs access to a hospital bed will have access to a hospital bed," vowed Abbott spokesman John Wittman.

Steve Love, president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, said the steady uptick in cases was likely linked to activities on Memorial Day.

"People need to be very careful and continue to social distance," he said.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, announced Wednesday that despite rising case numbers, his state will be moving into Phase 2 of its reopening beginning Monday.

"Americans are on the move, and they can't be tied down, and they can't be restrained unless they make a voluntary decision that this is right for me and my health or my family," said Hutchinson, who added "there is no evidence of a correlation" between reopening of businesses and the rising case rates.

Appathurai Balamurugan, the state's deputy chief medical officer, said Arkansas is moving forward with reopening because the hospitalization rate had not dramatically spiked and the state is relying on contact tracers to determine the effect of reopening. He said only a small percentage of new cases were in people who visited restaurants, salons or other businesses.

Arkansas has established a new high in coronavirus cases nine times in the past 15 days, according to Post data.

In Arizona, Ducey, a Republican, has insisted he and his team expected a rise in cases to follow reopening, in part due to the doubling of testing statewide since mid-May. Leaders in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas and other states have also made similar statementsin recent weeks.

"We have anticipated increased cases in June," said Ducey spokesman Patrick Ptak. "We've spent the last few months working to increase capacity to ensure every Arizonan has access to care, should they need it."

South Carolina, which reopened most businesses by the end of May, has more daily cases than ever before, higher than a previous peak in April. Nearly 15 percent of all coronavirus tests statewide have come back positive. Hospital bed use is also increasing, although public health officials say that could be attributed in part to elective procedures put off earlier this year. The state set a new seven-day average for new cases Wednesday, the 14th time in 15 days it has done so, according to Post data.

"I am more concerned about covid-19 in South Carolina than I have ever been before," said Linda Bell, the state epidemiologist, at a Wednesday afternoon news conference, referring to the disease the virus causes.

Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, said the state would not reimpose any restrictions.

"Shutting down is not the answer," he said. "People have to be able to go and work for a living." He said South Carolina slowed the spread enough to "arm ourselves with the knowledge of what we need to do to be safe . . . We now need to practice what we have learned."

Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said drawing direct lines from reopening to increases in cases skips potential nuances that exist in each state. In Michigan, he said, a large influx of tests is contributing to a rise in cases. In other states, like Arizona, positive test rates are outpacing the increase in testing, suggesting testing is not behind the rise.

"It's not a question of opened versus closed. We were never fully closed and until there's a vaccine, we won't be fully open. It's a question of modulating," Frieden said.

Traditional public health strategies usually value the insight local authorities have and prioritize the decisions they make for those they serve. But as states like Arizona and Arkansas reopen, local officials have found their hands tied by state restrictions.

Ducey's executive order lifting restrictions includes language that prohibits mayors and county officials from imposing further restrictions to help limit the spread of the virus locally.

"I can no longer put in place restrictions, for example, on nightclubs. We can't do additional health restrictions on things such as masking," said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, who is prioritizing messaging urging people to wear masks and social distance.

"But we do still have control over our city facilities. Our senior centers are still closed. Our libraries are curbside only. With our city services, we're trying to send a message that we can't go back to normal."

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., a Democrat, has experienced similar challenges in Arkansas. As state officials resisted implementing a state-at-home order, Scott and his administration used executive orders to create what he called a "modified shelter-in-place policy" that included nighttime curfews, closing city parks, and limiting restaurants to delivery and takeout. But Scott said he eventually had to rein in curfews and other restrictions to comply with state law allowing bars and restaurants to open.

"That's the reason we've ramped up even more testing, data and mask distribution," Scott said. "And we're going to continue to find ways to get creative from a communications standpoint to try to continue to slow the community spread."

Different states have touted different metrics, making it difficult to assess local conditions.

Florida has not reported hospitalizations for influenza-like illness since the end of May, when the rise in cases began. In Utah, Republican Gov. Gary Herbert and members of his task force have emphasized the low fatality rate among those sickened with the virus, which is about 1 percent, according to Michael Good, CEO of University of Utah Health.

Health and emergency operations staff have pressed for further analysis about the impact of the rising case load on Utah hospital capacity, according to an official privy to the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal deliberations.

Herbert's office did not return a request for comment.

In Arizona, Gerald argues the spike is not due to increased testing. He says the statistical impact of a testing blitz toward the end of May has subsided, and two weeks of relatively stable levels of testing have still seen a surge in new infections. Mounting caseloads, combined with a corresponding increase in coronavirus-related hospitalizations and ICU care, he said, roughly correspond to the state's relaxation of distancing requirements.

"At the current pace of viral spread, we risk reaching or exceeding our hospital capacity sometime in July," he said.

Banner Health, Arizona's largest hospital system, sounded a similar alarm in a news briefing last week when Chief Medical Officer Marjorie Bessel showed data that the number of coronavirus patients in Banner hospitals had tripled in the past three weeks.

Banner Health told the state Tuesday it is unable to take any new patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation - a machine that helps patients whose lungs are so damaged that a ventilator is not enough. Bessel said her hospitals still have ventilator and ICU capacity for now.

Hospital capacity continues to be a concern in many states with spiking cases, according to local officials in the South and West who point to hospitals near nursing home outbreaks as most immediately at risk of becoming overwhelmed. Other at-risk facilities include those near rural areas without adequate health-care facilities of their own.

The White House has expressed concern about rising cases in North Carolina, where hospitalizations continue to rise and the state reported 1,011 new cases Wednesday. The state reopened restaurants, salons and swimming pools at half capacity on May 22.

"Our metrics have moved in the wrong direction," Mandy Cohen, the state's top health official, said Monday.

- - -

The Washington Post's Jacqueline Dupree contributed to this report.
Vietnam is thinking about changing its regional zoning to seven regions instead of six. Prof. Nguyen Quang Thai, Vietnam Economic Science Association's vice chairman, talks about the need for mechanisms to ensure theoperation efficiency of regions.

Professor Nguyen Quang Thai.  Photo tienphong.vn

How will the regional zoning affect the socio-economic development of localities?

Regional zoning plays a very important role in creating a connection space and maximising the potential and advantages of localities in the regions to create added value and promote socio-economic development.

Regional zoning has been implemented in Vietnam for a long time but has not been effective, remained loose and lacked linkages. Besides, a shortage of related mechanism, policies and regulations for the operation of regions also hinders the effectiveness of planning.

It is necessary to renew and update related mechanisms and regulations to improve the effectiveness of regional zoning. The organisation of regions is not mentioned in the Constitution, the Law on Organisation of Local Administration or the Law on State Budget. How could a region operate without mechanism, organisation or budget?

What are the experiences of other countries in regional zoning and operation?

In other countries, regions play a very important role. Many countries establish regional councils and they operate effectively, creating links among localities within a region. In France, for example, each region has its own administration, organisation and budget to operate. When making transport development planning, the region's council will consider creating connections among localities in the region. The council chairman was appointed by the president and represents the central government in that region. So no decisions made by the council will be dominated by any locality in the region.

What mechanism do you think is needed to create links and motivation for the development of localities in each region?

As I said, it is needed to renew and upgrade related mechanisms to create operational efficiency of regions. The Law on Planning approved by the National Assembly mentions the concept of regions and regional planning. But the issue is not mentioned in the Constitution, the Law on Organisation of Local Administration or the Law on State Budget. So it is necessary to propose mechanisms relating to the management of regions. We could propose to establish regional councils on a trial basis. VNS/Tien Phong

Regional zoning proposals Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung last week recommended renewing regional zoning at a meeting on Vietnams regional zoning for 2021 and 2030 to implement the Law on Planning. If the proposal is approved, Vietnam would have seven regions instead of six as currently. According to this plan, 63 provinces and cities nationwide would be classified into seven regions: northern mountainous provinces (10 provinces), northern plain and midland region (15 provinces consisting of 11 as currently plus four provinces  Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang), north-central region (five provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien-Hue), south-central region (eight provinces from Da Nang to Binh Thuan), Central Highland region (five provinces), southeastern region (six provinces) and Mekong Delta region (13 provinces).
Sammi Awuku, the National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called for wide condemnation of what he calls the National Democratic Congress (NDC) moves to undermine the electoral process.

Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Awuku said the NDC was inciting the populace, calling and threatening people and inciting people to cause mayhem and destruction.

The governing NPP also feels the posturing of the NDC is geared towards scuttling plans for a new electoral roll.

For us in the NPP, we believe that the NDC's deliberate attempt to intimidate people and the NDC's deliberate attempt to also frustrate the process and ensure that we do not get a new and credible register is something that should be condemned by all, he said.

Mr. Awukus comments follow a comment made by flagbearer of the NDC, John Mahama, who said his party will not accept the results of a flawed election.

John Mahama however assured that his party still prioritise peace when he spoke at a flag-raising ceremony to commemorate the NDC's 28th anniversary.

As the leader of the NDC, I wish to serve notice that we shall do all in our part to make sure that the country remains peaceful and that the electoral process proceeds smoothly.

The NDC has been at odds with the Electoral Commission and boycotted key meetings on the voter registration exercise.

The NDC was absent from the recent Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting on the compilation of a new voters register where it was announced that the voter registration would begin in June.

In December 2019, the NDC also walked out of an IPAC meeting meant for discussions on the new register.

The NDC's IT experts also walked out of a meeting between the EC and IT reps of the various political parties.

The EC and the NDC are also currently battling in court over the legitimacy of the electoral bodys move to make the Ghana Passport and Ghana Card the only valid IDs for registering to vote.

---citinewsroom
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, which brought the end of the Cold War and the downfall of the Soviet Union, the USs claim to the title of the worlds sole superpower and the American pursuit of a liberal, democratic and capitalist globalisation, the US acted as the world leader in which capacity it sorted other countries into retinue, opponents and exceptions to contemporary history. At the outset of that period, Washington used a colour palette to dub Eastern European revolutions. They ranged in hues from velvet to orange. Many years later, when it came time for the Arab exception, we had a Spring that burst forth blossoms from jasmine to lotus. Within less than a decade since then, it appeared that the USSR could make a comeback wearing a new Russian mantle and that China could revive the Cold War, albeit in different forms. Meanwhile, the Arab Spring yielded neither fresh breezes nor lasting flowers. But the biggest surprise these days comes from the US. It is as though history has gone full cycle. Rather than how the world is reproducing Western forms it is wondering how the US will endure the upheaval of this years spring through the coming summer and fall.

At the moment, there have been four approaches to understanding the USs condition and its near future. The most common proceeds from the murder of the African American George Floyd by white policemen, triggering angry demonstrations, clashes and rioting, that Trump summed up with his when the looting starts, the shooting starts remark. It essentially maintains that there is nothing new about the incident. The murder of black Americans by white police is a frequent occurrence in the US. Despite the differences in location and detail, the result was always anger, demonstrations and occasional violence, as occurred in Los Angeles in 1992. Ultimately, this, too, will take its place in the over 200 years long history of race relations in the US from the era of slavery through the US Civil War and other types of conflict, the 13th, 14th and 15th constitutional amendments, the Civil Rights Act and other such landmarks in the long quest for justice and equality.

Another approach sees it all about Donald Trump. It argues that the US was doing great until along came a president endowed with a cocktail of traits that would drive the country to combustion. Weve Now Entered the Final Phase of the Trump Era: The president is stuck in a vicious downward spiral, reads the title of an opinion piece in The Atlantic on 2 June. If the Trump era opened in a haze of uncertainty during his election campaign in 2016, the first stage of his presidency began with an axis of adults that imperfectly constrained him, writes the author, Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, alluding to such individuals as former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, former secretary of defence James Mattis and former national security advisor Herbert McMaster. We then entered the age of hubris and action during which he systematically rid himself of the adults and was free to follow his whims. The third phase was the reckoning as he began to bump up against the contradictions of his own approach, on China and Iran in particular. Now we have finally arrived at the long-feared crisis and unravelling.

This final phase is marked by the failure to handle the Covid-19 pandemic effectively, a reeling economy that threatens to leave 20 per cent of the US workforce unemployed, Washingtons exit from the World Health Organisation and an alarming degree of polarisation at home. At the end of this unravelling will come a lost electoral bid for a second term because the Democrats now have a sufficient edge in terms of voting record, support and determination to take the states that had given the White House to the Republicans four years ago.

A third approach takes us through a kind of autopsy of a mass phenomenon that brought hundreds of thousands if not millions to the streets in quest of justice and dignity, only for the movement to disintegrate into violence and destruction, and cede way to the soapbox stunts or power grabbing schemes of extremists and fanatics, such as the Muslim Brotherhood or Antifa. New York Times reporter Declan Walsh offers one take beneath the headline In Egypt, Images from American Protests Evoke a Lost Revolution. On the surface, the article speaks of how events in the US have rekindled the memories and fragile hopes of January 2011 among Egyptians who see a similar dynamic unfolding in the US. However, his real thrust is that the US, with all its democratic institutions, is different. Steven Cook, beneath the title Yes, Lafayette Square is Tahrir Square (published in Foreign Policy, 4 June), is more honest. He writes: A central thread links the unrest across the United States with recent upheavals in the Middle East  the basic demand of the protesters [for justice and dignity]. However, he offers a kind of apology for a period that would impart political lessons on the state of peoples and political systems in our region derived from ignoring the nature and dynamics of the mass phenomenon. It is a phenomenon that appears to have a logic of its own that proceeds from peaceful to violent wherever it plays out, be it in the US or elsewhere. In other words, Cook maintains that the US is not an exception to the universal laws of change.

The fourth approach, even if it may overlap with the preceding ones, takes as its premise that the US, by dint of its constitution and historical traditions, possesses the fortitude to weather the current crisis, especially since arbitration by the people is close at hand in the form of the presidential and congressional elections in November. Proponents of this approach argue that the crisis, in both its health and race dimensions, is far from new. In the 1960s, the US experienced the upheavals of the assassinations of President John F Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X. These events took place, moreover, while the Vietnam War was at its height. The decade produced the Civil Rights Act which was followed by the election of Richard Nixon whose first term was marked by widespread protests, violence and killing of protesters. Even so, Nixon won a second term of office in 1972, although he would not see it to the end due to the Watergate scandal. The American reaction was to elect Jimmy Carter, a liberal, so liberal that US voters ousted him from the White House after a single term, bringing in Ronald Reagan for two terms.

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Despite changing circumstances, polarisation persisted around the same issues: freedom versus law and order, government intervention on behalf of the weak versus laissez faire and rapid economic growth, and whether or not the US should lead the world and to where, how and at what cost.

In that matrix, Trump still has much to offer for those who see in him someone who will champion law and order, boost the economy, stand up to China and Russia and, above all, keep immigrants and refugees out.

The writer is chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 11 June, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Bananas in Java, Indonesia, infected by the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense, causal agent of Fusarium Wilt. Credit: Clare Thatcher

Pathogens that attack agricultural crops show remarkable adaptability to new climates and new plant hosts, new research shows.

Researchers at the Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter studied the temperature preferences and host plant diversity of hundreds of fungi and oomycetes that attack our crops.

The researchers found that plant pathogens can specialise on particular temperatures or host plants, or have wide temperature or host ranges.

Lead author Professor Dan Bebber, a member of Exeter's Global Systems Institute, said: "Traditionally, scientists have considered species to be specialists or generalists.

"Generalists are sometimes called 'Jack of all trades, master of none'. Our analyses show that many plant pathogens are 'Jack of some trades, master of others'."

Tom Chaloner, an SWBIO DTP Ph.D. student, said: "We have collated the largest dataset on plant pathogen temperature responses, and made this available for the scientific community.

"Our data allow us to test some of the most fundamental questions in ecology and evolution.

"For example, we found that temperature preferences are narrower when pathogens are growing within plants, demonstrating the difference between the so-called fundamental niche and the realised niche."

The researchers used recently-developed statistical methods to investigate the co-evolution between pathogens and their hosts, showing that pathogens can readily evolve to attack new host plants.

"In an era of growing global population size, climate change and emerging threats to crop production and food security, our findings will be key to understanding where and when pathogens could strike next," said co-author Professor Sarah Gurr.

The paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, is entitled: "Geometry and evolution of the ecological niche in plant-associated microbes."

Explore further Threats to global food security from emerging fungal crop pathogens
Zelensky: U.S. assistance to Ukraine on defense is another sign of strong strategic partnership of countries

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the U.S. Congress for the financial assistance provided to Ukraine in the field of defense.

"Grateful to the U.S. for its unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. $250 million funds for strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities announced today by Department of Defense is yet another sign of strong strategic partnership between our countries," Zelensky wrote on Twitter.

As reported, on June 11, the U.S. Congress approved a $250 million defense assistance package for Ukraine for fiscal year 2020 as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).
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Pompeo slammed for chiding HSBC's support of HK national security law

Global Times

By Yang Sheng and Zhang Hui Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/10 17:43:53

The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for sowing discord, calling his view "narrow-minded" and "ridiculous" after Pompeo chided British bank HSBC for supporting the national security legislation for Hong Kong.

Chinese mainland experts urged Western banks and other financial institutions in Hong Kong to respect China's laws and be responsible to their clients instead of betraying the clients' information to serve foreign forces, or they will also be punished by national security law.

Pompeo said HSBC's "corporate kowtows" got little in return from Beijing and that the US stood with its allies against China's "coercive bullying tactics."

Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry, stressed that Hong Kong affairs are China's internal affairs that brook no foreign interference, and urged the US side to take a correct view of the legislation, stop sowing discord, stirring up trouble and interfering in China's internal affairs using Hong Kong issues, and do more to contribute to Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, rather than the other way round.

Hua also said some US politicians are dividing people around the world into two types: those attacking China along with the US, and those coerced by China. "These views are narrow-minded and ridiculous."

Facing growing pressure over its ambiguous attitude toward Hong Kong's national security law, HSBC came out to clarify its stance last week. Peter Wong, deputy chairman and chief executive of HSBC, signed a petition to support the new legislation.

Faced with growing controversy over the legal battle with Chinese technology giant Huawei, HSBC had been under tremendous pressure in recent days.

Legal experts pointed to previous legal documents that they said showed HSBC might have set a trap for Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou.

Lu Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday that whether HSBC or other financial institutions, they should realize that if they want to do business in Hong Kong, they cannot use their influence and expertise to serve foreign forces, especially serving the long-arm jurisdiction against Chinese firms.

"This is also related to China's national security. Support of the new legislation by Western financial institutes in Hong Kong is a positive move that should be welcomed, but they need to show their support through actions," Lu said.

If the claims are found to be true, HSBC will no longer be a victim but a criminal set to face sanctions under Chinese law, Chinese legal experts said.

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On May 25, a young orthodox vicar, Reverend Nikola Radovic, was brutally assaulted by a gang of masked attackers outside his church in Bar  a town on the Adriatic coast  where he had just celebrated communion with his parishioners. His assailants were as young and as locally-born as he. Yet as they set upon him they claimed he was the agent of a foreign power.

Only days before, just 60 miles from Bar, I and seven priests performed a service inside St. Basil of Ostrog Monastery, one of the holiest sites of Orthodox Christianity. It was in private, without worshipers, and with a prior announcement made that the annual public Saint Basils Day street procession was cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. Still, the faithful had gathered outside in their thousands, and I went to implore them to respect social distancing, and return home.

The arrests began in the evening. We were taken from our vicarage. They continued for several days, with police brutalizing and incarcerating hundreds of parishioners as they came out in towns and villages across the country to protest our imprisonment. Then they moved on, detaining archdeacons and a further 25 priests.

This should not be happening in Montenegro  a country in the heart of Europe that is majority Christian, a NATO member and a candidate for European Union membership. We fear the reason why it is is money.

Before Christmas, a new law perniciously named the Law on Religious Freedom came into force. Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups  and their assets  now require state registration.

There are few states in the world that genuinely practice freedom of religion yet compel faith communities to first be on an approved government register. There are even fewer that stipulate they must additionally prove the ownership of property before 1918 with the government land registry.

When some 80 percent of Montenegrins are Serbian Orthodox Christians it means that this law in practice is a law for their faith. And when other religious micro-communities have distinct and special treaties with the state that protects them from its property stipulations, it becomes a discriminatory law against the property of the Church.

Land ownership in the Balkans  with its complexities of history and long-shifting borders  should be open to contestation. But in any modern country property disputes should and are heard in courtrooms. In Montenegro, under the new law, they shall instead be decided by the government land registry itself, with no right to appeal their decision in the courts. They have been appointed auditor, judge, jury and executor of all ownership disputes for religious property.

These are holy places of Christian worship, monasteries, hostels for the homeless, and farms that feed many hundreds of families each and every day through soup kitchens. They are buildings that fund university scholarships for young Montenegrins, sanctuary for the destitute and spiritual nourishment.

Those of faith and those in need cannot afford not to have their Church unable to support them. Yet with this law, those property are under threat, and the resources that the Church uses for good is in danger of being diverted to fend off fictitious land ownership claims.

Many faithful Christians in Montenegro fear this will occur. That is why, before the coronavirus lockdown, they came out onto the streets across the country to protest this wrongful law. Sixty thousand alone marched in the capital Podgorica  some ten percent of the entire population  gathered in a single mass demonstration, calling for its recall.

The government has reacted by claiming the Church is a foreign influence in the country, its priests and leaders not of Montenegro. Because we are called the Serbian Orthodox Church this can unfortunately be made to sound credible in the parliaments of Europe and the corridors of the US Congress. Yet we have had the same name across the Balkans for eight hundred years.

No one would suggest that the Roman Catholic Church is Roman, nor its priests and parishioners anything but local to the many countries where Catholicism is practiced. It is no different with our Church: our vicars, monks and worshipers are as equally loyal to their country of citizenship as they are subjects to their faith.

Reverend Radovic realized this, and his reaction to his brutal assault before his own church was the act of a man of God. When the culprits were found, he asked for charges not to be brought. He begged instead for forgiveness from his assailants, and for them to show the same grace through a donation to his parish. When they could not afford to do so, he gave them the donation himself  and they duly gave it to the church.

We wish only for peace and to continue to serve the people. We have no interest in politics. We believe that government should have no interest in religion. As in Luke 23:34 we forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And we pray that they turn back, and recall this unnecessary law.
Wary of defections ahead of the June 19 Rajya Sabha elections, the ruling Congress in Rajasthan shifted all its legislators to a resort in Jaipur to prevent them from jumping ship or being poached.

The Congress lost power in Madhya Pradesh in March and is on the verge of losing a Rajya Sabha seat in Gujarat due to resignations by its legislators. A similar situation also resulted in the collapse of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition in Karnataka. The Congress has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for these desertions and the fall of its governments.

In the 200-member Rajasthan assembly, the Congress has 107 legislators and also claims to have the support of 13 independents, two legislators each from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) as also one member of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

The BJP has 72 legislators and is supported by the Rashtriya Loktantrk Party (RLP) that has three members in the assembly.

Three Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan are going to polls on June 19. The Congress has fielded party general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal and state office bearer Neeraj Dangi while the BJP has named Rajendra Gehlot and Omkar Singh Lakhawat as its candidates.

After three of its legislators resigned from the party and the Gujarat assembly last week, the Congress swung into action and shifted its 21 lawmakers to a resort in Abu Road, Jaipur.

Rajasthan Congress leaders alleged that attempts are being made by the BJP to lure legislators with huge financial inducements, a charge vehemently denied by the BJP.

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot too claimed lots of money has changed hands in Jaipur and said there were reports that the BJP was planning a Madhya Pradesh-like operation in his state.Our legislators are intelligent, alert and united. Rajasthan is the only state in the country where 13 independents supported our government neither for any exchange of money nor any post, he told reporters in Jaipur.

In late March, five Congress legislators in Gujarat quit the party and the assembly ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections then scheduled for March 26. However, the polls were deferred due to the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown.

Three more Congress legislators resigned last week, bringing the partys strength down to 65 in the 182-member Gujarat assembly. The ruling BJP has 103 legislators.

With 10 vacancies in all -- eight because of resignations by Congress legislators, and two due to court cases over poll-related disputes -- the effective strength of the Gujarat assembly now stands at 172. A candidate will have to get 35 votes to get elected to the Upper House of Parliament and polls will be held for four Rajya Sabha seats from the state.

The BJP has fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramilaben Bara and Narhari Amin while Bharatsinh Solanki and Shaktisinh Gohil are the Congress candidates.

On Wednesday, Gehlot summoned his legislators for an emergency meeting at a Jaipur resort . They were asked to stay there but some left after attending the meeting; they returned on Thursday for another round of consultations.

The party has given time till Friday for all its legislators to move to the resort.

The Rajasthan governments chief whip Mahesh Joshi, in a complaint to the director-general, anti-corruption bureau (ACB), alleged that there were attempts to poach Congress legislators as well as some supporting independent lawmakers.

But leader of the opposition Gulab Chand Kataria dismissed allegations that the BJP was making any attempt to overthrow the Congress government in Rajasthan.

He questioned why the Congress was lodging its legislators in a resort when it is running the government in the state and has support of independents.

This shows that they have differences within the party and to stop that they have been camping in a resort and blaming the BJP. Who are they complaining to? It is their government in the state. 
Spain - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Sydney, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just released, this edition of Paul Budde Communications focus report on Spain outlines the major developments and key aspects in the telecoms markets.

Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Spain-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

Spains telecom market is one of the largest in Europe, supported by a population of more than 46 million. Mobile penetration is on a par with the European average and there remains room for further growth, particularly in the mobile broadband segment which has been supported by continuing investment in infrastructure among operators. With LTE almost universally available, the focus among operators has shifted to services based on 5G. Vodafone Spain was the first operator to launch a 5G network, in June 2019. The other players planned to wait until after the auction of spectrum in the 700MHz band, though the COVID-19 crisis has delayed this to June 2020.

The fixed-line broadband sector has also been backed by investment in fibre infrastructure, enabling providers to develop improved bundled services and to compete more effectively. The regulator has fostered competition by providing access to Telefonicas DSL and FttP networks, while network sharing agreements have meant that Orange Spain, Vodafone Spain and Masmovil have become significant operators. By the beginning of 2020 fibre accounted for about 67% of all fixed broadband connections. Telefonica alone expected to provide complete FttP coverage by 2024.

This report introduces the key aspects of the Spanish telecom market, providing statistics on the fixed-network services sector, and profiles of the main players. The report also assesses the main regulatory issues, noting the status of interconnection, local loop unbundling, number portability and carrier preselection. In addition, the report covers the fixed and wireless broadband markets, together with developments in related technologies, as well as analyses on the mobile sector, including an assessment of regulatory issues, a profile of the major providers, and a review of mobile data services and technologies including LTE and 5G. The report also provides fixed-line, broadband, mobile, and mobile broadband subscriber forecasts.

Story continues

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the global telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may also be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments

Regulator delays 700MHz spectrum auction due to COVID-19;

EllaLink submarine cable connecting Spain with Brazil to be ready later in 2020;

Telefonica joins the 5G Technological Cities project;

Orange and Vodafone sign revised network sharing agreement to include 5G;

Orange Spain adds ZTE as a 5G vendor partner;

Vodafone Spain launches 5G services;

Vodafone Spain contracts Huawei to upgrade its HFC network with DOCSIS3.1, launches a 1Gb/s broadband service to four million premises;

Movistar aiming to provide 100% FttP coverage by 2024;

Fibre broadband accounting for 62% of all fixed-line broadband connections;

Report update includes the regulators market data updates to January 2020, telcos operating and financial data to Q1 2020, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report

Orange Spain, Telefonica (Movistar), Jazztel, Ono, Vodafone Spain, Lebara, Lycamobile, Masmovil, YouMobile, Yoigo, Euskaltel

Key Statistics

Regional Market Comparison Europe Telecom Maturity Index by tier Market Leaders Market Challengers Market Emergents TMI versus GDP Mobile and mobile broadband penetration Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration

Country overview

COVID-19 and the telecom sector impact Economic considerations and responses Mobile devices Subscribers Infrastructure

Telecommunications market Market overview

Regulatory environment Historical overview Regulatory authority Fixed-line developments General Telecommunications Act Telecom sector liberalisation Interconnect Access Number Portability (NP) Carrier PreSelection (CPS) Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) Mobile network developments Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions Roaming Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)

Mobile market Market analysis Mobile statistics Operator market shares Mobile voice Mobile data Mobile broadband Mobile infrastructure 5G 4G (LTE) 3G Other infrastructure developments Major mobile operators Movistar Vodafone Spain Orange Spain Masmovil MVNOs Mobile content and applications

Fixed-line broadband market Market analysis Government initiatives Broadband statistics Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks Euskaltel Group Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks Movistar ADSL2+ Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks Regulatory issues Fibre market Movistar Vodafone Spain Orange Spain Masmovil Other developments Other fixed broadband services Wireless Local Loop (WLL) Wi-Fi WiMAX Satellite broadband Broadband Powerline (BPL)

Fixed network operators Introduction Telefonica Orange Spain Jazztel Vodafone Spain Ono Masmovil

Telecommunications infrastructure Overview of the national telecom network Next Generation Networks (NGN) International infrastructure Satellite networks Submarine cable Smart Infrastructure Smart Cities  Barcelona

Appendix  Historic data Mobile Broadband Fixed Companies

Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1  Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Spain  2020 (e)

Table 2  Development of telecom revenue, retail and wholesale  2010  2019

Table 3 Telecom revenue annual change  2010  2019

Table 4  Development of telecom retail revenue by sector  2010  2019

Table 5  Development of telecom retail revenue annual change, by sector  2010  2019

Table 6  Decline in fixed interconnection revenue  2010  2019

Table 7  Change in the number of subscribers by type of access  2010  2019

Table 8  Change in the number of LLU and shared access lines  2010  2019

Table 9  Change in the number of fixed number portings  2010  2019

Table 10  Carrier PreSelection lines  2006  2017

Table 11  Change in the number of annual number portings  2010  2019

Table 12  Decline in mobile retail market revenue, annual change 2010  2019

Table 13  Development of mobile market revenue by sector  2010  2019

Table 14  Decline in mobile market revenue by contract and prepaid sectors  2010  2019

Table 15  Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration rate  2010  2025

Table 16  Change in the number of prepaid and contract mobile subscribers  2010  2019

Table 17  Mobile subscriber market share by operator  2004  2018

Table 18  Mobile traffic prepaid and contract in minutes  2000  2017

Table 19  SMS revenue and messages sent  2005  2017

Table 20  MMS revenue and messages sent  2004  2017

Table 21  Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers by operator  2010  2019

Table 22  Mobile broadband (data only) subscribers by operator  2014  2017

Table 23  Mobile broadband lines by type (voice and data)  2011  2019

Table 24  Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration  2010  2025

Table 25  Growth in mobile broadband traffic  2012  2019

Table 26  Growth in mobile broadband revenue and annual change  2010  2019

Table 27  Movistar LTE subscribers and penetration  2014  2018

Table 28  Growth in the number of M2M lines  2010  2019

Table 29  Change in the number of Movistars mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Table 30  Development of Vodafone Spains revenue by type (new style, )  2013  2020

Table 31  Development of Vodafone Spains mobile service and total revenue  2013  2020

Table 32  Vodafone Spains quarterly mobile service revenue  2016  2020

Table 33  Change in the number of Vodafone Spains mobile subscribers and proportion prepaid  2010  2020

Table 34  Growth in Vodafone Spains mobile data traffic  2013  2020

Table 35  Decline in Vodafone Spains ARPU  2010  2020

Table 36  Vodafone Spain customer churn  2007  2020

Table 37  Decline in Vodafone Spains mobile customer retention cost  2007  2020

Table 38  Change in the number of Orange Spains mobile subscribers by type  2010  2020

Table 39  Development of Orange Spains mobile service revenue  2010  2020

Table 40  Decline in Orange Spains ARPU/ARPO by sector (per month)  2012  2020

Table 41  Orange customer churn  2010  2020

Table 42  Growth in the number of Yoigos mobile subscribers  2007  2020

Table 43  Masmovil financial data ()  2016  2020

Table 44  Change in the number of MVNO mobile subscribers and market share  2010  2019

Table 45  Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by type  2010  2020

Table 46  Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration  2010  2025

Table 47  Annual growth of broadband subscriptions by technology  2010  2019

Table 48  Fixed broadband lines by data rate (new style, Mb/s)  2016  2019

Table 49  Broadband lines by major operator  2010  2019

Table 50  Broadband lines by minor operator  2010  2019

Table 51  Share of broadband lines by operator  2009  2019

Table 52  Development of fixed broadband penetration by technology  2010  2019

Table 53  Change in fixed internet market revenue  2010  2019

Table 54  Development of fixed broadband revenue by platform  2010  2019

Table 55  Cable broadband subscribers by operator (regulator data)  2007  2020

Table 56  Growth in the number of Euskaltels broadband subscribers  2007  2019

Table 57  Development of Euskaltels network reach  2018  2019

Table 58  DSL subscribers by major operator (regulator data)  2009  2020

Table 59  Decline in the number of DSL subscribers  2009  2020

Table 60  Change in the number of Movistars fixed broadband subscribers  2010  2020

Table 61  Change in the number of Movistars wholesale broadband accesses by sector  2010  2020

Table 62  Growth in the number of FttP subscribers, consumers and business  2008  2019

Table 63  Growth in the number of FttP lines by operator  2009  2020

Table 64  Change in the number of Movistars retail and wholesale fibre broadband subscribers  2012  2020

Table 65  Growth in the number of Vodafone Spains broadband subscribers  2012  2020

Table 66  Change in the number of Orange Spains broadband subscribers by type  2012  2020

Table 67  Development of Orange Spains broadband ARPU/ARPO  2012  2020

Table 68  Growth in the number of Orange Spains connectable fibre premises  2016  2020

Chart SEQ Chart 70  Growth in the number of Orange Spains connectable fibre premises  2016  2020

Table 69  Growth in the number of Masmovils fixed broadband subscribers  2016  2020

Table 70  Growth in the number of Masmovils accessible premises  2016  2020

Table 71  Change in the number of Wi-Fi/WiMAX/LMDS subscribers  2007  2019

Table 72  Fixed-line subscribers, by major operator  2009  2019

Table 73  Fixed-line subscribers by minor operator  2009  2019

Table 74  Fixed-line (direct line) subscriber market share by major operator  2010  2019

Table 75  Decline in fixed-line revenue  2010  2019

Table 76  Development of Telefonica Groups financial data  2010  2020

Table 77  Decline in Telefonica de Espana EBITDA  2007  2020

Table 78  Development of Telefonica Spains consumer and business wireline line revenue  2015  2019

Table 79  Change in the number of Telefonica Spains retail telephony and broadband access lines  2010  2020

Table 80  Change in the number of Telefonica Spains retail and wholesale access lines  2010  2020

Table 81  Change in the number of Orange Spains subscribers by sector  2010  2020

Table 82  Development of Orange Spains financial data  2010  2020

Table 83  Vodafone service revenue by type  2017  2020

Table 84  Decline in fixed line traffic  2010  2019

Table 85  Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and penetration  2010  2025

Table 86  Growth in the number of NGN installed lines by access type  2009  2019

Table 87  Growth in the number of NGN lines in service by access type  2012  2019

Table 88  Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate  1999  2009

Table 89  Historic - Mobile retail market revenue and annual change 2000  2009

Table 90  Historic - Mobile retail market revenue and annual change 2000  2009

Table 91  Historic - Mobile market revenue by sector  2006  2009

Table 92  Historic - M2M lines  2004  2009

Table 93  Historic - Mobile subscribers: prepaid, contract  2006  2009

Table 94  Historic - Mobile market revenue by contract and prepaid sectors  2000  2009

Table 95  Historic - Annual mobile number portings  2002  2009

Table 96  Historic - Mobile traffic prepaid and contract in minutes  2000  2009

Table 97  Historic - Mobile subscribers by technology platform  2002  2014

Table 98  Historic - Cost per invoiced minute of use: contract, prepaid; all operators  2001  2009

Table 99  Historic - Mobile subscriber market share by operator  2004  2009

Table 100  Historic - Base stations in service, by technology  2001  2015

Table 101  Historic - Cost of mobile broadband services  2012  2016

Table 102  Historic - Mobile interconnection revenue  2003  2014

Table 103  Historic - Mobile termination rates by operator  2007  2013

Table 104  Historic - MVNO mobile subscribers and market share  2006  2009

Table 105  Historic - Mobile market revenue by contract and prepaid sectors  2000  2009

Table 106  Cost per invoiced minute of use: contract, prepaid; all operators  2001  2016

Table 107  Mobile price index  2009  2016

Table 108  Historic - Mobile broadband revenue and annual change  2003  2009

Table 109  Historic - Dial-up internet subscribers  2005  2013

Table 110  Historic - Internet users and penetration rate  1996  2015

Table 111  Historic - Fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration  2001  2009

Table 112  Historic - Broadband penetration by technology  2004  2009

Table 113  Fixed broadband lines by data rate (old style)  2004  2016

Table 114  Historic - DSL and cable broadband subscribers  2001  2009

Table 115  Historic - Broadband revenue by platform  2003  2009

Table 116  Historic - FttX lines installed  2009  2014

Table 117  Historic - Broadband traffic  2011  2015

Table 118  Historic - Satellite broadband subscribers  2009  2015

Table 119  Historic - Movistar ARPU  2005  2015

Table 120  Historic - Internet market revenue  2006  2009

Table 121  Historic - DSL subscribers by minor operator  2009  2016

Table 122  Historic - Telecom revenue, retail and wholesale  2000  2009

Table 123  Change in the number of fixed number portings  2007  2009

Table 124  Historic - Telecom revenue annual change  2000  2009

Table 125  Historic - Telecom retail revenue by sector  2005  2009

Table 126  Historic - Telecom retail revenue annual change, by sector  2002  2009

Table 127  Historic - Fixed-line traffic  2000  2009

Table 128  Historic - Subscribers by type of access  2006  2009

Table 129  Historic - Fixed-line revenue  2006  2009

Table 130  Historic - Fixed lines in service and penetration  2003  2009

Table 131  Historic - Movistar mobile financial data  2006  2015

Table 132  Historic - Movistar fibre (Fusion) broadband subscribers  2012  2018

Table 133  Change in the number of Movistars wholesale broadband accesses by sector  2005  2009

Table 134  Historic - Movistars fixed internet subscribers  2006  2009

Table 135  Historic - Masmovil broadband subscriber share by platform  2016  2018

Table 136  Historic - Movistar mobile subscribers  2005  2009

Table 137  Historic - Telefonica Group financial data  2006  2009

Table 138  Historic - Telefonica de Espana access lines by service  2005  2009

Table 139  Historic Vodafone revenue by type (old style)  2007  2013

Table 140  Vodafone ARPU  2006  2009

Table 141  Historic - Vodafone mobile subscribers and proportion prepaid  2006  2009

Table 142  Historic - Vodafone mobile voice traffic statistics  2006  2016

Table 143  Historic - Orange ARPU by sector (annual rolling)  2005  2014

Table 144  Historic - Orange Spain subscribers by sector  2005  2009

Table 145  Historic - Orange Spain customer churn  2007  2009

Table 146  Historic - Orange mobile customer acquisition costs  2007  2016

Table 147  Historic - Development of Orange Spains financial data  2007  2009

Table 148  Historic - Orange mobile service revenue  2006  2009

Table 149  Historic - Orange mobile subscribers prepaid and contract  2005  2009

Table 150  Historic - Yoigo financial data  2008  2016

Table 151  Historic - Yoigo mobile service revenue  2012  2016

Table 152  Historic - Fixed-line price index (old style)  2004  2011

Table 153  Historic - Fixed-line price index (new style)  2010  2016

Table 154  Historic - Telefonica de Espana revenue by type (old style)  2007  2015

Table 155  Historic - Telefonica de Espana fixed-line revenue by sector (historic)  2005  2011

Table 156  Historic - Telefonica de Espana wireline line revenue by type  2011  2015

Table 157  Historic - Movistar wholesale broadband accesses by sector (Spain, old style)  2005  2014

Table 158  Historic - Jazztel financial data (historic)  2008  2015

Table 159  Historic - Jazztel revenue by sector (historic, new style)  2012 - 2015

Table 160  Historic - Jazztel broadband and mobile subscribers  2008  2015

Table 161  Historic - Vodafone financial data (old style)  2008  2012

Table 162  Historic - Vodafone revenue by type (, new style)  2013  2017

List of Charts

Chart 1  Europe Telecoms Maturity Index  Market Leaders (top tier)

Chart 2  Europe Telecoms Maturity Index  Market Challengers (middle tier)

Chart 3  Europe Telecoms Maturity Index  Market Emergents (bottom tier)

Chart 4  Overall view - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita

Chart 5  Europe - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration

Chart 6  Scandinavia and Baltics: mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration

Chart 7  Northern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration

Chart 8  Southern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration

Chart 9  Eastern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration

Chart 10  Scandinavia and Baltics fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Chart 11  Northern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Chart 12  Southern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Chart 13  Eastern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Chart 14  Development of telecom revenue, retail and wholesale  2010  2019

Chart 15  Total telecom retail revenue and annual change  2010  2019

Chart 16  Development of telecom retail revenue by sector  2010  2019

Chart 17  Development of telecom retail revenue annual change, by sector  2010  2019

Chart 18  Decline in fixed interconnection revenue  2010  2019

Chart 19  Change in the number of subscribers by type of access  2010  2019

Chart 20  Change in the number of fixed number portings  2007  2019

Chart 21  Decline in the number of Carrier PreSelection lines  2006  2017

Chart 22  Change in the number of annual mobile numbers ported  2010  2019

Chart 23  Decline in mobile retail market revenue, annual change 2010  2019

Chart 24  Development of mobile market revenue by sector  2010  2019

Chart 25  Decline in mobile market revenue by contract and prepaid sectors  2010  2019

Chart 26  Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration rate  2010  2025

Chart 27  Change in the number of prepaid and contract mobile subscribers: 2006  2019

Chart 28  Subscriber market share by operator  2010  2019

Chart 29  Change in prepaid and contract mobile voice traffic  2009  2018

Chart 30  Change in messaging revenue by type  2005  2018

Chart 31  Change in messaging traffic by type  2005  2018

Chart 32  Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers by operator  2010  2019

Chart 33  Growth in the number of mobile broadband lines by type (voice and data)  2011  2019

Chart 34  Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration  2010  2025

Chart 35  Growth in mobile broadband traffic  2012  2019

Chart 36  Growth in mobile broadband revenue and annual change  2010  2019

Chart 37  Growth in Movistars LTE subscriber base and penetration  2014  2019

Chart 38  Growth in the number of M2M lines  2004  2019

Chart 39  Change in the number of Movistars mobile subscribers  2010  2020

Chart 40  Vodafone revenue by type  2013  2020

Chart 41  Vodafone Spains quarterly mobile service revenue  2016  2020

Chart 42  Change in the number of Vodafone Spains mobile subscribers and proportion prepaid  2006  2020

Chart 43  Growth in Vodafone Spains mobile data traffic  2013  2020

Chart 44  Decline in Vodafone Spains mobile ARPU  2010  2020

Chart 45  Vodafone Spain customer churn  2007  2020

Chart 46  Decline in Vodafone Spains mobile customer retention cost  2007  2020

Chart 47  Change in the number of Orange Spains mobile subscribers by type  2010  2020

Chart 48  Development of Orange Spains mobile service revenue  2010  2020

Chart 49  Decline in Orange Spains ARPU/ARPO by sector (per month)  2012  2020

Chart 50  Orange customer churn  2007  2020

Chart 51  Growth in the number of Yoigo mobile subscribers  2007  2020

Chart 52  Growth in Masmovil revenue  2016  2020

Chart 53  Change in the number of MVNO mobile subscribers and market share  2009  2019

Chart 54  Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by type  2010  2020

Chart 55  Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration  2010  2025

Chart 56  Fixed broadband lines by data rate (Mb/s)  2016  2019

Chart 57  Broadband subscriptions by major operator  2016  2019

Chart 58  Share of broadband lines by operator  2009  2019

Chart 59  Development of fixed broadband penetration by technology  2010  2019

Chart 60  Change in fixed internet market revenue  2006  2019

Chart 61  Development of fixed broadband revenue by platform  2009  2019

Chart 62  Development of fixed broadband revenue by platform  2009  2020

Chart 63  Change in the number of Movistars fixed broadband subscribers  2010  2020

Chart 64  Growth in the number of FttP subscribers, consumers and business  2010  2019

Chart 65  Growth in the number of FttP lines by operator  2009  2020

Chart 66  Change in the number of Movistars retail and wholesale broadband subscribers  2012  2020

Chart 67  Growth in the number of Vodafone Spain broadband subscribers  2012  2020

Chart 68  Change in the number of Orange Spains broadband subscribers by type  2012  2020

Chart 69  Development of Orange Spains broadband ARPU/ARPO  2012  2020

Chart 71  Growth in the number of Masmovils fixed broadband subscribers  2016  2020

Chart 72  Growth in the number of Masmovils accessible premises  2016  2020

Chart 73  Change in the number of Wi-Fi/WiMAX/LMDS subscribers  2007  2019

Chart 74  Decline in fixed line revenue  2010  2019

Chart 75  Development of Telefonica Groups financial data  2010  2020

Chart 76  Decline in Telefonica de Espana EBITDA  2007  2020

Chart 77  Development of Telefonica Spains consumer and business wireline line revenue  2015  2019

Chart 78  Change in the number of Telefonica Spains retail telephony and broadband access lines  2009  2020

Chart 79  Change in the number of Telefonica Spains retail and wholesale access lines  2009  2020

Chart 80  Change in the number of Orange Spains subscribers by sector  2009  2020

Chart 81  Development of Orange Spains financial data  2010  2019

Chart 82  Change in Vodafone Spains revenue by segment  2017  2020

Chart 83  Decline in fixed line traffic  2010  2019

Chart 84  Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and penetration  2010  2025

Chart 85  Growth in the number of NGN installed lines by access type  2010  2019

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1  Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment

Exhibit 2  Access and the local loop

Exhibit 3  3G licence results in Spain  March 2000

Exhibit 4  Overview of spectrum allocations  2011

Exhibit 5  3.6GHz auction results  July 2018

Exhibit 6  Overview of MVNOs

Exhibit 7  Narrowband and broadband wireless licensees  2000

Exhibit 8  2Africa submarine cable

Exhibit 9  2Africa landing stations

Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Spain-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

Nicolas Bombourg

nbombourg@budde.com.au



Within Australia

(02) 8076 7665



Outside Australia

+44 207 097 1241


Amazon.com Inc. faces a formal antitrust complaint from the European Union, an important step in a long-running investigation that could pave the way for massive fines or changes to the companys business model.

EU regulators will send Amazon a so-called statement of objections in the coming weeks amid concerns the U.S. retail giant may be shortchanging smaller merchants who sell on its marketplace, according to a person familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The complaint is expected to lay out investigators evidence into Amazons alleged misuse of merchants data on the online sales platform. It will also let Amazon defend itself against the charges, the first and main opportunity to fight back against the EU case before officials rule on whether the company violated antitrust law.

The worlds biggest online retailer is one of several technology firms that have attracted the scrutiny of the EUs powerful competition watchdog. Regulators are wrestling with how to act against online giants that critics say run a rigged game when they set the rules for platforms that also host their rivals.

EU officials have quizzed online merchants over the past year and a half to build a picture of how Amazon competes with its own sellers to win the buy box on its website. The coveted designation determines which offer  whether from Amazons own inventory, or that of a third-party merchant  is displayed to shoppers as the default option to buy a particular product.

As the operator of the platform, Amazon controls a valuable trove of data of customer shopping habits and hit products, information that can help it jump ahead of smaller sellers. Its also increasingly pushing its own line of private-label products, and critics have highlighted cases in which Amazon appeared to roll out copies of bestsellers offered by others. The Wall Street Journal in April reported that some Amazon employees had examined individual seller data when designing in-house products  prompting sharp questions from U.S. lawmakers.

Amazon also faces a Federal Trade Commission antitrust probe in the U.S. But the EU investigation is further along and seen as Amazons first big test amid widening global scrutiny of the power of U.S. tech firms.

Online merchants expect the EU to clearly punish Amazon for behaviour they see as harmful, said Oliver Prothmann, the head of BVOH, the German association of online trade.

All merchants are certain that Amazon is using the merchants data to make anti-competitive decisions for its own business, he said in an email. Amazon has repeatedly caused merchants to be blocked without proper warning, he said.

Amazon declined to comment, referring to a statement last year pledging to co-operate fully with the European Commission and continue working hard to support businesses of all sizes and help them grow. Amazon has also said private-label products represent about 1% of its retail sales and that its policies prohibit the teams developing Amazon products from using data from individual sellers.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the EU would send a statement of objections next week or the week after. The commissions press office declined to comment beyond confirming that the investigation is ongoing.

EU antitrust probes havent always opened the way to more competition. Googles smaller rivals complain that the company hasnt had to cede much despite a decade of EU probes and $9 billion in penalties.

Regulators are looking for new antitrust powers that could order changes without fines and are seeking rules for so-called gatekeeper platforms that could curb the power of big tech.

Google, Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. have also attracted fresh EU attention over how they might push users to their own services over competitors.

Read more about:




Haiti - FLASH : The extremist group Phantom 509 would prepare terrorist actions





On Wednesday at a press conference, Lucmane Delille, the Minister of Justice and Public Security declared "[...] There are serious threats that the group 'Phantom 509' utters [...] It is a terrorist group which threatens public and private goods."



Minister Delille reminded the supposed police officers and gang members of the extremist group "Phantom 509" that he will not yield under threats or by blackmail...



According to him, these individuals, made up in part of dismissed police officers, plan to attack the Ministry of Justice, the General Directorate of the police and the procession of the President of the Republic, at the level of the Police Academy during the 25th anniversary of the PNH [June 12] "[...] We have infiltrated them and we know what they are doing [...] But their real plan is to eliminate me because I am an obstacle for them," declared the Minister steadfastly affirming "[...] Bad luck for them, I'm the one here. They are terrorists. Everyone knows how to thwart terrorists [...]"



In addition to knowing what they are preparing, we know who they are, said the Minister, presenting several dozen photos which he claims to be those of members of the "Phantom 509" group and who pose as police officers. He said he had instructed the PNH High Command so that the police would track down and arrest all these "terrorists" as "wild beasts", notably the former police officer Djimy Cherisier aka "Barbecue" who is under mandate. He also asked for the dismissal of the police officers, if any, who would be part of this extremist group.



With regard to the actions planned by this Group, the Minister warns "[...] we say them attention. We swear that this mess will never happen again. If they try to come here, come what may [...]".



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30777-haiti-justice-a-police-officer-incarcerated-in-the-penitentiary-the-phantom-group-issues-an-ultimatum.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30787-haiti-flash-7-individuals-linked-to-the-group-phantom-509-arrested.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30755-haiti-security-the-group-phantom-509-soon-reported-as-an-terrorist-group-to-international.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30644-haiti-politic-the-group-phantom-509-target-of-the-justice.html



https://www.haitilibre.com/article-30755-haiti-securite-le-groupe-phantom-509-bientot-signale-comme-groupe-terroriste-a-l-international.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/article-30644-haiti-politique-le-groupe-phantom-509-dans-le-collimateur-de-la-justice.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30641-haiti-flash-violent-demonstration-of-police-officers-of-the-group-phantom-509.html



SL/ HaitiLibre


















President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized sanctions against any official at the International Criminal Court who investigates US troops, ramping up pressure to stop its case into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

In an executive order, Trump said the United States would block US property and assets of anyone from The Hague-based tribunal involved in probing or prosecuting US troops.

We cannot  we will not  stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement to reporters.

I have a message to many close allies around the world  your people could be next, especially those from NATO countries who fought terrorism in Afghanistan right alongside of us.

Attorney General Bill Barr alleged, without giving detail, that Russia and other adversaries of the United States have been manipulating the court.

Using Trumps America First language, Barr said the administration was trying to bring accountability to a global body.

This institution has become, in practice, little more than a political tool employed by unaccountable international elites, he said.

 Contempt for rule of law 

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell voiced serious concern and said the court must be respected and supported by all nations.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said he was very disturbed by the US move and said The Netherlands supported the court on its soil.

The ICC is crucial in the fight against impunity and upholding international rule of law, Blok wrote on Twitter.

Human Rights Watch said Trumps order demonstrates contempt for the global rule of law.

This assault on the ICC is an effort to block victims of serious crimes whether in Afghanistan, Israel or Palestine from seeing justice, said the groups Washington director, Andrea Prasow.

But the move was hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of Trumps closest allies, who has been angered by the ICCs moves  strongly opposed by Washington  to probe alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories.

In a reference to Israeli settlements, Netanyahu accused the court of fabricating accusations that Jews living in their historical homeland constitutes a war crime.

This is ridiculous. Shame on them, Netanyahu told reporters.

Trump has been tearing down global institutions he sees as hindering his administrations interests, recently ordering a pullout from the World Health Organization over its coronavirus response.

In The Hague, a spokesperson said the court was aware of the announcement from Washington and would react after examining it.

 Long-running US anger 

The Trump administration has been livid over the International Criminal Courts investigation into atrocities in Afghanistan, Americas longest-running war.

The administration last year revoked the US visa of the courts chief prosecutor, Gambian-born Fatou Bensouda, to demand that she end the Afghanistan probe.

But judges in March said the investigation could go ahead, overturning an initial rejection of Bensoudas request.

Under Trumps order on Thursday, visa restrictions will be expanded to any court official involved in investigations into US forces.

The United States argues that it has its own procedures in place to investigate accusations against troops.

We are committed to uncovering, and if possible holding people accountable, for their wrongdoing  any wrongdoing, Barr said.

Trump, however, used his executive powers last year to clear three military members over war crimes, including in Afghanistan.

Among them was Eddie Gallagher, who had been convicted by a military tribunal of stabbing to death with a hunting knife a prisoner of war from the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Gallagher had become a cause celebre among US conservatives, although Trumps action troubled some in the US military.

Founded in 2002, the International Criminal Court immediately ran into opposition from Washington, where the then administration of George W. Bush encouraged countries to shun it.

Former president Barack Obama took a more cooperative approach with the court but the United States remained outside of it.
Click here to read the full article.

Like many younger fans of the Doors, Leah Moore was intoxicated by their aura, their mystery, when she was a teen. The comics writer recalls being introduced to the band via 1987s The Lost Boys, particularly the Jim Morrison poster the vampire teens kept in their cave. Then, in 1992, she convinced her physics teachers to take her class to visit Morrisons grave during a class jaunt to Paris.

It was pouring with rain, absolutely battering it down, and there was us, a really unpromising gang of nerdy 13- or 14-year-old kids in raincoats, but standing there at his grave felt monumental, truly epic, she tells Rolling Stone. All the flowers, and the incense sticks, and the graffiti.

More from Rolling Stone

Now, Moore is tasked with writing her favorite bands history in comic book form in honor of the 50th anniversary of 1970s Morrison Hotel. Due out October 13, the Z2 Comics graphic novel will cover the album itself and the era that preceded it: the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, the moon landing, the Charles Manson murders, the gigs the band played, the times they were arrested and the iconic musicians they met. According to Moore, John Lennon will make a cameo.

I have loosely tied the stories to the tracks on the album, but also I am filling them with everything I can that puts you in that mindset, into that moment, where the album was made, Moore says. I mean, obviously you could write a whole book for each track, but I wanted the stories to just immerse you in one place.

Moore  daughter of Watchman writer Alan Moore  will also be working on the story with the surviving members of the band, Robby Krieger and John Densmore. If Im honest with you, the idea of meeting those guys blows my mind, she says. Theyre incredible, legendary people and artists, so just walking up and saying hiyeah, Im not sure thats even sunk in as a possibility. I know if it happens Im likely to gibber about being 14 in the rain in a cagoule and thats so not cool.

Story continues

An array of artists will lend their talents to the visual aspect of the book, with the cover drawn by Chris Hunt.

The Doors have so much theatre, and swagger and storytelling, theyre a totally natural fit for a comic, Moore says. The lyrics they wrote, and the energy they played with  I think the songs dont just lend themselves to the medium, they actually cry out to be comics.

See where your favorite artists and songs rank on the Rolling Stone Charts.



Sign up for Rolling Stones Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
A man who claimed that George Floyd and the man charged with his murder, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, had previously "bumped heads" at the same club where they both worked as security guards has said that he had confused Mr Floyd for someone else.

In a story that CBS News published earlier this week, David Pinney said that the two men knew each other "pretty well" but, after that story was published, he told the network that "there has been a mix up between George and another fellow co-worker".

"I apologise for not doing my due diligence and placing you in a very uncomfortable situation," he wrote.

Mr Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder as well as third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter following Mr Floyd's death. Mr Chauvin, who along with three other officers at the scene was fired from the department, was captured in a widely shared video pinning Mr Floyd to the ground while he was in handcuffs and placing his knee to the back of his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Attorneys for Mr Floyd's family have argued that the charges should be raised to first-degree murder because they believe Mr Chauvin knew Mr Floyd.

Maya Santamaria, the former owner of Lake Street's El Nuevo Rodeo, initially connected Mr Pinney with CBS News.

"She specifically said she was unable to give [detailed] information about George because she did not have a close relationship with him as I did," Mr Pinney told CBS in an email, according to the network. He said that had led to confusion about Mr Floyd.

Mr Pinney said he stands by his initial description of Mr Chauvin as "extremely aggressive" within the club.

The killing of Mr Floyd, a black man, while in a white officer's custody has ignited waves of protests against police brutality and systemic racism in policing and other institutions.

Police clash with people protesting over racism and police brutality







30 show all Police clash with people protesting over racism and police brutality

























































1/30 Philadelphia Police have clashed with protesters throughout the ongoing demonstrations across the US against police brutality and racism in the country, sparked by the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor AP

2/30 San Jose, California AP

3/30 Boston, Massachusetts AFP via Getty

4/30 White House, Washington AP

5/30 New York EPA

6/30 Boston, Massachusetts EPA

7/30 Washington, DC Getty

8/30 Minneapolis, Minnesota Reuters

9/30 Chicago Chicago Sun-Times via AP

10/30 Des Moines, Iowa The Des Moines Register via AP

11/30 Washington DC AFP via Getty

12/30 Chicago Chicago Sun-Times via AP

13/30 New York Reuters

14/30 Washington, DC AFP via Getty

15/30 New York Getty

16/30 New York AFP via Getty

17/30 Columbia, South Carolina AP

18/30 New York EPA

19/30 Philadelphia AP

20/30 Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

21/30 Hollywood, California EPA

22/30 St Paul, Minnesota Getty

23/30 Washington DC Reuters

24/30 Santa Monica, California AP

25/30 Los Angeles, California EPA

26/30 Washington, DC Getty

27/30 New York Reuters

28/30 Atlanta AP

29/30 White House, Washington AFP via Getty

30/30 White House, Washington AFP via Getty

Critics have argued that Mr Pinney's story had undermined allegations of racial violence because of their previous relationship while others have suggested that it could give prosecutors justification for first-degree murder.

Ms Santamaria told CBS that she "was not surprised" by footage showing Mr Chauvin with his knee on Mr Floyd's neck.

"Because I've seen Chauvin do stuff along those lines," she said. "What surprised me was that he didn't stop right away."

Asked whether she believes Mr Chauvin had a problem with black people, she said she believes he was "afraid and intimidated".
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 10, Just Eat Takeaway (Amsterdam, Netherlands) announced that it had entered into an all-stock agreement to purchase Grubhub. In May, Uber Technologies (San Francisco, CA) was in negotiations to acquire Grubhub (Chicago, IL). This deal, if completed, would have combined two of the largest online foodservice delivery firms in the US. However, negotiations fell through due to disagreements over price and the likelihood of antitrust scrutiny.

The deal with Just Eat Takeaway represents an implied value of $75.15 per Grubhub share, much higher than the $62.50 per share offered by Uber. Additionally, the foreign company's acquisition of Grubhub is unlikely to face the same regulatory hurdles that the Uber-Grubhub deal would have encountered.

Just Eat Takeaway was itself only recently created as the result of combining Just Eat (United Kingdom) and Takeaway.com (Netherlands) in a deal that was finalized in April 2020. The two firms had been concentrating on supplying software to restaurants interested in running their own delivery operation and when combined had only just begun building out its own delivery capabilities.

According to Packaged Facts analyst Cara Rasch, "This deal will allow the European Just Eat Takeaway to gain a larger footprint in North America, while it will also help to diversify Grubhub's business. Skip the Dishes, a subsidiary of Just Eat Takeaway, does a lot of business in Canada and could help the Grubhub brand expand more broadly through North America."

She notes, "Growth prospects for food carryout and delivery were strong even before the coronavirus outbreak, but the outlook is even brighter for these applications following mandated social distancing guidelines that have shuttered dine-in service or forced restaurants to greatly limit their dine-in capacity."

Rasch adds, "In the short-term, third-party restaurant delivery apps have a number of advantages over in-house delivery. They are convenient for consumers because they allow customers to order from a variety of venues using one application. They also can allow smaller businesses without the capital to invest in in-house development of effective online apps to expand their delivery services quickly in the wake of COVID-19, which has forced fast changes."

However, Cara Rasch states, "Some restaurants consider the commissions that third-party online delivery companies charge to be a burden. If they don't raise their prices for meals ordered via a third-party app, they are in danger of losing money in an already tight-margin business that has been threatened by lower overall restaurant sales during the pandemic."

Additionally, she explains, "In the longer-term, many restaurants are going to see the value of investing in an in-house system for delivery orders. Using a third-party company for ordering and delivery makes it harder for restaurants to develop a direct relationship with consumers. It is also challenging to ensure food quality since restaurants have no control over the food once it leaves the restaurant."

For More Information

Additional analysis of the food delivery industry can be found in Packaged Facts reports such as Food Carryout & Delivery, Food Market Outlook 2020: Home Cooking, Grocery Shopping, & Food Trends in the Coronavirus Age, Online Grocery Shopping, Meal Kits, Eating Trends: Restaurant Use, and Global Food E-Commerce.

Related information from The Freedonia Group, Packaged Facts' sister publisher, can be found in reports such as Foodservice Single-Use Products, Global Foodservice, Retail Bags, and Global Single-Use Packaging Regulations.

About Packaged Facts

Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer market topics, including consumer demographics and shopper insights, consumer financial products and services, consumer goods and retailing, and pet products and services. Packaged Facts also offers a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased at our company website and are also available through MarketResearch.com.

For more essential insights from Packaged Facts be sure to follow us on Twitter (@packaged_facts), LinkedIn, and YouTube.

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MOSCOW -- Investigators have added an "illegal drugs sales" probe to the high-profile case against Mikhail Yefremov, a well-known Russian actor who in recent years has criticized Kremlin politics in his one-man performances and now faces up to 12 years in prison for killing a person in an accident while he was driving under the influence.



A spokesman for the Moscow police, Vladimir Vasenin, said on June 10 that investigators are looking at "the fact of an illegal drugs purchase by the driver from unknown individuals," adding that the case against Yefremov has been sent to the Main Investigative Directorate of the Interior Ministry's Moscow office.



Earlier in the day, the Moscow prosecutor's office said that high levels of alcohol and drugs were discovered in Yefremov's blood samples.

Media reports quoted law enforcement officials as saying that, among other drugs, cocaine was found in the actor's blood.



Moscow police officials said on June 9 that Yefremov was drunk when he drove his Jeep Grand Cherokee at a high speed into an oncoming lane in central Moscow the previous evening, hitting another car. Yefremov did not suffer any injuries in the accident, while the driver of the other vehicle, identified as 57-year-old Sergei Zakharov, was rushed to hospital with multiple injuries and died hours later.



After Zakharov was pronounced dead, Yefremov was charged with "causing a deadly traffic accident while driving under the influence" and ordered not to leave Moscow.



A Moscow court ruled the same day that the actor must be held under house arrest until August 9.



Yefremov has pleaded guilty to the initial driving under the influence (DUI) charge and faces up to 12 years in prison for it. He has not reacted publicly to the new allegation.



Performances by the 56-year-old challenging President Vladimir Putin and his politics have been very popular in recent years.
City Councilman Joe Buscaino co-sponsored the proposal. (Los Angeles Times)

Two members of the Los Angeles City Council are calling for finding savings from the police budget  and plugging that money back into expanding a community policing program across the city.

Los Angeles City Councilmen Joe Buscaino and Marqueece Harris-Dawson declared in their proposal that "it is time to expand the Community Safety Partnership program within LAPD and begin to transform the department into one based upon community policing," citing a recent study that found that residents in the targeted areas felt safer.

But the move was met with disdain by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and other activist groups that have called to dramatically defund the Police Department and reinvest the money in other services to address community needs.

"It's a ruse," said Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles organizer Paula Minor, complaining that the move would simply put money back into the Police Department, instead of funding programs better suited to help the community. "This is another example of our society giving everything to the police  and the police cannot handle all social problems."

The new proposal from Buscaino and Harris-Dawson comes as Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city officials, including Council President Nury Martinez, have called for reinvesting up to $150 million pulled from the LAPD budget into programs serving communities of color  a much smaller shift than protesters and activists have called for.

Buscaino and Harris-Dawson did not specify how much money they were seeking to redirect to the program, but Buscaino said their motion was "not inconsistent" with Martinez' proposal.

The push to overhaul policing has gained new momentum amid ongoing protests in L.A. and nationwide over police brutality. But many L.A. politicians and activists differ sharply over what kind of change is needed.

The Community Safety Partnership, which was launched nearly a decade ago in Jordan Downs and other L.A. housing developments and expanded over time, has been promoted as a more holistic approach to public safety.

Story continues

Police officers apply for the program and commit to stay in the same areas for several years, working with residents on youth programs, job training and other initiatives.

In a recent op-ed for The Times, civil rights attorney and CSP program co-founder Connie Rice described it as a "guardian-style approach that rewards problem-solving engagement between officers and the communities they protect," needed to replace a "warrior enforcement culture."

A UCLA study released in March, whose funders included the Ballmer Group and the Caruso real estate company, found that the CSP had prevented crime and made residents feel safer.

The councilmen are not the only people advocating to expand the program: Garcetti called it "highly successful" last week and expressed hope that the state and federal government would help fund its expansion. At a press conference following protests, Police Commission President Eileen Decker said the city was committed to adding more CSP sites.

Buscaino, an LAPD reserve officer who sat on a UCLA research and evaluation advisory committee for the CSP program, said the city has "quantifiable proof" that the program works. He credited CSP with reducing homicides and assaults, saying that "homicide numbers don't lie," and praised the model for instilling trust between police and the community.

"I don't believe defunding is the right answer," Buscaino said, when asked about the criticism from activists. "Reform and reorganization is the way to move forward."

Local activists pushing to defund the police department excoriated the idea. Hamid Khan, coordinator of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, complained that "the underlying message remains that they continue to police their way out of the problem," arguing that money should instead go to youth development or other programs to address community needs.

Khan also pointed to a different study, undertaken by the nonprofit Urban Institute and funded by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, which found that residents didn't necessarily attribute the decreased crime in their areas to the CSP program and "generally do not trust the police and expressed concerns about mistreatment."

Harris-Dawson was not available Wednesday for an interview, according to his spokesman. The proposal to expand the CSP was seconded by Councilman John Lee.
New Delhi, June 11 : The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) said, here on Thursday, around 100,000 jobs could be created in the agarbatti (incense stick) industry in the next 8-10 months after the Centre decided to increase import duty on bamboo sticks to 25 per cent from 10 per cent.

It would strengthen the incense stick as well as the bamboo industries, said KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena.

The Finance Ministry recently increased import duty on bamboo sticks as part of the initiative taken by MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari aimed to discourage import and help local industry grow.

Import of bamboo sticks from China and Vietnam had caused big employment losses. The rise in import duty will pave the way for new agarbatti manufacturing units to meet the ever growing domestic demand.

The incense sticks' domestic consumption is pegged at 1,490 tonnes a day. But only 760 tonnes a day is produced locally. The huge demand-supply gap led to large-scale import of raw incense sticks.

"The import of raw incense sticks increased from just 2 per cent in 2009 to 80 per cent in 2019," the KVIC said. In value terms, it increased from Rs 31 crore in 2009 to Rs 546 crore in 2019.

The UPA government in 2011 had reduced import duty from 30 per cent to 10 per cent. It hit the domestic Indian incense sticks manufacturers hard, causing closure of nearly 25 per cent units, the KVIC said.

The KVIC claimed on its request the Commerce Ministry on August 31, 2019 placed the incense stick import under "restricted" category. While it revived hundreds of units in various states, like Maharashtra, MP, UP, Gujarat and several N-E states, it also prompted traders to import round bamboo sticks. The import of bamboo sticks increased from Rs 210 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 370 crore in 2019-20.

India, the second largest producer of bamboo in the world, is also the second largest importer of bamboo and its products. India produces 14.6 million tonnes bamboo every year. Nearly 70,000 farmers are engaged in bamboo plantation of around 136 domestic varieties.

"The duty hike will curb imports from China and encourage local manufactures," Saxena said.

Incense stick industry, a part of the village industry, requires small capital and little technical skill. It also employs women workers.

The Bambusa Tulda variety, used for making incense sticks, is found in abundance in the northeast region. The KVIC has also launched a bamboo plantation drive to make the country selfmeet the growing demand of bamboo in the next 3-4 years.
Technavio has been monitoring the automotive led lighting market and it is poised to grow by USD 4.73 billion during 2019-2023, progressing at a CAGR of about 10% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200610005684/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Automotive LED Lighting Market 2019-2023 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact

The market is highly fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Hella GmbH Co. KGaA, Hyundai Mobis Co. Ltd., KOITO Manufacturing Co. Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Magna International Inc., Magneti Marelli SpA, OSRAM GmbH, Stanley Electric Co. Ltd., Valeo SA, and Varroc Group. are some of the major market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

The increasing use of LEDs has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market.

Automotive LED Lighting Market 2019-2023: Segmentation

Automotive LED Lighting Market is segmented as below:

Application Exterior Lighting Interior Lighting

Type Passenger Cars Commercial Vehicles

Geographic Landscape APAC Europe MEA North America South America



To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR32155

Automotive LED Lighting Market 2019-2023: Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our automotive LED lighting market report covers the following areas:

Automotive LED Lighting Market size

Automotive LED Lighting Market trends

Automotive LED Lighting Market industry analysis

This study identifies the growing popularity of adaptive lighting systems as one of the prime reasons driving the automotive LED lighting market growth during the next few years.

Automotive LED Lighting Market 2019-2023: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the automotive LED lighting market, including some of the vendors such as Hella GmbH Co. KGaA, Hyundai Mobis Co. Ltd., KOITO Manufacturing Co. Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Magna International Inc., Magneti Marelli SpA, OSRAM GmbH, Stanley Electric Co. Ltd., Valeo SA, and Varroc Group. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the automotive LED lighting market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

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Automotive LED Lighting Market 2019-2023: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2019-2023

Detailed information on factors that will assist automotive led lighting market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the automotive led lighting market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the automotive led lighting market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of automotive led lighting market vendors

Table Of Contents :

PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT

2.1 Preface

2.2 Preface

2.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE

Market ecosystem

Market characteristics

Market segmentation analysis

PART 04: MARKET SIZING

Market definition

Market sizing 2018

Market size and forecast 2018-2023

PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY APPLICATION

Market segmentation by application

Comparison by application

Exterior lighting Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Interior lighting Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Market opportunity by application

PART 07: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY VEHICLE TYPE

Market segmentation by vehicle type

Comparison by vehicle type

Passenger cars Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Commercial vehicles Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Market opportunity by vehicle type

PART 08: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE

PART 09: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

APAC Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Europe Market size and forecast 2018-2023

North America Market size and forecast 2018-2023

South America Market size and forecast 2018-2023

MEA Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Key leading countries

Market opportunity

PART 10: DECISION FRAMEWORK

PART 11: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES

Market drivers

Market challenges

PART 12: MARKET TRENDS

Development of hybrid LED headlights

Growing popularity of adaptive lighting systems

Growing popularity of OLED lighting technology

PART 13: VENDOR LANDSCAPE

Overview

Landscape disruption

Competitive scenario

PART 14: VENDOR ANALYSIS

Vendors covered

Vendor classification

Market positioning of vendors

Hella GmbH Co. KGaA

Hyundai Mobis Co. Ltd.

KOITO Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

LG Electronics Inc.

Magna International Inc.

Magneti Marelli SpA

OSRAM GmbH

Stanley Electric Co. Ltd.

Valeo SA

Varroc Group

PART 15: APPENDIX

Research methodology

List of abbreviations

Definition of market positioning of vendors

PART 16: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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TROY  If youve noticed more squirrels around lately, youre not nuts.

This spring has brought out tons of the bushy-tailed rodents across much of upstate New York and the northeast in general say, wildlife experts.

Its not due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however.

While the phenomenon in which more people have stayed at home is believed to have emboldened some wild animals, like bears, squirrels are undergoing population growth due to weather conditions.

Theres not a lot of good data on actual squirrel numbers, said Paul Curtis, an extension wildlife specialist at Cornell Universitys Department of Natural Resources. But there do seem to be a lot more this year, thanks to a bumper crop of food sources like acorns last fall and a relatively mild, low-snow winter.

Its more of the natural influence, than the COVID-19 shutdown that has led to the boomlet, said Curtis.

Abundant acorns and mild weather also means there are more forest mice and chipmunks about.

The woodlot next to my house is overrun with squirrels, added Curtis, who lives near Syracuse.

Pest controllers say theyve done a brisk business removing the critters from homes or other places where they arent welcome.

Weve got quite a few calls, probably more on the squirrels than the chipmunks. We get calls from people hearing them in their attics, said Lisa Johnson, who is the office manager for her familys company, Family Pest Solutions in Schenectady.

Theres a human factor at work here as well, said Neil Tregger, co-owner of Hudson Valley Wildlife Solutions in Troy.

He believes that, with more people at home during the pandemic, some are keeping their bird feeders full all the time, which becomes a magnet for squirrels and chipmunks.

Some people just dump tons and tons of money into birdseed each week, said Tregger.

Squirrels and chipmunks have their feeding routines, not unlike perhaps humans, who automatically drive through the same fast food dispensary several times a week.

They are creatures of habit, Tregger said of squirrels. They keep coming back to the same food source.

"If more people in a particular area have bird feeders out more than usual, theres likely to be more squirrels in that area," added an official from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

The males, however, tend to disperse to different spots after breeding, which is natures way of preventing too much inbreeding.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Tregger said they halted advertising at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, figuring people wouldnt have money to spend on animal removal.

But they kept getting calls.

I think people just stayed in their house and realized whats going on in their house, Tregger said.

The rodent boom, along with the shutdown, may have some lasting effects - primarily when places like college campuses eventually reopen.

Curtis says wildlife will rapidly encroach on green areas that suddenly become devoid of people.

Any place where people would frequent and now they are closed, will be filled up with wildlife, he said.

That's been the case at the Siena College campus in Loudonville where Mark Frost, assistant vice president for facilities has reported an increase in the number of animals such as squirrels, chipmunks and some deer.

Dan Bogan, an assistant professor of environmental studies at Siena, noted that wildlife around the world has entered human habitats during the shutdown.

There have been reports of jackals entering African cities and coyotes roaming Los Angeles. More sea turtles have been going up on deserted beaches to lay their eggs.

Locally, he's seen a good half-dozen online reports of bears. "It seems to be a global phenomenon," said Bogan.

"It's surprising just how fast animals notice that we are gone."

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
Amazon has pulled a children's t-shirt featuring an image of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck from its website.

The garment was listed for sale through a third-party vendor for $14.99, before it was removed Wednesday by employees at the e-commerce giant.

A photo from the product listing showed the shirt being worn by a white child who sported a wide grin.

Amazon told the BBC it is now 'investigating' how the item came to be for sale.

The company prohibits the sale of clothing that features images from crime scenes.

Amazon has pulled this children's t-shirt featuring an image of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck from its website

Floyd, a black man, died in Minneapolis on Memorial Day after white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Floyd had been arrested for possession of a counterfeit $20 bill.

The entire incident was caught on camera, with vision of Floyd gasping for breath seen across the world.

His death sparked international outrage and large-scale protests across the U.S., with millions of demonstrators calling for police reform and an end to systemic racism.

Chauvin and three other officers have now been arrested over Floyd's death.

But while Amazon has now removed the the offensive shirt showing the image of Floyd and Chauvin, the website still lists at least one other garment featuring the same photo.

A third party retailer by the name of KonYor is still selling custom-made shirts which shows another snap of Floyd's arrest

A third party retailer by the name of KonYor is selling custom-made shirts which shows another snap of Floyd's arrest.

The garment features the words 'I CAN'T BREATHE' written beneath the image.

KonYor bills the shirt as being 'very suitable for fitness, leisure, home, travel, various activities and competitions'.

DailyMail.com has contacted Amazon for comment.

George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on Memorial Day as he was arrested by four police officers in Minneapolis. His death has set off nationwide protests
Belarus - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Sydney, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just released, this edition of Paul Budde Communications focus report on Belarus outlines the major developments and key aspects in the telecoms markets.

Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Belarus-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

Belaruss government and telecom regulator have in place three programs running through to 2020 which are aimed at developing the telecom sector and digital economy. Considerable progress has been made, in particular with enabling the mobile network operators to trial 5G services and with extending the reach of fibre infrastructure.

These programs were initiated while the country experienced declining economic growth (in 2015 and 2016) and formed part of wider efforts to secure economic growth through promoting the digital economy and developing the ICT sector. Such considerations have also encompassed a growing interest in applications relevant for smart cities.

There remain many opportunities for growth in coming years, particularly in the broadband segment where the incumbent telco Beltelecom is migrating its PSTN network to a fibre-based network. This will better position the company to offer a range of bundled services. Although the sector has been reformed, this has not yet resulted in the privatisation of the incumbent despite the government being pressed to sell state enterprises in a bid to reduce overall debt. Revenue growth for Beltelecom is expected to come from the FttP sector, where much of the companys capex is directed.

The mobile sector has also experienced some growth, with a rise in mobile penetration attributed to effective competition which has helped drive down consumer prices. Operators have concentrated on developing mobile broadband and data services with a view to capitalising on such services to increase ARPU. Recent spectrum auctions have facilitated the development of mobile broadband access, particularly in rural areas, while the state-sponsored operator beCloud, charged with developing a wholesale-based LTE network, has enabled commercial LTE services to be extended to about 80% of the population. beCloud is also charged with developing the network infrastructure to support 5G services.

Story continues

In early 2015 the government decreed that the 1.5% tax on revenue derived from telcos (which was put in place in 2007) should be channelled to developing universal telecom services, particularly aimed at rural areas. In mid-2016 the cash-strapped government increased the tax on all telecom services from 20% to 25%, while a Google tax was imposed from the beginning of 2018.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments:

A1 Belarus completes rebranding, opens standalone 5G trials;

Regulator considering end to roaming charges with Eastern Partnership Initiative countries by end-2020;

A1 Belarus launches an NB-IoT service, begins deploying GPON networks;

beCloud and Huawei 5G trials deliver data at 2Gb/s;

'Google tax' raises Br15 million in its first year;

Beltelecom closes down its dial-up internet and WiMAX services;

Belarus having almost 31,000 base stations in service by March 2019;

Beltelecom completes almost two million GPON connections;

LTE use reaches 80% of mobile subscribers;

Report update includes the Ministry of Communications data to March 2020, operator data to Q1 2020, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Beltelecom, Cosmos TV, Minsk TV and Information Networks (MTIS), Teleradio, Belcel, A1 Belarus (MDC), MTS Belarus, BeST life:)

Key statistics

Country overview

COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector Economic considerations and responses Mobile devices Subscribers Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment Historic overview Regulatory authority Telecom sector liberalisation Privatisation Interconnection Access

Fixed network operators Beltelecom Alternative Digital Network (ADN)

Telecommunications infrastructure Overview of the national telecom network International infrastructure Satellite Smart infrastructure

Fixed-line broadband market Market analysis Broadband statistics Forecasts  broadband subscribers  2019; 2021; 2023 Fixed-line broadband technologies Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks Other fixed broadband services

Digital economy E-commerce E-government

Mobile market Market analysis Mobile statistics General statistics Mobile data Mobile broadband Regulatory issues Licensing Radio frequency usage fees Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) Roaming Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Mobile infrastructure 5G developments 4G (LTE) 3G GSM Other infrastructure developments Major mobile operators Belcel/Diallog A1 Belarus Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) BeST/life :) MVNOs Mobile content and applications

Appendix  Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1  Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Belarus  2020

Table 2  Fixed lines in service and teledensity  2010 - 2019

Table 3  International internet bandwidth  2009 - 2018

Table 4  Fixed-line and mobile internet subscribers, penetration  2007  2018

Table 5  Fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration rate  2009 - 2019

Table 6  Forecast fixed broadband subscribers  2019; 2021; 2023

Table 7  Ethernet lines by data rate  2017 - 2019

Table 8  DOCSIS lines by data rate  2017 - 2019

Table 9  DSL subscribers  2009 - 2019

Table 10  DSL lines by data rate  2017 - 2019

Table 11  A1 Belarus fixed-line subscribers  2016 - 2019

Table 12  Fibre broadband subscribers  2011 - 2019

Table 13  Mobile subscribers and penetration rate  2010 - 2020

Table 14  SMS traffic  2007 - 2019

Table 15  Active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration  2010 - 2019

Table 16  MTRs by operator  2015 - 2018

Table 17  Mobile coverage by technology  March 2019

Table 18  A1 Belarus financial data  2007  2020

Table 19  A1 Belarus postpaid, prepaid and blended annualised ARPU  2007  2020

Table 20  Change in A1 Belaruss monthly minutes of use (MOU)  2010  2020

Table 21  Change in the number of A1 Belaruss prepaid users and share of total  2010  2020

Table 22  A1 Belarus mobile broadband subscribers, M2M connections 2012  2020

Table 23  MTS Belarus subscribers  2009 - 2020

Table 24  MTS Belarus financial data  2014  2020

Table 25  MTS Belarus financial data (RUB)  2014 - 2020

Table 26  BeST financial data (BYR)  2015 - 2020

Table 27  BeST financial data (Lira)  2014 - 2020

Table 28  BeST mobile subscribers  2009 - 2020

Table 29  Historic - A1 Belarus financial data  2007  2009

Table 30  Historic - A1 Belarus postpaid, prepaid and blended annualised ARPU  2007  2009

Table 31  A1 Belarus monthly minutes of use (MOU)  2007  2019

Table 32  Historic - A1 Belarus prepaid users and share of total  2007  2009

List of Charts

Chart 1  Fixed lines in service and teledensity  2009  2019

Chart 2  Fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration rate  2009  2019

Chart 3  Mobile subscribers and penetration rate  2010  2020

Chart 4  Active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration  2010 - 2019

Chart 5  A1 Belarus financial data  2010  2020

Chart 6  Change in A1 Belaruss monthly minutes of use (MOU)  2010  2020

Chart 7  Change in the number of A1 Belaruss prepaid users and share of total  2010  2020

Chart 8  A1 Belarus mobile broadband subscribers, M2M connections 2012  2020

Chart 9  MTS Belarus financial data  2014  2020

Chart 10  MTS Belarus financial data (RUB)  2014  2020

Chart 11  BeST financial data (BYR)  2015 - 2019





Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Belarus-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses

Nicolas Bombourg

nbombourg@budde.com.au



Within Australia

(02) 8076 7665



Outside Australia

+44 207 097 1241


Seoul, June 11 : The South Korean Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a previous decision on a longtime friend of jailed former President Park Geun-hye in an influence-peddling and corruption case.

The apex court confirmed the previous ruling by the Seoul High Court in February that sentenced Choi Seo-won to 18 years in prison on a string of corruption charges linked to a massive influence-peddling scandal that ultimately led to Park's removal from office in 2017, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The court also ordered her to pay a fine of 20 billion won ($16.9 million) and forfeit 6.3 billion won.

Choi did not attend the hearing.

The decision showed "the limit of the judiciary" and that the court failed to hold a fair trial by ensuring it was "not influenced by public opinions", her lawyer Lee Kyung-jae told reporters.

The final court ruling was reached three years and seven months after prosecutors arrested Choi in November 2016.

The 64-year-old was convicted on charges of exploiting her ties with the former President and forcing 50 companies to cough up a combined 77.4 billion won for two non-profit foundations she controlled.

She was accused of meddling in state affairs and gained access to confidential government files even though she held no official position or authority in the Park government.

In the first two trials, Choi was sentenced to 20 years in prison, reports Yonhap News Agency.

But the Supreme Court sent Choi's case back to the Seoul High Court in August last year, saying she should be considered not guilty of some of the coercion charges.

In a retrial in February, the court reduced her jail term by two years and slashed her forfeit to 6.3 billion won, while keeping her fine unchanged.

Throughout her trials, Choi pleaded not guilty, arguing that all the charges were fabricated under the pressure of public opinion.
The rapper who organized the take over of six blocks in Seattle now dubbed the Capitol Hill Autonomos Zone has accused President Donald Trump of putting a 'price on his head'.

Yesterday, Trump demanded Seattle officials immediately regain control of the zone, now known as CHAZ by protesters.

'Take back your city NOW. If you don't do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped [sic] IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!' he tweeted yesterday. 'Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!'

The tweet followed social media reports that rapper Raz Simone had established himself as a 'warlord' within the CHAZ, and was patrolling with armed men.

On Wednesday, video emerged that showed Simone and several other men confronting another man within the CHAZ, accusing him of tagging over someone else's graffiti.

'We are the police of this community now!' one member of the Simone's entourage is heard telling the man, who shrugs them off and continues tagging the side of a building.

This morning, Simone tweeted: 'The President really put a hit on my head. I'm not a Terrorist Warlord. Quit spreading that false narrative.

'The world has NEVER been ready for a strong black man. We have been peaceful and nothing else. If I die don't let it be in vain.'

Leaked video from inside the CHAZ shows Simone (left and right) confronting a tagger (in tan hat) who was painting over someone else's graffiti, in an altercation that turned violent

In an altercation with a graffiti artist, Simone (above) or a member of his entourage shouted 'We are the police now'

The video shows the confrontation escalate quickly as Simone's entourage demands the tagger leave, as shoving breaks out and someone shouts 'chill, chill!'

Shouting continues as the tagger is driven away and followed for several several blocks.

'For your own safety, you need to go,' the woman filing the video is heard telling the tagger at one point. 'We had to get to the point where physically addressing it was the best way to get our point across.'

Simone has called for the long-term occupation of the area, tweeting: 'Come out now & hold it down.'

'Well be here as long as it takes so bring a tent and a blanket,' he added.

It followed astonishing developments in Seattle, where protesters have established what they call the 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,' or CHAZ, setting up barricades and armed checkpoints and declaring that police are not allowed inside the zone.

The zone, which includes apartment buildings and businesses, also contains the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct, which cops abandoned on Monday after receiving a threat that the station would be overrun and burned down. A defaced sign outside the precinct now reads 'Seattle People Department'.

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, left, talks with activist Raz Simone, right front, and others near a plywood-covered and closed Seattle police precinct behind them Tuesday, June 9, 2020, in Seattle, following protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis

In an altercation with a graffiti artist, Simone (above) or a member of his entourage shouted 'We are the police now'

A map created by protesters shows the 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone', or CHAZ, in Seattle, where protesters are manning barricades and controlling entry. The CHAZ includes apartments, businesses, and an abandoned police precinct

Armed protesters have been spotting manning checkpoints where they check identification and frisk people at entrances to the zone.

Police say they have received complaints that protesters are demanding cash to enter the zone, as well as 'protection fees' from businesses under their control.

Seattle Police Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette said at a press conference on Wednesday that, while Washington is an open carry state where firearms are allowed, it is a crime to use them to threaten or intimidate others.

She urged anyone who was subjected to demands by protesters to call 911, describing their alleged behavior as extortion.

However, police sources say that the department is now only responding to priority calls of a violent crime in progress, and it is unclear whether they would be able to do more than take a report over the phone.

Anti-police protesters disputed Nollette's description of what was happening inside the so-called autonomous zone.

'This could literally not be less true. It's incredibly open and peaceful in the CHAZ. The businesses that are open are selling flowers, turning their parking lots into med tents, putting supportive signs in their windows,' one person tweeted.

A reporter for KIRO-FM was granted entry to the CHAZ on Tuesday, and said that free food and medical aid was available for demonstrators on every corner.

Armed men are seen manning checkpoints controlling entry to the CHAZ. Police say they have received complaints that protesters are demanding cash to enter the zone, and shaking down businesses inside for 'protection money'

Layers of makeshift barricades protect the protesters inside the CHAZ from any incursion by police

A defaced sign on the exterior of the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct is seen on Tuesday in Seattle, Washington. The station was abandoned on Monday and is now under the control of the CHAZ authorities

Some food and supplies were also distributed to the homeless population in the surrounding area, and protesters were organizing a garbage collection for Wednesday, the reporter said.

On Wednesday night, demonstrators in the zone settled in to watch the documentary Paris Is Burning on a portable projector set up in the street. The film focuses on drag queens living in New York City.

Nollette, the police official, said that while there is no police presence inside the zone now, 'we are working on reopening a dialogue.'

She said that the department hopes to reopen the precinct to so that they can improve Seattle Police's response time and allow detectives to continue working on criminal investigation cases.

The protesters have said that they will retain control of the zone until their demands are met, including that the Seattle police department be disbanded, and that Mayor Jenny Durkan resign.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Governor Inslee, a Democrat, pleaded ignorance of the CHAZ and said he had not heard of the developments in Seattle.

On Tuesday night, around 300 protesters teporarily took over Seattle City Hall, carrying Black Lives Matter banners and calling for Mayor Durkan to stand down, chanting 'Durkan must go!'

The group was led by Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, who unlocked the building and welcomed the protesters inside.

Footage shared on social media showed demonstrators giving impassioned speeches, saying calls for an end to systemic racism and police brutality following Floyd's death are 'making history'.

'Do you guys see what we're doing here? Do you really I really see the magnitude of what we're doing here?' one speaker is heard telling the crowds.

Barricades are seen at the perimeter of the CHAZ, declaring the zone to be 'cop free'

Another barricade declares the CHAZ to be a sovereign entity independent from the United States of America

A man carrying an automatic weapon works security at a checkpoint to the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" on June 10, 2020 in Seattle, Washington

On Tuesday, protesters temporarily took over Seattle City Hall (pictured) to demand the mayor's resignation, after setting up a six-block autonomous zone as a memorial to George Floyd and suing city cops over their aggressive tactics

'First time in this building and we're making history.'

The crowd camped out inside the government building for only around an hour before continuing to the newly-created 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone' - a zone occupied by demonstrators around a police precinct.

Durkan has come under fire over her handling of the civil unrest in the city, with calls mounting for her to resign.

Sawant - a staunch critic of the mayor - demanded Durkan step down and blamed her for the 'violence and brutality' of cops against protesters.

'If Mayor Durkan refuses to step aside, it will be the responsibility of the City Council to remove her, by introducing articles of impeachment,' Sawant said last week.

'The police have inflicted tear gas, mace, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, curfews, arrests and other repressive tactics on Seattle activists and residents - including children - in an attempt to bully and silence the protest movement.'

Tuesday's takeover of City Hall came just hours after a Black Lives Matter group sued the city over the 'unnecessary violence' carried out by cops against protesters across the city.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, Korematsu Center at Seattle University School of Law and the law firm Perkins Coie filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County.

'These daily demonstrations are fueled by people from all over the city who demand that police stop using excessive force against Black people, and they demand that Seattle dismantle its racist systems of oppression,' Livio De La Cruz, board member of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, said in a statement about the suit.

'It is unacceptable that the Seattle Police Department would then respond to these demonstrations with more excessive force, including using tear gas and flashbang grenades.'

The suit says the use of chemical agents violates the Fourth Amendment and First Amendment rights of protesters and brands the use of such tools 'reckless' amid the respiratory COVID-19 pandemic.

A sign on a food stand within the CHAZ demands that police be stripped of legal protections they receive on the job

The peaceful crowd camped out inside the government building for only around an hour before continuing the peaceful march to the newly created 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone'

The protesters marched through the streets of Seattle to the 'free zone' after occupying City Hall for around an hour

Cops have been caught on camera acting aggressively and blasting tear gas and pepper spray in the faces of peaceful protesters during the weeks of civil unrest following Floyd's death on Memorial Day.

Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best issued an apology to demonstrators over the heavy-handed tactics of officers and banned the use of tear gas for at least 30 days from Friday.

Just two nights later, some cops were still seen using tear gas, pepper spray and blast ball grenades against crowds Sunday night.

'CS gas has been authorized,' the Seattle Police Department tweeted Sunday after midnight about the backpedaling.

'In the interest of public and life safety, leave the area now.'

This came after protests turned violent when a man plowed his car into crowds and shot a 27-year-old protester.

Following a backlash over the renewed use of force, officers removed barricades from around the police department's East Precinct in Capitol Hill Monday, leading protesters to set up the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone around it.

The area had been the site of tension and terse stand-offs between law enforcement and demonstrators before police boarded up the precinct and retreated from the area - a move Best described as an exercise in 'trust and deescalation.'

The six-block radius has since become something of a camp where protesters gather each night to hold memorials for Floyd and march in front of the building.

Protesters describe it as a 'free zone' as it is free of cops and cars, and it contains tents for people looking to camp the night.

Durkan's office told DailyMail.com in a statement that the city is 'facing its most challenging time in its history'.

'As the person who originally investigated the Seattle Police Department for the unconstitutional use of force, Mayor Durkan believes that SPD can lead the nation on continued reforms and accountability, but knows this week has eroded trust at a time when trust is most crucial,' the office said Wednesday.
More than 1,000 local women travelled to Britain last year for abortion care, it has emerged.

New figures from the UK's Department of Health reveal that 1,014 women with addresses here made the journey to England and Wales in 2019 to terminate a pregnancy - the equivalent of 19 every week.

The figures for last year were slightly lower than the 1,053 recorded in 2018.

The department says the current levels also remain substantially lower than the peak of 1,855 Northern Ireland resident abortions in 1990.

In 2019 there were 2,135 abortions to women recorded as residing outside England and Wales, a decrease from 4,687 in 2018.

Most non-residents came from Northern Ireland (47.5%) and the Irish Republic (17.6%).

A further 375 women and girls from the Republic accessed abortions in England and Wales last year, down from 2,879 in 2018.

Abortion services became available in the Republic in January 2019.

Our restrictive abortion laws were changed by MPs last October while the Stormont Assembly was still in limbo.

They provide for terminations on request for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and up to 24 weeks where there is a risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.

Abortion is also available in cases of severe and fatal foetal abnormalities with no gestational limit, as well as for conditions such as Down's syndrome.

Earlier this month MLAs voted in opposition to the new abortion law.

A DUP motion rejecting the "imposition" of abortion regulations by Westminster passed by 46 votes to 40.

Some SDLP, UUP and Alliance Party representatives voted with the DUP, but others opposed the party.

While the motion rejected the new regulations in their entirety, it focused on the regulation that permits abortions up to birth in cases of severe disability. It referenced the campaign by disability rights activists Heidi Crowter, who has Down's syndrome and who claims such laws are discriminatory.

Sinn Fein had tabled an amendment that also called for the rejection of the non-fatal disability regulation, but did not include any demand for the broader regulations to be axed.

That amendment was defeated 52 votes to 32. MPs are due to vote on the abortion regulations, which were introduced in March, in the House of Commons later this month.

If they are voted down the Government would face the prospect of having to redraw the legislation.

Emma Campbell, co-convener of Alliance for Choice Belfast, said the latest statistics demonstrated the current law is not working for Northern Ireland.

She said: "The NI Department of Health must issue immediate guidance to all relevant medical professionals on the availability of care pathways in Northern Ireland and follow-up care pathways. "We watched recently in Stormont as the same medically unsound and highly emotive language was used in an attempt to water down our own access to care.

"While abortion care in England is funded for many people, this does not absolve the Northern Ireland Office of their duty to uphold our human rights.

"We urge the Northern Ireland Office and NI Department of Heath to ensure there is free, safe, legal and local abortion care in line with the regulations.

The Department of Health recently confirmed that a total of 129 medical abortions had been carried out here between March 31 and May 22.
 Flash

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday discussed developments in Libya and in the Syria's Idlib over the phone, the Turkish Communications Directorate said.

They also discussed the anti-coronavirus precautions and the measures in the post-pandemic period, the directorate said in a statement.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi announced on June 6 an initiative to end the Libyan conflict following his meeting in Cairo with Libyan east-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Libya has been locked in a civil war since the ouster and killing of the former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The power has been politically divided between two rival governments: the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli and a government in the northeastern city of Tobruk allied with the Haftar-led Libyan National Army (LNA).

Haftar's forces launched a military operation against the GNA and the capital Tripoli in April 2019, before the GNA announced on June 4 the takeover of the entire Tripoli by expelling the rival east-based army.

Turkey has been supporting and providing military support to the GNA since a military pact was signed between the two sides last November.




When Profits and Politics Drive Science: The Hazards of Rushing a Coronavirus Vaccine at Warp Speed

More than 100 companies are competing to be first in the race to get a COVID-19 vaccine to market. Its a race against time, not because the death rate is climbing but because it is falling  to the point where there could soon be too few subjects to prove the effectiveness of the drug.

So says Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company that is a frontrunner in the race. Soriot said on May 24th,

The vaccine has to work and thats one question, and the other question is, even if it works, we have to be able to demonstrate it. We have to run as fast as possible before the disease disappears so we can demonstrate that the vaccine is effective.

If the disease is disappearing of its own accord, why throw billions of dollars at developing a vaccine? The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already agreed to provide up to $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca and another $483 million to US frontrunner Moderna to develop their experimental candidates. As American taxpayers, we are justified in asking why, writes William Haseltine in Forbes.

Both companies have attracted billions from private investors and dont need taxpayer money, and the governments speculative bets are being made on unproven technologies in the early stages of testing. The profits will go to the companies and their shareholders, while the liabilities will be borne by the public. Vaccine manufacturers are protected from liability for vaccine injuries by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and the 2005 PREP Act, which impose damages instead on the US government and US taxpayers.

Long-term systemic effects including cancer, Alzheimers disease, autoimmune disease, and infertility can take decades to develop. But the stage is already being set for mandatory vaccinations that will be deployed by the US military as soon as the end of the year. The HHS in conjunction with the Department of Defense has awarded a $138 million contract for 600 million syringes prefilled with coronavirus vaccine, individually marked with trackable RFID chips. Thats enough for two doses for nearly the entire US population.

COVID-19, like other coronaviruses, is expected to mutate at least every season, raising serious questions about claims that any vaccine will work. A successful vaccine has never been developed for any of the many strains of coronaviruses despite 30 years of effort, due to the nature of the virus itself. In fact vaccinated people can have a higher chance of serious illness and death when later exposed to another strain of the virus, a phenomenon known as virus interference. An earlier SARS vaccine touted as effective because it produced antibodies to the virus never made it to market because the laboratory animals contracted more serious symptoms on re-infection, and most of them died. In reports from China and South Korea, even people who have previously recovered from COVID-19 have become re-infected with the virus. If antibodies created naturally in response to the wild virus dont protect against future infections, the weaker vaccine-triggered antibodies wont work either.

Researchers working with the AstraZeneca vaccine claimed success in preliminary studies because its lab monkeys all survived and formed antibodies to COVID-19, but data reported later showed that the animals all became infected when challenged, raising serious doubts about the vaccines effectiveness. But these concerns have not deterred the HHS, which is proceeding at Warp Speed to get the new technologies on the market.

Fast-tracking Modernas mRNA Vaccine

Biotech company Moderna, the US frontrunner, has been allowed to skip animal trials altogether before rushing to human trials. It has gotten fast-track approval from the FDA for its messenger RNA vaccine, an innovation that has never been approved for marketing or proven in a large-scale clinical trial. The major advantage of mRNA vaccines is the speed with which they can be deployed. Created in a lab rather than from a real virus, they can be mass-produced cost-effectively on a large scale and do not require uninterrupted cold storage. But this speed comes at the risk of major side effects.

In a 2017 TED talk called Rewriting the Genetic Code, Modernas current chief medical officer Dr. Tal Zaks said, Were actually hacking the software of life . As explained by a medical doctor writing in The UK Independent on May 20th:

Modernas messenger RNA vaccine  uses a sequence of genetic RNA material produced in a lab that, when injected into your body, must invade your cells and hijack your cells protein-making machinery called ribosomes to produce the viral components that subsequently train your immune system to fight the virus.  In many ways, the vaccine almost behaves like an RNA virus itself except that it hijacks your cells to produce the parts of the virus, like the spike protein, rather than the whole virus. Some messenger RNA vaccines are even self-amplifying. There are unique and unknown risks to messenger RNA vaccines, including the possibility that they generate strong type I interferon responses that could lead to inflammation and autoimmune conditions.

As noted in Science Magazine, RNA that invades from outside the cell is the hallmark of a virus, and our immune systems have evolved ways to recognize and destroy it. To avoid that, Modernas mRNA vaccine sneaks into cells encapsulated in nanoparticles, which arent easily degraded and can cause toxic buildup in the liver. A lab-created self-amplifying virus that evades the cells defenses by stealth sounds inherently risky. In fact stealth viruses are classified as bioweapons.

While long-proven, cheap coronavirus treatments with decades of safety testing are being described as dangerous and unproven for treating COVID-19, no one seems to be looking at the risks of the novel vaccines being rushed to market as the only viable alternative for getting the economy back to work.

Why the Need for Haste?

The argument originally advanced for fast-tracking a COVID-19 vaccine was that the magnitude of the pandemic required shutting down the whole economy until a vaccine was found. But earlier dire projections have now been heavily revised downward. The 3.4% coronavirus mortality rate put forward by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at the start of the pandemic was downgraded by the CDC in May to between 0.2% and 0.3%, less than one-tenth the original estimates. The computer-modeled projection of 2.2 million US deaths issued by Imperial College London in March, which triggered shutdowns across the United States, has also been found to be wildly overblown. In fact researchers writing in the UK Telegraph on May 16th called it the most devastating software mistake of all time. They wrote that we would fire anyone for developing code like this and that the question was why our Government did not get a second opinion before swallowing Imperials prescription.

Here is a chart of the actual death rate from COVID-19 in Sweden, which did not lock down its economy, versus the rate projected by the Imperial College model without lockdown:

Sweden has actually fared better than many industrialized countries that did lock down their economies. As of June 5th, Belgium, the UK, Spain and Italy, which all locked down, had more deaths per million than Sweden; while France, the Netherlands, Ireland, the US, Switzerland and Canada all had fewer. Sweden was in the median range. Other researchers have found no correlation between lockdowns and COVID-19 deaths.

In other news from the CDC, on May 23rd the agency reported that the antibody tests used to determine whether people have developed an immunity to the virus are too unreliable to be used.

But none of this seems to be dimming the hype and the deluge of investment money being thrown at the latest experimental vaccines. And perhaps that is the point of the exercise  to extract as much money as possible from gullible investors, including the US government, before the public discovers that the fundamentals of these stocks do not support the hype. If we need seven billion doses of the vaccine before life can return to normal, as Bill Gates contends, the profit bonanza is enormous; and there is no need for vaccine manufacturers to proceed with caution, since the government will pick up the tab for vaccine injuries.

Moderna: A Multibillion-Dollar Unicorn That Has Never Brought a Product to Market

Moderna in particular has been suspected of pumping its stock price with unreliable preliminary test data. On May 18th its stock jumped by as much as 30%, after it issued a press release announcing positive results from a small preliminary trial of its coronavirus vaccine. After the market closed, the company announced a stock offering aimed at raising $1 billion; and on May 18th and 19th, Moderna executives dumped nearly $30 million worth of stock for a profit of $25 million.

On May 19th, however, the stock rocketed back down, after STAT News questioned the companys test results. An antibody response was reported for only eight of the 45 patients, not enough for statistical analysis. Was the response significant enough to create immunity? And what about the other 37 patients?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the results a catastrophe for the company. He wrote on May 20th:

Three of the 15 human guinea pigs in the high dose cohort (250 mcg) suffered a serious adverse event within 43 days of receiving Modernas jab. Moderna  acknowledged that three volunteers developed Grade 3 systemic events, defined by the FDA as Preventing daily activity and requiring medical intervention. Moderna allowed only exceptionally healthy volunteers to participate in the study. A vaccine with those reaction rates could cause grave injuries in 1.5 billion humans if administered to every person on earth.

A volunteer named Ian Haydon buoyed the markets when he appeared on CNBC to say he felt fine after getting the vaccine. But he later revealed that after the second jab, he got chills and a fever of over 103, lost consciousness, and felt more sick than he ever has before. And those were just the short-term adverse effects. The long-term degenerative effects wont be known for years.

By May 22nd, Modernas stock was down by 26% from its earlier high, making its 30% rise on a misleading press release look like a pump and dump scheme. On CNBC on May 19th, Jacob Frankel, a former Securities Exchange Commission lawyer, said Modernas stock offering on the heels of hyped news was the type of action that would draw scrutiny by the SEC, and that it could have a criminal component.

Dual Use? Another Look at Modernas mRNA Vaccine

Modernas stock has more than tripled this year, taking it to a market cap of over $22 billion. STAT News called it an astonishing feat for a company that currently sells zero products. Many of the companies actively developing COVID-19 vaccines have longer and more impressive track records. Why the keen interest in this unicorn startup that went public only in 2018 and has no record of market success?

Modernas stock first shot up after the World Health Organization announced on February 24th that the world needed to prepare for a global pandemic, collapsing stock markets everywhere. In a well-timed press release the next day, Moderna announced that testing of its vaccine on humans would begin in March, rocketing its stock price up by nearly 30%. Mega-investors made tens of millions of dollars in a single day, including BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager, which made $68 million just on February 25th. BlackRock was called the fourth branch of government after it was tasked in March with dispensing up to $4.5 trillion in Federal Reserve credit through special purpose vehicles established by the Treasury and the Fed.

Moderna has other friends in high places, including the Pentagon. Several years ago, Moderna received millions of dollars from the Pentagons Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as well as from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Perhaps the fact that Modernas mRNA vaccine is a stealth virus riding in on nanoparticles to evade the cells defenses explains DARPAs interest in the technology. DARPA was behind the creation of both DNA and RNA vaccines, funding their early research and development by Moderna and by Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc.

In a 2010 document titled Biotechnology: Genetically Engineered Pathogens, the US Air Force acknowledged that it was studying genetically engineered pathogens that could pose serious threats to society, including binary biological weapons, designer genes, gene therapy as a weapon, stealth viruses, host-swapping diseases, and designer diseases. In December 2017, over 1,200 emails released under open records requests revealed that the US military is now the top funder behind the controversial genetic extinction technology known as gene drives. As investigative reporter Whitney Webb observed in a May 4th article, these genetic kill switches could also be inserted into actual humans through artificial chromosomes, which  just as they have the potential to extend life  also have the potential to cut it short.

Biowarfare is forbidden under international treaty, but the armys Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick says its investigations are to protect the warfighter from biological threats and to protect civilians from threats to public health. Even assuming that is true, are the armys technicians proficient enough to tinker with the genetic code without hitting a kill switch or two by mistake?

The military is thinking about war, the pharmaceutical companies and investors are thinking about profits, the politicians are thinking about getting a vaccine to market so the country can return to work, and even the regulators are bypassing proper safety tests in the rush to get the entire global population vaccinated. That means its up to us, the recipients of these novel untested GMO vaccines, to demand some serious vetting before the military shows up at our doors with their prefilled RFID-chipped syringes some time later this year.

Ellen Brown developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In Web of Debt, her latest book, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and the money trust. She shows how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Her earlier books focused on the pharmaceutical cartel that gets its power from the money trust. Her eleven books include Forbidden Medicine, Natures Pharmacy (co-authored with Dr. Lynne Walker), and The Key to Ultimate Health (co-authored with Dr. Richard Hansen). Her websites are www.webofdebt.com and www.ellenbrown.com and http://PublicBankingInstitute.org

 Copyright Ellen Brown 2020

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




By PTI

WASHINGTON: Observing that historically India has been a very tolerant, respectful country for all religions, a top Trump administration official has said that the US is 'very concerned' about what is happening in the country in terms of religious freedom.

The remarks of Samuel Brownback, the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, came hours after the release of the '2019 International Religious Freedom Report' on Wednesday.

Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of the violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.

India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

Brownback, during a phone call with foreign journalists on Wednesday, said India has been a country area that spawned four major religions itself.

'We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions,' he said.

The trendlines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence, Brownback said.



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'We're seeing a lot more difficulty. I think really they need to have a, 'I would hope they would have an - interfaith dialogue starting to get developed at a very high level in India, and then also deal with the specific issues that we identified as well'.

'It really needs a lot more effort on this topic in India, and my concern is, too, that if those efforts are not put forward, you're going to see a growth in the violence and of the increased difficulty within the society writ large,' said the top American diplomat on international religious freedom.

Responding to a question, Brownback hoped that the minority faiths are not to be blamed for the COVID-19 spread and that they would have access to the healthcare and the foods and the medicines that they need during the crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised any form of discrimination, saying the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally.

"COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood," Modi said in a post on LinkedIn in February.



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The Indian government, while previously rejecting the US religious freedom report, had said: 'India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion'.

'The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities. It is widely acknowledged that India is a vibrant democracy where the Constitution provides protection of religious freedom, and where democratic governance and rule of law further promote and protect the fundamental rights'.

'We see no locus standi for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights,' the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in June last year.

Earlier in the day, the US State Department in its India chapter of the report said that there were reports of religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, discrimination, vandalism and actions restricting the right of individuals to practice and speak about their religious beliefs.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data, 7,484 incidents of communal violence took place between 2008 and 2017 in which more than 1,100 people were killed, it said.

The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations (FIACONA) in a statement welcomed the US annual religious freedom report.

FIACONA President Koshy George said that his organisation finds the list of incidents affecting the rights of the people to believe and practice their faiths as reported to be accurate though there are a few more thousand such incidents that have taken place in India during the reporting period.
The body of Indian student Prajwal Pandharinath Guhagarkar, who was missing since Saturday, has been found, the police in Scotland said on Thursday after a forensic search in and around the town of Stirling that included a remotely piloted aircraft system.

Guhagarkar, 21, was a student of the University of Stirling, which is located about 60 km from Edinburgh in central Scotland. He fell into River Forth while celebrating a birthday, reports said.

Chief inspector Gill Marshall, Stirling srea commander, said: I can confirm that a body has sadly been recovered from the River Forth at Stirling today (Thursday). Formal identification has yet to take place, but the family of missing 21-year-old Prajwal Pandharinath Guhagarkar has been informed.

Prajwal was reported to have fallen into the River Forth near Bridgehaugh Road, Stirling, in the early hours of Saturday, 6 June, in what appears to have been a tragic accident and we have been utilising extensive resources as part of our search since then.

Our inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances surrounding the death and we continue to offer support to Prajwals family. As is the case with all sudden deaths, a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal, she added.

The search for Guhagarkar included air units, police, fire, ambulance and coastguard crew, and the use of the remotely piloted aircraft near Alloa, 12 km downstream from Stirling along the River Forth.

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Washington:

Stepping deeper into the political fray, Michelle Obama on Saturday warned young voters against being "tired or turned off" in the 2016 election. She urged them to rally behind Hillary Clinton, "particularly given the alternative." Mrs. Obama is emerging as one of Clinton's most effective advocates, especially with voters who backed President Barack Obama but are less enthusiastic about his potential Democratic successor.

The Clinton team's biggest challenge regarding Mrs. Obama is getting the reluctant campaigner to commit to more events. Today's rally in Virginia was Mrs. Obama's first solo campaign event for Clinton and comes nearly two months after her star turn at the Democratic convention. Speaking to mostly students at George Mason University, she repeatedly jabbed Trump without mentioning him by name, declaring that being president "isn't anything like reality TV."

The first lady pointedly called out those who continue to question the president's citizenship "up to this very day." Drawing on a frequently quoted line from her convention speech, Mrs. Obama said her husband had responded to those questions by "''going high when they go low."

Hours earlier, Trump stated for the first time that the president was born in the United States, though he did not apologize for devoting years to promoting false allegations that Obama was not an American citizen. Beyond her ability to take on Trump with a smile, Mrs. Obama's real value to Clinton is her wild popularity with Democratic voters, particularly young people and blacks.

She vouched repeatedly for Clinton's resume and character, urging voters motivated by her husband's history-making campaigns to feel the same way about the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. party. "When I hear folks saying that they don't feel inspired in this election, well let me tell you, I disagree I am inspired," Mrs. Obama said. Clinton aides want Mrs. Obama in battleground states as much as possible between now and Election Day.

Today's rally in northern Virginia, less than an hour drive from the White House, is the only event she's publicly committed to, though the Clinton campaign expects her to make additional appearances. Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton's communications director and a former Obama adviser, called the first lady "an advocate without peer." "There is no other surrogate with the reach, credibility and respect she has," Palmieri said. (AP)

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British drugmaker AstraZeneca has hit global headlines after it joined hands with the University of Oxford for the global development and distribution of the latters potential vaccine for COVID-19.

The company continues to hog the limelight, with the latest talk about a possible merger with US drugmaker Gilead. But AstraZeneca has been on frantic speed in raising hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and stitching deals including with Indian vaccine maker Serum Institute of India for making billions of vaccine doses.

All this for a company that's hardly known for vaccine making.

While all this is happening, its British counterpart GSK, known to be the global powerhouse of vaccines, remains more subdued.

As of now, GSK is not developing its own vaccine for COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

Ideally, people would expect the world's largest vaccine maker GSK to be in the driver seat, to lead the race to develop COVID-19 vaccine. There are reasons for those expectations; GSK earned little over $9 billion by selling vaccines in 2019; it has 30 vaccines with presence across 160 countries. The company has a pipeline of 15 potential vaccines in various stages of development. Yet, so far it has stayed away from COVID-19 race.

"If there is a company, that has a full arsenal of vaccine technologies and platforms, that's GSK," said a top executive of an Indian vaccine company who didn't want to be named.

GSK, apart from conventional vaccine technologies based on the whole pathogen (virus or bacteria) or protein subunits (antigen) of the pathogen, has capabilities to make vaccine using adenovirus as a vector. The University of Oxford vaccine is based on Chimpanzee adenovirus as a vector, known to protect animals from pneumonia. Adenoviruses cause the common cold. The virus is fused with certain proteins of SARS-COV-2 and is delivered as a vaccine. The British drugmaker is also said to possess the capability of developing an mRNA vaccine based on genetic material. Moderna, Curevac and Pfizer-BioNTech, are developing vaccines based on this platform.

Please read here to know more about Moderna mRNA vaccine

Why is GSK playing safe?

GSK said it's playing safe by sticking to something that's proven.

"There are a lot of new technologies not yet proven at the efficacy level, or not yet been fully commercialised," said Francois Meurice, Director Scientific Affairs and Public Health, GSK Vaccines to reporters at company's virtual press conference.

"Being responsible for research and development, you need to decide what are you going to do. Are you going to bet on new technologies, or are you going to bet on technology for which you have robust and proven demonstrated efficacy," Meurice added.

"It's a choice. I am not saying they (AstraZeneca) have made a wrong choice," Meurice further said.

GSK said there is a lot of collaboration and parallel work on manufacturing and clinical trials happening on COVID-19, but it sees 15-18 months as an extremely tight deadline or close to "miracle" to get the vaccine out. In normal times, vaccine development takes 5-15 years.

Betting on adjuvant platform

To be sure, GSK isn't sitting out of the COVID-19 vaccine value chain. The company took a different approach or rather safer one compared to its peers.

The company is betting on its adjuvant technology to support companies developing COVID-19 vaccines.

GSK partnered with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to provide access to its adjuvant platform to help support COVID-19 vaccine candidates. So far, it has collaborated with Sanofi, Clover Biopharmaceuticals, ZFSW, Innovax and the University of Queensland, Australia. All vaccine candidates are based on protein subunits of SARS-CoV-2.

The use of adjuvant in a vaccine helps in several ways. It helps to reduce the amount of vaccine protein or antigen required per dose, enabling manufacturers to produce more vaccine doses.

This is of particular significance in a pandemic situation, where it's important to vaccinate more people. In addition, an adjuvant is expected to boost the immune response and create a stronger and lasting immunity against infections than the vaccine alone. An adjuvant is made of a certain type of lipids or fat molecules, vitamin-E or tocopherol and others.

The combination of a protein-based antigen together with an adjuvant is well-established and used in a number of vaccines available today. For instance, GSK had previously used adjuvant technology in its Shingles and H1N1 influenza vaccine. Shingles is a viral infection that causes painful rashes.

GSK said it can produce one billion doses of adjuvant for COVID-19 vaccines at its sites in the UK, the US, Canada and Europe.

"It's surprising that GSK with deep capabilities and decades of experience in vaccine development, playing a second fiddle," the above vaccine executive said.

"COVID-19 pandemic pointed out that big companies may not be agile enough in reacting fast to a situation, compared to smaller biotech companies," he added.
Editor's note: Richard Toye is a professor of history at the University of Exeter. He is the co-author, with Steven Fielding and Bill Schwarz, of The Churchill Myths, which will be published by Oxford University Press in August. His other books include Churchill's Empire and Winston Churchill: A Life in the News. The opinions expressed here are his own. Read more opinion articles at CNN.

(CNN)  Last weekend, during a Black Lives Matter protest in London, a piece of graffiti was added to the base of the statue of Winston Churchill that stands in Parliament Square. "Churchill was a racist," the slogan declared.

The activist who wrote this  or sprayed it  was factually correct. However, there is much more that can be said, of course, to explain and contextualize the former British prime minister's views.

Presenting an informed historical understanding of those opinions should not be misread as an attempt to justify them. Nor should mentioning the other parts of Churchill's record, notably his resistance to the Nazis and leadership during World War II, be seen as an attempt to argue that his racism pales into insignificance beside it.

But unless we make an effort to understand the origins and particularities of his white supremacism, we shall fail to understand the structure of racialized thinking as it still exists today.

Churchill is often the subject of false or exaggerated allegations. But in truth, he said enough horrifying things that there is no need to invent more. He said that he hated people with "slit eyes and pig tails." To him, people from India were "the beastliest people in the world next to the Germans." He admitted that he "did not really think that black people were as capable or as efficient as white people."

In 1943, US Vice President Henry Wallace challenged his notion of Anglo-Saxon superiority. Churchill, who drank "quite a bit of whiskey" (as Wallace wrote), gave a blunt reply. According to Wallace's diary: "He said why be apologetic about Anglo-Saxon superiority, that we were superior, that we had the common heritage which had been worked out over the centuries in England and had been perfected by our constitution."

It is not enough to say that all this is explained by Churchill's background. Of course, as he himself emphasized, he was a child of the Victorian age - an era when Britons tended to take their own national and moral superiority for granted. Yet other people of similar vintage, including fellow Conservative imperialists, felt that his views were old-fashioned or even downright shocking. Lord Archibald Wavell, the last-Viceroy-of-India-but-one, observed that Churchill "has still at heart his cavalry subaltern's idea of India; just as his military tactics are inclined to date from the Boer War."

We need to recognize, though, that Churchill's worldview was far from static, and his ideas did not simply freeze in time when the 20th Century dawned. He started his parliamentary career as a Conservative but in 1904 crossed the floor of the House of Commons and spent the next two decades as a Liberal. His first taste of office was as a junior minister at the Colonial Office and at first he was seen by some as a (left-wing) radical, as a Little Englander, and as a threat to the Empire. Ramsay MacDonald, later Britain's first Labour Party Prime Minister, criticized Churchill's modest efforts to rein in local colonial governments' mistreatment of their non-white populations. "I do not think I am an over-cautious man," wrote MacDonald. Nor did he consider himself short of sympathy for "oppressed black and yellow men" in South Africa. "But I am bound to say that, unless the Cabinet muzzle Mr. Winston Churchill, they will bring themselves into a disastrous conflict with the Colonies."

Churchill quickly changed tack, which suggests that, although many of his beliefs were deeply held, there was an opportunistic element in the way that he deployed them. In the 1930s, having rejoined the Conservative Party, he chose to ally himself with diehard imperialists against reform in India in part because he believed that it would help further his career. This is why I argue, in my book Churchill's Empire, that it was during the years between the two world wars that Churchill "decided to become a Victorian."

In other words, his expressions of imperialism and racism were partly self-conscious attempts at image making. It seems natural to condemn this, but we should be cautious, when trying to understand societal racism, about putting too much weight on prominent individuals, however famous or notorious.

Portraying Churchill as the root of all wickedness, as some of the more extreme social media comments appear to do, is as problematic as viewing him as the single-handed savior of freedom and democracy. By elevating him to a place of supreme importance -- albeit by presenting him as uniquely wicked rather than splendidly virtuous -- it reinforces Churchill's own theory of history as driven by great white men. That is a vision from which, surely, we urgently need to break free.

This story was first published on CNN.com Yes, Churchill was a racist. It's time to break free of his 'great white men' view of history
Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested three women for stealing from people in the citys backpacker area.

Officers in District 1 confirmed on Tuesday they had arrested Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, 22, To Thi Kim Loan, 21, and Pham Thi Hoa, 50, to assist in their investigation.

Van resides in Binh Thanh District, while Loan and Hoa both live in District 4.

According to preliminary information, the women targeted residents and visitors on Bui Vien Walking Street, located in the citys backpacker area, and had committed five thefts between late May and June 6.

Hoa had previously stolen from several victims on Bui Vien Street before teaming up with the other two suspects.

Police are finalizing their investigation and determining a suitable punishment for the three women.

Stealing property worth VND2-50 million (US$86-2,150) is punishable by six months to three years in prison in accordance with Vietnams Penal Code.

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Authorized by the prime minister, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung on June 11 submitted a draft resolution to the National Assembly (NA) to offer a 30% corporate income tax cut for small businesses and cooperatives in 2020.

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung speaks at the ongoing ninth sitting of the National Assembly. Authorized by the prime minister, Minister Dung on June 11 submitted a draft resolution to the National Assembly to initiate a 30% cut in corporate income tax for small companies in 2020  PHOTO: TPO

Minister Dung said that the global coronavirus pandemic has put a crimp in economic activity across local and international markets, with manufacturing operations in Vietnam becoming stagnant and many small firms suspending or stopping their operations.

The proposal to slash corporate income tax is aimed at supporting small firms, which are vulnerable to the volatility of the economy, the local media reported, citing Minister Dung.

Minister Dung also stated that those employing no more than 100 workers and earning no more than VND50 billion this year can avail of the tax cut.

The Government estimated that a 30% reduction in corporate income tax for small firms this year would cause a loss of VND15.84 trillion for the State budget, which will amount to VND22.4 trillion if the cut is applied for medium-size enterprises.

Data collected by the Government showed that small enterprises accounted for 93% of the 760,000 businesses operating in Vietnam as of late 2019, playing a key role in the countrys economic growth.

Nguyen Duc Hai, head of the NAs Finance and Budget Committee, agreed with the Governments proposal to reduce corporate income tax for small companies, saying that small firms have been the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic and had limited access to loans and technology, according to VnExpress news site.

A 30% cut in corporate income tax will help small enterprises overcome financial difficulties, Hai noted. SGT
Studying online is the norm rather than the option these days. Full-time students and professionals alike are opting for online courses because of the extra flexibility they offer. The fact that top universities now offer accredited programs to students make online degree programs even more popular.

For online students, the challenges are still there. Just because you are pursuing a degree online doesn't mean course requirements and passing exams is no longer important. There are still course materials to go through and assignments to complete. Fortunately, you have more useful resources to utilize these days. You should also check this list of online learning platform for some exciting online courses

1. Koofers

If you find studying for exams difficult, Koofers is the site for you. The site is filled with flash cards that you can use to study. There are also practice exams to help you prepare for upcoming exams. To top it all off, Koofers let students rate professors, which means you can learn more about what your current lecturers are like on this site.

Koofers is not a tool that you can use every day, but it is certainly a handy resource to have. The flash cards alone are handy for when you need to master specific topics from your textbook or you have to prepare for an exam quickly.

2. NinjaEssays

NinjaEssays is more of a service than a resource or a tool, but it is a service that will also help make life as an online student easier. NinjaEssays, as the name suggests, can help you write great essays for various purposes, including for course assignments. If despite the extra flexibility, you still cannot find the time to write a good essay, NinjaEssays is definitely for you,

The site will link you with the best essay writers available. You can work on projects together and have the essays that you need to complete in no time at all. NinjaEssays doesn't just help you save time, but also help you write better in general.

3. Grammarly

Speaking about writing better, another invaluable tool to use as an online student is Grammarly. With the best courses in the United States such as programs from Baylor University Online, English is the primary language used to deliver course materials. This means assignments and exams must also be written in English.

Grammarly is a tool that can help you check your grammar and spelling accurately. The web tool can even suggest better word selection and writing style thanks to its use of artificial intelligence and smarter, more refined spellchecking algorithm.

4. Google Scholar

Next, we have Google Scholar. Despite the incredible features the scientific search tool now offers, Google Scholar is still very much underused. Not all students turn to Google Scholar when they need to find references and citations. Many still use the regular Google search, which is not as targeted as Scholar.

Scholar searches through:

Journals

Articles

Other sources or scientific information online

It will then display the search result in a structured way, so you can find the information you need faster. Scholar will also search in books to make finding the right one to purchase easier.

5. Google Drive

Sticking with Google, the company actually offers a lot of tools and resources that are handy when you are a student. Google Docs is certainly valuable, but Google Drive is the one we want to talk about in this article. After all, Google Drive lets you store any type of file and access it from any remote terminal.

With Google Drive connected, you are no longer limited to just one device. As long as the files are stored in the cloud, you can use any computer to access them. This is a huge plus if you are an online student who wants to study from anywhere and at any time.

6. OpenStudy

We really cannot talk about tools and resources for online students without talking about OpenStudy. OpenStudy is the Reddit of students. This is where students from around the country gathers to connect, discuss various topics, exchange resources, and help each other. If you run into issues with your own study, you will find a solution on OpenStudy.

There are groups that you can follow, and they usually center around particular subjects such as physics and mathematics. Once you join a group, you can discuss anything related to that group, including asking questions about specific questions you need to answer.

7. Studious

Studious is an app rather than a website, but it is a must-have app for online students. If you take offline courses, Studious is handy for keeping your phone silent when you attend classes. As an online student, however, the app is still valuable for eliminating unnecessary distractions when you are studying.

Studious will take your schedules and automatically silence your phone at those times. Simply set your phone aside and you can study without having to worry about phone calls and messages.

8. SelfControl

If you are looking for a similar app for Mac, SelfControl is the answer. It is also a macOS app that prevents you from accessing sites like:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

These are sites that normally distract you from actually studying. The Mac app is free and open-source, and it is certainly a handy app to have if you often find yourself spending too much time on YouTube.

9. Dragon Dictation

Dragon Dictation is actually the next tool on our list. Once again, this is a handy tool to have if you are a student with a lot of assignments to complete. As the name suggests, Dragon Dictation is a dictation tool, but one that you can really rely on for working on long articles. It is certainly a lot easier than manually typing on your keyboard.

10. More Tools!

There are more tools that you can use to make life as a student easier. You have Dictionary.com for helping you find words and Quizlet for expanding your vocabulary. Wolfram Alpha is also a handy resource to use for seeking information from experts and reliable sources. With these tools, there is no challenge that you cannot overcome.
The Indian government on Thursday launched the third phase of Vande Bharat Mission, the largest operation to repatriate stranded citizens, after more than 165,000 Indians returned to the country in the first two phases.

The third phase of the programme will continue till August 2 and more than 400,000 Indian nationals have registered with missions abroad for repatriation on compelling grounds, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a weekly news briefing.

The focus of the ministry continues to be on the repatriation of stranded Indians, he said. As of Thursday, 165,375 Indians have returned. They include 29,034 migrant workers, 12,774 students and 11,241 professionals.

More than 61,000 Indians have also returned through land border immigration checkpoints from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, he said.

The government launched Vande Bharat Mission in April to repatriate Indians who had been stranded around the globe because of Covid-19-related restrictions. The initial phases of the programme focussed on West Asian countries, which are home to some 8 million expatriates.

Besides flights operated by Air India, the Indian Navy sent warships to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Iran to bring back Indian citizens. On Thursday, the warship INS Shardul brought 233 Indians to Porbandar port in Gujarat from Bandar Abbas in Iran.

Some Indians also returned on flights operated by foreign carriers coming to India to evacuate their citizens while more came back on chartered flights.

The third phase of Vande Bharat Mission will significantly accelerate the rate of repatriation in June as there will be 432 flights from 43 countries to 17 Indian states and union territories, Srivastava said.

Besides Air India, private carriers will operate 29 flights  Indigo will have 24 flights from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and Malaysia, Go Air three flights from GCC states and Vistara two flights from Singapore.

There will also be flights from six countries in Africa, 53 flights from the US, 24 flights from Canada, a total of 170 flights from GCC states, and 16 flights each from Paris and Frankfurt, which will serve as hubs in Europe for Vande Bharat Mission.

Before the launch of Vande Bharat Mission, a total of 2,468 Indians and 48 foreigners were evacuated by India between February and April from areas severely affected by Covid-19. The government also facilitated the evacuation of more than 99,000 foreigners to 113 countries from India.
BRIGHTON, Colo.  A man has been sentenced to life in prison plus 48 years for shooting his landlord and one of his roommates to death at a home northeast of Denver.

Thomas Holleman pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder in the death of 42-year-old Raphael Sassi and second-degree murder in the death of 59-year-old Mary Broad.

Holleman called 911 on April 5, 2019, and told the dispatcher he had just shot Sassi and Broad, and that he would be waiting on the front porch of the Commerce City home for officers to arrive. Investigators found the bodies on the floor inside the home. Both were shot multiple times in the chest and head.

Adams County District Judge Priscilla Loew said at Wednesdays sentencing hearing there are no words to describe Hollemans actions and called the crime an unprovoked, undeserved, unjustified cold killing.
Pan Global's La Escacena Project and Iberian Pyrite Belt Area, Southern Spain.

By: Don Hauka

Spain is known as having one of Western Europes most diverse mining industries with a mining history dating back to 3,000BC



Pan Globals projects are located within the mining-friendly province of Andalucia, Spain, an active mining region with great infrastructure



The company recently reported positive results for all six drill holes in the first follow-up drill program at the La Romana prospect, with every hole intersecting copper

Spain's mineral wealth has been the foundation of empires for thousands of years dating back to 3,000BC when the Phoenicians first beached their boats on the coast to check out those peculiar red rocks. Carthage and Rome fought a war to the death over copper, silver, and lead deposits, which would eventually become the engine powering the Roman Empire.

Moreover, in the Iberian Pyrite Belt of the Andalucia region, mining has occurred for over 5,000 years; The Iberian Pyrite Belt is one of the most important volcanogenic massive sulphide districts in the world with mining here becoming significant during the Tartessian and Roman times, working the oxidation and cementation zones of the deposits for gold, silver and copper.

Now, Spain is poised to help power a new economic empire, a green one where copper is the new gold, essential to everything from electric cars to self-disinfecting surfaces in hospitals. Copper is used to build the wind turbines and solar panels that are helping the world transition away from fossil fuels. It's in your electronics and in increasing demand by the growing economies of developing nations.

But, why Spain? Because despite being prospected and mined for millennia, the nation is now unveiling new geological promise. And a Vancouver-based mining company is discovering many of these secrets.

An unexpected copper cornucopia has been discovered

Pan Global Resources Inc. (TSXV: PGZ, OTC: PGNRF) is engaged in base and precious metal exploration in Spain and is pursuing opportunities from exploration to mine development. The company recently discovered a potentially vast near-surface copper deposit at the La Romana target, which is part of its Escacena Project in southern Spain.



"I think La Romana took everybody by surprise. It was impossible to predict we were going to get such good grades so near to the surface.  Jim Royall, Vice President, Pan Global Resources Inc.

The Escacena Project is in the Iberian Pyrite Belt, the worlds premier volcanic-hosted massive sulphide district. It has a land package totalling 5,426 ha, directly adjacent to the Aznalcollar-Los Frailes deposit being developed by Grupo Mexico and is within 12 km of the Cobre Las Cruces mine operated by First Quantum Minerals.

"I think La Romana took everybody by surprise. It was impossible to predict we were going to get such good grades so near to the surface," explains Jim Royall, Vice President of Pan Global.

"It's fantastic and its also the first time in my career that we've got such high-quality results so close to the surface. It's normally a long, hard slog to find results like that."





The Escacena Project is located in Andalucia, Spain, on the Iberian Pyrite Belt, the worlds premier volcanic-hosted massive sulphide district.

In April 2020, the company reported favourable drill results for the first three step-out drill holes at the La Romana target. They showed high copper and tin grades near-surface and mineralization to within five metres of the surface. The discovery of near-surface high-grade copper in close proximity to several other mines is significant, says Tim Moody, CEO of Pan Global.

"The copper seems to be there in all directions, so that's exciting and means that this deposit has some promising size potential," explains Moody.

Drill rig at the Escacena Project.

The results from the last three drill holes recently released conclude a very successful follow-up drill program. The drill holes show a continuous zone of shallow copper mineralization extending in several directions and increasing in thickness towards the West. They also show that there are now possibly three copper mineralized horizons and only a small number of drill holes so-far. It is significant that every drill hole intersected copper mineralization.

For reference, the drilling was done in an area that hasn't seen any exploration for over 30 years. The only serious exploration was by Exxon in the early 1980s. Exxon was mainly an oil company and left the area after completing a small number of widely spaced drill holes.

Pan Global's Aguilas Project: Huge scope for rich results and the best is yet to come

Exciting as the prospects for the Escacena Project are, it's not the only initiative Pan Global has in Spain. To the north in Andalucia, the Aguilas Project covers over 16,000 ha. The area is characterised by gentle topography, moderate climate, and is accessible all year round, with good road access and infrastructure. Exploration has focused on major fault structures cutting the Pedroches Batholith structure with copper, lead, zinc, silver and gold.

Pan Global's drilling results show a potentially vast structure and Royall says the best part is that the results indicate they haven't hit the richest ground yet.

He adds, "The Northeast oriented copper structure is almost 20 km long, and weve got copper all along that distance. We have found copper in every hole and the geologists say we haven't found the money hole yet.



In addition, he adds, We have only drilled a small portion of another 20 km long, northwest oriented trend with historical lead and silver mines. Our first drill holes have already shown potential for ore grades over several meters thick starting from surface.

The Aguilas Project includes 9 Investigation Permits, covering approximately 16,300 ha in northern Andalucia, Spain.

Al Andalus property helps puts Pan Global on investors' radar

As if that wasn't enough, in late April Pan Global finalized a deal to acquire all rights to the Al Andalus property, which is close to the company's La Romana target. This adds another 3,000 ha to Pan Globals holdings, extending the Escacena area to around 6,000 ha in total.

This prospective region has remained largely unexplored since the mid-1980s. The area contains a number of additional targets including untested gravity anomalies, potential extensions of the La Romana target, two areas with old mine works, and a prospect where Exxon drilled 9.5 m at 1.42 per cent copper that has never been followed up. All of this puts Pan Global in an excellent position in one of the most prospective mineral belts in the world.

It also should put the company on the radar of investors, says Eric Coffin, News Writer at the Hard Rock Analyst newsletter.

"I think it's the real deal and I think Tim Moody has a real discovery," notes Coffin, whose newsletter provides in-depth analysis of the mining sector.

"My gut feel is there will be a resource high-grade enough to be economic. I think it's a great company to have your eye on and I don't think the price is unreasonable."

LinkedIn Embed

LinkedIn link for reference

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/panglobalresources_eric-coffin-of-hra-advisories-talks-to-tim-activity-6665663573978689536-6JAt



Pan Global works in partnership with local communities

Pan Globals continued dedication to working with local Spanish communities and commitment to always operating safely and respectfully toward the environment, only adds to its exploration success in the area. If the company continues to see the positive drill results it has enjoyed recently, the possibilities of reaching the operational stage are likely and the people of these communities would stand to benefit greatly.

"It's fundamental here," says Royall. "We've worked very hard and very closely with all of the local communities and officials and we're very thankful that they're supportive of our efforts."

Pan Global has an open communications policy to engage communities and works to make a difference in them, especially in this era of COVID-19.

"We've donated to five villages about two thousand litres of disinfectant and nearly 50 litres of sanitizing gel," says Royall.

"We want to let people know what we're doing is part of where they're at and that we respect all the health and safety guidelines, especially in this COVID-19 situation.

Investors can look forward to more exploration

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Moody says investors can look forward to more drilling, more exploration, and likely more positive results, all done safely and within health protocols.

Tweet Embed

The Pan Global Resources team is proud to have played a small part in the fight against COVID-19 in Spanish communities - Read more about PGZ's COVID-19 Efforts in Southern Spain https://t.co/2E5iauZ4Fu pic.twitter.com/aP7JV3XSon  Pan Global Resources (@panglobalspain) May 22, 2020

Tweet link for reference

https://twitter.com/panglobalspain/status/1263873139001266176

"I think we're going to have a lot of news in the next couple of years as we get in and start testing more of this ground. Once the permits are in place for the recently acquired Al Andalus property next to Escacena, this will open up a whole new group of targets to get into and great potential for another discovery there also," says Moody.

"We're off to a really good start and the more we learn about it the more upside and size potential we see."

To learn more about Pan Global and its projects, visit their website here.

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FLINT, MI  Protests against police brutality and racism have continued across the state and nation in the weeks following George Floyds killing in Minneapolis police custody and more are scheduled to take place throughout mid-Michigan in the coming days.

Heres where to find events scheduled to take place between Thursday, June 11, and Monday, June 15, across the region.

Thursday:

Black Lives Matter March in West Branch

A march in support of the Black Lives Matter movement is taking place at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in West Branch.

All are welcome to join the march from Irons Park, 335 Shrigley St., to Dairy Queen and back, according to a Facebook event page.

Find more information here.

Black Lives Matter Solidarity Die-In

A Black Lives Matter Solidarity Die-In demonstration is scheduled to take place Thursday afternoon and again on Friday afternoon at Jeffers Park, 602 E. Genesee in Saginaw.

Participants will gather at 2:30 p.m. and the 9-minute-long die-in will commence at 3 p.m. both days.

This demonstration is in direct solidarity with friends in Lansing/MSU (and other areas of Michigan) dying-in, to keep Black Lives Matter, the murder of Floyd, and ending police brutality at the forefront, according to a Facebook event page. Before/after the die-in we want to make time to discuss this movement, our demand, and whats next. See you there. Change Gon Come.

Learn more here.

Friday:

Flint Youth Protest

Black student activists are leading a Flint Youth Protest at 4 p.m. Friday at the Flint Farmers Market, 300 E. First St.

Little Miss Flint Mari Copeny is the keynote speaker. All ages are welcome to attend this event, but focus is on youth activism.

Participants are asked to bring signs and practice social distancing.

Find the Facebook event page to learn more.

Holly Solidarity March

The Holly Solidarity March is scheduled to take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday at Crapo Park on Martha Street.

Please join us as we peacefully gather at Crapo Park in downtown Holly and march to the Village offices at Karl Richter Center to show our solidarity, compassion, and willingness to admit that black lives DO matter! Rural America stands with you against police brutality and systemic racism, the Facebook event reads. We appreciate all police officers and local governments officials who have stood or knelt with protesters across this country and in our neighboring towns. Empathy, unity, and open hearts, ears, and minds is the only hope of true fundamental change. Please join us!

Participants in this family friendly event are asked to bring their own mask and practice social distancing. Holly Police Department officials will block off the road for safety. Several area residents plan to speak, reflecting on their own experiences and what this event means to them.

Find more information here.

Saturday:

Lets Rise Up event in Mt. Morris

Community members are invited to march alongside community leaders and the Mt. Morris Police Department Saturday, June 13.

Participants will line up at 11:15 a.m. at Salvation Army, 1475 Coldwater Road, near Neff Road, and the march will begin at noon. The march will end at Beecher High School, 1020 W. Coldwater Road.

This family friendly event will include voter registration, guest speakers and more. Participants are asked to wear masks and practice social distancing.

Monday:

Facebook Live Event - Approaching Social Injustice Through Art

The Midland Center for the Arts is hosting a virtual event from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday, June 15, via Facebook Live.

We invite you to join a conversation with composer Joel Thompson to discuss his powerful multi-movement work, The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, and the current upsurge of protests against police brutality and racial violence," reads a description on the Facebook event page. In preparation for this conversation, we suggest that you experience Joels work first hand by watching the Sphinx Organizations performance of Seven Last Words of the Unarmed and/or the University of Michigan version of the same work.

The conversation will also include acclaimed soprano Jayme Alilaw and Midland Symphony Orchestra veteran musician bassist Roland Wallace.

Event organizers say This is the first in a series of activities designed to support dialogue around issues of race in our community, supportive of and led by people of color with whom we can listen, learn and act.

This event is supported by the Mu Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., The Midland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., the Midland Inclusion Council and the Cultural Awareness Coalition.

Find more information here.

Do you know of an upcoming event we missed? Send the details to Heather Jordan at hjordan@mlive.com.

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Boris Johnson wants to end the two-metre social distancing rule by September at the latest to allow schools to fully reopen for the new academic year, according to reports.

Mr Johnson has told ministers he wants to change the rule within weeks, possibly to bring the UK into line with World Health Organisation guidelines advising people keep a distance of one metre, according to The Telegraph.

The news comes after the governments chief scientific officer, Sir Patrick Vallance, suggested the two-metre social distancing measures were not a hard and fast scientific rule.

Asked at Wednesdays Downing Street briefing whether the restriction may be changed to one metre as schools try to welcome back pupils, Sir Patrick said: It is not a rule, it is not a scientific rule  it is a risk-based assessment on when risk reduces.

And the risks are associated with distance  so the risk falls after two metres  time, what mitigating factors you can put in place, which can include whether you are sitting side-by-side, back-to-back or face-to-face, whether youve got face covering, whether there is ventilation and other measures.

He added: It is wrong to portray this as a scientific rule that says it is two metres or nothing  that is not what the advice has been and it is not what the advice is now.

Mr Johnson says he wants all pupils back in classrooms by September, after abandoning plans to get more primary school children back in class before Englands summer break  admitting the government had been forced to move slower than we would have liked in some areas.

Meanwhile, the prime minister is also under increasing pressure from his own MPs to scrap the two-metre rule in order to prevent further damage to the economy.

Mr Johnson instinctively wants to relax guidelines, but is concerned about a potential second wave of coronavirus, the Daily Mail reported.

Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told the Mail reducing the two-metre rule to one metre was the single most important priority to unlock the economy.

The difference between one and two metres is the difference between opening the economy properly and seeing it bump along at the bottom without being able to bounce back, he added.

Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Show all 30 1 /30 Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak. PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Shoppers observe a minute's silence in Tescos in Shoreham Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Firefighters outside Godstone fire station PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute's silence at University College Hospital in London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A school children's poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A man holds a placard that reads "People's health before profit" outside St Thomas hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus University College Hospital, London Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute's silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London An NHS worker observes a minute's silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London AFP via Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Belfast, Northern Ireland NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Plymouth NHS workers hold a minute's silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Mater Infirmorum Hospital People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Waterloo Station, London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew's House in Edinburgh to observe a minute's silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy's Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Royal Derby Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Leicester, NHS workers during a minute's silence outside Glenfield Hospital Getty

The hospitality sector simply cant make a living at two metres.

Earlier on Wednesday, the prime minister had given his strongest hint yet the government may soon relax two-metre rule.

Speaking at Prime Ministers Questions, Mr Johnson told the Commons: I believe that those measures, the two-metre rule, need now be kept under review.

As we drive this disease down, as we get the incidence down, working together, I want to make sure we keep that two-metre rule under constant review.

Additional reporting by agencies
Local authorities from Vernal arrested Christopher Travis Herrera, 31 years old, for charges of murder after he shot another man eight times but claiming that he did not mean to kill the victim.

Herrera was put into the Uintah County jail and was formally indicted on Tuesday afternoon inside the 8th District court for murder, as reported by Deseret.

Unintentional murder

Police officers from Vernal responded to a call on June 3 to an apartment complex, which they discovered to have one unit that had its front door unlocked. The authorities found a man inside on the living room floor, which looked to have been shot several times.

The victim was seen to have had difficulty breathing, and officers immediately transported to the Ashley Regional Hospital for emergency treatment but later died to his severe injuries.

Several witnesses told police they saw the suspect fleeing through the area with a pistol in hand. Adult Probation and Parole agents assisted police officers in locating Herrea, who was at the time on probation.

Herrera reportedly ran away from a vehicle that officials pulled over and proceeded to lock himself inside a residence for two hours before police breached the barricade and took him into custody.

When detectives questioned him, Herrera said he had no intention of killing the victim and claims he came to him to purchase a gun.

According to KSL, the affidavit wrote that Herrera claimed his non-intention to kill the victim and that he only wanted to hurt him because he believed he deserved it for acting tough.

Also Read: Man Who Spent 28 Years on Death Row Finally Released After Being Proven Innocent

Multiple gunshot wounds

Medical experts who performed an autopsy on the victim's body discovered that he was shot eight times. Local authorities have not revealed the man's identity, however.

The affidavit also revealed that two of the gunshots were found on the victim's front side, while the other shots were on his back.

Police officers said that they provided medical assistance to Herrera when they arrested him and transported him to a nearby hospital after they discovered bite-related injuries, as reported by ABC4.

When authorities questioned Herrera a second time, he claimed that he shot the victim because he was about to shoot first. He also noted that he did not plan to kill the man, despite shooting eight times.

Police officers said they would release more information of the victim and the suspect as the investigation unfolded and after family members are notified of the incident.

According to UB Media, the police officers who placed Herrera in the Uintah Country Jail said that he was being held without bail. They also revealed that the suspect was arrested on June 5 at 3:30 p.m. but that the statement itself was not delivered to the Utah court database until June 8, Monday.

The reports stated that at least 30 officers belonging to the Vernal Police Department were involved in the response and tracking down of the suspect.

Vernal Mayor Doug Hammond decided not to reveal information on the case or either of the suspect and the victim.

Related Article: Police Officer Charged with Manslaughter After Choking a Man in Viral Video

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You may not pay much attention to the Poetry Foundation, possibly because you are under the impression that, as the modesty of its name and goals imply, it is a struggling little outfit. Perhaps you picture a staff of a few miserable editors working in some backroom in threadbare cardigans, warming their hands over the only heat they can afford, which is generated by setting fire to their own rejected manuscripts. The Poetry Foundation is, however, more like the Palace of Versailles of cultural nonprofits. Its endowment is fat with a quarter of a billion dollars of assets, according to the New York Times, thanks to the generosity of the late pharmaceutical heiress Ruth Lilly, who gave the Chicago foundation $100 million in 2002 before her death in 2009. Those who would like to transfer this fortune from the Poetry Foundation to their own bank accounts are using the favored tool of the day, which is to issue a thundering race-based denunciation. As usual, this tactic is working well.

Until Americas current moment of insanity passes, it would probably be wise for most of those whose positions and livelihoods may be at stake to say nothing, given that warm gestures of outreach and conciliation seem to be the surest way to get yourself canceled. Nonetheless, the leaders of the Poetry Foundation felt a moral duty to speak out against racial injustice, and for this they were, on cue, ridiculed, reviled, and sent packing with a swift boot to the gluteus maximus.

On June 3 the Poetry Foundation announced on its website that it and its periodical Poetry magazine stand in solidarity with the Black community, and denounce injustice and systemic racism. Allowing that poets have not yet succeeded in eradicating institutional racism, it added, We acknowledge that real change takes time and dedication, and we are committed to making this a priority. It concluded on a helpful note: We believe in the strength and power of poetry to uplift in times of despair, and to empower and amplify the voices of this time, this moment.

Story continues

If youre thinking that no one could possibly disagree with any of that, youre underestimating just how disagreeable people are right now. Capillary-exploding fury greeted the statement above, via an open letter dated June 6 and signed by 1,800 people youve never heard of. Scores of them are remarkably ungrateful previous or current recipients of the foundations largesse. This virtual mob of versifiers, subscribers to Poetry magazine, and assorted random worked-up individuals inveighed against the foundations brief note for being wholly inadequate to the task of ending racism, calling it an insult to the lives and families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and the countless other victims of the racist institution of police and white supremacy as well as an insult to the lives of your neighbors who have been targeted, brutalized, terrorized, and detained by the Chicago Police. Further, the letter proclaimed that the watery vagaries of this statement are, ultimately, a violence. Threatening to withhold its submissions from Poetry magazine, the mob of signatories issued a list of five demands, not counting its call for the immediate resignation of President Henry Bienen and board of trustees chair Willard Bunn III.

In the course of denouncing the Poetry Foundation for not creating a world that is just and affirming for people of color, disabled people, trans people, queer people, and immigrants, the authors of the letter offered a hint that the ideal way to placate them would be to turn over all of its money to them: Ultimately, we dream of a world in which the massive wealth hoarding that underlies the Foundations work would be replaced by the redistribution of every cent to those whose labor amassed those funds, read the letter. Failing that, the angry poets suggested they might settle for large contributions to organizations of which they approved, together with redistribution of wealth toward efforts fostering social justice.

All of this went on for hundreds of words, raising the question: Arent poets supposed to be succinct? Say what you want about bank robbers, but at least they practice the virtue of brevity each time they say Stick em up. Also, even at their very worst, bank robbers can merely shoot you, not bore you to death.

Since few, these days, can withstand more than one or two social-media jibes before caving in, the Poetry Foundation complied with the demand to throw bodies out the door. Bienen, a former president of Northwestern University, tendered his resignation. Bunn, a former top executive with several commercial banks, resigned as well. The foundation left it up in the air which of the mobs demands it would next rush to grant. Ruth Lillys great-grandfathers firm, the source of the Poetry Foundations wealth, is best known for its blockbuster drug Prozac. Instead of begging for mercy from odious odists, perhaps it should consider heaving pails of its mood-mellowing drugs at the mob. Anything is a better idea than what it has done so far.

More from National Review
B oris Johnson has been told to make job creation and skills training for young people a top priority as the UK recovers from the economic impact of the current crisis.

Leading business group CBI warned that unemployment was the biggest threat to livelihoods, saying it should not be allowed to scar communities.

It published a series of proposals, including transforming job centres into new "Job & Skills Hubs", investing in the green economy, and a time-limited scrappage scheme to incentivise use of electric vehicles.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, CBI director general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn said: "Amidst all the uncertainty, one thing is clear: the UK will only build back fast and better through a market-driven plan that supports sustainable growth.

"Dynamic enterprise is the only way to unleash the potential of our country and get ahead.

"A world class test and trace system is the foundation for a UK that is safe to visit, invest in, work and study in. Two other priorities also stand out: jobs, especially for young people, and investment.

"Redundancies will rise fast over the autumn as support schemes, especially the jobs retention scheme, wind down. Past recessions show the impact of joblessness is deeply uneven.

"Without immediate intervention, pre-crisis inequalities across regions, gender and race will worsen. Long-term unemployment will leave generational scars.

"Smart, fast policy is needed now to accelerate the process to minimise the human cost and in particular protect the futures of our young people."

It comes after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned that the UK economy is set to be the hardest hit by coronavirus among the worlds developed countries.

In its latest global economic outlook, the OECD predicted Britains economy was likely to slump by 11.5 per cent in 2020.

The OECD warned that if there was a second peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK economy could contract by 14 per cent this year.

It is understood the UK is likely to hit hard because the economy relies so heavily on the services sector. The sector makes up 80 per cent of the UK's economic activity.

The OECDs UK forecasts also warned that the Governments furlough scheme would probably not be able to fully offset lasting effects on employment.

At the same time there are growing worries over the UK's relationship with Europe and the rest of the world. The UK has not yet signed a free trade agreement with the EU and as a result could be subject to WTO trade tariffs.

The body expects the world economy to contract by 6 per cent, with all countries suffering a deep recession and cautioned that the recovery will be slow.

Read more

A double-hit scenario where there is a second wave of Covid-19 would see global GDP drop by 7.6 per cent and the recovery would be even slower next year, added the OECD.
"Defunding" the police is a stupid idea. Check out the streets of Chicago and see what happens when local governments do not protect their citizens or businesses.

The Democrats face another problem, and it's money, money, and money.

This is from FOX:

The support, which runs to Republicans as well, underscores the tricky position lawmakers are in amid calls to overhaul, cut budgets for or dismantle police departments. Numbers published by Open Secrets, which is run by the watchdog Center for Responsive Politics, shows that among current members of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, a handful of Democrats have received more campaign donations from police groups since 1994 than any other current members by a significant margin. The top two recipients of contributions from police groups in the Senate are Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The top two in the House are Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Another strike against potential V.P. Klobuchar?

The police unions represent thousands of Americans who wear the uniform and protect us from bad people. I hope these unions endorse the candidates in November who understand the role of a police force in a civilized society.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.




The U.S. Congress has approved a package of assistance to Ukraine in the field of security for the 2020 fiscal year in the amount of $250 million, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported.

The current aid security package envisages the provision of various monitoring tools, counter-battery control, vehicles, medical equipment, cyber security systems and counteraction to Russian propaganda, and the like to our state. An important place plays the support of the Ukrainian Navy, which should contribute to the establishment of stability and security in the Azov-Black Sea region, the document reads.
Veterans face unusually high rates of this deadly cancer, prompting one veteran to dig in for a larger fight

While the reasons are still unclear, military veterans get diagnosed with prostate cancer at nearly twice the rate as civilians. Mike Crosby is one veteran who had his own fight the disease. Now, hes dedicated his post-military career to helping his fellow veterans beat it.

Crosby is 59 years old and lives in San Diego. After he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1983, he went on to serve as a Navy pilot until 1996. After he transferred to the Navy Reserves, he retired in 2009.

Crosby looks back on his time flying the F-14 tomcat fondly. He went through Top Gun in 1986, and went on numerous deployments throughout his career including Desert Storm. On September 11, 2001 he was in the parking lot of the Pentagon, on his way to give a presentation when Al Qaeda terrorists flew a commercial airliner into the building. After the attacks, he was called back to active duty and deployed to several countries in the Middle East.

Diagnosis

In 2015, Crosby was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Hospital. His prostate-specific antigen was measured at 14.7 which was a large jump from his score of 5.7 the previous year. The hospital told him they couldnt perform a biopsy for 29 days, so he went to see another urologist the next day. That doctor told him to wait for six months because he thought that prostate cancer is a slow growing disease.

Crosby objected to waiting, and sought treatment outside of the Veterans Affairs Administration. His biopsy came back positive, and the prostate cancer had reached stage three and was metastatic. His wife was with him when he received the news on December 9, 2015.

This is a relationship disease. This isnt a mans disease because if the man is diagnosed, at that same point of diagnosis, the mate is instantly a caregiver and she is instantly involved in this disease state, and she is impacted, Crosby explained.

Mike Crosby was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015. (Courtesy of Mike Crosby)

Crosbys cancer was treatable, but treatment couldnt wait. His doctor wanted to schedule him for surgery the same day he was diagnosed, but Crosby wanted to undergo CyberKnife radiation treatment first.

Crosby and his wife went to lunch after the diagnosis, and both broke out into tears. They had new grandchildren, and the disease put a worrying pause on their life plans. Crosby flew to Seattle in December to undergo treatment. His last radiation treatment was on New Years Eve 2015. He returned to the Veterans Affairs Administration for follow up consultations, and asked about the resources he could get to educate himself about the disease. There werent any.

This is silly. Its the number one diagnosed cancer inside the VA. Just look at the demographics of the people. We have nine million people in the VA. Seven million of them are men over the age of 40, so guess what. Prostate cancer is going to be your number one cancer, and theres no discussion about it, Crosby said.

Fighting Back

In 2016 Crosby began attending prostate cancer conferences and started to get involved with prostate cancer organizations. He asked them what they were doing for veterans, and they began to do more research. They discovered that veterans are 40 percent more likely to develop the disease than the general population.

In October 2018, Crosbys prostate-specific antigen number had risen again. He underwent a number of tests, and doctors discovered that the cancer had spread to a lymph node near his sacrum. Urologist said they couldnt operate because of where the cancer was located, so they recommended he undergo CyberKnife treatment again. Since Crosbys last treatment his prostate-specific antigen number has decreased, and he continues to go in for testing. Now, hes dedicated much of his life to helping other veterans with prostate cancer.

Mike Crosby has dedicated much of his post-military career to raising awareness and helping other veterans beat prostate cancer. (Courtesy of Mike Crosby)

Im more determined now to continue with the mission of education and awareness because Im the example. If I didnt advocate for my own health and I didnt understand what these issues are, I would be in a late stage of prostate cancer before the age of 60, Crosby said.

Crosby founded Veterans Prostate Cancer Awareness in December 2016 in an effort to educate and raise awareness about the disease. He regards his fellow veterans as family and believes that they joined the military because they care about the future of the nation and our way of life. When he sees the disparity in prostate cancer education, awareness, and resources between veterans and the general population he believes it is a disservice to the veteran community.

Crosbys organization educates active duty military and veterans about prostate cancer, introduces new technologies to treat the disease, and encourages doctors outside of the Veteran Affairs Administration to treat veterans. In the beginning, he would give speeches at a variety of veteran and prostate cancer organizations.

Mike Crosby with his grandchildren. (Courtesy of Mike Crosby)

Over time, the organizations activities have expanded. They were involved in the drafting and review of the Mission Act which provides the Veterans Affairs Administration with 100 billion dollars for outside care for veterans for the next six years. In 2019, Veterans Prostate Cancer Awareness partnered with the national prostate cancer organization ZERO-The End of Prostate Cancer which has provided Crosby and his veterans with a larger platform.

Every veteran Crosby has worked with has made a lasting impression on him. Hes referred senior active-duty military and veterans to urologists and oncologists and has created a network of high ranking active duty military and veterans who can assist him in the cause.

Its very selfish if I wasnt to share this stuff because a lot of other people can benefit from it. Its almost an obligation now to have this knowledge that youve got to share, and these are guys you care about. Thats why I do this, Crosby said.
MOSCOW -- When Marina Khublarova, a Russian mother of seven, experienced coronavirus symptoms in late April, she called the local health service to report them.

After a test for the virus came back positive, Khublarova got a text message instructing her to install a smartphone app called Social Monitoring, used by authorities to enforce stay-at-home rules and other coronavirus-related restrictions on movement.

"That's when the hell began," she said in an interview.

From that moment on, the app sent notifications every two hours -- day and night -- demanding Khublarova upload a selfie to prove she was home.

When her condition worsened in late April, she was taken to a hospital. But the notifications continued. Convalescing in a ward with four other patients, she would switch the lights on to snap selfies at night.

"They just don't let you sleep. You're constantly taking photos," she said.

On May 19, Khublarova received a letter listing two fines totaling 8,000 rubles ($116) for leaving her apartment and failing to submit a photo when required. Both were incurred on April 30 -- the same day an ambulance arrived to take her away.

Khublarova's tragicomic story is not unusual for users of Social Monitoring, which was rolled out in early April and uses GPS to track Moscow residents with suspected symptoms of COVID-19 -- sometimes issuing several fines per user, including a bedridden professor who had not left her home in over a year.

"You get the sense that authorities are trying to compensate for everything that's happening at the expense of ordinary citizens," said Grigory Sakharov, another Social Monitoring user, who amassed 24,000 rubles ($350) in fines despite, he insists, taking care to stay indoors.

On May 20, the Moscow official who oversees Social Monitoring, Eduard Lysenko, said that the app had issued penalties amounting to 216 million rubles ($3.1 million). The following day, Human Rights Watch urged the authorities to shelve the app, citing both arbitrary fines and what the New York-based group said was invasion of users' privacy.

"The app is not only flawed from a technical standpoint," Tanya Lokshina, the organization's director in Moscow, told RFE/RL. "It is highly intrusive, violates rights to privacy, and effectively expands the government's arsenal of surveillance tools. Mobile tracking programs should be viewed as a strictly temporary measure until the pandemic is under control."

Here To Stay?

Judging by official statements, that time has come. In a blog post on June 9, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin congratulated residents on "our common victory" and announced the city was lifting most of its lockdown measures -- despite still recording almost 2,000 cases daily. But Social Monitoring will remain mandatory for people with coronavirus symptoms, and critics say other digital tools may integrate into a ratcheted-up, post-pandemic surveillance apparatus.

Since March, when Russia's coronavirus epidemic began, the authorities have used facial-recognition technology to identify and fine quarantine violators, deploying, in Moscow alone, a network of over 100,000 cameras that link to a central database accessible to thousands of law enforcement officials at any time. New laws against dissemination of "fake news" have been used to punish criticism of the government's handling of the coronavirus.

On May 29, Russian media reported that Moscow would commence an 18-month trial in July of "virtual passports" that may eventually replace paper IDs across the country and will store much of the same information as the digital passes that Russian cities unveiled during lockdown for users of private and public transport.

But reports of data leaks and system crashes have prompted fears that the personal information they collect -- passport details, car registration numbers, and users' home and work addresses -- are not safe from third parties.

And newly minted electoral reforms permit electronic and mail-in voting -- a move justified by officials as necessary to avoid crowds but denounced by activists as another target for hackers and cybercriminals. It's unclear whether the new rules will come into force before a July 1 vote on constitutional amendments that would hand President Vladimir Putin the option of seeking reelection in 2024 and again in 2030.

'Just The First Step'

Critics say those digital technologies are merely pilot projects for more ambitious tools that the authorities are in the process of developing -- with few assurances that the data they gather will be protected from exploitation.

"This is the first step to something much bigger," said Sarkis Darbinyan of Roskomsvoboda, an NGO that monitors censorship and which has partnered with other groups to track the use of restrictive digital technologies worldwide. "Many of those tools and restrictions may remain in place beyond the pandemic, which greatly concerns civil society."

The concern is not only over the expansion of surveillance. It also relates to massive leaks of government-held personal data in Russia that now appear to be happening with alarming regularity.

On May 18, the newspaper Kommersant reported that the names and passport details of thousands of self-isolation violators in Russia had been published online and made accessible through a simple search of a database listing government-imposed fines. It came a month after reports of an even bigger leak targeting COVID-19 patients across Russia.

In comments to state news agency TASS on June 4, Moscow Mayor Sobyanin said that the use of personal data could be deemed "a violation of citizens' rights" and that all data stored in the Social Monitoring app and digital-pass system would be destroyed. The use of some data, he added, will be possible "in exceptional circumstances."

But on June 8, Putin signed into force a law creating a "unified federal register" of data on Russian citizens, including digital images from facial-recognition cameras. The government said it will streamline a range of official services and data sharing between various state bodies, but it was immediately criticized as another dangerous breach of privacy.

"There are major risks that this information will be leaked onto the black market," Darbinyan said. "The value of personal data is very high."

Amid dire projections about the future of data security in Russia, some are pointing to the Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow as a paradigm for the rest of the country. Last month, local authorities obliged beauty salons, barbers, and other service providers to install surveillance cameras at their own expense -- a precondition to reopening after lockdown.

The cameras will be connected to a central database overseen by the regional communications ministry, Governor Gleb Nikitin said, and will be used to check whether social-distancing norms and other precautions are being followed.

In a Facebook post about the initiative, rights activist Alyona Popova, who launched a lawsuit last October against Moscow's use of facial-recognition cameras, said that "officials have lost their heads."

"Under the guise of fighting the coronavirus, they're implementing total surveillance," she wrote. "The best thing to do is to create a system for surveillance of [government] officials. Let their lives become fully transparent and come under citizens' control."

With reporting by Current Time
Howard Washington Thurman (18991981) played a leading role in many social justice movements and organizations of the twentieth century. He was one of the principal architects of the modern, nonviolent civil rights movement and a key mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. From The Howard Thurman Papers Project.

What does Jesus offer to a people who live with their backs against the wall? This is the question with which Howard Thurman began his landmark work, Jesus and the Disinherited, in 1949. The work became an intellectual pillar for the burgeoning civil rights movement in the 1950s. Howard Thurman, an unorthodox mystic and prophet, served as a spiritual mentor to civil rights leaders in the mid-century black freedom struggle. Until recently, Thurmans work was not as widely known or studied among white Christian communities as it deserved to be. But our current historical moment offers new impetus to return to this spiritual giant and particularly to his seminal work on Jesus.

In Jesus and the Disinherited, Thurman recounts a conversation he had while on a six-month speaking tour of South Asia in the 1930s sponsored by the Student Christian Movement, a group co-sponsored by the YMCA and YWCA. At the time, India struggled for independence from British colonialism. After one of his talks, Thurman describes a conversation with a young Indian lawyer who made this observation:

What are you doing over here? I know what the newspapers are saying about a pilgrimage of friendship and the rest, but that is not my question. What are you doing over here? ... More than three hundred years ago your forefathers were taken from the western coast of Africa as slaves. The people who dealt in the slave traffic were Christians. ... The men who bought the slaves were Christians. Christian ministers, quoting the Christian apostle Paul, gave the sanction of religion to the system of slavery. ... During all the period since then [emancipation] you have lived in a Christian nation in which you are segregated, lynched, and burned. Even in the church, I understand, there is segregation. ... I am a Hindu. I do not understand. Here you are in my country, standing deep within the Christian faith and tradition. I do not wish to seem rude to you. But sir, I think you are a traitor to all the darker peoples of the earth. I am wondering what you, an intelligent man, can say in defense of your position.

What does the religion of Jesus offer to those with their backs against the wall?

Jesus and the Disinherited was the fruit of Thurmans answer to this challenge. What does the religion of Jesus offer to those with their backs against the wall? Thurman began by focusing on Jesus situation as a poor Jew living in occupied territory with no civil protections, an outsider in his own land. For the Jewish people in Jesuss day, their most urgent concern was their  attitude toward Rome. And Rome was everywhere. No Jewish person of the period could deal with the question of his practical life, his vocation, his place in society, until he first settled deep within himself this critical question. As a non-citizen, living under a violent and oppressive regime, Jesus life, ministry, and death happened as one with his back against the wall.

Thurman went on to argue how people who live in such predicaments are pursued by the three hounds of hell: fear, deception, and hatred. Ironically, each hound can be heeled and used as a tool for surviving personal and systemic oppression. Fear can focus the mind and train the body to avoid situations and encounters which could lead to violence or death. Deception can keep the oppressor in the dark regarding an individual or communitys real feelings, motivations, actions, and even aspirations. And hatred can steel the resolve of those who find themselves facing overwhelming odds. But, Thurman argues, allowing fear, deception, or hatred to become the ruling ethos of the dispossessed comes with a significant price. Habitually adopting any one hound of hell ultimately takes its toll on the humanity of the oppressed, further stealing from them their dignity and their ability to reimagine the world and work for genuine social transformation.

Article continues below

Thurmans gambit was that Jesus, subject to the same temptations as every dispossessed person, pursued a path distinct from the perils of adopting fear, deception or hatred as a means of survival. According to Thurman, Jesus began with the simple idea that, Every man is potentially every other mans neighbor, that Neighborliness is nonspatial; it is qualitative. A man must love his neighbor directly, clearly, permitting no barriers between. From Thurmans perspective, wherever the spirit of Jesus appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them.

Living in a day when police routinely abuse authority, when racial disparity distorts human identity, when it is accepted to discriminate against migrant children and deny individuals the right to legally seek asylum; in which current taxing and spending policies favor the rich and powerful, balloon the debt, and have produced the widest gap between the rich and the poor in over 100 years; in which the highest office of the land consistently expresses a profound ambivalence regarding the common humanity of all peoples; a time in which an ecological catastrophe is upon us and a pandemic surrounds us Thurmans words resonate.

In Jesus and the Disinherited, Thurman insists that to fight and struggle against oppressive powers and principalities requires a spiritual reservoir that can only be filled through the practice of spiritual disciplines like silence, contemplation, meditation, and prayer. Jesus recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny. Thurman warned his peers during the mid-century civil rights struggle against severing the labor of working for social justice from the spiritual roots, which give such work its vigor and sustaining power. Thurman reminds that the way of Jesus was trod by one with his back against the wall and that only by connecting to the Spirit of life and justice can we sustain movements for social change.

Christian Collins Winn is associate professor of theology at the Global Center for Advanced Studies, Dublin, Ireland and Teaching Minister at Colonial Church in Edina, Minnesota.

Speaking Out is Christianity Todays guest opinion column and (unlike an editorial) does not necessarily represent the opinion of the publication.
At Thursdays oversight hearing, Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) pressed Ferebee on why Eastern High  a school in Ward 6 with more than 800 students  has nine security guards and four social workers. Grosso followed up. Ferebee said that he could not think of an instance in which school leaders have asked him to remove law enforcement officers from their school. He said he has, however, received requests for more security on campuses. The chancellor said police officers are key to the success of the citys safe-passage program, which is designed to ensure that students have safe commutes to and from school. In recent years, multiple students have been fatally stabbed and shot on the way home from school and extracurricular activities.
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The Duchess of Cambridge offered her personal thoughts on some of the 'amazing' entries she has received to her photography project documenting life in lockdown.

Kate Middleton, 38, showcased print-out versions of some of her favourite photos in a new Kensington Palace video, including one of a six-year-old girl playing noughts and crosses with an elderly relative on a window pane.

Other images submitted to the Hold Still project include one of a family dinner table where a little girl is trying to sing Let It Go from Disney's Frozen and another snap of children living next-door to each other playing musical instruments in front of their houses.

The final image chosen by Kate is one of a hospital worker dressed in full PPE titled 'the man behind the mask'. She encouraged viewers not to forget the human sacrifice of the frontline NHS staff in the fight against COVID-19.

Kate Middleton, 38, showcases print-out versions of some of her favourite photos in a new Kensington Palace video, including one of a six-year-old girl playing noughts and crosses with an elderly relative on a window pane (left). She also chose this one of a hectic household, with a little girl singing Frozen's Let It Go as her family tries to work (right)

The images revealed the reality of life for many amid the coronavirus lockdown - including 'band practise at a distance' by Becky Wickes. The Duchess loved this image for the way it communicates a sense of 'community' spirit

The final image chosen by Kate is one of a hospital worker dressed in full PPE titled 'the man behind the mask'. She encouraged viewers not to forget the human sacrifice of the frontline NHS staff in the fight against COVID-19, pictured

The Duchess of Cambridge, 38, has shared a video message to encourage people across the UK to participate in the Hold Still photographic project which she launched in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery

It comes just hours after the Duchess released another video celebrating other photos.

In a video message shared last night to encourage more entries Kate Middleton, 38, said: 'There have been so many amazing entries to Hold Still over the last few weeks.

'From families up and down the country showing how they are adapting to life during lockdown, through to some of the most amazing NHS and social care staff who are putting their lives on the line to save the lives of others.

'But it isn't too late to take part. So please take a moment to capture what life is like for you, because together I hope that we can build a lasting illustration of just how our country pulled together during the pandemic.

'I can't wait to share the final 100 images with you.'

The Duchess of Cambridge has celebrated the 'amazing' entries to her photographic project 'Hold Still', documenting life under lockdown. Pictured: 'Working from home' by Roseangela Borgese, features a working dad with his back to the camera while in the foreground a toddler lies sprawled on the ground surrounded by toys

'Sleeping Colleagues Unmasked' by Jane Roe shows two nurses, wearing intensive care branded uniforms, asleep on a sofa after a tiring day working on the frontline

Another entry, 'Glass Kisses' by Steph James, shows a shielding elderly lady sending a kiss to her loved one from behind a window. Elderly and extremely vulnerable people have been 'shielding' from coronavirus for the last three months, meaning interactions between family members have taken on unconventional means

Some of the submitted images include one titled Sleeping Colleagues Unmasked by Jane Roe - showing two nurses, wearing intensive care branded uniforms, asleep on a sofa.

Another called Working From Home by Rosangela Borgese features a man with his back to the camera sitting at a computer while in the foreground a toddler lies sprawled on the ground surrounded by toys.

Kate, who spearheaded the campaign, is a patron of the National Portrait Gallery and a keen amateur photographer, aims to capture a snapshot of the UK at this time, with the help of the nation.

The Duchess will personally curate 100 photographs for the Hold Still exhibition.

The mother-of-three previously told how she had been 'struck' by the many 'incredible' images seen already, 'which have given us an insight into the experiences and stories of people - some desperately sad images showing the human tragedy of this pandemic'.

In another poignant entry, 'Biba Behind Glass' by Simon Murphy, a girl can be seen with her face behind a pane of glass as she keeps herself safe from the deadly virus

Hold Still aims to create a collective portrait of lockdown in the UK, capturing the spirit, mood, hopes, fears and feelings of the nation as the coronavirus outbreak continues. Pictured, 'We are the Future' by Daisy Valencia

The heartwarming entry 'Life Goes On' by Matthew Williams shows a nurse in protective equipment, holding a newborn baby that has just been welcomed into the world

People from across the UK are invited to submit a photographic portrait which they have taken during these extraordinary times for the community project.

Participants are also encouraged to provide a short written submission to outline the experiences and emotions of those depicted in their photograph.

Hold Still is completely free, open to all ages and abilities, and will focus on three core themes - 'Helpers and Heroes', 'Your New Normal' and 'Acts of Kindness'.

The idea is to create a unique photographic portrait of the people of our nation in lockdown as we 'hold still' for the good of others, and celebrate those who have continued so we can stay safe.

It will reflect resilience and bravery, humour and sadness, creativity and kindness, and human tragedy and hope.

Hold Still will also act as a reminder of the significance of human connection in times of adversity, and that although we were physically apart, as a community and nation, we all faced and rose to the challenge together.
Mexicos state oil giant is suspending contracts with service providers and suppliers, triggering thousands of job losses, people with direct knowledge of the situation said.

Over the past several weeks, Petroleos Mexicanos has suspended contracts with at least eight local and international oil-service providers and suppliers to cut spending, said the people, who asked not to be named because they werent authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The bulk of cancellations is for offshore maintenance work in shallow-water hubs such as Ciudad del Carmen in the state of Campeche, two of the people said.

A Pemex spokeswoman declined to comment, noting that the information didnt come from the company.

Faced with the fallout from Covid-19 and oil price volatility, Pemex has been forced to backtrack on its ambitious plans to increase capital expenditure and expand drilling in order to reverse 15 years of oil output declines. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has made Pemex the centerpiece of his administrations efforts to become self-sufficient in energy generation.

SANCTIONS: U.S. plans oil tanker sanctions to cut Iran-Venezuela trade

Mexico is falling victim to the crude market collapse despite its famous sovereign oil hedging program, the worlds largest. In March, Finance Minister Arturo Herrera said the countrys oil income was 100% covered by hedges and that he was more concerned about the spread of the coronavirus than the price rout.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, plunged close to $15 a barrel in April as pandemic-related lockdowns obliterated demand for fuel. Though prices have rebounded to about $40 as economies reopen and the OPEC+ alliance has renewed its commitment to production cuts, theyre still down 37% for the year.

Pemex is not expected to restart the suspended work until at least January next year, one of the people said.

Unemployment is soaring in the global oil industry after crude prices crashed to record lows in April. In just two months, the industry has cut almost half the number of jobs lost during the last crude crash of 2014 to 2016.

Pemex is struggling under a debt load of more than $100 billion, and saw record losses of $23 billion in the first three months of the year. Its offshore activity has been hit hard by Covid-19. As many as 112 employees and 3 contract workers have died from the virus so far, it reported late Tuesday.

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Pemex forecasts a budget deficit of 30 billion pesos ($1.4 billion) this year, it said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month. The company has sought board approval to cut operational expenditure by about 5 billion pesos and production capital expenditure by 40.5 billion pesos this year, according to the filing.

Earlier this week, national newspaper Reforma reported that as many as 8,000 workers had lost their jobs due to budget cuts at Pemex that resulted in the cancellation of 45 contracts worth about $160 million with offshore service providers such as Marinsa de Mexico and Cotemar.

At the moment everything is normal, said Greta Alcantara, Director of Institutional Relations for Grupo Cemza, the parent company of Marinsa. There have been no layoffs, and Marinsa is working hand-in-hand with Pemex, Alcantara said. Cotemar declined to comment.

Its not the first time that Pemexs suppliers have felt the pinch. During the previous price crash, about 10,000 oil-industry service contractors in Mexico lost their jobs as Pemex was forced to slash billions of dollars in spending and freeze exploration and production contracts.

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STRATFORD  Retired Superintendent of Stratford Public Schools Irene Lee Cornish died late last month after a lengthy illness, according to her obituary.

Cornish was born on Sept. 13, 1941. She died on May 31 at the age of 78.

She grew up in the Rockville section of Vernon. She attended the University of Connecticut where she earned a degree in French, Spanish and secondary education, her obituary said. She received her Masters Degree in French from Central Connecticut State University and her administrators certification for secondary education at The University of Connecticut in 1978.

Cornish taught French and Spanish at Rockville High School from 1963 to 1971, at Manchester Community College from 1971 to 1973 and at Tolland High School until 1978.

Then, her obituary said, Cornish took a job as assistant principal at Bloomfield High School while pursuing her law degree from UConn, which she received in 1987. She also was the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in Trial Practice.

She practiced law for seven years at the Marder, Kallet and Cornish law firm.

In 1994, Cornish returned to her first love, education, her obituary said. She was named assistant superintendent for pupil services for Chelsea, Mass., before she was promoted to superintendent.

She left Chelsea in 2004, and was named superintendent of Stratford Public Schools. She retired from Stratford schools in 2012.

Irene was an extraordinary woman, said a statement from Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick. We were so fortunate she chose to work and live in Stratford. Her investment in us paved the path for many of the programs we have today.

Susan Barksdale, the towns assistant human resources director who previously served on the Board of Education while Cornish was superintendent, said she was fortunate to have worked with Cornish and was truly honored to call her a friend.

Irene was an amazing woman of great character, intelligence, humor and poise, Barksdale said in a statement. She had a personal, caring commitment to the education of Stratfords children and her leadership in that endeavor was strong.

Cornish stopped at nothing to inspire positive change in the community, the obituary said, adding that she was a role model.

She loved fashion, art, literature, traveling and exploring different cultures, her obituary said. Irene especially loved Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where she visited often with her daughter and sister.

She was predeceased by her husband, Dr. James P. Cornish, former director of the School of Allied Health at the University of Connecticut; her mother, Hope Write Lee; her father, Raymond Lee; and her brother, Kenneth Lee.

She is survived by her daughter, Jodi P. Cornish; her sister, Veronica J. Lee; her brothers Cloyd and Ronald Lee; and several nieces and nephews, the obituary said.

A private graveside ceremony was held in Ellington on June 4.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, Cornishs family asked that she be honored by donating to the National Kidney Foundation or the Dr. James P. Cornish Scholarship fund.

Online condolences can be left at hawleylincolnmemorial.com.
According to David Zalkaliani, the call of the Ukrainian ambassador is connected with the recent statement of Saakashvili about the parliamentary elections in Georgia

The incumbent Head of Executive Committee for Reforms of Ukraine Kyiv Post

The Foreign Ministry of Georgia will call the Ukrainian ambassador due to the statement of Head of the Executive Committee of Reforms Mikheil Saakashvili, as Gruzia Online reported, citing Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani.

According to Zalkaliani, the call of the Ukrainian ambassador is tied with the recent statement of Saakashvili about the parliamentary elections in Georgia.

It is the issue that encouraged us to a very serious approach due to which we recalled the ambassador for consultations. We warned our Ukrainian colleagues about it  a person, appointed at one of the high positions, a wanted person that should be prosecuted by the Georgian law on four independent cases, continues to interfere in the inner policy of Georgia. Of course, the statement that we heard yesterday is the direct interference in the inner affairs of another country and direct interference of the citizen of Ukraine in the election process, Zalkaliani said.

On June 10, Saakashvili wrote on Facebook next: I am not going to stand to see the destruction and complete destruction of Georgia. I will be at the front line of the struggle in fact.

Previously, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky assigned Mikheil Saakashvili to the post of Head of Executive Committee of Reforms. This is mentioned in the decree released on the website of the head of the state.

Later, Georgia recalled its ambassador in Kyiv for consultations. Such a move is due to the recent appointment of Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian leader who is, from now on, the head of the Executive Committee of Reforms that works by the President of Ukraine.

Besides, Georgia demands extradition of Mikheil Saakashvili from Ukraine.
The Nepal government has decided to ease the ongoing nationwide coronavirus lockdown in some low-risk areas, including the Kathmandu valley. The government had enforced the lockdown on March 24 to contain the spread of the deadly virus. On May 30, it extended the lockdown for the seventh time till June 14.

Nepal has recorded over 4,360 cases and 15 deaths due to the disease.

A Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday decided to change the modality of the lockdown in an attempt to gradually resume economic activities, sources said. The meeting has decided to allow operation of businesses, industries and private vehicles in Kathmandu Valley and other districts that have recorded fewer cases of COVID-19.

However, the decision is yet to be officially announced and is expected to come into effect from Friday onwards.

According to the sources, private vehicles will be allowed to operate on an odd-even basis in a bid to avoid traffic congestion. Private four-wheelers will be allowed to carry only two passengers, including the driver, while two-wheelers will not be allowed to carry pillion riders.

The Cabinet laid an emphasis on adopting precautionary measures, including social distance in order to check further spread of the the coronavirus. The movement of people to Kathmandu from other districts will be halted until the situation in the country improves further. The Cabinet meeting has decided not to allow long-route passenger bus services. Schools, colleges, cinema halls and other places of public gathering will continue to remain closed. The restrictions on international and domestic flights will also continue. Meanwhile, hundreds of youths on Thursday staged a demonstration in front of the prime ministers official residence in Baluwatar, demanding easing of the lockdown, making purchase of coronavirus-related medicine transparent, expanding COVID-19 tests and implementing effective measures to control the spread of the disease.

The protesters were chanting anti-government slogans and carrying placards that read Disease or hunger?, We dont need MCC; dont sell the country, No transparency, no farsightedness, why is there always incompetency? and Sanitise the government. In another development, 150 Nepalese female labourers, who were stranded in Kuwait, were repatriated to Kathmandu on Thursday on a chartered flight.
Regulatory News:

Verallia (Paris:VRLA):

The Shareholders' General Meeting of the Company held on June 10, 2020 approved in particular the payment of a dividend of 0.85 euros per share The Shareholders' General Meeting also resolved that each shareholder may choose to receive the payment of the dividend in cash or in new shares of the Company, each of these options being mutually exclusive. The issue price of each new share to be delivered for payment of the dividend will be 22.94 euros The exercise period will start on June 17, 2020included and end on July 6, 2020 included Dividend payment date: July 9, 2020.

The Shareholders' General Meeting of the Company approved the payment of a dividend of 0.85 euros per share (3rd resolution) and decided to propose to each shareholder, in respect of the payment of the dividend for the financial year ended December 31, 2019, an option between the payment of the dividend in cash or in newly issued shares of the Company (4th resolution

The issue price of each share to be delivered for payment of the dividend is 22.94 euros, equal to a price corresponding to 95.02% of the average of the first trading price of Verallia share on Euronext Paris over the 20 trading days preceding the Shareholders' General Meeting, minus the net amount of the dividend, rounded up to the nearest cent.

The newly issued shares will have immediate rights, will have the same rights and obligations as the shares previously issued and will give right to any distribution decided from their issue date.

Subscriptions must relate to whole numbers of shares. If the amount of the dividend in respect of which the option is exercised does not correspond to a whole number of shares, shareholders will be entitled to receive the whole number of shares immediately below completed with a balance payment in cash.

The exercise period will start on June 17 included, 2020 and end on July 6, 2020 included. The option may be exercised on demand with authorized financial intermediaries. Any shareholder who has not exercised its option at the end of the exercise period will be entitled only to a dividend in cash

The dividend will be paid on July 9, 2020; at the same date the shares will be delivered to shareholders having opted for the payment of the dividend in shares.

Calendar

15 June Ex-dividend date

16 June Record date

17 June Opening of the option period for the payment of the dividend in shares

6 July Closing of the option period for the payment of the dividend in shares

7 July (after trading) Announcement of the results of the option

9 July Payment of the dividend in cash and delivery date of newly issued shares

Warning

This press release does not constitute an offer to buy financial securities. This press release and any other document relating to the payment of the dividend in shares may only be distributed outside of France in accordance with locally applicable laws and regulations and may not constitute an offer of financial securities in countries where such an offer would violate locally applicable laws and regulations.

The option to receive the dividend payment for the 2019 financial year in shares is thus not open to the shareholders of the Company residing in any country for which such an option would require registration or obtaining an authorization from local stock exchange authorities.

Shareholders must inform themselves of the conditions and consequences relating to such an option and which may be applicable under local laws and regulations. For the tax aspects related to the payment of the dividend in shares, shareholders are invited to study their particular situation with their own tax adviser.

When deciding whether to opt for a dividend payment in shares, shareholders must take into consideration the risks associated with an investment in shares. For any additional information relating to the Company, its business, its strategy, its financial results and the risks faced by the Group, please refer to the Company's 2019 Universal Registration Document (available on the Verallia website, www.verallia.com).

About Verallia Verallia is the leading European and the third largest producer globally of glass containers for food and beverages, and offers innovative, customized and environmentally-friendly solutions.

The Group posted 2.6 billion in revenue and produced 16 billion bottles and jars in 2019. Verallia employs around 10,000 people and comprises 32 glass production facilities in 11 countries.

Verallia is listed on compartment A of the regulated market of Euronext Paris (Ticker: VRLA ISIN: FR0013447729) and is included in the following indices: SBF 120, CAC Mid 60, CAC Mid Small et CAC All-Tradable. For more information: www.verallia.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005660/en/

Contacts:

Verallia Investor Relations

Alexandra Baubigeat Boucheron - alexandra.baubigeat-boucheron@verallia.com

Press

Verallia Marie Segondat marie.segondat@verallia.com

Brunswick Benoit Grange, Hugues Boeton -verallia@brunswickgroup.com- +33 1 53 96 83 83
Businessman and member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alfred Agbesi Woyome says he remains loyal to ex-President Jerry John Rawlings although the former president abused him verbally.

According to Woyome, Rawlings called him a thief during the heat of the GHS51 million judgement debt case.

Jerry John Rawlings has made comments against me and called me a thief on this matter, but I am still loyal [to him] because the oath and everything that we have sworn still makes me respect him. And I will defend him everywhere, but I will disagree with him. All my issues with Jerry John Rawlings started when I opposed the wife [Konadu Agyemang Rawlings] not to do what he had done to Professor [John Evans Atta] Mills but it does not mean that I still don't love that family because what that family has done for Ghana is great, he said in an interview on Face to Face on Citi TV.

Rawlings slams Woyome

During one of his usual outbursts, Jerry John Rawlings in the year 2015 lambasted Woyome, a known financier of the opposition National Democratic Congress over the GHS51 million judgement debt money wrongfully paid him.

The extent of corruption I have been talking about. I just read that the thief called Woyome had been freed. Why, because his accomplices [Betty Mould and one other person] who were in government were not produced in court for vital evidence to incriminate him, Rawlings said at the time.

Despite the attack, Woyome said he still loves Mr. Rawlings and his family.

I am innocent

Mr. Woyome has been engaged in a legal tussle with the government since 2013, after the Supreme Court on June 14, 2013, ordered him to refund all monies wrongfully paid him in the form of the judgment debt.

The businessman, however, has maintained that he is innocent in the matter and has tried unsuccessfully to seek redress at different courts.

It is also erroneous to say that when a new Government came, I run to court. This matter was there, together with the security forces and the AG until there was a change of power, he told host of Face to Face Umaru Sanda Amadu.

Chief Justice advises Woyome to settle debt or face sale of property

The state has secured an order from the court to sell Woyome's properties to defray the debt.

Chief Justice Anin Yeboah earlier this month, advised Alfred Woyome, to find money to settle his debt to avoid the sale of his properties.

Justice Yeboah made the comment during the hearing of an application by the Attorney General seeking clearance from the court for the State to take over Mr. Woyome's properties instead of selling them.

The properties include two mansions at Trassaco Estate, a house at Kpehe where he resides, an office complex of Anator Holdings, a residential building at Abelemkpe, and a stone quarry in the Eastern Region including its plants and equipment.

The case was adjourned to the 24th of June due to the unavailability of the lawyer of Alfred Woyome.

---citinewsroom
New Delhi, June 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked Vivekananda and talked about Bengal's business revival while making another thrust for self-reliant India on Thursday as he made the inaugural address on the occasion of 95th Annual Day of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), via video conferencing.

The point of discussion was around the pandemic and the challenges emanating from it. However, he played to the gallery of West Bengal by suggesting Bengal should take a lead by reviving its manufacturing sector.

He reiterated his assertion of turning challenges into opportunities. "Every citizen of this country has resolved to turn this crisis into an opportunity. We have to make this a major turning point for this nation. What is that turning point? A self-reliant India," he said.

Modi said Indians will have to take the economy out of 'command and control' and take it towards 'plug and play'. He added that this isn't the time for conservative approach. Rather, it's time for "bold decisions & bold investments". Urging the industry to play its part, Modi said, "It's time to prepare a globally competitive domestic supply chain".

Modi even quoted Swami Vivekananda to make his point. "We have to revive the historical excellence of Bengal in the manufacturing sector. We've always heard 'What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow'. We have to take inspiration from this and move forward together," remarked PM Modi.

He also said that Bengal should exploit the nationwide campaign against single use plastic to revive its jute industry.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 16:03:44|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The leader of the opposition in Pakistan's National Assembly or the lower house of the parliament Shahbaz Sharif and several other politicians have tested positive for COVID-19, local media reported Thursday.

Shahbaz, who is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), went to self-quarantine after testing positive for the disease, the party's spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb said on Thursday.

Shahbaz is also a cancer survivor and is being kept under observation of his doctors. His condition is currently stable and he is showing only mild signs of COVID-19, the spokesperson said.

Condition of the other politicians who have tested positive including former Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 's Khurrum Sher Zaman, is also stable, and all of them have opted for self-isolation at their homes, according to the reports.

On Wednesday, Minister of Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that 46 politicians in the country have tested positive of the disease so far, and some of them have also lost their lives to the disease.

Owing to the surge in the cases among the parliamentarians, the government approved new rules for the initial session to hold a debate on the forthcoming budget in the lower house.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said that a quarter of the members of the lower house will attend the initial budget session, and only the members who have to make speeches during the budget debate will be present in the house.

The number of COVID-19 patients has witnessed a significant surge in Pakistan recently with 4,000 to 5,000 new cases emerging every day. A total of 119,536 people have tested positive of the disease, and 2,356 have died, according to data updated by the health ministry on Thursday. Enditem
[June 11, 2020] Infosys Launches 'Return to Workplace' Solutions to Help Enterprises Build Safe, Nurturing and Resilient Workplaces

BENGALURU, India , June 11, 2020 /CNW/ -- Infosys (NYSE: INFY), the global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced the launch of its enterprise-grade 'Return to Workplace' solutions to help clients ensure safety and wellness of their employees as they adapt to new ways of working amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The cloud and edge-based solutions offer a comprehensive framework that enables enterprises to implement: Elevated Body Temperature (EBT) screening  Leverages automation and AI on Edge to help enterprises screen their workforce or visitors in real-time for possible infection to isolate them and prevent them from entering the establishment.

 Leverages automation and AI on Edge to help enterprises screen their workforce or visitors in real-time for possible infection to isolate them and prevent them from entering the establishment. Contact Tracing  Redefining the contact tracing category using proven technologies like GPS and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to provide completely voluntary and Opt-In basis for building traceability.

 Redefining the contact tracing category using proven technologies like GPS and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to provide completely voluntary and Opt-In basis for building traceability. Mask Compliance / Social Distancing Compliance - Video analytics algorithms to provide alerts when masks are not detected, or the distance between people walking together or gathering at a place is not sufficient. Smart wearables can also be incorporated based on the specific situations.

- Video analytics algorithms to provide alerts when masks are not detected, or the distance between people walking together or gathering at a place is not sufficient. Smart wearables can also be incorporated based on the specific situations. COVID-19 Chatbot  An AI-powered Digital Assistant solution to help answer employee queries related to return to work scenarios

 An AI-powered Digital Assistant solution to help answer employee queries related to return to work scenarios Contactless biometrics  Ensures employees and visitors enter workplaces in a safe manner

 Ensures employees and visitors enter workplaces in a safe manner Occupancy and workspace analytics  To help real estate teams track metrics on floor occupancy, density and automate sanitation routines in common areas. Contactless elevator workflows, HVAC refresh cycles and many more solutions towards ongoing workplace wellbeing. These solutions do not collect any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and use the power of AI, IOTVision Analytics, Edge Computing, 5G, RFID, Biometrics and Gesture controls to reduce the need for human intervention and enable data-driven decision making. The underlying platform ensures ease of maintenance and compliance reporting as required in various geographies. Nitesh Bansal, SVP and Head- Engineering Services, Infosys, said, "The future of work will demand innovative solutions that enterprises can deploy rapidly, and at scale to ensure safety of their workforce while at the same time nurture collaboration and productivity. We are pleased to launch our 'Return to Workplace' offering that is aimed at positively impacting the re-opening of worspaces in a seamless, automated, and systematic manner. We are implementing some of these solutions, starting with EBT checks, across five million sq. ft. of our own office spaces as we prepare for 20,000 Infosys employees to return to their workplaces in a phased manner. We are confident that these solutions will reassure enterprises and employees that their workplaces are safe, collaborative, yet non-intrusive."



These solutions adhere to data privacy standards and practices with FDA, FCC, ISO, and IEC compliance. Mukesh Dialani, Program Director of Product Engineering and Operations Technology/Services, IDC, said, "Infosys' scalable and flexible 'Return to Workplace' solution is timely and well thought out. Adhering to data privacy standards and built on a foundation of digital engineering elements including computer vision, edge and AI, it will provide customers with processes and solutions to restart their operations in a safe and resilient manner."

To know more on how 'Return to Workplace' solutions came about, and watch Nitesh Bansal tell the story, click here: https://www.infosys.com/newsroom/infytv/making-our-way-back-to-workplace.html About Infosys Ltd. Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With nearly four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next. Safe Harbor Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. These filings are available at www.sec.gov . Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/infosys-launches-return-to-workplace-solutions-to-help-enterprises-build-safe-nurturing-and-resilient-workplaces-301074377.html SOURCE Infosys

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The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has withdrawn its case at the Supreme Court challenging the powers of the Electoral Commission to compile a new voters register.

This follows a directive from the Supreme Court judges for the party to make a choice on which of their two reliefs they wanted a decision on.

The lawyer for the NDC, Godwin Tamakloe, who was given the options while on his feet in court today, Thursday, June 11, 2020, opted for a ruling on the use of the old voter ID, dropping the claim of the unconstitutionality the decision by the EC to compile a new register.

The NDC was seeking an order to stop the EC from compiling a new voter register and an alternative order declaring as illegal the decision of the EC not consider the old voter ID cards as a proof of citizenship for registering to vote.

Ahead of the hearing, there was heavy security presence at the premises of the Supreme Court.

Over 50 armed personnel were seen at the Supreme Court.

The Court at its sitting last Thursday directed the Electoral Commission to submit its legal justification for seeking to exclude the old voter ID card from the required list of proof of eligibility to register to vote in the 2020 general elections.

This has subsequently been done with the NDC also filing a supplementary statement.

In its justification, the EC argued that it was an independent body and had the constitutional responsibility of determining how any registration exercise will be conducted.

It has also described the old voter ID as a fruit from a poisoned tree and a breach of Article 42 of the constitution, which defines who is qualified to register to vote.

The EC also cited the court's judgement in the Abu Ramadan case, where it indicated that the use of the National Health Insurance Card to register a voter is inconsistent with Article 42 of the constitution and therefore void.

---citinewsroom
W hats going to happen to our high streets? Its hard not to feel depressed when walking past shuttered shops .

Sadly, many wont reopen. Some were already on the way out pre-crisis, but some were thriving.

Shops play an important role, beyond just commerce. What makes a city worth living in is its culture, its surroundings.

Culture comes from the hundreds of independent stores, cafes and restaurants created by entrepreneurs. Thats what makes cities liveable.

Houses close to streets full of independent retailers sell for 20 per cent more.

But we shouldnt see more empty space as a lost cause for our high streets. It is an opportunity for entrepreneurs.

Already, small businesses make up more than 99 per cent of retailers. Whats more, an increase in empty space leads to a reduction in rent, which creates an opportunity for more people to participate.

Which leads to a more diverse and valuable culture.

Take Kings Road in the Sixties and Seventies.

Young entrepreneurs and creatives used it as a platform to express their ideas: from Mary Quants Bazaar promoting liberation in the form of a miniskirt, to Vivienne Westwoods punk shop SEX.

Today, rents are high and have generally been accessible only to chain stores Kings Road has lost its ability to contribute to the zeitgeist.Today, the busiest street in Chelsea is Pavilion Road, pedestrianised and filled with independent brands.

The challenge now is to ensure the independent stores which were thriving pre-pandemic dont disappear, and that empty spaces can be made available for new ideas.

There are already initiatives, such as closing parts of London to traffic, and allowing existing stores, restaurants and cafes to operate profitably while social distancing is in place.

We need to remove barriers to entry if we want to resuscitate our streets. Landlords will need to embrace flexibility.

Rent at a fixed cost and duration no longer makes sense. Independents will find it harder to afford huge upfront costs or take risky long-term commitments.

Instead, spaces should offer flexible leases and pricing models based on seasonality and demand, like the hotel industry, to ensure they can be filled.

This pandemic has reminded us how important our streets are. They are where we connect with our community.

We can protect those streets by choosing not just to buy stuff, but to buy things from shops that have a story behind them. Or by taking an empty space and telling a story of our own.

Ross Bailey is CEO of Appear Here, an online marketplace for short-term retail space.
(Bloomberg) -- Zoom Video Communications Inc. said it reactivated the account of a U.S.-based group of Chinese pro-democracy activists, after earlier closing the account to comply with local laws.

The San Jose, California-based company suspended the groups user credentials after it hosted a recent gathering to commemorate the 1989 protests and massacre at Tiananmen Square, a seminal event for advocates of democracy in China. Zooms decision to close the account was reported earlier by Axios.

Just like any global company, we must comply with applicable laws in the jurisdictions where we operate, a Zoom spokesman said in a statement. When a meeting is held across different countries, the participants within those countries are required to comply with their respective local laws. We aim to limit the actions we take to those necessary to comply with local law and continuously review and improve our process on these matters. We have reactivated the US-based account.

Zoom, which maintains a significant research-and-development workforce in China, has come under scrutiny for its links to the country. After the videoconferencing application surged in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers discovered instances when calls were routed through servers in China, even though no participant was based there. That raised concerns the Chinese government might be able to snoop on the video calls.

The company has since focused on raising encryption standards for its video conferences, though only large businesses that are paying customers will get access to end-to-end encryption, the strongest form of privacy. Zooms co-founder and chief executive officer, Eric Yuan, was born in China, though he is a U.S. citizen.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Wednesday called for the removal of nearly a dozen Confederate statues from the halls of Congress, throwing her weight behind efforts to take down the figures linked to racism and the Confederacy following the death of George Floyd.

In a new letter to the Joint Committee on the Library, a House-Senate panel that manages the National Statuary Hall Collection, Pelosi asked Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., to direct the Architect of the Capitol to "immediately" start removing 11 statues of men associated with the Confederacy from display in the Capitol complex.

MORE: Democrats push to remove Confederate statues from US Capitol after George Floyd's death

"While I believe it is imperative that we never forget our history lest we repeat it, I also believe that there is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or places of honor across the country," Pelosi said in the letter obtained exclusively by ABC News.

PHOTO: A tour guide talks about the Statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that is located inside the Capitol, Aug.17, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Pelosi's request comes as Democrats plan to introduce a bill that would take down the statues in the Capitol -- sending them to the states that commissioned them, or to the Smithsonian -- and could yield the same result significantly faster.

"Especially at this time in the nation's history, when the country is galvanized by the killing of George Floyd and riveted by tens of thousands of Americans peacefully demonstrating against institutional racism, to have statues of Confederates in Statuary Hall is really at odds with who we are as a country and what we aspire to be," Lofgren, the vice chair of the Joint Committee on the Library and chair of the House Administration Committee, told ABC News.

In 2017, when Democrats were in the House minority, she supported unsuccessful efforts to take down the statues in 2017, after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, left one woman dead and more than a dozen people injured.

Story continues

During her first term as speaker, from 2007 to 2011, Democrats moved a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to the Capitol Crypt and out of Statuary Hall, just steps from the House chamber, as part of a reshuffling of the collection authorized by Congress.

PHOTO: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) listens during a hearing on Capitol Hill of the House Judiciary committee, June 10, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Brendan Smialowski/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Today, a statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks stands in its place.

MORE: Statues of Confederate figures, slave owners come down amid protests

"The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation," Pelosi wrote on Wednesday. "Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals."

The Confederate statues are displayed across the Capitol. Five figures, including statues of Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens, the president and vice president of the Confederacy, are on display in Statuary Hall, on the House side of the Capitol. The other six Confederate statues stand in parts of the complex shared by both chambers.

Each state sends two statues to the collection on Capitol Hill, and can vote in their legislatures to replace them.

Blunt, the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee currently leading the Joint Committee on the Library, said the issue of taking down or replacing the statues should be left to each individual state.

MORE: Trump says admin 'will not even consider' renaming bases named after Confederate leaders, after Army signals openness

"I think the best way for that to happen would be for the states to take them back, if that's what they want to do," he said on Wednesday ahead of Pelosi's letter.

He noted that his own state legislature passed a measure in 2019 to replace their statue of former Sen. Thomas Hart Benton with former President Harry Truman.

"There's a process for this, and I think it's working," he said.

President Donald Trump, who dismissed efforts to take down Confederate statues in 2017, rejected talk among senior Pentagon officials on Wednesday of potentially renaming 10 Army bases named for Confederate leaders, proclaiming on Twitter that "my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations."

It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020

...Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020

To suggest that these forts were somehow inherently racist and their names need to be changed is a complete disrespect to the men and women who the last bit of American land they saw before they went overseas and lost their lives were these forts, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday in a press briefing.

Cities and states across the country, from Virginia to Florida, have already removed or started to take down Confederate statues and monuments. In Europe, statues linked to the slave trade and racism have also been taken down amid protests following Floyds death in police custody.

Read House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's letter:

Speaker Pelosi Letter to Roy Blunt and Zoe Lofgren, June 10 2020 by ABC News Politics on Scribd

ABC News' Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

Speaker Pelosi wants Confederate statues in Capitol removed originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
11.06.2020 LISTEN

My dear compatriots, it's very clear that we lack patriotic leaders with a positive attitude to end this flooding menace that keeps taking the lives of citizens and destroying properties during rainy seasons.

On June 3, 2015, an explosion and a fire occurred at a petrol station in Ghana's capital Accra, killing over 250 people. Four years on, no one was held accountable. The message was 'never again'. It keeps happening at Accra and some other places even this year June 10, 2020.

Most of our Politicians have academic qualifications but lack leadership qualities.

Ex-President Mahama declared 3 days' national mourning for the victims affected by the flood and explosion. His government had also released GH 60 million to support victims. What was the next page? Humbly open it before the election day. You have failed us.

As if we were safe, on the 24 April 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pledged to make Accra the cleanest and best city in Africa by the end of his first term of office. The commitment we are making and which I want you all to make with me is that by the time we end our four-year term, Accra is going to be the cleanest city in Africa, he stated. Then I ask, what happened, Nana Addo? Let us know before that day. You have failed us again.

Fellow citizens, considering the above, I would like to advise each one of us with urgency to master in swimming for safety in this country of no proper drainage system. Those we voted for have failed us. Both sides of the coin are beyond repairs.

Ghanaian people, I have no right to influence you to say never again to both NDC and NPP parties but, let's not fail ourselves also. We must not litter our environment. Build at the right place. Keeping the environment clean must be our priority. Don't wait for the law enforcement agencies to drag you here and there.

#Vote for people with values not money.

I am a citizen of Ghana. I love my rich continent.

Signed

Boadi William

President of Educate Ghana Summit, Educationist and Motivational Speaker.

+233541935106.
Fewer than a dozen nurses have been taught how to use a rape kit a year after a damning report found Queensland victims had waited in hospitals for hours wearing the same clothes in which they were assaulted.

An auditor-general's report released in June last year found survivors of sexual assault in regional parts of the state had to drive for hours to find a clinician trained to collect vital DNA evidence.

Victims have 72 hours to get a forensic medical examination done using a rape kit before evidence is compromised. Credit:AFP

The report found hospitals had refused to conduct rape tests for victims, including children, because no-one on staff had been trained in the procedure, even though it was "not considered to be complex" and any nurse or GP could be trained to carry it out.

Last year, Health Minister Steven Miles said training more health staff to use the kit was a "priority", and $1.26 million was committed to make that a reality.
The San Francisco district attorneys office has launched a criminal investigation into a San Francisco sheriffs deputy seen in cell phone video shoving a demonstrator to the ground during a Black Lives Matter protest last week.

The video, taken on May 31, shows an unidentified deputy approach a cluster of anti-police brutality demonstrators standing in front of a law enforcement vehicle on Pine Street in San Francisco. The deputy can be seen shoving a demonstrator  who had just stepped out of the way of the vehicle and onto the curb  on his back, sending him into the street on his hands. His cap flew off his head as he fell onto the ground, police sirens whirring in the busy intersection.

The same deputy can be seen pushing at least one other protester. Soon, other deputies with outstretched batons began to push protesters away from the vehicle and into the street. When another deputy approached the pushed protester, who was still on the ground on his back with his hands in the air, the deputy pulled him up and pushed him toward the crowd of demonstrators swelling in the street.

Yes we have identified the individual as a sheriffs deputy, said Nancy Crowley, a sheriffs spokeswoman. We have opened an investigation.

Crowley did not identify the deputy or provide additional information to The Chronicle on Wednesday.

Sheriffs officials said Wednesday that after an initial review of the available information and circumstances, the deputys action does not appear to rise to criminal conduct.

The Sheriffs Office is aware of a video depicting the actions of our staff during crowd management activities in the recent protest demonstrations, sheriffs officials said. As a part of our investigation, we welcome any members of the public to provide additional video and information.

Anyone with information should contact the sheriff offices Internal Affairs unit at 415-554-2380.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Wednesday announced that his office has opened a criminal investigation of its own.

Boudin called on anyone with video or information about the people involved  including those who were shoved and any witnesses  to contact the district attorneys office at districtattorney@sfgov.org.

The incident comes amid more than a week of demonstrations in the Bay Area and across the country calling for an end to police brutality against black communities in the United States, and for accountability in police killings of black and brown men, women and children.

One of the latest killings by police, where a Minneapolis police officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd, sparked worldwide protests against police brutality and against systematic racism in law enforcement.

In the Bay Area, Floyds death has prompted many communities to call on the defunding of their local law enforcement agencies, as well as some police departments announcing they will review their use of carotid restraint during arrests.

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez
Kriti Sanon On Returning To Work

Before the lockdown began in mid-march, Kriti was shooting for her upcoming film titled Mimi. Talking about work she revealed, "For the first month or so, I was really chilling. But honestly, I now miss being on the sets and going through my normal, daily' routine." Mimi will show Kriti play a surrogate mother, and the film is all set to reunite her with Luka Chuppi director, Laxman Utekar.

Kriti Reunited With Luka Chuppi Director, Laxman Utekar For Mimi

Kriti believes in keeping a positive mind and thinks that the lockdown brought some good to Mumbai too, "Surely, lockdown brought along tonnes of problems and difficulties for many people, but in hindsight, I feel even a busy city like Mumbai has been much calmer. You could see a clearer sky, and even hear birds chirping. That way, it has been great. Whenever I start working again, I guess I will value that a lot, and also enjoy it much more."

Kriti Sanon Upcoming Films

According to reports, it is possible that the filmmaker association will soon give a green light for filming and production to continue for projects which had been kept hold for the past couple of months. After Mimi's post-production, Kriti will soon begin work on other projects like Akshay Kumar-starrer Bachchan Pandey, followed by a yet-untitled film with Rajkummar Rao, Dimple Kapadia and Paresh Rawal.
Right now, you need to practice social  not emotional - distancing. Amid the ever-changing chaos, your team deserves an empathetic leader who deeply understands what individual people are going through. Making the right managerial and executive decisions are challenging enough during good times  and even harder amid a global pandemic.

Having lived and worked around the world, I cannot think of a more necessary time for empathy. The playing field has changed for the foreseeable future. Unless you adopt empathetic leadership principles quickly, you may find yourself the captain of a sinking ship filled with crew members suffering from analysis paralysis and traumatic shock.

Related: 3 Ways Increasing Your Empathy Makes You a More Effective Leader

The importance of empathy

You may already be familiar with the value of empathy in leadership, at least on a theoretical level. The Wall Street Journal notes that roughly one in five organizations provides soft-skill training opportunities for staff to learn the art of leading with empathy. If you've been through a similar workshop, you might not have realized how important that training was until now.

Difficult situations reveal why empathy is important in leadership, and crises like COVID-19 drive the lesson home. Teams led by people who possess high emotional intelligence tend to work hard and persevere through rough patches. They also develop deeper bonds of trust, which are essential when employment statuses seem all too fragile.

Right now, plenty of workers are dealing with tremendous fear. Those guided by empathetic leaders will likely have an easier time working through their stresses, while others operating under a "business as usual" manager may become disengaged and resentful. Make no mistake: Leaders will be judged by how they react during this historic moment. Of course, leading with empathy is not an innate ability. Even if you have a high emotional intelligence quotient, you may need a refresher course in empathy and leadership. Here are a few strategies to practice:

1. Become more personable and accessible

To attune yourself to your teams feelings, you must get in touch with your own emotions and understand how to express them. Marc Benioff, the head of Salesforce, showed signs of empathy when he tweeted his eight-point plan for dealing with the coronavirus. Point seven asked every CEO to wait 90 days before resorting to layoffs. If you have to furlough personnel, be graceful and compassionate about it. Don't coldly layoff 95 percent of your employees via a video like Cirque du Soleil did at the start of the crisis, a decision that garnered negative attention.

Take time to recognize and express your emotions as well as help your team work through their fears. Add a daily reminder in your calendar or phone to stay grounded. That little "ping" will remind you to reflect every day on what you're feeling and what's going on. In time, you will be able to tune in emotionally without a physical reminder.

Related: Does Empathy Have a Place in Your Workplace?

2. Listen and respond honestly and optimistically (within reason)

The only way your team will be vulnerable with you during this difficult period is if you learn to listen without judgment. Leading with empathy often involves saying nothing at all and sometimes agreeing that you are sad, confused or angry, too. According to work published in The Journal of Behavioral Science, 70 percent of successful people say they feel like imposters from time to time. Imagine how refreshing it would be for your team members to hear that you also struggle and will not use their feelings against them.

One caveat: Don't allow yourself or your team to wallow too long in sessions focused on negative emotions. Instead, enable honest discussions and then pivot the conversation toward positive solutions. However, be aware of the language you use when you want to refocus your team. For example, in English, we tend to use I feel when we really mean I think. If you say, I feel like you all need to get back to work, then you are telling your team what to do, not empathizing. Consider your words carefully after team members open up; you want them to feel heard, not ignored, when you gently move the conversation in an optimistic direction.

3. Become an emotion-seeking detective

Now is not the moment to assume you know everything bothering your team. Ask employees, What keeps you up at night?" Their answers may surprise you. Seem a little touchy-feely? Maybe. But your team members will hear your words as an indicator of your interest. Salesforces report "The Impact of Equality and Values Driven Business" reveals that when leaders pay attention to their employees needs, the employees are 4.6 times more apt to produce stellar work.

Related: Successful Leadership Tactics in a Time of Crisis

You may discover that getting to know team members on a deeper level helps you notice when they're not on their A-games. If you see someone struggling, intervene before their work completely falls apart. Part of the importance of empathy in leadership is being able to provide emotional guidance and encouragement that will help everyone develop personally and professionally.

Uncertain times call for unparalleled leaders. Show your humanity with a heavy dose of empathetic leadership. Empathy will not only motivate your team through crisis, but it will help you deal with your own conflicted feelings, too.

Related:

To Understand the Riots, Consider the "Valuation" of Black Lives

A Navy SEAL's Guide to Thriving in Close Quarters, Part 6: Exercise

Why Empathy Is Important in Leaders Right Now



Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Infosys (NYSE: INFY), the global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced the launch of the Summer of Ideas initiative to redefine the learning experience for university students worldwide. This global eight-week ideathon, powered by Infosys digital learning platform Wingspan, will help the global student and academic community overcome the loss of learning opportunities as a result of the disruption caused by COVID-19.

This initiative will allow students access to Infosys mentorship and specially curated learning materials virtually. The program will induct nearly 2000 participants, divided into teams of five that will shape their ideas based on 10 themes related to emerging technologies. In addition to getting their ideas consulted and refined by Infosys mentors, renowned professors, and technology thought leaders, the students will have the opportunity to showcase these ideas to industry experts. Through this initiative, Infosys Wingspan will provide a unique online learning experience for thousands of students, during these unprecedented times.

Infosys next-generation digital learning platform, Wingspan, will enable students to define their learning roadmap choosing courses from a content library, curated carefully by subject matter experts and educators. The platform will also allow students to network with each other, collaborate with teams across geographies and share ideas using various digital tools, ensuring a rich learning experience.

Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said, According to estimates by UNESCO, COVID-19 has affected nearly 1.2 billion students and youth globally. The Infosys Summer of Ideas will deliver a purposeful summer learning opportunity for students impacted by this pandemic. Infosys has always believed in lifelong learning as a key strategy pillar for our employees as well as our partner universe. Today over 200,000 of our employees use our in-house digital learning platform to reskill and up-skill themselves, and we are confident that Infosys Wingspan will empower students with a great user experience, as well as skills that will be even more relevant in the post-COVID world.

Professor Gonzalo Garland Hilbck, Executive Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, IE University said, Infosys and IE University have been partners in academic endeavors for a long time now and we are excited to be a partner in the Infosys Summer of Ideas initiative. Not only will this help our students, but also thousands of students globally, giving them a great opportunity to spend their summer in a valuable learning environment.

Thomas Finholt, Dean, University of Michigan, School of Information said, As the relationship continues to grow between UM's School of Information and Infosys, the Infosys Summer of Ideas program offers our students engaged learning experiences that enhance their classroom education and help prepare them to be leading information professionals. Students will have the opportunity to engage with students from other universities around the globe and enhance their skill sets by generating new ideas and working through the challenges to act upon them.

Dr. Mathew J. Palakal, Senior Executive Associate Dean, Indiana University, said, I am very excited about Infosys Summer of Ideas, and even more pleased to see the program is specifically designed to bring together students from global universities in a collaborative environment. At the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, we are committed to delivering a highly practical education alongside cutting-edge research, and Infosys Summer of Ideas is an incredible opportunity to learn and collaborate in the global marketplace.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With nearly four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

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For further information, please contact: PR_Global@infosys.com
The police in Kano on Wednesday arrested an alleged serial rapist, Zirfarahul Alfa, at Kwanan Dangora community in Kiru Local Government Area.

The police spokesperson, Abdullahi Haruna, in a statement, said the suspect was arrested following an attempt to rape children at a residence in Kwanan Dangora community.

According to the police, the housewife shouted and called the attention of her husband when Mr Alfa entered her children room and switched off the light attempting to rape them.

The suspect, widely known as Mai Skirt, was also accused of raping other women in the community in the past, the police said.

Mr Haruna said the suspect in a confessional statement said he had raped over 40 women including an 80-year-old woman, in Kwanan Dangora community.

He said the states police commissioner, Habu Sani, has directed the transfer of the case to the police sexual and other related offences unit for investigation.

The police said after the investigation, the suspect would be charged to court.

Suspects confession

The police also released the audio of the confessional statement the suspect reportedly gave during interrogation.

I entered the house at night. I switched off the light at the childrens room. The mother notice that and alerted her husband, she shouted and I fled.

Serial rapist who allegedly raped, 80-year-old woman, others arrested in Kano.

The husband and other residents chased and caught me, this is how I was arrested, the suspect said in the audio.

I started doing this act in this year. I have at least raped 40 women in Kwanan Dangora community. Most of the women I raped, I did that in their houses.

The 80-year-old woman was staying alone at her house. I raped her during the rainy season. Also, I raped underage girls. I did that without them even knowing that I rape them, he reportedly added.
Schools across England will not remain open during the summer holidays for the children of key workers, Downing Street confirmed today.

Those pupils have been able to attend classes throughout the coronavirus crisis so that parents in critical jobs could continue to go to work.

They had been able to attend school during the Easter break but Number 10 said this afternoon that schools will be shut to all pupils over the summer.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson recently told MPs that schools would close over the summer holiday months and the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said that will also apply to key workers' children too.

'There would have been a reasonable expectation that parents would expect for schools not to be open over the course of the summer,' the spokesman said.

The move is likely to cause a headache for many key workers who will now need to try to put in place childcare arrangements at a time when social distancing rules mean grandparents cannot be called on.

It came as the head of Ofsted told teachers they need to adopt a more 'can do' and 'optimistic approach' to reopening schools.

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools, piled the pressure on teachers to do more to get children back into the classroom as soon as possible.

Head teachers have said that without changes to the current two metre social distancing rule it will be 'impossible' for all children to return in September.

But Ms Spielman said it 'should be about what we can do, not about what we can't do' in comments likely to provoke teacher fury.

The Government U-turned earlier this week on its 'ambition' to get all primary school pupils back before the summer holidays as ministers admitted social distancing and smaller class sizes made a wholesale return unfeasible.

It came as Sir Keir Starmer today urged Boris Johnson to turn the nation's empty theatres, museums, libraries and leisure centres into classrooms to get children back to school as soon as possible.

Reports suggest Mr Johnson is planning to scrap the existing two metre rule by September so that schools can fully reopen for the start of the next academic year.

Downing Street today confirmed all schools across England will not remain open for children of key workers during the summer break

Ofsted chief inspector of schools Amanda Spielman said teachers needed to adopt a more 'optimistic approach' to getting children back into classrooms

The two metre social distancing rule has made it impossible for schools to bring back all of their pupils. Pictured is a primary in Huddersfield

The phased reopening of primary schools in England started on June 1 while secondary schools are due to allow some year 10 and year 12 pupils to meet with their teachers from June 15.

The Government had wanted all primary school pupils to return for a month before the summer holidays.

But Mr Williamson admitted on Tuesday that many schools are 'not able to welcome all primary children back for a full month before the summer'.

The Education Secretary said ministers will now be 'working to bring all children back to school in September'.

Ms Spielman said she wanted teachers to be more 'optimistic' about reopening after she was told during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that some head teachers believe the September target will be 'impossible' to hit.

She said: 'I'd like to hear a much more optimistic approach. I think it should be about what we can do, not about what we can't do.

'Many schools are already showing that within the public health guidance that sets the expectations for these bubbles of 15 children there is a great deal that can be done.

'It is also important to remember that within the bubbles social distancing is an aspiration not an absolute expectation.

'Of course there are many, many pieces of planning that come into getting schools open, it is not just about the physical arrangements of classrooms themselves.

'It is about having teachers, it is about having transport. There are a lot of logistical things that need to be thought through.

'But fundamentally we need to approach in the spirit of what is the most education that we can provide within the constraints and which of the constraints relaxation will make the most difference at the point that they can be relaxed to help us understand the best priorities for getting the most children back into school.'

Asked if she believed teachers and councils were being too 'risk averse', she replied: 'Certainly the medical evidence that Public Health England and the Government's advisers have presented to the education sector does suggest that the risk to children themselves is very low indeed and that those in education should take some confidence in that.'

Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Keir accused the Government of having a 'blind spot' on education which is harming the long term life chances of the current generation of school children.

He said there had been 'no plan, no consensus, no leadership' on reopening schools as he warned children must not be allowed to go six months without proper classroom learning.

Sir Keir called for the Government to do three things: Repurpose empty buildings to act as classrooms, develop a national plan with teachers to ensure a full September return and make efforts now to reverse gaps in attainment caused by the outbreak.

'There is no doubt that the way children are educated needs to change in light of the pandemic,' he said.

'Schools cannot reopen as normal. Adaptations need to be made so that teachers, children and parents can be kept safe.

Sir Keir Starmer, pictured in London yesterday, has urged ministers to repurpose empty museums and libraries as classrooms to help children return to school

'Introducing these changes must be a national effort using the creativity of the British people. Towns, villages and cities are full of empty buildings and spaces that can be repurposed.

'Theatres, museums, libraries and leisure centres could be used and opened up for children.'

Sir Keir claimed the Government had been 'too slow' to act at every stage of the crisis and that a 'ridiculous situation' had now arisen where theme parks will soon reopen but parents do not know when their children will be able to go back to school.

There is now a cross-party push for empty public buildings to be used as classrooms with Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the Education Select Committee, having already demanded a similar move.

Mr Halfon called for Mr Johnson to set up a 'national education army' to teach children and help them catch up on their education in the coming months.

He wants retired teachers, graduates and Ofsted inspectors to work with schools to 'open school buildings and other buildings and look after these left-behind pupils to make sure they are learning'.
Midland County recorded two new confirmed coronavirus cases Thursday, bringing its total to 101 cases and nine deaths.

Midland County Public Health Director/Health Officer Fred Yanoski said the two new cases are being investigated and are believed to be part of a cluster of positive cases that are related to each other.

The county has added 18 confirmed cases since Monday, five of those from the May 30-31 mass testing event at Dow Diamond in Midland during which 2,435 people were tested. The majority of the results have been received and letters are being mailed out to those who tested negative, Yanoski said.

COVID-19 will be with us until we have a safe and effective vaccine and greater than 80% of the population is vaccinated," said Dr. Catherine Bodnar, Midland County Department of Public Health Medical Director. "The higher temperatures and humidity of summer and increased outdoors activity may help decrease COVID-19 disease spread."

The county health department on its website late Thursday lists 40 probable cases, individuals who have symptoms but were not tested, and often household members of positive cases, and 79 recovered cases, individuals with lab-confirmed positive tests who have completed isolation and are symptom free.

Also on Thursday, Bay County's totals reflected 14 new cases and one death; its total now stands at 345 cases and 27 deaths. Saginaw County added 17 new cases and two deaths, bringing its totals to 1,117 cases and 114 deaths.

Gladwin County and Isabella County remain the same at 20 cases and one death and 79 cases and seven deaths, respectively.

The state on Thursday added 218 new cases and 26 deaths. Overall, Michigan is at 59,496 cases and 5,737 deaths.

The state lists the total recovered at 42,041 cases, as of June 6, which represents COVID-19 confirmed individuals with an onset date on or prior to May 1, 2020, according to the state website, mich.gov. The numbers will be updated every Saturday.

Dr. Bodnar said it is critical for people to take the following steps:

 Socially distance at least 6 feet from non-household members.

 Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

 Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.

 If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol based sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

 Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.

 Wear face coverings in public.

 Stay home when sick.

 Covering coughs and sneezes.

 Throw used tissues in the trash right after use.

 Routinely clean frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning wipe or spray.

If you think you've been exposed to COVID-19 and develop a fever and symptoms such as cough or difficulty breathing, call your health care provider for medical advice. If he/she isn't available, call MidMichigan Urgent Care in Midland at 989- 633-1350 or MidMichigan Medical Center's Emergency Department in Midland at 989-839-3100.

MidMichigan Health has a COVID-19 informational hotline with a reminder of CDC guidelines and recommendations. The hotline can be reached toll-free at 800-445-7356 or 989-794-7600. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services also has a hotline number for Michigan residents for questions about COVID-19. The number is 1-888-535-6136 and is available seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents can also e-mail COVID19@michigan.gov. E-mails will be answered seven days a week between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

If you are feeling anxious, stressed, depressed and feel you need to talk to someone, reach out to Community Mental Health for Central Michigan by calling 800-317-0708.
What do you do if you are in charge of dealing with the pandemic and the number of deaths is getting out of control?

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

What do you do if you are in charge of dealing with the pandemic and the number of deaths is getting out of control?

Simple. Stop publishing the number.

Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro has been having a bad time with the pandemic. His default mode has been callous disinterest: when told in early May that the countrys COVID-19 death toll had reached 5,000, he said, "So what? Im sorry. What do you want me to do?"

When the number reached 30,000 dead early this month, he tried a philosophical tone instead: "I regret every death, but thats everyones destiny." But the victims families and friends remain unreasonably fixated on the question of why they had to die from the coronavirus this month rather than of something else many years from now, and blame Bolsonaro for their untimely departure.

So on Sunday, with Brazils death toll about to pass 40,000 and become second only to that of the United States, Bolsonaro stopped his government from publishing the total anymore.

From now on, only todays number of infections, deaths and recoveries will be announced. No more awkward comparisons with other countries, no five-digit running total to confront him with his failure each day. And of course, no attempt to establish the real number of deaths, which is almost certainly at least twice the official number since many victims never got to hospitals.

There is a temptation to group the three populist leaders of big Western democracies together, and they do have a lot in common. Britains Prime Minister Boris Johnson removed a similarly damning piece of data from the daily press conference when the U.K.s death toll per million overtook that of every other major European country. (It is now second-worst in the entire world.)

Americas Donald Trump, Bolsonaros idol, spent just as much time in the early months of this year belittling the gravity of the threat (Bolsonaro: "Its only a little flu"; Trump: "Its going to disappear. One day its like a miracle, it will disappear.") None of the three men will wear a mask, and they are all compulsive serial liars.

Nevertheless, there are major differences. Johnson manages to sound as if he cares about all the lives lost, and Trump at least goes through the motions occasionally. Johnson eventually declared a lockdown, although much too late, and Trump at least went along for a while with the lockdowns declared by almost all of the states.

Bolsonaro, by contrast, openly condemned the lockdowns declared by the various Brazilian states and ostentatiously disobeyed them. He held rallies and took crowd baths. He swiped his nose on the back of his hand and then shook hands with a fragile old lady. He showed up at a barbecue on a jet ski.

He has fired two successive health ministers since January because they were taking the pandemic too seriously and hindering Brazilians return to work. He joined a street protest calling for a return to the military dictatorship that finally fell in 1985. He regularly vilifies the poor, the left, Indigenous Brazilians, gays and non-whites.

Like Trump, he hates the World Health Organization, but unlike Trump he also accuses the WHO of encouraging masturbation and homosexuality among children. He is widely believed to have links with paramilitary groups associated with the Mafia.

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And he is currently presiding over a pandemic that will probably kill more than 100,000 Brazilians, without lifting a finger to stop it.

Yet in late 2018 he won the presidential election in the first round with 55 per cent of the vote, and his character was hardly a secret even before the election. A recent poll showed that his popularity is now down to 32 per cent, so Brazilians have noticed that something is wrong with him, but it still verges on the inexplicable. Or does it?

The electorate that voted for Bolsonaro in 2018 was little changed from the one that gave Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, the absolute antithesis of Bolsonaro, two terms in the presidency immediately before him. Just as the American electorate that put Trump in office in 2016 was little changed from the one that elected Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

They didnt suddenly go blind when confronted with a candidate as fraudulent as Trump or Bolsonaro. They deliberately overlooked his flaws because he offered them something they needed. It was probably something economical or psychological, and not specific to any single country, because the mood struck British and Brazilians and Americans at the same time. (And Hungarians and Turks and Filipinos and Indians, too.)

What this tells us  and Im sorry to be the bearer of this news  is that if that same something is still bothering the voters when the next election rolls around next November in the U.S., or in Brazil in 2022, or in the U.K. in 2024, the same person can win again, no matter how badly he misbehaves in the meantime.

Gwynne Dyers latest book is Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work).
It is critical that our fall elections are carried out in a way that assures voters and election workers can participate safely and that affirms the publics trust in the outcome.

All eligible voters must have the choice of casting their vote by absentee ballot or in person in the 2020 elections. Election officials need time to prepare adequately for both in order to ensure safety for voters and poll workers alike.

In Connecticut, voting by absentee ballot is the only mail-in voting procedure available to us in 2020. The governor has issued an executive order to permit the use of an absentee ballot for any reason in the Connecticut primary elections on Aug. 11.

Now its time for the Legislature to act in time to adequately prepare for the Nov. 3 general election. Seeking to avoid illness during a pandemic should be among the allowable reasons to vote by absentee ballot. Legislative leaders need to call a special session in June and make it legally permissible to use an absentee ballot for fear of sickness from COVID-19 in November 2020.

How do we affirm the publics trust in the outcome and ensure that our absentee ballot procedure is secure? In Security Features of Voting by Absentee/Mailed Ballots, the National Conference of State Legislatures says that In several ways, absentee/mailed ballots are as secure or more secure than traditional methods of voting. In Connecticut there are many guardrails to protect the security of elections.

Here are a few:

Registrars of Voters and Town Clerks are required by the Secretary of the States office to keep their voter lists up to date and ensure that only eligible voters participate in our elections.

Every city/town is required to have two elected registrars of voters, one Republican and one Democrat. Once elected, they cease to be party members and are sworn to uphold and protect the right of every voter, regardless of party affiliation. Town clerks are also elected. They are responsible for vital records, deaths, marriage licenses, etc. as well as administering absentee ballots.

For in-depth look at all regulations governing absentee voting, see the CT General Statutes

For an in-depth look at all regulations governing in-person voting, see https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_146.htm

Real voter fraud is very rare, as found in many research reports provided by the Brennan Center in Resources on Voter Fraud Claims. Credible allegations of voter fraud must be thoroughly investigated and addressed through processes established by the State Election Enforcement Commission. A legislator can also raise a bill to compel a specific city or town to have a certified election monitor for cause and provide state funds for such a decision.

While fraud is clearly unacceptable, the LWVCT is committed to finding solutions that address actual problems instead of imposing policies that make it harder for Connecticuts citizens to participate in our democracy.

One month ago, on May 4, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill introduced her plan Overcoming Adversity During the COVID-19 Crisis to prepare for every eventuality in the 2020 election season. The Legislature needs to put in place the legal authorities necessary to overcome disruptions to the election calendar. Election officials and poll workers need to have sufficient time and resources to implement this safe, secure and accessible plan that will be supported in large part by emergency funds made available from the federal government because of the COVID-19 emergency.

While we recognize there are challenges for the General Assembly to meet during a pandemic, other states have found safe solutions. Its time for the Legislature to act on this without delay in a special session. The General Assemblys choice on providing the legal authority to protect voters rights and safety needs to be known. Voters safety and the publics trust in election outcomes demand no less.

Carol Reimers president of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut.
People around the world showed solidarity with US anti-racism protests but in the Arab world mixed reactions percolated

On 1 June as protests against the death of an African-American man, George Floyd, at the hands of a police officer peaked in the US, a veteran American Middle East reporter posted on his Facebook page a photograph of a journalist working for the Arab media covering the street protests in Washington.

It strikes me as the height of irony, wrote the US journalist on his page about a picture of Nadia Bilbassy, a correspondent for the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV channel in Washington, doing a piece to camera close to a protest in the city.

Comments by a chorus of old colleagues and friends followed, mostly sharing the derision and urging the retired reporter to weigh in with his own thoughts and experience from covering the Arab world for decades.

There was a hint of cynicism in the debate: while the TV correspondent was reporting on protests in Washington, Arab audiences at home do not have the privilege of watching anti-government demonstrations on their own streets.

It was, however, typical bravado by American reporters who pretend they know all about the Middle East but are mostly and utterly lacking in context and probably also facts.

The Arabs have become accustomed to orientalist bias, stereotyping, prejudice and even racial stigmatisation in the US media, but their struggle for justice and freedom has never been in question.

Over recent months, protests have engulfed cities in Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan, with millions of people pouring into the streets for months on end demanding change. Veteran political leaders fell in Sudan and Algeria, while prime ministers were forced to resign in Lebanon and Iraq.

The dramatic protest movements revived memories of the 2011 Arab Spring, which swept away regimes in several Arab countries and ignited lengthy civil wars in others.

Indeed, the New York Times reported last week that the US protests had brought to the minds of many Americans and people around the world a similarity with the 2011 Arab uprisings.

The US Foreign Policy magazine said a central thread linked the unrest across the US with recent upheavals in the Middle East, being the basic demands of the protesters.

Under the headline, Yes, Lafayette Square is Tahrir Square, the magazine wrote that recent uprisings in the Middle East do provide a useful lens through which to understand Americas present crisis.

As protests over US police racism and racial inequality have spread to more than 140 American cities in the days since the death of Floyd, the Arab world has been watching the unrest in growing disbelief, even sometimes pushing aside news of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Worldwide, thousands have defied pandemic-related bans on gatherings to pay homage to Floyd and to express their solidarity with the American protesters, highlighting inequalities worldwide and hoping that the US protests will be a catalyst for change at home.

But while the response from Arab governments to the unprecedented street protests in the US has remained largely and understandably muted, there have been mixed reactions from the Arab public towards the unrest.

In Iraq, where thousands have been protesting since last October against government corruption and mismanagement and have been demanding jobs and better services, many have spotted the parallels between the US protests and their own grievances.

Across their country, Iraqis have showed their solidarity with those Americans fighting for justice, and some of the protesters still camping out in Baghdads Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the Iraqi uprising, have sent warnings and advice to demonstrators across the US.

I think what the Americans are doing is brave, and they should be angry, but rioting is not the solution, Yassin Alaa, told the French news agency AFP.

In Lebanon, demonstrators who defied the coronavirus lockdown this week to protest against poverty, corruption and the mismanagement that has shattered the countrys economy stood in solidarity with the US protesters.

Floyds death at the hands of the US police has also sparked outpourings of sympathy and solidarity from many Arabs who have gone on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to voice their support for the protesters.

Yet, for many other Arabs, the turmoil in the US has been an unwelcome reminder of an unruly period during the 2011 and 2019 uprisings that threatened their countries with instability and chaos.

In Arab countries known not to be allies of street protesters, the media has been highlighting the chaos and violence of the US protests.

Saudi columnist Mashari Al-Thaydi blamed the US unrest on a mix of violent mobs, anarchists, leftist groups and supporters of former US president Barack Obama.

They are not after justice, but rather after ending the American era and destroying it, Al-Thayid wrote in Asharq Al-Awsat, a newspaper owned by the Saudi Royal Family.

In Bahrain, a writer for Akhbar Al-Khaleej said the US should draw lessons from the protests and stop supporting human-rights activists and pro-democracy movements that he accused of carrying out agendas of sabotage.

But whatever the reactions to the US protests, the turmoil has been shining a light on the situation in the US, a country which has had a profound and enduring impact on the Arab countries and the Middle East.

For many Arabs, it was the US rediscovered through the lenses of the present crisis that they feel will affect US foreign policy in the Middle East where it has been the preeminent power for decades.

Like in Europe, Japan, Australia and elsewhere, the images of the death of Floyd, the protests, the burning cars, police violence and the problem of racism in the US in general have touched strong emotions among many Arabs.

For these Arabs, it has been particularly jarring to see such things in the United States, a country whose government and institutions exercise moral authority to advance democracy and human rights in the Arab world.

The violence with which the protesters have been met in US cities has certainly undercut US efforts to project the country as promoting universal values or claims to be the worlds moral guardian.

Comments such as the ones by the veteran US Middle East reporter and his friends have always been seen as typical orientalist imaginings of the Arabs, but they also reflect the sickening arrogance of those Americans who still cannot look at themselves in the mirror.

They also ignore the fact that Western foreign policy and in particular that of the United States is to blame for the present state of affairs in the Middle East.

But beyond reactions to the severity of the problems of racism and police violence in the US that the current situation reflects, the crisis is also likely to have serious impacts on the influence and the role the US has been playing in the Arab world.

Even with the different approaches seen in the official and public reactions to the violence in US cities, the issue remains not about US moral authority as much as about the countrys projected role as a global power in the post-protest era.

At a time when the US is suffering from real political and economic problems that are the outcome of deep inefficiencies, the problem today is that the US political system seems to have lost a lot of the credibility needed to be able to fix the damage caused by the crisis.

The USs place in the world will certainly decline because of this civil conflict, but nowhere will its role and influence be brought more into question both by its critics and its allies than in the Arab world.

The political turmoil triggered by the protests, coupled with the Covid-19 crisis, may influence the results of the 2020 presidential elections, especially if there is a major swing against the way US President Donald Trump has handled the situation.

A Democratic administration under candidate Joe Biden is expected to redraft US policies in the Middle East, which could bring about changes and shifts in power that may reshape the regional environment.

Apart from solidarity with the protesters, or the lack of it, this fear of uncertainty probably underlines the Arabs response to the US crises more than the protests themselves.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 11 June, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Right to reservation isn't a fundamental right, observed the Supreme Court on Thursday while adjudicating a clutch of cases on quota for OBC candidates in Tamil Nadu's medical colleges.

A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao was categorical that nobody can claim right to reservation as a fundamental right, and hence not giving the quota benefits cannot be construed as a violation of any constitutional right.

"Right to reservation is not a fundamental right. That's the law today," remarked Justice Rao, as the bench took up petitions claiming violation of fundamental rights by not keeping seats reserved in the medical colleges in Tamil Nadu for its OBC students.

The petitions, filed by CPI, DMK and some of its leaders asking for 50 per cent OBC reservation in seats, surrendered by Tamil Nadu in the All India Quota for under graduate, post graduate medical and dental courses in 2020-21.

They said that in Tamil Nadu, there is 69 per cent reservation for OBCs, SC and ST and within this, OBC reservations are about 50 per cent.

The petitions said 50 per cent of OBC candidates must get admissions in the medical colleges out of seats surrendered under the all India Quota, except for central government institutions.

"Denial of admissions to OBC candidates is a violation of their fundamental right," said the pleas, asking for a stay on the counselling under NEET till the reservation is given.

But the Supreme Court on Thursday remained unimpressed with such submissions, and questioned how a petition under Article 32 could be maintainable when there is no fundamental right to have reservation benefits.

"Whose fundamental rights are being violated? Article 32 is available only for violation of fundamental rights. We assume you are all interested in fundamental rights of the citizens of Tamil Nadu. But right to reservation is not a fundamental right," observed the bench.

The court said it appreciates different political parties in Tamil Nadu coming together for a cause but the top court cannot entertain a plea.

When told that the premise of the cases are violation of the law on reservation by the Tamil Nadu government, the bench said that the petitioners should move the Madras High Court.

The bench allowed them to withdraw the petitions and move the High Court for any relief.

By a ruling in February, the apex court had held there is no fundamental right to claim reservation in public jobs and no court can order a state government to provide for reservation to SC/STs, the Supreme Court has ruled.
EDMUNDSTON, N.B.The young Indigenous woman who was shot and killed by police in Edmundston, N.B., last week was remembered Thursday as a kind soul who united family from both sides of the country.

A private funeral service for Chantel Moore, 26, was held in the New Brunswick community where she had moved three months ago to be near her mother and six-year-old daughter.

A picture of Moore sat atop her casket as firekeepers sang a healing song and family members consoled each other.

We remember your gentle face and warm smile, said Mary Martin, Moores grandmother. You always had a kind word for everyone around you.

Martin said Moores passing had left an enormous hole in their hearts.

You will never be forgotten. You will always be remembered as the sweetest soul who now watches over us. No one will ever replace you, she said.

A dozen family members from British Columbia arrived earlier this week to support family in New Brunswick.

Members of the Wolastoqey people in New Brunswick expressed their sympathies at Thursdays service and said a prayer to celebrate Moores life.

A paddle, which was a gift to the family, was placed near the casket as a show of the connection between family in British Columbia and New Brunswick.

Much of the ceremony was focused on healing, and a number of healing walks are planned for a number of communities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on Saturday in memory of Moore.

One of the firekeepers said love is the key and that is what this family has shown.

Chantel was love. She was sunshine, he said.

According to her obituary, Moore leaves behind her parents Eugene Moore and Martha Martin, her six-year-old daughter Gracie, her brother Mike Martin, and sisters Courtney and Kaylee Martin.

Her death is being investigated by Quebecs independent police investigation agency, the Bureau des enquetes independantes.

Edmundston police have said the shooting occurred after an officer performing a wellness check allegedly encountered a woman with a knife.

There have been calls for a broader inquiry to examine systemic bias against Indigenous people in the provinces policing and criminal justice systems.

New Brunswicks minister of Aboriginal affairs backed the call for the inquiry Wednesday, saying the province has a problem with systemic racism toward Indigenous people.

Jake Stewart said he believes a separate inquiry to examine systemic racism in policing and the justice system could begin before the BEI files its report.

He said such an inquiry would be separate from the investigation into Moores death and said he would bring the idea to cabinet.

Read more about:
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jun. 11

By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:

Six more lethal coronavirus cases were reported in Kazakhstan, bringing the total to 67 deaths, Trend reports with reference to Kazakhstans Ministry of Healthcare.

The deaths were reported in Nur-Sultan (men born 1973, 1952, 1961, 1950), West Kazakhstan region (female born 1941), and Karaganda region (man born 1953).

The first two cases of coronavirus infection were detected in Kazakhstan among those who arrived in Almaty city from Germany on March 13, 2020.

The total number of coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan since the virus was first confirmed in the country amounted to 13,558. This includes 8,345 people who recovered from the coronavirus, and 67 patients who passed away.

---

Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh
Experts say this is not the first time that the colour change has happened in Lonar lake, but this time it is more glaring.

Locals have been left baffled after the colour of water in Maharashtra's Lonar lake, formed after a meteorite hit the Earth some 50,000 years ago, has turned pink.

Experts have attributing the change to the salinity and presence of algae in the water body.

The Maharashtra tourism Twitter account put up pictures on social media:

IAS Suman Rawat Chandra, the district collector of Maharashtras Buldhana, also took to the micro-blogging site to share pictures of the lake.



According to Deccan Herald, Lonar Lake, which is in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra, was first discovered by JE Alexander in 1823. The 77.69 hectare lake area is part of the Lonar sanctuary spanning 3.66 square km. It is nearly 500 kilometres from Mumbai.

The lake, which finds mention in Skanda Puran, Padma Puran and Aaina-e-Akbari, is the world's third-largest crater formed due to a meteorite strike.

It is a saline lake which was formed more than 50,000 years ago after a two million-tonne crater impacted the Earth to create a depression, 1.83 km in diameter and 150 mt deep.

Of late, the change in colour of water of the lake, having a mean diameter of 1.2 km, has not only surprised locals, but also nature enthusiasts and scientists.

Experts say this is not the first time that the colour change has happened, but this time it is more glaring.

The lake, which is a notified national geo-heritage monument, has saline water with pH of 10.5, Gajanan Kharat, member of the Lonar lake conservation and development committee, told PTI.

"There are algae in the water body. The salinity and algae can be responsible for this change," he said. "There is no oxygen below one meter of the lake''s water surface. There is an example of a lake in Iran, where water becomes reddish due to increase in salinity," he noted.

Kharat said the level of water in the Lonar lake is currently low as compared to the few past years and there is no rain to pour fresh water in it. "The low level of water may lead to increased salinity and change in the behaviour of algae because of atmospheric changes...this may be the reason for colour change. This is not the first time that the colour of water has changed," he said.

Minerals present in the lakes soil are very similar to those found in rocks brought back from the moon during Apollo Programme, Deccan Herald reported quoting a study by IIT Bombay.

A similar phenomenon takes place in Umria lake in Iran, said APCCF & Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) field director MS Reddy. He said that scientists studying such phenomenon have revealed that water level in summer goes down, increasing the salinity. This condition offers breeding ground to Dunaliella algae.

"Sudden change in colour of water is strange. It might be because of microbial activities or human interference. Research should be conducted before making any comments, said Harish Malpani, head, department of microbiology, RLT College of Science, Akola.

According to Hindustan Times, some locals had informed the forest department about the change in colour of lake last year, but the hue at that time was not as dense as it is now.

Dr Madan Suryavanshi, head of the geography department of Aurangabad's Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, said looking at the scale of this colour change, "this cant be a human intervention". "In case of a natural phenomenon, there are fungi which generally give a greenish colour to water most of the times. This (the current colour change) seems to be a biological change in the Lonar crater," he said.

During the lockdown phase, there may not have been any disturbance to water which led to this change, he said. "Season-wise changes occur in water and this might be case with the Lonar lake. We can examine the change if we go there in a week...then we can say more about the change," he said.

With inputs from PTI
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 11, 2020 | 04:59 PM | FRANKFORT

Beshear announced 69 new cases of the virus across the Commonwealth, bringing the total number of cases to 11,945. There are currently 514 Kentuckians hospitalized with the virus, with 81 of those in the ICU.





There were nine new deaths associated with the virus, bringing the total number of deaths to 493. As of Thursday, 3,379 Kentuckians have recovered.





During the update, Beshear revealed that he has asked the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to meet on Friday to discuss the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue from the capitol rotunda.





He said, "It is long past due to remove a statue that some kids who come into this capitol, a capitol that's supposed to be the people's house and there for everybody, see as a symbol that they don't matter."





You can see Beshear's full update below.







During his Thursday update, Governor Andy Beshear provided the latest COVID-19 numbers from across the state.
Cultivators are also harvesting an increasing supply of pot, which retailers said allowed them to raise or remove limits on purchase amounts. During the coronavirus pandemic, they said, people off work or working from home also may have more time, and more reasons, to get high.
Ukraine reiterated eadiness to open two new crossing checkpoints at the contact line.

The Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) has once again emphasized the priority of establishing a sustainable and comprehensive ceasefire.

Another TCG meeting via video conference was held on June 10, the president's press service told UNIAN.

In the framework of the working group on security issues, representatives of Ukraine once again focused on the need to ensure full and unhindered access of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to the entire territory that is temporarily beyond government control.

At the same time, they expressed readiness to provide security guarantees to the OSCE SMM in investigating the incident with the damage to the SMM's surveillance camera near the village of Petrivske on June 2, 2020.

Ukraine once again confirmed readiness to open two new crossing checkpoints at the contact line.

Read alsoUkrainians representing Donbas to take part in Minsk talks on a regular basis  Zelensky's Office

The humanitarian group discussed the issue of launching checkpoints in "adaptive" mode.

The Ukrainian delegation also proposed to hold an additional meeting of the security group to achieve progress on the disengagement of forces and means.

"In the framework of the political working group, the Ukrainian side announced the possibility of holding local elections in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine within the time period established by law after a comprehensive de-escalation, withdrawal of foreign military units and equipment, disarmament of illegal armed groups, and restoration of control by the Ukrainian government over the state border in the conflict zone," the report says.

The TCG announced a technical break until June 15.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - More than 200 Alaska physicians and health care workers concerned about the coronavirus have asked the governor to mandate the use of masks in businesses where social distancing is difficult.

Their letter to Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy published Tuesday stipulates that mask wearing should be required in businesses open to the public where 6-foot distancing is unrealistic, The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday.

We are concerned about the recent and rapid increase in COVID-19 case counts in Alaska, wrote Anchorage doctors Megan Ritter and Sarah Murphy.

Recent medical studies and real-world evidence support the use of masks to prevent the spread of the virus, the letter said.

A sick person wearing a mask will spread fewer viral particles. A healthy person wearing a mask will have some protection from sick people around them. The combination of both people wearing masks provides the greatest amount of protection, the letter said.

Ritter and Murphy sent the letter to doctors and nurses statewide who might be interested and garnered the large number of signatures.

I anticipate more, Murphy said.

Alaska has experienced a surge in coronavirus cases weeks after restrictions on businesses were lifted in response to low case counts.

The state reported 20 new cases statewide Wednesday and confirmed the 11th death associated with the virus Tuesday.

Ritter, a pathologist and medical director at the Blood Bank of Alaska, wrote the letter last week with Murphy, a family medicine physician at Vera Whole Health.

We did this phenomenal job of keeping the transmission of the virus down in Alaska during the lockdown, Ritter said, praising swift action by the governor and Dr. Anne Zink, the states chief medical officer.

Ritter added: But it turns out that in the absence of a requirement, recommendations are not being followed.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
With an increasing number of Covid-19 positive individuals in the Los Angeles area, some businesses have taken advantage of the panic, increasing prices of essential items like toilet paper, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizers, and more. Often, these price increases equate to over a 10% markup on goods and services that could help residents to successfully get through an emergency. Not only is this practice unethical, it's illegal in the state of California, and prevents many from acquiring the supplies they need to keep themselves, and their families, healthy and safe.

"3Di was approached by the County of Los Angeles Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) to discuss how we could help the community solve this problem," said Rajiv Desai, CEO of 3Di Systems. "Within 48 hours, we used our low-code platform and created an anti-price gouging solution that will allow county citizens to lodge price gouging complaints and help to launch investigations to enforce consumer protection laws."

The technology was built leveraging 3Di System's Engage platform, which allows citizens to use current technologies to request services and interact with city administration directly. The anti-price gouging app will allow citizens to report illegal pricing using a mobile app or a browser on their phone, as well as to attach any relevant photos.

To learn more about LA County's fight against unfair pricing practices, visit their Anti-Price Gouging page on their website for more information.

If you believe you are a victim of price gouging in the Los Angeles County area, save your receipts and call (800) 593-8222 or file an online complaint .

About 3Di Systems

3Di Systems is a Los Angeles-based solutions and services company with almost two decades of experience providing award winning technology for the public sector. Through its powerful low-code 3Di Engage platform that includes solutions for affordable housing, fire prevention, and community engagement, 3DI Systems makes transforming cities and counties into digitally current communities their mission. For more information, visit www.3disystems.com.

CONTACT: Roberto Guerrieri

PHONE: 480-326-5283

EMAIL: [email protected]

SOURCE 3Di Systems

Related Links

https://www.3disystems.com/


(Alliance News) - The UK Financial Conduct Authority on Thursday fined Lloyds Banking Group PLC GBP64.0 million for failures in the lender's handling of mortgage arrears.

Shares in the FTSE 100 bank were down 6.0% in London on Thursday at 32.94 pence each.

Lloyds Bank PLC, Bank of Scotland PLC and The Mortgage Business PLC - all owned by Lloyds - were for failures in relation to their handling of mortgage customers in payment difficulties or arrears.

According to the watchdog, the banks have estimated that they will have paid about GBP300 million in redress.

The redress programme is nearly complete, the FCA said.

FCA Executive Director of Enforcement & Market Oversight Mark Steward added: "Banks are required to treat customers fairly, even when those customers are in financial difficulties or are having trouble meeting their obligations. By not sufficiently understanding their customers' circumstances the banks risked treating unfairly more than a quarter of a million customers in mortgage arrears, over several years. In some cases, customers were treated unfairly, including vulnerable customers."

Between April 2011 and December 2015 the banks' systems and procedures for gathering information from mortgage customers in payment difficulties or arrears resulted in the banks' call handlers not consistently obtaining adequate information to assess customers' circumstances and affordability, creating a risk that customers were treated unfairly, the regulator explained.

"Customers should still pay what is owed, but banks are obliged to treat their customers fairly when making new payment arrangements," Steward added. "Firms should take notice of the action we have taken today to ensure that their own treatment of customers meets our expectations."

The FCA said the banks employed a system that set a minimum percentage of a customer's contractual monthly payment which a call handler was authorised to accept as a payment arrangement without obtaining further authority from a more senior colleague.

However, the watchdog noted, the system created a risk of inflexibility in approach, with the result that call handlers may have failed to negotiate appropriate payment arrangements for customers.

"These risks were exacerbated when, as part of a simplification programme, the banks lost a large number of personnel with mortgage collections and recoveries expertise, after which point nearly all of their mortgage arrears call handlers were new-to-role," the FCA added.

As a result, the FCA said the banks breached Principle 3 and Principle 6 of the FCA's Principles for Businesses between April 7, 2011 and December 21, 2015.

"Some of the failings were identified by the banks as early as 2011 but the steps the banks took failed fully to rectify the issues. Failings were then identified as part of a thematic review conducted by the FCA in 2013. During 2014 and 2015 the banks took a number of further steps to address the concerns raised by the FCA and on several occasions informed the FCA they were on track to implement those improvements," the FCA said.

The regulator continued: "However, a further review by the FCA in July 2015 found that the banks had failed to make sufficient progress in addressing the problems and the banks were required to undertake a Skilled Person's review."

Lloyds banks did not dispute the FCA's findings and, as a result, got a 30% discount on the fine. Otherwise, the FCA would have imposed a financial penalty of GBP91.5 million.

In July 2017, Lloyds implemented a group-wide customer redress scheme which included refunding all broken payment arrangement fees, arrears management fees and interest accrued on the fees and the refund of litigation fees if applied unfairly or, in some circumstances, automatically.

The lender has estimated that approximately 526,000 customers will have received redress payments totalling GBP300 million.

By November 2019 Lloyds had already made payments of about GBP259.9 million to customers.

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Danish shipping industry releases plan for climate and decarbonization

June 11,2020 | Source: Marex

The Climate Partnership for a Blue Denmark, representing Denmarks shipping industry, has developed its plan as part of the nations overall effort to address climate change and achieve carbon neutrality. For its part, the shipping industry is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050, without the use of climate compensation. To achieve that goal, it also targeting beginning commercial operation for its first ocean-going zero-emission vessel by 2030.



As a nation, Denmark has set ambitious goals to undertake a green transition as it works to fight climate. The government is calling for a 70 percent reduction in CO2 emission by 2030 as it works to become a leader in finding ways towards a carbon-neutral future.



To achieve these ambitions, the Danish Prime Minister called on the business community to join in collaboration to address climate issues. Thirteen partnerships, including one for the shipping industry, were announced in 2019, each focused on different sectors of Danish industry to develop plans to address climate issues.



The Danish government has given Blue Denmark a clear task: Bring ideas and proposals to the table in order for the government and the industry to work together, said Anne H. Steffensen, Director General, Danish Shipping. We see this as an opportunity to propose initiatives in the short run, in the longer run, and finally to strengthen the voice of Denmark at the international level.



Blue Denmark calls the transition to a more sustainable shipping industry a massive challenge but recognizes the importance of becoming carbon neutral. In its new report, Blue Denmark identified five barriers that must be overcome to fulfill the vision and reach the targets. They highlighted that shipping is a global industry with more than 95 percent of Danish shipping activities taking place outside Danish waters. As such, all of the initiatives have to be regulated within the larger framework of the International Maritime Organization.



To achieve the carbon reduction goals, Blue Denmark believes that technology will need to take a quantum leap by replacing traditional fuels with new climate-neutral fuels. It says that the current energy-savings technologies will not be enough to achieve the goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.



Another barrier that they identified is that the future energy system is not yet in place to provide a steady supply of green fuels that shipping companies, ship owners, and the fishing industry will require. They are calling on the partnerships to upgrade the current energy system on a national and global scale while the land-based energy infrastructure in Danish ports will also need to be upgraded to handle new green fuels or batteries.



Finally, Blue Denmark says that the business case for climate-friendly shipping must be strengthened. They believe that climate considerations should be incorporated into commercial activities to incentivize the use of climate-friendly technologies.



Identifying the areas that the government and the shipping industry should collaborate on to achieve the climate goals, Blue Denmark developed six initiatives that it says the shipping industry is ready to invest in currently. It also identified 15 additional recommendations for government action. These initiatives and recommendations fall into four broad categories, energy efficiency, ports and shortsea shipping, green fuels, and climate diplomacy.



Blue Denmark is prepared to invest in efforts to creating sharing of shipping data, removing waiting times in ports, developing a partnership for test ships, establishing a maritime center of excellence, and creating a global innovation fund. It will also work to coordinate efforts to attract research funds from the EU.



Its recommendations for government range from developing programs for maritime climate solutions to export financing and supporting the development of green ferries and green highways at sea. They are also calling for climate-differentiated tolls at ports, new energy infrastructure at the ports, a national strategy to develop new green fuel power, and diplomacy with the IMO.



The transition shipping is facing in order to become climate neutral by 2050 will entail collaboration and new pathways both in terms of fuel, technology, energy infrastructure as well as a regulatory framework, concluded Steffensen. The partnership between Blue Denmark and the Danish government can give Denmark a leading position in this vital transition for shipping



Development of the report involved several different organizations, including Danish Ports, Danish Maritime, and the two fisheries associations, as well as members of the shipping community. The committee developing the report was chaired by Sren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller-Maersk, with Bjarne Foldager CEO of Man Energy Solutions, and Carsten Jensen, CEO of the Danish ferry company Molslinien as co-chairs.



The report was finalized in March 2020 and is now being released for public discussion.

Theme(s): Others.
Britain's actual coronavirus death toll could be half of the 50,000 already recorded, according to one expert.

Professor Karol Sikora, a former World Health Organization (WHO) cancer adviser, said doctors may put the virus on death certificates if there was 'any hint' it could have been the cause, without hard proof.

And many of the victims who died at the height of the pandemic could have died by the summer anyway because they were in old age, he said.

Therefore, he suggested the statistics should be inspected in closer detail to see if the coronavirus has truly caused as many deaths as believed.

Department of Health statistics show 41,128 Britons have died after testing positive for the virus since the outbreak began.

But other data  compiled by statistical bodies of each of the home nations  show at least 51,000 people have died from confirmed or suspected Covid-19.

This count, which is 24 per cent higher than Number 10's, takes into account anyone who has died with the disease mentioned on their death certificate.

Professor Sikora's claim came has come under fire online, with Australian epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz saying on Twitter: 'What an atrocious take. If anything the evidence runs in the opposite direction.'

Professor Karol Sikora, a former World Health Organization cancer adviser, said doctors would be putting the virus on death certificates when there was 'any hint' it could have been the cause, without hard proof

Data compiled by statistical bodies of each of the home nations show at least 51,000 people have died from confirmed or suspected Covid-19. Pictured: Deaths in England and Wales

Department of Health statistics show 41,128 Britons have died after testing positive for the virus since the outbreak began

Professor Sikora, who has gained a huge Twitter following during the crisis, claimed doctors are sometimes too keen to mention the disease on death certificates.

He told The Telegraph the disease would sometimes be named when there was 'any hint' it could have been the cause of death, despite having firm proof.

For example in care homes, which have been ravaged by the disease, residents have largely gone untested for the coronavirus.

If they died, a doctor may say the cause was Covid-19 because their death occurred at the same time the care home had recorded an outbreak.

During the height of the pandemic when doctors were very busy, they were allowed to verify deaths over the phone if they needed to.

In comparison, Germany  which has recorded fewer than 10,000 deaths  is much stricter about classifying fatalities as being down to Covid-19.

German medics can only say a death is down to Covid-19 if the clinical team involved in the end-of-life care certify that's what they believe was to blame.

Professor Sikora described the UK's system of recording deaths as 'woeful' because it still uses pieces of paper which are passed around a lot of people.

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE REALLY DIED? Department of Health: 40,883 Department of Health bosses yesterday revealed the death toll had jumped to 40,883 across all settings, including care homes. The daily data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours  it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities. It also only takes into account patients who tested positive for the virus, as opposed to deaths suspected to be down to the coronavirus. Individual health bodies: 32,097 The Department of Health has a different time cut-off for reporting deaths, meaning daily updates from Scotland as well as Northern Ireland are always out of sync. Wales is not affected, however. NHS England today revealed it has registered 27,707 lab-confirmed deaths across the country. But the figure only applies to hospitals  meaning fatalities in care homes are excluded from this count. Scotland has recorded 2,434 coronavirus deaths among patients who have tested positive for the virus, followed by 1,419 in Wales and 537 in Northern Ireland. These tolls include fatalities in all settings. National statistical bodies: 51,175 Data compiled by the statistical bodies of each of the home nations show 51,175 people died of either confirmed or suspected Covid-19 across the UK by the end of May. The real number of victims will be even higher because the tally only takes into account deaths that occurred up until June 7 in Scotland and May 29 in the rest of Britain, meaning it is up to 10 days out of date. The Office for National Statistics yesterday confirmed that 46,421 people in England and Wales died with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 by May 29. The number of coronavirus deaths was 754 by the same day in Northern Ireland, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). National Records Scotland  which collects statistics north of the border  said 4,000 people had died across the country by June 7. Their tallies are always 10 days behind the Department of Health (DH) because they wait until as many fatalities as possible for each date have been counted, to avoid having to revise their statistics. Excess deaths: 63,708 The total number of excess deaths has almost reached 64,000. Excess deaths are considered to be an accurate measure of the number of people killed by the pandemic because they include a broader spectrum of victims. As well as including people who may have died with Covid-19 without ever being tested, the data also shows how many more people died because their medical treatment was postponed, for example, or who didn't or couldn't get to hospital when they were seriously ill. Data from England and Wales shows there has been an extra 57,961 deaths since the outbreak took hold, as well as 4,808 in Scotland and 939 in Northern Ireland. Advertisement

He said: 'The data collection in Britain is hampered compared to other European countries. It's not really computerised. It's bits of paper changing hands... It's never had an integrated system.'

Professor Sikora said the problem of recording deaths is affecting the exit from lockdown strategy, which takes into account how many people are dying.

He said if the deaths are mainly made up of people who were going to die this year anyway  because they were old  the statistics would need to be re-assessed.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows 61 per cent of people who died of suspected or confirmed Covid-19 in England and Wales since the outbreak began were over the age of 80.

Official figures suggest the average life expectancy for children born between 2016 and 2018 in Britain is 81, and is lower for people who were born in the early to mid 1900s.

Professor Sikora told The Telegraph's Planet Normal podcast that the real death toll from coronavirus would be between 20 and 30,000, if it took into account both factors.

He added: 'It could end up that more people have died because of lack of medical care directly caused by the unavailability of it.

'If we look at the numbers, how many people have really died from Covid that would not be dead at the end of the year? The numbers vary enormously.

'The current ONS data suggests 60,000 people have died from Covid. I'm sure that's not really the case, it's because of the counting we discussed earlier.'

Data compiled by the statistical bodies of each of the home nations show there have been 60,000 'excess deaths' across the UK, meaning all of those people died on top of the number that would be expected in a normal year.

And 51,086 deaths have been registered as either confirmed or suspected Covid-19 up until the end of May.

Other experts, including Professor Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, University of Oxford, fear the number of Covid-19 deaths are being under reported.

Speaking at an science media conference on Tuesday, when the latest ONS figures were released, he said: 'I think there is a lot of speculation around whether people have been under recording Covid on the death certificate.

'I think that is easy or can be triangulated and validated. For example if I was a GP and went into a care home, if the care home had an outbreak, Id be expecting to record Covid on the death certificate.

'I think there are ways of looking at some of the death certificates of the non Covid to start to understand whether its under recording, or excess deaths from other reasons.'

The outbreak is still causing some 2-300 deaths every day, according to Government collated figures, showing a very slow decline over the past few weeks.

Yesterday Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, said half of Britain's could have been avoided had the lockdown been in place one week earlier.

Boris Johnson imposed the lockdown on March 23 on the back of Professor Ferguson's grim modelling which predicted 500,000 people could die if the virus was left unchecked.

Professor Ferguson made the stark admission at a virtual House of Commons Science and Technology Committee briefing.

The epidemiologist told MPs: 'The epidemic was doubling every three to four days before lockdown interventions were introduced.

'So had we introduced lockdown measures a week earlier, we would have then reduced the final death toll by at least a half.

'So whilst I think the measures ... were warranted ... certainly had we introduced them earlier, we would have seen many fewer deaths.'
A statue of Robert Baden-Powell will not be removed on Thursday amid an ongoing row over the Scouts founders links to Nazism.

Councillor Mark Howell, deputy leader of the Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole authority, confirmed this news and said the statue would receive 24-hour security "until it is either removed or the threat diminishes".

We will not be removing the statue today as the foundations are deeper than originally envisaged and we need further discussions with contractors on the best way to remove it safely," he said.

His comments mark a swift u-turn from an earlier announcement, in which the councils chief Vikki Slade tweeted that the monument would be taken down following a threat.

The statue of Baden-Powell in Poole Quay, Dorset, has been targeted by campaigners due to his associations with the Nazis and the Hitler youth programme, as well as his actions in the military.

Ms Slade said the statue would be removed and placed in "safe storage" while "views are aired".

Its literally less than three metres from the sea so is at huge risk, she added.

A crowd of local residents gathered on the quay following the decision, vowing to protect the statue.

A short while later, Mr Howell, acknowledged the monument as much-loved and said: "We know that local people feel proud of Lord Baden-Powells and the Scout movements links with Poole, and that some people feel that we would be giving in to the protesters by temporarily removing the statue.

However, we feel it is responsible to protect it for future generations to enjoy and respect.

We will not be removing the statue today as the foundations are deeper than originally envisaged and we need further discussions with contractors on the best way to remove it safely.

Although we cannot say when any temporary removal may take place, we will be providing 24-hour security until it is either removed or the threat diminishes.

Should the statue be removed temporarily, barring unforeseen circumstances we will return it to the Quay as soon as the threat level subsides.

TODO: define component type apester

Mr Howell earlier defended Baden-Powell to BBC Radio Solent, saying: The Scouts still stand by him, Im sure that they have done plenty of due diligence.

I think some people are just jumping on the bandwagon to some degree and trying to find a way of removing that statue.

And its unjustified as far as Im concerned, and the council does not intend to remove the statue in the longer term."

Its probably not going to be removed today, he added, Because the workers cant work with so many people around.

Mark Howell (left, seated) was interviewed beside the controversial statue of Lord Baden-Powell / Getty Images

In a separate interview, Mr Howell said: Baden-Powell did an enormous amount of good, he created an organisation that brought people from different religions, ethnic backgrounds and races together and we are very proud of that in Poole and our connection to him.

This has been an emergency reaction because the police have advised us the statue is on the target list being circulated by protesters.

This is an artwork and if it was damaged it wouldnt be easily repaired.

There is no controversy about it being here, its the right place for it.

Locals voiced their protest against the statue's planned removal to Mr Howell / Getty Images

A target list emerged following a raft of Black Lives Matter protests across the UK, sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis last month.

Len Banister, 78, a former Scout, said of the Baden-Powell statue: He is the reason I am still here, the pleasure he gives to so many people, they shouldnt take it down, I will fight them off.

Spencer Tuck, 35, said: Unfortunately he was in fascist times but there is more to it and this statue is nothing to do with racism, its to do with the heritage of Poole.

Sharon Warne, 53, suggested controversial statues should have information panels installed explaining the positive and negative points about the figures they depict.

Locals gathered to defend the statue on Poole Quay / PA

She said: He had a bad past but he was the founder of the Scouts which today is a great organisation and its ridiculous to get rid of him.

Rover Scouts Matthew Trott and Christopher Arthur travelled from Cwmbran, Wales, to express their support for the statue.

Mr Trott, 28, said: I think the proposal to remove the statue is necessary to protect it at the moment given the circumstances.

Id rather see the statue placed in a box in a warehouse for the moment rather than at the bottom of the harbour.

There have been vicious rumours of Baden-Powell but they are not true at all. He started the foundation I love, I have been a Scout my whole life since I was six, Scouting is my whole life so he is my hero.

The Scouts said in a statement: We look forward to discussing this matter with Poole Council to make an informed decision on what happens next.

Baden-Powell was the founder of the Scout movement. Currently there are over 54 million Scouts in the world and we operate in almost every nation on earth, promoting tolerance and global solidarity.

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The Scout movement is resolute in its commitment to inclusion and diversity and members continually reflect and challenge ourselves in how we live our values.
A protest has been staged in Calabar to get authorities to take action against those who attacked and burnt alleged witches in Boki LGA in Cross River State. The protesters carried placards with the inscription: Justice for Oku-Boki Burnt Women. Last month, an aide to the state governor led local thugs to attack and set ablaze suspected witches in Oku Community. The police have yet to arrest Thomas Obi Tawo (aka General Iron) and other alleged perpetrators of this horrific crime. Victims have yet to receive any support or assistance from the state government.

Meanwhile, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) has received a list of victims of the witch-hunt. Here are their names:

1. Benard Kekong(known as papa Odu Ekpang)

2. Rita Abang (known as Dachi Ochang)

3. Margaret Akan (known as Ada Akan)

4. Edward Kekong

5. John Otu

6. Mama Delia Kubua

7.Rose Obi

8. Patricia Obi

9 Kaka Olum

10 Mary Ada Otu

11 Martina Maurice

12 Serah Kepua Odu

13 Paulina Owan

14 Sussana Bisong

15. yet to be confirmed

There were fifteen victims and the name and identity of the fifteenth person has not been confirmed.

An eyewitness told AFAW that on that fateful Thomas Obi Tawo arrived the community with his boys. First, he attacked his mother, Rose Obi, and then Chief Benard Kekong. General Iron called out names of other suspected witches. His boys dragged them out of their apartments, beat them up, and throw them into the fire. People could not cry out or raise an alarm. Nobody tried to stop or resist them because they feared that they could also be beaten and thrown into the fire.

Three persons who were set ablaze have died as a result of their wounds. They are Benard Kekong, Rita Abang, and Margaret Akan. Other victims are various hospitals battling for their lives. Some of the victims who could not afford the cost of medical treatment are at home. The buttocks of one of the victims, Serah Kepua Odu was completely burnt. She cannot sit down. Another victim, Sussana Bisong, sustained serious injuries. She was unable to go to the hospital because she could not afford the hospital bills. A local source told AFAW that the wounds started smelling and they had to rush her to a general hospital in Ogoja. AFAW urges the government of Cross River state to support the medical treatment of those affected by this tragic incident and help rehabilitate victims of witch hunts in Boki LGA.
Iran's Expanding Influence Into Iraq's Assyrian Areas

In historically Christian areas post-Islamic State (ISIS) in northern Iraq, the growing influence of Iran, as well as demographic changes, are raising concerns in the local Christian community.

"Iranian pressure exists in the Nineveh Plains either in the areas that are inhabited by the Shia Shabak community or controlled by their militias," Athra Kado, an Assyrian rights advocate and resident of the town of Alqosh in Iraq, told Gatestone.

Assyrians, the indigenous people of Iraq, make up a distinct ethnic community in the region. The Nineveh Plain is considered the ancient Assyrian heartland and is the only region in Iraq where the largest demographic group is Christian. Assyrians there even have their own security force, the Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU). The Nineveh plain currently, however, is mostly divided between the Shia militia and the Sunni Kurdish Peshmerga.

Zaid Kathawa, a member of the Iraqi Youth Parliament of the Iraqi Ministry of Youth and Sports, told Gatestone:

"The Iranian government's proxies now control parts of the Nineveh Plains. They do everything in their power to prevent Assyrians from having seats in Iraq's Parliament. "In 2017, after the Nineveh Plains were liberated from ISIS, Iran's influence began to increase. They now have allied support from Shiite groups in Baghdad. The 30th Brigade, which is composed of Shabaks, vehemently opposes the Christians of the Nineveh Plains. And the predominantly Shiite Sectarian Iraqi Government only supports the Shabaks in the region."

Kado confirmed that "The presence of the Shia Shabak is expanding, particularly in the town of Bartella. They are taking over houses and properties that Christians who fled from ISIS terror left behind."

What also makes the Nineveh Plains increasingly unstable is that many forces are now operating there: The Iraqi Army and proxy forces affiliated with Iran and the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) are vying for control of the area where they have competing interests.

Ashur Sargon Eskrya, the president of Assyrian Aid Society-Iraq, told Gatestone that Assyrians and other religious minorities such as the Yazidis, caught in the middle of these forces, have faced both physical violence and political marginalization.

"The demographic and cultural structure of the Nineveh Plains continues dramatically changing due to the increased Iranian domination, ongoing ISIS presence and the competing tensions between the central government of Iraq and the KRG," he said.

Eskrya also pointed out the need to change the Iraqi constitution "to fit with religious freedom and human rights, accept the fact that Assyrians are the indigenous people of Iraq and enact laws to protect their rights."

"The US government can provide political security and economic support to the Assyrians of Iraq by reuniting Nineveh plains, helping us establish self-administration of the Nineveh plain province, and build one united security force from the local community."

Meanwhile, Iraq's parliament approved a new government on May 7, thereby ending months of deadlock as the country battles an economic crisis, as former intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi was sworn in as prime minister.

U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press, in a telephone call to Iraq's new prime minister, said that the U.S. would be willing to provide Iraq with economic assistance.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Prime Minister al-Kadhimi "also discussed the upcoming U.S.-Iraq strategic dialogue," a U.S. State Department official reported.

As Iraq's new cabinet is being formed, the Assyrian community and other religious minorities should not be forgotten, Kado emphasized:

"A concrete step that will provide the area with more political stability is to establish a new administration in the Nineveh plans that will be governed by its own indigenous people - without any outside political influence from Iraq's KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party), Iran, Saudis and others. That would finally give the native locals in Nineveh Plains some hope that they have a future in Iraq." "We are aware that this will not happen easily unless there is international support and supervision that will prevent the corrupt and dictatorial political forces in Iraq and Iran from trying to control the lands of Iraq's persecuted, indigenous minorities."

Among the most severely persecuted peoples of Iraq, according to the Assyrian Confederation of Europe, are Assyrians:

"Assyrians represent one of the most consistently targeted communities in Iraq throughout its modern history. This has included the state-sanctioned massacre at Simele in 1933; Saddam Hussein's Anfal campaign, which included the targeting of Assyrian villages; ruthless campaigns of terror to which Christians were subjected following the U.S. invasion in 2003; and finally, the recent tragic chapter authored by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist organization."

Juliana Taimoorazy, the founding president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, told Gatestone:

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's reach through its Shia militia in the Nineveh Plain has severely affected Christians of Iraq: this is one of the main reasons why Christians in the post-ISIS era are not returning to their homes. And let us not forget that General Qaseem Soleimani's strategy of dismantling ISIS as an institution was part of a larger Islamic Republic expansionist scheme to create its Shia crescent all the way to the Mediterranean. It intended to use the Nineveh Plain as a corridor to the West."

As a solution to the chaos, Taimoorazy suggested:
Come Friday, some churchgoers in Hamilton wont be able to flock to their places of worship in the city.

On Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced that, as part of Stage 2 of reopening from COVID-19, places of worship across the province can open on June 12.

Mosques, synagogues and churches can once again open their doors as long as physical distancing is in place and attendance is limited to no more than 30 per cent of the building capacity to ensure the safety of worshippers.

The Hamilton Spectator spoke with a number of communities in the city to see what their reopening plans were.

Beth Jacob Synagogue

Rabbi Hillel Lavery-Yisraeli says the news of being able to reopen the Beth Jacob Synagogue left him stunned.

We thought places of worship would be a part of Stage 4, said Lavery-Yisraeli.

But, that element of shock didnt leave the Rabbi rushing to get everything in order. Instead, theyll be waiting it out until at least the fall.

Just accidentally infecting one person is too much, he said. Most of our members are in that high-risk group and it makes absolutely no sense to expose them.

Putting anyone at risk would also be a violation of Jewish values and Halakha (Jewish Law), which puts health, safety and life above all else, said Lavery-Yisraeli.

We dont need to open the church and synagogues, thats not something that we should do at the expense of peoples lives, he said.

Anglican Diocese of Niagara

Anglicans in Hamilton will have to wait until the fall before they return to their churches.

In a statement to The Hamilton Spectator, Niagara Bishop Susan Bell said the denomination will be making cautious and gradual return to Sunday worship in their buildings.

The health and safety of our people, especially those most vulnerable to severe impacts from the coronavirus, has been uppermost in our concerns and has been at the centre of every step in our decision-making process, stated Bell.

The Muslim Association of Hamilton

Imam Sayed Tora says knowing Muslims in the community are thirsty to get back to the mosque after an unusual month of Ramadan, they plan to reopen in the coming weeks.

A tentative date has been set for June 19, if the mosques feel they are ready, said Tora.

To get there, all mosques will create a floor plan that allows for physical distancing, set up sanitizing stations and volunteers will be appointed to the door to ensure attendees are accounted for.

Tora said those that do attend prayer at the mosques will be required to sign in to make the job of the health authorities easier in case there is an outbreak connected to their congregation.

Congregation members will be screened at the door, have their temperatures taken and will also have to bring their own prayer mat and mask. Even then, there will only be one service per day, as opposed to the normal five, added Tora.

The mosques will also be limiting prayers to those between the ages of 18 and 60 years of age.

Were taking this precaution measure to ensure the safety of our senior members, said Tora. Their physical health and well-being is a priority for us.

Diocese of Hamilton

Catholics in Hamilton will see a gradual reopening of their churches in the coming weeks, according to Bishop Douglas Crosby of the Hamilton Diocese.

In a statement Wednesday, Crosby announced that churches can begin to open for personal prayer and weekday mass starting June 16 and Sunday mass on June 20.

Crosby said pastors and their teams are working to prepare the building to once again welcome parishioners.

Those measures include sanitizing, setting up seating and floor markings to allow physical distancing and installing sanitizer stations and signage to provide, as much as possible, a safe environment for all who gather in our churches for worship.

Mass will also look different for attending parishioners, said Crosby. There will be no bulletins, no hymnals in the pews and a contactless communion will be received in silence.

Parishioners will also be screened for symptoms, there will be no socializing and masks are encouraged, he added.

St. Andrews United Church

Minister Laurie White of St. Andrew's United Church says they will not be reopening to their congregation in the near future.

We feel that in order to keep everybody safe, well continue on as were doing with an online service, said White.

She said the thought of normal service, which includes free coffee, the singing hymns and shaking of hands, is mind boggling in the time of COVID-19.

Reopening would also put their members at risk, she added.

We darn well know that the first people in line would be the most vulnerable, she said.
Shortly after midnight on March 3, 1991, Los Angeles police officers converged on a Hyundai in Lake View Terrace. Their beating of its driver, Rodney King, was captured on videotape by George Holliday. (George Holliday / KTLA-TV Channel 5 / Associated Press)

So, which is it? Are police officers who commit misconduct simply bad apples scattered among the 99% of good cops? Or is their behavior symptomatic of a deeply flawed system infected with racism and brutality?

It is possible to find the answer, and the historical example of Rodney King's brutal beating by police provides a road map for making the determination. When a commission was established to investigate that incident, it took on a mission that went beyond simply determining what happened. It looked at the far broader culture of policing in Los Angeles, which is what needs to happen in all cases of serious misconduct.

For starters, it was important to understand the events that preceded Kings beating. On the night in 1991 that he was beaten, one of the LAPD officers involved had responded earlier to a domestic violence call involving a Black couple. He described it to a fellow officer, using the departments official, monitored message system, as right out of Gorillas in the Mist.

And then there were the circumstances of the beating itself. More than a dozen officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles School Police watched as other officers beat King into submission  a brutal attack that was overseen and directed by a police sergeant. Not one officer at the scene made any formal report of misconduct based on what theyd seen; indeed, they joked about it later.

The following year, a civilian commission under the leadership of Los Angeles lawyer  and later, Secretary of State  Warren Christopher uncovered electronic messages, again from the LAPDs official system, using coarsely racist language. One particularly pungent piece of code: Officers shorthand for domestic incidents involving African Americans was NHI, short for no humans involved.

Rodney King was not beaten because an officer or two had a bad day. He was the victim of a deliberate use of force, directed by a veteran supervisor, observed by others and laughed about later. He was the victim of police misconduct, yes, but also of a debased and racist police culture.

Story continues

These distinctions matter. When a Minneapolis police officer jams his knee into the neck of a Black man suspected of passing a phony $20 bill, that suggests misconduct; when three of his fellow officers stand by for more than eight minutes while the suspect pleads for help, that points to a cultural problem. When Buffalo officers knock down a 75-year-old white man for merely being in their way, that could be evidence of a couple bad apples; when the colleagues of those officers applaud them as they leave a court hearing, it suddenly looks like a cultural issue.

Lets take something simple. When officers cover their badge numbers or black out the names on their uniforms, as has happened in cities around the country during the recent protests, thats cultural, not individual. They should be fired, for starters, but the inquiry should not stop there. Whoever authorized or encouraged those actions also needs to come under scrutiny, along with whatever culture suggested that hiding police identities was appropriate. The leadership of their departments bears responsibility, not a few bad apples.

Before the problem of rogue police can be solved, it has to be characterized correctly. If the LAPDs problem in 1991 was that Officer Laurence Powell, who delivered most of the blows to King, was an aberrant, out-of-control cop, then the solution would be to fire him or put him in jail, or both. Powell was, in fact, convicted of violating Kings civil rights and served time in prison.

But that didnt begin to address the real issue, the one that was illustrated by the blase reactions of bystander officers or the policing mindset that led to such vile electronic messages. The methods for addressing those alarming revelations included forcing out Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, strengthening civilian oversight, improving training and tracking complaints against police using modern technology. Together, those reforms  many implemented pursuant to a federal consent decree  bought improvements because they recognized and addressed cultural corruption. Was it enough? Not nearly. Reform has to be an ongoing process.

In Minneapolis, firing and prosecuting Officer Derek Chauvin may protect those he might have later tried to arrest, but they wont address the question of why his fellow officers seemed untroubled by his actions or why so many complaints of police abuse in that department appear to have received little attention. In Buffalo, the bigger question is not why two officers knocked a 75-year-old man to the pavement, but why others thought that was something to cheer about.

Yes, some acts of police misconduct are nothing more than the work of a stray, misguided officer, a bad apple. But contrary to the 1970 Osmonds hit, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. And once a few officers in a department have started to rot, a whole new barrel is needed.

Journalist and author Jim Newton covered the LAPD for The Times from 1992 to 1997. His most recent book is Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) moved up the start of human clinical trials for its experimental vaccine against the highly contagious coronavirus by two months to the second half of July as the drugmaker rushes to develop a prevention for COVID-19, the company said on June 10. The acceleration should allow J&J to take part in the massive clinical trials program planned by the US government, which aims to have an effective vaccine by year end.

J&J shares rose nearly 2 percent to $148.69. In March, J&J signed deals with the US government to create enough manufacturing capacity to produce more than 1 billion doses of its vaccine through 2021, even before it has evidence that it works.

There are currently no US-approved treatments or vaccines for the virus. A vaccine is seen as essential to ending the pandemic that has infected more than 7.2 million people and killed over 412,000 globally while battering economies worldwide. J&J initially expected safety trials to start in September. Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels told Reuters the company has been working closely with its US government partners to accelerate that timeline.

"Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development," Stoffels said in a statement on Wednesday. J&J's study will test the vaccine for safety and early signs of efficacy in 1,045 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years, and in those aged 65 and older. The trial will take place in the United States and Belgium.

The company is also in talks with the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases(NIAID) to start larger, late-stage trials ahead of schedule, depending on results of the early studies and regulatory approval. The United States is planning to test a handful of coronavirus vaccine candidates in trials that will enroll up to 30,000 subjects with the aim of getting an answer on efficacy as quickly as possible. National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told Reuters that companies will need to complete their safety trials by the end of summer to be included in those studies.

Stoffels said last week that J&J hopes to have results of its vaccine efficacy trials in the first quarter of 2021. He added that the company is "working hard to bring it back to the end of the year." A lot will depend on how much virus is circulating at that time, he said.

"If you have an incidence of 1% a year versus 4% a year, it's totally different. And that's where these trials are so unpredictable," he said referring to the percentage of new cases occurring in the population at the time. The company plans to test the vaccine in high-transmission regions within the United States. If the incidence is low, "we will complement that with international sites to make sure that we reach enough endpoints quickly to prove the vaccine works," Stoffels said.

Moderna Inc, which is working in close partnership with NIAID, has started testing its vaccine candidate in a 600-subject mid-stage trial. The company expects to begin late-stage trials in July. Moderna's vaccine uses messenger RNA technology, an approach that has yet to produce any approved vaccines. J&J is utilizing the same technology used to make its Ebola vaccine, which won European regulatory approval late last month.

There are about 10 coronavirus vaccines in human testing. Experts have said a safe and effective vaccine could take at least 12 to 18 months from the start of development, which would shave several years off the typical vaccine development timeline.

Also read: Mumbai firm sets up Asia's largest factory for coronavirus testing kits
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic will likely result in months to a years worth of learning loss for New Mexicos students, according to a Legislative Finance Committee report.

The negative ripple effects are expected to affect younger, at-risk students the most in a state that was already found to have failed to provide a sufficient education for all students, especially those who are considered at risk  in the landmark Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit.

Were facing a very serious problem in public education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jon Courtney, LFC deputy director of program evaluation, told lawmakers Wednesday.

In March, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams administration called for schools to close, ultimately for the remainder of the academic year, to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

The state Public Education Department waived instructional hour requirements and called for significantly reduced time spent on schoolwork each day. Educators were tasked with teaching from a distance and told to focus on content theyd already gone over.

But these moves didnt come without consequences, and students are expected to start the 2020-21 school year with a big dip in learning.

While the move to distance learning was unavoidable, the early closing of schools inherently exacerbated summer learning loss. Further, certain factors, like differing access to the internet, computers and parental engagement, mean that at-risk children will likely start the upcoming school year farther behind than their more affluent peers, the report says.

The analysis says the shortened school schedules used during distance learning equate to 6.9% of the recommended instructional time for prekindergarten, 10.4% for kindergarten and first grade, 13.9% for second and third grade, 20.8% for fourth and fifth grades and 38.1% for middle and high school.

And PEDs direction to focus on previously learned material could have exacerbated learning loss, according to the LFC report.

A survey of thousands of teachers showed that fewer than half of students were participating in distance learning by the end of the year, and teachers reported they couldnt contact about one in five students.

In normal years, most students lose between one to two months of learning over the summer break (a phenomenon referred to as the summer slide.) Due to the unavoidable early school closures, however, students will lose substantially more learning time than normal, partly because of low student engagement, the LFC document says.

Attendance policies could be a factor.

The LFC document showed that requirements varied across the state and that participation was better if attendance was mandatory.

Of the 89 school districts, only seven (7.9%) required student attendance during distance learning in their CLPs. About a third (37.1%) of school districts planned to monitor and gauge student attendance, and 13 (14.6%) school districts provided clear guidance regarding consequences or retention of students who do not attend or participate, the document says.

At-risk students, such as students experiencing poverty or learning English, are more likely to fall behind and less likely to have internet and devices, widening existing achievement gaps.

Information from the Public School Facilities Authority showed that 21.8% of students did not have access to internet at home and 31.9% of students did not have access to their own device.

As of early this month, Albuquerque Public Schools ended up distributing 20,000 Chromebook laptops to make distance learning work for students who didnt have access to devices, according to Chief Information and Strategy Officer Richard Bowman.

But, as the LFC report suggests, not everyone was participating.

APS is able to see how many students used their school-issued Google account  regardless of what device they used  which showed 72% of elementary students logged into these accounts between April 6 and June 1, according to Bowman. That number gets higher for middle and high school students, at 96% and 91% respectively.

Between April 6 and June 1, a total of 66,592 students have logged into their Google accounts at least once, Bowman said, adding that was out of APS 80,000 students in the district.

APS plans to track students participation in schoolwork more thoroughly across multiple platforms for next school year, Bowman said.

Courtney told lawmakers that the state has to prioritize reopening schools and tackling learning loss. If New Mexico mitigates the loss, the dip in childrens learning could be temporary, the report says.

On the other hand, research shows the loss will continue to stack up if reopening is further delayed.

The PED put together a group to help craft plans for reentry into schools. But Courtney said that some states already have reopening guidance in place and that enough time needs to be given to get supplies and create procedures.

Even before the pandemic, students were lagging in learning. In New Mexico, 71% of fourth graders arent proficient in math and 76% of fourth graders arent proficient in reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.


BASEL (dpa-AFX) - Novartis (NVS) said Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved a label update for Beovu or brolucizumab to include additional safety information regarding retinal vasculitis and retinal vascular occlusion.



The update to the US label included the addition of a sub-section dedicated to retinal vasculitis and/or retinal vascular occlusion under 'Warnings and Precautions.' It also specifies that these adverse reactions are part of a spectrum of intraocular inflammation rates from the Phase III HAWK & HARRIER trials.



Beovu was approved in the US in October 2019 for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), based on findings from the Phase III HAWK and HARRIER clinical trials, in which Beovu demonstrated non-inferiority versus aflibercept in mean change in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at year one.



Novartis today said it has convened a fully dedicated team collaborating with top global external experts, leveraging the collective multidisciplinary expertise to examine the root causes, potential risk factors and mitigation of these adverse events.



A Safety Review Committee established by Novartis noted that the overall rate of vision loss in the study population was similar between the Beovu and aflibercept arms in HAWK & HARRIER despite the risk of vision loss associated with the adverse events of interest.



The company said it is confident that Beovu continues to represent an important treatment option for patients with wet AMD, with an overall favorable benefit/risk profile.



Wet AMD is the leading cause of severe vision loss and legal blindness in people over the age of 65 in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Wet AMD occurs when abnormal blood vessels form underneath the macula, the area of the retina responsible for sharp, central vision. These blood vessels are fragile and leak fluid, disrupting the normal retinal architecture and ultimately causing damage to the macula.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Sourdough may be the celebrity loaf of #quarantinelife  and it is delicious and deserves all of the love and care and at least half of the amateur photos its getting  but its not the bread Im suddenly baking.

Instead, every Friday since San Francisco mandated we shelter in place, my 11-year-old daughter, Hazel, and I have been making challah. Sure, I spent eight weeks every summer at Jewish camp, lost the limbo at my bat mitzvah and was hoisted in a chair at my wedding  I even recently co-authored a Jewish cookbook  but confession: baking challah is not something I often do. Now its the only constant of our amorphous week. Im not religious at all, but theres something comforting, even moving, about this part of the Shabbat ritual. Perhaps because, in a way, it feels like weve all  regardless of religion  been tossed into a secular sort of Shabbat. An endless Shabbat.

The Sabbath, as the more pious call it, is intended to be a day of rest. A time when time seemingly halts and we slow down, ditch our cars, go for walks, cook and eat, and focus not on work but on what ultimately matters: the people we love, the present. As 20th century German philosopher Erich Fromm once wrote of Shabbat: By not working  that is to say, by not participating in the process of natural and social change  man is free from the chains of nature and from the chains of time, although only for one day a week. Typically, Shabbat lasts 25 hours. (No, not 24, an hour after sundown on Saturday, and all.) Right now, though, it feels like were honoring Shabbat seven days a week, every week. Its like the Jewish version of Groundhog Day (starring Billy Crystal instead of Bill Murray?).

Shabbat, too, comes with rules and restrictions. They are different than those of the coronavirus, but restrictions nonetheless. Both come with family time. (So. Much. Family. Time.) And wine. So much wine.

Even before our collective lockdown, the ancient tradition was trending. In her 2019 book, 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week, local filmmaker Tiffany Shlain urged modern families to turn off all devices for 24 hours and take what she calls a technology Shabbat. Ashton Kutcher was lighting the Friday-night candles and racking up tens of thousands of likes. My gentile friends in Fairfax were Shabbat-ing amongst themselves (and, yes, turning it into a verb). A WASP-y mother of three in Potrero was powering down at the end of the week, bringing her kids together around the table. Millennials were hosting group dinners with OneTable, a social dining platform with a challah hotline and the tagline: How do you Friday? Everyone taking a collective pause on a Friday night over roast chicken (or fried chicken, shumai or shrimp tacos) and calling it what it is: Shabbat.

In COVID-19 times, Shlain has been baking challah every Friday with her daughters  and a hundred or so strangers online (hashtag #zoomchallahbake). OneTable turned its Friday dinners virtual with a new tagline: Shabbat Alone, Together. And recently, Wise Sons launched a $110 Shabbat meal kit, including schmaltz-roasted potatoes, candles and a pre-made challah of its own, thats quickly proven popular.

Pop star Katy Perry, raised an evangelical Christian, told a reporter not long ago: I wish there was a thing like Shabbat for the whole world. Well, Katy Perry, now it seems there is.

When this unprecedented, virus-induced reality was foisted upon us, something about it felt vaguely familiar. Like other times in life where it was upended in an instant and rearranged into something unrecognizable. In the beginning, Id tried to pinpoint it. Sept. 11. The sudden death of my old boyfriend. The slog and fog and existential anxiety of new motherhood. The times when Id wander the house and streets in sweats, forget where I parked, venture into the world only when I had to, warily. Times when the new normal was unwelcome, wrapped in a bubble that would eventually not so much burst as slowly blow away like a lost balloon, until I could see it only in the distance.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

And then, the other day, as I sat in the backyard reading with my son, waiting for the doughs second rise, I realized there was something else this quarantine reminded me of: Shabbat.

Around Passover, everyone was calling this 21st century pandemic our 11th plague, and  far worse than lice and frogs ever were  indeed it is. But its also been 14 weeks and counting, of an endless Shabbat. All the days blend together, but not Fridays. It was a few hours before sundown, and Hazel and I rolled and braided and brushed, like Jews have done, in some form or other, for thousands of years, through persecution and pain and perhaps times harder than this, and yet still: come out OK.

As does our challah. Warm and soft and sweet, made with flour and oil and eggs and honey and, unlike sourdough: yeast. (Which was not easy to find during this pandemic, but I had a connection.) An improbable sign of hope? It gets better each week.

Rachel Levin is the co-author of Eat Something: A Wise Sons Cookbook for Jews Who Like Food and Food Lovers Who Like Jews (Chronicle Books). Email culture@sfchronicle.com
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) plans to celebrate the anniversary of the opening of California's Disneyland by once again opening the iconic theme park to the public. The company is planning to open the gates on July 17, 65 years to the day after the park's historic launch in 1955. The House of Mouse announced the proposal for its phased reopening on Wednesday, pending state and local government approvals.

First, the Downtown Disney Shopping District, which includes a variety of shops and restaurants, will start accepting customers beginning on July 9. Both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park will open their turnstiles on July 17. This will be followed by the reopening of the company's flagship California hotels -- Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa and Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel -- which will begin accepting lodgers on July 23.

Safety first

The capacity of parks and some rides will be significantly limited in order to help guests comply with social distancing guidelines in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Attendance will be managed with the use of a reservation system, which will require all guests -- including annual pass holders -- to register in advance. This is similar to the strategy Disney employed during last year's opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. The parks will also feature physical barriers and markers to ensure social distancing.

The parks will employ a number of other measures designed for the health and safety of its guests. Certain festivities that typically draw large crowds -- like parades and fireworks displays -- won't return immediately, and meet-and-greet sessions with Disney's iconic characters are suspended until further notice.

Disney said additional details will be provided soon. The parks will no doubt undergo enhanced and continuous cleaning of high-touch areas and visitors will likely be required to wear masks.
Members of the U.S. Congress are examining national police reform proposals, while local and state officials announce more steps to change funding and authorizations for the use of force in their police departments. Other witnesses include Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Vanita Gupta, former head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and current president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The committee also heard from the sister of Federal Protective Services Officer Dave Patrick Underwood, who was fatally shot during protests and violence that erupted in Oakland, California, after George Floyd's death. Angela Underwood Jacobs told the committee that solutions to police brutality and racial injustice must be achieved through peaceful means. "When innocent people are harmed in the name of justice we all lose," Jacobs said. "There is a path to achieving what we desire. It is the same path we started on during the civil rights movement." She said America "must find lawful, peaceful solutions that benefit everyone."

Viral video of the incident sparked nationwide protests urging reforms. Philonise Floyd spoke during a hearing on national police reform. "I can't tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that. When you watch your big brother, who you've looked up to your whole entire life, die. Die begging for your mom," Floyd said. "I'm tired. I'm tired of the pain I'm feeling now, and I'm tired of the pain I feel every time another black person is killed for no reason. I'm here to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain."

Philonise Floyd's plea was made before the House Judiciary Committee on behalf of his brother. George Floyd died May 25 after officer Derek Chauvin held a knee to his neck for nearly 9 minutes as Floyd called out for his mother and pleaded that he could not breathe.

The brother of George Floyd, an African American man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police, called on U.S. lawmakers Wednesday during a congressional hearing on national police reform to approve legislation that restricts the use of force by police against citizens.

House Democrats have proposed a package of reforms that includes bans on racial profiling and chokeholds, making it easier to sue officers in civil court and establishing a national database tracking officer misconduct. A vote is planned this month.

Republican leaders in the Senate have tasked Senator Tim Scott with leading the creation of their own package of proposals, an effort White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters Tuesday he hopes will come "sooner than later." Scott said Tuesday he held a productive discussion with colleagues on the plan and they would be releasing a draft "in the near future." "I am hopeful that this legislation will bring much needed solutions," said Scott, the Senate's only black Republican.

Also Wednesday, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and eight other Republican senators introduced a resolution calling for justice for Floyd and rejecting recent demands to defund police departments. "We know that violent crime disproportionally affects low-income communities, and that law enforcement plays a critical role in protecting life and preserving a free and functioning society," Cruz said. "We also know that law enforcement has an important responsibility in upholding our criminal justice system. Though our nation has taken many troubled turns on our continuing march towards justice, defunding and abolishing police departments will undoubtedly take us backwards in that endeavor."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who heads the chamber's Judiciary Committee, has set a hearing on police use of force for next week. With the two parties each controlling one of the chambers, and President Donald Trump repeatedly stressing the need for "law and order" amid the protests, it is unlikely the sides will agree on all of their proposals, but there is some common ground, including the misconduct database.

 Reforms Across U.S.

Local bans on chokeholds have been among the steps already taken by city and state leaders in places such as California; Denver, Colorado; and in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Floyd died. The latest move came from the police department in Phoenix, Arizona, which announced the immediate ban on the technique on Tuesday.

In Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler said his package of reforms includes halting the use of patrol officers on public transit and moving $7 million from the city's police budget to programs for communities of color. Other cities have pledged similar funding shifts, including New York and Los Angeles, heeding what has become one of the major initiatives promoted by protesters.

New York state lawmakers also voted Tuesday to repeal a decades-old law that made the disciplinary records and misconduct complaints against officers secret. Governor Andrew Cuomo has said he will sign it.

 Texas Funeral

Floyd was entombed Tuesday in Pearland, Texas, after a funeral attended by hundreds of family members, friends and prominent figures in Houston. Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton gave the eulogy, saying Floyd touched people all over the country and in other parts of the world, who have also joined in protest, "marching with your name."

"People are walking out in the streets, not even following social distance because you've touched the world. And as we lay you to rest today, the movement won't rest until we get justice. Until we have one standard of justice. Your family is gonna miss you, George. But your nation is going to always remember your name because your neck was one that represented all of us. And how you suffered represented our stuff," Sharpton said.

Among those in attendance were the parents of Eric Garner, Botham Jean and Michael Brown, three victims of earlier police violence whose deaths brought calls for reforms. "Until we know the price for black life is the same as the price for white life, we're going to keep coming back to these situations over and over again," Sharpton told those assembled at The Fountain of Praise Church.

Hundreds of people gathered along the funeral procession route to pay their final respects to Floyd, and to express their grief and their frustration at the history of police violence against African Americans and the lack of action to eliminate it. "We've been kneeling. Nothing happened. We've been peacefully protesting. Nothing happened," Xavier Bradley told VOA. "Only until something gets destroyed they'll listen. Now we've got their ear, hopefully we can put it to good use."
Argentina, which has one of the strictest travel bans in the world, is planning to resume commercial flights sooner than expected.

The country may reopen travel as soon as mid-August as infection rates drop in some major cities around the world, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Some European countries are considered among destinations for the first flights because key cities have eased their lockdowns with the number of reported cases dropping, said the person, asking not to be named because the discussions are private.
During a hearing Tuesday on whether to declare racism a public health crisis in Ohio, a GOP state senator referred to the colored population and questioned whether they get COVID-19 more often because they do not wash their hands as much.

During a discussion with Angela Dawson, director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, Sen. Steve Huffman, a doctor from Tipp City north of Dayton, said, I understand that African Americans have a higher incidence of prior conditions and that makes them more susceptible to COVID, but does not make them more susceptible just to get COVID.

We know its twice as often, correct? Could it just be that African Americans  the colored population  do not wash their hands as well as other groups? Or wear a mask? Or do not socially distance themselves? Could that just be maybe the explanation of why theres a higher incidence?

Dawson, who is black, replied, That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country.

Huffman issued an apology later:

Regrettably, I asked a question in an unintentionally awkward way that was perceived as hurtful and was exactly the opposite of what I meant. I was trying to focus on why COVID-19 affects people of color at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons."

But Rep. Stephanie Howse, a Cleveland Democrat who is president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, told the Dayton Daily News that Huffmans word choice and question represent systemic racism.

He highlights what racism is from a systematic perspective. Hes a full legislator but beyond that, professionally, hes a doctor, said Howse, who attended the lengthy hearing of the Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee.

When we talk about the health disparities that happen because black folks arent believed when theyre actually hurt, they arent given the treatment that they need. Do you think that someone who acknowledges the coloreds is going to give the love and care that people need when they come through those doors?

Story continues

Comment is being sought from Senate President Larry Obhof and others.

drowland@dispatch.com

@darreldrowland

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: GOP Ohio state senator wonders if colored people get COVID-19 from not washing their hands as much
The agricultural community of Immokalee is quickly becoming an epicenter of covid-19 cases in Florida, with the Florida Department of Health's dashboard showing a large cluster of cases with nearly 900 recorded since April. And as those workers move north to work the summer fields in other parts of the country, advocacy groups worry they will take the virus with them.

Farmworkers living and working in cramped conditions are especially vulnerable to exposure and infection from the virus, advocacy groups say, much like workers in the meatpacking industry which experienced hots spots in May. And workers' groups say that state officials and growers were slow to respond to the threat, and did not move until fairly recently to ramp up testing.

"The Department of Health has promised that Immokalee will get testing Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for multiple weeks in a row and we hope they follow through," says Nova Friedman, an administrator for the Alliance for Fair Food, which advocates for farmworkers. "The tomato harvest is wrapping up and we are hitting an important moment as these communities are starting to clear out. The virus will continue spreading, traveling up the coast."

Immokalee, on the eastern side of wealthy Collier County, is the country's winter tomato capital. During the winter/early spring season it is home to about 25,000 people, 43% of whom live below the poverty line on an income below $26,000 for a family of four.

Latino and Haitian migrant workers board early-morning school buses or hop into the roll-up backs of U-Haul trailers to reach the fields. They work side by side hand-harvesting mostly round green tomatoes that are later gassed with ethylene to ripen them. At the end of the day, workers hop back in those buses and trucks and head home to retrofitted trailer parks often owned by the growers, with between 6 and 16 workers bedding down in bunk beds and mattresses on the floor in single-wide trailers meant to be one-bedroom homes.

As of June 10, the Florida Department of Health, Division of Disease Control and Health Protection reported 899 positive cases in the Immokalee Zip code, out of roughly 2,500 tests conducted in the rural town. That is a 36% positive rate, far higher than the current 5.58% positive rate for those tested in Florida overall, and much higher than wealthier areas of Collier County.

On the other side of the county, in Naples' 34102 Zip code, the 15th wealthiest Zip code in the country with a population of 15,544, there have been only 76 cases of covid-19. In Collier County as a whole, state officials reported a total of 2,230 cases as of June 10, including 250 hospitalizations and 57 deaths. But authorities are unable to say how many of these deaths are farmworkers.

Collier County's Department of Health, assisted by an 11-member Doctors Without Borders team, this month stepped up testing among migrant worker communities, ahead of an annual migration of Immokalee farmworkers northward to work the fields in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia or Michigan.

But Kristine Hollingsworth, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health in Collier County, acknowledged officials have had problems in ramping up testing, and contacting workers with their test results - in part because many workers don't have primary health-care providers. Others are undocumented and fearful of giving out contact details, despite assurances from county officials they won't be deported.

"That's something we have struggled with," Hollingsworth says. "We have been able to reach 90% of those tested, provided they give us an accurate address, phone number and name. We are not looking to deport anyone or ascertain their legal status. We are just here to do testing."

Gloria Carrera, 43, a tomato picker for Pacific Tomato Growers in Immokalee for the last 20 years, said in the past week she has seen many of her friends and co-workers leave for farms farther north.

Although there is no work in Immokalee in the summer, she's not moving north with her fellow migrant farmworkers.

"I believe the virus is real and I'm worried about it. There are people who believe it's real and others who say that it's a lie and are going about daily life," she said by phone via a translator.

Originally from Santa Cruz Bay in Oaxaca, Mexico, she said she is staying put, trying to stay healthy and to protect the health of her two kids, 9 and 16. But it's not easy and she's scared. She lives in a trailer with nine people total, some of them friends she has known for a while, some of them strangers.

"My job is to make sure my children are safe."

Carrera has not been tested herself. She says she has just not wanted to do it.

Seth Holmes, a physician and anthropologist at University of California at Berkeley, who has been administering tests as a volunteer since the beginning of April, said the Florida farmworkers are more vulnerable than those in California, where most farmworkers set up their own housing and usually have their own cars. In Immokalee, social distancing is nearly impossible at work or at home.

"I've heard of farms giving masks, but mostly not," Holmes said. "Workers have to get their own masks, so maybe three out of 20 people have masks on and there's pressure not to wear them - it's not a 'tough' thing to do."

Oscar Otzoy, a former farmworker who is now an organizer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, says testing agencies aren't asking contact-tracing questions or telling workers how or how long to self-isolate, when they call to deliver the results of positive tests.

"After that clinic took place in May and people received the calls with positive results, they were told to just stay home," Otzoy said through a translator. "In terms of what growers have been offering workers, there hasn't been a whole lot of help to those workers who tested positive. That's something we're starting to see as more and more people get sick, people are not being given a lot of information and are being left to fend for themselves."

It's unclear how many farmworkers have had the coronavirus, or how many have died of it: In Orange County, where Orlando is, the medical examiner releases name, age, occupation and where the deceased lived; in Collier County, the medical examiner releases only where a person died. And because Immokalee doesn't have its own hospital, very sick farmworkers are hospitalized in Naples or neighboring communities. The state also does not report data on how many people have recovered from the disease.

Hollingsworth says that if a worker can't safely isolate at home, the health department has 100 rooms where people can stay free of charge, with separate bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchenettes, and everyone is given a move-in kit of sheets, blankets, hand sanitizer, groceries and regular meals. Still, she says, there's a powerful incentive for many growers to demand workers stay on the job, as well as for workers to keep working even after a positive diagnosis.

"We can't pay them or supplement their income," she says. "We're trying to tackle those hurdles, but we know people want to provide for their families, often sending money back to support people where they are from."

The accommodations are also near Naples, and Immokalee farmworkers don't often have cars.

"I've only heard of one person from Immokalee given a room there," Holmes says. "It would be ideal to have people from Immokalee isolate in Immokalee somewhere."

Sandra Murillo, media relations director for the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, which has been assisting the county testing since May, says that language barriers, transportation problems and long workdays have stymied some workers from getting tested. She says many can't afford to take a day off to visit a clinic. Nonetheless, she says, there is strong interest from community members to expand mass testing at pop-up sites or mobile clinics.

"There's no way of knowing how many people have left having received a positive test," says Otzoy, "or who don't know that they have the virus."
In addition to providing much-needed medical and economic relief for our communities and state from this Covid-19 crisis, Id like to see our legislature also provide relief to many of our citizens who are terminally ill with illnesses like cancer and heart disease, by passing The End of Life Options Act (H.1926).

The first important step was taken on May 29, when the Joint Committee on Public Health voted overwhelmingly to pass H.1926.

I support this bill because I believe a person should have the right to end his or her own life when terminally ill and in constant pain, when all possible treatments have been exhausted. There will be many safeguards built into the bill to make sure that all options are considered before taking this path and that no one is coerced into making this decision. I have a friend now who is in hospice and might possibly want to use this option if it were available.

Hospice and palliative care services are wonderful, but in too many cases people still die in great pain and unrelieved suffering. Such terminally ill and mentally capable people should have the option of medical, compassionate aid in dying, like Maine, Vermont, New Jersey, and seven other states have authorized over the past 23 years.

Please contact your state legislators and urge them to support passage of H.1926 and S.120 by the full House and Senate as soon as possible.

Carolyn Bradley, Springfield
The Green Party's somewhat ill-timed leadership battle was sparked after a group of councillors wrote to Catherine Martin urging her to challenge Eamon Ryan for the top job. The four Cork-based councillors said the party needs a new leader that will "fight for all of our futures".

After two weeks thinking about it, Ms Martin decided to take on Mr Ryan.

It came even as government formation talks with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael approached a crucial phase - much to the disbelief of those across the table.

The Green Party's constitution requires a leadership contest within six months of a general election and Ms Martin has said she won't campaign until after the government negotiations have concluded.

She was against entering those talks but now leads the Greens' negotiating team and vowed to take part in good faith.

There has been considerable unrest among her supporters that Mr Ryan appears more willing to compromise in his own discussions with Micheal Martin and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar when contentious issues are bumped up to party leader level.

Read More

Ms Martin's backers in the leadership race have been the most vocal from the start, firstly in encouraging a contest, and then in declaring support by submitting more than 200 nominations for her to enter, around twice the number received by Mr Ryan.

They also appear to be most prominent on social media with much of her support believed to be found among the younger, more radical members of the party.

The race has already exposed the perils of social media for politicians.

Ms Martin's husband and fellow TD Francis Noel Duffy had to apologise for "inadvertently" sharing a Twitter comment attacking Mr Ryan at the weekend. He later posted a statement "disassociating" himself from the post and said anyone who knows him will realise this is not his "approach to politics".

And supporters of Mr Ryan are also cautioning that there shouldn't be too much read into the online debate where Green Party members who are most reluctant to enter government appear to be shouting loudest.

There is a belief in the Ryan camp that there's a silent majority in the Green Party in favour of entering government and - they hope - by extension retaining Mr Ryan as party leader. They will take heart from the small lead Mr Ryan has among the almost 60pc of the Green Party's councillors that responded to today's Irish Independent survey.

The party has ballooned to more than 2,700 members in the last couple of years.

Many are a younger generation inspired by the global Extinction Rebellion campaign and teenage activist Greta Thunberg.

Others are parents worried about what kind of planet is being left for their children.

The vote on whether or not the Green Party enters government requires a two-thirds majority and it is due to take place before the leadership ballot.

Where the wider party membership lands on both issues remains the great unknown.
The prime ministers of four Central European countries have welcomed an EU plan to create a 750 billion-euro (825 billion US dollar) recovery fund to help countries weather a painful recession triggered by the coronavirus.

But the leaders of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia say the fund should be distributed differently than proposed.

The countries hardest hit by the pandemic, including Italy and Spain, are expected to receive the biggest sums from the fund.

The four countries who form an informal group known as Visegrad Four have so far been hit less hard by the outbreak.

"It should not happen that some countries would be disadvantaged only because they coped well with the (coronavirus) crisis," said Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis who hosted their meeting in the town of Lednice.

His Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki said it wouldn't be fair if the poorer countries were harmed.

Viktor Orban of Hungary added it would be "morally unacceptable" for richer countries to receive more.

Slovakia's Premier Igor Matovic said his country didn't have a major problem with the plan and wanted to show solidarity with their regional partners.

Tough negotiations are expected next week when EU leaders are planning to discuss the issue.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A man who intentionally rammed a stolen pickup truck into the gates of a naval air station in Texas, prompting a lockdown last year, has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

Brian Dale Robinson pleaded guilty in November to destruction of U.S. government property and possession of a stolen firearm. He was sentenced Tuesday to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $12,000 in restitution to Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi, prosecutors said.

Robinson, of Beeville, Texas, told authorities that he was suicidal, authorities said. Prosecutors said Robinson had a gun when he was arrested in October at the base but he dropped it, and no one was hurt.

Last month, a gunman opened fire at the Corpus Christi station, wounding a sailor before the gunman was fatally shot by security personnel. The FBI has said that shooting was terrorism-related but few details have been released.
Press Release

11 June 2020

Dubai based LEVA Hotels has signed an exclusive partnership with VACKMA LLC to expand in the United States of America. As part of the agreement, VACKMA will develop and operate 3 and 4-star hotels under the LEVA and its sub brands in USA while offering hotel owners a choice of both franchise and management agreements.

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Mr. JS Anand, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LEVA Hotels, said, "We are proud to launch the LEVA brand in USA partnering with a prestigious group such as VACKMA. The tie-up is part of our strategic growth plan and steadfast vision and, demonstrates the resilience of our brand despite the recent industry challenges. We look forward to a successful collaboration with VACKMA to expand LEVA Hotels in the US."

With over 30 years' global industry experience working in airports, food services and first-class hotels, VACKMA LLC is specialized in developing innovative, award-winning business solutions delivering outstanding customer experiences and operators' returns.

Mr. Anton Muller, Founder & CEO, of VACKMA LLC, stated, "We are delighted to partner with LEVA Hotels that holds great potential for growth. We are confident it will serve as a refreshing choice, offering superior brand standards and exceptional management options to hotel owners, with flexible terms tailored for diverse market segments. At VACKMA we help bridge the gap between owner's vision and today's market needs and LEVA is a perfect fit in our scheme."

LEVA Hotels is uniquely positioned in the upscale and midscale segments with four complementary and well differentiated brands designed to provide a solid return on investment for owners and greater value to guests. While LEVA is specialised in the 4-star and above category, EKONO by LEVA is a smart and efficient choice in the mid-scale segment.

Building up on its growth momentum, the brand is aggressively exploring expansion opportunities across the GCC, Africa, Europe and USA. In addition to its flagship hotel LEVA Mazaya Centre, a deluxe 4-star hotel in Dubai, the group had recently signed management agreements for two beautiful hotels in Muscat and a stunning property in Kampala.
JIN, a digital communications and PR agency based in Paris with offices in New York, London, Berlin and Lisbon has received 3 million (approximately $3.4 million) in funding from CITA Investment as it works to expand its influence in Europe. The funds will be used for senior talent recruitment, technological innovation and strategic acquisitions. It will also boost the groups development in London and Berlin to increase its network of partners in Europe and better support local and international clients. Founded in 2012 by Edouard Fillias, Alexandre Villeneuve and Romain Boudre, JIN offers a combination of social media, media relations and public affairs, supported by in-house technology solutions for digital media monitoring and performance.

Jolie Balido

New Star Media, a minority, women-owned marketing communications firm, has launched in Miami. New Star has been founded by Jolie Balido, who founded Roar Media in 2008, and Tina van der Ven, who previously directed regional business development, marketing and communications for law firm Greenberg Traurig. Before Balido sold her stake in Roar last year, the firm had grown to become South Floridas third-largest agency by revenues and number of employees. New Star will provide business development strategy, public relations, branding, crisis management, corporate social responsibility, graphic design, analyst and investor relations, media training, digital marketing and social media to corporate, institutional and nonprofit businesses and organizations.

Merril Hoge

Baker Public Relations hosted a virtual sports roundtable on June 9, bringing together such Pittsburgh sports experts as ESPN analyst and former Pittsburgh Steeler Merril Hoge, MLB Network analyst Sean Casey, University of Pittsburgh Athletic Director Heather Lyke, and Frank Velasquez of Allegheny Health Network Sports Performance. The roundtable was moderated by KDKA Radio Morning News host Larry Richert. The panelists discussed how sports entities have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, how they can rebound, and the changes that likely lie ahead in the sports world. When asked if he shares the NFLs confidence that there will be football this year, Hoge said: I do, especially for the preseason. The preseason is the easiest portion of the season to do it because, quite honestly, when youre at training camp youre quarantined anyway. The event was free and open to the public. A live feed of the event was also featured on Baker Public Relations Facebook page. A recording is posted to the Baker Public Relations Facebook page.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 23:24:52|Editor: huaxia

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LUSAKA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's cabinet has approved the ratification of the African Union (AU) Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, a government spokesperson said on Thursday.

Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya, who is also information and broadcasting services minister, said there has been a rise in Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the country which calls for protection of personal data of citizens not only within but across the continent.

"Cyber security is important because it encompasses everything that pertains to protecting our sensitive data, personally identifiable information, protected health information, intellectual property and government and industry information systems," she said, according to a release.

The convention, she said, represents commitments by member states to take measures on a range of issues, including cybercrime, cyber security, electronic transactions and protection of personal data.

According to her, the convention will facilitate member states to formulate appropriate legal frameworks that will empower their digital citizens and ensure that their respective online environment was trusted, safe, beneficial and empowering to all individuals.

Meanwhile, the cabinet also approved the revised national intellectual property policy for implementation by various stakeholders in both government and outside government.

The spokesperson noted that cabinet was convinced that the policy will ensure effective and efficient use of intellectual property as an instrument for stimulating socio-economic, industrial, technological and cultural development.

The focus of the revised policy is to strengthen capacities for innovation, creativity, research and development, she added. Enditem
Retailers in Northern Ireland can open their shops from Friday the First and deputy First Minister announced in a further easing of lockdown restrictions.

The relaxation includes indoor shopping malls. All retailers must ensure adequate social distancing and hygiene measures are in place to protect customers and staff.

However, close-contact services such as hairdressers and driving instructors are not covered by the announcement and must remain closed.

Mrs Foster said there had been significant progress in the battle against Covid-19, but added we must continue to be cautious as there is still a risk of a second wave of infection.

The First Minister said the NI Executive would also consider next week whether to bring forward dates for the reopening of caravan parks, and hotels, restaurants and other hospitals businesses.

She also said that the coronavirus regulations would be amended to permit the Northern Ireland housing market to reopen from Monday coming, the 15th of June.

All aspects of buying a house will be permitted from viewing a property to securing and mortgage and moving home.

On childcare, the press conference heard that ministers have agreed that church halls and community centres will be permitted to open to provide daycare services from Friday 12 June.

The First Minister said a larger piece of work on formal and informal childcare arrangements is being finalised by the Department of Health and the Department of Education.

The limit on the number of people who can meet outdoors has been raised from six to 10 - provided there is social distancing between people who do not share the same household.

Elite athletes will also be able to use outdoor training facilities from Monday.

Turning to the question of indoor visits, the ministers confirmed that people who live alone - some 30% of the population- can from Saturday 13th of June form a small support unit or bubble with one other household to tackle social isolation.

This would permit the person to visit, to stay over, and spend more time with their support network, Mrs Foster said.

We hope to build on this first step when we review the situation again next Monday, with a view to enabling contact indoors between different households.

Both Mrs Foster and Mrs ONeill thanked the Northern Ireland public for their commitment in fighting the coronavirus, but emphasised that the battle was not yet won.

We have reason to be optimistic, deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill said - but this is not the time to let our guard down.

A formal review of the coronavirus regulations is to be completed by the NI Executive next Thursday.
Foreign businesses seek more channels as Chinese market recovers

A military airplane carrying medical supplies from China arrives at an airport in Minsk, Belarus, June 2, 2020. A fourth batch of Chinese humanitarian medical aid sent to Belarus arrived Tuesday, on board a military aircraft belonging to the Belarusian Defense Ministry. The 22 tons of cargo included non-contact thermometers, protective equipment, oxygen concentrators, test systems, and other medical products. More than 100 tons of humanitarian aid from China have now been delivered to Belarus on four flights. (Photo by Henadz Zhinkov/Xinhua)

China's top civil aviation regulator said on Wednesday that it would increase the number of flights from certain countries that meet specific anti-viral requirements and related criteria, as the demand for business and other travel back to China is skyrocketing due to an accelerating pace of work resumption following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Foreign businesses from the US to Europe that operate in the Chinese market are seeking to open more channels such as chartered flights for their employees to return to China, some are even actively pushing for establishing what's known as a "green channel" (fast lane) between China and their home countries, several companies and business groups told the Global Times.

The eagerness and urgency among foreign businesses to bring back their employees and fully resume their operations in China also encapsulate the importance of the Chinese market for US and European businesses highlighting China's fast recovery from the pandemic, even as some Western politicians have been trying to use the global public health crisis to isolate China and smear China's efforts, Chinese experts noted.

More international flights

Following a major adjustment to the country's pandemic regulations on international flights that paved way for more services, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Wednesday that it has been in talks with "relevant countries" regarding increasing the number of flights and such talks could yield positive results soon.

"Judging from the progress of [the talks], it is hopeful that the number of flights between relevant countries could increase to an appropriate degree," Xiong Jie, a spokesperson for the CAAC, told a press briefing.

However, Xiong stressed that strict anti-viral efforts are a prerequisite for any resumption of flights, while pointing to four specific previously announced criterion for countries that could resume more flights to and from China. Qualified countries are those that have exported less COVID-19 cases to China, have close economic ties with China, have effective anti-viral capabilities to reduce risks, have an urgency for work resumption and have already established "green channels" for business travel with China.

Under the rules, South Korea and Singapore, which already have "green channels" with China could see more flights in and out of the country, analysts said. Other countries such as the US, Japan and some in Southeast Asia and Europe could also see more flights, chartered or otherwise, some insiders say, though some say increasing flights between China and the US could be challenging due to the deteriorating bilateral relationship.

Still, reading between the lines, it is clear that flights between China and the US will be increased, Zheng Hongfeng, CEO of information provider VariFlight, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

In interviews with the Global Times, many foreign businesses are seeking all kinds of ways to bring their employees back to China, including appealing to officials back home and in China. Some business groups are also pushing for more "green channels" with China.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) is said to be helping arrange chartered flights for US businessmen to return to China, according to a source with a US company. "The chamber probably won't directly charter flights but is coordinating between businesses applying with the government," the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

When asked about plans for chartered flights of US business executives, a public relations representative for AmCham China told the Global Times that it has no such plans for now but will arrange activities for information exchange.

The group has scheduled a seminar for Thursday to provide companies with the latest information about how to return to China. Among the guests are executives from the German Chamber of Commerce in China, which has helped German nationals return to work in China.

The German Chamber of Commerce in China has told the Global Times that it was expecting more plans for chartered flights to China, but refused to disclose more details.

The British Chamber of Commerce in China also said that it was in talks to establish fast lanes for UK businessmen to return to China. "Fast lanes are a very important area for us right now. It is something that we are in active dialogue on how to establish" St. John Moore, chairman of the British Chamber, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Apart from US and European businesses, Japanese companies have also told the Global Times that they were pushing for a "green channel" between China and Japan.

Some foreign businesses also told the Global Times that the procedures for their employees to return to China is very complicated with strict quarantine rules and complex paperwork.

In addition to chartered flights, more foreign nationals are also returning to China through normal commercial flights, though the procedures are not so straight forward as employers in China need to obtain invitation letters from local governments for their foreign employees to apply for the required special visa from Chinese embassies overseas, Edmund Yang, a Pricewaterhouse Coopers partner in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Vote of confidence

The scene of foreign businesses rushing to bring their employees back to China with such extensive efforts captured realities that some US officials have been sparing no efforts to alter: China remains one of the most important markets for many foreign companies and China is taking the lead in the recovery from the pandemic, Chinese analysts pointed out.

"The eagerness from multinationals for charter flights is driven by the reality that their economic interests are currently in China. Looking around the world, only the domestic economy is warming up rapidly. Other countries have not made that turn," Qi Qi, an independent market analyst, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Though Chinese officials continue to warn about the risks of a second wave of infections and have kept in place strict anti-viral measures, China has embarked on what some call a V-shaped economic recovery, with even the hardest-hit Chinese city Wuhan now opening to the outside world. On Monday, Wuhan was listed as a potential entry point for international flights bound for Beijing.

"So far we're seeing a V-shape economic recovery happening in China China is a very important market for European companies [in the post-virus era]. What we have seen in April and in May is a very positive trend for European companies," a spokesperson from the European Union's Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC), told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting that luxury and other retail sales of European firms in China in May exceeded that of last year

Qi said that foreign businesses rushing to get their employees back to China is also "voting with feet" towards the Chinese economy and China's efforts to bring the epidemic under control.

"[Companies] won't mix politics with economic [interests] and their choice laid bare the ugly truth of the foreign smear campaign directed against China," he said, noting that such smear campaigns and "horrible epidemic control" in the US could hamper efforts to increase flights with China.
Every day this week Houstonians have taken to the streets to protest police brutality and systemic racism in our country. On June 2, 60,000 of us witnessed the Rev. William Lawson, Houstons own civil rights-era icon, and other faith leaders stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the steps of City Hall with a new generation of young activists.

At Houston City Council, weve heard hundreds of newly engaged residents taking up the torch for criminal justice reform. They are united with advocates who have been in this fight for decades.

Yet, in the background of this momentous opportunity are remnants of the Confederacy, the very symbols Houstonians are standing up against. I fully support the planned removal on June 19 of the Confederate statues in Sam Houston Park and Hermann Park.

As we reassess policing in our communities, we must also address the deep-seated racism in our country and eradicate the root causes that have existed for far too long. If were not able to recognize our own mistakes and do what is necessary to right these wrongs, we will be no better off than we were in the Houston of the 1950s when segregation was the law and the Ku Klux Klan attacked my great-grandfather because he was Jewish, or even the Houston of 2014, when some high school mascots were still called the Rebels.

As someone who is Jewish, the issue of civil rights for all is intrinsically tied to my faith. As a white female, I continue to challenge myself, How can I be a better ally? Im compelled to draw attention to the Souths resistance to ending the Jim Crow eras stronghold, including the disgraceful glorification of the Confederacy.

Despite my upbringing, to champion and fight for the rights of others, as an undergraduate student in New Orleans, I was someones date to a popular fraternity party on campus, Kappa Alphas Old South. I regret with all my heart how oblivious I was. Girls dressed in Southern belle dresses and fraternity members donned Confederate uniforms. The real meaning symbolized by a college party, and Confederate statues across the South, was white-washed to look like some Gone With The Wind version of the true evil they stand for.

We must deal with this monstrous lie. Its important to recognize the harm and destruction resulting from the institutionalization of discrimination, and the tragic reality that for far too long the Confederacy has been glorified.

I am working with our mayor and colleagues to bring down Confederate statues, and I ask for your support. Its also time to rename Tuam Street, part of which is in District C, as we did Dowling Street. Tuam, Ireland, is the hometown of Richard Dowling  a Confederate commander  and the street was named in his honor.

The failure to address these wrongs, and not calling it out for what it is, subtly encourages some police officers to reserve the right to inflict the most egregious acts of violence on black citizens.

As the associate regional director of the Anti-Defamation League SW Region, I fought against white supremacy every single day. You are kidding yourself if you think white supremacist cells are not a real threat here in Houston and if you dont see the real legacies of slavery.

Symbols are an important part of a larger struggle to end violence against black people. It is not enough to remove Confederate monuments. We must build in their place testaments to the proud history of African American leaders. In District C, one of the jewels of American civil rights history sits quietly: Freedmens Town. I am resolved to ensure that every child growing up in our city knows that in this neighborhood, even after years of developer encroachment and wholly insufficient government protection, stands the largest intact freed slave settlement in the country. It was here many freed people settled when news of emancipation arrived via Galveston two years after President Abraham Lincolns proclamation. This special day is marked by Juneteenth, which is only days away.

We must keep fighting to rectify the vast, wretched legacy of the Confederacy. We must acknowledge our past so that we can continue to grow together. Each of us as Americans has a duty to address institutional racism in our country, in our criminal justice system, in our neighborhoods and in our schools. That starts right here at home.

Kamin is a Houston politician that represents District C on the Houston City Council.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden holds a roundtable meeting on reopening the economy with community leaders at the Enterprise Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 11, 2020.

As states reopen businesses and U.S. coronavirus cases tick higher, former Vice President Joe Biden outlined a plan Thursday to reopen the economy.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee unveiled the proposal as he started a roundtable in Philadelphia about safely lifting public health lockdowns during the pandemic. While the coronavirus outbreak would likely look much different in January if Biden won the presidency and took office then, his campaign's plan offers a contrast to President Donald Trump's reopening policies, which it said fall "woefully short."

Biden's campaign said the proposal would:

Guarantee coronavirus testing and personal protective equipment for people who go back into work

Cover medical and family leave for people who either get sick with Covid-19 or have to care for loved ones

Temporarily expand workplace safety protections and fine businesses that do not meet the standards

Create a workforce of more than 100,000 coronavirus contact tracers in conjunction with state, local and tribal officials

Require companies to make specific arrangements for workers who either face a high risk of health complications themselves or have family members who do, or let the employees receive unemployment insurance if they cannot work safely

Provide grants for small businesses to cover the costs associated with reopening and ensure companies owned by people of color do not get shut out from federal resources

Cover additional costs schools and child-care centers face as they reopen

In explaining why he wants the federal government to provide money for paid leave and reopening child-care centers, among other initiatives, Biden said the economy would be in "deeper trouble" if the U.S. does not spend more.

As states reboot their economies in phases, the White House has downplayed the immediate need for more federal action to either make the process smoother or further aid individuals who have lost jobs or struggled to cover costs during the pandemic. While Trump has previously endorsed sending another stimulus check to Americans, his administration does not expect to restart relief talks until July.
TAMPA, Fla., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Performance excellence is at the heart of the culture among the 160 employees at USF Federal Credit Union (USF FCU), which was honored this week with Florida's top award for the way it conducts business.

The Florida Governor's Sterling Award is reserved exclusively for companies that exhibit excellence in all areas of business and workplace performance. Less than 100 organizations in Florida have earned the award since the Florida Sterling Council was created by the state legislature in 1992. USF FCU is only the second credit union to ever win the award.

"We are sincerely honored to have earned this prestigious award," said USF FCU CEO and President Richard J. Skaggs. "Literally every employee at the credit union participated in dozens of process improvement projects to sharpen our performance and operate our organization efficiently and effectively to best serve our members."

The journey to excellence began more than four years ago when the board and senior management decided to work to achieve the Sterling criteria. The performance excellence projects impacted every department in the credit union. Among the improvements:

A streamlined lending process that allows members to quickly close auto and consumer loans.

Changes in the Contact Center to reduce wait times for callers and get answers to member questions without having to transfer the call.

Reduced mortgage processing times to 30 days or less.

Installation of a state-of-the-art digital banking platform.

"Credit for these accomplishments and the award goes to each and every employee who worked diligently to improve our performance and who continue to provide world-class service to our members," Skaggs said.

About the Governor's Sterling Award

Established in 1992, the Florida Sterling Council is a public/private not-for-profit corporation supported by the Executive Office of the Governor. The Council oversees the Governor's Sterling Award for Performance Excellence and administers the Georgia Oglethorpe Award. The awards are presented annually by the governor to high-performing, role-model organizations.

About USF Federal Credit Union

USF Federal Credit Union offers a full range of financial services to the faculty, staff, students, alumni association members, and families of the University of South Florida. USF FCU serves more than 60,000 members with membership available through more than 40 Select Employee Groups. Please visit: www.usffcu.com for more information.

Media Contact

Bill Steiger / 813.569.2000 / [email protected]

SOURCE USF Federal Credit Union
When I was 16 or so, the career guidance teacher called each of us up to the desk to discuss our plans for life after school.

A nun, she was unusual among the others in that she dyed her hair and had a lurid taste in lipstick. God knows, I have thought of her terrible home-dye efforts from time to time in lockdown. But what brought her back to mind in the last few weeks was watching Normal People on TV.

I liked English at school and wanted to study it at university. My plans were no more developed than that.

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My career guidance teacher leaned forward in her chair and informed me I could study English at University College Cork or University College Dublin or, she trilled, sounding out every syllable, I could pursue "Pure English", to be found "only in Trinity College Dublin".

What on earth was Pure English? The whole thing seemed alien and terrifying and the next academic year I enrolled for an arts degree at UCC, where I had a relative who could help find me a flat.

In an early episode of Normal People, Connell and Marianne talk about their plans after school, confiding their ambitions in a moment of intimacy. Connell is shy and unsure and Marianne urges him to pursue his love of English literature instead of the career-focused degree for which he has already applied.

But where? "Come to Trinity," says Marianne.

Trinity is not only Ireland's oldest and most highly-ranked university, it is also among the first universities in the world to teach English. Its curriculum included English language and literature for the India Civil Service exams from 1855. By 1858, the President of Queen's College Belfast could congratulate TCD for its speed in "having organised a department for the special instruction of young men" wishing to serve the empire.

The introduction of English to Trinity came about a generation after the establishment of first chairs of English in England - first, University College London in 1828 and then in 1835 King's College London.

Video of the Day

The University of Edinburgh can claim to be the world's oldest English department: it began to offer courses on 'rhetoric and belles lettres' nearly 250 years ago.

It was the politics of empire that got English, as a discipline, on its feet. Thomas Babington Macaulay's Minute on Education in 1835 is remembered for its clear statement on the value of training Indians up in English values, including its culture. And Gauri Viswanathan's Masks of Conquest (1989) paints a picture of English literature as a subject that developed through, with and alongside British rule in India.

One consequence of these earlier developments was that children across the empire came to internalise English sounds, sights and landscapes. Post-colonial writers such as VS Naipaul and Lorna Goodison have complained they learned William Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by heart long before they ever set eyes on the familiar English flower.

In Ireland, we knew what daffodils looked like - but still appreciated the schoolmaster Hugh's reply in Brian Friel's Translations, when Yolland asks him about Wordsworth: "I'm afraid we're not familiar with your literature, Lieutenant  We tend to overlook your island."

These days, we defend the discipline of literary study on the grounds of its ability to shape character and express humanity, but sometimes forget that these very claims were part of an imperial effort to refashion distant places in the image of England.

Yet, in cultures the world over, that were once part of the empire, English literature tells a story of change, adaptation and new growth. The rebels reading Shakespeare in the GPO are one part of that story.

It is as if Normal People wants us to reflect on Ireland's intimacy with English literature and our distance from it.

In Irish Literature in Transition 1940-1980, Margaret Kelleher has written about the ways in which the English literature syllabus of mid to late 20th-Century Ireland came to vibrant life in the generation of Irish writers who attended secondary school once fees were abolished in 1967. English literature as a school and university subject has its own, complex history in Ireland.

In my own university, UCC, the first chair of modern English was held by the anti-treaty republican William Stockley. One student, Sean O Faolain, remembered admiring his professor's "low-slung, high-powered car" but described Stockley's lectures as the product of "a mind resembling a lady's sewing basket after a kitten had been through it".

A rather more serious approach to literature was advocated by Stockley's successor, Daniel Corkery, Professor of Modern English from 1931 to 1947. Corkery disapproved of the hybrid tradition of Irish writing in English and sought a return to the verities of the Gaelic tradition.

As an academic, however, Corkery encouraged student interest in Anglo-Irish literature and introduced some modern authors to the curriculum.

In Sally Rooney's novel, Connell finds himself in a "state of strange emotional agitation" brought on by reaching a crucial plot turn in Jane Austen's Emma, just as the library closes for the night. Will Mr Knightley marry Harriet rather than the heroine, he wonders, and is it "intellectually unserious to concern himself with fictional people marrying one another?"

"But there it is, literature moves him."

To be moved is to be left on uncertain ground. It is as if Normal People wants us to reflect on Ireland's intimacy with English literature and our distance from it. Rooney's remarkable ability to make Connell and Marianne seem like normal people derives at least in part from her reading of Jane Austen, Henry James and DH Lawrence.

In Ireland, we have made and continue to make English our own - not only in Trinity but in the other excellent departments of literature on the island and in the wider community of authors, readers, buyers and booksellers that make the country one of the best places in the world to be an admirer of literature.

There will be many among the Leaving Cert class of 2020 who love reading - and some, like Connell, who would like to study English at university but worry about jobs and their future careers.

They can at least know that their uncertainties about English have a richly veined history, that literature's capacity to move us is a matter of gaps and silences as well as palpable realities - and that there is no such thing as Pure English.

Claire Connolly is Professor of Modern English in UCC and is co-general editor of Irish Literature in Transition, 1700-2020 (Cambridge UP)
[June 11, 2020] Saint Francis University Selects Collegis Education to Provide Managed Technology and Marketing Services

Collegis Education, a higher education managed services provider, today announced Saint Francis University has selected Collegis Education to provide IT managed services and strategic marketing solutions to drive growth and innovation for the University. Saint Francis, which is the first Franciscan college founded in the United States, chose to partner with Collegis to bring together a powerful combination of marketing and technology services that will transform operations and drive greater efficiencies by embedding technology throughout the student experience. Collegis will provide a suite of technology services that augment and supplement the existing IT team at Saint Francis, while unifying disparate technology vendors under a single, collaborative partner. In April, Collegis began implementing strategic marketing services to maximize student engagement and enrollment growth. Collegis and Saint Francis expanded on their multi-year partnership to include technology services on June 1. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Saint Francis University as they look to grow and adapt to the changing higher education market," said Jamie Cowie, chief executive officer at Collegis Education. "Saint Francis sincerely values the role technology plays in today's educational experience and has been focused on not just maintaining the status quo, but truly innovating and evolving their operational practices. Universities who embrace technology-embedded solutions will thrive in this new world, and Collegis will provide focused, transformative solutions that positions the University for success well into the future." The integrated combination of marketing and technology will create unique synergies that allow Saint Francis to transform its operations and develop personalized experiences that drive meaningful growth. Collegis will provide the following services to Saint Francis over the multi-year partneship:



Technology leadership and oversight

Management of core technology stack

SIS and LMS administration and management

Onsite campus technology support

24/7 virtual helpdesk support

Information security management

Data integration and analytics management With oversight and strategic direction from a Collegis CIO, Saint Francis will begin a long-term initiative to transition to a next-generation platform that integrates data across multiple systems to create greater efficiencies and improve overall technology experience. Marketing services include: Integrated data and analytics reporting

Media optimization

Website performance and conversion optimization

Enrollment process mapping "Saint Francis has made significant strides in the area of strategic institutional development. We were searching for a partner that would support our growth and propel the University towards new innovative capabilities in the areas of technology and strategic marketing. We quickly realized that Collegis shares the same fundamental belief in the transformative power of education. The culture and expertise at Collegis is consistent with our philosophy of a values-based education grounded in Catholic, Franciscan ideals," said Fr. Malachi Van Tassell, president of Saint Francis University. "We recognize that technology is a vital part of everything we do. The Collegis partnership will allow us to harness evolving technology for growth while complementing our highly personalized approach to student engagement."

To learn more about Collegis Education, visit CollegisEducation.com or follow Collegis on Twitter (News - Alert): @CollegisEdu. ABOUT COLLEGIS EDUCATION Collegis Education provides technology-embedded managed services that accelerate the transition to the university of tomorrow. Our specific skills allow universities to deploy technology throughout their business processes to digitally transform friction points within the student experience and compete effectively. With more than two decades of experience in higher education, our solutions combine the power of integrated, data-driven technology with strategic higher ed services to build long-term growth plans for colleges and universities looking to thrive in a complex market. For more information about Collegis Education, please visit CollegisEducation.com. ABOUT SAINT FRANCIS UNIVERSITY Saint Francis University (www.francis.edu) in Loretto, PA is the oldest Catholic-Franciscan college in the United States. Its mission is to help students grow into compassionate, successful professionals through a culture of generosity, respect, discovery and joy. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005710/en/

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Almost half the empty properties in some upmarket parts of Australia are now available for rent at heavily discounted rates.

Landlords in Sydney were particularly desperate to find tenants as the COVID-19 lockdowns caused widespread unemployment and pay cuts, significantly reducing renters' budgets.

Investors had been forced to slice asking prices in suburbs like Woollahra in Sydney's wealthy east, where 46.3 per cent of properties were advertised with discounted rent in May - more than double February's 18.5 per cent - real estate sales website Domain has revealed.

At Woollahra in Sydney's wealthy eastern suburbs, 46.3 per cent of properties were being advertised offering discount rent in May, more than double February's 18.5 per cent, real estate sales website Domain has revealed.

At nearby Bondi Junction, 44.8 per cent of investment properties were available for a reduced price - more than twice the 21.2 per cent level three months earlier before the lockdown.

The suburbs where cut-price rent is available 1. Woollahra, Sydney east: 46.3 per cent 2. Bondi Junction, Sydney east: 44.8 per cent 3. Mascot, Sydney south: 43.7 per cent 4. Haymarket, Sydney CBD: 43.5 per cent 5. Lilyfield, Sydney inner west: 43.5 per cent 6. Forest Lodge, Sydney inner west: 43.2 per cent 7. Surry Hills, Sydney east: 41.6 per cent 8. Melbourne CBD: 41.2 per cent 9. Millers Point, Sydney lower north shore: 41.1 per cent 10. Randwick, Sydney south-east: 41.1 per cent Source: Domain data on the proportion of advertised rental properties being offered at a discount in May 2020 Advertisement

A dramatic decline in international tourists also made Bondi Beach more affordable, with 36.4 per cent of rental homes available at a reduced price, compared with just 14.3 per cent in February before the World Health Organisation declared a COVID-19 pandemic.

Sydney was home to nine of the top ten areas of Australia for discounted rent, with landlords also struggling to find tenants in the inner-west, the south-east and the lower north shore.

Melbourne's central business district made the list, with 41.2 per cent of rental properties advertised at a discounted rate.

Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said it was a renters' market near the city.

'The power is certainly with tenants,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'There are areas where the tenant power is stronger - during this period, it allows renters to negotiate.'

Dr Powell said the economic recession, sparked by COVID-19 lockdown, had encouraged students to continue living with their parents or even move back home as part-time work in the hospitality industry dried up.

'Those areas where traditionally is a student population, it will be impacted,' she said.

'During this period, everyone has shifted to online learning - even the domestic students that perhaps would have leased property won't be doing that.

'They'll prefer to stay at the family residence.'

Border closures were also affecting inner-city rental markets as foreign students were unable to re-enter the country, while some outer suburban areas remained relatively unscathed.

'The thing that could impact the inner Melbourne and city area of Sydney is the drop-off in overseas migration and tourism,' Dr Powell said.

'That will still be at play.'

Melbourne's central business district just made the list, with 41.2 per cent of rental properties advertised at a discounted rate

Outside of Australia's two biggest cities, almost a third or 32.7 per cent of rental properties at Milton, in Brisbane's inner west, were available for discounted rent

Reduced rents were not restricted to Sydney and Melbourne.

At Milton in Brisbane's inner west 32.7 per cent of rental properties were available at a discounted rate.

Areas with the highest proportion of discount rent 1. Sydney city and east: 36.7 per cent 2. Hobart south and west: 33.9 per cent 3. Melbourne inner: 33.2 per cent 4. Sydney lower north shore: 32.6 per cent 5. Sydney inner west: 30.5 per cent 6. Sydney north west: 27.9 per cent 7. Sydney upper north shore: 27.3 per cent 8. Sydney south: 25.7 per cent 9. Melbourne inner south: 24.8 per cent 10. Hobart inner: 24.5 per cent Domain data for May 2020 on the proportion of rental properties advertised at a discount Advertisement

East Victoria Park, in Perth's gentrified inner south-east, had 30.6 per cent of homes being offered for lease for less.

North Adelaide had a similar proportion of cut-price leases at 27.9 per cent.

Hobart's south and west were second only to inner Sydney in terms of percentage of discounted properties, with 33.9 per cent of rentals in that category.

The May rate had almost tripled since February.

Inner-city areas weren't the only places offering cheaper-than-usual rent.

At Sydney's upper north shore, taking in wealthy suburbs north of Roseville, 27.3 per cent of rental properties were available at a cheaper price.

The outer north-west, taking in Dural and Baulkham Hills, had 27.9 per cent of rental homes being offloaded at a discount.

The Northern Beaches were also more affordable to lease, with 34.5 per cent of Dee Why properties listed with a lower asking price.

Sydney had the dubious honour of claiming six of the top ten spots by region.

Melbourne claimed two positions, as did Hobart.

In North Adelaide, 27.9 per cent of rental properties are being advertised at a lower price

Many of the worst-affected rental markets were in areas with a high proportion of services-sector workers who were collecting $1,500 a fortnight under the temporary JobKeeper wage subsidy.

That $70billion stimulus program was due to end in September, the same month the banks were to end the six-month holiday on mortgage repayments, and that was when the rental market was expected to reach its nadir.

'At that point, it depends on how quickly and robustly the economy bounces back,' Dr Powell.

'Once that mortgage holiday stops and JobKeeper payments stop, that could be a weak point.'

This could see tenants continue to enjoy heavily discounted rent for many months to come.
The NSW governments handling of Sydney's controversial light rail line has been savaged by the Auditor-General, who has highlighted failures in reporting the true cost of the project that has now hit $3.1 billion.

The report, which was released on Thursday, warned that several financial estimates underpinning the governments entire business case for the project, which was originally costed at $1.6 billion, would not be realised.

The NSW Auditor-General has criticised the government's handling of the CBD Light Rail. Credit:Louise Kennerley

It also found Transport for NSW failed to regularly provide financial reports to a project control group set up to specifically monitor the cost compared to funding allocation.

The project has been highly embarrassing for the Berejiklian government due to cost blowouts, lengthy delays to construction, legal battles and prolonged disruption to businesses and residents along the route from the CBD to Sydney's south-east.
E-Planner helps decision-making over which agri-environment options to introduce and where they are likely to work best

A free web-based support tool will enable farmers to deliver environmental improvements and potentially attract payments for providing 'public money for public goods' under the new agri-environment scheme.

The new Environmental Planner tool (E-Planner) has been produced by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) to help farmers make decisions on which agri-environment options to introduce and where these are likely to work best. It uses detailed environmental data at a resolution of just five metres on all two million-plus fields across Great Britain.

The tool analyses satellite and aerial imagery plus other national-scale datasets to assess the suitability of unproductive or hard-to-farm areas of land for four agri-environment interventions. These are: planting flower-rich pollinator habitats; creating woodland; protecting water resources from pollution; and, sowing winter bird food - categories that are expected to be eligible for farming subsidies under the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme.

The analysis is based on a range of factors including soils, nearby habitats, slope and shading.

The ELM scheme will replace the farming subsidy system of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in England, worth around 2bn to English farmers every year.

Farmers will be expected to deliver an increasing range of environmental benefits as well as producing food under the new subsidy schemes. Next year, ahead of ELM's rollout in 2024 Defra will be starting pilot projects, some of which UKCEH will be involved in.

John Redhead, senior Spatial Ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), who led the development of the E-Planner tool, says: "Bringing together environmental information from digital data, how-to guides and farmers' own local knowledge can be challenging and time consuming, so the tool will help users to make informed decisions quickly and easily.

"It will assist farmers and land managers in transforming unproductive, loss-making parts of their farm into environmentally friendly uses that may attract a public subsidy."

UKCEH has more than 20 years' experience in designing and monitoring agri-environment schemes, and already works extensively with Defra as well as farms and farming organisations across the country. It is now working with the farming industry to validate and further develop the E-Planner.

The tool will assist farmers and land managers in transforming unproductive, loss-making parts of their farm into environmentally friendly uses that may attract a public subsidy - John Redhead

The tool has been created by UKCEH as part of ASSIST, a six-year 12m National Capability research programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Professor Richard Pywell, Head of Biodiversity at UKCEH, who leads the ASSIST programme, explains: "Our free E-Planner tool is another important part of the toolkit for farmers and land managers, helping them achieve the ambitions of the new Agriculture Bill and 25 Year Environment Plan, to maintain and enhance the natural world.

"More environmentally sustainable farming methods, such as measures to support insect pollinators, reduce soil erosion and planting trees not only improve agricultural productivity, but also benefit wildlife and society too."

###

To use the free Environmental Planner tool, visit https://assist-e-planner.ceh.ac.uk/

NOTES TO EDITORS

About the E-Planner tool

Different areas of land, at a resolution of five metres, are assessed for the four possible environmental management options. Suitability is then shown through colour shading, ranging from red being very suitable to dark blue, unsuitable.

Flower-rich pollinator habitats - sowing of pollen- and nectar-producing flowers to support populations of insect pollinators

Woodland creation - supporting national tree planting initiatives, mitigating flooding and erosion, carbon storage and capture, supporting woodland biodiversity

Water resource protection - preventing pollution run-off into nearby water courses by sowing grass buffer strips or planting cover crops

Sown winter bird food - sowing seed-bearing crops to provide winter food for declining seed-eating farmland birds

Although the ELM scheme is still being developed, these four areas have been eligible for subsidies in previous UK Government environment schemes and are identified in the Agriculture Bill and 25 Year Environment Plan.

Follow our tweets with #ASSIST_EPlanner

About the ASSIST (Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems) programme

The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is working in partnership with Rothamsted Research and the British Geological Survey on ASSIST, which runs from 2016-2022. With support from the farming industry, it will provide new knowledge, data, tools and an infrastructure of study farms to meet the challenge of feeding growing populations without causing unacceptable environmental damage. This 12m National Capability programme is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). https://assist.ceh.ac.uk/

About the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)

The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is a centre for excellence in environmental science across water, land and air. Our 500 scientists work to understand the environment, how it sustains life and the human impact on it - so that together, people and nature can prosper.

We have a long history of investigating, monitoring and modelling environmental change, and our science makes a positive difference in the world. The issues our science addresses include: air pollution, biodiversity, biosecurity, chemical risks, extreme weather events, droughts, floods, greenhouse gas emissions, land use, soil health, sustainable agriculture, sustainable ecosystems, sustainable macronutrient use, and water resources management.

1The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is a strategic delivery partner for the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation. http://www.ceh.ac.uk / @UK_CEH

For media enquiries

For interviews and further information, please contact Simon Williams, Media Relations Officer at UKCEH, via simwil@ceh.ac.uk or +44 (0)7920 295384.
When U.S. President Donald Trump proposed Bringing Russia back as a member of the G7, some of Americas most important allies, including the leaders of the United Kingdom and Canada, immediately opposed the idea. In Washington, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress have dug in over the past two years, demanding that the United States hold Putin accountable and vigorously opposing Trumps effort to re-open the G7's door to Moscow.

The timing of the presidents latest push to return Russia to the G7 is unsettling. At a moment when the United States is dealing with multiple crises, this is not a move toward greater national security for the United States and our allies and partners globally. Instead it is a move to give an adversary, Russian President Vladimir Putin, a platform to advance his agenda at the expense of our core interests, values, and future.

Trumps G7 overture came on the same day that Putin announced Russians will soon vote on so-called constitutional amendments to cement his dictatorial powers until 2036. Meanwhile, we cant ignore another glaring irony: the White House pushing to hold China accountable for violating human rights in Hong Kong, and for mass detention of Muslim ethnic minorities, all while Trump ignores Putins savagery and egregious human rights record.

Similar to officials in the United Kingdom and Canada, U.S. and other G7 officials should push back much harder against Trump on Russias G7 membership. For one, members should boycott the upcoming G7 Summit if Putin is invited. They should also be blunt with Trump that the next G7 meeting needs to take place after the U.S. presidential election in November.

While G7 leaders need to navigate the delicate and unrewarding diplomacy of working with the U.S. president, they should not allow themselves to be used at any such summit as props for Trump and the White House. We witnessed a new level of Trumps insidious propaganda machine this month with his dangerous attack on peaceful American protesters and his staged photo opportunity in front of a church -- which is now being used by the White House in advertisements. Moving the G7 meeting until after the U.S. election in November would ensure that the summit is about substance and not politics -- particularly given the current crisis. Staying away also prevents a chaotic situation similar to what we saw at the summit in 2018 when Trump upended the meeting and at the last minute withdrew the United States from a joint G7 statement.

The G7 has critical work to do to address the pressing threat of the coronavirus pandemic, the global economic crisis, and attacks on democracy around the world. Its simply too important to be used as just another political prop for Putin as he seeks to retain power; or similarly, for Trump in his re-election bid.

Very little in Russias global behavior has changed since 2014, when Putin was kicked out of what was then the G8 following his illegal annexation of Crimea. Russias aggression in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, and elsewhere has grown more brazen and deadly. This record includes war crimes, coup attempts, human rights abuses, and ordering successful and unsuccessful assassinations. Russias efforts to interfere in elections and spread disinformation have also metastasized, including spreading dangerous coronavirus disinformation. There are also credible reports that the Kremlin and its proxies are already interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

No American president should be rolling out the red carpet for Putin. Rather than rewarding bad behavior, the White House and the U.S. Congress should instead use every tool at their disposal -- including sanctions -- to hold the Kremlin accountable for its actions. If Trump is unwilling to act, Congress needs to step in again to hold the Kremlin accountable by preventing Putins participation at the G7. It can also demand greater White House transparency regarding the unprecedented recent communication between the two presidents.

No G7 leader should make friendly overtures to Putin, even if Trump appears to be doing just that. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel should stand with the UKs Boris Johnson and Canadas Justin Trudeau in opposing Putins participation at the next G7 summit and Russias readmission to the group. Despite the need for greater global cooperation to address the coronavirus and its fallout, Russia is not a constructive partner. The Kremlin has shown zero willingness to stop its aggression globally, and it is wishful thinking to believe that Putin is a constructive partner as he cements his ironclad and unending rule over the Russian people.

Putin is one of the most serious challenges facing the G7 and the future of liberal democracy. The upcoming summit should be about dealing with Russia, China, and other growing global challenges, including the far-reaching health, economic, and social upheaval caused by the coronavirus. On the latter topic Putin has failed miserably to address the pandemic and its impact in Russia. It is foolish to believe that meaningful G7 decisions can be made with Putin at the table and Trump fighting for his political life.

G7 leaders should do the right thing and refuse Russias participation or serving as propaganda for President Trump. To stay focused on strengthening democracy and dealing with the long-term impacts of the pandemic they must demand policy action and not play political games. The G7 leaders have a real opportunity to do this. But right now, the next summit as envisioned by President Trump in September is already poisoned. Canada, German, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom need to course correct and say no to Putin and Trump.

Jonathan Katz is a senior fellow and directs the Frontlines of Democracy Initiative with The German Marshall Fund of the United States. The views expressed are the author's own.
Research News

UB spinoff OptiMed Technology awarded grant to advance medicinal toothpaste

By MARCENE ROBINSON

Compliance is a major issue with preventive treatments. It is more about lifestyle and economics than the scientific evidences alone. 

The School of Dental Medicine and university spinoff OptiMed Technology have been awarded a $50,000 manufacturing grant from the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund to accelerate development of their products to the marketplace.

OptiMed Technology utilizes nanotechnology to develop toothpaste and 3D-printed denture materials that treat irreversible gum overgrowth and fungal infections, conditions that affect millions of people each year.

The technology is based on research from the lab of Praveen Arany, assistant professor of oral biology in the School of Dental Medicine, who recently developed polymer microcapsules that release medication in a controlled manner.

The Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund, administered by FuzeHub, annually provides $1 million to help small- to medium-size New York State manufacturing and technology companies enhance the research, development and commercialization of their products and services.

The grant will support production of OptiMed Technologys first product, digoDent, a supplement toothpaste that can both prevent and treat development of drug-induced gingival overgrowth.

Gingival overgrowth is a side effect of several commonly prescribed drugs, including immunosuppressants, and anti-seizure and high blood pressure medications. The condition, which affects more than 1 million people each year, results in irreversible scar tissue in the gums that causes them to cover the teeth, interfering with chewing, speaking and oral hygiene.

Current treatment for gingival overgrowth is limited to surgery to remove scar tissue. However, these procedures are expensive  costing $500 to $1,500  and temporary, as recurrence rates are as high as 40%, says Arany.

By delivering the drug within toothpaste, patients can begin the therapy without altering their daily routines, Arany explains. Compliance is a major issue with preventive treatments. It is more about lifestyle and economics than the scientific evidences alone, he says.

The novel treatment was identified by Saeed Ur Rahman, lead scientist in the Arany lab. Using several lab models, Rahman investigated the use of an innovative toothpaste formulation to effectively prevent and treat gum disease.

The importance of oral health in ones overall health is not appreciated enough, says Rahman. Caring for your mouth, teeth and gums will increase the chances that your body remains strong and vital throughout your life.

OptiMed Technology is also working with the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Center for Dental Studies within the dental school to develop and test digoDent for launch in 2020.

The company, which operates with a team of 10 scientists, engineers and advisers out of Foster Hall on the South Campus, recently received a $25,000 grant from the UB Center for Advanced Technology in Big Data and Health Sciences (UB CAT), part of the universitys Office of Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships.
Protest as a force for progress, June 7

The article by Jamie Watt talks about peaceful protest being a powerful tool. He may be correct.

But, please, can someone explain to me, a senior in remission from cancer, immunocompromised, and strictly adhering to stay at home and social distancing rules, how the thousands of people protesting and marching shoulder to shoulder is not a terrible idea during a pandemic?

And no one, not one single reporter, ever comments on this utter disrespect for the (health guidelines).

It is ludicrous; the five-person maximum rule is still in effect.

So, if my family comes and visits me in my backyard and socially distances, we are 10 people and can receive an $880 fine.

Perhaps, then, if that should happen, we should all take a knee, raise our hands and yell we are peacefully protesting.

We cant get a haircut, eat at a restaurant.

But we can march shoulder to shoulder with thousands of strangers.

Peaceful protests are also a powerful tool to spread this virus  Ontario is already so far behind other provinces in pandemic control  and this double standard must end.

Why is there not an editorial on this rather pertinent issue? Fear of being deemed a racist?

I dont care what the subject of the protest is if it is potentially putting our health system and thousands of lives at stake.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 16:28 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddf0393 4 National Maruf-Amin,Pesantren,COVID-19,coronavirus,financial-aid,virus-corona,virus-korona-indonesia,new-normal,new-normal-in-Indonesia Free

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has instructed his subordinates to draw up a list of pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) to receive financial assistance from the government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The financial support, Ma'ruf said, would help the boarding schools operate during the health and economic crisis.

"The amount of financial support [for each pesantren] will depend on the governments financial ability. Hopefully, it will be enough to support them to operate during the pandemic, the Vice President, who is a prominent Muslim cleric in the country, said during a virtual meeting with several ministers on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Read also: Nine foreign students at East Java boarding school test positive for COVID-19

Maruf went on to say that not all pesantren in the country would need such assistance.

In the meeting, he also ordered the administrations to provide boarding schools with COVID-19 test kits, better sanitation and clean water as well as to instruct students on health and hygiene, including physical distancing and handwashing, to prepare them for the so-called new normal phase.

"If we can provide them with the aforementioned necessities, it would be better for all," said Ma'ruf. (vny)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11

Trend:

The support for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity was noted in a recent joint statement from the European Parliament, Trend reports citing the statement.

The statement was made by the Marina Kaljurand (Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee), rapporteur on the European Parliament (EP) on Azerbaijan Zhelena Zovko, rapporteur on Armenia Traian Basescu.

This is the first ever joint document, adopted by the EP officials on illegal activities in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

This statement was adopted in connection with the future construction of a road that will directly connect Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijani region currently under occupation by Armenia), as part of the project that was announced in 2019.

According to the statement, the decision on building this road was made without the consent of the competent authorities of Azerbaijan, which is a violation of international law.

... this can symbolically consolidate the illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and its surrounding territories. Therefore, we consider this initiative reprehensible, because it does not contribute to the creation of conditions conducive to trust, peace and reconciliation, the statement said.

The applicants reaffirm their continued support for the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and their 2009 Basic Principles.

In order for this mediation to have a chance of success, we urge the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan to conscientiously take their obligations in negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the conflict within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, the statement said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Edna Rowena Bolt Barnes was called home to be with the Lord at the age of 93 on June 8, 2020. She was born March 6, 1927 in Jarboesville, Maryland to George Henry "Temp" Toney and Elizabeth J. Garner, who both preceded her in death. She grew up in St. Mary's County where she had the love of a large community of family and friends. Edna would later marry Joseph Bolt, of Park Hall, Maryland. She had four children who preceded her in death, Edna, James (Jimmy), Joseph (Elwood), and William and four surviving daughters, Beverly, Betty, Yvonne, and Stephanie. Edna remained happily married to Joe until his death.



Edna was a saved, sanctified, praying woman, and she loved the Lord. She was a member and Mother of Park Hall True Holiness Church for over fifty years. She loved her church family! Her service was as long as her membership. She was one of God's servants. A Foster Parent, Day Care Provider, Senior Choir member, Missionary, Helping Hands, Willing Workers, and Deaconess. Edna was employed with the Office on Aging for many years. She will be missed.



Edna was very sociable and enjoyed her time at the Chancellor's Run Senior Center. That is where she met and married Jerome Barnes, who preceded her in death. They enjoyed a lovely life together until Jerome's passing. Anyone who knew Edna understood the best gift of all was a new hat. Oh how she loved her hats! Edna was a little height challenged, so when she sat down most of the time her feet would not reach the floor. When she thought there was a hat for her, her feet would swing as she sat in anticipation. Edna loved chicken and seafood. Her daughters were always making runs to pick up those favorite foods for her enjoyment.



Edna has 10 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by 1 grandchild. She loved to talk about them all.



Edna was also preceded in death by her three sisters, Elizabeth Chase, Lillian Mason, and Hilda Jenkins. She leaves to mourn her daughters Beverly Bolt-King (Eric), Betty Nelson (James), Yvonne Bowman, Stephanie Young, her sister Helen Smith (Joe), and a host of grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, family and friends.



Family will receive friends on Saturday, June 13, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m, with a private Funeral Service celebrated by Bishop Phillip Spence at 11:00 a.m., at Park Hall True Holiness Church, 47690 Park Hall Rd., Park Hall, MD. Interment will follow in the cemetery and all are welcome.



Memorial Contributions can be made to Park Hall True Holiness Church, 47690 Park Hall Rd., Park Hall, MD 20667.



Condolences to the family may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.
Teachers across the country are engaging with their students about issues of race and justice in the wake of the death of George Floyd. (Photo illustration by Nathalie Cruz, Yahoo Life)

Teachers across the country are having emotional, candid and sometimes imperfect conversations with their students about the death of George Floyd, racial inequity, police brutality and protests.

In Seattle, the first thing teacher Evin Shinn did when he heard about Floyds death was send a text out to all of his students.

I said, Hey, all, I just wanted to acknowledge the trash that is happening in our nation with regards to black lives. If we were in class, wed debrief it and talk about it. Its hard, real hard sometimes. If you want to chat, feel free to hit me up.

Evin Shinn, an 11th-grade U.S. history and language arts teacher at Cleveland High School in Seattle, sent this text to his students after the death of George Floyd. (Photo Illustration: Nathalie Cruz, Yahoo Life)

In Chicago, Gregory Michie, a middle school social studies, language arts and media studies teacher at Seward Elementary, presented a series of slides to his students after Floyds death, reading the names and showing the faces of black lives taken at the hands of police brutality to help his students understand the anger behind the protests happening in their neighborhoods. We also use the Martin Luther King Jr. quote about a riot is the language of the unheard and had them think about what that means. So I think those things are helpful in putting it into a larger context.

In New York City, Carlos Romero, principal at PS 126 Manhattan School of Technology, which teaches pre-K through eighth grade, says teachers, psychologists and counselors hold daily Zoom meetings with students to talk about the issues around Floyds death and to provide resources on how to take action against racial injustice. They also encourage the older kids to write their thoughts about the death of George Floyd in a blog. One student, Jared, wrote: The media doesnt seem to pay attention to protesters when it is done peacefully. They are now paying attention because their property is being damaged. It may be chaotic, but it is the only way for them to have change. At least thats how protesters see it.

We talked a little bit about truly listening to the message and listening to the different perspectives, says Romero. And for them to be able to come up with their own perspective based on what theyre hearing.

Story continues

How do you create a welcoming and safe environment? How do you deal with the anxiety that kids have? How do we make sure we meet their needs? How do we create more equity? says Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which represents 1.7 million teachers across the county. The dilemma is, this is not the first time we have focused on these issues, but it may be a tipping point in America that enables real change.

A protester in Times Square in Manhattan. (Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images)

The AFT, along with the National Education Association (NEA), issued a joint letter earlier this week supporting students across the country who are protesting police brutality and the death of George Floyd.

How many times has a kid died at the hands of either a racist or police officers who are racist? says Weingarten.

For Shinn, an 11th-grade U.S. history and language arts teacher at Cleveland High School in Seattle  a school with predominantly students of color this was the first of a series of texts, letters and virtual meetups to engage his students about these issues.

As a black educator, to quote [the movie] Network, Im mad as hell and Im not going to take it anymore, he says. Theres so much rage. And so often in my classroom, I feel the need to temper that. I dont want students to see that part of me, because I also want them to see that there are other ways to be angry.

Shinn followed up with individual texts to his black students acknowledging that its a scary time, followed by a letter to all of the students and parents in his school.

A sample of teacher Evin Shinns text exchanges with his black students in the wake of the death of George Floyd. (Photo Illustration: Nathalie Cruz, Yahoo Life)

As a teacher, we dont really know what to say. You dont want to say everythings going to be OK, because its not, right? We want to be honest and we want to be truthful to them about whats actually happening.

In his letter to students and parents, Shinn addressed the pain and rage he was feeling and acknowledged that a revolution is taking place. Im telling students to look around and embrace whats happening in the world right now. We are living in history.

Shinn says his school is known in Seattle as being a leader in social justice education and points to the citys racial equity team in some schools, which works with teachers to drive the conversation about race. Shinn says the team helps teachers answer critical questions: How are we going to teach teachers how to talk about race? How are we going to ensure that black and brown students are not being left behind?

School districts and teachers are grappling with those questions about race across America.

District leaders from across the country have expressed remorse over the death of George Floyd, including superintendents from Broward County, Fla., and Milwaukee. Some have even condemned police brutality, including superintendents in Los Angeles and St. Paul, Minn.

But many districts dont have clear plans about how to address and discuss race in their classrooms. Students are demanding action. Some are circulating petitions asking for anti-racist curriculum be added in schools.

In response to Floyds death, Chicago Public Schools sent an 11-page document to teachers called Say Their Names that included guidance for talking with students about racism, police brutality and activism.

Michie, who teaches in a Chicago public school with mostly Latinx students, applauds the effort but believes much more needs to be done. I think its great that they did it, but I think we need a whole lot more, he says. I know there hasnt been time yet, but I just felt that in Chicago Public Schools  and all school districts  this has got to be a sustained and deep commitment.

Michie, who is white, says white teachers also need to step up during this time and not place the burden for curriculum around race and racism on black and brown teachers.

Ive sensed ... a hesitancy on the part of white teachers about addressing these issues, he says. For things to really change, white teachers have to also see it as central and drop the defensiveness and realize we have a lot to learn. I mean, if 90 percent of the students are black and brown, how can we not make issues of race and racism and racial justice central?

White teachers, the curriculum is George Floyd and anti-racism. It's not the job of Black teachers to carry this weight. It is on us--this week & always. If we are not actively teaching against racism, if that is not a central thread in our curriculum, we are part of the problem.  Gregory Michie (@GregoryMichie) May 31, 2020

Eighty percent of public school teachers across the country are white, according to 2015-2016 data from the National Center for Education Statistics, a number that has only reduced 3 percent in more than a decade.

In general, we need to stop centering on whiteness ... and privileges of white people in education, says Joe Truss, principal for the Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco, which serves about 400 students in sixth through eighth grades, many of whom he says are black, brown and immigrant. Which also means moving the folks who have been marginalized and oppressed to the center of everything: the center of the curriculum, hearing their stories, the center of the pedagogy, learning and teaching how folks of color learn ... and having relationships that actually center kids of color.

He says the current call to action for teachers to talk to students about race is important, but its an integral part of the curriculum at his middle school.

White people: We need white folks to use their white privilege and oftentimes their money to occupy all lanes of antiracist work. Dont choose. White folk, have multiple cars. Caravavan towards racial justice. https://t.co/NFGXAPUA3Y  Joe Truss - Culturally Responsive Leadership (@trussleadership) June 6, 2020

I dont think we necessarily think about the perpetual experience of being discriminated against or being bombarded with images or messages that, if you are a black person, you are less than a white person, he says. Thats a perpetual, ongoing routine trauma that people of color  black people  experience.

As a result, Truss says, his teachers take a trauma-sensitive approach with their students because of the difficult experiences they are having in their neighborhoods and communities, including the death of George Floyd.

When you see someone taking someones life in broad daylight, and no one is doing anything about it ... youre being told your place in society, he says. So the best thing we can do as teachers ... is youve got to build the kid up. If they have some sort of understanding of what that is so that they can hold both things to be true: this is the way it is, but this isnt the way it has to be. And you could do something about it and you should, as soon as you can and any way you can.

A letter written by Evin Shinn to his 11th-grade students, who are primarily black. (Photo illustration: Nathalie Cruz, Yahoo Life)

And while ethnic studies, social-emotional learning and culturally responsive teaching arent new to his school, he understands why so many teachers across the country are now looking for more information on how to talk to their students about race.

Truss, who is also a consultant, says his latest virtual course for teachers, Dismantling White Supremacy Culture in Schools, has seen a dramatic increase in interest, with more than 700 people signing up. I have done them in the past, and there was nowhere near the response that its getting right now, he says.

He has also compiled a list of books around anti-racism to help teachers learn.

Its lifes work. Its not about a moment. Its not about doing the right thing, right now. Its not about a 50-minute racial sensitivity course now that someones been killed again. Its about asking the question of why its happening and what conditions would have to be present for it not to happen, he says.

Its your responsibility as a teacher to learn about [black] culture, to learn about the history so that you can fairly reflect that to the boys and girls, says Waynel Sexton, a retired elementary school teacher and consultant in Houston who was also George Floyds second-grade teacher. We cant just continue to present white history as United States history, we have to include everyone.

When Sexton began teaching in 1970 at Frederick Douglass Elementary School, a black school, Houstons school system was not yet desegregated.

The integration system at that time was based on what was called the Singleton ratio, where teachers were integrated according to certain percentages in certain schools. And so sadly, a lot of brand-new white teachers went to many inner-city schools and experienced black teachers were sent out to white schools, she says.

Sexton describes an environment where black and white teachers had intense conversations to bridge divides and form alliances. And, she says, it was a time when she had many conversations about race with her own students.

I can remember talking with my boys and girls about Jim Crow, she says. And, because Im Caucasian, I wanted them to know that we could talk about that together. And I think that sets a pattern for future conversations.

While she only had Floyd as a student for one year in the second grade, she kept a paper he wrote in her class about famous Americans and his desire to be a Supreme Court judge working in the field of justice.

Hes certainly famous and hes certainly advancing the cause of justice, not in the way that we would have wanted it to happen, not in a way that we could have ever imagined that it would happen, she says.

Waynel Sexton, a retired elementary school teacher and consultant in Houston, was also George Floyds second-grade teacher, who was then called Perry. She kept a paper he wrote in her class about famous Americans and his desire to be a Supreme Court judge working in the field of justice. (Courtesy of Waynel Sexton)

Michie says he believes a key element to helping students understand and process racial inequality is to teach about the history of racism in conjunction with inequality happening today. If we tag back and forth between whats happened in history and whats going on now, and specifically ask students to make connections, I think that not only the history becomes more alive to them, but they see how the inequities and injustices today are connected to things that happened in generations past in important ways.

Shinn says part of the education happening in his classroom now involves talking not just about the protests but about the policies that need to change as well. He says he recently showed students how to find their city councilperson and write a letter. I literally just shared my screen with them and ... I typed up a very quick email to my city councilperson about how I felt about whats going on with the Seattle Police Department. And I just hit send, he says. I think that right now students want to feel agency. They want to feel like they have the chance. And we should equip them as teachers, for them to feel that agency to make them feel like they are doing something different.

Shinn says he believes the more agency he can teach his students, the better chance they have to change the world and the landscape of politics in America.

They are going to be the reason that Congress changes. They are going to be the reason that were going to see a new City Council taking harder stances on things, he says. Students are fed up. Students have had it. Theyre done. Theyre sick of living in a world thats trash. They want something better, and they deserve something better. And thats what theyre going to get.

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UPDATE: Syracuse police have called a 5 p.m. news conference to discuss the shooting of a man, who they say was armed with gun.

Syracuse, N.Y.  A man with a gun was shot by a Syracuse police officer early Thursday on the South Side, police said.

The shooting happened around 5:15 a.m. on Mark Avenue. Officers were responding to a report of gunfire in the area.

The citys ShotSpotter detected 16 gunshots fired on Mark Avenue at 5:12 a.m., according to police scanner reports.

The first officer to arrive on Mark Avenue encountered a man with a gun, said Sgt. Matthew Malinowski, police spokesman. The officer fired at the man, shooting him at least once, he said.

The investigation is still ongoing, and police have not yet described the encounter in detail: whether the man was holding a gun (or simply had one with him), whether the man is considered a suspect in the earlier gunfire, or how many shots were fired by officers, among other unknowns.

The critically injured man was rushed to Upstate University Hospital, Malinowski said. The officer who shot the man was not hurt. There were no reports of injuries to any officer involved at the scene.

An expansive crime scene covers a roughly two-block area on Mark Avenue, between West Beard Avenue and West Colvin Street. Officers are marking evidence, mainly in the roadway near the intersection of Mark and Wood avenues.

No injuries were reported from the initial gunfire that led to the polices arrival.

Police have asked anyone with information about what happened to call (315) 442-5222.

This is a breaking news story. More information will be shared when it is available.
Roughly half of Earth's ice-free land remains without significant human influence, according to a study from a team of international researchers led by the National Geographic Society and the University of California, Davis.

The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, compared four recent global maps of the conversion of natural lands to anthropogenic land uses to reach its conclusions. The more impacted half of Earth's lands includes cities, croplands, and places intensively ranched or mined.

"The encouraging takeaway from this study is that if we act quickly and decisively, there is a slim window in which we can still conserve roughly half of Earth's land in a relatively intact state," said lead author Jason Riggio, a postdoctoral scholar at the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.

The study, published June 5 on World Environment Day, aims to inform the upcoming global Convention on Biological Diversity -- the Conference of Parties 15. The historic meeting was scheduled to occur in China this fall but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Among the meeting's goals is to establish specific, and higher, targets for land and water protection.

Approximately 15 percent of the Earth's land surface and 10 percent of the oceans are currently protected in some form. However, led by organizations including Nature Needs Half and the Half-Earth Project, there have been bold global calls for governments to commit to protecting 30 percent of the land and water by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050.

Intact natural lands across the globe can help purify air and water, recycle nutrients, enhance soil fertility and retention, pollinate plants, and break down waste products. The value of maintaining these vital ecosystem services to the human economy has been placed in the trillions of U.S. dollars annually.

CONSERVATION AND COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic now shaking the globe illustrates the importance of maintaining natural lands to separate animal and human activity. The leading scientific evidence points to the likelihood that SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19, is a zoonotic virus that jumped from animals to humans. Ebola, bird flu and SARS are other diseases known to have spilled over into the human population from nonhuman animals.

"Human risk to diseases like COVID-19 could be reduced by halting the trade and sale of wildlife, and minimizing human intrusion into wild areas," said senior author Andrew Jacobson, professor of GIS and conservation at Catawba College in North Carolina.

Jacobson said that regional and national land-use planning that identify and appropriately zone locations best suited to urban growth and agriculture could help control the spread of human development. Establishing protections for other landscapes, particularly those currently experiencing low human impacts, would also be beneficial.

FROM THE TUNDRA TO THE DESERT

Among the largest low-impact areas are broad stretches of boreal forests and tundra across northern Asia and North America and vast deserts like the Sahara in Africa and the Australian Outback. These areas tend to be colder and/or drier and less fit for agriculture.

"Though human land uses are increasingly threatening Earth's remaining natural habitats, especially in warmer and more hospitable areas, nearly half of Earth still remains in areas without large-scale intensive use," said co-author Erle Ellis, professor of geography at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

Areas having low human influence do not necessarily exclude people, livestock or sustainable management of resources. A balanced conservation response that addresses land sovereignty and weighs agriculture, settlement or other resource needs with the protection of ecosystem services and biodiversity is essential, the authors note.

"Achieving this balance will be necessary if we hope to meet ambitious conservation targets," said Riggio. "But our study optimistically shows that these targets are still within reach."

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NAPERVILLE, Ill., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Dealer Inspire (DI), a Cars.com Inc. (NYSE: CARS) company that provides disruptive technology and digital marketing solutions to the automotive industry, announced today a new OEM agreement with American Honda Motor Co . DI has been selected as a website and technology platform provider for Honda's 997 U.S.-based dealerships. The company is already an approved digital advertising provider for Honda and works with approximately 220 Honda dealers across the country.

"We are excited to expand our relationship with Honda dealers and offer a fully connected and customizable website platform that seamlessly integrates with our digital advertising program and technology solutions for utmost efficiency," said Joe Chura, CEO and co-founder of Dealer Inspire. "We believe we can help Honda dealers meet the needs of today's digital shoppers and better compete in the rapidly shifting automotive market."

A seven-time AWA Pinnacle Platform Winner, Dealer Inspire's advanced website platform is the core of its connected ecosystem of solutions that make automotive retail faster, easier, and smarter from search to signature. Built on a customizable platform and designed with user behavior data, DI websites are set apart by advanced technologies that drive modern consumers toward purchase decisions. DI customers receive additional benefits as part of Cars.com Inc., which includes Cars.com, Dealer Inspire and DealerRater. The company leverages integrated technologies across brands to drive Cars.com's 25 million in-market monthly car shoppers to dealers' digital and physical storefronts.

Honda dealers who partner with DI also gain access to:

Advanced Website Platform : DI's website platform is flexible, fast, and built to convert. It adapts to each individual shopper with personalization and geofencing technology, and features Lightning Inventory to instantly guide them to the right vehicle for their needs. Seamlessly integrated to the rest of DI's products, the website platform is the customizable core of any dealer's business.

DI's website platform is flexible, fast, and built to convert. It adapts to each individual shopper with personalization and geofencing technology, and features Lightning Inventory to instantly guide them to the right vehicle for their needs. Seamlessly integrated to the rest of DI's products, the website platform is the customizable core of any dealer's business. 24/7 Omnichannel Messaging : Conversations is the advanced messaging platform built to connect today's car shoppers with dealerships  wherever, whenever, and however they want to shop. Featuring live video and SMS texting capabilities to keep shoppers connected offline, Conversations is deeply integrated with the dealer's website in unprecedented ways, replacing static lead forms by instantly answering questions and making connections.

Conversations is the advanced messaging platform built to connect today's car shoppers with dealerships  wherever, whenever, and however they want to shop. Featuring live video and SMS texting capabilities to keep shoppers connected offline, Conversations is deeply integrated with the dealer's website in unprecedented ways, replacing static lead forms by instantly answering questions and making connections. Connected Marketing : DI also offers a full suite of connected digital marketing services to drive new customers to the platform, including Fuel In-Market Video , Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Advertising and Creative Services. By deploying the company's fully connected strategy, dealers can guide customers through each touchpoint in the car shopping journey.

DI also offers a full suite of connected digital marketing services to drive new customers to the platform, including , Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Advertising and Creative Services. By deploying the company's fully connected strategy, dealers can guide customers through each touchpoint in the car shopping journey. Proprietary Reporting Platform : Every DI website also comes with PRIZM, an advanced reporting platform at no additional cost, giving dealers ROI summaries, metric deep dives, group-level reporting, and proactive alerts for website analytics, marketing and product performance, and even open support requests  all from one beautiful dashboard.

Every DI website also comes with PRIZM, an advanced reporting platform at no additional cost, giving dealers ROI summaries, metric deep dives, group-level reporting, and proactive alerts for website analytics, marketing and product performance, and even open support requests  all from one beautiful dashboard. Superior Customer Support: Dealer Inspire supports a best-in-class dealer-to-employee ratio to ensure industry-leading service, achieving an average dealer satisfaction score of 9.5 out of 10. A dedicated team of performance managers partner with dealers to continually increase results through marketing strategy, execution, and transparent reporting.

For more information about DI's offerings for Honda and other dealers, please visit www.dealerinspire.com/honda . Honda dealers interested in partnering with DI can call (877) 899-8346 or email [email protected] .

 Dealer Inspire Dealer Surveys, Based on 2,800 dealer respondents. Avg. quality satisfaction 9.58; Avg. NPS: 9.55, January-August 2019



ABOUT DEALER INSPIRE

Founded in 2011, Dealer Inspire (DI), a Cars.com Inc. (NYSE: CARS) company is an award-winning website, technology, and digital marketing provider for progressive dealer partners across the United States and Canada. The company builds technology that helps future-proof dealerships for changing consumer behaviors and makes the car buying process faster and easier. With a team that has more than doubled in growth each year to serve 25 global brands, DI maintains its reputation for customer support with a standard of 15-minute response and 24-hour solution times.

SOURCE Dealer Inspire

Related Links

https://www.dealerinspire.com


Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 20:10:32|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- During his inspection trip in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region this week, President Xi Jinping said no single ethnic minority group should be left behind in the country's building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

The promise means a great deal for China, a country with 56 ethnic groups.

Over the years, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has paid close attention to the cause and made several visits to ethnic minority areas.

The following are the highlights of several such visits made by Xi over the past three years.

NINGXIA, June 2020

During the inspection in Ningxia, Xi visited a relocated village and a residential community in the city of Wuzhong to learn about efforts to advance poverty alleviation and promote ethnic unity.

At the house of Liu Kerui, a villager of the Hui ethnic group, Xi took a good look at the courtyard, living room, bedrooms, kitchen and cowshed, asking Liu and his wife if they had any difficulties and what they planned for the future.

Visiting the Jinhuayuan residential community, where people from several ethnic groups live together, Xi said no single ethnic minority group should be left behind in the country's building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

It represents the fine tradition of the Chinese nation and the great strength of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics to enable people of all ethnic groups to walk hand in hand into a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Xi added.

YUNNAN, January 2020

During a visit to Sanjia Village in the city of Tengchong, shortly before the Lunar New Year, Xi learned about poverty alleviation and called for efforts to speed up the development of ethnic minorities and those areas with large ethnic-minority populations.

Xi then walked into pig farmer Li Fashun's house in Simola Wa Village, asked about the price of pigs and the family's income, checked their kitchen, and then joined the family in making rice cakes, a traditional Wa way of ringing in the new year.

Talking to Li's fellow villagers, Xi said that, after China achieves building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, it must make all-out efforts to advance rural vitalization to further address issues such as the urban-rural imbalance.

He said rural industries will be boosted, as well as the rural economy, to allow more and more villagers to work near home, increase their incomes and lead a better life.

INNER MONGOLIA, July 2019

During an inspection tour to north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xi visited the village of Ma'anshan, where people of several ethnic groups live together.

Xi said that the development of rural industries should focus on increasing the income of villagers and asked primary-level Party organizations in rural areas to be strengthened to better serve the rural people and agriculture.

At villager Zhang Guoli's home, Xi checked the courtyard, kitchen and toilet, and pledged to further improve the basic rural infrastructure and living environments.

CHONGQING, April 2019

During an inspection trip to southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Xi visited a mountainous village in Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County.

While visiting a primary school there, Xi promised to ensure children in poor mountainous regions go to school and have a happy childhood.

Stopping by the house of Tan Dengzhou, an impoverished villager, Xi learned that Tan and his wife were unable to work due to illness and thus faced financial difficulties.

People who still live below the poverty line or slip back into poverty due to illness should be the priority of poverty-alleviation projects, Xi said, adding that they should receive support, such as minimum-living allowances, medical insurance and medical aid.

SICHUAN, February 2018

Ahead of the Lunar New Year in 2018, Xi went to impoverished Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Xi went to two ethnic Yi villages to visit poor families and was happy to learn that villagers have increased their incomes through raising cattle and growing potatoes, peppers and walnuts.

"Not a single ethnic group, family or person should be left behind," Xi said, adding that to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the most difficult task lies in regions with extreme poverty.

"But we will fight and must win this war," he added. Enditem
MIDDLETOWN  The suspect in the stabbing death of a Middletown woman this week on Green Street was captured in Georgia Wednesday.

William Bigaud, 37, who does not have a specific address, was taken into custody after a motor vehicle stop on Interstate 85, according to Middletown police Lt. Heather Desmond, who added that Lt. Nathan Taylor of the Troup County Sheriffs Office initiated the vehicle stop.

Bigaud is a suspect in the slaying on Green Street on Monday, police said. A female found at the apartment died from multiple stab wounds.

Chief State Medical Examiner James Gill confirmed Thursday the homicide victim on Green Street Monday is Quanisha Burruss, who he ruled died of sharp injuries to the trunk and head.

Police were alerted to a domestic violence incident at an apartment at 25 Green St. They located her body in a three-story, 14-unit dwelling, authorities said.

Officers found a female victim deceased from an apparent stab wound(s) when they arrived, Desmond said. Bigaud, who was called armed and dangerous, fled the area and was seen leaving the scene, she said.

A friend created the Quanisha Nisha Burruss & Family GoFundMe drive to raise money for the family. In one day, donations have reached $7,169, with a $15,000 goal.

The Middletown Police Department has an arrest warrant for Bigaud on charges of murder, home invasion, reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a minor.

The fatal stabbing Monday follows another homicide that happened Sunday. In that case, a man was found with stab wounds just before 2 a.m. on Washington Street/Route 66 near Pearl Street.

Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim wrote about the incidents on his Facebook page this week. While all the evidence points towards these being isolated incidents, that dont represent a broader danger to the public, any incident of this nature harms the whole community.

Middletown made the conscious choice to remain peaceful in these last few weeks while so many other communities descended into violence. These two killings have ruptured that peace and left us in mourning and confusion as we strive to stay focused on the work of building a more united city. ... We do not today tolerate violence in Middletown; we will not ever tolerate violence in Middletown, Florsheim wrote.

Bigaud was the subject of a 2016 story in the New York Daily News, Bronx man held for three years acquitted of murder outside Co-Op City.

Desmond confirmed Bigaud is the same man charged in connection with the New York victims death.

Bigaud was held at Rikers Island for three years awaiting trial, according to the Daily News.

That February, he was acquitted of an assassination-style slaying in which a 30-year-old man was shot four times in the face in 2013, the Daily News reported.

Anyone with information on the Middletown incident is asked to contact police at 860-638-4000.

Connecticut Post Digital News Editor Jim Shay contributed to this story.
Hyderabad:

As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis birthday celebrations, BJP president Amit Shah, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatraya and several local party leaders took part in a cleanliness drive in the city on Saturday.

Across the country, several organisations and crores of BJP workers are participating in various kinds of sewas marking birthday celebrations of Modi ji, Shah said on the occasion.

He thanked these organisations which celebrated Modis birthday as sewa divas (day of service).

On behalf of the party, I extend my best wishes on Modi jis birthday and pray to the God for his long life and good health. All of us party workers believe that under Modi jis leadership, the country is reaching new heights and we pray to the God that the country continues to get his leadership in future and he serves the nation for several more years, he said.

Earlier in the day the BJP chief tweeted, I pray that PM Modi ji is blessed with abundant energy to bring countrys poor, backwards and downtrodden to the mainstream of development. I join millions of countrymen in wishing Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi a very happy birthday.

The Prime Minister is celebrating his 66th birthday in his home state of Gujarat.

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Its tentative price is nearly UAH 1 billion (US$37.5 million).

Ihor Smelyansky, CEO of Ukrposhta, Ukraine's state-owned postal services provider, says the company plans to sell its central office in a landmark building, commonly known as "Holovposhtamt", at 22 Khreshchatyk Street in the capital city of Kyiv.

"I believe it's possible, say, to retain a single operating room as one of Kyiv's landmarks while selling the rest of the premises to an investor who will do something good out of it," he told a Ukrainian TV channel on June 11.

According to Smelyansky, the building's tentative price is about UAH 1 billion (US$37.5 million).

The CEO mentioned the high cost of modernization as one of the reasons for sale.

Read alsoUkrposhta posts US$24.5 mln in net profit in 2019 against US$25.3 mln in loss year-on-year

"We estimated that UAH 95 million [US$3.6 million] is required to fix the building," he said.

Smelyansky added that the company plans to sell its main sorting hub at Kyiv's central railway station to build a new one outside the city.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on May 29 and June 1, Ukrposhta held seven auctions in the ProZorro.Sale electronic procurement system, where it sold non-core real estate worth almost UAH 90 million (US$3.4 million).

UNIAN memo. Ukrposhta is a national state-owned postal services provider with the largest network of branches (11,000) across Ukraine.
TORONTO, June 10, 2020 /CNW/ - The Ontario government's announcement today that in-person education and training at colleges will resume next month on a limited basis ensures more students will complete their programs and acquire the expertise sought by employers.

"This is great news for students and for employers who will be seeking highly qualified graduates to help rebuild Ontario's economy," said Linda Franklin, the president and CEO of Colleges Ontario. "We're very grateful for the collaboration with the government that has ensured colleges continue to deliver high-quality programs."

Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano announced today that in-person classes will resume in July in a range of college programs that require hands-on work to fulfil the programs' requirements.

The in-person instructions returning in July are in programs that are critical to the current economy such as nursing, personal support work, engineering, child care, building construction and apprenticeship training in welding.

Ontario's colleges cancelled in-person classes in March and shifted to more online delivery to protect students, faculty, employees and others from COVID-19.

Due to the dedication and tremendous efforts of faculty and staff, the transition to remote learning was very successful. Colleges found a range of innovative ways to ensure students continued to receive high-quality programs.

However, some programs require lab work and other in-person classes to fulfil the programs' requirements. In a number of cases, that work was deferred until the summer.

Colleges have continued to collaborate with Minister Romano and public health officials on the safe return of in-person classes. Each college has developed a plan that includes guidelines for physical distancing, protocols for cleaning and rules for using personal protective equipment (PPE).

Ontario's colleges are also pleased the government has announced plans to develop a framework to modernize post-secondary education.

"It's absolutely critical that Ontario's workforce has the qualifications and the expertise to succeed," Franklin said. "The creation of this new framework is an ideal opportunity to ensure colleges have the flexibility and autonomy to respond effectively to shifts and innovations in the economy."

SOURCE Colleges Ontario

For further information: Amy Dickson, Manager, Media Relations and Communications, Colleges Ontario, (647) 258-7686, [email protected]

Related Links

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As restrictions begin to slowly lift across Ireland, Carlingford Lough Ferry has revealed it is preparing to launch a new cruise service specifically designed to offer customers the opportunity to take a safe and socially distanced cruise on the iconic Carlingford Lough.

The cross border Car Ferry service, which normally operates between Greencastle in Co. Down and Greenore, Co. Louth plans to resume operations later this summer, once public restrictions are lifted. In the meantime, the Company is keen to offer its services on the Lough and is pivoting the business to offer walk on passenger cruises onboard its 45-meter ferry. This new cruise service will depart from Greenore terminal and provide a wonderful safe outdoors experience which will allow the public to enjoy the fresh Carlingford Lough air once again.

The hour-long cruises will commence on Saturday June 20th and offer a rare opportunity to cruise to within 400 meters of the historic Haulbowline Lighthouse, guarding the entrance to Carlingford Lough. While onboard, passengers will enjoy a fascinating audio tour that will offer insights into the myths and legends of this majestic Lough, its formation as a glacial fjord, and the abundance of wildlife and birdlife that make their home on one of the most ecologically important Loughs on the island.

Commenting on the launch of these new cruises Mark Mohan, Manager Irelands Ancient East, Failte Ireland said: We commend the team at Carlingford Lough Ferry for its innovation and adaptability in this hugely difficult time for the tourism sector. We have been working closely with all tourism businesses to offer as much support and guidance as we can through the Covid crisis. Our research shows people are beginning to plan their domestic holidays so we hope that Carlingford Lough Ferry can welcome passengers as soon as the Governments roadmap for reopening allows.

Carlingford Lough Ferrys primary vessel the Frazer Aisling Gabrielle, features a large open main deck area with upper viewing decks on either side of the vessel. Passenger numbers will be strictly monitored and reduced to approximately 50% of the normal 250 passenger capacity.

Passengers will be divided into two groups on the vessels upper viewing decks and on the main lower deck area, where they can enjoy the spacious, car free surroundings and panoramic views of the iconic Carlingford Lough with the backdrop of the Mourne and Cooley Mountains. Strict social distancing will apply with floor markings to ensure passengers are sufficiently spaced to the required outdoor recommendations. There will be regular onboard cleaning in line with Public Health Service Guidelines and hand sanitiser units provided at various locations through the vessel.

Commercial Director with Carlingford Lough Ferry, Irene Hamilton: Were conscious that the public has given up so much by staying indoors during the lockdown and now that restrictions have been eased to allow county wide travel again, we are keen to use the ferry in a way that can offer locals the opportunity to travel out on the Lough and enjoy a safe family outdoor experience.

These unique one-hour cruises can be booked online through the Carlingford Lough Ferry Facebook page under the Lighthouse Cruise Event or on www.activitour.io/ferry-sailing
A man who was involved in a collision on the M7 between Naas and Newbridge made an appearance at Naas District Court on June 3.

Yogesqaran Sancheyan, 35, whose address was given as Killeshin House, Portlaoise, was prosecuted for dangerous driving at Newhall on March 18 last at 2am.

Sgt Jim Kelly told the court the defendant drove into the back of a car. He said when the gardai arrived there was no one in the defendants vehicle and he came out of a field.

The defendant went home by taxi to Portlaoise and subsequently made a statement to the gardai.

Sgt Kelly said the injured party made a full recovery and neither car was written off.

Solicitor Cairbre Finan said the defendant is originally from Sri Lanka and is a highly regarded doctor in Portlaoise Hospital.

He said the defendant did not know how the accident happened. He added he appeared to be driving within the speed limit .

Judge Desmond Zaidan said the fact that the defendant went into the field is an aggravating feature of the case.

Mr Finan responded that he also had those questions but the defendant said he was exhibiting signs of blackout of some description and he had lost his phone.

He said he made contact with the gardai the next morning.

He said the defendant has a very good reference and is a very decent man.

In a statement the defendant said he felt his car hit something and he did not see a back light on the other vehicle. He did not know if the car he struck was moving or parked. He said he did not know how he got into the field.

The defendant was disqualified from driving for two years and fined 750.
The Royal Australian Navy guided-missile frigate HMAS Parramatta (L) is underway with the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS America, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill and the Arleigh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry on the South China Sea on April 18, 2020. (U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nicholas Huynh)

Senate Panel Advances Defense Bill With $6.9 Billion Funding to Confront China

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its version of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on June 11, which includes a $6.9 billion defense initiative to counter China in the Pacific, along with a boost to hypersonic missile defense.

The measure, which passed on a bipartisan vote of 252, also seeks to derail the Federal Communication Commissions (FCC) approval of L-band spectrum use for 5G wireless, a move that has the potential to disrupt commercial and military GPS signals, and raises concerns that the technology will affect U.S. national security.

The Pacific Deterrence Initiative, which wasnt included in the White Houses budget request, would directly funnel money into the commands that run the day-to-day operations of a theater, as opposed to through the services that train and equip the military. The bill authorizes $1.4 billion for the PDI in fiscal 2021, and $5.5 billion for fiscal 2022.

A similar project, worth around $3 billion to $4 billion per year, took place in Europe after Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, when politicians were keen to send a message to President Vladimir Putin and his little green men.

The committees version of the NDAA picks up the demands of the National Defense Strategy to pivot the military to great power competition with Russia and China.

After years of sustained conflict, underfunding, and budgetary uncertainty, Congress focused on rebuilding the military in the past two NDAAs, said a statement (pdf) by the panel. Progress has been made, but the work is not yet done.

The full text of the bill isnt available. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.

According to the bill summary, among other initiatives, it provides additional funding for missile defense priorities, including the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, components for an eight Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery, Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii, and additional SM-3IIA interceptors.

The legislation also pushes back on the FCC decision to allow Ligado Networks to use the L-band of the electromagnetic spectrum for the next-generation wireless techa potential answer to Huaweis 5G. That decision has been criticized by the Pentagon and various other agencies as endangering GPS bandwidths used by the military.

The Senate panel version of the NDAA blocks the use of Department of Defense (DOD) funds to comply with the FCC order until an estimate is given of the costs of fixing any accompanying interference to the military GPS. It also directs the DOD to order a technical review from the National Academies of Science and Engineering.

Pacific Deterrence Initiative Pushes Back on CCP

The idea of a Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) has been floated for two or three years in Congress but gained little momentum until recently. Both the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee have already indicated support for such an initiative.

According to the summary of the bill, the NDAA for fiscal 2021 establishes the PDI, to send a strong signal to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that America is deeply committed to defending our interests in the Indo-Pacific.

The current U.S. National Defense Strategy prioritizes the U.S. abilities to counter Chinese aggression, in particular throughout the Indo-Pacific, Timothy Walton, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute, previously told The Epoch Times.

However, there have been a number of questions raised as to how much the Department of Defense is reprioritizing its funding to focus on operations in the Indo-Pacific.

In contrast, over the past number of years, there have been special initiatives established to fund deterrence and reassurance activities in the European command theater of operations while a similar initiative hasnt been established in the Pacific. 

In funneling money through this route of a deterrence initiative, the proposals from Congress would shift the balance in the bureaucratic tussle between the military commands and the services over strategic direction and influence.

Congress pushed for greater direct insight from the Indo-Pacific commanders in 2019, mandating a report of recommendations published in March that then formed the basis for the deterrence initiatives.
ST. PAUL, Minn.  Protesters have pulled down a statute of Christopher Columbus outside the Minnesota State Capitol.

A rope was thrown around the 10-foot bronze statue Wednesday afternoon and they pulled it off its stone pedestal.

The protesters, including Dakota and Ojibwe Native Americans, said they consider Columbus as a symbol of genocide against Native Americans. They said they had tried many times to remove it through the political process, but without success.

State Patrol troopers in helmets, who provide security in the Capitol complex, stood by at a distance but did not try to stop the protesters, who celebrated afterward with Native American singing and drumming.

The troopers eventually formed a line to protect the toppled statue so it could be taken away.

The protest followed a similar incident Tuesday night in Richmond, Virginia, and another in Boston.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 20:53:50|Editor: huaxia

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MOSCOW, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia will take countermeasures if the United States deploys nuclear weapons in Poland, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said Thursday.

"Whichever military potential that threatens our country is deployed on the Polish territory, the competent Russian authorities will make an exhaustive response," Titov told the RIA Novosti news agency in an interview.

On May 14, then-U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell wrote an article saying "rather than eroding the solidarity that undergirds NATO's (North Atlantic Treaty Organization's) nuclear deterrent, now is the time for Germany to maintain its commitments to its allies through continued investments in NATO's nuclear share."

Commenting on Grenell's article on the next day, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher tweeted: "If Germany wants to diminish nuclear capability and weaken NATO, perhaps Poland -- which pays its fair share, understands the risks, and is on NATO's eastern flank -- could house the capabilities here."

Titov said Mosbacher's statement is "a reaction to internal political debates in Germany regarding the need to stockpile foreign nuclear arsenals on its territory."

Pressuring partners and pitting some allies against others is not constructive, Titov said. Enditem
[June 11, 2020] Simplilearn Announces Job Guarantee for Graduates of its Full Stack Java Developer Master's Program

Six-month Master's program with 250 hours of learning focuses on front-end and back-end Java technologies

Partnership with HackerEarth for the Pre-program assessment of the candidate

Interview training and job assistance also to be offered to all learners as part of the program BANGALORE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Simplilearn, a global provider of digital skills training, today launched its first-ever Job Guarantee Program as part of its Master's program in Full Stack Java Development. The Master's program is open to graduates and professionals with foundational knowledge in software development who aspire to build a career as a Full Stack developer. Designed and delivered with Simplilearn's award-winning blended learning model, the Full Stack Java Developer Master's Program offers work-ready training in over 30+ in-demand Full Stack tools and skills with 20 lesson-end and six phase-end hands-on projects, along with a Capstone project in 4 industry domains. On successful completion of the Master's program, the Job Guarantee Program offers soft-skills and interview preparation training, along with job search assistance for six months. Those who do not receive a job offer for at least INR 5 Lakh (Per Annum) within six months of program completion will be provided with a full refund of the program fee.



Applicants to this Master's program will be requiredto clear a pre-assessment test to assess their aptitude and a basic understanding of coding. Simplilearn has partnered with HackerEarth for this pre-assessment process to identify learners who possess these minimum requirements for the Master's program. In addition to 250 hours of blended learning that include front-end, middleware, and back-end development, learners are also offered training in interview skills, improving body language, and profile enhancement under the guidance of industry experts.



Announcing the launch of the Job Guarantee Program, Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO Simplilearn, said, "With the evolution of technology, there has been a phenomenal rise in consumer applications on both web and mobile platforms. We are witnessing an increased demand for Full Stack developers today with organizations and businesses alike valuing this multifunctional job role. Simplilearn's Job Guarantee Program not only helps learners identify and apply for suitable jobs but also prepares their portfolio to attract employer attention. We are happy to partner with HackerEarth and other industry experts to help integrate the Job Guarantee Program. " Krishna further added, "In the times of a global crisis like the ongoing pandemic, we have seen how moving to digital platforms is the only option to ensure business continuity. With this in mind, the post-COVID world holds great potential for new job avenues for Full Stack developers."

Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Sachin Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, HackerEarth, stated, "There is a 20% growth in Full Stack developer jobs as compared to the last couple of years. This program is a great way for developers to upskill themselves and identify the opportunities that they deserve. HackerEarth is excited to partner with Simplilearn and I think together, we can help organizations support digital transformation in the long run by doing our part in finding and nurturing great developer talent." On completion of the program, including the Capstone project, all learners will receive a Simplilearn program completion certificate and IIM-Jobs Pro-Membership. This exclusive membership will help learners build their resume and share their job applications with top recruiters across the world. To date, Simplilearn has helped more than one million professionals across 150 countries upskill and prepare for the digital future. Simplilearn now aims to help future professionals build their careers in the most in-demand areas in the field of Information Technology. About Simplilearn Simplilearn enables professionals and enterprises to succeed in the fast-changing digital economy. The company provides outcome-based online training across digital technologies and applications such as Big Data, Machine Learning, AI, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Digital Marketing, and other emerging technologies. Based in San Francisco and Bangalore, India, Simplilearn has helped more than one million professionals and 1,000 companies across 150 countries get trained, acquire certifications, and reach their business and career goals. The company's Blended Learning curriculum combines self-paced online learning, instructor-led live virtual classrooms, hands-on projects, student collaboration, and 24/7 global teaching assistance. For more information, visit Simplilearn.com. About HackerEarth HackerEarth is a global company that helps large enterprises recruit and evaluate developers based on specific skills. The company's platform enables recruiters to make the most accurate and informed decisions about candidates, improve hiring efficiencies and ensure the right developers are matched with the right positions. HackerEarth is also a leading facilitator of online hackathons and coding challenges, where its community of 4 million developers can upskill and practice for employment interviews. The company was founded in 2012 with offices in San Francisco and India. For more information, visit www.hackerearth.com. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1100016/Simplilearn_Logo.jpg

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Zelensky about talk with Poroshenko: He offered some kind of assistance to country, but I don't believe him, impossible to agree with him

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he met with his predecessor Petro Poroshenko, who offered him assistance. But Zelensky said he did not believe Poroshenko.

"Poroshenko from the very beginning of my presidency wanted to meet with me. I didn't see any sense in this. I didn't see any sense in this, because everything Poroshenko said before, I think is not true. I really think that he an experienced manipulator and an experienced politician. Therefore, I do not believe him," Zelensky said in Part 2 of a video interview published by the ezine Ukrainska Pravda on Thursday.

Zelensky said during the 2019 presidential election campaign, at the initiative of Poroshenko, a lot of untrue "dirty" information was circulated about him and his family.

"I have come a long way with these lies, and then I draw conclusions about what he did as president. I do not trust him, I do not believe him. He is not my president," Zelensky said.

Zelensky said that Poroshenko wanted to meet with him many times.

"He said we can find mutual understanding, there is some help on the international scene. And Poroshenko told tales to international partners from the very beginning. Every time I met with leaders from abroad, they initially greeted me warily, very warily, as an enemy of Ukraine. Such an enhanced psychological portrait (of me) was created Poroshenko or his people. That's all," he said.

Zelensky said he finally agreed to meet with Poroshenko and they "talked about a lot."

"I was, frankly, even more diplomatic than now when I talk about him. I believe that his main mistake is that he considers himself the president of Ukraine. Until now. And he will continue to think so. A decade from now he will still believe that he is the only one who has done something for Ukraine, and that everyone else is nobody. That's how it will be, believe me," Zelensky said.

Zelensky said Poroshenko told him that he really wants to help the country. "I'm ready once, twice, three, four, five, six, seven times, but I didn't talk about any 'alliances.' He understands that we are different people, so what kind of alliance? We are completely different. And he says, 'Let's forget everything in the past and do something for the country," Zelensky said.

Zelensky said it is impossible to negotiate with Poroshenko.

"Poroshenko's former friends and his former enemies, our first presidents, all say this. They say: it makes no sense. Well, it just makes no sense," Zelensky said.

Zelensky was asked, as a citizen, whether Poroshenko should be jailed.

"That's a question only law enforcement agencies can answer. Who am I to decide? What am I, a court? Well, come on seriously. A person should 'sit,' [in jail] if there is something to 'sit' for. That's all. Law enforcement agencies will establish what he should 'sit' for, and then the court will hand down sentence," Zelensky said.
[June 11, 2020] ITCloud.ca Now Offering Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 Backup for Canadian MSPs

AvePoint Cloud Backup allows MSPs to grow their business and protect client data TROIS-RIVIERES, QC, June 11 , 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - AvePoint and IT Cloud Solutions(ITCloud.ca) announced today a new partnership to provide Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 backup solutions to help Canadian managed service providers (MSPs) protect their clients' data. This partnership designates ITCloud.ca as a distributor of AvePoint's Cloud Backup, the most complete cloud-to-cloud backup solution in the market. MSPs in Canada are now able to purchase AvePoint Cloud Backup for Microsoft 365 and CRM systems, including Dynamics 365, through ITCloud.ca. MSPs working with IT Cloud Solutions will receive comprehensive customer service, technical support, individualized marketing activities and sales support. "ITCloud.ca is continuously recognized as a top distributor for productivity and business continuity solutions in Canada. AvePoint Cloud Backup will allow our MSP partners to grow their business by giing them access to the most comprehensive backup solution available,"said David Latulippe, EVP at ITCloud.ca. "Offering clients the ability to back up advanced workloads like Microsoft Teams up to four times a day and restore at the granular level is a real competitive advantage."



Suzanne Gagliese, vice president, One Commercial Partner at Microsoft Canada said, "We are pleased to work with partners like AvePoint and ITCloud.ca who benefit from Microsoft technology to unlock new opportunities for customers across Canada. This is an example of the strength of the Microsoft ecosystem, with these two partners coming together to deliver value for MSPs and their small business clients." The recent unprecedented increase of remote work combined with increasing threats to data safety means businesses can no longer risk exposing themselves to data loss events such as ransomware, phishing attacks, rogue employee theft, or accidental deletion. "It's critical now, more than ever, for us to transition, and make our clients feel confident in that transition, to the cloud," said Annick St-Pierre, CEO of TELENET Communications. "Cloud Backup for Microsoft 365 from ITCloud, powered by AvePoint, helps us do just that. We have the tools at hand to automatically protect and easily restore customer data, to minimize data loss and recovery time objectives."

AvePoint Cloud Backup will help ITCloud.ca provide a complete data protection solution to their partners that not only meets key industry standards, but also provides the flexibility clients need to protect their data, such as security information event management (SIEM), role-based access control (RBAC), and control over encryption keys. "AvePoint wants to empower MSPs to better protect and manage their clients' data. We enable data sovereignty so Canadian data is kept in Canada" said Scott Sacket, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Channel, AvePoint. "This partnership ensures even more MSPs can have the most robust and complete toolsets to deliver the best data protection services for their Microsoft cloud clients." Partners can now extend their Microsoft Cloud services to include AvePoint's backup-as-a-service as part of ITCloud.ca' Business Continuity solutions. ITCloud.ca' partners can expand their data protection offerings with valuable, differentiated services for their clients, in any stage of the cloud adoption lifecycle. To learn more about AvePoint's Cloud Backup solutions for MSPs, visit https://www.itcloud.ca About AvePoint AvePoint accelerates digital transformation success, to support remote work on critical cloud applications including Microsoft 365 and Office 365. We pride ourselves on making technology work for you. We incorporate automation and best practices from supporting over 16,000 customers and 7 million cloud users to give you powerful, effective solutions at a price for any budget. About IT Cloud Solutions IT Cloud Solutions(ITCloud.ca) is an Authorized Microsoft Distributor for CSPs, a NinjaRMM, Letsignit, Zerospam, AvePoint and Bitdefender Cloud Distributor in Canada. Distributing their own managed and supervised cloud backup solutions for 15 years and boasting a network of over 1000 partners-resellers countrywide, this organization is among the top service providers of secured cloud backup and AV solutions as well as Microsoft cloud services in Canada. SOURCE ITCloud.ca (IT Cloud Solutions)

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New Delhi: Maharashtra on Thursday (June 11) recorded 3607 new coronavirus cases with 152 deaths in the last 24 hours. So far, 46078 patients have recovered and discharged in Maharashtra, which has 97648 COVID-19 cases, according to the latest state health department data.

Maharashtra has been recording 100-plus fatalities and new patients over 2000 daily for the past 11 days. The state`s death toll of 152 marks an increase of 3 over the previous high of 149 notched on June 10, with the month proving to be a nightmare with 3-digit death figures being notched almost daily.

With 152 deaths, the state`s death toll has zoomed to 3,590 while the total number of coronavirus patients increased from Wednesday`s 94,041 to climb to 97,648 on Thursday.

In Mumbai, the number of COVID-19 cases positive patients has increased to 54085. The city has recorded 97 deaths in the last 24 hours with a total of 1954 deaths.



Dharavi in Mumbai, however, witnessed 20 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours with a total of 1984 infected patients. A total of 75 deaths have been reported from COVID-19 in Dharavi.

According to the state's health department, the total number of cases declared till date, 47,968 are active cases, increasing by 1,894 over Wednesday`s 46,074.

Despite the growing number of COVID-19 deaths and cases, the state's recovery rate stands today at 47.02 per cent and a mortality (death) rate 3.07 per cent.

Besides Mumbai`s 97 deaths, there were 20 fatalities in Thane (Mira-Bhayander, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivali), 8 each in Pune and Solapur, 6 in Aurangabad, 5 in Nashik, 2 each in Palghar and Latur, and one each in Ratnagiri, Hingoli, Jalna, and Nanded.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope today said that an additional 500 ICU beds will be made available at the Seven Hills and St. George hospitals in Mumbai within a week. As the city continues to grapple with Covid-19, between 200 and 300 doctors from rural areas of the state will be brought to the city to help cope with the patients` rush.

Maharashtra now has 95 labs for Covid-19 tests, including 41 in the private sector, while the number of tests conducted to date is 609,317, of which 16 per cent have returned positive.

Meanwhile, the state government today suspended the Dean and five others after the horrifying incident of a "missing" 82-year old woman Covid-19 patient found dead in a toilet of the Jalgaon Civil Hospital.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope told IANS that Dean BR Khaire, a superintendent, the attached medical college principal, nurse, and security person were slapped with suspension orders.

The woman had tested Covid-19 positive on May 27 and had been admitted to another hospital before she was shifted to the JCH and police teams were sent there to investigate. The JCH authorities reportedly confirmed that she was seen in the ward till June 2 after which the whereabouts of the woman was not known.

On Wednesday morning, some people reported a foul smell emanating from one of the toilets in the hospital, and the missing woman`s body was found.
Egypt and Sudan have expressed concerns about a new Ethiopian proposal on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dams (GERD) filling and operation, saying it backtracks on previous negotiations.

The Ethiopian document completely backtracks from the principles and rules that were agreed upon between the three countries during the negotiations sponsored by the United States and the World Bank. It also brushes aside all the technical understandings reached in the previous rounds of negotiations, read a statement from the Egyptian irrigation ministry on Thursday.

Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia resumed technical talks on Tuesday for the first time since February, when US- and World Bank-mediated negotiations came to a halt after Ethiopia pulled out.

The US stepped up when the three African countries had reached a previous deadlock last October.

Egypt had initialled a draft agreement from the US talks, whereas Ethiopia and Sudan have not.

Egypt asserts its adherence to the agreement reached in the talks in Washington as a fair and balanced agreement by which Ethiopia can achieve its development goals while safekeeping the rights of the two downstream countries, the Egyptian statement also said.

Ethiopia should revise its position, which impedes any possibility of reaching an agreement. Egypt stresses that Ethiopia should not take any unilateral action in violation of its legal obligations, especially the Declaration of Principles in 2015.

The statement also urged Ethiopia to negotiate in good faith, as Egypt has done since the beginning of the negotiations, for the sake of reaching a fair, balanced and comprehensive deal.

This Ethiopian approach complicates the situation and may lead to a worsening of the situation in the region, the statement concluded.

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Medical student Diego Montelongo treats COVID-19 patient Melquiades Cervantes at Houston's United Memorial Medical Center. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The chroniclers of historys great plagues  physicians and novelists, diarists and archivists  tend to recount uncannily similar moments, always poignant in retrospect, when people allow themselves to believe that the devastation has reached its height.

And then it gets worse.

The novel coronavirus is no longer a novelty. Some six months after the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, and three months after COVID-19s formal designation as a pandemic, nearly every corner of the world has been touched. Billions of people found themselves in lockdowns and shutdowns; economies everywhere cratered.

Now, though, many parts of the planet are behaving as if a corner has been turned. The gears of daily life are again beginning to grind; the workaday world is reasserting itself. But infectious disease specialists say the virus could smolder and flare, subside and reappear, for a very long time to come  even after a widely available vaccine is developed.

In the United States and Europe, the pace of new infections has slowed from springtime peaks. But in the world as a whole, the caseload is growing fast, and experts are deeply alarmed by the speed of the spread in far-flung countries such as Pakistan, South Africa and Brazil.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, discusses COVID-19 at a news conference. (Salvatore Di Nolfi / Keystone via Associated Press)

On Friday, the World Health Organization reported a fresh record single-day high for new cases worldwide: more than 136,500, most of them in the Americas, Russia and South Asia. More than 7.4 million cases, and nearly 420,000 deaths  roughly one-quarter of them in the United States  have been reported to the WHO.

Globally, it is worsening, the organization said.

There are success stories such as New Zealand, which recently pronounced the virus eradicated. But in countries where the epidemiological picture has brightened, including many in western Europe, the biggest threat is now complacency, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"This is not the time for any country to take its foot off the pedal," he said.

Story continues

An outbreak of contagion is often bracketed by momentous events. The Plague of Athens occurred in the midst of the Peloponnesian War; the 1918-19 influenza pandemic erupted in the waning days of World War I, its victims ultimately far outnumbering those of combat casualties.

The coronavirus outbreak took hold shortly before the George Floyd protests for racial justice swept the United States and beyond; even at so necessary a moment of mass outcry, health experts worried over infection peril posed by the enormous gatherings.

In some countries where the situation is growing more dire, governmental denials of the outbreaks gravity and a wholesale rejection of economically costly shutdowns are helping the virus either to cement its foothold  or to come roaring back.

Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks as President Trump listens during a COVID-19 press briefing. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease specialist  seen less in public in the weeks since the White House halted briefings by its coronavirus task force  this week called the virus my worst nightmare.

Speaking to a biotechnology conference via a recorded video, Fauci said in a span of months, the coronavirus had devastated the world.

"It just took over the planet," he said. "And it isn't over yet."

Here is a look at several key regional tipping points in the worldwide coronavirus fight.





SOUTH ASIA

South Asia has emerged as one of the virus new global hot spots. India, with more than 286,500 recorded infections as of midweek, was expected to soon surpass Britain to become the fourth-worst-affected country, behind the U.S., Brazil and Russia.

This week saw India notch its highest single-day totals for new infections. At least 8,800 people have died from COVID-19, even as India imposed one of the worlds most stringent lockdowns beginning in late March.

This week India began to ease the lockdown to restart its economy, making it one of the few countries to lift social distancing restrictions before recording a drop in infections.

In Mumbai, the commercial capital, buses, taxis and private cars have returned to streets newly jammed with traffic. Social media images over the weekend showed Marine Drive, the citys sea-facing promenade, crowded with residents out for walks and exercise, some not wearing masks.

One resident who dropped by his office in the citys Fort district this week said the sidewalk was packed with people sipping cups of tea, their masks off.

A woman carries a child as they wait with other migrant worker families to have their temperatures checked before boarding a train in Jammu, India. (Channi Anand / Associated Press)

The developments have raised concerns that India will be deluged with new COVID-19 cases. The country still has lower testing rates and poorer contact tracing mechanisms than other reopening economies, leaving it unprepared to control COVID-19 outbreaks, according to an analysis by IndiaSpend, an independent data journalism website.

The capital city of New Delhi alone could see 550,000 cases by the end of July, 80,000 of which could require hospitalization, local officials predict. A report in the Indian Express newspaper said the city has fewer than 58,000 hospital beds.

Infections are also rising fast in Pakistan, which this week tallied new daily highs. Pakistan has more than 132,000 people infected in all.

Yet Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced a gradual reopening of the economy while requiring that residents continue to wear masks and enforcing social distancing measures at mosques, on public transportation and in other crowded areas.

The World Health Organization has warned that the reopening is ill-timed, and in a letter urged Punjab, the most populous province, to reimpose a two-week lockdown.

But Zafar Mirza, Khans top health advisor, said Pakistan would not follow the WHOs recommendation.

The WHO only takes health-related factors into account while governments have to think of the publics livelihoods as well, Mirza said.

 Shashank Bengali in Singapore and special correspondent Aoun Sahi in Islamabad, Pakistan





LATIN AMERICA

The pandemic is cutting a path of devastation through much of Latin America, now widely considered its new epicenter.

The regions infection curve was about a month behind that in the United States



and is thought to be peaking or nearing its most dangerous phase in many



areas, including in Brazil and Mexico, the regions two most populous countries.

Public health advocates have expressed alarm that some governments are



beginning to reopen pandemic-battered economies before ever imposing the kind



of strict lockdowns, testing regimes and tracing that helped stifle the virus



elsewhere.

Now is not the time to relax restrictions or scale back preventive strategies,



Carissa F. Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization, told reporters in Washington in late May. "Now is the time to stay strong, remain vigilant, and aggressively implement proven public health measures.

Cemetery workers in a protective gear lower the coffin of a COVID-19 victim into the ground in Mexico City. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

The rising numbers of cases have strained hospitals, emergency services, morgues,



cemeteries and crematoria across a region where years of neglect and underfunding have hollowed out much of the public healthcare infrastructure.

In both Brazil and Mexico, the pervasive shortage of testing and lack of data on



deaths make it near-impossible to calculate the ever-expanding dimensions of the



crisis.

Brazil has recorded more than 830,000 cases, ranking second globally to the United States, and nearly 42,000 coronavirus-related deaths, second after the United States, surpassing Britain.

Funeral workers in protective gear prepare a grave for a COVID-19 victim at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Manaus, Brazil. (Edmar Barros / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Complicating matters in Brazil are the countrys prevalent political turmoil, its



economic tailspin and denialism from the government of President Jair Bolsonaro 



who early on dismissed the virus as a little flu and has seen two health ministers



leave their positions during the pandemic.

The country has sometimes reported more than 1,000 virus-related deaths a day, but recently cut down on reporting data in what critics called an attempted cover-up.

Mexico has reported close to 140,000 cases and more than 16,000 deaths, but both numbers are likely vast undercounts in a country with one of the sparsest testing regimes in the Americas. Various studies have shown that coronavirus-linked deaths in Mexico City may be more than three times the officially acknowledged numbers.

Almost one in five confirmed cases in Mexico involves doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, a fact that many attribute to a widespread lack of functioning surgical masks and other protective gear.

The government has been bringing in planeloads of protective equipment from abroad and recruiting doctors and other health workers to bolster care staff in the hard-hit metropolitan Mexico City area, home to some 22 million people.

 Patrick J. McDonnell in Mexico City





SOUTHEAST ASIA

Daily case counts continue to rise in parts of Southeast Asia, though that hasn't stopped some governments from loosening restrictions on social distancing.

In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, restaurants, retail outlets and public transportation reopened this week only days after the country reported its highest rise in infections in one day. Health officials said many of the new cases were linked to migrant workers returning from abroad.

Indonesia's leaders imposed some restrictions on movement beginning in April, but resisted stricter measures over fears of harming the economy.

A city official takes the temperature of a vendor at a market in Surabaya, Indonesia. (Trisnadi / Associated Press)

An outbreak that started in Jakarta has since spread across the archipelagic nation, infecting over 35,000 people and killing at least 2,000. Experts say the true number is likely much higher because of underreporting and inadequate testing.

The disease's toll is also thought to be much worse in the Philippines, where nearly 23,000 cases and 1,017 deaths have been officially reported as of Wednesday.

Health authorities in the country of 108 million said a recent increase in reported cases was due to improved testing rather than the easing of quarantine measures in Manila and its surrounding areas.

Many businesses have reopened in the capital with rules limiting the number of workers and customers permitted inside. City administration offices are thronged with residents applying for medical certificates needed to travel around the country.

The two island nations are anomalies in Asia, where cases have plunged and everyday life has restarted in China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand. Meanwhile, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong never experienced major outbreaks. China is resuming some travel between destinations such as Singapore.

Singapore, however, remains under a stricter lockdown than many of its regional neighbors. Residents won't be permitted to dine out, shop in stores or visit friends until the end of the month at the earliest.

Roughly the size of the San Fernando Valley, Singapore experienced a major outbreak in its migrant-labor dormitories, resulting in most of the city-state's more than 39,000 infections. Singapore's highly-developed health system has kept deaths due to COVID-19 relatively low at 25, as of Wednesday.

 David Pierson in Singapore

Times staff writer Laura King reported from Washington.
A man who was dressed in tactical gear was found with three explosive devices in his backpack at a Long Island hospital and has been arrested on weapons and drug charges, police said Wednesday.

The man, Robert Roden, 33, had walked into the emergency room at Stony Brook University Hospital around 9pm on Tuesday, acting suspiciously, according to police.

University police officers were called to the scene by a hospital security guard, took Roden into custody and found a 'suspicious package' in his backpack, authorities said.

When officers searched his bag, they found three explosive devices inside, police said in a statement. A BB gun was also recovered, authorities have said.

Robert Roden, 33, of Mastic Beach, New York, is seen above being led in handcuffs by Suffolk County Police to the 7th Precinct in Shirley, New York, on Thursday

Roden was arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly bringing a backpack filled with explosives to Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island

Roden reportedly aroused suspicions when he walked into the hospital wearing tactical gear. The backpack that he was allegedly carrying is seen above

The images above provided by the Suffolk County Police Department are said to be improvised explosive devices allegedly seized during the investigation

Police say they also seized what appear to be an ax and a pair of handcuffs

Police evacuated two floors of the hospital, which included the emergency room, for several hours.

Investigators executed a search warrant at Rodens home in Mastic Beach on Wednesday and found 'multiple explosive devices at the residence.'

Police did not immediately provide specific details about the explosives.

Suffolk County police said agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also involved in the investigation.

The hospital, about 45 miles east of New York City, has more than 600 beds and treated more than 100,000 people in the emergency room last year.

Roden was arrested on weapons possession, criminal contempt and drug possession charges and police say additional charges could be forthcoming.

It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
Da 5 Bloods, director Spike Lees new movie about a group of black Vietnam veterans returning to the jungle to recover the body of a fallen comrade, has one of the most eye-catching visual strategies used on film since Wes Anderson attempted something similar with 2014s The Grand Budapest Hotel. The war epic switches color schemes, filming techniques, and aspect ratios to distinguish between time periods and locations as the films characters confront (and struggle to escape from) their pasts.

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We called the movies director of photography, veteran cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, to ask why he and Lee decided to shoot the movie in these four different formats and what effects they hoped to achieve. Below, with Sigels help, we break down the movies four different looks.

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Scenes: Present-day cities

Format: Digital cinematography, framed in an ultrawide 2.39:1 aspect ratio

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After Da 5 Bloods opening montage of archival imagerypresented in a variety of formats and aspect ratios, none of which fill an entire HDTV screenLee dissolves from a shot of the Hotel Majestic during the fall of Saigon to the hotel as it appears today, expanding the image out to the left and right edges of the television screen and moving in black bars at the top and bottom until the aspect ratio reaches an ultrawide 2.39:1.

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This 2.39:1 aspect ratio is the films default, and it suits the movies subject matter for two reasons. First, Lee saw Da 5 Bloods as an epicSigel cited David Leans work on films like Lawrence of Arabia as one of the films biggest influencesand that sort of ultra-widescreen framing immediately signals the kind of story Lee is telling.

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The second reason was more practical: Da 5 Bloods is an ensemble film, and contra Fritz Langs comment that widescreen formats were suitable only for snakes and funerals, its pretty good for group shots. Sigel told me that Lee always saw it as a movie about this group, these brothers, and its one of the reasons that you dont have a lot of close-ups. Its a lot of group shots. He even said, I think if Spike had his way, every single shot would have had all of them at the same time. That may have been impractical, but again and again, Lee and Sigel arrange the four surviving veterans in a horizontal row to fill the screen. The ultrawide aspect ratio is the perfect match for these compositions.

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Scenes: The Vietnam flashbacks

Format: 16 mm reversal film stock, in a more boxy 1.33:1 aspect ratio

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About 10 minutes into Da 5 Bloods, Lee and Sigel introduce the first flashback sequence with another transition: A widescreen image of the sun with a helicopter flying in front of it (a shot that is itself modeled after one of Apocalypse Nows most famous images) slowly pushes in to a 1.33:1 ratio.

When Wes Anderson switches to 1.33 in the middle of The Grand Budapest Hotel, the idea is to evoke films made during Hollywoods golden age, but in this case, the model was television. Specifically, Sigel told me that the flashbacks were made to look like news footage of the Vietnam War. News crews of that era used photographic processes designed for speed and convenience: 16 mm film, which used smaller and more portable cameras, and reversal film stocks, which dont require that a positive print be made from the negative and could thus be developed and prepped for TV use quickly and cheaply.

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The distinctive look of Vietnam Warera news footagegrainy, hand-held, high-contrastwas originally a result of the exigencies of shooting TV news footage in remote locations, but duplicating that aesthetic in 2020 introduced a whole new list of exigencies. As Sigel explained, the cast only had Black Panthers Chadwick Boseman, the movies biggest star, for two weeks, and the fact that they were shooting in Thailand, where there is no film lab meant that they wouldnt be able to watch the footage of any of these scenes until their time with him was over. Still, Sigel says, I loved that idea that we were taking that leap of faith going back to where we all began, where you didnt know what you had right away, and you had to trust your crew and your experience.

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Scenes: Present-day jungle

Format: Digital cinematography, opening up to a 16:9 aspect ratio

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For the soldiers return, Lee and Sigel wanted to use all of the television screens real estate to surround the characters with the jungle. The new format is introduced with another shot of the sun, opening from a narrow, horizontal slit until the entire screen is full. As Sigel explained:

I had the idea that because its a Netflix show, what we call the envelope of the show, or the packaging of the show, is basically the 16:9 format. By treating the jungle that way, actually we were opening up the frame. So the frame is letterboxed 2.39:1 when youre in Ho Chi Minh City, and then it literally opens up to the jungle. The jungle becomes this huge canopy surrounding these guys, enveloping this group.

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The compositions in this sequence echo that choice. During the Ho Chi Minh City sequences, the actors are often pressed right up to the left or right edges of the frame, but here Sigel often shoots them from a distance so they appear completely surrounded by green.

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Scenes: Shooting home movies on the riverboat

Format: Super 8, letterboxed to 2.39:1

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Finally, although its more of a footnote than a broad visual strategy, there is a brief sequence in which the Bloods are messing around with a Super 8 camera while touring a floating market by boat. That footage is included in the film as seen above: While black bars have been inserted to matte the usually boxy Super 8 footage down to a wider 2.39:1 (which makes the transition less jarring than it would have been had there been an abrupt aspect ratio change in the middle of the modern-day sequences), it has been digitized complete with film damage and visible perforations, an aesthetic that was seen during a brief trend in music videos a few years ago but is rarely used in feature films. Here, it matters that one of the characters keeps filming as a lighthearted tourist outing turns sour: The grain and perforation marks distinguish between the film and the film-within-the-film, while raising questions about tourist excursions to former war zones.

For more on Da 5 Bloods listen to Dana Stevens and Aisha Harris spoiler-filled discussion of the movie.
The serviceman was rushed to a hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

A Ukrainian soldier has been wounded near the village of Pavlopil in Donetsk region in an explosion of a grenade the enemy dropped from the unmanned aerial vehicle.

"The enemy dropped a grenade (probably VOG-17) from their UAV on the positions of the Joint Forces. One Ukrainian soldier was injured in the blast. The serviceman was rushed to a hospital where he was provided proper medical assistance," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) Headquarters said on Facebook.

According to the JFO headquarters, the insidious act on the part of enemy forces did not go unpunished. Ukrainian troops returned fire, employing weaponry available. The enemy losses are being verified, the report adds.

Read alsoTwo Ukrainian soldiers wounded amid 14 enemy attacks in Donbas on June 10

As UNIAN wrote earlier, since Thursday midnight, Russia-led forces have engaged Ukrainian positions near the town of Maryinka, and the villages of Chermalyk and Novotroyitske with 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, sniper rifles, and small arms. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded.
Thats how Neil felt, anyway. Neil, who declined to give his last name, had taken the Metro from his home in Alexandria, Va., to arrive at 7 a.m. so he could relieve the man on the night shift, whod snuck back inside the moment Secret Service agents reopened the park at midnight. The rotating cast of protesters who man the tent at all hours had kept a careful eye on it throughout the demonstrations, Neil said, peering through the fence links every hour or so to make sure it was still standing.
A resident of a Saint John of Gods house brought the community together for a game of street bingo to raise their spirits during the coronavirus lockdown.

It was a full house in Hughes Park in Dundalk on Wednesday as neighbours enjoyed a game of bingo while adhering to social distancing guidelines.

The annual fun day for residents and their families at Saint Marys Drumcar had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 restrictions but that was not going to stop Padraig Ward from making sure an enjoyable event took place.

Mr Ward, who is one of three residents living in the Saint John of Gods house Rose Cottage in Hughes Park, organised the street bingo and made invitations which he delivered to all his neighbours.

Shauna Kieran, who is a clinical nurse manager with Saint John of God, which supports people with intellectual disabilities, said a lot of the neighbours are elderly and have been cocooning so there was great excitement about the street bingo and raised the communitys spirits.

Mr Ward pulled out the numbers and his key workers called them out to the crowd.

And there was plenty of prizes including flowers, wine, gift sets and hampers generously donated by local business won on the day.

Ms Kieran said: The annual fun day with residents and their families as part of Saint of John week had to be cancelled due to Covid-19, so instead each John of God house was given a value of Saint John of God to demonstrate in our daily lives and Rose Cottage were given hospitality.

Padraig decided to organise social distancing street bingo for his neighbours.

He made invitations, with the help of his key workers, and he delivered them through his neighbours letter boxes.

There was great excitement as many of the neighbours would be elderly, so it was a brilliant opportunity to meet people and have a chat and a bit of fun.

The families of the three residents of Rose Cottage live outside the 5km Covid-19 travel restrictions so they couldnt come to the bingo, but we did video calls so they were part of it.
By Mac Slavo

Parents who are chomping at the bit to get the schools reopened in the fall are in for a big surprise. If they do want their child to go back to a public school, it will, first of all, look more like a prison than it did before. The government wants beacons on every child so they can be tracked at all times  to prevent COVID-19, of course.

When it comes to being overly disturbing, the government has proven it knows no bounds. After all of the evidence the coronavirus is not nearly as deadly as they told us, nor are asymptomatic carriers likely to spread it, they still want to track and monitor and control every tiny aspect of even a childs life.

When students return to school in New Albany, Ohio, in August, theyll be carefully watched as they wander through red-brick buildings and across well-kept lawnsand not only by teachers. The school district, with five schools and 4,800 students, plans to test a system that would require each student to wear an electronic beacon to track their location to within a few feet throughout the day. It will record where students sit in each classroom, show who they meet and talk to, and reveal how they gather in groups. The hope is such technology could prevent or minimize an outbreak of Covid-19, the deadly respiratory disease at the center of a global pandemic. Many plan to proceed gradually and carefully while keeping kids spread out as much as possible. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions guidelines for reopening schools recommend staggered schedules that allow for smaller classes, opening windows to provide more air circulation, avoiding sharing books and computers, regular cleaning of buses and classes, and requiring masks and handwashing. Many see some form of distance learning continuing through next year. Wired

Before this horrific announcement about how they intend to treat our children, many parents had already said theres no way they will send their child back to a government school. In fact, 40% of parents intend to homeschool their children next year according to one survey that was conducted about a month ago. Some parents fear another coronavirus outbreak, but some have found out that is isnt so bad to actually teach your children morals and ethics instead of how to blindly obey orders.

Homeschooling is a big problem for governments, as children who are educated at home often come to the conclusion that the state is an unnecessary impedance on human life and intolerable. Homeschooling has been on the rise already and this could be a huge problem for all public schools. People are figuring out that they dont need the state to educate indoctrinate their children.

Homeschooling Expands As Parents Seethe Over Liberal Social Engineering And Violence

If you thought schools were becoming indoctrination camps and resembled prisons more and more, you arent the only one. Parents have noticed and many are opting out of the system.
OSKARE CAPITAL SAS today launches OSKARE Fund I together with cannabinoid industry veteran Bruce Linton. The EU based fund targets next generation cannabinoid therapies and related industry infrastructure, leveraging the expertise and track record of the founding team in medicine, engineering, chemistry, venture capital, and intellectual property.

"Based on my partnership with the OSKARE CAPITAL team over the last 9 months, I am convinced that Europe has the optimal regulatory and research environment to build the future key players in the global medical cannabinoid industry," said Bruce Linton, Co-founder and non- Executive Chairman, OSKARE CAPITAL, and former CEO and Founder, Canopy Growth. "The OSKARE CAPITAL team's strong scientific background and proven track record in pharma, venture capital and IP protection leverages proprietary deal flow and knowledge of the ecosystem to be successful".

The fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of companies with disruptive technology and strong barriers to entry. The team is supported by a highly experienced senior advisory board (https://oskarecapital.com/team/) that provides critical expertise and expands its network. OSKARE Fund I is ESG compatible.

Medical grade cannabinoid-based products are already approved and used in Europe to treat conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and chronic pain. Now the science and the medical community are driving opportunities in human as well as animal health and wellness.

The team at OSKARE CAPITAL has access to leading research teams and companies that have identified new cannabinoid molecules and formulations with therapeutic potential for medical conditions such as anxiety and depression, cancer, autism, ADHD, cardiovascular and inflammatory skin conditions, among others. The fund will invest in the entire value chain as well as look to valorise hemp and cannabis biomass for new sustainable material applications.

The team has already performed a first investment in Denmark's Octarine Bio.

Innovation and R&D are at the core of EU and UK value generation and core to the Fund opportunity. Cannabinoids will disrupt global markets from food to pharma and OSKARE CAPITAL will be the early investor on this wave.

About OSKARE CAPITAL SAS oskarecapital.com

OSKARE CAPITAL SAS is a French company which has the French status of CIF (Financial Investment Advisor), ORIAS number 20001206 and regulated by the AMF.

About OSKARE FUND I

OSKARE Fund I, advised by OSKARE CAPITAL SAS, is set up so that investors can readily access innovative opportunities in this space with the protection and transparency an AIFM compatible fund provides. Regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, Crossroads Capital Management Limited will act as an alternative investment fund manager.

About Crossroads Capital Management Limited - www.crossroadscapital.ie

Crossroads Capital Management Limited, majority owned by Hauck Aufhauser Fund Services S.A., is authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as a UCITS management company and alternative investment fund manager (AIFM).

This press release is not a marketing communication in the European Union member states or non-member states. This press release is not an offer of securities, products, instruments or services for sale in the United States. We do not make representation that information presented is appropriate for use in all jurisdictions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005098/en/

Contacts:

Press Contact: email alex@oskarecapital.com, tel +33 6 68 29 57 94

Prospective fund investors contact: Gaetano INSALACO gaetano@oskarecapital.com

Companies seeking investment contact: Alexandre OUIMET-STORRS alex@oskarecapital.com

or Nicola BROUGHTON nicola@oskarecapital.com
FBI Omitted Political Origins of Steele Dossier from Annex in Key Intelligence Community Assessment

The FBI failed to disclose crucial details about the political origins and dubious credibility of the claims included in an annex to the seminal Intelligence Community Assessment on Russia, according to a newly declassified record.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on June 11 declassified Annex A of the January 6, 2017, Intelligence Community Assessment titled Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections. Then FBI-Director James Comey personally briefed the salacious portion of the annex to President-elect Donald Trump on January 7, 2017. The annex consists of claims drawn from the infamous Steele dossier, as well as an assessment of the source of the dossier, Christopher Steele.

By the time the intelligence community published the assessment and the annex, the FBI was already aware that Steeles research was paid for by a client with political motives. More than a month prior to the publication, the FBI learned that Steeles research was going to the Hillary Clinton campaign and that Steele was desperate that Trump not be elected, according to the Department of Justice Inspector General. Four days after Comey briefed Trump, the FBI learned that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid for Steeles research.

In early November of 2016, the FBI cut ties with Steele after learning that he was leaking to the media in violation of FBIs rules for confidential human sources. The bureau failed to include this detail in the annex despite mentioning that the sources reporting appears to have been acquired by multiple Western press organizations starting in October.

The FBI was also aware, but failed to disclose, that one of Steeles main sources was linked to Russian intelligence. According to a recently declassified footnote from the inspector generals report, in October 2016, FBI investigators learned that one of Steeles main sources was linked to the Russian Intelligence Service (RIS), and was rumored to be a former KGB/SVR officer.

The bureau was also aware that Russian intelligence was cognizant as early as July 2016 about Steeles election research, but did not include the information in the annex.

Comey and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe fought to include the dossier in the assessment despite opposition from the CIA, which was concerned that the claims in the dossier were not adequately vetted. The conflict was resolved by including the dossier information in the annex to the assessment.

The annex states that some of Steeles claims aligned with the assessments of the intelligence community, including the assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help defeat Clinton.

The annex is not the first official record where the FBI knowingly omitted facts about the Steele dossier which would undermine its credibility. The dossier played a crucial role in the bureaus decision to obtain a surveillance warrant to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The DOJ inspector general found that the FBI committed 17 serious errors and omissions in its applications, some of which were directly related to the dossier.
Guwahati, June 11 : The state-owned Oil India Ltd (OIL) lost 467 MT of crude oil production from 59 producing wells due to blockades by the local people and various students' organisations in two districts of Assam, an OIL release said on Thursday.

The OIL release said that as the firefighters, the NDRF and engineers intensified their efforts to douse the oil well fire in Assam's Tinsukia district for the third day on Thursday, various students' organisations and other associations forced OIL to stop its operations in three drilling locations and nine work-over locations spread over the areas of Baghjan (Dighal tarrnag), Barekuri, Dhakual, North Balijan, Bozaloni, Borhapjan, Jorajan and Naharkatiya in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts.

The protesting organisations included All Assam Students' Union (AASU), All Moran Students' Union(AMSU) and All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam (AASASA).

"The OIL lost 467 MT of crude oil production from 59 producing wells on Wednesday due to blockade by local people and various students' organisations at Makum, Barekuri, Hapjan, Lankashi, Nagajan, Hebeda, and Dhakul in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts. Gas production was also affected," the release said.

At least two firefighters of OIL were killed and four others, including one from ONGC, were injured near the oil well blowout site in Tinsukia district on Wednesday. The inferno was so intense that it could be seen from as far as 10 km away.

OIL spokesman Tridiv Hazarika said that Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a review meeting with the crisis management team and OIL officials through video conferencing on the fire in the OIL's gas well.

It has been reported that except at the well plinth area, the fire around the site has mostly been extinguished. However, the burning of gas at the well mouth would continue till the well is capped.

The fire in around 200 metres periphery has completely burnt about 15 houses, while another 15 houses have been partially affected.

"Over 7,000 inhabitants adjoining the oil well fire site have been shifted to 12 relief camps set up by the OIL," Hazarika told IANS.

A senior official of the Tinsukia district administrations said that it would take at least four weeks to completely control the blaze.

The massive fire broke out at the leaking natural gas producing well of OIL in Tinsukia district on Tuesday even as an experts' team from a Singapore-based emergency management firm was trying to plug the leakage of gas and oil condensate for the past 16 days, prompting the state government to seek the Indian Air Force's help to douse the blaze.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday dialled Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him about the latest developments regarding the "oil well explosion incident".

"The Prime Minister assured all help towards the people in the affected area," an Assam government release said.

Sonowal also spoke to Dharmendra Pradhan and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, seeking help from the IAF to douse the blaze, officials said.

An OIL spokesman said that the fire has been controlled in a 1.5 km radius area but it is still raging as the "uncontrollable" natural gas is being fed by the well's oil.

Local people said that the inferno has left a trail of devastation in the adjoining areas, including a famous lake. Farmlands with standing crops, as well as ponds and wetlands in the adjoining villages have also been badly affected and the threat is growing with every passing day.

Experts, environmentalists and wildlife activists are worried as the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, known for its feral horses, is less than 2 km away.

Central paramilitary troopers, NDRF, OIL and ONGC engineers and experts are on a war-footing exercise to douse the fire.

The oil well at Baghjan in Tinsukia, around 550 km east of Guwahati, had been leaking gas accompanied by oil condensate since May 27, causing enormous damage to the region's wildlife, wetlands and biodiversity.
Legislators also approve draft law letting lesbian couples use sperm donations to conceive children.

Switzerlands lower house of Parliament has approved draft legislation to let same-sex couples marry in a country that has lagged other parts of Western Europe in gay rights.

Despite opposition from conservatives, legislators on Thursday also voted to let lesbian couples use sperm donations to conceive children. The legislation will now move to the upper house for a final vote.

By 132 votes to 52, with 13 abstentions, the National Council says YES to #Ehefuralle real equality! rights group Pink Cross wrote on Twitter, using a hashtag meaning marriage for all.

Campaigners said the change had been a long time coming. Switzerland passed a law specifically protecting lesbian, gay and bisexual people from discrimination only in February.

Finally, it was about time for this basic human right! wrote one Twitter user under the name you_can_call_me_flower.

The draft law is moving through Parliament 13 years after civil partnerships became legal in Switzerland.

Public support

A survey commissioned by Pink Cross in February showed more than 80 percent of Swiss support same-sex marriage.

However, the countrys political institutions have tended to be more conservative than the general public.

In the future, marriage should be open to all opposite- and same-sex couples, that is the core of the proposal, Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter told the debate.

The Federal Council (the government) welcomes the fact that this will eliminate todays unequal treatment, she added.
Detailed methods on how to perform research on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, including procedures that effectively inactivate the virus to enable safe study of infected cells have been identified by virologists in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.

The peer-reviewed paper on the novel coronavirus, published in the journal Viruses, is a resource for newcomers in the field.

"Importantly, the study defines specific methods that fully inactivate the virus, that is make it non-infectious, in ways compatible with further scientific analysis," said Dr. Christopher Basler, professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, director of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Microbial Pathogenesis.

"This allows researchers to study the proteins and genes of the virus and how the infected host responds to infection outside of high containment. Confirming that such analyses can be done safely, with no risk of infection, will increase the rate of discovery about the virus and COVID-19."

When the disease COVID-19 appeared in humans, virologists in Basler's lab, who study emerging pathogens, wanted to contribute to the effort to understand SARS-CoV-2 and develop medical countermeasures for the virus. Because the new pathogen causes serious disease for which there are no definitive treatments, biosafety level 3 (BSL3) facilities are required. It was also necessary to handle the virus with extra care because so little was known about it.

To ensure the safety of the researchers and public, Basler and his team relied on biosafety experts who oversee the high-containment core at Georgia State. The experts created a plan that identified the optimal BSL3 facility on the university's Atlanta Campus for the work, developed rigorous training for the researchers (who were already experienced with high-containment work) and implemented procedures to enable safe and efficient work on SARS-CoV-2.

Co-authors of the paper include Drs. Alexander Jureka and Jesus Silvas, postdoctoral research associates in Basler's lab in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences.
A classified document released to the public Thursday reveals the FBI acknowledged it had only 'limited corroboration' of the infamous dossier which claimed Russia had 'kompromat' on Donald Trump when James Comey told him about its existence.

The 'golden showers' dossier was briefed to Trump just before his inauguration and Comey treated his discussion of it with Trump as possible evidence for the FBI's investigation into whether his campaign was colluding with the Kremlin.

But now a declassified document released by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, to Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, shows that the FBI knew there were doubts about it.

The dossier was produced by former British spy Christopher Steele, who passed it to the FBI.

He had been paid for his work indirectly through opposition research company Fusion GPS, which had first been tasked to look into then-candidate Trump by an anti-Trump Republican, then paid by Hillary Clinton's campaign to continue.

Steele is not named in the declassified document but is clearly the 'FBI source' referred to.

The declassified document is a two-page index to the crucial intelligence community assessment which was published just after Christmas 2016 and concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the intention of helping Trump.

The still-heavily redacted document says that the dossier played no part in that conclusion - which will be a blow to Trump's supporters' belief that it did. They will also dislike its conclusion that there was 'limited,' rather than no corroboration.

But it will offer them some ammunition in his long-running war with Comey, whom he fired as FBI director and has spent three years deriding on Twitter.

An intelligence report was declassified Wednesday that shares details former British intelligence official Christopher Steele (pictured) shared with the Intelligence Committee regarding his infamous dossier surrounding Russian interference in the 2016 election

The dossier famously alleges Trump and his campaign were blackmailed by the Russian government because it had obtained a video of Trump watching prostitutes urinate on a hotel bed in Moscow in 2013 when he traveled there for the Miss Universe pageant

'An FBI source, using both identified and unidentified sub sources, volunteered highly politically sensitive information from the summer to the fall of 2016 on Russian influence efforts aimed at the US presidential election,' the declassified document reads.

'We have only limited corroboration of the source's reporting in this case and did not use it to reach the analytic conclusion of the CIA/FBI/NSA assessment,' it continued of Steele.

The document, marked as 'sensitive,' reveals that the source claimed Trump had a close relationship with the Kremlin and that some of his top advisers were offered financial compensation from Moscow.

Steele formerly worked for British Intelligence Agency MI6, including a stint where he ran the Russia desk at the London headquarters, and in 2009 he co-founded Orbis Business Intelligence.

Among the allegations in the dossier was Steele's claim that Russia was able to blackmail Trump because they had a tape of him watching prostitutes urinate on a hotel bed in Moscow in 2013 when he traveled there for the Miss Universe pageant.

The claim, which led to the dossier being dubbed the 'Golden Showers Dossier,' has never been confirmed and no such tapes have ever emerged; the president has vehemently denied it ever happened.

Steele, however, made several other more serious claims against Trump and Russia.

'The source claimed that the President-elect and his top campaign advisers knowingly worked with Russian officials to bolster his chances of beating Secretary [Hillary] Clinton; were fully knowledgeable of Russia's direction of leaked Democratic emails; and were offered financial compensation from Moscow,' the Intelligence Committee report reads.

It was, however, the most sexually explicit part of it which lay at the heart of Comey's briefing to Trump.

Trump has repeatedly denied that is true and called the dossier made up.

The dossier was first published in full by Buzzfeed News shortly after it was revealed that Trump had been briefed by Comey on the existence of the document.

The document itself had been seen by several media outlets before the election, and passed not just to the FBI but after the election was given to John McCain who then also sent it to the FBI, not knowing that Steele was already a source for the bureau.

What the newly-declassified document reveals is a summary of the dossier.

The summary was part of the report into Russian interference, in the form of a classified annex to the public report.

What the newly-public document shows is that there was a detailed summary of Steele's dossier given to those reading the full classified report - who would include lawmakers and senior government officials.

In the dossier: The newly-declassified document shows what the FBI thought of Christopher Steele's work - saying it had 'limited corroboration' but parts tracked with the intelligence community's own conclusions

It shows that the FBI reported that: 'The FBI source also claimed Russian authorities possessed compromising material on the President-elect's activities when he was in Russia as well as a compromising dossier on Secretary Clinton's political activities that was controlled by the Kremlin and not shared with the President-elect or his team.'

That suggests that those sent the classified version of the report were not appraised of the sexually graphic nature of the alleged compromising material.

The document also shows that the intelligence community said that Steele's conclusions tracked their own about Russia, and that the former spy acknowledged himself that not all of it was corroborated or reliable.

Only Comey and Trump know if those doubts were passed to the then-president elect when the FBI chief briefed him on the dossier.

However the dossier was a part of material presented to a secret court to obtain a FISA eavesdropping warrant on Carter Page, by then a former Trump campaign aide, without the judges being told that there were FBI doubts about the information in it.

The information in it was used to support one of four bases of the application.

But an Inspector General report revealed that the FBI fell short of standards that everything in a FISA application by 'scrupulously accurate,' that it over-stated Steele's reliability, and said that the FBI 'speculates' that he was being paid by someone likely looking to discredit Trump, rather than spelling out the full political motivation of the dossier's commissioning.

The declassification is the latest such move by a Trump official and comes after the list of people who asked for 'unmaskings' during the transition to the Trump presidency which revealed the name of Mike Flynn, the incoming national security advisor.

Flynn was fired for lying about his contacts with Russia's ambassador, and who later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about it too but is now at the center of a legal storm with the Department of Justice trying to withdraw support for his conviction.

The list of names, like the declassified index, gave ammunition to both sides who claim either that there was abuse by the FBI and possibly the larger intelligence community to try to discredit Trump, or that Trump and his campaign's activities were at the very least worthy of thorough criminal and counter-intelligence investigation.

It is unclear if other material will be declassified; the release came as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted on party lines to subpoena a series of Obama-era officials, FBI bosses and others involved in Crossfire Hurricane, the investigation into Trump and Russia which became the Mueller report.
Teachers, parents and, yes, even children are anxiously waiting for schools to reopen in the fall, but the biggest questions on everyone's mind are when and how that can happen safely.

With so much still unknown about how coronavirus affects children and how it spreads, CNN asked health and education experts about the pros and cons of reopening schools.

Are there risks?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN he hesitated to make any broad statements about the safety of schools reopening, but said that conversation needs to happen with a particular focus on the infection level in each community.

"When you talk about children going back to school and their safety, it really depends on the level of viral activity, and the particular area that you're talking about. What happens all too often, understandably, but sometimes misleadingly, is that we talk about the country as a whole in a unidimensional way."

"There's no 'no-risk' activity," Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNN. "Staying home is not a no-risk activity, particularly if the parent's working. So, it's a question of can we mitigate the risk."

"Are we looking for absolute safety?" asked Dr. Susan Coffin, professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "If we're looking for absolute safety, we might choose to hunker down and wait until there's no more virus, and then begin to reopen schools exceptionally cautiously. But many educators and public health experts in the United States have been focused on strategies where we can have children come back together for in-person learning sooner rather than later."

Anita Cicero, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said she thinks there's a false sense of security based on the relatively low number of cases of COVID-19 in children. "I don't know if people are really connecting the dots to how that will increase the risk and increase potential exposures for family members at home," she said.

What does data say about kids passing virus to others?

Data have consistently shown that coronavirus affects children less often and with less severity in comparison to adults. As of June 10, less then 5 percent of all coronavirus cases were children under the age of 18, according to data from the CDC. There is a small percentage of children who have a more severe reaction to coronavirus and develop Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, but the rate of this complication is so far extremely low.

What remains unclear is the extent to which children infected with the virus can pass it onto others.

"The big unanswered question is: How efficiently can a child who's infected with coronavirus pass it on to other kids and to teachers and family members at home?" Cicero told CNN.

Fauci seemed to think that keeping schools closed in general was not necessary.

"Children can get infected, so, yes, you've got to be careful," he said. "You got to be careful for them and you got to be careful that they may not spread it. Now, to make an extrapolation that you shouldn't open schools, I think is a bit of a reach."

Do benefits of sending children back outweigh risks?

School closures due to the coronavirus pandemic have affected more than 56 million public and private school students in the U.S., and 20 million of those kids rely on school lunches.

American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, who leads one of the largest unions for teachers and school staff in the country, said nothing will be a 100% guarantee of safety.

"It's really important to get (kids) back into the community," Weingarten told CNN. "For teachers, they miss their kids and they know that the current, remote way of education has its limitations."

Sharfstein, who recently co-wrote an article pushing for schools to safely reopen to mitigate academic losses of the "COVID slide," said he believes educating children is one of the most important things society does.

"In all the talk about 'are barber shops going to open up' and 'what about theme parks,' we should be organizing to make sure the kids get what they deserve. The benefits are very important."

How can schools reopen with so many unknowns?

Many of the plans to reopen that have been announced so far involve social distancing, PPE, testing, isolation plans, and regular cleaning protocols. Some schools are also exploring hybrid models combining in-person and virtual learning. Such a major shift in how schools run will likely mean more teachers and resources will be needed.

Weingarten said she is frustrated by the lack of federal guidance and funding so far.

"I've never experienced a situation where we've gotten no guidance from the federal government, we've gotten nothing from Betsy DeVos, and we get very little from the CDC and very little from HHS," she said.

Department of Education spokesperson Angela Morabito said school reopenings were being left to state and local officials, as closings had been. "Secretary DeVos has said that going back to school in the fall may very well look quite different this year than it has in the past, and that schools might choose to adopt hybrid models that combine distance education with in-person instruction," she said. "The department is providing guidance, flexibility and resources to state and local leaders so that they are equipped to make the best decisions for students and staff."

Orange County Classroom Teachers Association President Wendy Doromal in Orlando, Florida, said any hybrid option will cost more.

"We even have to hire new teachers if you divide up rooms and students, but how can you even do that because our schools are overcrowded? There's so many questions," Doromal told CNN.

Cicero echoed the need for more funding. "That's also an incredible stressor and expense for schools to try to prepare all new systems to have these mass gatherings every day and keep everybody safe and infection free," she said.

In addition to more funding, experts also say all reopening models must include the flexibility for families to make individual decisions based on their own risk assessments. Therefore schools must have a fully online option to accommodate the students, teachers, and family members who are considered high risk and do not want to attend school in person.

Unanswered questions

Research seeking to answer how coronavirus spreads among children and whether they are less susceptible to infection so far has been inconclusive.

In Germany, researchers found that children are just as infectious as adults and therefore cautioned against an "unlimited reopening."

But a study from the Netherlands concluded that children play a minor role in the spread of the virus.

In a recent study from China, scientists analyzed data from Wuhan and Shanghai to find that while children were roughly a third as likely to contract coronavirus in comparison to adults, going to school gave them three times as many chances to become infected, effectively making children just as much at risk as adults.

"While proactive school closures cannot interrupt transmission on their own, they can reduce peak incidence by 40-60% and delay the epidemic," the study found.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, launched its own study last month to get further clarification on whether children are less likely to catch coronavirus than adults. The results will not be available until at least December.

"We're kind of down to the wire at this point," said Cicero. "It seems like we've been complacent in not really driving forward with the research that we need to figure out whether kids, once they go back to school, are likely to transmit the virus back to their family members or to their teachers and other school workers."

The-CNN-Wire  &  2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
Oman has discussed the possibility of a financial lifeline with other Gulf states to help it weather downturn: Sources.

Oman has discussed the possibility of financial aid with other Gulf states to help it cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices, according to two officials in the region and a U.S. government official familiar with the contacts.

The topic was one of several discussed at recent high-level political meetings between Gulf officials, two of the people said. The discussions are preliminary and nothing has been decided, including the scope or type of support that could be on the table, they said, declining to be named because of the sensitive nature of the conversations.

The talks took place at the leadership and foreign ministry level, the people said.

An Omani foreign ministry official said the country is engaged with Gulf neighbors to discuss ways to back up its national program to mitigate the impacts of the drop in oil prices and the coronavirus outbreak, asking not to be named because the discussions havent been made public.

Oil Exports

The biggest Arab oil exporter outside OPEC, Oman was among the most vulnerable economies in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council even before the dual crisis, posing a major challenge for Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al Said after he took power in January. The nations debt is rated junk by the three major credit assessors.

The yield on Omans $2.5 billion bond due 2026 fell 28 basis points to 6.1% at 1:33 p.m. in London after the news on on Thursday, the lowest since March 6.

The sultanates long-standing role as a mediator on regional and international issues, including with Iran, and its geographical position on one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes, make its stability important to Gulf states and international allies like the U.S., which signed a deal for better access to the sultanates ports last year.

Oman last week combined its two wealth funds  the State General Reserve Fund and the Oman Investment Fund  into one entity. Abdulsalam Al Murshidi was appointed to head the $17 billion Oman Investment Authority.

State news agency ONA reported Sultan Haitham met last month with the foreign and finance ministers of Qatar, which is being boycotted by a four-nation Arab bloc led by Saudi Arabia. The talks followed a series of meetings and phone calls between Oman, Kuwait and Qatar.

U.S. Support

Other Gulf countries recognize that Oman is in more difficult straits, the U.S. government official said, and are unanimous in not wanting to see the country sink economically.

The U.S. has also discussed potential ways in which it could support Oman, including under its 2009 Free Trade Agreement with the sultanate, and opportunities for U.S. companies, the official said.

Soon after coming to power, Sultan Haitham said fiscal stability was a priority. He has set out plans to cut spending to stabilize public finances, review state companies and last month made a rare decision to reduce salaries of new state employees. As elsewhere in the GCC, Oman has announced plans to inject liquidity into its banking system.

The country is looking at a seventh straight year of fiscal deficits. The gap is expected to widen to 16.9% of gross domestic product this year, according to a forecast by the International Monetary Fund. Oman has also been in preliminary talks with local and international banks to raise as much as $1 billion in loans in the first half of this year, Bloomberg reported in March.

With assistance from Netty Ismail and Mark Williams.
New Delhi: With no shoots lined-up, the stars are spending time at their homes and at the same time, some of them are experimenting with new things like Aamrapali Dubey. The Bhojpuri sizzler, who is quite active on Instagram, is now spending ample time on YouTube too. She has posted some interesting food vlogs and make-up and hair tutorial video.

In her recent vlog, Aamrapali teaches her fans how to make a pizza at home right from scratch and that too a desi one. Its quite an easy recipe and with Aamrapali teaching her fans, its fun to watch her.

She posted about her new vlog on Instagram and wrote, Finalllyyyy... bohot hi mehnat ke baad mera new vlog aa chuka hai please watch it guys.

Here is the vlog:

Earlier, Aamrapali had revealed that she will soon be posting a workout vlog too and her fans couldnt be more excited.

Aamrapali is one of the top-rated actresses of the Bhojpuri film industry having worked with almost all the A-listers. Her on-screen pairing with Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirahua is loved by the audiences.
What happened

Shares of U.S. exploration and production company Oasis Petroleum (NYSE:OAS) fell as much as 36% in early trading on June 10. QEP Resources (NYSE:QEP) dropped 33% and SM Energy (NYSE:SM) fell a relatively modest 16% or so. It's the second consecutive day that these companies have faced heavy selling on Wall Street.

The last two days, however, have marked a huge reversal in attitude toward these stocks. In fact, over the past five days, the shares of SM Energy are still up 29%. QEP remains higher by nearly 95%. And Oasis' gain is an incredible 155% or so. What's even more telling is that at one point during that five-day span Oasis was up more than 240%, with QEP peaking around 150%, and SM Energy reaching a high of a 60% or so.

So what

The key thing for long-term investors to keep in mind here is that the performance numbers being discussed are for just five trading days. The energy sector is volatile and prone to swift ups and downs, but the risk-on/risk off-shift here is quite dramatic. It's as if investors forgot about the underlying headwinds that U.S. exploration and production companies are facing because of some good news, and then suddenly remembered that nothing, as of yet, has changed all that much in the industry.

For example, OPEC and Russia agreeing to extend production cuts is indeed good news that could help alleviate the supply/demand imbalance that exists today. However, OPEC members have a pretty lousy track record of living up to their promises and it will still take some time for the cuts to work off all of the excess oil that's in the system. In addition, some of the upbeat mood from investors is related to the fact that oil prices have risen to the point where U.S. E&P names are opening up wells that they had shut down because of low prices. That will clearly help companies generate the cash flow they need to keep operating, but it doesn't mean the troubles are over in the industry.

For example, Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the situation, reported after the close on June 8 that Chesapeake Energy (OTC:CHKA.Q) was on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. Even rising oil prices can't help a company with weak fundamentals. E&P names like those here started to fall the very next day (along with Chesapeake), as if this was some shocking development. It wasn't. Motley Fool's Matthew DiLallo wrote about the company's hiring of restructuring advisors back in early May.

It's worth noting that financial debt-to-equity, which looks at stock market capitalization, was troublingly high for Oasis Petroleum (about 10 times), SM Energy (19), and QEP Resources (23) at the end of the first quarter. Looking at just balance sheet data, SM Energy's debt-to-equity ratio is a high 1.1 times, with QEP coming in at 0.6 times, which is a bit elevated when you consider the inherent volatility in the energy space. Oasis' debt-to-equity ratio is negative because write-offs have left it with negative shareholder equity, which is obviously not a positive thing.

And even the good news could actually end up being a headwind here. The fact that U.S. E&P names are starting to reopen shuttered wells could easily end up offsetting the cuts OPEC is making. Meanwhile, if energy prices move high enough, U.S. drilling activity, which is very low today, could quickly pick up again and cap oil's price gains. If that happens, it's not unreasonable to expect oil to fall into another deep downtrend. In other words, based on the price performance here, it looks disturbingly like investors are trying to time an industry recovery without really looking closely enough at the individual companies involved or the big-picture implications of positive, and negative, news on the industry.

Now what

If you are looking to invest in the energy sector, you should probably do so in a conservative manner. That might mean buying a diversified basket of E&P names via an ETF or, perhaps better, switching from small U.S. focused E&P names to financially strong industry giants with diversified business models, like Chevron, which, as part of a broader portfolio of assets, has a sizable U.S. onshore operation.
Philippine police guard arrested Chinese nationals suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of a Singaporean woman at a casino resort in Manila, July 20, 2017.

Philippine police killed two suspected Chinese nationals with alleged links to a kidnap gang targeting citizens from China in the Philippines during a shootout in northern Pampanga province on Thursday, officials said.

The two men were allegedly involved in the recent abduction of three Chinese nationals, who thought they were coming to the country to work for an online casino, authorities said. The Philippines in recent years has been dealing with kidnappings of Chinese nationals working in the country, particularly in the gaming industry, and at least one case of a Chinese kidnap-for-ransom gang preying on gamblers at local casinos.

The pair slain in Thursdays shootout were believed to be accomplices of suspects Yang Jun and Wu Zen Han, who were arrested days after the three latest Chinese kidnap victims were rescued by police, authorities said. Officials did not release details, but the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported that the other suspects were arrested June 6 and the kidnap victims had been rescued on June 1.

[The kidnapping victims] were hired to work for a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator but there was deceit. They were not given the jobs as casino dealers as promised, Maj. Ronaldo Lumactod, a spokesman for the national polices anti-kidnapping group said. He added that an undetermined ransom was demanded from the victims families in China.

A police report of the incident said the dead men, who were not named but were believed to be of Chinese descent, were alleged conspirators of members of a Chinese gang whose members were arrested previously.

Police approached a white van near the Forest Park in Angeles City, northern Pampanga province, believed to have been used as a getaway vehicle during the rescue when the suspects began shooting, leading officers to return fire, Lumactod and PNA said.

A police officer, Capt. Mike Diaz, was injured in the operation, Lumactod said. Officers recovered two pistols and an M4 automatic rifle from the dead men.

Mass arrests

The June 1 rescue occurred just days after the May 29 mass arrests of Chinese nationals at a budget motel south of the capital, who were suspected of operating an illegal online casino in Metro Manila.

The national polices Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) carried out the raid and arrested as many as 90 Chinese nationals based on a report about foreign-looking men who were frequently seen loitering near the motel.

The foreigners were spotted without proper garments and facemasks and not observing social distancing and other health protocols, the CIDG said in the statement. It said the raid took place after detectives were dispatched to the area to verify the report.

Authorities seized more than 50 laptop computers, more than 100 cellphones and about 5.3 million pesos (U.S. $105,000) in cash, CIDG officials said.

Last year, the national polices Anti-Kidnapping Group said that about five dozen Chinese were abducted in the country. Most of the kidnappings were carried out by a Chinese crime group preying on the huge population of undocumented Chinese workers in the Philippines.

Based on records from the Philippine Bureau of Immigration and Department of Labor and Employment, nearly 200,000 Chinese nationals work in the country  most of whom do not have work permits and are employed by online casinos, which cater to Chinese nationals but are prohibited in China.
The Future Fund was announced by Britain's business secretary, Alok Sharma. (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

The government is being urged to make public the names of startups backed with taxpayer cash through the Future Fund.

The Treasury this week said that 53 startups had received 55.9m ($71.4m) from the Future Fund, which was set up last month to help startups survive the COVID-19 downturn.

The fund distributes cash through convertible loan notes  loans that convert into shares if the business cannot pay it back. It means the government may end up with stakes in the startups backed by the fund.

The startups have not been named despite receiving state support. The British Business Bank, which administers the Future Fund, said they couldnt be disclose due to commercial terms.

Read more: UK startups get 1.25bn COVID-19 support from government

Darren Jones MP, chair of parliaments Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, told Yahoo Finance UK the businesses should be made public so that the government could be held accountable.

When government grants funding to companies its often normal for the recipients of those companies to be published, for example when Innovate UK or the Defence and Security Accelerator grants awards, Jones said.

While I understand there may be commercial sensitivity around the details of the award, it would seem odd that convertible loans  where government may end up as a shareholder  are not reported.

Indeed, I am keen to understand where such funding is going, especially in tracking support for companies outside of London and, for example, to female entrepreneurs. If these details arent published how can we know who got what and why?

Read more: UK government gives businesses 100bn helping hand

A spokesperson for the British Business Bank said: For commercial confidentiality reasons, the Future Fund can not disclose the identity of the companies in receipt of funding without their approval.

The companies that have received funding may disclose their identity at their discretion.

The Future Fund has a total of 250m in government cash to invest and 533 startups have so far applied to the fund. Successful candidates must have matched funding from a private venture capital investor, meaning the Future Fund should facilitate 500m of investment.
Simultaneously IQM unveils its first quantum computer design to set the phase in the technology roadmap

ESPOO, Finland, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IQM Finland Oy (IQM), a leading European company for quantum computer hardware, was just awarded a 2.5M grant and up to 15M of equity investment from the EIC Accelerator program for the development of quantum computers, benefiting the industry and the society at large. Together with Business Finland grants of 3.3M that IQM received so far, the company is on a fast run with more than 20M more raised in less than a year from its 11.4M seed round, summing in total to 32M.

IQM has experienced amazing growth, set up a fully functional research lab in record time, and also hired the largest industrial quantum hardware team in Europe. With the help of this new 20M, IQM will hire one quantum engineer per week and take an important next step to commercialize the technology through co-design of quantum-computing hardware and applications.

"Quantum computers will be funded by European governments, supporting IQM's expansion strategy to build quantum computers in Germany," says Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM.

Last week, the Finnish government announced they will support the acquisition of a quantum computer with 20.7M for the Finnish State Research center VTT.

"It has been a mind-blowing forty-million past week for quantum computers in Finland. IQM staff is excited to work together with VTT, Aalto University, and CSC in this ecosystem," rejoices Prof. Mikko Mottonen, Chief Scientist and co-founder of IQM.

This announcement was followed by the German government with 2b and to immediately commission the construction of at least two quantum computers. IQM sees this as an ideal point to expand its operations in Germany.

"With our growing team in Munich, IQM will build co-design quantum computers for commercial applications and install testing facilities for quantum processors," states Prof. Enrique Solano, CEO of IQM Germany.

Quantum computing will radically transform the lives of billions of people. Applications range from game-changing invention of medicine and novel materials to the discovery of economic models and sustainable processes.

"We are witnessing a boost in deep-tech funding in Europe, very important now. For a healthy growth of startups like IQM, we need all three funding channels: (1) research grants to stimulate new key innovations, (2) equity investments to grow the company, (3) early adoption through acquisitions supported by the government. This allows to pool the risk while creating a new industry and business cases," says Dr. Goetz.

IQM is focusing on superconducting quantum processors, which are streamlined for commercial applications in a novel Co-Design approach.

"With the new funding and immense support from the Finnish and the European governments, we are ready to scale technologically. This brings us closer to quantum advantage thus providing tangible commercial value in near-term quantum computers," adds Dr. Kuan Yen Tan, CTO and co-founder of IQM.

IQM ranks in the top 2% of all European deep tech startups applying for the highly competitive EIC Accelerator program

Thanks to its strong technology and business plan, IQM was one of the 72 to succeed in the very competitive selection process of the EIC. Altogether 3969 companies applied for this funding.

"The 15M equity component of the EIC can be an ideal contribution to IQM's Series A funding round." says a beaming Dr. Juha Vartiainen, COO and co-founder of IQM.

The new funding also supports IQM's recent establishment of its new underground quantum computing infrastructure capable of housing the first European farm of quantum computers. IQM provides the full hardware stack for a quantum computer, integrating different technologies, and invites collaborations with quantum software companies. Brilliant quantum software engineers are also welcomed to join IQM.

About IQM:

https://www.meetiqm.com/company/aboutus

IQM videos:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvjqSqZiJ715XVH3O3IF93Q

About EIC Accelerator (SME instrument) program:

https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/news/eic-accelerator-offers-new-blend-grants-and-equity

About Business Finland:

https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/for-finnish-customers/about-us/in-brief/

IQM PR CONTACTS

IQM Contacts for questions and comments:

Dr Jan Goetz

CEO, IQM

email: jan@meetiqm.com

tel. +358 505 666?483

(English & German)

Prof Mikko Mottonen

Chief Scientist, IQM

email: mikko@meetiqm.com

tel. +358 505 940?950

(English & Finnish)

Dr Kuan Yen Tan

Chief technology officer, IQM

email: kuan@meetiqm.com

tel. +358?504?778?091

(English & Chinese)

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1178706/IQM_quantum_computer_design.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1178704/IQM_Dr_Jan_Goetz.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1178705/IQM_founders.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1121497/IQM_Logo.jpg
NSW Police will take the organisers of a protest scheduled for Saturday to the Supreme Court hoping to stop the event, while warning others not to attend a separate unauthorised protest on Friday night.

Saturday's protest, which has been organised by the Refugee Action Coalition, has around 1000 indicated attendees on social media. The group has applied for authorisation, which NSW Police want to decline.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mick Willing urges protesters not to attend Friday's protest. Credit:Kate Geraghty

The matter will be heard at 3pm today.

"I can only implore people to let this one go, and come back and express your views at the right time when it's safe to do so," NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Mick Willing said.
"El Nuevo Metodo de Votar." The year was 1993. Control of the Pennsylvania state Senate turned on a special election in Philadelphia. Although the district was heavily Democratic, the Republican was running a strong campaign, with organized labor and minority support. In desperation, the Democratic machine's operatives descended on the District to steal the election by manipulating Latino voters into signing absentee ballot applications, falsely claiming a "new method of voting"  voting absentee for convenience  then illegal in Pennsylvania if one could go to the polls. Democratic city election officials then illegally provided the ballots to the operatives directly  instead of mailing them  to "help" voters in choosing their candidate and allowing operatives to return the ballots themselves  again illegal.

Campaign workers were paid for each absentee ballot application and illegal vote harvested. In some cases, workers voted the ballots without the voters even seeing them. Hard to believe? After months of legal battle, a federal judge issued a landmark decision finding that candidate William Stinson and the Philadelphia city officials engaged in massive fraud involving thousands of illegal votes, removed the Democrat from office, and instated the rightly elected Republican as senator. A dozen campaign workers were convicted of election fraud. We should know. Bruce Marks was the candidate, and Mike Roman ran his ballot security operation.

Since 1993, many states have tried to increase voter participation by allowing mail ballots for all voters  not just those away from polling places on Election Day or having medical reasons. Today, some states essentially conduct all voting by mail. There are strong arguments against universal mail voting. For one, it encourages voting too early. Take this year's California Democratic primary, where hundreds of thousands of votes were cast for Amy Klobuchar and other candidates before they dropped out on election eve. Mail voting also marginalizes Election Day "politicking" and may delay results. These problems are even greater than the threat of election fraud. States like Pennsylvania require ballots to be mailed or given to voters directly or through family members and returned through the same means. This prevents voters from harassment and undue influence.

In contrast, some states allow "ballot-harvesting"  the dubious practice by which political operatives are permitted to visit voters and pick up and return their ballots. Needless to say, this greatly increases the threat of improper pressure. For obvious reasons, states prohibit campaign workers inside voting booths. Why should workers be permitted to "assist" in voting and returning mail ballots from home? Foxes do not belong in henhouses. But this is what happens; once ballots are mailed, workers knock on doors and pester voters to return them filled in the "right" way, with no safeguards. Already in Texas, harvesters, known as "politiqueras," have been convicted for bribing voters with cigarettes, beer, and even drugs to get control of their ballots. In Florida, misconduct by "boleteros"  balloteers  in Miami resulted in legislative reform limiting third parties from possessing absentee ballots. Most recently, in 2019, a Republican operative was arrested for improper harvesting in a North Carolina congressional election.

Now Democrats are claiming that ballot-harvesting is needed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020 election. Nothing could be more untrue. Already, the U.S. Postal Service has alerted New Jersey election officials of thousands of "harvested" ballots being dumped in mailboxes while voters report ballots being stolen from their homes. America does not need politiqueras, boleteros, and other paid-by-the-vote mercenaries interfering in ballot integrity, pressuring voters, and violating social distancing standards.

"Get rid of ballot harvesting, it is rampant with fraud," President Trump recently tweeted. He should know. In 1994, Trump headlined a re-election fundraiser for Bruce Marks and learned all about "El Nuevo Metodo de Votar." It stuck with him. Let's not repeat these mistakes in the 2020 election. If citizens wish to vote by mail, there need to be safeguards in place. Do not literally open the doors of voters to allow ballot harvesting to steal the presidential election in the guise of increased participation.

Bruce S. Marks is a former state senator from Pennsylvania and represented the Trump campaign in the 2016 election. Mike Roman is director of Election Day operations for the 2020 Trump campaign.

Image: Tom Arthur via Wikimedia Commons.
British Airways will sell at least 10 works of art from its extensive collection, a source said, to try to raise millions of pounds to boost its cash reserves as it struggles through the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline has come under fire from British politicians for plans to cut 12,000 jobs. But with planes grounded and no revenue, it says the job losses are necessary because travel demand is set to shrink in coming years.

The BA collection includes works by Damien Hirst, Peter Doig and Bridget Riley, and selling off some of the works, which usually hang in executive lounges at airports, was an idea from a BA staff member, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

At least one work has been valued at more than 1 million pounds ($1.27 million), the source added.

BA boss Alex Cruz said last week that with its parent company IAG burning through 178 million pounds ($223 million) a week, he could not guarantee BAs survival and urged unions to engage over the job cuts.

The airline has said it is taking steps now to reduce up to 28% of staff numbers to protect as many jobs as it can in the long term.
India has asked China to reduce the build-up of its troops at the LAC and revert to the status quo of April

Cattle drink water at Pangong Lake, the site of several confrontations between India and China in Ladakh region, in Ladakh. PTI photo

New Delhi: In the second round of military talks between India and China, Major Generals from the two armies met on Wednesday to try to de-escalate the month-long military stand-off at the line of actual control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector.

India and China armies are scheduled to also hold talks at various levels from brigadier level to commanding officers in the next 10 days at different points along the LAC in an attempt to resolve the military stand-off. These are follow-up of the Lieutenant General level talks which were held between Indian and Chinese armies on Saturday.

The Major General level talks were held today on the Indian side, said a senior official.

Indian armys 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh and Peoples Liberation Armys South Xinjiang Military Region, commander Maj Gen Liu Lin had held over 5 hours long meeting on Saturday in Moldo.

Following this meeting there has been slight disengagement between the two armies at three points Patrolling point 14 (Galwan area), Patrolling point 15, and Hot Springs.

India has asked China to reduce the build-up of its troops at the LAC and revert to the status quo of April in Pangong Tso, Hot Springs and Galwan Valley.

The main contention between Indian and Chinese troops remains the Northern bank of Pangong Tso lake where Chinese troops have pitched tents at finger 4 location to prevent the Indian army to patrol till Finger 8 which India believes is part of its territory. The troops from the two sides were involved in a brutal clash at Pangong Tso on the intervening night of May 5th and May 6th.

The major threat still remains the massive buildup by both armies along with artillery, radars, armored vehicles and tanks in their in-depth areas along the line of actual control (LAC). Until and unless these troops move back to the peace-time locations the threat perception will remain high at the LAC.
Colombo, June 11 : Sri Lanka is set to hold its parliamentary elections on August 5, the country's National Election Commission (NEC) announced after it postponed the crucial polls twice due to restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We couldn't hold the election before because of coronavirus. We have done our best. The parliamentary general election that was to be held on June 20 will be held on August 5," NEC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told reporters on Wednesday.

He added that the decision was taken unanimously by all three members of the NEC, reports Efe news.

The elections were initially set to be held on April 25, after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolved Parliament in March following his landslide victory in the November 2019 presidential polls.

The date was shifted to June 20 after lockdown measures were announced in mid-March.

The island nation has registered 11 deaths and around 1,860 cases of the new coronavirus as of Wednesday, with the rate of infection slowing in recent weeks and no new fatalities reported since the beginning of the month.

Authorities have gradually eased restrictions since the later half of May, and currently travel restrictions were in force only between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.

Former lawmaker Bimal Rathnayake told Efe news that holding the election could not have been avoided any further, as according to the constitution the parliament has to be reconvened within three months of its dissolution, a period which has already expired on June 2.

"We think, if the numbers we are seeing are true, the government has controlled the coronavirus outbreak in the country to some extent," he said.

However some parties and citizens' groups have opposed the move citing health risks.

The national coordinator of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, Manjula Gajanayake, told Efe that elections should be held aiming for "zero casualties".

He put the estimated cost of the polls at 7 billion LKR ($38 million), although adding that "this could increase because we have to have sufficient procedure in place during the pandemic".

This is a massive expenditure for an economy struggling to recover from the lockdown, with crucial sectors such as tourism completely grinding to a halt.

The elections are set be held under strict health protocols with campaign meetings limited to a maximum of 100 people, while the NEC has recommended using the print and electronic media for propaganda and cutting down physical meetings to avoid exposure to the virus.

The Commission has also limited house-to-house campaigns to a maximum of three people.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn-in as president after an easy victory in the November 16, 2019 polls on the back of an agenda focused on national security.

Soon after, he appointed his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister and dissolved the opposition-majority Parliament.

The President's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party has to win majority in the house in order to secure the government's full control in the semi-presidential representative democracy.
The former Corbyn candidate behind the campaign to remove Baden-Powell's statue tweeted 'if you're white, I don't give a sh** about your issues with BLM protests' as the local council was poised to take it down.

It comes as the Liberal Democrat leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) council joined calls for a local museum to put its exhibition of the Scouts founder online.

The ex-Labour candidate Corrie Drew - who stood in Bournemouth East in 2019 and - is among those demanding the removals of statues across the country.

At the time she was working as a part-time cleaner and recevied donated cash from two crowdfunding pages so she could focus on campaigning for the election.

The statue was due to be pulled down by council workers at 7.30am this morning but the crew stayed away fearing a 'circus' after news of its removal prompted angry protests by former Scouts and locals.

She said today: 'Our people deserve better than a monument to Baden Powell. His starting of the scouting movement can be no excuse for his documented homophobia, racism and enthusiastic support of Hitler'.

Pictured: Former Labour candidate for Bournemouth East Corrie Drew and, right, local Lib Dem council leader Vikki Slade speaking to crowds - inclduing former Scouts - who descended on the seafront in a bid to stop the statue's removal today

Corrie Drew, pictured with then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was behind the campaign to remove the statue of Lord Baden-Powell who launched the Scouting movement, which has 54m members worldwide today

Rover Scout Matthew Trott salutes a statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset ahead of its expected removal to 'safe storage' following concerns about his actions while in the military and 'Nazi sympathies'

This morning she also tweeted: 'I'd like to state, in the strongest terms possible: If you're white, I don't give a sh** about your issues with the BlackLivesMatter protest or movement. We haven't endured lifelong abuse & discrimination because of our skin colour. Support or shut up.'

It follows Black Lives Matter protesters tearing down the statue of slave holder Edward Colston in Bristol on Sunday, and a memorial to Robert Milligan being removed from London docklands on Tuesday.

Former scouts today vowed to defend the seaside statue of Robert Baden-Powell due to be hauled down later after Black Lives Matter protesters branded him racist, homophobic and fascist as the campaign to remove approaching 80 historic monuments in Britain hurtles on.

Local residents gather by a statue of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout movement, is pictured on the promenade in Bournemouth

Local residents show their support for a statue of Robert Baden-Powell on Poole Quay in Dorset this morning

People are seen putting a face mask onto a statue of Robert Baden-Powell in Poole, the statue is due to be removed following protests against the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council leader Vikki Slade, a Liberal Democrat, says the statue on Poole Quay facing Brownsea Island where the first scout camp was held in 1907 will be taken down immediately and put in 'safe storage'.

The council tried to shift the blame to remove the statue onto the police today. BCP council, run by an alliance of Lib Dem, Labour, Green and Independent councillors, said they took the decision after Dorset Police advised them to remove it 'to minimise the risk of any public disorder or anti-social behaviour' after chaos in Bristol when a bronze of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down on Sunday.

However the force said it only provided advice after the council approached them, saying it was a 'potential target' - and the Scout Association suggested it had no knowledge of the council's plans until after a decision was made.

There is fury over the statue's planned removal today with former Queen's Scout Len Bannister, 79, guarding it this morning declaring: 'If they want to knock this down - they'll have to knock me down first'.

He told ITV News: 'It's absolutely crazy. Who's it that actually wants to do it? I'll fight them off. I'm actually very angry - and I'm not a protester. I've had a lot of enjoyment because of him in my life because of him'.

Local Tory MP Conor Burns tweeted earlier: 'The removal of the statue of Lord Baden Powell from Poole is a huge error of judgement. Very concerned by the idea it is on advice from @dorsetpolice'. He added: 'Are we going to follow the example of the Met and Bristol and let the mob rule the streets?'

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council leader Vikki Slade, a Liberal Democrat, says the statue on Poole Quay facing Brownsea Island where the first scout camp was held in 1907 will be taken down immediately and put in 'safe storage'.

But there is fury over the statue's planned removal today with local Tory MP Conor Burns tweeting: 'The removal of the statue of Lord Baden Powell from Poole is a huge error of judgement. Very concerned by the idea it is on advice from @dorsetpolice'. He added: 'Are we going to follow the example of the Met and Bristol and let the mob rule the streets?'

A 'hit list' of 78 statues and memorials to some of Britain's most famous figures has been created by an anti-racism group urging local communities to remove them because they 'celebrate racism and slavery'

The Scouts have released a statement this morning, and although they refused to condemn the decision they said they hoped it would be 'temporary'.

BCP council, run by an alliance of Lib Dem, Labour, Green and Independent councillors, took the decision after Dorset Police advised them to remove it 'to minimise the risk of any public disorder or anti-social behaviour' after chaos in Bristol when a bronze of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down on Sunday.

Councillor Slade said: 'Whilst famed for the creation of the Scouts, we also recognise that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powell's life that are considered less worthy of commemoration. Therefore, we are removing the statue so that we can properly involve all relevant communities and groups in discussions about its future, including whether a more educational presentation of his life in a different setting might be more appropriate.'

The campaign for the statue's removal has been led by Corrie Drew, who describes herself as a BLM supporter on Twitter but was also Jeremy Corbyn's Labour general election campaign candidate for the area in 2019.

The next in line? BLM supporters have pinpointed a list of their next targets, but the most widely shared are (top left to bottom right) 1) Lord Nelson  tried to stop abolition (Nelson's column) 2) Sir Thomas Picton 3) Thomas Guy - London, Guy's Hospital 4) Sir Robert Peel 5) Sir Francis Drake 6) William Beckford 7) Henry Dundas 8) Clive of India 9) John Cass 10) General Sir Redvers Buller 11) Lord Kitchener 12) Ronald Fisher 13) Lord Grey - Grey's Monument - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Grainger Street 14) Oliver Cromwell  Statue - London, Houses of Parliament 15) Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde  Statue - Glasgow, George Square 16) William Ewart Gladstone 17) William Leverhulme  Statue - Wirral, outside Lady Lever Art Gallery 18) William Armstrong - Memorial - Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eldon Place 19) King James II  Statue - London, Trafalgar Square 20) General James George Smith Neill, Wellington Square, Ayr

But Andrew Williams, the chairman of Poole Scout District Executive, has revealed that nobody had contacted him and told the Bournemouth Echo newspaper that initially he thought it 'must have been a hoax'. And councillor Mark Howell, BCP cabinet member for regeneration and ward councillor for Poole Town, said he believed on 'on balance' that the scout founder's contribution to society was 'positive'.

Lord Baden-Powell was honoured with a statue in Poole 12 years ago because he founded the world Scout Movement that has helped tens of millions of children - and the bronze monument looks out to Brownsea Island where he held the first Scout camp in 1907.

Black Lives Matter supporters added the Poole statue to its 'topple the racists' list claiming was enthusiastic about Nazism and an admirer of Hitler's Mein Kampf and his Hitler Youth movement - although his biographer Tim Jeal has said this support was more about his distrust of communism.

He became a British national hero during the Second Boer War in South Africa for defending a garrison town for 217 days from 5,000 Boer troops - but after his death in 1941 some modern historians branded him racist because he starved locals so he could feed his own soldiers. Baden-Powell also mounted an attack on masturbation and homosexuality, linking them to sexual and moral dissipation.

In June last year Corrie Drew hit headlines when she said she wanted the public to pay for her rent, bills and even food through crowdfunding so she can stay glued to the campaign trail.

Two Just Giving pages were set up to raise funds for the Parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth East, and almost 100 people from across the country have given a total of more than 2,000 to the 37-year-old since December 2018.

She works part-time as a cleaner - and is lodging to save money - but says that is not enough to make ends meet while canvassing support.

Corrie Drew (pictured) - the Parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth East - set up two Just Giving pages to raise funds from supporters

It reportedly costs prospective candidates 11,000 to stand in an election. The large sum can price people on lower incomes out of becoming a candidate, figures revealed in 2018.

Ms Drew - who described herself as a 'council estate girl' on her Twitter bio - said: 'I still cannot continue to give so many hours to Labour, though, without your help.'

Her Just Giving page said: 'Corrie is fiercely committed to building a country that works for everyone with not one of us left out.

'She dedicates much of her time to campaigning and training whilst still trying to hold down a job.

'Running a campaign which is reliant on local volunteers, whilst being on a low income herself, means that Corrie really struggles to juggle paying for her own rent and bills.'
File pic

The Congress charged the BJP with attempts to destabilise the Rajasthan government with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claiming that some of the party MLAs were offered Rs 25 crore each.

Gehlot's statement came hours after the Congress took its MLAs to a Jaipur resort for a meeting ahead of the elections to three seats of the Rajya Sabha in the state on June 19.

Claiming a heavy transfer of cash to Jaipur, Gehlot said there were reports about the BJP's plan similar to that of Madhya Pradesh and some of the party MLAs were offered Rs 25 crore in cash with Rs 10 crore in advance.

But the party MLAs were 'alert and united', he said, adding that the condition of those who left the Congress to join the BJP was not good.

He also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the Rajya Sabha elections were postponed under pressure because the BJP could not poach MLAs in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

About the meeting with the MLAs, Gehlot said it was fruitful and they will meet again on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Congress' national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who arrived in Jaipur to attend the meeting of the Congress MLAs and Independent legislators, said 'repeated assassination' of public mandate has become the BJP's character.

The BJP's conspiracy in Rajasthan will not succeed, he said, adding that the Congress MLAs are 'fearless', therefore, they are not going to fall into any temptation and the BJP will get the 'right reply' through democracy.

Stressing that the party has an absolute majority, he said no one can 'defeat the public mandate or democracy'.

Alleging a bid to poach the party MLAs and the independent legislators backing the government, government chief whip Mahesh Joshi too forwarded a written complaint to the DG, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

He sought action against 'identified' elements for the corrupt conduct and attempts for destabilising the government.

It has come to my knowledge that like Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, attempts are being made to destabilise the government in Rajasthan, Joshi said in the complaint.

However, he did not specify who is making the attempts.

ACB DG Alok Tripathi said action will be taken on the complaint.

Amid this, the MLAs who were called at chief minister's residence in the evening for a meeting for the Rajya Sabha elections were taken to the Shiv Vilas resort on the Delhi highway in Jaipur, where the meeting was held.

The meeting was fruitful today. The MLAs were asked to go tonight and we will meet again tomorrow, Gehlot told reporters after the meeting on Wednesday night.

AICC general secretary Avinash Pande and the party's Rajya Sabha candidate from Rajasthan K C Venugopal will also remain present in the meeting tomorrow. On the other hand, state BJP president Satish Poonia said the Congress in Rajasthan is "feeling insecure".

"Their own house is not in order. They do not trust their MLAs," Poonia said.

The Congress has nominated K C Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 19 while the BJP fielded Rajendra Gehlot and Onkar Singh Lakhawat.

In the assembly of 200, the Congress has 107 MLAs, including six those who defected to the party from the BSP last year. The party enjoys the support of 12 of the 13 Independent MLAs in the state.
STEPANAKERT, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan had a telephone conversation on June 11 with His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the Presidents Office told Armenpress.

President Harutyunyan and His Holiness Garegin II discussed the cooperation programs with the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, as well as issues relating to the church-state relations and the spiritual life in Artsakh. They also touched upon the ongoing efforts aimed at preventing the spread of the pandemic.

The President of Artsakh thanked His Holiness Garegin II for the constant support provided to Artsakh and expressed a wish to visit the Mother See in the near future.

The phone talk was held at the initiative of the Artsakh President.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
R enewed criticism over the use of blackface has prompted streaming services to remove some shows from their archives.

In the light of Black Lives Matter protests around the world, Netflix has taken a stand against blackface in series like Little Britain and The Mighty Boosh.

The decision comes after US streaming service HBO Max announced this week that it had removed the film Gone With The Wind from its library over racist depictions of black people, explaining that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible.

Presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have also apologised for using blackface in sketches that aired in Saturday Night Takeaway.

Here are the programmes that are no longer available to stream due to actors using blackface.

Little Britain

Little Britain - In pictures 1 /30 Little Britain - In pictures BBC HBO BBC HBO PA BBC HBO PA bbc PUBLICITY PICTURE PA PUBLICITY PICTURE PUBLICITY PICTURE BBC BBC BBC PA PA

David Walliams and Matt Lucas controversial comedy has been removed from Netflix, BBC iPlayer and BritBox after facing renewed criticism for the use of blackface in some sketches.

Theres a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer which we regularly review, a BBC spokesperson said of the series, which first aired on BBC Three in 2003.

"Times have changed since Little Britain first aired, so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.

Speaking in 2017, Lucas admitted that he would do things differently now as his views have evolved.

If I could go back and do Little Britain again, I wouldnt make those jokes about transvestites," he said. "I wouldnt play black characters.

Basically, I wouldnt make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than Id do now.

Society has moved on a lot since then and my own views have evolved.

The League Of Gentlemen

BBC

Netflix has removed The League Of Gentlemen, which starred Reese Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss, from its library.

Shearsmith played Papa Lazarou, a circus ringmaster, wearing blackface. The character had long been the focus of criticism, though Shearsmith has claimed that Lazarou was not supposed to be a black man.

Three series of the show are still streaming on BBC iPlayer and the broadcaster confirmed to The Guardian that there are currently no plans to remove the series from the site.

The Mighty Boosh

BBC

Noel Fielding and Julian Barratts comedy, which aired between 2004 and 2007, is no longer available to stream on Netflix.

The series featured a character called The Spirit Of Jazz, supposed to be the ghost of a fictional jazz musician, which was played by Fielding wearing blackface.

The Mighty Boosh was still available to stream on BBC iPlayer at the time of writing.

Bo Selecta

Leigh Francis has apologised for using blackface in Bo' Selecta

After creator Leigh Francis apologised for impersonating black celebrities including Craig David and Trisha Goddard on his Noughties comedy series, Bo Selecta was removed from Channel 4s streaming platform All4.

We support Leigh in his decision to reflect on Bo Selecta in light of recent events and weve agreed with him to remove the show from the All 4 archive, a statement from the broadcaster said.

Francis apology came after TV presenter Goddard contacted him about his use of blackface on the show when she saw that he had posted a black square on social media in support of Blackout Tuesday.

She told The Sun that Francis caricatures had left her feeling hurt and filled with distaste and disgust.
Marion County will enter Stage 4 of reopening June 19, Mayor Joe Hogsett announced during a press conference June 11.

Marion County has been a week behind most of the rest of Indiana when it comes to reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which had caused 2,198 deaths statewide as of June 11.

Stage 4 of reopening includes the following:

 Retail stores and malls can open at full capacity.

 Restaurants can increase indoor capacity to 75%.

 Clubs and nightclubs can open at 50% capacity.

 Indoor religious services can be held at 75% capacity.

 Move theaters, bowling alleys, museums and the Indianapolis Zoo can open at 50% capacity.

 Gyms and fitness centers can open at full capacity.

 Public gatherings can include up to 250 people.

 Business at office buildings can resume at full capacity.

Dr. Virginia Caine, director of the Marion County Public Health Department, still encourages people 65 or older, as well as anyone with existing medical conditions such as asthma and hypertension, to continue to stay home as much as possible.

Caine also said everyone should still wear face gatherings and practice social distancing when they do go out.

Visit the citys website to order free facemasks for you and your household.

News In Brief
Sony is all set to reveal their next-gen console, The Playstation 5, aka PS5. Sony already dominates the console market thanks to the PS4, which was the best selling console last gen. Fans are now eagerly awaiting the release of PS5. The PS5 online reveal event is all set to premiere on June 11, 2020, at 1 PM US Pacific time. In India, this event will start around midnight IST on June 12, 2020. Here is the PS5 event time in Malaysia.

PS5 event time in Malaysia

Also Read | PS5 Event Time In South Africa; At What Time Can The PS5 Release Be Watched On June 11?

According to the official Sony Playstation Twitter handle, the PS5 launch event will begin on June 11, 2020, at 1 PM US Pacific time. That is around 9:00 PM in British Summer Time (BST). Since Malaysia is 15 hours ahead of US Pacific Time, the PS5 launch event will start at 4 AM Malaysia time on June 12, 2020.

PS5 expected price

Also Read | PS5 Event Time In Australia: Details About The Price, Where To Watch & More

The expected price for the PS5 is around $470 to $500 approximately. In INR, this is around 35794.75 to 38079.52. In Malaysia ringgit, the cost is around RM 2009.49 to RM 2137.75. The new PS5 will be available to pre-order by the month July of 2020. The console will also be available for purchase by late 2020. The new XBox Series X is also releasing around the same time, so their will be fierce competition between the two consoles.

What to expect with the new PS5 online reveal?

Also Read | PS5 Event Time In US: How And Where To Watch The PS5 Release?

The upcoming PS5 reveal event will be streamed at 1080p and 30 frames per second for all devices. The video of the event will be released in lower quality due to time constraints. Sony has also asked its viewers to watch the live event with headphones. According to Sony, the PS5 is capable of sound quality that can not be heard with normal audio.

According to the Chief Executive officer of PS5, Jim Ryan, the new PS5 will be well worth its cost thanks to the new next-gen features that have been added into the console. He also expects the launch to fully satisfy gamers. The PS5 online reveal will reveal major details about external hardware and the internal software of the system.

Also Read | How Much Was The PS4 At Launch And What Will Be The Price Of Sony PS5?

[Promo Image shutterstock]
Arizonas state health director, Dr. Cara Christ, sent an urgent letter to Arizona hospitals, asking them to activate their COVID-19 emergency plans. The Arizona Department of Health Services tweeted Tuesday night, We know COVID-19 is still in our community, and we expect to see increased cases.

The Arizona DHS reported Wednesday that the rising number of hospitalizations for coronavirus infection had raised the occupancy rate for the states hospitals to 83 percent, up from 76 percent Monday, past the 80 percent figure that triggers a halt in elective surgeries.

The state reported 1,556 cases on Wednesday, a new daily high, bringing total cases statewide to nearly 30,000, half of them in Maricopa County (Phoenix), with 1,095 deaths.

Arizona restaurant - Photo Matt York

Dr. Marjorie Bessel, the chief clinical officer for Banner Health, told azcentral.com, I definitely think we are seeing an increase in community prevalence and spread. What the proximal cause is, it is hard for me to state what that is, but certainly a number of activities that have happened since the executive stay-at-home order expired on May 15.

According to Marcy Flanagan, executive director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, the county has seen nearly 500 new cases daily in each of the last four days, compared to 200 new cases per day previously before.

With over 2 million total cases, persistent daily cases over 20,000+ on a seven-day average, and 112,629 deaths in the United States, according to the database of the New York Times, the outbreak is currently spreading in the southern and western states as government restrictions have been eased and back-to-work orders carried out.

California has had more than 2,000 daily cases since May 25. Missouri, Washington, and North Carolina are seeing a new surge of cases. Florida has now consistently over 1,000 cases each day, with Saturdays total of 1,426 positive cases the most since early April. Coronavirus hospitalizations in North Carolina have hit a new high of 774.

Arizona is only one of 19 states where the COVID-19 infection rate is rising, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. These include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Four other states have increased COVID-19 hospitalizations since the Memorial Day weekend (May 24-26), which is widely regarded as an inflection point in the development of the pandemic. These include the two most populous states, California and Texas, as well as Mississippi and Montana.

In Houston, Texas, COVID-19 hospitalizations hit their low point in mid-May with just under 400 patients. On Tuesday, this number had risen to 622 patients. Pretty much all the numbers are moving in the wrong direction at this point, said Dr. David Persse, director of Houstons Health Department.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has repeatedly warned that the pandemic still had a long way to go, explained that public health measures alone would not bring an end to the outbreak until a vaccine is developed and billions and billions of doses are available. Speaking at a conference of biotechnology executives, he said, Now we have something [COVID-19] that turns out indeed to be my worst nightmare. In a period of four months, it has devastated the world; 110,000 deaths in the US. Theres millions and millions of infections worldwide. And it isnt over yet.

Worldwide, the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb unabated, now at 7.4 million, with almost 420,000 deaths. Daily new cases continue to exceed 100,000, while the daily fatality rates range between 3,000 and 5,000 cases.

As of June 9, COVID-19 data tracked by Our World in Data, shows a remarkable correlation between the intensity of testing and a low rate of infections. Every nation that has performed more than 100 tests for every detected infection has seen daily case rates held below 100 per day over a seven-day average.

Iceland, Latvia, Tunisia, Luxembourg, Thailand, Australia, South Korea, Norway, and Ireland are only a selection of the countries whose case rates are down-trending or have remained flat because of high rates of testing. It is, of course, not the testing by itself that results in lower rates, but the accompanying health care measures, including contact tracing and isolating those who are infected or exposed.

Countries that have been performing less than 20 tests per detected case are in a far worse position. On average, they are reporting rates close to 1,000 new cases per day or more with rates remaining flat or climbing. Among these are Panama, Iran, Argentina, Indonesia, South Africa, Qatar, Pakistan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, India, Chile, and Colombia.

The United States is near the bottom, with 2 million infections and 22 million tests, for a rate of 11 tests per detected case. Worst of all is Brazil, which has less than one million tests and nearly 800,000 cases, for a rate of just over 1 test per detected caseeffectively, no testing at all.

Trump claimed that the US has the most confirmed COVID-19 cases because it tests more, stupidly suggesting that if there was less testing, incidence of the deadly disease would go down: as though closing ones eyes to the problem would make it go away.

Daily New Confirmed Cases for Low-testing nations

The claim was made in the first weeks of the lockdown in the US, in the notorious phrase of Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, that the cure was worse than the disease. and the state policy shifted to the three-pronged approach of insisting on herd immunity, demanding the reopening of the economy, and attempting to manipulate the numbers of cases being reported.

By any measures, the Trump administration and the US political establishment have succeeded through these efforts in reigniting the coronavirus pandemic, as seen in the resurgence in the south and west.

It is worth highlighting, in this context, two recent papers published in the journal Nature, in which the authors attempt to quantify the effects of the massive global lockdowns on the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the first paper by Solomon Hsiang, et al., We estimate that there would be roughly 465x the observed number of confirmed cases in China, 17x in Italy, and 14x in the US by the end of our sample if large-scale anti-contagion policies had not been deployed.

Estimate of infection in the US without lockdowns

The benefit of lockdowns varied from country to country depending on their time to initiating measures as well as scale of that response. Even small delays produced significantly different health outcomes. For the US, the effect of the lockdown by April 6 resulted in 4.8 million fewer estimated cases. Global lockdowns may have averted 530 million total infections. In the second paper, authors Seth Flaxman et al. write, We find that across 11 countries, since the beginning of the epidemic, 3.1 million [2.8 to 3.5 million range] deaths have been averted due to interventions.

Such models cannot account for all dynamic variables that affect the math of pandemics. Still, it certainly does highlight the magnitude of the health crisis averted on the populations of the globe through these lifesaving interventions.

These figures are not cause for celebration, however, but a warning. As the lockdowns are ended, workers go back to work, and various forms of social and mass activity are resumed, the figures presented in Nature can work in reverse. The 530 million infections averted in March, April and May can become 530 million infections that take place in July, August and September because social distancing was ended and people were told, against all scientific evidence, that it was safe to resume normal activities. With an estimated 1 percent mortality rate, that would mean the death of 5.3 million people worldwide whose lives could otherwise have been saved.
Union organizers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, seeking to hold a NLRB-supervised election, say that museum management has declined to speak with them and has hired a union-busting law firm with a global reach, Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis, to delay and ultimately derail the unionization effort. Read more

Union organizers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, seeking to hold an NLRB-supervised election, say that museum management has declined to speak with them and has hired a union-busting law firm with a global reach, Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis, to delay and ultimately derail the unionization effort.

On May 22, employees informed art museum management that a super majority of election authorization cards from eligible employees had been collected and had been filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Organizers requested a voluntary recognition of a union affiliation with AFSCME District Council 47, which represents most of the citys white-collar workers, according to Cathy Scott, president of District Council 47.

Since then, organizers said, they have heard nothing back from the art museum.

Its been complete silence, said one employee.

On Monday, however, the organizers learned that the museum had retained Morgan Lewis to represent it before the NLRB and that the law firm is meeting with museum supervisors to brief them on labor law.

An employee statement issued Wednesday afternoon characterizes Morgan Lewis as a union avoidance law firm. The law firm says on its website that it helps clients "avoid union penetration, and strategically shape bargaining units to minimize potential union organizing victories.

Art museum management issued an unsigned statement late Wednesday affirming employees right to organize." The statement characterized Morgan Lewis as long-standing outside counsel" employed to help guide us through the unionization process as governed by the National Labor Relations Act."

We also believe that it will be essential to our ongoing efforts to work cooperatively with the union and with the NLRB as we move forward in the process, the museum statement said. The reference was to the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversees union elections.

Organizers said a major issue is who might be included in the PMA union. Organizers want all eligible employees to be represented  about half the museums 500-member staff.

One employee said the museum and its legal representatives disagreed with having such a broadly defined union. As a result, the employee said, they are seeking to stretch out the process," stalling unionization momentum and perhaps peeling off supporters.

The museum officials and their lawyers were not available last night for comment. District Council 47 officials did not return requests for comment.

Employees said they were troubled by what they see as delaying tactics. But museum officials said managers need to have an understanding of the unionization process and the rights and responsibilities of each party in the interest of neutrality and respect.
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But the world would see a 7.6-percent contraction in 2020 in a worst-case scenario in which a second wave of infections rapidly occurs later this year, the organization warned in its economic outlook report.

TOKYOThe global economy is projected to shrink by 6.0 percent in 2020 from the previous year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday, labeling the new coronavirus pandemic as the worst economic crisis since World War II.

People spend time at a cafe in Paris on June 2, 2020, as an easing of anti-coronavirus business restrictions in France allowed restaurants, bars and coffee shops to reopen for the first time in about two-and-a-half months. / KYODO

People spend time at a cafe in Paris on June 2, 2020, as an easing of anti-coronavirus business restrictions in France allowed restaurants, bars and coffee shops to reopen for the first time in about two-and-a-half months. / KYODO

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A 36-year-old man is being held in police custody for setting fire to six cars parked along roads in Nha Trang, a coastal resort city in south-central Vietnams Khanh Hoa Province.

The municipal police agency said on Tuesday that they had detained Nguyen Viet Hieu, a resident of Vinh City in the north-central province of Nghe An.

Hieu confessed to having set six roadside cars on fire in Nha Trang City on Monday morning.

According to his statement, he bought gasoline on Sunday afternoon and then spent the following early morning driving his scooter around the city in search of cars to burn.

The cars he chose to set alight ranged from four to 16-seaters.

Local firefighters were immediately dispatched to each of the burning cars after being alerted by local residents. Unfortunately, none of the cars were able to be saved.

Police are still investigating a motive for the crime.

One of the burned cars set alight by Nguyen Viet Hieu, 36, in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, June 8, 2020. Photo: Ngoc Chi / Tuoi Tre

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 20:09:21|Editor: huaxia

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A citizen runs in front of the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, on Oct. 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Thursday slammed the flight by a U.S. military aircraft over Taiwan earlier this week, calling it an unlawful act and a serious provocation.

Media reports said a U.S. military C-40A transport aircraft flew over Taiwan Tuesday.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said the overflight undermined China's sovereignty, security and development interests and breached international law and basic norms guiding international relations.

"We deplore and firmly oppose the act," Zhu said.

Zhu condemned the collusion of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with external forces and expressed the mainland's resolve, will and ability to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.

She warned the DPP not to misjudge the situation and urged it to immediately stop the wrong doings. 
When Marny Xiong saw an injustice, she was usually among the first to act.

When the multicultural center at the University of Minnesota-Duluth campus was vandalized in 2006, she organized black, Asian, Latino, and LGBTQ students to convince administrators to conduct one of its first campus climate surveys and start a black studies degree program. She later got a minor in black studies.

In 2008, when Minneapolis police department rewarded officer Jason Anderson the medal of valor after he shot 19-year-old Fong Lee three times in the back and then five times on the ground during a foot chase, Xiong helped stage a series of rallies until the department rescinded the award.

And last month, amid a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes after President Donald Trump dubbed the coronavirus the Chinese virus, Xiong, a Minneapolis school administrator and member of the St. Paul school board, gathered for the first time all of Minnesotas Asian-American elected officials to author a letter denouncing racism.

The forces of white supremacy will continue trying to scapegoat and divide us to distract from the massive gaps in social safety nets and worker protections, a broken healthcare system, longstanding structural racism and more, read the widely distributed letter. While they brew hate, were building a powerful movement for change.

Xiong died from complications of the coronavirus June 7. She was 31 years old.

A Beautiful Story of St. Paul

Xiong held a deep, resonating sense of empathy, family and friends said, and an unusual ability to bridge divides between oppressed communities in the Twin Cities, the epicenter of todays interracial Black Lives Matter movement against police violence.

In the final months of her life, as the chair of St. Pauls school board, Xiong led the financially strapped district through a historical teachers strike over pay and classroom practices. Throughout the negotiations, administrators said, Xiong held true to her convictions that every child in St. Paul deserves access to a quality education.

Marny is just a beautiful story of St. Paul, said Joe Gothard, the superintendent of St. Pauls school district. She grew up as a child who didnt have much, but she had such a love and determination for a quality education. Her legacy will be that all educators can see that same potential in every child in our school district.

Xiong was the daughter of Zahoua and See Xiong, two Hmong refugees who, in a harrowing act, narrowly escaped the CIAs secret war in Laos. Zahoua Xiongs brother was shot and killed as the family fled to the United States.

The couple and their infant daughter Amee, Marny Xiongs eldest sister, landed in St. Pauls public housing units. Zahoua Xiong got a job as a dishwasher. After receiving a technical certification, he eventually began working at a manufacturing plant making hearing aids, and, in 2011, managed to buy a home for his family.

An Awakening of Identity

Growing up, Xiong and her clan of eight siblings often debated local, state, and national politics.

Marny saw that the American dream can mean different things to different communities, Amee Xiong said. She saw that many of Americas policies werent created to support communities of color.

When Xiong was 17, Amee Xiong scrounged up $450 to fly her sister to California to participate in a week-long program at the University of California, Berkeley for Southeast Asian-American high school students. It was there, Amee Xiong said, that her sister gained a sense of her identity as a Hmong, Asian, and American woman and decided to commit her life to activism, politics, and public education.

In the decade that followed that experience, Xiong led a series of efforts to tackle white supremacy, throwing herself in local races, showing up to city council meetings and organizing minority community members to vote. She quickly gained recognition as the outspoken Hmong woman who could explain to the general public how a wonky policy was harming minority communities and offer up solutions for local lawmakers.

During her day job as an operations manager at Hmong International Academy, a school in Minneapolis, she served as the backbone of the school, coordinating student transportation, organizing the school calendar, and scheduling staff meetings.

She was so proud of her Hmong heritage and what it meant to be a Hmong woman and a Hmong leader, Principal Jamil Payton said in a letter to his staff. She felt it was important to share the Hmong language, culture, and heritage with our non-Hmong students.

In 2017, Xiong successfully ran for St. Pauls school board.

The Hmong community, elated to see one of their own in a position of power, held a traditional animism ceremony for her. In the middle of the ceremony, Xiong asked two other women to sit at the head of the table with her, a place usually reserved for men.

Women would stand in line and not challenge cultural norms because the elders would get upset and say, This is the way its always been, said Harding High School Principal Be Vang, one of the women picked to sit next to Xiong. But Marny didnt care. I had never seen that before. It was quite empowering.

A Fighter for Black, Latino, and Asian Students

On the school board, Xiong worked to mend the often fraught relationship between the citys black, Latino, and Asian communities and the districts majority white teaching staff, administration, and school board.

One third of the districts 37,000-students are English-language learners and community activists for years have accused the district of fostering a racist environment within schools. Students of color are suspended and expelled at disproportionate rates and score much lower than white students on standardized tests, one of the largest disparities in the nation, according to the districts data.

In January, Xiong was elected to serve as chair of the board. Two months later, the St. Paul teachers union went on strike.

Throughout the negotiations, she held true to her convictions that students of color deserve access to a high quality, diverse teaching force, even after the union, who endorsed her campaign, turned against her.

She refused to hide her values and compromise on what she believes is best for the community, Gothard said.

In May, Xiong and her father were both diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Her bout was swift and unrelenting. Her family knew of no preexisting conditions.

One morning, while taking a shower, she ran out of breath and, in a panic, opened her window to get some fresh air. She called her sister, Amee.

She said, Im really nervous for dad because I can see that hes scared about going to the hospital. I want to encourage him by going to the hospital with him. We can both be admitted together, Amee Xiong said. To me, now that Im thinking back to that moment, she was sick herself, but she wasnt thinking about herself. She was thinking about my dad. Thats just the type of person she is.

Xiong died one month later.

Xiong is survived by her parents, Zahoua and See Xiong, and her siblings, Amee, Pao, Mary, Kong Pheng, Tom, John and Mong Zong Xiong.

Her family will hold services on June 26. The family has set up a Go Fund Me page for donations.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Wednesday accepted the resignation of three government pleaders in the high court after Advocate General Subrahmanyam Sriram recommended that their resignations be accepted with immediate effect. The move comes in the wake of a series of setbacks for the government in the High Court in a plethora of cases.

Sources told TNIE the Advocate General has been conducting a review of the working of the government pleaders (GPs) and assistant government pleaders (AGPs) following criticism that government cases are not being handled properly. As part of the review, it is learnt that the AG has decided to change as many as seven GPs and 14 AGPs.

The AGs office has already sought the resignation of seven GPs. Of them, Habib Sheik, Geddam Satish Babu and Penumala Venkata Rao have put in their papers and the same have been accepted with effect from June 5.

The remaining four GPs, V Sai Kumar, S Rajarajeshwar Reddy, S Rajeshwar Reddy, and Aparna Lakshmi, are yet to resign. The AG has interviewed advocates to replace the seven GPs, sources said, adding that they are likely to be appointed by the time the high court resumes its work in a full-fledged manner from June 15 after the summer break.

AG review to revamp legal team in High Court

AG has reportedly decided to change as many as seven GPs and 14 AGPs. The AGs office has already sought the resignation of seven GPs. Of them, Habib Sheik, Geddam Satish Babu and Penumala Venkata Rao have put in their papers and the same have been accepted with effect from June 5. The remaining four GPs are yet to resign.
Well it seems so! Recall news went wild yesterday that Dubai big boy and socialite Hushpuppi and two of his friends were yesterday picked up at his apartment over a fraud that runs into millions of dollars?

Well everything has been termed alleged, but now it seems the news is true.

Recall when Mompha was stopped at the airport from returning back to Dubai from Nigeria, and was arraigned over alleged frauds, Hushpuppi took to Instagram, to ask Nigerians never to mock anyones downfall. Well, Mompha seems to be paying Hush back in his own coin.

The socialite who is still very much in court with EFCC, has also sent out words in solidarity with Hush! He is also asking Nigerians not to mock his ex-friends downfall and then assured his own fans not to worry about him, as he is very fine. His words below



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11.06.2020 LISTEN

Since March, 12th, 2020, Ghana got its share of the world's strongest disease which reared its ugly head lately 2019 and at the inception of 2020. The emergency COVID-19 brought to the world has brought major changes in the economic plans, political arrangements and social behavior of countries. The world has risen to a sense of humor to join efforts to fight the defects of COVID-19 as seen when countries sought support from the World Bank, International Monetary Funds and other international bodies to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on individual countries.

As COVID continuous to be on the rise in the world, transparency, fairness and equity is primarily the goal of every government and the need to find same in Ghana. It is however a head on challenge for the political industry in Ghana since COVID-19 has come amidst our normal busy elections year leading to the electoral commission of Ghana taking an entrenched position that breads another pandemic like COVID-19.

Despite the challenges brought by COVID-19, the resistance from Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voters Register (IPRAN), the objections from Civil Society Organization (CSO), the outcry from interested groups and individuals, the EC has corked ears to these concerns and wish to continue to compile a supposed credible voters register for the 2020 general elections giving justifications to that effect at any least opportunity in parliament, courts and the media.

I am Kunsaari Enbong, a young idealist from a little village called Jentige who wish to add my voice to the many that raised red flags over the bringing into forth the new voters register amidst COVID-19. Before I continue to pen, let me summarize on the state of our country on the COVID-19 table.

As of today, Ghana case count stands at over 10, 000 with 48 deaths. All regions in Ghana have tasted the nature of COVID-19. Though the death rate of the COVID-19 infested people is steadily slow, the rampant rate of infestation cannot be underrated. The more the numbers are rising, the more concerned we should be as a country taking HIV/AIDS as an example.

On the voters register, let facts be, a country that is rigid to modernization isn't progressive hence the need for continuous improvement in our systems as means of making lives better for our citizenry. In our political space, the EC has every responsibility to ensure that we have a credible voters register one that does not handicap majority of the population eligible to vote.

Here is the case we have found ourselves at the crossroad of political influences on the independence of the electoral commission of Ghana. Let's step by step understand the genesis to revelation of the EC against the citizens will.

The electoral commission since 1992.

The electoral commission of Ghana was established by article 43 of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana with article 45 spelling out clearly the duties of the commission enumerating:

45(a) grants the EC to compile a voters register and revise it at such periods as may be determined by law, as 45(e) enjoins the EC to undertake programs for the expansion of registration of voters.

Based on these two fundamental responsibilities of the EC, a credible voters register can be available if the EC observes protocols as spelt out by the citizenship acts of Ghana. Article 42 of the 1992 constitution allows for, to be registered as a voter every citizen of Ghana who is 18 years and above and of sound mind.

Article 6 of the same constitution throws clarity on who a Ghanaian citizen is. It was through this that the EC developed constitutional instruments (C. I 12, C.I 72 and C.I 91 in 1995, 2012 and 2016 respectively). All these constitutional instruments came with improvements on the previously used ones for registration and public elections.

With the introduction of the current C.I 126 which was controversially adopted by a one sided parliament on 9th June, 2020 to allow the EC compile a new voters register for the 2020 general elections, it discredits all existing voters identification card and birth certificates but recognizes the newly introduced Ghana card and traveling passport as primary documents to proof citizenship to be enrolled in the electoral data for the purpose of voting.

This is a new style since old voters ID cards and birth certificates are two basic documents that can proof ones citizenship as a Ghanaian. This is because, birth certificates contain all necessary details of a person: name, date of birth, hometown, region, religion etc. and these are basic information that confirms the origin of a person.

Also the old voters ID card is unarguably the second best means to proof ones citizenship as a Ghanaian. For those with the 1995 ID cards and 2012 biometric voters ID card, they are people who voted since 1996 and have had enough experience in the electoral history of Ghana. With such people, if they registered when they were not Ghanaians, articles 6-9 of the constitution could be taken advantage of by such people and by now they could be citizens of Ghana.

The arguments

The electoral commission says it wants to compile a new voters register with improved features including facial recognitions. 2012 was the year major electoral reforms were introduced in our electoral system with the introduction of the biometric features. Through the biometric voters register, over voting was cut off, vote duplication was erased and images of voters was clear since they took pictures without covering on the heads. It wasn't surprising that political parties agreed on no verification no vote at IPAC meeting prior to the 2012 and 2016 general elections until challenges on verification at some parts of the country was alarming due to physiological changes on people in those areas.

Personally I happened to witness a no verification, no vote at the just ended District Assembly elections which I won as an Assembly Member through the 2012 voters register. A particular voter reported at the polling station at 9 am and was not able to vote due to the machine not picking his finger prints. He washed with water, alcohol and ash until he was verified at 4pm to vote. Such a tedious process was the reason for the introduction of Manuel verification to avoid disenfranchising people who may not have the courage to endure like this particular voter who stayed all day to be verified.

With the introduction of travelling Passport and Ghana card as the only source documents for registration with the ability to grant ten people after registering, the process will not only disenfranchise people but will intimate them during registration. I was involved in the 2019 limited registration exercise for the district assembly elections and would recount what happened with the issue or guarantor forms.

On the first day, I sent about 70 people to the center and only 15 registered because there were limited guarantors. Even my own sister who turned 18 was denied registration because I had exhausted granting for people by the time it was her turn. The process is tedious with limited proof documents. Ghana card and traveling passport are not common documents as perceived by the EC. In my electoral area, nobody can boast of traveling passport and less than 5% of the people have the opportunity to register for the Ghana card which most of them have not been given.

Funny enough, the EC argues that C.I 72 gave registrants the opportunity to register with NHIS Card which they claim does not show eligibilities. The NHIS card has a date of birth feature with the Coat of Arms boldly beside the Republic of Ghana which all indicate the true age and origin as Ghana hence to base on the Abu Ramadan VS the EC case to say the current register is a fruit from a poisonous tree, hence the fruit is poisonous, the argument is below the belt.

To rely on guarantor forms as means of proof of Ghanaian citizenship, it is the worst and the easiest form of producing a foreign based voters register.

The commission impartiality and COVID-19

The electoral commission of Ghana has become the most suspicious public office after the legendary Dr Afari Gyan left office. When Madam Charlotte Osei was appointed, the NPP in opposition as part of their campaign promises, pledged to remove her from office though her office is an independent office. Fortunately, on the part of the NPP the Charlotte Osei led EC supervised the elections that brought them into power. Unfortunately, on the part of Charlotte Osei, the NPP truly honored their promise by axing her from office through claims that drag her and her two deputies to the mud through procurement breaches, an area most public officers can easily be incriminated.

Luckily, Madam Jean Mensah was appointed by the NPP government to the higher office of the EC with a complete over hauling of the electoral commission. The introduction of Dr. Bosman Asare and Dr. Sere Buo were actions that invited the attention of opposition political parties to sense that if the EC was not after anything, the NPP has after something.

Shortly after the over hauling, the issue of new voters register was raised and it was quashed by the EC until the last minute the EC has responded to the songs of the NPP, taking entrenched position that they must compile a new voters register. The same EC who praised the outcome of the Ayawasu West Wuogom by-elections, regional creation referendum and the district assembly elections as free, fair and smooth has sought to dispose the data and compile new one with no improvement as claimed.

Suggestions

The EC should not heed to the majority in parliament since they are doing so to please themselves.

The EC should upgrade the new voters register by ensuring that it is clean and have up to date all eligible voters on the voters roll.

The EC should be careful it doesn't over spend on a white elephant project like the compilation of the new voters register as pushed by the NPP government.

By: E.A KUNSAARI

0245138909
The worlds largest population of nesting green turtles is nearly twice as big as previously thought, scientists said on Wednesday, after drones enabled better surveys of the animals.

Australian scientists determined that there were about 64,000 green turtles waiting to lay eggs on Raine Island - a vegetated coral cay on the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef - significantly more than thought.

When we compared drone counts to observer counts we found that we had under-estimated the numbers in the past by a factor 1.73, Richard Fitzpatrick, research partner at Biopixel Oceans Foundation said in an emailed statement.

The research is good news for scientists concerned about declining numbers of green turtles.

Raine Island turtle aggregation, far North Queensland, Australia. ( REUTERS)

Listed as endangered, many countries have made it illegal to collect or harm them, while nesting grounds are often also protected.

But getting an accurate picture of how the species is responding to protection efforts has been difficult.

Previously, researchers would paint a non-toxic white stripe down the turtles shells and would count them, those with and without white stripes, from a small boat. But this way of counting proved inaccurate due to poor visibility, the researchers said.
Iggy Azalea has confirmed that she has welcomed her first child.

On Wednesday, the rapper  whose real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly  announced the news with a message to her fans on Instagram.

Sharing a story on her account, Azalea revealed that she has a son and was trying to keep his life private, rather than a secret.

I have a son. I kept waiting for the right time to say something but it feels like the more time passes the more I realise Im always going to feel anxious to share news that giant with the world, she wrote.

I want to keep his life private but wanted to make it clear he is not a secret and I love him beyond words.

Azalea did not share any photos of the baby nor did she announce the childs name.

The babys father is believed to be fellow rapper Playboi Carti  whose real name is Jordan Terrell Carter  who she has been dating since 2018.

Back in December, sources close to the couple reportedly confirmed that Azalea was six months pregnant, but gave no other further details surrounding the rappers pregnancy.

(Instagram: @thenewclassic)

Rumours of an engagement have also been circling ever since Azalea was seen wearing a ring on her wedding finger. However, the couple are yet to address the speculation and are known for keeping their relationship private.

In June 2019, Carti opened up about their relationship, revealing they met in 2018 while he was on tour before deciding to move in together that December.

Once I started talking to her, I just cut off everybody, he told Fader. It was over with.

Azalea has also publicly addressed the couples six-year age gap, posting on social media: Is that unusual to you? Because almost everyone I know isnt the exact age as the person they date.

You all act like hes some little kid that just left school or Im some old ass woman. We are both in our twenties, get off my nuts.
Defamation suit filed by RT TV channel against Navalny set for mid-September

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

18:35 11/06/2020

MOSCOW, June 11 (RAPSI)  The Moscow Commercial Court has scheduled a defamation claim filed by the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization TV- Novosti (TV- Novosti) running RT TV channel against Alexey Navalny, Lyubov Sobol and Znak news agency for September 15, according to court records.

On June 5, the court put the application on hold because of its improper execution and asked the claimant to submit certain additional information.

In September, the court will also hear another suit over protection of business reputation lodged by businessman Oleg Deripaska against Alexey Navalny. September 3 is set as the hearing date. The applicant seeks to oblige the defendant to refute information distributed in several videos on the Youtube-channel of Navalny. Moreover, the tycoon demands a 1-ruble moral compensation from the blogger.

Moreover, in March, the Supreme Court dismissed Navalnys motion to reconsider a ruling in his defamation dispute with the Crimean meat processing plant Druzhba Narodov ordering the blogger to remove and refute information on the enterprise he had distributed.

The Moscow Commercial Court ruled in favor of Druzhba Narodov on February 12, 2019. The court declared information distributed by Navalny in one of his videos untrue and discrediting the plants business standing.

The statements read that the meat processing plant inflated prices for food products purveyed for the National Guard, delivered bad quality goods and accused the plant employees of embezzlement during supplies.

According to the court ruling, the defendant did not furnish evidence of credibility of the disseminated information.

On July 26, 2019, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.




Travel and tourism industry has been brought to a grinding halt in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines and cruises are particularly hard hit with many companies slashing jobs and salaries amid this chaotic environment. With demand touching record lows, many industry watchers already compared this plaguing crisis to the 9/11 aftermath.

American Airlines AAL and Delta Air Lines DAL recently decided to furlough employees through voluntary exit programs, buyout packages and layoffs in response to the financial doldrums. Per American Airlines management, there arises a need to shed about 30% of the top brass and its support staff because of the carriers shift to operate through a smaller structure. Further, Delta Airlines and United Airlines UAL chose to trim their workforce.

Moreover, cruise operator Carnival Corporation CCL, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), laid off 820 personnel in Florida with an additional staff of 537 being placed on temporary furlough for up to six months to survive the turbulent business scenario. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH also announced plans to terminate 26% (of its U.S. workforce) and 20% of headcount, respectively.

You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Stimulus Packages to the Rescue

Amid the continuing economic turmoil, the Trump administration announced a $2-trillion relief bill to rescue the coronavirus-hit U.S. economy. Although this financial aid came as a breather for the cash-strapped airlines, offshore-based cruise lines could not qualify for such federal bailouts. Per the package, U.S. airlines received funds worth $25 billion. However, none of the three major cruise operators, namely Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines will be eligible for emergency grants as is the rule in other nations.

Road to Recovery: Sooner for Cruise Lines or Airlines?

Story continues

Until the intensity of coronavirus subsides, it is difficult to ascertain when the travel and tourism industry will bounce back. Most airlines expect travel demand to revive the pre-pandemic spike not before 2023. The industry, which saw severe disruptions due to the pandemic, is now seeing a slow-but-steady uptick. But will cruise operators witness a recovery faster than their aviation counterparts?

With more states easing lockdowns and travel restrictions, major U.S. airlines seem to go on a capacity-expansion spree. The carriers recently announced plans to increase the number of domestic flights, ahead of the peak summer season to tap the holiday traffic. American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines LUV are all planning to fly 27% passengers more than their May schedule in June.

Although a certain frequency of air travel will be required for business or leisure activities, the same cannot be said for the cruise industry, which is considered a discretionary form of travel, solely. Comparing to other sectors, consumer confidence is shaken maximum in the cruise space and therefore demand for cruising will remain pent-up is still not clear.

The leisure industry has been grappling with the pandemic chaos as travel warnings and cruise cancellations are starting to take a toll on cruise lines. The players are thus offering modified booking and cancellation policies to woo hesitant cruisers to tide over this unprecedented situation.

Cruise ships are often dubbed floating Petri dishes". Passengers aboard Carnival Cruise Lines Diamond Princess in February were quarantined after testing COVID-19 positive. Poor ventilation and cramped quarters induce a higher chance of contracting coronavirus infection compared to other landscapes. Thus, restoring passenger optimism will be a key challenge. Hence more health precautions with stricter screening, improved sanitation and better evacuation procedures command immediate attention.

Even though the travel industry failed to capitalize on the springtime vacations, airlines and cruise players are hopeful of salvaging the crisis with extensive summer trips. Carnival already claims to have registered strong 2021 bookings, translating to the cruise industry recovery by mid-2022 while airlines dont foresee a full rebound until 2023.

Given how the pandemic will permanently influence the spending power of consumers, cheaper cruises have an upper hand over quicker but costly air travels. Looking at the big picture, whether cruise lines are poised to turn around at a faster pace or airlines, resurrection of business activity is ultimately a welcoming change for the travel industry.

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Theres more to Canada than the Niagara Falls and the CN Tower. With its vast geographical coverage that spans 3.8 million square miles or 9.9 million square kilometers, its the second-largest country on Earth. And within this vast territory are hidden gems waiting to be explored.

Who knew you could find a long-lost North American Viking settlement, a charming hobbit village, the mythical unicorn of the sea, and a tiny desert, yes the smallest one on Earth, in Canada! If you are one of those whod like to explore and discover this countrys many hidden gems, majestic wildlife, and interesting geological phenomena, were giving you a list of all the little-known areas you can visit in each province.

12. Newfoundland and Labrador: Viking Settlement

Ancient homes of Viking settlers in L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Image credit: George Burba/Shutterstock.com

Newfoundland and Labrador is home to the only confirmed Viking site in North America. In the 60s archeological excavations in LAnse Aux Meadows located at the Northernmost tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland, led to the discovery of a 1000-year-old Viking settlement. The site, where they discovered a total of eight 11th century Viking structures is now considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While the actual structures, which include a Viking carpentry and blacksmith workshop, have been reburied to protect them from deterioration, a recreated Viking settlement site has been rebuilt nearby featuring original Viking artifact. Costumed Viking guides will take you around encampments and teach you about the history of the first known European migration in North America.

11. Northwest Territories: Sambaa Deh Falls

Sambaa Deh Fall. Image credit: GeGiGoggle/Shutterstock.com

Postcard-perfect Sambaa Deh Fall, located on the Trout River in Northwest Territories, is surrounded by 20 wooded campsites. Here visitors camp and go fishing, or sit by the falls to relax. A short uphill hike (around 1.5km) from Sambaa Deh will take you to a much less-visited waterfall called Coral falls with a horseshoe-shaped dome and a drop thats around 10-15 feet.

10. Quebec: Hobbit Village

Heres news for Lord of The Rings fans: you can experience living inside a cute hobbit house without traveling to New Zealand. The first hobbit village in Canada can be found in Nominingue in Quebec, around an hour away from Montreal. The tiny hobbit huts are built into the side of the hills and come with roofs covered in grass with quirky round windows and doors. A room costs around $150 and can fit up to four people.

9. New Brunswick: Pabineau Falls

Rushing water at Pabineau Falls, New Brunswick. Image credit: Danhusseyphoto/Shutterstock.com

Located on private land owned by the Pabineau First Nation, the area that features these majestic falls has been made accessible to the public. It features beautiful gigantic granite boulders shaped by the ferocious current. Located on the Nepisiguit River, the area was a fishing site for the Mik Maq Indians. Many visitors stop by and admire the site, take photos, or sit by the rocks just to listen to the sheer deafening power of the rapids.

8. British Columbia: Emerald Lake

Emerald Lake,Yoho National Park in Canada. Image credit: I viewfinder/Shutterstock.com

Emerald Lake is the largest lake located in the Yoko National Park in British Columbia. It is located only 20 minutes away from the much more famous Lake Louise. The best time to visit is in the summer when the water is at its best crystal green hue. The place is a bit secluded and not always as teaming as its much more famous counterparts nearby. It has little private spots where you can feel like you have the lake all to your self.

7. Ontario: The Grotto

The Grotto: Bruce Peninsula, Ontario Canada. Image credit: ThePack/Shutterstock.com

Theres a majestic pool located inside a cave only 3 hours away from Toronto. The grotto, located in the Bruce National Park near Tobermory, features beautiful limestone cliffs and a cave with a pond of water thats beautifully illuminated by light from the other side of the cove. Its a great spot to snorkel and dive. The pool looks magical especially in the summer when the light under the water looks bright and the water is clear.

6. Manitoba: Churchill Northern Lights

Churchill Northern Lights in Manitoba. Image credit: Green Mountain Exposure/Shutterstock.com

One of the best spots on Earth (among the top three) to see the Northern Lights is located in Churchill in Northern Manitoba. Also known as the Aurora Borealis, this almost magical natural phenomenon feature skylights seemingly dancing across the sky. Churchill which sits right below the Auroral Oval along with its long fall and winter nights and a notable absence of light pollution from humans, affords 300 days of Northern Lights viewing. Its a humbling experience, one that will make you realize how much we still dont know about other elements in the universe.

5. Prince Edward Island: Winery

Beautiful rows of grapes (Point East Coastal Drive, Prince Edward Island, Canada). Image credit: Vadim.Petrov/Shutterstock.com

Prince Edward Island or PEI is home to many wineries and distilleries that offer fun tours. They offer guests the chance to sample their shine, lightning, gin, vodka, whiskey, and pastis among others along with a tour of their vineyard. The Rossignol Estate Winery, for instance, gives guests a tour of their vast farm winery and vineyard as well as their beautiful art gallery.

4. Nova Scotia: Cape Forchu Lighthouse

Cape Forchu Lighthouse. Image credit: James Somers/Public domain

This charming lighthouse in Nova Scotia sits atop a majestic cliff thats surrounded by interesting rock formations and breathtaking views. Theres a park nearby where people go to have picnics and watch the sunset. But many visit the area to take photos of the beautiful rock formations all over Cape Forchu that are thousands of years old.

3. Nunavut: Arctic Bay or Pond Inlet to see Narwhals

A pod of narwhals. Image credit: Dr. Kristin Laidre, Polar Science Center

Nunavut is one of Canadas most remote frontiers, but many visit despite its long winters to see wildlife you wont witness elsewhere. Here you can see caribous (that look like Santas reindeers), polar bears, white belugas, bowhead whales, and the majestic narwhal also known as the unicorn of the sea. A local guide in Arctic Bay or Pond Inlet, will help you see these majestic creatures. The best time to see them is in the summer when they come close to the shore to feed.

2. Saskatchewan: Big Muddy Badlands

Winter Scene at Saskatchewan Badlands in the Big Muddy Valley. Image credit: Pictureguy/Shutterstock.com

Visiting the Big Muddy Badlands will take you back to your childhood days watching movies about the wild west. Thats because back in the 1800s and early 1900s, many famous outlaws including Dutch Henry, Sam Kelly, and the Sundance Kid used the canyons, caves, and buttes as their hideout during their horse-riding adventures. The valley with its majestic rock formations and towering natural structures dates back to as far as the Ice Age. Visit to see the sites and stay to hear about the places colorful past.

1. Yukon: Carcross Desert

Carcross Desert in Yukon. Image credit: Jiri Kulisek/Shutterstock.com

This tiny patch of desert sand located in Yukon was once considered the worlds smallest desert. Covering a measly area of only a square mile, it is one of the most bizarre geological wonders of nature in North America. Many argue that the place cant technically be considered a desert since it receives a fair amount of precipitation each year, but with its dunes that are kept dry by the shadow of the mountains, it looks just like one. This little desert in the middle of snowy mountains will make you scratch your head in disbelief.
City Council President Darrell L. Clarke speaks during a news conference at the city's Emergency Operations Center on May 30, the first day of protests in Philadelphia over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Read more

Police kneeholds and chokeholds would be banned in Philadelphia and newly recruited officers would be required to live in the city under legislation introduced Thursday, as City Council responded to demonstrators calls for reform after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Council members also introduced legislation that would create a new police oversight commission and require public hearings before the city approves police union contracts. Together, the bills represented Councils first concrete steps toward changing policing in Philadelphia after days of protests. Mayor Jim Kenney released his own reform agenda Tuesday.

Every now and then, you know there is a sea change that things will never, ever be the same again, Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. said during Thursdays virtual Council meeting, calling Floyds death a moment that will change the country.

Kenney said this week that Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw would soon revise the departments use-of-force policies to ban officers from sitting on a persons neck, face, or head. The policy already prohibits choke holds. But a bill introduced by Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson on Thursday would explicitly prohibit all of those actions under city law.

Similar bans have gained traction in cities across the country since a Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyds neck.

Johnson called his legislation the let Philly breathe bill. It would prohibit choke holds, hogtying, placement of body weight on the head, face, neck, chest or back.

Currently the City of Philadelphia Police Department policy does not prohibit the tactics used against George Floyd, Johnson said. This bill will fix that problem.

 READ MORE: Will Philly dismantle the Police Department for a new public safety system? Its unlikely.

A spokesperson said the Kenney administration was still reviewing the legislation introduced Thursday and declined to comment on specific proposals, but said the mayor looks forward to working with Council, which sent him a list of 15 suggested reforms this week.

Kenneys "reform agenda was informed by specific requests from City Council and other elected officials, spokesperson Mike Dunn said. We will also continue to assess more of the demands that have been made by protesters, elected officials, community organizations, and others.

Councilmember Cherelle L. Parker introduced a bill that would require new police officers to have lived in Philadelphia for at least a year before they are hired. Kenney said this week he would push to restore residency requirements for all officers as part of the police contract. The legislation would apply only to new recruits.

Another bill, introduced Thursday by Jones, would place a question on the November ballot asking voters to approve the creation of a police oversight body that would replace the Police Advisory Commission. Kenney has said he will work with Council to create that oversight commission.

 READ MORE: City Council asks Mayor Kenney for 15 police reforms; on a quieter Monday, public defenders march through streets

Both the residency requirement bill and ballot question, sponsored by Council President Darrell L. Clarke, will be considered by a Council committee next week, said Joe Grace, Clarkes spokesperson. Final Council votes on those bills could be held this month.

The timeline for Johnsons choke hold bill, as well as for the measure requiring public hearings on new police contracts, was not as clear Thursday. If they are not acted on this month before summer recess, the bills could still be considered when Council begins its fall session.

Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson introduced the legislation on police contracts, which would require the disclosure of the cost of the contract and any other terms or conditions set forth therein" within 30 days before the city approves a new agreement.

It would require public hearings and would allow for public comment on the contract. But it would not grant Council or residents direct say in contract terms.

Other Council members introduced legislation Thursday that they said would address broader racial inequity in the city; Maria Quinones-Sanchez called for the city to consider a black stimulus for Philadelphia neighborhoods that would invest $500 million in commercial corridors and affordable housing.

Councilmember Kendra Brooks also introduced a bill to eliminate the 10-year tax abatement on new construction and to implement a tax on intangible personal property, such as stocks and bonds. Council voted to scale back the abatement for new residential construction in December, and those changes will take effect at the end of the year.

Brooks, who took office in January after winning a Council seat as a member of the Working Families Party, said the abatement accelerates gentrification and benefits mostly white residents.

The world has changed, and we were in a different place than we were six months ago, she said. And if we are truly committed to dismantling oppression in Philadelphia, we must respond to structural racism with structural changes.
A view of a road from a dashcam replayer. Credit: WMG, University of Warwick

Dashcams are vital for helping police investigate car incidents, however the way the footage is submitted to police, managed and processed can cause problems. A researcher at WMG, University of Warwick has assessed seven different types of dashcams' SD storage systems to see how they help and hinder digital forensics.

Many cars now have dashcams, an in-vehicle mountable camera which records video and audio footage of journeys. They have significant evidential value in digital forensics as they provide GPS data, temporal data, vehicular speed data, audio, video and photographic images.

In the paper, "Dashcam forensic: A preliminary analysis of 7 dashcam devices," published in the journal Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, Dr. Harjinder Lallie, from WMG, University of Warwick explores two aspects of dashcam evidence: the problems related to the management and processing of dashcam evidence, and an analysis of artefacts generated by dashcams.

The first dedicated UK dashcam evidence submission portal was established in 2018, called Nextbase, currently five police forces use Nextbase, whilst fourteen accept it to police sites, with seventeen more intending to active acceptance online and seven not accepting online submissions.

Seven different dashcams SD card systems were analysed for their:

Recording mode

GPS data

Vehicular speed data

License plate data

Temporal data

It was found that all of the artefacts above are available in several different locations: NMEA files, configuration files, directory naming structures, EXIF metadata, filename structures, file system attributes and watermarks.

A number of tools were required to extract the artefacts needed from the different locations in the SD card, and to analyse them. It was also found that evidential artefacts can be synthesised using tools such as native video players, therefore better methods are required for extracting and synthesising metadata from dashcams.

Dr. Harjinder Lallie, from WMG, University of Warwick explains: "We are increasingly reliant on the evidence produced by dashcam devices. However, there exist no standard guidelines on how to investigate dashcams and this can have an impact on judiciary process and the outcome thereof. This research is the first step towards developing such guidance."

Future research will look at:

Formulating dashcam investigation guidelines for law enforcement. Methods of automating the extraction of geospatial data and internally corroborating them. Automating the extraction of evidence presented in watermarks in dashcam recorded videos.

Explore further Popular 'dashcams' catch everything from scammers to plane crashes

More information: Harjinder Singh Lallie. Dashcam forensics: A preliminary analysis of 7 dashcam devices, Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation (2020). Harjinder Singh Lallie. Dashcam forensics: A preliminary analysis of 7 dashcam devices,(2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.fsidi.2020.200910
Graduation's a-comin  with coronavirus concerns reshaping the plans.

Ridgefield High Schools roughly 400 seniors will graduate with a series of unusual, social distanced events  starting Friday, June 12, with daylong drive-through diploma pickup.

The drive-through pickup of diplomas will go on at the high school from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 12. Plans include providing swag bags to seniors, and the prospective graduates will be able to get photos, including shots posing with a cardboard cutout of Ridgefield High School Principal Dr. Stacey Gross, who is retiring herself.

A drive-in movie style graduation ceremony is planned next Thursday, June 18, at the high school, complete with the usual speeches  projected live  along with the reading of all graduates names, and even the group turning of tassels. To help maintain social distances, the ceremony is being planned as a one car per graduate affair, in two separate sessions, divided alphabetically  the first half of the class starting at noon, and the second half of the class starting at 2:30

Then, the virtual graduation will be broadcast on the schools website beginning at 4 p.m. on June 19, so seniors can gather at home with family members while also viewing classmates.
A man who was jailed for almost four years while facing charges of killing is wife only to be freed on the day his trial was to start because a family friend admitted to the killing is suing Ozark, Alabama, for $6million.

Carl Harris is demanding the money from the city of Ozark, where police initially arrested him in the 1990 death of wife Tracey Harris in 2016.

She was found dead in the Choctawhatchee River but no arrests were made for years.

Harris was moments from going to trial in January when Ozark police arrested another man and cleared Harris.

That man, Jeff Beasley of Ozark, is now awaiting trial, the Dothan Eagle reported.

A grand jury is scheduled to convene on Tuesday in Dale County.

Harris is seeking damages for alleged mistreatment, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, emotional distress, and pain and suffering.

Carl Harris (left) is suing Ozark, Alabama, for $6million after he was wrongfully accused of killing his ex-wife, Tracey Harris, in 1990. Jeff Beasley (right) confessed to killing Tracey Harris on the day before Carl Harris was to stand trial in January

Tracey Harris was found dead in the Choctawhatchee River but no arrests were made for 26 years. She is seen right with her daughter Carolyn in this undated file photo

Harris' lawyer, David Harrison, said the next step would be to file a federal lawsuit against the city, investigators and Ozark Police Chief Marlos Walker over claims they violated Harris' rights.

Walker did not immediately return an email seeking comment Tuesday.

Beasley, who was described by prosecutors as a former friend of the couple, is said to have confessed to the killing on January 12.

The next day, prosecutors announced they had dropped the charges against Harris  the same day that he was to stand trial for his wifes death.

The Dale County District Attorney announced the decision to drop the charges on the same day that Harris turned 55 years old.

As district attorney, it is my job to not only seek justice, but to be fair to everyone involved, Dale County District Attorney Kirke Adams told a news conference on January 13.

This has been an incredible series of events and, undoubtedly, led from above.

The investigation into Tracey Harris' death led nowhere, and the case went cold until 2016, when authorities arrested Carl Harris.

They cited circumstantial evidence and witness testimony.

Adams claimed that his assistant district attorney, Jordon Davis, noticed a key piece of evidence that led prosecutors to dismiss charges against Harris.

While preparing for Harris' murder trial, she noticed very important information regarding a witness in this case that was last spoken to in 1990, Adams said of Davis.

The witness' statement was very important to this case.

Adams didnt specify, though it is likely he was referring to Beasleys ex-wife, who gave a statement to investigators that is believed to have implicated Beasley.

Authorities have yet to say what motive Beasley had for killing Tracey Harris

Authorities have yet to say what motive Beasley had for allegedly killing Tracey Harris.

Marlos Walker, the chief of the Ozark Police Department, said that Beasley revealed information that only the killer would know.

The new evidence was information that had never been shared before, Walker said in January.

The suspect gave details about the crime that only the killer would know.

Walker said that his office did all it could to seek justice in the case, but Harris lawyer, David Harrison, accused prosecutors of negligence.

No one did anything until I filed a motion [on January 10] in my client's case implicating someone other than my client, he told WTVY-TV.

I do thank the district attorney's office for looking into the witness and dropping the charges against my client.

But no one has apologized to my client for what he has gone through since his arrest.
Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday (June 10) announced that the Centre had decided to lift the ban on export of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), which has been touted as a potential cure for coronavirus COVID-19 by many including US President Donald Trump

In a tweet, the minister said, "Department of Pharmaceuticals has approved the lifting of ban on Export of Hydroxychloroquine API as well as formulations. Manufacturers except SEZ/EOU Units have to supply 20 per cent production in the domestic market. DGFT has been asked to issue formal notification in this regard."

Department of Pharmaceuticals has approved the lifting of ban on Export of Hydroxychloroquine API as well as formulations. Manufacturers except SEZ/EOU Units have to supply 20% production in the domestic market. DGFT has been asked to issue formal notification in this regard.  Sadananda Gowda (@DVSadanandGowda) June 10, 2020

Soon after Gowda's announcement, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued a notification which will amend the Export Policy of diagnostic kits, laboratory reagents and diagnostic apparatus.

"The notification No. 59 dated 04.04.2020 is amended to the extent that only diagnostic kits/reagents as described in para 1(A) and all diagnostic instruments/apparatus/reagents as described in para 1(B) falling under any HS code, including HS codes specified above, are 'restricted' for exports whether as an individual item or as a part of any diagnostic kits/reagent," says the notification by DGFT which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Interestingly, some studies claim that HCQ cannot prevent coronavirus, others have found that this anti-malarial drug does not aid or expedite the recovery of patients infected by COVID-19.

It is to be noted that few weeks ago the World Health Organisation (WHO) also dropped HCQ from its global study into experimental treatments for the deadly viral disease but it resume the trial of HCQ few days ago.

Several world leaders have personally raised the request with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the export of HCQ to their respective countries. From the US to Latin America to Europe, the request has come from several places. India has also got requests from Gulf countries regarding this drug.
A second wave of coronavirus is emerging in the U.S., and its raising alarms as new infections push the overall count past 2 million Americans.

According to a report by the Bloomberg News, in pockets across the U.S., a fresh onslaught of the novel coronavirus is bringing challenges for residents and the economy.

These localized surges have raised concerns among experts even as the nations overall case count early this week rose just under 1%, the smallest increase since March, the report said.

According to the report, these recent numbers are cause to question whether a new wave is about to occur:

On Wednesday, Texas reported the highest one-day total since the pandemic emerged - 2,504 new coronavirus cases, and a 4.7% jump in hospitalizations to 2,153, the fourth consecutive daily increase.

Florida, which is a month into its reopening, reported 8,553 new cases this week - the most of any seven-day period.

A daily tally of new cases in Arizona has abruptly spiked in the last two weeks, hitting an all-time high of 1,187 on June 2.

Californias hospitalizations have risen in nine of the past 10 days, and are at their highest since May 13

There is a new wave coming in parts of the country, Eric Toner of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told Bloomberg News. Its small and its distant so far, but its coming.

Is the increase in outbreaks linked to increased economic activity?

Though the outbreaks come weeks into state reopenings, its not clear that theyre linked to increased economic activity, the report said. Whether the massive protests against police brutality that have erupted in the past two weeks have led to more infections, health experts say its still too soon to tell.

In Georgia, hair salons, tattoo parlors and gyms have been operating for a month and a half, yet case numbers have plateaued, flummoxing experts, Bloomberg reports.

Even within states, puzzling differences have shown up. For example, according to the report, in California, which imposed a stay-at-home order in late March, San Francisco saw zero cases for three consecutive days this week, while Los Angeles County reported well over half of the states new cases.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on a podcast that the White House Coronavirus Task Force has yet to see any relationship between reopening and increased cases of Covid-19.

But in some states, the report said, rising numbers outpace increases in testing, raising concerns about whether the virus can be controlled. It will take a couple of weeks to know, Toner said, but by then its going to be pretty late to respond.

Arizona could see a major problem.

The report said that experts see evidence of a second wave building in Arizona, Texas, Florida and California. Arizona sticks out like a sore thumb in terms of a major problem, said Jeffrey Morris, director of the division of biostatistics at University of Pennsylvanias Perelman School of Medicine.

As Arizonas daily tally of new cases has abruptly spiked in the last two weeks, hitting an all-time high of 1,187 on June 2, its Department of Health Services, this week, urged hospitals to activate emergency plans. Director Cara Christ, told a Phoenix television station that she was concerned about the rising case count and percentage of people tested who are found to be positive, the report said.

According to Michael White, chief medical officer at Valleywise Health, the public hospital system in Phoenix, in response to an increase in Covid-19 cases during the past two weeks, the intensive-care capacity has been expanded - and those beds are 87% full, about half with Covid patients, the report said.

Arizonas increase in transmission follows steps to resume business and public life.

Within Phoenix, weve been more relaxed than Ive seen in some of the other parts of the country, White said, "with some people disregarding advice to wear masks and maintain six feet of distance from others. People are coming together in environments where social distancing is challenging, the report quoted.

Will there be another onslaught?

Although the U.S. has long been bracing for another wave, future outbreaks are likely to take a different shape. Social distancing and mask-wearing, as well as careful behavior by individuals, are likely to have staying power even as economies reopen, the report said.

Experts are steeling for autumn, when there could be damaging repercussions from changes in weather and back-to-school plans.

The second wave isnt going to mirror the first wave exactly, said Lance Waller, a professor at Emory Universitys Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. Its not snapping back to exactly the same thing as before, because were not exactly the way we were before, Bloomberg News quoted.

The report referenced Daniel Lucey, a fellow at the Infectious Diseases Society of America, who compared the virus new paradigm with a day at the beach: The U.S. has been bracing for another high tide like the one that engulfed New York City. Today is a low tide, but the waves are always coming in.

Bloomberg News reports that since the pandemic initially swept the U.S. starting early this year, 2 million people have been infected and more than 112,000 have died.

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China and Russia were blamed for spewing out false and misleading online information about Covid-19 in a European Commission report that seeks to stem the "unprecedented" spread of fake news amid the pandemic.

The two nations are among "foreign actors" that sought to "undermine democratic debate" and enhance their own image through "targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns around Covid-19 in the EU", the European Union's executive authority said in the report, published yesterday.

"It would be too dangerous not to act," commission Vice President Vera Jourova said in a briefing ahead of the report's release. The pandemic "showed us that false information could do serious harm, could kill citizens even and could undermine the public authorities' response and therefore also weaken the measures taken".

The commission has stepped up pressure on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to help stem the flow of misleading content about the virus, vaccines or alleged cures on their sites. It's part of a broader goal to fight hate speech and disinformation online that could lead to new EU regulation to make tech giants more accountable.

The EU said in the report there's been an "unprecedented infodemic" that has fed on "people's most basic anxieties" as most of them were forced to stay socially confined and revert to an increased use of social media to access information. "Given the novelty of the virus, gaps in knowledge have proven to be an ideal breeding ground for false or misleading narratives to spread," the EU added.

The EU's findings on China and Russia are based on a separate study by the commission's foreign and diplomatic wing, which said it had evidence of a "coordinated push" by official Chinese sources to deflect blame for the coronavirus pandemic and promote its response to the virus. EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell, who heads the service, has worked with Ms Jourova on the latest plans.

State-sponsored foreign propaganda preys on people's "fears and doubts", said Ms Jourova. "A geopolitically strong EU can only materialise if we are assertive. But we also need to get our own house in order and not allow others to occupy this space," she said.

The report highlights some of the EU's own shortcomings amid the crisis, stressing that the bloc needs "a more coordinated and faster response" and to "better understand and anticipate upcoming challenges".

"For example, disinformation and misinformation around a possible Covid-19 vaccine continue to flourish and are likely to make the deployment of vaccines once available more difficult," the EU said.

The report comes as Hungary - an EU member state - also faces criticism for preparing a national survey that includes a question on a coronavirus crisis proposal by investor George Soros that "experts say will force nations into debt slavery".

In the "national consultation" due to be mailed to all Hungarian citizens, the government asks whether people should "reject George Soros's plan, which would indebt our homeland for an unforeseeable long time".

The EU has ignored Mr Soros's suggestion on a so-called perpetual bond, making the question a non-issue.

Online platforms will have a key role to play by being more transparent about what's happening online and where misleading information is coming from. A code of conduct on disinformation that several tech giants have signed up to since 2018 is only a first step, said Ms Jourova. Social media app TikTok confirmed this week that it will also soon sign up to the code.

Platforms that have agreed to the code will have to publish monthly monitoring reports that include data on policies aimed at limiting ad placements related to Covid-19 disinformation, both on their own sites and on third-party websites.

Bloomberg
Leo Varadkar said Ireland must be ready to contain any Covid-19 spread as it reopens its borders (PA)

Ireland cannot close off from the rest of the world and must prepare for the risk of imported cases of coronavirus, the Taoiseach has said.

It comes as the European Union sets out a plan on Thursday for member states to reopen their borders.

Leo Varadkar said the Governments strategy is not one of mitigation, but of suppression when it comes to coronavirus and all risk cannot be eliminated.

He said: Irelands goal is still trying to get the reproductive number to zero if possible by keeping the R number well below one. Unfortunately no strategy utterly insulates us from the risk of the virus re-emerging in our society.

Expand Close Mr Varadkar said Ireland cannot close itself off (PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mr Varadkar said Ireland cannot close itself off (PA)

We share an open border with Northern Ireland which has unrestricted travel with Great Britain. Closing ourselves off is not an option for Ireland in the medium to long-term. We need to be prepared for the risk of imported cases as we reopen slowly to other countries.

Mr Varadkar said the easing of restrictions has not enabled the virus to make a comeback so far, and the country is on course to fully reopen at the end of July.

The Government is now conducting extensive work with the help of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) on revising phase three and phase four of the roadmap so we can have the country almost fully opened by the end of July, instead of the middle of August as originally planned, he said.

Earlier, Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organisations (WHO) Covid-19 special envoy, told an Oireachtas committee he would be surprised if Ireland needs another phase of full lockdown.

He said: I think there will be local areas where clusters would emerge and for a short period of time, movement restrictions would have to be imposed.

I think the pattern for the future will be picking up outbreaks quickly due to a higher level of organisation.

Expand Close Dr David Nabarro also said face masks should be mandatory on public transport, and in shops and other enclosed spaces (PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Dr David Nabarro also said face masks should be mandatory on public transport, and in shops and other enclosed spaces (PA)

I personally believe a total lockdown is highly unlikely.

He said the percentage of coronavirus deaths in Irish nursing homes is at the upper end of the scale compared to other countries, but added that may be down to more comprehensive reporting.

Minister for health Simon Harris said that the R number remains below one this week.

The R number, which measures how many people an infected person passes Covid-19 on to, is estimated to be between 0.4 and 0.8, Mr Harris told the Dail.

He added: Im also very encouragingly told theres no evidence that it is increasing or indeed decreasing, but that it is staying remarkably stable.

That is testament to the huge efforts of people in this country.

We have continued to also see a reduction in the number of patients with Covid-19 in our hospitals  just 75 people in Irish hospitals today and 29 people in our intensive care units.

He has also called for people to keep a record of all the people an individual meets for contact-tracing purposes.

Turning to face coverings, Mr Harris said the clear public health advice is that they should be worn on public transport and in enclosed indoor spaces such as shops.

We will be launching a further public awareness campaign on this very shortly, Mr Harris added.

This is about behavioural change and I accept that the evidence and maybe even the messaging on this has changed over time.

Perhaps its been confusing for people and perhaps it hasnt gotten through in the clear way it needs to, so lets be very clear starting from today, face coverings are recommended.

Fianna Fail TD Mary Butler said 62% of Covid-19 deaths have happened in nursing homes and residential healthcare settings and she asked if that is high compared to other countries.

He replied: Internationally, the figure for fatalities in residential care for older people is around 25%. If we break it down, country by country, Switzerland is 53%, Sweden is 49%, Scotland is 46%  so Ireland is at the upper end of the spectrum.

I think there is a very honest counting of numbers of coronavirus cases.

Ireland moved quickly on a number of issues like trying to get PPE to staff in nursing homes and restricting visits to nursing homes and recognising visitors were a primary way of bringing in the virus. I think Ireland was possibly the fastest country to have done this. At the moment, there is not something that Ireland has not done.

He said it is proving a huge challenge worldwide to protect people in residential settings and nursing homes.

It came after another five Covid-19 deaths were reported on Wednesday, along with 19 new confirmed cases.

There have now been a total 1,695 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland and 25,231 cases.

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Meanwhile, the NHPET is meeting on Thursday to discuss the WHOs guidance on face coverings.

Senior Government official Liz Canavan said: We are aware of peoples questions and concerns about the use of face coverings.

NPHET meets today and will review the World Health Organisation guidance on face coverings.

They will also consider communications regarding the appropriate use of face coverings in community settings.
Covina, CA, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global K-beauty products market accounted for US$ 10.3 billion in 2019 and is estimated to be US$ 31.6 billion by 2029 and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 12.0%.

The report "Global K-beauty Products Market, By Product Type (Sheet Masks, Cleansers, Moisturizers, Makeup, and Others), By End-user (Women, Men, Unisex, and Kids), By Distribution Channel (Online Retail, Supermarket/Hypermarket, and Specialty/Monobrand Stores), and By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa) - Trends, Analysis and Forecast till 2029.

Key Highlights:

In December 2019, Sisun International, the company behind South Korean apparel retailer Michaa, launched its new sun care brand and is looking forward to expanding its business into the cosmetic market. It is the companys second cosmetic brand.

In November 2019, Estee Lauder Companies acquired a K-beauty skincare brand Dr. Jart+. The brand focus on creating high-quality skincare products that fuse incredible innovation capabilities, dermatological science, and artistic expression making it a terrific, strategic addition to the companys diverse portfolio of prestige beauty brands.

Request Sample Copy of the Business Intelligence Report @ https://www.prophecymarketinsights.com/market_insight/Insight/request-sample/4288

Analyst View:

Growth in cosmetics consumption among women owing to the rise in the number of female participation in social and economic activities has led to a strong positive impact on the global K-beauty products market. There is a superior demand for high priced premium cosmetics preceding to the growth of income levels. These factors substantially propel the market of K-beauty products across the globe. Moreover, K-beauty products not only satisfy womens cosmetic products but also mens beauty products. Therefore, new product launches for mens cosmetics, which target and aid their skin issues further drives the growth of the K-beauty products market. Additionally, influence through social media is one of the most important terms for the global popularity of K-beauty products. Video tutorials and advertisements through online platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have created a marvelous influence over the viewers, which is consequently propelling the growth of the global market.

Story continues

Browse 60 market data tables* and 35 figures* through 140 slides and in-depth TOC on Global K-beauty Products Market, By Product Type (Sheet Masks, Cleansers, Moisturizers, Makeup, and Others), By End-user (Women, Men, Unisex, and Kids), By Distribution Channel (Online Retail, Supermarket/Hypermarket, and Specialty/Monobrand Stores), and By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa) - Trends, Analysis and Forecast till 2029

Ask for a Special Discount on the current pricing @ https://www.prophecymarketinsights.com/market_insight/Insight/request-discount/4288

Key Market Insights from the report:

The global K-beauty products market accounted for US$ 10.3 billion in 2019 and is estimated to be US$ 31.6 billion by 2029 and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 12.0%. The market report has been segmented on the basis of product type, end-user, distribution channel, and region.

By product type, the sheet masks segment accounted for the highest K-beauty product share in 2019, due to its widespread demand among customers owing to affordable and fast-acting products. These products can report several skin conditions such as moisturizing, tightening, brightening, soothing, and help maintain the skins beauty and health. Therefore, due to its affordability and convenience of use, the sheet masks acquired the highest share in the K-beauty products market.

By the end-user, the target market is segmented into women, men, unisex, and kids.

By distribution channel, specialty and monobrand stores estimates for the highest market share among other channels as consumers buying beauty goods favor personal service and advice. Specialty stores provide benefits counseling to the customers, after-sales service, promotions, offers, and other similar strategies which make them extremely ideal for consumers.

By region, Asia-Pacific holds the highest market share in the K-beauty products market region segment. This is mainly attributed due to the presence of the largest consumers of K-beauty products are the Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, and South Korea.

To know the upcoming trends and insights prevalent in this market, click the link below:

https://www.prophecymarketinsights.com/market_insight/Global-K-beauty-Products-Market-4288

Competitive Landscape:

The prominent player operating in the global K-beauty products market includes ABLE C&C CO., Ltd., Adwin Korea Corp, The Beauty Factory, Ltd., CK Beauty Enterprise Inc., Annie's Way International Co., Ltd., BNH Cosmetics, Bluehug, Inc., Ceragem Health and Beauty Co, Ltd., LG Household & Health Care, and AMOREPACIFIC CORPORATION.

The market provides detailed information regarding the industrial base, productivity, strengths, manufacturers, and recent trends which will help companies enlarge the businesses and promote financial growth. Furthermore, the report exhibits dynamic factors including segments, sub-segments, regional marketplaces, competition, dominant key players, and market forecasts. In addition, the market includes recent collaborations, mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships along with regulatory frameworks across different regions impacting the market trajectory. Recent technological advances and innovations influencing the global market are included in the report.

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Some Important Points Answered in this Market Report Are Given Below:

Explains an overview of the product portfolio, including product development, planning, and positioning

Explains details about key operational strategies with a focus on R&D strategies, corporate structure, localization strategies, production capabilities, and financial performance of various companies.

Detailed analysis of the market revenue over the forecasted period.

Examining various outlooks of the market with the help of Porters five forces analysis, PEST & SWOT Analysis.

Study on the segments that are anticipated to dominate the market.

Study on the regional analysis that is expected to register the highest growth over the forecast period

Key Topics Covered

Introduction

Study Deliverables

Study Assumptions

Scope of the Study

Research Methodology Executive Summary

Opportunity Map Analysis

Market at Glance

Market Share (%) and BPS Analysis, by Region

Competitive Landscape

Heat Map Analysis

Market Presence and Specificity Analysis

Investment Analysis Competitive Analysis

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Scientists from Nanjing University and University of Macau have transformed the spleen into a functioning liver in living mice, which could bring new hope for patients suffering from organ shortage worldwide.

For nearly ten million people with end-stage organ failures, implanting a new organ to replace the damaged one might be their last hope of survival. However, the shortage of donors, immune rejection and numerous other medical, ethical and economic factors have kept patients in a devastatingly long queue. And many never got one till the end. Each day, in the United States alone, twenty people die waiting for transplants.

In the past three decades, tissue engineering (TE) has promised to create functioning tissue from the tubes. This approach aims to culture living cells in 3D scaffolds, induce them to grow into the desired tissue and, finally, transplant this living tissue back to the body in substitution of the damaged one. 'The goal of TE is to restore function through the delivery of living elements which become integrated into the patient', wrote Joseph Vacanti and Robert Langer, two pioneers in regenerative medicine, in their manifesto paper published in Lancet in 1999.

This approach has made remarkable progress in providing promising solutions for repairing structurally simpler tissue. However, to regenerate vital and complex organs, such as the liver, TE still has a long way to go. The structure of an organ like the liver is too complicated for replication by current technologies - particularly its abundant, open, organised blood vessels connecting the body for nutrient supply. Simplified prototypes engineered from the laboratory survive poorly after transplantation without adequate blood supply.

To address this challenge, in their recent paper published in Science Advances, the team from Nanjing and Macau adopt a different way of thinking. Instead of engineering an organ for transplantation, they directly transform an existing organ - the spleen - into a 'new' organ in that fulfils the liver's function in the same mouse. The researchers inject a pre-selected tissue extract to the spleen of mice, which shows lower immune response and produces more extracellular matrix required for cell growth. Then, they implant mouse, rat and human liver cells into the remodelled spleen in mice, observing in months that these cells not only survive from immune rejection and grow into liver-like structures but, more importantly, exert the liver's function in the host body. As perhaps the most exciting finding, the spleen-transformed liver could rescue mice with 90% of their original liver removed.

This paper is published online with the title, 'Transforming the spleen into a liver-like organ in vivo'. Professor Lei Dong of Nanjing University, the leading author of this work, believes this technology could 'solve the fundamental challenges in tissue engineering, including insufficient cells, immune rejection and lack of blood vasculature, at one time'. Dong also suggests that, instead of focusing too much on the tissue structure, their strategy concentrates on restoring the tissue function in vivo, which should be the original goal of tissue engineering. Professor Chunming Wang of University of Macau, co-corresponding author of the paper, highlights the safety of the new strategy as 'no any adverse responses were observed for as long as eight weeks, such as immune rejection or unwanted spreading of the transplanted cells', which indicates the translational potential of the new strategy. The authors are confident of their approach overcoming the long-standing obstacles in regenerative medicine and, ultimately, helping to regenerate large organs 'on-demand'.

Professor Xiaokun Li, an expert in regenerative medicine and Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, highly rates this work for its 'unique strategy to achieve liver regeneration, solid findings on functionalities of transplanted cells, and impressive potential for translational medicine'. Li recommends future work be performed on larger animals with comprehensive evaluations in both efficacy and safety towards its clinical application.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 07:35:41|Editor: huaxia

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SAN FRANCISCO, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Boeing looks forward to building on a multi-faceted relationship with China, said Stan Deal, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, on Wednesday.

"We are honored to be a part of this dynamic ecosystem. China represents for Boeing a valued customer, a key collaborator and a formidable competitor. We look forward to building on this multi-faceted relationship as the aviation industry recovers and returns to growth," Deal said in a written interview with Xinhua.

Chinese manufacturers supply parts to many commercial jet models while advancing their own designs. Chinese regulators are at the forefront of promoting aviation safety by perfecting existing practices and pioneering new ones, Deal noted.

He said that Boeing Commercial Airplanes still sees a long runway ahead as China remains on track to become the largest aviation marketplace in the world.

Boeing will deepen the existing engagement by collaborating with partners and identifying win-win solutions across China with a focus on manufacturing, maintenance and repair, research and technology, and other areas, according to Deal.

Strengthening cooperation with China's aviation sector brings mutual benefits as Chinese companies have now supplied world-class components to more than 10,000 Boeing airplanes. In turn, one of four Boeing commercial airplanes has been destined for the Chinese market in recent years.

"To prepare for the future, we are extending programs that have trained nearly 100,000 Chinese aviation professionals and our 'Soaring with Your Dream' initiative that has reached more than 120,000 students and thousands of teachers to inspire them about aviation," said Deal.

The company will also continue to invest in joint research to advance technological breakthroughs to reduce carbon emissions, including commercializing sustainable aviation fuels and improving air-traffic management efficiency, he added.

"Our collaboration across these areas will continue to help us grow together and serve as a powerful engine for expansion in our respective countries," Deal said. Enditem
Following the tragic killing of George Floyd, in Minneapolis on May 25, the entire world is taking a stand against racism as the Black Lives Matter campaign grabs headlines around the globe.

George Floyd was an African American man who was tragically killed by a police officer who pressed his knee to Mr Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes, while he was handcuffed, face down on the ground.

The incident has sparked a massive movement, which has even come to our own doorstep here in Longford.

A Black Lives Matter March, which had been planned for Longford last Saturday, was postponed due to a number of concerns from the community regarding Covid-19 regulations.

Gardai confirmed that a large number of complaints were received at Longford Garda Station regarding the march and the public in general has called for other ways to stand against racism that would not involve mass gatherins of people.

Organisers of the protest thanked everyone who expressed an interest in attending, or who supported the march, but said that they have decided to postpone it in response to community concerns.

We wanted to hold this march to unite the people of Longford, in a space where we could openly acknowledge the evils of racism, and the need for us to eliminate it, said one of the event organisers, Eric Ehigie.

Read also: Black Lives Matter March in Longford postponed due to Covid-19 concerns

However, due to concerns regarding the number of local people with Covid-19 being exacerbated by the march, we have decided that it may be best to hold it at a later date.

This march was planned, not only because we believe it is necessary to highlight how institutionalised racism in America has took the lives of far too many people of colour; George Floyd being but one of those, but also because we felt the need to emphasise how racism is a virus that knows no borders, and that affects us all in a detrimental way - including people of colour here in Ireland.

Local representative, Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi took to social media last weekend to say that, while the events of May 25 happened in the US, that does not mean we shouldnt be affected here in Longford.

People have been vocal in saying that what happened in the US does not affect us here, she said.

Some say its s nothing to do with us in Longford. Other asked who do we think we are doing this. Why are we even here if that's what we feel. How dare we, at this time, publicly denounce that killing and corrupt system.

As a mother, I was sickened by the killing of George Floyd. I was sickened that that could happen to any one of my family too just because of their race.

As a mother I was angry and wanted to speak out and stand against such racism. As a public representative I have a duty to do so. All in public service must do so.

Last year, Longford united against the racists who visited the town, Cllr Adejinmi added.

This year we hoped it would unite with us in making a stand against injustice and racism.

Meanwhile, Aughnacliffee native Jim Curran took a stand in London and joined a Black Lives Matter march at the weekend, reminding people that there was a time, not so long ago, when it was standard to see signs that read No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs in various locations.

Mr Curran, who has lived in Pimlico, London since 1967, was among those who gathered in the English capital yesterday to support a Black Lives Matter protest.

Mr Curran, who is chairman of the Irish Civil Rights Association, had a banner around his neck declaring racism is the issue.

In a four-part interview posted on Twitter by @foss_film on Sunday, Mr Curran revealed that he has been campaigning against racism since he was ten years old, adding Irish people faced racism in the past.

The Irish were discriminated against in housing, in jobs and in every issue, and since I came to London Ive been involved in all the different campaigns against racism and I chose to come down here today to focus attention on the appalling racism that happened in the US and even here in England, he said.

On the day of Ms Thatchers funeral, the Irish Civil Rights Association joined protesters outside the Royal Courts of Justice. As the body of Ms Thatcher passed, the protesters turned their backs and booed.

Mr Curran also had a banner which stated that Ms Thatchers paramilitary funeral was insulting and offensive to Irish people.

Read also: Longford native participates in London Black Lives Matter protest
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By Tim Brockwell

Jun. 11, 2020 | PADUCAH

By Tim Brockwell Jun. 11, 2020 | 10:58 AM | PADUCAH

The Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Zoom meeting Friday morning with PACC Chair-elect and President/CEO of West Kentucky Community and Technical College Dr. Anton Reece.



The Chamber says the goal of the call will be to listen, gather information about unique challenges facing African American and minority business owners and determine steps that can be taken to enhance and expand successful businesses in our region.



Reece says the current economic situation brought on by the pandemic presents some serious issues to business owners across the area, with minority-owned businesses facing their own unique set of challenges.



"The goal ultimately is win-win," Reece said. "The concern is we don't want to inevitably come out of COVID and the economic recovery to discover that minority and black American businesses are left even further behind."



Reece said the meeting will focus on education, a listening session, and increasing minority involvement in local business organizations.



"A lot of small business owners are very creative people, but business savvy is a skill, and there's knowledge associated with it. So I believe that one part of it is bridging the gap, educational process, and providing a way for them to become more informed and learned." Reece said.



"It's important that the leadership really hear first hand the broader context in terms of opportunity to be successful in business. We want businesses to be successful by starting, expanding, those sort of things." He added.



Reece said it's also important to make an effort to reach out to area minority-owned businesses to increase participation in local business organizations.



"It's also about more involvement with African American and minority businesses in the Chamber, and for that matter the Rotary, just more representation. Because as you look at these settings, it's very clear that there's a lot of work to do in terms of diversifying." He said.



The meeting will take place from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Participants can use meeting ID: 982-7189-5810 to join.



To submit a question for Dr. Reece, email swilson@paducahchamber.org.
LOS ANGELES, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Driven Deliveries, Inc. (the "Company" or Driven) ( OTCQB: DRVD ), California's fastest-growing online cannabis retailer and direct-to-consumer delivery company, announced today that it has executed an agreement with Stem Holdings, Inc. ( OTCQB: STMH CSE: STEM ) a leading vertically-integrated cannabis and hemp branded products company with state-of-the-art cultivation, processing, extraction, retail, and distribution operations throughout the United States, to collaborate on e-commerce and distribution.

Driven partners with leading cannabis brands in California through its e-commerce platforms, Ganjarunner and Budee, to provide cannabis consumers statewide with direct access to hundreds of cannabis products for swift home delivery. For the first time this capability will be extended to a full-service medical dispensary, Foothill Health & Wellness, which was recently acquired by Stem and currently services the El Dorado County and the suburbs of Sacramento. Foothill offers a broad mix of both popular and proprietary products that will now be readily available to the 92% of the state covered by Driven. Consumer demand for delivery has increased significantly at Foothill and Driven will now support Foothill's goal to service every customer and patient as quickly as possible.

"Our collaboration with Stem is starting here in California," said Christian Schenk, CEO Driven Deliveries Inc. "This is only the beginning. Our companies have been working closely together to chart a course for expansion in all markets in which Stem operates, and will use our respective capabilities to service the needs of our customers with greater variety, speed, and accuracy," he concluded.

Starting today, current and new Foothill Health & Wellness customers can shop for a wide array of products available for home delivery within 60 minutes. Delivery from Foothill will be promoted statewide for those consumers who previously did not have access to Foothill's full array of products. The online store is available by visiting www.shopfoothill.com

"The growth in consumer demand for delivery is evident across all product sectors, and particularly in cannabis as our medical consumers in California need to have their orders filled quickly and accurately," stated Adam Berk, CEO of Stem Holdings. "It became clear that a partnership between our companies would be good for patient health, and good for business, as we could service consumers who need and want our products outside of our normal trading area," Berk continued. "We further expect to increase our e-commerce footprint together in all other states in which Stem operates, which include Oregon and Nevada, among others."

This collaboration and partnership will enable both companies to combine their capabilities to meet emerging market needs in new ways that drive value throughout the supply chain and ultimately for end consumers.

About Driven:

Driven Deliveries, Inc., is the first publicly traded cannabis delivery service operating within the United States. Founded by experienced technology and cannabis executives, the company provides e-commerce solutions, online sales, and on-demand cannabis delivery, in select cities where allowed by law. Driven offers legal cannabis consumers the ability to purchase and receive their marijuana in a fast and convenient manner. By 2020, legitimate cannabis revenue in the U.S. market is projected to hit $23 billion. By leveraging consumer trends, and offering a proprietary, turnkey delivery system to its customers, management believes it is uniquely positioned to best serve the needs of the emerging cannabis industry and capture notable market share within the sector. For more information, please visit www.DRVD.com and review Driven's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Stem Holdings, Inc.

Stem Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: STMH CSE: STEM) is a leading cannabis and hemp branded products company in the U.S. with proprietary capabilities in sustainable cultivation, processing, extraction, and R&D, as well as retail and distribution operations aligned with state-by-state regulations. Stem's award-winning brands are the foundation of the Company's expansion into current and new segments and markets, with exceptional and disruptive brands and products that benefit well-being. Stem's expertise and scale will drive growth domestically and internationally, building value for shareholders.

Forward-looking Statements:

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are identified by the use of the words "could," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "may," "continue," "predict," "potential," "project" and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, objectives, expectations, and intentions reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that we will achieve these plans, objectives, expectations or intentions. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond the Company's control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and present expectations or projections. Actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and the trading price for our common stock may fluctuate significantly. Forward-looking statements also are affected by the risk factors described in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This business update contains statements which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the management of Stem Holdings, Inc. ("Stem") with respect to future business activities. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will","intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar Expressions and include, without limitation, information regarding: (i) Stem's growth strategy and the anticipated results therefrom; (ii) Stem's future opportunities, including with respect to facility and store launches; (iii) the receipt of a recreational license for the Sacramento dispensary and the timing thereof; (iv) the accretive value of the acquisition of the Sacramento dispensary on Stem's existing portfolio of dispensaries; (v) Stem's promotional and delivery strategy and the anticipated results therefrom; (vi) the expected launch of certain of Stem's brands and the timing thereof, Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflects the management of Stem's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although Stem believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the Company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; adverse changes in the public perception of cannabis; decreases in the prevailing prices for cannabis and cannabis products in the markets that the Company operates in; adverse changes in applicable laws; adverse changes as a result of Covid-19; adverse changes in the application or enforcement of current laws, including those related to taxation; political risk; and increasing costs of compliance with extensive government regulation. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of Stem and market conditions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although Stem has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Stem does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.

Investor Contact:

KCSA Strategic Communications

Valter Pinto or Elizabeth Barker

+1 212-896-1254 or +1 212-896-1203

[email protected]

SOURCE Driven Deliveries, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.godriven.com


Vietnam thought highly of progress made by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), said a Vietnamese official at a meeting of the council to review the mechanism on Monday.

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of the Vietnamese Mission to the UN and chairman of the UNSCs Informal Working Group on International Tribunals.

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of the Vietnamese Mission to the UN and chairman of the UNSCs Informal Working Group on International Tribunals, acknowledged the past trial results, stressing the request for fair judgment following correct procedures.

Praising the mechanisms progress in ensuring gender equality, the diplomat said he supports increased co-operation to help the mechanism complete its remaining caseload as soon as possible.

At the meeting, Carmel Agius, President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cases that were on track to be concluded by the end of 2020 are now expected to wind down in the first part of 2021.

Data stored in The Hague (the Netherlands) and Arusha (Tanzania) and procedural rules will be completed, he added.

He highlighted the arrest on May 16 this year of fugitive Felicien Kabuga as a major breakthrough in punishing severe international crimes. The fugitive is a key suspect in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, who had evaded capture for over 20 years.

Participants took note of the IRMCTs progress in trial work, document management, witness protection, and COVID-19 prevention measures.

They also urged member nations to support the mechanism.

The UNSC created the IRMCT in December 2010 to perform some essential functions previously carried out by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The council reviews the operation of the mechanism every six months.  VNS
A Sydney magistrate convicted of indecently assaulting a teenage boy was the subject of a miscarriage of justice after "a particularly nasty, barbed comment" was made to the jury, his lawyers told the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Graeme Bryan Curran, 70, was jailed last year for two years and four months after a NSW District Court jury found him guilty of seven charges of indecent assault involving the boy in the early 1980s.

Magistrate Graeme Curran arrives at court last year. Credit:AAP

He will be eligible for parole on December 22 this year after serving 16 months of the sentence.

Curran is appealing his conviction on the basis that the Crown prosecutor's closing address to the jury "gave rise to a miscarriage of justice" and that the guilty verdicts were "unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence".
What is expected to be BARTs new fare gate of the future recently arrived at the Richmond station, where riders on Thursday said they doubted it would stop fare cheats even as the transit agencys Board of Directors praised the new device.

BART officials have said the new fare gates are needed to deter fare evaders, who were largely blamed for rising crime and declining ridership on trains before the coronavirus pandemic caused passengers to stay home and steer clear of public transit.

The new gate, developed by BART engineers, stands 5 feet high and features plexiglass panels that swing open in the center like a set of saloon doors. Compressed air, rather than a motor, powers the gate and the pressure is adjusted to make the panels difficult to push through or pry apart. The swinging gates rest about a foot from the floor and stretch up to the heads and shoulders of most riders, making it a challenge to vault over or scramble under.

The new gate has been in use at Richmond since May 30.

Unlike two previous prototypes produced by BART  derisively dubbed the shark fin and guillotine gates  the new model is relatively unobtrusive. It was generally well-received by agency directors and a handful of riders who spoke to The Chronicle while entering the Richmond station Thursday morning.

A couple of hours before BART directors were briefed on the new fare gate, most of those entering or exiting the station used the existing gates, which are actually two stacked gates with pinchers or paddles that open and close near both the waist and the shoulders  or head. Some have likened that design to a guillotine.

None of the dozen or so people who used the new gate, which functions as a priority entrance gate that stays open longer to facilitate entry by people with wheelchairs, bikes or luggage, attempted to skirt the required fare. That may have had something to do with the BART police officers standing nearby.

But two riders paid their fares, walked through the open gates and questioned their impregnability.

Daniel Chiodini, of Richmond, said the new fare gate did the job but echoed the opinion that fare evaders will still likely manage to ride BART for free.

Theyll find a way, he said.

The see-through panels were tough to push or pull apart but sat somewhat off-kilter, leaving a gap wide enough for the skinnier among us to wedge their way through to the trains. BART officials have described the new gates as the most effective for fare evasion and declared the swing gate the best design in September.

Since then, BART engineers examined and tweaked the design of swing gates used in other transit agencies and came up with a pneumatic design that uses pressurized air to open and close the gates while providing sufficient pressure to keep them from being pried open. BART officials said its the first pneumatic swing gate in the world.

The new gates cost about $1 million to design, produce and install, but it could save BART about $60 million by cutting the price tag on replacing all 715 fare gates to $90 million total and reducing the timeline for completing the work in three to five years. BART and the counties in which the system runs would share the expense.

Directors made no final decisions about installing the gates system-wide Thursday, but they supported the plan, especially the cost savings.

Director Liz Ames, of Union City, said that taller, sturdier gates would improve the safety or at least the perception of safety of riding BART, which will be important as the transit agency tries to lure back riders.

BARTs ridership is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders but is still just 10% of normal. Even before the COVID-19 crisis hit and workplaces closed, BART ridership was already declining, due in part to a feeling that BART was unsafe. That impression was bolstered by a 2019 Alameda County grand jury report that found BART crime had more than doubled since 2014.

Riders want to see the (new) gates; they say they want to see fewer police at the gates, Ames said. There will be less lawlessness with the gates. We need to control the system more right now. People want to feel safe riding transit.

Meanwhile, the issue of reforming or defunding the BART Police Department led to an emotional exchange between BART directors, including Janice Li, who has been embroiled in an ongoing Twitter battle with the BART Police Officers Association.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

After several people advocated for eliminating funding for the BART Police Department during a public hearing  one of them calling BART police murderers and referring to the death of Oscar Grant at the hands of a former officer  Director Debora Allen, of Clayton, defended the police, calling the remarks lies and politically motivated.

Li, of San Francisco, defended those who have called for defunding the transit agencys police department.

To ignore those comments is willfully ignorant, she said.

Li has sparred with BARTs police union on Twitter stretching back to at least February. The director quoted a transit agency ambassador who said that homeless people just want a place to sleep and said denying that would be inhumane.

The police officers association retweeted that remark and accused Li of wanting to turn BART into a rolling homeless shelter while also accusing her of calling those who disagree racists.

Li did not mention racism in her tweet.

BARTs police union called Lis comments unbelievable and tone deaf.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
Warsaw, June 11 : Poland will reopen its borders to other European Union (EU) countries on June 13, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced.

The announcement comes in the wake of a request by the European Commission on June 5 to member states to have their borders reopened by July 1, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

The border reopening means that citizens of other EU countries can enter Poland again. Temporary passport checks, abolished in 2007 when Poland joined the Schengen area, will also be lifted.

International flights, which have been ceased apart from repatriation charter flights, will resume three days later, according to the announcement.

Poland's borders have been closed to non-Poles and non-residents since March 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Poles and residents returning from abroad were subject to a 14-day home quarantine. The measure was initially implemented for nine days, but was extended when the pandemic spread further within Europe.

Poland's Ministry of Health said on Wednesday morning that the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in Poland had reached 27,668. On Monday, Poland recorded the highest single-day infections of 599 cases since the start of the pandemic.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Snow likely. Low near 20F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%. Snow accumulating 1 to 3 inches..

Tonight

Snow likely. Low near 20F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%. Snow accumulating 1 to 3 inches.
Vietnam Airlines has become the first Vietnamese carrier to announce a plan for the resumption of its international routes connecting the Southeast Asian country with a handful of Asian destinations next month.

The announcement was sent to Vietnam Airlines ticket agents on Thursday morning.

From July 1, the Ho Chi Minh City/ Hanoi  Seoul and Ho Chi Minh City/ Hanoi  Busan routes will be reopened with a frequency of seven and three to four flights a week, respectively, according to the plan.

The Ho Chi Minh City/ Hanoi  Hong Kong/ Taiwan route will be resumed from the same date as regularly as three to four flights weekly.

From July 2, Vietnam Airlines will operate seven flights a week between Ho Chi Minh City/ Hanoi and Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore, Hanoi and Vientiane, Vientian and Phnom Penh, and Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam Airlines deputy general director Le Hong Ha told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the resumption plan was mapped out so that its planes are ready to take off as soon as the government gives the green light.

Ha affirmed that all of the airlines human resources, from flight attendants, pilots to its overseas representatives, are poised for the resumption.

At a government meeting on the disease response in Hanoi on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc tasked the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control with making a list of safe regions for the reopening of international commercial flights.

Safe destinations are those where there have been no new cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, for at least 30 days.

The destinations being considered include Seoul in South Korea, Guangzhou in China, Tokyo in Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia, and Laos.

The national steering committee must issue specific guidance on the quarantine of arrivals on these commercial flights.

These flights must also comply with the requirements of COVID-19 prevention and control to prevent spreading the disease to the community.

Vietnam has barred entry to foreign nationals since March 22, with exceptions for those carrying diplomatic or official passports or entering for special economic projects, who must be quarantined after entry.

The country has confirmed 332 COVID-19 cases, including 192 imported cases immediately quarantined upon arrivals.

Over 96 percent of all patients have recovered, while four out of the 12 active patients have tested negative for the virus at least once.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
American F-22 Jets Scrambled to Escort Russian Tu-95Ms Bombers Over Neutral Waters

Sputnik News

08:35 GMT 10.06.2020(updated 08:55 GMT 10.06.2020)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US Air Force F-22 fighters were scrambled to escort Russian Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers during their flight over neutral waters near the Russian-US border, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Four strategic Tu-95MS missile carriers of the Russian Aerospace Forces' long-range aviation conducted a planned flight over the neutral waters of the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the northern part of the Pacific Ocean ... At certain stages of the flight, the Russian planes were escorted by US Air Force F-22 fighters", the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement, adding that the flight lasted 11 hours.

Russian Aerospace Forces' flights are always conducted in strict compliance with international regulations, the statement further read.

In May, US strategic bombers conducted five flights along the Russian border, the ministry recalled.

Several reconnaissance planes were also spotted near Russia's borders with the Baltic States in April, while another US aircraft conducted a mission near a Russian military base in Syria in May.

 Sputnik

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By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian aid to 20 citizens stranded in Turkey due to the closure of borders amid COVID-19, the State Committee for work with the Diaspora reported on June 8.

Aid has been provided to 20 Azerbaijani citizens temporary residing in the Muratpash region of Antalya, where they are treated from thalassemia and other diseases, with the support of the Antalya Azerbaijan association of culture and solidarity.

The members of the association distributed food to the citizens from the Antalya Muratpash municipality and wished them strong health in an early future.

Moreover, the members of the board of the association keep in touch with students studying in Antalya, as well as compatriots who were visiting there temporarily, and faced difficulties to return back due to the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 infection.

Earlier, Azerbaijan sent financial aid to 90 citizens stranded in Uzbekistan due to the closure of borders amid COVID-19.

Over 20.000 citizens have already been repatriated to the country. The citizens have been repatriated from Moscow, Istanbul, Kyiv, Minsk, Iran, Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Riga (Latvia), among others.

Azerbaijan first introduced special quarantine regime on March 24 and the fourth stage of quarantine regime easing came into force May 31.

On June 9, a decision was taken to impose a two-day nationwide quarantine regime in Baku, Ganja, Lankaran, Sumgayit, Absheron, Yevlakh, Ismailli, Kurdamir and Salyan regions, that will be effective from 00:00 on June 14 to 06:00 on June 16.

As of June 11, Azerbaijan has registered 8,530 COVID-19 cases and 102 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of recovered patients is 4,720.
COVID-19 patients given the all-clear on June 10 (Source: VNA)

No new cases were confirmed on June 11 morning, the committee said, adding that Vietnam has gone through 56 consecutive days without community transmission.

Among the countrys total 332 cases, 192 were imported and quarantined upon arrival.

Three patients tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 once and one tested negative at least twice.

At present, 9,226 people are being quarantined at hospitals, designated facilities or their accommodations.

The most severe case, the British pilot who is receiving treatment at HCM Citys Cho Ray Hospital, also showed impressive recovery.
The Dubai-based airline Emirates let go of more employees on Wednesday. The airline has laid off hundreds of pilots and cabin crew since yesterday, according to Reuters. A spokesperson for Emirates confirmed the redundancies, calling them a difficult decision resulting from the crisis in global travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Given the significant impact that the pandemic has had on our business, we simply cannot sustain excess resources and have to right size our workforce in line with our reduced operations, the spokesperson said in a statement sent to Al-Monitor. We deeply regret that we have to let some of our people go.

Emirates, one of the biggest airlines in the world, has experienced revenue losses and subsequent job cuts like other carriers in the Middle East during the pandemic. Late last month, the airline let go of trainee pilots and flight attendants.

Emirates and fellow United Arab Emirates airline Etihad Airways stopped almost all of their flights in March amid the novel coronavirus crisis and accompanying downturn in global travel.

The carrier is showing signs of recovery, however. Emirates has now resumed regular passenger flights to more than 20 destinations in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, the airline said. Next, it will add flights to Afghanistan.

Emirates hub Dubai is allowing greater movement at present than compared to the 24-hour lockdown in April aimed at curbing the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Public parks and hotel beaches reopened last month and the city is currently working on reopening mosques.

The local authorities remain concerned about the virus, however. Dubai police are now using surveillance cameras to detect possible carriers of the virus.
OKLAHOMA CITY, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- First Financial Network, Inc. (FFN), a leading international loan sale advisor, has announced the successful sale of performing and non-performing loans totaling $112 million on behalf of several financial institutions and funds. The assets sold included predominantly commercial real estate loans (office, industrial, retail, mixed-use, and multifamily) as well as C&I business assets. These loan sales further demonstrate the strength of FFN's industry-leading online platform during one of the most challenging times the world has faced.

The loans were sold following an online due diligence and bidding process conducted by FFN on its secure Loan Sale Network platform starting March 10, 2020, on behalf of eight clients made up of money center banks, community banks, and funds.

Bliss Morris, Founder and CEO of FFN, said, "Over the past three months the world at large has been challenged by the devastating pandemic. We were able to utilize our proven online platform to continue to serve our clients and close loan sales that have in turn helped them hedge future risk. Despite the difficult times, the loan sales market has remained active, giving a clear indication that buyers are actively pursuing good investment opportunities."

About First Financial Network

Since its founding in 1989, FFN has defined the loan sale industry, selling billions of dollars in loans and other assets in over 30 countries. The company provides loan valuation, loan sales and trade support services to banks, agencies of the U.S. Federal government, banks and other lenders. The company's online Loan Sale Network platform and FirstValue, a market-driven loan valuation model, are used in conjunction with exceptional due diligence and marketing techniques to achieve optimal value in today's international loan sale market. For further information, call 405.748.4100 or visit www.ffncorp.com.

Contact:

Great Ink Communications: 212-741-2977

Jimmy Lappas  [email protected]

Roxanne Donovan [email protected]

Francisco Miranda  [email protected]

SOURCE First Financial Network

Related Links

http://www.ffncorp.com


Germany's foreign minister has expressed serious concern to Israel about its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, but he stopped short of threatening sanctions.

Heiko Maas was speaking on a visit to Israel one month before Berlin assumes the European Union presidency, a role which gives it great influence in guiding EU policy.

Israel's new unity government next month intends to begin discussing extending sovereignty to its settlements in occupied land that Palestinians claim for an envisaged independent state.

The plan has been criticised by Arab and European powers as likely to finish off efforts to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel says annexation would be in keeping with a unilateral plan announced by US President Donald Trump in January.

"I repeated here today the German position as well as our serious concerns as a special friend of Israel of the possible consequences of such a step," Mr Maas told reporters alongside his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi.

Last September, Germany was one of five European nations to say that if the annexation plan was implemented, it would constitute a serious breach of international law. Asked yesterday about possible sanctions against Israel by the EU, Mr Maas said: "I did not set any price tags."

Mr Maas is the first senior foreign official to visit Israel since its new coalition government was sworn in on May 17.

Talks aimed at agreeing a two-state solution broke down in 2014 and Palestinian leaders have boycotted the Trump administration over its perceived bias towards Israel.

Washington's proposal envisages a Palestinian state in up to 70pc of the West Bank, but with overall Israeli security control.

Mr Ashkenazi said Israel would take Germany's perspective into consideration.

His centrist Blue and White party joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud in a coalition in May and some of its ministers have expressed misgivings about West Bank annexation. But Mr Ashkenazi played down intra-government feuding, saying discussions had yet to begin in earnest.

"The (Trump) plan will be pursued responsibly, in full co-ordination with the United States, while maintaining Israel's peace agreements and strategic interests," he said.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki yesterday called on countries to isolate "the Israeli colonial system".

Speaking to a virtual meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, he urged countries to boycott Israel, ban its products, and impose economic and political sanctions.
Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket:

Target (TGT)  The retailer announced a 3% dividend hike, increasing the quarterly payout by 2 cents a share to 68 cents per share.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN)  The drugmaker began human testing of an experimental Covid-19 antibody cocktail designed as a treatment for the disease. Chief Scientific Officer George Yancoupolos said the company should know within a month whether the treatment is effective.

Amazon.com (AMZN)  The European Union is set to file formal charges against Amazon over its treatment of third-party sellers, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. Amazon has been accused of using data from those sellers to compete against them, charges that Amazon has denied.

Eli Lilly (LLY)  Lilly could have a Covid-19 treatment authorized for use as early as September. The drugmaker's chief scientist told Reuters that a timeline could be met if either of the two antibody therapies currently in testing proves successful. Lilly also has a third antibody treatment in pre-clinical studies.

Grubhub (GRUB)  Grubhub agreed to be acquired by European food delivery firm Just Eat Takeaway.com in a $7.3 billion all-stock deal. The transaction would create the world's largest food delivery company outside China. The agreement comes after acquisition talks between Grubhub and Uber (UBER) fell apart.

Apple (APPL)  Bank of America Securities raised its price target on Apple stock to a Street high of $390 a share from the prior $340 a share, while maintaining a "buy" rating. The firm cited a number of positive factors including the upcoming 5G iPhone cycle and projected 20% growth in hardware sales next year.

Children's Place (PLCE)  The children's apparel retailer lost $1.96 per share for its first quarter, smaller than the loss of $2.14 per share that analysts had predicted. Revenue did come in below forecasts, with stores closed due to the pandemic. Children's Place also said online demand had quadrupled over a year ago, and that it planned to have the majority of its stores open by July 1.

Unilever (UN, UL)  Unilever plans to combine its Dutch and British entities into a single holding company based in Britain. The consumer goods giant said the plan would not affect staffing or operations either in Britain or the Netherlands.

Tesla (TSLA)  Tesla won Chinese government approval to build Model 3 vehicles with cobalt-free "LFP" batteries.

Walmart (WMT)  Walmart will stop keeping beauty products aimed at people of color in locked display cases. The practice had drawn complaints saying it suggested that customers of those products cannot be trusted.

Walt Disney (DIS)  Walt Disney plans to begin a phased reopening of its Disneyland resort in California in July. The plan must still receive approval from state and local officials.

Tailored Brands (TLRD)  Tailored Brands said it may have to seek bankruptcy protection if sales continue to slump. The parent of the Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank clothing chains said it was taking "decisive actions to manage liquidity."

Tyson Foods (TSN)  Tyson said it was cooperating with a Justice Department probe into poultry price-fixing. The meat and poultry producer is participating in a program that shields Tyson and its employees from prosecution or fines.

Beyond Meat (BYND)  Beyond Meat announced the expansion of its manufacturing capabilities in Europe. The plant-based burger maker acquired a new factory in the Netherlands that should be in operation by the end of the year, as well as opening another Netherlands manufacturing plant in partnership with Dutch meat producer Zandbergen.

Delta Air Lines (DAL)  Delta will seek concessions from lenders, in order to prevent the carrier from falling out of compliance with certain debt requirements. Under current conditions, Delta said it would be out of compliance by early next year.

Oxford Industries (OXM)  Oxford lost $1.12 per share for its latest quarter, compared to forecasts of a 27 cents per share loss. The apparel maker's revenue also came in below forecasts. The maker of Tommy Bahama and other apparel brands was hurt by virus-related lockdowns, and instituted heavy discounting and promotional activity during the quarter.
A federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit against the city of Hayward this week for the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Shawn Stoddard-Nunez, a passenger in a car that a police officer tried to stop on suspicion of drunken driving in 2013.

The suit by the victims brother was dismissed in 2018 after Officer Manuel Troche testified that the car was heading toward him when he opened fire, killing the teen.

But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Wednesday there was evidence, including the coroners report, that could show the car had already passed Troche and posed no threat when he fired the fatal shot and that a jury should decide whether he used excessive force.

The ruling stands in contrast to earlier court actions related to the shooting. Prosecutors initially charged the driver of the car, Arthur Pakman, with murder in Stoddard-Nunezs death, saying he was legally responsible for the shooting by driving while drunk and allegedly steering the vehicle toward Troche. Pakman later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and drunken driving, convictions that were not affected by the new decision.

The case dates from March 2013, when Pakman and Stoddard-Nunez were heading home from a party in early-morning hours. Troche saw the car driving erratically and pursued it, though he did not turn on his flashing lights, the court said. Pakman pulled into a parking lot and stopped. The uniformed officer said he stepped out of his car, pulled out his gun and shouted at the driver to turn his engine off and step outside, but Pakman shifted into reverse and started backing out toward a narrow space between the police car and a fence.

Troche said he opened fire in self-defense after Pakman swerved toward him and scraped against his patrol car, and he fired at the front of the car as it approached. Pakman was not hit, but one of the nine bullets struck Stoddard-Nunez in the neck and killed him.

Pakman denied swerving toward the officer. The Alameda County coroners report found that Troche continued shooting as the car drove past him. Importantly, the appeals court said, the coroner also found that the fatal bullet entered the victims right shoulder and passed through the left side of his neck, and that there were bullet holes in the side and rear of the car.

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A reasonable juror could examine the photographs and conclude that Officer Troche fired his gun from the side and rear of Pakmans car, and not just at the front of the car, the three-judge panel said in reversing U.S. Magistrate Kandis Westmores dismissal of the suit.

On Wednesday, the court cited past rulings allowing a police officer to use deadly force to prevent the escape of a criminal suspect if the officer has reason to believe the suspect poses a threat to the officer or others. In this case, the court said, a jury could find that Troche fired the fatal shot while the car was heading past him, when it posed no threat to officer safety and, at best, a minimal threat to the public.

The city attorneys office declined to comment.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
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As Americans return to work under state variations of President Trumps three-phase reopening plan, it will certainly be with a heightened sense of social responsibility. For many it will be enough to wear a mask and keep a healthy distance, but others will undoubtedly be seeking a more spiritual relationship with both their customers and coworkers.

Unfortunately, helping people satisfy their need for what some have termed workplace theology is not a service local pastors are trained to offer. In 1955, an industrial psychologist named O. A. Ohmann published a Harvard Business Review article called Skyhooks, in which he argued that being a good manager had much less to do with mastering conventional business skills than with living ones faith on the job. Yet despite becoming one of the most widely read, frequently reprinted, and journalistically praised articles in the Reviews history, it had little impact on seminary curricula.

Today, some employees, especially at large firms like Google, Intel, Target, and American Express, do benefit from HR departments that allow faith-oriented support groups to operate within their companies. Tyson Foods, according to a February report in Christianity Today, makes 100 chaplains of various denominations available to its 122,000 people at nearly 400 locations.

But the many millions of other workers at small-to-medium size businesses are not without spiritual resources. Recent years have seen the growth of numerous, largely ecumenical non-profits dedicated to helping average Americans develop a closer connection between faith and vocation.

Perhaps the most influential of these is the Theology of Work Project, based in Peabody, Massachusetts. Dating back to 2006, when now executive editor Will Messenger and five other people from the Boston area began meeting informally to discuss the Christian concept of occupation, they eventually conducted a survey aimed at identifying those employment-related issues of greatest interest to believers.

Today, the Project publishes books, devotionals, and podcast on topics ranging from Leadership  Beyond Rank and Power to Women at Work in the New Testament. It also maintains a website with a complete Bible commentary on work and emails a free newsletter, providing content to an estimated 6.2 million people in 2019 alone.

Another popular resource is the McLean, Virginia, based Trinity Forum, founded in 1991 by author Os Guinness and US philanthropist Alonzo L. McDonald. Under the direction of its current president Cherie Harder, a former White House Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, the Forum helps interested residents of cities and towns around the US to conduct small, spiritually themed reading groups.

Harder and her colleagues also arrange larger events in the DC area, Atlanta, Nashville, and elsewhere aimed at engaging local leaders in discussions of personal, policy, and work issues from a faith perspective. The Forums publications include Entrepreneurship for Life, which relates excerpts from classics in Western spiritual literature to common business and social problems.

Going down to the local level, volunteer and non-profit organizations in more than 50 cities across the US have adopted some kind of curriculum which engages area employees to view their jobs, not merely as an economic necessity, but as a way to serve God. In Tennessee, for example, a group called Chattanooga Faith+Work+Culture, co-founded by retired hospital administrator Clark Taylor, invites almost a thousand people to attend monthly luncheons on subjects like reimagining work.

For those who wish to go further, Taylors group offers a quarterly, four-session course called Faith and Work 101. It also sponsors a nine-month fellowship program for those established enough in their careers to implement company-wide programs that could benefit the larger community.

Many of the local organizations helping people connect faith to work are affiliated with a group called Made to Flourish, which lists their contact information on their website.

Baylor University political science professor Elizabeth Corey, author of Achievement and the Christian Life (American Enterprise Institute) reports a growing number of college-based organizations, even at secular schools, aimed at helping students spiritually prepare for their chosen careers. Coming to terms with the conflict between the growing pressure to perfect marketable skills and traditional religious beliefs [has become] a huge problem for many undergraduates, she says.

Corey notes that elite schools like Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, University of Chicago, and Yale all now have some program, activity, or residential facility aimed at integrating faith with vocation. Thirty are affiliated with the Charlottesville, VA, based Consortium of Christian Study Centers.

More than a half-century ago, O.H. Ohmann feared a lack of seminary interest in workplace theology would permanently deprive a valuable resource to believers seeking a deeper meaning in the biggest part of their daily lives. Fortunately for those returning to work in the wake of COVID-19, such guidance is now widely available.
Berkshire Health Systems Initiates COVID-19 Antibody Testing

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Berkshire Health Systems has begun providing COVID-19 antibody testing in the community, which will help residents to know if they have had COVID-19 at some point in the past, but officials stress that testing does not ensure immunity from the virus.

The testing is available through a blood test and only with a physician order. Interested residents can ask their primary care physician to submit an order to the BHS Laboratory for a test to be drawn at a BHS blood draw station. The result will then be provided to the physician, who will relay the result to the patient.

Patients accessing the antibody testing will be responsible for any co-pays, deductibles or self-pay required by their health insurer, and if they have questions regarding whether insurance will pay for the test should contact their insurance provider.

"We believe this will be important in the long-run to help determine what percentage of the Berkshire population may have had COVID-19, with many people likely having contracted the virus but did not develop serious, or in some cases, any symptoms," said Dr. James Lederer, BHS' chief medical officer and chief quality officer. "Unfortunately, at this early stage of antibody testing nationwide, the test will not answer some key questions the public may have, including whether they have any immunity as a result of a positive antibody test. It may be some time before we know if there is immunity, and the longevity of that immunity."

"As we face the possibility of a resurgence of COVID-19 in the upcoming fall and winter months, this testing may help us to better understand how widespread the virus was locally in this first phase," said Dr. Jessica Krochmal, BHS chair of Pathology. "The test itself is a simple blood draw with a fairly fast turnaround, so that we can inform the primary care physician who ordered the test in a short timeframe."

In Berkshire County, to date, nearly 8,500 people have been tested for COVID-19 through a nasal swab test that determines if the individual has the virus at that time, and of that number, just over 500 have been positive. The antibody test will tell the individual, who may have had no symptoms or might at some point earlier this year have had respiratory illness whether they had COVID-19 from an historical perspective.

"We would stress that those who test positive for antibodies understand that this does not mean they are immune going forward," Lederer said. "People should continue to follow all of the precautions put in place across Massachusetts and locally to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, including social distancing and masking where required."
Brian Hall at an event promoting Microsoft's Surface 2 computer in 2013, when he worked for that company.

People are speaking out against state rules that enable companies to block employees from switching their alliances to competitors after Amazon sued an employee who left its cloud unit for a new role at Google's cloud business.

The uproar brings back to the fore the topic of whether laws should allow companies to mount legal attacks against employees who decamp to rivals, while also showing how fiercely large companies are challenging one another in the cloud.

Amazon and Microsoft, two of the world's most valuable companies, have both filed lawsuits against employees to block them from immediately joining competitors. Last year the legislature in Washington, where Amazon and Microsoft are based, imposed restrictions on non-competition clauses, including one that limits these agreements to workers who earn more over $100,000 per year.

The flap started when former Amazon Web Services product marketing vice president Brian Hall accepted the same position at Google after being passed over for a promotion, Amazon said in its lawsuit, which was filed last month in Washington state court. After Pacific Northwest technology news website GeekWire reported on the lawsuit, Hall updated his LinkedIn and Twitter profiles to describe himself as a "VP in purgatory" at Google.

On Monday, Hall tweeted a link to an article about the lawsuit, saying simply, "ummm some personal news?..." The tweet garnered over 14,000 likes.

On Tuesday, Amazon sought a temporary restraining order that could prevent Hall from working on cloud marketing at Google, including editing speeches for the online-only cloud conference Google will start next month, one of the tasks Google identified for Hall to work on before a preliminary injunction meeting scheduled for July 31.

Hall, who was at Microsoft for more than 20 years before joining Amazon, signed a "confidentiality, noncompetition and invention assignment agreement" with Amazon before he joined the company in July 2018. The agreement barred him from working for a competitor for 18 months.

Amazon noted that Hall helped to assemble AWS' product roadmap in 2020 and 2021, where he had access to information like sales goals. Amazon argued that Hall couldn't market Google products without drawing on this proprietary information, giving Google an unfair advantage.

Hall's lawyers countered by saying his position at Google wouldn't require him to draw on sensitive information he was privy to at Amazon.

Former AWS marketing vice president Ariel Kelman had led Hall to think Amazon wouldn't enforce the non-compete agreement and said he hadn't seen AWS use it against a someone in marketing, Hall's lawyers argued. Kelman himself in January left Amazon to take a job as Oracle's new marketing chief, and Amazon did not go after Kelman.

However, Amazon has repeatedly gone to court over the agreements.

In 2014 Amazon sued Zoltan Szabadi, an AWS employee who worked on partnerships, who went to Google. Szabadi still works in Google, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 2017 Amazon went after former AWS vice president Gene Farrell when he sought to join software company Smartsheet; Amazon later dropped the case. And earlier this year Amazon dropped a suit it had brought against Philip Moyer, a managing director of financial services at AWS who became a vice president at Google Cloud.

Amazon controls the biggest share of the cloud infrastructure market, with about 48% in 2018, according to an estimate from technology industry research company Gartner. That prominence has helped AWS turn into Amazon's main generator of operating profit. Amazon declined to comment. Google, with an estimated 4% of the cloud infrastructure market in 2018, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By PTI

AHMEDABAD: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said Pakistan will never succeed in its "sinister" plans and asserted Indian security forces are giving a befitting reply to terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

The BJP leader said the Narendra Modi government has done a lot during its tenure and cited scrapping of Article 370 in J&K, opening of the Kartarpur Corridor and enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, among others, as its major achievements.

He was addressing a 'virtual' Jan Samvad for the Saurashtra zone of Gujarat to mark the completion of one year (in late May) of the Modi government in it second term.

"Indian forces are giving a befitting reply to terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir since the last one week.

While many terrorists were killed, some were also arrested during the operation.

"India has clearly conveyed that Pakistan will never succeed in its sinister plans," said Javadekar.

In his address, he listed several other achievements of the Modi government, including enactment of the CAA, opening of the Kartarpur Corridor (between India-Pakistan), scrapping of Articles 370 and 35A in J&K, introduction of the GST and commencement of construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Javadekar also mentioned about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resolve to build an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

After his address, Gujarat BJP leaders, who had gathered inside a hall, took a pledge to promote locally- manufactured products as propagated by the PM.

They also pledged to buy locally-manufactured products whenever possible.
New Delhi: South actress Keerthy Suresh will next be seen in 'Penguin', a thriller which will release on Amazon Prime Video. Come June 19, 2020 and fans will get to watch yet another path-breaking performance by this National Award-winning actress.

Directed by debutant Eashavar Karthic and produced by Karthi Subbaraj, the trailer of Penguin has released and is edgy, gritty and chilling at the same name.

Watch Penguin trailer here:

The story of a mother, her lost child and a mysterious masked character will send chills down your spine.

Keerthy Suresh starrer is high on the buzz word and fans are eagerly waiting for it to hit the OTT platform. She plays a mother in this female-oriented mystery thriller. The music is composed by Santhosh Narayanan.

Talking about the project, the actress said: Penguin has definitely been one of the most exciting and interesting projects Ive worked on. As a mother, Rhythm (her character) is both gentle and caring, but also fiercely determined. Shes complex, but authentic, and I think that will really strike a chord with audiences. I had a wonderful time working with the incredibly talented Eashvar Karthic to bring the story to life. It will be great to see a film in Tamil, Telugu that will be appreciated by audiences around the world.

The National-Award winning actress Keerthy Suresh is a stunning performer. She received the national honour for playing the role of actress Savitri in 2018 release 'Mahanati'. She has featured in a number of blockbuster Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies respectively.
11.06.2020 LISTEN

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) Monrovia, informs the public that with the aid of the Liberia National Police (LNP) a 16-year-old girl has been rescued from child marriage.

The minor was scheduled to be wedded on Monday, June 8, 2020, to a polygamist named Jusu Kenneh, a resident of the Banjor Community, in Montserrado County. Jusu is already a husband of two wives and the minor was to become his third wife.

Child Marriage is a flagrant violation of the Liberian Children's Law of 2011. As enshrined in Article Six Section four of the children's law - No person or society shall subject a child to any of the

following practices:-

(a) marrying any person when she or he is still under the age of 18; (b) betrothing a child into marriage or a promise for marriage.

Gender commends the whistleblower whose cogent information led to timely and fruitful intervention. The minor was rescued by a joint effort of the Liberia National Police and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

The Ministry urges the public to disengage from trying to obstruct constituted authorities in discharging their legal functions. Said unfortunate incident occurred when a small team of LNP's Officers and Gender Ministry's Team led by Assistant Minister of Children and Social Protection Maminah Carr, were initially physically obstructed as they tried to halt the wedding. This action on the part of some members of the community-led to bodily injury of one of the Gender's social workers.

Gender reminds the public that child marriage is an unacceptable offense and an immoral act that must be condemned and not condoned by anyone. According to UNICEF, child marriage often compromises a girls development by resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, and limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement.

The Ministry confirms that the survivor is presently in a safe home receiving well-being care and psychosocial counseling. MGCSP will remain fully engaged in pursuing justice for the survivor.

Gender applauds the Liberia National Police for the swift arrest of suspect Jusu Kenneh. The Ministry again welcomes public reporting on sexual and gender-based violence cases and encourages every citizen to continue to pay attention to happenings in the communities, and say or report anything seeming suspicious or out of the ordinary, as well as negative situations needing attention for different vulnerable groups. Please feel free to also use the 4455 Hotline to report any negative situations you might be in, or aware of.
S ir Keir Starmer has accused ministers of "mismanagement" over the reopening of schools, putting at risk both the "welfare and education" of children.

The Labour leader said the issues facing Downing Street on ensuring pupils were safe to return to classrooms were "entirely foreseeable.

In an article for the Telegraph, he criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson for failing to meet with opposition parties to put together a plan.

"There was no plan, no consensus, no leadership," he said.

Sir Keir said leaving children at home would be damaging not only to their learning but also their welfare.

All you need to know from June 10 Covid-19 briefing

He said: "We now have the ridiculous situation where next week betting shops and theme parks will open, but parents are not clear when their children will go back to school.

"The longer schools are shut, the greater the damage to children's wellbeing and education and the increasing pressure on parents who are having to juggle childcare and work commitments.

"The warning from the Children's Commissioner a few days ago could not have been starker: a generation of children now risk losing out on over six months of education."

The criticisms follow on from Sir Keir's pointed comments during Prime Minister's Questions, during which he told Boris Johnson that parents had "lost confidence" in the Government's schools plan and warned that millions of children could miss six months' worth of education.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson was forced to admit defeat this week over plans - set out in the Government's coronavirus recovery plan - for primary schools to fully reopen.

Children in nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 in England began returning to primary school last week after the Government eased lockdown measures.

But some schools said they did not have enough space on site to admit all pupils in the eligible year groups, while adhering to Government guidance to limit class sizes to 15 and encourage fewer interactions.

At the Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, Mr Johnson acknowledged he was "moving slower than we would have liked in some areas" - but he said he wanted all pupils back in classrooms by September.

But Sir Keir said that target was in danger of being missed if a plan was not put in place soon.

"Without a plan, there is a risk that even by September many schools will not be able to reopen, and some children could be out of education for an entire year," the former director of public prosecutions said.

He argued that "creativity" needed to be used to utilise the empty buildings across Britain, including theatres, museums and libraries, so they could be "repurposed" as makeshift classrooms.

The Opposition leader called for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to announce fresh funding in the pre-Budget report next month to pay for education "over the summer months" while also pushing for a one-to-one meeting to take place between teachers and parents before the holidays.

At the press briefing, Mr Johnson said school pupils would undergo a "massive catch-up operation over the summer and beyond" to get up to speed on work they have missed.

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He said details of the catch-up plans will be outlined by Mr Williamson next week.
Two weeks ago the arsonist in the attack on anime studio Kyoto Animation, 42-year-old Shinji Aoba, was finally placed under arrest following a lengthy delay while he recovered from burns he himself sustained as well as complications related to coronavirus infection at candidate prisons. This week, Aoba appeared in court for the first time.

On Tuesday afternoon Aoba, who is still bedridden, was wheeled into a Kyoto district court courtroom on a stretcher. A judge asked him to state his name, which he did, the only time Aoba spoke during the 30-minute court session. He was also shown a list of the names of the 70 Kyoto Animation employees who were inside the studio when he set it ablaze, 36 of whom died on-site or in the hospital following the fire. Aoba, who reacted with mild surprise when he recently learned of how many lost their lives as a result of his actions, looked at the paper in silence for more than a minute.

The purpose of the hearing was for the court to officially state its rationale for keeping Aoba in confinement ahead of his trial. The presiding judge said aIn light of the circumstances of this case, and the emotional state of the suspect, there is a chance of a third party destroying evidence, or assisting the suspect in going fugitive.a

However, Aobaas defense attorney argued that his detainment is unnecessary. aMore than 10 months have passed since the incident took place, and the police have already gathered the evidence. Furthermore, I do not believe [Aoba] has any friends or family members who would be willing to help him escape.a

During the proceedings, Aoba made no comments and was almost entirely motionless. Lying prone in the stretcher and facing the ceiling with a mask covering his face and severe burns covering what skin was exposed, he remained silent and only occasionally moved his head.

Ultimately, the question of whether Aoba is a flight risk or not was rendered moot, as investigators also asked that he be detained for the purpose of expert psychiatric analysis, in order to determine his mental state and degree of legal culpability. The court granted the request for a period of three months, after which investigators will decide on what specific charges, or lack thereof, to bring against Aoba, meaning that his trial would begin no earlier than the fall.
India: Labor shortage in India's shrimp factories easing

June 11,2020 | Source: Seafood Source

The shrimp sector in India has gradually been recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, with more workers returning to processing factories, but impacts to production and exports will be severe this year, traders told SeafoodSource recently. A shrimp trader in Gujarat told SeafoodSource last week that the workforce at processing factories in his area is about 40 percent compared to periods before the coronavirus outbreak, as many workers have not been able to return from their homes. Millions of workers in India were stranded in large cities following the lockdowns imposed by the government from late March onward. Many chose to walk home and have not been back to work, even though restrictions on the fisheries sector were lifted since early April, the trader said.



Another trader with knowledge of the situation in various states said the workforce issue at factories has been improving since early May. In Andhra Pradesh, there was a severe shortage of workers from 24 March until the end of April, with available labor meeting just 25 percent of demand onaverage. But beginning in May, the workforce grew to around 30 percent in areas at high risk of exposure to the coronavirus, and up to 60 percent in other areas with lower risk. In Orissa, shrimp factories could meet about half of their workforce demand in May, while in Gujarat, the number was 30 percent. In Bengal, even though the workforce could fulfill around 60 percent of the need from the factories in May, there remained a severe shortage of peeling workers, the second trader said.



The shortage of workers at the processing plants has made it difficult for exporters to fulfill their contracts. For example, in May, processors in Andhra Pradesh received massive orders from China  for headless shell on or HLSO  and from the United States for retail purposes. But due to low processing capacity in March and April, they had to postpone or delay several cargoes in May. With regard to harvesting, Indian farmers made panic harvesting in March and April, driving down material prices. But in May, prices have improved, according to the second trader. In Bengal, production this year is likely to be reduced by 40 to 50 percent compared to last year, as farmers have sharply slashed new seeding since the lockdown order in March. Farmers in Orissa began seeding from February until the middle of March, and harvesting activities will take place in June and July. But as they were also hesitant to seed from March to early May, there will be shortage of shrimp material in the state from the middle of August to September. The supply of material in Andhra Pradesh will be low in July and August, too, as new seeding was limited in March and April, the second trader said.
Vlad Plahotniuc, a powerful Moldovan oligarch who fled his home country last year amid a government shake-up, sought political asylum in the United States, but his application was rejected, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. federal court.



In January, four months after making his application, Plahotniuc had his U.S. visa revoked after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that his "corrupt actions undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova."



Plahotniuc sued in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, a month after the visa ban was announced, asserting that the ban deprived him "of his due process in the pending asylum proceedings and thereby places his life and liberty in grave danger."



The revelations from the suit were the latest chapter in the winding narrative of Plahotniuc, who is one of the wealthiest men in Moldova.



A longtime behind-the-scenes power broker, Plahotniuc fled Moldova in June 2019 after being pushed out of parliament as part of a government shake-up brokered by Russia, the United States, and other European partners.



He dropped out of public view afterward, reportedly traveling under one or more assumed names and alternate passports. According to the lawsuit, Plahotniuc arrived in the United States the day after he fled Moldova.

Missing Money



Plahotniuc been linked to the disappearance of more than $1 billion -- totaling nearly one-eighth of Moldova's gross domestic product -- from the country's biggest banks between 2012 and 2014. A former prime minister, Vlad Filat, was found guilty of corruption related to the theft, but was released early in December 2019.



The brazenness of the bank theft, and the perception that those behind it have not been held to account, has outraged, and disillusioned, many Moldovans.



The announcement that the United States was imposing a visa ban on Plahotniuc and his family was met with some satisfaction among anti-corruption activists in Moldova who have struggled to root out the country's endemic graft.



But in March, RFE/RL reported that Plahotniuc had in fact been living in the United States at the time the visa ban was announced, and had been seen multiple times in Miami. That raised questions of how and when in fact he entered the country, as well as the circumstances under which the visa ban was imposed.

Moldovan officials, including President Igor Dodon, had previously hinted that Plahotniuc was in the United States.



The lawsuit has been under seal in federal court. A copy was leaked, however, and published online on June 11 by a Moldovan lawmaker from Dodon's Socialist Party.



RFE/RL could not independently confirm the authenticity of the lawsuit. However, the filing system for the U.S. court shows records for a sealed case having the same file number indicated on the leaked document.



The lawmaker, Bogdan Tirdea, refused to comment when contacted by RFE/RL.

'Judicial Review'



The New York lawyer representing Plahotniuc did not immediately respond to phone and email messages from RFE/RL. A representative for Plahotniuc in Chisinau declined to comment.



The lawsuit states that Plahotniuc arrived in the United States on June 15, 2019, the day after he fled Moldova. It said he applied for political asylum three months later, in September.



However, on January 10, U.S. immigration officials notified him that his asylum claim had been rejected. Five days later, the State Department announced its visa ban.



In March, the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau said that Plahotniuc was in the process of being deported from the United States.



"We understand that Vladimir Plahotniuc is present in the United States, but is currently in administrative removal proceedings," the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau said in a statement on March 19.



"Such proceedings, including permissible avenues of judicial review, often can take significant time," it added.



As of June 11, it was unclear where that process stood. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation, and referred questions about asylum applications to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service.



In the lawsuit, Plahotniuc claimed he been the target of multiple assassination attempts. He also said that he had a "demonstrated history of anti-corruption efforts" and that he had sought to reduce Russia's influence over the country's political system.



"Russia will not hesitate to assassinate him anywhere in Europe as they seek to achieve geopolitical dominance throughout the former Soviet bloc," the suit states.

Mike Eckel reported from Prague and Liliana Barbarosie from Chisinau
Dominick Pietrzak, who owns a film-production company in Brooklyn, New York, was among the small-business owners to receive a coveted and potentially forgivable loan in the first round of the Paycheck Protection Programme. How he did it was, in retrospect, the result of a convergence of very unlikely events.

As a business with just one full-time employee  himself  he first applied for the New York City Employee Retention Grant Programme while he was watching Mayor Bill de Blasio talk about the programme on television. Three days after seeing the announcement on TV and applying, a few thousand dollars was in his bank account.

For the Small Business Administrations PPP loan, the most coveted of the early relief efforts, he first tried to apply through his bank, Capital One, but it was not taking applications. That bank, in fact, did not get its system running until the programmes first round was out of money.

But that turned out to be a stroke of luck for Pietrzak. Searching for a way to keep his small business afloat, he took a chance and answered an offer from his bookkeeping company, Bench, an 8-year-old financial technology startup.

Bench, he said, connected him to Fundera, a seven-year-old lending platform for small companies. On a Sunday he signed closing documents from Cross River Bank in New Jersey  which he had never heard of  and two days later found the PPP money in his bank account.

I was a little sceptical with Fundera and Cross River Bank, but I just kept trying and redoing the application and eventually it went through, Pietrzak said. There were some hiccups with the site, but after I did the application a few times, it went through.

In the end, hiccups included, he received the kind of service and financial support in the early days of the programme  from two little known fintech entities and a little-known bank founded in 2008  that many small-business owners with well-established traditional banking relationships did not get.

Prior to this crisis you had fintechs specialising in the under $50,000 loans, said John Pitts, head of policy for Plaid, a fintech company that serves as a link between fintech apps and some 11,000 financial institutions, and a former deputy assistant director of intergovernmental affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Its not surprising you dont see this cohort well-served by the big banks.

One thing the pandemic has revealed is that fintechs, largely online financial service companies once reserved for younger people with lower earnings and savings, have proven to be savvy and effective intermediaries in the age of the coronavirus.

When it came to offering the crucial financial support small-business owners were seeking in the pandemic, some of these fintechs held their own or bested more established financial service firms that struggled to roll out promised programmes. Through their technology, these companies can meet their clients financial needs online  the 21st-century equivalent of the relationships brick-and-mortar banks once promoted.

We sit on top of a network of 100 banks, said Everett Cook, Chief Executive and co-founder of Rho Business Banking. It gave us a fair perspective of what was going well and what was going poorly.

Cook said Rho looked to give customers access to loans at any institution that had money available, providing more flexibility than business owners who went to a single bank found. We saw lots of customers come to us because they were in the queue of a top 5 bank, he said. The large banks prioritised the businesses they knew. That created a flood of applications for everyone who didnt fall into that box.

Many fintechs found that the demand for their services, which had been steady before the crisis, grew almost exponentially as companies shifted employees to working from home. Rippling, a San Francisco-based fintech that provides support for payroll and benefits and manages computers and access to company databases and software, began attracting customers who had been resistant to change their processes but who now had fewer options.

Any exogenous shock to the system favours companies that can move quickly and take advantage of those things, said Parker Conrad, Ripplings co-founder and chief executive. All the reticence about doing things online evaporated in an instant. Thats a dynamic that impacts not just fintechs but technology companies more broadly who are trying to automate business processes that are offline.

In May, Conrad said new sales were up 65 percent so far this year.

New technology companies were also able to take data they could aggregate quickly  in this case information needed for the loan applications  and deliver it electronically and quickly to local credit unions. The credit unions, in turn, could help their customers.

Cortney Keene, co-founder of Keene Perspectives, an educational company in White River Junction, Vermont, that works with autistic children, needed a loan to help support her 20 employees. Her business shut down when the stay-at-home orders were issued, and she laid off 17 workers.

She used Gusto, a fintech payroll company, to organise the data for her loan applications as soon as early guidance on the payroll loans came out. She then got funding through a local credit union in Vermont. Wed be seriously cutting services without the PPP loan, she said.

What all these companies are counting on is that businesses, forced to do things differently in the crisis, will continue to use fintechs for more of their needs.

Things were already moving in this direction, Conrad said. What would have been holding people back was the inertia? Once people move, the inertia works in the other direction. Who wants to go back to filling out insurance paperwork with a pen and trying to find a fax machine? No one.

c.2020 The New York Times Company
Hearing the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case on June 11, the Supreme Court of India has directed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to reconsider demands of over Rs 4 lakh crore dues raised against public sector utilities.

It further heard the Solicitor Generals plea on a 20-year timeline for staggered payment of AGR dues and directed telcos to file a reply on roadmap of payment, time to be allowed, and securities.

Heres a timeline of the case so far:

> The DoT in October 2019 issued bills to major telecom operators seeking payment of licensing and spectrum dues as per AGR.

> The companies included telcos such Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, BSNL and non-telcos which had revenues from telecommunication services such as SAIL, etc.

> Telcos disputed the adjusted amount demanded by the Centre, post which the DoT approached the Supreme Court for redressal of the matter.

> The apex court had on October 24, 2019, ruled that the statutory dues need to be calculated by including non-telecom revenues in AGR of telecom companies. It had upheld the DoT's definition of AGR and termed "frivolous" the nature of objections raised by the telecom service providers.

> The court had ordered telcos to clear total dues of Rs 1.47 lakh crore in line with the telecom department's estimate.

> Post this many telcos let the date slip by citing economic slowdown and poor finances, due to which the SC in February 2020 rapped DoT and telcos for ignoring court orders

> On March 16, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the DoT had sought staggered payment over 20 years of AGR dues by telecom companies. The plea also asked that telcos not be charged a penalty and interests on penalty and principal beyond the date of the judgement.

> The apex court in its March 18 order pulled up DoT for allowing telcos to self-assess payable dues and held that no further objections would be allowed against payable dues.

> There is a lot riding on this case. Company reports and Lok Sabha submissions give an idea of how much is at stake. Vodafone Idea, Tata Teleservices and Bharti Airtel owe the bulk of the dues.

> For Bharti Airtel, the AGR dues as per DoT is Rs 35,500 crore whereas it is Rs 13,000 crore as per the company's self-assessment. So far, it has paid Rs 18,800 crore. As per DoT, it still has to pay Rs 17,500 crore.

> For Vodafone Idea, DoT claims that the remaining payable is Rs 53,000 crore while the company claims it is Rs 21,500 crore. So far, the company has paid Rs 6,900 crore. As per DoT, it still has to pay Rs 46,100 crore.

> For Tata Teleservices (TTSL) the DoT bill is pegged at Rs 16,789 crore, of which it has so far paid Rs 4,197 crore in two instalments. The balance amount due per DoT calculations is Rs 12,601 crore. However, the company's self-assessment has pegged Rs 2,197 crore - which was also its initial payment, as the due amount.

> In its latest order on June 11, SC has directed the DoT to reconsider demands of over Rs 4 lakh crore dues raised against public sector utilities. It also questioned the DoT on what basis demand against PSUs was raised, when the courts judgements never dealt with PSUs.

> It further heard the Solicitor Generals plea on a 20-year timeline for staggered payment of AGR dues and directed telcos to file a reply on roadmap of payment, time to be allowed, and securities.

> The case is being heard by a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and including Justices MR Shah and S Abdul Nazeer.

> Next hearing is scheduled for June 18.
Hospital wards could become infected with the coronavirus within just ten hours, new data shows.

Scientists at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital have been tracking the spread of a virus that hasn't infected people for five days.

This was placed in an isolation space on a handrail of a hospital bed, where vulnerable high-risk Covid-19 patients are kept apart.

The findings were published in the Journal of Hospital Infection.

How did this happen?

The scientists then sampled over the same ward 44 different sites, including door handles, armrests, and bed rails.

Four out of ten surfaces - including children's toys and books in a waiting area - were infected within ten hours with the virus.

The researchers, who did not name the hospital they were investigating, used a plant-infecting virus that could not affect humans.

They placed the virus DNA-the so-called cauliflower mosaic virus-in water to replicate SARS-CoV-2 in breathing droplets, expelled during coughing or sneeze.

On a Monday morning, June 8, researchers placed the water on a hospital bed's handrail in an isolation room on a children's ward.

The experts sampled 44 sites on the ward that evening and over the next five days-including clinical areas and the general ward.

On 41% of sites analyzed around the hospital ward, signs of the virus were found after 10 hours. This rose after three days to 59% of the sites and dropped on the fifth day to 41%.

ALSO READ: Study Finds Coronavirus Can Survive on Smartphones for Up to a Week But Cleaning Them With Alcohol is a Big No!

Poor cleaning, not following minimum health protocols

Though the plant virus showed it could spread quickly by existing on a surface, an active human case of COVID-19 would enable traces of the virus to spread even faster.

The result implied a 'combination of poor cleaning, patient movement, and caregivers not adhering' to frequent washing of hands, the paper said.

"Our study shows the important role that surfaces play in the transmission of a virus and how critical it is to adhere to good hand hygiene and cleaning," researcher Lena Ciric said.

"Our surrogate was [treated] once to a single site, and was spread through the touching of surfaces by staff, patients and visitors," Ciric mentioned. "A person with [coronavirus] will shed the virus on more than one site, through coughing, sneezing, and touching surfaces."

ALSO READ: COVID-19: Asymptomatic Spread Of Coronavirus 'Very Rare,' Health Expert Said

How often should surfaces be cleaned?

Although hospital and emergency department visits decreased nationwide as the pandemic spread through the United States, several states began allowing the resumption of elective surgery in recent weeks.

With the world expecting a second wave of COVID-19 cases, healthcare professionals' resources must continue to contain the virus and prevent it from spreading.

It includes simple procedures such as sanitizing surfaces and wearing protective equipment such as masks and gloves.

However, the researchers said hospitals have little guidance on how often surfaces should be cleaned.

The Guardian said several COVID-19 patients got the coronavirus in hospitals while being treated for other diseases.

The virus can last for up to three days on plastic and stainless steel, a study published in the New England Medical Journal found.

But another Chinese study, published in The Lancet, found traces of the virus on plastic and stainless steel for up to seven days after leaving.

NHS England told hospital medics in a national briefing that 10 to 20 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 had it when they were hospitalized.

Dr. Aidan Fowler, NHS England's director of patient safety, said he was 'concerned about the level of nosocomial spread in our hospitals,' the Health Service Journal reported.

Healthcare staff can even spread the virus themselves without even realizing that they are infected if they do not exhibit symptoms, which has led to calls for routine testing of all employees.

READ MORE: COVID-19 Update: Can This Blood Type Be Spared From The Virus?

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
TSX: RMX |OTCQX: RBYCF

TORONTO, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Rubicon Minerals Corporation (TSX: RMX) (OTCQX: RBYCF) ("Rubicon" or the "Company") announces amendments to the proposed new Articles to be submitted for adoption at its upcoming Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders on Monday, June 22, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. ET (the "Meeting"). The amendments are intended to align Rubicon's Articles with recommendations issued by ISS and Glass Lewis. Shareholders are requested to review the details of the amendments to the Articles which can be found in the redline mark-up of that document filed as an "Other" document under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and as "Amended Proposed New Articles" on the Company's website at https://rubiconminerals.com/Investor-News/Events-Annual-Meeting/default.aspx.

Additionally, the Company wishes to remind its shareholders that due to health and safety concerns for its shareholders, other stakeholders, and employees in the current circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the format of the Meeting will be virtual-only . Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxyholders attending the Meeting will be able to fully participate, vote, or submit questions during the Meeting via a live audio webcast. Others wishing to attend the Meeting can do so as guests, and will be able to listen to the live audio webcast of the Meeting, but will not be able to vote or submit questions during the Meeting.

To access the virtual Meeting, which will be broadcasted via live audio webcast, please visit https://web.lumiagm.com/224955177 and follow the instructions. For full details on how to participate in the Meeting online, it is important that you refer to the management information circular for the Meeting ("How Do I Participate In and Vote at the Live Audio Webcast of the Meeting?") and the "Virtual Meeting User Guide", both of which are available on the Company's website at https://rubiconminerals.com/Investor-News/Events-Annual-Meeting/default.aspx.

About Rubicon Minerals Corporation

Rubicon Minerals Corporation is an advanced gold exploration company that owns the Phoenix Gold Project, located in the prolific Red Lake gold district in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Additionally, Rubicon controls the second largest land in Red Lake consisting of over 285 square kilometres of prime, strategic exploration ground, and more than 900 square kilometres of mineral property interests in the emerging Long Canyon gold district that straddles the Nevada-Utah border in the United States. Rubicon's shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (RMX) and the OTCQX markets (RBYCF). For more information, please visit our website at www.rubiconminerals.com .

RUBICON MINERALS CORPORATION, George Ogilvie, P.Eng. President, CEO, and Director

Cautionary Statement regarding Forward-Looking Statements and other Cautionary Notes

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words, expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results can, could, may, should, will (or not) be achieved or occur in the future or are intended. In some cases, forward-looking information may be stated in the present tense, such as in respect of current matters that may be continuing, or that may have a future impact or effect. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and represent management's best judgment based on facts and assumptions that management considers reasonable. If such opinions and estimates prove to be incorrect, actual and future results may be materially different than expressed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Rubicon to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, those described in the Company's annual information form dated March 27, 2020 under the heading "Risk Factors" and the Company's other continuous disclosure documents, all available under its profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and Rubicon disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE Rubicon Minerals Corporation

Related Links

www.rubiconminerals.com


North Korean defectors based in South Korea flew around 500,000 anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets via floating balloons to North Korea which angered the North and has risen tension between the two Koreas.

Kim Jong-Un's younger sister and North Korea's de facto leader of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, Kim Yo Jung issued a statement that urged Seoul to pass a law to prevent such propaganda activities.

She added that South Korea should "clear their house of rubbish."

"Those scums recklessly berated our utmost dignity [Kim Jong Un] and carelessly made fun of our nuclear ambitions," Kim Yo Jong condemned defectors sending leaflets to North Koreans through balloons.

Kim Yo Jong mentioned that North Korea would scrap a military agreement with Seoul and terminate a liaison office set up in 2018 if the defectors' activities failed to be contained.

North Korean defectors have been sending balloons from close to South Korea's demilitarized zone. Some of these balloons are almost 20 ft tall, long, transparent balloons with writings written vertically on them. The balloons typically carry anti-Pyongyang and anti-Kim leaflets with words that promote democracy, capitalism, and short Bible verses.

Balloon propaganda campaigns in the Korean peninsula started as a distribution method since the Korean War. Originally they were organized by the governments and militaries of the Korean states but in modern days, they are mainly organized by South Korean non-governmental organizations that aim to send materials that are censored in North Korea.
Former President and flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama says the party will play its role to ensure a peaceful election but will refuse to accept results of a "flawed election".



The Ex-President was speaking at the commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the party.



He said the NDC has a history of accepting results of elections whenever it believed in the integrity of the poll.



"As leader of the NDC, I wish to serve notice that we shall do all on our part to ensure that our country remains peaceful and then the electoral process proceeds smoothly, but, and a big but, let nobody assume that we would accept the results of a flawed election, Mahama emphasized.



Policing of poll



John Mahama pledged support for party activists at the branch and constituency levels to police the poll from the voting point until the declaration of the final results.



At every single level of the election, we will closely police the poll, there will be a boot-for-boot policing and vigilant policing of the poll, he said.



Adding to the policing of poll, Mahama said No ballot paper will escape our scrutiny, no ballot box will go out of our sight until all the votes have been counted, collated, accounted for and the final results declared.



The NDC party was founded by Jerry John Rawlings who was the Head of State from 1981 to 1993 and later became the President from 1993 to January 7, 2001.

Source: Daily Graphic









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Bollywood actor Sonu Sood is winning hearts for his work in helping migrants reach their homes during the COVID-19 lockdown. The actor has been actively replying to the people who reach out to him for help on social media.

Recently, the Simmba actor offered help to a man, who wanted to reach his hometown Varanasi, to perform the last rites of his wife.

"Dear Sir @SonuSood @shubhamVawasthi My Neighbour Mr Sitaram Lost his wife at Native place Varanasi Trying to go to Varanasi For Spiritual Work They are total 3 member please help @SonuSood sir we don't have any other option then you," the netizen wrote to Sonu on Twitter.

The actor quickly responded with a tweet, "I am sorry for the loss. will send him tomorrow. He will reach his home soon. God bless."

Recently, in an exclusive interview with Filmibeat, Sonu opened up about what triggered him to take up the initiative of helping the migrants in Maharashtra.

Sonu told Filmibeat, "What drove me to help these migrants to return was those visuals of people walking with their kids, with their elders and those unending journeys. Imagine a father telling their kids, Bihar Zaldi Aa Jayega, UP Zaldi Aa Jayega and they have to walk thousands of kilometres with their little kids. And when these kids will grow what kind of memory they will have in their minds; that they saw their parents walking miles struggling to go back to their homes. I never wanted those kids to grow with those memories. So, I thought I will have to come forward and help these people."

Sonu also told Filmibeat that he is overwhelmed with the love and blessings of the people.

He said, "The best thing I have heard from the migrants so far is, they called me and they said that they named their kid as Sonu Sood Srivastava, and I asked them that how it can be Sonu Sood Srivastava, it must be Sonu Srivastava. But they said, no sir, not in my family but in many families you will have Sonu Soods'. So, I think that was very special. And that will stay with me forever. I just wish that I could reach to more and more people and make them reach their home. The journey is on and I will leave no stone unturned to make my parents proud who are sitting in heaven, and guiding me."

ALSO READ: Sonu Sood On His Meeting With Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray: He Appreciated My Efforts

ALSO READ: Sonu Sood On A Migrant Woman Naming Her Newborn Son After Him: That Was So Sweet; I Was Touched
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 16:55:21|Editor: huaxia

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SHARAN, Afghanistan, June 11 (Xinhua) -- A district police chief was killed and four police officers were wounded during clashes with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province, a provincial police spokesman confirmed Thursday.

"Abdullah Jan, police chief of Baak Khil district, was martyred and four police officers wounded during clashes with Taliban insurgents in surrounding areas of Baak Khel district late Wednesday night. The clashes erupted after the Taliban stormed security checkpoints and engaged with police officers," spokesman Shah Mahmoud Arian told Xinhua.

The Taliban militants were repulsed from the district after sustaining casualties, said the spokesman who gave no details about the exact figure of casualties.

Taliban militants, who ruled the country before being ousted in late 2001, renewed armed insurgency killing government troops as well as civilians.

They frequently attack district offices, military camps, government installations and security checkpoints, while the Afghan troops respond with airstrikes on militant targets in the countryside. Enditem
Does the Bible Talk about Gender Equality?

The role of women in society, as well as in the church, is addressed in the Bible both directly and indirectly. Two important examples of women being held as equal to men come from the accounts of the early church.

In the Book of Acts, new Christians enthusiastically gave some or all of what they had to the burgeoning new church. One couple, Ananias and Sapphira, tried to lie about how much they gave to the church. Ananias lied, and God struck him down for the lie. Rather than holding Sapphira accountable for her husbands sin, or assuming she was ignorant of it because she was a woman, the church gives her the opportunity to tell the truth on her own terms. Had she told the truth, she would have been forgiven.

However, the Bible account says, After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much. And she said, Yes, for so much. But Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? (Acts 5:7-8a). Both the man and the woman were held equally accountable for their own decisions. To God, and to the church leaders, gender did not matter when it came to sin.

Not only are men and women held equally accountable before God for their sin, their works in the church are held with equal esteem in the New Testament. A different married couple, Prisca and Aquila, committed their lives to the Gospel. They are mentioned three times in the Book of Acts, hosting new believers, correcting those who do not understand the truth, and ministering to others.

Paul regarded them so highly that he wrote this about them: Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well (Romans 16:3). Every time the couple are mentioned, it is together as equals. Paul gives them the same respect and the same credit.

Both these examples of the two genders being treated as equals goes back to what God said about men and women in Genesis. Though He made them to be different, He made them to be equals; So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27). Though men and women look different, have different traits and behaviors, and often serve different roles, men and women were made equally in the image of God. They are equally responsible for their thoughts, actions, and attitudes.

Photo credit: Getty Images/monkeybusinessimages
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Simon Property Group had pursued Taubman Centers Inc. over nearly two decades when the two finally agreed to come together in February  and now the engagement has soured in the era of the coronavirus.

Simon is looking to leave Taubman at the altar  while Taubman is arguing that promises were made and have to be kept. It all leaves the $3.6 billion deal up in the air  joining a string of others derailed by the pandemic.



More from WWD

The fallout shows just how dramatically the landscape has shifted with the COVID-19 shutdown, the slow and tentative reopening and the economic fallout thats expected to linger for years.

In the end, Simon decided Taubman was suddenly too reliant on high-end retailers, tourism and indoor malls and had not cut back enough in the current environment for its taste.

Wall Streets reaction was immediate, Taubmans stock fell 20.1 percent to $36.17  a steep discount to the $52.50 price on the deal, which had Simon buying 80 percent of The Taubman Realty Group. Taubman ended the day with a market capitalization of $2.2 billion. It was a bad day on both sides, with Simons stock also taking a hit, sliding 4 percent to $83.01, giving the company a market cap of $25.4 billion.

Simon said it had exercised its contractual rights to terminate the deal, arguing it could because COVID-19 had had a uniquely material and disproportionate effect on Taubman and that its long-sought quarry had failed to take steps to mitigate the impact of the pandemic as others in the industry have, including by not making essential cuts in operating expenses and capital expenditures.

To try to make that stick, Simon filed suit in Michigan state court requesting a declaration that Taubman has suffered a Material Adverse Event under the merger agreement and has breached the covenants in the merger agreement governing the operation of Taubmans business.

Story continues

The about-face is especially stark considering Simon made a big push to buy Taubman in 2002 and 2003 and was eventually rebuffed.

Taubman on Wednesday confirmed it had received a notice purporting to terminate the previously announced agreement and plan of merger and found it to be invalid and without merit.

Simon continues to be bound to the transaction in all respects, Taubman said, adding that it intends to hold Simon to its obligations and to vigorously contest Simons purported termination and legal claims.

That includes seeking to enforce its rights under the contract, including the right to monetary damages based on the deal price.

Taubman is going ahead with its shareholder meeting on June 25 to approve the deal.

Clearly the break-up  or the shotgun marriage, depending on how it all turns out  is turning ugly.

According to a redacted version of the complaint, Simon is arguing that Taubman has violated the agreement, caused serious and irreparable damage to its business, has primarily indoor malls that shoppers will avoid and relies on wealthy consumers who are now buying online and high-end stores that are suffering heavily.

Taubmans centers also feature a much higher percentage of high-end stores selling upscale productssuch as Saks, Tiffany & Co., and now-bankrupt Neiman Marcus  compared with other retail real estate properties, the suit said.

To survive, Taubman now must spend significant amounts redeveloping its malls to secure new tenants to replace key anchors such as Neiman Marcus and J.C. Penney  which are both in bankruptcy  Sears, and other core tenants, the suit said. A recent Bank of America analysis isolated Taubman as the retail real estate investment trust most dependent on higher quality and specialty department stores, many of which are facing grave financial difficulty.

Simon is a much larger player, with revenues of $5.8 billion last year versus Taubmans sales of $661 million, but it too operates many A malls and is exposed to many of the same trends.

The suit also argues that Simon and other retail estate companies are doing more to adjust their businesses to adjust to COVID-19 realities.

Simon reluctantly furloughed or terminated more than half of its employees, the suit said. Simons independent board directors suspended payment of their cash retainer fees. [Chief executive officer] David Simon deferred payment of the entirety of his 2019 cash bonus, waived his 2020 base salary, and deferred his 2020 Long-Term Incentive Plan equity award. But Taubman has taken no comparable measures. It has not announced any headcount or employee salary reductions.

All of that marks a big change in tone from an analyst call in February when the ceos  David Simon and Robert Taubman  laid out their deal for Wall Street.

Both companies have great assets, Taubman said then. David and I have known each other forever and have been able to develop a terrific relationship in the last few years. Im looking forward to working closely with him and the new board to execute on our portfolios next phase of development and growth.

Simon, repeatedly referring to Taubman as Bobby, said at the time: Clearly, theres a lot of excitement at both our companies about the opportunities todays announcement offers to stakeholders of both companies. And just to remind everybody, we are investing in premier assets at an attractive underwritten cap rate.

Things have changed quickly  and for other players, too. Sycamore Partners sued to get out of its deal to buy control of Victorias Secret and got its wish when the retailers parent company, L Brands Inc., walked away. And LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton has also had second thoughts about its $16.2 billion agreement to buy Tiffany & Co., although that deal is still pending.
The death toll in Delhi due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) soared past the 1,000 mark on Thursday as the city recorded 1,877 new infections and 101 new fatalities, a new record for single-day numbers that reinforce fears about the outbreak worsening and the need to rapidly ramp up health care infrastructure.

According to the Delhi governments daily health bulletin that accounts for cases and deaths from the day before, the Capitals total tally of Covid-19 cases stands at 34,687 and of these, 1,085 have died.

The latest figures push the citys case fatality rate  the proportion of infected persons who succumb to the illness  to 3.13%, the highest it has been since March 25, when a single death had taken place from among 35 infections.

We are planning to double the number of beds needed; there will be around 15,000 beds in another 10 days or so. This is the biggest disaster of the century, said Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain in a virtual press conference on Thursday.

The 1,877 new cases came from testing 5,360 samples, translating to a test confirmation rate of over 35%. This number has steadily grown from about 21% at the beginning of June, a trend that experts say could indicate the outbreak is larger than detected, particularly due to the limited reach of testing, although the inherent bias in testing of largely symptomatic cases may also have something to do with this.

According to the health bulletin, the number of active infections is 20,871, of which nearly 78% are in home isolation that is available as a treatment option for those with mild or asymptomatic illness. The current rate at which infections double in the city -- taken as a trajectory seen over the last week -- is 14.8 days.

The lockdown has been lifted, people are moving around and interacting with each other. The number of cases will go up. That is the natural course of the disease, said Dr Shobha Broor, former head of microbiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Officials in the administration have been divided over whether the rise in cases justifies the reimposing of the lockdown. A lockdown would help but now that it has been lifted, we cannot ask them not to. They are not wearing masks and going to markets which will lead to increase in the number of cases. As it is, it has become difficult to trace contacts, said a senior district-level health official, asking not to be named.

A senior health department official clarified on condition of anonymity that Delhi is not considering another lockdown for now.

If we impose lockdown again, there will be no logic as the cases will increase from around 2.5 lakh to 25 lakh despite the lockdown, Jain had said in a statement on Wednesday.

Delhi, as well as most parts of the country, began what has been called Unlock 1.0 this week, allowing malls, salons and religious places to open in addition to several other types of activity that were approved last month.

Officials at the Union and the state level said it is now crucial to learn to live with the virus, a process that will involve new etiquettes such as always wearing a mask when away from home and keeping a distance of 2 metre from others.

We went into a lockdown a little early and even the relaxation of restrictions happened a little early. Other countries lifted their lockdown when their curve started to come down, but we did it when the curve is going up exponentially. However, economic considerations have to be kept in mind. The only strategy that the government can now adopt is aggressively test and isolate those with the infection or close areas where they think the infection is circulating in the community, said Amit Singh, associate professor at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

The spike in cases comes in a week when the government begun preparations to add over a 100,000 beds, an exercise described as an unprecedented challenge by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, after initially attempting to restrict access to its facilities only to people who live in the national capital. On Wednesday, the CM said Delhi would need 65,000 beds by mid-July and 150,000 by the end of the month.

On the basis of the current doubling rate of 12.6 days, the Delhi health department has projected that the number of active cases in Delhi will touch 60,004 by June 30; 134,722 by July 15 and 319,237 by July 31. According to documents reviewed by HT and comments by officials aware of the preparations, the administration has earmarked space for close to 25,000 hospital beds in banquet halls, a religious centre and two stadiums in the city.

Officials are going over the experiences of their counterparts in Mumbai, where the civic agency converted some of the citys most prominent sport complexes into health care facilities. Our challenge will be bigger because we are turning all these spaces into makeshift hospitals while theirs were observation centres and Covid care centres, said a senior government official, who was aware of discussions at a late-night meeting chaired by health minister Satyender Jain on Wednesday.

Mumbai crossed the 1,000 deaths mark on May 26, when it had close to 32,000 cases  a scenario similar to what Delhi is staring at now. The Maharashtra capital then had a doubling rate of 13.1 days but has not brought it down to 24.6 days.

Wednesdays discussions in Delhi were described as the first round of scouting for space. It included a covered space that belongs to a religious group in Bhati area, where 10,000 hospitals beds can be accommodated.

The exercise will require a mammoth logistical mobilization comprising medical and paramedical staff, crucial medical equipment such as oxygen cylinders and general infrastructure resources such as beds and electricity connections.

Authorities in central Chinas Wuhan, where the coronavirus is believed to have first emerged last year, built a 1,000-bed hospital in 12 days at the peak of the outbreak in February. It was among 16 makeshift hospitals the city built, the last of which were closed by mid-March after the region controlled the outbreak.

(With inputs from Sweta Goswami)

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With Dubai International Airport once again welcoming transit passengers from around the world, The Gallery by Dubai International Hotel located at gate B9 is delighted to serve guests' a selection of international dishes daily.

The team at The Gallery is ready to provide the best of International cuisine by launching a new menu along with a safe experience in accordance with the guidelines issued by the authorities.

The restaurant will adhere to strict health and hygiene regulations, wherein all the staff directly in contact with the guests and in the kitchen will be wearing masks and gloves along with mandatory temperature checks for guests and staff alike.

Restaurant seating has been realigned to a distance of two meters between tables and one meter between each seat. A rigorous disinfection process is in place to sanitise the tables and chairs before and after guest use.

To make the experience safe and contactless, the restaurant will be placing QR codes for their menus. The guests can get up to date with the world news by using the QR codes for newspapers placed on each table. To limit exposure, only one associate will interact with the guests, starting from placing their order, food service, billing and customer satisfaction procedures.

"Dubai International Hotel has always been proactive in assisting our guests and delivering the finest hospitality. We are back and ready to serve a choice of distinct international dishes and speciality house beverages, spirits, and coolers to guests while they wait to board their flight said Stephane Blanc, Food and Beverage Consultant, Dubai International Hotel. - TradeArabia News Service
Opinion Column



Children of God should be who we are Children of God should be who we are

Following the recent protests against racism in the USA and Great Britain, Andy Bryant is unhappy with being labelled as white, male, and middle-class; and suggests a more meaningful and purposeful identity.

White. Male. Middle-class. Three words which I want to deny but which are my reality. Three words that seem so simple, but which now seem forever tainted. Three words which shape my outlook and at the same time distort my perception.



White. Male. Middle-class. Everything in me wants to resist these labels. I do not want to be stereotyped. I hate it when people make statements about all whites or all men. I want to say I am the exception, to shout We are not all the same!. But I also know that part of my discomfort is that, in part, they carry a truth. The heritage of those labels has not always been good and honourable.



White. Male. Middle-class. Equally the world is not helped by me just feeling permanently guilty, or for ever apologising for being what I am. In and of themselves these three words are not inherently bad. It is rather how I live out that identity.



We each need to live with greater awareness of the lenses through which we see the world, to be more conscious of the unconscious assumptions we too easily impose on others. More crucially we need to be more open to understanding how others view the world, to validate and understand their perceptions of reality  and realise that we may find these deeply challenging, and even critical, of the things we had assumed as normal and right.



At its worst we use faith to confirm our world view, to justify our approach to life and to others. This happens when we create God in our own image. Too many churches have stained glass windows depicting Jesus as white, blue-eyed and blonde. We seek to own God and put God to our own doing. Theologically what matters is that He is like us.



At its best faith is the very thing that challenges me out of my assumptions. I have to learn to see the world through Gods eyes and to feel with Gods heart. In the face of the unconditional love of God, my own poor expression of love is challenged to grow in breadth and depth. I have to acknowledge that the plank is always in my eye and, until I address that, I cannot begin to speak of the speck in your eye. Theologically what matters is that I become more like Jesus, that I learn to grow in holiness, grace and love.



The images of the last moments of the life of George Floyd should sicken and appall all of us. But for all my empathy as white, male, middle-class, I cannot fully comprehend how others of a different colour feel and experience this, nor how it speaks to a myriad of other experiences that as white, male, middle-class, I do not know and do not experience. I must respond in humility, willing to listen and to learn, however challenging that may be. I need to understand where, consciously and unconsciously I am part of the problem and not part of the solution. The fact that people need to hold a banner that says Black Lives Matter condemns me.



In the end I do not believe I am defined by being white, male and middle-class. I believe that I am called to live my true identity of being a child of God. Such a statement is not a way to deny the impact of those three words but is the calling to seek a better identity, one that embraces us all and which insists on equality and justice for all.



Covid-19 is not the only infection in town. George Floyds death is a reminder of the many ways in which humanity is wounded and needing to be healed. It is not enough to live lives that do no harm. We need to live lives which actively seek to bring healing, to be, in the best and right meaning of the phrase, true children of God.





The image above is courtesy of truthseeker08 from pixabay.com



The Revd Andrew Bryant is the Canon for Mission and Pastoral Care at Norwich Cathedral. He was previously Team Rector of Portishead, Bristol, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, and has served in parishes in the Guildford and Lichfield Dioceses, as well as working for twelve years with Kaleidoscope Theatre, a charity promoting integration through theatre for young adults with Downs Syndrome.



You can read Andrew's latest blog entry here and can follow him via his Twitter account @AndyBry3 .



The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norwich and Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users.
Lawmakers will not allow the U.S. Space Force to realign Air Force bases that host space missions under its wing until they get a full analysis of those potential moves.

In the Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization legislation, lawmakers have paused the transfer of "military installations to Space Force prior to analysis by the Secretary of the Air Force being presented to the congressional defense committees," according to the bill's executive summary language.

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The move could slow the Space Force's plan to rename bases that would become the foundation of its structure.

The sixth military service -- signed into existence under the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act by President Donald Trump on Dec. 20, 2019 -- is currently operating with the aid of 16,000 airmen detailed temporarily from what was formerly known as Air Force Space Command.

At the time of the signing, Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, the chief of space operations for the Space Force, said plans were underway to redesignate Air Force units and realign bases for the space mission.

For example, "Patrick Air Force Base" might be renamed "Patrick Space Base" or something to that effect, the general said during a briefing at the Pentagon.

In April, the Air Force identified 23 organizations and units with space-specific missions that will transition to the Space Force over the next six months. But the COVID-19 pandemic response has delayed the renaming of bases.

Naming ceremonies will be scheduled when they can be conducted "in an appropriate manner, [while] keeping everyone attending these ceremonies safe," Raymond said in March.

Space Reserve vs. Guard

The Senate committee's bill summary also allows the Space Force to establish a reserve component, but "delays establishment of a Space National Guard until the completion of a study on the issue," officials said.

While Guardsmen and reservists who are already executing space missions and currently aligned with the new branch will continue supporting it, officials are weighing how best to incorporate them into the larger Space Force enterprise.

In February, adjutants general from California, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida and Colorado said they were concerned they didn't have clear direction from the Defense Department on their chain of command structure with the Space Force in the mix.

The leaders' worries were prompted by a report sent to Congress on Feb. 3.

"When that report went across to Congress, I got called by my units going, 'What does this mean for me?'" said Maj. Gen. Michael Loh, the adjutant general for Colorado. Loh has since been nominated to pin on his third star and become the Air National Guard director, replacing Gen. L. Scott Rice.

Loh said Guardsmen create a "force multiplier" of expertise, not only because of their military service but also because many use relevant skills in their day jobs.

But a new study suggests the undertaking may not be as seamless, nor as economical, as the Guard may think.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, it could require as much as "$100 million in additional costs annually to operate and support this smaller Space National Guard" of about 1,500 people.

Currently, roughly 1,500 Air Force and Army Guardsmen serve in space-focused jobs across nine states.

Should the Space Guard grow to anywhere between 4,900 to 5,800 personnel, the Defense Department would incur costs between $385 million and $490 million per year, the report said.

Speaking during a Mitchell Institute event Wednesday, Rice said the Air National Guard and the Air Force are still studying the issue and intend to present the report's findings to Defense Secretary Mark Esper "soon."

Rice did not write off a Guard element entirely.

"We're working with [Raymond] and the Secretary of the Air Force [Barbara Barrett] to present these ideas of a single service with an active and reserve under [Raymond], and an additional reserve component from the National Guard," he said.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

Related: More Than 8,500 Airmen Have Volunteered to Join Space Force
In a bid to restart economic activities after the 80-day nationwide lockdown to combat Covid-19, the Himachal government has allowed restaurants to resume operations in Shimla. This comes three days after the tourism and civil aviation ministry issued guidelines for phased reopening of areas outside containment zones  allowing hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services to reopen from June 8.

Hospitality industry in Himachal suffered tremendous losses due to the lockdown. Shimla DC Amit Kashyap convened a meeting of hoteliers and restaurateurs to find ways to resume operations.

While restaurateurs have agreed to resume operations and follow standard guidelines, hoteliers across state are reluctant to do so over safety concerns for the staff and guests.

The DC has allowed resumption of operations of restaurants and dhabas here from Friday, with 60% capacity.

We were told that we will be allowed to let customers in at eateries, restaurants and dhabas, said Sanjay Sood, president of Shimla Hoteliers and Restaurateurs Association. Restaurateurs have been directed to ensure social distancing on premises and regular sanitisation drives. All staff will have to wear caps, gloves and mask.

Representatives of the hospitality industry were against the idea citing difficulty to resume operations with the laid SOP.

The government notification makes it mandatory for hotel staff including the security, to wear masks and single-use gloves while performing their duties and use sanitizers. All guests and staff should maintain a distance of at least six feet.

Hoteliers are further advised to appoint a rapid response team and a management team headed by a rapid response leader and rapid response officers from all operational departments. The team will be responsible to prevent incidents, manage cases and mitigate impact among guests, staff and other involved parties. The team should frequently evaluate preparations, identify gaps and make adjustments to avoid any incidents.

As per the guidelines, all touch points like door knobs, switches, door handles, safety latches and taps should be cleaned regularly and it is advised to use 1% sodium hypochlorite having at least 70% alcohol to do so. Daily temperature of all staff members, guests, visitors and vendors should be checked with thermal gun thermometer.

Guests are advised to avoid using lifts and use staircases instead. Social distancing should be maintained in case of use of lifts. CCTV cameras should be fully functional. Common area cleaning checklists should be displayed at the reception and room cleaning checklist inside rooms on the back of the door. Hotel staff is to immediately inform police in case a suspected guest flees or is untraceable.

Details of guests, including travel history and medical conditions along with identity cards and self-declaration form, should be provided by guests at reception. Aarogya Setu app survey will be recommended to all guests.

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Ikea is 'exploring' the option of delivering hot food to customers across Australia.

The Swedish furniture giant launched its new line of vegetarian hotdogs on Thursday as part of an expansion to its plant-based food range.

The latest move is part of efforts to diversify its business offering, including plans to begin food delivery services to Australian customers.

But an Ikea Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia any talk around food delivery is in very early stages.

The Swedish furniture giant launched its new line of vegetarian hotdogs (pictured) on Thursday as part of an expansion to its plant-based food range

Food commercial manager Nicole Kurtz told news.com.au it makes sense from a business perspective to increase their online offering.

'Globally they see that as the future for Ikea food so we will wait and see what the next six months brings,' she said.

'We're seeing changes within the furniture business with delivery so it makes sense that the rest of the business and the food business would follow.'

Inner city markets like Richmond in Melbourne or Tempe in Sydney could be the first to see the new service when plans progress beyond the exploration stage.

Ikea sells around 2.2million hot dogs a year in Australia, and estimates it will be selling around 1.3million plant-based dogs

While its best known for its affordable range of furniture, the company brands itself as the biggest hotdog vendor in the world.

Queensland University of Technology retail expert Professor Gary Mortimer said the pandemic has forced businesses to diversify offerings.

But he said it's unlikely to be a major source of income for the furniture retailer.

'I don't think it's going to be a very large revenue stream. Ultimately they're going into competition with Coles and Woolworths who have very strong and full online offers,' he said.

Ikea sells around 2.2million hot dogs a year in Australia, and estimates it will be selling around 1.3million plant-based dogs.

The vegetarian variety were added to the menu today for only $1 and will be part of a new vegan food range of being developed over the next 12 months.

They're available in the Tempe, Rhodes and Marsden Park stores across New South Wales as well as the ACT as a single item or in a $6 take-home pack of 10.

The launch of the vegan hot dogs comes ahead of a planned launch for vegetarian meatballs, which will be available in store later this year.

The retailer's move towards plant-based food is part of a company wide endeavor towards sustainability.
A 25-year-old woman shot while hiding at a Tucson motel to escape a violent relationship has died and police said her boyfriend is facing charges in the killing.

Rachel Lena Sheridan died Wednesday, June 11, four days after she was shot in her room at the Days Inn, 1440 S. Craycroft Road, the Tucson Police Department said.

A first-degree murder charge is pending against Keith Larone Colbert, 46, who has a string of previous convictions for violent crimes in Arizona, court records show.

TPD said the pair was "in a domestic violence relationship," that the victim decided to leave.

She was in her motel room hiding from the suspect when he forced his way in and shot her in front of several witnesses, police said.

The suspect fled but was captured the following day at another motel, America's Best Value Inn at 810 East Benson Highway, police said.

Colbert has been jailed since his capture and was initially charged with domestic violence aggravated assault, attempted first-degree murder and prohibited possession of a firearm.
A woman who supports migrants living in Derry has spoken of the 'systematic racism' that exists in Northern Ireland and claimed that silence at this time is criminal.

Director of Programmes at North West Migrants Forum (NWMF), Lilian Seenoi-Barr, claimed that racism is not a 'distant enemy, but one that exists in Derry which must be challenged immediately'.

She said that to realise that change, will mean overhauling society from top to bottom.

On a community level, Mrs Seenoi-Barr believes people must have 'tough conversations around the dinner table' and confront racism when they see or hear it.

She said the video of George Floyd being killed by a US police officer provoked emotions in people from BAME communities in Derry about their own experiences of racism.

NWMF provides advice and support services to BAME communities living in the city.

The group aims to promote diversity and good community relations and runs youth clubs.

NWMF organised the Black Lives Matters rally in Derry on Saturday.

Political leaders and police had appealed for the protest to be cancelled due to public safety concerns over the Coronavirus pandemic.

Mrs Seenoi-Barr told the Derry News that there was great demand from within BAME communities to express their feelings.

Meetings were held to discuss how the event could go ahead safely with public health at the forefront of their minds.

We wanted people to feel comfortable about attending a public rally, we gave advice about social distancing, to come with your own PPE, but if you couldnt access any we had plenty, she said.

It was a collective community response to what happened, and our community wanted to raise awareness of what is happening here, and make clear that this is not just an American issue.

Its an issue that also affects us here in the North, here in this city, so lets not be side-tracked by people who say this is an American issue or all life matters.

Absolutely, all life matters but the truth is that black lives are in danger, its like a house on fire.

Its like ignoring the fire that is burning in someones house and yours is not burning but you say all lives matter.

Prior to Saturdays event, the police called to Mrs Seenoi-Barrs home where, she said, a caution was issued for incitement and encouragement of an illegal rally.

How can the right to hold a peaceful protest and the freedom of expression, which is a fundamental human right, be an illegal gathering, she said.

How was it that the event held prior to that on Friday wasnt illegal? How is that when everyone went to beaches, where hundreds of people gathered, not illegal?

Even if it was not organised those people pre-meditated going to the beach.

The rally faced opposition from many people in the city who feel that during the current pandemic is not the right time to hold a march.

In response, Mrs Seenoi-Barr,said: There is no right time to fight a pandemic, you fight the pandemic when it exists.

I accept the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest health crisis this country has ever faced in this generation and it is posing a risk to each and every one of us.

But what I would like to say is that racism is a health pandemic that has been in existence for centuries, it is deeply enshrined in our society and it is right for us to respond to racism.

Because in our communities, there is no bigger threat than the other, coronavirus is killing our people, so is racism.

In 2018, Mrs Seenoi-Barr told the Derry News that migrant children and their parents were being subjected to racist abuse in the city.

She claimed that Saturdays rally proves that it still exists.

The overwhelming text messages that Im receiving from parents who say that the event made their children feel like they have support because over the years they have been attacked, racially abused in school and the schools are not helping.

They felt that was their moment and now they see that the community stands behind them.

People who were not able to come out of their houses. Parents have told me, my children dont leave the bedroom after school, they dont go anywhere because theyre petrified of being called names on the street or being racially bullied.

But when they heard that we were going to be protesting, 9-year-olds were getting their parents to come out because they felt they had hope.

Those are people who have been traumatised, living with the pain of racism and injustices that exist within our society.

Lets not kid ourselves that racism is only an American issue, it is here, and the event on Saturday demonstrated that.

She said the frustration and anger of migrants who have felt the profound racial inequalities that exist in this country made them come out.

And honestly, I would be failing in my job as someone entrusted by those people to represent them, support them, and provide them a platform, if I did not respond to their cause.

At the moment the wrong thing to say is to say nothing, and the wrong thing to do is to do nothing.

Silence in this time is criminal, Mrs Barr added.

The number of people living in Derry from BAME communities is unknown because there is no ethnic monitoring in Northern Ireland, which Mrs Barr said is part of systematic racism.

Racism is not only about a man being killed on camera.

It is also the fact that we cannot access services, the fact that we are told we are very few in this community and maybe that is why we have no representation.

It is the unconscious biases that exist within the education system, the housing system and the civil service were there is only 0.3% representation.

We have a majority of people who work in the NHS but how many of them are decision makers. They are entrusted with lives but are not entrusted with making decisions.

Hate crime legislation that exists is not fit for purpose, Mrs Barr believes, and should be brought in line with that in England and Wales.

She said that the education system must be reformed so that the curriculum includes racism, equality, diversity and inclusion.

Knowledge is our weapon, and it is also our protection, she added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  COVID-19 infections in the Philippines may reach 40,000 by June 30 under the current situation, according to a forecast by the University of the Philippines OCTA Research Team.

The group calculated the possible number of additional infections based on the R naught, or the infectivity rate of the virus.

This represents the number of people who may be infected by a confirmed case. Ideally, this should be one or less, as anything higher means there is still significant community transmission.

The graph shows the projected infectivity rate based on the nationwide data from April 2 to June 9

As of June 9, the R naught nationwide is 1.2 and 0.96 in Metro Manila.

In-assume lang namin na 1.2. Kung bumaba yung R naught, which is bumababa pa. Kasi sa NCR less than 1 ang R naught. So pag i-project natin yan, mas kaunti naman ang cases, UP Institute of Mathematics Professor Guido David explained.

[Translation: We assumed that the R naught remains at 1.2. The R naught is already going down. In the National Capital Region, the R naught is less than 1. If we project that, there will be less cases.]

He added that the forecast may still change depending on the current trends.

Nag-stabilize yung weight of infection," David pointed out. "Although may infection pa rin, hindi na siya kasing dami. Sa spike kasi, yun din ang nag-cause nitong pagtaas ng R naught.

[Translation: The weight of infection has stabilized. Although there are still infections, theyre not as much as before.

The graphs show the projected infectivity rate based on the NCR and Cebu data from April 2 to June 9.

UP Political Science Associate Professor Ranjit Singh Rye, another member of the research team, said that peoples mobility and proximity from one another are major drivers of community transmission.

Rye said the infection rate spiked upon the reopening of the economy.

The important thing to note, last May 30 the R naught was 2," Rye said. "When we opened up the economy, tumaas nga ang infection rate natin. So that was last May 30. .

While the number has gone down to 1.2, Rye said easing restrictions is still not ideal at this time

It has gone down significantly to 1.2," he said. "Its still above 1. Its still a significant number that government must take seriously and design appropriate timely measures.

He said that based on the team's data, it cannot recommend any further loosening of restrictions.

Of course, when the government decides, we all appreciate that it just doesnt look at health concerns, it looks at other factors," he said. "What we caution government is to move without data and that is where we are as far as recommendation.

Rye said the enhanced community quarantine helped reduce the transmission rate of COVID-19.

He said there is a need to further strengthen the countrys testing capacity and contact tracing capabilities.

While the actual testing capacity has increased to 10,000 daily as of Tuesday, Rye said the ideal number of tests conducted daily should be at least 15,000.

In addition, David said random testing could help find asymptomatic patients.

David and Rye emphasized that the government also needs to monitor provinces where there is a spike in the number of infections, such as Cebu.

Pero ang main battleground nasa NCR pa rin at Cebu sa ngayon," David said. "Almost all the rest na hindi ko nasabi, yung outside NCR, greater Metro Manila, outside Cebu, karamihan sa kanila, winning the war.

Asymptomatic patients

Majority of the confirmed cases are mild cases, while less than 10 percent are asymptomatic.

David said this is lower compared to other countries where 30 percent to 40 percent of confirmed cases are not exhibiting any symptoms of COVID-19. This could mean that the number of asymptomatic patients is underreported.

Siguro hindi natin nakikita ang karamihan ng asymptomatic kasi gumagala sila," he noted. "Hindi natin nate-test sila. Hindi natin alam sino ang nakakapag-spread. Kaya may nagtatanong, bakit kumakalat ang pandemic, may quarantine naman tayo. Mayroon pa ring mobility ang asymptomatic, presumably sila nag-spread.

[Translation: Maybe thats why we havent seen most of the asymptomatic patients because they still roam around. We dont get to test them. We dont know who is spreading the virus  Thats why people ask why the pandemic is still spreading when we are under quarantine. Asymptomatic patients still have mobility, and presumably they are spreading it.]

David said a possible way to track asymptomatic patients is through random testing, especially for those who are returning to work.

Health spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Department of Health is revising protocols in testing.

We have reached that point in our capacity na pwede na tayong mag-accommodate ng mga more high risk individuals with or without symptoms, she said.

[Translation: We have reached that point in our capacity that we can accommodate more high risk individuals with or without symptoms.]

She also explained that while asymptomatic patients can infect other people, 85 percent of those who are spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 are symptomatic patients through coughing or sneezing.

More recoveries, less admitted COVID-19 patients

The UP OCTA Research Team also found that the healthcare system in Metro Manila is improving. There are currently more people recovering from the virus and less people admitted in hospitals this month. There is no spike in the number of deaths as well.

Hindi na loaded ang healthcare capacity," David said. "Another good news dito, ang death rate natin, parang di masyadong dumadami yung na-hospitalize na namatay. So parang constant yung number actually. So this is good news. Yung healthcare natin is improving, were coping with the pandemic better.

[Translation: The healthcare capacity is not loaded. Another good news here is that our death rate, the number of those dying in hospitals is not going up that much anymore. So the number is constant, actually. This is good news. Our healthcare is improving, were coping with the pandemic better.]

However, David said 16 percent of those admitted in the hospital died of COVID-19 because those who needed hospitalization are in severe or critical condition.

Serious sila so medyo malaki ang chance na may mangyari sa kanila," he said. "At the same time ang recovery rate, tumataas siya from March until present, ngayon nasa almost 50 percent ang recovery rate natin. So, maganda rin na balita.

[Translation: Theyre in serious condition so theres a high chance that something would happen to them. At the same time, our recovery rate, from March until present, is almost at 50 percent. So its still good news.]
Kathmandu, June 11

Ramesh Chand Thakuri, a former chief of Nepal Police, has completed his one-year jail term on Thursday. Subsequently, Dillibajaar Prison in Kathmandu released him today.

Earlier in April 2017, the Supreme Court had convicted Thakuri of corruption in connection to the purchase of consignment for Nepal Police personnel mobilised in Sudan as a part of the UN peacekeeping mission. Thakuri and two other former IGPs among others had been convicted.

Thakuri was absconding until July 4 last year when he surrendered to the court and was sent to jail for a year. But, he had got a waiver for 20 days. Hence, he completed the term today, the prisons assistant jailer Sita Adhikari informs.
Torii Hunter spoke up, and the Boston Red Sox were listening.

In an interview last week, the former MLB All-Star detailed that he and other players faced racist chants and slurs regularly at Fenway Park, and it was the driving reason Hunter had a no-trade clause for Boston in his contract.

Ive been called the n-word in Boston more than 100 times, Hunter told ESPN. All the time. From little kids, and grownups sitting right next to them didnt say anything. If youre doing that and allowing it amongst the people, I dont want to be there."

The Red Sox responded Wednesday, saying Hunters claims were real and vowed as an organization to push for change.

Change starts now. Much love! https://t.co/aoUqmUX24E  Torii Hunter (@toriihunter48) June 10, 2020

If you doubt him because youve never heard it yourself, take it from us, it happens, the Red Sox said in a statement. "Last year, there were 7 reported incidents at Fenway Park where fans used racial slurs. Those are just the ones we know about.

And its not only players. It happens to the dedicated Black employees who work for us on game days. Their uniforms may be different, but their voices and experiences are just as important.

In 2017, Baltimores Adam Jones spoke out against some fan behavior at Fenway Park. Jones told USA Today that he had peanuts thrown at him, and he was called the N-word a handful of times.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown joined members of the Public Citizen consumer group on Thursday in denouncing Republicans in Congress for demanding that the next coronavirus relief package immunize businesses from coronavirus liability lawsuits.

Republicans say lawsuit fears are blocking companies from reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic. But Brown and representatives of the liberal non-profit organization founded by Ralph Nader argue exempting them from liability suits would encourage them to ignore safety requirements for their workers and customers as they reopen.

We shouldnt be surprised that Mitch McConnell and the Chamber of Commerce would take advantage of this public health emergency to make it easier for corporations to mistreat workers and consumers and to never be held accountable, said Brown. Hes trying to grant legal immunity to companies that failed to protect workers on the job.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among more than 200 business groups that have asked Congress for temporary and targeted liability relief legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic." A letter the organizations sent Congress members urged them to approve protections for businesses, non-profit organizations and educational institutions that follow applicable public health guidelines against coronavirus exposure, as well as providers of health care and supplies critical to COVID-19 response and public companies targeted by unfair and opportunistic COVID-19-related securities lawsuits.

Our members and constituencies are concerned that, despite doing their best to follow applicable guidelines, they will be forced to defend against an onslaught of frivolous lawsuits, their letter said. The prospect of such litigation and associated exorbitant legal costs are a deterrent to reopening. Further, this litigation could devastate those entities that are just beginning to reopen their doors or have kept them open throughout the crisis. Indeed, past surveys have shown that many small businesses are one lawsuit away from closing for good.

Republican leaders in the House and Senate issued a joint statement last month that said they wont support another coronavirus relief bill unless it provides liability protections for employers who reopen during the pandemic, with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky saying in a floor speech that "strong legal protections will be a hard line in any future legislation.

In his own floor speech, Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman argued that protecting businesses that reopen from lawsuits should not be a partisan issue.

We should not want these hospitals and these schools and these small businesses and anybody to be able to be sued for something that was totally out of their control, said Portman. This is not something anybody should be blamed for, certainly in this country. We know where it started, in Hubei Province, in Wuhan, China, but the fact that this has come over here and people are affected by it, lets not have a trial lawyer bonanza here because that will result in people not getting back to work.

A report Public Citizen released Thursday highlighted the cases of 20 companies including nursing homes, grocery stores, meat packing plants and warehouses that experienced COVID-19 outbreaks after workers complained of unsafe practices, like refusal to provide personal protective equipment.

Businesses claim to care about their employees and customers, but far too many are treating essential workers as expendable, said a statement from Public Citizen president Robert Weissman. Businesses willing to let employees risk catching a potentially fatal illness should not be encouraged to keep cutting corners when it comes to safety  and when they do, workers must be free to exercise their right to hold employers accountable.

The organization also noted that Utah, which decided to immunize businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits, found that some businesses deliberately ignored safety guidelines as the state reopened, resulting in 68 new coronavirus cases connected to those businesses and no way for people to seek redress in court.

If companies know they cannot be held accountable in court for wrongdoing, it is a virtual certainty that some companies will behave unreasonably and that more people will be harmed, said a statement from Remington A. Gregg, counsel for civil justice and consumer rights at Public Citizen. Lawmakers need to join Sen. Brown in making clear that business immunity is off the table, because it would be bad for public health, harmful to workers and consumers, a tremendous incursion on states rights and a roadblock to a sustainable economy recovery.

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The world is marked by hundreds of thousands of islands, which are classified as landmasses permanently above water but not identified as a continent, such as Australia. The largest island on earth is Greenland, but there are countries made up mostly, or entirely, of archipelagoschains, clusters, or collections of islands. In some cases, like Norway and Sweden, these amount to more than 200,000 islands within the countries' borders.

1. Sweden - 267,570

Hunnebostrand, Sweden. Image credit: excalibur68/Shutterstock

One of earth's northernmost countries, Sweden has 221,831 counted islands, about 24,000 of which are open to the public through the country's Right of Public Access policy, which allows anyone to hike through lush forests and fields, and forage for berries or mushrooms without asking landowner permission, so long as they show respect for the natural environment and private property. Though Sweden is the country with the most islands in the world, less than 1,000 of them are inhabited.

The country's thousands of islands can be found largely along its eastern coastline from the far north to the deep south, with some also located off Sweden's west coast. The most renowned is the Stockholm Archipelago, which is comprised of nearly 30,000 islands, islets, and rocks between Oregrund in the north and Landsort in the south. The Gothenburg Archipelago lines the west coast along with the Bohuslan Archipelago, which is made up of more than 8,000 islands and islets and has been ranked as the seventh-most beautiful natural wilderness area in the world by CNN Travel.

2. Norway - 239,057

Lofoten Islands, Norway. Image credit: yari2000/Shutterstock

Norway is renowned for its hundreds of thousands of islands, the most famous of which are the Lofoten Islands that dot the Norwegian Sea, above the Arctic Circle. The Lofoten Islands are being certified as a sustainable destination, which is a designation given to places that mitigate the negative impacts of tourism by preserving the natural environment and culture, strengthening social values and economic vitality.

The Lofoten Islands boast a milder climate than other locales that dip into the Arctic Circle, despite the turbulent waters of the sea they inhabit, due to the Gulf Stream. Known for their vast fishing opportunities, the midnight sun during the summer and the northern lights during winter months, the Lofoten Islands have been a draw to tourists and artists alike, bringing inspiration to travellers, painters, poets, photographers, and writers.

Many islands are also found in the Western Fjords, a region of Norway characterized by deep valleys, steep hills, rivers, waterfalls, and countless islands with rugged topographical features. Similarly, the lowland of Norway, known as the South Coast, is also home to several small islands.

3. Finland - 178,947

Saimaa Lake, Finland. Image credit: Della_Liner/Shutterstock

Like its neighboring countries of Sweden and Norway, Finland is made up of a large number of rocky islands off its coast, totalling 178,947, with many in the region of Archipelago Finland running from the country's southwestern coast to the Baltic Sea.

Archipelago Finland includes the Aland Islands, at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. Ownership of the islands came into question after the First World War, when both Finland and Sweden laid claim to the Alands, with Sweden claiming the islands were culturally more Swedish than Finnish. However, the League of Nations declared the Aland Islands part of Finland in 1921, stating the islands were most physically linked to Finland in winter months by frozen seawater and thus essential to the country's defense lines.

4. Canada - 52,455

Quadra Island, BC, Canada. Image credit: Russ Heinl/Shutterstock

As the second-largest nation by land area at just under 3,860,000 square miles (10 million square km), Canada boasts a total of 52,455 islands in the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, which helps account for its status as the country with the longest coastline in the world. Of its islands, three rank in the top 10 largest in the world: Baffin Island, Ellesmere Island and Victoria Island, all part of the Arctic Archipelago.

The Arctic Archipelago lies north of the country, in the Arctic Ocean, and is made up of an area of more than 550,000 square miles (1.4 million square km). To the southeast, these landmasses are an extension of the Canadian Shield, one of the largest continental shields in the world; in the south they are part of the Arctic lowlands and in the north the islands are part of the Innuitian Mountains.

5. United States - 18,617

Puerto Rico, US. Image credit: Gary Ives/Shutterstock

The United States claims ownership of 18,617 islands, including well-known locales like the Hawaiian Archipelago, and census data is collected from some of those island areas as well as its 50 states and the District of Columbia. These islands include Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Several smaller island regions are also included, such as the Corn Islands, Navassa Island, Quita Sueno Bank, Roncador Cay, and Serrana Bank, Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands, Canton and Enderbury Islands, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, The Midway Islands, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island. Alaska alone includes over 2,600 islands.

Puerto Rico was first enumerated in 1899, followed closely by the Virgin Islands in 1917, with economic census programs being implemented in 1963 and 1958 respectively. Wake Island has a famous history, being integral in the role it played during the World War II. It came under American ownership in 1898, was reported as being populated in the 1950 US census and has been administered by the US Air Force since 1962.

6. Indonesia - 17,504

Pianemo Islands, West Papua, Indonesia. Image credit: Marius Dobilas/Shutterstock

Indonesia, known as the fourth most-populated nation in the world, includes about 17,504 islands in what is known as the largest single archipelago in the world. The Indonesian Archipelago consists of five major islands and 30 smaller groups of islands and islets, with about 6,000 islands being inhabited. The Indonesian islands straddle the equator and make up a crossroads between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The most populous of its islands is Java, which is about the same size as New York State and made up of about 130 million people, 60% of the Indonesian population. The island of Sumatra is much larger but contains only about one-third of the country's population. Its other main islands include Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), Sulawesi, and the Indonesian portion of New Guineaknown as Papua or Irian Jaya. The islands are largely mountainous and include around 400 known volcanoes, of which around 100 are active.

7. Australia - 8,222

Fraser Island, Australia. Image credit: Guillem Lopez Borras/Shutterstock

Though technically a continent and not considered an island itself, Australia and its surrounding area is comprised of about 8,222 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Australia itself dominates the islands around its coastal fringe, which range in size from smaller rocks that are not covered by water at high tide to some that are twice the size of the Australian Capital Territory, comprised of Canberra and surrounding townships. One such island is Fraser Island, 124 miles (200 km) north of Brisbane in Queensland, which is the world's largest sand island.

In its external territories, Australia claims many large islands in the Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans and the Coral and Timor Seas. Among its oceanic islands is the well-known Christmas Island, isolated in the Indian Ocean, where its closest landmass is Indonesia's Java, 217 miles (350 km) to the north.

8. Philippines - 7,641

Guyam Island, Siargao, Philipines. Image credit: Adel Newman/Shutterstock

The Philippines are one of the most renowned archipelagos, comprised of 7,641 islands southeast of the Asian mainland between Taiwan and Borneo. The islands are divided into three zones: Luzon in the north, Visayas in the central regions, and Mindanao to the south. Luzon is the largest island and lays claim to the capital city, Manila, whereas Visayas is known more for its beaches and coves, and Mindanao is covered in lush forests. Together, the Phillipines make up a land area of about 115,830 square miles (300,000 square km), of which around 772 square miles (2,000 square km) are comprised of water.

9. Japan - 6,852

Iroha Islands, Japan. Image credit: siro46/Shutterstock

Like the Philippines and Indonesia, the country of Japan is an archipelago, made up of 6,852 islands in the Pacific Ocean with the main four landmasses being Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Nearly four-fifths of the islands topography is mountainous, with the Japanese Alps running down the centre of Honshu including the famed Mount Fuji, a cone-shaped volcano that many Japanese people consider to be sacred.

The Ryukyu Islands extend about 603 miles (970 km) south of Kyushu and are comprised of more than 200 small islands nearly reaching Taiwan. In the far southeast are Iwo Jima and a group referred to as the Bonin Islands (or Ogasawara Islands).

10. Chile - 5,000

Easter Island, Chile. Image credit: ESB Professional/Shutterstock

Home to at least 5,000 islands, Chile is known for Robinson Crusoe Island, the only inhabited island in the Juan Fernandez Archipelago with a population of about 700. Most of the archipelago is filled with rich flora and fauna rather than people, lending the islands to plant species that rarely exist elsewhere. The islands of Chile, such as Chiloe, are known for rich fishing and farming.

The Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire), so-named by Magellan due to the numerous fires lit by island inhabitants as he approached in 1520, is made up of thousands of islands, and the Islas Desventuradas are a small, oceanic group of islands about 530 miles (850 km) off of mainland Chile, characterized as a volcanic region.

Islands usually adopt a distinct culture and biodiversity, leading to exotic variations in both human society and the flora and fauna that surrounds it. One island can look and feel drastically different to its neighbor! This diversity contributes to the eclecticism of human life one can discover travelling this wide, beautiful planet.
New coronavirus cases in Britain have halved in a week and fewer than 5,000 people are being infected each day, according to scientists.

Data from the COVID Symptom Tracker suggested there were 9,400 new infections occurring every day across the UK last week.

But the estimate  which involves researchers at King's College London  has been revised and has now dropped by 48 per cent in seven days.

It does not include Northern Ireland or care homes, where the virus is still thought to be spreading, meaning the true rate could be much higher.

The figures were based on nearly 13,000 swabs taken between May 24 to June 6 and then extrapolated to the wider population.

The North East and Yorkshire is reporting the highest number of new infections per day, while the South West is seeing the least, according to the estimate.

And the R rate  the number of people an infected person passes the virus to  was predicted to be below 1 across all regions.

The estimate is in line with a government-run surveillance sample but is three times lower than Public Health England's projected figure of nearly 17,000 a day.

Data from the COVID Symptom Tracker suggested there were 9,400 new infections occurring every day across the UK last week. But the estimate  which involves researchers at King's College London  has been revised and has now dropped by 48 per cent in seven days

The number of people catching the coronavirus each day in England has dropped from almost 10,000 in the middle of May, to around 7,400 each day last week, to 4,500 now

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY BEING INFECTED EVERY DAY? The number of people catching the coronavirus each day in England remains a mystery as official estimates continue to reveal wildly varying statistics. A project run by Public Health England and the University of Cambridge today predicted that 16,700 new infections are cropping up each day. But the Office for National Statistics, which calculates a weekly measure, suggests that only 5,570 people are catching the virus on a daily basis, on average. And an unofficial app being run by King's College London, based on people self-reporting their symptoms, has estimated there are 4,900 new cases each day. Experts explained that the difference between the figures is caused by them recording different things. While the PHE and Cambridge project aims to give a nationwide picture, the ONS does not include people catching the virus inside hospitals and care homes. The app run by King's College, on the other hand, only counts people who get symptoms - and many don't. All the figures should be taken with a pinch of salt and used together, scientists said. Advertisement

King's College London experts have been tracking the outbreak of the coronavirus in the UK since March, when it began to spiral out of control.

The symptom-tracking app, downloaded by almost 4million people in the UK, US and Sweden, was developed by health company ZOE.

People report their health on the app every week, including if they have symptoms of the coronavirus or if they have had been swabbed for the disease.

Results show cases have been declining since the peak of the outbreak in April, and have rapidly dropped off in the past week.

The results are based on a sub-group of 1million people, of whom 12,872 carried out swab tests when they began to feel unwell.

Some 108 tested positive, which suggests 4,900 people are becoming infected each day when the figures are extrapolated to the UK's 66million population.

The figure is different from the 1,003 new cases recorded by health chiefs yesterday because the Department of Health only records diagnosed cases.

Tens of thousands of patients escape showing any symptoms or suffer so mildly that they feel no need to ever get tested for Covid-19.

The estimated number of new daily cases is similar to data released last week from a government-run coronavirus surveillance scheme.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data suggested only 5,570 people in England were catching the virus on a daily basis, on average, in the first week of June.

The figure  derived from swab tests taken from 20,000 people picked at random  was down from 8,000 the week before.

They have not yet published the estimated daily infection rate for this week but it is expected to follow a similar downward trajectory.

The ONS estimate only predicts new cases occurring in the community, not hospital patients or people who live in institutions or homes.

Because neither group is sampling people living in institutions such as care homes, their predictions may be lower than reality.

Public Health England (PHE) experts predicted last week that 16,700 new cases were cropping up per day across all settings in England alone.

Lead author of the King's College London study, Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology, said single sources of data cannot be relied upon.

The Office for National Statistics suggested that only 5,570 people in England were catching the virus on a daily basis, on average, between May 24 and May 30, down from 8,000 the week before

Data from Public Health England published on June 5 suggests that 16,700 people across the country are still contracting the coronavirus every day, with the rate of spread considerably higher in the North West. This data includes people in care homes and hospitals

WHAT IS THE PREDICTED R RATE? King's College estimate the R rate to be: England: 0.8 [0.6, 1.0] The North: 0.7 [0.4, 0.9] Midlands: 0.9, [0.6, 1.1] London: 0.9 [0.5, 1.1] East of England: 0.9, [0.6, 1.1] The South: 0.7, [0.3, 1.0] Advertisement

King's revealed that in England, the number of daily new cases fell in the past week across all the regions but at different rates.

It fell 49 per cent in the North West, where 820 people are being struck down every day  down from 1,608 last week.

The South East has seen a 46 per cent drop (365 from 674), followed closely by a 43 per cent decrease in the South West (162 from 284).

And the North East and Yorkshire is still the one area of the country with the highest incidence rates, according to the COVID app.

But the number fell from 1,965 to 1,275 a reduction of 35 per cent, suggesting that the situation is improving across all regions.

Cases are still lower in London than the north or east of England. Some 790 people are becoming infected per day, a drop of 27 per cent from last week.

Professor Spector said: 'It is really encouraging that overall we are seeing a significant and consistent decline in the number of cases across the UK, particularly in the North, which tell us that the vast majority of the British public are continuing to be really careful.

'However, we should urge caution when it comes to the easing of the lockdown measures, especially in cities like London.

'Whilst the numbers are falling, thousands of cases of COVID are still very much in the population so measures such as social distancing, regular swab testing, wearing of gloves and face masks in public and maintaining high levels of personal hygiene should be followed closely if we want to keep the numbers low going forward.'

The R rate - which gives a clue for how quickly the virus is spreading - was calculated for each region, similarly showing a disparity.

It is highest in London, the midlands and the north of England, at 0.9. The R must be kept below 1 in order to keep the crisis under control.

Across all regions, the R is below one, according to King's. The data is in contrast to research from Cambridge University and PHE.

The model  one of ten fed into Number 10's SAGE panel  last week suggested the R was above one in the North West and the South West.

Their models are linked to hospital admissions and deaths, while King's calculated the R rate based solely on the symptom-tracking app.

They report that this method of calculating R is more current than seen in models using deaths, the data of which is about three weeks old.
[June 11, 2020] NMIMS Helps Students Explore the Deep World of Mathematics to Make a Successful Career

MUMBAI, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to laying the foundation of a strong and progressive society driven by ideas and intellect, Mathematics leaves an everlasting impression. In Indian tradition, Mathematics is firmly etched in everyone's past with contributions like 'Decimal System' and 'Introduction of Number Zero' which has shaped the world in rich and varied ways. In fact, Mathematics is also a language of computers and a language that is better understood through computers. The fascinating legacy of Maths gives us a position of repute and makes us perfectly poised to explore the intricacies of this subject to the fullest. With a vision to teach Mathematics in a reformed and engaging way to make it an even more potent tool in the 21st century, NMIMS School of Mathematical Sciences was set up. With the legacy of 40 years, NMIMS Deemed to be University has grown to being not only one of the top-10 B-schools in India but also emerged as a multi-disciplinary, multi-campus University at Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Indore, Shirpur, Dhule, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chandigarh and seventeen constituent schools that include Management, Family Business, Engineering, Pharmacy, Architecture, Commerce, Economics, Law, Science, Liberal Arts, Design, Performing Arts, Mathematical Science, Agricultural Science, Hospitality Management, Branding & Advertising and Distance Learning. In addition, NMIMS has nine Centres of Excellence as well at the University with 17,000+ students and 750+ full-time faculty members. The 3 Year B.Sc. Mathematics (Hons.) program under the School is created with a mission to create learned, versatile and confident mathematicians who can apply heir invaluable learnings to solve real-life problems with ease. The School aims to take Mathematics education to a new level by helping the keen students learn and appreciate the subject in its purest form. The full-time program will focus on understanding the grammar and literature of Mathematics and help learn the tools of Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics.



The School makes learning Mathematics even more enjoyable by making extensive use of computers to let the students visualise its impact. This process aims to explore subtleties of equations at the core of Mathematics with the help of a variety of Mathematical tools on computers. The Dean, School of Mathematical Sciences, Dr. Mayank Vahia says, "We invite young lovers of mathematics to understand and enjoy the subject of mathematics, a subject that is both a science and an art. It is a language like many other languages but it is far more capable of expressing the complexity of the working of nature and society than any other language can do." The program encourages the use of a wide array of computational tools to explore finer aspects of Mathematics through projects which involve understanding the connection between Mathematics and our daily life.

To assist the students understand the challenges of using Mathematics in real life, the program in its final year encourages studying a specific aspect of Mathematics, Pure or Applied. There will also be a project in the final semester wherein the favourite branch of Mathematics can be studied in more detail. Salient features of the School: Teaching methodology includes lectures, demonstrations & teacher interactions, appropriate software for demonstration of mathematical ideas, etc.

Emphasis will be on explaining the concepts and the insights

Computer-centric classrooms

A project in the final year inviting the student to understand how mathematics is used in any other field of the student's choice. The passing out students can look forward to multiple opportunities in any industry or institution which uses Mathematics to solve problems in science, technology, human affairs or in Mathematics itself. Last but not the least, the NMIMS School of Mathematical Sciences takes one on a journey to reach the depths of this beautiful subject and lets one create a career driven by the power of Maths. To apply for the 3 Year Full Time B.Sc. Mathematics (Hons.) program, visit https://mathematics.nmims.edu/. The last date of online registration is 15th June, 2020. About NMIMS



With the legacy of 40 years, NMIMS Deemed to be University has grown to being not only one of the top-10 B-schools in India but also emerged as a multi-disciplinary, multi-campus University at Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Indore, Shirpur, Dhule, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chandigarh and seventeen constituent schools that include Management, Family Business, Engineering, Pharmacy, Architecture, Commerce, Economics, Law, Science, Liberal Arts, Design, Performing Arts, Mathematical Science, Agricultural Science, Hospitality Management, Branding & Advertising and Distance Learning. In addition, we have nine Centres of Excellence as well at the University. Media Contact :

Asmita Kolte

[email protected]

+91-9892034542

Public relations Co-ordinator

NMIMS-Deemed to be University Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1162287/NMIMS_Campus.jpg

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Attendees at a rally to support sanitation workers who are requesting hazard pay and PPE at LOVE Park on Tuesday. Read more

For every essential worker who has sounded an alarm about unsafe coronavirus-era working conditions, many more stay quiet, for fear of losing their jobs or drawing other retaliation for speaking out.

A Philadelphia City Council bill aims to change that.

The bill, introduced by Councilmember Helen Gym and supported by more than two dozen labor groups, would make it illegal for employers to retaliate against staffers who refuse to work in conditions that expose them to the risk of the coronavirus and who speak out about their experiences.

The measure would give some teeth to city and state health orders regarding how businesses should protect their workers during the pandemic. As such, its likely to draw criticism from the business community.

The bill tackles an especially urgent issue, advocates say, with more people returning to work as Philadelphia allows businesses to reopen and worry about a second wave of infections mounts.

Monique Atkinson, a home health aide who has asthma, said she isnt getting the personal protective equipment she needs. Atkinson, who lives in Germantown and is a member of the worker group One Pennsylvania, says shes lost work over bringing up her concerns.

As essential workers, we deserve protection from retaliation when we bring up safety issues, she said.

 READ MORE: Philly unions are calling for a citywide essential worker bill of rights during the coronavirus pandemic

Workers say they fear losing their jobs, having their hours cut, or being threatened with calls to immigration officers if they report dangerous conditions. Those fears dont affect all workers equally: Those without union backing and who make low wages are more inclined to stay silent for fear of retaliation. Black workers, too, were more likely to experience or witness retaliation for speaking up about unsafe COVID-19 conditions than their white counterparts, according to a report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) published Tuesday.

Our survey shows two parallel dynamics are at play," said Irene Tung, lead author on the NELP study. Vocal workers are being punished, and other workers are staying quiet to avoid job repercussions."

Proponents of the bill, led by the union Unite Here, frame the bill as a public health measure rather than a worker safety measure. If workers fear speaking up about risky conditions, infections could spread throughout a workplace and lead to entire communities catching the virus, said Unite Here analyst Dermot Delude-Dix. This played out in towns like Sioux Falls, S.D., which became a coronavirus hot spot after hundreds of meatpacking workers tested positive.

Industry groups have raised concerns about the bill, Delude-Dix said, but he declined to share specifics. The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce said it was surveying its members on the bill in order to comment on it. The Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association did not respond to a request for comment.

The Kenney administration supports the bill, said spokesperson Lauren Cox, though it has some concerns about parts of it, such as how the bill allows a worker to sue an employer even if it is determined that their violation of health protocols was unintentional.

We look forward to continuing to work with Council to ensure Philadelphia workers are protected without adding unintended consequences for small businesses that are already struggling in the wake of this public health and economic crisis, Cox said.

The bill builds on the demands made by a coalition of Philly labor groups in April when they called for protections for essential workers, including whistle-blower protection.

The bill is also part of a recent trend of Philadelphia passing cutting-edge worker legislation that seeks to protect workers who are not unionized. Enforcement and awareness, however, have been hurdles to the effectiveness of these laws, though the city, pressured by advocates, has sought to improve enforcement capabilities in the last year. And the chamber of commerce has largely opposed these measures, saying they are unfriendly to business and constitute government overreach.

 READ MORE: Philly is now publicly shaming bad actor businesses that break the citys labor laws

City Councils last session is on June 25. If the bill is to become law this summer, while Philadelphia is in the yellow" recovery phase, it must be approved by Councils Committee on Law and Government and then approved by Council by its last session. If not, it could be reconsidered in the fall. The bill has nine co-sponsors, a majority on Council, said Greg Windle, Gyms spokesperson.

Councils Committee on Law and Government will hold a hearing on the bill Friday.
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging, AARP Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Association of Area Agencies on Aging have bought six tablets and more than 100 phones for 49 nursing homes across the state. Bill Johnston-Walsh, director of AARP's Pennsylvania office, hopes the devices will be a game changer for residents, their friends and family members.

"We were hearing early on  and it was pretty sad  people would call us and say they had no idea what was happening with their parents, Johnston-Walsh says. We're hoping this alleviates some of that frustration and allows families to talk to their loved ones."

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services effectively banned nursing home visits three months ago, at the start of the pandemic, except for end-of-life situations. AARP and other advocates for nursing home residents have been pushing for federal and state rules requiring facilities to offer virtual visits with loved ones, which they say can mean the difference between life and death for some residents.

But with limited budgets in long-term care facilities, phones and tablets are often in short supply. I've heard of some facilities that have just one phone they pass around to residents, says Robert Torres, Pennsylvania's secretary of aging. We're hoping that this jump-starts additional support."

As the pandemic continues, advocates across the country are finding ways to keep nursing home residents better connected with the outside world. The federal government announced guidance in late May for reopening the facilities to visitors, but it urged extreme caution in doing so. The process could take months, making virtual visits the only option for most residents for the foreseeable future.

Turning fines into phones

More than two dozen AARP state offices have called on lawmakers to better facilitate virtual visitation options for long-term care residents. Oregon's AARP office worked with the state's Department of Human Services to draft guidance requiring virtual visitation at long-term care facilities. AARP is pushing for the same requirement at the federal level.

In Alaska, AARP's state office worked with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to allow a portion of fines nursing homes have paid for care or sanitation violations to be directed toward buying them technology for virtual visits. Individual facilities can use up to $3,000 in money redirected from fines. The new guidelines are making a difference, particularly for smaller facilities, says Teresa Holt, the director of the AARP Alaska office and the state's former long-term care ombudsman.

"It works great if you have a small facility and you only need like three iPads. But if you have 100 people and you need 10 to 15 iPads, it's probably not sufficient, says Holt, who wants to raise the $3,000 threshold for larger operations.

AARP's Texas office worked with state officials on a similar policy. Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission last month announced a pool of $3.6 million from fines and penalties for facilities to purchase communication equipment for residents.

In Pennsylvania, the $10,000 for new technology and paid phone minutes came from AARP's state office. The office coordinated with the state government to determine which facilities needed the technology, while the Pennsylvania Association of Area Agencies on Aging purchased the phones and tablets.

Johnston-Walsh, the state AARP director, hopes for more donations and funding mechanisms to allow the program to expand to more of Pennsylvania's 699 nursing homes in weeks ahead.

Because of the potential risk of spreading coronavirus through shared devices, many facilities are hoping for more technology to go around.

"If every resident was able to get a tablet, that would be ideal in a situation like this, says Rachel Reeves, director of communication at the National Center for Assisted Living.

The National Center for Assisted Living and the American Health Care Association, which represents the nursing home industry, are directing donations of tablets and technology, along with puzzles, games, hand sanitizer, gloves and other supplies, to long-term care facilities through their #CareNotCovid campaign.

The groups launched a social media campaign in which people can record and upload short videos and messages of encouragement that can be shared with nursing home residents and staff. This is a potentially isolating time for residents, Reeves said. We know that so many people were stepping up and asking how else they can help."
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday sought credit rating agencies' assessment of the macroeconomic situation and their outlook on various industries, including the financial sector, the central bank said in a statement.

The RBI Governor met managing directors and chief executives of credit rating agencies (CRAs) through video conferencing.

The meeting was also attended by the deputy governors and other senior officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

During the meeting, among other matters, agencies' assessment of the macroeconomic situation and outlook on various sectors, including the financial sector, was discussed.

Other issues discussed included perspectives on the overall financial health of the entities rated by the CRAs and major factors that affect credit ratings in current context.

The RBI also sought feedback on ways to further strengthen the rating processes and engagement with key stakeholders.
The federal Office of Civil Rights reached an agreement Tuesday with the state of Connecticut that allows caregivers of those with disabilities to have a support person accompany them to hospitals and other medical settings.

Disability Rights Connecticut and several other advocacy groups filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights on May 4 urging the federal agency to immediately investigate and take swift action to resolve allegations of disability discrimination.

Because of COVID-19, hospitals and other medical settings were not allowing the caregivers of persons with disabilities the opportunity to accompany their loved ones to the hospital.

As part of the resolution reached Tuesday, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to issue an executive order to ensure that people with disabilities have reasonable access to support personnel in hospital settings in a manner that is consistent with disability rights laws and the health and safety of patients, health care providers, and support persons.

As vulnerable populations around the state continue to be disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a priority for my office and the state to come to a resolution on allowing a support person to accompany and advocate for individuals with disabilities into our hospitals, Lamont stated. The order issued by Commissioner Gifford implements vital safeguards for individuals with special needs to ensure proper and safe care is being provided and received in a hospital setting.

The order, according to a press release from the Office of Civil Rights, will include establishing a statewide policy requiring hospitals and other acute care settings to permit the entrance of a designated support person for a patient with a disability and permitting family members, service providers or other individuals knowledgeable about the needs of the person with a disability to serve as a designated support person. Where patients with a disability are in such a setting for longer than one day, they may designate two support persons, provided only one is present at a time.

The Department of Developmental Services and the Connecticut Hospital Association reached an agreement at the end of April to allow some caregivers to accompany their loved one with an intellectual and developmental disability to the hospital. But the accommodation was limited to only those receiving services from DDS.

The guidance unlawfully limits protections to only those individuals with I/DD who are served by DSS, Disability Rights Connecticut said in their complaint. The letter excludes people with disabilities in Connecticut not served by DDS, as well as those who do not have I/DD but have equally critical needs for, and the legal right to, a support person to accompany them to the hospital.

With the exception of three Connecticut hospitals operated by Nuvance Health, which also operates hospitals in New York, not a single Connecticut hospital had an exception to its visitation prohibition for support persons for individuals with disabilities, according to DRCT.

DRCT was joined in filing the federal complaint by the Center for Public Representation and CommunicationFIRST, both based in Washington, D.C., and The Arc of Connecticut, The Arc of the United States, and Independence Northwest: Center for Independent Living of Northwest CT.
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Linkedin Julie Steenhuysen and Saumya Joseph (Reuters)  Thu, June 11, 2020 12:15 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdddbcef 2 World Johnson-and-Johnson,coronavirus,COVID-19,COVID-19-drugs,human-trial,COVID-19-vaccines,pandemic Free

Johnson & Johnson moved up the start of human clinical trials for its experimental vaccine against the highly contagious coronavirus by two months to the second half of July, as the drugmaker rushes to develop a prevention for COVID-19, the company said on Wednesday.

The acceleration should allow J&J to take part in the massive clinical trials program planned by the US government, which aims to have an effective vaccine by year end.

J&J shares rose nearly 2% to $148.69.

Last March, J&J signed deals with the US government to create enough manufacturing capacity to produce more than 1 billion doses of its vaccine through 2021, even before it has evidence that it works.

There are currently no US approved treatments or vaccines for the virus. A vaccine is seen as essential to ending the pandemic that has infected more than 7.2 million people and killed over 412,000 globally, while battering economies worldwide.

J&J initially expected safety trials to start in September. Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels told Reuters the company has been working closely with its US government partners to accelerate that timeline.

"Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development," Stoffels said in a statement on Wednesday.

J&J's study will test the vaccine for safety and early signs of efficacy in 1,045 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years, and in those aged 65 and older. The trial will take place in the United States and Belgium.

The company is also in talks with the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases(NIAID) to start larger, late-stage trials ahead of schedule, depending on results of the early studies and regulatory approval.

The United States is planning to test a handful of coronavirus vaccine candidates in trials that will enroll up to 30,000 subjects with the aim of getting an answer on efficacy as quickly as possible. National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told Reuters that companies will need to complete their safety trials by the end of summer to be included in those studies.

Stoffels said last week that J&J hopes to have results of its vaccine efficacy trials in the first quarter of 2021. He added that the company is "working hard to bring it back to the end of the year."

A lot will depend on how much virus is circulating at that time, he said.

"If you have an incidence of 1% a year versus 4% a year, it's totally different. And that's where these trials are so unpredictable," he said referring to the percentage of new cases occurring in the population at the time.

The company plans to test the vaccine in high-transmission regions within the United States. If the incidence is low, "we will complement that with international sites to make sure that we reach enough endpoints quickly to prove the vaccine works," Stoffels said.

Moderna Inc, which is working in close partnership with NIAID, has started testing its vaccine candidate in a 600-subject mid-stage trial. The company expects to begin late-stage trials in July.

Moderna's vaccine uses messenger RNA technology, an approach that has yet to produce any approved vaccines. J&J is utilizing the same technology used to make its Ebola vaccine, which won European regulatory approval late last month.

There are about 10 coronavirus vaccines in human testing. Experts have said a safe and effective vaccine could take at least 12 to 18 months from the start of development, which would shave several years off the typical vaccine development timeline.
WASHINGTON  Billions of dollars for submarines, fighter jets and helicopters included in a new defense spending package are expected to buoy Connecticuts defense manufacturing sector in the coming years.

The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which cleared a first Senate hurdle Wednesday evening, invests billions in Virginia class and Columbia class submarines by New London-based Electric Boat. It is projected that over the next decade the submarine shipbuilding industry must hire at least 18,000 new skilled workers to support the production of these vessels, which are made exclusively in Connecticut and Virginia.

This NDAA envisions adding thousands of employees including adding new jobs and replacing retirees whose jobs will be retained, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Overall there will be dramatic increases in employment at Electric Boat.

The legislation also funds 93 F-35 fighter jets  14 more than the Pentagon requested. Engines for the jets are made by East-Hartford-based Pratt and Whitney.

The bill also includes billions for dozens of new cargo, combat rescue and other helicopters, including the model that is used to transport the president. These helicopters are produced by Stratford-based Sikorsky and its parent company Lockheed Martin.

Defense manufacturers did not stop production during the coronavirus pandemic, but have had to stagger shifts and make other changes to production in order to keep workers safe and remain on schedule.

The prime contractors in Connecticut  were primarily talking about Electric Boat, Pratt and Whitney and Sikorsky  Im not aware of any of them missing major manufacturing requirements, said Bob Ross, executive director of the Connecticut Office of Military Affairs. Their challenge is managing their staff and managing the supply chain.

These large manufacturers are fed by small components makers in the state that may have been more susceptible to delays from employees unable to work due to illness or child care reasons.

The $740.5 billion NDAA funds the U.S. military, Department of Defense and other national security spending. It provides a 3 percent pay increase for troops and initiatives to support housing, health and other initiatives service members and veterans. It passed the Senate Armed Services Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support. Final passage of the legislation by the House and Senate is not expected until later in 2020.

The Armed Services Committee rejected a Blumenthal amendment to limit presidential powers to use the military to respond to civil unrest, including protests against the death of George Floyd. Blumenthal said he will continue to try to reform the Insurrection Act when the NDAA receives a full Senate vote.

Im disappointed more of my Senate Armed Services Committee colleagues dont agree that the use of military force against Americans at home should demand at least the same Congressional oversight that applies to his use of force against adversaries abroad, Blumenthal said.

emilie.munson@hearstdc.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
MINNEAPOLIS, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Mednet, a healthcare technology company, announced a new software release of its eClinical platform, iMednet. The recent update builds on Mednet's strategic priorities to expand its feature set while improving the overall user experience and expanding the scalability of the platform. The latest release was recently rolled out to existing customers and is also now available for new customers.

Mednet's latest release features the first phase roll out of expanded ePRO capabilities. The new ePRO (electronic patient-reported outcomes) capabilities significantly improve the site user experience for ePRO administration by streamlining patient identification and other processes. The module also includes validation tools to ensure the user is selecting the correct study participant to receive the ePRO, and it is easier for the user to navigate back to the main menu after task completion. The expanded Mednet ePRO capabilities will eventually include new features to improve the user experience for the study participant, which will be released later this year. Mednet will also continue to maintain and market its current ePRO module in existing studies and those with more basic requirements.

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) have been in use in clinical trials for several years, and as defined by FDA guidance, include "any report of the status of a patient's health condition that comes directly from the patient1" to measure treatment benefit or risk. Most research teams collect this data electronically, and it is more important than ever in the current environment where it can be difficult for participants to visit sites.

Continuing to improve the user experience, expand scalability and optimize the platform to effectively support bidirectional integration are ongoing priorities of the Mednet development plan. This release also includes an improved audit service that dramatically increases speed of publishing study changes from one environment to another. For example, in testing, a job previously taking two days finished in as little as five minutes. In addition, other enhancements, such as linked forms, improve efficiency of key processes for data managers and site users.

"Now more than ever, it is critical to enable research teams to collect information directly from patients and also adapt to critical study changes and new data sources," said Rob Robertson, chief executive officer, Mednet. "Our enhanced ePRO functionality will enable sites users to more efficiently collect patient data, and ultimately, also improve the user experience for participants. In addition, this release further optimizes the Mednet platform with other enhancements to expand scalability, increase efficiency of publishing changes and improve the overall user experience."

To learn more about the latest Mednet release and future development plans, contact us.

About Mednet

Mednet is a healthcare technology company specializing in eClinical solutions designed for the global life sciences community. Mednet's all-in-one eClinical platform improves the efficiency of clinical studies of all types and sizes. Beyond electronic data capture (EDC), Mednet's comprehensive solution set provides the tools required to build and manage all types of clinical research, while enabling organizations to adapt to evolving demands and requirements. Pharmaceutical, medical device, biotechnology and Contract Research Organizations (CROs) around the world have trusted Mednet for nearly 20 years to deliver the technology innovation, experience and reliability they need for success. For more information, visit www.mednetsolutions.com.

Contact: Barbara Correll, [email protected]

1. FDA Guidance for Industry. Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: Use in Medical Product Development to Support Labeling Claims. 2009. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/Guidances/UCM193282.pdf. Accessed September 25, 2013.

SOURCE Mednet

Related Links

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(Photo : REUTERS/Thom Baur) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken lifts off during NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. May 30, 2020.

For the first time, scientists created the fifth state of matter on board the International Space Station.

Research showed on Thursday, June 11, offered an unprecedented insight that might help to solve some of the most intractable problems in the quantum universe.

Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), whose existence was predicted almost a century ago by Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose, are formed when certain elements are atoms cooled to near absolute zero Kelvin (-273.15C).

The atoms at this point become a single entity with quantum properties, in which each particle also functions as a wave of matter.

BECs straddle the line, ruled by quantum mechanics, between the macroscopic world governed by forces like gravity and the microscopic plane.

BECs 'important' like dark matter

Scientists claim that the BECs hold crucial keys to enigmatic phenomena like dark matter. This unseen force was believed to be behind the rapid expansion of the universe.

BECs, however, is highly fragile. The slightest contact with the outside world suffices to lift them past their point of condensation.

This makes scientists almost impossible to study on Earth, where gravity interferes with the magnetic fields needed to hold them in place for observation.

ALSO READ: Scientists Turn Quantum Gas Into Exotic Phase Of Matter: What Is Supersolid?

Exotic matter 'controlled free' of earthly limitations

On Thursday, June 11, a team of NASA scientists announced the first findings of BEC experiments onboard the International Space Station (ISS) can be controlled free of earthly limitations.

"Microgravity allows us to confine atoms with much weaker forces since we don't have to support them against gravity," Robert Thompson of from the California Institute for Technology, Pasadena, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Many surprising variations in BECs' properties produced on Earth and those onboard the ISS are recorded in work published in Nature journal.

For one thing, BECs usually last a handful of milliseconds before dissipation in terrestrial laboratories.

The BECs have lasted more than a second aboard the ISS, giving the team an unparalleled opportunity to research their properties.

Microgravity also enabled the atoms to be manipulated by weaker magnetic fields, accelerating their cooling and allowing for clearer images.

"We find that radiofrequency-induced evaporative cooling reveals markedly different results in microgravity," the researchers wrote.

ALSO READ: Physics Lab May Have Found Evidence Of Fifth Force Of Nature

Remarkable breakthrough

Creating the fifth state of matter is no small feat, particularly within the physical confines of a space station.

First, bosons - atoms equally numerous with protons and electrons - are cooled to absolute zero using lasers to lock them in place.

The slower the movement of atoms, the fresher they become.

As they lose heat, a magnetic field is applied to prevent them from moving. The wave of each particle expands, cramming several bosons into a microscopic trap that overlaps their waves into a single stream of matter - a property known as quantum degeneration.

The magnetic trap is then released for scientists to study the condensate. Still, the atoms start repelling each other, causing the cloud to fly apart, and the BECs becoming too diluted to detect it.

Thompson and the team realized that the microgravity onboard the ISS enabled them to create rubidium BECs - a potassium-like soft metal - on a far shallower trap than on Earth. This accounted for the vastly increased time that could be studied before the condensate was diffused.

"Most importantly, we can observe the atoms as they float entirely [without being confined] by external forces," Thompson said.

Previous studies attempting to emulate the effect of weightlessness on BECs used in free-fall aircraft, rockets and even devices dropped from different heights.

"These experiments form the start of potentially years of science operations, with additional capabilities of the instrument to be employed over time," the researchers wrote in their paper.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The parents of a University of Utah student who was shot and killed on campus in 2018 has filed another lawsuit against the school

In the lawsuit, Jill and Matt McCluskey allege the university violated the state constitution by dismissing their daughters requests for help in the weeks leading up to her death.

Track athlete Lauren McCluskey, 21, had contacted university police more than 20 times to report harassment by her ex-boyfriend, Melvin Rowland, 37, before he fatally shot her outside her dorm. She had broken up with him after finding out he lied about his background and status as a sex offender.

McCluskeys parents say that university police ignored their daughter because of an indifference to the risks that women experience when they are suffering from domestic violence, according to the lawsuit.

The University of Utah declined to comment on the familys most recent suit until its attorneys could review and respond to the new filing. The university has acknowledged mistakes and made campus safety changes, and said that its staff deeply regret not better understanding the danger Lauren faced.

The suit names several state and university employees as defendants, including Officer Miguel Deras who has been accused of showing off explicit images of Lauren McCluskey while investigating an extortion case she filed before her death. Deras has denied the allegations.

Jill and Matt McCluskey filed a separate lawsuit against the school in June 2019 for federal law violations and civil rights violations under Title IX. In that case, the university did not reach a settlement with the parents after two days of mediation.

Both lawsuits are expected to proceed simultaneously. The parents have said any proceeds from the $54 million federal lawsuit will be used to promote campus safety.

Eppolito is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A CIRCUIT Court judge has sought the details of all people who were in a contact with a witness who did not self isolate after coming from the UK.

Judge Karen Fergus asked for the information after a man told Tullamore Circuit Court he had travelled from Manchester to give evidence.

"Unless I'm wrong, my understanding is he should have been in isolation," said Judge Fergus.

She said the details of everybody he had been in contact with since his arrival the previous day would have to be given.

It was her understanding it was mandatory for the man to fill in a form on his arrival in the State and she'd like to think he did so.

If he had done so, it would have been obvious to him what he should have done but it seemed to have fallen by the wayside.

Judge Fergus also said in accordance with practice directions a system would have to be put in place to record the contact details of anyone who had been in the courtroom for more than two hours.

Shane Geraghty, BL, for the DPP, said efforts were being made to ascertain when the witness arrived and who he had been in contact with.

That information would be passed to the garda sergeant on duty in the court, said Mr Geraghty.

To comply with Covid-19 regulations, the capacity of the Circuit Court courtroom in Tullamore is currently limited to 21 people.
Chinese tourists with facial masks stand in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on February 3, 2020 at Wall Street in New York City. Johannes Eisele | AFP | Getty Images

U.S. pressure on Chinese stocks looks set to accelerate the growth of capital markets in Hong Kong and mainland China, as investors remain intent on chasing opportunities in the world's second-largest economy. Congress is mulling a new law that could force Chinese companies to delist their stocks from American exchanges. The move builds on existing U.S.-China tensions, which began in earnest two years ago on trade, and have since spilled over into technology and finance. In mid-May, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration told a federal pension fund to halt investments in Chinese stocks. Revelation in April of major fraud at Luckin Coffee  which sold itself as a rival to Starbucks in China  accelerated U.S. concerns about lack of transparency into Chinese companies. "Luckin poisoned the well," said Blueshirt managing director Gary Dvorchak, who advises Chinese companies interested in listing in the U.S. "I foresee a very, very difficult environment."

At the same time, major international stock and bond index managers have started to include mainland Chinese assets, following years of observation. The inclusion automatically adds some Chinese stocks to many investment funds. Money managers looking for long-term growth opportunities have increasingly turned to China, even before the coronavirus pandemic shocked global growth. Covid-19 emerged late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan. It has since infected more than 7.3 million people, and killed over 416,000. The outbreak stalled in China by mid-March. Economists expect the country to eke out growth this year, while they predict developed nations like the U.S. will contract. The Asian giant is also home to some of the largest technology start-ups in the world. "To deprive investors from great growth companies is a big mistake, and it will have a meaningful effect on the U.S. financial market," Brendan Ahern, U.S.-based chief investment officer at exchange-traded funds manager KraneShares, said in a phone interview last week. "More investment bankers in Hong Kong, more lawyers, more traders  it will have a true impact on the U.S. finance sector, the New York metropolitan area as a financial hub (for) U.S. capital." The New York Federal Reserve found that the U.S.-China trade war reduced the market capitalization of U.S.-listed companies by $1.7 trillion, with further hits to investment expected this year, according to a study published in late May.

Foreign funds flowing into China

In April, allocation to Chinese assets among more than 800 funds held steady from the prior month at almost a quarter of nearly $2 trillion in assets under management, according to the latest data available from EPFR. The data covers nine categories of stocks listed in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the U.S. and Singapore. Chinese government restrictions on cross-border capital flows have made it difficult for foreign funds to access domestic markets, making Hong Kong a more attractive option for international investors wanting to tap China. Underdeveloped regulation on the mainland has also resulted in a rather heavy-handed approach to controlling China's stock markets, which are dominated by retail investors who tend to speculate rather than invest for the long term. For years, many have dubbed the mainland Chinese stock market a "casino." However, analysts say Chinese markets are slowly maturing as more local institutions invest and regulation improves. Foreign investor interest in mainland Chinese stocks has also increased. In late May, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued an alert that the foreign investment ratio in three stocks was nearing the 30% limit, the first time such a notice has been issued for three companies, according to China's National Business Daily. Foreign funds accounted for 3.5% of the A shares available for trading, according to data accessed through Wind Information, a financial database.

More IPOs in Hong Kong, mainland

As U.S. political pressure accelerates, New York-listed Chinese companies are quickly turning to Hong Kong. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is set to hold a roundtable on July 9 to hear views from investors and others on the risks of investing in emerging markets such as China. UBS' in-house regulatory affairs experts expect the U.S. House of Representatives will pass the new legislation against Chinese IPOs by late August, according to a note Tuesday.

Ahead of these potential changes, NetEase held a secondary stock offering in Hong Kong on Thursday, while Chinese e-commerce and logistics company JD.com is also planning a secondary listing in coming weeks. "If you're a publicly traded company anywhere in the world this uncertainty is a material risk. There's no way around that," James Early, CEO of investment research firm Stansberry China, said in a phone interview last week. "The second listing idea is going to be a lot more palatable than just getting out of the U.S. altogether." Many Chinese companies have sought the chance to list in New York for the branding benefits, and the opportunity to build capital outside of China's border controls. Even as Washington-Beijing tensions simmered, Chinese grocery delivery platform Dada went public on the Nasdaq last week. For its part, the Chinese government has wanted to keep its best companies listed closer to home. Last year, the STAR Market launched in Shanghai just months after a directive from Chinese President Xi Jinping. "Shanghai's STAR market has also lowered the costs of going public in China, removing one of the key reasons why many Chinese companies go public in Hong Kong or abroad," Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida, said in an email. He pointed out that companies in China have faced long delays in getting approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The number of public offerings in China reflects the regulatory changes. In 2018, 105 companies listed on mainland Chinese A share markets, down from 438 the prior year, according to Wind data.

When the STAR Market launched last year, it attracted 70 out of the 203 companies that went public, the data showed.

For this year through Tuesday, 39 of the 106 public offerings were on the STAR market, according to Wind. The number of public offerings in Hong Kong has also climbed in the last several years, topping 160 last year and 55 for the year so far, according to Wind.

The semi-autonomous region has made it easier in recent years for biotechnology companies to list on its exchange. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is already home to Chinese technology giants such as Tencent and Meituan-Dianping. UBS Securities' China equity strategy team added in a note that new secondary listings in Hong Kong could still draw investment from U.S. institutional investors that have global operations.

Overseas financial firms step up interest
Nazi memorabilia collector Thomas Gill, 25, has been jailed for one year for possession of a firearm and ammunition when prohibited

An offender caught with weapons, Nazi memorabilia and a panic room in his home who told police 'I'll be a serial killer in 10 years' was sentenced to one year in prison today.

Thomas Gill, 25, said 'I love blood, remember my name' after officers discovered the haul of weaponry from his home on Bangor Close, Eston.

Judge Paul Watson QC has jailed Gill for one year for his offences.

Officers searched Gill's property and inside they found a large selection of weapons, Nazi memorabilia and a panic room.

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh said: 'The panic room was located inside a void above a bedroom... and was 6ft long and 2ft high.

'A number of items have been seized by the police - crossbows, arrows, catapults, many knives, a ballistic vest, some swords, smoke grenades, Nazi memorabilia.'

A woolly hat with eyeholes cut out, knuckle dusters, an extendable baton and a non-functioning AK47 replica air rifle and some cannabis were also found, Teesside Crown Court heard.

But it was not these items found on March 14 which put him in the dock on Wednesday, but an air pistol, BB pellets and a shotgun cartridge.

Gill said when cautioned: 'My probation worker said it was OK.' He acted bizarrely and erratically as he was put into the police van cage.

Police discovered crossbows, knives and smoke grenades in Gill's property in Bangor Close, Eston. When arrested, Gill said: 'I'll be a serial killer in 10 years' to the police officers

'He was making over-the-top loud laughing noises. He was talking in multiple accents,' added Ms Haigh.

Gill told an officer he had about 30 weapons in the house and owned a police-style asp 'which shoots out at the press of a button'.

He pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition when prohibited. Gill had 14 offences on his record, starting in 2010 with animal cruelty and killing a wild bird which he threw against a window and on to a school roof in 2009, when he was 14.

He later wrote 'Grangetown villains' on a bookies' window, and painted a 'symbol' on a shop.

In 2016 he was caught with a knife after he bit and punched supermarket security officer who caught him stealing booze.

He posted a dead rat through his ex's letterbox as he harassed her, threatened to shoot her to the head with a crossbow, kicked her door and smashed her car windows.

For this - and evading an import ban by ordering a 'Taser torch' online - he was given a suspended 18-month jail term in March 2018.

Gill was today sentenced to one year in prison at Teesside Crown Court (pictured)

This conviction for affray, public disorder and criminal damage meant he was banned from having the airgun and ammo for five years.

John Nixon, defending, said: 'In this case there's no suggestion that the defendant had made any use of these weapons or indeed that he had any intention of using them.

'They were ornamental in nature. There were various items in a cabinet. There were items hanging on pegs on the wall and effectively they were on display.

'He does say he had them because he had an interest in history and in weaponry.'

He added Gill was spending 23-and-a-hours locked up and was not allowed his glasses because of covid-19 restrictions, and he stood to lose his tenancy if inside for more than six months.
Apple announced today a new Racial Equity and Justice Initiative with a new $100 million commitment.

Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, will lead the initiative. Jackson has notched an impressive list of achievements during her tenure at Apple by focusing on improving the environmental sustainability of the company's supply chain.

"Were at an important moment in our history. A time when progress, which has been far too slow, feels suddenly poised to move forward in a great leap," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement on Twitter. "Things must change and Apple is committed to being a force for that change."

Beginning in the U.S. and expanding globally, Cook said that Apple will take its $100 million investment and focus on financing initiatives that address education, economic equality and criminal justice reform.

Cook said the company would build on existing work with historically Black colleges and universities, community colleges, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education -- especially among underserved and Black communities.

In addition to the company's existing relationships, Cook said Apple would work with the Montgomery, Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative -- a nonprofit that focuses on criminal justice reform and racial injustice.

The company will also hold a developer and entrepreneur camp for promising entrepreneurs ahead of its Worldwide Developer Conference.

Finally, Cook said that the company would commit to working on increasing its total spending with its Black-owned business partners and increasing representation within all of the companies that it does business with.

Apple's initiatives will focus on representation, inclusion and accountability, Cook said.

As part of that, Cook said that the ultimate accountability for changes will fall on the company's leadership to avoid making requests and having the work fall on the shoulders of employees and partners who are already dealing with lack of representation in their companies. "The burden of change must not fall on those who are underrepresented," said Cook.

The unfinished work of racial justice and equality call us all to account. Things must change, and Apple's committed to being a force for that change. Today, I'm proud to announce Apples Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, with a $100 million commitment. pic.twitter.com/AoYafq2xlp  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 11, 2020

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NASA recently reported that the Sun has experienced one of its biggest solar flares since October 2017. Though the sunspots caused by the solar flare are not yet visible, a NASA spacecraft spotted the flare high above it. NASA reported that the flares were too weak to pass the threshold at which NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center provides alerts. The Space Weather Prediction Center is the US government's official source which provides weather forecasts, alerts, warnings and watches on space.

Also read: 'Size Matters': Elon Musk's epic reaction to even more epic space size-comparison clip

Image courtesy - NASA official website

What is a solar flare?

A solar flare is an intense burst of radiation that results due to the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are also identified by NASA as our solar system's largest explosive events. They can be spotted as bright areas on the sun and often last from minutes to hours. The primary way NASA studies solar flares is by monitoring them in X-rays and optical light.

Also read: Russia Space Agency Head complains about American jokes after SpaceX Crew Dargon launch

The Sun moves through an 11-year cycle, where its activities rise and fall. The recently recorded solar flares on the Sun suggest that the quiet period of the Sun is getting over and the period of Solar Cycle 25 will commence soon. This new sunspot activity has also been speculated to be a sign that the Sun is possibly revving up to the new solar cycle and has passed through a period of minimum. The solar flares observed recently were reportedly not strong enough to affect the geomagnetic space but, it was the first M-class flare in almost three years.

Also read: Elon Musk not satisfied with ISS; tells SpaceX staff to focus on Starship for Moon & Mars

When is the next solar flare?

Currently, scientists from NASA are observing various sunspots in order to determine the dates of solar minimum. It is difficult to predict when the radiation activity in the Sun will increase thus a definite time for the next solar flare cannot be pointed out. This is particularly because the Sun is extremely variable.

Even if the number of sunspots goes up or down, it won't change its course consistently. Scientists reportedly are looking to find a consistent upward trend in solar activity which can signify the exact change the Sun is going through. Concrete developments on recent solar activity are still awaited.

Also read: SpaceX opens era of amateur astronauts, cosmic movie sets
Places of worship across the GTA are struggling to safely get their centres up and running by Friday with safety protocols in place, after the province this week gave them the go ahead to open their doors.

On Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced that places of worship were allowed to reopen at 30 per cent building capacity, much to the surprise of many who hadnt expected to open their doors until later in the summer.

During these uncertain times, our faith has never been more important, said Ford.

But religious leaders say implementing social distancing rules in places of worship is complex and unprecedented.

Its welcome news for us, but with the announcement coming on Monday, and having the ability to open on Fridaythat short window is what makes it challenging, said Neil MacCarthy, director of public relations for the Archdiocese of Toronto.

Even then, the Catholic church seems to have been prepared. The Archdiocese issued a lengthy directive to their 225 churches this week, with detailed safety guidelines such as ensuring people stay two metres apart, recommending the use of face masks and other PPE, temperature monitoring, capacity control through online reservations, no congregational singing, no confession and communion will be distributed on the hand.

Mindful that we are still in a period of pandemic, our goal is to ensure we can welcome the faithful and provide a safe environment for all, said Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, in a statement.

The churches will initially be open for private worship on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, said MacCarthy. Weekend masses will resume next Sunday. The biggest challenge is trying to manage the 30 per cent capacity, he said.

He says its also hard to know how the community will respond, We dont know: will we have people waiting around the corner, or is it going to be smaller number of people who actually attend? he said. Its hard to say what will happen.

Mosques across the GTA are also hastily working to implement safety procedures for worshippers  so they can welcome congregants to Friday prayers as early as this week.

We knew from the start that people will have to pray two metres from each other, said Ibrahim Hindy, the imam for the Dar Al-Tawheed Centre in Mississauga. So when we mapped that, we knew the capacity would be less than 30 per cent. Hindy said they usually have 400 people attending the Friday prayer.

The Islamic Institute of Toronto said it will be holding the Friday prayer outdoors, and will limit it to 50 men and 50 women.

Among the measures mosques across the city are implementing: registering online and completing a checklist beforehand, bringing your own prayer mat, limiting access to washroom and ablution facilities, wearing a mask, shortening the prayer, banning children from attending, restricting seniors from attending and asking people to refrain from greeting or socializing with others.

The Jewish community is also taking a cautious approach to opening, said Steve McDonald, VP communications and marketing, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

There is a strong sense that protecting life has to be the overriding priority, said McDonald, who said the UJA and Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs will be running a webinar for synagogues this week to offer guidance on how to proceed.

He said in other cities that have permitted religious centres to open, only a few synagogues have done so, and even then with very limited services. I dont think you will see widespread reopening this weekend, he said. I think you will see a cautious gradual approach to ensure that no ones health is compromised.

Even though it has permission, the Anglican church said it is taking a wait-and-see approach and will keep its doors shut until September.

We are all pining to come together again in our sacred spaces for corporate worship, said Right Rev. Andrew Asbil, the bishop of Toronto, in a statement to its churches. We believe, however, that the difficult but safest decision is to keep our church buildings closed until the fall.

He said guidelines will be introduced in June, which will give churches time to open safely.

The COVID-19 crisis is not finished, particularly in our part of the country, and we are very conscious that a good number of our faithful parishioners would be considered at high risk for infection. We believe that God is calling us to model for society how to re-engage safely and carefully.

Correction - June 12, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said that there will be no communion. In fact, communion will be distributed by hand.

Noor Javed is a Toronto-based reporter covering current affairs in the York region for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @njaved
The German government recently announced that 2019 saw the most antisemitic hate crimes since it began collecting data in 2001. In all, 2,032 antisemitic incidents were reported to German police last year, marking a 13 percent increase over 2018. That certainly fits with the steady drumbeat of stories about rising global antisemitism. However, the German governments announcement quickly turned cockeyed, as 93.4 percent of the crimes were ascribed to farright wing perpetrators,  according to a report from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).

Now, the far right in Germany  as elsewhere  is undoubtedly antisemitic. Nazism literally originated there. However, crediting the German far right for nearly all attacks on Germanys Jews oversimplifies a situation that calls for much more careful analysis.

Some politicians and members of the media may prefer this take, but unquestioningly accepting it wont keep Germanys 200,000 Jews safe. It would be better to embrace reality, including two major flaws in this too-convenient narrative. First, there are known problems with the way Germany collects its antisemitic crime data. Second, numerous surveys show that antisemitism is a broader problem that spans German society.

Lets start with the first point. In classifying antisemitic incidents, the German government uses five categories: right-wing, left-wing, foreign ideology, religious ideology, and (the rarely used) unknown. The categories have remained unchanged since 2001. At this point, they are inadequate.

Remko Leemhuis, acting director of the American Jewish Committees Berlin office, agrees that there are classification problems. He explained in a phone interview that, if the police cant apprehend someone, they automatically mark it down as right-wing extremism. In other words, reporting on German antisemitism is inherently skewed; the category right-wing expands simply because the police dont consistently use unknown when they should.

Story continues

The Germans also lack a category dedicated to antisemitism driven by Islamism. German authorities have classified antisemitic episodes at the Quds Day march in Berlin, for example, as right-wing, as if the event were a neo-Nazi rally. If the German government is serious about fighting antisemitism, it needs to acknowledge that the oldest hatred exists beyond the far right. Consider that, according to the JTA report, in a 2016 survey of hundreds of German Jews who had experienced antisemitic incidents, 41 percent said the perpetrator was someone with a Muslim extremist view and another 16 percent said it was someone from the far left. Only 20 percent identified their aggressors as belonging to the far right. Given that, the German government would be wise to revise their reporting categories to include far right, far left, Islamist, and unknown perpetrators.

More recent polling data only underscores that antisemitism is not an isolated problem. In a survey the World Jewish Congress released last fall, 27 percent of German respondents agreed with a range of antisemitic statements and stereotypes about Jewish people. Forty-one percent of respondents agreed that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to Germany, epitomizing the notion that Jews are Others. Lest the German government write this off as a problem of the uneducated, this survey also noted that 18 percent of elites  respondents with at least one university degree who make at least 100,000 [$111,300] per year  agreed with antisemitic sentiments.

In a similar vein, the ADL in its Global 100 survey, which was also released last fall, found that 49 percent of Germans considered it probably true that Germanys Jews were more loyal to Israel. While 14 percent of self-identified Christians and 12 percent of atheists expressed antisemitic attitudes, a nontrivial 49 percent of Muslim respondents did.

The German government should also consider that 46 percent of German Jews told the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) that they avoid certain places in their local area or neighborhood at least occasionally because they do not feel safe there as Jews, and 75 percent at least occasionally avoid wearing, carrying or displaying things that might visibly identify them as Jewish. In its 2018 report, the FRA noted that Germany is one of three countries [that] stand out with increased shares of respondents who say that they have considered leaving the country due to safety concerns in the past five years. Germany led that list, at 19 percent.

This is all to say that antisemitism is an ongoing problem for Germanys tiny Jewish minority. As Leemhuis observes, Theres a huge problem with right-wing antisemitism, but if were not addressing all forms seriously, were not fighting any antisemitism. It doesnt help when people instrumentalize the problem, when the right is pointing to the left, and the left points to the right. Everyone has to do housekeeping.

Its a positive step that the German government is tracking data about antisemitic crimes. But well know that German authorities are serious about fighting resurgent antisemitism when they start accurately tracking and acknowledging its multiple origins.

More from National Review
In the two and a half weeks since George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, was killed in police custody, the US has entered its most sustained evaluation of law enforcement in years. In Minneapolis, a veto-proof majority of city councilors pledged to abolish the citys existing police department and start again. Camden, New Jerseywhich took a similar step in 2012is having a media moment as a possible case study, and broader calls to defund the police, previously dismissed as a niche concern, are echoing in mainstream coverage.

The centrality of law enforcement to American popular culture is being questioned; this week, the police reality shows Cops and Live P.D. were canceledthe latter despite high ratings and a recent long-term renewalamid concerns about the narratives and perspectives that they promote. Yesterday, Amazon imposed a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial-recognition software. Democrats in Congress are pushing a package of police reforms, and their Republican colleagues (for now, at least) have left the door open to some kind of bill; even President Trump, who has been more reticent and has pushed an aggressive LAW & ORDER message, is reportedly mulling an executive order that would offer a framework for legislative reform. Previous tipping points have come to nothing, but they also havent involved the massive swings in public sentiment that weve seen since Floyds killing. Ive never seen opinion shift this fast or deeply, the Republican pollster Frank Luntz said this week. This is big. This is Beatles on Ed Sullivan big.

ICYMI: The mystery of Tucker Carlson

The reforms under discussion include measures that would boost police transparency, both within and between departments, and as they face the public. On the federal level, proposals put forward by Congressional Democrats would create a publicly-searchable national database of police misconduct, and impose other public reporting requirements, including around use-of-force and body-camera policies. (The Republican package, so far as one exists, contains transparency suggestions, too.) Locally, legislators in New York state voted Tuesday to scrap a decades-old law that kept police disciplinary records, including complaints made against officers, from being publicly released; Governor Andrew Cuomo has said he will sign the repeal. Similar steps are being mooted across the country, from Delaware to Hawaii. Such reforms would clearly help the press hold the police to account. Some reform proposals involve the media more specifically; in New York City, for instance, Comptroller Scott Stringer is calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to end the NYPDs authority over press credentialsa power officers have used to exclude disfavored outlets and threaten reportersand run the process through the mayors office. As Noah Hurowitz writes for CJR today, this would be welcome, even if the mayors office isnt an ideal arbiter of press rights, either. The current NYPD system, Hurowitz notes, is a classic catch-22: you need to show work requiring a press pass to get a press pass.

At this moment of reckoning, the press has a dual responsibility with respect to the police. Firstly, we must continue to shine a spotlight on reform efforts, and notas has so often been the case with gun legislation, for examplelet both lawmakers and law enforcement off the hook for inaction by dropping the issue the minute attention turns elsewhere. Lives are on the line here. Its our job to help convene a debate about the best way to save those lives, and to ensure that all options for reform, including those that are radical, are given a fair hearing, and not dismissed, as they often are, as immature progressive fads. Secondly, we must reevaluate how we cover policing, in terms of the behaviors we choose to spotlight, the language we choose to use, andmost cruciallywhose accounts we choose to believe.

News organizations have long been credulous of the police, and communicated that credulity to news consumers. For CJRs recent print magazine on disinformation, Alexandria Neason charted the history of the press-police relationship, looking, in particular, at the skewed narratives weve allowed officials to build around police brutality. For decades, reporters relied on cops for tips, so avoided coverage that might alienate them as sources; post-Watergate, that started to change, but the professionalized police comms operations that superseded unofficial information-trading have themselves become vectors of misinformation. The advent of body cameras and the wave of citizen videos of police brutality have been helpful, but very often, the police continue to control the dissemination of basic facts. Law enforcement still has the upper hand, Neason writes. American culture, including the press, gives cops the benefit of the doubt. (Shows like Cops may not be journalism, but we all float on the same societal currents.)

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Since Floyds killing, some of the problems with our coverage have been glaringly apparent, including, as CJRs Mike Laws explored last week, the discrepancy between the passive, soft language we use to describe police misconduct, and the active, hard words we reserve for protesters. Weve also seen a wave of examplesmany of them caught on cameraof officers physically abusing journalists, and of outright lies to the public. The Minnesota State Patrol claimed it released three CNN journalists it arrested when it confirmed they were members of the media, even though they could be heard repeatedly identifying themselves as such during their arrests. The Park Police in Washington, DC, denied tear-gassing peaceful protesters outside the White House, then said they shouldnt have denied doing so, then denied it again. Police in Buffalo initially claimed that Martin Gugino, an older man who was violently shoved to the ground by officers, was injured when he tripped and fell. Police in Philadelphia said a student pushed an officer off his bike; in fact, the officer beat the student with a baton. The list goes on.

Such recent conductand the killing of Floydhas been eye-opening for many in the press (not that we should have needed it to open our eyes); consequently, law enforcement generally is facing sharper scrutiny than it has for years. On Tuesday, Mike OMeara, the head of New York Citys police union, lashed out at this scrutiny; standing in front of a group of officers (who appeared overwhelmingly to be white), OMeara brandished his police badge, and accused politicians and the press of treating cops like animals and thugs. Weve been locked out of the conversation, he said. Weve been vilified. Its disgusting. The problem, of course, is the reversefor too long, many police departments have dictated the terms of the conversation, and the press has been complicit in laundering their one-sided stories. Its time for that to stop. This present, transformative moment might be the push we needed to permanently change our approach.

Below, more on this moment:



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: The Story Has Gotten Away from Us

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
Airlines have been ready to fly internationally for two months and will provide the first post-Covid-19 flights as soon as they get the nod from the government.

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has assigned the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) to consider the time and principles for loosening entries and exits, and resuming some international air routes to restore trade, tourism and investment on bilateral basis.





CAAV has to make suggestions on resuming international flights prior to June 10 so that MOT can submit the plan to the government for approval.



A representative of CAAV said the agency is still collecting information and learning about the situation in the region and the world to make suitable proposals.



He said Vietnamese airlines are ready to fly internationally. CAAV has received requests from Taiwanese and South Korean airlines to allow them to fly to Vietnam.



CAAV is planning to restore air routes, but the moment to resume flights will depend on the epidemic situation in other countries.

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has assigned the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) to consider the time and principles for loosening entries and exits, and resuming some international air routes to restore trade, tourism and investment on bilateral basis.

Dang Anh Tuan from Vietnam Airlines said CAAV has not yet worked with the air carrier on resumption of some international flights, but Vietnam Airlines has been preparing for this plan for two months.



Vietnam Airlines plans to reopen the air routes between HCM City or Hanoi and Incheon (South Korea) with four flights a week. These are commercial one-way flights, with airfare of $195-600. Passengers transit in Incheon before flying to cities in the US.



Trinh Van Quyet, president of Bamboo Airways, has reaffirmed the air carriers plan to double the number of domestic air routes to 60 by the end of 2020, and increase the number of international flights from 6 to 25. Of these, the air route to the US would start in late 2021 or early 2022.



Some aviation and tourism experts have suggested resuming international flights on bilateral basis with countries which have controlled the epidemic well, such as Australia and New Zealand. Taiwan also proves to be a promising market, as well as Japan and South Korea.



An aviation expert said that market demand is very high, after a long period of interruption as tourists, investors and businesspeople want to restart their travel plans. However, the resumption of international routes is not just about the market, but the COVID-19 control and diplomacy as well.



The resumption of air routes must be implemented step by step, on a bilateral basis, he said.

Le Ha

When to restart international flights still undecided Vietnams national aviation authority is still undecided over the exact date for the reopening of international commercial air routes,
A 19-year-old man with cerebral palsy who had sued over the circumstances of his birth at the Rotunda Hospital has settled his High Court action for 6.5m.

The High Court heard the settlement arose in the case of Ross McNally after mediation.

Siun Leonowicz BL, instructed by solicitor Tim OHanrahan this week, told the court that Ross suffered a hypoxic-ischaemic injury at the time of his birth. She said the case had gone to mediation in the last few weeks.

As part of the settlement, several thousand euros has been allocated so Mr McNally can avail of assisted technology. The court also heard that 500,000 related to past care.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross approved the 6.5m figure and congratulated the legal teams on reaching the settlement.

Ross McNally, Sherrard Court, Dublin had through his mother Samantha McNally sued the Rotunda Hospital over the circumstances of his birth at the hospital on March 8, 2001.

Ms McNally was admitted to the hospital on March 7, 2001, following the onset of labour.

CTG tracing was started but over the course of the morning of March 8, the appearance of the foetal heart rate pattern on the CTG, it was claimed, was deteriorating.

It was claimed despite the worsening appearance of foetal heart rate on the CTG tracing, Syntocinon was begun at 5.30am and steadily increased.

It was further claimed that despite the pathological appearance of the CTG and despite a clear indication to deliver the baby at 8.15am the labour was allowed to progress.

At 9.20am a decision was made to deliver the baby and he was born at 9.50am after an emergency caesarean section but he was in a cyanosed condition.

It was claimed that resulting from the treatment proffered to the mother and baby on March 7 and March 8 and the delay in performing the caesarean, the baby suffered hypoxia.

There was, it was claimed, a failure to recognise the appearance of atypical deceleration on CTG tracing and that it was pathological. There was, it was claimed, a failure to manage or appropriately manage the second stage of labour and the babys delivery was delayed by 65 minutes.

Liability was conceded in the case before mediation.

In an affidavit to the court, Ms McNally said she was satisfied with the settlement and she was anxious to put structures in place to adequately support her sons needs.
MONTREAL, June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Medicom Group, ("Medicom"), one of the world's leading manufacturers of surgical and respiratory masks, has announced plans to open a second mask production facility in France. The plant will be established as Medicom Kolmi-Hopen Engineering and will help the company serve incremental demand across Europe as Medicom continues to invest around the globe to ensure proximity of mask production to end markets.

Kolmi-Hopen is the European arm of the Medicom Group and France's leading producer of surgical and respiratory masks. Medicom acquired the current production facility in Saint-Barthelemy-d'Anjou near Angers in 2011 as part of a strategic initiative to diversify mask production around the world.

At the beginning of the year, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Kolmi-Hopen plant and took the opportunity to confirm his willingness to protect French industry and the independence of the personal protective equipment supply chain. With 11 new lines and an optimized production schedule, mask production at the two sites in Angers will have tripled in five months.

With the opening of a second mask and PPE production facility in Beaucouze, also near Angers, at the beginning of July, Medicom will have the capacity to meet its commitments to its historical customers and to respond to requests from various European governments.

Resuming supply to customers outside France

Initially, production at the new Medicom plant in Beaucouze will be dedicated to the company's historical customers, including those outside France who the company was unable to serve while respecting the requisition ordered by the French government. Following the lifting of trade barriers at the end of May, Kolmi-Hopen can resume supplying customers in 26 European countries, as well as in Canada and Hong Kong.

"We are proud of our partnership with the Government of France that worked with us to increase efficiency, increase output and reduce the distribution time of critical equipment for front line workers," said Kolmi-Hopen General Manager Gerald Heuliez. "With that progress, along with the establishment of the new manufacturing plant in July, we will be able to resume supply to other customers and markets."

Continued global expansion

"One of our key strengths is our diversified manufacturing footprint across the globe and our willingness to invest to set up local production such as recently announced in Canada, Singapore and now with a second facility in France," stated Global Chief Operating Officer Guillaume Laverdure.

With three decades of scientific expertise, an extensive global network of raw material suppliers and ten fully controlled manufacturing facilities, including recently opened or announced facilities in Canada and Singapore, Medicom is uniquely positioned to help meet the exponential demand for products like face masks during worldwide health crises like the current coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

About Medicom

The Medicom Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers and distributors of high-quality, single-use, preventive and infection control products for the medical, dental, industrial, animal health, laboratory, retail and health and wellness markets. Medicom distributes infection control products under the Medicom, Ritmed, Ocean Pacific, Kolmi and Hopen brands, as well as under the recently acquired Hedy brand. Medicom operates under the Kolmi-Hopen company in Angers, France, Medicom Asia in Hong Kong and KHM Engineering in Singapore.

Medicom has extensive experience in responding to the demand for personal protective equipment in the event of a pandemic. Medicom was founded in 1988 in response to the urgent need for medical gloves for healthcare professionals during the global HIV crisis. Since then, the company has been a reliable supplier of infection control solutions during multiple epidemics, including avian flu, SARS, H1N1 and Ebola.



For more information about Medicom and their comprehensive portfolio of infection control solutions, including an extensive range of medical face masks, please visit Medicom.com.

For more information about Kolmi-Hopen, please visit Kolmi-Hopen.

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Related Links

www.medicom.ca



SOURCE AMD Medicom Inc.
Infiniti Research is the world's leading independent provider of strategic market intelligence solutions. Our market intelligence services are designed to connect your organization's goals with global opportunities. Today's competitive business environment demands in-depth, accurate, and reliable business information to ensure that companies gain a strong foothold in domestic or foreign markets. Our global industry specialist teams ensure international consistency of our research, enabling powerful access to the real story behind market changes. Request a complimentary proposal for more insights into our solutions portfolio.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005020/en/

Engagement Overview:

The client is a pharmaceutical blister packaging firm based out of North America. Due to the complex nature of the North American pharmaceutical blister packaging market, assessing the company's overall procurement competence, evaluating suppliers' pricing and cost structure, and conducting price model analysis was becoming difficult for the company. The pharmaceutical blister packaging client, therefore, wanted to gather data on supply market capabilities, understand how their competitors are managing supply chain operations, and identify key trends driving the market. In addition, they wanted help in developing a better contract negotiation strategy with current suppliers, reduce maverick spend, and enhance operational efficiency. They approached the experts at Infiniti Research to leverage their expertise in offering procurement market intelligence solution.

Other key objectives of the client were:

Objective 1: Increase visibility and accessibility

Objective 2: Protect drugs from physical damage during transit

During the COVID-19 crisis, it is critical for companies in the pharmaceutical blister packaging market to take calculative and well-executed measures to ensure business continuity in the long run. Request a free proposal to know how industry experts at Infiniti Research can help pharmaceutical blister packaging companies to plan and create comprehensive action plans to navigate the crisis. Contact us here.

Our Approach

To address the business issues and meet the specific requirements of the pharmaceutical blister packaging market client, the experts at Infiniti Research carried out an approach comprising of primary and secondary research. The data gathered through primary and secondary research was validated with market experts and independent consultants. Also, Infiniti's procurement market intelligence engagement involved tracking the latest developments and procurement trends in the pharmaceutical blister packaging market through secondary journals. The experts also reached out to key stakeholders, thought leaders, and end-users of consulting services to understand their views on the pharmaceutical blister packaging market.

Business impact of the procurement market intelligence solution for the pharmaceutical blister packaging firm:

By partnering with Infiniti Research, the client was able to identify new cost reduction opportunities and reduce procurement spend by 20%.

By leveraging Infiniti's procurement market intelligence solution, the pharmaceutical blister packaging firm was also able to:

Evaluate key suppliers' cost structure and identify the right suppliers

Increase efficiency, improve compliance, and reduce operating costs

Devise a sound contract negotiation strategy

Strategize their supply chain initiatives and reduce maverick spend across inventory

For an in-depth market analysis on how COVID-19 will impact the pharmaceutical blister packaging market and data-driven insights to plan your next moves, request more info here.

About Infiniti Research

Established in 2003, Infiniti Research, is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005020/en/

Contacts:

Infiniti Research

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Berlin, June 11 : Germany would allow 243 ill and under-age migrants from Greece to enter the country, Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer announced.

In addition to siblings and parents, six minors who were unable to travel on the first flight with 47 unaccompanied children and young people in April, were also allowed to enter Germany, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

At the moment, the development of the coronavirus crisis gives a possibility of the action, said Seehofer when presenting new border regulations on Wednesday.

To support Greece in a "difficult humanitarian situation" on the Greek islands and in particular to "improve the situation of children in the hotspots," the German government decided in March that at least 350 minors would be allowed to enter Germany, according to Germany's Ministry of the Interior.

According to Seehofer, Germany had also offered Malta and Italy to host 80 migrants each who had been rescued at sea.
Until recently, voting by mail has been a largely unremarkable, nonpartisan aspect of American election administration. Two-thirds of the states, as well as the District of Columbia, allow no-excuse absentee voting; five of those states, including ruby-red Utah and deep-blue Hawaii, hold elections almost exclusively by mail. This year, however, President Donald Trump launched a crusade against vote-by-mail, urging states to reject the practice due to his dubious belief that it hurts Republican politicians. Now it seems Trumps attacks have begun to work: On Wednesday, the GOP-controlled Iowa Senate voted to abolish the secretary of states authority to ensure that every eligible voter has a chance to receive and return a mail-in ballot.

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Iowa currently allows all voters to cast their ballot through the mail without requiring an excuse for why they cannot make it to the polls. But before 2020, the state did not send an absentee ballot application to all voters, widely considered the gold standard of election administration. (An application is not a ballot but merely invites a voter to request an absentee ballota fact lost on some conservatives.) This spring, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, decided to make mail-in voting easier in light of the coronavirus pandemic. To protect the safety of voters while casting their ballots, Pate sent out absentee ballot applications to every registered voter, a step permitted (though not mandated) by current law. The plan was a smashing success: Junes election shattered turnout records, and 80 percent of voters cast their ballot by mail. There is no evidence that Pates actions led to fraud, delays, or confusion.

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Alarmed by this expansion of the franchise, Republican state legislators drew up a bill to stop Pate from sending out absentee ballot applications for Novembers general election. The bills sponsor, Republican state Sen. Roby Smith, declared that he sought to impose checks and balances on Pate. He also suggested, without evidence, that expanded absentee voting would lead to fraud. Smiths measure would force Iowans to request an absentee ballot by sending a formal, written request to the state along with proof of valid voter ID. In an apparent stab at balance, Smith also barred counties from reducing the number of in-person polling places by more than 35 percent. (Although some Iowa counties did consolidate precincts for the primary, they avoided lengthy lines because most residents voted by mail.)

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Pate has refused to apologize for helping more people vote. My goal was to protect Iowa voters and poll workers while finding ways to conduct a clean and fair election, the secretary of state announced in a statement. We had record high turnout for a June primary. Iowans did not let COVID-19 prevent them from voting. I stand by my decisions.

Every Senate Democrat strongly opposed Smiths bill and voted against it on Tuesday. They were joined by just two Republicans, but it was not enough to prevent its passage. The measure will now go to the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. Gov. Kim Reynolds has not yet indicated whether shell sign it but did say she thought Pates decision to send out applications proactively was fine.

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On Thursday, I asked Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls, a Democrat who helped lead the fight against Smiths bill, why he thought the Legislature was rushing to pass a restriction on absentee voting during a pandemic. The move, Wahls told me, was straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Trumpwho votes by mail himself, and appears to have committed fraud on his Florida registration formhas spent months rallying Republicans against mail-in voting. He has candidly acknowledged that he fears increased vote by mail will help Democrats win more elections, a contention unsupported by data.

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Many Republican officials are ignoring Trump and urging voters to mail in their ballots anyway. After all, state bureaucrats will be the ones on the hook if elections go sideways; several primaries have already descended into chaos due to an unmet demand for mail-in voting. Others, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, have taken their cues from the president. Paxton, who has voted by mail in the past, fought several lawsuits that sought to let every Texan vote by mail in 2020 due the pandemic. He even threatened to prosecute voters who used COVID-19 as an excuse to vote absentee. The Texas Supreme Court, which met remotely to protect the justices from the coronavirus, sided with Paxton, prohibiting Texans from voting by mail to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Iowa Republicans are now joining Paxton and Trump in vilifying and limiting vote by mail.

It remains unclear whether restricting absentee voting actually helps Republicans politically. Whats certain is that voters of both parties enjoy having the option of easily casting a ballot from their own homes. Republicans have put forth no legitimate reason why they should lose this benefit. The only purpose of Smiths bill is to make voting more difficultand, perhaps, to appease a president who has convinced much of his party that the GOP cannot survive a free and fair election.

For more of Slates news coverage, subscribe to The Gist on Apple Podcasts or listen below.
Government will, on Thursday, June 11, 2020, hold a forum on the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and the importance of President Akufo-Addos vision of Ghana Beyond Aid.



A statement issued Tuesday in Accra, signed by Deputy Information Minister, Pius Enam-Hadzide, said the theme for the forum, Covid-19 and our march towards Ghana Beyond Aid; Turning Adversity into Opportunity, formed part of governments broader strategy to capitalize on the opportunities presented by Covid-19 to boost local capacity.



The statement said the forum aims at stepping up public education about the virus and at the same time mobilizing the vast majority of Ghanaians towards achieving the Presidents Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.



The forum will be under the chairmanship of the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, and will be addressed by the Archbishop of Cape Coast, Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle; Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist; President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Dr. Yaw Adu Gyamfi; Chief Executive Officer of EXIM Ghana, Lawrence Agyinsam and President of the National Union of Ghana Students, Isaac Jay Hyde.



The forum will be televised live on all major television, radio and online platforms in Ghana.

Source: daily guide









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Multi-starrer Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal is unarguably one of the highly anticipated movies of the year. The upcoming project starring Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi and Samantha Akkineni in the lead roles has been currently halted due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown. Recently, there have been reports that the Vignesh Sivan directorial will go on floors from August.

With the current situation, the makers of the movie were quite doubtful about Samantha joining the team for the shoot. Well now, as per the latest reports, the actress, who is currently in Hyderabad has been reassured by the director of Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal to join the team. It was earlier reported that Naga Chaitanya didn't wish for Samantha to leave for Chennai owing to the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. It is said that Samantha and Chai are now convinced with the director's plan and the actress would soon be joining the team in Chennai. Well, that's an interesting piece of news for the fans and we can't wait for the movie to release on big screen.

Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal will mark the maiden collaboration of the Lady Superstar Nayanthara and Samantha Akkineni. Samantha will be seen essaying a very interesting as well as a funny character in the film. Anirudh Ravichander will be scoring the music for the project, which is bankrolled by Seven Screen Studio in association with Vignesh Shivan's Rowdy Pictures.

Talking about their respective projects, post her 2020 release Darbar, Nayanthara is busy with RJ Balaji's directorial Mookuthi Amman which recently made it to the headlines with it BTS pictures released by the actress. She is also a part of Milind Rau's Netrikann, bankrolled by Vignesh. Vijay Sethupathi is currently awaiting the lockdown to end, so that Lokesh Kangaraj's Master starring Thalapathy Vijay in the lead role, will be released. He plays the antagonist in the movie.

He also has many other films lined up, namely Laabam, Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir, Ka Pae Ranasingam, Tuglaq Darbar. South diva Samantha was recently seen in 2020 movie Jaanu, alongside Sharwanand. Directed by C Prem Kumar, the romantic drama is a remake of his Tamil film '96.

#PoojaMustApologizeSamantha Goes Viral On Twitter After Pooja Hegde's Statement On Samantha

Samantha Akkineni Has A Special Message For Haters, Calls Them An 'Inspiration'!" title="Also Read: Samantha Akkineni Has A Special Message For Haters, Calls Them An 'Inspiration'!" />Also Read: Samantha Akkineni Has A Special Message For Haters, Calls Them An 'Inspiration'!
With their airy workspaces, fishbowl glass conference rooms and hangout zones, tech giants like Salesforce helped reshape the corporate office from packed rows of partitioned cubicles into open, shared spaces. The homey, amenity-filled settings encouraged collaboration and community  while reducing employees' eagerness to leave for home. "The open-plan office has always been in some ways in the interest of the company rather than the worker because it socialises productivity," said Melissa Gregg, chief technologist for user experience at Intel, where she researches how technology affects workers' lives. "It forces workers to watch each other's work, and it creates very few spaces of privacy for individual workers." Open-plan liability But the pandemic has made unbounded offices a liability. Now some of the companies responsible for popularising the open-office tech ethos believe they have an obligation  and a big business opportunity  to pioneer a new normal. And they are selling new tools for employers wishing to emulate them.

Facebook, for one, is betting heavily on remote work. Last month, on the same day the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that working from home could become permanent for many Facebook employees, the company introduced new remote-working tools for its enterprise clients. They included Workplace Rooms, a videoconferencing service for team meetings. Salesforce, whose cloud software for businesses already enables remote work, is staking out a different territory. After closing its premises in mid-March, the company drafted a detailed 21-page handbook to reopen its offices. In recent company surveys, the majority of employees said they wanted to return to the office. Others who wish to continue working from home may do so until at least the end of this year. "We realised that because the safety, the health, the wellness of everyone is our top priority, we were going have to manage this like we've never managed anything before," said Elizabeth Pinkham, Salesforce's executive vice president for global real estate. Salesforce is also marketing a new platform, Work.com, to help other employers manage the complexity of reopening their workplaces. The system includes work shift scheduling software and a contact-tracing program to help identify employees who may have been exposed to the virus at work.

Engineering a new culture "I just feel very strongly that we have the ability to do something very powerfully here and to motivate this new workplace, just like we did in the prior workplace," Benioff said. "Technology is actually going to become a critical part of managing our workplace, where before it was not part of our culture." Salesforce is trying out its pandemic management playbook at a handful of smaller locations that reopened in late May  in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul, South Korea  the first of its offices to reopen globally. Benioff said the company would apply any lessons it learned from the offices in Asia to subsequent locations that are preparing to reopen. Company executives weighed factors like government guidance and declining virus cases in each region to determine when to reopen. For each building, they also redesigned floor plans to enable social distancing and instituted other safety measures. Essentially, Salesforce is approaching the pandemic as if it were a software engineering problem. It has deconstructed the complex process of reopening into individual measures that, taken together, are expected to make the workplace safer and reduce the risks of coronavirus outbreaks.

Will the engineering approach work? "We're going to do it in a smart way. We're going to be careful," Benioff said, emphasising that the pandemic was uncharted territory."I can't pretend to you I have all the answers. Let's get real here." 'Let's get real' The task of overseeing the workplace redesign at Salesforce and nudging employee behavioural changes to go with it falls in part to Pinkham, who oversees the company's global real estate. For the last few years, she has worked to create a consistent, homelike atmosphere at Salesforce offices around the world. As a result, many now resemble the headquarters in Salesforce Tower, the tallest building in San Francisco, where about 5000 employees work.

On every floor, "social lounges" combine a kitchen, a dining room with big farm-style tables and a living-room-like space with couches. The top floor, called the Ohana Floor "ohana" means "family" in Hawaiian  gives employees a place to hang out, grab a snack and admire the view during the day while offering nonprofit groups a venue for evening events. Loading Now, rather than try to make all the offices seem equally warm and convivial, Pinkham must make each one more antiseptic. "Your plan for returning is going to be different for every single building," she said. "And you're going to have to manage a lot of different data through every single building." She is redesigning the floor plans for each location, in consultation with experts, to meet public health recommendations for social distancing. The company is removing workstations, for instance, to reduce office capacity.

Desks that remain will be spaced apart, with glass or plexiglass partitions between them. Team meeting rooms that once held 14 will be severely limited. "There'll be a sign outside that room that says, 'Hey, everybody, this meeting room now has a capacity of no more than four people. Please respect that,'" she said. "That will be part of the new normal." Tech rules Salesforce will also use scheduling software to limit the number of people working at each office. It will not be an entirely automated process. The biggest workplace change may be cultural. Until there is a coronavirus vaccine, or at least better medical treatments, Salesforce employees will find their formerly fun-loving office life more managed by rules and tech tools.
Devotees not to be allowed into Sabarimala temple this month also: Kerala govt

India

pti-PTI

Thiruvananthapuram, June 11: In a U-turn, the Kerala government on Thursday decided not to allow devotees into the famous hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala when it opens for the monthly 'pujas' from June 14 after its high priest opposed permitting the public citing rise in COVID-19 cases.

Announcing the decision after a meeting attended among others by the priest, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran also said a 10-day festival planned to be held from June 19 at Sabarimala has been postponed for the second time. It was to have been held in March this year, but put off due to the coronavirus situation.

COVID-19: New guidelines for quarantine, containment zones in Kerala

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The government had last week allowed reopening of temples and other places of worship for devotees from Tuesday, over 75 days after they remained out of bounds for them since March 24 when the first phase of national lockdown to contain COVID-19 was enforced. It had also said the Sabarimala shrine would open on June 14 for the five-day monthly routine pujas and devotees would be allowed during that period and also for the festival.

But the volte face came a day after temple thantri (priest) Kandararu Mahesh Mohanararu shot off a letter to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which administers the shrine, against allowing devotees in view of the rise in coronavirus cases in the state in the past one month.

"The thantri had given a letter seeking to postpone the festival and not to allow devotees citing the virus spread and rising number of cases. We agreed with the thantri.... The temple will remain closed for the devotees. The priest and necessary staff will be allowed to conduct the daily rituals," the minister told reporters.

Devotees from other southern states also visit the hill shrine in large numbers. The move to open temples for devotees has also come under attack from Union Minister V Muraleedharan who dubbed it 'hasty', setting off a war of words between him and the LDF government which said it was in line with the Centre's guidelines.

The latest decision on Sabarimala shrinewas taken at the meeting called by Surendran and attended by TDB president N Vasu and the thantri. The earlier decision to allow the devotees was taken after holding discussions with various stakeholders, including religious and community leaders and the priests, and it was then resolved that a strict protocol would be implemented with only 50 people to be allowed into the shrine at a time, the minister said.

"The devotees to Sabarimala are mainly from Andhra and Tamil Nadu. The Thantri had expressed concern on the rising numbers of COVID-19 patients in the state and we decided to keep it closed for devotees," he said.

Mohanaru, also present at the press meet, said with the increasing positive cases, the situation in the state has changed. "The decision to conduct the festival in June was taken on the basis of my letter. At that time the COVID-19 situation in our state was not as bad as what we have now," he said.

Earlier, Surendran said the TDB had sought the opinion of the Thanthris of Sabarimala and declared that they have agreed to the opening of the shrine. Various temples under the TDB opened for devotees on Tuesday along with some churches and mosques in various parts of the state.

While the famed Lord Krishna temple at Guruvayoor opened its doors by following the various norms laid down by the government, the Shree Padmanabha Swamy and Attukkal temples in the state capital were among those which remained shut.
Syracuse, N.Y.  The Syracuse school board unanimously approved Wednesday night a new three-year contract for Superintendent Jaime Alicea who refused a pay raise.

Alicea, who is paid $215,000 a year, was praised by board members for his performance over the past four years. He was named interim superintendent in 2016 and was appointed to the post in 2017 under the terms of a three-year contract.

The resolution approved by the board says Alicea graciously requested that his contract be renewed without an increase in compensation because of the Covid-19 crisis and the state budget.

Alicea, 60, a native of Puerto Rico, started working for the district 37 years ago as a teaching assistant.

You have a tremendous amount of social capital in this district, said Mark D. Muhammad, vice president of the board. You started from the bottom and worked your way to the top.

Alicea worked as a teacher, principal, deputy superintendent and chief operating officer before being appointed superintendent.

Derrick Dorsey, a board member, called Alicea an exemplary leader.

I think you have a unique skill set that has been able to bring back to life some of the areas where we were falling short as a district, Dorsey said.

David Cecile, a board member since 2013, worked as teacher and principal in the district for 28 years.

Youve always been there to support people, Cecile said. Ive worked with eight different superintendents and you are by far the star of the class.

Alicea thanked the board and said he will keep pushing to improve the district.

We have a great staff, great kids and families, and they deserve the best, Alicea said.
Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, an honest look at President Biden's press conference.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
by Vladimir Rozanskij

It is the country most at risk, but officials deny presence of positive cases or deaths. No sanitary measures are applied. Witnesses, often anonymous, speak of hospitals full of people with respiratory problems, cemeteries flooded with coffins, nurses who die.

Ashgabat (AsiaNews) - Of all Central Asia, Turkmenistan is the country most at risk on Covid-19, reports Russian agency Rosbalt. Yet to date, officially there are no positive cases in the country, there are no health protection measures, no masks or spacing, not even emergency respirators in hospitals.

Meanwhile, the United States has allocated $ 1.5 million to support the fight against Covid-19 in Turkmenistan. To guarantee US funding, a visit by international experts to check the situation had been scheduled at the end of April, but so far it has not been possible.

In the meantime, an extraordinary peak of "pneumonia" has been recorded in the country. As the correspondents of Radio Azatlik in the capital Askhabad reported on June 10, the city's hospitals are overloaded with patients with breathing difficulties, but the authorities continue to deny that it is coronavirus. The operators of the Center for the prophylaxis and treatment of infections, under anonymity, declare themselves very worried about the conditions of the patients, among which there are already many deaths.

There is no doubt among doctors that this is an aggressive coronavirus infection. According to the testimonies collected, several patients die directly during the preliminary visits, and the names of those with whom they came into contact are collected. The indication of doctors, sent directly to patients and visitors, is to keep all the elderly at home.

Some cases have been disclosed: A Lebapa nurse, who works in the anesthesiology department, was confirmed to have infected coronavirus, according to the department management. Likewise other nurses from the same hospital, who did not want to make their conditions public. An infected patient from China is said to have been received in the Lebapa ward, who died after a lung operation. Other deaths would have occurred in Dashoguse, again shrouded in silence, and the country's cemeteries would be close to collapse, unable to guarantee funeral services.

US ambassador to the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, James Gilmore, invited the rulers of Turkmenistan via Twitter to transparency and the dissemination of real data on the pandemic in the country. The World Health Organization has renewed the request to send a commission of experts to assess the situation.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 03:55:29|Editor: huaxia

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KUWAIT CITY, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Kuwaiti aviation industry is estimated to suffer a loss of 1.6 billion U.S. dollars due to the lockdown, a Kuwaiti official said Thursday.

During a meeting on reoperating commercial flights at Kuwait International Airport, Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, president of Kuwait's Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (DGCA), said that the aviation sector was the first to be affected and the last one to recover, indicating that Kuwait's share of the aviation sector losses reached 1.6 billion U.S. dollars due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Several plans for a progressive commercial flight restart were discussed at the meeting, he said, adding that the plan will be applied once the requirements complete in accordance with international laws and regulations in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday, Kuwaiti Minister of State for Services Affairs and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs Mubarak Al-Harees said that Kuwait plans to resume commercial flights in three stages.

"The first stage begins with 30 percent of capacity. The percentage in the second stage increases to 60 percent until the full operation in the last stage," he explained.

On March 13, Kuwait suspended all commercial flights as part of efforts to curb the rapid rise of coronavirus cases.

On May 31, Kuwait ended the full curfew and imposed a three-week partial curfew for a gradual return to normal life in the country.

Kuwait and China have been supporting each other and cooperated closely in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kuwait donated medical supplies worth 3 million U.S. dollars to China at the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, while China has been facilitating the procurement of medical supplies by Kuwait.

On April 27, a team of Chinese medical experts visited Kuwait to assist the Arab country's anti-coronavirus fight, through sharing with Kuwaiti counterparts their experiences and expertise in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. Enditem
Starting Friday, restaurants are allowed to expand their occupancy levels to 75 percent as part of Phase 3 of Gov. Greg Abbott's "Open Texas" plan.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg issued an order on March 18 that temporarily closed all dine-in restaurants in the city to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Some restaurants remained open by offering curbside, to-go and delivery options.

In April, Gov. Greg Abbott announced his plan, which allowed restaurants to reopen its dine-in area at 25 percent capacity starting May 1. On June 3, restaurants were allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity.

READ ALSO: What's new in 'Phase 3' of Gov. Abbott's plan to reopen Texas

Here's what you should know about restaurants allowing more patrons into their dinning rooms.

- The 75 percent occupancy applies to restaurants that make less than 51 percent of their gross sales from alcoholic beverages. Restaurants may also continue to provide to-go or delivery services. Bars and similar establishments will remain at 50 percent capacity until further notice.

- Restaurants can not have tables of more than 10 people, according to the order.

- Groups must maintain 6 feet of distance from other groups at all times, the order added.

- Tables should also be 6 feet apart.

- The governor still recommends for Texans leaving their homes to wear face coverings, avoid groups of more than 10 and avoid nursing homes. People over the age of 65 are encouraged to stay home as much as possible.

Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre
The call was to continue promoting defence cooperation activities between Vietnam and Japan after the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled. The two sides also shared information about their disease prevention and fight as well as discussed the regional and global issues of mutual concern.

Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh stated that Vietnam highly values the achievements of Japan, with the role and contribution of the Ministry of Defence, in COVID-19 prevention and control, as well as the international cooperation spirit of Japan in the sharing of information and experience in dealing with the pandemic, and its support for other countries.

As the fight against COVID-19 is still long and complicated, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence wishes to continue cooperation, support and experience sharing with its Japanese counterpart, he stressed.

For his part, Nishida Yasumori appreciated Vietnam's efforts, especially the contributions of the Vietnam People's Army to the COVID-19 fight, considering it valuable experience for many countries in dealing with similar epidemics as well as other non-traditional security challenges.

He affirmed that Japan is ready to cooperate and share experience in combating COVID-19 with Vietnam and will quickly deploy defence cooperation activities that the two sides agreed right after the pandemic is contained.
Iran may take legal action to access funds in South Korea

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 10 June 2020 9:39 AM

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati says the Islamic Republic may launch legal action to access its funds illegally being withheld in South Korea under pressure from the US.

Korean banks are preventing Iran from using billions of dollars of its oil money to buy foods and medicines which are apparently exempt from US sanctions, Hemmati told news and financial information provider Bloomberg.

"It is appalling to see that Korean banks have conveniently neglected their obligations, common international financial agreements, and decided to play politics and follow illegal and unilateral US sanctions," he said.

"Should Korean banks not adhere to their international agreements with us, we reserve our rights to take legal actions under international laws," Hemmati added.

$7 billion in arrears

Iran's Foreign Ministry said earlier this month that South Korea was about $7 billion in arrears for oil exported from the Islamic Republic before the Trump administration reimposed sanctions on Iran's oil industry in November 2018.

South Korea was the biggest client of Iranian gas condensate with 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) on top of 100,000 bpd of crude oil, but the country stopped the imports even before US sanctions on Iran's oil industry went into effect.

After sanctions were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran managed to unlock over $6.4 billion of oil payments trapped in Indian accounts.

Even, the United States settled a long-standing Iranian claim at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal in The Hague, releasing $400 million in funds frozen since 1981 plus $1.3 billion in interest that was owed to Iran, in 2016 when Barack Obama was the president.

Iran and South Korea have been working on a special trade vehicle, similar to that established with the European Union, which would allow Iran to complete humanitarian transactions using the money locked in Korean banks.

Last month, state news agency Yonhap said South Korea had won US approval for the resumption of humanitarian exports to Iran under a special license program.

Iran announced earlier this month that it had received medicines valued at $500,000 from South Korea after two years of negotiations.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was sarcastic when he was asked at a news conference in Tehran to comment on the shipment of the Koreans. "They have gone through a lot," he said.

According to the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, the drugs shipped were for the treatment of genetic diseases and that South Korea planned to ship COVID-19 test kits worth $2 million.

Seoul has gained the General License No. 8 from the US government -- a mechanism to authorize certain humanitarian transactions with Iran even if they involve Iran's central bank subject to US sanctions, Yonhap said last month.

Korean banks using Iran money to boost reserves?

However, South Korea has tied Iran's hands, most recently demanding that Iran use its frozen money to buy only Korean-made goods for fighting the coronavirus  items which Iran is now fully stocked up with and is even exporting some of them, Tehran-based Etemad daily reported last month, citing an informed source.

"We have substantial amount of funds, billions of dollars in fact, in Korean banks. These are our funds, it is our prerogative to use these funds to import whatever we deem needed for our people. However, given the US's illegitimate and illegal unilateral sanctions on our trade and financial transactions, we face difficulty utilizing our funds abroad," Hemmati told Bloomberg.

"It is a shame that our long-time trading partners fall to US's traps and create hurdles for further cooperation. Let me put it bluntly, would you put your hard-earned money in a bank and then negotiate with the bank to let you spend it? This is bad business," he added.

In April, Iran's Health Ministry said South Korea had rejected a SWIFT payment request by Tehran for purchase of coronavirus testing kits over the US sanctions.

Former ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour released a document that showed a Saudi-funded TV had asked a Korean bank to reject the request. "As a result, the Korean bank rejected Iran's request and the kits were not delivered to Iran," he said.

Hemmati said, "We are simply asking Korean banks, to let us use our money and import humanitarian goods, including foodstuffs, medicine, and medical equipment. These items are already exempt from US sanctions. This is not too much to ask."

"I have difficulty understanding the hesitation by Korean banks, unless, they are playing games and using Iran's money to boost their own reserves, I hope I am wrong here."

South Korea was among Iran's major trade partners before falling in line with US guidelines after Washington withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Tehran in 2015 and imposed unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Iran was South Korea's third biggest export market in the Middle East and companies such as Samsung and LG Electronics were among popular brands for TV sets, air conditioners, telecommunications equipment and washing machines.

Iranian officials have said Tehran would not forget its "true friends" who stayed on its side during hard times and those who left it alone.

'Economy getting back on track'

In his interview, Hemmati said Iran's sanctions-hit economy was also weathering the coronavirus crisis well.

"The economy is getting back to track and we see signs of solid economic activity. I am confident that, while the human cost of the outbreak remains devastating, we will manage the economic fallouts," he said.

"I am not sure we will see the same order of negative impacts that European countries and the U.S. are experiencing. I think we will see moderate growth this year," he added.

Hemmati said the main driver of Iran's economy is now the non-oil sector after years of extreme reliance on oil revenues.

"Although the government budget was tilted more toward the oil revenue in the past, we have taken corrective actions to remedy this once and for all."





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Samantha Ware has spoken out about the alleged 'abuse' she suffered on the Glee set at the hands of the show's star Lea Michele.

Following on from her explosive tweet that led to Michele being dropped by her sponsor HelloFresh, Ware, 28, gave further details in a lengthy interview with Variety on Thursday.

'It was after I did my first performance, thats when it started  the silent treatment, the stare-downs, the looks, the comments under her breath, the weird passive-aggressiveness. It all built up,' said the What/If actress.

Samantha Ware (seen here in August 2019) has spoken out about the alleged 'abuse' she suffered on the Glee set at the hands of the show's star Lea Michele

Ware traced the animosity back to a moment when she was 'goofing around' during a scene, which Lea apparently took exception to.

'She waited until the scene was over and she stopped in the middle of the stage and did a "come here" gesture, like how a mother does to their child.'

'I said "no," and thats when she decided to threaten my job, and said she would call [show creator] Ryan Murphy in to come and fire me.'

Ware traced the animosity back to a moment when she was 'goofing around' during a scene, which Lea apparently took exception to. Seen here with co-stars [L-R] Billy Lewis Jr., Laura Dreyfuss, Noah Guthrie and Ware

When Ware later tried to defend herself to her co-star, 'She told me to shut my mouth. She said I dont deserve to have that job.'

'She talked about how she has reign. And heres the thing: I completely understood that, and I was ready to be like, "This is your show. Im not here to be disrespectful."'

'But at that point, we were already past the respect and she was just abusing her power.'

'No one was stopping these things, which is an issue because the environment was helping perpetuate this abuse.'

When Ware later tried to defend herself to her co-star Lea, 'She told me to shut my mouth. She said I dont deserve to have that job'

Over the past week, Lea Michele has been on the receiving end of backlash over her alleged on-set behavior, ranging from claims of racial discrimination to other forms of unprovoked cruelty.

But some friends and former co-workers of Michele's told The Post on Saturday, that the 33-year-old Glee alum has 'had a real wake-up call' and wants to 'responsibly' right her wrongs.

'She is listening, she hears what everyone says and wants to apologize. This is her past and she wants to handle things responsibly,' claimed one insider.

They added: 'It's never easy to hear people speak about you this way. It's a total shock.'

Wake-up call: Some friends and former co-workers of Lea Michele's told The Post on Saturday, that the 33-year-old Glee alum has 'had a real wake-up call' and wants to 'responsibly' right her wrongs.

One former co-worker of Lea's did not deny that Michele was notoriously difficult to work with, but insisted she was never purposely discriminatory.

'Lea was a b**ch to a lot of people who are now taking the opportunity to come forward.

'She may not be the nicest person, but she's not racist, sexist or transphobic. I would say she has behavioral issues that she's dealing with,' concluded the source.

The Post was also told by an anonymous source that Lea has reached out to a number of her former co-stars upon learning of their public disdain for her and her behavior.

Issues: One former co-worker of Lea's did not deny that Michele was notoriously difficult to work with, but insisted she was never purposely discriminatory; Lea pictured on Glee in 2009

But whether the star has heard back or if any reconciliations have occurred remains unknown at this time.

On Thursday another former colleague claimed that Lea did not 'discriminate' because her treatment of everyone was the same, coming from a place of being 'completely self-obsessed.'

Speaking to Us Weekly on Thursday, the unnamed source said 'It didn't matter if you were young or old, black or white  it's just kind of her world.

'Though she was completely self-obsessed toward everyone, she did not discriminate,' the source said.

She was like that to everyone: A former colleague of Lea Michele says the actress didn't 'discriminate' because her treatment of everyone was the same, coming from a place of being 'completely self-obsessed'; Lea pictured in 2019

Adding: 'Things are seen through a lens, and it comes from a very protective place where obviously she's been on guard. She's fiery and she has more of an aggressive personality where most people would play weak or vulnerable or ask for sympathy and Lea does not do that.'

'You know where you stand  for the most part  with her,' the source said.

'In television, they hire really strong personalities because they create drama,' the outlet reported from the source. 'You don't expect them not to be dramatic off set and in their own lives. That's quite a switch to turn off.'

Many of the stories shared of Michele stemmed from her time starring as Rachel Berry on Glee from 2009 until 2015.

Tough times: Lea played the role of Rachel Berry (back row) on the show's six seasons, getting nominated for an Emmy and two Golden Globe awards with the part

Michele who is expecting her first child with husband Zandy Reich later this year, apologized for her behavior on Wednesday, and said she has 'never judged others by their background or color of their skin.'

She also insisted she will learn from the mistakes she has made so she 'can be a real role model for my child' when she gives birth in a couple of months.

The bullying allegations came to light after Michele took to social media last Friday to pay tribute to George Floyd, writing: 'George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end' she wrote.

Samantha Ware, who appeared as Jane Hayward on the show's sixth season in 2015, scolded Michele earlier this week, saying: 'Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?!...

'Cause I'll never forget... I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would 's*** in my wig!' amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.'

Apologizing: Michele who is expecting her first child with husband Zandy Reich later this year, apologized for her behavior on Wednesday, and said she has 'never judged others by their background or color of their skin'

Other stars including Amber Riley have also spoken out against Lea, who was recently dropped by the company Hello Fresh over the controversy.

Her other co-stars including Heather Morris and Amber Riley spoke out against Michele for her behavior on set along with multiple other guest stars who were on Glee.

However, Michele has also received support from Dean Geye - who played her boyfriend on Glee for one season saying she was always 'professional' and 'welcoming'

Glee's Iqbal Theba said he was not mistreated by Michele and former Glee producer Marti Noxon has also stuck up for her.
A police officer looks toward the toppled statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis along Monument Drive, in Richmond, Va., on June 10, 2020. (@thicketoftrash via AP)

Protesters Topple Jefferson Davis Statue in Virginia Capital

RICHMOND, Va.Protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the former capital of the Confederacy, adding it to the list of Old South monuments removed or damaged around the United States in the wake of George Floyds death.

The 8-foot (2.4-meter) bronze figure on Richmonds grand Monument Avenue had been all but marked for removal by city leaders in a matter of months, but demonstrators took matters into their own hands at night on June 10, tying ropes around its legs and toppling it from its stone pedestal onto the pavement.

A crowd cheered and police looked on as the monumentinstalled by a Confederate heritage group in 1907was towed away.

The statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is splattered with paint after it was toppled Wednesday night, along Monument Drive in Richmond, Va., on June 10, 2020. (Dylan Garner/Richmond Times-Dispatch/AP)

There were no immediate reports of any arrests.

The toppling came on the same day NASCAR banned Confederate flagsa common site for decades in a sport steeped in Southern traditionat its stock car races. Also this week, the streaming service HBO Max temporarily removed the 1939 movie Gone With the Wind, criticized for romanticizing slavery and the Civil War-era South, to add historical context.

In the weeks since Floyds death while in the custody of Minneapolis police, protests and violence have erupted across the United States over the treatment of black people, and many Confederate monuments have been damaged or taken down, some toppled by demonstrators, others removed by local authorities.

A statue of Christopher Columbus is lifted onto the back of a truck as people sing and celebrate at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on June 10, 2020. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio/AP)

Authorities in Alabama got rid of a massive obelisk in Birmingham and a bronze likeness of a Confederate naval officer in Mobile. In Virginia, a 176-year-old slave auction block was removed in Fredericksburg, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy took down a statue in Alexandria.

The movement has extended around the world, with protesters decrying monuments to slave traders, imperialists, and explorers, including Christopher Columbus, Cecil Rhodes, and Belgiums King Leopold II.

The Davis monument was a few blocks away from a 12-ton, 61-foot-high equestrian statue of the most revered Confederate of them all, Gen. Robert E. Lee, that the state of Virginia is trying to take down. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam last week ordered its removal, but a judge on Monday blocked such action for at least 10 days.

People take turns stomping the Christopher Columbus statue after it was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on June 10, 2020. (Leila Navidi/Star Tribune/AP)

The spokesman for the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, B. Frank Earnest, condemned the toppling of public works of art and likened losing the Confederate statues to losing a family member.

The men who served under Robert E. Lee were my great-grandfathers or their brothers and their cousins. So it is my family, he said. What if a crowd of any other group went and found the symbols of someone they didnt like and decided to tear them down? Everybody would be appalled.

He added, I dont know why its acceptable, why people who are descended from the Confederate Army and the Confederate soldiers, its accepted in this country that you can do anything to us you want.

An inspection crew from the Virginia Department of General Services inspect the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., on June 8, 2020. (Steve Helber/AP Photo)

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney had recently announced he would introduce an ordinance in July to remove the Davis monument and statues of other Confederates, including Gens. Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart. A new state law that goes into effect this summer undoes protections for Confederate monuments and lets local governments decide what to do with them.

Stoney tweeted Thursday that he will push to quickly dismantle the other monuments and asked protesters not to do it themselves.

For the sake of public safety, I ask the community to allow us to legally contract to have the remaining ones removed professionally, to prevent any potential harm that could result from attempts to remove them without professional experience, he said.

While it wasnt clear what would happen to the toppled Davis statue, the mayor indicated it is gone for good.

A police tape marks off a fallen statue from the Confederate monument in Portsmouth, Va., on June 10, 2020. (Kristen Zeis/The Virginian-Pilot/AP)

He never deserved to be up on that pedestal, the mayor said, calling Davis a racist & traitor.

Also Wednesday night, protesters in Portsmouth, Virginia, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) away, knocked the heads off the statues of four Confederates and pulled one of the statues to the ground after the City Council put off a decision on moving the monument.

A protester was hit in the head and knocked unconscious as the monument fell. He was hospitalized with what police said were life-threatening injuries.

The statues on the Confederate monument are covered in graffiti and beheaded after a protest in Portsmouth, Va., on June 10, 2020. (Kristen Zeis/The Virginian-Pilot/AP)

James Boyd, the Portsmouth NAACP chapter president, said that people are just tired of being sick and tired and that the monument represents more than 400 years of oppression.

On Tuesday, protesters in Richmond tore down a statue of Columbus, set it on fire, and pitched it into a lake.

Supporters of Confederate monuments have argued that they are important reminders of history, while opponents contend they glorify those who made war against the United States to preserve slavery.

The Davis monument and many others across the South were erected decades after the Civil War during the Jim Crow era, when states imposed tough new segregation laws, and during the Lost Cause movement, in which historians and others sought to recast the Souths rebellion as a noble undertaking, fought to defend not slavery but states rights.

By Sarah Rankin and Jonathan Drew

The Associated Press and The Epoch Times contributed to this report.
Mr. Low, who is believed to be living in China, has also been charged. The former prime minister, Najib Razak, was charged in Malaysia. A verdict in his trial on corruption charges could come next month. Riza Aziz, the stepson of Mr. Najib and one of the producers of The Wolf of Wall Street, reached a monetary settlement last month with Malaysian authorities, who dropped money laundering charges against him and agreed to enter a judgment of acquittal.

Prosecutors in the United States began investigating in 2015, but the case became one of the top Wall Street enforcement matters during the Trump administration.

A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, recently said it wanted to know more about the interest of Trump appointees in the case. Attorney General William P. Barr and Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski  both of whom previously worked at Kirkland & Ellis, one of the firms representing Goldman Sachs  obtained ethics waivers that allowed them to participate in the 1MDB investigation. (Mr. Rosen had been a lawyer at Kirkland, but he did not need an ethics waiver because he had left the law firm more than two years ago.)

This is a hugely significant case and we are trying to figure out if we need to be concerned whether there are conflicts of interest on the part of leading Department of Justice officials, said Noah Bookbinder, the organization's executive director.

In February, the group sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Justice Department seeking copies of emails or any other records documenting either mans involvement in the 1MDB investigation. The department, which has not produced any documents, declined to comment on the request.

On Wednesday Mr. Benczkowski told Justice Department staff that he was leaving as of July 3. In an email, the department cited the work by prosecutors on 1MDB as one of his accomplishments.

The departments pursuit of the 1MDB case is notable because the Trump administration and Mr. Barr have not made white-collar prosecutions a top priority. The prosecution of white-collar crime has never been so low since tracking began in 1986, according to Trac, a federal criminal justice database affiliated with Syracuse University.
MediaTek could grab as much as 40 percent of the global 5G mobile SoC market in 2020. According to a report by DigiTimes, the Taiwanese chipmaker is expected to ship more than 80 million 5G mobile SoCs globally this year.

The figures indicate the global 5G smartphone shipments to hit the 200 million mark this year. MediaTek had previously estimated this sales volume. The chipmaker predicts China alone to absorb around 100-120 million 5G smartphones this year.

A majority of the companys 5G SoC shipments will go to Chinese smartphone vendors as well, the report adds. Huawei will likely be its biggest customer this year.

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The beleaguered Chinese giant is looking for alternatives after it was recently forced to move away from TSMC by the American government. It has reportedly increased orders for MediaTek chips by over 300 percent this year.

5G chips could be a major growth driver for MediaTek

Commercial 5G mobile network became a reality in 2019, but 2020 is being labeled as the year of 5G. With the 5G network coverage expanding rapidly on a global scale this year, theres an increased demand for 5G smartphones around the world.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the progress a bit, but overall 5G coverage will continue to grow throughout the year.

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MediaTek sensed the opportunity in this segment and made a comeback in the flagship mobile SoC market late last year.

It launched the Dimensity 1000 in November last year and followed it with three more 5G SoCs. It currently has two flagship-level SoCs, the Dimensity 1000 and 1000+, and two mid-range solutions, the Dimensity 800 and Dimensity 820.

MediaTek is fighting against the global leader, Qualcomm in this market. Samsung and Huawei also make their own in-house mobile SoCs, but they mostly use them in their own devices. Samsungs Exynos chips power a few phones from other OEMs in between, and thats about it.

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So the Taiwanese chipmaker will be primarily competing against Qualcomm to supply 5G chips to OEMs globally. If it manages to hit the projected figure of 80 million shipments, it would be a major growth driver for the company.

Qualcomm is due a Snapdragon 865 successor later this year. Itll go up against MediaTeks Dimensity 1000+. Itll be interesting to see who comes on top.

Rumors have it that both MediaTek and Qualcomm are looking to introduce entry-level 5G chips later this year. So its only a matter of time before 5G connectivity becomes standard on mobile phones, at least in some markets.
The mishandling of the biggest Arctic oil spill ever infuriated Russian President Vladimir Putin and could give a boost to the countrys environmental regulation.

MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, Russias biggest miner, didnt make a public statement until two days after the May 29 accident, which leaked over 20,000 tons (150,000 barrels) of diesel into a fragile Arctic river system.

By then, images of the catastrophe had gone viral on social media and soon the governor of the region made a public report to a visibly irritated Putin. The president publicly scolded Vladimir Potanin, Nornickels biggest shareholder and the countrys richest man, for not upgrading the tank before it leaked.

As the extent of the spill became clearer, investigators said Wednesday that theyd detained several employees of the unit responsible for the tank, a move Nornickel called excessive. The company has said melting permafrost and soil subsidence damaged the tank. If true, that means infrastructure across the countrys vast north may be at risk as the ground warms.

Nornickel has long been criticized for ignoring environmental issues. A small investment in the tank might have prevented the spill, which now threatens extinction for many fish, birds and mammals unique to Siberias Taimyr Peninsula, a senior official said. Putin was very angry over the spill, according to the person, who asked not to be identified in order to speak candidly.

Blacklisted

The accident could become a catalyst for the president to push through long-stalled environmental regulations targeting Russias aging energy infrastructure, the person said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didnt respond to a request for comment.

This isnt the first time the companys pollution problem has wounded Russias environmental reputation. Its main assets are located in Norilsk, one of the countrys dirtiest cities. Norways sovereign wealth fund, the worlds largest, has blacklisted Nornickel since 2009 for the damage it has done in the Taimyr Peninsula.

There are two main versions of what caused the accident. Nornickel and Russias Prosecutor General blame the melting permafrost for causing damage to the tank. Russias Investigative Committee said the 35-year-old tank was commissioned without proper permits in 2018, the year Nornickel says it was renovated.

The disagreements extend to the damage caused by the spill. Fuel from the accident has been found in Lake Pyasino that feeds into the Kara Sea, putting local wildlife at risk, Interfax reported Tuesday, citing the regional governor Alexander Uss. A Nornickel investor presentation the same day said the spill was contained before reaching the lake and there was no risk to the Kara Sea.

10,000 Spills

What is clear is the size of the spill is unprecedented. Greenpeace compared it to the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska. Nornickel estimates it will cost $150 million to clean up.

Russia, the worlds biggest energy exporter, has at least 10,000 oil spills annually, according to Vladimir Chuprov, the head of Greenpeace Russias energy program. The accidents are concentrated in the countrys sprawling oil pipeline system, at least half of which is past its useful life, Chuprov said.

The situation is growing more critical as permafrost melts due to climate change. With more than half of Russias land permanently frozen, vast swaths of the country has infrastructure at risk as the ground thaws.

Stalled Bill

Yet stricter regulation to prevent and liquidate oil spills has been stalled in parliament since 2018, when a draft bill passed its first reading. The law would require companies with fuel storage or pipelines to maintain detailed plans to contain spills and create financial reserves to fix any damage.

After the accident, Putin ordered checks of similar tanks around Russia and urged the quick adaptation of new legislation. This week, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin revived talk of the 2018 bill.

The draft is too vague to make an impact and needs a clear mechanism to create provisions, according to Darya Kozlova, head of oil and gas regulation at Moscow-based Vygon Consulting. A better approach would be to rely on insurance policies and online monitoring, she said.

The major problem is Russian companies are not motivated to change the situation and to invest into preventing accidents, Greenpeaces Chuprov said, who advocates limiting pipelines and infrastructure in the Arctic to 20 years of service.

Photograph: Russian President Vladimir Putin participates in a meeting with cultural figures marking Russian Language Day via teleconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Saturday, June 6, 2020. Photo credit: Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Legislation Energy Oil Gas Pollution
The accommodation and food service sector has furloughed 1.4 million people. (Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

Shops, hotels, restaurants and other food businesses have leaned most heavily on government support for furloughed workers during the COVID-19 shutdown, new figures show.

Numbers released by the Treasury on Thursday showed that retail and hospitality businesses have furloughed more workers than any other sectors.

161,900 businesses in wholesale and retail have furloughed 1.6 million people under the governments job retention scheme, figures show.

102,000 companies in accommodation and food service have furloughed 1.4 million people.

READ MORE: Chinatown and Soho landlord warns some restaurants won't survive

The two sectors are the only parts of the economy to have furloughed more than one million people, although the Treasury was unable to classify which sector a further one million furloughed workers were in.

The numbers are perhaps unsurprising. The strict lockdown, introduced in March, forced all restaurants and pubs to shut down, while hotels have seen business collapse as airlines have been grounded worldwide and people have been told to stay at home.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak: 'Our unprecedented coronavirus support schemes are protecting millions of vital jobs and businesses across the whole of the UK'. (John Sibley/Reuters)

Some 8.9 million people have been furloughed across the UK by more than one million businesses since the launch of the job retention scheme in March. Under the scheme, the government pays 80% of furloughed staffs wages up to a maximum of 2,500 per month.

Thursdays figures from the Treasury are the first time it has broken down furlough numbers by sector and geography.

One million people are furloughed in London, with a further one million furloughed across the wider South East region.

Some 628,000 are furloughed in Scotland, while fewer than 320,000 people are on the job retention scheme across each of Wales and Northern Ireland.

Our unprecedented coronavirus support schemes are protecting millions of vital jobs and businesses across the whole of the United Kingdom  and will help ensure we recover from this outbreak as swiftly as possible, chancellor Rishi Sunak said in a statement.

Story continues

READ MORE: UK government gives businesses 100bn helping hand

The job retention scheme is due to run until the end of October, although employers will not be able to add more people from the end of this month. Employers will also be asked to contribute to the cost of the scheme from August onwards.

The Treasury has also been awarding grants to help support the self-employed during the pandemic. The Treasury said 70% of those eligible for grants have so far applied.

We have extended both schemes so they will continue to provide measured support across the UK as we start to reopen the economy, Sunak said.
The post included screenshots of graphic, derogatory posts from Shapiro's personal Facebook page.

One image read "put trash in its place"  referring to Black Lives Matter, Nazis, Antifa and the Democratic Party.

Sullivan's post had been shared about 1,700 times as of Thursday afternoon.

"It was never a personal thing; I just wanted people to know, and then when it got the response that it did, I couldn't help but keep it going," Sullivan said.

One counter protester stood outside the bar holding a sign that read "White lives matter."

"You can take pictures of me all you want," he shouted from across the street. "I back the police!" he added.

Shapiro asked the man several times to stop what he was doing before he left.

"You're agitating these kids, and these kids want attention. They're leftist mobs is what they are," Shapiro said.

She added that her Facebook posts were, in her opinion, harmless.

"I post a lot of political stuff and I like it to get out there. I don't care who's looking at it," she said.
LAQUILA, Italy  Italian authorities on Thursday unveiled a stolen artwork by British artist Banksy that was painted as a tribute to the victims of the 2015 terror attacks at the Bataclan music hall in Paris.

LAquila prosecutors said the work was recovered on Wednesday during a search of a home in the countryside of Tortoreto, near the Adriatic coast in the Abruzzo regions Teramo province. It had been hidden well in the attic, prosecutors said.

No arrests have been made.

French officials last year announced the theft of the piece, a black image appearing to depict a person mourning that was painted on one of the Bataclans emergency exit doors.

Ninety people were killed at the Bataclan on Nov. 13, 2015, when Islamic extremists invaded the music hall, one of several targets that night in which a total of 130 people died.

Authorities said they were still investigating how the artwork arrived in Italy, and the role of any Italians potentially involved. They said the discovery was the fruit of a joint Italian-French police investigation.

At a news conference Thursday in LAquila, a French embassy liaison officer, Maj. Christophe Cengig, said the Bataclan owners were informed that the work had been recovered.

It belongs to the Bataclan, it belongs to all of France in a sense, he said. The owners, he added, were thrilled, very happy.

LAquila Prosecutor Michele Renzo said authorities believed the motivation for the theft was financial, not ideological.

Some Chinese nationals were living in the Tortoreto home, but they appeared unaware that the work was there. Teramo Carabinieri Col. Emanuele Pipola said someone else had access to the attic.
[June 11, 2020] INVESTIGATION ALERT: The Schall Law Firm Announces it is Investigating Claims Against Townsquare Media, Inc. and Encourages Investors with Losses of $100,000 to Contact the Firm

The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Townsquare Media, Inc. ("Townsquare" or "the Company") (NYSE: TSQ) for violations of the securities laws. The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. Townsquare admitted in a June 9, 2020, SEC (News - Alert) filing that the Company had "determined that a material impairment charge to the Company's indefinite-lived intangible assets was required due to an error in the projected cash flows that were utilized in the Company's valuation model." The Company further diclosed that "a material impairment charge to the Company's goodwill was required due to a change in the Company's reporting segments." The Company added it "expects that the impairment charge will be approximately $39.4 million on our FCC (News - Alert) licenses and approximately $69.0 million on our goodwill." The Company also announced that certain financial statements for fiscal years 2017, 2018 and 2019 should no longer be relied upon and would be restated. Based on this news, shares of Townsquare dropped by 18% on the same day.



If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall of the Schall Law Firm, 1880 Century Park East, Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90067, at 310-301-3335, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at [email protected].

The class in this case has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005787/en/

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By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 23 times, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Akbar Mammadov

Azerbaijani and Turkish parliament members have held an online meeting to exchange views in the field of legislation and development of comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, the Azerbaijani parliaments website reported on June 10.

The meeting has been attended by the Azerbaijani-Turkish working group on interparliamentary relations and members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly's friendship group with Azerbaijan.

Chairman of the Health Committee of the Milli Majlis, head of the working group on interparliamentary relations with Turkey, academician Ahliman Amiraslanov opened the conference.

Azerbaijani MPs Eldar Ibrahimov, Malahat Ibrahimgizi, Sabir Rustamkhanli, Agiya Nakhchivanli, Fazil Mustafa, Rashad Mahmud, Nizami Safarov, Arzu Naghiyev, Ramil Hasan spoke about the friendly and fraternal relations and strategic partnership between the two countries.

In turn, Turkish MPs Orhan Erdem, Yunus Kilich, Tulay Kaynarca, Aylin Djesur, Yashar Karadagh, Yilmaz Tunch, Ughur Bayraktutan highly appreciated the Turkish-Azerbaijani relations in their speeches and spoke about the comprehensive bilateral relations.

During the meeting, the Turkish parliament members stressed that Turkey always supported Azerbaijan's fair position in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Speaker of the Parliament, Mustafa Shentop stressed that the friendship between Turkey and Azerbaijan, which did not spare each other's support during the pandemic and crisis, is indestructible.

In addition, during the conversation, the memory of the 9th President of Turkey Suleyman Demirel, a great friend of Azerbaijan and National Leader Heydar Aliyev, has been honoured by the parliament members.

Furthermore, the parliamentarians also discussed the current situation around the coronavirus pandemic and the measures taken to fight against the pandemic.

Amiraslanov informed about the measures implemented in the country to combat the coronavirus pandemic. It was also noted that the preventive measures taken on the initiative and under the leadership of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva yielded positive results.

Since the declaration of the pandemic, the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers has been established in Azerbaijan and large-scale measures have been taken. As a result, both the rate of infection and the number of deaths from coronavirus per capita in Azerbaijan today are many times lower than in other countries, Amiraslanov said.

The head of the working group also said that currently there are 21 hospitals with more than 7,000 beds in the fight against coronavirus in our country, and the capacity of these hospitals is extremely wide. In Azerbaijan, all patients infected with COVID-19 are treated in the hospital at public expense. At the same time, during the pandemic, our compatriots repatriated from other countries are quarantined at the expense of the state, in hotels with ample facilities, and kept under medical supervision, he added.

In the video conference, the head of the friendship group of the Turkish Grand National Assembly with Azerbaijan Shamil Ayrim spoke about the brotherhood of the two states and one nation.

In his turn, Turkish MP Shamil Ayrim spoke about the fight against COVID-19 in Turkey. He also expressed confidence that the inter-parliamentary relations would further develop.

Concluding the video conference, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee Ahliman Amiraslanov said the bilateral relations must be multifaceted and develop more closely, adding: The heads of state have set great tasks for us.

It should be noted that the meeting has been organized on the initiative and desire of the parliamentary leaders of both countries.

---

Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-12 01:05:42|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed Thursday that China and Belarus turn challenges to opportunities and deepen cooperation in the joint pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Xi made the remarks in a telephone conversation in the night with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.

Xi pointed out that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Belarus have been sticking together through thick and thin and looking out for each other, demonstrating deep iron-clad friendship between the two sides and the high-level trait and particularity of China-Belarus relations.

China firmly supports Belarus in taking prevention and control measures in line with its national conditions, and is willing to continue to share prevention and control experiences and diagnosis and treatment plans with Belarus without reservation, he said.

He expressed belief that under Lukashenko's strong leadership, the Belarusian people will be able to defeat the epidemic as soon as possible.

Xi thanked Belarus for providing help to Chinese citizens studying, working and living in Belarus, adding that he believed Belarus will continue protecting their safety and health effectively.

China is willing to work with the international community, including Belarus, to strengthen cooperation and jointly build a community of common health for mankind, said Xi.

At present, China-Belarus relations of comprehensive strategic partnership, featuring mutual trust and win-win cooperation, has been developing at a high level, Xi said.

He said the two sides have been supporting each other with no hesitation on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns, demonstrating the fact that the two countries have been true all-weather partners. China will, as always, support the development path chosen by Belarus in accordance with its national conditions.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic will inevitably affect bilateral exchanges and practical cooperation, Xi said, China-Belarus relations have been enjoying a solid foundation and huge potential for cooperation.

Xi called on the two sides to accelerate the construction of the China-Belarus industrial park, seek more achievements in mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and push forward bilateral relations to new levels.

For his part, Lukashenko said China has always respected the development path independently chosen by Belarus.

China provided strong support and shared valuable experiences in its fight against the epidemic, and played an important role in the prevention and control of the epidemic in Belarus, for which Belarus is deeply grateful, Lukashenko said.

Noting that Belarus and China are good friends and good brothers, Lukashenko said the Belarusian side firmly opposes politicizing or labeling the virus, and will continue standing resolutely with China on issues concerning China's core interests.

Belarus stands ready to work with China to make full use of China-Europe freight trains to expand bilateral trade, jointly build the Belt and Road, and promote practical cooperation in a wide range of fields, said Lukashenko, adding that he earnestly looks forward to welcoming the Chinese president to visit his country again at an early date after the pandemic. Enditem
Attempts to save economic life by inoculating it with virus from the corpse of nationalism result in blood poisoning which bears the name of fascism. Leon Trotsky, Nationalism and Economic Life, April 1934.

Left Party leader Sahra Wagenknechts answer to the coronavirus crisis is to call for de-globalisation. On May 20, she outlined her ideas in the column she regularly writes for the right-wing weekly magazine Focus.

Sahra Wagenknecht (Raimond Spekking/CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Under the headline, What Germany needs now to save the prosperity of the middle class, Wagenknecht says, Protecting workers and domestic suppliers from cheap imports and hostile takeovers is not nationalist, but a democratic duty. We must bring industrial value creation back to Europe and overcome our dependence in key sectors like the digital economy.

Wagenknecht justifies her call for protective measures for the domestic economy by arguing that in the late 19th century, Germany and the US overcame their industrial backwardness behind the protection of high tariff walls. She goes on: It was not free trade, but protectionism that made both countries rich.

Those benefiting from more-recent globalisation, she asserts, were only those countries that have not played by the rules of the Western gamefree trade, free movement of capital, withdrawal of the state from the economybut by their own rules. China, Japan and South Korea exposed national industrial sectors to international competition extremely selectively and always only when they were able to survive it on an equal footing.

Wagenknecht links the call for protectionism with attacks on globalisation winners, which she says are Anglo-Saxon financial investors, the international club of billionaires and a new upper class of academics living in the trendy inner-city districts of Western metropoles.

She contrasts them with all those whose lives have become harder and more uncertain. There are many academics among the globalisation losers, but above all there are people who do not have a university degree and whose prospects for a solid job and professional advancement are much lower today than in the second half of the last century.

The assertion that tariff walls and other protectionist measures serve to protect the socially disadvantaged is false and politically reactionary. It stands not in the tradition of socialism, but rather the tradition of fascism. It serves to stir up nationalism, divide the international working class and prepare for trade war and military war.

Both Mussolini and Hitler blamed the world economy for the deep recession of the 1930s and pursued nationalist economic policies. Leon Trotsky, the most important leader of the Russian October Revolution alongside Lenin, and founder of the Fourth International, wrote the article Nationalism and Economic Life in April 1934, from which the above quotation is taken.

In it, Trotsky not only explains the anachronistic, deeply reactionary content of economic nationalism, he also predictsfive years before the Second World Warthat decadent fascist nationalism, preparing volcanic explosions and grandiose clashes in the world arena, bears nothing except ruin. All our experiences on this score during the last 25 or 30 years will seem only an idyllic overture compared to the music of hell that is impending.

Trotskys assessment was based on the Marxist understanding of history, according to which the development of the productive forces is the driving force of human progress. By the 18th and 19th centuries, bourgeois revolutions had overcome medieval particularism and created modern nation-states in which the capitalist economy could develop.

But economic development did not halt within the national framework. World trade grew and the focus shifted from the internal to the external market.

The 19th century was marked by the fusion of the nations fate with the fate of its economic life; but the basic tendency of our century is the growing contradiction between the nation and economic life, Trotsky explains. The present crisis in which are synthesised all the capitalist crises of the past signifies above all the crisis of national economic life.

The imperialist powers tried to solve this crisis by violent expansion at the expense of their rivals. This was the main reason for the two world wars. One of the main causes of the [First] World War, Trotsky wrote, was the striving of German capital to break through into a wider arena. Hitler fought as a corporal in 1914-1918 not to unite the German nation, but in the name of a super-national imperialistic programme.

But the war brought no solution. Therefore, in 1933, the ruling elites appointed Hitler chancellor and gave him dictatorial powers. The Nazis were used to prepare for a second imperialist world war by smashing the workers movement and concentrating the national economy.

Although nearly 90 years old, Trotskys article is more relevant today than ever. The integration of the world economy has reached unprecedented levels. Not only trade, but also production chains now span the globe. The world population is four times as large as in 1933, with almost 8 billion people, more than half of whom live in cities.

The attempt to by force to subordinate economy to the outdated national state has even more devastating consequences today than it did then. It calls into question the survival of humanity.

Nevertheless, starting with the US, economic nationalism and trade war are spreading like wildfire. To quote Trotsky once again, Instead of clearing away a suitably large arena for the operations of modern technology, the rulers chop and slice the living organism of economy to pieces.

All imperialist powers, including Germany, are engaged in massive rearmament. Billions are being spent on the renewal of nuclear arsenals. Preparations for war, especially against China, are well advanced. Everywhere, right-wing and fascist forces are raising their heads.

As an economist with a doctorate, Wagenknecht naturally knows that it is impossible to bring the economy back to the level of decades or centuries ago by peaceful means. In an economically highly developed country like Germany, which is more dependent on the international division of labour than almost any other, this idea is absurd.

Her advocacy of protectionism pursues a different goal. In so doing, she is supporting the German bourgeoisie in future trade wars and military wars against China, and especially against the US. And she seeks to mobilise forces to oppose the unification of the international working classthe only social force capable of overthrowing capitalism and organising the world economy for the benefit of all humanity.

Wagenknechts agitation against refugees, which has repeatedly earned her the praise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), was not an accident. She has made many zigzags in her political career, but one thing has always remained constanther nationalism.

After German reunification in 1991, the 20-year-old served as a youthful figurehead for the Communist Platform in the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which was nothing more than a collection of elderly East German functionaries who clung to Stalinism and its nationalist doctrine of socialism in one country. Twenty years later, she began to sing the praises of the reactionary post-war Adenauer era and its economists. She no longer quoted Marx. Instead, she adopted the view that socialism really meant consistent liberalism, with competition, meritocracy and personal responsibility.

Now she calls for the strong state to protect the German economy against Chinese export dumping and foreign takeovers, and to ensure genuine competition for performance, as she explained in an interview with the business magazine Capital on May 21. In contrast, she explicitly rejects a state economy. It is not the task of the state to manage companies on a permanent basis, she declares.

Even though Wagenknecht retired from heading the Left Party parliamentary faction last November, she continues to be one of the partys leading representatives. She frequently represents the Left Party on talk shows and in the media. She symbolises a party that stands unreservedly behind German imperialism and is prepared to defend the interests of the German bourgeoisie by any and all means against the working class at home and German imperialisms external rivals.
Suitability of land for a particular agri-environment option is shown on the E-Planner tool through colour shading, ranging from red being very suitable to dark blue, unsuitable. Credit: UKCEH

A free web-based support tool will enable farmers to deliver environmental improvements and potentially attract payments for providing 'public money for public goods' under the new agri-environment scheme.

The new Environmental Planner tool (E-Planner) has been produced by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) to help farmers make decisions on which agri-environment options to introduce and where these are likely to work best. It uses detailed environmental data at a resolution of just five meters on all two million-plus fields across Great Britain.

The tool analyzes satellite and aerial imagery plus other national-scale datasets to assess the suitability of unproductive or hard-to-farm areas of land for four agri-environment interventions. These are: planting flower-rich pollinator habitats; creating woodland; protecting water resources from pollution; and, sowing winter bird foodcategories that are expected to be eligible for farming subsidies under the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme.

The analysis is based on a range of factors including soils, nearby habitats, slope and shading.

The ELM scheme will replace the farming subsidy system of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in England, worth around 2bn to English farmers every year.

Farmers will be expected to deliver an increasing range of environmental benefits as well as producing food under the new subsidy schemes. Next year, ahead of ELM's rollout in 2024 Defra will be starting pilot projects, some of which UKCEH will be involved in.

John Redhead, senior Spatial Ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), who led the development of the E-Planner tool, says: "Bringing together environmental information from digital data, how-to guides and farmers' own local knowledge can be challenging and time consuming, so the tool will help users to make informed decisions quickly and easily.

"It will assist farmers and land managers in transforming unproductive, loss-making parts of their farm into environmentally friendly uses that may attract a public subsidy."

UKCEH has more than 20 years' experience in designing and monitoring agri-environment schemes, and already works extensively with Defra as well as farms and farming organisations across the country. It is now working with the farming industry to validate and further develop the E-Planner.

The tool will assist farmers and land managers in transforming unproductive, loss-making parts of their farm into environmentally friendly uses that may attract a public subsidyJohn Redhead

The tool has been created by UKCEH as part of ASSIST, a six-year 12m National Capability research programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Professor Richard Pywell, Head of Biodiversity at UKCEH, who leads the ASSIST programme, explains: "Our free E-Planner tool is another important part of the toolkit for farmers and land managers, helping them achieve the ambitions of the new Agriculture Bill and 25 Year Environment Plan, to maintain and enhance the natural world.

"More environmentally sustainable farming methods, such as measures to support insect pollinators, reduce soil erosion and planting trees not only improve agricultural productivity, but also benefit wildlife and society too."

Explore further Scientists make fresh call for policy makers to protect pollinators

Provided by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
The idea of cutting police spending by 20 per cent is suddenly up for debate at the Hamilton police service board amid worldwide protests over anti-Black racism and violent law enforcement.

A coalition of racialized activists have called on the government to reallocate police budget dollars to social services  but that conversation cannot be led by police, said well-known Black organizer Sarah Jama. A token 20 per cent cut is not enough, she added.

Police have been harmful and continue to be harmful to our communities, said Jama, who is sharing stories online of residents injured or killed by police as part of a campaign to defund and demilitarize law enforcement.

So to have police deciding what to cut or when? Thats not the solution at all.

A motion from Coun. Chad Collins going to the police services board Thursday does not actually ask members to commit to any spending cuts. Instead, it requests a report on the theoretical service implications of slashing $34 million from an annual budget of around $171 million.

The motion does not suggest particular cuts, but notes community demands to reallocate police dollars to improve social services and combat racism.

Similar calls are echoing across North America amid protests sparked by video footage of Black Minnesota resident George Floyd dying as a police officer kneels on his neck.

The fallout has already spurred a majority of Minneapolis councillors to vow to dismantle the citys police service. Closer to home, Torontos city council will consider a motion to cut 10 per cent from that citys $1-billion police budget later this month.

In an interview, Collins said he is not sold on the idea tackling admitted funding crises in areas like housing by cutting money from policing.

He noted some of his constituents are asking for more police presence to tackle problems like unsafe driving. But Collins also said he has received dozens of letters and emails from advocates urging all levels of government to consider repurposing at least some police funding.

One such letter implores councillors to reinvest police budget cash in more social workers, therapists and outreach that does not include armed officers doing wellness checks.

Local activist Ruby Hye, who has pushed to have police officers removed from schools, noted the $171-million police budget dwarfs city spending on other critical needs. The latest city budget shows about $80 million for transit, $90 million for housing and $52 million for public health.

Hye dismissed any motion to cut a fraction of that budget  and without meaningful community conversation  as an effort at appeasement doomed to fail.

Collins said hes willing to have a city-wide discussion about how social services are provided and funded. But I also think we need to know what the implications are if we withdraw (police) funding.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who chairs the police services board, noted police have earned praise for work with the Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST) that partners mental-health workers and police officers.

But is there a discussion to be had around how much of that work the police should be doing? I think that is a reasonable discussion to be had.
She's the eldest daughter of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills stars, Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin.

And while in lockdown, Delilah Belle Hamlin still ensured she celebrated her 22nd birthday.

The beauty took to social media to flaunt her enviable physique in a sultry swimsuit owned by her mom.

Birthday girl! Lisa Rinna's daughter, Delilah Belle, stripped down to her sultry swimsuit on Wednesday to commemorate her 22nd birthday

Delilah sported a racy zebra striped one-piece that had a major cut-out around her stomach.

She flashed her tanned and toned physique while laying out in the sun on a white sheet and roses by her side.

The model accessorised with a a dainty necklace around her neck and a gold chained anklet around her ankle.

Racy: The model flashed her tanned and toned physique while laying out in the sun on a white sheet and roses by her side

Message from mom! Her sultry birthday post comes after mom, Lisa Rinna, took to her social media page to wish her first-born on her special day

Delilah's blonde tresses were styled out naturally and she appeared to be wearing a natural amount of makeup with highlighter on her cheekbones.

Her sultry birthday post comes after mom, Lisa Rinna, took to her social media page to wish her first-born on her special day with a series of photos, including her Vogue Japan cover shot.

'HAPPY BIRTHDAY @delilahbelle. We Love you so much!!!!!!!!!,' she began.

'We are so proud of you and the Woman youve become. Keep shining your light!'

Parents to girls: Harry and Lisa are parents to model daughters, Delilah Belle and Amelia Gray

She continued: 'You are a beautiful, empathetic, funny, strong willed, soul that we are so lucky to get to share this thing called life with!!! I love you to the Moon and back! May all of your dreams come true my love! #firstborn #gemini.

Delilah is the eldest daughter of actors, Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin.

The pair met in the mid 90s before marrying at the end of March in 1997 in Beverly Hills.

Besides Delilah, they're also parents to Amelia Gray, 18. Harry is also the father to son Dimitri Alexander, 39, from his previous relationship with actress, Ursula Andress.
Eamon Ryan's leadership of the Green Party has been called into question after repeating a racial slur in the Dail.

During an impassioned speech discussing Ireland's issues with racism, Mr Ryan recounted a newspaper article detailing the abuse suffered by a young black Irish man, and said: "His experience of being othered from the age of six, being given that name: 'You n*****'".

Within minutes of Mr Ryan's speech, Green Party members, councillors and opposition TDs voiced their outrage at the use of the slur.

Mr Ryan is facing a leadership challenge against his deputy leader Catherine Martin in a matter of weeks, and one local party chairperson says this "could be the straw that breaks the camel's back", after a string of public gaffes which some believe have damaged the party with the electorate.

A number of party councillors spoke out against the remarks and called into question Mr Ryan's leadership. Daniel Whooley, Green Party representative for Ongar, said the comments were "morally reprehensible".

"No person should use such words of hate regardless of context, especially in Dail Eireann. I do not believe that any parliamentarian who invokes such words, be it by mistake or on purpose, should lead an Irish Political party, the use of these words is disgusting. I have seen his apologies, and I know he regrets what he said, however, this is not good enough."

When approached by the Irish Examiner, Greens Councillor for Clondalkin and spokesman for the Gaeltacht, Peter Kavanagh, said: "It's unacceptable and a disappointing day to be part of the Green Party. Nobody in the world thinks Eamon is a racist, but the context is irrelevant, and it's not for us to say it's okay."

Mr Ryan quickly apologised on Twitter: "I made a speech in the Dail today about the scourge of racism in our society. In quoting from an article I read this morning, I repeated a racial slur, and I was completely wrong to do so. I want to apologise for any hurt caused. I know this particular word should never be used."

I made a speech in the Dail today about the scourge of racism in our society. In quoting from an article I read this morning, I repeated a racial slur, and I was completely wrong to do so. I want to apologise for any hurt caused. I know this particular word should never be used.  Eamon Ryan (@EamonRyan) June 11, 2020

A Green Party spokesperson said that Mr Ryan recognises the hurt caused: "He genuinely believed that in attempting to illustrate the strength of racial abuse that it was an appropriate context in which to use the word, but he accepts now there isn't an acceptable context. It was a misguided attempt to make what he was saying impactful, it was a mistake."

The remarks come as an unhelpful addition to an ongoing leadership battle which has divided the party in recent weeks and sparked further debate among members over who is the most appropriate person to lead the party.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - INCA ONE GOLD CORP. (TSXV: IO) (FSE: SU92) (SSEV: IOCL) ("Inca One" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the accelerated restart of small scale mining in Peru, helping to kickstart the Peruvian mining sector.

On June 4, 2020, the Peruvian Government announced a new decree outlining a staged restart of industrial activity across the country. Initially scheduled to be included in a later phase restart on August 1, 2020, the small scale sector was deemed to be of national importance to the Peruvian economy and its accelerated restart will allow thousands of small scale and artisanal miners to return to work two months sooner than expected.

The head of Peru's National Society of Mining, Oil and Energy Manuel Fumagalli indicated in a statement, "Peru needs its mining industry to operate at 100% in the shortest possible time," and that reopening the mining sector "will trigger an important productive chain which guarantees the continuation of direct and indirect employment for the benefit of more than 1.5 million families."

During the lock-down period, there was reduced mining activity throughout the country, limiting deliveries to processing facilities due to the travel and transportation restrictions. Now, as a result of the unexpected, early restart, stockpiled ore can be transported to the Chala One and Kori One processing facilities on a regular basis.

"We are hopeful for a swift return to normalized and socially responsible operations," stated Edward Kelly, President and CEO of Inca One. "Although the reopening will still face challenges in this new COVID-19 environment, we have deployed our ore buying teams across the country to purchase stockpiled gold bearing material for shipment to our plants as the country opens up industrial activity region by region."

The Company used the slowdown period since early March to perform a number of updates to its processing facilities. At Chala One, management was able to fine-tune its systems, implement process improvements and complete necessary maintenance. Down time in between processing days at Kori One allowed for an extra clean out of the ball mills and tanks, providing additional ounces for smelting and export. Completing these necessary updates and maintenance in advance of a return to normal industrial activities is anticipated to improve efficiency and productivity at its plants in the future.

Over these prior few months Inca One implemented COVID-19 protocols not only as requested by the authorities, but in some instances in advance of official governmental orders. Because of swift corporate actions, the Company was able to prioritize the health and safety of its staff and employees. The Company is proud to report its employees remain free of COVID-19 symptoms and are ready to support its suppliers in their protocols as well.

About Inca One

Inca One Gold Corp is a TSXV listed, small-cap, gold producer operating two, fully permitted, gold ore processing facilities in Peru. Peru is the world's sixth-largest producer of gold and its small-scale mining sector is estimated by government officials to be valued in the billions of dollars annually. The Company, now in its sixth year of commercial production, is led by an experienced and capable management team that has established Inca One Gold as a trusted leader in servicing government permitted, small scale miners in Peru. Inca One Gold possesses a combined 450 tonnes per day permitted operating capacity at its two fully integrated plants, Chala One and Kori One, and is targeting a fourth consecutive year of increased production and sales growth.

On behalf of the Board,

Edward Kelly

President and CEO

INCA ONE GOLD CORP.

For More Information Contact:

Konstantine Tsakumis

Inca One Gold Corp.

ktsakumis@incaone.com

604-568-4877

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.

Statements regarding the Company which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements due to factors such as: (i) fluctuation of mineral prices; (ii) a change in market conditions; and (iii) the fact that future operational results may not be accurately predicted based on this limited information to date. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update any changes to such statements. Inca One believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included herein should not be unduly relied upon.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57675
- Timothy Odhiambo wrote to the JSC accusing Chief Justice David Maraga of breaching the code of conduct

- According to Odhiambo, Maraga was out of order in his public lecture to President Uhuru Kenyatta

- The petitioner further accused the CJ of sub judice saying he had been commenting on matters before the court in public forums

A Kenyan man has petitioned the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to fire Chief Justice David Maraga over his recent public onslaught against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Timothy Odhiambo petitioned JSC to bundle Maraga out of office citing a breach of the judicial code of conduct.

READ ALSO: Mercy Cherono: 3 police officers arrested for dragging Nakuru woman using motorbike

Chief Justice David Marag when he appeared outside the Supreme Court on Monday, June 8. Photo: David Maraga

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Woman leaves netizens in stitches with funny imitation of Kikuyu musician

In his petition, Odhiambo said Maraga's public lecture was contrary to the ethics code which requires a judicial officer to conduct himself or herself as to minimise the occasion on which it will be necessary for the judge to be disqualified from hearing and deciding cases.

A judge shall exhibit and promote high standards of judicial conduct in order to enhance public confidence in the Judiciary, which is fundamental to the maintenance on judicial independence, read Odhiambo's petition.

The chief justice was also accused of sub judice for allegedly commenting on matters that are currently before a court- and in so doing appeared to pick sides.

President Uhuru Kenya. In his address, Maraga accused of violating the Constitution by disobeying court orders. Photo: State House

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Miili 2 zaidi yapatikana ikielea majini wakati wa usafishaji wa mto Nairobi

According to Article 168 of the Kenyan Constitution, the chief justice may be removed from office on grounds of inability to perform the functions of office arising from mental or physical incapacity, a breach of a code of conduct prescribed for judges of the superior courts by an Act of Parliament; bankruptcy; incompetence or gross misconduct or misbehavior.

The JSC then initiates the process of removing the chief justice from office after receiving a petition from any member of the public and once satisfied with the grounds for removal sends the petition to the head of state.

"The president shall, within fourteen days after receiving the petition, suspend the judge from office and, acting in accordance with the recommendation of JSC," reads Article 168 (5).

READ ALSO: Waiguru out: Court throws out petition challenging governor's impeachment

The president then appoints a tribunal consisting of speaker of the National Assembly as the chairperson, three superior court judges from common-law jurisdictions, one advocate of fifteen years standing, and two other persons with experience in public affairs.

The tribunal then presents its findings and recommendations to the president who is required to act after the expiry of the time allowed for an appeal in case the victim may decide to appeal the tribunal's decision.

Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Follow us on Telegram: Tuko news

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Court-Appointed Expert Urges US Government Not to Drop Charges Against Michael Flynn

Sputnik News

18:48 GMT 10.06.2020

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US government should not drop charges against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, a former US federal judge John Gleeson said in an 86-page brief on Wednesday.

"The government has engaged in highly irregular conduct to benefit a political ally of the president. The facts of this case overcome the presumption of regularity. The court should therefore deny the government's motion to dismiss, adjudicate any remaining motions, and then sentence the defendant", Gleeson said.

Gleeson argued that Flynn lied to the White House and to the FBI about his conversations with then Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.

"The reasons offered by the government are so irregular and so obviously pretextual that they are deficient. Moreover, the facts surrounding the filing of the Government's motion constitute clear evidence of gross prosecutorial abuse. They reveal an unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President [Donald] Trump", Gleeson said.

Gleeson was appointed by the US Judge Emmett Sullivan, who presided in the Flynn case, after the US government decided to drop charges against Flynn due to evidence that he had not committed a crime, but was framed by the FBI.

On 1 December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements to the FBI. Flynn was prosecuted for lying to investigators about conversations with Kislyak, including regarding the prospects for lifting US sanctions against Moscow.

Last month, the Justice Department announced it was dismissing Flynn's prosecution due to evidence that the FBI entrapped and framed him absent a crime. However, the judge in the case put the government's decision on hold.

A Sputnik

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Police officers have arrested a New York woman and have charged her of using a hammer to beat a 100-year-old man to death.

Brutal beating

Authorities took Brenda L. McKay, 51 years old, into custody and charged her of second-degree murder on Saturday. McKay allegedly killed the 100-year-old Gerald C. Early, as reported by Kiro 7.

Local law enforcement found Early inside his resident in West First Street unconscious and suffering from head trauma at around 1:15 p.m. Saturday. Emergency personnel transported the victim to a hospital in Pennsylvania but was later pronounced dead.

Investigators in charge of the case believe that McKay used a hammer to beat Early several times and they have not released the woman's potential motive in the murder. According to Fox 23, officials are currently holding McKay at the Steuben County jail.

Also Read: Two Children Help Mother in Killing Disabled Relative and Torturing Her for 7 Months

A similar case

Officials released Jerod Juan Cook last month after being imprisoned for 18 years, and he has been arrested for charges of murder. Cook used a hammer to beat and kill John Ferrell II, 59 years old, on Sunday, as revealed by Sgt. Allen Cantey of the Rock Hill Police Department.

According to Herald Online, Cantey announced on Tuesday that Cook busted Ferrell's head and torso with a hammer and then proceeded to hide evidence that could lead to his arrest. The brutal murder happened at Ferrell's residence located on Confederate Avenue.

In court, Cantey said that they quickly knew the incident was a brutal attack and murder. "Cook struck Ferrel numerous times in the head and upper body with the hammer," he added. Police officers, however, did not state the potential motive for the crime.

On Tuesday afternoon, Cook refused to comment in court on the investigation of his alleged murder of Ferrel. He also told Jane Modla, the Rock Hill Municipal judge that he had been released for a month after spending nearly two decades in jail.

Cook said in court that he just finished serving 18 years in prison and noted he was arrested at a young age and just got out a month ago.

The spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, Pete O'Boyle, said the suspect was on community supervision when he was freed, which South Carolina law required, after finishing a mandatory 85% of his 20-year sentence inside the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

O'Boyle said that the state law required Cook to report his activities to a South Carolina agent.

In 2002, Cook pleaded guilty to 28 charges where authorities sentenced him to 20 years in prison. The charges include five counts of armed robbery, 11 counts of burglary, and 12 other charges. He was also convicted for arson in 2001.

Judge Modla assigned a public defender to represent Cook in the murder case but denied him of a bond. She also said that "this crime carries up to life in prison." The charge would sentence Cook to a minimum of 30 years and up to life in prison if found guilty.

Related Article: Vernal Man Shoots Another 8 Times; Says He Didn't Mean to Kill Him

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Telecoms provider O2 has switched on its 5G network in a total of 60 towns and cities across the UK in the midst of arson attacks on network infrastructure.

Aberdeen, Brighton and Oxford are among the most recent additions to its list of 5G locations, since O2 first launched the technology to customers in October 2019.

The operator said it has beat its original target of switching on the next-generation network in 50 places by summer 2020.

O2 has also launched a low-power network optimised for 'Internet of Things' devices (known as LTE-M) at around 10,000 sites nationwide.

The company's milestone comes at a tense time for network providers, amid 5G mast attacks fuelled by conspiracy theories linking coronavirus to the new technology.

Despite providing essential communications technology during the pandemic, 5G masts have been subject to arson attacks throughout the UK, most notably in Liverpool.

Scientists and government experts have dismissed the theories as being completely false and having no basis in scientific fact.

60 sites are now live with O2 5G in the UK - including areas of Aberdeen, Brighton and Oxford

New technologies are crucial to help customers and businesses connect 'like never before' during the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said.

'O2 is at the forefront of connectivity which is now one of the UKs most valued services,' said Brendan O'Reilly, O2's chief technology officer.

'As the UK faces an uncertain year ahead, its vital we continue to invest in new innovations and technologies to keep Britain mobile and connected.

O2 has brought its total amount of UK locations that support 5G to 60 - but EE has the network switched on in 80 cities and towns in total - more than any other operator

UK LOCATIONS WITH O2 5G O2 5G is live in areas of the following 60 towns and cities: Aberdeen Ashford Banstead Basildon Belfast Birmingham Bradford Brighton Bristol Cardiff Chatham Chesterfield Coventry Dartford Derby Dundee Eastbourne Edinburgh Esher Gateshead Gillingham Glasgow Grays Hemel Hempstead Huddersfield Hull Leeds Leicester Lisburn Liverpool London Lowestoft Luton Manchester Mansfield Middlesbrough Newcastle Upon Tyne Newtownabbey North Shields Northampton Norwich Nottingham Oxford Peterborough Plymouth Rainham Redhill Rotherham Sheffield Slough South Shields Stoke-on-Trent Sunbury Sunderland Thundersley Warrington Weybridge Windsor Worthing York Advertisement

'Our customer-centric networks, underpinned by 5G and LTE-M technologies, will help power this country into recovery as we look to rebuild Britain.

'I believe technologies like 5G and LTE-M are going to revolutionise the way people and businesses use mobile connectivity, unlocking huge possibilities for our economy and society.'

The firm's LTE-M network, a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) designed to support Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors, now covers 57 per cent of premises and 58 per cent of the population.

The LTE-M network will enable businesses to support millions of long-life 'smart' devices and appliances simultaneously, according to O2.

IOT AND LTE-M IoT devices are every day objects, such as doorbells, fridges and lighbulbs, that connect to the internet. An IoT network lays the foundation for Britains smart cities, businesses and homes, O2 said. LTE-M network is a of low power wide area network that enables the Internet of Things (IoT). The LTE-M network, a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN), will enable businesses to support millions of long-life IoT devices simultaneously. LPWAN networks aim to cover a wide area with low bit rates - bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. A bit (short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a computer. Advertisement

'Its designed as a catalyst to help encourage massive scale for future IoT deployment for UK businesses,' Paul OSullivan, director of wholesale and commercial at O2, previously said in a blog post.

'Enabling IoT devices to transfer small amounts of data between them at a low power consumption, the impact of our new LTE-M network will be huge.'



O2 said that its 5G network supplements rather than replaces the 4G network, which it currently offers in 19,185 cities, towns and villages across the UK.

Rival telco EE announced last month that it has activated its own 5G technology in 80 cities and towns in total, as it marked its one-year anniversary since launching the service.

EE  which now supports 5G in more UK locations than any other operator  was first to launch 5G in the UK, with coverage in London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Birmingham and Manchester.

Of the other 'big four' UK telcos, Three was the last to introduce the next-generation wireless standard to smartphones, which was eventually launched in February 2020.

Pictured, a burned down mast in London on 15 April. Scientists and government experts have dismissed the theories as being completely false and having no basis in scientific fact

5G is expected to be up to 1,000 times faster than the currently used network standard, 4G

The firm's 5G network is now available on mobiles in 65 locations, including London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham.

Vodafone's 5G network, meanwhile, supports the fewest locations in the UK out of the big four  only 44  although it supports 70 locations across Germany, Spain, Italy and Ireland.

There is no official speed standard for 5G, but many experts expect it to be up to 10 times faster than 4G  and therefore potentially faster than some home fibre broadband.
A top US official has blasted HSBC for its 'corporate kowtows' to Beijing.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - the chief foreign affairs adviser to President Donald Trump - joined British politicians in criticising the bank for its stance on Hong Kong.

HSBC and other UK firms operating in Hong Kong such as Standard Chartered have faced a backlash after publicly backing draconian new security laws imposed on the former British territory by China.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - the chief foreign affairs adviser to President Donald Trump - accused HSBC of a 'show of fealty' in the face of 'bullying'

Critics including the UK and US governments say the legislation will erode freedoms and human rights in Hong Kong and tighten Beijing's grip on the territory.

In a sign of the difficulties HSBC and others face navigating stormy political waters, Pompeo accused the bank of a 'show of fealty' in the face of 'bullying'.

And he said the US stood ready to help Britain with crucial projects such as nuclear power plants and 5G.

The comments came after Beijing allegedly threatened to punish HSBC and backtrack on commitments to fund nuclear power projects in the UK, in retaliation for Boris Johnson's decision to limit the role of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei in Britain's 5G network.

Pompeo said: 'The United States stands with our allies and partners against the Chinese Communist Party's coercive bullying tactics.'

He added: 'Beijing's aggressive behaviour shows why countries should avoid economic over-reliance on China and should guard their critical infrastructure from Chinese Communist Party influence.

HSBC was set up in Hong Kong in 1865 but moved its HQ to London in the 1990s following the takeover of Midland Bank

The US stands ready to assist our friends in the UK with any needs they have, from building secure and reliable nuclear power plants to developing trusted 5G solutions that protect their citizens' privacy.

'Free nations deal in true friendship and desire mutual prosperity, not political and corporate kowtows.'

The intervention turns up the heat on HSBC, which last week backed the controversial law China is imposing on Hong Kong.

'That show of fealty seems to have earned HSBC little respect in Beijing, which continues to use the bank's business in China as political leverage against London,' Pompeo said.

HSBC was set up in Hong Kong in 1865 but moved its HQ to London in the 1990s following the takeover of Midland Bank. But the bank needs to keep China on-side, as it makes the vast majority of its money in Asia.

Chairman Mark Tucker and chief executive Noel Quinn this year outlined their plans to expand in mainland China.

But it must be wary of alienating the West, as it is listed in London and many investors are in Europe and the US.

Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested the bank may be 'more closely aligned to the Chinese government than Her Majesty's Government'.

Standard Chartered faces a similar dilemma to HSBC. Just this week, shareholder Aviva Investors criticised both banks for their stance on Hong Kong.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying called Pompeo 'narrow-minded' for assuming HSBC had been coerced. She said: 'The world is diverse and everyone should have the right to make independent decisions.'
History rhymes, but it doesnt repeat. In 1969, as today, new leaders came forward, new tactics were deployed, and thoughts turned to the perennial problem of what next. This year, during a presidential campaign, those plans center not only on police department reforms but on voter registration, turnout mobilization, lobbying, legislating and political campaigns. A culture of solidarity forms, perhaps partly because Americans have already rehearsed social cohesion with social distancing and mask-wearing to ward off the coronavirus. Surprising allies and defenders crop up. In 1969, no one could have imagined that the First Amendment right of demonstrators to unimpeded assembly would win the strenuous support of so many retired military leaders. One retired military official called these past few weeks a precipice moment. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) marched with protesters last weekend, echoing the cross-aisle reach.
A message from protesters on fencing around the White House on Tuesday. (Brittany Shepherd)

WASHINGTON  Three miles of black chain-link fence wrapped around the perimeters of the White House, designed to keep Americans away from the seat of U.S. power, were transformed into a memorial of their grief and anguish.

8 min 46 sec. How many arent filmed? read a message Tuesday woven into the fencing that faced the back of the White House, which sits adjacent to Lafayette Square, a scene of aggravation and escalated violence over the last two weeks following the murder of 46-year-old black man George Floyd, whose death inspired intersectional outrage around the world and kicked off renewed conversations about racial disparities and broken systems of policing.

Now that the National Guard, which rattled down D.C. streets in armored cars, has been shooed off, fears of dodging tear gas and pepper spray have abated and hostility in the newly minted Black Lives Matter Plaza  the teeming ground zero of Washingtons protests  has eased considerably, according to a half-dozen protesters who spoke to Yahoo News.

I dont feel the tension, said Terry Evans, a 31-year-old black protester whos been participating in demonstrations for the past week. Evans credited the dynamic shift in part to the eased police presence as well as to Floyds funeral, which was happening live at the time. I feel like [the burial] resonates, especially with people of color, so we do feel a sense of calm, totally out of respect for him and his family.

Evans went to the White House to pay his respects and get a photo in front of the fence-turned-memorials centerpiece: a sprawling black flag with Black lives matter emblazoned in block letters.

A flag attached to the fence on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. (Brittany Shepherd)

Hes not the only one  several dozen demonstrators and lookie-loos alike snapped photos in front of the flag, which almost totally obscured what little of the White House can be seen behind the fence, the typical tourist photo taking on new meaning.

This is the thing that everyone has been avoiding talking about, said Evans. The fact that everybodys talking about it, that makes me happy. Im still in shock.

Story continues

Thirty-eight-year-old Lawrence Waters made his first appearance Tuesday, motivated by his own conflicting identities: a relative to those in law enforcement and a friend of someone who was killed by police brutality. Something about the energy following Floyds death settled differently with him, in a sort of hard-to-explain way. He plans to show up and out as long as he can.

I feel like its easing up now, but were going to wait for the conviction. If [the cops] arent convicted, then I think unfortunately were going to see a different outcome on the streets. America may be turned upside down, said Waters.

He, too, took a photo in front of the flag.

Ill tell my kids and grandkids that I was down here marching in front of the White House, making our voices known. Its really powerful.

Yet the revolution doesnt end with a well-lit photo op: For the groups remaining outside the White House, advocacy is entering a new stage.

Daniel Nelson, a 48-year-old black man from Berryville, Va., wants to turn his combined feelings of anger, hope and frustration into something productive. He hopes the next phase of protests is boycotts, though he isnt sure where exactly to start.

I think its necessary to show your presence and support for what I believe to be a tipping point for America, said Nelson. Its judgment day. Whose side are you on: justice, or just us?

Hes less enthused with the idea that change begins and ends at the ballot box, pointing toward police brutality under former President Barack Obama, the first and only black president.

Striking to Nelson, and reflective of recent movements outside D.C., is the diverse racial makeup of the crowd. He finds this not only personally uplifting but instrumental to change happening at systemic levels.

I know we cant keep doing what weve been doing, because then were going to be getting what weve been getting: nothing. What really gives me hope is that this is the first time that white America has jumped on board to say enough is enough, said Nelson.

Waters was similarly moved.

Demonstrators near the White House on Wednesday. (Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images)

Theyre going to have to speak up in order for things to get changed. Thats just the way privilege works. Thats just the way politics works. We cant do it alone, because [black] voices have already been silenced, explained Waters. But when you have white people speaking out loudly, its quite difficult to ignore.

This is an argument held by some activists online too, who have encouraged those who arent black to amplify black voices and shoulder some of the burden of explaining race relations that is often projected onto black people in workplaces and social circles. Such was the intention of #ShareTheMicNow, a social media initiative that paired black activists and creators with high-profile white celebrities, politicians and influencers. On Wednesday, those black activists took over the Twitter and Instagram accounts of non-black counterparts like actress Hilary Swank, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

And, at least anecdotally, that message was being heard by white protesters outside the White House. Some were handing out first-aid supplies, water and Gatorade, while one went a sweeter route. Cornelia Smith, a 23-year-old recent Columbia graduate whos been at the protests for about two weeks, was giving banana bread to strangers. She doesnt always bring snacks, though she finds it a way to offer some sustenance, and maybe a little joy, too, during a painful time.

She said she has a responsibility as a white person who is afforded a certain amount of privilege to educate her own possibly ignorant communities, and has tried to kick-start those hard-to-navigate conversations while shes been forced back home to Georgetown because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Friends of mine are doing similar things in their predominantly white communities, said Smith. Maybe its just the people I surround myself with, but a lot of people, at least my age, understand that theres a big reckoning that we have to make with the history of this country, and a lot of us have reflections on the education that weve had thus far and whats absent from that.

But where does that go from here? Smith doesnt think protests will stop, even if theyre not carried nonstop on cable news.

No matter what happens, people are going to keep showing up until there is definite change that happens, and thats not just going to be with police budgets and not just going to be getting certain officials elected, said Smith. Its going to take a lot of time.

Demonstrators against police brutality and the death of George Floyd in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Thirty-two-year-old Heather, who asked that her full name not be used, said she was turning online and to Netflix to educate herself about her whiteness so her community did not have to. After losing her voice from protesting for six days straight, Heather began watching LA 92 and 13th, two popular documentaries about race riots and black history. She wants other white activists to follow suit and do a little education as they come into their homes and off the street.

I think there is a lot of reflection going on, said Heather. Ive taken time to read all the posters, the graffiti. I think a lot of people are not protesting [today]. I think theyre taking a moment to pause and celebrate black culture itself and reflect on the movement.

Joanne Horn, a 65-year-old who works on K Street, Washington, D.C.s lobbying hub, passed by to do just that. Shes white, too, and said she feels some responsibility to educate her friends and push for change, which to her begins and ends at the ballot box.

Turnout is going to be insanely important, said Horn. We got millions of people turning out [to the protests]. I damn well hope they turn out in November. They need to.

Horn eagerly wanted to snap a photo of the White House shrouded by layers of fencing; she had to maneuver around dozens of posters to get the perfect shot.

Isnt it insane? she mused, gesturing through one of the chain-link holes to the White House. I mean, wow, what a statement. He finally got his damn wall.

Thumbnail cover photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Concerns over the spread of the virus, along with the implementation of lockdown measures, have resulted in a significant global increase in cashless payments during the first few months of this year.

In Indonesia, for example, digital transactions rose by 102.5% year-on-year in the first four months of 2020, according to Bank Indonesia (BI), the central bank.

In the UAE, figures from Ken Research found that online grocery orders had increased by 80-100% in the first few months of the year, owing to the virus, while in Saudi Arabia some online retailers had experienced a 200% increase in average sales in the early stages of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, in Kenya, one of the leaders in digital payments in Africa, the government has advised people to use online or mobile methods rather than cash as a precaution against the virus.

To help facilitate this, Safaricom, the largest telecoms company in the country and the owner of the market-leading M-Pesa mobile money platform, announced in mid-March that it would remove fees for all transactions under KSh1000 ($9.42), while also increasing the daily transaction limit for small and medium-sized businesses from KSh70,000 ($659) to KSh150,000 ($1410).

Given these trends, analytics software company Statistica has estimated that, notwithstanding the possibility of a worldwide recession, global digital payments will increase by 14.2% this year.

Companies forced to adapt

The shift in payment methods has also driven retailers and malls to improve their online offerings.

For example, in Dubai a number of larger malls have turned towards online platforms to stimulate retail activity during lockdowns and mall closures.

In mid-April the Dubai Mall, the largest retail space in the UAE, launched its own virtual store on the Gulf e-commerce platform noon.com. The Mall of the Emirates, Dubais second-largest mall, also established its own online platform, called Trends at Your Doorstep, while hypermarket chain Carrefour UAE upgraded its portal into a full-scale online marketplace.

Even for firms with well developed e-commerce platforms, adjustments were necessary to capitalise on changes in demand.

We have had to adapt from a platform where at any time consumers can buy whatever they want to a platform that primarily makes sure consumers can access basic essentials, such as food, sanitary items and personal hygiene products, Juliet Anammah, chairwoman of online marketplace Jumia Nigeria, told OBG.

In response to rising online demand, e-commerce platforms were also compelled to improve or expand their delivery and payment services.

One of the areas that was notably affected was payments, as there was concern about the cleanliness and safety of cash transactions, Anammah said. To address this, we migrated to contactless deliveries, and made sure that that our deliverymen had hand sanitiser, wore masks and dropped items at the front doors.

Cashless strategies

While influenced by the pandemic, the increase in digital payments also aligns with a number of longstanding government policies in emerging markets designed to encourage cashless growth.

In 2014 BI launched the National Non-Cash Movement in Indonesia, which seeks to limit cash transactions by promoting alternative payment methods.

This was supported in 2017 by a ban on cash payments for road tolls and and the introduction of legislation to limit cash payments to a maximum of Rp100m ($7190), which was intended to curb bribery and money laundering. Related: Demand For Life Insurance Soars Despite Dropping Sales

The value of digital transactions in the country has risen dramatically from around Rp11.8trn ($847.2m) in 2017 to Rp145.2trn ($10.4bn) last year, and is expected to experience continued growth amid Covid-19.

Elsewhere, the Financial Sector Development Programme in Saudi Arabia aims to increase the proportion of online payments in the kingdom to 70% by 2030, up from 36% in 2019.

In support of this strategy, in October 2019 the Saudi government implemented the E-commerce Law, designed to regulate digital payments and improve transparency, while on January 31 the Ministry of Commerce adopted the Implementing Regulations of the E-commerce Law, which strengthened oversight in areas such as personal data protection, consumer rights and disclosure obligations.

Such an approach should also help boost financial inclusion, which is generally lower in emerging markets than in developed ones.

While the global percentage of people over the age of 15 who had a bank account stood at 68.5% in 2017, according to the World Banks most recent Global Financial Inclusion Index, the figure was just 34.9% in low-income countries.

Long-term shift?

The pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated the uptake of alternative payment methods and helped normalise their usage in emerging markets. However, Anammah believes there are a number of factors that could determine whether such a shift will endure over the long term.

The Covid-19 pandemic will encourage more people to move away from cash transactions to the extent that they have a choice, she said.

In fact, we have seen recently that many of our customers in Nigeria do not want to use cash if possible. This choice is based on multiple factors, such as access to devices with digital payments, and the cost of the transaction and payment solution. It is important to breakdown all these elements to make sure the cost of digital transactions is sufficiently low to encourage more people to go digital.

By Oxford Business Group

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
L ondon Mayor Sadiq Khan has ordered a review of all London's statues and street names, saying those linked to slavery should be removed.

Last Sunday, anti-racism protesters in Bristol tore down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston; the statue has since been fished out of the harbour waters into which it was tossed and is going to be placed in a museum, instead.

A statue of Robert Milligan, a slave trader who owned two sugar plantations and 526 slaves in Jamaica, was removed from the Museum of London Docklands on June 9, and a figure out Scout founder Robert Baden-Powell is also set to be removed from Poole Quay in Dorset.

On Thursday, June 11 it was also announced that statues of Sir Robert Clayton and Thomas Guy would be removed from Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London Bridge, given their ties to the slave trade.

However, there are a number of statues of slave traders and colonialists across London which campaigners want removed.

Slaveholder Robert Milligan's statue was removed on Tuesday (TOWER HAMLETS COUNCIL/AFP via Ge) / TOWER HAMLETS COUNCIL/AFP via Getty Images

How many statues of slave traders and colonialists are there in the capital?

A new website calling itself "Topple the Racists" is appealing for people to add statutes of across the country of controversial figures who supported or profited from racial violence and segregation. It is a crowd-sourced map and says it is a project from the Stop Trump Coalition.

Loading....

So far 15 statues have been added by activists. They are:
LONDON  European Union officials are preparing to bring antitrust charges against Amazon for abusing its dominance in internet commerce to box out smaller rivals, according to people with knowledge of the case.

Nearly two years in the making, the case is one of the most aggressive attempts by a government to crimp the power of the e-commerce giant, which has largely sidestepped regulation throughout its 26-year history.

The European Union regulators, who already have a reputation as the worlds most aggressive watchdogs of the technology industry, have determined that Amazon is stifling competition by unfairly using data collected from third-party merchants to boost its own product offerings, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations were private.

The case against Amazon is part of a broader attempt in the United States and Europe to probe the business practices of the worlds largest technology companies, as authorities on both sides of the Atlantic see what they believe is a worrying concentration of power in the digital economy.
Ex-MP calls for independent inquiry after catalogue of very serious errors followed by a cover-up in Nicholas Churton murder

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jun 11th, 2020

After reports were finally released into how a prisoner on licence killed a vulnerable man with a machete and hammer, former MP has called for an independent inquiry into why it took so long.

The murderer, Jordan Davidson, was caught with a blade but released on bail, despite two previous knife offences on his record, 12 previous offences committed on previous bails and having come onto North Wales Polices radar eight times after his release on licence.

Having escaped a recall to jail he hacked vulnerable former wine bar owner Nicholas Churton to death in his Wrexham home four days later.

Full reports, finally released this week, detail how six police officers and staff were referred by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after his death in March 2017.

One call handler left the force without recourse, only to rejoin as a police officer, three were cleared of misconduct and two officers were censured for unsatisfactory performance.

He also committed armed robberies, burglaries and assaulted an off-duty security guard with a hammer before being tackled by two hero officers at a Flint garage.

The full IOPC reports have taken more than two-and-a-half years in total to release.

Former Wrexham MP Ian Lucas said: The whole case is a catalogue of very serious errors followed by a cover-up to the public, the family and their elected representative.

I think we need an independent inquiry so we can find out exactly what occurred.

The full reports list how a custody sergeant was cleared of misconduct, despite releasing Davidson on bail after his arrest for threatening four men with a knife in Wrexham town centre.

After Mr Churtons death it emerged police had been aware of Davidson forcing his way into the victims home on an earlier occasion.

However that call, on March 14, was not given sufficient priority, wasnt investigated seriously enough and the vulnerable 67 year-old was told by an officer to ask his friends to find out his assailants name.

The full IOPC report said the custody sergeant dealing with Davidson, after his arrest for possession of a knife on March 19, 2017:

Didnt remand Davidson because in their view a magistrates court wouldnt have remanded him  a stance the IOPC said didnt reflect an understanding of their responsibilities or relevant legislation

Didnt take into account the fact Davidson had committed 12 offences while on bail in the past

Didnt take into account he had two previous convictions for possessing a knife

Did not contact either the probation service or the privately owned Community Rehabilitation company regarding Davidsons licence conditions

Told IOPC investigators intelligence passed to custody officers that Davidson had a machete and axe was untested

Didnt give consideration to the fact Davidson was on licence from prison before releasing him on bail

Didnt call a nurse despite Davidson telling him he had psychosis and an antisocial personality disorder and was not taking his quetiapine medication

Didnt call an appropriate adult to help Davidson despite him saying he needed support

A separate report into the polices interactions with Mr Churton before he died showed another catalogue of missed chances and poor performance. A call handler who failed to correctly prioritise a call from Mr Churton after Davidson had forced his way into his flat and stolen items including a hammer.

The call handler was alleged to have breached professional standards but left North Wales Police before the IOPC concluded its investigation. The call handler has since been employed as a police officer by the force and it agreed to administer learning opportunities including the importance of listening carefully to the caller to gather information and asking relevant questions to obtain the best possible account from a vulnerable complainant.

A police constable (PC B), referred by the IOPC for misconduct, was cleared at a meeting and censured for unsatisfactory performance. That was after the officer:

Labelled the robbery by Davidson as a theft  a less serious charge

Handed the call to local policing, which meant they would contact him within 10 days

Recorded Mr Churton as not vulnerable when he was

Missed out Mr Churtons vulnerabilities on a risk assessment

Did not include the name of a vital witness who could have identified Davidson in their report

Did not record that Davidson tried to lock Mr Churton in his kitchen, after knocking on his door and asking if he could use his toilet

Asked Mr Churton to go back and speak to his friends to obtain more information to identify Davidson, instead of getting officers to investigate

Failed to call crime scene investigators or carry out detailed enquiries

Told the IOPC investigation it is for people to conduct their own enquiries

The IOPC recommended a different sergeant face a misconduct charge but that was unproven and a censure for unsatisfactory performance was handed out

Another sergeant and an acting inspector were censured for unsatisfactory performance over the incorrect classification of Mr Churtons complaint.

North Wales Police superintendent Nick Evans, of the forces Professional Standards Department said: We would once again wish to express our condolences to Mr Churtons family.

North Wales Police has been fully engaged with the IOPC and other partners througout the investigation to ensure that lessons have been learned from this tragic incident.

The force fully accepts the recommendations emanating from the IOPC reports. and have already amended policies and procedures as a result.

North Wales Police deputy chief constable Richard Debicki said: I am genuinely sorry if there was anything more that could have been done as an organisation which might have this awful event.

The Probation Service said it would write and apologise to the family in April for errors in its dealings with Davidson, after a leaked report highlighted a litany of mistakes.

Davidson is currently serving a 30 year sentence for the murder of Mr Churton and 12 other offences.

By Jez Hemming  BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme)
Four years ago, Yanti (not her real name), a 42-year-old literary writer and stage actress, had a love affair with a married man who was 15 years older; her senior whom she met in her theatrical troupe.

I knew he was already married. I got into the relationship simply because I was so lonely. One day, when we were rehearsing for a play and he was falling asleep on the studio floor, I grabbed his cell phone, which he left lying there, browsed through his WhatsApp messages and found some pornographic conversations he had with multiple women, Yanti said.

Upon being confronted about his other affairs, the man eventually dumped her.

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Bhubaneswar: In view of the COVID-19 situation in Odisha, the state government has decided to cancel all pending final semester and final year exams of various Under Graduate and Post Graduate courses.

According to OdishaTV.in, the decision to this effect was taken by the Higher Education Department of Odisha on Thursday.

Now, the universities and autonomous colleges across the state will follow evaluation methodology recommended by the UGC for evaluation or final/final semester examination and results are likely to be published by the end of August.

In its order, the higher education department has directed colleges to follow the following evaluation methodology including prescribed weightage for internal assessment and remaining weightage to average of marks obtained in all previous semesters/ years in a particular subject.

The students can also apply for re-evaluation if they feel that marks given to them are not in line with their expectations. They can apply as per the existing format by November 2020.

The revised results in such cases will be published by December 2020.

However, this decision of the State government will not be applicable for universities and colleges where the examinations have already concluded.

Besides, the higher education department has also cancelled the exams of students with more than two back papers in final semester/ final year exams. Back paper evaluation will be done as per proportionate quotient (P-Q) or any other alternate method.

These guidelines will be applicable for all universities and autonomous colleges under the Odisha Higher Education department barring medical courses. All the examinations of medical courses will be conducted as per schedule.
New Delhi, June 11 : The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a plea seeking a CBI probe into the lynching of Sadhus in Palghar, and sought response from Maharashtra government.

A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, M.R. Shah and V. Ramasubramanian also issued notice on a separate plea seeking National Investigating Agency (NIA) probe to ensure evidence in the matter is not destroyed. The apex court has scheduled further hearing on the matter in the second week of July.

A group of petitioners, all Juna Akhara priests and some of the relatives of the victims told the top court that they have no faith in Maharashtra government or the police. The petitioners also said that they do not expect a fair and just investigation into the case, as they suspected the government and police's involvement in it.

"There is a reasonable apprehension of bias, if Respondent No. 2 (Maharashtra police) proceeds with the investigation. It is judicially acknowledged that right to fair and just investigation is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Therefore, the petitioners have approached this court inter alia, seeking transfer of investigation of the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation", argued the petitioners.

Maharashtra government counsel opposed the petitions and contended before the top court that similar matters are pending before the Bombay High Court too. The counsel for the petitioner seeking NIA probe argued "our apprehension is that the evidence will disappear." Counsel appearing for the June Akhara argued "witnesses are committing suicide. We have reasons to believe that investigation is not taking its course." The plea contended that in front of the police officials, the mob started beating sadhus, Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70) and Sushilgiri Maharaj Kalpavrukshagir (35). The plea contended that the Sadhus were brutally and mercilessly beaten to death in the presence and possible complicity of the Maharashtra police and the state government.

The petitioners counsel argued that the totality of the circumstances raises some serious (unanswered) questions about the state government and the police ability to independently and impartially investigate and inquire into the incident considering the potential of their involvement in the gruesome lynching that took place on April 16.
Trot Insider has learned that Liberty Dancer, 30, who made his name known across the Ontario racing scene during his 421-race career, passed away on Tuesday, June 9 from natural causes.

The gelded son of Armbro Cadet ground his way to 55 wins, 79 second-place finishes and 71 thirds over the course of his career. The bay was able to stash away $346,509 in purses overall and lowered his mark to 1:54.3 over Kawartha Downs at the age of 12.

A great deal of Liberty Dancer's starts came for trainer Art Balson, who was the conditioner of record when the veteran was retired in the fall of 2004 at the age of 14.

Art and Wendy Balson kept Liberty Dancer as a pet for the duration of his retired life.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Liberty Dancer.
India, China maintaining engagements to resolve eastern Ladakh row at earliest: MEA

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, June 11: India and China are maintaining military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the eastern Ladakh row at the earliest, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

At a weekly media briefing, Spokesperson in the MEA Anurag Srivastava said both sides have agreed to work for an early resolution to the issue in keeping with broader guidance provided by leaders of the two countries for ensuring peace and tranquillity along the border areas.

India-China are properly handling border issue says Chinese official

Delhi: Jama Masjid to remain shut till June 30th amid increasing cases of Coronavirus| Oneindia News

He, however, did not respond to questions relating to reports of pulling back of troops by both India and China from certain friction points in the Galwan Valley and Hot Spring areas in eastern Ladakh in the last few days.

"A meeting was held between core commanders of India and China on June 6. This meeting was in continuation of our diplomatic and military engagement which both sides maintained in order to address the situation in areas along the India-China border," the MEA spokesperson said.

"It was agreed in the meeting that an early resolution of the situation would be in keeping with guidance of our leaders. The two sides are, therefore, maintaining military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the situation at the earliest and also to ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas," he said.

"This is essential for further development of India-China bilateral relations," Srivastava said. Military sources on Tuesday claimed that the two armies began "disengagement" around patrolling points 14 and 15 in Galwan Valley and another in the Hot Spring area, adding that the Chinese side has even moved back up to 1.5 km in the two areas. Indian and Chinese troops were in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation since May 5 following a violent clash on the banks of the Pangong lake.
A judge today warned he will strike out a criminal damage charge against a west Clare farmer who was arrested by Gardai the same day his mother was buried last month.

At Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan issued the warning after expressing frustration over the failure to date by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to issue directions in the case.

John Morrissey (53) of Clonreddan, Cooraclare, is charged with causing criminal damage to a fuse box at the home of his brother, Tom Morrissey at Alva, Cooraclare on May 5th.

The Morrissey brothers mother was buried the same day and John Morrissey has been in custody since after being refused bail by Judge Durcan last month.

Sgt Louis Moloney told the court today that the file had been sent off by the Gardai to the DPP.

Judge Durcan stated: I am not happy with this at allI am giving you a week sergeant. I want this clarified. If it is not clarified by this day week, I am going to strike the charge out.

Judge Durcan stated that he had already ruled that he would hear the case in the district court.

Mr Morrissey - who appeared in court today via video link from prison- is facing a more serious charge of criminal damage where he is accused of causing significant structural damage to the disputed property.

In the second charge brought against John Morrissey, he is charged with causing significant internal and external structural damage to the home/house of Mary Morrissey and Tom Morrissey at Alva, Cooraclare on December 13th last.

As part of the single criminal damage charge, John Morrissey is also charged with damaging the contents of the home/house of Mary Morrissey and Tom Morrissey.

John Morrissy is accused of demolishing the external garage of the home and damage to the septic tank of the property belonged to Mary Morrissey and Tom Morrissey.

Solicitor for Mr Morrissey, Stiofan Fitzpatrick told the court today that because the two criminal damage charges are related to the same property, the DPP requested that a file from the Garda concerning the fuse box criminal damage charge.

Mr Fitzpatrick stated that the DPP has made no direction concerning the fuse box criminal damage charge and has directed that the criminal damage of the property from last December be heard in the circuit court.

When the first criminal damage charge concerning the fuse box came before the court last month, Mr Fitzpatrick told the court: It is obvious that this is a family dispute and a family matter and there is a lot of tension and strong feeling in relation to that.

He stated: My client believes that this isnt the property of his brother who is the complainant and he believes that this will be borne out in time when the estate is dealt with.

Mr Fitzpatrick stated that the property is owned by Mr Morrisseys late mother.

He stated: We dont know who that property has been passed onto. There is no information in relation to that.

Mr Fitzpatrick stated that John Morrissey farms all of the land surrounding the house.

Judge Durcan further remanded Mr Morrissey in custody to appear before the court next Wednesday, June 17th via video link.
In Lafayette Park, just steps away from the White House, a wealthy hotelier ran a second business selling enslaved men and women to the highest bidder.

He kept them in a brick cell beside his mansion, and at night an observer recalled hearing their howls and cries.

Today in the park there is no plaque, no bench and no monument, to paraphrase Toni Morrison, to memorialize the human lives brutalized there throughout much of the 19th century. After a hard-fought Civil War, the institution of chattel slavery was legally abolished as the U.S. nominally attempted to make racial violence a thing of the past. These days, in the public space situated across from the White House, one is likely to encounter instead an odd mix of office workers on lunch break and MAGA-hat-wearing tourists mingling around the hoteliers former mansion, known as Decatur House.

Or at least, that was the scene before the past three weeks turned Lafayette Park into a crucible for the fight over the still-present legacy of slavery in America: systemic racism.

Just before 7 p.m. on June 1, a deployment of local, state and federal forces, armored head to toe in riot gear, unleashed rubber bullets and sprayed tear gas onto a crowd of peaceful demonstrators gathered in the park to protest under the mantra Black Lives Matter. Moments after the crowd was forcibly dispersed, screaming as their eyes burned from the gas, President Donald Trump strolled out of the White House flanked by senior members of his Administration, triumphantly holding up a Bible so the press could snap a few photos.

Since then, the debate over systemic racism has spread across the nation and around the world. Trumps Administration has repeatedly denied that discrimination against black Americans is embedded in the political, economic and social structure of the country. Trump believes there are injustices in society, his press secretary said, but she brushed aside the notion that antiblackness is intrinsic to U.S. law enforcement. His National Security Adviser, Robert OBrien, said racist police are just a few bad apples, adding, we need to root them out. Attorney General William Barr warned against automatically assuming that the actions of an individual necessarily mean that their organization is rotten.

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But, for all thats good about America, something is rotten. The protesters in Lafayette Park on June 1 may have been galvanized by the disturbing video of the murder of George Floyd, suffocated to death beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer just a week prior. But at the core of their movement is much more than the outrage over the latest instances of police brutality. Centuries of racist policy, both explicit and implicit, have left black Americans in the dust, physically, emotionally and economically. The U.S. may think it has brushed chattel slavery into the dustbin of history after the Civil War, but the country never did a very good job incinerating its traumatic remains, instead leaving embers that still burn today: an education system that fails black Americans, substandard health care that makes them more vulnerable to death and disease, and an economy that leaves millions without access to a living wage.

Politicians, activists and everyday people can and should debate what to do about this reality, but it is a reality, one evident in volumes of data, research and reporting, not to mention the lived experience of millions of African Americans each and every day. What is helping make this moment historic is that over these past weeks and months, much of the rest of the U.S. appears to have woken up to this truth too.

Photograph by Devin Allen

The crowds of protesters from Seattle to Miami include not just black youth, but a diverse array that looks something like the country itself. In 2015, in the wake of unrest in Ferguson, Mo., just half of Americans said they believed racial discrimination to be a big problem, and, in 2016, only a third considered black Americans more likely to suffer from police brutality, according to Monmouth University polling. Today, by contrast, more than 75% of Americans say discrimination is a big problem and 57% understand that African Americans are more likely to suffer from police violence than other demographic groups are, a recent Monmouth poll found.

More broadly, the notion of systemic racism, once confined to academic and activist circles on the left of the spectrum, has become the phrase du jour, with Google searches for the term rising a hundredfold in a matter of months and mainstream conservatives like former President George W. Bush joining historically moderate Democrats like Joe Biden in embracing the term to call for a national reckoning.

This spreading recognition highlights an ever starker dividing line in America. On one side, a growing majority of the country is increasingly ready to repudiate its history of structural racism. On the other, many of those in power, especially at the White House, are eager to deny it. This is no surprise. By definition, systemic racism is embedded deep and wide across American society and, therefore, cant easily be rectified. But, for many of those who have spent their lives fighting for racial justice, this is a moment of reckoning that has been a long time coming. Not everything that is faced can be changed, James Baldwin, the black author and activist wrote in the manuscript of his memoir Remember This House, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

Engwin Williams, 10, awaits the passing of George Floyd's casket in Houston on June 9. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

The origins of Americas unjust racial order lie in the most brutal institution of enslavement that human beings have ever concocted. More than 12 million Africans of all ages, shackled in the bottom of ships, were sold into a lifetime of forced labor defined by nonstop violence and strategic dehumanization, all cataloged methodically in sales receipts and ledgers. Around that peculiar institution, the thinkers of the time crafted an equally inhumane ideology to justify their brutality, using religious rhetoric in tandem with pseudoscience to rationalize treating humans as chattel. After the Civil War, the arrangements of legal slavery were replaced with those of organized, if not strictly legal, terror. Lynchings, disenfranchisement and indentured servitude all reinforced racial hierarchy from the period of Reconstruction through Jim Crow segregation and on until the movement for civil rights in the middle of the 20th century.

Thats the ugly history most Americans know and acknowledge. But systemic racism also found its way, more insidiously, into the institutions many Americans revere and seek to safe-guard. Established in the 1930s, Social Security helped ensure a stable old age for most Americans, but it initially excluded domestic and agricultural workers, leaving behind two-thirds of black Americans. Federal mortgage lending programs helped white Americans buy homes after World War II, but black Americans suffered from a shameful catch-22. Federal policy said that the very presence of a black resident in a neighborhood reduced the value of the homes there, effectively prohibiting African-American residents from borrowing money to buy a home. And sentencing laws of the past several decades meant that poor black Americans were thrown in prison for decades-long terms for consuming one type of cocaine while their wealthier white counterparts got a slap on the wrist for consuming another.

Theres a straight line between these policies and the state of black America today. The lack of Social Security kept black Americans toiling in old age or forced them to the streets. The obstruction of black homeownership, among other factors, has left African Americans poorer and more economically vulnerable, with the average black household worth $17,000 in 2016 while the average white household was worth 10 times that. Tough on crime sentencing policies have ballooned the black prison population, torn apart families and left millions of children to grow up in single-parent homes.

This systemic discrimination is also a matter of life and death, and police violence, which kills hundreds of African Americans every year, is just the start. Look no further than the coronavirus pandemic. The neighborhoods in which black Americans often find themselves confined by a legacy of discriminatory policy are rife with pollution and, in many cases, lack even basic options for nutritious food. This leaves residents more likely to suffer from health ailments like asthma and diabetes, both of which increase the chances of poor outcomes for those infected with COVID-19.

To actually capture all the ways in which the system is skewed against black people would require tome upon tome. But even a short list feels very long: black women are three to four times as likely as white women to die in childbirth, in part because of a lack of access to quality health care; black children are more likely to attend underresourced schools, thanks to a reliance on local property taxes for funding; black voters are four times as likely as white voters to report difficulties voting or engaging in politics than their white counterparts, in part because of laws that even today are designed to keep them for exercising their basic democratic rights; millions more have been disenfranchised because of felony convictions; hurricane flooding has been shown to hit black neighborhoods disproportionately.

Jeh Johnson, a lawyer who served as Obamas Homeland Security Secretary and was recently tapped to help New York state courts conduct a racial bias review, explained it flatly. Defined broadly enough, one could say that theres systemic racism across every institution in America, he told CNN recently.

With this in mind, it may come as little surprise that black Americans took to the streets in protest following the murder of George Floyd. Nearly 17% of African Americans are unemployed. When the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a surprise up-tick in jobs in May, the unemployment rate for African Americans in particular nevertheless remained on the rise. In the U.S., black Americans are dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of their white counterparts. In some states, the disparity is even sharper.

Whats perhaps more surprising is that the rest of America is apparently waking up to these realities. For decades, the truth of systemic racism has always been swept under the rug, lest it make white Americans uncomfortable and hurt the electoral chances of those with the power to address it. In 1968, the Kerner Commission, initiated by President Lyndon Johnson to study unrest in American cities insisted that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it. The results of the Commission were largely ignored.

During Barack Obamas first presidential campaign, many Americans were outraged when news broke that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obamas pastor, had uttered the words God damn America for killing innocent people, treating our citizens as less than human and failing the vast majority of her citizens of African descent. Obama condemned the comments and reminded the public that, actually, the U.S. had made great progress, even while acknowledging far more was needed.

A horse-drawn carriage brought Floyds body into the cemetery on June 9. It felt like a state funeral, Roye said. It felt like they were sending him off with the newfound persona that he had been catapulted into, and this was one of the ways to honor what he became. It felt right. | Ruddy Roye for TIME

Today, the conversation is different, and one wonders whether such remarks, as salient now as they were then, would still be met with disavowal. The U.S. cannot deny what is plainly before its eyes. Shocking videos depict George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery murdered in broad daylight. Tens of thousands of black lives have been taken by the coronavirus. And, in the midst of all this, the President fans the flames of racial tensions with dog whistles so unsubtle that even the most skeptical can hear them.

In urban centers, black and white protesters have come forward together in defiance, joined by allies like GOP Senator Mitt Romney and longtime Koch Industries executive Mark Holden. In predominantly white cities across the country, white Americans have shown up by the thousands in solidarity. Even small towns in rural parts of the country have joined in the protests.

A lot would need to change to address such deeply rooted bias. The first test may come this year as momentum grows in city halls, statehouses and Washington, D.C., for reforms to root out police brutality, perhaps the most flagrant and visible injustice. Justice for George is something that many people who were killed through brutality of the police never get, says Benjamin Crump, a civil rights lawyer representing Floyds family. And that is a transformative justice, a systematic reform across the board.

Whatever the progress transpires in the coming months, the U.S. still has a long way to go. Last year, I happened to find myself in both Berlin and Charleston, S.C. In Berlin, where Adolf Hitler planned and oversaw the extermination of millions of Jews, it felt as though I couldnt walk a few blocks without a memorial atoning for that sin. In Charleston, I fell asleep on a picturesque beach, only to learn later that the site was a key node in the Atlantic slave trade, where traders imported 40% of enslaved Africans who came to North America. I spent the rest of the day feeling sick to my stomach, disgusted at the possibility that I had enjoyed a leisurely nap where, perhaps, one of my ancestors endured one of the most gruesome of human institutions.

Awakening can be painful. But in America, a reckoning is overdue.
>>> No new COVID-19 cases confirmed on June 10 morning

This afternoon, the hospital discharged two male patients from the northern port city of Hai Phong who were found to have contracted the coronavirus upon their return from abroad. They were quarantined immediately upon entry to prevent the spread of the disease to the community.

The patients are now in stable health and have produced multiple negative test results for SARS-CoV-2, thus making them eligible for the all-clear. They will continue to be isolated and monitored for the next 14 days at home.

The duo brings the total number of recoveries to 319 out of a total of 332 confirmed cases so far, a 96% success rate.

There are now only 13 COVID-19 patients undergoing treatment across the nation, with only four remaining at the Hanoi-based hospital.

As of Wednesday morning, Vietnam has gone through 55 straight days without a case of community transmission. Of the total 332 infections, 192 were imported and quarantined upon arrival.

Up until now, 49 out of 50 foreign COVID-19 patients have been declared as recovered after undergoing treatment in Vietnam. Currently, only Patient 91, a British pilot, is still being treated, currently at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, having previously being declared as free from the coronavirus. The patient has been able to sit up and continues to recover miraculously with 60% of his lungs have recovered, thanks to the stellar efforts of Vietnamese doctors.
Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) on Thursday (June 11) released the RBSE admit card 2020 for pending exams of Class 10th and Class 12th on the official website rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in.

The schools in Rajasthan have been advised to download the RBSE 10th admit card and RBSE 12 admit card from the official website and send the same to students.

The RBSE has increased the number of exam centres due to the coronavirus outbreak. It is learnt that the decision has been taken to help students maintain social distancing while writing exams. Earlier, the board centres was 5,680 but it has now been increased to 6,201.

It is mandatory for all students to carry their RBSE admit card to the exam centres. Over 20 lakh students will attend the RBSE exams this year.

The RBSE 12th exam will be conducted from June 18 to June 30, while the RBSE 10th exam will be held from June 27 to June 30.

RBSE pending Class 10 and 12 exams will be conducted in June and the results will be announced soon after the end of examinations...district education officers will order centre superintendents to sanitize exam centres, that have been identified as COVID centres, with the help of district administration and municipality, the RBSE had said in a statement earlier.

RBSE 10th Datesheet 2020:

June 29 - Social Science

June 30 - Maths

RBSE 12th Datesheet 2020:

June 18 - Maths

June 19 - Information Technology and Programming

June 22 - Geography

June 23 - Home Science

June 24 - Painting

June 25 - Hindi, Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, other languages

June 26 - Sanskrit

June 27 - English Literature

June 29 - Dance, other vocational subjects

June 30 - Psychology
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As medical data increasingly highlights the serious impact of COVID-19 on children's health, the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI) announces a special pitch competition focused on COVID-19-related pediatric medical devices that support home health monitoring and telehealth, and improve sustainability, resiliency and readiness in diagnosing and treating children during a pandemic.

Submissions for the competition are being accepted now through Mon., July 6, at the NCC-PDI website, Innovate4Kids.org, where complete details can be found. The competition is led by NCC-PDI co-founders the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Hospital and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland and powered by nonprofit accelerator and NCC-PDI member, MedTech Innovator. The finals in the virtual pitch event will be held on July 20, 2020. Winners will each receive a grant award of up to $50,000.

"Despite early reports that COVID-19 posed less of a threat to children, a recent study published by Children's National shows that considerable numbers of pediatric patients are hospitalized and become critically ill from the disease," says Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., M.B.A, P.M.P, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children's National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. "Innovation in children's medical devices consistently lags behind that of adults and we need to change that if we are to confront the challenge to children's health of COVID-19 and future pandemics."

Funding for the competition is made possible by a grant from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a philanthropic gift from Mei Xu, founder of e-commerce platform Yes She May, a site dedicated to women-owned brands. The creator of successful global businesses, Mei Xu is also a mother who understands the importance of pediatric specialty care and wants to encourage innovators who are developing solutions that can improve children's healthcare.

"My family and I recognize the importance of continued advancements in pediatric healthcare and we are proud to partner with Children's National Hospital on this effort," says Xu. "This is a unique opportunity to fuel the work of brilliant entrepreneurs as they develop medical devices that can make a difference for children everywhere."

Along with grant funding, one company from the competition will be selected by Johnson & Johnson Innovation  JLABS to receive a one-year residency at JLABS @ Washington, D.C., which will be located on the new Children's National Research and Innovation Campus currently under construction. In addition to the 2021 JLABS residency, the awardee will have access to the JLABS community and expert mentoring by the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. "We believe that supporting the community of innovators and entrepreneurs across the D.C. metropolitan area can foster new ideas and advance potential critical breakthroughs for children, so critical in the time of COVID-19 and beyond," says Sally Allain, head of JLABS @ Washington, D.C.

Experts at the University of Maryland, where COVID-19 projects ranging from improved PPE to better virus testing are in progress, encourage device innovators to be mindful of how their innovation can currently, or with adaptation, serve children's needs.

"The COVID-19 pandemic poses many new challenges to our healthcare system and it is vitally important that we focus resources and support on the unique needs of pediatric patients," says William E. Bentley, Ph.D., Robert E. Fischell distinguished professor and director of the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices at the University of Maryland. "Innovation in pediatric healthcare makes an exponential difference because, by positively impacting the lives of children, we positively affect the lives of their families and caregivers as well."

NCC-PDI is one of five members in the FDA's Pediatric Device Consortia Grant Program created to support the development and commercialization of medical devices for children, which lags significantly behind the progress of adult medical devices. Along with Children's National, University of Maryland and Medtech Innovator, NCC-PDI members include accelerator BioHealth Innovation and design firm Archimedic .

To date, NCC-PDI has mentored over 100 medical device sponsors to help advance their pediatric innovations, with seven devices having received either their FDA market clearance or CE marking. The consortium hosts a major pediatric pitch competition annually that showcases and awards promising pediatric innovations and provides a first-of-its-kind pediatric-focused accelerator program for finalists.

About Children's National Hospital

Children's National Hospital, based in Washington, D.C., celebrates 150 years of pediatric care, research and commitment to community. Volunteers opened the hospital in 1870 with 12 beds to care for Civil War orphans. Today, 150 years stronger, it is the nation's No. 6 children's hospital. It is ranked No. 1 for newborn care for the third straight year and ranked in all specialties evaluated by U.S. News & World Report. Children's National is transforming pediatric medicine for all children. In 2020, construction will be complete on the Children's National Research and Innovation Campus, the first in the nation dedicated to pediatric research. Children's National has been designated twice as a Magnet hospital, demonstrating the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. This pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty outpatient centers in the D.C., metropolitan area, including the Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs. Children's National is home to the Children's National Research Institute and Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation and is the nation's seventh-highest NIH-funded children's hospital. It is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels.

For more information, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

About the University of Maryland

The University of Maryland, College Park is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 40,000 students,10,000 faculty and staff, and 280 academic programs. Its faculty includes two Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners and 58 members of the national academies. The institution secures $514 million annually in external research funding. The university's Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices seeks to catalyze the transformation of basic research into clinical practice and commercial success. The Institute aims to drive innovation by immersing creative and energetic scientists and engineers in a nurturing and rewarding research environment where engineered health systems are conceived of and investigated. The Institute is comprised of staff, resources, facilities, and a network of experts who not only facilitate prototyping and manufacturing expertise, but who also facilitate venture creation, intellectual property creation, and product passage through various clinical, regulatory and reimbursement hurdles. For more information about the University of Maryland, College Park, visit www.umd.edu [umd.edu]

SOURCE Children's National Hospital

Related Links

https://childrensnational.org


In May 2020, President Volodymyr Zelensky by his decree appointed Mikheil Saakashvili chairman of the Executive Reform Committee, the advisory body created in 2014.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia intends to summon the Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia due to statements voiced by Mikheil Saakashvili, former Georgian president who has recently been appointed to an advisory post in Ukraine's reform sector.

According to Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani, Saakashvili's statement is direct interference of a citizen of Ukraine in Georgia's home affairs, reports Interpressnews.

Saakashvili last year regained Ukrainian citizenship after he was stripped of his Ukrainian passport by ex-president Petro Poroshenko.

"We had a very serious approach to this issue and we summoned the ambassador for consultations. This is what we were talking about and warned our Ukrainian colleagues. There was an expectation that the person wanted in Georgia and appointed to a high position in Ukraine would continue to interfere in Georgia's home affairs.

We warned them and expressed our concern. The statement we heard is direct interference of a citizen of Ukraine in the home affairs of another country and directly in the election process. We will talk about it with the ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we will ask for explanations because this is clearly direct interference of a high-ranking foreign official not just in home affairs of another country, but in the home affairs and election process of a strategic partner," Zalkaliani said.

Read alsoGeorgia's MFA: Return of ambassador depends on Ukrainian government's steps

"I am not going to quietly watch the final destruction of Georgia. I am not going to watch the destruction of Georgian families and their expulsion from the country. Of course, I am involved in this fight. Of course, we are going to win. We all need to stand together, it is not time to divide seats either now or in the future. Those who want to help people need to stand together. I, at least, will definitely be at the forefront of this fight. It will be decided this year whether we will be slaves in Ivanishvili's HPPs, bitcoin factories, gold mines or lands the rest of our lives, or proud citizens of a free country. It will be decided in this year's elections whether Georgia will die or win. There is no third option! That is why we are, of course, getting ready for victory," the third President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, says in a video posted on his Facebook page.

Reports earlier claimed Saakashvili could be appointed Ukraine's vice prime minister, while the ruling parliamentary faction showed no support for such move following their meeting with the former Georgian president, who had already held official posts in Ukraine, including that of Odesa region's Governor.

The news on plans to offer Saaksashvili a senior government post sparked a row with Georgia, where its former president has been found guilty of a criminal offense and sentenced in absentia.

The incumbent President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, on April 29 expressed concern about the news coming from Kyiv. At the same time, she added that she wouldnt want to undermine cooperation with Ukraine in joint efforts toward protecting territorial integrity and sovereignty.

"I can't even imagine how anyone could be so important as to jeopardize long-term relations between our states, neglect our institutions and insult our society," the Georgian leader said. "I hope that the joint past, present, and future of our fraternal nations will never be called into question," the Georgian president said.

In May 2020, President Volodymyr Zelensky by his decree appointed Mikheil Saakashvili chairman of the Executive Reform Committee, the advisory body created in 2014.
Chinese Netizens to CCP: We Cant Breathe Any Better Either

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George Floyd, an African-American from Minnesota, died shortly after a police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. His last words, I cant breathe, are now being echoed around the world as people protest against his death.

They are also being repeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials as they mock a lack of human rights in the United States. However, many Chinese netizens have expressed that they cant breathe any better either under CCPs iron-fisted rule.

On May 25, George Floyd died of police brutality in Minnesota. The spokesperson of Chinas Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, mocked the United States by posting I cant breathe on her Twitter and, at the same time, expressing her disapproval of the U.S. spokesperson of the Department of State Morgan Ortaguss support of Hong Kongs protesters.

Chinese netizens were quick to criticize Hua, with one saying: When Xu Chun-He who appealed in Heilongjiang was beaten to death by the police, Hua Chunying breathed well. When 3 Chinese businessmen were murdered in Zambia, Hua could still breathe. When the people of Wuhan died from the virus because of the cover-up done by the CCP, she could still breathe with no problems. Now that the Americans are rioting and looting in protests, she started to pretend that she cant breathe.

A lot of Chinese people have expressed to NTD that they are being severely oppressed and persecuted by the CCP in their daily lives to a point where they can no longer breathe.

Hu Jian-Guo, a resident of Shanghai, said: I cant breathe at all. I am living in terror every single day.

A few days ago, more than 30 people watched me all day for more than 20 days. I really cant breathe. I have friends around me who cant breathe either, and many of them dont even have food and shelter.

Mr. Zhang from Wuhan City shared the same sentiment.

He said: We cant breathe, we cant even say anything and if we do, the police come and find us. The families of those who died of the Wuhan pneumonia cannot even speak out. They wanted to hold the government accountable but were not allowed to hold up signs or go out of their houses.

So, can the Wuhan people breathe? Right now, people in Wuhan have no food to eat. Why isnt there anyone stepping in to help?

Ms. Wei from Chongqing expressed that she is not the only person being oppressed by the CCP. Many people who have been petitioning for twenty or thirty years suffer even more immense pain. They are not allowed to post any videos and if they do, they will be punished.

Ms. Wei continued saying: You see, so many people cannot breathe. The CCP only promotes the good, not their bad [deeds]. They do not allow us to post anything that is not good for them. Just take the incident that happened in Wuhan, so many people have died, why did they not report anything?

In a video that is circulating online, a female host of CCTV, the CCPs mouthpiece, slammed the so-called racism and the U.S. government for the death of Floyd and claimed that U.S. officials should apologize to the American people.

However, what is ironic is that netizens have edited the video and added a live recording of CCP police and city officials beating up civilians. Many netizens criticized the CCP and asked if it only looks outward, not inward.

Mr. Zhang expressed: In China, people die of beating every single day. The deaths of a few people mean nothing in China. No one reports when people die from being beaten up, but it is a big deal when it happens in the U.S. It gets reported over and over.

Netizens criticize the state media for repeating many reports on Floyds death.

Hua Chunying posted I cant breathe on Twitter, but nobody said anything about the deaths of three Chinese people in Africa, they said. It was reported once and over, and Hua Chunying did not come out and said I cant breathe.

Three Chinese people died, wasnt she supposed to be suffocating?

Netizens also posted pictures highlighting the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre and of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests in response to Hua, asking: Can the Chinese people breathe? Can Hong Kong people breathe?

Chinese citizen, Hu Jian-Guo, said that the intent of the CCPs reporting on Floyd is to convince the Chinese people that there are no human rights in the United States. But he said that the biased reporting shows that the CCP actually feels nothing for the many Chinese people who have died.

He added: All news reports in China are fake. You see, tens of millions of people died from natural disasters in the past three years, and so many students died from machine guns, shooting, and being run over by tanks on June 4, 1989. Does the CCP dare to report the real images? No, it does not.

Hu said, The Americans have the right to go on the streets and make their voices heard, and also have the right to collect evidence on the scene. But the Chinese people do not.

Human rights activist and lawyer in China, Teng Biao, indicated in a post on Twitter that the difference is the result of two different political systems in two countries.

In China, the police are used to suppress the people, but in the United States, the police support the rational demands of the people, he said.

Hu Jian-Guo suggested that the U.S. should tear down the CCPs firewall and let the Chinese people know the truth and breathe freely. That way, the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party will ultimately end, he said.
Description

GIS - 11 June, 2020: This Government has adopted a zero-tolerance policy against corruption and the fight against fraud and corruption shall continue relentlessly, without fear or favour.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, made this statement, this morning , at the National Assembly , in reply to the Private Notice Question pertaining to the alleged corrupt and fraudulent practices unfolded by the African Development Bank (ADB) concerning the tender for the redevelopment of the St.Louis Power Station.

The Prime Minister indicated that according to a press release of the ADB dated 08 June 2020, in 2014 and 2015, Burmeister & Wain participated in tenders for the redevelopment of the Saint Louis power plant in Mauritius, a project financed by the ADB. He pointed out that the document indicates that an investigation conducted by the Banks Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption has concluded that it is more likely than not that the company engaged in fraudulent and corrupt practices in the context of this project.

He further stated that the press release indicates that pursuant to a settlement agreement, the Bank has announced the debarment of Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor, for a period of 21 months, for engaging in sanctionable practices in a power generation project financed by the Bank in Mauritius.

Prime Minister Jugnauth highlighted that evidence supports a finding that Burmeister & Wain, on a balance of probabilities, financially rewarded members of the Mauritian administration and others, through the intermediary of third parties, for providing access to confidential tender-related information which allowed them to tailor the technical specifications of the tenders to its offering, thus gaining an undue competitive advantage over other tenderers.

Moreover, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth pointed out that his Office was not informed about the inquiry, was not provided with the report of investigation and neither was it solicited for assistance.

It is to be noted that the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development ,on 09 June 2020 , requested a copy of the report on the investigation and on the following day the Bank replied that as per its guidelines and policies, investigation reports compiled by its Office of Integrity and Anticorruption are confidential in nature and cannot be shared outside of a referral process to law enforcement authorities, added the Prime Minister.

He further added that following the circulation of the Press release of the ADB on 08 June 2020, the Prime Ministers Office was called upon to make an assessment of the impacts of the matter, while the Central Electricity Board (CEB) referred the matter to the Independent Commission Against Corruption( ICAC) on 09 June 2020.

Besides, Prime Minister Jugnauth announced that the Acting General Manager of the CEB has agreed to inform the Board of his intention to step aside from his current position pending further development regarding the investigation.

Tough and stringent actions as may be warranted by ICAC will be taken against any person who is found to be involved in any of the alleged acts of fraud and corruption, stated the Prime Minister.
Seven people have been arrested for vandalizing statues of Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de Leon in Miami, the city's police said.

The arrests happened Wednesday after a chaotic scene ensued in the city where police were seen using excessive force with protesters, and a day after a figure of Columbus was torn down in Richmond, Virginia, and another was found beheaded in Boston, Massachusetts.

In Miami, demonstrators spray painted statues of Columbus and Ponce de Leon, another Spanish explorer who landed in Florida, in Bayfront Park with the letters 'George Floyd,' 'BLM' (Black Lives Matter), and a hammer and sickle, news outlets reported.

De Leon was responsible for the widespread genocide of the Taino people in what is now Puerto Rico.

In Miami, demonstrators spray painted statues of Columbus and Ponce de Leon, another Spanish explorer who landed in Florida, in Bayfront Park

Protesters sprayed 'George Floyd,' 'BLM' (Black Lives Matter), and a hammer and sickle

The identities of those arrested have not been released.

Miami police said officers who responded to the scene were assaulted and their cars was damaged while witnesses at the scene say that police were very aggressive as they apprehended protesters.

There is 'zero tolerance for those who hide behind the peaceful protesters to incite riots, damage property, and hurt members of the public or our officers,' police added in a news release announcing the arrests.

Some protesters had been blocking police cars before the confrontation, news outlets reported.

The identities of those arrested have not been released

A Miami protester is detained by police after spray painting a Columbus statue

A video of the altercation from the Miami Herald shows several officers getting out of their car and tackling one protester to the ground while other officers push the crowd from the scene.

'We've been peaceful all week long and you just broke that peace,' Richard Dombroff, a demonstrator, told officers after the confrontation. Dombroff was given an award from county leaders for stopping people from damaging a CVS during a protest in late May, WFOR-TV reported.

Louis Hernandez, another demonstrator, told the Herald police had 'came out and started brutally slamming protesters,' before the chaos ensued.

There is 'zero tolerance for those who hide behind the peaceful protesters to incite riots, damage property, and hurt members of the public or our officers,' police added in a news release announcing the arrests

Graffiti is seen on a vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus at the Bayside Marketplace

The rally on Wednesday was originally organized to honor the death of an 18-year-old man, Israel 'Reefa' Hernandez, who died after police used a stun gun on him in 2013, the Herald reported.

Statues of Columbus across the nation are often vandalized on Columbus Day in October as the 15th century explorer has become a polarizing figure.

Native American advocates have also long pressed states to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day over concerns that Columbus spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.

Overnight in Boston on the North End's waterfront another statue of Christopher Columbus was beheaded

The statue of Christopher Columbus is seen on the ground after it was pulled down by protesters, in Richmond, Virginia on June 9

A Christopher Columbus statue was beheaded in Boston on Tuesday night while another was torn down and thrown in a lake in Richmond in the latest protests to target a symbol of racial oppression.

The statue on the North End's waterfront in Boston was found beheaded, with authorities investigating after finding 'pieces' of the statue near Atlantic Avenue.

Elsewhere on the same night protesters in Richmond's Byrd Park in Virginia pulled another Columbus monument down with ropes, set it on fire and rolled it into a lake to cheers from the assembled crowd.

The sculpture was brought down less than two hours after protesters in the state's capital gathered and chanted for the statue to go.
[June 11, 2020] American Water Announces Recipients of 2020 James LaFrankie Scholarship Awards

American Water (NYSE: AWK), the nation's largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, today announced recipients of the 29th Annual James V. LaFrankie Scholarship Awards. The awards were distributed nationwide to 13 college-bound children of full-time American Water employees who demonstrate an interest in science and water-related industry occupational fields. Out of 87 submitted applications, an independent, third-party organization selected 13 of the high school seniors based on their outstanding high school records, academic honors, participation in extracurricular activities and teacher recommendations. The $1,000 scholarship is awarded for one year and may be renewed for up to three years based on the student's academic progress. "We are proud to award these scholarships to such extraordinary students who not only achieved the highest academic standards but also have an interest in science and water-related industry occupational fields," said Melanie Kennedy, senior vice president of Human Resources. "During this time of uncertainty and challenge, it is exciting to still offer and provide these talented students with LaFrankie Scholarship awards. We congratulate all of our winners and look forward to witnessing their success and the great things they will accomplish." The scholarship award recipients are as follows: Jacqueline Carlson , daughter of Jody Carlson, senior manager, NW Missouri Operations for Missouri American Water.

, daughter of Jody Carlson, senior manager, NW Missouri Operations for Missouri American Water. Hannah Collins , daughter of Ronnie Collins, field service representative for West Virginia American Water.

, daughter of Ronnie Collins, field service representative for West Virginia American Water. Brianna Floystrop , daughter of James Floystrop, senior project engineer for New Jersey American Water.

, daughter of James Floystrop, senior project engineer for New Jersey American Water. Sahana Gopala , daughter of Deepa Sampath, business systems adminitrator for American Water Enterprises.

, daughter of Deepa Sampath, business systems adminitrator for American Water Enterprises. Trinity Ha, daughter of James Ha, master maintenance mechanic for Tennessee American Water.

daughter of James Ha, master maintenance mechanic for Tennessee American Water. Lauren Harmon , daughter of George Harmon, utility mechanic for New Jersey American Water.

, daughter of George Harmon, utility mechanic for New Jersey American Water. Lydia Hart , daughter of Nathan Hart, senior supervisor of operations for Missouri American Water.

, daughter of Nathan Hart, senior supervisor of operations for Missouri American Water. Mary Kate Kirksey, daughter of Daphne Kirksey, external affairs manager for Tennessee American Water.

daughter of Daphne Kirksey, external affairs manager for Tennessee American Water. Brooklynn Merrifield, daughter of Rachel Merrifield, operations support representative for Indiana American Water.

daughter of Rachel Merrifield, operations support representative for Indiana American Water. Samuel Raymo , son of Michael Raymo, director of operations for American Water's Military Services Group.

, son of Michael Raymo, director of operations for American Water's Military Services Group. Michaella Reed, daughter of Valarie Snow, capital manager for American Water's Military Services Group

daughter of Valarie Snow, capital manager for American Water's Military Services Group Avery Schaefer, daughter of Jeanne Schaefer, lead employee relations business partner for American Water.

daughter of Jeanne Schaefer, lead employee relations business partner for American Water. Nicole Serravillo, daughter of Michelle Serravillo, production clerk III - Local Union 355 for New York American Water.



Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, this year's scholarship recipients and our previous recipients have the option of deferring their scholarships if their college plans are impacted by the health emergency. Students who select this option can defer their scholarships for a year as long as they begin or return to college by the fall of 2021.

About American Water With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 6,800 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to 15 million people in 46 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to make sure we keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit amwater.com and follow American Water on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005561/en/

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YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan participated in the virtual high-level forum titled The UN Charter at 75: Multilateralism in a Fragmented World on June 10.

In his remarks the Armenian FM thanked his counterpart of Singapore for initiating the online forum to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter.

FM Mnatsakanyan stated that the 193 member states of the UN, including the small states, express all nations rights to self-determination, having a sovereign voice in the international relations and working together for the implementation of the provisions of the UN Charter.

Within these 75 years the United Nations has formed unique circles of multilateral cooperation in all spheres, including security, development, human rights which require multilateral partnership and a collective action. During these 75 years it became more than obvious that we all are mutually connected. The global pandemic caused suffering to many at the international platform. But the pandemic also expressed our vulnerability, the trust restrictions towards humanitarian space, global solidarity and multilateral institutions. In some sense this is also a call for action, the FM said.

The minister expressed gratitude to the UN Secretary-General for the determination to counter the pressures against the UN, the multilateralism. He highlighted the UN chiefs recent call for global ceasefire as a strong step and a message for responsibility.

Summing up his remarks the FM said for more than two decades Armenia has assumed a commitment, as well as a moral commitment to unite the international efforts with its partners aimed at preventing genocides, mass atrocities and future crimes.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Since firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr became the effective leader of Iraq after the victory of his Sairoon (Marching Forward) power bloc in the May 2018 general elections, the practical application of that power has been constrained by his electoral message of not allowing Iraq to become overly dependent on any one country. This ambiguity allowed Iraq to continue to benefit on the one hand from U.S. security and financial support but on the other hand to benefit from incoming financial and technical support from Russian and Chinese companies embarking or expanding on oil field exploration and development projects. Given the announcement last week that Iraq has signed a two-year contract  the longest deal yet - for the export of electricity from Iran, despite persistent U.S. calls for it to bring the arrangement to an end, al-Sadr is either taking a huge gamble that the U.S. holds out sufficient hope of bringing Iraq back into its power bloc or he has decided now to firmly and finally align Iraq with the Iran-Russia-China bloc.

So incensed was the U.S. by al-Sadrs clear game playing between it and Iran, Russia, and China that at the beginning of April the waiver granted by the U.S. for Iraq to continue to import Iranian electricity and natural gas was just 30 days, its shortest waiver ever. At the same press conference that Morgan Ortagus, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, announced the new short waiver, she also pointedly announced new sanctions against 20 Iran- and Iraq-based entities that were cited as funneling money to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) elite Quds Force. This Force functions in large part as Irans chief foreign intelligence operation, as well as its most zealous military unit, having been built up and led by General Qassem Soleimani until his assassination by the U.S. on 3 January. According to Ortagus at the time, these 20 entities are exploiting Iraqs dependence on Iran as an electricity and gas source by smuggling Iranian petroleum through the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr and money laundering through Iraqi front companies, among other sanctions-busting activities. As one of a number of sources in Washington close to the Presidential Administration spoken to by OilPrice.com at that time said: Weve been down this road before with Pakistan  [with] the government pretending to help in our fight against AQ [Al-Qaeda] but at the same time the ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] offering all the help it could to [Osama] bin Laden and were not playing that game again.

At that point in April, according to the sources, unless Iraq showed the U.S. some compelling evidence that it was intending to reduce its imports of Iranian electricity and gas, then there would be no more waivers for Iraq after the 30-day one made in April expired. At the same time, the sources said, more names in Iraq  connected to the perennial sanctions-busting activities that have marked the two countries relationship since the original sanctions were introduced  would be added to the relevant lists. Moreover, financing and security support would be cut and the prospects for the absolutely vital oil infrastructure project  the Common Seawater Supply Project  would be severely damaged, with no chance of ExxonMobil returning to it. According to the same sources, the U.S. received the right sort of reassurances from Iraq that it was acting to address all of these shortcomings to grant it a 120-day waiver on Iran electricity and gas imports as from 7 May. These re-assurances were taken more seriously in light of the appointment of the new Iraq prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, a former Iraq intelligence chief who, Washington believes, understands the need for some degree of compliance with the U.S. more than many of his predecessors. Related: API Shocks Market With Large Crude Oil Build

The problem with this view is first, al-Kadhimi will be no more in real charge of Iraq than any of these predecessors since May 2018 - power will remain with al-Sadr and his grouping. Secondly, that the basis for al-Sadrs view on how Iraq will position itself with regard to Iran, Russia, and China was laid out shortly after his power blocs victory in 2018 in a far-reaching agreement with Iran and none of this was pro-U.S. Interestingly, one of the key points in this agreement was that the previously shorter-term deal for electricity and gas imports from Iran should be extended to two to three years, exactly as it has just been. That 2018 deal (supported by al-Sadr back then, as now)  which also covers oil and gas exploration, petchems development, transport, pricing, marketing, and security  envisaged steady growth in co-operation in power between the two countries over the two to three year period.

Iraqs then-power minister, Luay al-Khateeb, noted that imports from Iran already accounted for nearly 30 percent of Iraqs daily 14,000 megawatts (MW) electricity consumption, with around 1.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of gas imported by pipeline, feeding three power plants in the Diyala and Baghdad provinces. Another 350 million cubic feet per day (Mcf/d) was being sent by pipeline to a power plant in Basra, with Iraq also sourcing around 1,000 MW of electricity from Iran directly via transmission lines. A testament to how much Iran stands to gain from the co-operation arrangement signed in 2018 is that at that time it was prepared to continue to supply gas to Iraq, despite being owed around US$1 billion in non-paid bills, a figure representing around five months worth of gas supplies.

A key part of the reason why Iran was, and is, willing to allow Iraq such leeway is that the other elements of the 2018 deal more than make up for the inconvenience over delayed payments for electricity and gas. Increasing the co-operation on the development of shared oil fields, for example, is effectively a license for Iran to produce and export all of the oil that it can possibly dig up in these shared fields, as it is absolutely impossible for the U.S. to detect which oil comes from the non-sanctioned Iraq part of a field and which from the sanctioned Iran part of the same field. This is precisely why Iran is prioritizing the development of the West Karoun fields, as seven of these shared major oil fields contain about 14 billion barrels of recoverable oil. These are' Azadegan (Iran side)/Majnoon (Iraq side), Azar/Badra, Yadavaran/Sinbad, Naft Shahr/Naft Khana, Dehloran/Abu Ghurab, West Paydar/Fakka/Fauqa, and Arvand/South Abu Ghurab. The adjunct part of the 2018 deal, which concerns marketing and pricing is the metaphorical icing on the cake for Iran. Not only can it produce from these shared fields as much as it can physically drill but also it can aggregate its own oil with that of Iraq in order to receive nearer the market price for the grade than otherwise, it could achieve as a sanctioned entity. Moreover, it can also send its own oil to wherever Iraqi oil can go, which is anywhere. In smaller amounts, this is done via the long-running trucking method and in larger quantities, it is done through the usual export methods and routes out of Iraq, including pipelines and very large crude carriers.

Overall, it was not just al-Sadr who gave the nod to Kadhimi as new prime minister but also the Fateh Coalition, a very powerful political bloc of parties that have very close ties with Iran. The key reason for the Fateh Coalitions sudden support for Kadhimi  which had previously vetoed Kadhimis appointment - a senior oil and gas industry source who works closely with Irans Petroleum Ministry told OilPrice.com last week, is that: The new PM, an old intelligence hand with already close links with the IRGC [Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, with which Kadhimi co-ordinated the strategy to defeat Islamic State] has agreed to the pre-existing deal with Iran within the framework of an even broader and more far-reaching agreement. He added: As part of that, Tehran has guaranteed the electricity and engineering needs of Baghdad for the upgrading of utilities in five key cities, almost at cost price and it has also been agreed that all the Shiite paramilitary units come under one umbrella in order to ensure closer coordination with the soon to be restructured intelligence services in Baghdad. He concluded: The guaranteed expanded footprints of Beijing and Moscow in Iraq for whatever is needed were direct assurances that Tehran provided to Baghdad, focussed initially on its needs in energy and in the key railway and transport infrastructure upgrading projects, so effectively this puts Baghdad on a divorce path with the U.S.

By Simon Watkin for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that China has taken away India's territory in Ladakh and questioned the prime minister's silence, as the opposition party stepped up its attack on the issue demanding that the government fix accountability.

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that China has taken away India's territory in Ladakh and questioned the prime minister's silence, as the opposition party stepped up its attack on the issue demanding that the government fix accountability.

The party also hit back at Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for his remarks against Rahul Gandhi, saying instead of addressing the concerns of the country voiced by the Congress leader Prasad has made a "very unfair and completely irresponsible" political attack.

It accused the government of taking an "ostrich-like" approach to the issue and demanded that it tell the country what steps it intends to take to push back the Chinese army.

"The Chinese have walked in and taken our territory in Ladakh. Meanwhile. The PM is absolutely silent and has vanished from the scene," Gandhi said on Twitter.

The Chinese have walked in and taken our territory in Ladakh. Meanwhile The PM is absolutely silent and has vanished from the scene.https://t.co/Cv06T6aMvU  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 10, 2020

He tagged a news article claiming that China has taken a hard line during military-level talks and has claimed all of Galwan Valley and parts of Pangong Tso.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the prime minister should tell the country what he is doing to remove the Chinese from the Indian territory and who was responsible for it.

"Unfortunately, rather than coming clean with the country and honestly address concerns, the Law Minister launched an extremely ill-considered, irresponsible and intemperate attack on former Congress chief, when he reiterated these concerns," Tewari said.

Prasad had criticised Gandhi for raising questions on the sensitive issue related to national security on Twitter at a time when the country needs to speak in one voice.

"We want to tell them that patriotism and nationalism is not the exclusive monopoly of the NDA-BJP and much less the law minister," Tewari said.

"Asking hard questions to the government is not unpatriotic, not replying to them is unpatriotic," he said.

Tewari said former Army generals and defense experts feared that around 40-60 square kilometres of Indian territory had been "illegally occupied" by China.

"We would officially like to ask the NDA-BJP Government as the principal opposition party of the country, is it a fact that the Chinese have illegally occupied 40-60 square kilometers of our territory?

"We also want to ask the prime minister about the Chinese intrusion. How did the Chinese soldiers enter India? Will the government decide its accountability? The country wants to know this," Tewari said at an online press conference.

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged since 5 May following a violent clash in Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh.

The Congress leader said Modi should tell the country that from May 5 till now, how much of India's land had been occupied by the Chinese army.

"We want to ask the prime minister what the government is doing to remove the Chinese army from the Pangong Tso Lake in Galwan Valley, where China is sitting with its soldiers and tents," he asked.

He accused the Centre of trying to push the issue into cold storage and of adopting an "ostrich-like approach".

"After the first round of military to military talks between the Indian Army and the People Liberation Army has there been a pullback by the PLA and if there has been a pullback, what is the extent of the pullback," he asked.

Tewari also questioned whether the Chinese have withdrawn beyond the perception line or have they withdrawn beyond what is the Line of Actual Control according to India.

"What is the government doing to restore status quo ante as on 1 April 2020 in Galwan Valley, in Pangong Tso lake because these are extremely strategic areas," he asked.

According to Tewari, it is unfortunate that rather than answering questions, the government was using "abrasive language" against the opposition party.

The names of Pangong Tso Lake, Galwan Valley, Naku La were never heard of by Indians, he said, but today "even children know about it because these are all the places where Chinese soldiers have encroached" on Indian land".

The situation in the area deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on 5 and 6 May.

The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in north Sikkim on May 9. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC).
- President Uhuru Kenyatta convened a meeting of the national and county governments on Wednesday, June 10, at State House

- The third extra-ordinary session set the target of 300 isolation beds for each county within one month

- The meeting tasked counties to review their fiscal and strategic plans for the 2020/21 financial year to include COVID-19 prevention and control measures

A meeting of the national and county governments convened on Wednesday, June 10, by President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi, has agreed on a raft of COVID-19 response measures to be put in place ahead of the gradual reopening of the country's economy.

The measures aimed at safeguarding Kenyans against the adverse health and socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic include the attainment of a national 30,500 isolation bed capacity within one month.

READ ALSO: Video of Zimbabwean preacher Ian Ndlovu sending prophetic warning to President Pierre Nkurunziza emerges

William Ruto consults with Uhuru at a national and county governments joint meeting at State House on Wednesday, June 10. Photo: State House.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Mother-in-law actor Mustafa overjoyed as family, friends visit him in hospital on birthday

The third extra-ordinary session of the national and county governments co-ordination summit set the target of 300 isolation beds for each county so as to deal with the rising cases of infections, currently in 35 of the country's 47 counties.

The meeting, which was also attended by Deputy President William Ruto, tasked county governments to review their fiscal and strategic plans for the 2020 to 2021 financial year to include COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

To address the growing public pressure to re-open places of worship including churches and mosques, the summit agreed to involve the Council of Governors in the ongoing consultations being undertaken by an inter-faith council.

Governors follow proceedings at a national and county governments meeting at State House on Wednesday, June 10. Photo: State House.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Kisanga mzee na familia yake kutimuliwa ugenini

So as to ensure the smooth reopening of schools and other institutions of learning, the summit agreed to involve county bosses in the ongoing education sector stakeholder consultations.

The consultations led by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha would lead to the issuance of a new school calendar in line with the recent presidential directive to re-open schools in September this year.

The summit would reconvene again on Wednesday, June 17, to among other matters, review: guidelines for the gradual re-opening of the economy; containment measures currently in place; and protocols for the progressive re-opening of places of worship.

So as to ensure the smooth reopening of schools, the summit agreed to involve county bosses in the ongoing education sector stakeholder consultations. Photo: State House.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: You better answer: Tiffah cutely mad at dad Diamond after he failed to answer her phone call

In his remarks, Uhuru urged the two levels of government to work very closely with each other so as to find proper solutions to the COVID-19 economic and health crisis.

When this summit sits, its only business is Kenya. No party affiliations; no political distancing; and no ethnic divisionism. The summit becomes the soul of Kenya. That is why the pronouncements of this gathering, whenever we meet, become articles of our faith in project Kenya," said Uhuru.

He said the coronavirus health crisis offered the best opportunity for the improvement of healthcare in the country.

This opportunity is also a blessing in disguise. We must embrace it and grow it. If we fight coronavirus from the ground up; from the county up to the national levels, we cannot fail. We will succeed, the president said.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly

This is God's miracle to me-Maureen Mwikali | Tuko TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a four-part roadmap Thursday as part of a plan to reform the San Francisco Police Department.

The plan primarily modifies policing responsibilities, meaning officers will cease responding to certain types of calls reporting non-criminal activities, like spats between neighbors and calls related to mental health crises and homelessness. It also reassesses the hiring, promoting, training and disciplinary practices currently in place, and calls for the SFPD to do away with military-grade weapons like tear gas.

San Francisco has made progress reforming our police department, but we know that we still have significant work to do, said Breed in a statement. We know that a lack of equity in our society overall leads to a lot of the problems that police are being asked to solve. We are going to keep pushing for additional reforms and continue to find ways to reinvest in communities that have historically been underserved and harmed by systemic racism.

Specifically, the plan has four priorities, though at the moment, its timeline is vague and a budget is undefined.

The first priority is to "demilitarize the police" by establishing a policy prohibiting the use of military-grade weapons (chemical tear gas, tanks and bayonets) against unarmed citizens and, in effect, protesters. The SFPD must rid the department of any such weapons by the end of 2021.

Second, the plan limits the types of calls the SFPD will respond to, asserting that the city will begin the process of rerouting non-violent calls to "non-law enforcement agencies" better equipped to handle such situations. San Francisco will seek to implement a program like CAHOOTS, a specialized non-police team in Eugene, Ore., that responds to non-violent emergencies requiring mental health services and medics. In a virtual roundtable Thursday afternoon hosted by Breed, California State Board Chair Malia Cohen spoke to the idea to have such a "crisis intervention team."

"Maybe we don't need police response to every problem," she said, citing the widely reported 2018 incident at Lake Merritt when a white woman called police over black men barbecuing at a picnic. "These are ideas are not new ... but at this time theres an appetite."

Third, the plan directs the Department of Human Resources and Department of Police Accountability to address police bias against people of color. Beginning immediately, the SFPD and sheriff will audit all hiring and promoting exams to test for bias, and be more decisive and transparent when it comes to departmental disciplinary action.

Last, Breed doubled down on an announcement earlier this week that she would redirect some funding for the SFPD in order to reinvest it in historically disenfranchised communities. The specific plan for the partial defunding will be outlined in the upcoming budget this summer.

The initiatives Mayor Breed is announcing today are consistent with our departments commitment to the Collaborative Reform Initiative and our aspiration to make the San Francisco Police Department a national model in 21st Century policing, said San Francisco Chief of Police Bill Scott in the statement. We understand that its necessary for law enforcement to listen to the African American community and embrace courageous changes to address disparate policing practices, and we recognize it will take sacrifice on our part to fulfill the promise of reform.

As the Chronicle reported, these mandated changes have been put forth while the SFPD is still behind on reforms it was supposed to adopt four years ago. As of March, it had only complied with about 15% of the changes planned. That pledge to reform was spurred by a series of killings by police, and most prominently, the killing of Mario Woods, who was shot by police in the Bayview in 2015.

Breed's new plan Thursday comes as a response to calls to "defund the police," an idea SFPD Chief Bill Scott says he has "an open mind" about. On Tuesday, Scott agreed that police are expected to do too many things, and that the time has perhaps come to redistribute certain response responsibilities to other agencies and community groups.

Earlier Thursday, San Francisco District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney similarly spoke to an over-reliance on police to address non-violent and non-criminal calls, saying, "Mental health calls should receive immediate response from trained mental health professionals, not the police."

"Its something we wrote into our Mental Health SF legislation," he continued. "Its long overdue. Lets accelerate implementation. Same with homelessness. We have police doing all sorts of things they shouldnt be doing, most often causes more problems than it solves."

MORE COVERAGE ON THE GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS:

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on Bay Area protest coverage here.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGate digital editor. Email: alyssa.pereira@sfgate.com | Twitter: @alyspereira


The past month has seen the social media content policy debate flare up to dizzying heights. At the centre of the controversy is United States (US) President Donald Trump, who suggested on Twitter that implementing mail-in ballot voting for the presidential election would rig the US elections this November. The underlying tensions he is facing are clear  many people who would likely use mail-in ballots to vote in the presidential election would likely favour Democrats. So he claimed, rather falsely, that mail-ins are substantially fraudulent.

Twitters response was forceful. The offence was clear: Trumps tweet constituted harmful and politically-charged misinformation about voting, which is the most sanctified process in any democracy. For the first time, Twitter flagged a Trump tweet as potentially misleading  a bold act against a sitting president.

Trump hit back at the company. Within days, he issued an executive order that attempts to wrangle content moderation authority away from the industry and into the hands of the government. The presidential order is, according to most legal scholars, lazy and desperate. But it is perhaps one of the most legally challengeable policies in that it attempts to enforce overstepping the longstanding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which grants immunity to Internet firms, including social media networks, over user-generated content that appears on the platform.

Refreshingly, Twitter did not back down. The next day, the company flagged yet another one of Trumps tweets for inciting violence, this time on the George Floyd protests. Since then, Trump has raised the stakes, lashing out at Antifa (the anti-fascist movement who he blames for the protests) and describing the protesters as anarchists. This is significant as the company has essentially now asserted that he has both disseminated disinformation and incited violence.

If we were to judge Twitters actions, we have to say that the company has chosen to favour democratic interest over all else. Juxtapose Twitters response with the approach Facebook has taken  with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg suggesting that he does not wish to be the arbiter of truth. It now emerges that these two companies represent diametrically opposite forces. The employee walkouts and viral resignations in protest of Facebooks shoulder-shrugging at Trumps tweets are illustrative.

As many have argued, Facebooks notion of protecting free speech is not protective at all. In fact, the policies espoused by Zuckerberg in Georgetown late last year are entirely in his firms commercial interest. It is quite possible that they have nothing to do with protecting users freedom of speech. In deciding not to flag or take down offensive content, Facebook protects its business. The company can leave offensive material, which is often among the most engaging content. This makes sure that it does not avoid alienating large constituencies that might see the presidents tweets favourably; and doesnt voluntarily trigger the slippery slope of content regulation by setting policy boundaries itself.

At the heart of these issues is a fundamental tension: What does democracy mean when practised over digital platforms? Both Indian and western democratic systems have always had two fundamentally opposed ideals in institutionalism versus free speech. On the one hand, we have created institutional structures such as the government, the political system, and the radically capitalistic economic regime to build an intellectually free and open society. Over time, though, institutions may grow to enjoy excess power and germinate overbearing economic and social exploitation; we require individual intellectual independence  through freedom of expression  to push back on the undue concentration of power.

Indeed, free speech has always been applied to challenge governments and industries. But the commercial regime underlying the likes of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter has turned this checks-and-balance system internalised within functioning democracies upside down. Before the modern media age, citizens were naturally forced to be accountable for their speech  whether in print media, television, or public protest formats. Without the courage to publicly back your words, you couldnt say them. Now, though, a new kind of economic logic has emerged that favours the algorithmic maximisation of consumer-media engagement at the expense of everything else. Such effects often favour the virality of extreme content because of its propensity to engage the mind. Thus, while Zuckerberg and his company hold to an even-harder free speech line, we must acknowledge that the norms of free speech themselves have been revolutionised by Facebook itself.

Inevitably, Trumps clash with Twitter will place more pressure on policymakers, particularly members of Congress, to change the way content regulation works. Trumps actions clarify that we need to set standards on speech issues so that our democratic norms do not topple. The light at the end of the tunnel is emerging in the effort to reconstruct Section 230. This is a growing sentiment, including with both the President and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden. As this discussion progresses, Facebook will increasingly be seen as a media entity as opposed to agnostic global platforms  just fruits, perhaps, for a company that ranks and orders users online news and social feeds to determine what they see.

When seen in this light, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and his company, who have been far more proactive and progressive than Zuckerberg and Facebook, should receive high praise. Dorsey is telegraphing the actions of policymakers, projecting that there are elements of the democratic process that we should do our best to protect. This explains several of his and Twitters recent actions  the ban on political advertising, the statements against the marketised micro-targeting of communities with political communications, and this bevy of battles with President Trump included.

We can only hope, in our desire to preserve the structure of democracy as best as possible, that the other dominant digital platforms will follow suit.

Dipayan Ghosh is the co-director of the Digital Platforms & Democracy Project, Harvard. He worked at Facebook, and was also an economic adviser in the Obama White House. He is author of the forthcoming book:Terms of Disservice: How Silicon Valley is Destructive by Design

The views expressed are personal
Pathogens that attack agricultural crops show remarkable adaptability to new climates and new plant hosts, new research shows.

Researchers at the Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter studied the temperature preferences and host plant diversity of hundreds of fungi and oomycetes that attack our crops.

The researchers found that plant pathogens can specialise on particular temperatures or host plants, or have wide temperature or host ranges.

Lead author Professor Dan Bebber, a member of Exeter's Global Systems Institute, said: "Traditionally, scientists have considered species to be specialists or generalists.

"Generalists are sometimes called 'Jack of all trades, master of none'. Our analyses show that many plant pathogens are 'Jack of some trades, master of others'."

Tom Chaloner, an SWBIO DTP PhD student, said: "We have collated the largest dataset on plant pathogen temperature responses, and made this available for the scientific community.

"Our data allow us to test some of the most fundamental questions in ecology and evolution.

"For example, we found that temperature preferences are narrower when pathogens are growing within plants, demonstrating the difference between the so-called fundamental niche and the realised niche."

The researchers used recently-developed statistical methods to investigate the co-evolution between pathogens and their hosts, showing that pathogens can readily evolve to attack new host plants.

"In an era of growing global population size, climate change and emerging threats to crop production and food security, our findings will be key to understanding where and when pathogens could strike next," said co-author Professor Sarah Gurr.

###

The dataset produced by the study, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), has been deposited in the open access Data Dryad repository and can be freely accessed by other researchers for further analysis (doi:10.5061/dryad.tqjq2bvw6).

The paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, is entitled: "Geometry and evolution of the ecological niche in plant-associated microbes."
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just a catch phrase, but is slowly becoming a new type of general computing technology. Inevitable it is one of the key drivers of technological innovation and thus social and economic revolution. Huawei never stops investing in AI research and development of such capacities to support ground-breaking cooperation among 5G, cloud, edge, and devices, reshaping various industries, such as financial services, transportation, power supply, manufacturing and more.

Such technologies usually require collaboration to obtain fruitful results. For that, Huawei has been spending a whole lot of efforts in building an ecosystem which include academia, industries and relevant communities to AI development, which advances both technology and those sectors together. With an open approach, opening up hardware, making software open-source and pursuing shared success with our partners.

Collaboration is Fundamental of Technological Success

In fact, Huawei applies its Ascend series AI processors to run the Atlas AI Computing Platform, allowing all-scenario AI infrastructure solutions for device-edge-cloud set-ups.

Huawei Asia Pacific Partner Ascend Program would be one of the gateways for AI talents and companies to come to us, learn to adopt and then proliferate the use of Ascend AI products.

It will also be one of the channels where support will be given to R&D projects and to Institutes of higher learning for talent development.

Programmes Cover Wider Range of Aspects

The programme covers four key areas, namely AI development, support, knowledge transfer, and go-to-market, and strategic resources. The visionary goal which comes with three segments:

Independent Software Vendor (ISV) AI Collaboration Programme

Under this sub-programme, ISVs, innovators and entrepreneurs can access through the online portal. A three-tier partnership system categorise partners as Members, Certified, or Preferred with relevant benefits for each tier. Such benefits include NREs (Non-Recurring Engineering funding), cloud resource vouchers, knowledge transfers via Ascend AI Community, exam-vouchers for HCIA-AI (Huaweis specialized AI Certification), Go-to-Market support as well as other strategic resources.

Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) AI Talent Cultivation Programme

Huawei will provide support according to the following three tiers, from Course Collaboration, Technology Innovation to Business Ventures. It aims to help IHLs to build AI disciplines, cultivate AI talents, improve academic and scientific research in the AI field based on the Huawei full-stack Atlas AI technological capabilities.

In the new AI era, a strategic partnership between National University of Singapore and Huawei in research and talent development will make great impact to society, said Huang Zhiyong, Deputy Director of the universitys Business Analytics Centre.

Government AI Industry Development Programme

Huawei will provide technical support in enhancing the countrys AI innovation facilities using the Ascend technology. Huawei will also share experience in terms of industrial best practices and assist the government in various policy matters, including setting of the National AI Industrial Standards.

Indonesia National AI strategy empowered by BPPT, is the most important milestone toward Innovation-driven nation, the golden vision of Indonesia 2045. It is inevitable, ubiquitous AI will drive our nation journey to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. said Dr Ir. Hammam Riza, M.Sc, Head of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).

With these innovative strategy, Huawei is building the Ascend AI Ecosystem with shared success. Currently, the company is assisting firms in each and every Asia Pacific countries in achieving a series of goals in a structured, systemised programme, such as:

Adoption and Use of Ascend AI products

Proliferation of ISVs & Start-ups Ecosystem

Support of local R&D and talent development

Proficiency in the knowledge and skills of programming and testing Ascend AI products

Growth of the AI Ecosystem in different industry domain of AI technology

APAC Partners Enjoying Benefits with AI

The APAC region is now enjoying tremendous business opportunities via the programmes and the ecosystem. AI development in regions, demographic dividend and supportive policy of various countries have created marketplace opportunity for AI computing.

When it comes to AI ecosystem-based collaboration, Huawei has always focused on infrastructure. We work with the academic community and industries to promote AI development, which advances both technology and industries as a whole. Ultimately, we hope to bridge the divide, and achieve shared success as soon as possible, said Daniel Zhou, President of Huawei Cloud & AI Business Group, Asia Pacific Region. By leveraging our collaborative Connectivity + Computing + Cloud synergy, we are able to provide an intelligent, automated, information-driven platform for partners content, applications, and algorithms.

Together, we will build a thriving ecosystem and usher in a fully connected, intelligent world, he noted. Ultimately, Huawei is building a fully connected, intelligent world; and the Asia Pacific Ascend Partner Programme is a cornerstone for this purpose.

To find out more, please visit here.
Coral reef islands across the world could naturally adapt to survive the impact of rising sea levels, according to new research.

The increased flooding caused by the changing global climate has been predicted to render such communities - where sandy or gravel islands sit on top of coral reef platforms - uninhabitable within decades.

However, an international study led by the University of Plymouth (UK) suggests that perceived fate is far from a foregone conclusion.

The research, published in Science Advances, for the first time uses numerical modelling of island morphology alongside physical model experiments to simulate how reef islands - which provide the only habitable land in atoll nations - can respond when sea levels rise.

The results show that islands composed of gravel material can evolve in the face of overtopping waves, with sediment from the beach face being transferred to the island's surface.

This means the island's crest is being raised as sea level rises, with scientists saying such natural adaptation may provide an alternative future that can potentially support near-term habitability, albeit with additional management challenges, possibly involving sediment nourishment, mobile infrastructure and flood-proof housing.

The research was led by Gerd Masselink, Professor of Coastal Geomorphology in Plymouth, working with colleagues at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and Simon Fraser University (Canada).

Professor Masselink, who heads Plymouth's Coastal Processes Research Group, said: "In the face of climate change and sea level rise, coral reef islands are among the most vulnerable coastal environments on the planet. Previous research into the future habitability of these islands typically considers them inert structures unable to adjust to rising sea level. Invariably, these studies predict significantly increased risk of coastal flooding and island inundation, and the concept of 'island loss' has become entrenched in discourses regarding the future of coral reef island communities. In turn, this has led to attention being focused on either building structural coastal defences or the exodus of island communities, with limited consideration of alternative adaptation strategies.

"It is important to realise that these coral reef islands have developed over hundreds to thousands of years as a result of energetic wave conditions removing material from the reef structure and depositing the material towards the back of reef platforms, thereby creating islands. The height of their surface is actually determined by the most energetic wave conditions, therefore overtopping, flooding and island inundation are necessary, albeit inconvenient and sometime hazardous, processes required for island maintenance."

Co-author Professor Paul Kench, currently Dean of Science at Simon Fraser University, Canada, said: "The model provides a step-change in our ability to simulate future island responses to sea level rise and better resolve what the on-ground transformations will look like for island communities. Importantly, our results suggest that island drowning within the next few decades is not universally inevitable. Understanding how islands will physically change due to sea level rise provides alternative options for island communities to deal with the consequences of climate change. It is important to stress there is no one-size-fits-all strategy that will be viable for all island communities - but neither are all islands doomed."

For the research, scientists created a scale model of Fatato Island, part of the Funafuti Atoll in Tuvalu, and placed it in the Coastal Ocean and Sediment Transport (COAST) Lab at the University of Plymouth.

It was then subjected to a series of experiments designed to simulate predicted sea level rises with the results showing that the island's crest rose with the rising sea level, while retreating inland, as a result of water overwashing the island and depositing sediment on the island's surface.

A numerical model was validated using these laboratory experiments, and three numerical modelling scenarios were then used to assess how the island adjusted to a sea level rise of 0.75m, the global average increase predicted for 2100 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

During the numerical simulations, the island crest rose by just under 0.7m, showing that islands can keep up with rising level and confirming the laboratory experiments, although the precise future rate of sea level rise will be critical in determining their future.

###
When facial pigmentation first appears, its important to see a dermatologist for a definitive diagnosis because melasma may be subtle and can look like other skin conditions. Once diagnosed, the goal of melasma treatment is to decrease the production of pigment and remove areas of excess pigmentation that already have appeared.

Intense-pulsed light treatment for melasma uses a broad spectrum of light to generate heat to target and remove pigment. But the heat diffuses to all the surrounding tissues. That can lead to complications, including a condition known as post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, which causes more dark patches to appear. Research shows that intense-pulsed light can improve melasma in the short term, but relapse often is seen within three months.

More recently, fractional nonablative lasers have been studied for the treatment of melasma. These lasers resurface the skin and remove pigment through heated columns, but they leave the skin around the columns untouched. Different devices with different levels of power are available, so the treatment can be individualized for each patient. Unlike the set 100% coverage of intense-pulsed light, these lasers can treat as low as 5% of the skin to slowly remove pigment with a much lower risk of relapse or worsening of melasma.
Regulatory News:

The Combined General Meeting of Latecoere's (Paris:LAT) shareholders was held on June 11, 2020 at the Company's registered office in Toulouse, under the chairmanship of Mr. Pierre Gadonneix, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Exceptionally, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the health measures taken by the Government, the Shareholders' Meeting was held behind closed doors, without the physical presence of the shareholders.

Around its Chairman, the Bureau was composed of a secretary of the meeting and two scrutineers appointed by the Chief Executive Officer by delegation of authority granted by the Board of Directors in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of Order no. 2020-321 of March 25, 2020 and Article 8 of Decree no. 2020-418 of April 10, 2020.

Representing a quorum of 68,085 in the extraordinary conditions recalled above, the shareholders approved all the resolutions recommended by the Board of Directors, including among others:

the approval of the 2019 financial statements and the appropriation of income;

- the ratification of co-optations of directors decided since the previous general meeting;

- the appointment of Mrs. Laurence Dors as Director;

- the reappointment of KPMG as statutory auditor;

- the compensation policy of non-executive directors and the information relating to the compensation of corporate officers in 2019;

- the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors as well as the components of compensation due or awarded to him for the year 2019;

- the compensation policy for the Chief Executive officer as well as the components of compensation due or awarded to her for the year 2019;

- the compensation policy for the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (and any other Executive Corporate Officer);

- several financial authorizations; and

- miscellaneous amendments to the Company's Bylaws.

The Board of Directors, at its meeting held after the General Meeting, decided to:

appoint Mrs. Laurence Dors, independent director, as Chairman and member of the Audit and Risks Committee;

- to renew the liquidity contract entered into with Gilbert Dupont, as part of the implementation of the share buyback program authorized by the General Meeting.

Full voting results are available on the Company's website www.latecoere.aero.

_________________________________________________________________________________

About Latecoere

Latecoere is a tier 1 partner to major international aircraft manufacturers (Airbus, Embraer, Dassault, Boeing and Bombardier), in all segments of the aeronautical market (commercial, regional, corporate and military aircraft), specializing in two fields:

Aerostructures (58% of total revenue): fuselage sections and doors.

Interconnexion systems (42% of total revenue): onboard wiring, electrical harnesses and avionics bays.

At 31 December 2019, Latecoere employed 5,187 people in 13 different countries. Latecoere, a French corporation (societe anonyme) with capital of 189,637,036 divided into 94,818,518 shares with a par value of 2, is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment B. ISIN codes: FR0000032278 Reuters: LAEP.PA Bloomberg: LAT.FP

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005693/en/

Contacts:

Taddeo

Michael Henson Investor Relations

+44 (0) 7551 720441

Pierre-Jean Le Mauff Relations Media

+33 (0)7 77 78 58 67

teamlatecoere@taddeo.fr
HONG KONG (dpa-AFX) - New Zealand will on Friday see May results for the private sector PMI from BusinessNZ, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. In April, the PMI score was 26.1. New Zealand also will see May figures for food prices; in April, food prices were up 1.0 percent on month and 4.4 percent on year. Indonesia will release May results for its consumer confidence index; in April, the index score was 84.8. Japan will see final April numbers for industrial production, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 9.1 percent on month and 14.4 percent on year. That follows the 3.7 percent monthly drop and the 5.2 percent yearly decline in the previous reading. Hong Kong will provide Q1 data for industrial production; in the three months prior, industrial production sank 0.8 percent on quarter and 0.5 percent on year. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
RBC releases five-point plan to help 'small business make big pivot' to a post-pandemic economy

TORONTO, June 11, 2020 /CNW/ - A five-point plan to help Canadian small businesses thrive in a post-pandemic economy was released by RBC today.

The report includes proprietary economic research and analysis from a survey of small businesses, which generated 22,000 responses. It cites two core challenges facing the country's million plus small business, which is defined as companies with a maximum of 100 employees. The sector is reeling from the economic lockdown. It recorded almost double the rate of job losses as mid-sized and large firms during the first two months of the global pandemic. Women and youth bore more of the pain, since they are over-represented in small-business employment.

The health crisis has also created new economic trends and is accelerating others, which requires "small business to make a big pivot" into a more virtual, local and fragmented operating environment. For instance, approximately one-third of Canadians are shopping online for goods and services they normally would have bought in a store. Yet many small businesses remain "digital novices." Statistics Canada has noted a significant number of small firms are without a website, or the ability to facilitate online payments.

"The scars of an unprecedented recession are already visible on every Main Street in Canada, but the impact extends well beyond mom-and-pop shops or the retail sector," said Dawn Desjardins, Vice-President and Deputy Chief Economist, RBC. "In many ways, small businesses are the Canadian economy, representing more than 40 per cent of GDP, and close to 60 per cent of new jobs prior to the health crisis. We cannot expect a full economic recovery without a small business rebound." As such, policymakers must help craft strategies to help small businesses remain solvent and exit stronger from the recovery. The report notes that preparing for the longer-term may seem out of sync with the immediate challenges of survival. But to be unprepared for a very different kind of recovery could be just as costly as the unprecedented collapse.

"Small firms will need to seize on new technologies and permanently altered consumer preferences to attack markets and build brands in entirely new ways," says John Stackhouse, Senior Vice-President, RBC. "While resilience will be important, adaptability will be critical."

Prospering in a post-pandemic economy

RBC has encouraged leaders in the public and private sector to adopt a five-point plan. The overarching principles are as follows:

Streamline relief programs for the recovery: Ottawa has committed a historic amount to small business through the crisis, and a range of programs is helping many stay afloat. But some of the programs are too complicated or too dependent on debt instruments. As we shift from relief to recovery, and then to a slow rebuild, the federal government has an opportunity to refresh and streamline those relief efforts.



Invest in capacity to reopen safely: Every enterprise will be challenged to reopen. Many smaller ones will be doubly challenged because they don't have the experience or expertise to operate in a transformed economy and work environment. Provincial governments, which have been more focused on public health than private enterprise, can help both by investing in broad-based programs to assist employers as they try to get back to business.



Create new networks for a massive digital push: The pandemic has led to a big increase in cross-border data flows, and a greater concentration of power among global platforms that are helping consumers search, share and shop from a distance. Canadian enterprises need to pivot to this growing reality.



Implement new economic strategies to scale small business: Small firms will not only need tools for the post-pandemic economy; they'll need to form alliancesthe equivalent of digital coop movements to compete in the global platform economy. That's just one imperative in a transformed economy that will be more fragmented, more localized and more challenging for smaller enterprises. Scale will matter more than ever, to drive efficiencies for consumers who may want local for less. As governments and large enterprises contemplate a recovery, they may have the opportunity to create Canadian alliances for procurement and supply chains that will strengthen the economy and communities across the country.



Adopt a more strategic approach to globalization: The pandemic upended supply chains and shone a spotlight on some of the unintended consequences of globalization. Some small firms rose to the challenge, retooling to produce critical products like masks and ventilators. Their response highlighted the capacity of Canada's manufacturing sector to pivot and innovate quickly. Small firms will need to do a lot more of that, and not just for the domestic market. In a world that is likely to be more fragmented, and perhaps less welcoming to foreign firms, Canada will need a more focused approach to trade.

Stackhouse said: "During the global financial crisis, policymakers worried about 'too big to fail, as they protected systemically important banks and insurers, and shored up supply-chain foundations like auto companies. This time around, the emerging policy motto needs to be 'too small to fail,' as small business will be relied on to restore local demand and job creation across the country and economy."

About RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 84,000+ employees who bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada's biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 34 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.

We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/community-social-impact.

SOURCE RBC

For further information: Joel Dembe, Corporate Communications, 647-518-4981, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.rbc.com


A New Mexico man subjected to an anal probe because officers believed he was concealing drugs in his rectum will be able to pursue further legal action against the doctor who performed the invasive examination.

Timothy Young was initially seeking $707,000 from Dr. Bryant Beesley who conducted the rectal examination at the Gila Regional Medical Center in October 2012.

At a 2017 trial, a jury sided with Dr. Beesley, who claimed that law enforcement had asked him to conduct the procedure.

However, a ruling handed down last week by three appellate judges will now allow the case to return to court.

Timothy Young of New Mexico (pictured) was pulled over by Hildago County Deputy Javier Peru on October 13, 2012 for a minor traffic infringement. He was subsequently taken to a nearby medical center where a doctor performed a rectal examination upon him

The legal experts found 'there was no warrant for the invasive bodily procedure Dr. Beesley conducted' and that Young may have been stripped of his Fourth Amendment right - to be free of an unreasonable search.

'An attending physician is required to learn the constitutional requirements of invasive body searches,' Judge Briana H. Zamora wrote in the new ruling - which has been obtained by The Newspaper.

'For this reason, a reasonable physician should have known that a manual rectal cavity search and abdominal x-ray were unconstitutional unless authorized by a valid, particularized warrant.'

Young was pulled over by Hildago County Deputy Javier Peru on October 13, 2012, for a minor traffic infringement.

According to the officer, Young's 'demeanor and actions during the stop gave rise to a suspicion that he was transporting contraband.'

Young consented to a search of his vehicle, which yielded no drugs of any kind. However, a K-9 sniffer dog was called in, and the animal was purportedly 'alerted to the odor of a controlled substance on the driver's seat and the center console'.

Young was taken to the Hildago County Sheriff's Office after his arrest (pictured)

Young was escorted back to the sheriff's office, and a lieutenant successfully applied for a warrant for further searches.

According to the legal filing, 'the district court issued a warrant authorizing a search of 'the person or property described in the Affidavit', but nothing in the warrant explicitly authorized an invasive search of Plaintiff's body or an x-ray examination.'

Young was subsequently transported to the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City for a physical search.

There, Dr. Beesley admitted that he simply 'skimmed through' the warrant before performing the anal probe.

'Beesley testified [at the 2017 trial] that his decision to perform the examination was based on his desire to assist law enforcement and his concern that, if Young had ingested or impacted drugs in his rectum, he could suffer a medical emergency,' the legal filing reads.

The finding also provides graphic detail of the anal examination.

Young was subsequently transported to the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City where the anal probe was performed by Dr. Beesley

Young reportedly asked Beeskley 'Why we got to do this?', to which the doctor allegedly replied, 'Because I have a warrant.'

The examination and subsequent abdominal x-ray failed to yield any evidence of drugs.

Young told jurors at his 2017 trial: 'I was helpless. I was cuffed. I was surrounded by officers. The officers were sitting there laughing - laughing at me after it happened. I felt very violated. '

According to Silver City Daily Press, Young says he has suffered worsening anxiety and panic attacks since the episode.

To add insult to injury, he was billed $814 for the anal examination.

Young has already received $925,000 in compensation from Hidalgo County. He will now be free to pursue further legal action against Beesley and the Gila Regional Medical Center.
On paper, Haiti so far has everything it needs to battle the coronavirus crisis -- unoccupied hospital beds, medical staff and supplies.

But in reality, the population's skepticism about whether the contagion even exists has led to a quickly mounting death toll.

"The illness is real. Many of our citizens are experiencing respiratory symptoms and other tell-tale signs," said Erneau Mondesir, a doctor who works in impoverished Cite Soleil.

"It's really important for them to believe this disease exists."

And yet, despite the hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world, medical personnel are baffled by the unwillingness of many Haitians to take the pandemic seriously.

The first cases were detected in Haiti two months ago. In recent days, an increasing number of people are reporting symptoms consistent with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

They insist they have a "bit of a fever" or a "mild illness" -- but people are dying in and around the capital Port-au-Prince.

Erneau Mondesir is the medical director for the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Cite Soleil -- the left arrow points to the area for those with confirmed COVID-19 cases, the right leads to the area for suspected cases /  AFP

Those who are ill and relatives of those who have died refuse to believe that they are susceptible to getting sick.

Instead of seeking medical attention, some are relying on tea-based home remedies.

Mondesir works at a hospital in Cite Soleil -- located just outside the capital -- opened by Doctors without Borders (MSF). The 45-bed facility is restricted to coronavirus patients.

Two weeks after it opened, more and more people are being admitted. But there is still room for more.

- Getting to hospital too late -

"Today, one thing is clear: there are many people who stayed at home too long and then came to the hospital," explained Mondesir, the medical director for the MSF project.

"That means treating them will not be as effective at the outset," he added, before donning all of the necessary protective gear.

A nurse assists a COVID-19 patient at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Cite Soleil /  AFP

In the intensive care unit, oxygen machines hum and heart monitors beep -- the repetitive rhythm of the otherwise calm room.

Doctors and nurses, their names scrawled in marker on their disposable gowns, regularly check on their patients. For now, only three of 10 beds are in use.

"These are the patients in critical condition. They arrive in a coma, and with complications," said Antonio Plessy, another doctor in the unit. Behind him, an elderly man lies unconscious.

"We're trying everything: giving them high levels of oxygen, anticoagulants, antibiotics... We're doing everything until they breathe their last breath," said the anesthesiologist.

According to the latest data, published late Wednesday, there have been 50 virus-related deaths in Haiti, out of 2,640 confirmed cases.

But even the national crisis management committee acknowledges that the real figures are higher, given the relatively small number of tests conducted so far.

In a country where so many rely on the informal economy to get by, lockdown measures have been impossible to impose, and social distancing in crowded markets is a pipe dream.

Even getting people to wear a mask properly -- technically required in public spaces since May 11 -- is a challenge. Medical experts are certain that an uptick in infections is coming.

"If we can't limit the spread of this pathogen now, we can at least try to limit the damage," said Mondesir, adding that he wishes contact tracing were a viable possibility.

"It usually takes a week or two from the time that symptoms first appear for patients to show up at the hospital," he noted.

"It's very hard to trace all the people these patients have been in contact with, beyond those who live with them."

- 'I didn't believe it' -

Jonel Cadet, 25, only found out he had coronavirus because he had a motorcycle accident and broke his leg.

Jonel Cadet, 25, sits in his rehab room at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Cite Soleil -- if not for his motorcycle accident, he would not have discovered he had COVID-19 /  AFP

"I developed a bit of a fever when I was in the hospital. It dropped quickly, but then they put something in my nose and then my throat, and then they told me I was infected," he said.

Before he ended up in the hospital, he was among the skeptics. He even had to convince his relatives to let him seek treatment at the MSF facility.

"I didn't believe it, and I even said the president was talking nonsense," he said with a laugh.

"It was only by coming here that I really started to believe, because I saw people who were much worse off."

Beyond the general skepticism that reigns in Haiti, there are also those who believe a rumor that any treatment involving a needle in a coronavirus treatment center will be deadly.

"My brother thought they would kill me at the hospital," said Cadet, who has now recovered after two weeks of inpatient care.

"I told him God would decide. But no, it has to be said -- no one kills people at hospitals."

Cadet advises his countrymen to "wear masks, and then there you go, no corona."

His broken leg is now healing in an exterior metal brace, and he is eagerly awaiting a return to a "normal" hospital as it heals.
Walmart will end its practice of locking up African American beauty care products in glass cases, the retail giant said Wednesday after a fresh round of criticism that the policy was a form of racial discrimination.

Hair care and beauty products sold predominantly to black people could be accessed at certain stores only by getting a Walmart employee to unlock the cases, some of which featured additional anti-theft measures.

At some stores, the cases were across the aisle from shelves of generic beauty products that were not locked up and that included shampoo and conditioner.

Critics of the practice, which had been the subject of a federal discrimination lawsuit that was dropped last year, said that it implied that black people were more likely to shoplift. Walmart had previously said that certain products were locked up because they were more likely to be stolen.

The change came as a host of major corporations reevaluated their business practices and social responsibility after the death of George Floyd and widespread protests over police brutality and discrimination. It also followed a recent report by the television station CBS 4 in Denver that drew attention to the different treatment of Walmart customers.

As a retailer serving millions of customers every day from diverse backgrounds, Walmart does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, Lorenzo Lopez, a Walmart spokesman, wrote in an email Wednesday night.

Lopez said that Walmart, like other retailers, locked up certain items at a limited number of locations to deter shoplifters from some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products.

Were sensitive to the issue and understand the concerns raised by our customers and members of the community and have made the decision to discontinue placing multicultural hair care and beauty products  a practice in place in about a dozen of our 4,700 stores nationwide  in locked cases, Lopez wrote.

In 2018, a California woman sued Walmart in federal court for discrimination over the policy, saying she felt humiliated having to ask a store employee to unlock the beauty products case on three visits to the store, including to buy a comb that cost 48 cents.

The woman, Essie Grundy, said she went to a Walmart in Perris, California, in Riverside County to buy body lotion by the beauty brand Cantu when she noticed that all of the products targeted at African Americans were locked in a glass case, from the middle of the aisle to the end.

Grundy, who was represented by lawyer Gloria Allred, dropped the lawsuit in November, court documents show.

Reached Wednesday night, Allred would not say if there was a settlement in the case, which was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice  meaning it cannot be brought back before the court. She said that the matter was resolved.

Walmart did not comment on the resolution of the lawsuit.

Grundy declined to comment on the policy change.

CVS and Walgreens have also faced criticism for locking up beauty products sold to black people. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday night.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Sublicensing Strathclydes core patents using the Indigo-Clean brand will further expand the use of this unique, life-saving technology.

Kenall Manufacturing has licensed visible light disinfection patents to Finelite, Inc. of Union City, California. Both Finelite and Kenall are part of Legrand North and Central America (LNCA).

The patent licenses will allow Finelite to provide Indigo-Clean visible light disinfection across a broad range of their product line, using the core disinfection patents from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Indigo-Clean employs 405 nanometer visible light to disinfect and is safe for continuous human exposure.

Patrick Marry, President of Kenall, stated, Kenall is working to increase market penetration of disinfection lighting using safe wavelengths of visible light. Sublicensing Strathclydes core patents using the Indigo-Clean brand will further expand the use of this unique, life-saving technology.

Jane White, President of Finelite, stated, Disinfection lighting is a natural addition to Finelites high performance, sustainable lighting solutions for healthcare markets. This is an opportunity for expansion of both lighting companies as part of Legrands lighting sector.

Kenall and Finelite are leading manufacturers of specialized, solid-state lighting equipment and controls as part of Legrand. The companies focus on architectural and specification-grade lighting for offices, education, commercial, healthcare, laboratories and many other critical environments. To learn more about Legrand North and Central America, visit http://www.legrand.us.

Indigo-Clean is a registered trademark of Kenall Manufacturing, Inc.


HAMBURG, Mich.

June 11, 2020

Tomasz Biernacki

Hamburg Michigan

Tomasz Biernacki

Howell Michigan

Brighton Michigan

Howell Michigan

Brighton Michigan

Tom Biernacki

John Stevelinck

Marc Bonanni

Danielle Meyka-Blanchard

Ann Arbor

Howell

Brighton Michigan

Livingston County

Washtenaw County

Tomasz Biernacki

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Dr.states that "if plantar fasciitis and heel pain are caught early, this can help prevent a condition called plantar fasciosis from developing. This is essentially scar tissue that is exceedingly difficult to reverse. This is when people can develop years of chronic heel pain."Dr. Biernacki further states "it is estimated that between 10 to 40% of people around the world will develop chronic crippling heel pain at some point in their life. There are some extremely easy changes to implement such a shoe gear and orthotic changes that don't have to be expensive and can be very quickly effective."The podiatrists and foot doctors at Advanced Foot and Ankle Specialists ofhave developed a treatment algorithm for diagnosing heel pain. There are six common causes of heel pain that can cause your chronic heel pain. These are plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, heel stress fractures, fat pad atrophy to the heel, back injuries that can cause nerve pain down to the heel, and finally a bottom of the foot nerve entrapment called Baxter's nerve compression.Dr.is a practicing podiatric foot and ankle surgeon at Advanced Foot and Ankle specialists ofand. Advanced foot and ankle specialists ofandpride themselves on providing comprehensive the care and working as a multispecialty team. The four doctors at this practice are on staff at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Livingston, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Brighton, and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Ann Arbor. Working as part of this large multidisciplined team, they can work with internal medicine doctors, primary care doctors, endocrinologists and vascular surgery specialist to provide comprehensive care.Advanced foot and ankle specialists have four different doctors within their practice: Dr., Dr., Dr.and Dr.. All podiatrists foot doctors are on staff at St. Joseph Mercy hospitals inand. They pride themselves on servingandSOURCE Dr.
Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media

DANBURY  A $38,000 grant will make fresh food accessible and help keep shoppers safe from the coronavirus during the citys farmers markets this summer and fall.

The grant from the Fairfield County's Community Foundation will go to a health food program at the farmers markets, which will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays beginning June 19 through Oct. 30 at the Danbury Railway Museum.
According to the movement, 16 major insurance companies including Allianz, QBE, and Suncorp have ruled out working on the mine. Now documents from someone employed by behemoth Marsh  Adanis insurance broker  point to those who have had an involvement.

In a release, the campaign group said these are Liberty Mutuals Liberty International Underwriters and Talanx brand HDI, as well as reinsurance business Aspen Re. Meanwhile The Sydney Morning Herald, which also had access to the leaked invoices, cited XL Australia as being involved as well.

Its kept under lock and key, the publication quoted the Marsh employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as stating. Colleagues are finding out about Marshs affiliation via the protests and articles in the news.

Departments have lost domestic clients over this already and colleagues are concerned about where Marsh stands on climate change and what we represent.

Last month, more than 6,000 people joined Stop Adani in a global online rally to pressure Marsh into dropping the infrastructure firm from its list of clients.

Every insurance company on earth should be running a mile from the disastrous Adani Carmichael coal project, said Market Forces campaigner Pablo Brait in a statement sent to Insurance Business. In fact, over a dozen of them already have.

The project will help open up a massive new thermal coal basin in the midst of a climate crisis; it is being contested by traditional owners who have not given their consent for the mine; it will destroy endangered species habitat and drain water supplies.

Brait added: Our survey of Marsh and Mercer staff shows more than four out of five employees surveyed want Marsh to stop its work for Adani and phase out all brokering of insurance for fossil fuels. Marshs management refusing to engage with the strong views of its employees is resulting in leaks and anger.

Meanwhile the movement described Liberty Mutuals coal policy  which does not accept underwriting risk for businesses whose more than a quarter of revenue arises from thermal coal mining  as hypocritical. It was pointed out that while the insurer has committed not to provide coverage for the mines anticipated operational phase, it was involved in the projects construction.

Elana Sulakshana, energy finance campaigner at Rainforest Action Network, asserted: Liberty Mutuals coal policy has a loophole the size of one of the worlds largest proposed coal mines.

More than 60 companies  over a dozen of which are insurers  have pledged to stay away from the project because of its disastrous impacts on the climate and Indigenous rights. Liberty must join the list and drop its insurance policy for the rail line.

Liberty Mutual has reached out to clarify that its policy for the Carmichael coal project ended last October.

The Boston-headquartered group told Insurance Business: Liberty Mutual and Liberty Specialty Markets do not have any current policies in place for the Adani Carmichael mine project and will not be involved in future stages of the project. In January 2019, we informed the appropriate parties we would not be participating in the insurance programme for the operational phase of the project.

Prior to that announcement, we had in-force a small piece of the insurance programme for early-works site construction; that policy expired in October 2019. We do, however, remain contractually obligated to a 24-month maintenance period for any defects that may arise in that specific construction following the conclusion of the period of insurance.

The insurer added that it recognises the risk of climate change and that it is taking action to reduce carbon emissions. Were taking many steps that demonstrate our commitment to the shift toward clean energy, and we will continue to improve and build on the progress weve made, noted Liberty Mutual.
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Linkedin Ella Ide (Agence France-Presse) Rome  Thu, June 11, 2020 17:01 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddf383a 2 Art & Culture Banksy,Bataclan,mural Free

Italian police said Wednesday they had retrieved a work by famed street artist Banksy commemorating the victims of the November 2015 Paris terror attacks stolen from the Bataclan concert hall.

The work was an image of a girl in mourning painted on one of the emergency doors of the Parisian venue, where Islamic State gunmen massacred 90 people. It had been cut out and taken in 2019.

"We have recovered the door stolen in the Bataclan with a Banksy work portraying a sad young girl," a senior Italian police officer from Teramo, in Italy's central east Abruzzo region, told AFP. The raid was conducted with French police, he added.

The work was found in an abandoned farmhouse in Abruzzo, according to l'Aquila prosecutor Michele Renzo, who said further details would be provided on Thursday.

Works by Banksy, known for their distinctive style, irreverent humor and thought-provoking themes, have been found on walls, buildings and bridges from the West Bank to post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.

At auction, they have sold for more than $1 million.

Stealing works

The portion of the Bataclan door is not the only Banksy to have been stolen from Paris.

In 2018, the artist "blitzed" the French capital with murals during a whirlwind trip, which he said was to mark the 50th anniversary of the Paris student uprising of 1968.

After he appeared to authenticate eight of the Paris works on his Instagram account, it did not take long for thieves to strike.

Works stolen included a mural of a businessman in a suit offering a dog a bone, having just sawed the animal's leg off.

Another was an image of a masked rat wielding a box cutter, which disappeared from outside the Pompidou Centre.

Banksy took on the rat as his avatar, a symbol of the vilified and downtrodden, in homage to Paris street artist Blek le Rat. Blek started out in 1968 when a general strike by students and workers brought France to a halt.

Some of the stolen works have since been recovered and fans have covered some of his Paris street art with Plexiglass to protect them.

But one mural of a migrant girl was defaced with blue spray paint shortly after news of its discovery spread on social media.

Banksy is believed to have started out as a graffiti artist in London, although he has kept his identity a secret.

The most dramatic of his Paris 2018 creations was a pastiche of Jacques-Louis David's "Napoleon Crossing the Alps", with Bonaparte wrapped in a red niqab. It appeared on a wall in an ethnically mixed district of northern Paris.

Topics : Banksy Bataclan mural
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is calling on all disqualified aspirants and angry party members to unite ahead of the Parliamentary Primaries this month.

In a statement signed by the NPP National Chairman Hon. Freddie Blay, the party will discuss and build a consensus on the exit plan for long-serving members of Parliament mainly at leadership levels.

The move, he indicated, is not to suggest any form of protection that breeds complacencies among longer serving Parliamentarians, but a better-structured system that dignifies their exit whilst nurturing younger Parliamentarians, and preparing committed and competent new entrants into Parliament on the Party's ticket.

"Let us appreciate the fact that the NPP is an evolving political Party in a young developing democracy, and we must find ways of discussing openly, the strengthening of the Party's frontline in Parliament including building consensus on the exit plan for long-serving members of Parliament mainly at leadership levels. This is not to suggest any form of protection that breeds complacencies among longer serving Parliamentarians, but a better-structured system that dignifies their exit whilst nurturing younger Parliamentarians, and preparing committed and competent new entrants into Parliament on the Party's ticket."

Mr Blay urges all aspirants who feel cheated and dissatisfied should put the collective progress of the party first.

It is understandable that some dissatisfied aspirants may feel cheated, unfairly treated, and unhappy, maybe, justifiably so, especially when they must have invested so much resources in their preparations to contest and equally going through the application process.

For that matter, setting them aside is not in any way intended to imply that the NPP has no appreciation of their support towards the Party's growth over the many years they may have associated themselves with it, and therefore has no need of them and their supporters. Far from it!, he stated.

Mr Blay pleads with all displeased aspirants to consider the stand-aside and give-way beckoning by leadership as part of the sacrifices and contributions they would have made to the Party.

According to him, there would obviously be more openings for new opportunities and challenges that would require more hands-on deck.

I hereby call on the Regional Chairmen in the spirit of the Party's Resolutions, to work with leadership of their constituencies to begin negotiating the processes for collaboration and reconciliation, involving sufficient consultations with key Party stakeholders at the grassroots, Freddie Blay added.

Read full statement below:

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) goes into its 2020 Parliamentary Primaries in a couple of days, after having experienced delays and limitations brought about by COVID 19. The Party is excited about the numerous expression of interest by aspiring Parliamentarians in their quest to contest in this year's internal elections, regardless of all the difficulties presented by the current challenges. The Party believes that the aspiring Parliamentary candidates including those who may have been displeased, are appreciative of the massive gains made so far under the leadership of H. E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, hence their strong desires to contest for the Primaries and hopefully support the work of the NPP-led government in Parliament.

The keen contest being observed across all the regions only demonstrates the vibrancy and attractiveness of the NPP. Notwithstanding, as champions of democracy, freedom of speech and the rule of law, we encourage our members to responsibly express their grievances, opinions and disagreements in a manner that deepens the Party's democratic process and our common resolve as a united family for victory in the upcoming December general elections. Let us appreciate the fact that the NPP is an evolving political Party in a young developing democracy, and we must find ways of discussing openly, the strengthening of the Party's frontline in Parliament including building consensus on the exit plan for long-serving members of Parliament mainly at leadership levels. This is not to suggest any form of protection that breeds complacencies among longer serving Parliamentarians, but a better-structured system that dignifies their exit whilst nurturing younger Parliamentarians, and preparing committed and competent new entrants into Parliament on the Party's ticket.

National Party executives have sometimes found themselves in positions where they try to persuade and convince affected members, all in the interest of the Party's strategy formation. Let us, however, make no mistake about this, the Party's National Executive Committee (NEC) ultimately has the last say in determining who gets the ultimate approval to run on the Party's ticket. Besides, the Party has a responsibility to ensure that it puts its best foot forward at all times as may be determined by the circumstances that inform the approval or non-approval of an aspiring candidate. This determination is always done in the supreme interest of the Party.

It is understandable that some dissatisfied aspirants may feel cheated, unfairly treated and unhappy, may be, justifiably so, especially when they must have invested so much resources in their preparations to contest and equally going through the application process. For that matter, setting them aside is not in any way intended to imply that the NPP has no appreciation of their support towards the Party's growth over the many years they may have associated themselves with it, and therefore has no need of them and their supporters. Far from it!

The Party therefore pleads with all displeased aspirants to consider the stand-aside and give-way beckoning by leadership as part of the sacrifices and contributions they would have made to the Party in the long run when the Party is victorious in the December polls. There would obviously be more openings for new opportunities and challenges that would require more hands on deck. I hereby call on the Regional Chairmen in the spirit of the Party's Resolutions, to work with leadership of their constituencies to begin negotiating the processes for collaboration and reconciliation, involving sufficient consultations with key Party stakeholders at the grassroots. This internal contest is a usual family affair, and no matter how heated it may get, and the possible disagreements that are characteristic of our competitive democracy, the candidates and delegates must remain committed NOT to be each other's opponent. Our major opponent still remains our friends on the NDC side.

All committed NPP loyalists and members are expected to jealously guard the great achievements of our Party across the different sectors of the Ghanaian economy, and remain committed to share our success story with the Ghanaian people. As politicians in general, we must not always be seen to be at each other's throat at all times. It is my high expectation that the upcoming Parliamentary Primaries will be in the spirit of family competition, friendly hostilities and sportsmanship. We need not disgorge our eyes from their socket to blind each other, hence, guarding against giving ammunition to our major opponent the NDC for vicious and unnecessary attacks. I rather will urge all aspirants and their supporters to use these competitive processes to energize the grassroots, mobilize our supporters for the compilation exercise of the EC's new voters' register, galvanize our energies for the general election campaigning and continue to stay united.

I wish all contestants well.

Signed

Hon. Freddie Blay

National Chairman.
Vietnamese citizens on a repatriation flight from Taiwan, May 29, 2020. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Airlines.

Taiwan wants to repatriate over 1,000 Vietnamese who overstayed their visas since detention centers where they are being held are running out of space.

The centers, in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Yilan County, and Nantou County, have a capacity of 300-400 people each but are now 80 percent full, with most occupants being Vietnamese, Taiwan News reported.

In March the National Immigration Agency unveiled an amnesty program for visa overstayers who turn themselves in. Around 800 Vietnamese reported and were sent to the detention centers, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

But the Immigration Act prohibits holding anyone for more than 100 days. Immigration authorities are therefore seeking assistance from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnamese government to send them home to Vietnam by special flights.

Taiwan said normal deportation is "impossible" since Vietnam has suspended all international flights.

In the last few months several special flights have been arranged to bring back over 5,000 Vietnamese from around the world stranded due to the Covid-19 outbreak and resultant closure of borders.

Taiwan is meanwhile planning to reduce the quarantine period from 14 to five days for people arriving from Vietnam due to the countrys "low-risk" Covid-19 status, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center.

Vietnam has had 332 cases so far, with only 12 people still in hospital and no deaths. Taiwan has had 443 confirmed cases and seven deaths.
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Parliament approves bill that critics say empowers an under-qualified force and may lead to human rights violations.

Turkeys Parliament has approved a contentious government-proposed bill that will grant neighbourhood watchmen powers that are almost on a par with the countrys police force.

The bill was passed overnight on Thursday with backing from President Recep Tayyip Erdogans ruling party and its nationalist ally, despite opposition parties concerns that the legislation empowers an under-qualified force and will lead to human rights violations and a further erosion of freedoms.

It was approved after days of tense debate that culminated in violence on Tuesday, with an opposition legislator saying he was punched by a politician from the nationalist party.

The watchmen, known as bekci, traditionally guarded neighbourhoods and parks and were armed only with batons and whistles.

The force was abolished and folded into the police in 2008, but Erdogans government revived it following a failed coup attempt in 2016.

The bill allowed the more than 21,000 neighbourhood guards  who now also include women  to use firearms, to stop vehicles, carry out ID checks and conduct body searches. The guards cannot arrest or interrogate suspects.

The government and its nationalist ally insist the neighbourhood guards meet a need for an auxiliary force to assist police and that the new powers will facilitate police operations. They argue that neighbourhoods have become safer since the force was revived.

The main opposition, pro-secular Republican Peoples Party (CHP), and two other opposition parties voted against the proposal, calling it an attempt by the government to form a loyal militia.

They have also voiced concerns that the force, which operates at night, would act as morality police in line with the governments conservative and religious values.

The opposition argued that recruitment to the neighbourhood guards is opaque, and has lead to suspicions that those enrolled are chosen among ruling party supporters.

The opposition parties have also criticised the government for prioritising the security force instead of focusing on unemployment or other negative effects from the coronavirus outbreak.

People have lost their jobs and their salaries  what good is the watchmen to them? asked pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party legislator Filiz Kerestecioglu.

An under-educated mass that will perhaps act as a morality police is being unleashed on society.
But they confirmed that Trump could, if he chooses to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, use military forces for law enforcement purposes anywhere in the country. In the event that a president makes such a decision, he may do so without approval from the state government in which the forces are to be used, they said.
Indigenous leader Professor Tom Calma has criticised governments for not acting on a 2017 Law Reform Commission Report, and not reducing the rate of Indigenous incarceration in Australia ("Indigenous leader slams politicians for failing to heed report", June 11). Special cultural courts may have a place in doing this. Indigenous Advisory Councils to Parliament might also have their places. But in the end, as Australian citizens, Indigenous Australians must be treated the same under the legal and political systems as all other Australians. Geoff Black, Caves Beach Political view of truth often skewed Deputy Premier John Barilaro has called on the Premier to show leadership and lift COVID-19 restrictions ("Premier under pressure to open up the state", June 11). This is the same man who took a holiday in the United Kingdom during the bushfire crisis, went off to his luxury holiday home during the lockdown, and swore publicly and crudely at a fellow Cabinet member. The Premier's caution in the interests of the wider community is appreciated. Carolyn Pettigrew, Turramurra We are where we are because we listened carefully to the medical health experts. To switch to an emphasis on a politician with no scientific background, let alone medical knowledge, would be an error of judgment. Then we have NRL chairman Peter V'landys saying his mob are safer than those that recklessly put the recovery at risk on Sunday by largely ignoring health warnings to crowd into the streets. Yet this week we had a fourth NRL player publicly admonished for failing to follow social distancing rules. The people I meet daily are happy with the "go-slow" approach designed to avoid a disastrous second wave. Certainly, some balancing of the illogical would assist. Next politicians will be saying it's safe to open Australia's borders when the pandemic is still at fever pitch elsewhere. But the political view of truth is always different. Gary Bigelow, Teralba

It was interesting to see Barilaro's push "to start making political and common-sense decisions". Obviously he believes these are two distinct categories of decision. His choice of words indicates that he places common-sense ones in second place. Judith Fleming, Sawtell The PM suggests the states need to open their borders ("Morrison pushes states to commit to travel timetable", June 11). With the school holidays coming up, regional areas of NSW will be rubbing their hands with glee as city residents hit the country track. It would make no sense at all if travel anywhere within a state were allowed but tourists were not allowed to cross an imaginary line that is the state border. In the end, we are all Australians. Michael Blissenden, Dural It's just as well that we have been talking about the pandemic as a war, because now the truth has already been a casualty ("Fear of mass debt defaults if second wave hits", June 11). The boast now of Australia cruising through it economically after all, just because of our southern hemisphere luck in first striking the virus in a virus-unfriendly hot summer, is reminiscent of desperate war-time propaganda. Alex Mattea, Sydney Domestic violence problem needs more than funding The curse of domestic violence cannot be stopped with a mere increase in government funding, but with the recognition that this "shadow pandemic" ultimately has its origins within the deeper recesses of the human heart ("How to stop the shadow pandemic of domestic violence", June 11).

While practical assistance can help alleviate the stresses placed upon women in particular, the fundamental problem of gender inequality is a virus that is far more pernicious than this current pandemic. As with all other forms of inequality, such as racial, it will require us as a society to rediscover and affirm our common dignity  without which there can be no other cure for this utter senselessness, cruelty and human suffering. Vincent Zankin, Rivett (ACT) Not in my backyard After a seven-year battle to stop the overdevelopment of the former RSL site in Bronte, a vast majority of residents were devastated to receive news from Waverley Council in May that approval had been granted for a Woolworths Metro in a small neighbourhood centre on Macpherson Street ("Mosman is not Newtown, Woolworths told", June 11). With weekend crowds coming to the beach and shopping at our beloved small businesses, our street simply can't take more traffic. We are victims of an economic conundrum: governments promote and fund small businesses with one hand while with the other hand they grant approval for multinational corporations to ignore zoning recommendations and compete with those same small businesses often destroying them. Woolworths didn't listen to the Bronte community. I wish Mosman residents better luck with their objections. Josephine Grieve, Bronte If Woolworths' marketing department can't recognise the difference between Mosman and Newtown, what have they been doing for 50 years? Every area has its own dynamics, and isn't that what marketing is all about? Ric Baxter, Umina Beach

Only someone with a vivid imagination could suggest that traffic-choked Military Road, Mosman has a "village atmosphere". Anne Ackroyd, Melba (ACT) Mosman is a lovely, quiet suburb. Would everyone trying to gentrify Kings Cross please go there? Norm Neill, Darlinghurst Follow the money All of Australia's major banks as well as its major insurers refuse to finance and underwrite Queensland's Adani mine ("Global insurers back Adani mine", June 11). Yet our government continues to back this destructive project. Why? If jobs are the concern, consider the future costs to clean up the mess left behind and the destruction to the reef, wildlife, air and land. For the sake of some jobs, we are lumbering our children's generation with huge costs that will dwarf any money earned in the present. Larry Woldenberg, Forest Lodge

Mauling of a code The latest suggestion in a decade-long period of bad management decisions by the Australian Rugby administrators to sell out our game to an American private equity giant beggars belief ("US private equity giant opens talks with RA about buying stake in game" , June 11). Successive Mosman-based administrators who have run our game since professionalism destroyed it cannot seriously believe that selling out to profit possessed offshore corporations will benefit grassroots rugby. As Neil Diamond sang, "this is fantasy, pure fantasy". Here's a suggestion: why not sell shares to the rugby public and raise the same funds with Australian shareholders who actually care for our game? David Hawkins, Newport Beach Rugby looks like it will be run by merchant bankers. So what's changed? John Dinan, Cheltenham

Caught up in the details Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: Now the media that doesn't support US President Donald Trump is being criticised for reporting the facts ("Trump campaign seeks retraction of CNN poll showing Biden in the lead", smh.com.au, June 11). We all know about problems with polls, but 14 points is a pretty big margin for any error. Are all polls which show Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the lead to be regarded as fake news? David Rush, Lawson Who is funding education? The Secretary of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet evidently believes the state can steal a march on the US and UK by reopening our borders to international students as soon as it is safe to do so ("NSW primed to overtake US and UK as first choice for international students", June 11). Are we really witnessing a Damascene conversion here?

Pardon me for being a tad sceptical given that state governments have for years refused to provide international students with the basic public transport concessions available to domestic students. While the state government funding package for international students' crisis accommodation is welcome news, it is but a band-aid solution to a long-term attitudinal problem. We need our state leaders to rise above their past disregard for international students, recognise the sacrifices that these remarkable young women and men and their families make in coming to study with us, and acknowledge the fabulous contribution that these students make to our cultural and economic life and the state's reputation globally. Most importantly, though, it's time for the great and the good on Macquarie Street to offer international students something more substantive than empty rhetoric. Professor John Shields, Academic Director, International, University of Sydney Business School Am I the only one thinking this may be a good time to reflect on how we run and finance our universities ("Students 'to be steered to the UK", June 11)? With China actively discouraging its citizens from attending our universities, it has highlighted our over-dependence on foreign students, to our detriment and the quality of our degrees. No doubt there will be pain but it surely is worthwhile to have a strong independent higher education system which is not influenced by a foreign power. Wendy Howard, Quakers Hill Not preaching to the choir You cannot legislate against racism (Letters, June 11). You can legislate against discrimination but racism is an attitude  a frame of mind. The only way to eradicate or at least diminish racism is to educate people away from the fears and ignorance of their unfounded prejudices.

I do not mean school education, as younger kids tend to be naturally the most non-racist in our community. It will need a concentrated, nationwide public media-campaign targeted at adults. There have been successful campaigns in helping to change drinking, driving, smoking and COVID-19 attitudes and practices. This would go a lot further than any amount of "thou shalt not" type legislation. Brian Collins, Cronulla Changing the course of history Why are we toppling statues of racist white men who are long dead when we should instead look to the racist and inhumane policies that the present men of standing enable in our name (" 'Topple the racists': statue wars escalate in Britain", June 11). Slavery and racism are not by-gone problems. Tony Redmond, Wyong Statues which acknowledge the struggles and achievements of our First People should be erected to decorate our public spaces and educate Australians and visitors to our shores. Monuments to inspiring Aboriginal people like Pemulwuy, Lingiari, Jandamarra and Mum Shirl would represent a tangible statement that black lives do matter. Lorraine Hickey, Green Point Must we continue to judge 18th- or 19th-century motivations with 21st-century knowledge and learning? Let's act like we learnt something in the intervening centuries. Elwyn Swane, Forster
A distressed girl shouted for her dad to stop brawling after a fight broke out at a McDonald's drive-thru.

Video footage of the confrontation was taken in Wigston at a newly re-opened Leicestershire McDonald's.

The drivers of two cars, a white and a black car, have got out of their vehicles and are hitting and shoving each other.

Video footage of the confrontation was taken last week in Wigston at a newly re-opened Leicestershire McDonald's. The daughter of one of the men (pictured) got out of the car and shouted, 'Get off my dad'

They grapple as the fight, recorded last week, gets more and more heated and they try and land punches.

The duo continue to wrangle on the pavement while the child constantly shouts: 'Dad,' 'Dad' and then, 'Get off my dad.'

Horns can be heard in the background and at one point the girl, from the front seat of the black car, gets out and pleads with the men to stop.

A woman comes over and tries to break up the fight but the men continue swinging punches near to the cars.

Two security guards appear and successfully bring an end to the fight as they stand between the two men who still stare at each other and appear furious.

Each of the men try and land a punch in the dispute at McDonald's

One of the men pushes the other at the drive-thru in footage recorded last week

A bystander told the Leicester Mercury that the fight started after a customer in a black car - fed up with waiting - went to a white car in front to hurry them up.

After speaking to the occupants through the window, a woman in the 'white car got out and started shouting about how it was taking a long time for them to order because of the 25 limit and she has five kids'.

After the man from the black car reportedly said something, the man from the white car got out and, according to the bystander said: 'Don't speak to her like that.'

They grapple as the fight gets more and more heated and they try and land punches

The fight comes amid chaos across the country as the fast food giant reopened 1,000 restaurants last week, with orders via McDelivery, or via one of 923 drive-thrus.

Customers were seen queuing for hours to get their hands on a Big Mac, with cars blocking off emergency vehicles in some locations.

In another heated exchange, video emerged earlier this week showing a McDonald's worker being shoved and almost run over at a driver-thru queue, as he is harassed by two angry women.

Security guards appear and the fight is broken up, with the men looking back at each other

During the incident on Saturday, at a restaurant in Enfield, north London, one of the women - clearly desperate for a post-lockdown McMeal - can be heard screaming 'I hope you die' at the employee.

The altercation began after the staff member refused to allow the pair to join the queue due to a build-up of traffic on the A10.
The recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision in R. v Sullivan has received significant attention in the press and on social media. Unfortunately, much of this coverage has missed the nuances of this complex decision. Some have wrongly suggested that intoxication is now an available defence to all violent offences. Others have sought to pit womens organizations advocating for victims interests against civil libertarians seeking to protect the rights of the accused.

As executive director and general counsel of the Womens Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), I was proud to appear as co-counsel in this case on behalf of the only womens organization to intervene in the appeal. While I am troubled by aspects of the decision, I am neither angered nor surprised by it. I am, however, concerned that misinformation circulating about this case risks sowing confusion and anxiety about the state of the law, which could undermine access to justice.

So, what is the case about? It concerns a Criminal Code provision that prevented accused persons from raising the defence of voluntary self-induced extreme intoxication in cases where, while in that state, they commit a violent offence.

That provision was enacted by Parliament 25 years ago in the wake of the 1994 Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v Daviault. In that case, the majority of the Supreme Court ordered a new trial after finding that the accused, who had become extremely drunk and then sexually assaulted an elderly woman in a wheelchair, had the Charter-protected right to raise the defence of extreme intoxication.

LEAF intervened in this appeal to argue that the Court must consider all of the Charter rights that Parliament was seeking to balance when it enacted this law. Of course, this includes the accuseds constitutional rights, but it also includes the equality rights and security and dignity interests of women and children, who are disproportionately the victims of intoxicated violence.

We emphasized the range of evidence that Parliament considered when passing this law: the gendered nature of violence, particularly sexual and domestic violence; the links between intoxication and such violence; and the policy reasons for holding intoxicated offenders accountable for violence.

While the Court of Appeal acknowledged the important interest[s] that LEAF identified in its intervention, these interests did not ultimately really factor into its decision. The Court struck the provision down, finding it infringed the accuseds Charter rights in a manner that could not be justified.

While this decision has troubling implications, it is important not to overstate them. Striking down this particular Criminal Code provision does not mean the defence of intoxication can be used for all violent offences.

The defence should only be available in those rare cases where the accused can show that they were so intoxicated that, despite being capable of acting, they have no voluntary control over that action. In legalese, where they can be said to be in an automatistic state.

These situations are incredibly rare. In most cases, intoxication will still not be an available defence to sexual assault. Having said that, there will certainly be cases where it is difficult to draw the line and lawyers will argue that the defence should apply. As such, women have legitimate reason to be concerned about whether it will actually be limited to exceptional cases.

What is most upsetting about this decision is the message that it sends to victims of gender-based violence. It seems to say to women and children that men will not be held accountable for their violence, even when they get themselves so intoxicated that they cannot control themselves. Women and children are too often expected to bear the brunt of that conduct. We know that intoxication and gender-based violence are very closely linked. Even if this defence is only available in exceptional circumstances, this is still very alarming.

Many women already see the justice system as failing to meet their needs, particularly in cases of sexual assault. This in part helps to explain their reluctance to report sexual violence. I worry that this decision will further discourage women from coming forward to report. The misinformation circulating about the reach of this decision risks creating further confusion.

The decision to report sexual violence to the police has always been a personal one. Women need clear, accessible, and accurate information about the state of the law to help make that choice. We all have a responsibility to ensure they get it.
Bernie Sanders is right, in the way that he sometimes can be: His ideology has led him to the opposite of a trendy conclusion. In an interview with The New Yorker published this week, he was characteristically blunt when asked about the current calls to abolish or defund the police. Anyone who thinks that we should abolish all police departments in America, I dont agree he said.

(Sanders being Sanders, he went on to argue that more spending on health care, including mental health, should be part of the police-reform agenda, as a way of relieving some of the burden placed on police officers whose responsibilities are constantly expanding. He may be on to something there.)

Of course, a whole rash of reforms short of abolishing police departments have been bandied about in the wake of George Floyds death, and whats so odd about some of them is that theyve already been implemented. Bill de Blasio has indicated support for new legislation that would prohibit police from using chokeholds during their work. But the NYPD Patrol Guide has prohibited chokeholds for 20 years; in reports after the death of Eric Garner it was found that the prohibition simply hadnt been enforced.

Likewise, talk of new efforts at improving policecommunity relations in New York often ignores the community-policing agenda the city implemented in 2018, which was arguably the largest shift in police tactics since CompStat. Its an effort fully in line with the ethos of Sir Robert Peel, the founding father of modern policing, which Kevin D. Williamson has championed on this site. The NYPD has been making real efforts to improve communication between residents and the cops on their beat.

In fact, lots of the big metropolitan police forces have undergone major reforms. Historically, the Los Angeles Police Department was understaffed compared to the population and geography of the territory it policed, and had a more military character. In the two decades after the 1992 riots, the force was expanded, and its performance began winning the approval of overwhelming majorities of African-American and Latino Angelenos. Notably, in New York and Los Angeles, it was William J. Bratton, a vocal disciple of Peels system of policing by consent, who spearheaded the push for reforms.

Story continues

Sanders hits the nail on the head when he champions more training for police, and an emphasis on creating more-professional forces. Critics of police note that the work doesnt appear very dangerous when you look at the national statistics on workplace-related fatalities. But those statistics tend to obscure the danger faced by cops in major metropolitan areas; the greater number of officers in safer, more rural areas nationwide skews the results. The average policeman nationwide earns $65,000 a year with good benefits. Metropolitan police earn a bit more. But the hazards of the job in big cities are great, and not confined to police work itself; policemen in major metros have seen surges in suicides in recent years. Police work often takes a real toll on officers families, and it occasionally comes with political hazards that are not easy to anticipate. Pay increases would help major metropolitan departments attract more applicants and allow them to be more discriminating in their hiring choices, boosting the intelligence, competence, and character of their forces.

There are good arguments for changing the way policing works in America. Theres something to be said for unbundling some police duties and dedicating more resources to helping the mentally ill and addressing other social pathologies as Sanders proposes, though there will always be a role for police in confronting those problems. There are other proposals for changing the training that police officers receive. Those should be considered as well. But one of the biggest reasons that police are involved in fewer violent incidents now than they were in decades past is the work of people such as Bratton. Police departments have seen their budgets and manpower grow immensely, and have gotten much better at preventing crime as a result. The answer isnt to defund them.

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While the 'COVID-19 inquiry' appears to be the cause behind Beijing's anti-Australia trade decisions, it would immature to count out China's ambitions in the Pacific and South China Sea as the main guiding factor

Chinas Ministry of Education had on Tuesday warned students to reconsider returning to Australia, saying there had been a spate of racist incidents targeting Asians during the coronavirus pandemic.

If Chinese students choose to follow through, the advisory is likely to hurt the Australian economy, which is already facing its worst recession in 30 years.

According to Department of Education data, reported by Reuters, China is Australias most important trading partner and sends the most international students, accounting for 37.3 percent of 4,42,209 overseas students in higher education in 2019.

This advisory, however, is not the only decision that Beijing has taken lately that will have an impact on the Australian economy, amid a worsening of ties between the two countries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just last week, the Chinese culture and tourism ministry advised its citizens against travelling to Australia due to racial discrimination and violence stemming from the coronavirus outbreak.

Last month, it practically halted imports of Australian barley after raising import duties, right after suspending import of Australian beef over a labelling issue.

China is the No 1 market for Australian beef, accounting for about 30 percent of exports. Its also the biggest foreign buyer of Australian barley.

What's happening between China and Australia?

Based on recent reports, China, it would seem, is displeased with Australia for siding with the US in demanding an international enquiry into the origin of the novel coronavirus and China's handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

The novel coronavirus, which has affected millions first emerged in Wuhan, China, before it spread across the world.

The US has alleged that China hid details from the world about the coronavirus outbreak in its country. And Australia agrees.

There's crucial evidence supporting it too. Most recently, the recordings of the internal meetings of WHO, who the US has called a Chinese puppet, emerged revealing how China delayed sending crucial data on coronavirus to the world health body.

The WHO has bowed to calls from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it managed the international response to the virus, which was first found in China late last year. The evaluation would stop short of looking into contentious issues such as the origins of the virus.

Beijing has maintained that its trade actions are unrelated to Australia's push for an inquiry.

This, however, is improbable, as soon after the inquiry call, Cheng Jingye, Chinas ambassador to Australia, had said that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities.

And China has followed through.

International education is Australias fourth-largest foreign exchange earner, worth $26 billion annually, and more critical to the economy than beef or barley.

The Australian economy, which is facing its first recession in 30 years because of the coronavirus, would suffer deeply if Chinese students heeded the warning from their government to stay away because of racist incidents, reports said.

The claims of racism, however, are not unfounded as the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper had last week reported a survey conducted by the Per Capita think tank that had documented 386 racist incidents  ranging from abuse to physical intimidation and spitting  since 2 April.

The target of these racist incidents were Asian Australians, the report added.

However, Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the the Group of Eight, representing Australias top universities, told Reuters that the "the Chinese embassy hadnt received any reports of students being attacked during the pandemic".

International education is being used as a political pawn, she said.

It's all about influence

It's no secret that Beijing has always used access to the vast Chinese market as a weapon against its critics from Norway to Canada.

According to AP, in 2019, Beijing blocked imports of canola as it stepped up pressure for Canada to release a Huawei executive who was detained on US charges. The Chinese government said it found pests in Canadian shipments, which the suppliers said was unlikely.

In 2010, China blocked imports of Norwegian salmon and canceled trade talks after dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by an independent committee appointed by Norways parliament.

China began blocking imports of Philippine bananas in 2012 in a dispute over territory in the South China Sea. Beijing lifted import curbs only after Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte launched a diplomatic campaign to increase trade, political and investment ties with China.

An increasingly brazen China has been doing the same thing with Australia since 2018 when Australia blocked Chinese-owned tech company Huawei from rolling out a new 5G network, citing security concerns.

In fact, last year, China suspended imports of Australian coal after Australias government rescinded a visa for a prominent Chinese businessman.

Currently, the 'COVID-19 inquiry' appears to be the cause behind Beijing's anti-Australia trade decisions, it would immature to count out China's ambitions in the Pacific and South China Sea as the main guiding factor.

From the South China Sea to the Pacific, Beijing and Canberra have a long list of issues that have been brewing up for more than half a decade.

Australia has in the past, even accused that China is meddling in Australias affairs and seeking undue influence in the Pacific region.

According to an article in Foreign Policy, China has been pursuing a debt-trap diplomacy" or "payday loan diplomacy", which includes "targeting vulnerable countries with unsustainable debts" in order to increase its political influence in the Pacific.

According to the report, several island countries, particularly Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu in the Pacific, are already indebted to China.

Some of the infrastructure projects, especially a wharf built by China on Espiritu Santo island in Vanuatu, some 2,000 kilometres from Australia, have also been seen as a threat by Australia for quite some time.

The growing challenges in the Pacific have led to a strengthening of defence ties between India and Australia as well. Most recently, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison even supported a greater role for New Delhi in the keeping the Indo-Pacific open.

Chinas territorial claims in the strategically important South China Sea, where it is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple territorial disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons, is another point of contention.

The waters are a major shipping route for global commerce and are rich in fish and possible oil and gas reserves.

Australia has not only completely rejected Beijing's claims over the South China Sea, but lately, it has also been flexing its muscles along with ally US. Most recently, an Australian warship HMAS Parramatta conducted exercises with the US Navy, flaring tensions in the region.

Besides, Australia has also spoken out over Chinas proposed national security laws for Hong Kong, which critics say undermines freedom in the former British colony.

China, meanwhile, has maintained this trade disruption is not related to any political clash. But the state-owned newspaper The Global Times has a completely different view on the topic.

In May, calling Australia 'delusional' in expecting normal trade with China over COVID-19 inquiry, The Global Times wrote this: "A favorable political environment cannot exist without contributions from both sides, which is why we hope Australia will rethink its hostile attitude toward China. If tensions continue on their current trajectory, it would be delusional to expect trade relations to remain on track."

You cant have your cake and eat it, too, is a proverb that could be of use to some Australian officials, who continue to escalate tensions with China while hoping bilateral trade will remain intact, the article added while playing down the economic interdependence between the two countries.

With inputs from agencies
Conde Nast have launched an investigation into an executive who tweeted about 'hot Asian women' and ignored calls diversify Bon Appetit.

Conde Nast, is investigating its head of lifestyle and style programming Matt Duckor, who heads video for Bon Appetit, Architectural Digest and Vogue, for a series of homophobic, racist and sexist tweets.

One tweet reads, 'tough day meeting with loads of hot Asian women with Anna not being able to say anything about you checking them out... yeah, rough.'

Another says: '@SamSifton are you in Harlem with the black people and Asian same-sex couples? #kidding #diversity.'

'Amazing. 'Gay men use the gym as a place to socialize and to have secret liaisons in the bathrooms.' WORKING OUT IS SO GAY,' reads another.

Matt Duckor (right) speaks in New York City in December 2019. One of the tweets reads, 'tough day meeting with loads of hot Asian women with Anna not being able to say anything about you checking them out... yeah, rough'

Pictured: Two of the tweets sparking Conde Nast's investigation of Matt Duckor, head of lifestyle and style programming at the publisher. A tweet about 'hot asian women' has since been deleted

On Tuesday, Duckor responded to the tweets.

'There are some utterly embarrassing and offensive old tweets from over 10 years ago that have recently resurfaced that are disparaging to the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities,' he wrote.

'There's no excuse for them.'

The revelation comes days after Adam Rapoport, the long-time editor in chief of Bon Appetit magazine, resigned after a photograph showing him in brownface surfaced online.

The image in question was originally posted on Instagram by Rapoport's wife Simone Shubuck in 2013, and shows the couple dressed up as derogatory Puerto Rican stereotypes at an apparent Halloween costume party in 2004.

'Me and my papi,' Shubuck had captioned the image, followed by the hashtag 'boricua', a term often used by Puerto Ricans to identify themselves.

Rapoport told Business Insider: 'On the record: I was not wearing makeup or face coloring of any sort in that photograph.'

Adam Rapoport, the long-time editor in chief of Bon Appetit magazine, resigned on Monday hours after a photograph surfaced online showing him in brownface

The image in question was originally posted on Instagram by Rapoports wife Simone Shubuck in 2013, and shows the couple dressed up as derogatory Puerto Rican stereotypes at an apparent Halloween costume party

In a statement posted to his Instagram page on Monday evening, Rapoport confirmed he would indeed resign from his post, saying he will take time to reflect on the work that I need to do as a human being and to allow Bon Appetit to get to a better place.

Contributors to Bon Appetit, Priya Krishna and Ryan Walker-Hartshorn, told the Insider that they had repeatedly expressed concern over the lack of diversity in the team.

Alyse Whitney, an associate editor, said that she was turned down by Duckor when she asked to appear in an episode, despite being well qualified for the programme.

Whitney, who is Korean-American, said she brought up the issue of diversity with Duckor when turned down and he replied: 'Well, we have Priya,' referring to Priya Krishna, the Indian-American contributor on the channel.

According to an Instagram story posted by contributor Rick Martinez, Duckor contacted him yesterday to apologize for his homophobic and sexist comments.

'I asked him if, in the future, his children used that language, what he would do?' Martinez said.

'The first thing he said was 'be supportive like my parents have been to me.' WRONG ANSWER.'

'You teach them that it is WRONG AND HURTFUL and that you NEVER USE THOSE WORDS,' he added.
New Delhi, June 11 : The Congress, which has already lost party-ruled Madhya Pradesh to internal rebellion led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, and saw a spate of its MLAs resigning in Gujarat, is trying hard to keep its flock together in Rajasthan.

In a late evening development on Wednesday, the Congress MLAs in Rajasthan were called to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's residence and then to a resort for a meeting with observers from the party high high command.

The Congress has also rejected speculations of any differences between Chief Minister Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, with party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi terming the reported rift a "canard spread by the political adversaries".

Singhvi accused the BJP of "brazen use of money power" to lure the MLAs and said tht the party will give a representation to the Election Commission, first for Gujarat and then on Rajasthan.

Gehlot has also alleged that BJP is trying to poach MLAs but the BJP has rejected the charge. He also said that he was proud to be the Chief Minister of state where MLAs cannot be bought.

The Rajya Sabha polls in Rajasthan have become interesting after the BJP fielded its second candidate which has forced a contest in the state.

Congress has fielded its General Secretary, Organisation, K.C. Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi while the BJP, which could elect one, has also fielded two candidates.

In Gujarat, the party has already faced exodus of MLAs and the party is finding tough to win the second seat in the state.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 17:35:44|Editor: huaxia

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ABUJA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian police early Thursday said they are combing surrounding bushes for a gang of gunmen who killed two persons and abducted many others along the Lokoja-Abuja expressway in the country's central region.

The incident on Wednesday had prompted mobile policemen to begin the search for the criminal gang with the aim of rescuing the victims, said William Aya, the spokesman for the police in the central state of Kogi neighboring Nigeria's capital Abuja.

Aya said the number of kidnapped victims was unknown, as a lot of vehicles, including a commercial luxury bus, were involved in the incident along the expressway.

The gunmen struck twice at two different spots in that location, intercepting vehicles that were moving from Abuja to Lokoja, the capital of the north-central state of Kogi, said the police officer.

A local businessman and a commercial taxi driver were identified as the dead victims, according to local media.

An investigation into the incident is underway, said the police. Enditem
Former Harvard Professor Charles Lieber was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday over allegations that he maintained an undisclosed financial relationship with the Chinese government by taking a position as a Strategic Scientist at the Wuhan University of Technology.

The scheme is part of Chinas Thousand Talents program, which sees to pay western academics to hand over research funded by the government of their home countries.

According to a report by CNBC, former Harvard Professor and Chemistry Department Chair Charles Lieber was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday over allegations that he failed to disclose professional relationships with entities funded by the Chinese government.

Breitbart News reported in January that Lieber had been removed from his Harvard post and arrested on charges that he lied about his connections with the Chinese government. Lieber reported worked with Chinas Thousand Talents program, which bribes American academics in exchange for access to taxpayer-funded research.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Massachusetts on Tuesday claimed that Lieber worked with the Wuhan University of Technology on various scientific programs.
Phola Kula has made a habit of overachieving. She's a chemical engineering graduate, she's landed her dream job where she's instrumental in developing a truly South African 100% organic disinfectant, she's embarking on a masters degree, and she's only 26.

Phola Kula, process engineer, Biodx

Finding the perfect chemistry

Looking ahead

I believe that life is a continuous learning curve. You can never know everything, and its so important to grab every opportunity to master new things wherever you can.

Yes, Im one of those people. I love my job at Biodx. Ive had the rare opportunity to learn from the ground up, starting with the basics of project planning, implementation and manufacturing.A point of pride for me is being able to assist in the global front line of product development in the companys quest to produce the worlds first 100% natural organic disinfectant. And the fact Im making a real impact right now in the fight against Covid-19 with the responsibility ofmanufacturing our current range of disinfectants. It really doesnt make sense that South African formulators, manufacturers and government are importing and buying old school toxic active ingredients when they have a far superior product on their doorstep here in South Africa.Kula always had a particular passion for chemistry, choosing analytical chemistry initially and then moving towards engineering.Although I mainly do process engineering work, Im also involved in production and compliance to meet South Africa Bureau of Standards requirements, she says.The best part of my job is that Im constantly learning new things from my colleagues and even new suppliers, who share their knowledge with me. My knowledge base expands all the time and thats what I look forward to each day.Ive also completed a PDBA (post graduate diploma in business administration) and enrolled for my masters in management.Kula is a dreamer with big plans for the future, and as the world opens up new doors every day, learning remains her focus.
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The sleep disorder market size is anticipated to reach over USD 2.61 billion by 2026 according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, the sleep apnea devices dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the Fastest growing contributor to the global market revenue in 2017.

Sleep is complex neurological state that helps in restoring energy level in the body. Alterations in the quality and pattern if sleep may cause sleep disorder. Sleep disorder is defined as a sleep problem, which is characterized by snoring, insomnia, depression, and sleep apnea. Recently, in a study it is found that the approximately more than 75% of Americans from the age of 25 to 59 suffer from sleep disorder in the U.S. Sleep disorder is basically characterize by the difficulty in falling asleep, daytime fatigue, lack of concentration, anxiety, and depression.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/sleep-disorder-market/request-for-sample

The sleep disorder market is primarily driven by the increasing number individual population suffering from various mental disorders, and rising awareness for the treatment of sleep disorders in the coming years. Furthermore, the changing life style of the people, and rising preference to the sedentary life style to also support the market growth in the coming years. Additionally, changing working culture, increasing geriatric population, and lack of quality sleep to also boost the market growth during the forecast period.

On the other side, increasing morbidity due to sleep disorder has increased the healthcare cost, and related side effects of the drugs, and increasing patent expiries that are used in treating sleep disorders which would impede the market growth during the forecast period. The treatment for include medication, better sleeping habits, and devices. Medicines such as, Hetlioz (tasimelteon) by Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Intermezzo (zolpidem tartrate sublingual tablet) by Transcept Pharmaceuticals, and Silenor (doxepin) by Somaxon Pharma are some of the FDA approved drugs that are observed to be beneficial during the treatment of sleep disorders.

The market for sleep disorder in North America generated the highest revenue in 2017, and is expected to be the leading region globally during the forecast period. High number of patient population suffering the sleeping disorders is the primary factor accountable for the highest market growth. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services reports, approximately 20% Americans are suffering from sleep disorder. Thus, increasing demand for early treatments along with increasing patient pool, and growing patient awareness for proper diagnosis methods are factors boosting the growth in North America.

Asia Pacific is estimated to be the fastest growing region in terms of revenue. Growing awareness about sleep disorders and developing healthcare infrastructure are some of the factors that are projected to generate lucrative opportunities for the market in APAC.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/sleep-disorder-market

The industry is segmented on the basis of disorder type, device, treatment, and geography. Based on disorder type, the market is bifurcated into sleep apnea, sleep breathing disorders, insomnia, hypersomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, parasomnia, and sleep movement disorders. on the basis of devices, the market is segmented into sleep apnea devices, sleep laboratories, and mattresses & pillows. By Treatment, the market is further bifurcated as psychiatric treatment, behavioral treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medication therapy.

The major key players operating in the Sleep Disorder industry include GlaxoSmithKline plc, Becton Dickson and Company, Cardinal Health, Natus Medical Incorporated Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Koninklijke Philips N.V., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/sleep-disorder-market/request-for-discount-pricing

Sleep Disorder by Disorder Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015  2026)

Insomnia

Hypersomnia Insufficient Sleep Syndrome Narcolepsy

Sleep Apnea

Sleep Breathing Disorders

Circadian Rhythm Disorders

Parasomnia Sleep Eating Disorder Sleep Terror REM Sleep Behavior Disorder Others

Sleep Movement Disorders Restless Leg Syndrome Sleep Leg Cramps



Sleep Disorder Devices Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015  2026)

Sleep Apnea Devices

Sleep Laboratories

Mattresses & Pillows

Sleep Disorder Treatment Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015  2026)

Psychiatric Treatment

Behavioral Treatment

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Medication Therapy Prescription Drugs OTC Drugs Herbal Drugs



Sleep Disorder Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015  2026)

North America U.S. Canada

Europe Germany UK France Italy Spain Belgium Russia Netherlands Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific China India Japan Korea Singapore Malaysia Indonesia Thailand Philippines Rest of Asia-Pacific

Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Rest of LATAM

Middle East & Africa UAE Saudi Arabia South Africa Rest of MEA



About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world.

Contact us-

Polaris Market Research

Phone: 1-646-568-9980

Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com

Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com
Last week, Meghan Markle emerged with a powerful speech supporting the "Black Lives Matter" movement. The said campaign was emphasized once again after the death of George Floyd, who was killed at the hands of four white police officers in Minnesota.

Being biracial herself, the Duchess of Sussex found this issue of racism close to her heart. In a virtual speech addressed to the graduating class of her former high school, Immaculate Heart High School, Meghan broke her silence on what she described as an "absolutely devastating" incident.

During her speech, the 38-year-old former "Suits" actress admitted being nervous about what to say, but she eventually concluded that "the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing."

Besides acknowledging George Floyd's death, Meghan enumerated the names of other black people who suffered a tragic death at the hands of police in the United States.

The Duchess then apologized to the class of 2020 for having to experience this kind of world where racism still exists.

"I'm so sorry that you have to grow up in a world where this is still present," Meghan said.

In the end, Meghan encouraged the graduating students to use their learnings to take part in the change to rebuild a better community.

While Meghan's speech was genuinely moving, a royal expert claimed that had she been still a part of the royal family, that kind of heartfelt speech would not be allowed and qould surely be shut down by the Buckingham Palace.

Silenced By The Royal Family

Queen Elizabeth II's former press secretary Dickie Arbiter said that Meghan would not be able to make such powerful politically and socially inclined speech if she was still bound to follow strict royal protocols as a working royal.

If this happens, her speech would be viewed as "politicizing the monarchy."

"What's happened in the states is an absolute tragedy, and it should never have happened, but unfortunately, it did happen. Had Meghan and Harry still been in the U.K. and working members of the royal family that speech couldn't have happened," Arbiter told Newsweek,

"It's highly politicized because of the very nature of what it is. It is a social issue for the United States, and it is not for a head of state to voice an opinion, whether the queen or the president of France or whoever."

Meanwhile, Omid Scobie -- co-author of Prince Harry and Meghan's upcoming biography "Finding Freedom" -- believes that it is not the right time for members of the royal family to stay quiet.

The Harpers Bazaar royal editor said that the royal family should also step up in fighting racism, especially within the United Kingdom. He emphasized that members of the monarchy have long been silent about the issue of racism, and it is the time to hear the protesters' voices.

Scobie said that Meghan's powerful speech inspired millions and encouraged other senior royals to use their platform to magnify humanitarian and charitable issues.
Fresh off of his eight-year artist residency at the Museum of Northern Arizona, Hopi and Tewa artist and musician Ed Kabotie is grateful to have been given the opportunity by then-director Dr. Robert Breunig. During his time at the museum, Kabotie contributed to programming through storytelling, wrote hundreds of songssome of which make up the five albums he has recorded with reggae band Tha Yotiesand created art that spoke out against environmental racism like artificial snowmaking on Nuva'tukya'ovi, the San Francisco Peaks, a sacred mountain range to many Indigenous communities.

I was able to grow as an artist at the museum, both visually and musically, he says. It's been a really productive and growing time for me. To be able to meditate there under the shadow of the mountain, you know, that's priceless.

During a recent phone interview with Flag Live!, Kabotie discussed how he has continued to use his platform to help educate audiences. The following Q&A has been condensed for clarity and space.

MacKenzie Chase: You often use the term edutainment to describe your art. How do you feel art and music can serve as a powerful form of education?

Ed Kabotie: Edutainment is a phrase that we've stolen fromand when I say we, I'm thinking of myself and Tha YotiesWalt Disney [laugh], and Walt Disney coined the phrase when he was introducing his True-Life Adventure series, but I think it's really a powerful concept, combining art and music to share a message.

Some people listen for hard facts and things of that nature. Other people listen with their heart, they feel and think and discern from a place of more conscious thought. I think it's important to try to share messages in all forms. Different forms speak to different people, and sometimes somebody might listen to a song more readily, or the information might soak in a little bit better, if it's also presented in another form.

In what ways have you been using your art to bring awareness to issues the past few months? I noticed your Coyote Inna Quarantine live stream series on Facebook.

Spring is a very culturally focused time for me, and so I'm usually spending time at home. And when I say at home I mean Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico. So the pandemic hit at a time when that has usually been my focus from year to year. A lot of that focus just got channeled into a little bit of a personal pilgrimage here around Flagstaff. While I still had some time at the museum, I spent a lot of time talking to archaeologists and visiting various sites throughout the area, just personally trying to internalize what was taking place, trying to pray.

The epidemic hit hard on Navajo Nation. One third of the COVID-19 reported cases in the state of Arizona are coming from Navajo Nation. My father's from Hopi, and my mother's from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. One quarter of the COVID-19 reported cases in the state of New Mexico are also from Indigenous communities. So that was difficult, just feeling helpless. I didn't really feel comfortable going back home, riding a train and riding the bus, and riding another train to be with my mom, so I sat out here in Flagstaff.

Technology is really not myI don't want to say best friend. It's not a bad thing, I just tend to resist it. I like to keep my life fairly simple, but I felt like the only way to begin to connect with audiences was to do it via internet. Monica Nuvamsa is the director of the Hopi Foundation back home, and she shared with me that the Hopi Foundation had established a fund for specific needs in Hopi. The COVID-19 epidemic is kind of compounded with the closure of the Black Mesa [Kayenta] Mine, which brought in a lot of revenue for certain operations in Hopi. So it really put an added strain upon our communities.

The Hopi Foundation established what's called the Hopi Emergency Assistance Fund so they could address needs that would arise for people not only looking at the pandemic, but also looking forward into needs that might be anticipated for the future. So I created the Coyote Inna Quarantine show initially to bring attention to the various funds that were being created to help Native American people with immediate needs in the pandemic. Most recently, the last couple of shows have been more in reaction to the racial violence that we see spreading through the country. The other epidemic.

In your most recent installation of Coyote Inna Quarantine, Distance Between Hate and Hope, you cover a lot of important topics, but overall, what would you say is the distance between hate and hope?

In some ways, I think it's the distance between our head and our heart. I feel like, again, kind of going back to how we think, how we perceive, how we feel. How do we move forward with so many things taking place right now? On one hand, I'm at a loss, but on the other hand, I feel like it's very evident how we move forward. And that was the focus of the last Coyote Inna Quarantine show, an emphasis on faith. It was Malcolm X who pointed out thatand I'm not quoting him directlyuntil we can conceive of a universal higher power, we're really not going to be able to also conceive in that oneness of man concept.

I tend to focus on a lot of issues where it sometimes really feels like [Indigenous people] are never heard, and I get very cynical about it. But one thing that has really inspired me over the last year, working with Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy students, working with students at Ponderosa High School, working with students at Northern Arizona University, is just that clear vision of hope that young people have. The concept of hope is really powerful to me, and I feel like that's one of the essential things that we have to have.

And the other is love. Love for one another and relearning to think about others, and, to be honest with you, I feel like it's also really important to examine ourselves. I think it's really easy for all of us to be pointing fingers. I think we all carry our own prejudices in this world, and I'm definitely speaking about myself, and that's something that kind of clouds my own vision sometimes.

What's taking place right now is showing all of us that our society is sick, and that sick society is made of individuals that are also sick. I think the same way we think of COVID-19, we should kind of approach life as if everybody is a carrier in the same way when looking at racism. I think we should assume that all of us are carrying something that we need to let go of so that we can truly begin to get out of our own selfish paradigms and get into the mode of thinking of others.

In Distance Between Hate and Hope, you mentioned the death of George Floyd was a time bomb. Do you think that if that hadn't happened, something else down the line would have triggered this rise in action weve been seeing with the Black Lives Matter movement?

Oh, absolutely. I've been fascinated by the civil rights movement during my residency here at the Museum of Northern Arizona. I've had the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. a couple of times, once during lobby week and the other with a delegation of Hopi. We presented at the National Museum of the American Indian. Washington, D.C. is a city of big money politics on one side and a place of extreme poverty and obvious racial discrimination on the other side.

It's remarkable to me what was accomplished in the civil rights movement. But while it made a big difference on paper, it didn't change the institutional [racism]. That hasn't changed on reservations, it hasn't changed for the African American community. In areas such as education, our economies, our environment when we're talking about the tribes of the Colorado Plateau. I mean, the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, all of that is impacted by industrial racism.

That, to me, is exactly what that ticking time bomb has been. It was just a matter of time so I really hope that with this situation we can get a much bigger picture. Again, kind of going back to the subject of love, learning to not apply our biography to everybody, and to think that we know what other people are going through when we really don't. It's a time to listen and time to learn.

Tha Yoties will be performing as part of the Orpheum Theaters At Home with the Orpheum Theater series this weekend. What are you looking forward to in regard to that?

Tha Yoties havent performed at all [since venues temporarily closed], obviously. When the epidemic was touching down, we canceled a lot of stuff. My father passed away in 2009 from the H1N1 virus, so the last thing I wanted in the world would be anybody to pick up something at a Yoties show. But I'm really excited to be able to do this and grateful to the Orpheum for giving us the opportunity to use their stage for a live stream.

There are a lot of thoughts that we have about what's taking place in the environment during the COVID epidemic. Politicians using the time to snatch up public lands for exploitation. The impact upon Native American people in particular and the obvious in-your-face awareness of racism. Going back to your initial question about edutainment, that's what we're looking forward to do, provide some edutainment about things that are currently taking place during this time.

What are your plans for the future?

I just got a response from Richard Ullmann, [National Park Service Chief of Interpretation and Education for Flagstaff Area National Monuments]. Prior to the epidemic, in anticipation of leaving the museum, I did reach out to the Flagstaff monuments about the possibility of doing a residency there, and it looks like that will be an eventual transition.

I had mentioned that a lot of my downtime during the epidemic was spent doing a personal pilgrimage, and I spent a lot of time hanging out near Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon, and hanging out at the Artists Gallery, which Ive been a member of during my time here.

There are a handful of landscape artists there who I really admire, and I just love the idea of open air landscapes. Thats one thing I would really like to explore while Im doing this particular residency with the monuments, and also I would really like to interact with the archaeologists, pick their brain. As Indigenous people, we have our own histories, but to compare those with the notes of the archaeologists is pretty fascinating to me. Its the missing discipline in archaeology [laugh] is what my father used to say, mythic archaeology. Those are the two things Im most excited about, landscape art, and just learning.

Visit www.facebook.com/EdKabotie to watch Ed Kaboties Coyote Inna Quarantine series and learn more about the artist. Visit www.hopifoundation.org to donate to the Hopi Foundation's Emergency Assistance Fund. Kabotie will be performing with Tha Yoties as part of the Orpheum Theaters At Home with the Orpheum Theater fundraiser series Saturday, June 13, at 7 p.m., at www.facebook.com/OrpheumFlag. Donations to benefit the Orpheum can be made via GoFundMe at www.gofundme.com/f/at-home-with-the-orpheum-theater.

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Dozens more homes in a rural stretch of southeastern Manitoba were evacuated Wednesday after heavy rain flooded farmland and submerged roads.

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This article was published 11/6/2020 (589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dozens more homes in a rural stretch of southeastern Manitoba were evacuated Wednesday after heavy rain flooded farmland and submerged roads.

"All of our north-south roads are washed out," said David Kiansky, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn, a sprawling area of farms and small communities 90 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg with about 1,600 residents.

"We've got tube-diking going on ... and we are going to try to save our town here."

The region was hit with about 150 millimetres of rain in recent days. A handful of homes had water inside by Monday night.

As the rain continued through Tuesday and into Wednesday, water on the land washed over roadways and the Rat River rose. A bridge over the river was under threat and was likely to soon be out of commission, Kiansky said.

With road access to homes being cut off, the municipality decided to get people out of the hardest-hit areas while they could. More than 80 homes were vacated.

"It's an unbelievable amount of water ... and it's running hard. It's running fast," Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said while touring the area Wednesday.

Evacuees who could not stay with family members were directed to hotels in nearby communities. The province brought in three trailers with tube dikes and other equipment, and had staff on site to look at options such as making cuts in roadways to drain water.

The Rural Municipality of Piney, to the east, also declared a state of emergency and was working to protect roads.

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"Our efforts are focused on saving roads that are still passable at the moment. If a road is currently washed out, the R.M. has not prioritized these roads since our focus is on saving existing ones," read a message posted on the municipality's website.

The province will talk with municipal officials about financial assistance after the flood threat has subsided, Schuler said.

Kiansky said the one bit of good news was the weather forecast. It called for only a few showers followed by several days of sunshine.

"The sun is finally out, so maybe there's light at the end of the tunnel."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2020
The US government's top advocate before the Supreme Court, Noel Francisco, who defended President Donald Trump's policies, including the travel ban on people from mainly Muslim countries, is expected to resign, according to a person familiar with his plans.

That would mark the second departure of a senior Justice Department official in two days, following Wednesday's news that the top prosecutor overseeing its criminal division, Brian Benczkowski, is leaving his post early next month.

The Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr have faced criticism for recent moves seen as prioritizing Trump's close friends and allies, including its ongoing effort to drop a criminal charge against Michael Flynn a former top adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Since 2017, Francisco has led the Office of the Solicitor General, a division of the Justice Department that defends government policies against legal challenges.

Francisco, like Benczkowski, had been planning to leave his post this summer for quite some time, according to the person familiar with his plans, who asked to remain anonymous because it has not been publicly announced yet.

Franciscos top deputy, Jeff Wall, is expected to serve as acting solicitor general while the White House searches for a replacement, the person added.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Francisco's planned departure comes as the Supreme Court nears the end of a term that began in October 2019.

Francisco won a notable victory in defending Trumps travel ban on people from six predominantly Muslim countries entering the United States, which the court upheld in 2018 in a 5-4 decision.

Francisco also argued in favor of Trump's bid to dismantle a program that protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants - dubbed "Dreamers" - who entered the United States illegally as children. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in that case in the next month.

Francisco is a longtime Washington lawyer with strong conservative credentials. The 50-year-old, who is of Filipino descent, is the first Asian-American to hold the job of solicitor general.
[June 11, 2020] Greater Than Make Enerfy Loyalty Now Available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace

Microsoft Azure customers worldwide now gain access to Enerfy Loyalty, provided by the Microsoft Insurance Partner, Greater Than to take advantage of the scalability, reliability, and agility of Azure to shape business strategies STOCKHOLM, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Greater Than, today announced the availability of the cloud-based loyalty program Enerfy Loyalty in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. With Enerfy Loyalty, insurance companies and fleets can now take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform, with streamlined deployment and management. Enerfy Loyalty is an easy to implement service to reward and retain customers who drive safely. The program needs no IT integration to be applied to an existing customer base and the onboarding of new members takes place entirely through an SMS and app2car solution. By downloading the app, the end-user gets started after just one click, and can immediately begin to drive safer and reduce CO2 emissions to collect points. The simplified onboarding makes Enerfy Loyalty a perfect CRM tool to attract new customers and to gain instant risk analysis for each connected user. Enerfy Loyalty is part of Greater Than's cloud-based platform Enerfy; an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology that evaluates driving patterns in real-time. The offering is available worldwide for all types of cars to join. "Being available at the trusted Microsoft Azure Marketplace, we reach out further with solutions that dramatically improve the auto insurance industry. Enerfy Loyalty is a perfect get-started product for insurers who wants to use and evaluate usage-based solutions and gain more in-depth insight into risk per user in real-time." - says Johanna Forseke, CBO of Greater Than "Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure," said Sajan Parihar, Senior Director, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. The Azure Marketplace is an online market for buying and selling cloud solutions certified to run on Azure. The Azure Marketplace helps connect companies seeking innovative, cloud-based solutions with partners who have developed solutions that are ready to use. For media inquiries, please contact:

Eva Voors, Head of PR and Communications

+46-708-884880

[email protected]

www.greaterthan.eu

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https://mb.cision.com/Main/11629/3132366/1262686.pdf Greater Than make Enerfy Loyalty avaliable in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace https://mb.cision.com/Public/11629/3132366/9cc7e4c3e22917c8_org.jpg Enerfy Loyalty



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Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 16:08:19|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Despite entering voluntary administration, Virgin Australia will follow rival Qantas to increase domestic flying as state border restrictions ease.

Australia's second-largest carrier said Thursday it would double current capacity to around 13 percent of pre-coronavirus level by early July, adding approximately 30,000 seats across 320 flights per week.

Virgin will also introduce several safety measures, including pre-departure health screening, contactless check-in, more frequent cleaning and expanded social distancing measures.

Virgin Australia Chief Commercial Officer John MacLeod said the airline has decided to increase capacities as travel demand grows.

"It's early days but these services will be a welcomed boost to Australia's tourism industry and help the nation's economy and aviation sector to rebuild," MacLeod said.

"Importantly as travel begins to increase, the safety and wellbeing of guests remains crucial, which is why measures to minimise risks associated with COVID-19 are being introduced."

Virgin entered voluntary administration in April, owing creditors nearly 7 billion Australian dollars (4.84 billion U.S. dollars).

Administrator Deloitte has narrowed down potential buyers for the airline to Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners, and expected to reach a deal with the winner by the end of the month.

Australia's largest airline Qantas announced last week more than 300 return flights would be back in operation by the end of June, boosting domestic capacity to 15 percent of normal. Enditem
The UK owes a debt to descendants of enslaved people and to taxpayers whose money was used to compensate slave traders and owners.

Some years ago I found myself face to face with the statue that has become the most controversial in Britain after protesters, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, tore it down and dumped it into a river on Sunday.

Back then though, in Bristols harbour, stood Edward Colston (1636-1721), looking every inch the respectable English gentleman, leaning ever so slightly forward onto his cane.

Even then he was a controversial figure because of the two things he is remembered for: slave trading and philanthropy.

Colston was deputy governor of the Royal African Company (RAC) in 1689. The RAC was effectively a private militia, navy and trading company that bought and sold gold, silver, ivory  and enslaved people.

Colston transported enslaved African men, women and children to Bristol, where they were branded with the logo of the RAC, much as you would cattle. According to records from the time, 19,000 enslaved people trafficked from the Ivory Coast died on the journey. Bristol was a hub, not just for Colston and the RAC, but for the global slave trade.

The statue made me angry back then. Erected in 1895, it was a celebration of a man who bought his way into the civic history of Bristol. The statue was erected to celebrate his largesse to the city. He gave generously to charities, educational and health institutions, and they loved him for it.

Britain formally abolished the slave trade in 1807, but only outlawed slavery in 1834, after the Slavery Abolition Act was passed by the parliament the year before.

The British government paid the slave traders 20 million pounds in compensation  40 percent of its budget. That is some 17 billion pounds (estimated at more than $21bn in todays money). The government took out a loan to pay it, which was only paid off  by British taxpayer money  in 2015.

That means that living taxpayers in the UK, including descendants of enslaved people, paid billions of pounds to slave traders to stop them from trading in human lives, and to slave owners for the loss of their property. Yes. The British government, using public money, paid slave owners but not those who were enslaved.

Among those paid were ancestors of several prime ministers, including David Cameron.

John Gladstone, the father of William Gladstone, who served as prime minister four times during the 19th century, received compensation of 106,769 pounds. That is the equivalent of 83 million pounds today.

Edward Colston died in 1721, but slavery continued for another 100 years. London, Bristol, and Liverpool, which were hubs of the slave trade, became wealthy and powerful.

The backs and souls of enslaved people built Britain  the backs of those who toiled in cotton fields and plantations in British colonies, and the souls of those who did not survive the journey.

Between 1640 and 1807 some 3.1 million enslaved people were transported from Africa. According to the governments own national archive figures, 2.7 million arrived; the rest died en route.

I remember I had my headphones on the day I stood facing Colstons statue. At the time some of my favourite music was coming out of Bristol  music rooted in Afro-Caribbean culture but reversioned into something uniquely British by people like me, the sons and daughters of immigrants from Britains former colonies.

We do not know if Colston used his immense wealth to try to whitewash his slaver past by building Bristol and through some generous acts of charity, but Britain owes a debt, not just to the descendants of enslaved people, but also to British taxpayers for using their money to make slave traders and owners even wealthier.

As I walked away from the statue that day, I could never have imagined it would meet a watery grave. Now I wonder how many more statues of British slave traders might meet a similar fate.

Follow Imran Khan on twitter at @AJImran
The Government must clear with hairdressers and barbers about when they can open, according to Laois Offaly TD Sean Fleming.

The Fianna Fail TD has called on the Government to give to the businesses and their customers as to when they will be allowed operate.

He said the mixed messages coming from Government are unhelpful to an industry which needs to prepare for a very different approach to hairdressing than before COVID-19.

It has been reported that a decision to bring forward the reopening of barbers and hairdressers to June 29th is being worked towards.

No hairdresser or barber wants to put themselves, their staff or their customers in danger  they need time to prepare and to implement strict health and safety protocols.

The Irish Hairdressers Federation (IHF) has published 100 guidelines which hairdressers and barbers can implement which would allow the safe reopening.

However, if the Government only gives the green light for reopening in the 10 days time then hairdressers and barbers will have a week at most to implement all measures.

There is going to be a massive demand on PPE in the industry and staff will need to be trained in COVID-19  who is going to provide this?

A taskforce would be able to provide clear guidance and help to the approximately 25,000 people employed in the sector.

Hairdressers want to get back to businesses, customers are certainly crying out for them, but it has to be safe for all involved. The Government have to stop with the mixed messages and give reassurance to the industry that there is a plan, concluded Deputy Fleming.
Aboriginal activists have gathered thousands of signatures on a petition to remove a statue of Australia's first Prime Minister Edmund Barton from a public park, arguing it was an affront to indigenous people.

The push to remove the monument followed the removal of other statues around the world of leaders seen to have promoted or endorsed racist policies and practices.

Sir Edmund was the first national leader after Federation in 1901 and played a key role in drafting the precursor to the White Australia policy and framing a constitution that did not recognise Aboriginal people.

His statue was unveiled in 2001 at the Town Green park in Port Macquarie on the mid-north coast of New South Wales - ten metres from a plaque recognising the area as containing an 1,800-year-old Aboriginal graveyard.

Local woman Arly Mehan created the petition a week ago, saying the statue had always been an issue in her family and was ' not appropriate'.

Sir Edmund Barton was the nation's first leader after Federation in 1901 and played a key role in drafting the precursor to the White Australia policy. His statue was erected in Port Macquarie in 2001

'You wouldn't put a statue of Hitler in a Jewish space, so it's been a bit of a thorn,' she said, according to the ABC.

In the petition, Ms Mehan said the monument is 'offensive' and representative of the fact that 'Port Macquarie is not a culturally inclusive town'.

'Edmund Barton was representative for 'White Australia', and this is linked to contemporary inequitable ideologies and racism.'

She also cited part of a speech delivered by Sir Edmund in parliament when the Immigration Restriction Act, later known as the White Australia policy, was introduced.

'There is no racial equality. There is that basic inequality. These races are, in comparison with white races - I think no-one wants convincing of this fact - unequal and inferior,' he said.

Ms Mehan plans to present the petition to Port Macquarie-Hastings Council which she said had erected the statue without consulting the community.

Port Macquarie Historical Society President Clive Smith told the ABC there was no reason the statue could not be removed.

Local woman Arly Mehan created the petition a week ago in the wake of the international Black Lives Matter movement which calls for an end to racially-fuelled discrimination. Pictured: Protesters at the Sydney Black Lives Matter rally in June

'Being Australia's first prime minister and (having) a connection with the area, maybe it is appropriate to have a statue of him somewhere in the vicinity but probably not at that location,' he said.

Sir Edmund was a local MP at state level before he became Prime Minister and a founding member of the High Court.

Mr Smith said there were too many statues of 'dead white men' who are 'perhaps not as great as they were once thought to be'.

Marches have been held in Australian cities last weekend in the wake of black man George Floyd's alleged murder at the hands of a white police officer in the United States.

The rallies linked that incident to Aboriginal deaths in custody and racism in Australia.

More than 400 indigenous Australians have died in police detention since a 1991 Royal Commission into the deaths of Aboriginal people in custody.
Scarlett Moffatt has revealed she is worried that the walls in her house are listening to her in her latest bizarre theory that comes after she claimed drones are being disguised as pigeons to spy on people.

The TV presenter, 30, took to Instagram Stories alongside her boyfriend Scott Dobinson where she revealed they will sometimes be having a conversation about something and she will then gets ads and emails about the topic.

This has lead the star to believe the walls in her home are listening to her, as she said: 'Were in Scotts special room which is soundproof. We talk about this on the podcast this week. Its all about are the walls listening and do the walls have ears?'

Paranoia: Scarlett Moffatt, 30, has revealed she is worried that the walls in her house are listening to her in her latest bizarre theory

'Often when Im talking about something, we could be talking about cats, and then Ill get adverts on my phone about cat food.

She went on: 'Or we could be talking about a holiday destination and then Ill be getting emails about flights going there and stuff. Are we being listened to all the time?

Scarlett revealed her good pal Joe Swash is also a firm believer that his walls are listening to him as well.

She said: 'I dont have smart speakers in the house because I have a thing about whether they are recording our conversations. Joe Swash is obsessed with this too, hes obsessed with conspiracy theories.'

Strange: Scarlett said she and boyfriend Scott Dobinson will sometimes be having a conversation about something and she will then gets ads and emails about the topic

Scarlett said: 'Often when Im talking about something, we could be talking about cats, and then Ill get adverts on my phone about cat food'

It comes after Scarlett claimed drones are being disguised as pigeons as a spying tool in another of her conspiracy theories.

The former Gogglebox star discussed her odd thesis with Joe on a new edition of the Scarlett Wants To Believe podcast, where she also insisted the government is 'listening to everything we say' through our mobile devices.

The media personality's latest conspiracy theory has left her unable to use the smart speaker her grandmother bought her for Christmas as she fears the object will snoop on her.

'It isn't that far fetched': Scarlett recently claimed drones are being disguised as pigeons as a spying tool on a new edition of the Scarlett Wants To Believe podcast

On her idea, the presenter, who was also joined by Scott, insisted: 'It isn't that far fetched.

'They're very incognito, they're everywhere, they're in major cities. You'd never suspect a pigeon.'

Her former I'm A Celebrity Extra Camp co-host, 38, surprisingly agreed with her wacky comments, stating: 'I do reckon that they're probably drones and cameras as they can train animals. I'd love that to happen.

'They're tricking us into buying this technology that's making our lives easier, but with the sub-premise of gathering information on us.'

Bizarre: The former Gogglebox star, who was also joined by Scott, also insisted the government is 'listening to everything we say' through our mobile devices

'I'd love that to happen': The media personality discussed her odd thesis with Joe Swash surprisingly agreed with her wacky comments

Scarlett also explained her reservations about sharing personal details around electronic devices as she detailed: 'I strongly believe the Government are listening to everything we say.

'I daren't plug it [the smart speaker] in. They must be listening all the time. The walls literally have ears. [But] we talk utter sh**e. There would be no reason for us to be bugged.'

The TV star's latest episode came after she first shared her strange theses on Loose Women last month.

During an interview live from her County Durham home, the reality star claimed she was abducted by aliens as a child.

'I daren't plug it in': Her latest bizarre conspiracy theory has left her unable to use the smart speaker her grandmother bought her for Christmas as she fears the object will snoop on her

On a mission? 'They're very incognito, they're everywhere, they're in major cities. You'd never suspect a pigeon' (pigeons pictured in Kettering last week)

The host left the panel in shock as she also admitted she believes the 'Paul McCartney is dead' conspiracy theory - a longtime urban legend that alleged the Beatles legend, 77, died in the 60s and was secretly replaced by an impersonator.

Scarlett spoke to Andrea McLean, Nadia Sawalha, Brenda Edwards and Gloria Hunniford about her experience with what she perceived as an alien invasion.

'My earliest memory ever is when me and my dad used to take a notepad to a field to go looking for crop circles', she shared.

'My boyfriend doesn't believe this, but when I was 10, a massive beaming light came when through my window, and I had a dream, well I think the [aliens] wanted to think it was a dream, and Scott seems to think that it was just a car headlight and that it was probably a dream!

Life according to Scarlett: The TV star's latest episode came after she first shared her strange theses on Loose Women last month

'My middle name is Sigourney because my dad is a fan of Sigourney Weaver from the film Aliens'.

While the group raised their eyebrows, the Geordie star attempted to reason: 'I'm literally obsessed. Me and Scott on our first date, I asked him if he thought we'd really been to the moon.

'This is what confuses us - people say 'Oh I believe we've landed on the moon', but then they find it really far-fetched that there can't be other planets where other little men haven't travelled to our planet.'

The online personality later spoke about the 'Paul is dead' phenomenon, which first emerged in September 1969 after college students at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa published articles claiming various clues to his supposed death could be found in The Beatles' album cover artwork and lyrics.

Shocking admission: During an interview live from her County Dunham home, the host said she believes the 'Paul McCartney is dead' conspiracy theory (Paul pictured in 2019)

Expressing her take on the theory, Scarlett said: 'Well I don't know if he's dead, but there's loads of evidence that he's been replaced by a lookalike. If you sing some of the Beatles' lyrics backwards, it says that!'

A few weeks later, she claimed pyramids were built by time travellers, explaining that the speed of light has 'exactly the same' figures as the coordinates for the Great Pyramid of Giza.

She then said: 'Basically Einstein and Stephen Hawking said if you could travel at the speed of light you could travel back in time.

'Because humans could not measure the speed of light back then to that precision, I reckon people from the future have travelled back in time to build the pyramid.'
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed with African leaders the latest developments concerning the coronavirus pandemic in Egypt and Africa on Thursday in an online video conference, the Egyptian presidency said.

The mini-summit organised by the African Union tackled the results of previous online summits held to discuss the pandemic and its impact on African countries.

During the meeting El-Sisi called for continuing joint African cooperation on the crisis and stressed the necessity to support medical teams in fighting the coronavirus and providing medical supplies.

The Egyptian president also reasserted the importance to face other threats facing the continent besides COVID-19 like terrorism and radical thoughts in addition to the African Development Agenda 2063 goals including development projects.

President El-Sisi mentioned the medical supplies Egypt sent to other African countries in the past few weeks.

The mini-summit discussed the updates to the spread of COVID-19 in Africa and exchanging expertise to fight the virus.

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After a lull of more than three months, BJP has brought CAA into political discourse in a big way as parties gear for upcoming polls in Bihar and West Bengal

The party has, however, still refrained from raising the bogey of NRC at the national level, a pitch that coupled with aggressive campaigning for and against CAA had triggered massive protests between December and February, also culminating into Delhi riots.

But the attempt to send a message to the core constituency is very much clear in the tone and tenor, whose decibels differ according to different needs of the constituency.

So while it was somewhat muted in Bihar, where NDA is led by JDUs Nitish Kumar, who has not been very kind to such aggressive pitch, which play on the nerve of any community, the BJP has sharp edges to campaign on CAA in West Bengal, where riding on hard-line Hindutva plank, it seeks to oust Mamata Banerjee in 2021 assembly polls.

Home Minister Amit Shah, who has often accused Banerjee of doing "politics of appeasement, on Tuesday asked her to come clean on why she is opposing the CAA.

You are opposing the CAA which is pro refugees but once the votes will be counted in Bengal you will see people of West Bengal will make you Rajnaitik Sharnatri (political refugees)," Shah said, going ballistic against Banerjee, whom the BJP has sought as a politician only caring for Muslim votes. Shah projected CAA as fulfilment of a promise made in 1947 to Indians, who went to Pakistan at the time of partition.

Before the West Bengal Jansamvad Virtual Rally, Shah in his June 8 virtual rally for Patna, mainly pitched on pro-poor schemes besides Swadeshi and Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign of Modi government. He also spoke at length over the financial help extended by Centre cyclone relief work in Odisha and the work done for migrants during COVID-19 crisis.

In Odisha, Muslim population is just 2.2 per cent and a polarised campaign on emotive issues like CAA and Triple Talaq does not resonate there.

Muslims form 27 per cent of electorates in West Bengal, where citizenship is a sensitive issue as the state shares a porous border with Bangladesh from where a large number of migrants including Hindus have come.

In Bihar with 17 per cent Muslim population, where Shah addressed the first virtual rally on June 7, the fulfilment of core promises of Ram Temple, CAA, triple talaq and the abrogation of Article 370, were substantial part of his speech.

Besides University campuses, Muslim localities have been nerve centres of anti-CAA protests in the country.

When Shah last spoke in detail on the CAA nearly three months back on March 13 while replying to a debate on Delhi violence in Rajya Sabha, he was conciliatory in approach saying he would like to tell "my Muslim brothers and sisters that false propaganda is being spread on the issue of CAA.

This was after the country had seen unrest over the issue for nearly two months, which the BJP, alleged, was instigated by the Opposition.

More than two and half months after that Shah on May 30 on Modi 2.0 government completing one year, in a write up said that the BJP-led central government implemented every promise in its manifesto and took several historic decisions like abolition of Articles 370 and 35A in Jammu & Kashmir, paving the way for construction of Ram Temple, liberating Muslim women from the curse of triple talaq and giving citizenship rights to deprived sections of society through CAA.
Thirteen public sector unions have threatened to embark on an industrial action following what they describe as low past credits being paid by the Social Security and National Investment Trust (SSNIT) to pensioners.

Under the umbrella body of the forum for public sector registered pension schemes, the group accused SSNIT of short-changing retirees by not paying the right past credit due them.



At a press conference yesterday, the group said the past credit that appeared on the statements of pensioners was higher than what SSNIT had paid to beneficiaries.



There is evidence that the past credit that appeared on the beneficiary statements in October/November 2019 was higher than the amount that was paid to retirees in 2020. Thus, besides the meagre or paltry past credits paid, SSNIT has not found it necessary to explain such a discrepancy.



Within two weeks if a proper and acceptable basis for the payment of past credits is not arrived at, the forum will have no option but ask its members to embark on an industrial action, the Chairman of the forum, Mr Isaac Bampoe Addo, said.



The forum includes occupational pension schemes set by unions such as the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), the Ghana Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOPSA), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) and the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG).



Past credits



Following the passage of the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), which took effect in 2010, a three-tier pension scheme was introduced.



The first and the second tiers are mandatory, while the third is voluntary.



Under Act 766, SSNIT manages the first tier, under which it pays a monthly pension to beneficiaries.



The second tier is managed by occupational pension schemes, which pay a lump sum to beneficiaries, while the third tier, which is voluntary, is a privately managed provident fund or pension scheme.



Prior to Act 766, SSNIT was managing a one-off pension scheme in which it pays monthly pension, as well as a lump sum, to beneficiaries.



With the coming into force of Act 766, the occupational pension schemes are supposed to be managed for lump sum payments.



However, because some contributors had already made contributions to SSNIT for lump sums before Act 776 came into force in 2010, those who went on retirement from 2010 to 2019 got their lump sums from SSNIT, as pertained to the old pension regime, while the rest had their lump sums converted into past credits.



Under Section 94(1)(d) of Act 766, those past credits should be paid to contributors based on a formula determined by a pension implementation committee, which is based on actuarial assessment.



Meagre past credit



Mr Bampoe, who is the Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, said with the coming into force of Act 766, SSNIT was expected to transfer the past credits to the managers of the tier-two scheme, but SSNIT had failed to do so.



He further accused SSNIT of paying what he described as noko fio (meagre) past credit to retirees who went for their benefits this year.



The payment, he said, was not in line with directives issued by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA).



Interestingly, SSNIT is paying past credits that are part of tier-two funds, without approval from NPRA. Non-compliance with this directive from NPRA by SSNIT is being looked on without any sanctions, he said.

Source: Daily Graphic









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Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt have teamed up for Yash Raj Films Shamshera. The film also stars Vaani Kapoor in a crucial role. The shooting for the film is mostly complete. A bit of patchwork is left, however, which reportedly would be shot soon as the Maharashtra government has given a thumbs up to production houses to resume shooting in the state.







According to a report in a leading daily, Shamsheras patchwork will be shot with a limited crew in a Mumbai studio. Ranbir and Sanjay will be called on the sets for the same. The report further stated that producer Aditya Chopra is making sure all safety measures, as prescribed by the state government, are followed during the shoot. Keep watching this space for more on Bollywood.
The news of freedom came late to more than 250,000 enslaved black people in Texas.

On June 19, 1865 -- more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the enslaved in Confederate states - Maj. General Gordon Granger stood at the Headquarters District of Texas in Galveston, and read "General Order No. 3":

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free."

Black people who heard the news erupted in celebration.

"They spent that night singing and shouting," remembered Pierce Harper, a formerly enslaved woman, in 1937, according to "Slave Narratives" interviews collected by the Work Projects Administration. They weren't slaves no more."

Ever since, African Americans across the country have marked that day of independence with a holiday known as Juneteenth. And they were preparing to do so again when President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to resume holding political rallies in Tulsa on June 19. Tulsa is the site of one of the worst episodes of racial violence in American history: the 1921 Race Massacre.

The announcement that Trump would hold a political rally on Juneteenth in a city where as many as 300 black people were killed by white mobs shocked some historians.

"It's almost blasphemous to the people of Tulsa and insulting to the notion of freedom for our people, which is what Juneteenth symbolizes," said CeLillianne Green, a historian, poet, lawyer and author of the book, "A Bridge, The Poetic Primer on African and African American Experiences."

"I'm speechless. That day is the day those people in Texas found out they were free. The juxtaposition of the massacre of black people and Juneteenth, the delayed notice you are free, is outrageous. Juneteenth symbolized our freedom."

Juneteenth is one of the oldest official celebrations commemorating the final end of slavery in the United States. Celebrations of Juneteenth - which combines the word June with Nineteenth -- began in 1866, a year after Granger landed on Galveston Island with more than 2,000 Union troops. Texas slave owners had refused to acknowledge the end of the Civil War and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

"There are many possible explanations for the delay" in the word reaching enslaved people in Texas, according to The Armistad Center for Art and Culture in Hartford, Conn. "A messenger may have been killed on his way to Texas with the news of freedom or maybe the news was deliberately withheld by the enslavers to maintain the free labor force on the plantations. Another possibility is that federal troops waited for the slave owners to have one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. For whatever the reasons, slavery in Texas remained beyond the legal deadline."

More than 100 years later, Juneteenth celebrations have spread across the country and around the world, including in Canada, Nigeria and Japan. The history of how and when freedom came to enslaved people in this country is complicated, historians say. Many people believe that Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" freed all enslaved Black people.

"Lincoln's edict had little impact on the people of Texas, since there were few Union troops around at the time to enforce it," according to the Library of Congress. "But, with the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee in April 1865 and the arrival of Gen. Gordon Granger's regiment in Galveston, troops were finally strong enough to enforce the executive order."

Lincoln had issued a warning in September 1862, warning rebellious Confederate states to rejoin the Union by Jan. 1, 1863, or "freedom would be granted to slaves within those states."

When the states refused, Lincoln made good on that threat. On Jan. 1, 1863 -- as the country entered the third year of the Civil War -- Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared:

(BEG ITAL)"That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as

slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people

whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall

be then, thenceforward, and forever free."(END ITAL)

But the Emancipation Proclamation was narrow in its focus. "It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union," according to the National Archives, "leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory."

Black people waited impatiently for the moment of that freedom.

That anticipation was captured in a painting that hung outside the Oval Office during the Obama presidency. On Juneteenth in 2016, President Obama, the country's first black president, described the painting, which depicted, "the night of December 31, 1862. In it, African-American men, women, and children crowd around a single pocket watch, waiting for the clock to strike midnight and the Emancipation Proclamation to take effect. As the slaves huddle anxiously in the dimly lit room, we can sense how even two more minutes seems like an eternity to wait for one's freedom. But the slaves of Galveston, Texas, had to wait more than two years after Lincoln's decree and two months after Appomattox to receive word that they were free at last."

In 1941, Laura Smalley, a formerly enslaved woman in Texas, told a WPA worker about the day she heard of her freedom.

"I remember the next morning we all got up and all of them went to the house to see old master. I thought old master was dead, I didn't know he was gone to war," according to a recording of her interview stored at the Library of Congress. "But he came back. All n---- gathered around to see old master. Old master didn't tell us we was free. He worked them six months and turned them loose on the 19th of June. That is why we celebrate that day, colored folks celebrate that day, celebrate that day, celebrate that day."
Vietnam Airlines hopes to resume international flights starting July to destinations where the Covid-19 pandemic has been contained.

The national flag carrier said in a release to airfare agents that it plans to fly to South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and several Southeast Asian destinations.

In South Korea, it plans to operate daily return flights between Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City and the Incheon International Airport near Seoul and up to four return flights a week between Hanoi/HCMC and Busan City.

The airline is also planning three to four return flights a week from Hanoi and HCMC to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Laos and Cambodia are also possible destinations, it said.

Vietnam Airlines CEO Duong Tri Thanh stressed that this was only a plan that depended on permission from the Vietnamese government.

"Vietnam Airlines is ready to resume flights as soon as the restrictions are lifted," he told VnExpress, adding that Japan was another possible destination.

The national flag carrier is the first one in Vietnam to announce plans to resume international flights after a hiatus of three months due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Vietnam has allowed resumption of domestic flights resume since April, but is yet to announce specific plans for resumption of international flights.

The government has said it is considering allowing flights to destinations that have had no new Covid-19 cases for at least 30 days, including Tokyo, Seoul, Guangzou, Taiwan and Laos.

Vietnam has gone nearly two months without community transmission of the novel coronavirus. It has confirmed 332 Covid-19 cases so far, of whom 320 have recovered.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy oversaw construction of Confederate statues in Richmond. They have been targeted for removal by state and local officials, as is the case with statues elsewhere. The Daughters did not respond to a request for comment on the military bases. A spokesman for the American Legion, the largest veterans service organization, said its national executive committee expects to address Army base names in October, but for now the military has the right to rename its bases and forts whenever it chooses to do so. The American Legion does not object to that.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it is optimistic the global oil market would achieve full recovery by third quarter of 2021.

This is in the aftermath of crude oil price decline at the international market which is making a slow but steady climb towards pre-COVID 19 levels.

Following declining oil prices in the wake of the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have warned that the global economy was headed towards another recession.

The Nigerian economy, which is 80 per cent dependent on oil, has been massively impacted, with government undertaking adjustments of the 2020 budget benchmarks.

But, if the oil market indeed recovers by the third quarter of 2021, indications are that Nigerias economy may be making a quicker recovery than what most economic analysts are anticipating.

Realities

In the last couple of days, crude oil price has climbed to an average of $40-$42 per barrels on the back of a massive intervention by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies in the non-OPEC group led by Russia.

In May, OPEC and its allies under the OPEC+ agreed to cut supply by up to 10 million barrels per day between May and June 2020 in an attempt to strengthen the price and stabilise the crude oil market.

Apparently seeing the impact of the intervention, with the price gradually rising, the group agreed last week to extend the initiative to the next phase, till the end of July 2020, and to cut about eight million barrels per day of supply between July and December 2020.

Another six million barrels per day would be cut in the final phase of the intervention between January 2021 to April 2022.

Optimism

Meanwhile, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, told Bloomberg on Tuesday that if the current situation was sustained, the oil market might attain full recovery by the third quarter of next year.

Mr Kyari said Nigeria saw the OPEC+ output cut initiative as an opportunity to wait for the rebalancing of the oil market, to halt her continued spending to produce oil for free due to supply-demand inbalance.

We have started seeing signs that the output cut initiative is working and achieving its target objective by pulling down the supply and creating a situation that will bring up price to a level we can recover our cost and make some marginal profit to continue in our business, he said.

With the continuous rise in crude oil price in recent days, he expressed optimism that by the end of June or latest mid-July, the discount offered to buyers to take Nigerias oil would no longer be necessary.

Although the NNPC boss said Nigeria experienced marginal under-compliance initially with the OPEC output cut quota by less than 100,000 barrels per day, the country is currently at an over-compliance position in the last 10 to 15 days.

His projection is that by the end of June, or mid-July in the worst case scenario, Nigeria would see full compliance with the OPEC output cut quota.

To sustain the price rally in the market, Mr Kyari said the expectation was for all OPEC member-countries to continue to cooperate to bring some normalcy before the end of the year, and see a flat out price at $42-$45 per barrel at the end of the year.

The short-term response of the market as a result of the OPEC+ intervention, he noted, has been positive, with prices recovering from below $22 per barrel in April to the current level of $40 per barrel.

If the current level of $40 per barrel for the Brent crude oil is sustained, he said, the potential was there for it to grow to an average of between $42 and $45 per barrel by the end of the year.

I dont think we will see any $30 per barrel in the near future if this situation is sustained. Everybody is seeing the benefit of creating the balance in the market. It is in the interest of all members to comply.

Nigerias decision to comply with the OPEC output cut deal was a decision we made as a country, and not influenced by any other countrys decision on the matter, he said.

NNPC Towers

On cost of production, Mr Kyari said with some NNPC assets producing oil at less than $30 per barrel, selling at an average of $40 and $42 per barrel leaves Nigeria in a comfort place.

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He said, at the moment, NNPC is already cutting cost in its operations, with a target of bringing the cost down to $10 per barrels by the end of 2021.

To ensure the cost-cutting is industry wide, the NNPC Chief said the corporation has always insisted that all its partners and suppliers also cut their costs by 30 to 40 per cent.

Job cuts

On the prospects of the NNPC escaping job cuts this year, he said considering that a review of the heavy cost centres has been carried out, it would help to bring costs down to normal levels and avoid job cuts.

Beyond the job cuts, he said the major concern of the company and its partners was how to sustain the improved efficiency level attained in the last couple of months.

He said despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy, Nigeria, with a large informal economy, was not completely locked down like some countries that were brought down to the zero level.

The pandemic, he said, has not resulted in a massive decline in the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) like other countries.

What this means is that our consumption and local demand will grow and come back to normal much faster than most jurisdictions. The biggest risk will be to restore demand for oil back to pre-COVID 19 level as we look forward to the second half of the year, he said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Army Gen. Mark Milley, the nations top military officer, said Thursday he was wrong to accompany President Donald Trump on a walk through Lafayette Square that ended in a photo op at a church. He said his presence created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

I should not have been there, the Joint Chiefs chairman said in remarks to a National Defense University commencement ceremony.

Trumps June 1 walk through the park to pose with a Bible at a church came after authorities used pepper spray and flash bangs to clear the park and streets of largely peaceful protesters demonstrating in the aftermath of George Floyds death in Minnesota in police custody.

Milley said his presence and the photographs compromised his commitment to a military divorced from politics.

My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics, Milley said. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.

His statement risked the wrath of a president sensitive to anything hinting of criticism of events he has staged. It comes as Pentagon leaders relations with the White House are still tense after a disagreement last week over Trumps threat to use federal troops to quell civil unrest triggered by Floyds death.

After protesters were cleared from the Lafayette Square area, Trump led an entourage that included Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper to St. John's Episcopal Church, where he held up a Bible for photographers and then returned to the White House.

President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he visits outside St. John's Church across Lafayette Park from the White House Monday, June 1, 2020, in Washington. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)AP

Esper had not said publicly that he erred by being with Trump at that moment. He told a news conference last week that when they left the White House he thought they were going to inspect damage in the Square and at the church and to mingle with National Guard troops in the area.

Milleys comments at the National Defense University were his first public statements about the Lafayette Square event on June 1, which the White House has hailed as a leadership moment for Trump akin to Winston Churchill inspecting damage from German bombs in London during World War II.

The public uproar following Floyds death has created multiple layers of extraordinary tension between Trump and senior Pentagon officials. When Esper told reporters on June 3 that he had opposed Trump bringing active-duty troops on the streets of the nations capital to confront protesters and potential looters, Trump castigated him in a face-to-face meeting.

Just this week, Esper and Milley let it be known through their spokesmen that they were open to a bipartisan discussion of whether the 10 Army bases named for Confederate Army officers should be renamed as a gesture aiming to disassociating the military from the racist legacy of the Civil War. On Wednesday, Trump tweeted that he would never allow the names to be changed, catching some in the Pentagon by surprise.

Milley used his commencement address, which was prerecorded and presented as a video message in line with social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic, to raise the matter of his presence with Trump in Lafayette Square. He introduced the subject to his audience of military officers and civilian officials in the context of advice from an Army officer and combat veteran who has spent 40 years in uniform.

He said all senior military leaders must be aware that their words and actions will be closely watched.

And I am not immune," he said, noting the photograph of him at Lafayette Square. That sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society. He expressed regret at having been there and said the lesson to be taken from that moment is that all in uniform are not just soldiers but also citizens.

We must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military that is so deeply rooted in the very essence of our republic, he said. It takes time and work and effort, but it may be the most important thing each and every one of us does every single day.

Milley also expressed his outrage at the Floyd killing and urged military officers to recognize as a reflection of centuries of injustice toward African-Americans.

What we are seeing is the long shadow of our original sin in Jamestown 401 years ago, he said, referring to the year in which the first enslaved Africans arrived on the shores of colonial Virginia.
SEATTLEAmazon said Wednesday that it was putting a one-year pause on letting police use its facial recognition tool, in a major sign of the growing concerns that the technology may lead to unfair treatment of African Americans.

The technology giant did not explain its reasoning in its brief blog post about the change, but the move came amid the nationwide protests over racism and biased policing. Amazons technology had been criticized in the past for misidentifying people of colour.

In its blog post, the company said it hoped the moratorium on its service, Rekognition, might give Congress enough time to put in place appropriate rules for the ethical use of facial recognition.

The announcement was a striking change for Amazon, a prominent supplier of facial recognition software to law enforcement. More than other big technology companies, Amazon has resisted calls to slow its deployment. In the past, Amazon had said its tools were accurate but were improperly used by researchers.

On Monday, IBM said it would stop selling facial recognition products, and last year, the leading maker of police body cameras banned the use of facial recognition on its products at the recommendation of its independent ethics board, which said the technology is not currently reliable enough to ethically justify its use. Google has advocated a temporary ban on the technology.

The American Civil Liberties Union applauded Amazon in a statement for finally recognizing the dangers face recognition poses to Black and Brown communities and civil rights more broadly. But it said that the company should extend the moratorium on law enforcement use of its system until Congress passed a law regulating the technology.

Face recognition technology gives governments the unprecedented power to spy on us wherever we go, Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties director for the ACLU of Northern California, said in the statement. It fuels police abuse. This surveillance technology must be stopped.

Law enforcement agencies use facial recognition technology to identify suspects and missing children. The systems work by trying to match facial pattern data extracted from photos or video with those in databases like drivers license records. Authorities used the technology to help identify the suspect in the mass shooting at a newspaper last year in Annapolis, Maryland.

But civil liberties groups have warned that the technology can be used at a distance to secretly identify individuals  such as protesters attending demonstrations  potentially chilling Americans right to free speech or simply limiting their ability to go about their business anonymously in public. Some cities, including San Francisco, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, have passed bans on the technology.

This week, Democrats in the House introduced a police reform law that would ban the use of facial recognition technology with police recording equipment. Some lawmakers have long worried about the technology, questioning manufacturers and the public agencies that use their products on how it affects civil rights and privacy.

Civil liberties advocates began calling for a campaign to ban the use of facial recognition by law enforcement in 2018, after a report by academic researchers found racial bias in the systems. The report found that facial technologies made by IBM and Microsoft were able to correctly identify the gender of white men in photographs about 100 per cent of the time. But the systems were much less accurate in their ability to identify the gender of darker-skinned women.

IBM and Microsoft quickly improved their systems. Amazon found itself under heightened scrutiny.

For the past two years, the ACLU has led a campaign to push Amazon to stop selling the technology to law enforcement agencies. The group obtained documents, using open information laws, from police departments that showed how Amazon was aggressively marketing its technology to law enforcement.

The ACLU also tested Amazons technology using the head shots of members of Congress and comparing them against a database of publicly available mug shots. The group reported that the Amazon technology incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress with people who had been arrested, amounting to a 5 per cent error rate among legislators. At the time, Amazon disputed the findings, saying that the group had used its system differently than law enforcement customers did.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., one of the lawmakers misidentified in the ACLU test, said he met with Amazon about the issue almost a dozen times. He said Amazon was less open to criticism than its tech peers.

They were avoiding taking any responsibility for their technology in my opinion, Gomez said Wednesday after the companys announcement. They always had some excuse.

Gomez, who is vice chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, said he was glad to see Amazon halt police sales.

Amazon can sense that the American people dont want platitudes when it comes to dealing with disparities right now, he said. They want concrete action.

Amazon introduced Rekognition in 2016 as a low-cost, highly scalable way to identify images, including people, in vast databases. Soon after, it began pitching police on the tool to help investigations, and law enforcement agencies began adopting the technology.

In an interview on the PBS show Frontline earlier this year, Andy Jassy, chief executive of Amazon Web Services, said he did not think the company knew how many police departments were deploying the technology.

Last fall, Jeff Bezos, Amazons chief executive, said the company was working to drafting privacy legislation for facial recognition. But he indicated that Amazon would continue selling the tools in the meantime.

Its a perfect example of something that has really positive uses, so you dont want to put the brakes on it, Bezos said. At the same time, there is lots of potential for abuses with that kind of technology, so you want regulations.

He said he would welcome good regulations on the issue. That kind of stability I think would be healthy for the whole industry, he said.

Bezos did not provide details for what the companys proposed legislation would entail.

Gomez said he had not seen any model legislation proposed by Amazon, adding, That would have been news to me.

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Sixty-six 'concerned members' of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore have signed a solidarity statement for the alleged intimidation of jailed activist Safoora Zargar and others protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR). The statement only mentions the first names of the signatories for their protection. One of the endorsers was allegedly threatened by a current student of the institute. The matter is under investigation by competent authorities at IIM Bangalore, the statement says.

The solidarity statement accuses the central government of using the Covid-19 pandemic as a cover to crush all forms of dissent "that are central to a healthy democracy". All signatories have signed in their personal capacities, it says. The signatures appear in alphabetical order.

The recent arrests of scores of student activists who had mobilised against the patently discriminatory CAA-NPR-NRC, including a pregnant woman, Safoora Zargar, is meant to further intimidate not only Indias 200 million Muslim citizens but all those who question governments actions, says the statement.

Delhi Police has booked Jamia Millia Islamia student Zargar under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a case related to the communal violence in northeast Delhi over the CAA in February.

While the government has gone about arresting student activists under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the real perpetrators that incited violence in Delhi, including a union minister, have not been charged, the solidarity statement alleges. Even as the pandemic rages in crowded prisons, the government has refused to heed to multiple appeals to release these students as well as senior citizens including Prof Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bharadwaj and others.

The signatories have demanded that the government immediately release all political prisoners. "To incarcerate spirited defenders of the Constitution under draconian laws is an act of wilful intimidation. We also call upon fellow academics everywhere in India to stand up in solidarity and hold the government to account. Along with the economy, Indias democracy needs to be unlocked, too," says the statement.

Regarding the threat issued to one of the signatories, IIM-B Director Professor G Raghuram said, We are aware that a matter has been raised by a faculty member who has expressed his serious concerns. We are looking into the same.
I dont know if the responsibility lies on those officers and their supervisors in particular or if its just how the city of Chicago wanted to deal with it, he said. But the impact that looting had was very negative on the shopping center itself and the community in particular, which is what I think the Police Department and the city of Chicago need to really take into consideration."
Indian on Thursday launched the third phase of Vande Bharat Mission after over 165,000 Indians returned to the country under the first two phases of the mega evacuation exercise.

Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said the third phase of the mission will last till July 2, and a total of 432 international flights will evacuate Indians from 43 countries. He said 29 flights from private carriers including 24 from IndiGo and three from GoAir will also operate under the third phase of the Vande Bharat Mission.

"This has widened our reach by including more countries, increasing the number of entry points, by expanding on the number of connecting flights and using hub and spoke model at both ends," he said at an online media briefing.

Srivastava said the number of flights from the US and Canada have also been increased given the huge demand.

"There are 53 flights from the USA and 24 flights from Canada. We would also have 16 flights each from Paris and Frankfurt which are to be used as hubs in Europe. There are 170 flights from GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries," he said.

The MEA spokesperson said 1,65,375 Indians have returned from abroad after the government launched the evacuation mission on May 7.

"These include 29,034 migrant workers, 12,774 students and 11,241 professionals. More than 61,000 Indians have returned through land border immigration checkpoints from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh," he said.

In the first phase of the mission from May 7 to 15, the government evacuated around 15,000 people from 12 countries. The second phase of the evacuation mission was scheduled from May 17 to 22. However, the government has extended it till June 10.

Besides flights operated by Air India, the government sent Indian Navy ships to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Iran to bring back Indian citizens. Indian Navy ship Shardul is returning from Bandar Abbas after picking up 233 Indian nationals who were stranded in Iran.

A total of 3,99,081 persons registered requests with Indian missions for repatriation to India on compelling grounds.

As per the government's policy for evacuation, Indians having "compelling reasons" to return like pregnant women, elderly people, students and those facing the prospect of deportation are being brought back home.
A lot of comedians find inspiration in early life. Embarrassing school memories, college struggles and the sweet, sweet pain of dealing with Sharmaji ka betas results - its something we all have had to deal with, and makes for quite a few relatable laughs (or groans, depending on how tiresome your childhood was).

For star comic Kenny Sebastian, things are a bit more nuanced. From charging through twelve years of government schooling in Indias infamous Kendra Vidyalayas (KV) to breaking the mould as a performer and artist in college, we revisit some of his childhood memories, and take a detour towards the serious side of making everyone laugh in this MensXP exclusive.

 Netflix

Growing Up, What Were The Struggles Of KV Kids?

I think universally, its just dumbing you down. I dont think its just a KV thing, I think its a school thing in India, enforcing not going beyond the curriculum. I think it has been spoken about a lot and has really far-reaching consequences when youre discouraged to think of anything outside the box. You grow up, and then you kind of get used to being told what to do, and you end up feeling helpless and lost without instructions.

When I joined art college, I think the biggest struggle for all of us classmates was just the freedom we got! We were told hey, you can paint anything, and we were like ...what? Landscape or portrait? - No. Anything you want! We were so used to being told to do things, that it was overwhelming for us - and even then there was always a catch.

There were simple things in KV, like when I wanted to play the guitar and my teacher was like, you can't. I was like, but why? Theres no reason, theyre not giving me any reason, other than simply no. It was very bizarre, because to me it was far harder to learn guitar than to learn, say, a flute or some simpler instrument - and there was no room for discussion and debate.

This is why I gravitated towards literature. It was the only class where our teacher encouraged discussion and analysing things - that theres more to what you see.

Im just lucky I survived [KV].

 Netflix

In A World Where Many Were Peer-Pressured Into Science, How Did You End Up Gravitating Towards The Arts?

Most other KVs had bad teachers all round, but I was really lucky with my English teachers - they always tended to be really, really cool people. I think if you study literature, your brain automatically opens up - you know, literature is just a collection of peoples philosophies and thoughts, so how could you not think?

Even though I did science in my 11th and 12th, I always gravitated towards painting, sketching, music and literature, so I couldnt wait to get out of school. My dad was pretty cool, he let me do whatever I wanted as long as I got an undergrad. So, I chose painting and sculpture, which is how I finally escaped the whole trap of our education system. I then had more time to explore theatre, film and eventually, stand up. I think ultimately though, it was literature and art that kind-of saved me.

Many Might Not Expect You To Be From A Government School Background. Did You Ever Face Discrimination Of That Kind In College Or In Your Career?

Maybe I would have if I joined a traditional engineering college. Unfortunately, I think it comes from that same regimented structure.

In a technical field, be it medicine, engineering or even business, there are these rough, tangible things you have to do. Maybe get a masters, or go to a better college and get better placements - there are these tangible rules to follow. In medicine its even more rigid - get an MBBS, get a second degree, go for a specialisation - it all has nothing to do with who you are as a person.

Theres no such thing for music or art or theatre or comedy. When I joined art college, everyone in there was literally a creative reject alright - we all had been rejected from Indian society of doing what everyone else is doing. So, all of us were like, hey. Youre figuring your life out, and Im figuring my life out.

The most beautiful thing was that people were not even the same age. There was a 43-year-old married woman who was my classmate, because she wanted to do art her whole life but her parents forced her to do something else.

If you can put food on the table and not be a burden to other people, thats what matters. Thats good enough.

 Netflix

Do You Think That Theres More Room In Indian Comedy For Talking About Real Issues That Plague Society?



Id like to completely disagree - I think that comedy is the only field in India thats doing that. I dont think that theres any movie or any show that talks openly about mental health, abuse, casual sex, self-worth - only comedy does, especially if you look at female comics such as Niveditha [Prakasam] who talks about skin colour and racism or Kaneez [Surka] who talks about divorce and being a divorced woman in India. All of this is spoken with such honesty and without any filter - I think comics are the only ones who are doing social commentary right now, talking about what the government is doing, the protests.

There are very few movies, such as Article 15 which talk about the caste system - a topic that works better on film since actors and the filmmakers can portray the reality of caste in a village, while it would be very privileged of a comic in Bombay to talk about caste while Swiggying stuff and taking Ubers. I think in our lives, in the context of things that directly affect us, we are talking about it.

Comparing us to American shows like Nanette, they talk about things such as gender identity and womens rights - meanwhile over here, people are being hanged because of the caste, dude. We have such basic shit to deal with first. In terms of the pyramid, compared to them, we have very archaic problems.

As a comedian, when we talk about social commentary, two things happen. The first thing that happens is the audience saying, Bro, what about this? Why are you not talking about this? To be honest its true - we have a million issues in India, while in America, if youre black, youll most likely be criticised for not talking about issues faced by fellow African-Americans.

Their unemployment and poverty are not as bad as ours. Just to get things straight, we also dont have freedom of speech. There are real consequences to [speaking up]. American comics can literally swear at the president - put up an Instagram story about the president in India and youll have an FIR - thats really happened.

 Netflix

I am in no way comparing the quality of jokes, that should be compared. But we dont have the same rights, and we have far more terrible, horrible realities. When I spoke about the protests in India, I got a lot of flak and a lot of people unfollowed me - which directly affects my revenue.



But if I ask someone whos an engineer to avoid taking up a project from some company because they engage in deforestation? Theyll tell me, are you crazy? My boss will fire me! People dont want to risk consequences in their own jobs, but expect comedians to receive death threats, lose on revenue and not be able to perform on stage.

Its not a level playing ground.

Can You Give Our Readers Five Reasons Why They Should Watch Your Latest Special?

You dont have a choice! Stop having an idea like you have a choice. Youre stuck at home and have no choice whatsoever.

This is my best work. Ive worked on it for two and a half years, so its literally the best work I can do. Its really my A-game that I brought to the table.

 Netflix

It has music! So, if youre bored with monotonous specials where one person is rambling the whole time, theres lots of music and visual elements in this special.



Im sure youre not in the best mood because of the pandemic and have been scurrying for comedic content online which also hopefully is relatable to you. So Im a young Indian raised in India in the 2000s so thats the closest you can get to relatable standup comedy.

My career depends on it.

Catch Kennys latest special, Kenny Sebastian: The Most Interesting Person in The Room on Netflix.
GREENWICH  An altercation brought officers to the Riverside Shopping Center on Tuesday evening, police said. Two people were arrested after it was determined they were fighting, according to the arrest report.

A 26-year-old woman from Stamford was charged with assault, breach of peace and criminal mischief, police said. Bail was set at $1,000.

A 33-year-old woman from Mamaroneck, N.Y., was charged with breach of peace, police said. She was released without bail.



An incident in 2017 led to the arrest of a New York man on criminal charges Tuesday after he was picked up by authorities in Stamford, police said.

There was an active arrest warrant in Greenwich for the 27-year-old man from Garnerville, police said. He was charged with criminal trespass, harassment and disorderly conduct in connection with an incident in the fall of 2017. He was released on $5,000 bond.



A 45-year-old man from New Rochelle, N.Y., was arrested Tuesday just after midnight and accused of violating an order of protection, police said.

Officers responded to the scene of a reported argument in the Byram section of town, where it was discovered that he was in violation, according to the arrest report. He was released without bail.



A 32-year-old man from White Plains, N.Y., was picked up by authorities in New Jersey on Wednesday, police said. Police discovered that there was an active arrest warrant for him in Greenwich.

He was charged with third-degree larceny in Greenwich, according to the arrest report. The report stated he had been contracted to do home improvement work and did not perform it. He posted $2,500 bond.



A 67-year-old man from Stamford was charged with assault and breach of peace June 4 in Cos Cob, police said.

The police report stated that he struck a person during an argument in a car. Bail was set at $1,000.

 compiled by Staff Reporter Robert Marchant
At the request of the Trump administration, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is working on new legislation targeting the tech industry's liability shield, a source familiar with the effort told Axios.

Why it matters: The Hawley bill will be an additional threat against platforms like Facebook and Twitter following President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at curbing their legal protections from content posted by users.

Details: The legislation would open platforms to legal liability if they enforce their terms of services in unequal or uneven ways, including by making politically motivated moderation decisions.

That would be a reversal from the broad immunity from lawsuits over both user-posted content and making moderation calls like taking down posts and banning user accounts that platforms have under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

Hawley and his office have had multiple conversations with senior White House and Justice Department on revisiting Section 230, the source said. They have shared draft text of the measure with other Senate offices seeking cosponsors, and the bill could be introduced as early as next week.

The big picture: The Trump administration and others on the right claim that online platforms have a heavier hand in moderating conservative views online.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: COVID deaths being left out of the official government data is probably not restricted to Chennai.

An analysis by Express shows at least five such cases reported from four districts are yet to be recorded by the State.

When asked if the reconciliation committee would also cross-verify numbers in districts, DPH TS Selvavinayagam said it would be done if such cases existed.

Among the five deaths analysed is that of a 53-year-old TNSTC bus driver in Villupuram.

A native of Kallakurichi, he was admitted to the Villupuram Medical College Hospital on May 24 after testing positive. He died on June 3. Villupuram district health officials acknowledged the death and said it would be included in the districts toll.

ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu govt acknowledges that it might be underreporting COVID-19 deaths

On June 4, an 87-year-old man undergoing treatment for COVID at RMMCH in Cuddalore died. His death was included in the districts daily COVID bulletin.

On June 6, an 84-year-old man from Chennai, being treated at the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital (TMCH), died in the early hours.

The man was admitted to a private hospital in Thanjavur where he tested positive. He was shifted to TMCH on June 5.

On June 7, a 63-year-old woman from Tiruvannamalai died at Christian Medical College Hospital in Vellore, where she had been treated for COVID. She had been admitted on May 23, according to district health officials.

On June 8, a 57-year-old man from Tirupadiripuliyur died at RMMCH in Cuddalore district. Officials said the man had various illnesses and succumbed to the viral infection despite intensive treatment. His death was also recorded in the Cuddalore districts daily COVID bulletin.

New Indian Express has already reported that the June 4 death of a 72-year-old woman at Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai and the May 24 death of a 63-year-old Chennai man, who tested positive for COVID after his death in Kanniyakumari district are yet to be recorded in the official State COVID bulletins. Express has sent the details of these deaths to the DPH.

We will verify all the cases through our team and do the needful, said an official.
Medical staff carry a box as they walk at the Jinyintan hospital, where coronavirus patients are being treated, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China January 10, 2020.

Darley Shen/Reuters

A Harvard health expert said he expects the US to surpass 200,000 deaths sometime in September.

Close to 113,000 people have already died from the coronavirus in the US.

The main model being used by officials to estimate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States also revised its death toll this week to 193,347 COVID-19 deaths by October 1.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Harvard health expert said he expects an additional 100,000 deaths in the US by September.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the current data shows that somewhere between 800 to 1,000 Americans are dying from the virus daily, and even if that does not increase, the US is poised to cross 200,000 deaths sometime in September.

"I think that is catastrophic. I think that is not something we have to be fated to live with," Jha told CNN. "We can change the course. We can change course today."

So far close to 113,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the US.

Jha stressed that the numbers he's predicted are only for the next several months.

"The pandemic won't be over in September," Jha said. "So, I'm really worried about where we're going to be in the weeks and months ahead."

The main model used by officials to estimate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States revised its death toll this week to 193,347 COVID-19 deaths by October 1.

As of June 10, the number of US coronavirus infections was just shy of 2 million. More than 20 states have reported an increase in infections since lockdowns began to be lifted, and nine have seen their hospitalizations climb since Memorial Day, Business Insider previously reported.

"We're really the only major country in the world that opened back up without really getting our cases as down low as we really needed to," Jha told CNN.

Story continues

He also said that the US is the only advanced country to not have a proper contact tracing system, and all of those obstacles made reopening riskier.

Jha said people should continue to maintain social distancing, wear masks, and to "put pressure" on the government to advance testing and contact tracing efforts.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Pork exporters to China are set to gain a "huge advantage" as the gap in pork production caused by African swine fever is likely to continue for "the next year or two," according to an analyst.

"The exporters are really in good shape because the hole in the Chinese production is so large because of African swine fever that if you have meat anywhere in the world, the Chinese want to buy it," said Richard Herzfelder, senior advisor at GIRA Consultancy & Research.

Currently, 20 overseas markets, including the U.S., Canada and the European Union, are approved for exports of pork to China, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

The infectious swine disease has damaged and reduced the domestic supply of pork so much that, even with Covid-19 hurting demand, pork prices are still twice what they were two years ago, Herzfelder told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Wednesday.

The outbreak of African swine fever, first reported in China in August 2018, has wiped out Chinese hog herds, leading the world's largest pork producer and consumer to ramp up imports as pork prices spiked.

That upward trend in price was also in part extended as the coronavirus spread in the mainland.

Chinese hog prices were 81.7% higher in May year-on-year, despite a 8.1% drop from April. In the first four months of 2020, Chinese imports of pork were up 170% compared with the same period a year ago, Reuters reported citing customs data. U.S. exports of pork to China also hit an all time high in April of 112,327 tonnes, according to a separate Reuters report citing U.S. Census Bureau data.

Both the U.S. and Brazil shut down various meat processing plants after workers tested positive for the coronavirus. But GIRA's Herzfelder said the extent of the Chinese hole is "so big" that China will still "try to suck in as much (pork) as they can.

With current prices of pork at three to four times breakeven, the prospect of high profits are attracting enormous investments into the Chinese pork industry, Herzfelder noted.

That much investment will likely lead to overproduction in "probably two or three years," causing import demand to suddenly "collapse," he said.

But in that two to three years runway, Herzfelder sees exporters making "a lot of money."
A sudden drop in the number of red knots visiting the beaches of Delaware Bay during migration this spring has renewed concern among scientists about the survival of the threatened shore birds Atlantic Coast population.

According to biologists, the number of knots that stayed to feed at the bay in May declined by about 80 percent from the same time last year. The Delaware Bay is one of the worlds most important sites for shorebird migration.

By the end of the month, only about 6,100 had been counted on the bay shores of New Jersey and Delaware, the lowest number in the almost quarter-century since the count began. The number was down sharply from 30,800 in 2019 and 32,900 in 2018, said Larry Niles, a wildlife biologist who leads the count.

The drastic reduction in migrant birds does not necessarily mean a decline in the species, Dr. Niles said. That wont be known until after this years breeding season, when the birds head south again toward their wintering grounds.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 11, 2020) - Goldsource Mines Inc. (TSXV: GXS) (OTCQB: GXSFF) (FWB: G5M) ("Goldsource" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it plans to restart exploration drilling at its Eagle Mountain Gold Project ("Eagle Mountain") in Guyana, South America on June 11, 2020. Work plan is based on strict COVID-19 protocols as previously announced (April 6, 2020). In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that it has engaged CSA Global Consultants Canada Ltd ("CSA Global"), an ERM Group company, to provide Goldsource with:

an independent assessment and gap analysis of geology and gold mineralization to guide the Company's current drill program and convert current Inferred resources into the Indicated classification, and

a Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") update for the Eagle Mountain gold deposit and a maiden MRE for the recent gold discoveries peripheral to Eagle Mountain, including the Salbora gold deposit.

Yannis Tsitos, President, commented, "We are looking forward to safely resuming drilling operations for resource expansion and conversion at Eagle Mountain, cautiously and under strict COVID-19 protocols. In the last 36 months, we have drilled in excess of 25,000 metres at Eagle Mountain, resulting in the recent discoveries at Salbora, Powis, Toucan and Friendly. We are looking forward to an updated independent resource estimate for completion in Q4, 2020."

Restarting Drilling Operations at Eagle Mountain

Respecting government curfew restrictions and social distancing in nearby communities, the Company will use a remote quarantined camp. The Company's staged approach for restart includes:

Running one internal core rig to initially test up to 3,000 metres of the southern part of the Friendly prospect adjacent to the Eagle Mountain Gold deposit, as well as several targets located along the north-south structural zone discussed in the corporate news release dated May 20, 2020;

In the first week of July, re-commence an externally operated core drill to initially test 2,500 metres on targets north of the Salbora discovery, including Waterline and Montgomery; and

Once international restrictions on air travel are lifted, initiate in-fill core drilling at Salbora and Eagle Mountain main deposit with another external contractor using a man-portable rig.

Engagement of CSA Global to Update Mineral Resource Estimate

CSA Global is an international mining-industry consultancy with offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Horsham (UK), Dublin, Johannesburg, Jakarta, and Brisbane, with its head office in Perth. CSA Global is recognised as a premier independent consulting group in Mineral Resource estimation and mining studies, as well as in geoscience expertise. CSA Global has extensive experience in the Guiana Shield.

The technical report title, "Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Eagle Mountain Saprolite Gold Project, Guyana", effective June 15, 2014 (the "PEA") was authored by ACA Howe Limited ("ACA Howe"). ACA Howe was acquired by CSA Global in 2016 and retained personnel that had previously worked on Eagle Mountain.

Currently, the Company's resources at Eagle Mountain, based on the PEA are as follows:

Category Tonnes Gold Grade (gpt)* Contained Ounces Gold Indicated 3,921,000 1.49 188,000 Inferred 20,635,000 1.19 792,000

The following table shows only saprolite resources:

Category Tonnes Gold Grade (gpt)* Contained Ounces Gold Indicated 1,590,000 1.45 74,100 Inferred 7,202,000 1.32 305,600

*Estimated at 0.5 gpt cut-off for gold.

To expand and re-categorize current saprolite and hardrock resources, Goldsource defined several greenfield exploration targets within the Eagle Mountain property, as well as expansion and in-fill areas within the existing resource. Drilling commenced in May 2017 and over 25,000 metres of core drilling has been completed to date.

The most significant discovery since May 2017 exploration commencement was the Salbora gold deposit, in early 2019, located 1.7 kilometres northwest of the Eagle Mountain gold deposit. Since December 31, 2019, two additional discoveries at Powis and Toucan have been announced followed by more recent positive drilling results over the Friendly prospect.

The Company plans a minimum of 7,500 to 10,000 metres of drilling in H2 2020, including in-fill and expansion drilling of Salbora, Powis, Toucan, Friendly and the Eagle Mountain gold deposit. The Company's target is to complete an updated resource estimate for Eagle Mountain in Q4, 2020.

The Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for this news release is N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng, Executive Chairman and Chief Operating Officer for Goldsource, who has reviewed and approved its contents.

ABOUT GOLDSOURCE MINES INC.

Goldsource Mines Inc. (www.goldsourcemines.com) is a Canadian resource company working aggressively to develop its advanced-stage, 100%-owned Eagle Mountain saprolite and hard-rock gold project in Guyana, South America. From 2016 to 2017, through a gravity pilot plant initiative, the Company completed testing on gravity-only gold production and both dry and wet mining open-pit techniques. Goldsource is now focused on expanding gold resources and delivering subsequent studies for decision-making on a large-scale gold production at Eagle Mountain. Goldsource is led by an experienced management team, proven in making exploration discoveries and in project construction.

Ioannis (Yannis) Tsitos

President

Goldsource Mines Inc.

For Further Information:

Goldsource Mines Inc.

Contact: Yannis Tsitos, President

Fred Cooper, Investor Relations

Telephone: +1 (604) 694-1760

Fax: +1 (604) 357-1313

Toll Free: 1-866-691-1760 (Canada & USA)

Email: info@goldsourcemines.com

Website: www.goldsourcemines.com

570 Granville Street, Suite 501

Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3P1

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT AND FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements concern Goldsource's strategic plans, timing and expectations for the Company's exploration and drilling programs at Eagle Mountain; and information regarding high grade areas projected from sampling results and drilling results. Such forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: conditions in general economic and financial markets; accuracy of assay results and availability of mining equipment; availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of capital expenditures; performance of available laboratory and other related services; and future operating costs. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the risk factors including: the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities and development of mineral properties; the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data; the uncertainties of resource estimations; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project costs overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; availability of funds and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.

Neither TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/57689
Seasoned journalist, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has ticked the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah to be the New Juaben South Parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).



Kweku Baako made his endorsement during a panel discussion on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' on Wednesday, June 10, 2020.



The NPP has announced names of eligible candidates cleared to contest the party's Presidential and Parliamentary Primaries.



The party has slated the Primaries for Saturday, June 10, 2020.



With the Presidential primary, the sitting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will go unopposed.



On the Parliamentary side, one of the constituencies said to have a tight competition is the New Juaben South which is to see Dr. Assibey-Yeboah challenged by the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Free Zones Board, Mr Michael Okyere Baafi.



Prior to the Primaries, Mr. Baako has appealed to the NPP delegates to retain Dr. Assibey-Yeboah in Parliament.



"I think that Parliament deserves and requires his presence, continued presence," he stated.



He however recognized the Ghana Free Zones Executive Secretary as "a very intelligent young man . . . knowledgeable, experienced . . . I don't know him personally but his track record shows," but believed Dr. Assibey-Yeboah is the best Parliamentary candidate for the NPP.



" . . still I'm for Mark. I am a student of Parliamentary practice and history and I've taken my time to study his role in this Parliament, the fourth Republican Parliamentary history, and I think NPP still requires and deserves his presence in how Parliament will go forward," he said.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
A global online forum for think tanks was held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Beijing, bringing together more than 160 experts and media representatives from 48 countries and nine international organizations.

Experts discussed ways to enhance unity and increase cooperation between countries in the fight against COVID-19, as well as methods for building a global community of shared future.

China has always stood closely with other countries, sharing common endeavors and overcoming difficulties together. It is the role of think tanks to contribute wisdom and strength to bolster global cooperation in combatting COVID-19 and promoting global economic development, explained an official from the State Council Information Office.

Experts from Croatia, Slovenia, Egypt. Russia and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) said China has made great efforts in promoting global cooperation and is working hard to tackle the epidemic.

In the opening speech, Yasuo Fukuda, former prime minister of Japan, said that mankind shares a common destiny. He added that facing the challenge of the pandemic, we must adhere to international cooperation and support the leading role of the U.N. and WTO in global public health governance, and jointly respond to the epidemic.

Former President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva spoke about the need for all countries to strengthen cooperation and partnership, and work together to build a world of shared prosperity.

Igor Ivanov, president of the Russian International Affairs Council, pointed out that viruses are the common enemy of mankind, and that unity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons in overcoming the epidemic.

Many attendees called for countries worldwide to join hands in such areas as economic recovery, vaccine research and development, environmental protection, and digital governance.

The online forum was jointly hosted by 10 think tanks around the world. A joint statement was released after the forum saying: "We share the abiding commitment of putting the people and their lives first. We salute all the countries that have taken active and effective measures and made huge sacrifices to control COVID-19 under their particular national conditions."

The statement also called on all countries to live up to their responsibilities for their people and promote global cooperation against COVID-19.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-06-11 09:58:36|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of mass graves have been found in the Libyan city of Tarhuna, some 90 km south of Tripoli, Interior Minister of the UN-backed government of Libya Fathi Bashagha said Wednesday.

"We discovered many terrible crimes committed by the militias that controlled the city of Tarhuna. Our services are now documenting those crimes," Bashagha said in a statement.

Before the UN-backed government took control of it, Tarhuna was the main military operation center for the east-based army.

"We found a container, inside which were prisoners who have been burned alive. We also found a number of mass graves, where according to our initial reports dozens of people were buried alive," the statement added.

"Those militias must be held accountable for their hideous crimes, and the politicians and military leaders who have provided these militias with cover must also be brought to justice," the minister said.

There is yet no comment on the matter from the east-based army, which has been retreating in recent weeks in its military campaign against the troops of the UN-backed government.

Also on Wednesday, the UN Mission in Libya said that warring sides in the country have begun to engage in a new round of ceasefire talks, after heavy fighting around the central city of Sirte.

The east-based army has been fighting the UN-backed government troops for more than a year aiming to take control of Tripoli and topple the UN-backed government. The fighting has killed and injured hundreds of civilians and displaced more than 150,000 others. Enditem
The Head of Programmes, Campaigns and Innovations at ActionAid Ghana, John Nkaw has lauded the good work of the Bawku West District Health Directorate in this abnormal period in the fight against COVID-19.

Speaking at a ceremony to hand over some of the ActionAid COVID-19 response relief items to the Directorate, Mr Nkaw indicated that ActionAids support is geared towards strengthening the directorates' capacity to improve on their work and enhance the quality of service they deliver to the community.

The items include 50 Mattresses, 50 Pillows, 50 Blankets, 12 Veronica Buckets, 13.5 liters of liquid soap and 24 bottles of Dettol. Receiving the items, the District Director of Health Services expressed delight for the timely support and assured that the items will be used to improve the quality of service in the various facilities.

A similar donation was made to the District Command of the Ghana Police Service. Which include; 20 Mattresses, 20 Pillows, 20 Blankets, 12 Veronica Buckets, 9 liters of liquid soap, 24 bottles of Dettol and 20 plastic buckets.

Mr. Nkaw indicated that their work puts them at risk to the pandemic because of their daily interactions with all manner people.

He observed that with the closure of the borders as part of the Presidents directives, the Police in Zebilla has to work extra hard to enforce the Presidents directives.

He, therefore, hoped that the presentation of the items will support in boosting their morale to uplift their work towards fighting the COVID 19.

The Police received 20 Mattresses, 20 Pillows, 20 Blankets, 12 Veronica Buckets, 9 liters of liquid soap, 24 bottles of Dettol, and 20 plastic buckets.

Receiving the items, the District Commander, Superintendent Adams Mahama thanked ActionAid for the great gesture and remarked that the items presented to them are the biggest donation they have received so far as an institution and gave the assurance that the items will be used as intended.

Another presentation was made to two Civil Society Organization women farmer groups comprising 80 women in the district. Presenting the items to them Mr. Nkaw reminded them that they are not in normal times because of the COVID-19 pandemic hence the decision to commit some funds from the Northern Ghana Integrated Development Project which is sponsored by European Union for relief items for beneficiary groups to enable them to build their resilience to withstand the impact of the pandemic.

The last presentation for the day was made to two CSO women farmer groups comprising 80 women in the district. Presenting the items to them the HOPCI reminded them that we are not in normal times because of the COVID 19 pandemic hence the decision to commit some funds from the Northern Ghana Integrated Development Project which is sponsored by European Union for relief items for beneficiary groups to enable them to build their resilience to withstand the impact of the pandemic.
Japan is planning to start allowing the entry of up to 250 business people a day from Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand this summer.

Since early this year, Japan has denied entry to visitors from more than 100 countries and territories because of the pandemic.

Japan is now in talks with Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand about easing the entry ban, now that those countries have brought the coronavirus mostly under control.

If Japan lifts the entry ban for business travelers from those four countries, Japan is planning to ask them to undergo PCR coronavirus tests before departing for Japan to prove they are negative. They will be tested again at airport quarantine when they arrive.

Japan may waive a mandatory two-week self-quarantine period for those business travelers who present in advance a plan for their stay in Japan.

Japanese business people visiting other countries in the future are likely to be required to present proof that they have tested negative for the coronavirus.

The Japanese government is planning to set up PCR test centers to meet an expected increase in demand for testing among business travelers.

The Japanese government said that some officials in Australia and New Zealand are saying it may still be too early to allow entry of Japanese travelers.
Seven men from the Greater Toronto Area face murder conspiracy charges as the Ontario Provincial Police announced on Thursday the arrest of 16 men from across Canada in a crackdown on contraband cigarettes.

Police announced the seizure of 11.5 million contraband cigarettes, with an Ontario street value of $942,000 as well as 1,714 pounds of cannabis with an estimated street value of $2.5 million.

Also seized were three handguns and ammunition, more than 1 kg of cocaine, $236,750 in cash and seven vehicles.

The OPP said the busts, dubbed Project Cairnes, took place across Ontario, B.C., and Quebec, and targeted the illegal manufacture and distribution of contraband tobacco and cannabis.

The project began as an investigation into a tobacco plant on Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, near Brantford.

The OPP said that operation was controlled by a GTA-based criminal organization and that no benefit or investment was provided for Six Nations.

The accused are closely associated with members of Traditional Organized Crime and other organized crime groups, the OPP said in a prepared statement.

Project Cairnes has focused on a criminal organization producing and trafficking contraband tobacco on an industrial scale throughout Canada, OPP Det. Insp. Jim Walker said in a prepared statement.

Charged with conspiracy to commit murder, amongst other drug trafficking offences, are: Gurvi Deol, 25, Justin Boya, 28, Hamed Shahnawaz, 30, and Surinder Cheema, 26, all of Brampton; Dilraj Sunner, 23, of Mississauga; Ahmad Shamszada, 34, of Toronto and Liban Hussein, 26, of Weston.

Giovanni Raimondi, 38, of Toronto, is charged with several tobacco related offences, including unlawful possession or sale of tobacco products and participation in a criminal organization, as does Van Khai Tang, 55, also of Toronto.

Jing Git Wong, 50, of Scarborough, faces participation in a criminal organization charges, as does King Ming Chan, 61, of Markham and Elvis Wythe, 64, and Derek Wythe, 35, both of Hagersville, and Brian Denisson, 61, of Ohsweken.

Peter Edwards is a Toronto-based reporter primarily covering crime for the Star. Reach him by email at pedwards@thestar.ca
Lurleen B. Wallace Community College (LBWCC), along with Enterprise State Community College, has partnered with Wayne Farms in Jack to provide ten industrial electronics/mechatronics apprenticeships.

This partnership marks the first time two colleges have partnered together to sponsor apprentices for a local employer.

Apprenticeships have been proven to prepare workers for highly-skilled jobs while meeting the needs of business and industry. Competency-based models focus more on the apprentices ability to demonstrate competencies in an observable and measurable way.

This model provides an employer with a way to determine whether the apprentice is gaining in competency, said Jennifer Hall, Associate Dean of Adult Education, Workforce Development, and Continuing Education at LBWCC.

The earn while you learn concept combines on-the-job training with related technical instruction provided by LBW.

LBWCCs Adult Education Program offers a pre-apprenticeship program for individuals interested in becoming an apprentice.
PUNE, India, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Instrument Cluster Market size is projected to reach USD 13.77 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.4% during the forecast period. Increasing preference for digital dashboards among car buyers will be the central force pushing the growth of this market, finds Fortune Business Insights in its recent report, titled "Instrument Cluster Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Cluster Type (Analog, Digital, and Hybrid), By Vehicle Type (Passenger Cars, Light Commercial Vehicle, Heavy Commercial Vehicle, and Electric Vehicle), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026".

Instrument Cluster Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2015-2026

Digital clusters have been swiftly replacing the conventional analog clusters in vehicles over the past decade. This change in consumer preference has opened up new areas of creativity for automakers as digitized dashboards can be made to look more sporty and attractive. For instance, in September 2018, BMW launched the revised version of its BMW Cockpit powered by the new BMW Operating System 7.0. The new features are designed to keep the driver fully informed of the car's performance, with significant upgrades in the areas of gesture control and voice recognition. Thus, digitalization of instrument clusters in high-end cars is set to emerge as one of the top instrument cluster market trends in the coming years.

Browse Summary of This Research Report with Detailed Table of Content:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/automotive-instrument-cluster-market-102850

COVID-19 Impact Analysis:

The emergence of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We understand that this health crisis has brought an unprecedented impact on businesses across industries. However, this too shall pass. Rising support from governments and several companies can help in the fight against this highly contagious disease. Some industries are struggling and some are thriving. Overall, almost every sector is anticipated to be impacted by the pandemic.

We are making continuous efforts to help your business sustain and grow during COVID-19 pandemics. Based on our experience and expertise, we will offer you an impact analysis of coronavirus outbreak across industries to help you prepare for the future.

Get Sample PDF Brochure with "Short-Term and Long-Term Impact of COVID-19" on Instrument Cluster Industry,

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According to the report, the market value stood at USD 7.20 billion in 2018.

The report also shares the following information:

Key insights into the major growth drivers of the market;

Comprehensive overview of the industry trends and future outlook;

Detailed assessment of the challenges facing the market; and

Thorough research into the regional developments and competitive landscape of the market.

Market Driver

Development of Instrument Clusters for Electric Vehicles to Augment Market Potential

The International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed that deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) rose by an astonishing 63% in 2018 from 2017 levels, with the global EV fleet surpassing 5 million in 2018. Thus, the production of EVs is speedily catching up with demand. The increasing inclination toward EVs, mainly prompted by rising pollution and oil prices, is creating new growth avenues for automakers around the world. Many manufacturers are now designing and developing digital instrument clusters tuned to the requirements of an EV.

For instance, in November 2018, Visteon announced that it will be supplying instrument clusters for Renault's new electric variant of its entry-level Kwid model. Integrated dashboards for EVs are critical because drivers need to know exactly how long the car battery will last, availability of the nearest battery recharge station, and software updates from the OEM. Thus, rising demand for EVs across the globe will fuel the market for specialized digital instrument clusters.

Regional Analysis

Asia-Pacific to Establish Commanding Hold on the Market; Europe to Grow Impressively

Asia-Pacific is anticipated to dominate the instrument cluster market share during the forecast period mainly owing to the surging demand for passenger cars in the burgeoning economies of India and China.

Moreover, China has become the largest market for electric vehicles, which is further propelling the market in the region. In addition to that, Japan is home some of the largest automakers in the world such as Toyota, which is likely to have a considerable impact on the market. The market size of Europe in 2018 stood at USD 1.43 billion and is expected to emerge as the second-largest region as a result of the strong presence of top carmakers such as Audi and Mercedes.

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Competitive Landscape

Innovation-Centric Collaborations by Key Players to Spur Competition

According to the Instrument Cluster Market analysis, major competitors in this market are collaborating with other tech-driven companies to develop innovative cockpit solutions. Such joining of forces is enabling companies to expand their product portfolio and entrench their position in this market.

Industry Developments:

June 2019 : Continental AG, the German automotive technologist, partnered with the Silicon Valley Company Leia to develop an innovative 3D-based cluster display in vehicles called the 'Natural 3D Lightfield Instrument Cluster'. Continental aims at taking human-machine interaction within vehicles to the next level as the new system enables more comfortable 3D depth perception and provides the driver will real-time information.

Continental AG, the German automotive technologist, partnered with the Silicon Valley Company Leia to develop an innovative 3D-based cluster display in vehicles called the 'Natural 3D Lightfield Instrument Cluster'. Continental aims at taking human-machine interaction within vehicles to the next level as the new system enables more comfortable 3D depth perception and provides the driver will real-time information. September 2018 : The American automotive electronics specialist Visteon Corporation's SmartCore application made its debut in Daimler's newest variant of the Mercedes A-Class. The state-of-the-art solution blends an intuitive and seamless human-machine interaction (HMI), allowing the driver to get a personalized driving experience through a smooth touchscreen display and steering-mounted controllers.

List of Key Players Covered in the Instrument Cluster Market Report are:

HARMAN International

Simco Ltd.

Delphi Automotive LLP

Pricol Ltd.

DENSO Corporation

Robert Bosch GmbH

Magneti Marelli S.p.A

Calsonic Kansei Corporation

Visteon Corporation

YAZAKI Corporation

Continental AG

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Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction

Research Scope



Market Segmentation



Research Methodology



Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers



Market Restraints



Market Opportunities

Key Insights

Merger, Acquisitions, and Partnerships



Distributor Analysis  For Major Players



Growth and Penetration Analysis



Porter's Five Forces Analysis



PEST Analysis



Vendor Landscape

Global Instrument Cluster Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2015-2026

Key Findings / Summary



Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Cluster Type



Analog





Hybrid





Digital



Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Vehicle Type



PC





LCV





HCV





EV



Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Region



North America





Europe





Asia pacific

pacific



Rest of the World

TOC Continued!!!



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The Assam government is concerned about possible community spread of Covid-19 in Guwahati, the northeast regions biggest city, after 13 people without any travel or contact history tested positive for the Coronavirus.

We are a bit worried about Guwahati. Till Wednesday, we have found nearly 13 Covid-19 cases in the community level, state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday, after a fresh case without any history of travel or contacts with other infected people was detected at Hari Sabha in the Panbazar neighbourhood of the city.

Earlier, two similar cases were detected in the same area, a hub of wholesale medicine dealers for the region. Guwahtis first Covid-19 case, detected in April, was a businessman with no history of travel or contacts with infected people.

The possibility of community spread in Guwahati, which has a population of nearly 2.3 million and is the gateway to other northeastern states, has worried Assams health department and the local administration.

We will have to collect more samples from areas where cases with no history have been detected. We have to enforce strict containment for around seven days in order to break the chain of transmission, Sarma said.

There are currently 26 containment zones spread across Guwahati, three of them declared on Wednesday following the detection of fresh cases.

Biswajit Pegu, the deputy commissioner of Kamrup (metro), said: We have identified some areas in the city where localised cases have been recorded. These are contiguous areas. If we enforce lockdown in those areas and conduct tests on a large scale, we may be able to cut the chain of spread.

We are contemplating conducting community surveillance in those areas and checks for residents having fever and respiratory problems. A decision will be taken soon.

Assam has recorded more than 3,300 Covid-19 cases till Thursday afternoon. There have been 1,250 recoveries and six deaths.

We have had a few cases with no history of travel, contact or exposure. The cases in Guwahati are not huge, not detected within a day or in a same locality. But a pattern is emerging of people who are symptomatic who got tested on their own and were detected as positive, said S Lakshmanan, director, National Health Mission (NHM) Assam

Definitely its a matter of worry. The number of cases may not be sufficient to say that community spread has already happened. But the fear is very real. People need to be extra careful and follow social distancing and other safety measures to prevent spread, he added.

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Latin America has now suffered at least 70,000 dead from the coronavirus outbreak and in Mexico funeral workers wear full protective equipment

Brussels set out plans to reopen the EU's internal borders on Thursday, even as the global coronavirus outbreak hit worrying new landmarks in the United States, Latin America and Russia.

The European Commission recommended that the 27 EU members fully reopen their frontiers with each other on June 15 and with the western Balkans from July 1.

Europe's borders with the world beyond will open more gradually after thatand only to countries where the pandemic is seen as under control.

The United States, which has the world's highest number of deaths and infections, marked a grim new milestone as recorded cases surged past two million Thursday.

Russia meanwhile passed the symbolic milestone of 500,000 confirmed cases, and Iran said 180,000 have been infected there.

And the death toll in Latin America passed 70,000 fatalities on Wednesday, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Brazil, the region's worst-hit country, accounts for more than half of the total deaths in the region.

In all, the novel coronavirus has killed at least 416,000 people and infected more than 7.3 million since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to an AFP tally of official sources.

Economic catastrophe

Spread of coronavirus

The epidemic, along with economic and social lockdowns imposed by governments to contain its spread, has also left economic devastation in its wake.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development revealed Thursday that in the first three months of 2020, the G20 major economies shrank by 3.4 percent.

This is the largest decline since records began in 1998, with the steepest decline in China, where the economy shrank by 9.8 percent.

Tension over the coronavirus has also had "an impact" on the implementation of the phase one US-China trade deal, a senior Chinese government adviser said.

The US Department of Labor said another 1.54 million American workers filed for unemployment benefits, bringing the total in the world's biggest economy to 44.2 million since mid-March.

But US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US economy would be reopened, even if there is a second wave of infections.

"If you shut down the economy, you're going to create more damage," he told CNBC.

Europe has begun to lift anti-virus lockdowns but tourist numbers are still low on trips like this Amsterdam canal cruise

Against this gloomy backdrop, European countrieswhere figures suggest the outbreak is past its peakare keen to get business moving again, particularly in the tourism sector.

"International travel is key for tourism and business, and for family and friends reconnecting," EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson said.

"While we will all have to remain careful, the time has come to make concrete preparations for lifting restrictions with countries whose health situation is similar to the EU's."

Though travel from outside Europe is still restricted, within the bloc many countriesespecially those dependent on tourismhave begun to relax bans on "non-essential" visits.

In Italy, at the Cavalieri Palace in the resort town of Jesolo on Venice's Adriatic coast, German and Austrian families are once more grabbing the sunbeds.

The hotel's owner Antonio Vigolo said they had begun to arrive as soon as the border reopened on June 3, despite Italy having formerly been at the epicentre of the epidemic.

German tourist Simone Freitag, her sunglasses perched on her head as she looked out to sea, told AFP: "We really feel safe in this hotel. They are doing a very good job. Everybody follows the rules."

Tourism is starting to slowly pick up again in some parts of Italy

'Fight is not over'

In Geneva, the famous lakefront fountain that had been switched off during the lockdown was returned to service in the presence of international health officials as a symbol of hope.

"Reigniting the Jet d'Eau today is a celebration of Geneva's success," said the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"But the fight is not over. Most people remain susceptible to this virus and the threat of resurgence remains very real," he warned

"Although the situation is improving here in Europe, globally it's getting worse."

Ukraine on Thursday reported an "alarming" rise in cases, after a daily record of 689 new infections and outside Europe in countries like India, fear is rife.

In New Delhi, exhausted doctors at the Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital said they may not be able to cope if the easing of a lockdown that once curbed the movement of 1.3 billion sees a surge in cases.

Indian doctors are worried they may not be prepared for the next wave of infections

"We don't know when this is going to peak," Dr Deven Juneja told AFP.

"All of us are hoping for the best, but we are mentally and physically prepared for the worst."

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 AFP
WASHINGTON - A sweeping set of reforms swiftly passed by the D.C. Council this week to bring greater accountability and transparency to the District's police force would expand civilian review, make it far easier to fire officers and tweak rules governing the use of deadly force.

The department must now publicly release the names of officers involved in deadly confrontations as well as the body camera footage of those incidents, information that before was rarely revealed. Other provisions, such as those banning neck restraints and prohibiting officers from firing rubber bullets and chemical irritants at peaceful demonstrators, make unlawful practices police say they already forbid.

D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham supports some of the changes, but said he believes the council acted too quickly and without enough consideration and input, particularly on the body camera provisions, and his agency is scrambling to figure out what the emergency legislation requires.

Newsham described the effort "as unilateral legislation" done "in knee-jerk fashion" in reaction to calls for reform from days of angry demonstrations following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

The chief said members of his 3,800-member force "feel they have been abandoned" in part by "actions by the council," whose members he accused of failing to acknowledge more than a decade of reform that has made D.C. police a national model.

"We are not the Minneapolis police department," Newsham said.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, refuted the contention that lawmakers moved too fast. "I think the national outrage requires that the government move more quickly than it traditionally does," he said in an interview. "If you could point to something in the bill that truly makes it more difficult to catch a murderer, then we're moving too fast. I don't see that in the bill."

Perhaps the most significant change, and most contentious, is giving the police chief more power to fire officers for misconduct by cutting out the role of the labor union, which has typically shaped the disciplinary process and mechanisms for appeals through collective bargaining. The legislation says future contracts "should not be used to shield employees from accountability, particularly those employees who have as much power as police officers," and must not "restrict management's right to discipline sworn officers."

The union contract with police expires in September - when the new rules would be implemented - and discussions are underway to begin talks. But under the new law, discipline would no longer be a subject to negotiate. It would be the full purview of District leaders, who could revamp the entire system now in place.

"I know we get accused all the time that we're protecting bad cops or getting cops back on the force through some sort of loophole," said Greggory Pemberton, chairman of the police union. "That's all rhetoric. The union helps manage the disciplinary process to make sure it meted out fairly."

Mendelson said he "absolutely sees a role for unions" in disciplining officers, but he also said that "police and police unions don't get that protecting the blue line has to have limitations."

The council chair said that "if a police officer here were to do what we saw in Minneapolis, we would want the police chief to fire that officer. Today. And under the current bargaining process, the chief can't do that. ... We are held hostage to a process that is cumbersome."

The emergency legislation passed unanimously with a veto-proof majority, with the bill's sponsor, Council Member Charles Allen, D Ward-6, saying the District needs "to completely and radically rethink the way in which we deliver public safety." Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser urged the Council to slow down, though she plans to sign the bill. She has voiced objection to one of the measures regarding body cameras, saying she is concerned the quick release could complicate trials.

Tuesday's vote enacts the changes for 90 days, which can be extended to 225 days with a second vote. To permanently change the law, the council would need to hold public hearings and vote again.

The legislation addresses issues small and large.

It adds civilians with voting rights to the department's Use of Force Review Board, which reviews cases and recommends punishment for officers. At least one civilian appointee has to have "personally experienced the use of force by a law enforcement officer."

The bill also expands the number of crimes eligible for citations to curb the number of arrests, grants more power to a separate independent civilian review board and extends the time the police department has to investigate claims of misconduct against officers.

Two provisions in the legislation pertaining to when officers can use force or conduct searches largely mirror rules already spelled out in the police department's general orders. The law mandates officers make it clearer to people the rights they give up when they consent to a search.

Mendelson said codifying those rules "makes them stronger and harder to unilaterally tweak by management." In effect, the council has taken away the ability of the police chief to alter some of his directives.

One significant change deals with video from police body cameras.

The department will now have to make public video from any incident where police use lethal or significant force within 72 hours. The bill also requires that by July 1 the department release the names and video recordings of deaths in custody since the program began in October 2014.

Lawmakers said families need to be notified beforehand, which would require someone in the police department to find them in the next three weeks.

Newsham noted the body camera program was crafted after months of study and debate, and there were "a lot of strong opinions from a lot of different groups," including over how and whether to make the videos public.

People who are subjects in the videos can view them at a police station, and the public has always been able to file records requests for videos, though the process can take weeks or even months and police typically denied release during open investigations. The mayor could make videos public in cases of public interest or outrage, and she did so in at least four instances since 2014.

Newsham, has been cautious in his comments regarding some specific aspects of the emergency legislation. That includes the provision that appears to give him unfettered control over disciplining his officers, even as he has complained for years it is too hard to fire members for misconduct

"We're talking to lawyers to get to the bottom of it," the chief said, adding, "I don't have any desire to take away our employees due process rights."

But Newsham does want to eliminate arbitration. He told a City Council committee this week that arbiters have forced him to rehire eight officers he had recently fired for misconduct, including one who he said sexually assaulted a woman, another caught in a prostitution sting and a third who had shot someone on his own property.

"There is a critical gap in credibility when my decision to terminate an employee for egregious misconduct is all too often overturned in arbitration," Newsham told lawmakers, "either for technical reasons or because the arbitrator believes he can substitute the judgment for the chief of police."

Mendelson said the union should not have "zero say" in discipline, and that both the labor group and police officials should discuss the topic and ways for officers to appeal decisions and punishment. "But I don't think it should be bargained," the council chairman said, a process that locks the department into a set of rules for the duration of the contract.

Pemberton, the union chair, said it appears the legislation leaves his labor group to negotiate only salaries and working conditions, leaving out discipline, which he described as a core union principle, and carves out police officers as a separate, less protected class of District workers.

"The allegation that, somehow, police officers should not be entitled to the same employment rights as firefighters or nurses is preposterous," Pemberton said. "We hope that cooler heads will prevail before there is an exodus of officers, who can easily go to other departments where their rights are protected."
Vietnam objected Thursday to Chinas recent reported laying of undersea cables in the disputed Paracel Islands, saying it was a violation of Vietnamese sovereignty.



The Foreign Ministry comment came as Vietnam deployed a coastguard vessel into another contested island chain in the South China Sea, the Spratlys, in apparent response to the presence of Chinese maritime militia around a Vietnamese outpost there.



In Hanoi, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang was asked about a BenarNews report on Monday, also carried by Radio Free Asia, that a Chinese ship was laying or repairing undersea cables near Chinese outposts in the Paracels.



The reporting was based on commercial satellite imagery and vessel-tracking software, and was cited extensively by Vietnamese state media this week.



Vietnam has sufficient historical evidence and legal grounds affirming its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes in accordance with international law, Hang told reporters, according to the state-run Vietnam News Agency.



Therefore, any activity relating to the two archipelagoes conducted without Vietnams permission are violations of its sovereignty and of no value, she said.



U.S.-based experts interviewed by RFA said the cable work suggested that China was installing an undersea surveillance system for its occupied features in the Paracels, further militarizing the region.



Vietnam and China both claim the Paracel Islands, a series of rocks and reefs in the north of the South China Sea.



Vietnamese coast guard enters disputed area



Meanwhile, RFA and BenarNews have detected that a Vietnamese coastguard vessel has entered the Union Banks, an area in the Spratlys that hosts four Vietnamese and two Chinese-occupied military outposts.



The coastguard vessel, identifiable as the CSB-8005 on vessel-tracking software and spotted on satellite imagery, entered the area on June 4 and is currently patrolling nearby the Vietnamese outpost on Sinh Ton Dong/Sin Cowe East Island.



It appears likely that the Vietnamese coastguard ship was sent to scare off Chinese maritime militia vessels. There has been a near-continuous presence of the maritime militia in the Union Banks area since March.



Satellite imagery shows what appears to be at least 30 Chinese fishing vessels located directly north of Sinh Ton Dong as of June 5, and vessel-tracking software indicates that at least five maritime militia ships are in the area too.



As of Thursday, the software showed the maritime militia were still in the Union Banks area, but had moved farther east.



In Union Banks, China occupies Johnson South Reef and Hughes Reef. Vietnam occupies Collins Reef, Sin Cowe Island/Dao Sinh Ton, Sin Cowe East/Sinh Ton Dong, and Lansdowne Reef.



China maintains it has historic rights to the entirety of the South China Sea, a claim that Vietnam and others claimants strongly object to.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday appointed Kevin S. Reardon as the states new fire marshal.

"Were proud to have Kevin join our team as the State Fire Marshal, given his many years serving in the fire service, the public sector, and in higher education, DeWine said in a news release. The Division of State Fire Marshal is extremely important in the lives of all Ohioans. Kevins leadership will help us move programs and initiatives forward that help protect Ohioans and their communities.

Reardon, who will replace Interim State Fire Marshall William Spurgeon, starts June 22. The states fire marshals office works to protect the public, property and the environment from fire through education, regulation and enforcement.

Reardon has been working in fire safety since 1981, when he started his career as a Columbus Fire firefighter. He retired from the department in 2013 as a battalion chief. He also worked as a military and veterans affairs liaison for DeWine during his time as a U.S. senator, and Columbus research firm Battelle.

I am very humbled and proud to become Ohios 39th State Fire Marshal, said Reardon. This office has been serving Ohioans and the fire service for many decades and I believe the future is bright and filled with opportunities to create and encourage a safe environment throughout our great communities.

He is a graduate of Capital University and Ohio State University.
Vietnam needs to grab opportunities to reduce its trade surplus with the US.

Adam Boehler, CEO of the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), at the working session with the Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc on June 2, said that DFC is implementing a series of plans to support investment projects in developing countries, especially projects in the fields of energy, infrastructure and digital economy.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc





DFC has interest in supporting development projects in Mekong Sub-region as well as projects on manufacturing strategic products in the US supply chain.



Following this strategy, DFC always attaches great importance to Vietnam and considers Vietnam as a preferred partner in US cooperative projects.



Dinh Trong Thinh from the Finance Academy said this is good news which comes once every 100 years which Vietnam should not miss.



The US supply chain is a closed chain which has existed for a long time, and Vietnam now has the chance to join it after being disrupted. When the US-China trade war broke out, many US enterprises began thinking of leaving China and the movement has been accelerated by the Covid-19 epidemic.

It would be costly to relocate production out of China. However, the US enterprises understand that they have to diversify supply sources and production, and not rely on any country.

It would be costly to relocate production out of China. However, the US enterprises understand that they have to diversify supply sources and production, and not rely on any country.



A high number of US enterprises have left China for other countries to diversify their investment activities. I believe that this is a golden opportunity for Vietnam to join the US supply chain, Thinh said.



If Vietnam can do this, it will be able to reduce the trade surplus with the US and reduce the trade deficit with China. This will also help Vietnam build up an autonomous economy. More importantly, Vietnam can diversify the input material supply sources, diversify partners and make products which can meet international standards.



Vietnamese enterprises are making products in accordance with standards of their own. However, when they cooperate with American and European enterprises, they will have to meet American and European standards, or international standards, Thinh said. If so, Vietnams products and technologies will be at higher levels."



By that time, Vietnams enterprises will not only diversify input supply sources, and establish relationships with all partners in the world, but they will also see products being provided to any clients.



If so, the production efficiency is higher, and Vietnam will not be dependent on anyone. They can satisfy the requirements on product origin stipulated in FTAs: at least 40 percent of the value of products must be made in Vietnam or inner-bloc countries to be eligible for preferential tariffs.

Le Ha

Vietnam continues to attracts FDI, but will not depend on foreign investors: economists The economy wont successfully grow if money is only poured into the pockets of a few people, while the majority of people face difficulties and have to live in a polluted environment, experts say.
Many coronavirus patients seem to get better at first, then rapidly decline and are overtaken by an overwhelming immune response that causes the body to turn on itself.

This cytokine storm was once an arcane phenomenon familiar mainly to rheumatologists who study when and how the immune systems safeguards fail.

But it has become increasingly clear in the past few months that, at least in a subset of people who have the virus, calming the storm is the key to survival.

At least a dozen candidate drugs to treat the coronavirus rely on this premise. A few devices that purify the blood, as dialysis machines do, are also being tested. One promising drug made by Roche is in several clinical trials, including a late-stage trial in combination with the antiviral drug remdesivir. And a recent paper in the journal Science Immunology described preliminary data on a drug that stems the flood of cytokines at its source, and seems to lead to rapid recovery.
SEATTLE, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Auction of Washington Wines (AWW), a nonprofit elevating awareness of Washington state wines, announced a brand-new Virtual Tasting Series featuring its 2020-21 Honorary Chair, Karen MacNeil and presented by Wells Fargo. Washington winemakers will explore the world of their wines through virtual tastings held between June 18 and August 20 with subjects ranging from "Red Mountain and Bordeaux" to "Is Cab King in Washington?" The series will be offered at no cost and will be hosted by MacNeil on the Zoom platform. During each session, MacNeil will taste through a stellar selection of wines while talking with industry greats such as Col Solare's Darel Allwine, Bookwalter Winery's John Bookwalter, DeLille Cellars' Jason Gorski and Honorary Grower Rob Mercer of Mercer Family Estates.

Participants will be able to pre-purchase wines for each tasting at retailer partner Esquin Wine & Spirits located at 2700 4th Ave South, Seattle. Wines will be available for curbside pickup or can be shipped to the home.

MacNeil is author of award-winning book, "The Wine Bible," and the winner of several industry awards, including the Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year (James Beard Foundation). She created WineSpeed, the leading digital e-letter for fast, authoritative information about wine. Her articles on wine and food have been published in more than 50 newspapers and magazines worldwide.

"The current stay-at-home world has provided a unique and exciting window of opportunity for this series to come to fruition," said Executive Director Jamie Peha. "Karen MacNeil is an incredible hostand this series will introduce and connect wine lovers to the state's industry."

"There are so many stories surrounding the Washington wine world," said MacNeil. "I am very much looking forward to talking with the state's prominent winemakers, all while tasting some of the finest wines Washington state has to offer."

Interested participants can register online. A schedule for the series including guests for each can be found below (all times in PT):

Washington Wine Trailblazers  Thursday, June 18 at 5:30 p.m.  This kick-off session features L'Ecole No 41's Marty Clubb , Long Shadows Vintners' Allen Shoup and Woodward Canyon Winery's Rick Small ; all who have been instrumental since the early days of the Washington wine industry boom and have impacted its foray onto the national and international scene.

From Generation to Generation  Thursday, July 2 at 4:00 p.m.  Featuring Bookwalter Wines' John Bookwalter and Caleb Foster , Mercer Family Estates' Rob Mercer and Januik Winery's Andrew Januik , this discussion will revolve around family winemaking and how these extraordinary individuals have elevated the wineries they inherited to the next level.

Washington Women in Wine  Thursday, July 16 at 4:00 p.m.  Warr-King Wines' Lisa Packer , Chateau Ste. Michelle's Leah Adint and Wautoma Spring's Jessica Munnell will join in conversation about how they've created their own "seats at the table" in the still male-dominated wine industry.

Red Mountain and Bordeaux Style Wine  Thursday, July 30 at 4:00 p.m.  Featuring Fidelitas Wine's Charlie Hoppes , Sparkman Cellars' Chris Sparkman and Col Solare's Darel Allwine , this virtual tasting will explore Washington's smallest and most coveted AVA  Red Mountain .

World-Class Washington State Merlot  Thursday, August 6 at 4:00 p.m.  A conversation with North Star Winery's David Merfeld , Pepper Bridge Winery's Jean-Francois Pellet and Hightower Cellars' Kelly Hightower , this installment will dive into the high-quality, award-winning Merlot produced in Washington .

Is Cab King in Washington ?  Thursday, August 13 at 4:00 p.m.  Featuring Betz Family Winery's Steve Griessel and Louis Skinner , Canvasback's Brian Rudin and DeLille Cellars' Jason Gorski , the discussion will center on Cabernet's iconic role in the Washington wine landscape.

One-of-a-Kind Approaches to Washington Wine  Thursday, August 20 at 4:00 p.m.  This conversation with Sean Hails of Columbia Winery, Kevin Correll of Barrage Cellars and Shane Collins of Rocky Pond Estate Winery will highlight some of Washington's most diverse and innovative wineries.

This year's Auction of Washington Wines' weekend of events will take place entirely online in a virtual environment, with this new series as just one component of what's to come. For more information about AWW and the August events, please visit https://auctionofwawines.org/.

About the Auction of Washington Wines (AWW)

Since its inception in 1988, AWW has raised more than $50 million, benefiting Seattle Children's Hospital and Washington State University Wine Science Center. AWW was listed in the top five U.S. Charity Auctions in the nation by Wine Spectator. Events hosted by AWW give wine lovers the chance to support Washington state's wine industry and families and communities across the state. Presented by Seattle Bank, all of the organization's events are virtual for 2020. For more information, visit www.AuctionofWaWines.org.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.98 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,400 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 31 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 263,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

May Wildman, The Fearey Group

[email protected]

206.343.1543

SOURCE Auction of Washington Wines

Related Links

http://www.AuctionofWaWines.org


KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

Minister Gadkari says MSP higher than market and international prices is a major problem leading to excess production of wheat, rice and sugar

He calls for changing crop patterns in some states such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh

Gadkari hopes ethanol production could be raised to worth Rs 1 lakh crore from Rs 20,000 crore now using the 200 closed sugar factories

Gadkari continues to be bullish on meeting higher road construction target

Fixing minimum support price (MSP) higher than market and international prices is a major problem leading to excess production of wheat, rice and sugar in the country while there is a deficit of edible oil, Minister for MSMEs and Road Transport & highways Nitin Gadkari said.

As a result of price intervention, on the one hand granaries overflow creating storage problems and on the other edible oil worth about Rs 90,000 crore is being imported.

Moreover, the government has to give subsidy, Rs 6,000 crore in the current fiscal, to export sugar so that pending dues of sugarcane farmers can be cleared.

"The most important problem in this sector is international price for agricultural commodities. And there is a vast difference in the price in the market and the MSP. There are a lot of problems, some political problems are also there. It is very difficult for government to take decisions. But the ground reality is that our MSP is higher than the market price and international price," Gadkari said while addressing a webinar.

The webinar was organised by National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) & Council on Energy Environment & Water (CEEW) to launch a report titled Jobs, growth and sustainability: A New Social Contract for India's Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery.

Gadkari also called for changing crop patterns in some states such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and termed the excessive production of wheat and rice a major problem.

"In agriculture we are facing serious problem. We have surplus rice, surplus wheat for three years. We don't have place of storage for rice. It is totally full. For sugar also there is surplus. That is a big problem," Gadkari said.

While noting the need to put policy focus on agriculture, tribal areas and 115 inspirational districts, the Minister said that there was enough scope to raise production of bio-ethanol, fish and honey.

He said that ethanol production could be raised to Rs 1 lakh crore from Rs 20,000 crore now using the 200 closed sugar factories.

"I have suggested to prepare a policy and cabinet note where we can convert rice into bio-ethanol. The present ethanol turnover is Rs 20,000 crore and imports Rs 6-7 lakh crore. So, now we are planning to make our ethanol economy Rs 1 lakh crore. We have 200 sugar factories which are already dead and those factories can be converted into bio-ethanol," he said referring to a meeting he held with a group of secretaries.

Seeking to promote rural economy in a big way, the Minister said that the government was working on schemes for women to give them solar charkhas and trawler to fishermen to help them scale up fish production and export.

Gadkari stressed on import substitution and cited the examples of PPE kits, masks and sanitisers where the country was in the position now to export. He said that there were items such as aviation fuel where import substitution can happen by using biofuel.

Emphasising on government's "Vocal for Local" campaign, the Minister said that honey was another area where there were huge prospects of raising farmer income.

He said that honey 'Goras Pak' biscuits made in Wardha using cow milk, ghee and honey were quite popular and there was a huge opportunity of exports.

The Minister has requested Mother Dairy to try and start a project in the area to make products using honey, cow milk and other local items.

The Minister for Highways and Road Transport continues to remain bullish on meeting higher road construction target even as coronavirus pandemic has slowed down construction activities.

"My target for two years is making roads of Rs 15 lakh crore. We have just signed an agreement with a foreign bank for getting credit. So, it's on public private investment. There are 480 projects with me which are economically viable and my toll is coming at Rs 28,000 crore per year. Within five years my toll income from NHAI would be Rs 1 lakh crore," Gadkari said.

Also Read: Coronavirus impact: Households' borrowings peaked in March quarter, says RBI

Also Read: ICICI Bank, US firm Apollo Global to end joint venture AION Capital
COVID-19 has seemingly re-written global rules spanning social, economic, political and environmental spheres of influence. No country or region has been spared from the effects of the pandemic. In Algeria, as elsewhere, many of these second- and third-tier effects are only just beginning to be grasped.

This is where UNDPs Accelerator Lab Network comes in, as we are trying to understand unmet needs and solutions bubbling from the grassroots. The process starts by seeking out knowledge from different sources. By creating space to understand and reflect, it helps the Labs assemble a broader picture of the systems changing in real time. From reflection, we look to where, and how, action can be taken in order to help shape a better, more equitable and more sustainable future.

In Algeria, there is an interesting dynamic emerging of modern and traditional solutions deployed to prepare, respond and recover from COVID-19. Along with the real and life-threatening nature of the global pandemic, we are witnessing simultaneous transformational changes to e-commerce in economies. At the same time, in villages across the country many communities are using their traditional bonds and community structures to help defend against the spread of the disease.

Supply chain critical elements are being shaped by the democratization of delivery services. Government support of e-payments are evolving rapidly to meet citizens demand.

Algeria is a cash-based society. With the exception of things such as travel insurance, phone credit refills and remote bill payments we dont use electronic payment that much. To adapt to the Algerian market, ridesharing, delivery services and marketplace merchants accept cash.

There will be technical challenges, legal, fiscal and regulatory burdens. However, this did not stop young entrepreneurs to be frugal innovators and use cash as an alternative in e-payment, Says Zaki Allah, a doctor and entrepreneur.

Transformational changes are not only limited to digital responses. In a village called Tifilkout, 162 kilometres from Algiers, people went into a voluntary confinement to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect their people. A crisis unit called COVID-19 Tifilkout was formed to prepare and manage the confinement, led by civil society and Tajmaat, the ancestral village assembly that usually organize, among other things, traditional celebrations, volunteering, for the cleaning and beautification of village, and fundraising for the poor and sick.

Amel Mohandi, a journalist from Tifilkout explained to me how the ancestral tradition of wise men played a key role in responding quickly to the pandemic. The COVID-19 Tifilkout crisis unit prepared for the confinement with food supplies, gas and goods, organized outreach campaigns to each house, placed soap dispensers by each water fountain of the village, appointed a group of volunteers to stand by each access point of the village and sanitize the cars coming from outside. Tifilkout also has a health unit and an ambulance, donated by the diaspora of the village.

While protection remain essential, the crisis unit solicited local tailors to make fabric masks. Last but not least, to limit the movement of persons and practice social distancing, a group of volunteers was dedicated to make the rounds to take regular delivery orders from households.

Not all initiatives were welcomed. Protection measures also banned any funeral ceremonies. When an elder in Algiers died of natural causes, her burial in Tifilkout had to take place without a ceremony. It was a big challenge for the crisis unit to convince the residents to not attend, given their strong cultural rituals and spirit of community solidarity.

Amel further explained this kind of collective action was funded by money previously collected during Tifilkouts village festival, an annual event attended by inhabitants to celebrate together.

So far, no cases have been registered in Tifilkout.

Is there a blueprint to learn from Tifilkout in building resilient community structures that help provide social protection measures beyond government?

When it comes to COVID-19, we are witnessing unprecedented changes in Algeria and beyond. Solutions and adaptation are coming to the forefront in a variety of ways, old and new. I personally cant wait to visit Tifilkout, when possible, to witness this community and their grassroots knowledge. While the public health emergency response to COVID-19 is immediate, we continue to learn more about the needs and challenges that lie ahead of us in the coming months and years. It is important to continue mapping solutions to these changes which help protect lives, livelihoods and cultures.

Well keep you posted!
The Pentagon's top weapons buyer presented Congress with a difficult choice Wednesday: Come up with "double-digit billions of dollars" to reimburse defense contractors for their costs related to COVID-19 or risk a degradation of military readiness.

Ellen Lord, the Defense Department's undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, told the House Armed Services Committee that the $688 million to aid contractors and subcontractors in the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was nowhere near enough.

Read next: Air Force Will Pit a Drone Against a Fighter Jet in Aerial Combat Test

She said one unnamed prime contractor alone estimated its coronavirus-related costs at more than $1 billion and urged Congress to consider passing a supplemental bill to provide funding for assistance to the Defense Industrial Base.

A section of the CARES Act "authorized" Congress to fund offsets to the so-called "COVID penalty" for defense contractors, but did not "appropriate" the money, Lord said. She added that the DoD itself "does not have the funding to cover these costs."

In his questioning of Lord, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the ranking committee member, sought to unscramble what is at stake.

He noted the expenses defense contractors have accrued for layoffs, paid leave, sick leave, work stoppages and the associated costs of work slowdowns, cleaning workspaces and rearranging job sites to allow for social distancing.

"You're telling us today there's not the money to do that" and there will "have to be some sort of supplemental funding," Thornberry said.

Lord responded, "Correct."

"Otherwise, these contractors are going to have to eat several billions of dollars, which could well come at their employees' expense, which is what [the CARES Act] was supposed to help to begin with," Thornberry said.

"There's a choice there," Lord said, "whether we want to eat into readiness and modernization" that would come as a result of a slowdown in contract deliveries "or whether we want to remedy the situation in the next six months or so" with increased funding.

Nearly two hours later in the hearing, Lord finally was asked for an estimate on how much money is needed to make up for the COVID-19 penalty.

"Double-digit billions of dollars," she said.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

Related: VA Unprepared to Deal with a Second Wave of COVID-19, Top Officials Say
Nigerian Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh has taken to social media to express her excitement after she received 2 car gifts on her birthday.

Earlier, the mother of one shared adorable photos to mark her 35th birthday on Tuesday, June 9, 2020.





Taking to her Instagram page, Tonto shared a video of one of the cars where she revealed a Mercedes Benz as one of the birthday gifts from Pretiwomannn, a company she represents as a brand ambassador.



She had previously received 2 car gifts from other anonymous sources, making her a proud owner of 6 cars.



See video of her new car gift below.







Source: Daily Graphic









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PARIS - The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that France violated the freedom of expression of pro-Palestinian activists who were convicted for campaigning against Israeli goods.

The court ordered the French government to pay 101,000 euros ($115,000) in overall damages to a group of 11 activists. The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement hailed the courts decision as a major victory.

The protesters, led by French activist Jean-Michel Baldassi, were convicted of incitement to economic discrimination after taking part in a 2009 demonstration at a hypermarket in the eastern French town of Illzach and handing out leaflets calling for a boycott of Israeli products. Frances top court upheld the conviction.

But the European human rights court found that the criminal conviction had no relevant and sufficient grounds and violated the freedom of expression of the protesters. The court is based in the French city of Strasbourg, and countries that signed the European Convention on Human Rights  including France - are bound by its rulings.

This momentous court ruling is a decisive victory for freedom of expression, for human rights defenders, and for the BDS movement for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality, Rita Ahmad from the Palestinian-led BDS movement said in a statement.

The BDS movement has called for boycotts against Israeli businesses, universities and cultural institutions in what it says is a nonviolent campaign against Israeli abuses against Palestinians. Israel says the movement masks its motives to delegitimize or destroy the Jewish state.

Israel and its supporters have promoted a number of anti-BDS legislative initiatives overseas, particularly in the U.S. and Europe.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution last year condemning the boycott-Israel movement as damaging to peace efforts. And German lawmakers approved a resolution last year describing the movements methods as anti-Semitic and reminiscent of Nazi-era calls to boycott Jews.

BDS activists deny the anti-Semitism charges, and say discrimination laws have been used to unfairly target them.

In the French case, the human rights court described the protesters actions as a form of political expression and a subject of public interest. It noted that Article 10 of the human rights charter, which guarantees freedom of expression, allows for such protest action as long as it doesnt cross the line and turn into a call for violence, hatred or intolerance.

The French government has three months to appeal the decision, but did not immediately comment Thursday.

Thursdays decision followed a 2016 statement by the EUs foreign affairs chief at the time, Federica Mogherini, who said that BDS activities were protected by the freedom of expression, even though the EU opposes BDSs attempts to isolate Israel.

Amnesty International expressed hope that the ruling would send a clear message to all European states that they must stop the prosecution of peaceful activists.
Using a new technique originally designed to explore the cosmos, scientists have unveiled structures deep inside the Earth, paving the way towards a new map revealing what Earth's interior looks like.

The findings will be published June 12 in Science.

Similar to the way doctors use ultrasounds to look inside the human body, earth scientists use seismic waves to probe the Earth's interior. However, their task is much harder: they need to wait for an earthquake to record data, and when this happens, it only provides information in a piecemeal manner; the data is restricted to a tiny region and most of the time it's impossible to distinguish weaker echoes from noise.

The unusual team of space and earth scientists used a novel algorithm called the Sequencer that was originally developed to find interesting trends in astronomical datasets. They used it to analyze thousands of seismograms, or records of vibrations of the ground following an Earthquake, collected over the past 30 years.

"With this new way to look at the data globally, we were able to see weak signals much more clearly," says Brice Menard, astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University and one of the team members.

"We were finally able to identify the seismic echoes and use them to create a map."

"Imagine you're outside in the dark. If you clap your hands and then hear an echo, you know that a wall or vertical structure is in front of you. This is how bats echolocate their surroundings," explains Doyen Kim, seismologist at the University of Maryland and co-author on the paper.

Using this principle, the team used the Sequencer algorithm to parse through thousands of seismograms for echoes to create a new map showing details of the Earth's mantle, just above the liquid iron core, at a depth of 3,000 kilometers.

This map shows a large area under the Pacific and reveals hot and dense regions below Hawaii and the Marquesas islands in French Polynesia. Similar to the times when European explorers drew the first incomplete maps of America, earth scientists are charting the Earth's interior.

The Sequencer algorithm, developed by Menard and graduate student Dalya Baron, has the ability to automatically find interesting trends in any type of dataset, and has now enabled discoveries in astrophysics and geology. The team now looks forward to seeing what researchers in other fields will find with this technique.

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Local civil rights organizations protested in front of the Baldwin Hills Mall to send a message to CIM that they do not approve their purchase of the plaza. Recently, CIM bought the plaza and the community is concerned about what their plans are.

They have no relationships with leaders in the community, and based on their history they do not have intentions to advance the people in the area.

CIMs plan is to usher in gentrifications and the community does not want to stand for it. The community needs an organization that will represent them in the most powerful way. Civil rights leaders feel CIM will not provide the jobs, shopping, and affordable housing that Baldwin Hills and other entities have provided before.

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President of the Baptist Ministers Conference Rev. KW Tulloss says, We dont want the plan you pushed out for our community. Our community deserves better and were here today to send that message. We want CIM to leave.

The Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall is sacred to the community and to have companies like CIM come in and erase the history would be a disgrace. Tulloss states, Baldwin Hills Mall is a treasure to the community. It is something that the community celebrates. This is the community hub where young people go to get their first jobs. We dont want to lose that. CIM needs to leave Baldwin Hills, the younger generation is depending on it.

President & CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of SoCal Pastor William D. Smart says Baldwin Hills was one of the first malls in history, and has done so much for the black community. He indicates, It would be deleterious to us as leaders if we allow somebody like CIM, with their history, and connections to the Trump administration to come into our community, and be allowed to buy this mall.

With all the injustices and turmoil and going on, the last thing the community needs is for CIM to come in and take over. Many organizations in the neighborhood have partnered to stop this tragedy from happening and they wont stop until CIM is out of the picture.

Pastor Johnathon Mosley says, We cannot allow entities to come into our community and destroy the historical facts and what this area means to us.

Its a lot of gentrification going on and they have had enough. Its time for the people to fight back and reject the organizations that have caused Black community pain for years. This is our area. And all of the gentrification thats coming in, and pushing us out. We will not stand for it, says. Mosley.

Many are arguing that since the mall is closed and empty, instead of it just sitting somebody might as well come buy it out. Mosley and other leaders claim that is false information to make others feel that area is not viable.

Baldwin Hills Mall is not only a monument for the community but for people around the world. The historical facts of that being one of the first malls in America attracts tourists from all over. To not have it

around anymore will suck the life out of the community.

Mosley says, It has been a pillar in the community. Dorsey High School is right up the street, the Coliseum and Mount Vernon is in the area as well. Kids that go to these schools have jobs. If CIM comes in we know those students will not have the same opportunities.



Protesters chant CIM has got to go.
COLUMBUS, OhioAttorney General Dave Yost on Thursday asked an Eastern Ohio court to dismiss a criminal charge against diner owners who re-opened in early May, before the states coronavirus ban on sit-down dining was lifted.

Dwight and Vicki Brearley reopened their National Road Diner near Cambridge to customers on May 6, even though the DeWine administration didnt lift its order prohibiting inside dining until May 21.

After they ignored warnings, Guernsey County Health Commissioner Dr. Edward Colby charged the couple with one count of failure to prevent a threat to the public during a pandemic, epidemic or bioterrorism event, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $750 fine. The Brearleys have pleaded not guilty.

Its believed to be the first time that anyone has been prosecuted under Ohios 134-year-old quarantine statute, according to the Cambridge Daily Jeffersonian.

Yost, a Columbus Republican, asked the Cambridge Municipal Court to dismiss the case, arguing that it would be more appropriate for Colby to file a civil case against the Brearleys than to seek criminal charges.

Criminal sanctions should be reserved for the most egregious conduct, Yost wrote in his brief. In the eyes of the undersigned, the Brearleys' acts simply don't rise to that level.

The AG noted that the Brearleys have no criminal records, and that Using criminal process in these circumstances simply takes too long if the goal is compliance for public health rather than punishment.

The Brearleys trial has been scheduled to take place Aug. 25, according to court records.

Heres the full motion filed by Yost:

Read more Ohio coronavirus coverage:

Bill to change how state health officials collect, report coronavirus information passes Ohio House

At least 2,457 Ohioans have died with coronavirus: Wednesday update

How much did coronavirus closings sink sales tax collections for Ohio, the counties and transit agencies?

Ohio BMV will reopen driving test sites June 12

Northeast Ohio bars, restaurants file suit seeking to overturn states social-distancing regulations
After almost a year of work, the agency chosen to take over outpatient mental health care in Warren and Washington counties has suddenly dropped out.

The services board for both counties met virtually on Thursday afternoon and agreed to support the application of another agency, Behavioral Health Services North.

This summer, Citizen Advocates was supposed to take over all the outpatient behavior health services offered by Glens Falls Hospital. But this week, the agency said it would no longer pursue that plan.

Citizen Advocates had a spokeswoman at the meeting, but she did not explain why her agency was abandoning the project. Kary Johnson said agency leaders changed their mind because of uncertainties brought upon by COVID-19 and the timing of the project, along with other indicators.

At the meeting, officials for Behavioral Health Services North, based in Plattsburgh, presented a plan for providing all of the services that Citizen Advocates was going to take over.

Rob York, director of community services for Warren and Washington counties, asked the supervisors on the county boards if they wanted to interview more agencies before making a decision.

But hospital Chief Operating Officer Paul Scimeca told the board the hospital needs someone to take over soon.

We would be very concerned about there being a long drawn-out process at this point, he said, adding that if it takes too long, it could jeopardize the services and our ability to provide them.

York told the boards that it might be best to approve Behavioral Health Services North.

I would not want to delay things very long because, well, you heard what the hospital said, he said.

He added that he feels comfortable with Behavioral Health Services North.

We have an agency that is here in front of us: large, eager, innovative. We have an agency that is interested in jumping in and getting started, he said.

Behavioral Health Services North might not be able to hire every person Glens Falls Hospital employs for outpatient mental health care. Officials said there would be room for many, and they would encourage everyone to apply.

Board member Belinda Bradley criticized that, saying she had preferred Citizen Advocates because it would keep all of the staff.

Thats kind of a critical piece, that the staff stays the same at least for awhile, she said. That should help with the whole transition of this huge project.

But board members were also pleased by many other parts of the proposal. Behavioral Health Services North integrates substance abuse, mental health care and primary care. There is no waiting list; people are seen the day they call asking for help, or the next day. The agency also runs 19 support groups.

The agency co-locates many of its staff in Hudson Headwaters primary care offices, to create a full whole-health model, said President and CEO Mark Lukens.

The agency currently has providers in Clinton, Franklin and Essex counties.

It must now seek state approval from the Department of Health before taking over local services. If it has not located an office building and gotten regulatory approval by the fall, officials plan to start with tele-med appointments.

You can reach Kathleen Moore at 742-3247 or kmoore@poststar.com. Follow her on Twitter @ByKathleenMoore or at her blog on www.poststar.com.

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The next round of military talks between India and China are scheduled to start this week.

Beijing on Wednesday said that a positive consensus has been reached by the senior military officials of China and India over easing of the situation along the border, state media reported. China and India have been effectively communicating via diplomatic and military channels over issues concerning the western sector of the China-India border, during which a positive consensus has been reached, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying was quoted by Global Times as saying.

Ahead of the next round of military talks scheduled to start this week, troops of India and China have disengaged on the ground at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh. The talks between the two armies are going to be held this week at multiple locations including Patroling Point 14 (Galwan area), Patrolling Point 15 and Hot Springs area, top government sources told ANI.

Because of the talks to be held in the next few days and the Lt Gen-level talks held on June 6, the Chinese Army has pulled back its troops from the Galwan valley, PP-15 and Hot Springs in Eastern Ladakh area by 2 to 2.5 kilometres, they said. The sources said to reciprocate the Chinese disengagement, the Indian side also brought back some of its troops and vehicles from these areas.

Also Read: Hold police accountable for wrongdoing, urges George Floyds brother to US Congress

Also Read: Pak security forces abandon border posts as violent protests erupt in Balochistan

Sources said the talks are being held on these points at the battalion commander level and they have had hotline talks with their counterparts. The initial talks are being held in these areas, the Chinese activities had also started in Eastern Ladakh from this location only, they said.

Indian military teams are already in Chushul to engage the Chinese in talks and are coordinating with the senior officials in this regard.

Also Read: Balochistan registers 5 new cases of enforced disappearance in 2 days

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After 30 years of drawing fans for its sandwiches and support of the LGBTQ community, the Broadway restaurant W.D. Deli is for sale.

Started by Wayne Beers and Michael Bobo in 1990 in a small shop on McCullough Avenue, W.D. Deli moved in 2002 to its current home on Broadway, a two-story plantation-style house with a grand staircase and walls covered with vintage plates and photos of customers current and past.

I had so much fun doing this. Its been great, said Beers, who also works as a real estate agent for Keller Williams. But its time for something else.

The business closed for six weeks at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but business had picked up to around 70 to 80 percent of its previous levels since the shop reopened May 4, Beers said. The deli will remain open during the sale from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The business and the property at 3123 Broadway are on the market separately. According to Juan Vega, a business broker with Murphy Business & Financial Corp. - South Texas, the business is listed at $400,000. The property is priced at $1.35 million, according to an online listing.

On ExpressNews.com: El Bosque closes after more than 40 years because of impact of coronavirus

Ideally, the business will continue after the sale, whether its on Broadway or it moves elsewhere, Beers said.

We want this to continue a long time past us, he said. Its so great in the community.

That community has included San Antonios LGBTQ residents. The deli hosted drag brunches until around 2005, Beers said. He told a story of a biracial couple he met at the deli who told him W.D. Deli was a place where they could belong and feel safe.

The sale of the business is being handled by Juan Vega of Murphy Business & Financial Corp. Beers is handling the sale of the property through Keller Williams Legacy.

Mike Sutter is a food and drink reporter and restaurant critic in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Mike, become a subscriber. msutter@express-news.net | Twitter: @fedmanwalking | Instagram: @fedmanwalking
Russia's MiG-35 to Be Equipped With Voice Assistant Helping Pilot in Tough Situations

Sputnik News

05:29 GMT 10.06.2020(updated 06:42 GMT 10.06.2020)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's next-generation fighter jet, the MiG-35 will be equipped with a new expert system capable of providing pilots with recommendations in various difficult situations, Dmitry Selivanov, a test pilot at the MiG aircraft corporation (part of Rostec), has said in an interview with Sputnik.

"Everything in the new fighter is aimed at helping the pilot. In a critical situation, it can even suggest what should be done. Apart from that, an expert system is being developed, which will direct the pilot in difficult situations", Selivanov said.

The fighter is already equipped with a voice assistant, the test pilot added.

"We call her Rita, the voice communicant. Her voice remains pleasant and calm even if a fire hits the engine. She does not talk all the time; she just makes recommendations if the plane approaches some restrictions. Hints are also provided during combat usage", Selivanov said.

No abnormal situations have been recorded during MiG-35 tests the pilot went on to say.

"The most difficult emergency situations are being tested on the ground, through simulators. This involves the cut-off of one engine or failure of a key system. Of course, no one would test such emergencies during flights. The most important thing is that the test pilot is always ready for any developments. To ensure this, he should be well versed in the technical equipment. Nothing serious has happened to MiG-35 yet. There were only some routine issues, which were later adjusted", Selivanov added.

The MiG-35 is a 4++ generation aircraft, designed to destroy air targets day and night, regardless of weather conditions, as well as engage moving and fixed ground targets. Its main features include radar visibility, a quad-redundant fly-by-wire flight control system, and advanced avionics (cutting-edge radar and optical systems, as well as a helmet-mounted targeting system).

A Sputnik

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Louisville police released on Wednesday the incident report on Breonna Taylor, as the detective who applied for the no-knock search warrant that preceded her being fatally shot by police was placed on administrative leave, the Courier Journal first reported.

Details: It has taken almost three months for the Louisville Metro police to release the incident report, which contains scant information. It lists Taylor's injuries as "none," despite the 26-year-old African American emergency medical technician sustaining at least eight bullet wounds, per The Courier-Journal

Interim Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert Schroeder said on Wednesday morning he placed Detective Joshua Jaynes on "administrative reassignment" until questions from Taylor's family, her attorneys, a U.S. postal inspector and others" about the approval of the search warrant are answered, according to the news outlet.

Background: Taylor wasn't the focus of a police investigation, but a judge signed off on the warrant, the Courier Journal notes.

Police have said they knocked on the door to announce their presence, but forced their way in "after midnight before being met by gunfire."

Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was also home at the time and said he did not hear the police announce themselves. A 911 recording shows Walker telling the dispatcher, "somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend," according to The New York Times.

Walker was charged with attempted murder after shooting a police officer in the leg during the intrusion, but the charges were later dropped.

The big picture: The death of Taylor on March 13 prompted protests across Louisville. Her killing has been a focal point of the Black Lives Matter protests, which began over the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Justice Department is investigating her shooting.

Read the incident report via DocumentCloud
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers have found that astrocytes, a type of brain cell can harbor HIV and then spread the virus to immune cells that traffic out of the brain and into other organs. HIV moved from the brain via this route even when the virus was suppressed by combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), a standard treatment for HIV. The study, conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and published in PLOS Pathogens, was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

"This study demonstrates the critical role of the brain as a reservoir of HIV that is capable of re-infecting the peripheral organs with the virus," said Jeymohan Joseph, Ph.D., chief of the HIV Neuropathogenesis, Genetics, and Therapeutics Branch at NIH's National Institute of Mental Health, which co-funded the study. "The findings suggest that in order to eradicate HIV from the body, cure strategies must address the role of the central nervous system."

HIV attacks the immune system by infecting CD4 positive (CD4+) T cells, a type of white blood cell that is vital to fighting off infection. Without treatment, HIV can destroy CD4+ T cells, reducing the body's ability to mount an immune responseeventually resulting in AIDS.

cART, which effectively suppresses HIV infections, has helped many people with HIV live longer, healthier lives. But some studies have shown that many patients receiving antiretroviral drugs also show signs of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, such as thinking and memory problems. Researchers know that HIV enters the brain within eight days of infection, but less is known about whether HIV-infected brain cells can release virus that can migrate from the brain back into the body to infect other tissues.

The brain contains billions of astrocytes, which perform a variety of tasksfrom supporting communication between brain cells to maintaining the blood-brain barrier. To understand whether HIV can move from the brain to peripheral organs, Lena Al-Harthi, Ph.D., and her research team at Rush University Medical Center transplanted HIV-infected or noninfected human astrocytes into the brains of immunodeficient mice.

The researchers found that the transplanted HIV-infected astrocytes were able to spread the virus to CD4+ T cells in the brain. These CD4+ T cells then migrated out of the brain and into the rest of the body, spreading the infection to peripheral organs such as the spleen and lymph nodes. They also found that HIV egress from the brain occurred, albeit at lower levels, when animals were given cART. When cART treatment was interrupted, HIV DNA/RNA became detectable in the spleenindicating a rebound of the viral infection.

"Our study demonstrates that HIV in the brain is not trapped in the brainit can and does move back into peripheral organs through leukocyte trafficking," said Dr. Al-Harthi. "It also shed light on the role of astrocytes in supporting HIV replication in the braineven under cART therapy."

This information has significant implications for HIV cure strategies, as such strategies need to be able to effectively target and eliminate reservoirs of HIV replication and reinfection, Dr. Al-Harthi added.

"HIV remains a major global public health concern, affecting 30 to 40 million people across the globe. To help patients, we need to fully understand how HIV affects the brain and other tissue-based reservoirs," said May Wong, Ph.D., program director for the NeuroAIDS and Infectious Diseases in the Neuroenvironment at the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which co-funded the study. "Though additional studies that replicate these findings are needed, this study brings us another step closer towards that understanding."

More information: Lutgen, V., et al , HIV infects astrocytes in vivo and egresses from the brain to the periphery. (2020). PLOS Pathogens. Journal information: PLoS Pathogens Lutgen, V., et al , HIV infects astrocytes in vivo and egresses from the brain to the periphery. (2020).
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to authorize sanctions against any official investigating American troops over alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.



The court expressed "profound regret" over Trump's announcement in a statement on June 11.



The ICC called Trump's moves an "unacceptable attempt to interfere with the rule of law and the court's judicial proceedings."



The Hague-based court said the moves come "with the declared aim of influencing the actions of ICC officials in the context of the court's independent and objective investigations and impartial judicial proceedings."



It also represents an attack against the interests of victims of atrocities for whom the court is the last hope for justice, the court said.



Trump issued an executive order earlier authorizing economic sanctions and travel restrictions against employees of the ICC who are directly involved in investigating U.S. troops and intelligence officials for possible war crimes in Afghanistan.



After Trump signed the order, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would not allow Americans to be threatened by "a kangaroo court."



Attorney General William Barr accused "foreign powers like Russia" of manipulating the court "in pursuit of their own agenda."



The United States is among dozens of countries that are not parties to the Rome treaty that established the ICC in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in areas where perpetrators might not otherwise face justice.



EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell voiced "serious concern" at Trumps order, saying the bloc is a steadfast supporter of the ICC, which he called a key factor in bringing justice and peace.



"Very disturbed by the United States measures," Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok tweeted. "The Netherlands fully supports the ICC and will continue to do so. The ICC is crucial in the fight against impunity and in upholding international rule of law."



Human rights groups also deplored the Trump administrations move, with Andrea Prasow, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch, saying it "demonstrates contempt for the global rule of law.



This assault on the ICC is an effort to block victims of serious crimes whether in Afghanistan, Israel, or Palestine from seeing justice," she added.



White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called the actions of the court "an attack on the rights of the American people and threaten to infringe upon our national sovereignty."



The court "has been an unaccountable and ineffective international bureaucracy that targets and threatens United States personnel as well as personnel of our allies and partners," she said in a statement.



McEnany alleged that the court continues to pursue politically motivated investigations against the U.S. and its partners, including Israel, and that "adversary nations are manipulating" the ICC.



The United States also has "strong reason to believe there is corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the International Criminal Court office of the prosecutor, calling into question the integrity of its investigation into American service members," the White House spokeswoman said.



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. move, saying the ICC is politicized and obsessed with carrying out a witch hunt against Israel and the United States as well as other democratic countries.



Meanwhile, the court turns a blind eye to the world's worst human rights offenders," including Iran, he told a press conference.



Trumps order authorizes the secretary of state, in consultation with the treasury secretary, to block financial assets within U.S. jurisdiction of court personnel who directly engage in investigating, harassing, or detaining U.S. personnel.



Court officials -- and their family members -- involved in the probe can also be blocked from entering the United States.



The Trump administration already imposed travel restrictions and other sanctions against ICC employees last year.



In November 2017, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked judges to initiate an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan since May 2003.



But in April 2019, an ICC pretrial chamber rejected the inquiry as not being in the "interests of justice" because it would likely fail due to lack of cooperation.



In March this year, the ICCs Appeals Chamber ruled that the investigation could go ahead  a decision Pompeo at the time described as "reckless."



Afghanistan is a signatory of the Rome treaty but officials have expressed opposition to the investigation.



U.S. forces and other foreign troops intervened in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and overthrew the Taliban government.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
TORONTO / ACCESSWIRE / June 11, 2020 / Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company") (TSX:JAG)(OTC PINK:JAGGF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Shastri Ramnath to the Board of Directors of the Company. Ms. Ramnath is currently the President and CEO of Exiro Minerals Corp, a junior exploration company, and the Chair of Orix Geoscience Corp., a geological consulting firm that she co-founded and co-owns. Ms. Ramnath is a professional geoscientist and entrepreneur with over 20 years of global experience and has worked in various technical and leadership roles, including FNX Mining, where she was a key member of the exploration and resource team, and subsequently with Bridgeport Ventures, a publicly-listed company, where she was the President and CEO. Ms. Ramnath received a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the University of Manitoba, a Master of Science in exploration geology from Rhodes University (South Africa), and an Executive MBA from Athabasca University.

Jeff Kennedy, Chairman of the Board of the Company, commented, "On behalf of the Board, I would like to welcome Shastri Ramnath to the Jaguar Board. Shastri's geologic expertise and entrepreneurial experience in the mining sector will be a valuable asset to our Board."

About Jaguar Mining Inc.

Jaguar Mining Inc. is a Canadian-listed junior gold mining, development, and exploration company operating in Brazil with three gold mining complexes and a large land package with significant upside exploration potential from mineral claims covering an area of approximately 64,000 hectares. The Company's principal operating assets are located in the Iron Quadrangle, a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais and include the Turmalina Gold Mine Complex and Caete Mining Complex (Pilar and Roca Grande Mines, and Caete Plant). The Company also owns the Paciencia Gold Mine Complex, which has been on care and maintenance since 2012. The Roca Grande Mine has been on temporary care and maintenance since April 2019. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com.

For further information please contact:

Vernon Baker

Chief Executive Officer

Jaguar Mining Inc.

vernon.baker@jaguarmining.com

416-847-1854

Hashim Ahmed

Chief Financial Officer

Jaguar Mining Inc.

hashim.ahmed@jaguarmining.com

416-847-1854

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. All of the forward-looking information made in this news release is qualified by the cautionary statements below and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators in Canada. Forward-looking information contained in forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "are expected," "is forecast," "is targeted," "approximately," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "believe" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, may be considered to be or include forward-looking information. This news release contains forward-looking information regarding, among other things, the expectations of management with respect to the anticipated timing, format and conduct of the Meeting, the success of exploration, development and mining activities. The Company has made numerous assumptions with respect to forward-looking information contained herein, including, among other things, assumptions set forth in the AIF and the Company's most recent management's discussion and analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of "Jaguar Mining Inc." on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information involves a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including among others: the risk of Jaguar not meeting the forecast plans regarding its operations and financial performance; uncertainties with respect to the price of gold, labour disruptions, mechanical failures, increase in costs, environmental compliance and change in environmental legislation and regulation, weather delays and increased costs or production delays due to natural disasters, power disruptions, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations; uncertainties inherent to capital markets in general (including the sometimes volatile valuation of securities and an uncertain ability to raise new capital) and other risks inherent to the gold exploration, development and production industry, which, if incorrect, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described herein. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of gold exploration, development, mining and production, including environmental hazards, tailings dam failures, industrial accidents and workplace safety problems, unusual or unexpected geological formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding, chemical spills, procurement fraud and gold bullion thefts and losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or the inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks). Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company's reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE: Jaguar Mining Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/593521/Jaguar-Mining-Appoints-New-Director-Shastri-Ramnath
Gurgaon:

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturady said the Mewat double murder cum gang-rape case and the beef controversy were trivial issues.

He was speaking to mediapersons here on the sidelines of an event Swarna Jayanti to mark 50 years of Haryana on November 1.

When asked about the beef biryani issue and CBI probe into the gang-grape case of two sisters in Mewat, Khattar said, These are trivial issues and I dont pay much attention to these small issues. Today we should be talking about Swarna Jayanti.

Collecting samples of beef biryani and double murder cum gang-rape case of two sisters is not an issue according to me. These were petty issues compared to golden jubilee celebrations and could take anywhere in the country.

A 20-year-old woman and her 14-year-old cousin were sexually assaulted by several men in their home in Mewat on August 24. Their uncle and aunt were tied up and then beaten to death.

The state government had last year enacted the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gau Samvardhan Act, making cow slaughter punishable with rigorous imprisonment up to 10 years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

Ahead of Eid on September 8, Haryana Cow Protection Task Force in Charge -DIG, Bharti Arora and Gau Sewa Aayog Chairman, Bhani Ram Mangla conducted a drive to check biryani and collected samples of it from Mewat.

Later, Haryana Minister Anil Vij said that all seven samples were found containing beef during testing at a laboratory in Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and the Animal Sciences in Hisar.

Mangla had claimed that there were reports of beef biryani being sold across Mewat, including villages such as Nuh, Ferozpur Jhirka, Nagina, Punhana, Bhadas, Shah Chokha and others.

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There are 771 standing monuments of anti-abolitionists across the US. Protesters are demanding they be taken down.

It has been more than 150 years since the end of the four-year American Civil War (1861-1865) that claimed more than 600,000 lives.

The Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy, was a group of 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union in 1860. The states, in order of their secession, were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.

These states wanted to preserve the institution of slavery which they largely depended on to build their economies.

In the end, the Confederacy was defeated and slavery was abolished.

Monument debate and removal

Across the United States, there are an estimated 1,741 public symbols of the Confederacy, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

These symbols include schools, parks, bridges, roads, statues and more.

Although many Americans recognise the immorality of historic colonialists, slave owners and anti-abolitionists, some say these symbols should be preserved as a reminder of the countrys past.

In 2017, during a protest against the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee, a self-described neo-Nazi killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer after he rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Since then, at least 44 monuments have been removed across the country.

The map below shows where the 771 statues and monuments are in the US:

The number of statues and monuments in each state:

Georgia 114;

Virginia 110;

North Carolina 96;

Texas 67;

Alabama 60;

South Carolina 58;

Mississippi 52;

Tennessee 43;

Arkansas 41;

Louisiana 32;

Florida 25;

Kentucky 24;

Missouri 13;

District of Columbia 10;

West Virginia 9;

Oklahoma 7;

Arizona 4;

New Mexico 4;

California 2;

Pennsylvania 2;

Delaware 1;

Indiana 1;

Iowa 1;

Maryland 1

(Figures last updated July 2019 by Southern Poverty Law Center)

George Floyd protests

Protests across the US broke out  leading to widespread unrest  after the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis.

Protesters and public officials have made demands that include the removal of any public statues or monuments perceived to be symbols of racism in the US, including Confederate monuments, of which several have been removed forcibly by protesters or ordered so by city councils.

Here is a list of some of the Confederate monuments and statues that have been removed over the past two weeks:

Robert E Lee statue, Montgomery, Alabama

A pedestal that held a statue of Robert E. Lee stands empty outside a high school named for the Confederate general in Montgomery, Alabama [Kim Chandler/AP]

The statue of Robert E Lee, one of the most renowned Confederate generals who fought in the US Civil War, was toppled on June 1 outside of a high school bearing his name.

Four people have been charged in the incident.

Appomattox statue, Alexandria, Virginia

A bronze statue, titled the Confederate Soldier, is seen in downtown Alexandria, Virginia [AFP]

The monument of Confederate soldier called Appomattox, erected in 1889, was removed on June 3. The statue has courted controversy for years, with many asking for its removal.

Justin Wilson, the mayor of Alexandria, posted images of the statues removal, adding the city, like all great cities, is constantly changing and evolving.

John B Castleman statue, Louisville, Kentucky

The monument to Confederate soldier John B Castleman in Louisville was painted with graffiti by protesters [Bryan Woolston/Reuters]

The 107 year-old statue was a well-known local landmark which was removed on June 8.

The mayor of Louisville, democract Greg Fisher, said John B Castlemans statue was likely to be moved to the Confederate icons graveyard.

Fischer had been vying for years to have the 15-foot statue taken down and has previously said the city should not maintain statues that serve as validating symbols for racist or bigoted ideology.

Confederate monument, Indianapolis, Indiana

A monument dedicated to Confederate soldiers who died at a Union prison camp in the city during the Civil War in Garfield Park of Indianapolis [File:Tom Davies/AP Photo]

The 10-metre (35-foot) monument, built in 1912 and moved to Garfield Park in 1928, was dedicated to Confederate soldiers.

The monument was removed on June 8.

Confederate monument, Jacksonville, Florida

A Confederate monument featuring a statue of a Confederate soldier is seen in Hemming Park in Jacksonville, Florida [Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP]

The monument, located in Hemming Park, was built in honour of the Jacksonville Light Infantry that was part of the Confederacy.

The bronze statue had been in the park since 1898.

Zebulon Baird Vance monument, Asheville, North Carolina

Zebulon Baird Vance monument, Asheville, North Carolina [Courtesy: Creative commons]

The 15-metre (50-foot) monument of Confederate military officer and former North Carolina Governor Zebulon Baird Vance was ordered to be removed, after Asheville City Council voted unanimously on June 9 to remove Confederate monuments in the city.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 16:46 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bddf2133 1 National Lampung,university-of-lampung,student-press,Papuan-Lives-Matter,discussion,intimidation,racial-discrimination,racial-discrimination-in-indonesia,State-Intelligence-Agency,BIN,unila Free

Members of the University of Lampung (Unila) student press Teknokra have received anonymous threats in relation to the organizations plan to hold a public discussion on racial discrimination against Papuans.

The online discussion was planned to be held on Thursday with three speakers scheduled to talk: Indonesian Peoples Front for West Papua (FRI-West Papua) spokesperson Surya Anta Ginting, Papuan Students Alliance head Jhon Gobai and Journalist Association for Diversity (SEJUK) program manager Tantowi Anwari.

On Wednesday, two members of Teknokra received threats from unknown people, who questioned their intentions for holding the discussion.

Teknokra chairman Chairul Rahman Arif said an anonymous person had sent him WhatsApp messages containing the identity and address of his parents as well as a photo of his identity card.

What is the goal of holding a discussion that provokes many people. We have your [personal] data, the message read, according to Chairul, as quoted by tempo.co.

Read also: Intimidation of government critics raises concerns about freedom of speech

Teknokra editor-in-chief Mitha Setiani, who was to moderate the discussion, also received threats.

She said her Gojek account had been hacked and used to make several GoFood orders.

On the same day, Unilas vice rector for academic and student affairs Yulianto told Chairul to postpone the discussion.

Teknokra later reported on its website that Yulianto had told the student press chairman that he had received a call from people claiming to be representatives of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) regarding the discussion.

Chairul said the discussion was held to raise awareness of racial discrimination in Indonesia. The countrys motto is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika [Unity in Diversity]. We should bring up such awareness through this open discussion, so we can respect each other, he said.

Read also: #PapuanLivesMatter: George Floyds death hits close to home in Indonesia

Previously, the University of Indonesia disavowed a public discussion held by the universitys Student Executive Body (BEM UI) about racism against Papuans in the legal system, saying the discussion did not reflect the views and attitudes of UI as an institution. The university's Lecturers Alliance, however, conveyed its support for the discussion, lauding it for it fostering a spirit of free speech among university academics.

The issue of racial discrimination against Papuans resurfaced recently following the demands of prosecutors of the Balikpapan district court in East Kalimantan to sentence seven Papuans to five to 17 years imprisonment for treason over their involvement in antiracism protests in Jayapura in August last year. (trn)
[June 11, 2020] MCAT Official Prep Hub Powered by BenchPrep Recognized by SIIA as Best Enterprise Learning Solution

CHICAGO, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BenchPrep today announced that the Association of American Medical Colleges  (AAMC) MCAT Official Prep Hub has been recognized by the annual SIIA CODiE Awards, and has been named the Best Corporate/Enterprise Learning Solution of 2020 . The prestigious CODiE Awards recognize the companies producing the most innovative business technology products across the country, and around the world.

The AAMC is a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health care through innovative medical education, cutting-edge patient care, and groundbreaking medical research. The association administers the MCAT exam and worked with BenchPrep, the leading provider of cloud-based learning products for corporations, training organizations, and nonprofits, to develop a platform to help prepare premedical students for the exam. Over the last year, BenchPrep worked in collaboration with the AAMC to develop the MCAT Official Prep Hub . The comprehensive, online learning platform is self-paced and interactive, with practice tools that closely mirror the format of the actual MCAT exam and includes many free resources to help better prepare learners. Examinees can take full practice exams and receive score reports that detail areas where they may need further review, and they can focus on specific subjects where more study time is needed by using subject-specific question packs. I am so happy for our partners at the AAMC, who could not be more deserving of this CODiE Award, said Ashish Rangnekar, CEO & Co-Founder of BenchPrep. Helping the AAMC develop the MCAT Official Prep Hub embodies how BenchPrep treats partnerships with our education and training clients. Having our technology functioning as the core of such an impactful, award-winning product is incredibly gratifying. Congratulations to this amazinggroup of 2020 Business Technology CODiE Award winners, said SIIA President Jeff Joseph. These trying times have underscored the importance of innovative technologies like never before. The products and services we honor today connect us to colleagues and customers, ensure business practices move forward, provide new insights from data, and create new jobs and market opportunities. They represent the best of high-impact, outcome-focused innovation.



The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, announced the full slate of CODiE winners during an online winner announcement on March 18 2020, rather than at its annual celebration in San Francisco due to the coronavirus pandemic. The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry's only peer-reviewed awards program. The first-round review of all nominees is conducted by software and business technology experts with considerable industry expertise, including analysts, media, bloggers, bankers and investors. The scores from the expert judge review determine the finalists. SIIA members then vote on the finalist products, and the scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners.

43 awards were given this year for products and services deployed specifically for B2B software, information and media companies, including the Best Overall Business Technology Product, awarded to the product with the highest scores of both rounds of judging. More information about the Awards is available at: siia.net/CODiE. Details about the winning products can be found at https://www.siia.net/codie/2020-Winners. About the SIIA CODiE Awards

The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technologys finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit siia.net/CODiE . About BenchPrep

BenchPrep is the leading provider of cloud-based learning products, delivering the best learning experience and driving revenue for corporations, training organizations, and nonprofits (credentialing bodies & associations). With an award-winning learner-centric platform, BenchPrep increases learner engagement, improves long-term learner retention, and reduces dropout rates. Many of the largest credentialing bodies, associations, and training organizations in the world now deliver learning programs through BenchPrep, including ACT, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), CFA Institute, CompTIA, Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HR Certification Institute, Richardson Sales Training, Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM), American Institute of Architects (AIA), National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), ProLiteracy, Hobsons, McGraw Hill Education, and OnCourse Learning. More than 6 million learners have used BenchPreps platform to attain academic and professional success. To discover more about BenchPrep, please visit benchprep.com . Media Contact:

Jon Aderson

Director of Marketing

BenchPrep

[email protected] A photo accompanying this announcement is available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a71f4f5b-e65e-43d1-85a4-f7f9d03deb1c A video accompanying this announcement is available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/df7b332c-2d40-4581-86d2-c3e322ace132





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In the wake of protests against racism in America, following the killing of George Floyd in police custody, many Africans have moved to share their stories of being victims of discrimination.



Liberian-born Ghanaian actress Juliet Ibrahim has also taken to social media to lament bitterly about how people identify her as a half-caste and not a pure black woman.



In a post on her Instagram page, the actress told a story of how someone challenged her on not being black enough to be called a black woman because of her skin colour.



Juliet says she finds the term half-caste very derogatory to describe a people of mixed race or mixed ethnicity.



She wrote: I had a random conversation the other day with someone and it was appalling when he mentioned passively to me that he doesnt see me as a #Blackwoman!



"He argued, you are not black enough your skin isnt dark enough, your hair not kinky enough. And thus my siblings and I do not count as Black.



Now this is Exactly, what we are fighting to correct amongst ourselves and the world at large. I am a black woman!



"When Im abroad amongst the whites, I am classified and recognized as a black woman, however, right amongst us Africans Ill be referred to as a Half-Caste! This is the most derogatory term to describe a person of mixed race or mixed ethnicity.



Juliet Ibrahim (centre) with her sisters



Juliet, who has two sisters and a brother, insisted that people of mixed race are no less black than their dark-skinned counterparts.



She went on to advocate unity and called for an end to racism, tribalism, colourism and segregation among fellow Africans.



She continued, We are referred to as mixed race or multi-racial! Mixed race people are no less black than their dark-skinned counterparts. So, lets all say NO to RACISM, TRIBALISM, COLORISM and SEGREGATION.



Lets teach and train our children to grow up and accept people for who they are and not by the colour of their skin.



Juliet Ibrahim was born in Liberia to a Lebanese father and a Liberian mother. She and her siblings spent most of their childhood in Lebanon and Ivory Coast due to the then Liberian war.







Source: Daily Graphic









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Irelands Minister for European Affairs has said the detail in the Northern Ireland protocol is vague and does not provide enough information around customs and tariffs.

The protocol contained in the Withdrawal Treaty is the arrangement by which Northern Ireland continues to follow single market rules for goods and administers the EUs customs code at its ports.

The British Government has acknowledged that regulatory checks will be needed on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, with the expansion of infrastructure to carry out screening of animals and food products.

It has also insisted there will be no new physical customs infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

Helen McEntee told the Dail the Irish Government welcomed the UK publishing its own approach to implementing the protocol but said concerns remain.

Will be on @morningireland after 8am to discuss latest developments on #Brexit pic.twitter.com/ftEKk5DHC5  Helen McEntee TD (@HMcEntee) June 11, 2020

In terms of the Northern Ireland protocol, I am not saying there has been backsliding on it so far. However, what has been presented so far, is not adequate and does not provide enough information.

It is very welcome that the UK has provided a paper because it now recognises the need for some form of checks going from the UK into Northern Ireland particular on animal products and SPS. However around customs, tariffs and VAT  there is not much detail.

Expand Close EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and Helen McEntee with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Damian Eagers/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and Helen McEntee with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Damian Eagers/PA)

The paper has some positive elements to it and I welcome the clear recognition for the need for checks on agri-foods entering Northern Ireland and for the new border control infrastructure.

We need the UK to provide the technical detail necessary to make the protocol fully operational by the end of the year.

The Irish Government will be intensifying Brexit preparedness work given the limited progress in Brexit talks to date, she said.

Whatever the outcome of these talks, Irelands trading relationship with the UK will change. Given the limited progress in negotiations to date and the uncertainty due to Covid-19, Ireland will intensify its Brexit preparedness work.

This is not about admitting defeat, this is about risk management. Ireland still supports the closest possible relationship between the EU and the UK but we must be prepared.

Earlier, Ms McEntee said what the UK is asking for and what it is seeking is unprecedented.

Theyre looking for recognition of their professional qualifications, theyre looking for their own custom rules and procedures to be recognised as equivalent to ours while not committing to any kind of compliance checks or monitoring.

What theyre asking for and what they are seeking is unprecedented, its not like any other kind of relationship, they dont seem to want to commit to any of the rules, she told RTE Morning Ireland

Ireland is in line to receive 3 billion euro from the European Commissions 750 billion euro Covid-19 recovery fund.

Ms McEntee said the proposed amount is an initial examination of what has been put forward by the commission.

She said there are a number of concerns around some of the proposals put forward on how funding is being allocated.

What was important for us was to make sure that we had a substantial package that targeted businesses that would be able to support member states and specific areas, but of course we will be helping to get as much support as possible, she said.
(Natural News) In a show of solidarity for black lives, white female allies of Black Lives Matter have been shaving their heads bald to stand out and make a statement. But it turns out that the whole thing was a 4chan prank that bleeding-heart white girls fell for yet again.

Internet trolls reportedly duped these white women by getting the hashtag #goBaldforBLM to trend on both Twitter and Instagram. The impetus is that being white and female means you probably also have straight white person hair that you can easily cut to show your support for black lives.

The idea is to get women, particularly white women, to shave their heads for BLM, a post at 4chan reads. Guilt them into getting rid of their straight white hair to show solidarity with black women.

Amazingly, the trick worked and the #goBaldforBLM hashtag quickly began to trend alongside #BlackLivesMatter, #ChicagoProtests, and other black pride hashtags.

The #goBaldforBLM hashtag is perhaps the funniest and most convincing work by 4chan posters since they convinced the world that the word OK, in reference to Its OK to be white, is somehow a racist gesture of white supremacy.

These same internet trolls also convinced the world that the hand gesture for the word OK, which is flashed by President Trump on a regular basis whenever he speaks, is a symbol of racism by white people against non-white people.

That troll job was so effective that people have had their lives ruined by ravenous jackals, enabled by the anti-American leftist Anti-Defamation League (ADL), for flashing the innocuous symbol, writes Shane Trejo for Big League Politics.

Digital lynch mobs are now policing the internet and real life looking for imaginary hate

The purpose of these pranks is to expose the lunacy of the left, which 4chan has now done on numerous occasions. The OK symbol prank was reportedly so effective all on its own that the ADL actually entered the OK hand gesture and bowl-style haircut into its ever-expanding database of hate symbols.

They now classify those symbols next to burning crosses, Nazi swastikas, and Klan robes, Big League Politics notes.

In a statement, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt suggested that extremists continue to use symbols that may be years or decades old, as well as regularly create new symbols, memes and slogans to express their hateful sentiments.

This is why the ADL regularly patrols websites like 4chan, 8chan, and Reddit to look for any symbols, memes or slogans that might be considered offensive to someone on the left. Once identified, these symbols, memes and slogans are lumped together in the hate category and officially cataloged.

At this point, there is enough of a volume of use for hateful purposes that we felt it was important to add, stated Oren Segal, director of the ADLs Center for Extremism, about the OK hand sign specifically.

While it might seem laughable on the surface, the ADLs busybody behavior in scraping the internet for anything and everything that someone might find offensive is actually spurring digital lynch mobs to go around targeting random individuals, including in public, and falsely accusing them of hatred and racism.

At a Chicago Cubs game last year, as one example, a man who was caught innocently using the OK hand gesture was told by officials that he was no longer welcome to attend games. This man was told that he was a white supremacist and was immediately barred from the stadium.

Orwells henchmen have made the arbitrary determination that the OK symbol and the bowlcut now qualify as certified wrongthink, Big League Politics warns.

For more related news about hoaxes played against leftists, be sure to check out Hoax.news.

Sources for this article include:

BigLeaguePolitics.com

NaturalNews.com
Two students were terrified when they received an anonymous letter in the mail warning a predator had taken a liking to them, only to learn it was the handiwork of a disgruntled housewife.

Selina Hager, a 22-year-old international student studying at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, moved into a flat in Upper Riccarton with her friend and boyfriend in January.

The trio hadn't experienced any trouble since they moved in, but on Tuesday they received a letter in the mail addressed to 'all female occupants' of the house.

The letter warned them a 'male predator' was living in the neighbourhood and urged them to leave while they could, Stuff reported.

Selina Hager (left) and her housemate Serena Percy (right) were terrified when they received the letter

Ms Hager (pictured) received a letter warning her a predator was watching her and urging her to move houses

'He has shown particular interest in you ladies,' the letter read.

'I would strongly advise that you keep all your curtains closed at all times and find another flat to live and that you move out of your current flat as soon as possible.'

In the letter, the girls were urged to explain the situation to their landlord and encourage him to only lease to other men in the future.

At first, Ms Hager, who originates from Austria, was terrified.

She tried to call her flatmate, Serena Percy, but couldn't get through. Instead, she called the police and explained she didn't feel safe at home.

Only weeks earlier, she had underwear stolen when she hung her washing outside to dry and she was terrified that the 'predator' would come after her.

'We thought we had a stalker, you feel really insecure and not safe in your own home and that's probably the worst feeling someone can have,' she said.

Ms Hager, a 22-year-old international student studying at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, moved into a flat in Upper Riccarton with her friend and boyfriend in January

But after the initial shock wore off, Ms Hager began to suspect a woman who lived down the road may have known more than she was letting on.

She had previously left a handwritten letter in the mailbox after the girls offered to give her and her husband a desk that the landlord left behind before he moved.

Pictured: Flatmate Serena Percy

The letter demanded proof the homeowner was comfortable with them taking the desk.

They responded with confirmation, and the woman then delivered cookies - again through the mailbox - and accepted the offer.

What Ms Hager and Ms Percy didn't realise is that the woman believed during their brief interactions that her husband had flirted with them.

They attempted to confront her about their suspicions, but she refused to come to the door. Instead, she sent them a text message.

It read: 'Please leave me alone and move out of neighbourhood. I would if I could. Now just leave us alone.'

She initially claimed she knew of the letter, but later confessed to authoring it and admitted the girls were never in any danger.

'The only reason I wrote the letter was it hurt me when my husband flirted with you both in front of me that day when we picked up the table and that he fancies you and thought you fancied him. I was insecure... It's hard for me not to be a jealous wife as my husband often flirts with other women who are far more attractive than me.'

When Ms Hager learned the truth, she said the situation was 'so messed up' and told the married woman she shouldn't be in a relationship if she is that paranoid and jealous

Only weeks earlier, Ms Hager had underwear stolen when she hung her washing outside to dry (stock)

An anonymous letter was left in Ms Hager's mailbox explaining a predator was watching her (stock)

Ms Hager said she was still furious at how 'messed up' the letter was.

'I said to her that if the jealousy is that bad you need to get help because you can't just tell people to move out of the neighbourhood and invent this whole story,' she said.

The trio will not be moving from their flat, though they no longer feel comfortable or welcome there.

They said it would simply be too expensive to move and they need to stay close to the university.

The police are investigating the matter and said to be taking it 'extremely seriously'.
Climate Change Alarmism Is No Friend to Ethanol

Sorting the wheat from the chaff

By Marc J. Rauch

Author of THE ETHANOL PAPERS

Exec. Vice President/Co-Publisher

THE AUTO CHANNEL







Since at least 2009, I've been cautioning against using catastrophic man-made climate change as a tool or excuse for why America and most other nations should be adopting strong ethanol fuel programs. I've done this not just because I believe that the climate issue was a canard, but because I felt that ethanol's benefits as a cleaner, safer, healthier, and 100% domestically produced fuel should be sufficient to win the day. I argued that when and if the time ever comes that the climate change movement is exposed that it will have a severe repercussion against efforts to advance the use of ethanol fuel.

I saw this as a possibility due to the general appalling lack of knowledge of the historical and scientific evidence that proves ethanol's superiority. I've experienced this lack of knowledge with the general public, with our politicians, with media spokespeople, with many in the automotive industry who should know better, and sadly with many of the individuals involved in ethanol advocacy. Yeah, facts can be boring; lots of people hate history. I personally don't feel this way, but as a marketing and advertising expert I've encountered this dislike of information countless times over the years. Relying on terrifying graphical imagery of a world simultaneously flooded by water, yet bone-dry from diabolically rising temperatures is a much preferred way for many people to comprehend where we are and where we're going, even if the vision is false or misleading.

Well, the time has come, someone blew the whistle on Climate Change Alarmism and its comical sidekick, the radical green-at-any-cost movement.

It wasn't The Auto Channel who blew the whistle - Bob Gordon and I have tried, but unfortunately our efforts to do so now seem like we were just wheezing into a whistle's mouthpiece. It took an unlikely source with sufficient hot air to blow the whistle loud enough for the world to take notice. The blowhard in question is filmmaker Michael Moore, and he's the unlikely whistle blower because Moore has been such a heroic figure to those routinely genuflecting at the flag of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) - even though Moore never previously produced a film specifically on the subject.

Michael Moore accomplished the feat by backing a new film called "PLANET OF THE HUMANS." The film is actually the brainchild of Moore's associates, Jeff Gibbs and Ozzie Zehner, but Moore's hot air is all over it. As I wrote in my review of the film last week, Moore and company has essentially kneecapped the alarmist climate change and environment movements, and the world is taking notice. For instance, aside from my published review there's now been several other opinion pieces that echo similar assessment of the film, such as:



The biggest slams, I think, are really reserved for wood, specifically vast deforestation that provides wood chips to power electric plants. If there's anything that is the holy of holies to "tree-huggers" it's trees. The scenes and examples of what their comrades are doing to trees are mind numbing. It reminded me of the old 1930's and '40's cartoons that are supposed to depict the future and technology. The cartoons show scenes of machines turning full trees into a single wooden toothpick and clothespin. It was funny back then, and maybe it would still be funny today, if it didn't ring so truthful.

Interestingly, I don't think that Messrs, Moore, Gibbs, and Zehner knew what this film would do to the issues of catastrophic man-made climate change and "Green New Deal" style schemes, nor that the film bites the hands that have fed them so well for so long. I think that Michael Moore's post-premiere efforts to apologize for the film and to try to blame capitalism for luring the alarmists to the "darkside" are a consequence of their misjudgment. I think guys like Al Gore have been corrupt most of their lives, and the objectives were so poorly planned out that regardless of the economic system (socialism, communism, feudalism) under which they plied their scams, the results wouldn't have improved - just look at the horrendous environmental conditions in the glorious (ugh) Peoples Republic of China...cough, cough, cough.

A PAT ON THE BACK, OR A KICK IN THE RUMP

It would be nice to say that Moore and company should be thanked for exposing the duplicity and fraud, but their actions to use capitalism as the scapegoat are reprehensible. If they were acting in good faith they would have simply let the story end with champagne toasts celebrating their coming-of-age realization of the truth (the truth being that we are not facing an apocalyptic end of the world in the foreseeable future, and that people like Gore, Kennedy, McKibbon, Bloomberg, Hayes, Branson, and entities like the Sierra Club have nothing of value to offer, in any event). The film ends with no attempt at solutions, other than implying that the majority of humans on Earth should drop dead.

From my position as a staunch advocate for ethanol, there are two significant downsides to the film: The first is the misuse of buzzwords and commonly used misnomers that make understanding the entire issue very confusing. The second downside is the misinformation leveled at ethanol, which undermines what I (needless to say) believe is the one real solution to most of our pollution woes...some of our health afflictions...and many domestic economic problems. I'll deal with the first downside first; and the second downside second.

Buzzwords and misnomers - The film and the post-commentaries about it (from the right and left) play too fast and loose with wrong or misleading terminology. For example:

Biomass - As I alluded to earlier, the idea that any self-righteous tree hugger would condone the cutting down of forests to fuel any purpose should be the most revolting thing they could imagine. I would reserve the term 'biomass' not for cutting down trees or whole forests, but to indicate decomposing and decaying organic matter; feces and rotting food comes to mind. The film contains a short clip of a zoo where the zookeepers thought that the dung from its resident elephants could be used as the raw material to heat the elephant enclosure. However, the zookeepers sarcastically say they would need lots more elephants. While I believe an elephant's bowel movements to be quite prodigious, I'm thinking more in terms of the waste that comes from humans and their pets on a daily basis. There are perhaps a total of 300-400 elephants in America today. By comparison we have about 330 million people and nearly 180 million pet dogs and cats. Virtually all humans and pets defecate at least once per day...now that's some serious "bio mass." If you're looking for a renewable raw fuel source - rain or shine and regardless of the wind condition - this is it. The overwhelming majority of human waste in developed countries flows into central sewerage and waste treatment plants. As long as it's being collected so efficiently, why not use it for methane and methanol? Pet excrement usually gets picked up, why not deposit it into a separate collectible bin that's sent to the waste treatment plants instead of just tossing it into everyday household garbage cans. To read a pretty good NPR story about this CLICK HERE. I included the topic of human and pet waste in an editorial I published last June (2019). You can read it by CLICKING HERE. I'm sure there will be more than one person who will want to point me to some studies that shitcan this concept (pun intended), and that's okay because I would be happy to review them. In fact, I might even review them while in the bathroom contributing to the cause, so to speak. Fossil Fuels - Fuels produced from crude oil are not "fossil fuels;" they (and coal) do not come from decaying fossils and living materials. They come from minerals. They are "abiotic fuels." The relationship between the term "fossil fuels" and petroleum oil fuels was made by Standard Oil to try to give some romance and dignity to their abiotic fuels. In reality, there is no dignity to these fuels, they are poison. All sides of the energy issue should stop using the term "fossil fuels" and they should use "abiotic fuels" instead (although getting the oil industry to abandon the use would probably require an act of Congress). Gasoline, diesel fuel, propane, natural gas and compressed natural gas, heating oil, and kerosene are abiotic fuels. Renewables - Renewable energy and fuels are created by man and can be duplicated by man. This primarily includes ethanol, methanol, and hydrogen fuels. Wind and solar power are not renewable energy sources. They do not renew themselves and humans can not do anything to help them to renew. Winds are caused by unequal heating from the sun. The sun is burning itself out (yes, we will probably never see this happen, nor will our grandchildren or great-great-great grandchildren - but it will happen). A much better all encompassing term for solar and wind energy is "NATURAL ENERGY" or "NATURALS" for short. (A colleague doesn't like the word "natural" because he thinks it's tainted by misuse related to the labeling of natural food and other natural products. That's a good point, so then maybe "UNIVERSAL ENERGY" or "UNIVERSALS" is better.) In any event, Naturals or Universals should be used, and the term would include water power and geothermal power. Technically, wood falls in the renewable category. The problem, however, is the time it takes to renew or regenerate wood. Corn grown for ethanol will reach its full maturity in one year's growing season. Some energy crops have more than one growing/harvesting season in a year. Seaweed can grow 18 inches per day. In ten days, seaweed can grow 15 feet. If you chop down a 15 foot tree it could take 5 or 10 years to replace it. I'm not a tree-hugger in the neo-traditional sense, but if you're gonna cut down a tree it should be used to build something of lasting value to humans or animals (i.e., a shelter). If you're cutting down the tree to turn it into wood chips to burn in order to power a generator or boiler (and you live in a developed country), just leave it the hell alone.



At this time, natural energy/fuels cannot replace the use of abiotic renewable fuels. Any thoughts and ideas put forward by proponents of the Green New Deal that natural energy can do this are absolutely, positively wrong. It is simply a childish fantasy (given the nitwits espousing the Green New Deal, it is literally a child-like fantasy) - maybe one day, but not now. Natural energy can supplement energy produced from abiotic fuels and renewable fuels, but not replace them. Alternatives - Alternative energy and fuels can include renewables and naturals and anything else that doesn't fit squarely in the abiotic category. The odd duck is nuclear energy because while it's an alternative to the traditional abiotics, its base source materials (uranium, plutonium or thorium) are abiotic. Raw Energy vs Usable Energy - All usable energies and fuels require great amounts of raw energy and fuels. ALL. Some usable energy and fuels may require less input energy and fuels than others, but they ALL require great amounts of raw energy. So it should never come as a surprise to anyone, anywhere, that there is no magical wand and no free lunch. Even in an asinine dytopian world where mass numbers of humans replace mechanical devices to accomplish tasks, the human machines require fuel, typically multiple times a day. This fuel is basically food. Producing this fuel requires enormous amounts of energy. Obviously, if we can create usable energy without killing millions of animals, or starting wars, destroying bucolic environments, or enslaving people to mine raw materials it would be good and moral and peaceful. With this in mind, we should immediately work to eliminate virtually all abiotic fuels and any fantasies of electric vehicles (until and unless all the issues related to electric vehicles are truly worked out). This will probably mean that many California politicians will have to forego whatever untold-riches and baksheesh they were expecting from China, but that's too damn bad. We don't need electric-powered vehicles; there's nothing wrong with internal combustion engines that a cleaner, safer, healthier fuel won't fix.

The instructive thing in all this is that we should have more clarity in how we communicate ideas about energy (it makes a good life lesson, too). Allowing conmen flim-flam artists - or should I say "film-flam" artists - to misuse such a lovely optimistic word like biomass should never be tolerated.

Ethanol Misinformation - Hey, ethanol production requires raw energy, it's a fact! But ethanol fuel production in America today is energy positive, while gasoline is energy negative. Moreover, no American service man or woman has ever died defending ethanol production or any foreign ethanol producing nation. I don't believe that any aircraft carrier has ever been built to protect the passage of harvested energy crops to distillation plants. No ethanol spills have ever resulted in ecological disasters that kill millions of birds, mammals, and fish. And while it is true that abiotic fuels are often used to power the machinery needed to create energy crops and distillation, the use of abiotic fuels can be entirely eliminated and replaced with cleaner, safer, healthier alcohol-based fuels.

Planet Of The Humans doesn't focus on ethanol and alcohol fuels. It makes some vile references and innuendos about ethanol, primarily by incorrectly lumping ethanol fuel together with the repulsive idea of horse fat and alligator fat biofuel.

This is what a corn field looks like:

This is what a petroleum fracking field looks like:

This is what a "green energy" Gore/McKibbon-type woodchip enterprise results in:

Algae, kelp, and seaweed represent a great potential for ethanol production. Because of seaweed's rapid growth, one acre of saltwater seaweed can yield up to 30,000 gallons of ethanol in a year (an acre of corn can yield 300 to 400 gallons of ethanol per year). Just after showing scenes related to horse fat and alligator fat biofuels, the film cuts to a scene of a white-coated General Electric spokesman who announces that he believes that liquid fuels and chemicals will have to eventually be made from sustainable raw materials. He says, "We believe that seaweed is one of the most attractive opportunities." The film then cuts to a beautiful underwater scene of seaweed and seahorses, and the narrator (Jeff Gibbs) wistfully intones, "Better hurry, one year after it was filmed, this seaweed forest was dead."

It sure looks and sounds ominous, but I'm unaware of any alligator or horse fat biofuels being pumped at filling stations, and the location of the underwater scene is not identified...nor is the "seaweed forest dead." As I write this, and you read this, seaweed is growing like a weed on steroids in the oceans and seas all around the world. Making it seem as if ethanol has killed off any seaweed forests is as fraudulent as Michael Moore's claim that capitalism is to blame for Al Gore being a hypocrite rat, or his recent anti-Trump rant that Trump has wrongfully trademarketed "Central Park" (thereby depriving the City of New York from using the name. There are currently 9 different live Federal trademarks with the two words "Central" and "Park," and about a dozen more trademarks that use "central" and "park" as key words in their marks, such as "Central Park West"). Even if one of Donald Trump's companies own (legally own) a trademark that uses the words Central Park, so what?

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out what the heck a GE spokesman is doing talking about this subject. I've been covering ethanol and biofuels for many years and I've never come across any GE information of value related to ethanol since the company's co-founder Elihu Thompson gave testimony at the 1906 Free Alcohol Congressional Meetings. I am very aware of Exxon-Mobil's misguided attempts to encroach on the algae-biofuels space with what I've suspected is their hope to patent a super-algae formula. Algae doesn't need a super formula to grow, but that's another story.

The unfortunate end result of these aspersions is that ethanol is tarred and feathered alongside all of the harebrained scams created by Gore, McKibbon, the Koch brothers, Khosla, Bloomberg, the Sierra Club, and the rest of the film's skewed contingent. The problem is that I haven't seen where anyone in the ethanol industry has tried to correct these outlandish comments.

What I've encountered over the last few years are several so-called environmental organizations making bewilderingly stupid anti-ethanol misrepresentations. I've argued that these green entities are really just fronts or financial partners of anti-ethanol groups. Last December, I was challenged on this point by Marlo Lewis, Jr., bedfellow of the oil industry and long time ethanol basher. My published reply to Lewis enumerated multiple examples to prove my point, and now Michael Moore's new film provides the icing on that cake. You can read it by CLICKING HERE

Some ethanol advocates bought into the ideas of catastrophic man-made climate change and extreme environmental movements either because they believed in the underlying information or because they believed that by doing so that it would help sell the idea of ethanol fuels, or both. With the revelation that the people and the "science" behind both movements are liars and frauds, the affected ethanol advocates now have to contend with increased hostility from ethanol opponents plus the duplicitous backstabbing by the alarmist leaders who have been concocting and spreading lies against ethanol because ethanol is a threat to their own scams. With friends like the scammers involved in AGW and Green New Dealing, the ethanol industry will never be short on enemies. The difficult task is identifying and retaining real friends.

SEE ALSO: What Coronavirus Teaches Us About Climate Change
(Natural News) The Google-owned YouTube platform is no longer tolerating any criticism by commenters of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which evidence increasingly shows was responsible for unleashing the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

Reports indicate that YouTube is now automatically deleting comments that contain certain Chinese-language phrases in opposition to the CCP, though the company has since come out to claim that this is an error and something that YouTube is working to fix.

Upon review by our teams, we have confirmed this was an error in our enforcement systems and we are working to fix it as quickly as possible, a YouTube spokesperson is quoted as saying.

How this error came about was not disclosed, though the fact that it persisted for a whole six months before even being noticed suggests that it was intentional. There is also evidence to suggest that comments critical of the CCP were being deleted as far back as October 2019.

Two of the comments that were being auto-deleted by YouTube include the phrases communist bandit as well as 50-cent party. Both of these, whenever users tried to type them in Chinese, were automatically being deleted within 15 seconds or less. Their English equivalents, however, were not.

Communist bandit is apparently an insult that dates back to when China had a nationalist government, and 50-cent party is a derogatory slang term for internet trolls who are paid 50 cents per post to direct online discussions away from all criticism of the CCP.

Listen below to The Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, talks with Zach Vorhies about how Google, the parent company of YouTube, became a destroyer of human knowledge:

Does anyone really believe that YouTube is accidentally deleting comments that criticize communism?

YouTube insists that the whole thing is one big accident, but this claim is a tough sell when considering the fact that Google has repeatedly been exposed for secretly censoring its search engine functionality in China.

Known as Dragonfly, this controversial project involved scrubbing Chinese Google results of all criticisms of the CCP, which Google denied was even happening until The Intercept quite literally intercepted the truth. We now know that Google, which again owns YouTube, has been secretly colluding with the CCP to censor and remove truth from the internet.

It is no surprise, then, that Google is doing the same thing once again with YouTube while claiming that the whole thing is one big mistake. Nobody who has been following the Google saga would believe this for a second, though there are many out there with heads in the sand who probably will.

Another dead giveaway that Google is lying is the fact that YouTube currently does not even function in China. This means that its censorship of CCP criticisms is occurring in countries outside of China, including in the United States where Chinese-speaking people have apparently been restricted from typing these particular phrases.

All of this seems to be part of Google and YouTubes desperate bid to enter the Chinese market, which is a tough nut to crack due to the CCPs over-the-top Orwellian demands concerning censorship and political correctness. If Google and YouTube are ever to function in China, the platforms will have to completely abandon free speech, which could ruin their continued presence elsewhere.

When news of Dragonfly leaked in 2018 in a report from The Intercept, Google was criticized by politicians and its own employees for selling out its principles, writes James Vincent for The Verge.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in June 2019, the company said it had terminated the project and that it had no plans to launch Search in China.'

For more related news about online censorship, be sure to check out Censorship.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheVerge.com

NaturalNews.com
HONG KONG  A Hong Kong judge on Thursday summoned a traffic officer to appear in court over the shooting of a demonstrator last year, making him the first member of the police force to face charges over the street clashes that have roiled the city since last summer.

The case was brought by a pro-democracy lawmaker who filed a private prosecution, a seldom-used mechanism under Hong Kong law. The lawmaker, Ted Hui, filed his suit against the officer in January, using donations to pay for legal expenses.

Under Hong Kong law, the Department of Justice can now decide whether to intervene in the case. If it does so, it can choose to prosecute the case or terminate it. The department said Thursday that it was not appropriate to comment on the case because proceedings are ongoing.

Thus far, Hong Kong prosecutors have not pursued any charges against officers over the police response to the protests that began last June. A government panel last month cleared the police of accusations that they had used excessive force, in a report that was widely rejected by protesters and their supporters.
Mumbai: The Nashik City Police and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar have joined forces to inaugurate a centralized online health system meant to monitor the health and fitness of its police workforce. The dashboard serves as a single platform that provides vital health-related information to each and every police personnel, all on one screen at a glance.

Talking about the online health system launch, superstar Akshay Kumar said, The commitment of our police force is commendable and praiseworthy, and their relentless hard work and bravery is nothing less than heroic. We need to safeguard and protect the frontline workers who are tirelessly working for our safety during these unprecedented times. As this situation continues to persist, I believe technology can help us to fight this pandemic more efficiently. The online Health monitoring system will help the Nashik City Police monitor the health and fitness of their police personnel and take precautionary measures to keep them safe.

Nashik City Police Department has been dedicatedly working long hours throughout the year but presently more so, in this health emergency that has engulfed our nation and especially when our state has been recording the highest numbers. The police force in these trying times is working relentlessly to only to protect the civilians from the clutches of the deadly novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

Nasik City-based Datar Group CanConnect foundation donated the Health Wrist band which detects the body temperature devices along with the complete health dashboard integrated to Nashik City Police as part of its CSR initiative.

The Nashik Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangare Patil said, The Nashik City Police is dedicatedly working towards making sure its personnel are safe and healthy. We have to ensure that our workforce is healthy as they have to be available on ground to constantly monitor movement in the city and help our fellow citizens. With an online health monitoring system such as this, we can now monitor and capture the body vitals such as temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and take necessary steps to make sure our police force is healthy and fit. As the platform helps record the body temperature & pulse rate, if there are any suspected cases among our force, we can immediately isolate and provide early intervention. Technology is our enabler in these trying times and such online health platforms are truly helping us to fight this battle against the pandemic courageously."

The smart bands that were handed over to the Nashik City Police personnel, are all synched and collaborated with the dashboard, through which it receives data of the police force.

The combined usage of the detection algorithm and the GOQii Vital 3.0 smart band can significantly help in isolating potential COVID-19 patients, thereby monitoring emerging cases, and preventing further spread among the Nashik City Police force. We are extremely happy to be of any help to our frontline workers as they are the true warriors in this fight against the pandemic, says Vishal Gondal, Founder & CEO, GOQii.
DUBLIN, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Surgical Masks - Global Market Outlook (2018-2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Surgical Masks market accounted for $61.53 million in 2018 and is expected to reach $118.97 million by 2027 growing at a CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period. Efficiency in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and raise in geriatric population are the major factors propelling the market growth. However, factors such as increase in trend of non-invasive and robot-assisted surgeries and rise in concerns toward disposal are hampering the market growth.



Surgical masks are made of natural fibers such as disposable linen, cotton, and synthetic materials like polypropylene. They are collected of different layers that combine a hydrophobic external layer, a middle filtering layer, and an internal hydrophilic layer to absorb fluid and moisture. Some efforts are taken by the manufacturers to get better the quality of surgical masks against dangerous bacterial infections in the last few years.



Based on the distribution channel, the online store segment is going to have a lucrative growth during the forecast period due to gaining popularity among companies that are actively working to increase their prot margins. The stores are also gaining traction in terms of consumer preference as they provide doorstep delivery at competitive product prices.



By geography, North America is likely to have a huge demand due to increasing demand for N95 respirators across the U.S. and lack of supply make available impetus to the market growth. Thus, the government of the U.S. is encouraging the manufacturers to raise their manufacturing capabilities to address the deficiency of masks.



Some of the key players profiled in the Surgical Masks Market include 3M Company, Thea-Tex Healthcare (India) Pvt. Ltd., Medicare Hygiene Limited, Z Plus Disposable, Cartel Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, Premium Health Care Disposables Private Limited, Mediblue Health Care Private Limited., Plasti Surge Industries Pvt. Ltd., Medline Industries Inc., Kwalitex Healthcare Private Limited, Shree Medicare Products, Salus Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Good health Inc, Gaurav SanjivaniTechnicals and Jullundur Enterprises.



What our report offers:

Market share assessments for the regional and country-level segments

Strategic recommendations for the new entrants

Covers Market data for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2027

Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)

Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations

Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends

Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments

Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements

Key Topics Covered:



1 Executive Summary



2 Preface

2.1 Abstract

2.2 Stake Holders

2.3 Research Scope

2.4 Research Methodology

2.4.1 Data Mining

2.4.2 Data Analysis

2.4.3 Data Validation

2.4.4 Research Approach

2.5 Research Sources

2.5.1 Primary Research Sources

2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources

2.5.3 Assumptions



3 Market Trend Analysis

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Drivers

3.3 Restraints

3.4 Opportunities

3.5 Threats

3.6 Application Analysis

3.7 Emerging Markets

3.8 Impact of Covid-19



4 Porters Five Force Analysis

4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

4.3 Threat of substitutes

4.4 Threat of new entrants

4.5 Competitive rivalry



5 Global Surgical Masks Market, By Product

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Anti-fog Surgical Mask

5.3 Basic Surgical Mask

5.4 Fluid/Splash Resistant Surgical Mask

5.5 N95 Mask



6 Global Surgical Masks Market, By Distribution Channel

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Drug Store/Pharmacies

6.3 Hospitals & Clinic

6.4 Online Store



7 Global Surgical Masks Market, By Application

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Prevent The Spread Of Disease

7.3 Dusty Environments



8 Global Surgical Masks Market, By Geography

8.1 Introduction

8.2 North America

8.2.1 US

8.2.2 Canada

8.2.3 Mexico

8.3 Europe

8.3.1 Germany

8.3.2 UK

8.3.3 Italy

8.3.4 France

8.3.5 Spain

8.3.6 Rest of Europe

8.4 Asia Pacific

8.4.1 Japan

8.4.2 China

8.4.3 India

8.4.4 Australia

8.4.5 New Zealand

8.4.6 South Korea

8.4.7 Rest of Asia Pacific

8.5 South America

8.5.1 Argentina

8.5.2 Brazil

8.5.3 Chile

8.5.4 Rest of South America

8.6 Middle East & Africa

8.6.1 Saudi Arabia

8.6.2 UAE

8.6.3 Qatar

8.6.4 South Africa

8.6.5 Rest of Middle East & Africa



9 Key Developments

9.1 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures

9.2 Acquisitions & Mergers

9.3 New Product Launch

9.4 Expansions

9.5 Other Key Strategies



10 Company Profiling

10.1 3M Company

10.2 Thea-Tex Healthcare (India) Pvt. Ltd.

10.3 Medicare Hygiene Limited

10.4 Z Plus Disposable

10.5 Cartel Healthcare Pvt. Ltd

10.6 Premium Health Care Disposables Private Limited

10.7 Mediblue Health Care Private Limited.

10.8 Plasti Surge Industries Pvt. Ltd.

10.9 Medline Industries Inc.

10.10 Kwalitex Healthcare Private Limited

10.11 Shree Medicare Products

10.12 Salus Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

10.13 Good health Inc

10.14 Gaurav SanjivaniTechnicals

10.15 Jullundur Enterprises



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/18dj20

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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Retirement can change your perspective on a lot of things. While you might happily accept higher costs in exchange for any number of nearby benefits when youre still raising a family or working, living on a fixed income can really make you focus on every dollar you spend. After all, your nest egg is there not just to provide for the basics but to help you enjoy life without having to clock in five days a week. What you spend on housing or on your monthly electric bill, its all money you cant spend on travel or leave to your grandkids.

Thats why GOBankingRates has nailed down the most affordable cities and towns in every state  except for Vermont due to lack of data  helping you to see which places might help you to get more out of your lifes savings. The study looked at Zillows Home Value Index (ZHVI) to get a sense of the local housing market. This is an index that adjusts for seasonality and the housing market to give a smoothed-out sense of what the average home in the area is worth. Then it added the cost-of-living scores from Sperlings Best Places to give you a clear sense of which places you can expect to save you money. Then, to identify which affordable towns might be most appropriate for retirement, the study also took the percentage of the population over the age of 65 and the citys livability score from AreaVibes  a metric that combines a citys crime rates, amenities and quality of basic public services to give a final score between 1 and 100 for how livable it is. The towns in each state were then scored and ranked on those four categories to determine which towns are the most affordable while still being desirable to retirees.

So, heres a deeper dive into which towns in your state are the best for getting the affordable retirement that you deserve.

Last updated: October 9, 2020

Alabama

Gadsden Bessemer Decatur Florence Birmingham

Honorable mentions (in order): Enterprise, Montgomery, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile

Story continues

The best place in Alabama for retirement is Gadsden, which lies to the northeast, about an hour from the Georgia border. The city has an average Zillow home value of $45,605, a cost-of-living score far below average  72.5  and a respectable livability score of 65. It has the highest population of seniors on the list, as well, at 18.7% of the population.

If Gadsden isnt exactly in your backyard, Decatur and Florence  which lie to the north, northwest of Gadsden by a couple of hours  also made the top five. The two cities have similar senior populations, but youll see a pretty big jump in home values at $126,373 and $121,868, respectively.

If youre looking for options in southern Alabama, though it comes in last, Mobile does get an honorable mention. Its livability score is very similar to No. 2 on the list, Bessemer, at 61 and 62, respectively. Youll just find that the home values and the cost of living are significantly higher.

Alaska

Kenai Ketchikan Fairbanks Wasilla Kodiak

Honorable mentions (in order): Palmer, Meadow Lakes, Knik-Fairview, Tanaina, Anchorage

The fact that Alaskas affordable locations are pretty well ensconced in natural beauty shouldnt come as a huge shock to most. Kenai  which is southwest of Anchorage  is on the coast surrounded by Chugach State Park and near the Kenai Fjords National Park. Ketchikan, meanwhile, is tucked into the area that stretches along British Columbia and sits amid the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. And not only is Kodiak situated on the beautiful Kodiak Island, but its a stones throw from Shuyak Island State Park.

Even Fairbanks, one of the largest cities in the state, is surrounded by the Chena River State Recreation Area. However, the fact that just 8.1% of that city is 65 or older might mean some retirees will want to find somewhere with more members of their generation.

Arizona

Lake Havasu City Casa Grande Surprise Yuma Tucson

Honorable mentions (in order): Buckeye, Mesa, Peoria, Avondale, Glendale

Arizona is not a state known for its lakes, but their relative rarity apparently hasnt stopped Lake Havasu from boasting the most affordable city in the state on its shores. Not only is the lake right there, but youre near the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge  which might make it easier to stomach a cost of living thats slightly higher than the national average. Casa Grande, meanwhile, is located just south of Phoenix and has costs nearly 10% below the rest of the country as a whole.

Of course, if its the monthly bills youre worried about, Yuma is even cheaper when it comes to basic necessities. And if its a college town youre looking for, Tucson is the home to the University of Arizona and has costs of living that are right in line with those of Casa Grande.

Arkansas

Pine Bluff West Memphis Texarkana North Little Rock Paragould

Honorable mentions (in order): Fort Smith, Jacksonville, Russellville, Bella Vista, Hot Springs

Pine Bluff is one great place to live if you want to save money  the cost of living there is over 30% lower than the national average and the home values mean you can expect to find something good for under $50,000. So if you like to keep your bills low and want to be able to visit the Arkansas Railroad Museum on a whim, youre lucky to have an option this ideal for your retirement. West Memphis offers a similar perfect storm for any big music fans, as youll be saving almost 30% over the typical American as well as living just across the Mississippi from one of the most significant locations in American music history.

North Little Rock  situated just across the Arkansas River from its namesake  and Texarkana are both relatively expensive by Arkansas standards. Youll only be saving about a quarter on the dollar compared to the average cost of necessities in America.

Check Out: Best Cities To Retire on a Budget of $1,500 a Month

California

Modesto Sacramento Fresno Bakersfield Stockton

Honorable mentions (in order): Santa Clarita, Chula Vista, Riverside, San Diego, Fontana

While California has a well-deserved reputation as being an especially expensive place to live, that doesnt mean there arent pockets of affordability if you know where to look. The state capital Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto  the town that inspired George Lucas debut film American Graffiti  are all just a short drive from San Francisco, Silicon Valley and the sort of places where home values are routinely in the seven figures. Those three towns, though, land at $365,078, $321,019.80 and $322,604 respectively on Zillows home value index  well within the realm of possibilities for many retirees.

Fresno and Bakersfield, meanwhile, are in Californias Central Valley in the I-5 corridor and have costs of living that are right in line with the national average. And while shelling out over $200,000 for a home is a bit much elsewhere, the fact that both these cities located just hours from San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco can boast home index values in the $250,000 to $275,000 range shows that an affordable lifestyle is possible for many retirees on the West Coast.

Colorado

Pueblo Loveland Grand Junction Arvada Colorado Springs

Honorable mentions (in order): Greeley, Centennial, Westminster, Longmont, Fort Collins

Not unlike Alaska, it would be difficult to find a place to live in Colorado that wouldnt come with a pretty incredible natural setting. Loveland is just south of Fort Collins and sits right outside the breathtaking Rocky Mountain National Park. Similarly, the grand junction of the name Grand Junction might be the meeting of gorgeous and amazing if retiring there means youre splitting your time between weekend trips to nearby Arches National Park and day trips to closer McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area and Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area.

Denver suburb Arvada has Denver-area prices with a cost of living nearly 30% over the national average, that also means it sits on the cusp of the Rockies. And if youre not okay with paying a bit more to have that sort of access to both urban amenities and natural beauty, head down route 25 past Colorado Springs and youll find Pueblo, which is adjacent to Lake Pueblo State Park and has a cost of living almost 15% below the national average.

Connecticut

Torrington Norwich Meriden Bristol Middletown

Honorable mentions (in order): East Hartford, West Hartford, Waterbury, West Haven, New Britain

Certainly, if youre retiring to Connecticut you should expect a different standard of affordability than what you might find in the Midwest or South, but that doesnt mean you wont still have options. Torrington has a cost of living 11% below the national average and a home value index of $154,200.40. Norwich, likewise, has lower-than-average costs and home values that tend to fall short of $175,000.

Even in Middletown, the home value index of $229,078.20 is going to be in reach of many people as they enter retirement and the cost of living is right in line with the national average  and that comes with a livability score of 80.

Delaware

New Castle Elsmere Dover Milford Seaford

Honorable mentions (in order): Georgetown, Claymont, Newark, Wilmington, Smyrna

New Castle sits on the Delaware River and is the home of the First State National Historical Park  all just outside of Wilmington  but those retiring there will be happy to know the typical home is valued under $200,000 and the cost of living is a little below the national average. Elsmere, though, has a ZHVI of just under $175,000 and even lower costs of living than New Castle while also being located in the Wilmington area.

Dover, Milford and Seaford, meanwhile, all have costs of living at least 6% under the national average  though Milfords ZHVI of nearly $235,000 is significantly higher than the other towns listed here.

Florida

Palm Bay Cape Coral Port Saint Lucie Clearwater Jacksonville

Honorable mentions (in order): Saint Petersburg, Lehigh Acres, Brandon, Gainesville, Tallahassee

Youll likely be in for plenty of sunshine regardless of where you live as long as its in Florida, and theres nowhere in the state thats all that far from the beach. But in the case of all five of these affordable locales, theyre right on the water. Palm Bay and Port St. Lucie are both situated on the Atlantic Coast between West Palm Beach and the Canaveral National Seashore, and both have high livability scores of 76 and 80, respectively. Jacksonville is likewise on the Atlantic, though much further up the coast near the border with Georgia.

Cape Coral and Clearwater, meanwhile, are across the state on the Gulf Coast. Cape Coral does have a cost of living thats just a bit higher than the norm, but it also boasts a livability score of 80, which might make up for its cost of living.

Georgia

Macon Augusta Albany Columbus Savannah

Honorable mentions (in order): Warner Robins, Valdosta, Athens, Marietta, Peachtree Corners

Georgia is one state where you can find some extremely affordable towns to retire. Both Macon and Albany have a ZHVI of under $100,000 and average costs of living about 25% under the national average, meaning you would have that much more of your nest egg to commit to something other than bills.

Augusta might be associated largely with its exclusive golf club, but the cost of living there is still about 20% below the nation as a whole and a typical home is still just over $110,000. Even in the priciest of these cities  Savannah  youre still looking at much lower costs than the average American town and a ZHVI thats under $175,000.

Dont Overspend in Retirement: States Where Your Retirement Will Cost Less Than $45,000 a Year

Hawaii

Hilo Wailuku Kailua (Hawaii County) Kahului Mililani Town

Honorable mentions (in order): Pearl City, Wahiawa, Waipahu, Kapolei, Ewa Beach

Given just how much of Hawaiis food and other basic goods must be shipped great distances across the Pacific, costs of living there are much higher than anything you might see elsewhere. However, if youre retiring to Hawaii, you might be willing to eat those costs because, well, its Hawaii. And while none of these towns are affordable when stacked up against most other states, their affordability relative to the rest of the state might actually make retiring to this Pacific paradise realistic.

Notably, Hilos ZHVI comes in under $375,000  almost $300,000 less than any of those other four towns. Likewise, the cost of living comes in only 30% higher than the national average, while the other four towns are higher by about 60% or more.

Idaho

Blackfoot Lewiston Pocatello Ammon Mountain Home

Honorable mentions (in order): Idaho Falls, Chubbuck, Twin Falls, Garden City, Hayden

Not only is Blackfoot the most affordable city in Idaho, but its also the home to the Potato Museum & Potato Station Cafe  paying homage to the states most famous crop. That sort of amenity isnt that out of the ordinary, though, as Idaho presents some consistently strong livability scores with all five towns scoring over 70 and Ammon registering an impressive 87.

But its not just that these are nice places to live, theyre also great places to save money. Mountain Home, Pocatello and Blackfoot are all at least 15% cheaper than the national average for basic costs of living, and all three also have a ZHVI score under $200,000. And even Ammon, with its excellent livability, has a cost of living thats well below the national average and a ZHVI score under $270,000.

Illinois

Decatur Springfield Peoria Rockford Joliet

Honorable mentions (in order): Bloomington, Waukegan, Champaign, Elgin, Schaumburg

While the greater Chicago area is home to its share of high-priced enclaves, the state of Illinois is a lot bigger than the Windy City and has plenty of burgs where youll be saving a lot when compared to the average American. Three towns  Springfield, Peoria and Rockford  all have costs of living just under 25% lower than the national average. Theyre all looking up to the states affordability leader, though, as Decaturs costs are more than 30% below the national norm. Even honorable mentions Champaign, Bloomington and Waukegan are all at least 15% below average.

And its not just the money you can save once youre living there; the cost of buying a home will make many of these locales ideal for retirees. Decatur, Peoria and Rockford both have ZHVI scores under $100,000  almost $25,000 under in the case of Decatur. In Joliet  the priciest housing market listed here  the typical home is getting valued at under $150,000.

Indiana

Anderson Kokomo Gary Mishawaka Muncie

Honorable mentions (in order): Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, Columbus, Evansville, Lafayette

OK, so when youre thinking of retiring to Kokomo, odds are good youre not thinking Indiana. But, maybe you should be. After all, the town situated north of Indianapolis and southwest of Fort Wayne has a ZHVI score of $106,638.80. But by Hoosier standards, thats actually pretty steep. It means that you would come within $1,000 dollars or so of being able to buy an average home in both Anderson  ZHVI of $67,883.60  and in Gary, where the ZHVI is an eye-popping $40,173.

And the low cost of your home gives way to consistently lower bills as long as youre living there. Mishawaka has a cost of living just slightly less than 25% lower than the national average, and that makes it the priciest of the five towns listed here. Anderson, in particular, comes very close to saving you 30 cents on the dollar when comparing your bills to that of the average American.

Iowa

Burlington Mason City Clinton Ottumwa Marshalltown

Honorable mentions (in order): Waterloo, Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids

Burlington and Mason City are not only the two most affordable cities, but theyre also tied for second and first, respectively, for livability scores at 74 and 75. Burlingtons housing market yields a typical home value of just over $90,000, and Mason City just barely clears six digits.

While Ottumwa has a livability score of just 67, that also comes with some of the best value in the state. The southeast Iowa town has a ZHVI score of under $75,000 and costs of living approaching 30% lower than the national average. That would make Marshalltown  the other half of the tie for the second-highest livability score at 74  significantly more expensive than the town well to its south. But that just means Marshalltowns typical home value is about $110,000 and the cost of living is just 23.2% under the average.

Kansas

Hutchinson Emporia Salina Topeka Dodge City

Honorable mentions (in order): Leavenworth, Wichita, Derby, Prairie Village, Garden City

One thing you can dodge in Dodge City would be high prices, as the cost of living there is about 25% lower than the national average and the ZHVI score is under $115,000. And that just keeps going the higher up the list you get, with Hutchinsons typical home being valued at about $100,000 on the nose and costs of living coming in slightly lower than Dodge City.

But whats more notable about these five cities in Kansas is just how easy it is to live in them. All five cities fall between 70 and 80 for their livability score, with Topeka landing a 79. And the honorable mentions include three different cities with livability scores over 80 (but costs that allowed them to be edged out). Leavenworth scored an 83.1, Wichita an 82.1 and Derby an incredible 89.3.

Worth Considering: The 50 Cheapest Countries To Retire To

Kentucky

Ashland Madisonville Paducah Henderson Owensboro

Honorable mentions (in order): Hopkinsville, Covington, Frankfort, Murr, Elizabethtown

Southwestern Kentuckys Madisonville offers a solid combination of amenities and affordability, with a cost of living 25% below the national average, a ZHVI score of $97,511 and a livability score of 77. Ashland, meanwhile, still has a livability score in the 70s  situated right on the Ohio River  with a typical home value just over $80,000 and a cost of living slightly lower than Madisonvilles.

For the three remaining towns, home values are much higher than they are in Ashland and Madisonville. Paducah, Henderson and Owensboro all have a ZHVI score of $120,000 or higher. That might be much higher by comparison, but its hardly the sort of home values that are going to scare away many retirees.

Louisiana

Shreveport New Iberia Alexandria Slidell Monroe

Honorable mentions (in order): Marrero, Bossier City, Houma, Lafayette, Lake Charles

Northwest Louisianas largest city, Shreveport, tops the list of affordable locales in the state. Home values there average just into six figures while the cost of living is over 20% under the national average. New Iberia near the Gulf Coast and Alexandria just south of the Kisatchie National Forest might be located hundreds of miles apart, but theyre both the exact same 19.5% below the national average for cost of living.

Slidell is actually a touch on the pricey side for Louisianas most affordable  a ZHVI score of almost $175,000 and a cost of living only slightly below average  but it also boasts a livability score of 72.

Maine

Caribou Augusta Lewiston Waterville Presque Isle

Honorable mentions (in order): Bangor, Brewer, Old Town, Auburn, Orono

Caribou and Presque Isle are located near the northeastern tip of Maine  and therefore the United States. As long as youre okay with being surrounded on three sides by Canada, youll probably be able to make a pretty cozy retirement in the area. Both are about 20% below the nation as a whole for cost of living, and both are in the low six figures for the typical home value  ZHVI scores of $103,482.40 and $114,477.20, respectively.

The remaining three towns are, rather unsurprisingly, located much farther south. All three do have higher costs as well, with ZHVI scores over $150,000 for Augusta and Lewiston. Of course, $150,000 is still going to seem pretty affordable to a lot of retirees who arent familiar with those north Maine prices, and all three towns have a cost of living below the national average.

Maryland

Dundalk Towson Frederick Baltimore Bowie

Honorable mentions (in order): Glen Burnie, Columbia, Ellicott City, Waldorf, Rockville

Your options for affordable places to retire in Maryland vary pretty widely in terms of their affordability. Dundalk and Baltimore both offer very affordable prices, but livability scores that are lower than the other cities here  63 and 57, respectively. Both those cities have a ZHVI score in the ballpark of $150,000, with a cost of living roughly 10% under the national average.

The other three burgs have home values that are more than double what you would expect in Dundalk and Baltimore, and higher costs of living than the nation as a whole. However, the trade-off appears to be fairly clear as those three pricier options have a livability score of 73 or 74.

Massachusetts

Taunton New Bedford Fall River Framingham Quincy

Honorable mentions (in order): Wocester, Haverhill, Springfield, Waltham, Medford

Framingham and Quincy are both in the Boston area, with Framingham to the west between Beantown and Worcester while Quincy sits to the citys south on Quincy Bay. That might explain why their level of affordability is much more relative, with ZHVI scores of nearly $465,000 and $550,000, respectively. And thats before you get to the cost of living, which is over a third higher than the norm in Framingham and over the national average by half in Quincy.

The other three cities, though, are in the same area to the south of Boston and east of Rhode Island, and while that locale still has higher costs than many other states in this study, it appears to offer some relief for those high prices that arise closer to Boston. New Bedford  home to the New Bedford Whaling Museum  and Fall River are both coastal towns where the cost of living is less than 1% over the national average. And while Taunton is 7.7% over the national average for the cost of necessities, that does come with a high livability score in the town that plays host to the Old Colony History Museum.

Michigan

St. Clair Shores Westland Livonia Taylor Lansing

Honorable mentions (in order): Detroit, Warren, Southfield, Sterling Heights, Kalamazoo

Lansing is Michigans state capitol and a pretty lovely place to live, with nearby Michigan State University, meaning theres an abundance of amenities nearby. More to the point, though, the typical house is valued at under $100,000 and the cost of living is nearly 25% below the national average.

Lansing is an outlier on this list, as the only town thats not in the greater Metro-Detroit area of the five towns listed here. Livonia is just to the west of the city and boasts an eye-popping livability score of 90 even though the cost of living there remains below the national average and the typical home is worth roughly $225,000. St. Clair Shores, meanwhile, is north of towns like Grosse Pointe and Grosse Pointe Shores on Lake St. Clair and offers one of the best retirement options youll be likely to find. Not only are you right on the lake, but Detroit and all of its amenities  like the Detroit Institute of Art or the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village  are just a quick trip down I-94.

Minnesota

Rochester Duluth Bloomington Coon Rapids St. Cloud

Honorable mentions (in order): Apple Valley, Minnetonka, Blaine, Burnsville, St. Louis Park

How much you actually enjoy a retirement in Minnesota is going to have a lot to do with how well you can handle winter weather. However, if you are a snowbird, Duluth could be just the ticket for you. The town might be among the northernmost in the Land of 10,000 Lakes  sitting on Lake Superior near the border with Wisconsin  but its also among the friendliest to your wallet with a ZHVI score just over $200,000 and a cost of living about 15% under the national average.

Minnesota also scores particularly well for livability, with three of these five towns tallying a mark over 80. Rochester, Bloomington and Coon Rapids had livability scores of 84, 84 and 81, respectively. And while they are pricier than Duluth, that doesnt mean theyre outrageous. Rochester has a ZHVI score just over $250,000 with a cost of living below the national average.

Mississippi

Meridian Tupelo Greenville Pascagoula Columbus

Honorable mentions (in order): Clinton, Pearl, Jackson, Brandon, Biloxi

Mississippi is among the places with the absolute lowest cost of living in the entire country, so affordable is going to mean something radically different than it does in states like Colorado or Massachusetts. So if living in the birthplace of the blues strikes you as being appealing, youre in luck  youll save a mint in the process.

Tupelo is the birthplace of one Elvis Aron Presley, and you can still visit his birthplace on the east side of town. Though, with a ZHVI score over $130,000, houses in Tupelo are actually a little steep compared to the rest of this list. Meridian, Greenville and Pascagoula all have housing markets where the typical home value is under $100,000, and all five of the towns listed here are at least 20% cheaper than the national average cost of living  with Greenville coming in just under 30% below that level.

Missouri

Joplin Independence Florissant St. Joseph Cape Girardeau

Honorable mentions (in order): Jefferson City, St. Peters, St. Charles, Springfield, Blue Springs

Southwest Missouris Joplin has a lot going for it. Not only is it really inexpensive to live there  a ZHVI of $116,215 and a cost of living almost 25% below the national average  but its also a good place to hide out if youre an interstate bank robber. Or at least, thats what one might assume given that the town is home to the historic Bonnie and Clyde Garage Apartment.

Independence and St. Joseph are both on the states western side near the border with Kansas, with Independence being a suburb of Kansas City and St. Joseph sitting on the Missouri River just a short trip up I-29. Florissant and Cape Girardeau, meanwhile, are on the other side of the state, sitting on the other big river  the mighty Mississippi. Florissant also has the highest livability score of the town here at 81.

Montana

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Miles City Lewistown Great Falls Butte-Silver Bow

Honorable mentions (in order): Havre, Laurel, Livingston, Billings, Helena

Big Sky Country gives way to the glorious, majestic peaks of the Rockies when youre traveling east to west. For the entire state, though, low costs of living appear to be pretty consistent. The least affordable of the town listed here in terms of the monthly bills would be central Montanas Great Falls. This city  situated on the Missouri River  can only claim to save you about 10 cents on the dollar compared to the rest of the country while the other four will save you about twice as much or more.

Housing prices are also relatively low, though that clearly has a lot to do with what theyre relative to. If youre coming from one of the high-priced urban and suburban enclaves where home prices are routinely pressing seven figures, Great Falls ZHVI score of just under $200,000 is going to seem like a steal. Compared to the other four towns on this list, though  with ZHVIs ranging from about $135,000 to $180,000  Great Falls is actually a bit steep.

Nebraska

Beatrice Alliance Hastings York Scottsbluff

Honorable mentions (in order): Columbus, Gering, Norfolk, Lexington, Fremont

Cornhuskers  just like the Hawkeyes next door  can boast some pretty low costs of living and housing values, making this a great option for retirees interested in living out their golden years on the Great Plains of the American interior. For the most part, you can expect to save 20% or so on the average Americans cost of living in these towns, and you can also expect to find home values that will stay right at or below $130,000  something that will likely mean a lot more options for most people shopping for a retirement home.

But what really stands out about this quintet of Nebraska burgs are the livability scores, which are consistently very high. While Scottsbluffs score of 78 might be good for the top spot in most of the states, its the worst score of the towns here. The scores of the top four towns are, in order, 89 for Beatrice, 88 for Alliance, a hefty 91 for Hastings and 87 in York. And thats with two of the stronger livability scores in the country failing to make the cut: honorable mentions Columbus and Norfolk both had a livability score of 90.

Nevada

Pahrump Mesquite Fernley Boulder City Elko

Honorable mentions (in order): North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Henderson, Carson City, Sun Valley

For people who love to gamble, Nevada can make for an ideal retirement paradise: All the heat of Arizona but with quick and easy access to one of your favorite pastimes. Of course, just how affordable anywhere in Nevada ends up being for someone with a gambling habit is a bit harder to say, but its important to note just how much of this state exists outside gaming meccas like Las Vegas and Reno  with an abundance of natural beauty thats often overlooked.

Boulder City, for instance, sits southwest of Las Vegas  wedged between the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Sloan Canyon National Reservation Area. There, youll not only have an easy drive to see the Las Vegas Strip (or the Hoover Dam, for that matter), but youll enjoy a livability score of 82.

New Hampshire

Berlin Keene Franklin Milford Concord

Honorable mentions (in order): Claremont, Laconia, Dover, Rochester, Lebanon

If youre looking for a chance to retire in a beautiful natural setting while keeping your costs low, New Hampshire might be one place that can offer you a few different options that could fit your needs. Berlin, tucked in the states northeast corner near the border with Maine, sits in the shadow of Mt. Jericho and is subsequently convenient to Mt. Jericho State Park  facts that havent prevented the town from a ZHVI score just over $80,000 and a cost of living that saves you more than a quarter on every dollar spent by the average American.

And while youll have to head further south for any of the other four towns, most are still situated in or near nature preserves and/or other wilderness areas. Residents of Keene, for instance, might be keen on visiting the nearby Keene Watershed or the Greater Goose Pond Forest. Franklin is home to Webster Lake and the Ledgeview Overlook, Franklin Falls Recreational Trails and the Great Gains Memorial Forest. And Milford residents have easy access to the Tucker Brook and Hitchiner town forests as well as the Keyes Memorial Field and Granite Town Rail Trail.

New Jersey

Toms River Vineland Hackensack Clifton Camden

Honorable mentions (in order): Trenton, Bayonne, East Orange, Plainfield, Perth Amboy

New Jersey has the highest population density in the country, but that doesnt necessarily mean retiring there means youre stuck in urban sprawl. Toms River, for instance, sits on the Atlantic coast with both the Brendan T. Byrne and Wharton state forests just inland and the Cattus Island Country Park on the seaside.

That said, affordable means something a little different in Jersey than some of the nations cheaper states. Hackensack and Clifton both made the top five in spite of ZHVI scores nearing $400,000 and a cost of living more than 20% higher than the national average. But, if you want to retire in Jersey without spending, look no further than Camden. The typical home there is valued at about $65,000 and the cost of living is almost 20% under the rest of the nation as a whole.

New Mexico

Alamogordo Roswell Deming Las Vegas Los Lunas

Honorable mentions (in order): Gallup, South Valley, Hobbs, Las Cruces, Sunland Park

Los Lunas has the highest average cost of living of the cities here, though that doesnt make it expensive. The town  sitting on the Rio Grande just south of Albuquerque  has a cost of living thats about 7% under the national average, but with the other four each coming in at around 25% under, it makes Los Lunas a relatively pricey proposition for New Mexico.

However, when it comes to buying a home, New Mexico certainly makes things a lot easier for retirees. Once again, Los Lunas stands out as being the priciest, but only because its the lone town to make the top five with a ZHVI over $150,000 at $168,660.

New York

Tonawanda Cheektowaga Binghamton Utica Niagara Falls

Honorable mentions (in order): Buffalo, Syracuse, Schenectady, Troy, Albany

Brace yourself: New York City is not among the five most affordable areas in the Empire State. That might come as a real shock to those with absolutely no familiarity with real estate in the Big Apple, but the vast majority of New York isnt the city. Tonawanda is on the Niagara River just south of the falls in Upstate New York and it offers a rare combination of low costs and high livability scores. The average home there is usually valued at about $160,000, the cost of living is almost 15% under the national average and the livability score is 88  one of the highest in this study.

Binghamton certainly cant compete with that 88 livability score  it comes in at just 53  but it does beat out Tonawanda in affordability. The ZHVI score there is under $100,000 and the cost of living is over 25% below the norm. Niagara Falls, similarly, is right in line in terms of the cost of living and just a hair more expensive in its housing market.

North Carolina

Burlington Rocky Mount Wilson Winston-Salem High Point

Honorable mentions (in order): Gastonia, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Concord, Jacksonville

The Tarheel State offers plenty of options for avoiding high costs in order to stretch out your nest egg that much longer. The most affordable would be Rocky Mount, just east of Raleigh. There, the typical home is valued at under $100,000 and the cost of living is almost 25% lower than the national average. Were it not for the low livability score of 58, it might have topped Burlington  where the typical home is worth a little over $130,000 and the cost of living is about 20% below average, but the livability score is 65.

The remaining three cities all have a cost of living between 18% and 19% below average. But Wilson is still more affordable when you factor in the cost of buying a home there. Its ZHVI comes to just over $125,000 while Winston-Salem and High Point each have housing markets where the average home is worth about $150,000.

North Dakota

Grafton Valley City Devils Lake Jamestown Wahpeton

Honorable mentions (in order): Beulah, West Fargo, Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot

While the largely rural state of North Dakota might have a cost of living in most places thats in line with expectations about the basic costs of living, you might be a little surprised at the value of real estate there. Sure, youre not going to have to shell out a half-million or more for a home, but the ZHVI score in all of the towns but Grafton fall into the $150,000-$175,000 range thats affordable but still more than double the lowest values listed here.

However, all five cities will save you about 20% over the national average for basic costs, and Graftons typical home value is still short of six figures. Not to mention, livability scores are high throughout the state  Valley City and Devils Lake scored an 85 and 84, respectively, and the other three towns are all in the 70s.

Ohio

Youngstown Lorain Akron Euclid Parma

Honorable mentions (in order): Cuyahoga Falls, Cleveland, Toledo, Springfield, Dayton

Theres affordable and then theres Ohio. Youngstown might offer one of the best options for retiring on a tight budget of any of the cities listed in the entire study. The ZHVI score is just $26,818.80, meaning you could theoretically buy two homes there with one years salary based on the American average. Whats more, the cost of living there is almost 35% below the national average, so savings arent just coming from when you purchase your home.

And while nowhere else can quite match Youngstown for a buyers market on houses, Lorain, Akron and Euclid all have ZHVI scores under $100,000 and savings on cost of living at or over 25% on the rest of the country.

Oklahoma

Duncan Ardmore Muskogee Bartlesville Ponca City

Honorable mentions (in order): Enid, Del City, Shawnee, Midwest City, Lawton

While no one Oklahoma city can quite match Youngstown for its flat-out rock-bottom costs, the collection of towns here is absolutely on par with Ohios for overall affordability. Just Bartlesville has a ZHVI over $100,000, with Muskogee featuring a typical home value under $70,000  all of which should make moving there for retirement a much lighter lift. And costs of living are also low with every town costing 20% or more less to live in than the rest of the country.

Finally, livability scores in Oklahoma are still strong, especially given the low cost of living in the area. Duncan, Ardmore and Muskogee all have livability scores in the low 70s, and Bartlesville is at 80.

Good Options: You Dont Have To Be a Millionaire To Retire in These Places

Oregon

Grants Pass Keizer Albany Medford Salem

Honorable mentions (in order): Redmond, McMinnville, Springfield, Eugene, Beaverton

Salem and Albany are both city names more associated with the Eastern Seaboard, but the Oregon versions are among the states most affordable. That said, Oregon should make it clear that states that start with the letter O arent universally among the nations most affordable. Just one city  Salem  has a ZHVI score that comes in under $300,000, and the other four come in somewhere between there and $315,000  prices that would get you several houses in Ohio or Oklahoma.

Costs of living in these towns wont provide a lot of let-up, too. For the most part, all five of these cities have a cost of living right in line with the national average, save for Keizer, where costs are about 5% higher.

Pennsylvania

Altoona Wilkes-Barre Scranton Harrisburg Monroeville

Honorable mentions (in order): Erie, Williamsport, Reading, Chester, Bethel Park

Sitting on the Susquehanna River well west of Philadelphia, Harrisburg is another town where low home values could provide a real lifeline to retirees who might not have saved as much as they liked. The typical home there is valued at just over $55,000 and costs of living are about 25% under the national average, helping that same nest egg last years longer than it might living elsewhere.

Wilkes-Barre cant quite match that sort of buyers market for homes  the ZHVI score there is just over $70,000  but it will save you a little on your monthly bills over Harrisburg. The cost of living there is almost 30% below the national average. Even the most expensive option here  Monroeville  still has a housing market where you should be fine with a budget of $150,000 and costs of living over 10% below average.

Rhode Island

Warwick East Providence Cranston Woonsocket Cumberland Hill

Honorable mentions (in order): Greenville, Pawtucket, Providence, Central Falls, Tiverton

The nations smallest state cant boast similarly tiny home values, unfortunately for retirees interested in buying there. Woonsocket is the most affordable of these towns, but homes there are still usually worth about $235,000. And Cumberland Hill  the priciest of these five  has a ZHVI score roughly $100,000 higher than that of Woonsocket.

And thats complemented by costs of living that are consistently above the national average. In the case of Cumberland Hill, its not negligible, with costs running nearly 15% higher than the national norm.

South Carolina

Aiken Mauldin Anderson Spartanburg Sumter

Honorable mentions (in order): Socastee, Florence, Greenwood, Greenville, Rock Hill

Just south of I-20 and west of Augusta, Georgia, youll find Aiken, which combines a livability score of 76 with home values that average out to under $180,000 and a cost of living about 15% below average.

If youre interested in a higher livability score, your best option is probably Mauldin  which scored an impressive 88. And while it costs a bit more than Aiken, youre still talking about home values under $200,000 and a cost of living over 10% below the national level.

And if youre willing to give up some of that livability score to spend less, both Spartanburg and Sumter could work well for you. Both have home values around $125,000-$130,000, and costs of living are well below the national average  by about 20% for Spartanburg and about 25% for Sumter.

South Dakota

Huron Madison Belle Fourche Mitchell Aberdeen

Honorable mentions (in order): Sturgis, Yankton, Vermillion, Watertown, Pierre

The costs of living across the five most affordable places to retire in South Dakota are remarkably consistent. Madison, Belle Fourche, Mitchell and Aberdeen all have a cost of living thats between 23.1% and 22.4% lower than the national average. That makes Huron the lone outlier, but in the right direction  cost of living there should run about 27% under the national norm.

The ZHVI scores are also pretty remarkably similar for those same four towns, with home values averaging out between about $160,000 and $175,000 for all four. Once again, Huron is significantly less expensive at about $130,000, but that still means that all five of these towns make for a great retirement option if you love the area.

Tennessee

Kingsport Johnson City Bartlett Chattanooga Germantown

Honorable mentions (in order): Memphis, Cleveland, Gallatin, Columbia, Knoxville

If youre thinking that your Tennessee retirement will mean living it up in Nashville, you might need to recalibrate your expectations  Music City is pretty expensive with a ZHVI of almost $300,000. However, two suburbs of Tennessees other famous musical cities  Memphis  are among the states most affordable places to retire. Bartlett would be the low-cost option with a ZHVI score a little over $225,000 and a below-average cost of living. Germantown is much pricier, with a ZHVI of over $365,000 and above-average costs that only make sense in the context of its excellent 86 livability score.

The states northeastern corner also landed two different towns, with Kingsport and Johnson City. Kingsport offers a typical home value under $150,000 and a cost of living nearly 20% below average. Johnson City, just to Kingsports southwest, is a little pricier in terms of home prices  ZHVI of just over $175,000  but largely in line with Kingsports costs of living.

See: What a Comfortable Retirement Will Cost You in Each State

Texas

Brownsville Amarillo El Paso Corpus Christi Lubbock

Honorable mentions (in order): San Antonio, Pasadena, Garland, Laredo, Arlington

Texas offers a number of great places to live, and thats not just because of the abundance of Tex Mex and smoked brisket. The lowest livability score among these five is 74 (Corpus Christi and Lubbock), with Amarillo ticking into the 80s. And while higher livability scores generally mean higher costs  at least relative to their area  the overall affordability of the state means you can take advantage of these cities at a fraction of the cost compared to other states. Cost of living in all five towns is about 20% below the national average, and homes are valued in the $140,000-$160,000 range  with Brownsville as an outlier for a ZHVI just over $100,000.

Utah

Logan St. George Ogden Orem Bountiful

Honorable mentions (in order): Layton, Provo, Spanish Fork, Taylorsville, West Valley City

Utah is largely a somewhat remote, mountainous state, which can be a major feature for retirees interested in spending their golden years gazing on panorama views. But, if youre looking for those views to come from your back porch, you should be ready to spend compared to most other states.

Ogden and Logan have relatively cheap housing markets here, but both should leave you budgeting on about a quarter-million dollars for buying a home. For St. George and Orem, those same values are about $100,000 higher, and Bountiful appears to be something of a bounty for realtors as the ZHVI score there is nearly $400,000.

And basic cost of living is higher in Utah as well. Logan and Ogden both come in a little below the national average, but the other three cities will see you likely shelling out more for your monthly bills than the typical American. In Orems case, its just under 10% more expensive while Bountiful is more than 10% pricier.

Virginia

Tuckahoe Lynchburg Roanoke Hampton Virginia Beach

Honorable mentions (in order): Suffolk, Newport News, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Portsmouth

Three of the five most affordable Virginia towns feature a ZHVI score under $200,000, including Lynchburgs typical home value thats just under $160,000. In spite of that and a cost of living nearly 20% below the national average, Lynchburgs livability score is 81  making it one of the best combos of livability and affordability in the study. That said, three of the five towns in Virginia had a livability score over 80, with the other two at 74 and 76  indicating that there are a lot of cities in the state where the combination of amenities and services is good.

Tuckahoes affordability might seem suspect compared to other cities here  expect a home to run you about $300,000 and to pay about 4% more for bills than the national average. However, in the context of the citys 86 livability score, those higher prices might be more than worthwhile.

Washington

Spokane Valley Kennewick Yakima Spokane Vancouver

Honorable mentions (in order): Pasco, Lakewood, Marysville, Bellingham, Tacoma

The Pacific Northwest is a truly gorgeous natural setting to call home for your golden years, unless, that is, you really hate the rain. Unfortunately, that also means that even the most affordable options there compare unfavorably to the most affordable options in places like Ohio or Mississippi. The ZHVI score for Yakima is in excess of a quarter-million dollars, and thats the lowest level of these five. Vancouvers houses have an average value of nearly $375,000.

And the everyday costs are consistently higher here as well. Spokane Valley, Spokane and Yakima all have costs below the national average, but not by as much as most of the other burgs featured in this study. And residents of Vancouver can expect to pay nearly 15% more than the average American for their regular bills.

West Virginia

Weirton Bluefield Vienna Wheeling Moundsville

Honorable mentions (in order): Clarksburg, Beckley, St. Albans, Oak Hill, Parkersburg

West Virginia provides some clear options for retirees looking to minimize their expenses to focus their life savings elsewhere. All five of these cities have a cost of living at least 20% lower than the national average, and typically more than 25%. And the cost of buying a home is likewise going to be much lower than you could expect elsewhere in the country.

The ZHVI score for Bluefield is just over $55,000, leaving retirees buying a home there anything but blue. And while others arent quite that cheap, Moundsvilles housing market means you can expect to buy with about $80,000 and Weirtons requires about $90,000.

Wisconsin

Wausau Fond du Lac Sheboygan Oshkosh Beloit

Honorable mentions (in order): Janesville, Greenfield, Appleton, Eau Claire, La Crosse

While there are a lot of options for affordable living in Wisconsin, none will save you quite as much money as Beloit. There, home values just barely reach six figures on average, and the cost of living there will save you a little more than a quarter on every dollar spent compared to the national average.

But Beloit also has a livability score of 69, and the other four towns here can do a lot better than that. The remaining four cities have livability scores of 83 for Wasau, 78 for Fond du Lac, 79 for Sheboygan and, bgosh, Oshkosh registers an impressive 85. And while that 85 does mean Oshkosh is a bit pricier than these towns, a ZHVI under $150,000 and cost of living almost 20% below the national average means its mostly just other Wisconsin towns that make it look expensive.

Wyoming

Worland Sheridan Torrington Powell Green River

Honorable mentions (in order): Lander, Cody, Casper, Douglas, Buffalo

If you hope to enjoy the majestic beauty of the Rockies during your retirement, few states might provide you with more opportunities than Wyoming. And while Wyoming certainly isnt one of the cheapest states in the country, the towns listed here are certainly going to present options within reach for a great many people as they end their careers.

All five towns have below average costs of living  though less than 5% below average for Sheridan, Green River and Powell. Worland and Torrington, though, will both save you more than 10 cents on the dollar for your basic costs compared to the average American.

And while housing costs might seem a bit high for many, the livability scores of these five towns are all very solid. Torringtons 70 is the lowest of these five, with the other four all landing between 79 and 83.

More From GOBankingRates

Methodology: In order to find affordable places to retire across the U.S., GOBankingRates first identified the 20 biggest places by population in every state according to data from the U.S. Census Bureaus 2018 American Community Survey. Then, each place was scored against all others in its state on the following affordability and quality measures: (1) the percent of the total population 65 and older, (2) the average typical home value over the first five months of 2020 according to Zillow Home Value Index data, (3) the cost-of-living index score according to Sperlings Best Places and (4) the livability score from AreaVibes. In the final ranking, factor No. 2 was given twice as much weight as the other factors. The 10 cities in every state with the best overall scores were then ranked, with No. 1 being the most affordable for its quality. Places had to have data available for all four factors to be included in the final ranking. Vermont was excluded due to a lack of data. All data was collected on and up to date as of July 6-8, 2020.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: The Most Affordable Places To Retire Near You
Simon Cheng. Credit:Silk Road EDRC

London: The British government says it has still not received an adequate explanation for why one of its consulate staff in Hong Kong was detained and tortured last year. It has warned that China's silence only fuels concerns about the erosion of rights and freedoms in the territory.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that he was "shocked and appalled" by the mistreatment of Simon Cheng.

Cheng was detained over his role in the Hong Kong protest movement and was accused by the Chinese National Security Police of being a British spy.

"His treatment in Chinese detention, for more than two weeks, amounted to torture," Raab said in a foreword to the UK's most recent six-month report on Hong Kong, which was tabled in the Commons on Thursday, London time.
The Home Office claim it is Shamima Begum's own fault she was stripped of her British citizenship after she chose to leave the UK, travel to Syria and join IS.

Ms Begum believes her citizenship - revoked last year - should be restored because she cannot have a 'fair and effective appeal' against the Government's decision to strip her of it, the Court of Appeal heard today.

But Sir James Eadie QC, representing the Home Office, said Ms Begum's inability to fully take part in the appeal was because she decided to leave Britain and join IS.

Ms Begum, now 20, was one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join so-called Islamic State (IS) in February 2015, and lived under IS rule for more than three years.

The Home Office claim it is Shamima Begum's own fault she was stripped of her British citizenship after she chose to leave the UK, travel to Syria and join IS. Pictured: Ms Begum last year

She was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February last year, prompting then home secretary Sajid Javid to revoke her British citizenship later that month.

Last year, Ms Begum took legal action against the Home Office at the High Court and the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), a specialist tribunal which hears challenges to decisions to remove someone's British citizenship on national security grounds.

In February, SIAC ruled that the decision to revoke Ms Begum's British citizenship did not render her stateless, and was therefore lawful, as she was 'a citizen of Bangladesh by descent' at the time of the decision.

Ms Begum, now 20, was one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join so-called Islamic State (IS) in February 2015, and lived under IS rule for more than three years. Pictured left to right: Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Ms Begum at Gatwick Airport

The tribunal also found that Ms Begum 'cannot play any meaningful part in her appeal and that, to that extent, the appeal will not be fair and effective', but ruled that 'it does not follow that her appeal succeeds'.

Ms Begum's challenge to the Home Office's decision to refuse to allow her to enter the UK in order to effectively pursue her appeal was also rejected.

Opening Ms Begum's case at a remote hearing on Thursday, Tom Hickman QC said the key issue in her appeal was whether the absence of 'a fair or effective means of challenging the decision to deprive her of her British citizenship' made the decision unlawful.

He told the court: 'It is a basic principle of our law that executive decisions cannot stand where the requirements of natural justice are not complied with.'

Ms Begum (left) had her citizenship revoked but says it should be restored as she can't have a 'fair and effective appeal'. Sir James Eadie QC (right), representing the Home Office, said Ms Begum's inability to fully take part in the appeal was because she decided to leave Britain and join IS

Mr Hickman said that 'in the present case there is a manifest breach of natural justice', and that Ms Begum's appeal against the deprivation of her citizenship should be allowed because her appeal 'cannot be pursued in a manner that satisfies even minimum requirements of fair procedure'.

He also said that Mr Javid had been informed that Ms Begum could not have a fair or effective appeal when he took the decision to revoke her British citizenship.

Mr Hickman said Ms Begum's case was 'the first case in which SIAC has held that an appellant cannot have a fair and effective appeal'.

He added that, nonetheless, SIAC 'rejected the appellant's claim for leave to enter the country' to pursue her challenge to the decision to revoke her British citizenship and had 'suggested ... that the appellant's appeal might have to be stayed indefinitely or even struck out altogether'.

'In other words,' Mr Hickman said, 'the consequence of the appellant not being able to have a fair and effective appeal means that the Secretary of State's decision stands indefinitely and possibly forever without there ever having been a judicial decision on the merits (of Ms Begum's appeal).

'That, we say, piles unfairness upon unfairness and is wrong in law.'

Kadiza Sultana (left) and Amira Abase (right), then 16 and 15 respectively, and Ms Begum (centre) boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on February 17 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria

Mr Hickman pointed out that Ms Begum, who remains in the al-Roj camp in Syria, was only 15 when she left the UK, saying: 'She had not even taken her GCSE exams.'

He added: 'The only things that are clear are that Shamima Begum was a child when she left the UK and had been influenced to do so.'

Sir James Eadie QC said in written submissions: 'The fact that the appellant could not fully engage with the statutory appeal procedure was a result of her decision to leave the UK, travel to Syria against Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice and align with ISIL.

'This led to her being held in conditions akin to detention in a foreign state at the hands of a third party, the Syrian Defence Force.

'It was not the result of any action by the Secretary of State and the deprivation decision did not have any causative impact on the appellant in this respect.'

Sir James added that Ms Begum had been able to speak to her lawyers, and argued that 'the fact that it might not be possible to mirror the level of access to legal advice that would be available if someone were at liberty in the UK does not mean the proceedings are unfair'.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families to join IS, shortly after Sharmeena Begum - who is no relation - travelled to Syria in December 2014.

Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, then 16 and 15 respectively, and Ms Begum boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on February 17 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria.

Ms Begum claims she married Dutch convert Yago Riedijk 10 days after arriving in IS territory, with all three of her schoolfriends also reportedly marrying foreign IS fighters.

She told The Times last February that she left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a one-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy, had both since died.

Her third child died shortly after he was born.

The two-day hearing before Lord Justice Flaux, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Singh is being live-streamed on the judiciary's YouTube channel, and it is expected that the Court of Appeal will reserve its judgement to a later date.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba held a video conversation with Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde on June 10, the Foreign Ministrys press service has reported.

The interlocutors discussed issues of Swedens support for Ukraines European integration aspirations ahead of the upcoming Eastern Partners Leaders video conference on June 11.

Kuleba noted the importance of consolidating efforts to prepare an ambitious joint declaration of the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit on the principles of joint ownership, the strategic nature of this initiative, and taking into account the interests of Eastern partners.

He also informed his Swedish counterpart about the security situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the development of negotiations in the Normandy format and the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

The Ukrainian foreign minister noted that the issues of combating Russias armed aggression and joint steps to de-occupy Crimea should remain among the priorities of the OSCE agenda.

In addition, the Swedish foreign minister noted the progress in implementing reforms in Ukraine, in particular the adoption of a land market law. The arrival in Ukraine of well-known Swedish brands, such as KEA, is a testament to Ukraine's success on this path.

The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Sweden expressed their intention to deepen economic cooperation between the countries and make efforts to minimize the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the international economy.

ish
COLLEGE PARK, Md., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A University of Maryland-led, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-funded research consortium that addresses aviation operations issues on behalf of the federal government, the airline industry and the flying public has received renewed funding at a crucial time for air travel.

The FAA has announced a new contract for NEXTOR III, the eight-university Consortium in Aviation Operations Research that extends its mission for an additional seven years with an expenditure cap of $24 million. This marks the second extension of the original National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR), which was established in 1996.

The announcement comes at a time of critical upheavals in air travel emerging and on the horizon as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The University of Maryland, led by professors Michael Ball (Robert H. Smith School of Business/Institute for Systems Research) and David Lovell (Civil and Environmental Engineering/Institute for Systems Research), will continue as the lead institution for "NEXTOR III." In addition to Maryland, other consortium member universities are George Mason University; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of California, Berkeley; the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; the Georgia Institute of Technology; the Ohio State University; and Purdue University.

NEXTOR began as one of five Centers of Excellence created by the FAA to lead the aviation community in advancing new ideas and paradigms for aviation operations, educating and training aviation professionals, and promoting knowledge transfer among industry, government and academic leaders.

The consortium's basic research, modeling and investment analysis addresses the needs of the National Airspace System (NAS) on a wide range of aviation operational problems, while promoting increased dialogue between the FAA and the airline industry. NEXTOR's broad research program encompasses air traffic management and control; safety data analysis; aviation economics and policy; human factors; communication, data collection and distribution; and system performance evaluation and assessment measures.

NEXTOR's decision support tools, operational and system concepts, and policymaking tools have had a substantial impact on aviation practice. Its research results have been incorporated into FAA systems and have led to improved NAS performance.

The universities in the consortium serve as trusted, impartial arbiters of proposals that strive to strike a balance between the interests of government and the airline industry. Because of their long association with the FAA, NEXTOR team members well understand the fundamental problems of the air transportation system and have earned the trust of a broad range of FAA program managers. To industry, the knowledge and capabilities provided by NEXTOR research have provided critical information to executives as they make near-term investment choices and develop long-term strategies.

The FAA and airline industry improvements brought about by NEXTOR research ultimately benefit the traveling public. "We are a source for quality technical research that addresses all three of these perspectives," Lovell says.

The trust and perspective NEXTOR brings will be invaluable in the current air travel crisis.

"Obviously COVID-19 already has had a huge impact on aviation," says Ball. "The pandemic will result in some fundamental changes to air transportation."

Already, the FAA has asked NEXTOR to organize and moderate webinars about the pandemic's impact on air travel. Topics include the potential impact of social distancing requirements in airport terminals, impacts to training paradigms when traffic volumes are severely reduced, and possible changes in air traffic control practices due to the occasional need to sanitize control facilities after positive COVID-19 tests.

NEXTOR also is developing specific research projects that will study the degree to which the FAA and the airline industry will be permanently changed, and the speed at which airlines might emerge from the crisis.

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, specialty master's, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

About the A. James Clark School of Engineering

The A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland serves as the catalyst for high-quality research, innovation, and learning, delivering on a promise that all graduates will leave ready to impact the Grand Challenges (energy, environment, security, and human health) of the 21st century. The Clark School is dedicated to leading and transforming the engineering discipline and profession, to accelerating entrepreneurship, and to transforming research and learning activities into new innovations that benefit millions.

About the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Part of the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the UMD civil and environmental engineering department is home to expert faculty and leading-edge centers and labs, including the Maryland Transportation Institute, the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology, the Center of Disaster Resilience, and environmental engineering labs dedicated to biofilms, inorganic pollutants, and persistent organic pollutants. Undergraduate academic tracks include environmental engineering and water resources, geotechnical and structural engineering, and transportation and project management. The graduate program is in the top 20 among public universities and the top 25 among all universities nationwide, according to rankings from the U.S. News and World Report.

About the Institute for Systems Research

The Institute for Systems Research is a permanent, interdisciplinary research unit within the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. ISR is home to more than 60 faculty and other researchers from 13 departments in five colleges across the university. Since its beginnings as one of the National Science Foundation's original Engineering Research Centers in 1985, ISR has been at the forefront of interdisciplinary research and education in the system sciences and systems engineering. ISR's main areas of research are artificial intelligence and machine learning; communications and security; control; energy; micro and nanosystems; neuroscience; operations research and manufacturing; robotics; and systems engineering.

Contact: Greg Muraski at [email protected]

SOURCE University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business

Related Links

http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu


Gov. Charlie Baker says $41 million in grant funds are now available for local food producers and distributors.

MassDOT Offering Municipal Grants to Outdoor Dining, Mobility



Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito explains the $5 million Safe Streets program to provide municipalities aid developing outdoor spaces and routes for the public and businesses. BOSTON  Towns and cities trying to aid businesses in reopening will have access to some $5 million in grants through the state Department of Transportation.

The grant program, in partnership with the Barr Foundation, is designed to address the Phase 2 reopening that allows restaurants to offer outside seating and other businesses to open their doors to limited access.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has created issues around safe mobility and physical distancing, said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito on Thursday at the governor's regular COVID-19 update, such as patrons being spaced apart when queuing up for retail and grocery stores.

"This is like the restaurant downtown on your main street that you might see opening outdoor dining in a parking lot or an apartment or using sidewalks," she said. "These funds will be directly available for a municipality to help these businesses create more comfortable and exciting spaces in your community so that people can get easily get to and enjoy the offerings at their local establishments."

The grants will range from $5,000 to $300,000 for municipalities to quickly launch, or expand improvements to sidewalks, curbs, streets, on-street parking spaces and off-street parking lots in support of public health, safe mobility and renewed commerce in their communities. The Barr Foundation will help with technical assistance and making out applications.

The grants can also be applied with the Safe Routes to School program as communities prepare schools for reopening with the expectation there may be more walking, biking or parent drop-offs to lower the number of children on buses.

Most municipalities have moved quickly to ease the reopening of restaurants that have seen their revenues drop when forced to close or only offer takeout options when the pandemic lockdown went into place in mid-March. While some eateries have outdoor dining options, many downtown spaces do not.

Locally, Moonlight Diner in Williamstown was able to block off part of its parking lot and Freight Yard Pub in North Adams its summer patio. The options are more limited for restaurants along business districts who have to utilize public spaces such as sidewalks and public parking lots.

"Cities may need jersey barriers in order to close off streets to make it a dining area, and then create a half-area for accessibility purposes and for mobility purposes," Polito said as an example of what the grants could be used for. "These are meant to be funds that are available quickly get into the hands of municipalities transition these spaces.

"We help restaurants, we help retail, we help the local downtown and main streets become active with more outdoor uses, which from the public health standpoint is really encouraged, So it's assistive, it's innovative, it's creative, but it's also an exciting opportunity for municipalities."

Shared Streets & Spaces is a 100-day program with applications being accepted from June 22 through Sept. 29 and projects must be mostly or completely implemented by Oct. 9. Preference will be given to projects that can be operational within 15-30 days of award, within Environmental Justice areas, and that show strong potential to be made permanent. The application is expected to available shortly.

The lieutenant governor's remarks came after a tour of the Great Boston Food Bank with its President Catherine D'Amato, Gov. Charlie Baker, Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders and Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides.

Baker said $41 million is now available to address urgent food insecurity for Massachusetts residents as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding come from $56 million being invested on the recommendation of the Food Insecurity Task Force that was announced last month.

"This public health emergency has heightened the concerns and the needs of many of our vulnerable families and communities," he said. "We recognize that this crisis has made things more difficult for families who are food insecure and is obviously increased the need in many communities across Massachusetts. There are many people and many families who've never called on places like the Greater Boston Food Bank for help before, but now they really need it. Increased demand underscores the importance of organizations like the Greater Boston Food Bank."

Some $36 million will be available through the Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program for farmers, fishermen, food cooperatives, local food systems, food banks and meal programs and school meal programs.

The balance of $5 million goes to the Healthy Incentives Program to help bring on board more agricultural vendors and "allow the administration to leverage federal SNAP funding."

Other programs include direct investment of $3 million to food banks and $12 million for 25,000 family food boxes (30-35 meals) distributed weekly throughout the state.

The governor described the House and Senate as "tremendous proponents on this issue for a very long time and they helped make many of these resources available."

"We'll continue to bring every resource that we can to bear here in the commonwealth is made of fighting COVID-19 will work with food security Task Force and our partners in the Legislature to continue to address food security issues going forward, and to ensure that every family and individual in the commonwealth has access to food," he said.
PHILADELPHIA, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, at the DIA 2020 Global Annual Meeting, executives from Signant Health will share insight on relevant topics related to the evolving clinical trial landscape during four scheduled speaker sessions scheduled to take place during the medical meeting. Company leaders will discuss topics including anomalies in data collection, eConsent in clinical trials, COVID-19 and patient reported outcomes, and translating endpoint data into valuable conclusions.

Executives from Signant Health will participate and share insights at the following sessions:

Detection of Anomalies in eCOA Data and Metadata for More Pre-Emptive, Evidence-Based Risk Management ( Jill Platko , PhD, Senior Scientific Advisor)  June 17 , 8 AM ET

o Exploring how anomalies can be detected in eCOA data and metadata. The discussion will also focus on improved risk-based approaches to monitoring clinical trials and encourage panelists to share experiences.

Electronic Informed Consent: Global Perspectives ( Mika Lindroos , Director, Product Management, eConsent)  On Demand

o Spotlighting relevant stakeholder experiences and perspectives on the use of electronic informed consent (eConsent) in clinical trials as well as the potential benefits that may be achieved in the consent process by using eConsent.

Older People Can't Use ePRO & Other Industry Myths ( Bill Byrom , PhD, VP, Product Strategy and Innovation)  On Demand

o Focusing on the use of electronic patient-reported outcomes, including identifying considerations for mixing modes in relation to mitigation strategies for trials affected by COVID-19.

Translating Frequently Collected Patient Experience Data into Meaningful Trial Endpoints (Byrom)  On Demand

o Describing the challenges of determining clinically meaningful endpoints from frequently collected patient experience data. The panel will also discuss considerations for translating this type of data into interpretable conclusions.

In addition to the speaker sessions, Signant Health's dedicated team of scientists, clinicians and subject-matter experts will be available within the Company's virtual booth. Attendees who stop by Signant Health's booth can enter a raffle for a chance to win a $100 gift card, ask consultative questions, get educated around the best ways to move trials remote, and take a closer look at the latest Signant Health clinical trial technology.

Signant Health also recently released a compendium of actionable white papers covering essential trial continuity topics authored by leading scientists, clinicians, technologists, and data experts  available at https://hub.signanthealth.com/covid-19/.

"COVID-19 has required Sponsors to adapt existing methodologies and implement remote solutions, and it is clear that there is much in front of us related to this challenge," said Bill Byrom, VP of Product Strategy and Innovation, Signant Health. "At Signant Health, we remain focused on deploying our people and our technologies to keep trials going and patients cared for while capturing the reliable data needed for regulatory submissions. At DIA 2020, our goal is to share how we are continuing to deliver patient solutions, including leveraging our technology platform, deep therapeutic and scientific knowledge, and operational expertise, to help Sponsors implement thoughtful and scalable solutions to keep patients engaged and involved in continuing clinical trials."

For more information about Signant Health's presence at the DIA 2020 Global Annual Meeting, please visit: https://hub.signanthealth.com/dia2020/.

About Signant Health

We provide technology to help you change lives (not how people live). For over 20 years, more than 400 sponsors and CROs of all sizes have trusted our patient solutions, clinical supplies platforms, and endpoint quality services to capture reliable data, run efficient trials, and uncover meaningful insights. With the goal of simplifying and shortening trials, we help guide customers through tough operational decisions while providing technology that's purpose built for patients and sites alike. Now, as we enter a new era of trials, Signant Health stands ready, offering customers remote trial features while unifying its TrialMax eCOA, eConsent, and patient engagement solutions onto a single device - all supported by a dedicated team of scientists, clinicians, and data experts. Signant Health, a Genstar portfolio company, was created by the merger of industry pioneers CRF Health and Bracket Global. Learn more at signanthealth.com.

SOURCE Signant Health
TDT | Manama

The First High Criminal Court recently adjourned a case involving two Bangladeshi men and two Indonesian women who are accused of forcing a housemaid into prostitution and restricting her freedom. The Court announced the next hearing to be on Tuesday next week to appoint defence attorneys and an interpreter.

According to the victim, who is an Indonesian domestic worker, the incident began in April of this year when she was persuaded by one of the female defendants to escape from her employers house. The victim said she was convinced after she was promised a job as a part-time housemaid with better pay.

The victim said she was taken to an apartment in Hoora in the Capital Governorate, where she was locked and forced to repeatedly have sex with different customers in return for pay which would be collected by one of the male defendants. This situation continued until one day she was able to contact the Indonesian Embassy in Bahrain to report her ordeal.

The Embassy immediately informed Hoora Police Station about the matter and a force of policewomen was deployed to further investigate the complaint. The force raided the apartment and was able to rescue the woman and arrest three of the suspectsone of the men and both women.

The prime suspect confessed in the interrogation that he has been working in Bahrain for 12 years and that he has been in an illicit relationship with one of the female defendants for five years. He said that he brought customers to have sex with his girlfriend for BD5.

The man told interrogators that the gang expanded after the other female defendant joined them in their illegal activities, while the second male defendant, who is still at large, facilitated them in bringing customers and promoting their activities.

gThe defendants are facing the charges of human trafficking, illegally restricting the freedom of the victim and forcing her to practice prostitution, depending on vice for a living and establishing and running a brothel.
Utico, one of the Middle East's leading full-service utility firms and the only private water and power company in the UAE, said it has reached an agreement with leading Singapore group Hyflux to extend the deadline of its restructuring agreement (RA) to June 30.



The extension with additional terms comes after Hyflux sent a letter requesting the extension early this month.



This action by Utico has also given certainty to the deal with shares and cash option. Along with asset rectification and remedy, Utico stated that this will build true all-round value for all parties at Hyflux, creditors, P&P, asset shareholders and lenders of Oman and Algeria IWP SPVs.



Utico has agreed with a primary requirement not to extend the moratorium beyond July 30, 2020, which is the current moratorium granted by the court, or make it shorter.



Utico has also asked the Hyflux board to step down immediately on scheme approval.



In another development, Utico said two interested parties had approached it to partner for acquisition of Hyflux and boost its growth. This could enhance Uticos premier market position even further, it added.



The Utico spokesman also said that the senior management is studying the propositions from the parties who have interests in GCC, UK, Singapore and Indonesia.



These propositions are for a deal to acquire shares at Utico Fzc which could value the company up to $1.5 billion.



The spokesperson said that right now Utico is comfortable to close this transaction on its own but will study the propositions as creditors, Hyflux, Singapore court and SGX move to close the scheme and get the stock traded.



Currently, only the Utico RA scheme is in the Singapore court, and the court has noted that the scheme recovery percentage to creditors and P&P has not changed from the November 26, 2019 RA which is the highest on offer.



Utico recently had announced that it is seeking a $500 million sukuk which the firm aims to close it later this year.



Stakeholders of Oman and Algeria assets are also currently actively discussing several options with Utico which could culminate in a deal soon, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
Delhi govt asks COVID-19 designated hospitals to make oxygen available

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, June 11: The Delhi government on Thursday issued an order directing all designated COVID-19 hospitals to make oxygen facility available on all of their beds. The decision has been taken in view of the surge in positive cases in Delhi in last one week.

The national capital reported 1,877 new Covid-19 cases in the highest single-day spike so far and 65 deaths due to the coronavirus infection, taking Delhi's total tally to 34,687 according to Delhi Health Department data.

Situation in Delhi horrendous, says SC, slams drop in testing

Delhi: Jama Masjid to remain shut till June 30th amid increasing cases of Coronavirus| Oneindia News

With 65 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, the capital's death toll has now climbed to 1,085. There are currently, 20,871 active coronavirus positive cases in the city.

At least, 12,731 patients have recovered from the highly infectious disease and been discharged from various hospitals in the capital. A total of 486 coronavirus patients were discharged in the last 24 hours.
Norway Mosque Attack Trial Defendant Philip Manshaus sits in a court room in Asker and Baerum district court in Sandvika, Norway, as he waits for the verdict on the last day of his trial, Thursday, Jun 11, 2020. The Norwegian man is charged with murder and terrorism in the killing of his stepsister and the storming of an Oslo mosque, and, according to a Norwegian prosecutor, should get the maximum 21 years in prison. (Hakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP, POOL)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  A white nationalist Norwegian who killed his stepsister and then stormed an Oslo mosque and opened fire, hitting no one, was found guilty Thursday and sentenced to 21 years in prison, the longest jail term under Norwegian law.

Philip Manshaus, who had said in court that he regretted not having caused more damage, has proven to be an extremely dangerous person, prosecutor Johan Oeverberg said as he demanded the maximum penalty.

On Aug. 10, 2019, Manshaus, 22, killed his 17-year-old stepsister, Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, by shooting her four times with a hunting rifle at their home in the Oslo suburb of Baerum. Ihle-Hansen was adopted from China as a 2-year-old and her mother later married Manshaus father.

Then he drove to a nearby mosque where three men were preparing for Eid al-Adha celebrations. Manshaus fired four shots from a rifle at the mosques glass door before he was overpowered by one of the men, Muhammad Rafiq. Manshaus wore a bulletproof vest and a helmet with a video camera in the attack and was armed with a hunting rifle and a shotgun.

Judge Annika Lindstroem of the Oslo District Court said Manshaus had plans to kill as many people as possible and set the mosque on fire.

He believed that Europe is under attack from people of ethnic origin other than his own and that the white race is on the brink of extinction, said Lindstroem, adding that Manshaus claimed he was acting in self-defense against the enemy.

In court, Manshaus confessed to the acts but called them emergency justice. Investigators found a photo of Adolf Hitler on his cell phone.

The judge said the sentence was a preventive detention, a special prison term in Norway for criminals considered dangerous to society.

The killing and the attack show what extremely violent and cynical actions Manshaus has the ability and willingness to carry out, she said during the detailed reading of the verdict online.

Lindstroem added that Manshaus was deemed mentally sane at the time.

Story continues

In a final comment after the sentencing, Manshaus said I dont confess my guilt, so I cant accept the judgment. That would be contradictory. He and his defense lawyer Unni Fries said they would consider whether to appeal.

The judge said Manshaus was inspired by shootings in March 2019 in New Zealand, where a gunman targeted two mosques, killing 51 people, and in August 2019 in El Paso, Texas, where an assailant targeted Hispanics and left at least 22 dead.

His plans and his reference to national socialism also recall the views of Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who in 2011 killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in Norway. Breivik, who gave a Nazi salute in the courtroom, is serving a 21-year prison sentence for carrying out a terror attack.
WEST NORRITON  Tuesdays online Board of Commissioners meeting marked a bittersweet occasion as West Norriton Chief of Police Dale Mabreys last official meeting.

For me its bittersweet Chief was the first person I got to hire when I became manager in July of 2012 and he became chief in January, 2013 when he replaced Chief (Bob) Adams, said township manager Jason Bopst. Hes been a great partner to me as a township manager but also someone I consider a friend. Chief and I had a long history even before I became manager, when I was working for a nonprofit doing transportation management in King of Prussia. He has run his department with the utmost respect of his members, members of the community and also the board that he has served under in his eight years.

Bopst said the township would properly honor Mabrey for his service and leadership in West Norriton at a later date.

Mabrey said he had celebrated his 41st anniversary with the department on June 4.

The job of police chief is constantly evolving, he said. Whats happening in this country now is a perfect example of that. I wouldnt say I loved every day of it but I never had a problem getting up for work. I love the township.

As a result of a prior executive session, the board approved president Marty Millers motion that Sgt. Steve Morris would be promoted to position of Deputy Chief, pending the outcome of a contract negotiation.

The board approved a motion to authorize advertising of bids for Padden Park Pavilion and Restroom Storage Project construction, with a design that expands upon the townships initiative to have as much accessible playground equipment as possible and will continue to make Padden Park the crown jewel of playgrounds in the township, Bopst said.

The Board voted to draft a previously discussed formal letter to be sent to the Montgomery County Commissioners in response to Commissioner Joe Gales remarks concerning Black Lives Matter.

Signed by Miller, President of Norristown Area School District Shae Ashe, East Norriton Supervisors Chairman Kevin McDevitt, and Norristown Council President Derrick Perry, the letter currently reads:

Our communities have faced some of the toughest obstacles the last several months that have tested the resiliency and strength of our constituents. We continue to fight a pandemic impacting the black and brown community  residents are asked to make significant sacrifices to flatten the curve. Just as things are beginning to return to a new normal, our countrys history of racism showed its ugly face with the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. As the country marches to end racism in America, our own community must do their part to put an end to the bigotry and racism. The Republican County Commissioners statement on rioting & looting in Philadelphia is dangerous and harmful to our community. While this is sadly still something that needs to be done all too frequently, this time it comes from an elected official who represents a county that, by itself, is more populous than four states.

We write this in regard to a statement, issued on county letterhead, by the Republican County Commissioner. There are too many instances of racism and bigotry to name specifically, from a person who usually uses the word Philadelphia with intent as racist shorthand for a place where people with dark skin live.

We denounce every word of this screed and stand with Commissioners Arkoosh and Lawrence in their call for unity. The first step towards moving towards a more united county, he must resign immediately.

The leadership of the Norristown Area School District, Norristown Borough, East Norriton Township, and West Norriton Township are united in the following beliefs: Black Lives Matter People must have their non-violent protests heard and seen without threat of reprisal from the police or military forces Our communities are strengthened by diversity of all types, including (but not limited to) race, gender, faith, age, political belief, gender identity, and disability.

We must do better to honor and respect our neighbors, both those we see when we look out our windows, and those in neighboring towns, counties, cities, and beyond. We must spot hateful speech and action, call it out and denounce it when we see it, and do our best to conduct ourselves with tolerance and consideration.

As recommended by the Planning Commission, the Board approved advertising a resolution updating townhouse construction requirements to correspond with the B-P Business and Professional Districts requirements; including a desire to amend Sections 27-301 to permit multiplex buildings, including townhouses, in the R-A District as a conditional use; and to amend Section 27-1402 regarding decks and patios to remove the reference to multiplex buildings since the new Section 27-608 standards include specific townhouse deck and patio requirements.

Townhouse units may be of the following types: front access with 2-car garage; front access with 1-car garage; alley access with 2-car garage; alley access with 2-car tandem garage; alley access with 1-car garage and non-garage. Front porches are permitted but shall not exceed 4 in depth, must have a roof or covering but cannot be fully enclosed. Patios and decks are permitted but shall not exceed 12 in depth but must be located in the rear or alley side and cannot be enclosed. If retaining walls are proposed, then segmental block walls or other similar design shall be used that are consistent with earth tone colors.

All townhouse development roads/alleys, stormwater facilities, sidewalks, landscaping and open space shall be privately maintained in perpetuity by a single entity or association.

The changes would create continuity among requirements for townhouses  also adding conditional use process to design and landscaping and giving the board more review, added Bopst.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Thursday said any of the service chiefs who is found to have performed less than expectations, despite adequate provisions, should be sacked.

Mr Lawans comment was made after the red chamber resolved to schedule a meeting between the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari and the nations service chiefs.

The senate president expressed concerns that the Senate has passed several resolutions on the insecurity in the country with all stakeholders carried along, but the issue has persisted.

The stand of the Senate should be that people who have performed in office should be allowed to stay in such office, he said.

His comment followed a point of order raised by Borno North senator, Abubakar Kyari, over the massacre of over 81 people in Gubio village, part of the district he represents, on Tuesday.

The killing of hundreds of people in the Borno communities and with the commitment of the rainy season, the land is insecure for farming.

READ ALSO:

The Senate, therefore, urged the federal government to deploy the armed forces and other security agencies to beef up personnel around the Lake Chad shores.

The red chamber also directed the National Emergency Management Agency and the North East Development Commission to send relief materials to the victims of the attack.

It also urged the FG to implement the Senate committees recommendations on the restructuring of the security makeup of the country to enhance efficiency.
Vietnam Airlines and its rivals have had no choice but to focus on domestic travel Photo: Le Toan

While cross-border flights remain all but stagnant, Vietnamese airlines have had no choice but to focus on the domestic market, in which Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways have opened new routes. The moves will go a little way towards helping the airlines and the local economy get back on their feet.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines announced last week that it would open six more domestic routes this month, connecting the northern port city of Haiphong and destinations in central and southern Vietnam including Phu Quoc, Dalat, Can Tho, and Buon Ma Thuot.

The airlines started reopening domestic routes nationwide early last month, after approval from the government and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV). Since April 23, Vietnam Airlines has transported more than half a million passengers on domestic routes. Flights on routes connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Danang have seen 90 per cent of their seats filled.

Meanwhile Bamboo Airways, which started its first commercial flight in January last year, has commenced domestic flights but only at 50 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity. Before the coronavirus hit, it operated 150 domestic flights per day.

From June 1, Bamboo Airways has increased flight frequency mainly on the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City route, among others, to 80 flights per day, and will aim for 120 flights from June 15. The airline plans to increase flights to Vinh and Quy Nhon in anticipation of the summer season.

Vo Huy Cuong, deputy director of the CAAV, informed that a number of domestic routes have reached 80 per cent of capacity compared to the peak during the Lunar New Year festivities. Normally, the domestic market peaks during the summer season from May to July. This year, if the summer break for students is extended, the aviation industry may have an opportunity to rebound strongly.

After the pandemic began to subside in Vietnam, airlines quickly moved to launch promotional packages with products such as flight cards and combos with various unprecedented attractive incentives to stimulate the tourism industry.

From July 1, Vietnam will grant e-visa to citizens of 80 countries  a pre-planned move that confused many who assumed that meant resumption of access into the country from that date. However, the country will have to wait a little longer until other nations catch up with the remarkable success of Vietnam in controlling the coronavirus.

Still, enterprises in Vietnamese aviation stand ready to resume international flights. Once other countries managed to control COVID-19 and remove entry restrictions and strict isolation requirements, we will resume international flights, said the CAAVs Cuong at a conference on aviation development held in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh last week. To ensure safety, security, and service quality to our customers is our first concern.

The Ministry of Transport recently requested the CAAV to submit a proposal on researching and reporting on the possibility of resuming international routes. The proposal will be submitted this week and forwarded to the prime minister for consideration and decision.

Although there is not yet an exact time for the reopening of international routes, we are still seeking solutions to recover some international routes. We now maintain international cargo arrivals and departures but still limit the entry of passengers, Cuong added.

Meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation Organization last week made predictions of expected opening times of some airports worldwide. As of May 31, over 70 countries and territories had set dates on attempting to open up international routes.

Many countries and territories will open their schedules in mid-June and at the latest early August, but uncertainties linger as governments fear second waves of COVID-19, or have to deal with other internal strifes. For example, alongside Vietnam, the United States has not decided official schedules for international flights, but September is being touted by some in the industry as a likely and hopeful time for the resumption of some cross-border routes.

While waiting for the correct time to bring new international flights, time will be taken to upgrade infrastructure. According to Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), the number of aircraft taking off and landing in Noi Bai International Airport has been reduced by about 50 per cent compared to the start of the year. With that in mind, repair and upgrade of runways and taxiways is being accelerated, especially at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports. ACV revealed in March that it needs VND1.88 trillion ($81 million) to improve the infrastructure of Tan Son Nhat and VND2.28 trillion ($100 million) to improve the infrastructure of Noi Bai.
The Trump administration and Israel coordinated the U.S. authorization of sanctions against the International Criminal Court announced Thursday during Secretary of State Mike Pompeos short visit to Jerusalem last month, Israeli officials tell me.

Why it matters: The prosecutor of the ICC had decided to open an investigation against Israel for alleged war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza pending a review by the court's judges. The judges will make a decision soon, and Israel is seeking to use U.S. sanctions to pressure them into shutting down the investigation.

Behind the scenes: Israeli officials tell me the plan to sanction the ICC was one of the main reasons for Pompeos trip to Israel. The discussion was kept to low profile by both sides and wasnt mentioned during the many briefings before and after the visit.

Israeli officials said Netanyahu brought to the meeting Yuval Steinitz, the minister who led the Israeli team that has worked on countering the ICC investigation.

During the meeting, Netanyahu and Steinitz urged Pompeo to move forward with sanctions against ICC officials.

In the weeks since the visit, the U.S. and Israel had continued their coordination on the issue. Israel was notified in advance of the content and timing of the U.S. sanctions, officials tell me.

The big picture: The U.S. move against the ICC was primarily a response to the court's investigation of alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan, but both the White House and Pompeo stressed in their statements today that the ICCs political persecution of Israel was a contributing factor.

Go deeper: International Criminal Court moves closer to investigation of Israel
An autistic boy who spent two nights lost in rugged bush at Mount Disappointment remains in hospital with a suspected broken foot and possibly an insect stuck in his ear.

William Callaghan spent the night at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital after surviving his freezing ordeal at the top of the treacherous mountain in Victoria's north.

His mum, Penny Callaghan, told a waiting media pack on Thursday her son's rescuer Ben Gibbs should have the mountain named after him.

William Callaghan, 14, (pictured) a teenager with non-verbal autism, went missing on Mount Disappointment in Victoria around 2.20pm on Monday

Ben Gibbs found William about 20 minutes hike to the summit of the mountain

Penny Callaghan (left), mother of William Callaghan, and Nathan Ezard prior to a press conference at the base camp at Mount Disappointment in Victoria on Wednesday

'I would love to give him a hug, I'm incredibly thankful,' Ms Callaghan said.

Mr Gibbs, who later described Mount Disappointment as his 'family mountain', found William about a 20 minute hike from the summit.

The local volunteer stumbled across William in dense bushland just a kilometre and a half from where search crews set up base camp.

'I had never seen scrub that thick in my years of SES volunteering,' Mr Gibbs told ABC.

'The terrain was steep and was slippery in a lot of circumstances, but the thickness meant you could not see more than four to five metres in front of you, so we had to search every square metre of that mountain.'

Ms Callaghan said: 'It was incredible to hear his family connection to the mountain.

'I would prefer the mountain to be named after him.'

Ms Callaghan revealed that doctors believe her son may have an insect stuck in his ear.

He may also need to have a cast fitted to his leg for a suspected broken foot.

'I don't know how he'll cope with that,' she said.

The 14-year old, who has autism and cannot speak, enjoyed his first feed of McDonald's last night, gorging himself on piles of french fries.

He also relaxed with a bit of Thomas The Tank Engine, which was what his rescuers had used to try and coax him out of the bush.

Ms Callaghan said an ear, nose and throat specialist would attempt to remove the insect from William's ear on Thursday.

'There are difficulties with that because he's not going to be compliant,' she said.

'He doesn't understand what's going on, why people are trying to touch him and poke him and prod him.'

Melburnians had shivered through the city's coldest morning since August 2018 on the night William went missing - the coldest June morning since 2015.

William had been enjoying a long weekend camping trip with his dad Phil and younger brother Robin when he took off.

As the teenager continues his amazing recovery in hospital, Australians remain fascinated as to how he managed to survive.

Mount Disappointment was named so after British explorers in 1824 made the summit in the hope of spotting Port Phillip Bay

Corbin Mundy, 17, and his dad pose for a photograph before joining the search for missing teenager William Callaghan at Mt Disappointment in Victoria

William had managed to avoid hypothermia despite the bitter cold on top of the mountain.

Ms Callaghan said it was fortunate William appeared to stay in the same area of bush he went missing from.

'What probably surprised me about him is that he stayed in the area ... he really didn't go too far. He was clearly waiting to be rescued,' she said.

Doctors have speculated it was likely due to his fitness and the resilience of children.

Before William was found, Ms Callaghan had told media her son was skinny, but otherwise quite active.

William was not dressed for the cold weather and had no food or water with him when he wandered off.

William Callaghan has a suspected broken foot and may have an insect stuck in his ear after his ordeal at the top of a mountain in Victoria

Rescuers had to search through thick scrub played William's favourite music in the hope he responded

When he was eventually found, he had discarded his shoes, was cold and alone.

Ms Callaghan described her son as a light sleeper, who was likely to be on the move if able.

'He's very vulnerable ... he's very much in the moment. He will be seeking you know food and shelter and warmth and comfort too,' she said.

'He loves his food... if someone is there he's not going to shy away from approaching someone for food. He won't ask them - he can't, he's non-verbal - so he won't, he might just try to grab it.'

His rescuer said William was thrilled to get his hands on the chocolate when he was found.

'He didn't seem bothered by me,' Mr Gibbs revealed. 'He was just happy to get the chocolate. I put some socks on him and a jacket, and after he ate half the chocolate bar I carried him out.'

William Callaghan after his rescue on Mount Disappointment on Wednesday

Mr Gibbs also discussed Thomas The Tank Engine with William to coax him from the bush. It is his favourite show.

On Wednesday, in the hours before William was found, the mother of an autistic child with similar characteristics explained what he might be going through in the bush.

'He wont understand to sit still and wait for rescuers, or to call out if theyre calling to him. They could be right near him and he wouldnt call back,' Donna Stolzenberg said.

'He wouldnt be thinking about consequences, only his immediate need of food and warmth ... these kids do not understand the concept or consequence of danger.

'They dont know that wandering away can result in their own death, and in the same way they dont know that reaching out to adults or calling for help could save them.'

Penny Callaghan outside the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne on Thursday morning

While some believe William's autism may have helped him survive the wilderness, Ms Stolzenberg was not so sure.

'His autism is what almost killed him. There are many people with autism who have hypotonia (low muscle tone) meaning they get exhausted easily and they find moving really tiresome,' she said.

'The fact William had stamina has little to do with his autism. His autism also meant he couldnt and wouldnt call out to rescuers who were probably right near him many times.

'It also meant he didnt understand he was in danger. Hes 14. He didnt know not to wander off and as soon as he was lost he didnt know what to do because he didnt know he was even in danger.'

More than 450 people, including hundreds of volunteers, had desperately combed rugged terrain surrounding the summit of Mount Disappointment.
TSX and OTCQX: MPVD

TORONTO AND NEW YORK, June 11, 2020 /CNW/ - Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. ("Mountain Province", or the "Company") (TSX: MPVD) (OTCQX: MPVD) today announces the completion of the previously proposed agreement to sell (the "Sale") U.S.$50,000,000 of diamonds to Dunebridge Worldwide Ltd. ("Dunebridge").

Pursuant to the agreement outlined in the press release of June 8th, 2020, the Company has received conditional consent from the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX"), and all its lenders to enter into the Sale agreement with Dunebridge. The TSX approval is conditional on meeting TSX requirements (or filing standard documentation with TSX). The first sale for approximately U.S.$ 22,000,000 is expected to occur on June 11th, 2020.

Full details of the agreement will be provided in the Company's upcoming second quarter 2020 ("Q2 2020") MD&A and financial statements, copies of which will be available on the Company's website, and under its profile on www.sedar.com.

Advisors and Counsel

In connection with this transaction, the Independent Committee was advised by its financial advisor Lazard Canada. Stikeman Elliott LLP acted as counsel to the Independent Committee and Bennett Jones LLP acted as counsel to the Company.

About the Company

Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada Inc. in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canada's Northwest Territories. The Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property consists of several kimberlites that are actively being mined, developed, and explored for future development. The Company also controls 67,164 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims and leases immediately adjacent to the Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property that include an indicated mineral resource at the Kelvin kimberlite and inferred mineral resources for the Faraday kimberlites.

For further information on Mountain Province Diamonds and to receive news releases by email, visit the Company's website at www.mountainprovince.com.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian and United States securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to operational hazards, including possible disruption due to pandemic such as Covid-19, its impact on travel, self-isolation protocols and business and operations, estimated production and mine life of the project of Mountain Province; the realization of mineral reserve estimates; the timing and amount of estimated future production; costs of production; the future price of diamonds; the estimation of mineral reserves and resources; the ability to manage debt; capital expenditures; the ability to obtain permits for operations; liquidity; tax rates; and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for statements of historical fact relating to Mountain Province, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates," "may," "can," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "targets," "intends," "likely," "will," "should," "to be", "potential" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "should" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Mountain Province and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include the development of operation hazards which could arise in relation to Covid-19, including, but not limited to protocols which may be adopted to control the spread of Covid-19 and any impact of such protocols on Mountain Province's business and operations, variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in market conditions, changes in project parameters, mine sequencing; production rates; cash flow; risks relating to the availability and timeliness of permitting and governmental approvals; supply of, and demand for, diamonds; fluctuating commodity prices and currency exchange rates, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated.

These factors are discussed in greater detail in Mountain Province's most recent Annual Information Form and in the most recent MD&A filed on SEDAR, which also provide additional general assumptions in connection with these statements.Mountain Province cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking statements should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail.Mountain Province believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release.

Although Mountain Province has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.Mountain Province undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered as the property is developed.

Further, Mountain Province may make changes to its business plans that could affect its results. The principal assets of Mountain Province are administered pursuant to a joint venture under which Mountain Province is not the operator.Mountain Province is exposed to actions taken or omissions made by the operator within its prerogative and/or determinations made by the joint venture under its terms. Such actions or omissions may impact the future performance of Mountain Province. Under its current note and revolving credit facilities Mountain Province is subject to certain limitations on its ability to pay dividends on common stock. The declaration of dividends is at the discretion of Mountain Province's Board of Directors, subject to the limitations under the Company's debt facilities, and will depend on Mountain Province's financial results, cash requirements, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1179357/Mountain_Province_Diamonds_Inc__Mountain_Province_Diamonds_compl.jpg
Green.

Was there ever a time when the color, or the word, or its present implication as an active verb, seemed as sweet as now?
Five days after the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police, and as protests were sweeping the country, Gary Eisen, the Michigan representative from the 81st District, posted a photo and a 65-word message on his personal Facebook page.

I was at my shop this morning working, and an older guy came in, Eisen posted on May 30. We started talking about the protesters and the riots. He said, You know all those protesters are liberals. I said, How do you know that? He said, Liberals look for trouble and civil unrest, and conservatives PREPARE for it. Hmm, so I thought maybe I will load up a few more mags

A photo showing a box of target ammunition, six bullets and nine magazines  devices to feed bullets to repeating weapons  accompanied the post.

The response was fast and furious.

This is a horrible post, said one woman. I cant believe as a state representative you think this is appropriate. I hope you dont get reelected in the primary in August. With a response like this you dont deserve to serve the people of Michigan.

Please tell me, Mr. Eisen, how does one prepare to have the life squeezed out of them in the street by four members of law enforcement? posted another woman.

Many supported Eisen.

I wish Kent County had someone like you representing our interests, wrote one man. After this weekend you better believe I stocked up on ammo. Better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it.

Eisens post made news far and wide.

Lawmaker defends photo of loaded magazines in post on protests, wrote The Detroit News on June 3. Michigan lawmaker posts picture of firearms amid George Floyd protests, read the headline of the New York Post on the same day. Eisens Facebook post draws backlash, reported the Port Huron Times Herald on June 4.

By June 9, Eisen sounded as if he wished he could retract the post or at least not include the photo, which was likely the most provocative component of the post.

I kind of said it in jest, said Eisen from his office across from the Capitol in Lansing. I never mentioned black people in it. Maybe it was bad timing. If I could take it back and reword it, I would.

The vehemence and threats contained in some of the responses took Eisen aback.

Its not right. Im not an evil person, he said. Im not that person theyre making me out to be. Ive never been a racist a day in my life.

He said the video of the Floyd killing upset him.

I felt so bad watching that happen, Eisen said.

I have nothing against protesting, he said. Its about rioting, violence, fire-bombing. Breaking the law. Thats what Im against.

Eisen sees himself as person who has helped people all his life  repairing hay balers for farmers, instructing people in the use of firearms and teaching people of all races how to defend themselves using martial arts.

A Republican, Eisen lives in St. Clair Township and represents one of the most gerrymandered districts in the state. The 81st District is shaped like a huge apostrophe, starting in Berlin Township on the west side of St. Clair County, moving north through Mussey and Lynn townships, east through Brockway, Greenwood and Grant townships, south though Clyde Township, east again to pick up Port Huron Township  but not the city of Port Huron  and south through the cities of Marysville, St. Clair, Marine City and Algonac; the district picks up some of St. Clair Township, as well as the townships of China, East China, Cottrellville and Clay. The 81st outlines the 32nd District, which is shaped like a giant cross.

Eisen may want to rephrase his post, but he knows who he is.

Im a very conservative person, trained in martial arts, very in touch with self-defense, said Eisen, a welder by training. Im the only skilled tradesman on the floor of the house. One of the few seniors. The only licensed firearms instructor.

He brings a valuable, unique set of experiences, orientations and skills to the legislature, he said.

He can move only so far.

To this day, I dont think I did anything wrong, Eisen said. People are reading too much into it.

No matter how bad the death of Floyd was, does that give people the right to burn down your house? Eisen asked. If I was burning down your house, would you try to stop me? I worked 42 years building a life, a house, a family.

Jim Bloch is a freelance writer. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters

The Trump administration has launched an economic and legal offensive on the international criminal court in response to the courts decision to open an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan carried out by all sides, including the US.

Related: Top general Mark Milley apologizes for part in Trump's church photo-op  live

The US will not just sanction ICC officials involved in the investigation of alleged war crimes by the US and its allies, it will also impose visa restrictions on the families of those officials. Additionally, the administration declared on Thursday that it was launching a counter-investigation into the ICC, for alleged corruption.

The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, national security adviser, Robert OBrien, defence secretary, Mark Esper and attorney general, William Barr, gave a presentation on the decision at the state department, but then left without taking any questions.

Barr made clear that this was the beginning of a sustained campaign against the ICC, and that Thursdays measures were just an important first step in holding the ICC accountable for exceeding its mandate and violating the sovereignty of the United States.

The US government has reason to doubt the honesty of the ICC. The Department of Justice has received substantial credible information that raises serious concerns about a long history of financial corruption and malfeasance at the highest levels of the office of the prosecutor, Barr said.

He referred to the ICC as little more than a political tool employed by unaccountable international elites.

The ICC responded on Thursday night with a statement expressing profound regret at the announcement of further threats and coercive actions.

These attacks constitute an escalation and an unacceptable attempt to interfere with the rule of law and the Courts judicial proceedings, the statement said. They are announced with the declared aim of influencing the actions of ICC officials in the context of the courts independent and objective investigations and impartial judicial proceedings.

Story continues

An attack on the ICC also represents an attack against the interests of victims of atrocity crimes, for many of whom the Court represents the last hope for justice.

Judges at the ICC gave the green light in March to an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan, and began an investigation into crimes by Israeli and Palestinian forces in December. In his remarks, Pompeo made clear the US sanctions were also aimed at defending Israel.

Given Israels robust civilian and military legal system and strong track record of investigating and prosecuting wrongdoing by military personnel, its clear the ICC is only putting Israel in his crosshairs for nakedly political purposes, Pompeo said.

Human rights activists say that the Israel Defence Forces have operated with virtual impunity in the West Bank and Gaza.

The secretary of state urged other ICC members to join its campaign against the court.

We cannot, we will not, stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court, Pompeo said, warning US allies: Your people could be next, especially those from Nato countries who fought terrorism in Afghanistan right alongside of us.

David Bosco, who wrote a book on the ICC, Rough Justice: The International Criminal Court in a World of Power Politics, said: I think this is as much directed at the looming Palestine situation as it is at the Afghanistan investigation. The executive order clearly allows for sanctions against ICC personnel who investigate US allies who have not consented to the courts jurisdiction.

Bosco, an associate professor at Indiana University, added: The actual effect on the courts Afghanistan investigation will probably not be significant. That investigation faces many logistical and evidentiary obstacles already and will take years to complete.

Israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the move, describing the Hague-based court as politicised and obsessed with carrying out a witch-hunt against Israel and the United States.

But the Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok said he was very disturbed by the news.

Very disturbed by the United States measures against the @IntlCrimCourt. We call on the US not to sanction ICC staff. The Netherlands fully supports the ICC and will continue to do so. The ICC is crucial in the fight against impunity and in upholding international rule of law.  Stef Blok (@ministerBlok) June 11, 2020

The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the decision, arguing that Trump was playing directly into the hands of authoritarian regimes by intimidating judges and prosecutors committed to holding countries accountable for war crimes.

Trumps sanctions order against ICC personnel and their families  some of whom could be American citizens  is a dangerous display of his contempt for human rights and those working to uphold them. We are exploring all options in response, the ACLU said.

The ICC was set up in 2002, as an attempt to extend the effort to impose international humanitarian law for war crimes and crimes against humanity begun by the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Over 120 countries, including Washingtons closest allies in Europe, are party to the Rome statute, the founding document of the ICC. Bill Clinton signed for the US in 2000, but said the statute would not be sent to the Senate for ratification until the US had assessed the courts operations.

George W Bush informed the UN in 2002 that the US would not join the court.
On the eve of his 100th birthday, Charles Mills of Pearland wonders why Americans havent made more progress toward racial harmony.

The Galveston native, who served in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II, said that in 1937 when we set up the National Maritime Union, our bylaws and constitution outlawed (racial) segregation. I thought the country would have picked up on that.

However, the recent protests and unrest following the death of George Floyd underscore a division between whites and blacks that Mills had thought would have been resolved by now.

Avenue K dividing line in Galveston

I grew up in a neighborhood on Galvestons East End, where on one side of Avenue K, black families lived, and on the other side, from H to 16th Street, white families lived, said Mills, who is African American.

We lived in harmony; the kids played together, said Mills, who was born on June 18, 1920.

However, when the children got old enough to go to school, The white kids got bused seven blocks away, but the black kids went a block away to a school at 19th and Broadway.

It didnt mean much to me, said Mills, who graduated in 1938 from Central High School.

In February 1937, Mills began working part-time as a seaman with the Merchant Marine, and that position led to a lifetime career.

During the war, thousands of Merchant Marine members were killed while transporting weapons, people and material as German U-boats attacked merchant ships.

In 1946, Mills was elected to represent merchant seamen in the National Maritime Union.

Instead of keeping me here, they moved me to New York, where there was damn little segregation, said Mills.

Next, he transferred to Baltimore in 1952, where he was in charge of the labor organizations contract division.

In 1962, Mills was sent to Houston to train personnel on a temporary basis, but a redesign of the unions operations offered him the opportunity to stay in Houston with a permanent position that served members of the union from Brownsville to Lake Charles, La.

He accepted the job, despite his reservations about the difference in race relations back east and in Texas.

I wasnt prepared to come back and bring my family, said Mills.

His family included his late wife, Wilhelmina; daughter Yvette Mills Miles of Houston; son Charles A. Mills Jr., an ex-U.S. Marine who now lives in California; and the late Wilhelmina Mills Jr.

Not ready for the rocking chair

Charles Mills retired from the National Maritime Union in 1989, and he and his wife moved to Country Place, a Pearland community for people age 55 and up.

But he was not ready for the rocking chair, said his neighbor, Sandra Eliason.

He continued to look for ways to improve life in his new community, she said. He studied state law regarding how to legally block access on public streets for the security of a neighborhood. He organized a group who took the proposal to (Brazoria County) Commissioners Court in Angleton, and they obtained permission to construct a security gate.

The only condition, Eliason said, was they had to install the two hitching posts, which still stand at the gate to comply fully with state law.

Mills served for 13 years as director of security at Country Place.

He remains an active member of the Pearland Masonic Lodge, Blue Ridge United Methodist Church, Scouts BSA, American Merchant Marines and American Legion.

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be contacted at donmaines@att.net
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks at her weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill on June 11, 2020. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Lack of Child Care Poses Challenge to Labor Market Recovery

WASHINGTONU.S. businesses are urging Congress to take action on the child care sector, which is on the brink of collapse amid the pandemic.

A group of 41 state and local chambers of commerce throughout the country sent a letter to Congress on June 10, urging lawmakers to provide assistance to child care facilities in the next stimulus bill.

To ensure that more Americans can quickly return to work and to support our nations overall economic recovery, Congress should provide timely, targeted, and temporary emergency assistance to licensed childcare centers and homes, the letter stated.

Child care is a critical component of the workforce infrastructure, and millions of Americans rely on child care centers to return to work, as states gradually lift their stay-at-home orders.

During the lockdown, thousands of day care facilities were closed by decree or due to low demand. But some have remained open only for the children of essential workers.

The letter stated that most child care facilities are either small or very small businesses and often run by women and women of color.

In addition, the child care industry, especially home-based providers, faced serious challenges in accessing the Paycheck Protection Program, a coronavirus relief program designed to help struggling small businesses during the crisis.

Approximately one-quarter of child care providers received PPP loans, according to a survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children released in May.

Speaking at a press conference on June 11, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that it is not safe to open child care centers until the states ensure that they are safe to open.

However, she noted that in an eminently future bill, we have to do something very, very significant in terms of child care.

As that letter indicates this is central to womens participation in the workforcewhether as a job or equity and ownership of a small business. And it cant happen unless we have this key to it all, which is quality, affordable, safe child care for our children, she said.

This will get very big attention.

Due to child care and school closures, many parents have been forced to look after their children during the daytime. Republicans worry that if school openings are delayed, it will be a blow to the jobs market and the broader economy.

President Donald Trump earlier said that he expected schools to reopen in the fall.

Child care is a real concern and also education of our children is of great concern, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said at a June 11 press conference.

Whatever legislation we produce, we want to make sure we have data that it actually is helpful.

McCarthy raised concerns about a delayed uptick in COVID-19 cases because of nationwide protests.

That could harm child care coming forward, that could harm schools opening back up. So these are all things we take into consideration, he said, adding that a lot of decision also has to be made by the governors themselves.

He also criticized the $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed by House Democrats.

They were very concerned about cannabis. It mentioned cannabis more than jobs, he said.

According to a Wall Street Journal article published in May, many child care centers typically operate on thin margins and face financial troubles when enrollment falls below 85 percent. Nearly 9 million day care slots are normally available in the United States, which is fewer than normal demand, according to the article. So any loss of capacity will put additional pressure on parents if child care centers begin shutting their doors permanently.

The child care sector is collapsing due to this unprecedented crisis, the Early Care and Education Consortium (ECEC), which represents 6,000 large child care centers across the country, stated in a report.

According to the trade association, ECEC members saw a 75 percent drop in enrollment due to stay-at-home orders.

This has resulted in the closure of 75 percent of schools, representing $1.5 billion in annual rent, mortgage payments, real estate taxes, and other fixed cost obligations that we are unable to meet without federal assistance, the report states.

The child care sector serves more than 11 million families in the United States, and 65 percent of children under 6 have both parents in the workforce.
A self-styled preacher, Prophet Kwabena Owusu Agyei who was recently arrested for threatening and castigating President Akufo-Addo and the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa has been remanded.



In a video which is widely circulated on social media, the Prophet was arrested at what appears to be his home (coded location) during a live interview with Accra based Hot FM.



In another video that came after the arrest, the prophet was seen in handcuff holding a substance suspected to be Indian Hemp wrapped in a brown paper; reportedly found in his bag.



The Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Kweku Baako in a panel discussion on Peace FM morning show 'Kokrokoo', had an interesting remark.



Watch his reaction below





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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And we certainly did not single out two people and keep them from covering local protests because they were black, he continued. That is an outrageous lie  a defamation, in fact.

After referring to a propaganda campaign against this newspaper, Mr. Burris wrote: What our editors did do was remind colleagues of a longstanding canon of journalism ethics: When you announce an opinion about a person or story you are reporting on you compromise your reporting. And your editor may take you off the story.

Michael A. Fuoco, a Post-Gazette reporter and the president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, said Mr. Burris had the facts wrong. We dispute virtually everything that he says, he said.

Speaking of the newspapers leaders, Mr. Fuoco added, They seem to think that racism is only shown by burning crosses. This piece today shows how insidious institutional and systemic racism can be where you think that your actions are normal and just, when they traumatize and marginalize black people.

Mr. Fuoco said in an earlier interview that, in his view, the newspapers treatment of Ms. Johnson and Mr. Santiago reflected a bias at the companys top level. You would hope this was an aberration, a mistake, he said. We dont see it as such. We see it as part of their DNA.

In his column, Mr. Burris referred to Ms. Johnson as a reporter who covers social media, normally. She disputed that characterization on Twitter on Wednesday, saying that she was a general assignment reporter and linking to articles she had written on other topics; she also said that social media was a large part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In an interview, Ms. Johnson said she thought her background made her the ideal candidate to cover the protests. She grew up in Pittsburgh. Her father is a retired state trooper and her mother is a retired probation officer.
HOUSTON, June 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Media Advisory  TC Energy Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TC Energy) and the TC Energy Foundation are proud to announce the donation of US$50,000 to the University of Houstons College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) to support a summer program that enables high school students interested in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) majors to prepare for the transition to college. The intensive, nine-week program, TC Energy Summer Scholars Academy , kicked off on June 9 and provides support to 50 students, many of whom are the first generation in their family to attend college.



Technology is evolving at a rapid pace  now more than ever, it is critical that students receive exposure to STEM and develop skills that are in high demand, said Stanley Chapman III, TC Energys Executive Vice President & President U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines.

TC Energy is proud to partner with the University of Houston to offer the Summer Scholars Academy and support a uniquely diverse group of students in pursuit of a STEM education that will prepare them to be future innovators in the workforce.

The TC Energy Summer Scholars Academy recruits outstanding high school students interested in science, technology, engineering, or math majors but who have SAT scores indicating they may not be math-ready for entry into their program of choice. The program provides students an opportunity to earn Calculus I credit and ensures they are both math-ready and college-ready as they enter their chosen degree programs in the fall.

The students invited to participate are really good students, but their academic preparation may not have been rigorous enough to get them ready for what is going to come at them in college-level STEM courses, said Donna Pattison, NSM Assistant Dean for Student Success. Special attention is paid during the recruiting process to reach out to students from low-performing high schools.

This program brings together the coursework, technology and sense of community that is essential for these students to succeed, Pattison said.

The donation provides scholarships and technology needed for online learning. In the fall, participants also receive ongoing support through NSMs Scholar Enrichment Program which includes cooperative learning groups, tutoring and workshops for STEM courses.

At TC Energy, were committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in our workplaces and our communities. We support programs and organizations, like NSMs Scholar Enrichment Program, that promote equity and equality and contribute to a more inclusive future.

Learn more at tcenergy.com/community-investment.

About TC Energy

We are a vital part of everyday life - delivering the energy millions of people rely on to power their lives in a sustainable way. Thanks to a safe, reliable network of natural gas and crude oil pipelines, along with power generation and storage facilities, wherever life happens  were there. Guided by our core values of safety, responsibility, collaboration and integrity, our more than 7,300 people make a positive difference in the communities where we operate across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

TC Energys common shares trade on the Toronto (TSX) and New York (NYSE) stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. To learn more, visit us at TCEnergy.com .

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic- and Asian-American-Serving institution with enrollment of more than 46,000 students.

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(Natural News) In a shocking display of hypocritical self-unawareness, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook had the audacity to call out Twitter the other day for adding warning labels to President Trumps tweets, even as Facebook itself rampantly censors posts and shuts down pages that are deemed offensive.

Just as the George Floyd case was really starting to rile up the rioters, Zuckerberg came out in open condemnation of Twitter, likening the platforms behavior to a tyrant trying to be an arbiter of truth. Unlike Facebook, Twitter has now decided to fact-check Trumps content, which is a first for Big Tech.

We have a different policy than, I think, Twitter on this, Zuckerberg is quoted as saying during a recent segment on Fox News The Daily Briefing.

I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldnt be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online, Zuckerberg added. Private companies probably shouldnt be, especially these platform companies, shouldnt be in the position of doing that.

Zuckerbergs statements followed an announcement by Trump on Twitter that he would be pursuing the platform for exhibiting clear political bias.

Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election, Trump wrote in a follow-up tweet after he was fact-checked.

They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post.

Listen below to The Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, warns that there cannot be legitimate elections this fall without free speech:

Twitter has yet to fact-check Trumps tweet about Martin Gugino

With the direction Twitter has been going lately, it is a bit of a shock that the platform did not fact-check one of Trumps latest tweets about 75-year-old Martin Gugino, the protester who supposedly cracked his skull on the cement after an encounter with police in Buffalo, New York.

Trump tweeted that Gugino might be an Antifa provocateur because he was seen carrying black-out equipment that appears to have been meant to interfere with police communications. Trump also pointed out that Gugino fell harder than he was pushed, and suggested that the whole thing could have been a set up.

Since even the official George Floyd narrative is questionable at best, it would hardly be a surprise to learn that the Gugino incident was also staged. It is interesting that whoever just so happened to be filming Guginos encounter with police conveniently did not capture the mans fall as it happened, among other anomalies.

By all appearances, Gugino was probably a crisis actor who was in just the right place at just the right time to grab the next round of mainstream media headlines suggesting that all cops are evil monsters who go around splitting open old peoples skulls for fun.

That Twitter has thus far left Trumps conspiracy theory tweet about Gugino alone could be related to Zuckerbergs chastising of the company over its interference with Trumps earlier tweets. Or perhaps the censors are simply unable to come up with a formidable rebuttal to Trumps suggestions.

Whatever the case may be, it is becoming painfully obvious that more and more people are simply not buying the fairy tales that the mainstream media is telling them. Try as they might to control the narrative, the information gatekeepers can only go so far with their fact-checks before they out themselves as propagandists.

As were discovering more and more by the day, every narrative pushed by the Left is a fraud, warns Adams. Every victim of police brutality, it seems, is a crisis actor. And every viral video that spreads like wildfire across social media turns out to be a lie.

To keep up with the latest news about Big Tech censorship, be sure to check out Censorship.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com

Twitter.com

NaturalNews.com
You may not have heard of revenge shopping, but on Friday you might be doing some of it.

Indeed, Northern Ireland retailers are fervently hoping you will be doing quite a lot of it - and that this 'new normal' phenomenon will cure them from the coronavirus blues.

Unlike the curious case of the heaving pre-lockdown shopping trolley, however, it will not be toilet paper, pasta or cleaning products which rescue the high street.

Rather, salvation will come if consumers dig deep and buy big to make up for three months of lost in-store time.

Small 'non-essential' shops and shopping centres reopen on Friday, with those retailers who have been given an eagerly-awaited reprieve pushing up their shutters in the hope of a bounce-back that will boost their coffers.

Over in China - origin not only of the deadly pandemic, but the feverish high street activity that followed the virus being brought under control - retail is experiencing a revival in tandem with renewed consumer confidence.

There, reports abound of so-called revenge shopping, where recently isolated people who were starved of shops during the dark days of lockdown have opened up their purses once more.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close General view of shoppers at the Top Shop store in the Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers queuing for the opening of JD Sports. Photo Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers in Victoria Square. Photo Pacemaker Press Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th June 2020 - General view of shoppers at the Castlecourt shopping centre in Belfast. Non-essential retailers in Northern Ireland have now reopened after being forced to shut at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March. It is part of a number of lockdown measures lifted by the Northern Ireland Executive. Large retailers have already opened, but, on Thursday, the executive confirmed that shopping centres and small shops could reopen for business. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th June 2020 - John Keenan, owner of Bogart Menswear shop in Belfast, measures up a customer inside his Belfast city centre store. Non-essential retailers in Northern Ireland have now reopened after being forced to shut at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March. It is part of a number of lockdown measures lifted by the Northern Ireland Executive. Large retailers have already opened, but, on Thursday, the executive confirmed that shopping centres and small shops could reopen for business. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th June 2020 - Simon Anderson prepares for customers at the Remus Uomo store in the Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast. Non-essential retailers in Northern Ireland have now reopened after being forced to shut at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March. It is part of a number of lockdown measures lifted by the Northern Ireland Executive. Large retailers have already opened, but, on Thursday, the executive confirmed that shopping centres and small shops could reopen for business. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers in Victoria Square. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Paddy McAleer leaves Dunnes. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers in Victoria Square. Photo Pacemaker Press Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th June 2020 - General view of the Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast. Non-essential retailers in Northern Ireland have now reopened after being forced to shut at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March. It is part of a number of lockdown measures lifted by the Northern Ireland Executive. Large retailers have already opened, but, on Thursday, the executive confirmed that shopping centres and small shops could reopen for business. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers queue for Dunnes Stores. Photo Pacemaker Press Shops reopen in Northern Ireland PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Paddy McAleer leaves Dunnes. Photo Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers in Victoria Square. Photo Pacemaker Press Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th June 2020 - General view of shoppers at the Top Shop store in the Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast. Non-essential retailers in Northern Ireland have now reopened after being forced to shut at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March. It is part of a number of lockdown measures lifted by the Northern Ireland Executive. Large retailers have already opened, but, on Thursday, the executive confirmed that shopping centres and small shops could reopen for business. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers queuing for the opening of JD Sports. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shops getting ready to reopen in Victoria Square. Photo Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers in Victoria Square. Photo Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers in Victoria Square. Photo Pacemaker Press Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th June 2020 - David Torrans, owner of the No Alibis book store on Botanic Avenue, Belfast pictured as they re-open for business this morning. Non-essential retailers in Northern Ireland have now reopened after being forced to shut at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March. It is part of a number of lockdown measures lifted by the Northern Ireland Executive. Large retailers have already opened, but, on Thursday, the executive confirmed that shopping centres and small shops could reopen for business. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Paddy McAleer leaves Dunnes. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Police on patrol in Belfast today. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers queuing for the opening of JD Sports. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton Shops reopen in Northern Ireland 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. John Keenan for Bogart measures a customer through his adopted screen at his Anne street store Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. John Keenan for Bogart measures a customer through his adopted screen at his Anne street store Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Paddy McAleer leaves Dunnes. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. John Keenan for Bogart measures a customer through his adopted screen at his Anne street store Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers in Victoria Square. Photo Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Photo Pacemaker Press Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 12th June 2020 - John Keenan, owner of Bogart Menswear shop in Belfast, measures up a customer inside his Belfast city centre store. Non-essential retailers in Northern Ireland have now reopened after being forced to shut at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March. It is part of a number of lockdown measures lifted by the Northern Ireland Executive. Large retailers have already opened, but, on Thursday, the executive confirmed that shopping centres and small shops could reopen for business. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press E PACEMAKER PRESS BELFAST 12/6/2020 Shoppers battled rainy weather today as BelfastOs non-essential shops opened their doors for the first time since the start of lockdown. Pictured: Shoppers queuing. Photo Pacemaker Press 12th June 2020 Shops in Belfast city prepare to open today after local government gave the ok after restrictions were eased after the Covid 19 pandemic. Photo by Stephen Hamilton Stephen Hamilton / Facebook

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Whatsapp General view of shoppers at the Top Shop store in the Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast.

In Guangzhou the Hermes store saw the biggest single-day shopping at a luxury outlet, taking 2.1m in sales of the French brand on its opening day two months ago.

There is a similar term - 'revenge spending' - which refers to an over-indulgence in retail therapy by consumers who have missed shopping in their favourite outlets due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Is this a trend we could see emerging here?

And will it save our shattered retail sector?

In these uncertain times there is no way to say for sure, but there is likely to be a hearty appetite for the in-store experience after months of deprivation.

Initially, people will want to flock to the shops for some of the feelgood factor they have missed so much.

But their expenditure will depend on how the new retail world lives up to their expectations.

Can clothes be tried on? How long are the queues? Can you grab a coffee or, perhaps more importantly, access toilets afterwards?

Then consider the economics of it all.

Households where people have held onto their jobs will be able to splash the cash.

However, lots of consumers, especially the unemployed, people on low incomes or those who find themselves on a precarious footing work-wise, will want to save their money for necessities.

Another issue for Northern Ireland's retail revival is childcare.

Without support from Stormont capacity will collapse and prices will most likely go through the roof. So how will parents, who already pay so much for nurseries and childminders, be able to cope with the increased costs?

Shops reopening without childcare provisions in place is, of course, an issue in itself because who is going to have time to do any real-life shopping?

They may continue to do what a lot of people have been doing throughout the pandemic - and that is to spend their money online.

Clearly, consumers here are at a crossroads.

While revenge spending and revenge shopping are both signposted, they may nevertheless lead to entirely different destinations.
European police busted an illegal streaming ring that provided service to 2 million people and was so sophisticated that it had its own customer-service team.

The criminal network operated for over five years and offered more than 40,000 channels, movies, documentaries and other content, according to European police coordination agency Europol.

The scale of the operation shows how the big streaming platforms still struggle to deal with content theft as criminals find new ways to hack their anti-piracy systems.

The group offered a technical assistance service and high standards of quality control, earning an estimated 15 million euros ($17 million) through PayPal payments, bank transfers and cryptocurrencies, the agency said.

The threat to legal streaming may grow if Netflix Inc., Walt Disney Co. and others gradually raise prices in coming years to capitalize on their fast-growing subscriber bases and viewers seek out cheaper, illegal alternatives.

The background threat of piracy means that the subscription video-on-demand services will have the ongoing threat of piracy as a pricing factor, Midia Research analyst Tim Mulligan said by email.

The group operated mainly out of Spain, said Eurojust, an agency that oversees cooperation on judicial matters. Police forces made 15 house searches across Europe and arrested 11 people. Eurojust said 50 servers were taken down in nine countries.

A property, luxury cars and jewellery, cash and cryptocurrencies were seized for a total value of about 4.8 million euros, Europol said. Another 1.1 million euros was frozen in various bank accounts.

Now read: DStv Explora to get Netflix and Amazon
Chennai, June 11 : In a tragic incident, a six-year-old boy died after a gelatine stick exploded in his mouth as he thought it was a snack and bit into it near Trichirappalli district, said police.

The police have arrested three persons in this connection.

According to Trichy police, the boy B. Vishnu Dev was the son of Bhoopathi.

Bhoopathi's elder brother Gangadharan had bought three gelatine sticks from a stone quarry manager. The gelatine sticks were to be used for catching fish in the Cauvery river.

The boy had gone to Gangadharan's place on Tuesday and mistook the gelatine for a snack and bit it. The gelatine exploded in the boy's mouth, police said.

The boy died on way to the hospital and fearing police, the family cremated the body without informing the authorities.

However, on a tip-off the police arrested Gangadharan, his friend Mohanraj and the stone quarry manager.

Recently, Tamil Nadu Forest Department had arrested 12 gypsies for killing a jackal in a Trichy village by packing explosives in meat and blowing up its mouth when it took a bite.

The 12 men had gone to collect honey in a village and found a jackal roaming around. In order to hunt it for its meat and its teeth, the gypsies had packed explosives inside meat pieces and strewn them at several places that the jackal frequents.

Recently in Kerala, a pregnant elephant was killed when it ate fruit packed with explosives, provoking nationwide outrage.
Citrix Systems, Inc. CTXS recently announced that its Virtual Apps and Desktops have been deployed by Jordan Kuwait Bank (or JKB) across its branches in Jordan and Cyprus.



The companys remote work solutions are enabling JKB employees to seamlessly deliver financial services and aid clients to administer crucial imports amid countrywide lockdowns.



Moreover, Citrix Application Delivery Controller (ADC) infrastructure is allowing the functioning of Virtual Apps and Desktops in a secure manner and supporting JKBs customer base.



JKBs IT team is leveraging Citrixs solutions to offer on-demand apps and desktops to any required device and facilitate the new normal methods of remote work.



Citrixs comprehensive digital workspace solutions enables enterprises to boost business productivity amid coronavirus crisis-triggered work-from-home trends.



Expanding international clientele is expected to drive revenues in the quarters ahead and boost investor optimism in the stock.









Notably, shares of Citrix have gained 26.4% year to date, outperforming the industrys rally of 15.2%.



Growth Prospects Abound



Enterprises are increasingly adopting digital transformation techniques to automate and accelerate business processes with primary focus on enhancing unified workspace productivity and engagement.



Ongoing work-from-home trends rise in smartphone penetration and increasing number of mobile workers are fueling the demand for efficient workspace collaboration solutions.



Rise in utilization of AI and machine learning (ML) in the communications vertical has paved the way for team collaboration. This, in turn, is facilitating interaction between machines and humans. The infusion of AI within virtual assistants and chat bots, replacing enterprise voice calls, is exemplary in this regard.



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Citrixs latest digital workspace solutions are witnessing increasing adoption, among companies including William Fry, Renasant Bank, to name a few. Moreover, IDC has placed it in the leader's quadrant in its latest report titled IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Virtual Client Computing 2019-2020 Vendor Assessment." This is a testament to the growing clout of the companys solutions in virtual client computing solutions space.



Additionally, acquisitions of Cedexis and Sapho remain noteworthy. The buyouts are expected to aid Citrix in enhancing Workspace suite with guided work capabilities and traffic management functionalities.



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Citrix currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



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A French policeman who intervened during the 2015 Paris Bataclan terror attacks was 'overcome with emotion' yesterday after tracking down and recovering a stolen Banksy tribute to the attack.

Italian authorities unveiled the artwork today after it was discovered Wednesday in the attic of a small farmstead in the Abruzzo region of central Italy, rented by Chinese nationals - who were 'oblivious' to the painting.

The artwork, which depicts a sorrowful girl in mourning, was cut out and snatched from the Bataclan concert hall in Paris in January 2019.

It had been painted on the emergency doors of the venue as a tribute to the 90 people who were murdered there by Islamist extremists in November 2015 in a series of terror attacks across the city.

Today it was revealed that the painting had been found by a French policeman who had heroically intervened during the terror attack, and had witnessed victims gunned down.

His colleague told how the officer had been overcome with emotion on seeing the stolen work again.

Scroll down for video.

Italian authorities unveiled the artwork today after it was discovered Wednesday in the attic of a small farmstead in the Abruzzo region of central Italy, rented by Chinese nationals - who were 'oblivious' to the painting

The artwork, which depicts a sorrowful girl in mourning, was cut out and snatched from the Bataclan concert hall in Paris in January 2019. it is shown above at the venue in 2018

Christophe Cengig from the Organised Crime Unit at the French embassy in Rome said: 'It was a very emotional moment for my colleague. We've known each other for 20 years. He intervened at the Bataclan attack. What he saw inside, such tragedy, all those bodies... This is a huge achievement for him,'

He added: 'Coming here, finding it (the work)... it has a strong symbolic and emotional value, so we're very, very, very happy'.

There was forensic work to be done and the door would need to be transported carefully, 'but it's going back to France'.

A joint raid between Italian and French police led to the discovery of the work in Italy's Abruzzo region, to the east of Rome.

Men unveil a piece of art attributed to Banksy, that was stolen at the Bataclan in Paris in 2019

Officers said the Chinese family living in the home did not appear to be connected to the crime.

L'Aquila prosecutors said the work had been 'hidden well' in the attic, which others outside of the family had access to.

No arrests have been made.

L'Aquila Prosecutor Michele Renzo added that authorities believed the motivation for the theft was economic, not ideological.

Authorities said they were still investigating how the artwork arrived in Italy and the role of the Italians involved. They said the discovery was the fruit of a joint Italian-French police investigation.

Works by Banksy, known for their distinctive style, irreverent humour and thought-provoking themes, have been found on walls, buildings and bridges from the West Bank to post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.

At auction, they have sold for more than one million dollars.

The famous Parisian venue was the site of a horrifying terror attack that took place on November 113 2015. Pictured: Am injured man is carried out of the venue on the night of the atrocity

The girl in mourning was created when the artist 'blitzed' the French capital with murals during a whirlwind 2018 trip, which he said was to mark the 50th anniversary of the Paris student uprising of 1968.

'The work was found under a roof, in an attic, leaning against a wall,' Italian police colonel Emanuele Mazzotta said.

'It appears to be in good condition'.

The police said the farmstead was owned by an Italian, but they were not able to provide any further details during an ongoing investigation.

Police are looking into an Franco-Italian band of criminals, and say the farmstead was owned by an Italian who was born in France but may not be connected to the gang, reports The Messaggero daily.

At the time of the theft a police source said that 'hooded villains came to steal the work before taking it to a truck', which could have been sold for millions.

An alarm triggered inside the theatre at around 4.25am and police discovered a screwdriver close to where the painting was snatched. The work had been cut out using an angle grinder, authorities said at the time.

One witness reported seeing a white pick-up truck and three suspicious people nearby.

Banksy is believed to have started out as a graffiti artist in London, although he has kept his identity a secret.

The portion of the Bataclan door is not the only of his works to have been stolen from Paris.

They included a mural of a businessman in a suit offering a dog a bone, having just sawed the animal's leg off, and an image of a masked rat wielding a box cutter, which disappeared from outside the Pompidou Centre.

Some of the stolen works have since been recovered and fans have covered some of his Paris street art with Plexiglass to protect them.
South Carolina announced another record number of COVID-19 cases on Thursday, continuing a sharp spike in the fatal virus in the weeks after statewide restrictions were lifted.

A record 687 coronavirus cases were confirmed, the state Department of Health and Environmental Health said, smashing the previous daily record by more than 25 percent.

About 40 percent of South Carolina's total 16,441 cases have been reported in the past three weeks, said Dr. Joan Duwve, DHEC's public health director.

"As the number of tests performed increases, so do the number of cases. We expect that. However, that percent positive rate continues to increase as well, which means were finding real cases," she said at a DHEC board meeting. "The reason were seeing such a large jump rapidly over the past week is, once you hit a critical number, every person infected transmits to two to four individuals so well continue to see that rapid rise until we practice what we know will prevent spread."

Greenville County has become a hot spot with more than 40 percent of new cases occurring in the Hispanic community, Duwve said. The agency is tailoring its response, to include Spanish-speaking contact tracing and additional testing in those areas. Some of the rise in cases comes from relatives spreading it to each other at home but recent mass gatherings played a role.

"Were seeing spread commonly in family units but also other facilities where people work and pray," Duwve said. "I will not be surprised to see additional clusters that relate back to (police) protests and Im fairly certain we saw them after Memorial Day, as well, related to people having fun on the beach."

More information on deaths and testing will be released later Thursday.

Despite the spike in cases, Gov. Henry McMaster said Wednesday that he does not plan to order a new round of restrictions. Case numbers plateaued while South Carolina was under a stay-at-hone order from early April to early May and close-contact businesses, such as hair salons and gyms, and some stores were closed.

South Carolina case numbers started rising sharply soon after Memorial Day, the traditional kickoff of the summer travel season.

McMaster said South Carolinians need to take personal responsibility for wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings to help slow the spread of the virus.

"Be smart. Theres a lot of stupid floating around out there," he said. "A lot of reckless and careless activity, he said. We ask everybody to be very careful.

But Duwve noted some South Carolinians are falling short. A DHEC employee visited two health care facilities recently and found workers had masks on but were wearing them around their necks.

"We still have work to do," Duwve said.

Meanwhile, DHEC plans to test nursing home residents and employees a second time starting next week after completing a round of testing. Results from the first round of tests should be released Friday, Duwve said. Over 40 percent of deaths have been among residents of long-term care.

Duwve said the agency has completed testing all residents and staff in nursing home facilities. Those results should be released Friday.
City police and the OPP child exploitation unit worked together on an investigation that led to the arrest of a Peterborough man Thursday.

Police searched a home and seized electronics in January.

Gregory Phillip Dunford, 35, of Huntington Circle was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.

He was held in custody and was to appear in court Thursday.
Mike Jackson

Raventos Codorniu, Spains oldest producer of wines and Cavas with a history dating back to 1551, announces today the hiring of Mike Jackson as President, North America. Were very excited to announce Mike as the president for Raventos Codorniu North America. Mike is an expert in the wine industry with a proven track record that convinced us he was the best man for the job, said Frank Scheepers, International Sales Director, Raventos Codorniu. Were at a critical moment in our growth path and we believe that Mike will ensure a successful implementation of our strategy and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead.

Mike Jackson started his career in the wine business with E&J Gallo, quickly rising through the ranks over a 10-year span, before joining Delicato Family Vineyards in 2000. During an 18-year career at Delicato, Jackson held various executive leadership positions in sales and marketing, successfully leading teams, introducing brands and driving growth. In his career, Jackson also launched the Napa operations of a premier custom winemaking company, Summerland Wine Brands. Im excited by this new challenge of growing sales and awareness for the Raventos Codorniu wines in North America, said Mr. Jackson. We have a great, international winery portfolio, an iconic global brand and the right team to drive growth in the worlds largest wine consumption market.

Mike will be responsible for the entire business in North America. Susan Sueiro, President of the Artesa Winery and Oriol Gabarro, Sales Director for Raventos Codorniu North America, will both report directly to Mike. We strongly believe North America is a market with a great potential for Raventos Codorniu.

About Raventos Codorniu

Raventos Codorniu is Spain's oldest producer of wines and Cavas and is a symbol of continuity, innovation and of remaining true to its origins. The company has five centuries of history (since 1551) and experience that combine tradition and modernity. This has resulted in the creation of leading wineries in the respective wine regions where they are located, capable of innovating and meeting the growing demand for exceptional Cavas and wines. With close to 7,500 acres of estate vineyards and 15 prestigious wineries spread across Spain, Argentina and California, Raventos Codorniu is one of the world's leading companies in viticulture and winemaking expertise. http://www.raventoscodorniu.com/en

About Artesa Vineyards & Winery

Artesa Vineyards & Winery sits high on a hilltop overlooking the renowned appellation of Carneros in southern Napa Valley. The winery's roots date back to the 1980's when the Raventos family, heirs of the Spanish winemaking dynasty Codorniu, began acquiring land in Napa Valley. In 1997 it was named Artesa, from the Catalan word for handcrafted. Today, Artesa focuses on producing small lots of the varietals for which Carneros and the Napa Valley are best known and aims to capture the essence of terroir through exceptional winemaking. Artesa hosts thousands of visitors each year in their artfully-designed tasting room, and offers over twenty wines for direct purchase from the winery. Artesa wines are nationally represented by Raventos Codorniu. https://www.artesawinery.com/


A species of warty, toxic toads is invading Florida backyards as it multiplies across the southern part of the state.

The cane toad, also known as the bufo toad, is a poisonous amphibian that, when provoked, can produce a milky white toxin on its back, a substance that is particularly dangerous to house pets.

The toxin could leave a dog or cat in serious distress or dead in as little as 15 minutes, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The creatures breed after periods of rainy weather, according to Toad Busters, a south Florida company specializing in the removal of the dangerous toads. The rainy season lasts through the summer.

"We had a lot last year. Were seeing even more this year," Jeannine Tilford, the owner of Toad Busters, told NBC 5 in West Palm Beach.

The state's wildlife commission encourages homeowners to kill cane toads whenever possible.

Matt Jagielski took this photo of a cane toad in the backyard of his Port St. Lucie, Florida, home. The white toxin is visible near the sacs on the left side of the toad.

What do they look like?

Honestly, cane toads are pretty gross.

They're tan to reddish-brown, dark brown or gray, and their backs are marked with dark spots, according to the University of Florida. They have warty skin.

Cane toads have large, triangular parotoid glands on their shoulders that secrete a milky toxin. (Native toads' parotoid glands are oval.) Unlike native southern toads, cane toads do not have ridges or "crests" on top of the head.

Not-so-fun fact: Even cane toad tadpoles are toxic, Ken Gioeli, the University of Florida's natural resources extension agent for St. Lucie County, told TCPalm of the USA TODAY Network in 2018.

You can spot a cane toad by its size and its triangular glands, Gioeli said.

Cane toads usually are 4-6 inches long, sometimes growing to 9 inches. With very few exceptions, any toad in Florida that is larger than 4 inches is not native and almost certainly is an invasive cane toad, according to the University of Florida.

A cane toad's favorite place: the ground. They don't like to climb.

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Where did they come from?

Cane toads are native to South and Central America and were introduced into Palm Beach County to control pests in sugar cane fields, according to the University of Florida.

They can be found in central and south Florida and in an isolated population along the Florida Panhandle. They live in urbanized habitats and agricultural lands but also in some natural areas, including floodplain and mangrove swamps.

What do they eat?

Cane toads prey on anything they can get into their mouths, according to the University of Florida, but they normally feed on beetles, centipedes, crabs, millipedes, roaches, scorpions, spiders and other invertebrates.

They also have been known to eat frogs, snakes, small reptiles, small birds and small mammals.

What if my dog bites one?

If a pet bites, licks or even sniffs a cane toad, it could become sick and, if not treated, it could die.

Symptoms of poisoning in pets include excessive drooling and extremely red gums, head-shaking, crying, loss of coordination and sometimes convulsions.

If a dog bites or comes in contact with a cane toad, use a damp cloth or towel and wipe the inside of the dog's mouth to make sure no toxins were swallowed, Gioeli told TCPalm.

Do not flush the dog's mouth with a hose. It could send toxins down the animal's throat.

Dogs should be taken to a veterinarian as soon as possible to treat symptoms such as seizures, heart problems such as arrhythmia and body temperatures that skyrocket, then plunge.

Dog droppings should be picked up; cane toads are attracted to proteins in the droppings.

How do you kill them?

There is a humane way to get rid of cane toads.

The University of Florida recommends euthanizing them by rubbing or spraying 20% benzocaine toothache gel or sunburn spray (not 5% lidocaine) on the toad. In a few minutes, it will become unconscious.

Put the toad in a sealed plastic bag in the freezer for 24-48 hours to ensure it is humanely euthanized.

Once the toad is dead, dispose of it in the trash; do not bury it.

How do you catch the toad to do this?

The best trapping method is a net and a deep bucket with steep sides, according to the University of Florida. Make sure to put a board or lid on top of the bucket.

The Florida wildlife commission recommends wearing latex, rubber or nitrile gloves to safely handle the toads.

"I hate talking about killing any animals, but they are dangerous to dogs, especially smaller ones," Gioeli told TCPalm.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Cane toads, or bufo toads, continue to spread in Florida: What to know
(Newser)  A 20-something woman whose lungs were devastated by the coronavirus has undergone the first known US lung transplant related to COVID-19a double transplant, at that. It was her one shot at survival, reports the New York Times. The procedure carried out at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago last week took 10 hours, as the woman's lungs were "completely plastered to tissue around them, the heart, the chest wall, and diaphragm" as a result of inflammation, says Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery. The Hispanic woman had been taking an immunosuppressant to treat a minor illness before she got the virus but was otherwise healthy, with no serious underlying conditions. She was sick for two weeks before being admitted to a hospital in late April. Despite six weeks on a ventilator, her condition worsened to the point that her lungs couldn't bounce back, per CBS Chicago.

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"It's hard to let someone go like that. We wanted to give her every option," Bharat tells the Times. The patient was placed on a transplant list after testing negative for COVID-19, and the surgery followed within days. Bharat says the woman's lungs showed some of the worst damage he's ever seen. He hopes the case will inspire doctors to consider this "lifesaving intervention" for other desperately ill patients, per the Washington Post. But "we are talking about patients who are relatively young, very functional, with minimal to no comorbid conditions, with permanent lung damage who can't get off the ventilator," Bharat tells the Times. Despite two new lungs, the female patient remains on a ventilator, as her chest muscles aren't strong enough yet for breathing, the Times reports. But "she's awake, she's smiling, she FaceTimed with her family," Bharat says. (Read more COVID-19 stories.)
Taxi drivers in the Peruvian Capital are installing curtain shields to separate themselves from passengers as a protective measure amid the Covid-19 epidemic.

The fear of contagion and the heavy fines have caused drivers to buy the transparent curtain that is placed inside the vehicles with a hole where the driver receives the money from the transport service.

Since Thursday, June 4, Peru government has required the use of a health protection panel.

Authorities ordered that the curtain must be made of acrylic, polycarbonate or other material that allows the driver to have 100% vision with respect to the rearview mirror.

The costs of these curtains vary between 16 and 35 USD dollars.

The curtain has also become the opportunity for upholsterers like Frank Gallardo, who has found his device in great demand and a chance to improve his income after the quarantine hit his economy.

The South American country is facing one of the worst health crisis in its history. As of Wednesday, more than 204,000 people were infected, and 5,738 died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- For Uber Technologies Inc., the logic of gobbling up food-delivery rival Grubhub Inc. seemed pretty straightforward: reduce the number of competitors, making it easier to charge higher prices to diners and earn more commission from restaurants. The rationale isnt so clear cut for Dutch deliverer Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, which leapfrogged Uber to announce on Wednesday that it was acquiring Grubhub in a $7.3 billion all-share deal.

Unlike Uber, Just Eat Takeaway isnt present in the U.S., where the main rivals are Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash Inc., with the startup Postmates Inc. a distant fourth. That highly competitive landscape wont change with an overseas purchase of Grubhub, which may explain why investors initially found the idea of such a deal unpalatable. Just Eat Takeaway shares fell as much 19% after news of the potential tie-up was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Thats equivalent to some 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of value.

But the lack of value creation discerned by the buyers shareholders is also the same reason that regulators may look upon a deal more favorably than they would an Uber-Grubhub combination. What is bad for investors is good for customers, who will benefit from any price war. This is doubly bad news for Uber: If an existing American rival were the acquirer, at least it would reduce the number of competitors.

The deal is a gamble on the operational nous of Jitse Groen, chief executive officer of the acquirer. He has an impressive track record, expanding a Netherlands-focused operation with revenue of 23 million euros in 2013 into a pan-European giant with sales topping 1.2 billion euros last year.

But he has also only just wrapped up the 6 billion-pound ($7.7 billion) acquisition of Britains Just Eat Plc. Like the Grubhub deal, it was an all-share transaction sold to investors on the basis of Groens operational acumen. By giving Just Eat shareholders a stake in the new venture, ran the argument, theyd benefit from the value that he and his team would generate once they got their teeth into the U.K. company.

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That will be a harder case to make to U.S. investors, where fierce price wars have made market consolidation look like the only way for food delivery providers to improve profit. Uber Eats has lost $2.2 billion on an adjusted Ebitda basis, a measure of profit, in the past two years. Grubhub has seen its Ebitda margin fall from a 2014 peak of 28% of revenue to 0.2% in the three months through March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

That declining profitability is largely because of Grubhubs changing business model. Historically, it operated purely as a marketplace  connecting diners with restaurants, which delivered the food. That differed from the approach favored by Uber Eats, DoorDash and Postmates, who operated their own fleets of deliverers. The marketplace approach, with its lower costs, was much more profitable, but it made it harder to attract chains such as McDonalds Corp., who were wary about taking on the significant expense of operating a delivery network. So Grubhub is adding its own deliverers  perhaps 30% of revenue now comes from its own delivery network. This will probably increase to 45% by the end of the year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh.

Groen is an unashamed proponent of the marketplace model. Dont be surprised if he pedals back Grubhubs delivery ambitions. But he faces a daunting task of integrating two acquisitions, where both targets are larger than the original Takeaway.com, in two of the most competitive food delivery markets in the world. He might be about to bite off more than he can chew.

(This column was updated to show that Just Eat Takeaways deal for Grubhub was announced.)

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Alex Webb is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Europe's technology, media and communications industries. He previously covered Apple and other technology companies for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.
New Ministerial Instructions by IRCC confirm that individuals exempt from travel restrictions including immediate family can obtain TRVs and eTAs.

IRCC to process temporary visas and eTAs for immediate family

IRCC to process temporary visas and eTAs for immediate family New Ministerial Instructions by IRCC confirm that individuals exempt from travel restrictions including immediate family can obtain TRVs and eTAs.

IRCC to process temporary visas and eTAs for immediate family New Ministerial Instructions by IRCC confirm that individuals exempt from travel restrictions including immediate family can obtain TRVs and eTAs.

IRCC to process temporary visas and eTAs for immediate family New Ministerial Instructions by IRCC confirm that individuals exempt from travel restrictions including immediate family can obtain TRVs and eTAs. Kareem El-Assal Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents can now obtain the necessary documents to enter Canada temporarily.

Processing of temporary resident visas (TRVs) and electronic travel authorizations (eTAs) will remain temporarily suspended except for exempt individuals travelling to Canada for essential purposes and eligible immediate family members who intend on remaining in Canada for at least 15 days.

This was set out in Ministerial Instructions released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) this afternoon.

Those currently able to come to Canada are defined under the laws governing Canadas coronavirus travel restrictions (the laws are called Orders in Council).

According to IRCCs website, exempt travellers individuals include, but are not limited to, temporary foreign workers, study permit and confirmation of permanent residence (COPR) holders who obtained their status prior to the middle of March (March 16 for study permit holders and March 18 for COPR holders), Canadian citizens and permanent residents, among other individuals.

Get help with Canadian work permits and TRVs

Upon arrival, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) must determine the purpose of their travel to be essential.

Canada broadened the definition of exempt travellers on Monday when it announced that the immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents could also travel to Canada, and the purpose of their trip did not need to fit the definition of essential.

However, some of these immediate family members will need TRVs and eTAs to enter Canada, an issue which has now been addressed through todays Ministerial Instructions announcement.

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which is Canadas main immigration law, the federal immigration minister has the legal authority to release Ministerial Instructions to help achieve the countrys public policy goals.

In this case, the Ministerial Instructions confirm that Canada will only continue to process TRVs and eTAs for individuals currently exempt from coronavirus travel restrictions.

Immediate family of Canadian citizens and permanent residents are defined as:

Spouses or common-law partners

Dependent children

Grandchildren

Parents or step-parents

Guardians or tutors

Immediate family can now enter Canada from any country in the world so long as they meet the following conditions:

The visit to Canada is at least 15 days long

They are legally required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon entering Canada

They do not have COVID-19 and do not have any COVID-19 symptoms

Todays Ministerial Instructions are only valid until June 30th, when Canadas COVID-19 travel restrictions are set to expire. The Canadian government will provide another update prior to June 30 about its travel regulations beyond that date.

Get help with Canadian work permits and TRVs

Need assistance with a temporary visa application process? Contact wp@canadavisa.com.

 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved
This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

On the streets of New Haven, Conn., Margaret Holloway was known as the Shakespeare Lady, a tall, striking woman in ragged clothing who recited dramatic monologues for spare change.

Her stage, often, was outside Willoughbys coffee shop, a hangout for Yale students and professionals. Her repertoire included The Tempest, Macbeth and the Greek alphabet, which she acted out letter by letter.

Many regarded Ms. Holloway as an eccentric local fixture; in the view of some business owners, however, she was an aggressive panhandler and public nuisance. But for those who knew her personal history, her life had tragic dimensions not unlike the material she performed.
P olice forces will take strong steps to stop violent disorder at protests after more than 60 officers were injured in anti-racism demonstrations, chiefs have warned.

Demonstrators clashed with officers in London last weekend, while in Bristol a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down and dumped in the citys harbour.

A total of 62 UK officers have been injured in one way or another in protests triggered by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) said.

Mr Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.

Essex Police Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said more than 155,000 people across the UK had taken part in almost 200 demonstrations.

Some 137 people have been arrested, while others have been fined for breaching coronavirus lockdown rules, which ban gatherings of more than six people.

Mr Harrington said: We will not tolerate violence in our communities, whether thats against people, whether its against property or, indeed, against police officers, and if this kind of disorder occurs, we will act.

Its unacceptable that so many officers were injured in London over the weekend. And I think any criminality will be thoroughly investigated and action will be taken against those who commit offences.

The Colston monument has been lifted out of Bristol Harbour and is expected to be put in a museum , while activists have drawn up a list of other statues they want to see removed.

NPCC chairman Martin Hewitt said anyone who damages a monument or pulls down a statue is committing a criminal offence and police will seek to bring people to justice.

But he added: Its not a matter for the police, unless a criminal offence is committed, this is a matter for those people that own or are the guardians of the statues wherever they may be, and dealing with those people who feel very strongly about appropriateness or otherwise of those statues.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is reported to have had a firm discussion with Avon and Somerset Chief Constable Andy Marsh about why officers did not intervene when the Colston statue was torn down.

But Mr Harrington, the NPCC lead for public order, said it was up to operational commanders to make decisions on whether officers should step in to stop damage to monuments but said peoples safety would be prioritised over property.

He said: What we will do is have appropriate plans and of course the officers will be there looking to make sure that people dont get hurt in the first instance, trying to protect property if thats the right thing to do, but people come first, making sure officers and those taking part are safe.
The killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to Floyds neck for close to nine minutes, has resulted in a national reckoning with Americas history of racism. In addition to massive protests, calls to defund police and demands for policy reform, the death of Floyd has also inspired media companies to make a number of movies and documentaries about African American history and experience available to watch for free.

Here are some examples of works that explore issues surrounding racial injustice in the United States:

Selma: Director Ava DuVernay (When They See Us) has brought passion and skill to several projects about African American experience, including this Oscar-nominated 2014 movie telling the story of the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s campaign to gain equal voting rights. Paramount has made Selma available to rent for free on various digital platforms, including Comcast. The film stars David Oyelowo as King, and also stars Carmen Ejogo, Tessa Thompson, Andre Holland and Oprah Winfrey.

Happy to share: Paramount Pictures is offering SELMA for free rental on all US digital platforms for June, starting today. Weve gotta understand where weve been to strategize where were going. History helps us create the blueprint. Onward. @SelmaMovie. https://t.co/mxhGpfQeIP  Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 5, 2020

The Hate U Give: Director George Tillman Jr.'s critically praised 2018 movie, adapted from a Young Adult novel, is also available for free rental on digital platforms. Amandla Stenberg stars as a teenager who witnesses a police officer shoot and kill her childhood friend after a traffic stop. The fallout from the killing ripples through the community, which is grappling with issues of crime and punishment. The cast also includes Russell Hornsby (Grimm) and Regina Hall (Black Monday).

Just Mercy: Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station) stars as defense attorney Bryan Stevenson in a 2019 movie based on Stevensons memoir, about the Harvard Law School graduates fight to help Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx) appeal his murder conviction. Just Mercy is free to rent this month.

13th: Ava DuVernays Oscar-nominated 2016 documentary examines how racial inequality has been a key element in the U.S. prison system, going back to the post-Civil War era when African Americans supposedly freed from slavery by the 13th Amendment were arrested in large numbers for minor offenses. The film includes archival footage and images, as well as interviews with contemporary writers and scholars. The documentary is streaming for free on the Netflix YouTube channel.

Reconstruction: America After the Civil War": Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is interviewed in 13th, also presents this deeply researched, four-hour 2019 documentary series that looks at how the promised freedoms for African Americans in the years following the Civil War were eroded with the rise of racist, segregationist Jim Crow laws. Stream for free on PBS.

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution: Stanley Nelsons 2016 documentary follows the development of the Black Panther Party, which came into prominence amid the tumult of the 1960s. The film includes archival footage and interviews, reflecting the complexity of the subject, and the supporters, activists, critics, police, FBI informants, journalists and others who were at the center of of the controversial movement. The film streams for free through July 4 at the PBS Independent Lens website: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/the-black-panthers-vanguard-of-the-revolution/

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross: The 2013 documentary series from Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a six-part deep dive into the history of African Americans, going back to the transatlantic slave trade and moving toward the election of Barack Obama, focusing on the traditions, culture, politics and social movements that propelled that history forward. Streaming for free on PBS.org.

More of our coverage:

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Varanasi, June 11 : In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, many applications have been developed to keep track of the pandemic. Students at the Ashoka Institute here have invented a device that not only tracks the corona positive patients but will also send an alarm to officers and police personnel as soon as they enter hotspots.

Through this device, called 'Smart Guard for COVID-19', patients with the coronavirus infection who are admitted in a hospital or in a quarantine centre, can be monitored.

The device was designed by Dhananjay Pandey, Nikhil Kesari and Mohammad Saif under the direction of Shyam Chaurasia of the Research and Development Department of the institute.

Chaurasia said: "This device can monitor the homes of positive patients. Many infected patients in the area sometimes carelessly try to get out of their house. In such a situation, there may be a risk of virus spread. But this device is capable of monitoring their movements instantly. Not only this, the police personnel posted in the hotspot area will also be sent information about the quarantined patient." "Applying this device in front of the patient's home, who is under quarantine, will also inform about the patient's activities," said Chaurasia.

If someone comes out of the house, the sensor installed in the device will be activated and the policeman posted in the hotspot area will immediately be informed about the location of the patient. This will be done by sending calls and messages. This will enable the police to take action on time. It can be installed at the hospital or home gate and the sensor range is from 5 metres to 10 metres.

He added that the device uses PIR sensor relay 5 volt, battery 9 volt, keypad mobile and a CCTV camera.

"We have attached a keypad mobile phone to this device with a motion counting sensor camera," said Chaurasia.

This device can be mounted like a camera above the doors of the quarantined patients' homes in the hotspot area. It costs Rs 8,500 for assembling the device.

Chaurasia says that in making it, he has used cameras, motion sensors, mobiles, GPS systems, batteries, calculators, 5 volt relays.

Mahadev Pandey, Senior Scientific Officer, Regional Science and Technology Centre, said, "Apart from corona times, this device will be needed in the coming years." (Vivek Tripathi can be contacted at vivek.t@ians.in)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
S Lalitha By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: A second batch of 26 migrants, including five children, who hail from Chhatisgarh, got a rare opportunity to fly to Raipur on Thursday from Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport. The adults were employed in Tamil Nadu and brought by bus to Bengaluru to facilitate their departure.

Alumni of National Law School of India University (NLSIU), who organised the first such flight from Bengaluru for migrants on June 4 were instrumental in doing so this time too. It is probably the first flight trip for all of them.

Due to the limited number of migrants this time, tickets were purchased on a regular Indigo flight heading to Raipur instead of a separate special flight for them.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Vijay Grover, founder of Bangalore Media Foundation, who took care of logistics and food arrangements for the migrants said, "The migrants hail from Dharmapuri, Hosur and surrounding areas where they worked in plantations. A few worked as masons too. The group was supposed to take a migrant special train to Raipur from Chennai Central on Tuesday night but it was chaotic at the station and they could not board the train. One of them called NLSIU alumnus C N Nandakumar for help. They must have heard about the flight trip of the first group. We decided to help them also leave by flight and the trip was confirmed only on Wednesday evening." The ticket costs were taken care of by NLSIU alumni by mobilising funds.

The migrants were brought on Wednesday night from Chennai by a private bus, Grover said. They reached the KIA airport around 5 am on Thursday. "They were made to wait at the parking area. We helped them enter the airport around 10 am for the 1.10 pm regular flight. They reached Raipur by 2.35 pm," he added.

United Sikhs, a non-profit organisation, Nandakumar and Aarthi Challappa, NLSIU alumni played a key role in ensuring the trip took place, he added.

On June 4, the alumni had facilitated the departure of 185 migrants from KIA to Raichur with Delhi-based lawyer Ajay Bahl sponsoring a chartered IndiGo flight from Bengaluru for their sake.
When it comes to Trumps charge against Gugino, the interpretative options are limited. If he really believed the OAN report, the president is a credulous simpleton. If he knew the report was a smear and spread it anyway, the president is a cynical weasel. In the end, there is really no need to argue between these views. I operate on the assumption that Trump is both. To him, truth and falsehood are measured only in relation to his person and needs. Anything useful  including conspiratorial insanity  is true. Anything that resists his will  such as bad polling, historic economic suffering or a massive pandemic body count  is false. And Trump measures political loyalty by the willingness of his followers to accept his redefinition of reality.
Queen Rania of Jordan has paid a touching tribute to her husband on their 27th wedding anniversary.

Taking to Instagram, the mother-of-four, 49, shared a heartwarming snap where she can be seen smiling and walking hand-in-hand with King Abdullah II.

Captioning the post in Arabic and English, she penned: 'How could you not fall in love with that smile, over and over again for 27 years! So lucky and grateful to have you by my side, happy anniversary. #Love #Jordan #LoveJO.'

In the sweet photo, Queen Rania can be seen wearing a blue zip-up jacket and black trousers, with her brunette hair scraped back into a high ponytail.

Queen Rania of Jordan posted a tribute to her husband King Abdullah II on Instagram (pictured) to mark their 27th wedding anniversary

Writing in Arabic and English, the royal gushed that she's grateful to have spent 27 years alongside King Abdullah II (pictured)

The natural beauty, who looks chic in a pair of over-sized tinted sunglasses, appears to be wearing minimal makeup.

Meanwhile, a beaming King Abdullah II can be seen donning a grey t-shirt and jeans, along with a brown-coloured body warmer.

The couple, who got engaged just six months after they first met at a dinner party hosted by a mutual friend, have been married since June 1993.

They are parents to Crown Prince Hussein, 25, Princess Iman, 23, Princess Salma, 19, and Prince Hashem, 15.

Queen Rania and King Abdullah II (pictured) who first met at a dinner party have been married since 1993 and have four children

Glamorous Queen Rania went to school in Kuwait and studied a business degree in Cairo, Egypt, before marrying into royalty.

And many of the royal's followers were quick to take to the comments section to send their well-wishes to the happy couple.

One person penned: 'Happy anniversary. Great couple. The smile shows the inner goodness of a man,' while a second wrote: 'Happy anniversary your majesties.'

A third added: 'Happy anniversary our beloved King Abdullah II & Queen Rania #Jordan'
To the Times:

We need an occasional reminder that colleges and universities are businesses, even those classified as non-profit. Remember how those highly touted, elite and renowned citadels of higher learning tried to grab millions of federal government business stimulus money to add to their hefty endowments?

They dont call their front offices sale centers nor their staff salesmen or saleswomen. Admissions counselors are in charge to connect with their customers.

The getting-into-college game started to ease when interviews went by the wayside, too costly and time-consuming. Then when potential applicants started clammering about all those extended essays on the apps, colleges either shortened them or dropped them completely. This placated the market base and generated more interested high school seniors.

Then some business-minded educator came up with the idea to make SATs and ACTs optional or not required. The argument given to support this move was that a students GPA, the grades earned from 9th grade to the end of 11th grade, were more indicative of making a successful transition from high school to college. Thus another attractive lowering of standards to strengthen the bottom line.

Allow me to tell you something about GPAs. As are being given out like candy in affluent suburban neighborhoods on Halloween. Students tell me about soft-hearted teachers who are only too happy to assign extra-credit assignments to puff up high Bs to As. Tardy term papers, which make up a hefty part of a students final English grade, are often accepted with no grade deduction because excuse notes written by connected parents did the trick.

Colleges have a tough time assessing the relative merits of GPAs earned at various school districts. Parents with some loot elect to send their children to respected private schools to help convince colleges of the legitimacy of a GPA. Real estate agents use a communitys college acceptance as advertising fodder.

If I were on an admissions committee, it would be the balance and correlation between GPA and SATs/ACTs which would be most convincing. All too often I hear that test-taking skills lie at the basis of anemic SATs/ACTs. Mostly, however, its not test-taking skills at all, but the lack of adequate skill development in math and English. Test anxiety and poor time management, the two usual suspects, seem to magically disappear when the serum made up of English and math skills is injected.

When will this tendency to corrupt college acceptance standards abate? Will medical colleges and law schools follow suit? We are at a time in this countrys socio-economic development where the college-for-all mentality must be re-evaluated. Colleges thrive on their widely accepted tenet of what is falsely assumed as successful parenting. Grandparents would take out reverse mortgages and give up long care insurance policies to make college for grandchildren happen.

College is not a birth rite. It needs to be earned based upon real established standards if the student and the community are to be served honestly.

Sam Alfonsi, Broomall, Morristown, Naples, FL, Cape May
Latino Caucus Chair: Real Justice Calls For Supporting African American Policy Issues

Shortly after members of the California legislature took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds at the California Capitol to protest racism and the death of George Floyd, Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) took the opportunity to call out some of her Latino colleagues.

I have to be honest, Im disappointed with our Latino caucus, Gonzalez said at the event that Assemblymember Syndey Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), a member the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), organized.

Gonzalez said although some of the California Legislative Latino Caucus (CLLC) members have co-authored pieces of legislation with Black Caucus members, they have not been supportive enough of policy that can make a measurable difference in the lives of Black Californians.

As a caucus, weve been woefully silent on some of the issues that the Black caucus has put out there on police reform, continued Gonzalez, who is chair of the Latino caucus. Weve felt a little uncomfortable taking those positions. Weve been elected to make change. We actually have that power.

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Last year, Black lawmakers championed AB 392, which Gov. Newsom signed into law last October. It is now being lauded around the world as one of the strongest laws against police use of force in the United States.

Im angry. This is nice, a very respectful showing of love for a human being who was murdered, Gonzalez said after her colleagues participated in the symbolic kneeling gesture. But if the hardest thing you do is kneel for almost nine minutes, then youre not working hard enough. Because this is a show.

Senator Steven Bradford (D-Los Angeles), the vice chair of the CLBC, who helped to organize and promote the rally, said the event was important to him because justice compels everyone to take action and it demands accountability and equality.

The governor always states that California is the next coming attraction, Bradford told his colleagues that attended and the press covering the event. Today we have an opportunity to star and play a leading role. Thats by passing the legislative Black caucus agenda.

Gonzalez reminded her legislative colleagues that over the next two weeks there are some difficult votes coming up and each of them has an opportunity to make lasting change in California.

What a privilege weve been granted by our constituents, who, right now, can only show their frustration by demanding more, Gonzales reminded fellow lawmakers. The only thing we can do is deliver. So, I hope this isnt the end of it.

The protest-slash-tribute took place in front of the California state Capitols West steps to honor the late George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who pinned the unarmed Black man down during an arrest. The ex-cop, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on Floyds neck while the victim was handcuffed, crying out for help and his mama, with his face pushed down against the pavement.

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Members of the Assembly, some Senators, constitutional officers, and representatives attended the affair where participants adhered to social distancing guidelines.

Attendees included members of the Black, Latino, Jewish, Asian-Pacific Islander, Lesbian-Gay-Trans-Queer (LGBTQ), and Womens caucuses.

The sun was shining bright the morning of the rally, and the temperature in Sacramento had soared from mild to about 90 degrees by midday.

Kamlager looked to the weather and asked the audience to imagine what Black men, women and children, who were killed by former and current police officers, would be doing.

Kamlager said it would be a beautiful day to go jogging if you were Ahmaud Arbery, to ride a bike if you were Freddie Gray, read a book if you were Keith Scott, to cash a check if you were Yvonne Smallwood, to rest if you were Breonna Taylor, or to breathe if you were Eric Garner.

This would be a day to do all those things without fear, except if you were Black, Kamlager said.

The event was held the same day Floyd was laid to rest next to his mother in Houston.

Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), chair of the LGBTQ Caucus, shared how protests against police harassment of gays in New York City brought about policy change for the LGBTQ community.

What some people forget when we celebrate Pride every year, is that Pride started as a protest, Wiener said. It started as a protest that arose out of not just one  but multiple riots  by LGBTQ people often led by Black trans women, Black trans women, who, by the way, continue to be murdered in this country at an absolutely astonishing rate.

Wiener also pointed to when mass incarceration of Black people began in California.

Wiener said in the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and onward, California went from 10 prisons to 30 penal colonies, and police brutality is a part of the equation, Wiener said.

California helped to pioneer mass incarceration in this country. We built prison after prison and we still havent shut down a prison, he said. Mass incarceration and police brutality are not separate cancers. They are symbiotic cancers that feed off of each other and strengthen each other.

Wiener, who acknowledged notable wins in policies addressing police brutality and unfair prison sentencing, also said that its been a fight to pass police and prison reforms at the State Capitol. Legislators have to step it up a notch to pass more bills, he said.

Gonzalez urged her colleagues to unite and support legislation that will benefit all Californians from all racial,, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Unlike so many frustrated protesters, young people, people in the Black community, people in the Latino Community, and people who are facing this every day, we have the opportunity to immediately do something about it. And shame on us if we dont, Gonzalez said.
Numinus becomes first publicly traded company in Canada approved to conduct research of this kind under a Health Canada licence

VANCOUVER, BC, June 11, 2020 /CNW/ - Numinus Wellness Inc. (TSX-V:NUMI) ("Numinus" or the "Company") has received Health Canada approval to amend the Company's existing Licence under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act to allow Numinus researchers to conduct research to standardize the extraction of psilocybin from mushrooms. The amendment means Numinus is the first publicly traded company in Canada to be granted a licence by Health Canada to conduct research of this kind.

With this regulatory approval, Numinus is able to proceed with the production of naturally sourced, sustainable psilocybin for research purposes that will support the emerging field of psychedelic assisted therapy and research, at lower costs to currently produced synthetic psilocybin. The licence also allows Numinus to develop and licence its own exclusive IP for further product development in partnership with leading research organizations  something the research community has been seeking to secure. The work will be eligible for the Government of Canada's Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentive program and will lay a foundation for grant applications.

"We are proud to be at the forefront of a new therapeutic category by advancing evidence-based science focused on wellness and personal connection at its core," says Numinus CEO Payton Nyquvest. "Numinus is the only publicly traded company in Canada approved to develop a consistent psilocybin extraction method from naturally-produced mushrooms at a time when alternative therapeutic methods are increasingly being investigated and demand from clinical research is growing."

Working from the 7,000 square-foot Numinus Bioscience research facility and laboratory, senior research scientists Dr. Kristina Grotzinger and Dr. Bernd Keller will focus on developing a proprietary extraction method from mushrooms to allow for consistent dosing and application of naturally produced psilocybin. Once a proprietary method has been developed, the Company intends to explore supply agreements with leading research organizations to make use of the product in their clinical and therapeutic work.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Substances (MAPS) and other leading researchers have published studies showing the benefits of psilocybin in treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues. Further, the US Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough therapy status for psilocybin for the treatment of PTSD  illustrating the growing demand for therapeutic access to psilocybin.

"In most cases, the creation of synthetic compounds are less pure than those found in nature, which is the case with psilocybin," says Dr. Grotzinger. "There is risk of contamination from solvents, gases and other chemicals, which makes them less safe to work with and requires added safety and processing expense. By working directly with the mushroom in its natural state, these risks are reduced, as is the cost to extract the psilocybin." Grotzinger added that standardized plant or fungi extracts are accepted by European standards and are a common dosage form in Europe.

About Numinus

Numinus is a Vancouver-based health care company helping to support the universal desire to heal and be well. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary Salvation Botanicals, Numinus has a Health Canada cannabis testing licence that allows the Company to test and analyze cannabis products from licensed producers. In addition, it is a late-stage applicant to receive a Health Canada standard processing licence to produce cannabis products. Numinus, through the same subsidiary, also has a dealer's licence which allows the Company to test, possess, buy and sell MDMA, psilocybin, psilocin, DMT and mescaline. The Health Canada license also allows import/export, testing and R&D of these substances. The expanded licence will allow Numinus to support the growing number of studies on the potential benefits of psychedelic therapies through research projects, product development, and the supply and distribution of these substances. Numinus Wellness is dedicated to therapies that enhance and supplement existing options for people wanting lasting physical, mental and emotional health  with psychedelic treatments at its core when approved for therapeutic and research use. Psychedelics will be part of this offering but will only be available for treatment once approved by regulators and governing bodies  a process Numinus is helping to support. For more information, visit www.numinus.ca .

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including acquiring and renewing federal, provincial, municipal, local or other licenses and any inability to obtain all necessary governmental approvals licenses and permits to operate and expand the Company's facilities; regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including federal and provincial legalization, due to inconsistent public opinion, perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry, bureaucratic delays or inefficiencies or any other reasons; any other factors or developments which may hinder market growth; the Company's limited operating history and lack of historical profits; reliance on management; the Company's requirements for additional financing, and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability; competition, including from more established or better financed competitors; and the need to secure and maintain corporate alliances and partnerships, including with research and development institutions, customers and suppliers. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. The Company has no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law.

SOURCE Numinus Wellness Inc.

For further information: Investor Inquiries: [email protected]; Media Inquiries: Emily Edwards, NATIONAL, [email protected], 604-842-6490; General Inquiries: [email protected], 1-833-NUM-INUS (1-833-686-4687); Pour investir et obtenir des renseignements generaux en francais: Remy Scalabrini, Maricom, [email protected], 888-585-6274

Related Links

https://numinus.ca/


DALLAS - June 11, 2020 - Dopamine, a chemical that sends messages between different parts of the brain and body, plays a key role in a variety of diseases and behaviors by interacting with receptors on cells. But despite their importance in physiology and pathology, the structure of these receptors embedded in a phospholipid membrane - their natural environment on the cell surface - was unknown. A new study led by UT Southwestern researchers reveals the structure of the active form of one type of dopamine receptor, known as D2, embedded in a phospholipid membrane.

These landmark findings, published today in Nature, could have implications for basic research and for designing drugs for treating conditions in which the D2 receptor plays a fundamental part, including Parkinson's disease, psychosis, and addiction.

Study leader Daniel Rosenbaum, Ph.D., an associate professor of biophysics and biochemistry at UT Southwestern Medical Center, explains that only one previous study had elucidated the structure of the D2 receptor. That research, published in 2018, examined this structure in its inactive form, bound to a drug often used to treat schizophrenia and other mental and mood disorders. It used a technique known as X-ray crystallography to determine the overall structure and detergent molecules to purify the receptor as an individual molecule. However, previous studies have shown that once D2 receptors are made soluble in detergent and left as free-floating constructs, their ability to bind target molecules such as dopamine and their analogs is compromised, leading to potential inaccuracies in the structure.

To avoid this drawback and take a closer look at the D2 receptor, Rosenbaum and his colleagues genetically engineered a form of the receptor that was significantly more stable than the native form. Then, after producing these receptors in cells, they allowed some to bind a compound called bromocriptine, a drug that activates D2 receptors and is used to treat a variety of conditions including Parkinson's disease, pituitary tumors, and hyperprolactinaemia. After purifying these activated receptors in detergent, they embedded them in small patches of phospholipid membrane, an environment akin to their native one in cell membranes. They then examined the D2 receptor using cryo-electron microscopy, a technique that uses beams of electrons delivered at very cold temperatures to decipher the structures of molecules and materials at the atomic scale.

Their results showed similar features to other receptors in the same class, a family of proteins known as G protein-coupled receptors. Like other similar receptors, the D2 receptor snakes through the phospholipid membrane, exposing domains to each side of the membrane. However, it also showed key differences, such as portions buried in the membrane's inner leaflet, ordered sidechains of amino acids in the membrane's interfacial regions, and lipid anchoring of the protein the receptor is coupled to within the membrane. Binding bromocriptine altered part of the receptor to accommodate this molecule, significantly changing its conformation.

Rosenbaum notes that future studies will be necessary to compare and contrast these findings with other types of dopamine receptors to better understand their commonalities and differences. Together, he says, these findings could be an enormous aid in drug design, where developing molecules that precisely fit one kind of receptor can maximize therapeutic effects while avoiding side effects. Specifically designed drugs could significantly improve current therapies for the wide variety of conditions in which dopamine plays a role, including cognitive dysfunction, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, drug addiction, psychosis, and attention deficit disorder.

"This is just the first structure of an activated dopamine receptor," says Rosenbaum, "but it could serve as a framework to design and tweak new classes of compounds that could change the activity of these types of receptors."

###

Rosenbaum is a Eugene McDermott Scholar in Medical Research.

Other UTSW researchers who contributed to this study include Jie Yin, Punita Kumari, and Xiao-chen Bai.

This study was funded by the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation, The Welch Foundation, the EPFL, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the Virginia Murchison Linthicum Scholar in Medical Research at UTSW, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and the National Institutes of Health.

About UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution's faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,500 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 105,000 hospitalized patients, nearly 370,000 emergency room cases, and oversee approximately 3 million outpatient visits a year.
Chuckies New York has designed and donated handmade tie-dye scrubs, baby bibs and more to the maternity unit at Lennox Hill hospital.

The iconic NYC shoe store felt it was important to recognize these healthcare workers and celebrate the new additions to families during these uncertain times.

Their new custom tie-dye creations are also available by special order for the general public with proceeds going to a different charity every month.

Chuckies New York has donated handmade tie-dye scrubs, baby bibs and more to the maternity unit at Lennox Hill hospital

The iconic NYC shoe store felt it was important to recognize healthcare workers in the maternity ward and celebrate the new additions to families during these uncertain times. Pictured: Lenox Hill heroes

Chuckies built a cult following in the 80s

Womens, kids, and babywear are available by special order by direct messaging the label on their Instagram @chuckiesnewyork for inquiries

Womens, kids, and babywear are available by special order by direct messaging the label on their Instagram @chuckiesnewyork for inquiries.

Chuckies New York debuted its first boutique in Brooklyn in 1980.

Carrying a curated collection from top designers before they had their own stores, Chuckies built a cult following.

As Chuckies New York owner, Ritch Erani, once said, 'It's not about what we have. It's about what we don't have, what we've edited out for you.'

Regulars knew to depend on the brand to provide them with the hottest looks as well as expert styling assistance.

Their new custom tie-dye creations are also available by special order for the general public with proceeds going to a different charity every month

Tie-dye clothing became popular in the '60s as a form of protest

Tie-dye clothing became popular in the '60s as a form of protest.

The look came back in the '80s and '90s when bright statement-making hues were all the rage (hello neon) and the only way to turn heads was to literally light up the room.

To pass the time in quarantine, many people started applying traditional tie-dye methods using rope and elastic bands to craft their own designs.

The fun DIY quickly became the unofficial work-from-home uniform.
ANN ARBOR, MI  The Ann Arbor Summer Festival will look quite different this year, spreading out, gathering smaller crowds and being held partially online.

Organizers changed plans for Top of the Park, typically a month-long, outdoor collection of performance art and activities, over lingering coronavirus concerns. The first of the outdoor activities will be a community sidewalk chalking day, with more events scheduled into to the fall and more events yet to be announced.

Fesival Executive Director Mike Michelon said the event normally takes place from mid-June to mid-July, featuring local artists, along with a paid, indoor artist series with bigger-name artists. That series had to be cancelled amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

But the organization still wanted to support local artists and made the necessary adjustments.

We feel an obligation to support a lot of the artists that would appear in Top of the Park that are out of work, Michelon said.

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival will move some of its events and activities online this year, along with new gatherings of small groups, Michelon said. Here are some of the events to be offered throughout the summer:

Sidewalk Chalk Day: Taking place June 14, residents across the county are invited draw on sidewalks. Chalk artist David Zinn, who usually draws at the festival, was commissioned to create art at the Ingalls Mall, Michelon said. Participants are asked to take photos of their work and post their images on social media with the #a2chalkday hashtag.

Tiny Tops: The Ann Arbor Summer Festival will still run a concert series this year -- kind of. The program will allow people to pay a fee set by the artists to perform short, private shows in person. Currently, there are only three bands to choose from, but more will be announced going forward, Michelon said.

Top Music Hikes and Story Walks: These events will take people on a journey through geo-tagged trails. The music hikes will feature artists that were originally supposed to perform at Top of the Park, and the walks will revolve around stories set in downtown Ann Arbor. The walks will be available later in June.

Virtual KidZone: This video series will feature different nightly activities to try and will be posted online after they air on This video series will feature different nightly activities to try and will be posted online after they air on Facebook Instagram , and YouTube . Sessions may include building a lava lamp and creating plant art.

Virtual Retreat: An online video series that aims to teach yoga, meditation, dance, etc. Sessions will be broadcast on the festivals Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages.

For more information on the festival and list of events this year, visit the festival website.
Scott Disick and his ex-girlfriend Sofia Richie have remained in contact.

The 37-year-old reality star and the 21-year-old daughter of Lionel Richie broke up last month after a roughly three-year romance.

Now a People insider has dished: 'Scott is in touch with Sofia, but as of now, they don't plan on getting back together. Sofia seems okay with them being apart.'

Side by side: Scott Disick and his ex-girlfriend Sofia Richie have remained in contact but 'don't plan on getting back together,' a People source said; pictured in 2017

The Flip It Like Disick hunk shares three children with his ex Kourtney Kardashian - Mason, 10, Penelope, seven, and Reign, five.

'Scott is doing well. He still spends a lot of time with his kids. Kourtney continues to be supportive. She is doing what she can to help him,' said the People source.

Kourtney and Scott took the children to Kardashian hot spot Nobu Malibu on Saturday, the day they reopened for dine-in.

Last month Scott checked into rehab for 'emotional issues' and 'past traumas,' but checked out shortly thereafter.

End of the road: The 37-year-old reality star and the 21-year-old daughter of Lionel Richie broke up last month after a roughly three-year romance

In the wake of his decision to leave rehab Us Weekly reported he and Sofia were 'on a break until Scott straightens himself out more.'

Finally on May 27, the day after his 37th birthday, the magazine revealed that Scott and Sofia had decided to end their romance.

Kourtney, Scott and the children traveled to Utah on a private jet last week to celebrate his 37th birthday.

Their digs of choice according to The Blast was Amangiri Resort, the same place Kourtney's sister Kim Kardashian rang in her own 37th birthday.

Family matters: The Flip It Like Disick hunk shares three children with his ex Kourtney Kardashian - Mason, 10, Penelope, seven, and Reign, five

'Kourtney and Scott had so much fun with the kids in Utah, and the kids want them to do family trips all together more often,' dished an Us Weekly source.

'Scott is so happy that he and Kourtney get along so well and how easy it is with her. Its weird to everyone else, but not to them. They are really like best friends.'

The source explained: 'Kourtney is not open to him in a romantic sense, but Scott is always flirting with her and thinks she looks better than ever.'
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Linkedin Mardika Parama (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, June 11, 2020 13:47 589 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdde1726 1 Business Garuda-Indonesia,Airlines,aviation,sukuk,debt-paper Free

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has secured official approval from its bondholders to extend its US$500 million sukuk (sharia-compliant bond) for three years as the airline struggles to stay afloat amid the pandemic.

Garuda president director Irfan Setiaputra said 90.88 percent of bondholders, which account for $454.4 million of the sukuk, voted in favor of the extension during a bondholders meeting on Wednesday.

Read also: Garuda may increase fares as capacity cap hits revenue

We would like to extend our utmost gratitude to all bondholders who supported us and the future of Garuda Indonesia during this challenging time, Irfan said in a press release on the same day.

Stocks of Garuda, traded at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) under the code GIAA, jumped 1.46 percent as of 12:50 p.m. Jakarta time on Thursday as the main gauge, the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) slipped 0.51 percent. The stocks have lost more than 43 percent so far this year.

Garuda Indonesia issued the global sukuk on June 3, 2015, with a five-year tenure and an annual return of 5.95 percent, according to the companys financial report released in September last year. However, the company struggled to repay the debt papers to its investors amid the COVID-19 outbreak that hits aviation industry as people stay at home to limit the coronavirus spread.

Read also: Garuda Indonesia furloughs contract workers to stay afloat amid pandemic

The airline has cut its employees salary, furloughed about 800 contract workers and laid off 180 contract pilots, among other things.

One hundred of the companys 142 aircraft have been grounded since the COVID-19 outbreak hit country, as its daily flights dropped due to the governments large-scale social restrictions (PSBB).

Garudas flight traffic was down 83 percent year-on-year (yoy) in April, according to the companys letter to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).
By Trend

German government supports local companies in their desire to establish or enlarge business relations with Kazakhstan, an official source at the German Federal Foreign Office told Trend.

The official said that within the framework of Kazakhstans President Kasyym Jomart Tokayevs visits to Germany in December 2019 and February 2020, he met high-ranking representatives of German companies as well as business associations.

"A number of investment projects was agreed upon on these occasions and we noticed a growing interest in Kazakhstan as an investment destination," the official said.

Similarly, the official said, investment relations between the two countries are well developed.

"Right now, 600 companies with German share operate in Kazakhstan. The overall volume of German direct investments stands at 481 million and we are confident, that there is room for growth," the official said.

"The support is offered through advice, including the broad information provided by Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), as well as via established instruments, i.e. export credit guarantees," the representative said.

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The Buzzword Hall of Shame has been released. (Getty Images)

Were reaching out to you in the time of COVID-19, while you read our curated content, to ask you to circle back and re-read this sentence, which contains some of 2020s most annoying buzzwords.

Yep, tidy up tool The Buzzsaw has released its list of the worst jargon words of 2020 so far, and we just ticked off a fair few in that opening line.

The online tool, which strips out buzzwords from press releases, speeches, and blog posts, has revealed the top 15 most irritating bits of jargon submitted by editors and correspondents this year.

Collected (not curated) by PR strategist and Buzzsaw founder Hamish Thompson, the list contains the most commonly struck out phrases the tool tends to find, based on submissions in the UK, US and Australia.

Read more: Coronavirus named children's word of the year

Ive announced the 2020 Buzzsaw Awards today. All nominations are from editors and correspondents. Heres the list. Read it and weep..... pic.twitter.com/nqrOAz61ff  Hamish (@HamishMThompson) June 9, 2020

No doubt youll find some phrases that have kick started some teeth clenching irritation when reading them, we mean who doesnt find it cringey when you get an email offering to reach out or circle back, and dont even get us started on those who hope to change things going forward.

It seems the recent coronavirus pandemic has had an influence on the most annoying buzzwords this year with in the time of COVID-19 making the top 15, along with finding the new normal and remaining cautious.

Read more: The science behind the perfect hug

Fake news has also been judged to be worthy of a place, alongside anyone offering solutions to a problem.

Heres the full list of the top 15 alongside the judges crushing comments.

The 2020 Buzzsaw Hall of Shame (Comments below are supplied by judges)

Curated - Judges comment: A word that has been brutalised by Hipster culture. Google practically anything  potatoes, burgers, you name it  and therell be a curated list somewhere in the world. To make it worse, lists are often carefully curated, which is tautologous.

Story continues

Content - Judges comment: Second only to the vacuum of space as the emptiest thing in the universe. Its like calling literature or journalism words. Its the high watermark in the commoditisation of writing.

Disambiguate - Judges comment: A word that rather cleverly obscures the thing it seeks to clarify. Like spraying mud on windows to clean them.

Human Capital - Judges comment: The latest in the personnel departments march towards balance sheet.

The new normal - Judges comment: Unfortunately it is catching on. I get hundreds of emails a week that reference this phrase.

In the time of Covid - Judges comment: Gabriel Garcia Marquez it aint.

Reach out - Judges comment: My standard response is back off.

Circle back - Judges comment: Sigh. Incoming Halleys Comet press release.

Ideation - Judges comment: A bold attempt to make a bad idea sound better than it is by diverting our attention.

Bake - Judges comment: Please stop using this as a noun. It is a loaf or a cake. It is not a bake.

Fake news - Judges comment: An oxymoron of such heft that only a moron could coin it. Unfortunately it has caught on.

Mainstream media - Judges comment: A tedious blamefest, thinly disguising a lack of ability to debate properly.

We remain cautious - Judges comment: On a quarterly basis, listed companies invite their advisors to visit them and help them draft their financial results statement, including the outlook statement. These three opaque words are the most overused and expensive a company will ever buy.

Going forward - Judges comment: I long for the day someone writes going backward.

Solutions - Long-time Hall of Shame member, best exemplified by the sticker company that describes itself as a global leader in adhesive labelling solutions.
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The 10 Confederate generals who give their names to US Army bases include a bishop who owned 400 slaves, a suspected Ku Klux Klan leader and a fierce advocate of slavery who feared a 'wilderness in possession of the blacks'.

Donald Trump last night rejected calls to rename the bases despite their links to slavery and racial oppression, saying they were 'hallowed grounds' and 'magnificent and fabled military installations' where soldiers have been trained for great American victories.

'Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!' he said.

The bases have come under scrutiny amid a wave of anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd, which have also led to the toppling of Confederate statues and monuments of Christopher Columbus.

Most of the 10 Confederate generals either owned slaves or their families did. One of them, Henry Benning, was vociferous in his defense of slavery and said abolition would lead to 'black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything'. The South's most famous general Robert E. Lee inherited 189 slaves from his father-in-law, tried to block their emancipation and had them beaten if they tried to escape.

Another general, John Brown Gordon - who owned a 14-year-old girl as a slave - is widely believed to have been a leader of the KKK in Georgia. Many of the 10 men had previously fought for the US Army but defected to join the Confederacy when the 11 southern states seceded in 1861.

Henry L. Benning (pictured) owned at least 89 slaves on his 3,000 acres of land

HENRY L. BENNING - OWNED 89 SLAVES

Fort Benning, Alabama-Georgia border

The home of the United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning was named in 1917 for plantation owner and Confederate general Henry L. Benning.

Benning was a Georgia lawyer who became an outspoken defender of slavery and advocate for secession in the lead-up to the Civil War.

His father owned more than 100 slaves, and tax records from 1863 show that he owned at least 89 slaves himself along with more than 3,000 acres of land.

These investments gave him a total wealth of more than $150,000, and one historian has described him as 'devoted to slavery'.

In early 1861, he took his secessionist campaign to Virginia, where he complained to the legislature that the abolition of slavery would lead to 'black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything. Is it to be supposed that the white race will stand for that?'

He also predicted that 'the land will be left in the possession of the blacks, and then it will go back to a wilderness and become another Africa or Saint Domingo'.

Imagining a world in which former slave Frederick Douglass became President, Benning said: 'I say give me pestilence and famine sooner than that.'

Benning also made explicit that Georgia was fighting for slavery, saying secession had come from 'a deep conviction that a separation from the North was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery'.

During the Civil War he became a colonel in the Georgia militia and was promoted to brigadier general in 1863, fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg later that year. He died in 1875.

Braxton Bragg (pictured) bought a plantation in Louisiana which came with 105 slaves

BRAXTON BRAGG - OWNED 105 SLAVES

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Fort Bragg is home to more than 50,000 troops and hosts the Army's Special Operations Command. It was named after Confederate general Braxton Bragg in 1918.

Born in North Carolina, Bragg moved to Louisiana in 1856 where he and his wife bought a sugar plantation for $152,000 - which came with 105 slaves.

The Army says the base is named for Bragg's actions during the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, but Bragg was also a Southern general described as 'the most hated man of the Confederacy'.

Although he was skeptical about secession, he defended the South's right to do so and seized a Union arsenal in Baton Rouge in January 1861.

Beginning the war as a major-general in Louisiana, he rose to become a general and commander of the Confederate Army of Mississippi.

However, he presided over a series of Confederate defeats and was disliked by his subordinates because of his bad temper and combative personality.

One officer called him him 'self-willed, arrogant and dictatorial,' while another soldier labelled him 'obstinate, haughty and authoritative'.

Historians have said that Bragg 'did as much as any Confederate general to lose the war' because of his string of military losses.

Bragg resigned as a commander in 1863 but continued to serve as a military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and remained in the Confederate cabinet until its defeat.

Fort Bragg in North Carolina (pictured) is home to more than 50,000 troops and hosts the Army's Special Operations Command. It was named after Confederate general Braxton Bragg in 1918

John Brown Gordon (pictured) owned a 14-year-old girl as a slave

JOHN BROWN GORDON - OWNED A CHILD SLAVE

Fort Gordon, Georgia

Fort Gordon, established during World War II, was named for Confederate lieutenant-general John Brown Gordon.

Gordon supported secession and owned slaves as a young man, investing in coal mining operations in Georgia and Tennessee.

In 1860, the census showed him owning one 14-year-old girl as a slave, while his father owned four slaves.

When war broke out, he returned home to Alabama and became a colonel - impressing Robert E. Lee by promising to hold his ground 'until the sun goes down'.

Later promoted to brigadier-general, he led a brigade of Georgia regiments during the Gettysburg campaign in 1863.

Although he led a failed assault on Fort Stedman in the final months of the war, Gordon has been called 'one of the most successful commanders' in Lee's army.

After the war he entered politics, becoming both a US senator from Georgia and the governor of the same state.

He was also rumored to be a 'Grand Dragon' of the Ku Klux Klan, and one historian said it was 'almost certain' that he was head of the KKK's Georgia branch.

Gordon also served as commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans. He lived until 1904.

Leonidas Polk (pictured) is thought to have had as many as 400 slaves on plantations

LEONIDAS POLK - OWNED 400 SLAVES

Fort Polk, Louisiana

This base was named after Leonidas Polk, who was both a bishop in the Episcopal Church and a major-general in the Confederate Army.

Polk, a cousin of 11th US President James Polk, is thought to have had as many as 400 slaves on sugar plantations in Tennessee.

His family owned more than 100,000 acres of land and he initially went to West Point, but diverted to religious life and became bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana in 1841.

Although he had no actual military experience, he had trained with Jefferson Davis at West Point and used this connection to become a major-general in the Confederate army.

Polk also supported the secession of the Southern states by withdrawing his own ecclesiastical diocese from the national Episcopal Church.

Known as the 'Fighting Bishop', he blundered early on by ordering troops into neutral Kentucky - prompting the border state to ask for Northern help and bringing it closer into the Union fold.

He later clashed with the above-mentioned Braxton Bragg, who accused him of disobeying orders during the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.

Polk was killed in action in 1864 while fighting at Pine Mountain, Georgia.

Robert E. Lee (pictured) inherited slaves from his father-in-law in 1857

ROBERT E. LEE - INHERITED 189 SLAVES

Fort Lee, Virginia

Fort Lee, 25 miles south of Richmond, is named after Confederate general-in-chief Robert E. Lee.

Lee fought in the Mexican-American War and spent three years as a superintendent at West Point, training some of the men who would later serve under him.

He owned slaves from the age of 22, when he inherited several families of black people after the death of his mother Ann Lee.

In 1857, his father-in-law left him 189 slaves who worked on the estates of Arlington, White House, and Romancoke.

The will provided that the slaves should be freed after five years, but Lee tried multiple times to resist this and keep the slaves under his control.

Although he was 'not a pro-slavery ideologue' according to one historian, Lee was known to use 'violence typical of the institution of slavery' and some slaves tried to escape his discipline. Some were recaptured and beaten on Lee's orders.

He did not finally free the slaves until three days before Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation would have done so anyway.

Lincoln had offered Lee the command of Union forces in 1861, but Lee defected instead and became a general in the Confederate army.

Lee's Army of Northern Virginia did battle with Grant's federal troops in some of the defining battles of the war, which ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865. Lee died in 1870.

P.G.T. Beauregard (pictured) grew up in a slave-owning household in Louisiana

P.G.T. BEAUREGARD - HAD AND RENTED SLAVES

Camp Beauregard, Louisiana

A National Guard training facility, this base was initially named Camp Stafford but renamed after Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard in 1917.

Beauregard was a U.S. Army officer who served in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, but defected to support the Confederacy when Louisiana seceded in 1861.

Born on a sugar plantation outside New Orleans, Beauregard had grown up in a slave-owning household and later rented slaves for himself while in the military.

Commissioned as a Confederate brigadier-general in 1861, Beauregard commanded the defenses of Charleston during the bombardment of Fort Sumter which marked the start of the Civil War.

Beauregard commanded Southern troops throughout the war, including at the 1862 Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee and during the defense of Petersburg in 1864.

But by 1865 he was among the generals who persuaded Confederate President Jefferson Davis to surrender and end the war.

After the war he wrote that 'in seventy-five years the colored race [would] disappear from America along with the Indians and the buffalo', although for tactical reasons he advised his fellow white Southerners to accept black voting rights.

In later life he became wealthy in his own right by promoting the Louisiana Lottery. He died in 1893.

Ambrose Powell Hill (pictured) quit the US Army to join the Confederacy

AMBROSE POWELL HILL - DEFECTED TO SOUTH

Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia

A US Army training center in Virginia, this base was established during World War II and named after Confederate general Ambrose Powell Hill.

Hill was not a slave owner, but quit the US Army in 1861 to join the 13th Virginia Infantry at the outbreak of the Civil War.

One biographer said that Hill joined the Confederate side because he was 'strongly attached to his native state [Virginia] and convinced that civil war was inevitable'.

Hill rose through the ranks from colonel to brigadier-general, then major-general and finally lieutenant-general after the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.

However, he was criticized for his ineffective performance on the first two days of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Hill allegedly said that he did not want to survive the fall of the Confederacy - and indeed he did not, although he only missed Lee's surrender only by a few days. Hill was killed in action in April 1865, shot by a Union soldier during a battle in Petersburg, Virginia.

Hill was highly regarded by Lee and Stonewall Jackson, both of whom are reputed to have asked for him in moments of confusion on their deathbeds.

John Bell Hood (pictured) was from a neutral state but chose to fight for the South

JOHN BELL HOOD - FAMILY OWNED SLAVES

Fort Hood, Texas

Fort Hood is the Army's 'premier installation to train and deploy heavy forces', and is named after Confederate general John Bell Hood.

Hood was from Kentucky, which declared itself neutral in the war, and had previously served in the US Cavalry after graduating from West Point, where he met Lee.

The Hood family owned seven slaves in the 1830 census and had 11 slaves by 1840, and Hood himself had a fortune of nearly $10,000 by the end of his life.

In 1861, he chose to fight for the South in the Civil War and had been promoted to brigadier-general by 1862.

On one occasion he gave orders to procure thousands of slaves - demanding the 'services of 4,000 negroes' for his army.

By 1864 he was leading Confederate forces in defense of Atlanta, but failed to stop Sherman advancing through Georgia with his Union troops.

After the war he wrote a memoir called Advance and Retreat described as the 'bitter attempt of a soldier to rebut history's judgment of himself'. He died in 1879.

George Pickett (pictured) came from a family which owned dozens of slaves

GEORGE PICKETT - FAMILY OWNED SLAVES

Fort Pickett, Virginia

This National Guard facility is named after George Pickett, the Confederate general responsible for Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg.

His Virginia family owned 42 slaves in 1830 and 23 slaves in 1850, when his father was recorded as having a wealth of $50,000.

Pickett graduated from West Point in 1846 - although he came last in his class - but defected to the Confederacy at the outbreak of war in 1861.

His charge at Gettysburg proved a disaster when he lost more than half of his command to death, injury or capture.

In 1864, he signed off the execution of 22 Union soldiers from North Carolina after they were captured at New Bern.

However, he escaped justice from a military tribunal after Ulysses Grant - a former West Point classmate - intervened to protect him.

He was also saved by President Andrew Johnson's 1866 proclamation that the rebellion was over, allowing him to return from exile in Canada. He died in 1875.

Edmund Rucker (pictured) served under Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest

EDMUND RUCKER - HONORARY GENERAL

Fort Rucker, Alabama

Home to the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, Fort Rucker was originally named Ozark Triangular Division Camp but was later renamed after Confederate general Edmund Rucker.

Rucker served under General Nathan Bedford Forrest during the Civil War and was appointed as an honorary general himself.

At one stage he was responsible for enforcing martial law in east Tennessee, punishing people who attacked Southern troops and forcing others to join the Confederate forces.

Rucker was in Forrest's cavalry at the time of the Fort Pillow Massacre in 1864 when hundreds of African-American troops were killed by Confederate forces. Forrest later arranged to have Rucker freed when he was captured.

Forrest remained Rucker's 'business partner' after the war and also became the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, but there is no evidence that Rucker followed him in joining the Klan.

After the war Rucker became an industrialist in Alabama, working as president of a railroad firm and director of an iron and steel company. These activities contributed to the decision to name a base after him in 1942. One biographer and distant relative, Michael Rucker, has called him 'one of the most important founders of Birmingham'. He lived until 1924.
The Jersey City Council will introduce an ordinance Wednesday allowing Jersey City police officers to resume a form of off-duty work theyve been barred from doing since 2018.

The legislation calls for a new traffic control manual mandating that only Jersey City police officers are allowed to conduct manual traffic control at signalized intersections.

Jersey City cops have been barred from working these types of details since Mayor Steve Fulop halted the citys off-duty jobs in 2018 after a federal investigation revealed corruption and misconduct within the program. A dozen police officers, including former Chief Phil Zacche, pleaded guilty to federal charges that they were paid for off-duty details they never performed.

Since then, New Jersey State Police and flagpersons have been conducting traffic control at construction sites in lieu of local cops. The new manual allows flagpersons to continue to conduct traffic control, as long as it is not a signalized intersection.

Councilman-at-large Daniel Rivera said during Mondays council caucus that the ordinance was first introduced in November but was tabled to give the police unions time to look over the new manual. The changes that were made were changes the union wanted, Rivera said.

It is very clear that with respect to traffic jobstraffic construction jobs, it is very clear State Police will no longer be in our city, Rivera said. Those jobs will go strictly to our Jersey City police officers and our flagmen.

Rivera said if the ordinance moves to a second reading, he would like to waive the 20-day wait for the legislation to take effect.

The Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association had concerns over language in the previous version of the 2020 manual designating where police officers and flagpersons can conduct traffic control.

While there is more work to be done, we are glad that Mayor Fulop and the City Council are continuing to engage in this conversation with us, JCPOBA President Carmine Disbrow said.

A spokeswoman for Fulop did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Jersey Citys police unions, JCPOBA and the Jersey City Superior Officers Association, filed a lawsuit in January 2019 asking a judge to force the city to restore its off-duty jobs program, alleging Fulops decision to axe the program was an overreach of his power.

But a Hudson County judge has since thrown the suit out.

Police officers often direct traffic or act as security for construction sites or festivals. Officers working those jobs are off-duty and are paid by the private company who requests them.

Whether the traffic control jobs will be considered off-duty work remains unclear. Reference to the officers being off-duty or on-duty has been removed from the new manual entirely.

Rivera noted that will probably be at the discretion of the public safety director. But Rivera said as of now, the signalized intersection jobs are for off-duty police officers only.
Authorities in Hong Kong will prosecute four prominent pro-democracy figures including media mogul Jimmy Lai for their involvement in a public commemoration of the Tiananmen massacre anniversary on June 4.



Lai, along with trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan, rights lawyer Albert Ho, and veteran democracy activist Richard Tsoi will be charged with "incitement to join an illegal assembly" after thousands defied a police ban to gather in Victoria Park for the traditional candlelight vigil marking the 1989 bloodshed in Beijing.



The vigil was organized by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, which is run by Lee, Tsoi, and Ho.



Lee said he was informed of the decision to prosecute in a phone call from police on Thursday evening.



"We expected all of this," he said in a recorded audio statement for journalists. "When you look at the overall situation in Hong Kong, the police are abusing the power to arrest and the department of justice is abusing the power to prosecute."



Lee said the government is trying threaten the people of Hong Kong, who have thrown their support behind city-wide pro-democracy protests in the past year.



But he dismissed the charges, saying "we are exercising our right to assembly."



The case will be heard on June 23, the Alliance said on its Facebook page.



The four already face similar charges alongside 11 other activists linked to a mass protest on Aug. 31, 2019.



"The Hong Kong Alliance believe that we have the right to mourn June 4 and have a rally to condemn the massacre," Lee said of the peaceful vigil.



Subversion and sedition law



The decision to prosecute the four activists came as the U.K. foreign secretary said he was "deeply concerned" at Chinas plan to impose a draconian subversion and sedition law on Hong Kong, bypassing the city's Legislative Council (LegCo).



"The proposed national security law undermines the ... framework under which Hong Kong is guaranteed a high degree of autonomy with executive, legislative and judicial powers," foreign secretary Dominic Raab said in a six-monthly report on the situation in Hong Kong.



"For the Chinese government, rather than Hong Kongs own institutions, to directly impose national security legislation would lie in direct conflict with Article 23 of Hong Kongs Basic Law, and with Chinas obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration," he said, in a reference to Hong Kong's mini-constitution and the 1984 treaty governing the 1997 handover of the city to Chinese rule.



"The law ... raises the prospect of prosecution in Hong Kong for political crimes, which would undermine existing commitments to protect the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong," Raab said in a foreword to the report.



The report said the widespread protest and social unrest of the past six months were political in nature, and should be resolved by political dialogue.



While it said violence and vandalism from protesters was unacceptable, it supported public demands for an independent public enquiry into police violence, saying a recent report was "heavily criticized" because the police complaints body lacked the power to compel witnesses.



"Use of force by the police has been a major political issue, including the treatment of arrested persons," the report said, adding that the U.K. had stopped issuing licenses for exports of crowd control equipment to Hong Kong.



Raab said his government would move ahead with plans to allow a pathway for British National Overseas (BNO) passport-holders from Hong Kong to settle in the U.K. if the national security law was implemented, and called on Beijing to "step back from the brink."



He said London "remains deeply concerned" at the arrest of the 15 pro-democracy figures on April 18.



"The U.K. will not look the other way when it comes to the people of Hong Kong, we will stand by them, and we will live up to our responsibilities," Raab wrote.



Officer summoned



Meanwhile, a judge in Hong Kong on Thursday summoned a traffic officer to appear in court over the shooting of a protester during a Nov. 11 demonstration, marking the first time a police officer has faced charges related to year-long protests in the city.



Pro-democracy leader Ted Hui filed five charges through a rare private prosecution against the officer in Januarythree of which were approved by the court, including shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. If convicted, the officer faces a maximum penalty of life in prison for that charge alone.



Two other approved chargesdangerous or reckless use of firearmseach carry a maximum punishment of seven years in jail.



The officer, who was granted anonymity by a court in another case and has not been named to comply with the earlier order, had been recorded in a video which showed him drawing his weapon and firing into a crowd that surrounded him during a demonstration, hitting one protester in the abdomen. He later said he believed protesters were trying to take his gun.



According to Hong Kong law, the Department of Justice can now intervene in the case and decide whether to prosecute or terminate it.



To date, no cases have been pursued against officers relating to accusations of abuse during the police response to protests over the past year. A government report recently dismissed claims that police had used excessive force to quell demonstrations, prompting public anger.



Teacher training



Also on Thursday, the Hong Kong education bureau said teachers in the city would now be required to attend an additional 60 hours of professional training over the next three years to improve their "professional values and conduct," prompting concerns that the authorities will soon start reshaping teaching according to the ruling Chinese Communist Party's "patriotic education" goals for the city.



The training, which will also include a module on "local, national and international education issues" will be rolled out for newly qualified teachers, in-service teachers, and will form part of requirements for promotion, the bureau said in a June 10 circular.



Reported by Man Hoi-tsan for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Thousands of cancers could have been missed due to a huge drop in referrals amid the coronavirus crisis, shocking figures today suggested.

NHS statistics show 79,573 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England in April 2020  60 per cent down from 199,217 in April 2019.

Cancer charity MacMillan says roughly 210,000 people should have been referred in April this year, suggesting roughly 130,000 people were missed.

Around 7 per cent of those would usually require cancer treatment, meaning around 9,000 people might have went undiagnosed.

Experts told MailOnline today 'it's not that there are less people with cancer, it's that they are not being diagnosed because of a bottleneck in the NHS'.

The health service is facing a shocking backlog of cases as it tries to return to normal after shutting down most of its services to cope with the pandemic.

Leading charities estimate 2.5million cancer patients have missed out on vital tests and treatment this year because of the crisis.

Figures also showed the number of people waiting over a year for NHS treatment trebled in April, magnifying the damaging knock-on effect of Covid on the nation's health.

NHS statistics show 79,573 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in England in April 2020  60 per cent down from 199,217 in April 2019

The number of people waiting for diagnostic scans and tests - such as MRI scans - has dropped because fewer people were getting non-coronavirus medical help during the UK's crisis

A&E visits to hospitals in England tumbled as people became afraid of catching Covid-19 in hospital or adding extra stress to the already-stretched health service

The average waiting time for NHS treatment has shot up during the coronavirus epidemic because hospitals were forced to cancel non-urgent operations to make room for an expected surge in Covid-19 patients

NHS England data shows urgent breast cancer referrals showed an even bigger drop - down from 16,753 in April 2019 to 3,759 in April 2020, a fall of 78 per cent.

The number of people who had to wait no more than two months from GP referral to first treatment for cancer was also down 20 per cent, from 13,519 to 10,792 year on year.

Almost 2.5MILLION patients are caught in coronavirus cancer backlog Almost 2.5million patients have missed out on vital cancer tests and treatment because of the pandemic. The NHS faces the shocking backlog of cases as it tries to return to normal  and also cope with new victims of the disease. Cancer Research UK says 2.1million patients are awaiting crucial screening for breast, cervical and bowel cancer. Another 290,000 have missed out on urgent referrals to confirm or rule out tumours. And at least 21,600 patients have had surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy postponed in the past nine weeks. Some of these procedures would have saved lives or extended them, granting precious extra time with loved ones. It is also thought patients with warning signs of cancer have avoided seeking help because they are worried about contracting coronavirus in a surgery or hospital. The numbers awaiting cancer treatment are extremely worrying, according to Sarah Woolnough, policy chief at Cancer Research UK. She added: Were going to have this huge backlog to clear. Its a massive backlog of services and treatment to deliver. Its absolutely huge, its thousands and thousands and thousands. Advertisement

Karol Sikora, a consultant oncologist and professor of medicine at the University of Buckingham Medical School, told MailOnline: 'We know there should be 30,000 new cancer patients every month.

'But this month there have been less than 5,000 that have come for treatment in England.

'It's not that there are less people with cancer, it's that they are not being diagnosed because of a bottleneck in the NHS.

'The whole thing has set us back a year, no other country has struggled this much to open healthcare back up.'

Cancer Research UK claimed almost 2.5million patients have missed out on vital cancer tests and treatment because of the pandemic.

It said 2.1million patients are awaiting crucial screening for breast, cervical and bowel cancer. Another 290,000 have missed out on urgent referrals to confirm or rule out tumours.

And at least 21,600 patients have had surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy postponed in the past nine weeks.

Some of these procedures would have saved lives or extended them, granting precious extra time with loved ones.

It is also thought patients with warning signs of cancer have avoided seeking help because they are worried about contracting coronavirus in a surgery or hospital.

Sarah Woolnough, the charity's executive director of policy and information, said: 'It's devastating to see the impact that Covid-19 is having on cancer patients.

'These figures show just how much the virus has affected cancer waiting times. The dramatic fall in the number of urgent referrals and the drop in people receiving treatment on time in April is hugely concerning.

'It means that tens of thousands of patients are in a backlog needing vital cancer care.'

More than 8,000 private beds in England have been bought up by the NHS to get cancer treatments rolling again.

The hope is to keep private hospitals 'coronavirus-free zones' so vulnerable cancer patients are not exposed to the virus which is extra lethal to them.

Ms Woolnough added: 'This is why the NHS has been working hard to create 'Covid-protected' spaces for cancer services.

Ten million people will be stuck on NHS waiting lists for surgeries by the end of the year because of coronavirus hold-ups, health bosses have warned (file image)

10MILLION patients on NHS surgery waiting lists by Christmas, health bosses warn Ten million people could be stuck on NHS waiting lists by the end of the year due to coronavirus hold-ups, health bosses have warned. Last August there were a record 4.41million patients in England waiting for routine operations, a rise of 250,000 from the same month a year earlier. But that number is expected to more than double because of a backlog triggered by the Covid-19 crisis, according to NHS projections. When officials realised the virus was spreading out of control in the UK they urged hospitals to cancel operations and turf out patients to make way for a surge in virus cases. The move stopped hospitals from being overwhelmed but hundreds of thousands of non-virus patients have had treatment delayed as a result. The health service is also bracing for its worst winter on record, when it will have to battle an influx of patients with seasonal flu and Covid-19. A new report by the NHS Confederation, which represents represents health and care leaders, predicts 10million people on waiting lists by Christmas. Bosses behind the projection said a best case scenario could see 8million people waiting for treatment, if a vaccine or therapy comes along before then. Experts have warned it could take two years to clear the backlog, even if there is no second wave of coronavirus. The report warned services will be operating at around 60 per cent capacity because of new NHS infection control and social distancing measures. NHS Confederation chief executive Niall Dickson has written to Boris Johnson to prepare the public for the huge waits they will have to face for months after the crisis is over. He has also called for assurances about personal protective equipment (PPE) and the effectiveness of the Government's Test and Trace programme. Advertisement

'An essential part of this is frequent testing of NHS staff and patients, including those without symptoms, so that vulnerable patients aren't put at risk of contracting the virus.

'Patients need to know that cancer hospitals are a safe place to go, and that's why we are calling for the Government and the NHS to make this happen as quickly as possible.'

She said there had been some signs of recovery since April and signs that patients are starting to contact their GPs again for telephone and online appointments.

'This is incredibly important and we continue to urge people to speak to their doctor if they are worried about potential cancer symptoms or have questions about their care.'

However, it emerged last week that private hospitals taken over by the NHS to fight coronavirus remained almost completely empty.

The beds are costing the taxpayer an estimated 2.4million a day and have been under public control for 11 weeks.

They were purchased in a bid to prevent intensive care wards in the NHS from being overwhelmed.

But the health service was not overrun during the peak of the pandemic, so the majority of the private beds went unused.

They are now meant to be operating as 'Covid-free hubs', but senior consultants told MailOnline 'very few' of these patients were being referred to the private hospitals, leaving them almost completely empty.

Professor Sikora added: 'Once it became clear the private beds would not be needed for Covid patients, the idea was to use private hospitals as Covid-free zones. But that has only partly materialised.

'Because the NHS is not doing surgeries, thousands of cancers are going undiagnosed. Surgery is needed in some cases to diagnose someone with the disease and get them started on their treatment.

'Because the patients are not being diagnosed, they are not coming through the system.'

Commenting on the NHS cancer figures, Professor Peter Johnson, the health service's national clinical director for cancer, said they show 'that many people have put off seeing their GP for possible symptoms due to fear of catching the virus or not wanting to burden staff'.

He added: 'Lives are saved if more people are referred for checks, so my message to anyone who has a worrying symptom is: the NHS is here for you and can provide safe checks and treatment if you need it, so please help us help you, and get in touch with your local GP like you usually would.'

Separate figures from NHS England show the number of patients admitted for routine treatment in hospitals in England in April 2020 was 41,121  a sharp fall of 85 per cent on the equivalent number for April 2019 (280,209).

At the same time, the number of people having to wait more than 18 weeks to start treatment rose to 1.13 million, almost double the number in April 2019 (579,403) and the highest number for any calendar month since January 2008.

A&E attendances at hospitals in England were down 42 per cent last month compared with a year ago.

A total of 1.3 million attendances were recorded in May 2020, down from 2.2 million attendances in May 2019.

NHS England, which published the figures, said the fall was 'likely to be a result of the Covid-19 response'  an indication that people have continued to stay away from A&E departments because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Dr Nick Scriven, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: 'We really do fear for the health service over the remainder of the year given the increasing evidence of the mishandling of the pandemic and as yet scarce sign of any meaningful recovery plan.

'The numbers of patients seeking urgent care has been well below what we would expect for this time of the year, more than 50% of patients are waiting more than six weeks for a diagnostic test and, combined with the postponement of much planned treatment, it is a potent mix.

'This could have significant consequences for both patients and hospitals as we adapt to the pressures of Covid and Covid-free working.'

Dr Rebecca Fisher, senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation, said: 'Today's figures are a wake-up call. More needs to be done to ensure people with cancer and other serious health conditions get the treatment they need, to avoid storing up worse health problems for the future.

'Adequate supplies of PPE, reliable testing, and a track and trace system that is fit for purpose are all urgently needed and essential to reassuring the public that the NHS is safe.'
At a time when the country is seeing a spurt in COVID-19 cases, private hospitals and insurance companies are in multiple disputes over unjustified insurance claim charges that are going up to Rs 8 lakh. Though there are fears around maintaining hygiene with COVID-19 patients, insurers are claiming private hospitals are charging patients for trivial things such as sanitising equipment. Also, these charges vary across India, with average insurance claims being the highest in Kolkata.

As per IRDAI data, there have been total 10,000 private healthcare insurance claims so far, with average insurance claim topping Rs 1.56 lakh. However, insurance companies pay the amount agreed in the contract, while the rest goes from the patient's pocket.

The insurance regulator data suggests the average claim among the four major cities in India is the highest in Kolkata at Rs 2.5 lakh per patient. The average claim in Delhi stands at Rs 2.41 lakh per patient; in Mumbai, it is Rs 1.19 lakh per patient and an average claim in Ahmedabad stands at Rs 97,000.

"You see hospitals billing patients for sanitising equipment. Does that mean they were using unsanitised equipment earlier?? With COVID-19 we are seeing hospitals billing anything and everything," The Times of India quoted an insurance company CEO as saying.

The report quoted a Delhi resident named Surender Gaur, who said his brother was charged Rs 70,900 for PPE kits alone, of the total bill size of Rs 4.08 lakh. Similarly, patients are also being charged for ventilator services even if they are not being used.

Also read: India sees highest single-day spike of 9,996 COVID-19 cases, 357 deaths in 24 hours; set to surpass UK

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN INDIA

India has reported the highest single-day spike of 9,996 new COVID-19 cases and 357 deaths in the last 24 hours. The cases in the country are now at 2,86,579, including 1,37,448 active cases, 1,41,029 cured and 8,102 deaths, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data suggests. A total of 52,13,140 samples have been tested so far, of which 1,51,808 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, says the Indian Council of Medical Research.

With a consistent rise in coronavirus cases, India last week jumped two places to surpass Italy and Spain to become the fifth most affected country in the world. As per an estimate, India will surpass the UK tally of around 2.9 lakh in the next one or two days.
TROY  City officials dont want to shovel out from a white Christmas this December after cutting 25.4 percent of the years snow removal budget Tuesday night.

The city is counting on a quiet November and December for snowstorms to close out 2020 after January and February were relatively snowless so it can avoid spending on road salt purchases, equipment and overtime for plowing. That gamble will help it get out of the pending budgetary problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic shutdown reducing revenues.

The City Council voted unanimously to make $3.012 million in spending cuts and move the funds into a COVID-19 Contingency Fund to keep the city afloat as sales tax and other revenues dip. The reductions include $2.167 million in the 2020 budget and $845,000 from savings in bond issues made at a special meeting Tuesday night.

Were doing what we can to get through the year, Councilman Anasha Cummings, D-4th District, who chairs the Councils General Services Committee, said Wednesday.

The council removed $148,666 from the snow removal budget of $583,234. The cuts were $65,000 for buying road salt, $61,000 for overtime for plowing, $18,0000 for equipment and $4,666 for Social Security costs.

Snow-filled streets become a public nightmare after a storm, but a warm late spring day cancels out those memories.

We dont have snow to worry about when its 86 degrees outside, Councilman Jim Gulli, R-1st District, a General Services Committee member, said. But that could change, Gulli said if the city runs into an unexpected major snowstorm late in the year like in 2019.

The Capital Regions normal November snowfall is 2.8 inches and in December its 13.7 inches, according to the National Weather Service at Albany. A two-day snowstorm on Dec. 1-2, 2019 dumped 20.1 inches on the region.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

That storm forced Troy to dig into its snow reserve fund to plow out the streets. The fund currently has $404,000 in it to help cover snow emergencies, said Andrew Piotrowski, the citys deputy comptroller.

After taking the $148,666 from snow removal, the city still has $172,000 for the rest of the year to draw on, Piotrowski said. The city spent about $225,711 so far on dealing with snow this year.

The $2.167 million in budget cuts resulted from discussions among the citys department heads, Mayor Patrick Maddens office and Piotrowskis office. The reductions to the snow removal budget came after a lengthy discussion that weighed what the chances of a late snowstorm would be at the end of the year.

City officials are waiting to see if the federal government will provide funds for local governments through a summer stimulus bill. The city is prepared to borrow against revenues to keep cash flowing for its operations as part of a four-phase fiscal plan. The Council has gone on record calling for passage of fiscal relief.
A study led by the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) has found significant differences in disease risk perception and channels of information about Ebola virus disease (EVD) in rural areas and urban centers of Guinea, West Africa.

Findings were established after researchers investigated residents' opinions of the wildlife potentially posing a risk for EVD transmission to humans, wildmeat consumption before and during the 2013-2016 EVD outbreak in Guinea, and the ways in which EVD transmission risks were communicated during the outbreak.

The research led by Dr. Tatyana Humle (DICE) alongside colleagues from Beijing Forestry University, China, and other international institutions, found that rural people mainly received information about EVD through awareness-raising missions, especially in villages, as opposed to urban respondents who also gained their information through newspapers and radio.

Bats, chimpanzees, monkeys, warthogs, crested porcupines, duikers, and cane rats were perceived as potential transmitters of EVD, but only bats and chimpanzees were reportedly consumed less often during the epidemic period even though a wildmeat ban was in place.

Reduced consumption of bats and chimpanzees and an increase in domestic meat consumption revealed influenced consumption behavior based on perceived disease risk.

Yet many respondents in rural areas still did not strongly believe that wildlife could act as vectors of EVD, underestimating the risk associated with handling, capturing, butchering, and transporting infected wild animal carcasses.

Respondents who believed that EVD is not natural blamed developed countries for its spread. These individuals tended to maintain their wildmeat consumption habits and potentially mistrust information conveyed.

The high cost and low availability of domestic meat were also cited as barriers to alternative meat protein consumption, especially in rural areas.

Our research indicates that future public health and behavioral change campaigns must use carefully developed messaging in relation to the risks of zoonoses." Dr. Tatyana Humle, Researcher, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

There should also be a bigger focus on raising awareness of affordable and accessible alternative protein resources.

This will be more beneficial to residents than imposing bans or restrictions. In regions such as West Africa, the relationship between socio-economic context, food security, and public health is so important and requires greater attention.'
If you are part of the professional world of e-sports, then you have probably heard of the Danish team Copenhagen Flames. According to a report from DOT ESPORTS, Danish team Copenhagen Flames is open to negotiating the transfer of its CS:GO team.

They currently rank number 38 in the world rankings whose players are around 22 years old. The team has a reputation for raising suspicion after they managed to qualify for Flashpoint (also known as the inaugural season of the new Counter-Strike organization-owned league that is managed by Cloud9 and Immortals Gaming Club which highlights 8 permanent members as well as 4 qualified teams competing over a $1,000,000 USD prize pool) season one in March and has been known for selling players to bigger teams.

Players' Departure

Even before participating Flashpoint, they have already lost its former captain lost Asger "AcilioN" Larsen after transferring to MAD Lions. In 2019, Copenhagen Flames sold Fredrik "roeJ" Jrgensen to Tricked.

After participating in the first season of Flashpoint, the Danish team has lost two players as Rene "TeSeS" Madsen transferred to Heroic, a much larger Danish organization in April while Asger "farlig" Jensen left last May to play for GODSENT.

Eventually, Ismail "refrezh" Ali has become the team's best player and was the only player who attended tier-one competitions.

This just goes to show how much Copenhagen cannot retain its players due to better offers received from more prestigious organizations. Copenhagen Flames would reportedly return to CS:GO in the future if the current lineup leaves.

No comments were made from the Danish team. They also have teams in Fortnite, Valorant, and Super Mario Smash Bros 4 whose core values can be found in their website which are: unity, equality, and humility. The team is being led by Steffen Thomsen (Chief Executive Officer), Daniel Vorborg (Director of Esports), Michael Emcken (Chief Operating Officer), Michal Galewski (Content Manager), Unni Bgh Christiansen (Social Media Manager), and Mikkel Guldborg (Talent Development).

Read Also: Counter Strike Helped One Gamer Find Out That His Girlfriend Sells Her Nudes Online

Team Statistics

Just like a team, it has its ups and downs. In a news report from DBLTAP, the Danish team managed to land in 10th place during the first Road to Rio event. They beat out teams like FNATIC, Mousesports, Complexity, Dignitas, and c0ntact Gaming. But they incurred a 140-point deducton from their 700 points due to farlig's replacement after the event. cs_summit 6, organized by Beyond the Summit is a two-week long event that starts on June 24, 2020 with 16 teams competing each other for the collective pool prize of $125,000. This event is the second Road to Rio event for North America and Europe.

Recently, they achieved 9-12th place in the Home Sweet Home Cup 7 and will participate the the eighth cup this week to improve their ranking. Unfortunately, they failed to secure a spot ESL Pro League or ESEA Premier Season 33 of ESEA Advanced as they ranked too low.

Read Also: Counter-Strike Update: Graffiti Sprays Revival Limits Revealed; Valve Not Responding To 'Stop Skin Transfer' Order?
A Twitter logo is displayed on a mobile phone in Arlington, Va. on May 27, 2020. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Twitters Appointment of New Director Raises Concerns of Chinese Influence

A petition to the White House has recently been filed calling for investigation into Twitters suppression of criticisms of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), after the U.S. social media company appointed a new director having close ties to top leaders of the CCP.

The petition, titled Call for a thorough investigation on Twitters violation of freedom of speech, was filed on May 20. The petition states, Twitter has suppressed criticisms of CCP and suspended [Chinas political] dissents accounts while pro-Beijing accounts live well.

So far the on-line petition has received more than twenty-seven thousand supporting signatures.

The popular San Francisco based social media platform announced on May 11 the appointment of Dr. Li Fei-Fei to the Companys Board of Directors as a new independent director. Li was former Vice President and Chief AI Scientist at Google Cloud and led the internet search giant in its efforts to build its China AI operations.

Critics Suspended, Propaganda Continues

According to the petition, on May 18, 2020, not surprisingly, many anti-CCP twitter users found themselves suspended, some permanently.

One week after Li joined Twitters board of directors, Caijinglenyan (), a Chinese twitter handle, was taken down for violating rules against posting identical content on duplicate accounts. The writer of the account found that four of his accounts were deleted.

The writer believes his accounts were cancelled because he exposed the red background of Li and alleged Twitters new director was a member of a student association that was affiliated with the CCPs United Front Department.

The writer stated that he had only posted the content on one of his accounts, and retweeted the original post on his other accounts. He argued that Twitter does not have a policy that prevents a user from having more than one account.

The writer also said that one of his twitter followers claimed that his account was canceled simply because he tweeted: Li Fei-Fei is coming, I have to run.

Twitter has been banned in China. However, the ban does not prevent all levels of CCP officers and Chinas state-owned media from having Twitter accounts outside of China. Using the U.S. social media as a platform, Beijing has been effectively spreading its propaganda to the Western World.

For instance, Hua Chunying, Chinas State Department spokesperson, has tweeted out many propaganda statements through her account @SpokespersonCHN.

On May 5, Hua tweeted an article published by China Xinhua News denying that Wuhan was the origin of COVID-19. Xinhua News is CCPs official mouthpiece, which Chinese people often criticize as publishing nothing but lies, except for the days date.

Xinhua News has held the account @XHNews since February 2012. On June 8, Xinhua News tweeted its own article: Overseas observers speak highly of Chinas white paper on #COVID19, saying it brings great inspiration to the global battle against the pandemic xhnew.ws/YcWnh.

The article quoted the statements made by media or officials from Namibia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Ecuador praising how the Chinese regime dealt with the pandemic.

The Chinese State Departments other spokesman, Zhao Lijian, tweeted in early March stating it might be the US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.

The twitter accounts of Hua, Zhao, and Xinghua News are currently in normal operations.

Li Fei-Feis Ties to China

Li, Twitters newly appointed director, has been well known for her ties with the CCP. Li led Google Cloud to set up its AI operation partnering with Chinas top AI institute at Tsinghua University.

Tsinghuas AI operation reportedly received more than 100 million yuan ($14.53 million) from the Science and Technology Committee of Chinas Central Military Commissiona Party organ that oversees the militaryto work on an AI project for the military.

At the launch event of Googles AI Center in China in December 2017, Chinese media portal Sina reported that Li told the audience that she started pushing the idea to set up an AI center in China with the CEOs of Google and Google Cloud right after she joined the company in January 2017.

Li was also cited in a December 2017 report by Chinese news portal sohu.com as saying: China is like a sleeping giant. When she wakes, she will shake the world.

She added that China had already awakened in the AI world, the report stated.

According to a CNN report, Li is a U.S. citizen, who immigrated from China with her parents in 1992 when she was 16.

She graduated from Princeton University in 1999 with a bachelors degree in physics, and completed a doctorate at the California Institute of Technology in 2005. She served as the director of Stanfords AI research lab from 2013 to 2018.

Many Chinese media outlets and regime officials have heaped praise on Li, touting her as an outstanding talent in the field of AI.

She was one of the winners of the 20172018 You Bring Charm to the World Award, an award sponsored by several Chinese media outlets and presented to Chinese individuals who influence the worlds view of the country.

In December 2017, she was reportedly named by the Chinese think tank Center for China and Globalization as among the 50 most successful Chinese who have studied abroad. The recognition was announced at a conference convened by several government agencies.

The Chinese regime has sought to use overseas-trained Chinese experts and professionals to expand its influence abroad.

In 2015, the Partys United Front Work Department, a body tasked with running the regimes influence operations overseas, specifically designated a new focus of working with Chinese individuals who have received foreign education, the state-run China Daily reported.

Lis past history working with Chinese organizations controlled by CCP was apparently the main reason that triggered the petition to the White House.

Concerns About Chinese Regimes Influence

Two U.S. lawmakers, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) sent a letter to CEO Jack Dorsey of Twitter on March 20, urging the social media company to block the access to Twitter for any foreign officials that ban the use of Twitter in their own countries, especially the Chinese officials.

The Peoples Republic of China blocks public access to Twitter yet uses your service to promote its propaganda, says the lawmakers in the letter. The letter also says: by banning Twitter in China, the Chinese Communist Party is keeping its citizens in the dark. By putting propaganda on Twitter, the Chinese Communist Party is lying to the rest of the world.

While the coronavirus pandemic is afflicting families, governments, and markets around the world, the Chinese Communist Party is waging a massive propaganda campaign to rewrite the history of COVID-19 and whitewash the Partys lies to the Chinese people and the world, states the letter.

The Chinese regime has long sought to influence global media, and to suppress any reporting critical of the regime. A March 2019 report by Reporters Without Borders states that the Chinese regime has waged a war against global media under the guise of combatting hostile Western forces. Within China, state TV channels have broadcast at least 29 forced confessions involving journalists or bloggers since 2013.

In November 2018, Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution published a report documenting the extent of Chinas influence operations inside the United States. The 200 page-long report, titled Chinese Influence & American Interests, summarizes the Chinese regimes influence on the U.S. Congress, state and local governments in the United States, and U.S. universities, think tanks, corporations, and technology and research.

The current White House petition calls for a thorough investigation on Twitters violation of freedom of speech, and on Dr. Fei Fei Lis collaborations with CCP, a threat to national security.

The Epoch Times has contacted Twitter for comments about the on-going petition, but received no response by the press time.
Member of Parliament Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, who is a member of the political council of the Holos Party, said that he has registered in parliament a letter of resignation, but does not plan to end his political career.

"I have registered in the Verkhovna Rada a letter of resignation as Member of Parliament," he told a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

Vakarchuk noted that he does not plan to stop his political activities and work in the Holos Party, adding that he is planning to participate in an educational project soon.
Asylum seekers who worked in certain healthcare occupations during the COVID-19 outbreak may be able to get permanent residence if the federal government approves a new proposed measure.

Asylum seekers working in healthcare may get Canadian permanent residence Asylum seekers who worked in certain healthcare occupations during the COVID-19 outbreak may be able to get permanent residence if the federal government approves a new proposed measure.

Asylum seekers working in healthcare may get Canadian permanent residence Asylum seekers who worked in certain healthcare occupations during the COVID-19 outbreak may be able to get permanent residence if the federal government approves a new proposed measure.

Asylum seekers working in healthcare may get Canadian permanent residence Asylum seekers who worked in certain healthcare occupations during the COVID-19 outbreak may be able to get permanent residence if the federal government approves a new proposed measure. Shelby Thevenot Alexandra Miekus Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Canada is working on a temporary program that will give asylum seekers a pathway to permanent residence if they worked in healthcare during the coronavirus pandemic.

The program is expected to launch in the next few weeks, Radio Canada reports. Though it is not yet known how many people would be affected, the numbers could reach in the thousands. Quebec is said to be home to the majority of asylum seekers who could be eligible for the new measure.

La Maison dHaiti, a Quebec-based support organization for migrants, estimates as many as 1,000 asylum seekers are currently working in the provinces health sector. Many are still working through the pandemic despite having their claims rejected, or while waiting on decisions from the government.

Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs

The organization has been very outspoken on this subject in recent weeks, stating that many asylum seekers are now well integrated into Canadian society and has been asking that their hard work and dedication be recognized.

Multiple requests for the regularization of the status of asylum seekers currently on the front lines in care facilities have been submitted to the Government of Quebec by both immigration lawyers and humanitarian organizations.

However, asylum seekers claims do not fall under provincial jurisdiction. In fact, an independent administrative tribunal, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, reviews these claims. That is why the file is now in the hands of the Canadian government.

Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino presented the details of the project to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Cabinet Committee on Tuesday. Canadas French-language public broadcaster, Radio Canada, was able to obtain a copy of the presentation. Cabinet must first approve the program proposed by the minister before it can go into effect.

The proposed measure is not just limited to workers in long-care facilities, but also includes workers in hospitals such as nurses aides, security, and others.

However, asylum seekers working in other fields, even if they were essential during the pandemic, are not included in the proposed program.

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria presented by the immigration minister are as follows, candidates must:

be an asylum seeker, even if the original application had failed, or if the claim is still pending;

have requested asylum before the date that the measure will be announced;

hold a valid work permit;

have worked in the health field; and

have worked for at least four weeks, or 120 hours, between January 25, 2020 and until the date of the announcement of the special measure.

Recruitment of immigrants to work in healthcare part of new Quebec reforms

After reducing immigration levels in its first year in power, the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government recently announced a plan to recruit immigrants to work as orderlies in the provinces long-term care homes.

Part of the plan includes the launch of a pilot program to provide permanent residence to up to 550 experienced healthcare workers per year.

Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs

 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved
Etihad Airways on Wednesday launched a voucher giving 50 per cent extra cash value to passengers for travel during the two-year period starting August 1. Air travel across the world has drastically reduced amid the coronavirus pandemic and airlines have been taking various measures to improve cash flow.

In a press release, Etihad said passengers can purchase the travel voucher, any time between June 10 and June 24, and they will get 50 per cent extra cash value in the voucher, which can be used for travel during the two-period starting August 1. Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in the country since March 23.

However, after a gap of two months, domestic passenger flights began in India from May 25. "Etihad Travel Vouchers are available in increments of USD 250 to a maximum of USD 65,000. The value of the purchased voucher plus 50 per cent extra credit will be added to a Travel Bank account for future redemption on flights, upgrades and extras," said the airline.

Global airlines body IATA said on Tuesday that carriers across the world are expected to lose USD 84.3 billion in 2020, calling it the "worst year in the history of aviation". Even as the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise globally, various countries have resumed domestic and international air travel, albeit with much precautions and in a curtailed manner.

Also read: Airlines set to lose $84 billion this year as coronavirus clips aviation industry
Twelve weeks into the pandemic crisis that put more than 1.2 million New Jersey workers out of work, 94% of people who have filed eligible unemployment claims are receiving benefits, the state Labor Department announced Thursday.

The onslaught of unemployment claims that followed state mandated closures of entire business sectors overwhelmed the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which said it had never before processed as many claims in such a short period.

The state Department of Labor has come under fire since March as workers report waiting months for their benefit payments or calling unemployment offices day after day without reaching help.

Not an hour goes by that we dont think about New Jersey workers who for the first time are struggling with putting food on the table or paying bills, Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said at the governors daily coronavirus briefing.

We absolutely hear the pain in their voices, their emails and their calls, and we want to make this process easier for them at every turn. We know that not every worker is getting they need yet, but we are working on it.

At the end of last week, 1.2 million New Jersey workers had filed for unemployment benefits. Of the 1.02 million who have been deemed eligible, the labor commissioner said, 94% have collected some payments. That includes workers who may have since returned to work, he noted.

Job losses, though, are slowing dramatically after peaking in late March and early April at more than 200,000 new workers filing for unemployment benefits each week.

In the week ending June 6, another 23,166 people filed claims in New Jersey. A quarter of all unemployment claims filed have been from food service employees, with plenty of other claims coming from casinos, retail and airlines, Asaro-Angelo said Thursday afternoon at the governors daily coronavirus briefing.

A new call center will be up and running Monday, employees from other areas of state government have been reassigned to respond to unemployment claims, and updates to the automated processing system mean a half million workers trying to file claims dont have to speak to a Labor Department employee, Asaro-Angelo noted.

Nationally, another 1.5 million people filed new claims, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Since early March, more than 44 million workers have sought benefits.

Actual state and national totals may be higher, as the tally does not include workers who have not been able to file or who may not be eligible for unemployment benefits.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

New Jerseys unemployment rate soared to 15.3% in April, the highest since record keeping began in 1976, according to the state labor department. It exceeded the national rate, which hit 14.7% in April.

New Jersey workers who are eligible for unemployment may receive 60 percent of their wages, up to $713. Through the end of July, recipients will also receive $600 in additional Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments from the federal coronavirus stimulus package.

Adding the state and federal together, the average weekly payment is $1,050, the state Labor Department said in its weekly report Thursday.

As part of the stimulus, workers who had exhausted their 24 weeks of state benefits may be newly eligible for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which supplies 13 extra weeks of federal benefits.

In 12 weeks, New Jersey workers have received $6.25 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits, the Labor Department said.

This latest report comes as the state prepares to enter the second stage of its reopening Monday, in which restaurants can resume outdoor dining and retail stores can welcome customers at half capacity. Child care centers, too, which have been limited to caring for children of essential workers, can open their doors starting Monday.

A week later, hair salons and barbershops can reopen. Murphy has said he hopes casinos can get up and running by July 4th.

Gov. Phil Murphy this week lifted the states stay-at-home order.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com.
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Earlier this year, when adult performer Ana Foxxx appeared on the set for a shoot for porn director Kayden Kross, she was thrilled. It was an orgy scene featuring Krosss husband, Manuel Ferrara, and three other black women  a rarity in the adult industry. There arent that many roles. It seems like companies only shoot us [once every few months], Foxx tells Rolling Stone. So were never really on set together. They were excited to finally be working together in a scene.

Then it was time for photos, and Foxxx noticed the women coming upstairs with bananas. At first, she thought they were just eating snacks. Then they were all instructed to get in the frame and hold the bananas together. I was like, this doesnt feel good to me, she says.

More from Rolling Stone

When the women complained, Kross apologized and promised to delete the photos. But it was a grueling 12-hour shoot, and one of the other performers, Demi Sutra, says she ended the day by crying in the bathroom. She stayed on set, however, because she didnt want to ruin the shoot for the other performers. You never know who really needs the money, because there just arent so many opportunities for black actresses, she says.

When asked about these allegations, Kross said, For the record, I stand with the movement and I believe that real systemic change is needed for our society to grow and flourish. With that said, and in light of some of your questions, I am also hoping we do not start to see this sentiment become misdirected in the pursuit of opportunistic personal agendas and OnlyFans subscriber revenues. When asked specifically about the bananas, she said they were intended to be dipped in chocolate and glitter as part of a Valentines Day shoot. I did not recognize the bananas to be especially problematic at the time, though I now understand why this could be sensitive and regret this decision, she tells Rolling Stone.

Story continues

Such stories are common among black performers in the industry, who often find themselves torn between speaking out about their marginalization and staying quiet for fear of career reprisal. This is especially true for black female performers, who are cast far less often in scenes than their white counterparts. I cant tell you how many times Ive heard, Ana, we wish we could shoot you more, but we only shoot so many black girls,' says Foxxx. She says shes been repeatedly told by producers that black female performers do not sell as well as white female performers. Im like, How do you expect black women to ever do more than move the needle if you dont give us opportunities to work?,' she says, adding that she has had to expand her catalog to anal and gang bangs in order to get booked for more gigs.

The depiction of racist stereotypes in porn and the marginalization of black performers has been a topic of discussion within the industry for years. Pornography is the least progressive industry in America, says Sutra. Theres no other industry that can say, You are black so you cannot do this movie.' Yet many in the industry see the conversation kickstarted by the Black Lives Matter protests as a prime opportunity to get prominent companies to change many of their problematic practices. That discussion intensified when the adult industry media publication AVN ran a story alleging police brutality victim George Floyd had links to the porn industry, sparking massive backlash and prompting AVN to delete the story and publish an apology.

One of the issues called out by performers on social media relates to the common yet outdated practice of white female performers charging higher rates for so-called IR, or interracial, scenes, which almost always refers to a black male performer having sex with a white female performer. Companies will regularly offer A-list white female performers well above her standard rate to get her to shoot her first IR scene with them, and many well-known models will hold out on working with black performers for years for this reason. IR is a smokescreen for what youre really trying to say, says performer Isiah Maxwell. It doesnt mean Asian or Latino. It means, Are you willing to have sex with a black guy?'

This practice does not apply, however, to black male performers or black female performers, creating a deeply uncomfortable racial economic hierarchy thats perpetuated by performers agents, who take a commission off these higher rates. Maxwell says he has heard from other companies that some large agencies establish quotas for how often top female performers can work with black talent. The agencies have always been detrimental, says Maxwell. They allow certain girls who come in to uphold their beliefs that theyre above certain skin colors.

Because of the lack of opportunities available to black performers, particularly black female performers, many will be limited to working with the handful of companies that regularly shoot such content, most of which market themselves using outrageously offensive racial tropes. Ricky Johnson, for instance, has done a number of scenes for the production company Dogfart, which specializes in interracial porn and features such series as Black Meat White Feet and Watching My Daughter Go Black. It paints black people in a brutish way, says Johnson. But the issue with that is its one of the only sites that [regularly] shoots black people. Early on in her career, Foxxx appeared in a scene in which she was asked to give oral sex to white men wearing Confederate flag T-shirts; Johnson says he did a scene where the director asked the black performers to wear prison uniforms, and asked if he was comfortable with the white female performer using the n-word on set. (He said no.)

While perhaps not as overt in their trafficking of racist stereotypes, sites like Blacked.com capitalize on outdated stereotypes about black men and perpetuate inequities in the industry in other ways. Despite ostensibly serving as a showcase for black performers, the performers I spoke with for this article say it is exceedingly rare for Blacked to hire black female performers, and of the first 50 featured models on the site, there are only two black women. It also uses such offensive terms as BBC (meaning big black cock) in some of its titles. The behemoth tube site Pornhub also prominently features content with such titles as Ghetto teen put this on herself and ebony slayed by BBC and has hundreds of videos featuring the n-word in the title. In response to a glut of such content, some performers have recently attempted to upload a wide range of clips featuring black talent in an attempt to flood the category and have an effect on Pornhubs algorithm.

Because film titles are often chosen by a companys marketing team and not by the performer or even director themselves, many performers have no say over how their content is marketed. Foxxx once shot an anal scene for the director Jules Jordan that later appeared online as part of a compilation titled Black Facials Matter. At first I was confused because it was an anal scene, she says. Then I got really mad. She says she contacted Jordan asking him to change the title, but he never responded; years later, when she ran into a company employee at an industry event and related the story to them, the title was finally changed (though it is still intact on various tube sites). In response, Jordan said he was unaware that Foxxx had previously contacted him requesting to change the title, which had been written by a copywriter. Unfortunately due to the volume of content on our site, I cannot monitor 100% of the site personally, adding, when I was alerted to this issue, I agreed immediately it needed changed.

Not every black performer takes issue with all of the terminology used in keywords and titles, believing them to be exemplary of the generally crude and reductive marketing tactics adopted by companies to promote porn. Porn has always been a reflection of American values, so if these are the titles you see, these are the titles people are buying, says Maxwell. If you see a title like Fear of a Black Penis 6 [a film Maxwell appeared in], that must mean five of them must sell well. He does not believe that porn is an appropriate venue to affect social change: Porn is such a murky water to be a social activist its hard for them to take you seriously, he says. I try to separate the two. But he acknowledges that industry practices are highly problematic at best. Porn is the only industry where you can justify your racism. You cant force anyone to have sex with anyone they dont want to  you cant say, You have to fuck a black guy to be in this industry  so you can justify your beliefs, he says.

To an extent, things have started changing, albeit only in response to pressure and intense public criticism on social media. As part of AVNs apology, it vowed to eliminate categories like interracial and ethnic from future awards shows, which black performers say has been a long time coming, even if they feel the change was not made in earnest: They had to react to the reaction, says Maxwell. I feel like theyre sorry they put [the story] out. I dont feel theyre sorry they put it together. Companies like AVN, Xbiz, and Blacked have reached out to performers to speak with them about what they can be doing better to support black talent. Following a Zoom call with black performers and crew members, Mike Moz, a producer for Blacked, tells Rolling Stone that going forward, the company will not use terms like BBC and interracial in its marketing copy. Moz also said the company would cast more black women and write more inclusive storylines, though he defended the practice of offering higher rates for white performers doing their first scenes with black men. Within the industry, any kind of first has a value on it. Youre vying for those firsts, he says.

Foxxx says that many of these discussions are too little, too late. These conversations about pay disparities and black female performers being passed over have been going on for years to no avail, and Foxxx and other performers are frustrated that it took the death of George Floyd to have their concerns be heard. Now everybodys like Black Lives Matter and all of this stuff. It kind of sucks because I feel like I was yelling at people not too long ago to show support, only for them to jump on the bandwagon when its convenient, she says. We need to support performers across the board, not just when its a chance to get more likes and followers.

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Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, wrote in 1789 that "...in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". Well, I think you'll agree, we could all add a few other certainties to that list, and for sure, I'd add 'change'.

Rebuilding better

Change is constant in life and when we face a crisis, like that of the Covid-19 virus, we see change accelerate.

So inevitably, travel is changing. For the past few months, the global industry has faced an almost existential crisis, when many of the planet's citizens have been forbidden to leave their homes except to shop for essential food, let alone head out on a journey for pleasure.

Yet the thing about change is that it creates opportunities. Successful people and businesses embrace change rather than fear or ignore it. That's why crises drive human innovation, forcing us to adapt, often rapidly.

The Germfalcon sterilisation machine can fit in the aisle between aircraft seats. / SUR

As travel is once again becoming part of our lives, the industry is endeavouring to meet the new challenges we all face. It has to almost reinvent itself and certainly evolve. In the short-term there will be pain, in terms of inconveniences, risks and higher costs for travellers, and financial burdens and fewer clients for providers.

Yet I am in no doubt that travel will rebuild better. So here I wanted to explore a few of the medium- to long-term benefits that this health crisis will have upon travel.

Squeaky clean

The video of supermodel Naomi Campbell's aircraft-boarding ritual, where she cleaned and disinfected everything in her seat area with wipes, went 'viral' last year. Yet now in 2020, the year of the coronavirus, her approach no longer seems so compulsive. Cleanliness is the new, all-encompassing priority for the travel industry. This has to be among one of the best legacies of this crisis. Planes, trains, and rental automobiles are going to be cleaner than ever before.

US firm Dimer UVC Innovations has invented the 'Germfalcon', a sterilisation machine that can fit in the aisle between aircraft seats and extend its 'wings' of UV lights over the seats, sterilising them as it passes. This is the future of our cleaner, healthier world of travel.

Go Green

Trains will continue in popularity, as their journey times and cost per kilometre begin to compete even more favourably with airline schedules, which will need to be adjusted for longer turn-arounds (as planes are cleaned; and boarding processes become slightly slower, less crowded affairs).

Need more space for social distancing? Just hook up another train carriage. That's not possible on an aircraft, so trains will take a lot more strain for intercity travel in the coming years.

Meanwhile, rental car companies have invested in new cleaning protocols for vehicles using not only disinfectants but also ozone. So, expect not only a fresher smelling car for your holiday, but a genuinely cleaner one too.

The Covid-19 health crisis has also accelerated the retirement of large kerosene-guzzler aircraft. Instead twin-engine, more fuel-efficient 'greener' planes are being scheduled for use in the future. Boeing 747s and 777s, and Airbus A380s are all set to be nothing more than nostalgic travel memories.

Do you remember the first time you checked in for a flight online? I do; it was complicated, and fraught with frustrations, with a slow internet connection and a cumbersome website.

Yet it was a revolution for airline travel. Now, online check-in for flights is taken for granted - and it's that kind of innovation we are going to see a lot more of over the next few years.

Driving innovation

With the new obligation to minimise queues and crowds in airports we are going to see new ideas that will be equally transformative for us as travellers. We'll be able to check our luggage online, download personalised digital luggage tags that integrate with our suitcases, and arrange our bag drop-off at different locations away from the airport.

Driving to the airport in our own cars will decline, and use of autonomous vehicles will increase, allowing airport car parks to be converted into terminal space.

Once we arrive at the airport, the way we navigate these larger terminals will be far more intuitive and controlled through apps on our smart phones. Forget the last minute jostle to board the aircraft and stow your cabin bag in the last empty overhead locker. The future promises a far more controlled boarding process. Checked and carry-on luggage will be closely monitored and agreed in advance before you leave home. Passengers will be guided through the terminal in smaller groups, arriving at the gate in stages, guided by smart phone alerts.

In the short term I know that won't be the case - travel this summer for example will be no joy. But look ahead a few years and I think it's going to be a much smoother experience.

Airports will evolve into healthier spaces, with more square metres per passenger, more natural light, sophisticated air filtering systems, and lots of plants. Singapore's Changi Airport gives us a glimpse into this attractive future.

Healthy hotels

Hotels too are making their contribution to rebuilding travel better. One of the changes I am most looking forward to is the end of the traditional check-in. Hotels have always been innovators, yet few have seemed enthusiastic to get rid of the anachronistic Front Desk.

Well, now it would seem its days are finally numbered. To avoid queues and groups in the lobby, budget properties will roll-out more automated self-check in, using terminals or smart phone apps.

High-end properties and luxury resorts will avoid groups in reception by providing dedicated check-in within a private space, the guest suite, or by offering direct suite access via a smart phone app.

Keyless entry will become the norm. Once initial check-in is completed online, or in a private dedicated area, guests will receive their 'key' on their phone. The mantra will be in 'no-touch, no-contact'.

Rooms will be cleaned to a higher standard, and don't be surprised to see more use of automation. Cleaning robots will be a more familiar sight in airports, train stations and hotels. Properties are also installing UV light disinfection for guest rooms and within air condition systems.

Yet the challenge for the hospitality industry will be to avoid creating spaces that feel more like hospitals than hotels. Despite innovation and technology, the focus has to remain on old fashioned thoughtfulness, friendliness, and hospitality.

Sailing the high seas

The cruise industry has suffered significant harm to its image during this crisis. Yet the industry is working to create new guest experiences that are safer and cleaner. Passenger numbers may be reduced in the short term, but travellers will see innovations in food and beverage and technology that will stay for the long term.

Late last year Princess Cruises showcased its latest cruise liner in Malaga's port. Among the innovations onboard was the 'Ocean Medallion', an interactive digital device that allows guests to order and pay for services, locate friends and family on board, and so much more, without touching or signing anything. This is the future for sure.

Robotic bar waiters were at first gimmicks on cruise ships, but they are set to be more common where self-service of refreshments will no longer be possible.

Buffets will definitely stay. But as with large resort hotels, the cruise ships will provide all-you-can-eat spreads with more control on quality and health. Guests can choose whatever they want, whenever they want, but expect it to be displayed behind a transparent screen and served to you by a robot or a member of staff.

Mindful choices

Of course, innovation and change doesn't always delivery immediate savings. The demand for investment, combined with the short-term drop in tourism over the next year or two will probably lead to higher travel prices. For example, if airports focus less on retail and more on keeping passengers spaced apart, and airlines schedule fewer routes with smaller loads, then prices for air travel will inevitably go up.

Yet that's not always a bad thing. As a kid born at the end of the '60s, I didn't travel outside Europe with my family until I was eight or nine. Instead we had traditional family holidays in the UK's West Country or short trips to France. I have such fond memories of those times. Maybe a whole new generation will enjoy the simplicity of those kinds of trips; while going on an intercontinental holiday will be a treat again.

Road less travelled

If flying and international travel once again becomes a little more of a luxury, then we'll all be encouraged to make more mindful choices of when and where we go abroad.

Over-tourism will seem so 'last year!' Who wants to crowd around the Eiffel Tower for a selfie, or queue for hours to go inside Barcelona's Sagrada Familia cathedral, when there is a world of uncrowded possibilities waiting to be discovered and explored?

The road-trip, the wild hiking adventure, the nature retreat, the staycation, the family seaside holiday, the local cooking course, and the camping trip look set to be as much a part of our future travel as robots and UV light sterilisers.
WATERLOO  A 29-year-old man faces drug trafficking charges after police arrested him for breaking his parole conditions.

The man was arrested in the area of Hickory Street East and Weber Street North in Waterloo on Thursday.

He was released on parole in March.

Police seized methamphetamine and a large quantity of cash.
New Delhi:

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday postponed his scheduled visit to Russia and the United States in the wake of the attack in Uri and the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and called an emergency meeting to review the situation arising out of the terror strike.

Singh also spoke to the Jammu and Kashmir Governor and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on the situation arising out of the terror strike in Uri.

The Home Minister was scheduled to leave for Russia tonight for a four-day bilateral visit and later to the US on September 26 for a six-day tour to attend the Indo-US Homeland Security Dialogue.

Keeping the situation of Jammu and Kashmir in mind and in the wake of terror attack in Uri, I have postponed my visits to Russia and the US, he said in a statement here.

The Home Minister said he has spoken to Governor N N Vohra and the Chief Minister and discussed with them the situation arising out of attack on a Army Brigade Headquarters in Uri and both of them apprised him of the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

I have given instructions to Home Secretary (Rajiv Mehrishi) and other officers in the Home Ministry to closely monitor the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Terror struck an Army camp in North Kashmirs Uri town when militants stormed a battalion headquarters in the wee hours today, leaving at least 10 Army men injured. Four militants have also been killed.

The Home Minister also called an emergency meeting to review the situation arising out of the attack on the Brigade Headquarters in Uri.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the Union Home Secretary, top Army, paramilitary and Home Ministry officials are attending it.

Unrest in Kashmir Valley has been continuing for more than two months ever since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8 in which nearly 80 people have lost their lives so far.

This was for the second time that Singh has cancelled his trip to the US due to violence in Kashmir. Earlier, he was scheduled to leave for the US on July 17 for a week-long visit but it was postponed due to sudden eruption of violence in Kashmir after Wanis killing.

Read More: Uri terror attack: 2 jawans killed, four terrorist neutralized near LoC

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Prince Andrew has always been the favorite, pampered son of Queen Elizabeth. Now that the Duke of York's friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is revealed and rehashed all the time, he has become a social pariah and probably the Queen's biggest heartbreak.

Prince Andrew has become a social disgrace overnight. Until he encountered Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis, in the now infamous car-crash interview on November 2019, Prince Andrew notably has a pretty, easy life. He travels around the world using taxpayers' money and dating supermodels. He was not in line or the throne, but he was supported by his royal lineage. That does not prevent the public's anger as well as the royal family's shame when his scandalous friendship broke out.

Now he is in forced retirement and hiding from the general public. The palace strives to stay calm and quiet about him, but news about his involvement o Jeffrey Epstein's illegal activities keep surfacing. He is now reportedly even hiding from the FBI.

According to Telegraph UK, after he stepped back from public duties because of this unresolvable scandal, it was announced that Andrew would never resume his official duties anymore.

Just recently, the US prosecutor in charge of the investigation slammed Queen Elizabeth's son as falsely portraying himself as being cooperative to the inquiry. In reality, Prince Andrew repeatedly rejected the request to be interview, believing him entitled to do so just because he is a royal.

This is against what Prince Andrew's lawyers claimed. They once said that Andrew offered to be part of the investigation, not once or twice, but thrice. Each time however, he was not accommodated.

Prince Andrew Extradition

According to US Attorney General William Barr, if the worry about him cooperating is that he would be extradited or handed to the United States government for questioning, the palace should not worry. "I don't think it's a question of handing him over. I think it's just a question of having him provide some evidence," Barr told Fox News.

Mr. Berman, the US attorney to the Southern District of New York has repeatedly criticized the Duke for repeatedly botching up investigations because he provided "zero cooperation."

Berman argued, "Even as the lawyers claimed this is not true, Berman stuck with his statement. He said the duke "has not given an interview to federal authorities, has repeatedly declined our request to schedule such an interview, and nearly four months ago informed us unequivocally - through the very same counsel who issued today's release - that he would not come in for such an interview".

Queen Elizabeth's Heartbreak

While Prince Andrew's lawyers refused to comment on this new allegation, they said that this is another case of Berman violating rules on confidentiality and that they are just sure now that the US government Department of Justice would not be able to play fair.

The Queen cannot help but sit idly by, looking on to the unfolding disaster involving her favorite son though. Her country needs her to stay put during the coronavirus pandemic and it does seem that Andrew's case cannot be resolved just by her mere presence.

READ MORE: Meghan Markle Heartbreak: Beyonce Makes Duchess Jealous Over This!
Mission

Mona Caron, Swiss-born artist and Upper Market resident, painted a mural on Pedal Revolution's storefront in 2017. | Photo: Courtesty of New Door

Mission-based nonprofit bike shop Pedal Revolution (3085 21st St.) shuttered its doors permanently on June 1 after more than 25 years serving the neighborhood, along with a related business, screen printer Ashbury Images.

Both businesses were "social enterprises" of New Door Ventures, a Mission-based nonprofit that helps prepare youth 16 to 24 years old with education and job skills.

"Through this difficult decision, we will ensure that New Door survives this economic crisis and can continue to provide programs and support for low-income Bay Area young people," a statement on Pedal Revolution's website reads.

Despite being considered an essential business, the shop began what was intended to be a temporary closure at the beginning of shelter-in-place on March 17, but eventually made the decision to keep the doors closed for good.

"With the additional challenges to our programming and fundraising projections for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19," the statement said, "the added financial burden of owning and supporting the business is no longer tenable."

New Door representatives said on the nonprofit's website that they are currently considering selling Pedal Revolution, meaning the bike shop could reopen under new ownership. When reached via email, a representative said there are no immediate plans for the building, or the mural by Mona Caron that adorns the storefront.

According to the statement, Pedal Revolution faced challenges before shelter-in-place, like "maintaining staffing levels, economic changes to our city and neighborhood, and demographic changes to the youth population that we work with," and the nonprofit expects those challenges to continue post-COVID.

The closure of the bike shop also ends an internship program operated within the bike shop for nearly two decades, which has provided jobs and education to about 500 young people.

According to New Door's website, the nonprofit will continue providing remote programming, and will begin providing in-person classes, workshops, and internships when public health orders change and they're able to do so safely.

New Door also plans to place interns with external job site partnerships, as "these internships are much less expensive per intern and provide similar job training experiences and outcomes for youth."

New Door representatives ask those who have a serious interest in acquiring the bike shop to contact them via email.
Daniel Itai  The Zimbabwe Daily

Doha, Qatar  Qatar Airways will be resuming its flights to Africa starting with Tanzania from the 16th of June after almost four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The airlines officials said that resumption of the airline on June 16 will be the first direct passenger schedule flight from Hamad International Airport to Africa since suspension of flights in March this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a bid to ensure safety and security of travelers, the airline said that it has further enhanced its onboard safety measures for passengers and cabin crew.

The airline has implemented several changes, including the introduction of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits for cabin crew while onboard as well as a modified service that reduces interactions between the passengers and the crew inflight.

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Our wide network of flights during these challenging times has ensured we are kept up to date with the latest in international airport procedures and implemented the most advanced safety and hygiene measures on board our aircraft and in Hamad International Airport, said Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive.

There will be three flights per week, available on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays connecting Doha and Tanzanias Dar es Salaam.

The airline further said that it will not charge any fare differences for travel completed before December 31, 2020, after which fare rules will apply. All tickets booked for travel up to December 31, 2020 will be valid for 2 years from the date of issuance.

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Jeff Baumbach and his wife, Karen, had been nurses for three decades. When covid-19 arrived in California, they thought it was just another outbreak they would get through together.

Instead, Jeff Baumbach, 57, became one of the victims.

Karen Baumbach said her husband started his career as a paramedic, but when they started having children, he went back to school to become a nurse.

"He was just the very best," she said. "He was a hard worker, and he was compassionate with his patients and their families." With four kids, she said, "he was a family guy. When he wasn't working, he was with us." He loved Disney, puzzles and the San Francisco Giants.

Because she was in quarantine when her husband died, their daughter had to leave the home, unable to comfort her mother.

"We can't even really console her," Kaila Baumbach told KCRA-TV. So, she organized neighbors to drive down the street with lights, a vigil on wheels.

More News Coronavirus hospitalizations rise sharply in several states following Memorial Day

Jeff Baumbach developed a cough in mid-March, but at the time they attributed it to allergies. They had taken a couple of days off to clean their home, and a lot of dust and chemicals hung in the air.

Family photo.

There were no known covid-19 patients at the hospital where he worked in emergency room case management, St. Joseph's Medical Center in Stockton, California, which is managed in partnership with Kaiser. At the time, nurses were wearing masks only when with patients, not in their workspace outside examining rooms. Her husband didn't complain about lack of protective equipment; at the time, Karen Baumbach said; they didn't realize how much they would need it. A spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente said Baumbach would have been following policies set by the hospital, which did not return requests for comment.

The weekend of March 16, the couple went to New York to see their son. When they came back, the hospital had just begun setting up tents outside for covid-19 patients. Even after he was told on March 20 that he was exposed and must wear a mask at work at all times, Baumbach didn't think he actually had the virus. A few days later, he developed a fever. He left work and both he and his wife were tested; both were positive and went into quarantine.

Baumbach went to the ER for a chest X-ray and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Now, a patient such as her husband would be hospitalized, Karen said. But at that time, doctors thought because his condition did not appear to be deteriorating, he was safe to go home.

"All of a sudden, on the fifth day, he collapsed in the bathroom and was unresponsive," Karen said. When she took him to the hospital his lungs were "completely whited out." That means on an X-ray, the organs appeared white and opaque, a sign of severe damage. She never saw him conscious again, and could say goodbye only through protective gear. He died that day, March 31.

"Things were evolving every day," she said. "It's just a freaky virus that no one can quite figure out. "Unfortunately, it happened to Jeff, and he died from it."
Severe job losses have been avoided in the retail sector as a result of the decision to reopen shops, a commerce chief has said.

Simon Hamilton said the furlough scheme had been a "godsend", stopping mass unemployment in the short-term.

Mr Hamilton, who is chief executive of the Belfast Chamber, added: "Ninety-five per cent of retailers have been availing of that scheme and putting a very high percentage of staff on that."

He said reopening retail tomorrow had been another boost.

"Having an earlier date to reopen than anticipated has been a huge, huge help in terms of getting going again. Had restrictions stayed in place and retailers remained closed in the summer then chances of quite a high number of job losses would have been quite severe," he said.

Mr Hamilton was addressing the Assembly's economy committee on Wednesday.

He said that retail had been one of the sectors hardest hit by restrictions during lockdown.

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Most retailers with a door opening onto the street are able to trade from tomorrow, but Mr Hamilton said units within shopping centres now required a definite opening date.

He said that in many cases the centres themselves were open, as they housed the "essential" retailers allowed to trade all through the crisis.

He added: "I'm aware of one of our members who has 60% of their shops actually open because they are deemed essential.

"They are well-versed and experienced in how to open safely and keep premises safe and clean and have queuing systems in place."

Mr Hamilton said that while retailers were pleased to be able to reopen, the sector was still entering a "dangerous period" and would require ongoing support from the Government.

He said that to maintain social distancing, shops would have lower footfall, and were also having to absorb the costs of measures such as Perspex screens.

Mr Hamilton said he wanted to offer support to chamber members in the hospitality industry, which is still awaiting a reopening date.

Hotels, restaurants and bars in the Republic are due to reopen on June 29.

The Executive is expected to consider whether to reopen the hospitality sector here when it meets on Thursday. It is also due to consider whether a plan to reopen hotels here on July 20 can be brought forward in tandem with the Republic.

Mr Hamilton said: "There's a real symbiotic relationship between retail, hospitality and tourism. We don't want to see our industries here falling behind our neighbours in the south."

Aodhan Connolly, director of the NI Retail Consortium, also gave evidence to the committee and repeated calls for a date when retailers in shopping centres can get back to business.

He said: "It seems a little bit arbitrary that they're not open, since a lot have gone that extra mile to ensure safety of staff including using personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing and hand sanitisation.

"We need that final piece of the jigsaw to be opened as soon as possible, or at least a date for it to be opened as soon as possible."

Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI, warned recovery of the sector could take some time.

"We are making progress but it is a long, long road back," he said. "If we are in the midst of a very serious recession over the next few months, and possibly years, what impact that will have on consumer confidence and spending is a whole other issue."
Gen. Mark Milley, the countrys top military official, said on Thursday it was a mistake that he participated in President Donald Trumps photo-op with a Bible outside St. Johns Church, which happened after tear gas was deployed on peaceful protesters to clear a path for the president.

Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a pre-recorded statement, As senior leaders, everything you do will be closely watched and I am not immune. As many of you saw the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society. I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.

He went on, As a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.

On June 1, Trump threatened to deploy the U.S. military to extinguish protests around the country if cities or states did not do whats necessary to defend the life and property of their residents. After the proclamation, the president walked away from reporters without taking any questions. He then walked to St. Johns Church and held a Bible after law enforcement officials fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of peaceful protesters to clear a path.

Reactions to Milleys statement were varied. Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy mused on Twitter, What is he talking about it? There wasnt a perception that the military was involved in domestic politics. The military was knee deep. National Guard troops were everywhere. Recon planes were flying overhead. Milley was marching through the streets overseeing it all.

Former director of the Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub had a different reaction: I was angry when Milley walked with Trump. Im impressed by his apology. I was on the front line dealing with this White House. My immediate supervisor was Trump. I hope I did the right thing, but for those whove never been in those shoes, let me tell you: its not always clear.

Story continues

Watch Gen. Mark Milley, the countrys top military official, apologize for his role in President Trumps walk across Lafayette Square for a photo op after authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area of peaceful protesters.

Read more. https://t.co/5ytpwCd3HF pic.twitter.com/mfDmWh4OMI

 The New York Times (@nytimes) June 11, 2020

Read original story Top General Says He Should Not Have Been at Trump Bible Photo-Op At TheWrap
Melbourne BLM Protester Tests Positive for CCP Virus

A protester who attended the Black Lives Matter march in Melbourne on June 6 has tested positive for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, the novel coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19.

Victoria Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton confirmed the diagnosis on June 11, saying that the gentleman in his 30s wore a mask, was not showing any symptoms at Saturdays central Melbourne protest, and that it is unlikely he contracted the virus at the event.

However, the man did develop symptoms within 24 hours of attending the protest, meaning that he may have been contagious at the rally while presymptomatic, Sutton said.

The risk of the virus spreading from this one person varies.

Without additional protections, one person on average infects about 2-and-half, 3 other people. But every individual will be different.

The majority of people dont infect anyone else, 70-80 percent of people dont transmit to anyone else. But there are a smaller proportion, 20 to 30 percent of people, who will spread it to a number of other individuals in close contact, Sutton told reporters on June 11.

The non-indigenous male is among eight new cases of the CCP virus in Victoria within the last 24 hours.

Two more cases are travellers in hotel quarantine, one is a close contact linked to the Rydges hotel cluster, and another worked at Bupa Aged Care in Clayton.

A toddler at a childcare centre in Parkville has tested positive. Staff have been instructed to isolate, and the centre will be closed for 24 hours for intensive cleaning by the outbreak management team. Another additional two cases remain under investigation.

There are currently 54 active cases in Victoria as of June 11.

Sutton has urged anyone who attended the protest or elsewhere and are showing symptoms of COVID-19 to self-isolate, get tested, and become well before socializing again.

The public health direction states that gatherings of over 20 are not permitted and will incur a fine of up to $1,652 (US$1,153) and up to $20,000 through the court system.

More protests in solidarity with black American George Floyd and against deaths of Aboriginal people in police custody are planned across Australia for the upcoming weekend.

Protest organisers in Sydney and the Northern Territory have announced events. However, NSW police have said no formal applications have been received, with police deeming the event unlawful given the states active COVID-19 health restrictions.

In the Northern Territory, where outdoor gatherings of up to 500 people are allowed under more relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, the chief health officer is said to be reviewing two COVIDSafe health plans from protest organisers for Saturdayone for under 500 people and one for more than 500 people.

Organizers for the protest in Adelaide, South Australia, have cancelled their event after state police commissioner Grant Stevens said those attending would risk being fined or arrested.

Related Coverage Second BLM Protest in Adelaide Called Off

Speaking on 3AW radio on June 11, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it would be a disrespect to your neighbour to turn up to a rally this weekend.

Its a free country and we have our liberty but the price of liberty is we respect our fellow Australians, he said.
The Caribbean island launched the Education Mentorship Programme under the long-standing National Employment Programme, sponsored by CBI. This has led to 169 young people being placed in schools across the country to support students that require additional tutoring. With support from the CBI Programme, Dominican youth benefit from the opportunity to get higher education abroad, in countries like Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom. A year ago, PM Skerrit estimated the total expenditure from CBI funds on education abroad at $26 million.

"We have decided to use the CBI funds in a sustainable way," PM Skerrit told Khaleej Times in a webinar on May 27th. "We use it mainly for public sector investment programmes, the building of schools, [] hospitals, health centres, roads, bridges, the education of our human resources, our children, our youth," the Prime Minister explained.

Although small and scarcely populated, Dominica's 72,000 nation benefit from high-quality education, modern healthcare, and visa-free and visa-on-arrival access to 140 countries and territories. Last month, the government announced that construction of 14 new polyclinics and a state-of-the-art hospital were going ahead as planned. This is part of a wider Housing Revolution programme, funded entirely by foreign investors' contributions who were successful in obtaining second citizenship from Dominica.

The country is well known for making heavy and visible investments using funds from the CBI Programme. This is one of the reasons why the CBI Index by FT's PWM magazine classes Dominica as the best country for citizenship by investment. Applicants can either make a one-off contribution to the Economic Diversification Fund or invest in pre-approved luxury and sustainable hotels and resorts. All must first pass Dominica's thorough due diligence checks. Citizenship can then be retained for life and passed on to future generations.

Contact:

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After the protests began, the fence erected to block protesters in front of the White House became a tableau calling out racism and honoring victims.

I cant breathe. Silence is not the answer. Defund the Police, Justice 4 George.

Mr. Bryant said he and other curators inspected signs and banners now on a construction wall near the fence, and protest signs beyond the immediate fence area as well, including boarded-up office windows that had been painted on. I was captivated by the artwork that was on the boards, he said.

The curators noted the names of artists and photographers, and identified objects that might be important to preserve. If we dont collect this stuff, who knows what happens to it, Mr. Bryant said.

The African American museum is working in coalition with the National Museum of American History and the Anacostia Community Museum which also had curators surveying the Lafayette Square area on Wednesday. The National Museum of American History said in a statement that it recognizes that we are in a transformative time in the United States. We are listening to communities. We will document this important moment responsibly and respectfully through a variety of objects and stories from Washington, D.C. and across the nation.

Mr. Bryant said he had collected two signs held by a young group of protesters from Salisbury, Md.  a mother, daughter, son and one of their friends. He said he could not be more specific because the objects have to be processed to determine whether they will officially join the museums collection.
Tilton Square Theatre co-owner Brett Denafo at the Tilton Square Theatre in Northfield, N.J., on June 10, 2020. The theatre shut down Thursday after opening last Friday. Read more

Six days after opening in defiance of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphys executive orders, the Tilton Square Theatre is closed again.

Owner Brett Denafo said he received three summonses in the mail from the Atlantic County Prosecutors office, and after speaking with them and others, decided to voluntarily close the doors to the theater in Northfield, just over the bridge from Margate.

A statement from the theater posted on Facebook described the closure as forced," and done with great disappointment and frustration. The theater would remain closed until the Governor allows us to reopen," the post said.

We received an onslaught of citations and threats of legal action against us, despite providing a higher standard to keep our customers and our employees safe, the theater said. We believe we have been unfairly targeted and denied the right to engage in lawful business activity while other businesses are able to operate legally.

The Tilton Square was the only theater open in New Jersey, and Denafo had taken numerous steps to follow CDC guidelines for spacing, cleaning, and air filtering. He sold tickets at $6 a piece and said it was the only way to keep from going bankrupt.

They didnt shut me down, he said. I decided to shut down. I talked to the prosecutors office and said, Im not going to open today. I changed my mind.

The summonses carried fines of up to $1,000 each, and Denafo said he was concerned about other action the state might take in terms of licensing. He owns two other theaters, under different corporate entities, in Stone Harbor and in Ventnor, that have liquor licenses.

At his daily news conference, Murphy said the state had been in discussions with Asbury Park elected officials, who voted to begin indoor dining, also in defiance of the governors executive orders.

Asked if he would be stepping up enforcement in the wake of the defiant theaters and towns, Murphy said yes and specifically mentioned the theater near Atlantic City.

It did not open today, Murphy said. Were not trying to big-foot people. Inside, sedentary, no ventilation, close proximity is hard. Will we get there? Yes. We hope to give guidance sooner than later.

Denafo, who spent $21,000 on an advanced air filtration system, said he was still hopeful to be able to open. The AMC movie chain has announced it will open nationwide in July.
Chinese teacher Cui Lianrui (2nd L) and principal Zhao Jincheng help students with study in Nanbei Village in Lingchuan County, north China's Shanxi Province, on May 31, 2020. [Xinhua/Yang Chenguang]

BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua)  China will dispatch more than 22,000 teachers this year to the country's poverty-stricken regions to work for one year, the Ministry of Education said Wednesday.

This is part of an annual government program providing educational support for the country's poor areas, including contiguous areas of extreme poverty.

A total of 22,842 teachers will be selected for the program for the 2020-2021 academic year, of whom 21,635 will work in the field of compulsory education, from elementary to junior high school, according to a circular posted on the ministry website.

Under the program, the teachers usually work in poor areas for one year, but they can opt to extend their stay.

Calling the move a key step to advance China's targeted poverty reduction through education, the circular urged local authorities to coordinate epidemic control and anti-poverty efforts, implement the program well and ensure that teachers safely take up their new posts.

(Source: Xinhua)
SEOUL, June 11 (Reuters) - North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the United States has no standing to comment on inter-Korean affairs, the state media KCNA reported.

The report comes after the U.S. State Department said it was disappointed at North Korea for suspending communication hotlines with South Korea.

(Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Herbert Appleroth. Illustration: Joe Benke Credit:

Ferraris were never designed to be inconspicuous.

So is it any wonder that former head of Ferrari in Australasia Herbert Appleroth and the Italian car maker have had so much trouble keeping the hood down on their legal battle despite Appleroths abandonment of the case last month and attempts to suppress all details.

An interlocutory application relating to his contract dispute was back before the Federal Court on Thursday as another party attempted to keep their identity under wraps.

For those who havent been following the prancing horse saga, Appleroth - an heir to the Aeroplane Jelly fortune - was slumming it as the local Ferrari boss until last year when his employment was terminated over a workplace affair that ended up looking like a high-speed car crash.
The Connecticut Business & Industry Association chose an aerospace manufacturing executive as its next CEO.

Chris DiPentima will replace Joe Brennan, who has led the Hartford-based entity since 2014, on August 3. DiPentima is the division president of Leggett & Platt Aerospace, the corporate parent of Pegasus Manufacturing in Middletown, which had 125 employees at last report.

DiPentima is a past board chair of CBIA.

I have always respected the organization  I have great admiration for them, DiPentima said. Not just voicing it  offering solutions as well is really important to me. Ive been on some other organizations where maybe they are a voice, but theres no substance behind it. ... I looked at my background and said, You know, maybe I have a unique enough background to make a difference.

After working early in his career as a business attorney, DiPentima became general counsel at Pegasus, which was founded in 1989 by his father Vincent. He eventually became owner and president, and in 2016 struck a deal to sell Pegasus to Leggett & Platt, which in addition to aerospace components sells bedding and automotive products.

Pegasus makes curved tubing and ducts for jet engines and other systems, with customers including the GE Aviation division of General Electric; General Dynamics and its Electric Boat submarine plant in Groton; and Aerojet Rocketdyne, at one time the rocket division of United Technologies, which merged this spring with Raytheon Technologies.

Brennan likewise started his career as an attorney. He has spent more than three decades with CBIA, and was elevated to CEO six years ago after the retirement of John Rathgeber. With the long-term effect of the coronavirus pandemic still an open question, Brennan said the state has nevertheless come a long way since the middle part of the decade, when General Electric elected to move its headquarters from Fairfield to Boston, and Aetna eyed New York City before selling to CVS Health and staying put in Hartford.

The world almost seemed to be crashing down, Brennan said. I wrote an open letter to [former] Gov. Malloy ... that we need to get together soon and figure out how we are going to deal with this. So we really raised our voices at that point  maybe more forcefully than we had before  about how we couldnt be going on like were were.

For the fiscal year ending in June 2017, CBIAs nonprofit operations generated revenue of $7.2 million, a nearly 20 percent increase from fiscal 2016, with net assets totaling $12.4 million. Brennans CBIA pay was $340,000 in fiscal 2017, the most recent year for which CBIAs annual IRS disclosure is available online, not including additional compensation from affiliates.

CBIA had more than 6,000 member companies that year. The organization lobbies in Hartford on regulations and laws affecting business; its services including seminars on workforce development, human resources and other topics. CBIA charges annual dues ranging from $275 to $825 for members with payrolls under $1 million, and an extra $350 for every additional $1 million in payroll after that on a prorated scale.

A separate entity called CBIA Health Connections is operated on a for-profit basis brokering varying lines of insurance to more than 3,000 companies statewide, including health insurance underwritten by ConnectiCare.

DiPentimas hire comes months after the disbandment of the Business Council of Fairfield County, which had a far smaller membership base, but with major corporate names peppering its board was otherwise a prominent voice on opportunities and challenges for Connecticut businesses.

Jennifer DelMonico, a managing partner in the New Haven office of Murtha Cullina, chairs CBIAs board of directors. The CBIA boards executive committee includes Jeff Hubbard of Liberty Bank; Paul Kelley of Alinabal in Milford; David Lewis of OperationsInc in Norwalk; Matthew McSpedon in JPMorgan Chases Shelton office; and John Strahley of IsoPlexis in Branford.

Includes prior reporting by Paul Schott.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
The African Court on Human and Peoples Rights is mourning the death of its First Vice-President, Justice Modibo Tounty Guindo of Mali, whose incidence happened on June 4 in Bamako, Mali.



The Judges of the Court have observed a minute of silence and signed a condolence book in memory of the late Justice Guindo at its 57th Ordinary Session,



A statement signed by Dr Robert Eno, Registrar of African Court, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra said Justice Modibo died after a short illness at Bamako, Mali.



Quoting Justice Gerald Niyungeko in his tribute, the statement said, As members of the courts first Bureau, we had the daunting task of establishing the court immediately and fully operational... Judge Guindo gave me multiple support at all times. He made himself available whenever necessary, even as he continued his professional career in Bamako. Quoting Justice Sylvain Ore, the statement said, He will be remembered as among the first 11 judges who pioneered the work of the African Court at its inception in 2006 and also for the enormous contribution he made in the judiciary in his country, where he served as a judge for over 30 years.



He added, Justice Guindos historic work lives on and the posterity will come to appreciate and recognize his contribution for laying the foundation to issues of protection of human rights on our continent.



The late Justice Modibo Guindo was from Mali who was elected in 2006 for a term of six years and served as the courts first Vice-President from September 2006 to 2008.



He had previously worked as technical consultant at the Ministry of Justice, Mali, and served as a judge at the Court of First Instance in Timbuktu.



He had been judge for 29 years in his country before joining the African Court and has assumed various responsibilities both at the level of the Court (President of the Justices of peace, President of the Criminal Court, President of the childrens Court;  Procureur de la Republique( Attorney General), Puscine Judge at the Court of Appeal ( the Civil Chamber, Rehabilitation Court) where he presided over sessions, President of the Trial Chamber, President of the Labour Court, Deputy Procureur General of the Appeal Court.



In the administration of the Judiciary, he was Advisor of Justice in charge of human rights and presented the second Periodic Report of Mali on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Liberties before the Human Rights Committee in Geneva.



He was a panelist in the United Nations inter-Agency workshop on the human rights-based approach which started in 2002 in Stanford, the USA, and was an Expert at the Conference of government bodies in charge of human rights in Francophone countries, which held in Brazzaville from April 25 to 28, 2003.



He was a Legal Consultant for the UNPFPA in Mali for civil status legislation (laws and civil status registration documents).

Source: GNA









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India logs over 3.17 lakh new Covid cases in last 24 hours; daily positivity rate up at 16.41 per cent

Coronavirus: India 'definitely' not in community spread stage, says ICMR

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, June 11: The ICMR on Thursday said that India was "definitely" not in the community transmission stage, the government asserted on Thursday, even as cases and deaths continued to mount with the country recording the highest single-day spike of 9,996 new infections and 357 fatalities.

"For such a large country, prevalence is so low, less than 1 per cent in smaller districts slightly higher in cities and containment zones. So India is definitely not in community transmission stage. We have ramped up testing and we have very calibrated guidelines. We have capacity to do up to 2 lakh tests a day," the statement said.

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India's first sero-survey on COVID-19 spread has found that lockdown and containment measures were successful in preventing a rapid rise in infections, but a large proportion of the population still remains susceptible, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Balram Bhargava said at a media briefing.

The sero-survey has two parts -- estimating the fraction of population that has been infected with SARS-CoV-2 in general population and estimating the fraction of population that has been infected with the coronavirus in containment zones of hotspot cities, Bhargava said.

The first part has been completed and the second is ongoing, he said, adding that the survey was conducted in May by the ICMR in collaboration with state health departments, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Bhargava said the study involves surveying a total of 83 districts with 26,400 people enrolling for it and 28,595 households visited. The districts were selected based on the incidence of reported COVID-19 cases as on April 25. The slides that were shared with the media stated that data from 65 districts have been compiled till now. The sero-survey has found that 0.73 per cent of the population in the districts surveyed had evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2 , Bhargava said.

"Lockdown and containment (measures) have been successful in keeping it low and preventing rapid spread," he said, citing the survey. However, it means that a large proportion of the population is still susceptible and risk is higher in urban areas (1.09 times) and urban slums (1.89 times) than rural areas, Bhargava said.

It found that infection fatality rate is very low at 0.08 per cent and infection in containment zones were found to be high with significant variations, but the survey is still ongoing, he said.

COVID-19: Infosys unveils solutions to help clients offer safe workplaces to employees

Since a large proportion of the population is susceptible and infection can spread, non-pharmacological interventions such as physical distancing, use of face mask or cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette must be followed strictly, Bhargava said.

Urban slums are highly vulnerable for the spread of the infection and local lockdown measures need to continue as already advised by the government, he said.

The elderly, those with chronic morbidities, pregnant women and children less than 10 years of age need to be protected as they fall in the high-risk category susceptible to COVID-19, he said. "Efforts to limit the scale and spread of the disease will have to be continued by strong implementation of containment strategies by states.

The states cannot lower their guard and need to keep on implementing effective surveillance and containment strategies," Bhargava said. Asked if India is in the community transmission phase, Bhargava said, "There is a heightened debate around this term community transmission. Having said that I think even WHO has not given a definition for it. And as we have so shown that India is such a large country and the prevalence is so low."

"The prevalence has been found to be less than 1 per cent in small districts. In urban and containment areas it may be slightly higher. But, India is definitely not in community transmission. I would like to emphasise it," he said. India has to continue with its strategy of testing, tracing, tracking and quarantine and continue with containment measures as success has been found up till now with those measures, and "we should not let down our guards".

His remarks came on a day India saw the highest single-day spike of 357 fatalities and 9,996 cases, pushing the death toll to 8,102 and the nationwide tally to 2,86,579.

According to Union Health Ministry data, the country has registered over 9,500 cases for the seventh day in a row, while the figure for casualties crossed the 300-mark for the first time. The number of recoveries are more than the active novel coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day.

The ministry said the number of active cases stands at 1,37,448 till Thursday 8 am, while 1,41,028 people have recovered and one patient has migrated.

"Thus, around 49.21 per cent patients have recovered so far, "an official said. Responding to a question, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said, "Symptomatic person or a suspect case should get in touch with states' helpline numbers and try to access the hospital facilities as advised. In addition to this, we have requested the States to streamline the helpline system and provide guidance."
Addilyn N. Lopez Gonzalez, 22 months, passed away in her parent's arms at Primary Childrens Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday May 31, 2020. After 6 months of battling with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and multiple rounds of chemotherapy, Addy passed away in her sleep. Even though Addy was so young, her experience in life was more than most experience in a lifetime. She was a fighter and lived every day to the fullest.

Addy is the daughter of Gilberto and Meagan Lopez Gonzalez of Rock Springs. She was born July 16, 2018 in Rock Springs. They waited for her birth with joy and excitement....
At least a dozen churches across New Jersey have already established plans for resuming indoor religious services on the heels of Tuesdays announcement by state officials that all houses of worship can reopen for indoor services, with limited crowds and mandatory safety procedures.

Churches and temples that elect to reopen will be required to abide by guidelines laid out by the state to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, including limiting indoor gatherings to either 50 people or 25% of the buildings capacity  whichever number is fewer.

Also, everyone in attendance must wear face coverings and remain six feet apart, according to the guidelines announced by Gov. Phil Murphy.

These are some of the churches that have already announced they will reopen for indoor services:

One church remaining closed until September

Regardless of these openings, Murphy acknowledged that faith leaders  hundreds of which are offering live-stream services in place of public gatherings  may not feel comfortable reopening their religious institutions as the pandemic continues.

One of these leaders is the Rev. Caroline Unzaga of Wyoming Presbyterian Church in Millburn, who posted a message on the churchs website on June 3 informing parishioners that the church will continue to worship virtually until at least Sept. 12  in accordance with a vote by its session leadership.

In an interview with NJ Advance Media, Unzaga shared that she had contracted and recovered from the coronavirus, an experience that reinforced her belief that the church should remain closed throughout the summer.

I recovered from COVID during Holy Week, and we are thankful because we havent had anybody be seriously ill, Unzaga said. But we have seen how in other worshipping communities, there have been life-and-death consequences to reopening too soon.

She added that the while the church remains physically closed, worship remains fully open.

We believe that the church never closed, Unzaga said. We continue to be a church through our virtual worship and through other opportunities for connecting as a community.

If your church, temple or other house of worship has established a reopening plan, please send an email to cfassett@njadvancemedia.com to have the information featured in an article published by NJ Advance Media.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com. Nestor F. Sebastian may be reached at NSebastian@njadvancemedia.com.
DURHAM, N.C., June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ArchiveSocial, the leading provider of social media archiving software for government entities, law enforcement agencies and K-12 school districts, recently welcomed two key additions to their Senior Leadership Team - Lyle Henderson as Head of Finance, and Nancy Vodicka as Head of Marketing.

The appointment of Henderson and Vodicka is part of a broader initiative by ArchiveSocial to focus on growth in new markets and continued product demand. "In a world demanding transparency, our mission, to empower and protect open dialog, is more important than ever. We need great people to accomplish this mission. In that vein, I am thrilled about the addition of Nancy and Lyle to our Senior Leadership team," said Ray Carey, ArchiveSocial's Chief Executive Officer. "The wealth of experience and knowledge these two possess will provide a rounded approach to support the continued innovation and scaling of ArchiveSocial."

Henderson is an accomplished business leader who brings deep functional expertise and technical knowledge in all aspects of financial planning and accounting. He will be responsible for overseeing financial planning and analysis, investor relations, capital raising, and optimizing the company for success and future sustainable growth. Prior to ArchiveSocial, Henderson held various finance leadership positions with venture capital, private equity-backed, and bootstrapped companies in the technology sector with a focus on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

Henderson stated, "I look forward to joining ArchiveSocial's incredibly talented team and leading its finance organization to accelerate growth and drive long-term success."

Vodicka brings with her a passion for education and over a decade of experience building and optimizing marketing teams and infrastructures to accelerate performance. She has a proven track record of launching and driving rapid growth in marketing revenue and customer retention and will lead ArchiveSocial's marketing department in overall brand development and integrated strategies that continue the company's high growth trajectory. Vodicka most recently served at Prometheus Group as Vice President of Marketing where she established and executed a multi-channel, integrated marketing strategy that created global recognition and frequent acquisitions to support growth.

"Social Media has become such a crucial tool in communication strategies and is increasingly important from a public records perspective," said Vodicka. "I'm excited to help clients and prospects with social media best practices such as archiving and the undeniable value ArchiveSocial brings to their business."

About ArchiveSocial

ArchiveSocial works with over 2,700 government and law enforcement agencies, school districts, and private companies to capture and archive information shared on social media. The company helps public and private agencies comply with record-keeping regulations and mitigate risk related to social media. By connecting directly to the social networks, ArchiveSocial ensures complete, authentic and in-context records of social media communications. For more information, please visit archivesocial.com.

Contact: Megan Ingros, ArchiveSocial, [email protected]

SOURCE ArchiveSocial

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Perth Mint, owned by the West Australian government, has bought hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of "conflict gold" from a convicted killer in Papua New Guinea, in breach of its ethical policy.

An investigation by the Australian Financial Review's national affairs correspondent Angus Grigg published on Thursday, has revealed the Perth refiner purchased the gold from small-scale miners in PNG, which have been long criticised for their use of child labour and mercury.

A security tower at the Barrick mine. High in the mountain ranges illegal miners work the rivers and dirt in their own towns to pan for gold. Credit:Brendan Esposito

Conflict minerals like gold are usually mined via unsafe practices in conflict-ridden countries, such as PNG and the Congo, and are often used to fund violent armed groups, which use the riches to secure strategic trading routes.

Speaking to 6PR's Gareth Parker, Mr Grigg said the Mint had repeatedly ignored concerns raised by staff about the sourcing of its gold from PNG suppliers and whether this breached ethical guidelines.